#got possessed during the witching hour and thought about this

[batfamtv]

y’all ever get the nastiest thoughts in ur head like aged!upspider socorro (avatar) x navi!reader size difference? but he’s the smaller one? even if he’s already gigantic at 6 feet he’s still little compared to you because you’re na’vi??? holy shit amirite

when he’s finally between your legs, guiding his cock in your cunt, he slides in and groans, “you’re so tight,” he whispers, skin tingling in pleasure when he feels your hand on his back, big enough to run the entire span of it. when he lays his head, he only reaches up to your tits, so he pinches them, telling you how much he wants to be able to take off his exopack so that he could kiss every inch of your skin.

to give you maximum pleasure, he has to thrust all the way in, balls deep into your pussy so you can feel the entirety of his cock grazing your walls. your legs are almost as big as his entire torso, and seeing your face twist in pleasure, mumbling and begging that you’re so close to cumming, also has him pounding and grinding deep into your cunt. he may not have the body of a na’vi, not yet, and he couldn’t make tsaheylu with you, but knowing that even with the size difference he can still bring you to orgasm, twitching and squirting into his chest (and even splashing on his exopack” has him rutting and blowing his load deep into your cunt. “fuck, so good,” he breathes into your stomach, resting his masked forehead on it, “your pussy’s so good.” he feels your tail wrapped along his leg, and he look up at you, smiling softly. “i wish i could kiss you.”

[fanficapologist]

Of Dragons and Maelstroms: Aemond POV

Themes and Warnings: slow burn, enemies to lovers, blood, violence, explicit language, sexual violence, period-typical misogyny, sexual themes, smut, tension, marriage, jealousy, pregnancy, childbirth, miscarriage, attempted sexual assault, breastfeeding, major character death, divergent timelines

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the House of The Dragon/Fire & Blood/Game of Thrones characters nor do I claim to own them. I do not own any of the images used nor do I claim to own them.

Chapter Eight

“You do not know what you are asking for, but make no mistake, you are asking a great deal.”

Aemond found himself back at Harrenhal mere hours after the ball had ended, seeking solace away from the hustle and bustle of the Red Keep. As the first rays of light filtered through the window, they flickered off his sharp features, casting shadows across his furrowed brow as he leaned his head against his arm, his silver hair falling forward.

In the quiet of the room, Aemond felt the weight of desperation pressing down on him. Time was running out, and with Maera's reputation restored and the allure of the Master of Coin's dowry drawing every nobleman to her side, the Prince knew he needed to act swiftly. He couldn't afford to lose her to another suitor if he was to secure his great destiny.

Alys's penchant for speaking in riddles only served to exacerbate Aemond's frustration. Despite her purported great powers, he found her presence irksome. Her dull, long dark hair and cat-like green eyes got on his nerves, as did the enigmatic smile she always seemed to wear. The fact that he was entertaining these fantastical notions of magic and prophecy grated against his sense of logic and reason. Yet, the overwhelming desire to claim Maera for himself had clouded any semblance of judgment he had left.

"A daughter of a minor House will never be betrothed to a prince, especially during times of war when marriages are needed to secure allies," the Prince proclaimed with an edge of exasperation as he rose from his seat, his movements agitated as he inspected Alys's array of trinkets on the nearby table. “She needs to have something of use to the crown.”

Turning to face the witch, who lounged in her chair beside the hearth, Aemond's gaze bore into hers with intensity. "I don't care how you do it but find a way," he commanded, the tension in the room thickening with each passing moment.

Alys furrowed her brow, her green eyes meeting Aemond's with a piercing intensity. After a moment of contemplation, she broke the silence. "She has an aunt, does she not? In Morne?"

Aemond nodded curtly, acknowledging the mention of Maera's maternal aunt. "Her mother's twin, married to Lord Byron of the Fortress of Fog," he confirmed, his tone clipped with anticipation.

"Lord Byron controls quite a fleet," Alys continued, her voice taking on a thoughtful tone as she retrieved a scroll from her shelves and unfurled it to reveal a world map, laying it on the table beside the Prince. "And while the Lannister fleet is strong, the fleet of Morne possesses superior knowledge of the East Waters, akin to the Velaryon fleet."

The Prince shook his head in disbelief, a furrow deepening on his brow. “Lord and Lady Morne have children. The fortress and the fleet would pass to them,” he stated firmly, his voice edged with incredulity at the suggestion.

Alys merely shrugged in response, a sly smile playing on her lips. “Not if something were to happen to all of them,” she retorted, her tone tinged with an unsettling confidence.

Aemond recoiled slightly, taken aback by the brazenness of her proposal. “You’re talking about erasing an entire House,” he protested, his words heavy with disbelief and moral indignation.

The witch's smile only widened, her gaze unyielding. “I’m talking about securing the fleet to Lady Maera’s dowry in order for her to be your bride,” Alys persisted, her words cutting through the air like a blade. “Or do you not wish the prophecy to come true? For the King of Kings to be born?”

Aemond's eye flashed with frustration and anger, his jaw tensing as he struggled to contain his emotions. “I know, witch!” he snapped, his voice sharp with irritation. He turned away from her, his gaze darting around the room as he grappled with the weight of Alys's proposition. “She will never forgive me. Lady Viserra is the last connection to her mother. She writes to her.”

Alys remained unmoved, her demeanor devoid of any semblance of empathy or remorse. "Her heartache will pass," she declared coldly, her words ringing out with a callous certainty that left Aemond feeling unsettled and conflicted. “You will be King. And she will be your Queen,” the witch reminded him. “Through the binding of a son and daughter the King of Kings will be born, to unite and conquer the world.”

His jaw tensed as he contemplated the ramifications of Alys's plan. While Aemond didn't care about wiping out an entire House, he couldn't ignore the fact that the news would devastate Maera. He remembered her speaking fondly of her Aunt Viserra, the twin of her late mother. Losing her mother at such a young age had already inflicted enough pain on Maera, and the thought of causing her more suffering didn't sit well with him.

However, Aemond couldn't deny the strategic advantage their deaths could bring. Maera would inherit the fleet, a valuable asset for the war effort. This would give Aemond a reason to marry her, fulfilling the prophecy and potentially bringing forth the King of Kings. It was a tough decision. But Aemond also thought about all the years Maera had not been in his life, all the dark and twisted turns fate had led him down. He could not lose her again.

“Just see it done,” Aemond relented through gritted teeth, his frustration evident in the tense set of his jaw and the furrow of his brow.

The witch grinned wickedly, her eyes gleaming with anticipation. “I will need something from you. After all, the Gods need payment for granting you this path.”

“Fine,” Aemond said tersely, dismissing her request with a wave of his hand. “More hair, more blood, whatever, just take it.”

But Alys shook her head slowly, a coy smile playing on her lips. “No, my Prince,” she replied, her voice taking on a sultry tone that sent a shiver down Aemond’s spine. “I need something much, much more valuable.”

As she attempted to brush her finger across his jawline, Aemond reacted instinctively, seizing her wrist firmly to halt the contact. His grip was firm, his violet eye flashing with a mixture of anger and suspicion as he stared into her emerald gaze. “The bloodline will come from your seed, my Prince,” she continued, undeterred by his reaction. “Therefore, that is where we must start. We must join together physically, to enable old magic and the blood of old Valyria to bind together as one.”

Aemond’s grip tightened further, his nails digging into her flesh as he struggled to contain his fury. “You expect me to lie with you?” he spat, his voice laced with contempt. “A witch, a whore?” With a forceful push, he shoved her hand away from him, his gaze burning with indignation and disgust. He could not believe she had the sheer audacity to ask this of him.

Stooping so low to sleep with a whore was one thing, but the potential consequences of this was an entirely different matter- children. Illegitimate children. Bastards. Aemond thought back to all the times his mother received news that another silver-haired babe had been born in a brothel in Flea Bottom. The shame and disappointment that would cloud Queen Alicent’s face was a horrendous sight to behold. There was no way Aemond could let that happen.

And then there was Maera, the woman he would be doing this for. If a child was born from lying with the witch, there would be a high possibility she would never know. However the thought of that ate away at his soul. It would be the ultimate blow to her. To kill her family in order to secure him to his side, and bring a bastard into the world through doing so?

"I will have no bastards running around the Riverlands," Aemond spat, his words laced with venom as he glared at the witch.

Alys met his gaze with equal fervor, her expression hardening as she retorted, "I can have no more children. My last birth damaged my womb, nothing can grow there."

Aemond's resolve remained unshaken, his tone resolute as he declared, "I am not risking it. The answer is no."

Turning away, he moved toward the chair where he had been seated moments before, intent on gathering his belongings and leaving. But Alys's voice cut through the silence, her words dripping with malice. "Very well. I am sure Lady Maera will make a gracious wife to Lord Warren Tully. If he is named Lord Grover’s heir, she will be the Lady of Riverrun. And she will give him many children."

Aemond froze mid-step, his muscles tensing as he processed her words. Memories of the harvest moon ball flooded his mind—the way Maera and Lord Warren exchanged smiles, the subtle blush on her cheeks, the intensity in the Lord’s gaze when he spoke to her. Despite the pain it caused him to even consider Alys’s proposal, the thought of Maera in the arms of another man felt like a stab to Aemond’s stomach.

A cold fury boiled within him as Alys continued to taunt him, her voice like a dagger twisting in his gut. "Then you can return to being the second son, the loyal lapdog of your brother, carrying out his duties with no thanks or rewards to show for it."

Unable to contain his rage any longer, Aemond stormed back across the room, his movements swift and purposeful as he seized Alys by the throat, his grip firm and unyielding. Despite Aemond's firm grip around her throat, Alys remained composed, her defiance unyielding as she continued to provoke him. "You are angry because I speak the truth. It is a hard thing to swallow, isn't it? Reality?"

Aemond's silence only seemed to fuel Alys's audacity, her taunts cutting through the air even as his fingers tightened around her neck. But she met his gaze with a steady smile, undeterred by his fury. "Your time is running out. This is your last chance."

The Prince hesitated, biting his bottom lip in contemplation. Despite his disgust at the idea of sleeping with her, he couldn't deny the power of her foresight. It was thanks to her abilities that Maera's reputation had been restored. Yet the urgency made him feel that he was being backed into a corner, like a trapped animal. He despised the idea of succumbing to Alys's demands, but he couldn't shake the allure of what her plan could offer—a marriage that would lead to glory, perhaps even happiness.

With a dark glower, Aemond released his grip, his expression a storm of conflicting emotions as he grudgingly acquiesced. "Let's get it over with."

He made his way over to Alys's small bed in the corner of the room, feeling the contrast with his own grander accommodations in the Red Keep. As he lay back, Alys climbed atop his lap, straddling him as her hands moving to unbutton his doublet, a sly smile on her face. With a scoff, Aemond shoved her back, refusing to let her touch him more than necessary. He felt a surge of revulsion at the thought of being intimate with her. This was a means to an end and he would not bear himself before her.

Instead he slid his hand down to his dark trousers and unlaced them, releasing his cock and began pumping it quickly to make it hard. His gaze flicked up momentarily to Alys, who watched him with bated breath. The look on her face caused him to recoil, and he tore his gaze away from her, focusing on a distant point in the room. After a moment he looked down, to see that his body had reacted to the stimulation before his head hit the pillow in defeat.

The Prince could hear the rustling of Alys's skirts, and feel the warmth of her hovering about him had him desperately trying to find a way to occupy his mind, focusing on anything but the situation he found himself in. Yet as he felt her move his cock and her slowly slide down on it with a groan, he froze. It was all too similar to his first night in the brothel with Aegon. The seedy atmosphere, the unfamiliar room, the feeling of being trapped underneath someone. It was too much to bear.

He steadied his breathing, knowing if the task was to be completed, for the spell to be cast, he needed to focus. Alys’s gasps filled the air, yet the sound transported him somewhere more pleasant. Aemond vividly pictured Maera's ferocity with the sword, her determined expression, and the intensity of her breath as she faced him in the courtyard for the first time a few moons ago.

He recalled the moment he had pinned her beneath him, forcing her to yield. The flush on her face and the glistening beads of sweat on her forehead were captivating. He remembered how he had sliced her tunic, revealing more of the expanse of her chest, a sight that had stirred something within him.

And then, he remembered the cut he had inflicted upon her, just above her left breast. The image of the blood staining her turquoise tunic and running gracefully across her pale skin remained etched in his memory. Gods, if it had not been for the crowd of onlookers, he would have bent down and ran his tongue across her soft skin, tasting the coppery red liquid with glee. To see her completely submitted to him in that moment stirred something primal within him, and it was a sight he wanted to behold every day until the end of his days.

With a quiet groan, Aemond released his seed, Alys continuing to rock against him until he was completely spent. Once it was done, he shoved Alys aside and rose abruptly from the bed, his demeanor cold and distant as he stuffed his cock back into his trousers and began gathering his belongings.

"You are leaving?" Alys inquired, her tone tinged with curiosity, and slight hurt.

Aemond shot her a disdainful glance, his lip curling in a sneer. "Well, I certainly would not stay," he retorted, his voice dripping with contempt. "I need to bathe before I return to my duties."

As he made his way to the door, Aemond paused, casting one final glance back at Alys sitting on the bed. "This was disgusting and it will never happen again," he spat, his words laden with bitterness. "And you better pray that it will work. My patience has reached its limit." With that, he stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

After a number of days of attending to duties on his idiot older brother’s behalf, Aemond soared through the sky on the back of Vhagar towards Kings Landing, the setting sun painted the horizon in hues of orange and pink, casting a warm glow over the landscape below. Despite the beauty of the scenery, Aemond's thoughts were consumed by the disturbing memory of his encounter with Alys.

The image of Alys climbing atop him, her touch repulsive and unwelcome, made his stomach churn with disgust. He felt a profound sense of regret and shame for allowing himself to be manipulated into such a degrading act. Even as the wind whipped through his hair and the rhythmic beating of Vhagar's wings filled the air, Aemond's thoughts remained troubled. He couldn't rid himself of the unease that lingered, casting a pall over what should have been a serene flight home.

When the dragon began her descent, Aemond's keen eye caught sight of a vivid splash of turquoise atop the sand dunes below. His heart quickened as he recognized the color, knowing it belonged to Maera's distinctive attire. However, his excitement turned to a bitter taste in his mouth as he saw her accompanied by a man, their figures silhouetted against the setting sun. Fuelled by a mixture of curiosity and a rising tide of jealousy, Aemond commanded Vhagar to land behind a cliffside, seeking a vantage point from which he could observe discreetly.

With a powerful beat of her wings, Vhagar gracefully descended, her massive form casting a shadow over the rugged terrain below. As her claws touched down on the sandy ground, Aemond dismounted, his mind racing with questions and uncertainty. As the Prince ducked down towards the ground on his approach, his determination to observe without being seen intensified. The sound of Maera's lively chatter reached his ears, carried by the gentle sea breeze, stirring up conflicting emotions within him.

Peering up, Aemond's gaze fell upon the man accompanying Maera, and a surge of anger coursed through him. It appeared the wretched Tully cunt had used Aemond’s absence to sink his claws even further into Maera, demonstrated by their apparent courting on the shoreline, chaperoned by her newly appointed supposed protector. The sight of them together fueled Aemond's frustration, and he could no longer stand idly by. With a determined stride, he made his way towards them, his anger barely concealed beneath his stoic facade. His tense jaw and piercing stare locked onto Maera's, betraying the tumult of emotions raging within him.

The Lord and Lady stood to acknowledge Aemond's presence, and the Prince couldn't help but notice the irked expressions on their faces. Ignoring the tension, Aemond enjoyed the momentary satisfaction of seeing Lord Warren bow respectfully and Lady Maera curtsy, and decided to play along with the ridiculous charade for a moment.

"It is a beautiful evening to be walking by the sea,” the Prince commented, gazing out to the shoreline momentarily before setting his gaze back onto the couple.

"Indeed,” the Tully Lord concurred eagerly. “Though the night is not half as beautiful as Lady Maera."

Each word the trout spoke grated on Aemond, fueling his frustration as he dug his nails into his palm to suppress his rising anger. Seeing Maera's receptiveness to the compliments only intensified his inner turmoil, causing him to grit his teeth in frustration.

As Aemond's frustration mounted, he found himself not only seething at Lord Warren but also at Lady Maera. Why was she so obstinate in resisting the potential fulfillment of their shared destiny? Though she remained unaware of it, Aemond couldn't help but feel that the Gods should be guiding her towards him, not away.

Eager to disrupt this mummers farce unfolding before him, Aemond began sarcastically divulging information about Lord Warren's courtship of other ladies at court. He could not be seen as the valiant attentive lover that he so obviously was not. Lord Warren was a vile little serpent, like every other ridiculous man who appeared at court and wanted to gain power.

Observing Maera's reaction, Aemond noted the fury in her eyes, yet it wasn't directed at Lord Warren as it should have been. Instead, it was aimed squarely at him. Despite her anger being misdirected, Aemond found himself strangely grateful for the intensity of her emotions. Being the recipient of her fury felt like a peculiar blessing, amplifying his resolve to assert his claim over her.

As Lord Warren stepped forward, matching Aemond toe-to-toe, the Prince stifled a laugh. They were of similar height, but Aemond exuded a quiet confidence in his own prowess. Oh, how he longed for Lord Warren to make the first move so he would have an excuse to gut him like the fish he was, right in front of Maera.

However, fate intervened in an unexpected manner. Suddenly, distant shouts pierced the air, drawing everyone's attention. Out of the sky descended the wild dragon, Ēbrion, its deep blue and black scales glinting in the sunlight as it landed on the beach with a resounding thud.

The beast skulked along the sand towards them, its scales gleaming in the fading light, each step seemed to shake the ground beneath their feet. Its massive form cast a daunting shadow over the four figures below, its wings folded against its back, and its orange eyes fixated on them with an unsettling intensity, glinting with a primal intelligence.

Aemond, feeling an innate urge to move, positioned himself in front of Maera, his stance protective and resolute. His muscles tensed, ready to react to any sudden movement from the dragon, his single violet eye narrowed in focus.

Glancing back at Maera, he observed her reaction closely. Her lips were slightly parted in silent awe, her chest rising and falling with each breath, her green eyes fixed on the gigantic beast hovering above them. Despite the looming danger, there was a curious glint in her eyes, a hint of fascination mixed with a steely resolve.

Aemond attempted to command the dragon, his voice firm but futile against the creature's primal instincts, the beast responded with a low, bone-chilling growl. Its massive form remained imposing, its orange eyes burning with a wild intensity, as if challenging any attempts to control it.

Uncertain of what would happen next, Aemond felt a sudden movement behind him, the sensation of someone reaching for his belt. Whipping around, he saw Maera standing there, a dagger in her hand, her gaze fixed on the dragon with an unexpected calmness. It was a sight that left Aemond, along with Lord Warren and Ser Arryk, utterly astounded.

Maera's demeanor was strikingly composed as she gently shushed the dragon, as one would soothe a restless child. Her actions defied logic and expectation, yet there was an undeniable air of authority in her presence, a quiet confidence that seemed to resonate with the beast. As Aemond watched in awe and admiration, Maera took the dagger to her palm, slicing through it with a swift motion. Blood began to drip onto the sand below, and despite her wince of pain, she remained resolute.

Stepping in front of the Prince, Maera presented her palm to the dragon, her expression determined yet strangely serene. Aemond held his breath, his gaze fixed on the unfolding scene, his heart pounding in his chest. Studying the dragon's response intently, Aemond noted the subtle changes in its demeanor. The beast's pupils dilated, and its tense muscles seemed to relax ever so slightly in response to Maera's soothing efforts.

Ēbrion slowly leaned forward, bridging the gap between them, Aemond watched in amazement as Maera reached out to touch its snout. The dragon seemed to inhale deeply, its nostrils flaring as it took in the scent of her blood. Despite the inherent danger, there was an undeniable sense of trust in the air.

