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nicekillchanceballs · 4 years ago

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I Might ◑

Pairing: timeskip!Akaashi Keiji x gn!reader Genre: Hurt/comfort, a little bit of romance and fluff? Synopsis: You just wanted your coffee. Instead, you got a stranger together with your drink. Word Count: ~3.7k A/N: I never thought this would be so long please don’t get bored. I also apologize for any grammatical errors, I am so rusty, lol. This is my first work in my Love Me ◑ series. Thank you!! -- sloth 🦥 Listen to I Might ◑ here.

It’s hard to vanish without a trace And whose idea was this in the first place? I might, I might, I might Fake my death tonight So we can start a whole new life

You always have been a regular of this coffee shop you're in right now. Ever since you were a university student, up until now that you're a writer for a lifestyle magazine, you always make sure to visit this café at least every 3 months to unwind and relax -- even if it meant that you will have to starve yourself for days so that you can have the money to treat yourself at this hidden gem of a place.

You ordered your usual. Upon receiving your drink and pastry, you took a seat and table on the balcony outside overlooking the lake below. You are the only person here because the other customers are inside the shop utilizing the fireplace and heater. It is kind of chilly, luckily, you sport a thick cardigan on. You took a deep breath and the scent of coffee, cinnamon, and pine trees helped in calming your nerves down.

As you took a sip of your caramel macchiato, you are mentally listing the reasons why this place became your go-to spot. First, it is located in a place up in the mountains, so it is very cold and only a few people are braving to go here. Second, the coffee and pastries this place offers deliciously hits your coffee-loving sweet tooth. For you, no amount of Starbucks or Tim Hortons can compete with this café. Lastly, and the most important, this place witnessed and cured you of your misfortunes and depression. Every time something bad happens, being the introvert that you are, you tend to go off the grid to escape and do your "soul searching", and this place helped you with that.

You brought out your journal and pen, scribbling random thoughts that fill your overactive brain. Your friend, who is a psychologist, advised you that whenever you feel overwhelmed, you can write the feelings or things that seem to engulf you. “It somehow will help you in releasing your frustrations instead of bottling it up,'' she said.

You looked up and admired the view this place has to offer. The sky is painted pastel orange with hues of blue and purple. You noticed that fog is already forming below, hugging the pine trees around the lake. The lagoon is calm as ever, reflecting the already setting sun. You smiled as you basked in peace and contentment.

However, your tranquility was kind of disturbed when the balcony glass doors opened and a tall man with short, black, tousled hair occupied a seat two tables away from you. He looked like he stepped out of a men's fashion magazine -- he was wearing black-rimmed eyeglasses, a beige turtleneck, black jeans, a long brown coat, and a satchel sling bag. He then settled his tray with his own coffee and pastry on his table. You immediately turned your head away, afraid that this beautiful man may have caught you staring. You felt heat from your cheeks forming as you carried on scrawling in your journal. He's so beautiful, you thought.

However, as you continued to write, you remembered the face of your boss making your blood slightly boil. Well, the reason you are here is because of the stress in your workplace -- asshole superiors, some good-for-nothing co-workers, shitty salary, unreasonable work hours, and your list goes on. Once I gained my needed years of experience, I will immediately resign, I swear on the grave of that ungrateful boss bastard. This anger made you forget about the pretty man meters away from you.

Little did you know that he is also staring at you. He noticed your furrowed eyebrows and the intensity of you jotting away at your notebook. He also noticed your reddened cheeks and the breath vapor that formed as you huffed in exasperation. He was not the one to be observant towards strangers (it is only his friends that he is concerned about), but you have this certain aura that entices him. He smiled as he gulped his black coffee, pulled out his laptop from his bag, opened it, and checked some emails.

You estimated that ten minutes have already passed and you are still writing, anger somehow dissipating when suddenly you heard a loud "Hey, hey, hey, can we talk to the manager?” inside the coffee shop. You sighed because now, your peace is totally disrupted. You whipped your head to look at the commotion inside and you saw a tall man with spiky gray hair and black streaks wearing a black hoodie and jeans. That loud guy was accompanied by another taller man with messy, spiky black hair wearing a white t-shirt tucked in his slacks. The store manager then approached them. What’s with very tall, beautiful people today wanting coffee? You thought.

Shrugging, you looked again at your notebook. Without thinking, you stole a glance towards the direction of the man seated meters away from you. You saw that he was pale and his eyes were wide, frozen in shock. His gaze fell upon you, realizing that you were looking at him. He immediately scrambled from his seat and briskly walked towards you. You instinctively panicked. What is happening?!

He stopped beside your seat and he instantly crouched down, as if hiding from something. You looked down at him, your eyes also a notch bigger than normal from shock. He then softly whispered, “Under no circumstances you will tell anyone, especially them --” he motioned towards the two men inside the shop -- “that I am here. Please.” His emerald eyes are practically begging you. Hypnotized by him, you just nodded. “I’ll just hide in the comfort room, just knock four times when they are gone.” He said and then clambered away from you, making his way towards the bathroom.

You took a deep breath and sighed loudly. You are very confused as to why the man was hiding. Is he a serial killer? Are the two tall men inside detectives or something? Or are they kidnappers? Hitmen? Is the pretty boy gonna be abducted? Your mind was in overdrive. You thought of just packing up and leaving the establishment, but you sympathize with the man you just spoke with. You don’t know why, but you can relate to him.

Your musings are interrupted as the lights in the balcony lit up. Oh, the sun has already set. You glanced at your wristwatch and it was already 6:30 PM. You heard the balcony doors open and the tall, black-haired man entered, with the gray-and-black haired man following suit. Oh, shit, they are here to question me.

“Hi.” The man with black hair smiled at you. “I am Kuroo, and the noisy one there is Bokuto.”

Bokuto is smiling widely, walking towards you but is distracted by the view of the city skyline. He ran and stood beside the balcony railings. “Man, it is beautiful and cold here in Miyagi!”

Kuroo scratched his head, “I apologize for my loud friend, but have you seen a man this tall ---” he gestured his hand just near his temples, demonstrating the height of the man you spoke with earlier -- “he has green eyes and black-rimmed eyeglasses.”

“Yes, yes, he looks preppy,” Bokuto said as he finally walked towards your seat.

You cleared your throat. You have this habit of clearing your throat when you are nervous. “No, I haven’t seen anyone with that description.” You lied as you nervously sip your now cold coffee.

“Oh really?” Bokuto pouted, deep in thought. He then looked at Kuroo, pointing at the other table. “That looks like his laptop and bag.”

You almost choked on your drink as you realized that the man left his things at his table. Shit. Your mind quickly formulated a shitty lie. “Uhm, it is a girl -- an employee that is seated there, not a man.”

“Employee?” They said in unison.

“Yes. An employee of this coffee shop. That’s her laptop. They are doing interviews earlier. Job openings…” You trailed off.

The two men just nodded. Bokuto sighed loudly. “Where did Akaashi run off to? I am getting worried. He’s gone for a week already! His ex-girlfriend is so mean!”

“Hey now, he is a grown-ass man okay? I know he knows what he is doing. Let’s just resume the search tomorrow, shall we?” Kuroo patted his friend’s back.

Bokuto looked at you with his somber, amber, owl-like eyes and said, “Thank you for your help. We are very sorry for disturbing you.”

“So we’ll leave you alone now, thank you again.” Kuroo nodded at you and the pair started walking out of the balcony. You awkwardly smiled at their backs.

When Kuroo closed the balcony glass doors, you noticed his cat-like eyes lingered on you for a moment, glimpsed at Akaashi’s table, and at you again. Maybe it is just the lighting inside the coffee shop, or it is only your imagination, but you saw a small, sly smile forming on his lips. He finally turned his back and walked away.

What the heck was that? Did he know that I’m lying?! I am really a shitty liar. You ran your fingers through your hair. You then stood up and glanced around, ensuring that the two men were really gone. You immediately went to the bathroom and knocked four times. There was no response but you can hear shuffling inside. You immediately went back to your seat on the balcony.

Minutes later, Akaashi emerged from the door, went to his table, and started to gather his things. Oh, he’s leaving already, what did I expect? You thought as you softly face-palmed yourself.

“Can I sit here?”

You removed your palm from your face and looked up at Akaashi. You felt your eyes widen again. “You... You were not leaving?”

“No, not yet.”

You just nodded and removed your bag from the seat across you. He then took the said seat.

"So.." He looked sideways, afraid to meet your eyes because of embarrassment. "I think I owe you an explanation."

You just nodded again, still dumbstruck by his charm.

“To start, I am Akaashi Keiji, well… You can call me Keiji.” He took a sip of his coffee. “And contrary to what Bokuto said earlier --”

“You heard them earlier?” You finally spoke, interrupting him. Oh god, he must have heard my pathetic lies earlier.

“Uhh, yes. Those two are so loud, they sound like they swallowed microphones or something.”

You chuckled at his snarky comment. “Yeah, they really are loud.”

“Anyway… Thank you so much for what you did earlier. I am truly sorry for dragging you into this.” He scratched his head. “Good thing they fell for your alibi.”

“Yeah, Bokuto fell for it. He must really miss you.” You broke a small piece from your chocolate chip cookie and munched on it. “But for Kuroo… I don't know. I think he knows.”

“Oh, Kuroo? He really is a pain in the ass.” Akaashi rolled his eyes and sighed. “So to continue, contrary to what Bokuto said earlier, it is not because my ex-girlfriend dumped me. It's been three months ago already. I kind of expected it because I caught her cheating so many times I cannot count it with my two hands.” He said nonchalantly while holding up both of his hands.

How can he be so cool about being dumped?! You thought, then you noticed that although calloused, he has very nice hands. Blue veins were prominent in his palms, running up toward his long, slender fingers. You want to punch yourself for noticing that at this time. Hey, stupid self, this is not the time for simping on a stranger!

He continued, “I disconnected from everyone because everything is overwhelming me. My job, my boss, bills, rent… Adulting is very hard, you know?” He droned on as he fiddled the cup sleeve of his coffee. "Also, I have always wanted to be a literary editor, but instead, they assigned me as an editor in a manga magazine."

You wanted to ask how he went off the grid because you’re interested in doing that too, but he continued on ranting.

“I am usually a calm and collected person.” Akaashi gulped again on his coffee. “I usually handle problems like a breeze, not even my friends can recognize that I have problems because I immediately find ways and solve them with ease. But now, I think I reached my tipping point, and it’s very hard to keep up with this front anymore. I am just tired, then I find myself driving away from Tokyo, and here I am.” He stared into your eyes, expecting for you to say something. Akaashi surprised himself that he bared his vulnerabilities upon a stranger.

Well, you are also astonished just the same. You realized it is getting serious.

“So.. how long have you been into hiding?”

He counted in his mind. “Today is the sixth day.”

You cleared your throat again. "Since you're very honest with me, can I be very honest with you too?"

He looked at you and nodded. "Yes please. I need it."

"Promise that you won't be mad or something?"

"I promise."

"Okay, let's start." You cleared your throat again because you're nervous. "First, it's okay to admit that you're hurt because your ex-girlfriend broke your heart."

"I am not hurt--" He muttered in protest.

"Ah ah ah." You interrupted him. "Your nonchalance about it did not match the way you narrated it. Too many words for someone who did not care."

Akaashi's eyes widened, as if slapped by the truth. He ran his fingers through his hair. "Okay, okay, I think you're right." He exhaled loudly. "I gave her so many chances…" He trailed off.

"Want to talk about it?"

"Maybe later." He looked at you and in all seriousness said, "I am Akaashi Keiji and I admit I am hurt. My heart has been broken. Luckily, very recently, I think I am healing."

You smiled at him. Her ex-girlfriend must be stupid to dump a guy this pure and well.. good looking. “Okay, good, good!" You exclaimed as you took another bite of your cookie. "Well, I don't know if this helps, but I just learned that love is like trial-and-error. Some people get it right the first time, but most of the time, you will try, and try, and try, until you get it right…" Your voice trailed away.

Akaashi looked at his untouched croissant. "Yes, I think that helped." He flashed a faint smile and looked up again. "I'm ready for your next one."

"Okay. Here it goes. Yes, I very much agree that adulting is very hard."

"Right? They did not teach this in high school, nor in university." He poked his pastry.

"I cannot give insights on adulting because I'm going through it too, you know? I am just as lost as you." You removed the cup sleeve of your coffee and toyed with it. "But I can assure you, you and me, we are not the only ones lost. We just have to deal with asshole people, I guess?"

"Yeah. Fuck asshole people." He grinned.

You chuckled. You don't know why a sudden warmth spreads through your chest. Maybe it's because you made him smile? Or the fact that you, a stranger, comfort him? Or the relief that you are not alone dealing with the pressure of adulting? Or maybe all of the above?

"Ready for the third one?"

"Yeah."

"I am pretty much aware that I'm in no position to tell you this, but damn, editor already at such a young age?"

"It's not my dream job, though." He retorted.

"But you're still young." You smiled softly, even though you envy him. In the magazine company where you're working, you're only a writer, nothing more, nothing less. "You must be pretty awesome to be an editor already. You still have plenty of time to reach your dream job. No need to rush, it is not a race." Even though you're jealous of him, you can't help but be in awe of him. Good looking plus smart? Damn. I need to stop simping.

"Yeah." He rested his chin on his hands. "Once again, I guess you're right. What am I in a rush for?" He nodded. "Even though I just met you minutes ago, why are you easy to talk to? Why are you so good at this?" He looked at you with his bright, green eyes.

"Believe me, I don't know. I am usually silent but here I am, babbling things to a stranger.” You shrugged, chuckling. “I am only realizing these things now because of you. Earlier, I was down in the dumps too."

"I am going to ask you later why you are in the dumps, but in the meantime, I am ready for the next one."

You purse your lips. "Okay, Keiji, you must rejoice because this is the last one."

"Okay. I'll brace myself."

"Here it goes.” You held his gaze. “I think you're too hard on yourself. You need to loosen up."

He just blinked at you.

You folded your coffee cup sleeve and slowly tore it as you spoke. "Also, expressing emotions is not a sign of weakness. I think you are tiring yourself out because you keep a front that you are strong, that you have no problems.” You noticed that he winced. “Because of that, you get drained. You must remember that you are just as vulnerable as everyone."

He took a gulp of his now cold coffee.

You continue to tear your cup sleeve. “You don’t need to change how you act after this. You can still be withdrawn with your emotions towards others, I mean, it’s not easy to change yourself after one night, right? But the only thing important here is you need to be honest with your feelings. You should not apologize for how you feel. Also, it is never wrong to ask for help from others. If you’re hurt, acknowledge it. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, acknowledge it. If you’re tired, acknowledge it.”

You exhaled, looked up at him, and saw his eyes were watery.

Shit, is he about to cry? “H-hey, I am sorry --”

His tears finally fell. “Oh.” He touched his cheeks wet from the tears and flinched. “It’s weird. It does not stop.” He pointed at his eyes with a slight panic in his voice.

You felt your eyes water too as you grabbed your packet of tissues inside your bag. “Here, you can wipe them if you want.”

“Thank you.” He removed his eyeglasses and wiped his cheeks. “I cannot stop it.” His tears are still streaming like a waterfall.

“Good lord, when was the last time you cried?” You asked, concerned.

“I-- I can’t remember. It’s a long time ago, I guess.” He sniffed, wiped his tears again, then weakly chuckled. “I am sorry for crying --”

“Ah ah ah.” You interrupted again. “Repeat after me. You should never ---”

He cut you off, “Never apologize for how I feel. Also, be honest with my feelings. Ask help from others.”

You smiled. “Great.” It then took about a good five minutes until his silent crying stopped.

He cleared his throat. “Hey. Thank you. Crying feels good.”

“It is not in my intention to make you cry, but you’re welcome, I guess?”

He chuckled. “Uhm, do you want another drink or pastry? It’s my treat.” He offered while he wore his eyeglasses again.

“Really? Wow, thank you.” My broke ass won’t let this one pass.

“On one condition. You’ll tell me about yourself too.”

“Okay.” You beamed. “But I think you’ll be bored.”

“Nope. I am all ears.” He smiled.

“Excuse me.” A barista walked to your table and smiled at both of you. “We will close in ten minutes, any additional orders?”

The both of you shook your head and thanked the barista. He went inside again.

You looked at your wristwatch. "It's almost midnight already?!"

"Really? Time flies so fast." Akaashi said. You did not see it but he looked at you with his soft eyes.

“So... Let’s go?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

The both of you packed up your things and went inside. He bowed to the store manager, then the both of you exited the coffee shop. It was so cold outside that you could see your and Akaashi’s breath. You tucked your hand inside your pockets.

“Hey. Did you also tell the manager about Bokuto and Kuroo?” You asked him.

“Yes. Thank god she is also cooperative.”

“You really thought about this, huh?”

“Of course. However, tomorrow, it’s finally time for me to appear before my friends.”

“I think Bokuto will bawl his eyes out.”

The both of you laughed.

When your giggles subsided, Akaashi spoke. “So…”

“Yeah, uhm, I’ll go this way.” You pointed at the other path. “The cabs are this way.”

“Alright.”

“Thank you, Keiji. Goodbye.” You smiled at him and started to walk away. I like him, I like to know him more, but god, he just came from a breakup. If I get attached, that would count as taking advantage of a vulnerable person, right?! You overthink as you felt your heart getting heavy with every step you take. I am very much going to regret this tomorrow. Very much. You continued to walk down the narrow path, thinking about the many things that happened today.

You are seriously pondering when you suddenly hear Akaashi shout your name, making you stop in your tracks. You turned around and he immediately appeared from your view, running, and halted in front of you.

“W-wait.” He panted, catching his breath. “You told me to be honest with my feelings.”

You just blinked at him, already panicking on the inside.

He fished his phone out of his pocket and handed it to you. “Please input your phone number. I want to see you again.”

“B-but Tokyo is far from Miyagi --”

“Ah ah ah.” He copied the way you interrupted him earlier and smirked. “It will be worth the drive.”

You felt your heart beat faster as if it wanted to escape your ribcage. “Okay.” You mustered as you typed your number in his phone and thanked the gods that it is somehow dark or else he will see your tomato cheeks right now.

You looked up at him and handed him his phone with your cold, trembling hands.

“This not a fake number?”

“What? No.”

“Just making sure.” He smiled at you.

The moon has never been so bright that night.

#akaashi keiji #akaashi x reader #hq fanfic #hq akaashi #haikyuu songfic #haikyuu reader insert #haikyuu fluff #haikyuu time skip #haikyuu!!#haikyuu #haikyuu x reader #haikyū!!#haikyuu comfort #akaashi #akaashi scenarios

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scalproie · 3 years ago

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Is there a chance Kuai Liang in the Mk21 sequel might not be a Lin Kuei, like he left at some point or faked his death, idk thought it be a contrast to how loyal Bi-Han is to the clan in the movies vs his brother who went off the grid because he don’t want part of the stupid shit his brother was up to

If hes in the movie at all, it would definitely surprise me if hes introduced this way. I think its more plausible if its his character arc DURING the movie, especially if the writers and producers "heard what the fans said about the first movie", meaning yeah yeah we'll keep closer to the lore of the games this time. Plus being a Lin Kuei is a major part of Sub Zero's character, so Kuai starting off as NOT part of it would be a big surprise for me, but that doesnt mean it cant happen, I mean thats the way it went in dotr but I highly doubt they'll take inspiration from it.

If I have to put my money on the arguably safest arc I could see him have in the mk21 sequel (if hes a major character in it. If hes in it at all), its probably gonna be: Kuai Liang wants revenge for Bi-han's death (he looks up too much to his brother to leave the Lin Kuei while his brother is still part of it), take the Sub Zero name, go after Cole &co -> first confrontation with the gang (show similarities to Bi-han's Subz to introduce him, MAYBE foreshadow his heel-face turn by showing small differences between his and bi-han's methods, but you can also leave that for the second confrontation) -> second confrontation (and THIS is where you wanna draw attention to the differences between Kuai Liang & Bi-han, show thru actions that Kuai is the "good" Sub Zero, maybe have smth happen at the end of the confrontation that makes him realizes things and that maybe he was wrong, or just make the gang realize that he has honor, like saving someone or stopping fighting because of the apparition of thougher enemy (ex: Noob Saibot, if hes in there as well, but he has to be because Mr. Taslim was on set so hes at least 60% confirmed) -> have him "join" the gang by fighting for/with the good guys in the third act, maybe again, against Noob, or just in general -> idk for his ending, either have him join the earthrealmers or have him leave but the earthrealmers aknowledge his honor idk.

^ in this scenario, either his status as a Lin Kuei is established to draw him as an enemy but never really challenge, or it gets adressed and the Lin Kuei would have to be a lot more involved in the plot to do something that would get him to reject them by the second act. Endless possiblities. This could even work coupled with yours.

OH and also uuuuuuhhh throw a Scorpion vs Sub Zero in there because Of Course. Maybe at the second confrontation it would make the most sense. OR make that one of the final fights but neither end up killing the other. because Of Course.

#THERE. covered all my bases #now watch me being dead wrong on everything when the movie comes out #tagging later #anon

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omgrachwrites · 4 years ago

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Tell a Tale of You and Me - Chapter Twenty Three

Pairing: Sirius Black x Reader

Summary: You knew that making a bet with Sirius Black was like making a deal with the devil but you just couldn’t help yourself. You had never been a heavenly woman.

Warnings: fluff, angst, major character death

Words: 2380

A/N: Here we are, the last chapter! I would just like to thank everyone who has supported me on this whirlwind of a journey, I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have! There will be a sequel probs in a months time about Y/N and Sirius’ daughter which will be another reader insert so I might have to give her a name otherwise there will be loads of Y/N’s running all over the place! Hope you guys enjoy and please let me know if you would like to be tagged in the sequel! I love you all! xxx

Chapter Twenty Three

Sirius sighed out in immense relief as the powerful jet of scalding hot water soothed his aching muscles, he hissed through gritted teeth as the water pounded against his bruised skin. He was exhausted, his eyes ached and they were bloodshot but try as he might, sleep wasn’t coming easily. Sirius had arrived home at about 5am after being on duty all night for The Order of the Phoenix. The Order was a secret society that had been formed by Dumbledore to fight off Voldemort and some people – including Y/N – had given up their usual job to work for The Order.

Sirius had slept for about two hours, drifting in and out of fitful dreams – sleep was much harder to come by these days with everything going on in the world – and he had awoken around 7:30am when Y/N got up with their daughter. He had contented resting his eyes for a few hours but he hadn’t slept. He sighed as he reluctantly shut off the water and got out, wrapping himself in a fluffy towel before he got dressed and padded down the stairs.

He grinned as he admired the Halloween decorations that Y/N had put up to bring some season’s cheer into the house. Halloween had always been Sirius’ favourite time of year but he felt like something big was going to happen this year, he just couldn’t place his finger on it. Y/N smiled up at him as he joined her in the living room – their daughter was happily playing and babbling by herself in the middle of the floor.

Y/N snuggled contently into his chest as he wrapped an arm around her and he kissed the top of her head, “you look exhausted baby. Was it a hard night?” she asked, pulling back to look at him, worry etched into her features.

Sirius smiled as he pressed his lips against her forehead, “nah, it was all fine, just some superficial things. What’s on the agenda for today then?”

“Well, my mum and dad are coming over tonight but until then, nothing,” she laughed, “I mean what can we do when it’s hardly safe to leave our house?” Sirius nodded in reply, his teeth biting into his bottom lip as his mind wandered, “what? What’s the matter?” Y/N asked.

Sirius sighed as he rubbed his hand against his jaw, his eyebrows knitting together, “I don’t know why, maybe it’s because we haven’t heard from Peter in a while and I’m worried about him. But, I’ve got the feeling that something bad is going to happen. I can’t really explain it, it’s just a feeling. When your parents get here I’m going to check on James and Lily.”

Y/N didn’t look at him like he was crazy, instead it looked like she understood and she nodded distractedly as she gazed out of the window, “I know,” she whispered, “I know because I have the same feeling, I’ll go with you.”

Sirius appreciated the offer but he couldn’t worry about Y/N too, he could very well be walking to his death, “no sweetheart, thank you but I can’t worry about you too,” he sighed as he cupped her jaw.

Y/N frowned, a look of hurt flickering across her face that made Sirius’ heart constrict but she nodded all the same, knowing it was useless to argue, “okay but you have to be careful.”

That evening, Sirius kissed his daughter goodbye and Y/N’s fingers clutched at his leather jacket as she kissed him passionately, “come back to me Sirius, promise me. I love you.”

Sirius smiled, hoping it would disguise the fear that he felt, “I will, I promise. I love you too Y/N,” with one last lingering kiss and longing look he took off into the night clenching the wand in his pocket.

As soon as he rounded the corner time seemed to stand still as he heard an awful anguished cry, like some sort of wounded animal and he knew that he was too late, as Sirius approached he saw that it was Hagrid. Hagrid was sobbing with a tiny bundle in his arms. Sirius looked behind Hagrid and saw with sorrow that the Potter’s cottage had been destroyed. So many happy memories and promises of the future were gone, lost forever.

“James and Lily are dead, ‘e killed ‘em,” Hagrid sniffled, looking at Sirius with watery black eyes, “’e couldn’t kill Harry, ‘e couldn’t.”

At Hagrid’s words, Sirius’ knees almost buckled as a terrible sadness washed over him as the breath was stolen from his lungs. His best friends were dead, they couldn’t be, they were only twenty one. He couldn’t imagine why someone would betray him, Peter was the Secret Keeper but it couldn’t be Peter. Peter couldn’t have betrayed them. But, as Sirius looked at the ruined cottage, he knew that Hagrid spoke the truth. Choking on his tears, Sirius held out his arms.

“Give Harry to me Hagrid, I’m his godfather, I can keep him sage,” he looked down at the tiny baby with the split open head and felt an almost overwhelming rush of love for him. He had to protect Harry, with his life if it came to that.

Hagrid however shook his head, “I need to take him to his relatives, Dumbledore’s orders. Harry could still be in danger.”

Panic washed over Sirius, he couldn’t let Dumbledore take him away, “no! He can’t, he,” he trailed off as he choked on a sob. He hated it but he also knew that Dumbledore always got his way, no matter what the cost. But even Sirius had to admit that Harry could still be in danger for Death Eater’s so he couldn’t stay.

“Take my motorbike, it’ll be safer,” Sirius had charmed his motorbike to fly a couple of years back, “can I say goodbye to him?” he sniffled.

Hagrid looked at him warily but he nodded all the same and passed Harry over. Fighting back tears, Sirius looked down at the tiny baby in his arms, the baby who was whimpering and crying, the baby who didn’t know that his parents were dead. He sniffed as he bent down to kiss the top of Harry’s head, whispering into his jet black hair.

“You’re going to be okay Harry, I promise you, and you’re going to grow up to be an amazing wizard. You’re the boy who lived, I love you Harry,” with a heavy heart Sirius passed his godson back to Hagrid, “goodbye Hagrid,” Sirius nodded numbly at him before striding away, anger mixed in with sadness. He was going to find whoever had betrayed them and he was going to make them pay. He was going to kill them.

It was down a dark and crooked alleyway that Sirius cornered a rat – literally – it was the last person that he had expected, someone that he had once called a friend. The coward turned and looked at him with watery beady eyes and he was wheezing heavily, almost like he was in pain. Sirius had never felt so much fury and pain all at once. How could Peter do this? How could Peter be the one who had betrayed them?

Then Sirius saw it, Peter pointed at him with shaking hands and Sirius saw that there was a bloody stump where his first finger had been.

“Lily and James, Sirius! How could you? They were our friends! How could you?” Peter screamed, his face was stark white and he was shaking violently.

Sirius knew what Peter was doing and he held onto his wand that was in his pocket; Peter was trying to get people’s attention. Peter was going to pin this on Sirius, “you can’t blame this on me Peter because this was all you! Tell me why! Tell me why you killed them; your betrayal was their death sentence!” Sirius’ voice was drowned out by the noise of Peter’s screams and shouts. He was going to wake the whole street.

