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stpaullutheranchurch · 2 years ago

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december 11 2022

2022 Advent 3 December 11th

Old Testament: Isaiah 35:1-10

Psalm: Psalm 146

Epistle: James 5:7-11

Gospel: Matthew 11:2-15

Sermon Text: Matthew 11:2-15 Sermon Title:

Grace to you and peace, from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

John the Baptist preached of the coming Kingdom of God. As we heard last week, he preached both strong Law and sweet Gospel. He preached both repentance and faith; pointing everyone who would listen, to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For this, the governing authorities, both religious and political, conspired to kill him and eventually succeeded. Throughout its history, both Old and New Testaments, the people of God; “the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence”. (Matthew 11:12b) This is one of many themes that appears repeatedly in the Bible; God often acts in ways different from what people want or expect.

In the Gospel text for today, John is not dead yet, but He is in jail for daring to proclaim the law of God to the authorities of his day; something we seem very reluctant to do in our day. John publicly condemned the divorce of King Herod, who had afterwards married his brother’s wife. “John had been saying to Herod, it is not lawful for you to have her”. (Mark 6:18b) John had been faithful to his calling from God; preaching repentance of sins and faith in Christ for the forgiveness of those sins. In doing this, many of his own disciples began to follow Jesus; which is exactly as he would have wanted; after all John said that “He (Jesus) must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30) and “I am not worthy to untie His sandal”. (John 1:27b)

Still, John had likely not expected to end up in prison for his proclamation of that “the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand”. (Matthew 3:2b) Perhaps he was wondering why Jesus would allow him to remain in prison, while so many of the wicked were not only free, but remained quite powerful. (Something many of us wonder today as well). Maybe, he was wondering where was the coming judgment of God that he had been told to proclaim? At the very least, John was concerned about how his disciples would respond to these circumstances. So, “when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to Jesus, Are you the One who is to come, or shall we look for another”? (Matthew 11:2-3)

Jesus didn’t just say yes; He pointed to His mighty works saying, “Go and tell John what you hear and see; the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them”. (Matthew 11:4-5) All this is what was prophesied by Isaiah in the Old Testament reading today and elsewhere in his prophecy. Then Jesus said to them, “Blessed is the one who is not offended by Me”. (Matthew 11:6) Blessed is the one who does not stumble or fall away from faith because they suffer in this wicked world for the sake of the Gospel.

“As they (John’s disciples) went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John. What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings houses. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written; Behold I send My messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you”. (Matthew 11:7-10)

As was mentioned last week, and Jesus affirms here; the Old Testament Scriptures pointed to John the Baptist as the one who would come announcing the Christ. “If you are willing to accept it, he (John) is Elijah who is to come”. (Matthew 11:14) Then Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women, there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he”. (Matthew 11:11) What does this mean?

We know from the Holy Scriptures that John was a prophet sent by the living God to proclaim repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, the long-promised Messiah. But, we also know that he did not live long enough to see the completion of Jesus’ ministry; His atoning death on the cross for the forgiveness of the sins of the world, His bodily resurrection on the third day. In that way, we who look back on these historical events recorded in the Bible, have an advantage on those who lived before.

All of the great things Jesus had to say about John the Baptist, and yet at the end of our text this morning he is still in prison, awaiting execution. This is offensive to those who think that Jesus is a means to an end, a way to receive not just spiritual, but material blessings in this world. Some people, when they do not get what they want or expect from God or when the Bible testifies to the truth of something they do not like, or when they suffer some insult or even great persecution like John, they abandon their faith for what is more comfortable. The truth is though, John is right where he is supposed to be, because even from prison he is proclaiming Jesus as the Christ.

Getting back to what I began the sermon with; Jesus said something interesting; “For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John … from the days of John the Baptist, until now, the Kingdom of Heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force”. (Matthew 11:13, 12) You see, John was not the first, nor was he the last, preacher/prophet of God who suffered violence for the sake of the truth of God’s Word. Our Lord Jesus Himself suffered the pains of mocking, arrest, lying witnesses, beatings and crucifixion.

In the great faith chapter of Hebrews, the author speaks of Old Testament saints (and not just prophets and preachers) who “were tortured … suffered mocking and flogging and even the chains of imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute afflicted, mistreated … wandering about in deserts and mountains and dens and caves of the earth”. (Hebrews 11:35b-39)

In the New Testament, we hear of Stephen being stoned to death. We know from history that the Apostle Peter was crucified upside down and the Apostle Paul was beheaded. Eleven of the twelve disciples were martyred under both Roman and Jewish authorities. Various kinds of authorities have violently persecuted the church throughout its history; sometimes Christians persecuting other Christians, such as during the time of the Reformation. Historically and in recent decades, countless Christians have been killed in the name of Islam. Atheistic communist and socialist governments have killed or imprisoned many millions of people; including violently suppressing the church, in the last 150 or so years.

For the most part, so far, the persecution in our own country has not been violent; but threats to our freedoms, both religious and economic are very real. The passage (and) signing of the “Defense of Marriage” act recently, not only enshrines so-called gay marriage into federal law, (which is an abomination to our Lord) it opens the door to endless legal actions against individual Christians and churches simply trying to be faithful to God’s Word.

We also saw this during COVID, as our own government, supposedly for our own good, threatened fines and imprisonment if we didn’t do what they said; and a few pastors were arrested, jailed and fined. In many places, they forbade gathering around God’s Word, receiving the Sacrament, and visiting the sick, just to name a few. This was a radical overreach and we need to be aware that it could happen again. We seem to have forgotten that what people need to be comforted with when death is all around, (is not science) it is the Good News of the Gospel; that Jesus has conquered death, by His own death and bodily resurrection.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to understand the times we are living in. These types of things are happening at an increasingly alarming rate, and to ignore they are happening is foolish. We need to realize that our faith in Jesus will cost us; it will cost you. If you are not willing to make the sacrifices necessary now, in order to remain faithful to Christ, (while the consequences are somewhat mild) your faith will not survive when the persecution gets worse. (Matthew Dent)

Therefore, in the face of these, sometimes violent trials, we in the church must say with Luther, “Here I stand, I can do no other”. We stand with all the prophets, apostles, martyrs, and all who have confessed the Gospel, whether in peace or subject to violence. “We pledge to remain faithful, come what may, even in the face of those who violently oppose the Kingdom; be they believers in Isam or Hinduism or any other man-made religion; be they political leaders, academics, mobs, or invaders; be they people in the church who are offended by what we believe, and so oppose the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Through it all, may God grant us the grace to remain faithful; to take up our cross daily and follow Jesus; who saved us by His grace alone, through faith alone. Let us (daily) read the Scriptures. Let us treasure every opportunity to assemble together; confessing our sins and receiving absolution and receiving the body and blood of our Lord in the Sacrament. Let us proclaim the light of Christ in an increasingly dark world. Let us live lives of prayer and good works; living as baptized Christians; whether we are loved or hated by the religious and political leaders of our day.

The words of our Lord remain true in this fallen world; “the Kingdom of Heaven has suffered violence and the violent take it by force”. (Matthew 11:12b) Whether we end up suffering violence or not, beloved; we confess the same unity of faith with those who do. We confess that the Kingdom of Heaven has come near in the person of Jesus; who He has conquered sin, death, and the devil for us; so, we rejoice in His precious gifts and promises, “for the Lord is compassionate and merciful”. (James 5:11b) “He who has ears to hear, let him hear”. (Matthew 11:15)

The peace of God …

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gentrychild · 2 years ago

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I wanna see you take on Izuku, instead of going to UA. He goes to Sheiketsu! (I think I spelled that right)

1 - Instead of breaking three of his limbs and obliterating a giant robot that makes for 1/4 of the UA budget, Izuku just grabs Ochako and runs, which unfortunately doesn't earn him enough points. Nedzu is horrified and trying to bend the rules to get All Might's successor into his school but the stupid teachers are all saying "Nooo, you can't give extra points to the future number 1 hero, that's illegal." At the same time, the Shiketsu spy (nothing personal, there is also a UA spy in Shiketsu) informs the Shiketsu principal that there might be a way to get All Might's secret lovechild into their school. One of the teachers runs to the Midoriya house, tells them that Izuku has been selected for a super duper special program giving a chance to kids with complicated/dangerous quirks so if he wants, he can go to Shiketsu for free. The Midoriyas accept before the teacher has to offer them to pay Izuku to get in their school.

2 - Nedzu cries all the tears in his little body when Izuku is poached by Shiketsu and he vows to make Aizawa's life a living hell until he can get the walking subvention back to his school. All Might, who has to train his successor, breaks his contract with UA and becomes a consultant for Shiketsu. They are very smug about it. Meanwhile, Midoriya gets to learn in an environment that is free of rabid pomeranian and where his homeroom teacher actually teaches him not to break his bones. He makes friends. Inasa adopted him.

3 - Since I would like the students of 1-A to survive... Shiketsu asks UA to use the USJ on the day of the attack and to this day, are still convinced that he knew what was going to happen. ("YOU COULD HAVE TOLD US IF YOU DIDN'T WANT US TO USE THE USJ!") The completely normal TA who happens to have a gun shoots Shigaraki in the leg in self defense and Shigaraki is sent to prison. Izuku also happens to be in Hosu and saves Ingenium's little brother. And so on.

4 - Izuku is happy to be at a hero school but there are two problems: he doesn't do well with all the rules that Shiketsu imposes its students and the commute is absolute hell on him. Two hours and half to get to school is a little much. He moves in closer at some point but he really misses his mom. Meanwhile, while Shiketsu is happy to have Midoriya and All Might, they are fucking up their budget. Midoriya is a villain magnet, All Might is kinda expensive and there is so much destruction. T_T

5 - A deal is struck with Nedzu and they create an exchange program, where they are both exchanging students and teachers alike. Izuku, while still officially a Shiketsu student, is sent to UA, and of course, All Might follows him. That means Izuku only as a thirty minute commute to get to school and is back living with his mom. Aizawa is horrified at the idea of sending one of his students to Shiketsu and Nedzu, not forgetting that he costed him an entire semester without All Might and Midoriya, send Shinsou to Shiketsu even though Aizawa is crying and begging him to take Mineta instead.

#5 headcanons game #closed ask game

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bensonsbobblehead · 3 years ago

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I'll be home - epilogue

Pairings: Spencer Reid x FEM!Reader (ft BAU!team)

Category: fluff asf

Content warnings: none? (If you see any please tell me)

Word count: 0.8k

A/n: Here it is! The absolute final part of f I’ll be home :) Thank you so much for reading my first fic! I hope you enjoyed it! Please feel free to send a request!

It's been almost a year since Spencer had been sent to prison. It was approaching Junies first birthday. She has grown up to be the ruler of Spencer's life. With her walking now and saying ‘dada’ and ‘mama’ all day your house was always a girl party.

“I princess dada!” Junie babbles to Spencer who was playing her security guard, to escort her to her tea party in the living room.

“Hello princess Junie D Reid reporting for duty!” Spencer said getting a huge belly laugh from Junie. Spencer would move mountains for her and she knows it.

After all the laughs and playing it was finally time to get ready for bed. Miss junie always hated going to sleep cause she didn’t want to be away from Spencer

“Come J, how about if you go to bed now I’ll read two stories tomorrow?” This caused Junie to smiled. Since he came home even though she was so young she loved spencer.

He would read, sing, and dance with her whenever she wanted. It never surprised you because she has always been a daddy’s girl even in the womb.

As you were getting ready for bed Spencer walked in your room “she’s finally down. You know she has to be my favorite person ever” he said with a smile.

“I know that. She’s literally your twin inside and out” you said.

“You’re a close second though” he said jokingly as you jumped and bed getting under the covers to lay your head on his chest.

“I never want you to leave. I know it was out of your control but I didn’t think I would make it without you.” you said almost crying.

Three days later it was Junies beach themed party at her Papa Rossi house. She had on a onesie that had a big bold 1 and with a pretty rainbow tutu to match. The kids were playing, the men were outside playing cards while the women were in the kitchen.

You were all having a glass of wine and chatting “so, when are we getting a Junie number 2?” Penelope said getting a laugh from you. “Whenever Spencer is ready he always wanted a big family and I'm sure J would love to be a big sister.” you said smiling while looking through the window to see Spencer chasing the kids in the back.

“When is he going to .. ya know .. handle that?” Emily said while pointing to your ring finger on your left hand. “Oh, i uhh, i guess when he is ready. I haven't really thought about it” you said shyly.

You have thought about it like a lot. You loved Spencer dearly and he loved you and you both agreed you didn't need a paper to determine your love. You both were fine with what you had.

You wanted to be married just to show off who your wonderful husband is. You were fine just being a long term couple with a beautiful daughter. The girls continued to talk when Henry made a special request to go to the middle of the yard and everyone else sat down.

You were pretty sure this was some game Spencer was playing just to be silly so you went along with it. As you were looking around you saw Junie running towards you with her bouncy curls holding a sign. You couldn’t quite read the sign cause a certain Reid was holding it upside down. “Read mama!” She said getting a laugh from everyone, you flipped the sign and it read it.

The sign read “Even though you’re mine forever. Will you officially be mine forever?” With beautiful handwriting and decorations you’re sure Spence let the kids do.

With that you were tapped on the shoulder by Spencer. He began to get on one knee causing your hand to slap on your mouth. You knew the possibility of you making it official was low but you were in shock and happy.

“My darling, I have loved you since I laid eyes on you.” You loved him so much you couldn’t describe it. You looked at your team, family and saw as they watched with heart eyes. “You have laughed with me, cried with me, danced with me and I would do it everyday with you until I die and even after that.”

You knew his beliefs but his love was so strong he knew it couldn’t die even if he did.

“You’re strong and resilient. You grew, birthed, and raised our daughter while I was at my absolute lowest.” You would do it again if it meant he’d always come home to you in the end.

“Will you marry me? Answer quick I have old man knees” causing Juine to laugh so loud, she was so goofy like Spencer.

“You never had to ask, you already knew my answer.” He stood up and placed the ring on your finger bringing you in for a long kiss.

The kids were clapping and shouting. Penelope was absolutely losing it, while everyone else cheered.

With that the entire group gathered on the dance floor celebrating the entire Reid family.

This was everything you wanted and more. This was home.

#spencer reid #spencer reid angst #spencer reid x fem!reader #spencer reid imagine #bau x reader #spencer reid x you #spencer reid dad #spencer reid fluff #spencer reid x daughter #spencer reid x mom!reader #criminal minds teen!reader #criminal minds angst #criminal minds

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girl-of-many-fandoms · 3 years ago

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Stitches // 14

Pairing: Frank Castle x Reader

Summary: Frank is presented with a chance of doing what he thinks is best for himself and the girls and sometimes, playing along is all that one could do.

Warnings: blood, soft Frank

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 BONUS

MASTERLIST

—

Frank’s POV

“Vanessa, darling, what is all this?”

This son of a bitch really had no idea what was going on, that’s a first. She smiled at her clueless husband as she took a few steps closer to get to him. My eyes never left her as they embraced each other as best as they could with him still in cuffs.

“This is me bringing you home, this idiot ruined our special day and threatened me, which, by the way, I hate being threatened, Mr. Murdock.” Y/N started waking up, her eyes slowly opening as she adjusted to the light.

“You have a problem with me, not anyone else in here.”

“Wrong, they helped you put Wilson in that hole so I got to digging, did my research on all of you. You lost your sight at nine years old, not too long after that your dad got murdered. Karen got into a car accident that killed her brother back in Vermont. I actually pity Franklyn, poor lad just has a poor selection of friends and Y/N, oof, she’s been through a lot, haven’t you?” my jaw clenched as the jackass roughly manhandled her, pulling her up into a sitting position.

“See, at first I had no intentions of coming after you Frank but then I remembered what Fisk told me about you. I didn’t know how best to make sure I had your attention so I sent someone after the girl knowing that she’d high tail it back into the city to find you.”

