#he's corporal Jelen

[kosmosian-quills]

[as of yet untitled Heroic!Anja]

A thing that has had me stumped for most of this month that I started a while ago. It’s not finished yet, but I’m working on it. I’ll think of a better title later. Thanks to @cirianne​ for the ongoing feedback with this one (even though it took me, like, forever) and because you love Heroic!Anja 😊.

Content warnings: kidnapping (at knifepoint), threats, and honestly I’m not sure what else.

I hope you enjoy!

Things have descended from bad to so much worse in barely a minute.

The man at my hip with my arm in his grasp is strong, he’s a soldier, and he isn’t looking at me.

He’s watching the man who commands him to restrain me, whilst he instigates this attack on the Princess.

Andzia isn’t speaking now, not when she has that knife at her throat. The General is though, and I cannot hear a word he’s saying.

I look from him - that angry, evil man that I once respected - to my friend, who daren’t move in case he slits her throat.

Just in front of me, on the floor, is Matylda, and she doesn’t need a soldier to hold her in place because she already is.

No, this can’t… why is he doing this? Trying to - no. What he said. I remember. “I do have a solution to your problem. And yes, it is your problem, even if you are electing to ignore it.”

The way he had stepped closer to her, as she answered him - "And what would that be? Your solution?" - Alarms were ringing in my head but I didn’t react fast enough.

Trust had me incapacitated for too long. He had her, and the soldier had me by the elbow, before I could do anything.

We need help. I can’t fight this soldier, not whilst Andzia is in danger like that. Besides, it’s clearly her they want. What if they hurt Matylda, instead?

And I am not stupid. Even if I do as they say, what is to stop them from hurting us anyway? From killing us?

The General is not looking at us anymore, he’s whispering something into the Princess’ ear, and I can see her cringe. She isn’t fighting. She isn’t resisting.

No.

The door behind me, it’s not open, but they certainly didn’t lock it. I could make a run for it. Make some noise. Get some help.

The soldier with his hold on me doesn’t seem totally interested in me at the moment. We outnumber them, three-to-two. None of us need fight. One of us just needs to get away.

I have a chance.

I remember what my coach once told me. He hoped I’d never need it, but I’m fast and all I need is a few seconds to stall someone, and I can be away before they have any chance of catching me.

I can do it.

I steal a glance at the door, then at the disinterested soldier.

Now.

I bring the elbow he had a hold of upwards sharply and make contact with the underside of his jaw. He cries out loudly, releasing me and buying me those precious seconds I need.

I don’t waste a single one of them.

“After her! Get after her, you idiot!” The General bellows as I reach the door, wrench it open, and sprint off to the right, back the way we came.

It’s isolated and empty around here, I don’t even know exactly where I am. I’ve never been here before. I can only assume it’s the General’s turf, the intelligence offices, or something of that nature.

But I don’t care about that. I can’t see anything but the wide-eyed fear that Andzia had on her face before I ran, and that’s what is keeping me running. It’s all I can think about.

I will get help.

This is forever the reason that I have not and will not ever wear high heeled shoes for this job, because I can’t imagine what would have happened if I was. I wouldn’t have made it this far, that is for certain.

I turn the corner, and I can hear the soldier pursuing me.

I am an endurance runner. I know all I need to do is simply keep running. He’ll probably be trained the same way, though, and the chances are that I will be caught at some point. I don’t think he’ll be as kind as to simply hold me back a second time.

I realise here that I am lost, though. The floors I had been on the whole time were carpeted, now they’re solid stone. I can’t remember how we got to that room, and I can’t remember which door it was, did I miss the staircase? I don’t know, and this is bad! He’ll have me cornered if I don’t think of something!

I need to lose him. Or at least, slow him down. He will catch up eventually, but at least I can regain my bearings.

If he catches me, if I fail, then no one can help Andzia.

There’s a door to my right, and I seize my opportunity. I shove it open and slam it shut, fiddling with the lock as I do, listening out for the click that will give me every moment I can use. The door is heavy, and I don’t even know why it was unlocked. I would have thought that intelligence offices would be locked after hours? It’s dark in here, but the light that comes from those huge windows is enough for me to see a huge table in the centre of the room. For conferences, perhaps? It’s the only thing I can -

Slam!

