#headbutting a brick wall over and over

[wtfforged]

artblock free me from your foul clutches

[takes1]

p.3 asahi x feral reader w/ a size k!nk

skip the intro if you want/ i had a very fun time writing suga/daichi/asahi being realistic high school friends. shit had me giggling. anyways ty for all the support!! taglist has gotten big i love it!!

warnings. heavy nsfw. minors DNI info. nsfw / m!receiving oral / f!receiving oral / grinding / gentle giant!asahi / mutual size kink / sweet asahi / asahi climbing a window / kuroo's sister!reader / kuroo cockblocking / kuroo being protective / 3.7k words / multipart series so reply to be added to taglist! haikyuu collection. more hq here! part one here. part two here. final part here. more links. my ao3. masterlist. requests open!

"How good are you at climbing?"

Asahi repeated his plan many times to his two most trusted friends on the walk from the hotel. They were prepared for what this was going to look like when they hit a kneel behind the brick half-wall in front of your home.

"God," He sighed, courage fading from his face the longer he stared up over the barrier.

Your window was pretty high.

"Should I-- should I go through with this? I mean, this is crazy--,"

Daichi grabbed both sides of his face and gripped hard.

"Is that even a question?"

Completely taken off-guard, Asahi looked around, a little freaked out, but was only squished harder.

Daichi's expression was stone, "You have to do this."

"Dude, I don't think any chick is gonna be this into you ever again," Suga added.

"This is once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Daichi gave him a few hard slaps to the face and finally released him.

He rubbed his burning cheek, brow furrowed at the sudden tone-shift first, then with rising confidence. He nodded with resolution.

He was super into you, so why not? It was just a jump. He jumped all the time!

A few more supportive back-pats and half-pushes, and he was checking the look of the house to make sure Tetsuro wasn't on standby at any doors or windows. Thankfully, it was just your open window, exactly how you described it would be.

Asahi's big ass went into a full sprint across the yard, stirring a round of laughter from his peeping friends behind the wall.

The prospect of some old lady calling the cops on this giant sneaking around in the neighbor's yard was too funny of a concept to them.

Daichi snorted at Suga propping his phone up to record.

"Aaahah! Yess-ss-s!!" He giggled under his hand.

Their buddy jumped for the window, but only tapped it with his fingers.

"Noo-oo-hhha-haha-!"

Suga was belly-laughing into his arm. The brunette could hardly speak to encourage him to keep watching as Asahi looked around for anything to help him up.

To their delight, the only possible object to help him at this point was a skinny, unreliable sapling that sat an awkward distance away. He might have been able to properly use it if it was two feet closer, and if he weighed 80 pounds less.

They were grabbing at each other's hands, their laughter not even quiet anymore, when he began to climb it.

"OOoh-, Ooh! OH my-" Suga's laughter turned to just a scratchy whistle at the back of his throat as Asahi fell out of the tree with a thump!

At this point, the two were gripping each other, silently shrieking and vibrating, barely able to open their eyes enough to watch through the phone.

Daichi gasped for air when he saw him land on his ass, "AAAH!! AH-Hh--,"

"SHHHH! SHsh-ss-ss," Suga gripped his shoulder and slipped off, headbutting him in the process.

They were both whistling now, not even watching anymore, as Asahi finally got his hands on your open window just by a powerful vertical.

Fuck that tree. He was glad he left the stupid thing bent at 90-degree angle.

The two sat there on the sidewalk for the next seven minutes, overcome with demonic squeaking, gasping, and hissing, with tears rolling down their red faces. Every time they started to calm down, they'd look at the sideways tree and return to hysterics all over again.

Finally; the easy part was the muscle-up to get inside.

"God damn," He groaned in pain and slid into your bedroom with a stumble.

You swiftly got up, shut, and locked the window behind him, then drew the curtains for good measure.

From his seated position on the floor, he could see all the way up your simple white t-shirt. Pretty, lacy white panties right in front of his nose were the only thing you opted to wear underneath. He grew much, much warmer.

"God damn..." He repeated, though it sounded entirely different.

His hand reached to grab at you, but he stilled, thinking better of himself.

He noticed how pretty your long lashes were, looking down at him like he was your next meal, and wondered what you actually saw in him to make you so eager.

"Hi," You grinned and backed up to pull him to his feet.

It was a struggle to not just sit on him and make-out immediately. But the sun was just setting, and you wanted this to last all night, so you figured you could take a little time out for 'formalities.'

He quickly kicked off his shoes and took your hands, but didn't rely on your help to get up.

Your hands stayed connected between you. His thumb rubbed against the back of your knuckles, slow and tender.

You really were just a sweet little thing. He couldn't believe you were so forward over the phone.

"Hi," He replied softly. A big, warm smile down at you.

Sure, you wanted to know how his day was, how he was feeling, what he was thinking, if he liked your 'outfit'-- but that little exchange transformed your anticipation into desire, and you neededhim now.

A little sweaty from the climb, a little out of breath too, he gladly gave into your guidance to sit on your bed. It groaned under his weight, but you couldn't care about the noise when your lips were crashing onto his.

He tasted like one of those green Listerine strips- spearmint, you caught- and man, was he so good. His lips were full and soft, like you could melt into them all day. He wasn't over-ambitious, nor was he too passive with his mouth.

A growl rose in the back of his throat when you pushed his hands under your shirt.

"Please touch me," You sighed, brow furrowed, limbs growing weaker under his palms.

He sucked on your bottom lip for a moment and caught his much-needed breath. That low laughter was even hotter in person.

"God, you're so cute," He smiled, a small tease at your neediness, but he wasn't hiding the fact that he liked it.

His compliment made you melt in his arms as he picked you up to set you in his lap. The foreign feeling of hands covering your hips, pushing your softness down onto his jeans inspired a small, unfiltered whine onto his lips.

"Fuck," He chuckled, gasping at that unmistakable heartbeat around his tortured, trapped cock, then rasped, "I've got so many questions."

There was almost no resistance when you pushed him to lay down, mostly because he wouldn't trade where his hands were to catch himself. You swallowed an amused sound from him and only responded when he pushed up into you.

"a-Ah-ha," You whined, letting him trail a number of messy kisses down your neck, "Me, too."

Curious hands slid up his light shirt, massaging and prodding nearly every square inch of his hardened frame. He had some chest hair and a little tummy trail, which only added to your ferocity.

He noticed this interest and did you the favor of removing his own shirt.

The sight of his athletic build was not surprising, but it certainly made you want to speed things up. Your fleeting focus shifted to the next thing you wanted to see.

"You feel so big," You breathed, hips rolling against him when he wasn't holding you still.

Judging by the shy, modest smile against your skin, your deduction was right.

"You gonna be okay with that?" His voice buzzed against your ear.

You gasped at the sensation and his tone.

His fingers were edged up under your panties, gripping the plush of your ass, effectively driving home the question's sincerity.

Before you granted him the answer, you pressed a kiss onto his temple and retracted to sit up on his lap, "Are we asking our questions?"

"Yea-h," Just fell out of his mouth.

He didn't realize he even said anything until you responded to him. His focus was on how you rolled waves of pleasure onto his lap, back and forth, real slow, with that gone-look on your face.

"How many girls have you 'been with'?" You hooked your fingers under his waistband and watched his tummy twitch.

"Two."

You nodded with consideration, knocking out his past and future question with your present response, "Me too."

That adage sparked a look of relief and certainty on his face. His hold strengthened around your thigh when you unbuttoned his pants and started lowering the zipper.

"Let me know if it's..." He trailed and tried to suppress a shiver when you pulled him out.

He watched your eyes widen, lips pursed in an adorable astonishment.

It was a conscious effort to not shy away from the size. You couldn't believe your luck, as you took it in your hand to assert that you were not intimidated.

His chuckling interrupted your awed stare.

"Too much?"

A quick head shake, but you weren't convincing enough to his heedful mind.

Another slow, studied kiss between one another. He was holding you still by the side of your face and the back of your head, quieting every worry in your brain.

"We'll take things slow," He reassured you.

Though you were certain nothing on your face expressed concern, his promise stood as a reminder that you could stay calm, because he was safe.

You settled next to him, propped onto your elbow for the most comfortable angle you could get.

Huge, but safe.

The way his stomach tapered down into his hips had you staring and rubbing all around his dick, just curious to touch every inch of him.

A dark, pulsing head was already leaking a bit of precum. You pumped him once, real slow, and let the clear drip onto your tongue.

Salty, yeah, but not much burn to it. You licked the rest of it off of the slit.

He gave a strangled curse and you earned a big hand brushing through your roots.

"Mm..." You sucked a sloppy kiss to the head with a chuckle at his twitching in your mouth.

You stuck your tongue out past your bottom lip and bobbed down. His head fell back onto the blankets and his fingers flexed in your hair.

"Ooh, fu-ck," Was a pretty sound above you.

He was too big for you to take all of him, but he sounded completely satisfied with what you were comfortable doing.

With a slight bend in his knee, he was able to turn his hips slightly towards you. His firm hand in your hair guided you to a rhythm and depth he preferred.

"A-ahh--Fuck, baby that's s-o good..."

You never realized before, but it made it so much easier on your neck and shoulders-- not to mention the fact you didn't have to think anymore.

It helped you relax.

His muttered praise was just the cherry on top. Your thighs squeezed at how good he made you feel for just letting him take your mouth.

He lingered right at that threshold between too difficult and too easy for you, and let up as soon as you gave him some resistance to judge you by.

There wasn't a better person you could've chosen to trust with your body. His tendency to play it safe turned you on because it let you run wild without worry that he'd take advantage of it.

He was so gentle, yet firm- you wanted to discover what you could do with him.

"Fuuck, ah- good girl," He groaned at your ability to take him so well, a shocked, pleasure-soaked chuckle as he was able to fuck deeper into your throat.

You felt pliable and empty when he pulled you up by your roots. It was brand-new and a rehash of everything you wanted from him all at once.

He had a hungry admiration in his eyes for you.

Your hands flew up to tangle in his long hair in a passionate, rushed kiss.

Soft, kissy missionary or the roughest backshots his strength would allow-- you wanted anything, everything, as long as it was with him.

You wanted to be his.

He sucked the spit off of your lips and chin- the rest came off on your shirt, swiped away and forgotten onto the floor.

He readjusted to slide his pants off, yet chose to keep his briefs on. When he pushed you back onto the mattress, it was smooth and skilled, like he'd been planning exactly how he wanted to hold you.

Big, rough palms scoured your body, scratching and squeezing in all the right places to make you jump and squirm against him while he kept you occupied with his mouth.

"I'd love to return the favor," He chuckled against the shell of your ear when you wiggled away from his gentle pinch to your breast.

Your sensitivity motivated him to take his weight off of you.

You gasped at the chance to breathe with ease again. He trailed slow, wet kisses down your neck, across your collarbone, and stilled at your exposed chest.

Even when he wasn't doing anything, he felt so good on top of you. You pushed out your chest for him and locked your legs around his waist, a silent beg for him to keep going.

The act stirred another question, muttered between increasingly rough stimulation on your sensitive skin.

"Why me?"

You kept your hand over your mouth to keep some higher tones quiet. Your heartbeat was pounding between your legs-- why was he so humble?

"You're-- mn-! so hot," You admitted. It sure was simple, but it was effective.