Aemond couldn't help but release a shocked laugh, a mixture of disbelief and awe. His understanding of dragon body language, honed from years of experience with Vhagar and extensive research, confirmed what he was witnessing. The blue dragon was accepting Maera's presence, calmed by her command in a way that was truly extraordinary.

As the beast seemed content and began to depart, his massive form turning gradually, Aemond couldn't help but feel a sense of relief wash over him. The tension in the air began to dissipate as the dragon made his way back towards his cave lair, leaving them behind on the beach.

However, Aemond's attention quickly shifted when he heard Maera let out a shaky exhale. He turned to see her momentarily losing her balance, causing her to step backward. Acting on instinct, Aemond reached out and caught her, his hands gripping her upper arms firmly. In that moment, he offered her support after the harrowing encounter, silently reassuring her with his presence.

She had a faced a dragon head on, yet Ser Arryk and Lord Warren hovered around Maera, fussing over her like she was a fragile creature, causing Aemond to roll his eye in annoyance. The sight of them coddling her as if she couldn't handle herself grated on his nerves. It was ridiculous. Despite the commotion, Maera let out a shaky laugh, her emotions still raw from the encounter with the dragon. Aemond couldn't help but admire her resilience, even in the face of such danger.

Growing tired of Lord Warren’s familiarity with Maera as he cupped her face, Aemond forcefully shoved him aside and stepped closer to her. With a soft touch, he tilted Maera's chin up to inspect her face, concern evident in his one good eye.

After a moment more of shaky laughter, Maera synchronized her breathing with Aemond's, a gesture that helped to calm her nerves. As they settled into a shared rhythm, Aemond couldn't help but feel a sense of connection with her, as if they were in sync not just in their breathing, but in their understanding of each other.

Lost in the depths of her forest green eyes, Aemond felt a silent understanding pass between them. It was an unspoken bond that seemed to transcend words, a connection that he couldn't deny. In that moment, with his finger lingering beneath her chin, Aemond felt as though the Gods were with him, guiding them both towards a path they were meant to follow.

"She's just a bit shaken, but she'll be fine,” the Prince assured the knight and lord.

Lord Warren, however, was far from pleased. His anger flared, and he retorted sharply, emphasizing Maera's wounded hand. "She has a gaping wound on her hand; she needs the Maester to look at it." His words were laced with frustration.

Aemond, his patience wearing thin, responded with equal vehemence. "Maera is tougher than she looks, and she doesn't need a mere trout like you to protect her," he spat out, the tension between the two men palpable, their gazes locked in a silent battle. But Maera intervened, her voice steady as she insisted that Aemond was correct. It was merely shock, and she was fine. She expressed her desire to continue her walk with Lord Warren, her words serving as a diplomatic bridge between the two proud men.

Aemond, in response, repeated the phrase he had spoken to Maera at the ball, coveting it in High Valyrian so Lord Warren could not understand; "Se zaldrīzes se klios gaomagon daor rholagon.” The fish and the dragon do not mix

With a stoic face, Aemond accepted Maera's request for him to leave, acknowledging silently that he had achieved his goal of disrupting her time with Lord Warren, and that was enough satisfaction for him. With a curt nod, he bid them farewell and turned to walk away.

However, as he strolled away, an inexplicable feeling urged him to linger for a moment longer, to observe the couple from a distance. Aemond made his way towards the dragon keepers, using the opportunity to scold them for their lack of control over the massive blue dragon. Yet even as he chastised them, his lilac eye remained fixed on Maera and Lord Warren in the distance, unable to shake off the curiosity and concern that gnawed at him.

The Prince watched as Maera glanced in his direction while Lord Warren conversed with her, a smirk playing on his lips, knowing he had captured her attention. Yet his satisfaction was short-lived as his expression twisted from gleeful to enraged. Maera extended her hand to cup Lord Warren's face, muttering words before boldly pressing a kiss to his lips. Aemond seethed with fury, his fists clenched at his sides as he stormed away from the dragon keepers who were still talking to him.

With swift, purposeful strides, he marched along the beach towards the Red Keep, the sand crunching beneath his boots as his mind raced. He was done being tested by the Gods, by the witch, by Maera, by everybody. It was time for Aemond to once again seize control of his destiny. And the first step would be getting rid of the trout. He needed to go.

Night descended upon the Red Keep, the torches lining the corridors flickering to life, casting dancing shadows that seemed to stretch and sway with the gentle drafts of air. The once bustling halls now grew quiet, the echoes of footsteps fading into the background as the inhabitants of the castle retired to their chambers. In the depths of the Keep, where the shadows clung eagerly to the stone walls, the darkness seemed to deepen. The torchlight struggled to penetrate the gloom, casting eerie silhouettes that lurked in every corner and crevice.

Alone in an alcove, Aemond sat with his back against the cold stone, his fingers absently tracing the intricate patterns of his dagger's hilt. The soft glow of torchlight barely reached him, leaving him enveloped in a cocoon of darkness as he grappled with the tumultuous thoughts swirling in his mind.

The Prince’s one-eyed gaze flicked up as he heard the telltale sound of footsteps echoing through the corridor. His jaw clenched instinctively, anticipating the source of the intrusion. As Lord Warren's figure came into view, striding purposefully down the corridor, Aemond's lip curled with disdain. The ridiculous smile adorning Lord Warren's face only served to deepen Aemond's irritation, his grip tightening on the hilt of his dagger as he realised the Lord was making his way to the Master of Laws’ chambers.

In the dimly lit corridor, Aemond emerged from the shadows, his voice carrying a casual yet pointed tone. "A little late for political visits, do not think, my Lord?"

Lord Warren, with a hint of exasperation, turned to face him, plastering a forced smile on his face. "With a matter such as this, my Prince, I do not think it can wait."

Aemond took a deliberate step closer, his gaze unwavering as he pressed further. "And what matter would that be, hmm?"

Lord Warren chuckled softly, his expression shifting to one of sincerity. "Speaking with her at the ball piqued my interest," he began, his smile growing warmer. "Spending time with her this evening has only made me more sure."

As Lord Warren bid the Prince a respectful nod and made to depart, Aemond halted him with another question, his tone laced with skepticism. "You think yourself worthy of her hand?"

The Tully Lord pivoted back around, meeting Aemond's gaze with a confident demeanor. "Do you, my Prince?" he countered, closing the distance between them until they stood face to face. His smile took on a sly edge. "I only ask because you seem very interested in her."

The Prince’s lips curled into a knowing smile, a facade concealing his true intentions. He refused to give the satisfaction of confirming such a notion to someone so beneath him. The dragon need not concern himself with a the opinion of a mere trout.

“You wish to be Lord of Riverrun, do you not?”

The Tully Lord furrowed his brow, silent for a moment before stating, “I only wish-“

“Spare me,” Aemond waved his hand dismissively, cutting through the man’s excuses like a sword through parchment. He had no interest in hearing platitudes about family, duty or honour; in Aemond’s view, all men of the court were nothing but power-hungry leeches, and Lord Warren was no exception.

During his two weeks away from King's Landing, Aemond was diligent in attending to his duties. Despite the regrettable encounter with Alys, he remained focused on the matters at hand, which were a welcome distraction. At Harrenhal, Aemond had established a miniature council of nobles to assist him in overseeing the war effort. This council served to keep him informed on war plans and to delegate tasks effectively.

Among its members were the sharp Lord Peake, the elderly Lord Vance, and the skeptical Lord Butterwell. It was Lord Butterwell who had just provided Aemond with an important update in regards to House Tully, an update that the Prince could use in this moment.

"I have information to secure Riverrun for you. Information about your cousins and their whereabouts," Aemond declared confidently, a smirk playing at the corners of his lips.

Lord Warren responded with a skeptical smile and a disbelieving laugh. "You do not," he countered, his tone tinged with doubt.

Aemond tilted his head, his gaze steady and unwavering. "You find that so hard to believe?" he questioned. When Lord Warren offered no immediate response, Aemond pressed on. "The crown is at war. We receive information about our enemies much quicker than you do."

There was a brief moment of hesitation in Lord Warren's expression, a flicker of uncertainty crossing his features. After a beat, he relented. "What do you know?" he asked, his voice betraying a hint of curiosity.

Aemond's smile widened, sensing his advantage. With a mockingly playful gesture, he wagged his finger in the air. "Ah-ah. On one condition," he declared, his tone laced with cunning. Lord Warren furrowed his brow, awaiting the stipulation. Aemond's eyes gleamed with satisfaction as he delivered his ultimatum. "Abandon these notions of proposal to Lady Maera. And swear by the Seven that you will leave at first light."

Lord Warren's gaze flickered between the corridor leading to the Master of Laws' room and the path back to his own quarters, as if weighing the potential outcomes of his decisions. A sense of conflict danced across his features, mirrored by the uncertainty in his eyes.

"You want her for yourself," Lord Warren accused, his tone edged with defiance, as he turned his attention back to Aemond.

Aemond responded with a dismissive roll of his eye. "Do we have an understanding, my Lord?" he pressed, his voice firm and resolute.

Lord Warren held Aemond's lilac gaze with his own blue eyes, a silent battle of wills passing between them. After a moment of tense deliberation, the Tully Lord relented, dropping his gaze and nodding in defeat.

"Good," Aemond sneered, a smirk playing at his lips as he cleared his throat. "Your cousins have set up their base near High Heart. There is a weakness of guards on the east side of the camp."

Lord Warren sighed heavily, his shoulders slumping with the weight of his decision, before offering Aemond a respectful nod. With a resigned air, he turned on his heel and began to make his way back to his chambers.

As Lord Warren departed, Aemond couldn't resist one final taunt. "Go now, little trout," he called after him mockingly. "Return home upstream."

With Lord Warren manipulated and Maera's suitors thwarted, Aemond's plan was falling into place. The prophecy was on the verge of realization, and all that remained was to seek the King's approval for a marriage proposal. Maera would soon be his.

Notes: whoooo this took a while to write. It was hard to write, I feel so sorry for our boy. I feel sorry for Maera. I feel sorry for everyone 🤣

Tags: @0eessirk8 @magicseahorse @blue-serendipity @abecerra611 @saltedcaramelpretzel @marvelescvpe @watercolorskyy @shesjustanothergeek @thelastemzy @kckt88

Thank you so much for reading! Comments, feedback, likes, and reblogs are greatly appreciated 🖤

[da-birb-writes-sometimes]

Devilish

A scare during the witching hour turns into something more pleasant than you thought it would.

Character; Trey Clover

Content; Gender-neutral reader, some fear but ends in fluff

Content Warning; Fear/anxiety, swearing

Word Count; 1.6 K

Author's Note; This is for @jade-s-nymph's TWSTober collab! I had a lot of fun writing this, plus this is my first fic/serious work featuring Trey ^v^ Please make sure you support the other writers and artists in this collab as well; and remember to reblog works that you enjoyed!

As a reminder, do not put my work — or others for that matter — into AI as it steals. Link to Masterlist

You woke up, a bit in a daze since you were just deep asleep, but the groggy daze of ‘Why am I awake… nevermind, I’m going back to bed’ quickly left your mind as a strong, acrid, smell filled the air; the smell of something burning. That grogginess quickly morphed into a slowly building and intensifying anxiety, but none of the smoke alarms were going off… you still got up though and turned on all the lights; you wouldn’t be able to rest easy until you found the source of the smell.

Room by room, you turned on the lights, and thankfully you didn’t find anything ablaze. Thinking about it, you didn’t even have anything on that could theoretically start a fire… better safe than sorry.

I mean, like, who wouldn’t wake up and not be freaked out? My brain is practically running around in circles and screaming FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! You thought to yourself, rubbing your eyes. You also knew full well that you wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep after this, the anxious part of your brain making sure that you stayed awake until you either found the source of the smell, or it went away.

You ended your quest of trying to find the smell in the kitchen, but there was no sign of smoke or the ‘fire’ that your brain imagined engulfing all of your earthly possessions. Yet, you didn’t feel relieved, instead, you hunched over your counter and started scrolling through your phone, looking for answers.

‘what smells like burning rubber’ 

You got everything from phantom smells caused by hallucinations, to electrical fires, to skunk. You let out a sigh and massaged your temples. Yeah, I should have seen that coming. Go looking for answers and instead, I have more questions than I began with. 

“Lovely,” you sighed, straightening yourself back up and looking up at the ceiling, “just lovely.”

It was honestly no use trying to go back to sleep now, since you were fully awake. Glancing at the clock, you groaned again; it wasn’t even four in the morning; what kind of sick joke was that? 

You gave your clock the stink eye but started your journey back to your bed, maybe you could start reading that book you’ve been meaning to get into… or you could just scroll mindlessly through social media while nice and comfy under your blankets. But right as you reached the threshold of your room, three knocks sounded out.

You paused and listened. Knock, knock, knock. There they were again, but they weren’t coming from the front door, no. You were half tempted to pull the blinds back from the window, but if there was some creep knocking on your window in the dead of night, you would rather not come across them. So yet again, you went through your place, triple-checking that all the locks were secure. First a fire scare, and now this? Today wasn’t going great, was it?

All of the locks checked out though, everything was good.

Knock. Knock. KNOCK.

A third round of knocking, but this time it was louder, more insistent. And the burning smell was back, and you could taste it from how strong it was. It commanded all of your attention and wasn’t going to be ignored… it was consuming, hungry almost. 

You were back in the kitchen, and thankfully(?) there was no more knocking, it seemed like three sets of three and it was done, but the smell, the smell. It was oppressive, and you started coughing, but despite the all-consuming smell of fire and burning, there was no smoke anywhere to be found; with the smell this thick, you would have been able to feel it. 

You went ahead to turn on the light, but despite you flipping the switch up and down multiple times, the light stayed off. And the rest of the lights just shut off suddenly on your final flip of the light switch, plunging you into darkness, engulfing you in darkness and the smell of burning.

FUCK! You fumbled around for your phone, trying to get the flashlight on.

Knock, knock, knock. The knocking was back, and it was slower and louder than before.

Finally, your phone’s flashlight turned on, and from the darkness, a pair of glowing yellow eyes stared at you, unblinking and looking into you, as if trying to see your very being.

And you? You just stood there, frozen, barely even breathing, since hey THERE WERE GLOWING EYES IN YOUR HOUSE STARING AT YOU? HELLO?! WHAT?!

You tried to move, to even open your mouth so you could make some attempt to either scream in horror, or hiss obscenities at whatever was in your kitchen, but you were frozen. And as you stared back into the glowing eyes, they were getting closer, and changing from a startling, eerie glowing gold, to something more dull and warm; a warm hazel. Despite this change from unnatural to something more human, they still pried into your consciousness, as if looking for something.

Soon, the former-glowing-eyed thing that was lurking in the dark corners of your kitchen stepped into the weak light of your flashlight. By the time he — yes, he — had stepped into the weak cold light, his eyes had stopped glowing. But the smell, the acrid smell of something burning, was stronger than ever, and it was coming from him. Yet, he looked like a polite neighbour who would offer you some sugar if you ran out, but you knew that wasn’t what he was.

He cleared his throat, and fixed his glasses, still keeping eye contact with you which you couldn’t escape. “You summoned me?”

You blinked in surprise at the question. It was out of pocket, but this entire situation was entirely ludicrous when you really thought about it. But the green-haired man just blinked back at you, as if he was just as confused at the current situation as you were. It was almost comical in a sense.

Finally, whatever spell you were under, lifted. “No,” you said, still gauging what he was since human was only the form he was taking on. “No, I really didn’t.” 

He offered you a polite smile, which was unnerving as it was charming; and if you were in a completely different situation, it would have you feeling at ease. The hairs on the back of your neck stood at end though, and your brain screamed DANGER! DANGER! RUN AWAY!

“You did though,” he chuckled softly, scratching the back of his neck. “Don’t you remember? At the bakery?”

The bakery? … all you had gotten at the bakery was some sugar, flour, and some lemon squares. And you would have remembered him if you saw him at the bakery; since green hair wasn’t natural, yet it looked like it was for him.

You shook your head, “All I got was some supplies and lemon bars. I didn’t ‘summon’ you. And what do you mean by ‘summon’? Who are you? What are you? How did you even get in my house?”

He pursed his lips and looked at you pensively. “Must have been a mix-up then… you don’t seem like the type to summon…” He let out a deep sigh, and adjusted his glasses — apparently, both of you were not happy with your current situations. Also, you didn’t know if you should have been offended or not at that statement. “Can I see what you got?”

You nodded, bringing out the flour and sugar, which, judging by his lack of reaction other than saying, “That’s a good deal for that,” was not the reason why he just spawned in your house. But then you showed him the half-eaten container of lemon bars, with three still left over.

“Ah, looks like there was a mix-up,” he chuckled. He turned back to you, with your citrus confectionaries in hand. “These are demon bars, not lemon bars. Eating them summons, well, a demon.”

A demon… A DEMON?! You balked at him, looking from the traitorous sweets to his bashful smile. And no wonder they tasted devilishly sweet… You knew it was bad going shopping on an empty stomach, and now you were dealing with the consequences.

“No offence, but uhhhh, how do I… send you back?” You were going to say ‘get rid of you’ but you didn’t want to offend the guy; he seemed polite enough, but you also didn’t want to test your luck either. “And what do I call you? Since I don’t want to just call you ‘demon’?”

The demon brought his hand to his chin and looked at you. 

Man, his eyes are pretty when they aren’t glowing in the dark— WHAT AM I THINKING?! GET A GRIP OF YOURSELF! You dug your fingernails into your palm to stop your wandering, and sleep-deprived, thoughts from skipping merely down a rose-tinted road.

He looked at the ‘lemon’ bars (apparently it wasn’t just a fancy cursive L then) and looked back up to you. “Trey, you can call me Trey.” 

Like a serving tray? Or three in Spanish?

“As for sending me back? Well, you didn’t know they were actually contracts, so I think if we make three more of those bars you should be good.” He nodded at the end.

Your night had taken multiple turns; from you thinking your house was aflame, to being scared half to death by Trey in your kitchen, to now making demonic-infused lemon bars in your kitchen at four in the morning… at least you made it out with your soul intact with the whole experience only costing you some ingredients, which you could always get more of… and maybe you even made a friend in the process?

...

...

Tags; @afunkyfreshblog, @azulashengrottospiano, @eynnwwyjth, @ithseem, @krenenbaker, @lucid-stories, @savanaclaw1996, @twistwonderlanddevotee, @xxoomiii

[aphroditelovesu]

Can you do Scarlet Witch!Reader x Dark!Morpheus headcanons please? I’m really curious how he would go about forcing the reader to stay by his side compared to human reader! Like is it even possible? How low would he go?

❝⌛— lady l: I didn't plan on writing this but after reading your request I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like, so… Here it is! I confess that I don't know if it was really good but I hope you still like it, anon. Seriously, now I'm wanting to write a short yandere!Morpheus oneshot with Scarlet Witch!Reader… What i'm going to do now?

❝⌛ tw: obsessive and possessive behavior, stalking, implied non-con, mention of torture during sleep and curses.

❝⌛ pairing: yandere!morpheus/dream of the endless x scarlet witch!reader

First, we have to ascertain the chances of Morpheus going to the point of madness from his obsession, even more so with her being a Scarlet Witch. Given the fact that Dream is already canonically obsessive, he as a yandere is even more intense, his emotions are more twisted and stronger than before. He doesn't understand why he feels that way or why he's so desperate for the reader, but he is and the King of Dreams won't give up until he has you on his side. Morpheus doesn't care if you're not human, although he'd rather you were because that would make things easier for him, but either way, he won't give up on his obsession or the love he thinks he has for you. You will be his, whether willingly or by force, but you will be his and his alone.

Morpheus is an Endless, a being older than the gods themselves, he is billions of years old and has some failed romantic experiences and it was those failures that made him who he is. Honestly, he couldn't imagine falling in love again let alone the way he felt about you. He always knew about beings like you, but never cared, however after accidentally meeting you, a Scarlet Witch, he ended up falling in love faster than he wanted to admit. At first, Dream tried to ignore those feelings and focus on other things, but you kept coming back to his mind. He couldn't get you out of his head and he didn't understand why.

