#he then sends him ahead (again by himself) to clear the target building and secure the target

[s0fter-sin]

watching the valeria interrogation again and when alejandro says, “you disgrace the army”, rudy steps forward but when alejandro looks over his shoulder at him and says, “and your brothers, no?” he steps back again, almost like he’s trying to pull himself out of the conversation

alejandro leans in close to her and rudy reacts like he wants to pull him away, to protect him from her and from her words, but when he brings up that valeria hurt him too, betrayed him too, rudy retreats like he doesn't want to be reminded of it

it's alejandro who keeps valeria talking about the past, who prompts her to say more when simply saying she's ex-military would've been enough. they bait each other, valeria far more successfully than alejandro; she’s essentially running the interrogation

this speaks volumes of rudy’s interjection of, “he (the son of la areña) was supposed to go to prison”. he’s getting short; cutting off valeria and her excuses, not to redirect them back to the point of the interrogation but bc he’s done with her. rudy’s terser with her, more obviously angry, than he is with an actual terrorist

alejandro can't get past their history; let's himself get pulled off track and compromised but not be he's more upset than rudy. rudy has just repressed the hell out of it; if he doesn't think about it then it didn't happen

but now, he's suddenly being confronted with it head on

"you disgrace the army," is generalised; valeria didn't just hurt rudy, she hurt all of them. it's easier to take

"and your brothers," calls rudy out directly for his pain; pain alejandro wants retribution for and he doesn't want to face it, doesn't want to admit to it bc he doesn’t want to have to feel it

[hemat0lasluts-a]

eli stops just before the door, turning back to catch lottie’s eye one more time. her small wave and warm smile send a pang of longing through him, making him wish he didn’t have to leave. “thanks, lottie. i’ll be thinking about you,” he says, his voice gentle but filled with a sincerity that surprises even him.

he pauses, as if contemplating whether to say more, then shakes his head with a rueful smile. “see you soon,” he repeats, giving her a final, lingering look before stepping out of the room. the door closes softly behind him, but his thoughts remain with her, already counting down the moments until he can return.

as he walks down the hallway, eli can’t help but replay their time together in his mind. the way she made him feel so effortlessly comfortable, the way her eyes sparkled when she smiled, and how naturally their conversation flowed, even in the most intimate of moments. he knew that leaving now might be the wise thing to do, but every step away from her felt like a step in the wrong direction.

when he finally steps outside, the cool breeze does little to clear his head. he takes a deep breath, trying to focus on the tasks ahead, but the thought of lottie keeps pulling him back. her laughter, her touch, the way she looked at him as if he were the only person in the world—all of it swirls in his mind, making it difficult to concentrate on anything else.

─ as eli drives, his mind races with conflicting emotions. his heart is still warm from the moments he shared with lottie, but a cold dread settles in as he approaches the headquarters of his job. the contrast between the tenderness he feels for her and the grim task ahead creates a storm inside him.

he grips the steering wheel tightly, trying to focus on the road while the weight of his mission presses heavily on his conscience. he recalls the brief he’d received earlier: lottie was to be his next target. the very thought of it makes him nauseous. how could he reconcile the warmth of her touch, the sweetness of her smile, with the cold, calculated act he was being ordered to carry out?

arriving at the headquarters, he takes a moment to gather himself. the building looms before him, a stark reminder of the life he’s chosen, the duties he’s sworn to fulfill. he steps out of the car, his resolve hardening with each step toward the entrance. the familiar security protocols do little to ease his anxiety as he makes his way to the meeting room.

inside, his superiors await him, their expressions unreadable. eli takes a seat, his mind already working through possible scenarios, ways to navigate the upcoming conversation without giving away his turmoil.

“agent,” his supervisor begins, fixing eli with a steely gaze. “we’ve reviewed the target’s profile. lottie song is to be eliminated. your familiarity with her puts you in a unique position to execute this mission efficiently.”

eli’s jaw tightens. “i understand the assignment,” he replies evenly, though inside, he’s anything but calm. he needs to buy time, to figure out how to protect lottie without raising suspicion.

the briefing continues, outlining details he already knows—lottie’s routines, her connections, her supposed threat level. with every word, the weight of his duty presses down harder, but so does his determination to find another way.

as the meeting adjourns, eli stands, ready to leave, but his supervisor stops him. “we trust you to handle this with the utmost precision. failure is not an option.”

nodding, eli makes his way out of the building, his mind racing with plans. he needs to warn lottie, but he has to be careful, strategic. his life—and hers—depend on it.

back in his car, eli pulls out his phone again, this time to call her. he listens to the ring, each second feeling like an eternity until she picks up.

if he really didn't care, all he had to do now was leave. there was no point in reassuring her with such kind intention if he planned on walking out right now only to never see her again. she was almost overwhelmed with how naturally it had come to be around him, be with him like this. in spite of her well-traveled lifestyle leading her to limit her long term relationship experiences she was never the sort of girl to sleep with someone on whim .. at least not until his bright eyes, charming smile, and easygoing manner drew her in.

hearing him say her name with such tenderness made her sigh, but it also stirred up lingering feelings in her chest. if he stayed she knew she would only end up sinking deeper into the comfort of his presence, so perhaps the space was a good thing. perhaps it would afford her a small opportunity not to fall completely head over heels in such a devastatingly short time.

she accepts him at face value, focusing on not venturing further than the explanation he provided. work stuff. her head bobs in a slight nod and she shifts a bit in the bed, leaning closer towards him as he reached to capture her face in his warm palm and the gesture causes an explosion of butterflies in her gut. his words and his soft laughter cause her to grin, her cheeks turning a deep red at the idea that he could be something special to him as she gently trails her fingertips over his bicep. " i .. like you being forward. " she confesses.

her eyes flutter closed as he leans in then, breathing in deeply as the warmth of his lips against her skin precedes a gentle promise she desperately hoped he would keep. perhaps it's too eager, or too greedy, but she can't help herself from chasing his lips for one last lip lock as he pulls back from a delicate kiss on the corner of her mouth that only leaves her wanting more. she catches him, pressing her lips to his and smiling softly against the kiss, somewhat in disbelief at just how much he made her feel.

" mm, you too. i hope work stuff goes well, y'know ? and i'll .. see you soon, eli. " she meets his gaze and gives him a small wave, waggling her fingers and grinning as she watches him turn to walk away.

[stressedoutcanary]

Hold On - Jason Todd x Batgirl!Reader

Summary:

"Hey! I see a vent inside, maybe if we get to the roof-"

BAMMMM

"Of course, just shoot open the lock and alert whoever's inside. What a great strategy! Why didn't I think of it?! Oh I know, because it's dumb!"

Warnings: Language, Canon typical Violence, Occasional Angst lets be real it's Jason we are talking about, Kidnappings..?

Word count: 1.6k

A/N:- I...should be studying right now buttt I had fun writing this and yes, I took the title from the song Hold On by Chord Overstreet, I think it fits this perfectly.

I wasn't going for a series but here we are.

Part 2, Part 3

•°•°•°•°

It was a quite night for Gotham. Every person was busy with their own work and so were you, even if it was a little different from what people down below on the streets were doing. As of yet, you had stopped two muggings, busted a few armed two-face goons trying to rob a bank and were currently running across rooftops.

'Maybeee I can get off easy today, go home, microwave the pizza that has been waiting for me in the fridge, get a nice, warm shower and then straight to bed'

You hummed to yourself at the delightful thought as you sat on a gargoyle overlooking the city. You were enjoying the feeling of the light breeze on your face. It was soothing in a way. Not long after, you were startled by your comms crackling to life out of nowhere as you heard Oracle's automated voice in your ears.

"Batgirl I am going to need you to check out the area near Gotham Central Park for any visible strange activity. There are several missing persons reports filed this week that I have tied up to that particular region."

'So much for a warm bath and a good night's sleep, way to jinx yourself (Y/N), you dumbass'

"Isn't that park under construction or something? You know after the whole Justice League fiasco last month?", you questioned.

"Yep but people still go there, in the mornings for walks and at the nights for certain activities."

"Of course they do, I swear, people here are on a whole different level." You sighed. "Alrighty then Babs, I am on it."

•°•°

After climbing up a couple of fire escapes and swinging off of numerous rooftops you finally reached your target destination. There was a deafening silence when your feet landed on the damp grass. You took in the misted surroundings and decided to look around for something out of the ordinary. There was a broken bright neon sign by the corner of the street which caught your attention, you could only make out the last bit, it spelled Parlor.

'That seems awfully familiar. Something about it is odd but I can't quite place my finger on it'

You were lost in thought when you felt someone move behind you, there was rather little time for you to react so you choose the 'hit first ask questions later' option. You clenched your fist, twisted your upper body and delivered a quick, staggering blow to the shady figure lurking behind.

.

"OWW!! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!"

.

"HOOD?!"

Sure enough, Jason was on the ground clutching his ribs looking like a hurt puppy.

You moved your hands up and massaged you temples. You do not want to deal with him. Not today and if possible not ever. Even though you never let it show, you always avoided a run in with him. He may have become a part of the family again but you were far off from forgiving him.

You watched with narrowed eyes as he got to his feet and and dusted off the grass from his jacket.

"So on a Scale of one to Demon brat, how much do you hate me?", the smirk on his face and the way he wiggled his eyebrows at you almost made you want to smack him with a crowbar yourself.

"What? Dami?! I don't-- I don't hate Damian, he just gets on my nerves sometimes, something you do all the time.", you enjoyed, maybe a little too much, the way Jason's smirk turned into a small pout. You smiled a bit as you shook your head at his childishness.

"Before you start chucking batarangs at me I want to make this clear; No, Oracle did not send me here to be your backup or whatever, I just happen to be investigating the same thing which obviously led me here to you. So how about we work on this together and watch each other's back", Despite the uncertainty of your rejection, he sounded hopeful. It seemed as if he was ready to build the old, worn out bridges of your relationship back up again. It sent an unexpected warmth through your chest.

"Just like old times?"

"Just like old times.", Jason repeated as you both did a rather unsuccessful fist bump and grinned like idiots.

•°•°

You walked up to the seemingly abandoned building, Jason examined the door for traps whereas you decided on taking a look through the glass window.

"Hey! I see a vent inside, maybe if we get to the roof-"

BAMMMM

"Of course, just shoot open the lock and alert whoever's inside. What a great strategy! Why didn't I think of it?! Oh I know, because it's dumb!", you whisper shouted with a scowl. Jason just shrugged and tilted his head to the side, pointing towards the now open door.

"Ladies first, so lead the way, unless you're scared.", it was a playful challenge on Jason's part, one that you were more than ready to accept.

"Oh you're on Red."

You stepped inside and it was all business from there on. You took in the condition of the room; dusty desks, broken glass, oddly placed mannequins and footprints leading up ahead into a long hallway.

"They seem recent enough", Jason gave a slight nod at your discovery.

Considering the darkness of the hallway, you and Jason shared a look and switched on your night vision lenses. You both started taking cautious steps, the occasional soft thud of your boots being the only sound in the vicinity.

The end of the hallway was forked up and there were two rooms at the end of each passageway.

"How is this place so big! it didn't seem this huge from the outside", you could hear the exasperation in Jason's voice. You figured not getting to hit someone might be getting to him or that he was just bored.

"Look I will take the right, you take the left, our comms are already connected, if any one of us finds anything we tell the other and remember we do not engage in a fight alone. Am I clear or do you want me to write that down for you"

"Yes ma'am, but just so you know you are starting to sound like The old man", you rolled your eyes at his comment and went on ahead towards the right as he went the other way.

•°•°

You scrolled through the torn down bookshelf kept in one of the rooms and you were making a mental note in your mind that there were a lot of medical journals in the bunch, when your comms buzzed.

"I am sorry", Jason whispered in a soft voice and you froze for a spilt second, eyes widening.

'No (Y/N) don't listen to him, he doesn't know what he is saying, just focus on finding those missing people and get this over with'

With that thought you tried continuing your investigation as if you had heard nothing.

"I said, I am sorry (Y/N). I know you heard me. I also know you've been avoiding me, cutting me out and you don't have to reply if don't feel like it but...I just wanted you to know..."

"Now is not the right time for this Hood and...for what it's worth I am not looking forward to a forgiveness session with you...", you felt awful for cutting him out the way you did, your heart clenched at the harshness of your words as you clicked off your comms, but you refused to have this discussion right now. If you were being more honest to yourself you just couldn't bear the emotions it would bring, so you chose the easiest way; completely shutting him out.

It was few minutes after the highly uncomfortable talk with Jason that a wall poster had caught your eye. You moved your hand over it, somewhat wiping off the dust, there was something scribbled on it making it harder for you to read the actual text. You squinted, trying to make out the words

"The people need...perfection...and that is what Pretty Dolls Parlor strives to achieve."

You scanned the area near poster for fingerprints and clicked your comms back on.

"Hood, get over here, I found something and I think this is the make or break kind of information", you were waiting for scan to complete, concern creeping up your mind when there was no reply from the other end.

"Red Hood? can you hear me?"

Nothing.

"Red?! Answer me Damnit!!"

A whole lot of Nothing.

As soon as you heard the chime of the scanner signaling its completion, you sped the other way towards the left corridor, towards Jason.

'Jay please be okay, please be okay, please be okay.'

By the time you reached Jason's location you were panting from the lack of breath and were already cursing yourself for bringing Jason along. To say that the man can take care of himself might be an understatement, he is basically a lone wolf, but still the thought of something happening to him while he was with you hurt like hell.

You looked around frantically and almost jumped out of your skin when you stepped on a gun. You heart almost stopped, it was Jason's. To make matters worse, there was no other sign of him or of were he went. You picked up the gun holding it securely in your hand. You could literally hear your heart pounding in your ears.

Suddenly, through the reflection from the glass window in front of you, you caught a glimpse of a man wearing a blank white face mask, you turned around, immediately switching to a fighting stance but that only did so much for you. A flashlight was switched on and shoved near your face, the night vision of your lens intensified the light, blinding you completely.

Before you could react, a metal pole connected straight with the back of your head and just like that you were lights out on the ground.

°•°•°•°•

Author's cute little extra Note:

*wiggling my eyebrows rn*

I might be a little too obsessed with the Arkham Knight game hehe.

Well that ended well for you, didn't it?? Jason's gone missing and you get a nice concussion to garnish your anxiety level? No? Okay I will stop talking now.

Tell me if you want to be tagged for the next parts.💕

[rp-repliforce]

Closed starter

@formerchaoslord

It was an overcast day over Ironedge City. Elegant skyscrapers stood tall over the cobblestone-like pavement, and the streets were interspersed with decorative broad-leaf trees. The air was populated by the occasional flock of birds or swarm of drones, though not all was well and peaceful... (OOC note: I basically ended up accidentally writing a drabble-sized starter here, so I had to put it under a read more. ^^; Don’t worry though - my replies will be way shorter from now on.)

A car laid overturned in the road, and shattered glass was strewn about the pavement. Many white tents were pitched in groups as the air was filled with fearful murmurs of civilians and the occasional crying of a small child. An ambulance pulled up to one of the tents to drop off an injured reploid for repairs and a virus checkup. In the distance, the thunder of combat could be heard. A canon fired, sending a subtle shockwave through the ground.

After a moment, all the guns gradually went silent. It seemed the maverick mechaniloids had stopped coming... for now.

Meanwhile in the infected zone, General listened closely for any sound. He tuned into his electrosense, but he wasn’t able to detect any nearby movement. He activated his com-link.

“All battalions: are we clear?“ He asked, seeking confirmation that there were no more enemies. “Clear.“ Each Captain repeated, one after another. General nodded slightly. “ADVANCE.“ He boomed. The air was filled with the sound of a thousand reploids marching, as well as the roar of hundreds of military vehicles revving their engines. General strode ahead, leading his company forward. Lieutenant Colonel Spark Jackrabbit wasn’t far behind, riding inside a hovering tank.

General knew that the source of the virus shouldn’t be much farther now. His men had completely secured the perimeter of the infected zone, and were now closing in on what he hoped to be the last few pockets of mavericks. If there was any intelligence behind this virus, he suspected they would be guarding themselves with the toughest mechaniloids they could find.

After half a minute of walking and picking off a few stragglers from the previous wave, General suddenly stopped - raising his hand to signal the others to halt. “WAIT - “ He paused. “...I sense something large up ahead... As well as another swarm of mechaniloids. They are approaching us rapidly.” General turned to his troops. “PREPARE TO FIRE!” He commanded. The captain started barking orders to the soldiers and directing them to take positions. The tanks raised their beam-turrets and began to charge up their shots. As the mechaniloid swarm rounded the corner, General could more clearly see what they were up against. Maverick self-driving cars charged out in front. While they weren’t much of a threat on their own, they were filled to the brim with smaller, more dangerous mechaniloids. They were the fastest, so they would be fired upon first. In the center of the swarm was a huge construction mechaniloid that had a body structure resembling that of a giraffe or agile sauropod. As it galloped toward General, it unleashed a metallic scream and thrashed its head, violently swinging the wrecking ball attached to it into a nearby building, causing half of it to immediately collapse. General aimed his rocket-fists toward it, waiting for his moment to strike.

“FIRE!” General bellowed, prompting a deafening explosion of plasma bullets to be released on the swarm. The RPGs made short work of the infected cars and the machine guns quickly took out their contents. A few well-placed rounds of artillery also took out a few chunks of the swarm’s bulk. Yet, the gaps were filled in almost as quickly. General noted that this swarm must have been twice as large as the one they fought previously... General couldn’t allow the giant mechaniloid to get too close to their lines. He knew it would easily devastate their formation, especially with how fast it was approaching with it’s wrecking ball.

“FOCUS ALL FIRE UPON THE SWARM! I WILL TAKE THE GIANT ONE - AS BEFORE!“ General shouted above the chaos.

Once his target was in range, General launched his fists at it, one rocketing toward its head, and the other toward its underbelly. To General’s surprise, it dodged the first and knocked the second out of the air with an incredibly precise strike from its wrecking ball. It seems this one was very high-end... Not wasting a second, he started rapidly firing plasma bubble projectiles at it. It’s plating was damaged, but his attacks did nothing to slow its advance. 

Seeing that his time was running out, General started priming his thrusters. He knew that if he took to the air, it wouldn’t be able to reach him. However, his thrusters had to be warmed up before they could even carry his weight. He didn’t want to use his beam attack, but it seemed he had no choice. He charged up for a moment, then fired from both arms at once. Direct hit. The mechaniloid shrieked as its basic plating was melted through, causing it to stop in its tracks and stagger. Seeing his chance for a direct attack, General charged - his titanic strides leaving craters in the pavement. As he crashed through the swarm, many mechaniloids were crushed underfoot while others pelted him with dozens of attacks. However, their various projectiles only bounced off of his thick hyper-metal armor, chipping the paint at most. As he ran, his fists returned to his arms and securely locked themselves back in place in preparation for his next attack. With a powerful burst from his rockets, he took to the air and punched the giant mechaniloid in the side of the face, causing its whole body to rear up and twist away from the sheer force of the strike. It’s face plating shattered, exposing the mechanisms inside. To General’s surprise, it was still alive. To his further surprise, it started to run in the opposite direction. This was the first time he’d seen a maverick mechaniloid with a sense of self-preservation... He would have pursued it, but he realized that would take him too far behind enemy lines, and he knew that would NEVER end well. still, if it was abandoning the swarm, he knew the other battalions nearby could make short work of it. He spun himself back around, and tried to fly back to where his men were holding the line. It seemed they were doing quite well, thanks to Spark Jackrabbit’s leadership no doubt.

Just then, he sensed that the giant mechaniloid behind him had stopped running. He couldn’t look for himself since his limited degrees of head turning prevented him from doing so. However, he felt he still wasn’t quite at a safe enough distance yet, so he kept going. Then, he noticed that the mechaniloid had started to spin. He thought it strange until he realized exactly what it was doing. The whooshing sound followed by the deafening crashes from collapsing buildings confirmed his suspicions... Just as he turned to face it again, it’s wrecking ball struck him square in the ribs, having built up enough momentum from spinning to knock him right out of the air.

The blow sent him crashing into a building, causing rubble to rain down on top of him. While he wasn’t injured, he had the wind knocked out of him, and his side was burning with pain. The giant mechaniloid approached him, limping from it’s injury. Shards of it’s faceplate were still occasionally falling from it’s head, and it made a threatening, low-pitched wail as it drew close. Once it was standing over him, it reared up, preparing to stomp on him.

[professorthaddeus]

Out of Sight

This is a companion piece to @io-kj-cr‘s heartbreaking fic, Decisions, an AU of 2x128 where Caleb gives himself up to Trent. Would highly recommend checking it out!

also on ao3

—————————— 

They let him go. 

The chips were down, they were out of options with enemies at the door, Mama and Yeza and little Luc were not going to be trapped in a building with Icky-thong, and in that moment of weakness, they let him go.

“Cad, what do you see?” Fjord, grim. Caduceus is standing at the one window in the room, chosen for his keen ability to read people to keep an eye on the exchange.

The exchange. They’re selling Caleb back to the grossest person in the Empire, to his literal lifelong tormentor, and they’re just sitting here like it’s nothing. 

“They’re not hurting him. They’re just talking.” Caduceus’ voice rumbles in a steady cadence, ever the rock in the rapids. But Jester sees how his knuckles are clenched white around his staff. 

“Is he… how does he look?”

Veth, piping up from the floor, clutching Caleb’s spellbooks to her chest. Yeza’s holding her, Luc sitting uncharacteristically still by their side. He’s got a book in his hands as well. Jester’s heart thuds painfully when she recognizes the title as a collection of Zemnian fairy tales.

“He’s standing tall.”

Of course he is. They’ve all seen Caleb file away his fears and stitch himself together in the moments that really count. They’ve also seen him shake apart immediately afterwards.

This time, none of them are going to be there to help him pick up the pieces.

“This doesn’t sit well with me,” Yasha says quietly, fingers twitching toward her swords.

“Yeah, no shit.” Beau, pacing, coiled like she’s ready to pounce. “This was such a bad plan. I say we go ahead and attack them now. They’re busy with Caleb, so we could absolutely ambush them in a pincer move, or—“

“They’re gone.”

“What do you mean, gone?” Beau rushes to the window, where Caduceus is stepping aside. He leans back against the wall, looking lost in a way Jester hasn’t seen since his first time on the sea.

“I mean he and his friends stepped into a portal and disappeared.”

Beau’s jaw tightens. “They’re not his friends.”

“I don’t know,” Fjord murmurs, though Jester knows he would definitely be fuming as well if Beau wasn’t so close to the edge right now. “They did warn us they were coming.” He holds up his hands when Beau shoots him a withering look. “It could be a good thing. They might help us get him back.”

“With or without their help, I wasn’t kidding when I said our next step was going to be a jailbreak,” she mutters.

“Agreed.”

Veth lets out a shaky breath. “And he’ll be okay until then. He just has to hold on for one night, and we’ll go get him. He’s the smartest, most capable of us all; he’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, he’s way more powerful than them,” Jester adds, automatic. Something twists in her chest.

“Sure, except he doesn’t even have his fucking spellbooks.”

For once, Veth flinches instead of snapping a retort back at Beau.

“You keep these safe for me until I return, ja?”

“I don’t like this, Cay. There has to be another way.” There’s a tremor in Veth’s hands as she takes the books.

“There isn’t, and we are running out of time. Besides, he won’t kill me. He… ah, he has said many times already he simply wishes to talk.”

Jester winces. It’s going to be a long time before she forgets the haunted look that appeared in Caleb’s eyes every time Trent’s voice slithered into his ear today.

“Be good for your mother and father,” Caleb’s saying, ruffling Luc’s hair. 

He straightens to look at the rest of them, meeting their eyes one by one. Jester can almost hear him counting in his head. 

A wall slams down over his expression as he squares his shoulders.

“I am so sorry about all this.” He continues before any of them can protest. “Thank you all.”

Jester tries not to think it sounds like a goodbye.

She shoves the image of Caleb’s pale, determined face out of her head, swallowing the building lump in her throat. The last thing she needs—the last thing Mama needs—is for her to break down right now. 

“Well,” she hedges into the silence, “he’s got like, a really good memory, you guys. Maybe he doesn’t need them. Maybe he remembers all his spells.”

“I don’t—“ Beau starts, before taking a deep breath. Yasha’s hand is slipping into hers. She softens her tone. “I don’t think that’s how it works, Jes.”

“Oh.”

“Jester, I’m so sorry.” Mama speaks up from where she’s been sitting anxiously beside her. There’s so much regret in her face. “Your friend, he—”

“No, no, Mama, no.” She’s been so strong today, and Jester’s so, so proud of her for facing her fears, but she never should have been forced to do it. “This isn’t your fault at all. We brought them to you.”

Technically, she brought them here. Caleb can blame himself all he wants, but Jester’s the one who put a target on Nicodranas in that letter to Astrid all those months ago and the one who dropped Mama’s name into a conversation with an enemy guard just a few hours ago.

“Who… are they?”

“They’re, um.” Her voice wavers. She swallows again. “They’re bad people. Really, really bad people.”

“Oh, my Sapphire,” Mama hums, and it’s kind of crazy how those three words can sound like music from her lips. She reaches up to cup Jester’s cheek. “You and your friends are some of the most amazing people I’ve met. “And you,” she brushes her thumb gently across her skin, “are more creative than anyone in the world. You’ll find a way.”

Mama presses a kiss to the top of her head and then takes her hands. They’re smooth, warm. Jester looks down. Red and blue, just like when she was little, except now her hands can’t be fully covered by Mama’s. She’s grown up and stepped out of Mama’s arms and the sanctuary of their Chateau. Just like she always dreamed and plotted with Artie. It’s all she can do not to cry.

“Yeah. Yeah, you’re right,” she manages, tries for a watery smile.

“Jester,” Yasha ventures gingerly. “Can’t you talk to him?”

She shakes her head, blinking away the blurriness. “Not until tomorrow. I don’t have the energy left to cast a spell.” 

Caduceus clears his throat. “Good.” The rest of them look to him, startled. “Now there’s nothing to do but get some sleep so we’ll be ready for tomorrow. Mr. Wensforth, can you help us set something up for the night?”

The poor goblin looks up from where he’s been wringing his hands in the corner. Jester doesn’t blame him. 

Man, Yussa’s gonna be super pissed when he wakes up to find so many people in his tower.

She can’t imagine how she’s supposed to fall asleep, but Caduceus makes her drink some tea, and eventually she feels the tension of the day seep into her bones. Before it claims her consciousness, she brings the symbol of the Traveler to her chest.

“Artie, look out for him, okay?”

——— 

In the morning, Beau and Caduceus wake her and the others, careful not to disturb Mama, Yeza, or Luc.

Jester tucks the blanket around Mama a little more securely before heading out.

They all cluster together in a smaller room off of one of the tower’s winding stairwells. Caduceus starts passing around breakfast, but she declines, sitting in the middle of the floor instead and prepping a familiar spell. 

Fjord gives her an encouraging nod, holding ten fingers up at the ready. 

She focuses on the image of her friend, on the furrow in his brow as he wields magic like a weapon, on the way his eyes crinkle when he offers one of his soft, rare smiles. She fires up Sending.

“Caleb! Are you alright? Where are you? Are you hurt? Are you in Rexxentrum? I’m sorry, I had to wait until today to Send to reach you but we’re—”

Fjord’s nudging her, signaling the end of the spell. Jester blows a strand of hair out of her face, tapping her fingers against her knee.

She waits five seconds, ten, a minute. No response.

She bites her lip. “You guys—”

Beau’s there already, tugging her into a hug as Fjord gives her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. Veth lets out a muffled noise of frustration.

“He could just not be in a place where he can talk freely right now, we don’t know,” Caduceus says evenly.

“Maybe I should try Astrid?”

Beau shifts, but she doesn’t let go. “I dunno, man, I don’t trust her.”

“She loves Caleb,” Veth says, but again, none of her usual ferocity is there.

“Yeah, maybe.” Beau’s face darkens. “And now she has him back.”

Her words hang heavy in the air.

Jester shakes herself. “Look, fuck it, I’m just going to do it.” She takes a deep breath.

“Astrid,” she chirps. “Is Caleb with you? Tell him to talk to me when he can. Oh also, if any of you hurt him, we’re totally gonna find you and make sure you never—”

“That’s it, Jester.”

“You should send another one. Let her hear the end of your threat,” Yasha says, and Jester swears she can hear thunder roll beneath the mild suggestion.

Fjord cracks something resembling a smile. “As entertaining as that would be, I think—“

Jester shushes them as Astrid’s voice comes back. 

Good morning, Jester. Bren is well and unharmed. He is here with us and under no restraints or compulsion. He is home now.

Jester growls. 

“What did she say?”

“That Caleb’s okay and like, he’s home, or some total bullshit. She’s wrong, obviously.” She has to be. Jester ignores the building pressure in her chest, flicks her wrist to cast again.

“Please, tell me something, tell me anything, tell me you’re fine, or dead, but please, we need to hear from you, we need to plan our next moves and we can get you out of there as long as you just—” Fjord squeezes her hand. Stupid, stupid spell with stupid word limits.

Nothing on the other end anyway. Her eyes sting, and this time, Jester doesn’t try to stop the sob in her throat.

“I’ll keep messaging you, please Caleb, we’re scared and worried, please tell us where you are, we can fix this, we can get you back!”

Finally, finally, Caleb speaks.

I am well, Jester; returning was my decision, and I am unharmed.

He sounds so tired.

I need you all to stay away. Stay safe. I am sorry.

Silence once more.

Jester’s messages have reached across thousands of miles, over oceans and barren wastelands and enemy lines. This is the first time she’s felt the yawning distance the magic has to travel.

She swipes at her eyes, glaring through her tears. 

She knows what he’s doing. It’s what he’s always done, protect and shield and give and give and give like it’s all he’s good for. But she’s also seen him start to unfurl, seen him laugh more and trust more and take one careful step after another out of the shadows of his past. He knows he’s part of their family. They just need to help him remember what that means.

“He said something,” Veth guesses.

“Something awful and self-sacrificing?” Beau mutters. 

“Yeah.” 

Jester pushes back her sleeves, and she can feel a breeze drift into the chamber, the rustle of a green cloak at her side.

“It doesn’t matter. We’re going to get him, now.”

[lochrannn]

AU_gust: Chefs n’ Gangs

Read on AO3

CW: Canon-typical violence, implied sexual content

Prompt no 31: Any two of the above

Relationships: Diego Hargreeves/Lila Pitts

Characters: Diego Hargreeves, Lila Pitts

-

Diego was enjoying himself at Les Parapluies.

He hadn’t really done a lot of cooking in years, but when he was a kid and managed to sneak into the kitchen while Mom was preparing their meals, he'd loved it when she had tied an apron around his neck and had given him jobs to do. At first it had been the fact that he got to spend time with Mom, who was kind, and didn’t mind that he didn’t feel like speaking a lot of the time, and would ruffle his hair when she had a free moment, hands always unnaturally cool, but Diego never minded.

But after a while he had really enjoyed the work in the kitchen. In hindsight he thought it was because it gave him something else to do with knives that wasn’t brutal or destructive, but it was methodical and organized and he could set out a clear plan and follow it. At a time when he never got the validation from his father that he so desperately craved, the simple act of following a recipe and creating a meal, or baking a cake, gave him at least a certain sense of gratification.

Proof that he was good at something.

So even though he’d initially been a little reluctant to take the job, he also felt a tiny bit melancholy because this would end soon.

He was just bringing a consomé to simmer when Larry stepped up to him and whispered in his ear, “The boss wants to see you!”

Diego slightly ruefully turned off his burner, knowing full well that he wouldn’t be coming back to finish the job, and abandoned his station to follow Larry out of the kitchen and into the back of a car that was parked in the alley.

Restaurants were still places where a lot of cash would pass through and for that reason they made a perfect front for money laundering, and if, as was the case with Les Parapluies, it was very popular, it also made very good business for an enterprising criminal.

That was why Diego was here, to meet the head of this particular crime syndicate

It had taken him almost a week to convince Larry, the part time restaurant manager, part time mid level gangster, that he could be of use to the organization and seeded the idea in Larry to take him to his boss for an audience.

The head honcho was an elusive character with exceptionally good security, so Diego had figured the only way to get to him would be with an invitation.

He already knew where they were headed, but was privately entertained all the same that despite the boss’s better than average security, he was perfectly cliché in his choice of headquarters: an abandoned warehouse by the harbour.

A few of the mobsters were hanging around outside when they arrived and before they let him enter, a small woman with choppy black hair and wearing a very crisp black suit that made her stand out completely amongst the burly men, who were dressed mostly in button-downs or sweatshirts, stepped up to him and started patting him down.

He stared at her while she began by squeezing his arms far more thoroughly than anyone could possibly deem necessary. What did she think he was hiding? She’d have felt a gun or a knife if she’d simply brushed along his sleeve.

Then she dragged her hands across his chest and torso with an impassive expression, eyes hidden behind a pair of black shades.

Diego was more or less resigned to his fate when she bent down and squeezed his legs just as thoroughly as she had his arms, but he startled and just about managed to suppress a yelp when she checked his waistband at his back… by reaching up through his legs from the front.

“That’s enough, Gill, I think he’s clean!” one of the mobsters said and so the woman who had overenthusiastically searched him, stood up again, straightened her clothes, gave him a curt nod, and was instructed to hang back when the rest of them all made their way into the warehouse.

Diego was led through the building, which was filled with what must have been contraband and at one end he could see what looked like a lab set up, and out of habit he clocked the more than half dozen other gangsters who were milling about inside, all of them clearly quite heavily armed. But, according to the plan, they weren’t his to take care of, so he focused instead on what lay ahead.

He was walked into the small back office by the four mobsters who had brought him in on arrival and they fanned out in the room while Diego waited across from a large metal desk for the skinny, middle aged man, who was adding numbers in a large, leather-bound ledger, to take notice of him. He knew instantly that this was their target from the picture he’d been given.

When the man looked up at him, his eyes widened and he pushed back his rolling office chair to jump to his feet and shout, “Diego fucking Hargreeves?! What the fuck! Did the Commission send you??” and he drew his gun.

Diego was too taken aback by being recognized so quickly to formulate a plan, when the other gang members also pulled their guns and in the sudden panicked atmosphere somebody started shooting, setting everybody else off as well.

He was just about able to dart back, throwing his hands up over his head reflexively and then he remembered what he was capable of, concentrated on sensing the path of the bullets closest to him, and deflected them away from him, so he could get out of this shootout unscathed.

When there was no more sound other than the ringing in his ears, Diego opened his eyes, heart racing, and took stock of the situation in the room.