It made him blush and laugh a little against your tits, so you kept going, "You ever just, God, ah- know that you need somebody?"

It looked like he didn't really get it, but he was plenty flattered, and that was more than enough.

"Well," He smiled and pushed himself up to sit between your legs. He let his hair fall onto his shoulders so he could re-tie it, "I hope I make it worth your while."

How could he say it like that? You couldn't tear your eyes away from his flexed arms, reaching up for nimble, veiny fingers to comb through his gorgeous locks.

You finally understood it. His self-esteem was testy at best.

"You already have," You admitted.

With the new knowledge that he could be a bit shy, you slid your panties off for him with a coquettish smile.

A sort of challenge, a sort of invitation, when you spread your legs for him again.

He loved your flirty nature. You had this 'Come and get me, big guy' attitude that he couldn't ignore or back down from. In a way, it gave him the confidence he always wanted. Plus, it got him super hard.

A moment to drink up the sight of you completely nude for him.

His hands were rubbing, spreading your thighs open as he settled between them.

He could've been just-alright and it would've been enough for you. Just his breath was setting your nerves on fire. But, like everything else so far, it wasn't mediocrity that defined him.

His lids were low as he got a good look at what he was working with. He pushed your legs far and split you open in spite of -or perhaps because of- your bashful writhing.

A slow, hot kiss against your sex shut down your attempts to get in his way.

Scratching nails turned a bit sweeter, more trembly against his scalp.

A light touch was all you needed, and it was exactly what he offered; his tongue traced every bit of your already longing cunt before taking a feather-light approach to your clit.

"Oh, fuc-k," You whined, having not anticipated how quickly he'd work you up.

There was usually a learning curve to this.

You could see in his eyes that he was smiling, or that he at least found your surprise amusing.

This gentle, sweet method inspired your squirming again, but he kept you in place with heavy arms around your hips.

He kept you so still that his grip was making your muscles ache underneath him. It was a subtle, sweet mix of pain and pleasure that you craved.

"Does that feel good, baby?" His tongue dipped down, a pressure against your soaking wet, tragically still empty, hole.

He knew you couldn't reply.

"Can't wait to fuck you," He mumbled, words buzzing on you.

You were being good about staying quiet under your hand before his admission. But it seemed that you forgot your precarious situation as soon as the man was back to tonguing your clit, edging you much too close to orgasm.

"A-ah-!" You slapped a helpless hand onto his arm and threw your head back onto your pillow, "Asahi-,"

Your unrestrained sounds only encouraged him to keep going.

The sight of you coming completely undone, arching at his touch, calling his name like that, despite not knowing a damn thing about him-- he was starting to understand what you meant by needing somebody.

The tension in your tummy was starting to crest high and quick.

"I'm so close- no," You whined, scratching at him.

You couldn't push away from his grasp, nor escape his dogmatic tongue to relieve your overstimulated clit.

"No-o plea-se, I-want you," Your pleading was finally granted his attention.

He finally stilled and pressed a thoughtful kiss to the inside of your twitchy thigh. The desperation in your voice took his breath away.

Just when he thought you couldn't get any cuter, you pull a move like this.

Who was he to deny you the chance to cum around his cock?

"Damn," He grumbled.

You flinched at his last, longing kiss to your pussy.

He settled next to you and became subject to some fast, light kisses to the side of his face while he finally removed the last of his clothes. You were so happy that he listened to you and that he was pulling out his dick again.

"Yesss!" You giggled and climbed on top of him before he could even straighten back out.

"God," He choked.

Your hips rocked back and forth on top of his strained cock- you were so wet for him, so eager, he couldn't help but compulsively buck against you, too.

His slick, pulsing cock slipped between your folds and bumped against your clit with every slow, strong thrust.

Hands stretched over your ass, he brought you back and forth exactly the way he wanted.

He was using you like a little toy.

You leaned down to your elbows, lips brushing his, and moaned to egg him on, "You feel soo good."

"D'you wanna fuck me?" You bit his lip, testing his patience, his temperament, with a blissed-out look in your eyes.

One set of nails buried into your curves, the other was grabbing the back of your neck to shut you up.

A deep groan surfaced past his lips and onto yours. His low-lidded stare was so intimidating, it made your thighs clench around him.

"Fuck-," He moaned, remembering he would need to stand up to go grab a condom, "My pants are so far away."

He laughed at how badly his cock hurt, hands now trying to still the addictive motion, "I gotta-"

You pried his fingers from you and sat up so you could keep going.

"Mm-mm, I've got some..."

A vague motion to the side of the bed. You leaned your head back at the friction and hoped he was watching you.

That was shockingly attractive of you to just have condoms. He looked to the dresser you pointed to with a raised brow, then closed his fist at the sight of your pretty body getting off on him.

"Alright," He groaned, "Watch it."

The room spun for a moment.

You were suddenly on your back, jaw slack at how he just picked you up and set you down so easily.

It was only disappointing for a moment, because you loved how he could throw you around, and his disgruntled, yet soft instruction.

You gave a shuddery, "Oka-y," through a big, excited grin.

He was leaning to sift through the contents of the drawer, on a search of a large amongst a handful of regulars, when he saw your phone light up at his presence.

"Looks like your mom texted you, by the way," He passed you the device without a further thought.

Finally one for his size in hand, he got back down and started to open it.

You frowned.

7:30 p.m: Make sure you take Maru out before it gets too dark.

9:00 p.m: take maru out. im on the game

A frantic look to the window. How long had it been dark for?

He sat straight up, "Woah, what's wrong?"

Breathless, you informed him, "I was supposed to take the dog out like, 2 hours ago."

His relief at the news was one-sided. For all he knew, a text from your mom could've been much worse. He didn't understand the trouble here.

"Wouldn't your-," He hesitated to bring up Tetsuro in this fragile environment, but had to, "Your brother just do it?"

You snorted. He never did anything that he could just put on you, especially chores that were specifically meant for you.

There was the idea to text and ask if he had done it already, but if he was still occupied, he wouldn't reply, and if he wasn't doing anything, there was the chance he would come up here and bother you until you did it yourself.

You shook your head and slinked off of the bed, despite every fiber of your being telling you to do otherwise.

"I'm surprised he hasn't knocked, yet," You shivered at the new cold and gave a nervous glance to your fortified door.

You looked divine, standing against the dim light that escaped through your blinds. Like a liquid silver painting, just for him.

Asahi grabbed a pillow to cover himself with and sat on the edge of the bed so he could put his hands on you.

He pulled you into a starved, rough kiss that you had to be gently pushed away from.

"Hurry back."

taglist.

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masterlist. requests open!

[bekoobove]

Fazbear Fears #6: The First Year

...Charlie desperately tries to keep her new friends from descending into madness, only to realize she’s being dragged down with them…

MAY 13th, 1983

 The rain was so cold.

 This was supposed to be her special day. Her birthday.

 And she was spending it outside, hands pressed against the window, watching her party go on without her.

 “What, you think just because your dad owns the place you can tell me what to do?” Robin had asked, mockingly raising the cup far out of reach.

 “This isn’t about my dad, it’s my soda, give it back!” Charlie had pleaded.

 “Wah, wah, wah. Like I’m going to be bossed around by some three year old.”

 She’d been so angry. Birthdays only came once a year, and he was ruining hers. She charged into him, headbutting him in the stomach.

 He’d fallen back, spilling the soda and ice all over himself, much to the amusement of his bully buddies Fred and Jane. “Wha- don’t just stand there you morons, grab her!”

 They’d quickly complied, each grabbing an arm. They were less than ten, but easily old enough to get the better of a toddler.

 “You think you’re hot stuff, huh, Charlie? Maybe you need to cool off!” Robin opened up the heavy metal EXIT doors and gestured to his cronies. They wordlessly tossed Charlie outside, into the muddy alleyway.

 “We’ll let you back in a little- however long it takes for you to get who’s boss. Until then, happy birthday!”

 The doors had slammed shut, and Charlie had been out there ever since. The door wasn’t locked, but was too heavy to move. It’d been almost ten minutes, and she was freezing. The kids had made their way to the arcade room, and were nowhere in sight.

 Her dad said he had made something, he’d said. Something to keep her safe, that would work as long as she kept her green bracelet on. But it wasn’t helping her. She was stuck.

 There was the sound of muddy footsteps behind her. She turned to see William Afton, dad’s friend and business partner, walking towards her.

 He’d changed a lot over the last few months. Once, he had been a kinder man, more heavyset and with more life in his eyes. Ever since the deaths of Elizabeth and Evan, though, he’d lost weight, and just seemed more tired and angry.

 “Charlie?” he grumbled. “What’re you doing out here?”

 “Some older kids did this. They threw me outside.”

 “Hmm.” he said. He seemed to be thinking, like he was wrestling with something difficult. Finally he responded. “Alright. Follow me.”

 She moved to follow William, but something caught her eye in the window. She swore she saw some lanky shadowy figure moving behind the door. Honestly, it was creepy.

 Seeing William was already several steps ahead she plodded after him.

 Within moments, Charlie realized that they were going deeper into the alleyway. She was pretty sure it was a dead end.

 She looked up at him. “Hey, why-”

 He grabbed her by her throat and slammed her into the brick wall. Again. And again. And again.

 Pain shot through Charlie’s increasingly bludgeoned form. Her blood mingled with the rainfall as her skull cracked.

 Finally he released his grip. She fell onto the ground, limp.

 His face, now splattered with blood, was a twisted mosaic of a million emotions. Sadness, anger, horror- but they all eventually conglomerated into one horrible expression of victory.

 Whistling, looking more alive than he had in months, he walked back onto the street, letting the rain wash the blood away.

 Charlie laid there. She knew she was dying.

 A figure appeared over her. It was the one she’d seen inside the pizzeria. Through her haze, she recognized it as an animatronic of sorts, wearing a white mask with rosy red cheeks. It had eyes that glowed green, which focused on her bracelet.

 The rain was doing something to it. Sparks were flying out of it, and it seemed to practically be coming apart at the seams. It was breaking down, just like her.

 It curled up around her, trying to comfort her. It was warm, while everything else was cold. Charlie leaned into the robot, trying to put everything she was into it, hoping she’d be warm too.

 She succeeded, but she only got colder.

TWO YEARS LATER

JULY 24th, 1985

 There were five of them. Five little souls, all so different, but all united in death.

 Charlie couldn’t control her body at first. It was, after all, the new programming of the Puppet: give gifts to the children, especially if they were looking sad.

 So the animatronic prodded them with the box it carried, waiting for them to wipe the tears from their eyes and grab it.

 They didn’t.

 Finally, the Puppet’s programming gave in to Charlie’s influence. She stretched out her lanky limbs, and peered through the mask’s small eye holes at the bodies before.

 Rather than giving gifts, she began to give life.

 First, a young girl. The squashed cupcake in her hand and yellow hair on her head made her just right for Chica.

 Next, a boy with darker skin. He wore a fake tuxedo t-shirt and held a branded Freddy Fazbear™ toy microphone. He certainly seemed worthy to be the leader of the band.

 A pale boy with fiery red hair was splayed against the wall. He wore a t-shirt that proudly displayed Foxy the Pirate, and had an eyepatch to match. He’d be content with his new form, if this was anything to go off of.

 Beside him there was another young man, with olive skin and an action figure of Bonnie in a literal death grip. That one was easy enough.