Suddenly, there was a flash so bright and a bang do loud that Sirius had to lose his eyes, when he opened them, Peter was gone and there was a rat scampering down the grid, “no!” Sirius screamed, the only thing that Peter had left behind was his finger. The coward might have faked his own death but Sirius would find him. No matter what corner of the earth that the piece of filth ran to, Sirius would find him.

------------------------------------

You anxiously bounced your leg as you chewed your nails, glancing at the clock on the mantelpiece, out of the corner of your eye you saw your parents looking worriedly at each other before back at you. They were worried about you and unfortunately, you knew the feeling, you knew the feeling all too well. Sirius had been gone for about 15 minutes, he only went to check on Lily and James, they only lived down the road, he shouldn’t have taken so long. What if something awful had happened to them? Ever since you had woken up this morning, you couldn’t help feeling that something awful was going to happen.

Five more minutes passed and you decided that you couldn’t take it anymore so you jumped up, startling your parents, “he’s been gone for too long, I need to go to him.”

Your mum let out a little whimper as she cupped your cheeks, she looked scared half to death, “you can’t Y/N, because it’s too dangerous. Sirius wouldn’t want you to put yourself in danger.”

“I know, but I have to go to him. I have to see if he’s okay, I love him mum.”

Your mum sighed as she hugged you tight, stroking through your hair, “you’ve always been so brave Y/N,” she bit her lip, “go but be careful. Please be careful, I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you.”

You nodded with a tight smile as worry curdled in your stomach before you ran out of the door into the swirling snow. The wind howled as you walked down James and Lily’s street, it was deathly quiet and your blood ran cold with dread. You hardly noticed the ruined little cottage; instead, your attention was focused on Sirius getting roughly shoved away by three men. Tears sprang to your eyes as you realised that they were Ministry Officials.

“Sirius!” you screamed as you ran towards him, trying not to slip in the snow, the Ministry Officials looked startled as one of them put out an arm to stop you, “let me see him! Where are you taking him?” you sobbed but you knew.

“Y/N!” Sirius looked over his shoulder as he was getting shoved along the road, the tear tracks and despair was visible on his face and it broke your heart, “James and Lily are dead! I didn’t do it; I had nothing to do with it! You have to believe me, Y/N please believe me! No matter what you hear! Harry is safe.”

James and Lily were dead, how could they be dead? It couldn’t be true but you noticed the ruined cottage and Sirius looked so heartbroken that you had to believe it, you believed they were dead. You sniffled as tears ran down your cheeks; you thought that you were all going to be together forever.

“I believe you,” you sobbed, the expression on Sirius’ face made you believe him.

“I love you, always will,” he gave you a tight smile but before you could reply he was gone, the Ministry Officials had apparated with him.

You sobbed as you sank to the ground, your knees getting damp with the snow, your heart too much, you could hardly stand it. You just wanted the pain to go away, “I love you too,” you whimpered, “Sirius!” you shouted, “Sirius,” you cried but you knew that it was no use, he was gone, he had disappeared into the swirling snow.

By the next day, the news was out; Sirius had been sent to Azkaban, convicted of betraying the Potters and for killing Peter, along with numerous other Muggles. The newspaper painted him to be a monster but you knew that it wasn’t true, it couldn’t be true. Sirius would never do anything to hurt James and Lily, or Peter, they were his best friends. There must be some sort of misunderstanding; you believed that he was innocent.

Your parents were amazing, for the first couple of months they had moved themselves into your cottage so they could help out with you and your daughter. They too believed that Sirius was innocent; they saw the expression on your face that night, the night that James and Lily had died. As your daughter grew up, you told your daughter tales of her father, you wouldn’t let her believe that he was guilty of murder. You were going to let her know that he was a hero.

Eleven Years Later

You sighed as the tawny owl flew right in through your kitchen window, dropping the letter on the kitchen counter before flying out of the open window into the warm air. Sniffing, you picked up the letter; this letter just like numerous others had been sent back from Azkaban. Anxiously, you twisted your engagement ring on your finger; you just wanted to let Sirius know that he was going to be okay.

After eleven years it still hurt so much, it hurt that you didn’t have the chance to marry before James and Lily died and it hurt that he couldn’t watch his daughter grow up. All the things he should have been a part of, all those things he had missed.

You heard a squeal coming from upstairs and seconds later you heard the pitter patter of feet on carpet before your daughter ran into the kitchen, waving a letter around, “I got it mum! I got my Hogwarts letter!”

Blinking the tears out of your eyes, you pasted a smile onto your face and you turned around to look at your grinning daughter. She looked so happy, you were glad for this one little bit of good news.

You stroked your fingers through her soft hair, “you’re going to be amazing baby! Your dad would be so proud of you.”

-Fin-

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@approved-by-dentists @thefuturelawyer @a-miserable-hufflepunk @firelordmillie @seriouslysiriuss @sleep-i-ness @play-morezeppelin @pregnant-piggy @sleepingalaska @smiithys @blisfvll @rexorangecouny @findzelda @wangmangagavroche @the-moon-and-the-book @hxrgreeves @ghostofstudentspast @they-write-once-in-a-blue-moon @my-unique-mind @im-an-angel-of-the-lord-you-ass @acciovisio @kashishwrites @fific7 @blackbirddaredevil23 @siriusblackspam @mads-bri @lilulo-12fanfiction @mrspadfoot4 @tinymalscoffee @ur-riddikulus @obsssedwithjustaboutanything @ourloveisforthelovely

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stillmadaboutpetra · 4 years ago

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okay so Yenralt hitman au (featuring specifically Tired(tm) Ciri)

@neverfoolsparsley

So Yen and Geralt were both individually hitmen prior to knowing each other

yes they absolutely met when hired to kill each other

yes they absolutely Boned It Out

did it end with Yen in $500 lingerie holding a gun to geralt’s head while he made eyecontact with her eye while eating her out with dedicated enthusiasm? yes.

its an unconfirmed rumor

the hacker Dandelion started it on a conspiracy thread

they don’t kill each other. They both play it off like the other went ghost

mutually drop off the grid in mild disgrace for a few years/shift around contractors//yen gets blacklisted

it is so not Fetch

Geralt, who has always been an Odd One, continues to vibe and maybe vaguely follow the rumors of The Raven (yen gets a codename okay.)

they do this song and dance for like. A Hot Minute. Until Geralt’s hitting fifty and

one night after they make love fuck he says: “Yen, m’getting tired.” She knows what he means. Her hands are getting heavy.

“I’ve got a contract. a big one. enough to retire on.” He doesnt say anything else, just lets it linger in the impossible dark of the next sleepless city they’re pretending to sleep in.

She says it to the dark: “I didn’t think people like us retired.”

“We dont.” He brushes her hair from her back, finds the scars of schrapnel that snake down her spine from an explosion. She’s started holding her shoulder a little funny the past few years. It’s okay. His arm locks up these days. He likes his silent blades. She likes the distance of a bullet. The smokescreen of a scope.

“We can disappear.”

dun dun dun - except the contract is a shitshow and they wind up with a kid.

“there was a kid,” Geralt says on the phone. she holds her breath. “There is a kid,” he ammends, looking at the shockwhite of the child next to him.

“So we got a kid now,” Yen says, and then it’s that and coordinates and fake papers and

Ciri was young. It’s a halfdream in her head. The blood. The death. Her Dad, bigger than the doorway, white and rough and picking her up -- her dress so heavy with something she can’t, won’t name. Close your eyes, he’d told her.

Felt like when she opened them again, she was in an island town, with a woman whose hair looked like an inkpot spilled over.

Ciri’s eleven where she opens the linen closet, trying to sneak a clean pair of sheets. She wet the bed. She tells herself it’s the worst thing that ever happened to her.

There’s a gun hidden between crisp stacks of pillowcases. It’s heavier than it looks.

Rolland at school says his daddy keeps a gun in a safe by the bed. It’s not that odd.

Mom can kill flies with a rubberband shot from across the room. She thinks that’s a kind of magic trick.

Yen teaches Ciri to drive automatic and stick when she’s thirteen.

“You’ll ace the exams now,” she says with a wink.

Dad handles the motorcycles.

“When you’re older, we’ll work on the pilots liscence.”

Other kids get knives for their birthdays, right??????

“A bow and arrow! Cool!” She likes to rp as an elf in her video game.

They learn self-defense breakaways from a strangerdanger / army recruiter in gym class.

Mom complains to the school about indoctrination

Geralt shows her how to flip someone over her shoulder.

The first time she meets her Uncle Jask, the man’s crawling through her kitchen window.

she screams. all she wanted was some midnight milk and cookies

dad dislocates Uncle Jask’s shoulder when he tackles the man

Mom smiles when she’s “makes it better” and Uncle Jask cries a little

but he collects all the cream filling from his oreos and rolls it into a ball and then eats it like an apple, which seems like a crime against god

“You gotta learn to live a little, Ciri.”

Mom and dad sense her to bed after her snack. She listens through the air vent.

Uncle Jask says: “You guys gotta move. Brotherhood has a line on Yen.”

When she’s sixteen and spent the last year taking online classes, she finally sits down with her mom.

“So, are you and dad secret agents?”

The way her mother laughs that day.

She’s 19 and trying to surprise her parents home from college. Drove eight hours straight. It’s dark now. She wants to sneak in and surprise them with breakfast in the morning.

and there’s a dead body - or a mostly dead body - a half-alive person tied up in the kitchen.

mom and dad look pissed.

the kitchen tables cut in half. Oh. no wonder dad’s pissed. he built that himself.

Mom lowers the gun when Ciri steps in the light.

“fuck,” dad says.

“Swear jar,” ciri manages to say.

#OR SOMETHING IDUNNO #yenralt #hitman au #im stupid who knows

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wren-fell · 4 years ago

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Stuck In Borderland

Chapter 5: Begrudging Cooperation

To me all the Borderland games are a violent version of childhood games (tag, hide&seek, etc.) Soooo I went from there! Enjoy more interactions as this creeps towards a Chishiyaxoc story!

Thanks for reading!

I gave the militants names because I couldn’t find any listed. All canon characters belong to Haro Aso.

Warnings: language, weapons, mention of death

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Sayaka leaned against the wall with Kuina and Madoka, preparing for her own game tonight. She cast a glance over at Madoka. Her arms were wrapped around herself, and she had dark circles surrounding her eyes. Sayaka frowned, Madoka and her team came back late last night all covered in dirt from head to toe and very shaken up. The 5 of hearts… any of the games would have put them through hell, but a hearts game was both physically and emotionally exhausting.

“You don’t have to be down here with us Madoka,” Sayaka said with a smile, “we appreciate the support, but you can go rest.”

Madoka turned her head to look at her slowly and gave her a weak smile, “it’s okay I want to wish you two luck.”

Kuina smiled, “we appreciate it Madoka.”

Madoka nodded slowly and looked back to Hatter. Sayaka watched her nervously. Usually bubbly Madoka looked… defeated and broken. I hate this place...

“And let the games begin!” Cheers erupted from everyone in the lobby as they rushed towards the tables to get their assignments.

“That’s our cue,” Kuina said pushing herself off the wall.

“Okay, go get some rest Madoka,” Sayaka hugged Madoka who leaned into her embrace with a sigh.

“Yea, I will. See you when you get back.”

Sayaka hesitated, “yea. See you when we get back.”

They pulled apart and Madoka gave Sayaka a sleepy smile, hugged Kuina, and waved to them as she headed out of the lobby. Sayaka sighed as she watched her go with a deep frown on her face.

“You won’t make it through the night if you’re still thinking about her wellbeing instead of your own.” Sayaka turned around to see Chishiya standing there with his hood up and his hands in the pockets of his hoodie.

She frowned and glared at him, “who asked you?”

“Just some advice. She made it through her game, now you make it through yours,” he said simply and walked into the crowd of people.

She huffed balling her hands into fists. He was so arrogant and selfish and… and… she squeezed her eyes shut, right. He was right… she needed to focus on herself right now, but that didn’t make her any less irritated with him.

“Hey, are you coming?” Kuina appeared in the crowd and pointed over her shoulder, “what happened?”

“Chishiya,” Sayaka grumbled in response, but walked past her towards the tables.

“Oh.”

Sayaka approached the table and was handed her folded number assignment. She turned to Kuina to compare, but frowned when she saw a 5 on her paper and a 3 on hers.

“Sucks…” she mumbled.

“I’ll see you when we get back though,” Kuina suggested.

“Right,” Sayaka sighed turning around.

“Sayaka!” She looked over her shoulder as Akiko pushed her way out of the crowd over to her.

“Akiko, hey,” Sayaka smiled.

“What group are you in?”

“5, you?”

“Oh, 7,” Akiko shrugged, “I’m with Kaoru and a couple of the other militants, so it’ll be fine,” she said with a smile, but Sayaka could see the uncertainty in her eyes as she tried to convince herself that was true.

“Right,” Sayaka nodded, “you’ll be fine I’m sure. You’re a really bright girl Akiko. Don’t let them shoot you down, okay?”

“Yea…” There was a long silence between the two of them, “I’ll see you after, you, Madoka, and I should grab a drink again,” Akiko smiled and turned to walk to the cars.

Sayaka smiled, “yea, that sounds fun. I’ll see you after,” she said with a wave. Akiko nodded and walked away leaving Sayaka standing alone.

She shook her head and smacked her cheeks, “focus.”

Walking out the front door Sayaka stretched her arms above her head, “let’s do this.” She turned her eyes to the car with the 5 spray painted on the side and immediately scowled. Her team for the evening consisted of 2 militants, a girl with long wavy black hair wearing a tactical vest over her bikini named Saiko, and a boy with short black hair and a frown named Kenji. As well as a random beach girl who looked like she was going to burst into tears at any second, and Chishiya. He smirked at her and waved as she walked down the front steps.

“Ugh, it’s like he planned this…” she muttered, in all actuality he totally could have he is an executive. She walked up to the car giving Chishiya a passing glare as she clambered into the backseat.

The girl who looked like she was about to cry sat down in the far window seat first and gave Sayaka a weak smile, “sorry, do you mind if I sit by the window? I get carsick.”

Sayaka stared at her for a second with a deep frown on her face, “fine,” she mumbled and plopped down in the center seat as Chishiya slid in beside her and slammed the door shut. All the militants in the cars whooped at each other like this was the beginning of some sports event, and revved the engines before peeling out of the parking lot.

The knuckles on Sayaka’s hands were white from gripping the seat beneath her trying not to be flung against either the young girl or Chishiya as they rounded the corners. The militants had brilliantly cut out all the seatbelts of the cars, citing that they “just got in the way”. In the way of what Sayaka really wasn’t sure, and honestly didn’t want to know. The car sped down the road slamming into a pothole going at least 70mph, and Kenji let out an excited scream. Sayaka dug her nails into the cracked fake red leather trying to keep her butt on the seat, while the girl beside her yelped and was slammed into the door. Meanwhile, Chishiya barely moved, and Sayaka glared at him from the corner of her eye. It was irritating how calm he was.

Kenji pulled the car up to the National Science and History Museum. All the spotlights were on in front of the building casting long shadows like ghosts waving them up the steps. Sayaka turned to the girl from the Beach waiting for her to get out, but she had folded into herself and was hyperventilating, “you have to play the game or you’ll die,” Sayaka pointed out causing the girl to wheeze and nod, but she didn’t move. Chishiya got out of the car on the other side and waved at the open door. Sayaka glared at him and stood up slamming her foot onto the seat and climbing out over the trunk glaring at him the whole time. He smirked, let out a breathy laugh, and started walking towards the entrance after the militants.

Sayaka frowned before turning her head to the young girl who was still sitting in the car shaking. You need to focus on yourself… she let out a long sigh and opened the car door holding a hand out to her, but I’m not completely heartless… yet. “Come on. My name’s Sayaka, we need to get inside.”

She turned to look up at her and wiped tears away from her eyes with a nod, and took Sayaka’s hand, “I’m Maiko.” They walked up the steps into the Museum the beep of the laser grid activating making Maiko jump.

“Just keep walking,” Sayaka said heading to the table at the center of the room to grab a phone.

“Facial recognition complete.

10 minutes until registration is complete.”

So far there was only the 5 of them from the beach and one other man who looked just as nervous as Maiko. Sayaka crossed her arms as she waited and dragged her eyes over the lobby. The museum back in the real world didn’t use many lights, and everything falling apart made it look even more dark and creepy. Skeletons of dinosaurs and whales were hanging unevenly from the ceiling like they were about to swoop down and snatch one of them up at any second. Stuffed taxidermy wild animals were decomposing and leaning at odd angles. The whole place was like a disintegrating cemetery beckoning them to all join the animals with this as their final resting place.

“Registration is now complete.

Game: Hopscotch, Difficulty: 3 of Clubs,” Sayaka watched the phone as the card flashed onto her screen.

“Rules:

Reach the finish line in the allotted time.

Time: 45 minutes.” Sayaka pouted, that was it? Reach the end? No other rules?

“Please proceed to the start, once all participants are inside the game will begin.” A door at the top of the stairwell lit up and they all turned their heads.

“Guess we’re going upstairs,” she muttered slipping the phone into the waistband on her shorts, and started for the stairs. They all trudged up and through the lit up door into a new room. Much like downstairs there were only exhibit spotlights that beamed down from the ceiling casting dark shadows around the completely empty room. Maiko was the last to enter the room, and the door slammed shut behind her making her jump.

“Your time starts now.” Another light lit up on the other side of the room showing a white circle drawn on the ground.

“Well that’s simple enough that’s the finish line!” The guy who had been alone in the museum when they arrived yelled, and started across the room.

“Hopscotch…” Sayaka muttered scanning the floor, her eyes widened, “wait stop!” She lunged forward grabbing the man by the back of his shirt and tossing him backwards as the floor gave out. Almost every square tile in the room fell away to the first floor below, all except ones that formed a hopscotch court across the room.

“Oh my god… I nearly died… thank you,” the man said shakily pushing himself up from the floor.

Sayaka rounded on him, “use you’re fucking head! It’ll never be that easy.”

He folded in on himself, and Sayaka saw Maiko take a step back. She turned her head back to analyze the tiles. Each was about three feet apart and there were varying patterns between being single tiles in a row and doubles, where you would use both feet was this normal hopscotch. In between was a 20 foot drop back down to the bones and decayed exhibits below. As she looked at the drop Sayaka’s vision swayed for a second and she took a step away from the edge digging her nails into her palms, just don’t look down.

“Well let’s get started,” Saiko said stepping forward her heels clicking against the tiles. She jumped forward onto the first solo tile and it lit up. Saiko looked down at her feet shocked, “is it going to explode?”

“I think if it was it already would have happened,” Kenji quipped stepping forward, “keep moving you bimbo.”

Saiko glared at him, but jumped to the next tile. Sayaka had to admit she was very agile even in 3 inch heels. The two of them kept jumping until they were 6 tiles in and paused.

“Hey, we can’t go any further!” Saiko called.

Sayaka frowned, “why not?”

“There’s a laser grid here.”

“What?” Sayaka stared at the tiles. This wasn’t like any hopscotch she had played, at what point did hopscotch have lasers?

“I’ll go next,” Maiko jumped forward onto the first tile, Sayaka watched her as she went. The first tile lit up, and so did the second, but when she landed on the double tile it stayed black.

“We all have to stand on the tiles for the laser to turn off and then we can advance,” Sayaka muttered and walked to the edge of the platform. Drawing in a deep breath she jumped after Maiko, just don’t look down. She landed on the other double tile, but nothing happened. Sayaka stomped her foot, “what the fuck.”

Maiko jumped forward onto the last single tile, and Sayaka pouted as it lit up the second Maiko’s feet touched it. She closed her eyes with a long sigh and jumped back one tile turning to Chishiya and the other player.

“We have to jump on it at the same time,” she said. Chishiya quirked an eyebrow at her and the smirk spread across his face.

Sayaka glared at him, but waved him on, “we have to do it together.”

He nodded and stepped forward pulling his headphones out of his ears and shoving them into his sweatshirt pocket. Sayaka sidestepped so she was standing on the edge of her tile making room for Chishiya to join her. He leapt forward onto her tile the closeness causing Sayaka to lean back and her heel to hang over the edge. She looked over her shoulder as she felt herself wobble uneasily, and stiffened when she felt Chishiya’s hands on her waist steadying her. Sayaka snapped her head forward to stare at him wide-eyed.

“Try not to lose your balance,” he smirked.

Sayaka’s eye twitched and she balled her hands into fists on his chest, “if my own survival didn’t depend on it I would push you off this platform.”

He didn’t reply just continued to smirk at her. With a sigh Sayaka turned her head to look at the double tile. If they had to land on it at the same time they would have to jump together, but the tiles were just barely over a foot wide. Groaning she looked back to Chishiya and held out her hand to him, “we have to jump at the same time.”

He nodded and took her hand. Slowly the two of them turned on the tile with each of them having one foot slipping off the edge. Sayaka drew in a deep breath and cast a glance at her hand in Chishiya’s. Why was this oddly comforting? She swallowed heavily, “on three.”

“One, two, three!” Both of their hands let go and they leapt off the platform. Their feet slammed onto the tiles at the same time and they lit up yellow.

“Oh thank god,” Sayaka breathed.

“The grid is gone!” Saiko said and continued forward.

The other player continued behind them, and they all moved forward until Saiko and Kenji came to the far set of double tiles. “So we have to jump together? Ew, I don’t want to hold your hand…” Saiko grumbled glaring at Kenji.

“There are 30 minutes remaining.” They all looked up as the voice rang out.

“Shut up and move over Saiko!” Kenji snapped and jumped forward to share the tile with Saiko. Despite their bickering they successfully made the jump to the double tiles.

“Let’s keep it moving!” Saiko ordered over her shoulder.

“God she’s bossy,” Sayaka grumbled.

Chishiya jumped onto the solo tile ahead of her and turned allow her room to join him. Sayaka tensed her muscles and jumped, but her foot slipped on the plastic of her flip-flop causing her foot to leave the platform a second too late. Her other foot hit the edge of the next tile a gasp escaping her lips as she started to fall backwards. Chishiya’s hand shot out grabbing her arm and pulling her forward onto the tile. Sayaka felt her cheeks heat up at how close they were.

“Thanks…”she muttered looking away from him her hands resting on his chest.

“The whole point of the game is to not fall,” he pointed out.

Sayaka glared at him, but didn’t say anything. She could feel herself shaking as her eyes darted back to the floor a long way below, and Chishiya’s hand shifted on her waist.

“Afraid of heights?” He asked quirking an eyebrow.

Sayaka looked up at him through her bangs, “it’s none of your business.”

“If you two are done flirting we want to finish this game!” Kenji called.

Sayaka felt her face heat up even more and she cast Kenji a dirty look, “okay,” she held her hand out to Chishiya who took it and they shifted to stand side by side, “on three. One, two, three!”

They landed together and the tiles lit up.

“That leaves one set to go! This is easy!” Kenji called as he jumped forward.

Sayaka frowned, “it’s like he’s asking for the game makers to throw a twist.”

There was just one more set of double tiles. Sayaka landed first and stepped aside for Chishiya to join her. He jumped forward landing hard and wobbling a little. Sayaka grabbed the sleeve of his sweatshirt to steady him and snorted, “you know you aren’t supposed to fall,” she mocked.

He gave her a sour look and stood up straight his hands resting on her waist again, “you’re one to talk. You look like you’re about to pass out.”

Sayaka frowned she knew her cheeks were red and she desperately wished she could make the blood to drain from her face, “shut up. We have an extra player I could still push you off you know.”

“So could I.”

Sayaka watched his eyes. Always so cold and calculating she knew he would push her off if she got in the way, but why hadn’t he just let her fall before? There was one extra person in this game he could’ve teamed up with them.

“Are you ready to jump?” He asked snapping her out of her thoughts.

“Yea, yea I’m ready,” she said and he held his hand out for her. Sayaka took it slowly and turned on the platform.

“One, two, three!” Chishiya counted down and slipped his hand out of hers as they jumped off the platform. The tile lit up yellow and the final laser grid faded away leaving them a clear path to the winner’s circle. Saiko and Kenji were the first to jump and run into the circle their phones lighting up to congratulate them. Everyone else followed letting out a relieved sigh as the countdowns disappeared and their visas were displayed on the small screens.

“Congratulations all participants have been issued a 3 day visa.” Sayaka pulled the phone out of her waistband to stare at the screen before tossing it over the edge. It clattered to the graveyard below, and Sayaka glared at the still lit up screen shining in the darkness. It was like the makers were reading their minds before every game using their own fears against them.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here then!” Saiko called and was already stomping to the door. Sayaka looked over her shoulder to watch her and Kenji leave. Maiko and the solo player following, while Chishiya walked over to the pedestal in the center of the winner’s circle to pick up the 3 of clubs card.

He glanced over his shoulder at her, “something wrong?”

“Why didn’t you just let me fall?”

He raised his eyebrows at her and paused, analyzing her again making her feel small, “you were the lesser of two evils,” he said simply turning to leave. Pulling the hood back up over his white-blonde hair he walked out of the room leaving Sayaka alone to sigh.

“I should’ve expected that answer,” she mumbled and followed him out of the Museum.

Sayaka followed behind the rest of the group as they all walked into the lobby of the Beach. Kenji held up his pistol and let out a triumphant yell that was echoed back by the other militants in the room. Sayaka rolled her eyes; they were acting like all of this was fun.

Another group walked through the door and Sayaka turned to see who it was. She saw Kaoru and the rest of his squad and searched the crowd for Akiko, but froze when she didn’t see her. A lump started to form in her stomach and she sucked in her bottom lip. Balling her hands into the fists she glared at Kaoru as he threw an arm around a random beach girl.

“Don’t do anything stupid.” Sayaka turned around as Chishiya walked up to her.

“I wasn’t.”

“That’s the face you made during the executive meeting before you snapped,” he pointed out. Sayaka felt her cheeks heating up again and turned to look at Kaoru as he whispered into the girl’s ear making her giggle.

“She’s dead, and he’s acting like she didn’t even matter…” She whispered.

“That’s because she didn’t.”

She swung her head around to glare at Chishiya, “how can you say she didn’t matter? She was the only reason I survived the 6 of diamonds. She deserved to live more than that waste of space!”

“She didn’t make it. There’s no point in being upset about it. She’s gone, she doesn’t matter now,” he said firmly giving her a hard look, “if you want to survive Sayaka you’re going to have to start letting go of the people who can’t make it on their own.”

She stared at him. That was the first time he’d said her name. It was like all of the blood in her veins froze solid, but there was a fluttering in her stomach that made her want to vomit. She drew in a long shaky breath and pushed the feeling in her stomach deep down, “then why didn’t you let me fall?”

Sayaka didn’t wait for him to answer and turned walking out of the lobby leaving him standing alone. A smirk curled his lips as Chishiya dropped his head letting out a breathy laugh, and put his headphones back in his ears.

#stuck in borderland #alice in borderland #Alice in borderland oc #chishiya x oc #I'm trying not to make these really long #but I have so many scenes and things I want to add #Now the real angsty stuff is coming up

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the-daily-multi-fandom-post · 5 years ago

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supernatural/avengers:

part 1 here

Supernatural/avengers: part 2

Imagine Sam and Dean being like brothers to you and you always go on cases with them. But in one particular case in upstate New York, you run into someone from your past. You’re not quite sure if you want to leave this case.

Small series -part 2 of ?

“Okay so where is this demon at?” Y/n asked as she sat in the backseat of the Impala. “Well, we got a call from a man named: Bruce. He said that there was smell of sulfer in his home. He said he’s tried to figure out where the smell was coming from. but couldn't find it. So he called a friend who pointed him into our direction.” Dean explained looking at Y/n from the rear view mirror.

Y/n went wide eyed as she looked at the oldest Winchester. “Bruce? As in Doctor Bruce Banner?!” She exclaimed as she looked between the two Winchester brothers. “What, do you know him?” Dean asked with a smug look on his face. “Somewhat. He was dating my sister.” Y/n said looking at dean while he went wide eyed. “So you know what this means. We’ll run into my sister.” She mumbled under her breath. “Hey, but at least we get to meet your family.” Sam said trying to look at the bright side of the problem.

