#god and the fact river was raised and trained and created to kill him

[transgenderdoctorwhomst-old]

doctor/river for brutally honest opinion?

Doctor/river is so so good. They are wives. They are husbands. River kept trying to kill the doctor and he's kind of into it. The Doctor impulsively tries to run away from his relationship with her because the first time he met her was when she died. River will not let him run away from her. The universe will not let them run away from her.

In day of the doctor (novelization), ten has a (fully clothed) bath with her, spends seven hours of "quality time" with her while telling himself he Will avoid her to change her fate, and then sits on the floor of the tardis trying to convince himself not to develop a drinking problem about loving her.

Same novel, river helps eleven wipe his memory of how many children were on gallifrey, because she sees how much the number torments him. (They use a children's therapy bot.)

The implication that the doctor, at the end of their life, uploaded themselves into the Doctor Moon so River wouldn't be alone in her afterlife. AUGH.

Their story is surrounded in the tragedy that they, undoubtedly, are ghosts to each other. They each always meet a version of them that knows them less. It's a miracle and a tragedy when their timeliness almost line up, but the Doctor always knows how it will end. I cannot wait to get to the husbands of river song

Every interaction they have is layered with silent calculations, of "how far are you? What do you know?" Of "do I need to give you information to maintain our timeliness?" of "how much do I have to hide from you? How much are you hiding from me?" It's impossible for them to ever be truly honest with each other. They cannot ever avoid the ways they know they will hurt each other, the ways they know the other will hurt them. They just have to blindly trust each other, that there must be a reason.

Also the diary thing is really cute, they have matching diaries to keep track of each other with :)

[waeirfaahl]

Not worthy at all

Although I earlier pointed out the mistake Jack's father has done in "Birth of Evil", mostly I still considered this character as a kind person, who just wanted to save his family and kingdom, but didn't realize that he can do something bad to someone else. Still that was understandable. Later I discovered the aspect, which raises lots of questions to Jack's father and his ancestors — why they stubbornly made settlements near the dangerous entity they always saw as the evil (and it didn't become even a part of their culture/beliefs/legends/architecture), and the entity (the fragment aka the black lake) itself many times demonstrated that it doesn't want to share this territory with humans?

Let's talk about Emperor's irresponsibility now. Honestly, I realized this moment quite recently. I literally was like "Wait a second, what?!". My question — why the hell did Jack's father personally decide to go kill the "evil" instead of sending a small army, if in case of failure he risks leaving the kingdom without a ruler and guards at all?! This is not a war (I'm aware of the fact that kings themselves participated in battles), but just an attempt to kill some dangerous wild animal(?) with otherworldly traits — I don't know, but usually professional hunters (or maybe some people, who studies some religious/supernatural stuff in this case?) have to be hired and sent for this (the gevaudan beast case, for example).

But let's dive a bit deeper, because other aspects demonstrate that Emperor's soul is not pure and kind enough to become the material for "the weapon against evil" (and I many times pointed out that the three alien gods are the true villains, who made rules of this game, marking Aku's ancestor and later Aku as the ultimate evil and specifically Emperor and later Jack as some all-good chosen ones, who has to destroy this "evil" — here, here and here).

First of all, just like his ancestors, he was stubborn to stay on these lands, thinking that the black lake is the evil that ravages his lands despite the fact that this "evil" existed there before humans. Second, the spikes already reached for the palace, piercing all houses (I guess, it happened during the night?).

And it also dried out water from grass and rivers.

And instead of leading his wife and citizens toward the safe place for a while, instead of asking some hunters to study and to indetify the threat and its nature, Emperor leaves his pregnant wife (who will give birth very soon) and himself goes to destroy "the evil", so his entire army becomes kebabs on the black spikes.

Ah, excuse me for this question, but who these ladies are? Are they Empress's servants or Emperor's concubines? Hope, they're just servants. Third, Jack's father accidentally creates the creature (Aku), considers him as the evil and rejects him, provoking the aggressive attack of the palace (i.e. wife and citizens), and in the end he imprisons the creature without realizing his own mistakes.

Fourth, due to a chance of Aku's return, Emperor plans to train his son as a weapon to destroy the "evil" and puts on him the burden of "responsibility for the welfare of the whole world" instead of, I don't know... if not admitting own mistakes (and responsibility for Aku), but at least asking the three alien gods either to resolve the situation themselves (since it is exactly their fault), or to give "weapons against the evil" to all tribes, so humans could fight back and defend themselves together.

And it's not just my assumption — Emperor mentions that in 1 episode of 1 season, as well as the chief of the African tribe later blatantly tells to Jack about that in 12 episode of 4 season. Just no comments... I guess, humans' ignorance and cynism are good in the author's eyes.

Again, why 5 season doesn't cover this problem and tragedy of both Aku and Jack?! Why instead 5 season gives this theme and tragedy to random and forced female characters, shoe-horned into the story, where they have no reason to exist and no possibility to exist?

[unatempesta-dipensieri]

Red Moon

banner done by the wonderful @dee-ehn​ (thank you bb)

pairing: OT7 x reader

genres: poly!au, fallen angels!au, demons!au

word count: 2095

warnings: feathers falling from the structure of their wings, leaving a very ugly structure (not described in detail), minor character death

                                           ACT 1, CHAPTER 01

Small impetuous drops rumbled in the pine forest, in the silence only that continuous jingle was audible. The wood is very large and extends over an enormous arch of territory, surrounded by very high white mountains for recent snowfalls. The smell of resin, fir and musk was added to the sweet and relaxing sound of the drops falling on the pines. The landscape was wrapped in a solemn silence, the animals seeking shelter, the pine trees motionless since there was no wind. The whole expanse was colorful with various greens, from light to some dark shades. In the undergrowth, small bushes and moss reigned. On the ground only pine needles, fallen over the years. Suddenly a dazzling light, a noise rang out in the valley, the most intense rain and the amplified noises. A stream of water rushed beyond the valley and swelled visibly as the small drops increased. Namjoon was still lying on the ground, his body was too heavy and numb to allow him to stand up and seek shelter. He tried to move his head slightly to look around and to see if the others were beside him, but his neck hurt. He had taken a hit, so he stopped and closed his eyes, thinking about why he was in that place.

It all started when Yoongi saw that girl. He saw her run through the crowded streets of New York, with headphones in her ears that let out classical music. He had fallen in love with watching her play the piano, her diaphanous white fingers moved gracefully on the piano keys, while a sweet symphony echoed in the room where she was.

The second to see it was Seokjin; he saw her with several plastic bags in her hands, as she tried to go up to the fifth floor of the building. She almost fell from the cloud she was on when she saw that the girl was about to fall down the stairs when she was wrong to put her foot down but was saved by another human who was a few steps away from her. After a few minutes, he saw her enter her apartment and start putting away all the ingredients or products she needed for the home. He loved the fact that she was neat and that she loved to cook.

The third was Hoseok. He saw her while she was teaching girls ballet. Hoseok, besides the angels, had never seen such a beautiful and graceful creature. She managed to be so elegant even when the little creatures made a wrong move, she always smiled and if necessary she explained again every single move to those girls who couldn't understand or perform the exercise; but she also loved the fact that when she wanted to, she knew how to be serious and was able to put back those who did not follow her rules.

The fourth was Namjoon. He saw her walking with a bag over her shoulder in Central Park. Already the fact that the girl liked the vegetation had made the archangel's heart beat a lot. He saw her sit on a bench, and after taking a book out of her bag, start reading. He saw how she began to isolate herself, perhaps, recreating the scenes from the book in his mind. Namjoon could not help but stare at her with a smile on his face.

The fifth was Jimin, although a little hesitant in looking at a human who was not what the superiors had chosen at all. He perched on a cloud and looked at her with bored eyes. He spent several days looking at her until he understood why the others were so taken with her. Looking at her, he understood that she had a pure heart and soul, perhaps even too pure not to be an angel. He fell in love with her innocence and her smile; perhaps, he had never seen such a bright smile in all his years of service.

The sixth was Taehyung, who used the excuse of looking at the human as a moment of relax from the addict of his chosen one. He needed to breathe and to stop watching his chosen drug and slowly bring himself to death, that's why as soon as Namjoon asked who wanted to watch her, Taehyung did not think twice. He loved how the hair strands were arranged, which protruded from the tail, behind the ear, of how, when she had the chance, she went to see some art shows, or when she painted and stained, who knows how, her face.

The last but not least, at least for them, was Jungkook. The youngest of them and the newest. He had fallen in love with a nice and sunny girl like her. He loved the fact that, like him when he was still alive, she found time to play video games, train in the gym, but still managed to find space for friends. He knew that humans were running constantly. He understood that by seeing his chosen one. Single mother of two children, the ex-husband cheated on her with a colleague and gave her up in no uncertain terms, to then go to Norway with the other woman. It was something he hated. Betrayal.

The betrayal was just what he expected of all seven.

An angel heard a conversation that all seven were having and ran to one of the superiors telling him everything he had heard. They didn't even have time to rebel that in no time they were in the room where the Superiors met and discussed very important matters.

"Cherubino Namjoon, I never expected such behavior from you," said one of the elders. If Jimin remembered well he had to be called Jaehyung but he was not very sure.

"And what would I do?" Namjoon asked raising his head and looking at him defiantly.

"I heard that you seven have fallen in love with a human," said the superior, smiling at him, showing him his white teeth.

The boys widened their eyes, their hearts started to beat wildly. They could not speak, perhaps because they were caught in the act. Yoongi clenched his jaw thinking about who might have heard their private discussion.

"Seraphin Seokjin -continued the superior- you know that these emotions are not part of the angels, but of the demons!" he screamed the last word in panic, had wide eyes and a crazy smile, while looking at Seokjin, who remained impassive.

The Superior was about to insult Jungkook when the main door opened. "What do you want now?" he screamed as soon as he saw an Angel enter.

"Sir, we did what you ordered," said the newcomer, bowing.

"Well," said the Seraphin, then turned to the seven angels. "Surely you are wondering what I asked him to do. I ordered him to kill her while she slept. A quick and painless death. "

The Seraphin never expected such a violent reaction, especially from Seraphin Seokjin. He jumped up and threw himself against his body, squeezing his neck with his hands.

"How dare you! And you are the ones who say you love independently and that you are better than demons, but you are worse than them! As soon as a human creates the slightest problem, you get it out of the way! Jaehyung, remember my words, I will make you go through the pains of hell, I will make you die of a slow and painful death! " Seokjin shouted in anger.

Even the others had never seen him in those conditions. His neck and face were completely red, his hands that were still around Jaehyung's neck trembled and his eyes were filled with tears, as were theirs. In an instant the guards seized Seokjin and stopped him with golden chains, preventing him from moving.

Jaehyung got up and after adjusting his white tunic, looked at the boys, then smiled.

"I, Archangel Jaehyung, in the name of God, cause the Cherubino Namjoon, the Seraphim Seokjin, the Throne Yoongi, the Domination Hoseok, the Archangel Jimin, the archangel Taehyung and the angel Jungkook, to be exiled from Paradise for eternity. May Hell welcome you," said the Archangel and with a snap of fingers it began.

Pain began. They could feel their wings cracking, their heads hurting and their stomach turning over. Hoseok looked towards Jimin, and saw the younger bent forward while holding his head in his hands, the wings were completely bare and writhing taking a really bad position, all the white feathers were still bleeding on the ground while in their place, black feathers were growing. He looked at Namjoon and saw that the color of his eyes had changed to a color he could not define, but he looked like a mixture of light orange and yellow, his white hair had become a light lilac. Maybe his partners's hair had changed too but he had no reflective surface to see himself in.

When the wings changed completely, they felt the floor crumble under their feet and fell on deaf ears. Jungkook opened his eyes just when his body crossed a cloud, he tried to stop and trying to flap his wings but a twinge of pain ran all over his body. He looked to the sides and saw that the boys were beside him, Seokjin held the hands of Jimin and Taehyung, while Hoseok held his and Yoongi's. But who was holding Namjoon's hand? He looked slightly further and saw that Namjoon was still passed out, he tried to tell Yoongi to hold Namjoon's hand, but when they crossed a large cloud, he didn't saw him again.

Then the crash came in no time. The good thing was that it was raining like never before so humans would have thought that the sound of their fall was a thunder nearby.

****

Hours passed, the first ray of light illuminated the valley which took on a magical aspect. Everything was now visible: the high white mountains with various clouds full of humidity, the pine forest and the river.

Namjoon opened his eyes still dull and heard rapid steps towards him, perhaps someone was running to help him.

"Namjoon!" Seokjin entered his vision followed by Taehyung, who began to dig to free his body of the earth and the mud that had covered it. He tried to speak but only guttural lines came out of his mouth.

"Hyung, don't try! Keep drinking the water we found at a nearby stream! " Jungkook said approaching his cup-shaped hands.

Hyung? What word was it? What did it mean?

"I know you're asking yourself many things but first we have to get you out of here," Seokjin said giving him a reassuring smile. The oldest, along with the youngest, had always had this reassuring soul, which managed to calm the other five.

"Black looks good on you," Namjoon whispered when he started focusing. “Thanks hyung! Lilac is fine for you instead, ”Jungkook replied with a smile. "What is this hyung, you keep calling?" Namjoon asked looking him in the eye.

"Since I have been dead for about two, three years I think things have not changed much, hyung is used by males to call another boy who is older than him, therefore of logic, I should call you all hyung, to show respect, ”said Jungkook, continuing to remove the mud that had trapped one of the older's legs.

After the two freed him, they gave him a hand to get up and clean himself of the residues that had remained on his clothes and face. "So what do we do now?" Jimin asked, attracting the attention of others. "Let's start walking in search of civilization," Yoongi replied.

They didn't know how long they walked when they started hearing car noises. Taehyung passed a bush and had to close his eyes when a light blinded him. It was the headlights of a car passing by.

"Anyone know what place this is?" he asked when the others had joined him. "This ... this is Seoul, we are in South Korea," replied Jungkook and then continued: "This is the city that brought me to end my life, it shouldn't have changed much and I still remember some things," 

"So what are you waiting for? Show us the way angel, ”Hoseok said putting a hand on his shoulder. Jungkook nodded and the others followed him breathlessly. It would have been an adventure in teaching kids how to behave among humans and how to use the simplest things, like taking a bus.

[chiimmchiimm]

❝𝓰𝓸𝓸𝓭 𝓭𝓮𝓬𝓲𝓼𝓲𝓸𝓷 !¡ 𝓳𝓳𝓴❞

The enemy of your enemy is your friend and that for Lexa was the most important thing. So, when Commander Jungkook made her an offer, she couldn't refuse.

𝒫𝒶𝒾𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔: Jungkook x (femile: Lexa).

𝒢𝑒𝓃𝓇𝑒:  smut, fluff, angst, one-shot.

𝒲𝑜𝓇𝒹𝓈: 26 k

𝑅𝒶𝓃𝓆𝓊𝒾𝓃𝑔:  +18  

𝒲𝒶𝓇𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔:   dirty vocabulary, explicit language, feeling of loss, burials, treatment by duty, commander duties, sexual attraction, love at first sight without knowing and knowing it, violent scenes, blood, very sexy scar, fights, jealousy, many unjustified jealousy of best friend, Jk is a love, enemies, intimidation, excessive harassment that ends in violence, aggressive situations, mention of death of secondary characters, dirt on the field, hormones, unprotected sex (use the gum for god xd), kisses with tongue, rough sex, woman fingering, creampie, loss of virginity, standing female oral, scratches on her back, spectacular body, big cock, abs out of this world.

𝒜𝓊𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓇’𝓈 𝓃𝑜𝓉𝑒: I want to thank you, wonderful readers, for giving love to history. As a reward I made it much longer. Without more to say to enjoy! 

𝓥𝓸𝓬𝓪𝓫𝓾𝓵𝓪𝓻𝔂:  

✚ Heda*   → commander. (WanHeda*    → Commander of death) 

(FireHeda*   → Fire commander)

✚ Ste yuj.* → stay strong.

✚ Yu gonplei ste odon* → your fight is over. 

✚ Jus drein jus daun*  →  Blood must have blood.

✚ Shof op*   → Shut up!

✚ Dann*  → death 

✚ Leidon*     → Bye.

✚ Ge smak daun, gyon op nodotaim*  → If you fall, you get up.

✚ Ai hod yu in*   → I love you.

The green forest on the slopes of Cóndor was the place with the greatest host of species on the entire land surface. The savages lived on their land, warriors divided into clans who fought for a prosperous life. During the harsh winter, the snow was stained with blood as it witnessed the brutality of the war. One hundred years after the first peace treaty the slopes lay more uneasy than ever. The beings that inhabited the forest knew what would come so they fled to save their lives.

Food began to become scarce, people began to suffer from severe malnutrition that led to death. After the border pact, each clan decided to relate the territories to manage food. With the mountain warriors remaining at the peak of the sierra, the Iron Legion to the east, and the heavenly clan to the south. Each of them had a Heda *, a commander who watched over the safety of his people.

Over the years, the generations were changing. The Hedas had children who in turn had children. This is how little by little each clan was taking its place on earth. The offspring ensured the clan's legacy. They must be the strongest, the most cunning.

But sadly not everyone was equally obedient.

"I see you," Lexa murmured in a low voice so as not to alarm the large prey that lurked. Her feet were firmly on the ground as she slowly made her way toward the large deer eating. In complete silence, she reached behind to reach an arrow to pass it through the bow. She kept her breathing calm as she had been taught. Her whole being blends so well with the forest that they seemed like one. She braced herself, pointed her bow at the deer. With one eye closed and the lip brushing the tip of the arrow. Her father would be proud if she returned to the camp with such a copy. She was certain that he would overlook her continued acts of rebellion.

However, luck was not with her that day.

Branches creaked behind her, drawing the deer's attention, causing her to run away to take refuge in the brush, making it impossible to be captured. Lexa turned on her heel with the agility of a lion to take aim at the intruder when she saw the boy appear among the trees under the gun immediately as she sighed annoyed.

“I could have killed you piece of asshole!” I exhale furiously as I hit the wood of the bow against her thigh for helplessness. Suho completely came out of her hiding place with some red on her cheeks.

"My duty as a protector is to ensure your safety," Suho completed with frustration. Her brows furrowed and her arms crossed tightly just above her toned chest.

"Apprentice of protector." And I'm not a commander yet, besides, your stupid clumsiness has made me lose my prey.

"You shouldn't go out hunting the ...

"Yes, yes, those from the mountain are close and could attack blah, blah, blah ..."

"Alexa, it's not a joke they could really kidnap you to torture you and then kill you."

"I know," he snorted. She was fully and plainly aware that the threat from the mountain tribe was real, but she couldn't stay locked up at home with her mother. Less when she got up and saw how the bright sun invited her to go out and explore the forest. Suho's words declined her mood for a few minutes. "I just wanted a little time alone to think nothing more ...

"We should go back, it will be dark soon and the forest is not safe at night," Suho advised, stepping aside so that Lexa was first. The girl nodded resignedly. Time flew by whenever he went hunting. Since her father wouldn't let her go out alone, she hardly ever, really, ever, used to be accompanied by Suho. A strange but very skilled boy whose primary function was to control even his own shadow. Over time she ended up getting used to her company, forging a small friendship that flourished over the years. Now he was her best friend. Your confidant. It's all.

But that did not remove the fact that she was too strict on issues related to her protection and security.

Sometimes she just wanted to leave. Runaway where no one will find her to live the life she chose to live, not the one others decided to live. She was not unhappy, of course not. She lived a life full of joy and love within her clan. But the whole problem centers on her father not believing her. Since she was little she learned to fight, to hunt, to do any task to be a good leader. But her mistrust placed a big blindfold on her eyes.

I was willing to show her how much she was worth.

[...]

She bit into her apple slowly to focus all her energy on the small group of novice soldiers who had gathered in front of the door of the wall. She had learned from Suho's carelessness that the Heda* took these inexperienced children to the riverside training area for routine training. Actually, she was not very curious about these types of activities, since she always followed the same routine. However, for some strange reason, she felt she should go. I did not know, I did not know it. She just followed her instinct.

They soon set out on their way, going Lexa a few meters behind so as not to be seen by her father and win a fight. Although she had tried to be calm before the threat of the mountain soldiers, she knew him like the back of her hand, she knew that Heda was not so calm and that in fact, his insistence that he would not leave the camp had increased since that Suho had come up with the brilliant idea to tell him about the episode in the forest.

When the group stopped, she decided to hide among the trees to see from a distance. Heda kept her arms glued to each end of her hip as she ran those teenagers with her typical leader's gaze.

"When the alpha team crosses the white line of the tree the beta team ..." Heda began before her daughter deftly interrupted by reciting the words from memory.

"They camouflaged themselves between the sheets to cover them."

“Well then...”

"The archers will go behind to secure the air." The fluidity of their talk was a reflection of all those sleepless nights as she was studying her father's strategy books. She did not know but had stolen them from her cabin when she was marching on reconnaissance missions. She knew that stealing the material could cause her a terrible headache, but she decided to take the risk because she knew that her father would not teach her feats in combat on her own initiative.

"Okay, get ready. This may be a drill, but the threat is real.

“What was that, Commander?” Asked a short boy with barely a gram of fat on his body. The leaves of the trees began to shake mischievously creating a rather striking sound. The humid air that covered the environment gave the premonition that it will rain soon. The children beside him began to mumble in fear as they trembled from head to foot. Heda applauded loudly to silence the scandal.

"It was the wind that anticipates tonight's storm." The commander's words reassured the children, although there were still some who continued to wave their weak arms. Without further ado, the two teams split as Heda had explained. Lexa raised a skeptical eyebrow at the children's inaccuracy when placing herself. The posture of the body was very important since it depended on it that the movement to be executed was launched accurately. They did not put the back straight and the shoulders separated as it should be, but on the contrary, they could not shrink their bodies more by bending their backs in such a way that still from their position I could see the body. She denied with a curse in her mouth as the children began to move forward creating too much noise when crawling. The dry leaves creaked, and soon a white smoke began to form above their heads from the stirred earth.

Lexa dropped her body to rest her back. She crossed one leg with the other and then did the same with her arms. Suddenly, a rather annoying light began to blur the view. She put her hand in front to cover the thread of the sun. She followed the path of annoyance until she came across a hill.

Quite suspicious cracking sounds started at the top of the mountain. When Lexa looked in his direction her eyes widened in surprise.

“Wild!” The boy's scream alerted the rest of the group. Heda glanced at the hill across the river just following the direction a boy was pointing. Her skin turned white instantly when she saw a group of twenty people slide down the slope. Then she turned to the scared, runny children.

"Roi take them back to camp!" The rest with me we can not let pass!

The sunny one nodded at her order, shouting nervously at the children to follow her and not look back. Lexa saw it necessary to get out of her hiding place to run to help her father. When she saw her daughter appear the first thing she did was frown in annoyance.

“Save the sermon for when they're not attacking us!” Lexa shouted, upset by the soldiers' shouts of struggle as they rushed forward. She reached for her backpack to grab a pair of arrows. She aimed at one in the leg, causing her to fall on her face, taking two more with her. The strength of her enemy was more capable than she thought. It was about fifty now that he had them closer. I glance quickly, closing my eyes in frustration when she barely realized it was just five soldiers without counting her father and herself. She knew they weren't enough that no matter how adept the enemy's strength was, it was far greater.

Even so, she would give even the air that was missing in her lungs so as not to let that strategic position fall into the hands of the mountain clan. Stunned by the imminent approach of his enemy, the Heda screamed at the top of their lungs that they took cover behind some trees.

The rough wood received Lexa's back as she abruptly leaned back. The hair in a ponytail stuck to her forehead from the sweat accumulated by so much stress. She breathed with her mouth open even though she knew she shouldn't waste oxygen.

She turned to her right, meeting two soldiers sheltered behind a huge rock. One of them had an arrow stuck in his thigh where a lot of blood was coming out. The other seemed almost dead, collapsed on the ground.

Overcome by courage, she comes out of hiding for a moment to shoot an arrow. She returns to her place with her eyes closed and her chest restless. The situation is so overwhelming that he cannot avoid hitting a huge stomp on the ground accompanied by a blow with a closed fist against the bark.

"Lexa." When she hears her father's weak voice she immediately looks for her position. She is relieved to see that she was not wounded like her soldiers. Although he seemed equally or more overwhelmed than her, his composure remained firm. It was totally admirable to see how cold it was in a situation like these. "Do you remember the trees that guard the bridge?"

"The red oaks."

"Those," her father agreed enthusiastically for her knowledge of the subject. Lexa hears screams near her position, wrinkles her nose furiously, and shoots an arrow that fits right into the hollow of her heart. Then she looks back at her father with interest.

"There are two standards of fire above the bridge. If you manage to fire at that fire, you will give us the time we need."

"I will, father."

"We will cover her." Two voices spoke from behind them from the two wounded soldiers. Lexa nodded confidently before gripping the mast of her bow tightly.

"Lexa." She looked at him again this time with caution. Her father's eyes shone with more than fury, they processed fear but at the same time security. Lexa knew in that instant that everything depended on her and she would not disappoint them. "Show them that you are not only the best archer but you are the best daughter they will ever have." Ste yuj. *

"This yuj. *" He repeated with all the feeling in the world. She puffed into the air, fixed her target intently, and started running toward her. She had only a few minutes to reach her goal or else it would be over. Her legs ached from the effort but that did not stop her from running. Upon reaching a standard she tore her sleeve with her teeth to wrap the fabric at the tip. She glanced back, meeting the soldiers and her father trying to endorse the enemy. His chest clenched when one of his friends fell to the ground for a date on his chest. She returned to her task with tear-filled eyes. This was not the time to cry. It had to be strong. She tried to be with all her soul. When the cloth was finally wrapped he carefully carried it toward the fire. With the flame lit, he stretched out his arm toward the oaks, remembering the exact spot where the powder was camouflaged. She closed one eye to sharpen the precision and stopped breathing. An arrow brushed her arm causing her to lose focus and she could see that there were three men running towards her with war cries. She was forced to retreat to protect herself behind the standard.

“Fuck!” Lexa moaned frustrated. She placed the arrow between her teeth and started running towards the oaks. When she was close enough to shoot, she tried again, being interrupted by the same party of men. The arrow painfully brushed her arm causing it to fall to the ground. The arrow holding her lips inevitably fell beside her. His good arm-hand wrapped his fingers around her. She got to her knees feeling the stones dig into her skin. She groaned in pain. The earth had mixed with sweat and blood. His eyesight had begun to tremble from the venom of the wound. Taking one last scream of breath, she closed her eye and shot at the oaks.

The fiery arrow impacted a perfect movement in the network of powder boxes. Immediately everything exploded creating a great avalanche of huge rocks that crushed anyone who was standing in their way down. Lexa was pushed by the explosion force. Her body rolled until she fell into the stream, which fortunately lay almost without water. With narrowed eyes she brought her palm to the wound on her arm and then brought it to her eyes, affirming her suspicion when she saw the black blood that the arrow was poisoned. Her limbs felt heavy, her hand fell to the ground almost immediately. I hear hasty footsteps heading towards her. He turned his neck to meet one of the men who was chasing him, heard how he laughed evilly at seeing her so helpless. The man threw the bow aside, seeing as the best option to remove her small knife from her belt. Lexa tried to get up but her body did not respond. As she had predicted, it was not a deadly poison but a paralyzing one.

Suddenly time began to run too slow. Just before the man reached where she lay defeated, a blue arrow pierced her chest causing her to gasp out of breath before falling forward. Lexa tried to stay awake but the tiredness had added to the terrible effect of the poison. Her eyes slowly closed. The last thing she was aware of before she fell into deep darkness was that something was lifting her along with the scent of honey.

[...]

“But what?” The whole room was spinning when she had enough strength to open her eyes. It took her a few minutes to get used to the red light in the cabin. Her palms brushed the comfort of the soft surface of a bed. When she was aware of all the above, she got up exalted. I gulp out of necessity as I anxiously traveled every inch of the room. Recognizing her cabin, she sighed with relief. As she looked down at her body, she managed to see a great revenge wrap around her wounded arm. She put a hand to her head as she placed her feet on the ground.

As she left the cabin, chaos engulfed her in the worst way. Screams of pain. Begging groans. To her relief, all the few soldiers who had fought with her father had survived, were wounded but alive. Remembering the image of her father, she walked the pile of wounded. When I couldn't find it, she started to worry. As she could, she set her feet toward the Seokjin hut, the chief healer of her clan. When she was about to enter her cabin he himself came out with a serious face that ended up scaring her. He held in his hands a white cloth stained with blood that helped him to clean himself.

“Jin what?” His questioning ended completely when his mother came out from behind him crying.

"I've done what I could, I'm sorry," said the curandero under his breath before heading towards the pile of patients. His mother watched Lexa with dead eyes. It was there that the young girl's heart was completely paralyzed.

[...]

She closed her eyes tightly to hold back the tears that threatened to come out. It was not good to be seen so openly. But it was so difficult. So difficult when her father's body lay on that pile of wood. Her heart ached to the point of not knowing if it was still beating from her weak heartbeat.

Unfortunately, her father was not the only one buried that night. Luckily for Lexa, eyes would not be on her now that the Heda was dead. I knew that later they will ask for answers but now I just didn't want to give them. She needed time to assimilate everything that had happened. Everything.

She ended up sticking out slightly as a warm hand wrapped around hers. Turning her head, she met her mother's grief-stricken smile. With her other hand, she offered her the burning stick that would burn the remains of her father and the other soldier.

"Yu gonplei ste odon *," Lexa murmured weakly. With all the pain of her broken soul, she threw the stick lighting the wood in seconds. Her mother covered her mouth with her palm to silence the sobs. Lexa simply watched as the fire created the smoke that transformed her father into the air.

[...]

She had decided to withdraw before becoming the question center. She was resting her palms on her desk with a lost gaze. Her shrugged shoulders were the living image of pain. The feeling of pain in her chest would take time to fade. Which made her wonder if she really wanted me to.

"You must follow your father's legacy." Her mother's muffled voice was heard after the movement of the cabin door.

"I don't want to talk about this now." Her voice sounded dark, sorer than ever.

"Lexa," her mother warned, approaching her daughter carefully so as not to disturb her loneliness too soon. The diadem that her mother held in her hands was what most caught her attention. "You have to wear this to ..."

"Don't ask me to use this when my father's body is still warm!" She roared loudly, grabbing the chair and knocking it to the ground, scaring her mother.

"Lexa listen to me!" The clan needs a boss. Someone who will give you security and peace.

"Don't you understand that putting that on means accepting that he's gone?" I bow my head again. She let out a piercing scream impossible to contain. She was tired of growing strong in front of people. I couldn't do it anymore. Her mother reached out to hold her in her arms. Lexa's hands were trapped on her mother's chest, simulating the gestures she gave him when something disturbed her in her childhood.

"It is your duty." her mother whispered softly in her ear knowing that the ancient language could reassure her. The little saying made him clench his fist and crinkle his clothes.

[...]

She had not slept all night. Her mother had stayed with her holding her, stroking her head from time to time so that she knew she was there, that she was not alone. At dawn he had decided to leave, leaving his mother to recover the hours of sleep that she had stolen from him.

The forest birds had stopped singing as if mourning for the dead. The roar of the forest had diminished her strength almost as much as her body movement. Getting back there after a week had been more than difficult. Probably the stupidest decision he had ever made. But I needed answers. According to Jin, the soldiers had found her on a road near the camp and not in the river where her body fell.

She decided to focus her gaze on the ground so as not to look at the mess of blood-stained rocks. Enough memories of death in your dreams.

When she got to where she thought she remembered landing, she was surprised when she recognized from a distance the lifeless body of the man who tried to kill her. Now, with her newly recovered mental abilities, she could better see the arrow stuck in her back.

A splash of water turned her stomach in such a panic that she gripped his sword tightly before aiming at whatever was behind her.

“It's me!” The man shouted desperately with his hands up as a symbol of surrender.

"Suho could have killed you!" Lexa threatened rather annoyed by her appearance. She put the sword back in its holster without taking her disappointed gaze from her friend.

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to accompany you, it's not good that you're alone right now."His reasons were disdainfully stated as she just approached crossing a small puddled area. —Why did you come to the river?

"You see that man over there?" Lexa pointed with his head making Suho follow her, ending up surprised. "He tried to kill me and someone stopped him."

"A soldier of ours?"

"No, I would swear not." He deepened with doubt as he approached the lifeless body. She bent down and when she was at the perfect height she took out the arrow. He brought the tip to the river to remove it from the blood. "It is an iron arrow." She spoke surprised, slightly opening her mouth.

"But that cannot be we have been at war with your tribe for hundreds of generations." Why would they help you?

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out."

[...]

"Heda, I know that the death of Commander Hyun is present but we must make a decision regarding the attack of the Highlanders." One of the advisers asked furiously causing the rest to rise up carrying the cry to heaven.

"Yes!"

"My son was there!"

"Mine too!"

"Revenge!"

"Shop op! *" Lexa demanded with authority, rising from her seat with force. The councilors stopped raising the scandal by lowering their heads in regret when Lexa's piercing gaze corrected them.

"We have all lost loved ones in that battle." Raising another dispute when our people are barely recovering is not a good idea.

"The commander is right." We can't start a war, it would be stupid to do it when we are weaker than ever. ”Suho leaned in beside her. Lexa immediately looked at him gratefully with a small smile.

“And what are we going to do?” Another counselor asked desperately. Lexa recognized him as the father of one of those who were injured.

"We can't just do nothing while they breathe in the oxygen that our children should have breathed," said another counselor, but with an air of revenge hidden in his calm tone.

"Revenge will come, I swear." My father's death will be paid for with the blood of his executioner. Jus drein jus daun * - she exalted with fury nailed to the pressure of her teeth. Her nostrils ended up dilating when the image of her father returned to her memory.

"What shall we do while we wait?"

"Find allies." Lexa reacted slowly.

"Where?"

"In the iron soldiers," Lexa said cautiously, knowing that the news would not be a good dish.

As predicted by the councilors, the scandal of screaming and wailing began again. Lexa returned to her seat, her eyes sharp in her reactions.

“No!” A veteran counselor yelled.

"They are worse than the mountaineers have been in permanent war for years!" I finish lamenting another.

"We have a common enemy," Lexa interrupted causing everyone to shut up again. Not wanting to go into detail, she knew that silence could be interpreted as acceptance. The councilors looked at each other with wide eyes having everything that would happen next. "Sohu, prepare three horses." We will leave at dawn to the iron village."

[...]

"But three horses?" Her mother asked fearfully as she tried to follow Lexa's hurried steps on her way to the entrance of the camp. Of course, she knew that her mother would oppose what she did not know was that Lexa had already made a decision and that she would not change her mind.

"Mom, it will be fine," Lexa assured, climbing nimbly on her dark brown horse. She gripped the reins tightly, then led the horse out of the camp. The animal meekly followed her request.

"You must take more protection, those savages are inhuman." Her mother commented too shakily. Lexa smiled faintly as she remembered the iron arrow in the river.

"You'd be surprised to know that not everything bad is always bad," was the last thing she said before shaking the reins of her horse and completely leaving the camp.

[...]

Fortunately, the path to the Iron Clan Village was not far from their encampment. In just three hours they galloped to the borders. It had been a good idea to leave early so they would not return at night being aware that the attack by the mountain tribe was still very recent.

As his ingenious thought predicted, they soon came across soldiers from the Iron Village who will try to stop their advance. He was aware that what had happened in the river had probably reached the Iron Clan and that they had reinforced their vigilance. It is for this reason that he only decided to take three soldiers so that they did not see his arrival as a surprise attack.

“Who's going?” A muscular and built soldier roared forcefully. Despite not having a great height, he was in front of the two soldiers who accompanied him, so Lexa deduced that he was his superior.

"I am Lexa Skycru, the new commander of the celestial people." And I come because I want to speak to your commander. — she spoke with the same force as the soldier so that she could see that she was not afraid. The soldier, a blond man with small eyes and prominent lips, analyzed his horse from top to bottom and then his two soldiers and Suho before observing his own and finally nodding slowly.

[...]

"Sorry but no weapons allowed." The blond man said kindly as he pointed with his finger at the sword tucked in his belt. He noticed how Suho tensed from head to toe when I looked askance at him. Lexa nodded, then began to strip off her weapons one by one and place them in a wooden box. When she was finally clean the blonde nodded and opened the door.

A firm hand on her wrist held her back.

"I'm out here," Suho muttered to Lexa. He was careful to speak slowly and fluently so that she understood his message. When Lexa nodded to reassure him he finally released her.

As soon as she entered, she found a row of seats occupied by men who looked down on her as she advanced. Glancing ahead, she found a tall, strong man playing with a knife.

“You the one who killed thirty mountain warriors with a single arrow?” Her skin bristled as the man used a dominant low tone to address her. He wasn't looking at her but that didn't stop him from knowing that with his eyes he could melt anyone. To her surprise, the man had her eye area covered in black ink typical of a soldier ready for combat. The red stone pasted on his forehead confirmed his identity.

"I did my best to protect mine." I wasn't sure why I was reacting defensively. She only had the need to explain that what happened was not for the mere pleasure of killing but for an unselected need.

Her words evoked curiosity, she directed her gaze towards Lexa, keeping her still, that despite the black paint in her eyes, she managed to see from afar some deep eyes that could read thoughts. As if her comment had caused him any amusement, he cocked an arrogant smile as he stabbed the knife into the back of his large chair.

“What are you doing here Lexa Skycru of the celestial town?” She asked again with that finishing tone that left her brain without connections for a brief moment.

"I can help you beat the Men of the Mountain." She started with what she had come to say by making the Heda increase her ego smile. Her advisers began to mumble nonsense, but that didn't stop her or cut her eye contact with him. "The only way to protect our people is if we unite."

"I'm still waiting for a proposal, princess." The commander threw with mocking daggers causing his allies to start laughing at her.

Lexa clenched her fists tightly to calm herself even knowing that the urge to punch her would soon outweigh that of standing still.

"We have more gold than you can imagine."

“What makes you think I need gold?” She slowly lifted her body from the wooden throne without taking off losing eye contact to load the tension situation. The Heda raised an eyebrow as he approached slowly. "I have everything I need."

"As much as he has a person, he always wants something more." It was not difficult for Lexa to think like this due to the constant discussions her father had had with one of the advisers on greed issues. They were almost always due to the extreme desire to seize someone else's land. Even with everything, they wanted more and she was sure that the man before her would not deny that theory.

"Well ..." He stretched the word creating a silence in the room that caused Lexa's heart to stop when perceiving how Heda's eyes traveled up and down her small body. "... yes, there is something that does not I have and I would like to have.

[...]

She left the cabin looking blank. Suho, true to her word, had waited in front of the horses with her bow and sword in hand. Seeing her approach, he straightened up worried. It was not long before her eyes caught the man outside the cabin watching Lexa's departure. Suho closed his eyes to the stranger who for some strange reason did not give him a good feeling. He did not like the arrogant smile on his mouth, much less that he did not stop looking at Lexa as if his visit had caused him too much satisfaction.

When Lexa reached her side, Suho returned the weapons, which she began to put in place immediately.

Seeing her head down speechless Suho bowed his head sadly.

"You're good?"

"Not now, Suho." Let's just go.-she asked quite urgently. She mounted her horse quickly causing Suho and the other two to imitate her gesture. As the last action, Lexa squinted at the hut, made brief eye contact with the Heda again before leaving with her horse.

[...]

Jeon Jungkook. The Heda of the Iron Legion.

She couldn't get that name out of her head. Now much less. Since her arrival, she had been harassed with many questions from the council, from the soldiers, but especially the most exhaustive were those of her mother. She had not wanted to answer, did not see the situation as adequate. She decided that the news of the inter-tribal union would come later when it became formal. It wouldn't reveal something when it might not happen in the future. Actually, I still hoped it didn't happen.

"You didn't want to explain it to anyone, but I know it will be different with me." Her friend Suho's safety was perhaps the one that woke her up from her isolation from the outside world. The man approached with her typical persuasive smile. Lexa wanted to smile but could only wince.

"It's complicated, Suho. If I'm honest with you, I don't know what has happened or what will happen." Lexa confessed dubiously, drawing the attention of her friend who began to worry when the girl hid her head in the hollow of her legs.