“Lady you better get to the point very quickly before I kill every single one of you.” she chuckled like I just told her a joke.

“You won’t do that marine.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure if I were you.” smirking, she stepped closer to me until she stood chest to chest with me.

“You lost your wife and kids because of a stupid mistake you made once, don’t let history repeat itself.” she removed her hand from her coat pocket, shoving whatever what’s in her hand on my chest. I grabbed onto whatever it was and my chest tightened, the plastic stick felt like it weighed a ton in the palm of my hand.

"This is me giving you the opportunity to have a new, drama free life with your little family." Vanessa walked away from me over to Murdock and my eyes quickly locked with Y/N's before I actually turned the test over to read the result.

Two distinguished pink lines looked back at me, it's positive.

My girl's pregnant and this is how I find out.

"Vanessa, the only person you want to kill here is me, let the others go and do whatever you want to me."

"That is true but who said I wanted to kill you? You just hand delivered my husband to me and I didn't have to break a sweat."

"What do you want, lady?" I held on tight to the pregnancy test, still trying to wrap my brain around everything.

"I'm taking my husband and leaving. You let us walk out of here quietly and my men won't have to make a mess of things, that simple.”

She knew that targeting us would make us immediately think that Fisk was the one calling the shots and that we would take full advantage of the prisoner transport to break him out. She played us like a fiddle and I hate that she was able to do so.

“Frank, talk some sense into your partner. This is your chance to have it all with Y/N, Amy and the little one. The other two won’t have anything to worry about either.”

Y/N tilted her head to the side, her eyes conveying all that that she wanted to say. She didn’t want me to take it, she wanted them dead but if I don’t take Vanessa’s offer, I’d be sealing our fate.

Fuck

“Frank?”

“You know where my head’s at red.” Y/N rolled her eyes, knowing what I meant by that. I’m not risking it.

This wasn’t my fight to begin with and now that she’s carrying my kid, I’ll be damned if I were to jeopardize this.

—-

Y/N’s POV

Am I annoyed?

Yes.

Do I understand Frank’s reason?

Also, yes.

Fisk stood up and took pride in busting out of the handcuffs that once secured his wrist and ankles. The married couple happily embraced each other in front of us all and I could see the fury radiating off of Matt.

He was beyond pissed that we all got played like fools and the fact that Fisk would be back out on the streets of Hell’s Kitchen, doing what he does best. Beside me, Amy finally woke up from the chloroform they used to knock us out and the man kicked her to sit upright.

“If you want to keep that leg I suggest that you don’t ever do that again.”

“Why’d you do that?” Fisk left Vanessa’s side and slowly walked over to the man, Amy scooched over to me on her bum not wanting to get caught in the middle of whatever was about to happen.

The man looked like he was mere seconds away from crapping his pants as Fisk grabbed him by the collar, lifting him off the ground. We were all stunned by his actions, watching on as he manhandled the asshole and slammed him on the ground; his gun skating to the other side of the room.

Fisk pummeled his face repeatedly, the douchebag’s blood splattering onto my shoes and jeans. Amy turned her face away from the brutal beating and I didn’t blame her, the smell of the man’s blood started churning my stomach. Pleased with his work, Fisk got back on his feet and wiped his hands in his overalls.

��You’re welcome, now, if you’ll excuse us, my wife and I have some catching up to do. Mr. Murdock I do believe we’ll be seeing each other again.” Vanessa deviously smirked at me as she looped her arm with his on their way out, their goons following after them. Matt moved to go after him but Frank held him back.

Karen and Foggy rushed over to us and ripped the tape off of our mouths, pulling us into their arms. Once Frank noticed that Matt wasn’t going to take off after them he came over and took out his switchblade, cutting the duct tape off of us.

“We’ve got to get out of here.”

—

“Frank, we’ve told you a million times, we’re okay.” he sighed pressing our foreheads together, my eyes fluttered shut at the feeling of his skin against mine.

We’re currently in the bathroom of our apartment where he helped clean the cut at the back of my head from where I was knocked out. Frank made it his business to overhaul my body for any more cuts or bruises after he checked Amy from head to toe as well, which wasn’t necessary.

“I know, I know but that could’ve gone in a completely different direction.”

“It didn’t, I’m still here, we both are.” he kissed my nose a couple times, placing his warm palm on my stomach brushing his thumb against my flesh.

“You’re really pregnant, we’re doing this?”

“I guess we are.” for the first time in what felt like forever, Frank genuinely smiled down at me. He’s happy about this and that’s all that matters to me, I didn’t think that he would be up for this after Maria and the kids but I was sorely mistaken.

“Then I’m done doing what I do, I’m walking away from that part of me. You, Amy and this baby are all that I care about, sweetheart. This is what I need Y/N, a fresh start and I know it’s not going to be easy, fuck, just thinking about having another kid is scaring me but I have you to help me through it.”

“What if Fisk shows up again?”

“We’ll cross that bridge when or if we get to it, you don’t have to worry about it.” burying my face in his chest I wrapped my arms around his midsection, clinging onto his tall frame.

“We’re going to be okay.”

“Alright, we should probably get back to the others.” I broke our embrace and opened the door, Amy stumbled in and tried to play it off as if she hadn’t been eavesdropping on our conversation.

“I need to uh, pee.” Frank scoffed knowing that she heard everything that was said in here.

“Fine, you caught me, I was listening but I didn’t mean to do it. I heard my name and thought that you two were talking about telling me to leave s-” she started rambling really quickly and he stopped her by pulling her into a hug.

“We’re not letting you go off on your own, you are family to us Amy. You’re one of us, kid.” she held on tighter to him as he gently rocked them side to side.

He’s got the parenting thing down, that much is pretty clear.

“Can you both promise me something? Promise that whatever happens either of you are not going to leave me.”

“We promise.” sniffling she gave him one last squeeze before letting him go

“Also, no sex tonight, please, I need all the sleep that I can get.” Frank snapped his head in my direction, both Amy and myself laughing while he just stood there clueless.

“The walls are very thin.” she patted his chest and walked out and his face turned pink from embarrassment.

“She heard, oh God-” still laughing my ass off I walked out to join the group of people in my living room. Matt had removed his mask and was now sitting on the far end of the sofa, Foggy and Karen treated themselves to the beer in the fridge and Amy was stuffing her face with a sandwich she stole off of Foggy’s plate.

“You know, I still can’t picture a mini version of you two running around here, that’ll take some time to get used to.” Foggy offered Frank a beer and he accepted. Karen draped her arm over my shoulder and bumped me with her hip.

“Congratulations, I just know that baby’s going to have amazing genes.”

“Thank you, I’m still wrapping my head around it.”

“I don’t know about any of you guys but I see this as a good thing, minus you know, Fisk being out there.” Matt scoffed at Foggy’s words and that didn’t go past Frank’s ears.

“This isn’t a win, Foggy. This is just us playing Fisk’s way, thanks to Frank but of course you won’t see that.”

“I’m sick of this shit. You expected me to say no and watch them put a bullet in their heads? For fuck’s sake red, your dumbass should’ve known that I wasn’t going to risk anything happening to them, in case you forgot, me fighting someone else’s battle was the reason I lost my family in the first goddamned place!” Frank’s grip on the bottle tightened until his knuckles turned white.

“If letting him walk free was the only way to get him off our backs then so be it, I’m tired of you coming at me like I’m the wrong one. This all started with your dumbass not me, not anyone else in the room, only you.”

“Matt, what is your problem? You find every little reason to come at him when he hasn’t done anything to you and it’s getting on everyone’s nerves.” Karen crossed her arms completely pissed off by his prissy attitude.

“He sent Y/N and Amy out of state while he stayed back to help us get to the bottom of all of this. It didn’t end like we wanted it too but damn buddy, our friend is pregnant at least be happy about that, you, of all people knows how much this means to her.” Foggy chipped in as well, he’s been wanting to knock sense into Matt’s thick skull since he found out that he was the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen.

“What if Fisk decides that he wants to come after them, which he eventually would do?”

“We’ll figure it out then but for now I’m going to enjoy every single minute that I don’t have to think about that asshole and his wife. I’m not naive, I’m not fully trusting Wilson and Vanessa to keep up their end of the bargain but I’ll be damned if I continue to live my life in fear of them and miss out on the joys of having a family of my own.” I am so done with this, with him. Rolling my eyes I leaned against the wall, folding my arms across my chest.

“If you want to go after him Matthew, be my guest but you better make sure you have the guts to take lives and not drag us all down with you.”

This was supposed to be one of the happiest moments of my life but instead of celebrating and actually enjoying the company of my friends we’re all at odds with one particular person in the group.

“I know this means a lot to you Y/N but I’m not okay with any of it. Your relationship, this baby, the way things went down, none of it.”

“Last time I checked I didn’t ask for your stamp of approval for anything. You sound like a broken record now, having the world of crap to say about Frank and it’s always the same, I don’t know what you see in him, he’s no good for you bullshit but I’d at least expect for you to be happy about this baby.”

Hearing him say that he doesn’t like the fact that I am finally pregnant cut deeper than any hurtful word thrown at me has. He knows how Luke and I struggled to conceive and now that I have, he doesn’t ‘approve’.

“Before this gets completely out of hand, I think you should leave.” Amy interjected, the dirty blonde haired girl has also heard enough of Matt’s bullshit to last a lifetime. She hated the fact that Y/N and Frank couldn’t get the chance to properly enjoy their night they way they should be and him lashing out like this was not helping his case.

“Y/N I di-”

“You said what you said and meant every word. Amy’s right, you should leave.”

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cinebration · 4 years ago

Text

Written in DNA (Booker x Reader) [Epilogue]

You tie up loose ends.

Ahhhh! This epilogue is, like, twice the size of other chapters. I should’ve broken it into two, but I figured you all wanted to get to the end!

Tagged: @lucy-sky, @city-of-weird, @all-the-right-regrets, @alannister-always-pays-her-debts, @fleetwoodsmacabitch

Warnings: violence

Gif Source: captaindelafere

General Howzer looked too thin to be a military man at his age, but what people mistook for smallness was all lean muscle, as tough as a coffin nail. His hair had gone gray despite his age, but it gave him a steeled look that he didn’t mind. It added to the ferocity of his blue eyes.

With Specimen 049 back in the compound, he let himself breathe easy for a moment. Her absence had been a source of great distress for him—a fact his jaw still attested to, aching from all the grinding he had inflicted on it.

But there was still the trouble of how Specimen 049 had escaped.

It kept him up at night. How had she contacted the outside? How had she arranged the help? They had scoured her quarters after the breakout, searching for anything that indicated how she had reached beyond her concrete room. Having found nothing, Howzer had to admit it hadn’t had anything to do with Specimen 049. Someone else had come for her on their own initiative.

Howzer considered shutting down the program. Specimen 049 had been one of a few successful experiments—perhaps the best, because she had never resisted, had never fled.

Until that one day.

She may not have orchestrated the escape, but she had flown the coop all the same when the opportunity arrived. She had obliterated his best team when he sent them after her.

Perhaps the experiments were ultimately a failure. Everything had worked but for the ability to suppress or remove the flight instinct, the need to escape prison. If even Specimen 049, his model subject, had shucked her chains, then there was no hope.

Chaos erupted outside the compound, alarms blaring, but Howzer didn’t question it, too consumed by his problem. Whoever was assaulting the base had no hope of success, besides.

The doorknob of his office turned. He glanced at it in irritation. “Private, I ordered you—”

He froze as you stepped into the room, followed by the man he recognized as your liberator from the week before.

“Specimen oh-four-nine.”

“General Howzer,” you said, your voice crisp, without inflection. “I’m glad you decided to work late tonight.”

You moved forward, crossing the room in three quick strides. Howzer reached for the gun in his desk drawer. Your hand clamped down on his wrist, snapped it. Pain exploded up his arm. The gun clattered to the floor as he hissed, cradling his wrist.

You gestured to the other man. Nodding, he handed you his pistol and circled around the desk, pulling the keyboard of Howzer’s computer toward him.

“What are you doing?” Howzer growled.

He watched in mounting horror as the man located the program files. He went into Specimen 049’s folder, deleted it, and then backed out. He hesitated, then deleted everything related to the program before purging them from the hard drive.

“You can’t just erase everything,” Howzer sneered. “We’ll just recreate it all.”

You shook your head, yanked him to his feet. “We’ll see.” Turning to the other man, you ordered, “Finish here.”

You paused, pulled open another drawer of Howzer’s desk. A bottle of scotch lay at the bottom, a quarter of it gone. Taking it, you pushed Howzer toward the door.

“What happened? You were my best results.”

You remained quiet, shoving him through the door and down the hallway. The chaos of the explosion had drawn everyone to the front of the compound. You led Howzer away to the back, then through a steel door.

The cold night air hit Howzer like knives. He shivered despite himself, the pain in his wrist flaring. Fear pushed at him, but he shoved it down. He was General Benjamin Howzer, and damned would he be if he let some young upstart intimidate him.

“Your car,” you demanded.

He pointed to a brown sedan nestled beside an SUV. Fishing in his pocket for keys, you clicked the button. The car’s lights flashed.

“I expected you to lie.”

“Good. That’s what we trained you to do.”

Howzer was already planning his escape. The car was home turf for him. He knew the way the wheel jerked to the right when he hit pot holes and how quick it would take to slam the seat back against you. He knew the passenger seatbelt was loose and fraying, unreliable.

He would walk away.

You shoved him into the driver’s seat, got into the passenger seat. Howzer settled in behind the wheel, trying to anticipate your moves.

You handed him the liquor bottle. “Drink.”

“No.”

“Don’t make me make you.”

He stared you down. “Make me.”

Starbursts exploded in his vision as you seized his face, jamming the bottle against his lips. He felt a tooth crack, blood mingling with the burning scotch. He choked, unable to swallow so much so fast, but you were forcing the bottle further past his lips, down into the back of his throat.

Then it was gone. He gasped, lungs and throat burning, lips pouring blood. “You fucking bitch!”

“I am what you made me. Now drive.”

Fear tried again, more successful this time in making him afraid. “Where?”

You gestured to the street leading to the highway.

There was still an opportunity to escape. Howzer tried to formulate it in his mind as he started the sedan and worked his way to the freeway. He slowly put on his seatbelt.

You didn’t do the same.

Even better, he thought.

Howzer’s foot pressed down on the gas, pushing the speedometer past eighty, then ninety. You watched dispassionately.

Fear wrapped around his guts.

“When this is over, I’m going to get your boyfriend, too,” he snarled. “You’ve damned him in all of this.”

He eyed the crop of woods looming up ahead alongside the highway.

“You won’t get the chance.”

Howzer’s seatbelt suddenly went slack. He glanced down, saw your hand retreat from the release button.

He had planned to swerve into a tree, but seeing the seatbelt made him hesitate. He shot a glance at you.

“Nice try,” you whispered, and yanked the steering wheel beneath his hands.

Booker drove the car down the long stretch of road, searching for you. He found the wreckage of Howzer’s sedan, the crumpled body of Howzer himself wrapped around the tree.

No sign of you.

Trying not to worry—had someone else grabbed you first?—Booker drove further down, searching the woods.

At last, he glimpsed something gray in the distance. As he drew near, it resolved into you, wandering slowly down the asphalt. He pulled to a stop beside you.

You slipped into the passenger seat. A dark bruise was forming on your arms and forehead. Booker gestured to them. You frowned in confusion. He reached over and gently brushed the back of a finger across your arm. It sent a prickle up his hand.

“Dashboard,” you murmured, watching his finger.

Pulling away slowly, Booker refocused on the road. An SUV was approaching from the opposite direction. The headlights flashed.

“They came to help?”

The surprise in your voice matched Booker’s own. “Yes.”

“See? Family comes through.”

Chest constricting, Booker rolled to a stop beside the SUV. Andy stuck her head out of the driver’s window. “Everything good?”

Booker gave her a thumbs up. He could see the others crowding at the windows, peering at him and at you through the windshield.