Once Morpheus became aware of his feelings for you he would try to fight it, ignoring the growing and burning desire for you as best he could, but unfortunately he couldn't do it for much longer. Every hour, every minute of the day, you were all he could think about. Morpheus thought that this was Desire's silly prank or that you had cast some kind of spell on him, but soon came to the conclusion that it was neither. He decided not to do anything, at least for the time being, he contented himself with watching you from the Dreaming, caring and closely observing his dreams. Dream was content with that, at least for a while, but when his desire and his obsession got the better of him, he would have to do something. And he would.

He would be none the less subtle in his approach to you and without further ado, Morpheus will tell you that he is in love with you and wants you to be with him. Forever. At that moment, you have two life-changing choices that will lead in the same direction, but one choice being harder than the other, accept him or deny him. You were confused by the sudden confession, you and Morpheus had seen each other before but it was briefly and you just exchanged a few quick words without thinking too much, so why all of a sudden? None of that made sense, so you rejected him. You said no, you rejected him, and that was your biggest regret. You should have known better, Morpheus doesn't take rejections very well.

Once the words of rejection come out of your mouth, Morpheus will freeze as if he's been stabbed, before his lip trembles and a wistful ''no'' falls from his lips, while his eyes filled with pure madness never cease to face you. You were alarmed by the expression of madness on the Dream King's face and even more so when he uttered a hateful no, at that very moment you realized the terrible mistake you had just committed. However, you wouldn't give in that easily, if you ever would. You don't belong to him or any other person or being, you are free to do what you want and it won't be an Endless that will take away your right to life choice. Well, that's what you thought.

If you agree to keep him, Morpheus will be nothing but the most generous lover you could wish for. He will pamper you and fulfill all your darkest desires, you will be covered in adornments from head to toe. He would love and idolize every inch of your body, his eyes will be filled with nothing but pure desire and love when looking at you. He will be merciful to you and will try his best to take care of you in whatever way he can. He hates it when you use your powers for the benefit of others. Don't you think you're too good to people who don't deserve your kindness? Morpheus will not try to restrict the use of your powers but will be wary of your surroundings with this.

But what if you reject it? Let's just say this won't end well for you. Morpheus knows that it will be more difficult to force you to stay with him because of what you are and what you are capable of. He is well aware of the extent of your powers and how dangerous you can be but he still won't let you beat him. And honestly, why should he? He's an Endless and he's more powerful than ever but he can't help but feel sulky around you. Listen to me, he will never leave you alone and he will be persistent in wanting you with him, no matter what you do, you can run from him all you want and he will always be after you. Morpheus knows how to be patient and will learn everything he can use against you, your power source and your weaknesses just so he can catch you in the end.

You can even shape reality or alter it, but Morpheus will hardly be affected by it. He is not immune to magic but will be more difficult to deal with after being trapped by Roderick Burgess. You can use all of your power against him and he still won't leave you alone. Morpheus will probably wear you out because, in a desperate attempt to keep him at bay, you've exhausted yourself and reached your limit and he managed to catch you. Or there is also the possibility that, when you sleep, he traps you in your dreams. The time you are most vulnerable to him is during your sleep and he will use that against you. Morpheus will likely give you Eternal Sleep until you finally accept him, and only then will you be released from your own torment. And even if you don't, he can always invade your dreams and stay with you while he takes care of your sleeping body. No matter what you are, Morpheus will never leave you alone.

The point is, Morpheus will go way too low to have you for him. Human, goddess or Scarlet Witch... You will still be his, he has no morals when it comes to you and will go as low as possible for you to be his. He'd rather you were a human because you're easier to deal with but you'll still be his. No matter how long it takes for him to get you, he will know how to wait for the right moment. Maybe he'll find a way to remove your powers or he'll just curse you to sleep forever and he'll still have you. He will always manage to have you, now you just have to accept that there is no way to escape him. Even though you are an extremely powerful being, he will find a way to beat you. He always does.

''I di not want to have to do this but you left me no choice. I give you the gift of Eternal Sleep. Where you will only be released after accepting our involvement, but don't worry, I will keep you company and take good care of you.''

[multifandomfix]

What She Doesn’t Know — Fiona Goode

Summary: You're Fiona's dirty little secret. However, Cordelia has feelings for you and when Fiona finds out, she decides she has to do something about it.

Word Count: 1,514

Warnings: Jealousy, possessiveness, fingering, unrequited Cordelia x Reader, Fiona is toxic af but we love her for it, skews slightly towards a fem!reader

At first, it was just sex. That’s all Fiona wanted, and you were all too happy to oblige. Her only rule was that no one could know about what went on between the two of you in the wee hours of the night. So, you were her dirty little secret. Fine. It almost made it all just a little bit hotter.

In the daylight, you went about your studies as usual, doing adequately enough in your attempts to master every aspect of a witch's power. You were neither excelling nor falling behind. Everything was running smoothly in your life. At least, that’s what you’d thought.

Despite your only slightly better than average capabilities, Cordelia began to take a special interest in tutoring you privately. You didn’t need her to, and you certainly didn’t ask. You figured she probably did this for several of the young witches here at Miss Robichaux’s, so why shouldn’t you take advantage of it?

The tutoring sessions did help you to improve faster, gaining a more considerable lead on the others in terms of both skills and your mastery of them. Cordelia seemed pleased to watch you excel and become one of her most promising students in years.

Yet the shared smiles and the extra attention she paid you went directly over your head. Sure, you may have a more natural aptitude for witchcraft than some of the other girls, but Cordelia's interest in your improvement was not purely professional. She was fond of you, even so far as to have a crush, though she deemed that particular term rather ill fitting and almost childish. Yet that’s what it was; a crush, whether she admitted it or not.

While Fiona didn’t often participate in teaching the students much of anything except how to keep out of her way, she did pass through often enough to catch on to her daughter's irritating way of singling you out. She’d seen you in her office more times than she cared to count, and she didn’t like it. For a while, she just shrugged it off. It wasn’t her problem what you did and with who. At least it wasn’t her problem until Cordelia started closing her office door.

Fiona had a habit of appearing where she wasn’t wanted and popping into Cordelia's office when she was sure her daughter wasn’t alone revealed to her more times than not, that it was you she was sharing that time with. Still, Fiona shouldn’t care right? She was more than clear on what you should expect out of being with her, and yet since it was Cordelia after your affection, it didn’t set well with her.

Nothing untoward had ever occurred between you and Cordelia. She wasn’t the type to push her feelings on you. She simply got to know you during the times you’d come to her office. She’d help you with your magic, talk, and wait to see what happened. You were bonding, that much she was sure of, but if you had any feelings for her, you hadn’t let on.

It was your adoration of Fiona that stopped you even noticing that Cordelia was trying to get you to warm up to her. You were painfully aware of Fiona's take on the matter of your feelings, but you couldn’t shove down your attraction to her and the desire to be close to her. So yes, maybe you continued seeing Fiona on her terms as a way to keep her in your life, but Fiona didn’t have to know that.

Late one Friday night, as you lay back on Fiona's bed, partially covered by Fiona's expensive choice in crisp white sheets, she surprised you. "I want you to come to me for your lessons from now on," she said into the darkness. She hadn’t even turned to you, you realized, as your eyes drifted over to her laying beside you, the soft moonlight coming through the window outlining the silhouette of her face still looking up towards the ceiling.

"Okay," you agreed, perhaps too readily, but she didn’t question you on it.

Within the week, she already had you drifting away from Cordelia, leaving her poor daughter confused and —dare she say— upset for not seeing you as often. You were much more content with Fiona as your teacher. The ease with which you understood one another served you both well. Fiona never saw herself as much of a mentor, but with you it came to her quite naturally. And lessons would often fade away into drinks, conversation and inevitably, sex.

Another night, nearly two weeks into having Fiona as your personal mentor, in your post coital bliss, she surprised you again. It seemed she was making a habit of this. "She loves you, you know."

"Who?"

"My darling daughter," Fiona remarked, though no love came along with those words.

You shook your head in disbelief. "No. She doesn’t—"

But Fiona headed off your protest with yet another shock to your system. "You're mine. Understand?" A reflexive shiver ran through you body, and your mouth went dry as you tried to choke out a response. Fiona turned to you, propping herself up on an elbow. "Was I somehow not clear?"

"Yours. I—I’m yours," you finally managed. The smile Fiona gave you after you said those words made you want to kiss her so bad that your whole body seemed to ache for it. But Fiona didn’t let you kiss her, not really, not properly, so you bit your tongue to quell the urge.

In the following days, Fiona became progressively more possessive of you. You’d spend most of your time away from the other witches, taking all your training from Fiona. She’d almost flaunt you around Cordelia, despite your relationship —or whatever it was— still being a secret from her and everyone else. You could see the jealousy start to bubble from within Cordelia that Fiona had taken you right out from under her. The fact that you had no relationship outside of being student and mentor meant that she didn’t have the power to say anything to Fiona about it. You were still being taught, and by the supreme no less, so if she were to complain, she’d have to out her feelings for you in the process.

It all seemed like a game to Fiona, but you were falling more and more in love with her by the day. All she wanted was to frustrate Cordelia, lord her power over her and take away the one thing she loved. You. You were but her all too willing victim in this, and you were in too deep to stop. No matter how little Fiona gave, you took it.

You didn’t want to hurt Cordelia. She was nice, and you thought for a while you’d been on your way to becoming friends. All that stopped the moment Fiona told you that her daughter had been harboring feelings for you. Now you were but a toy for Fiona to dangle above Cordelia's head until she finally snapped, and Fiona knew exactly how she was going to sever that final thread that held Cordelia's composure together.

Under cover of night you slipped into Fiona's room and soon found yourself in her bed yet again. She wore a short black negligee and nothing else as you soon found out when she lowered herself onto your thigh. You were naked under her, and it wasn’t long until you were fully lost to the sensation of Fiona's fingers filling you. So much so that you failed to hear Fiona's bedroom door creak open. It was an intentional use of her power, cracking the door open just as Cordelia would be taking her usual route past her room on her way up to bed. "Say my name," Fiona whispered in your ear. Her breath was hot on your neck as she placed a kiss there causing you to squirm underneath her.

"Fiona," you breathed.

"Louder. Like you mean it," she amended. If you timed this just right, Cordelia would be right outside the door to hear you, and see you come apart at her hand, just the way she wanted it.

"Fiona," you cried, as she curled her fingers inward. She knew your body well enough by now to practically get you to come on command. The moment was upon you now. Cordelia's light footsteps had paused as she reached the top of the stairs. Time for Fiona to make her final move. The orgasm Fiona had brought about in you overwhelmed your senses, and you’d almost forgotten her instructions. "I love you, Fiona." The words poured from your mouth before you had a clear enough mind to stop them.

Cordelia's glance through the door was only noticed by Fiona, who knew enough to look for it as she passed. You were still trembling beneath Fiona as Cordelia's eyes filled with tears. Fiona had taken everything from her, but she never knew that you weren’t even hers to start with. You’d always belonged to Fiona and you always would.

For anon

Forever Tag: @baubeautyandthegeek, @ghostsunderstoodmysoul, @icetown587, @immyowndefender, @valencethefriendlychangeling, @crimsonwidow666, @rebelbossheart, @thedailyspiritualist

Fiona Goode: @iticaboopsyou, @brienneseveruscalaway, @derry-n, @bluenystic, @peggycarter-steverogers, @mars-rivers, @gothtrash6969, @jona-lea, @callsigncrash, @words-of-holly, @somelonelywriter

[thisgirlnamedblusy]

"Hyde" your feelings, part 4

Pairing: Marilyn Thornhill/Laurel Gates x Fem Student! Reader

Warnings: Smut, Hyde things, strong language, dark themes

Word count: 3,143

Summary: Laurel was discovered by Wednesday, and she needs your help to take her to the crypt.

N/A: People asked me to continue this series. You can read the previous chapters here: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Sorry about the language mistakes. Tomorrow I'll post a different One shot. Tell me if you want this series to continue.

The situation had taken an overly dramatic turn. Apparently Wednesday had discovered you, and Laurel too. You received orders to wait for her at the train station, and kidnap her. She never showed up. After spending almost 2 hours waiting, you received a call from your mistress, telling you to go immediately to Nevermore. Upon arriving there, you ran to the conservatory, to find Laurel holding a shovel, in front of two bodies on the ground. One was Principal Weems, and the other was Wednesday.

“(Y/N), you've finally arrived,” she told you, smiling at you, approaching you.

You stayed still to receive a quick kiss from your mistress and lover. Without her glasses, her gaze seemed even darker, as if she were a different person entirely. You didn't care at all. You liked any facet of her.

“It's been a disaster. The little brat has discovered me, and she has brought Larissa to make me confess.” she explained to you, looking at the two figures on the ground.

“Has she made you confess?” You asked timidly, evaluating the state they were in.

“Yes, Weems has pretended to be you,” she said, gently tapping the director's body with her foot. You widened your eyes in surprise.

“She discovered herself when I leaned in to kiss her. That damn witch, she didn't know how to make me kiss her, huh?” she said mischievously.

You looked at Weems, motionless on the ground. You swallowed, wondering to yourself if she was still alive.

“Oh, my girl, do you want to know if I killed her?” Laurel asked, reading your mind, as always. You nodded, not sure if you really wanted to know. “No honey, she's not dead, yet.”

You sighed with relief upon learning that fact. It had always been you who had done her dirty work. Imagining your mistress killing caused you a certain disturbance, as if your Hyde nature chastised you for serving your mistress properly. A snap in front of your eyes snapped you out of your thoughts.

“Don't just stand there. Take the brat and let's go to the crypt.”

It was a simple command, so your body just moved again. Turning her over, you discovered a bleeding wound on her head. It didn't take you long to relate concepts: shovel, head, wound. You swallowed hard and picked her up, getting up, leaving the unconscious principal behind. You weren't a monster, at least not completely. During the last months you had strengthened a strong bond of friendship with that girl, you even got to kiss her after that movie. When she discovered your secret the day after, she ran off, and she even tried to torture you to get information out of you. You didn't say anything, not even under her threats. You could never give Laurel away, disappoint her. It was physically and biologically impossible for you.

But she had been your friend after all, a good friend, even more. Seeing her unconscious, injured, wasn't exactly comfortable for you. Laurel seemed to take notice of your state of mind. And she came closer with a firm step.

“What are you thinking about, (Y/N)?” She asked you, looking at the young woman in your arms. “Do you feel sorry for your little girlfriend?”

You knew she was possessive, very possessive, and dangerously jealous, especially after that movie night in the crypt.

You shook your head, not making eye contact with your mistress.

“How can you keep lying to me after everything I've done for you?” Her words were sharp. Time was playing against her, and that was bad for her character, very bad for her.

“I…I…” you stammered. “It's not what you think… She… She was my friend.”

“Your friend, (Y/N)? She was never your friend, you little idiot. She is like all the outcasts. She is scum. Don't you remember that it was her father who ended the life of my dear brother? That they are the culprit of my entire family death?”

“Yes”

You knew the real story, what really happened. Garrett Gates accidentally poisoned himself, trying to kill everyone living at Nevermore, on the orders of his father. But you didn't want to contradict your mistress, you didn't dare even try.

“Well, stop complaining and let's go to the car, we don't have time to lose,” she said, pointing to the door.

The journey to the crypt was silent. You held the brunette in your arms, who didn't seem to want to wake up. But she at least she was breathing.

“Here, (Y/N), hang her on that hook there,” she ordered, paying no attention to you. You obeyed without wasting time, leaving the young woman hanging from there. You looked at her for a moment and took a few steps back.

“Very well, (Y/N), now come here, mommy wants to talk to you,” she told you, making a gesture with her hand.

As if you were a robot, you walked towards your mistress almost without blinking.

“That's it, my love,” she said, caressing your cheek. You stood still in front of her, not moving a muscle. She didn't like your passivity, her face told you so.

“Aren't you going to give me even a kiss, (Y/N)?” She asked, humming. You leaned in a bit, not quite sure. She hadn't given you an order, that's why you hesitated. Laurel was to you almost like a goddess. If you weren't a Hyde, you would too.

Shyly you put your lips on hers. In the middle of the kiss, you felt how her lips curved into a satisfied smile. You wanted to continue, but Laurel put a hand on your chest to stop you.

“Enough. We have to talk,” she said, hardening her tone. You emitted a small groan of helplessness. “My plan is about to be carried out, everything is already prepared. You did a great job, (Y/N). Without you none of this would be possible.” She took a syringe out of her pocket and showed it to you. You instantly recognized the liquid it contained. It was the one in the jar that she showed you the day before in the conservatory, the one she said would free you from slavery.

You watched it cautiously. Although she had convinced you that night, the small shadow of suspicion was still hidden deep inside you.

A sound of shaking chains interrupted what would be your death, or your rebirth. Wednesday had awoken, and was moving awkwardly, struggling against her restraints.

Laurel put the syringe out of the way, pulling you out of your thoughts, and nodded toward Wednesday, signaling you to come over to her.

You did so reluctantly, standing right in front of the young woman, who was fighting her own eyelids.

“(Y/N),” she said when she seemed to regain some consciousness. Her look was furious, cold, but not like it used to be, it was actually cold.

“I'm sorry, Wednesday,” you said, keeping an impartial look, which was the one that really showed your deep and true feelings.

“Of course my first kiss would be to a dangerous murderer, I couldn't ask for less,” she hissed at you.

Laurel seemed busy moving some jars around the black sarcophagus, and she wasn't paying attention to your conversation.

“You never felt anything for me, right?” She asked. You could almost sense a subtle tone of spite in her words. Laurel heard that, and she quickly stopped what she was doing to look up at you, crossing her arms.

“No.” You answered sincerely, bowing your head. Laurel walked over, very interested in the conversation.

“Of course, all your love is only for your mistress…” She said narrowing her eyes. You didn't answer. Laurel smiled wickedly.

"Of course I do." The redhead finally said, challenging Wednesday. -Isn't that true, (Y/N)?

You nodded, keeping your gaze cool. Laurel moved behind you, grabbing  your waist and resting her chin on your shoulder. The chains shook again, this time more furiously.

“She doesn't love you, (Y/N), she's just using you,” she told you in a grim way.

Laurel laughed into your shoulder and kissed your neck. You didn't move, you just let yourself to be done, closing your eyes.

“(Y/N) would do anything for me,” she hissed.

“Of course, a Hyde owes allegiance to its master. But don't fool yourself, (Y/N), she just takes advantage of you. When she no longer needs you, she will kill you.”

“That's not true,” you said, shaking your head.

“Of course it's not true, honey. Don't pay attention to this brat, she's probably jealous that you prefer me,” she whispered to you, brushing aside a lock of your hair.

Wednesday looked at you with a look that you couldn't decipher and then she looked at your mistress.

“You are disgusting,” Wednesday told her with a dark voice.

Laurel moved away from you and went to the brunette, roughly grabbing her jacket.

“Shut your fucking mouth. You are not in a position to speak to me in that tone,” she said, releasing you when she finished the sentence.

“(Y/N).” The brunette turned to you again. “I've been reading about the Hydes. You are totally at her mercy. You will believe anything she tells you.”

“I'm sorry, but I love her,” you said and back off a bit.

“She doesn't feel the same.” Wednesday answered you.

“That's enough.” Laurel caught up Wednesday by her jacket and looked at you.

“(Y/N), go over there and sit down,” she ordered, pointing to a small stool in front of the sarcophagus.

“Yes, (Y/N), listen to your mistress, be a good Hyde,” the brunette told you, dragging her words.

You obeyed and stared at Laurel and Wednesday. They were talking, but you couldn't hear what they were saying. At one point, Laurel seemed to plunge something into the brunette's neck, causing her to fall unconscious again. The redhead looked at you.

“Come here,” she ordered, dryly.

You got up and went there.

“Get her down from there, she's not a danger to anyone now,” she told you, crossing her arms.

You picked up Wednesday and pulled her off that hook, picking her up on your arms again.

"Leave her there," she told you, pointing to the floor of the crypt.