In the chaos that had ensued, it seemed that their target had been caught in the crossfire. Blood was seeping out of the bullet hole in his forehead and Diego turned away quickly when he spotted it, because the last thing he needed to see was whatever was left of the back of his head.

“You ok?” came a voice from the door and Diego turned around to look at Lila, who was picking her way across the floor towards him, trying to avoid stepping on any of the dead gang members strewn across the rough concrete. She was still wearing her sunglasses, but he could see from her rumpled suit jacket that she must have run towards the office when the shooting had started.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine!” Diego said, taking one last steadying breath to try and get the feeling of adrenaline pumping through his veins to dissipate. Lila, who had got to him now, reached out to lay a hand on the side of his shoulder. That also helped to relax him.

“What a shitshow!” Diego sighed and Lila squeezed his arm before letting go and pulling a small device out of her pants pocket.

“Yeah, this isn’t ideal,” she said as she hopped over to where the mob boss was sitting, dead, behind his desk and affixed the temporal tracking device to the back of his neck.

Diego turned away again after watching her for only a moment, when he remembered what he was in danger of catching a glimpse of.

“But he’s not our problem anymore, now!” Lila said with a shrug as she made her way back to him, “Herb’ll send someone to deal with this. At least it means we don’t have to spend another night in that shitty little motel room. Say what you will about the Handler, at least she knew how to splash out on a nice hotel. Herb is so stingy!”

Lila had grabbed his hand and Diego let himself be pulled along to the warehouse exit as Lila was chatting away. He only barely took notice of the unconscious men who she had clearly taken out, stealthily, while he had been led to the boss.

This was why he agreed to occasionally go on missions for Herb. Yeah sure, it gave him the same sense of purpose that being a vigilante had given him, but mostly he just enjoyed going on these adventures with Lila.

It wasn’t that their life together had become boring. On the contrary, Diego loved the domesticity of living with Lila, sharing the responsibility of making their everyday lives work, but neither of them had had a particularly normal upbringing, and sometimes they just craved a bit of unusual excitement. And if they could experience that together, even better.

“So, are you going to keep that silly jacket, or...?” Lila asked as they were weaving their way through the structures on the waterfront.

“Why, d’you not like it? I think I look pretty snazzy! And it did make you get all handsy!” Diego countered with a grin and he pulled his hand out of Lila’s to put his arm around her instead and pull her against himself as they walked along, remembering the way she’d definitely made him feel uncomfortable in the most delicious kind of way.

“Oh don’t flatter yourself, I was just doing a thorough job to protect my cover!” Lila shot back but didn’t pull away and then squealed when Diego very suddenly shoved her up against the brick wall they were just passing, pinning her against it with his body, and holding onto her wrists behind her back.

“Yeah, but you almost blew mine!” he growled, looking down at her wide grin and shining eyes.

Lila arched off the wall and slid her body up along his to get to his ear so she could whisper, “I’m definitely going to blow something, alright!” in a low voice.

“Fuck!” Diego breathed and he was almost ashamed to admit that it probably sounded very close to a moan, and he turned his head to catch her lips with his own.

They didn’t even start soft and gentle, instead teeth and tongues were immediately involved and Diego let go of Lila’s wrist so she could wrap her arms around him and he could support her against the wall, while their kisses became increadingly heated.

When he ducked his head and started biting and sucking on the spot on her neck just below her jaw, Lila gasped, then laughed breathlessly, and then breathed, with a surprising amount of sarcasm considering her frazzled state, “Oh yeeees, Chef!”

Diego grunted and his hands on her waist tightened and Lila laughed out loud and said, “Oh my god, you’re into that!”

“Shut up!” Diego growled again and made sure she would, by sealing her lips with his.

But somehow Lila managed to continue giggling, while also loosening the buttons on his chef’s jacket and getting her hands underneath his undershirt and on his bare skin.

Distracted by her fingers he let her pull her mouth from his and make her way back to his ear to continue her taunting with amusement in her voice.

“Oh please, Chef, won’t you want to make things all hot and steamy? Leave searing kisses on my skin? Cook up some coq au vin for me?”

That finally severed the last bit of his patience and Diego pushed off from the wall and away from Lila and grumbled, “Fuck you! You’re the fucking worst!”

But the way she was looking back at him, pants suit all askew, the skin on her neck and the top of her chest where Diego had already half unbuttoned her shirt, flushed, and her chest heaving with deep breaths, a shit eating grin on her face, he almost went straight back in, fully prepared to ignore her nonsense.

But then he remembered where they were and that it would probably be unwise to fuck her up against a brick wall only a couple of hundred yards away from a crime scene that was definitely going to be discovered soon.

So, reluctantly, Diego started to right his own jacket and regretfully watched Lila do the same with her clothes after he explained, “We really should get out of here, the cops are gonna show up any minute!”

-

But of course the fact that they weren’t all over each other anymore, didn’t stop Lila from teasing him mercilessly about his response to her calling him Chef all the way back to their motel and Diego, with no small measure of embarrassment, had to admit to himself if not to her, that it really was kind of doing it for him.

So by the time they got back to their room, he was definitely experiencing multiple levels of frustration and he knew that Lila could sense his irritation and was deliberately riling him even more.

And for the love of him he couldn’t honestly say he wanted her to stop.

Or at least not of her own accord. Diego knew they’d both enjoy it far more if he made her.

So as they stepped into the room, Lila whirled around, startling when Diego slammed the door shut behind him and didn’t leave her any time to react as he crouched down, lifted her up with one arm wrapped around the back of her thighs, and tossed her onto the bed with a satisfying thud from the mattress and a surprised squeak from Lila.

Diego held himself back, waiting for Lila to meet his eyes and he watched with satisfaction as her grin slowly faded and he could recognize the light in her eyes change from amused to borderline hungry. He presumed she found a similar expression on his face.

Lila swallowed hard and said, voice already a little tense, “So what are you going to do now, Chef?”

Diego got on the bed, walking up to Lila on his knees and gently stroked his hands up her calves.

“I’m gonna give you a new appreciation for shitty little motel rooms!” he said in an almost dangerous voice, grabbed her by the back of the knees and yanked, making her fall back against the mattress. Then he wrapped her legs around his hips, and wasted no time in covering her body with his, savouring the sound of her sighing into his mouth when he started taunting her right back with his tongue and hips simultaneously.

[authorialarcanist]

Of Camps and Chakrams

Summary: When Colette's status as the Chosen of Regeneration requires that she stay behind while her class goes on a camping trip, Lloyd sneaks off to keep her company.

Written for Colloyd Week 2021 - Day 1: Childhood Friends.

Gen but kind of shippy.

---

Dusk was falling over Iselia.

The sun’s last orange rays played across the village, dappling the ground with criss-crosses of light and shadow wherever they slipped between the leaves of a tree.

The village was quieter than usual, today. Aside from the faint rustling of the wind, the only sound was an occasional greeting between neighbors on their ways home.

There was a reason for this: Tonight, Professor Sage had taken all of the village’s schoolchildren out to a nearby clearing in Iselia Forest - one far from the Human Ranch, of course - to go on a camping trip.

All of them, that is, except one.

While most of the parents in the village had come to trust in the eager young schoolteacher’s ability to take care of their children - especially after the day she’d dispatched an unlucky wolf that had snuck into the schoolyard with nothing but her staff - the priests of the Church of Martel were rather less lenient when it came to the safety of the Chosen.

Even with Colette standing next to the professor as she made her case, Colette’s eyes pleading silently, they’d refused to budge.

“We’re terribly sorry, but you know that far more than a single night’s outing is at stake here. It is our duty to ensure that the Chosen reaches her sixteenth birthday unharmed. Unfortunately, that means we cannot allow her out of the village until she receives the Oracle.”

And so it was that Colette came to be here, crouched in the yard behind her family’s house, tracing patterns with her finger in the grass and trying not to cry.

She knew why the priests had decided what they had. There were a thousand things that could go wrong out in the woods. There were monsters, falling trees, Desians who might choose to flout the Non-Aggression Treaty if it meant securing an extra generation of free reign. For the Chosen to risk herself, risk salvation of the world, simply for her own whims would be so terribly selfish that she starts to feel guilty for even wishing for it.

And yet…

She’d still wanted to go. She’d wanted it desperately; to roast apples over a campfire with the other children, laughing and playing... To watch the stars through the leafy canopy… To spend a night chatting merrily with her friends, Genis and Lloyd…

Her vision blurred as a splash of wetness dropped to the grass beneath her. No! She was the Chosen of Regeneration. The Chosen wasn’t supposed to cry over stupid, selfish things like a missed camping trip. If she cried, it should only be tears for the world; quiet, graceful tears at the atrocities of the Desians, before she reached the end of her journey and sealed them away once more.

She must not have been a very good Chosen.

“I’m sorry…” On an impulse, Colette apologized to thin air. Or maybe to the world at large; she wasn’t sure.

Suddenly, there were a voice and a crash from behind her. “Sorry for what? Woah!”

“Eep!” Who’s that? With a startled squeak, Colette jumped to her feet and spun around, losing her balance and collapsing from the sudden movement before she could catch a glimpse of the intruder. Once she managed to get her bearings again, she looked again, more slowly this time, and caught a glimpse of brown hair and a red coat lying face-down in the dust in front of the fence surrounding her house. “Lloyd?”

Her friend pushed himself up, grinning at her with dirt-smudged cheeks. “Hey, Colette,” he said, as though falling off of her fence was a perfectly reasonable occurrence.

Colette rushed over to him and crouched to try and help him up. “Lloyd, are you okay? What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be off camping with everyone?”

“Heh!” Lloyd rubbed a finger under his nose, looking pleased with himself. “Don’t worry about that, I had Genis cover for me while I snuck away! The professor won’t have noticed I was gone until it was too late!”

“Ah, I see!” Colette nodded, assured by the explanation. “…Wait, hold on! Isn’t the Professor going to be angry tomorrow?”

“Ah… Well, sure, but…” Lloyd shook his head and spoke like it was the most matter-of-fact thing in the world. “It’s fine! I mean, if the priests aren’t gonna let you go with us, then it’s worth it to keep you company!”

A flush of happiness ran through Colette. Lloyd had really stayed back just for her? …And then it was drowned in a wave of guilt. Lloyd had really stayed back, just for her. “Oh… Lloyd, no! I - I’ll be fine here. You shouldn’t have given up the trip for me! I’m so sorry… This is my fault…”

“Don’t apologize, you dork!” Lloyd flicked her lightly in the forehead, causing her to stagger back a step from the surprise. “I came back here because I wanted to. And anyways, I’ve got a present for you, from Dad! Here!” He shoved his hand out towards Colette’s face, two wide, flat rings dangling around his wrist.

Colette cocked her head to the side and examined the rings. “Huh…? Oh! Lloyd, are these new bracelets? Umm, they look nice! But… aren’t they going to fall off of your arms if you’re not careful…?”

“That’s not it, silly!” Lloyd laughed. “Dad made them! I told him about how the people at the church wouldn’t let you go camping with us. He made these, for you to practice with!”

“Huh? Practice? Umm…” Colette scratched her head. “I don’t get it, could you explain this again?”

“Oh! Sorry!” Lloyd chuckled sheepishly. “He said these are called chakrams! They’re a sort of weapon you can defend yourself with! You can throw them at enemies, so the priests won’t even have to worry about you getting too close to any monsters!” He scratched his head with his free hand. “Or, uh… At least, you could if you had real ones. Dad said he made these ones blunt, so that you can practice without cutting anyone. Oh, but anyways! I figured, maybe if you learn how to use these, they’ll decide it’s safe to let you go out with us next time we go on a trip!”

“Lloyd…” Colette stood frozen for a moment, unsure of how to respond. She finally settled on throwing her arms around her friend. “Thank you so much! Oh, and Dirk, of course! Could you tell him thanks for me?”

“Ah—“ It was Lloyd’s turn to freeze up as Colette hugged him. Huh. His cheeks turned an oddly pretty shade of red. When Colette let go, he shook his head as though clearing it out before he responded. “Yeah! Of course, I’ll tell him!”

Colette glanced around. Nobody seemed to have noticed that Lloyd was here, yet. She knew she should probably send him home before he got caught, but… Well, it was really nice to have company! “Could you show me how to use those chakrams, then?”

“Right! Of course!” Lloyd grinned. “Watch and learn!” He pointed at a particularly sturdy-looking tree in the yard, grabbed one chakram in a clumsy fist… Adjusted his grip until he was holding it more loosely… “Um, Dad said you’re supposed to hold it like… this, I think? So that you don’t cut your palm on the blade 0f a real one…” and with a clumsy sideways motion, he hucked it forward. The ring wobbled slowly through the air, before skidding into the ground several feet away from the target.

Colette giggled.

“L-look, I’ve been teaching myself to fight with swords, okay? Chakrams are kinda new!”

“Sorry, sorry!” Colette shook her head, still grinning. “Umm… I guess I should try now?” She took the other chakram, tried to copy Lloyd’s grip, and tossed it sideways at the tree. Her disc flew more smoothly than Lloyd’s, but it still fell to the ground before it could reach the tree.

“Ehehe…” Lloyd glanced back and forth, not meeting Colette’s eyes.

“…I guess that’s why I have to practice, huh? Come on, let’s try again!” Colette ran ahead to gather the fallen chakrams, the camping trip all but forgotten. She tried a few more times as her friend watched from the side, experimenting with different ways of throwing the rings to try and find what felt natural. “Hmm… Hey, Lloyd?”

“Mhm?”

“You’re teaching yourself to use two swords at once, right?”

“Yeah!” Lloyd pumped his fist in the air. “I mean, double the swords means double the power, right?”

“I see!” Colette had never been accused of doing well in math, but the logic… seemedright…? “Then… I’ll try it like this, too!” She picked up the chakrams, holding one loosely in each hand. She widens her feet, slipping into the stance Lloyd had said felt best to him when he was practicing. “Let’s go… Hyah!” She turned around in a little spin to build momentum, before letting go of the chakram in her right hand and watching it sail gently through the air. This time, it soared a good ways without falling out of the sky. …A little too far, actually. The two children watched silently as the chakram missed the tree by a solid half a foot and kept going, slipping through a slat in the fence and vanishing into the night.

“…” Lloyd scratched his cheek.

“…” Colette’s face fell. “Oh, no! And it was your present, too… I’m sorry…”

“No! No, it’s okay, Colette! You don’t have to apologize, alright?” Lloyd waved his hands rapidly in front of himself.

“…Ah… Okay. I’m sorry.”

“Colette, what did I just tell you? You really need to stop saying sorry all the time!”

Colette chokes back her next sentence before she can apologize a third time. “…Still… I guess I can try and practice with just the one…? But… I don’t want to lose this one, too…”

“Hey, don’t worry!” Lloyd thumped his chest. “I can go track the lost one down and bring it back to you! Ah… Still, it’s probably for the best not to do that too much, huh. I wonder if there’s a way to make it come back to you when you throw it…?”

“Hmm, maybe! You could ask your dad?” Speaking of Dirk… Colette suddenly realized how dark it was. Night had well and truly fallen while she and Lloyd had been playing, and now the stars were visible above them. She called out to her friend, stopping him halfway to the fence. “Wait! Lloyd!”

“Huh? What is it, Colette?”

“Isn’t it late? Can you even get home like this?” Thinking about it… She knew that Iselia Forest was supposed to have monsters roaming it even during the day. How dangerous would it be without an adult around at night? She suddenly pictured Lloyd with a sprained ankle, waving a wooden sword ineffectually as glowing eyes slunk towards him through the darkness. She shivered and rushed over to her friend, grabbing his arm with both hands. “Oh no… What are we going to do…?”

“Ah…” Lloyd didn’t seem to have thought things over, either. He blinked, and grimaced. “Um… It-it’ll be okay! We just have to… uh…” His forehead wrinkled up as he thought, before he finally smacked a fist into his open palm. “I’ve got it! We can have a sleepover!”

“Huh?”

“Our own little camp-out, just the two of us! While I’m off looking for the chakram, you can go in and ask your dad for a blanket - say that you want to try camping out here, since you couldn’t go with the class! We can whip up a makeshift tent with that tree, and sleep in there!”

“Eh? But um… isn’t that lying? I… it’s bad to lie, isn’t it? There’s that vow you talk about, and everything…”

Lloyd flapped his hand dismissively. “Nah, don’t worry! You really did want to go camping, right?”

Colette gave a hesitant nod.

“So it’s not a lie, see? Everything you tell him will be the truth!”

“Ah… I guess that’s true…?”

“Alright, then! Go on in and ask him, Colette! I’ll be back with your chakram!” With an enthusiastic wave, Lloyd darted off and clambered over the fence.

“Um… umm…” Colette stood in place, wringing her hands until he was out of sight. She was still a little worried about what her dad would say…

…But Lloyd was counting on her. And, well… It sounded fun! After all, wasn’t this kind of why she’d wanted to be on the camping trip in the first place?

Steeling her nerves, Colette turned on her heel and ran back into her house.

———

“Honestly… Those kids…” Frank Brunel stood at the window of his house, looking out into the yard where his daughter and her friend thought they were being sneaky. He’d already noticed more noise coming from behind the house than usual, so when Colette had run in suddenly asking for permission to camp out back, he’d been pretty sure he knew what was going on.

Still…

He watched quietly as two small silhouettes point up at the sky, probably pointing out different stars to one another.

While he’d keep watch to make sure the children were safe, he hadn’t had the heart to catch them out. Colette’s energetic friends were good for her, he was sure of it. With the horrible burden they were all placing on his daughter’s shoulders, he knew that she deserved people who’d think of her happiness here and now.

Who were they, him and the other adults of the village, to selfishly ask so much of Colette and then deny her even these small pleasures while she still had time?

No. Perhaps he couldn’t convince the church to let her go with her friends, but at least he could stay silent when her friend came to her. It was the least he could do.

The least she deserved.

Satisfied that the children would be alright unsupervised for a minute, Frank slipped into the kitchen to make himself some coffee before settling down to keep an eye out.

If it meant Colette could play like a normal child for a little bit longer, what was one sleepless night?

[creativedumpyard]

The Emperors Finest

// a small tribute to a long gone campaign

Shah looked upon his Warriors. He was proud of them. He loved them all. The Squad of the Khornate Astartes, lead by the madman Loup always willing the destroy and murder.

Idawask Liskis men were just as bloodthirsty, although they were able to follow more than just the simplest commands.

His eyes fixed upon the newest recruits of his small contingent of warriors. A man named Nemelek and his ramshackle bunch of Heretics and renegades alike. They still had to show their worth. The leader of their crusade, Grand champion Tissav Kak just recently send these men to his command. Shah smiled, his perfect white teeth shone. They would make a fine addition to his plans.

His right hand Apollius cleared his throat. Shah ripped free from his entangling vision of greatness and started to speak to his underlings. “Welcome, my brothers! Welcome to another day of the Siege of this godforsaken Planet. We have taken City by City. Fortress by fortress. Now only this bestial Walled City is between us, and the Victory we so dearly crave! Cindar shall be ours, claimed for the Dark Gods!” As he spoke of Victory, an almost predatory smile sneaked on his face. Only to be immediately to be extinguished and replaced by a more heartfelt version.  

“The grand champion, blessings on thy name, wants us to go in hard and fast. The main forces will be waiting in the north east, while we concluded a fast blow to the few remaining Void-Shield Generators! There will be resistance, but we assume that the most of them will be stationed closer to the North eastern gates.” Shah paused a moment. His Warriors seemed ready. “Loup, you will be going to head to the Gates. I have full trust in your ability to crush the resistance there. My personal squad and I will be behind you.” Loup and his bloody-red Men screamed and held their Chainaxes up high.

“Idawask, you will be going south over the wall. And the new Squad of brother Nemelek will be doing the same Maneuver in the east. All of you will be supplied Jump-packs for this Mission, but be careful not to damage them! We will start in about an hour, as soon as the Main forces resume the Shelling. Get Ready!”

He quickly punched his chest plate with his right fist and turned around. He still had some planning to do and no time to waste.

The gathering thinned. The Khornates were already running hot.

Nemelek turned to his newly assembled squad. He wasn't quite sure as what to make of his new position or the people he now lead into battle.  There was the Beautiful Blood Angel renegade Cassiel. He was an excellent fighter that used an giant Eviscerator. Most of his red Armour still had emblems of his past. Just his Aquila was scratched and painted over with a black Chaos-cross. Nemelek wasn't too sure about why Cassiel joined the forces of chaos, but he was eager to prove himself. He was more concerned about the slow Nurgle Marine and the Slaaneshi Swordsman with the Insane Eyes. While the Nurgle Marine Ogmha Inititium was a Psyker and thus was extremely effective in battle, he was way too relaxed and always seemed to take this Siege more as a personal Hike.

The Slaneeshi pledged Astartes was just quite the Handful. Flavian Charosean did not enjoy getting commands. He had a slight tendency to go off course if it meant his personal recreation. And one could only assume what that meant, coming from the Emperors Children and their Offspring. A long Whip made from a stiff, Fleshy substance protruded from his left forearm. It ended in sharp hooks and tiny blades. Sometimes it almost seemed to move too quick or too agile to be just a weapon.

The last one was Venatus. A Nightlord far away from his usual legion or tactics. So far he had proven somewhat reliable. Venatus already had a Jump-pack, a longer and slimmer design with numerous silver arcs of metal lightning engraved on it. While Nemelek witnessed what cruelties this man was capable of doing, he seemed content with sitting in the dirt and cleaning his Bolter for now. He cleared his throat.

“Get to the Armory, I want all of you ready and with a Jump-pack in half an hour!”

Flavian and Cassiel rushed off to get their hands on better quality Jump-packs. Ogmha was slowly walking in the general direction of the armory, completely ignoring time limits.

“Lucky that you already have yours, huh?”, Nemelek said to Venatus. The Nightlord stopped cleaning his rifle for a second but resumed without even looking up. Nemelek shook his head slightly and went to get himself an Jump-pack as well. He had seen how bad some of those were in shape and he didn't want his to fail mid flight.

Nemelek stood on a burned out Chimera Tank. From this slightly elevated Position he was able to see the City in its full might, the sprawling gun towers on the walls, the trenches dug up before and the tiny dots of busy commute in between that were the defenders. He turned to check if his squad was ready. All stood ready, equipped with the Jump-packs. Flavian was already getting bored and flinging is sword through the air.

“Squad! Move out!” Nemelek jumped down from the Wreckage and activated his Power fist.

Since their Mission was not to clear the trenches, they jumped over them using the fire from their jet-engines. The Human defenders were largely too shocked or too scared to shoot at them. But sometimes Laser beams or bullets darted in their general direction. Their short jumps carried them far over the battlefield in mere minutes. Soon after they arrived at the Wall. Massive overhanging gun nests opened fire on them. Before the Gunners had time to properly take aim, Ogmha stepped to the front and held up his staff. He gestured with the bony, nauseating excuse for a Wooden staff and a bubbling green shield of psychic energy surrounded them in an instant. Bullets and lazers bounced off or evaporated. Nemelek voxed to his squad, “Ogmha and Venatus you take take of the gunners on the wall. Flavian, Cassiel and I will jump over and secure the other side”.

As he flew high on his howling engines, Nemelek saw that the inner wall was spiked with stairs and ammunition cranes. Then came a street, broad enough to fit several tanks with ease. Behind the street were a few warehouses as well as small bunkers and living quarters for the less fortunate civilian. A few blocks to his right he could see an opening in the buildings. Another thick gray wall with ugly fortifications climbed up high.

The bigger street to his left was his landing spot. Cassiel landed a few meters in front of him, Flavian further to his left on a small house. In this exact moment more armed forces streamed into the street from the inner city. They opened fire just a few moments later. Laser beams darting all around the Space Marines as they ran into cover. “Cassiel, go right. Flavian, jump into their left flank!” He saw Cassiel's Helmet head turn in his direction and nod. The Man let his Eviscerator scream with blood lust and anger as he flew a short arc to meet the first of the attackers. Effortlessly parting body parts and killing two men that stood too close to each other in a single blow.

Flavian cackled as He swung his Whip up high, crashing it down into a soldier, freeing him of clothing and skin alike. His victim had no time to scream in agony before the long silver blade of the Slaaneshi split open his torso up to is nose.

Nemelek used his Bolter effortlessly. Splattering blood and entrails through the ranks of the advancing Soldiers. The shock of the attack let the Mortals forget about morale and discipline. They opened up their formation to flee into cover. Unfocused Las fire punched through the air around the advancing Astartes, but their ceramite armor deflected the shots. Not more than small smoldering chips in the paint was all that stayed.

The street emptied after the Soldiers dove into Cover. Nemelek was able to see the end of the street where now two Chimera Tanks drove around the corner. “Heads up! We've got Light Tanks ahead!”. His Vox alarm was not necessary as the tanks opened fire immediately. The mounted Heavy bolters posed an actual thread to the Astartes, as well as to any cover that wasn't solid enough. As Nemelek jumped behind a thick half high wall of Ferroconcrete the explosive Shells hammered into the Asphalt where he just stood. These tanks had a higher priority than any of the scared soldiers left behind.

Flavian Reached for his Plasma pistol. A thin cable connected it to his power pack. He felt the Bone and Mother of Pearl decorations on the Grip, the powerful thrumming of the coils. The last Artifact of his Past in the III. Legion. His Jump-pack roared as he flew directly into the small crowd of Soldiers behind some Wreckage that they had used as cover. A few swings with his sword and whip were enough to send half the group to the warp and the other fleeing in terror. His engines roared again and he jumped in a short curve directly at the one of the tanks. The Gunner was still aiming at Nemelek. Far too late he got aware of the danger the violet clad Marine posed. As the Gunner tried to rip the Turret up to meet the new target, Flavian aimed almost based on Instinct and shot his pistol. The searing hot ball of plasma burned the Man and his gun but not before one bolt shell exploded on his pauldron, ripping him around. Flavian crashed, loudly swearing, into the pavement. He jumped to his feet the moment the ramp of the chimera lowered itself and more Human soldiers ran out into the open. “Filth! How dare you shoot at ME?” He screamed at the top of his Lungs while charging forward. While the Imperial standard Las-rifle is a good medium range weapon, it was never truly suited for close combat situations. None of the soldiers even stood a chance against a genetically enhanced warrior of the Adeptus Astartes. Sword met flak armor and sliced it apart. Blood and entrails spilled to the floor, as Flavian focused on his blade to agonize instead to kill. His whip sliced through the skin, ripping apart faces as well as disarming the few that tried to draw combat knives. Just a few seconds later and no mortal was left standing, most of them winding and crying at the feet of the Ceramite Monster. To fulfill his quest of destroying the tank, Flavian unhooked a Krak Grenade and threw it into the still open crew department of the tank. As it exploded, the blast broke through the thin inner armor and annihilated the Driver and the engine alike.

Cassiel was already weeding out the humans behind their fortifications. His massive chain sword cleaving bone as well as metal. When Nemeleks warning came, he already scanned to area for more targets. He was way closer to one of the tanks as he rolled onto the plaza. The Chimeras gunner turned the massive gun towards him, but Cassiel was already charging at the tank. His anger fiery hot in his chest, about to overtake his senses. In a short burst of energy from his back engines, Cassiel threw himself atop the tank, just behind the gunner. The man let go of the turret and stared in horror at the massive red angel looming over him. His Eviscerator catching the man atop his head and striking down, halving him along his spine. As the blood rippled against his helmet and stuck to his hands, Cassiel roared. Using his strength he leaned into the Chain-sword to slowly cut into the armor of the tank. The metal screamed and sparks flew, darting around him like small angry insects.  With Blood lust he hacked his way into the Drivers chassis and disabled the tank by leaving nothing unbroken and no-one alive.

Flavian closed in on the Tank that got tortured by his furious cousin. He inspected the damage with childish glee and a bit of envy. “By the Mother! You are really a Danger to behold, Cassiel.” He turned to the still furiously hacking and slashing Man. “Cassiel! The Tank is done and so is the crew. You can stop it now?!” He said, raising his voice so that he could be heard over the clash of metal.

Cassiel turned. His shoulders squared and his head held low he assumed a vicious combat stance when he sighted the Slaaneshi. Immediately sensing the hostile intend, Flavian stepped back in confusion. Did he just offend Cassiel? “Cassiel? Are you alright?...I mean I- I didn't want to offend ..” But before he could finish the question, Cassiel roared and stormed at him, Eviscerator held up high. Flavian was shocked and reacted almost too slow, parrying the massive chain sword with an unusually crude flick of his Sword. But the Red Angel did not stop, hacking and slashing at the confused team member. Flavian was put into a defensive position that he did not enjoy.

“CASSIEL! By the Gods, what are you doing? STO- STOP IT”

Flavian was confused by the sudden aggressive action, as well as the pure Blood lust the he felt in every strike.  

[deku-leaf]

virus - part 1 - “dude, is deku okay?” - tododeku fic

summary: during a villain encounter, midoriya is hit with a virus quirk that causes his body’s immune system to turn on him. he gets really sick really fast, and todoroki has no idea what to do

warnings: whump & fluff, hurt/comfort, canon level violence, implied underage drinking, detailed descriptions of illness

word count: 2,359

author’s note: this will probably end up being just two parts :) 

--

“Take cover!”

Izuku leaps to the side of the road, covering his head with his arms and tumbling into an alleyway. The ground beneath him rumbles with the sound of something big, metal, and heavy being thrown into a building. It was probably a car or a dumpster. Either way, it sounded too close for comfort. Izuku scrambles back to his feet as a cloud of dust overtakes his vision. In addition to the creaking of metal and crumbling of bricks, there’s the unmistakable sound of heavy, thundering footsteps at the entrance of the alley. No chance in hell he was sticking around for that. Izuku leaps into the air using One For All and lands lightly on the building next to him. He peers over the edge of the roof to get a better view of his opponent below. 

Based on the intel they received in class, there’s supposed to be a pair of villains - one brain, one brawn - who have been holed up with a hostage on this block. But Izuku has only made contact with the brawn so far. An unholy amount of contact. A grumbling, hulk-like groan rumbles from the alley below, and Izuku strains to see the villain through the dust. Glowing yellow eyes find his, and crinkle with a smile. Izuku feels himself smile back at the villain as the green lighting of One For All skitters over his body. 

-

“Take cover!”

Shouto’s voice is scratchy as he yells a warning to his classmate - just in time, by the looks of it. Midoriya manages to jump out of the way seconds before the massive villain in front of them launches a pickup truck right past where he had just been standing. The truck careens into a brick building and the resulting cloud of dust and debris is near debilitating. Shouto covers his mouth with his hand to keep from breathing the stuff, and blinks furiously to clear his vision. 

Based on their assignments for hero training class, he and Izuku were to neutralize the villains head-on as soon as Jirou and Kirishima secured the hostage. One of the villains has a monster-like strength quirk, and the other villain’s quirk is not yet known. Shouto runs through the intel again as he stumbles through the dust cloud and towards the alleyway. The dust clears, and Shouto’s eyes widen.

The scene before him unfolds like a slow-motion movie action sequence. The hero Deku and the colossal villain are leaping towards each other, Izuku dropping from the building above and the villain rising to meet him from below. Both men pull back their fists and grit their teeth before clashing in the middle.

The ensuing reverberation is not unlike what Shouto imagines a lightning strike from 50 feet away would feel like.

Shouto slaps his hands over his ears at the thunderous sound, doubling over at the waist. He raises his head again almost immediately to see the result of the clash.

Midoriya stands victorious over the villain’s crumpled body. The bulky monster of a man looks less intimidating when soundly unconscious and half-buried in the concrete of the alleyway. Midoriya quickly cuffs the villain, checks his pulse, and turns away, jogging towards Shouto with a crooked grin on his face.

“Thanks for the heads up,” he pants as he approaches. His hair is coated in dust and sweat is dripping down his temple, but he seems completely unphased. Shouto nods in response.

“We should find the other villain,” Shouto says. “Not knowing their quirk, we’d better find them as fast as we can and neutralize them with the quirk-suppressing cuffs before they can respond.”

Midoriya nods, his smile disappearing in favor of a tight-lipped expression of determination - back to business. As the two of them turn to investigate the scene of the crime further, Shouto can’t help but feel a twinge of excitement at the thought of them successfully completing their assignment. Ever since they began actual field work for their class, his classmates have been celebrating together whenever one of them is victorious against a real villain. Midoriya in particular gets particularly...enthusiastic after a win. He typically breaks out his ‘victory juice’ (a cheap bottle of vodka he keeps hidden in the back of his closet) shortly after dinner, and the great hero Deku becomes a tipsy goofball who is surprisingly good at dancing. Shouto looks forward to basking in his friend’s celebratory antics when they return to the dorms tonight.

Shouto fights a smile as he turns to glance at his friend. On the other side of the street, Midoriya had been peering through a broken shop window for clues, but he’s now standing still and staring straight ahead down the street. Shouto tries to follow his gaze but sees nothing of interest. Something’s off. He looks back to Midoriya and notices his hands trembling, just slightly. 

“Midoriya.” Shouto immediately starts walking towards his classmate. He stops in his tracks when he notices the small, pale hand squeezing Midoriya’s wrist. The hand is reaching from the other side of the broken window. The figure inside slowly rises to their feet.

“I saw what you did,” the villain says in a soft voice. She’s young - high school age. Her hair is long, dark, and tangled, pulled into a knotted up ponytail. They still don’t know her quirk, and she’s got a hand on Midoriya. If Shouto attacks now he could put his friend at risk. But if he doesn’t-

“You beat up my big guy. So annoying. I liked him.” The girl keeps talking as Shouto’s mind races. Why isn’t Midorya moving? He’s still staring straight ahead, not even at the villain, but his eyes are wide. Is it a quirk that petrifies movement? Shouto wouldn’t want to freeze her in place while she’s still got hands on Midoriya. He has to separate them somehow.

“Let him go,” Shouto says quietly. The girl’s eyes slide over to where Shouto stands. He readies his ice. As soon as she lets go of Midoriya, he’ll strike.

“Mmm, you’d like that wouldn’t you?” She says, smiling sweetly. She pouts suddenly and looks back to Midorya, whose knees are now trembling. “Just give me a couple more seconds. I know I’m caught, but I just want to make sure he pays the price for taking down my big guy.” She squeezes tighter and Midoriya’s body jerks. An impossibly small, pained whimper escapes from behind his closed mouth. That’s more than enough.

Just as Shouto sends a wall of ice towards the villain, her hands are jerked behind her back roughly. Shouto stops his ice before it reaches his target, and watches as Kirishima places quirk-suppressing cuffs on the writhing girl. Seeing that the threat has been neutralized, his eyes whirl back to his friend.

Midoriya trembles for another moment before dropping roughly to his knees.