 Each she evaluated, and each she took, forcing them into the powered down animatronics on stage. Blood and flesh oozed out of the pushsuits as the animatronic parts pierced their bodies. It wasn’t pleasant, but it was necessary. Perhaps their families would prefer them as they had been (relatively unmutilated), but for what? So they could preserve them in a casket, giving them the illusion of living. Charlie was giving them the opposite: they didn’t look alive, but they were.

 Within seconds she could feel it, the remnants of their souls sinking into the metal. It would take a while, but the results would be eternal.

 Finally only one child remained: a girl with warm beige skin and black hair. She wore a pretty yellow dress, and held an old Fredbear plush.

 Her vessel was easy to decide (especially since it was the only animatronic left), but something felt odd- namely, the plush. It was worn and well loved, which made sense since these things hadn’t been produced since the Diner shut down. But why would she bring it here, since Fredbear himself wasn’t on display?

 Besides that, the plush itself had a strange feeling about it. Its plastic beady eyes caught the light in a way that made the toy look aware. Even outside of physical appearance, Charlie felt an aura that just seemed inexplicably off emanating from it.

 Perhaps it was just the girl, or her emotions powering it. Either way, Charlie wasn’t taking any chances. If there was a piece of her in there, then she couldn’t leave it trapped.

 She dragged her into the backrooms, and heaved her into the suit. She gingerly placed the plushy in after.

 Charlie returned to the prize counter, and settled into her box. She could feel the Puppet’s powerful daytime programming taking over, and it was easiest to get whatever kind of rest she could during that time.

 As wrong as it was, though, Charlie couldn’t help but be a little excited about the nights to come.

 Now she had someone to share them with.

JULY 25th, 1985

 They woke in the order they were placed.

 First the blonde girl winced at the light shining in her eyes. She tried to rub them, only to feel unyielding plastic instead of squishy eyelids.

 Startled, she bumped into Freddy, waking up the darker-skinned kid. He snarled. “Hey, knock it off…” He too stumbled backwards in surprise, because the voice that came out of his mouth was not his own- though neither was his mouth.

 In the distance, a ragged cry of confusion echoed out. Charlie guessed it to be that of the red haired boy, all alone in Pirate’s Cove.

 Finally, the last child on stage yawned, and scratched his head. The path of his hand across it was interrupted by two protruding ears.

 The children eventually all entered the main dining area, where Charlie sat, waiting patiently.

 The Foxy animatronic lunged at her. “Who are you?” it growled. “Did you do this to us?”

 “Yes and no.” Charlie responded.

 “Um, pretty sure you can only say one of those.” the Chica robot said.

 “It’s complicated. First off, let’s introduce ourselves. I’m Charlie.”

 “Susie.” responded Chica.

 “Jeremy.” Bonnie said nervously.

 “Gabriel.” Freddy contributed hesitantly.

 Foxy gave her a cautious look before answering. “Fritz.”

 He continued. “With that out of the way, why are we like… this?” He gestured at himself and his friends with his hook.

 “Well, you’re dead.” Charlie figured it was best to rip that band-aid off quickly.

 The silent pizzeria grew even more quiet, as if the building itself was stunned.

 Susie looked around, and fearfully eyed her fuzzy robotic hands. “Is this heaven?”

 “My dad said there isn’t heaven- or anything after.” Gabriel countered.

 “Clearly he was wrong.” Charlie said curtly. “But this isn’t heaven either.”

 Jeremy gasped. “Is this...the bad place?”

 “No. It’s Earth.”

 Fritz stared. “But we’re dead.”

 “You’re sort of in between. You’re dead, but not all the way. The animatronics are your new bodies, since your old ones are destroyed.”

 “How long will we be here?” he pressed.

 “Don’t know.” She briefly worried. “You aren’t in pain, right?”

 All of them shook their heads. “I don’t feel hurt, I just barely feel anything.” Gabriel whispered.

 Suddenly, he gasped. “Wait, where’s Cassidy?”

 They all swiveled their heads, scanning the room for a fifth animatronic.

 “Oh, her.” Charlie smiled as much as her mask would allow. “Just follow me.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 “See, she’s fine!” Charlie pointed at the limp furry form splayed against the back room wall.

 They all stared in shock.

 Fritz roared in anger. “What’s wrong with her?!”

 Charlie calmly explained. “This is a springlock suit. It’s an animatronic whose insides can be retracted so the suit can be worn. Right now it’s in suit mode.”

 Jeremy frowned. “Can we get her in the other mode?”

 “We’d need a springlock crank to do it. No dice right now.”

 “If the robot isn’t working, can she even… think?”

 Charlie paused. “I’m pretty sure...but I can check to be certain.”

 She gently placed her hand on the thing’s dusty forehead. It was easy to hear the voices of spirits, if you listened enough.

 Sure enough, the sound of a young girl speaking quickly echoed through her head, as if the noise was reverberating up her arm, into her robotic mind.

 What she wasn't expecting, though, was another voice. It was a young boy’s. Vaguely familiar, but she just couldn’t place it.

 She fell backwards in shock. Another soul, somehow lurking inside the suit?

 “Hey, you OK?” Susie asked.

 Charlie considered telling them, but decided against it. These poor souls were so worried, and looking to her for guidance. It would terrify them if there was something she couldn’t explain.

 “Um, yeah. Don’t worry, I heard your friend’s voice. She’s fine. Or, y'know, as fine as anyone can be under these circumstances.”

 Gabriel smiled. “Well I've been thinking, maybe this isn’t too bad. We can spend as long as we want at Freddy Fazbear’s!”

 The other kids agreed. “Race you to the arcade!” Fritz challenged.

 The four possessed animatronics ran off laughing.

 Charlie sighed. One day at Freddy’s was magical. One eternity, not so much.

 She’d learned the hard way.

 And they would too.

 AUGUST 27th, 1985

 The month had been a whirlwind of arcade games and pizza, of fun and games. They didn’t need to rest (though the arrival of day forced them to). Every night was an unending barrage of childhood fantasy- and that’s where the trouble began.

 You can only get the high score so many times before it begins to lose its exhilarating effect. Pizza’s flavor was dulled by the mechanical middlemen it had to go through. No matter how much fun anything is, it becomes trite and boring given enough time.

 They lasted longer than Charlie had before apathy began to set in. Of course, she’d spent much more time here than them in life, and had been all alone. It took a lot of work to keep from going crazy in these circumstances.

 Nevertheless, it was on this day that they finally asked her for help. She had offered it a few times, but they had always denied needing it, as children were prone to do.

 They all gathered around the stage, Charlie sitting on its edge.

 “Ok, the most important thing about living like this is that your emotions become incredibly powerful. They govern the way you think and act, since you’re no longer restrained by your mind or body.”

 Fritz raised his hook.

 “Yes?”

 “What kind of emotions? Just bad ones?”

 “No. Good feelings can affect you for the better.” She hesitated. “But negative emotions are more dangerous than good ones are helpful- especially since the former are more likely to leak out.”

 Susie gave an incredulous look. “Leak?”

 “It’s something that happens all the time, but us being stripped down to spirits made it much more powerful. When those emotions get out, they can infect objects.”

 “What kind?”

 “Anything. A toy, a doll, candy- anything it can latch on to. Though, when given the opportunity, it’ll grab something with some kind of intelligence. Usually artificial, like an animatronic”

 Gabriel gaped. “How do you know all this?”

 “It was something my...dad’s friend...used to study. My dad helped out sometimes, though he was never as obsessed as him.”

 “Could we get his help with all this spirit-feelings stuff? I know we can’t leave the pizzeria, but maybe he’ll come in!”

 Charlie chose her words carefully. “I don’t think he’ll be helping us.

 “For now, we just need to try to stay calm- keep our emotions in check. Otherwise, we could lose ourselves. Now, let’s just try to relax. How about some breathing exercises?”

Jeremy frowned. “We can't really breathe…”

 “Well, it’s really more like flexing your joints for us. Just- try not to let your servos lock up. Doing nothing can only worsen your mental state- make your emotions more volatile.”

 As Charlie said that, she couldn’t help but catch the empty eye sockets of Fredbear- of Cassidy- through the barely opened Backroom door. They bored into her, like two shadowy spotlights.

 Even though there were no eyes, Charlie could tell they were watching.

 She excused herself briefly and went in to look.

 The bear sat there, surrounded by discarded robotic pieces.

 “Everything ok? Or, ok as it can be?” Charlie asked.

 She didn’t know why. It wasn’t like Cassidy could answer.

 One thing did stick out to her. From the left socket, a single drop emerged, streaming down the suit’s cheek. It was a sticky black substance, like runny tar.

 Charlie wasn't sure what it was. She tried to wipe it off, but the moment she touched the liquid, a streak of pain ran up her lanky striped arm, like a needle had been jabbed through it.

 She quickly pulled it back, shocked. That black ooze...it was some kind of slurry of emotional energy. There was rage, sadness, and confusion, all of which were bound together by agony.

 Even now the substance was evaporating, turning to black steam in the air.

 In a panic, Charlie pushed all of the animatronic parts away from the bear. If that emotional energy got a hold of them, horrible things could happen.

 Keeping an eye on the mascot, she left the room, closing the door behind her.

 NOVEMBER 3rd, 1985

 “I have a surprise for all of you.” Charlie said excitedly.

 The four animatronics had all been sitting at one of the long dining tables, looking rather downcast. While morale could be worse, it was nowhere near the level of energy and enthusiasm present during that first month.

 Jeremy raised his head off the table. “Yeah, what is it?”

 “Ta-da!” She pulled out a small mechanical box from behind her back. The cube had lots of strange wires and cross beams sticking out of it.

 “It’s a voice box- more specifically, a voice box I designed to work for an open springlock suit. Since we can’t get the suit’s parts to compress, I figured giving your friend the chance to talk might be the next best thing.”

 (For you guys, and anyone who doesn’t want to be killed by agony infested robot scraps) Charlie thought.

 Susie stood up, excited. “That’s awesome! I’ve been missing Cassidy so much.”

 “Just follow me to the backroom.” Charlie grinned.

 Quickly enough they had all crowded into the small space.

 “Hey.” Fritz asked. “What’s this black stuff on the ground?”

 Charlie looked to see more of the agony energy pooling around the golden bear like blood.

 “It’s- it’s just oil. Try not to touch it, these suits stain easily.”

 Careful Charlie leaned forward, balancing on her pointed feet to avoid the ‘oil’, and began to rewire the animatronic to allow the voice box to be put in.

 It took some time- the animatronic systems were split apart by the springlocks- but she succeeded.

 “Alright.” she said. “Let’s get her talking!”

 She flipped the voice box’s switch.

 Nothing.

 “Hmm.” Charlie muttered.

 “Maybe she just doesn’t feel like talking.” Jeremy suggested.

 “She hasn’t talked to anyone for over three months.” Charlie said- though her mind turned to that second voice she had heard long ago.

 “I might have just wired something wrong. Let me try to fix it.” She reached for the box.

 As she did, the thing sprung to life, and started to produce a sound- but it wasn’t words.

 The noises from the box were unearthly- a mix of muttering and screams that were heavily distorted. It wasn’t the voice of a child- it was closer to the whispers of the devil.

 All of the others began backing away, scared.

 Gabriel gulped. “I’m not a robot expert, but this isn’t supposed to happen, right?”