"Has she done something to you?" Something changed within her when she thought that this proud commander stained her honor. Or worse ... She dared to touch you!

"No," Lexa denied, offended by her projected attack, so inappropriate and unnecessary. Lexa sighed when she was overcome by the situation. It was the first time that I didn't know how to solve any problem. Suho kept her eyes open with a wrinkled nose as she breathed hard through her mouth until Lexa dismissed her thought. Afterward, she relaxed but was not entirely calm. "Actually, he's been ... generous, so to speak."

"Have you accepted the gold?" After speaking, Suho noticed how Lexa's spirits fell even further. She slowly denied it.

"So what did she ask you ..."

"For me ..." He swallowed, continues. "... He wants me to be his wife."

"Than!" I could have sworn that Suho's anguished roar echoed throughout the forest. She approached a rock. She picked it up and then threw it against a tree causing a terrifying crunch as a pile of leaves fell to the ground. She seemed to be gone, more than that, her bloodshot eyes begging for Jungkook's head. When he finished expressing his anger, he turned to Lexa, who was still in her hunched position. "Did you refuse?"

"I can not do it..."

"Shit!" This time she screamed again, scaring Lexa at seeing her so out of control. He wanted to return, he wanted to have entered with her, to have accompanied her. She knew that she shouldn't have been taking care of the horses that should have been by her side to avoid these things. He felt a great avalanche of contrary feelings, he had a lot of furies that activated him violently, but he also had a lot of guilt for not having done the only thing he should do.

Protect it.

"It has been a good counteroffer that has ensured the protection of my people and Ronald's head," I yell desperately with a lump in my throat that makes it difficult to stabilize his tone.

"But are you listening to yourself?" Suho intervened hysterically. He put his hands to his head and ruffled his hair. "You can not do it ...

-It is my duty.

"Since when the fucking duty of a Heda is ... Damn!" Other than if he started walking in circles. He tried to calm down, but the image of Jungkook smiling lit the fuse again. He knew from the moment he saw that arrogant attitude that something had happened that he never imagined was this. She could not marry him. I couldn't when she ...

"What about you, what do you really want?"

"What I want doesn't matter."

"No, Lexa! It does matter! Yes ..." Lexa suddenly lowered her gaze to Sohu to find her gaze fixed on the ground and with the reflection of a tear on her cheek. "You can not do this ...

You cannot do this to yourself.

"A good leader has to think of others." And for better or for worse, it is my last word on the subject.

“Lexa!” Even though She's screams were heartbreaking, she forced herself to continue on her way to her cabin, leaving aside the river of tears that fell down her cheeks.

[...]

"Put your signature here to finish the process," explained the counselor, annoyed at his lateness. It had been on purpose. The longer it delayed the union the better. He looked at the opaque paper carefully. The feather had begun to dance on his fingers in sweat. He pursed his lips. I swallow deeply. He hadn't even dressed appropriately for the occasion. Certainly, she had never wasted time thinking about what her perfect wedding would be like but she knew that it was far from being it.

The pen hesitated in her hands. The first to sign had been Jungkook. To her surprise, she didn't seem to have much doubt installed on her face. Virtually the ink ran down the paper for his surprising interest.

Was I doing the right thing?

What if Sohu was right?

You don't even want to imagine how you will be when you find out that you have married Jungkook. Of course, the council was not far from being horrified, but he cared little for the opinion of four insufferable old men. He reminded himself that it was the best option. Jungkook put at his disposal an army ready to follow his orders and a promise to finish off the mastermind of his father's death. And you would have just that with just one signature. Looking at it from another perspective, actually, the loser was Jungkook. But from his, of course, that she lost much more.

I rest the tip of the pen on the paper, it did not move. Jungkook looked at her seriously. He knew that he doubted and for some strange reason his doubt made him think for a brief second.

"Congratulations." The tired counselor finished when, after an eternal wait, Lexa finally drew her signature on the paper. Jungkook smirked at the man before he left the hut leaving them alone.

"Why don't we go to my cabin?" We have to adjust a few things. ”She didn't even look at him, just nodded too lost to make the connections necessary to speak.

[...]

"Tomorrow I will send a pair of warriors to guard the wall of your camp," Jungkook commented as he entered his cabin. Lexa passed under it as Jungkook held it with his eyes. "Don't do it again if you want to keep your hand."

“You're my wife, get used to being touched!” He returned forcefully, approaching her to keep his gaze just as wild. A roar came from inside her chest when she was so rejected.

“I will have the title of your wife but I am not your wife!” He swept her body with a contemptuous look causing Jungkook to widen his nostrils. The vein in his neck was protruding from the blood pressure in his head.

Jungkook made an arrogant smile. "You will be what I want you to be, princess."

"No, I will be what I want to be." His voice was so hard and firm that Jungkook broke his smile. Raising her head high above Lexa again swept her body with more than contempt. "I'll be your fucking woman in front of the public but don't expect anything else."

Leaving her with the word in her mouth, she left the cabin furiously back to her camp.

[...]

The horseback ride to the river was smooth, with no enemies in sight. This time it had required bringing in more than three soldiers. This time the leaders of his warriors' brigades were with him. They were heading towards the southern part of the forest, just the point where a rock ended the river. It was in that place where she had arranged to meet Jungkook and her men.

The Heda had kept his word and had sent a party of men to assist his own in protecting the camp. Some disputes had arisen between newcomers and residents but Lexa managed to logically eradicate the problem. He provided them with food and water as well as a roof to sleep in but in exchange, they could not approach the villagers unless necessary.

"Sorry." A soft voice beside her made her turn her head in search of the owner. Suho had his head on his shoulders as a sign of regret along with a look full of regret. Lexa offered a small awkward smile. It was true that lately, she had distanced herself a lot from Suho since she learned the news of their marriage. She had been so busy organizing meetings with her allies that she had not had time to think about her personal life. Fortunately, Suho had.

"I'm sorry too," she replied with the same distress. Her smile turned into a pout just before it turned into a grimace. “Just because I married her doesn't mean I should change my life, Suho. I hope you understand that.

"I know, it just took me a while to figure it out." She swallowed, embarrassed by her immature attitude. Really, she would not have wanted Lexa to see her in that facet of her personality. " You did what you thought was best for your people. Your sacrifice deserves all my respect."

"I am his paper wife but not in fact." I will not stop being who I am and I will not stop being your friend.

"Glad to hear that," Suho said brighter as she smiled. Lexa nodded a little better now that the rancor was gone.

"We have arrived, Heda," announced a commander, interrupting the small competition of glances between the friends. Lexa saw from afar a small tent tied to some rocks as support. She sighed deeply before getting off the horse. It was the same blond warrior from the last visit who met them at the door. Like the other time, they had to divest themselves of weapons before entering. From what Lexa could tell, the warriors inside the tent weren't very equipped either.

"I thought you dumped me, princess." The clear mockery in Jungkook's voice caused a forced smile. Suho closed his eyes around Jungkook who was leaning against a wooden table. The black-haired man shook her hair as she straightened, surprising Lexa when she noticed the lack of black ink. It was the first time that Jungkook showed the skin of her bare face. His features were exposed before his eyes. Big deer eyes, no matter how expressive they emitted force. Bushy eyebrows that perfectly matched the color of his brown eyes. His nose was large but surprisingly in complete symmetry with his perfect face. He looked at her mouth, those gullies that smiled wickedly whenever they could seem soft and fluffy. Arguably, her beauty lived up to her ego.

Lexa followed her mocking smile to dominate the situation. "I'm not going to apologize for being busy."

"No, of course not," she added keeping the same mischievous tone.

Jungkook kept looking at her and she at him. Without knowing it, they had started a war of glances that none wanted to lose. Absent to the warriors that were in the place. It was just Lexa, Jungkook, and her higher ego.

[...]

"They have two settlements here and here," the blond commander whose name was known to be Jimin said aloud. He pointed with the tip of his finger at two marked crosses he had drawn on the map. Lexa frowned thoughtfully. She analyzed the strategic points in her head.

"Then let's attack," Suho concluded simply. The sound of an ironic smile made Lexa look at Jungkook.

“It is not an important military zone. If we attack we would lose the surprise factor. And they will strengthen the vigilance of those that do interest us. ”Jungkook added with an air of superiority. It sounded so obvious that Suho's brow furrowed as she perceived Jungkook's clear intentions in lowering her opinion. The warriors began to present their ideas, but Lexa could only focus on the red circle that she had drawn on top of a set of mountains.

"What's that?" All the men stopped talking when Lexa intervened. Jimin raised his eyebrows disoriented, emitted a confused low before answering. Jungkook immediately watched her closely.

"That is your most important military zone. I have underlined it in red because it is almost impossible to get to it without going through others before." It is very well protected.

Lexa narrowed her eyes as a crazy idea began to develop in her head. "It's near the river."

"Am, yes," Jimin commented again, confused by his sudden interest. "Well, it's a good place to settle down."

"I propose that we attack this area here," proposed a warrior from his clan, taking some objections from the other soldiers. Despite the hubbub of low voices, Lexa's mind remained clean and clear. She bit her indecisive lip. She was staring intently at the map for answers. When the gear on her head finally clicked she raised her eyebrows and looked straight ahead. To her surprise, she met Jungkook's curious gaze that watched her closely as if she were having the same mental fight.

"Let's attack the red zone." After Lexa's words, the men closed their mouths. They all acted incredulous with their eyes wide open.

Suho blinked at Lexa as if her friend had suddenly gone crazy. The warriors of her clan chose not to oppose her out of respect even though they were of the same opinion as Suho.

The only one who reacted favorably was Jungkook.

" I agree. Let's attack the red zone. ”She pursed her lips in a pout in her assent. This time it was the warriors of her clan who watched her as if she had lost her mind. Lexa eyed her intrigued by her unexpected support. Jungkook rested his big hands on the table so the distance between the two was not very long. Jungkook reciprocated brought his eyes from the map to her with such intensity that a chill ran down her spine.

"No intention of offending Hedas but ... That area is practically inaccessible, there are many warriors and we do not know the area as well as they do." A warrior intervened with respect but with a clear caution in his tone of voice, taking his gaze instantly. Jungkook and Lexa's.

Suho ducked his head towards Lexa to say something to him in a low voice. “You are right, Lexa. It is crazy.

Lexa stared blankly at the map. I knew it was. That is, who in her right mind would get into enemy territory and attack one of its strongest points with hardly any superficial information. Of course, she knew, but her instincts told her that she must continue forward.

"If what is on the map is true, the only source of food and water is the river." She spoke more to herself than to the rest. There was no doubt in her voice just a little uneasiness. She was letting herself be controlled too much by the voice in her head and was beginning to wonder if she should let it interfere with her decisions. "There are much closer military settlements but if we get them to move they will leave us free."

"Okay, suppose we unknowingly leave the way open." How would we do it? ”Silence reigned in the store due to the lack of answers.

"Contaminating the river," Jungkook said in her deep low voice.

Lexa looked back at him quickly, finding herself strangely connected to his gaze on her.

[...]

The meeting didn't take long after Jungkook's idea. They planned an interim plan to have something done for the next meeting. Lexa left the store satisfied. The meeting had exceeded her expectations in every way. Certainly, if she was honest she had always thought it was a waste of time. That they would not agree. But it was just the opposite, her warriors and those of the iron clan got on so well that there was hardly any discussion outside the main topic.

Lexa went to her horse tied to a tree located a few meters from the store which they had begun to dismantle. Suho was at her side, accompanying her as always.

“Princess!” The familiar mockery of her voice made him stop short. Lexa made a forced smile and then turned to Jungkook heavily. "Do you have a few minutes?"

Lexa swept her body suspiciously before nodding. "Sure."

Jungkook stretched out his arm in the direction of the riverbank. His arrogant smile made her nervous. Lexa sighed and started walking in that direction.

"Alone," Jungkook roared loudly towards Suho when she saw her intentions to follow Lexa. Suho formed a forced smile while emitting a short sarcastic laugh.

"I will leave if Lexa asks me." The same roar returned. Jungkook also laughed with the same intensity as she took a few steps in their direction so that they were face to face.

"Lexa? What trusts are those with your commander?" Jungkook spat with a hard look.

However, Suho saw the right moment to form a more than sarcastic smile. "She is much more than that to me."

After his deep confession, Jungkook brought out his teeth when he smirked. His tongue came out of her mouth to touch her fang. Then he hit his inner cheek. All that while watching the horse behind his Suho. When he turned his hard gaze again, it had intensified even more accompanied by a wicked smile that shouted nothing but pure contempt. Suho was not left behind crossing his arms as he bravely kept his gaze up.

"Suho, stay," Lexa interrupted, holding her arm in a warm gesture. Suho looked at Lexa with doubt over her eyes. Her expression had relaxed as she felt the warmth of his touch wrap around her arm. Action that Jungkook silently watched. He didn't know exactly what bothered him the most if he saw how her voice managed to control him or the delicacy of his grip. After a stare fight with her friend, Lexa looked closely at Jungkook.

"She couldn't hurt me even though she will try."

"Okay ..." Suho agreed quite calmly until he looked back at Jungkook leading his gaze back to anger.

Jungkook smiled triumphantly despite his sour character. He did not detach his gaze from Suho walking backward until he reached the open area of ​​the river where Lexa waited impatiently with his arms crossed.

"What do you want?" Seeing his voice so changed Jungkook felt more annoyed than before. Before he could bear the contempt of his gaze but not now when he had witnessed that he could look with other eyes.

"This was not what we agreed," he accused indignantly without taking his gaze from Lexa's. Jungkook wanted to be indifferent and he succeeded but when Lexa smiled the same way his gaze doubted a second. Really, he wasn't used to anyone standing up to him. Much less a woman.

“Haven't I married you?” Jungkook growled annoyed at the irony scattered in his tone of voice. I look away from the river in search of tranquility. His sharp jaw gleamed almost like an apparition from the reflection of sunlight. It was not the only thing that caught his attention but in fact, the scar he found on his cheekbone was more entertaining. He wondered its origin, it was not very large, nor very visible. It was the perfect combination that hardened his angelic face.

"You know what I mean." Annoyed, he replied through a whimpering moan.

He looked at her again unsatisfied, Lexa blew out annoyed.

"I think my point was made clear the other day." She exposed resentfully as she uncrossed her arms and let them drop heavily on either side of her body. "If that's all."

"No." Jungkook stopped him in his escape attempt. Lexa rolled her eyes returning to her position. She raised her eyebrows indicating that she should continue speaking. "Our camps are protected by different walls."

"Yes and what?"

"Well, I really see foolishness to have two camps with two different walls when their bosses are married." As Jungkook was exposing her headache, Lexa's eyebrows were rising. "I've thought of building a common wall."

"Joining the camps, is that what you're trying to tell me?" Lexa asked. In response, Jungkook nodded seriously. Lexa averted her eyes to the stream at her feet as if seeking inspiration. She moaned thoughtfully.

She dropped her defensiveness to a more open one. Jungkook's proposal had taken him by surprise, but he had not liked it too much. Having a common wall means increasing the territory of both fields. More space to plant, more space for families, proximity to the river, more protection ... It was a quite smart proposal because the military strength would also increase.

Jungkook raised an eyebrow while waiting for an answer.

"If you don't agree, I will accept it."

"No, no ..." he interrupted quickly. Jungkook let him continue speaking patiently. "... actually, it's a good idea."

"Fine," Jungkook simplified.

"Yes," she agreed in the same way.

"I will test the proposal on the council, but for me, it will go ahead."

Jungkook nodded his head. "I thought the stone area would be a good place to mark the new joint wall."

"Yes, it is a good area," she agreed in the agreement. Then he pursed his lips in pleasure. Jungkook nodded again, ending the conversation. "Leidon. *

"Leidon. *" Jungkook replied.

Lexa circled her body to return to her horse. Suho stopped looking at Jungkook's back to focus on her. Lexa sent a reassuring smile before her body fell to the ground.

She moaned dizzy. Everything was spinning. She put her hand to her head. She looked at her hand and found it flooded with blood later, with her eyes closed.

[...]

"You're protective shit," cursed a distorted voice that echoed inside his head. She groaned disoriented. I try to open my eyes but couldn't find the strength to do it. The senses began to perceive things again. Weakly closed his hand noting in his inner palm a kind of soft surface.

"Shut the fuck up!" Another different but equally deformed scream collided with the other voice inside the dark pit of his head.

"Enough both!" The third exciting voice-activated enough mechanisms to start reacting. "Sorry, but he is her husband, he has more right to be here than you, Suho ...

“Suho?” Lexa stuttered dizzy, catching the attention of the three pairs of eyes. The nominee hurried to the gurney when I hear his faint voice.

“Lexa? OMG. No, don't talk. Save your strength. ”He shook her hand with his to make her feel like he was next to her. Lexa slowly opened her eyes feeling overwhelmed for a few seconds by the focus of light after so much darkness.

She brought her free hand to her forehead, meeting the rough touch of a patch. "What happened to me, Suho?"

"They tried to kill you," another stronger voice replied. With improved eyesight, she saw Jungkook appear at the foot of her stretcher sending a serious look.

"I ..." A sob turned his attention to his friend. "... Sorry." I didn't know what was happening until you fell to the ground.

"You should rest. You hit yourself in the head very hard." Jin interjected kindly, appearing next to Jungkook with a worried look.

As if the number of people who had so suddenly invaded his field of vision was not enough, a Jungkook warrior joined the meeting and whispered something in his ear, then left as if nothing had happened. He analyzed Jungkook's serious expression so he assumed he had received bad news.

"My men have caught her," Jungkook said in the neutral voice typical of a person announcing something unpleasant.

Lexa frowned."Her?"

[...]

They waited in the council room in complete silence. Jin had advised Lexa to continue resting but she refused to do so. Even more so when the identity of her aggressor would be revealed in the assembly. She could see that there was no one from her clan, so she assumed that her mother had not been informed of the attack, otherwise she would have been there screaming in the sky.

His chair was next to Jungkook's. An egalitarian gesture that he certainly did not see coming. The rest of the councilors waited patiently in their respective places on either side of the thrones.

A high pitched scream of fighting began to sound closer and closer. Lexa tensed in the seat straightened her body. Jungkook felt the force of his nails dig into the wood out of the corner of his eye so he immediately put his hand on it to reassure her. Lexa stopped losing air through her mouth to look at him surprised without success as Jungkook looked straight ahead.

"Hedas," said a soldier by way of greeting. He bowed his head in respect. Then, Lexa turned her eyes to the front, what she found was completely paranoid. A girl of no more than thirteen years old lay at the feet of the warrior tied hand and foot with her knees on the ground and her head down.

Lexa blinked at Jungkook before whispering in a confused whisper.

"It's a girl."

Jungkook watched her closely, then nodded almost as shocked as she was. Lexa watched her tiny figure cautiously.

"You tried to kill me, why?" Lexa raised her voice so that the message would reach the end of the cabin where the girl was waiting gagged.

The girl used her straight blonde Caucasian hair to cover her face. She raised her head to Lexa, who was waiting impatiently for her answer, but lowered it again, ignoring her question: "Is Ronald sending you?"

“Answer!” Jungkook demanded, burning with deep rage. Lexa jumped out of the seat briefly at the poisonous impact of her voice.

"My soul is at peace because I will die knowing that I will try," the girl recited weakly. Everyone in the room looked at each other as they muttered.

"Try what?" Lexa asked, still not overcoming the strangeness in her voice.

"Kill my parents' killer," he roared in response, his voice dark and bloodshot.

The room was once again in deep dazzling silence.

"I didn't kill your parents." Lexa frowned in confusion.

"You killed them when you decided to shoot that arrow of fire." The murmurs soon returned with full force. Lexa was static in the seat. Memories of the chaos she caused hit her mind too hard. Screams of pain and suffering echoed inside her head. She wasn't aware of the present until she heard hurried footsteps heading toward her.

-Murderess! Murderess!

“Take her away!” Jungkook growled furiously at the warriors who had intercepted the girl on her way to Lexa. The girl resisted. She kicked the air and she didn't stop screaming until she was taken out of the cabin. Looking blankly, Lexa realized that the nightmares of her dreams were her fault. She had summoned her demons and that girl had just reminded him of the disaster they had caused. Now!

Jungkook's scream lifted the advisors from their places. Murmurs flooded the cabin until the last of them came out. Left alone, Jungkook frowned in concern at Lexa.

"We are not that different," she assumed in a neutral tone. She kept her gaze focused on the gap where the warriors had dragged the girl. Lexa sighed deeply and then bit her lip restlessly. That girl wanted to end the murderer of her parents. She wanted to do the same. They were the same intentions but different contexts. Her chest was tight with guilt.

"You chose to save yours above all else," Jungkook argued in a persuasive tone. He rose from the throne to place himself on his knees in front of his. With the kneecap glued to the step. I try to meet her gaze but Lexa did not respond.

"I have left that girl orphaned." The neutral tone repeated itself this time being much more serious. Lexa swallowed hard as she became aware of the consequences of her actions.

"You killed so they won't kill you," Jungkook corrected gravely, causing the seriousness of his voice to activate the mechanisms of his head and finally react to his gaze. There was so much intensity in those brown eyes that I almost begged him to keep talking. "The path of a Heda is not easy, Lexa." I know you will make the right decision.

The right decision.

It is amazing how three words can change a person's destiny. Whether she will live or die. Their traditions were clear. Asking blood for blood but ... Was that really the damn right decision?

Did that girl deserve death for wanting to avenge her parents?

Did that girl deserve punishment when she craved the same?

[...]

Quite possibly it had been the worst night of his life. The nightmares returned with force, upsetting his sleep so much to the point of preventing it. If I closed my eyes I saw blood. If I closed my eyes I saw a fire. If he closed his eyes ... he saw the death of his father.

She closed her eyes in anguish. The time helped to clarify the ideas but in her case, it had only served to fuel further doubts. I know that many people were waiting outside, wanting to hear a sentence. The screams managed to interfere with her cabin as if she were there. But she didn't know if she preferred silence more.

As she came out of her cabin completely, the outside noise hit her ears harder. As the intuition of people following an event like this had intuited was countless. Making her way between her subjects out posing right in front of the girl who was tied to a wooden stick. Jungkook was just behind sitting on his throne patiently awaiting his arrival.

When he did, he got up, which made everyone present obediently shut up to listen to his Heda.

"We are here for trial on charges of attempted murder." Lexa Skycru of the Heavenly Clan will be the one to sentence you. ”Jungkook shouted dominance at all his subjects. Lexa turned her head back to watch when her eyes made contact. Jungkook nodded.

"Let her die now or be silent forever."

"Yes! Death! ”A maddened warrior ruled causing others to rise up with the same messages."

—Jus drein jus daun! *

"Let it burn!"

"Yes!"

Lexa squeezed her eyes shut at the rumbling so disturbing the warriors' uncontrollable and disorderly screams caused.

"There will be no death!" Lexa cried with the same dominance as Jungkook. Then she looked at the soldier who was closely watching the girl. "Let her go." The screams thundered again for her incomplete satisfaction. The girl slowly raised her head towards Lexa who did not stop looking seriously. "You will give a message to your commander." Let him know that the heavenly tribe and the iron tribe are going to kill him. We give you two weeks to remove all women and children from your territory. After that time a blood fight will open.

"What makes you think I will comply?" Answered the girl, forming a hypocritical umbrella.

Lexa took her lips off. "I couldn't avoid the deaths of your parents. I ask you to help me avoid others."

[...]

A couple of weeks had passed since the bonfire incident. Everything had passed without further interruption. According to the testimony of a soldier sent for recognition, the threat to Ronald's clan had taken effect because he witnessed people leaving their lands to head towards the mountains. Arguably, that had been a small victory in the war that was about to take place.

Now, for the moment, having controlled the war theme, Lexa decided to focus on the construction of the wall that would unify the celestial lands with those of iron. As expected, some snags had arisen from her advisers, but Lexa had managed to persuade them by showing them the many advantages that it would offer. Of course, the one that was most accepted was the extension of land and therefore wealth.

She had been in her hair for about two hours, observing from a distance how artisans worked. She ran her forearm across her forehead to wipe away the sweat. The sun shone hotly high in the sky, suffocating her presence. Despite being sheltered under the shade of the tree, the temperature was inhumane. When the reflection of the river water called her in a mirage, she came to him like bees to honey.

Jungkook, who was also in the same conditions when she saw Lexa heading to the river to cool off, decided to follow in her footsteps.

Suho, who in fact was also the same decision to do the same but with other intentions being stopped by a familiar voice.

“Where are you going?” A hand attacked by the passage of time wrapped her forearm holding. Suho blinked at the woman he recognized as Lexa's mother. The woman looked in the same direction as him, clicking her tongue. "Let them speak."

"I don't want to let him clear the way," Suho confessed with a deep tone full of jealousy, still watching Jungkook approach Lexa from behind.

"Suho ..." However, Kerin's melancholic whisper diverted him from his focus. The woman watched him sadly. "There was never away."

[...]

She left her shoes on some rich ones to put her feet in the water. The cold sensation sent cramps all over her body. She sighed thoughtfully as her gaze fell to the shell necklace her father gave her when she hunted her first rabbit. Unconsciously she held it tightly between her malpa as if the gesture could make her return. In fact, no. The whole situation with the girl had unearthed a pain that he thought was relieved.

The night before she had had what she believed to be one of her worst nightmares. Eg the dream, her body took the place of the girl. Her hands were painfully tied with string. In front of her was the girl holding a stick with fire on its tip. Her macabre laugh sounded when she saw that her attempts to free herself always end in failure. Suddenly, a familiar figure appeared just behind the girl. Lexa smiled at her father who was looking at her with pity. But everything became darker, more confusing. Her father had stopped smiling, now, now she was pushing the stick down so that it caught the leaves under her feet. Everything seemed to go further and further until she woke up.

"It hurts, it's normal." A voice behind her spoke. Lexa slowly opened her eyes out of her reverie. Then, she looked at Jungkook who was looking at her worried from the top of a rock. Unlike her eyes that contemplated her beauty reflected in the sun, his followed the path of the tear that ran down his cheek. "I also thought at some point that I would not overcome pain but I did."

"How?" She asked. Her chest tightened accordingly as her distressed voice shone from her appearance.

"Recognizing what it is: weakness," Jungkook replied seriously. Keeping his gaze fixed on her until Lexa lowered his towards the river.

"Love? I can't live like this. ”I groan angrily, then, turning around, she grabbed her shoes and walked to her horse, leaving Jungkook silent.

[...]

Burdened by the endless hours of council meetings she ends up running away from the back of the cabin. She coughs in the face of the unwelcome sting of the sun that blinds her until she is used to her vision.

“Get up and fight!” A wild scream draws her attention completely. Looking for the origin of the problem, he sees from afar a group of children sitting in a circle. In the middle, a tall woman with brown hair pulled back into a braid, thin but with a muscular body, keeps them with their heads down while yelling at a child on the floor.

"I'm tired ..." Her voice sounds so weak and it is when she finishes approaching that she notices the brightness of her tears on her cheeks.

But the woman laughs. "In war, death does not distinguish who is and who is not. Raise!"

"Hey!" Lexa growled annoyed, catching the attention of the woman and the children who looked back immediately. "He told you he can't take it anymore."

"It is an exhaustive training I already knew what I was facing." The warrior answers with hypocrisy giving her a look of few friends.

"Besides, it is her punishment for being the weakest."

"And it seems fair to you? Who fights against you who have more experience?"

Lexa raised an eyebrow as she placed her hands on her pitcher-shaped hip. The children's eyes went between Lexa and the warrior with caution.

“Are you free if you want to take her place?” She offered, giving him a mocking bow.

Lexa walked confidently towards her until she stopped when she reached the center of the circle. A child helped the wounded man to get up to sit him completing the circle.

“What are the rules?” He shook his head in her direction.

"Until you can't take it anymore," she added with a hint of wicked amusement in her voice. He smiled as the tips of his fingers enthusiastically brushed the edge of his sword. Lexa pouted her mouth before nodding.

The warrior attacked first with all her might. Lexa dodged the blow with agility and then returned it with the same force. Their swords clashed screeching at the contact.

Lexa's feet were firmly planted on the ground providing stability. The warrior slapped her shoulder against his but Lexa held her position as if nothing had happened.

Then, the warrior brought out a toothy smile. "You are skillful who would say it when ..." She brought her mouth to whisper in her nose.

Lexa ironic river."The value of a woman is not measured in the number of cocks she raises."

Their swords unhook and collide again this time with more fury. Lexa glared at her with a hard but triumphant look when she realized that the warrior's feet were dragged along the ground by her strength.

"Of course not," she growled in response, pulling away. She stepped back to catch her breath as she swung her sword gracefully.

"Because I'm only interested in lifting one."

Lexa frowned in surprise when she realized the gaze was directed at something behind her. Curiosity won the game when he followed the direction, meeting Jungkook and two warriors in the middle of a conversation in the distance. Lexa swallowed hot with the inexplicable heat that began to melt her insides.

She'd lost track of time so much that she didn't see Raven kicking her back, knocking her to the ground. Lexa coughed when dirt got into her mouth. Then, she turned angrily towards Raven who was smiling victoriously. Lexa was mentally punished for being so foolishly distracted when she was in the middle of a fight.

"It's funny that you are husband and wife but you sleep in different cabins," Raven continued with provocation.

"Trouble in paradise? Already realized that you are not worth anything?"

Lexa threw a blow to her stomach so hard that the warrior's body landed two feet away.

"If you're so anxious to take my place, do it." Lexa roared with her fists clenched and her nostrils dilated by her altered breathing.

Raven dropped to her knees with her hand on her stomach as she laughed wickedly and watched her in pain. "I already have."

Lexa blinked, not knowing why her body was completely paralyzed. Raven scrambled to her feet trying to punch directly into her jaw but Lexa didn't fall that time, intercepting her arm to twist him in the back and then kneeing her in the mouth, knocking her to the ground proclaiming herself the winner.

"Well, enjoy it," Lexa yelled passively, not showing the least bit of affection. He watched her from above in disgust as he circled her to get away from there not before releasing his last attack. “So much that you like to lift things try to get up now.”

[...]

"What was that?" Suho asked, walking slowly through the trees as he approached. Lexa under the arch, forgetting about the rabbit that ran free through a clearing. When he saw the expression on her face, he clicked his tongue at the surprisingly fast rumors that ran through his people.

"Comprehensive training," she clarified simply by pointing back to the clearing. She pursed her lips in a dissatisfied pout when she found it empty.

"And since when do you take a thorough training so seriously?" Suho scoffed, raising an eyebrow in amusement.

"Do you like me?" Lexa asked hastily without a hint of lucidity in her voice or disturbed expression.

"What?" Eyelid Suho.

"As a woman."

"Oh," she uttered in surprise as her senses returned to stress. Suho gulped foolishly for taking a few seconds to start the mechanisms in her head again. "Are you smart, fair, and brave who wouldn't like you?

"I don't mean that, but the physical." Do you think men can like me? ”She sighed. She frowned sadly and bit her cheek nervously. Lexa had never been an insecure woman but she couldn't help falling into the labyrinth of doubt since she had that fight with Raven. Her voice sounded confident and firm without hesitation in her advances. She hated feeling so affected. She was envious of her experience and a strange avalanche of punctures in her stomach when she pictured her with Jungkook. Because it was obvious. There was something between them, why else would he let go of that without foundations on which to lean. There was also the possibility that she just wanted to give him a hard time but his head guided her to the first option over and over again.

-Why do you ask me that?

"It doesn't matter." Lexa smiled sheepishly avoiding her curious gaze. Never. But never. I would tell something so intimate to Suho.

"I think ..." Suho whispered, drawing her attention to the intimate tone she used. "... you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen." You have the most beautiful smile in the world, Lexa.

Suho couldn't help but spread a medium smile. There was a warm glow in her eyes, too revealing a glow with feelings so far hidden from her. Lexa opened her eyes in surprise.

Feeling against the sword and the wall before her revealing gaze.

"Hmm ... do you think this area is suitable for camping?" Lexa added, turning her head towards the map.

"What?" She said absently. "Oh, yes, it's good," she answered calmly, still admiring the way her hair covered her left profile. Suho couldn't help but smile relaxed. "It's very good."

[...]

"This is it, thanks for listening." Lexa finished towards the councilors, saying goodbye with a polite smile. After the third and last meeting of the week on the previews of the new wall, she felt less weight to worry about. She sighed resignedly turning to Jungkook who kept his eyes fixed on the marked area simulating the limits just discussed. "I had thought we can use the old materials to build the wall." This way we will use the brick and we would have more to build more houses. — she said, looking askance at him, waiting patiently for the chestnut tree to react or say something that it did not do. for...

She wasn't aware of how quickly she stopped talking until Jungkook pressed her lips together in a desperate kiss. She opened her mouth, tucking her tongue in without warning. Lexa moaned in complete shock with her eyes open. Jungkook's hand tightened on her waist, pressing her to his chest. Lexa's hands were trapped in her shoulder area. Jungkook tilted his face and intensified the kiss.

Lexa closed her eyes slowly, letting go. Opening her mouth to receive her tongue. She sighed discard as she slid her hands up to his neck. His fingers gripped her hair and she stretched. Jungkook growled ecstatically bending down to lift her by her thighs and place her on the table. The map crumpled as her butt landed on top but they cared little.

Jungkook broke the kiss, creating a wet snap. Panting, her breath hit his face with a dark, wistful, wild gaze full of unstoppable lust. He brought his hands up to his cheeks. He moved his thumb affectionately, delighting in the softness of her skin to end up pressing his thumb to the soft skin of her lower lip. He approached in a quick kiss, letting out a satisfied moan when he felt her participation.

"Jungkook ..." He threw his head back as wet kisses began to come down his jaw. She stretched her roots again with excitement, taking another guttural growl. His hands slowly lowered down a path to his lower back until… “Jungkook!” An annoyed scream caused Jungkook to blink in confusion. He pouted his lips as he hugged her chest. Jungkook looked at her with a frown. "No, of course not." What's wrong I'm talking to you about important things?

"Why did you tell Raven that she liked to lift things?" He blurted out without warning importing anything or little that his thought had come out loud.

“What?” This time it was he who blinked in confusion. “It was just to provoke him.

"You spoke very loudly," he said, raising his eyebrows.

Lexa rolled her eyes. "Can we focus on this, please?"

She indicated the map with her hand, looking down at it again. Jungkook couldn't help but think how good his hair was.

Others would think it was foolish to notice that Lexa really had a beautiful profile. Her small and delicate jaw gave her face that innocent point that drove her crazy. She did not know but her face was very expressive showing everything that crossed her mind. He could tell when she was sad at the tilt of her mouth or how upset she was when she wrinkled her nose shrugging and making it more adorable.

Jungkook smiled mischievously at the conversion that began to play in his head as if it were his favorite song. Of course, I hear what Raven said what was not seen to come was that Lexa reacted so annoying. Her heart warmed to beat faster.

Then, she took advantage of the fact that she was distracted to approach from behind and stick her lips to his ear.

"She will never lift my cock as you do."

[...]

Hunting day.

Without a doubt, his favorite activity of the week. He was looking forward to it because it was the only time of the day when he could relax and breathe deeply the oxygen-rich air of the forest. Her lungs are grateful and certainly her head clear too.

Carefully advanced through the field by the number of thin sticks that will not hesitate to break at the slightest touch. She didn't know the area as well as she usually would, but that didn't stop her fighting spirit. She swore to herself that she would hunt good prey today.

A small innocent laugh changed the course of her attention. Not far from where he was he saw a girl of about eight years old smiling as she curiously observed a small bird on top of Jungkook's palm. Practically the smile was drawn alone on her face. Next, the little bird flew off causing the girl to rush out after him. Jungkook had a small smile making him look innocent and youthful.

Her disunited face in contrast to sunlight was, from now on, her favorite concept.

"I didn't know you could treat the children," Lexa commented, approaching slowly while sending her an amused look.

"I adore children especially how they are made," she said gracefully when she felt their steps approach from behind.

Jungkook looked at her recreating his typical arrogant smile in which his tongue struck the inside of the cheek.

"You are incredible," Lexa confessed, tempted. "It is not a compliment."

Although Jungkook clearly knew how to perceive the mockery and irony in his voice, something inside him was excited. He proceeded to follow her slowly, earning a sidelong glance from her.

"Your ass is also amazing." Lexa stopped walking and turned around with her eyes open. When she saw his eyes go up to her face when she turned around she couldn't help but blush. Jungkook raised an eyebrow. "Oh, it's not a compliment."

His mischievous laugh was a harsh blow to her who spread her blush to the tips of her ears in embarrassment. She had fallen into the game that she herself had created. Feeling too insulted when she looks at the ground, she doesn't think twice and bends down.

Jungkook stops when she notices something hit her back.

“Did you just throw a handful of dried leaves at me?” He asks, surprised, then slowly turns around.

Lexa refuses by pressing her lips together as she passes by like she's nothing.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

-No? Okay — falsely accept. Because when Lexa turns her back on him, Jungkook bends down and throws a dried pineapple at him.

"Hey!" She cries complaining and turns around. Bring your hand to your lower back to caress the area and thus relax the pain. Of course, Lexa frowns when Jungkook innocently shrugs. He raises his eyebrows and laughs wryly. Then he reaches down and throws a handful of dirt at her with small stones that end up dirtying her cheek. Jungkook coughs and Lexa laughs maniacally. She acknowledges that when Jungkook throws another dried pineapple at her chest, she starts having fun. Both succumb to the game and start throwing everything they see on the ground. They laugh together for the first time. Lexa can not help thinking that her laugh in a normal state is quite pleasant away from that dry sound that she usually emits when she laughs without emotion or grace.

When she stops listening to that melodious laugh she drops a handful of leaves and looks at it. She lets out a groan of surprise as her back hits the wood of a tree. Jungkook corners her in less than a second. He doesn't know what's going on but he feels a chill when he feels the hardness of his thigh brush against hers.

"Don't move, I've seen something among the trees," he says uneasily. He is about to complain when Jungkook places a hand on his shoulder and pushes him back towards the tree.

"It must have been an animal," he growls uncomfortably. His body is so big that it covers him in seconds. Her heart beats so hard that she's afraid Jungkook will notice if her chest keeps pressing against her like that.

"It wasn't a fucking animal." Jungkook's voice turns serious and dangerous as he lowers his head to look at her. Lexa is connected to her eyes without being able to avoid it. They are so dark that you could lose yourself in them and not complain about not finding the exit. Jungkook's breath directly hugged the upper skin of his lips making the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He had never been so close to a man so he attributed his nerves to lack of habit but that did not take away the fact that he was also the first man his body trembled with the slightest touch. One hand was held firmly on top of his head while the other was off to the side. They were so close that the tips of his feet touched hers. Jungkook's lips remained in a neutral grimace combining with the seriousness reflected in his body. He knew he was tense from the way his shoulders were not resting from that straight line. He intended to say something but his mouth did not respond to his commands as if the connections in his head had lost touch with reality.

By having him this close he could have the privilege of analyzing his features in more detail. He hadn't even realized, until now, that just below his lower lip was a mole. And for some strange reason, he wanted to stretch a finger and squeeze it. Jungkook cleared his throat to catch his attention. Lexa cast a curious glance at him and then her cheeks turned red.

She looked away embarrassed for being so impulsive and caught on the spot. When in reality, Jungkook's discomfort hadn't been precise because of over-gaze but because of the way he did it. The dream returned to his mind when he noticed how his eyes traveled to detail his lips and certainly, this was a moment that could not be carried away by his primary impulses. So she decided to return to her tough posture. "I'm going to look at stay in place again."

Lexa rolled her eyes when I hear him so demanding. As she indicated, she walked away completely and then returned to where they had been playing.

"Do you see it? Nothing happens… Jungkook! ”Lexa shouted in fright as an arrow grazed the right side of her head knocking him to the ground. Jungkook was swinging his head on the ground while complaining sore eyes tight. Lexa ran towards him in a panic attack. She knelt down and tried to lift her head. "No, no shit." Jungkook? ”He was desperately searching for an answer, but Jungkook only produced moans that were getting weaker and weaker. I tilt my neck carefully to look at the wound. When he touched the blood on the tip of his ear and saw it black he cursed under his breath. "Poison ..." This one was different, this one was much more powerful and dangerous because it was not just a paralytic. He swallowed hard, laid his head gently on top of a mountain of leaves, and then got up. "Hold on, I'm going to get help, please just hold on."

