#he saw a portal opening and his soulmate came out of it

[too-much-tma-stuff]

Let Me Take Care of You (18+)

requested by @transparentgayprotector: Dead serious, soulmate au, post battle hook up but sweet

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It was always a complete joy to Damian when he got watch his soulmate fight. He understood now that strength was not the ends all and be all of life but he still preened openly at having such a powerful and regal life partner.

Today Damian had the absolute joy of backing his lover up while he fought one of his rogues. Well, technically there were a few of the other bats here but he was clearly the most helpful. They were taking care of any summons the villain attempted to throw at them so that Danny could focus on the main fight. Damian might have resented that but he knew perfectly well how strong Danny was.

It had been a hard fight for all involved at first, until the fool of a rogue realized how completely outclassed they were an how little good their pathetic mobs were actually doing. They had dropped all their summons to focus on Danny and Damian had been able to sit back and enjoy the show of power and force. He wished he had brought some snacks to enjoy the show, perhaps that would keep him from getting so hot under the collar.

Damian could have purred when Danny sent the villain twice his size running. "Welcome back Phantom," Damian greeted, reaching up for Danny as he drifted down to them. "Are you injured?"

"No, don't worry I'm fine," Danny said, resting his hands in Damian's, so pale compared to his own, like holding snow.

"Are you sure? You know I'd feel much better if you let me check," Damian said, pulling Danny down closer to him.

"What? No really I'm okay-" Danny started before Damian yanked him close.

"Please Beloved, take me home," Damian purred in Danny's ear, his voice soft and sultry.

"Oh- Oh, ya of course," Danny said, blushing bright green, it made his star-like freckles stand out all the more on his cheeks. It was adorable, how something so powerful could be so precious Damian would never understand.

He glanced around to make sure there wasn't to much damage as he touched down on the ground and wrapped his arms around Damian's waist. "Thank you all so much for your help, I owe you one!" He said, his voice pitching up just a little when Damian wrapped his arms around Danny's shoulders and nuzzled against his throat.

"Ya, ya you're welcome! Now take him home before he jumps you in front of all of us," Jason teased them, Damian could only grin to himself about how correct Todd was.

"Right, Well, thanks again," Danny said sounding Very flustered before he ripped open a portal and pulled Damian through with him.

Damian was very pleased when they landed directly on the bed, his love knew him so well! Damian got comfortable straddling Danny's waist and kissed him slow and passionate. Damian hummed when Danny cupped his face and kissed back.

Damian saw a bright flash through his eyelids and when he opened his eyes he could see Danny's living skin, warmer and less freckled, his now blue eyes closed and eyebrows scrunched together in adorable concentration as he focused on the kiss. It made Damian's heart swell and the branching scars of Danny's electrification tingle in his chest and down his arm.

Damian broke the kiss and leaned back, unbuttoning Danny's blue shirt, he leaned down and kissed the scar on his chest, from Damian's own death. The lightning scars had long since faded on Danny's living skin but they lived forever on Damian's, the scar on Damian's chest had been overwritten when he was resurrected, but it lived forever on Danny's.

"I love you," Damian murmured against Danny's twisted skin, vulnerable and true.

"I love you too," Danny replied, running his fingers through Damian's hair. He had none of the trouble Damian did when it came to giving and receiving love. Early on in their relationship Damian had almost been jealous of how easily Danny got along with his family, how quickly he let them in and how easily they loved him. He was long since over that now though, he was just grateful that Danny was fated to be his.

Damian made a soft sound of acknowledgment and moved to the edge of the bed to kick off the boots he was still wearing. While he did Danny shrugged off his button down and went to undo his own shoes. Damian tutted and pushed him back down, deft hands undoing the laces of Danny's shoes and pulling them off himself, Danny's socks were too large and came off along with them.

Damian's deft and knife callused fingers curled around the back of Danny's heel, pressing a kiss to his ankle. Danny's breath hitched slightly in his throat, Damian knew that Danny was a King, nearly a god, and how uncomfortable he was with the roll. Danny did not want to be worshiped, at least not in that way, in bed was a different story.

He kissed up Danny's leg, his shin, above his knee, his thigh, then his stomach just above the waist of his jeans. He undid Danny's pants and pushed them down slowly, nuzzling against his hip fondly. Danny watched him, wide eyed and flushed, letting Damian have his way and Oh how Damian loved having his way with such a powerful man.

He chuckled breathlessly when Danny's dick practically jumped free of his underwear once they were pushed down. Danny let out a soft whimper, an eager little sound he simply couldn't hold back. Adorable~

Damian nuzzled the underside of Danny's dick making him gasp and grab the sheets, his other hand flying to Damian's hair. He didn't pull or push, just held on and let Damian do as he pleased, so Damian continued, secure in the knowledge that if he wanted to Danny absolutely could stop him.

Damian let Danny's member slip between his lips, soft and warm as it nudged against the back of his pallet. He hummed contentedly as he drew a moan from his lover. He closed his lips around the engorged flesh and started sucking, his mouth watering as he bobbed his head, his saliva dripping down along the length he couldn't quite fit in his mouth.

He pulled back, letting Danny's dick fall from his mouth with a small pop that made Danny's breath stutter. The sound made him smirk. "Pass me the oil please Love," Damian requested while still slowly stroking Danny's dick.

"Sure," Danny breathed, sitting up and reaching over to the bedside table, scrabbling through the drawer for the body safe oil they used as lube. While he did Damian took the chance to strip the rest of his own clothes.

Danny handed the lube over, his eyes roaming over Damian's body. he smiled and sat back to let Danny look, he knew he was painfully hard as well, but he wasn't thinking about that, too focused on Danny at the moment. He saw the way Danny's pupils dilated when he was planning to pounce and beat him to it, swooping down to kiss the other man and hold him down without any real force.

Damian knew his intention was enough to keep Danny firmly on his back right now. "Let me take care of you," Damian crooned. He straddled Danny's waist and leaned back, bracing one hand on Danny's knee so he had a good view as Damian started to work himself open slowly. He knew he looked good, and it made him feel good being watched like this, to be enjoyed by his lover.

"Fuck, you're so gorgeous," Danny breathed, reaching up slowly enough that Damian could have said no. When he didn't Danny ran his hands over Damian's toned chest and taught stomach, settling for holding his hips and helping hold the angle as Damian tried not to focus to much on his own pleasure.

"Alright," He murmured to himself, letting out a shuddering breath as he pulled out his own fingers once he was lose enough. He shifted down, lining himself up with Danny's cock and holding it carefully with one hand as he lowered himself with a long shuddering moan.

The sound of pleasure Danny let out when he bottomed out inside Damian was particularly inhuman. He'd been self conscious of those little snarls and wails at first but Damian loved them. They made his skin pebble in goose flesh and a shiver run down his spine, a tiny little twist of fear to add spice to his pleasure.

He leaned forward, shifting and swiveling his hips slowly until he found the angle that felt best and most comfortable. Beneath him Danny's breathing came fast and shallow, his grip on Damian's hips turning bruising as he struggled to control himself. Still Damian wasn't actually scared, he knew his beloved would never hurt him.

"Ohhh," he sighed when he found just the right position and quickly pushed himself up so he could sink back down. His moan was pleasant backing vocals for Danny's snarl as he threw his head back. Damian gave a breathless laugh and started riding Danny quickly having just about used up Both of their patience.

He kept his own noises soft, little gasps and moans, not because he needed to but because he wanted to hear Danny. His own pleasure was incidental and inevitable as he worked to draw as many varied noises as he could from his Lover.

"Damian! Damian, I'm going to cum," Danny warmed breathlessly.

"Good, me too," Damian breathed.

Damian let out a startled yelp when Danny sat up quickly, surging up to kiss Damian almost to hard, holding him tight as Damian came, shuddering and collapsing in Danny's arms. Shivering with the odd combination of disgust and delight that came with being covered in and filled with both their orgasmic fluid.

"Straight to the shower?" Danny asked, sounding amused. He knew Damian so well.

"Yes please. Carry me," Damian demanded imperiously for the sole purpose of making Danny laugh. Which it did, even as he did exactly what Damian asked and scooped him up in a bridal carry.

[sorryimananti-romantic]

Horizon (Chapter 4)

series masterlist

faerieprince!san x oc

royal/fantasy au, soulmate au

chapter wc: ~20k

chapter warnings: fluff, angst, tragedy, violence warnings, mention of death/su!cide, past traumas, atz interactions, suggestive

chapter synopsis: gaeul prepares to say her goodbyes before going to the other dimension but also burdens seonghwa with a promise in case things go wrong. san's health starts to deteriorate as a result of his separation from gaeul and the bond. in the other dimension, gaeul practises her magic with yeosang, yunho, mingi and yena make a discovery that shakes their beliefs.

manager-nim: @eightmakesonebraincell (makes sure i don't sound stupid when i write :') LOL)

“That’s… crazy,” Yeosang breathed, turning to meet eyes with Gaeul who was also staring at the very large tear in space itself- the air was all shimmery and broken around it, distorting her vision. Gaeul took a step back, bumping into Yena who looked equally blown. However, she noticed the others staring at them in confusion.

“What’s crazy?” Wooyoung followed Yeosang’s eyes, staring into the distance but finding nothing out of the ordinary except a sinking feeling that confirmed there was something out there. Wooyoung stepped at the edge of the cave, looking down at the beach and the waves violently crashing on the rocks, and then looking up into the air again. “Can you see something that I cannot?”

Yeosang turned to look at Yena who nodded. Gaeul also pointed at the distance, however, it looked like none of the others could see it. “What’s crazier is that it’s using some sort of illusion magic to become invisible to even you guys. Hongjoong?”

“I can’t see anything- is there anything I should be seeing?”

“There’s a literal tear in the space itself- it’s stitched close,” Yeosang sighed, not knowing how to explain. San walked to Gaeul and asked if he could enter her mind to see from her eyes- he was able to see it as well, and worse, feel it with a greater intensity- the feeling Gaeul must be experiencing right now.

“I think me and Yeosang can see it because duh,” Yena began, “We deal with spaces and portals. Gaeul can see it because she came from it. Interesting none of you can see it.”

“I just saw,” San raised his hand and everyone else groaned, making him grin despite the severity of the situation. “It’s just like Yeosang described. A distortion in the space- you can’t even tell. I bet it opens to let the creatures in here.”

“Which means the missing faeries might be on the other side,” Seonghwa looked at Hongjoong. “We’ve got to save them if they’re… still alive.”

“And how do you suppose we do that?” Yeosang interrupted. “You can’t just go prowling in there and expect to come back alive. You don’t even know what’s there, when it opens, when it shuts close. You could become trapped in a world you don’t belong in.”

“Well then,” Jongho looked at Yeosang. “You know better than any of us about other dimensions. What would you suggest?”

“I think the three of us,” Yeosang motioned at Yena and Gaeul, “might be able to do something about it- but not until Gaeul is able to get her magic under her control. As much as I want to see if the missing faeries are at the other side and are even alive, all I can do is wait. Even my spirits can’t move across dimensions so casually.”

“What can you both sense, across that… tear in the space?” Gaeul asked Yena and Yena paled.

“We can’t… sense anything across that, we can sense only the tear in the space itself, right Yeosang?” She looked at her brother and he nodded, looking suspiciously at Gaeul. Gaeul rubbed her arms.

“You can’t sense the multiple presence of both faeries and… something else across it?” Gaeul asked, looking at each one of them.

“I think I can,” Yeosang hesitantly began. “I sense souls across dimensions, so I think I can. What I’m confused about is that unfamiliar presence.”

“Me too,” Gaeul nodded. “It’s not dangerous though.”

“It’s not?” Yeosang frowned, showing off his arms- he had goosebumps all over. “I think it might be, Gaeul. I’m interested to hear why you think it’s not.”

“Yeosang-” San warned but Gaeul shook her head at him- Yeosang had every right to question her. 

“I just… I don’t know,” Gaeul sighed, looking around helplessly. “I have never sensed this presence before, but I know it won’t hurt me- something like that.”

“It took faeries, what do you mean it won’t hurt you?” Yeosang was getting more and more confused.

“I think I can relate,” Mingi raised his hands and Yeosang gaped at him. “You know how I can feel some souls now- I could feel you, Gaeul. Not your magic, but your soul burning with it. I can feel the unfamiliar presence across the sea too.”

Gaeul was glad someone could relate, she relaxed and smiled in a silent thanks. Mingi only shrugged, looking at Yeosang. “Whatever is across there, it must have a soul if I can feel it. If the creatures in question are not faeries and not darklings either…”

Hongjoong sat down in defeat. “We might really have to rewrite the history books, it seems,” he looked at Yena. “Our plan to omit your story won’t work anymore if we want to explain this to anyone.”

“Well,” Yunho sighed. “What do we do now?”

“Just stick with the plan,” Hongjoong grumbled and Seonghwa snickered at his mood swings. “We can’t do anything about it so let’s just breathe for one goddamn day before we wrack our brains trying to think of solutions.”

Everyone laughed at that and Hongjoong sulked further, making an annoyed face- Gaeul could tell that even though he kept asking everyone to relax and forget about everything, he could never do the same. Gaeul sat down next to him, legs dangling down the edge. 

“I will not move from here until you promise to breathe for one goddamn day as well,” she teased and Hongjoong scoffed in defeat. “One step at a time, okay? I’ll do everything I can to make everything right again.”

“You’re not responsible for what happened, though,” Hongjoong’s voice was quiet. “And I’m worried about the unfortunate faeries that are missing.”

“But I could end it, and I could save them,” Gaeul said and Hongjoong looked at her- she wasn’t wrong. And it was nice to see that she was at the optimistic end for once. “I have all of you with me, trying to help me. Everything will get better, I know- I believe so. Let’s slow it down, okay?”

Hongjoong nodded slowly, taking a deep breath and getting up first, offering Gaeul his hand. “Let’s go to the spot you mentioned.”

“It’s right down there, ironically enough,” Gaeul pointed at the edge where they had just been sitting. “I can’t believe this is the place I came back to.”

“Fate works in mysterious ways,” Hongjoong patted her back and urged Gaeul to lead the way.

Their plan for the day was a little picnic at the beach, and Gaeul had brought them to her favourite spot- away from the city where few people came since it was surrounded by caves. The orange sun shone with all its might on the foamy waves of sea, a tint of green seen in the distance. The only sounds surrounding them were of the waves crashing, of the seagulls around them and the chatter of their group as they ate their snacks. 

San got up near sunset and motioned for Gaeul to join her for a walk. The rest of the group cheered for them dramatically, making Gaeul blush furiously- it was no hidden fact anymore that San and Gaeul were meant for each other, and everyone wanted them to feel good about themselves at least for today- if they were all honest, they weren’t sure if Gaeul and San would meet again- it was going to be tricky for Gaeul to try to live with the bond itself, though everyone hoped she would.

San took Gaeul’s extended hand in his, caressing it repeatedly and letting the familiar warmth course through the both of them as they walked bare-footed along the shore. Gaeul pointed at a seashell with a brown base and red swirls all over it. She bent to pick it up, showing it to San.

“This looks like the colour of your magic,” Gaeul said and San raised a brow.

“Really?” He made a satisfied face. “My magic’s a pretty colour then.”

“It is, pretty boy,” Gaeul smiled, snatching the shell from him and dropping it in the pocket of the pale blue dress she wore that hit her knees. “I’ll take it with me to the other dimension and look at it when I miss you.” San smiled at that, showing off his dimples and Gaeul poked at one of them. “I’ll miss this too.”

“What else will you miss? Go on,” San was clearly enjoying this, asking in a teasing manner.

“Your voice,” Gaeul sighed, resting her head against his arm as she walked and San passed a confused smile- he hadn’t expected this. 

“What about my voice?”

“Something about it is very soothing,” Gaeul sighed, putting her other hand on his arm as well. “It sounds very melodic to me. I’m more jealous because I know I sound like a banshee most of the times-”

San snorted before he laughed- Gaeul was so unpredictable and that was one thing he really liked about her from the beginning. “You don’t sound like a banshee, Gaeul,” he said and Gaeul smiled at him. “You sound like a dying banshee, is a more accurate description-”

That earned him a harsh slap on his arm which had him laughing harder than he had meant to. Gaeul broke apart, pouting as she sulked but San wasn’t having any of it- he put an arm around her shoulders and brought her in until she was flush against him as they walked. San kissed her temple as he rubbed her shoulders. “You’re beautiful to me in every aspect. Whether you sound like a dying banshee or a beautiful siren, it doesn’t matter. I love you in every way. And for the record, you don’t actually sound like that, you sound very normal and cute.”

His sudden confession made Gaeul look up at him but he was looking ahead as if he hadn’t just said things that made her heart swoop dangerously and skin tingle. As Gaeul took in every feature of him, his honey skin and the sharpness and softness that blended so well, she exhaled. “I don’t know what I did in my very uneventful life to deserve you as my soulmate, San, I really don’t understand.”

San narrowed his eyes at that, pausing to face her. “I don’t care how exactly we ended up being soulmates, but… I don’t know what I did to deserve you either- you’re everything I ever dreamed of and more.”

“So you’re telling me you dreamed of death and danger? Because that’s me-”

“Just put the magic nonsense aside,” San laughed, shaking his head and putting his hands on her shoulders and bending down a little to meet her eyes. “I don’t care whether you have the magical capability to destroy this world or no magic at all when all of this is over. All I care is that you’ll be the person I fell in love with. That you’ll be tossing teasing remarks and making all these cute faces that absolutely drive me crazy. That you’ll still have the glint of life in your eyes that you had even when you wanted to die. I’ll be waiting patiently for you, so take your time with yourself, okay? I’m not going anywhere- you own me now.”

“San,” Gaeul sighed, looking away because she was overwhelmed. “You know very well you’re the only reason I’m alive- not just because of the bond, but because… you. If our soulmate bond breaks and I’m still alive… would you still want me?”

“Of course I would,” San tsk-ed at the doubt in her eyes and cupped her face. “I told you. Bond or no bond, I love you.”

“And I love you- even though it’s a little overwhelming because I honestly never pictured myself to be with the scary Prince of Earth-”

“What part of me, exactly, is scary?” San showed off his dimpled smile and Gaeul laughed, shaking her head and moving forward to wrap her arms around his waist. San sighed into the hug and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, resting his cheek on the top of her head. 

Gaeul wanted to tell him that she would miss this- she would miss touching him and hugging him. She knew it was not only just because they were in love but also the reaction it had on both of them physically. She also wanted to tell him that she did not want the soulmate bond to break- she would die if that happened, even though San assured her it didn’t matter. She just couldn’t bear the thought of losing that part of her yet again. 

It seemed like San understood enough and perhaps shared most of her worries and fears with her. He didn’t break the hug and they stood in each other’s arms until it was almost dark- they watched the sky change together, each praying it wouldn’t be their last.

At night- their last night- it hit harder, especially when they just sat staring at each other from across the room, San having already been sitting there before Gaeul came in the room and sat down in front of him to take a breather.

“What are you thinking?” San was the first to break the silence. 

“Just… how long it might take in that dimension,” Gaeul took a deep breath. “It might only be a few days to you, but it could be years for me. That’s… crazy.”

“That is, isn’t it?” San whistled in disbelief. “Would you prefer the time to go at the same speed?”

“No, I absolutely understand what’s it costing us all,” Gaeul knew that everyone helping her also had kingdoms to run, though they kept insisting that they would be considering this a ‘vacation’- Gaeul understood that while some part of that might actually be true, it was also false at the same time. “I just… how will I be apart from you for so long?”

San’s fists tightened hearing that, though he managed to pass his usual smirk in an attempt to lighten her mood. “You’re gonna miss me that much?”

“As a matter of fact, I am,” Gaeul wasn’t in the mood for teasing right now, and when San’s face changed after hearing that, Gaeul sighed and put her head in her hands. “It’s just finally hitting me. As selfish as it sounds, I wish we could be together there, even though I know we can’t.”

“Gaeul,” San got up and walked to her, sitting on one knee in front of her so he could face her. “We’re together tonight. You can be as selfish as you want tonight. I know I’ll be.”

Gaeul looked up and saw something foreign in San’s eyes, in his clenched jaw and parted lips- longing, every nerve in her body screamed. It was pure, raw longing to be with each other forever. To not be apart for a moment. To become one and then stay that way, never break apart. Gaeul licked her lips, her hands trembling as they met San’s face and he shut his eyes when electricity coursed through his nerves like fuel. Gaeul let her fingers trace every angle and curve of his face, before running her hands through his hair repeatedly, playing with his ash mullet, and cupping his face to kiss his forehead, lingering. She let her lips trail down, pecking the tip of his nose and making him grin a little. She swiped her thumb over his lower plump lip and urged him to open his eyes.

He did so, with a huge amount of effort, but when he found her so close to him… his brows furrowed as he held himself back, letting her take the lead. She bent down and pecked his lips once, a strangled breath escaping him. She pecked him again, and again, and again-

“Do you want to break me, Gaeul?” San’s voice was hoarse, and despite what he said, it made Gaeul smirk so devilishly slow that San decided that was enough- he got up slowly, shaking his head as he beheld the sight in front of him. He tipped her chin up until she faced him. “Tell me, Gaeul. Tell me what you want to do with me.”

Gaeul tilted her head, considering- the darkness beneath his eyes excited her. She’d only seen San be gentle and teasing- she wanted to test him tonight, to see what extent he could go, where he would- “I want to watch you break apart under me.”

San’s jaw clenching and unclenching did it for her- she got up and pushed him back on the bed, making him scoff as she got on top of him and straddled him- they only had tonight and an unforeseen time apart- she had to make the most of it. She had no time to be shy- she ran her hands up his chest excruciatingly slow until she reached his shoulders- and then she was running her hands down his arms while San watched, unaware just where she was going with this. 

However, the last thing he expected was her to pin his wrists at his sides and smile almost sadistically at the sight- it made him stifle a groan. He hadn’t seen this side of her and it was a shame he only had tonight to test her buttons. Gaeul bent down and finally met her lips with his, immediately falling into a rhythmic motion, her hands relaxing to move up and interlace with his as she kissed him.

Still, San had better ideas- he broke apart and cupped her face, angling her better so his lips and tongue could make the most of it, and flipping them over, slowly taking more control. For the longest time it was just this- kissing like there was no tomorrow, and this time the gravity of that hung over them, making their kisses more desperate and passionate. 

Gaeul breathed San’s name when they broke apart but he was immediately attacking her neck, extracting the loudest moans from her as he bit and kissed and licked at every sensitive spot, his hands going to undo the laces of her gown and breaking it apart only to remove the barrier between them, taking off his own shirt as well, whistling when he realised they were only in their bottoms now. 

“Turn the fucking lights dim, San,” Gaeul groaned, covering herself, suddenly shy. San chuckled, waving his hand and leaving only one candle on, kissing her forehead before slowly drawing her arms apart.

“You don’t have to hide from me, Gaeul,” he pecked her lips, caressing her face lovingly.

“I’m just… shy,” Gaeul pouted.

“You weren’t very shy a few minutes ago when-”

“Shut up,” Gaeul laughed, urging him down to kiss him. San broke apart, trailing his hand all the way down her, tracing her curves and taking his time to play with what was exposed of her, sliding his knee between her legs so it met her core, and she moaned, which San immediately swallowed with a kiss. 

“San… San, I want you.”

“As much as I’d like to, I really don’t think we should go all the way- there’s no knowing how your magic will react,” San looked to be in pain as he said that. “The first time between soulmates… it’s supposed to be different than with any other.”

“So… you don’t want your dick to turn into ash and fall off, is that what you’re saying?” Gaeul smirked and San threw his head back as he laughed. 

“That too,” he shook his head as he looked at her lovingly. “However… we can do some other… interesting things tonight.”

“Lead the way then,” Gaeul smirked, trailing a finger down his muscular chest sultrily. “We have all night- make the most of it. Let’s see how good you are.”

“It’s a challenge,” San laughed as he bent down to kiss her once again, slow and passionate, more intimate than anything they ever had before, and they barely got any sleep that night, only making out and touching each other everywhere, making the other break apart several times throughout the night without going too far. It left them both tired and they slept in each other’s arms, skin to skin, each hoping tomorrow wouldn’t come.

—---------------------

Even though Yena had told everyone that they wouldn’t be needing food or a change of clothes or anything, for that matter, in the other dimension, Yunho couldn’t help but freak out.

“Are you really sure we don’t need anything?” Yunho gave up asking Yena and Yeosang who just rolled their eyes at him while Gaeul giggled. “I get that it’s the mirror dimension or something, but… we could get bored.”

“I told you, you can travel the whole planet there- you wouldn’t want to come back,” Mingi shared a grin with Yena. “The only thing you’ll miss there is the people, so no. You don’t need anything. At all.”

“That’s convenient,” San nodded as he glanced at Gaeul- the two of them were sitting next to each other while the rest of them were either making arrangements, discussing the ‘how’ or freaking out. 

“I could even visit your castle before you actually take me there,” Gaeul teased.

“Please don’t do that,” San laughed. “I want to show you our home when you’re with me.”

Our home.

San didn’t miss how her face fell at those words. He had his arms around her so he only squeezed. “Stay positive, will you? You’re coming back, Gaeul. You’re gonna be fine, and once you come back, we will go to my castle- or anywhere in the world that you want. You have a home not only at my place but at everyone’s now.”

“He’s right,” Wooyoung inserted his face in the little gap between San and Gaeul, making them laugh. “You have a home with us, Gaeul. Just make sure you don’t… un-make it, will you? You never know what Gaeul’s gonna do, eh, San?”

“The only thing I want to un-make is you,” Gaeul muttered and he laughed loudly, making her wince and rub her possibly bleeding eardrums. “Do come visit me, Wooyoung. I’ll make sure you’ll have fun.”

“Ah,” Wooyoung slapped the top of Gaeul’s head, earning a slap on his own hand from San which he ignored. “You hurt me, woman.”

“I’ll visit, just to see if I’m needed- in the meanwhile, I’ll be doing research so if you ever feel like your nature magic is acting funny, just… call me,” Jongho said as he passed by with a box of what seemed to be books and archives from the library in this house and Gaeul nodded in gratitude.

Gaeul scooted closer to San, resting her head on his shoulder as she watched Seonghwa and Yena argue over something probably related to how long it was going to take- they really were a married couple. Seonghwa held Yena’s hand in his, caressing them even when Yena looked like she could incinerate him with her glare alone. The way Yena let Seonghwa calm her down even when she was angry at him melted Gaeul’s heart. Yena would miss Seonghwa a lot- she knew so. The last time she had been in the other dimension wasn’t a very good experience so Gaeul knew it could bring back bad memories.

She watched Seonghwa kiss Yena’s forehead before she ran to Hongjoong who was calculating something related to the time and magic- Hongjoong had explained that if they entered the wrong dimension, it could mess things up irreversibly. Gaeul hadn’t realised just how hard this magic was and she insisted that they find a secluded place or something to train her, but Hongjoong told her it had to be there, and that way everyone would be safe, no matter how much time passed there. Gaeul felt guilty but everyone around her kept assuring her it was alright.

She wanted to believe so too. She watched Yunho and Seonghwa go over the details of how Seonghwa was going to manage Yunho’s kingdom while he was gone. Jongho was sitting next to San as well, going over whatever instructions San had given him earlier. Mingi and Yeosang were doing the same. 

Gaeul felt tired and she almost dozed off on San’s shoulder but she caught Seonghwa waving at her from the other room. Gaeul waved back and he came closer, hesitating before he looked at San who was busy talking to Jongho and then her. “Can I have a word with you? Alone?”

That was new. Gaeul broke apart from San’s embrace which was when he finally noticed Seonghwa standing in front of her. “Is something wrong?”

“Nothing, just wanted to discuss a few things with Gaeul,” Seonghwa assured and San nodded.

“Get her to eat something if you can while you’re at it- she insists she’s not hungry.”

“I’ll make her coffee- I’m good at it,” Seonghwa grinned and San laughed, letting them go. Gaeul insisted she was okay but Seonghwa just made her follow him to the kitchen and as he made coffee, he asked how she was feeling, how her magic was doing, just small talk.

With two cups of coffee in their hands, they decided to take a walk along the long paths in the garden around the estate. Gaeul felt nervous- apart from the fact that Seonghwa looked intimidating (even though she knew well enough how kind and soft his personality was), she never really had one-to-one time with the Prince of Dark. Just his presence alone made her magic feel queasy- he was truly a force to be reckoned with.

“Do I make you nervous?” Seonghwa noticed her fidgeting as they walked and Gaeul passed him a guilty grin.

“More like my magic,” she informed and Seonghwa nodded in realisation. “Even though my magic is ‘dark’ in nature, it gets a bit queasy.”

“Your magic and mine… it’s going to be the most similar when you come back,” Seonghwa told her and she paused- Seonghwa had never said that in front of anyone. In fact, he never let anyone make a connection between her magic and his. “I’m the Prince of Dark. It’s foolish of everyone to think that it only means I am able to control the shadows. Even the Princes don’t know the entirety of my magic, and I would like to keep it as such. Only Yena knows.”

“I never thought…” Gaeul faltered. “What exactly is the Prince of Dark capable of?”

“We never practised the ‘dark’ aspects of my magic, but we know it’s there,” Seonghwa told her. “After the incident, I started practising a bit with the help of Yena- just so I can keep her safe. So nobody goes through the things that we did. And I think in the future… we can sit and talk about our magic freely, you and I. It’s a freedom I never thought I’d have one day, so I look forward to that, Gaeul. Do come back safe and sound.”

Gaeul’s heart warmed at that and she clicked her cup of coffee with his as they drank. “Thank you… Seonghwa. It feels better to know that someone understands the gravity of how dark our magic can be, though I’m surprised you didn’t let me know sooner.”

“I wasn’t sure what exactly your magic was like, but I think I have an idea now. We could even train together- I might be needing your help, in that case,” he laughed. 

“Anytime,” Gaeul promised. 

“There’s also something else I wanted to talk to you about,” Seonghwa looked down as they walked, his bangs falling over his forehead. “The last time Yena was in that dimension… It was a really, really bad experience. I’m not sure how she’ll react this time and I’m glad Mingi is with her again, but can you… keep an eye on her?”

“Of course, Seonghwa,” Gaeul let him know before he could say more. “I don’t want Yena to be in a bad place mentally while I practise. I understand the gravity of this situation. I’m glad there’s a lot of us going because that’s going to keep Yena from being distracted and thinking about those memories, but if I feel like it’s too much for her, I’ll let you know. You can trust me on that.”