You nodded and left the young woman on the floor, leaning against a wall. You looked at her carefully, looking for signs of life.

“The blood moon is still missing, I've only put her to sleep,” Laurel said with a nervous voice. “You're starting to wear out my patience, (Y/N).”

You looked at her, scared. You had no idea what you could have done now to upset your mistress this time.

“What, what have I done now?” You asked.

“You've been worried about that brat all night,” she told you. Her tone did not bode well. “Did you lie when you told me that you only loved me?”

“No, I wasn't lying, I only love you,” you said.

“I don't believe you, (Y/N).”

You shook your head. Laurel was extremely possessive. Any feeling of weakness for someone other than her would be understood as a betrayal.

“Tell me, (Y/N), what has she done to you? Did she do the same things to you as I do?” She asked, pretending to feel hurt.

“No, I haven't done anything with her, I’m telling you the truth,” you said, trying to finish that conversation.

“Why are you so worried about her?” she asked, gripping your chin in a firmly way.

“I'm just nervous, someone could discover us and…” You whispered, looking around her.

“No one is going to discover us, (Y/N). Come on, honey, relax. You're here with me, and nothing will happen to you.” Her tone softened, as she pulled you into a comforting hug.

You clung to her, in a pathetically desperate way. You were very scared by everything that was happening, and everything that was going to happen. You didn't want to tell her that Wednesday was your best friend again, and that you didn't want the young Addams to suffer.

“Shh, my girl, everything will end soon and we can live happily together,” she whispered to you, swaying next to you. “Come here, honey, mommy is going to relax you a bit,” she said, grabbing your wrist and leading you to the middle of the room.

She sat you on the ground and crouched down in front of you, kissing you tenderly. Those kisses completely overrode your will, and you knew it had nothing to do with your inner monster. Your heart began to pound and you timidly opened your eyes to look at your unconscious friend on the ground. It wasn't the most comfortable situation for you.

Laurel gently pushed you until your back was on the ground. Once lying down, the redhead climbed on top of you, continuing to kiss you.

“What a good girl you are. You’re so worried about that stupid brat. I can't imagine a better Hyde. I've been so lucky with you…”she said between gasps, unbuttoning your shirt.

“Do you love me?” You asked. Wednesday's comments fed the doubts you had buried deep in the back of your thoughts.

Laurel stopped and straightened her back, looking at you with dark eyes.

“Are you still doubting about me?" she asked, running a hand over your chest. “After all we've been through?” After I spent hours making the compound that can set you free? Is this how you thank me? Doubting of me?” Her tone was childish and perverse in equal measure.

You shook your head, raising your arms to touch her. She pushed them away violently.

“Poor silly girl. Doubting the person who loves her the most in this world. Maybe you don't deserve to be released, nor to live with me,” she said, caressing your leg.

“No, please. I love you. I promise I will never doubt you again. Please, I need you…” you gasped, noticing her hand caressing your crotch over the fabric of your pants.

“Do You need me? Do you need mommy to show you how much she loves you?” she asked, unbuttoning your pants.

You nodded, feeling a tear run down your cheek. Laurel smiled sinisterly, leaning back toward you.

“I like it that way…” She sighed, putting her hand inside the fabric.

You decided not to think about it anymore and let yourself go. Maybe you needed to relax a bit. With a couple of quick movements, both your pants and your underwear disappeared. The redhead's hand caressed you in a very intense way, causing cramps throughout your body.

“Anyone would say that I don't take care of you, you're so wet,” she gasped in your ear, slowly introducing her fingers into you.

The circumstances you were in were weird to you. Not even having an unconscious Wednesday within walking distance prevented you from enjoying her movements. Your moans began to fill that sinister crypt.

“That's it… relax my girl, let mommy take care of you…” She whispered, increasing her pace.

It was amazing to you how Laurel managed to make your worries disappear. For a moment you thought about rejecting the injection and following her orders forever, fearing that once your Hyde instincts were blocked, you wouldn't feel the same sensations that her caresses and her way of making love to you caused in your body.

“I, I think, I think I'm going to…” You moaned, feeling that you couldn't take so much pleasure anymore.

“So fast? Do you like how mommy fucks you so much that you gonna cum in such a short time?” She asked, clearly enjoying your weakness.

“Can I….? Please?” You begged, fearing that she would make you suffer.

“Of course, honey,” she said, satisfied, touching you in the way she knew you couldn't take anymore.

After several quick moans, you broke free, arching your back. Little by little you caught your breath. You no longer had doubts, at least for a while longer. You saw the girl lying on the ground and quickly got up on the ground.

Laurel knelt down and looked at the same spot as you, shaking her head.

“It's a pity that she couldn't see the way you were enjoying my touch, don't you think?” She asked you. You didn't answer, just moved to pull your pants up again.

The redhead smiled at you and she bit her lip.

“And now what do I do? You've turned me on so much…” She said, unbuttoning her blue jumpsuit, leaning back on the ground.

You looked at the unconscious young woman for the last time, and you approached your mistress, ready to make her enjoy like she did to you.

“Where are you going, honey?” she asked, stopping you.

“I, I thought that…” You stammered.

Laurel laughed sinisterly as she continued to undress.

“No, my love. You have not behaved well, and I will have to punish you. Stay still, and look at me,” she ordered you.

You obeyed automatically, staying frozen in place.

As she opened her shirt, she ran a hand suggestively across her chest, looking up at you.

“You like this, right?” She asked you.

You couldn't move, she had ordered you to stay still. And you would do that, even if your insides screamed to be able to touch her.

Once she took off her bottoms, she spread her legs apart, to give you a better view. Biting her lip, she began to caress herself, throwing her head back, and emitting discreet moans.

You were completely glued to the ground, unable to take your eyes off her. At least you could talk.

“Please, I, I can do it,” you murmured, contemplating your mistress, enjoying her own touch.

“No honey, not this time. You have to learn that your mistakes have consequences,” she told you between gasps, inserting two fingers inside her.

You looked stunned, and you noticed how the excitement took over you again. Laurel kept a steady pace, grabbing one of her breasts, knowing what you suffered for being the one to give her that pleasure.

“Oh, fuck, (Y/N), mommy is having so much fun,” she moaned, being aware of how bad you were having.

“I love you,” you sighed, unable to do anything else.

“Ahh, I know, honey,” she said, shuffling more. You recognized those kinds of moves. She was close

After a few more movements, her back arched, and a loud moan echoed off the stone walls.

She smiled at you, not taking too long to get dressed again.

“Get up, (Y/N),”she told you, doing up her buttons.

You did it, trembling.

“Now, go to the boat and wait for me there. Mommy will join you when it's done.”

You nodded automatically and your feet began to move on their own.

“One last thing, (Y/N),” she told you, stopping you dead. “Don't doubt me again, or you won't come with me.”

[tired-truffle]

Yet Broken Still You Breathe

An AlistairxOC fic

Chapter Word Count: 4k

Part 3/50

"I think I've come to terms with the fact that there will always be a ribbon of loneliness running through who I am." - Jenny Slate

Masterlist

“So, you think you’ll want to join our crew as we valiantly fight against the Darkspawn invasion?” Darcy pulled out his sword and started duelling an invisible enemy where they stood in the courtyard of Redcliffe castle. Old blood stained the grass beneath their feet, the bodies of the undead they’d fought only a few hours beforehand strewn across the ground like discarded playthings. The smell of copper and rot filled the air but Darcy seemed bothered by none of it, instead, it seemed to almost enthuse him. “I know you almost got killed,” he said with a flippant motion of his hand, his other resting on his hip, quickly moving past that unfortunate fact, “but you aren’t afraid to fight dirty and you took down those three undead all on your own. I’d be remiss not to ask you to join our team, we could use a rogue like you. We’d have Leliana for all the- well, whatever it is she does when she’s not talking about her supposedly prophetic dreams from your Shemlen God, and you, the intimidating aura and ruthless survival skills. A perfect combination.” Darcy clasped his hands together and batted his eyelashes at her pleadingly.

“Uh,” Gwen said with all the intelligence of a wolf caught in a bear trap. Her head felt like it had been shoved full of cotton, and run over by a wagon, and the ringing music in her ears had only gotten stronger in her weakened state. 

“What our fearless leader means to say,” Alistair interjected while Gwen continued to blink at Darcy, at a loss for words, “is that we would be honoured to have your strong and ruthless fighting spirit on our side.” 

“Yes, that,” Darcy agreed. 

“Why am I being the tactful one here,” Alistair said with exasperation, “That’s usually not my strong suit.”

“Then you can rest easy, Alistair, intelligence would be a necessity, which you are sorely lacking,” Morrigan droned, her arms crossed over her chest, her robes covered in sprays of dark blood that did not belong to her. Out of all of them, she was relatively unscathed - the perks of being a mage. 

“Oh, well excuse me if I don't possess your level of intelligence, oh great and wise Bog Witch.” Alistair huffed.

“My hut was adjacent to a swamp, Alistair. Anyone with even the slightest semblance of wisdom would be aware of that fact.” Morrigan shot back, Alistair looking more and more miffed by the second. 

“Children, the both of you” Darcy cut in, stepping between the two with his hands up as though they were quarrelling school children, ”trading insults isn’t going to convince Gwen to join us.”

Gwen had been watching the exchange with tired eyes, barely hearing what they were saying in her exhausted state, still unsure how she was managing to stand on her own two feet. But at the mention of her name, she focused her gaze on Darcy. She had attempted to uncover any ulterior motives lurking in the shadows. He had seen her in action, swift and deadly with her daggers in hand. But beyond that, he knew almost nothing about her except for the way she could take down their enemy without hesitation. She wasn’t exactly the kind of person one would want hanging around your camp late at night. And yet, during their entire battle through Redcliffe castle and their talk with Lady Isolde - who was now dealing with the consequences of her poorly thought-out plan - she could find none. Darcy, Alistair, Morrigan, and even Barkspawn had had her back throughout the entire fight, save for when she had gotten separated, though that was as much her fault as it was theirs. Darcy had treated Lady Isolde with kindness and grace that she had returned with self-righteousness and a judgemental eyeing of Darcy’s ears. It had left Gwen confused as to why they were going to go out of their way to fetch a mage from the Circle to un-possess Connor at great personal risk to Darcy when it was the Arlessa who’d gotten them into that mess in the first place. She had caused the death of most of the castle’s occupants and had unleashed a horde of undead upon the people she was supposed to protect. The assassin mage they had freed from the prison had offered an easy trade, Isolde’s life for her son’s. It seemed simple to Gwen, but Darcy had refused and had instead offered an alternative that would have them making the trek back to Redcliffe from the Circle. 

By all accounts, Darcy was a good person trying to help everyone he came across, whether they deserved it or not. She wasn’t entirely convinced he wanted her to join them just because of her ability to fight, there had to be something else, some other reason he wanted to get her to travel with them. Perhaps it was as simple as having her ‘intimidating aura’ around so that others were less likely to take advantage of Darcy’s good-hearted nature, though Morrigan provided enough intimidation to scare off an entire army if she so chose to.

Did his Grey Warden senses pick up on what she hid behind her bandana? Was he trying to get her out of the town so he could put her down like the feral monster she was? It was certainly a possibility, yet he seemed too genuine to have anything sinister planned for her. 

“But,” Gwen furrowed her brow, “you don’t know anything about me.”

Darcy shrugged, “I’m good at reading people, and I can tell you’re the type of person who tries to do the right thing.” Gwen kept her lips pursed, that still didn’t negate the fact that she was hiding things about herself she had no intention of revealing, things that would turn them all against her in the blink of an eye. As if reading her thoughts, Darcy continued, “You’re a secretive person, I can tell you value your privacy, and I respect that. You don’t have to tell us anything you don’t want to, as long as you don’t plan on betraying us that is.” He grinned as though he’d told a funny joke. No one laughed. Morrigan looked as disinterested as humanly possible, and Alistair… Alistair was looking at her with barely concealed curiosity and a dash of hope that made her heart start to race. He was going to be a problem. He couldn’t find out what she was or what she’d done. Even men with the kindest of faces could be hiding viciousness underneath. She was sure that that curiosity would turn to disgust, fear, and hatred. Feelings she couldn’t afford a Grey Warden to have for her, not if she wanted to complete what she had set out to do.

Gwen rubbed at her eyes with a bloody hand, probably smearing it all over her face, but she found she didn’t care, “I guess I’ll join you, for now.” These people held the key to her salvation - answers about the Darkspawn and an end to the incessant ringing in her head that was slowly driving her crazy. She was determined to get what she needed from them, no matter what it took. And if they tried to kill her, well, she’d either kill them first, or she’d be put out of her misery. At least she could say she tried. 

Darcy squealed and clapped happily like a child being given a puppy for their birthday. Alistair's face lit up with a large, toothy grin, his eyes sparkling with excitement and Morrigan continued to look as disinterested as she always did. Barkspawn barked happily, his butt wiggling with the force of his enthusiasm. 

“But first, I need sleep and maybe some more health potions.” Gwen swayed on her feet, leaning a hand against the cool castle wall for stability. Alistair winced and took a step forward, reaching out like he intended to hold her arm, but stopped when Gwen shied away, dropping his arms and looking away awkwardly. She supposed it wasn’t entirely irrational, considering he had all but carried her into the throne room to confront Lady Isolde and the demon wearing her son like a skin suit. He appeared amiable enough, but on instinct Gwen had cringed away from him, her mind immediately going into survival mode. Every muscle in her body had tensed, ready to defend or flee at a moment's notice. It wasn't that she thought he would harm her, but over the years it had become ingrained in her the need to constantly be aware and prepared for any potential danger. She couldn't control these automatic survival instincts, they guided everything she did and they kept her safe. She didn’t correct herself or apologize either, she didn’t need him thinking he could just touch her whenever he wanted, that would lead to complications she wanted to avoid experiencing again. 

Darcy heartily agreed - Gwen was relieved to turn Alistair’s attention away from her - having already asked Bann Teagen to allow them to stay the night in the castle, he got the attention of a soldier who pointed them in the direction of the guest wing. There were only two spare rooms available that didn’t have dead, rotting corpses being cleaned out of them, so they had to split who slept where. Darcy, Alistair, and Barkspawn took one room, while Morrigan and Gwen took the other. Gwen wasted no time and quickly exited, making her escape to the room. Thankful that there were two twin beds inside the little room and just enough walking space to comfortably fit two people. The last thing she wanted was to roll over, have her bandana shift, and for Morrigan to wake up to a face full of unnatural split cheeks and sharp, pointed teeth. Having separate beds meant that Gwen could ensure that the covers stayed over her head while she slept to avoid any accidental face reveals. And a dagger in hand for good measure. 

The late evening light shone through the small window on the far wall, the orange and pink colours of the sunset illuminating the old wooden furniture, knicks and scratches carved into the surface speaking to the lives of those who had previously occupied the room, servants who were more than likely dead. A worn carpet that once must have been a lively shade of red now sat brown with age and askew, dejected on the cold stone floor. The pillows were indented in the middle as though they hadn’t been moved since their last owner had peacefully slept the night away, unaware of the dangers that lurked around the corner. Gwen’s stomach rolled and she quickly turned her thoughts to other matters, unwilling to stay on that distressing subject.

Morrigan followed soon after her, casting her a cursory glance before complaining about the lack of service and proclaiming she would leave to find a clean bucket of water to wash herself with. Gwen doubted she would be successful, but was pleased to have the room to herself for a moment so she did not point that out.

In her absence, Gwen peeled off her armour, blood-crusted clothes following suit until she was only in her smalls. She felt vulnerable in this state, her pale, blue-tinted skin like that of a corpse was littered with scars, most she did not care if anyone saw, but the ones that she did… well she’d rather not have to explain them. The most haunting were the ones around her neck, wrists, and ankles, as though something had dug into her skin slowly for a long time. They left jagged edges and indentations, discoloured skin and marks that at one time had clearly been worn down to the bone. Her back was more raised red scar tissue than regular skin, long strips intersected with smaller ones made her back look like a gruesome patchwork quilt.

She doubted Morrigan would ask questions, nor did Gwen feel compelled to answer should any arise. She didn’t want to talk about them and she hoped that Darcy had meant what he said about respecting her privacy. She’d never travelled with anyone before, so she wasn’t sure what to expect. But even if they didn’t ask, they were sure to come to their own conclusions, and she wasn’t sure if she liked that any better. 

Gwen quickly re-tied her bandana, ensuring that it was tight - almost too tight - against her face, and threw on her cleanest tunic before flopping into bed. She didn’t care that she was sweaty and covered in blood, there would be a lot more of that in her near future. And right now, her battered and bruised body, having consumed a few too many healing potions that were pulling on her body’s depleted energy stores to heal her many wounds, was too exhausted to do anything else but sleep. Thankfully, she had enough awareness to ensure that her favourite dagger was clutched tightly in hand and the blankets pulled up and over her head. It was comforting, a familiar habit she had developed in her youth - though the sheets of her childhood had been threadbare and stained a variety of disturbing colours and these sheets were soft and downy as one would expect of linen that was kept in a prestigious castle. As she curled up under the covers, she was quickly lost to sleep and her mind was consumed by familiar terrors. She was trapped in a relentless cycle of nightmares, as she was every night for as long as she could remember, another curse of her existence. Before long, she was lost in the depths of sleep's dark grip where her deeply suppressed memories came out to haunt her.

***

When Gwen woke the next morning, the early morning rays shining softly through the window, she was not surprised to find Morrigan gone. However, she was shocked to see a small glass bottle filled with a glowing red liquid, and a delicate porcelain cup filled with clear water that had been placed carefully at her bedside. Having rested and healed up quite well she had no current use for the healing potion and carefully to tucked it away for later. Gwen sniffed the water suspiciously and then decided she was being ridiculous, if someone - likely Morrigan as she was sure the castle servants were too busy to provide such frivolous items to guests -  had wanted to kill her they had plenty of opportunity while Gwen had been unconscious all night. 

She drank the water and didn’t immediately keel over. She declared it a victory, threw on her clothes, and went to find a bucket of water for a speedy sponge bath, hoping that with the continued cleaning of the castle, it wouldn’t be too hard to come by. It didn’t take too long searching to find one and haul it back to the still-empty room along with some bread and apples she had found stashed in the cellar. As she sat down to eat, a sense of relief flooded through her. She could enjoy a meal without Alistair's attentive gaze following her every move. The thought of being constantly watched while they were on the road together made her stomach churn. So for now, she took solace in this moment of solitude, savouring each bite as if it were her last. The quiet rustle of leaves and the distant chirping of birds provided a peaceful soundtrack to her meal, a temporary escape from the journey ahead.

She emerged from the castle's entrance, her eyes scanning the area for her new companions. She spotted them standing in a small group, their figures silhouetted against the rising sun. They were all armed and armoured, ready to set off. Despite the early hour, the sun shone brightly on them, highlighting their features and casting shadows along the gravel path. Behind her, the castle stood tall and imposing, with its stone walls and towers reaching towards the sky, unwelcoming and urging her to move out of its grasp. She nodded at them, not willing to say much more at the time, loath to admit that she wasn’t a morning person lest they learn that weakness.

“You snore in your sleep,” Morrigan remarked with disgust, before turning on her heel and marching off. Gwen's eyebrows furrowed, creating deep lines on her forehead as she tried to recall the sound of her own snoring, her lips pulled into a slight grimace.

“Don’t let her get to you,” Alistair said, coming to stand beside her, looking at Morrigan’s retreating form with a scowl marring his face, “She’s all bark and very little bite.” 

“It’s okay,” Gwen shrugged, “she reminds me of a barn cat I once… roomed with. It would hiss at me whenever I tried to pet it, but when I woke up at night it had curled itself into a ball at my back. I don’t know if it liked to cuddle or was just stealing my body heat, but I enjoyed it all the same.” She didn’t add that by ‘rooming’ she meant stowing away, it wasn’t relevant to the conversation and Alistair really didn’t need to know. No need to pique his curiosity any more than it already was. 