Shouto is at his side in an instant. “Midoriya,” he says, placing a tentative hand on his shoulder and searching his face. Midoriya is still staring straight ahead at nothing, but now his lips are slightly parted. Shouto couldn’t tell from the street, but up close he can see that Midoriya’s breaths are shallow and rapid, like a frightened rabbit. He’s hyperventilating. 

“Midoriya. What did she do? Did she use her quirk?” Shouto rakes his eyes down his friend’s body, searching for any sign of injury. He looks fine, aside from-

A violent shudder erupts through Midoriya’s body. His head lolls forward and Shouto has to grab him around the torso to keep his friend’s limp body from hitting the concrete. 

“Midoriya.” Shouto slowly lowers him to the ground, turning him on his side. Midoriya’s breathing has slowed, but now it sounds labored. He’s more out of breath now than he was after punching out the brawny villain. What the hell was that girl’s quirk? Shouto places his hand back on Midoriya’s shoulder, the icy feeling of helplessness curling around his heart. 

Midoriya wheezes out a wet cough. He blinks a couple of times, and then his eyes roll back. A lump forms in Shouto’s throat as he watches Midoriya convulse once, and then lay completely still. Unconscious.

-

Izuku is so thirsty he thinks he’s gonna die. There’s an ache in his left leg that’s radiating up into his knee - no, it’s his stomach that hurts. A wave of nausea racks his body. His head is throbbing, he can hear his heartbeat pounding in his ears. Everything is so cold, he’s shaking. His teeth hurt from grinding and chattering. His ears hurt. His throat hurts, his lungs hurt. He can barely breathe. Izuku slowly registers the feeling of his clothes on his body. He can feel every thread of fabric pin pricking his sensitive skin like tiny needles. He gasps.

He opens his eyes and immediately squints as the intensely bright light exacerbates his headache. He groans involuntarily, the noise cutting off in his throat as he coughs roughly. His lungs rattle. He attempts opening his eyes again. 

“Dude, is Deku okay?”

Izuku recognizes Kirishima’s voice, but doesn’t see him. He only sees a white popcorn-coated ceiling with fluorescent lights. Then, a head of red and white hair hesitantly peers over his field of vision. With effort, Izuku shifts his gaze to meet Todoroki’s. His friend is sitting next to him and looks sad and confused. Izuku can relate. Izuku hurts, and hurts, and is so tired, and wants to sleep, and is seconds away from puking.

Izuku turns his head sharply to the side as he gags, mouth filling with saliva. He slaps a hand over his mouth, willing his body to just hold on, just calm down, don’t lose your breakfast, don’t hurl on your best friend’s lap. Nausea twirls the room in circles, walls replacing ceilings and afterimages of office furniture swimming lazily through Izuku’s vision. He’s laying on an unfamiliar floor. Izuku squeezes his eyes shut again.

“Midoriya?” That’s Todoroki’s voice now, soft and tentative. Izuku hums in response, hand still pressed against his mouth. He doesn’t dare move. He feels his body twitch involuntarily as a pain shoots up his spine. He hums again, but this time it sounded more like a desperate whine.

“Midoriya, is there-” Todoroki cuts himself off as another voice enters the room. Izuku’s ears zero in on the person speaking, trying to focus past the pain. He recognizes this person’s voice as Aizawa, and it sounds like he’s ending a phone conversation.

“Is he awake?” Aizawa asks after hanging up.

“Yes,” Todoroki says.

“Midoriya, can you hear me?”

Izuku almost nods, but thinks better of it. He hums quietly against his hand again, instead. There’s a beat of heavy silence before Aizawa speaks again, this time closer to Izuku. He’s probably crouching down like Todoroki was.

“Midoriya, I just questioned the villain that you encountered. Are you feeling ill?”

‘Feeling ill’ would be putting it lightly. Izuku feels like his entire body was thrown through a glass window 10 stories high. He feels like a gallon of crud was injected straight into his lungs. He feels like an ice pick was recently lodged into his skull, and maybe twisted around a bit. He feels like he just rode a tilt-a-whirl 50 times in a row after eating 5 chili dogs. Izuku wants to say all of this, but just hums a muffled “Mhm.”

Aizawa thankfully accepts this as a sufficient response and continues.

“Her quirk is called Virus. It’s incredibly potent because it can only be used on one person, once per day. It basically turns your body’s immune system against you.”

Izuku opens his eyes to see Aizawa kneeling next to him. He slowly lowers his hand from his mouth, the nausea subsiding in favor of overwhelming body aches. He shudders.

“How long,” Izuku manages. 

“It’s hard to tell. It depends on how recently she’s used her quirk, and how long she makes direct contact with your skin. She estimated that for you, it would last at least a few days.”

Izuku closes his eyes again. “Oh god,” he says quietly. He can barely hear his voice over the sound of his heartbeat in his ears. A few days of this? His head is spinning again, and he shifts his focus back to repressing the nausea. 

“I just got off the phone with Recovery Girl,” Aizawa continues. “She suggests you treat this as you would a typical illness - lots of rest and fluids. Pain medication, too. And in the meantime we’ll try to get more information out of the villain. For now, let’s get you back to the dorms so you can rest.”

Izuku opens his eyes again and watches Aizawa rise to his feet. Right. Going back to the dorms would mean moving. Izuku needed to stand up.

Against every instinct in his body, he slowly sits up. His head is throbbing. His muscles are screaming, and his heart is pounding. Sweat beads on his forehead as he slides his feet closer, preparing to stand. This was not going to end well. 

Two hands - Todoroki’s hands - reach down and wrap around Izuku’s wrists to help him up. Izuku slowly, slowly rises to his feet, most of his weight being pulled by his classmate. As Izuku reaches his full height, his vision goes completely black, and everything ceases for a moment. 

When the speckles of black clear from Izuku’s vision, he’s completely slumped against Todoroki’s front. His breath is stuttering out in heavy pants, and the side of his face is squished up against his friend’s chest. Todoroki’s arms have wrapped around his back, supporting him in a hug-like embrace. It would be sweet, if Izuku wasn’t on the verge of passing out again.

“Can you walk?” Todoroki asks. His voice is quiet, but Izuku can hear a slight waver. He hates making his friends worry. He hates the relentless aching in his bones almost as much. Jesus Christ, Izuku’s head hurts. Did Todoroki ask him a question? He can’t remember.

Izuku vaguely registers that he’s being lifted into the air before slipping back into unconsciousness.

-

part 2

[soulheartthewolf]

i am... so sorry

i... i made it. might as well just straight up submit it to you, eh?

---

Caustic is a patient man. On par with Bloodhound with how calm he is.

But the new addition to the league of Legends?

He was testing him.

  “Going here—follow me and I’ll gut you like a fish!” the new subject called out, sprinting ahead into the obviously-already-scoured Drill Site, where open doors and unlocked Supply Bins emphasized how already searched this place was. Caustic scowled and followed Revenant, ignoring the threat from the latter. Their third teammate, an unremarkable newbie that almost died six times, follows suit, nervously trailing Caustic.

Revenant, of course, reached the ping faster than the rest of them, having both made the ping and sprinted there. He threw open a door and fired into the building, shooting the small Silencer ability he had. Suddenly, he spoke into the comms, “Whole squad down. Waitin’ like sitting ducks, really.”

“You should have waited for us—they could have—”

“Shut it. Their blood is on the floor and not mine. That’s what matters most,” the simulacrum snapped, irritation bleeding into his voice. He took mostly everything from the deathboxes, and slipped onto a roof, leaving Caustic to plant traps in a house he was soon to leave.

Soon enough, another Squad that had just fled the torturous space outside the Ring headed into the Drill Site, desperately searching for cover. One of them—Wattson, Caustic realized sadly— headed into the booby-trapped house, immediately choking on the new-and-improved hydrogen sulfide gas. She fell quickly, the Ring having depleted her health significantly. Fortunately, the gas emitted from the traps hid her face as she fell, weakly reaching for the nearest human.

Caustic stepped over the lifeless corpse and looked outside, seeing that his teammate had—once again—fallen, what little blood they have gushing out rapidly, quickly killing them. Revenant, however, was holding his own easily, peering through his fully kitted Sentinel, sending round after round in the already-weakened Squad. Eventually, the two of them finally realized that peeking the quick, efficient robot might not be the best idea. So, they hid.

Revenant scoffed, and slung his Sentinel on his back, taking out the EVA-8 he wasn’t much of a fan of. Both him and Caustic stalked towards the small building, the latter priming his ultimate, taking the small gas grenade and preparing to throw it.

A frag grenade flew past them, poorly thrown. Then, Caustic threw his grenade inside, the ghost of a smile under his mask. Revenant threw open the door and fired at the coughing and choking subjects, the ammo ripping them apart. When both of them fell and the cloud of gas dissipates, the two victors stand above the dying victims. Revenant slipped behind his target and snapped their neck, while Caustic stepped towards his frightened target, and punched them thrice.

Their deathboxes appear and the two victors set to work looting them.

After a few minutes, Revenant says, “I saw Sparks go into your death house. Did you kill her?”

“Yes.”

The simulacrum picks up on the lilt of sadness instantly. “Don’t feel bad. She’s just another skinsuit—”

In an instant, the skeleton-esque robot is pinned against the wall, a boxcutter nearly digging into his eye and a Devotion about to shatter his limbs. “I can tolerate your vulgar and unnecessary comments. I can tolerate your views towards teamwork. I even share some. But you will not insult—”

“Touched a nerve?” Revenant laughed, before a receiving a shot to the stomach, or where it would be if he was human. He fell, wires and faux blood pooling underneath him. A wheezing noise punctuated by static emanated from his voice box. Caustic stepped on his neck and snapped it, destroying the connection between the rest of Revenant’s body and his brain.

“I know you’ll live through this—I’ve yet to invent something to melt metal. But I hope you have fun.”

Then, the chemical scientist strode out of the building, leaving Revenant to silently be consumed by Ring, sacrificing a win in the process.

    When they both returned to the Ship—where every official Legend lives until the season ends, when they can visit loved ones or go home for a bit—Caustic immediately went to his room, where he reveled in the satisfaction of breaking the smug bastard. After shedding the gear and slipping into more comfortable clothes—a t-shirt with the periodic table and grass-green sweatpants, as well as galaxy crocs— he walked into the hallway that connected everyone’s room, only to be shoved back into his room by a particularly pissed-off Revenant.

“The fuck was that?!” was his first question, slamming the door shut with an audible ‘bang’. Faintly, Caustic heard Renee ask, “What was that?”. Pathfinder, oh-so-helpfully, replied, “Revenant! He’s probably just going to talk with friend Caustic!”

Nox responded, “I could ask you the same thing.”

Revenant, who had orange sparks flying off him and a distinctly burnt look, wrapped a hand around Caustic’s throat and lifted him into the air, fuming. “What. Was. That. You snapped my fucking neck, you—”

Renee opened the door, saw the scene before her, and closed the door promptly. Revenant dropped Caustic, leaving the man to regain his breath. “I told you I did not tolerate you insulting people I care about. Leave.”

“Not a chance—I’m gonna rip you limb from limb you miserable skinbag—” Revenant lunged at Caustic, who quickly grabbed a hammer he kept from a project and swung it at the robot, who’s midsection crumpled under the force, damaging the electric flow that allowed him to move. In a flash, the robot disappeared, an orange trail from where he fell to his room.

“Not as impressive as he was made out to be.”

In a moment, the door was thrown open again, and Nox swung again, the crunch of metal breaking informing the scientist that he had hit his mark. Revenant crumpled to the ground, his face horribly disfigured and bent. He swore, and was respawned in the Medbay.

And there started a feud—one that span across hundreds of matches.

The system designed to set up teams seemed biased, always having Caustic and Revenant together, along with a random.

Caustic always won, eventually destroying the simulacrum.

A crunch under the boot, an experimental gas that melted the wires that let him move, a quick snap of the neck… Every time, a swear that he would get him next time and a ‘recover banner’ right next to his fallen squadmate’s face.

Until, for once, Revenant got the upper hand.

  In the Epicenter, Caustic rushed into the center building, bullets trailing him, hitting the building and door as he shut the flimsy defense and moved to a more secure part of the building. He was about to throw a trap when someone knocked him over, sending him to the floor with a kick. Nox, disoriented, flipped over to face his attacker, only to realize it was a squadmate. Revenant stood over him, pinning his limbs and laughing hysterically. “Finally! Fucking finally! Oh, I’m going to make this slow for you.”

Caustic, as opportunistic as ever, revealed a notepad and pen from his apron, an excited light in his pale green eyes. “Fantastic. I will take notes on your methods—”

Revenant snarled and knocked the materials out of his hands, excited hysteria souring into irritation. “Smug fucker. It’s going to be even worse—”

“Even better! I have a remarkable memory anyway,” Nox interrupted. Revenant remained silent, his fingers twitching with the desire to render his adversary blind. He stayed still, even as a grenade was thrown through the broken doors behind him.

Then, the simulacrum realized with a horror, he didn’t want to kill him. Sure, he spited the smug way in which he was about to take notes on his own mutilation, but…

A shot to the back quickly eliminated Revenant, while a well-placed thermite burnt the scientist to a crisp.

  [MATCH: FINISHED. You now have a two-day break from the Games to recover and plan for future battles. The Medbay will be closed after 9PM, so please leave as soon as you revive. Lights off is at 10PM. Have a nice evening.]

  Revenant thought he had forgotten his humanity. The residue of when he still thought he was a human. As he rushed out of the Medbay, he hurried into his room. His room was barren, not yet having been decorated—not like he had any real desire to decorate, as the other Legends do. With a disappointed huff, he laid down on the stiff bed. He didn’t need to recharge after a match, as Pathfinder does, but he also doesn’t need (or want) the plush bed that most of the human Legends like. So, whoever set up this room decided that a cheap twin bed was good enough for the murder robot.

Said murder robot covered his face with his hands, a very human gesture, as he tried to…think. Just hear himself think. Part of him was screaming that he was failing. Most of him was chiding him on how he missed an opportunity—and the lack of opportunism would ultimately ruin him.

Eventually, he fell asleep—something he was somehow still able to do.

  Caustic almost never slept on weekends, devoting the time under the moon to research that would take a while. Mixing chemicals, fixing his traps. Little things that took hours. He hated using up daylight for things that could be done at night. The little things would also often make a lot of noise, and since the rooms are all soundproof, no one would hear him as they slept.

His work stopped when, in the room adjacent to his, a static-filled scream startled him. The lab wasn’t soundproof, so he heard it clear as day. He set down what he was working on and walked to the source of the scream, opening the door to Revenant, covering his eyes with his hands.

Night terrors are common when you’ve died as many ways as the former hitman has, and the feeling of his eyes melting out of their sockets lingered longer than it should have. Caustic tilted his head slightly at the sight, confused.

“Leave me alone.” Static made his voice louder, an attempt to scare the scientist.

“Not after you’ve disrupted my work,” Nox scoffed. “Whatever you’re going through—”

Revenant lunged forward again, hand around Nox’s throat, one hand still covering most of his face. With a growl, he said, “I’m not ‘going through’ anything!”

“Clearly.” Nox sighed, and gently moved the simulacrum’s hand from his face, only to get a glimpse of the skeletal robot… crying? A saline solution had made teartracks of sorts down the skull-like face of the robot, orange light from his eyes glinting off of it.

The scientist froze, as comfort wasn’t his specialty. “I’m—”

“Leave!” Revenant snarled, loudly, before shoving the scientist out the door, shutting and locking the blackened bronze between them.

Nox didn’t move for a minute or so, trying to process what the fuck just happened, before returning to the lab. He sat down, thought for a minute, and muttered to himself, “Could there be any worse way to realize you have a crush on the murder robot?”

DUDE YOU JUST WROTE A WHOLE DANG FIC IN ONE NIGHT XJEJ! ITS GREAT!!! Thank you for submitting 💕💕💕

[reeberry]

MHA: Spinning

Just following orders.

That was the line, right? Just following orders. Follow orders when they said "leave your name behind". Follow orders when they said "open your own hero agency". Follow orders when they said "here are your sidekicks, your interns, you'll need to accept someone from UA for an internship and a work study. We'll send you a list of approved students".

Follow orders when they said "infiltrate the League of Villains".

Even this, sitting on this rooftop, doing intel work for the enemy. This was all part of following orders, right?

Hawks didn't find that very convincing. That wasn't too worrying, though. Convincing people of things he didn't believe was part of the gig. Easy. Convincing himself? Well. That was a luxury. Not necessary.

"Bird brain," the villain said, impatient. Hawks blinked, and put a hand behind his head to ruffle his hair up a bit. "Are you not paying attention?"

Hawks sighed into a careful, crafted smile. "I'm paying attention, boss. The door's still closed. No activity in or out."

Dabi studied him, sitting against the edge of the roof, facing away from the building. If Hawks didn't know better, he would think of this as a sign of trust. But Dabi had made it clear that it was actually a sign of indifference. To the pro hero, to the recon mission he'd been sent on, to whatever was happening inside the building they were surveilling.

Hawks was perched on the edge of the roof in the darkness. He didn't feel at ease unless he was perilously close to falling off at any moment. Ready to spring into action, or into an escape. Dabi had made his trademark "tch" noise when he noticed Hawks's stance and sat himself down to lean against the concrete edge, staring at the city skyline.

"Whatever. This is a waste of time anyway." He opened up his right palm, making small blue flames dance in his hand. Just enough to light up his face, not enough to give away their location. Hawks still frowned. He was the one that any security team would see first if they were spotted.

"Then why'd you take this mission?" Hawks asked, his tone carefully curious. "I thought you didn't do recon."

Dabi grinned. "I don't. I'm not here for recon. I'm babysitting." He turned to look at Hawks, his mocking smile pulling at the staples in his face. He closed his hand into a fist and the fire went out.

"Babysitting," Hawks repeated, meeting Dabi's gaze before turning back to the building. It's not like Hawks hadn't tried to get someone - anyone - else. Out of everyone in the LOV, Dabi was the most mysterious and the most dangerous to him. That fire would make quick work of his defenses. He had no personality profile or information to go on. Except, Dabi was the only one still openly recruiting. It's why after two months of prep he finally gave in and approached the man. Now, a month and a half later, Hawks still hasn't met anyone else in the LOV, except that Nomu that Endeavor fought. That didn't count as much of a meeting anyway.

If he had been able to get anyone else, this mission would be going much faster. Dabi clearly didn't trust him, and not that it seemed like the fire user was a chatterbox with people he did like, but he was extra careful with him. Still. Even meeting three times a week, feeding him information on heroes, and letting him and the Nomu destroy parts of his own home turf. He still knew basically nothing about the man next to him.

"Does this mean I get to give the report? Since I'm the only one being graded here, and all." Hawks kept his tone jovial. Dabi didn't respond. Hawks looked back at the big warehouse building door. Still no movement.

"Am I not enough for you, number two?" Dabi quipped after a long silence.

Hawks turned his attention to the villain in confusion. "I'm just saying, how do I even know you are still with the League of Villains if I never see you interact with...anyone else?" Hawks let out a chuckle. "Do you have friends, Dabi?"

"Tch."

"Whoa, whoa, I was only joking." The hero settled into his perch again as Dabi let flames dance in his hand idly once more.

"If you wanna call it quits, we can leave this roof right now."

"I didn't say that." The winged hero looked at the target building again. For the first time all night, a light near the door came on, and shadows started moving behind the curtains. "Wait, I think someone is actually gonna leave that building." He grabbed the phone camera, zooming in on the door, and held the binoculars out towards Dabi's face. A show of trust, not looking at Dabi but invading his personal bubble with the item, pretending to be too engrossed in the image on the phone to look away.

"What do I care, just take the pictures already." Dabi moved his hand and tapped the binoculars away from him. "Get that out of my face. I'm not looking."

Hawks started taking pictures as people left the building. No faces he immediately recognized. Five normal-looking people, for sneaking around an old warehouse at night in this part of town. "You scared of heights?"

It was meant as a joke but when he glanced down he noticed Dabi's eyes were closed and his head was resting against the concrete ledge. "Vertigo," Dabi said, eyes still closed. "Now shut up and get the pictures we're here for."

Hawks kept his eyes focused, and took pictures with the phone Dabi had handed him. The people dispersed down the sidewalk, and the warehouse was now truly quiet and abandoned. Hawks could sense no one else was in there, but he wasn't about to mention that little ability to his sitter. "I think that's everyone. Five people came out, and dispersed. Got pictures of all 5 of their faces."

"Good," Dabi said, eyes still closed. He was controlling his breathing, but he seemed better than he was a minute ago. He held out a hand expectantly. "Phone," he demanded, and Hawks handed over the device. Dabi sighed deeply and opened his eyes, looking through the pictures on the small screen. He selected one of each person and sent them to a number he had memorized, and then deleted the messages. Hawks memorized the digits entered, even though he knew it would lead to a dead end, like the other three times he tried to chase down a phone number lead. This mission was really testing his memory, and his patience.

Dabi slipped the phone in his pocket and leaned his head against the concrete again, closing his eyes. Hawks stayed at his perch for a few minutes, quiet, looking at the warehouse and trying to burn the faces he just documented into his memory. The phone in Dabi's pocket buzzed, and he opened his eyes long enough to read a short text message.

"We're done here. Finally."

"That's it?" Hawks said, turning to look at Dabi, who had his eyes closed and his breathing deep and controlled again. Hawks looked back at the warehouse, at the apartment building roof they were stationed on, and at the villain next to him willing his breaths into a deep, even rhythm. "This wasn't a test for me, was it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Dabi growled, more impatient than usual.

"No, this was really your mission but you didn't want to do it. So you had me do the actual recon." Hawks was smirking. It was nice, knowing that Dabi was definitely still taking orders from someone, because he would not have volunteered for this particular task if he could help it. It was also nice to see the mysterious fire quirk user be rendered immobile by a five story building.

"This, pro hero, is what we call efficiency. All part of the vetting process." He opened his eyes, fixing them on a point on the ground a few feet away.

Hawks vaulted himself over the rooftop ledge easily, coming to sit down next to the villain, his wings carefully folded behind him to keep them from getting too close to Dabi. "What's next?"

"What am I, your assistant?" Dabi kept his eyes fixed on the ground ahead of him. "Whatever your tender little heart desires. I'm gonna hang out here for a bit, I don't care what you do."

Hawks studied the way Dabi was still taking slow, even breaths. He was clenching his jaw, staring unblinkingly at the spot on the ground. His entire body was tense in a way that Hawks hadn't seen before. The few times he had seen Dabi fight, it was tense with excitement. This was different. It was tense with determination, with anger.

"You can go, bird brain," Dabi repeated. Hawks didn't budge.

"I don't have anything else planned for tonight. I can hang out a bit," he said with an easy shrug.

Dabi sighed, and closed his eyes again and leaned his head back. "Fine. Then make yourself useful." Dabi extended a hand towards Hawks.

"Do you want the binoculars?" Hawks asked, genuinely confused. Dabi's fingers motioned towards himself impatiently.

"No. Hold it." He opened his hand more expectantly. "Hold my hand. It'll help it pass quicker."

All of the calculated risks Hawks had taken so far, not looking at Dabi when talking lately, pretending he didn't hear something to get Dabi to repeat it, none of them were all that risky. He could pull himself back with his feathers instantly if there was a fight about to start. He could sense where Dabi was, he was careful to not get too close, just enough to be thought of as careless. But this request. His hand could be gone in an instant. And Dabi was already so tense. But it was also a genuine gesture of trust, that Dabi initiated. Or maybe just a gesture of need. Hawks took the villain's hand carefully, bracing himself for an intense heat that never actually came. Dabi's hand was actually cold with sweat. His fingers squeezed around Hawks's palm with a constant pressure as Dabi continued taking slow, deep breaths. They sat like this for around five minutes as Dabi, eyes closed, started to slowly relax.

"I'm done now," Dabi said, opening his hand and releasing Hawks abruptly. He opened his eyes, looking at the ground ahead of him once more.

"Okay," Hawks said slowly. "We can keep going if it'll help."

Dabi turned his head sharply to look at Hawks. "Your fear of getting burned was distracting," he said bluntly. "I could feel you tense up every time I moved."

Hawks ran his newly freed hand over the back of his hair, ruffling it. A test had just happened, and he hadn't scored very high. He could let it rest or he could try to charm his way out of it. He was pretty good at that, after all. He muttered, making sure he could feel the warmth in his cheeks of extra blood flow for good measure, "that's wasn't-that wasn't it."

It was, as always, a calculated risk. He knew that Dabi didn't trust him yet. He knew that his charmer act was pretty well known as his public face, but his public face doesn't blush. Doesn't rub the back of his hair and let his hand rest at the base of his neck. There was a solid chance that Dabi would make an irritated noise and blast him with fire just to be safe. But no fire came. Instead Dabi's hand extended again. Hawks looked at it in surprise, and then gently took it once more.

"What-"

"Shut up. You're ruining the moment." Dabi leaned his head back against the concrete ledge again, closing his eyes. His hand was less clammy this time, and a bit warm to the touch, but not unpleasant. Hawks steeled himself to keep his hand relaxed, even as Dabi's fingers closed around his palm again with soft, consistent pressure. Dabi's thumb traced a line over Hawks's knuckles, and neither the slight tensing of his hand or the blush in his cheeks were a planned act this time. Dabi smiled. "Huh."

Hawks let out a slight cough. Dabi grinned at the sound, still keeping his eyes closed, and released Hawks's hand.

Dabi pushed himself off the short wall he was leaning against, standing up. He was still looking at the ground ahead of him, and did not turn around when he gruffly said "get up."

Orders. Hawks knew what to do with orders. He sprang to his feet, easily, placing the hand that he had just been holding Dabi's with at the base of his neck again instinctively and looking around.

"Well? Aren't you gonna fly away?" Dabi said, still not looking at him. Hawks smiled, hand behind his head, eyes closed. A practiced, comfortable gesture.

"I can if you really want," he offered, not moving. "But I figured I'd, I don't know, take the stairs back down with you." Hawks turned slightly to look at the abandoned street below them. "Not very covert, flying around at this time of night."

Dabi turned and actually met Hawks's eyes. The villain seemed to be studying the hero, hands in the pockets of his pants, long coat billowing behind him in the slight breeze. He looked at Hawks, at the wings, at the hand behind Hawks's neck, and at the way Hawks's eyebrows bounced up for a moment, after a few seconds of Dabi's careful study. "Who's babysitting who, now?" Dabi asked with a grin. "Fine. Follow me down five flights of stairs. See if I care." Dabi turned on his heel and started walking towards the rooftop access door, taking out a hand to wave nonchalantly behind him.

Hawks didn't mean to hesitate, but seeing that causal hand wave with the same hand he had just spent nearly 10 minutes holding onto caused his stomach to jump a little. The kind of adrenaline rush he gets when he jumps from a high vantage point, before he extends his wings. That moment of freefall. It was a split, unexpected second, and then he quickly fell into step right behind Dabi, following as ordered.

They reached the stairway door and Dabi opened it, making a show of holding it open for Hawks to walk through. Everything tonight has felt like a series of chess moves, but this so far seemed to be the safest risk yet. His feathers could react to anything Dabi tried faster than his hands anyway. Hawks nodded, striding through the open door confidently. He heard the big heavy rooftop door lock into place behind him before he felt Dabi move. It did not feel like an attack, so his feathers bristled but he kept them in place, letting Dabi enclose his hand around Hawks's wrist and spin Hawks around fully. Dabi stood over Hawks, an inch or two taller, "trapping" the hero against a wall. One hand was holding on to Hawks's wrist, the other was against the wall to the left of Hawks's face, right next to his wing. Dabi grinned, his grip tight but not painful. "I'm intrigued. I wasn't sure you'd follow."

This was the first time the two of them were standing so close together. Hawks could feel Dabi's warm breath against his face. Hawks grinned back, adopting a slightly teasing tone. "Technically, I was the first one in the stairwell, so you followed me."

"Shut up," Dabi growled and kissed Hawks, hard. There was no hint of gentleness or care in the gesture. Dabi's lips parted just enough that Hawks trailed forward, seeking a deeper kiss, as Dabi leaned away. "Hungry, aren't you?"

Hawks looked at Dabi's piercing blue eyes and gave him a smug, lopsided grin. "I could eat," he said with a shrug, feigned nonchalance that didn't fool either of them.

Dabi chuckled. He let go of Hawks's wrist and ran his thumb slowly over his lips, keeping eye contact. There seemed to be a decision point happening that Hawks was not invited to, and suddenly Dabi took a step back and looked away, at the stairwell ahead of them.

"Not tonight," he said, sticking his hands in his pockets and walking forward. "But, thanks. For back there."

Hawks stayed against the wall, looking at the man walking slowly away from him. "Y-yeah," he stammered, mostly on purpose. "Next time, then."

Dabi chuckled again, his footsteps echoing in the stairwell as he started descending, with Hawks following behind.

[jeonggukingdom]

across a lifetime (m)

❖ Pairing:  Taehyung x Reader x Jeongguk

❖ Genre: Smut, Angst, Fluff, Sci-Fi - criminal!AU, time-travel!AU

❖ Summary: In your world only a few rules exist: don’t reveal your true identity to anyone, kill or be killed and, most importantly, do not get caught. It only takes a few moments for the scale to be tipped to the wrong side, for the fine equilibrium to be easily ruptured by an inexplicable turn of events and for you to lose the only person that ever mattered to you. With the love of your life lost in the distant past, you are left with only one option: get caught. ❖ Word Count: 29.101 words

❖ WARNINGS: lots of violence, murder/death, mention of wounds and blood, gore, graphic depictions of sexual intercourse, oral (receiving), fingering, hickeys, dirty talk, cussing, penetrative sex, unprotected sex— the sex scene is not very kinky but it is very passionate ;)

❖ Author’s Notes: This story is part of the “Under Fire” collab hosted by the @btssmutclub ! ♥ Make sure to check the rest of the stories because they are all bomb **  ||  The main plot of this story was based on this prompt: here. I tried to research a lot to write the scenes set in the past but if there are some errors, please do not mind them too much, I really tried! ♥ ❖ PS: I know some of you struggle to read long fics on Tumblr so here’s the AO3 link to read it more comfortably: here!

❖ 6th May 2018, h 23:58 || Seoul, South Korea

 In your world only a few rules exist: don’t reveal your true identity to anyone, kill or be killed and, most importantly, do not get caught.

Taehyung’s scream behind your back comes in the form of your name, the urgency in his tone goading your legs to move even faster, begging you to keep going and not to stop, not to even look back. But you do look back, because that is the only way you think the dread in your heart will be quenched but, instead, you are met with the most terrifying sight you could have possibly envisioned.

The bright yellow uniforms of law enforcements shine like a beacon in the night, looking quite menacing in the night with their proximity.

You can hear their voices shouting your way, you can see their guns aimed at you both as you try to flee the scene and save your asses but it is clear, despite how hard you try to deny it to yourself, that this time, there is no chance of escaping and for the first time in forever, you are utterly terrified.

► two hours before

“Understood.”

Taehyung clicks his phone shut, his lips drawn in a tight line as he stares at the closed gate before you. The house it is supposed to protect is concealed by darkness, the silence all around it making it appear abandoned or, at the very least, currently vacant but you both know it is not the case. You can’t see them but you know there must be at least thirty guards surrounding the building and every way of access to it.

Most importantly, you know perfectly well who is secluded there, protected by his men as he comfortably sleeps in his master bedroom with a light conscience and a heavy wallet.

Your gaze drops on the file in your hands, your eyes scanning the pages one last time before you need to leave the car and complete your mission.

“Was it Hoseok?” You ask absentmindedly as you turn the page over to stare at the face of the man you are about to kill.

You have spent countless of days studying your target, his life and lifestyle, his habits and all the little things that can help you both finishing off the mission as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Taehyung hums as he rolls his eyes, the displeasure clear in his demeanour as he refuses to address what the nature of the call was.

“He means well,” you say, deciding to fill the silence with a peace offering hoping it will set his mood straight again so that he stays focused the entire time you are on the field.

You know Taehyung like the palm of your hand and you like to think he knows you just as much, to the point where sometimes words aren’t necessary to express what one of you two is thinking or going through. Sometimes, though, Taehyung makes it really hard for you to understand him and tonight it seems like it’s going to be one of those kinds of situations.

He has clearly decided to shield himself inside what you like to call his ‘silence-ball’, that inaccessible place in his mind he likes to seek comfort in when he is upset, angry or quite possibly both and not very willing to talk about it.

“I know, that doesn’t mean I have to like it.” He replies after a few seconds that almost feel like minutes. The tension in the car gets thicker with every breath you take and it makes you squirm in your seat.

If there is something you do not like is working with your partner when he is in a dark mood. It makes you anxious, restless even and those feelings bring your eyes back to the file in your hands.

Target Name: Myung Ki Kwon, male Age: 37 Marital Status: married, 2 kids (currently out of the State)

You know the file by heart by now but still, you keep checking every single detail, careful not to overlook even a tiny fraction of it because, in your line of work, even a single hair can make the biggest difference.

You sigh out loud as you force yourself to close the file and stop over-thinking every single detail of this mission. It’s not like it is your first one nor the hardest one you ever got and, even though he is in a rough mood at the moment, you know you can always count on Taehyung. You have been partners for six years, four of which you have been spending as an actual couple and there is no doubt you can do your job to perfection.

Assigning you to this case was not a coincidence and even though the enmity between Hoseok and Taehyung is fairly mutual, your boss is still smart enough to recognise a good agent and trust them with the most dangerous and delicate cases.

Your target tonight is the head of the local mob, he ascended to power in the span of a few months after ruthlessly murdering his predecessor—someone who, at that time, was supposed to be your target.

In those few months at the head of a clan, though, Myung Ki Kwon has managed to conquer what the ones before him never could. Just like oil expanding in the sea at a quick rate, so did his power and, in a few weeks, half of Seoul has been turned into his domain.

"So what did Hoseok say?" You ask to both fill the silence in your car and possibly soothe Taehyung's nervousness and your own in the process.

Taehyung pursues his lips, his eyes turning cold as he fixes them on the road almost as if he's imagining your boss there, defenceless and ready to be shred to pieces.

"Apparently there will be no extraction team for us."

Taehyung's words are pronounced slowly, quite surely reluctantly because he knows perfectly well what they will do to you.

"What?!" It is something akin to a shriek what comes out of your mouth and he winces a little at the sound because he hates this just as much as you do, if not more.

Extraction teams are the most important things in your line of work. They are what makes it possible for you to survive and to not get caught and not having one can easily mean absolute doom.

Taehyung sighs and fixes his gaze on you, his eyes turning gentle as he takes in your distraught expression and the way your body has stiffened against the leather seat.

"There was a problem with the other mission and they had to send another extraction team there to help. They'll try to get here in time but we are most likely on our own."