“There’s a place not far from here,” Andy continued. “To crash for the night.”

Booker shifted uncomfortably and glanced at you. “Whatever you want,” you told him.

“Okay,” he answered Andy.

He followed the immortals to the safe house. The car ride passed in silence, you staring out the window. He wanted to say something but couldn’t think of anything. He felt uncomfortable, hyperaware of your presence—the way you were breathing, your reflection in the window.

At last, he asked, “Why did Howzer call you Specimen oh-four-nine?”

“That was my number.”

He recalled you telling him to call you “Spec” if he wanted a name back when he first met. Clearing his throat, he said, “My real name is Sebastien.”

He felt your eyes on him before you quietly gave him yours. He repeated it over and over in his mind, guarding it like some precious piece of you.

Pulling up to the safe house, Booker was surprised to discover it was actually a two-storey house. There were enough rooms for everyone to sleep on their own.

You trudged up the stairs and into the bathroom, the shower turning on moments later. Booker and the others stayed downstairs, infected by your silence.

Andy offered Booker a bottle. He reached for it, hesitated, shook his head. Arching an eyebrow, she pulled from it herself.

Booker kept an ear toward the shower, listening to the shower splash differently as you moved. The others watched him, exchanging glances with each other.

Nile broke the silence. “Will she be okay?”

Booker frowned. “What do you mean?”

“She doesn’t have a mission. Isn’t that what she was trained to do? Always follow a mission? I mean, she was doing that when she brought you to Quynh, wasn’t she?”

The shower turned off. Booker heard you cross softly across the floor.

“She’s free,” he murmured, “and she’s strong.”

“What about you?”

The question shook him. What about him? He hadn’t thought about it since he returned to the States to break you out.

Overhead, he heard a door shut quietly, a mattress squeak.

“I’m going to help her, if she’ll have me,” he answered.

Despite his exhaustion, Booker didn’t sleep that night. He rose early and made breakfast for everyone, including himself, after venturing into town to buy groceries.

You were the first to descend the stairs. Sunlight had yet to dispel the early morning darkness. Booker snapped to attention as you approached him. You looked rested, perhaps more so than he had ever seen you. Something about the softness of lingering sleep on your face made Booker’s heart trip.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” you answered. Sitting at the table, you dug gratefully into the plate of food: eggs, oatmeal, bacon, toast. Booker had given you a triple portion, remembering the last time you had scarfed food down.

“I was thinking,” you began, then hesitated. Jabbing at the bacon with your fork, you asked, “Did you do the other thing I asked you to?”

Booker nodded and fished the flash drive out of his pocket. He had palmed it into a USB port on Howzer’s computer, pretending to delete the files when instead he had transferred them over. You took it from him with a delicate touch, as though afraid to break it.

“Do you think there are any left?”

Booker’s chest ached at the sound of your voice cracking. “I saw a lot of names.”

“But are they alive? No, don’t tell me. I’ll find out.” You pocketed the flash drive and resumed eating. “So, what’s the deal with you and the others?”

“I still have ninety-nine years.”

You frowned. “I’m sorry. What will you do?”

He sat down across from you, not quite meeting your gaze. “I was hoping…you wouldn’t mind having me around.”

The fork paused halfway to your mouth. You gaped at him, jaw slack. He would have laughed if not for his anxiety over your answer.

Lowering the fork, you cleared your throat. “No…”

Booker felt like bricks had hit him over the head. He glanced away, stared down at his hands. What had he expected? That you might think of him as more than anything than the guy who had been part of a mission?

“I wouldn’t mind.”

He jerked his head back up. You met his gaze levelly, a tentative smile on your lips. Relief coursed through him, better than anything he could think of. Raking a hand over the back of his neck, he struggled to fight the grin pulling at his mouth.

“If I catch you drinking, I will shank you with the bottle,” you told him.

“I believe you.”

“Good. Now, where do you think we should start?”

“Here,” he answered, and he leaned forward to kiss you.

#Booker x Reader #Booker #Booker imagine #Sebastien le Livre x Reader #Sebastien le Livre #Sebastien le Livre imagine #Matthias Schoenaerts x Reader #Matthias Schoenaerts #Mathias Schoenaerts imagine #The Old Guard

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the-silentium · 4 years ago

Text

Home Sweet Home

Masterlist - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8

Fors is an Original planet. I do not give permission to people to use it for their own fics, the planet, the animals, the Nightmares, the lore or anything related to Fors. Thank you.

Pairing: Bad Batch x Reader

Words: 7569 words

Warnings: Angst, sexual innuendos.

A/N: Last “soft” chap before the action come back ~

**Words in bold are words said in French, which means the clones can’t understand it.**

Taglist: @clone-rambles / @mandaloriandin / @apathetic-catastrophie / @jenstar1992-2 / @haloangel391 / @lightning-wolffe / @cherrydemon5 / @and-claudia / @lackofhonor / @gaymasonjar / @depthsreturn / @koskareevesismyqueen / @leonidas-banana-phone

____________________

Nothing changed. Not the obnoxious people, not the earthy smells, nor the heavy atmosphere. The loud locks of the gates closing behind your group still resonated through your ears, sounding too much like the last nail sealing your coffin shut and not like a protecting device. Was it your instincts telling you that you made the wrong decision? Or was it just the dread of returning somewhere you never wanted to return? Either way, it was clear that you didn't feel any bits of nostalgia at being back between these rocky walls.

Hells, even the council's room was giving off unpleasant vibes with its tall bookcases carved directly into the walls that protected way too many old books that weren't all redacted in French nor in Basic. A map of the planet hung on the furthest wall of the room, the different villages identified with their respective symbol to help with trades, hunts, fights. Frabas' name crossed out in blood-red ink to remind everyone of the overnight genocide that happened there.

The lanterns were the only nice things in the room. The soft green and blue crystals contained within the glass enclosure bathed the whole room in their light. Maybe if you focussed on them long enough their glow would soothe your mind.

"Excuse me? You spit on it?" Tech's sudden high pitch tone was surprising enough to pass through your incessant flow of thoughts

"Yeah. Right there." He pointed at an intergrown knot close to the far extremity of the table where the heads usually sat. "What? Did you want me to piss on it? That's a bit too animalistic." Kayden added as soon as he noticed Tech's offended expression that quickly morphed into a disgusted one.

"Honestly, with you people, I wouldn't have been surprised." Crosshair's jeer traveled the room in a second. It took even less to drop Kayden's mood.

His hand tightened around yours and without losing a single second, you matched his grip to keep him from expressing his frustration through anything physical. Now wasn't the time to start a fight between your own team members when several other players might want to hurt you.

If tonight's bad luck could turn into good fortune at least once, now would be the time. The 'diplomats' were out of harm's way, Kayden had technically done what he was told and thus was not considered a traitor, leaving you alone on the spot.

"Look who just found his voice again." He caught your message and used his words instead. "I was sure you'd swallowed your tongue when you ran like a chicken back there."

"And who ran the fastest in the group eh?" The sniper walked to the table. His hands fell flat on the wood to support himself as he leaned forward, daring the brunette at your sides to make a move.

"The fastest is usually the one to survive." He pointed out as he scratched at his clothed chest with his free hand, his right one still prisoner of your grip.

"Crosshair." Hunter slightly pulled him backward by the pauldron and away from the incoming confrontation. "Enough." He added with a growl, clearly remembering how this wasn't his brother. Not fully.

Against all expectation, Crosshair did back off, although he quickly moved his animosity towards the new source of irritation, clear proof that this wasn't the man with whom Hunter had shared so many memories, good or bad. He was a total stranger that didn't respect him at all and lived to push his buttons. Why he stayed with you all was a mystery, although you weren't complaining. Keeping him restrained while in the jungle would have been a true challenge.

It was like waiting for a storm to explode. The dark grey clouds were there, the strong winds blew away everything in their wake, the thunder resonated in the distance, yet there wasn't any droplet of rain. The men faced each other just like in the cave, mere centimeters separated their chest plates and anytime now, the first blow would mark the start of a colossal downpour.

It was nerve-wracking. Even Wrecker and Tech were watching, clearly pondering if they should intervene or if by doing so they would aggravate the situation. You started getting up as the door opened and startled you into seating down again.

Never had you thought that seeing Arlan enter a room would make you feel relieved, yet, this was exactly how you felt at the moment. It seemed like the sudden entrance of an outsider was enough for Crosshair to back off. You subtly crossed your fingers that he wouldn't lash out at the leader even though the scene would very probably make you feel so much better. The consequences of going against Arlan just weren't worth it.

Before the dark-haired leader could notice it, you separated your hand from Kayden's, both your backs straightened and your unbothered masks came back on. Wearing the well-worn suit of this fake cocky personality was deeply uncomfortable but truly necessary. Over the years it became your best shield and Kayden your best ally.

"Take a seat." Arlan waved towards the table as he walked deeper into the room, passing Hunter and Crosshair like they weren't even there. It took years to be able to read the black-haired leader, but it definitely came in handy now.

His calm tone hid a deep irritation that showed through the tightness gripping the muscles around his eyes. He quickly tamed his features as he took place at the end of the table, his elbows immediately meeting the hardwood of the armchairs to allow his fingers to interlace before him.

Soon the 4 seats opposing you were occupied with rigid troopers. Their helmets still firmly on would have been seen as an enormous lack of respect if only Arlan's attention wasn't already focussed on two nasty boots dripping mud onto the piece of art that was the table.

Arlan only needed one look to communicate thoroughly his thoughts. The hard gaze that could easily be misinterpreted as a constipated one transpired enough threats that Kayden removed his boots without any further delay. The ultimatum was clear and you both knew that there was nothing Arlan despised more than repeating himself. Well, maybe you two were the firsts on his list, but that was especially because you loved to make him repeat himself.

If only he didn't look like there was an entire fire-ants colony in his pants, Kayden would have kept his feet up for a bit longer just to raise the man's blood pressure a little. You swore he got more grey hair each time he had to talk with the two of you.

The disapproving sigh accompanying the stormy grey hues boring deeply into yours was a true gift to Kayden whose smirk widened in consequence.

"Do you know why you're here?" The question resonated within the room with utmost seriousness, a seriousness that you forced yourself to shrug nonchalantly in response.

"Surely not because you missed me." You placed a smirk on your lips to copy your sidekick and complete the infernal duo act.

His dark-grey sleeves rode up his arms as he bent forward, his elbows now resting on the table, to get a closer look at you, 3 chairs away. Whilst being very tempting, flinching under his hard stare was out of the question. Four months in a medbay with kind people almost made you forget what the world was really made of; selfish people who always looked out for weaknesses to exploit and were eager to beat others down in hope to raise themselves up.

"We are here to talk relations between the Republic and your planet." Hunter sharply stated, cutting short the staring contest. "My team was sent in a preliminary manner to inform you of the Republic's intentions seeing as your representatives couldn't be reached through official channels. In the following days, two senators will be coming here with adequate troops to talk in the Senate's name."

How the room got hotter in a second was a mystery. All you knew was that even though his tone was borderline too crisp to be qualified as diplomatic, Hunter's words were so perfectly chosen that you wondered if he'd done this kind of job before.

As the silence following Hunter's declaration stretched, Arlan's gaze moved to the hard visor of the commando trooper. The intensity of his stare left you thinking that maybe he was able to see through the shade. Unfazed, Hunter stared right back as you did just moments prior.

You nearly missed it. If you hadn't been watching Arlan as intently as you were doing, the minuscule flash in his eye would have been overlooked. A muscle jumped in his jaw, filling you with dread. Something was wrong. Somehow he had the upper hand and he was internally relishing his win.

"A very well executed lie, but I am sorry to announce you that the Republic won't come here, Sergeant. Not after the Jedis signed a treaty to never come on this planet ever again." You were sure he paused just to get a reaction out of the commando. Hunter's helmet hid his expression perfectly. If he'd reacted or not was totally lost on everyone, unfortunately, it wasn't the same for Kayden whose eyes grew as big as saucers. "No Jedi, no clone, no senator, no Separatist, no outsider is welcome here."

Say what now? Never before had you ever heard of Jedis ever landing a foot on Fors, even less signing a treaty.

Hunter's helmet slightly dipped in your direction, surely to get some answers through your body language. Surely, he got the message when you gulped, wariness filling your eyes as you continued to stare at the man in his mid-50s. His message had been pretty clear from the very beginning. That he felt the need to add that the clones weren't welcome caused doubts in your village ethics to creep into your mind.

As far as you knew, no one had ever been executed in cold blood. Sure, you'd heard stories as a child about how people who were a tad bit too disturbing in the community would vanish overnight, obviously thrown out into the jungle to be feasted on by some hungry creature. Without knowing if they were true events or simply a way to make children behave, you took a habit of sticking with Kayden as soon as the firsts Furants that created their nests in the crooks of the walls circling the village entered the gates to hide, signaling that 7 pm had recently passed and the Nightmares would show up in under an hour. After all, there was no better nuisance in Alryan than the two of you.

Knowing that Arlan's smugness was carefully hidden under layers of practiced indifference, a very tantalizing urge to break your knuckles once again send tingles into your dominant hand. Breaking his nose for a second time would definitely help your mood as well as everyone else's in the room, you were sure of it.

"The- the Jedis? But they never-"

"It is not common knowledge." Arlan archly cut Kayden short and rolled his eyes with that very particular expression that made you feel like the stupidest idiot in the galaxy. In response, the tingles in your hand intensified. "This treaty is way older than me after all. We never needed the Republic's help in any way, not then and certainly not now." He at least had the decency to meet his eyes as he talked.

"And what do you think of the Nightmares? Frabas-" You piped up, the image of a traumatized red-head girl shaking in her bloody clothes popped in your mind. "They could've helped with that."

"They are protectors." He closed his eyes in exasperation and pinched his nose like he'd repeated the concept over and over again to a child that never retained anything.

"They don't protect shit! They kill us!"

Where had he been his whole life? Every night they came and howled, screeched, hissed, yapped and laughed on the other side of the gates in hope of having some juicy flesh and fresh blood to appease their hunger and thirst. Some even went as far as hitting the gates repeatedly in hope of breaking their way in. 10 hours per night, 368 nights a year, every year.

"They protect the Core that's in you--" He interrupted himself as soon as he noticed the irritation breaching his mask, allowing venom to drip through the closing cracks. His rage fit only lasted a second but it was a second too much. He gave you more than he wanted you to know.

"What do you mean? In me?" You could feel yourself starting to shake. In apprehension, anger or fear you couldn't tell. There was too much going on at the same time, assaulting your already tired mind.

"Nothing that you need to know." His tone was definitive, his grey eyes conveying the same message.

"Bullshit!" You jump to your feet just as he pushed his chair to get up. "If it's in me like you say, I deserve to know!"

Your yell must have triggered something, because as soon as the words flew from your mouth, Rhian and his troops entered the room, bows fully bent and ready to shoot in your direction. Elijah had his hammer in both hands, fully prepared to use it against a clone- your money went on Wrecker- if needed and Pete was ready to blow a tranquilizer- or it could easily be a fast-acting poison- into someone's neck.

The answer to the intrusion was immediate. Wrecker's chair went flying behind him at the impact of his legs when he followed his CO's movement. All four troopers stood on their side of the table, imposing and totally ready to enter a fight if need be. You and Kayden though? Totally not ready. You were unarmed and by the time you took hold of Kayden's bow, at least three arrows would have found their way into your body.

"All you really deserved was to die on Murphy Day." He snarled in your direction as his impatience once again showed through his slipping mask. "Throw them in the slammer."

That's it. Goodbye knuckles. Always the perceptive, Kayden grabbed your upper arm, right below the Algax's clean-cut, and pulled you back to his side even before you made the first step towards the bastard. Always there to keep you alive for another day. What a nice friend.

"Hands behind your head." Rhian barked as he approached you and Kayden from behind.