 Charlie was stunned silent. She looked at the box, trying to see if she’d forgotten some important part.

 The box was complete, but it was falling apart. That agony energy was pulsing right through it, bursting through the seams- like that distorted audio was it trying to escape.

 The noise finally crescendoed at one last scream, and the box exploded.

 Dark liquid splattered over all. Charlie’s mask was marred with the shadowy substance, and the other animatronics had black spots over the torsos.

 Within seconds, the substance seemed to be sucked into their plush skins.

 “Oh my gosh! Guys, are you ok? Do you feel- well- any more murderous?”

 Susie frowned. “No. That black stuff is gross but we’re fine.”

 The three boys all affirmed that.

 “But is Cassidy ok?” Susie said timidly. “That doesn’t seem normal.”

 “I guess I don’t know.”

 There was silence for a second, then Gabriel screamed.

 “Hook! Hook!”

 Fritz sighed. “Yeah, I know. I miss having two hands.”

 “Not your’s! That one.”

 Gabriel pointed at a robotic Foxy arm in the pile. It was rather unremarkable- except that it was moving.

 Charlie stared in horror. More of the agony goo had splattered onto the part, and was being absorbed into it. Now it was alive.

 It wiggled out of the pile, and dragged itself towards them.

 “Everyone, out!” Charlie yelled.

 The five animatronics dashed out of the room, and Charlie slammed the door behind her.

 “Wait! What about Cassidy?” Jermey asked, concerned.

 Charlie leaned against the door. She tried to calm down.

 “I think your friend will be fine.” Charlie muttered. She heard scratching from behind the door.

 “What do you mean? There’s an evil robot arm in there!”

 “It won’t hurt her. She made it with her own emotions. It’s like an extension of her.”

 “Are you sure?”

 “Yes, I’m sure!” Charlie snarled, balling her fists. “Who’s the expert here? You all should trust me more- and so should she!”

 Gabriel got angry. “She’s just scared and confused! We all are!”

 “You shouldn’t be! I’m here to keep you safe.”

 Susie raised a robotic eyebrow. “Well, you’re not making me feel safe right now.”

 The four walked away, leaving Charlie alone at the door to keep the monsters at bay.

 FEBRUARY 13th, 1986

 Cassidy was evil.

 Charlie knew it. The others kept trying to defend her, but they were wrong- blinded by their so-called friendship. 

They had quieted down about it over the last few months, but they’d quieted down about most other things too. They seemed more somber, more hopeless. Once or twice Charlie had caught them with agony dripping off their endoskeletons.

 Cassidy had to be doing this. Infecting them with her agony, trying to turn them into her dark minions. It was so obvious, why couldn’t they see it?!

 She was already causing damage. One day while Charlie gave out presents to the children, she’d seen an employee carrying a box full of animatronic parts, including the Foxy arm. He had brought it outside, put it in the back of his truck, and drove off.

 She assumed it had been taken to repair a Foxy at another location. Who knew what monster the animatronic would turn into once the agony infected the rest of the body?

 All of these things she thought about as she paced around that night. The others were hanging out in a party room coloring pictures, leaving her alone in the main dining area. She’d kind of forgotten what it felt like to be the only person here at night, and it wasn’t pleasant to remember.

 “If they would just listen to me…” she muttered to herself, “everything would be better. But they keep taking your side.” Charlie added that last part as she glared at the backroom where Cassidy sat.

 She opened the door, just to show how angry she was to her.

 The bear was gone.

 Horrified, Charlie glanced around, scanning the area for the suit.

 It wasn’t too hard to find it.

 It was behind Charlie’s Prize Counter, a spot that had been empty when Charlie last looked moments before.

 Charlie walked over, stunned. Her surprise quickly turned to anger.

 “What are you doing here? How did you even get here!?”

 Anger morphed again into horror when she saw more of that agony goo spilling out onto a box of toys.

 It was an odd collection, with no particular theme- or that’s what most people would think. In reality, these were some prototypes of toys her father had designed.

 The most simple was a plastic doll of a chubby child holding a sign and a balloon. It was apparently based on some plans for a future character. A robotic dog and rabbit leaned against each other, as if comforting one another for being sent back to development for the same reason: too-sharp teeth. Lastly, and most personally to Charlie, a porcelain Ella doll like the one Dad had designed for her laid limp against the box’s cardboard wall.

 All of them absorbed the goo, practically drinking up the shadowy stuff.

 They began to move.

 Charlie was beyond furious. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?” She screamed at the golden bear. With all of her animatronic strength, she heaved the suit out of the Prize Corner. It slammed against a table, its limbs ragdolling.

 Charlie grabbed the box and dashed into the kitchen. Quickly she opened the oven door and put the box inside. Slamming the door shut again, she turned it up high.

 Fire filled the window as the box and everything inside caught ablaze.

 Charlie sighed in relief. She prepared to go outside to confront Cassidy, but something stopped her.

 Her eyes caught the oven’s digital clock as she fell over.

 6 AM. Her animatronic programming took over again, and she blacked out.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Alex stared at the strange scene. He’d seen some strange stuff as the first person in for the opening shift, but nothing like this. The Puppet animatronic laid there, splayed out on the kitchen floor, and the oven had exploded open, seemingly short circuited from the heat. Strangest of all there were the remnants of cardboard inside the oven, most of the box burnt to a crisp- but the objects that had been inside, an odd looking collection of toys, were barely touched.

 “Ok, let’s see here…”

 First he dragged the Puppet to its proper position in its box. He grabbed the phone mounted on the wall nearby and dialed in a number.

 “Uh, hello? Hello, hello? Yeah, we’re gonna need an appliance repairman by- um- soon. We open in a couple of hours, so if you could- oh, yeah? Great. Uh, see you then.”

 Alex hung up.

 Finally, he scooped up all those toys, and dropped them in the dumpster out back. Even if they looked mostly fine, their wiring might be burned.

 He sighed, “What a morning…” and walked back inside.

 Of course, the toys didn’t stay put for too long.

 But their stories have been told.

 FEBRUARY 27th, 1986

 Charlie was not feeling so good.

 She’d spend most of the last two weeks staying up all night to watch Cassidy. If she took her eyes off her for even a second, she might teleport again to who-knows-where and infect more objects. Charlie was pretty sure she’d destroyed them- but what if next time she didn’t?

 She didn’t really need to sleep, but there was something about doing nothing that was exhausting.

 It didn’t help that she was conscious during the day right now. Normally she’d fall sort of asleep when the animatronic systems took over. But for some reason she was awake- probably out of stress, or something Cassidy was trying to do to confuse her.

 Nevertheless, she was aware of every present she gave out, and saw every kid’s smiling face.

 It was kind of nice, to be honest.

 Until she saw a face she recognized.

 Robin’s.

 He looked different, sure. He looked paler, and had dark circles under his eyes. Only two years had passed, but he looked older, like something heavy weighed on him. Still, it was unmistakably him.

 He looked nervous as he reached the front of the line- no, scratch that, he looked petrified.

 His mother (Charlie assumed) put a hand on his shoulder and smiled kindly.

 “It’s ok, honey. The Puppet isn’t mad at you. He just wants to give you a gift.”

 But she was wrong.

 Anger coursed through every thought of her mind, filling her soul with hatred. She tried to reason with herself: Robin had been a jerk, but he never wanted her to be murdered. William was the one to blame.

 But Charlie’s defense of him crumbled before the overwhelming persuasions of the darkest part of her. Robin put her through this. If he had been a better person, she would not be suffering through this painful prison, free from this twisted form of metal and wires.

 He took her happiest day from her.

 Now he’d get what he deserved.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Alex kept an eye on the Puppet while he scrubbed the tables. Ever since that strange scene he’d come inside to a few weeks ago, he’d been wary of it. If there was a glitch in the system, and it struck during the day while the robot was surrounded by kids, that would be bad.

 That nervous looking kid (Robin, Alex recalled. He was the older brother of the birthday girl) stepped up to the Puppet’s box.

 It looked him over. Then it behaved just like normal- it turned ninety degrees, grabbed a wrapped-up prize from the shelf, and turned back. It extended its arms towards Robin, encouraging him to grab the gift.

 Looking relieved, Robin reached for it, but the box fell out of the animatronic’s hands.

 Alex sighed. Were the finger joints loose again?

 Apparently not, because the Puppet grabbed Robin by the throat and began to strangle him.

 Everyone watching began to scream. Robin’s mother tried to hit the robot with her handbag, but it knocked her away. Two of the kid’s friends kicked at the box, but the Puppet raked its long fingers across their faces, drawing blood. It lifted Robin off the ground, keeping a firm one-handed grip on his neck.

 The boy was panicking, trying to draw breath, but the Puppet’s hand was like a vice, squeezing tighter and tighter.

 Horrified, Alex considered running over to grab the kid, but had a better idea. Dashing through the arcade, he came upon a small control panel built into the wall. He fumbled his key into the lock and turned it, causing the glass covering to raise.

 In one quick movement, he pulled the lever labeled PUPPET EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN.

 Across the room, the Puppet’s eyes glowed a little brighter. In that moment, Alex felt like he saw something behind them far more than artificial, like it was aware and thinking. However, that lasted only a moment, after which they blinked into darkness. Its limbs and fingers went limp, and it released its hold on Robin. He tumbled to the floor and scooted away, tears running from his eyes.

 Alex sighed with relief.

 After the hubbub calmed down, Alex made another call.

 “Hello? Hello, hello? This the Fazbear Entertainment animatronic repairs department? We‘ve  got some, uh, serious problems over here.”

 FEBRUARY 28th, 1986

 Charlie woke up.

 She was in her box.

 She tried to lift up the lid. It wouldn’t budge.

 She kept trying, but no luck.

 She began to scream.

 JUNE 1st, 1986

 Hours had turned into days.

 Days into weeks.

 Weeks into months.

 Charlie woke up once again. As was her ritual she pushed against the lid.

 For the first time in months, it opened.

 Shocked, she crawled out of her box, stretching her limbs out.

 The other kids were chatting at the table, and were surprised to see her.

 “Oh- uh, hey, Charlie.” Gabriel muttered.

 Then Charlie realized: they were surprised that she’d come out now, but not surprised that she’d been in there.

 Charlie pounced at Gabriel, stopping an inch from his metallic muzzle. “You all knew I was in there? Why didn’t you get me out?!”

 Gabriel was stunned silent. Fritz glared. “Why? Because you tried to strangle an innocent kid!”

 “That ‘innocent kid’ was responsible for my death! If he hadn’t locked me outside the restaurant, William couldn’t have gotten me!”

 The four kids stared at her. “William?” Susie echoed. “Is that the man who killed us?”

 “Yes, ok? But that doesn’t matter.”

 All of them seemed to chew on that information, that name, as if filing it away for closer inspection later.

 “Alright.” Jeremy admitted. “But he didn’t mean for that to happen.”

 He was right, of course.

 “I know.” Charlie conceded. “But it’s not my fault! It’s her’s!” She pointed into the backrooms. The door was open, so it was easy to see Fredbear, shaking around in his sitting position.

 “Why’s she doing that?” Gabriel asked.

 “Because she knows she’s been found out!” Charlie walked over and picked up the suit, as if by its collar.

 “You think you’re so smart? Well, you never fooled me!”

 The others all leaped up from the table.

 Fritz growled. “Hey, what the heck are you doing?! And what do you mean it’s Cassidy’s fault?!”