Why not recall the mission? You wonder for a second but you know why perfectly well. This is your chance and to waste it would be too much of a risk. Your target must be eliminated, the sooner the better.

"It's ok, we're good enough on our own." Taehyung takes your hand in his and gives it a gentle squeeze that makes you smile in return.

You know you are good, you know that most of the times your extraction team has been helpful only to make a quick escape but still, the doubt settles itself in the back of your mind and even though you try to ignore it, you know it'll remain there for the rest of the evening, like a woodworm.

"I know, you're right, I'm just being silly."

He gives you a little smile in return and then turns his focus on the iron gate again, peering in the darkness to check even the smallest of movements in its midst.

You have studied how the security system works, how often they take rounds and at what times so it is only a matter of waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

That moment is in about ten minutes, according to the watch at your wrist.

You take a deep breath in and close your eyes to relax both your body and mind.

You have been doing this for years and you know how important it is to calm yourself, steady the beating of your heart and clear your mind from all thoughts that aren't related to the operation.

You push out of your mind the doubts, the news about your extraction team not being there, you even push as far away as possible Hoseok's orders that morning. You know your job, you know how to kill and disappear like you never been there in the first place.

Being an assassin for a rogue agency—even if it is aimed to target high-profile criminals that menace to disrupt the equilibrium of the entire society—means you are public enemy number one for the Government and the law enforcement. To the rest of the world, you do not exist, you are absolutely invisible and that is how it shall remain.

"You ready?" Taehyung's voice peels you off from your meditative state and you open your eyes again.  Yes, you know you are.

You hum in response and follow him outside the car while clicking the timer on your wristwatch. Time, as always, is the essence.

You steal a glance at your companion and he silently nods in your direction whilst reaching for the gun behind his back.

You mirror his movements and follow him up to the gate, your eyes fixed on the dark field ahead to scan any possible change in the usual routine.

Just as expected, the passage is clear and it should remain so for the next couple of minutes—just enough for you two to climb the gate and seek coverage in the darkness before you are spotted and shot on the spot.

It was a surprise to discover that against all odds, the gate is not secured by anything aside from the guards. No electricity, no sensors for movements from the outside, no nothing.

For someone like Myung Ki Kwon to overlook something so important feels very out of place and that is why all of your senses are alert, ready to catch even the smallest of signs that things are bound to be harder then they look.

Behind this gate, the unknown awaits you. Aside from the number of guards placed on the outside perimeter and how they change position every two hours, you have no idea what is waiting for you behind those closed doors.

As your feet touch the ground on the opposite side of the fence and you wait for Taehyung to join you, you scan your surrounding with your infra-red glasses, seeking every trap that could be hidden in the darkness.

Your partner lands safely beside you and you exchange a knowing look because, from this point forward, you're on your own.

You nod towards him and hold his gaze for a couple of seconds, the usual silent prayers and recommendations hidden in it. Be safe, be careful, do not get caught, come back to me.

You turn your back towards your partner and silently run in the opposite direction, quickly finding refuge behind a big old tree. Just as you stop behind the bark and crouch on the ground, you spot the first guard.

He is an easy target for you when you are lurking in the dark and he has no suspicion of your existence.

He goes down quickly and silently as you ambush him from behind, your hands strong around his neck until you hear it crack to the point of no return.

You drag his corpse to your hiding spot and strip him off of his weapons, safely hiding a few inside your boots, your hostler and the small of your back. Extra ammunition is always helpful in those types of missions, especially when there is only two of you and plenty of them.

Your steps are silent as you come out of your hiding spot again. Your eyes scan your surroundings anew, your heart beating steadily in your chest as you crunch on your knees and look up towards the high windows where you know guards are situated.

Every step is careful and calculated because the presence of traps under the ground comes more and more plausible the longer it takes for you to spot another guard. It feels too easy and when an assassination mission appears to be simple it's because it is not and you are getting lurked inside a trap with not a single way out.

You glance at your watch and notice that ten minutes have already passed. It has been too long without a guard and you are now certain, the danger awaits you behind the corner.

You decide to ditch the perfect silence of your steps on the ground in favour of speed. After all, time is the only luxury you do not have at the moment.

Your run on the lawn seemingly goes unnoticed in the night and it helps you reach the opposite right external wall of the building.

Finally, you spot some guards there, their figures bulky and dark and menacing as they stand like statues in front of the balconies. In a one on one fight, you'd probably lose against any of them but you have an advantage right now: you are beneath them and they cannot see you just yet.

You take this opportunity to silence your weapon and shoot the closest one from your position.

Just as expected, the bullet perforates his neck—the only truly exposed spot in his armour—bringing him to the ground within seconds.

You quietly watch the two guards gaze in his direction before rushing towards him, just like you planned.

They go down just as easily, albeit the last one mustering a tentative shot towards your general direction.

The bullet doesn't even come near you but it is not good news either. A gun going off in the night is enough for everyone else in the house to be alerted by it and you know, there is no chance in hell you’ll be able to bring the other guards down as easily as these ones. You lost the element of surprise, after all.

Just as you expected, the lights flicker on inside of the building, shining like beacons in the night.

The initial advantage you and Taehyung had is shrunk to a minimum in an instant. Hiding in the dark won’t be as easy when there is light shining all around and eyes eager to catch even a single glimpse of movement on the outside.

You curse under your breath and check your watch again. Eighteen minutes.

You decide to go for it and rely on both your partner on the other side of the house and your own skills. There is simply no point of keeping yourself hidden like this the entire time. Now more than ever, your time is shrinking and the longer it'll take for you to enter the building and find your victim, the fewer chances you'll have to actually get to him.

You run as quickly as you can, your legs moving even faster as you realise someone has spotted you the instant you came out of your hiding spot. You do not dare a single glance their way or towards any of the windows and just keep pushing forward.

You can hear the bullets going off behind you, you can feel some of them graze your skin and the hissing sounds they make when they pass near your ears but still, none of them catches you and you know it is not just because you have skills, oh no, it is also luck.

When you finally reach the safe spot that represents the far end of the complex you are almost out of breath and you can make out the edges of a shadow lurking there, dressed all in black as to camouflage with the darkness itself, pointing a gun right at you.

For a second, you fear the worst. In fact, for a second you even consider lifting your own weapon and shoot them right between their eyes but then you recognize his stance and the way he holds his gun and you realize it is your lover you are looking at.

You quickly lift your arms as to surrender to him and you hear him hiss under his breath as he recognizes you as well.

"Shit, I almost shoot you." He whispers as he runs in your direction, cutting your distance short so you are standing side by side.

"What the fuck happened?"

"There were three guards and one of them shoot me before I could take him down."

You whisper as you keep scanning your surroundings, looking for more guards to take down. It is, again, oddly eerie and calm when you’d expect for all the guards to be running down the lawn by now, looking for you.

Taehyung hands grasp your shoulders roughly, forcing you to turn around and face him.

You can’t clearly see his face in the darkness, even when you are standing so close to each other but you can still sense the way his eyes are scanning your body, probably looking for possible injuries, alerted by your poor choice in wording.

"I'm not hurt, the bullet didn't even come close to me.”

You hear the sigh of relief he emits before letting you go, his muscles relaxing before your eyes as he steps a little to the side to look up at the window above your heads.

"Is your side clear?" You ask, moving alongside him so that your shoulders are always brushing against each other.

Your plan has been screwed over at this point and what you have to do is adapt and, judging by the numbers reflected on your watch, you have no more time to spare. You need to enter the house and find him, doesn’t matter if you’ll have to break hell loose in order to do it.

“Yes.”

His reply is short and barely above a whisper as he glances upwards, gesturing up to the windows with his hand as well. You follow his pointed finger and find a guard there, his eyes evidently fixed somewhere in the distance, probably trying to catch sight of you.

You nod your head yes as he looks at you, years of practice making it possible for you two to understand each other without the need to speak.

He secures his gun behind his back and puts his hands together to form a step for you to climb on so that he can propel you forward.

You have done this plenty of times before and just as always, Taehyung is able to push you upwards enough for you to grab onto the window and surprise the guard there with your sudden appearance.

"Oh, hello, there." You say before punching him hard in the face.

The guard steps back a little and you take the chance to jump onto the floor, aim your gun at him and finishing him off before he can even think about aiming his rifle at you.

You turn around with a little smile on your lips while reaching for the electric wire secured on your belt.

Your agency has evolved a lot in the past few years when it comes down to weaponry and useful utensils and the extensible wire is one of those. Absolutely weightless yet strong enough to resist to the weight of the heaviest soldiers, it proved to be quite resourceful in more than an occasion and as Taehyung grips the other end of it to climb up the wall, you are proven yet again that the right tools in the right hands can make the biggest difference.

Usually, you do not get cocky on the job, you do not get too relaxed and you never let your guard down but, somehow, tonight you do all of the above for just a little second and you have to pay the consequences of that carefulness with a bullet planted in your left shoulder.

Your cry of pain fills the dead silence of the house and it represents yet another mistake that you shouldn’t have made.

When the sound of a bullet resonates in an otherwise silent environment and it is followed by a shout of pain, there is no chance in hell all the inhabitants won’t know your exact position and where to run to in order to finish you off.

Taehyung climbs the remaining inches of the wall with bolting speed and practically launches himself inside the building, aiming his gun to the guard before they have a chance to finish you off.

The shot is neat, precise between his eyes, but the fire in his eyes doesn't die down as he looks down at you and notices the pain twisting your features.

"I'm sorry, I was distracted," you say with gritted teeth. The bruise on your ego seems to be hurting far more than the bullet lodged within your skin but, either way, you are not allowed to stop now.

You run with him through the long corridor, one of his hands around your elbow in a strong vice that almost feels bruising on the skin, anger and concern evidently seething inside of him as he looks for a place for you to hide, even for a few seconds.

He absolutely hates when you get hurt. Despite years of training, he still loses his focus when you are injured, no matter how slightly. It makes him do things he shouldn’t and it makes him care about things that shouldn’t even be on his mind during work and, really, this is not the right mission for you to be going through all of this, especially considering no extraction team will be there for you at the end of it but, things have happened and, once again, you need to adjust.

Taehyung’s eyes scan your surrounding as if he were looking at the rough blueprint of the house you got in your file and, disregarding completely the fact that any noise will give your position away again, he opens one of the doors along the corridor with a strong kick, breaking it off of its hinges.

The room appears to be one of those on the north aisle of the house with no windows and only one way of getting either in or out of it. This one is held in complete darkness for the moment and, for the few seconds you are spared before guards show up there, it represents a safe refuge for you to attend your wound at the best of your abilities.

Taehyung guides you inside the room and forces you to sit down so that he can take a proper look at your wound with the torch in his hand—his gun safely placed next to his knee, ready to be picked up and fired the moment someone shows up by the doorstep.

"The wound is not that deep, it's a good sign." He says, his voice thick and tense and not matching his words very well which puts you on edge because you know, your lucidity as a team has been cut in half now.

You have been on so many missions before, you have killed so many targets, even harder than this one and you made such a rookie mistake tonight compromising not only your own health but also the success of the mission itself and that is something your partner will need to deal with alongside you.

Guilt perforates your heart like stalactites and you gulp down heavily, opening your mouth to pronounce your shaky apology when Taehyung rips off a limb of his own shirt, offering it to you like a bandage for the time being. You do need to stop the bleeding if you want to survive the night and still be somewhat useful to him.

"Can you move your arm?" He asks before you have a chance of repent for your mistakes and you find yourself nodding your head yes a few times, unable to utter a single word.

This is a half-lie because yes, you can move your arm but no, you can’t move your shoulder without it hurting like a motherfucker—something you quickly decide Taehyung doesn’t need to know.

"Good." His voice sounds rough and thick and you look up at him with dread, noticing how his lips are still in a tight line as he takes the gun back in his right hand and gets up on his feet.

"We need to move."

You check your wrist and your insides constrict at the numbers shining on it. Thirty-six minutes.

Ideally, the mission should last for 60 minutes sharp, the time including getting in and out of the building. Clearly, you are late on track and Taehyung knows just as much and you can see it in the tense line of his shoulders as he moves to the door and peers outside.

The sound of bullets going off comes next and it forces Taehyung to pull his head inside the room again in order to avoid them.

He takes a sharp breath and then bravely jumps out of the room, firing his gun like a mad man. You get up on your feet as well, wincing at the pain in your shoulder, and grip your own gun in your right hand, ready to put it to good use to help him.

Your partner is fast and he is sharp and precise and it really isn't a surprise that he clears the hallway so easily without you need to lift a single finger. This is why Hoseok still relies on him, after all.

You step into the hallway as Taehyung turns his head towards you, tilting his head to the side to prompt you forward and follow him.

Moving through the building is not an easy task now that your cover has been completely blown and you have to keep fighting your way through the corridors while losing hope of ever finding your target.

Fear of him fleeting in the ruckus fills your mind and makes your insides feel incredibly heavy but, still, you do not dare voice the doubts out. Right now is not the moment to have second thoughts, to show concern or to give up your objective.

The building turns out to be something akin to a maze for those that do not inhabit it and, despite your eager study of the blueprint it becomes a very arduous quest to not get lost within it.

What you start losing, though, is the count of guards you have to kill in order to keep moving forward and, yes, there are far more than the thirty expected ones on the external perimeter.

The long and intricate corridors and the guards that keep coming your way only slow you down more to the point nervousness starts seeping in and out of you. We should just blow this bloody shit up, you think as you turn yet another corner in the hopes of finding a new course to keep on moving to the heart of the building.

Taehyung suddenly stops in his tracks and, consequently, so do you while scanning your surroundings to find what gathered his attention.

There it is.

It’s a tiny shift in light and texture on the far end of this corridor, right in front of the wall you are facing right now.

Taehyung steals a glance your way and you nod in acknowledgement while slowly taking a few careful steps forward.

If you hadn’t been trained for years and if you hadn’t had all those missions behind your back to count as experience, you would have never caught the little detail.

A secret passage is hidden at the end of this corridor and you keep moving towards it, hope rekindling in your heart with every step forward you take.

Now, how to open that secret passage is a whole other story.

Both of you look for ways to open it up whether through some sort of password, keys, handles, anything.

You knock on the wall a few times, trying to feel if there are some empty spots on the wall but your search is not fruitful and the clock keeps ticking around your wrist.

Actual minutes tick by before you as you try to find your way in, even by force if necessary.

If your target hasn’t fled the scene yet, there is no doubt he is hiding behind this door, perfectly protected and concealed in the real heart of the building.

Sixty minutes.

Your eyes pick up on the number blinking on your clock, the digits turning a deep shade of orange to signal you your operation should be pretty much over by now and yet here you are, still trying to even reach your Myung Ki Kwon.

Taehyung grunts in frustration and kicks the wall hard as if trying to bring it down by sheer force.

For a moment you hold your breath, almost hopeful that kick alone could bring the whole wall down but, of course, it is not that simple but as he kicks it another time, in that split of a second, you catch it. The shift.

"Do it again," you say, your eyes focusing on the left corner of the room, right next to the window.

Taehyung kicks the wall again under your instructions and you focus your whole attention to that portion of the room until you can clearly see it: the way in.

A few inches away from the window lies a wooden black table and right on top of it is placed a completely lit chandelier made of little tendrils of crystals.

You cross the room with quick steps and jump on the table with a swift movement, eager to check if your hunch is correct or not.

You lift your good arm up and tug at one of the little tendrils hanging down from the ceiling, the one at the very centre of the old-looking ornamentation.

As you pull the crystals down towards you, you hear the clicking sound of a mechanism going off and, sure enough, a few seconds after the wall you had been staring at for at least ten minutes flies open.

"How-?" Taehyung's question is swept away by gunfire aimed your way.

Five guards in all jet black armour come out of the secret hallway with loaded machine guns focused directly on the both of you.

Your steps are quicker than your mind, bringing you down the table and under it as Taehyung slides towards you and forces the table to a vertical position in order to protect the both of you from the explosion of bullets.

Your companion grunts in pain beside you, signalling you he has been caught by at least one of the bullets fired your way.

The table is standard wood and it does not suffice as a cover under the rapid-fire. In a few seconds, it’ll be totally useless as a protection and unless you can think of a solution fast, you have no chance of escaping this madness and your pending deaths.

Bullets graze your skin again, too awfully close as they break the wood in front of you. Shards of the split open wood plant themselves in your skin and you really start doubting you'll make it out alive.

"Hold onto me," Taehyung says, forcing you within his arms as he reaches for his belt, "We'll have to use the grenade now."

You look up to him and nod your head. The grenade was supposed to be your last resort because you know, once it goes off there is no way the Police won't be alerted by it and that means even a shorter amount of time left for you to kill your target and escape.

Still, with no other option available, Taehyung launches it behind your backs while hugging you tight to his chest in order to protect you from the blast.

It takes only a few seconds for the grenade to hit the ground and explode beneath your feet, sending you both flying forward.

Your ears start to ring, covering any other sound but you know you can’t stop now. This is your chance.

Taehyung has his hands around your shoulders as you both get up on your feet and turn around to marvel at the destruction you created.

There is a deep hole right at the centre of the room, the wooden floor has caved in and turned a burnt black colour and, from the creaking all around you, there is no doubt the part of the building where you are standing will collapse soon.

There is only one option available: jump.

You take a few steps back and then start running with all your might to launch yourself into the void, hoping your strength will be enough for you to reach the other side.

Your fingers grab onto the sinking wood of the floor with all the strength you possess, your shoulder burning like hell as you try to lift yourself up and save yourself from certain and very painful death.

The shards of wood cut and nip your skin and the slight pain makes you groan out loud as you give it your all to push yourself up to safety.

Once you are standing on your feet again you turn around to look at your boyfriend, still standing on the other side of the room.

“Don’t stop, I’ll be right behind you!”

You give him a curt nod of understanding and even though your heart hurts a little, you turn your back on him and start running again.

The corridor is long and seemingly bottomless as you race through it, your steps echoing on the walls, surely giving your arrival away.

In the short amount of time it takes for you to cross the long corridor, a thousand different scenarios play in your head.

As an experienced assassin, you exploit those few minutes to prepare yourself for nearly anything possibly awaiting you at the bottom of this passage.

With your gun firmly grasped in your hand, your heart beating steadily in your chest and your mind clear of anything that is not your target and his death, you finally step inside the room secretly lodged within the heart of the building.

You expected many things to be there to welcome you, including absolute emptiness but, to be honest, Myung Ki Kwon sitting calmly at the centre of the room with a cigar in his mouth and a smirk painted on his features wasn’t one of them.

Your target appears to be completely alone, dressed as if he were about to go out and attend a gala event or a wedding and he sports the most unbothered and calm expression you have ever seen.

"Looks like you found your way in," he says before inhaling deeply the tobacco of his expensive cigar. He puffs it all out a few seconds later in your direction, a taunting expression painted all over his features.

You take a step towards him, your gun precisely lined to the perfect spot between his eyebrows. After the hell he has made you and Taehyung go through, you are more than ready to take him down and get it over with.

"Ah, ah, ah," he shakes his head a little while rising his other hand for you to see what he is holding, "I'm afraid your life is connected to mine, dear. Kill me and this bomb will blow the entire building away."

He puffs his chest a little and opens up his vest to reveal a tiny bomb bound around his upper torso, ready to go off in approximately fifteen minutes unless deactivated.

His smile twists into something perverse, evil, and it gathers goosebumps on your skin because you could have never imagined him being ready to take his own life just to spite you and take you down with him.

What does he have in mind? You ask yourself. There is no chance in hell this isn’t part of a bigger plan because, simply, there is no way someone as smart as Ki Kwon wouldn’t think of a way for him to survive while taking down his enemies in the process.

You are a trained soldier. You were taught to value your life and protect it for as long as possible in order to accomplish your goals. But, you were also taught to make sacrifices for the sake of your mission and if you were alone, tonight, what you would be doing right now is shooting the target and kiss your life goodbye knowing you helped in making the world a better place, even if a tiny bit.

Sure, you are scared of dying, hell, you are scared of even getting caught and plenty of other things but you would still do it, for the greater good.

But tonight, you are not alone and it doesn’t matter how much you want to kill your target, it doesn’t matter who he is and what he has done and will keep on doing to innocent people unless you stop him now because Taehyung means more.

You cannot and you will not sacrifice the life of the man you love only to cut down one of the heads of the hydra.

For every Myung Ki Kwon you kill, another will rise and you all know it, even though you keep fighting in the hope that one day another head won't grow back but, is it really worth it to kill this one man at the expanse of your lover?

You decide that no, it is not worth it and in that tiny fraction of a second you hesitate, in that instant when you start to drop your weapon, something hard hits the back of your head.

You stumble forward, your vision turning into black and white dots as you try to turn around and look at your assailant.

A punch is delivered straight to your face next and then your weapon is falling from your hands and down on the floor, out of reach.

You can barely catch up your breath before a kick is sent up to your stomach, so strong it makes you cough out blood.

Myung Ki Kwon has saved the best for last, it would seem.

You had studied the file to the point you could recite every dot and comma in there and yet, in the heat of the moment, you forgot the most important detail: Myung Ki Kwon has a special bodyguard that follows him everywhere.

Another rookie mistake.

You are on the ground, blood flowing out of your mouth in big droplets, ears ringing and head spinning as you try to push yourself up and fight back the mountain before you.

His bodyguard is one of the tallest men you have ever seen, quite easily double your size in everything and he has clearly the upper hand in this fight when you have been deprived of your weapon.

“Seems like you’re all on your own, little girl,” he says, voice low and rough as he takes a step forward, ready to break your body further.

You steal a glance behind his back, your heart heavy with concern as you start to wonder where on earth your boyfriend went. He should have been here by now and the fact that he is not fills you with dread.

You take in a sharp breath and re-focus your attention on your opponent. He is big, sure, but that also means he is heavy and if you have an advantage in every one-on-one combat situations is that you are fast.

You charge forward with your bare hands trying to reach his face and as he intercepts your attack, you let your body slide down on the floor so that you can pass between his long legs.

As he spins around to catch you, you land a high kick on his chin, sending him a few inches away as he grabs onto his bone with a wince.

“You fucking bitch,” he says under his breath as he jumps forward to catch you.

Again, you are faster than him and manage to crouch down before he can grab your neck and pin you down until you cannot breathe.

You push yourself upwards and land a punch on his right cheek, splitting the skin open.

The mountain takes a step back and you take advantage of his little confusion to land a powerful kick to his abdomen.

The man coughs hard but grabs your ankle with his rough hands and with a strong pull of his arms, you are sent flying on the ground again.

You hit your head on the concrete floor and groan at the utter pain that invades your skull with the free fall.

Myung Ki Kwon’s bodyguard is on top of you in an instant, his hands tight around your neck in a bruising vice that leaves no way out for you to fight back.

"Get your hands off of her, you motherfucker," Taehyung’s voice comes from behind your back and you glance in his direction, relief spreading through your body as he appears before you looking like a guardian angel.

The first bullet out of his gun catches your opponent on the right shoulder, the second one the soft spot between his neck and clavicles and as he takes a staggering step backwards in pain, Taehyung completely empties the rounds of his gun on his upper body.

The enormous body of Myung Ki Kwon’s personal guard falls forward and lands right at your feet, the little choking sounds he emits as he suffocates on his own blood absolutely revolting. You are sure, though, that the nausea filling your stomach is not due to his gruesome death but, rather, a concussion.

Still, you push yourself on your feet again, helped by the strong and steady hands of your boyfriend.

Taehyung is staring straight at your target, his eyes not even blinking as he assesses the situation at hand.

"Careful, dear, or you'll still end up killing your lover," Ki Kwon says, his eyes teasing as he keeps glancing between the two of you and the way you appear to be a little too close for you to be just partners in crime.

Myung Ki Kwon is a brilliant man, he is extraordinary at reading people and situations and it is precisely because of these gifts that he has been able to ascend to power so quickly, so efficiently.

Such a wasted talent. He could have been so much more, something bigger and just and profitable for the society but, instead, he chose the easy way; he chose power and money and let his soul rot like everything else he touches.

And that’s why Taehyung, unlike you, doesn't hesitate for a single moment.

He lifts up his spare gun tugged behind his back, he aims at your target and then, he shoots.

Your eyes close, your body tensing as if readying itself for the inevitable blast that is out to sweep it away but then, the explosion never comes. What does come is the sound of Taehyung's voice screaming your name, urging you to run.

"We have exactly one minute and thirty seconds to get out of here."

His words have barely the time to register in your mind before he is urging you forward, grasping your hand to pull you towards him and force you to run.

Your feet are almost flying on the floor as you race against time to save your life. Everything in your body hurts and begs you to stop, lie down and just rest but you are not allowed to.

You keep moving forward, Taehyung right behind you albeit stumbling a little with wounds you have no idea how appeared on his body in the first place.

There is no time to stop and check on him, there is no time to wonder or even care. As long as you are still alive, you need to keep pushing forward.

The bomb goes off behind your backs just as you, somehow, reach the exit door of the house and for a moment it feels like you are flying up in the sky.

The force of the explosion lifts you from the ground and throws you right back on it a few seconds after. Your fall is bad and uncontrolled and you are sure you've just broken a bone or two and the desire of just giving up and surrender becomes even more potent as pain washes over your entire being.

There are tears in your eyes and blood all over your face and even inside your nose and, if it weren't for your lover right beside you, you would probably give up, lie there and just wait for the end to come your way.

But Taehyung's groan awakens you from this state and you are forced back on your feet by his strong hold.

Your bodies are battered, broken even, but you are both still alive and staring into each other’s eyes. We’ve made it through.

The thought has barely the chance to form inside your head before you hear it in the remote distance: the sound of Police cars heading your way.

"Fuck," you glance at your watch, it reads eighty-five minutes in bold, angry red digits that signal your absolute doom. Taehyung must see the panic in your eyes because he shakes his head no and takes your hand in his and forces you to start running all over again.

As your feet stomp against the loan you realize that there won’t be any extraction team waiting for you outside this hell hole and, without the concrete chance of you reaching the car you came in, there is barely any hope for the two of you to survive this night.

Taehyung must know this as well but he keeps urging you forward, he keeps pushing you over your own limit and what your poor body can sustain.

You climb back up the gate as fast as you can while keeping your eyes on the end of the road whilst the red and blue lights start to become visible in the night.

Taehyung lands a little rough on his left ankle and groans in pain but doesn’t stop for a single second. He grasps your hand and pulls you alongside him in a desperate run that feels hopeless and pointless.

Your boyfriend stops for a second and pushes you forward, forcing you to run ahead of him as he looks behind your backs.

You keep running because that is what he wants you to do and you try to ignore his heavy pants or the shouting noises behind your backs as the Policemen leave their cars behind in favour of a running chase.

Taehyung’s scream behind your back comes in the form of your name, the urgency in his tone goading your legs to move even faster, begging you to keep going and not to stop, not to even look back. But you do look back, because that is the only way you think the dread in your heart will be quenched but, instead, you are met with the most terrifying sight you could have possibly envisioned.

The bright yellow uniforms of law enforcements shine like a beacon in the night, looking quite menacing in the night with their proximity.

You can hear their voices shouting your way, you can see their guns aimed at you both as you try to flee the scene and save your asses but it is clear, despite how hard you try to deny it to yourself, that this time, there is no chance of escaping and for the first time in forever, you are utterly terrified.

One of the officers chasing you aims at your lover’s leg and without fail blows his right calf off, forcing him to stop and fall on the ground in pain.

"No!" You whip your head around and ignore the way it starts to spin immediately, too eager to reach your lover and save him—by any means necessary—to care about your own well-being.

"What are you doing?! Don’t stop, RUN!"

Taehyung yells at you, tries to push himself upwards and force you to keep on moving but you can't. He is doomed and that means you are too because there is no chance in hell you are leaving him behind.

"I'm not leaving you!"

Your hands reach for his face as the Police starts catching up with the both of you, cutting the distance too short for you to be able to save yourselves.

"What are you doing?" He asks again, tears and snot smearing all over his face as he tries to push you away, "You have to run."

"I can't," you whimper out, tears streaming down your face as well as you look into his eyes for what feels like the last time.

"Yes, you can, _______, look at me. You have to run and save yourself."

His eyes of onyx turn serious, almost cold as they stare right inside your own.

He doesn’t speak the words but you can still hear them loud and clear inside your head: if you stay now, if you don’t save yourself, I will never forgive you.

"I'll save you, baby, I swear I'll find a way to save you."

You sob and kiss his lips and rip your heart to shreds in the process as you force yourself to peel off of him and resume your desperate run to salvation.

You look back one last time as guns are aimed at your running figure while Taehyung gets handcuffed and roughly taken away.

You close your eyes and force yourself to keep running, for him.

Your breath is heavy, your legs are tired and on the verge of collapsing and you can see no hope ahead of you until you hear the gunfire all around you.

The grunts in the distance, the sound of men falling to the ground and the great numbers of bullets moving past you in all directions are the things that force your eyes to open again and re-focus on the dark street.

The sight before you seems impossible: an extraction team awaits you a few meters away, their guns taking down officers left and right.

In an instant, relief spreads through your heart and mind: you are safe.

Hoseok steps out of the vehicle, his eyes dark as they fix on you and the evident absence of your companion.

"They have Taehyung!" You cry out as you run towards him, your arms outstretched to reach him and the promise of salvation that lies between his arms.

Your step-brother runs towards you to envelop you in a tight hug that makes you cry out in pain. It has been years since you last hugged each other and it feels a little like a homecoming but you do not have the time nor the luxury to rejoice in the feeling. You have to save your lover.

"Please save him, please." Your voice quivers as you look up at him expectantly but what you find depicted on his face breaks your heart all over again.

"It's too late now, we need to get you to safety."

“What do you mean it’s too late? He’s right there, we can save him!”

Hoseok’s arms turn rough around you, pinning you down to stop you from running all the way back to your lover and get him back to base.

You scream and struggle to get out of his embrace, you kick and bite the hands of your saviours because they refuse to run and try to save Taehyung.

How can they leave him behind? No, how can he? How could you?!

Despair swallows you whole and soon after so does darkness as the sedative injected in your neck works its way inside your veins, turning you lax between Hoseok’s arms.

You try to fight the liquid sleep with all your might at first but, as it starts to anaesthetize both the pain in your body, your mind and your aching heart, you find yourself gladly embracing the peace it promises to bring.

❖ 10th May 2018, h 10:00 || Seoul, South Korea

Your eyes slowly flutter open and focus on the now-familiar white ceiling of the hospital wing of the Agency.

The splitting headache comes right after, making you grimace as it slowly arises from the back of your skull up to your forehead.

The concussion has given you barely any reprieve from the moment you had run out of Myung Ki Kwon’s house and found yourself safely tucked in aseptic white sheets.

“Hey,” a voice coming from the door catches your attention, forcing you to adjust your focus a little to the left.

Hoseok is standing there, dressed in his all-black attire as if he is about to go on a mission and you would catch on to more details in his appearance if you were to let your gaze wander on him a little bit longer. But you don’t because the sight of him repulses you, now.

Your eyes pointedly fix back on the ceiling before you, not a single word escaping your lips as he steps closer to your bed and sits on the chair right next to you. He has been visiting you every day for the past three days, even multiple times in the same day but he has always received the same treatment from your part: cold, distant.

His presence there makes Taehyung’s absence even more obvious and it makes the guilt within your heart expand every day a little more to the point you fear that is what you’ll only be able to feel in a few days. Guilt and regret.

Your body has been stuck on this bed for the last seventy-two hours and there is no way of knowing how much longer you will have to spend here, confined in this room.

A concussion, a perforated shoulder, a few broken ribs, some internal bleeding and a great number of burns and cuts all over your body are the injuries you brought back as a prize from your mission and, according to them all, you have been lucky.

Lucky sounds like a fun word when your entire world has been swept away and taken from you. Sure, you are alive but, do you have any desire of being so when he is not there?

The immobility that has been forced on you is slowly driving you insane. Your hands twitch all the time, eager to do something, anything.

Taehyung isn’t lost yet, there is still some hope and it is that hope that has made you beg for release a thousand times. Hell, you even tried to escape the bloody agency but you couldn’t make it. Not with your body like this, not with thousands of them and only one of you and especially not when it is your step-brother giving the orders around here.

Hoseok sighs next to you and brushes his fingers along yours.

You do not move, you do not even breathe to acknowledge his presence there but he can surely make out the goosebumps gathering on your skin as you force yourself not to flinch away. Even that would be giving him too much.

He doesn’t deserve your eyes on him, he doesn’t deserve your words nor your time because he is the reason why Taehyung has been caught.

He didn’t postpone the mission, he didn’t send an extraction team, he didn’t arrive on time, he didn’t save him.

Your heart grows heavy, your eyes filling with tears as his presence becomes too much for you to bear.

You used to love Hoseok with all your heart. You weren’t brothers by blood, you hadn’t been born by the same father nor the same womb and yet, you had found each other in time while living under the same roof.

For years, Hoseok had been your true companion, your best friend, the brother you had never had but always wished for.

And now, you can’t even look at him for more than a second.

In a way, Myung Ki Kwon has won. He has died but he has taken away everything from you: your family, your lover, your purpose in life.

Hoseok sighs next to you whilst retracting his hand so that he is nowhere near touching you.

Relief spreads through your body like a wave and you hate that it does but, at the same time, there is nothing you can do to change what resides in your heart.

“I’m off for a mission,” he decides to say after a while. His voice is soft, his words are careful and slightly elusive and they make your heart-rate pick up in hope because maybe, just maybe, he is going to try and save him, at last.

You slightly tilt your head to the side but still keep your eyes focused on anywhere but him.

You can feel his gaze fixed on your face and it takes all of your strength not to turn around and stare back at him.

“I’m going to do everything in my power to get him back to you, I promise.”

Your heart stirs in your chest, hope spreading through your limbs like a warm wave.

Hoseok’s promises are like diamonds: rare and precious. You know he wouldn’t dare to make an empty promise to you, especially not about Taehyung and his well-being.

You hear the sound of his clothes as he gets up, you catch onto the sigh that leaves his mouth and then you plant your eyes on his retreating figure—slumped shoulders, tense neck, nervous steps.

You lift your left-hand to your lips—the one he had brushed his fingers on—and nervously start to nip at your already-chipped nails.

You wish you could join them, you wish you could fight with claws and teeth to get your lover back but you can’t and rationally you do know it is for the best—not much you can do in the state your body was reduced to, after all—but at the same time it wrecks your heart to not be able to be there for him like he has always been there for you.

Still, you hope and confide on the efficiency of your step-brother and the team he is going to bring alongside him.

► twelve hours later

 Night has fallen and moonlight filters through the open windows at the other end of the wall.

You have been staring at them for the whole day, watching the time go by and the light shift and change until it was completely gone and replaced by a silvery hue.