Doing as you were told, you noticed the troopers hesitating before doing as ordered when you nodded at them. Tech lifted his good hand, the other keeping hold of Crosshair's cage. One of the archers went to seize it, but a sudden shoulder to the sternum kept him away.

He's not just a nerd. You smirked as the archer stumbled.

"Let them keep it." Rhian waved off the fuming archer who definitely wanted to go back and win his fight. Too bad. "Walk ahead. You know the way." Rhian nodded towards the door after getting a hold of Kayden's bow and quiver, his very own bow aimed at the floor. The string was stretched just enough to cause serious damage if he needed to defend himself quickly, but he seemed to know that it wasn't needed.

Kayden led the way with you in tow, Elijah and Pete moved away from the door to let you pass at a safe distance. Out of the corner of your eyes, you noticed Rhian breaking formation to move up to Arlan, who surely waved him over.

You sighed as you remembered that he didn't even tell you why he wanted you here.

The clone's boots resonated against the rock floor at each of their steps, close enough to appease your mind.

"Do you know a way out of here?" Hunter's voice emanated softly within your ear.

You moved your shoulder blades in a circular motion as if you were stretching the muscles and nodded your head at the same time as to not look too suspicious to the archers escorting the group. Good thing that they didn't notice your earpiece yet.

Wrecker must have been the one right behind you because he relayed the message to Hunter through the private line.

"Now?" You rotated your head from side to side like when you needed to crack your neck.

"No." Came Wrecker's whisper.

"In the slammer?" A small nod.

"Yeah."

"Then we wait and we get out as soon as possible." Hunter told his half-plan to the Batch who hummed their approvals.

Once again the unusual parade that you formed along with the armored men attracted many curious eyes. Ignoring them was easier this time around, the familiarity of their chary gazes finally coming back to allow you to concentrate on something else.

This part of the village was carved so deeply into the mountain that even the occasional howls coming from the jungle couldn't be heard. There couldn't have been better protection for a population of more than 700 people than a natural barrier of rock. Sure, this very convenient refuge could easily become a tomb for a lot of villagers in the event of a breach, but several emergency tunnels were created for this very situation. They were maintained at a perfect condition in case a repeat of Frabas' catastrophe ever came to happen.

Every Alryan learned the location of every single tunnel at the youngest of age. They were only to be used in emergency cases and right now, it was an emergency. It all depended on the perspective.

"It never changed." You stated quietly as the slammer's entrance came into view, the dark purple glow emanating from its depths was a stark contrast to the lively colors of the main area.

Goosebumps rose on your arms as you followed Kayden down the tunnel. The nearby natural well raised the humidity in these parts of the mountain and thus caused the air to become colder. Just my luck, you thought as the fresh air infiltrated your clothes by the multiple tears in their fabric.

"In there." Rhian speed-walked to catch up with Kayden and direct him to a cell carved into the wall on his left.

You were locked up with him, Wrecker and Hunter got situated in the cell facing yours, Crosshair and Tech on the one right beside theirs.

Right as Tech got in after a growling Crosshair, Rhian took hold of the cage and kicked Tech inside who landed in a yelp. You weren't even gripping the bars yet that the heavy door closed behind the engineer.

"Give him back!"

"Sorry 'bout that." He threw the cage in the air twice, the flame within shaking frantically as it hit the bars. "Orders are orders." He ignored the yells of his name bouncing in the detention center and walked out unbothered, his men in tow.

"How quick can you get us out of here?" The urgency in Hunter's tone only added to your own raiding anxiety. What would Arlan do to Crosshair? He was totally defenseless.

"Couple of minutes. But we'll need Back-Up. I hope you have it." You turned to Kayden who scoffed in mocked offense.

"You have back-up?" Tech wondered out loud, tilting his head. "I thought no one would help you here."

"Jeez. Thanks for the vote of confidence." Kayden held his heart before reaching for his chest pocket. "Back-up is my Godot." He pulled a hand-sized lizard from his pocket to show the Batch.

The Godot's orange scales shone softly at Kayden's contact, their light reflecting onto the soft line of baby blue leaves growing on each side of its spine. Its three-fingered paws grabbed fingers and clothes to remain in place while two black eyes moved independently from one another to take in what was happening around. Its long tail wrapped around Kayden's wrist as he lifted it up to show off, the small leaves at its end shining brightly in surprise.

Wrecker gasped and lifted his helmet to get a better view of the animal. "That's what I saw the first time, Tech! It's the lizard that disappeared!"

"Nothing disappeared Wrecker. There was nothing there." Tech rebuked.

"Don’t be so sure about that! They can camouflage themselves, right Back-Up?" At the half-baked order, the tiny lizard shut off its light and changed its skin pigmentation to copy its environment to perfection.

"It disappeared Tech! See? That's what I saw and you didn't believe me!" Wrecker's tone raised as he pointed to Kayden's seemingly empty outstretched hand.

"Wrecke-" You tried to warn him to keep his voice down but heard steps coming your way.

"Back-up, go get the master key at home." Kayden hurriedly whispered to the Godot and quickly kneeled to allow it access to the ground so it could wander away and get the required object.

A guard appeared at the end of the corridor just as Kayden got up and threw himself onto the upper hammock fixed to the walls. He moved around to get comfortable and into the right position, hands under his head.

"So, I've heard that Stockholm syndrome was hard on you." Brett, a particularly annoying scout, mocked from behind his beard.

"Nope. Still don't like y'all." You replied nonchalantly despite the urge to punch him through the bars.

"I was talking about them." He pointed to the two cells containing the clones and you lifted a single eyebrow.

"Tech, definition of Stockholm syndrome please." You asked, maintaining eye contact during the whole process.

"Stockholm syndrome," You saw the genius perked up at your request. Sadly, he didn't lift a finger in the air while he recited the meaning of the word. "Is a psychological response wherein a captive begins to identify closely with his or her captors, as well as with their agenda and demands." He ended with a nod and the movement satisfied you enough to let the lack of a finger go.

"That means you dumbass." You spat as you crossed your arms over your chest. "I'm with them willingly."

"Get fucked!" Kayden shouted with a laugh that got half a smile out of you.

"You? Our captive? It sure felt like the other way around." He finally switched to basic and the hate coating his words told you that he wasn't talking about the pranks and snarky attitude, no, he was talking about something bigger than that.

"What are you talking about?" Maybe you could get more answers out of him than you did with Arlan.

He scoffed. "Stop trying to play the idiot. Between the two of you, Kayden's the best at it."

You ignored said idiot's thanks to press the matter. "Okay and let's imagine I really don't know what the hell you're talking about. What in the damn world did I do?" You remembered Arlan's word and almost added what is wrong with me? but Brett was already dropping the three medicine canisters to the ground, out of reach from either your cell or the clones' and went away.

"You live."

You sat on the ground, drained of every ounce of energy you once had. What was wrong with you? Why did everyone want you dead? The fear you felt at Arlan's words came back as you thought about what it could all mean. The Nightmares who stopped appearing when you left and came back when you did. Whatever the Core was that supposedly resided in you and the fact that the Lumsin knew what it was while you didn't. That the villagers never saw you as an annoying brat but a vile oppressor.

You faintly heard Kayden talking with Tech about Back-up, but couldn't make out the exact words, your own thoughts being way too loud for you to clearly hear anything outside your head.

"It's alright. Don't worry about it." An arm fell on your shoulders and pulled you into Kayden's side who now sat next to you on the ground, successfully pulling you out of your own mind. Yet, as comforting as his gesture was supposed to be, you only felt guiltier. Even when everyone else pointed their fingers at you, he was still there to keep yourself up even after you'd vanished on him.

Kayden scratched the clothes over his heart again and cut off your incoming guilty declaration.

"Question. If the half-skull one was to break my jaw or somethin' and that you didn't see it happen, would you believe me if I told you it was him?" Kayden asked, frowning too deeply for you to brush the question off as one of his stupid ones.

"Wha-?" Then it dawned on you. "Did you threaten him?" You asked Hunter, voice raising in octaves.

You knew Kayden probably deserved it, but he was your best friend. You've been helping each other for more than 15 years and there was no way you'd let him get beaten for a stupid jealousy tantrum.

An invisible hand squeezed your heart as you felt Kayden relaxing against your side. He doubted that you'd listen to him. More importantly, he doubted that you'd trust his word over someone else's. Sure it was Hunter's word, but you knew the Sergeant was not in his right mind and not only because of the irrational feeling.

"He wouldn't stop talking." The unbothered tone in which he answered shocked you.

"Yet you've never threatened Tech."

"That's not the same." Why must he sound like he truly believed that he did nothing wrong?

"You may not value his life and health, but I do. A lot." You emphasized the last word so he got the message. "And his word is the only single one in the galaxy that I never ever doubted."

Kayden's breath sharply filled his lungs and Hunter's fingers curled into fists. You still deeply loved the dark-haired Sergeant and seeing him frustrated at your words made a real number on your insides but that rational part of your brain told you that he would tire of you someday and would leave, whereas Kayden had shown countless of times that he'd be there to hold your hand, push your back and pull you up whenever needed.

"Good to know."

Why did his acknowledgment of your words make you sick? You'd said those words yourself and they were true, so how could they hurt that much? If it wasn't of the half-circles traced on the back of your right hand, you certainly would have had a physical reaction. It could have been hiding in your hammock or tears leaking from your eyes, you didn't know.

"You don't trust us?" Wrecker's hurt translated in his low, nearly inaudible tone if it wasn't of the earbud deeply pushed into your ear canal.

"I do Wrecker. I really do. It's me that I don't." Damn. For someone who wanted to avoid feelings-talks like the plague, you found yourself right in the middle of the deepest one ever.

"I don't understand." He admitted.

"I-" You sighed, trying to find the words that would explain something you didn't know how to explain. "I don't myself Wrecker. I make people despise me and-" The words escaped you. Out of exasperation, your free hand moved up to rub your closed eyelids and drag the pads of your fingers down your cheeks.

"When they don't you persuade yourself they do and you tell yourself that they'll give you up so you start to doubt them even when there's nothing to worry about." Kayden shrugged at your wide eyes looking at him. "Don't be surprised I know you better than yourself. You did the same shit with me but I didn't let you."

"Then why did you doubt yourself against Hunter?"

" 'cuz you love him." He answered in your native tongue and you were grateful for it. You weren't ready to say the words out loud and if Kayden, the person who just demonstrated that he knew you like the palm of his hand, said those words himself, then he'd throw your feelings out in the open and you couldn't have that. Not when your brain still expected the Bad Batch to get back to their ship and leave you on Fors, where you belonged.

"You were there longer."

"Yeah, but that was because you couldn't escape me. Give them their chance. You might be surprised." He patted your shoulder like an old man who gave advice to a youngster.

"We wouldn't give you up. You're our friend!" Wrecker added once the conversation in a foreign language died.

"If you still doubt our friendship, then you might want to remember that we passed hundreds of hours training you to be our pilot and that we lied to our superiors to keep you." Tech pointed out, this time with the finger in the air. It brought the tiniest of smiles to your lips.

"Or remember the moments shared." Hunter surprised you with his quiet words that Kayden definitely couldn't hear without a comm device. Had he realized that he was fighting a non-existent enemy? Or did he feel as bad as you following your exchange?

"Or you can remember that you're a freak." Tech slapped his lean brother's shoulder

"So I belong with you guys? Yeah, I'll- I'll do my best to remember all that." A chuckle escaped your lips. "Thanks." You added under your breath, to which the boys nodded and Wrecker smiled brightly.

"Is your chest okay?" Tech asked and pointed at Kayden who was still scratching his torso.

"Yeah, 's just itchy. I think Kerth put some poison Ivy in my clothes. I wouldn't be surprised." He pulled his shirt forward to look at his skin. He winced. "That does look like it."

"You never get tired of looking at yourself?" A soft feminine voice chuckled from down the hallway.

Soft brown eyes shone behind fiery red locks, their owner walking straight to your cell where she stopped to pass you a hot container. You'd recognize that smell everywhere and apparently so did your stomach who growled loudly in anticipation of receiving some soup.

"Good timing, I see." She chuckled, put her pack on the ground and offered you a container. "It's not poisoned, I promise. I did it myself." She assured in basic when you kept watching her hands without making any move towards the food.

Still unmoving, Kayden took it upon himself to grab two containers and let the redhead give the clones their servings.

"They wanted me to only feed the soldiers but I slipped some for you two as well. For all the spare crusts." She nodded at you, who kept watching her in silence. Before turning around to go back to where she came from, the woman had the kindness to grab the discarded medicine canisters and offer them to Kayden. "Take care."

Wait. You had to tell her. It was like your brain forgot how everything worked. Opening your mouth wasn't hard compared to finding what to say. Even then your throat constricted in an attempt to shut you up, but you couldn't let her go without telling her.

She deserved to know.

"Fleena." Was all you managed and it was enough to stop her in her tracks. When she turned, your hand was already fishing around in your pocket for the small piece of wood.

She came back as you brought your closed fist forward and dropped the dirty necklace on her open hand.

She stared at it, surprise taking over her soft features in a flash as soon as she recognized the symbol. She turned it to inspect the back and now was the right time for the earth to open beneath your ass and take you away.

"Where did you get that?" The tremors in her voice send a knife through your heart.

Swallowing down the lump in your throat, you made sure to choose your words better than with Hunter. "Nixon was a Wanderer."

"He-" She started with hope until she registered your sentence. "Was?"

There it was. The moment to own what you did finally arrived.

"What did you do?" She pressed as you kept silent, unable to say it out loud.

"It wasn't him anymore, Fleena. He hadn't grown up and kept walking in circles on his bleeding feet. He was tormented."

You freed him. You helped him. Now that her horrified hazel eyes bore into yours, Crosshair's words that were so helpful before held no sense.

"He was still my brother." She clutched the necklace to her chest, tears running down her cheeks.

"Nixon was gone."

"I don't expect you to understand. You don't know anything about having a sibling."

The silence following her retreating steps was even heavier than before. No. That wasn't true. The boys spoke in the background and in your ear, prompting you to remove the device to have some peace.

"You're right, I don't." You grumbled in your knees that were now up to your face to hide your features, your arms tightly wrapped around them to keep them close.

"That's the biggest bullshit that ever came out of your mouth." Kayden scoffed next to you. "What do you think I am then? Your friend?" He puffed like it was the stupidest joke he'd ever been told. "Fuck no. We've been family ever since your dad died so cut the crap or I'll hit you."

I should be punching you for saying such stupid stuff.

"For real. I'll hit you so hard you won't ignore me again." He shuffled around to better position himself, arm lifting-

"I've abandoned you." You spat more at you than at him.

"Siblings sucks but we love them anyway." He shrugged. "You're no exception."

Tears gathered in your eyes. Even after leaving him alone to fight for himself, Kayden still loved you as much as before and never once held a grudge against your actions. He was a true god-given gift and you'd treated him unfairly.

Pain exploded into your shoulder and you found yourself colliding with the ground.

"The fuck?" Four spots on your shoulder hurt so deeply that it didn't take long for you to realize that he'd hit you with his knuckles.

"My monthly quota was not yet achieved." He smirked, watching you massage the beaten skin.

"Don't you think I'm hurt enough already?"

"Stop whining, we have Biogel." He shook the metallic container before your face.

"That thing hurts like hell." You groaned, pushing his hand away to sit straight.

"When did you become such a baby?" You shot him the deadliest glare you had in reserve. "Hey. It's a very small price to pay for completely healed wounds in under 30 minutes."

"Completely healed?" Tech inquired, eying the matching container in his hands that Kayden pushed him.

"Yeah! One good layer and bye-bye! Works for sprained stuff too, just takes a little longer." Kayden answered as he helped you apply the cold sticky gel onto your arms. "Little tips: let someone else put it on you." He added as you hissed and groaned under the burning feeling that came with the product.

Your hands closed and opened repeatedly to keep from hitting Kayden in retaliation for the pain he was putting you through. The raging fire led to intense stinging that you could describe as white-hot needles poking your damaged skin.