A couple hours passed and the avenger tower was in view. It was crazy to be back here. To be at a place she used to call home. A place where it was both peaceful and not peaceful. Where she had to fake her death and leave her family.

“So how are we going about this?” Y/n asked Sam as they pulled on the side of the road. “Well, they know we’re hunters. They said that they had a demon problem. So I guess like a normal case besides the fact they know that we’re hunters.” Sam explained as he looked at Y/n. She nodded then they all got out of the Impala going into the avenger tower front lobby.

Y/n looked around smiling to herself. Everything was the same. It even had the same smell of leather and the calming smell of mint lavender. They walked around the lobby and went to the front desk. A woman sat there giving them a small smile. “How can I help you?” she asked looking at Sam and Dean. Y/n avoided anyone gaze. She didn't want to be identified by anyone that might’ve known her before she ‘died’.

“12th floor. I’ll let Mr. Banner and Mr. Stark know you all are on the way.” the woman said with a smile. They went into the elevator and pressed the 12th floor button. “It smells like rich people in here.” Dean said, making both Y/n and Sam snort out a laugh.

“Well, Tony stark does own the building.” Sam replied as he looked at his older brother. Y/n was about to say something as the silver doors of the elevator opened.

“Hello?” Dean called as they walked outside of the elevator. “Hey.” dean said as he saw Bruce banner come into the room. “Hello, welcome to the avengers tower.” He spoke softly. Y/n missed hearing the sound of her friends voice. She missed everything about her old life, well almost everything.

“Hey, Y/n.” Bruce said with a soft smile. “Hey, Bruce.” She said with a warm smile looking him over. “You haven't changed.” He said looking over her. “Well, I have an advantage.” She said as she walked over to her friend giving him a friendly hug and a kiss on his cheek. “How are things?” She asked Bruce concerned. “Everything’ fine, except for a few things. The lights have been flickering. The smell of sulfur. I asked Thor if he had gotten into any sulfur again but he said no. Um, a bunch of things to be honest with you.”

“Definitely something going on.” Sam said as pointed to the device Dean was holding that was going crazy. “Everyone has been worried about you. You never answered our calls. You just went off grid.” Y/n sighed with a nod. “I know, but everything with Hydra. I had to fake my death to make them stop following me. If they knew I was alive they would go out looking for me. They would kill people without even blinking an eye. I couldn’t put everyone through that.” Bruce nodded understanding what she was saying.

“So what’s the plan?” Y/n asked Dean as she seen the lights flicker. “We call the demon. Find who ever its possesses and exercise it.” Sam explained as he heard the elevator ding as it opened. “Y/n?” Y/n turned around looking at Steve rogers, Bucky Barnes, and Thor the god of thunder. She smiled as they walked over to her. Each of them giving her a tight hug. “I missed you guys. Ugh its been so long.” She said as Bucky held her in his arms a little while longer. “I’ve missed you doll. More then you know.” He said as he breathed her in. “We have all missed you lady Y/n.” Thor said as Bucky let go and he gave her a smile.

She smiled as she looked at Thor. “Where is Jane?” She asked as Steve was about to shake his head ‘no’. “We broke up. Me and Lady jane.” There was a brief pause before Sam cleared his throat.

“Right, guys this is my friends Sam and Dean Winchester. Sam, Dean this is Captain Steve Rogers, Sargent James Barnes, You can call him Bucky. And Thor Odinson.” Y/n introduced everyone. “Nice to meet you both.” Thor Bellowed as he gave each of Winchester a friendly hug. “He does that.” Y/n laughed. She was overjoyed to see her friends that she called her family.

“Where is everyone else?” Y/n asked looking at Steve as Dean and Sam stood beside her. “They are in the meeting room. We got out early thank God.” Steve explained. “what are you guys doing here though. I mean I’m glad your here don't get me wrong. But you faked your death saying you would never come back.” Bucky asked looking at Y/n and the Winchesters.

“Bruce called. He said you guys had a demon problem, and well, that's kinda our job.” Dean explained as he tried to sit up straighter. Bucky hid a laugh behind a cough and nodded. He looked at Y/n and then the two brothers. “Since when are you ghost busters?” Steve asked looking at Y/n. “Since when have you watched that movie, old man?” She asked picking at her friend. “I’ve been hunting since I ran into a case. I got in the middle of a case, so I just went along with it. I continued to hunt.” She explained, they all nodded when the lights flickered again. The air around them got freezing cold.

“We should go find that demon, before it causes trouble.” Sam said looking at his friend and then to the three superhero’s n front of him. “It was nice to meet you all.” They all gave them a smile. “Nice to meet both of you.” Steve said looking at Sam and Dean. “See you guys later.” Y/n said giving them a smile.

They nodded watching as she left them. “I miss her.” Thor said looking at Steve and Bucky as they walked into the kitchen. “I know, I wonder what Nat and Clint’s gonna do when they find out she’s here.” Bucky said looking between Steve and Thor. “I mean she’s Natashas’ Sister; and Clint and her were friends almost like brother and sister.” Steve and Thor nodded as they sat on the couch in the room. “I hope that Nat doesn't freak out she’s here.” Thor and Bucky nodded agreeing to what Steve had said. That's when they heard a scream. “Y/n?”

“Stupid demons. I hate the stupid punk ass demons.” She said as she picked herself up from the floor. The demon had just thrown her across the room. The demon was possessing a security guard, it decided it wanted revenge on the avengers for some reason.

Y/n picked herself off of the ground grabbing her demon knife and walking around the place trying to find the demon. “You know when I found out that you were Natashas sister I have to say, I was shocked.” The demon spoke through the security guard. She looked at the demon and shook her head. “I was shocked, because I never knew that the black widow had a little sister. It was just all so shocking to me.”

Y/n shook her head at the demon as she started the exorcism. “Exoricizamus te omnis Immundus spiritus, Omnis satanica Potestas, Omnis incursio Infernalis adversarii, Omnis congregatio et secta diabolica. Ergo, Draco maledicte. Ut ecclesiam tuam secura tibi facias libertate servire, te rogamus, audi nos.” She did the exorcism, the demon smoked out of the security guard. The man fell to the ground as the demon went back to where it belonged.

Y/n walked over to check on the man as everyone ran into the room. “The demons gone. The man should be okay. Give him some IVs he needs some fluids. And get me some whiskey.” She said as she looked at Dean and Sam who looked like proud older brothers.

Part two done!

Part three here.

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winchesterbrotherstan · 5 years ago

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SPN- The Usual Suspects (2.07)

Pairing: Olive Winchester (OC)

Summary: A case goes side-ways, Dean is left cornered, and it’s up to Sam and Olive to get him out of the mess. Olive falls fatally ill, and Sam must team up with a law enforcement officer.

Warnings: lots of coughing, blood, mentions of drug use, gun threats, uh ghosts and like... the usual??

Word Count: 8547

Baltimore, Maryland

Outside a motel room, a SWAT team gears up. It’s dark, and the few people outside have scattered. Someone stays closeby, but only their face is hidden. They’ve got their hood pulled up, one hand is in their pocket, and their other arm is in a makeshift sling. They’ve got a dog on a leash, and they do their best to stay in the shadows.

In a police station across the city, a sheriff enters an interrogation room and sits down.

“Well, first I thought you were just stepping up your game. Credit card fraud, breaking and entering, and this one…” he looks over the file with a sigh, “puzzled me. Grave desecration. But still, these are a long way from murder. Then we get a fax from St. Louis. Where you’re suspected of torturing and murdering a young woman. However, no one could prove anything, of course, because you died there. But I gotta tell you something. You look pretty healthy to me.”

The detective moves, sits on the table. “Now we know. Karen Giles isn’t the first person you’ve killed. But I guarantee you she’s the last.”

At the motel, the SWAT team stands outside a second floor room, ready. They knock the door down with a battering ram, and the person inside immediately puts their hands up. One of the detectives steps forward, keeping her gun on the person.

“Going somewhere, Sam?” She asks.

There’s a rifle ready to shoot the middle Winchester through the heart, and he swallows hard, eyes set in disgust as he looks at the woman.

In the police station, the detective shoots the prisoner a dirty look before getting up and walking out. The prisoner is Dean.

The person standing in the motel parking lot pulls their hood back, watching as Sam is dragged from the room. It’s Olive. She pulls the hood back up, turns on her heel, and walks off.

***

The detective that cornered Sam enters his interrogation room. She places a coffee cup on the table, and Sam glances over, but continues to pace by the window.

“Thought you might be thirsty.”

“Okay, so you’re the good cop.” Sam assesses. “Where’s the bad cop?”

“Oh, he’s with your brother.”

“Okay. And you’re holding us why?”

“Well he’s being held on suspicion of murder.” The woman adjusts her sleeves and a look of shock washes over Sam’s face. “And you? Well, we’ll see.”

“Murder?” Sam repeats, leaning onto the table.

“You sound genuinely surprised. Or are you that good of an actor?” The woman smiles.

“Who is he supposed to have murdered?” Sam squints.

“We’ll get around to that.”

“Well, you can’t just hold us here without formal charges!” Sam is growing more and more upset.

“Well, actually, we can. For forty eight hours, but you, being a pre-law student, would know that. You see, I know all about you, Sam.” She picks up a file folder and opens it. “You’re twenty three years old. No job, no home address. Your mother died when you were a baby, your father’s whereabouts are unknown. And then there’s the case of your brother, Dean. Whose demise was, well, just a bit exaggerated. Feel free to jump in whenever you like.”

Sam leans against the wall and folds his arms over his chest.

“Shy?” She teases. “No problem. I’ll keep going. Your family moved around a lot when you were a kid. Despite that, you were a straight-A student. Got into Stanford with a full ride.”

Sam says nothing. They haven’t mentioned Olive, and he’s not sure whether he should be relieved or worried. His mind spins. There’s got to be a record of her somewhere out there. Sure, she wasn’t born in a hospital, and she almost never went to the doctor, and she went to school under fake names, but there’s gotta be something.

The woman closes the file. “Then about a year ago, there was a fire in your apartment. One fatality. Jessica Moore, your girlfriend. After she died, you fell off the grid. Left behind everything.”

Sam says nothing, but he looks up through his eyelashes. “I needed some time off. To deal. So I’m taking a road trip with my brother.”

“And your little sister.”

Sam’s blood runs cold.

“Don’t think we forgot about little old Olive.” She smiles. “Such a strange name.”

His nose twitches in anger. He picked that name. She smiles again, wider this time.

“Where is she? We didn’t find her in the motel room. The bathroom window was open, but she couldn’t have jumped. Two stories is too high, don’t you agree?”

Sam says nothing.

“Where is she, Sam?”

He leans further into the wall.

“How’s that road trip going for you guys?”

“Great.” Sam shrugs softly, then takes the chance to derail her. “I mean…” A smile grows on his face. “We saw the second largest ball of twine in the continental US. It was awesome.” He pulls up a chair and straddles it.

“We ran Dean’s fingerprints through AFIS.” The detective comes to the end of the table.

“Okay.”

“Got over a dozen possible hits.”

“Possible hits.” Sam repeats. “Which makes them worthless.”

“But it makes you wonder. What are we gonna find when we run your prints?”

“Well.” Sam smiles and pounds his fist on the table, every movement dripping with sarcasm. “You be sure to let me know.” He points at the cup. “May I?”

She nods. “Please.”

“Great.” He takes the cup, smells it, and then takes a sip.

She leans over him, eyes intent.

“Sam. You seem like a good kid. It’s not your fault Dean’s your brother. We can’t pick our family. Right now, detectives in St. Louis are exhuming a corpse. They’re trying to figure out how your brother faked his own death.”

There’s a scream from outside, and against all common sense, on instinct, Sam’s head snaps up. It’s Olive’s scream.

“Get off of me!” She screams, squirming.

She’s dropped Jinx off at a safe place. The Richmonds will pick her up and take care of her until this is over. Olive is being dragged through the police station, kicking and screaming. She’s managed to nail two men in the crotch, and has sent a mug full of pens to the floor.

Back in the interrogation room, Sam’s face is pale. The detective turns back to him with a smile.

“Is that baby sister Olive?”

He glares.

“She’s sixteen, isn’t she? Has been for a little less than a month now. She can be tried as an adult. Look, Dean’s a bad guy. His life is over. Yours doesn’t have to be, and neither does Olive’s.”

Sam turns with a glare. “You want us to turn against our own brother?”

“No.” She shakes her head. “We’ve already caught him cold. Red-handed at the Karen Giles murder scene. We just need you to fill in some missing pieces.”

“Why would I do that?” Olive spits from her seat in a third interrogation room.

They’ve cuffed her down, and she knows she could break them, but that would lead to another issue they couldn’t solve without making an even bigger mess.

“Because we can talk to the DA for you, kid.” The detective who had talked to Dean sits across from her. “Dean’s gone. You don’t have to be.”

She grits her teeth, composes herself, and then spits in his face.

“Go to hell.”

The man wipes the spit from his face angrily and stands.

“Fine. Just remember, I tried to help you.”

Sam begins to talk, voice quiet. “My dad and Tony Giles were old friends. They were in the service together. We’ve known him since we were kids, you know? So we came as soon as we heard about his death.”

Cafe, Before

“Here.” Sam placed three coffee cups down and slid into his chair.

Dean handed him the newspaper he had been reading. “Anthony Giles.”

“Who’s Anthony Giles?” Sam squinted.

“Baltimore lawyer. Working late in his office, check it out.” Olive pointed at the article she and Dean found.

Sam scanned over it, mumbling out loud. “Throat slit, room was clean. Huh. No DNA, no prints.”

“Keep reading.” Olive grinned. “It gets better.”

“Security cameras failed to capture footage of the assailant.” He scoffed.

“So we’re thinking either somebody messed with the tapes-”

“Or we’ve got an invisible killer on our hands.”

“My favorite kind.” Dean smiles. “What do you think, Scully? You wanna check it out?”

Sam scoffed, and Olive snorted.

“I’m not Scully, you’re Scully.”

“No, I’m Mulder.” Dean fought back. “You’re a red-headed woman.”

“Hey!” Olive whined. “Can I be Scully? I’m a girl.”

Dean and Sam shared a look, and each broke out into a smile. Dean patted her head and Sam gave her hand a squeeze.

“You’re too little to be either, bug.”

She rolled her eyes with a huff. “Fine, fine. Let’s go check this out.”

Second Interrogation Room, Present Day

“Would’ve been kind of hard for Dean to kill Tony, considering we weren’t in town at the time.” Sam is still straddling the chair, hands in his lap.

“So tell me what happened next.”

“Okay, uh, that when we went to see Karen.” Sam sighs. “She was barely holding it together. We just wanted to be there for her. You know?”

Giles House, Before

Karen sat on the couch, on the verge of tears. She flipped through the forms the siblings had handed her and sighed shakily.

“Insurance. I totally forgot about the insurance.”

“We’ve very sorry to bother you right now, but the company is required to conduct its own investigation. You understand.” Sam smiled sympathetically.

“Sure.” Karen nodded, pushing her glasses back up.

“Okay. Um, if you could just tell us anything you remember about the night your husband died.”

“Um… Tony and I were just supposed to have dinner. He called and said he was having computer troubles, and that… that he had to work late.” She sniffled again. “That was it.”

“Do you have any idea who could’ve done this to him?” Olive’s voice was sympathetic.

“No.” Karen shook her head. “No, it’s like I told the police, I… I have no idea.”

“Did Tony mention anything, you know, unusual to you? In the days before his death?” Dean asked.

“Unusual…” Karen trailed off.

“Yeah, like strange.”

“Strange?” She repeated.

“You know, weird. Weird noises, uh, visions, anything like that?”

Sam cleared his throat and glared at Dean, and Olive sent him a similar look.

Could you be any less subtle?

Karen turned to glance at Sam and Olive, who immediately switched back to the looks of concern and pity. She looked down again, and the two younger siblings shot him a look again.

“He had a nightmare the day before he died.” Karen shrugged.

“What kind of nightmare?”

“Uh, he said that he woke up in the middle of the night and there was a woman standing at the foot of the bed. He blinked and she was gone, I mean… it was just a nightmare.”

“Did he say what she looked like?”

“What the hell difference does it make what she looked like?” Karen spat.

Dean squirmed, and Olive leaned forward, voice gentle.

“Our company is just very thorough. I understand this is an upsetting process, but we just need to ask a few more questions, and we’ll be on our way.”

Karen nodded. “Okay. I’m sorry. He said she was pale, and that she… she had dark red eyes.”

The siblings nodded as they each made a note.

Second Interrogation Room, Present Day

“So I gave Karen a hug, told her to call me if she needed anything, and that was it… end of story.” Sam shrugs.

“Sam, I am trying to help you here.” The detective hisses. “But you have got to be honest with me. Now, we have an eyewitness. Someone who saw two men and a young woman fitting you and your siblings’s descriptions breaking into Gile’s office.”

“Okay.” Sam sighs. “Look, Karen called us later, said that there was some stuff that she wanted from Tony’s office. But the police weren’t letting her in. Like, a picture of the two of them in Paris, and some other stuff. Look, it was wrong to enter a crime scene, but she gave us the key!” Sam puts his hands up in protest.

Giles’ Office, Before

Dean picked the lock, and he ducked in first. Olive followed, and Sam went last, shutting the door behind themselves. Each ducked under the police tape with ease. Sam shone his flashlight on a pool of blood on the floor.

“Hey. Giles’ body was found right about here.”

He rummaged through his jacket pockets and pulled out the newspaper from earlier. “Throat slit so deep part of his spinal cord was visible.”

Dean let out a low whistle. “What do you guys think? Vengeful spirit? Underlining vengeful?” He emphasized.

“Yeah, maybe. I mean, he did see that woman at the foot of his bed.”

Dean picked a paper off the desk. “Look at this.”

Olive took the paper and held it where Sam could see it too. danashulps was written all over it, in small print.

“Dana Shulps. Name?” Sam suggested.

Dean picked another paper off the desk. “I dunno, but it’s all over the place.” A grin broke out on his face. “Well, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”

Sam shone his flashlight over the glass table and paused. Olive looked up at him.

“What is it, Sams?”

“Do me a favor, breathe onto the table.”

She eyed him, but did as he asked, pulling away when she realized that danashulps was written all over it.

“What the fuck?”

“Well, I’d say we’ve officially crossed over into weird.

“Maybe Giles knew her.” Dean suggested.

“Or!” Olive perked up. “Maybe it’s the name of our pale, red-eyed mystery girl.”

“Alright, let’s just see what we can find.”

***

Dean let out a loud groan, and Olive sighed from her spot on the couch. Sam was at the desktop computer, typing away.

“There’s not a single mention of a Dana Shulps anywhere. There’s not a D. Shulps. Or any other kind of fucking Shulps.” Dean complained.

“Great.” Olive huffed. “I can’t find anything either. Sams, what about you?”

“Nothing. No Dana Shulps has ever lived or died in Baltimore in the last fifty years at least.”

“So what now?”

“Well, I think I’m pretty close to cracking Giles’ password. Maybe there’s something in his personal files, you know?”

“By close, you mean?”

Sam shrugged. “Thirty minutes, maybe?”

Dean glanced down at his watch and sighed. “Awesome, so I guess I just get to uh… hang out.” He sighed, then grumbled something under his breath.

Olive got up from the couch and sat in the other red chair, watching as Sam worked. Dean began to click his tongue, and both younger siblings turned with similar looks of annoyance.

He paused, and once they both looked away, he started to make fart noises with his mouth. Olive stifled a giggle, and Sam sighed.

“Dude, seriously!”

“Alright, I’m gonna go talk to Karen again, see if she knows anything about this Dana Shulps, huh?”

“Great.” Sam huffed.

“Be careful.” Olive smiled at Dean as he stood.

He leaned down and kissed the top of her forehead, then shone his flashlight at Sam. “Keep going, Sparky.”

Third Interrogation Room, Present Day

“Then Dean went back to Karen’s place to check up on her. I mean, you know, she had obviously been upset earlier.” Olive huffs.

“So why didn’t you and Sam go with him?” The one from before, who Olive’s figured out is named Sheridan, asks.

Olive half shrugs. “I had to take care of some lady things. Sam came with me to the motel.” She pauses. “How did you know he was there, by the way?”

“We found the motel matchbook on Dean when he arrested him. Now-”

“How’d you know where to find me?” She questions.

“Let’s quit dicking around. Now you two were with Dean the whole time you were in Baltimore. Why separate now? Because your brother left you. To go kill Karen.”

“He didn’t kill anyone!” Olive shouts.

The anxiety is ramping, and it’s making her fractured arm hurt.

“I heard the 911 call!” Sheridan slams his fist on the table. “Karen was terrified! She said someone was in the house!”

Giles House, Before

Karen was on the couch in her pajamas, crying. The TV was on, but low. She wasn’t watching. She blew her nose, and heard something as she did. She took her glasses off to rub her eyes before quickly putting them back on. She noticed a figure in the mirror across the room.

She let out a frightened yelp and stood, turning the lights on. There was nobody there, but she turned into the bedroom and shut the door. She dialed 911 and put the phone to her ear.

“Hello, emergency services.”

“Hello? I think I saw someone in my house.”

“What’s your address?”

“It’s 421 Clinton Avenue. Please, can you-”

A click, and the call was disconnected.

“Hello?”

The printer on her desk flicked on and began to rapid-print sheets with the same thing from Tony’s office.

danashulpsdanashulpsdanashulpsdanashulps

Karen fumbled around for a flashlight, and finally turned. She turned to be face-to-face with the ghost. She screamed.

***

Giles House, Before

Dean knocked on the door. “Karen, you in there?”

He got no answer. He looked around before bending to pick the lock. He opened the door and tried the light in the entryway. It didn’t work. He shut the door behind himself and ventured further into the house. He went up the stairs and turned into the bedroom. He pushed the door open to see Karen lying on the floor in a pool of blood. He turned and noticed the printer pages.

“Seriously, what the hell?” He grumbled.

He knelt by Karen’s body, noticing bruises on her wrists. He slowly picked up one of her hands.

“Freeze.”

Dean cursed to himself. Behind him, two cops had their guns trained on his head.

“Stay on your knees. Hands where I can see them. Now!”

He complied.

First Interrogation Room, Present Day

Sheridan sits in an observation room, where he can see Dean, who is handcuffed to a table. The detective that had been with Sam, Ballard, enters.

“You getting anywhere with him?”

“No. Just a lot of wise-ass remarks.” He grumbles.

“What about the girl?”

Sheridan rolls his eyes. “Nothing. Her story matches his down to the last detail. You?”

“Same with Sam’s.”

“Hmm. Yeah, well, these guys are good. I’ll give them that.” Sheridan crosses his arms over his chest.

Ballard sighs. “If we don’t get Sam or Olive to flip, we have nothing but a lot of circumstantial evidence.”

“Hey. We’ve got Dean at the crime scene with blood on his hands. And we caught Olive trying to steal a car. Juries have convicted for less.”

“Yeah, but…” Ballard sighs. “I mean, where’s the murder weapon? What’s the motive? You talk about reasonable doubt.”

“Diana.” Sheridan leans in and touches her face. “Do you have reasonable doubt? We keep leaning on these three, one of them will tumble. And don’t forget about St. Louis. I’m telling you. This Dean guy is our guy.”

Ballard sighs. “I know Tony Giles was a friend of yours.”

“Yeah.” Sheridan nods. “He was, he was a good friend.”

“Look, and I know you just want to clean this mess up quick, but some on. Tony knew a lot of criminal types, I mean… maybe we’re just-”

“Criminal types?” Sheridan cuts her off with a snarl. “He was a defense lawyer, for fuck’s sake. Of course he knew criminal types.”

“Alright.” Ballard sighs. “Let’s get back at them.”

“No, you know what? Let em stew in their juices for a bit.” Sheridan glances around to make sure nobody is nearby. “Come here.”

He pulls her into a kiss.

In the interrogation room, Dean huffs.

“Dana Shulps, Dana Shulps, Dana Shulps. Dana- Dana Shulps.” He mumbles to himself, eyes closed.

He’s stiff cuffed to the table, and he’s got his hands laced together as he thinks.

Sam, hands free, pulls a pad of paper and a pen to himself. He writes Dana Shulps in print, frowning as he thinks.

Olive is still cuffed to the table in her interrogation room. Her wrists are beginning to hurt, and her leg is bouncing up and down, shaking the entire table. She mutters curses as she looks around, in thought.

“It’s not a name, it’s not a name, it’s not a name.” She squeezes her eyes shut.

Sam huffed as he got to work. “Anagram, maybe?”

Dean continues to mumble to himself, looking up when there’s a knock on the door.

“Mr. Winchester?” A middle aged man pokes his head in.

“Yeah.” Dean grumbles.

“Hi, I’m Jeffrey Kraus.” The man walks in. “I’m with the public defender’s office. I’m your lawyer.”

Dean deadpans. “Oh. Thank god. I’m saved.”

Kraus sits, and Dean leans forward. “Hey, could I uh, steal a pen from you? Maybe some paper?”

“Sure.” Kraus hands the items over to Dean, who goes to town. “Uh, well, the police haven’t found a weapon yet. So that’s good. But uh, they got your prints. And well,” the man chuckles, “literally blood on your hands. And with your police record, uh…” he trails off when he notices that Dean isn’t paying attention.

“Mr. Winchester?”

Nothing.

“What are you doing?”

“I think it’s an anagram.” Dean grunts.

“A what?”

“Same letters, different words.” Dean explains as he continues to scribble.

The paper now reads:

dna shulps

dan shulpas

land pushas

supash land

push landas

plush danas

He pushes it over to Kraus. “Uh, do me a favor? See if you recognize any of these words. You know, local names, places, anything like that?”

“Do you understand how serious these charges are?”

“I’m handcuffed to a table.” Dean scoffs. “Yeah, I get it. Humor me. Take a quick look.”

Kraus sighs and pulls the pad of paper over to him. “Well, I don’t know about s-u-p, but Ashland is a street name. Not far from here.”

“A street.” Dean repeats.

He takes the pad back, tears the paper off, and begins to scribble again.

“Let’s start with where you were the night Anthony Giles died.”

“Can you get in to see my brother and sister?” Dean looks up quickly.

“Mr. Winchester, you could be facing the death penalty here.”

“Hey, thanks for the law review, Matlock. But, if you wanna help me.” Dean holds up the two scraps of paper he’s written on. “I need you to see my brother and sister.”

Third Interrogation Room, Present Day

Olive unfurls the note and snorts.

Lil,

Ashland Street

Call richies if you’re alone

-Phil

“I hope that means something. He was adamant I get that to you.” Kraus sits across from her.

Olive rolls her neck. “Yeah, thanks. How far exactly is Ashland Street from here?” She crumbles up the note and looks up, expectantly.

“Uh, maybe a ten minute drive. Miss Winchester, if you don’t mind, I’d really like to-”

“No.” Olive shakes her head. “I don’t need a lawyer to talk me through this. They think Dean’s a killer, they found me stealing a car, and they’re gonna pin Sam and I as accessories. They’re gonna bring up everything we’ve ever done, gonna bring up the fact that our dad is gone, gonna say Dean had blood on his hands, and that’s gonna be the end of it.”

Kraus sighs. “You’re sixteen-”

“They’re gonna try me as an adult, I know.” She nods again. “Look, Matlock, why don’t you go talk to Sam? He’s prelaw, full ride to Stanford. I’m sure he can help you work out a strategy for us.” She smiles a sickly sweet smile, but it’s full of anger and poison.

Krau sighs a third time before getting up and exiting the room.

Second Interrogation Room, Present Day

Sam reads over the note Dean sent.

Hilts-

It’s a street

Ashland

-McQueen

Kraus sighs. “I hope that’s meaningful. But I’d like to discuss your case now.”

Sam gestures to the chair in front of him. “Sure thing, Matlock.”

Kraus sighs again. “You three really are siblings, aren’t you?” He sits. “Now, as you know, the DA might be interested in-”

A knock on the door, and then Ballard barges in.