[...]

Despite the fact that things had gone well and no misfortune had arisen, she could not feel completely relieved. As he ran toward the camp, he caught a glimpse of a man running in the opposite direction. He forced himself not to follow him because Jungkook was more important. He was afraid that the man would come back and hurt him at seeing him so unprotected but again, he forced his legs to keep running.

This was not the time for his paranoia.

Fortunately, Jin was in his cabin and in possession of the antidote. He dipped the red seaweed tea in a handkerchief and placed it on his ear to absorb the poison. Two hours later, Jungkook woke up and as soon as he regained the notion of reality he returned to his clan's affairs. He ignored Jin's warnings and left as soon as his legs left him.

For that very reason, after his last meeting with the council, on his way back to his cabin, he ran into a worried Jin. After that, he wasn't even aware of what went out the door.

"Jin said you didn't want to heal yourself." The girl's voice sounded annoyed as she made her way deeper into the cabin. Jungkook, who had been studying a map on the table, turned irritably.

"It is foolish to waste supplies when there are bigger wounds to take care of."

"At least let me take a look at you," he asked, pulling up the small white bag to put it in his line of sight. "Sit at the desk, please."

Jungkook frowned at her but finally ended up obeying and going to the table to sit down. I interlock my fingers and click my tongue in annoyance. Lexa ignored her childish attitude. She indicated with her fingers to tilt her head. A gesture she made against her will but in silence.

"You see?" Jungkook replied wryly, raising his eyebrows. Lexa looked at him seriously when Jungkook turned his head again.

"What I see is an open wound that, if not healed, can become infected," he reproaches with annoyance. It was true, Jin's superficial treatment had made the wound a mere scratch, but she still had a fresh layer of dried blood on the tip of her ear. He breathed in focusing on the task. He reached out for a piece of cotton, dipped it in rubbing alcohol, then put it on the wound. Jungkook groaned plaintively at the sting moving in place.

Lexa pursed her lips. "Sorry."

"Were you worried about me?"

Lexa stopped looking at the wound as soon as she perceived the softness of his tone. Flashing nervously, she cleared her throat and concentrated on cleaning the blood again. "Don't be so self-centered, I worry about everyone the same."

“Sure?” Her tone had suddenly dropped, becoming intimate and personal. The cotton was suspended in midair when Jungkook turned his head to connect his gaze to hers. Lexa frowned a few seconds before relaxing her face. He perceived her seriousness in his penetrating gaze. Set and firm on yours. They had never looked at her like that. They had never left her speechless with a glance. And when Jungkook slowly started to get closer his mind flew into dangerous territory.

"Don't turn your face I can't see your ear." She growled annoyed to hide her nervousness. He caught her chin and turned her face again.

"Are you going to see your mother tomorrow?"

"Yes, I haven't been in a while."

"Then I will go with you."

"No need, Suho ...

"I do not care. I wanna go."

"Okay," she accepted, confused by his sudden interest. "You saved my life, I'm going to have to start taking you with me everywhere."

"I was used to it ..." Jungkook pronounced, taking a scowl from Lexa. Seeing that he was not responding, he shook his head in denial and returned to his task.

[...]

Now that the two clans were unified and the roads opened, the distance and time to travel were considerably less. Before, when he suffered those longings for freedom and escaped to the forest, it took him more than half an afternoon to return home. Now he realized that time was no longer going to be a tedious burden.

But undoubtedly, a considerable change to consider was the look of his subjects. Before, they treated her as an equal now they watched her from a distance with a shy look. But he knew it was not for her, the citizens did not fear his presence but Jungkook's. And it was normal, he was a foreigner who had been forced to fear above all else.

His mother was still occupying the usual cabin, so when she was at the beginning of the camp, it didn't take long for her to stand in front of their doors. The atmosphere was tense, he knew it very well because he could feel the thoughtful air. The two men behind him had been silent the entire way creating an atmosphere filled with awkward silence.

He tightened the reins to hold the hair still so he could get down from it. Suddenly, he noticed movement in his rear when he turned his head, large hands adjusted at his waist, and helped lower it. Lexa widened her eyes when her feet finally landed on the ground. Intuitively she placed her palms on top of her chest to stabilize her body. When she noticed the hardness of her muscles, she looked up. Jungkook intensified him as if he wanted to speak to her from that gesture, show him a longing that he had not seen reflected before.

The sound of a cracked door opening made them slowly come to their senses.

“Lexa?” With an excited tone, her mother turned to her, surprised by her visit. He wrapped his arms around her neck to press her against his chest as he had always done. Lexa inhaled the smell of roses from her mother's feeling at home. "What are you doing here ...

When her gaze fell on Jungkook as they parted, the words got stuck in her mouth.

"It's been a while since I came and I missed you," Lexa added with a melancholic smile capturing her mother's attention. She pursed her lips in delight as she analyzed her daughter. I caress her cheek and then gently curl a strand of hair.

"You are prettier, you eat well, right?"

"Yes, mom," he replied monotonously, but still emitting that smiling aura.

"I'll be back later so we can get back together." When Jungkook spoke his mother frowned and Lexa looked at him confused.

“Aren't you going to stay for lunch?” After her mother's offer, Jungkook felt her body freeze.

"I don't want to disturb her, ma'am." Although Jungkook's voice had come out it would be his calm face hiding nothing but shame. Ever since he had noticed her presence Lexa's mother had been nervous and certainly he too. She did not like to be observed, much less annoying than the reunion between mother and daughter.

Lexa's mother protested. "That I have not agreed to the terms of your marriage does not mean that I do not respect my daughter's decisions. As things have been you are still my son-in-law and therefore part of my family now. So if you both go inside ...

Lexa looked around with a frown meeting only the three of them. Suho had left without saying anything and that started to worry.

"... and by the gods call me mother no lady."

Jungkook nodded rhythmically as if he had just received a military order. His mother re-entered the cabin followed by Jungkook, Lexa said goodbye to the outside with a sorry look still looking for his friend.

[...]

The food had not been as tense as expected, his mother had managed to get Jungkook to release his tongue and that he would abandon that serious and lonely posture for a moment. When Lexa finished her last bite of roast chicken, she slowly got up from the table and proceeded to carry the plate into the kitchen. I put it on top of the steel counter and then turned to go back. However, a small drawing hanging on the wall with a skewer caught her attention. She came closer to admire the painting more closely.

She couldn't help but chuckle shaking her shoulders at the poorly scribbled paper. It was her father and her. Lexa had given that drawing to her father for her birthday, immortalizing that day when they went to see the birth of the tents. She certainly did not expect her mother to keep her away.

Hearing the sound of a plate hitting the counter behind her, she rolled her eyes and broke her smile.

"If you're going to tell me again that love is weakness, better go back the way you came." I exhale tiredly facing the wall. She did not feel like arguing knowing that her mother was only a room away and that she could hear everything but she could not shut her mouth and let it pass because she was not for talks full of the pure and empty feeling of life.

"It's what my father taught me," Jungkook said calmly resting a hand on the counter. Lexa raised an eyebrow and turned on her feet in annoyance.

However, when I did not notice that mischief in her voice nor that arrogant posture, she began to feel intrigued. Her shoulders leaned down and her gaze seemed to be drowned in rage. I've never seen her like this. Then, she repeated her words in her mind slowly, paying attention to each one of them. She had just named her father. The ancient Heda of the Iron Clan. She couldn't help but feel curious about him because his father didn't even tell him those things claiming that she wasn't ready for such.

“Since when are you Heda?” The question came out on its own as if it were in thought out loud that it needed to get out before it rotted inside.

Jungkook raised his eyebrows contemptuously as he said, "Since I was thirteen."

"And your mother?"

"She died of an infection in a pandemic." She didn't seem hurt at all treating the subject as if it were just one more in her life. Lexa felt terrible grief adjust in her chest. She was really so calm that she was scared of her indifference.

"Don't you miss your parents?"

"They never acted as such because they should?" And there was the reason. Jungkook demonstrated so many things at once that his confused brain was slow to see them all at once. Answered questions normally. He hadn't even been affected by answering the age question. By God, since he was thirteen years many others have passed. How can a child face the role of Heda when she, at her age and with a supposed training and maturity, still showed some discomfort when assuming responsibilities. It must have been quite shocking and disturbing.

"And you?"

Lexa blinked lost. "A lot." He confessed weakly. Then a small nostalgic smile filled her lips. "My father was a little harsh sometimes but not too much he always fixed it with a smile."

Jungkook nodded instantly with the same aura of nonchalance. He didn't know exactly why, but seeing him so serious and frigid, his body began to walk alone forward. Jungkook's arms were suspended in midair as Lexa buried her head in his chest and wrapped her small hands around his waist. It took Jungkook a minute to react by wrapping his lower back and pulling her to his body so that his chin rested on top of his head.

"I'm supposed to be comforting you," Jungkook commented closing his eyes as he felt the warmth of Lexa tuck him in gently. His strawberry scent went up to his nostrils, making him his favorite scent.

Jungkook smiled helplessly as his tired sigh bounced off his chest. "Stop growling so much."

[...]

She turned her fifteenth turn on the bed before finally turning on her side. His hand was under her pillow and her legs were on top of each other. Although she will try to close her eyes and allow herself to be overcome by fatigue, her body had other plans that night. It was so strange because I was sleepy. Her eyelids drooped wearily but her eyes didn't want to close. Finally, and after half an hour later, she sighed in defeat and closed her eyes to sleep.

A sharp surface brushed her neck causing her eyes to squeeze uncomfortably as she brought her hand to it a strong arm turned her face up.

"I should have done this from the beginning." Realizing that it was not a dream and that both the pressure on her neck and the terrifying voice were real she desperately opened her eyes to meet a man on top of her body. She opened her mouth to ask for help but her hand covered her mouth immediately. "No bitch tonight you won't be the same luck."

The fingers around her nose closed, pressing on her nostrils. The man laughed pleased when his legs stirred urgently. I was so scared. So annoying. So disgusted by feeling so touched. With her hand on her mattress, she began to feel the surface quickly when she brushed the ass of her glass bottle she didn't think twice before hitting her on the head.

“Bitch!” She moaned loudly, touching her head. Her body fell to the side from the impact giving her the space to sneak towards the door. But when she was about to open the door, her filthy fingers pulled her ankle down causing her to have to put her hands forward to avoid hitting her mouth on the ground.

Lexa threw a kick that landed on her face. The man cursed when her plant deflected the septum from her nose. But that only caused the rage to turn into a fire that was impossible to quench. He tugged on her ankle, dragging her back under him. This time he wasted no time and his fingers wrapped tightly around her neck. Lexa sucked in strangled moans as she felt oxygen leaking from her lungs. Her legs were flailing furiously but when her thumbs clenched the hollow of her windpipe the movements stopped executing due to lack of oxygen supply. With her last breath, she continued to search for something on the ground when she felt something sharp lead her forward, driving a piece of broken glass into the socket of her eye.

The man released her in a brutal scream bringing his hands to her pierced eye as she crawled over to her chair to rest her back.

The door opened so hard that the hinges broke. Jungkook ran into Lexa as two soldiers approached the man to arrest him on the ground.

"Lexa!" Jungkook yelled desperately but she had already passed out from the effort.

[...]

"Swallow," Jin asked worriedly. I remove the spoon from his mouth and Lexa swallowed the jelly with difficulty. He closed his eyes when the softness touched the walls of his throat but soon after the pain began to lessen becoming bearable. When Jin noticed the relaxation on his face, he smiled regretfully. "You will take this every time you eat or talk a lot. It will help with swelling and reduce itching.

Lexa nodded so as not to form the vocal cords. Sometime later the door opened, causing her to divert her attention to it.

"How are you?" Jungkook asked, seriously leaning against the door frame. The tension in his shoulders told him that he was still on alert, his hoarse tone still annoying.

"Where is?"

"He's in the dungeons. Now answer me."

"Is he the one who attacked you?" She didn't need an answer when he noticed how Jungkook's eyes hardened. "I don't understand, Suho was at my door like ha ... OMG! Suho okay?"

"He's fine."

"Then why don't I believe you?" She frowned in annoyance at his sudden caution. Jungkook avoided his gaze making him more nervous. "Can you speak clearly?"

"We have found Suho unconscious."

Lexa opened her eyes in fright. "Has that man done something to you?" If something happens to her because of her, she would never forgive me ... I have to see it."

Jungkook strode to the stretcher when the girl tried to get up from the stretcher to run towards the door.

"Lexa, stop." Jungkook's large hands tightened on her shoulders to sit her down but she hysterically denied.

"Don't ask me when my friend is hurt!"

“He's not hurt, he was drunk, dammit!” Jungkook's scream stopped all activity in his system. His face paled and his chest clenched.

"What?" I breathe incredulously.

Jungkook looked down before looking at her indecisively. "That's why that son of a bitch could easily pass because your friend was sleeping."

[...]

After an arduous week on the stretcher in Jin's cabin, he was finally able to be discharged and take up his duties again. Jungkook had been holding the position of Heda Celeste in his absence, which he was grateful for, when he took over again he realized that there was not much work to do. The only pending thing that could not be attended to by him was the man who slept in the dungeons.

He had explicitly ordered that he should not be given water and that he should be given only a piece of meat a day. That man was a bounty hunter with many deaths behind him, he deserved nothing more worthy.

“Are you going to judge me?” He asked, staring blankly at the floor. She was sitting on the throne in the assembly hall waiting for Suho. When he entered, he looked at her so seriously that he knew what she was thinking.

"You are my Heda, I will accept everything you decide." She did not like the respectful and distant tone he used.

Lexa frowned in embarrassment and then looked at him.

For God's sake, how did they get to this?

"Is what they say true? You have sentenced a man."

"He was a murderer."

"He was unarmed!"

"Me too!" She screamed loudly causing an outrageous echo to form. Suho raised his chin indignantly. "I don't expect you to accept it because I no longer require your morality."

"You are not the same."

"Neither do you," she replied with all the pain in her soul. Suho stopped forcing his gaze relaxing her in a full of regret. He took a step toward her but she reached out, stopping.

"It won't happen again, I promise."

"I can not risk."

"You know I would give my life for you."

"I know."

"He put it in your head."

"Jungkook has nothing to do with it."

“Then why are you looking at me like I want to hurt you!” He roared furiously, causing Lexa to leap onto her throne. Her jaw clenched so tightly that blood began to collect in her head. When she saw how fearful Lexa's eyes expand, she stopped clenching her fists and straightened her regretful body.

"Have you been drinking again?" Lexa asked, leaving him speechless. Suho felt so ashamed and so insulted at the same time that he turned around and ran out of the room. Lexa pursed her lips to hold back a sob. Tears welled up in her eyes almost out of necessity out of helplessness.

"You shouldn't let a simple soldier affect your decisions." A serious voice sounded from behind her but she never took her eyes off the door.

"Suho only wants the best for me," I whisper shattered in a passive tone. Jungkook swallowed hard when he couldn't stop his emotions from overpowering his character.

"Me too." He sighed on his knees in front of her. Lexa looked at him instantly with longing. "And so, I ask you to let me protect you."

[...]

"The decision is yours," Jungkook mentioned, turning his head in her direction so that only she would get the message. Lexa maintained too insane eye contact with her attacker who lay tied hand and foot to a stick in the middle of the plaza. Just below him were the woods. Around her, the crowds screaming for justice.

"Dann*." The sentence came out so easily that it scared her. She kept a stiff expression to avoid being affected by the looks that began to haunt her.

Automatically the citizens shouted euphoric at her decision.

"Jus drein jus daun! *"

She opened her mouth, removing her sitting posture when she saw a warrior light the torch and lower it towards the branches to light them. When the fire came Lexa closed her eyes instinctively. However, feeling a glance over her, he opened them again. When she found that pair of eyes among the people her stomach clenched. Suho watched her disappointed, sad, and lost. Lexa pursed her lips as the pressure on her chest caused her eyes to water. After that Suho was disappearing among the people until no trace of him was left.

Screams of pain rang out loudly, Lexa diverted people's attention and when she looked forward her chest heaved and her eyes widened in horror. A tear ran down her cheek at the scene so macabre. The smell of burned skin was the one that urged her to get up from her seat and flee traumatized to her cabin. When she slammed the door shut, she started screaming hysterically.

By the gods what have I done?

What the fuck have I done?

She covered her mouth with her palm to keep the sobs from coming out but it was too late all she did was delay it. It was already wrong from Suho's disappointed look and that of the man ...

Holy God!

The air began to lack so badly that she began to sweat and consequently feel overwhelmed when the dress was embedded as a second skin. She reached up to her dress and pulled it out desperately. She hugged her bare breasts as the night breeze blew in through the window. Her shoulders trembled with cold and her wailing muffled moans. She closed her eyes tightly trying to calm herself but ended up opening them exasperated when she saw in the dark the image of that man burning alive.

A finger stroked the line of her spine, bristling her skin. She bit back a gasp and her body stopped shaking as the softness of lips caressed the skin of her ear.

"Are you sad?" He whispered hoarsely, allowing himself to be filled with sweetness. Her eyes closed again as a hard chest completely covered her bareback."Let me comfort you. Just let me help you forget about everything. I can do it I'm very good at it."

"Then do it," she asked without being aware of her actions. Her arms still tightened crosswise as she turned to face him. She opened her eyes slowly, meeting a gaze as dark as night. She was scared because she had gone from controlling her movements to letting go. Jungkook stretched out one of her hands to stroke her cheek with the tips of her fingers. Jungkook suddenly stopped smiling, replacing her expression with a more serene and analytical one. She stepped closer, closing the distance. Her slowness was sweet torture but deep down she was grateful that it gave her time to get used to it.

He brought his fingers to her chin and lifted her head. Lexa closed her eyes and parted her lips. Then, Jungkook bowed his head and kissed her sweetly. It wasn't a quick kiss, nor was it a proper kiss, since there was only a superficial contact. When Jungkook separated almost instantly Lexa opened her eyes weakly. Her gaze had darkened, she had grown wilder, more eager.

Lexa parted her lips again but closed them again when Jungkook pounced again this time more eagerly. The passion of the kiss took her by surprise but she didn't complain because when Jungkook opened her mouth tight to deepen the kiss she let it dominate her mouth. Jungkook's hands snapped to her waist, pulling her body forward to hit her chest.

She felt comforting heat build-up on the skin under her palm. Her hands were so large that they practically covered her entire back. Jungkook groaned and raised his hand to his face to incline him further.

Lexa gasped as she felt the tip of her tongue touch her lower lip, she wasn't even aware of what was happening until Jungkook's tongue entered her mouth to embrace hers with passion.

Lexa uncovered her arms feeling suddenly brave and brought them to the nape of her neck. He dipped his fingers through the strands of her hair and stretched them ecstatically as Jungkook reached down to his behind and knead it hard. Jungkook let out a throaty moan and leaned his body closer, holding her almost under him. Lexa took a step closer by sticking her tits to her chest. Her nipples bristled completely from the rubbing of the fabric of his shirt. Jungkook put his hand to the nape of his neck and formed a fist of hair as he opened his mouth more for a stronger kiss. Saliva gushed from their corners like a waterfall but they didn't care because the wet sound of their lips coming together was worth it. Taking advantage of his hair grip Jungkook cut the kiss in a snap. His altered breaths cooled and heated the skin of his lips creating such an exciting contrast. Jungkook rolled his eyes down his face analyzing his appearance. His cock jerked into his pants when he saw her with her mouth open as her lip trembled and her eyes narrowed with excitement. He growled desperately drawing her to his mouth eagerly. Lexa hugged the back of her neck receiving her kiss submissively.

When Jungkook again separated god two steps back to contemplate the fullness of his body. Soon his eyes delighted in the turgidity of his pale chest with spiked nipples, the wonderful line that went down to his navel from training and especially the tiny white panties with a dark stain.

"Shit, you're beautiful." Jungkook sighed gone. Lexa was too embarrassed to see the hunger in her gaze proceeding to lower her head to hide her flushed cheeks.

But Jungkook had other plans, he brought his fingers to his chin and lifted her so that he could see her eyes. Lexa held what little breath she had left after the kissing session when Jungkook gave her the warmest smile she had ever seen while as she approached, she rested her eyes on her bare breasts. When she was close enough that there was almost no distance between them, the fingers that hugged her chin went up to her mouth to run her thumb over her lower lip. "Be a good girl and let me prove you."

She pressed her lips together in a slow kiss with her tongue before abruptly parting causing Lexa to follow her mouth unconsciously.

I blink drunk with pleasure watching Jungkook guide his mouth down her cheek giving her a wet kiss that also caused her bottom to get wet. He rubbed his thighs urgently as his tongue drew a line down her lower jaw almost touching her neck. The fingers at the nape of her neck tugged at the root inadvertently causing Jungkook to growl and go on to attack her neck mercilessly. Lexa squeezed her eyes shut at the feel of his lips closing on her skin to suck. His mouth began to travel to the area of ​​her clavicle where he bit her and pampered her with kisses with his tongue.

She kept going down to the line of her breasts where her tongue slipped. Then she brought her mouth to an already erect nipple and bit into it as one hand came up to knead the other.

His hand clenched the fist of hair at the nape of his neck and pressed it to his skin. Her belly flinched as her tongue sank to her navel but what undoubtedly made her body shudder from the balls of her feet to her head was the kiss she gave on the line of her pelvis. I swallow nervously when I notice how the garment swirled around her fingers. Jungkook raised his eyes to hers to get his blessing when Lexa bit her lower lip and closed her fist on the nape of her neck. Jungkook smirked, lowering afterward still with eye contact his lips towards the stained area of ​​her panties. Then her fingers proceeded to stretch the garment down until it was jammed at her ankles. Lexa shifted her feet so that she will leave her body completely. Jungkook grabbed her leg and placed it over her shoulder. Next, he placed a small kiss on her inner thigh area. Lexa swallowed nervously when she noticed that the kisses did not stop and that they were on a descending path. She didn't know what she was doing until she jumped embarrassed when she felt his cold tongue caress her folds mischievously. A shy moan came from her lips as she ran her tongue back this time going deeper. God, never, ever, thought that someday he could feel so much pleasure. Never, ever, she thought that Jungkook on her knees could be the most exciting thing in the world. She brought her fingers up to separate her lips for better access. When he kissed her red button it swelled accordingly earning a loud moan. Lexa threw her head back at the endless sensations she began to feel. Without hesitation, he inserted his tongue into her hole making Lexa squeal and then cover her embarrassed mouth.

Jungkook laughed still with his lips pressed to her skin causing her too sensual a vibration. He brought his mouth back to her swollen clitoris to suck with force, then Lexa felt a cramp run through her body that ended up causing a ball inside her belly to explode and her body to suffer spasms. Jungkook licked him to orgasm with delight, kissed his clit again, carrying a whimpering groan from the overstimulation, and then sat up again. He brought his hands up to his waist to keep Lexa's body from rushing back. The girl opened her eyes dizzy when she felt his breath hit her nose. Jungkook licked his lips gladly tasting and tasting again the product of his orgasm causing Lexa to blush immediately.

He hooked his leg to her hip and laid her on his bed, placing himself on top of her. Afterward, Jungkook kissed her lips again ecstatically making Lexa feel his taste in her saliva. He returned his kisses down the column of her throat stopping this time in her ear to whisper hoarsely. "Your pussy is so sweet ... I wonder if it will feel like that around my cock." He caught the earlobe with his teeth and I stretch it sensually. Lexa groaned, crinkling her shirt eagerly. His hand went down her skin, ending in her pelvis, which took the boldness of a palm tree. "Open your legs more, baby."

Lexa obeyed dazedly, dizzy from so much pleasure. Jungkook stuck out his thumb and stroked her clit in a circular motion. Lexa moaned softly, opening her legs wider. Next, she sank the same finger slowly into her hole, taking another cry of complaint from the girl.

"It hurt..."

"Yes, I know ..." he whispered softly on her cheek before kissing the tip of her nose. "... but you have to prepare for my cock since your small pussy is too tight." lips. Lexa nodded slowly. She brought her hands to the area of her shoulder blades and squeezed hard when she felt another finger go through her hole. Bufo buried his mouth on her shoulder as he tried to focus on the pleasure that gradually began to lessen the sting. She moaned with pleasure, spreading her legs wider, urging Jungkook to introduce the third. Movement shoves out of her fingers soon became insufficient.

"Please Jungkook ..." she pleaded breathlessly, running her nails through the fabric of the shirt.

"Please what, baby?" He whispered with too perverse amusement as he kissed the shell of her ear and increased the movement of her fingers.

"I want ... I want ..." but she was silenced by a needy moan when a fourth finger entered inside her small vagina.

"Fuck ..." he cursed under his breath, giving her a quick kiss before getting down on his knees in front of her. She pulled the shirt over her head, exposing her wonderful puffy pecs and her wonderful chiseled belly with stone-like abs. Her legs spread wider on their own at the image causing Jungkook to growl like a horny animal as he brought his free finger up to her clit to stroke it in circles. When Lexa lashed out at her second orgasm, I swear her breath was out. With her eyes clouded she saw how she could as Jungkook got up to take off her pants. He was surprised that she didn't bother wearing underwear but all those thoughts stopped making sense when she looked down at his cock. Her eyes widened at his width and length. Her mouth practically opened by itself when she saw how big it was. She panicked because she began to doubt if that big cock would fit in her inexperienced little hole. Jungkook brought his right hand up the spine and slowly muttered himself, still looking into her eyes. He groaned plaintively at feeling so needy. I bring two fingers to her mouth and place them on her lip.

"Open her" he ordered hoarsely but very needy. Lexa opened her mouth wider allowing both fingers to enter her mouth to bathe with the moisture of her tongue. Then, he brought those same fingers to the base of his cock to stroke it over her. Jungkook moaned, nodding backward, then stared at her sharply. Lexa swallowed nervously. Then his great body fell on top of hers to give her a wet kiss. Lexa spread her legs wider so that she will be more comfortable. He circled her waist and squeezed her hard when he felt his cock hit her stomach. She almost died right there, feeling the inhuman softness of her cock's skin. He parted his lips in a wet snap and looked at her seriously again. Jungkook drove the tip of his cock into her entrance to caress her up and down to cover her with his juices. Lexa spread her legs wider and he growled, kissing her again. She parted again and sighed on her lips.

She put a hand to her chin to connect her eyes. "Tell me if it hurts and I'll stop. Please tell me."

Lexa nodded as the last answer before everything will begin. Of course, it hurt when she inserted the tip. She felt a hideous tear of skin that ached like a thousand demons. When she complained in a silent moan Jungkook froze and looked at her cautiously.

"Don't stop ..." he pleaded without air. I scratch his lower back causing him to tuck in a little more. Jungkook groaned as he lowered his nose to hers to brush against her movement. When he finally reached up to the hilt Lexa groaned in need as she gazed at him pleadingly, her eyes teary with emotion.

Jungkook rushed his lips to hers as he began his coupling slowly. Lexa broke the kiss to moan eagerly bringing desperate hands to the nape of her neck to continue with the kiss. Jungkook released an animal roar as he rolled his hips sensually and she clenched her fingers.

"Fucking tight pussy," he growled giving a deep thrust that made them both moan. Lexa began to notice how their bodies floated with sweat. Her demolishing eyes kept a frown as she increased speed. She let out an open moan before smiling wickedly over her mouth. "So good to me, my baby."

Lexa automatically brought her nails to her back and squeezed. Jungkook had just claimed as his own and although in other circumstances he would have yelled a couple of insults at him, this time, he opened his mouth more to moan.

"You sweet baby can only receive my cock." No one else's. Only mine. ”She growled in her ear, annoyed, hitting her thigh causing her to moan and jump hard. She left a path of scratches on her back that ended at the nape of her neck again. Jungkook came back to face his face with pressed noses. "Say you only want my cock. Say only this pussy can be fucked by me. ”He shouted ecstatically as he increased the depth of her hips. Lexa threw her head back but Jungkook's fingers tightened at the nape of her neck and forced her to look at him. A spanking on his butt made his moan.

"Yes ..." I sob from the force of his thrusts. "Only you ... Only you can fuck me ... Oh shit!" She screamed when her orgasm came with more force than the previous ones. She collapsed onto the bed, leaving herself at the mercy of her need.

Two more thrusts and Jungkook was jerking wildly to drop his load on her stomach.

"Shit ..." he cursed contentedly as he fell to the side of the girl's body. He covered his eyes with his forearm widening his bicep. Then he wrapped his waist around her and pulled her to his chest with his leg pressed to her hip. Lexa frowned tiredly feeling suddenly at ease when a honey scent completely seduced her.

[...]

In caresses, his finger wandered down her back from top to bottom. He couldn't stop staring at her and he certainly would never tire of admiring her natural beauty as he slept on her chest. If Jungkook was completely honest, there was no adequate sleep conciliator because his eyes did not want to close for fear that what was in front of him was nothing more than the product of a good dream. And if so, he did not want to wake up.

I gently brush stubborn strands of his cheek to better admire his profile. His face was so serene and so pure. It seemed like a mirage for how the light that filtered through the window panes reflected on his face. He looked like a clear angel that his character was far from one. Jungkook smiled at his thought. Afterward, he placed his lips gently on her forehead and hugged her to his body, growling in satisfaction as he closed his eyes.

"Ai hod yu en * ...

“Lexa, can we talk?” A male voice and the sound of a squeaking door put him on alert acting as a reflex act to catch the blanket to cover their bodies.

“Call before you come in, asshole!” Jungkook growled, radiating as he got up, helped by the support of his hand. The scandal of the voices was so disturbing that Lexa groaned sleepily and then opened her eyes.

“Mmm?” She murmured groggily as she waited for her gaze to adjust to the intensity of the light. When she did, she watched Jungkook absentmindedly, then looked at her blanket-covered body. He frowned looking in the direction he was glaring at and then saw it. To her best friend with wide eyes and a look full of pain and sadness. "Suho?" But he wasn't looking at her but at Jungkook. When her mind was fully awake, she opened her eyes in exaltation. "No, wait!" Lexa cried desperately, extending her hand forward as if she could touch him from a distance, but Suho quickly left the room with the door slamming behind her. He'll come in! "he yelled in the direction of Jungkook who frowned annoyed. It was ... It was on purpose! About last night..."

“Last night has nothing to do with this!” She roared in outrage as she denied.

Lexa blinked. "I shouldn't have trusted you," she sobbed, getting out of bed as fast as she could grab the dress, put it on over her head, and run out the door. "Suho!"

“Lexa!” Jungkook called desperately but she ignored him. When he slammed the door, Jungkook cursed, throwing the pillow on the floor. "Fuck."

[...]

"Suho stop!" Lexa ran after him, not caring about curious glances, not caring about the sharp stones that puncture his plant, but he didn't seem to care either. "I order you to stop!"

Suho stopped his body abruptly and then turned around. There was so much pain and so much anger in his gaze that Lexa gulped.

"That you want to explain you are his wife, it is normal that you take care of him." He assumed with a venomous irony so harmful that Lexa does not remember another scene in which he will behave so impulsively.

"I don't want to hurt you," she shook her head. She frowned sadly and pursed her lips regretfully. Really, hurting her was never in her plans. He never wanted to break her heart but he couldn't lie. Jungkook awakened things that he with so many years of friendship never managed to develop. He didn't know when it happened alone that it just happened like that, without realizing it.

"Well, you already have," Suho sobbed painfully before making his way back and leaving his chest tight.

[...]

The tension was palpable in the environment. He had decided to march in front of the warrior formation so as not to meet Jungkook as well as Suho. I was confused. She never had been. Her head ached from all the feelings she was unable to command. She felt happy because she had spent what would probably be the best night of her life but at the same time, she felt like a total hypocrite because her happiness had destroyed his friend.

As Lexa thought with her head down, Suho followed Jungkook's horse closely. She struck her back with so much hatred that it could form a whole. When they reached the river bank and decided to take a water break, Suho soon followed him toward the shore.

"What a coincidence that you suddenly become interested in Lexa when all you have done is harass her." He did not hide the contempt in his voice as he approached where Jungkook filled his canteen with river water flexing his knees.

“Harass her?” Jungkook asked smiling, still looking at the stream. Then she got up slowly and denied. "At least I'm able to respect your feelings, asshole."

"Because of the affection I feel, I will not allow you to play with her."

"Is that all you feel for her?" Honey? ”Jungkook replied with a dangerous grace. I raise an ironic eyebrow as I scanned his body.

"You don't know anything about me," Suho growled feeling disgusted by also feeling too observed.

"It is not difficult to know. Surely you have been in love with Lexa since childhood, you always approached with the excuse of wanting to protect her when we both know that you had other intentions."He took a break before smiling again." It must have been quite shocking to see us together in her bed."

"No, not really," Suho replied nonchalantly. Jungkook nodded in amusement. "Because I know he didn't stop thinking about me."

Jungkook gave a wicked chuckle.

"You don't think much when you fuck like that."

"Just because she was forced to marry you does not mean she is forced to love you," she replied to his laughter with a more concise and borderline. Jungkook hardened his features. "I am his best friend, do you really think that for a moment she would choose you?"

"I wouldn't make her choose to begin with," Jungkook sentenced seriously. He left there before he really lost his temper and hit the punch he so badly wanted to land on his stupid jaw. She closed her eyes trying to calm down. I really didn't want to cause Lexa more trouble.

[...]

From the bottom of his chest, he emitted a bleak sigh. Things were going from bad to worse with Suho. A couple of hours ago I had seen him leave with a group of soldiers. They had seen each other from a distance but immediately Suho looked away and then disappeared through the gates of the camp as if nothing had happened. He couldn't help but feel bad, but should he? She was so confused ... So upset with the voices in her head. She had to act like an adult and speak things or she had to act like a child and leave things to be fixed over time, no doubt, that was the worst option.

“Are you going to continue to ignore me?” A hoarse voice that he recognized instantly broke into the council room. Lexa reached up to the ends of the table to squeeze the wood.

"Because of you, I have lost my best friend." She tried to sound cold and hard but the only thing that succeeded with that was that when looking at her and observing her furrowed gaze her chest oppressed.

"You are fucking unfair, Lexa." Her annoyed voice reflected what she felt right now. Her gaze was so intense that the girl looked away like a coward. "Do you think this is easy for me?"

"What do you want? You don't even know, do you? "She snorted as her sharp words slipped with difficulty out of her lips." Last night was a mistake, I was in low spirits and you took advantage of it."

"That's really what you felt or what you've forced yourself to believe so as not to disappoint your fucking friend!"

"You don't know me." Hearing his growl, she responded with the same intensity.

"It is true because the Lexa that is in front of me now does not look at all like the Lexa that was with me last night." She perceived so much nostalgia and longing that her anger quickly evaporated from her body. She looked up and looked at him hesitantly. Why listen to him so hurt and see how his gaze hardened by his rejection developed in her a feeling of guilt that began to come out in the form of an uncontrollable tremor.

"I don't want to hurt his," she finally confessed the demons that torment her head. It was true. Suho was probably one of the most significant people in his life, if he didn't want to be a part of her anymore, surely Lexa would never meet someone so special again. But then, then there was Jungkook. That arrogant, arrogant chestnut that had not done anything since he met him always put her in a bad mood. Until last night, when she showed him with her kisses and caresses that the connection that united them from the first time she looked into his eyes was not temporary. It was her first time. Her first kiss and quite possibly the first man to shake her heart so hard. But then, she would go back to Suho again. She wouldn't approve of it and that meant she had to get away from Jungkook until she cleared her feelings.

Jungkook clicked his tongue.

"And would you rather do it?"

His words burned into her memory. Not only for the softness but also, for the sentimentality with which he had spoken. So much feeling in a damn phrase that made his come out and mix with his.

He swallowed hard. "I ...

Lots of screaming immediately distracted the two of them. They both looked at each other in alarm before running out the door. When they saw the environment at the entrance to the camp they knew that something was wrong. Lexa desperately searched the crowd for brown hair when she couldn't find it, she desperately marched towards the only soldier in her unit she knew.

"Ton, what happened?" Lexa asked, suffocated by the screams of pain from the wounded. There was one who collapsed to the ground and started screaming as if possessed. A nurse came up and helped carry him into a cabin. As the scene receded the soldier looked at him again.

"The mountain soldiers attacked us when we crossed the river," he said, agitated by the pain of his poorly healed wound in the leg. Lexa increased the frequency of her breathing almost instantly. Her eyes widened and then she asked altered:

"Where's Sohu?"

"In Jin's cabin," she pointed out quickly. She didn't even finish talking because the girl had started running towards her friend's cabin. She started to get worse. Stretching at the roots hysterically when it dawned on her that if she was in Jin's cabin that was more serious than the rest.

When she came banging the door hard against the wall, she covered her mouth when she saw her lying on a stretcher. Her shocked gaze scanned the bandage on her belly where a bloodstain leaked through the bandage more and more.

"Lexa plugs the wound so it won't bleed!" Jin shouted, suddenly appearing at her side with a needle in her hand. Lexa reacted almost as desperately with him and reached out to her friend to squeeze her belly. She immediately noticed the wetness of the blood but did not care. She wiped away her tears with her elbow and looked up at Jin who sighed. "Well, we're going to have to sew."

[...]

She caressed her cheek gently noticing the heat that had returned after the operation. Her face no longer looked so pale, recovering a little that orange color. She slept with slow breathing although from time to time she couldn't stop complaining moans from her lips.

Lexa took the cold compress from her forehead and changed it by turning around. As she felt the coolness return to her forehead, Suho sighed with satisfaction.

"You should sleep." Jungkook's voice scared her from behind but she was so tired from being awake for hours that she could hardly react. She just kept giving her unconscious friend slow strokes.

"I don't want to leave him alone," she said in a low voice almost like a whisper. Jungkook noticed the guilt in her tone besides her drooping shoulders and blinked, looked away, and closed her eyes in anguish.

"How is it going?"

"Stable but Jin says the lack of blood is going to start working," Lexa commented worriedly. She huffed in regret as she got up from the stool, turned around, and looked at him rubbing his arms to get a little warm.

"Are there no donors?"

Jungkook raised an eyebrow intrigued.

Lexa denied decay. "Sohu's blood is special not easily found."

"How special?"

"Negative rh," she whispered softly, giving him a quick glance to check that her chest continued to move regularly. Noticing Jungkook's silence, she turned to him curiously.

"Lexa, I have that blood group."

[...]

She shifted her foot restlessly as she waited outside the door of Jin's cabin. Her friend had kindly asked her to wait outside because she was very nervous and would end up distracting herself. Of course, she understood and even if she didn't want to, she listened to her. Jin was also human. She felt the same biological deficits due to lack of sleep and rest, so she decided to give her a truce and not complain.

When the door opened her friend came out with a rag in her hands that she used to remove the remains of blood.

"How is he?" Lexa asked immediately, feeling too much pressure on her head from her nerves.

"Better, now that you've received the transfusion," Jin replied relieved.

“May I see you?” He swallowed hard when he inadvertently raised his voice. Fortunately, Jin understood his situation and ended up walking away from the door.

Although his initial intentions were to walk directly to the bed when he saw Jungkook leaning on the table with two fingers tightening a small bandage on his forearm, his feet only walked towards him. When he saw her coming from the periphery, he stopped looking at Suho and focused on her.

"How are you?" Lexa said, pressing her lips together as she pointed at the area she was squeezing.

"I'm fine, a little weak from lack of blood but Jin says that in a couple of hours ...

"Thank you," he snapped, leaving him stumped. Her eyes widened longingly at his face at the current of concern that suddenly engulfed her.

Jungkook frowned. "Don't give them to me."

"Yes, because you didn't have to. You and Suho don't get along and I have misbehaved with you since we met."

"I suppose so am I," Jungkook said with false grace as he smiled. Lexa took another step, shortening the distance between their bodies without knowing the reason. She just felt too needy to be enveloped by his body heat. Jungkook straightened his body following in his footsteps. When Lexa took another step ... Suho coughed and she stiffened instantly, averting an alarming glance.

"You love her, don't you?" Jungkook said with pain accumulating in the hollow of her heart. He knew this was not the time for his jealousy but he couldn't help but feel annoyed when he saw how she was looking at him.

"I would give my life for him," she confessed as a secret.

"You should stay, maybe I'll wake up tonight." The pain in his voice was perceived by his receivers in such a way that I can't help looking at him in silence as he watched as he walked out the door without saying goodbye.