 “She infected me with her agony!” Charlie held the suit out at them. “Can’t you see? She’s evil, and she’s trying to make us evil, too! She’s trying to infect all of us.”

 Black agony dripped from the bear’s mouth as she said that. “See?”

 Gabriel balled his fists. “If this is about that ‘agony’, or whatever, that was leaking from us, I’m pretty sure that was our own. And even if it was Cassidy’s, there’s no way she did it on purpose.”

 He pointed at her face. “I mean, there’s some coming out of you right now!”

 Startled, Charlie stroked her face. Her hand came away covered in shadowy emotional energy, tears that leaked right out of her own eyes.

 She hesitated for a moment, but then doubled down. “I don’t know how she’s doing this, but I know it’s her. Maybe her infecting us has turned us into her own evil factories! I mean, why would you be experiencing these emotions?”

 Susie gaped. “Why? WHY!? We’re dead. We’re trapped in bodies that aren’t ours, and we don’t know if we’ll leave tomorrow, in ten years, or never!”

 “I had to deal with that prospect, too. Did I create bucketfuls of negative energy? No!”

 “This is an insane situation. Everyone would react to it differently!”

 Charlie ignored her, continuing her rant “I tried to help her, but she rejected me. I wish I’d left her dead!”

 A stunned silence fell over the room. What she had just said fully sunk into her. “I- I’m sorry, that was…”

 Jeremy couldn’t take it anymore. Roaring, he ran at Charlie and swung his fist at her. She instinctively slapped him across the face, the force sending him flying backwards.

 He skidded against the wall and yelled in...pain?

 “It hurts,” he whispered.

 She had hurt him- something that shouldn’t have been possible.

 Her vision shifted, and her perspective altered. For just a few moments, she didn’t see the dead-eyed robots- she saw the kids.

 She saw Jeremy trying to prop himself up against a wall, holding his knee as if he’d skinned it. Gabriel and Susie both tried to comfort him and help him up, their skinny arms interlacing with his, even though their physical bodies couldn’t. And Fritz gazed at Charlie, the freckles on his face squeezing together as he glared, daring her to try something.

 Finally, Charlie turned around, to look at the suit she’d dropped when Jeremy charged.

 A vaguely familiar boy with a striped shirt stood there- holding the Fredbear plush she’d put in the suit so long ago. She didn’t dwell on that too long, though. He was standing in a defensive stance, his arms in a ‘stay back’ position.

 Said position was directed at the figure nervously peering over his shoulder- Cassidy.

 Charlie stared at Cassidy, who cringed in fear.

 Part of Charlie desperately wanted to find proof of what she’d suspected for the better part of the year. But she soon realized there wasn't any.

Cassidy wasn’t evil. Her eyes weren’t filled with malice, they overflowed with tears of confusion and fear. She was scared and lost.

 Charlie looked down at the hand that wiped her own shadowy tears, and her vision snapped back to normal.

 Only now did she realize what she’d done- the monster she’d become, pinning her own flaws on this innocent girl.

 While she had been looking at Cassidy stunned, Fritz went over to help Jermey. His knee was covered in the agony goo that had coated Charlie’s hand, which explained why it actually hurt him.

 It began to dissolve into nothingness. Confused, Fritz asked, “You ok?”

 “Yeah, I'm fine.” Jeremy said, in a way that suggested otherwise.

 Fritz turned back to Charlie and snarled. “What on earth is-”

 She wasn’t there. He looked out the door to see her slinking down the hall.

 “What’s going on with her?” he asked.

 Susie sighed. “Maybe she just needs to be alone for a little while.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Alex stared blankly at the security camera footage. These robots had been acting weird, but this? Actively attacking each other? He really thought that they’d fixed whatever was wrong with the Puppet- though the awareness he’d caught in its eyes continued to haunt him.

 He came up with a new idea. As soon as possible, he’d hire a night guard to keep an eye on them and record their behaviors. Maybe then they could fix them properly.

 What could go wrong?

 JULY 21st, 1986

 Charlie had spent most of the month on her own. Whether pondering in the bathroom, meditating in the closet, or simply hiding away in her box like now, the time had been used to think.

 She partially thought about what she could do to make things up to the others, especially Cassidy. Not that she was even sure she could…

 But the main thing that troubled her were Susie’s arguments. How long would they be stuck here? Charlie had always taken it one day at a time, but now that it wasn’t just her soul at stake, she truly realized the insanity of the situation.

 Before, she’d thought she knew everything that could be useful to her. That, really, was probably why she’d blamed all her and their problems on Cassidy- she was the unknown factor. That other presence, which had thrown her off so badly whenever she sensed it, especially so. Now she knew it was that familiar boy, and that both him and Cassidy were not intentionally hurting them.

 Charlie twisted and stretched her way out of the box, only to see Jeremy walking around looking agitated. Well, she thought, I have to say something eventually.

 “Um, hey, Jeremy.”

 He jumped, only to relax once he saw her. “Oh, hi.”

 “Listen, I wanted to apologize for how I treated you, and Cassidy. I was-”

 “Yeah, sure. There’s no time, you have to follow me.”

 Confused, Charlie lightly stepped out of her box and followed him through the darkened halls.

 He walked into one of the party rooms and removed the covering of a large vent.

 “In here.” he growled. “You won’t believe this.”

 “Um, this vent goes to the old office.” Charlie said, now completely baffled. “There’s a hallway that leads right there, why not just take that?”

 “Too risky. He might see us.”

 “Who!?”

 Jeremy didn't say another word, and began to crawl through the metal tunnel.

 Charlie continued after him.

 The vent was open on the other side. Jeremy pointed out. “See?”

 Charlie gazed through the square window to see a bored looking security guard clad in the Fazbear security guard purple uniform. He had some sort of tablet he was looking at, and was occasionally writing something down in a notebook beside him.

 He didn’t notice them since the vents were dark, but he had a flashlight. If he heard something, he could look and see them.

 “It’s him.” Jeremy whispered, pure anger dripping from his usually collected voice. “The man who killed us.”

 “What?!” Charlie muttered incredulously. She quickly pushed him back through the vent, into the party room, following closely behind.

 She grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. “What do you mean? That’s not William. Besides, how could you even recognize him? He was wearing that Spring Bonnie costume when he killed you.”

 Jeremy gazed at the wall, as if trying to bore a hole directly into the office with his eyes. “He took it off while he was arranging us into that stupid party scene. It’s the same uniform, similar face- even the way the shadows cover his face. It’s him. There’s no doubt.”

 Briefly the image of the man flashed through Charlie’s mind. Jeremy was right, there was an uncomfortable resemblance…

 She shook her head. “That’s just the security guard uniform. William was probably working here when he killed you. I think you’re just imagining the rest.”

 Jeremy paused. “Do you really think so?”

 “Yes.”

 Silence. “Then we should probably tell the others.”

 “They think it’s him too?”

 “Yeah.” He hesitated, as if wondering whether to add anything. “Oh, yeah, they are trying to kill him.”

 Charlie gasped. “THEY’RE WHAT!? 

 Where are they?” she demanded.

 “Close.”

 Charlie ran into the hall, only to see Fritz and Gabriel creeping down it, staring intensely at the security guard. She dove forward and grabbed both of them, quickly pulling them into the party room across the way.

 Needless to say, their clanging metal bodies made a bit of a ruckus, causing William- no, the innocent security guard, Charlie reminded herself- to look into the hall with his flashlight. By then, it was empty. He nervously jotted something down.

 “What are you doing?” Charlie asked, enraged. “How can you not tell who it is!?”

 “It’s William.” Fritz snarled.

 “No doubt.” Gabriel agreed.

 More metallic sounds echoed through the room, this time from this room’s vent. Charlie caught Susie’s legs disappearing into the vent. Grabbing them, she yanked her out.

  Susie shrieked. “Why? I was so close to avenging us!”

 “That man didn’t hurt you. Listen, I get that you’re mad, but that’s not your killer. It’s not fair for you to kill someone for looking like a person who wronged you.”

 Charlie spun around to make sure Jeremy wasn’t trying anything funny. Instead, sitting in the middle of the hall, she saw Cassidy and the familiar boy, their suit body in its normal slack-jawed position.

 She reached out and pulled it into the room as well. As she did, more corrosive agony dripped out of its joints.

 The others were overflowing with the black stuff as well. For a moment, Charlie wondered if she’d been right about Cassidy all along, and the others were all infected.

 But she quickly understood the truth. They were all equally at fault, all too weak to keep their own agony and hatred from flooding their minds- including Charlie.

 The faces of William and the security guard began to seem more alike. The beads of sweat dripping down his brow blended together with the raindrops that had freely flowed over William that stormy evening. The freckles that dotted the guard’s face may well have been the blood droplets that splattered him as her body cracked open. Those teeth- slightly yellowed, with one crooked- matched with the ones exposed during William’s final smile of twisted, murderous joy.

 Luckily, the morning arrived within minutes, and they all fell down, limp. But Charlie just wasn’t sure she could hold the others off much longer.

 JULY 22nd, 1986

 The night was like a dream.

 A half asleep, groggy stumble through a dark restaurant. Charlie tried everything- reasoning with them, distracting them, fighting them- but it was hard to convince them not to kill someone she half-wanted to as well.

 She couldn’t make out the name on his tag, but she couldn’t help but read it as William. His midwestern accent morphed into the British one that was present in every deceptive word her murder had lured her away with. 

 The day arrived, but Charlie was barely holding on. She felt her true self receding into mindless, murderous madness more with every second.

 Finally she succumbed, and the world grew a little darker.

 JULY 23rd, 1986

 Walter clicked through the security cameras frantically. Where were the animatronics? They’d only begun to get more erratic over the last few nights. The day technicians claimed they were getting closer to a solution, but they were clearly lying.

 He’d seen them peek out from around the corners at him, heard them skulking through the halls, smelled the disgusting rotten odor that clung to their cartoonish animal bodies.

 Walter was a logical person, and he knew how ridiculous the idea that they were hunting him sounded. Still, if things got much worse, he might quit. He could certainly get better pay than $3.35 an hour.

 Groaning metal echoed from the right vent. Nervously, Walter shined his flashlight at it.

 A robotic bunny’s face stared back.

 Startled, he flashed the light at it. “Wha- go- go away!”

 He flashed the other vent quickly, only to double take as that chicken robot climbed out of it.

 Fear turning to horror, he began to back out of the office, into the hallway. He was about to break into a sprint when he saw Foxy and Freddy marching towards him, with aggression and purpose.

Walter tried to get back into the office, but Bonnie and Chica blocked the way. He was surrounded.

 He frantically grabbed his taser from his holster and zapped Freddy with it. It knocked him backwards, and seemed to stun him.

 “Leave me alone! Or else…”

 Before he knew what happened, the taser was smacked out of his hand. It skidded between Bonnie and Chica, back into the office.

 The hand that had done that grabbed him by his collar, and heaved him high in the air. It was that Puppet thing Alex had warned him about.

 It examined him, looking at his face from every angle. He screamed and kicked at it, but to no avail.

 Finally, it waved Foxy and Freddy aside. They cleared the hallway for it. Behind them sat another bear animatronic- though the way it was slumped against the wall, it looked more like a suit. Walter was pretty certain it hadn’t been there before

 The Puppet walked Walter over and began to force him into it. To his confusion, he felt his body scrape against mechanical parts- and then begin to be pierced by them.