“We need you.” She looks at Kraus. “With the other one.”

Sam stares at the door after they close it. He huffs. Several people have crowded outside Dean’s interrogation room, watching as the digital camera is set up across from him.

“Counselor?” Sheridan grins. “Your boy decided to confess.”

“Mr. Winchester?” Kraus warns. “I’d strongly advise against that.”

“Talk directly into the camera, first stating your name for the record.”

Dean clears his throat and sits up. He leans forward and looks into the camera. “My name is Dean Michael Winchester. I’m an Aquarius.” A smile begins to creep onto his face. He knows that if Sam and Olive were to see this, they would roll their eyes and break into a cackle, respectively. “I enjoy sunsets, long walks on the beach, and frisky women. And I did not kill anyone.” His smile drops. “But I know who did. Or rather, what, did. Of course, it can’t be for sure because our investigation was interrupted. But our working theory was that we’re looking for some kind of vengeful spirit.”

“Excuse me?” Ballard spits.

“You know,” Dean shrugs. “Casper the bloodthirsty ghost?”

People in the observation room begin to laugh.

“Tony Giles saw it. I’ll bet you cash money Karen did too. But see, the interesting thing is the word it leaves behind. For some reason, it’s trying to tell us something. But communicating across the veil, it ain’t easy.” Dean shakes his head. “You know, sometimes the spirits, they, they get things jumbled. You remember redrum. Same concept. You know, it’s uh, word fragments, sometimes it’s anagrams. See, at first we thought it was a name. Dana Shulps. But now we think it’s a street. Ashland. Whatever’s going on, I’ll bet you it started there.”

Dean spreads his hands and smiles. His part is done.

“You arrogant bastard!” Sheridan shouts. “Tony and Karen were good people, and you’re making jokes!”

“I’m not joking, Ponch.” Dean’s lip curls up.

“You murdered them in cold blood! Just like that girl in St. Louis!”

“Oh, yeah…” Dean sucks in air through his teeth. “That wasn’t me either. That was a shape-shifter creature that only looked like me.”

He smiles at the camera again, and Sheridan snaps. He picks Dean up by the collar, which is no easy task, as he’s 6’ 2” and about 170 pounds. He slams him against the wall, and although Dean is uncomfortable, he doesn’t flinch. He keeps his cold front.

“Pete, that is enough!” Ballard pulls him off.

“You asked for the truth.” Dean speaks calmly.

“Lock his ass up.” Sheridan spits, dropping Dean to his feet.

Another cop takes over and shoves Dean face-first against the wall, cuffing him. Dean grunts, but a sense of calm washes over him. He did what needed to be done. Sam and Olive would fix it from here.

Sheridan storms into Olive’s interrogation room, only to find her gone. He lets out a frustrated scream and throws a chair across the room. A breeze blows through the window, and he sticks his head out. It’s a five story drop, and the fire escape is at least six feet away. There’s no way she could’ve reached it.

“Where is she!” He shouts.

Ballard comes running. “Sam’s gone!”

She blinks, noticing that Sheridan is the only one in the room. “What?”

“What did they do? The fire escapes way over there! For both of them!”

“These fuckers.” Ballard hisses, showing Sheridan the note left on Sam’s table.

“Hilts and McQueen? Lil and Phil?” Sheridan spits.

“Hilts is Steve McQueen’s character in the Great Escape.” Ballard sighs. “And Lil and Phil are from the Rugrats.”

Sheridan lets out another scream.

***

Dean is cuffed once more, in a smaller room. Ballard enters, looking around, nervous. Dean huffs.

“Can we make this quick? I’m a little tired, it’s been a long day, you know, with your partner assaulting me and all.”

“I want to know more about that stuff you were talking about earlier.”

Dean hums. “Time Life. Mysteries of the Unknown. Look it up.”

She circles around to stand in front of him. “Let’s pretend, for the moment, you’re not entirely insane.”

Dean hums again. “What would one of these things be doing here?”

“A vengeful spirit?”

Ballard nods, and Dean pouts as he thinks.

“Well, they’re created by violet deaths. And then they come back for a reason, usually a nasty one. Like revenge on the people that hurt em.”

“And, uh, these things… they’re capable of killing people?” She asks, rubbing her neck.

Dean smiles, lining up his next smart-ass response, when he notices deep, dark bruises on her wrists, the same he had seen on Karen’s.

“Where’d you get those?”

Ballard sighs and pulls up her sleeves, seeing the bruises for the first time.

“I don’t know. It… it wasn’t there before.”

“You’ve seen it before, haven’t you? The spirit?”

“How’d you know?”

“Cause Karen had the same bruises on her wrists. And I’m willing to bet that if you look at Giles’ autopsy photos, he’s got em too. It’s got something to do with this spirit, I… I just don’t know what.”

Ballard turns away, looking into the mirror.

“I know. You think you’re going crazy. But let’s skip that part, shall we? Because the last two people who saw this thing? Died, pretty soon after. You hear me?”

She turns back to him, face drained of color. “You think I’m going to die.”

Dean sighs. “You need to go to Sam and Olive. They’ll help.”

Ballard’s shoulders fall. “You’re giving them up.”

Dean sighs again, looking away. “Go to the first motel listed in the yellow pages. Look for Jim Rockford and Angel Martin. It’s how we find each other when we’re all separated. Now, you can arrest them if you want.” He looks up at her. “Or you can let them save your life.”

Motel Room, Present Day

Sam sits at a desk, rifling through files. Somebody knows on the door, and his head perks up. The person knocks again, and this time Sam gets up. He tucks a handgun into the back of his jeans and looks through the peephole.

He throws the door open with a sigh of relief. Olive tumbles into his arms, shaking. He holds her, then realizes that her legs have given out, and she’s relying entirely on him. He picks her up by the waist and puts her down on the bed, kicking the door shut.

“Bug, what happened?”

She coughs, and a few specks of blood fly out. “I had to jump. I wasn’t gonna make it to the fire escape, so I just went straight down.” She groans. “I landed in a dumpster, my leg broke, and my lungs hurt. I’m mostly healed now, but… it still hurts.” She leans back onto the wall with a heavy sigh.

“Fuck.” Sam mumbles under his breath.

He sees the fear in Olive’s eyes and sits next to her, pulling her to rest in his lap. “Okay. Once we get all of this fixed, I promise we’ll go straight to Bobby. Okay?” He runs a hand through her hair.

She coughs again. “We’ve gotta get Dean.”

The door opens, and Sam whips the gun out, his other hand holding Olive protectively. It’s Ballard. She eyes the gun, and Sam hesitates. She gives a soft smile, and Sam puts the gun down. Olive doesn’t move. She’s scared she’ll cough up a lung, and she’s barely breathing as is. Sam notices Ballard’s eyes on her.

“You’ll have to sit here.” He gestures to the bed.

She does so. “I saw it.”

“What?” Olive speaks, then coughs again, ending with a groan.

Ballard eyes Olive again, then shows Sam her wrists. He takes her hands in his and winces as he looks over the pink skin.

“These showed up after you saw it?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Ballard sighs.

“Alright. You’re gonna have to tell me exactly what you saw.”

Ballard hesitates. “You know, I must be losing my mind. You’re both fugitives. I should be arresting you.”

“You can arrest us later.” Olive rasps. “After we get through this.”

“She’s right.” Sam sighs. “Right now you’ve gotta talk to me.”

Ballard nods.

“Okay. The spirit, what did it look like?”

“She was… um, really pale. Her throat was cut, and her eyes… they were like, this deep dark red. It appeared like she was trying to talk to me, but she couldn’t. It was just… a lot of blood.”

“Okay. There.” Sam points to the desk, and she rises, going to it. “I’ve been researching every girl that’s ever died or gone missing from Ashland street.”

“How’d you get these?” Ballard flips through the photos. “These are from crime scenes, and booking photos.”

“You have your job, we have ours. Look through them, tell me if you recognize anyone.”

She sits down and begins to look through papers. Sam turns back to Olive and presses a soft kiss to her forehead.

“I’m gonna get you some water. Okay, bug?”

Olive mumbles an agreement and lets Sam move her out of his lap. He goes to the bathroom, wets a towel, and brings it back, placing it on her forehead. He’s seen her sick like this before, but it’s never been this bad. Panic begins to grow in his chest as he fills a glass with water. He doesn’t know what to do. He needs Dean.

“This is her. I’m sure of it.”

Sam places the cup of water down on the nightstand and goes to stand at the desk with Ballard.

“Claire Becker. Twenty eight years old, disappeared about nine months ago.”

“But I don’t even know her. I mean, why would she come after me?” Ballard’s growing exasperated.

“Well, before her death, she was arrested twice. For dealing heroin. You ever work narcotics?” Sam suggests.

“Yeah, Pete and I did. Before homicide.”

“You ever bust her?”

Ballard shakes her head. “Not that I remember.”

“It says that she was last seen entering 2911 Ashland Street. Police searched the place, didn’t find anything. Guess we gotta check it out ourselves. See if we can find her body.”

“What?” Ballard squints.

“Salt and burn em. It’s the only way to put her spirit to rest.” Olive speaks, eyes closed and voice thin and scratchy.

The panic flares in Sam’s chest once more. He needs Dean. She needs Dean.

Ballard sighs. “Of course it is.”

“Sammy, I wanna come with you. I wanna help.” She starts to sit up.

“No, no, no, Ollie. I can’t let you.” Sam rushes to her side, pushing her back down. “No, baby girl. You’re too weak, you’ve gotta stay here.”

“But I wanna help save Dean.” She whines.

“I know, babes, I know. But I need you safe, and that means you have to stay here.”

“She should be in a hospital right now.” Ballard states.

“No!” Olive jumps, then proceeds to cough, spitting blood into the crook of her elbow.

Sam rubs her back and shakes his head. “No hospitals. She can’t do hospitals.”

“Why not?”

He sighs. “Family issue.”

Olive groans, then rolls onto her side, looking up at Sam with puppy eyes. He sighs again, pushing her hair behind her ear.

“I don’t wanna be alone.” She whispers.

Healing large injuries drains her more than turning itself does. A broken leg is no small feat, and she’s definitely injured her lungs. But she had to get out of there, so she forced herself to begin to heal. Once she’s started, she can’t turn the healing process back off. It’s killing her.

She doesn’t want to be alone when she dies.

They both know it.

He helps her sit up, and they both ignore the grunt of pain that escapes her lips. He holds her tightly, but gently.

“Okay.”

2911 Ashland Street, Present Day

Sam leads them down into a creepy warehouse. Olive has her finger hooked in his belt loop, and her feet are dragging. She’s getting worse by the minute, but she refuses to let her mind slip away, not until she sees Dean.

“So what exactly are we looking for?”

“I’ll let you know when we find it.” Sam whispers.

They split up. Sam and Olive start up a flight of stairs as Ballard continues on the lower level. She turns around a corner, and sees Claire, standing by a window. She gasps, and Claire moves towards her, trying to speak.

“Sam? Sam!”

Sam and Olive share a look. Olive lets go of his belt loop and nods, and he runs back down the stairs, toward Ballard. Claire disappears.

“Hey! Hey, I’m here. What is it, what happened?” Sam looks her up and down, noticing that she’s unscatched.

“Claire…”

“Where?” Olive croaks, making her way down the stairs.

“Here. She was here.”

“Did she attack you?” Sam asks.

Ballard shakes her head. “No,” she hesitates, “No, she was just like… reaching out to me. She was over there by the window.” She points.

Sam and Olive share a look before Sam moves the shelves away from the window. Olive squints as the words printed on the glass become clear.

Ashland Supplies

She snorts. “That’s the word.”

“Well, yeah, now the extra letters make sense.” Sam fishes an EMF reader from his pocket and slowly makes his way to the wall, where the words are perfectly shadowed.

“What is that?”

Olive stumbles to follow her brother as she clears her throat. “Spirits and certain remains give off electromagnetic frequencies.”

“So, if Clarie’s body were here, it would tell you?”

“Yeah, that’s the theory.” Sam mumbles.

The EMF meter begins to purr, and Sam turns back around to a brick wall. He sighs and looks around. Olive spots a rusted crowbar and drags it behind her as she follows Sam. He plucks it from her hand and begins to break through the wall. Olive coughs as dust and debris fly through the air. She slumps down against the staircase, coughing every so often. Her head falls back when she’s not struggling to breathe, and her eyes are beginning to roll into the back of her head.

“There’s definitely something in there.” Sam grunts as he continues to break through the wall. “You know? This is bothering me.”

“Well, you are digging up a corpse.” Ballard shrugs.

“No, no, uh…” Sam chuckles. “That’s pretty par for the course, actually.”

“Then what?”

“I mean, it’s just… no vengeful spirit we’ve ever dealt with wanted to be wasted… so why the hell would Claire lead us to her own remains?”

Olive lets out another cough, this one sounding loud and wet. Sam pauses and stares at her. Her head is back against the wall, her mouth is open and bloody, and her eyes are closed. She’s pale, sweaty, and barely breathing.

“That doesn’t make any sense.” Ballard shakes her head, snapping Sam back into reality.

He shakes his head, again glancing over his shoulder at the teenager sprawled on the ground.

“Here, gimme a hand.”

Together, they pull out a body that is wrapped in shrouds of cloth, and place it on the ground. Sam fishes out a pocket knife and cuts the ropes off, revealing the body. He sighs, looking back at Olive. Her eyes are shut, and her head is falling off to the side. Her chest heaves with each breath, and Sam can hear her wheezing. Ballard puts her wrists out, above Claire’s.

“Her wrists, yeah.” Sam turns back. “They’d be bruised just like yours.”

Ballard reaches out with a shaky hand, cautiously touching a necklace on the body. Sam perks up.

“That necklace mean anything to you?”

“I’ve seen it before. It’s rare. It was custom made over on Carson street.” Ballard’s hand goes back to her own neck. “I have one just like it.” She looks up at Sam. “Pete gave it to me.”

He huffs. “Now this makes sense.”

“I’m sorry?”

“She’s a death omen, not a vengeful spirit.”

“Excuse me?”

“Claire’s not killing people.” Sam sighs. “She’s trying to warn them. You see, sometimes, spirits, they don't want revenge. They want justice.” He nods to himself. “Which is why she led us here in the first place. She wants us to know who her killer is.” He pauses, and it clicks in his head. “Detective, how much do you know about your partner?”

“Oh my god.” Ballards face falls.

“About a year ago, some heroin went missing from lockup. Obviously, it was a cop. We never found out who did it, but whoever it was would need someone to fence their product.”

Sam snorts. “Someone like a heroin dealer. Somebody like Claire.”

Olive stumbles to her feet. Her lips are dry and her skin is devoid of color. Her fangs are peeking out of her mouth, and her eyes are watery.

“Dean’s in danger.”

Armored Van on a Highway, Present Day

“So I’m being extradited to St. Louis, huh?”

Dean gets no answer, so he tries again.

“And you just decided to transfer me yourself, eight hundred miles at two in the morning?”

Again, nothing. The hairs on the back of Dean’s neck begin to rise.

“This can’t be good.”

Baltimore, Present Day

“Okay. Thanks.” Ballard snaps her phone shut.

“What is it?” Sam asks, leaning forward.

He’s in the backseat with Olive. She’s in and out of it, and she looks worse every time they pass under a street light.

“Pete just left the precinct. With Dean.”

“What?” Olive forces her eyes open as she sits up, grunting.

“He said the prisoner had to be transfered, and he just took him. Dispatch has been calling but he won’t answer the radio.”

“Radio?” Sam repeats. “He took a county vehicle?”

“Yeah.”

“Well then they should have a lo-jack. We’ve just gotta get it turned on.”

Empty stretch of road, Present Day

The van pulls off onto the side of the road. Dean pushes the rising anxiety and leans forward.

“Pee break? So soon?” He taunts. “Might wanna get your prostate checked.”

Sheridan says nothing before he gets out. Dean listens as the footsteps circle around to the back of the van.

“Son of a bitch.” He groans to himself.

Sheridan yanks the backdoors open, and Dean inches away.

“Hey, man. I’m cool in the van. You go do what you gotta do.”

Sheridan grabs him by the jacket and hauls him out of the van, throwing him onto the wet ground. Dean lands with a grunt, squirming to sit up.

“You’re a cocky son of a bitch.” Sheridan spits. “You think those people in St. Louis are gonna buy that shit you’re peddling?”

Dean makes it to his knees and pants, staring at Sheridan.

“Here’s the thing. You’re not gonna make it to St. Louis. You’re gonna die trying to escape.”

Dean blinks, and Sheridan’s gun is out, pointed between his eyes.

“Wait!” Dean pleads. “Wait, let’s talk about this. I mean, you don’t wanna do something that you’re gonna regret later.”

Sheridan only cocks the gun.

“Or maybe you do.”

Olive growls from low in her throat, holding back a cough and the load of blood in her mouth. Sheridan turns at the noise, and Ballard puts her gun up. Sam tucks Olive into his side, shielding her from the gun. She’s shaking, and Dean’s eyes are glued to her.

His stomach drops. She’s dying. He knows it.

“Pete! Put the gun down.”

“Diana? How’d you find me?” The gun goes back to Dean’s head, and Olive feels bile rise in her throat.

Sam hugs her tighter.

“I know about Claire.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Sheridan shakes his head, gun still up.

“Put the gun down!” She shouts.

Sheridan drops the act, and a smirk grows on his face. “Oh, I don’t think so. You’re fast. I’m pretty sure I’m faster.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“I didn’t do anything, Diana.” Sheridan shakes his head.

“It’s a little late for that.”

“It wasn’t my fault.” Sheridan scoots closer to Dean, and another growl rips through Olive’s throat.

She swallows what she can and spits blood onto the grass.

“Claire was trying to turn me in! I had no choice.”

“And Tony? Karen?”

Sheridan shakes his head again. “Same thing! Tony scrubbed the money, he got skittish, and then he wanted to come clean. I’m sure he told Karen everything.”

Dean’s eyes go back to his younger siblings. Sam’s holding the entirety of Olive’s weight, and he’s looking at Dean with big eyes. Dean shakes his head, and Sam looks about ready to cry. Olive lets out a weak cough.

“It was a mess. I had to clean it up. I just panicked.” Sheridan shook his head.

“How many more people are gonna die over this, Pete?”

“There’s a way out.” Sheridan looks back at Dean. “This Dean kid’s a freaking gift. We could pin the whole thing on him. Right? No trial, nothing. Just… just one more dead scumbag.”

“Hey.” Dean fronts.

Sheridan puts the gun closer, and Dean backs off, shoulders falling.

“No one will question it. Diana, please.” Sheridan begs. “I still love you.”

Ballard puts the gun down with a sigh. Dean’s eyes fill with tears as Sheridan’s gun connects with his head. A loud growl tears through the trees, and Sheridan is tackled to the ground. Dean rolls out of the way, and Sam pulls him up. Ballard tries to get a shot, but she can’t.

There’s another loud growl, and the tangle of limbs stops moving. Sheridan is down, and Olive falls to her knees, coughing loudly and violently. Blood sprays everywhere, and the second she stops coughing she begins to throw up. Sam rushes over, holding her hair back. Diana unlocks Dean’s handcuffs, and he joins his brother, watching as Olive fights to breathe.

Blood continues to drip from her mouth as she wheezes, chest heaving. Dean pulls her into his chest, and she begins to shake.

“So now what, officer?” Dean asks, cradling Olive like a baby.

“Pete did confess to me. He screwed up all your cases. Royally. I’d say there’s a good chance that we could get them dismissed.”

“You’d take care of that for us?” Sam looks up.

“Yeah. But the St. Louis murder charges? That’s another story. I can’t help you. Unless…” Ballard sighs. “I just happened to turn my back, and you walked away. I could just tell them that the suspects escaped.”

“Wait, are you sure?” Sam’s eyebrows furrowed.

“Yeah, she’s sure, Sam.” Dean hissed.

“No, it’s just… I mean, you could lose your job over something like that.”

She shakes her head. “Look, I just want you guys out there doing what you do best. Trust me, I’ll sleep better at night.”

Olive lets out another strangled cough, and Dean pushes her hair from her face.

“Is she gonna be okay?” Ballard asks.

“I don’t know.” Sam whispers, in shock.

“Where’s my car?” Dean calls.

“It’s at the impound yard down on Robertson.”

Dean groans, shooting Sam a look. “We need Dad’s journal, it could have answers.”

Ballard shakes her head. “Don’t even think about taking the car. You guys have to get out of here. I have to radio this in.”

The boys nod and Dean hoists Olive up. Coughs continue to rack her body, and she’s spitting blood everywhere. Sam takes her from him and they start down the muddy road.

“Dean, what do we do?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never seen her like this before.” Dean hisses back.

“We’re miles away from Dad’s journal. We’ll never make it in time.”

Olive wheezes, then coughs again, choking on her blood and spit. Dean stops, panting. He shakes his head at Sam, who is staring back with wide eyes.

“Sam, we can’t do anything.”

Olive’s stomach heaves again, and blood is the only thing to come out. Sam sighs as he stops. The brothers kneel down, and Sam places Olive between them.

She stares between the two with tears in her eyes.

I’m sorry.

Dean pushes her hair out of her face with a soft smile. “We love you.”

Sam is trembling, enraged. He picks her back up and shakes his head. Dean follows, shouting Sam’s name.

“We have to be able to do something, Dean. I’m not gonna watch her die.”

“We don’t have Dad’s journal!”

“Then we call Bobby!”

“Sam, we don’t even know if Bobby knows.”

“We have to try!”

Dean swallows the bad taste in his mouth as he yanks out his phone and dial’s Bobby’s number. Olive coughs.

He puts it on speaker. “Hello.”

“Bobby!” Sam shouts.

“What’s wrong, kids?”

“Olive’s dying, we don’t know what to do!”

“What?”

“Bobby, we’ve gotta tell you something important.”

“You sister’s part Okami. I know. What happened?”

The boys blink at each other, but a groan from Olive snaps them back into reality.

“The healing process is killing her. What do we do?”

There’s a long sigh, and Dean watches the little color left in Olive’s face drain. Her chest heaves once more, and then she stops breathing. He drops the phone, snatching Olive from Sam’s hold.

“Olive!”

“Bobby!” Sam grabs the phone, in tears.

“Blood.”

“What?”

“She needs blood. Once a day, every day. It’ll make her stronger, she won’t get sick again.”

“Bobby, we’re not-”

“Gimme your knife.” Dean interrupts.

“What?” Sam’s eyes go wide.

“Give me your fucking knife!”

Sam doesn’t move, and Dean forces Olive’s mouth open. He slices his palm against her fang and groans as blood trickles out.

It falls in droplets, staining her teeth and her tongue. The phone call is long forgotten, and Sam is on his knees by their side. Olive’s eyes begin to twitch behind her eyelids, and Dean gasps. He squeezes his hand, bleeding harder.

A second passes, and Sam stares at Dean. Dean doesn’t look up from Olive.

Her fangs begin to recede, and Dean watches, shaking. A small cough moves her body, and then she begins to wheeze. Sam drops his head to her chest. He hears her heart and he lets out a loud sigh, resting his head against her.

“Boys?”

Her voice is soft and unharmed. She sounds like she just woke up from a nap. Dean pulls her up and hugs her. She sniffs, reaching up to rub her eyes.

“How?”

Sam lets out a weak laugh and brushes her hair back. “Dean saved you.”

She leans into her oldest brother and looks up with a soft smile.

“Thanks, De.”

He laughs and kisses the top of her head before pulling her back into a second hug. “Anything for you, baby girl. Anything for you.”

Previous Ep: No Exit (2.06)

Next Ep: Crossroad Blues (2.08)

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theshatteredrose · 5 years ago

Text

Relic Keepers: Awakening of the Red Lily (Chapter 1) - Original Fiction

Title: Relic Keepers: Awakening of the Red Lily

Summary: A 1000 years after an apocalyptic event called the Bombardment, humanity have learnt how to harness the power of mana. Silverleaf Military Academy is a learning centre for Indigo Children, those who have the ability to use Mana. And they are divided into two classes; the Elites, who’s skills make them superior on the battlefield. And Passives, who’s skills do not belong outside of the Academy. Supposedly. Eishirou is classed as a Passive. He is also a Chronicler. Gathering lost information, finding relics, learning about the far-flung distant past is what he does. And he enjoys it. However, his life changes when he gets called out to his first expedition in the field with his new roommate, Zayne – a powerfully protective Elite!

Genres: Young adult, suspense, action, adventure, treasure hunt, scifi fantasy, romance, slow burn romance, gay romance

Notes: Ok, here it is. M y first attempt at an original novel! A little nervous to be honest, but I’ll try my best to be entertaining! I’ll also try my best to keep the chapters under 3k for easier reading. But, you know, things happen. Now, this will be a very long project and I will attempt to maintain weekly updates. I do hope you'll give this story a chance. And I hope you'll enjoy reading~

Ao3 | Wattpad | Inkitt | FictionPress

Chapter 1:

Eishirou huffed a tired sigh to remove an annoying strand of brown hair from his eyes. His eyes, normally a honey brown, were no doubt darken and possibly even bloodshot from staring at a bright computer screen for a few long hours.

He enjoyed his role as a Researcher and Chronicler. But staring at data for hours on end certainly got boring really quickly.

“Eishirou? You’re still here?”

Looking up from his work screen, Eishirou glanced over at his fellow Chronicler and friend.

Reddish brown hair and vivid emerald green eyes. Misaki. He was a good guy, friendly and considerate. Protective. He did have an intimidating glare of death, though. Guy knew how to scare the shit out of newbies, that was for sure. And some of the veterans, too.

“Yeah, but not for much longer, I hope,” Eishirou replied as he returned back to his work screen. “Someone was reported to have messed around with a few archives. I’m just making sure they didn’t actually mess with the data.”

Eishirou didn’t need to look over at Misaki to know that his usual friendly smile had turned into a deep frown. “Someone hacked the data? Do you know who?”

“Nope. Just that someone did.”

“I see,” Misaki murmured. “I will find out then.”

Eishirou wasn’t able to suppress an amused snort when he heard Misaki’s footsteps move away. He felt sorry for them, whoever they were. For a few seconds at least. Messing with the data was a bit no-no.

The information he was inspecting was basic, but needed to be preserved regardless. It was information he had seen all before. He knew it by heart, honestly. So, he would be able to get through it all quickly.

The prestigious Silverleaf Academy, a military university where students possessing mana-infused abilities came to train. It was located in Araluen, a Sanctuary City. Set in the middle of an island, surrounded by a large stone wall. And that was located ten miles from the shore of a vastly inhabitable continent. A continent that was reportedly to have once been as Australia. A place they now referred to as Main Land.

"Be sure to book now for the 1022nd Anniversary of the Bombardment!" the large plasma advertising board on the other side of the information centre robotically sounded, momentarily distracting Eishirou from his work.

Oh, was it that time of the year again?

The Bombardment was the name for an era in time, over a thousand years ago, where several asteroids impacted the earth within minutes of each other. Several large cities were wiped clean from the surface. Millions of lives where taken. Many more to follow in the apocalyptic aftermath. Life as those who knew it back then was irreversibly changed.

Of course, they didn't have the exact time or date when the Bombardment had occurred. Information from that era was largely lost and destroyed. And the information they had uncovered mostly contradicted itself. It was difficult to tell between all the fake propaganda and the truth. Not to mention that ruins seemed to date back further than a thousand years. Ancient. No mentioning of them in any form of text or data.

The common consensus was that the Bombardment happened over a thousand years ago. And had brought modern civilisation to its knees.

It also brought the use and discovery of mana.

The scientific community all agreed on one thing; if humanity had not discovered mana and found a way to harness it, then humanity would have been destroyed, too.

By using mana and infusing it within their inventions, they were able to rebuild society. Restructured cities. Learn how to live off the land. Learning how to harness mana within the human body.

The mana itself was largely a mystery. It was a source of energy. Mostly invisible until it was condensed and concentrated, which would then be presented in a glowing light.

