#he should put his stethoscope on my pus-

[vforvalkyrie]

[Levi arches an eyebrow, amused by your ramblings. He quirks a smile, turning his back towards you as he shifts through his paperwork. A file with your name on it meets his eye, and he transfers it to his clipboard. He turns, eyes trained on the papers.]

“So, Miss Astrid, you’re having back pain? Because of stress? Hm, have you always had this problem? Describe it for me.”

[Levi’s steel cold eyes lift from the typography to meet your gaze. Not that he hadn’t noticed before, but you are quite beautiful. The nervous glint in your expression, your twitching hands, the damned blush on your cheeks.]

[There were a couple of treatments that came to mind, but none of them were professional.]

- Doctor Levi

[My eyes trail from the clipboard you're holding to your face, discreetly admiring your every feature. I remember when I first booked an appointment with you, I looked at the reviews first, and there was barely a single one that didn't gush about how dark and charming one Dr. Ackerman was. Intrigued, I'd made the appointment, maybe to try and prove that I would never let something like attraction mix in with a damn doctor's appointment. And God, was I wrong.]

Oh, er—it's really just a dull ache. Maybe I should try getting a masseuse. [I joke weakly, but the mere suggestion brings the vivid image of your hands on my shoulders, bringing them from tense to relaxed, and then dipping lower, lower, lower—I need to stop.] It hasn't been like this forever, actually it's just been the past few weeks. More stressed than usual, I s'pose. Haven't had much chance to engage in...fun activities.

[To anyone else, I'd say that innocently, but with you, it's blatant flirtation, and I bite the inside of my cheek as I observe your reaction, to see if you noticed.]

[toloveawarlord]

Ashes to Ashes (Ch. 1)

You can find my masterlist in my bio!

Look at me! I did something on time! Tagging @plumpblueberry​ for all her support and @christmaswarlock​ for always loving my oc kids as much as I do.

Yes, the title is meant to be a play on words... and yes, I think I’m hilarious for doing so. I justify it by having it actually hold significance in the story as well.

Without further ado, here is Kyle’s two rascally babies!

The guards at the front gate proved to be the biggest obstacle, asking a multitude of questions but never waiting to hear their answers. Beckett couldn’t let his big plan go to waste without even getting into the building. Sure, no one would miss them at the home right now, but each ticking minute felt like the swing of pendulum coming down cut the rope of the guillotine looming over the siblings.

“You have yet to state your business,” One guard said again, icy glare watching the two closely.

Beckett motioned to his sister that had hid behind his back, playing her role perfectly. “My little sister is sick, and we want to see the doctor. He’s the best in Cradle and she needs his help.” He drove his elbow back into her stomach, prompting the younger girl to cough.

Only half of the story true. They had other intentions for seeing the Seven of Hearts personally. The boy’s plan hinged on getting him alone and gaining sympathy before laying out the truth of their identity.

Sadie continued to cough, hiding behind her older brother while swiping some blood across her palm. With practiced movements, she gasped softly. “Blood…” Her whine of fear and the begging golden eye elicited the response they sought.

Permission to enter the grounds was given. One of the guards led them into the large building. The two took it in with amazement, having never seen something so clean. The soft carpet beneath their dirty shoes held no trace of dirt or any stains. No bugs skittered across the floors.

“Wait here, and I’ll send Dr. Kyle immediately.” The guard pulled the door closed, leaving the two alone in the room.

The small girl released her grip on Beckett’s shirt, stretching her arms over her head. A wide grin spread over her lips. “Well, we made it this far! Thanks to my acting of course,” she announced. She could play the innocent little girl as well as a professional actor.

Her brother scratched his cheek. “We’re far from the end goal. You shouldn’t celebrate so early.” A number of things could go horribly awry. What if this Kyle Ash said no? “Hey, Sadie?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you think he’s going to want us?” Beckett asked, swallowing down the lump in his throat. If he had to take her back to that ratty apartment in Central Quarter, he feared her next accident would end in her death.

Facing him properly, Sadie waved her hand dismissively. “Of course, he is! We’re his kids, after all. He has to take some responsibility.” Her fingers traced over the eye-patch covering her right eye, the most recent result of their mother’s rage falling on them.

The door opened, and the man in question came into the room, hand stuffed in his doctor’s coat. He paused only for a moment at the sight of them. Both having similar reddish-brown hair like his. The boy having striking blue eyes as opposed to hers that were golden. “Are you the little girl that is sick?” He ignored the pricking feeling that something was amiss.

Sadie bobbed her head in response. She should sink back into the role of being a sick, helpless little girl but instead, she stood mesmerized by how similar they looked. Tilting her head to the side as he knelt down, pressing his cool hand to her forehead, Sadie forced a cough, the only sound that would come out.

“You do have a fever,” Kyle murmured, taking her small wrist to press two fingers to check her pulse.

“I do?” Her confession unbidden, but he’d surprised her with that. The whole story about being sick had been fake. She felt perfectly fine. “But… it was a lie.” Is she actually sick?