 His screams of pain rung through the otherwise silent halls.

 He looked at the animatronic in its eyeholes. “Please…” he managed, as blood began to clog up his throat and sharpened cross beams pushed into his skull.

 The mask shifted ever so slight, for just a moment. From its small smile, a scared girl’s voice whispered, “I’m sorry…”

 But it didn’t stop pushing.

 One last horrible crunch sent a streak of unimaginable pain through Walter’s body. He shrieked one last time.

 The light consumed him.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Alex dumped the bloody mop water down the drain. He was still shell-shocked at the scene the manager had called him to check out an hour before.

 Speaking of him, Mr Vernon stood in the entrance of the supply closet. “I informed his family,” he said. “Told them it seemed like a freak accident.”

 “It wasn’t.” Alex insisted, trying not to vomit from the awful memory. “Walter was stuffed into that suit intentionally. There’s something wrong with the animatronics- something that we can’t fix.”

 “I know.” Vernon said. “We’ll be closing down for a while, but Fazbear Entertainment headquarters is working on some new models- real advanced technology. Nothing like this- or like the incident from a year ago- will ever happen again.”

 Alex nodded numbly. “And the old models?”

 “They’ll be kept for parts. Company policy.”

 “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

 “We won’t use any of their mental processors, just their body parts. There’s no way any glitch could transmit from those. Trust me, Alex, I know this year sucked, but it's over.” He walked away.

 As much as he wanted to, Alex didn’t believe him.

 In fact, he felt like it was only just beginning.

[bleachanimefan1]

The Midnight Masquerade Part 8

His Butler, Chance Encounter Part 2,

Cassandra glared at Grell angrily.

"Oh, come now, don't be mad. It's your own fault for falling for my act." Grell smiled at her, playing with her hair. Then to Grell's surprise, she saw Cassandra right in front of her, in a flash, and Cassandra threw a punch into Grell's stomach then another one to her side and back. She let out another moan, causing Cassandra to stare at Grell in disbelief.

"Could you stop that?" she spoke before she smirked. "Or are you actually into this sort of thing?"

Grell's eyes widened before she growled, slashing at Cassandra with her chainsaw. "Don't you mock me!"

Grell charged at Cassandra, swinging her chainsaw. Cassandra moved back, barely dodging the blade. Cassandra quickly slid under Grell and landed another kick from behind. Grell growled and kicked Cassandra hard in her side. Cassandra gasped in pain and was sent flying and crashed into the brick wall. Ciel's eyes widen a little in concern.

"Cass!"

Cassandra groaned and fell to the ground, having the wind getting knocked out of her. As she struggled to sit up, Cassandra saw Grell bringing the chainsaw down on her. But, before she could, Grell was suddenly kicked in the face and was knocked away from Cassandra, tumbling to the ground.

"Pardon me, mind if I cut into this lover spat?" Sebastian smirked, looking at Grell as she pushed herself up.

"How dare you hit a lady!" She shouted. "And what makes you think I would like someone like her!? The only person I love is you! However, since you all want to die that much, I'll send all of you to heaven together!" Grell slashed at Sebastian with her chainsaw. Sebastian dodged it, moving back.

"Heaven? How very funny." he smirked and lunged at Grell to attack her. Grell jumped into the air, dodging Sebastian's attack.

"Here we are, a demon and reaper. I suppose we'll never resolve this." Grell grinned. Sebastian chased after her. "This relationship is forbidden. Bassy! Bassy, where fore art thou, Bassy! Our love is just like Romeo and Juliet!" 

"Don't they die in the end?" Cassandra slurred, still trying to stay awake. She began to feel herself slipping in and out of consciousness. Grell glanced over at her for a moment before Sebastian threw at kick at Grell. Grell jumped back, dodging Sebastian's kick and the two landed on the roof of a building.

"If you deny thy master and refuse thy name, maybe, we could be happy together?"

Sebastian smirked. "The moment my master uttered my new name the word became our solemn contract. I was rebaptized as his, from that day I have been Sebastian. I vowed that day to the moon."

"To the moon? How can I believe your words. Accompanied by your eyes, shameless hands, and lips that have the ability to stain one's soul. You caress me softly with that unworldly devilish gaze! Ooh! I would bare your children if only I could!" Grell smiled, making Sebastian cringed in disgust.

"Please, stop, it is revolting!" Sebastian glared at her. Grell charged at Sebastian again with her chainsaw. Sebastian slammed his foot down on Grell's hand, pinning the chainsaw to the roof.

"Bassy, my love, if the cruel morning has never come then the two of us might go on like this forever! Our love permanently lit by the moon's seductive glow! But now I'm afraid our adventure ends here." Grell chuckled and headbutted Sebastian in the forehead. Sebastian stumbled back a little and Grell quickly threw her chainsaw, slicing Sebastian across the chest. Sebastian's eyes widen in shock as his cinematic record began to come out of him.

"Truly your cinematic record will be far more interesting than any human's" Grell grinned. Sebastian's cinematic record began to play, and Tanaka suddenly appeared in the clippings. Grell blinked in shock and in disbelief. The clippings showed the Phantomhive servants constantly messing up their chores and Sebastian cleaning up after them. Cassandra teasing and pranking Ciel. Then Cassandra, who was covered in scratches, and Sebastian sitting together, playing with a black cat as it tried to escape from her arms.

"No! No! No! What is this!? Show me the good stuff!" Grell growled.

"That is what my life has been for the past two years." Sebastian panted, chuckling a little, and he stepped back. Then Grell's eyes widen a little when she saw Sebastian suddenly appear behind her fast. 

"Sorry, I charge for the good stuff." Sebastian smirked and held his finger to his lips and winked at her. Grell quickly moved away from Sebastian then charged at Sebastian again. Just as Grell was about to attack Sebastian, Sebastian threw his coat, jamming Grell's chainsaw. Grell fell with a thud, trying to pry out Sebastian's coat from her death scythe.

"What the hell!?"

"That coat is made with the highest quality sheep wool. Once it becomes caught in something, it'll be difficult for you to remove it."

"How could you do this to my precious death scythe!" Grell cried out. Her eyes widen when she saw Sebastian leering over her, cracking his fist with a dark grin.

"So then, fisticuffs, yes? That suits me quite well. I do have some experience in that area."

"No, please! Not the face!" Grell pleaded. Sebastian made an evil smirk and began to throw multiple punches and kicks, throwing Grell around in the air. "Please! Stop!" Grell cried out, painfully. Sebastian punched her in the face. Grell began to plummet straight down to Ciel and Sebastian kicked Grell again, sending her a few feet away. Grell dropped her death scythe, lodging itself into the ground.

"Sorry about that, I misjudge the distance." Sebastian spoke as he landed beside Ciel.

"You look pretty awful." Ciel remarked.

"He gave me a bit of trouble.

"I'll show you." Grell groaned.

"Well, now, still talking? I guess beating you to near death isn't enough. Then maybe this will do the trick." Sebastian smirked then he walked over and picked up Grell's death scythe. "I've heard the death scythe can cut through anything." and pulled out his coat, starting it up. 

"W-What are you doing!?" Grell's eyes widen fearfully as she saw Sebastian coming towards her with her death scythe. "No! Don't!" Grell tried to move but was too weak and Sebastian stomped his foot down on her face.

"That hurts!" she cried out in pain.

"Master, he's revolting but still a divine being. Are you prepared to accept whatever consequences come of killing him?"

"Get on with it." Ciel ordered.

"Wait, don't! Don't kill me!" Grell shouted. Sebastian smirked.

"Well, now we've found something that you're good at, screaming."

"I can tell you who killed the kid's parents!" Grell screamed. Ciel's eyes widened a little in shock. Before Ciel could stop him, Sebastian brought down Grell's chainsaw about to deliver the finishing blow.

"No, don't!" Cassandra, weakly, cried out. Suddenly, the chainsaw was blocked when a long pole with blades at the end stopped it. Standing above them was a tall man with short neatly combed dark brown hair. He was wearing rectangular spectacles and a dark black suit and tie and dress shoes. 

"I apologize for interrupting, let me introduce myself. I am William T. Spears, an administrator at the Grim Reaper Staffing Association. I have come to claim that reaper there."

Grell beamed. "William! Oh, Will, you're here to save me!" Then Grell was slammed to the ground as Will landed on top of her head.

"Reaper, Grell Sutcliff, you have violated several regulations. First, you've killed people not on the to die list. Second, you used a death scythe that has been modified without proper authorization. And finally, you offered someone strictly classified information about his relatives' murder." Will finished and he stomped his foot into Grell's head, who cried out in pain. Will hopped off of her and stepped over to Sebastian.

"I am sorry for whatever problems this miserable wretch has caused." He bowed and handed Sebastian a card with his pole. Sebastian took it from him. "Honestly, to think I would have to bow to demon scum such as you. This is a disgrace to grim reapers."

"Well, maybe you should keep better track on your minions, so they don't trouble us. Humans are so easily tempted. They will do anything in the grip of utter despair. They will grasp at any thread that will promise to save them from unhappiness, no matter the consequences. You should know that." Sebastian smirked, tossing the card away. Will glared at him.

"That's a charming hypocrisy. You demons capitalize that quality more often than we do."

"I cannot deny that." Sebastian smiled. Will glanced behind him at Ciel.

"Right now, you seem to be a tamed dog. It makes you far less dangerous than the rabid monsters running around free." Then Will slowly glanced over to Cassandra who had passed out, lying on the cold cobblestone ground. He continued to stare at her for a long time, silently.

"Is something the matter?" Sebastian questioned.

"Nothing that concerns you." Will remarked, coldly, then he grabbed Grell by his hair and began to drag him away.

"Now, come with me, Grell, we're leaving. We're already short staffed and here you've gone and landed me with even more over time. The board is not going to be pleased."

Then Sebastian threw Grell's chainsaw at Will. Will caught the blade with his finger, stopping it. The chainsaw fell and dropped on top of Grell, who groaned in pain.

"I assume you'll want that, yes?" Sebastian smiled.

"Yes, thank you. Now, if you'll please excuse us." Will spoke and he and Grell, vanished and disappeared into thin air. Sebastian turned to Ciel and walked back over to him.

"I'm sorry, my lord, I let half of Jack the Ripper get away." He sighed.

"It's alright. It's done." Ciel replied.

"Sir, you're chilled to the bone." Sebastian told Ciel, seeing that he was completely soaked. "I'll make some tea once we get back to the house."

"That sounds like a good idea." Ciel tried to stand up but stumbled into Sebastian. Sebastian tried to catch him, but Ciel slapped his hands away. Sebastian blinked in surprise.

"Don't touch me. I can stand on my own! I'm fine. I'm just a little tired, that's all." Ciel said. Then the two turned to Cassandra, lying on the ground.

"So, what do we do about her? We could kill her to make it look like she became another victim." Sebastian suggested.

"No." Ciel spoke. Sebastian narrowed his eyes at him, curiously.

"Master, are you getting sentimental?"

"She doesn't know of our contract, only that you're a demon. She won't interfere. Besides, she is still of use to me."

[demigodforfend]

Twilight of the Demigods: Forfend Edition - Session 21

Forfend rushed as quickly as it could, its feet pounding across Cragwall's cobblestone streets.