[...]

“Lexa?” Her head snapped up from her arms when I heard her sorry voice. He approached the bed and stroked her head lovingly.

"Shh, save your strength, you've lost a lot of blood."

“Where am I?” Her gaze was disoriented as she scanned the room intently.

"In Jin's store."

“Soldiers!” She jumped out of her bed, shaking her body with such force that she ended up bent over from the pang in her belly.

"Suho, calm down," she said altered as she lay him down resting her palms on his bare chest. "This offense will be returned, I swear."

"I don't want you to expose yourself more, Lexa. Please, let's go. Let's go far away. To the mountains to the south. " She did not take her eyes off as she settled herself better on the stretcher.

Lexa laughed incredulously."What do you say? I can `t go."

"Yes, you can."

Suho squeezed his hand as he looked pleadingly at her.

"Let me be your protector again." Lexa squeezed her eyes up and stood up from her stool with her back to him leaving her hand hanging on the edge of the stretcher. Suho sat carefully on the headboard and continued in her pleading tone: "I promise it won't happen again if you promise me it won't happen again either."

Lexa pursed her lips when she understood exactly what she was talking about.

"Running away like a coward is a good solution." Jungkook's voice came out loud. Lexa turned to the door as soon as she heard his hoarse voice. Jungkook advanced, approaching the stretcher where Suho looked at him with contempt. "It has been proven that wherever he goes, there will always be someone who wants to harm him." Nothing will happen to Lexa because she is under my protection now.

"She was, too, when two assassins tried to kill her," Suho said in immature reproach causing Jungkook to giggle.

"Well, at least I caught the killers." Tell me, what did you do apart from following her like a dog everywhere.

"Jungkook," Lexa chuckled immediately, taking a quick glance from Jungkook.

"I'm right, Lexa." She defended herself with pride as she returned her withering gaze to Suho. "She doesn't need a protector, she needs a man."

"And you are that man?" Suho replied with a mock too false as she swept her body with contempt.

"He's right, Sohu." Lexa added catching the gaze of the two men. "If I leave they'll think I'm running away, I'm weak and I'm afraid of them. And I'm fucking not afraid of them."

[...]

She wiped her brow from the sweat with her forearm as she walked in the scorching sun on her way to the stables. However, just as she saw the wooden structure from a distance, a nearby voice caught her attention towards a cabin.

“Lexa, do you have a moment?” Jungkook asked patiently while raising an eyebrow. Lexa looked at the stable and then looked at him again and nodded, approaching with slow steps.

"Yes, what do you want?"

Jungkook entered the cabin so Lexa had to go behind him. When she closed the door, she found her on her back.

"No one will use the council room today," he announced hoarsely, leaving her intrigued. When she turned around, she gave him a smile that made her uneasy.

-So what? What are you planning? ”He nodded at her body, distrusting her calm posture.

“Are you expecting me to do something?” He asked mischievously as he took threatening steps toward her, causing her to back off in reflex and her back to hit the wall when the ground was gone.

"No, I don't expect anything." She swallowed hard as she felt her body slowly cover her with his near heat.

"Yes?" He whispered huskily close to her face using his typical arrogant tone.

“What are you doing?” He couldn't help but giggle as Jungkook's compact thigh slipped between her legs. The seriousness he suddenly showed on her face left her paralyzed.

"I'll make sure no one touches you. You said I had to find out what I wanted. I already know it. But what do you want? Tell me? ”When he leaned his face against hers brushing her nose teasing, Lexa swore the breath left her body. She opened her mouth reflexively drawing the attention of Jungkook who looked at them instantly. He brought his fingers to her cheek and stroked her gently. He leaned her face towards his making her imitate her gesture with his eyes closed. He felt the sweet skin of her lips and opened his mouth as he did. He felt the tip of his tongue brush against her teeth when ...

"Fuck," a voice coughed at the entrance to the cabin causing their bodies to part as if they were burning. Lexa moaned in surprise and ran towards Suho who kept one hand on her stomach as her body bent forward.

“Are you okay?” She asked worriedly as she stroked his back. Suho squeezed the door handle for support and looked at her with a smile.

"Yes." He coughed dramatically again. Then, she observed Jungkook with a look full of arrogance causing her to laugh sideways. "Now you better be with me."

[...]

"Two weeks ago a message was sent to Ronald. He has responded with the attack of the river, well, let us respond as well." Jungkook shouted to the warriors who shook their weapons above as a sign of emotion.

Lexa sighed seeing how what she most feared would come was beginning to do so. Despite the joy in the environment, she could not help thinking that not all those warriors would see the sunlight again.

A horse caught her attention. She recognized the blond rider who climbed off the horse masterfully.

"Our observer has seen troop movement from the south," Jimin announced to Jungkook who nodded with the seriousness required under the circumstances. Lexa knew she wasn't the only one thinking about death, she knew it when she saw his tense shoulders.

"That they come this time will not catch us by surprise," Lexa roared loudly, taking an exciting look from the blond warrior.

"Yes, with FireHeda on our side nothing can go wrong."

"FireHeda?" Lexa asked confused but with a smile on her face.

Jungkook rolled his eyes. "Jimin, I told you you won't call her that."

“Why do you call me FireHeda?” She turned his head towards Jungkook who sighed hesitantly.

"You killed thirty savages with a single fiery arrow," Jungkook said delicately knowing that the subject was still disturbing. Lexa looked down at the ground making Jungkook feel guilty and will look back at the soldier with a serious threat in her gaze. "I'll make sure no one ever utters that name again."

"No, leave them. I like FireHeda."Lexa answered indifferently. She nodded with a small smile on her lips. She had to start making peace with her past if she really wanted to move on.

[...]

She kicked his stomach causing the man to fall unconscious to the ground. Then he wiped the sweat from his face, wiping the blood from his mouth. She sighed wearily and raised her head to watch the battle. She smiled when she saw that her warriors had escaped unharmed at the first offensive. In fact, it was not difficult to beat them. Since both her and Jungkook's were used to enduring the sun for many hours to protect crops, the summer sun did not affect them in the same way as the savages, who always lived in a cold and freezing climate.

“They're retiring!” Her squad leader shouted loudly for all to hear. Lexa looked at Jungkook instantly. They were both looking confused.

"What?" Lexa asked, busy between standing up and being able to breathe. Jungkook came to his side and although he did not process it out loud he was glad that nothing had happened to him. Between fights and fights, she had given herself the privilege of observing how she was fighting and she was more than impressed. He was undoubtedly a Heda for something. He couldn't help noticing how good his hair was tousled and bathed in sweat as his chest rose and fell in agitation. Her cheeks heated as her wicked mind reminded her that it was not the first time she had seen her like this.

A horse bolted out of the trees scaring them. Jungkook stood in front of Lexa protecting her with his body. She watched him with a small smile of excitement at his tender desperation to place her behind.

A horse stood up right where its feet were shaking in the air and then fell with the same intensity. Lexa came out of Jungkook's body to look at the mountain speaker suspiciously.

"WanHeda * wants a reunion at dawn," the man announced with superiority, looking at them with disdain still mounted on the back of his horse.

Lexa forced herself to hold back the emotion because she knew what that meant.

"Tell Ronald that the truce will be honored."

[...]

"Tomorrow it will all be over," Jungkook announced calmly as he wiped his extensive bareback with a damp towel. He swept the dirt off the ground from the turmoil of battle as she washed her face by sinking her hands into a bowl filled with soap and water.

"I keep thinking about the lives of the innocents who left in battle," she whispered, lost in her guilt, remembering the bodies that were collected and the families that would never see them again.

"Ge smak daun, gyon op nodotaim. *" Jungkook muttered softly proclaiming her attention. Lexa immediately turned around at the hoarseness of her native language. Her lips parted as her golden chest welcomed him. He wanted to bite his lip as he got closer to her his pecs moved with the movement and the muscles of his abs tightened just inches from his fingers. He forced himself to stay sane because this was not the time to lose his mind, no matter how good the chestnut tree was. "You are a good Heda Lexa." If I died tomorrow my spirit will rest in peace knowing that my clan has you.

"Don't say that," she growled softly, frowning in disgust.

"Death is the war's greatest ally," Jungkook pronounced with passive normality that frightened her, prompting her to capture his cheeks and fix his gaze on hers pleading.

"Shop op! *" He ordered, his breathing altered. "Don't talk about death when you're alive. I already lost my father, I almost lost Suho I don't know what I would do if I also lost you ...

The tremor dominated her tone of voice to the point of gradually fading towards the end. Jungkook tightened the nape of his neck and buried his face in his chest. Lexa clenched her biceps in need causing him to squeeze her harder.

[...]

She had not slept at all but passed her into Jungkook's arms while caressing her head had diminished the effects of the dream.

Jungkook looked at the door of the store with the same mistrust as Lexa. They both sighed and walked towards her. Jungkook pushed aside the cloth but he passed first as a precaution. She accepted because she did not trust Ronald at all.

Upon entering, they found the Heda sitting on a throne made of bones and decorated with bearskin. Ronald smiled hypocritically and then got up.

"I admit that you surprised me," he began to comment amused as he walked down the steps and approached them, especially Jungkook. "I'm not going to sign my surrender."

“So what the hell do you want?” Jungkook asked furiously as he stepped forward-facing up. Jungkook was much taller than Ronald so his body absorbed hers.

"I have come to give an alternative to war," he pronounced innocently, knowing that his words penetrated deeply into Lexa, who soon joined the conversation.

"Talk," she said, taking Ronald's gaze.

"The main conflict is due to the death of the previous Heda Skykru."

"Say it by his name murder," Lexa snapped with fury running through her tone. Jungkook narrowed his eyes glaring at Ronald's body as he moved away to get a better look at her.

"The war is here." Death too. But it is avoidable. As an alternative, I propose that Fireheda fight my brother. If FireHeda wins I will withdraw from the territory of the mountains, if he dies I will stay with his clan. You have until dawn to make a decision. "When she told her plans, Lexa lifted her chin and looked at him full of pride." FireHeda finished off my army with an arrow. I think dealing with a single soldier will not be a problem for her.

[...]

"It's a trap," Jungkook commented with confidence in his gaze and stretched posture.

"I know," Lexa accepted thoughtfully.

Jungkook approached her quickly causing their eyes to connect.

"You don't have to accept that you know that he has agreed because he has no other way out."

Of course, she knew. As well as that Ronald was treacherous shit that he wouldn't mind killing his own mother to get what he wanted. He had been behind his clan's territory for years, and the only thing that had frustrated his plans had been his father. Now that he was gone, he thought that he could finally fulfill his desire. Of course, it was a trap. I knew Ronald's brother well. A barbarian as tall as an old pine, cunning and scarred from training. Anyone would think she was no match for anyone but they did not count on her also flooding those rumors since the bridge attack.

"Ronald is a murderer who doesn't care about anything if it is in my power to prevent more people from dying tomorrow, so be it " Lexa accepted with will power. She raised her head so that she could look him in the eye since she had gotten too close.

"We have a pending conversation," Jungkook uttered deeply as he lost himself in her eyes. Lexa blinked weakly as she sank her cheek back into the comfort of his chest.

"After...

[...]

She shook her hands hard and automatically the muscles in her arms flailed. She twisted her neck in circles to warm the head area. Then she took a deep breath and left the store. Sunlight landed on her eyes blinding for a moment until she got used to it. The sun was shining as much as if it was giving him good luck. As she crossed the line of the arena she heard excited screams from her soldiers and also demeaning screams from the enemy. The drums were played with force following the rhythm of their walk. Upon reaching the center of the arena, he clenched his teeth as he watched Kye talk to her brother, who smiled triumphantly as if victory trickled from his mouth.

"She attacks from the left and when you knock down her defenses I want you to kill her." Keep your eyes open there is no greater weakness than underestimating your enemy. - Ronald whispered to her brother who nodded obediently. Then he walked briskly to stand beside her. A councilor from her tribe climbed onto the wooden platform in front of the field where there were two chairs. One of them was occupied by recently arrived Ronald and the other by Jungkook who was watching Lexa seriously. When she responded to his affective call he nodded giving her strength.

"In hand-to-hand combat, there is only one rule ... Today someone must die!" Shouted the counselor amid the exciting tumult of the masses. She raised her hand and lowered it with her finger pointing towards them. "You can start."

Each one walked towards her warrior to collect her weapon. Kye quickly unsheathed the sword and ran towards Lexa believing that it would catch her off guard when she did nothing but make the first mistake in battle.

Never underestimate your enemy.

Lexa masterfully unsheathed the sword as she spun nimbly, sticking her elbow out and driving it into Kye's back as he ran the blade down his right leg causing it to drop to his knees. The screams of her warriors enthusiastically urged the feat as Lexa walked to the center of the arena still on alert waiting for Kye who rose heavily from the ground.

Upon reaching her, Lexa attacked with her sword. Kye stopped the attack with her sword. It was a match worth seeing from outside. On the one hand, Kye used his brute force to destabilize her with his body. And on the other, Lexa used her wit and agility to dodge everything and return it with more force. After clashes and clashes of her screeching metal, her swords end up crossing. They slid toward the hilt leaving everything at the mercy of force. Kye pulled her teeth out and growled like a dog in anger as he tried to knock her down. Lexa crushed her feet to the ground, holding on with all her being.

When her body began to bend downwards Kye smiled. "You are finished."

Lexa clenched her teeth as she reached for Kye's sword bewildering him. Long enough for her to tuck one foot between her spread legs to drop her to the ground. Kye staggered away, dragging his body across the floor as Lexa waved her hand to ease the pain of the cut. Fortunately, she had thought that wearing gloves would be a good way to protect herself, she had thought well.

She bent down slowly and grabbed Kye's sword from the ground, climbing up next to her to threaten from a distance.

The crowd roared with excitement as Kay disoriented like a headless chicken began searching for something to protect herself from. She found it in a warrior whom she kicked to remove her sharp spear. Lexa turned the swords in midair and approached attacking first in a battle cry. Kye tried to drive the point into her belly but the attack was deflected thanks to her sword. The spear almost escaped from her sweaty fingers but she knew how to catch it in time.

Lexa kicked his leg, knocking it to the ground, but he took advantage of his position to attack hers. Lexa intercepted the attack again but the sword forcibly left her fingers, leaving only one so she was distracted for a second following the path of the sword. She received a punch in the belly causing her to double from the pain, she was kicked in the chest, knocking her down.

Kye tightened her grip on the spear and when she was about to drive it into her neck she cocked her head and was embedded in the ground. She moved her legs nimbly and stood up. She hit her jaw hard leaving her dizzy on the floor. Lexa turned, picked up the spear, and placed it on the column of her neck.

"Do what you have to do," Kye whispered in a strange tone. Lexa frowned and it was then that Kye sneakily showed him the little mirror on her wrist.

"Jus drein jus daun *," Lexa said carefully just before throwing the spear into the throne area.

The screaming stopped as the tip of the spear pierced the bowels of Ronald who did not see his last breath go out.

"Why?" Lexa asked puzzled as she offered her hand to Kye to help lift him up.

"War is not the solution. Ronald killed our parents to become Heda. I take off my family I think I see just ending his reign."

Lexa nodded, satisfied with her answer. The murderer had perished and now new times full of hope would come.

She turned to the crowd and shouted:

"Now the mountain clan will have a new Heda!"

She watched Kye smiling and she nodded in respect as her warriors screamed rather than accepted.

[...]

The parties after a battle were undoubtedly the best. People drank and sang around a bonfire regardless of gender or origin. They were only humans enjoying the end of the war. Lexa smirked as she looked around for a man named above.

But someone enthusiastically stepped in front of her making her stop.

"You've been amazing, Lexa." God those blows. Those kicks. That guy Kye was lucky not to ...

"Suho, sorry I have something to do," she cut when she saw him leaning in the distance against a tree. Suho mumbled something but she kept walking like bees towards the skin.

When he got in front of him Jungkook smiled as he raised an amused eyebrow.

"Hello," Jungkook said calmly.

"Hey," she replied with the same serenity. One that was short-lived as she immediately jumped into his arms desperately. Jungkook squeezed his body, delighting in the comfort of his small figure.

"I knew you would win," Jungkook whispered into her hair. She took off her head with her hands on her chest but still not undoing the hug.

"Ah yeah? So why did you have that scary look all the time?"

Jungkook smiled. "It wasn't because of you, it was because of Kye. Who in their right mind would dare challenge you for a ...

Her mouth was immediately closed by anxious lips. Lexa opened her mouth when Jungkook tightened her nape and brushed her tongue against his lower lip. He kissed her eagerly, eagerly as he leaned her against the tree.

"Does this answer your question?" Lexa said shaken by the recent kiss.

Jungkook smiled mesmerized as he leaned closer to whisper on his lips, "I always knew it was you."

"What?" Lex laughed confused.

"When I saw you run to the bridge and shoot that arrow, dammit, I don't think I was ever so attracted to someone." When Jungkook confessed that, Lexa's eyes widened.

"Were you there? Your...

"Yes...

Now it all made sense. The heat of his body that exuded tranquility and security. Her strong arms that she unconsciously recognized and that fucking honey smell that had driven her crazy from the start.

Lexa filled her hands to her face and cupped her cheeks excitedly.

"Why did you not tell me?"

"Would something have changed?" Jungkook said with pure amusement.

“Why did you ask me to marry you?” He waited anxiously for her answer as he frowned happily.

"I guess for the first time I didn't know how to approach a woman."

"And do you think it was the best idea?"

"Has it worked or not?"

Lexa pursed her lips thoughtfully before nodding.

"Yes, it has worked."

[chloebeale]

UNTIL I’M OKAY (preview)

AUTHORS: @bottombeca & @snowbritt. RATING: M. PAIRING: Bechloe. WORDS: 1,794. ABOUT: Bechloe ‘Dead To Me’ AU.

This is purely a preview of chapter one, the entirety of which will be posted shortly. While this fic is based heavily on the show Dead To Me, it has been altered, adjusted and added to to create a Bechloe story and universe.

We hope you enjoy the below preview of our collaborative baby!

Warnings: Mentions of death and miscarriage.

***

All morning, there have been signs; signs that Beca shouldn’t be here. Firstly, Ryder’s cheeks had looked a little more flushed than usual. No, maybe he didn’t have a fever or anything, but Beca is not a doctor, he totally could be getting sick. Maybe she should’ve kept him home from school for the day, stuck around to take care of him.

Next, the Atlanta traffic, typically insufferable anyway, had been even worse this morning somehow.

It also doesn’t help that this isn’t necessarily voluntary on her part—court-ordered attendance doesn’t care about signs, or so the judge told her the last time she skipped. 

And now this: a broken coffee machine. At least, Beca thinks it’s broken… She is positive there is no way anybody would try to pass off what she can only consider the sludge floating around in her styrofoam cup as actual coffee, right? Not that she has tasted it yet. Rather, she simply eyes it with a scrutinizingly raised brow, attention shifting distractedly to the view ahead.

If she has to endure cheap coffee and even cheaper cliches, at least there’s a view. The river will be a nice distraction when everything inevitably starts to get a little too weepy for her tolerance, she supposes.

Perhaps Beca is a little too caught up in the serenity of it all, in fact—the aforementioned view—because she seems to lose herself for the briefest of moments, at least long enough to bring the coffee cup up to her lips.

Instantly, she regrets it.

“Dude, what the—” She doesn’t know if she should choke it down or spit it back in the cup.

“That bad, huh?”

The voice to break into her quiet outburst is an unfamiliar one, though it comes from close enough by to have Beca’s attention drifting toward its owner. She is unfamiliar, too. Beca doesn’t register her own blank expression until the other woman speaks again.

“The coffee…” There is a distinct lightness to the nameless face’s voice, one that Beca really does not have the energy for this morning. “Kind of looks like you’re not enjoying it.”

“Oh, right,” Beca nods, tone disinterested. “Yeah. It tastes like shit.”

The melodic giggle to ring out from the stranger’s lips seems somewhat misplaced, all things considered. “Guess I’ll avoid it then,” she says, tucking a chunk of curled red hair behind her ear. She hesitates for the shortest moment, before pushing a bright, welcoming smile to her lips. “I’m Chloe, by the way. This is…” Chloe motions vaguely around them, “Kind of new to me.”

Beca is not here to make friends. In fact, she doesn’t even want to be here. Regardless, she nods politely in response to Chloe’s introduction—it is really not her fault Beca cannot control her temper, after all. “Beca.”

“Beca…” Chloe repeats in a breezy tone, almost as if trying to commit it to memory. “Pretty.”

Though Beca’s brows tug together slightly, she offers Chloe a small smile, one that definitely does not meet her eyes—then again, when does Beca’s smile meet her eyes these days?

Chloe’s wide gaze seems to be staring at her expectantly, as if awaiting a response. What is she even supposed to say to that?

Fortunately—if anything about this situation can be considered fortunate—a new voice cuts into their conversation.

“Ready to join the circle?”

If Jesse were here, Beca would make a mumbled comment to him about how semi-threatening the request sounds. But, he isn’t… And that is why Beca is even here at all. So, exchanging a brief glance with Chloe, whose subtle amusement appears evident, Beca sets down her cup of lukewarm sludge, before dutifully making her way toward an empty seat.

“Looks like we have a few fresh faces here today,” the previous voice announces cheerfully.

Beca glances up to the blonde wearing the neatly pressed Fallen Leaves t-shirt, taking note of the way she is now looking expectantly between Beca and the redhead seated beside her.

Taking no further prompting, Chloe sends a small wave toward the group, before introducing herself with a polite, “Hi. I’m Chloe.”

Following a brief silence, Beca registers the countless sets of eyes now training on her.

“Oh. Um, hi. I’m Beca,” she says awkwardly to the group, the distinct difference between she and Chloe’s greetings palpable. The way she straightens in her chair seems to display her level of discomfort, if the way the blonde shoots a sympathetic look her way is anything to go by.

“Well, welcome to Fallen Leaves,” she says, evidently taking over, “My name is Aubrey. As some of you know, I like to start out our grief group by sharing the loss that got me into this work.”

Beca braces herself for the first of what she’s sure will be many sob stories to come, though she takes comfort in the focus no longer being on her.

“During an acapella competition in college, under extreme pressure, I violently vomited on stage,” Aubrey begins to explain somberly. “My co-captain slipped in it and fell off the stage, breaking her neck in the process. It happened with the whole crowd watching, not to mention on live television.” She pauses briefly, giving the group a moment to digest the information and evidently ignoring the look of mild horror displayed across Beca’s face. “And I live with that every day.”

Shrinking back into her chair a little bit, Beca is beginning to regret everything that led to her being here today. She doesn’t want to talk about it with anyone—let alone someone who anxiety-puked their way into killing someone. 

“Oh, my god,” Chloe murmurs sympathetically.

Aubrey presses her lips together. “Thank you. Is there a loss you’ve had that you’d like to share with us today?” Her gaze moves toward Beca briefly, though Beca is quick to shake her head in response.

“I do,” the voice beside her pipes up. The group’s attention, Beca and Aubrey’s included, moves toward Chloe, and Beca finds that she is grateful to lose the spotlight yet again.

Apparently, Chloe doesn’t share Beca’s disdain for all eyes on her. She looks comfortable enough as she shoots a small smile toward her audience. “Okay,” Chloe begins, straightening slightly in her seat. Just because she seems to be okay with the attention does not mean that whatever she is about to say is something she is comfortable with. In fact, it becomes quickly evident that it is not. “Well, um, my fiancé and I—ex fiancé—were trying to start a family. We tried a bunch of times, in fact,” Chloe explains, settling into her story.

Beca notes the way her gaze lowers, as if she is mentally disappearing somewhere else.

“About eight weeks ago, our baby died. It was sudden. Really sudden. I was…” Chloe’s voice gets small and strained as she wrings her fingers together.

Beca is about the least affectionate woman in all of Atlanta, but something about Chloe’s small voice and shrinking demeanor almost makes her want to reach out and settle a comforting hand against her shoulder. She doesn’t, of course; she just focuses her own sad gaze on Chloe as she continues.

“I was five months along, so we weren’t really expecting it, you know? Maybe we should have been. There were four before this. And the miscarriages… No one prepares you for how hard they really are. But this time, I guess I just thought we’d made it. That I was really going to have a family.”

Chloe is looking down at her hands, folded into each other to keep from fidgeting. “This time we’d set up the nursery. We hadn’t done that before, not since the first…” She clears her throat. “I keep coming back to this baby blanket that I’ll never get to wrap around my baby. Or lift it to my nose and breathe in her smell when I miss her.” She blinks a few times and looks back up, like she is coming back to the present. Beca notes that her eyes are a little harder to look into now. “So, yeah,” Chloe murmurs. “There’s nothing I can do about it.”

That same somber expression, already familiar, has returned almost automatically to Aubrey’s face. “We’re here for you, Chloe,” she says, a genuine air to her comforting tone. “Let’s hear it for Chloe, guys.” 

Like conditioned robots reading from a brief handed out before Beca’s arrival, everyone except for Beca, who is unintentionally watching Chloe, says in monotone, “We’re here for you, Chloe.”

Beca’s is the lone voice to say, much more personally, “That sucks. I’m really sorry.”

Despite the sea of eyes trained on Chloe, Chloe’s gaze lifts to meet Beca’s, auburn brows drawn tightly together. They seem to relax a little as she looks at Beca, though. Eventually, she just says, “Thank you,” quietly, a small nod of appreciation accompanying her words.

A moment passes between them before Aubrey speaks. “Thank you for sharing that.” While Beca may not be used to this, to people opening up so deeply and personally, Aubrey evidently is. It seems to be business as usual for her as she continues in a clear voice. “Last week, we started talking about the F-word.”

Instantly, Beca’s eyebrows jump up. She glances around at everyone else, but they don’t seem to find anything strange about this—something Beca finds strange in and of itself. Out of the corner of her eye, Chloe’s gaze catches Beca’s, and Beca notes that it looks as though she’s trying to suppress a confused chuckle.

“That’s right. Forgiveness,” Aubrey says. “Forgiveness can be really difficult. It can even take a lifetime. But no matter the circumstances, everyone is deserving of forgiveness.”

Beca can’t keep the indignant scoff from leaving her lips even if she wants to. Aubrey stops talking, her mouth slightly open in offense, while piercing eyes seem to narrow in on Beca directly.

“Do you have anything to share about forgiveness, Beca?”

Beca’s lips purse, armor falling briefly. “Yeah, I do,” she nods. “How do you forgive someone who hits your husband with their car and then drives away, leaving him to bleed to death on the side of the road?” Beca mutters flatly. “How do you forgive the person responsible for you lying awake every night, wondering how your boys are supposed to cope without their father? How do you forgive that?”

Wide eyes stare her way incredulously, but before anyone has the chance to respond, she leans back in her chair, closing herself off to further conversation. “You know what, I actually don’t want to get into it, so someone else can go,” Beca exhales sharply, trying to push her anger back into its usual box, stored up on the highest shelf where it belongs.

[hobbitsnapes]

The Red Hoods Protègè chapter 12

Older Damian Wayne x ofc

(Photo made by my lovely friend @tyuuniverse)

Summary:Red hood has taken a young vigilante under his wing and subsequently changes Damians life forever. (I suck at summary’s)

Each day that goes by, his wounds start to heal. Bones start to go back into place, each cut scabbing over, some like the one on his cheekbone turning into another scar. Each time he lifts his body, Excruciating pain doesn’t flood him. Each step growing easier as the date go by. But the one thing that grows more painful, is his heart. Each time he thinks of her, a pain shoots through his heart as he remembers. Each time his face rubs across his silk pillowcase, it brings him back to the softness of her dress that she wore countless times. The feel of the warm bedding surrounding him reminding him of the warmth she had whenever she would hug or lean into him. Each night he dreams of her soothing laughter. But as if his brain wants him to suffer, he simultaneously hears her scream out when the blade cut into her back. The two images of her warm smile gracing her face, and the look of shear pain and hurt when he found her in the bathroom. Any touch to his lips reminding him of the feel of her lips on his. The warmth that once flooded him whenever he thought about her, now a deep pain, that almost feels hollow. Each day he sinks further and further into pain due to thinking of her. Pain and anger fueling him each time. ‘Why, why does she do it? She knows it’s not right. She knows the difference.’ He thinks. Thoughts flossing his head of the what if’s, all the times he should have known, and all the confusion flooding him. He had been raised from birth to kill, not knowing anything different until he was 10. She knows that she shouldn’t do this, that taking a life is not the answer. But she does it anyway. Why, why was the one person he fell for, had to be fighting the same battle, but on the other side?

He’s very thankful, each person in the house coming to aid in his recovery. Tim even coming in to give him a bowl of pumpkin soup. And each one being either kind enough, or too afraid to bring up the situation at hand. That is until today.

Damian sat in his bed as he red Thus Spoke Zarathustra. The soft tick of his clock, along with his breathing creating a soft background in the room. That is until footsteps come to his door. A soft knock of 3 and a pause, along with 2 more knocks telling him who is at the door. Since Damian was young and first living at the manor, he’s had a fear of someone coming into his room that he doesn’t know. Reminding him of the days when he’d be fast asleep, and a member coming in with sword in hand to train him as instructed by his mother. So each member of the family created their own specific knocks to alert him of their presence. Even though he’s learned over the years who it is by their footsteps, he finds it kind they keep the tradition up after all these years. The door opening as Damian turns his head to be greeted by dick. He had been staying for a few days to help with Damian, and to help on a case for their father. “Hey Damian, how you feeling today?” Dick asks, eying the sharp scab that runs down his cheekbone. “I’m feeling much better today, thank you.” Damian looks back down to his book as he says this. A sigh coming from his eldest brother. “No Damian, I mean, how are you feeling?” Dicks tone telling him exactly what he means. “I told you, I’m fine.” Damian says with a soft bite to his tone. Growing irritated at the fact that he’s asking. “Damian, you can’t keep bottling it up. We all see what’s going on, I get it. You don’t want to go to Bruce because, well the guy doesn’t know how to handle anything having to do with feelings. But I’m here, everyday. I see how this is bothering you. I hear you at night when you think nobody’s up. I see how much you’re hurting. I want to help you Damian.” Dick puts his hand on damians shoulder. His eyes pleading with him. “If it makes you feel better, no I’m not fine. I don’t want to talk about it because it’s just going to do absolutely nothing in the end. It’s not going to erase all the blood she’s laid on the ground. It’s not going to make me feel any better. I don’t need to lay out a sob story about this. I’ll get over it eventually. And until then, don’t ask Grayson.” Damians voice is void of any emotion, but with a venomous bite when he spoke of her. His eyes glued to his book the entire time. “Fine, but don’t say I didn’t try.” Dick says as he leaves the room.

Damians feet briskly walk down the many steps to the cave, his suit already on apart from his mask. He enters the room and is met with dick and Tim at the computers, a large map on the screen as red dots appear on the screen.

Bruce walks out in his full suit, his mask in his hands as he walks over to the computers. “Damian, I don’t think it’s a smart idea for you to go out tonight.” Bruce says as he eyes his son. His brow furrowed slightly. “It’s been a month father, I’m healed up and besides I know tonight is a hard one.” “I’m not talking about that, I know you’re fine physically.” Bruce says with his eyes glued to Damian. A sigh leaving Damian at this. “I’m perfectly fine. I’m not gonna let this one thing stop me from this. Besides, you do it all the time whilst seeing Selina and my mother.” “Fine.”

Each day she wakes up, her mind grows darker and her heart shrinks into pain further. Her once bright sapphire eyes, a dull pale grey. Red rims her iris, and darkness’s covers around them. Her once glowing skin, a translucent sickly color. Her smile no longer reaching her eyes. Her once loud laughter, now nonexistent. The apartment falling into a silence, as if her lack of brightness has dimmed each end of it in a blanket of grey. She’s unable to cry after the first few days. As if her body can no longer produce tears to cascade down her face. But the pain in her heart growing to the point it covers her entire chest in a sharp stab. Is this what all those movies talked about? The feeling that all you want is to bring back all the memories that are neatly tucked in your mind, memories that once filled her with warmth and glee, now a shooting stab as it cracks through her from the inside. All she wants is to forget. Forget the way his emerald green eyes looked into hers with the purest form of admiration and joy. How whenever she made a joke, he’d fight the ever persistent smile that grew on his face, until he finally caved and let out a chuckle. In the beginning, he was on edge a lot, almost looking to hide the brightness inside of him. When they kissed, it’s as if she strung fairy lights along his spine, and they lit from the inside out. Each time she thinks about him, a pain shoots through her each time. His last words echoing in her mind. Causing the pain to return. But she didn’t want to stop thinking of all the times they had. She wished that she could go into her mind, and live in there like a bubble. Be back to the days his hands held onto hers as they walked to the park, to the days when he’d sit beside her and drape his coat across her. She was never cold when he was beside her, but she loved the heavy weight and sent that enclosed around her from it. All she wants, is to forget the pain. But live in the past when he looked at her like she hanged the sun each morning.

A soft knock comes through the door. Alerting Jason of the one person he could think of to help. He opens the door and is met with firey red hair, and enticing green eyes. “Thank you so much for coming, I know it was such a short notice with how busy you are-“ “Jason.” Artemis puts her hand on his shoulder, her eyes locked with his. “It’s not a problem. After you told me what happened, I would come regardless of what I was doing. Now, where is she?” A soft smile plays on her face, a slight blush dusting his face. “She’s in her room, again, thank you.” “Again, it’s not a problem jason.”

Sandys eyes are drawn away from her notepad to the door, a soft knock is then Accompanied by the door opening. There stands Artemis, her hair tied up in a tight bun but with one small bit hanging off the side. A crisp white top and black pants is worn rather than her usual batling attire. “Hey sweetheart, what are you up to?” A sigh leaves sandy as she looks up at her. Her eyes are puffy and dark, exhaustion clear in her face. “Dad asked you to come by didn’t he?” Artemis sighs and looks away from her. “He’s worried about you, you are his little girl after all.” Sandy sets her notepad down on her bedside table, slowly sitting up against the wall next to her and tucks her knees up to her chin. Artemis comes and sits beside her, her eyes brimming with tears that refuse to shed down her tired face. “I don’t know what to do. All I want is to go back, go back to when he looked at me like I poked holes in the sky to make the stars. I miss how warm he was whenever I’d sit beside him. I miss the way I’d make a stupid joke, he’d fight the smile that was so clear on his face and then he’d break. I miss everything.” A sob leaves her, her voice hiccuping as she tries breathing. “B-but at the same time, I wish I never met him. I-I let him make me so happy. I-I hurt so much whenever I think about him. It’s like this deep, sharp stab that trickles out of my chest and onto the rest of my body. It’s the pain that knowing it’s only a memory and that it’ll never happen again. I want to forget everything. But at the same time, I miss how happy he made me. God the look on his face when he saw me. And-and that, he called me a monster.” Sobs now falling like rivers down her face, her voice horse and her eyes tired but filled with endless tears. Artemis puts her arms around her, letting her cry in her chest. “You’re not what he said sweetheart. You gotta remember that he’s hurt too. You both are on different sides fighting the same battle. I don’t know him well, but from what I do know, he lashes out when he’s hurt. Give it some time. It hurts right now and that’s okay. It’s okay to hurt. It’s what shows the level of love and care you still have. You’re both loving, but stronger than anyone I’ve ever met. You didn’t let what happen to you make you cold. You didn’t let it kill your good heart and soul. Just your heart alone, could defeat any Amazon I know. Trust in me, it will be better one day.” Sandy lays back down onto her bed, looking away from her, her eyes still filled with tears. “I can’t tell if it’ll get better, or that I’ll grow used to it.” Artemis sighs, bending down and placing a kiss to her forehead. “Time will tell sweetheart.” And with that, she leaves the room.

As sandy approaches her door, she hears the muffled sounds of voices from the other room. Her heart beats faster as she tries to listen in, but the voices are drowned out by the sound of the tv playing. It sounds as if Jason and Roy are there, but there’s more than them. She slowly opens her door, her head peering out of the door and into the kitchen. She walks out slowly, holding her breath as she approached the living room. Her heart beating loudly in her chest. Thst is until she enters the doorway to the living room, confusion taking place as she eyes what could only be described as the biggest blanket fort in the living room. All furniture is covered with multiple blankets and pillows. Before she can do anything, a loud cours of yells startle her, causing her to let out a large scream. She grabs a hold of a small picture frame beside her and throws it, causing it to hit against, Roy? The large redhead clutching his groin and falling to the ground, letting out a pained groan. “Goood fuck me, you couldn’t have aimed s little higher or lower? I might want kids one day.” Jason lets out a large laugh at this, a larger, more deep laugh is heard beside her, and when she turns, she’s met with a large chest and a bone crushing hug. “Bizarro have not missed young angel! Bizarro hate young angel!” “Alright big guy I love you too, now you gotta let me go okay? I can’t breathe.” Bizarro lets go of her abruptly, his hands on her shoulders looking at her in fear. “Me not sorry! Bizarro want to hurt!” A soft smile covers her face as she looks at the large Kryptonian. “I know big guy, don’t worry.” She looks around the room, Artemis standing with a large smile on her face with a box in her hand. Roy is still on the ground in a fetal position, and Jason looking at her with a soft pleading smile.

“I’m legit only doing this because I love you.” “Arty, hand over the gold glitter please.” Jason wonders is sandy and Artemis were some witches at this moment. What was supposed to be a fun night of movies, food and family time, has turned into both girls putting makeup on him. No wait, he does remember how it started.

Over the last close to 2 years being the daughter of Jason, sandy had mastered the art of the puppy eyes. And with just one look from her, and a look that matched hers from Artemis, he knew his manly persona was out the door.

As sandy applies the sparkling gold to his lids, she can’t help but have a giant smile on her face. Her father, who is one of the manliest men she’s ever met, is letting her do this just to make her happy. She feels close to tearing up, she’s known he loves her dearly. But the fact that she lets him do these things, and throws an entire sleepover with what is now her family, moves her heart so greatly, it causes tears to threaten.

“Okay I just need one more thing, where’s that red gloss? Ah! Right here!” Sandy takes the goopy gloss and applies it to jasons matte red painted mouth. The blue in his eyes are highlighted due to the rose gold Smokey eyes along with fluttery lashes. His cheeks flushed with a hint of rosy rouge. He had even let her pluck his eyebrows for the final affect to be perfect. Refusing to admit to how badly his eyes watered due to it. His lips a deep glossy red to finish the look. Both girls had wide smiles covering their faces. “You look reeeaall pretty dude.” Jason turns to his right, sitting beside him is Roy with a shit eating grin covering his face. That is until sandy lets out a small chuckle. “Oh if you think so, then lets give you a makeover next!”

Jason and Roy had Donned many outfits in their lives. They thought when they were the sidekicks to both green arrow and Batman were the most embarrassing things they’ve worn, were nothing compared to this.

Jason would a skin tight, deep plunging v neck dress that he prays to god wasn’t his daughters and stiletto black heels and a very crappy long black wig that looks like it’s from 1985. He doesn’t ever want to remember all the maneuvers he had to do to as the girls put it, ‘tuck.’

Roy was just as embarrassed as his best friend. Wearing a very tight black crop top that he swears would give a nip slip if he badly raised his arms. To cover his lower half, he wore what he could only describe as the tiniest skirt he’s ever seen in his life. He swore that he might as well just be naked due to how small the fabric was. Thigh high white heeled boots covered his legs to his knees. And a bright little mermaid wig to top it all off.

Both men looked at one another in pitty, knowing neither one will ever live this down. But knowing that this will make sandy happy, they gave a silent nod and walked out into the living room.

Both men walk out into the living room together, swaying their hips to the beat of toxic. Both girls let out a yell and a hard laugh, as they watch both men walk in strutting their stuff like it’s nobody’s business.

Both Artemis and sandy couldn’t contain their laughter as they watched both men dance impressively well. With both men doing a horrible job at lip syncing to the song as well. They couldn’t keep the tears flowing out from laughter once the dance was finished, Jason having done a full split and saying “I’ll kill you all except sandy if you speak of this to anyone.”