I’m still leaning into the door with my thoughts when I feel a heavy shove, which jostled the door and I was almost convinced it would fly off its hinges.

I get to my feet and stand away from the door. I have minutes, at most, to find another way out of here!

I rush to the windows, the huge things that span my knee height to about a foot from the ceiling. We’re on the first storey, and I can open the window, looking out and down at the ground below. I could probably survive that fall without much harm, but do I even want to risk it? I’d be landing right on top of a huge rose bush, thorny as anything. I’d probably get stuck, and he would have probably caught me!

I kick off my shoes, throwing them out of the window, watching them bounce off the roses and onto the dirt beside them. Next, I take off my blazer, and tie one sleeve to the bar of a radiator, and dangle the other out of the open window.

I hear a sickening crack, and turn back to the door. That door won’t last much longer!

I can’t get out of the window now, but I think I have an idea.

There’s a cupboard over on my left, against the wall, and I make a break for it. I’m glad I took off my shoes because the wooden floor would likely have made noise as I settled into place and carefully closed the door, enveloping me in more darkness.

Not a moment too soon, either, because I hear an even louder crash and the door hits the floor.

“Where did you go…?” I can hear him growling as he steps into the room, and I cover my mouth with my hands as light fills the room outside. I can see it through the crack in the door.

I hear him quickly cross the room, getting closer and closer to me, please don’t see me, please don’t open -!

“Shit!”

He passes my hiding spot, thankfully enough, and from the sounds of it, he sees my blazer and my shoes.

It worked, I think, because he runs just as fast as before. Where to, I wonder? To find where I went? To go back and report his failure to the General?

To go find an ally to assist him?

How many of these men… these soldiers under the General’s command… how many are aware of this?

My situation and desire to go get help seems hopeless now. How do I know who I can trust?

Who can I go get help from?

I wait until I can hear no more footsteps at all, before soundlessly cracking open the door and slowly peering out. I listen, for the sound of anything. Anything and anyone that could be around. Any footsteps. Breathing. Talking. Anything.

But I can’t hear anything.

I take my chance and crawl out of the cupboard, ignoring the stack of papers that fall out after me.

I wait a few seconds more, my ears still waiting for a telltale sign that the soldier who pursued me was, before creeping my way to the door I came in through.

Now that I am not wearing my shoes, it’s easier to move silently across the floor, and I realise that the soldier did indeed leave the door open.

Do I dare leave this way? I am far more likely to run into him this way, but then again, I don’t think that throwing myself out of a window is a better idea by any means.

At least I can make my way out of here in relative safety by going back the way I came in.

The corridor is mercifully empty, and I briskly make my way towards the door I missed before. The one I should have gone through earlier.

I can hear the distant sounds of shouts and yells, but where from and who by, I do not know. All I know is that I should stay quiet and assume the worst.

Once I am safely behind the next door, I break into a sprint back up the stone staircase, back to familiarity. It’s strange running without my shoes, it certainly hurts more, but this is honestly such a small price to pay at the moment.

If I don’t do something, who knows what will happen to Andzia or Matylda?

“Fire!” I scream as I break my way through a door at the next landing, trying to attract as much attention as I possibly could. The more people who heard me, the better. “Please help, fire!”

My choice of words is more effective than I had hoped, because within seconds there half a dozen castle guards, three household managers and a cleaner in the corridor with me.

“Where’s the fire? What happened?” one of the guards asked me. A tall, tanned skinned man with dark hair and strong looking muscles, probably taking in the sight of a shoeless young woman screaming ‘fire’ in the early evening.

“It’s the Princess! She’s been kidnapped, she needs help!” I tried to explain with concision, but even I know that such a sentence sounds strange in of itself. It seems so unlikely. In fact, it’s so beyond the realms of possible - at least, in this day and age, and in the castle no less - that I don’t blame them for their hesitation.

I can hear the various responses. “What?” and “the Princess?” are the most common, but I don’t have time for this.

Neither does she.

“Just, come on! Please!” I turn back towards the door, gesturing for them to follow me.

The guards aren’t armed with firearms, but they don’t need them. And all six of them followed me, as I led them back down the way I was led down before, back when I was naive and innocent, believing that we wouldn’t be in such big trouble barely fifteen minutes later.