Your heart has turned uneasy many hours ago, your stomach feels upset and queasy and the nervousness within your body has turned your limbs restless in the confinement of your bed.

It has been so long since Hoseok has left you this morning, so many hours and minutes have ticked by while you are stuck here, waiting.

The more it takes for him to return, the less you believe he will come back successful and that is a thought you'd rather not linger on too much because it would mean Taehyung is lost forever.

The taste of blood suddenly fills your mouth and you grimace at the sensation and the slight pain of your bottom lip splitting up, again.

You have developed this habit of biting down your lips and nails in the past few days as a form of stress-relieving when you are not allowed to do pretty much anything else.

You curse under your breath and reach for a tissue on your nightstand to stop the slight bleeding and get rid of the bitter taste in your mouth.

As you lift your gaze up again, though, your eyes meet the slumped figure of your step-brother.

His black hair has gotten longer over the past few months and now, as he hangs his head low, a few strands cover his eyes, concealing the feelings reflected in them from you.

You can see the tense line of his shoulders, you can see the way he literally drags himself in the room and in your heart, you already know.

But you rebuff the thought, you refuse to acknowledge anything until he has said something because that is how you save yourself from falling to pieces.

You decide to ignore his split lip or the dark purple halo around his left cheek, you decide to ignore the way he favours his right side as he walks into the room and you also decide to ignore how he flinches every now and then when his weight shifts to the left.

You decide to ignore all of this because if Hoseok got so hurt during a mission it can only mean it went wrong. There is no one in the agency more lethal than Jung Hoseok and there is also no one in it able to beat him or even scratch him.

Your step-brother sits in front of you as you stare at him, too scared to utter a single word or to even breathe, at this point.

He looks up at you for barely a second before shifting his gaze on the ground, unable to look at you. In twelve hours, the parts seem to have turned.

You couldn’t stomach the sight of him this morning and now, as you eagerly try to pry into his eyes, he is the one unable to face you, albeit for very different reasons.

The seconds seem to stretch into hours and the more you look at him, so defeated in his seat, the more the thought you had been trying to ignore all this time becomes prominent, impossible to push down and lock away.

“Say something,” you whisper, your voice sounding as broken as your body and heart feel.

He flinches at the sound of your voice but lifts his head up anyway and as his eyes fix on you, you know. There is no way for you to deny it any more, there is no way you can pretend not to know.

Hoseok’s eyes are filled with unshed tears and as you stare down into his irises, yours does as well.

“I’m sorry, buttercup.”

The little nickname Hoseok had given you plenty of years ago splits your heart into two uneven halves. You can’t even remember the last time he called you that, let alone inside the agency where anyone could hear it and the fact that he decided to use it now, of all times, speaks volumes of how wrong things have gone today.

“Wh-what happened?” Your voice trembles, your throat constricting with the effort to keep yourself in one piece in front of him and not just burst into tears. Not yet, you tell yourself.

“We tried... we really did, ______, but there is a reason why nobody has ever made it out...” Hoseok’s voice sounds tired, defeated and you hate it but most importantly you hate what he is going to say soon, “We couldn’t... I’m sorry.”

His eyes beg you to understand and to forgive him and truth be told, you have no idea whether you’ll ever be able of doing so. A part of you wants to because without Taehyung, Hoseok is the only person you have left but the other part of you doesn’t think it will ever be possible because he is part of the reason why you don’t have anyone else besides you any more.

“Taehyung is gone.”

The finality of his words shatters you and even though you didn’t want to cry in front of him, you do.

The tears feel hot on your face as they freely fall on your cheeks, your lips quivering as you stop yourself from screaming at him. He’d deserve it but at the same time, he doesn’t, not when he is looking so desperate himself.

“How... how much?”

You feel like you might choke on your own words but they move past your mouth and he shivers at them, closing his eyes to gulp down heavily as if saying the number out loud would cost him a limb or a vital organ.

In this world, the law doesn’t believe in long-term prison sentences nor the execution of criminals. In this world, your world, criminals are punished with time-travel. They are given a second chance in life away from everyone they ever held dear and if they fail again, they’ll meet their destiny in a different time where laws are regulated differently and no one can save them.

“Sixty-nine years.”

The scream that erupts from your mouth scratches your throat and wrenches your heart from within.

Your hands grasp Hoseok’s shirt and they push and pull his upper torso until his head is lulling back and forth and he is sobbing alongside you.

The tears you had been holding ever since this morning all come rushing down, falling to your cheeks, on your nose and down your chin.

He is gone, gone, gone. Sixty-nine years means Kim Taehuyng is probably dead by now or too old to even remember who you are. He is lost, forever and, with no hope of ever touching his face or hearing his voice you are left stranded on this earth, alone and heartbroken.

“You promised me! You promised me you’ll get him back!”

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” Hoseok’s voice is broken, barely above a whisper and you know you are wrecking him even more with your words and your actions but you don’t care because you are hurt and you want to hurt everybody else in return.

“It’s all your fault!” You scream in his face, unable to control your despair and anger.

You know those feelings are misplaced on him, they should be turned towards yourself because you messed up that night, not just Hoseok. You are the one that left him behind, you are the one that promised him you’ll get him back and didn’t. You, you, you.

Still, you focus them all on him because it’s easier to blame someone else that isn’t yourself.

“I begged you to save him and you didn’t listen to me! He was RIGHT THERE, HOSEOK, WHY? WHY DID YOU LEAVE HIM BEHIND?”

The scream makes your voice hoarse and it makes you cough as it feels like ripping your throat out from the inside.

Your chest is heaving, your breath ragged as you scratch your step-brother’s face with your nails, as you punch him in the chest and push him away from you inch after inch.

He lets you do this to him, he lets you hate him and push all of your rage out until there’s nothing left. He lets you because he feels like you are right, he feels like it is all of his fault and it is not true but, in the end, we all believe what we want to and Hoseok would rather you’d blame him for everything rather than yourself.

So he takes it all, silently, and when you can’t go any longer, when your body gets too tired and you turn slump between his arms, he hugs you tight to his chest and lies down on the hospital bed with you.

He is there when the doctors come and sedate you to calm the wheezing breaths and the erratic beating of your heart, he is there whilst liquid sleep takes you again and he is there when you finally drift off to a far better place where Kim Taehyung is still alive and well and holding you tight in his embrace.

❖ 21th June 2019, h 22:14 || Seoul, South Korea

The reflection in the mirror is both familiar and foreign to you as you peer into your own eyes, as you study the tight line of your lips and the sharp curve of your jawline.

Your hair is loose in small waves that fall right above your shoulders—far shorter than it used to be—and it frames the face of a girl that feels like you but, at the same time, that doesn’t.

Your attire is one you have worn many times before: black pants, black t-shirt, black boots and black gloves.

Today is your first day back on the field and your heart is already beating fast in your chest at the prospect of being out there once more, even though you plan it to be the conclusion of your career as an assassin and not a new beginning.

You can’t help but let your mind go back to the last time you prepared yourself before a mission. You looked at this very mirror one year ago as well, you studied your appearance to make sure everything was perfectly in place and, when your boyfriend entered the room, you smile at him before grabbing your jacket to leave.

This time, a quick little knock on your door is what awakes you from your daze and as you turn around whilst the door opens shortly after, you are not met with the kind gaze of Taehyung but by the lean figure of your new partner.

Jeon Jeongguk—former Marine and highly experienced in this field despite his young age, has been with you for the past six months.

He was scouted by the Agency when you were still stuck in a bed in the hospital wing and you got to know him only a few months after his arrival, albeit his fame preceded him.

When you were still recovering and in desperate need of a new partner, he was the one that volunteered to be assigned to you even though it wasn’t going to be really beneficial for him. In fact, within the Agency, there were only a few people that were willing to work with you and, truthfully, you couldn’t blame those that wouldn’t.

Jeon Jeongguk easily became your anchor in the past few months. He was kind and patient and he helped you get back on your own two feet in more ways than one.

He is also the one that has trained you rigorously for the past six months in order to help you to become better, stronger.

His doe-like eyes fix on you and you fore a smile to spread on your lips as you fully turn towards him. You offer him a little nod as an answer to the silent question shining in his eyes.

“I’m ready.” Your voice doesn’t betray a single hint of hesitation nor fear and surely not nervousness but you do feel all of those, within your heart. In the past six months, you have also become a master at concealing your true feelings, your most intimate thoughts and you also learned how to embellish them under false pretences and pretty lies.

Your heart has been roughly mended a great number of times at this point but, there is no point in hiding to your own self that you are not the same person you use to be and that you probably will never be, at least not until you have him by your side again.

Jeongguk smiles down at you showing the tip of his teeth whilst he tilts his head a little to the side, encouraging you to walk to the door and leave the safety of your room.

You follow him with eager steps that could be quite easily be mistaken for giddiness over your return on the field but that are, in fact, prompted by the fact that you were finally given an opportunity to change everything. Tonight, it’s your first and only opportunity to get back to your lover and you sure as hell won’t let it slide between your fingers.

You know Hoseok has been rather hesitant about sending you back on the field once again but,  you have played your part well and every psychologist in the agency has assured him that you are ready. And you are, but not for what they all think you are.

You can sense his onyx gaze following you as you climb up the stairs that lead to the outside world and for a second, you almost turn around to greet him but, in the end, you decide not to.

There is this fear in your heart that one look at you will show him all the little lies hidden inside your eyes. You’re scared he’ll be able to catch the hint of deception hiding in there, your true intentions for tonight’s mission and it’s a chance you cannot take, not tonight.

With deep regret over the missed opportunity to talk to your step-brother for the last time, you follow your partner to your ride for the night and silently climb inside the vehicle, your insides twitching with the deep sense of deja-vu that overcomes you as that fateful night comes to your mind once more.

Jeongguk steals a glance your way after you depart from the Agency and you scoff at his over-protective gaze and evident concern.

The sound that leaves your mouth makes a smile appear on his own and you feel your heart warming up at the sight.

Jeon Jeongguk is not only your trainer or partner on the field, no, in the past few months he has easily turned into your confidant, your best friend and he has made it possible for your heart to feel something other than despair when you thought it wasn’t possible.

You care about Jeongguk, hell, you love him just like you love Hoseok and the thought of betraying them both tonight makes your smile falter a little.

The drive to your destination is pretty silent but it is not that awkward silence you always wish to fill with something, it’s rather a comfortable one and it helps to steady the rampant beating of your heart as you run through the details of your plan once more.

Tonight’s mission is pretty easy and you have no doubt in your mind you’ll be able to finish your last job effortlessly, especially with Jeongguk on your side.

You have studied the file to perfection even though it was evidently the easiest mission Hoseok could find for you. Still, you applied yourself for all of them, but especially for Jeongguk’s sake.

You are going to betray all of them, sure, but you’ll still make sure they all remain safe despite your own choices.

The target you are going to terminate tonight is someone you could have taken down on your own even a few years back when you were just starting in the field but, tonight you have a partner next to you and an extraction team set up there for you two when it’s over.

It is an inconvenience to have this many people around tonight of all nights but, truthfully, you cannot blame your step-brother in the slightest. He has almost lost you in more ways than one and, evidently, he is not going to take any more chances when it comes down to your safety.

The car comes to a halt in front of an anonymous complex building and your insides churn uncomfortably as you are so quickly faced with the execution of your plan.

Whether you’ll pull it off or not, everything changes tonight.

You drop your gaze to the watch at your wrist, the flashing white digits telling you it’s currently fourteen minutes past ten and, in about six minutes, your mission will begin.

You sigh out loud without meaning to and the sound draws Jeongguk’s attentive eyes back on you.

“Nervous?” He inquires, tilting his head a little to the side before flashing you with one of his cute smiles.

Despite everything, you will miss Jeon Jeongguk and his adorable antics.

The thought makes you squirm a little in your seat and you are forced to look away from him before you give away too much of what you are thinking. After all, Jeongguk is just as much of an assassin as you are and reading people is something he had to master to become as good as he is now.

“A little, yeah,” you decide to reply, your answer not being that far off the mark, albeit it being for a very different reason than the one he is thinking about.

Jeongguk hums a little, his eyes drifting off to the end of the street as he gets lost in his own thoughts.

“I mean, I don’t blame you,” he says after a while, shifting his gaze back on you as you lift your own to meet his doe-like eyes, “But you got me, remember?” He gives you one of those cheesy smiles that makes your eyes roll up to the ceiling and a smile spread on your lips.

“Guess I do, don’t I?”

“Hey, what is that supposed to mean?” He asks whilst lightly nudging you with his shoulder.

Jeon Jeongguk, the only man on Earth able to make you laugh after everything you have been through. The giggles erupt from your mouth with you having absolutely no control over them and his eyes light up in response, shining with something you can only describe as adoration. This is something you have only recently picked up on: the way Jeongguk looks at you and what it could potentially mean.

The sight, then, no matter how endearing, fills your stomach with guilt. You will have to betray this boy tonight. Of all people, you will have to hurt the one that helped you building yourself up in the past few months and if you could do it any other way, you would. But you have no choice.

So, in order to protect yourself, your own heart and your choices, you force yourself to slip into your new character, to let the mask fall on your face and play the part to perfection.

When the clock strikes twenty minutes after ten, you step out of the car with Jeongguk standing right next to you.

Your eyes do not betray any hint of doubt or fear—albeit you feeling both of them within your heart—and as he steps forward to lead you to the vacant-looking apartment complex, you commit your betrayal.

Your finger hovers in doubt for only a mere second over the left button on your wristwatch but, before you can actually talk yourself out of it, you press it down and send the alert to the law enforcement, heart beating rampant in your chest.

The once white digits on your watch turn an angry red but this time, they are not a scary sight, this time they signal hope for a different future—or past, you suppose.

Ten minutes, that’s how long you have to eliminate the target and help Jeongguk escape without you. As for you, you will wait for the Police with your arms spread wide.

In a world where criminals are sent in the past and you were forced to part ways with your lover there is only one option left: get caught.

► ten minutes later

 Jeongguk’s legs are moving fast in front of you, his quick steps leading the way out of the building and into the seemingly empty street.

As expected, your mission was carried out with outstanding ease—your target was silently terminated and nobody within the complex area has noticed anything.

On any other night, you would consider this mission to have been extremely successful.

Jeongguk’s steps are light against the pavement and as you follow suit, your heart starts feeling heavier knowing any second now, they will show up.

Just like that night more than a year ago, what alerts you is the sound of the sirens approaching your general position and the shifting in light in the night as the Police cars tint the surrounding buildings in red and blue hues.

Jeongguk turns towards you, his eyes big as saucers and filled with a panic that you thought you’ll never see reflected in them.

“Shit,” he mutters under his breath before taking your hand to pull you forward and force you to run even faster.

He probably can’t believe what is happening tonight, not after everything ran so smoothly and especially not now, of all times, when you are finally back on the field.

Of course, he has no idea you are the cause of all of this and, really, how could he?

You follow him without uttering a single word until you are right in the middle of the street, aiming for the little turn on the left at the end of it where you know your extraction team is waiting for you.

As you pass a lamplight and you are sure you’re perfectly visible in the night, you stop.

There are a few things you’ll never forget and one of those is the panicked and questioning look on Jeongguk’s face as he turns towards you.

“What are you doing?” He asks, his voice a little higher than usual as he tugs on your hand to encourage you to move forward and keep running to safety with him.

You plant your two feet on the ground and shake your head ‘no’ a little.

You can see the confusion in his eyes and the apprehension swimming in those black irises as he turns his whole body towards you.

“Hey, it’s ok, we still have time to escape. But we’ve got to go, now.”

You force your hand out of his grasp and shake your head again, unable to push out the words you rehearsed in your mind a thousand times.

You watch his eyebrows knot together in bewilderment, you notice the way he nervously licks his lips as he grabs your shoulders with his hands, giving you a little shake as if to wake you from a daze.

Of course, he can’t even fathom the grandness of your betrayal right now and how could he, when you showed him not a single hint about you being capable of doing this to him?

“Talk to me, ________, what is going on in your head right now?”

Maybe he thinks you are re-living that fateful night and are now too scared to keep on going, afraid that story will repeat itself. Or maybe he just thinks you have gone mad and finally reached the point of no return. Still, he tries to understand, he tries to help you and you wish he would just leave you there and not be so nice for once, just this one time.

And maybe you are crazy, maybe there is no turning back at this point but in your heart you know, this was your only option all along.

“I’m not coming.” You finally say as the volume of the sirens turns louder in your ears, signalling the Police’s imminent arrival.

“What do you mean you’re not coming?!”

He lightly shakes you again, dread twisting his features as he tries to pull you towards him and finally get you to start running before it’s too late.

“Go, Jeongguk.”

You watch realization spark up on his features, his eyebrows shooting upwards and his mouth falling agape as all the pieces of the puzzle finally connect inside his mind.

“You called them,” he whispers, his voice so small it does nothing to conceal his shock nor how hard it is for him to actually believe you would do this. His eyes look at you as if they are seeing you for the very first time and maybe they are, after all, what you have been showing to him all of this time was someone you are not, not any more at least.

“I’m sorry... I had to.” Your voice is weak, your excuse pathetic but you still offer it to him like an olive branch hoping it will be enough to soothe his heart and help him move forward.

“Are you fucking crazy? What do you think will happen even if you get caught?! ”

Fear propels him forward and turns him rough as he grabs your wrist and yanks you forward, forcing you to take a few steps towards the end of the street just as the Police cars turn around the corner, facing your backs in the distance.

“Please, Jeongguk, leave.”

You try to force his hand to release your arm but it only turns his grasp rougher on your already bruising skin.

“I’m not leaving you!”

The heart you had tried so hard to mend in those few months together with him absolutely shatters at his words. The sense of deja-vu leaves you breathless, it gathers goosebumps on your skin and makes your head spin whilst absolute guilt spreads within you like a wave.

“I can’t keep living like this, Jeongguk, please.”

Your eyes swell up with tears, your bottom lip starts trembling and you gaze into his eyes with a pleading look that makes him shake his head and turns his eyes glossy with tears.

“What about me, then? What am I supposed to do?”

Jeongguk’s bottom lip trembles just like your own and it is then that you realize you may have underestimated the depth of his feelings for you.

Yes, you had an inkling he rather fancied you and maybe you had encouraged him by never addressing it but at the same time, the doubt of him feeling something stronger than that had never crossed your mind before now.

The desperate gaze that he fixes on you, the way his body tenses at the prospect of leaving you and the way he is crying right now as he struggles to decide what to do with both you and himself are all very familiar. Because you have felt the exact same way, a little over a year ago.

It is clear as day now that Jeongguk, somewhere down the line, has fallen in love with you.

Maybe if you and Jeongguk had met in another life, or maybe if you had known him before Taehyung then, maybe you’ll be able to feel the same about him.

But destiny has made you meet Taehyung years before him and you have fallen hopelessly in love with him and it doesn’t matter how much you may try to overcome it or to deny it, you know in your heart there will never be a place for someone else. Not now, not even in a hundred years.

“You are supposed to move on and find someone better.”

Jeongguk shakes his head vigorously, a sob erupting from his trembling mouth as both of his hands grab your face, his eyes turning pleading as they gaze into yours.

“I don’t want someone better, I want you.”

You close your eyes as you exhale loudly to try and steady yourself. This hurts so much and you’ll never overcome the hatred you feel for yourself for doing this to someone so precious and kind like Jeongguk.

He deserved better from the very beginning but you have been selfish enough to use him all this time, even without realising it.

You lift the hand that was holding your gun all of this time and with a sinking heart, you lift it to his head.

“Don’t make me do it, please.”

He shakes his head a little in bewilderment, his eyes big and terrified by the person they are staring at right now because to him, this is not you at all.

“I’m sorry, Jeongguk,” your voice trembles as you sniffle loudly, “I really am sorry but I love him,” you shake your head a little because you truly are hopeless at this point and you have no will to try and repress your own feelings any longer, “ I will always love him.”

Jeongguk stops breathing for a few seconds, his eyes closing as he takes it all in: his confession, the rejection, your weapon aimed at him and your decision to try and go back in time to find Taehyung.

A shaky breath comes out of his parted mouth as he forces himself to let go of you and take a few steps back.

Tears are falling in big droplets on both of your cheeks as he slowly steps backwards, defeat painted all over his features.

“I hope you’ll find him and you’ll live a happy life together.”

His voice is strained but you know he truly means it because that is who Jeongguk is. Someone so kind and gentle it’s a wonder he’s actually considered a deadly weapon within the Agency.

You force yourself to smile for him one last time and nod your head yes a few times.

“Leave happily, too, Jeongguk and thank you for everything.”

Jeongguk offers you a small nod before diverting his gaze towards the Police-men running out of their cars with their weapons out, ready to shoot you down at any given opportunity.

“Tell Hoseok that I’m sorry and that I love him.”

Jeongguk nods his head again and then he closes his eyes and turns around, forcing himself again to let go of you and think about his safety now.

You watch him go with tears smearing all over your face and neck and when he is almost out of sight, you drop your weapon on the ground and lift your hands up in surrender.

Your heart feels like a hummingbird inside your ribcage as the Police-men finally approach you, guns aimed at you from all angles whilst one of them roughly handcuffs your hands behind your back.

❖ 25th June 2019, h 15:00 || Seoul, South Korea

 Time has always played a big part in your life. In fact, for most of your adulthood, time has been essential.

Now, held in a cold and bare prison cell for the first time in what feels like forever, you’re starting to lose all knowledge of time and how it flows and ticks by to the point in your mind, it’s all turning into a big blur of now and then.

Meals are brought to you in a seemingly precise pattern that allows you to guess what part of the day it is and a semblance of night time is also given by the lights turning off at a very specific hour—whichever that might be.

You often find yourself glancing down at your wrist where your watch used to be out of pure habit. A sigh escapes your mouth each time you are met with the sight of your own skin and not the comforting digits you were seeking.

The silence and loneliness of your confinement prove to be truly unnerving and slowly driving you absolutely insane.

With nobody to talk to and nothing to do, you can’t stop your mind from drifting off and imagine Taehyung in this very situation. You can almost see him before you in the ugly orange outfit, lying on the bed with his eyes fixed on the ceiling as he struggles to recover from his injuries and the thought of leaving you behind.

You also think about Jeongguk a lot. You apparently like the most to indulge in the sorrowful memory of his pained look as he forced himself to turn his back on you and run to safety.

One thing you try not to think about too much, though, is Hoseok and how he may be trying to cope with your absence.

There are a great number of scenarios possible you’d rather not indulge in, the most prominent one being him trying to break you out of prison, like he tried to do with Taehyung, even though he knows it’s basically impossible.

There is a tiny part of you that fears he’ll not only try but also succeed in his endeavour. Of course, the biggest part of you is more preoccupied with him getting himself hurt to the point of no return in the attempt to save you from the path you chose for yourself.

All these thoughts have nowhere to go except run around your head, mixing together, overlapping each other to the point you sometimes have a hard time distinguishing what is real and what is only a fragment of your own imaginations.

After all, this is what you are made to do in a place like this: think, think, think.

Nights—or their rendition of them, at least—do not pass by easily as well because more than often, sleep escapes you.

When you close your eyes you can’t help but picture Taehyung’s face or Jeongguk’s and, honestly, you have a hard time deciding which one is worse. What you know, though, is that your heart breaks a little more every single time and that is why for the past few days—assuming it has been multiple, that is—you have given up on sleep altogether in favour of a silent wait for your eleventh hour.

You can’t always hide your nervousness well; your body jerks every now and then, your legs relentlessly move up and down to alleviate some of the stress you feel clutching your insides, your lips often nip at the tender skin around your nails.

When the door opens again for the third time today, you almost jump from your seat and rush to the guard to ask him the millions of questions swirling in your mind.

You do nothing of the sort, though, as your gaze fixes on his stern one and the tight line of his lips.

You do try to pry into his eyes and catch a hint of something in them, literally anything that could give away a little something but you are met with the same old cold stare.

It feels like a little bit too early for it to be dinner already but then again, time has been slipping through your fingers more and more with each passing hour so who knows, maybe you have already lost the ability to discern it through the tight schedule of the prison.

“Get up,” the gruff tone of the guard’s voice almost makes you flinch, forcefully peeling you off from your own thoughts.

His stance is more intimidating than usual today, his features twisted in a little smirk that dare you to even slightly question his authority so he can have a little fun with you.

The thing is, you are not being held against your will right now, hell, you surrendered yourself to them and that means you have no reason to talk back or disobey their orders.

You get up on your own two feet and let him handcuff your hands behind your back without uttering a single word.

He pulls you out of the prison cell and you follow him diligently as he quickly crosses hall after hall of this seemingly infinite maze of white walls.

There isn’t much to see, really, but you still scan your surroundings eagerly, almost excited for the change of scenarios.

Your eyes actually lit up as for the first time in days—how many could have passed? A couple, a whole week? No idea—you see a clock hanging on a wall.

The ticking hands of the clock inform you it is three sharp, whether that is AM or PM you have absolutely no chance of knowing just yet but you would guess for it to be in the afternoon, just out of logic and intuition.

The walk to your destination—wherever that may be—is pretty silent and it doesn’t help your mind from slowing down on the reeling thoughts at all.

All the things you’d want to ask and inquire about get stuck on the tip of your tongue but, every time you lift your gaze to the huge back of your guard you are reminded that questions are not well perceived here.

At the end of yet another long corridor, you spot a couple of guards waiting for the two of you, each one of them at one side of the big door you came through for the very first time a great number of hours ago—at least sensation wise.

Your heart absolutely leaps in your chest as a new sudden thought creeps up in your mind. This is it, this is the day.

The three guards tower over you, covering every corner of your body except for your back as you are escorted to the trial room.

You have never seen one of those rooms before, except for photos on-line that did not make it any justice.

The white polished room is round and bigger than you anticipated, the ceiling is tall and spherical with a glass at the very top to let the light flood in and illuminate the whole ambient.

If this weren’t an “execution” chamber, you would actually deem it as lovely and warm-looking.

As you move past the door you feel the eyes of the judges and the few civilians present there close in on you, studying you as you slowly walk to the centre of the room.

The first guard that came to fetch you forces you on the elevated seat positioned there, right under the glass you saw while coming in.

In this position, you are now able to look everyone present here today right in the eyes.

As you stare at them you notice some of them squirm in their seats as if uncomfortable under your scrutiny, you also see some of them looking at you with hatred in their gazes as if you were the lowest scum of the Earth, the worst criminal they could think of.

It is laughable when you think about it.

Sure, you are not an innocent soul, far from it actually since you have killed so many men and women in your life but those lives you took, they were taken for a purpose and yes, the means to an end do not always make it right but in your world, you either seek justice for yourself and try to help the whole world by damning your soul or you let the criminals have their way with thousands of innocent lives.

So, even though the many eyes looking at you now as if you are as bad as any other serial killer or the criminals you have killed puts a bitter taste in your mouth, you’d still chose this path for yourself. Yes, even though that would mean losing Taehyung all over again and get yourself caught just to try and find him in the distant past.

Your resolve wavers a little though when you see them. A chocolate and a onyx gaze are fixed on you, a mixture of emotions swirling inside those familiars irises filled with unshed tears.

You didn’t notice them at first but now that you have, you simply cannot look away, hell, you even find blinking a hard task when you all know these right here are the last minutes you’ll spend together, forever.

Hoseok and Jeongguk are standing right at the very end of the room on each side of the exit door as if ready to bolt out at any given moment. And maybe, that’s precisely the case.

Your heart flutters in your chest with a great number of different emotions: sadness, fear, guilt, regret—all of them rise and rise and menace to choke you with their power.

Your eyes swell with tears and you find yourself shaking your head a little, a pleading look plastered all over your face because what if, what if they are here to save you and not to say goodbye? You can’t go back, you won’t.

Please don’t try to break me out, please. You repeat these words in your head like a mantra as if they were even able to hear them.

Jeongguk’s eyes are the ones that leave your face first, his bottom lip trapped under his teeth as he struggles not to break down right in the middle of the room.

You let out a strangled sob and divert your gaze from your brother to the judge in front of you, eager for the trial to begin and put an end to all of your miseries—or at least a part of them.

Your ears try to catch onto any abnormal sound that could come from within the room or even right outside of it as chaos ensues but nothing of the sort happens for a very long while.

You barely hear the judges talk and list all the crimes you are being accused of, you barely register the little coughs and snorts from the civilians watching this live because all of your attention is focused on the two dear people you are going to leave behind soon.

Their shoulders are slumped, their lips trembling a little and their cheeks are wet from all the tears they couldn’t choke down any longer.

You know at this moment that they have accepted it, that they are here to see you one last time before you go and that they won’t fight for you but rather root for you.

You mouth the words ‘thank you’ and ‘I love you’ and you force a smile to grace your lips for them, to give them both a somewhat happy last memory of you.

A cold metal basket is suddenly placed on the top of your head, the contact making you shiver and move your gaze towards the guard right next to you.

You realise now you have no idea how these things actually work and despite yourself, your heart spikes up in your chest with the fear of the unknown.

A few straps are fastened around your torso and your legs are pinned to the chair with handcuffs similar to the ones binding your hands.

You are told to open your mouth and you do so, confusion making your eyebrows knit together as you silently ask for an explanation. Of course, you aren’t given a verbal response yet again but a mouthguard is placed between your parted lips and you instinctively bite it down with your teeth, assuming it is to protect yourself from biting down your tongue.

If you didn’t know any better, you would actually think you’re about to be electrocuted in front of everyone present.

“Jung ________,” the judge says, making your gaze shift up to him so you can meet his cold stare, “You are hereby sentenced to go 69 years in the past.”

You exhale loudly, your heart beating like a hummingbird between your ribs as you realize you’ll be sent back an entire year after Taehyung’s arrival.

Fear and doubt clutch your soul as you start to realize this journey will probably be harder than you first envisioned.

There is no place for doubts though, especially not now that the “executioner” has started the machine that will teleport you back into the past.

You feel a surge of energy coursing through your body and you shiver at the weird sensation. Your heart feels like a heavy stone in your throat and you feel your breath getting shorter and you can’t tell whether that is panic shooting through you or the effect of what is being done to you.

You hear a strangled call of your name and you are forced to fix your gaze on Hoseok and Jeongguk again knowing it is indeed your very last time seeing both of their faces.

Your brother has a firm grip around the chest of your best friend, pulling him towards him and the exit door to stop him from making a mistake he’ll pay with his life.

Jeongguk is crying and reaching his hand out for you, his entire face twisted into one of pain and dread over your depart.

You would reach for him too if you could, you would caress his cheek and tell him that everything is going to be okay, that he will overcome all of this but you can’t.

Even your words get stuck in your throat as a bolt suddenly blinds you and twists your body in all directions, almost eliciting a painful scream out of you.

You didn’t think time travel would hurt this much but it does. It feels like every little cell you are made of is being blown and then recreated with a different form and function. It feels like being ripped apart and built again, but all in the wrong order.

You hear a muffled scream and realise it is your own, blocked by the mouthguard still safely tucked in your mouth.

You catch a glimpse of Hoseok’s face as he cries his heart out and of Jeongguk’s desperate eyes as he falls on his knees realising it is too late to do anything now.

With that last image imprinted in your brain, you close your eyes on the present day.

❖ 25th June 1950 || Seoul, South Korea

The pain stops altogether, disappearing as quickly as it came and all at once. For a second, you keep your eyes close to catch your breath, feeling almost as if you imagined all of this happening and once you dare to look at your surroundings again you'll find yourself still stuck in a prison cell.

Can pain so vivid be imagined, you ask yourself.

The distinct sound of a horn is what prompts you to finally open your eyes and take in what is all around you.

The street before you is busy with cars you would deem ancient in the present time but that shine like new gorgeous pieces here, in what you assume to be the past.

You jump back as the man behind the wheel yells at you to get the hell out of his way and you bow in apology as he stares at you.

Well, he isn't the only person staring at you right about now and you quickly realise that with your neon orange prison uniform you must be shining like a beacon in the night.

The desire to blend in and disappear between this mass of people is what forces you to move and start walking, in which direction well, that is up to luck, apparently.

You know you must still be in Seoul but there aren't any clues around to confirm your theory nor somebody you could ask it to. At least not with you looking like this.

What you want to do now is make sure nobody looks at you for too long and, most importantly, that nobody decides to report you for whatever reason and send you straight into a Police station once more.

As you walk through the unfamiliar streets—your teeth torturing the poor skin around your nails out of habit and nervousness—you scan your surroundings in search of hints that could tell you where, or rather when, exactly are you.

The year is 1950 and if math didn't help you in guessing it, surely the women walking beside you would have.

Some still sport the classic Hanbok look while others look more up to par with the occidental fashion, albeit them being in the smallest percentage, at least around this area.

History has never been your forte so it is not a big surprise that you cannot remember a single event from this year that may help you in finding out the date and also give you a tiny lead towards Taehyung's whereabouts.

As more and more time passes though, you realise that looking for someone in an age where smartphones and internet do not exist equals to searching for a needle in a haystack.

When you formed your plan in your head you hadn't really thought about the after and as you keep walking around having no idea where to go or what to do, you realise that finding him—if even possible—amongst twenty-something million people will be way harder than you initially envisioned.

You stop on your tracks and force yourself to breathe in and not panic already.

You close your eyes and take a deep breath to steady both your heart and mind, applying what you have been taught at the Agency even in this switch of scenario.

When you feel like you have significantly calmed down you decide to put on pause the thought of Taehyung and how to find him because realistically speaking, there are a few things more vital than that right now.

First: blend in with the people around you.

You scan your surroundings in search of a clothing shop and find one right across the street and even though the thought of crossing it scares you—because let's face it, there is nowhere to hide or conceal yourself out there—you still force yourself to face the dread and get it over with.

The shop appears to be closed and you wonder why when it's still broad daylight outside but, in this case, it works in your absolute favour.

You look around the building in search of a back door or even a back window you can force open to help yourself in and, after a few minutes of attentive search, you find something that will work perfectly fine.

There is a tiny window on the wall that faces the side road and you assume it to be either the bathroom's one or the dressing room's one—not that it would make that much of a difference.

You look around a couple of times to make sure nobody is watching and when you are absolutely sure no prying eyes are fixed on you, you break the tiny window with a single hit and climb up the wall to force yourself in.

In your life, you have done many despicable things in order to take down your targets and you try to brush off the sense of guilt over trespassing and stealing from some innocent man by thinking of this as another one of your missions.

It doesn't help as much as you'd want it to but, without a single Won in your pockets, this is your only option.

You look around the shop and take in the great number of dresses and their different styles at your disposal.

Though you would love to put on one of the more modern dresses simply because it would feel a little bit more familiar, you quickly decide that a more traditional attire would surely draw less attention on when out in the open.

With a sigh you reach out for the first Hanbok you can find and quickly slip out of your prison clothes with a sigh of relief.