Jason and Artemis sat together on the floor, watching fondly at the sight in front of them. Bizarro had fallen asleep on the couch laying flat on his back. And sandy lay flat on his chest, her small size compared to his massive body making her look miniature in size. The faint smile on her face as she curled up into him causing both of them to chuckle. “You’ve done a great job Jason.” He turns to look at her, brow slightly raised and head tilted to the side. “What makes you think that?” He asks. “All that you do for her, you would walk to the ends of the earth and beyond for her. The love you have for her, and give her, shows how much she means to you.” Jason looks down at his lap at this, a faint smile on his face. “I just can’t help but feel like I’m fucking up all the time.” “I’ll be honest, you fuck up a lot.” This causes Jason to chuckle. “But, one thing you haven’t is being a parent. Sure, you messed up when you lied to her about your true past, I’ll still never understand why you did that.” Jason lets out a large sigh at this. “It’s because, everyone who gets involved with that family personally, they all get hurt or killed. I was just so scared that it would happen to her, and it did.” A tear falls down his cheek at the confession. She wipes it away from his face, bringing his face from looking down to her eyes. “It’s not the family that has that Jason. It’s our line of work, they don’t have a curse your on them that makes everyone there get hurt. It’s a fact of life. You need to stop worrying so much. I get it, you don’t want her hurt. But the more you pull her away so she won’t, the more she’ll run. She was lied to keep safe enough from her parents. And about them, they still are your family. I know, you’re hurt for what they did to you. But they still care about you. You just never let them try. Family is everything. When you and someone you love are hurt or in danger, family is what protects you. And don’t worry about not being good enough to take care of her. She’s done such a transformation since I met her, and that’s all because of you. You’re an amazing father Jason.” Tears stream down his face now, the last line causing the majority of them. “Thank you, so much.”

Both of them knew they would see each other again. It would take a naive fool to think that they would never see one another again. But that didn’t prepare them for tonight.

“Robin, I need you to get past the first 3 guards at the door.” “Got it.” Damian silently creeped up behind them, taking them out within seconds. Bruce came down shortly after, having been watching from afar. Both men enter the bank silently. Surveillance Footage confirmed two faced and his men were behind the current robbery. They both grapple up to two separate gargoyles on the walls. Watching over the men as they frantically run around similar to chickens due to the alarm going off. “Two faces thugs won’t hear us over the alarms. Be quick and hard.” Damian noded over to his father.

Damian dropped down onto 4 guards, taking them out all at once. “ITS THE BAT AND ROBIN!” All hell broke loose when one of the men spotted him. Men cane running to both of them as they took each one out.

Damian ran up to one of them who was grabbing for his fallen gun, but before he could reach him, a shot was heard and the man fell to the ground. Blood spewing out of his head and onto the floor. Damian whipped his head around, spotting the one person he hoped he wouldn’t see tonight.

Guns firing and alarms going off fill the outside of the bank. Both sandy and jason jumping off their bikes and running in as fast as they can. They spot 5 guards in the entrance of the bank, knowing they were there to stop from anyone getting in or out. Jason looked over to her, nodding his head to her to signal her to take them out.

She ran over to the men, taking out her hunters knife and slitting the first man's stomach. She then jumped up onto the seconds mans thigh, swinging her leg around his head whilst simultaneously swinging her left leg around his left arm. Slitting his throat as she swung her body around his arm and onto the third mans body, stabbing into his jugular as she took him down to the ground. She eyes the next two men and ran over, sliding down to the ground and swinging her foot into their legs, knocking both men to the ground. She took her knife and slashed both of their throats in the process. She looked behind her to Jason, nodding her head and running in.

She knew he’d be there, but that didn’t stop the pain in her heart when she watched him from afar.

She watches as he takes out men left and right, she can’t help but just freeze up when she watches him glide through the crowd of men so fluently, as if the wind itself was guiding him.

She watches as he runs up to a man, but she sees the gun in his hand about to aim for his head. Her heart pounds out of her as she raises her gun and shoots the man in the head. Damian turns to her direction. And even with his mask, she knows he sees her. A pain shoots through her heart as she watches him make what could only be the slightest hint of pain grace his face, before he turns away from her.

A sharp pain floods through his heart as he sees her, gun in hand, just looking at him. He turns and runs the other direction towards the vaults.

She runs after him, seeing that he’s running into a large group of armed men. Knowing he’s not thinking straight she runs in, taking out men as she goes that he didn’t get to.

She sees him in the middle of 15 men, 7 of them with guns, 8 without. She grabs her knife and takes out 4 of the armed men. Then going after 3 unarmed men in her way.

He watches her as she glides through each men, knife skillfully taking out each men without her getting hit once. “I’VE GOT THIS!” He yells out to her, growing angrier by the second of seeing her trying to help him. “YEAH TOTALLY LOOKS LIKE IT!” She yells back, growing even more irritable due to the fact that he’s angry at her trying to help him.

Both of them are back to back as they take out each men coming towards them. They both look at one another as all the men drop to the ground. Though they can’t see their eyes, pain paints both of their faces.

They both run out of the room, sprinting towards their partners. They keep looking at one another when they hear them yell, eyeing them as they both work their hardest to take out the ever flossing of men.

It’s as if time, sound, and sight of the room stops when she sees a man raise his gun, and aim at him. “ROBIN!” She screams out when she sees the bullet fly out of the gun, and into his side. He lets out a large cry of pain as he drops to the ground. Time slows down and anything around her is black as she sprints over to him. It’s like her legs are in slow motion as tears gather in her eyes and spill onto her mask. Her chest bursting out of her chest as she runs.

When she reaches him, she sees the blood soaking his suit. The red panel of his suit a darker red from it. It thankfully didn’t hit any artery’s as it’s not spewing out. She crouches down to his, his face contorting in pain. She reaches for his shoulders and hip, trying her hardest to get him up without putting any pressure to the wound. “Come on! I need to get you out of here!” She yells out. She slowly brings him up, putting his arm around her shoulders, and varying the brunt of his weight as she moves to the outside.

They reach the entrance to the bank, him groaning in pain the further they get. His steps growing slower as his body tries falling to the ground. “Come on robin, were almost there! Just a little bit more okay?” She pleads our, he lets out a large groan as he takes a few more steps.

They reach the outside, the chill in the air sending him to the ground. He lets out a pained yell as he tries falling down, she reaches and brings his weight into her arms and she tries dragging him as safely as possible to the grass. Her muscles screaming due to his much larger weight.

She sets him down onto the ground, a weak groan leaving him when he lays down. His hand had been clutching his wound the entire time. Blood slowly trickling past his palms. Her heart beating rapidly as she watches him. His once red flushed face taking on an almost pale colorless tone. She reaches and takes the mask from his face to know if he’s passed out or not. His usually alert forest green eyes are slowly closing. She reaches around and takes off her leather jacket. The inside having cloth to fight off the cold, and for times like this.

She slowly takes his hand away from his wound, and instantly applies the jacket to it. A groan breaking through him due to the pain. His face scrunches up and he bares his teeth. “I know I know it hurts, but I need to stop the blood.” She pleads out. She takes her knife and cuts away the middle of his suit, having trouble due to the material. She opens it and puts the cloth inside his suit. Another groan leaving him.

His eyes blink slowly, alarming her as he’s having trouble staying awake. She uses her other hand up to his cheek, cupping it. “Hey hey hey, stay awake for me okay? Look at me.” He opens his eyes and watches her, the once angry scowl on his face gone, now looking tired and almost pleading. “Everything is gonna be okay.” She reaches for his other arm, pressing the button on his arm and brings it to her mouth. “Batman, robin has been shot. We’re outside near the large oak tree. Try and hurry he’s blacking out!” “Men are surrounding us. I’ll come as fast as I can angel.” She lets go of his arm, again bringing her hand to his face to keep him awake. His cheek is warm to the touch. Bringing her back to-she can’t think about it due to the pain it shoots through her.

She stays there with him for what feels like eternity. Her heart pounding in her chest each time his eyes close. “Hey hey hey stay with me, please. I’m gonna make sure you get out of this. Just please stay with me okay.” At this point she has removed her mask due to the tears flossing down her face. He’s having trouble keeping his eyes open, scaring her each time.

Tears stream down her face the more his eyes shut, a pain that she only felt when she watched both her parents die flooding her. “Please, robin promise me you won’t go! Please promise me!” She yells out. A tear falls down from his eye, she wipes it away as more tears fall. “I-I promise.” He weakly groans out. A smile graces her face, tears still falling. But the small response from him slightly soothing her pained heart. The moment dying when he lets out a large pained yell. She looks down and sees blood soaking faster through her jacket. She reaches for his arm again and presses down onto the speaker. “HOW MANY MORE DO YOU HAVE!” “We have a handful of guys left!” “GET THE FUCK OUT HERE AND LET MY DAD HANDLE THE REST! PLEASE THIS ONE TIME! ROBIN IS DYING!” She screams out into the speaker.

She watches as Batman runs out of the building. Bruce running faster as he sees his son laying on the ground. He crouched down to him, grabbing for the jacket. Sobs wreck her as she watches as Bruce tries stopping the blood. “Here’s the key,go to the tumbler and in the backseat there’s a bag. Go get it and bring it back.” Bruce says urgently. She nods and sprites towards it. Unlocking it and flying into the back, sporting the bag, grabbing it and running as fast as she can back to them.

“Okay go in and grab the gauze.” She grabs it and hands it to Bruce, she watches it in amazement as it fuses to his skin. “Something I had made when your father was robin. It’s reinforced with a technology that combines with the skin to stop blood from leaking out. From the looks of it, it didn’t hit any organs. It did pass through most of his side. That’s where most of the blood is coming from.” “Then why is he nearly passing out!” She says to Bruce. Not understanding how a superficial gash could cause him to nearly die. “Maybe it was because his heart rate was and is escalated. The adrenaline levels decreasing, the pounding of his heart along with the blood loss could cause him to pass out.” Both of them look down as they hear him let out a groan. He looks around and spots his father first. He then turns and sees her face. Relief flossing her knowing that he’s alright. “I need to get him back to the tumbler and to the cave to make sure everything is alright.” Bruce says. “Here let me help you get him back in.” She goes to reach for him but he moves out of the way. “Get away from me.” He groans out. Pain shoots through her chest at his words. “Damian I’m trying to hel-“ “DON'T call me that! I don’t need help from somebody like you!” After all the pain she felt that night, his words shoot through her heart harder than anything else had. Tears fall down her face as it feels like pain is swarming through her, trickling from her chest outwards. “Fine. I was just trying to help you is all.” She says, getting up and running. Running as far as she can from him.

Tags: @comic-nerd-dc @psychovigilantewrites @comic-brew

[waitwhathappenedin]

Wait, what happened in The Dragon Republic?

I know I’m behind the tumblr train of love for the Poppy War series, but I had a hard time getting into this book because I loved the boarding school part but the second half was just terrible war.  It turns out I was half right - this book was all terrible war, but I’m so glad I read it.  Keep reading for lots of spoiler plot points and my general thoughts on everything (like how Kitay is the best), to remind you what happened before you read The Burning God.

So when the book starts out Rin and the Cike are doing work for Moag the pirate queen because they have a deal to assasinate people for her and then she’ll give them what they need to assassinate the Empress Daji.

But Moag breaks the deal and sells them out to Vaisra, Nezha’s dad (Nezha and Rin were buddies in Sinegard together).

Vaisra wants to capitalize on this moment of instability following a war to assassinate Daji and create a republic, and he needs Rin’s help, so he gets her and the Cike to join his Dragon Army.

They also get Kitay to join, he’s like their super booksmart friend from Sinegard, and he’s super good at strategy and stuff.

They make this whole plan to get Rin in to assassinate her but it fails spectacularly and Daji puts a Seal on Rin’s mind so that she can’t call the phoenix god any more, and the Seal is also slowly poisoning her mind and eating her memories??  Yikes.

So they go back to Dragon Province and everybody is like “yo it’s time to attack, the longer we wait the more time the empress has to build ships and an army.” But Vaisra is waiting for the Hesperians to show up.

The Hesperians are terrible white people who are like missionaries but their country is super advanced.  They’re like the OG colonizers who started the first poppy war.  So they’re like we’re going to help you out but we have to decide if you’re worthy first.  And part of their terms is that they get to study Rin because they think that she access Chaos, which is the antithesis of their god, the Maker.

So then there’s this long part where Jinzha, Vaisra’s son, takes these ships up the country and attacks towns and lets them vote to join the Republic.  But then he gets super cocky (partly because the Hesperians are watching his every move to decide if he’s worthy), and leads them to attack on this lake even though they’re super outnumbered

After this battle, Rin, Kitay, Chagan, and Qara escape down the river.  They meet up with the Sorqan Sira, who is a Ketreyid related to Qara and Chagan.  She gets rid of Rin’s Seal by binding her with Kitay, the way that Qara and Chagan are.  There’s a conflict started by her second in command, and Qara and the Sorqan Sira die.  Chagan goes back to the Hinterlands, and Kitay and Rin head back to the Republic.

Ok around here the order starts to get a little shaky, but here are some facts:

Their buddy Venka from Sinegard is there! She’s injured and but she’s adapting and we love her.

Nezha can channel this dragon god!  He’s a shaman.  And he has been his whole life, after he met a dragon in a grotto.  He’s in constant pain, but Rin is not sympathetic.

There are a bunch of refugees from the southern provinces.  Rin finds her old family and it’s not what she expected.

At one point the southern Warlords ask Rin to defect with them, but she says no.

Oh there was a wind god shaman at the lake, so Kitay builds Rin some wings so that she can fight him.

At one point Rin sees a Hesperian soldier raping a refugee.  She kills him and dumps the body in the river.

There’s a big battle! They entomb the river god shaman in a mountain, and she fights empress Daji and finds out that Daji’s real goal in all of her supposed betrayals against the country was to keep the Hesperians out.  She gets lost because Rin doesn’t kill her, and it’s almost sort of an afterthought.

The Hesperians finally give their aid and the Republic wins the war.

Ok so after the big battle and everything, it’s clear that the Hesperians are taking over, and Rin, Kitay, and the Cike are getting ready to escape.  

But, Rin goes off and gets drunk with Nezha, and he stabs her and betrays her.

Rin is captured by the Hesperians, who are going to take her and force her to do experiments for them.  She sees two other members of the Sike get killed.

Kitay gets Rin out, but has to break one of her hands to get it out of the shackle.  They escape with Venka, and some of Moag’s fleet comes ot get them.

Rin realizes that the true strength of Nikan is it’s southern provinces (where she’s from) so she goes there to raise an army and fight to win her country back.  Woohoo!

And she wants to kill Nezha - of course.

[shit-she-wrote]

Genre: Fantasy

Summary: The hero loses to the villain. There was nothing he could have done, and, if he listened for a second, he could realize that maybe he hasn’t been fighting the real villain after all.

Word count: 1973

Content warning: n/a

Author’s note: inspired by this tumblr post and later expanded ^.^ hope you enjoy it!! (and, if you can, I would be eternally grateful if you could buy me a coffee!)

New Gods

a short story

The Old Gods could not save the world from destruction.

They fought with all their might, and after defeat, they simply shrugged when the world was burning after a battle for leadership, and they scurried away so they would not be a part of a clean, leaving it all to me.

And who am I, you ask? I am Destruction.

At least, that is what they call me, the people whose gods I chased away because it seemed fitting to them because it sounded far more fearful than Kullah. Therefore, I am Destruction, the leader of all lands, the one who put out the godly fires, aimed to kill me, with floods that saved many but that also destroyed their homes. I am King, although no one dares to call me that, for the missing Old Gods would detest it. I am Chaos, I am Misery. It is what they had been told before the battle, the people, and what even I believe to be the truth by now.

You see, I was only a child when it all started. I was chosen for a mission by the Gods, to bring harmony among the people, and everyone treated me, since the ripe age of twelve, as the child of prophecy I was. It made me reckless, as you might believe, drunk on power and angry when suddenly life passed me by and I desired revenge on those who took away my childhood for their own laziness.

And suddenly, Kullah, Great Kullah, The Chosen One, Brave and Powerful Savior, became The Betrayer of Gods, Fearsome Kullah, Destruction. It is quite funny how quickly people start treating you differently when you grow up to think with your own head.

None of that matters to me, however, for I am still on the route to fulfilling my destiny. I am only taking a different path, where I do not blindly bow down to the will of others, and rather decide on people's benefits on my own. It is a long-term process, especially most of my people hate me, but I am a fair ruler and I am striving for a better future that I, as a half-god, know how to achieve better than Old Gods, who have never laid their feet to the land in order to learn what a better future means to people.

Despite their defeat against me, the Old Gods are not sleeping. In fact, they have planned a way to bring me down once and for all, to get rid of me and reclaim what once was theirs. And so, I am standing in the middle of a large burned-down field, a reflection of me in the past standing before me. A half-god, I knew immediately from the fire in his eyes, a powerful soul, chosen by the Gods to defeat me and bring back the long-forgotten past.

However, I see no hero in front of me. There could never be one in this boy, who has barely grown in a permanent set of teeth. He is no older than I was when I was called upon by the Old Gods, not even far enough into his teen years to be anywhere near being close to adulthood.

"Cowards!" I scream at the sky at the top of my lungs, a distinguished fury in my eyes. "Cowards! You hear me? Each and every one of you is a coward! How dare you send a child to fight your battles! Have you no shame? You already ruined me, and now you are on your way to ruin another one. Come down and kill me, bastards, if you want. Do it yourselves! I will not let you put murder on this kid's conscience."

"Don't call me a kid!" The boy yells, his childish petulance visible on his frowning face. "I am strong enough to take you! I have trained-"

"Oh, yes?" I ask, my voice quieter, turning to him. "You think you are enough?"

He says nothing, gulping once his eyes met mine directly. I have such an effect on people, rendering them speechless with a glance. My appearance is not to blame, oh no; it is what they see behind it that frightens them. The fires of my soul, burning up the rules the gods had set down, creating chaos within myself and glowing brightly through my eyes. They think I will contaminate them, too, that my freedom will be their downfall. However, I never would force my own opinions on others. I am unlike the Old Gods in that way, too.

I pitied the child. I truly did. Up until that moment he has at least pretended to be brave and has been, perhaps, convinced that he truly could take me down, to stop Destruction in its core. Now, he is doubting himself at last.

This is your savior, I think bitterly. Fuck, you weren't even able to find a good actor for the role.

In a menacing impulse, I swing my hand at him from afar, let him be struck down by lighting I have conjured up in the sky. He falls down but remains alive, conscious even. The Old Gods at least prepared him a little. Maybe they put a protection spell on him, maybe they gifted him with their own divine powers. None of it matters, though. One strike and he is down, defeated, barely able to rise up to his knees.

He looks at me and there is a flash of something in his eyes. I see smoke and lightning and fire in them, just barely. he raises a hand towards me as I stride forward, bares his teeth as I stop before him.

"You cannot harm me," I say matter-of-factly. "It was unfair of them to make you believe you can."

"I have been chosen to end you," he grits out, angry tears and tears of sorrow gathering in his eyes. "I am-"

"You are young," I say and kneel down next to him. "You are naive enough to believe them. This is why they chose you. To fight their own battles when they care not about what happens down here even a little bit. We are nothing but entertainment."

I see he is bleeding – a scratched forearm from the fall. Feeling slightly guilty, I reach out for him to see the wound, but he pulls back, creating a new distance between us.

"Let me see that. I want to help."

"I don't want your help."

"No." I sigh. "You only want to fight me."

Dropping back, I sit down on the ground as well, respecting the space between us.

"I used to be like you, you know. Before all this," I tell him and for the first time, he looks at me with something other than anger. It barely lasts a moment, though, and then he is back to his glaring.

"You're lying."

"Not in the least," I say, a smile on my face feeling like coming home. I haven't smiled in such a long time. "I know my own kind when I see them. Demigod, am I right? The son of one of the higher-ranking ones, otherwise you would never even be considered for something like this."

He neither agrees with my guess nor denies it, but his face softens and that is good enough response to me.

"People will sing epics about you, kid, just as they used to sing them about me," I say. "Kullah the Bringer of Peace, Kullah the Brave and Powerful and Kind, and every other adjective they thought to add to my name. I was the one everyone built their hopes into, I was considered almost a god myself. Because I was the messenger of the Old Gods, and I did their dirty work here, on the land they would never set a foot upon. But the truth is, I was no one. Yes, I fought those monsters, yes, I built that monument, yes, I helped create a city or two, yes, I followed the Gods' plan all along. When it came to being myself, my personal desires and dreams of the future, nothing was there except some image of puppet controlled by the Gods for all eternity. So I decided to do something about it. I marched myself up to their divine palace and I wreaked havoc with the very powers they had gifted me. It was the day I lost my name and my reputation. And now, I am a villain, and you are the new puppet marching in here thinking you can kill this monster."

"I am no puppet!" the boy snarls at me. I chuckle.

"No," I agree. "Hopefully, you aren't. What is your name, by the way?"

"Kethan," he mumbles it out unlike any true hero ever would. I remember crying my name out with joy, announcing myself proudly, ignorant of the fact that no one actually cared for it. At least Kethan knows his place already, or maybe he hasn't built up enough pride to be arrogant yet.

"Kethan," I repeat, offering yet another smile in hopes of appearing more approachable. We are on the same side, after all. "What have they told you about me? What have you come here to do?"

"To destroy you." He spits the words out with such hatred that it makes my blood boil. I look up to the sky and hope they see me glaring at them. Who abuses the ignorance of youth to poison it with malice, and calls themselves good after?

"And what have you come to destroy?" I ask, turning my attention back to the boy before I lose myself in some empty yelling at the sky again.

"You are Kullah, Betrayer of Gods." He says my name boldly as if to show me he isn't afraid of it. As if that would intimidate me. As if I ever wanted anyone to fear my name. "I have come to destroy your ministrations upon this side of our world, to take back what you have stolen from the Gods. I have come to take back what is rightfully theirs and what you have destroyed."

"Destroyed?" I laugh. It's that word, destruction, that keeps getting used as the sole weapon against me. "Look around, boy. What destruction lies upon my land?"

He does look around, over the edge of the castle grounds. The village beneath it is flourishing. The clouds make the scene more beautiful instead of gloomy, bringing out the vivid green in the wind-swept grass, upon which white cattle rest and whiter sheep are prancing around like snowflakes. People are working on wheat fields, children are playing. To me, and my people, this is paradise. Freedom.

"But ... I ..."

"You imagined barren lands and muddy rivers." I smile, standing up.

"No life such as this can exist in the world anymore! Not until you're gone!" Kethan protests, scrambling to his feet and pointing wildly. "This- this is an illusion!"

"Is it? Or did the Old Gods find it easier to say I am responsible for your misery when they are too lazy to take care of you?"

Lost in doubt, Kethan looks back to his side of the land. Barren, dusty, wretched. I know who he is thinking about; his mother, waiting for him to return. His friends, each living a worse life than the other. His father, who has never been present until it suited him.

"If my people denounce the Old Gods," he says, so quietly the even the Old Gods can't hear him, "can we come and live with you?"

Again, he makes me smile. People really will sing epics about him and he is going to deserve them much more than me. Kethan, the Bringer of Peace. Kethan, the Brave and Powerful and Kind.

Kethan, Denouncer of the Old Gods.

[robininthelabyrinth]

Fic: An Internal Affair - Chapter 12 (Ao3 link)

Fandom: The Flash Pairing: Leonard Snart/Barry Allen

Summary: Leonard Snart, the CCPD Captain of Internal Affairs, is known as Captain Cold for a very good reason: He hates corrupt cops with a merciless vengeance, and once you’re on his list, you’re in serious trouble.

His next target?

A CCPD lab tech named Barry Allen who’s developed a suspicious habit of disappearing at random intervals.

—————————————————————————————————

There's a closet at the end of the hallway on the other side of the top floor from Barry's lab. It's little more than a glorified broom closet that sometimes gets used to store samples and evidence that's still being analyzed.

It's small, and dusty, and dark, but it's just large enough to have a small stool big enough to sit on inside (primarily used for going through samples because doing that while crouched over is hell on your back) and that makes it the perfect place to go have anxiety attacks in the middle of the day, if one were so inclined.

Barry is currently so inclined.

The last week or so has been crazy.

Just - legitimately, unbelievably crazy.

First there'd been the whole issue with Hartley Rathaway, who they'd barely stopped from destroying STAR Labs with his sonic weaponry a few weeks back. He should've been locked away safely, but he'd managed to trick Cisco into letting him escape from his cell in the Accelerator, and, despite Barry's best efforts to scour the city for him, they'd totally lost track of him after that.

At least he didn't seem intent on re-offending imminently, so there’s that, if nothing else.

That'd been bad enough, but what followed less than two days later..?

Insane.

Just.

Insane.

Where does Barry even start thinking about it?

At the beginning, he supposes: Iris returning from one of her fact-finding missions with the Anti-Flash Task Force with the news that Clyde Mardon, the first meta Barry ever defeated and which Joe had to shoot down, apparently had a brother named Mark Mardon, and that Mark Mardon was planning something in revenge. Something aimed specifically at Joe.

Iris had also been really weird around Joe but refused to explain why, just saying she was processing some stuff and would tell them both later once she figured out how she felt like reacting about it. Joe thinks it's just her reacting to there being a threat on his life, but Barry's not so sure about that.

(At least whatever it is wasn't Iris discovering the Flash thing, thank God - she assured Barry in private that whatever was bugging her didn't involve him and was entirely about Joe. He shouldn’t be as relieved by that as he is, but give him a break, he’s not a saint. Man, she is going to kill him when she finds out about the Flash thing, and he's going to deserve it.)

Either way, the CCPD took the threat seriously and began to take actions to protect Joe and guard the waterfront, except their actions weren't anywhere near enough because it turns out that Mark Mardon, like Clyde Mardon, is a weather-controlling meta.

A weather-controlling meta who decided that he was going to get back at Joe West by attacking his precious city, which he did by creating a freaking tsunami using the river.

A tsunami!

In Missouri!

What the hell, man; that's just wrong.

Barry’s never recommended therapy to a soul in his life, particularly after his own negative experiences as a kid, but seriously, if the choice is between talking through your issues with a therapist and trying to process them with a tsunami, go with the therapist!

He’s pretty sure Mardon didn’t expect for the tsunami to get as big as it did, judging by the expression on his face, but whatever he meant to do, what he did end up doing was creating a wave large enough that, if not stopped, would undoubtedly sweep through the entire city and destroy huge swaths of it.

Including the parts that had Iris and Joe and Len and Cisco and Caitlin in them.

Everyone had been utterly frantic, seeing no way to either stop the wave or evacuate the city in time. Based on a crazy last-second suggestion, Barry tried to create a counter-force by running as fast back-and-forth as he could, pushing himself past his limits, but he knew even as he forced himself into pain and beyond that it wasn’t going to be enough.

He wasn't going to be able to stop the tsunami.

And then – he did.

No, not with the counter-force idea; once he had a chance to think about it for a second he realized that it was an incredibly stupid idea to begin with. That didn't work.

What did work, though, was grabbing Mark Mardon out of his hiding place in Keystone City and putting him in the Accelerator before he ever had a chance to launch the tsunami.

Because apparently when Barry runs that fast, he went fast enough to go back in time by a day and stop the whole thing before it ever started.

Mardon problem solved.

Barry just doesn't know what to do about it.

It, of course, being the fact that he somehow actually traveled through time.

Backwards, that is, rather than the usual leisurely forward minute-by-minute progression he and everyone else normally does.

...holy crap, does that mean his "speed" powers might actually be a form of time manipulation? That he's not running "faster" than people, but rather that he's running at regular speed while time slows down around him?

No, that can't be right - Cisco routinely talks to him via the comms while he's running, which would be impossible if time had slowed down. Unless the time-slows-down effect is extremely localized, explaining why people immediately around Barry are moving too slow to "talk" but Cisco, at a distance, isn't...

Yeah, this whole focusing on trivial details or abstract questions isn't working to effectively distract him from the overarching point at issue here.

He ran backwards in time.

He ran backwards in time!

He ran.

Backwards.

In time.

Nope, no matter how many times Barry says that, it doesn’t get any less weird.

That shouldn't even be possible! Barry's a human being, not some bizarre singularity-black-hole in the making - unless that's what lies at the far end of his speed capacity –

Barry groans and puts his head in his hands.

He wants to talk to Iris about this, but he can't, because he's been lying to her so long about being the Flash that he doesn't know how he'd raise it even if Joe lifted his prohibition against telling her.

He wants to talk to Len, cool-headed, practical, sci-fi nerd Len, about this, but he can't, he can't just reveal himself now - and what if Len thinks that Barry's been deceiving him, too? He kinda has been, and they may be new to each other but Barry already knows that Len has deep-seated issues with deception and betrayal. So that's out, too.

And while Cisco and Caitlin are technically available, Barry desperately wants to talk to someone, anyone, that isn't part of what Cisco's been calling Team Flash, because he has the sinking feeling that they (or at least Dr. Wells) kinda-sorta-maybe theorized that this was going to happen.

The time travel stuff, that is.

Dr. Wells hadn't even been all that surprised about it! A total reworking of how humanity understands physics and the nature of time, but nope, Dr. Wells, a renowned physicist, doesn't seem to care about the scientific implications. If anything, he'd just been pissed off that Barry changed what happened - apparently he "should've been more careful with changing history" which, uh, seriously? Barry literally saved the whole city? That seems like a worthwhile change to him, whatever the personal costs that might come about as a result.

Also, seriously, he just broke physics, how is that not the priority issue here?!

It'd been weird. Not to mention how Dr. Wells' lack of surprise, combined with the vaguely pleased-anticipatory look Dr. Wells'd had when Barry first mentioned his time travel? Really making Barry feel kind of manipulated here. Or like a science experiment. Or like one of those psychology experiments where you don't tell the subject what the goal is in advance because that could affect the results...

Either way, he's feeling used.

All that emphasis on training speed - was it really to help Barry catch up to the Reverse Flash, as Cisco's started calling him, or was it to see if Barry could break the time barrier?

And if it was, why hadn't Wells just told him that was the goal?

Maybe Barry doesn't want to have the responsibility of fixing the timeline as well as the city, okay? He was a huge Harry Potter fan growing up - he's gotten into all the debates about what the wizarding world should and shouldn't have done with the Time-Turner technology/magic they apparently possessed for no reason other than to let an over-achieving student take extra classes, and damnit, he doesn't want to be book 3 Hermione! He doesn't want to have to be constantly thinking about what events over the previous day or whatever might be worth going back to fix! Barry's already doing two full-time jobs; time travel would just make the responsibility to be “always on” even worse! He wants to live a normal life sometime!

Cisco and Caitlin aren't any help, either with his complicated feelings about Dr. Wells or about the time travel thing. Cisco thinks time travel is cool, but in, like, a non-personal way, theorizing that Barry might go all Back To The Future on them and accidentally erase someone from existence which, thanks Cisco. Like Barry needs any more pressure here.

God, Barry loves the guy, don't get him wrong, but sometimes Cisco is too focused on whether something is "awesome" and not enough about the actual impact of that something. Prime example: Captain Cold's cold gun, which remains an outstanding threat.

Caitlin, too; he would've thought that she'd be more sympathetic, but she'd immediately started thinking of major historical events he could change for the better - mostly the Particle Accelerator explosion, which killed her fiancé and ruined her career. Which, again, wow, pressure much? Barry can't blame her for her reaction but then she and Cisco'd gotten into an argument about paradox and neither of them were really noticing Barry's freak-out so he just said he had to go back to work and came here.

And even putting aside the whole time travel business, he really can't talk about his disappointment in Dr. Wells with them of all people, because neither Cisco nor Caitlin seem to understand that it's not actually normal for a boss to run experiments on his staff without their consent. Apparently that's "just how Dr. Wells is" and "well, you know, he is a genius" - which is not okay! Forgiving someone for being a dick because they're a genius is, like, sign number one of a toxic working environment, and Barry legitimately doesn't know how to convey that to them.

It's like they've never had a union rep bring a lawyer to ramble at them for an hour about their rights as employees. Though now that Barry thinks of it, STAR Labs was probably never unionized, so that explains that, anyway...

Besides, even if he could think of a way to explain to them that he's really upset with Dr. Wells right now, he's not actually sure if there's even a point in trying to do so. They stayed with Dr. Wells after the Particle Accelerator explosion; Barry's not sure there's anything the man could do that would break their loyalty to him.

Which is by itself kind of weird? That's a lot of loyalty to have to a single guy in relation to, well, a job. Even Hartley had been weirdly obsessed with Wells as a person, rather than just as a bad boss. Barry can sympathize with the idea of Wells being a father figure, he totally gets that, but...it's a bit weird.

Weird or not, though, it's pretty depressing. Barry's never really thought about there being a difference in their goals, him and Dr. Wells, and it's kinda depressing to realize that if there is a difference, Cisco and Caitlin - probably his closest friends right now - would fall on Dr. Wells' side.

Man, he wishes he could talk about all this to Iris. Or Len.

(Not Joe. Joe would just immediately start encouraging Barry to use his time travel powers to stop routine crime, like murders and robberies, before they ever happened, and wouldn't understand at all why Barry's reluctant to take on that sort of responsibility. He hasn't even read Harry Potter! Or, like, Minority Report!)

No, what Barry needs is someone who's his friend, not Dr. Wells' friend, someone who's nerdy enough to get it, honorable enough to keep the whole thing a secret, and scientific enough to help him think through all the potential consequences here –

Holy crap, he's an idiot.

No: he's a genius.

The answer that would simultaneously solve both of his current problems just hit him.

First problem: the suddenly-too-constricting circle of people who know about him being the Flash, thus limiting who he can talk to about this time travel/Dr. Wells development.

Second problem: the fact that he's run into a total wall on the whole disappearances thing.

Answer: He can tell his CSI friends - Gila, Terri, and Andre - about the issue!

He can't believe he didn't think of this before. They're his friends, after all, even if he kinda-maybe-sorta has been neglecting them recently in favor of Cisco and Caitlin. No one's prohibited him from mentioning the Flash thing to them (unlike Iris), and as CSIs, they're familiar with keeping things totally confidential, which he needs them to do with his identity as the Flash.

It's perfect.

After all, they're all total nerds, so they'll be able to provide an objective (semi-objective, anyway) perspective into what's going on with Dr. Wells!

Plus, they might be able to help him make progress on finding the Reverse Flash - he still thinks Chemical X is speedster residue, but he hasn't been able to confirm that because he doesn't have the tools necessary to do that in his on-site lab. But his friends do, what with all those fancy new toys they're always telling him to come play with.

They also have access to all the same case files as he does, so if he crosses off all the ones he knows aren't related to the Reverse Flash, they might be able to see a pattern in the ones that are remaining. He's been trying, but it feels like every time he's on the verge of some sort of breakthrough, something Flash-related comes up.

Seriously, this Flash thing is really starting to take over his life. He hadn't had much of a life before, so he hadn't noticed it all that much, but now that he has an engaging project at work he wants to do in his free time, he's starting to realize that he doesn't actually have any free time anymore.

Or, at least, the fact that he's given Team Flash at STAR Labs the idea that he'd give every minute of his free time to them, and if he doesn't, Dr. Wells gets annoyed, and when that happens, Cisco and Caitlin call-slash-text him pleas to come sooner.

Yes, Barry could say no, and he's trying to do it more often, but he's kind of a doormat sometimes. He's aware of that.

Though the way Dr. Wells mentions his mom every time Barry skips out on training is really starting to piss Barry off...

He's getting distracted. The point here is that his idea - telling his friends - is a great idea, and he should do it.

(A little voice in his head suggests that there might be some downsides to the idea if he thinks about it a little longer, but he's really desperate to talk to someone, so he's just going to ignore that little voice. He's sure it'll be fine.)

Decision made, Barry jumps up.

He promptly knocks his head against one of the shelves and has to spend a few Flash-speed seconds catching all the evidence samples before they crash onto the ground, but when they're all back in order, he heads out right away.

The CSI building (technically, the off-site forensic science analysis division of the CCPD, but no one calls it that) is just as he remembers it: a big squat office building painted a soul-sucking taupe color, unlovely and boring and everything Barry's job is not.

Barry smiles at it fondly.

They throw the best holiday parties here. And birthday parties. And weekend parties, any time they have to work Sundays...yeah. This place is totally awesome.

Okay, maybe the parties aren't the most exciting by anyone else's standards - Barry's well aware that D&D marathon sessions, WoW LAN parties, and high-stakes science trivia drinking contests aren't everyone's speed, but they definitely are his.

It's a good place.

Barry considers just running upstairs, but that seems rude, so he buzzes in through the front desk like a proper visitor would. The door guy - a friendly if somewhat nebbish guy named Gary who's studying frantically for grad school just about every second he can, something that doesn't seem to have changed in the entire time Barry's known him - looks up from his textbook and exclaims, "Barry! Buddy! It's so good to see you!"

Barry grins. "Hey, Gary. How's it hanging? How's John?"

Gary flushes pink in delight. "I can't believe you remember my boyfriend's name. You only met him once!"

"Between the British accent, trenchcoat, and tendency to flirt with everything up to and including inanimate objects after a few drinks, John was very memorable," Barry says dryly. "You're still together?"

"Yeah, we're good," Gary says. "He's been a bit busy with this thing at work - something called Project Rising Darkness, I don't know, I think his co-worker Manny thought it up, he's kinda emo - but he's been helping me apply to work with the FBI in my spare time now that I'm on the verge of graduating."

"At last! That's really great, Gary; I hope you make it," Barry says warmly. Something occurs to him. "Uh, actually, do you know about the new Internal Affairs guy in the CCPD?"

"No; what about him?"

"I hear he used to do undercover work in a joint CCPD-FBI group," Barry says. "Maybe he could recommend you?"

"You think so?" Gary asks, brightening. "That would be amazing! I'll reach out to him."

"You do that," Barry says, amused. He's pretty sure Gary's unique combination of overwhelming optimism and extreme eagerness to please could evoke sympathy from anyone, whether they’re an undead zombie or a ninja assassin or both; a mere supervillain like Captain Cold doesn't stand a chance. Besides, it could actually help Gary's career. "I'm here to talk to Gila, Terri, and Andre - are they still in the old room?"

"Your old crew, of course! I should have guessed," Gary says, beaming. "No, they're on the new floor - let me give you directions."

Good thing Barry asked.

See, there's some benefit to going slow sometimes.

(Barry really wishes he could think of a good way to tell Len about being the Flash - he'd get such a kick out of all the slow/fast puns Barry's made so far.)

When Barry gets up to the new floor, though, he slows down for a completely different reason.

"What the hell...?"

"Barry!" Gila exclaims, abruptly appearing out the door. That part's not a surprise; Gila was the person who inspired Barry's belief that chubby five-foot-two women with hair a color of red not found in nature are capable of a sort of magic sudden appearance thing that the Flash can only envy. "You finally came to visit!"

Barry just gestures mutely.

She grins. "So what you're saying is that you like the new lab."

"You said you got new machines!" Barry yowls. "You didn't say they redid everything with state-of-the-art tech!"

Andre - Gila's opposite in every respect, being tall, skinny, and dark-skinned - strolls out of the door, laughing. "They felt very bad," he says, grinning. "You know, you look remarkably well for someone who was in a coma for nine months."

"I know," Barry says, grinning back. "But seriously! Look at this! This is amazing!"

"You want a tour?" Terri asks, joining the rest of them.

"Do I ever!"

The tour takes them all past the end of official working hours, but no one minds; they're all used to working odd hours.

By the end of the tour, Barry's fallen in love. Deeply, irrevocably in love - with one of the new spectroanalysis machines, which he's named Julie.

"You know you can't take that back to the city with you," Andre says, sniggering.

"You can't separate me and Julie! We're meant to be!" Barry exclaims, hugging the machine.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, you big baby. You're the one who volunteered to be the on-site tech," Gila laughs. "You get the fresh crime scenes, we get the cool tech – deal with it!"

Barry mock-grumbles at her.

"Now, it's getting late," Terri says briskly. "Why don't you tell us why you're really here?"

Barry blinks.

"We're your friends, B," Andre says, not without fondness. "We know you and love you for the absent-minded super-focused asshole you are. No way you came all the way out here just to say hi and go on a tour our admittedly kickass new facility; if you wanted to do that, you would've done much earlier on."

"So what's the issue and how can we help?" Gila asks.

"Uh," Barry says.

He's never really had to tell someone. Maybe Felicity, but that was because she already knew about Oliver and he could just, you know, communicate in lots of "you know..? You know..."s.