“Thank you,” Seonghwa visibly relaxed in relief. “She’s strong. She won’t show it. No one else but you might notice that- you’re good at noticing that. So is Yunho. Also, Yunho is a very, very good listener so if you ever feel overwhelmed, you can talk it out with Yunho. He is the first one who notices whenever someone else is upset.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Gaeul thanked him. “You have nothing to worry about, Seonghwa. But can you promise me something as well?”

Seonghwa paused as he narrowed his eyes at Gaeul and shook his head furiously as he realised. “I shouldn’t have told you about my magic.”

“No, I’m glad you did,” Gaeul faced him. “Now I know I won’t hurt anyone else if it comes to that. Yeosang is practical- I’ll ask him to bring you there if things go… wrong with me. You, not San. If I become something that I’m not supposed to, only your magic might be able to end me. I want you to do that favour for me, for everyone, Seonghwa. I cannot live with myself if I hurt anyone.”

“You’re asking too much of me,” Seonghwa looked to be in pain. “San won’t forgive me if I do.”

“He will,” Gaeul smiled knowingly. “I have made arrangements for that too.”

Seonghwa shook his head. “Very well prepared, aren’t you? Who?”

“Hongjoong,” Gaeul sighed. “He refuses to convey my message to San if anything happens to me, but I hope you can help him with that.”

“Please… come back,” Seonghwa put a hand on her shoulder, surprising her. “I know what it's like to lose a soulmate- I didn’t, but I very well could have. San won’t be whole again if something happens to you. And you’re a good person, Gaeul. Bond or no bond, you’re now the Princess of the Underworld. When you come back… you’ll be one of us.”

“Thank you,” Gaeul took Seonghwa’s hand and squeezed it. “It means a lot. And… I hope I can come back too,” Gaeul said as she looked around, still holding Seonghwa’s hand. “I’d like to see how my life turns out after all of this.”

—-------------------

It was time to go, late at night after dinner together in which the mood wasn’t as cheerful as the previous few days. Gaeul, for one, was the most nervous she had been, and San had to constantly touch her hand to check if her magic was under control. 

“You’ve been playing with your food for an hour now,” Wooyoung, who was sitting beside her, pointed out. 

“I’m sorry, I’m just not feeling hungry,” Gaeul slid her plate away from her, glancing up to notice that everyone was stealing their own nervous glances at her. “I’ll be in my room if anyone needs me.”

“Gaeul-”

“I’m fine, San,” Gaeul smiled at him, squeezing his shoulder. “Please finish up and call me when it’s time to go.”

It was a clear message to be left alone, yet… each one of them felt like they needed to go after her. After all, at times like these, you rarely wanted to be alone even if you felt like it. San stared at his food- he wasn’t feeling the best today either but he was being strong for her sake. 

“Do cheer up and let her have some time to herself if you can,” Yena said from across the table. “No point sulking right now, San. She’s probably feeling scared right now and that’s only natural.”

San knew that Yena had a point and he reluctantly finished his food, cleaning the table with the rest, sighing as he forced himself not to drop everything right there and then to be next to Gaeul. Gaeul, however, was at the roof, staring as far as she could at the town she used to live in before her life turned upside down. Gaeul couldn’t help but smile at the irony of life- she used to think that being a part of the yin-yang bloodline and having to hide her possible affinities for other elemental magics was the worst that could have happened to her. Here she was, with magic that no other faerie had ever possessed in history.

Gaeul scoffed to herself- she still wasn’t sure if she had come to terms with her magic. She quite liked the idea of cold fire even though it was probably more dangerous to possess than the ‘anti-life’ magic. The latter, she still wasn’t sure of. But she had a thought stuck in her head ever since San had voiced it out to her a couple of nights ago as they lay in each other’s arms. 

“If you miss your earth magic or nature magic, you can always use mine. Aren’t yin-yang soulmates able to borrow each other’s powers?”

That was something that gave her hope, though if she was really going to train her magic, she was sure she wouldn’t really be needing earth magic- her magic was dangerous and enough. But the thought that she could still use her original magic with San… it made her ecstatic, and it made her wonder why San, the Prince of Earth, was her soulmate. Perhaps destiny had chosen so- if she had still been normal, she wouldn’t have felt much of a difference in her magic other than the strength and range of it heightening since they were both earth magic wielders. 

But now… San and Gaeul could make quite possibly the most dangerous pair- at least as dangerous as Yena and Seonghwa, if not more. Gaeul silently prayed she would be able to come to terms with her magic and help the missing faeries who were unfortunately involved in her mess.

She didn’t realise how long she had been standing at the edge and watching the lights flickering along the city until she sensed San behind her. She turned and smiled at how he was cautiously approaching, ready to leave her alone if she wished so, but she extended her hand and he took it, sighing as he stood beside her, glancing at her. “What were you thinking?”

“Too many things,” Gaeul laughed. “Just trying to sort out my thoughts before I go.”

“And did you?” San caressed her hand.

“Kind of,” Gaeul nodded slowly, relishing the feeling of their connection, trying to fix it in her memory for the days it would get bad. “Is it time to go now?”

“We still have a few minutes until someone calls us,” San told her, watching her cautiously- he didn’t want her to feel overwhelmed tonight so he only watched, waiting for her to make whatever move she pleased. “Are you feeling good? Is there anything I can get you?”

Gaeul turned to face him, taking his other hand as she looked up at him, smiling. “I’ve got everything I need.”

San grinned shyly at that, shaking his head. “You know, you have a way with words.”

“Learned from the best,” Gaeul looked pointedly at him. “I like that I can have the upper hand now as well.”

San watched her eyes travel all around his face and he raised his brows in question. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Gaeul wanted to tell him that she was memorising his face in case she ever dared forget, in case this was the last time she saw him. She only brought her hands up to his face and let her fingers trace every curve and angle, marvelling at the way he was carved- he was simply beautiful. Gaeul sighed internally as her heart swooped and then she let her hands travel down and hold onto the edges of his jacket as she rested her forehead on his chest, breathing in his scent and feeling his heartbeat reverberate through her body. 

San understood why this goodbye was so hard for her. He let her stay like that for a few moments before he cupped her face and made her look at him. He laughed a little at the pout forming before he tucked her hair away and locked eyes with her. 

“I hope everyday that you are there, every night that you think of me, you’ll remember that I love you. That nothing in this world could change it. I pray that every time you start to lose hope and think you’re better off gone, you remember that I am waiting for you back here, that you have someone to return to. I hope I’ll be enough to be your strength, Gaeul, I really hope I am.”

“You are,” Gaeul nodded- it seemed stupid to say it out loud since those words didn’t encompass the entirety of how grateful she was to have him. He really was her strength in every way, and Gaeul hoped that he could feel it physically. San smiled as if he could understand and leaned in to kiss her- it was slow and deep, making Gaeul wish she could sink into the feeling she was experiencing right there. She was definitely going to remember this moment if no other- the kiss was full of emotions- love, fear, longing, strength, everything. 

He kissed her long and good and then he joined their foreheads as they broke apart, caressing her face as he caught his breath. Kissing her forehead once, he proceeded to hug her, arms around her shoulder and eyes shut as he rocked her. Gaeul stifled her tears, deciding to leave on a cheerful note- she knew she would be losing it pretty soon in the other dimension. 

Gaeul was the first to break the hug. The two of them looked at each other, wanting to tell a million things but at a loss for words. Gaeul laughed nervously. “Let’s go downstairs, shall we?”

San nodded, kissing her temple before taking her hand and leading her downstairs where everyone was waiting. Yeosang was the first to spot them and he clapped once. “Perfect timing- I was just going to send Wooyoung to fetch you two. He had a few plans on how to ruin the moment.”

“Ah, it seems I was late,” Wooyoung appeared from the kitchen. “You good?”

“I’m good,” Gaeul confirmed and Wooyoung smiled, glancing at San who looked like he was trying not to cry- he would handle him later. “Where are we… doing this?”

“Backyard- the others are already there,” Yeosang tossed a chocolate to Gaeul while putting one in his mouth. “Let’s go.”

Gaeul didn’t know what to expect, but everyone gathered in a circle with Yena shouting orders at everyone just wasn’t it. She giggled- Yena looked like a teacher scolding her students. She spotted Gaeul and relaxed as she smiled. “You’re here. Let’s go.”

Gaeul nodded, looking at San who gave her a brief side hug with one last kiss to the forehead before letting her go reluctantly. Gaeul grinned at him. “Try not to cry too much while I’m gone- I’ll be back before you know it.”

San chuckled at that and Gaeul looked at Wooyoung. “You make sure to keep him busy.” 

“Yes ma’am,” Wooyoung saluted before patting her shoulder. “Stay strong.”

“Jongho, can you make sure Wooyoung doesn’t annoy San too much?” Gaeul whispered to him and they giggled. 

“I’m not as nice as you think,” Jongho scoffed.

“I know,” Gaeul winked at him. “But at least you’re not Wooyoung.”

“Hey, I heard that!” Wooyoung came for Gaeul but San held him by the back of his shirt like a cat, making everyone laugh. 

Seonghwa and Hongjoong finished saying their goodbyes to Yena and the rest and Gaeul walked to them. “Both of you better keep your promises, okay?”

“I’m out,” Hongjoong announced, folding his arms as he sulked.

“I know you will,” Gaeul smiled knowingly. “And Seonghwa… you need not worry.”

Seonghwa nodded in understanding and gratitude. “Stay strong.”

“You have to,” Hongjoong continued. “It will get bad before it gets better, remember that.”

Gaeul wished she understood the gravity of those words. Everyone waved goodbye to each other and Yena opened a portal in space with the help of Yeosang. Gaeul was to be the last one to jump and she looked at everyone with a smile before she did.

However, as soon as she was on the other side, a mirror of the world she had just left, she fell to her knees as excruciating pain took over her entire being- it felt like her connection with San was as good as severed, and she was back to square one, right where she had started. San, unfortunately, saw and felt that before Yena could close the portal and he went for her, held back by Wooyoung and Jongho. The last thing they saw was panic on each other’s faces before Gaeul passed out and the portal closed shut.

“Well,” Mingi sighed as the pale Gaeul passed out in front of them, looking up at Yena. “This certainly brings back memories.”

—-------------------

[Day 2 in the dimension/45 minutes in Mirinae]

“Do clocks even work here?” Yunho glanced at the wristwatch he was wearing. “If so, Gaeul has been out for almost a day now.”

“Kind of?” Yena, who was relaxing on the grass using Yeosang’s thigh as her pillow, flipped through the page of a comic book she was reading that she refused to share with anyone. “I mean, the days change. That’s how we kept count of the time, didn’t we, Mingi?”

Mingi nodded in answer, too busy making paper boats out of a book he had grabbed from Wooyoung’s library that he was sure was very important in the real world but here, it would make for origami. “I think we did that until we lost count and Neve told us a rough estimate of just how much time had passed- wait, what was my boat count?”

Yeosang, who was only relaxing by the tree and taking this time to think and do nothing, scoffed at Mingi. “How did the darkling know just how long you two had been here?”

This made Yena put down her book as she met eyes with Mingi. “He probably sensed us or had a time-calendar or something, right?”

“Let’s pray that’s the case,” Yunho went back to completing his puzzle and Mingi groaned, not believing all his effort making and counting boats went to waste. “I’ll still be counting the days just so we know.”

“You do that,” Yena said and before she could comment on how he, too, was going to lose count one day, Gaeul woke up with a gasp, sitting upright and-

“You scared the shit out of me,” Mingi put a hand on his heart. “How are you feeling?”

Gaeul looked around at the Princes and the Princess, frowning as she recollected the previous events of her memory. “I… I feel empty.”

“Empty like how, exactly?” Yeosang asked cautiously. “Magic?”

“That, and… whatever I had with San, I can’t really feel it. It’s like before I met San- I would feel this empty pit in my heart until something ticked me and then I’d lose control.”

“That’s good, actually,” Yena got up, finally shutting her book. “That means that it’s just you now- San and his magic are not interfering in any way.”

“She looks sick though,” Yunho frowned. “Is she going to be okay?”

“I don’t know how sick I look right now but that’s how I looked before I met San,” Gaeul pursed her lips. “Like a zombie.”

“Like your magic,” Yeosang mused. “Like you really did come back from the dead.”

Gaeul shrugged. “So? What are we doing?”

It was Yunho’s turn to smirk. “We’re going to be… ticking you off, as you said. We need to learn the extent of the different magics you can control, and we really, really need to examine cold fire before it consumes you- or us.”

“I must warn, I’m not hard to tick off,” Gaeul folded her arms and everyone laughed at that. “In fact, you should have brought Wooyoung here. He’s the best at that, isn’t he?”

“I’m better,” Yeosang said and the rest hooted in agreement. Gaeul considered him with a scoff. 

“We’ll see,” she said. “What about the��� anti-nature? What are we calling it again?”

“Destruction, doom, whatever you wanna call it,” Mingi thought out loud. “Or… Queen of Ruins sounds nice too.”

“My point is,” Gaeul tried ignoring the pit in her heart singing louder, “We need to deal with the fact that I could do something very, very wrong. I don’t wish to hurt you guys, so… how are we dealing with it?”

“Well, as soon as I feel something is wrong, I can immediately portal us to somewhere far away from you,” Yena assured her. “So… I say, let’s get started. I’d suggest destroying this garden first- start with flowers and will your magic to make it wilt. You need to be able to control it to such an extent that you only harm a single petal on that flower.”

Gaeul gaped at the Princess. “I’m sure that’s not even possible.”

“Didn’t San do something like that with your magic too?” Yeosang mused.

“That’s what we’ve all done,” Mingi sighed as he reminisced. “My father made me sit in a room full of candles and asked me to light only the one he would mark as the target. You can imagine how it went.”

“And how long did it take you to master that?” Gaeul asked casually.

“About a decade, I think-”

“And you expect me to master that in a short time and not more than a decade?” Gaeul gaped at them. “Are you sure you’ll be here for a decade? A decade here would mean at least a year or two in reality, right?”

“It won’t take you a decade,” Yunho said and Gaeul looked at him. “It won’t even take you a year. A few months, at most.”

“How are you so sure?”

“Do you think we would have willingly brought you here if we weren’t?” Yunho smiled and something about it made her shiver. “We can feel it. The more a person’s magic is bound to get out of control, the more quickly the person can actually control it if they have the willpower, contrary to popular belief.”

“Wow,” Gaeul brushed her black shirt. “If you say so. I’m trusting you then. Where should I do it?” 

“Wherever is fine,” Yena went back to her position, resuming to read her book. “And keep trying until you can at least stop the whole flower from wilting. You’ve got all the time in the world.”

Gaeul shrugged and walked to the nearest flower bush, grabbing a daisy and beginning to try. Mingi, who had been quite intrigued by Yunho and Gaeul’s exchange, looked at his friend. “Do you really believe it will only take months?”

“Nah,” Yunho went back to finishing his puzzle. “In fact, she can never wilt only a single petal. It’s all about control- that she will be able to stop her surroundings from dying when she focuses on one single object.”

Mingi scoffed at that, shaking his head at a grinning Yunho. “Who knows? Maybe she could wilt a single petal too.”

“If she does, that would be a bonus,” Yunho nodded.

—-------------------

[Day 6 in the other dimension/5 hours and 32 minutes in Mirinae]

“I’ve been doing this for like a week now,” Gaeul huffed in annoyance.

“It’s only been like three days, stop being so dramatic,” Yeosang muttered, not even bothering to open his eyes from the ‘nap’ he had been taking from the past 2 days.

“Four, actually,” Yunho said and Yeosang groaned in answer. “We could take a break.”

“Yes!” Mingi got up, “There’s a lot to explore here, actually. No one to worry about. We shouldn’t be sitting here like bummers. We should be making it fun so that Gaeul feels better.”

“Says the person who always stays home when we go out in town to eat during a meet-up,” Yena narrowed her eyes.

“There are no people here,” Mingi challenged. “And you remember how you and I roamed around a lot here? It made you feel better, didn’t it?”

Gaeul glanced cautiously at Yena who contemplated as Mingi waited for her answer, and for a second, they both thought that he messed up before Yena slowly nodded. “I guess it did. We could take this chance to practise our magic too. I’m sure some of us have a lot they need to get out.”

“Ah, yes, I do,” Yunho raised his hand. “I haven’t been in my animal form for years now.”

“What is your animal form?” Gaeul asked but Yunho only winked.

“I haven’t seen it ever, either,” Yena laughed at Gaeul’s annoyed expression. “It’s better if you let it be a surprise.”

“You can try guessing,” Mingi said, waiting for what he knew was about to come.

“Uh… fish?” Gaeul said and started laughing, “It’s probably something better than that, right? What’s yours, Mingi?”

“You’ll never guess mine,” Mingi said proudly and Gaeul knew she couldn’t. She looked at the twins. 

“Mine is pretty obvious. Yeosang’s is… funnier.”

“Don’t even start-”

Yena giggled and Yeosang finally got up from his two-day nap to attack Yena. Gaeul looked helplessly at the rest. “Do only the Princes have animal forms?”

“Some of the faeries do as well,” Mingi said. “Shapeshifters have it best.”

“You could have one too, since you’re technically of royal bloodline,” Yunho commented and everybody paused as they digested that fact. “What? You haven’t thought of it?”

“I wasn’t aware that I was a descendant until a few days ago, thank you,” Gaeul sighed. “And… I don’t think my family explored that part of their magic. Probably to not attract attention. Or even if they did, they kept it secret.”

“Sad how so much of your history was kept from you,” Yeosang said, his eyes glinting. “Makes me think if someone knew just who you were.”

“As in?”

“There are a lot of ways to know the hidden about someone- that even that person themself might not know,” Yeosang explained. “Spirits usually do that. It’s against their law but sometimes, a faerie makes a deal. And now that I think about it… It might be how Kieran found out about you.”

Gaeul felt sick again though she couldn’t throw up here- not when her stomach was empty and she didn’t need food. She only choked on air and tried to calm her trembling hands. Yena slapped Yeosang’s arm. “You didn’t have to think out loud, Yeosang.”

“No, it’s okay,” Gaeul brushed her hair away from her face. “I should know. Thank you, Yeosang. If all of you find something about me, even if it is bad, please don’t keep it from me.”

They knew what she meant- she had lived in lies and secrets all her life. She did not want to live like that anymore. 

“What do you think your animal form might be, if you still possess that part of your magic?” Mingi changed the subject.

“I think as a nature-user, her animal form could have been anything at all,” Yunho thought. “Now I’m not so sure, and we shouldn’t explore that idea until she has all her magic under control- we don’t want her to be stuck in her animal form forever.”

Gaeul whistled. “Already forgot about it. Shall we go now?”

The beach was of course the nearest place that provided a good scene with the waves crashing, both the sun and the moon shining brightly creating a pastel sky of purple and orange, and Gaeul immediately sat at the shore, letting the waves wash over her. The twins joined her on either side, yelping at the coldness of the water once it hit them. 

“Does it not bother you, the coldness?” Yeosang noticed how calm Gaeul was.

“I used to sit like this every other day, so I’m quite used to the cold,” she replied. “Try digging your toes in the sand too.”

The two did and realised it kept them steady when the waves washed and also made the waves tickle them in a pleasing way. “You must have had water affinity if you felt so calm at a place like this- I can sense your magic.”

“I must have,” Gaeul’s smile didn’t quite meet her eyes. 

A magic- a whole world left unexplored. How many other doors did she never get to open?

“Water magic is the most disastrous,” Yeosang commented and Gaeul looked at Yunho- he had never looked happier as he played with Mingi in the water. “I know you feel like you missed something, but where one door closed, another opened for you. I say you master what you have and make a whole new magical world for yourself.”

It was as if Yeosang had read her thoughts. Gaeul nodded, taking a deep breath, pleased to smell the familiar tinge of saltiness in the air. “I should, huh?”

Perhaps every one of them had told her about the downside of their magic, and with time, Gaeul had started to feel like her magic might not be all that bad. She still needed time, but… she didn’t hate it now. Strongly dislike it, more like. Progress.

Mingi came running towards the three. “Yunho is going to turn.”

“Here?” Yeosang got up immediately. “Shouldn’t we run away?”

“We should move back, yes,” Mingi helped Yena up and Gaeul got up as well. 

“Why exactly do we need to move?” Gaeul frowned. “What is he? A shark? Alligator? Is he going to eat us?”

“Oh, you’re gonna cry when you see him,” Yeosang shook his head, patting her back to make her move and she reluctantly followed until they were a good distance away from the sea. Yunho made an ‘okay’ sign and started moving further into the sea, until-

“Underwater?” Gaeul gaped at a disappearing Yunho. “Octopus? Jellyfish? He does look like a jellyfish-”

“Shut up,” Yeosang laughed, “It’s something better. You can’t even imagine.”

“Seahorse? But we wouldn’t need to backoff. Dolphin? Oh no, is he a whale? Is he-”

The waves crashed several feet up in the air, giving all of them a jumpscare and earning a frightened yell from Gaeul who instinctively hid behind Yeosang and watched the sea calm down until the waves were still.

“Don’t tell me he drowned.”

“Is he going to be okay?” Mingi looked at Yeosang. “It’s been a while since he turned.”

“He’ll be fine,” Yeosang smiled proudly.

The waves started to vibrate in a rhythmic motion and Gaeul narrowed her eyes, waiting, anticipating, until the sea split apart to reveal the most glorious shades of blue and teal shimmering like diamonds and the gasp that left both Yena and Gaeul was one they would always remember. 

“That’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen!” Yena gaped at the sight that unfurled in front of her- the long torso disappearing and reappearing at the surface as it swam and swam and Gaeul didn’t even realise she was clutching Yeosang’s arm so hard, though he didn’t mind. He, too, had the same reaction. 

“A dragon!” Gaeul looked at the others, her eyes wide.

“A water dragon, yes,” Mingi nodded.

“You mean you are a fire dragon?” Gaeul narrowed her eyes.

“I wish I was,” Mingi shook his head as he laughed, pointing back at Yunho. “Watch.”

Gaeul watched the tail disappear and then the dragon drifted upwards and spread its wings, large and mighty, and it flew up and up until it blocked the light from the orange sun, creating an eclipse. Gaeul sighed dreamily- she wouldn’t ever forget this sight. 

“He’s really enjoying himself,” Yeosang scoffed, though he couldn’t have been happier for him. “Let’s go back there.”

As they reached the shore once again, Yunho as the water dragon swam until his head rested on the sand in front of them, happily. He could have swallowed a couple of them in a breath, yet… Gaeul felt no sense of danger from him. Even his eyes looked friendly. They all marvelled at his beautiful skin and scales. 

“Can I… touch it?” Gaeul asked and before anyone could reply, Yunho nudged his face forward, making Mingi laugh. Gaeul grinned before she cautiously leaned forward and touched its temple, marvelling at the smooth texture. 

“This is beyond anything I ever imagined, I thought water dragons no longer lived.”

“Kept a secret for the right reasons,” Yeosang said.

Gaeul nodded, moving back to sit and Yunho went back to the sea, his tail barely avoiding them as he turned, earning a curse from Yeosang. Then he disappeared underwater for the longest time, occasionally coming up, sometimes flying. All of them lied down and watched him, and for a few moments, Gaeul forgot who she was and why she was here. She felt peace within her- something she hadn’t felt in a while.

It must come with embracing the magic itself, she thought. It must be hard for Yunho to fight the urge to turn into a dragon whenever he pleased. And the fact that he was one was both grand and alarming- water dragons were very dangerous animals. 

“All of you have your own battles you fight each day, isn’t that so?” Gaeul muttered.

“Everyday,” Yena confirmed. “Without something, we’d be sitting idle, wouldn’t we?”

Gaeul nodded. She shut one door that night- the yearning to possess water magic. Though she still loved the idea of it, she was no longer selfish.

—----------------

San had never felt like such a mess in his life before. And Wooyoung and Jongho could see it in his body language, on his face, in the way his smile wasn’t meeting his eyes, barely a quirk of his lips.

“Look, they’re probably doing fine over there,” Jongho tried comforting him as they sipped on their coffee, sitting in front of the fireplace in an inn they were stopping at back on their way to Wooyoung’s castle. “Can you relax a bit? Your magic is… all over the place.”

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Wooyoung hesitantly asked. San sighed, rubbing his face. 

“I’m sorry, I just… don’t know.”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Wooyoung assured him. “Just say it out loud if you want to. Don’t keep it in- I can see it’s killing you.”

San looked at the worried faces of the two and pursed his lips. “I should keep my magic under control, I know. It’s just that it feels like my magic has lost a part of itself. It’s strange because I didn’t feel it earlier.”

“Ah,” Jongho nodded. “Probably because… the bond snapped in place?”

“Yeah,” San took another deep breath. “Now I feel like I lost something. Dread… that’s what I feel.”

“Well, Choi San, you’re going to have to stop sulking at least,” Wooyoung began to say and Jongho raised a brow at the change of his tone. “I’m sure they’re doing fine. If there’s a chance that you two can still feel each other across dimensions, she better not be feeling all this negative energy from you, okay? Be strong for her, man.”

Jongho had to nod in agreement- Wooyoung was absolutely right. “No point moping, really- won’t do either of you any good. However, you remaining in good spirits might actually help the both of you. I’m sure you feel really bad inside, but… stay strong. We’re with you.”

San smiled at the two and it was the most genuine smile they’d seen in hours, making Jongho and Wooyoung laugh a little. San half laughed, half groaned and told the two they better make his stay at Rukbat fun enough to distract him.

Enough to distract him from the neverending sinking feeling in his heart- as if a part of his very soul had been snatched from him. He prayed Gaeul was feeling better.

—-----------------------

[Day 12 in the other dimension/12 hours and 42 minutes in Mirinae]

Gaeul was far from feeling any better- at least physically. Though she hadn’t bothered looking in a mirror for the past few days, she could tell she had lost weight from her hands alone- they were less fleshy from her wrists than she recalled. 

It was unnerving, she thought, to be able to feel yourself losing to your magic which was also a part of oneself. Her movements were getting sluggish, she was fainting at least once a day and her thoughts were getting cloudier, all as she began practising- she would be fine as soon as she regained her consciousness back after fainting, probably a courtesy of staying in this dimension. 

The progress with her magic, however, was slower than she thought. She still couldn’t make a single petal wilt- instead, she usually ended up wilting her surroundings. That gave Yena an excuse to practise her targeted healing magic, with which she reversed the damage, but Gaeul thought Yena was probably getting tired of her too.

“Don’t you all have kingdoms to run?” Gaeul slumped down against the tree at the outskirts of the forest in Ascella. “With the progress I’ve made so far, I think you all can go back and return in like… a week to check on me. I would probably make little progress by then.”

The Princes and the Princess who had been fooling around with some board games they stole from one of the cabins along the beach all looked up at her and started giggling, to her horror. “What makes you think we want to go back? We’re escaping from our duties if you haven’t noticed already, Gaeul.”

Gaeul narrowed her eyes at Yeosang but everyone else still giggling made her realise it was part truth. “Besides, only like 12 hours have passed in the real world. I don’t want to go back so soon,” Yunho commented. “I need at least 3 days there to pass- that should be enough rest for me.”

“Well then, why don’t you all travel the world then?” Gaeul offered, “No people around here, time to check out the unexplored territory of this planet, huh?”

“That’s a good idea, actually,” Yena pointed out. “And while we’re at it, I could try to send some signals to Neve as well. I’m sure he could be of some help.”

“Are you sure that is a good idea though?” Yeosang asked. “I still don’t trust any darkling, whether it be Neve or someone else.”

“Neve is different,” Yena’s tone was guarded and Gaeul thought that it was probably because she only had one darkling she could compare him to- Kieran. “And I think to actually send a signal worth his attention, we’d have to go to the mountains in Rukbat.”

“Are you sure you wanna go back there?” Mingi asked cautiously. Gaeul understood where exactly he meant- the place she and San had gone to. Gaeul decided not to reveal that she knew.

“Yeah, it’ll be okay,” Yena shrugged. “I’ll keep sending signals along the way so he knows it’s really me.”

“And can you trust he will be alone?” Yeosang raised a brow. Yena didn’t answer.

“I’m not sure we need him right now,” Yunho started. “I think once she has a better control of her magic, then we can maybe consult him. Right now… there’s no other way, is there?”

“Well then, let’s just explore Wooyoung’s kingdom,” Mingi offered, getting up. “I’m going to set his palace on fire.”

“Do you have some grudge against Wooyoung?” Gaeul laughed, taking his hand when he offered it and getting up. “Do you secretly want to set his ass on fire too?”

“What makes you think I haven’t already?” Mingi leaned in as if to whisper that secret and Gaeul gasped.

“I should have known!” Gaeul laughed, the rest following behind them. “Who’s ass is still safe from that?” 

“Only Seonghwa, Yeosang and Yena,” Mingi revealed. “They scare me.”

“Well, I got a tip for you,” Gaeul peeked behind her. “With Yeosang, you just have to make it look natural- like when he’s near the fireplace or a candle. Make it look like he caught fire himself.”

“That’s a very nice idea-”

“You make it look natural and I’ll show you just where you’ll be going when your time on this planet is over, Mingi dear,” Yeosang said and Gaeul winced, laughing along with the others.

“Not if I burn you to a crisp first!” Mingi called and Gaeul clapped at that.

After aimlessly walking until they reached what would have been a lively marketplace, Yena decided to tag with Gaeul while the others teamed up, looking around at the clothing items, trinkets and jewellery, and some kid’s game that everyone paused to play, until they stopped at a stall with some hotdogs ready to eat.

“I still don’t understand why food is here when we don’t even need it,” Yena admitted, biting into one. 

“Probably so you don’t go insane while being here?” Gaeul offered, looking around. “Just like everything else here.”

“Or maybe to tempt you into living here forever,” Yena’s eyes glinted and Gaeul gulped- she had once admitted that dimensions felt like a living being itself and the thought that it was tempting people to stay here felt dangerous. 

As the group spent hours in the marketplace, Gaeul was beginning to understand just what they were doing- keeping her busy and distracted at all times. She felt better when she was not thinking about her magic- or more specifically, the missing bond inside of her.

The soulmate bond, feeling like it was being held together by just a fibre of the thread, threatening to snap at one wrong move. The very thing keeping her alive, the thing also making her weak with each passing day because San was not here.