The fabric of the Hanbok feels soft between your fingers and it makes you realize you have no idea when was the last time you even wore one of these. Probably when you were still a kid and both of your parents were still alive.

The thought of them brings back memories of Hoseok and your first years together and those reruns draw a shaky breath out of your mouth.

You shake your head ‘no’ a couple of times to push them all out of your head and keep moving forward. You do not have the luxury of dwelling in distant memories you cannot reach nor change.

Without any more hesitations, you fasten the burgundy Chima at your waist, tightening at the best of your abilities while standing in front of the mirror.

The Jegori paired with it is of a beautiful anthracite grey, the collar lightly decorated with strings of burgundy to match the skirt whilst the sleeves are adorned with rose’s design of a darker and almost black colour. The design is simple but very elegant, giving it a refined touch that makes you feel like a princess after staying in those prison clothes for so long.

The image reflected in the mirror is almost of someone you do not recognise. You feel like a new person and you even look like one with no make-up on your face, your hair cut shorter than they used to and not a single sign of the fierceness that once used to inhabit in your eyes.

You sigh out loud and force yourself to stop looking at your own reflection in favour of your new task: find a pair of shoes that is actually comfortable to walk around in.

You are used to the comfort of running shoes or sneakers and there is no chance in hell you’ll find something as soft and comfortable as those here but, in the end you opt for a traditional looking pair of shoes that have no heel and seem at least fit for a little run, if necessary.

The next problem you need to face is your hair. When you cut it a few months ago you did it because you needed a change, you needed to look different since you felt so not like yourself on the inside. Surely, you hadn’t thought of needing them now to blend in with the rest of the civilians.

You do your best to tie them up in a semblance of a bun and decide that this will have to do even though it is not perfect. It’s not like you have that much of a choice anyway.

You stop to ponder a little whether it would be possible for you to climb back up the wall and exit through the window you came in through while dressed like this and you decide that no, that doesn’t seem plausible in the slightest.

With no other option available, you walk to the door to study the lock and figure out how to force it open.

The thing about doors is that they improved over the years and locks have become harder and harder to pry open. In this case, though, time appears to be your friend because cracking the door open proves to be far easier than it was to climb inside in the first place.

You try to look as casual as you possibly can while you exit the shop and you exhale loudly when you realise no one is actually looking at you, not anymore at least.

You resume your walk through the streets with your next goal in mind: find out what day is it today.

Your eyes look around eagerly, studying your surroundings with new-found curiosity and as you move past a couple of shops and restaurant you start noticing a somewhat disheartening detail. Everything appears to be closed.

You wonder why all of the public places would be locked down in the middle of the day—if the sun up in the sky is anything to go by.

You stop on your tracks and look around with a pout, finally noticing how the streets are getting quieter and quieter the more time passes.

With your eyebrows knotted together, you decide to approach a woman hastily walking in your general direction and looking as if about to break into an actual run.

"Uhm, excuse me?"

The woman looks at you with a cold stare that makes you retreat the hand you had moved forward to make her notice you.

"I was wondering if you know why everything is closed around here," your voice is small and your skin hot to the touch as you pose your question. You have never truly been the extreme shy type but there is something about the way this woman looks you up and down that makes you doubt everything about yourself.

"Are you daft?" She exclaims, her eyebrows rising as if she can't believe the ridiculousness of your question, "Who would want to go around on a day like this?"

You tilt your head to the side a little, confusion written all over your features as you try to remember any important event happening during this year.

"Haven't you heard the news, child?!" The woman before you clutches her heart and looks at you as if you were an actual kid and she couldn't believe she had to be the one delivering bad news to an innocent soul.

"I'm afraid not," you reply in uncertainty, your voice barely above a whisper.

"The War has started, baby girl."

The words feel like heavy stones on your shoulders as she deadpans the news to you. Of fucking course, how could you even forget something so important?

Today is June 25th and it is the start of the conflict between North Korea and South Korea and you are right in the middle of it.

You feel panic surging through your body as you start to realize what this means for you. Finding Taehyung was already difficult but finding him in a country that is about to go to war? Suddenly, it feels hopeless and impossible.

Your despair and doubt must be written all over your face because the elderly woman shoots you an apologetic smile before excusing herself and rush along like everybody else around you.

You don't realise you have started walking until you find yourself in the middle of a park, having no idea how you got there in the first place.

It is dusk already and you still haven't figured out how you will spend the night in this foreign place without a single Won to offer in return for hospitality.

When night falls and it seems impossible to keep moving around with not a single clue of where you are supposed to go, you find yourself looking for a shelter for the nighttime.

You are about to lose all hope and simply crawl in a ball at the side of the street when you stumble upon an evidently abandoned building.

You look up at the broken glasses of the windows, the decadence of the walls and the ajar doors on the side road.

With reluctance, you enter the building and choose an empty room for yourself, favouring the proximity of the window over the door.

In this position, you can benefit from both the fresh air of the night and a vantage point in case any visitors decide to show up during the night.

You hug your legs to your chest and stare at the empty corridor ahead, your heart beating fast in your chest as your body starts to relax and the adrenaline dies down leaving only fear and despair behind.

You wish you had thought more about what you were going to find in the past, you wish you had made a better plan to find Taehyung than simply be sent here and deal with the rest once you were stuck in the past.

A part of you wishes you could take back everything but you know, you would have never been able to move on with your if life you didn't do this for both yourself and Taehyung.

You had promised him to not leave him behind, you had promised to get him back and you failed at both of them so it only seemed logical you had to sacrifice yourself in order to be with him.

Now that you are here, though, the thought of never finding him is stuck in your brain and makes you squirm on the floor in anguish.

Tonight, resting in an empty room in a foreign city with not a single soul to turn to, you cry yourself to sleep feeling like you may have made the biggest mistake of your entire life.

❖ 12th September 1950 || Busan, South Korea

  The sound of waves hitting the shores and the smell of salt filling the air make you relax as you stare at the expanse of the sea.

You breathe in as much air as you possibly can and exhale loudly with your eyes firmly closed.

Your body is tired after a long day at work but your mind is even more distraught and your surroundings have nothing to do with it.

A little less than three months have passed since your arrival here in the past and you are as close to finding Taehyung as you were on that very first day.

The thought nullifies the calming benefits of the sea altogether and you find yourself struggling to keep the tears at bay. It feels like that is what you have been doing all this time when you are alone and you have nothing better to do than to think and indulge in your own misery.

You turn your back on the sea with a sigh, dragging your limbs to the busy street so that you can return to your accommodation.

You have been in Busan for a couple of weeks now, following the troops here to keep helping with the wounded. You haven't studied medicine in the future nor here in the past but you are quite accustomed to wounds and how to treat them on the spot and, honestly speaking, voluntary work is what is keeping the army going in this dire times.

The North Korean army has conquered Seoul a few days after you arrived here in the past and slowly but steadily, you have been pushed here in Busan alongside with the army as they kept losing territory inch by inch.

Of course, you already know how the War will end but there is still no way of telling whether you'll make it out alive or not by the time the US military comes at your rescue in the south. You are crossing the street with your eyes fixed on the ground and a nail between your teeth as you nibble on it when you hear it. A voice as deep as the ocean, a little chuckle that, in a way, resembles the one of a kid.

Your heart skips a beat as you lift your gaze, hope filling your whole body to the point it feels like it may burst before you even get the chance to make sure it is actually him.

A few meters away from you stands a tall young man. He is dressed as a soldier: a light green uniform, a hat atop his head and black boots at his feet.

His jawline is sharp and manly and you can barely see the tip of his round nose but everything inside you tells you it's him, it has to be.

He starts to walk towards the camp after greeting the young woman he was talking to when you first heard his voice and you follow suit, your steps fast against the bitumen.

Your heart is heavy with doubt—what if it's not him or what if it is him but he has moved on? What if he has forgotten all about you in this year you spent apart? What if he has a new partner now and he is no longer in love with you?

All those questions do not stop your hasty steps at all because even if all of them are true, you just need to see him, to look into his eyes and hear his voice again.

He turns a little to the left and as he does, he exposes his entire profile to you and that's when you know, without a doubt, it is him. Finally, after all this time, Taehyung is standing before you in actual flesh and bones.

He looks relaxed, happy even, and most importantly in perfect health and you would start crying right in the middle of the street with the depth of your relief if the urgency of touching him wasn't this strong, forcing you to keep chasing him.

As he starts walking faster and you struggle to keep up with him in your stupid uncomfortable shoes, you find yourself screaming his name out loud.

"Kim Taehyung!"

You watch him freeze on the spot and slowly turn around towards you, his eyebrows knitted together as if he can't believe someone has just yelled his name in the middle of the street.

Or maybe, he can't believe his own ears and the way that voice resembled yours so much because he knows, without a doubt, that it is not possible for you to be here, right now.

But as his eyes stop on you standing in the middle of the street with your breath ragged and your eyes filled with tears, he truly has a hard time believing all of this isn't real.

You see the hesitation in his irises, his legs quivering a little as he struggles to decide whether he should walk to you or not.

A sob escapes your lips because you can't believe you are staring at his handsome face again.

He looks exactly like you remembered him to be: tall and lean, muscular but not excessively so, black hair a little longer on the back of his head and eyes always shining as if stars were trapped in there when he was born. Kim Taehyung has always been drop-dead gorgeous and, damn, you have missed him so much.

With not a single hint of hesitation, you run to him and throw your arms around his neck to hold him tight to your chest and keep him there for as long as you can.

"__________?" His voice trembles with a mixture of emotions you can only describe as incredulity, relief, happiness and confusion all mixed together and in response, you hold him even tighter.

"Is it really you?" You can hear the tears in his voice as it grows thick with them whilst his arms move to rest behind your back and return your embrace.

"It's me, baby, it's me."

You let go of him that tiny bit that allows you to look into his eyes and as you do, you both fall completely apart and start crying your hearts out in the middle of the street, not caring one bit of all the people surrounding you.

"Ho-how?" He asks, his bottom lip quivering as he brushes his wet nose against yours, "Are you real? Please tell me this isn't another dream."

You shake your head 'no' a couple of times and move your hands to caress his red and wet cheeks, eager to feel more of his skin under your digits just to make sure yourself this isn't one of your own dreams.

"I'm here, I came back for you just like I promised."

"How? What happened?"

He rests his forehead on yours and exhales loudly whilst holding you even tighter with his firm hands, almost as if scared that you'll disappear between his fingertips.

"I... I made sure the Police would catch me as soon as I was cleared to go out on the field again." You confess, your eyes shifting from his intense gaze to the tight line of his lips.

"You willingly did this to yourself?" You can sense the incredulity in his words and, honestly, you think you've taken a crazy leap of faith as well but, as you stand here with him in your arms it is very hard to feel regret over your decision.

"I couldn't live without you."

The confession makes your throat burn with the tears you are so forcibly trying to gulp down, it makes your heart feel incredibly small in the expanse of your chest and you do not have the courage to lift your gaze up all on your own.

It is one of Taehyung's fingers under your chin that pulls your focus back on his eyes.

He is looking at you as if you are the most precious gem he has ever seen and that look of love and adoration, that familiar gaze you were so used to seeing before, erases all doubts about him forgetting all about you and starting a new life for himself.

Kim Taehyung is clearly enamoured with you as much as he used to be and the realisation fills your heart with utter happiness.

All the hardships you had to face, all of the sleepless nights and the tears and desperate moments they were all worth it.

Taehyung lets go of your body and grasps your hand in his own, smiling at the way your fingers automatically entwine just like they used to, fitting together as if they were moulded to always be united like this.

"Come with me," he says and you eagerly follow his quick steps as he guides you through the Camp and a more secluded place.

"So you're a soldier now?" You ask as you briskly walk side to side to reach the privacy of his room.

"Ah, yes, well..." He trails off and steals a glance at your face as his cheeks empurple with a hint of embarrassment, "Killing people is all I ever learned to do so... I just thought I should make the best of what I've been taught in the future."

You smile at the way he tilts his head to the side a little in uncertainty, suddenly escaping your gaze as if you'd ever judge him for his choices.

Being a soldier definitely sounds better than being an assassin when spoken out loud in a casual conversation and in the end, it all seems to be tied to one similar reason: defending the world you love so much from the people that menace to endanger it.

If this were a time where being a female allowed you to join the forces, you would have probably chosen the same path for yourself.

You tug a little on his hand and he finally turns his face towards you, a sheepish smile gracing his lips as you nod your head in understanding and give him the biggest and happiest smile to ever grace your face.

"You are a nurse, then?" He asks after a few seconds, glancing at your simple black dress and classic black shoes that seem to be the go-to-attire for medical personnel outside duty.

"Ah," you glance at yourself and shrug a little before lifting your gaze towards him, "Well, I couldn't join the military but I am quite accustomed to wounds and how to treat them on the spot so I figured I could make myself useful here."

"Look at us, making the best of what we experienced on the field here in the past."

Taehyung is literally beaming at you and you smile back while tightening your grip on his hand. A part of you is still struggling to believe this is real, that you made it and are now finally together again.

Taehyung's steps come to a halt and you stop next to him, looking up at the door that stands before you.

You laugh as you watch him struggle to find the keys in his pockets while absolutely refusing to let go of your hand, almost as if afraid the moment he'll let go you'll turn into dust.

When he finally finds the keys and helps you inside his room, you exhale loudly in relief at the prospect of finally being alone again, away from prying eyes.

Taehyung must be feeling exactly the same way because the moment the door closes behind your backs he pushes you against the wooden surface and steals a kiss from you.

The contact is sudden but not any less sweet. You find yourself sighing on his mouth at the sensation of his soft lips moving atop your own, stealing your breath away.

Touching him again, feeling him like this for the first time in over a year feels like absolute bliss.

Your body seems to melt under his touch just like butter under the scorching sun and the more his hands roam all over your curves, the more eager you get to feel more of him against your skin.

"God, I've missed you so fucking much," Taehyung says as he parts from your lips to breathe in and calm down the quick heaving of his chest.

His nose keeps caressing the tip of your own as he stares right inside your eyes, almost as if he could look at your soul through them.

"I've missed you too," you whisper and your voice breaks a little as you choke those words out because you have never spoken words truer than these ones.

You have missed Taehyung like one misses air and all this time, you felt like a part of you had been ripped from you and scattered across the whole world.

Now that you have him here before you, though, you feel whole again and it is with that sentiment that you grasp a few locks of his hair and pull him forward so your lips can meet again.

His hat falls unceremoniously on the ground with a loud thud but you are both deaf to anything else that isn't the rampant beating of your hearts and your breaths, slowly mingling together.

Taehyung’s lips find the curve of your neck next, right below the ear, and they conquer the sensitive skin anew with his warm kisses, eliciting soft sighs out of you.

He presses his body to yours as if to make sure you won’t be going anywhere and you find yourself pulling on him with just as much passion and eagerness.

“I can’t believe you’re really here,” he whispers atop the curve of your jawline as he covers it with sweet and feather-like kisses.

“I’m sorry it took me so long,” you reply as you seek his eyes to let yourself drown into those black pools.

He smiles at you, shaking his head a little as if he cannot believe you are apologising for something you couldn’t control but he knows, he must know that your apologies go deeper than that. You are sorry for leaving him in the first place, you are sorry for not being there when he was sent back nor when they tried to save him but most of all, you are sorry for the many mistakes you’ve made that night.

“It doesn’t matter anymore, we are both here and we are well.”

He says and you can’t help but claim his mouth again as he does so because his words move your heart in ways you didn’t think possible. You thought you had known happiness and love before by his side but as you keep pulling him into you, as you keep savouring him, it feels like this right here goes way beyond what you felt for him before.

Taehyung is truly your soul mate, your everything and there is no way of hiding that when your fingers are so restless, your mouth so greedy and hungry for the taste of him.

His hands move on your hips and slowly inch backwards until he is palming your bottom cheeks and squeezing them tight, turning your kiss into a heated one.

You sigh and whimper in unison at the sensation of being this close after so long and you can feel the excitement building between his legs with each passing second.

You do not want to rush anything today, though. What you want is to savour him for as long as you possibly can, make him yours all over again.

After such a long time, it feels like your bodies need to get acquainted again, they need to discover every niche and ridge they were made of until you know every single inch of each other just like you used to.

“I want you so much,” he whispers in a shaky breath as he leaves your mouth to attack the expanse of your neck.

Your back arches a little as his lips close on the sensitive skin and bloom purple roses there to mark his passage.

Your eyes flutter shut whilst your fingers grab his locks harder, forcing him closer so that he won’t stop kissing you like this, claiming you inch after inch.

“You can have me, baby,” you reply in a soft whisper, “You can have all of me.”

Taehyung groans against your skin and you shiver as he roughly pulls your dress upwards to reveal your naked legs and aching core.

You are mildly aware of the arousal between your legs and how it must have painted a dark spot in the centre of your underwear and the way his eyes immediately zero on it makes your sex tingle with excitement.

Taehyung’s hands travel upwards again and chose your breasts as their next victim.

His fingers are passionate, a little bit too rough as they encompass the supple flesh and pull it out of your flimsy little dress.

He appears to be extremely pleased with the absence of a bra and he eagerly licks his lips as if about to taste his favourite dessert.

The sensation of his hot mouth against your sensitive buds is intoxicating. A shiver runs up your spine, covering your flesh in goosebumps as you deliciously sigh for him and arch against the simple touch.

His tongue rolls out of his mouth and encompasses the already hardened nipple and you whimper for him, encouraging him to keep up with his little tantalizing touches.

He kisses the thin skin between your breasts and moves to the other to give it the same exact treatment and grow the arousal pooling in your core.

He seems to be satisfied only when you are heaving for him, the expanse of your chest covered in saliva and decorated with tiny, purple love marks.

His fingers hook the edges of your dress around the shoulders and guide it downwards, slowly revealing your body to him.

His eyes drink up the sight of you half-naked before him as he is trying to impress it firmly in his memory, almost as if he has forgotten how you look like and feel like against him and wants to make sure he won’t forget ever again,

You shiver a little under his scrutiny albeit the room being almost too hot for comfort and he smiles at you while biting his bottom lip, the look on his features absolutely mesmerising.

“You’re as beautiful as I remembered,” he says under his breath but he can’t hide the way his eyes linger a little too long over the scars of the wounds you’ve got as a token on your last night together.

“It’s ok, Tae, I’m all healed up,” you whisper, your tone purposefully tender whilst your hands caress his head and cheeks to soothe him further.

He softly hums in response and leans into your touch, closing his eyes for a few seconds just to bask into the sensation.

When his gaze fixes back on you he gives you a little smile and then presses his lips on every little scar that has been freshly added to your body. There are many that constellate your body and they are all small reminders of the enemies you’ve faced, of the hardships you have conquered and raised up from just like a phoenix.

You know Taehyung has many of his own and some may even be new to you but all those blemishes, they have shaped you into what you are today and they don’t make neither of you less beautiful on the outside nor the inside.

You shiver at the sensation of his tongue lapping your flesh as if he were trying to mend your skin and you find yourself sighing for him, calling his name with desperate eagerness to feel more.

His delicate hands respond to your call with ardour, pulling your dress all the way down until you are left in nothing but your flimsy underwear.

As you stand before him like this, exposed and ready to be loved to the utmost, you reach for his uniform and start unbuttoning his jacket as quickly as you possibly can.

The fabric almost seems like a trap with its line of stubborn buttons and Taehyung has to help you undo some of them to free himself.

You almost groan at the sight of a white shirt beneath his jacket blocking your view of his naked torso—albeit it being almost pointless with the way it is soaked in sweat and almost completely see-through and stuck on his golden skin.

You have no idea how he can stand the uncomfortable fit of this garment when you can barely bear the feeling of a cap atop your head while working at Camp.

You strip him off of the shirt and bash in the way he immediately shivers as your breath hits his wet and hot skin.

You attach your mouth on his chest and he sighs instantly at the sensation, relaxing under the feeling of your lips tasting him like this.

As you claim every inch of his upper torso and discover a few new scars there, your hands work fast on his pants to let them fall on his feet and free him of his tight confinement.

Taehyung steps out of his pants and shoes as you keep kissing him, licking and biting the supple flesh to leave there marks that will soon mirror the ones he left on your chest.

With greedy hands you clutch his bottom cheeks and pull him towards you, forcing his hips to rock forward and slightly meet your own. The sensation of his erection against your clothed sex makes the both of you whimper with desire and there is no denying you won’t hold much longer with this dragged out wait for your carnal reunion.

Your fingers hook the hem of his boxers and you slide them down his legs to free him from the sticky garment and as he hisses at the freeing sensation, you attach your lips to his neck and suck on the tender flesh until he groans in both pain and pleasure, perfectly mingled together.

You palm his erection with one of your hands, basking in the way his body trembles at the mere touch and his mouth opens with a silent moan.

Taehyung remains so pliable when it comes down to the pleasure you can ignite in him with the simplest of actions and your heart rate spikes up in your chest. You have him right at the centre of your palm even after all this time, just like he has you.

“I need to feel you, baby,” he whimpers out and you shift your gaze from your hand around his cock to his pleading eyes.

“Then take me,” you reply, your voice sounding almost daring as if you doubt he would when in reality, you are quite acquainted with the way Taehyung loves to claim and ruin your body.

It doesn’t come as that much of a surprise then that he instantly lifts you up, forcing you to hook your legs around his hips for support whilst he steals your breath away with his ravenous tongue, seeking your own.

The kiss is sloppy, lewd with the sounds of your ragged breaths and tongues toying with each other whilst saliva starts to gather on both of your chins.

You moan as his grip around your bottom cheeks turns a little rougher whilst he spins you around to drag you to the bed at the end of the room.

His steps are unsteady as he manoeuvres you through the tiny apartment, his everything focused more on you and how you taste like to care enough about what is surrounding you and where your bodies are going to bruise come morning due to the few bumps along your way.

You are both breathless by the time you reach the comfort of his bed and you sigh as the soft mattress welcomes your back, hugging your body as if it were made of clouds. Or maybe it just feels like it because you are absolutely flying right now, your heart so content it feels like it could burst any moment now.

Taehyung’s eyes are fixed on your lean figure and you tilt your head to the side a little, offering him a sweet smile while opening up your legs for him.

The silent invitation seems to be enough for him to join you on the bed and finally claim what has been his all along.

The mattress dips as his knee presses against the soft surface so that he can climb right between your legs.

You welcome him in your arms as he pushes his body forward to feel your heated skin pressed against his own whilst he steals your mouth anew with the same amount of vigour and passion shown before.

You feel like a feral animal that has been starving for days and is now faced with a feast. You want to taste all of him all at once whilst still savouring every instant and make it last for as long as you possibly can.

Despite the passion burning in your hearts, Taehyung takes his time as well as he explores your body anew, planting small kisses on his way southwards, where he knows your arousal resides.

You sigh every time his lips touch something new and as he grasps your breasts you softly call out his name, biting your bottom lip as his teeth graze the already battered flesh of your hard nipples so he can gently tug on it, drag it forward and enclose his lips around it to give it a firm suck.

Your fingers find purchase into his messy locks again and he groans as you tug on them a little too fiercely in response to his incitement.

“Baby, please,” you whine, arching your back so that your hips can slightly brush against his own and get a taste of what it will feel like to have him lodged deep inside of you again, battering your core until you are screaming his name for everyone to hear.

Taehyung smirks on your skin but is forced to comply to your wishes quite quickly once you hook your feet behind his back and you start rocking your hips forward to meet his turgid cock through your underwear.

He hisses under his breath and forces your hips to still with his strong hands, pinning you down on the bed with a daring look in his eyes.

You release his back from the vice of your legs and watch him resume his travel southward with lust shining in your eyes.

He slides a little off the bed to remove the shoes you hadn’t realized were still planted on your feet and then he kisses his way up from your ankles up to your inner thighs.

You inhale loudly and immediately close your eyes as you feel his hot breath hitting the wetness of your clothed core.

He nuzzles his nose into your panties and you whimper as he shakes his head a little between your legs, the tip of his nose brushing perfectly against your clitoris.

His long fingers hook on the hem of your underwear and you lift your ass up from the bed to help him slide them down your legs and finally reveal the depth of your arousal to him.

He hums in contentment at the sight of you so hopelessly devoted to him to the point even a few kisses can turn you soaking wet.

His hands firmly press your hips down as he blows hot hair on your exposed sex right before his mouth plants a sweet and seemingly-innocent kiss atop your thirsty lips.

Your lashes tremble as you struggle to keep yourself still when he is so close you can almost feel him filling you up and yet, not quite close enough for you to feel actual pleasure.

Your mouth hangs open as you pathetically sigh for him before he has even started touching you, savouring you.

Fuelled by your evident desires, Taehyung’s mouth opens and his tongue darts out to lie flat on your soaked core and lap at the sweet juices dripping out of you.

A long and shaky breath escapes your mouth at the sensation of his languid muscle pressed against your feverish skin.

A string of whispered pleas and calls of his name fills the silence of the room as he laps at your core fervently, his head moving up and down as he covers the expanse of your folds with the tip of his tongue.

Taehyung hums contently against your mound, the vibrations he produces making you shiver whilst forcing your eyes to pry open so that you can bask in the sight of him, residing so prettily between your legs.

“I missed the sweet taste of your cunt so bloody much,” he says as soon as he catches your eyes fixed on his and you whine at the lewd words he speaks with such ease.

“Yeah? Have you thought about it often?” You force yourself to say through the little whimpers that leave your mouth, eager to drink up more of his lasciviousness.

“All the damn time,” he confesses, voice husky with desire as he tilts his head a little to the side to flick the tight bundle of nerves atop your aching core.

His mouth encompasses the trigger to your pleasure in earnest desire of having you surrender to him completely and that, you gladly do as he starts sucking on the little bundle of flesh like his life depends on it.

Whimpers escape your parted lips whilst your hands fly to find purchase on the covers, tugging on them with tight fists that menace to rip them off if you tag on the thin fabric a little longer.

The way your body so hungrily responds to every single one of his touches turns him fervent, eager to give you the pleasure you so evidently need and the truth is that you haven’t been touched like this in over a year, you have denied yourself pleasure all this time, believing you didn’t deserve any bliss after what you did to him.

Your body is literally starving, hungry for any form of attention it can get and that is why you are so pliant under his touch.

“Did you think about my cock filling your tight little pussy?” He asks as he slightly lifts his face up, away from your aching core whilst his fingers slowly slide down from your hips down to your wet folds.

His digits are careful, slow against your overflowing sex but they make you sigh nonetheless because you have missed this, all of this, for way too long.

“Y-yes,” you pathetically whimper back because it’s the truth and there is no point in hiding it. You have dreamed of him like this countless of times and that is why you open up your eyes and fix them back on him. This is not a dream and you do not want to miss him looking like this, so entranced with the depth of your arousal and the power he still holds over it.

“Have you touched yourself thinking about me pounding into you just like I used to?” His voice is all rough around the edges, deep and guttural as he stares right into your eyes, seeking an answer in your gaze.

Your expression falters as you struggle between wanting to please him and keep the teasing game going, or tell him the honest truth.

Your resolution on lying is very short-lived though as you catch the shift in his own eyes while he keeps looking at you. For a moment, you forgot how acquainted he is with your habits and little mannerism. For a whole second, you thought you could fool the man you love but you were wrong and that much is clear in the way his brows furrow while he tilts his head to the side, studying you.

His generous fingers leave your core all at once and you almost whine at the sudden loss.

“What’s wrong, baby?” He inquires, encouraging you to speak up whatever is passing through your mind right now.

Your heart hurts a little as you stare at him, looking so serious and concerned and you find out you can’t actually hold that gaze when you are about to confess your very last secret to him, undress your soul completely for him.

“I... I couldn’t. I didn’t think I...” your voice is small as your eyes move to fix on the white wall behind his back, purposefully avoiding his deep and attentive eyes. Your face turns uncomfortably hot as you muster the courage to utter the embarrassing words out loud, “I didn’t think I deserved it.”

The mattress beneath you dips with his weight as he climbs back up on top of you to rest between your legs. Despite yourself, you find your eyes trained in his as he guides your chin upwards, making it impossible for you to look away as he steals a kiss from your mouth.

“Why?” He asks, his voice soft because he probably already knows the answer to this very question but still needs to ask.

“Because I left you,” your voice breaks and his eyes seem to fill with shining stars as he lets out a strangled breath before claiming your lips anew with a gentle touch.

“When was the last time you’ve had an orgasm?” Roses bloom on your cheeks as those words leave his mouth before he places a soft kiss against your temple, the gesture so tender you fear you may burst into actual tears and break down before him at the way he keeps looking at you, touching you and kissing you like you are the most precious treasure on the whole planet.

“I don’t know,” you blurt out in honest truth, your voice still so small it is barely above a whisper.

Taehyung sighs and closes his eyes for a few seconds and when he opens them back up, his long lashes framing his intense gaze, you are rendered absolutely speechless by the fire burning in them.

“This ends tonight,” he says, his voice almost harsh to your ears whilst your heart skips a beat between your lungs with the fear of him referring to your relationship. There is so much sorrow and love gracing his features though you find it hard to even breathe normally, “You won’t feel guilty about leaving me behind ever again.”

The tip of his nose strokes your own, encouraging you to nod in response and acknowledge his desire.

“Ok.”

“Promise me,” he kisses your temple again and you lean into the sweet touch, a little smile gracing your lips as you finally catch onto what his words meant all along.

“I promise.” You say and, this time, you mean it.

“Good,” he kisses your neck next and bites the tender skin until he elicits a moan out of you, swiftly throwing you back into an aroused daze.

“Now,” he says, licking his lips as he glides down your body to return to his initial position right between your thighs, “Time to get what you deserve.”

His words are titillating but also remarkably sweet with what they entail—you have been too hard on yourself, you have punished yourself way too hard for sins you didn’t even commit to his eyes. All this time you deserved everything, you deserved happiness and you still deserved him. So now, he is bent on giving you all of the above, for the rest of your lives together.

His mouth drops on your mound and he grunts as soon as your taste fills his senses again, sending delicious vibrations to ripple through your sex just like ocean waves.

His lips enclose your clit anew so that he can suck on the little mound with all his might whilst teasing your folds with his long and slender fingers.

Your eyes shut and your mouth opens to allow soft sighs of ecstasy out of your parted lips, your body slack against the mattress as you completely give in to the pleasure firmly building within your stomach.

His digits part your dripping folds and you stir in anticipation for the feeling of his warm tongue inside of you, finally claiming what has been his for a very long time.

You bite on your bottom lip as the tip of his enticing tongue moves past your folds to gather all your juices and gulp them down.

The sound of appreciation that moves past his mouth gathers goosebumps on your skin and summons your hands on his brown locks to keep him perfectly still between your thighs.

You can feel Taehyung’s lips twisting into a smirk as you slightly roll your hips forward to meet the dragged out ministrations of his tongue, too eager to feed the raging fire inside of you to care any longer about savouring the moment. You have waited long enough.

“You taste so sweet,” he grunts as he nuzzles your clitoris with his nose, drawing a sigh out of you whilst his fingers start ghosting around your sex anew.

He looks up at you with the most tantalizing smile you have ever seen and as you get swept away by the intense look in his onyx eyes, one of his digits moves right past your external labia and intrudes your sex.

Your body tenses at the sudden sensation of being filled after such a long time and you exhale loudly as he plunges it all the way down and brushes against your pleasure spot with mind-blowing precision.

“T-there,” you whimper out, eyes closed and eyebrows furrowed as you relish into the way your walls start to stretch around him, at the way your juices overflow your core and taint his hand and the white covers beneath your ass.

Taehyung slides his finger almost completely out of you and then slams it right back in as if it were his cock aiming for your cervix. The sensation is blissful and it is evident in the way you start panting for him, rocking your hips to meet the slow pace set between your folds but it is not enough.

“I want-I want to feel you,” you whimper out and Taehyung slips another finger inside your pussy in response, adding to the pressure within you to stretch you even further and prepare you for the glorious feeling of his cock rocking in and out of you.

The thought alone makes you moan out loud and lick your lips as they turn sandpaper dry in mere anticipation.

His swollen lips find the enlarged bundle of flesh hidden above your folds and they suck on it hard until you are yelping in both pleasure and pain. The sounds do not make him relent in the slightest, in fact, the scissoring inside you turns bruising whilst his tongue ravishes you whole and you are quickly turned into a whimpering, begging mess.

Your chest heaves up and down as delectation starts to coil within your stomach, turning everything scorching hot just like liquid fire coiling from your throat down to your core.

Your mind turns fuzzy as your eyes roll back at the sensation of the tip of his digits battering your core with relentless precision and as he slides a third finger in, you come undone under his touch.

“Yes, just like that baby, come for me,” he whispers, voice husky with arousal over the way your body writhes around his palm as the wave of pleasure washes over you from the tip of your head down to your curling toes.

Taehyung’s fingers slip out of you coated in your humours, shining under the orange sunlight coming through the window behind your backs.

The light filling the room caresses Taehyung’s face in a way that makes him look almost angelic with his tousled hair and shining mouth but what he has been doing between your legs is the furthest thing from it.

The smile painted across his lips though helps in creating the little illusion.

That is until he inches forward and decides to collect every last drop of your orgasm from your aching core.

You flinch at the sensation of his tongue fervently licking your sensitive skin and you whine while pulling on his hair, the over-stimulation making you dizzy.

“I can’t get enough of you,” he interjects between two deep and slow licks that gather goosebumps over your heated skin.

“Tae,” you mewl as you push yourself up on your elbows to look at him with pleading eyes.

“Yes, baby?”

“Fuck me, please.”

He smirks and you know he had been waiting for you to beg him this shamelessly all along but as his eyes start to twinkle and he palms himself before you, you can’t find it in yourself to actually be mad at him.

His member looks painfully hard, the tip all red and hungry and sticky with pre-cum as he gives himself a few pumps whilst staring at your dripping wet core, waiting for him.

His cock twitches slightly as you roll your hips for him, taunting him just enough to make him groan out loud.

His free hand comes to rest on your hip as he aligns himself with your vulva, the underside of his cock grazing your skin to gather up all of your juices and make his sink inside of you easier, slicker.

You whimper as the tip of his cock teases your swollen clit and he sighs in response, licking his lips a few times as he tries to steady himself.

With a trembling breath, he grips the base of his cock and with a slow drag, he pushes the head of his cock past your folds and inside your womanhood.

Taehyung moans at the sensation of your walls squeezing him so tightly and you follow suit, overwhelmed with the thrill of having him inside of you again after everything you have been through.

He drags his cock inside of you slowly, inch after inch and every time he goes a little deeper, he sighs at the way you madly contract around him and whimper out his name with nothing but bliss laced within your voice.