However, the scientific community was divided in regards to where said mana came from. The asteroids? Or were rich mana deposits hidden within the Earth the entire time and it took a cataclysmic impact to reveal them?

There were a lot of…discussions about that topic. And certain scientists would often times get violent and confrontational.

Eishirou didn’t have a preference either way. Far as he knew, both scenarios were likely. And did it really make that much of a difference where Mana came from a thousand years ago? It wasn’t going to affect your average Joe’s way of life.

Those born after the Bombardment were often referred as Indigo Children. They were born with the innate ability to use Mana. And they fell into two categories; Elites and Passives.

Some form of discrimination was still rife amongst the Indigo Children. Elites verses and Passives. Elites are those born with battling abilities. Creating swords or other miscellaneous weapons out of mana. They were the ones who fight against the creatures known simply as ShadowDwellers.

ShadowDwellers were, simply put, abominations. Deformed creatures that also possessed the ability to use Mana. Again, the scientific community was divided with where they came from. Again, the asteroids? Or deep within the Earth itself? Some even believed that they were once humans themselves, mutated by mana in some way.

Silverleaf Academy had several Elite Squadrons that ensured the safety of students and residents alike.

Eishirou was a Passive Indigo Child. He didn’t fight in battles. Though, he could enter the battlefield if necessary. Only as a Medic, however. He possessed no fighting skills whatsoever. What skills he did possess was useful for research and archaeology.

He was a bit of an oddity, if one went by the Academy Hierarchy. He was a Chronicler, someone who dealt with gathering information and ensuring its safety for future generations. So, many Elites would refer to them as Paper-Pushers.

But he was also a Medic. And according to the Hierarchy, he was off-limits. No harm was to come to medics, no matter what. Anyone who dared to harm a medic deserved severe punishment.

So, Eishirou was both a nobody and someone of immunity.

In short, the Academy Hierarchy was stupid.

Chroniclers and Information Gatherers were important, however. The ‘modern’ civilisations from a thousand years ago seemed to have believed that they were the pinnacle of evolution. And they possessed all the information that there was to be known.

And yet, many of the ruins that have been discovered date back potentially millions of years. Civilisations deep underground and within the seas. Places and locations that were believed to have been impossible during ‘modern’ civilisation.

Either they were completely arrogant. Or completely ignorant.

A mixture of both, perhaps.

Scientists of today refuse to make the same mistake. They wish to document everything, no matter how controversial or ‘wrong’ that information appeared to be. Fact over fiction. Truth over lies.

Well, the document seemed perfectly intact. Done! He was a free man.

A buzzing sound from his communicator, however, stopped him dead in his tracks. Typical.

With a drawn-out groan, Eishirou slumped back into his chair and picked up his communicator. He didn’t need to see who was ringing him to know who it was. “Prof, you’re slipping. I didn’t even get my butt out of the chair this time.”

The hologram scene of Professor Chryses chortled. “I’ll try harder next time.”

As long as he didn’t catch him in the shower again. If he did, Eishirou was just going to ignore it. No matter how many times he rang.

“Let me guess; you got an assignment?” Eishirou asked.

The middle-aged man on the other side of the communicator nodded. With his dark sun-burned skin and deep wrinkles around his eyes, he was your typical off-the-grid researcher. The best at the Academy, to be completely frank. And he was Eishirou’s mentor.

“That’s right. And you’re coming with me.”

That surprised Eishirou. The only field research experience he had was helping in the restoration of relics and runestones that Jacob and his fellow researchers had discovered. He hadn’t been away from the city before.

“Really? Where to? Are we heading for Main Land?”

Jacob shook his head. “No. A small but tropically dense island thirty miles from here. It should be a rather short assignment. A damaged stone tablet was discovered.”

Ah, that was why he wanted him to join him. That, and he was old enough to start gaining some field experience. “And you need my expertise?”

“Correct,” Jacob smiled. “See you in an hour. Elite Team 3 will be meeting us at the Hanger 12.”

“Elites?” Eishirou repeated in a surprised tone.

“ShadowDwellers had been reported in the area,” Jacob explained simply.

Ah, that explained a lot. Though, there seemed to be an increase in ShadowDweller sightings and occurrences lately. He briefly wondered why that was.

“Right, see you in a bit,” Eishirou returned before he ended the call.

Well, no point dawdling now.

Eishirou grabbed his shoulder bag from the floor of his work desk and stood up. The small door which encapsulated him at his desk slid open noiselessly, allowing him to step out onto the stairs.

“You’re heading out again?” a feminine voice practically whined at him.

He turned to look over at another Chronicler. Long purple hair, dark pink eyes, quite fragile in appearance. Lyvia. She worked full-time within the Communication centre. Her frail body prevented her from joining field missions.

“The ol’ slave driver wants me to join him on an assignment,” Eishirou explained. “A short one, he claims. But we all know what that means.”

Lyvia’s pout quickly transformed into a smile and she nodded. “I heard Elites. Which team?”

“Team 3.”

“Oh!” her expression brightened unexpectedly. “I heard they got a new member. Ernesta practically forced him to join.”

That sounded like something Ernesta would do. She was very mild-mannered, peaceful in some ways. But she was terrifying when angry. Oooh, boy, Eishirou never wanted to get on her bad side.

“You might get to meet him,” Lyvia continued before she gave a telling giggle. “He’s supposedly cute.”

Eishirou rolled his eyes. “I’ll be sure to let you know.”

He bid his fellow Chroniclers farewell as he turned and walked up the pathway toward the exit. He walked past the main Observation Deck and out through the automatic sliding doors. He noted that the Observation Deck was empty. Which was usually a good thing. Nothing untoward was occurring throughout the Academy and city. Whenever the Communicator Commander was there, it meant trouble was about to go down.

Eishirou hadn’t had the pleasure of being on duty when Professor Jalen, or Communications Commander, started barking orders. He was a Chronicler, but he dealt more with the field work. Often aiding Professor Chryses. He only ever used his Chronicler privileges when he needed some classified information. Or just information in general.

He had the ability to access any information at any given time. It was easier within the Communication Centre, but anywhere he could get access to the internet, he could get the information he wanted.

The buzzing of his communicator pulled Eishirou from his thoughts once more. When he pulled it out of his pocket, he half expected to see that it was the Jacob again. Instead he was surprised to see it was his dorm superintendent.

“Katsuto, what’s up?” Eishirou asked as the hologram of a man with a stern expression flickered into view.

“Just informing you that you have a new roommate,” Katsuto stated in his usual brisk and stern manner.

He stopped dead in his tracks. Wait, roommate?

“What roommate?” Eishirou immediately asked. “No one said anything about me getting a roommate!”

Katsuto barely even blinked at his response. “You do now. He’s waiting for you. Play nice.”

“W-wait a minute-!” Eishirou spluttered. But it was useless. Katsuto finished the call on his end and Eishirou was left staring at the screen of his communicator.

He sighed loudly as his shoulders slumped forward in defeat. Asshole. Could have at least warned him a few days in advance. He knew he was to get a new roommate one day, after his old roommate had unfortunately taken ill and had to move to a dorm closer to the medical wing.

But that was beside the point. A bit of common courtesy from Katsuto wouldn’t have gone astray! And he didn’t even mention the guy’s name!

Ugh…

He uttered another sigh and kept walking. Well, there was nothing he could do about it now. He had an assignment to skip off to, anyway. He couldn’t play host for very long. Even so, he hoped the guy was easy to get along with.

After a few minutes of walking, he finally reached the door to his room. He took a minute to gather his composure before he used his key card to open the door. And he stepped inside.

His gaze immediately flickered over to the bed located on the left side of the room. And yup, there was someone there.

He appeared to have been going through his luggage. Tall guy, a couple of heads taller than Eishirou was. So…over six feet. With floppy dark blue hair. His eyes appeared purple. His skin was a light tan. Perhaps it was natural, or it meant that he had spent quite a lot of time outside.

No matter.

“Ah, you’re my new roommate,” Eishirou greeted, gaining the new guy’s attention.

The guy turned in his direction and gave him a thankfully friendly looking smile. “That’s me. You must be Eishirou.”

The door slid closed behind him as Eishirou moved into the room. “And that’s me.”

“The name’s Zayne.”

As Eishirou shook the other guy’s hand in greeting, he noted that he had an Elite emblem on his jacket. He had to fight the urge to do a double-take. Wait, an Elite? Why would an Elite be rooming with a Passive? Especially as Passive like him?

Although, he was…kinda cute, he had to admit. He had the body of an Elite; subtle muscles, sleek form, straight back, and oozing with confidence. Hoped he retained that friendliness after learning that Eishirou was a paper-pusher.

“Sorry, can’t stay long to chat,” Zayne suddenly stated with a wry grin. “First day here and I’m already on an assignment.”

“Doesn’t take long, unfortunately,” Eishirou returned with an empathetic tone. Before he, too, grinned. “I have one, too. Where you headed?”

“Hanger 12 for now.”

Wait…

“Ah, what Elite team, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Team 3,” Zayne answered quickly, completely unbothered that Eishirou knew he was an elite without asking.

So, he was the new guy on Elite Team 3? Eishirou wasn’t entirely sure what to feel about that. Some Elite’s don’t like the prospect of acting like bodyguards to Passives.

Well, one way to find out.

“Well…looks like you’re escorting me there,” Eishirou commented, earning himself a confused tilt of the head from Zayne. “I’m a Passive. And you’re going to be acting as a bodyguard for this assignment.”

#original fiction #original novel #original characters #writing #fiction #Relic Keepers #Relic Keepers Awakening of the Red Lily

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dreamingofmilk · 5 years ago

Text

Just The Two Of Us Chapter 3

Synopsis: You meet up with Erik to get an explanation.

Word count: 1,447

Warnings: none

Izzie paced back and forth in her dorm room. Ignoring Leona as she just walked into the living room. Lee watched her with amusement, a small smile on her face. Lee sat back on the couch and started eating her popcorn.

“What’s got your panties in a bunch?” Lee asked, her head turning to watch Izzie continuously go back and forth.

“I’m supposed to be meeting someone today.” Izzie stopped to glance at Leona. Then she started up her walking again.

“At what time?” Leona asks, offering Izzie some popcorn. Izzie shakes her head and keeps walking.

“7.”

“That’s in like 5 minutes… shouldn’t you be getting ready.” Leona quirks a brow at Iysha. Iysha shrugs and sits next to her.

“It’s Erik,” Izzie mumbled.

“Erik who?” Lee watched Izzie as she picked up her phone and watched the time tick by. “Erik who Iz?” Lee asked again.

“The Erik. The same guy I was in love with freshman year after he left to join the army before I met Bucky and fell head over heels for a guy with a metal arm.” Izzie yelled frustrated.

“I thought he was dead. Didn’t you get some letter saying he dropped off the grid and was presumed dead.” Lee was now completely intrigued.

“I did! But he’s not and now he wants to meet and explain what happened.” Izzie put her head in her hands and shook slightly.

“So?” Lee shrugged. Go meet him. I don’t see what the big deal is. Wasn’t he like your best friend? What’s wrong with catching up?” Lee reasoned with Izzie.

“The big deal is that I was in love with my best friend. The even bigger deal is that I might still be in love with him.” Izzie responded, her heart hurt as she thought of Bucky and how he might feel hearing those words come out of her mouth.

“Oh,” Lee says.

“Yeah big fucking OH.” Izzie stands up to start pacing again. “Don’t get me wrong I love Bucky. I’m in love with Bucky at 100%. He is who I want to spend the rest of my life with. But seeing Erik yesterday made me realize that I might love him too. I… I..” Izzie faded off looking at her phone again.

“I say you go see him. Tell him how you feel and that you have a boyfriend now. Tell him that you want to still have him in your life as a friend and go from there. You're making assumptions right now and you don’t know how anything will go. You won’t know until you talk to him. If anything you deserve an explanation.”

Izzie nodded her head in agreeance. “You’re right I do deserve an explanation.” Izzie grabbed her coat from the hook and her keys and wallet. “I’ll let you know what happens.” Izzie all but ran out of the dorm room.

**********

Izzie makes it to the cafe at 7:45 pm her heart pounding from the race there and the anticipation of seeing him again. Butterflies erupted in her stomach as they always did when she saw his face, Bucky’s too.

Erik’s sad face and frown contorted into a big smile when he saw Izzie. He stood up as she made her way toward him. He opened his arms for a hug, Izzie frowned and shook her head.

“I just came for the explanation Erik. Nothing more nothing less.” Izzie sits down quietly in front of where Erik was just sitting.

“Okay. That’s okay. I’m just happy you came. I was getting a bit worried.” Erik chuckled and shyly glanced up at Izzie. His nervousness was new to her. Erik always used to be the most confident guy around, especially whenever Izzie was with him.

“Yeah okay Erik, I’m here now. Can you just explain why you had your commanding officers send me a letter saying that you were dead when you’re clearly not?”

“Okay.” Erik cocks his head. “Well for one… It wasn’t my commanding officers that sent that letter. As far as they know I am actually dead. It was my cousin… T’Challa. You remember him?”

Izzie nods, confusion etched on her face. “I thought… I mean… Did you find him? You were able to get to Wakanda?”

Erik nodded a small content smile on his face.

“I was able to locate my family. It took some fighting and a few family squabbles but we hashed everything out and made it work in the end. I am now Prince Njdaka Udaku advisor to King T’Challa Udaku, and occasional lab rat for Princess Shuri Udaku.” He grimaced at the last one.

She smiled softly, “That’s great, Erik. I’m glad you found a solution you’re happy with.” Izzie was genuinely happy for him too. She knew how heavy his family history weighed on him, so she was happy to hear that he managed to find a way to fix it. That certainly didn’t fix the issues he caused between the two of them though.

"That doesn't answer my question though. Why did you make me think you were dead?"

Erik sighed, "I joined a black ops organization to get Intel on Wakanda. I wanted to get revenge for Pops."

She nodded, hesitating slightly before she spoke again, "What kind of revenge? Why would you have to join black ops?"

Erik looked into her eyes, his expression full of the same sadness from before. "I was going to kill T'challa. His dad killed Pops, so I planned on returning the favor."

Izzie shook her head, "Erik, no. That wouldn't have solved anything. That wouldn't take the pain away."

He nodded. "Yeah. I learned that the hard way. I almost killed my cousin, twice, to punish him for a crime his father committed. It took me a long time to see it, but T'challa is nothing like his father."

He paused for a bit before continuing. "To answer your question T'Challa helped me fake my death so I wouldn't be punished for treason. I abandoned the military after all."

Izzie frowned, "And you couldn't trust me not to tell anyone?" She couldn't hide the hurt in her voice. "I would have never betrayed you like that!"

Erik raised his hands, palms exposed. "I know, Butter, believe me. I argued with T'challa and Shuri for weeks about it. I didn't want to lie to you. But they said that the military would check into everyone connected to me and I couldn't put you in danger like that. If they found out that you knew anything about my whereabouts they would have taken you, or worse. You don’t know the kind of shit that I got wrapped into with them. The shit that I know about them. I couldn't take that chance."

Izzie nodded reluctantly. "I understand. I wish you would have trusted me though. You have no idea what I went through when I found out you died. I was a wreck for months Erik!" She could feel the tears burning behind her eyes. Those were the darkest times of her life. She almost didn't make it through. And all of it was a lie.

Erik reached across the table and grabbed her hand. "Butter, I'm so sorry I hurt you. I swear to you I only did it to protect you. I know you're angry with me, and I understand, but I love you and I will do whatever I need to do to fix it. Just give me a chance and I will make it my life's work to make you happy."

Izzie shook her head, "It's not that simple Erik." His eyes widened as she spoke, desperation and resolve clear in his expression.

"What's the problem Izzie? I love you, and I know you love me too. Together forever, that's what we said."

The tears in her eyes fell over. "I thought you were dead Erik! Dead! I have a boyfriend, I love him. We can't pick up where we left off."

"A boyfriend huh?" Erik sat back calmly in his seat.

Izzie nodded. "Yes. Like I said I came here for an explanation and closure. Nothing more, nothing less."

She moved to stand up and Erik gently grabbed her hand.

"That's fine, Butter, I'll win you back. We're meant to be, and I'll do whatever you need to make you see it again."

Izzie wrenched her hand away and gathered her things. Erik sat still, but there was a smirk forming on his face. The same smirk that sent butterflies to her stomach, that still made her weak in the knees.

"Have fun with your distraction, Butter. I'll be right here when you're ready."

Taglist:

@aislinnsilver @wawakanda-btch @chaneajoyyy @marvelmaree

#milk fics #milkyfics #avengers fanfiction #buckyxreader #erikxreader

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whodunnitmafianostalgia · 5 years ago

Text

Endings (part 2)

The elevator began to slow, nearing its stop. Nick kept his eyes on the door. Trying really, really hard not to think about anything at all.

“…But I am sorry.” Alec. Almost whispered.

No. Don’t say that, thought Nick, trying not to show any reaction to that outwardly at all. He wasn’t ready to deal with that. He couldn’t even think about this right now. It was way too much. Just don’t look at him. We’ll get to the top, and we’ll be out, and the cops will come and it’ll be somebody else’s problem, and…And what? He could pretend to just forget? That was never gonna happen.

I don’t understand. It wasn’t like no one had ever stabbed him in the back before. Life had been rough on and off for Nick Falcone, but. Never like this. Never someone he had been so close to, so completely. He hadn’t realized that confusion could be one of the most painful things to feel, but. God, he, he would have rather been angry, or sad, or…or anything, he thought, and he was—he was both of those things and more, but above all, he was just so utterly lost. I just don’t understand.

How can it be you? he thought, not looking back. How could it possibly be Alec? He had…they had fought together. Traded clues and watched each other’s backs. He had woken up with a concussion and a relieved Alec looking down at him after that fight in the basement, propped up in his lap and with his stupid green coat on to keep him from freezing in the snow. Nick had heard him calling for help and saved him from drowning in the library, and…it was so genuine. The memory he had in his head of Alec, drenched and coughing, shaking his shoulder to wake him up. He’d said something about being so relieved he was okay, and Nick had believed that without question. It had been so real. Everything. They had…they had hung out together a lot, between cases. Just to try to make being locked up here bearable. Talked about life, and places, and movies, and friends, and nothing, like friends. They had…they had been friends. And Grigor and Rentaro…Dylan and Kim? It… How? I can’t…I can’t understand.

The elevator door slid open, and Nick was brought back to the present by the sound of what he’d thought at first was Kim’s voice, but couldn’t be, because she was right beside him, and it was shrieking, “Kim!” with joy, and then Kim was tearing past him and flinging herself at her twin sister, and they collapsed backwards onto the floor of a little office, laughing and crying and talking over eachother so fast he could barely make a word out.

“Rachel?” said Dylan, who had been close to her, staring in shock at the sight and going pale.

“I-I’m so sorry,” said Henry, turning to him, “I—So much has happened in the last half hour. She’s been alive the whole time, and I should have remembered you all didn’t know. Kim and Rachel and I faked her death together, to try to find a way out.”

“You didn’t die,” said Nick with wonder, staring at the hugging sisters on the ground, trying to mentally adjust to that. A lot of people hadn’t died. Because their killer had had second thoughts. And for a second that made him feel a lot better, and then he was thinking about the four people who had died, and the better feeling went away. Against his better judgement, he glanced at Alec for a moment. He wasn’t even really sure why.

Alec was watching Kim and Rachel, and almost smiling. Looking sad like he had ever since he’d told them his name wasn’t Alec Fell, but in just that one moment, better too. Relieved, and happy, for someone else.

That felt so familiar. But. But Nick didn’t know if that was real, or if he was acting, the way he had been for weeks. The way he was apparently so proficient at that Nick hadn’t been able to sense a single thing off at all. Were you just pretending to be a drunk, too? He wondered, looking back into the office, not willing to look at him long enough to risk Alec knowing he’d done it. Nick had thought, that when he and Grigor and Rentaro and Alec had become kind of a unit, a…a friend group, that Alec had gotten better. Had stopped drinking. Had been less erratic and irresponsible. And he’d been…really happy for him. But. That had probably been just an act too, something to distract people. And either way, it hadn’t actually been Alec. It had never been Alec…

The real Alec was dead somewhere in this building. Nick wondered if he had been anything like the person this guy was pretending to be. If the real Alec and he would have been friends. But he couldn’t think about that much, so he stopped, and tried to go back to thinking about nothing.

“Hey!” said Rentaro, running into the room and then hesitating just short of them. He’d definitely been going in for a hug, and then second-guessed every decision he’d ever made, and it was painfully awkward to watch. “Rachel—welcome back,” he said, trying to save it.

“Hi,” said Rachel, giving him a warm smile.

“What’s going on?” asked Jane timidly from beside Grigor.

That’s right. You never even found out there were two of them, thought Nick sympathetically.

“Uh. Twins,” said Grigor, still kind of reeling himself, “You only ever met the one who was already in the room until a few minutes ago. The one waiting downstairs is her sister, Kim.”

“I’m very confused…” said Jane quietly.

“Henry!” said Rachel, spotting him in the lift. Henry smiled at her and gave a wave, and she shot to her feet and ran over and hugged him with enough force that as paper-thin as he was right now, she knocked him into the elevator wall and he almost fell over.

“H-hi,” said Henry unsteadily, grinning at her, “Glad you’re okay.”

“You too!” said Rachel, arms wrapped tight around him and eyes squeezed shut, “Thank you so much. For everything.”

“You too,” said Henry, returning the hug as best he could, “You were amazing.”

Kim joined them and turned it into a group hug.

“So you were never dead?” said Lori, blinking at her, “Wow. Holy smokes you did good, kiddo. Everyone bought that.”

“I’m really glad you’re okay,” said Dylan, starting to go over to greet her too, and then hesitating, because he and Nick were kind of guarding Alec.

“You too Dylan,” said Rachel, beaming at him.

“Hi,” offered Grigor happily, “I’d come hug you, but-“

“-You’ve got your hands full,” agreed Rachel, almost giggling. She glanced past him to Alec, and her expression changed. It got serious, and hurt, and she let go of Henry and took Kim’s hand, kind of backing a step away.

Alec had almost looked happy, watching her reunite with everyone, but as soon as she looked at him, his expression changed too, and he looked away from her and past the floor at nothing.

“So. We just go to the top?” Nick asked Henry, “Are we close enough to some kind of…human residence of any kind that we can get to a phone? Or a car?”

“There’s a phone in the office,” said Alec, not looking up, “The windowsill has a hidden compartment. I’m the only one who can unlock it, though. It needs my fingerprint and retina scan.”

Nick looked over at him. His eyes were still fixed solidly on the elevator floor. “Okay,” said Nick, tone low and level, “Get it for us, then.”

Alec glanced at him for a second, and then gave a nod and took a step into the room, looking at no one. Nick went with him, and Dylan came after.

“Don’t try anything stupid,” said Dylan, more tired and tense than anything.

“I won’t,” said Alec quietly.

Yeah. Dylan might be right. I…guess I should… Nick took the pistol out of its holster and checked the safety, then stayed close to Alec, weapon in hand, just in case. He didn’t love the feeling of doing that.

In the corner of the room, there was a tiny window. Not big enough for even a small person to have possibly fit through, and it was just barely at ground level, but it let in daylight, and Nick felt almost sick with relief at the sight of the sun. He’d had no idea how much he’d missed that, until he was looking at it again. Alec approached the little windowsill and slid his left thumb along the edge kind of awkwardly, with his wrists bound, and it lit up light blue at his touch. The sill slid back and a little black console embedded in the wood appeared. Alec leaned forward and brought his left eye level with the scanner, and it made a little ‘beep’, and a drawer slid out. Alec stepped back, and stopped moving. “In there.”

Nick cautiously stepped forward and checked the drawer. There were several things in it. Files, a notebook, a camera, some piece of tech he didn’t recognize, and a phone. Nick took the phone, half expecting it to be an elaborate trap and shock him, but nothing happened. He tried to unlock the screen, but it made an angry sound as soon as he touched the screen. There weren’t any buttons on it. He looked to Alec.

“I’ll get it,” said Alec, trying not to meet his gaze. He held out his hands.

Nick passed it over, and Alec tapped what looked like random parts of the screen, and grimaced, having difficulty maneuvering with his hands tied together. The phone made an angry sound at him too.

“What are you trying to do?” said Dylan tensely, stepping closer.

“I-I’m not,” said Alec shakily, glancing from one to the other, “I can’t do it right like this.”

“We’re not untying you,” said Dylan, very firm, and extremely suspicious.

“I’m not lying,” said Alec. He looked at Nick for help.

No. Don’t do that. Don’t look at me like I’m the one who might help you. I can’t. I can’t do this.

“Here,” he said, holding the phone kind of shakily out to him, “If you can hold it still for me, I think I can do it like this.”

Nick said nothing and held the phone up. Alec tried to find an angle that worked, and then used his index finger to quickly tap parts of the screen in what looked like a memorized sequence, even though there was no grid on the screen or anything. Whatever he’d done worked, though, and it lit up blue like the sill had. Alec lowered his hands.

“It’ll work now,” said Alec, “It’s pretty straightforward. Phone icon. You can call for help.”

“Where are we?” asked Dylan.

“China,” said Alec quietly.

“What’s the emergency code for China?” asked Dylan.

Right. It’s different, remembered Nick, hesitating halfway to hitting a 9 on the keypad.

“It’s 110,” said Alec, looking at him only for a second, “For police. 120 for an ambulance.”

Nick started to hit ‘110’, and then hesitated. “Henry.”

“Y-yeah?” said Henry, stopping mid-conversation with Rachel and Kim and Rentaro, back in the elevator.

“You should make the call. You know more than anybody but Alec,” Crap! No. That’s not his name. It was too late though, he’d said it. “What happened. It’s, uh, 110, on the phone,” he finished a little awkwardly, because correcting his mistake would have felt even worse.

“Oh. Uhm. Sure,” said Henry. Nick walked over and gave him the phone.

“Come on,” said Dylan, nudging Alec. No. No, that’s right. He’s…’Frank’. He was never Alec. Frank complied and walked back onto the elevator, looking at no one. Everyone tried to move further away from him, closer to the walls.

“Okay,” said Henry, hitting numbers on the keypad, “Last stop.”

The elevator began to rise, and Henry dialed. “Hello? Hi. I need help. Uh. I’m not sure where I am, where we are. There’s a bunch of us. Sorry. Sorry. I’ll slow down. I-I don’t know Chinese. Am I…u-understandable enough?” He glanced at the others in the lift, just in case, and people shook their heads. A bunch of Americans, a couple Greeks, two Brits, and a teenager from Japan. They had not hit the one-of-us-knows-Chinese-as-a-first-or-second-language lottery.

“I can speak it,” said Frank quietly.

“Yeah, that isn’t happening,” said Dylan.

Frank looked at the ground again.

“Okay. Thank you,” said Henry, still on the phone, “Hi. Sorry-I—”

The elevator doors slid open, and suddenly they were standing in fresh air again.

“Whoa,” said Rachel, stepping off the elevator and onto solid ground. The others hurried off after her, taking in the trees and grass and nature and ability to really breathe.

I can’t believe we actually made it. Relief actually hit Nick then. He hadn’t felt it, not when Alec was surrendering, or explaining, or on the ride up. He’d been thinking about too much to really remember this was a big part of what was happening. We’re free. We lived. Almost all of them. They’d lost three, since waking up at the base of an elevator much like this one, surrounded by strangers, but almost all of the people he’d gotten to know over the last few weeks were still there. Living and breathing, and stepping out into sunshine. All of his close friends had made it. He had been so sure Grigor was gone, but he wasn’t. The big guy stepped out after Rachel, still towing an unconscious Niobe, and looked around. Smiling, really smiling. Everyone was. We’re out.

“Mountains,” said Grigor, almost painfully happy, looking back at him and the people still in the lift. He was right. They were somewhere in the mountains. The whole thing must have been underground, built into the earth. It was so wonderful to see the sun again.