Oh, how she missed San. She yearned to feel the comforting presence of him the most- not even his addicting touch but just his presence. She wanted to feel him creep behind her from the shadows like he usually did when he was up for teasing her, settling behind her close enough that she could feel his faint breath caress her skin but far enough that she would want him to touch her. She wanted to see him, hear him. She wanted to watch him talk, wanted to see him even if he couldn’t see her. She wanted to feel his fingers brush hers whenever he passed by, wanted him to look at her with his flirty gaze, and wanted so much more-

Gaeul didn’t realise she was smiling sadly at the distance until Yunho came to stand beside her. “Are you feeling okay?”

“Yeah,” Gaeul sighed, “I just… miss everyone.”

“Oh, stop being so humble,” Yunho teased. “You miss San.”

“Would it be surprising if I say I do miss everyone else too?” Gaeul looked at him with a grin. “A certain someone’s endless yapping, for instance, or the dad jokes-”

“It’s natural, you spent a lot of time with them,” Yunho nodded, inhaling deeply as he looked at the sky. “But I’m asking if you’re feeling okay physically and mentally. If you want to talk about it, if it’s getting too much for you… I’m here.”

Gaeul recalled what Seonghwa had told her- to talk to Yunho. “I know,” Gaeul nodded and Yunho raised a brow at her knowing smile. “I guess I’m just… surviving. I haven’t made much progress. I’m worried I won’t.”

“But you have,” Yunho said and Gaeul narrowed her eyes. “We feel it, you know. Even if you can’t wilt a single petal right now, your control over your magic is improving at a steady rate. You don’t feel it, but we do.”

“Could have let me know earlier then,” Gaeul pouted, tracing her shoe along the dirt in circles. “I wouldn’t be feeling like shit then.”

“Trust me, you’ll be feeling like shit even if we do tell you,” Yunho laughed, shaking his head as he folded his arms. Gaeul looked up at the handsome Prince, his blonde hair almost pink in the glow of the sun. “That’s just how practising goes.”

“And once I manage to get better control? Give me something to look forward to, will you?”

“Then, Princess of Underworld,” Yunho’s smirk made Gaeul’s heart sink, “You fight us in battle.”

—----------------------

[Day 36 in Mirinae/36 hours and 17 minutes in Mirinae]

“I did it, I did it!” Gaeul jumped in the pile of wilted flowers, happily looking at the rest who were all… napping. “Guys?”

None of them stirred and Gaeul stuck out her tongue at the sleeping lot- they had missed a historical moment because they were taking a bloody nap. Gaeul sat back down, concentrating her magic just like before, trying to wilt another petal of that flower- she had to focus on the remaining four.

But as if she hadn’t just wilted only a single petal of the flower, she was back to being the miserable failure she was so sure she was now. It wasn’t working anymore- the flower wilted and even spread into ashes around her.

Gaeul sighed, wondering if she had actually just done that or hallucinated altogether. In the past few weeks, she had started hallucinating a bit whenever she was tired- probably the side effect of her staying in this dimension for so long with her magic, but she knew she didn’t have much time to gain control over her magic. She wasn’t growing any thinner, but weary. That wasn’t good and it made everyone around her a little nervous too, though they wouldn’t admit it. 

Gaeul shrugged and picked another flower, and then another, and another, but to no avail. She couldn’t do that again. So Gaeul slumped and rested her hands on the bare earth, sighing, but then she had the strangest idea.

Just like the magic she had possessed- she had to think like before. Could it work? Gaeul dug her fingers into the dirt, recalling how she used to call out to earth and nature as she felt the roots, felt the very life in them and had the desire to suck the life out of them-

The very instinct she had to fight. The urge to destroy everything in her wake. The urge that every faerie struggled with at least once in their life, the urge that was so much stronger in her now. But Gaeul took a few deep breaths and with steel nerves and focus, she picked one of the trees in the path of several and managed to turn it grey within seconds.

This was control. Gaeul almost smirked as she created a pattern around them and when she was done, when the sleeping lot finally felt something fancy in the air and woke each other up, they gaped at Gaeul who had created nothing less than art from the trees around them. 

One dead tree, one alive, one half dead from the trunk, one’s leaves dead, one’s branches dead, and so on. Mingi whistled while the rest gaped. “I think I’m never taking a nap in this dimension again.”

“How did you do that?” Yunho glanced back and forth between the trees and Gaeul. “We didn’t even feel it happening.”

“I did what you asked me to do- I wilted one single petal, but I couldn’t do it again. So I thought I’d focus my energy on something… bigger in scale. Turns out I’ve got this amount of control afterall.”

“This was quicker than I expected,” Yena clapped but Yunho was still dumbfounded.

“You wilted a single petal? Not the stem, nothing else, just one petal?”

“Yeah?” Gaeul narrowed her eyes- was he suspicious of her? “I would have shown you the proof but I tried to wilt another petal of that flower and the whole thing died.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Yunho shook his head, assuring her that he believed her. “Though I have to say, I never imagined it was possible that you could do it.”

“Really?” Gaeul frowned. “Then why did you ask me to?”

“So you could do this,” Yeosang pointed at the tree with only the leaves dead. “This amount of control is impressive, I have to admit.”

But Gaeul was gaping at Yunho who was shamelessly grinning. Mingi raised his hand, coming between the two. “I believed you could, Gaeul, from day one. Yunho here thought you could never do that.”

“I wish I had proof!” Gaeul shook her head, amused at how the two had bet on her. “I don’t think I can do it again.”

“And that’s perfectly fine- you don’t need to practise on such a small area right now anyway,” Yena told her, hands on her hips as she assessed the situation, her golden locks like a halo around her. “But now that you have a good amount of control over your magic, we can move on to the next phase.”

“And what was that again?” Gaeul was brushing the ashes off her clothes as she asked, finding them grinning at her when she looked up. “No way. Were you serious about the duels?”

“Very,” Yeosang grinned. “You need that if we’re ever taking care of the otherworldly creatures and getting those faeries back.”

“But… me against you?” Gaeul was sure all the colour had drained from her face. “I thought you all were joking or something-”

“Who’s going first?” Mingi interrupted her, her protests ringing in the air while they decided their turns by rock-paper-scissors.

“I’m first,” Yeosang smirked.

“Oh no,” Gaeul gulped. “Can I at least have some rest?”

“Oh, of course, we’re not fighting right now,” Yeosang patted her back, chuckling when she flinched. “Don’t worry. I won’t kill you.”

“That’s really assuring to hear, Yeosang,” Gaeul glared at him. “Let’s start tomorrow, okay? Give me some time to prepare mentally.”

“Of course, of course,” Yeosang patted her back again. “I’ll tell you what you should look out for- it’s a battle of your senses with me. What you see is not what there will actually be. After going first against me, you’ll be able to battle the rest of them way better than they think.”

“Really?” Gaeul perked up at that. “Because I’m preparing myself for the fool you all will make out of me, Prince Yeosang.”

“We’re the fools going against you,” Yeosang raised his brow. “You should go all out against us. Don’t hold back- don’t worry about the consequences. As long as me or Yena are safe, we can reverse any damage, so… I think we should be the ones scared.”

“Come on, that doesn’t sound like you,” Gaeul pouted and he laughed. “You should be saying something like how I’m a fool and how I’m going to get my ass handled tomorrow and the shame I’ll never forget-”

“I’m not that bad!” Yeosang put a hurt hand on his heart. 

“He is,” Yena called out from where the rest of them were packing what little they carried. “Shall we start moving to Rukbat now? It will take forever on foot.”

The five of them started walking- one of the perks of this dimension was that they didn’t feel physically tired. Walking endlessly was not as bad as it sounded- at least for now. So far, they had explored much of Wooyoung’s territory, especially the south where none of them had visited much. They had tried all sorts of street food, feeling full just after a few bites. They had fooled around on bicycles and Yeosang had taught Gaeul how to skate which he was surprisingly good at. Yunho taught Gaeul archery from the tools they found in a weapons market. Mingi gave Gaeul history lessons about the fire magic, demonstrating everything he could do, and how he suspected Gaeul would be able to control the temperature of the fire better- especially in the cooler ranges. Usually when they walked, one of them would discuss something like magic with Gaeul.

But that night, when they took a break and decided to nap (just for the heck of it) in one of the inns on the way, Gaeul knocked before entering the room Yena was using. Yena was drying her hair with a towel.

“I’m glad we at least get dirty here like the real world,” Yena mused. “It’s like the markings and washing them away makes me feel like I’m not really stuck in a dream or a hallucination- that this, too, is real.”

“Do you suppose there is a dimension where you don’t need to wash up? I wonder if people get lost there, wandering around.”

“I don’t want to find out,” Yena shivered. “Imagine getting stuck in a dream forever, not realising who you are and why you are there.”

“Can I ask you something? You don’t have to answer,” Gaeul said and Yena nodded. “Is this the same dimension that you came to with Mingi?”

When everything happened, Yena didn’t need to hear it out loud. She sighed as she nodded. “The principles are the same, only the time ratio is different. It’s been about 37 days here, so around 37 hours have passed in the real world.”

“That’s it?” Gaeul wowed. “It hasn’t even been too long for them- they won’t be missing any of us.”

“You bet they aren’t,” Yena laughed. “They would be more concerned about taking care of our kingdoms than us.”

“Can you feel Seonghwa? From here?” Gaeul asked. Yena understood why she asked.

“I just know he’s there, in my heart,” Yena put a hand on her chest. “I think the connection gets so dull here that you’d only know if the other person dies.”

“Seonghwa told me something,” Gaeul started and Yena raised her brow. “He said when you were here… the only thing that kept him going was the feeling that you were alive.”

“Did he say that?” Yena smiled and Gaeul liked how her smile was always different when they were talking about Seonghwa. “I think it’s the only thing that kept me going too. I actually… forgot who Seonghwa was. Kieran tried to take my memories, but he couldn’t have guessed he was my soulmate. I think it’s the bond that made my memories come back and because of that, Kieran couldn’t erase the love I had for Seonghwa out of me. Even when I didn’t know who he was.”

“That’s… unbelievable,” Gaeul whistled. “Is that how you knew that you and Seonghwa were soulmates?”

“That was the only possible explanation, yes,” Yena nodded. “How did you know?”

“I didn’t know he was like… my soulmate,” Gaeul tried explaining. “I didn’t know what soulmates were, but I felt him in my bones before I saw him.”

Yena clapped. “You explained the feeling perfectly. I felt that too.”

“Right?” Gaeul chuckled. “One look at San and I knew we were meant to meet- I just didn’t realise how big it was, I guess. My magic probably messed it all up… but now that we’re apart… I feel so, so empty. Do you feel that way too?”

“That’s because of your magic,” Yena shook her head. “Soulmates are just… partners. Friends. Lovers. You aren’t dependent on them like a drug. I can stay years away from Seonghwa and I wouldn’t go mad- of course I would miss him, but that’s just it. You and San… your bond took a chaotic form, Gaeul. It was why we had to separate you two- whole dimensions apart. You shouldn’t be dependent on each other like that, ever. And your case is understandable because your bond is keeping you alive, but San? I think his magic was becoming messed up too.”

Gaeul bit her lips, realising she was right. She felt guilty but she knew she wasn’t to blame, and neither was San. Yena smiled sadly. “I can see you’re growing weary. Keep your mind strong, Gaeul. Only then can you overcome this. We’ll see this through, okay?”

“Thank you,” Gaeul nodded. “But… are you sure you want to go back to Rukbat, in the mountains, Yena? You don’t have to do that- not after everything you’ve been through.”

“I’m sure,” Yena’s chin was up and Gaeul realised she was stronger than Seonghwa might have thought. “I still have nightmares sometimes, if I’m honest. But I’m not going to let them hold me back from my life. And for San, I’d do this even if I’d hate to do it. I owe him that much.”

“Do you think San and you meeting was a coincidence or planned?” Gaeul asked, curious. “I feel like nothing is a coincidence after the events of my life.”

“Even if Kieran didn’t plan this, I think it was a ‘planned’ coincidence,” Yena laughed. “You call it fate.”

“Then was I meant to die before I could ever meet San? Would we have ever crossed paths had I not encountered Kieran?”

“Maybe,” Yena laid on the bed. “It’s interesting to think how life would have been otherwise, isn't it? But if we keep thinking about the what-ifs, we won't be able to carry on with life.”

“You’re the Princess of Space. You can live in any version of the timeline, can’t you?” Gaeul asked, curious ever since she learned just what Yena could do with her magic.

“Yet, I wouldn’t change a thing right now,” Yena curled like a cat, yawning. 

—----------------------

[Day 38 in the other dimension/38 hours and 31 minutes in Mirinae]

Gaeul was tired of being thrown around by Yeosang- especially when he was doing absolutely nothing. 

Well, absolutely nothing was what it looked like at plain sight. He was lying down, eyes closed, absolutely relaxed and you would think he was sleeping if it weren’t for his constant scoffs reminding Gaeul of what a failure she was right now. What was happening, really, was that his spirits, his warriors, were playing with her.

“How the hell am I supposed to sense it?” Gaeul muttered, looking at Mingi who was clearly enjoying the show with Yunho. “Ears? Nose? At least give me something!”

“It’s not that,” Yunho helped. “It’s about sensing the energy-”

“Wrong,” Yeosang spoke, unmoving. “Spirits don’t have ‘energy’. Can you feel them, Yunho?”

“Oops,” Yunho grinned and she gaped at him- even he was playing with her. 

“So basically I can’t feel them?” She scoffed, getting pushed from the back and almost falling on her face, fighting the urge to scream every curse in every language she knew. “I’m supposed to stand and take the beating?”

“Wrong,” Yeosang opened one eye, finally deciding to guide Gaeul after hours. “Firstly, you’re learning balance. You’re being pushed-” As if on cue, she received another shove from the left side and this time she tripped and fell on the thankfully soft sand. “But you can’t figure out who or where or when. You need to be steady on your feet, Gaeul, before you learn anything else.”

“Geez, so much for confidence,” Gaeul sighed. “I admit that I’m clumsy but we could have started somewhere else.”

“As long as you’re clumsy, dear, you can’t be trusted with the dealings of your magic,” said Yeosang. “You need to have the sharpest senses and the best aim before we move on to magic. And the trick to fighting my spirits would be agility. As soon as you’re pushed- the very moment you come in contact, that’s when you need to stay steady and fight back.”

“Oh,” she could see Yeosang’s point now and she had to admit, he was smart. “Thanks for the tip, though it won’t make things easier, will it?”

He simply snickered and went back to sleep, leaving Gaeul to deal with invisible forces- she was pretty sure they weren’t even ‘warriors’- just normal dead mean people.

“I swear if one of you pushes me from the back again, I’ll kill you,” she said when she received another shove and fell on her knees. 

“There’s only one of them, Gaeul,” Yeosang sighed and Mingi and Yunho burst into laughter, leaving her cheeks pink with anger. “At least, for now.”

“If I accidentally end up damning you, Yeosang, forgive me.” Gaeul straightened and shut her eyes- she couldn’t see the spirit anyway so she might as well focus. She didn't see Yeosang turn his full attention to her this time- he was going to take advantage of her heightened senses to train her.

It took uncountable hours, but Gaeul was soon able to 'feel' the spirit before it touched her. That was strange for the others since they relied on sensing energy, but they figured that since Gaeul was half dead anyway, she could probably sense the spirits.

"Why can't I sense the dead," Yena said with a pout. "I'm related to Yeosang. You'd think I'd be better at that."

"Maybe you need a little one-on-one training with me too," Yeosang offered casually but Yena saw right through him, throwing popcorn at him. 

"Who's teaching me how to fight back though?" Gaeul stood near the fire that Mingi had lit, warming her hands- it wasn't cold but oddly, she felt like she wasn't warm enough. "Wooyoung didn't get to teach me everything."

"You should learn from Yena," Mingi glanced at her with a devilish smirk. 

"I didn't realise I was being tested too," Yena scoffed. "Yes, I haven't trained as long as you all but I'm not an amateur! Seonghwa has been training me well."

"None of you are patient enough to teach me," Gaeul laughed. "You can fight all you want among yourselves."

"I volunteer," Yunho raised his hand and when the rest stared at him, he shrugged. "I'm the best here anyway."

And so began another argument followed by challenges to duels. Gaeul yawned widely, rubbing away sleep from her eyes and Yena noticed.

"You must be extremely tired if you're feeling sleepy here."

"Getting tired from physical exertion is so much better than me getting tired from magic malfunction," Gaeul replied. "It makes me feel like I'm… the same old Gaeul."

For the next few days in that dimension, Gaeul was learning everything from scratch. It was like she was being trained to fight in war. Yunho was teaching her how to use her body, how to find her core strength and balance on her feet, and most importantly, how to remain calm, which Gaeul was finding the hardest to do despite her mellow nature. Mingi was teaching her how not to react impulsively- that meant that she had to figure out how to react within milliseconds. Yeosang continued to strengthen her senses, not keeping her limited to her sixth sense alone. Yena, apart from providing endless support and encouragement and teaching her how to tolerate the Princes, taught Gaeul how to live with her magic from now on.

Acceptance. Endurance. Perseverance. 

Gaeul kept repeating to herself. Yena had taught her how to live with herself.

And when Yeosang put Gaeul to test, sending not one, not two but five spirits all at once, Gaeul was able to detect them all and use not only her body but also her magic. And this time, she didn’t just fight back- she protected herself too. 

And ‘accidentally’ sent Yeosang flying a good distance away.

While the others recovered from laughing, it was Gaeul who offered her hand to Yeosang who shook his head before grabbing it to get up, and then, quite affectionately, patted her shoulder. “You’ve learnt a lot in a short time, Gaeul. Well done.”

“They’re having a good time laughing at you,” Gaeul pointed at the rest who were now attempting a reenactment. “You can tell me how to finish them when it’s their turn. We’ll call it even.”

Yeosang smirked. “Deal,” he said and they walked to the rest who straightened up. Yeosang rolled his eyes at them before saying, “Mark the calendar. Day 74 is when Gaeul wins against me. Get ready to lose… losers.”

Gaeul snorted at the weak retort but was more surprised when Yunho fished out an actual notepad from his pocket and started scribbling. “You’re keeping a calendar?”

“Tracking your progress, actually,” Yunho explained. “Our parents used to do that too- though it must have been rather boring for them. We weren’t the quickest learners.”

“No one tracked my progress,” Yena pouted. 

“You should track your own progress,” Yeosang said. “There’s no way we could have with all the time-travelling mess.”

“True,” Yena shrugged. “Only I know my progress. That’s so weird…”

“Why do you keep records, though?” Gaeul asked. “To help?”

“And to improve ourselves as well,” Mingi added.

“Day 74…” Gaeul mumbled, calculating the hours in her head. “74 hours- it’s only the third day there. Wow.”

It was the third day in their original dimension, but things weren’t as relaxed back there. Whatever remnants of Gaeul’s magic resided in San’s body were causing him to experience after effects such as-

“-incredible longing, short temper, bad retorts-” Jongho stopped narrating when San sent a shoe flying for the youngest Prince, sending Wooyoung into a fit of laughter but making him pause when San hurled into the bucket again and wrenched his guts out- there was nothing left to throw up now. 

“...along with extreme nausea, disorientation and occasional hallucinations,” Jongho concluded, folding the note and throwing it in the fire- a message to Hongjoong. San wiped his mouth, drinking a glass of water before slumping down on the couch, drawing the covers over himself.

“I’ve never seen him sick like this, I’m actually worried for once,” Wooyoung sighed, sitting down with Jongho, the two ‘babysitting’ San as they had quoted in the note to Hongjoong.

“They did say it was supposed to get worse before it got better,” San’s voice was weak as he said, shivering. “I just hope she’s okay there.”

Wooyoung rolled his eyes so hard they would have gone back in his skull. He leaned forward, snapping his fingers in front of San’s face so he opened one eye. “San. Listen to me, you love-sick bastard. They’re in the dimension where their body functions have basically frozen. You worry about yourself- I’m pretty sure they’re joking around there.”

“Agreeing,” Jongho scoffed. “They can’t remain serious when Yeosang is there.”

San laughed a bit at that. “It’s been 74 days there. What do you think is their progress?”

“Just hoping they aren’t burning the world down there…” Jongho muttered, sounding unconvinced. 

He wasn’t wrong. In the other dimension, Yena, Yeosang and Yunho were watching Mingi set the forest on a blazing fire, a blast from Gaeul’s attempt to shield herself creating a wave that made their hair fiercely (and dramatically) fly back. Yeosang sputtered, trying to get the ash out of his mouth.

“If Gaeul sets his ass on fire,” Yena sounded serious, “I’ll treat you all to a grand feast back home.”

“Shall we bet?” Yeosang asked.

“I don’t think we need to,” Yunho started to laugh. “I think we’re all with Gaeul.”

Gaeul, however, wasn’t having such a grand time. “At least give me time to get my shield back! I’ll burn myself!”

“You won’t get that luxury when you’re in a fight,” Mingi continued with the fire shots in her direction. “And anyways, if you get burned, Yena can heal you.”

“Geez, why didn’t I think of that,” Gaeul muttered, cursing under her breath. Fire was probably the scariest element to be against. “I’d like not to get cooked, Mingi-”

Gaeul winced when her forearm caught fire, quickly patting her clothes to blow the fire. “It’s not like I’m going to the fucking war!”

“You still don’t get it,” Mingi laughed. “It’s not about fighting against fire. It’s about not being scared of the most frightening element. You can fight back properly because I’m the most scared of your power too. We’re learning from each other, Gaeul.”

“Are we?” Gaeul retorted. “So far I’ve been the only one learning-”

Gaeul’s calf caught on fire this time and something in her brain ticked- she had been fighting fire casually for the past few days, but for the past few hours, she had caught fire uncountable times. Gaeul groaned and bared her teeth, shooting her hands forward.

The last thing Mingi was expecting was catching fire himself- not like his, the warm flame, but the cold flame that burned harder than the hottest fire. Mingi yelped, rolling around in the grass and this time, it was Gaeul’s turn to laugh- but when the fire didn’t go out, Gaeul rushed for Mingi and put her hands in the flames-

Transferring them to herself.

“You underworld witch,” Mingi was laughing in disbelief and pain now- he was used to the pain of the burns which was the only reason he wasn’t crying. He called for Yena and she healed him first before joining Yunho and Yeosang to gape at Gaeul who was playing with blue, almost white, flames of her fire.

“They’re not hot anymore,” Gaeul looked at Yunho. “Can you feel it?”

Yunho was hesitant but he put his hands in the fire, gasping because it felt colder than his ice. “You can control the temperature?”

“I was angry- it was hot,” Gaeul turned to Mingi, muttering sorry but he assured her it was alright. “When I took it away, it didn’t feel too hot to me. Should I try consciously raising the temperature?”

“Go ahead,” Yunho nodded. Gaeul concentrated and tried but it remained the same. She groaned.

“More to practise, I guess.”

“Fighting fire with fire. Who would have thought!” Mingi was clapping.

“It’s a good thing it finally manifested while we were here,” Yeosang was nodding. “Whatever you need to do to practise, whatever the damage, you can do it here. Meanwhile, let me just appreciate the sight of Mingi’s smug ass catching fire-”

While Mingi and Yeosang bickered, Yena went back to what she was originally doing- she had a portal opened up in this dimension and was trying to get the portal to shift to some other dimension. She couldn’t figure out how to contact Neve.

“Is it necessary to summon him?” Yunho asked for the first time- Yena had been practising her portal for months now. “We taught her well.”

“We still need to do something about the parasitic nature of her magic,” Yena sighed. “I got a message from Hongjoong earlier- San’s not feeling well. Don’t tell the others.”

Yunho frowned. “What happened?”

“I’m guessing it’s the bond- the bond isn’t supposed to act like this, but since her magic is unusual, it’s attacking San. I got Hongjoong to portal to San to assess how bad it is and report back.”

“Let’s hope it’s nothing Hongjoong can’t heal,” Yunho was worried. “Gaeul’s doing better here, though.”

“Perks of this dimension,” Yena’s smile didn’t meet her eyes. “I wonder though- how strong is the soulmate bond? Will she be able to live with both this magic and the bond?”

For that, no one had an answer yet.

—----------------------

[Day 93 in the other dimension/93 hours 27 minutes in Mirinae]

Fighting against Mingi may have made Gaeul fearless, but she was learning that the fear of the element that she loved the most was a different sort- and it was bad.

As a kid, Gaeul had adored the water bodies, the animals in it, the seemingly endless oceans, the rain, everything. She would sometimes dive and play with the fishes as well. And that one time that she had raised a few water droplets in the air? She told herself that it was a secret she would take to the grave (now she was supposing she did take the secret to her grave) though it was something she wanted to yell to the world. 

Now she was learning to be afraid of the endless depth of the ocean, of the monsters that resided under the sea, of the rain that could drown you or peel your skin away, and of the water in her own body. In the past few days, Yunho had managed to scare her in every possible way and she was not enjoying the experience. He had shown her the horrors that something as simple as water could bring by nearly drowning her a number of times- of course, Gaeul trusted him not to actually drown her but he sure did increase the amount of time she could hold her breath underwater. 

Gaeul was actually feeling a little scared of Yunho, if she had to admit. It was funny because he was apparently the friendliest of them all, a literal ray of sunshine, always smiling and laughing, but there was this other side to him that he rarely showed anyone, and oh. It sent shivers down Gaeul’s spine whenever Yunho’s eyes would change, whenever he would become serious. She was calling it his ‘inner demon’, and she was not a big fan of this inner demon.

Especially when she was training across it.

“Ice and fire are not that different, you know,” Yunho was saying as he drew a circle of spiky icicles in the sand around them. “Just two extremities, polar opposites. You, somehow, are somewhere in the middle.”

“Would you really call it being ‘somewhere in the middle’?” Gaeul almost muttered and Yunho raised a brow. “I mean… Cold flame isn’t exactly natural, is it?”

“True,” Yunho nodded, playing with the icicles, shaping them into different objects. “Cold fire can take the appearance of snow and icicles, yet it can burn like fire too. I’m just wondering what I would do if I possessed such power?”

“Probably set your friends on fire for fun?” Gaeul thought and Yunho snickered. “I bet Mingi doesn’t really have that luxury.”

“If he tried that, he’d be in big trouble,” Yunho shook his head. “So… do you think you can melt my ice with your fire?”

“Of course I can,” Gaeul straightened, extending her hand to send the almost white flame for the icicle circle Yunho had created around them. It went around the ice, to Gaeul’s surprise, and she touched the ice this time for good measure but it didn’t budge.

“I don’t understand,” Gaeul frowned. “Is it not hot enough?”

“Honey, I’m the Prince of Water and Ice for a reason,” Yunho was grinning and Gaeul pouted, slumping. “If my ice would simply melt, I would be no match against someone with fire powers.”

“True,” Gaeul made an impressed face. “So how would one defeat the Prince of Ice?”

“That’s what we will figure out,” Yunho stretched his limbs. “So far… I have no weaknesses as far as my power is concerned.”

“Wow,” Gaeul was gawking at the Prince. “You’re really scary.”

Yunho laughed loudly, shaking his head. “You’re scarier, you just don’t know how yet.”

Gaeul scoffed, watching Yunho melt the icicles and create them again. He explained that he could control the temperature and other properties of the ice, which meant he could make the ice as strong as he preferred, as cold as he liked. He displayed the stages of his element- from extracting a drop of water from the air itself, making it into a snowflake, solid ice, and then the hardest of ice which had a bluish tinge to its form. 

“That’s what I’m aiming to teach you,” Yunho explained further. “Now that you have good control over your body, you need to have the same amount of control over your magic.”

Gaeul nodded. Her physical training was nowhere near the end but she had never been quicker on her feet, never been this strong. It was amazing how she could control every muscle, every movement in her body. To have this amount of control over her reflexes was no joke. And to have a similar amount of control over her magic was Yunho’s final aim. 

He had been incredibly patient with her, so much that Gaeul marvelled at his stamina- he was teaching her from scratch like he would teach a child. Anyone would think he had trained armies just like this. He had taught her how much each of her limbs could move, had figured out her extremities with her body in a way that she didn’t feel overwhelmed and most importantly, taught her to be patient with herself. For that, she respected him a lot.

“So cold fire has how many stages? I’ve seen the snow stage but I think it resembles ash more in that state…”

“I have a theory,” Yunho began, leaning forward as if to whisper a secret. “But I won’t tell you.”

“Yunho!” Gaeul rolled her eyes. “You’re just teasing me. I know how all of you work- you drive me to the edge and somehow it does the work.”

Yunho shook his head. “I taught you how not to be driven to the edge ever since we came here, Gaeul. That may have been Yeosang and Mingi’s plan, but not mine.”

Gaeul ignored that, wondering what he could be talking about. “What is cold fire even good for?”

“Making people non-existent, apparently,” Yeosang, who was passing by, said. “I still don’t know what fate those souls met.”

He was talking about the man Gaeul had killed. It still sent a jab through her, even though she knew they didn’t mean to hurt her. “Well, what other purpose does it serve? I don’t think it’s here just to… make people poof.”

Yeosang snorted at her choice of words and Yunho said, “It’s meant to be the bridge between the power of ice and fire. It can both burn and freeze. I do think it serves a greater purpose but we know nothing of it yet.”

“So we’ll just master the temperature control for now,” Gaeul suggested and Yunho nodded. “I’ve gotten better at it, I just…”

“Don’t work well with the extremities,” Yunho nodded. “That’s the toughest part. Maybe we should call Mingi after all…”

“Only if he promises that we’re even- I don’t want him to burn me,” Gaeul pouted. “I’ve had enough of my hair fried!”

“Just burn him back,” Yunho laughed.

“No! What if I make him go poof?” Gaeul sighed and Yunho paused for a second before shaking his head and calling Mingi. Mingi was quick to come and help for the sole reason of trying to get back at Gaeul for the forest firefight but Yunho told him to stop being a child.

With the three working together on trying to learn about the cold fire and its properties, Yena and Yeosang were left working on the portal and trying to contact Neve. Yena was learning quite a good amount of things on how the portals worked in this dimension and with Yeosang’s guidance, she was getting better at the duration of the portals. The scary part was opening portals to unknown worlds and having to shut them in a matter of seconds- before anyone noticed- when they found out it was the wrong world.