He gulps down heavily as he pushes the remaining inches of his girth inside of you, his breath trembling as the base of his cock hits your ass and he finds himself finally deeply sheathed inside of you.

The mattress dips with his full weight as he pushes his body forward and rests his hands on each side of your head, cradling your face with loving fingers as he stares right inside your eyes.

His hips rise a little and then slowly push back in, allowing you to savour the deep drug of his length within you.

His mouth is on top of yours the moment you let out a pleading call of his name and just like that, he starts to slowly rock into you.

Your hands find purchase on his muscular back, your nails dragging along the tense skin until you find the curve of his tight ass to squeeze and press against.

The muscles of his bottom cheeks are hard and tense as he smacks in and out of you, the sound of his balls hitting your ass and your ragged breaths filling the room quite quickly along with the scorching heat of those summer-like September days.

Your fingers crawl around the soft skin of his bottom cheeks, the press of your digits on his flesh making him hiss in both pleasure and pain.

Your lips attach on his neck and suck hard on the flesh, making his hips stutter as his mouth opens into a deep moan of ecstasy.

The sound makes your walls squeeze hard against his turgid cock and he is forced to close his eyes and let his head sink in the soft curve of your neck to keep thrusting forward, picking up his pace inside you.

“You feel so good, baby,” he whines as you roll your hips against his, meeting him halfway to chase your own release for the second time tonight.

“Y-yeah? Is fucking me as good as you remembered?” Your voice trembles with the strain of forming a coherent phrase and speak it out loud between the needy whimpers that still escape your parted lips, no matter how hard you try to keep it quiet.

“No,” he thrusts deeper into you and you yelp at the sensation of his twitching head striking your pleasure spot with utter precision, “It’s even better.”

You whine at his words and feel your walls contracting against him to the point it makes him hiss and curse under his breath because ‘you are so fucking tight’ and there is no chance he’ll last much longer like this.

“Come here baby,” he says, grimacing a little as his cock leaves the warmth and comfort of your delicious pussy to lie right behind you so that you have to turn your head a little to gaze into his face.

His dark brown locks are damp and slightly sticking to his forehead, sweat is slowly dripping over his face and down his alluring neck and you push yourself a little forward to catch a droplet with your mouth and savour the saltiness dripping all over his body.

Taehyung exhales loudly, his eyes fluttering shut as his cock slides right back into you with very little effort.

One of his hands reaches behind your neck to grasp your fingers and intertwine them with his own whilst his arm supports your head upwards.

The gesture is accompanied by a sweet and rather chaste kiss that warms your heart and fills your eyes with shining joy.

The boxed grin on his features turns your body into a puddle and it tugs on your heartstrings to the point it almost hurts between your ribs. How much have you missed his trademark smile, God.

Your eyes water with happiness just as he resumes his pace inside of you, aiming for both of your releases in a desperate endeavour to get lost into the bliss together.

His mouth seeks your swollen lips and you gladly concede them to him, parting them to welcome his tongue past your teeth to tease your own.

The kiss is a little sloppy, it falls on your chin and on his nose as you rock against each other, but it is heavenly nonetheless and brings you both a little bit closer to the breaking point.

You feel his hips stutter and lose the pattern as you start rotating your own a little bit, eager to feel his cock twitch again against your tight walls. His moans turn deeper, more frequent and his eyes close shut as he gets lost into the sensation and that’s how you know, he is very close.

Taehyung licks his lips and guides his free hand on your stomach and then down your core, opening his eyes again to fix them on his target: your swollen little trigger.

His digits find it with utter ease and earnestly press against the enlarged bud, drawing figures eight on it with the same speed set between your legs.

Your head falls backwards, supported only by his strong arm and your mouth opens to let out a deep, guttural moan.

“Do you like that, baby?” He asks in a panting breath as he fixes his gaze back on your face and the way it morphs with pleasure with each one of his deep thrusts.

“So mm-much, y-yes! Don’t stop, please, baby.”

Taehyung groans and roughly claims your lips anew as he fastens the rhythm of his thrusts turning it into a rather bruising one destined to make the both of you unravel between each other’s arms.

“Fuck-ffuck, uh, _______,” his voice breaks with a deep moan that sounds a lot like your name and you feel his dick twitch inside of you, his under-cock artery pulsating against your walls as he creams your sex and fills you whole.

His hips slow down a bit as he milks his orgasm to the very last drop and the sensation of being held like this, pleasured by his hand and filled with his cock and his release makes the dyke of your own orgasm burst completely open.

Your juices spill over his pretty cock and coil between your legs, nicely mixing with the white droplets of cum that have pooled out from your battered pussy.

Your breath trembles as he slowly pulls out of you, his eyes fixed on your sex, mesmerised by the sight of all the juices still oozing out from it.

With your free hand you guide his chin upwards so that you can meet his gaze and when you do, you kiss him with all the love you are capable of showing him.

“I love you, Taehyung.”

He tugs on your entwined fingers whilst caressing your face with his free hand, drawing you closer so that he can firmly hug you against his chest, unwilling to ever let you go now that you are finally one, once more.

The minutes tick by slowly in the silence of the room but you, for once, do not mind a single bit. For the first time in forever, it feels like you have the whole eternity ahead of you.

It is you that breaks the silence, though, after a long while.

“Tae?”

“Mmm,” he tilts his head a little to the side so that he can look inside your eyes as you lift your head up and rest your chin above his toned chest.

“How will we survive here?” You ask, your heart feeling a little tight between your ribs as the anxiousness you’ve been feeling for the past few months starts creeping back up now that the daze of your orgasm has completely dissipated.

“As we always did... together.”

He shows you your favourite smile again and you melt into his embrace because you are instantly convinced. Everything is going to be fine.

Copyright © 2019 by jeonggukingdom. All rights reserved.

[megalony]

Second chances- Part 3

This is the latest part in my Billy/ Four series which I hope everyone is enjoying so far.

Taglist: @lunaticspoem @butlegendsneverdie @langdonzvoid @jennyggggrrr @luvborhap @radiob-l-a-hblah @rogertaylorsbitontheside @chlobo6 @rogertaylors-lipgloss @sj-thefan @omgitsearly @luckytrashgooprebel @scarsout @deaky-with-a-c @killer-queen-ofrhye @bluutac @vousmemanqueez @jonesyaddiction @rogahs-drowse @milanosaurus @httpfandxms @saint-hardy

Series taglist: @multi-fandom-iimagines @dreashappyworld

Summary: (Y/n) believes being in the group is her second chance and Billy starts to believe it was his chance too as it brought (Y/n) into his life. But their newest mission is far from easy.

Series masterlist

Enjoy.

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"He's been under for one minute thirty, he's gonna drown." Seven whispered the words through his mic as he closed one eye, concentrating on the image across from him that was becoming increasingly worrying.

The longer he stared at Billy, the more worried he became because Billy was not a professional diver or swimmer. He wasn't trained on how to hold his breath for long periods of time and if he reached the two-minute marker he was going to pass out under the water and it would lead to him drowning.

Pressing his hands against the glass wall of the pool he was submerged under, Billy tried to see through the chlorinated water that was stinging at his eyes. He couldn't see where Seven was, nor could he properly see the building across from the one he was now on top of. Pushing himself an inch or two away from the glass, Billy fumbled with his dwindling energy and reached behind the vest and jumper he was wearing. His fingers tightly latched around the bullet he felt hanging there and he clenched it in his hand before he closed his eyes.

Billy didn't believe in luck and he didn't believe that praying ever did any good but right now he had to believe in something. This mission was already becoming a shitshow like Florence was and Billy had felt like he needed something back then to ground him.

The bullet around his neck was enough right now to make him calmer as he didn't bother to try and pray in his head or beg for his life. He simply pictured (Y/n) standing in front of him with that smile that simply made him want to trap her in his arms and kiss the life out of her.

"Four, move to the right."

Forcing his eyes open, Billy swam over to the pointed corner of the pool and wedged himself there, unsure what Seven was going to try and do. Realisation flooded through Billy when he heard the noise of the glass breaking and saw a familiar dark golden circle swim through the water. Pushing himself over, Billy pressed his lips to the crack in the glass, his head swimming too when he felt the much-needed oxygen flooding through his body and getting to his brain.

Letting go of the bullet hanging beneath his clothing, he pressed both hands to the glass as he took in enough oxygen he needed before pushing himself away from the wall when Seven told him the coast was clear.

Maybe there was some kind of luck to the bullet after all.

Getting out of the pool, Billy didn't care about the water dripping down his frame as he started to clip himself up to the wire so he could climb down the side of the building and stick the speakers to the glass so they would shatter. He had a head for heights, he kind of had to since he was the skywalker of the group but it didn't stop the nerves from shooting through him at the knowledge he was ninety stories high. The last time he was high up, clinging to the side of a building like this, he fell.

"One, I don't like this. There's more people coming up the stairs." (Y/n) whispered her words into her mic as she tore the gas mask from her face, not needing it anymore.

She pressed her back up against a bookcase with Three standing by her side, the effects of the laughing gas seemingly wearing out of his system now. There were only meant to be seven people guarding the president's brother but there had been at least twelve people they had taken out so far. And (Y/n) could hear more footsteps approaching from the stairwell. They had five more minutes until the police got here and they couldn't get back downstairs yet with all the armed guards trying to get to them.

This was supposed to be a quick in and out mission.

Get the brother, get him in the zipline and get out again but it was looking like they wouldn't be able to get out.

"I don't know where they're all coming from. Change of plans, both of you just get to the roof with Four and get on that line and get out." One couldn't risk losing anyone else on the team and he couldn't tell them to go all the way downstairs to get to the car Five was going to get ready. They would have to use the line and get to the next building and escape that way.

The moment the doors opened and a flurry of guards speeded in, (Y/n) nodded at Three. The pair of them pushed off the bookcase and started hurrying out of the small corner they had hidden away in.

(Y/n) was thankful she had put padding on her shoulder because the rather large rifle she had in her hands was pressing down on her shoulder which would create a bruise if she didn't have the extra fabric pressed under her shirt. A hiss escaped her lips when she hit one of the four statues lined up instead of a target but she soon made up for the error, sending the man smashing against the window behind him which ended with an oddly shaped splatter of blood decorating the glass.

Ducking down behind a pillar, (Y/n) threw the rifle to the side and swapped it for a handgun she had strapped to her holster on her thigh. She counted under her breath before crouching over and running from her hiding spot, sending three bullets at two targets before she managed to get to the stairs.

Her body curled up against the silver bannister as she glanced her eyes around for Three who was almost with her.

When the taller man reached her, (Y/n) spun around and started heading up the stairs, aiming her gun and firing within a second when she saw a target running down the stairs towards them. Three hurried ahead and took the lead but when he got near the top of the stairs, he and (Y/n) both stopped to listen to what Seven was talking about.

"I've got a very bad idea."

"No, no only good ideas please." One was quick to respond but even he knew that they were open for any suggestions right now because they were running out of options. They were being surrounded and it looked like their exit was going to be smothered any moment now.

"I'm open for anything, Seven do it." (Y/n) responded as she looked at Three who nodded.

"This is another shitshow, let's wrap it up quickly." Billy nodded his head at (Y/n) when he caught her eye, the president's brother close behind him as Billy had his hand scrunched up in the man's shirt to stop him from trying to run away. This was going south very quickly, whatever ideas they could have would be accepted by everyone.

"Okay, everyone grab hold of something."

(Y/n)'s eyes narrowed as she turned her head to look at Three but he didn't know what the idea was either. But the moment a rather loud, creaking sound erupted in their ears, they found themselves looking upwards towards the roof that they were so close to. Three peered up the last few steps into the night sky but he felt unable to catch a breath when he heard the glass of the swimming pool beginning to shatter from the number of fractures it was receiving.

"Holy fuck." (Y/n) felt her voice wavering as Three turned to face her and motioned with his hands for her to move rapidly. He started bounding down the stairs towards her as the unmistakable sound of water seemed to run up behind them.

A gasp left (Y/n)'s lips as both she and Three reached their arms out the moment they leapt off the fifth step. Their hands latched around the rectangular lights hanging from the ceiling as (Y/n) brought her legs up to try and wrap them around the light for added security. Her eyes managed to see Billy grabbing the target's hands and pressing them to the bannister before he did the same, holding onto one of the silver poles as he moved into a crouching position to keep himself stable.

Billy and the target were tucked into a rather neat corner so when the water hit, they wouldn't be in the middle of things.

A scream left (Y/n)'s lips as she felt the water suddenly licking at her heels before it fell like a brick wall right into her back. The momentum it held was something she had never felt before and she thought for a moment that the light fitting was surely going to break from her weight and the force and pressure of the water.

The sound of the gushing river pelted through her ears as it soaked over her and flooded beneath her feet. When she managed to open her eyes, (Y/n) saw everyone in the water's stride was getting pulled under and taken wherever the water wanted to go.

Breathing was a very hard task to come by at this point when before it had been a task (Y/n) never had to think about. She tried to keep her legs around the light fitting she was gripping to but her bad hip was straining from the position and the force of the water so she dropped her legs so she was simply hanging by her hands. Anxiety fluttered in her chest like a swarm of butterflies as she wondered how much water had been in that pool for it to be lasting this long. The stairs were no longer stairs, they were the formations of a waterfall that seemed to have an endless supply of water.

Another scream tore from (Y/n)'s lips but for a completely different reason. One of the men being taken out by the water either tried to aim his gun for the light fitting she and Three were hanging from or he simply pulled the trigger by mistake.

Either way, the unmistakable feeling of a bullet scraped past (Y/n)'s bad hip like a flash of lightning. The pressure from the water and the pain from the bullet caused (Y/n) to lose her grip on the light she was clinging to for dear life. A strangled gasp left (Y/n)'s lips as her body bashed into the counter below her before the water took hold of her like vines wrapping around her body and taking control.

(Y/n) spluttered through the water to try and keep her head above the tide so she could breathe which became easier when she started to move as the water thinned out. But there was nothing to cling on to, everything was too slippery and there was nothing stable that could hold her weight in place. Her eyes found Billy's as she scrambled to slow herself down or grab onto something but she couldn't do more than flail her arms around in distress.

Billy couldn't breathe.

He found his body burning against the cold water licking at his skin and his features growing hot and red from the fire that was burning inside him. He couldn't let go of the bannister and risk washing out of the building himself and (Y/n) was too far away for him to reach her or even try and help her. So he did the only thing he could think of.

He grabbed the bullet hanging around his neck and punctured it into the palm of his hand from the force he was holding it with.

He muttered 'second chance' to himself over and over like it was a chant that he had to make himself believe or he would go mad. His eyes watched (Y/n) intently with such a blaze of worry that he was almost looking through her.

Scanning her eyes around desperately, (Y/n) saw she was heading for the window that had no glass anymore from the objects and people that had been washed up against it and broken the glass away. Turning herself so she was laying on her side, (Y/n) stretched her arms out and held her breath in her lungs. Her gloved hands latched onto the pillar that was missing the glass to hold as she felt like she was flying when her legs and lower half suddenly propelled out of the hotel.

She could feel the air trying to hold her up but if all of her weight went out it would let her sink through its layers until she reached the ground.

Tightening her hands because of the water, (Y/n) swung around and twisted her hands as she felt her legs hit through the other empty windowpane and land on the concrete floor. She quickly pulled her legs up to her stomach and curled her body up against the small metal pillar that she clung to as the rest of the water washed past her like it no longer held any interest in her.

Billy let out a breath of utter relief when he saw (Y/n) fly around the outside before swinging herself back inside. When he saw she was safely curled up, he let out the breath he had trapped in his lungs and loosened his grip on the bullet that he knew had to have some sort of luck in it.

"You drowned the team." One muttered as he shook his head in disbelief, wondering how on Earth the team managed to survive through Seven's suicide mission.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What do you mean you're leaving the team?" There was a tone of disbelief in One's voice as he scoffed like she had just told him a lie that he could see right through.

"Take a guess, jackass." (Y/n) snapped back as she leaned her head to the side, an unamused and very irritated expression on her face as she felt herself deflating like a popped balloon. There was really only one thing that (Y/n) could mean by saying she wanted to leave the team so either One was having a very stupid moment here or he was simply refusing to believe what she was telling him.

"And where are you going, what will you do? I hate to have to remind you but you don't have an identity anymore. You can't go back into the world without one." His words rung true but they failed in comparison to what it meant by staying in the team if things weren't going to change.

(Y/n) didn't want to be apart of something that would leave someone behind at the first sign of danger. She couldn't be part of this team that didn't value anyone and didn't care or even have respect for them. This was not how things should be and (Y/n) would rather face the world again without her identity than risk spending the rest of her life in this dysfunctional group.

"You can if you know the right people." (Y/n) retorted, but her words weren't as fuelled as her previous ones had been. She knew it would be relatively easy to create a new life for herself, she was just not in the mood for an argument she knew was going to take place.

"Why give everything up to just quit now? We've all given our lives up, Two. We all knew what we were walking into, you think because things get hard it will be easy to walk away?" One threw his arms out at his sides as he couldn't understand her logic. He had given his life up as well, they had all thrown their lives away to do this and they all knew it would be hard. (Y/n) knew like the rest of them that doing this meant there was almost no chance of getting a normal life or leaving this without actually dying.

"I'll tell you why. I walked into this thinking that if I was in some sort of danger, you all would have my back. I thought that if I got into trouble, no worries, I've got five other idiots around to help me but no. We all follow you're fucking rules and you say that if someone is in danger, then fuck them. Leave them like they're already dead and just keep on walking. Well guess what, I don't roll that way."

(Y/n) shouted the words before pressing her hand into his chest and shoving him away from her.

(Y/n) thought that this was a proper team, a proper family that she was joining but it wasn't. It was a group ruled by a jackass who decided that instead of helping one of their own, they would leave them to perish and act like they never existed. He thought that giving everyone a number and degrading them to simply a number and a status such as Doctor or Skywalker was enough. He thought that was fine and taking away their humanity was okay because they were doing something good.

But they were still alive, they were still people and they still deserved to talk and act like they were human beings. And they deserved to be helped by the other people on their team that they were meant to trust.

"It's for safety-"

"I don't give a shit, One! If Five falls, I will help her up. If you are trapped I will go back and save your ass. And if Four is being beaten to a pulp on top of a building I expect you to stop the bloody car and help him because this is what we do. You say we need everyone on the team to do this mission but you act like we are all replaceable and that is not right. I'm not being a part of a group that has no morals but a hell of a lot of rules that make no sense. If you don't have my back, I'm not joining in and being expected to have yours."

One was the person who was acting like they were all replaceable but they weren't. There were not many other people in the world that would give up their lives to join a suicide mission like this. They were all needed and leaving someone for dead wasn't the way to go about things.

If he didn't value their safety or have the compassion to go back for his team then (Y/n) was not going to be part of a team and be expected to respect and help One. She was not letting him act like Kingpin and the top man when his rules were not there to keep them safe, they were there to stop minor complications that were not life-threatening or threats to the mission.

"She's right." Billy folded his arms over his chest as he finally lifted his head and looked over at One who simply rolled his eyes.

"You don't have to be grateful to her-"

"No, he should be grateful to me for saving his ass. What's the point in doing this together if we're not allowed to help each other out? You've got us pitted against each other to the point we may as well be doing this on our own because we only share the same plan, other than that we fend for ourselves and you know it. I'm with her, if you don't change things we'll walk." Seven spoke up despite the welling anxiety in his chest.

He had shot the man attacking Billy and had stopped the car when (Y/n) shouted at him to do so and to wait and help Billy. He had been in the military and that was a family. They went back for each other and they helped each other out, he wasn't being a part of this if the same rules didn't apply.

One sighed, tipping his head down as he knew whatever he said was going to be shot down.

"Alright, fine. What do you want to change?"

[incorrectk-popquotes]

My fic is fully uploaded!!!

You guys may remember that I posted the first chapter of my fic on here a couple weeks ago! Well, I finally finished uploading all 20 chapters on AO3!!

You guys should check it out!! I’ll put the first chapter under the cut again in case anyone missed it! <3

Title: A Better Place

Relationships: Bang Chan/Kim Woojin; Lee Minho | Lee Know/Seo Changbin; Han Jisung | Han/Lee Felix; Hwang Hyunjin/Kim Seungmin/Yang Jeongin | I.N

Tags/warnings: Gangs, Alternate Universe - Gang World, Drug Use, Recreational Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Cults, Running Away, Anxiety Attacks, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Anxiety, Depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Smoking, gratuitous violence, Gang Violence, Violence, Drug Addiction

Summary:  Chan just wants to create a place where lost kids can come and have a family, but his past is catching up with him and threatening to ruin everything he’s worked so hard to create. After years of carefully cultivating one of the most powerful and notorious gangs in the city, Stray Kids are being targeted by a secret and powerful organization hellbent on bringing them down. Will Stray Kids be able to defeat the organization before their empire crumbles? Or will the horrors they face get the better of them ~~~ “His entire goal in bringing everybody together was to make a better place for them. Make a place that was safe for them. Nothing about this was better. Nothing about this was safe.”

AO3 Link

Chapter 1: Rebels

[Under the cut]

“Minho,” Chan’s voice said suddenly over the com in Minho’s ear, startling him and causing him to lose his focus on the lock he was currently attempting to pick. “Status update.”

“Would be going significantly faster if you stopped asking for status updates every 5 seconds,” Minho gritted out, forcing his attention back on the difficult lock. Behind him, Felix snickered at his irritation. He was good at what he did, but this lock was tough and he had already been trying to pick it for too long. Every second that the locking mechanism didn’t click into place, more anxiety twisted in Minho’s belly. Wiping his hands quickly on his pants, he focused his entire attention back on the lock.

Tickling at the back of his mind was the knowledge that Changbin could only keep the security system at bay and Jeongin could only keep the security guards engaged for so long before they remembered that they had a job to attend to. These thoughts only succeeded in making Minho’s hands sweatier, making the small metal tools he was working with feel slippery and hard to work with.

Clenching his jaw, Minho carefully worked his pick in the lock, pressing down the pins in the mechanism. The tiny, satisfying click it suddenly let out made him pause. He did it. He stared at it with wide eyes for one moment before snapping out of it. He breathed out all of the anxiety that had been crushing his lungs, and a smug smile broke out on his face. Looking back at Felix, Minho wiggled his eyes mischievously and pushed the door open with a flourish.

“It’s open,” he whispered smugly.

“About damn time,” Changbin murmured, obviously trying to sound annoyed but it just sounded relieved.

Stowing his tools in his pocket and wiping the sweat off his still slightly shaky hands, Minho pushed the door open a little bit more. It was small and dark and looked like nothing more than a storage room at first glance. The earlier anxiety had completely replaced itself with giddy excitement as Minho moved in and flipped on the light, illuminating the room in the same harsh fluorescent lighting that lit the rest of the building. His grin grew wider as he looked at all of the shelves which were filled with bricks of white powder.

“You have 68 seconds to get in there, fill the bags, and get out,” Changbin informed them. “I can try to keep the system down longer, but they’ll start to notice.”

“Aye, aye, cap-Bin” Minho giggled quietly, unable to contain his glee. A quick glance at Felix showed that the other boy felt the same excitement upon seeing everything in front of them. Sharing a grin, Minho and Felix moved into the room and started filling the backpacks as quickly as they could.

“Time to get a move on,” Chan said, his voice tense with worry. “Whatever you have is plenty.” Minho heard Felix zip up his bag behind him, but he couldn’t force himself to leave just yet, he needed to take more. Grabbing another brick, Minho shoved it into the already overflowing backpack.

“ Now , Minho,” Changbin demanded over the com. He sounded annoyed, but Minho knew that he was just worried. Neither Chanbin nor Chan liked to send the rest of them into unfamiliar locations alone, especially when it was a location they couldn't drop into at a moment’s notice if something went wrong. Minho grabbed one last brick of the white powder, slipping it into the pocket of his hoodie, before zipping up his backpack and following Felix into the hallway. Felix was giving him a look that Minho didn’t have time to decipher as he pulled the door closed.

Ignoring Felix’s look, for now, he pressed himself up against the wall and motioned for Felix to do the same. It wouldn’t do them any good to leave here if they were just going to run into the guards’ waiting arms because they were stupid enough to not check first. Holding his breath, Minho listened intently. When the only sound that he heard was Jeongin’s bright chatter with the guards over the com, he let out a breath and nodded for Felix to follow him down the hall.

“En route to the rendezvous,” Minho said lowly. They moved fast, keeping their steps light and staying close to the walls, out of sight of most of the cameras. They peeked out every once in a while so Changbin could keep track of their location through the building. Minho knew the way out, having studied a blueprint of the building before the job. He had to constantly remind himself that just because he knew the way out didn’t mean that he could let his guard down. Just because nothing had gone wrong up until this point, didn’t mean something couldn’t go wrong now.

Glancing back at Felix, Minho frowned when he saw the hardened look in his eyes. It was a look that reminded Minho too much of Felix’s past and Minho didn’t like it. Looking at the other’s hand, his frown deepened when he saw the gun, loaded and ready, in his hand. Minho made a mental note to talk to him about that later.

“We are waiting at the meeting point,” Woojin voiced over the com. Minho hummed in acknowledgment, turning his attention back to the bright, empty corridor. He stayed alert, really not wanting to get surprised or ambushed by anybody, especially with Felix being so on edge right now. He could practically feel the tension coming from the other, and that was never a good sign.

“You got a couple guards up here around the corner,” Changbin informed them. Minho glanced back at Felix and saw that he had readied his gun and was ready for a fight. “There should be a supply closet on your right,” Changbin continued. “Hide in there and I’ll let you know when they pass.” Minho ducked into the closet Changbin mentioned, dragging Felix in with him, and pushed the door closed behind them. It was dark, cramped, and smelled of cleaning supplies, but Minho could still make out the anger on Felix’s face as he glared holes into the door.

Keeping a vice-like grip on Felix’s wrist, Minho forced his gun to remain at Felix’s side. Sadness and unease settled heavily in Minho’s mind as he watched Felix continue to grit his teeth and glared at the door like he wanted to burst through it and kill every living thing on the other side. Heavy footsteps walked past the door of the little supply closet they were hiding in. Minho felt Felix’s fingers twitch on the gun, tightening around the handle and moving closer to the trigger.

Releasing Felix’s wrist, Minho placed a gentle hand over Felix’s on the gun. He grabbed Felix’s chin and forced him to stop glaring at the door and instead look into his eyes. This couldn’t happen right now. They were in too good of a position to have Felix check out and go berserk. But more than that, Minho really didn’t want Felix to do something that he would regret after the job.

The pointed glare Minho directed at him seemed to snap Felix back into himself. Looking at the ground guiltily, his fingers around the stock of the gun loosened, but Minho didn’t dare remove his hand until Felix moved to reholster the weapon. Minho breathed a small sigh of relief and squeezed Felix’s shoulder reassuringly, focusing again on the sounds of the hallway. He couldn’t hear the heavy footsteps outside anymore, but that didn’t mean much and since Changbin hadn’t given them the go-ahead to leave the room, they stayed put. Minho continued to gently hold Felix’s shoulder as they stood together in the dark, hoping to keep him grounded in reality.

“Okay, you’re clear,” Changbin finally said after what felt like eons in that too cramped closet. Minho gave Felix a questioning look, hoping that Felix was okay to keep going. Felix just gave a small nod, still mostly avoiding his eyes, and pressed passed Minho to open the door leaving Minho to trail behind.

~~~

Woojin drummed his fingers anxiously against the steering wheel of the rental car he sat in with Hyunjin. After hearing that the other team had almost been caught, he was anxious for them to reach the meeting point and make the handoff. While the job itself wasn’t particularly difficult, something about it made him uneasy and he would very much like it to be over as soon as possible. The pay for the job was too high for a simple theft and delivery. No matter what they were delivering, there’s no way anybody would pay this much for it. Something about it just didn’t feel right.

“Are you okay?” Hyunjin’s voice snapped Woojin out of his nervous rumination. Woojin looked over at him and immediately felt guilty by the concern in Hyunjin’s eyes.

“I’m fine, Jinnie,” Woojin reassured kindly, quirking his lips up into what he hoped was a reassuring smile. Judging from the suspicious look on Hyunjin’s face, he didn’t exactly succeed. But Hyunjin dropped the subject with a curt nod; the job was no place to discuss these kinds of things. Woojin sighed and looked back out the windshield, watching for Minho and Felix to make their way out of the building.

Finally, the two crept into the dark parking garage where Woojin and Hyunjin were waiting. Woojin almost leaped out of the car to greet them, but restrained himself and waited for them to swiftly make their way to the car. The two backdoors opened and Woojin watched as two heavy looking backpacks were dropped onto the car seats. Woojin sent a skeptical look to Minho, who’s front hoodie pocket pulled at the rest of his hoodie.

“Is that all of it?” he asked pointedly, deliberately keeping any accusation out of his words. He knew Minho tended to take more than what they needed and just keep it. While he knew that Minho wasn’t planning on using any of the extra drugs they had stolen, it was better not to keep them on around at all. Judging by the sheepish smile Minho gave him, he was right. Woojin watched as Minho reached into his bulging pocket, pulling out one more brick of the white powder, he put it on the seat next to the backpacks.

“Handoff crew,” Chan’s voice said over the com, “you need to go now.” Woojin simply hummed in reply, watching as the other team shut the back doors and stepped away, making their way to the getaway vehicle where Seungmin and Jisung were waiting.

Woojin pulled out of the parking garage and headed to the agreed-upon location for the delivery. The unease crept back into his mind as they got closer to the location. Fingers drumming the steering wheel anxiously, he examined his surroundings closely. He heard Chan telling Jeongin it was time for him to get out of there and meet up with the others in the getaway vehicle. It brought him some amount of comfort to hear that all the kids had made it out alright.

“Woojin?” Hyunjin’s concerned voice again pulled Woojin out of his thoughts. He glanced at Hyunjin, humming softly in acknowledgment.

“Are you sure your alright?” The question caused Woojin’s heart to clench and he directed what he hoped was a warm smile at the other.

“I already told you I’m fine,” he said, gently squeezing Hyunjin’s knee. Hyunjin didn’t look convinced, but they didn’t have time to dwell on it as they pulled up to the location.

Woojin sat in the car a moment, regarding the other car parking in front of them. He suppressed laughter at how stereotypically supervillain-esque it looked with its sleek, black paint and darkly tinted windows. A man in a suit with dark aviators stepped out of the car and again Woojin had to work very hard to school his features in a neutral business expression. Were they doing business with James Bond himself?

Nodding for Hyunjin to follow, Woojin stepped out of the car casually, forcing his face into a bored expression. Woojin watched as Hyunjin gathered the two backpacks and the extra brick. Woojin didn’t like having Hyunjin carry all of those drugs, but he needed to show Mr. Aviators that he was in charge here.

“Is that the merchandise?” Mr. Aviators asked, nodding to the bags that Hyunjin held.

“Might be,” Woojin hummed offhandedly, examining his nails. Despite the show of disinterest, he was very alert to the man in front of them. After a moment he crossed his arms loosely and looked back up at Mr. Aviators with an indifferent expression. “I guess you won’t actually figure that out until we get our money.” Mr. Aviators nodded once, moving back to the car, he reached in to pull something. Woojin kept his expression impassive and bored, but he felt Hyunjin at high alert beside him. Pulling out a briefcase, Mr. Aviators opened it and showed them the stacks of cash inside.

“That’s the agreed-upon amount?” Woojin asked suspiciously, eyeing the stacks. It seemed like plenty, but the whole situation made Woojin desperate to remain in charge. Despite Mr. Aviators just being some goon from the other party, he still felt the nerves pricking under his skin.

“Of course,” Mr. Aviators said promptly, giving a stiff nod. Woojin glanced at Hyunjin and nodded for him to go collect the briefcase. He watched as Hyunjin set down the backpacks and extra brick and walked to grab the case. Woojin kept his indifferent facade in place, but tension built in him as he watched Hyunjin get closer than comfort to Mr. Aviators and their car.

Hyunjin collected the case and hurried back to Woojin opening it for Woojin to inspect. In all honesty, Woojin didn’t care at all how much was in the case, but he was overwhelmingly glad that Hyunjin was back by his side. Taking the case with a satisfied nod, he flipped it closed and turned swiftly back toward his car. He heard Hyunjin toss the bags toward Mr. Aviators and hoped the boy was following him back to the car.

“Tell your boss,” Woojin said icily when he reached the car, “that next time, I would love to do business with him directly.” Tossing the briefcase into the backseat, Woojin got in the car. Without waiting for Hyunjin to buckle his seatbelt, he pulled away from the meeting spot and started heading away. The facade broke and he let out a shaky breath. Glancing over, Woojin saw Hyunjin slumped back in his seat, fingers idly picking at the threads in his jeans as he stared out the window. He must have felt the same unease about this whole thing that Woojin was feeling.

“Delivery made,” Woojin said into the com. “We have the cash.”

~~~

Seungmin was bouncing nervously in the driver’s seat, fiddling with the radio. Jisung kept sending him death glares because of his nervous fiddling, but he was too anxious to care. Initially, Jisung had tried in vain to get Seungmin to calm down, but eventually, he just gave up because Seungmin was just too nervous to console. He hated having to wait for the other’s to get out of jobs okay. He hated the waiting because it always just feels like they are all collectively waiting for the other shoe to drop.

He had been flipping incessantly through radio stations, Jisung had given up trying to make him stop at this point when the back doors were swung open, nearly causing him to shriek. Whipping around, he relaxed a little when he saw Felix and Minho climb into the vehicle.

“You can put the knife down,” Minho laughed awkwardly, glancing over at Felix. Seungmin followed his eyes and saw Felix had gone completely rigid, eyes locked on the knife that Seungmin didn’t even see Jisung pull. Seungmin watched apprehensively as Jisung blinked once, looked down at the knife, and then set it down. Seungmin watched as Felix’s eyes tracked the knife.

“If I knew pulling a knife would make you not be able to take your eyes off of me, I’d do it more often,” Jisung joked, letting out a bright laugh. Despite his cheery tone and smiling, his eyes were sharp as he watched Felix closely.

At the sound of Jisung’s laugh, Felix’s eyes snapped away from the knife. Seungmin watched as Jisung’s eyes immediately softened as Felix looked at him with wide, vulnerable eyes. Seungmin coughed a little and turned around to fiddle with the radio a little.

“How did everything go?” Seungmin asked a moment later, turning off the radio and matching Jisung’s posture facing the back completely. He had been listening to the com at the beginning, but it ended up just making him more nervous, so he had tuned it out.

Minho sent Felix an odd look that Seungmin couldn’t quite decipher. Before he had time to dwell on it though, Felix’s face broke out into a broad grin.