I remember the room we were in before. The door was wide open, the door I emerged from before, where everything went to hell.

“Matylda!”

I call out to her. She’s still there on the floor, exactly the way she was when I left her. Her face still frozen with fear, pale and clammy skin with wide eyes.

I drop to my knees beside her, grabbing a hold of her hand. She’s freezing, she’s in shock.

“Where did they go? Matyldka? Where is she?” I ask her, and her response is nonverbal. It’s a simple gesture. Pointing to the open door she was facing.

The door opposite her, the one that’s just slightly ajar and leading to another room, is where she seems to think they went. It seems logical, after all, but I just hope I can help get these guards to the Princess. Who knows what the General will do with her if we don’t?!

I shoot up to my feet, rushing over to the door, vaguely aware of the command issued by one of the guards - “Get this girl to the medwing, Corporal Jelen. Corporal Nowak, stay here, make sure they don’t come back out this way. The rest of you, with me.”

They make no attempt to dismiss me. 

Good. I’m not going anywhere.

The room that I ran in to next was a small antechamber of sorts, simply filled with a few chairs and a decorative shelf lined with fine china plates. There are three doors in here, the one I came from, one to the right - which leads back to the corridor I led them here from - and the door on the left, that I have never been through. I highly doubt the General would take her anywhere through the door on the right. It would lead us straight to them, and I think he knew he lost the moment I got away. That’s what I *hope* at least. I can only hope that the left door will be where they went.

I’ve never had a reason to go through it, so I have no idea what awaits me.

Until now.

I wrench it open. It’s a staircase, leading down into some dark depths. I could swear I heard something down there, but I have no idea if it’s simply the guards that are following me, or whether it’s the echo of the door slamming open. Either way, it’s the best chance I - we - have at finding Andzia.

It’s her best chance too.

I practically leap down the steps, swinging around the corner with the handrails and sprint into the depths beyond, not knowing or caring how close behind me those guards are.

It’s cold down here, it’s certainly not a place I’m accustomed to. It’s a strange place that I’m not even sure who would even know what’s down here, or why. It’s like a labyrinth, an endless series of stone tunnels deep down here. Dark and damp and -

“Get -!”

I freeze, listening intently for the source. It’s the General, it has to be, and he sounded close. 

I’m so close, we’re so close, I know it. I don’t care. The more noise I make, the more chance we have of finding her. I can’t let her get taken away from here.

Who knows what will happen to her if that’s the case?

I don’t expect them to be so close though, and I’m sure he didn’t either.

Turning the corner, I see the General with Andzia still - stood facing me like he was expecting someone to appear where I stand. That knife isn’t by her throat anymore, but it’s not much better at her side. His other hand still holding her by the upper arm, keeping her close. She’s keeping her composure remarkably well, I have to admit. 

I suppose she’d have to, if she doesn’t want that knife in her side.

“Not another step,” he commands in that famous voice, the voice he normally uses to address huge assemblies of soldiers and guards, “or you’ll watch her bleed out from over there.”

I can only see that knife, only see how it’s dangerously close to killing her slowly and painfully. I can’t imagine that he would… would want to kill her. Earlier, it seemed to be like he wanted her for some other reason. I can’t rationalise why he would want to kill her now when he could have already done that if he wanted to.

Nonetheless, I have to treat his threat like it’s so very real.

Tag List:

@cirianne​ - @dove-actually​ - @writeblrbraindump​ - @musicofglassandwords​ @writingonesdreams​ - @waterfallofinkandpages​

[path-of-my-childhood]

Brian Mansfield shared on Twitter that he found a thumb drive with data showing music Taylor was listening back in the day when he worked and interviewed her for USA Today. Article in question can still be accessed with the help of Wayback Machine, if Flash is enabled in your browser. Alternatively, you can check out the whole list, with around 500 song, HERE.

You can also check out playlist on Spotify that Brian made with the songs that 18-year-old Taylor listened to the most on her iPod, or you can check them out below the cut.