“I still can’t grasp the fact that there are places other than the planet Earth and our planets where there are actual habitants,” Yena phew-ed as she shut another portal to a place that looked to be a garden full of flowers- she was pretty sure there wasn’t a hint of flower or life on the planet that darklings dwelled on.

“The universe is neverending, it seems,” Yeosang was taking notes- he had the ability to process the distinct feel of each dimension but it seemed the ability extended to different environments- or worlds- as well. “There are multiple dimensions we’ll never know of.”

“Talking about dimensions, we still haven’t found out what dimension exactly those creatures are taking the missing faeries to, right?” Yena asked and Yeosang shook his head in denial. “I was wondering if we could somehow get Gaeul to do the deed.”

“I don’t think she can open the doorway to that dimension at will, that would mean she possesses dimensional powers which cannot be the case even with her magic taking a turn,” Yeosang explained. “But… what are we even going to do once we’re facing those creatures? We don’t know what they look like, how strong they are, what they are. All we know is that they’re capable of travelling dimensions without consequences, it seems.”

“Consequences?” Yena asked.

“We’re still on planet Mirinae, right?” Yeosang drew a sketch to explain. “We’re just in a different layer of time. That’s why Neve can come and go from here as he pleases, because it’s the same dimension but different worlds. We don’t know if the planet that the darklings dwell on is on the same plane as us. By plane, I mean the time-flow.”

“Ah, I get it,” Yena nodded. “So there has to be something in common to roam around without consequences?”

“Yes,” Yeosang nodded. “Take my example- there’s the world of the living and the world of the dead. They have nothing in common but I am the bridge. Where the spirits stay before moving on is a dimension that is entirely unique. Without a bridge, the spirits cannot move freely.”

“Oh, so with those creatures, they must have something in common with our world, right?”

“Yeah, they must either be in the same time flow as our planet, or just be another dimensional layer of our planet- wait a fucking second.”

Yeosang was frowning as he looked at his notes and Yena watched him go to Yunho and whisper something in his ear, looking grim. Yunho handed him the journal he was using to track Gaeul’s progress and then Yeosang came back to sit in front of Yena. 

“What’s wrong?”

“Let me just confirm something,” Yeosang was skimming from the beginning, stopping at one of the pages. “I have this awful theory but I’ll need Hongjoong to confirm it before I reveal it.”

“Tell me,” Yena insisted, poking Yeosang’s thigh again and again until he gave in.

“If this is the first time some otherworldly creatures have made it to our planet, and if there are no such records from Earth as well… I think it might mean that Gaeul could be the bridge, like I am, to another world, which means…”

“That we may have a serious problem at our hands,” Yena finished, looking at Gaeul who was laughing along with Mingi over something. “What have we gotten ourselves into?”

—-------------------

[Day 124 in the other dimension/124 hours and 39 minutes in Mirinae]

Hongjoong was positive that if he stayed alone in his library looking for god knows what for one more day, he was going to combust into light.

If he sat down and thought about it, he would say that he was speaking a little selfishly, considering that those who were in the other dimension have been staying there for more than 4 months now while here, only about five days had passed. And he had only spent three of them in the library.

But three of them in the library, going through the archives, reading scroll after scroll without a single soul to accompany him because of the sensitivity of the situation? He would say it was too much for him. He was almost finished, but he needed a break. 

Hongjoong went in front of the fire and wrote a letter to Seonghwa, saying he hoped he was doing well. He got a reply a few minutes later.

You must be bored already.

Hongjoong scoffed- Seonghwa knew him well. Hongjoong wrote another letter, asking him if he wanted to visit San with him when he was done turning the library upside down. Seonghwa agreed and Hongjoong mustered the remaining kernels of his willpower before going through the last shelf.

Sadly, he found nothing. He wrote that on a note and placed it on the window Yeosang had designated from where one of his soul-friends would receive it and pass it to the Prince. Yeosang conveyed the message to Yena who had something to say about the situation.

“It’s no use searching the archives. Gaeul is an entirely new case. We’ll have to do everything ourselves.”

“Always better safe than sorry,” Yeosang scolded and she pouted. “Also, he wants you to portal him and Seonghwa to San. Apparently they’re having a sleepover.”

“Oooh, we’re missing all the fun,” Yena said, opening a portal to her room where Seonghwa was standing in front of the mirror-

“Getting ready for who, exactly?” Yena asked and Seonghwa froze before sinking to his knees, making Yeosang giggle.

“If you scare me with the portal one more time, Yena dear, I’m going to pass away,” Seonghwa clutched his heart as he got up. “How are you doing?”

“I’m good,” Yena grinned. “Just missing you a lot. Let’s get you to Hongjoong.”

“Okay, I’m ready,” Seonghwa turned, grabbing a bag. “Yeosang, you better be taking care of my wife-”

Before Seonghwa could say anything further, Yena portalled him to Hongjoong, earning an eye roll from her brother. Hongjoong was prepared for the shock and didn’t react as funnily as Seonghwa did. 

“Hello there,” Yeosang greeted. “I hope your time at the library was fun.”

“I found nothing,” Hongjoong sighed.

“I knew it. I just wanted to keep you a little busy.”

“Yeosang, you little-”

“Don’t throw anything through the portal!” Yena shouted and Hongjoong froze, sighing. “Get your stuff, quick.”

The next stop was Wooyoung’s room where San was half passed out, Jongho and Wooyoung eating popcorn as they watched a movie. However, when the portal opened in front of them, their screams almost made Yena shut the portal midway.

“You can’t be louder, can you?” Yena flinched, shutting the portal and Hongjoong laughed at the sight before going to San who still appeared sick. “I need San’s health report now.”

“I’m okay,” he shifted up with immense effort, looking like he was in physical pain. “How’s Gaeul?”

Yena looked back at Gaeul who was sitting by the shore with Mingi while Yunho swam in the water. “She’s well. Her training is almost complete- we’re just waiting to contact Neve so we can do something about the bond.”

“Right,” he sighed, wiping the sweat off his forehead. “When do you expect to be back?”

“No idea, it’s all on me opening the portal to Neve now,” Yena shrugged and San told her that it was alright- she could take her time. “How are you feeling?”

“The potions have helped, but every day I can feel the bond getting weaker,” San said and Seonghwa met eyes with Yena. “I hope something can be done about it soon.”

“Of course,” Yena smiled in assurance. “Don’t worry. It’ll be over before you know it.”

“I’m sure Wooyoung is wearing you down,” Yeosang commented, making Wooyoung yell at him. “I know I’d be sick if I stayed with Wooyoung for this long too.”

Everyone had a good laugh over that and with the goodbyes, Yena shut the portal, looking at Yeosang. “I really don’t like seeing San in this state. And if he feels the bond getting weaker, I can’t imagine the kind of pain he’s going through.”

“Shall we move on to Plan B then?” Yeosang suggested and Yena looked at him.

“I’m not so sure about it- what if something goes wrong?”

“Well, you could open the portal in front of Kieran too,” Yeosang said and Yena grimaced. “You can imagine how wrong that could go. It doesn’t look like we can control where the portal opens to a world we do not know of, so let me find a stray darkling spirit who might be willing to help.”

“I bet they don’t help for free,” Yena muttered.

“They don’t, but I’ll make sure we have the upperhand,” he said and when Yena didn’t sound very convinced, he nudged her. “Come on. You know I’m good at that.”

“It’s not very safe,” Yena countered.

“You opening portals is even more unsafe. Come on, now. It’s time to tell the others what’s really going on.”

Reluctantly, Yena followed Yeosang to where the rest were and Yunho joined, instantly dry as soon as he got out of the water. The orange sun was almost setting here. Yeosang spoke as he sat down.

“Gaeul, you don’t feel anything regarding your bond right now, is that right?” 

“Not really, no,” Gaeul shifted, thrown by the sudden question. “Is everything alright?”

“It is, don’t worry, it’s just that San’s not really handling it well,” Yeosang said and Gaeul looked around- it seemed like she was the only one who didn’t know. “Sorry for not telling you earlier, but we thought it was the initial separation.”

“But that’s not the case?”

“He can feel the bond getting ‘weaker’,” Yena said. “Which means we may have to be quicker.”

“What can we do?” Gaeul straightened. 

“Nothing, for now,” Yeosang was smirking. “I’m going to be hibernating for a while.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Gaeul scoffed. “What are you, a bear?”

“He’s not actually hibernating,” Yunho laughed. 

“I’m just going to be separating my soul from my body for a while,” Yeosang said and Gaeul felt sick hearing that, “In an attempt to find some stray darkling spirit and get them to pass a message to Neve. Meanwhile, Yena can continue with her portals. Whoever makes it first does it.”

“Can I hibernate too? I kind of want to take a nap…” Mingi pouted.

“While I’m gone…” Yeosang stood up, pointing his fingers at everyone. “Do not mess with my body. You don’t want to face the consequences, I can assure you.”

“Does that mean I can’t even draw something on your face?” Yunho asked and then started an argument that had Yeosang wanting to go back to his home. Finally, when he was done explaining everything, he chose a comfortable spot in the grass and sat down.

“Adios, you good-for-nothings,” Yeosang said and before anyone could retort, he fell sideways and Yena laughed before putting him in a more comfortable position. 

“Who wants roasted Yeosang for dinner?” Mingi asked and Gaeul snorted, pushing him away from Yeosang’s body.

“Let’s not interrupt him while he’s working. I have a better idea- we can turn him into a flower princess.”

Yeosang was only pretending to have gone into hibernation and when he opened his eyes, saying “I dare you to try”, the screams that came out of Gaeul and Mingi as they clung on to each other could have woken up the dead. Yunho couldn’t move as he sank to the ground, having gone to the stage where he was laughing so hard he couldn’t produce a sound, and Yena scolded Yeosang for joking around, threatening to hibernate him for good before sending the rest away so he could actually do his job properly.

—----------------------------

[Day 130 in other dimension/130 hours and 21 minutes in Mirinae]

Gaeul was getting tired of just sitting around and waiting for either Yeosang to contact Neve or Yena to open a portal. It’s not like she was not doing anything productive- Mingi and Yunho were making sure that she kept busy, introducing her to a new technique everyday and she found herself getting better and better at controlling her powers. Still, the thought of San feeling unwell and actually feeling their bond getting weaker was making her anxious.

If she was also a little honest with herself, she would admit that her life back in Mirinae was starting to feel like a fever dream- that’s how long they’ve been here. She missed her home even though she had long since moved on from that, and she missed the boys. She missed Wooyoung’s constant bickering and teasing, Jongho’s shy playfulness, Seonghwa’s calm presence and advice, Hongjoong’s confidence that everything would be alright, and…

She missed San so much that she was positive she would go insane.

Gaeul took a deep sigh and looked up at the sky- she was sick of the blue sky that never changed its colour. She wiped the remnants of tears away from her cheeks and looked at where the sea met land- even though she had been sitting here for hours, it was still beautiful.

She felt a soft thud beside her and found Yunho sitting next to her, crossing his legs for a moment but then opting to let them hang by the edge of the cliff, mirroring Gaeul’s position. He didn’t look at her. “Don’t you wish the weather would change?”

Gaeul passed a tight smile, nodding along- she knew he meant much more by that. “I’m sure you can make it rain here too.”

“I could, but…” he sighed deeply. “The constantness of this dimension reminds us that we have to go back one day or another. If you become too comfortable here, you might forget your purpose.”

Gaeul blinked- she hadn’t imagined that the rest might be as tired as her- or maybe if she had listened closely, she would have noticed how their jokes about ‘resting’ and ‘being off-duty’ were starting to sound dry. “Well… what’s something you want to do when you go back?”

Yunho almost snorted. “Sleep. Actually sleep, and then get back to duty.”

“Got enough rest, huh,” she stretched her arms, the sound of the waves ringing in her ears. “Who do you miss the most?”

This time, Yunho looked at her. “I… I suppose I miss my court. They’re the ones I spend the most time with.”

“Do you ever feel lonely?” Gaeul asked, and Yunho tilted his head as if he found the whole situation strange. “Seonghwa told me I could talk to you if I ever needed someone. If everyone comes to talk to you, who do you go to?”

Yunho smiled at that. “I go to the sea. I sit where the land and the ocean meet, and I pour my heart out. Then I let the waves carry it away.”

“Just like me,” Gaeul looked ahead. “It’s been lonely.”

Yunho let a moment of silence take over as he sorted out his thoughts. “I do… talk to one of them sometimes. It’s just that we’re all busy and have a lot going on. And I’ll admit that I’m better at listening to others than talking about myself.”

“Well, if you ever wish to go to the sea again, maybe you could find me instead?” Gaeul offered and Yunho raised a brow. “I know what it’s like to only talk to the sea. You can think of me as a fish too, if that helps-”

Yunho laughed at that, and Gaeul thought that was the most relaxed laugh she had heard ever since they arrived here. “Thanks for the offer. I’ll consider it- if you return the sentiment too. I know something is eating you up right now. Will you go talk to some fish in the sea or…?”

Gaeul felt pleased to hear that he would think of her if he needed to talk to someone- she had seen how he carried so much for the others, perhaps without realising. She wished to share the burden. But right now, with his offer to listen to her, she felt her defences slip. “I just miss home. I don’t remember the last time I missed home- I guess it’s just because it’s so strange here, with every day being the same. I also miss San a lot,” she laughed a bit but hid her face when tears threatened to spill. “It’s starting to feel like meeting him was only a dream.”

“We’re closer to the end than ever before,” Yunho assured, putting a hand on her back and patting it. “You’ve done so well until now. Let’s hold on a little longer, alright?”

“Yeah,” she wiped her face. “I don’t know, it’s just messed up, all of this. I’m so tired-”

Gaeul paused when she felt her heart sink dangerously, and she immediately turned to look at Yeosang, who was still in the same position, lying peacefully on the grass, Mingi resting next to him. “Something’s not right, Yunho. Where’s Yena?”

“She was practising down there,” he pointed. “What did you feel?”

“I don’t know,” Gaeul frowned. “We need to get to her. Mingi can watch over Yeosang.”

“Okay,” Yunho got up, leading the way to Yena and waking up Mingi on his way. As they started to step down, they spotted the portal open and Yena stood frozen, staring at something beyond it. Gaeul sped up, jumping across the rocks and Yunho stopped her by her arm when they almost reached.

“Let me check if Yena is okay,” he said and Gaeul nodded, following him slowly this time.

“Yena?” Yunho called when he was closer, and when he called her name the second time, he didn’t need her to explain anything, feeling Gaeul’s sharp intake of breath as well as they too could now see what was beyond the portal. 

“Tell me you see this…” Yena finally managed to say.

“Well and clear,” Yunho breathed, “Gaeul?”

Gaeul couldn’t believe her eyes- there was darkness in whatever world was ahead of her, but she could somehow make out everything. The land seemed dead, devoid of any signs of life save for the naked trees around which those creatures rested-

It had to be the creatures she’d seen that day in the forest, when she killed someone. She could feel the familiar presence, and she could also sense-

“Faeries. The missing faeries? Can you feel them?” Gaeul asked.

“Yeah, I think I can,” Yena answered. 

Gaeul took a step ahead before anyone could stop her, now standing between the current dimension and the unknown world before her. As if the creatures had sensed her, they opened their eyes, sending chills down her spine at the synchrony. One by one, they got up, revealing their huge size, the feline features and pointed ears abnormally long, stretching their bat-like wings. 

“I- I’m going to close the portal-”

“Not yet,” Gaeul motioned with her hand. “They won’t hurt me.”

Yena and Yunho looked at each other and Yunho nodded, ready to pull Gaeul away if he felt the need to. Gaeul watched the creatures almost snarl at Yunho and Yena before they turned to Gaeul and dropped their heads-

They were bowing to her, waiting for her command.

“I- I don’t understand,” Gaeul looked helplessly at the two who looked just as surprised. “What do I do?”

“Nothing,” Yena commanded. “I’ve memorised the portal. We will open it again when we are ready. You need to step back now, Gaeul.”

Gaeul nodded, outstretching her hand and watching them rise. Yunho grabbed her gently by the arm, pulling her behind and Yena watched for a moment before shutting the portal, each of them looking at the other in confusion.

“Well,” Yena exhaled, looking bewildered. “It seems like the Underworld might have a queen afterall.”

“But,” Gaeul looked at Yunho who was grinning in disbelief and then back at Yena. “How?”

“We’ll have to ask Yeosang that, I’m not really educated in that field, but if I have to guess,” Yena rubbed her chin in thought. “If those creatures didn’t exist before you, then your rebirth might have caused another dimension to open up to cope with your presence, to keep the balance. And just like Yeosang is the gateway between life and death, mastering over one dimension… you might be the same.”

“And she says she is not educated,” Yunho commented. “I think that’s the only explanation we can come up with. Yeosang can confirm if it’s true.”

“I better note down the calculations,” Yena started making her way up, muttering to herself as she went. Gaeul looked at Yunho, her face pale.

“That means the faeries are in there because of me, right?”

Yunho pursed his lips. “If those creatures obey you, you might free them.”

“What if they are hurt? Oh, goodness,” Gaeul sank to the ground, her limbs trembling. “I can’t have more blood on my hands, Yunho.”

“You won’t,” Yunho sat down beside her, putting an arm around her. “If we can sense them, they’re still alive. We don’t know why those creatures took them, but… we can only hope they’re somewhat safe.”

taglist: @yunnierights @monstaxdirtywonk @moni-cah @uyumilk @atxxzist @hazysan @bewitchedinyourhunger @kk-fleury @sincostansan @onedumbho3 @wooya1224 @icouldntcareless22 @jjaelly @huachengsbestie01 @ztjileen @charreddonuts @mdibby @gugggu6gvai @altgojo

[gh0stsp1d3r]

Could u do a sequel to delaying death? In desperate for Kang writing- it could be extremely and illegally angsty or some fluff, pick your poison

Delaying death part 2

“You’re an interesting man, Scott Lang.” he said, turning to him and taking off his mask.

“I don’t know who you are, but you’ve made a big mistake. I’m an avenger, okay? And I’ve called the other avengers.”

“You’re an avenger? Have I killed you before?”

“What?” Scott said with a small laugh.

“They all blow together after a while. You’re not the one with the hammer?”

“That’s Thor. We get confused a lot, similar body types- who are you?”

“Just a man. Who’s lost a lot of time, like you.” He stepped toward his cell. “But we can help each other with that.”

——————————————————————

“Wait, so he has an insane girlfriend, basically?” Cassie said.

“They’re both equally dangerous. And he was always way too overprotective of her, and he didn’t trust me at first to go back with him because he didn’t want me to see her. But he did anyways. I caught them a few times, and overheard their conversations. He talked about her being his soulmate.”

“Jesus, it sounds like those two have some issues.” Hank shook his head.

———————————————————-

Scott grew more agitated and annoyed the more he had to torture Cassie. Finally after some time, Scott agreed to help.

So kang opened the portal, and Scott dived in. But he didn’t only see Scott when he came out, he saw Hope.

After fighting with them, and finally having Janet, he brought her back.

“Bring her in.” He whispered to one of his guards, they knew who her was. They went up to his room, and quickly brought her back down to his “throne”

“There you a-“ you started but then you saw Janet.

“Janet.” You said, plainly. As his guards left the room.

“(Your name), you don’t know what he’s do-“ she started as soon as she saw you. She told you before, but you didn’t care and you didn’t believe her.

“Don’t speak to her.” Kang said sharply, raising his voice.

“Come here, love.” He said, moving his fingers in a motion also telling you to come.

You obeyed him, climbing up onto his throne and sitting next to him. He pulled you next to him as spoke, your hands on his armored chest and his hands on your back.

Kang got up, while talking. You stayed sitting down.

He showed her the sacred timeline, you’ve already seen it. It was beautiful whenever he used his powers.

After some talking, and some angry talking about his other versions, he pulled you aside privately into the hallway while some guards went in the room.

“You are to stay right next to me, the whole time. I don’t want you to leave my sight. I have a bad feeling, and if this place goes under attack, I promise you I will protect you. Just promise that if anything happens to me you’ll find a way to go away and stay safe, alright?”

“Yes, of course. I will. Kang-“

“Nathaniel.”

“Nathan, I won’t need to leave you. I’m safe wherever you are. I love you.”

He reached out for your cheek and caressed your cheek, you both kissed.

You both smiled as you parted lips.

“Nathan. I love you, so much, okay? And I won’t need to leave you, I won’t need to find a safe place, because with you I am safe.”

His gaze softened, he caressed your cheek and you both kissed. You guys smiled as you both pulled away.

[chronicallycrow]

Home Is Whenever I'm With You

Fandom: Traffic Light Series / Empires / Hermitcraft

Relationship(s): Team Rancher

Word Count: 2,393

CW: N/A

Ao3 Link

It was so fast, Jimmy’d always hated the moments after he died and would spawn back in the SMP he’d been in before, his whole body still felt sore as if the wounds were still open, that he was still bleeding and could still feel the eyes on him as he died. Worse off this time he’d taken someone with him, and he didn’t even get to say goodbye this time. Tears welled up in Jimmy’s eyes as he fell to the floor, knees hitting the wood hard enough to bruise them, and he quietly swore then, making an apology to a soulmate he was no longer bound with. And when he realized that Tango wasn’t bound to him anymore and that he’d lost him, possibly for good, the tears came harder.

His wings curled around him as he wailed, and all he could do was put his head in his hands and cry, making a million apologies to someone who wasn’t with him anymore. He was first out, the curse continued, and he’d taken Tango with him, and Tango had loved him so much, and he had felt so safe with Tango - He let out another choked sob. It wasn’t like he could even go to Scott or Joel for comfort right now, as much as he wouldn’t want to in the first place, they weren’t even here right now, still on Double Life and still alive. And it wasn’t like anyone else in the server would understand - He thought maybe, if he could get himself up, he could go to Lizzie, but would she even really understand what had happened, how frustrated he was that he died first again? He was always out first. Always. And void, did he hate that stupid canary curse.

As the days went on, more and more people came back. Scott was last. Jimmy thought having his friends back, around him - Both of them had come to check on him the moment they got back - Would help him feel better. Instead it just made it worse. He’d tried to talk to them about it, a little bit, but it always ended with him in tears, crying over and over again about Tango. He missed the way he could feel the heat radiating off of him, how when they hugged he felt secure- He missed their ranch, all of their cows, how Tango helped him keep all of them - And he wailed more and more for his lost love. More and more for the curse he’d brought upon Tango when they got bound. More and more because this was all his fault, and he was sure if he ever saw Tango again Tango was going to hate him. He got Tango out first, why wouldn’t he?

Every time Jimmy saw someone acting sweet, even to their friends, his heart ached. Every time he’d watch people be romantic, kiss, his heart hurt. It felt like someone had took an arrow to his chest and then pulled it out, only to shoot it back in. It was hard for him to even go out and do anything. Of course, his friends got concerned for him, but he never really told them what was going on. His eyes always looked glazed over, his actions dull and repetitive. What was he supposed to do here now? What was he supposed to do without Tango? He could barely even look at the fires and pieces of red stone he’d fine without wanting to fall to the floor again.

Then there was the news of the portal. Despite how depressed Jimmy felt he felt a tug, somewhere in his chest, to go see who would come through. And when the first person he was was Grian he wanted to run, he felt sick. Whiplash of everything from Double Life came back, even harder, and he had to turn away and run to not break down there. Grian had watched his friend - If he could be considered that anymore, anyway - Run off, and a pang of guilt sunk in his chest. Unfortunately for Jimmy, Grian soon got distracted with other things. He didn’t even remember to tell Jimmy that Tango was here now.

Jimmy could hear the footsteps outside of his house, hear people mingling and talking like everything was alright. He curled his wings around himself again, head sinking into his knees as he choked back sobs. He might as well let them all have their fun, after all they hadn’t really done anything too wrong here. He felt the tug on his chest again, but it only made him cry harder. He wanted to hit himself, wanted to hurt himself to give punishment for killing Tango. He bit down on his lip, hard enough to draw blood, to hold back his sobs and stop any urge.

Then he heard them, footsteps in his house, and he’d never been more scared. What if someone’s first impression of him was this? A pathetic man crying on the floor over a lost love who probably had forgotten about him or didn’t love him anymore. He wanted to clean himself up, to get up and act like everything was okay, but he couldn’t. Instead he sat there on the floor beside his bed, curled up into as small of a ball as he could manage, wings wrapped around him and hiding him from whatever, or whoever, was about to stumble onto him.

“I don’t know why you’re looking for him, but yeah, this is his house. Usually he’s here?” Fwhip, was talking to someone. Someone was looking for him, dammit, dammit, if they found him like this- He didn’t even want to know what would happen. He flinched even more when he heard the footsteps right outside his door. It sounded like two people walked up, then- Fwhip had said something about needing to go, and - He heard one pair of footsteps walk away. The other person was still outside his door. And he hated the way he cowered and trembled at the idea of someone coming in on him like this.

There was a soft knock on the door, the knob turning, and then - “Jim?” His voice was so soft, and when Jimmy heard it he wanted to run to it and simultaneously tell him to go away and never come back. When he felt Tango’s eyes on him he expected him to berate him, yell at him for getting them killed. That wasn’t what happened at all, though. Instead, he heard the footsteps rushing towards him, he curled up more, and then he felt those warm hands pull away his wings ever so gently. “Jimmy?” He asked again, and it sounded like Tango was going to start crying.

Jimmy sucked in a breath, wanting to say a million things, but all he could actually manage out was an array of apologies and more tears. He was shaking, he was shaking and crying and his rancher was holding him again and he wanted to rush into his arms but he knew he couldn’t. “Oh, Jimmy-” Tango managed out, and Jimmy could hear the tears slipping down his cheeks now. He didn’t have time to wonder if they should be evaporating or not. “Oh, Jim, why are you sorry-?” He asked, rushedly, hands clasping around Jimmy’s cheeks. Jimmy looked up at Tango, and the tears came more. He didn’t even have time to think about how different he looked right now, and his eyes locked with Tango’s and he let out more choked sobs.

“I got us killed-” Jimmy wailed, eyes shutting so fast again that tears splattered from his lashes. “I got us killed and got us out first and you probably hate me and I- I--” He took a deep gasp in, air not seeming to be his friend anymore. Maybe he really was getting stuck in a coalmine. “Oh, baby-” Tango managed out, tears steadily falling down his cheeks now, too. “Jimmy, no, no-” His hands went from Jimmy’s face to his back, pulling him closer to himself. “No, baby, no- I don’t hate you- I couldn’t hate you, Void Jimmy, no-” And that just made Jimmy cry more, head finding its place on Tango’s shoulder.

“You should!!” Jimmy wailed again, arms finally grasping around Tango and holding him so tightly as to convince himself Tango was real, that he wasn’t going to leave. “No, Jimmy, no- It’s not your fault, it’s not your fault.” Tango murmured, hands shifting around to rub the top of Jimmy’s shoulders. “Yes it is! I got us killed!” Jimmy sobbed, breaths so rugged and harsh the he thought he might pass out from lack of oxygen. “I got us killed all because of a stupid enderman and my shield broke and it wasn’t even supposed to break yet and--” “Catch your breath, baby, catch your breath-” Tango held him closer, and maybe in that moment he was also scared Jimmy was going to disappear from him again. “Grian told me, when he got back,” Tango started, and the way Jim flinched at that told Tango all he needed to know. “About what they do to you.” Tango continued, and that was all he needed to say for Jimmy to go back to hard sobs.

“It’s not your fault that they do that to you.” Tango continued, pushing Jimmy back ever so slightly to grab his face with his hands, thumbs rubbing on his cheeks, god they were so warm. “But I took you with me.” Jimmy whined, voice harsh from all the crying. Tango just shook his head softly, eyes meeting Jim’s. “I wouldn’t have changed a thing that happened, Rancher.” Jimmy let out another sob, and then he was falling back into Tango and grabbing onto him and crying harder. Tango wrapped his arms around Jimmy and let him cry, telling him all the while how it wasn’t his fault, how he couldn’t have changed anything. How none of this was his fault and how just because some gods like to push him into dying first didn’t mean he hated Jimmy at all.

Once Jimmy’s sobs had slowed he glanced up to Tango again. “Pr-Promise you don’t hate me?” He asked, and his tone made Tango’s heart break all over again. “Of course I don’t hate you, baby,” Tango pulled him in for a hug again, and Jimmy fell into him once more. “I could never hate you, Jimmy, I could never hate you.” “Okay,” It was so soft, so quiet, and all Tango wanted to do in that moment was hold Jimmy forever, never letting anything touch him or hurt him again.

Once Jimmy’s crying had fully stopped Tango got up and got him some tissues, cleaning off his face. Jimmy sat there and let him do it, not caring how gross he looked at this point. He was still shaking, breath still gone, and one of his hands was gripping Tango’s hard, still proving Tango was real and here with him.

“Here, baby, let’s go get you washed up, okay?” Jimmy nodded, and followed Tango up as he lead Jimmy to the bathroom and ran a rag under warm water. He wiped Jimmy’s face again, dried it, and then leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his cheek. Now was when he really got a chance to see Jimmy’s face again. Dark circles lingered under his eyes, red and puffy from his tears. He looked like he hadn’t slept in ages, and that broke Tango. Granted, he hadn’t had the easiest time back at home when he’d lost Jimmy. He’d locked himself away and had almost burnt down several things having break downs over him.

“Please don’t go home,” Jimmy had murmured, almost out of no where. His voice was soft, hurt, scared. Tango bit his lip for a split second, considering his options. But he knew the voice in the back of his mind was right, he knew how he felt. “Jimmy,” Tango started, hand finding its way to his cheek, thumb rubbing circles in it. “You are my home.” He said, voice breaking a little bit. “But-” And then Jimmy was going back on his words. “I’m sure you have friends at home, and-” “Hey, Grian said that portal’s gonna stay. If I want to go visit them I can.” Tango explained, meeting eyes with Jimmy. “I might have lived there before I met you, but you’re my home. The ranch burnt down, our house got destroyed, but I was always home there, with you.” Another tear fell down Jimmy’s cheek, and he rushed forward to hug Tango again.

“I love you-” It came out in a barrage, several ‘I love you’s at once. Jimmy was crying again, looking up at Tango, he felt so fragile in that moment, like Tango was the only thing holding him together. But if that meant that Tango was holding him, he’d accept it. “I love you, too, Jim. I love you so much, you have no idea how much I love you.” Tango replied, leaning forward to press a kiss to Jimmy’s lips. “I’m not gonna leave you, not gonna leave my home, promise.” He added on, and Jimmy just nodded and pressed himself further into Tango.