“That is… an oddly apt analogy,” Darcy murmured, shooting her a surprised look. 

“I think it has some room for improvement,” Alistair interjected, “how about instead of a cute, cuddly cat, she’s prickly lizard? Or maybe something that breathes fire and poisons everything it touches.” 

Gwen started walking after said prickly, fire-breathing, poisonous lizard, “It’s your head if she hears you calling her that.”

“It’s always my head with Morrigan,” Alistair grumbled, but he reluctantly trailed after her as they began their journey toward the Ferelden Circle. His heavy footsteps echoed against the cobblestone path, and he glared holes into Morrigan’s back, who seemed determined to ignore him.

While they left Redcliffe, Darcy quickly explained that the rest of their group, Leliana, the aforementioned rogue, and Sten, a Qunari warrior had gone ahead to scout for Darkspawn in the area. They were to meet mid-morning on the outskirts of Redcliffe. 

“Do you usually split up when heading into battle? Surely more fighters would be better,” she’d asked.

To which Darcy had nonchalantly replied, “It’s best to be prepared for whatever lies next so we don’t march headfirst into a trap after a particularly taxing battle,” he stayed quiet for a moment, “besides, if we were to all die then there would be no one to carry on the fight against the Blight. Someone has to make sure that Ferelden survives this.” His eyes were focused on the horizon, his jaw set, a subtle shift in his stance. The lightheartedness with which he had so far carried himself momentarily vanished as she saw a hint of the leader within him emerge. Despite the constant presence of Grey Wardens and their threat, she couldn't help but feel reassured by Darcy's fierce determination to end the Blight and silence the ever-present haunting music in her mind. For once, she felt like she might have made a good decision in following him.

They met up with the two other companions and Darcy regaled them with tales of their battle, acting out his most favourite parts, and greatly exaggerating how easy it was. Gwen thought about pointing out that she’d almost died, but felt like Darcy would take to that in the same way as a child would take to having their favourite toy tossed into the mud. Besides, the orange-haired woman - who Gwen assumed must be Leliana - was watching him with rapt attention, and she couldn’t bring herself to diminish the small woman’s joy. The large Qunari on the other hand seemed to have tuned out immediately and stared at the horizon, face set in what she could guess was a permanent scowl. She’d seen a few Qunari before, and his attitude seemed par for the course.

“Is he always like this?” Gwen tilted her head towards Darcy as she whispered to Alistair. He shot her a quizzical look. 

“Always like what?” 

Gwen waved him off with a shake of her head and he went back to eagerly watching his friend. 

As the story came to a close, Darcy officially introduced her to the two new companions, although she couldn't help but feel like she was actually the newcomer. Leliana bound excitedly up to her and expressed her joy at having another woman to travel with, and Sten followed up her statement questioning if Gwen was a woman at all, given that they could not see her face and her figure was hidden under her armour. Gwen held back a sigh as Darcy admonished him in a joking tone for being ‘blind to Gwen’s obvious womanly ways’. There had been many reasons why Gwen had never travelled with a group before this, but she could add a new reason to the list; constantly being around differing, colourful personalities was exhausting and it hadn’t even been an hour yet. 

Maybe ending the Blight wasn’t worth it after all. 

Once Morrigan started barking at them for their ‘ridiculous chattering’ and urging them to move on before the Blighted Army descended upon all of Thedas, the group started their Northward journey. 

It didn’t take long for them to share the details of how their quest had begun. The Teryn who commanded King Cailan’s army, Loghain Mac Tir, had betrayed the King and retreated during the battle of Ostagar when they had called for help, abandoning those fighting and resulting in the King’s death, along with Duncan, Alistair’s Grey Warden mentor and the man who had recruited Darcy only a week before the battle. Alistair had tried to hide the sorrow that had crossed his face at the mention of his former mentor, but even his witty sarcasm couldn’t hide that deep sort of pain. Gwen made note to not bring it up. If not for the timely intervention of Flemeth, the famed Witch of the Wilds, and Morrigan’s mother, Darcy and Alistair would have perished as well. Their current objectives were to invoke the Grey Warden treaties with the Dwarves, Elves, and Mages to get aid in hunting down the Archdemon and its Darkspawn Army. Darcy recited the tale to Gwen, who only responded with a grunt of confirmation. The amount of information was overwhelming and gave her a great deal to think about.

Gwen quickly learned how to tune out the sounds around her and focus on the road ahead. It had limited success as she was often roped into conversations by Alistair - which of course it was him trying to include her, he probably thought he was doing her a favour - but she did not care to partake in them, something that he didn’t seem to be able to grasp. Sometimes, a sharp glare was enough to get him to leave her alone, but once he learned that the glare was never followed up with acts of violence, he started to push more and more. 

Maker, it had only been two days and already she wanted to throttle the Grey Warden. She refused to let herself be pulled in by his attempted thoughtfulness. She didn’t need it, she didn’t need to be included, and she was quite fine walking in silence until she could get what she wanted. She knew better than to allow herself to fall for this, she was a monster, a freak, an unlovable creature. She did not deserve their kindness and the guilt of deceiving them into thinking she wasn’t rotten at the core of her being threatened to choke her. She had tried to go against her nature once, but that had only ended in pain, and she had never wanted to feel that kind of pain again, nor inflict it on others. She had kept to herself over the years, but now, surrounded by people, she felt that loneliness crush around her. It was silly, but seeing these people be able to joke around and be open with each other in a way that she would never be able to, only widened that aching space within her heart where… where she had been. This would be harder than Gwen had anticipated, but to get her answers, she would do just about anything.

Next Chapter

A/N: I would love to hear your thoughts!

[all-too-random]

Fruits Basket Another Headcanons: Mina Sohma Edition

• Mina Sohma was born via a surrogate to Momiji Sohma (31) and his husband, Megumi Sohma (28)

• Her birthday is April 5th (possibly in 2013-2014 if I did my math right)

• Almost as soon as she was born, Momiji began calling her "Mii" for short, which means "beauty"

• She is one of the youngest Sohma cousins, only being older than her own brother and Hiro & Kisa's youngest daughter

• As a baby, Mina was always looking around, smiling, and giggling

• However, she was not exactly an easy baby. Getting her to sleep at night was extremely difficult, and she'd often get cranky during the day because of it.

• It was a pretty often occurrence that Momiji would come back from the office in the evening to find his husband sitting up in a chair, cradling Mina against his chest

• That seemed to be the only way she would sleep, and it was always in the early afternoons

• Due to their work schedules, Mina was closer to Megumi than Momiji during her early years

• Momiji had to work long hours, and was often gone on business trips. Meanwhile, Megumi was home every day by 4:00, and he was always the one to pick Mina up from daycare

• When Mina was about 3-4, though, Momiji would occasionally bring her to work with him, and Momo would help keep an eye on her. She's always had a wonderful relationship with her aunt because of this.

• She was a very shy toddler, pretty much always clinging onto her parents or her aunts. • She did like most of her older cousins, but Hajime and Mutsuki frightened her when she was very young. Mutsuki was very loud, and Hajime was usually glaring.

• She grew out of this shyness after starting school; now she almost has zero concept of stranger danger

• she visits Hajime and Mutsuki all of the time, too, and Hajime will sometimes take care of her when she is sick

• Age wise, she is closest to Miyoko (Kyo & Tohru's daughter) and Izumi (Hiro & Kisa's oldest daughter), who are both roughly a year older than her

• The three of them have a knack for getting into trouble....and then getting right back out of it because they are so cute

• (Usually, Miyoko & Izumi find the trouble, and Mina just goes along with it)

• Ironically, they're also the three cousins most prone to getting into arguments at family gatherings ("Mina, you go play on one side of the house. Izumi, go to the other. And Miyoko, you go outside.")

• Although they are eight years apart, Mina was always very close to Riku and Sora. They both loved playing with her; Riku has definitely let her paint his nails

• They also both take her to the batting cages; Riku usually just cheers from the sidelines. Sora will bat, but she is comically bad at it, and Mina always laughs about her lack of skill

• She first got into baseball when she was about five. Her fathers had tried getting her into dance first, but she never really enjoyed it. • Still, she's definitely more of a "girly-girl" than a tom-boy

• Aunt Momo is definitely her favorite Sohma adult, but she also really loves Tohru and Rin

• On her other side, she also has Aunt Saki (she definitely thought her aunt and her father were witches, and thought that was the coolest thing ever. She was very upset to find out the she did not possess any powers like theirs) and her cousin Rio

• Rio absolutely loves her; that side of the family was not very big, so she was his first cousin. She loves Rio, too. They make bracelets together.

• Speaking of which, Mina is a jewelry making FIEND. Beads are EVERYWHERE. Both Momiji and Megumi have a necklace that they must wear all of the time because she made it for them.

• Her younger brother, Makoto, was born when she was five years old

• At first, she actually hated being a big sister. She did NOT like that her parents' attention was no longer focused on her. She would refuse to hold or play with her brother most of the time.

• In fact, she would even ask to stay with Aunt Momo just so she wouldn't have to be around him (and so she could be the center of someone's attention)

• It didn't take long, though, for her parents to figure out what was going on, and they had a conversation with her about the change in their family dynamic, but they also made sure to give her equal attention

• Now, she likes having a younger brother, and she's always trying to teach him new things or make funny faces

• Watermelon is her favorite food in the world, but ironically she doesn't really like candy or cakes

• She collects plushies, and Momiji always brings her one back from business trips • What she does like is hot chocolate. When Momiji comes back from a business trip, the two of them always drink hot chocolate together.

• When Mina gets older, she does join the school softball team.

• She does not follow her cousins to Kaibara, though, and actually goes to a very prestigious all girl's school nearby

• Her grades have always been very good, but she does get in trouble sometimes for being unable to sit still or talking out of turn/too loudly

• She has dreams to travel the world before eventually taking over the business of her grandfather and father

[art-is-ari]

The Watching Woman

Here's a short story I wrote recently based on a childhood experience~

Perhaps the mind is truly moldable; the electricity in it can be changed, altered, taken away. One likes to believe that the mind is its own and that one most definitely has complete control over it. Although that is not the case for many, to have control over your mind is, to some people, completely impossible it seems. As the powerful mind those people have is like a waterfall one can try to dam it up or maybe slow it down but eventually as all things do, something must give. Often in these cases that exact dam built up to keep all that water… all those thoughts in. 

As all the thoughts then leak out drop by drop it corrodes away that dam built up to keep everyone outside of it safe; the comfortable homes they build beside it are eventually washed away in that magnificent tide. In that tide the one one with the now broken dam must try to pick up the pieces of the difference between what's real and what's simply a leak of the mind. 

The first time I had a leak of the mind I was about 8 or 9 maybe older- time passes differently for those in the water- I was at my friend's house, Angel, we were having a sleepover as we usually did on those wonderful nights when there was no school to dread the next day. The summer air in the Carmel valley was warm coming in through the cracked window of the usually cold house. 

The Grandmother who owned the home had recently passed away, Angel and her grandmother had been extremely close. The loss for such a young child was of course quite painful, so the family had done as many others in the past had in order to attempt to fix the mourning little girl, they got her a puppy. A wonderful little creature, a yorkie named Princess as I remember, I do also remember finding it quite odd to cover the pain with a Band-Aid such as the puppy as if to say “You are young and don't understand death so rather than explaining we will just chase the pain away with possessions.” Perhaps I was a morbid child with far too large an interest or understanding of death but I had believed then as I do now that the dead are not simply gone ;And to neglect that explanation to someone is truly cruel. 

As my always energetic friend eventually quieted and drifted off to sleep, with her new puppy between us, in the very bed that belonged to that now passed on matriarch of the home. I found myself looking around in that very large and cold room. I saw the great wooden ornate dresser, the dusty lamps and the many windows and glass doors that let light in during the day. However, it was night now and that vast usually bright room was now dark. I found it seemed much larger at night the walls seemed to stretch and the world around me grew ever greater; As I was glancing around that growing room, fear struck me realizing how quiet the dark, cold room had become. How much darker and colder that looming space was growing to be in the passing moments. As most children do however I quickly forgot my fear of the growing room and found myself giving into the need for rest. 

I am not sure how much time passed. I believe it was around the witching hour when that small warm body of the puppy awoke me as it cuddled closer. Not paying the little creature much mind I began to fall back into my dream filled state. Just as I fell into that darkness I was once again awoken by Princess who was now whimpering under the large duvet, I lifted that heavy fabric to find the helpless creature curled up into me staring at me horrified. I simply pet her head shushed the crying puppy, as I placed the large blanket over us once again, a dim light at the foot of the bed caught my eye. 

As I carefully gazed over the edge of my soft shield, to my absolute horror I saw a woman at the foot of the large bed; A beautiful woman with long ringlike curls and a calm face. Wearing a white night dress with lace details, she was glowing with a golden light and her hair floated gently on her shoulders. I looked her in the eyes and quickly recognized her as a younger version of the woman whose bed my young friend and I were currently inhabiting. Angel's grandmother was undoubtedly standing at the end of the bed watching us as we rested. 

As my horror only grew slowly as if she wouldn't see me, I pulled the large duvet over my head and pulled that tiny creature closer to me as if the blanket my now forcefield and the puppy my knight in shining armor would protect me from the woman standing at the foot of the four post bed. I laid there in the darkness squeezing my eyes shut so tight I saw stars, afraid if I opened them I would see her face in the bed with me. I could feel her watching me that unmistakable feeling in your gut when the gaze of a person burns holes in your energy in the very same way our ancestors sensed danger in prehistoric times. I hid under those blankets for what felt like hours before finally I no longer felt her gaze and I could allow sleep to claim me once again. 

The next morning when I awoke in the early hours of the day I crept out of the bed and looked for a photo of the woman who had watched me sleep the previous night. As I snuck into the entry way I found what I was looking for. A framed photo of the grandmother from when she was in her youth, and just as I had assumed the woman watching over us was in fact the grandmother who bore a striking resemblance to the young girl's mother. I never spoke to Angel about the ghost I saw that night, every time I tried to I felt it was rude to reopen a wound like that and besides if I told her what I saw ;undoubtedly my mother would find out and I would be labeled as broken or crazy. I kept my secret, that little moment the grandmother and I had that night was locked tight in my memories as the first time my mind sprung a leak, or perhaps it was simply the first time I would see someone who no one else could. 

[foxglove03]

I am on a flight across the North Atlantic back home. The border guard asked me what I had bought while in Ireland and I felt strangely compelled to tell him a lie. Instead, I said I had only spent money on clothes and it was not a lot. Three hours into the flight and I sit completely afraid every bodily ache is a sign of impending doom. All the things I am, to add being half a hypochondriac to the list makes a varied mix. Since I learned how the author of “Goodnight Moon” died kicking her leg up as a sign of good health to her nurse, you can’t be too careful. I said all my tacky goodbyes to the people in my apartment, promised to talk, said the time I spent with them was nice. None of them believed me probably. I have a compulsive need to convey my true feelings and they’re all not idiots. Everything got so spoiled in record time. I was going back to look at pictures from when I arrived. In just a few months, an opinion can be formed so solidly. And I think we all had such unmoving thoughts two to three weeks in. My roommate made me promise her several times that hang out with her in the future. It’s an absolute miracle who you’d hug if that’s what the social convention calls for. I hugged my least favorite roommate goodbye though he never cleaned and only produced miraculous mess after mess, and of all things slept with the one girl I liked. Also fought with me frequently after the first month of arriving to our apartment. Everyone looked at me to hug him so I relented.

The sick feeling in my stomach during the last few days of getting my things together has finally stopped for the most part. It was no definitive transition. It was there and the next second I thought about it, gone. Probably went somewhere with the Dublin train. On the train I finished reading “Stoner” by John Williams and cried very quietly making my face all sticky the way tears do. Particularly it was the last twenty or so pages that got me in William Stoner’s story. He was a character that longed for a passion he didn’t possess himself and never got quite a hold of in his life. This made his death rattle in the final pages a painful one. Although he seemed to extract joy from teaching, it was never with a memorable fire to me. The book is exactly what my parents always accuse me of indulging in too much. Bubbling misery in every movie, book and song. I did like the book, but I think it’s funny it ever reared its head out of its fifty-something year old obscurity.

Now I won’t be confusing this alleviation of semester stress for a tranquility in my personal life. Most of those details mustn’t be thought of for pure continuity’s sake. Plus I have a nightmarish paper to be completed in the next 12 hours on whether or not Greek figured pottery can offer any information on the Athenian economy. It can’t, I’ve beat the horse in 150 ways and have about 1/4 of the paper to go. I downloaded the 2011 version of Twin Fantasy which I think I’ve only listened to briefly before. I was watching the version of “Sober To Death” Will Toledo does on Tiny Desk and it’s fantastic, completely love it. Looking through the comments someone says a bit about how they preferred before his changes made in the re-record. Since I’m an all-out media purist I had to listen. I think I should do some drawings just on the parts he cut out in all the songs. I’m such a sucker for long drawling speaking parts. It’s completely different but it reminds me of the song “Waking of The Witch” by Kate Bush. Absolutely nothing alike other than a song with no singing involved, incantations, monologues and exclamations instead of singing.

I can’t wait to get coffee in a vat. A comically large, pissing your pants type of size they have in the states. Being handed that will have me singing God Bless America backwards or break into cartwheels of patriotism. I’m hoping to avoid any serious thought over the course of the next few weeks and using my time to just draw like a maniac and read twelve books and absorb the contents of this lovely, terrible app. I have to complete a commission of many different dogs which I’ve been putting off. The woman who’s paying me will totally give me a lot more money the work’s worth so I’m nervous about delivering something a good quality. I’ll need to draw more dogs.

I’ve also got some zine ideas in my head which’ll be great for a punk art event thing I’ve been invited to in February. One zine’s already done, it’s just a matter of printing.

I’m so paranoid about getting a blood clot that I have this image in my head of touching the ground and bursting like a ballon. If you’re reading this, that did not happen 🫡

(An aside, glanced at the woman reading right next to me and a line from her book said “I can live with her being happy, even if it’s a fucking dickhead causing it.” A beautiful example of 21st century prose lol)

[maguro13-2]

Legacy of Shinra ~ Origins of the Ink Demon Chapter 1 Finale [1/3]

[Aboard the Halberd]

[Mystery of the Meteorite - Fumie Kumatani]

Meta Knight : So, it's clearly about the 18 year incident, and it's wisely that female Phanto is somehow related to that Maka Kid. I've heard about this, around 18 years ago, a woman named Mrs. Albarn, known as Maka's Mother, was captured by Phanto, the Mask Enemy, who is one of the brethren of a race of soul-eating beings called the Phantonians. They steal a victim's soul and devours it for their use of energy, or even turned their victims into an evil phantom by attaching or possessing it's host. They've been the enemies of the original heroes of Subcon before Mario came to that world on that night, during his nighttime hours. We found that why does not know why this mother of a meister have disappeared for around 18 years, so it's gonna be about around 19 or 20 years, Phanto and his goons will return from the sanctuary.

Ashley : So what you're saying that Maka's mother had been in that "Sanctuary" for so long.

Meta Knight : Yes, but not as long es ever. But when Phanto captured Mrs.Albarn before the baby shower, the child was born in the Sanctuary. And that child is Maka Albarn herself. Around three years in her past, Maka and her mother secretly slipped out of the Sanctuary and read the same the book about the person responsible for the creation of Soul World.

Penny Crygor : The person responsible for the creation of Soul World? You mean that Devil person?

Meta Knight : Only the man responsible for Soul World's creation was none other than the Devil himself and the one created this Shinigami entity. His name was Shinra...Shinra Kusakabe, the man of the Kusakabe Legacy.

Ashley & Penny : [realizing, together] Shinra Kusakabe!

Ashley : That's the Devil Chaos Chao that we met in Chao World. It was his idea to create the world of Soul Eater! All those lies were really deeply connected to the DWMA itself! He was once the hero and leader of an Organization that existed in his "newly" made world about 1000 years before the incident happened in Soul World!