Kairi whisked along beside it much more quietly, but with no less urgency.

Ahead, the guard barracks carved a dark black blot out of the navy blue sky.

A dim light highlighted Melzaryn and Kagoshi standing in front of it.

Forfend couldn't tell where the light was coming from. Did one of them have a lantern? They could both see in the dark.

As it approached, it saw the truth.

Melzaryn's eyes were glowing a piercing white.

He looked up. "Glad you're here. Secret tunnel. Hidden switch."

"Where the hell is it?" Kagoshi gruffed, smacking randomly at the stone wall of the guard barracks.

Melzaryn stepped on a particular cobblestone and pushed a particular brick. Both shifted slightly.

A rune briefly glowed on the brick. A plume of green smoke hissed forth, straight into Melzaryn's face.

Melzaryn reeled back, coughing. He swore under his breath. "Yeah, that should've been expected."

The brick slid back into place. Nothing else happened.

"Alright, I've done my work. Somebody else figure this out," Melzaryn wheezed.

"And how do we do that?!" Kagoshi snapped.

Forfend knocked on the stone wall and cobblestone pathway where Melzaryn had been standing. A hollowness emanated.

"Smash a hole in it," it decided.

There was no time to worry about property damage or permissions. Duncan was in trouble.

"That I can do!" Kagoshi agreed, grinning wildly. "Melzaryn turn around."

Forfend stepped back as Kagoshi pounded fists into stone.

Melzaryn visibly winced at the destruction. He turned and shielded his eyes.

Kairi stared off into the distance, squinting back the way they'd came. "Did he run this whole way in that stuffy suit?"

Forfend started to ask what she meant, but her ethereal wings were already lifting her into the air.

Forfend watched her disappear into the dark of night.

She returned only a moment later, hauling Eamon along with labored wingbeats. She deposited him and flit down right at his side. "Why'd you run so far in your suit?"

Eamon wheezed and bent over with his hands on his knees. "It was... an emergency... I didn't have time to... change," he managed between gulping breaths.

He lifted his head up as much as he could manage. "Why are you breaking things?" he asked in thin, breathless panic.

"To find Duncan," Forfend said.

The thought very suddenly struck Forfend that Duncan may not be the only one in danger.

It tapped the medallion on its chest with three fingers and pulled the soft orange light up to the top of its rune.

"Former Envema gladiator," it hummed, projecting an image of the man's face into the magic.

It connected to the gladiator's mind and Sent a mental message across. "Are you safe? If not, describe to me as concisely as possible where you are."

The tenuous connection buzzed with the mechanical whir of Forfend's magic. It worried for a moment the gladiator couldn't answer.

There was a vague sense of stirrings from the other side before the gladiator's voice rang through clearly, "Uhhh, was kidnapped. Woke up. Um, fought back. Don't know where I am. Underground, somewhere? I need a weapon and--shit!"

The connection severed.

Forfend hummed anxiously.

The gladiator sounded breathless and scared. What had cut him off? Would he still be alive when it got to him?

Kagoshi's fist crunched through the ground with frightening ease. He headbutted the wall, sending it crumbling down as well.

The pathway was laid bare.

It was a deep, pitch dark tunnel leading rapidly down into the earth.

"The gladiator from our first day in Cragwall says he is trapped underground," Forfend relayed. "We should look for him down there on our way to Duncan. He is in just as much danger."

Kagoshi slapped Melzaryn's shoulder much harder than necessary. "Alright, tunnel man, you're up."

Melzaryn coughed. "Just because I happen to know the layout doesn't mean I should be the one to go first," he argued, his voice uncharacteristically strained. "I've already been poisoned once today."

"I can go," Forfend offered. Its stone form meant poisons were ineffective.

"Can you even fit?" Kagoshi asked.

Forfend tilted its head at the tunnel. "Yes. Not comfortably."

"You'll slow us down if you're in front," Kagoshi growled.

"Then go!" Forfend said more forcefully than it meant to.

People were in danger. Its patience was short.

"I'm going!" Kagoshi bounded straight into the tunnel.

Kairi followed right on his heels.

Forfend glanced at Melzaryn.

Melzaryn waved his hand and covered his mouth to stifle more body-wracking coughs.

Forfend hunched down into the tunnel.

"What's happening?" Eamon asked.

"Keep to the plan. Get the guards," Melzaryn didn't really answer as he trotted after Forfend.

Forfend reached out along the thread of magic that had connected him to Duncan before. The Detect Creature spell still held. The magic was still seeking out Duncan, but all it could do at the moment was course aimlessly in the direction Duncan had been in when he exited Forfend's range.

It had no idea where he actually was anymore.

That worried it immensely.

"Tunnels are sprawling," Melzaryn mumbled to himself. He looked all about, his glowing eyes seeing much more than the tight walls of the tunnel.

Melzaryn guided the party through the winding pathways, avoiding dead ends, false stairways, and strange traps.

They walked for much longer than Forfend would've guessed. And much longer than it would've liked.

Every second they wandered these tunnels was another second innocent people were in danger.

The group turned a corner and were immediately confronted with a heavily armed and armored man standing in the middle of the hallway.

He didn't startle or start to move.

Forfend got halfway through the thought that maybe something was wrong with him when Kagoshi lashed out with his fists.

"No!" Kairi yelled too late.

The man dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes, his helmeted head clanging off the wall on the way down.

"Kagoshi!" Forfend fussed.

Kagoshi leaned down and cast Light on the man's helmet. "He's still breathing. He's alive."

Forfend shouldered its way forward and crouched down.

The man was an odd combination of limp and stiff. He seemed to be trying to hold his facedown position for some reason.

Forfend carefully worked the man's helmet off and shifted him so it could look into his eyes.

He stared blankly forward into nothing.

"Uh, can you hear me?" Kagoshi asked.

Forfend touched the man's face.

Like many of the other Envema members, he bore a farmer's tan and an average build that wouldn't look out of place among any of the commoners in Tyrwedia.

"If you can hear me, my bad," Kagoshi mumbled.

The man made no acknowledgement of having been spoken to. His eyes didn't even blink.

"Hm. Well, fuck you then," Kagoshi changed his mind.

Kagoshi stepped over the man and continued down the hallway.

"He's fine. He's breathing. Whatever's happening to him, I'm sure it'll resolve itself."

Forfend lifted the man up and tossed him over its shoulder. "I cannot leave him here."

"Godsdammit," Kagoshi complained.

"How worried about him are you?" Melzaryn asked.

"Extremely," Forfend answered.

"Not at all," Kagoshi said at the same time.

"At least a little bit," Kairi piped up.

"Give me one minute." Melzaryn sighed. He coughed into his elbow and propped his staff up in front of his face, beginning a spell.

"Hey, what do you think that is?" Kairi said.

Forfend looked to where she was pointing.

There was an indent carved into the wall roughly the size and shape of a human person.

"Forfend, this might be a weird question," Kairi started, "but will you see if he fits in this?"

Forfend hummed. "I am uncertain if that is wise."

"Just let me finished with my spell," Melzaryn huffed. He coughed again, louder this time.

Forfend was beginning to worry about the severity of the poison Melzaryn had inhaled.

"I like Kairi's idea," Kagoshi grinned maliciously.

"I'm just worried there's something we're not understanding about this whole..." Kairi trailed off.

"City?" Kagoshi suggested.

"Situation," Kairi opted instead.

"Definitely Envema," Melzaryn confirmed what Forfend had already assumed. "He's got the same enchantments."

Forfend hummed.

"I don't know what will happen if you put him in the wall. You can try it if you want," Melzaryn added.

The man started to struggle in Forfend's grasp. Though, not much. It seemed like he was trying to walk even though his feet weren't on the ground.

"Oh shit, he's awake," Kagoshi remarked.

"He has been awake the entire time," Forfend corrected.

The man still seemed to be staring off into the distance.

Forfend took the battle-axe from his waist and the shield from his arm.

He didn't fight for them. He just let them be slipped away.

Melzaryn glanced around. "I think he's meant as a sentry. I think they know we're coming."

"Can you tell Eamon this man is down here?" Forfend requested.

"I can," Melzaryn said slowly. "I could tell him there's a guy under the ground near the statue of King Falco, but I don't know how much that would help. There were a lot of twists and turns to get here."

"I do not want to leave him, but I do not want to carry him into danger either," Forfend fretted.

"So tie his ass up," Kagoshi suggested.

Forfend nodded. It pulled the man off its shoulder and held him in place.

He continued to attempt to stride forward.

"Kairi, could you get the rope from my belt and tie him?" Forfend asked.

"Sure."

Kairi tried to throw the rope around the man, but he started to struggle with more vigor.

To Forfend's surprise, the man still didn't grow violent.

He did, however, slip from Forfend's grasp, duck Kairi, skirt past Kagoshi, and tuck himself into the indent in the wall.

He refused to move even when touched or tugged.

Any motion that pulled him from the wall, he immediately undid. He was determined to stand stockstill in his strange alcove.

"We do not have time for this," Forfend hissed steam. "What do we do?"

"Just leave him," Melzaryn said. "We'll come back for him."

Forfend nodded, not liking the choice but not seeing a wealth of others.

A clatter of chains rattled and a hidden door opened in the wall.

A man strode out of it with a large rucksack thrown over his shoulder.

He walked straight toward Forfend and its allies, but he didn't seem to see them. His eyes were glazed and staring forward just like the man in the alcove.

The stranger with the bag paused right in front of the other man, pulled water and hardtack from his pack, fed it to the man in the alcove, and turned back around.

He walked down the hallway past where he'd exited the hidden doorway and kept going.

Kagoshi immediately started following the man with the bag.

Forfend reluctantly tailed him.

The man stopped every little while and fed another stockstill sentry.

Forfend was unnerved by the number of them trapped down here in these winding tunnels.

Some were dressed in the black robes of the Envema mage they'd fought. Others were dressed in armored gladiator attire. Most, however, were dressed in basic leather commoners' wear, like one would use for hunting.

A few were dressed in rags, with runes much larger and more intricate than those carved in the chests of the other Envema members.

Forfend guessed they were meant as nothing more than bombs. Its core spun with sickening anxiety.

It would do whatever it could to help them, but it simply lacked the magic to do it all alone. Especially right now. It could only handle so many crises at a time.

Eventually, the man with the rucksack turned around and returned to where he'd come from, leaving the group alone in the tunnel.

Forfend and its allies kept walking.

They passed more and more Envema members tucked into indents in the wall.

Kagoshi growled at something ahead. "That's probably not good."

Forfend stared as hard as it could.

In the middle of the next crossroad, one of the Envema members lay dead.

As they approached, Forfend saw the man's head had been caved in.

Melzaryn turned left, but Forfend stopped and gazed down the right hallway.

Another dead Envema member lay just a short ways down it. And another after that.

"Can you see where that goes?" Forfend asked.

Melzaryn glanced down the hallway. "Leads to a cylindrical room under the guard tower right next to Moli's shop. We should check it out."

Forfend nodded.

Kagoshi and Kairi tromped down the hallway.

Forfend and Melzaryn followed.

Bodies littered the hallway. Many of them were missing their weapons.

Many others had those missing weapons buried in their corpses.

"Were they fighting each other?" Kairi wandered.

Forfend hummed.

The gladiator had said he'd fought. Could he have done all this?

"Why didn't they explode?" Melzaryn questioned aloud.