After sitting like that in his bathroom for awhile, Jimmy let out a small yawn. Being this emotional was exhausting. Jimmy hadn’t cried like this, so sheer and so much, since he’d first came back from Double Life. Tango looked at the man in his arms and then stood up, offering him a hand. “Let’s go get you some sleep, okay, baby?” Jimmy nodded and took Tango’s hand, letting him lead him off to the bedroom. He got tucked into the sheets, glancing up at Tango. Void he didn’t want him to leave, and part of him was still so scared. “Tango- If you-” Jimmy started, but Tango just hushed him as he rid himself of his cloak and climbed into the bed with Jimmy. “I’m gonna have to get clothes tomorrow, but you can come with me, okay? You can see where I’m from.” Jimmy nodded, soft, and then curled himself around Tango, so warm and so comfy. And for the first time since coming back from Double Life, Jimmy really felt at home in his house.

[harmonyverendez]

Soulmates: Agatha x Reader x Tedros ( In Which G! N reader is the soulmate of The King and Queen )

~

Headcon.

~

Headcon.

• when you arrived, you never expected yourself to be in the house you were in. You thought you were the opposite.

• Catching eyes with Agatha first. She was curious about you. You were, after all, a newcomer.

• And then it was Tedros turn. He couldn't keep his eyes off of you. Always catching his eyes, and he would look away before you can see his blush.

• all this happened around the time they have arrived. When Agatha and Sophie came to school for good and evil.

• Sophie cornered you one day and asked about your feelings for her sister. She didn't understand Poly-Relationships but she will support yours, people be damnned to their business.

" I don't know what you are talking about." You had replied.

" I know you have feelings for my sister and her boyfriend!. But I'm not here to harm you, I actually love seeing you three together. I only ask you to not break her heart. If you do, then there will be hell to pay".

• After that she was both you, Agatha and Tedros. Biggest supporter. If anyone would to harm you then there will be hell to pay.

• Tedros ends up asking both of you to the ball. You accepted, but what's nervous? How would everyone respond to the three of you dating?

• There were some whispers. But a glare sent from Sophie shut the them the hell up. Even though she was going around trying to destroy the school.

• But don't worry, you have plenty of support from their friend group. they'll love you anyway ( they honestly have no choice.)

• Was devasted when Sophie turned on both school and wanted power. Your girlfriend and boyfriend ended up having to save the school.

• Asking them out during the dance, and they both accept.

• Kissing both of them. You didn't know who was better. It was a tie. Since you've never been kissed before, and it's theirs as well.

• When all the evers went to destroy the Nevers. You warned them about it being evil. And the Evers forgive.

• Tedros didn't listen. He wanted to make sure Sophie pay. But he forgot one thing.

" Evil Destory... Good defend.

Evil Takes... Good Forgive.

Evil Corrupts... Good Fix.

• But that wasn't on his mind. He wanted to kill. When he stormed in on the Nevers. They all were shocked.

• Sadden when the Ever turned Evil, and the Evil turned Good. You knew it was all Sophie's idea.

• What happened to the good Sophie you saw from the start? She was gone, that was.

• When the schools collapsed, you went along with and everything flashed before your eyes and darkness.

• When you opened your eyes, all the Evers have become good, and the Evil becomes accepted. All the balance was fixed.

• Both school united.

• And it was thanks to your girlfriend saving the day. You couldn't be more prouder of her.

• When it was time for both of them to leave. You had tears running down your face. You didn't want Agatha to leave nor did Tedros.

" Will you stay with us... Honey?" You ask.

" I don't know... Y/N?.... My friend Sophie needs me..."

• When she left with her sister. You cried in Tedros arms. At least you had him.

• But you didn't feel complete. You felt empty.

• But in your heart, you knew she would be back.

• Because while practicing. Tedros sword flies through the portal and lands threw the tree of Galvadon.

" I will be waiting for you, Agatha. Because my heart will never be complete without you... I'll see you soon my love" You whispered out in the night. Staring at the night sky and watching the stars.

FOR ANON.

[buildingthegrandtour]

the unicorns are holding us hostage pt 1

<<<PREV

THE UNICORN QUEEN

The beginning of the end came on a night when I was promoting a club. I did not particularly care for the job, the noise and the people surrounding me was always overwhelming. It was a simple enough job: entertain guests and keep them buying. I was sitting in a soundproofed room with a coworker and a young man she continuously referred to as ��hot piece of ass”. He never bothered to correct her.

Julia was a child when she stepped foot on the soil in the Valley of the Unicorns. The people who had been here for generations were born with soulmates. From what the science had discovered, when a soul is fully formed in the womb, it splits in two and the other half gestates in a younger zygote. Once the soulmate is found, the bond is instant and it is unbreakable.

The people like my coworker who have only been here a short time do not experience that bond. Julia took it in stride, leaned into the freedom she found in her polyamorous lifestyle.

The couple that had burst in, however, were experiencing an enraged jealousy so severe that they were both tinted in a repulsive shade of neon green. Those familiar with the unicorn's magic saw this as normal.

Raised voices echoed in the chamber of the private room. Cruel words spoken, accusation, and the woman’s hand reaching out to dig the perfectly manicured nails into his throat.

My brain stopped working as I watched the man’s white shirt slowly seep into a wet crimson, sticking to the skin of her arm as though it was trying to mark her. 

A crowd of people came in and turned to Julia to see the red indication light that signaled security had been summoned. The blood spread from the skin to skin as the couple were hauled away. Julia conferred with her HPOA for a brief moment before grabbing me by the wrist and dragging me to follow her behind the crowd.

The destination was the courtyard at the west gate of the city. A few stones arranged around an incomplete circle and that crack that shows a different earth breaks through the center. A world frozen in the ice age shown against the carved stone of our city crawling with the vines of spring. The girl was carried to the portal, falling into a frenzy before she made it there. She fell from the arms that carried her, swiping at them like a wildcat cornered. For a brief moment they overtook her, until she took out an eye and ran head first into one of the pillars that defined the perimeters of the portal’s mechanisms. She got up, dazed, then threw herself at the pillar again. She repeated this until her head split open and she collapsed on the ground to prepare for her last breath. When she was declared dead, the crowd began to group up as currency and items were exchanged. Julia gave a small amount of cash to her HPOA before giving him a kiss and telling him to come visit as she watched him walk away.

“What just happened?” I enquired in a voice of thin veiled anxiety.

“People always kill themselves when they are exiled. We bet on how they go, will they strike the final blow themselves? Or will the guards get them while they are trying to save them from themselves.” 

I considered this for a bit, then my brain stopped working once more. A moment later something clicked, and my trembling voice visited to ask: “Did I just witness an execution?”

The look on Julia’s face suggested this was something she had believed everyone had known. 

The world grew cloudy and I could feel myself falling.

*~*~*~*

I woke up in the arms of my soulmate, Azeara, feeling her warm breath pulsing on the back of my neck. I put her hand in mine and gave her a kiss. She climbed over me to come face to face, pressed her naked body against my leg as she stroked my breasts above my dress. I removed my clothes and wrapped my legs around hers, running my fingers through her hair as we kissed each other on the mouths and necks.

we melted into each other, touched each other skin to skin with our bodies entangled. I let out a moan, followed by a loud bang and a scream coming from the unit next door.

In an instant we had leaped from the bed and clothed ourselves quickly, then Azeara gestured for me to follow her.

Over the years since we inherited this three story apartment we had renovated it into separate units that we rented out. Azeara had enjoyed creating a labyrinth of doors with secret entrances between units and pocket rooms of weapons caches in case something happened and we needed to bring up defenses. She guided me to the cache closest to the unit where we had heard the noise. Azeara picked up a crossbow and picked out bolts dipped in paralytic poisons. I chose a set of short swords and shuriken so I could be prepared for ranged or close combat.

We exited the tunnel to come into the foyer of the unit. Sneaking around each passage as she had set the connections of the floorboards allowed Azeara to know when it was safe to leave the tunnels and come into the main rooms. More banging and screaming came from the parlor, and we tread lightly to investigate. 

Peeking into the room we saw a man tied to a chair, with another man holding a polearm against the hostage as an extra precaution against his escape. A woman with hair so light it looked like a washed white stood before him. She wore a catsuit with tubes wrapped twisting around her body. A liquid substance that gave off light was being injected into her with many needles strewn throughout the suit. She held a short whip in her hand, flinging it at the face of the hostage who would then jump, banging the chair, then release the scream. She repeated this for a short time, then dropped the whip to lick the man’s face. When she lifted her head up she was covered in his blood, smiling cruelly as she focused her gaze on him.

I do not know what came over me at that moment. My impulses became overwhelming, and I moved without strategy. Shurikens flew to pierce the tubes on her suit, my sword was drawn, and I ran into the room to slaughter my target without thought to the guard that had the blade of a halberd to my throat as I swiped the killing blow that bifurcated the woman.

There I stood, sword poised in front of me, a bloodied body collapsed, a man in a chair heavily breathing, and blade ready to make me the next death in the room. I stayed perfectly still, my hand trembling from the weight of my sword held in one spot. I let my fingers extend, releasing my grip to let the sword clang to the floor as the blade eased up from my neck. 

A bright light shone, then a loud cackling echoed through the unit as an apparition of the woman I had killed seconds before formed to absorb the light.

“Congratulations, you have found my weakness,” the ghost sneered.

I heard the sound of Azeara’s footsteps as she moved to be by my side. She picked up my sword, ready to slay the ghost.

“The Unicorn Queen has already been slayed,” the guard told her. “You’ll not get rid of the ghost with a simple sword. I’m afraid you’re in for much worse.”

“Smart man,” the ghost smiled a smile of malice as she praised him. “Yes he is right, my Dear Boy. I’ll haunt these halls forever and make hell for anyone inside them. And for you, my assassin, the loyalty I've got from my guards does not die with me. They will hunt you down and avenge me. And they will not let up until you are cut into pieces.”

“You’re bluffing,” I insisted, a small tremor finding its way to my voice.

“Enid, do not test her,” Azeara growled. 

“Listen to your mate. I am the Unicorn Queen, my power is great even from beyond the grave.” That sinister smile held to her lips. “But I am impressed, and that’s not easy to do. So I will be kind and let you have a head start.”

“Let’s take advantage of that shall we?” Azeara grabbed my hand and pulled me off as she spoke the sentence. In the flurry I recognized that the guard was gone, and the hostage was never released.

We flew like a whirlwind through the tunnels, my wrist aching from the pressure of Azeara’s grip. My feet kept falling one foot in the front of the other, and I could concentrate on nothing else.

“Do you think she’s tethered?” I begged my soulmate for good news.

“If she’s telling the truth about who she is, someone that powerful would only be tethered by choice.”

I let my other hand grab her arm and continued moving forward after her. We found our way to the tunnel’s stairwell leading to the secret door to the atrium that connected all the floors of the original, unrenovated unit.

We descended to the last step and only a short distance in front of the landing was the door. Standing in front of our exit was the Unicorn Queen, wicked grin unmoving. 

I felt dizzy and weak. My grip loosened and my knees buckled. I could feel myself falling, pulling Azeara down with me as my consciousness slipped away.

NEXT >>>

[im-totally-not-an-alien-2]

Danny always wondered what the strings on his finger meant. He had asked Jazz about it when he was younger and she had no idea what he was talking about. She couldn't even see the strings even though he could see them plain as day.

He made the mistake of asking his mother exactly once and never made that mistake again. Jazz eventually found something about it online, stating that there was a legend about the red string of fate connecting the pinky fingers of destined loves. Danny wondered what it meant if he had three.

Being Phantom changed things. For one, the stings would react oddly whenever he had gone ghost. He could feel what he could only guess were the emotions of the people on the other end of the string. They seemed to be reacting to his "death(s)" every time he changed forms and presumably had similar reactions when he "revived".

One seemed to be very worried about him, another frantic in a search for answers and the third was just deeply intrigued and almost...eager? Huh.

/////

Nightwing hated dealing with Klarion, a sentiment the rest of the JL and YJ teams agreed on.

It was even worse since they were in Gotham and the bats were working together to fight him off. No one was sure what he wanted but he seemed to be having a little too much fun battling them.

It was only after they entered the basement this old dilapidated church that he took note of the chanting. -he blamed the concussion for his lack of awareness- As it turns out, Klarion was attracted to Gotham by this one cult preforming ancient magics from this weirdly glowing spellbook they had found. No idea why he was so interested in it but It couldn't be for anything good.

Red Robin came bursting into the room -late to the party but forgiven considering the circumstances- followed closely behind by a shock of blond hair, and for a moment he thought it was Steph, -stupid concussion- but quickly realized it was Bernard, one of Tim's soulmates and the only one he had found so far. His still very CIVILIAN soulmate. "Ugh. Can today get any worse?" Appearently he should have kept quiet because Klarion turned to him wearing a grin like razorwire and said, "I'm glad you asked!" Before sending a burst of red magic from his hand down to where the cultists were fearfully chanting. The explosion was deafening and where the people once stood was now a green and red portal...

/////////

By the time he turned sixteen Danny had gotten pretty good at this ghost thing. Making allies out of some of his old Rouges, making pacts with ghost countries and negotiating treaties between others, many have declared him the new Ghost Prince, regardless of what he had to say on the matter.

Of course the moment he starts to have any self confidence his faith is shaken by some odd supernatural occurrence coming completely out of left field. In this case it was an odd red and green portal opening up right in front of him. He knows he shouldn't, but the strings were leading right into it and he just couldn't resist.

He popped though.

Danny knew he had made some kind of mistake when he saw what he swore was an actual devil, complete with suit, tie and horns. And one of his strings lead directly to him. "You know, being put in a casket is actually looking pretty good right about now."

Devil guy seemed delighted and actually laughed at his humor instead of giving a sarcastic "ha-ha" or concerned sideways glances. Maybe this guy was alright after all.

/////////

Tim was freaking out. One of his soulmates was freaking Klarion! Klarion! Oh God, why??? And who, or with his current luck- what was that glowy guy supposed to be??? Oh no he was also his soulmate??? Wtf?!

Bernard was of no help whatsoever as he introduced himself to both of them using his real name. GFDI Bernard! One of us has to have survival instincts, he was sure of it.

Aka: Au where Tim Drake, Bernard Dowd, Klarion Bleak and Daniel Fenton all meet on the battlefield and discover they're soulmates. Klarion then kidnaps everyone, leaving Nightwing alone and injured with backup on the way.

[clean-bands-dirty-stories]

Star Crossed ~ P.P. (part 3)

A/n: part four tomorrow <3

Word count: 5500+

MASTERLIST

“Are you okay?” Ned asked first.

Ace rubbed his head. There was a slight headache, but nothing else. All of the weird spinning had stopped and his body had oriented himself again. “I… don’t know.” he looked up at a man who was dressed as Spider-Man but looked nothing like Peter. He wasn’t not surprised to see the man looking back. Their eyes locked.

The spinning came back. But it wasn’t like he was being yanked around, his body revolting in protest. It was more like he was being spun in a chair. Still disorienting and still making his stomach twist… but not unpleasant. Their eyes locked and something warm bloomed in Ace’s chest and spread throughout his entire body.

A bright color of red caught his attention and Ace looked over. He was immediately shocked to see a thread, thick and neon red, twisting around the other man’s arm and falling to the ground, snaking a few feet before twisting up Ace’s leg and around his waist, up and around his neck. The thread was moving on the other man too, starting at his arm and then looping over his shoulders, behind his neck, before spiraling down his torso and winding down his leg before disappearing somewhere behind him.

Now, Ace had seen a million strings of fate. He knew they all were different colors. He knew there was blue for family, and black for people who were bad for you. Purple for friends, and green for found family, and pink for temporary love and orange for Queer Platonic Relationships, and white for siblings that became their siblings’ parents, and yellow for students and teachers who bonded during school for once reason or another. Endless shades for the specifics… Of course the thicker the string, the longer and more important those people would be connected to each other.

Ace had never once seen a red string for himself. That was a string of love. A soulmate of an entirely different kind. Now he did, and of all people, it was attached to a man he didn’t even know. A man that was from a different universe… right?

Unfortunately, all thoughts left his head when he realized the other man could see the string as well.

“What the fuck is that?” The man demanded.

Ace swallowed thickly. “It’s… a string of fate.”

The man shot him a startled look. “Excuse me?”

All Ace could do was shrug. MJ spoke for him, seeing him panic and becoming suddenly defensive of her friend. “Okay so you’re Peter Parker, but not our Peter. We still need to find our Peter.” She looked at Ace for a second before turning to Ned again. “Will you try again?”

Peter - the other Peter, older and taller - stepped back, suddenly silent and withdrawn as Ace avoided his gaze. Ned distracted both of them by raising his hand. “I want to see Peter!” This time he tried to do it with more conviction, really aiming to find his friend. The portal opened again, but this time they were all quiet and careful as they opened up to another dark alleyway, and another man who stood in it.

After looking for only a moment, the much older man walked through the portal and smiled at all of them. He was… just a dude. Maybe a teacher. He even had this friendly smile that soothed you - like he was harmless and gentle and kind. Completely unthreatening.

“So…” Ned began, eyes narrowed and head tilted. “You’re not Peter Parker.”

The man’s eyes rose in surprise. “I… am, actually. How did you know that?”

Ned, MJ and Ace all exchanged looks between each other. Ace took a deep breath before leveling his eyes on the man after Ned and MJ silently begged him to. He tried to look into the future of this man, and the other one in the spider suit. He took a deep breath, and tried to see something. Anything.

For the second man, he saw bits and pieces. Fractured images, where some parts were crystal clear, but most of it was blurry or whited out completely - just gone. He saw a woman with red hair and a bright smile. He saw a man, taller, with eyes that were full of tears. He saw, for just a second, the Sandman Ace had seen at the Sanctum. Flashes of Otto as well. Otto Octavius… to his surprise, he saw a reflection as well. Spider-Man… but all black. He watched, sometimes as if he was looking through Peter’s eyes, and sometimes from a third person point of view, as he danced with the red headed woman under a dark sky and fairy lights. As he swung through New York, whooping and hollering and cheering. Ace saw a tombstone with the name Norman Osborn, and next to it, Harry Osborn, both with fresh flowers being placed. A similar time, but with another tombstone: May Parker.

Ace opened his eyes. The man - Peter Parker, Spider-Man - looked at him with wide eyes. Like he had been knocked breathless. Ace’s eyes widened. “Did you… see that?”

“Yeah,” Peter croaked. And it was confusing, because Ace knew that this was not his Peter - neither from the world he had been born to, or the one he had grown up in, and yet there was no other man to call him by. They were suddenly connected, and that was when Ace had the thought to check for -

There it was. But it was… strange. This string of fate was so thin, Ace almost missed it completely. But as he reached down and gripped it, lifting it to look closer, he realized that it was actually a shiny silver color. It looked like…

Webbing.

“That one looks different,” The man in the spider suit remarked. “Ours is red, and a lot thicker. Why is it different?”

Ace didn’t respond at first, following the thin, silver string of fate as it looped around his own toes, and then snaked up to his ankle before turning off, weaving through the air and over to oldest Peter, winding around his ankle once and then floating off to the side - like they were underwater. Weightless, simply just there. Very different than the red string before, which had weight to it. Which had fallen to the ground like it was almost… real.

When he wrapped his head around the weird connection he had to these two men from different universes, he finally focused on answering the question he had been given. “Strings of fate are always different for people. They tie to different body parts, and are different colors and thicknesses. Some float, some lay on the ground. Some are loose, some are taught - almost like you can’t go any further apart, even if you’re right up next to each other. However your souls are connected, the universe echoes that in its own way.”

The two men looked between each other and that’s when Ace realizes there isn’t a string, but he can feel the sudden… shift. Like ripples in a pool, the air around their heads just looks… weird. Wrong. Like the way heat makes things look weird when they’re far off, but not quite as noticeable.

Ace’s eyes widened. “The web of fate.”

His words went unheard. The two men both went to shoot webs at each other, and then dodged at the exact same time. They shot again, dodged, and shot again. The oldest Peter won with the third attempt - his web landed home on the other man’s wrist. His web shooters were knocked useless as they were wrapped up and covered.

The air itself seemed to relax, as if God themself had released a held breath, and the man in the spider suit grinned, looking at his wrist with a kind of awe. “Impressive.”

MJ finally broke. “Okay why didn’t you just tell us you were Spider-Man?”

Oldest Peter gave her a pointed look. “Kind of counterproductive. Whole secret identity and stuff.”

For a second, Ace, Ned and MJ all caught their breath. They had forgotten that once upon a time, their Spider-Man had kept his identity hidden too. And could any of them be blamed after all that had happened to Peter once he’d been exposed in this universe?

MJ reached over to Ace, whispering to him, “What do you think about the old guy?”

Ace whispered back, “Peter Parker for sure. He has… an MJ. Too.” He swallowed, remembering the woman with the red hair. He felt like he knew her. Had her smile ingrained in his mind. She made him feel dizzy and light, like he was floating. He realized this at the same time that he realized where this world’s MJ was touching him, his skin was warm. His eyebrows came together in confusion as he tried to make sense of that. “He’s legit.”

She hesitated only a second before simply nodding and dropping his hand. He didn’t miss how she looked at her palm and then to him again, but didn’t say anything. Ace was tempted to check for a string of fate but was too scared.

Ned shook his head, running his hand through his hair. “You guys keep talking about strings of fate? What do you mean? And, Ace said something about the Web of Destiny?”

Everyone looked to Ace, who swallowed thickly. “Uh, I explained the strings of fate. They’re… they tie people together, that’s pretty simple and straightforward. Um-” He closed his eyes, putting pressure on the bridge of his nose. “The Web of Destiny… I don’t know.” He opened his eyes again, dropping his hand as he shrugged. “Because of the things I can see, sometimes I know things I shouldn’t. When I look into someone, I see things that I’m not even looking for as well. Probably even for the same reason. I just… know things. For Peter-” he motioned to the oldest man- “It’s fragments. Bits and pieces. More of the past, because it’s cemented. It already happened. It’s not hard to look into, where the very fickle future is a different question.”

“And the web of destiny?” the oldest Peter pushed.

Ace pursed his lips before looking at Ned. “I need a paper and pen.” Ned nodded, running and disappearing around a corner for a moment before returning with what he was asked for. Ace took them, laying them on the table before beginning to sketch. It was almost like a tree, but with no bark. Just a long line, with hundreds and hundreds of branching paths. They all crossed and doubled over and extended until Ace hit the end of the page. After only a minute every inch was covered and it was a mess. The other four in the room looked at him like he was insane.

“This is the multiverse,” Ace began to explain. He pointed to the empty spaces. “Those are the universes. A million different timelines were created from all these branching paths. Where they connect, universes end. People always thought time was the lines itself, linear - if looping and branching off sporadically. But the lines are actually the web of fate. What ties everything together. When it tissues together, how it’s tied together. A thin border between each reality. A border that starts to destroy things on a monumental scale when you make holes between realities.”

Middle Peter spoke first. “How do you know this?”

“Remember when I said that I look into people, and sometimes get information I don’t mean to get?” Everyone nodded, trying to keep up. “When I looked into Peter here, I saw it. I saw it when you two looked at each other too. Your powers - they connect you directly to the web of destiny. That’s how you get your tingle things. That’s why Peter could fight off Strange even when his spirit was separated from his body. The web of destiny is connected to every possibility, every reality. Thinly, but still. You can essentially see the future - only when you need to. Like when a fly is caught in a spider’s net. The tremors in the web of destiny reach you, and you can be directed to the threat or problem at hand.”

“You saw all of this just looking into me?” Oldest Peter asked.

Ace tilted his head back and forth. “Yeah?” He frowned. “My powers allow me a similar connection. Because my body is made for a different universe but I was raised here, I was essentially pressed directly against a string in that web of fate for years. I can see things I shouldn’t be able to. Almost like… it’s communicating to me directly. I think…” He wet his lips, blinking as he tried to make sense of it all. “I think the universes are trying to fix what’s been wronged. I think it’s trying to get me to go back to where I belong.”

“You’re not from this universe?” Spider suit guy asked.

“Long story,” MJ dismissed. “Are you in any of these Peters universes?”

Ace motioned vaguely to the spider suit guy. “Him. That’s why our string of fate is so thick - the people I grew up with don’t even have a string of fate that thick. I wouldn’t be surprised if after this whole fiasco we end up becoming very close friends. Especially since we’ll be going back together.” He swallowed again, trying to not melt into the bad thoughts he had been narrowly avoiding all day.

“Why go back if you were born and raised here?” Spider suit Peter asked.

“First of all, I’m breaking reality by being here. Second of all, something terrible is happening. Something… dangerous. I think the multiverse is breaking, mixing together. And I don’t even think it’s only our faults. Something is happening, and me being here is only going to make it so, so much worse. But even without that - the spell Strange made to send us all home. It was already messy and tampered with; he can’t exclude me from it.” The Peters exchanged looks again, having a silent conversation before letting it drop.

“So red means friendship?” spider suit Peter asked.

Ace cleared his throat. “It’s just weird to me that you can see it.” He pushed off of the table, turning away from the spider suit Peter. “I’m thinking it’s a side effect of being in this world, and making contact with me as well. My corrupted code in this world is messing you guys up as well, and because we’re both connected to the web of fate, it’s even easier - which explains why Peter can see it as well, even though he’s not in either this or our universe, and why I’ve been feeling weird about MJ.”

MJ jerked. “You’ve been feeling that too?” Ace nodded.

“Wait I don’t understand,” Ned spoke up. “Why have you and MJ been feeling weird about each other suddenly?”

“The multiverse is having a… hard time,” Ace explained. “It doesn’t help that I’m pretty sure I’m my universe’s MJ.”

For a second, no one moved. They didn’t even breathe. “What do you mean your universe’s MJ?” older Peter asked.

Ace sighed, long and laborious. “You have the red headed woman,” he tried to clarify. “This world’s Peter has her-” he motioned to MJ. “I think…” He looked at spider suit Peter. “I think your universe was supposed to have an MJ too. I…” He scoffed, shaking his head. “My full first name is Mason. So… I went by MJ when I was younger. Thought it was too boring and kiddish so I changed it to Ace instead.” He finally smiled a little, relaxing. “I’m definitely changing it back though. Then I’ll think about you every single time someone calls my name.” He nudged MJ, smiling at her. He didn’t want to forget this world, and the closer he felt to the people he was coming to care about, the better he felt about the short time they got to care about each other.

She seemed only touched by his sentiment.

Spider suit Peter cleared his throat. “Wait, so both other Peters have equivalent MJs?”

Older Peter nodded, as did MJ. “Peter and I are dating. You and other MJ?” She directed this at older Peter.

The man smiled a little. “It’s… complicated. But we love each other very much.”

MJ looked pointedly at Ace. “You said you and spidey suit have a red string of fate?”

Ace nervously cleared his throat again. “The point is, this is all very cool and good and all but we-”

But spider suit Peter wasn’t done with questions. “Do none of you know Gwen Stacey?”

Older Peter hesitated, but then nodded. “I knew a Gwen. We had… a fling.” He blushed, but his face spoke more of shame than anything. “She was a model. Really cool girl actually.”

That actually made spider suit Peter laugh. “A model?” He shook his head, highly amused by this. “My Gwen… She was so smart. I can’t imagine her doing modeling as a serious gig.” There was fondness in his voice, and tears in his eyes.

Ace looked away. “Is she your MJ?” Spider suit Peter looked at him and he swallowed, suddenly self conscious. “I mean, like how the MJ’s are to the Peter’s in the other universes. You… I’ve seen that smile before. The smile of someone in love.”

He looked at Ace for a very long time before responding. “I did love her.”

There was something dark and heavy in that phrase. When he looked away, Ace felt a pain in his chest. Hollow and throbbing in a dull way. The ghost of an old pain that hadn’t healed quite completely. A broken bone that hadn’t been placed properly.

He changed the subject completely, and this time no one interrupted him. “We need to find other Peter. He thinks May is dead and-” Both Peters looked at Ace with alarm. “She isn’t,” Ace immediately rushed to assure them. “In the hospital. I managed to save her at the last second. But… he wasn’t there for that.”

Older Peter nodded, trying to come up with something. “Do you have any idea where he would be?”

MJ shook her head. “I haven’t taken him to my place yet, and he was living in…” She swallowed. “He was living in a new place. That’s where it all happened.”

Spider suit Peter crossed his arms over his chest. “Does he have any other spot, one that’s special? One that he feels safe. Somewhere he might go to be alone.” He added, “For me it’s the Chrysler Building,” as an example.

“Empire state,” spider suit Peter supplied as well.

Older Peter nods. “That would have a better view, I have to give it to you.”

Spider suit smiles at the older man. “Yeah, it’s gorgeous. You should check it out sometime.”

“Oh I’ll have to,” Older Peter agrees.

Their banter is ignored by Ned and MJ, who look between each other for a few seconds as they both brainstorm. It’s MJ whose head perks up. “I actually think I know somewhere.”

The Peters offer to swing them over, but Ace ends up teleporting them as MJ immediately begins to refuse. They step into the darkness, moving across the roof of the school as they look for Peter.

It doesn’t take long. When they do find him, it’s MJ and Ned who move forward to comfort him. They both hold him, MJ rubbing up and down his back as she whispers to him. Peter’s head jerks up and suddenly they’re all scrambling to their feet. He’s gripping each of them, looking between the two with desperation. Their voices are too low for Ace to hear, but it’s not hard to imagine what’s being said.

When Peter looks over at the other three people waiting for him, there’s a storm of emotions in his eyes. He approaches, looking at Ace first. “She’s alive?”

Ace offers a tight smile, nodding. “I had to leave her with some people, so I don’t know where she is or anything but I know she’s alive and in good hands.” He tapped his forehead - he had checked to make sure as well, peeking into her future.

Peter gasped for a few seconds, fighting back tears. Finally he seemed to register it and catch his breath again, simply nodding. “Thank you so much, Ace.”

Smiling at the younger boy, Ace nodded. “Of course. It’s what heroes do.” He hesitated only a moment before adding, “They save people. Everyone they can. Even if they shouldn’t.”

The young Peter looked directly into Ace’s eyes as he added, “even if they don’t want to?”