Penny Crygor : Unbelievable! So that's what Soul Eater is really about, not just the legacy, but it's universe as well, so both Shinra and the world of Soul Eater is connected somehow because he remodeled the old one that was dying into a vibe of despair due to the powers of an "evil entity".

Ashley : Intriguingly that we must know that the tracks are coming in hot and the pieces are coming into together. There's a chance we might get to know that Demon Weapons aren't the type of Power System that we thought.

Kimial Diehl : Persistent how you manage to collect the pieces, but I do believe that the Demon Weapons weren't created by the witches or Arachne, but a "Dokeshi" that is responsible for their creation of the weapons he made, or should I say "Shinigami" himself.

Penny Crygor : Hey, Ash. You got a visitor that was aboard the ship.

Ashley : K-Kimial! When...When did you get aboard on the ship?

Kimial Diehl : ....

Ashley : Well....?

Kimial Diehl : Jacqueline finally knew that I was a witch, I was going to tell you about the Valk Family. I had to make some change of plans to protect the Valk, but I was gonna tell Sofia Ressa Valk II that I needed her to buy some time in order to make her "Doppelganger" to be used as a distraction for the enemy, "The true enemy". I hope Sofia will be okay for hiding in Paris. She's under protection of the Majo Detective Force organization and we can't let Shinra's "Son" happened that Shinra was behind all of this! His "Son" brought the outcome to bring Madness to everything around the planet, which turns out nothing but a "Thing" In the bible! What on earth were Japanese authors thinking of using religious stuff from the catholics? I'm a witch serves and worship a king, not a god. Cause why demons want to be a God? And I understand the question that the horned god witches worship is a Demon King that is the devil! Now I know who really created the world of Soul Eater, It was all part of a great big lie! There was no Kishin in Nevada, nor in the real world. It was a bunch of Ancient Greek Spirits called Maniae, they were the one's responsible for bringing the so-called madness and our author was so arrogant he did that for himself!

Ashley : No wonder the reason Shounen mangas like your world would all keep that in favor since the world and life of Shinra was foreshadowed to become a prequel of how her world was created.

Kimial Diehl : But in this case, Shinra himself wanted to become god and would eventually reset not the Ohkuboverse, but his entire world that was fallen in danger due to the hands of the evil entity which was his "Aunt". Because there is some connection with the Greek Gods and the Ohkubo verse.

Meta Knight : ....

Kimial Diehl : But when Shinra manages to find out the situation of his dying world, he finally saw the truce face of the Evangelist, revealing to be a heartless-like cosmic entity trying to consume the planet, causing him to create the world of Soul Eater!

Ashley : Probably the same thing that all of people's hearts have been turning to darkness this even often. Simple as that, Maka and Death's hatred against the humans and witches has been fueling darkness this entire time. Square Enix must've been playing god or whoever is responsible for the outcome, must've been Death himself.

Kimial Diehl : Oh well, it's nothing personal that my friends to thinking that Grimoire was a doppelganger, but it's true. Doppelgangers are always ment to fool everyone including their selves. It's a goddamn disgrace!

Ashley : I totally understand how the world of Soul Eater's gonna be now?

Kimial Diehl : I'm not sure. But eventually, the world of Soul Eater would eventually ends in darkness and it will be come--

[BOOM!]

[SA2 SFX : Alarm Blaring]

Voice : EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY! AN UNKNOWN LIFE FORM HAS ABOARD ONTO THE HALBERD! ALL SOLDIERS NEAR THE DECK, PLEASE REPEL FOR ANY INTRUDERS! I REPEAT! PLEASE REPEL FOR ANY INTRUDERS!

Kimial Diehl : What now?!

Ashley : Come on! To the area where Combo Cannon is! [the gang runs off to the deck]

~ Thirteenth Scene : Revenge of the Beast ~

[tragedyofdevotion]

All is well that ends well

After story is kinda continuation to this.

You remembered the picture book your mother used to read you when you were a child. It was a love story in which a kind prince fell in love with his beautiful maid. The prince’s childhood friend, however, couldn’t approve their relationship, going as far as using the forbidden magic to became the witch in order to kill the prince’s beloved. You view on the story is different from others. You thought that as a childhood friend, she was always by the Prince's side and they overcame numerous struggles together, only for him to abandon her for some other girl. That is why, instead of hating the witch like your siblings did, you kind of sympathized her.

However, never did you imagine you will be in her place some day.

One evening, during the student council meeting, Lucifer announced that RAD would be welcoming a new exchange student from human realm. The brothers started to complain, but one glare from Lucifer fixed everything, and the meeting ended with the decision that Mammon would be the one to be her guardian demon when she arrived. You felt a little lonely that your first demon will have less time to spend with you but that was the decision of Diavolo and Lucifer . And you know, first hand, how stubborn the crown prince can be when it comes to the exchange program. So, you didn’t couldn’t meddle in their affairs.

………

Reira, the new exchange student, possessed otherworldly beauty, big round eyes which steal glances, plump lips with the color of blood and the sweetest smile to go with it. Silky smooth skin that would melt at the slight touch and long black hair which flowed freely from her shoulder. She was beautiful in all ways you wouldn’t. Even Asmodeus who had very high standards regarding beauty stared at her stunning frame and admired her. Faced with all admiration, you remember Mammon said something like that was his human and not to stare at her that much. Words which he used to said for you. Call it envy but you knew that you wouldn’t like her as soon as you saw her. Thinking back, more than envy, it was more like a warning from your sixth sense.

Ignoring the slight jealousy brewing in your stomach, you welcomed her with open arms. You tried to be her light beacon because you knew how difficult it is to survive as a human who knew nothing about magic in this devildom. However, it seemed that your efforts were unnecessary since she replied with “I can take care of myself, (y/n) senpai. Moreover, even if something were to happen to me, my guardian demon would always protect me. So, please don’t worry.”

In contrary to the spiky treatment towards you, the girl was much more sweet towards the others, as sweet as the angels themselves. So, she got along well with everyone except you, especially with the brothers, who have become more amiable towards the humans due to your existence during the past year.

However, you trusted your demons. They were literally yours. You thought the bonds you had formed won’t be destroyed by anyone. And it was the biggest mistake of all.

…….

You walked along the narrow roads of the Devildom, with only the light from the full moon shining on your way.

“Hey! Honey, what are you doing alone at this time of the hour.”

“Yeah, aren’t you lonely? Why don’t you come together with us to have fun?”

You heard some men called out to you. And you hurried your steps. Your experience told you that nothing good will happen if you looked back.

Annoyed by being ignored, one of them shouted, “Hey! I am talking to you!” and yanked at your wrist roughly.

“Wait… You… You are human.” Immediately, the look in his eyes turned from wrath to predatory.

You sighed internally growing tired of the same old scenario. You would be minding your own business, then, out of nowhere some demon would appear and try to eat you. In your opinion, Devildom had so many better food (like Devil Zebra Bacon Sandwich, for example) to eat than the raw meat of a tired and depressed human. But the demons didn’t seems to think so since they always drooled at the sight of a human. However, since it happened repetitively, you knew how to deal with it without panicking.

“Spirits of earth, lead astray to those who wish harm upon me.” Suddenly a huge mist surrounded you, surprising the demons. You made good use of it by breaking free from his hold and running away at full speed.

This is one of the spells Solomon taught you where a huge amount of mist appear and make the others lose their way. You always use it in these situations since the incantation is short and effective.

When you thought you reached a safe distance, you paused to catch your breath. You are not a sports person but with these kinds of incidents happening, you knew you should exercise more. However, buried in the piles of homework from RAD and the shenanigans of the brothers, you could not find time for workout.

“You might be so full of yourself if you are taking a rest while me of all people is chasing down on you.”

Suddenly, a voice disturbed the silence of the night. And you felt dread coming up in your spine. It was the demons from earlier and this time they are in their full demon forms. And the demons surrounded you as quickly as they arrived, probably to avoid the previous scenario again.

“ Nice to meet you again, missy. You pulled a nice one back there. But we are sorry to inform you that unlike the lesser demons, those little magic trick doesn’t work on us, more so than ever since tonight is full moon,” the more aggressive one said from behind you.

As soon as you heard him speak, you started to summon one of the brothers since you knew you wouldn’t stand a chance against two higher demons.

“Hear me, denizens of darkness, you who are born of shadow and you who give birth to it. Hear me and do as I command! I, (y/n), call upon-”

A hand came up your mouth and cover it up, leaving your incantation incomplete.

“Like hell I will let you do it. From seeing you trying to summon a demon, I can tell you are the first girl, the one who is said to mellow out the brothers.”

“What?! The infamous one? Then are you sure it is ok to do this? Won’t the brothers kill us?”

“It’s okay. Cuz they grow bored of her already. If not, why do they let her be alone in this kind of place at this time? Moreover, don’t you want to see the master of the prideful Lucifer breaking apart under our thumbs?”

“ I can’t say I don’t want to. Girl, don’t make such a fuss. It’s not like we will kill you immediately like the lesser demons. If you can keep us entertaining that is.”

At their words, you became more scared and used every ounce of power in your muscles to get free, hitting and scratching the arm that was binding you. But he was much stronger than you and didn’t even budge a bit. If you knew this would happen you should have workout regardless of how busy you were.

Now, you are going to be killed.

You are going to be killed.

You are going to be killed.

You are going to be killed.

You are going to be killed.

“I suggest you let go of her lest you want to turn into dust.”

A voice echoed through the night. You looked towards the source of the sound and saw Solomon walking your way. Seeing him, you felt relief washed over you. The Demon also let go of you and ran away with his friend, shouting “I will remember this, woman!” on his way.

“Even the parting words sound like a third rate villain from a cheap movie.” You said as you looked at their form.

“Why are you calmly saying something like that? You could have died, you know!” Solomon raised his voice unusually and you noticed his typical smile is absent from his face. He was really worried about you.

“It is unlike you to be such a worrywart, Solomon. I can do fine myself. It’s not like that kind of harassment is the first time. I am not the lost girl from when I first come here, thanks to Solomon-sensei’s magic lesson. I can chop them up myself if I wished so.” You said jokingly, trying hide the pain, the fear and all negative emotions in your heart.

“I am being serious, y/n! If I didn’t encounter you on my way back from Asmodeus, you would be dead! In the first place, what are you doing alone here? Where are the brothers?” He stopped for a moment then changed the topic. “ I will walk you back to House of Lamentation, ok?”

“ Yes!” You said as cheerfully as before.

But your thoughts were not nearly as cheerful as your words.

“Where are the brothers…,huh?” Judging from the way he suddenly changed the topics, he knew about the crack formed between you and the brothers due to the new exchange student. Well there was no way Solomon wouldn’t notice it when even those demons from before could guess it. You reheard what the demons said before. “They grow bored of her already.” Sometimes, words hurt precisely because they are true.

Lost in your thoughts, you knew that you arrived the House of Lamentation only when Solomon called out to you. You said goodbye and when you were about to go inside the house, he grabbed your hand. When you looked back, he said “ You can count on me if anything happens. If you want, you can even come stay at Purgatory Hall. Luke would be wagging his tail if you came.” He added a slight joke at the end, perhaps in order to make you feel less miserable.

“Thank you, Solomon. You are all I have left now.” Your voice was barely a whisper but you were sure he heard it because he gave a small smile to you.

…..

When you came into the house, you saw Satan talking to the new human in the living room.

“Welcome back, y/n,” he said. “Today, I went to the neko café that was newly opened near Hell’s Kitchen with Reira.”

“Eh…That’s where you had been. I could do well with a message if you were to miss our date, you know.” Even more so, considering that you had to wait for him in the RAD library for about 6 hours.”

“What? Is today Wednesday? Sorry, I forgot because I was too excited about the café.”

“Sorry? Because you forgot, I was almost killed... or it could have been worse than that,” was what you really wanted to say but all that came out of your mouth is “No, it’s okay.”

You didn’t want to come off as being hysterical just because he missed a date.

Moreover, the incident today wouldn’t have happened if you just gave up and came home the moment you first noticed he won’t be coming. But, your naivety thought that Satan was just late because of some unknown issues and wanted to trust that he will come to you. But you were wrong, like the many times all the brothers ditched you for the new exchange student.

……

“How could you do that to her? She was always so kind to everyone, so kind to you.”

“I didn’t do that, Asmodeus. Why won’t you trust me?”

“Because you smell of Leviathan. Ever since she has arrived, you have smelled like that! I am disappointed in you, y/n. I didn’t think you would stoop so low as to curse an innocent human.” Satan said while trying to contain his seething wrath.

“What… What do you mean?”

“Do you remember we are avatars of sins? We can smell or detect of the presence of those sins in humans’ mind.” Leviathan explained.

“But me being jealous doesn’t mean that I tried to kill her.”

“Then who did? She was poisoned by a curse only humans can perform. There are only three humans in devildom and Solomon has been in human realm even before the incident happened. Are you implying that she did that to herself? Why are you trying to keep denying a crime you clearly committed? Do you have no shame, human?”

Belphegor said with so much venom that it made you remember the day he tried to no actually killed you. If Beelzebub didn’t restrain him, you thought he would have tried to kill you again.

“But I really didn’t do that!!!” When you shouted that, you felt tears running down your cheeks. You were sure you looked so pathetic but you were so frustrated that you couldn’t care anymore.

“I was hurt to know you would exploit the trust we had in you, y/n.” said the older twin.

As one last attempt of tying to explain your innocence, you looked at the avatar of Greed pleadingly and said “Mammon? You will trust me, right?”

Of course he will, you thought to yourself. He is the first demon who treated you kindly, the first demon you become friends with, and the first demon you made a pact. Even if no one believes in you, you were sure he would-

“I am sorry, y/n. But I also think it would be better you confess quickly.”

The words that left Mammon destroyed your world. And you just gave up everything.

“I didn’t do that. But if you guys think that I did then punish me however you like. I am so tired of everything.” You said, quietly.

“So, you won’t confess until the end.” Exasperated, the eldest brother said. “ I am sorry to say this but we cannot keep you here in House of Lamentation now that we know you tried to hurt one of your housemates.”

“It is kinda irony considering you, who tried to killed me for numerous times, are saying that. Actually, one of you actually killed me, right? Well, it works well for me too since I would hate to see any of your faces again.” You said bitterly. “Okay, I will get out today. Don’t worry. Then, I will go pack my things.”

Despite your previous breakdown, you were surprisingly calm. Or at least you appeared to be. In your heart, all sorts of emotions are brewing a storm, hurt, betrayal, hated, anger, sadness, and many other. But you tried your best to contain them because you didn’t want to feel miserable anymore.

…….

You are really leaving this place. You thought longingly. There are both good things and bad things happened in this house but you cared about each and every one of those memories. But you guess they didn’t… j

You slapped both of your cheeks strongly to stop thinking those things or else you will start crying again. Then you heard someone knocking on the door and Mammon came in.

“Y/n, I am sorry back there… Do you have anywhere to go? Should I tell Lucifer to ask Diavolo to lend you a room at the Demon Lord’s Castle?”

“Stop… Mammon. Just don’t …. No matter what you say now, it won’t change the fact that you guys just kick me out. You guys told me that I let you down but actually it was you… all of you, who betrayed me.” You said everything as a matter of fact. “So, just… please leave me alone.”

……

RAD was a huge place but the news of the brothers were always a hot topic. So, when you went to school the next day, everyone already knew that you were kicked out of the house of Lamentation. You had to pretend not to hear the whisper and quiet laughter whenever you walked past the demons in the academy. However, what you couldn’t ignore is the increased level of different kinds of harassment now that the brothers officially abandoned you. It varies from a simple bully like trying to burn your textbook to the opposited fraction of the exchange program straight up trying to kill you.

Worried for you, Simeon tried to stick by your side whenever he could. If he was occupied with something, Luke would try to take his place. But it was not very effective since Luke is well… Luke. You had to worry more about him than yourself in those times. Since Solomon was busy most of the time, doing whatever, he often gave you numerous charms, instead of him, to protect you.

You really owed that branch a lot. If not for them, you wouldn’t even have a place to stay and probably die alone in the back alleys of the Devildom, cold and alone.

…..

“Y/n? Where are you going out by yourself?”

“Nowhere, Solomon... Just to the convenience store near RAD.”

“Did you take the protective charm I gave you the other day? No, wait. I will come with you.”

“Solomon… I am not a five-year old going out her first errand. I can take care of myself. And it is 10 in the morning. No matter how much they hate me, the demons are not that stupid to attack me in the broad daylight.”

“Except there is no daylight in Devildom.”

“But you are busy, aren’t you? I would hate to impose on you.”

“Don’t worry. I am doing this because I want to spend sometime with you. If you feel guilty, then you could come help me with the research after we come back.”

“If you say so…” you reluctantly agreed.

….

He remembered clearly about the day you showed up at the front door of the Purgatory hall. Both he and the angels were surprised to see you come unannounced. But one look at your face and they could tell what happened. So, he just held your trembling form tightly, without asking questions.

Ever since that day, you had been staying in the Purgatory hall. You seemed to taking everything well at a glance, but if one looked carefully, they could see that you had completely closed off your heart to everyone. You went to the tea parties at the Demon Lord’s Castle or went out together with him or the angels but it is clear to see that you are only doing so to be polite. You no longer said what was really on your mind nor neither did you try to understand others. You had put up a wall around your heart as a defense mechanism. He guess that is what happens if someone was betrayed by their closest confidents.

But if possible, he wanted to break down the walls you had carefully put up together. He would like to be the one and only man who was able to heal your heart which was broken and bleeding.

…....

You knocked on the door of Solomon’s room. “It is y/n. May I come in?”

“Yes. It’s alright.”

“Solomon, there is something I need your help with.”

He was surprised to hear that. Because you have stopped asking anyone anything for a long time.

At his silence, you continued, “I… The pacts… I would like to eradicate them. I have searched ways in books and they said that in terminating a pact or a contract needs the involvement of both parties. But I cannot... do that. So, I am wondering if you knew a way to end it by myself.”

“I do know a way. But I have to tell you something first. A pact is a from of bond and agreement between two entries. Forcefully cutting it off means the violation of the contract and, therefore, it is accompanied by immerse pain. The amount of the agony is directly proportional to the power of the other party, in your case, the other parties are the avatars of sins. So…”

“Will they have to go through the same?” you asked.

“They will feel it but only at the moment the pact is being torn apart approximately for 10 seconds. Since they are not the one who broke the contract, they don’t have to feel is much shorter and lesser than your pain.”

“So, the additional agony I had to go through is kind of like a penalty.”

“Yes.”

“Then it is OK, Solomon. If I am being honest, I would have like for them to suffer a little too. I would hate it if I were to disappear without even being noticed. And it would only be fair since they were the ones who put me through it in the first place.”

“Are you sure you want to do this? What you will have to go through would be traumatizing.”

“Yes. I just want to get those marks off my body. Will you help me?”

When you ask him like that, with a look full of determination but one which contains equal amount of melancholy , there is no way he could say no.

“Alright. Then I will tell you about the procedure. First,….”

The preparations took about a month. And today is finally the day of the ceremony. The Solomon from before he knew you would refuse to do this since he knew and wanted the power of the avatars. But now all he wanted to do is help you and fulfill all your wishes.

“Y/n, are you sure you want to do this?” he asked one last time as a confirmation.

“Yes,” he could not see your face while saying that because you hung your head low. But the voice he heard has no shadow of hesitation so he went on with the spell.

As soon as he started chanting, you let out an agonizing scream. He almost stopped his incantation but you sensed that and shouted “Keep going.” In his long life, this was his first time seeing the forceful termination of a pact by a human and it almost looked like exorcism in cheap horror movies. He looked away from your form because if he looked a second longer, he would no doubt stop chanting and run towards you to wipe away your tears.

……

Mammon lied in his bed, thinking about you and the days he spent together with you. He can’t get the image of you leaving the house out of his mind, weak and broken because of his brothers, because of him. Of course, he knew you wouldn’t do something like curse. But all the evidence were against you and he had no choice but to…. Well giving excuses now would not change the fact that he did nothing to help you.