Well, at least he can consider this good practice for telling someone like Len or Iris.

"Okay," he says. "I have - no, wait. Can you guys first promise to keep this, like, super confidential? The most confidential. It's really important. I might not be able to tell you everything, but I want to tell you some of it and, well, yeah. You guys promise?"

They all impatiently agree.

"Okay," Barry says again. Wow, this is harder to get out than he thought. Maybe it'd be easier with an oblique approach? "Uh - I have a lead on Chemical X."

"You do?!" Gila exclaims.

"Well, a hunch," he corrects. "Let's take a step back: the Particle Accelerator explosion released a lot of dark matter -"

"And don't we know it," Terri grumbles.

"- and it's been affecting people."

"How?" Andre asks.

"They've been developing strange abilities," Barry tells them. "All sorts. We've been calling them 'meta-humans'."

"You and the CCPD?"

"Uh," Barry says. "No. Me and the scientists over at STAR Labs."

"Wells," Terri growls. "Of course he'd know more than he let on."

"He's trying to help," Barry says firmly. "Please try to stay objective, Terri. Anyway: you know how you think the Flash is an urban legend?"

"Less so now, after all the reported sightings," Andre says wryly. "A good scientist admits when their hypothesis is wrong...You're saying the Flash is one of these meta-humans? That the dark matter somehow gave someone the ability to, what, run at incredible speeds?"

"Yes. And not just him; there's another speedster out there, dressed in yellow instead of red and emitting red lightning instead of yellow. I think that speedster is behind the disappearances, and that Chemical X is the residue left behind when he runs."

"A human running at Mach speeds," Gila says thoughtfully. She's the chemical analysis expert of the three of them, compared to Barry's jack-of-all-trades (with an interest in weird stuff), Terri's forensic accounting, and Andre's fingerprint/DNA specialization. "That might do the trick, yeah. But what makes you think it's not the Flash? I've never even heard of this second speedster: Occam's Razor suggests one makes more sense than two."

Ouch. No wonder Captain Cold is suspicious, if even Barry's friends jump to that assumption.

...huh. Maybe the guy really isn't a supervillain - just a very unorthodox cop worried that Barry's up to something.

Barry doesn't know exactly what to do with that thought, so he shelves it for later.

"No," he says. "I know it's not the Flash."

"Why?" Andre asks.

"Well..."

Barry runs.

Just from one end of the lab to the other, but it's enough to make his point.

"Holy crap!" Terri exclaims, amid similar exclamations. "Barry, what the hell?"

"See," he says, grinning. "Told you I knew it wasn't the Flash. Cool, isn't it?"

There's another five solid minutes of yelling about how freaking awesome super-speed is and potential scientific implications and possible applications before they finally settle down.

That, of course, is when Barry breaks out the time travel thing, and that gets all of them yelling again, this time for ten minutes.

Barry enjoys the whole thing. Not just because they do, in fact, think that the whole Flash thing pretty damn awesome but also because some of their ideas about scientific applications of his usual Flash powers are pretty damn neat: learning about brain plasticity by studying the effect of learning at super-speed, the possibility of transferring his healing powers (even if only temporarily) via a blood or bone marrow transfusion, super-speed surgery or fire rescue or even just using it to test the laws of physics as they know them...

Honestly, this is more along the lines of what Barry was expecting when Dr. Wells had asked him to agree to help scientific progress by allowing himself to be studied: crazy brainstorming, hypothesizing, testing, record-keeping with an eye towards eventual publication...

Huh.

Why haven't they done that at STAR Labs? How have they all managed to get so fully fixated on the question of speed, and specifically of maximizing speed? Even before he'd found out about the Man in Yellow and how he needed to catch up to him, everything they'd done had been aimed at making him faster.

Sure, one of the joys of a new discovery is finding out its limits, but getting to a top speed isn't the only limit they could be testing.

Now that he thinks about it, Caitlin's wistful requests to study his biological reactions were always brushed off, as were Cisco's occasional daydreams about trying to replicate even a lower level of speed in his machines; at this point, they've stopped even asking - Caitlin focusing all her research on maximizing his metabolism to enable further speed, Cisco doing nothing but creating new suits that can go faster. No different experiments, no exploring different alternatives, barely any hypothesizing and no control groups at all...

That - isn't how science is supposed to work.

Barry has the distinct sinking feeling that something is even more wrong in STAR Labs than he'd originally thought, and that in his excitement over his new abilities and joy at having new friends, he may have overlooked it entirely.

Great.

He hasn't had a chance to raise the whole Wells issue with his CSI friends yet, but he's starting to think that he might need to raise that on a different visit. Possibly after he's had some time to think about it and figure out if he's just being unduly paranoid or if there really is something off there.

After all, Terri already dislikes Wells, thinking there was something intentional behind the Accelerator explosion; if Barry doesn't tread lightly here, they might not be willing to entertain the possibility that it's all a coincidence.

...a really big coincidence.

"Okay, okay, okay!" Terri eventually shouts, holding up their hands. "Hush. We can brainstorm ideas later. Barry, I assume the difficulty you're having is in both running and analyzing?"

"I definitely leave a residue that appears similar on a surface glance," Barry confirms. "And it seems pretty similar, but I'm worried about there being bias affecting my ability to confirm if it's definitely Chemical X..."

"We have a lab room for testing," Gila says, taking charge. Chemical analysis is her specialty, even though she prefers to throw the weirder things over to Barry. "Come on."

The test, when done properly - Gila insists on several variations, plus a few "control" runs using Andre, which is so normal Barry feels like crying in relief - takes about an hour to finish on the new machines.

Barry spends the whole hour telling the group stories about the metas he's defeated – unsurprisingly, they’re a lot less interested in how he defeated them than they are in just what abilities dark matter can produce, so he eventually gives up on trying to tell them the stories and starts just describing the meta powers and letting them brainstorm possible applications or explanations for them – and trying to decide on whether he should bring up the Wells thing or not.

Assuming there even is a Wells thing beyond some crappy scientific method, bad management skills, and a few weird reactions.

He still hasn't decided by the time the result comes out.

And the result -

"Yep, this is definitely Chemical X or something extremely similar," Gila reports. "The analysis matches on multiple vectors. Congrats, Barry, you have a residue; the only question now is if you're secretly a serial kidnapper."

"Hey!"

"Joking," Gila says, smiling crookedly. "You were definitely in a coma for a few of these early ones. We came to visit a few times. You're all alibi'd out."

"Speaking of which," Terri says from where they and Andre have been pouring over the case files. "Can you come here and double-check some of these? I'm starting to see a pattern, but there are a few outliers."

Barry comes over, noticing that the files have been divided into three piles, one large and two smaller ones. "Yeah, I think -"

"No, no, there's just a few in particular," Terri says. "And I want you to think carefully if there's any chance they could be Flash-adjacent, any chance at all."

Barry nods, frowning. "You think you have something?"

"Well, maybe. I don’t know why the disappearances related to the Flash would be different, they’re still disappearances, but ignoring that, if we try to exclude them, then I think I see two patterns instead of one," Terri says. "It's not unusual in forensic accounting - people are rarely corrupt in only one way, if that makes sense? They usually have a couple of different plots happening at the same time, and that can confuse the results if you look for only one explanation. But these outliers...well, they might just be outliers. But based on the stories you've been telling us, these actually feel like they might be Flash-related, and therefore can be excluded, which would support my theory."

"What do you mean?"

“Well, take this one, Mason Bridges – he was investigating the Flash, right? And then there’s this one, Simon Stagg.”

“What about him?”

“Didn't you say you fought him - or, uh, around him, anyway - at Stagg Industries?”

Barry blinks. He hadn’t thought of that. “Yeah, good point,” he says. “Danton Black – he’s the one who basically committed suicide, it was awful – was trying to get back at Stagg Industries because they stole his work on cellular regeneration and took credit for it.”

“So Stagg witnessed a fight between a meta and the Flash right before he disappeared?”

“Uh,” Barry says. “Yes?”

“So we can say those are tangentially Flash related, too,” Terri says briskly, putting the two files into one of the smaller piles. “And this Farooq guy you mentioned, who used lightning to get rid of your powers and then got driven off –”

“I’m, like, 90% sure he died, but I’m honestly not sure.”

“No body, though,” Terri says. “I’m counting it as a disappearance. Plus you take the fact that that Professor Stein guy’s last known whereabouts were when he was heading to STAR Labs –”

“That was way before my time, though,” Barry objects. “He disappeared before the Accelerator even blew!”

“Good point. I’ll put him in the STAR Labs pile.”

Barry’s eyebrows go up. “STAR Labs pile?”

“As far as I can tell,” Terri says, “a handful of these disappearances can only be connected by the fact that they’re related to STAR Labs, particularly prior to the explosion. Could just be coincidence, but we're dealing with disappearances including the man in charge of building permits, a local paparazzo who went there to look for a scoop and never came back, this professor going there right before the explosion, that sort of thing, and since I'm looking for any pattern at all right now, I'm going to take it. But here's the interesting thing: if we put those aside, and put aside the specifically Flash-related ones as well, the rest of these – ” And here they gestured at the large pile. “– have a significantly more sinister connection.”

“Sinister?” Gila echoes.

Terri makes a face. “I’m pretty sure they’re Family hits.”

“They’re what?! No way!”

“Unfortunately so,” Terri says. “It’s pretty subtle – a lot of these people are only tangentially related to Family stuff, accountants or political figures or hospital staff or county clerks – but I’ve been doing a lot of work for the organized crime division recently, following the money trails, and I recognize some of these names.”

Barry sits down hard, all thoughts of Wells abruptly wiped from his mind. “The Man in Yellow is working as a Family assassin?”

“Possibly,” Terri says, reaching out to tap what they’d dubbed the ‘STAR Labs’ pile thoughtfully. “Not sure how that relates to these one ones if that's the case...Though if they are a Family assassin, the question arises: why? And why aren’t they doing more of them?”

“Assassination at super-speed,” Gila marvels. “They could kill the mayor in the middle of city square and no one could stop them.”

They all look at her.

“It wasn’t a suggestion! I was just saying.”

“The Families aren’t going to act that publicly,” Andre says, shaking his head. “Not in a million years; that’d bring the Feds down on their heads.”

“Not to mention inciting the whole city to riot,” Terri says. “Central’s very ‘oh, well, the Families, what can you do’ most of the time, but public interference on that scale? No way. No one would tolerate it. The only reason they’re tolerated as much as they are now is because most people feel comfortable with the way they’re cordoned off: their operations are mostly focused on the slums, their protection rackets don’t extend to the wealthiest neighborhoods, and so what if they bribe a few councilmen? We all know who they are, so it's almost like having a comforting safety valve.”

“Same with the police,” Barry says, making a face. “We all know which guys are in Family pockets are, so we all shrug it off, saying it’s better to know who it is than not to know.”

“I wasn’t saying they’d do it,” Gila protests. “Just that they could, you know, and what are people going to say? A streak of light did it? How would they even connect that to the Families? If they don’t know there are two speedsters, they’d probably just assume it was the Flash!”

Uh.

Barry hadn’t thought of that.

“Everyone would just assume it was the Families, even if they also thought it was the Flash,” Andre points out. “Everyone always blames crime in Central on the Families, and they’re usually right, too.”

Right.

Whew.

Barry doesn't want to deal with the thought of being framed at super-speed.

“I have a better question, though,” Andre continues. “If these are the Families, why are there so many? Like Terri said, the Families exist in a pretty tight balance in Central: enough influence to rule the streets, not enough to bother the movers and shakers. This many hits, in such a short amount of time? That’s not balanced. They must be planning something big.”

“The Families have been fading in power recently,” Terri offers. “Power-wise. The Feds have been taking huge bites out of them for the last decade and a half, ambushing major deals, busting huge deposits, blocking key intake lines…”

Barry snaps his fingers. “Captain Cold!”

“…what?”

“No, sorry, the new Internal Affairs guy, Captain Snart,” Barry says. “Captain Singh told me that he used to be undercover, that his cover got blown, and that the Families are still trying to kill him. He’s been helping bring them down!”

“And now he’s changed tracks to start taking down corrupt Family-bribed cops?” Gila asks, sounding impressed. “I mean, good for him; that's real dedication and work ethic there, at least for the three weeks he’s probably got left to live until the Families murder him. Especially with these disappearances.”

“Holy crap,” Barry says.

“What?”

“No, it just occurred to me,” Barry says. “All these disappearances – the Anti-Flash Task Force, which Captain Snart is involved with, is looking into these disappearances. Like you said, if you don’t know there’s two speedsters, you think it’s the Flash! That’s why he’s looking into the Flash!”

“Reasonable enough,” Terri says.

Barry shakes his head. He’s been so obsessed with trying to figure out Captain Cold’s evil plan – because, like, the guy has a mask, a superpowered cold gun, cold puns, supervillain is clearly the obvious conclusion here – that even though the thought had occurred to him once or twice, he’d never really believed in the possibility that maybe the guy is actually, well, doing his job.

Except – it seems like that’s probably what’s going on.

So weird.

“I’m going to need to think about this,” Barry says.

“Make sense,” Gila says. “Now what, though? I assume you don’t want to out yourself as the Flash.”

“Definitely not.”

“I’ll write up a draft report about how these particular disappearances appear linked to the Families,” Terri offers. “That’ll get everyone on the right track, I think, without needing to get into the other ones being Flash-related. But Gila will eventually need to submit something on the residue…”

“I can say it might be related to a speedster,” Gila says. “But that might lead him to suspect the Flash more…”

“No, you should still do that, even if it makes him suspicious,” Barry says. “Stopping this guy is the top priority, above everything else. If I have to stop being the Flash for a while or talk to Captain Snart about what I’m doing, I’ll do that. I’ll figure something out.”

“Good luck!”

Barry heads back to the office, torn between being absolutely elated at the progress they’re making and kind of horrified at what they’ve discovered. Somehow, even though he’d signed up to be a superhero, he hadn’t really thought about going up against the Families – the closest he’d come was fighting Nimbus, and that’d been one of the toughest fights he’d had yet –

There’s someone in his office.

It’s pretty late, getting close to nine p.m.; the building should be deserted. The CSI lab, which is basically Barry’s private area, should definitely be deserted; there shouldn’t be someone walking around with only one dim phone light to guide them.

What the hell’s going on?

Barry reaches inside the room and flips on all the lights at once.

“Jesus fuck!” the intruder swears, clutching at his eyes to shield himself from the glare.

The intruder –

“Detective Lloyd?” Barry asks, surprised. “What are you doing here?”

“I was looking for some of case files and evidence someone checked out,” Lloyd says, sounding annoyed. “What’re you doing here? Isn’t it past your bedtime?”

“I had to duck out for an appointment,” Barry lies. “I came back to finish up some projects. You know, if you think the evidence is up here, then the only person who could’ve checked them out is me – which cases are you looking for? I might be able to help you find it.”

Lloyd rattles off some case numbers.

Those are a few of the disappearance cases, some of the ones they’d determined were probably Family hits.

“Oh, yeah, I know where those are,” Barry says, heading towards the evidence cabinet, as he's mentally dubbed it. “Gimme a second. How long do you need them? I still have a few tests I'd like to run..."

"I don't think that's a good idea, Allen," Lloyd says.

Barry pauses in the middle of pulling out the evidence bags. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you know how it is. What with the Commissioner running for office and all, that means Deputy Commissioner Gillick's going to be moving up soon, and he doesn't like too much spending," Lloyd says, reaching out and plucking the bags out of Barry's hands. "Especially on low-priority cases like this."

"I know they're not at the top of the queue," Barry says, a little stung. "But they're still important. In fact -"

He's about to tell Lloyd about the Family connection, but Lloyd cuts him off.

"They're low-priority, Allen," he says. "Trust me. No one wants to be wasting time looking into these. Just relax, will you? Take another - heh - day off. We've got a pretty good handle on these cases." He waves the bag. "And we're pretty sure there's nothing all that serious to them."

"But -"

"That's final, Allen," Lloyd says. "Listen, take a tip from a friend, yeah? You want people to like you, you do your job, you do it well, and you don't step on people's toes in the process. It's not like these cases are going down the memory chute or something; we're just bumping them down so they don't interfere with more important stuff. You hear me?"

"I hear you," Barry says, still frowning.

Lloyd slaps him on the back, says, "I knew you weren't as uptight as they say," and heads out.

Barry would normally spend the next hour stressing out about who 'they' are and the fact that he's totally not uptight but do people think he is, but he's too busy being utterly appalled.

Why would Lloyd be warning Barry off a Family-related case? He's not one of the cops in the Family pocket, not even slightly; there's never been a hint of scandal there.

Honestly, if Barry hadn't known it was a Family case, he probably wouldn't have even thought it was all that weird. Lloyd's heavy-handed suggestion to butt out is practically normal for cops, who are notoriously protective of their cases, and even the weird hour he came by isn't all that unusual for a cop.

It's not that Barry's worried or anything, of course: once Terri and the others submit their report, the cases will be upgraded once more, no matter what Lloyd says.

But - it is a Family case. And Lloyd tried to squelch it.

Why would he do that, if it wasn't on the orders of one of the Families? Was it on someone else's orders? If so, who, and why is Lloyd listening to them?

What's going on here?

[welcometomyworldofbs]

Reason Number Two! {{Major Spoilers}}

Kinda goes alongside reason 1>>> The second reason why I think Nick isn’t an evil prick is because he is, by nature, a bloodthirsty, homicidal, bay-shit crazy demon who thinks nothing deserves the sweet release of death. In short- he’s the Malachai. {{but he’s not JUST the Malachai, now is he?}}

I don’t know why this is so hard for some to grasp, but I’m serious on the whole he-acts-like,-a-million-times-better-than-any-of-his-fathers-before-him-thing. 100% serious about him being a big ‘ole Malachai. If you don’t believe me, google it. Also, if you were your own worst enemy ((literally speaking)) then you wouldn’t be happy either ((read the bottom if you haven’t read CON)).

Honestly- I think it’s easier to accept the fact that he’s a special bean rather than swim in Denial River.

Sorry to be the Bear of Bad News, but Nicky Gautier is a blue-eyed demon boy who the Simi loves and wishes she could eats. It’s a thing, people.

Key words being “demon boy.” I can’t stress this enough. And for those of you who haven’t read CON yet, allow me to educate you on the big bad nightmarish hatred-infused bloodsucking demon.

1.) they are the most hateful, angry demons. Period. They don’t give a fuuuuuuuuuuudge about who they hurt. The only time they’d care is if they personally wanted you dead {which is basically almost every being}. Ever.

2.) they have always been the most feared species of demonkyn. Ever since Monakribos curse his sons, to be exact. You know, beginning of Time and stuff.

3.) they are HELLA HELLA MACHO POWERFUL!!! I mean VERY POWERFUL. like, up there with gods and such.

Major powers include: ATTENTION!! THESE ARE COPIED FROM NICK’S (CON) WIKIPEDIA!! IT IS NOT MINE ORIGINALLY! I DID NOT WANT TO TAKE THE TIME TO TYPE THIS OUT, BUT IT IS FACT CHECKED AND WHAT NOT! PLEASE DON’T GIVE ME CREDIT OR WHATEVER FOR TYPING IT! hehe…anyhoo-

-Malachai Abilities:

Demon Glamour: Nick, due to being born from a race that were the consorts and soldiers to the dark gods, has extreme charisma and very good looks.

Demon Summoning: Nick was capable of summoning Caleb to an alternate universe and back again.

Divination: Nick has a talent for scrying. This means that he can see the past, present, and future on any reflective surface, though he seems to favor his black scrying mirror.

Empathy: The Malachai, being a creature born of hatred, has empathy so that it knows how to emotionally destroy his enemies. Nick uses this ability subconsciously to help his friends.

Enslavement: Nick is capable of enslaving a demon by saving his/her life. He accidentally did this to Zavid.

Eternal Enslavement: Nick is capable of tying an enslaved demon’s geish (or essence) to his powers, meaning that the demon will always be enslaved to whoever has his powers. Adarian did this to Caleb.

Eye of Ananke Absorption: By absorbing the power in the Eye of Ananke, Nick is now able to see all possible futures, instead of only seeing what is available in the Ether.

Fate god: Nick is capable of using the Eye of Ananke, something only fate gods are capable of doing.

Fear Factor: Malachai demons are the most feared of all demonkyn.

Elemental Control: Darkness Darkness Generation: Nick is capable of controlling the element of Night (through Noir). This allowed him to defeat Alternate Thorn with ease.

Electrokinesis: Nick is capable of creating lightning bolts.

Fire Blasts: Nick has the ability to produce extremely powerful balls of flame. These seem to function similarly to God-bolts and can disintegrate a Dramonk with a single hit.

Emotion Feeding: Nick grows stronger when in the presence of hatred and malice. When he went to prison his power increased.

God-killer: Nick is a god-killer in the sense that he is capable of killing gods without destroying the universe.

Healing: When Nick first tapped into his demonic heritage, his gunshot wound healed instantly. He also seems to be capable of healing others, such as when he healed Little Simi in the alternate universe.

Hidden Fate: Fate gods are incapable of using their innate abilities to see Nick’s true fate. When Acheron looked into Nick’s future, he saw Nick happily married with children instead of his Malachai heritage.

Immortality: Nick is immortal in the sense that he will never age. Though he could be killed by severe trauma, this is highly unlikely as it will upset the balance of the universe.

Immunity: The Malachai is immune to Chthonian powers as well as Acheron’s ability to make people desire him.

Languages: Nick has the ability to understand and speak any language. This extends to the Primal Language, which most high-level gods don’t know.

Lie Detection: Nick is implied by Ambrose to have this.

Magical Physiology: Nick’s blood, bones, and organs are magical by nature and can be used in several dark spells, such as when Xenon used some of his blood to send Devus’s master away.

Malachai Form: Nick is capable of unleashing his inner demon. In this form he has indestructible armor, claws capable of ripping enemies to shreds, fangs, vastly increased strength, speed and reaction time, and wings.

Mind Control: Nick is able to directly control the minds of others. This is seen in Instinct, where he confused the paramedics as well as the police officers.

Necromancy: Nick was capable of destroying the zombies the Mortents raised with a simple incantation and it has been said that once he receives enough training, he would be capable of restoring a soul from Azmodea, something that is said to be Jaden’s specialty.

Omniscience: Due to his connection to the ether, Nick can be considered omniscient with him being able to know anything at any given time.

Perspicacity: Nick can see through all disguises. The first time this ability manifested, he was capable of seeing Acheron in his “Harbinger” form, something even other gods are incapable of doing.

Pith Point Moving: Nick is capable of moving Pith points, something the Arelim (guardians of Time and Order) believe to be impossible. It is possible that he inherited this power from Jaden, seeing as Jaden does believe it to be possible.

Poisonous Blood: Nick’s blood is poisonous to Arelim.

Power Absorption: Nick can absorb the power of other beings by drinking their blood.

Presence Shielding: Nick can hide what he is to the extent that he appears human from others. This power works on Chthonians, demons, gods and psychics.

Realm Traveling: Nick can punch a hole between dimensions. He did this to travel from Agonia to his apartment.

Shapeshifting: The Malachai can theoretically assume any form that he wants. Adarian was able to pose as a 13-year-old schoolboy and later a middle-aged convict despite being thousands of years old.

Silkspeech: Nick can manipulate others using this power. It works by targeting aspects sensitive to others, such as when Zarelda used it on Nick by preying on his low self-esteem.

Spell Casting: Nick was capable of exchanging Devus’s soul with the girl Devus killed to make a deal with his master. He was also capable of summoning Menyara from a hell-dimension.

Super Strength: Malachai demons are incredibly strong, capable of overpowering gods, even the primary ones, with ease. Adarian used to tear lesser demons to shreds with his bare hands.

Supernatural Awareness: Nick can sense the presence of other supernaturals with ease, such as when he sensed Kaziel (something neither Caleb nor Xev was capable of doing).

Telekinesis: Nick can move things with his mind. His control of this ability, as of Invision, is weak at best.

Teleportation: Nick can instantly travel to any location.

Temporal Awareness: Nick can sense when someone is altering time. He can also see any changes made to the timeline, seeing as he remembers both the altered and the unaltered timelines.

Sephiroth Abilities:

Burning Light: Whilst trapped in Azmodea without his Malachai powers, he destroyed a portion of Noir’s forces by becoming engulfed in light. Since Malachais are creatures of darkness, it can be assumed that this stems from his Sephiroth heritage.

Healing: Malachais are incapable of healing, so it can be assumed that Nick’s ability to heal Little Simi stems from his Sephiroth heritage.

Other Abilities

Courage: Nick is capable of overcoming his fears and stand up to beings like Acheron, Noir and Thorn.

Indomitable Will: Nick is capable of maintaining silence under torture (as seen in Illusion when Alternate Acheron made him fight in gladiatorial-like matches against an Aamon).

Intelligence: Nick’s intelligence has been commented upon by numerous characters throughout the series. He got perfect scores on the admittance test to St. Richard’s, which is a very prestigious school.

——END FOR NOW——

If you didn’t take the time to read all that, I understand. BUT DO YOU GET IT NOW?

Notice the words SEPHIROTH POWERS above. That’s right. He’s not just a demon. He’s not just annoying and stubborn. HE’S ALL OF THE ABOVE.

Not so unreasonable for “no reason” anymore, huh? If you still think he’s an A-hole, I get it still. He really REALLY can be. But he can also, and should be according to history, be a billion times worse.

More to come later, but this post is hellaciously long enough.

[lunacanis99]

Mantle Half Angels

Let's 👏 talk 👏 about 👏 half angels! 👏

Gods I love what I've done with half angels in my world. They're another one of those things that originally wasn't going to be as important as it later became, but boy am I happy they became this important.

I suppose I should start with why half angels are so big in my world, and I suppose the big thing is: they're rare. Like really rare.

See, when the gods sealed away Tiamat and Tharizdun they decided they were too powerful to interact with the humans and thus created the Devine gate, this included the overly powerful half angels and Demigods. So they were wiped out then and the trend continued, any angels that did dare to have half angels were highly punished and ostracized and their children were seen as abominations to be hunted down by any holy person. Not only that but a lot of a half angel's bodies (their blood, feathers, excetera) are strong spell components and thus the half angels also end up hunted down by wizards and collectors. So most half angels don't live long, either because they're hunted down or because they're never taught to control their abilities.

So, the main half angels we'll be talking about are:

•Neer: Son of Aiden, head angel of Bane and angel of fear.

•Jet: Son of Shadow, head angel of The Raven Queen and angel of shadows.

•and Robin-Rivers: Child of Sage, angel of Vecna and angel of whispers and the unknown.

An though they'll be the main ones we're talking about there are 4 more in the world. And yes, they are the only other 4 currently in existence.

•Ruby: Daughter of Twist, head angel of Zehir and angel of Toxicity.

•Shimmer: Daughter of Darcey, head angel of Melora and angel of the wilds.

•Callisto: Daughter of Shine, head angel of Avandra and angel of luck.

•Stella: Daughter of Avery, angel of Sahanine and angel of trickery.

Now: currently Stella is a baby (less than a year old) still living with both her parents (as Avery fell to have Stella), Ruby Callisto and Shimmer are living together in a mountain hide away as a makeshift family, Robin-Rivers is living on the Shepard farm under the adoptive protection of Canary, and Neer and Jet are at each other's sides fighting alongside Church and State (the party).

But let's really talk about half angels, starting with those two fighting boys: Jet and Neer. And let's start with their parents:

•Aiden and Vitani: Aiden is the head angel of Bane and the physical embodiment of fear. But he wasn't always Bane's head angel, he used to be head angel to Tharizdun until Bane won a bet and thus won the ability to switch head angels and claimed Aiden as his own. This led to Aiden coming to head with his new companions Sloane and Tamara and often found him in the mortal realm, where he met Vitani. Vitani was a lion hybrid and a skyrate who caught the angel's eye with her recklessness, being too brave and or stupid to have any caution even when making fun of literal fear incarnate. Their connection grew strong and fast and Aiden continued to defy his god's wishes to see her, and continued to do so even after he was found out, especially after he learned of Vitani's pregnancy. Only barely a year after Neer's birth did Bane put his foot down and keep Aiden in the Devine plane under strict guard and stricter punishment, tearing off one of his 2 sets of wings to do so. Around 5 years later a collector Skyrate called Captain Hunter rolled through and learned of Neer, and wanted Neer. Killing Vitani to steal him.

•Shadow and Talon: Talon, a dark skinned teifling, grew up with his friend Meralith. And while Talon found his specially in the wilds with a bow Meralith had an incredibly strong penchant for magic. Too strong in fact. As as he grew older and more powerful he turned his eyes to immortality, and thus to lichdom, and grew a cult-esk following with Talon as his right hand. But Talon still had morals and eventually decided his childhood friend went too far and turned traitor to side with the followers of the Raven Queen trying to prevent Meralith's ascent to lichdom. Only to find Shadow, the head angel of the Raven Queen already helping the clerics and paladins. There was an instant connection between the two that only grew as they fought side by side and risked their lives together. And, when Talon nearly fell to a spell of Meralith, Shadow felt real fear for him and knew she'd fallen in love. It wasn't long after that that Shadow brought Talon his son and her predicament. The Raven Queen obviously found out and told Shadow she was either to give up the child and have no interaction with him or Talon and serve her loyalty, or fall; basically be kicked out of the devine plane with no chance of return and a loss of purpose. And Shadow chose loyalty to her god. Talon raised Jet in secret as long as he could, but the Raven Queen's temple was still after him seeing him as the last member of Meralith's cult and Talon knew they would kill Jet should they find him. So when he found himself stuck between a rock and a hard place he chose to get captured by the ravens instead of letting them find Jet.

But these stories don't end here! (Obviously) So let's move on to their pregame lives-

•Neer: Our favorite half lion half angel boy spent about a year as a basically pet (abused pet) to Captain Hunter before another Skyrate captain: a raccoon hybrid named Captain Reginald saw him and choose to steal him to free him. Only, after he got Neer away from Hunter Neer told him he had no home to be taken back to, so Neer got adopted by Captain Reginald and was raised alongside his own children Sam and Lynn. He was raised strong, being prepared to survive life as a Skyrate and raised proud, to embrace his angel half and learn to master his abilities. As well Aiden eventually defied his orders again to help train Neer, despite Neer's strong hatred for his own father that he saw as abandoning him and his mother. But he still grew up to be an incredibly strong and joyful first mate to his adoptive sister Lynn when she became captain of the ship (after Reginald was killed by the very same Captain Hunter), even if he inherited his mother's ridiculous recklessness.

•Jet: Meanwhile the blood angel was found not long after his father's disappearance and captured by a wizard named Mercury that kept him as a pet and a source of spell components. After many many years of this, while Mercury was moving towers once again, Canary Shepard came across Jet in his cage and unlocked him, taking him with her for a few years before they split paths as well. Jet eventually found his way to a monastery where he learned his penchant for fighting and found an adoptive younger sister named June. He also became a follower, or at least found a respect for the Raven Queen and actually managed to talk to his mom a few times do to his loyalty.

Now you can see obvious differences in how they were raised. The biggest difference being how Neer was raised embracing his angel side and Jet was raised hiding what he was at all costs. Jet is terrified of his own shadow and keeps his wings constantly bound and covered to hide what he is while Neer has no fear and usually just faces any threat that comes for him.

Eventually these two met when Neer tried to lure Captain Hunter in and got himself captured, and Lynn contracted Church and State to help her free him. They both ended up captured and worked their way out of Hunter's lair together, finding themselves well equipped to fight side by side and growing rather close before finally facing Hunter down on the deck of his ship. At which point Jet manages to kill Hunter's first mate, who also happened to be Hunter's fiancé, which means Jet did what he has come to do best and got Hunter to aim specifically for him. Which, considering how much damage Hunter could do in one round, meant Jet was very quickly on very low health. But Neer was after Hunter and (because he's a protection fighter) he was able to shield Jet from many of Hunter's attacks before finishing off Hunter himself. (Adorable right?)

But let's talk about Hunter for a second because he's also important in this. As much as I tried to coax the group into it they never really took an interest in what he was enough to ask the right people (which would have been Ressa or Erabus mind you guys) which is a shame because he's actually really interesting. See when Jet killed his fiancé Kraven Hunter absolutely freaked out and completely changed, he dropped his shield and started floating with sudden golden wings of pure magical energy as well as glowing golden eyes and started doing a crap ton more radiant damage with each hit. These obviously aren't normal abilities especially since Hunter had looked human before but obviously he wasn't. In fact he was a race I called a BrightBorn. Meaning he's the direct descendant of a demigod and a half angel. Because there actually are demigods left in the world since they don't actually age, but they are about ten times as rare as half angels with maybe one or two in existence. However they don't have physical tells like half angels so keep themselves completely hidden away. Which is all very interesting information the group is just now figuring out. (Hi guys)

But anyways, back to what we were talking about and our last important half angel:

•Robin-Rivers. Robin-River's father was an elf and mother an angel of Vecna but other than that not much is known. Robin-Rivers told Canary they never met their mother and though they traveled through the Forbidden Sands with their father for a few years he eventually sold Robin-Rivers to a skyrate captain (surprisingly not Hunter). However, it wasn't long after that Lynn and Neer raided that very same ship and Neer took Robin-River's in as his own. But how Robin-Rivers is different and how they're important is their mother, and how unlike the others she wasn't a head angel. Because of this Robin-Rivers grew up weak and underdeveloped: their wings aren't big or strong enough to carry them and even if they were their lungs are to small to let them fly without provoking an asthma attack. They're even somehow shorter than Canary (who I believe is 5 nothing). Not only physically affected because of this and because they can't strengthen their wings (which is the only way to gain better control of half angel abilities), they also have no ability to control their half angel abilities. Each half angel does inherit some of their parent's abilities: Neer has an aura of fear and Jet will eventually be able to wield shadows as weapons. Robin-Rivers has the ability to hear secrets, hear what others keep hidden. But because they can't control this it manifests as voices in their head, voices that constantly whisper to them things that they don't want to know, more voices the more people and louder the more they want to keep it secret. These voices also only get louder when they try to tune them out, try to not listen. They don't have a choice but to listen. In cities this can be deafening and often painful, in bigger darker cities can even lead to them taking actual damage as their ears and sometimes eyes start bleeding as there's not quite a set radius to this ability, not one anyone knows yet at least. It's a dangerous and powerful ability they wish they could get rid of as it has multiple times led to them getting in trouble for knowing things they shouldn't or confusing what people told them and what the voices told them. This ability is so powerful they can actually know things the others don't sometimes. When they asked Canary what happened to her engagement ring she told them she threw it in the fire, and to her that was the truth, but Robin -Rivers could tell it wasn't. In truth she had given the ring to Aiden then had a modify memory spell (willingly) cast on her to keep her from remembering it. (Just a fun fact) Robin-Rivers currently find themselves most comfortable around people like Canary Tazd and Mairon, people who are open books and don't keep anything hidden, because they're quiet to the half angel, the voices don't scream around them. Meanwhile they're often found complaining each time Alistair and or Althaea are within range because "They're loud..."

Alright. One last tidbit of information about half angels! Angels of different gods actually can't touch each other without both being hurt by it, this was put in place by the gods to try and prevent fighting (which didn't work) and half angels inherited that. Sorta. In truth it's all about connection and intent. If they are fighting it will hurt or burn both of them. But if the half angels are close and trust each other and have no intent to hurt each other with the touching then it won't. Jet and Inari have been looking into this phenomenon recently but here's the answer.

And that's that! Half angels man. This was so much longer than I was planning... whoops. I just... I really like half angels.

[jincherie]

opia || pt.1

✩ — pairing: Taehyung x reader ✩ — genre: cupid!au, soulmate!au, cupid!Taehyung ✩ — words: 6.7k+ ✩ — warnings: summoning of an otherworldly being, um there’s not really anything else ✩ — notes: AH here is the first part! It’s not too long because I just need to set the scene and get things started, but also it took a while because I had a massive writers block about where and how to start this??? Idk I’m mostly past it now. sidenote:|| I did wonder whether or not I should post this now, but I decided that ultimately I should. Everyone deals with grief in different ways, and I hope that for those of you seeking a distraction this can help in some way. Please remember I love and appreciate you all :)

Taehyung has been matchmaking since the dawn of time, bringing souls together with their other half and inspiring love. But as time went on the joy he gained from his job and creating happiness for the humans began to fade, a wanting and desire welling up in him with each century that passed for something more, something unattainable, something he knew he wouldn’t ever have. Taehyung knew why he didn’t have a soulmate, and why he couldn’t ever experience love as the humans did. But then, he couldn’t seem to fathom… why didn’t you?

masterlist || prologue | next  — posted; 21.12.2017

The bell of the café you often frequented chimed as you entered, the door closing gently behind you as you slipped in and made a hurried beeline for the table in the corner. There were two people already seated and they jumped in fright as you threw yourself into the booth, hands gripping the table to stop yourself from sliding too far along the seat.

“Christ, y/n!” Rosé yelped, hand coming up to clutch at her chest. She shot you a wide-eyed look. “Don’t just pop up out of nowhere like that!”

You were slightly out of breath as you sat there, pointedly ignoring her words, “Good morning to you too, sunshine.”

“Why are you dressed like you’re on the run from the government?”

Your head whipped around at the sound of your other friend’s deep voice, meeting the amused gaze of one Min Yoongi.

Admittedly, you kind of were dressed like a half-assed fugitive, but you weren’t expecting to get called out on it so soon. Begrudgingly, you took off the cap and large shades you were sporting, glaring at your mint-haired friend, “It’s my new look.”

Yoongi rolled his eyes, and tried to hide the small smile tugging his lips by taking a sudden sip of his coffee. You were glad he hadn’t probed further for the real reason you looked like some kind of truant, because honestly you’d be embarrassed to tell him.

You didn’t know whether you were going crazy or not, but it had all started a couple of weeks ago when you’d gone for a walk while waiting to pick Yoongi up from his late shift at the club. He was officially a bartender, but knew the manager well enough that he was often allowed to play his tracks and DJ on the odd occasion.

You’d arrived early, and gotten sick of waiting so had decided to go for a walk around that part of the city. It had been nice, you supposed— it was a lovely night and the river looked so much nicer when it was glimmering with the reflection of the city lights. You’d reached a courtyard, one you’d often come to with Yoongi and sometimes Rosé to have lunch, and stopped to admire the serenity of the scene at night. That was when you’d caught sight of him.

He had been absolutely stunning, almost ethereal as he entered the courtyard from your left with such a raw, powerfully magnetic aura you couldn’t do anything but stare on in awe. Everything about him drew you to him, and you couldn’t bring your gaze to part from his form. He almost seemed to glow in the dim light, and there was something about him that almost seemed to shimmer before your very eyes, like you were gazing upon a mirage instead of another human being.

You’d watched, unable to shift your gaze, as he strode forward, each step confident and assured, and stopped at the top of the stairs that marked the true entrance into the courtyard. For a moment he stood still, gaze falling on the opposite side of the courtyard, before suddenly he moved. You blinked, and it was only then you saw the intricate, carved bow in his hands. Through the foggy mixture of awe and curiosity sitting over your mind like fine mist, there was a distant pang of alarm. He had a bow.

This time when he moved you didn’t blink, and you saw as he lifted his hands and arrows— golden, with tips dipped in crimson—seemed to almost materialise in his grasp. The breath that had left you at the sight of him suddenly caught in your throat, alarm blaring like a foghorn in your mind and clearing the mist that had settled over your thoughts. A slight sense of panic welled in your chest as you watched, still unable to shift your gaze, as he nocked the arrows and drew—

A sharp gasp had torn from your throat as the arrows flew through the air and you were finally able to tear your gaze from the man to watch them, just in time to see them hit the chests of two women across the courtyard and disintegrate into fine crimson glitter upon impact. Shock, confusion, fear— you were drowning in a peculiar cocktail of it all as your gaze flew back to the man at the top of the stairs— but was he really just a man?

You had been rooted to the spot, mind urging you to run, to get away because this was new and scary and you had no idea how to respond to it, at all. Just as you’d found the will to move your leaden legs, the man shifted, head turning, and his gaze caught yours, and all at once you felt as though you’d been shocked. His eyes widened and electricity fizzled down your spine, the hairs on the back of your neck raising sharply. You stood there for a moment, frozen and locked in this man’s magnetic gaze, before finally your brain kicked back into gear and you regained control of your limbs.