Taylor Swift's iPod When She Was 18

Family Force 5 - Love Addict

Damien Rice - The Blower's Daughter

Patty Griffin - Christina

Better Than Ezra - Breathless

Metro Station - Now That We're Done

Gwen Stefani - Hollaback Girl

Trace Adkins - Every Light in the House

Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc.

Jem - 24

Damien Rice - 9 Crimes

Yung Joc feat. Nitti Explicit - It's Goin' Down

Savage Garden - I Want You

The Cardigans - I Need Some Fine Wine and You, You Need to Be Nicer

Ingrid Michaelson - The Way I Am

Mat Kearney - All I Need

Aslyn - Be The Girl

John Mayer - Comfortable (EP Version)

Patty Griffin - Heavenly Day

The Corrs - Breathless

Brandi Carlile - What Can I Say

Coldplay - Sparks

Corinne Bailey Rae - Put Your Records On

Josh Rouse - It's The Nighttime

The Wreckers - Cigarettes

Chantal Kreviazuk - In This Life

The Veronicas - When It All Falls Apart

Hellogoodbye - Here In Your Arms

Coheed and Cambria - The Suffering

Gwen Stefani ft. Akon - The Sweet Escape

Dixie Chicks - Top Of The World

Dixie Chicks - Easy Silence

Mat Kearney - Where We Gonna Go From Here

Rachael Yamagata - Worn Me Down

Tyler Hilton - Kiss On (Revised)

Gavin DeGraw - Follow Through

Ben Jelen - Come On

Colbie Caillat - Feelings Show

Emerson Drive - Fall Into Me

James Blunt - Goodbye My Lover

Liz Phair - Why Can't I?

Paris Hilton - Nothing In This World

Dashboard Confessional - Vindicated

Jimmy Eat World - The Middle

Lenny Kravitz - Again

Diana Anaid - Last Thing

Maroon 5 - Harder To Breathe

Metro Station - Shake It

LFO - Every Other Time (Radio Edit & Album Version)

Mindy Smith - Come To Jesus

Patty Griffin - Burgundy Shoes

Patty Griffin - Peter Pan

Plumb - Stranded

Better Than Ezra - Our Last Night

Def Leppard - Pour Some Sugar On Me

Fort Minor feat. Holly Brook & Jonah Matranga - Where'd You Go

Lil Scrappy - No Problem

Patty Griffin - When It Don't Come Easy

Ryan Adams - Come Pick Me Up

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - American Girl

Dem Franchize Boyz - Ridin' Rims

Unkle Bob - Swans

Jann Arden - Insensitive

Rilo Kiley - Portions For Foxes

Landon Pigg - Can't Let Go

LeAnn Rimes - The Right Kind Of Wrong

The Fray - Look After You

The Wallflowers - Closer To You

Matt Wertz - Red Meets Blue

The Veronicas - 4ever

Beyoncé - Irreplaceable

David Mead - Nashville

Something Corporate - Ruthless

Blu Sanders - Like the Movies

Britney Spears - Do Somethin'

Fefe Dobson - 8 x 10

Frankie J featuring Baby Bash - Obsesion (No Es Amor)

Gavin DeGraw - Belief

Kelly Clarkson - Some Kind of Miracle

Miranda Lambert - Kerosene

Pat Benatar - Wuthering Heights

Shakira - Don't Bother

SHeDAISY - In Terms Of Love

Tori Amos - A Sorta Fairytale

The Fray - How to Save a Life

A Fine Frenzy - Almost Lover

Coldplay - Yellow

Dixie Chicks - Cold Day In July

Gary Allan - Promise Broken

Kelly Clarkson - Low

Sheryl Crow - It's So Easy

Dixie Chicks - Godspeed (Sweet Dreams)

Fefe Dobson - Revolution Song

Jet - Look What You've Done

John Mayer - Slow Dancing In A Burning Room

Michelle Branch - Goodbye To You

Plain White T's - Hate (I Really Don't Like You)

T.I. - What You Know

The Corrs - Summer Sunshine

Divinyls - I Touch Myself

Goo Goo Dolls - Here Is Gone

Pitbull ft. Lil Jon - Culo

Jake Owen - Ghosts

Lil Scrappy ft. Young Buck - Money In The Bank

BarlowGirl - Never Alone (Radio Remix)