He was so ridden by guilt that he didn’t even had the energy to go to the party with Reira and Asmodeus.

Then, suddenly, he felt a sharp pain inside his chest, the place where his heart would be if he were a human. Being a powerful being, no one dared to stand up against him and so, it has been a very long time he had felt a pain this intense. It feels an unknown force is ripping his non-existent heart off, tearing his body in two. But it only lasted for about a moment and then the pain stopped completely. Then he noticed, the lack of the binds that tied his entire being, the one last connection between you and him. In a panic, he checked the back of his palm, the place where his pact mark would be and it confirmed that his greatest fear had come true.

……

When Mammon got to Lucifer’s office, Leviathan and Satan were already there. And soon after, the twins came in. They didn’t uttered a single word until Asmodeus got back from the party and came running into the room. Reira tried to come in together with Asmodeus.

“What is going on guys? You are making a scary face,” she asked.

“The pacts… They… They are gone,” Leviathan said after a long silence.

“You mean your pacts with y/n-san?”

“Yes!” The girl trembled at Leviathan's uncharacteristic shout.

Noticing it, Satan said, “ I am sorry but could you please leave us alone for a moment?”

When it was just the seven of them, Beelzebub asked, “What should we do Lucifer?”

“I… I don’t know,” the eldest answered. He looked most shaken up among all of them. “It wasn’t supposed to go like this. I only wanted to fulfill Diavolo’s wish of making the exchange program a success. So, when I noticed the dislike y/n had for the new exchange student, I thought it would be best to give her some space and I only thought it would be temporary. But if I knew my decision was going to end like this, I wouldn't say that. It’s all my fault. Because of me-”

“Saying it now will not change anything, Lucifer.” Mammon cut in Lucifer’s rambling. “For now, we should go see y/n. She is likely to be at Purgatory Hall.”

“But I don’t think she will meet us. She even…” Belphegor stopped, like it was physically painful for him to say it out loud. “She broke the pact. I am sure she hate us now.”

“Whether y/n accepts us or not is her decision. It’s our duty to go and ask her why she did that.” Mammon replied looking mature for once.

“ Yes. I agree with Mammon. It is not like sitting here and worrying will change anything,” said Lucifer as he regained his composure.

“ If you say so,” Asmodeus said.

And soon after, the brothers decided to go and meet you at the Purgatory Hall.

……

There was a knock on the main door and Luke went and opened hurriedly, thinking it was Barbatos. So, imagine his surprise when he saw all seven of the brothers standing in front.

“Is y/n here?” asked the Pride.

The face of the brothers are even more tense than the night of the incident with Belphegor many months ago. So, Luke noticed immediately like the matter is quite serious and invited them in timidly.

They waited inside the living room and after a while someone came in. Simeon and Luke went out a second before seemingly giving them privacy. But the one who came in is not who they hoped to see.

“I thought we said we wanted to see y/n. Why are you here?” Satan said his wrath lacing his voice.

“ Yes. But she is too tired to see any of you. It is not like you don’t know what kind of ritual she had to go through today.” Solomon answered and effectively pointing out about the broken pacts. “If you have anything to say, I will relay to her tomorrow when she wakes up.”

“It is not something outsiders can interfere,” said the youngest.

“It is you guys who broke y/n down so much that she had to rely on an outsider like me.”

“Solomon!” Asmodeus shouted to his first master, “We are here to apologize her. Now that we have lost the pact, we finally realized we cannot live without her. No matter what she did, it was wrong for us to do something like kicking her out. That is why we want to mend our relationship and reform our pacts. There is no one for us than y/n.”

“No matter what she did? Are you still thinking y/n cursed the new human?”

“Did she not?”

“As y/n's mentor, I am most knowledgeable about her power. Although y/n has immerse magic, it is incompatible to the curse type incarnation. Thus, she cannot be the culprit. Knowing that, I have been investigating secretly and found out that the new student cursed herself and put the blame on y/n because she hated her. She also drunk a potion so that you won’t be able to detect her envy. Being so infatuated the girl, any of you didn’t notice it, did you?”

All of the brothers had nothing to say back to Solomon.

“She had done so much for you, going out of her way to solve your family’s long lasted problems and healed your traumas. And you paid it back by chasing her away!”

Solomon let all of his anger out without caring what the brothers could do to him. All that remained in his heart was just the hatred he held for the brothers for making you suffer. It is not like him to lose himself to such emotions. But after seeing everything you had to go through because of them, he could not remain calm.

“You human! You should watch what you say.” Suddenly, Lucifer jumped towards Solomon in his demon form and held him by his collar. “We have already told you that we have no want for an outsider. So, we want y/n.”

“Who is the outsider here? And Lucifer, are you sure you want to do this. Solomon is also one of your precious humans from the exchange program and if you hurt him, you would inconvenience Diavolo, wouldn’t you?” You said as you came in to the living room, supported by Simeon.

“Y/n, you should still be resting in bed.”

“It is ok, Solomon. I have recovered a little,” you said, smiling reassuringly to him. And you looked towards the brothers. “So, Lucifer, could you let go of him?”

You no longer held the role of his master but Lucifer still cannot bring himself to disobey you. So, he let go quickly.

After seeing that, you continued, “ I knew you would come and ask me about the pacts but to think you would come this fast.”

“Then can you tell us why you did that?” asked Beelzebub.

“Are you asking me that? You should know why, right? A pact represent the relationship between us and since our connection was broken, I thought it would be better to nullify the pact, too.”

“Our connection is not broken. We all thought that it was a small and temporary thing like Lucifer tying Mammon up to the ceiling,” Leviathan explained.

“Y/n,” Mammon reached out to hold your hand. “I am sorry. I am really sorry I am not able to understand your emotions.” But he stopped hearing you shouted a “Stop!”

“Please stop. It’s not like I hate you. I understand it would be bad for a incident a human faced to remain unsolved if you want the exchange program to be a success.”

“Then-”

“But it still didn’t changed the fact you abandoned me when you found another. And no one can grantees it won’t happen again. I love you too much so I am sure I will die if it were to happen again. But of course, we can still remain as friends. All that has changed is that I now stayed in Purgatory Hall and we no longer have a pact. But it’s absence is not that obvious since I don’t use it frequently in the first place. ” All brothers remained silent through your speech. You looked over at the brothers and gave a small smile.

“I understand,” Lucifer was the first to speak up.

“But Lucifer!” Asmodeus rejected but stopped when he saw the pain in his brother's face.

“If it is your decision, I will follow it,” the signature prideful look is no where to be found on Lucifer. “Just know that we will always be waiting for you should you change your mind and we will never EVER let you down again.”

“I will keep it in mind.”

After that, the brothers left the Purgatory Hall.

“I am sorry I decided without consulting to you first. But Simeon, Luke and Solomon, may I live here with you from now on, too?”

With a smile, Simeon answered “Of course, darling.”

“Then you should go rest now, y/n. Come. I will accompany you to your room.”

“Ok, Solomon.”

…..

When you reached your room, you spoke to him, “Thanks… for standing up to the brothers earlier. And thanks for getting angry for me.”

“It’s nothing. And for your knowledge, I am not getting angry for you. I just hate them because they hurt the girl I like.”

“Eh? What do you mean?”

“I meant what I said, y/n. I like you. It starts as a small interest since you managed to form pacts with the brothers one by one. But those don’t matter anymore. I like you, you and your everything. To be honest, I was a little happy when I first heard you argued with the brothers because they didn’t let me approach you before. Will you be willing to go out with a twisted mage like me?”

Solomon helped you when you were at your lowest. And he was willing to stay by your side, even though you don’t have the power of pacts anymore. You felt tears well up in your eyes from happiness.

“If you are willing to have me, I will be glad to become your girlfriend,” you said.

He hugged your form tightly like the night you left the House of Lamentation.

And finally, he smiled a genuine smile, glad that his plans went well. But you don’t have to know that it was him who gave the new exchange student the necessary potions and taught her how to curse herself. Actually he wasn't too eager about this plan but he had no choice. Like he told you, the brothers won't let him approach you if he didn’t go to such extreme measures.

Moreover, the fact that he pulled some strings doesn't matter much since the ending was a happily ever after with you.

[beerok23]

MACBETH AT HAROLD PINTHER (November 9th, 2024) - A REVIEW WITH SPOILERS

Now that I’m back home, I can write a considerate and not at all crazy and nostalgic post about Macbeth.

Be careful, if you haven’t seen it yet and you’re supposed to see it soon: this review has spoilers.

Please, forgive me if it has typos and if I repeat myself and if this post is so unhinged. I can’t help it, I need to vent my thoughts and feelings.

Watching Macbeth was an otherworldly experience. Something you can only dream of and when it happens it changes all your brain cells.

When David first appeared on scene, from the darkness of the first lines pronounced by the witches…well, I wasn’t expecting him. I kind of distinguished his silhouette in the shadow, and I wasn’t sure that it was him. But it was. And when the lights turned on and he appeared on the scene full of blood and gasping…well I think my world shattered. It’s hard to explain what happens when you finally have the chance to see someone you admire so much only from afar, an actor you’re so accustomed to watch anywhere everyday…and then he finally appears in front of you and he’s like materialising and it’s like magic.

I mean, he was there, with the bowl at the centre of the stage, and the blood stains and he was SO TALL and SO David and SO everything all at once.

I spent the entire 2 hours watching him from my STALL B7 seat, a PERFECT seat —because he occupies the scene at the right of the stage SO much… seriously, I was lucky to choose that seat and it was perfect. Of course watching the scene from upper seats would be awesome to better appreciate the mis en scene, but people… the HEARTACHE I got when I realized David and his brown expressive eyes were there, in front of me.

I couldn’t not watch him, the way he possesses the stage, how he moves perfectly, and the lines, and the tone, a mixture of Crowley and Staged 😭😭😭 I mean… there’s one little laugh he made at one moment that really made me think, “Ok, here’s our demon.”

And those few moments of hilarity, when they try to make the audience laugh (which I almost never did, because I was so tense for the dramatic effect of the whole thing), for example when he mimics another character’s tone to mock him. Ok, that was an original Crowley.

And then Macbeth turns into a tyrant, and he is suddenly even more indifferent than Kilgrave when he’s there on the stage, for those two killing scenes that made me shiver and gasp in outrage. Seriously, the gasp I made when I saw him with the kids…

and I trembled all night (also because it’s terribly cold in the theatre 😁).

ABOUT THE SCENES, MY FAVOURITE MOMENTS, THE STAGE AND THE DIRECTION

The scene of the apparitions is awesome. No rising him up, like at Donmar, fine, but still… incredible. With the red lights, and the actors with spasms…And the kid actor (Raffi Phillips during my show) was incredible.

I adored how they performed the Banquo ghost bit. Intelligent, brilliant. And David out of himself was perfection.

The slow motion. It was my fave artistically bit, I think. The first time it happens, you’re so surprised. It’s like watching a movie, only it’s theatre. But when it happens during the dance scene…I felt my heart explode. And the way he interacts with Lady Macbeth, the perfection of the music changing and slowing down…Oh sweet lord.

The glass. Gosh, I wasn’t expecting it. I mean, I knew there were actors around the stage and musicians and singers, but I didn’t know about the glass. And the actors punching the glass to mimic knocks and sounds…Incredible tension and suspence.

And the scene with Lady MacDuff and her son’s death was incredible, INCREDIBLE. Again, MAcbeth being there on stage, as if he was really there (which he is not), holding the kid to soothe him and then…throwing him towards the killer. I felt it in my bones, David THRIVES in those moments of pure evil and you can only loathe Macbeth for being like that. And the same happens at the end, with the killing of the kid during the last fight, and when he breaks his neck…The whole theatre gasped in unison, I swear.

MY GOD HE’S GOOD. He’s so good.

The trees at the end…it was all so perfect and pure and a bliss. I can’t really explain.

ABOUT DAVID’S OUTFIT AND MONOLOGUES

The monologues…how many lines does Macbeth have? He’s almost ever present on scene and he’s so good, perfect.

The “is it a dagger” scene was…🥹 I can’t explain. And whenever he sat at the corner of the stage, being there even if Macbeth is not there. It feels like meta-theatre, as if they are trying to make us feel what he feels, even if you’re not supposed to be by his side.

The way he said “tomorrow, and tomorrow and tomorrow”, with his perfect Scottish accent. It blew my mind. I was out of myself by then.

The kilt… well…the kilt 🖤 I’m not a sucker for David in a kilt. I wasn’t. But I changed my mind. This outfit will hunt my dreams for…a while. Years to come. But even more than the kilt, his legs and socks, and the black jackets on the grey shirt. The jackets are seriously a masterpiece.

Also, David keeping the wedding ring on stage is the sweetest thing btw ❤️

The legendary hair band, which disappears towards the end to leave space to David’s own hands; I kept watching enamoured every time he threw his hand in his hair. I mean, that’s his mannerism, and I was there to see him doing it.

And his hands. Those scenes in which he came forward with his hands moving in the air… incredible. Also, those few times in which his eyes fell to the stalls and sometimes it felt as if he was looking right at you. Amazing 🥹

ABOUT THE CAST

The cast. Brilliant, talented performers, all of them. Again the kid, my gosh how good was he? And Banquo’s understudy (NIALL MACGREGOR) was GLORIOUS and he complemented David so well!!! I have no idea how good the first actor is, but believe me: this Banquo was…a perfect complement to David. Even in his appearance, and I can totally see him playing a fine Macbeth last Tuesday, too.

Cush’s understudy (JASMIN HINDS) was AMAZING. I haven’t seen Cush, obviously, but from the clips I watched online, she gives a different vibe to the couple relationship, and you can tell that David let her manage the intensity of their connection and touches on scenes. It was lovely. She was lovely. I found they had huge chemistry on scene, and they fitted together awesomely.

I think she was insanely good and I managed to tell her after the show, when she came out from stage door. She is a very nice and sweet person, and she also congratulated me for my 10th wedding anniversary when I said to her, silly as I am, that I came with my husband from Italy to watch a married couple dying on stage on the night of our 10th anniversary. She was amused, and she was lovely. I told her that I was glad I got to see HER on scene, and I meant it 💜

The “pause” for comic effect performed by JATINDER SINGH RANDHAWA was insanely funny. All the knock knock jokes, him laughing at the audience and mocking random people, Oasis and Blur references, inside jokes about canceling the shows… He was so funny and he was so good when suddenly everything went back to normal and he became serious again in the span of a second.

How good are all these actors!

And Macduff, played by NOOF OUSELLAM. You know what? He’s the one who made me cry. When he’s told about his family’s death…he was so insanely good and realistic in his reaction, and the tension and drama on scene was so palpable and I cried with him. He was incredible.

As much as MOYO AKANDE, who was probably my favourite surprise of the night. I love her, she’s insanely good. As much as everyone else.

In the end, I’m so lucky that I got to see David performing, because if I had booked last Saturday, I would have missed the show and I would have been incredibly sad and disappointed (probably for the rest of my life). And David wasn’t still in tip-top condition, because after the last fight scene (which is a very well choreographed fight with swords), when he kneeled, he coughed (and I’ve been told that was not in character) — and it was the only little thing that made you understand that he was sick the prior week. My god, he’s such a professional, getting back as soon as he could. He was perfect and this whole production was a rollercoaster of emotions and feelings and surprises and suspence. It really deserves the world and accolades.

And I know I did not get a chance to see David at Stage Door, but you know what? I don’t care. Because this was a weekend that I totally dedicate to Good Omens in general (we went to St. James’s, and Tavistock Square, and to the bandstand in Battersea Park, which is probably my new place of the heart (broken or not, one of my favourite places in the whole world, now). And watching David on stage after a year of obsessing over the show and him and Michael felt like a cathartic moment. Ok, it’s not like meeting him and talking to him, maybe. But it’s better: it’s watching him in his raw version, in his element. The theatre has this kind of magic that television can’t provide. And I’m insanely happy to have gotten the chance to attend to one of these incredible shows.

Now I know.

09/11/2024

[sylverstorms]

Dimitrescus x Maiden---- The End of Winter(s)

Requested here. (I don't always have time for requests but we all needed this one.)

First come the gunshots.

Then, a feeling of dread.

It is strange; You’ve had intruders enter the castle before, in the years you’ve been with the Dimitrescus. Some lasted seconds, others hours. There were one or two the daughters kept around for more than a day, just for the thrill of the chase.

It is not the first time you hear a gun go off in the estate. Your past also renders the sound familiar, nothing remarkable.

But.

You can’t shake off the nausea that accompanies it this time. Your chest constricts and your gut churns and you just know something has gone terribly wrong.

Your fears are confirmed when, minutes later, Bela stumbles in from the doorway, her usual grace and aura of certainty completely gone. She is shivering, shaking, chilled to the bone. The visible patches of her skin look grey and hardened into an almost diamond substance. Flies are breaking apart from her and falling, twitching, to the floor.

You immediately rush to her and she collapses forward in your embrace. Her chin knocks against your shoulder, cold as a block of ice.

“Bela, love, what happened?!” you ask, while leading her to the nearest fireplace. Of course, you know about their weakness.

But how does he?

She wraps her arms around your waist tight, almost too tight, like she’s on the verge of breaking apart –physically, mentally—and you’re the only anchor she’s got.

From the top of the staircase, you hear Alcina’s hurried steps. Another door snaps open in the far corner of the room and you see Cassandra materialize out of the swarm there, then rush over to you.

“I… I… This can’t be happening.” Bela whispers, gasping for breath.

You can only hold her more securely against you, running your fingers through her blonde hair. It seems to calm her somewhat. Both your ministrations and the warmth.

You and Alcina share a look of pure worry.

“I failed. Mother, I failed.” Bela practically sobs without facing the woman and your heart shatters into pieces. You’ve never seen her like this.

“Bela—” she tries to say, while Cassandra remains there like a statue, unable to process the scene.

“He shot the windows and now he knows.” Bela pulls slightly away from you to say. “That stupid man-thing has got Daniela!”

“I’m going. I’ll rip out his intestines and feed them to him.” Cassandra growls and it’s a dark, ominous sound.

Alcina grabs her arm before she can swarm off. “No. I won’t risk another one of you. I will deal with that vermin.” she says through clenched teeth. You can see the effort she puts into keeping her voice steady.

You want to reach for her, to comfort her, but Bela is in a worst state, battling her body’s reaction to the cold and her self-loathing for her failure, so you stay put.

“Stay with Eliza. Do not let him anywhere near her. I will get Daniela.” she orders her daughters, leaving them as your guards.

Cassandra walks over to you and takes your hand in hers, lacing your fingers together. With her free one, she rubs Bela’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry. I’ve wanted to kill Daniela several times over the last century so I can safely say it just doesn’t work.” even as she tries to lighten the mood, though, you can see how tempted she is to disobey Alcina and go after Winters. Her grip keeps clenching and unclenching. “He won’t come near you, darling.” she promises you.

But then… the thought strikes you. What if you go near him?

-

-

After you put Bela to sleep, you tell Cassandra to wait a while with her and that you’ll be back.

You will be back. Just not without Daniela.

The more you think about it, the more sense it makes for you to go. You are only human, yes, but that is precisely what can give you an edge in this. You do not have a fatal weakness to the cold. You move much faster than Alcina.

And although you’ve tried hard to grow beyond your past, you always knew you were no better than what it made you.

You’ve killed dozens who had done nothing to you during your time in the military’s special forces. Why would you not plant a bullet in the head of someone who dared to harm your new family?

Duke recognizes the look in your eye when you ask to see his collection of rifles. You pick one to your liking and test its weight in your grip. So much for promising never to touch a gun again.

You run through corridors and rooms before you hear his voice.

“Shut up, witch! I’m getting Rose back!” he shouts at Daniela, coped up in the library where there’s only one entrance. You press against the wall and carefully peek through. She gives a weak giggle, chained in front of an open window as she is.

God, she must be suffering.

Still, her eye rapidly flits to you. You motion for her to drop down. And then-

You turn into the room, rifle blazing, the first bullets driven into his head and the rest of the clip emptied in his torso. Blood splatters everywhere with every pull of the trigger and for the first time in your life you do feel something as you kill another person. Pure satisfaction.