"Please remember that you love me." Kayden said right before he dropped a huge blob of Biogel onto the hole in your leg. Had he not jumped away, your elbow would have connected with his chest at high speed. Instead, all that got injured were your nerves, your vocal cords and Hunter's head.

"I'll murder you if you do that again." You whimpered while clutching your upper thigh in hope of cutting every pain transmission from your leg to your brain.

"Good thing it was the last one!" He laughed from his side of the cell, Biogel discarded to the profit of the warm bowl of soup which he was already drinking like he'd been starved for a week.

Wrecker's gasp and groans filled the air. A quick glance his way showed Hunter applying a coat of the translucent substance on his burnt hands and neck as well as on the cuts on his arms. Then came Hunter's turn who covered some scratches from the Yappians and after some thought applied some of it on the side of his forehead. No sound escaped his throat, the only proof of the pain assaulting his nerves being the scrunching of his face, unlike Tech who yelped when Crosshair carelessly applied the gel on his wrist and arms. Then, like pain didn't affect him at all, he splattered some on his swollen ankle and it was done.

"I'm sure no one really wants to eat right now, but it'd be good to eat the food until Back-up comes back and we have to leave." Kayden reminded.

"What's that?" Crosshair asked, more worried about the soup than Wrecker was. The tank was already slurping the soup down, mindful of his sensible fingers.

"In basic I guess it translates as bone soup." Wrecker stopped abruptly, mouth still scotched to the bowl. He eyed you in distress, pondering if it was safe to swallow or not. "It's good, despite the name. Hunters usually eat that before a hunt to boost their systems, right Y/N?" Just for the sake of the game, you nodded. It was true anyway.

"And eh… what's in it?" Tech moved the container in small circles to try and identify what was floating in the light yellow liquid.

"Roots, meats, some veggies, guts and ground bones." You kept your poker face as Kayden enumerated the 'ingredients' and Wrecker lost all colors. "Where do you think the name comes from?"

Wrecker spat his enormous gulp and you laughed to the point of tears, soon joined by your best frie- brother.

"He's just fucking with y'all, Wreck. It's called bone soup because there's bone marrow in it to help with our joints. And there’s no guts. We're no savages." You did your best to control your laugh before digging into your soup eagerly. How Kayden always managed to get your mood up was a total mystery, but it always worked and you were grateful for it.

"Could've fooled me." Crosshair taunted.

"Ya can choke on it." You said at the same time Kayden did, getting a laugh out of it.

The delicious soup filled your stomach in less than 10 gulps and it wasn't until you put your bowl down that you realized how good it made you feel to fill that emptiness in you. The soup wasn't enough to make you sleepy after a nice meal and provided just enough nutrients for everyone to be able to face the fast-approaching escape without a problem. Mixed with the Biogel, you were back at the top of your games.

Arlan really made an error in taking care of the group.

"What now? What's your plan?" Hunter wondered, posing his container on the ground.

You met gaze with Kayden and he nodded confidently. "How well can you all swim in your armors?"

"In calm water, we are fine but slow. We can't go in strong water. The current will catch in the plastoid and will drag us down."

A hum resonated from within your throat and you pucker your lips. "You can't give them up. That scratch out the underground well and the waterfall." You taped your lips in thought. Watching Tech who still drank with only one hand, you knew that hiking wasn't an option as well. For now at least.

"Then it's the dark pit." Kayden pointed out.

It indeed was the last possible option. The other remaining one would be to use the front gates and it was the least possible one.

"Yeah. The other tunnels would take too long to get out and then we'd lose too much time walking back at the Old Man's cave." You recalled from your mental map of the jungle. "I'm fairly sure we have two hours until dawn. The Old Man's Cave is 15 minutes away from here if we run."

"Then we run." Hunter agreed.

"Now, to get out… Hey, big guy." Kayden called. "What's the name?"

"Wrecker." He answered proudly, almost puffing his chest out.

Kayden scoffed. "Obviously. Should'a figured." He turned to you. "Is it too late to change my name?"

The moron was too far for a shoulder slap, so you showed your exasperation with a roll of your eyes. "Stop screwing around and tell us your idea."

"Yeah yeah." The childish tone wasn't surprising on his part. He turned his attention back to the tall clone. "So, Wrecker, I bet you're experienced with big shafts so how good are you with pulse-hammers?" In a flash, you threw your empty container at his head with utmost precision that you knew Crosshair would be proud. The flying object was as unexpected for him as the inappropriate sentence was for you and hit him square on the forehead.

"I'll strangle you." You threatened.

"Kinky." He winked while nursing his forehead.

"With what?" Wrecker inquired, too focussed on the unknown term to pick up at the dirty joke.

"Her han-"

"Not that, morron." You cut him off. "The big hammer that exploded that tree back at the pit." You clarified for Wrecker.

"Oh! I've never used one before, but I'm sure it can't be that hard!" Excitement glimmered in his eyes at the perspective of using the powerful weapon.

"Oh believe me it's hard." Kayden smirked way too smugly for your taste.

"Okay. Time out. Planning is paused." You poked the palm of your hand with the fingertips of your other hand. "I call pervert veto card." You deadpanned.

"Oh hell no you can't!" Was there panic in his voice? Yes. Definitely.

"Oh heck yes I can! Once a year for 24 hours and I'm using it now." Thank the gods you'd not used it before.

"But-!"

"No but or butts. No sexual reference in any form, implied or not. 24 hours starting now." He glared at you from his spot two meters away. You could have laughed at his face that perfectly mirrored a kid who just got his Christmas gift stolen directly from its small weak hands.

"You're fucking me in the ass." He grumbled like an overgrown petulant child.

You lifted an eyebrow. "Try again. You can do it."

"Party pooper."

"There you go." As you turned to the rest of them, a laugh escaped your lips at the clones’ expressions.

Crosshair, despite his feelings blockade, was covering his mouth, Wrecker was laughing his ass off, Tech looked relieved behind his horrified eyes and Hunter chuckled. He appeared to be pleased and somewhat totally used to the situation, which grabbed your curiosity.

Later. You forced a cough to get everyone's attention. "Let's continue. To answer your question, Wrecker, handling a pulse-hammer is not hard. Only remember to not touch the head," You had to stop to point at Kayden in a threatening manner when you sensed a perverted comment about to escape his idiotic mouth despite the veto card being used. "And hit with the glowing side. If you hit with the other side, you'll damage the hammer and it'll be useless."

"I can do that!" Wrecker enthusiastically nodded.

"So we plan into exploding our way out of here? What do we do about Cross?" Tech pointed out what he thought was a flaw in your plan.

Right at this moment, Back-Up appeared before Kayden, its fluffy leaves puffing out in pride as Kayden removed the Master key from its belly pouch. What a marvelous creature they were. Being able to fit your own size in an extensible pouch that covered your body from your collarbone to your pelvis was truly amazing and more than practical.

"We'll split. Kayden will guide you guys to the emergency tunnel and I'll go get Cross. I'll meet you all as soon as I can."

You nearly hadn't finished that Hunter inevitably rejected your plan. "No. We stay together."

"We can't. You guys will be the decoy I need to sneak around and find him and having one of you with me will catch attention and slow me down." You cut Hunter as he still looked like he was about to be opposed. "I still have my comms and earbud. I'll contact you every 5 minutes." You offered in an attempt to compromise.

Silence stretched and you got up, already ready to depart. The tingling in your arms and leg had subsided some time ago and to your sweet surprise, applying weight on your leg didn't hurt as much as before.

Kayden unlocked the cells and a hand softly grabbed your forearm. "Fine. You comm every 5 minutes and you take this." He moved to Tech to rummage through his belt and hand you a pistol. "Use it if needed."

You took the pistol with a steady grip despite the uncertainty shaking your guts. It was the very first blaster you've ever had in your hand and it was heavier than you thought. "Don't worry. I will." You assured him, voice strong and unwavering.

But… could you really?

#bad batch x reader #hunter x reader #tech x reader #wrecker x reader #crosshair x reader #tcw #star wars #clone force 99 #sergeant hunter #clone trooper tech #clone trooper wrecker #clone trooper hunter #clone trooper crosshair #Good Night Good Luck

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thewidowsghost · 4 years ago

Text

Stay Strong, Alex (Part 2)

Part 1

Part 3

The next day, (Y/n) runs into CatCo to find Kara.

"Kara. Hi," (Y/n) says, walking up to Kara.

"(Y/n)," Kara says in a monotone voice. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, I was just looking for Alex. I was wondering if she checked in with you?"

"Didn't you crash at her place last night?" Kara asks and (Y/n) turns to meet Kara's emerald gaze.

"She said she was going to catch up with you but she never came back," (Y/n) replies, her eyes glimmering with worry. "What, did she not stay with you?"

"She never caught up with me," Kara says. "Maybe she went to the DEO."

"Kara, Winn said she didn't check in last night or report this morning," (Y/n) tells her girlfriend's sister.

"Huh . . ." Kara says softly and then her phone rings. "Ah. Mystery solved."

(Y/n) lets out a sigh of relief as Kara answers her phone, but her fear spikes again when Kara's eyes widen with horror.

Kara's phone dings and (Y/n) steps forward to look at the screen and sees a picture of an unconscious Alex lying on the floor.

. . .

Alex lifts her head off the floor, dazed, her head pounding.

She gets to her feet, swaying uncertainly.

Alex glances up at the camera and her gaze flickers in and out.

"Hello," she calls and electricity buzzes all around her.

Alex breathes heavily and presses her hands the glass, trying to peer through the darkness.

"Hello," she calls again, stepping back into the middle of the stone cage.

Alex pounds against the glass and then looks back up to the camera. "I knew I recognized you from the elevator," she says, looking a little scared. "I know who you are. The people that I work with, they will find me."

Alex's heart aches when she thinks of (Y/n) - who was probably worried sick about her - and Kara, her beloved sister - who she had looked after for so long.

"And when they do, you will be in a world of hurt," Alex says, her tone growing more and more furious. "So, I am giving you one chance. Free me, now," the silence is starting to spook Alex a little. "When I get out of here, I will end you!" she yells finally.

She slams her hands against the glass again, trying to find a way out of her prison.

. . .

Back at the DEO, there is a meeting going on, trying to find the person who took Alex.

"The person on the call who says they kidnapped Alex, what exactly did they say on the call?" J'oon asks.

"He said he would kill Alex if I didn't break Peter Thompson out of Albatross Bay," Kara says and (Y/n) looks down at the table she was sitting at, her eyes wide with shock and fear. "He said he knows Kara Danvers is Supergirl. He's targeting Alex because she's my sister."

"This might be stating the obvious here, but why don't we just spring Peter Thompson and bring Alex home?" Mon-El asks.

"The DEO does not negotiate with terrorists," J'oon tells the Daxomite.

"But this is Alex," Mon-El argues.

"If we do this once, we'll open the floodgates. Every bad guy will know Supergirl can be controlled."

"And even if we do what he wants," (Y/n) says softly. This was the first time she had spoke since she learned of Alex's disappearance. "It doesn't guarantee he'll release her. She's his insurance."

"All right, people, let's get to work!" J'oon says.

The meeting disperses and J'oon walks over to Winn. "Winn, any luck with Alex's subdermal tracker?

"No, it's been offline since 10:00 last night," Winn replies. "Whoever took her must have found some way to power it down."

Mon-El rests his hand on Kara's elbow as the Kryptonian begins to look more fearful.

"Where are we triangulating the signal from the phone calls?" J'oon asks.

As soon a Winn speaks, (Y/n) runs her hands through her disheveled hair and after a moment, rests her head in her hands, "We're nowhere. The caller used four different arrays to scramble the signal. You guys, listen," Winn continues, looking back at Alex's girlfriend and sister, "we gotta move."

"All right, let's start with what we do know," J'oon says, returning to the table. "If this guy knows your Supergirl, we use that to our advantage."

"That's gotta be a short list," Mon-El says quickly, turning to Kara. "Who knows your secret?"

"Jeremiah, Eliza, Clark, the DEO . . ." Kara pauses, as though thinking, " . . . Lillian Luthor."

"Does Peter Thompson have ties with CADUMS?" (Y/n) asks Winn.

"No, I already checked. There's nothing," Winn answers.

"Then you're asking the wrong question," (Y/n) says, her cop brain running on steroids at this point. "We don't know where Alex was taken, so we need to find out what Peter Thompson's connection with our kidnapper is."

. . .

(Y/n), Kara and J'oon walk into the prison.

"Mr. Thompson," J'oon flashes his FBI badge. "Hank Henshaw, FBI. This is Detective (L/n) from NCPD, and Ms. Danvers from CatCo Magazine."

"The feds, a pig, and a journo," Thompson says, looking between the three. "To what do I owe this confusing pleasure?" he asks.

(Y/n) - in cop mode now - throws a manilla folder on the table between Thompson and J'oon. "Your jacket's a thrilling read. Three home invasions, two DUIs, two counts of felony murder."

"You all didn't come down here just to flatter me, did you?" Thompson asks, meeting (Y/n)'s (E/c) eyes. (Y/n) takes a breath, "This morning, we got a call from an anonymous source, asking that you be released from prison."

"Someone wants me out of jail?" Thompson laughs. "Not used to that. People usually want to keep me behind bars."

"A life sentence can't be all that easy," J'oon says, "being in here all by yourself. You ever keep in contact with anyone on the outside?" he questions.

"Just last week," Thompson replies, "Mr. JC Penney sent me a letter. He said there was a sale on galoshes." Kara's eyes burn and she steps forward as Thompson continues. "It's just that I don't have anywhere to wear them."

Kara slams her fist onto the metal table, startling (Y/n) a little. "Enough!" she orders. "My sister's been kidnapped, and her life is on the line until we find out who wants you out of prison."

"Ms. Danvers . . ." J'oon says warningly.

"So save us the sarcasm! Who is it? Who has her?"

"Calm down," (Y/n) says, her voice equally as warning as J'oon's and she places a hand on Kara's arm.

"Who has my sister?" Kara yells, ignoring (Y/n) and J'oon.

"I don't know," Thompson says, meeting Kara's furious gaze.

"You're lying," Kara says angrily, her eyes narrowing.

"He's not," J'oon says. "We're done here."

The officer pulls Thompson to his feet and leads the fugitive out of the interrogation room.

"Why'd you let him go?" Kara asks J'oon.

"Because I read his mind," the Martian answers. "He's telling the truth." J'oon gets up from the table.

"Losing control is not gonna help us find Alex faster," (Y/n) tells the superhero. "It's only going to get her killed."

Kara stares at (Y/n) for a moment, and then her phone rings. "Winn," she says, sounding almost defeated.

. . .

Kara lands outside a house and busts down the door.

"Alex! Alex!" she yells as she runs through the house.

Sticking her head in one of the rooms, Kara sees a set of computer screens with Alex projected on them.

"Alex. Alex!" Kara says softly, walking up the screens. "Alex!"

"She can't hear you, Kara," comes a voice and Kara turns around to see a blonde man standing in the doorway.

"Rick?" Kara asks in disbelief.

"Jeez, I haven't seen you since graduation," is Rick's reply. "You look great."

Kara's eyes blaze and she grabs Rick, lifting him off the ground. "Where's my sister?" she demands.

"You break my father out of prison yet?" Rick asks, his teeth clenched.

"You know I can't do that," Kara murmurs.

"Can't or won't?" Rick questions.

Kara throws Rick back into a wall with a grunt.

"Tell me where she is," Kara growls.

That's not how this works," Rick answers. "Now, why don't you try and play nice, Kara?" he asks. "You were always the nice one."

Kara sighs, a hardened look on her face.

"Just let me talk to her," Kara breathes, looking over her shoulder at her sister on the monitors.

"Well, if that gets you to play ball, then I'm happy to help," Rick says, sliding around Kara to type on the keyboard.

The monitor chimes.

"Alex!" Kara croaks. "Alex!"