Coldplay - The Scientist

Dem Franchize Boyz, Peanut, Charlay - Lean Wit It, Rock Wit It

Hope Partlow - Don't Go

Matchbox Twenty - Long Day

Semisonic - Closing Time

U2 - One

Brandi Carlile - Turpentine

Brandi Carlile - Throw It All Away

Mr. Big - To Be With You

Gabrielle - Out Of Reach

Colbie Caillat - One Fine Wire

Anna Nalick - Catalyst

Dashboard Confessional - Hands Down

Dixie Chicks - Not Ready to Make Nice

Fefe Dobson - Take Me Away

Staind - Everything Changes

Del Amitri - Roll To Me

Jake Owen - Eight Second Ride

Anna Nalick - Breathe (2 AM)

Bruce Robison - Virginia

Dixie Chicks - Lullaby

Dwight Yoakam - The Back of Your Hand

Maroon 5 - She Will Be Loved

The Veronicas - Everything I'm Not

Three 6 Mafia - Side 2 Side

Vertical Horizon - You're a God

Jason Mraz - I'm Yours

Joanna - Screaming Infidelities

David Gray - This Year's Love

Rachael Yamagata - Be Be Your Love

Sarah McLachlan - Fallen (Album Mix)

Backstreet Boys - Crawling Back to You

Pat Benatar - Hit Me With Your Best Shot

The All-American Rejects - Dirty Little Secret

Avril Lavigne - Fall To Pieces

Pat Benatar - Heartbreaker

Def Leppard - Photograph

Vanessa Carlton - Who's To Say

Mannie Fresh - Real Big

Alanis Morissette - Hands Clean

Ben Lee - Catch My Disease

Beyoncé, Bun B, Slim Thug ft. Bun B and Slim Thug - Check On It

Fefe Dobson - Don't Let It Go To Your Head

Grace Potter & The Nocturnals - Apologies

Jack Johnson - Taylor

James Blunt - You're Beautiful

Katie Herzig - Fools Gold

Matchbox Twenty - If You're Gone

The All-American Rejects - Swing, Swing

Third Eye Blind - Semi-Charmed Life

Jonas Brothers - Tonight

Acceptance - Different

Alison Krauss & Union Station - New Favorite

Ben Folds Five - Brick

Brandi Carlile - Fall Apart Again

Courtney Jaye - Can You Sleep

Dashboard Confessional - Ghost Of A Good Thing

Fefe Dobson - Bye Bye Boyfriend

Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah

John Mayer - Your Body Is a Wonderland

Mozella - You Wanted It

Oasis - Wonderwall

Shop Boyz - Party Like A Rock Star

Wheat - I Met A Girl

John Mayer - Waiting On the World to Change

[whumping-newbie]

Court Martialled

A quick drabble before the “whumpy” stuff can begin. I hope you enjoy!

POV: Michal

Warnings: None that I can think of. Please let me know if you see something!

“Corporal Jelen,” the voice of my immediate commanding officer as I reported for duty is not, in of itself, and unexpected thing.

What was unexpected was how he was accompanied by two more soldiers directly below him in the chain of command. A rank just above me, but still an unnerving presence all the same.

“Yes, Captain?” I asked, standing to attention, trying to keep my eyes simply on him and not on the two soldiers on either side. They weren’t giving me attention, simply doing their jobs. I felt an uneasy feeling rise in my stomach, but fought to keep that unease hidden.

Emil is sat at his desk, looking up at me with a smug grin on his face. “So, Corporal,” he starts by leaning forward, closer to me, his eyes have this almost childish glee to them. I dread to think what is coming next. “Where were you two nights ago? The night of the fire?”

I should have known.

My thoughts race, and I can’t think clearly. I spent the last 18 hours thinking of something, anything to tell them if they question me. I rehearsed my alibi, what I was doing, and where I was.

Yet now, when I need to think the most, I cannot think of a single thing, a single lie, to tell my commanding officer.

“You were off duty. Yet no one appears to remember seeing you, nor did you sign out to leave the castle. So I’ll ask again – where were you?”

The thing making this worse is that damned smirk of his, his victorious expression as he appears to have caught me in a lie. That he’s finally worked it out.

Making me responsible for this, means that my involvement in Aleksander’s escape is much higher.