For a moment, Nick felt better too, feeling the wind on his face for the first time in weeks. He saw the look of relief and hope and happiness on Dylan’s face as they glanced in each other’s directions, and then Nick saw Alec between them. He was watching Kim and Rachel laugh and spin each other around on the grass, still gushing. Rachel grabbing Rentaro’s hand and saying something Nick couldn’t quite catch, then hugging him, and Kim piling on too. Watching Lori and Henry walk outside together, Henry still stumbling over himself, trying to give details on the phone, Lori taking in the scenery with relief. Grigor finding somewhere in the grass he could set Niobe down, checking her pulse, still worried. Jane hovering by him and looking around with big eyes. And Alec looked…What exactly? Not…sad. Not just sad, anyway. There was a word for it, Nick thought, just one he wasn’t remembering. Like someone looking at friend going off to work at a job they had been hoping to get, but one that would also take them to another continent. Or somebody reading an old note from someone they used to know, that had meant a whole lot to them once. He couldn’t really find a word for that feeling, but he knew what it was.

You have to stop. You have to quit trying to make sense of things—you never will. You’ll make yourself go mad, Nick told himself, looking away.

“Come on,” said Dylan, nudging Alec’s—Frank’s shoulder. Frank complied and walked off the lift a few steps and then stopped and went still again. Nick followed them. The last one off. He looked back at the awful hunk of metal, the opening to a place that had brought nothing but suffering and pain, until the doors had shut behind them. Good. I never want to see that place again.

“Okay,” said Henry, “Thank you.” Nick had missed a lot of his conversation with the police, but it seemed to still be going on. “I’ll keep the line open. No one is…” He looked over at the others. “B-badly hurt, as far as I can tell. We’ve got a couple of cuts, and I’m uh…” He held up his own bony hand and looked at it, and then swallowed and kept going, “n-not great. Weak. But no one is seriously hurt. One of us has been drugged, though. Sleeping pills.”

“Veronal,” offered Dylan, trying to help.

“Veronal,” echoed Henry to the phone, “And she’s still unconscious. Yes—she’s breathing. We have her propped up.” Grigor had sat down, but still had her in his lap. “There’s ten of us,” he added, and then, glancing over at Frank, “And our captor. Eleven in all. He’s tied up, and he surrendered, but he’s still alive too.” Henry listened for a moment, and then turned to the others. “We’re pretty far out from the city, but they’re sending people. We have to sit tight for maybe half an hour, though.”

Lori sighed, but the others seemed to take that okay.

Half an hour. Not too long. He wished it was sooner, but there was nothing to do about it. They’d just have to sit and wait. I better call my mom and tell her I’m alive… thought Nick kind of sheepishly. He hoped they weren’t too worried. Kim and Rachel had said they were orphans, but they had to have some relatives, and Jane and Rentaro’s parent’s must have been about ill at this point too. Orphans? Right, he’d forgotten. Nick glanced over at them again. They were talking animatedly to Rentaro, explaining things and gesturing wildly. He couldn’t make out all of it, but he heard, ‘Blackout,’ and ‘Elevator shaft,’ and ‘Climbing,’ and a few other things that gave him a general idea they were probably discussing Rachel’s wild escape. I wish I’d gotten to know you were alive, thought Nick tiredly. But of course Kim hadn’t told anyone. And that was good. She’d been close with him, but she’d been close with Alec too, and if he’d found out? What would you have done? he wondered, looking at Frank again, Would you have tracked her down and killed her?

He had been so upset. Nick still had really fresh memories of comforting Alec when Rachel had…when they had thought that Rachel had killed herself. I really thought you were sad, thought Nick, trying to see if he could find any answers at all in the blank face a few feet to his right, staring at nothing, You were…you were so genuine. You were so heartbroken. Talking about your missing sister. I was so worried about you. I thought. I. I thought…

He looked away.

“What happens now?” asked Rachel, looking from one to the other of the older people around her, starting with Henry and ending with Dylan.

“Uh,” said Henry, who wasn’t talking on the phone anymore, but was still holding it, “I think all we can do is wait.”

“But after,” said Kim, on the same wavelength.

“You’ll get to go home,” promised Dylan with a smile, “I’ll make sure. Probably the police can set something up, but I’ll buy you a ticket if not.”

The twins beamed at him.

How are they gonna survive this? wondered Nick with a sinking feeling, no matter how happy they looked right now, How are two teenagers with no family going to make it through unpacking the kind of stuff you two have seen here?

Honestly, all of them were…

Beside him, he sensed movement, and saw Frank had turned. He was scanning the nearby terrain intently, when he’d been almost zoned out before, and Nick took that in with a note of suspicion.

“Hey. What are you doing.”

Frank glanced back at him, surprised. “Just looking. I haven’t been out in a while.”

You’re lying, thought Nick, trying to figure out how he could tell that. Why are you lying? It was the held, steady eye contact—that was it. Alec—no. Frank didn’t do that if he was feeling bad and not lying. Alec had done that when he was feeling bad, if Nick had asked him how he was. If he didn’t want Nick to worry, he’d look him right in the face and smile and say, “No, it’s nothing. I’m just tired,” but Nick had always been able to tell. That’s just paranoid, Nick told himself, Obviously you never had any idea if he was lying, because he was lying constantly. And he probably was never feeling bad. You just thought you knew him a little. That was…true. So. Maybe it was nothing.

“Sit down,” said Dylan to Frank, “I’ll feel safer.”

Frank obliged, kind of gracelessly taking a seat without arms to steady himself, still looking around. Not at the people, but at the mountain.

“Where’ll you go?” asked Rachel, watching that, and then glancing at Dylan. “Back…to England?”

“I’m uh.” Dylan hesitated and glanced at Nick, “Uh—can you?” He indicated Frank.

“Yeah, I’ll watch him,” said Nick.

Dylan turned and went over a little closer to Rachel and Kim, and gave Rachel a hug for real. Nick would have liked to do that too. He was so glad she hadn’t died the way he’d thought.

“Nick,” said Frank quietly.

Nick glanced down at him. He looked a little unsteady, but more focused than before. Thinking hard.

“I don’t want to hurt someone again,” said Frank, like he was having a hard time finding the right order for words, “I know I…have to pay. For what I did. But I don’t…” He looked up into his face, and then trailed off. He’d been going to say more, but something made him change his mind, Nick saw him give up. His expression fall, and close off again, tired, and resigned, and he looked back at the ground. After a second, he shut his eyes, and took a few steady breaths.

Nick watched him, trying to figure that out. It was so impossible. All of this. He didn’t think he could do it. I still feel like I’m just talking to Alec, and something will click into place and it’ll all make sense. It will have all been some big trick, or I’ll have been asleep, or something. But that’s not going to ever happen. Is it.

Frank opened his eyes again and looked up at him. His eyes went to the gun. “You put the safety on?”

He’d asked it like why did you do this? not did you? and Nick tilted the gun in his hand, double-checking that it was still on, and felt something slam into his legs, and then he was careening backwards, legs swept out from under him, and hit the ground hard on his back, air knocked out of him.

Vaguely, he was aware of people shouting, and movement, but really all he was paying attention to was what he knew had just happened. Frank had moved on the ground and swept his legs out, and from his back, Nick could just barely see him up and running. Trying to get away. No way.

Nick dragged himself up with a vengeance and took off after him as fast as fast as he could, barely even registering the other people doing the same. Frank had bought himself maybe a six second lead, but Nick wasn’t about to lose him. He flipped the safety off the gun and ran hard, tearing through underbrush, eyes locked on the figure in dark brown ahead of him, trying to lose them in the woods. Lori and Dylan and Grigor were with him at first, Rentaro and one of the twins too, he thought, but he lost the younger ones fast, and then lost the others. Running blind, Nick heard gunshots four times, from on his left—it could only be Lori, and he didn’t even know what he hoped that meant. Just kept running. And after a minute, he lost even the sound of the others nearby, shouting and pushing past tree branches, and it was just him. For a second he thought he’d even lost Frank, pausing on the edge of a steep hill, breathing hard, and then he saw him. He’d gained about sixty yards, but he was still in sight, and Nick took a shortcut, following the path of least resistance above him on the hill, trying to keep him in sight. Somewhere along the way, he’d lost the belt, and his arms were free now. It took Nick a minute to figure out what exactly he was doing, and then Nick saw it. Down the slope, on his far right. A road. He was trying to make it to the road.

Immediately, Nick changed course. Straight for the road, only barely keeping Frank in sight at all. He’s smart—I bet he’s got a bike or something. A way to get out of this. You can’t let him do that—you can’t let him get away. After all this—

Breathing raggedly, Nick jumped a little ravine and stumbled on the other side, and he temporarily checked the safety back on, a little afraid of shooting himself, and he kept going. The road was close now. So close. And arms pumping at his sides, lungs burning for oxygen, he broke the tree line at the base of the hill one second before Frank did, about twenty feet behind him. Nick had been facing back, and Frank facing forward, and they saw each other immediately, and he saw shock register on Frank, and he turned to run, and Nick flipped off the safety and pulled the trigger, aiming well to the right of him.

The gunshot was so loud it made Nick flinch, but he shouted past it anyway. “Stop! I won’t miss the next one!”

Frank froze, breathing hard himself, and slowly turned to face Nick. Nick started to walk towards him, and Frank took a step back, shaking his head at him.

“Don’t move,” warned Nick, pointing the gun at his chest and feeling sick doing that. He hadn’t pointed a gun at someone before. He’d used one to shoot clay pigeons in college, at a friend’s house on weekends, so he was a fine shot, but holding something that would kill someone if you accidentally increased pressure was such a…shaky way to feel. He didn’t like the lack of control it gave. The way he was constantly thinking about what would happen if the trigger was pulled. Nick had missed it at first, but he realized then that Frank’s shoulder was bleeding, and he thought for a horrifying moment that as wide as he’d aimed, somehow he’d hit him, but. No, he’d turned around, that was right, and it was his left shoulder that was bleeding. If he’d hit him, he’d have hit the other side. And Nick remembered Lori, and the four shots in the woods. One of those must have landed. Somehow, though, the sight of a bullet hole already in him just made his hands feel shakier on the gun, even though the bullet hadn’t come from him.

“Nick, wait,” said Frank kind of desperately, raising his hands, but still backing up.

“I said don’t move!” shouted Nick.

Frank stopped, breathing fast. He looked at the gun, and then at Nick. “Please.”

“’Please?’” echoed Nick, hand still shaking, “Please, what, Alec!” He kicked himself mentally. Not Alec. “Please let you go?” he continued, trying to move past that, “Let you run off and kidnap twelve more people to murder?”

“No,” said Frank, almost desperate. He started to take a step back again, because Nick was still advancing, but he saw Nick move the gun and hesitated. Instead, he stopped and just looked him in the face. Pleading. “I’m—I’m trying to do the right thing.”

“By running away?” asked Nick, furious, and hurt, and a lot of things he hadn’t had time to begin to unpack.

“I’ll turn myself in,” said Frank, “But I can’t do it like this.”

“You can’t let us be the ones to do it?” asked Nick, angry and disbelieving, still advancing on him.

“No—Nick—please,” said Frank, watching the steadily shortening distance. He started to back up again. “It’s not that—I—”

“—I will shoot you if I have to!” warned Nick.

Frank stopped, and looked him in the face again, shaky now. “I ran because you all would never have listened to me, not because I wanted to escape! I’m telling you the truth. I know—I know what I did. I know I have to face justice for that, but you can’t turn me over to the police.”

He looked so desperate. He looked like he really meant that. ‘Can’t?’ –No. Stop. Don’t listen to him. You’re better than this. He’d say anything; you can’t trust him. He’d hesitated though, without meaning to, said nothing and forgotten to take his next step forward, and he could see hope on Frank’s face, taking that as a sign he might listen.

“Listen, Nick,” said Frank, “I-I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I know it’s bad. I know I’m all kinds of broken and messed up, and I know I have done things that I have to pay for. B-but I also know I’m not myself. I’m not the person I used to be. And I know that right now, but I didn’t for so long, and I did things that I already can’t understand. Things that made sense to me yesterday. And back there, in the elevator, when you started to cuff me, I-I wanted to do them again. I started to crack, and feel like someone completely different, but for a second, I thought that the thing I was doing was the crazy thing, not the thing I was about to do. And I—I have no idea how to stop it.”

He looked so distraught, and confused, and lost, and Nick understood that in his soul, because it was how he felt right now, pointing a loaded gun he knew he was supposed to be willing to use at the person who had been maybe the closest friend he’d ever really had. Trying to make sense of all of the time he’d spent with him, and how they had ended up here, face to face like this.

“If I let them take me, I know what’s going to happen,” continued Frank, almost begging, “I don’t know when. I don’t know if it’ll be as soon as they cuff me, or the first time someone shoves me to get me to move, or when they put me in the back of a car, or a cell, or chain me to a table to interrogate me, but somewhere along that line, I’m going to snap, and they’re not going to be ready for me. I don’t know how to stop that from happening. I don’t think I can. But I know what I’m capable of. And they won’t be able to stop me.”

Frank lowered his hands, and just stood there, facing him. Nick still hadn’t moved. He was maybe ten feet away, gun still drawn.

“If it hadn’t been you,” said Frank, looking sad and exhausted and broken, “If it wasn’t someone I…” He looked him in the eyes for just a second, and then looked away like it had been too hard to do. “Trusted. That I…felt like I knew. Then…I think I might have killed everyone in that elevator, without even meaning to. And I-I can’t do that again. Please, Nick. I want to make things right. I know I can’t just go off and hide. I know I. I-I might do anything, forget myself again. B-but there’s a way! I have people I know. People I am completely certain I wouldn’t hurt. People I trust. I’ll go to them, and I’ll tell them everything, and I’ll turn myself in to them, and they can make sure whoever takes me is prepared.”

“…I can’t just believe that,” said Nick, trying so hard to see in his face if he was lying. As if that had ever been something he’d really been able to do. “Frank, I have no reason to think you’re telling me the truth. For all I know, you’ll change your mind and come after us again, or we passed whatever your ‘test’ was, and you’ll go kill another room full of liars and petty thieves. I would be insane to let you go.”

“Then shoot me,” said Frank hopelessly, “Because I’m not coming with you.”

“You would do that to me?” asked Nick, so betrayed by that. He heard his voice crack, and he couldn’t stop it, couldn’t hide how much that had hurt. He tried to force Frank to meet his eyes, and he did, surprised by that response. “After everything? You would force me to choose between letting you run off and kill people like Lou again, and gunning down my best friend? You would force me to become a killer, no matter what I do?”

“I—no,” said Frank shakily, sounding and looking just like Alec, “No. Nick.” He stopped and thought quickly, frantically, eyes moving, but looking at nothing, and then finally at Nick. “If I go back with you, and lose my mind again and kill a station full of policemen, you’ll just feel the same way. Please. If you let me go, no one else has to get hurt. I-I know I’ve lied to you, and it must be so impossible for you to trust me, but I’m not lying to you now. If you let me go, I’ll turn myself in—I’ll have them call you as soon as I do. I’m done! I am. I’m myself right now, at least more than I am somebody else, and I just want this to be over. This is the only way I think I can do that.”

“How am I supposed to believe you?” asked Nick, chest aching, gun leveled.

“You—”

“—Don’t say that I know you!” said Nick, desperate, sure that had been what he’d been about to say, “I’ve never known who you were! I don’t know anything about you! I’m not even sure I know your real name!”

For a few seconds, Frank just looked at him, sad. “Nick. I’m so sorry,” he said finally, much quieter than he’d said anything else. “You have no idea how sorry I am. I. I wish I could undo all this.” He lowered his arms completely, shoulders slumped, standing still in the road. “I know you…won’t believe this. Maybe it’ll just make things worse. …But I did care about you.”

Nick wanted to shout at him for saying that. There were hundreds of things he could have said, and they were all true, but he didn’t say anything, because Frank looked so far away and hopeless, and there was enough of Alec in that look that he lost the anger before he could put it into words, and he just felt broken, and wounded, and confused. He wanted so badly to hate him, but he didn’t know how to. Not yet anyway, not all the way. I wish that too, thought Nick against his will, I wish you could undo it. And it’s you who has no idea how much.

“There’s another way,” said Frank, voice empty and dead, “If you can’t trust me to do what I said, then give me the gun, and I’ll do it myself.”

The thought of that horrified Nick, and he started to take a step back on impulse. “No.”

“I don’t see another-“ started Frank.

“—How do I know you wouldn’t just shoot me?” said Nick, trying to recover some of the intensity he’d had before, to not let Frank know he was listening to any of it, and Frank stared at him, taken aback, and then his face fell, and lost the tiny fragment of hope that had still been in it. Because he had thought the reluctance had been over Nick’s desire for him to live. Which…it had been. He just hadn’t wanted him to know. “Besides,” said Nick more quietly, looking away and giving in to the guilt he knew he had no reason to be feeling, “Even if you didn’t, how would that be any better?”

“…I don’t know what to do then. I don’t know how to prove it to you,” said Frank hopelessly, not really begging this time, just asking. Pleading less intensely. Pleading like you would with a friend. Almost just talking, like they would have yesterday, when the world had been a place Nick had still understood. “Nick, I just don’t want to hurt someone again. I don’t know any other way. Please. I know you have no reason to believe me, after everything I’ve done to you, but I will turn myself in.”

Nick glanced up at him and the person who had been his friend held his gaze, asking silently for him to trust him this one last time.

“I know what I did,” continued Frank, “I know how awful it was. And not just the people I killed; Kim, Rachel, Rentaro, Jane—kids? And Grigor, and Dylan, my friends—and you? I wouldn’t…I won’t let myself get away with what I did to you. I don’t want to get away with it. I want to pay. I want to make things right. If I can. God. If I…if I can do that at all anymore. I swear to you. That’s what I want, more than anything. I just…I’m. I’m so barely here at all. You don’t know what that’s like. I feel like I could slip away and die again any second, and then wake up in another year to see I’m even more of a monster than the last time I was in my own body. They did something to me. Those two years I was locked up. I don’t know when, or how, or which thing they did turned me into this, but I’m so messed up. And I can see that now, I can, but I don’t know how to not be like this again. My brain isn’t mine anymore. It does things I wouldn’t have ever wanted, and I obey it. I-I don’t even know if I’m…sane.” That looked like it had been incredibly painful to say, but he kept going. Forced himself to. “I know if I turn myself in to my friends, I won’t hurt them, and they’ll know what to do with me. That’s all I want to do. I just want this to be over. I want to stop. But I’m so scared that if someone else tries to stop me, I’ll go right back to where I was. Please.”

“…Your brother,” said Nick, holding his gaze. It hurt to do that. So impossibly much. How could it hurt this much just to look at someone? “What was his name.”

Frank looked confused, and surprised, and sad, but he answered. “Joe.” His voice was soft and low and full of affection and pain when he said it. “His name was Joe.” He glanced up and met Nick’s gaze again and tried to smile, but his eyes welled up. “And he would never have turned out like me. No matter what someone did to him. You would have liked him.”

“Swear on Joe,” said Nick, feeling sick himself, “Swear on your brother that you’ll do what you’re promising me, and you’ll do it immediately.”

“I swear,” said Frank, shakily holding his gaze, and then looking away once he’d said it. He shut his eyes. “I swear on Joe.”

Nick lowered the gun.

Frank opened his eyes slowly, and looked up at him. Watched him for a few seconds, like he was waiting to see if the decision was real, and then he reached up almost absently and felt the bullet wound in his shoulder and winced. He looked at the blood on his hand, then back at Nick. “Thank you.”

Nick thought he meant that, but it was so hard to tell himself he really knew anything anymore.

For just a moment, they stood like that in silence, then Frank lowered his head and turned, and started to walk. Away from Nick, towards the far side of the road, and then past him. Nick turned and watched him go, wondering if he were a terrible person for believe him. For letting him go. For not shooting him in the back now, while he still had a chance. Or maybe shooting him in the leg. Something that would stop him, force him to wait for the police to come. He couldn’t, though, and he knew it. He thought that if Frank had run, hadn’t talked to him at all, he probably couldn’t have done it either. He would have pulled the trigger, and tried to miss. As awful as that was. Because he was still looking at this person and seeing someone else. And he couldn’t kill them.

On the side of the road, Frank removed some thick underbrush by a large boulder, and tugged out a small motorcycle. He brought it to the road, and Nick tried not to notice the make and model, or the license, because he didn’t want to struggle with himself over lying if someone asked him. Frank climbed onto the bike, and took a helmet clipped to the bars and placed it on his head, and then glanced back at Nick one last time. Nick stayed in the road where he had been before, watching him go.

“I…know you can’t be glad you met me,” said Frank, “But you should know that being around you got me back where I am now. Even if you hate that you thought I was someone worth getting close to, you should know that doing that saved a lot of people’s lives. So. Hopefully that makes some tiny part of it something that…you can.” He had been trying to say something nice, but he was struggling. His voice sounded choked. “Y-you should be proud of that. That. You helped…not me. But. That you helped them.” He looked at Nick shakily, trying to see if that had done anything to help him, and then he looked away and flipped the visor over the helmet. He started up the motorcycle, and said something else over the roar of it, but so quietly Nick couldn’t quite make it out. He thought though, watching the motorcycle take a corner and fade in the distance, that it had been, “Goodbye.”

#whodunnitmafia #yeeeeah #I can't stop writing angst now y'all got me too good heckkk yeah #Gave NICk some time. Gonna give him more laaater. I'm just gonna write this when I'm sad now lol bc it makes me feel better #I miss writing ND stuff #fic #writing #nancy drew fic #nancy drew games fic #lord i wish id edited this before posting it instead of 2am cst on the 7th.#Cant /believe/ ive written so much DbD that i called Joe Hardy ‘Joey’#in my defense they are both goofy and likable characters :’-)#but wow 😔 least its ok now lol

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bruciewayne · 5 years ago

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fall from grace

percy jackson au, stevetony, getting together/ ill-advised one-night-stands, 3k

for ‘percy jackson au’ on @iron-man-bingo

Tony winces as the bunker explodes. Not all of it, just a section. Fury wasn’t going to be happy. All he hopes is that he doesn’t have to be on introductions. He likes Camp Half-Blood, okay, loves it, he used to be a year-rounder, now he’s just here when college is out, he’s been here longer than he hasn’t, and it’s fucking fantastic.

But he hates doing introductions. Or worse, finding.

He’s not even particularly anti-social (when he’s not knee-deep in a project), there’s just something about brand-new demigods, having to explain everything over and over, that he hates. He’s not a person of great patience. Finding demigods is just a pain, especially if it’s one of the stronger ones, who aren’t even meant to exist in the first place, but when have the gods played by their own rules. Finding demigods means fighting monsters, it means weeks, months if they were one of the unlucky ones, in motels, following a trail of destruction to a volatile, hurting, kid.

Now, most would consider Tony to be fairly decent at finding (whenever he’s done introductions they’ve never really gone well, partly because Tony just attempted to make an interactive dictionary to get it over and done with, partly because the kid was a dick. From then on, he very, very rarely gets to do introductions, literally only if he’s the only experienced camper left.), but Tony just dislikes it. Greatly. He likes the chase, he likes solving problems and making things to solve the problems, the only thing he really has a problem with (because motels were like unhygienic sleepovers when with the right person and even the fighting gave him an adrenaline rush that usually could power him through a couple days in the bunker without any other sustenance) is dealing with the actual kid.

All the ones that he’d found were angry, and sad, and Tony never really knew how to deal with that - all he has to do is keep it civil and keep them calm until they reach Camp, but every damn time it was hard.

As he predicted (not literally) Fury storms into the bunker, fuming, mere minutes after the explosion.

“Everything’s controlled, it was meant to happen,” Tony says, the moment he enters.

“Stark.” It was the Tone. The very particular, very specific Tone to his voice that meant ‘you are going to be doing what I tell you with no complaints or I will put you on horse clean up for the rest of your years on this earth’. The Tone usually came with a demigod to go on a wild goose chase after.

“No, Nick, c’ mon,” Tony pleads.

Fury doesn’t change his expression in the slightest, and Tony’s pleas are met with a stony silence and a couple sheets of paper are shoved in his singed arms.

“0800, at the border, you’re going with Natasha,” he says, final, as he spins on his heel and leaves.

“Could just say 8 AM like a normal person,” Tony mutters under his breath. He gets a twig thrown at him.

Tony carries on grumbling as he sets about tidying the bunker as best he can while the smoke clears out. Whoever built this really wasn’t thinking with ventilation in mind. Ancient assholes.

Almost, as if someone’s listening to his thoughts (or maybe he’s just talking aloud again) lighting cracks outside. It’s the middle of July. And Thor (the kid, not the god), their resident lightning expert, is over at Camp Jupiter for the week.

“Ancient assholes!” Tony yells.

This time, the lightning strikes directly on top of the bunker.

By the time he’s done, he’s almost missed dinner.

“Ah!” Clint says, when he sees him walk into the pavillion, “The prodigal son returns!”

“Fuck off, Arrow-Boy,” Tony grumbles, stuffing fries into his mouth. He’s way more hungry than he thought.

“Tin can,” Clint retorts, flicking a pizza crust at him.

Tony pulls a face at him, grumpily.

“Don’t mind him,” Natasha says, materialising behind them, making Clint jump and spill his orangeade, “he’s cranky because we have to go find a demigod tomorrow.”

“I’m not cranky,” Tony says, just about resisting the temptation to cross his arms and scowl.

“Go take a nap, tin can,” Clint says, patting him on the shoulder.

After he finishes his dinner, he does just that, after, setting everything up for tomorrow - he stuffs a backpack (one that he made, the one that’s bigger than it looks) with everything he’ll need for a week and goes over the information - any satyrs who’ve tried looking for him failed and every time someone tries to bring him back he escapes and drops right off the grid.

One of the things that surprised him about this guy (they have a name, age range, known aliases, and a couple sketches) is that a wake of good follows him, not destruction, but insurmountable, impossible, miracle good. Although, there is a tiny trail of anticapitalism following him as well. A series of alarmingly good thefts that followed him across the country alongside great donations and a sudden dip in youth homelessness and a surge of college graduates from the working class over the year.

So.

Good. Too good. Good enough to drop of Interpol radar and on to theirs. (There’s an arrangement. Tony doesn’t want to know.)

If he doesn’t get him, then he gets passed over to the Romans, if they don’t then the Norse lot have a shot, then it gets handed over to the East, and after all of them, finally, the big lads will step in.

They’ve only ever gone up to the chain to the Norse (all incredibly strange, but then again, his father is a god, so, strange flew out the window on his fifth birthday, upon the realisation that Elon Musk is his half-brother - about a week after he went to Camp). Who decided the chain, Tony doesn’t know, but it is what it is. Meaning they get all the grunt work. He doesn’t mind it much because it results in the people up top thinking that they’re hot shit. (When they bother to take a look down, of course).

All Tony knows, looking at the information sheet and his ‘greatest hits’, is that this guy, Steven G. Rogers, is going to be an interesting person. Demigod. Robin Hood. Whatever.

The sketches never told Tony how hot the guy is. And he’s hot. Like, 10/10 would let him leave him on read, hot. He has this whole ‘vigilante/guy on the run’ look going on, slightly too-long hair that’s somehow the perfect length and a beard. Which is just unfair, because he’s about the same age as Tony, and Tony can’t grow anything properly - he attempted, one time, and all he got was people telling him that he has chocolate milk on his top lip.

The age thing threw Tony for a loop, because there’s this guy, college age, still not at Camp, who’s made Forbes 400 his personal hit list, and succeeded, alongside with what he does with the money and with how long he’s managed to evade them, there’s something, okay, many things, that, for the first time, make Tony feel out of his depth.

But he’s always up for a challenge.

And by gods, has it been challenging. They’re about a week into this, they’ve followed him all across New York (he seems reluctant to leave) and they’ve only seen him once, in a back alley with some masked guy. Tony checked up later and that masked guy was one of theirs, Murdock, son of Nemesis. He refused to tell them anything about the guy, aside from ‘Leave him alone’.

Right now, they’re in a motel in Brooklyn, talking with Fury.