You leap over the crimson pool that is swelling around Winters’ corpse to free Daniela, who is laughing even though she’s basically an icicle, at this point.

When you pull her away from the cold she collapses into you, much like Bela did, only she can’t move her limbs enough to cling to you.

“Daniela?!!” You hear Alcina’s voice wrecked with anguish. “I will slice you to bits, you filthy man-thing!” she nearly screams as she approaches the library.

“Go wild, dear. He won’t put up much of a fight.” you reply, a brief smirk curling your lip. Daniela burrows deeper into your warmth with a faint laugh. Alcina is equal parts confused and fuming when she ducks under the doorway—

And sees the body of Ethan Winters laying in a pool of his own blood. Her claws detract. She stalks over to his corpse…

Then crushes his head under her heel.

You wince at the gut-churning, crunching sound, holding Daniela tighter, but part of you is deeply relieved it’s finally over despite the brutality. Can’t take any chances.

You almost lost them. You lower your head to Daniela’s neck as silent tears start to flow from your eyes.

“Baby, I’m.. fine…” the redhead croaks out, nudging you with her head.

Alcina kneels down beside you, more exhausted than you’ve ever seen her. She gathers you both into a hug, resting her head on top of yours. You stay there a long time.

“My beautiful girl. My love.” she whispers to Daniela and you. She’s too proud to say most of the things she wants, but you can see them in her expression and the tightness of her throat regardless.

“…I’m hungry.” Daniela complains once feeling returns to her frozen form.

“When are you not?” you tease.

“We’d have that man’s flesh for dinner… but I would never feed my daughters something so disgusting.” Alcina says.

She picks Daniela up in her arms like a baby and you do not look at the bloody mess behind you.

-

-

After dinner, the Dimitrescus and you are all sitting in a couch in front of the fireplace, making light conversation and basking in each other’s presence.

Alcina is delicately sipping wine while you’re leaned against her, with Daniela practically in your lap. Cassandra is beside her and none too happy to not touch as much of you, though she is keeping your hand on her thigh possessively. Bela is curled like a cat at your legs, her cheek on your knee.

“Can you not hog her like you’re here by yourself?” Cassandra growls at Daniela, who doesn’t even think to budge.

“I’m the one who almost died. Piss off.” Daniela’s lips brush against your neck as she speaks.

“Daughters.” Alcina chastises.

“How long are you going to play the ‘I almost died’ card for?” Cassandra asks irritably.

“As long as it works~” Daniela kisses your jawline several times.

“Bela, are you still sulking?” Cassandra nudges her with her foot.

“Leave me alone...” the eldest sister huffs.

And the answer to that is a resounding yes.

You know it will take time to be completely over this. You know right now they all need you, in different ways.

Bela has to climb out of the self-blaming pit she’s dug herself in –she always is too rough on herself—and your touch grounds her.

Cassandra wants you to please her hard and long in bed to blow off the steam of the past day or she won’t be able to rest at all.

Daniela won’t show it but she was petrified and she’s still scared. She needs your attention, needs you to drown her in kisses, until it all goes away.

Alcina almost lost her girls to that man. She hasn’t recovered from the shock but you can see the bone-deep gratitude and the sheer love in her eyes whenever they lock with yours. Her girls will get you first, but when it’s her time with you…

Well.

She’ll thank you in so many ways.

.

Ko-Fi

[airi-p4]

Delivered

Hi!  It’s been a while since I wrote something, huh? I guess I’ve been (and I still am) having a writers block, but I’ve been feeling more inspired this week (vacation sure helps yay!), so I wrote this silly idea I had.

It’s totally CRACK / random with Adrien / Chat Noir salt just because. I hope it ended up making sense? ^^;

Warning: Adrien/Chat Noir salt, Crack fic, canon-divergence (Plagg and Tikki don’t know the other heroes secret identities + Master Fu is the Guardian) Summary: Plagg decides he’s had enough of Adrien, so he finds his way to choose a new user for his Miraculous. Just not in standard ways…

AO3

________________________________________________

This wasn't how Luka had expected the night to go.

He had been first, tied up, and then, thrown and locked in a locker from a supply room down Paris' sewers. By Ladybug. She had thought he was an akuma. And Luka… well, he hadn't expected his first meeting with the famous superhero to go like that. He couldn't say he wasn't really surprised either, though.

Now, Ladybug was talking- arguing- with his newly acquitted kwami, clear and loud, outside the closet he was trapped in.

"What's the meaning of this, Plagg! Where's Chat Noir!?"

"I left him" the God answered, unbothered.

"What-!? Are you crazy!? Why!?" Ladybug demanded.

Luka knew exactly what was coming, since he just had this conversation one hour ago…

"He was hurting my reputation"

"What…?"

"The self-sacrifice, the flirting, the jokes… I'm the god of destruction not the gag of destruction! I should be feared, not pitied or made fun of!"

"But-"

"C’mon! You defeat almost all of the akumas by yourself, Bug girl! Some people even call my power useless. You hear? They call me useless!" He groaned. "How am I not supposed to take action!? My pride has been deeply hurt!"

Ladybug was silent, and Luka imagined she had been as speechless as he had been when he first heard the God’s reasons too. Plagg was being even more dramatic than he had been with him, but he couldn't deny it- the kwami was right. Chat Noir had made questionable choices during akuma fights, and kids liked him for his goofy side. Pure entertainment. A joke.

"But- what about him? Who is he…?" Ladybug asked, pointing at the closet, Luka imagined. "And what about the previous Chat?"

"He's my new wielder. He'll be your partner from now on" Plagg answered. "The other Chat will have to accept it and learn from his mistakes. You should be happy you won't have to reject him anymore!"

That last part was new for Luka. Reject? All Paris thought they were dating. All media sources claimed so, even the very same Chat Noir! Suddenly he was feeling better about him being powerless now.

"What?" She asked, and Luka could almost see her wide eyes in his imagination. "Why him?"

Oh- that was a funny one…

"Why me?" Luka asked, looking at the kwami, just one hour ago.

"Because you have the ring" Plagg answered, flat and short.

"Wait wait wait! It can't be so- simple!"

Luka paused to remember how he got in that situation.

It had all been Juleka's fault.

And his own too, probably.

Juleka had been crying over her crushed dream and never being able to become what she wanted to, and Luka, as the good supportive big brother he was, comforted her, assuring her that she could be whatever she wanted to be.

It turned out she wanted to become a witch. Cast spells, summon familiars, make potions… Luka partly regretted his words. Mostly because it led Juleka to secretly attempt black sorcery and cast a spell for him to find love and be happy, as gratitude for his support. For said spell, she used his favorite ring and... it somehow ended up deep down the waters of the Seine.

Luka had been heroically holding his grudge to jump to the gross river to rescue his precious possession, but he changed his mind and gave up on it when he saw Juleka happily kiss her longtime crush Rose. 'At least the spell worked for Juleka' he shrugged, resignated.

As time went by, he missed fidgeting with his ring, and that's when he decided to buy a cheap one online to cover for the old one. Was it Ebay? Wallapop? He couldn’t remember, but said ring turned out to be the black cat Miraculous…

"I just bought a second-hand ring online! Anyone could have bought it! Even Hawk Moth himself!" Luka protested.

Plagg crossed his tiny legs before calmly answering. "Anyone would have been better than the previous Chat Noir, to be honest. And if it had been Hawk Moth, I would have been able to cataclysm them on the spot, so that wouldn't have been bad, really" Plagg's eyes burned in excitement for a moment, but then he sighed and looked back at Luka again with a tiny smile. "But it was you. So it's your responsibility now. You're going to be Paris' new superhero, my partner and fight alongside Ladybug. You should be honored!"

"Honored!? You can't be serious!" Luka was losing his mind. "You can't just shove me with unwanted responsibilities and expect me to accept! I'm busy and I'm not a hero! I've never wanted to become one! Not even as a child!"

"Everyone has a hero they admire. You can get ideas or inspiration from them" Plagg affirmed. Luka couldn't deny he had a hero… just not the type the kwami had in his mind.

"Look- yes, there's someone I admire. But he's not the typical hero. He's eccentric, chaotic, charismatic and talented, but he's a rock star that plays the guitar and lives with a crocodile. What do you expect me to do based on that!?" His arms opened wide as he walked around his cabin. "I'm not even fit!"

"Just roll with it, boy! It will be thrilling. And fun. Plus you'll be admired and famous. And don't worry about your physical condition, my powers will cover that" Plagg affirmed. "I'll be respected and feared again, with a mysterious touch. Paris will be safer and we won't have to cry for any other Parisian loss"

"Loss...?" Plagg's last sentence gave Luka shivers. "You mean saving Paris and Parisians from… death? Me…?"

"You and Ladybug, yes. She's the one with the Miraculous cure. If she's out, the damages caused by akumas can't be restored. Even fatalities."

He sat down in a meditation pose. That was a lot to sink in.

Paris… and Ladybug. That was a very heavy weight to carry on anyone's shoulders. Considering how the previous Chat Noir was, he couldn't help but feel sorry and sympathize with Ladybug. A young girl carrying such responsibility… the weight of the world on her shoulders… all alone.

Luka's sense of justice was too strong to say no.

"Ok. I'll do it. For Paris."

"Good! Now let me teach you the basics and how to transform. Think well, because the suit you imagine is the one you'll wear every time you transform from now on." Luka nodded and Plagg continued. "C'mon, Ladybug is waiting for us in the sewers."

"The sewers…?"

……

"This is unbelievable! Why didn't you just tell me or Master Fu!? We would have looked for a replacement ourselves instead of leaving everything to chance? To luck?" Ladybug groaned. "I'm sure Master Fu would have known someone!"

"Well, that would have been difficult. I don't know you under the mask. Neither where you or Master Fu live. And I can't talk to you if Ad-" a couple of bubbles left his mouth. "If the previous Chat Noir was always  transformed around you. I had no choice" Plagg explained. "Besides, Master Fu already chose the previous Chat Noir, so…"

She couldn't disagree.

"And how can we be sure we can trust him?"

"Do you really prefer to have the previous Chat Noir around instead?" Plagg asked, and Ladybug gulped. "See? You don't! Of course not! Me neither! He’s cool!"

"But still-" Ladybug continued. "There's no reason to involve anyone else. I could have managed all alone!"

"You’re wrong" Luka finally spoke, from inside the locker. "If you fall, it's game over. There's no way you can carry all of this weight alone. Let me help you."

"Eh?" Ladybug sounded surprised. "I can't-"

A sudden tremble interrupted them.

"An akuma!" Ladybug gasped, and Plagg flew toward Luka. "Plagg!"

"You want to know if he's worthy to be your superhero partner, right? This is the perfect time to find out!" Plagg crossed the door and unlocked the lock, leaving a puzzled Ladybug behind. "Say the words, kid!"

"Plagg, claws out!"

There was a flash of green, and soon, the new Black Cat Miraculous user stepped out of the locker. He looked at Ladybug's unconvinced eyes and spoke again.

"Look. I'm just as shocked about all this as you are and I can't ask you to trust me yet. But there's an akuma right there and now is not the time for this. Paris needs help and we're the only ones who can stop the villain. So let's go and you can give the Miraculous to someone else if you prefer once the fight is over. I never asked for this, but I can't keep still knowing I can stop people from getting hurt!"

Ladybug seemed moved by his words. When was the last time anyone near her paid real attention to akuma attacks? It seemed like ages since someone aside from her had actually cared for Paris and it's citizens. It was… refreshing. And reassuring. And correct: they had no time to waste.

"O- ok! We'll talk later. Let's go!" Ladybug ran, gesturing for the new cat to follow her. He obeyed.

…….

The akuma had been, unsurprisingly, the previous Chat Noir, with his same appearance and powers. He was angry that he lost the Miraculous and, more than that, how he wouldn't be able to see Ladybug daily anymore. Luka couldn't help but feel even more relieved Plagg left him, seeing the destruction he was causing as he moved around the city.

It surprised Ladybug how the new Chat Noir didn't jump to the battle carelessly. He seemed tactical- a planner. A strategist, like she was. His fists clenched in anger, but he stayed collected, focused. And she appreciated it. The previous Chat Noir would have already been turned into ashes.

Ladybug called for her lucky charm and soon, she came out with an unbelievable plan and bravely and admirably took him out with the new cat's help. Luka was dazzled by the girl. No wonder Chat Noir and half of Paris fell for her… wow… Extraordinary.

Something sounded very wrong in Ladybug's heart when the previous Chat Noir was revealed to be Adrien Agreste. Disappointment. Betrayal. Distrust. There were more emotions that escaped Luka's knowledge, but when they were back alone again, in the sewers, and she started crying, he was more than glad to lend her his shoulder and support.

Paris' unbreakable superhero cried.

Weak, fragile.

Human.

Traits people seemed to pretend didn't exist or to avoid acknowledging her with the excuse of the girl being a superhero. A facade she had to keep to make Paris' ungrateful citizens feel safe.

She kept crying for a long while, and that was Luka's turning point. He decided he was never going to let her cry like that again. He would share her burden and keep her safe. Not only for Paris, but also for the young girl behind the mask. Because, after all, she was a person under the mask. Not a superhero. Just like him.

"Feel better?" Luka asked, when her shoulders stopped shaking. Ladybug nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Yes. Thank you…" Ladybug finally said. "Thank you for not judging me… partner" There was a sweet blush under her mask Luka couldn’t perceive, but he welcomed her honest smile.

"You’re welcome" Luka smiled, relieved. "Count on me anytime you need a shoulder to lean on, partner"

………………

Marinette couldn't believe herself. It wasn't like her to trust strangers, or to expose her weakness to them that easily. Sure, she had gone through a lot that day. Adrien being Chat Noir… It made her feel like she had been crushing on a lie.

What was real? Who could she trust?

She had no answers, but there was something about that new cat superhero that gave her hope… He was accessible. Supportive. Caring. Warm. Understanding. Reliable… she had been missing those more than she even realized.

‘Oh-’ she had never asked him for his superhero name, she realized. She would have to next time. That was really something to look forward to. Plus, she felt lighter.

She giggled as she covered herself with her blanket, Tikki smiling beside her.

………..

"Hey Plagg," Luka asked. "Is there anything else I should know about the Miraculous?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like- Is it true the Black Cat and the Ladybug Miraculous are meant to be, like Adrien said?" Luka strummed his guitar.

"Nah." Plagg said, swallowing a piece of camembert. "That's irrelevant. What really matters is the compatibility of the people under the mask. The Miraculous have nothing to do with that" Plagg's answer relieved Luka. “Adrien made that up in his head. Do not worry about it, kid”

Luka hadn’t planned to fall in love. Especially not with his superhero partner. But after weeks of becoming closer… best friends… he couldn't deny his feelings of love for the girl. Wouldn't Plagg get angry if he knew? Wouldn't Ladybug be bothered as well if he confessed? It was good enough to spend time with her. Maybe someday, if Hawkmoth finally gets defeated…

……….

And that time arrived: after a few months, HawkMoth was defeated. No more evil. No more akumas.

And maybe Juleka's witchcraft spell worked out in the end.

Because Luka found out his feelings for the superhero girl were mutual right after the final fight. He was in love and happy. Just like his sister had wished for.

And not only that: he was also grateful his favorite ring still laid down the Seine. He wished for it to always stay underwater. Maybe it was silly, because he was more than sure he would have found his way to Marinette anyway, and fall in love with her even if no masks were involved, but he wanted this peaceful happiness to last forever.

And it did.

Fin

[rhysdasiorarchive]

“I can assure you that Roland has far better ways to spend his time. It isn’t anything serious, Seth. It’s an…” despite the confidence he’d started off with, Rhys floundered for a moment as he tried to find the most fitting description for whatever was blossoming between himself and the councilman in question. “...amicable workplace relationship… I suppose. If a label has to be applied to it. It’s nothing that’s set in stone. For the time being, it’s harmless. It’s certainly nothing you have to be concerned about.” Rhys himself still possessed several reservations when it came to thinking too hard about whatever it was that was occurring between himself and Roland. As much as he tried to tell himself that there wasn’t anything deeper than a physical relationship between the two of them, he was struggling to deny that more was blossoming beneath the surface. The nightly walks they’d been venturing on together had really opened Rhys’ eyes; he’d learned more about Roland during the nighttime hours they’d spent than he ever could’ve hoped for – whether he wished to admit it or not, he was stumbling further and further into the seemingly bottomless pit of intrigue surrounding the vampire with each evening that passed. Trying to explain such a fact to Seth seemed impossible given the younger witch’s reluctance to hear anything vaguely complimentary about the councilman in question. 

Given Seth’s reaction to the unveiling of the unfortunate exchange between himself and Shade, Rhys suppressed a sigh of relief as the conversation took a noticeable turn. Well, until Seth attempted to defend himself again. “We both know that isn’t entirely true. Did you or did you not threaten him?” Cocking his head to the side, Rhys narrowed his eyes as he pinned his stare on his protégé and fought the urge to launch into a new lecture. “I know I don’t need to tell you how reckless that was. Again, I appreciate the lengths you’re willing to go to to look out for me, but for the love of all that’s holy, don’t put yourself at risk in doing so. You’ve got enough to worry about right now. Threatening any member of the council isn’t the way forward.” Rhys paused for a second as he mulled over everything Roland had informed him of before continuing. “Besides, you’ve probably only encouraged him further by doing so. He tends to enjoy a challenge.” 

As the conversation shifted to the perpetual headache that had been Shade’s presence in his office, Rhys sighed and reluctantly retraced that meeting in his mind. “I wish I could give you a conclusive answer. Initially, he’d come here under the guise of requesting my assistance for a certain demon-related incident–” He fixed Seth with a pointed stare, knowing he needn’t elaborate further on that particular elephant in the room. “He’d scheduled an appointment with me previously and hadn’t bothered to show up, so I’d thought nothing of it and was minutes away from locking up for the evening when he finally decided to show up.” Pushing himself off of his desk, Rhys readjusted his blazer as he began to pace around the office, disdain visible on his features as he continued the retelling. “He was immediately insufferable. His expectations were entirely unrealistic. I patiently tried explaining to him that magic wasn’t necessarily instantaneous, not that level of magic, anyway. He wasn’t having any of it. He also took it upon himself to almost break several of my possessions and then decided it was somehow wholly appropriate to pin me to the ground and proposition me. Fortunately, matters didn’t progress any further.” Coming to an abrupt halt, Rhys turned to face Seth properly and tried for a faint smile. “As I said earlier, by comparison, Roland is practically a saint. You’re fretting over the wrong drama queen. Yours needs a reprimanding far more than mine does.”

"He could also be playing some long con game, get you to trust him before he shows those true colors," Seth argued, well experienced with the type after living with his own mother, Crash, and many of the residents within Krovs. Truly a mystery how he developed trust issues with people. He wanted to be happy for Rhys without these well-meaning concerns but Seth always had an overprotective streak with the very few people he considered family. He didn't like the idea of them getting hurt or screwed over if he could help prevent it although Seth also learned through trial and error that he couldn't control everything.

Anything else he might've had on his very firm anti-Roland brigade list immediately scratched off the second Rhys mentioned the other member of his found family, for better or for worse. He stiffened in his seat, sucking in a hiss of breath through his teeth. He loved Shade dearly, perhaps a little more than he should given the cambion's... personality. Shade could be, well, a lot to handle with his quick ramblings that usually made no sense, general chaotic tendencies, and his inability to focus for long. That and the fact that whenever Seth saw Shade he was either drunk or high or both. Seth adored him regardless, having known him for about ten years and similar traits. He had no immediate plans for Rhys to actually meet Shade for that reason although now he was wondering how that came about. "I've been respectful," he mumbled, deflating upon an exhale while he sank down in his chair. He set his jaw, making a mental note not to kill Shade for fucking up his argument here about Roland with all of his... Shadeness. "Shade's not some old ass undead councilman. What, uh, what was he even doing up here?"