Kyle’s eyes narrowed in confusion. “A lie?”

Beckett moved closer, heart beating faster in his chest. This was their chance, the only one that could get them out of their hellish home, away from their mother. “We had to see you. It’s a matter of life and death!” He scrambled to explain themselves.

“Slow down, kid. You aren’t making any sense. Tell me what’s going on while I check out little miss for the source of her fever,” Kyle said, lifting the girl up into his arms. Kneeling on the floor had begun to make his knee hurt. He placed her carefully on the edge of the nearest cot, plopping down onto his stool.

Sadie shivered as the cool metal pressed against her chest, the stethoscope listening to her heartbeat. “I feel fine.”

“Nothing hurts?” Kyle asked, moving on from his checklist. Her lungs were strong, no crackling or wheezing. Pulse had been normal, blood pressure the same. It could be a simple cold.

Beckett stared at his sister, a flash of a memory from the morning returning to him. “Sadie, does your eye still hurt?” He’d been the one to patch her up, and she still complained of pain before they had left their house to come here.

Her good eye moved back and forth, testing the one under the patch. “Yeah, a little. But that’s not new.”

“Mind if I take a look at it?” Kyle asked, already sliding his fingers under the strap on either side to lift it away. He held her chin with one hand and leaned in. “What happened here?” The stitches were poorly done, and the wound marring from the top of her nose down the crook of her eye had puffed up, red and leaking pus. Infected, for a day at least.

“I fell,” she answered with her normal response coming to her lips without any thought. Any accident would always be told as her fault. She tripped down the stairs. Beckett and she were chasing each other, and she ran into the door. That’s how that bruise got there. That’s how her wrist was fractured. Lies. Engrained into her mind.

The doctor hardly believed it, but he wouldn’t press the matter at the moment. “Where did you get these stitches?” He needed to remove them completely, wash the wound and stitch it back correctly. First, it would be best to numb the area. With her being so young, he didn’t want her to have any unnecessary pain.

“I did…” Beckett spoke up, poking his index fingers together.

“You?”

With a nod of his head, his blue eyes dropping down to study the floor beneath his feet. “I read it in a book… the instructions were simple. Sadie wouldn’t sit still, so they’re jagged, but the wound stopped bleeding.”

Kyle patted his head, giving him a word of praise. “You did good, kid. The infection came from not being properly cleaned afterwards.” Gathering items off the shelf without much of a glance, he returned to the girl. Prepping the syringe with the numbing medication, her whine gave away her displeasure. “Not fond of needles?”

Sadie shrank back, rigid with fear. “No.”

His internal debate on how to handle the situation was interrupted as the door opened once again, the Ace of Hearts entering the room with files in hand. “New recruits’ medical information that you requested.” He paused, taking in the scene.

“Put them on the desk.” Kyle glanced between his fellow officer and the trembling girl. “Zero, come help me for a minute.”

Zero complied, following the instructions given to him perfectly. One arm wrapped around the girl’s torso, keeping her arms and body pinned to his own, and gently keeping the other resting on her cheek, pressing her against his chest. “This okay?”

“Yeah, don’t let her move too much,” Kyle said, giving Sadie a soft smile “Alright, little miss. I need you to close your eyes and take a deep breath for me, okay?” If she didn’t watch it coming, it would take away some of her nervousness, though it did little to stop her trembling body.

Sadie twisted her hands around the material of Zero’s jacket, squirming under his tight hold. Her eyes were closed but it did little to bring her comfort.

“Another deep breath,” Kyle said, waiting for her to exhale before giving her the shot to numb her eye. One little prick above and one below to make sure all of it would be numb for the rest of the procedure. It took a matter of seconds to complete. “There, all done with the needle, okay?”

Her lashes fluttered, the numbness making the right one impossible to feel.

Zero excused himself, having other duties to attend to. Kyle prepped to wash out the wound with warm water, using a magic crystal to heat it to the perfect temperature. “Does your brother have a name?” He hadn’t been properly introduced but Sadie’s name had been given several times.

“Beckett, he’s turning six in a few months,” Sadie said, the odd sensation of not quite feeling the water on her eye but seeing it blur her vision being strange.

Kyle kept her head tilted back with two fingers under her chin and wiped away the water that had spilled down her cheek. “Oh, and how old are you? Three?”

Her lips pursed out in a pout. “I turn four next week!”

“A big birthday, huh? How are you going to celebrate?” The silence immediately alerted him that he’d hit a sensitive topic. Placing the final stitches, he put a clean eye-patch back over it. “There, all finished.” He ruffled her hair. “You’re a tough little girl, aren’t you?”

Sadie couldn’t take anymore sweet words from him. Catching his hand as he stood up, she hesitated for only a moment. “We came because, well…” Words stumbled out of her mouth, nearly incoherent in her thought process, until she reached the ones that mattered. “See… you’re our dad.”

Kyle turned his attention fully back at the two kids staring up at him with hopeful eyes.

“Huh?”

More ikerev kids! ^_^ I hope you enjoyed this first chapter of the two precious beans.