"Kara, is that you?" Alex calls. "Rick Malverne from Midvale, he kidnapped me!" Alex places her hand on the glass, facing the camera.

"I know," Kara replies. "I'm with him right now. Are you okay? Where are you?"

"My tracker. Can you use my tracker?" Alex asks, and Kara can hear the frantic tone of her sister's voice.

"It's not working. We don't know -" Rick cuts Kara off.

"Okay, that's enough of a reunion, I think," Rick says.

"No, wait," Kara says.

Rick sighs, "It's simple. She's told you she's okay. And now we trade my father for Alex."

"Your father is a murderer," Kara retorts.

"Manslaughter-er," Rick corrects.

"Tell me where she is," Kara demands again.

"Tick, tock. Tick, tock."

Kara's eyes burn red from her building heat-vision and Rick leans closer, "oh, wow, it's even cooler up close. You hurt me, you'll never find her. And she'll die. Slowly."

Word Count: 1,612 words

Taglist:

@procrastinatingsapphictrash

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klbwriting · 4 years ago

Text

Unexpected Allies - Chapter 12

Fandom: Six of Crows

Pairing: Kax/female!Reader

Summary: a prison heist

Note: so 2 things, 1 - the song is this chapter is ‘Bulletproof Heart’ by My Chemical Romance and 2 - finally a kiss! maybe not exactly the kiss thats expected but its where they’re at for now

Taglist: @mcntsee @amwitherspoon

Kaz was able to catch sight of the carriage as it was pulling out of the gate. He and Mal took off running after it, Kaz screaming Y/N’s name. He dropped the cane, running as fast as he could, desperate to catch her. Mal dropped back before Kaz did, bending over panting. Kaz kept running, ignoring the hellacious pain in his bad leg. He ran until his leg gave out on him and he landed face first in the frosted grass. He screamed out his rage, punching the hard ground as he sat up. Mal came over and tried to help him stand but Kaz pulled away, collapsing to his hands and knees, retching on the grass. He wasn’t sure if it was because he was disgusted at the touch of another or if he was disgusted at himself for doing this to her. When they got to the prison if someone recognized her and sent word to the Darkling he would come for her. He would try to use her and if he couldn’t, he would kill her. Kaz finally got to his feet and accepted his cane from Mal.

“I’m going after her,” he said, starting to limp back to camp.

“I know, we can’t send a squad, we’d never get in, but, maybe a few thieves could get in,” Mal responded. “I’ll gather some supplies and go track the carriage, make sure of their destination. If it is Sarkoff’s prison we have a few people in there, we can send 3 more at the guard changing at the end of the month but not before then. Get planning.”

“The end of the month? She could be dead by then!” Kaz said. Mal stopped.

“You need to calm down and think with your head Brekker, you know that she wouldn’t want you running in there half-assed and getting yourself killed. Come up with 2 other team members and a plan and we will get you in there and you will get her back here safe. I know you will,” he said. Mal walked off then towards his own tent while Kaz went to find the Dregs.

He found his crew around a table eating and he fell to sit on a bench. They all looked at him and paled. They had probably never seen him like this. He was wet from the frost, bloody from his fall, and looked murderous.

“What happened?” Jesper asked.

“The fucking Dime Lions took her, prison in the south…” he started.

“Sarkoff’s?” Inej asked. Kaz nodded.

“I need a team, I need to get her back. If the Darkling finds out she’s there he will kill her, I cannot lose someone else I love, I can’t lose her like I lost…my brother…I can’t” Kaz said, eyes glazing over, memories washing over him. He knew he must terrifying them. He was Kaz Brekker, he kept his calm no matter what, if he lost his head that meant the end of the world and for Kaz this very much felt like the end of the world.

“I’ve been there as a guard to keep an eye on things,” Inej said. “I can help with the plan, we will get papers for the guard transfer at the end of the month. We need one more person to go with us.” Jesper stepped forward.

“Y/N is my best friend now, sorry everyone else here, so like hell I’m not going to break her out of prison,” he said. Inej nodded.

“Kaz, can you keep your head to do this? Get it together,” Inej said. Kaz took a breath and closed his eyes. When they opened he was alright again, the old Kaz was back and he was ready to formulate their plan.

Y/N sure how long she had actually been in this prison, every day was exactly the same. They days were spent with her hands cuffed to the ceiling and beatings were given when she wouldn’t reveal anything about the resistance. If she did say anything she sent them on wild goose chases and those beatings were especially savage. In the evening they paraded her out on a stage, cuffed at the hands and feet, pelting her with fruit and trying to get her to sing. Someone had revealed she liked to write songs and it became a daily occurrence to mock her into singing.

She saw the full moon one night through the small cell window and knew it must be the beginning of the month. New guards, lovely, more people to torment her and mock her. She sighed as the evening drew near, straining to breath after the strangling someone had give her earlier. She missed Kaz, every night she dreamed about him, just holding his hand or being in the stream again, in the day she went over every interaction they had had since they met nearly six months ago. How did she go from being alone and feeling trapped to being in love and free in six months? She marveled at what Kaz had done for her and she hoped one day she would see him again.

The evening guard entered her cell, laughing about the upcoming ‘performance’ she was going to give. They uncuffed her from the ceiling and led her out to the rec hall. They entered and tossed her on the set of boxes they made as a ‘stage’ and started hooting and hollering at her. She was looking towards the guards’ room where the keys were hanging desperately trying to think of a way to get to them. There was always a guard in there on duty and one standing by the door as watch. With the cuffs she couldn’t hope to get past them both and she sighed. She was knocked over suddenly by a metal cup thrown at her shoulder. She pushed herself up on her knees and looked towards the door that led to the cells and there he was. Kaz. Their eyes met and she nearly cried in relief. Jesper and Inej flanked him, all three dressed like guards, Inej whispering to him and motioning towards the guards’ room. He looked intently at her and she realized they needed a distraction to lure the guard at the door away, just for a minute. She nodded and slowly stood.

“You want a song you fuckers?” she yelled out at the guards. They all stopped, now waiting for what she would do next, thinking they had finally wore her down into performing something. This would be good, if she was willing to embarrass herself like this maybe she would start giving them information.

“Sing bitch!” one guard yelled and they laughed. She took a deep breath and opened her mouth.

“Gravity don't mean too much to me I'm who I've got to be These pigs are after me, after you

Run away like it was yesterday And we could run away If we could run away Run away from here”

The guard by the door laughed as she started singing and called into the room, probably telling the other guard he was leaving to join the others. He stepped forward into the fray of people who were yelling at her, calling out the most heinous things they could think of. But she wasn’t listening. This was the song she wrote for Kaz and right now she was singing for him and no one else.

“I gotta bulletproof heart You gotta hollow point smile”

Inej had been meant to stand guard at the door but as soon as Kaz heard that line he stopped and stared at Y/N. This was the song she was working on, for him. He looked to Inej who seemed to understand that something was going on right now.

“Stand guard, I’ll be able to search for her keys faster,” she said, leaving him at the door. Kaz stood and listened at the song continued, waiting impatiently as Jesper dispatched the guard and Inej found what she needed. After about a minute they both reappeared and started working back to the door to the cells. Y/N really turned up the energy to keep the guards distracted. Jepser and Inej slipped out first and Kaz took one more Y/N before they disappeared into the hall.

“You two find the laundry room and make sure we can get out that way as planned,” Kaz said. “I’ll wait by her cell until after the lights out bed check and then get her.” They all nodded and went their separate ways.

Kaz settled himself in an alcove by her cell, just big enough for a couple people to fit in, and waited. After about an hour she was brought back to the cell and chained again to the ceiling. Kaz felt his blood raging in his veins. She looked thinner, dirty, she had been beaten and he wanted to kill everyone who had hurt her in the last month. The guards left and he still had to wait. Finally, the guards called lights out down the corridor and checked her cell before walking by. After they disappeared through the door Kaz slipped out and opened her cell. She looked up at and he could tell she was relieved to see him but still terrified. He hurried over and undid her cuffs. She collapsed to the ground and he offered her his hand. Once she was up they headed out of the cell and he locked it again. They were shooting down hallways towards the laundry room when he heard guards coming. They were still in the cells and there was alcoves like the one by hers around so he gently pushed her to the wall of one and stood silently in front of her, facing the wall. In the dark hopefully the black guards’ uniform would keep them shadowed there. He noticed then that she was completely flat against the wall, hands pressed to it hard, holding her breath so that he body didn’t touch his. He looked down at her, marveling at how she was bruised, bloody, and scared, but she still was conscious of him and his needs. He could see that she was shaking a little, scared of being caught and he knew he needed calm her down somehow, any noise she made may draw attention to them. He looked at her and did the only thing he could think of, something he had wanted to do for a long time actually. He leaned forward silently and pressed his lips to her forehead. Y/N instantly stilled.

Kas Brekker was kissing her. Y/N felt his lips on her forehead, only for a few moments, but it was enough to draw her focus to just that feeling. His lips had been soft and warm, something she didn’t expect from him, but she shouldn’t be surprised, he wasn’t as hard and cold as he seemed to everyone else. She froze in place, reminiscing and storing the memory of his kiss inside her heart. It was just enough time for the guards to leave the corridor and for them to move again. They arrived at the laundry room where Jesper was waiting.

“Where’s Inej?” Kaz asked while Y/N hugged Jesper. She was so happy to see her friend again, and so grateful they had come for her.

“She went through the vent to open the guards’ door on the other side,” he said.

“People tried to sneak out of the laundry room all the time, they added a second room to check for escapees,” Y/N explained, voice hoarse. She looked at Kaz and saw that he was upset by her appearance. She smiled at him, completely forgetting how much her face hurt from the bruising. He was with her again and that was all she needed right now.

Inej soon opened the door to the laundry room and then to the outside. They were able to slide through a gate that had been opened for them, closing and locking it again as they jumped into a waiting carriage that Mal was driving. He took off into the night back to the encampment. Y/N didn’t mean to but she was so tired from her experience that she instantly fell asleep the moment she was safe, head falling to Kaz’s shoulder.

Kaz felt her head on his shoulder and was shocked to find that he didn’t feel much. The feeling of something being off was less this time, he barely noticed it. What he felt was relief, and complete. For the whole month she had been gone he had spent every moment feeling like something was missing. It was a similar feeling to how he felt after he had climbed on the docks and left Jordie behind. It had taken years for that feeling to go away and he didn’t want to relive it again. Inej and Jesper looked surprised that he was letting her lean to him.

“Are you alright?” Inej asked. He nodded.

“I know you noticed that something’s wrong with me,” Kaz said. “With her, its not as bad.”

“And maybe love is the reason whyyyy,” Jesper sang out, mimicking the love song that Y/N had sang on their first night at camp. Kaz glared at him but couldn’t completely hide the amusement from his eyes.

“You know she is the only safe from my cane Jesper,” he said, grabbing it from the seat where he’d left it and thumping Jesper in the shoulder with it.

“That’s just rude,” his friend said, lifting his arm and letting it fall useless to his side. “Its going to take forever for it to start working again.” Inej laughed and Kaz smirked a little, leaning his head back on the seat and feeling at peace for the time.

#six of crows #kaz brekker #kaz brekker x reader #kaz x reader #kazbrekker #kaz #unexpected allies series

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papermoonloveslucy · 3 years ago

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ROUGH ROAD TO TOP

August 16, 1953

(1)

One of the more famous CBS-TV shows is “I Love Lucy.”

Its two chief characters - Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz - have had a rocky road to their present status as one of the top comedy teams in the country.

At the end of Lucille's first year in dramatic school she was told by her teachers that she was wasting her time and money, that she would never become an actress. She was fired from all four of her first jobs as a chorus girl. Later, as a model, she almost lost her life in an automobile accident and was told she would never walk again.

Revolution Factor

It was a revolution in Cuba and a mishap in World War II which were fateful turns in Arnaz’ trip to stardom. The Cuban revolution destroyed his family’s wealth, drove them to the United States. World War II got him a broken kneecap in basic training, and since he had been a professional entertainer, he was placed in limited service and assigned to entertain hospitalized G.I.s'.

Columbia Pictures gave Lucille a contract as a stock player, and, convinced that her luck finally had turned, she sent for mother, grandfather, and sister to join her in California. But, the morning after she wired her family, the studio decided to dissolve its stock company. When the family arrived, Lucille was working as an extra at Paramount.

Bit parts and extra roles in a number of pictures kept Lucille busy, but not prosperous, until she was cast in ’"Roberta.” RKO officials, impressed by her work, gave her a contract. When not busy before the cameras, she was a mainstay of the studio's Little Theater. (2)

Offered Stage Lead

Her performance in the second lead in “The Girl from Paris" (3) drew Broadway's attention to Miss Ball and she was offered a lead in the musical "Hey Diddle Diddle.” After satisfying her yen to perform on the Great White Way (4), she returned to Hollywood for "Stage Door” and “Too Many Girls.” In the latter picture, she was costarred with Desi Arnaz. They were married Nov. 30 1940 in Greenwich, Conn.

Back from her honeymoon, Lucille walked into her first really big break a role in "The Big Street,” based on a story by Damon Runyon (5). Overnight it made her a star.

Her first assignment at M.G.M. in 1942 was the title role in the Technicolor production "Du Barry Was a Lady” (6). Stellar roles followed in "Best Foot Forward” and "Meet the People" (7). After completing "Easy to Wed” with Van Johnson (8), she headed for New York to be with her husband, then out of the army and on his way to success in the orchestra business.

Starred on Tour

Shortly after completing "Her Husband’s Affairs,” (9) Miss Ball went on tour as star of Elmer Rice's play "Dream Girl” (10) then worked with Sonny Tufts and Victor Mature in "Interference” for R.K.O. (11)

Lucille, Desi, arid their year-old daughter Lucy Desiree, live at Desilu, their five-acre ranch at Chatsworth, Calif. They raise cattle, chickens, dogs, and cats and dabble in farming. Enthusiastic fishermen they spend a lot of time on their boat.

Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha was born in Santiago, Cuba, son of the mayor. Desi’s mother, Dolores de Acha, was considered among the 10 most beautiful women In Latin America.

Three ranches totaling 100,000 acres, a palatial home in the city, a private island in Santiago Bay, speedboats, a fleet of motor cars, and a racing stable were all at the command of the youthful Desi during the pre-revolutionary days. His father, after eight years as mayor of Santiago, was made a member of the Cuban congress In 1932.

On Aug. 12, 1933, came the revolution. Congress was dissolved. Its members jailed. The Arnaz property was confiscated, the homes burned to the ground. In 24 hours everything was gone except $500 Desi's mother had hidden. Desi and mother fled to Miami, devoted the next six months to efforts to free Papa Arnaz. from prison. They were finally reunited in Florida.

For Desi, life in these United States for several years was hard but interesting: he worked at truck driving, train yard checking, taxi driving, bookkeeping, and, of all things, bird cage cleaning. Desi’s father managed to launch an importing business. It went broke when a shipment of fruit spoiled in transit.

Show business at this point finally caught up with Desi. His first job was playing guitar and singing with a seven-piece rhumba band at Miami’s Roney-Plaza Hotel (12). Xavier Cugat (13) spotted him, was impressed with this Cuban boy who was to be dubbed "The Tempo” by critics of modem music. After a year as featured vocalist with the Cugat band, Desi organized his own group of musicians and moved into the swank La Conga Café in Miami (14).

George Abbott's Broadway hit "Too Many Girls” (15) was Desi’s next step up the ladder, in 1939. He played a Cuban football player, one of the leads, and played tropical drums. RKO bought the film rights and signed Desi to play his stage role. When the shooting was over Desi married the leading lady, Lucille Ball.