You’d turned on your heel and ran. You hadn’t glanced back, but a glimpse as you turned told you he had remained where he stood, looking every bit as frozen as you’d felt just before.

Of course, after that, ‘confused’ hadn’t been enough to describe and properly articulate what you were feeling. You’d just seen a man, a beautiful man with the face and body of a greek god, materialise a bow and arrow out of thin air and shoot two women with it— except, when it hit them, it hadn’t pierced them. It had burst into a shower of crimson glitter upon contact and they looked like they hadn’t even realised. You didn’t know what aspect of the situation threw you for a loop the most.

That night had been alarming, but you would have been able to easily dismiss it as perhaps a fever dream, or a figment of your imagination. It wasn’t enough to have you sneaking around in broad daylight and dressing, as Yoongi had ever-so-flatteringly put it, like you were “on the run from the government”.

You would have been able to dismiss it, except that wasn’t the last time you saw the man with the magnetic aura and dangerous eyes. Ever since then, you’d been running into him by chance, catching sight of him from across the street, glimpsing him in malls and on the train. Perhaps you wouldn’t worry so much if each and every time his head didn’t whip around and he didn’t catch sight of you, too.

Despite the shock you’d always see on his face, you were… paranoid. Was he following you? Did you really see something you weren’t meant to see? What did you see? He’d always start, and move as though to come towards you, but you were quicker. If anything at this point you’d call yourself an escape artist. By the time he’d catch sight of you and it would register that he’d seen you, you were already well on your way out of there.

So, you’d resorted to this— a half-hearted disguise, in case he really was following you. Although, you admitted, it was pretty weak as far as disguises went. Just a cap and large sunglasses, and maybe a hoodie if the weather permitted it. You really needed to work a bit harder on it.

“Anyway, as I was saying before y/n showed up and nearly killed me,” Rosé sent you a mock-glare, and you responded with a shrug and a cheeky smile. “You guys remember how I applied at that company the other day, for the stylist position?”

You nodded, reaching for her drink and taking a sip before she noticed, “I don’t know why you didn’t just apply to be a trainee— your voice is lovely, Rosé, and you’re gorgeous.”

The raven-haired female smacked you on the arm, a pretty blush rising to her cheeks. “Shut up! And thank you, but I don’t think that’s the life for me.”

You shrugged, taking another sip as Yoongi spoke up, “You were saying? You applied at the company as a stylist?”

Rosé spun, beaming so brightly you wondered if everyone else felt like they were looking at the sun when they saw it too. “I got the job!” she burst, hands raising in excitement. “They called me this morning!”

You grinned, poking her arm. “That’s amazing, Rosie! I’m so proud of you!”

The girl beside you grinned so brightly she almost glowed, her voice high and coloured with excitement as she spoke, “Thanks, y/n! Oh, and guess what!”

You didn’t even have a chance to open your mouth and attempt to guess before she was excitedly gushing the answer, “I managed to get you a job too! They said they were looking for someone to work as an assistant for one of their models and asked if I knew anyone that would be interested, so I told them about you and after hearing it they were pretty much sold! They gave me this to give to you— you have a meeting with them at 10AM on Friday to sort out all the details!”

You could only blink in shock as she finished with a squeal, taking your hands in hers and moving about. Distantly, you heard Yoongi snickering at what was no doubt a dumbfounded expression on your face.

“Isn’t this great, y/n?” Rosé crowed, warm brown eyes glimmering with happiness at the fact that she’d done something to help her best friend. “You won’t have to struggle with interviews and placements anymore!”

The significance of what she was saying finally caught up to you. Belatedly, a gasp tore from your throat that had Yoongi laughing louder. “You got me a job!”

Rosé nodded, and you abruptly launched yourself at her, bringing her into your arms and making dramatic wailing noises. “Rosie! You got me a job! God, I love you!”

She giggled, her own slim arms coming to wrap around you, a hand patting your back. “I know you do, and you’re welcome.” She pulled back, her hands finding your shoulders as he expression grew solemn and she stared you down. “I’m the one that recommended you, so don’t screw this up or they’ll be on my ass.”

You gave a light snort, rolling your yes playfully but you nodded nonetheless. “Please, Rosie, I’m an angel.”

Yoongi snorted and you decided to be the better person and ignore him. That is, until he opened his mouth, “I, and many other people you know, would beg to differ.”

“Shut up Min Yoongles,” you retorted, nailing him with a half-hearted dirty look. “You wouldn’t know an angel if it flew over and smacked you in the face.”

The mint-haired male shot you a smile that you could only describe as knowing before he hid it once more by taking a prompt sip of his coffee. Suddenly perplexed as to why Yoongi had adopted a look like he knew something you didn’t, you opened your mouth to grill him about it when the sound of Rosé’s soft laughter greeted your ears.

“Ah, it’s good to know no matter how long we go without seeing you you’ll never change,” she hummed, looping her arm through yours. She straightened suddenly, turning to you with wide eyes. “Oh right! Don’t forget y/n, the three of us have a date tonight!”

At your look of confusion she gasped, affronted, and Yoongi snickered. His deep tone reached your ears, voice playful, “Don’t tell me you forgot, y/n.”

You made a face at him and Rosé groaned. She smacked your arm, eliciting a sharp yelp from you as she spoke, “y/n, you idiot, tonight is the night Yoongi has a gig at that high-end club in the city. We said we were going to go there and support him…?”

Recognition sparked somewhere in the back of your mind as you remembered. You felt a little guilty for forgetting, especially since it was pretty significant— this would be the first time Yoongi was performing somewhere that wasn’t his own workplace. Yet, at the same time…

You narrowed your eyes at the raven-haired girl by your side. “Support him? You mean you’re going there to prowl for some fresh di—”

“y/n!” Rosé yelped, cheeks flushing sheepishly as she whipped her head around to make sure no one in the café heard you.

“—all the while leaving me alone and awkward at the bar to drink my sorrows away?” you finished, raising an eyebrow at her.

Yoongi laughed, nearly choking on his drink, at the borderline mortified look on your friend’s face. “Listen, just because both of you are literal hermits,” Rosé hissed, pinning you both with a dirty look. You tried not to laugh, you really did. “Doesn’t mean I can’t go out and enjoy myself if I want. And you know what? It’s true, the crowd at the other place is getting old—”

A strangled noise escaped you as you tried not to burst into laughter. Yoongi grinned at the bristling raven-haired girl, “You really mean there’s no dick there you haven’t already tried—OW!”

Rosé threw the spoon by her hand at him and it made a satisfying noise as it connected with his forehead. The action made you break, laughter tumbling from your lips. Rosé reached and picked up the spoon from where it landed on the table after bouncing off Yoongi’s forehead and proceeded to hit you with it, crying out, “Shut up! Oh my god I hate you both!”

Eventually your laughter calmed down and Rosé’s violent spell dispersed, and your little weekly get-together proceeded as it usually would, the three of you filling each other in on the latest gossip you’d gathered over the past seven days since you’d gotten together last. You saw each other briefly before now, of course, but it was almost a ritual that you would gather of a Monday morning and cleanse yourselves with some good bitching and impromptu therapy for the week ahead. Usually, you left feeling lighter than ever after spilling your guts, but today… today you left feeling just as troubled as you did walking in.

You hadn’t mustered the courage to tell your best friends about what had been bothering you, the irrational fear of them labelling you as crazy inhibiting you from allowing all your fears and worries to gush forth. You knew, of course, they’d never judge you, they’d support you, and yet… you hadn’t been able to force the words from where they sat at the tip of your tongue.

Perhaps there was a reason, you pondered. Maybe you were making the whole thing out to be a bigger deal than it really was. Maybe, subconsciously, you knew it would be a ridiculous thing to confess to your friends— that you’d seen someone in the dead of night shoot two women with a bow and arrows made of gold that exploded into a shimmering show of glitter, and that ever since then you’d been seeing him everywhere you went. It had been late at night, you’d been tired, and pretty stressed lately—perhaps it was all a hallucination? A vivid dream conjured by your imagination that seeped a little too much into reality?

For the sake of your own sanity as you exited the café and went on your way to complete your errands for the day, you decided to dismiss it as just that. You didn’t want to be running around in the shadows anymore, paranoid every time you turned a corner that the man from that night would be there. It was a dream, you affirmed. It had to be— especially since no one on this earth could possibly be as beautiful in real life as that man had been.

x     x     x     x     x     x     x

With a certain amount of flair that only he could possess, Taehyung threw the final ingredient into the carved, deep bowl on a stand before him and snapped his fingers. At once the contents were set alight and flames, cerulean and white, licked at the gleaming precious metal of the bowl while the ingredients— petals, leaves, a coin, a small piece of parchment— burned to ashes. The flame remained strong in the bowl, and Taehyung whispered the name of the being he wished to summon in a low baritone that echoed eerily off the walls with the power thrumming through his veins. His eyes slid closed as he waited for the tell-tale sound of their arrival.

There was a flutter, air rushing against him like a gentle breeze that caused the flame in the bowl to flicker and sway, and a loud curse filled the air, “Shit, Taehyung, again?”

The male in question turned on his heel, a bright smile pulling shapely lips. “Jiminie!” he beamed, pleasant chocolate orbs swirling as he greeted the disgruntled figure standing by the window. “You came!”

It was a male of short yet powerful stature, eyes dark and warm as they swept over the room before falling over Taehyung. He folded his arms and tilted his head, windswept raven locks falling over his forehead as he pinned the younger with a pointed look. He licked his plump, pink lips before he spoke, voice light and melodic as it graced the air, “Well, yeah. You summoned me, dumbass.”

Taehyung grinned, waving his hand in a sweeping gesture so that the blue flames still licking at the bowl beside him flickered and went out completely. No longer bound, the shorter male’s form visibly relaxed. “That’s true, but you can always resist the call.”

Jimin stepped forward, rolling his eyes, but his expression softened slightly as his dark gaze moved to meet that of the younger. “Whatever, Tae. Is there a reason you called me this time, or are you interrupting my day for fun again?”

Taehyung’s eyes widened innocently, large hand pressing to his chest in mock offense. “Of course there is a reason! I need you to do something for me.”

The male sighed, snapping his fingers and falling back onto the lavish couch that appeared behind him, bringing the cocktail that appeared in his hand to his mouth for a resigned sip, striped straw pressing between plush lips. “Of course you do. What is it this time, brother?”

The ashen-haired male shifted, resting his hip against the desk and sending the older male a look that bordered on pleading. “I need you to find out information on someone for me.”

A dark brow rose, surprise filtering over his pleasant features. “Information on someone? A human?”

Taehyung nodded, arms folding over his chest as he mentally prepared himself should his brother choose to tease him with the material he’d just given him. To his surprise, the raven-haired male just shrugged, letting out a soft ‘huh’ as he sent him a curious look.

“Why do you need information on a human?” he queried, dark eyes sparkling with something akin to mischief as he pinned the other with a playful look. “Don’t tell me you’ve gotten into trouble with someone in the human world again.”

Shaking his head frivolously, Taehyung brought his hands together, pleasant chocolate eyes pleading. “I didn’t! Please, Jiminie, can you do this for me? There’s something I need to figure out.”

Jimin shot him an odd look, but let out a sigh nonetheless, taking another resigned sip of his drink. “Fine, I’ll see what I can find. Who is this human I’m looking for, what’s their name?”

The ashen-haired male beamed gratefully at him, “Thanks, Jimin-ah!” he grinned, before a sheepish expression washed over his pleasant features. “And, uh, well… it’s a girl. Um…”

When he didn’t continue further, a look that was a curious cross between knowing and disbelief graced Jimin’s face as he sputtered on his drink. “You called me here to find information on someone and you don’t even know their name?” he scoffed lightly, eyes slightly scolding as they met Taehyung’s own. “I’m no miracle worker, Taehyung. We both know that’s not one of my responsibilities.”

Jimin’s expression soured as his thoughts turned to the person in question, muttering something along the lines of, “If that brat doesn’t call me back soon it’ll be a miracle he doesn’t get his ass beat” under his breath. Taehyung fought a smile, hoping their brother was smart enough to respond to Jimin before he came after him and tore him a new one for ignoring him.

He didn’t speak, instead sending the older male a pleading look, begging him with wide eyes. Jimin sighed, acquiescing not for the first time to those puppy eyes he was so susceptible to. “Fine! Just, give me something to go off— what does she look like? What bonds did she have? What did her soul feel like?”

Taehyung’s grin fell at the first two questions, “I, uh… I didn’t see.���

Jimin gaped, looking ready to pop a blood vessel. “You didn’t see her bonds? Taehyung, how could you not see the strings stemming from her very being— that’s one of your gifts!”

A hand came up to rub the back of his neck as he offered a sheepish look. “I was looking, but she was gone so quick I didn’t have time to see them,” he said, words rushing. “But I kind of remember how she looked.”

Jimin took a large sip of his drink, swirling the contents in the glass to soothe the nerves thrumming with frustration. “Oh, good. What did she look like, then?”

Taehyung shifted his weight from one foot to the other. The sheer look of relief in his brother’s eyes almost made him regret what he was going to answer with. “…Beautiful,” he mumbled, moving his gaze aside so he wouldn’t see the drop in the raven-haired male’s face.

“Taehyung,” Jimin said seriously, glaring at him. “I’m going to murder you if you ever make me do something like this again. Is there nothing you can give me that will actually help? There are literally thousands of humans in this city!”

The younger offered an apologetic look, before closing his eyes and trying to remember what he could. “Her soul… it was warm, and strong— it’s not like any human soul I’ve ever seen before. I could feel it from across the courtyard; it was like it was pulling me towards her.” He opened his eyes, giving Jimin the rest of the information he could, “It was very bright, every time I’ve glimpsed her since then she has stood out from those around her. She’s quick though, always gone before I can commit it to memory and get a good enough read to be able to find her myself.”

“I see her most on the other side of town,” he added thoughtfully after a moment. “She must live in the southern suburbs.”

When he returned his gaze to his brother, he looked perplexed, but curiosity had sparked in his dark eyes. “Huh,” was all the response he got, the older gazing at him intensely for a moment longer before he stood promptly. Taehyung’s eyes followed him as he waved the lounge away and moved back over to the open window, drink still in hand.

“Well, now that I have the tiniest bit of something to go off, rather than nothing at all, I shall be off. Don’t summon me for a while,” he said, delivering the younger with a pointed look. “If you summon me before I’m ready I will beat you up— and if you see that brat, tell him to respond to me or I’ll beat him up too.”

Taehyung nodded, holding his hands up to show his cooperation. He offered a bright beam, “Thanks again, Jiminie.”

Jimin grumbled, raven hair shifting in the soft breeze from the window, “Yeah, whatever. Don’t thank me yet.”

Then Taehyung blinked and he was gone with a flutter and soft gush of wind, sunlight filtering through the open window and bathing the floor golden where he’d just stood. He allowed himself a soft chuckle now that it was safe to do so without the danger of Jimin throttling him, and began packing the carved bowl and its contents away neatly in the cupboard by his desk. He brought a key from his pocket and locked it, mind still on the contents of the conversation he’d just had.

He had been worried Jimin wouldn’t help him—his brother was in a position where he could easily find out anything he wanted about any one human, but with the amount of information Taehyung had—or rather the amount he didn’t have— even for him it would no doubt be a difficult task. He bit his lip as his thoughts went back further, to the reason he’d summoned his brother in the first place.

That girl… Taehyung hadn’t been entirely honest when he’d been speaking to Jimin. When he first saw her that night in the courtyard, he had glimpsed her with his Sight, and he had seen her bonds. But something perplexed him still, something he didn’t want to admit to Jimin yet because he himself didn’t understand it.

From her heart that girl had many rosy strings, something that signified healthy friendships, and several thicker strings of the same colour, something that signified healthy close friendships. These weren’t unusual— almost every human had friends, acquaintances and friends that were so close they were almost like family, just as every human had a soulmate. But when he had glimpsed at this girl, something had been missing, something that by no means possible should have been absent.

When he’d looked at this girl, there had been no telling, faint cord, realised or otherwise, that he was so used to seeing. There had been nothing. What he didn’t think was ever possible, was suddenly standing right in front of him.

When he’d looked at this girl, he hadn’t seen the string of a soulmate.

And Taehyung wanted to know why.

x     x     x     x     x     x     x

The booming bass of one of Yoongi’s harder tracks reverberated off the walls of the club and through your very being, the air thick and heady with the scent and sweat and lust. Already you felt hotter than you had before, your form-fitting clothes sticking that bit closer to your skin, the hair brushing your neck creating a pocket of warmth against your flesh. The dimness of the large room was broken by the globes that cast harsh, saturated colours across the dancefloor, the areas they didn’t touch lit in a violet glow. Already you were noticing just how starkly different this club was to the one you usually frequented to see Yoongi, expensive entry fee aside.

You’d wormed through the sweaty, mingling forms to reach the bar on the other side of the room as soon as you’d entered, Rosé hot on your tail, but the second your ass touched the seat she was off— just like you’d predicted. You didn’t really mind that much, but you weren’t looking forward to cleaning up the mess your best friend tended to become after nights like these spent with the wrong men. It was her choice, you couldn’t stop her, but sometimes you wished she didn’t keep walking back into the same scenario over and over again.

Yoongi had already been playing for an hour or so before you got there with Rosé, and from what you could tell the crowd was loving it. You could see him from where you were situated at the bar, and your chest swelled with pride as you watched him bounce with the beat, a gummy grin shifting his features. The night was going well for him and you couldn’t be any happier.

After deciding earlier in the day not to worry about the ‘problem’ that had been plaguing you all week, you felt lighter, like a great weight had been lifted from your shoulders. You wondered why you even got so worked up in the first place— did you really think you’d been seeing the man from your dream all over the place? You hadn’t so much as glimpsed him all day, only further cementing your suspicion that you’d been overly paranoid about the whole thing this whole time. You weren’t worried anymore, in fact you’d been on top of the world for the rest of the day, and had been looking forward to coming here as a sort of celebration for liberation from your own paranoia. Anticipation swirled in your gut, a prominent feeling that something good was going to happen tonight, something important. While you tried not to pay it too much mind, it definitely contributed to your current disposition.

However, as much as you rejoiced the good feelings running your mood right now, there was still a part of you that wondered— if it was just a dream, then why did you remember it so vividly? How was it you remembered his features so precisely that you thought you recognised him on the street? Even as you sat there, sipping the sweet drink in your hand, there was a part of you that feared maybe you had been right to be paranoid, and that any second now you were going to glimpse the beautiful man again.

It was a part that, with the aid of the drink in your grasp and the thrumming atmosphere around you, was easily snuffed out. You weren’t here to worry, you were here to enjoy yourself— even if that meant sitting to the side and watching your own friends have fun instead of you. If they were happy, then you were happy.

Hours passed with ease, and by the time it was nearing the end of Yoongi’s gig you’d downed perhaps one too many colourful drinks yet somehow managed to remain surprisingly sober— although your gross motor skills might beg to differ. You’d received a text from Rosé not too long ago to meet her at the door in fifteen minutes, and you decided in the meanwhile to enjoy the remaining time you had since you probably wouldn’t be going out like this again for a while. The feeling in your tummy had remained throughout the night, only seeming to grow stronger as time wore on. You ignored it.

Sipping the most recent drink you’d ordered—a deliciously sweet, swirling rosy cocktail that tasted like raspberry and vanilla on your tongue— you gazed over to the remaining large mass of bodies shifting and moving over the dancefloor, before your gaze moved over the rest of the establishment. You’d taken it in before, but it still awed you to an extent. Large, glittering orbs hung from the sweeping, high ceiling, and the already large room was skirted further by a second-story balcony that lead to more highly-coveted parts of the club beyond your sight. You allowed your gaze to flicker over the faces you could see with a mild sense of curiosity, a thought brushing the back of your mind as an idle reminder that you’d have to move soon.

Your eyes swept over the people mingling on the top balcony, only straying to glimpse at the glass ornaments that reflected the strobe lights and glimmered, shaking with the bass of the beat as it boomed through the speakers. Your gaze quickly returned to the people on the balconies, and you resumed your observation when you froze. Your heart skipped several beats, your blood freezing in your veins as recognition swept over you and caught your breath in your throat.

No, your mind, sluggish with intoxication, suddenly kicked into motion. It’s not possible, it isn’t him.

The man that had caused a cold flush of fear to wash over your body stood on the balcony furthest from the door. His tall form, fitted in a silken silver shirt and black slacks that accentuated his long legs and broad shoulders, leant enticingly against the metal railing. His back was to you, attention captured by the beautiful brunette before him, his ashen hair glowing multicolour beneath the strobing lights. The sight of him sent a jolt down your spine, a funny feeling shooting from your heart to mix with the sensation that had been present in your stomach all night. You fought the slight fear rising within you, the instinctive reaction that had taken a hold of you at the sudden stimulus and reaction, and tried to reason with yourself. You’d come to terms with the fact the whole thing had been a dream just today— this was a wild coincidence, someone who looked eerily like him. You hadn’t even seen his face, there was absolutely no way it could be—

Before you could even finish that train of thought the male beneath your gaze jolted, spine stiffening, and he turned. Your denial died in your throat as the very eyes that had fallen upon you that night now kept you trapped in their dark, magnetising gaze once more. You watched as shock spread across his face, a familiar sight by this point, and all at once you were suddenly aware you were in the same building as the man you’d been running from this entire time. You couldn’t tear your eyes away, but your mind was urging you to run once more, just as it had when you’d seen him draw his bow and fire at two women right before you.

Without thinking, your eyes flickered to the door where it stood on the other side of the mingling mass of people on the dancefloor, and when you looked back and realised your mistake it was too late. A look of realisation overcame his beautiful features and you knew then if you didn’t bolt now then this time he would most certainly catch you before you could get away. You wrenched yourself from your seat, and before you tore your eyes from his alluring form you saw him jolt, something that sent a spike of alarm down your spine.

You darted towards the crowd on the dancefloor, eyes trying to find the easiest path through as you weaved in and out of dancing forms oblivious to your current situation and panic. You wanted to push them aside, almost desperate to make it to the door, but amongst the blaring music and shifting bodies you could hardly make a path for yourself. Somehow in your journey for the front of the establishment, you’d been jostled and bumped, guided to the side of the dancefloor— closer to where you wanted to be yet so far away. You were closer to the corner of the room than you were to the open dancefloor and where you needed to be. Panicked, you knew you were running out of time as you moved to dart back towards the door before a voice reached your ears through the heavy, booming bass and froze you in your tracks.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

It was a smooth baritone, a tone so deep and powerful, so utterly commanding of attention you could hear it clearly through the music, as though it was being whispered right against your ear. Your body spun, like it was acting on a will of its own, and your breath caught in your throat at the sight of the man you’d been running from suddenly so close, so magnetic and so absolutely breathtaking before your very eyes. Your thoughts ceased as he stepped closer and through the intoxicated haze sitting like fine mist over your mind, you registered the peculiar scent of ylang-ylang, caramel, and something inexplicably warm that sent a shiver down your spine and a spike of exhilaration to join the swirling cocktail of emotion in the pit of your stomach.

You could hardly force the words you wanted to say from your mouth, could hardly think. Your tone shook as the words fell from your mouth unwittingly, “It’s y-you.”

He was beautiful, strikingly so and in a sense that you could hardly describe the sight of him as anything but ethereal. His eyes, warm and doe-like and framed by long lashes, held your gaze with such intensity and drew you in with such ease that you could feel your cheeks heating. He smiled, shapely lips curving into a smile that was decidedly sinful.

“Yes, me. You’ve been doing a good job of running away up until now, haven’t you?” he murmured, eyes keeping you trapped in place as he stepped forward. Something in you called for him, urged you to reach and touch him, and it terrified you. “But now that I finally have you here, there are some things I want to know.”

You couldn’t speak, could hardly breathe as he raised a hand and his fingertips brushed against your cheek in the softest, most tantalising of touches. A jolt of electricity sparked down your spine, setting your skin alight, and your senses returned to you all at once. You jerked back, taking two firm steps away but unable to make yourself take any more— he still held you in his gaze, after all.

Words gushed forth before you could stop them, a defence mechanism to compensate for how helpless you felt. “I don’t think I’m obliged to tell the person I saw shooting people with a bow and arrow in the dead of night anything,” you defied somewhat shakily, fist clenching as you tried to muster the will to step further away.

The man’s gaze swept over your body in a once-over that left a flash of heat flushing over your skin. His head tilted, ashen hair tickling his cheekbones and his single, long, glittering earring swaying with the movement of his head as an intrigued expression graced his almost angelic features. “Cute,” the sound of his deep voice caressing the word, in reference to you, sent a shiver down the length of your neck and spine. “I want to know, sweetheart, what’s your name?”

The longer you were in his presence the deeper you were drawn into him, yet the more awareness returned to you. You managed another step back, and he followed you with ease. You hardly registered the club, the dancing bodies or the booming music around you as his gaze burned into yours and you sobered more. “No,” you said, less of a waver in your tone. His eyebrows rose, and you took another step back, and another. “I’m not telling you.”

Something glinted in his eyes, sparked to life at the challenge you were presenting, and he took a step closer. You took another two back. Before he even managed to open his mouth, there was a loud call from behind you, high tone just barely reaching you over the music and causing cold dread to flush over you.

“y/n, come on! Let’s go!”

You stiffened, a muted sense of horror filling you as you saw the man’s face light in realisation, eyes darting between you and something behind you as he connected the information he’d received.

Realising you now had an opportunity, you used his momentary distraction to spin on your heels and bolt for the door. You had better luck creating a path now, and before you knew it you were by the door, rushing by a smiling Rosé who gave a surprised yelp when you pulled her out with you.

You moved as far away as you could, ignoring the somewhat slurred protests and questions Rosé was throwing at you as you dragged her along. Your mind was struggling, whirring as fast as it could with the remnants of your drinks hindering it. The image of the man was burnt so clearly into your mind’s eye, you were struggling to remain in denial. You wanted to go back to an hour ago, when you’d been so sure that he’d just been an image your mind had conjured while you slept. But with the scent of him still present in your nose, the feel of him a memory clinging to your skin, you couldn’t— you couldn’t delude yourself any longer.

The man you saw that night was real. He knew you saw him, and now he knew your name. a prominent feeling in your gut told you this wouldn’t be the last time you saw him.

And nothing alarmed you more.

masterlist || prologue | next

[yay855]

Legend of Zelda Lore Tips

So I’ve seen a lot of people confused about how the Legend of Zelda series works in terms of lore. So I’m here to set you straight! You can find the whole thing under the cut.

1: Reincarnation

Despite what most people think, reincarnation only happens once in the Zelda series, during Four Swords Adventure, where Ganondorf is reincarnated as... himself, basically. Thanks to Skyward Sword, we now know:

* Link does not reincarnate, ever. He bears the Spirit of the Hero, some esoteric trait that is passed on from hero to hero, which may just be the approval of Hylia herself. This sometimes carries through his bloodline, but not always. Furthermore, the Spirit of the Hero can be both destroyed, and remade, as seen in The Wind Waker, where Link is not the chosen hero, but a normal child who made himself into the hero. That said, Links usually share some traits, such as having a love of food and sleep. But, as shown in Twilight Princess, they are all different people.

* Hylia does not reincarnate, ever. After the first Zelda died, Hylia returned to her status as a full goddess. Her descendants, the various Princess Zeldas throughout the series, don’t reincarnate either. Every Princess Zelda after the first one (who was the goddess hylia in a mortal body) is a demigod, a mortal descended from a god. Their power comes from this connection to Hylia. Furthermore, as evidenced in the first two Zelda games, it is tradition for the Hyrule Royal Family to name their firstborn daughter Zelda- the Zelda in The Adventure of Link is the aunt of the Zelda from the first game.

* Demise does not reincarnate either. His incarnations bear not his soul or spirit, but his hatred. His “incarnations” are essentially just people whose hearts were corrupted by hatred or evil.

* Ganondorf, as I stated earlier, only reincarnates once. Every other time, he is sealed away, typically returning after his power is regained.

2: The Curse

Despite what many believe, Demise did not lay down a curse after being defeated in Skyward Sword. Fi says as much, his power was gone. Rather, he laid down a prophecy, which he infused with what power he had left to influence, that his hatred would continue on in others, and they would continue to plague Hylia’s descendants and their champions for all eternity.

3: Ganondorf

Despite popular belief, Ganondorf is not Demise’s reincarnation. Neither was he unduly influenced by the prophecy/curse. Rather, Ganondorf was merely an exceptional man born into evil. He is the child of Twinrova, a fusion between two ancient and evil Gerudo witches, and as such, he inherited much of their power. And because they raised him, he became evil. His origin story is no more complex than that; he was simply a man born into power and evil, who happened to fulfill the conditions for the prophecy due to the hatred in his heart.

The only reason Ganondorf has lasted for so long is because he was the only villain to truly grasp even a fraction of the Triforce, which is itself creation given form. By taking the Triforce of Power for himself, his magic and strength were increased to ridiculous levels, causing him to be all but incapable of dying to anything but divine power.

He dies a total of three times across the series- once in A Link to the Past, once in the Oracle games, and once during Twilight Princess. In every other game in which he appears, Ganondorf is never killed, only sealed away.

However, it is clear that, by the time Breath of the Wild takes place, Ganondorf has become a force of nature, and lost what humanity he had left; he is a monster, a miasma of evil energy. This is likely due to him repeatedly dying, as seen in the Downfall Timeline- each time Ganon is resurrected, he loses a small piece of his mind, until he’s completely mindless in Link Between Worlds, used as a puppet by the real final boss to grant them extra power.

4: Timelines

The series is divided into four timelines: a unified timeline beginning with Skyward Sword and ending with Ocarina of Time, and then three new timelines spawned from OoT’s events: the downfall timeline, the child timeline, and the adult timeline. However, the timeline itself is largely just made up after the fact, and aside from a few games, most aren’t made with continuity in mind.

The Downfall Timeline is where Ganondorf defeats Link in their final battle, and a war is raged between the awakened sages and Ganondorf, ending with Ganon being sealed away in the Sacred Realm as a last resort. After spending an unknown amount of time in the sacred realm, Ganondorf’s power transforms it into the Dark Realm, a land of demons and monsters. In this timeline, Hyrule is in a constant state of decline due to Ganondorf’s influence, with monsters becoming more and more common even when Ganondorf isn’t around, to the point where it generally isn’t safe to venture outside by the time the original game comes along.

The Child Timeline is one where Ganondorf’s influence is never truly allowed to spread. However, this also causes Hyrule to slowly lose its magic, and to slowly grow more dependent on technology. By the time Twilight Princess comes along, magic is all but unheard of outside of divinity and the royal family; similarly, the Sheikah, ancient magical protectors of Hylia and her descendants, are all but gone, with only one Sheikah remaining, Impaz. However, it seems to make a small return once Four Swords Adventures comes along, as the four Links find various magical tools and items to help them on their journey. That said, it’s obvious that Four Swords Adventure was just tacked on to the Child Timeline because it didn’t fit anywhere else. Furthermore, Twilight Princess only happens because of how Link was sent into the past; by holding the Triforce of Courage in the future, Link accidentally created a time paradox, which caused himself, Zelda, and Ganondorf to each hold their triforce pieces in the new timeline despite not having split the triforce yet.

The Adult Timeline is a unique one. Hyrule is subjected to Ganon’s reign, but he is defeated by Link. Link is then sent back in time by Zelda, creating the Child Timeline, but the Adult Timeline still exists- and it is without a hero. Link is nowhere to be found, and the creation goddesses instead lead the peoples of Hyrule to the tops of mountains, before flooding it underneath a great sea. Ganondorf is sealed away underneath the ocean, inside the remnants of Hyrule, trapped in a bubble of time as the world moves on. However, Ganondorf’s power was not fully trapped, and he managed to escape after untold years to once more wreak havoc. After he is defeated in the Wind Waker, Link and Tetra move on to explore the world, eventually coming across a continent, which they rename New Hyrule. In this New Hyrule, magic and technology flourish in tandem, causing a technological boom; magical trains become the standard method of transportation, and the royal family itself sponsors it all. However, this land is home to an ancient evil which was sealed away long ago by the Lokomo tribe, a demon king named Malladus; the train tracks that New Hyrule relies on are actually chains which bind Malladus’s prison, which existed long before the people even arrived on that continent.

Finally, there’s Breath of the Wild, which has a unique problem of not really fitting into any of the timelines. It contains elements from every series, and was intentionally created separate from the rest of the series, likely in order to help further separate it from the rest of the series. Breath of the Wild contains many timeline-specific things, including:

* The Rito, which only existed in the Adult Timeline, and which were Zora transformed by the power of a minor god. Some argue that these Rito are not the same due to the difference in design, but the fact remains that they consider Medli to be one of their own, to the point of naming Vah Medoh after her- thus, these Rito must be descended from the Rito of Wind Waker.

* The Sea Zora, which only existed in the Child Timeline. They were transformed into the Rito in the Adult timeline, and were transformed into the monstrous River Zora in the Downfall Timeline. Some people defend them by saying that these Zora are relatively new to the region, but the fact remains that they consider Princess Ruto to be one of their own, to the point where Vah Ruta is named after her; thus, these Zora must be descended from the same Zora found in Ocarina of Time.

* Goponga Island, Kanalet Ridge, Mabe Village Ruins, Martha's Landing, Tal Tal Peak, Tabhal Woods, Ukuku Plains, and Koholit Rock, all of which areas named after places on Koholint Island, in Link’s Awakening, which itself took place on the Downfall Timeline. And Koholint Island is itself not a real place, but rather the dream of the Wind Fish, a place that is presumably never seen in any of the other timelines.

* Linebeck Island, named after a character in Phantom Hourglass, of the Adult Timeline.

* Lulu Lake, Mikau Lake, and Toto Lake, named after characters in Majora’s Mask, which takes place in the Child Timeline.

* Mount Daphnes, named after the King of Hyrule in The Wind Waker.

* Ralis Pond, named after the Zora Prince in Twilight Princess, in the Child Timeline.

* The Tunic of the Wild, which most resembles the clothing of the Downfall Timeline links.

* Vah Medoh, named after Medli (named Medori in the original Japanese), the Sage of Earth in The Wind Waker, found only in the Adult Timeline.

As such, it can be said that Breath of the Wild takes place in a New Unified Timeline, where elements from all timelines existed.

[entomjinx]

Innocence and a Death Wish

Prompt:You can't die. Please don't die.

(Warning: The emotion train can't pick a track to stay on. Be cautious of possible derailment. Also, this has elements from another story I’m writing[actually, many of my one shots do, but whatever], so it’s a really weird AU)

This was it. This was the end of everything that had happened. He felt his magic build up along side Natsu's. He felt the fire and ice intertwine as it headed straight for the famed Black wizard. The powerful slaying magic spells ripped through him like a hot knife through butter, and every trace of his magic began to dissipate. They walked over to his fallen body as seals appeared across him. They dissolved themselves off of him, peaking the curiosity of the ice mage.

After searching his memories, he recognized several of the runes that made up the seals, and Zeref began to speak. It wasn't the deep voice full of hatred he'd heard all the other times, but instead, a calm, almost childish voice, "Thank you. Thank you thank you thank you thank you!" There were tears streaming down the dark mage's face, "I spent so long, so long, under Ankhseram's control. I don't want to hurt anyone anymore. " Several others had made their way over to listen, shocked at the revelation of Zeref's... innocence?

"You were... being controlled." Gray muttered. He couldn't believe it. The person he and most of the world had villainized their entire lives was the victim, not the enemy. Natsu grasped his arm, sensing Gray's discomfort immediately. The ice mage shot him a grateful glance.

"I'm not the only person Ankhseram wanted, though. That's why I built Eclipse." Zeref said quietly, "I sent them into the future to keep them safe, but it didn't work quite as well as I wanted it to. One of them was captured by another group of people, but now that I'm free it shouldn't be any trouble getting him out of there."

"The dragon slayers came from four hundred years ago." Gray realized. He turned to Natsu, but the pinkette looked just as shocked as he was.

"I had to seal away all of their memories as well," If it were possible, Zeref looked even more upset, "Hell, we were all so little. He tilted his head towards Wendy, and the people standing around her instinctively got closer, "You were just two." His turned his head back to the sky and glared at it, "Ankhseram is such a bitch."

By this point, the enormous hole in his chest had healed, and he sat up weakly. "If you want me to, I can re-purpose all of the Etherous I created to help us, or I can shut them down. Either is fine by me." Everyone continued to stare, shocked by the amount of humanity behind the darkest mage in history.

"I'm sorry." The words had come from Erza, and while they were sincere, there was also bubbling rage along side it, " But I cannot forgive someone who created something like the Tower or Heaven." She pointed one of her many swords directly at him, shooting it forward with her magic, but Zeref caught the blade between his palms like a child would a ball.

"I never used the Tower of Heaven," He said honestly. "I scrapped the idea as soon as I realized it would require more people to die. As a matter of fact, the instructions I left attached to it were incomplete in a way that would harm the person doing the spell and no one else." The sword stopped trying to move forward as his words began to reach the redhead. "Not to mention I was only five at the time, and I had a reason for want to build something with the ability to bring back the dead. If you want me to, I'll tell you the entire story, but I must warn you that it isn't very pleasant."

The entire area had gone quiet, and master Makarov decided it was time for him to take the initiative, " I believe we'd all benefit from hearing the truth." Zeref nodded, and they all gathered in what was left of the Fairy Tail guild hall.

"Four hundred and thirty some years ago," Zeref began quietly, "The dragons split into two factions. One of them hated humans with a passion, and he and his followers with to commit genocide on the entire race. The other group loved the humans and everything about them. They only wished great things upon us, and several devoted their lives to teaching the humans about all they could. In a clash between the two factions, a small village was destroyed. There were only three casualties. A couple who had stayed behind to wrap the wound of a fallen dragon made up two of them." He paused with a distant look on his face, waiting for the information to sink in before he continued, "There were three others who stayed behind with them. Those three were their children. The older two were four, almost five, and the youngest had just turned three. The youngest ran out in front of the blast, not realizing that it wouldn't be enough."

Most of the mages gasped, while others looked at him in horror. "The three of them died there, but the fallen dragon was able to save their bodies from being completely destroyed. He was a young dragon, barley ten years old, so I don't blame him for not being able to save my youngest brother. It wasn't his fault, even if I believed it was for a long time."

"For the next year, my twin and I came up with the idea of Heaven's Tower, but we scrapped it when we realized it wouldn't work. we struggled to come up with something that would give us back our precious brother, if not our parents along with him. About a month after that, we found a spell in our old family spell book. It was incomplete, and would most likely kill us, but we didn't realize that at the time. We agreed, or rather I told him, that I would be taking all of the rebound for the spell, and we went through with it."

"The spell caused Ankhseram himself to appear. When he looked into my eyes, I knew we had made a mistake. He asked if I was the one to summon him, and when I nodded, he appeared shocked. 'You're just a child.' he told me, 'What business could you have with the god of death?' At this point Larcade had slipped out of the room. I didn't want him to get caught up in any of it. It took a long time, but after a while, I managed to convince him to teach me how to bring back my little brother."

"With in the next few months, I had created eclipse, and I found all of the people Ankhseram had wanted me to, and I broke my promise. I sent them as far as my magic would allow me to, and I hid them from his view. After he realized I'd betrayed him, he took over my body and used me like a puppet to cause destruction. He didn't realize that five of the six people I sent, I had sent somewhere he wouldn't be able to reach anyways. After all, the dragons are very protective of those they consider their children."

A small smile had made it's way into the Black Wizard's face, "My twin is the one that's in captivity like three countries over. He's a bit of an idiot." A few laughs escaped the mages who were not as afraid of Zeref, "And the other five are all in this room."

While Erza still didn't trust him, most of her direct hatred had disappeared. There was a question she wanted to ask though, "If you got your youngest brother back, than didn't you send him into the future as well?"

Zeref nodded, "The older brother of the dragon my parents saved offered to take him in, which is where I got the idea to include the dragon anyways." Several of the mages glanced between the "Twin dragons" of Sabertooth, Kurogane Gajeel, and Fairy Tail's Salamander, choosing to linger on Gajeel most of all. When Zeref noticed, he burst out laughing, "I've called him 'precious' before, do you really think it's that asshole? No offence, Gajeel."