Instead, I do what my training taught me. The thing that was drilled into me far more effectively than a short term cram session.

I shut my mouth, keep my gaze forward, and say nothing.

Silence.

“Corporal, answer my question,” Emil’s smirk fades to a deceptively threatening stare. He realises just what I am doing though, I think, because he rises to his feet before continuing to speak, trying to make eye contact with me that I am just not reciprocating. “Where. Were. You. Two. Nights. Ago?”

He stresses every word with a restrained yet harsh full-palmed hit on the desktop. The pens, pins and papers rattle, jingling in their containers as he stares me down.

Still, I say nothing.

I wonder how quickly I can kill him now, just end his life here. I’m certainly the more physically capable one of the two of us. I can just grab my baton and practically crack his head open with barely a second of time passing.

But he has the advantage. I’m outnumbered, and he knows it. I won’t do any harm to him without suffering swift and harsh consequences.

“Not talking?” he cocks his head to the side, before looking at the soldier to his left and nodding. The Sergeant there acknowledges the silent command, before both of them step around the desk to either side of me, and both of them grab a hold of my arms in that iron grip, but I do not stop my silent defiance, standing tall and strong in my spot. “Well, Corporal, I’m having you Court Martialled for treason. I’ll be questioning you later, but for now, take him to the dungeons.”

He sits back down in his seat as I’m dragged backwards towards the door.

I refuse to go undignified, though, and make sure to keep up with these soldiers on either side of me. I keep my pace up, still staring forward, ignoring the stares of everyone else as I pass them by.

It’s over. I did everything I could.

I still failed to save two of them. Who will save them now?

[kosmosian-quills]

Week 1 - Family

For week 1 of @yourocsbackstory​’s fall edition. I hope you enjoy it :)

“Gratuluję Corporal Michał Kamilewicz Jelen.”

My mother beamed at me from the front door as I arrived, fully dressed in my smart, clean, pressed new uniform, befitting of my new position, decorated with the shiny new blue and gold ribbon over my chest.

“Mother,” I returned her smile, putting on a show and saluting to her before I stepped any closer.

“’Mother’?” she queried as she pulled me closer into a comforting embrace that only she can provide. “The army has made you very official I see. It wasn’t so long ago I was just ‘mum’ to you.”

“Sorry, mum,” I picked up my bags and entered the house.

“Don’t be, I rather like this new side to you,” she led me to the living room.

It was a small, square thing furnished with dark blue sofas and pillows, the same throw rugs over the seats that have been there for as long as I can recall. Even that wine spill from when I was a boy. I had knocked into the coffee table and the glass went flying. It’s wonderfully nostalgic.

There was still the photo of the three of us, untouched on the wall. It had been looked after and dusted regularly – the photo of me, mum and dad. I had just started school, I was in my new uniform and smirking mischievously. Mum looks radiant, even now, one hand on my shoulder, the other wrapped around my dad. He’s in his army uniform, his chest puffed out proudly, showing off his new rank of Major.

Dad died just less than a year after that photo was taken.

Killed in the line of duty, an honorary death, they said. Mum has been well looked after ever since, thanks to the grievance services provided by the army as thanks for my dad’s many years of service. We never starved, never struggled, but nothing could replace him ever.

He’s one of the reasons I pursued the path I have done. I have him to thank for that.

Oh, I wish he could see us now.

“It’s good to have you back, Michaś,” she took a seat in her spot by the window, just as I sat down opposite her, “you look well. The army does a good job keeping you in line, then?”

“But of course, there’s never a dull moment. And yourself?”

“Oh, same old, same old,” she said, shrugging her shoulders.

Mum always did prefer the simple life that this little hamlet here offered. She works as a teacher at the school I once attended, so she always has her hands full, and as far as I am aware does not plan to leave the position. She always did love it.

She has no other family here. She came from Sweden as a student and stayed ever since, with the occasional trip home to visit family, but she never left here. It’s just as much her home as it was mine.

I have no brothers or sisters, either, so after dad died it was just the two of us. She loved and cherished me and I am forever grateful to her for that.

I promised dad I’d look after her if anything happened to him.

It’s just a shame that I don’t know if she’s still okay now.