He spent from Feb. 1943 to Nov. 1945 in the Army, after which he toured the nation with his band playing theaters, dances, night clubs. He hasn’t been without a band since. In 1948, Desi made the Columbia film "Holiday in Havana.” (16)

He made a vaudeville tour with Lucille Ball and that convinced them they’d do well as a husband-and-wife team on television. The tour inspired the CBS-TV show “I Love Lucy,” which has been highly rated since it started. (17)

Desi Arnaz’s personality is as vibrant as the music he makes. He is friendly, direct in manner, has flashing dark brown eyes and brown hair. He’s an avid fisherman, rides and swims expertly: his tennis is the envy of his San Fernando Valley neighbors, Sue and Alan Ladd, Francis Lederer, Jackie Oakie, and the Andrews Sisters. (18) A good cook, he specializes in such tempting dishes as Ginger Beef and Bouillabaisse.

# # #

FOOTNOTES FROM THE FUTURE

(1) The photo is from “Be a Pal” (ILL S1;E2) aired on October 22, 1951, nearly two years earlier. There’s one thing missing from this file photo: Vivian Vance. The success of the show was its foursome, not threesome! If you look closely you can see the hands of the other poker players, Richard Reeves (Hank, left) and Tony Michaels (Charlie, right).

(2) Lucille did several plays at the RKO Little Theatre under the direction of Lela Rogers (above), Ginger’s mom. When Lucille later bought RKO, she dubbed it the Desilu Playhouse, a training ground for new young performers, often hand selected by Ball herself.

(3) “That Girl from Paris” (not “The” as the article states) was Lucille’s 33rd film. The light-hearted musical romance earned an Oscar nomination for Sound Recording. It was released on the first day of 1937.

(4) Lucille was indeed cast in the Broadway-bound comedy (it was not a musical, however) “Hey Diddle Diddle!” It opened in Princeton, New Jersey, the first of several out-of-town stops on the way to Broadway. What Lucille’s publicity omits is that the show never got further than Washington DC due to the serious illness of its leading man, Conway Tearle. So Lucy’s Broadway debut would have to wait - until 1960!

(5) “The Big Street” opened on September 4, 1942. It was based on a Damon Runyan short story about a night club singer (Lucille) embittered by an accident that left her in a wheelchair and her romance with a naïve admirer (Henry Fonda) named Pinks. Lucy later said it was her favorite of the many films she made. It was her 55th film.

(6) “Du Barry Was A Lady” premiered in August 1943. It was Lucille’s 57th film, but her first for MGM. She nabbed the role from her friend Ethel Merman, who had done the Cole Porter musical comedy on Broadway. It was filmed in color, and was the film that earned her the nickname “Technicolor Tessie” because of her bright orange hair - a color she committed to from then on, despite her roots! This is the film that introduced Lucy to the song “Friendship”, which she would also sing on “I Love Lucy.”

(7) In the musical comedy “Best Foot Forward” (1943) Lucille Ball played herself. It was her 58th film. “Meet The People” (1944) was a romantic comedy for MGM, Ball’s 60th film.

(8) In 1946 she released her 63rd film, “Easy To Wed” co-starring Van Johnson and Esther Williams. Lucille and Van had appeared together in “Too Many Girls” and he would appear on Lucy’s television shows.

(9) “Her Husband’s Affairs” (1947) was a romantic farce with Lucy teamed with Franchot Tone. It was her 69th film.

(10) Back to the stage, Lucille accepted the leading role in a revival tour of “Dream Girl” a fantasy comedy by Elmer Rice. Once again, the play launched in Princeton, but this time Broadway was not the goal. It had already played the Great White Way two years earlier. The play toured the country at select cities, landing Lucille back in California in late 1947. In one SoCal gig she was appearing simultaneously with Desi and his band just a few blocks away. No doubt this was by design.

(11) RKO’s “Interference” was re-named “Easy Living” (1949) and dealt with the world of professional sports, namely football. It co-starred Victor Mature and Sonny Tufts. It was Ball’s 71st film.

(12) The luxurious Roney Plaza Hotel in Miami Beach was located on the corner of Collins Avenue and 23rd Street. It opened in 1925 and was demolished in 1968. The resort attracted a who's who that included Hollywood stars and even the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. The hotel's Bamboo Room & Restaurant was the place to be seen on the Beach for decades.

(13) Xaviar Cugat (1900-1990) was a Spanish musician and bandleader who spent his formative years in Havana, Cuba. A trained violinist and arranger, he was a leading figure in the spread of Latin music. In New York City he was the leader of the resident orchestra at the Waldorf–Astoria before and after World War II. He was a mentor and friend to Desi Arnaz, who kept his name before the public by making him a rival of Ricky Ricardo on “I Love Lucy” where his name became a punchline. In reality, Desi was grateful to Cugat, not jealous of him!

“I learned a lot from Xavier Cugat” ~ Desi Arnaz

(14) La Conga Café was located in New York City, not Miami, although the article may be referring to a different, lesser known establishment where Desi Arnaz performed. He became a regular headliner at La Conga, even issuing a record titled “La Conga” in 1939.

(15) Speaking of 1939 New York, Desi appeared in his only Broadway show in 1939, Rogers and Hart’s “Too Many Girls.” When the film rights were purchased by RKO, Desi was hired by director George Abbott to recreate his role. It was while filming this movie that he met Lucille Ball.

(16) “Holiday in Havana” was a Columbia picture released in October 1949. The film is about a Cuban hotel busboy (Arnaz) who dreams of becoming a composer. His love interest was not Lucy, but Mary Hatcher.

(17) The Tour incorporated some of the same routines seen in the “I Love Lucy” pilot as well as early episodes of the series, most notably the “Cuban Pete / Sally Sweet” duet. The tour culminated at the Roxy in New York City, where Desi was playing when he married Lucille in 1940.

(18) Before moving to their Beverly Hills mansion, Lucy and Desi lived on a ranch in Chatsworth in San Fernando Valley. They dubbed their ranch home Desilu. About their neighbors:

Alan Ladd (1913-64) was a chorus boy when Lucille was an Earl Carroll showgirl in Murder at the Vanities (1934). He was married to Sue Carol (1906-82) from 1942 until his death. Carol’s name was mentioned on “I Love Lucy” in “The Fashion Show” when Lucy selects the same Don Loper original that Carol has chosen to wear in the fashion show. She does not appear on screen.

Francis Lederer (1899-2000) was a Hungarian-born actor. In 1960 he did an episode of Desilu’s “The Untouchables”. From 1941 until his death he was married to Marion Irvine.

Jackie Oakie (1903-78) did four films with Lucille Ball between 1934 and 1938, including both “Annabell” movies.

The Andrews Sisters were the pre-eliminant close-harmony girl group of their time. The consisted of Patty, Maxine, and LaVerne. They were mentioned on “I Love Lucy” in “Be a Pal” in the same scene that the photo at the top of the article came from. In 1969, Patty Andrews guest-starred as herself on “Here’s Lucy”. Lucy and Lucie played the other two Andrews sisters.

#Lucille Ball #Desi Arnaz #1953 #I Love Lucy

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cheeriecherry · 4 years ago

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Space Between [Aizawa Shouta x F!Reader x Yamada Hizashi] [2/9]

EraserMic x Reader

Part 2/8

Warnings: depictions of PTSD, one (1) mention of vomiting (nothing graphic), very brief mention of violence (also nothing graphic), your friends being concerned about you, hugs

You wake up the next morning with a very sore, very stiff neck. You appreciate your friends putting you up for a while, but between the two of them they had terrible taste in furniture. In fact, you’re pretty certain their couch is the same couch you three shared when you first got your own place together…

You sit up on the lumpy cushions, wincing when your spine crackles. When you move to stand you find that you can’t, held in place by previously unnoticed twin weights on your blanketed legs. Your heart rate speeds up for a moment, before you realize it’s just a pair of cats sleeping on you.

You carefully finagle your way out from under them, taking extra care not to rouse or wake them. One of them chirps and stretches, and you pause, but she quickly falls back to sleep, tucked up against her companion.

Once you’re free, you wander towards the kitchen to find something to eat. Hizashi had offered to order takeout last night, but you were nearly dead on your feet by the time you walked into the house. You’d gone straight to bed, and now you had to deal with the stomach cramps.

You search around in the pantry and fridge for a while, finding few things more than rice, bread, condiments, and a couple canned goods. It made sense, considering how busy your friends were, but it was also a little ridiculous.

“You’d think two grown men could handle some grocery shopping,” you mumble, and settle on some rice, eggs, and toast. Not your ideal breakfast, but it was better than nothing.

You prepare the rice and set a pan on the stove in a haze, still muddled with sleep. Once both are sufficiently rinsed and warming, you set the rice off to cook and plop down at the kitchen table, where you notice a folded paper sitting. With your name on it.

Curious, you flip it open, instantly recognizing Hizashi’s messy writing.

‘Sho and I had to head out early, but we didn’t want to wake you. You were tossing a lot in your sleep.’

You think briefly back to the dreams you’d had, if you’d even had any. You usually had nightmares, but oftentimes you didn’t remember them, only waking with a hollow and sinking feeling in your chest.

‘You’ve got free run of the place, so use and eat what you want. Be warned, there’s not a lot in the fridge…we don’t really eat at home much. If you need the internet, Sho’s laptop is in the office across from the bedroom. See you tonight around ten!

-H’

You smile at the note, the signature consisting of a single letter, with a poor rendition of a cockatiel and a cat beside it.

You’re glad they have each other, you decide, and glad they’ve gotten together. It shouldn’t have been so much of a surprise to you, Hizashi was always more interested in Shouta than he was you. Sure, he doted on you when you were kids, but when Shouta came into the picture his attention shifted. You admit you had been a little jealous in the beginning, but now…

Maybe you’d just supposed it would always be the three of you together. You’d never bothered with dating or relationships, aside from the feelings you harboured for your best friends. You never saw the point, always content and happy to be with the two of them, even if it wasn’t romantic. They had been your rocks, your safe place, in years past.

You hadn’t comprehended that your interests could be so drastically different.

“C’mon, shake it off, stupid. They’re happy together, don’t ruin it with your feelings.” You run your hands down your face, sighing deeply. The rice would be ready soon, so you might as well get started on the eggs.

You butter a piece of bread and cut a hole out of the center, dropping it in the frying pan and cracking an egg into it.

Egg In A Hole, one of the first things you’d ever learned to cook. You were seven when you’d first tried it, and Hizashi had been there as well. You’d been at your house after school and he’d claimed to be hungry, and you -ever wanting to impress him- had set a stool in front of the stove and made him the fanciest meal you could think of.

Looking back, you’re amazed you didn’t burn or undercook anything. He had claimed it was the most amazing thing he’d ever tasted, and for years it was a staple whenever you hung out… he’d hopped off that train by the time you were twelve, but every so often you’d still made him Eggs In A Hole.

Now it’s more of a comfort, more of you holding on to a time long passed. Things were different now, you were different, your friends were different-

“Shit!” you hiss, as the toast starts to burn in one corner, smoking up the kitchen. You turn the fan on and flip it over to cook the other side, sighing in relief when the egg doesn’t splatter everywhere.

You’re glad you weren’t sent undercover as a cook on your mission. Your skills in the kitchen are sub par at best, and where you’d been, nothing less than perfection was accepted. Anything burnt or under-seasoned would have been air for punishment; fingernails ripped off, palms cut up, thumbs broken. Anything that would further hinder work…and result in more punishment.

That was just the kind of person your target was. A rich american woman with a taste for torture, and a quirk that allowed her to feast on and destroy the hope in others. She had ‘hired’ you as a silent killer, despite the fact that she could easily kill people herself…or make them kill themselves.

You squeeze your eyes shut and take a deep breath, willing the thoughts away. You weren’t there anymore. You were here, with Hizashi, with Shouta. Safe. Safe.

You scoop the eggs and toast onto a plate, but your stomach has already turned. Memories didn’t pair well with breakfast, it seemed.

Once the rice is finished cooking, you wrap everything up and set it in the fridge for later, and continue going about your day.

—-

Ten PM rolls around before you know it, and your friends walk through the front door. You’ve stolen Shouta’s laptop from the office and moved it to the couch, where you now sit staring intensely at the screen.

The two of them watch you for a moment. If your stillness, posture, and bloodshot eyes are anything to go by, you’ve been like that for a while.

“You’re gonna hurt your back sitting like that,” Shouta says, kicking his boots off and wandering further into the house.

“In a second,” you reply, waving him off.

Hizashi sighs dramatically, crossing his arms. “She’s not even paying attention, Sho. We could be making out right now, and she wouldn’t even notice. Hey, watch this-”

“Hizashi,” you threaten, not looking away from the screen, “if you pull your pants down, I’ll shave your head while you sleep.”

“No fun.” But he removes his hands from his jeans anyways.

Shouta meanders up behind you, leaning over the back of the couch to see what you’re so intent on. “What’s got you so focused?” he asks, scanning the page you’re reading, “You were never like this in school.”

You remain stoic, missing the joke completely. “Conviction trials,” you explain, “I want to make sure every single one of those rich pricks I outed gets put behind bars. I’ve been scrounging news outlets since five.”

“And?”

“Nothing.” You sit up straighter, stretching your back and rubbing at your eyes. “I gave the commission enough information to put these people in prison for life! Why haven’t they been brought in yet!”

“You’ve only been out for a little while. These things take time.” His tone is gentle and concerned, but to your addled brain it feels more patronizing.

You fist your hair in your hands and tug. “I gave them hideouts, names, faces, addresses, bank numbers, concrete evidence against these people! A few days should be enough time to find them! They’re top priority criminals! They should be caught by now!”

A warm hand rests on your shoulder, jarring you violently out of your thoughts. You tense beneath the touch, electricity prickling down your arm, and you look up at him with wide eyes.

“Breathe,” he says.

You breathe.

He squeezes your shoulder slightly, comfortingly. “It’ll happen. Give the media time to catch up.”

You look away from him, finding a spot on the floor to stare at, and slump forward in defeat. “If it gets out that I was the snitch, too…”

The room is quiet for a couple beats as your words register, and the hand on your shoulder rubs soft circles into your skin. “Your partner…they were killed, weren’t they.” It’s not a question, merely an observation.

You nod.

“I can’t let them find me, Shouta. The way these people kill their targets-”

“You’re safe here, Y/N. Always. The chances of these criminals getting into the country undetected is between slim and none. Their faces will be plastered on every single no-fly list, every district wanted list.”

“They can do whatever they want, as long as they have the money.” You turn back to the laptop, continuing to scroll around various news outlets. “Even once they’re in prison, they’ll have outside connections. If they find out it was me who outed their whole operation, I’ll have a target on my back for the rest of my life.”

Shouta lets go of your shoulder, and walks around the couch to take a seat beside you, knees bumping against yours.

“There are…resources,” he begins, choosing his words carefully, “for heroes who’ve been undercover. To help them readjust to everyday life-”

“I don’t need a therapist,” you hiss, scowling. “I need…I need-”

A pair of hands scoops the laptop out of your grip, flipping it closed and setting it aside. But before you can complain, your now-warmed-up plate of food from that morning is set in your lap, and Hizashi takes a seat on your other side.

“If you don’t want a therapist, then at least take care of yourself, okay? Eat.”

Your scowl persists as you chew.

—-

You jolt awake on the couch at an unbeknownst hour of the morning, covered head to toe in a thin sheen of sweat. Your head is spinning and your ears are ringing, and you barely make it to the bathroom before you’re dry heaving into the sink. Nothing comes up, save for bitter bile, but you’re exhausted once the short wave of nausea passes.

You rinse your mouth and the sink out, and splash some water on your face. With any luck, you won’t have woken anyone, but when you exit the bathroom you nearly walk face first into Shouta, who’s leaning beside the door.

“It sounded like you were getting sick.” His tone isn’t accusing, but his posture puts your guard up.

“Nothing came out, so it’s fine.”

You wander back to the living room, hoping to leave the conversation, but he only follows.

“Why were you getting sick in the first place?”

“I dunno,” you grumble tensely, “adrenaline reaction maybe? Who’s to say why people puke.”