“Especially then.” Ace felt his heart wrench and he swallowed, blinking his eyes to clear away the tears. “And they do it best with help.”

Peter’s shoulders sagged, and he sighed. For a moment he seemed about to laugh, but then he just sighed a second time. “What, with two of us?”

Using that as an entrance, the other Peters dropped down onto the roof. For a second this world’s Peter went to fight, but then he seemed to hesitate. The air around his head… it shimmered. Ace’s eyes widened, recognizing the way he looked at the other two men as they way they had looked at each other when they had first seen each other.

They knew who they were. Instinctually… Ace found himself awed by it.

“We brought a few friends,” MJ told her boyfriend. She placed her hand on his shoulder, smiling at him reassuringly to make sure he knew they were safe. With her approval - as rare as it was - there was no doubt in Peter’s mind anymore.

“What did I miss?” He asked, a smile almost reaching his lips.

Ned jumped in to explain. He went off about accidentally opening the portals to the other Peters, and the other worlds and how Ace was from one of them. He explained the Spider-Man face off and the web of destiny, and why Ace had his powers and how they thought of getting here. Everyone else let him go off, but this world’s Peter kept shooting Ace looks, so when Ned finished ACe finally spoke up about it.

“Where did you get confused?”

“You’re from another universe?” Peter blurted. His nerd brain was racing and Ace smiled despite himself. He wasn’t back to normal, he wasn’t even okay, but there was some semblance of who he had been before this whole fiasco and it made everything seem that much better. Like there was still hope if people like Peter Parker could still get excited about other universes.

“Yeah, I am.” Ace nodded toward spider suit Peter. “This man here apparently, is my Peter.”

That made the man twitch, like he had been shot with a jolt of electricity. “Your Peter?” He smiled at Ace, his eyes narrowing and his eyebrow cocking as he tilted his head. There was hesitance and awkwardness, but flirtiness too. Like he was laughing at me but enjoying the sentiment too - all of which he seemed to be surprised about.

Ace blushed. He could feel his face burning. “Because we’re from the same universe.” He cleared his throat, trying to move on. Everyone seemed to be in what Ace was desperately trying to cover up now, all eyes on him with the same knowing looks dancing in their different colors. “Now that we’ve found Peter, what do we do next?”

Older Peter seemed to have the answer to that. “What were you doing with all of them to begin with?”

Youngest Peter cleared his throat, tabling everything else for a moment to handle the matter at hand. With how young he was, it was admirable to see the sense of professionalism about something so important, even with everything else going on.”We were trying to come up with cures for them. We figured out they all die in their own times, and figured if we cured them before sending them back then they’d get a second chance.”

“We?” Older Peter asked.

“Yeah,” Youngest Peter confirmed. “Me and my…” Suddenly he lost energy and seemed to be shaken to his core as he remembered his aunt. His eyes closed and his jaw worked.

Ace felt his heart fall. “You know Pete…” When the boy looked at him, he smiled kindly. “You can take a second. You may know one thing, but what you feel is just as valid.”

Youngest Peter’s eyes drifted to the side, almost in shame. “I want to send them back.” A deathly silence fell on the entire group. His voice was softer, lower, but they had all still heard it perfectly clear. Felt it, in their very core. Everything about this situation was so different than what all of them stood for. They were heroes. Even Ned and MJ were driven to help people. That’s what they did. That’s what Spider-Man did.

“They’ll die,” MJ whispered, the first one to break.

When Peter met her eyes, there was something so dark and cold about the expression he held there. Her hand fell from his shoulder, not because she was scared of him or anything but because it surprised her. She knew what he was going to say even before he said it.

“That’s not my problem.” The other Peters both stepped forward to say something, but neither of them got anything out before he continued, looking to everyone now with the same look. The same resolve. “They’re not from this world. I didn’t kill them.” He looked at the other Peters. “They’re your problem. A problem you guys can take care of, like you were supposed to. A problem that would have killed my aunt if not for Ace, who apparently went against fate itself to even save her. And maybe she’s fine, but-” He cut off, jaw working again.

“You still saw her die.” Oldest Peter nodded, his eyes unfocused as if he was seeing something. Ace had to hold his breath in order to not gasp when his mind suddenly filled with the images of a cold, dark street. Rain fell, and the water on the cement turned pink and then red as it mixed with blood. Older Peter was there, much younger, crying as he held an old man. “It sticks with you. It ruins you, even if it works out in the end.” Ace next got flashes of that same red headed girl from before, who he now knew was this Peter’s MJ. Her eyes wide, lips parted in a silent scream as her fingers stretched out, reaching for Peter as she fell. It was raining then too, and she had just been dropped by… For a second, Ace couldn’t see who but then he pushed harder and his head filled with the face of that four armed, not-octopus man from before. Ace saw the pain from those days in Peter’s eyes, even now years later. He could see the horror there, and he knew that when he told this world’s Peter that he understood - he meant it.

Peter didn’t see it though. He shook his head, getting a little angry as he dismissed older Peter’s words. “Don’t - don’t do that. Don’t tell me that you understand and that it’ll get better and that we need to do something about it because we’re heroes or whatever.” He shook his head, face twisted with annoyance. “I’m not just a hero. I’m a person. And this constantly cleaning up everyone else’s mess? This being ridiculed and excluded? I risked my life so many times, and all that happened was an entire city - a city I constantly almost die for - turned on me the second that even one person spoke out against me. My entire life was turned upside down, and in trying to preserve what little I had, I broke the entire universe and brought villains here that were supposed to kill my aunt. I’ve lost my parents, and my uncle, and I don’t have family past that. I’ve tried - so hard! I tried to be a good person and get good grades and do all I can, and all I got was a messed up world and a dead aunt and me and my friends can’t even get into college and it’s all a mess - a mess that wasn’t mine! None of this was my fault!” His voice had raised and now he was yelling, looking at the other Peters as if they were to blame for everything.

The two men looked back at him with an understanding that hit Ace to his core. The anger in Peter now, they had felt too. They had all lost someone who meant everything to them and they got it. They understood. It made Ace ache.

A silence stretched for a few seconds and it seemed no one had anything to say to combat Peter’s perspective. Then spider suit Peter spoke up.

“When I was your age, there was this girl I loved with my entire being.” Immediately they all knew what he was about to say, but there was something so broken in his voice while he spoke that none of them could say anything - not even youngest Peter. “She was a genius. A scientist, just like me.”

“Gwen,” Ace whispered, recalling their conversation earlier. He tried to block out the image of the almost white blonde hair and the eyes… empty. Blank. Peter curled over her, his shoulders shaking as he sobbed. Begged her to come back. Apologized…..

Peter nodded. “She was the love of my life, and… I broke a promise. She died in my arms.”

Sensing he was having a hard time continuing, older Peter picked up the sentiment. “My uncle Ben,” he began, and Ace thought back to the old man he had seen in the vision. “The guy who killed him - I thought he was someone else at first. And I could have stopped it, but I was too proud at the time, so… I blamed myself. I hunted the guy down and I killed him.” Every word came out with a struggle, like it physically pained him to talk about it again. “It didn’t make it better. It didn’t bring Ben back. It didn’t take back everything I wanted to undo. It didn’t make me feel better. It didn’t make anything better.” He sighed through his nose, slow and long. “I don’t want you to make the same mistake.”

Spider suit Peter nodded, picking up the back and forth they seemed to be having. “After I lost her, I still did the whole Spider-Man thing. Obviously. She would have wanted me to. But… I stopped pulling my punches. Stopped holding back as much as I used to. I got bitter. And even if you didn’t lose May, the things you saw and felt tonight will haunt you forever and that feeling isn’t going to go away. It’s going to feel even worse because you can’t rationalize it. She’s okay, and you’ll want to dismiss it and move on.”

“You’ll start looking the other way,” older Peter continued. “That anger, it won’t leave you. It’ll only fester and grow. It’ll make you something you’re not. Something darker, and one day you’ll look in the mirror and you won’t recognize your reflection. And you realize that there’s suddenly a mess you’ve been ignoring, and it’s all your fault.” He swallowed and Ace forced away the image that went into his mind - mostly. He still managed to see the reflection in the building looking back at him. The inky black suit as Peter, holding a matching mask, looked at his reflection like it was a ghost. Like it was a villain.

“We don’t want you to do what we did,” spider suit Peter added. “We don’t want you to make our mistakes, and… Well, he seems fine,” he joked weakly, motioning to the older Peter with a light heartedness that recognized the older man’s wisdom and skill without diminishing his struggles. “But I’m…” he looked away for a moment, and then suddenly his eyes seemed to find Ace of all people. Ace’s heart stopped, and then the moment was gone in an instant, so fast it seemed for just a beat that it hadn’t happened at all. Ace blinked and spider suit Peter was looking at younger Peter. “I don’t want you to end up like me. The anger and the darkness, it’s not even the worst part. The fear is. It ruins things that matter. Like… new dimensions, and amazing people and… new relationships.” He almost looked at Ace again, but managed to stop himself

This world’s Peter looked between the two older versions of him, and he looked directly into his future. These men, so full of darkness and pain and regret. Did he want to end up like that?

“Fine.” He rubbed his eyes then sighed, turning to older Peter. “What do you propose we do?”

Older Peter held back from smiling, recognizing that this was reluctant at best and also necessary. They didn’t have time, or energy to have a therapy session. Even if they did, it wasn’t their right to try and make Peter understand. He could, however, start on helping the people he could.

“Does your school have a lab?”

[toss-a-coin-to-your-stan-account]

Whumptober No. 3: Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones But...

Taunting | Insults | “Who did this to you?”

Summary: Nothing could’ve prepared Geralt for Jaskier being brought to Kaer Morhen, nor for the sight of the bandages on his injured hands. Despite what happened on that mountain, Geralt wants to know who did this - who took away something so integral to the core of Julian Alfred Pankratz. But he doesn’t get the answer he thought he would.

Words: 2k

A/N: DAY THREE LET’S GOOO! And after two and a half months, I’ve finally gotten another witcher fic out! It feels good! I missed writing for this fandom so much (and it’ll help me ease back into Spider’s Thread), and this was SUCH a fun prompt fill for today. This was inspired by some of That Jaskier Content from the latest s2 trailer, and it’s... implications about the state of his hands. I hope you enjoy!

[CW: Hurt/No Comfort, Torture Aftermath, Hand Injury]

--

Nothing could have prepared Geralt for this.

No, there was nothing in this world - not even a miracle - that could’ve prepared Geralt for the moment he sensed a portal - one of Yen’s portals - outside the keep.

For the moment he ran out to a balcony and saw her there, having somehow - despite everything he believed, everything he thought he knew for certain - having survived the Battle of Sodden Hill; for the moment he’d lay eyes on a very much alive Yennefer… with a bard’s arm drawn over her shoulder to support him.

His hair was longer now, down to his jaw, and a burgundy leather jacket - adorned with ribs and folds just like that red doublet he wore as he looked down at him on that mountain, heart shattered - lay in tatters on him, bandaged hands peeking out of it’s sleeves…

He didn’t look the same - Gods knew he didn’t look the same - but Geralt still recognized Jaskier.

He was shuffled into one of the many, many spare rooms almost immediately, and Geralt tried talking to Yennefer. Of course, she’d been tense with him, but that was alright. At least she was alive to be tense with him. He’d take that over a particular alternative any day.

Speaking of tense...

The keep had never felt so cold as right now, when Geralt of Rivia stood in the doorway of Jaskier’s impromptu room. Here, the bard sat in an old chair, in front of a desk he did not look like he’d use to write on anytime soon. No, he looked at the wood slab despondently, not even seeming to notice Geralt.

So, he spoke up, speaking to Jaskier, his companion of twenty years, for the first time since that mountain.

“Jaskier… you’re here.”

Jaskier didn’t look at him, but he did speak.

“Wasn’t my idea. I didn’t know where else to go, and even if I did, Yennefer insisted - didn’t think I’d be safe anywhere else. Can you believe that? Yennefer of Vengerberg has a soft spot for me. The end of days may very well be upon us.”

His voice was hoarse. Geralt knew it must have been from screaming. His eyes drew down to Jaskier’s hands, where patches of horrendous blue and gods-damned purple peeked out from slivers of space between the bandages that showed his open skin.

“Your hands…”

“Oh, these old things?” Jaskier looked down at them,  “Well, Yenny did her best, but they still hurt like a bitch to play with. I won’t bestow new ballads on the world for a while yet. Sorry if you expected me to sing your praises…”

But his tone made it clear that he wouldn’t do that even if his hands were as good as they were that day in Posada, or in Cintra, or on that mountain…

Geralt pursed his lips, trying to hold back his question. He didn’t deserve to know, he knew that, but he had to…

“...Who did this to you?” he spat out.

Jaskier lifted his gaze to meet the Witcher’s, and he laughed. It wasn’t like before - like the sunrise in the spring, like the bloom of buttercups, like love and joy and all the things he came to equate with Jaskier’s laughter, however unconscious, unadmitted these comparisons were. No, it was an empty, sardonic, quietly angry thing.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“That’s why I asked.”

“And for what?” he asked, “So you can tear some fucker to shreds for laying a hand on me? Because you think I’m still your naive companion that would swoon at the thought of you exacting revenge on him for my sake? So you can make some grand gesture of brutality?”

“I’m not the one of us enamored with grand gestures.”

Jaskier tilted his head back and huffed. The shift in his movement made his hair move a bit, and Geralt realized he missed that little swoop - the little… floof, even - of hair that went down his forehead before, when his hair had been shorter.

“I think that’s the first time you’ve ever said “us” about me and you.” Jaskier remarked, “Twenty years, and you acknowledge that I was something to you. Not sure what, but something.”

“You were…” 

Jaskier’s eyes widened as if he remembered something, “Oh! Right! I remember - a shitshoveler. The catalyst for all your plights, something life would bless you by taking off your hands.”

Guilt sliced into Geralt like a kikimora’s claws.

“Looks like life heard “taking” and “hands” and went straight to me…” Jaskier huffed with the ghost of amusement with himself, looking down at his hands.

“Of course you can still joke.”

Jaskier shrugged, “Not much else to do. They took my lute, and my ability to play it, but they haven’t taken my wit.”

He crossed his legs.

“The funny thing is…” he said, staring down at the cracks in the table in front of him, “There was a little bit there where, if you’d apologized, I would’ve forgiven you. But… there wasn’t a trace of you to speak of after that hunt. Nowhere I went. Not that I went looking.”

“I didn’t have time to look for you, either.” Geralt said, “I was with Ciri.”

Jaskier snapped his gaze up.

“Oh, come now, Witcher.” he said with venom Geralt only ever knew from bigoted villagers that Jaskier had tried to change the minds of with his songs before, “Does your prolonged lifespan render you timeblind, or has your head been so far up your ass for so long that you can’t even properly tell time anymore?”

“I-”

“Two years, Geralt.” he said, “A blink of an eye for you, maybe, but that’s how long it was between that damned dragon hunt and the fall of Cintra. Two years you could have found me, before Cintra fell, before-”

He snapped his jaw shut.

“Before who?”

“No, Geralt!” he snapped, slamming his hands on the table to help him stand up. It seemed that his anger stopped him from realizing how bad that would hurt, and he hissed through gritted teeth. Geralt tried to step forward, but it was like the ground between them was covered in hot coals, and Geralt’s feet couldn’t have been more bare.

Once the pain seemed to quell, Jaskier’s eyes opened, and he glowered at the Witcher.

“You don’t get to know. You don’t get to make that bastard beg for mercy and act like that fixes anything - as if it does anything but conflate your ego that is so, so massive despite how much you hate yourself. You don’t get to take revenge on my behalf. You don’t get to act like this,” he held up his hands, “is anything compared to what you did to my heart.”

“I’m sorry-”

“And you DON’T GET TO SAY THAT NOW.” he screamed, killing Geralt’s words before it could leave his lips.

Geralt saw tears in his eyes as he huffed shaky breaths.

“You don’t get to say it like some off-hand statement, only brought up since it’s relevant.” he said with a wavering voice, “You don’t get to only say it now that I’m here, fallen right in your lap because Gods knew where else Yennefer could take me. And you don’t get to say it like it means anything now.”

“Now?”

Jaskier lowered his gaze.

“...I sort of figured you were embarrassed. That you were too scared to get your head out of your ass, like you are with a lot of things, but once you did, I would’ve��”

He sighed.

“But I heard you went to Cintra. Heard you went to claim your child-surprise.”

“What does Cirilla have to do with this?” he asked.

“Who do you think he asked about with each bone he broke?” Jaskier asked, snapping his gaze back to Geralt, “You? If it were just you, I would’ve…”

He sighed.

“That isn’t the point. When I heard that after twelve years of running from your claim, you hauled your arse to Cintra to protect her, I realized that you were always capable of going back to unfinished business, to scorned places of the past - you could always do it, if it was for the sake of something important enough to you.”

Jaskier lowered his gaze again, smiling sadly - smiling bitterly. It was an odd thing, a bitter smile, but Jaskier, like a fine doublet, wore it well.

“I just wasn’t.” he said, “I’m not your destiny, or your djinn-bound soulmate. I was just a bard.”

My bard. Geralt wanted so badly to say.

“What could I have said?”

Jaskier’s lower lip quivered as he looked at the Witcher near-dumbfounded, as if his incredulousness were a dagger that cut him deep. He leaned back against the table.

“You tell me.” he shrugged, “For those two years, I was still stupid enough that anything would have worked. Really, I wished some of my eloquence rubbed off on you, and I could’ve gotten a plea that, in a spur of irony, I was one of the few blessings life ever granted you, but anything that sounded remotely like an apology would have worked.”

He put his hands on his hips. Geralt could tell how hesitant he was.

“...At least, it would have made me think I was worth an apology in your eyes, and I was worth all the work it could have taken, tracking me down to say it.”

He rubbed a patch of cloth on his trousers with his thumb. Geralt didn’t miss how the corner of his lip twitched.

“At least, I could’ve known that what you said really was just a product of the heat of the moment, sprung forth by a misplaced attempt at levity, and there was no truth to it. I was so desperate that I would have taken anything if it meant I’d stop missing you.”

“You obviously stopped missing me eventually.” 

Jaskier threw his head back again, “Wrong again, Geralt.”

He stood up straight again and walked across the floor, which, to Geralt, was still littered with hot coals he couldn’t dare step over.

“Do you really think that the venom in your words - the spit from your lips - the fury in your eyes could clear you from my mind? From my heart?” he walked right up to Geralt, though the space between them felt like it was pushing the Witcher away from Jaskier like a magnet.

“Do you really think that anything but the Gods themselves could’ve made me stop missing you?”

Geralt couldn’t say anything. Hearing Jaskier’s words… it was like a vocal hex, like someone had sewn his very lips shut.

(Perhaps if he had done so himself before that day on the hunt, things wouldn’t have gone so bad…)

(No, no, he still would’ve found a way to ruin things. He was Geralt of Rivia, after all.)

Jaskier was only inches away from him now - a distance like something from a dream, after they’d been distant for so long… but even though this was the closest their bodies had ever been to one another, the Witcher knew that Jaskier’s mind - his heart - was as far away from Geralt as it could ever get.

Jaskier was the one to break eye contact - as if he was still terrified of giving the Witcher the chance to break anything - and he looked down to his feet.

“...If you want to know who broke my hands, Yennefer knows more than I.” he said, “She’s the one that found me, told me more of who he was. All I have is a name for a face.”

Geralt turned to leave. Jaskier grabbed his wrist.

The touch burned.

“But…”

Jaskier lifted his head and looked Geralt in the eye.

“...You want to know who did this to me? Who ruined me? Who broke me?”

Jaskier’s eyes bore into Geralt’s soul, the ice blue of his irises piercing him like shards.

“Go look back on that mountain.”

[asterkiss]

What a Catch!: Chapter 12

Pairing: Bill/Mabel Synopsis: Mabel was a mermaid who didn't ask for much. In fact, all she pretty much wanted from her soulmate was a romantic first meeting where he would sweep her off her fins. Unfortunately, fate had other plans. Her soulmate didn't so much sweep her off her fins as he trapped her in a fish net. [Read on AO3 here]

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5  | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12: HUNTING PARTY

‘Mabel, I need you to tell me everything that transpired during my hibernation.’

The mermaid blinked owlishly beneath the sphinx’s narrow stare. She hadn’t been too happy about him yanking her out of the water, and after a hasty apology she now found herself looking upon both her Grunkles on land. 

‘Uh, what do you mean?’ she asked, wondering if Dipper had gone and blabbed.

‘Cipher,’ Stanford replied, eyes narrow. ‘How did you learn about that name?’

Ah. Mabel paused, now she actually wished Dipper was here as support. ‘Oh, well that’s just… You know.' She shrugged nervously. 'It’s like I saw it written on a mirror that he dropped.’

‘He?’

‘Yeah, the, um, Hunter?’

Stanley’s eyes flared as he jerked forward. ‘Hunter? He came near you? ‘

‘He hasn’t hurt you, has he?’ Stanford asked, frowning.

‘No, no, not at all!’ she replied breezily, waving her hands about and realising he hadn’t hurt her one bit actually. Both men relaxed. ‘Although…’ They tensed again.

‘There is a little tiny piece of information that’s causing a bit of an issue.’ She whispered, offering a sheepish smile as she poked her fingers together. Time to finally let the cat out the bag, huh?

Stanley blinked. ‘Like what?’

Mabel folded her arms as she leant against the shore. ‘So, haha, funny story but uh… It turns out that blonde hunter is sort of my soulmate?’

The mens yells echoed throughout the entire island.

>

>

>

Bill remained stoic as he fiddled with his rifle in a small workshop, currently adorned in full hunting gear. His back flared with fresh pain and the blond's lips pressed into a tight grimace . He knew from experience it would be a good few weeks before the pain dulled to an ache. Then a few weeks more before it healed completely. Then the cycle would be repeated at the behest of his dear mother.

Bill clenched his jaw as he applied lubrication to the moving parts of the gun, wiping a cloth over the rails and bolt lugs and guides. Usually maintaining his gear had a calming effect upon him but this time it only proved to further rile him up, given the reasoning behind it this time. It was in the next moment that the door to the shop opened, and when the blond raised his head he found his mother stepping through with Kryptos and-

‘Xanthar?’ 

His other cousin was so large he had to duck down to get through the door frame, his biceps as large as Bill’s head. A shaggy dark beard and hair covered most of his face, with a chainsaw slung over his shoulder. The guy didn’t say much but it was obvious from one look that he could split a tree in two from his arms alone. Bill heard all his clothing had to be made tailor made.

‘Why did you get those two?’ Bill asked, face sour. He didn't need others making this any more complicated.

‘Because I obviously can’t trust you to do anything yourself,’ his mother snapped, voice laced with disgust. She huffed, hands on her hips as her piercing eyes regarded them all. ‘The portal is being reopened you will all go in and handle this matter quickly and efficiently as expected as members of this family. I expect you back by tomorrow.’

‘Tomorrow?’ Krytops asked, eyes wide. 

‘Is that a problem?’ she asked, voice sharp.

‘Um, no, not really… I mean, I just, that’s not a lot of time, y’know?’

‘You’re catching a mermaid, not a sphinx. Even my dumb sister could do it with her eyes blinfolded.’

Bill swallowed thickly.

‘I’ll repeat myself one more time. You will go to the Monster Dimension, you will capture this mermaid who has become a thorn and embarrassment in our family’s side, you will kill her, you will bring her body back, and she will be presented as our kill for this year. Am I clear?’

‘Y-Yes Auntie Ciri.’

Xanthar grunted in confirmation.

Bill felt her cold gaze on him expectantly and he nodded, latching the barrel into place with an audible click. His gaze was empty as he nodded obediently.

‘Understood.’

No more Mr. Nice Guy.

Soulmates or not.

His back continuned to burn.

[nyx-aira]

Home sweet home

Summary: Loki is assigned to a new variants case  and has to guide them through the process

A/N: sorry for not posting soon, kinda accidentally delete the fic. Good news, I got inspired and now you get two Loki fics.

Taglist: @escapetodreamworld @midnight-lestrange @ynscrazylife @procrastinatingsapphictrash @ineffablebean @caseyfish @wlwlovesreading

Your day had started as every other day. You got up, made breakfast and went to work. Well you wanted to at least. You hated your job and after getting yelled at for the seventh time today you just packed your things and left.

That was when two orange portals opened, armed men stepped out, said something about "you're under arrest" and dragged you through the portals.

By now you had learned that the TVA, stupid name, was supposed to protect the proper flow of time. Whatever that meant. As you stepped into the lobby you got assigned an agent who was supposed to handle your case. He seemed like the only one who wasn't thrilled working for the time keepers.

He explained the basics to you, what was gonna happen and "this was only for your own good and in the name of the sacred time line". Loki, as you had found out a minute ago, sounded like he didn't believe this at all but hey, it was his job.

You started to walked to your first stop as you noticed another woman getting dragged through one of the portals. Paying her no mind you stepped in some kind of elevator, as instructed.

-----

"I told that Captain Rogers and I will gladly do it again. YOU DONT LEAVE YOUR SOULMATE ALONE IN THE FUTURE FOR SOMEONE YOU JUST MET. EVEN A BLIND PERSON COULD SEE THE FUCKING CHEMISTRY.

"Miss Carter, please..."

"Don't you 'Miss Carter' me, I'll tell that to the judge face to face. You're obviously complete fools."

-----

After a, let's say eventful, elevator ride you were guided to a waiting area where you found Loki in a heated discussion with an older man. They didn't noticed you until you stepped next to them, clearing your throat.

The older man, Mobius judging from Lokis swearing, jumped at the sound, his coffee mug shattering on the floor.

Loki just pressed a ticket into your hand and pointed to the line of people waiting. He promptly started arguing with Mobius again, something about 'wasting talent' and being 'an complete idiot like always'.

You didn't know what that was about but you just assumed trouble in paradise.

After stepping into something you assumed was the court room you stepped forward, not really caring what will happen. You had seen what happened to a guy who didn't have a ticket, so at least you knew it shouldn't be too painful.

Looking around you saw a judge, four armed agents and in the last row, there they sat bickering like an old married couple, Mobius and Loki.

The judge listened all your supposed crimes and asked you if you were guilty or not. You were never one to lie if there was no chance to get out of this so you admitted your crimes, writing your own death sentence.

What came next was a surprise though.

"Taking into consideration your good behaviour, clean record and the faith of one of our best agents and Loki -you swore there was a faint hey coming from the back- we decided to give you one chance, only one, to redeem yourself for your crimes. Welcome to the TVA."

You just stood there, mouth open, as you were escorted to the side by one of the agents. You were gonna live and all that thanks to the mismatched pair walking towards you.

"You heard her, welcome to the TVA", Mobius said, giving you a friendly pat on the shoulder.

"Yeah, welcome to bureaucracy and space lizards", was the sarcastic reply of the grumpy agent who apparently just saved your life.

"Don't mind Loki", Mobius said, " This is just oddly familiar, right Loki?"

"Shut up!", was the only reply as they made their ways to wherever they were going.

"As you're technically still a criminal you gotta live with us as Loki is your handler and he's still in need of one, me, too."

"Ah yes, home sweet home, a tiny apartment with no privacy, you're gonna love it"

Sarcasm was apparently one of the only things Loki did but it stared to grow on you. Stepping outside you saw the giant buildings and flying cars. In the back of your head you heard your two new roommates bicker but you blended it out. This was amazing.

A hand pulled you back from your thoughts. Looking away from the magical sight you looked at Loki who gave you a small smile.

"Welcome to the TVA"

[themaribatpit]

Hanging by a Thread: Chapter 3

Rated M: DC canon-typical violence, suggestive threats

Author’s Note: Neither of us are actually American, and DC Fanboy has some gripes with certain American habits.  Please feel free to tell us how uncultured we are in the comments, and try and explain yourselves to non-Americans.

Ships: Jason Todd/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Dick Grayson/Barbara Gordon (side ship).

Taglist:

@aespades​, @neakco, @ladybug-182, @seraphichana, @zalladane, @luminous-carrot, @jayjayspixiepop, @cap-noodles, @livelifeauthorstyle, @thepaceperson, @moongoddesskiana, @vroomtaka, @laurcad123,  @prettylittlebutterflie

Chapter 2 - Chapter 4​

Chapter 3

Dick slumped down on a chair when they returned to the Belfry.  He ripped off his domino mask and let out a sigh. “Damn he’s good, then again he was taught by the best.” 

“Dick!” Barbara gave him a dirty look. They both looked towards their French guest to see her still lost in thought. 

Ladybug transformed back to Marinette, and then slowly walked over to get herself another cup of hot chocolate to cheer herself up. As she operated the multi hot drinks machine in the Belfry, she thought about how incredibly convenient the device was. Barbara and Dick mentioned that unless it was winter, no one else used it for hot chocolate. 

Hot chocolate dispensed from the machine, and as she picked up the paper cup, a shadow loomed over her. She was able to make out the silhouette of an imposing figure with demonic pointed ears. She squealed in shock, spilling her hot chocolate on the figure. 

Dick rolled off the chair laughing, “Oh, better fly away home Ladybug.” “How long have you been waiting to use that joke?” Barbara said without looking away from the screen.

“Since the moment I met her, Babs,” Dick retorted.

After the initial shock, Marinette was able to see the figure clearly and realised she just spilled hot chocolate on Batman. The Batman. Marinette paled at what she had done, she fumbled around looking for tissues. All the while apologising profusely as she tried to find anything to wipe the Caped Crusader clean from this chocolatey mess. Her mind ran at a mile a minute, thinking of what Batman would do to her for spilling hot chocolate on him. She thought of how Batman would squish her like a bug, or perhaps he would break all of her limbs, and send her on the first flight back to Paris while tied to the cargo hold. Her mind was catastrophizing and going into a full panic as she stumbled around the kitchenette. 

Marinette found a damp cloth and began wiping Batman vigorously from head to toe and hoping it would somehow lessen her punishment. She looked up to see that Batman continued to stare at her with his infamous glare. Seeing that her attempts to clean up her mess had no effect, she ran back towards the main room and grabbed Dick, holding him in front of her as a shield. 

Batman slowly followed, without saying a word he stomped into the main room and came to a halt right in front of Dick. “Uh, hi.” Dick awkwardly greeted Batman. Marinette shakingly peeked her head out from behind. 

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng, also known as Ladybug.” Batman’s low voice boomed with authority. “What are you doing here in Gotham?” 