“Stark, Romanoff, get him,” is all he says, breaking the mist. Helpful. Although, Tony should know by now that a ‘Hey, this guy is like, stupid good, and even Murdock told us to leave him alone’ never worked. He’s starting to miss his smoke-filled bunker. Knowing his luck, and Clint’s dickheadedness, he’s blocked what ventilation there is in the bunker and shut the door.

Tony turns to Natasha to ask her to give him the remote - he’s bored, and Robin Hood’s nowhere to be seen, and it’s late, maybe there’s a good movie on - but he’s interrupted by a knock on the door.

“Room service.”

They’re on their feet in an instant, Tony’s slipped his gauntlet on (something a part of a bigger project - the reason there was a small incident in his bunker) and Natasha’s holding her knife, ready to strike, in front of Tony.

“I don’t remember ordering anything,” Natasha calls deliberately loud, eyes trained on the door.

“What about a demigod”

The guy says ‘demigod’ like it’s an insult, in a sneer, almost mocking them.

He could have the guy they want, demand ransom for him, maybe, or lead them to him.

Tony taps an ‘O’ in Morse code, and Natasha nods her agreement, never looking away from the door. She goes over, feet light and opens the door an inch, knife first, before swinging it fully open to reveal Steven G. Rogers.

“You’ll need something stronger,” he says, nodding to the knife, “and take longer next time, maybe the Romans’ll get me.” He leans casually against the doorjamb, and Tony’s gay enough to admit that even that action is hot. So is that little teasing smile.

He is not falling for some vigilante guy he doesn’t even know the middle name of. He’s merely appreciating his assets. His very, very attractive assets.

“You need to come back to--” Natasha starts, ignoring the jibe about her knife, yes it’s small, but it’s poisoned with eitr (they had a bet with Quill’s crew, one of the Norse, Gamora bet her knife and lost it to Nat), which will easily put a human, and a demigod to death.

“Camp Half-Blood,” Rogers says, tiredly. So he knows that he’s a demigod and that Camp Half-Blood exists, he’s definitely heard this before and he’s turning out to be even more interesting, so Tony jumps in.

“Good deduction, Rogers, now come to Camp.”

He fakes thinking for a minute, and then decides, “Nah,” and before Natasha or Tony can protest he adds something more, “I’m tired and bored of your lot chasing me, both of us have better things to do. You stop going after me. Understood.” He draws himself up to his full height and drops the smile, towering over them.

Neither of them are scared, they’re both small, and they’ve been trained to use that to their advantage, and they’ve been training at Camp since before most kids would be in the first grade, Tony’s been told that overconfidence is his ‘fatal flaw’ (amongst other things), but it’s two against one, and that one has none of the training, nor teamwork that they have. He has strength, he very, very clearly has strength, but other than that, he’s a blank canvas.

“You’re coming with us,” Natasha says, faux gently, they’ve dealt with people like this before. Angry, ‘the world has wronged me’ types, who put up a fight. Tony glad he remembered to take the tranqs this time.

“Oh, for fucks’ sake,” Rogers groans, “no means no, asshole.”

“Can’t take no for an answer,” Natasha says, shifting her stance into the offensive.

Rogers has the audacity to roll his eyes, “Then learn basic consent.”

He makes the mistake of turning around - put your back to Nat when you’re not on the same side, be prepared for something become incredibly friendly with your lats and your trapezius (Tony speaks from experience).

She jumps up onto his back, ready to knock him out with the flat of the blade - Tony’s seen this a million times before, so he prepared himself for an unconscious demigod, but it goes in vain.

Before he knows what’s going on Natasha’s lying flat on her back with Rogers’ foot on her stomach, the knife is in Rogers’ hand, pointed at him. He raises the gauntlet on instinct.

“Go home, tell him I got away,” he speaks with an entirely authoritative voice that definitely does not go straight to Tony’s dick. He’s willing to bet that Rogers is a child of Aphrodite.

He tosses the knife on one of the beds and walks out.

Tony chases him out, instinctively, and almost crashes into him outside. Rogers gives him a look and before he knows it, he’s kissing him in a wild clash of lips and tongues. He’s shoved against the wall as Rogers noses down his neck.

“Rogers,” Tony breaths tilting his head back.

“We’re gettin’ friendly. Steve’ll do.”

“Steve, Steve--”

“You want me to stop?” Rogers-- Steve asks, with a teasing roll of his hips against Tony’s hardening cock.

“Fuck no,” Tony groans, “but I gotta know, why?” He’d like to state, for the record, that he is never this easy; usually, it takes much more than a rough kiss and manhandling to get him like this, but Steve knows what he’s doing.

“Why?” Steve murmurs against his neck, “You’re hot, and you’ve been eye-fucking me the moment I walked in.” He pulls away suddenly, “You’ve done this before, right?”

Tony grins, lewd, “Sure, I’d prove it, but on top of everything, I don’t want a public indecency charge as well.”

Steve’s eyes darken and he drags them into his room - the one next to Natasha and Tony’s.

Tony proves just how non-virginal he is and Steve returns the favour, and Tony really, really wasn’t wrong in his first assessment of ‘knows what he’s doing’.

“That might have been,” Tony pants, trying to catch his breath, “the best orgasm of my life.”

Steve laughs and presses an absent-minded kiss to his shoulder, then trails his lips up to tease at the hickey he left earlier. “I get that a lot,” he murmurs, grinning up at Tony.

“From everyone, or am I just special?”

Steve seems to realise what he’s really asking, because he chuckles again, “You’re the only one of Fury’s minions I’ve slept with.”

Tony grins. He’s never had this much fun, outside of the sex, with a hookup before. “Well, you’re the only demigod I’ve fucked, period.” Even though godly relations counted for jackshit, he’s never slept with anyone at Camp. He’s not even sure if you’re allowed to have sex there.

“I don’t recall you doing much fucking,” Steve says, smirking.

Tony, ever the pinnacle of maturity, just mimics him, far too tired to think of something clever. He lets his eyes fall shut, comfortable in Steve’s arms.

When he wakes up, he’s alone, with a note and a flip phone left on the pillow where Steve was.

The phone’s demigod-proofed, call, text, if you ever want a real fuck - SR

“We lost him, got away right under our noses, but we do have a way to contact him,” Tony says to Fury when they get back. He knows that he should hand over the phone, but that feels like he’s breaking Steve’s trust.

“The phone, Stark.”

“Through me, you talk to him through me,” Tony insists. Steve’s not coming to Camp for a reason, and he trusts him not to drag him back, so Tony feels an urge to protect him, even though he’s proven more than competent at that.

Fury knows what battles to pick, so leaves him, with a reminder to get some rest.

Maybe he doesn’t hate finding that much.

They don’t try to chase him after that, but Tony still meets up with him, sometimes it takes him a week to respond, sometimes he’s out of the country, but he always replies. They don’t even have sex immediately the first time Tony texts him, they just hang out in a diner in Queen. Then they fuck for real, on some billionaire’s bed, because Steve’s just like that and it tops last time.

It takes Tony repeating a constant mantra of ‘he’s a thief and fairly shifty and what they have is strictly friends-with-benefits’ to slow down falling in love with him, but it seems sort of inevitable in the end. He’s entirely in love with the way he smiles and laughs and fucks and every single part of him, Tony’s so damn, overwhelmingly in love, he knows that he’s going to tell him, today, about a year into what they have. It’s not unrequited, if the looks Steve gives him is anything to go by.

They’re sitting in a bandstand in a park near Camp, the closest Steve’ll get to it. He’s still the same, he’s still one bad fashion choice from ‘cryptid’, still Robin-Hoods-ing in his free time, but he’s shaved off the beard - the very first time, he’d tentatively asked Tony to do it.

Tony’s learnt that he’s also an artist, that he used to be in the army, that he has a weird and shitty relationship with his parents, and even though there’s still a lot that he doesn’t know about him, all that changes a view on someone.

They’ve both long accepted that what they have can barely be classed as ‘friends-with-benefits’ now, in some unspoken agreement one early morning, this time in Steve’s apartment when they were lying in bed, half-awake together.

Tony leans in to kiss Steve, ready to tell him, so damn ready that it feels like it’s going to burst out of his mouth all by itself when a thunderstorm starts.

Steve groans and drops his head on to Tony’s shoulder. It’s adorable, seeing this six-foot man try make himself small enough to fit in Tony. They make it work.

Steve stretches out an arm and flips off the sky. The sky sends a truly unnatural amount of lighting into the tree next to them.

This time, he yells a ‘fuck you’, loud and clear, before kissing Tony, deeply, swallowing his giggles.

When they pull away, Steve’s grinning, bright and wonderful. He opens his mouth to say something, but he’s interrupted by a well-dressed businessman in a flash of lightning.

Now, Tony’s only ever met his dad, Hephestus, and Apollo, and they were nowhere near this dramatic. Or well dressed. Or this important.

Steve just rolls his eyes at their untimely interruption, but there’s something under the annoyance, something akin to fear that puts Tony on edge. “Fuck off.”

“Now,” Zeus says, “is that any way to greet your father, Heracles?”

iron man bingo masterpost

tell me what you thought?

#steve rogers x tony stark #steve x tony #stevetony fic #stony fic #stevetony #stony #my fic #my writing #percy jackson au #ironmanbingo3000

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mxliv-oftheendless · 6 years ago

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New Beginnings

Okay, so this one takes place in @cosmicrealmofkissteria‘s Assassin AU (that is the link to her Ao3 page where the story is if you haven’t read it) because jeez, she really puts Vinnie in a dark place. So naturally, I had to give Vinnie a happy ending, and that’s how BETH came into the picture! She’s Vinnie’s younger cousin, and while their backstory isn’t really relevant to the story, they were really close when Beth was younger. Enjoy!

Beth wasn’t sure why she was still in New York.

At first, it had been because her brother insisted she come to see his new baby, and she could never refuse her brother, even if he was still living in New York. His new baby, a girl named Emily, was definitely adorable, and his wife was wonderful, but Beth was only planning on being there for a few days, three at most. It was nearly five days now, and she was very sure her boss wouldn’t understand if she called and asked for more time off.

What was she still doing here? This city had been the place she felt trapped in for the first seventeen years of her life. It wasn’t a home; it was a prison. A prison that at any second could riot and cause her or her brother’s death. So when she received the scholarship to University of Phoenix, she’d left with her scholarship money and saved tuition money and never looked back. She hated New York. So why hadn’t she left yet?

On the fifth day of her visit, Beth was walking down the street from her hotel, thinking she would take a subway to her brother’s neighborhood, when a black car rolled up to the curb. For some reason, Beth’s legs slowed, and came to a stop as the car stopped beside her.

The tinted window of the backseat rolled down, and a dark-haired man wearing sunglasses looked out at her. “Elizabeth Cusano?”

Old instincts began to kick in, and Beth gave him the best glare she could manage in her sunglasses. It was equally reassuring to remember the small Ruger handgun she kept in her purse. “Who’s Elizabeth Cusano?”

“You’re the granddaughter of the current head of the Caringi family in the Italian mob. You left seven years ago to attend the University of Arizona, and now work as a bartender at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas. Am I wrong?”

Beth tried her best not to gawk. Just who the hell was this guy?

She glanced around, then got closer to the car, leaning down and grabbing the top of her purse so she could easily grab her gun. “Listen, man, who the hell do you think you are, and what do you want?”

“My name is Gene Simmons and I have some information for you regarding your cousin, Vincent.”

Beth froze. Immediately memories flashed in her head, of a young man with dark eyes and sad smiles and unconvincing laughs. “Are you bullshitting me?” she snapped.

Simmons waved for her to get in the car. “Why don’t you find out for yourself?”

Beth paused. On one hand, she could shoot the guy and run. But run where? She was in broad daylight, hundreds of people were surrounding her, and she would be running on foot while he was in a fast-moving car.

On the other hand…

Beth looked around to make sure no one was watching, then opened the door and slid into the car.

The office Gene brought her into was big and windowless, and had three huge monitors showing security footage behind a desk. She was shown into a chair in front of the desk while Gene himself sat down behind it.

“Okay, I came with you,” Beth said, trying to sound in control. It was something Papa had drilled into her head: Always seem like you’re the one in control. “Now what do you want to tell me? And remember, if you’re bullshitting me, I can shoot you right now and throw your body into the Hudson. I know how to cut up a body.”

Gene looked almost amused. “I don’t doubt it.” He tented his fingers together. “When was the last time you saw Vinnie, Miss Cusano?”

“Er, eight years ago, I think. At my Nana’s… well, that doesn’t matter. Then he dropped off the grid; I haven’t seen or heard from him since.”

Then again, she had been too wrapped up in her own shit at the time.

“Why do you want to know?”

“Have you ever heard of Peter Criss, the Brooklyn Wildcat?”

The name wasn’t ringing any bells. Then again, she’d been away from New York for long she didn’t know how many gangsters she knew about were still alive and how many were dead. “No, I haven’t. He sounds… interesting.” Read: fucking dangerous. Another thing Papa had told her: if they have a nickname, they’re either insane or very dangerous, or even both. “Did Vinnie get mixed up with him?”

“We know that Vinnie was working for him. Well, “working” is a bit of a loose term. We don’t know for how long, but what matters is now. And right now, Vinnie needs to get out of New York, and you just so happen to be the only family member he remembers giving a damn about. We need your help getting him out of New York.”

Beth hesitated for only a second. “Of course. Where is he now?”

Gene pressed a button on his desk. There was a buzzing noise, and a side door opened. A short man with unbelievably fluffy hair walked in, followed by… Vinnie.

His hair was longer and his skin was paler, and he looked horribly thin. There were dark circles under his eyes and his face was gaunt. His head was turned to the floor and he looked… defeated. Heartbreakingly defeated.

Beth’s mouth dropped open at the sight of him. “Vinnie?” she said aloud, unsure if it was really him.

Vinnie looked up, and his eyes widened. Tears welled up in them. “H-Hi, Bethie,”

His voice was croaky and hoarse, but it was him.

Beth shot out of her seat and ran to him, feeling like a young girl again, and threw her arms around him. Vinnie hugged her back tightly, and she heard him start to softly cry. She couldn’t believe this was happening.

“If you want my advice,” Gene said behind them, “I’d leave tonight. We don’t know if Vinnie has any other enemies, and there’s a chance Criss will find out he’s still alive.”

Still holding onto Vinnie, Beth looked over at Gene. “Of course.”

She wasn’t sure what she’d gotten into, but all that mattered to her right now was that her cousin had returned, and she was returning to Las Vegas with a probably-permanent companion.

Back at Beth’s hotel, Beth was on the hotel room phone with the airport while Vinnie showered in the bathroom. It would be last minute, but there was a two AM flight from New York to Las Vegas they could take. And Vinnie had procured a fake ID and passport, probably from Gene, so there was a good guarantee nobody would figure out he was really a notorious assassin.

Just as Beth hung up, the bathroom door opened and Vinnie walked out. He looked much better; still tired, but better.

She looked up at him. “I just changed flights and bought a ticket for you. We’re leaving on the two AM flight.”

Vinnie nodded. “Okay,” he said quietly. He stood where he was, eyes darting about.

Beth furrowed her brow and gestured to the bed. “You can sit down if you want,”

Without a word, Vinnie sat down on the bed.

“So we’ve got the rest of the day before our flight. What do you want to do? We could go out and do something.”

“I don’t think that’d be wise,” Vinnie replied timidly.

Beth nodded in assent. “Yeah, you’re right. You hungry? I think the restaurant opened a while ago.”

Vinnie shook his head. “No thank you.” He looked down at his lap.

Now Beth frowned. This was not the Vinnie she remembered. The Vinnie she remembered was not this timid and submissive. Her blood boiled in her veins as she wondered what happened to him. Whoever this Peter Criss was, she wanted to hunt him down and cut him into bits; the image of that made her feel slightly better.

“Uh… you remember Anthony, right?” Vinnie nodded. “Well guess what: he’s married and has a kid.”

Vinnie looked up at that, looking amazed. “Really?”

Beth nodded. “Yeah. The kid’s name is Emily and she’s adorable, and his wife is nice too. We could go see them if you want.”

But it seemed that was the wrong thing to say, because at that suggestion Vinnie looked down at his lap again. “No, that’s okay. They sound nice. I’m… I’m glad Anthony is okay.”

Honestly, Beth doubted Anthony would even remember Vinnie anyway. He’d never been as close to him as Beth had been.

Beth got up from the desk and went over to the bed, sitting next to Vinnie. She went to take his hand, but when Vinnie visibly blanched she thought better of it and withdrew her hand. “Listen, I don’t know what happened to you, and I can’t being to understand it, but I promise I’ll get you out of here. When we get to Vegas, I can find you a job too, if you like. It could be at the Luxor, same as me.”

Vinnie looked at her in confusion. “Why?”

The question caught Beth off guard. “Why?”

“Why would you do that… for me? Why would you do all this for the person who left you alone?”

Beth frowned. “Because you’re the only person in our family I care about. And I don’t care that you left. Honestly, if I had been older, I would’ve asked to go with you.”

Vinnie looked like he was going to cry again. “But I—”

“I don’t care,” Beth stressed, trying not to be too loud. “What matters is, you’re here now, and we’re getting out of the city. And you know what else? We’re never coming back.”

Vinnie sniffled, and a tear rolled down his cheek. A small smile appeared on his lips. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug. “I—I missed you, Bethie,”

Beth smiled and wrapped her arms around him. “I missed you too,”

LAS VEGAS – ONE MONTH LATER

Beth walked into her flat, exhaustion coursing through her body. She had just gotten off the late shift at the Luxor, and she could not believe how many people ordered drinks tonight. Jesus… She loved working as a bartender at the Luxor—it paid well and mixing drinks had always been a talent of hers—but the people that came to it could sometimes be difficult.

Beth threw her purse onto the kitchen table and got a glass of water, then gulped it down as she walked into the living room area and flopped down on the couch. She opened one eye and looked over at Vinnie, who was sitting on the other end of the couch reading a book. “What’re you doing up?” she asked tiredly.

He shrugged. “Couldn’t sleep,”

Beth nodded in understanding.

Vinnie had certainly begun to change for the better after moving to Vegas. It took time, but he gradually stopped being so timid and quiet, and started to be the first one to talk instead of Beth being forced to make conversation. He started smiling more and laughing more; Beth still smiled at the memory of when they, bored out of their minds, watched a Looney Tunes rerun and Vinnie laughed so loud her upstairs neighbor came down to see what was going on. He was doing better, but still had a ways to go. He slipped sometimes, back into who he had been before, and sometimes, like tonight, couldn’t sleep due to night terrors. Beth wasn’t sure what she could do about it, but she did make sure to stress every time that Vinnie could always talk to her whenever he needed to.

“Well, I’m so tired I’m not tired, so what do you want to do?”

Vinnie shrugged again. “Not sure.” He looked in the direction of Beth’s radio. “We could listen to music.”

Beth shrugged herself. “Sure. We just have to make sure it’s quiet.”

Vinnie closed his book and went over to the radio as Beth kicked off her shoes.

“—listening to 92.3 KOMP, Las Vegas’s official rock n’ roll station. Coming up next, we’ve got Elton John!”

Beth immediately perked up as the opening piano music to “Bennie and the Jets” came through the speakers. She loved this song. “Oh, sweet. You ever heard this song?”

Vinnie shot her a look as he sat back down. “Of course I have. Who hasn’t heard “Bennie and the Jets”?”

They both sat in silence. Beth’s foot tapped and her head nodded along to the beat as she looked over at Vinnie, who was sitting and listening silently. His head bobbed slightly along.

She wondered if Vinnie knew just how much she worried about him. She was happy with how far he had come, but sometimes, whenever he slipped, she wondered and worried if this would be the time he slipped back completely and never went back again. That, realistically, was impossible, but she still wondered; it had only been a month, after all.

“Say Candy and Ronnie, have you seen ‘em yet? Oh, but they’re so spaced out—”

“B-B-B-B-B-Bennie and the Jets,” Beth sang aloud. Vinnie looked over at her, smiling slightly. Beth smiled back, and sang more confidently. “Oh, but they’re weird and wonderful. Oh, Bennie, she’s really keen.”

She sat up and pretended she was singing into a microphone, moving dramatically. “She’s got electric boots, a mohair suit. You know I read it in a magaziIIIIIIne, ohhhh. B-B-B-Bennie and the Jets!”

Vinnie laughed. Beth smiled wider and got up. She grabbed Vinnie’s hands and pulled him off the couch. “C’mon, Vinnie, dance with me!”

And soon they were up off the couch and dancing around the living room, singing along and not giving a damn who heard (well, they would apologize if anyone knocked, but still).

“Oh, Candy and Ronnie, have you seen ‘em yet?” Vinnie sang. His voice was melodious. “Oh, but they’re so spaced out. B-B-B-B-B-Bennie and the Jets! Oh, but they’re weird and wonderful. Oh, Bennie, she’s really keen.”

“She’s got electric boots,” they sang together, “a mohair suit. You know I read it in a magaziIIIIIne, ohhhh. B-B-B-Bennie and the Jets!”

Laughing, Vinnie grabbed her hands and twirled them both in circles. They continued dancing until the song ended, and when it did, they flopped back onto the couch, breathless from dancing but laughing in pure joy. Beth leaned her head on Vinnie’s shoulder, smiling.

He’d be okay. She was sure of that now. He’d be okay.

#seriously shandi you put vinnie in a bad place didn't ya?#the reason there's a huge timeskip is because I don't know much about psychological abuse recovery and I didn't want to get anything wrong #vinnie needs all the hugs #beth is a survivor #they both are really #gene is an enigma #as usual #ALL ABOARD THE ANGST TRAIN BITCHES #also Elton john #Elton john makes everything better #it's facts #I've been writing a lot of angst lately #next thing I write will be more lighthearted I promise #kiss au writing #assassin au #hope you enjoyed!

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rhapsodic-euphoria · 6 years ago

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Hierarchy-Chapter 13

↳Masterlist

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⇒Warning: Mature content. Sort of.

⇄A/N: Sorry if some parts seem off. Wasn’t really feeling it while editing. But enjoy as always!

You did the same thing every day for several weeks. You got up and waited, sitting up on the bed. Around lunch time Kyungsoo would come and you would sometimes talk. Those times usually filled with silence, both enjoying only each other's company. He would always bring food, but you would never eat. Eventually you started to only eat apples. Just apples, nothing else.

Afterwards, you sat down on the bed, doing nothing until nightfall, when you took either a shower or bath, always wondering if you should just end it right then and there. You always came out alive, but more compelled to end yourself by each passing day.

Doing nothing except being in the silence of yourself gave you time to think over yourself. You wondered if things would've changed if you tried only a bit harder to resist. You soon began to believe that Lay was right, you treated Jeong-Hui like a child, and not like a normal being.

You found out that you needed to change, for Jeong-Hui. You decide to trust someone beside yourself for the first time since never.

When Kyungsoo came into your room the following day you asked him something before he left. "I want to talk to Baekhyun."

"Sung-Ri." Kyungsoo started, almost in a warning.

"Just do it." You said, meeting his eyes. You gave him the reassurance he needed.

He nodded, leaving the room. Later in the day, Baekhyun came into the room. He awkwardly closed the door, noticing you on the bed.

You were facing the curtained window, you realized that you came to look at it, never opening the curtain to see what was behind, but appreciating the muted landscape outside and the light that came in.

"We knew each other since we were young." You began when you felt Baekhyun sit on the edge of the bed.

"We were orphans, at least we thought so. We were taken in by what we call the 'association'." You continued.

"It was me, Kyungsoo, and two others. We were the only ones that survived the harsh training that they put us through to make us killing machines." You look down at your hands, remembering Kyungsoo’s hatred for his own.

"But that was just the first step. After that we were sent to harsher conditions and training." You clenched your fists.

"One of us were taken away, for reasons unknown. A few years later, the remaining three of us were separated." You say.

"It was barely two years from now I faked my own death and escaped." You unclench your fists, frowning at the crescent indents made by your nails on your palms.

"That was when I began taking jobs for money. It was a specific job that made me stop, however." You say. "The man was abusing his family, but he was filthy rich so the police didn't do anything."

You sigh, remember that fateful day. "When I was paid to kill him in his house, I saw him abusing his daughter and beating his wife."

"That night, the wife and man died. The man was tortured slowly with my own hands before dying of thirst." You said, Baekhyun still silent. "The wife died, but at a promise to me, that I'd help her daughter through anything."

You smile wistfully. "It was then I noticed the daughter was the one that separated from us at the assassination."

"Apparently, her mother got enough money to convince the association to bring her daughter back, brainwashing her so she wouldn't remember anything about the association.” You scoffed at how unfortunate it was for her.

"After that, I convinced myself to never take another job." You concluded, finally looking at Baekhyun.

"Not after meeting me, that is." Baekhyun said, guilt lacing his voice.

"I ran out of money and savings." You insist, as if you were reassuring yourself.

"The girl was Jeong-Hui, right?" He asks. You stay silent, nodding.

He sighs, running a hand through his hair. You get up, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

You tilt his head up so you could see his face. You frowned when he wouldn't meet your eyes. You looked at his face, memorizing his facial feature. You smiled slightly at the memory of your 'date' before the whole mess of the party.

You wondered how love felt like. You wondered if your changed feelings with Baekhyun was love. You decide to test it out.

You pressed your lips to his, hearing his muffled yelp. Immediately afterwards, he started kissing you back.

You wrapped your legs around his waist. When he ran a hand along your body, you gasped, giving him the opportunity to slip in his tongue.

You gave a soft moan as he let go of your lips and trailed kisses along your jaw. His hands gently grasping the back of your neck.

You ran your hands under his shirt, feeling his toned body beneath your hands.

"Sung-Ri." He said, abruptly. "We shouldn't do this."

"I want to." You insist, but you slowly pull your hands away.

"You aren't in a position to do this. I won't forgive myself if you regret this." He gently smiles at you. “You’re too vulnerable.”

"I won't. I’m not." You try to promise him. But he just shakes his head, slowly getting up to leave.

"Stay with me?" You ask, hopefully.

"I'll come back." He promises. You trust that he will.

When Baekhyun leaves, you lay back in bed. You take your usual bath, but this time not thinking about suicide, but living.

You wondered about having a 'happily ever after' or at least family. You know that what had happened was not in your usual behavior, but being vulnerable couldn’t hurt.

After changing, you lay in your bed. You think about your future until you feel the heaviness of sleep upon yourself. A type of sleep you haven't gotten in a long time.

Baekhyun POV

"Fuck." I cursed as I punched the shower wall. I could barely hold myself back when Sung-Ri was in that state.

I felt the cool water against my hot skin. I ran a hand through my wet hair, sighing. I frowned at the current situation.

"This is a problem." I curse, slamming a fist into the wall again. I couldn’t do that to her, but I couldn’t reject her in her situation.

I dried myself off as I changed, making my way downstairs.

I sat down at the dinner table next to Chanyeol, a plate of food already there.

"You're late." Chanyeol said, his voice muffled from a mouth full of food.

"Talked with Sung-Ri." As soon as I said that, every single man went silent.

"How did it go?" Kyungsoo spoke up. It was a bit aggravating on how he was the only one to see her every day, and truly know and care about her.

"Fine, I guess. I think she might be willing to get out of that room." I say, remembering how she was much more comfortable with me after telling me her story.

"Where're the hyungs?" I ask Sehun. He was visibly frowning at something.

"Another deal. They're hoping to get information out of one of his sub-groups." Sehun answers. I frown. These days I think the guys are blaming themselves for what happened to Jeong-Hui and Seung-Ri. They feel responsible to at least help.

"I think I should talk to her." Chanyeol says as he gets up.

"No." Kyungsoo immediately denies him. “Not with your current situation.”

"Why not? How come you get to say who talks to her?" Chanyeol snaps. “And it isn’t current anymore, she’s completely off the grid, probably dead.”

"Chanyeol, just let it go." I say, ignoring how he talks about his ex. “You need to deal with your other problems.”

"You're just saying that because you got to see her today." Chanyeol seethes. Although the two maknaes are silent, everyone in the room could tell that they were on Chanyeol's side as well.