“You should have seen that room, guys,” Felix said, leaning back in the seat and crossing his arms over his chest. “There was, like, 300 kilos of that shit in there!” Seungmin frowned at him, not liking at all how excited Felix got over that many drugs. Seungmin glanced at Jisung and noticed the frown etched into his face too.

“Oh my God,” Minho said, dramatically falling back in the seat. “It was like walking into the golden city itself!”

“I don’t understand why you guys are so excited about that,” Seungmin mumbled, crossing his arms tightly over his chest and turning around to slump in his chair. As a nursing student, something about the drug runs just didn’t sit right in him. He didn’t like the idea of aiding in allowing people access to the shit, even if they weren’t the ones directly distributing it. Seungmin knew Jisung shared his sentiment, but he was never able to get the other to tell him exactly why he didn’t like them after having grown up in a place where they were so normalized.

“Think about how much that room alone was worth!” Minho exclaimed, leaning forward dramatically. “And we only took a tiny bit of it!” Beside him, Felix nodded his grin still wide across his face. Even though Seungmin didn’t agree with the reason for the excitement, it was contagious. Seungmin found himself grinning despite himself, and a glance at Jisung confirmed that the other was fighting back a grin, too.

Seungmin tuned out the rest of the conversation and relaxed into the seat a bit, watching the street intently for when Jeongin would come. Judging from the silence over the com when Seungmin finally decided to start listening again, he could only assume that Chan had told Jeongin that it was time for him to leave. The fact that he couldn’t hear Jeongin’s constant chatter set him on edge.

Seungmin didn’t even realize that he had started to nervously chew on his nails as he stared at the road and listened to the quiet of the com until Jisung reached over a pulled his hand away from his mouth. He looked over at Jisung in surprise. The look of sympathy he received was a little disarming.

“He’ll be fine, Seungmin,” Jisung said comfortingly, placing Seungmin’s hand down on the console. Jisung kept his hand firmly over Seungmin’s wrist, keeping him from continuing to gnaw on his nails. “Will you please take a breath.” Seungmin nodded taking a deep breath and forcing every muscle in his body to relax. This seemed to satisfy Jisung because he went back to chatting with the others, but he didn’t move his hand from Seungmin’s wrist.

Turning his attention back out the window, he spotted Jeongin bouncing down the street, a bright smile on his face. Seungmin perked up a bit when he saw the other, thankful that he looked generally uninjured. Seeing Jeongin bounding in their direction caused Seungin to finally relax against his seat. A small smile spread across his face as Jeongin flew into the car, crawling over Felix to position himself in the middle of the backseat.

“Didn’t I do good?” Jeongin asked, happily bouncing a bit in the seat and causing Minho to grumble a little beside him, but Seungmin saw the tiny smile that was tugging at Minho’s lips.

“So good,” Seungmin said smiling brightly at the other through the rearview mirror as he started the car and shifted it into drive. “Nobody could have done a better job than you, Innie.” He drove away from the curb as the rest of the car fell into a comfortable conversation. He was glad that everybody had made it out safe.

[coldtomyflash]

Goldfaced Rewrite

Not quite a coda since this branches off partway through Goldfaced (5x13). It plays with the canon timelines somewhat, but keeps mostly to canon while having some fun with it. Technically canon relationships, but written with some coldflash and coldwestallen overtones.

“Sam,” Snart popped the syllable with a droll little smirk. “Always so good to see you.”

“Goldface? The Goldface? He’s got personal hands on the field generator?”

“I told you you wouldn’t like it.”

Barry sighed and dragged his hand down his mouth. “Okay. Okay, let’s just get this over with. Do we have an in?”

“I sweet-talked our way. C’mon.”

He followed Ralph though the booths and crates of weapons, trying not to look too long. He was still thinking about the cop-killer weapons, thinking about Joe being too-often on the front lines. At least it made the scowl on his face real enough; no one was glancing his way too long.

Ralph led him through to a room where music was playing. The lighting and decor shifted, warmer tones, and people were lounging. The market turned social here. It was obvious it was where the ‘real’ business was done. 

He didn’t look too long. He couldn’t wait to get out of here.

“Welcome welcome.”

Goldface was charming, well-spoken. He knew what he had in his possession, cutting Ralph off and looking to Barry. Barry looked away. Better to let Ralph do the talking, especially when he was still as mad as he was. His gaze shifted to the left, and he had to work fast to cover the surprise and confusion on his face that he knew was painting it.

It was Snart. 

The man was sipping a drink at the bar a few seats down from where Goldface had been, eyes on Barry, curious looking as ever. He cocked an eyebrow at Barry. Barry shook his head imperceptibly.

He barely noticed what else Ralph and Goldface were saying till the criminal’s voice raised fast and angry,

“Shut your mouth!”

Shit. Barry’s heartrate shot up, and stayed that way as Goldface threatened Ralph, more specifically threatened to blow off his arm. The metacuff on Barry’s own wrist tingled, mostly in his imagination. He didn’t dare swallow. 

“See here’s the thing... scum recognizes scum. I’m scum, and I’ve survived this long by recognizing the same.” 

Barry could already see where this was going. His eyes flitted over to Snart again, already too reminded of the last time he’d tried to pull off the criminal routine, how Lewis Snart hadn’t bought it for a second. Snart was standing now, head tilted, jaw set and alert.

Goldface finishing calling Ralph scum and cycled over to Barry, finally addressing him.

“So, the question is... who are you?”

Ralph tried to vouch for him. Barry raised his hand to shut him up, eyes on Snart. He nodded this time, just as imperceptibly. He saw Snart’s eyes narrow. There was a gun pressed to Barry’s neck and he did swallow this time.

“I’m only gonna ask once more : Who. Are. You.”

“Draycon. That’s how I got my start. You can ask Snart,” he nodded at the man, who quirked an eyebrow. 

“Sam,” Snart popped the syllable with a droll little smirk. “Always so good to see you.”

Goldface’s attention shifted between them. “What is it that you do, Sam?” 

“Khandaq diamond job. Central City Diamond Reserve. I moved up from there - hit ARGUS a year after that, alien tech. Recently? Central City Museum heist - atomized lorazepam, knocked the guards out, in and out. The Museum’s one of Snart’s favorite targets, missed having him along on that job.”

“That so?” Goldface’s eyes were narrowed now, laser focused on holding Barry’s gaze. Looking for chinks in his armour? 

“It is,” Snart cut in. “Didn’t invite me in on the Federal Reserve one last month either.”

“The Acid bomb?” Barry retorted. “Didn’t think it was your style.”

“That was you?” Goldface asked. They definitely had him now.

“It was.” Barry’s voice dropped a little lower, “and if you haven’t heard of me, it’s because I’m a ghost. I keep my name out of jobs and pick who I work with. I use chemistry to keep the pigs off my bag. Even the Heights couldn’t hold me long. Doesn’t tend to when you know a bit of science and meta or two who owes you a favor.”

"Thought you and Shawna weren’t talking to one another?” Snart took a few strolled steps over, joining their little circle finally.

“She owed me one,” Barry picked up the lie with ease. “Owes you one too, if I remember right.”

“She might,” Snart shrugged one shoulder, eyes on Barry. There was a smirk teasing at his lips. Barry could already feel himself relaxing.

“You know I didn’t bring you in on the Reserve heist because I thought you skipped down. Couldn’t track you down when I needed back-up on a transport job a while back.”

“Oh?” Snart laid his fingers casually over the cold gun strapped to his hip. “Last I heard you found yourself a replacement for me just fine.”

It was a dig, but Barry let himself grin just a little in response, digging right back, copying Snart’s inflection. “Replace you? My team could never.”

"Alright enough,” Goldface cut in, and Barry shifted his attention back, standing up a bit straighter. He caught Ralph sending him a weird look. “Wha’ do I call you? Sam?”

“The Chemist.”

The gun was off his neck and Barry straightened his jacket. Ralph’s expression was still in need of schooling but the man caught himself quick and cleared his throat, addressing Goldface.

“So uh, we back in business?”

“With a twist.” Goldface moved casually over to what looked like a throne. Snart fell into step next to Barry. “Got a big job tonight. Hired Snart to plan it - I want it to go right, and well, you know how anal he can be. Could use a guy like The Chemist on our side. Cover our tracks. Since you two are such pals.”

He glanced at Snart, who titled his head. “Keith.”

“Goldface.”

Snart rolled his eyes. “Goldface. i work with a skeleton crew and a plan. The team is already bloated.”

“So you keep telling me. Drop the two you like the least and bring these ones on board. Unless you have an objection?”

Snart caught Barry’s gaze. Barry’s eyes hardened.

“What’s our target?”

[ ... ]

“Okay, so when was I going to learn that you and Captain Cold are flirting frenemies?”

“What? We’re not... no. Didn’t you know?”

“Know what?”

“He’s a - I don’t know. Ally? Sometimes. Or, well he was an enemy, but not really, well... he did betray us that one time, but then he went and died, and then the timeline changed thanks to the Legion of Doom so he didn’t really remember dying. I do, though, remember him dying, so do the Legends - “

“The Legion of what? The Legends? Why do the Legends -”

“Didn’t you know Snart was a Legend - “

“He was what?” Ralph hissed. 

“Heatwave is too. You know Mick is Heatwave?”

Ralph’s expression indicated that no, he had not known that.

“How come I never know any of this stuff? Ever?”

Barry really wished that just for one day, Ralph could experience being friends with Ralph. “I dunno, man, it was a different timeline and I can’t keep track of who remembers what anymore. There’s a file on him somewhere but there’s a lot going on. Point is - he’s kind of on our side some days, but doesn’t remember some of being on our side, I think? He knows he died being good though so he’s been on an evil kick since he came back from the dead timeline.”

Ralph’s expression was telling Barry exactly how much sense he was making. Barry clapped him on the shoulder. 

“Yeah.”

"So can we trust him?”

“Trust? Don’t push it,” that was Snart’s voice, cutting in and coming up to join them. “A new stray on your team.”

“This is Ralph. He’s... yeah, one of us.”

Snart eyed him, then turned back to Barry. “We roll out in five.”

He nodded, becoming more sombre again. Their target was a 3D printer for organs. It should be in a hospital, saving lives - and they were going to steal it before it ever got there.

“You sure you’re up for this, Barry?”

He almost flinched at his real name, at how personal the question felt. 

“Stealing from a hospital...”

He squared his jaw. “I can handle it.”

“You had better. I don’t want any surprises.”

“How can you be okay with this, Snart?” he took a step forward, and would’ve cursed his own emotions for getting the better of him except that would mean stopping to contemplate those emotions and that was the last thing he wanted to do. “This printer could save lives.”

Snart stepped in just as close. “It will save lives, Barry.”

“For the highest bidder.”

“What exactly do you think our healthcare system is? Hmm?” He paused just long enough before he went for the kill. “Insurance companies are positively criminal. Consider this some wealth equalization.”

Barry swallowed around the anger in his throat, knots along his shoulders from reigning in his anger. Snart tilted his head, voice lowering.

“Besides - you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t need that field generator for something. I could remind you of all the lives I’m sure you plan to save and whatever your bigger picture is, but let’s skip ahead to the part where we agree to play nice for the evening, hm?”

A memory swam up, unbidden. He could almost taste the blood that had accompanied it at the time, lying on the tarmac at Ferris Air with Snart leaning over him, who you’re really mad at is yourself. This is on you, Barry.

If he hadn’t let himself get distracted, if he hadn’t focused on a weapons deal instead of the field generator, he wouldn’t need to ride shot-gun on a heist with Snart that was making his stomach turn. 

“Let’s just get this over with.”

The man nodded, and turned. He paused, looking back over his shoulder. “Oh and Barry? Don’t make me throw away the plan.”

[ ... ]

The job really did have more people than it should need. Snart normally worked with 2-3 others max, but Goldface had sent them in with a full weaponized crew. Barry couldn’t figure out for what, really, with the building barely secured and with codes and passcards made up for every crew member. Belatedly, slipping through guard-less halls, it occurred to him it was probably for him - the Flash.

No wonder Snart hadn’t argued harder about having him along on this job.

Ralph kept shooting him glances. Snart hadn’t left his side. The whole night was shaping up just peachy. But they made it to the printer without difficulty.

Ralph whistled from across the room, pointing down at a packaged crate. Barry and Snart hurried over.

“Like candy from a baby,” Snart murmured, glancing it over.

Barry scowled at him. “How are we getting it out of here?”

“Unwrap, repack.”

Barry squatted down to help. Ralph cleared his throat.

“What?”

He was flipping through some documentation that had been sitting on top of the crate. “Barry, I...”

Barry stood and snatched the documents. He could feel Snart’s eyes on him.

Shit.

He closed his eyes. He couldn’t see this. 

“Barry...”

“They’re kids, Snart.”

“We had a deal.”

“This baby is 4 months old and needs new lungs. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

Snart grit his teeth. Barry took a step toward him, mindful of the way his eyes flashed dangerously. 

“I know you’re not made of ice.”

“Careful.”

Barry waited. Snart did too. It didn’t last long. The man went from solid stone to graceful movement in a second, and for a fraction of it Barry thought he might shoot, but he was just turning, dramatic as he rolled his body to express his long-suffering torment at having Barry in his life.

“You’re going to ruin my reputation. I have to work with these people in the future.”

“Wouldn’t this be more like taking out the competition?”

“Because that worked so well with Amunet.”

“You scared Amunet out of town?” So that’s why she hadn’t come back yet.

“Don’t tell Goldface. Long-distance didn’t work out so well for the lovers.”

Barry laughed. “Then you can’t pretend not to be intrigued. You always did like a challenge. Or don’t you want to rule this city?”

The grin Snart flashed him was definitely a genuine reaction, smothered out into something more dangerous and threatening quickly. Barry grinned in response and put out his arm.

“Mind helping with this cuff?”

Snart sized him up with a final sigh. “You owe me. Again.”

“And you love me owing you. One of these days I might even deliver.”

[ ... ]

“Iris, you know I love you and Barry.”

She glanced at Ralph, perturbed as ever when he said something declarative like that. It always preceded the most random and bizarre conversations.

“Uh... huh.”

“Right, so what I’m about to say is in the interest of protecting your relationship.”

“Oh boy.” She closed her notebook. No way she was going to be able to focus until Ralph had finished pulling whatever thread this was.

“So - Captain Cold.”

“Okay, do we need to break out the Bailey’s for this conversation?”

“You have Bailey’s?”

She rolled her eyes and moved across the coffee area to the freezer. “What do you take me for?”

He held out his mug and she poured them both a generous amount. 

“Okay, Captain Cold. He helped you and Barry stop Goldface from getting that organ printer, right?”

“Right. The thing is... I just wanted to make sure you know - I think he’s kind of got a ... crush? On your husband? And I’m not sure if Barry knows but - “

Iris burst out laughing. This? Really? “But he flirts like a teenage girl at prom every time Snart bats his eyelashes in his direction?”

“Wait you know?”

“I’ve had to work with them too you know. Drives my dad bananas.”

Ralph laughed too at the impression she pulled of her father’s wide, angry, confused eyes whenever Snart started getting too close and insinuating with Barry.

“Okay, so you know. That’s good. I was worried.”

“I could tell. I thought you were about to drop something serious on me.”

“Well I wasn’t gonna say anything, but then the field-static...spastic - “

“Neuro-stasis field generator?”

“Yes, that! When that showed up in the cortex this morning...”

“Snart’s courtship is a strange one.”

“You’re not... threatened by it?”

“How could I be, when Snart flirts just as much with me?” She paused, then leaned forward, elbows dropping to the table, voice slipping to an appropriately conspiratorial volume. “Just between you and me? Me ‘n Barry are just waiting for the day Snart realizes all he has to do is ask us nicely.”

The flummoxed expression from Ralph was definitely worth the interruption to her work.

[overwatchworks]

Lost, But Never Forgotten:

Chapter 3

"Dragons, huh. That's...New. And you can control one? Do you have one, since you are a Shimada?"

Genji's fist clenched and he grit his teeth, the commander shifting when he saw the sudden flash of anger in Genji's eyes.

"No. Mine is gone." He gritted out darkly, and he turned to leave, ending that conversation in its tracks. Jesse held the door open, and Genji strode out defiantly.

Genji nodded, scrolling through the information he had been given on the tablet he held, biting his lip absently as he read.

"You know the compound backwards and forwards, I know this, but the rest of us will have maps. The guard scheduling will have to be determined when we get there. We'll take a day to observe, then see when to go from there. Plans are still the same: send Genji in first, let him scout out and see what he deems necessary for the assault." Reyes' deep and smooth voice cut through the otherwise silent room, a small gathering of Blackwatch agents listening intently. 

This was a small group, but one of the most elite in the entire organization of Overwatch and Blackwatch combined. Genji read through the last paragraph, then frowned as his eyes caught on a name, just as the commander said it.

"Hanzo Shimada is the current clan leader, though it is in your best interest to avoid him at all costs. He is considered the most lethal individual there, but we are not to kill him, understand? Overwatch wants him alive, and taken in for questioning, but we'll be letting Agent Shimada take care of that job for us.”

“If one of you does happen to run into him, state your location and wait until either Agent Shimada or I get there to engage. If you are already engaged, call in anyways and try and stay alive long enough for one of us to get there. Stay out of sight; this is a stealth mission, get in, do our job and get the hell out of there before the whole empire crumbles on top of us. Because we won't leave Japan until that empire is dust at our feet."

The agents all muttered their agreement, wolfish grins and nods being traded, Genji feeling a fiery determination fill him and straighten his posture. Jesse shifted behind him, hand just barely brushing against his own in reassurance, and Genji bumped it back appreciatively.

"Any questions before I send you off to get ready?" Gabe asked, looking around expectantly, arms crossed across his chest. 

Genji cleared his throat, and all the eyes in the room settled on him. He shifted a bit uncomfortably under the sudden attention, but Jesse tapped his hand again, and Genji let out a little breath.

"There is something else you should know. The clan is, essentially, run by the leader, but there are others that heavily influence even the leader. There is a council, of sorts, and the elders, they can...Control people, to an extent. So, steer clear of them, you should be okay if you stick to the plan, but they are incredibly perceptive. They can get into your head and make you...Do things. Things they want you to, but the stronger your will is, the harder it is for them to do something like that.”

“And there are weapons that only the Shimadas can control, weapons that none of us have any counter to. Hanzo has weapons like that, as well as his father. Any of the past leaders do, anyone with pure Shimada blood, and there is no way to defend against them. So...Be careful."

There was dead silence, and Genji glanced up to where Gabe was giving him an odd look.

"What do you mean, weapons...?" The commander asked slowly, and Genji shifted again.

"They have incredibly powerful weapons that they can use at will, but I know how to deal with them. Just...Stay away from Hanzo and everyone there in general, and you'll be fine. Let me handle them."

"And you're just telling us about these weapons and people now?" Reyes deadpanned, a brow raising, clearly unimpressed.

"Just--Stick to the plan and everyone will be fine! I was just giving you a warning is all, just in case. The clan is far more powerful than you all think, and you would do well not to underestimate them." Genji snapped, voice dropping low as he gazed at each of the agents in turn.

"Fine. You all heard him. Stick to the plan, keep your head about you, be careful, and we'll be back before you know it. I trust each of you can manage that. Now, get out of here and be at the hangar at six." Reyes commanded, and the agents nodded before dispersing, murmuring to each other quietly. 

Genji was about to leave with them when Gabe put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.

"What?" Genji asked, nerves getting the better of him as his tone was harsher than expected.

"Listen, kid, I need to know what these weapons are. I won't tell anyone else, if that's what you're worried about, but as the commander, I have to know this."

Genji hesitated, glancing to where Jesse was leaning against the door-frame casually.

"They...They're dragons. My family has a legend about them, and those with the power of the Shimada in their blood can call upon them to aid in battle. Only a Shimada can control them."

Reyes raised a brow, arms crossing over his chest.

"Dragons, huh. That's...New. And you can control one? Do you have one, since you are a Shimada?"

Genji's fist clenched and he grit his teeth, the commander shifting when he saw the sudden flash of anger in Genji's eyes.

"No. Mine is gone." He gritted out darkly, and he turned to leave, ending that conversation in its tracks. Jesse held the door open, and Genji strode out defiantly.

"But you know how to defend against one? Can I trust you'll know how to handle it?" Gabe called, and Genji tilted his head back ever so slightly.

"Believe you me, I can handle it."

---

Genji was sitting on the discreet ship that was taking them to Japan, fingers tapping ceaselessly on his bouncing knee, nervous energy coursing through him. They had already been on the ship for hours, but Genji just felt even more anxious the closer they got to his old home. 

Jesse was dozing at his side, and all the other agents had long since given up trying to subtly stare at Genji and went about chatting to each other or napping. Genji looked around for something else to do other than brood and make himself more jittery, so he started fidgeting with his shruiken, sliding them in and out of his fingers idly and listening to the soft 'shink' of metal against metal.

"Relax, sugar. We'll be fine. Save that energy for the scout out, okay?" Jesse murmured, fishing through his pockets to pull out a packet of cigarettes and a lighter. Genji glared as Jesse lit one up, pointedly ignoring the irritated cyborg next to him and gazing out the window.

"Stop that. You'll just kill yourself sooner with those." Genji grumbled, swatting at the cowboy's hands and trying to grab the cigarette.

"Oi, lemme have a smoke in peace, will you?"

Genji relented, then smirked, deciding he would simply pick-pocket Jesse when they were walking off the ship. He couldn't smoke if he didn't have a lighter. Genji eventually drifted off, leaning his head against Jesse's shoulder and feeling an arm twine around his waist, dreaming of pink sakura trees and jade scales.

-

When they finally made it to Japan and settled in their safe houses--each house held about three agents, split up for safety reasons--Genji was practically buzzing with energy and more than ready to sneak into the Shimada castle. Reyes gave him the go ahead, making sure he had his comm on the whole time and telling him to relay any and all information that seemed valuable. 

Now, he found himself walking down a familiar street, dressed in all black and sticking to the shadows of the early morning. Genji gazed up at the massive gates just past the Rikimaru, no one on the streets at this hour. He meandered around for about thirty minutes, checking for cameras and other security measures all the while keeping out of sight. 

When he deemed it okay to try and get in, Genji scaled the gate and crouched at the top, a breeze tousling his raven locks that stuck up from the metal around it. There were guards, but of course, none of them bothered to look up, after all, they normally would never have to. They never had before, still didn’t now. Genji dropped down silently, scaling another building and racing across a rooftop, everything so familiar it hurt. 

He easily got past the main entrance guards--they didn't even look his way once--and he continued into the main building, relaying information as he went. There was really only two people he wanted to see, and only one of them he wanted to live past his visit. 

Genji stuck to the shadows, just as silent and dark as one, and no one was any the wiser that he was there. He went past the balcony that had haunted his dreams for months, not even glancing out at the sunrise before continuing on. He made it to one of the practice ranges he used to work drills on, slowing when he heard the steady thunk of something hitting wood. 

Genji chanced a glance around the corner, eyes widening when he saw the familiar proud stance of his brother, pelting arrow after arrow into his target with uncanny accuracy. Genji stared, seriously debating if he wanted to risk his life flying in there to tackle Hanzo in a hug, then realized Hanzo wouldn't be able to tell who he was looking the way he did. He'd probably be killed before he even got the chance to explain.

"Did anyone ever tell you it was rude to stare? It does you no good to hide in the shadows, I know you lurk there."

Genji froze, Hanzo tilting his head oddly, as if he was listening to something, before he continued to hit his mark, completely unfazed.

"Are you going to come out and try to kill me, or will you slink away like a coward?" He asked, and Genji didn't like how cold and lilting, teasing, Hanzo's voice was. 

Genji stepped forward, hearing Reyes hiss something but not comprehending the words, and he took another. Hanzo lowered his bow, back still to Genji, but there was a flash of movement and an arrow was suddenly embedded in the wall next to Genji's cheek. His reflexes from all the training had been the only thing that saved him at the last second.

"You are not normally so talkative with intruders." Genji quipped, hand gripping his wakizashi tightly, ready to use at a moment's notice.

"And my intruders normally do not live to speak past my first strike. I'm afraid you'll have to put up with my banter, since you have so luckily survived this long." Hanzo shot back, and Genji really didn't like the chilly playfulness in his tone, like he knew without a doubt the person in front of him would die. 

He was being toyed with, and that scared him coming from Hanzo. Straightforward and no nonsense Hanzo. It was a trait of their father’s.

"Then you must also put up with mine. I have not come here to fight you, Hanzo. Rather, I would like to speak with you, if you would be so inclined."

Hanzo was turned to him fully now, spinning the shaft of an arrow through his fingers and slowly walking towards Genji, who stood his ground. His hair was longer than it had been when Genji last saw him, pulled up in a high ponytail rather than his usual low and loose one.

"Give me a good reason why I should speak with you and not put an arrow through your throat."

Genji swallowed, putting a hand to his ear and pressing the mute on his comm, hoping he would survive this encounter to get a serious reprimanding from Gabe later.

"I have some information that I'm sure you would like to hear. Information about your brothe--"

Genji didn't even get to finish his sentence before he was being slammed to a wall, his own wakizashi pulled out of his hand and instead pressed against his throat hard, Hanzo glaring up at him fiercely. 

He had gotten fast, really fast, and really strong.

"What do you know about Genji? Speak!" Hanzo shouted, the blade pressing against his throat harder with each word.

"I know that if you don't stop pressing that knife to my throat, you'll kill him." Genji answered cheekily, hoping to gain the element of surprise. 

Hanzo's brow furrowed for a moment, grip loosening on the wakizashi. Genji smacked Hanzo's arm away from him, stumbling out from against the wall and turning to face him again, katana held defensively in his hand just in case. Hanzo faced him, wakizashi gripped tight and looking rather livid.

"Who are you? How do you know about him?" He growled, tattoo on his arm glowing blue for a moment, twisting to life.

"Hanzo, listen, before you do anything rash--"

"Do not speak to me as if you know me! Who are you, and why do you know about Genji?!" Hanzo yelled, stepping forward dangerously, blue energy crackling around the wakizashi now.

"Okay! Okay, just listen to me! I don't want to fight you, so please, please put the weapon down! I don't want to be gutted by my own blade today, Anija--" Genji cut himself off, eyes widening at his slip up, Hanzo's form tensing up.

"What did you just say...?" He whispered.

"A-anija. It's...It's me. I...I came back. I want to bring you with me when I leave this time."

Hanzo's form seemed to lose all its strength, and he looked confused, drained all of a sudden, eyes wide and brows furrowed.

"Genji...?"

Genji lowered his katana, reaching up to undo the latches on his faceplate and pulling it off, meeting Hanzo's gaze as he got closer. Genji smiled a bit, tears already swimming in his eyes because he was finally, finally with his brother again.

"Yeah...It's me..."

Hanzo was about to reach up when a squeal made the both of them jolt, and something massive flew at them both, a bright green light enveloping Genji before he could even raise his katana again.

"Master!!!!!" 

The voice surrounded him, rumbling through his core, and Genji felt the tears spill over.

"E-Egg...?" He whispered, katana forgotten as he reached up to touch his dragon's snout with shaking hands, Egg pressing his head to Genji's. A deep purring filled the air, and Genji sucked in a shuddering breath, eyes wide and tears streaming down his cheeks, but a huge smile plastered on his face.

"Egg, buddy, hey...I--I missed you..." Genji stuttered, closing his eyes and holding Egg's head, petting a hand through his mane.

"Oh, master! Egg came as quick as he could! Egg felt you come in, but Master Hanzo said not to leave the room, but Egg couldn't just stay there! Egg had to come see you master! Master, Egg has missed you so much, Egg is so, so, so sorry for what he did, Egg is so sorry!" 

Egg squeaked between licks to Genji's chin and rubbing his cheek, and Genji shook his head with a smile.

"It's okay, Egg. I know it wasn't your fault. I-I love you, bud...God, I missed you so much..." Genji murmured, pressing a kiss to Egg's snout, the dragon booping his nose to Genji's cheek in return. 

Egg then circled around to Genji's back, pressing a massive paw to the skin that was left there, and Genji gasped at the burning sensation. It felt like he was being enveloped in a flame, but warm, comforting in a way. Egg glowed briefly, then disappeared into a flash of green mist that flowed steadily into Genji's back, and suddenly, Genji felt that ever present gap of nothing in his mind fill, a soothing purr rumbling through his head.

Egg is with you, Master.

Genji blinked rapidly, and he could feel how big the smile had gotten on his face before he turned to Hanzo once more. The older Shimada was staring, his bottom lip trembling and eyes shining with tears. Genji gave in and raced forward, enveloping Hanzo in a hug, hearing the wakizashi clatter to the ground as his brother's arms wrapped around him tightly.

"Genji...Genji, I knew it...I knew they couldn't be--I though you had died, but then Egg...And he said that you were alive...I've been searching for you ever since...For months, I've been--"

"Hey, hey it's alright. Hanzo, listen to me. I want you to come back with me, I want you to leave this place, be free of all this, please, I need you to come back with me. I don't want to go back alone..." Genji murmured, pulling back to look his brother in the eye.

"Come with me."

Hanzo's brow furrowed, and he wiped away the tears that had spilled onto his cheeks.

"I-I can't just...Leave..." He whispered, looking around the training ground, then back to the main building.

"Yes, yes you can. Just come with me, I'm here with Blackwatch, we're here to take the empire down. We're here to be rid of it, and I need you to come with me, maybe you can help us too! You can come back and help us get rid of this place, the chains they have on you, you'll be free of it!" Genji said, gripping Hanzo's shoulders tighter as he became more excited. 

The barest curve of a smile hinted on Hanzo's lips as he stared at the ground.

"Be free of this...?" He whispered, and Genji grinned, nodding.

"Yeah! You just have to follow me, I'm sure Gabe would love to have you on the team, I can finally introduce you to Jesse, and you can do whatever you want without the elders constantly breathing down your neck--Hanzo...?"

Hanzo was tilting his head again, reaching down and grabbing his bow from where he had dropped it, slowly nocking an arrow.

"You didn't come alone, did you..."

Genji frowned, looking over his shoulder where Hanzo's gaze had gone to.

"Yes, I did. They sent me in here on my own."

Hanzo didn't say anything else, he merely whipped around, arrow pulled back and pointing straight between Reyes' eyes, the barrel of a shotgun almost resting on Hanzo's forehead it was so close. Genji quickly pulled out his own weapons, snatching his wakizashi and katana from the ground and holding them up defensively.

"Commander?! What are you--"

"I don't want to hear another word from you, Shimada. You disobeyed a direct order and you've successfully ruined our plans. You engaged the target, and we have to leave, now." Reyes growled, and Genji moved towards him, anger blazing in his eyes.

"We don't have to fight! Hanzo will go with us, now lower your gun!"

"I said. Quiet." Reyes snapped, steely eyes falling on Genji. It made him snap his mouth shut, jaw clenching. 

"What do you want, Commander?" Hanzo asked quietly, sneering at the last word and not lowering his bow. 

Reyes tilted his head, eyes flicking around to the shadows and Genji turned, seeing their team of agents surrounding them, guns held up at the ready. Even Jesse had his revolver leveled on Hanzo, hammer cocked.

"You have me surrounded, guns all ready to rip me apart at the twitch of a finger, and yet I'm still alive. So, I'll ask again. What do you want?" Hanzo hissed, eyes trailing Gabe's gun as he lowered it, but not lowering his bow. 

Reyes stepped back, eyes narrowing as he appraised Hanzo.

"You heard your brother, right? We need you to come with us."

Hanzo glanced at Genji coolly, then looked back at Gabe, who had stepped back even more.

"So, he wasn't lying to me."

"Of course I wasn’t ly--"

"Shimada! Shut the hell up, or I swear to god I will put you in a detainment cell right along with your brother!"

Hanzo's eyes widened, and he bared his teeth, tattoo shifting once more, a glowing tendril of blue sneaking down towards his arrow. Genji was about to step closer to Hanzo when a gunshot shattered through the still night air. Hanzo jolted and dropped his bow, blood splattering the ground at his feet, pain dancing in his eyes as he gripped his hand and another shot went off. 

Genji stared in shock as Hanzo fell to the ground, a scream ripping past his lips as spot of crimson quickly spreading on his leg, and he curled up, huffing raggedly.

"Hey! Hanzo! What the hell are you guys doing?!" Genji shouted, dropping down next to his brother and looking over the wounds frantically. He then glared up at Reyes, who clicked his tongue and motioned to one of the agents.

"Cuff them both. I'm sick of dealing with this. We leave in ten minutes, pack your bags and get to the rendezvous point. Ship will be here in fifteen."

Genji struggled as one of the agents put handcuffs over his wrists and then over Hanzo's, taking both their weapons and hauling Genji to his feet.

"Hey, boss, we ain't gotta--"

"McCree. I don't want to hear it. You can watch them if you want, but I'm detaining them both no matter what you want, alright? Unless you want to join them?"

Genji watched as Jesse grumbled, tapping his fingers on his holster, then he came over and took Genji's arm lightly as the previous agent shoved him at the cowboy.

"Easy there, Wessington. He ain't gonna hurt no one, no need to be rough."

Genji glared at the other agents, but didn't struggle against Jesse's hold.

"You didn't have to fucking shoot him! He was about to come with me, I didn't ruin the mission, you guys did by coming in here! Hanzo wasn't going to hurt anyone!" Genji shouted, and Jesse gripped his arm tighter.

"Gen, you’re just gonna get yourself in bigger trouble like that, alright? Just stay quiet, and we'll fix everythin' up when we get back." He whispered.

Genji grunted, knowing he was right. Jesse leaned down to help Hanzo to his feet, and the older Shimada glared up at him, slapping the hand away and struggling to his feet.

"Hanzo..." Genji started, but then that glare was directed at him, and Genji winced.

"I don't need your help." Hanzo spat, Jesse rolling his eyes and gripping Hanzo's arm tightly anyways.

"Come on."

Hanzo wrenched his arm free, stumbling back a bit, and Genji's brows furrowed."No! I can't leave! I won't leave with you people!" He shouted, bloody hand pressed protectively to his chest and leaning on his good leg.

"You're coming with us whether you like it or not, princess." Reyes deadpanned, putting a hand on his shoulder and shoving him forward. 

Hanzo growled, opening his mouth to say something, and Gabe sighed, smacking the butt of his shotgun to Hanzo's temple. Hanzo dropped, Reyes catching him before he hit the ground and tossing his limp form over his shoulder.

"I thought you said he was not to be underestimated. I expected more of a fight." Reyes snorted, turning to Genji with a grin and patting Hanzo's lower back.

"He would have been if you hadn't fucking shot him." Genji growled, and Gabe shrugged, walking past him with a swagger to his step.

"Alright ladies. Back to the ship, we leave in ten. I have a feeling the Shimada empire is going to fall faster than we thought with our new friend here."

~~