Gajeel looked slightly startled, but he replied anyways, "None taken."

Zeref pulled the locket off his neck and tossed it to Erza. "Open it." He tilted his head when he smiled, and suddenly the resemblance hit everyone in the room like a truck. When the locket popped open, Erza found herself to be correct. Inside was was a photo of two nearly identical people, one having white hair, the other black, and in between them was a small, smiling pinkette.

Most of the room whipped their head towards Natsu, who didn't look all that shocked. "You smell kind of like me, and I genuinely don't think anything can surprise me anymore. That and Igneel's the only one of our dragon parents that has siblings." He shrugged nonchalantly.

"You are still the most low-key sassy child." Zeref commented.

Natsu raised an eyebrow, "Would you rather I not attempt to hide my sass?" His hand flew to his hip, "Because if you actually want me to start, the first thing we're doing is getting rid of that outfit." He eyed it up and down, and the guild burst into laughter. "Also, not a child."

Gray was staring at Natsu with an emotion that Erza couldn't recognize, and he slipped out of the back.

Gray had gone to sit by the river. It was a calm day, surprisingly, so it was flowing gently. After a while, he heard someone come up behind him.

"Hey, snowflake." Natsu plopped beside him, gently brushing his arm against Gray's as a form of comfort. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about this mess, but I barely knew anything. I wanted to be positive when I told you."

The ice mage leaned into him slightly. "It's okay, Natsu. I just wasn't expecting it."

A small bark of laughter left the pinkette's lips and he shook his head, "You think I really did? It's weird and unusual, and that sort of thing makes people uncomfortable. It's best to act like nothing's wrong or at least like it doesn't bother you." Their sides were pressed completely together now, and the river water was louder than their voices.

"You're too selfless sometimes," Gray commented.

"Better than being a block of ice without emotions," Natsu teased. He poked Gray in the side, provoking him into tackling the pinkette.

Everyone was asking Zeref questions about that past and what Ankhseram did to him, though mostly about the past. Baby Natsu, to be specific.

A figure that seemed to be made of the shadows rushed past everyone, running straight through the dark mage's chest. When he came out the other side, the was a rapidly growing hole through his body, and the being vanished, leaving only one sentence to echo through the guild hall, "You shouldn't have betrayed me, boy."

They'd only been sparring. That was it. They did it all the time, so why?

Gray could only gape at the sight in front of him. The pinkette he'd known for more of his life than he hadn't was dissolving in front of him. "He's dying." Natsu refused to look him in the eyes, and that's honestly what was hurting him the most. The ice mage shot forward to catch Natsu's body as he became too weak to stand. "His body is turning into magic?"

"Natsu?" Gray shook him gently, not understanding what was going on. He tried to lift him, but his arms were beginning to pass right through the dragon slayer. "You can't die. Please don't die." Natsu attempted to grab onto Gray, but his hands slipped right through the fabric. Natsu's scarf fell through his body and into Gray's lap, and they both stared at it. "No. No no no no no. You can't. You can't leave me."

The sound of footsteps approached from behind him, but he didn't bother to turn around."Gray, move out of the way." It was Zeref, and when Gray finally did look at him, he had a hole through his chest. "Move!" Gray didn't.

The black wizard huffed. He pulled out a book with the word "END" on it, and he created a knife out of what looked like light. Thousands of strings appeared that were attached to both the book at Natsu. Zeref didn't hesitate. He swung the knife as hard as he could, cutting the strings clear through. He then grabbed a hold of them desperately. He sank to his knees and coughed up a bit of blood. He held them out to Gray, "Listen and listen carefully," He coughed up another mouthful of blood, "You care about him yeah?"Gray nodded, "Good. Ankhseram came for me, and to bring him back, I basically had to turn him into an Etherious. They aren created the way you think they are. They're only bound to their creator if they aren't bound to someone else."

"They're only bound to their creator if they aren't bound to someone else?" It took a moment, but Gray figured out what he was saying. "I'll do it."

Zeref placed the strings in Gray's hands, and they wrapped around his arms, then the rest of him before disappearing. All at once Natsu seemed to solidify, and Gray grabbed onto him. The pinkette sucked in a shaky breath and came out of his own mind. He held onto Gray and stared at his brother. Zeref leaned forward and buried one of his hands in his brother's hair. "I know what you're thinking. Wendy couldn't heal this. It'd hurt her."

"She could try."He protested.

"He's right," Gray agreed.

"Damn straight he's right!" Wendy came barreling through the trees with several others close behind. She knelt down beside the dark mage and began to use her healing magic, which was working surprisingly well.

"Oh." Zeref muttered once he realized he was wrong. He said something in what must have been his original language and let Wendy continue to heal him.

Natsu snorted. "That I can agree with." Gray poked him in the side, nearly making the pinkette jump out of his arms. "What?"

"Want to tell the rest of us what just happened?"

"Zeref said, 'Maybe I'm just super paranoid, or I still subconsciously have a death wish,' which is why I responded that I could agree with it."

Gray balked at him. "I'm assuming he gave you all you memories back?" Natsu nodded, "Good, I can actually ask you this. Have you always been assholes too each other?"

The siblings had an entire conversation with nothing but their eyes, then answered in perfect unison, "You should see it when all three of us are in one place."

A thought seemed to occur to everyone all at once.

"What are we going to do with three Natsus?"

[maneaterwithtail]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Fangbone! Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Fangbone/Bill Characters: Fangbone, Bill Summary:

La vida en la tierra ha sido relativamente normal para Bill el humano desde que su mejor amigo, el guerrero craneano Fangbone retornó a su planeta de origen, Craneovania. Bill continuó sus días y hoy es un adolescente relativamente normal, hasta que algunos sucesos relacionados a la magia y un extraño suceso astronómico llamado "luna azul" despertarán sus sentimientos más enterrados con respecto a la partida de su amigo hace ya tantos años.

Google translatation below the cut

Blue Moon (One-shot!)

TheGreatGoddessScatagh_Macha Summary: Life on earth has been relatively normal for Bill the human since his best friend, the cranial warrior Fangbone returned to his home planet, Craneovania. Bill continued his days and today is a relatively normal teenager, until some events related to magic and a strange astronomical event called "blue moon" will awaken his most buried feelings regarding the departure of his friend so many years ago.

Notes: Well, to the corridas and everything, but I'm quite happy to finally be able to upload this one-shot of this beautiful series that lately has managed to enter its fandom!

In this fanfic, the headcannon endures that Bill really is good at practicing parkour, since in itself it is not a form of fight and in fact it works quite well with his personality more intelligent than warrior.

Clarified this, I hope you enjoy reading!

Work Text: Calm and darkness reigned in the room, breaking into pieces as the light of the single sun of the earth began to rise on the horizon, beginning the journey of a new day. Suddenly, the impertinent sound of the alarm banished the young head of fire from the dream paradise. Sleepy, he felt out of the warm fortress of his bed and put out the infernal apparatus, grumbling with disgust, got rid of the sheets. The alarm clock read five in the morning.

Determined not to allow the dream a victory, he sat up. The cold of the morning sneaked into the room making him tremble, he kept looking at an indeterminate point of the room, forcing himself not to go back to sleep. As a first task, he dressed in a blue slacks and gray tracksuit pants.

Taking care not to make much noise, he left his room, the hallway of his home was in the quiet silence of dawn, after all it was still too early even for his mother to get up. When he reached the kitchen, he took out the refrigerator and drank orange juice until it was satiated. With her mind still blank, she tied the laces of her slippers, took the mp3 from the table and started her way out.

The cold wind of the morning received him as soft but implacable licks on his face, the music soon began to sprout in his ears, giving him the perfect setting to start his morning run. Slowly the sun began to rise on the horizon, illuminating the world with its soft light, in the wind, the scent of another new dawn. He could see, out of the corner of his eye, his neighbor greeting him as he passed by; He raised his hand, returning the greeting, a big smile on his face as he walked down the sidewalk.

He ran, half way, a place in the past came as an intruder to disturb his thoughts. He observed the small set of land in the middle of the river, under the bridge. The water flowed peacefully between the improvised rock road that led to the rustic entrance, which from the outside seemed a direct hole to some well or dark and damp cave, but he knew, it was really the entrance to a cave where ever , had galleries adorned with swords, forge ovens and skulls of unknown creatures. But now, it was just an abandoned cave, where the dust reigned and perhaps no one, no one but him, could suspect that there was ever glory and life.

He pressed his lips in a grimace of nostalgia at the same time that a voice recalled in his head the name of that place, where in the past there would have been so many adventures.

He shook his head in an attempt to decimate those thoughts and that feeling of regret, finding then a renewed energy to continue with his "training."

Upon entering the city park, lungs burned in his chest, each puff resulted in a burning that ate the inside of his chest, the heart beat like a war machine against his ears, almost succeeding in drowning the music, and his hot body by the exercise began to sweat under the diver. The sun was already high in the sky, even with its light without the characteristic power of midday, playing and creating shadows among the treetops, while the morning wind flooded his entire being.

When she decided that she had achieved her goal today, she let herself fall under a tree, enjoying the heat that the sun slowly gave her between the branches, her reddish, damp hair clinging to her forehead as she felt the fire in her lungs. caused ironically by the freshness of the morning. Slowly he recovered, his lungs calming the itching and burning, his heart leaving the galloping trot of his ears and returning to his chest. Then, like a nocturnal walker lurking in the dark, a thought laden with grief hit with all his might against Bill, bringing to the non-mortal but ancient pain, while his voice rumbled in his head with a reality like a curse. which would never be undone.

Five years.

It had been five years since Fangbone, his friend, his "brother in arms" had returned to Craneovania, after the fall and final triumph over Drool they spent a couple of years fighting the numerous cracks that united their worlds and the deadly creatures, barbarians or assassins that appeared every time one opened. However, with the passage of time the cracks each time decreased in number, which, at first they believed was good, but they continued to decrease, then it was rare the occasion when they saw an open crack or even a creature belonging to Craneovania.

When they noticed, Magical Willow and Bear-ax advised Fangbone the idea that it was time to return home.

Obviously, the young barbarian had not been able to refuse to return, leaving Bill and his friends on earth under the vague promise - at least for Bill - that they would never stop being battle brothers.

No one could blame him, of course. Much less Bill. The young hair of fire understood well the decision of his friend. It was obvious that in the end, Fangbone could not avoid choosing Craneovania over the Earth, even though he wanted to believe, at the time, that the earth and he? It was equally important to the young warrior.

But now things were different. Bill was sixteen years old already, and they were halfway through high school. For his luck, it was not necessary to change the institute he attended. There were some new companions and other childhood friends, even so, this time there were no monsters constantly lurking, waiting for the slightest chance to lower their guard to steal the powerful big toe from some dark and poisonous green sorcerer, who I wished that extremity to complete its plan of the dominion of both planets. No, just normal days and relatively calm compared to that time.

And that was good. Bill had been convinced of that. Now he should not worry about not being strong enough, being hit by trolls, taken prisoner by some multi-eyed monster, having to save his brother from barbarous blood to become a "normal" subject for the rest of his days, or fight against his malignant version because of the crash of a cranial promise that he did not even understand why it involved sucking his fingers.

The last memory of Will made his body tremble, remembering himself so evil, damn skilful and without control of his own body, while an entity born of himself handled him like a puppet, where his own voice and opinion He had no place, using it to hurt his best friends.

God, how he hated Will. I did not want to know anything about dyeing her hair in blue, never-never.

He sighed as he concentrated on the music that had been pounding in his ears for several minutes and which he had forgotten as he immersed himself in the thoughts. Likewise, the lyrics of that song did not serve as a relief for his heart, which was frightened by the passage of time, and accustomed to the pain of abandonment. "We are blood brothers"

No more, not for a long time.

With that dark and heavy thought he sat up, he was refusing to let nostalgia overshadow his humor. For all the trolls, he began to look like his mother, worrying about a boy who would be able to kill him or a colossal beast without sweating or hurting himself at least during the process.

At least Fangbone was fine, though not sure, but happy in Craneovania, probably hunting some kind of strange and dangerous creature to claim another trophy, or fighting with other barbarians. Or hunting trolls to make them into soup while devouring quantities of unhealthy rancid meat for any human being, or confronting the Bear-Clan Leader to the point of getting him mad. That image in his head made Bill laugh, at the end of it all, he always hoped that his brother would be fine ... doing whatever he did.

As their spirits had returned, he sat up again, inhaling deeply to get as much air as he could, and starting a new race back to his home, now even more animated.

He had not yet entered his house when the scent so familiar and beloved from the freshly made waffles caused a snarl in his stomach. He entered the house, entering the kitchen and greeting his mother animatedly, who received him with his usual familiar smile while continuing to cook.

"Did you go running again?"

"That's right, today I broke my own record."

"Really? Haha, that's my son! But ... Bill ... "

His mother served the waffles while giving him a scrutinizing look from head to toe.

"You're all sweaty. You'd better take a bath before going to school. "

"I'll do it after eating your delicious waffles."

A laugh of complicity on the part of the woman was the bell that gave permission to the young redhead to begin to devour the delight of spongy dough known as waffles bathed in that sweet brown liquid. After savoring that delicacy cooked by the gods his mother , he went to the top of his house, locking himself in the bathroom and opening the hot water.

The warm torrent cleared away any regret that had accumulated in those few hours of the day, moving away the bad memories and nostalgia at least for the moment, plunging him into a stupor that almost caused him to arrive late to high school.

He entered his room and quickly began to organize everything to leave before the bus arrived. Clean and with backpack on his shoulder, he walked down the steps with speed and said goodbye to his caretaker before leaving the house on the way to the institute.

The school day continued with normal regularity, however for some reason which was unknown to the school in general was somewhat more shocked than usual. For his luck, it was pizza Wednesday and he had been able, this time, to arrive with enough speed to rejoice with the food. He took a bite of the delicious slice of dough covered with cheese when a familiar figure arrived at his table.

"Hello Bill!"

"Hello Patty"

The young woman took a seat in front of him with her tray, little powders of glitter fell from her black hair adorned with sticky glitter. While those years had served to grow both, the Asian girl's love for glitter was as strong as Bill's love of video games, something they could never completely abandon, or wish to do.

"Do you know why the whole school is like this?"

"What? Do you live under a stone? It's the month of the blue moon! "

"The blue moon?"

I would be lying if I said I was prepared for that news, perhaps because of the fact that the last few weeks I was somewhat self-absorbed in completing exams and projects along with their video games, but I had not heard anything about a blue moon, even in News. Even more, he doubted even that the moon was capable of taking such an unusual tone. He raised an eyebrow as he swallowed another piece of pizza, watching Patty, wondering if he would not indigestion when eating glitter that had occasionally fallen over lunch, or if she was already used to it.

"Every few years, an astronomical event happens, I do not remember what happened, but the moon turns into a beautiful blue color! Is not it amazing? There are even some strange rumors "

While he was limiting this, Patty threw a trail of bluish glitter over their heads and Bill did what was necessary to keep it from falling on his pizza, instead covering his reddish hair with the glitter.

"Strange rumors?"

"Yeah, I do not know, some weird magic or something. Were not you the one who knew about that? "

"Yes ... yes ... that was Patty a long time ago."

"Oh! Right ... I'm sorry Bill. I did not want to bother you. Did you not know anything about Fangbone? "

"No, since five years ago. Anyway, how are you going with that glitter? "

They continued having lunch, Patty quickly grasped the perhaps not so subtle request from Bill to change the conversation. However, that subject regarding the blue moon did not stop returning to his mind during the rest of the day.

He found himself reflecting about it in the afternoon, inside the bus, questioning how much truth there would be about those rumors. Bill always believed that the idea of ​​the moon turning blue was just a rumor, or it would be that when it happened in the past he was even more young and distracted as to get to notice something so irrelevant in his childhood. What if they were not just rumors?

Okay, it was okay, it was not like lately strange things were happening to her with increasing regularity. Because, hey, there was nothing strange about waking up to find that your alarm was flying above your head, then falling and hitting you. Or that the pencil you swore you had left on the desk appeared in your hand when you needed it to complete a task. Yup. Nothing strange here.

Well, maybe it was not quite normal. But they could not blame him, after all, Bill firmly believed that all the remnants of his magic had been swallowed by that horrible Drool-balloon creature. What if that event had something to do with, perhaps, his magic as a sorcerer was not completely lost? For some reason, the vague idea of ​​that hope caused his heart to beat aggressively. The rest of the journey back home could not stay still, and was not even able to stop when entering his abode.

"Holamam, I can not speak anymore, I need to contradict!"

He was not even really sure that his strange greeting had been understandable to the woman, however, he did not notice it when he stumbled on the stairs climbed to the second floor and locked himself in his room.

He turned on the lights, breathing hard, looking around in the disaster that was his room. Dammit! Why was it that he had never been given to order before !? The first thing he did was clear the floor, throwing the messy shirts and pants, along with comics and video games away from the road. Then he stopped to think. I was literally looking for an enormous book of sorcery. Even he, no matter how messy he was, could lose him in a place as small as his room.

He had the idea of ​​first looking under his bed for a silly idea, he had to admit, underneath it and frustrated to find only empty pizza boxes and other dirt, a blue glow from outside caught his attention. Hitting his head as he left, he found that the huge book literally floated in front of him, wrapped in a celestial wake of energy.

"AAAAH! Wait, wait- this is fine, yes, of course. It's okay. Now ... if only I could lower it carefully- "

With a frightful rumble, the huge tome fell to the ground, then bowed like a fallen tree and banged against his desk. He cursed as, straining, he incorporated the colossal glossary.

The rest of that day was spent absorbed inside those pages, looking for anything related to the moon or similar astrological events, however, he found in the early morning the fact that there seemed to be nothing useful for him. Frustrated, he sighed and went downstairs, trying to make as little noise as possible; he had skipped dinner for a stupid idea, and now, his stomach roared with ferocity claiming him for food.

He sat in the dark kitchen, only the dim light from the second floor illuminating the place, while he ate the cold leftovers and pondered. After all, it would be difficult to find anything about astronomy considering that Craneovania had in itself three suns, each with a name from some body part. It was not like it was the same for the earth.

...Just a moment.

Opening her eyes wide at her own epiphany, she hit her head, questioning how it had not occurred to her before, then taking a bottle of juice and running upstairs to her room.

What if the reason why he had not found anything in that tome of sorcerers was, precisely, because in Craneovania there were no similar lunar events? That would explain why there was none of that, since no sorcerer would have been exposed to an event as such before.

So what he had to do was look for information pertaining to the earth, surely there would be information about magic, or at least something that would guide him. For his luck, the largest information portal on his planet was a laptop away.

Under the excuse that he had to study, Bill spent the following days of the week until countless hours of the night and the dawn investigating. He found that, to his surprise, there was a huge community of magic on earth, consisting mostly of witches and wiccans, along with other types of sects. Maybe they were not the type of wizards like Magic Willow, since they did not throw cats in a battle against trolls, but it was the closest thing to them and their best route to find out what happened to their powers, and if they could still use them. He even visited the observatory for more scientific information. He had discovered that, in past ages, the blue moon had been considered as an astronomical event where it was believed that there were two full moons in the same month, however, at present it was considered a strange event that occurred every certain number of years, related to the position of the Earth in its orbit with respect to other planets, and that not only altered the tides, but also that it seemed to have a general effect on the environment among humans and even unusual behaviors had been observed by the humans. animals.

On the internet, he found that for many sects it was considered an event of great astronomical convergence and, therefore, of great energy. Many religions in the past would have used that time as a moment for the realization of the most intricate rituals, given the amount of planetary energy that was accumulated in the earth.

With that information, Bill deduced that perhaps that convergence was what was causing the resurgence of his previously extinct powers. And with that information, he went to sleep.

He was trapped, the corridors seemed to close around him as he put more effort into running. He did not feel the fatigue of the effort, as if his body was able to guide him farther than he had ever dreamed. He felt as if his dreams were fighting against the machines inside his head, like adversaries.

Then a strange door, then the light of torches in an old place, malignant and abandoned. He did not even try to stop before the huge monsters that ran to meet him, he knew he was not strong enough to fight them. He raffled them, sliding away from his fearsome claws. With speed he approached a balcony, jumping over it, and abandoning himself to the void with the assurance that he would be safe.

During the fall, before him, a beautiful landscape was rising. Two beautiful moons, bright in the starry sky of a mountainous land and full of life, illuminating the water that waited beneath its fall.

The water was freezing, but he felt more alive than ever. I was free. A voice, a call from someone who was looking for him. He did not know who he was, but he was looking for him, guiding him to the surface.

He raised his hand above his head, swimming toward the light of the moons. Then he could feel it, a strong and warm grip that took him out of the frozen solitude under the water, receiving him in the warmth of a hug.

Bill woke up screaming, babbling some incoherent words. Tears ran hot down her cheeks, and the pressure in her chest did not allow her to breathe. It felt good, and bad. Pain and happiness, both coexisted in his heart, why did he hurt so much? He did not even remember who was calling him off the surface, in the dream.

So why did he feel so bad, as if he had returned with something or someone he had lost?

Instead of denying the tears, he allowed them to run freely, whimpering for that anguish, and for that being who did not know if he had managed to find him in his dreams. There was no point crying for a dream, and he did not care. The overload of emotions was stronger for his sleepy sense of reason, confused and too tired to understand it. When he finally calmed down, he saw on his alarm clock that it was barely 3:30 am. He collapsed on the bed, exhausted and tired, he was not able to understand that before falling asleep again.

Upon awakening, his whole body ached, he felt as if a huge anvil had been thrown over his body, and it took him several minutes to remember why he was awake. I had the feeling that I had not been able to sleep well. Then he managed to remember that perhaps his powers as a sorcerer were back with him.

That was the only reason why he decided to get up that day as soon as he could wake up enough to think coherently, since he had proposed to try again after so many years. That afternoon in his high school there would be an event with food to observe the moon, and therefore, it was the day when more energy would be available. Sleepy, he yawned as he pondered sitting on his bed. If he wanted to get at least one small result before going to school, then he had to think of a word for his spells.

The phrase "bongopepinillo" came to him, but he discarded it with great speed. Even for him it was rather childish, after all, that had been a random phrase at the first moment when he began using his powers. He gazed around the room, hoping that a new idea would come miraculously to him. Then he saw the CD package of one of his favorite movies "Musculoso II"

Okay, maybe "Muscled" was not the best wizard phrase. I knew, however, anything was better than "bongopepinillo". He sat up and opened the volume of the sorcerer in the first pages, he had decided that the first thing he would try to do would be to levitate something light, like a book or something. He inhaled deeply and concentrated on the realization of the spell, unsure of what he hoped to gain from it.

"Very well ... Here we go, muscular!"

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing, the book on his desk stood there motionless, almost laughing at his misfortune.

He tried again, not even the leaves had moved with a breeze.

"Oh, come on!"

However, he was not going to give up so easily. He kept repeating that on several occasions, one less fruitful than the last. When he was about to give up, he tried one more time.

"Muscular!"

Then, as by some higher force, the book began to shine. It was first a bluish tone, almost imperceptible to his gaze, which intensified until it formed an entire halo around it. Then Bill raised his hand slowly, and gradually the book rose above the surface of the desk.

"Do not joke! Amazing!"

In his hullabaloo he almost dropped the book, and as if it were his most precious possession, he kept it floating a few centimeters above the ground.

Its powers. He had powers.

I still had powers !!

Weak, it was true, but they were there, dormant waiting to be used.

"Whojoooo!"

Unable to contain himself anymore, he shouted a shout of pure joy into the air as he leaped energetically. And then the book, which was still under his control, shot out around the room, throwing to the floor several boxes of video games and other belongings, to end up crashing into the head of the redhead, who fell to the floor of his room with a huge noise, growling because of the pain.

The last thing he saw was the roof of the place, illuminated by the morning light, and then he noticed his alarm clock on the night table, marking seven thirty in the morning.

Seven thirty.

... he was late for school.

Profiling an endless number of words that her mother would have reproached, she sat up violently and quickly dressed herself with the first thing she found at hand, cursing herself for becoming so absorbed in her new powers as for forgetting her schedules.

However, that day had been absurdly good. It did not matter if a locker had fallen on him, Bill felt encouraged as in a long time he did not remember doing it. I waited anxiously for a child to come in the afternoon, to conclude classes to go to the school playground, even if it was just to do something as simple as sit and wait for the moon to appear. Nothing could that day take away the hopeful and triumphant smile on her face, even if she got repeated calls for attention from the teacher, as she was with a drowsy and idiotic look in class when she should be paying attention.

He did not care. His powers were back, and that was enough for him.

Finally he was reunited with his companions and friends in the courtyard. The aroma of grilled hamburger meat filled the air, along with the music and the light conversation of the growing group of people. Even the teachers had decided to attend. For several hours I wait with a strange feeling fluttering in his stomach. He was undoubtedly nervous. His cold, sweaty hands trembled with emotion, and he smiled like a fool. What would happen? What if a portal opened? That was not possible, right? And even if it happened, I could not even tell if it was a Craneovania portal.

Even with all these insecurities, he found himself with a great hope that something would happen that night. I could feel it. Even his friends told him that he was even more cheerful than he already was.

The night came closed, and just for that occasion, I had even heard the rumors that they had agreed at the city hall to turn off most of the lights, for a better perception of the show. So the stars slowly came to be seen in the sky, illuminating it as Bill never remembered having appreciated before, only in the observatory. And yet, the white glow that tinted the darkness of the sky seemed even more special than usual, then the young redhead allowed himself to let his heart light up.

The moon appeared.

In the open night sky, the huge platinum star began its ascent through the darkness, which like two deep claws, born from the ocean, dispersed before its arrival.

His heart beat against his chest as if he had run a marathon for several hours. Slowly, the hours passed in the celebration while the moon took its place as the sole ruler of the night. Then it began to be dyed a subtle blue that then ended up engulfing the platinum color, merging with it. The people who had attended were silent, as if consumed by that supernatural beauty. His legs trembled and he might have fallen if it was not because he was leaning against a wooden bench.

The beautiful stele of celestial color was consumed in the center of the moon, and it expanded strongly, decimating itself in the night sky while the star remained of that color, dominating the skies.

Triumphant cries were heard from most of the people, while others took pictures and some others drank.

But Bill just felt cold.

That was all? And if so, then what was he waiting for? Did he think what, that there was going to be a huge portal through which Fangbone might enter, and he would apologize for leaving just like that so long ago? Was that really what he was waiting for, like a damsel waiting for his savior?

His body shuddered, this time not with joy, but with emptiness. He felt a void in his chest that threatened to swallow all light and hope he had imagined, even in the part he would never admit. A lump in his throat threatened to carry the tears and drop them, angry with himself.

She said goodbye to her friends, claiming that her mother would worry if she did not get home soon. It was a lie, he just wanted to walk. Walk and feel alone. Had he really been so naive?

While walking in the cool and deep world of the night, illuminated by those celestial rays, that guided him in the dark. Yes, it was true that his powers were back, but he knew, deep inside, that this was not what he had expected to happen.

He was an idiot.

He was an idiot for waiting for Fangbone to return, or for even hopeful about it. He was an imbecile to be deluded. His life on earth was good, he was sure of that. So, why did he want it back? He was angry at him, angry at leaving him, at choosing Craneovania above all they had lived.Even if a part of him knew well that this was not true, he did not want to think about that. I just wanted to be angry and frustrated.

"Hey boy, where are you going?"

"Leave me alone."

He had not even noticed that a group of boys until he heard their voices, probably older than him, had passed by his side on the way. I had noticed the smell of alcohol and cigarettes coming from them.

"I heard, we're talking to you, you little fool. So you talk to your elders? "

He cursed them inside. He stopped his step, turning to see them in the darkness. There were at least three subjects. Slowly the blood began to pump through his body, the hair on his body bristling at the thought of the threat approaching him.

"M -... look guys, I do not want problems. I do not have the phone on me, I do not have anything of value. Voucher? We do not have to fight "

"Oh? And who was talking about a fight? We just want to talk to you boy. You are very brave to go out alone at night. "

I hated it. The tone of voice, the voice itself of that subject disgusted him. He was angry, angry at those subjects for not leaving him alone, angry at Fangbone for abandoning him so long ago, and not even trying to contact him at any time, angry about always having to run, being the brain and still the weakest in front of others. He could not contain himself when the words sprang from his mouth.

"Then leave me alone, damn it!"

The moment he finished saying that, he regretted it. They did not need any more words, he could see that evil and ruthless tint in the eyes of those subjects. At a speed that his slowed brain could not comprehend, his body had already turned and he was running as fast as he could.

Behind him he heard the screams of his attackers, hunting him as if it were an animal. Inhaling, he ran faster, trying to think of some way to lose sight of them.

He turned into a corridor between buildings and houses, passing by some trash cans and throwing them along the ground. He heard the clang of metal against the ground as he pulled away, throwing behind him anything that worked as an obstacle, yet his attackers kept up the pace. He turned a corner, finding several meters ahead a huge wooden fence in front of him. Dammit!

Seeing no loopholes, he increased the capacity of his impulse and jumped, climbing over some garbage cans and taking a long stride towards a container. He almost lost his balance in the bullfight, mating all his strength to stay on his feet, and propelling himself. He held on to the fence, lifting his hips and his legs danced in the air, falling from the other side with a big bang.

His whole body ached, he was too agitated to repair the damage. Sitting up awkwardly, he continued running until his lungs burned and his legs gave way to exhaustion.

He stopped at the corner of a street, drowning in his own breath. He coughed, inhaling heavily.

"There is no longer where to flee, child."

He turned violently, two of the subjects had been left behind, however, the one that seemed his leader had been able to hunt his trail yet and when he was sure he had run at least ten blocks.

Then he noticed the celestial light that illuminated the dark face of his attacker, and remembered the moon.

Moon. Its powers. I could use them!

But I was barely able to lift a book without causing a disaster ...

Perhaps, what I needed was just to cause a disaster.

He concentrated on his powers, without even really being sure what he wanted to achieve, then concentrated on not killing the man accidentally.

"Come on, come on, you can! You have to do it!"

"Wow ... you're really weird, are not you?"

He could feel what he believed was the magic flowing inside him, like a huge pulse pulsing in his chest, purging out. He concentrated on directing it through his hands.

" MUSCLE! "

A huge torrent of blue energy erupted from his body, heading in the direction of the man. Then a wheel flew out of a nearby car and threw the subject against the asphalt. Bill focused on him, surrounding his entire body with the wake of energy.

Sweat dripped down his face, hitting his hair to his face, the scrapes and blows hurt him and his chest burned with a force that had never felt, at least not since he fought against the monsters of Drool. Suspending him, he moved the subject through the air, who did not stop screaming and insulting to be lowered, and threw it, stopping to strike against a lamppost.

The wake of celestial magic slowly disappeared, the young head of fire fell on one of his knees, although both ached from the previous fall in his unfortunate encounter with the fence.

His attacker remained motionless on the ground, completely knocked out. Bill sighed in relief. When his legs were strong enough to keep him on his feet, he started on his way, he was not far from home.

As he walked the adrenaline began to diminish, and then he could have a notion of the wounds scattered on his body. In general, the damage was not so great. His knees were bleeding from the fall, he had numerous scrapes and bruises, and probably tomorrow parts of his body would ache that he did not know he used when walking ... or breathing. Apart from that, he was fairly well.

Then he remembered why he was angry before. However, that feeling did not last long in his heart, as he soon began to have the growing feeling that he was still being watched. He looked around, there was no one in sight. He stopped to sharpen his hearing, unable to listen to anyone, he came to fear hearing in the distance the voices of the subjects who had tried to rob him, but in truth he did not hear anything.

If he thought about it, confronting them verbally and then running away had not been the best of his plans in a long time. Likewise, even if he had tried to reason, he probably would not have been unharmed without at least one good hit on his face and ribs, so even if it was not the best, he preferred that to being intimidated by a group of imbeciles. And the event with the car wheel was a huge demonstration that his sorcerer's powers were with him, that Drool had not left him empty of magic. Maybe now he could use them like he did not at the time.

But he could not shake the instinct that now, it was someone's new prey, or something.

So consumed was he in his thoughts, lost in thought, that he did not even notice the gentle flow of water under the river that ran beside him, he did not even notice that place so familiar to him. He could not feel it, because at that moment he swore that a shadow had passed close to him.

He turned around, tired of that situation. He would walk across the bridge to get to his house, and if that involved facing another thief or a huge dog or what the damned universe had him, then he would.

Arriving at the stone bridge he walked over it, noticing again that entity that used its agility to stay hidden among the shadows that the faint light of the blue moon did not reach to illuminate. He stopped halfway, closing his fists.

"Alright, I'm fed up! Whoever it is, or whatever, leave me alone! I had a lot for a day fighting with those morons! Just attack me and y- .. "

He did not finish his sentence, since when he turned to finish speaking, holding a sword that shone with softness and sharpness, a huge human figure, illuminated by the bluish light, stood at the other end of the bridge, observing him.

[slothful-rabbit]

You know I really love and agree with this post because it has always been my own personal head canon that Tobirama was autistic. In fact, he is my favorite character out of the whole Naruto series because I had even identified with him so much and that was before I was diagnosed with autism and saw some autistic Tobirama fics!! I mean Tobirama is one of the most underrated characters of the series I feel like. He was such a good chakra senser that he could sense people in the next country, he mastered all elemental types, he was such a master at water that he could literally pull water from the air, he created hundreds of jutsu’s that became some of the most sought after and prized jutsu of the ninja world like the Flying Thunder God, Shadow Clone, the Ressurection Jutsu, etc., and he was one of the greatest seal masters in history, his I.Q. was off the charts, he literally created Konoha’s infrastructure and the Academy, and he dies for the kids he taught and half-raised and I see people saying he was one of the worst Hokage’s and helped create a lot of the problems.

Tobirama is seen as cold, logical, analytical, and emotionless but I do think that is not only the difficulty of autistics being able to express their emotions and socialize “normally” (as per my head canon) but a product of the time he was born in. I mean he was born in a warring era where you were lucky if you reached the double digits age wise and he had to contend with being the second son of one of the most powerful war clans of the time.

Not to mention his brother, who in no way resembled the heir Butsuma wanted, was causing Tobirama to constantly cover for Hashirama. He watched his younger brothers who he loved get slaughtered and still stepped in for Hashirama to take the brunt of his fathers anger. He was but a child and watched as his brothers were killed off one by one and had to stay strong and stoic because Hashirama couldn’t. Hashirama had ended up at the river with Madara as he was grieving while Tobirama, who was younger, was alone with their dick of a dad. Of course, Hashirama was a kid himself so I can’t be too harsh there. Others can say that Hashirma wanted peace and so did Madara while Tobirama was training for revenge. I feel like others forget Tobirama wanted peace too as a kid and couldn’t understand how others couldn’t follow the rules of a peace treaty. (A start of his obsession for rules right there I bet)

People can blame Tobirama for a lot of things but honestly I think any “mistakes” he’s attributed with makes a lot of sense when looking at it from his point of view. I mean you can’t blame Tobirama for the river because what else was he supposed to do? He was a child who was ordered by his strict and scary dad to go and spy on his big brother who was acting weird and gone all the time and what does Tobirama find? His naive, childish, and trusting (compared to others) brother running around and playing with another boy of the same age who is obviously of Uchiha descent from sight if not by chakra sense? I mean, what is Tobirama supposed to think other than his brother is tricked and set up for slaughter, especially after losing his younger brothers so brutally to war and the Uchiha’s? I can’t blame Tobirama for that because if I was in the same position I would’ve reacted the same.

People also say Tobirama is so cold, ruthless, and unfeeling. Honestly, how else do you expect him to turn out? He has a too trusting, childish, and peace-loving older brother in the middle of fucking war time who tries not to kill to the detriment of himself and others, can’t handle the actual bureaucratic running of his clan, and is constantly going on about the heir of their mortal enemy clan as the only hope of peace and trying to convince said heir on the fucking battlefield while fighting him. Tobirama had to be ruthless and pragmatic because his brother couldn’t. Tobirama had to be the one who made the hard choices and did the things his brother couldn’t do for his brother and clans survival. Tobirama couldn’t show mercy to his enemies because they were in war and he had to kill them before they killed him, his family, his friends, the children he taught and loved, the people he grew up with and cared for. Not everyone has the luxury of fighting their ex-best friend who doesn’t want to kill them either. No, in the environment of blood, death, ruthless stone cold killing regardless of age, merciless plundering and slaughter, can you really say you wouldn’t become as cold, merciless, ruthless, and pragmatic as Tobirama who lost everyone but his childish and too trusting older brother? It’s a miracle Tobirama turned out as sane and non-bloodthirsty as he did.

In fact, if you ask my opinion I consider Hashirama the more ruthless and pragmatic of the two when it comes to goals. I know people would consider me crazy and blind because how could sweet peace loving Hashirama be ruthless and pragmatic!? I feel like everyone skips over and completely forgets Hashirama’s speech after he stabbed Madara literally in the back at the Valley of the End. Hashirama explicitly stated that for his ideal version of peace he would kill whoever stood in its way to achieve it. Whether it be his best friend, brother, lover, or even his own children. What kind of man do you have to be to say such a thing with upmost certainty? That you would kill all you hold dear, even your brother, the woman you love, and your children, for your ideal of peace? The minute I saw and heard that is the minute I had chills down my spine and was sick. The very thought of doing such a thing to my loved ones for some ideal of peace that may never be truly realized is something I could not entertain and Hashirama was willing to go through with it. You can argue it was only Madara and that was because Madara attacked with the Kyuubi but I can’t agree. He specifically stated it and said it with promise, with an oath.

You can say all you like about Tobirama being the more cold, unfeeling, ruthless, and pragmatic one and I might have agreed with you before watching that one scene. That scene however was something that gave me a glimpse into Hashirama’s character that most ignored and it stayed with me. It honestly made me never look at Hashirama the same again. Tobirama is the one who values family above peace and that is something I agree and identify with. I am honest and can say that if it came down to between choosing my loved ones over some ideal version of peace that may or may not last then you bet your ass I’m choosing my loved ones over that. I couldn’t kill my loved ones even with a guaranteed promise of peace. In my opinion Tobirama did truly love his brother and others, and was actually the more family orientated of the two.

He also did try in his own way to keep Konoha together and to keep the found peace not only for his brother but so the children didn’t have to fight and die. I feel like many forget that Tobirama was a teacher to multiple kids, one of whom was an Uchiha, and dearly loved teaching the next generation. He loved his kids and fucking died for them. So, I just cannot see Tobirama as an unfeeling, cold, and ruthless asshole who just caused problems.

*takes massive bong rip* y'all….really hate autistic adults don’t you. you talk a big game about autistic headcanons being valid or w/e, but when you see a character that is, albeit unintentionally, autistic coded, you call him mean/abusive/problematic for showing autistic behaviors…….

this is a tobirama post, btw!!!!

like, was tobirama a bad choice for hokage? PROBABLY! hes uncharismatic and seens to like his jutsus more than other people. hes valid! let the man be a reclusive nerd….

did he unintentionally inspire or aid people who did shitty things? sure! however, danzo was the one who did child soldiers- which tobirama was explicitly against, having been one, and tobirama put the uchiha in charge of the police in an attempt to balace power between the two founding clans of konoha, as the senju already had both the hokages

but, tobirama, as the archetypal ‘cool, logical intellectual’ character, is automatically autistic-coded. his lawful good obsession with rules (establishing the standardized shinobi education, creating a military police as well as the anbu covert ops), specific details (getting mad at naruto re: who created what jutsu, titles, etc) is classic autistic behavior, as is;

his general lack of facial expression. he’s always frowning, and almost never outright grins like hashirama. he was even shown to be like this as a child.

his obvious special interest in creating new jutsu; the wiki says he created like, all of the iconic techniques in the show (edo tensei, shadow clones, the hiraishin, others). like, dude, we get it, you like r&d

his seeming lack of emotion. many autistic people have different emotional reactions than neurotypicals, and can have 'innapropriate’ responses to the situation. also, it is well documented that we aren’t good at showing affection, so stop saying he doesn’t like hashirama!

anyway, what im trying to say is maybe go over not only your grasp of exactly what tobirama said and did (ive seen some Wild Misinformation out there folks), but also your feelings about autistic adults who cant pass as 'normal’!!

im turning off anon so say it to my face now y'all