Marinette yelped and went back to hiding behind Dick. Barbara interjected, “She’s here to investigate a recent use of the Lazarus Pit, mainly the Red Hood. From what we gather the creatures that give her power were also the ones who created the pits.” She explained on Marinette’s behalf. 

An uncomfortable silence hung in the room as Batman contemplated her answer. “Fine,” he relented. He turned and walked away. 

Marinette released a sigh of relief as she saw Batman leave. Dick took out his phone and began tapping on it, he just had to notify the rest of the Bat Family of what had just transpired. After a few moments he put his phone back in his pocket and walked away, “I’ll get a mop” he yelled back at Marinette and Barbara. 

Marinette then slumped on the dining table, hands in her head. Completely embarrassed at how she made a fool of herself in front of one of the world’s greatest heroes. Barbara calmly patted her back in consolation. After she calmed down and got herself another cup of hot chocolate, Marinette decided to head home.

On the way back to the apartment she shared with Zoe, she checked the messages that Zoe sent her during the past couple of days.  “Hey, are you okay?” The first one read.  “I haven’t seen you in the apartment for a while now,” she said, followed by a message that said “Please don’t be dead, I can’t afford rent by myself.” Marinette sent a quick reply saying, “I’m okay, I’ve just been busy taking care of some things.  See you tonight.” she said. When Marinette got home, she logged onto her computer to see a few messages from Alya, asking her of how she found Gotham City. Expressing worry for her friend, especially with the notoriety of Gotham's crime rate.

Marinette typed up "Hi Alya! Gotham is all right, I can take care of myself, you know that."

Alya decided to video call Marinette and her face appeared on screen. "Hey!" Alya waved her hand to her friend.

"Hi" Marinette gave a tired wave back.

"Everything okay?" Asked Alya.

"Fine, just tired from moving into the new place." She explained.

"By the way, could you open up a portal with Kaalki to my room?" asked Alya.

Marinette complied with her friend, as she put on the horse Miraculous and opened a portal. Soon a paper bag dropped from the ceiling and landed on the floor. "I had a feeling you might want something to cheer you up, I went to your parents' patisserie earlier."

Marinette opened up the bag to see several treats from the bakery.  She thanked her best friend profusely, and began eating them “How are things back in Paris?” Marinette asked, taking a macaron out of one of the boxes, she smiled as she took a bite out of it.  It was almost like she was 13 again, and her dad had given her a box of macarons for the first day of school.  

“Nothing we can’t handle,” Alya said, winking at her. “So, have you met any of Gotham’s vigilantes yet?” Marinette rubbed the back of her neck.  “Well, yeah,” she might as well tell her some of the things that happened.  “I accidentally spilled hot chocolate on Batman’s cape,” she confessed. “And you’re still alive?” Alya’s mouth hung open in shock. “Well, he does have a pretty strict ‘no killing’ policy,” Marinette told her. “Okay fair enough, how are you still in one piece?” Alya asked, still somewhat shocked.

“He just kinda glared at me, and I hid behind one of his sidekicks.” Marinette told her, “So, that’s how.” “Ah so you’ve met the sidekicks then,”  Alya gave her another knowing smile. “Some of them, Nightwing being one of them.” Marinette told her. “Did you get a good look at his assets?”  Alya gave her a wink, and Marinette rolled her eyes. “I’m pretty sure his assets were spoken for,” Marinette said, and before Alya could say anything more she quickly added “and no, I am not telling you who the lucky person is.” “You’re no fun.” Alya pouted mockingly, but she couldn’t stay angry at her friend.  Alya noticed the faraway look in Marinette’s eyes at that moment, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Marinette wondered how best to phrase it, “do you know anything about the Red Hood?” she asked.

Alya’s eyes widened in shock, “You’ve met him? Are you and Zoe living in his territory?”

“No, at least not that I know of, I just…” Marinette assured her, “Do you know anything about him?” “Give me a moment,” Alya said, quickly turning away to search for something on her laptop screen, “must have heard something about the guy…” she muttered.  Marinette never really told Alya about her soulmate bond, and she wasn’t about to start now.  “Says here he’s a crime lord that operates in Gotham City, that he took over Black Mask’s crime syndicate not too long ago…” Alya told her, “Pretty brutal to those who cross him, by the sound of things.” “Good to know,” Marinette muttered. “Marinette, are you sure you and Zoe are okay?” Alya asked. “We’re fine, just that Ladybug ran into him while working with Batman’s sidekicks.” Marinette told her. “I should have been there, it would have been a fun interview for Ladyblog.” Alya chuckled, and Marinette raised an eyebrow.  “I mean, after the fight of course, or maybe I should just stop talking.” “Try pitching the idea to Vicki Vale or Lois Lane, I’m sure they would jump at the chance.” Marinette joked.

"Just you wait until I get my Journalism degree, I'll bother you everyday for a scoop." Alya retorted. The two of them continued to laugh and joke with one another before Marinette went to bed.

The next morning, Marinette was woken by someone gently nudging her awake.  “Get dressed dummy, we’re going out.” she heard a voice say. Marinette looked up and blinked a few times before Zoe’s face came into view.  “What time is it?” Marinette groaned. “9am,” Zoe told her, “we are going to go out and get some breakfast together.” Marinette groaned in response, but slowly got out of bed.  Zoe leaned against the doorway, crossing her arms and smiling.  She chuckled slightly at the sight of Marinette’s tousled hair, Marinette smiled slightly in response.  “All right, all right, give me some time to get dressed.” she said and Zoe left, closing the door behind her. 

The two friends sat down to eat breakfast at a nearby diner, and Zoe began telling Marinette all the ways in which America was very different from France.  “First of all, they call the 24 hour clock ‘military time’, I never understood that.” she explained before taking a bite of her pancakes.  Americans made pancakes a lot thicker and fluffier compared to crepes, was another thing Marinette noticed.  “Oh, no more 2 hour lunch breaks, and as a French person, you will get made fun of for having more time off work than the Americans.” she said.  

As the two finished breakfast, Zoe paid the bill and left a tip. Marinette raised an eyebrow at Zoe for paying what was higher than the bill. “Marinette, remember, always tip whenever you go eat at a restaurant or a diner.” She explained. 

“Why? Isn’t there a service charge added? Don’t the servers get paid?” Marinette asked.

“Not at all.” Zoe deadpanned. 

“What?” Marinette exclaimed in shock, she quickly covered her mouth as eyes turned to face her for her outburst. 

 Zoe beckoned Marinette to follow her, “Come on, I’ll show you all the hotspots in Gotham City.”

 The two walked out onto the street and across several blocks.  Zoe stopped as the two reached their destination. She then pointed to an old gothic tower, “That there is the old Wayne Tower, creepy isn’t it? Built in 1888 by Cyrus Pinkey for the Waynes right at the heart of Gotham City. It’s been closed for a few years now, since Wayne Enterprise moved to the New Wayne Tower in the financial district.”

 Marinette’s eyes widened in recognition, it was where the Belfry was located. She remembered the gothic tower, but she had no idea it was the old Wayne Tower. She decided it would be best to keep quiet about this revelation. 

 The two continued sightseeing as they ventured into Robinson Park. “This park is amazing, the biggest park in the heart of Gotham. Also it's very close to Gotham U, I’d love to come here everyday after class to unwind.” Zoe explained. The two calmly walked across the park, enjoying the scenery and stopping by to feed some ducks.

 “Anyway I need to get some things on the way back,” the two then walked to a nearby grocery store and bought groceries. Being on a budget, Marinette eyed the price tags frugally, calculating how much it would cost her. Zoe smirked at Marinette, knowing what would come next when the two went to the cash register. Marinette was thrown into a loop as the total amount did not match the price tags. Marinette tried to ask for an explanation from the cashier, but they were not helpful. The cashier only said that it was tax, “Why isn’t tax included in the price tags?” she pleaded to the cashier.

The cashier gave Marinette a light shrug. “That's just the way things are.” 

Marinette pulled her pigtails in frustration as to why the final price doesn’t match the price tag. “Ok fine, what's the tax in America?”

Zoe took the chance to intervene and explain it to her friend. “It depends, it varies between states, counties and even cities.” 

Marinette banged her head against the counter in frustration. “Why? Why is it so crazy here?” 

Zoe and the cashier laughed at Marinette's antics. The cashier asked “You new here?” 

Marinette did not lift her head up, “How could you tell?” 

The two made their purchase and walked home, Marinette had to do a double take on the loaf of bread she bought. She stopped Zoem and said that they needed to go back to the grocery store for another loaf of bread, because this one had expired. Zoe snatched the loaf from Marinette’s hands and took another look. “Nope it's fine, remember America uses Month/Day/Year here.” Zoe explained. Marinette’s eye twitched as the two walked back to their apartment. 

The semester began the following Monday at Gotham University. As a Fashion & Design student, Marinette had long studio classes which usually kept her busy during the day.  She would have to spend even longer hours in the studio if she had a project due.  When Zoe wasn’t attending lectures, she had a part-time job that kept her busy as well.  So Marinette didn’t see much of her by the time she managed to return to their apartment.

Over the course of the next few days, she would go to her classes by day and go out every night to search for her soulmate. However, the Red Hood had proved to be elusive, always alert to the movement of the red thread that tied them together.  Marinette found that the thread changed wildly.  Some nights she stopped by the Belfry, exhausted and dejected. Barbara had noticed this and decided that she had to know about Jason, it might change her mind or it might not. She deserved to know if she was going to go looking for him every night.

One night when she entered the Belfry, Barbara gestured to Marinette, “Come over and pull up a chair.” Marinette followed and brought a chair to the computer. The two sat side by side, “Mari, you deserve to know more about Jason...the Red Hood.”

Marinette’s eyes widened at the mention of her soulmate, “Please tell me more about him.” she begged.

“Marinette, I’m sorry, we knew more about him but we didn’t tell you.” Barbara apologised.

Marinette was hurt at how they were withholding information about her soulmate from her. “Why?” was all that she was able to say.

Barbara took a deep breath, “Because Jason was the second Robin.” 

Marinette’s jaw dropped at this bombshell, her soulmate used to be Robin. It would explain the skills he displayed out in their last encounter. Marinette wondered how tough his life was, how he suffered at the hands of the criminals of Gotham at such a young age. Some of the things he said back at the dockyards were now sounding like they came from experience.  “What was he like?” she asked, wanting to know what her soulmate was like before his death. 

“Angry, rebellious, Jason always felt like it was him against the world. He was caught trying to steal the wheels off the Batmobile, that's how Batman found him and brought him in.” Barbara explained. 

“How did he die?” Marinette asked.

Barbara grew silent at the mention of Jason’s death. “He tried to pursue the Joker, but it was a trap. The Joker caught him, tortured him for god knows how long. I saw his bruises, it-it was as if he was beaten over and over again with a crowbar.” Marinette covered her mouth and her eyes welled with tears as she heard the gruesome details of her soulmate's unfortunate end. 

“To make matters worse, he locked Jason in the room with a bomb.” “What about the Red Hood?” she asked. “We...we buried a mannequin in a wig,” Barbara explained, “the real body was taken by the League of Assassins, trying to make up for what happened.”

Marinette stood up and rushed to the guest room, she had heard enough.  She could not imagine the pain and suffering her soulmate had been through his entire life.

Jason had been constantly on the move, knowing that his soulmate was out looking for him.  He tried to shut off the part of him that wanted to get close.  He was honestly surprised the Bat clan hadn't told her every horrific story they had about him.  Either they didn't know they were soulmates or she was knowingly walking head first into the lion's mouth.  If she didn't find him, then she might stumble upon a group of his men at work, and they might be a lot less forgiving.   If he was constantly checking over his shoulder, making sure the girl wasn't close by, things were bound to start slipping through the cracks.  

He himself had various safehouses scattered around the city, but he couldn't keep running forever.   It was getting ridiculous, he had faced crime lords, assassins and even gone toe-to-toe with Batman multiple times.  Yet here he was, running and hiding from a girl who was about a foot shorter than he was.  He knew why, of course, he wasn't afraid of her but she should be very afraid of him.  He had hoped that she would give up the search, as she drew closer and closer to finding out the truth about what happened to him.  But life had never been that easy for Jason, and sooner or later she was going to get too close to the untamed monster beneath.  If she got hurt because of him, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself.  Not even his old self could forgive that.  He would have no trouble protecting her from other criminals, not that she really needed it.  However, whatever came crawling out of the pits was something else.

After putting a swift end to some people who were causing trouble in his territory,  his mind wandered back to Ladybug.  Specifically, the sad look in her eyes when he explained how brutal and unforgiving Gotham could be.  He tried not to think about it, because that look made him want to hold her close, and reassure her that everything would be okay.  Thoughts of how the idea of her gave him hope all those years ago would come bubbling to the surface.  It made him want to protect her, to ensure that this world wouldn’t hurt her the way it hurt him.  When she looked at him with those eyes, it made him want to believe that she trusted him to do just that.  He shook his head, and told himself that what he was also the very thing she needed protecting from.  

Most nights Jason had nightmares about failing to save her.  There were even nightmares where she died by his hands.  Her blue eyes would become lifeless and vacant, her skin would feel ice cold, and he would end up cradling her limp form in his arms.  Batman would just love it if those nightmares came true.  It would only prove to him that Jason was nothing more than an unhinged monster he couldn’t cage.  It wasn’t as though the Bat had much luck caging the real monsters in Gotham anyhow.  Most days, Jason’s skin crawled as he remembered the feeling of the Lazarus pit’s waters.  The creatures she was palling around with were the ones who made it. They probably didn’t give a damn about the evil they had inflicted on the world because of it.   For all he knew, being around her little fairy friends would make the effects much worse.  Still, when he snapped back to reality, he would see the string glowing red, just as it had always done.  Occasionally moving and twitching as his soulmate searched high and low for him. Maybe the time had come to have a little talk, soulmate to soulmate...

[wilbur-rabbit]

We are Soulmates - Sam, Dean and Cas' POV

Criminal Minds / Supernatural Crossover

Summary: When you get arrested by the FBI Sam, Dean and Cas do everything they can to get you back.

Pairing: Aaron Hotchner x Reader (Aaron isn't in this chapter)

Word Count: 2294

Chapter 1

Warnings: cursing

A/N: This is a short story based on 'We are Soulmates' that goes through what happened in the first chapter from Sam, Dean and Cas' point of view. I recommend reading chapter one first. I hope you guys enjoy it!

Sam and Dean had stayed behind when Y/N had decided to follow Krissy and her friends to kill the vampire. Neither of them was particularly fond of the idea of you going off on your own but you insisted that you had it. Even after all these years they still felt protective over you.

Several hours later, Sam and Dean had gotten nowhere with the foster dad. They felt in their guts that something was off about him, but they didn’t know what. Both ready to call it a night, Dean got out his cell phone prepared to call Y/N to see how things were going with Krissy, when suddenly Krissy and her friends’, Josephine and Aiden, barge through the front door. The three of them talking at once, making it impossible to decipher what they were saying.

“Okay!” Dean yelled out. “One at a time, Krissy what is going on?”

Krissy took two heavy breaths before launching into the events that occurred after they found the vampire. How Y/N had found them in the barn right after Krissy had killed the vamp that had murdered her father, to them hearing several cars pulling up and Y/N telling them to go and get the Winchester’s. When Sam and Dean heard that Krissy had seen agents with FBI vests on when they had run out of the barn, dread settled into their chests.

Right after Krissy finished her story and Sam and Dean had gotten all that they could out of them, they left heading back to their motel room to try and come up with a plan.

The impala was quiet, both brothers thinking of ways to fix the mess they have found themselves in. Dean was the first to break the silence.

“How did this even happen?” he asked his hands gripping the steering wheel tighter. “It’s our job to protect her. We shouldn’t have let her go off on her own.”

Sam glanced over at his brother. As soon as they had heard what happened to Y/N, he knew Dean would blame himself. It didn’t matter how many times you had gone off on your own on a hunt and been fine. They couldn’t have known this one would be different.

“She’s going to be okay,” Sam reassured. “She’s been in worse situations before. She can handle this.”

Dean slammed his hand down on the steering wheel, “She’s never been arrested by the fucking FBI! They found her standing over a decapitated corpse. They aren’t going to just let her go.”

They had just pulled into the parking lot of their motel and Sam waited until they parked before he responded, wanting to give Dean a moment to calm down.

“I understand that she hasn’t dealt with this before,” Sam said in the reassuring voice he always used with people when he wanted them to stay calm. Dean looked over and glared at him picking up on his tone, which caused Sam to sigh. “Okay, look, I know this is a fucked-up situation Dean, but we will get her out of it,” Sam said. “We need to call Cas and let him know what he is going on. We could use his help. Then I think we should head back to the bunker.”

“You want to leave her here?” Dean said incredulously.

Sam rolled his eyes, “I have an idea that might work, but we are going to need Cas and ingredients that we have in the bunker to do it.”

Dean sighed while pinching the bridge of his nose, “Fine. I’ll call Cas. You grab our stuff so we can check out and leave.”

As Sam was packing up the car Dean stood a few paces away waiting for Cas to pick up the phone. They hadn’t talked in a while and Dean felt bad that he was only contacting him because something was wrong. Communication was something he need to work on.

“Hello, Dean,” came Cas’ deep voice through the phone.

“Hey, Cas,” Dean replied. “How have you been?” Dean didn’t want to automatically start off with the bad news, plus he genuinely wanted to know how Cas was doing.

“I’ve been good. I just finished a hunt in Nebraska,” Cas said. “Vengeful spirit. I’m heading back to the bunker now. How are you, Dean?”

Dean wanted to ask how the hunt had gone and why Cas didn’t just come along with them if he planned on hunting, but he stopped himself. Their current predicament was more important.

“I’ve been better,” Dean said with a sigh. “Actually, that is why I called. Y/N was arrested by the FBI.” His hand that wasn’t holding the phone rested on his hip as he looked to the ground. “Sam has an idea on how to get her out, but he says we need to go back to the bunker and that we will need your help.”

Cas is silent for a moment surprised at the turn of events. “Of course. Whatever I can do to help,” he said.

“Thanks, Cas,” Dean replied happy to have Cas’ help, even though he had known Cas would be on board as soon as he knew Y/N was in trouble. “We are currently in Bloomington, Indiana, but we are getting ready to head that way.”

“Okay, good. I will see you at the bunker,” Cas said.

“Sounds good. We will call if we get an update,” Dean responded. “Bye, Cas.”

“Goodbye, Dean.”

As they started their drive back to the bunker Sam explained his plan.

“Archangel grace can be used to jump dimensions, right?” Sam asked even though he and Dean both knew that was true. Dean nodded anyway. “So, what I was thinking is that we, in theory, should be able to use Cas’ grace to open up a portal to where Y/N is. We can go through, grab Y/N and bring her back.”

“Do you even know if that will work?” Dean questioned, glancing at Sam.

“Well,” Sam started. “No, not exactly.”

“So, we have a half-assed plan that we don’t even know is going to work and is taking us farther away from where Y/N is currently locked up?” Dean asked in disbelief.

“I don’t see you coming up with anything,” Sam said, his voice rising.

“Yeah, cause you said you had a plan–,” Dean is interrupted by his phone ringing.

“Hello?” he barked not even looking at the caller ID.

“Dean,” you breathed on the other line and Dean was so relieved to hear your voice. “Where the hell are you?” he knew he shouldn’t let the panic into his voice so you would stay calm, but he couldn’t help it.

“Is that Y/N?” Sam asked. Dean nodded before taking the phone from his ear and putting it on speaker.

“I’m at the police precinct,” you said relieving both men. They hadn’t voiced it, but they had both been afraid they would move you to somewhere with higher security, especially if the feds found out that you were involved with them. They hoped for your sake it didn’t come to that.

“We know what happened and we are so sorry. We should have gone with you. We are going to find a way to get you out. We aren’t sure how, but we will. Oh, and Sam is here too.” Dean said having to get some of the guilt off his chest. Obviously, he knew that Sam had a plan but given the fact that they had no idea if it would even work, he didn’t want to give you false hope. Plus, if their call were being monitored it would be better if the feds didn’t hear what they were planning. Not that they would necessarily believe it.

“Hey Y/N/N. How are you holding up?” Sam asked.

“Hey Sammy. I’ve been better.” You chuckled, but there was no humor to your voice. “It’s bad. I don’t know if I’m going to get out of this one.”

Dean’s grip on the steering wheel tightened and Sam squeezed his eyes shut. They could both hear the fear in your voice, and they hated that they couldn’t do anything but reassure you that it would be okay.

“Hey, none of that. We’ve been in situations worse than this. We will find something. You just need to hang in there. Don’t admit to anything,” Sam said. Dean glanced over and saw the determination on his face. The look made him feel more confident that they would be able to get you home.

“Okay. Yeah, I won’t.” you responded, and they could hear the hope that Sam words had given you.

“I got a hold of Cas earlier,” Dean said. “He is heading this way too.”

“Good. I’m glad he will be back with us,” You said.

“It’s going to be okay. We will figure something out.” Dean repeated.

“I know. I trust you guys. It’s just…” You paused. Sam and Dean waited for you to continue, but when you didn’t, Dean reassured you again.

“We know. We’ve been there.” Dean said.

You were still quiet and the brothers glanced at each other, wondering what was happening on the other side of the call.

“Should I ask for a lawyer?” you questioned suddenly.

Dean turned to Sam, “Well, should she Sammy?”

Sam gave his brother a glare at the nickname, making Dean roll his eyes. Apparently, it was only okay if you called him that.

“It would probably be better if you did. We have had them in the past. That way they can’t try and pull a fake confession out of you,” Sam advised.

“Maybe I should just tell the truth,” You replied. Both of the brothers’ eyes widened, surprised that you would want to tell the FBI about the supernatural.

“That is always a tight rope to walk,” Dean cautioned.

“Yeah, you should really think about that before you do,” Sam added.

“You might be right,” you said, but you sounded slightly dazed and distracted. “I have to go. They are wanting me to get off the phone.”

“Okay. Just be careful. We’ll figure this out.” Dean said.

“I know you will. I–I love you guys.”

Hearing you say those words softened the two men that thought of you as a sister. That wasn’t a word the three of you, or even four counting Cas, used that often and at hearing you say it in a stressful time like this, like you weren’t sure when you would see them again, made the brothers realize that they need to say it more.

“We love you too, Y/N.” Sam said softly.

“Yeah, we do,” Dean confirmed.

With a quiet goodbye you hung up the phone.

Once Sam and Dean got back to the bunker, they saw Cas’ ’78 Lincoln Continental parked in the garage. Dean was relieved to see it no matter how much he hated the car. The boys grabbed their duffels and headed into the bunker. Cas was sitting in the library, several books laid out on the table as he searched through them.

“Hey, Cas,” Dean said, setting his bag down on the side of table not covered in books. Cas looked up at the two men.

“Hello, Dean. Sam.” Cas replied. “I’ve been searching, trying to find something that can help us, but I have not been particularly successful.”

Dean pulled out a chair that was across from Cas. “Well, that’s okay,” he said sitting down in the chair. “Sam has a plan.” Sarcasm dripped from his tone.

Sam rolled his eyes, pulling out the chair next to Dean’s. “My theory is that if we can use archangel grace to jump between dimensions, we can use angel grace to teleport to other places here on Earth.” Sam told Cas.

Cas squinted his eyes and tilled his head. “In theory that could work.” He said, causing Dean to grunt. “I have never tried it, though. Not long ago I wouldn’t have needed a teleporting spell to go anywhere in the world.”

Dean sighed; his head tilted back so he was facing the ceiling. “Okay,” he said, looking to Sam and Cas. “If we do this and it does work, I’m going.”

“No, you’re not.” Cas said. “Y/N is with the FBI, who you have been on the wanted by for years and still would be if they didn’t think you were dead. I’m going”

Dean sighed, knowing he was right as much as he hated it. “Fine. Let’s do this.”

The three of them went to work finding the ingredients to the original spell. A pile of bones, dried herbs, cuts of wood fungus, and a pinch of dark powder, were all found in the storage room of the bunker. They added in a lock of Y/N’s hair that Dean grabbed from your hairbrush, so they could direct the spell toward your location.

After having everything assembled it was time for the final ingredient. Cas took the knife that Dean held out to him. He brought the knife across is neck letting some of his grace flow out into the small glass bottle that Dean held up to him. After the glass was filled, Cas brought his hand to his throat, healing the wound with a glow of light from his palm.

Dean took the bottle and pored it over the bowl that held the other ingredients. As he poured the grace into the bowl Sam chanted in Enochian.

“Mah ray, fah doh, em lah. Kah day, em lah. Kah day, em lah!”

There was a flash of light, before the portal formed in the room. A crack glowing a dark gold. Cas looked to Sam and Dean for a moment before he walked through the portal, disappearing from the brothers’ view. Now all they could do is wait.

[wheezyandchesterwrite]

"Please don't leave me" ~ Peter Parker

Summary: When you are injured in battle Peter begs you to stay

Word Count: 3.4k

Pairing: Peter Parker x Fem!Speedster!Reader

Warnings: Mentions of violence, death, injuries, and blood. Just overall sad. (If we missed something that you feel should be tagged and/or mentioned let us now and we'll include it)

A/N: Hey, so as you can see we are not dead! :) (I don't know why I did that it hurt me too ok?) Since there was no post in March we are going to try our best to post two other one shots this month, but we'll see how that goes. Hope you all enjoy this and have a great morning/afternoon/night! -W&C :)

Also major thanks to @apotatoinabigfield and @too-attached-to-fiction for proofreading and beta-reading this!

*GIF IS NOT OURS* (We got it off of Google, but if anyone knows who the credits for it belong to let us know so we can rightfully tag them)

5 years ago:

“Something’s happening,” said the girl with the antennae, Mantis. At least, that’s what she had said her name was. Suddenly after, she turned to dust. She just disappeared. In shock, you got closer to Peter, looking for some kind of safety or comfort. Everyone was shocked; no one could understand what had just occurred before your very eyes. Before anyone could say something or even gather their thoughts, it happened again.

“Quill?” was the last thing Drax said before suffering the same fate as Mantis. We lost. That was the only explanation you could fathom. The Avengers had lost and Thanos won. You tightened your grip around Peter, fully embracing him now. You were all desperately trying to decipher who would be next, fearing it being yourselves or your loved ones, but it was pointless. Whatever was causing this came and left without a warning.

“Steady, Quill,” said Tony, but it was to no avail.

“Oh, man,” sighed the man who had introduced himself as Starlord, dusting away defeatedly. You looked up at Peter, who had wrapped his arms around you in a protective manner. He was scared, that much you could tell, but he wouldn’t meet your eyes, determined to conceal the unsettling fear of not being able to hold you for much longer. You tried to convince yourself it was done—that no one else would be taken—but it was pointless. Deep down, you knew this was far from over.

“Tony,” the man turned to look at Strange, “there was no other way.” Stephen Strange took a couple more breaths before dusting away like the others had. Although Strange had said he saw over sixty-three billion outcomes, you couldn’t see how this could be the one you won in. It definitely didn’t feel like it.

Suddenly, breathing became hard. You saw dust particles floating from your hand and the reality of what was going to happen hit you. “No,” you whispered anguishly.

“(Y/N)?” Peter brought your attention to him instead of the particles which declared your fate.

“Pete, I—” you started as you reached up to stroke his cheek, but before you could come in contact with his skin or finish your declaration, you faded away in his arms.

“I know,” the boy said softly as he watched the wind carry what was once his lover.

Tony was at loss for words. He felt like the universe was playing a sick, twisted prank on him. As Tony sulked, Peter felt it. He felt his spidey sense warn him that something was going to happen. He could feel his body struggle to keep him in one piece, to keep him together, to keep him alive. No matter how quickly his body fought, it was destined to lose. “Mr. Stark,” the boy called out to the man who was more than his mentor, the man who had become like a father to him.. “I don’t feel so good,” he painfully admitted. Peter started stumbling around, his legs struggling to keep him up.

“You’re alright,” defied Stark. More than an attempt to console the boy, Tony Stark was trying to reassure himself that the universe, as cruel as it had always been to him, wouldn't do this—that it would not take his boy away. But alas, the genius man was to be proven wrong.

“I— I don’t know what’s happening. I— I don’t understand,” countered the Spiderboy hurriedly. His feet gave out, and he would’ve fallen forward if it hadn’t been for Tony catching him and holding him up. More and more particles could be seen emerging from the boy, and in that moment, the only thing Tony could do was hold on to Peter for as long as he had left.

“I don’t wanna go,” Peter pleaded. “I don’t wanna go, Mr. Stark, please.” His voice was cracking and his legs couldn’t support him any longer as more particles escaped him. Peter’s pleas wouldn’t cease much like the cracks in his voice every time he spoke. Tony lowered him to the ground not daring to say a word. Peter, with teary, bloodshot eyes, looked at the man and whispered an apology before finally letting his body dissipate.

Tony couldn’t speak; he couldn’t even think. “He did it,” said Nebula. Yet the genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist didn’t respond. He just looked at his hand, which was covered in dirt—dirt that had once been Peter Parker. Tony let himself cry, allowing grief and shock to take over him. After all there was nothing else he could do.

***

Present day:

“Love you—wait, what happened?” You find yourself reaching up, but the person you had been trying to touch no longer stood in front of you. Your body was slowly regaining feeling, but your mind felt as numb as ever. You had so many thoughts running through your brain at such a speed that you couldn’t focus on any of them.

“I love you too, Speedy.” You heard a voice answer from behind you. You felt some of the anxiety subside once you put a name to the voice, which was easy since only one person in the entire world called you Speedy.

“Peter,” you exhaled in relief. Turning around in an instant, you ran into the arms you had chosen to call home. Peter embraced you tightly, not wanting to release the other in fear of permanently losing one another this time. You didn’t know how much time had passed from when you lost your consciousness, but that didn’t matter for Peter. Seeing the person he had deemed to be his soulmate dissipate in front him had been more than enough for him to feel like the amount of time that had passed between then and now had been an eternity. Suddenly, Strange spoke up, answering the question plaguing everyone’s minds.

“It’s been five years. Come on, they need us.” He stated commandingly. You all shared looks of dumbfoundment and bewilderment. Five years? How could that have been possible? The only one on the planet you stood on who looked at ease was Stephen, his calm demeanor never faltering. You looked up at Peter confused, but he simply shrugged, not wanting to believe such time had passed yet knowing better than to contradict Dr. Strange.