He’s quiet for several moments, observing you, your fidgeting, your agitation. You feel like you’re under a microscope, with the way he’s looking at you.

“What happened to you out there?” he asks.

“Stuff,” you mutter.

I got people killed.

“Stuff that gives you nightmares every time you sleep?”

“I don’t need a therapist.”

I don’t deserve to come back from this.

“Your sleep-yelling woke me up. You’re lucky Hizashi wears earplugs.”

You turn away from him and grab your water bottle off the coffee table, plopping grumpily onto the couch. Shouta hesitates for a moment before finding a seat beside you again. Warmth radiates off his body, which is pressed comfortingly against your side. You can feel the tension easing out of your shoulders in his presence.

“What’s so bad about therapists, anyways?” he asks, genuinely curious. “Lots of people need them. Hizashi and I have both seen a couple over the years.”

“I don’t need someone to tell me there’s something wrong with me.”

Shouta sighs. “That’s not what they do, and you know it. What’s the real reason?”

You silently curse his ability to read you like a book, to always somehow know when you’re lying. But…you’re not sure you could tell him the truth.

“I just…don’t like the idea, okay? Leave it at that.”

He watches you silently, searching in your averted gaze for any willingness to open up, but he finds only sadness…and shame. “I should head back to bed, then. Early morning, and whatnot. Try and get some more sleep.”

He rises off the couch, and without thinking you follow suit, and quickly envelope him in a hug.

“I’m sorry,” you sniffle, burying your face in his chest. He’s surprised for a moment, but is quick to wrap his arms around you, holding you tight while you tremble against him.

He pats small circles into you back, keeping you close until your breathing begins to even out. “Just…don’t let this go on for too long, okay?” It’s the closest you’ve ever heard him to begging, “I don’t know what happened to you out there, but you’re obviously suffering.”

You pull away slightly, tired and defeated, and nod. “I’ll look into it. Those resources you mentioned. Okay?”

You release each other fully, and he gives you one last pat to the head.

“Okay. Now, really, try and get some more sleep.”

#aizawa x reader #aizawa shouta x reader #yamada hizashi x reader #yamada x reader #erasermic x reader #reader insert #bnha x reader #mha x reader #Space Between #it will get happy soon i promise #eraserhead x reader #present mic x reader

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damn-stark · 4 years ago

Text

Space Crazy

Soulmate Au- Poe Dameron x Fem!First Order reader

Summary- when you’re close to meeting your soulmate you begin to see flashes of shared actions. No matter where in the galaxy either of you are. The closer you are physically, it all gets stronger, you get their same injuries and at times hear what they hear. The only questions are who they are and how does it stop?

A/N- my first soulmate Au and yes this idea is based of tik tok, don’t judge okay? Let me know what you thought and if you want a part two?!

Warning- talk of death, angst, fluff?? Soulmate au

———-

It happens out of a sudden and can happen anywhere when you’re doing shared actions. It’s a glimpse, a flash of a second. One second you’re doing something, seeing your own surroundings and then, BAM, you see a different place, different faces and feel the presence of your “soulmate”.

It’s BS. Everyone’s just space crazy. They’ve just breathed in too much artificial air. It’s not real.

How can someone see what someone else is doing? Or have the same wounds as they do? Or hear songs one another hears? It can’t be real…

“Hey, L/N good morning.” A fellow pilot named Xam greeted.

You groaned as a response and plopped yourself around the table, taking a long drink of your water and quirking your eyebrow questioningly as Xam’s eyes studied your face. Once you swallowed your water, you set your cup down and questioned his staring. “Yes?”

“What happened?” He asks.

You blink, “what do you mean?”

Xam points to his cheekbone and the side of his temple, gesturing to what was supposedly on your face without actually touching you.

Your eyebrows knot in confusion and you lift your hand to touch what Xam had pointed out, wincing as soon as the tip of your fingers touched your sudden wounds. “What the hell?” You snatch the clean spoon from your plate and bring it up close to your face, trying to see what hurt, but all you saw was a distorted reflection of yourself. Ultimately seeing nothing, causing you to stand from your seat and quickly throw your excuse in the air before you rushed to the refresher. Rushing to come before the mirror, your eyes widening and a gasp escaping your lips as you saw a new, red bruise on your cheekbone, followed by a throbbing small cut. “What the? How?” You turn your head slightly and see a bigger wound on the side of your temple, “how?” Your gaze narrows and you take a step back with your lips parted and your mind wandering faster than Lightspeed on the possibilities of what could’ve happened.

Maybe you hurt yourself while sleeping?

But your face? Sure you’ve bruised your legs sometimes without knowing, but never your face. Plus you’re a pilot, it’s rare to get your face hurt. So, what the heck?

You walk out of the refresher rubbing your cheek with your mind deep in thought, hardly paying attention to those around you or where exactly you were going. Not until you found yourself back in the same table as before, barely catching what the group of pilots gathered around were talking about. “Did you guys see the resistance pilot that Ren brought in?”

“No.”

“Well I did. Not a threat at all. All space talk.” Xam remarks cockily before his attention went on you, “you doing okay, L/N?”

You shrug and take a long drink of your water before swallowing and answering, “I don’t know. I might be dying, who knows?”

Your co-pilot Doja scoffs and leans in with a smirk, “or you know what they say, your soulmate could be close. The closer they are, the stronger everything gets.”

You huff, “it’s not true.”

Doja shrugs and moves to her previous spot, “Sure it is, my previous commander began hearing stuff and getting injuries out of nowhere. Turned out it was because her soulmate was on the same fleet and found her the next day.”

You roll your eyes and shake your head as you bring the fruit to your lips and open your mouth to take only one bite before your comms went off calling you to rush to your TIE’s—“great. No days off.” You whine whilst you and the rest of your friends quickly push yourself off your seat and hurry to your hanger. Doja throws you your helmet to catch it, both your attentions stolen by the voice of your commander.

“The resistance scum escaped in a TIE with the help of a traitor, we have orders to take it down. No taking prisoners.” Your commander explained with a detectable smug smirk on his lips. “We got this team.”

Doja hits your arm and offers you an encouraging thumbs up before she puts her helmet over head and hides her shaved purple hair and runs off to hop onto guns while you hop onto the pilot's seat.

“Soulmate talk for later.” Doja teased as she closed the cockpit and you started the engines to quickly fly off the hanger, entering the dark void of space that was lit by the red bright colors of blasts shot from the ships and accompanied by the big beige planet called Jakku in the distance.

You ignored her comment and didn’t plan on talking about it for later, using this distraction as a form to “forget” about the subject. Albeit it wasn’t forgotten like you would’ve liked as suddenly it hit you once again while you were flying. A sudden flash that made you stall, peeling your eyes and taking in shallow shocked breaths, noticing as the vision passed what appeared to be the inside of a TIE; the inside was dark, the same red blasts that flashed outside your ship, flashed there, whoever you were seeing. You also saw a pair of hands, gloveless, unlike yours or your squadron….unless you didn’t notice, you weren’t exactly paying attention who was or who wasn’t wearing their gloves, so it could be one of them….right? But...it was fake.

All of it. It was just you going space crazy—

“Y/N! Hey! Focus, we got the stray TIE dead ahead, just fly us close and I can shoot it down!” Doja shouts, breaking your train of thought and completely losing that weird flash of the vision you just had.

You blink and nod hesitantly, “yeah, got it.” Boosting the engines the ship races forward faster, making it come only inches away from the stolen TIE, making you swiftly maneuver past it, almost scraping against the ship as it suddenly turns to try and fly away when the pilot notices you. Doja is shouting something in her seat, celebrating the success of her hit and trying to include you until it happens again. Only this time more vividly and longer. This time you see whoever it was looking back to see only a white armored shoulder, there were no faces, or sound, just vivid flashes of their surroundings, of the controls and of the Planet before you.

The suddenness of it made you freeze, but still mindlessly fly the ship, gasping as it kept going for a moment longer. Getting a warm and familiar feeling, a closeness, like something was trying to connect. All until a blast hit your wing and it all went away, red flashes blared in the ship.

“Oh shoot! Oh shit.” You began to panic as the ship was out of your control and you felt it free falling into Jakku. “Shit!”

“It’s okay!” Doja assured you in the same panic, “it’s okay I got a good hit too! Shot one of their wings, they’re done for!”

“Just like us!” You stressed as you tried to control the wheel, feeling it shake widely and seeing your life flash in your eyes, a different feeling than what you saw flash in your before. This one was terrifying and colder in a sense. Your panic heightened just like the beating of your heart, you knew what to do of course, eject; but that still didn’t mean anything, you could die all the same—“okay, Doja, eject! In 1. 2. 3!” Pressing the eject button, the cockpit door flew up and your seat ejected from the burning ship, throwing you out onto the planet to now slowly parachute down onto the blazing sands of Jakku.

Feeling a relief as you felt the warmth of the sun hit your face as you ripped the helmet off your head. You exhaled deeply and let it fall somewhere, looking back to see that you were floating down by yourself, Doja wasn’t with you, nor above or below. No. Quickly as you see you’re only a couple feet away from the ground you unbuckle yourself and let your boots touch the sand, running towards your crash landing, but suddenly stopping as it blew up and the power of the explosion sent you flying back.

Making you wish that you would’ve gone unconscious to have to realize later that your longtime friend and co-pilot was gone; to feel the pain of her loss that was much greater than any wound later. But it couldn’t be done, the pain hit as the blazing sun burned your skin. The only form of distraction as you pushed yourself up to your feet was seeing someone in the distance, seeming to be wanting to walk towards you but suddenly falling. Quickly without a second thought you ran towards the person, feeling new sudden pain all over your body that you knew you didn’t get from your landing. It was weird, but you shoved it away as best you could while you reached the person you saw was an unconscious man.

For a brief moment though, before helping him you studied him, slowly examined his face as he felt familiar, noticing the wounds on his face matched yours. Only he had fresh cuts in the same place you had bruises…..what a weird coincidence. Hmm—brushing the thought away you crouched down and reached to feel a pulse. Only feeling the tips of your fingers brush his skin before you ripped your hand away as some form of static shock shot through you at the slightest touch of his skin. “What the hell?!” Your eyebrows furrowed and your eyes bounced from the spot on his neck you had touched and his face to check if he had somehow done that. Only he was still half dead, so it wasn’t him….weird…

Choosing to pass it as nothing, you again reached for his neck and finally managed to feel a light pulse under his tan and warm skin, finding it actually reliving that he was alive. “Okay, good.” You breathed as you stood up and looked to see how you could help him and bring him with you without having to drag him on the sand. Not seconds later, spotting a piece of debris from your ship's wing inches away; in a hasty pace you walked towards the debris and pulled it towards the man, having to grab one of his arms and drag him onto the long debris, the effort coming out as more of a struggle than you initially thought.

“Shit man are you made out of pure muscle or something, you’re fucking heavy.” You groaned as you somehow managed to get him on the piece of debris, using a dead strand of cord from your parachute to drag the man and the debris behind you. Not thinking of why you hadn’t just let him die under the sun. It was no choice to you like it would’ve been to the others, no matter if he seemed to be familiar or not, nor how much more you were sweating with your jumpsuit on under the scorching sun with no direction whatsoever as you dragged him with you. All that crossed your mind beside the unfortunate death of your friend and the subject of the supposed “soulmate” ordeal, was that hopefully they’d come look for you. Your squad or some part of The First Order.

Hopefully. Soon. Before the sun burned your skin completely, before you got lost the more you walked further into the depths of the Jakku desert. Before you also got lost with this handsome mystery person you now figured as you kept walking in silence was the prisoner who was helped by the stormtrooper. It was getting late, so hopefully they’d come soon.

Regardless of the hope, you kept walking until your arms and legs grew too tired and you stopped to take a small break, wanting a drink of water but having nothing but your imagination come up with the water you desired. Your saliva wasn’t even a help as there was no saliva to swallow, your throat was dry as this sand beneath your feet—“pfft…” you breathed out whilst you dropped to the floor and sat to take a break that didn’t last a second as the man finally shot up as he woke up, scaring the living shit out of you.

“Wh-what the hell?” He panted as his eyes found you.

You exhale deeply and grab onto your chest, “fuck man you scared me!” You drop your head in your hands and try and calm your breathing to what it once was, having to look up to black curly haired man as he asks another question.

“Where am I? Who are you?”

You blink and move your arms to unzip your jacket down to your waist before pulling your arms out and tying it around your waist, being left only in your tank top, which felt a hundred times cooler now. Thank the force.

Focusing on the man you finally answer him, “you’re in Jakku and I’m y/n. Who are you?”

His thick dark eyebrows furrow and he looks around as he stands up, wobbling a bit before he gains his balance. “How did I get here?”

“Uh,” standing up yourself, you narrow your gaze on him almost waiting to hear that his question was a joke. “You crashed here….are you okay? Maybe you should sit back down.”

“No.” He quickly interjected his eyes focusing on you and the jumpsuit you had on, his eyebrows only knotting deeper. “What...why did you help me?”

You shrug, “because I wanted to...cause I didn’t want to leave you to die. Being from The First Order doesn’t mean that we’re all heartless y’know?”

He breathed out deeply and nodded slowly, “sure.” before he kept studying you slowly, his eyes scanning your body until his deep brown eyes locked with yours, causing another sense of familiarity that made the both of you keep looking at one another to try and figure out what it was about the both of you that seemed so familiar and...peaceful? Looking at him, being close to him felt like it did when you were on the ship before you crashed; like something connected, like a piece of puzzle finally neatly fit in and finished the piece of art. His presence, the depths of his big brown eyes felt reassuring and peaceful...could it be?

No it’s fake. All fake….

Before much could happen you both looked away and looked at the sea of sand surrounding you, beginning to feel now, overwhelmed with all this sand.

“I was with…” he paused for a second before he continued, “I was with someone..a—”

“The stormtrooper? Yeah I’m sorry I didn’t see him. Seems you ejected and landed away from the ship you were on.” You look at him again, “are you sure you’re okay? You might have suffered through some memory loss and or a concussion. You should sit—”

“No,” he dismissed you quickly, his voice softer, not in a kind way, but in an upset manner, “we should get going before it gets dark.”

“We?” You questioned, your eyes wide, “you still want “someone like me” following you?”

He shrugs, “you helped me for some reason. Plus I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if you didn’t.” You hesitated as he began to move forward, noticing him stop and look back at you to insist you to follow.

“Oh, okay.” Before you fell by his side you grabbed the piece of debris and brought it along with you, motioning him to grab the other end and hold it above you.

He smiled as he looked at you, “smart.” He complimented, making your smile grow like his as you shrugged nonchalantly.

“I’m not a pilot just because of my amazing skills.”

He scoffed in a lighthearted manner, “okay, sure whatever you say.”

Shooting him a side eye you seethed, “hey, we shot you down—”

“After WE shot you first!” He cut you off.

You scoff and turn to face, “okay, hot shot, what’s your best flying record? I’m sure you trained at some sort of academy. What’s your best score?”

He hummed as he thought, “uh, well my fastest is six minutes. Best score in the whole squad.”

You smirk and look ahead at the miles of sand, “five minutes and thirty seconds. I win. Beat that.”

From the corner of your eyes you caught him grinning before he finally revealed his name. “I’m Poe. Poe Dameron. You know you’re not so bad.”

You chuckle, “I’ve told you already, we’re not all bad.”

He nods and follows your line of sight, stopping as soon as he spotted something you did as well. A person in the distance on a broken down speeder—you brought your hand up as Poe did to block the sunlight from your eyes and as you did so, it happened again. The sudden vivid flash of the person in the distance.

At first you thought it was just you going crazier without some water and all this heat, but it wasn’t, what you were seeing was from someone else's point of view. Someone close that was easy to know. There was no one else around beside you and...Poe.

Slowly as he also realized the same thing the both of you turned to face each other, eyes wide and eyebrows knotted in utter disbelief. At first words stuck to your throat, only silent breathing coming out before the only word you both managed to say was.

“It’s you.”

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