"Be patient. We all have something to say." Lay hyung says as he gets up as well. "Besides, if Baekhyun's right, she will come out on her own soon."

Chanyeol grumbles in return, turning and going to the door after placing his empty plate in the sink.

"Going out." He mutters, not even waiting to hear our response before leaving.

Lately Chanyeol has been sleeping around much more than usual. I don't want to believe that it's because of Sung-Ri, or his ex, but I feel like it is. I feel slight remorse to the girl that Chanyeol will have his sights on for the night.

"At least he doesn't go on killing strikes." It was like Kyungsoo read your mind, hinting towards the leader. After the incident, Suho has been on a murderous rampage, which is odd for the reasonable leader.

"Night." I say to the rest of the men at the table. The tense silence was too uncomfortable to bear.

"Night." They all answer back as I place my empty plate in the sink and start to make my way back to Sung-Ri's room.

When I quietly walked into her room, I smiled at her sleeping form. She looked peaceful, almost normal in that state.

I close the door behind me, extra careful to not make a sound. I climbed into the bed with her, making sure to be a decent distance away from her so nothing happens.

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popsicle-writing · 6 years ago

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Doki Doki Pretty Cure: Robots in Disguise Chapter 3

It's been a long day on Earth or rather Oogai Town. Ever since the Autobots arrived on Earth, they have been tracking down some escaped prison ship of the Alchemor until they meet with these human girls who has the ability to transform into the legendary warriors, Pretty Cure and called themselves; Doki Doki Pretty Cure and they have been creating a close bond together. Mana and Bumblebee received some quests from Optimus Prime to join forces together and they did. They finally able to meet up each other face to face. With the Pretty Cure's help, they are able to take down their first prisoner; Underbite...except for Grimlock which he is actually in probation. Together, they will work together as a team to re-capture all of these fugitives! Their adventures are about to begin here!

Chapter 3: Strongarm's and Sideswipe's trust! Cure Diamond and Cure Sword vs Steeljaw!

-Location: Oogai Town, Yotsuba's Mansion- Mana and Rikka were walking in the backyard, chatting with each other. "What a tiring day!" Mana began, stretching her body. "It's been a long since we fought that Decepticon yesterday as Pretty Cure, my fighting power is feeling pumped up!" Her friend nodded. "That's right! Ever since the Autobots arrived here and fight alongside us, our Pretty Cure's spirit is increasing!" Their fairy partners then float towards them. "With a lot of trust and teamwork, Pretty Cure power will become more powerful-sharu!" Sharuru hollered. Raquel nods in agreement. "We're unstoppable-quel!" The girl smiled and giggled. Then, Mana just looked at the sky and she wondered...will she ever meet Optimus again? She began to have this same as Bumblebee like before. "Mana, are you okay-sharu?" her fairy partner tries to snapped her to reality. "Eh?" the girl then looked back at them. "No, I'm fine!" she smiled. "If you say so..." Rikka stated in concern before they heard a familiar voice. "Ow! Sideswipe you're supposed to catch me!" yep, that's Strongarm's voice. "That's the whole point of 'trust exercises'!" They looked and the cadet and Sideswipe were doing these 'trust exercise'. Strongarm looked the red bot who doesn't look happy. "Ugh, now my comm unit is busted." "Oh, sorry. Maybe when it was my turn, you shouldn't have let me fall." he spoke up, sarcastically. "Three. Times. In. A. Row!" "That's because you weren't falling correctly!" she argues. The girls spoke up interrupted their conversation. "Um...what are you two doing?" Rikka asked the two bots. "Oh, we're just doing some 'trust exercises'." Strongarm pointed out. Mana blinked her eyes. "Trust exercises?" The cadet pointed out. "It's an exercise where we learn how to trust each other." she then looked at Sideswipe and gave him a death glare. "Which somebot doesn't know how to do it properly." The red bot scoffed. "Well, why don't you demonstrate how to fall the right way, your dictatorship." Strongarm growled and began to hit him but Sideswipe hit her back and they continuously hitting each other like a bunch of kids. "These two really doesn't get along very well, aren't they-sharu?" Sharuru sighed. "Hey, knock it off!" Bumblebee's voice can be heard. "These exercises are important!" They looked with their eyes/optics widened as Grimlock was carrying Bumblebee like a bride. "Yeah, why can't you guys take anything seriously?" the green bot spoke out with a grin. The yellow bot then looked at him and sighed. The two bots tries to contain their laughter while the two girls giggled. Grim then put Bumblebee down. "If we're gonna work together to recapture all the escaped Decepticons, we have to trust each other." "I do trust Sideswipe..." the cadet spoke up with a smug on her face. "...to mess up." Sideswipe frowns at her as they began to fight each other. "Hey, calm down!" Rikka tries to stop them. "Fighting and arguing each other won't solve anything-quel!" but they weren't listening and continued to fight. Bumblebee then sighed. "This is why I can't have nice things..." "I feel you, Bumblebee..." Mana stated, awkwardly. Then, Bumblebee received a call from the com-link. He picke up the call. "Fixit to everyone." Fixit's voice spoke up, getting everyone's attention. "Go ahead, Fixit." "Can you circle back at the garage? There's something I need to show you." Bumblebee nodded. "On our way." he then looked at the others. "Let's see if we can all make it there in one peace." He transformed into his vehicle mode before letting Mana in and drove off. "Don't feel bad." the green Dinobot spoke up. "It's not that easy to be a model teammate like me." The two bots rolled their optics as they transform into their vehicle mode (with Sideswipe letting Rikka in) and drove off. Grimlock was confused at first but without hesitating, he transform into his Dinobot mode and followed them. Not for long, they arrived at the garage. Everything is stacked up like Fixit's supplies and some containment pods for the escaped fugitives. In the garage, there were Alice and Fixit but Makoto is not with them. "Where's Makoto?" Strongarm asked the girl. "Oh, she just practicing her singing." Alice replied with a soft smile. "Wow. She can sing?" the red bot spoke with a fake surprise tone in his voice. "That's cool." The cadet grunts and rolled her optics. Rikka just sighed in disappointment at Sideswipe's attitude. Fixit then spoke up, grabbing everyone's attention. "Search instruments have located a cluster of fugitive signals near here and appears there might be intact stasis pods as well." "Some easy capture devices would be nice." Bumblebee muttered under his breath. Then, they heard a voice from the monitor. It wasn't a robot or rather a Cybertronian's voice. It sounded like a human's voice. "Mayday! Mayday!" "Oh, we're intercepting an Earth based radio signal." Fixit pointed out. He turn on the monitor and as they expected, it's a human who appears to be in the middle of the sea. "This is a captain of oil tanker off coast of Oogai Town. We are under attack by what appears to be a shark, but is bigger than any I've ever seen and it looks to be made of metal!" "Could it be...?" Rikka began. "Decepticons." Strongarm pointed out. The human continued, "My crew has evacuated on the life boats. Please, send assistance immediately!" with that, the monitor shut off. "The Alchemor's prisoner manifest lists of Sharkticon aboard." the Orange Minic-Con stated, opening his Alchemor's database. "There's a Decepticon called Sharkticons-lance?" Lance questioned, curiously. "Sharkticons, Insecticons, Skunkticons, you named it!" he continued. Bumblebee then clears his throat to get his attention. "Oh right! Here's your capture device, sir." he tossed the weapon at him. "It will work this time." "Are you sure?" Bumblebee raises his eyebrow. "Not really." he chuckled, nervously. The yellow bot rolled his optics before turning to Alice. Do you have a boat that Grimlock and I can tow to the water?" he asked. "Yes we have one." she replied with a nod. Strongarm couldn't believe her own optics. "You and the Dinobot?" "Grimlock proved to me earlier today that he can be trusted in a field situation that requires teamwork." he pointed out. "But you're not going alone only two of you." Mana began. Alice continued. "We'll come with you, in case you need some our help." The yellow bot nodded at them before turning to the two bots. "You two with your partners will check out those fugitives signals. Together." "Yeah, work on that teamwork!" the green bot spoke up before following Bumblebee. "Are you sure you two going to be alright?" Rikka asked her two friends. Mana smiled. "Don't worry, Rikka. We have an Autobots partners on our side." "If anything happens, we'll be ready as a Pretty Cure." Alice finished. The blue haired girl paused for a bit before spoke up with a smile. "Alright but be careful out there." the two nodded in promises as they walks away to follow their Autobot guardians. Rikka sighed once more. Fixit spoke up. "The stasis pods are grid 4023 sector 7650." he then turned to the two bots. "Oh, and bring me back something, will you? Like a rock or a soil sample or-" However, Sideswipe ignored him as he transformed into his vehicle mode and opened the door for Rikka. "Get in." "Where to exactly-quel?" Raquel asked him. "Anywhere. Just get in." he replied. Rikka tries to argue with him but she just stay quiet and went inside. With that, Sideswipe drove off. "Hey! We were supposed to-" too late, he already left the mansion. She sighed in frustration, as she looked at Fixit. "Where's Makoto?" "Oh, she's inside, cadet Strongarm." he replied. "Like miss Alice said, she is singing and she has the most beautiful noise-choice-voice I've ever heard!" The cadet nodded and she look around outside the mansion because she is too big to fit inside the mansion, so she tried to search for her through the window until she heard a voice. Strongarm followed the voice and saw her through an opened window, singing her song called "Songbird". Fixit was right! Her voice...so soothing and beautiful just like a voice of an angel. Makoto then finished her singing. "You have the most beautiful voice!" the cadet complimented her. The girl look outside the window and saw her. "Oh, it's you, Strongarm." she spoke up. "Thank you." she then walked to the window. "Where do you learn to sing like that?" her Autobot guardian questioned. "From my hometown, actually." Makoto answered. "Hometown? Isn't this place already your hometown?" The girl shooked her head. "No, actually. My hometown is actually Trump Kingdom." The cadet raised her eyebrow. "Trump...Kingdom?" "It's a long story. You see that's where I was born and raised. That place was full of generosity people until..." her voice dropped. "...the Selfish army arises..." Selfish army? The cadet listened more to her story. "I was chose to become a Pretty Cure and tries to save my hometown. So, I sent here to Earth and began my life as a singer. When I first met Mana, I don't trust them yet as I was chose to be alone..." Strongarm's optics widened. She was chose to fight alone just like her?! And she didn't trust her teammates just like she didn't trust Sideswipe at first! "And it all changes when Mana told me who important it is to trust each other." she smiled at her memories. "That's...the most inspiring story I've ever heard." the cadet admitted, receiving a look from her human partner. "Really?" Strongarm nodded until she paused for a bit before spoke up. "Anyway, the others went on the missions and Sideswipe decided to drive off with Rikka. So, do you want to come?" The girl paused for a bit and then nods. "Alright." the cadet then transforms into her vehicle mode and let her partner in and drove off. -Location: The middle of the forest- Sideswipe keeps on driving through the woods until Rikka spoke up. "Sideswipe, you shouldn't just leave the place like that." she blurted out. He scoffed. "Come on. It's not like you wanting to hear what Mini-Con have to said." "It's not that. It's just...you're supposed to be a team player and learn to trust each other. Especially Strongarm!" Sideswipe groaned. "What? You trust her too, don't you?" The girl stayed quiet before spoke up. "Actually, I don't. Just like how I don't trust Makoto..." The vehicle stopped his track and let her out. He transform into his robot and began to questioned her. "What do you mean? You were okay with each other yesterday." "That was a long time ago before I met Makoto. It's kinda a long story..." "...I'm listening." Rikka sighed and began her story. "You know that Makoto is a singer and Mana admired her so much?" she asked, receiving a confused "yes" from him but Rikka continued anyway. "After Makoto joined our team, Mana has become so close to her that I...feel extremely jealous of her." "Jealous? Why would you feel like that?" "Mana and I were friends ever since we were little. I was pretty shy at first but after I met Mana, she was my very first best friend. She always listened to me, help me and care for me...until Makoto came along. I was afraid that she'll take away Mana from me." Huh. That sounds so familiar to Sideswipe... "But then I realized..." the girl continued. "...that jealousy wasn't the answer. I shouldn't give up our friendship with Mana or Makoto. So, I ended up becoming friends with her and I began to trust her." That sounds like...him and Strongarm! "There you two are!" a familiar voice spoke out and they saw Strongarm and Makoto walking towards them. Sideswipe sighed. "You're never gonna treat me equal, aren't you?" he bluntly asked the cadet. Strongarm glared at him. "And you're never gonna take me seriously, are you?" she crossed her arms. Oh dear... "There they go again-quel." Raquel sighed. "Ugh, I'll com you when I find something!" Sideswipe then transformed into his vehicle mode and opened the door to let Rikka in. The girl look at the cadet and Makoto for a second before sighing and went in. With that, he drove off. "Wait! We can't split up!" Makoto reminded them but they already left...again. "Again-davi?" Dabyi wondered in annoyance. Strongarm tried to com him. "Sideswipe? Sideswipe!" but her com unit is busted. "Ugh, stupid com unit! Come on, let's follow them!" she transformed before letting Makoto in and drove off. -Location: Oogai Town, in the Middle of the Sea- Bumblebee, Grimlock, Heart and Rosetta were in the middle of the sea, were being attacked by the fugitive under the water. The fugitive banged its head on the ship, almost making them lose their balance. Grimlock look under the water and saw a shadowy figure of it. "Excuse me!" he then jumped out from the ship. "Grimlock, wait!" Rosetta tries to stop him but it was too late. He transformed into his Dinobot mode and began to pound the Sharkticon but only to be carried away by him. "This isn't teamwork!" the yellow bot reminded him. He then pulled out his weapon and tries to test if it's working. He about to lose his balance again when the Sharkticon hit the ship and his weapon lose its grip from him. "Rosetta, are you okay?" Heart asked her teammate. "I'm fine." she nodded. They then see Grimlock being sunk into the water by the Sharkticon. "Grim!" Rosetta yelled in worried. Bumblebee then tries to grab the weapon but only to be stopped with the Sharkticon transformed into his robot mode and landed on the ground. The girls readied their fighting stance. However, the Con was a bit bigger than them even Bumblebee. "Kinda wish I was a bigger bot..." he muttered. -Location: Oogai Town, middle of the woods- Strongarm keeps on driving to search for Sideswipe. Makoto just look outside the window until she saw something. "Strongarm, stop!" she alerted, making her guardian stopped. The girl then went outside her as the cadet transformed. They gasped as they witnessed something. They saw some containment pods! And they all looks rusted. "What happened here-davi?" Dabyi asked in shocked. The girl shrugged. "No clue." Suddenly, they heard a twig snap as Strongarm bring out her weapon while Dabyi transformed to the transformation device. "Stay behind me." the cadet told her partner. They followed the noises as the trees clearing up and up ahead they saw another bot...but with a tail. Strongarm gestures Makoto stay hidden behind the tree and so she did. The view of the bot appears to be a wolf. "Prepare for freedom, brother." the bot spoke up with a very soothing voice as he raised his claws to strike the pod. "Claws in the air!" the cadet from behind him orders, pointing her weapon at him. He turned around and saw Strongarm. However, without raising his arms...or claws, he just casually walked up to her. "Hello, sister." he spoke again. "Did you fall out from the sky too? I'm so glad we found each other." Sister? What is he going on about? "Decepticon fugitive! By ordering from Cybertronian code section 305, you are hereby-" the cadet tries to orders him but was cut off. "Of course. You're confused." he somehow told her. "I wasn't a prisoner on that ship. I was a guard." A guard? "Fixit never said anything about a guard being on the Alchemor." Strongarm pointed out at him, confusedly. "Fixit, yes..." he pretend to remember the Orange Mini-Con's name. "Well, he wouldn't have known. I was in stasis also. My pod programmed to wake in case of a riot." Makoto just watched them behind the tree and she gasped quietly as she saw a Decepticon logo but with some scratches on it. He has a Decepticon logo but why was it scratched? "And why would you have the Decepticon logos?" Strongarm questioned him. "You've been well trained, asking excellent questions." he chuckles. "Something tells me, he's up to something-davi..." Dabyi whispered to the girl. "The logo meant to confuse the others-" he stopped his sentence before try to attack the cadet but she dodge immediately. Strongarm tries to use her com-link. "This is Strongarm! I am under attack!" she then tries to use her leg to kick her but only to be stopped by the Con's blocking it. "My postion is-!" He then swing her around and slamming her to the ground before throwing her to the rock, knocking her out. The Con then walked up to her. "Strongarm!" Makoto gasped. He heard her voice and but as soon he turned around in alert, he saw nothing. The girl is still hiding behind the tree, didn't make any moves or noises. "That Decepticon looks fierce with claws-davi." Dabyi spoke up with a low voice at her. "We should head back and call for back up-davi." The girl nodded in agreement as she began to creep away without making any noises. -Location: Oogai Town, Yotsuba Mansion- Sideswipe and Rikka has come back from the patrol. Rikka climbed out from him as her guardian transformed back to his robot mode. "Ah, you're back!" Fixit exclaimed. "Listen, I have a very serious news to-" Rikka then look around. "Strongarm and Makoto aren't back yet, are they?" "I'm pretty sure they're fine." the red bot spoke up, not caring of what happens to them. But Rikka looked at him and glared. "Sideswipe!" the girl tries to argue with him but Fixit cut off. "Actually, cadet Strongarm called in and sound like she was in rubble-trouble! But it was too hard to hear and I figured that her comm unit is malfunctioning and I can't track her." the orange Mini-Con explained. "Wait, Makoto was with Strongarm!" the girl then gasped. "That means..." "They're both in trouble-quel!" Raquel alerted. Rikka then glared at him. "I told you to trust Strongarm but you weren't listening!" Sideswipe paused for a bit, realizing his mistake. Maybe Rikka was right about trusting Strongarm. What if she get hurts? All of this is his fault. "Scrap..." "I'll notified Bumblebee immediately!" Fixit pointed out. But the red bot denied the offers. "No! We'll handle it!" -Location: Oogai Town, in the Middle of the Sea- Bumblebee and the Sharkticon were still fighting with each other. "You have forced me to walk on two legs. How dare you?!" the Sharkticon then charged at him but Rosetta appeared in front of him just in time and create her Rosetta Wall. The Sharkticon collided with the wall, only to bounce him back where he came from. Heart then leaped up in the air, grabbing his left arm and flings him to the ground. "Thanks, you two!" Bumblebee thanked them. The girls smiled. "That's why we trusted you, Bumblebee." Heart winked at him. The Sharkticon then stand back up to his feet. The girls reunited by Bumblebee's side with their fighting stance on. "Listen here, Sharkticon." the yellow bot pointed his gun at him. "My name is Hammerstrike. Cybertron most feared pirate." There's a pirate on Cybertron? "And soon the ruler of all in this planet sees!" Bumblebee rolled his optics. "Yeah...okay, whatever. Surrender now or these brave warriors and my Dinobot partner will taking a beating then surrender." Hammerstrike then throws a bunch of boxes at them but Rosetta created her Rosetta Wall again to block them. But one of the boxes hit Bumblebee's hands, making him lose the grip of his gun as well. "Scrap..." "Surrender the light's of you." the Con laughed. "I will never been fend in the gorgeous depth again!" he then tries to claw him but Heart stopped him. "Unhand me, you foul creature!" he then tries to claw her face instead. "Don't be...selfish!" she then used her leg to kick him back. Rosetta then looked at the water in worried. "Anytime now, Grimlock." he was still underwater. Hammerstrike then charge at Heart, making her fall back but Bumblebee catches her in time. "Are you alright?" the Cure nodded in replied. The Sharkticon then jumped out from the boat and began to transform into his shark mode. "He's getting away-sharu!" but the fugitive run away. "We almost had him-lance..." Lance spoke out in disappointment. Rosetta looked at him. "It's alright, Lance. We'll get him next time." With that, Bumblebee com-link Grimlock to see if he can get to shore. -Location: Oogai Town, Yotsuba's Mansion- Bumblebee has arrived back to their base. "Where's everyone? Rikka and Makoto?" Mana asked. "Oh, that. Well..." Fixit chuckles nervously. "Well...?" Alice waited for him to response. "Cadet Strongarm, Sideswipe and their partners are out for their alignment-assignment!" not wanting to bring up the subject, he then saw Grimlock was all soaking wet. "What just happened?" "It's a...long story." Alice reassured him. "Fixit, where are the others?" the lieutenant asked him in a very serious tone. "Well..." the Mini-Con chuckles nervously again. -Location: Somewhere around the woods- Sideswipe was strolling around a small building which happens to be an abandoned cabin. Inside, Rikka was crossing her arms with an angry expression. The red bot sighed. "Rikka, don't take this so seriously..." The girl didn't responds as Sideswipe stopped his track and spoke up again. "Look, I'm sorry. You were right about to trust Strongarm. It was all my fault that I abandoned her...and your friend..." He had a sad tone in his voice. Rikka looked at him. Was he feeling guilty now...? "Sideswipe..." "I get it. If you're mad at me, go ahead and yelled at me." "I'm not mad at you, Sideswipe. You're my guardian, my teammate, my friend." she pointed out. "Friends aren't supposed to mad at each other. And I'm sorry for lashing my anger at you either. I was just so worried about my friends that I ended up worrying you instead..." "Heh. No worries." he chuckles. "From now on, we're in the real team right?" receiving a nod from her. "Hey, look-quel!" Raquel grabbed their attention. They look and saw Makoto was running towards them. "Makoto?!" Rikka then climbed out from the car. "Makoto?! What's going on?! Where's Strongarm?!" Makoto tries gasped for air. "She's got beat up by a Con!" "A Con?! Where is she now?" Sideswipe asked. "Right there-davi!" Dabyi pointed where she and Makoto came from. "Alright, climb up!" he then opened the doors for the girls climbed in and drives off. Not for long, they arrived at the same place where Makoto and Dabyi came from. "There they are-davi." she whispered. They saw Strongarm being chained up by the same wolf like Decepticon. "I don't trust him. He looks cool." the red bot blurted out. "Kinda reminds me of someone..." "What do we now-quel?" Raquel asked in worried and concern. "If I was a half criminal Strongarm think I am, I just walked away." he replied bluntly. Rikka sighed. "Sideswipe, this is not the time to-" she paused her sentence. "I have an idea! Follow me!". The others followed her. "But giving you a second chance isn't up to me." Strongarm told him. "I'm just a cadet. My surperior officer would have to be the one to-" "I would love to meet your squadron. How many of you are there? Where are your base?" the Con questioned. "We're just over-" she paused for a second. "Wait, how do we know this isn't a trick?" "I see you've found a couple of Autobots." a mysterious...yet a similar voice can be heard from behind. The two look and saw a bot coming from the tree. Strongarm take a closer look at the bot and she realized it's Sideswipe! He has a glow Decepticon logo on his chest. "Can I get in on a little payback?" The Con looked at him and smirks. "Greeting, brother. I'm Steeljaw." So, this wolf Con named is Steeljaw. "And you are?" "Oh, I'm...Grim...bee!" Sideswipe stutters. Really? Grimbee? A combination name of Grimlock and Bumblebee? "I'm glad you are free, Grimbee." the Con, who is now revealed to be named Steeljaw, offered him to join him. "Step into the light and join me." Sideswipe then look at his logo. "But uh, what happened to your mark then, brother...?" "I destroyed it and its tracking mechanism." he explained. Aha, that explain everything. "The Autobots mustn't capture me before I can prove to them I've reformed. I want to live here now, peacefully. As I'm sure you do too." Strongarm then saw Rikka and Makoto were sneaking towards her. "Makoto, Rikka, what are you doing? Get out!" the cadet whispered to them. Makoto shook her head. "I'm not leaving you, Strongarm." The two then tries to unchained her but not until Steeljaw heard the noise behind him and turned around. "We've been spotted-davi!" Dabyi alerted. The Con growled. "What are you? Besides strange?" "Look who's talking-quel!" Raquel yelled at him. "Don't go near them, brother!" Sideswipe warned him. Steeljaw scoffed. "Treachery. How like you...Autobots." "If you want the Autobots so much, you'll have to get through us first!" Rikka and Makoto then hold out their transformation devices. "Pretty Cure, Love Link!" the girls then 'draw' the letters L-O-V-E on the screen. The middle flashes three times and trigger the transformation. It first show Rikka with the hair ornaments appeared and the light trigger her body, creating the dress. Makoto's transformation also the same but instead of her dress shows up first, her arm warmers show and then her dress. The yellow light created Rikka's shoes while Makoto's Lovely Commune is shown on her pelvis. Rikka then spin around before landing on the ground and introduced herself. "The Light of Wisdom! Cure Diamond!" Makoto also does the same. "The Blade of Courage! Cure Sword!" The Con stepped back in shocked and surprised. "With the blade of courage, I, Cure Sword, will cut off your careerism with the sword of love!" Sword hollered. Using her hand, Sword slashed the chain on Strongarm, making them break with ease. The cadet was freed from the chain. "What?!" the Con optics widened in anger. "Sideswipe!" Diamond called out. The red bot then wiped off his fake Decepticon logo from his chest as he leaped up while Steeljaw growls and leaped up as well but Sideswipe dodge his attack and landed on the ground. The Con growled more and charged at him but only to be kick in the stomach by Strongarm, making him flying and then Diamond and Sword charge at him and grabbed each of his arms and flung him to the tree. He got slams into a tree. However, it about to fall on Diamond and Sword. Strongarm then transform into her vehicle form and scooped both of them in before the tree fall. "Thanks, Strongarm." Sword thanked her. "No problem." she replied. Sideswipe then walked towards them. Diamond noticed that the Con has disappeared. "He's gone..." "I have a bad feeling we're gonna see that Con again." the red bot pointed out. The cadet nods. "I hope so." she reassured. "But from now on, let's head back." Sword suggests. -Location: Oogai Town, Yotsuba Mansion- The two vehicles made it back to the base. Mana, Alice and Fixit greeted them. "You're back!" Mana then went to hugged her friends. "We were so worry about you." "We're fine, Mana." Rikka told her. "Why wouldn't they be okay?" Bumblebee spoke up with Grimlock, holding a barrel. Inside that barrel was Hammerstrike. They somehow managed to capture him. "Sideswipe and I were having a communication difficulty earlier, Lieutenant. Nothing serious." the cadet explained. "Anything to report?" the yellow bot asked. "Well, we found some open pod, sir." Strongarm replied. "And a Decepticon." Rikka added. "He said his name is Steeljaw." Makoto continued. Sideswipe spoke up. "Says he wanted to live peacefully on this with like minded Decepticons, but he got unpeaceful with us real quick." "Sounds like a very selfish ways to do it." Alice commented. Grimlock walked over with a barrel. "Can't wait to meet him. I'll go put this one away, and I'll do it gently." then, Hammerstrike muttered something very angrily inside the barrel but Grimlock punch the barrel to make him quiet. "If he's lying about going straight, we could be looking at a Decepticon army trying to take over this planet." Strongarm continued. Bumblebee nods. "It's all the more reason to wrap these fugitives up fast. I'll have Fixit prep a report on Steeljaw's list." he then continued to walk away. "Good intel, newbies. Apparently, I can send you into the field together." Strongarm then looked down at Rikka and Makoto. "Thanks, you two. You really saved my spark out there." she smiled. "You're welcome." Makoto smiled back at her. Sideswipe groans. "What?! I put my gears on the line for you too, you know!" he began to walked away. "Sideswipe..." Rikka sighed, still disappointed on his attitude. The red bot waved his hand. "Fine! You're never gonna-" he then slipped on the mud and almost fall down. But Strongarm catches him in time. "Thanks." she gave him a smug look. "And don't get too cocky." she then let him go and walked away. "Now, do you trust her?" his human partner asked him. The red bot looked at her before spoke up. "Yeah, I think I trust her. A bit." he let out a soft smile. The girls then giggled at each other as the sun is about to set. It was indeed a tiring day for them.

END OF CHAPTER 3

#crossover #dokidoki pretty cure #precure #pretty cure #dokidoki pretty cure x transformers robots in disguise (2015)#transformers robots in disguise #transformers rid #full chapter #Haunter's writing

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