“Okay, everyone, this is it. Activate your badass stances!” exclaimed Quill.

“What did you say about my ass, Quill?” Drax started charging towards him, visibly offended. You raced to wedge yourself between the two men, struggling to keep them apart.

“Hey, no time for that. Look!” You called over their attention to the portal Strange was opening in front of you. Peter swung his way to the front, landing elegantly. After making sure Quill and Drax would not try to go at each other's throats, you swiftly made your way to the front and stood beside Peter.

Glancing around what was going to serve as your battlefield for today, you grimly recognized the location. What was once known as the Avenger’s Headquarters was now no more than a field of scattered debris. Clouds of dust littered the air, the remains of mass destruction visible wherever you looked. You gave yourself a chase to take in the sight of Thanos’ army, and as you did so, fear and worry tried to etch their way into your brain as you realized what you were facing. This was an enemy that had already defeated you once, and when you had fought him, he hadn't even had an army backing him up. Your determination and will to fight and live to tell the tale overpowered those negative feelings. The sight of the spaceship filled you with spitefulness instead of dread, and you knew in that moment that you would do whatever it took to win. The Avengers would not lose again; you were going to make sure of that, even if you had to lay down your life for it to become a reality.

“Is that everyone?” Strange asked Wong.

“What, you wanted more?” Wong yelled back in disbelief, and Strange shrugged nonchalantly in response.

As everyone settled into position, Cap’s voice was loudly heard, like thunder rumbling through the field, “AVENGERS.” This was the moment of truth—your last chance to save humanity. You could feel the seconds pass before Steve gave the signal, “Assemble.” And with that, everyone was off.

A beautiful and empowering mess of battle cries could be heard around you. You, on the other hand, were silent as you ran, calculating your every move. Using all the knowledge you’d gained over the years about hand-in-hand combat, you started to hastily assassinate those monsters. You would jump at one, taking them down, and godspeed to your next target, sending each one you came in contact with on a one way trip to meet their maker. Near you, Peter was also taking out some of the Chitauri, at times propelling you onto your next target or eliminating some of them when you got surrounded. After clearing out most of the aliens near you, Peter tapped you on the shoulder and pointed to Tony. Understanding his intentions, you nodded and made your way towards the infamous Iron Man.

As you slid into the crater where Tony lay, Peter landed from his swinging. Tony stared at the two of you in disbelief, doubting whether or not to believe you were actually there. When his expression softened, and tender affection spread across his factions, Peter began rambling, and you shook off some of the concrete dust from your suit. “Hey, holy cow! You will not believe what’s going on,” Peter exclaimed as he helped Tony stand up.

“No?” Tony asked sarcastically, but it only encouraged you.

“Do you remember when we were in space? And we got all dusty? I guess we must’ve passed out because when we woke up, you were gone.” You now stood beside Peter as you spoke, your hands increasing their pace as you rambled on, making them impossible to follow with the human eye.

“But Doctor Strange was there right? He was like ‘It’s been five years. Come on they need us,’” Peter said as he tried to make an impression of Strange, mimicking the way the man had moved his hands when opening the portals.

“Yeah, and then he started doing the yellow sparkly thing he does all the time.” You took over from Pete when he gave you the chance.

“He did? Oh, God!” Tony exclaimed with feigned incredulity. He started walking toward you and grabbed you both by the shoulder, pushing you into him.

“What are you doing?” Peter asked, bewildered.

“Huh, what’s this?” You questioned, confused as Tony engulfed you both simultaneously. He held you tightly, and when the shock passed, you and Peter hugged the man back even tighter.

“Oh, this is nice.” Peter sighed, earning a light chuckle from Stark.

“Listen, kids, we don’t have a lot of time right now, but I’ll catch you up on the latest trends once we take this bitch down. Okay?” Tony assured as he released you, holding on to your forearm to look the both of you in the eyes as he spoke.

“Yes, sir.” Peter saluted.

“See you on the other side of the war.” You smirked, knowing Tony and Peter must have caught that reference. Tony shook his head as he took off, the ghost of a grin barely noticeable on his lips.

Peter nudged you. “Be careful, okay?” His eyes showed genuine concern.

“Alright, I solemnly swear—” Peter gave you a warning look. “Okay, fine. I’ll try my best to be as careful as possible in the middle of a battle.” You finished, your tone a weird mixture between sarcasm and affection.

“Good.” He pressed a quick kiss to your temple before taking off.

“Alright, Chitauri, give me your best shot.” You smirked at the unsuspecting figure that was currently fighting off T’challa. Having speed and regeneration to your advantage, you zig-zagged around Thanos’ army, ducking and killing as you went. You moved with precision, only stopping when you were sure to have a clear shot at the enemy you were targeting.

You went on that way until you weren’t able to dodge a body that dropped in front of you, making you trip over it. The collision made you roll down a mountain of debris, hitting your head dangerously hard several times, as well as getting a couple of cuts along the way from the exposed, sharp metal.

“That’s sure to give me a concussion,” you grunted to yourself. The throbbing of your head distracted you from the burn of the cuts that now littered your abdomen, some deeper than others. It wasn’t until you brought a hand to your head, that you noticed the crimson liquid that coated it. “Oh, shit,” you exhaled. The pain was starting to catch up to you as the adrenaline subsided. You tried to use your powers to find yourself a safe spot until you recovered, but your attempts were futile seeing as the pain coursing through your body rendered you immobile.

“Is that Peter falling?” The figure you saw was indeed Peter and the sharp spiderlegs of his suits were still out for blood. You managed to move just enough that you were barely graced, another gash prompting blood out of your system. Peter tumbled in the opposite direction, clutching what you assumed to be the gauntlet you were supposed to keep out of Thanos’ hands. The sudden movements to dodge Peter hadn’t come without consequences. You felt like your surroundings were spiralling around you, dizziness overtaking you as you started to cough up blood. You managed to stubbornly sit up and when you looked to your side, you saw Peter giving the gauntlet to a glowing woman.

“I don’t know how you’re gonna get it through all that,” you heard him admit to her out of breath.

“Don’t worry,” Wanda stepped in.

“She’s got help,” Okoye finished, her hands wrapped tightly around her spear. Soon the rest of the women joined and took off together. It was a powerful moment to witness and one you would’ve loved to be a part of, if it weren’t for your current situation. You closed your eyes in a somewhat successful effort to ease off the pain pulsating in your head.

“Man, those are some badass women,” Peter muttered as he sat down. “Wait—” He quickly looked around, but missed you completely. “Where’s my badass woman?” Peter frantically shuffled to his feet, hoping to see a flash of yellow zoom by, but no such luck. You tried to call out to him, wanting to let him know you were there, but your voice got caught in your throat, replaced by a cough that was followed by blood. The sound caught Peter’s attention, his gaze trying to find where it came from. His heart constricted in his chest when he finally caught sight of you and the state you were in.

In a flash, he was hovering over you, putting your own abilities to shame given the speed at which he got to you. Your eyes were still closed, as you relished the relief it gave you, but you were drifting off at this point and didn’t have the energy nor strength to open them again. That was until Peter started shaking you awake. “(Y/N)? Oh God, come on, please be okay.” You could hear the panic and desperation in his voice. Your eyes felt so heavy, it was almost impossible to open them, but you managed to do so, just enough to see Peter exhale in relief after seeing you respond.

Tucked away behind blood and dryness, you managed to find your voice and you raspily told him, “I’m okay, Peter. It’ll heal. Go help the others.” You took ragged breaths between each sentence, your lungs struggling to keep up. Peter could very much tell you weren’t okay and knew that with the amount of injuries you had suffered it was almost impossible for your regenerative abilities to save you.

“(Y/N), we both know that’s not happening; it’s too much. I mean, it might heal, but there are too many things to heal for you to survive waiting and—” He abruptly stopped his own rambling after he noticed you had closed your eyes again. “(Y/N)? (Y/N), please, stay with me.”

His voice was breaking and his eyes were starting to swell up with tears. It broke your heart to hear him like this. You fought to stay conscious, for his sake, but the blood loss and pain was becoming too great to bear and you felt yourself falling into a deep slumber once more.

Peter was getting desperate, tears freely flowing down his cheeks now. “Please, (Y/N/N), please don’t leave me.” He held your body close to his, burying his face in the crook of your neck. Sobs rocked his body as he kept begging for you to stay. His voice and your tear stained neck was the last thing you registered before you let go and fell into the dark abyss of unconsciousness.

***

“Everybody wants a happy ending, right? But it doesn’t always roll that way. Maybe this time, I’m hoping if you play this back, it’s in celebration. I hope families are reunited, I hope we get it back, and something like a normal version of the planet has been restored. If there was ever such a thing. God, what a world! Universe, now. If you told me ten years ago that we weren’t alone, let alone, you know, to this extent, I mean I wouldn’t have been surprised. But come on, you know? The epic forces of darkness and light that have come into play. And for better or for worse, that’s the reality Morgan’s gonna have to find a way to grow up in. So, I thought I’d probably better record a little greeting... In case of an untimely death on my part. I mean, not that death at any time isn’t untimely. This time travel thing that we’re gonna try and pull off tomorrow, it’s—it's got me scratching my head about the survivability of it all—that’s the thing. Then again, that’s the hero gig. Part of the journey is the end. What am I even trippin’ for? Everything’s gonna work out exactly the way it’s supposed to. I love you 3,000.”

Pepper walked out of the cabin she and Tony had called home, holding a wreath that in its middle held Tony’s first arc reactor. Everyone stood out in front of the lake, waiting as she gently placed it on the water. She took her place beside Peter, who was silently crying as he held your emotionally devastated self in his arms. Having passed out when you did had ultimately saved your life, your body using its remaining energy in healing you rather than keeping you awake, but that meant you missed the events that led up to your victory and were therefore unable to say a proper farewell to the man who served as your mentor for years.

Waking up to the news that the man who had taken better care of you and had looked out for you more than your own parents was dead didn’t settle in easily. It took a while before you were able to accept he was gone.

Peter had been there for you every step of the way, holding you during all the sleepless nights you had spent crying and shaking you awake when your dreams became plagued with nightmares from the battle. Guilt had made a home in your heart, the feeling never leaving as you thought of ways you could have avoided getting injured, ways you could have fought better, ways that could have resulted in being able to say goodbye to Tony Stark, the man who sacrificed himself for the universe.

Everyone stood silently as you all watched the wreath float out of sight, before turning to share your condolences with each other. You held on to Peter tightly, as if he too were to slip from your fingers at any moment. You stood there mindlessly listening in on the nostalgic conversations between the people who cared for Tony. Looking around at everyone gathered, it became clear that the arc reactor which was now floating off in the lake was not the only proof that Tony Stark had a heart. All his friends, colleagues, family and adopted students were walking proof that not only did Tony Stark have a heart, but that he had the biggest heart a human could possibly have.

Taglist: @steveisherdaddy @apotatoinabigfield @xlostinobsessionsx @izjustafaze @yourlocalwhitemanwhore

[rebelbyrdie]

Ficlet Day #3 (OUAT)

I think this was supposed to be a OUAT-Witcher Crossover Fic with a very jealous Emma.

What Does She Have (That I Don't)

Another portal opened, which shouldn't be a surprise anymore.  It was, like, a weekly occurance.  Storybrooke was as busy as O'Hare these days.  People came and went.  

Just two months ago half of the cast of Frozen had decided to spend their royal vacation in Storybrooke.  It wasn't that Emma had been happy to see Anna and Elsa, but the whole reindeer and snowman thing had been a bit much.

So here they were, yet again, on a wild portal hunt. It wouldn't be so bad, but since Storybrooke wasn't on Google Maps, she couldn't even play Pokemon Go while trecking miles through the woods.

Maybe it would be something nice and easy.  Like maybe the cats from Aristocats.  Cute, cuddly and low matinence.  If it was ogres again, Emma was going to lose her shit.

"So are you picking up anything on your magical radar?"

Regina didn't say anything but did turn her head and glared at her.  They were still on shaky ground since the whole Robin-Marian situation.   Emma didn't know why.  Robin was a giant dickhead.  He might be Regina's so-called soulmate but he had also been Zelena's partner in crime.  Yeah he'd been doing to get back his dead wife, but that didn't mean he wasn't a dick head.  

Emma did not understand what Regina saw in him.

Probably the same thing she'd seen in Hook, a warm body that didn't hate her.  Lonliness made women (even super smart and magical ones) make dumb decisions.  Not that she would ever say that to Regina.  Emma didn't want to be set on fire, thank you very much.

"Seriously, you know I'm not good at this sensing magic stuff.  Are we even close?"

Regina blew a huff out of her nose.  "I think we need to go closer to the town line.  Back towards the road."

They were at least twenty minutes away the road.  Emma sighed.  This was going to be a long ass day.

When they finally arrived at the town line, Emma was ready for a burger, a shower, a burger, a beer and a nap.  Maybe a few beers.

"There we are."

The first thing Emma noticed was that the town sign had been destroyed.  As Regina had made her pay to repair it, Emma took that as a personal attack.  There was a person-shaped lump on the road.  Their portal trip must have been rough.

Emma put her hand on the butt of her pistol.  The lump didn't look familar and Emma had to be prepared for the worst.

Regina didn't seem very worried.  She just twister her left hand.  The person-lup was coated in shiny purple blanket.  They jerked in response and let out a long and painful groan.  They started to push themselves up.  

"Hey."  Emma kept her eyes focused on the stranger.  "Welcome to Storybrooke."

The lump looked up.  It was a woman in heavy leather armor.  She had short blonde hair, wierd eyes and a sour expression on her face.  She stood up and only wobbled a little bit.

"Oh!"  Regina's eyebrows winged up and then she held out her hand.  "Well Met, Ser." 

What the fuck?  Did Regina know this person?  Also did she know something about their pronouns that Emma didn't?

"I am Queen Regina, leader of Storybrooke."  

Well that was mostly accurate.

"And this is my law keeper, Lady Emma Swan.  We welcome you and offer any and all assitance."

What the ever-loving fuck was Regina talking about?

"Regina."  Emma hissed only half under her breath.  "What the Hell?"

Regina's eyes flashed and she scowled.  "Miss Swan.  Look at her sigil.  She is a Knight of Andrezej."

The sigil Regina mentioned must mean her necklace. Emma thought it looked like a wierd circle with something inside it.  It meant absolutly nothing to her.  More fairy tale crap.  Also Emma wasn't even sure that last part was a real word.  

"Gesundheit to you too."  She snarked at Regina.  Then she turned her attention back to the stranger.  "So what's your name and story?"

She didn't care how nice Regina was to this lady.  She wasn't from Storybrooke and that made her suspicious.  Not to mention that she had busted the "historic" sign into about a million pieces.

"I am."  Her voice had some sort of accent that Emma had never heard before.  "Ser Thera of Andrezej and I am here on a mission."  She pulled a scroll out of chest armor thing and held it out to Regina.  "I am hunting down a fugitive of justince from the Kingdom of King Ercole."

Wait.  Wait just a damn second.  This chick wasn't some fancy knight.  She was just a bounty hunter.  A freaking fairy tale bounty hunter.  Which was not nearly as cool as someone like Boba Fett or Stephanie Plum.  

"Well that's great.  How are you going to fix the town's historic sign, Lady?"

Regina scowled at her.  "Honestly, Miss Swan."  She flicked her hand around in a circle and poof the sign re-assembled itself magically.  "Don't be rude.  Ser Thera is our esteemed guest."

The woman tapped her wierd pendant and in a flash of orange her clothes changed.  The leather armor was now darkwash jeans, a  black button up shirt and a fitted bomber jacket.  The apparently magical necklace still hung off her neck.  

"Thank you, Your Majesty."  

It sounded so polite and proper when the bounty hunter said it.  Regina practically beamed when the woman offered her arm.  Regina, the super-independent and hard-assed mayor, linked her arm through the other woman's like a teenager on her first date.

"I'll show you our town.  If this mark of yours is here then Granny's is the best place to start looking.

They walked past Emma arm in arm.

Emma didn't like the smirk on the Thera's face or the spark in her wierd pumpkin orange eyes.  

What was Regina's deal?  She'd had Emma arrested for busting the sign and that hadn't even been her fault!  Not to mention she'd tried to run her out of town for months.  Now she was just throwing up the ye old castle gate and rolling out the freaking red carpet.  For a freaking bounty hunter.

Emma had been a bounty hunter too.  A damn good one.  They just didn't get to pretend to be knights in the good ol' US of A.  She didn't trust this woman.  What kind of name was Thera anyway?

When they got to Granny's, it only got worse.  Everyone, even Granny, fell all over themselves over her.  They all thought being a Knight of Achoo (or whatever) was the best thing in the damn universe.  Even Snow and David seemed impressed.  Henry wanted to hear stories about her adventures.

Apparently being The Savior was old news.  Whatever.  

"Sheriff Swan?"

Thera stood in front of her otherwise empty table.

"Her Majesty has offered me lodging for the night.  I was hoping we could speak on the morrow about my manhunt."

Emma wanted to tell the woman to crawl up her own butt and die, but that was probably not something a cop was supposed to say.  Besides that, the quicker this glorified bail jockey got her man, the quicker she would get out of town.

Wait.  Lodgings?

"Regina's paying to put you up in the Inn?"

Emma shot a look over at Ruby and her girlfriend.  They had both been drooling over tall, blonde and full of herself.

"No.  She is hosting me at her manor."

What!  Emma didn't even have a damn key to the place.  She had never even seen most of the second floor.  Suddenly Regina was just thowing open her doors.  To a stranger?  With their Kid right down the hall?

[ingeniouscollectionthing]

My Always (Tom Riddle x Reader)

Pairing: Tom Riddle x Reader

Warnings: NSFW, fluffy smut, really, really, really detailed smut, nice Tom

Request: Would you write something about virgin Tom? Like the reader is a confident girl he had a crush on for a while and she gently guides him through his insecurities? Would be a nice contrast to the dom smut there is about him.

Slowly you were walking back to Hogwarts Castle from your day at Hogsmeade. It was Winter and snowflakes were falling, coating the streets in a blanket of white cotton. You snuggled yourself more into your scarf coloured in the beautiful green of House Slytherin, while looking around the beautfiul winter landscape.

A squeeze of your hand brought you back to reality and you looked at the person holding it.

„Are you cold?“, Tom asked, wrapping his arm now around your waist and drawing you in closer into his side.

„A bit, actually, yeah.“, you replied, looking up at him with a smile, your cheeks and nose coated in a light rosy shade.

“Don’t worry, we’re back in no time. How does some nice hot tea and a good book sound to you? We could snuggle by the fire place”, he said, sending you a beautiful shy smile.

“Sounds lovely”, you whispered, giving him a quick kiss on his cheek, making his cheeks flush into a deeper shade of red.

It’s been a year now since you and Tom started dating and it was the happiest you’ve ever been, really. He was very conservative, as gentlemen of your time should be. He treated you like a princess, always there for you, gifting you beautiful things and sneaking in small kisses here and there. You spent your time together cuddling, mostly reading books and sitting in comfortable silence.

Although you were quite happy with your relationship, you noticed a slight change in the last two weeks. While it was a relationship full of love and happiness, little kisses and cuddles on the couch in the common room, it slowly started turning into something way deeper. Everytime you looked at Tom you noticed his unbelievable handsomeness, more than ever before, and you always got that funny feeling in your neither region, often catching yourself thinking about dirty things. 

Feeling your cheeks growing warm, you looked down to the floor, trying to hide your face from Tom, as you slowly walked into the castle, making your way to your common room.

Tom noticed though, as he also noticed the change. He realized that the air around you two went from innocent to more passionate. Soft kisses turned into longer ones, often resulting in a beautiful make out session. He caught himself trailing his eyes from yours down to your lips, and more often than he wanted further down your body, mapping out every curve hidden beneath your clothes. 

Right now he had to try and hide the slightly noticeable bulge growing in his pants, while he daydreamed what it would be like if you did more than just cuddling, what it could be like behind closed doors -  to feel your warm skin on his, kissing you wherever he wanted, while slowly and gently pounding into your warm, wet puss-. 

Stop it Tom, he thought. I’m not allowed to think about her that way.. About the way her beautiful plump lips would look around my- Stop!

It was embarrassing for him, for you were not supposed to have sex before marrying. What would your parents think? They already disliked him pretty much, for you chose him, a halfblooded orphaned boy, as your partner. You were everything he ever dreamed of. Brilliant and cunning in your mind, confident and loving in your heart and a dashing beauty in your looks. He was just him. 

While he was quite powerful in his magical abilities, he wasn’t so sure about everything else. While other girls worshipped the ground he walked on, he didn’t see himself worthy of being by your side. After all, he didn’t know if he deserved your love – no one else really loved him, so why you?

“Tommy? Did you hear what I said?”, you brought him back from his thoughts.

“No I’m sorry, Darling, I just zoned out.. What was it you talked about?”, Tom said, looking at you.

“I just asked if you’d like to cuddle in your dorm, instead of in the common room. You know, it would be more private… And your friends are not as nosy as mine.”, you said, as you sent him a brilliant smile. In reality you didn’t worry about cuddling at all, you felt that a certain kind of lust made you act on impulse, you needed him. 

“Uhm.. I mean.. Yeah sure.. Why n-not.”, he stuttered and cleared his throat. You laughed a bit at his shy behaviour, it was so unlike of what others saw him as. You loved it.

Tom on the other hand hated it. It seems that all confidence vanished as soon as he looked into your beautiful (e/c) eyes, which shone brightly in the light. Right now he was nervous. You never took cuddling to the bedroom, although it was no different from cuddling on the couch in the common area. Or was it?

Well shit, he thought. It’s just us. In my bed. In my room. In Privacy. Just us. Cuddling…Kissing…Making out…Maybe making love.. Wait what? 

Again he was thrown from his thoughts as you stopped in front of the common room entrance. The snake engraved into the door, turned it’s head into your direction, waiting for the password.

“Ego sum princeps * ”, Tom said, and slowly the portal opened. Hand in hand you walked past your fellow Slytherin’s, who followed both of you with curious looks as you made your way to the boys dormitories. To Tom’s and your relief it was in fact empty.

You both settled down on his bed, each with a book in hand while you both snuggled into each other after shedding off your winter clothes. You’ve been there for quite a while now, lying in his arms. You’ve barely read the words written on the pages. Instead your mind wandered around, thinking about what could happen right now. 

As if reading your mind Tom looked at you, both of you holding eye contact while slowly leaning in. Your lips met in a slow sensual kiss, which lasted for far longer than you two had anticipated. The book laid forgotten on your lap as your hands slowly but steadily wandered up over Toms shirt clad chest, stroking in a circular motion up to his broad shoulders. Tom shuddered lightly, breaking the kiss to draw a long shaky breath. You looked at him, loosing yourself in his beautiful greenish blue eyes. 

To your surprise he showed no signs of shying away, instead he slowly cupped your cheek in his big hand and pulled you towards him. Your lips met again, this time much more primal than ever before. Bent up passion made it’s way to the surface of your very beings and slowly and unsurely Tom licked your lower lip, asking for permission to enter your mouth. You granted it, but instead of fighting for dominance you both explored each other in a calm manner. Slowly his hand wandered down your face, over your arm until it landed on your waist. He squeezed softly and you let out a soft moan. And Tom snapped his hand back suddenly, breaking the kiss.

“I – I’m so sorry.. I didn’t mean to be so indecent”, he stuttered, a blush creeping up his neck. He avoided all eye contact.

You pouted, grabbing his face and making him look at you.

“No don’t be”, you sucked in a sharp breath, continuing in a sensual whisper “I liked it”.

And with that you pulled him back to you, your hands tangling in his raven black locks. Tom’s hand came back on your waist, now squeezing with a bit more confidence. Slowly you both turned, his back was propped up on the headboard of his bed, while you sat in his lap.  Your hands explored each other slowly, the kisses became harder, less loving but more lustful, and Tom became more flustered by the second. Your hands traveled back to his neck, now trying to unbutton his white shirt.

“No (Y/N) wait!”, Tom whispered his eyes still closed.

“Are you not alright with this, Tommy? We can stop now”, you said, withdrawing your hands.

“Yes, no, I mean yes I am alright with this, b – but this isn’t right. I mean it feels right, because I love you so much.. But I’m supposed to be a gentleman and – and I’m supposed to be conservative. I just can’t take your virginity without marrying you because – because..”, Tom’ s rambling stopped, he looked at you. Merlin, his heart was beating out of his chest.

“Because what, darling? You can tell me”, you said reassuringly.

“Because what if I’m not the one to marry you?” All his insecurities spilled out of his mouth at once. “I mean I don’t care about m-my virginity, but you – you are such a brilliant, beautiful young witch and I’m soo goddamn scared that I could never be enough for you, that I won’t be the one putting a ring on your finger. And I know it’s bound to happen that you’ll leave someday, because I always end up alone…. I just – I don’t want you to give yourself to me so readily and defile your name, if I’m possibly not your forever.”

You processed all of his words, tears clouding your vision.

“You’re right you won’t be my forever” Tom’s heart broke at your words and he tried to keep it together until-

“You’re so much more than that, Tommy. My forever, my always, my soulmate, my lover, my partner in crime, my best friend. Call it whatever you want, but I’ll always be here right by your side. There will never be someone else as perfect in my eyes as you are. Let the whole world be damned, I want to be yours. Always”

Tom looked at you, stunned, not knowing what to do.

“Tom. Make love to me”

And he lunged forward enveloping you in his arms before kissing you with such a passion, your heart almost leapt out of your chest. Now everything was a blur. Slowly you undressed each other, leaving you completely bare. Tom drew the curtains closed around his four-poster bed, before turning to you again. 

“You’re so beautiful”, he said, his hand stroking the side of your hips. You looked into his eyes as you guided his hand up to your chest. Shyly he grabbed one of your breasts, his eyes sparkling as he witnessed the pleasured sigh that left your lips. His confidence grew as his finger slowly circled around your nipple, making it instantly hard. He did the same to the other before he suddenly took one nipple in his mouth, sucking gently on it. 

“T-Tom”, you whispered, one of your hands tangled in his hair, as the other started exploring his body.

Slowly you stroked down his chest, over his beautiful prominent abs, until you reached the most intimate body part of his. You’ve never done this before and you had no idea what you were doing as you slowly grabbed his erect cock in your hand, stroking up and down. Tom shuddered, leaving your breasts with a slight popping noise as his eyes rose to meet yours. Both of your faces were flushed, pupils blown. Tom kissed you again, now beginning a little fight about dominance, as his hands mimicked your earlier movements until you felt his fingers around your pussy. Slowly he tested the waters – he started spreading your lower lips, while his thumb started circling your clit.

You jolted as some kind of electricity shot through you, making you grab his cock harder. He groaned into your mouth and suddenly – one of his fingers slowly made his way into your waiting, warm and wet cunt. 

“You’re so wet (Y/N)”, Tom whispered in astonishment, pumping his finger slowly.

“Only for you Tom”, you moaned, fastening your movements.

You felt as he inserted a second finger, stretching you so deliciously. You felt so full.

Tom felt as if he was in heaven. The girl of his dreams lying in his arms, squirming in pleasure he gave her. He groaned again as your small hand travelled down his big cock, cupping his balls gently.

Merlin’s beard, he thought. I can’t get enough.

Acting on instinct, you grabbed his hand in a gentle manner, making his fingers leave your pussy. You guided it to your mouth, licking his fingers covered in your juices clean. You maintained eye contact and Tom took in a deep breath. Then you grabbed onto his shoulders and lifted yourself up, guiding his erect, hard and big cock in between your folds. Slowly it slipped inside your warm and waiting walls. It hurt and you grabbed harder onto Toms shoulders.

“Shhh.. It’s alright, darling. I’ve got you”, Tom whispered, panting hard, while grabbing your hips and helping you down on his shaft. You both groaned, as he was settled deeply inside you. Slowly you started moving, the pleasure replacing the pain. You both panted loudly, not caring if Tom’s dormmates would burst into the room right now. 

Tom wrapped his arms around you, pulling him towards you. He kissed you hard, his hands now exploring your whole body, before you guided them to each of your ass cheeks. You looked at him, saying in a breathless voice,

“Don’t be shy my love. I’m all yours”

And Tom squeezed hard, surely leaving behind some red marks.

Your movements picked up speed, your moans getting louder by the second, as he hit every right spot inside you.

A sudden rush of confidence led Tom to flip you both over, making you lie down on your back and wrap your legs around his waist. You continued to make out, while Tom started picking up ab bit speed, as his thrusts became rougher. His balls slapped against your flesh, the smell of sex wafting around the room, while your moans spurred each other on.

“Tommy – ohh yes! Fuck – right there!” You moaned, scratching down his back.

“You feel so good, (Y/N)! So good! I don’t think I can last any longer!”, Tom groaned kissing up and down your neck.

“Rub my clit, Tom. Please! Make me cum Tommy!”, you whimpered. His hand wandered down to your tight pussy, slowly rubbing circles on your little bundle of nerves.

“Is that alright? Do you like that? Do you like how I rub your clit?”, Tom asked, not realizing how dirty he actually sounded, fully intended on pleasing you.

“Oh Tommy! Yes! Yes! I’m – I’m coming!”, you moaned loudly, tangling your fingers in his hair, moaning his name over and over again, as a beautiful feeling washed over you, making you squeeze your pussy around Tom’s big cock.

“(Y) – (Y/N)! Fuucck!” His hips stuttered as his cum shot into your waiting womb, marking you as his.

Gently he laid himself down on top of you, careful not to crush you. Both of you panted as you basked in the afterglow of your orgasms.

After a while Tom pulled out of your still pulsing pussy, watching as it tried to keep in every drop of his seed.

He looked up at you, as you cupped his cheek in your hand and he leant up to kiss you slowly, before he rolled to his side of the bed, gathering you in his arms. You both looked at eachother, content smiles plastered on your faces.

Tom put a strand of hair behind your ear, while whispering in a soft voice,

“I love you”

“I love you more”, you said, closing your eyes.

“(Y/N)?” Tom said, pulling you even more towards him.

“Yes?”

The door to Tom’s room opened and his dormmates gathered inside, disturbing the comfortable aura in your little nest. Lucky for you, the curtains kept you in your loving Little bubble.

“Will you marry me?”

Outside, the boy’s bickering fell into silence, listening carefully to hear your answer.

(*I am a leader - Password)