"Anyone else thinking trap?" Kagoshi grumbled. "Because I'm thinking trap."

They turned the corner into the cylindrical room.

Two enormous humanoid figures, Forfend's size or larger, were dead in a heap on the far side of the room.

One of them had a splintered chunk of wood through its throat.

The other had its helmet ripped off and appeared to have been bludgeoned to death with it.

There were other huge humanoids tucked into their own special indents in the wall. Twelve total indents encircled the room. All but two of the indents were still occupied.

Between the two empty alcoves, the gladiator leaned against the wall.

He was covered in blood, his chest heaving.

Forfend pushed past Kagoshi and knelt at the gladiator's side.

"Thank the gods," it said as it pressed its stone hand to his chest.

"H-hey," the gladiator managed. "Gods, that hurts." He sputtered blood.

Forfend let magic course through its body.

A warm orange glow spread across the gladiator's chest, systematically closing his most severe wounds.

"That's great," the gladiator breathed. The tension in his body began to ease. "That's so much better. Thank you."

Melzaryn coughed loudly.

The gladiator dropped the splintered length of wood he'd been gripping like a lifeline.

Forfend pulled the mundane mace it still carried from its belt and placed it in the gladiator's hand.

"Oh, thank you." He glanced the weapon over and nodded approvingly.

"What happened?" it asked.

"You know the crowd at the courthouse? I was trying to leave. As soon as I escaped the crowd, someone grabbed me and pulled me into an alleyway. They tried to knock me unconscious." The gladiator rubbed at a bloody spot on his temple. "They didn't quite manage it, but I faked it anyway because I genuinely didn't think I could fight him. At least, not as I was. No weapons on me."

Forfend nodded, listening intently.

"They brought me down here, I guess? They tried to put me in the wall for some reason. I left and whatever these things are didn't take kindly to that." He paused, looking around the room. "Odd thing is, only some of them started moving. I don't know why. I took down as many as I could, but, well, you can see how that went."

The gladiator gestured to his wounded state.

Melzaryn suddenly had a lengthy coughing bout.

The gladiator straightened his back up. "I was just trying to find an exit. I'm not sure, but I might've found one?"

He pointed to a spiral staircase leading upwards into the ceiling.

"It's a stairway up. That's got to be something, right?" the gladiator assumed.

Melzaryn shrugged. "It's definitely an exit, but I don't know if it'll poison us like the last one."

"Poison?" the gladiator blinked.

"Yeah, the last door had a poisoning mechanism if you didn't have the key," Melzaryn said. He cleared his throat and coughed.

"I could handle that," Forfend offered.

The gladiator nodded over at the two huge dead bodies and out the door toward the trail of other Envema bodies he'd left behind. "I don't really understand what's going on here, but it's some shit. They all just... move. There's nothing in there, man."

"You were like that until recently," Forfend hummed.

"Really? These guys didn't even talk. They just... did." The gladiator shuddered.

Forfend hummed, concerned. It looked up to where the stairway joined the ceiling.

"Hey, uh," the gladiator started as he hauled himself to his feet, "how did you know to call me?"

"Another Envema member we rescued, Duncan, was kidnapped," Forfend explained. "I thought he may not be the only one. The other man we rescued with you has likely also been kidnapped."

"Shit," the gladiator swore. "Do you know where we need to go to rescue them?"

"The Galloford estate."

"Who is this guy again?" Kagoshi asked.

"The gladiator from our lovely introduction to Cragwall," Melzaryn answered.

"Oh," Kagoshi nodded.

"The Galloford estate?" the gladiator asked. "We should--" His jaw clicked shut as he looked himself over. "Actually, I don't know that I should help. I'm not doing too well. Do you mind if I just stay here and rest up a bit?"

Forfend didn't think anywhere in these tunnels was safe enough to rest. "I can go up the stairs and open the hatch. Hopefully, whoever is on the other side will be friendly."

"Okay, you do that," the gladiator agreed. "Thanks for the mace and the healing. I'm just going to sit back down and maybe take a nap."

He groaned as he sank back to the floor.

Forfend carefully made its way up the stairs.

At the top, it found only the flat surface of the ceiling. There were no grooves or handles or any apparent mechanisms of any kind.

"Melzaryn," Forfend called.

Melzaryn scaled the stairs, wheezing and coughing the whole way up.

He inspected the wall. "The switch isn't mechanical. It's magical. There's not much I can do about that."

Forfend scraped its stone hand across the ceiling. "We are under a guard tower, you said? I would not want to alarm anyone."

"You most certainly would if you broke it," Melzaryn said.

Forfend nodded.

Melzaryn trotted back down the stairs.

Forfend followed.

The gladiator seemed to have drifted off, his head leaned back against the wall. He flinched awake. "Oh, you're all still here."

"I do not have any nearby way to get you out of here, but I do not want to leave you in such a dangerous place either," Forfend hummed. "We are going into more danger, so it would be unwise to keep you with us."

Melzaryn strode over to the gladiator, placed a hand on his shoulder, and locked eyes with him. "Can you read a map?"

"Yes," the gladiator answered, confused.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"One wrong turn and you're screwed. Are you sure?"

"Yes!" the gladiator said forcefully.

Melzaryn nodded.

He pulled a sheet of paper from his spellbook and rapidly scribbled on it. He thrust the paper into the gladiator's hands.

"That's a map," Melzaryn stated the obvious. "It'll take you out of here if you follow that path. Don't go down any of the branching paths I've indicated. They're tangled and labyrinthian and you probably won't find your way back out of them."

The gladiator inspected the simplistic but precise directions.

"It will lead you to just outside the guard barracks," Forfend shared.

"Can't miss it. There's a hole in the wall," Kagoshi added.

"If you see the guards, let them know what is happening. They already know you," Forfend hummed.

"I'll do that," the gladiator promised, hauling himself upright.

He started to hobble out of the room, but paused. "Can I keep this?" he asked as he held up Forfend's old mace.

"Yes, that is yours," Forfend nodded.

The gladiator looked the weapon over again. "Thanks. It's really nice."

"I made it myself," Forfend's chest lit up briefly orange. It tapped the mace, casting Light on it.

"Oh, good. I was running blind down here," the gladiator said more to himself than Forfend.

The mace flickered almost like a torch, giving off more than enough light to read by.

The gladiator nodded and exited the strange room.

Kairi narrowed her eyes at the massive corpses on the floor. "What even are these?"

"I wish we had time to find out," Melzaryn huffed.

The group gathered themselves together and returned to the seemingly endless tunnels.

The further they traveled, the more everything looked exactly like everything else they'd already passed.

More strange circular rooms loomed from the other side of narrow doorways they didn't pass through. More lifeless but living people idled in the walls. More blankly-staring bag carriers fed the immobile sentries.

Forfend felt as though its core had dropped to the center of its abdomen.

It wanted to help, but there was so little it could do for something on a scale this absurdly large.

It would have to hope the guards would meet the gladiator and begin removing the innocents from the tunnels.

Melzaryn frowned at the walls.

Forfend wasn't sure what had him bothered until it began hearing the sound of rushing water just on the other side.

Storm drains began to pocket the floors and ceilings both every ten feet.

"We're alongside the aqueducts," Melzaryn noted. "To be built into them like this, they would have to have been constructed together at the same time."

Forfend hummed darkly. "The city was built with this in mind? Why?"

Melzaryn shrugged. "Makes the tunnels easy to flood though."

Kagoshi chuckled maliciously. "I hope we get to use that."

Kairi peered through the storm grates above them.

There was some noise out there, but Forfend couldn't make anything of it.

"There are knights and guards around the Galloford estate," Kairi almost whispered. "A lot of them are on edge and all of them are angry. I can't tell who he is, but one of them is super pissed."

"That is likely in our favor." Forfend hoped so anyway.

"What do they have to be upset about?" Melzaryn griped. "It's not like any of them have been poisoned and not received any kind of healing at all."

Melzaryn coughed dramatically.

Forfend straightened. "Would you like help?" it asked, magic already sparking between its fingertips.

"Yes," Melzaryn said, exasperated.

"Sorry for not noticing earlier," Kairi apologized, lacing her words with arcana.

Melzaryn immediately seemed to relax, his breathing evening out to a normal pace.

"Thank you," he said.

A strong tug of magic nearly startled Forfend.

The medallion on its chest with its weak string of light suddenly strengthened and arced forward before disappearing into the floor.

Forfend caught hold of Duncan's presence again.

"He is below us," Forfend blurted. "Almost straight down. Melzaryn, can you see how to get there?"

"Of course," Melzaryn almost sounded insulted.

He led the way with confidence and a renewed burst of speed.

"We're under the floorboards of the Galloford estate," Melzaryn said slowly, "but... we're running right into another structure that was already here a long time ago. It looks like these tunnels kind of accidentally ran right into the ruins."

Forfend glanced around, noting the sudden differences in the structure of the walls.

"From your description, Duncan's down in these old ruins. Way down in them," Melzaryn said, and swore under his breath. "By Talberius, relics of the past are never good. Well, let's go."

They hadn't been walking for very long before Kairi suddenly tapped all their shoulders and pointed up. She pressed her fingers to her lips and tilted one ear toward the low ceiling.

Forfend looked up and concentrated.

Melzaryn and Kagoshi seemed to be doing the same.

Voices wafted down. Forfend couldn't make out what they were saying, but Kairi apparently could.

"That's King Falco," she whispered. "And someone else. I don't recognize him."

"We're almost dead center under the Galloford estate right now," Melzaryn shared. "If it isn't Clayton, it's probably the patriarch of the house."

Kairi nodded.

"My dear king, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Kairi repeated the voice above for the rest of them to hear, doing her best to match the exact tone and cadence.

"You know why I'm here," Falco snapped.

There were footsteps as though Falco was pacing in a confined space. He inhaled, sharp and short. "What the fuck? I--"

Falco stopped himself. He drew in a deeper breath. "Adhron, what happened to you?"

"Whatever do you mean?" Highlord Adhron feigned ignorance.

"First, it was taking over small businesses all over Cragwall. Next, it was starting rivalries with other families. Now, it's... whatever this is?!" King Falco sounded positively livid. "You and I both know there's no way your son could've gotten away with that without you knowing. So what the hell is happening?"

"Well, my king," Highlord Adhron began with a vague type of fake politeness, "it is quite unfortunate what my buffoon of a son has done, but his actions are his own."

"Bullshit!" King Falco yelled. "We both know that's a lie!"

"The facts remain, my king. I made no action to assist him."

King Falco growled, undoubtedly snarling with barely contained rage. He started to yell again, to argue further. Something stopped him.

"Wait, no. No, no. Is this what you fucking wanted?" he accused.

"Please elaborate, my king," Highlord Adhron requested. "Oh, please do."

"You..." A faint breath escaped King Falco as he started pacing again. "I can't believe it. Why? Why would you do this? After everything I did? For you? This is what happens?"

"My king, you are becoming obsolete," Highlord Adhron said nonchalantly. "And the rest of us, the ones who are truly thinking forward to the future of Tyrwedia anyway, see the writing on the wall. We are swiftly falling behind in the arms race and our place in the world is dwindling. How long do you really think King Maggard will allow you to reign over this place? How much longer do you think he'll allow this place to remain as a vassal state before he assumes direct control over here?"

King Falco hesitated. "That doesn't mean..." he began haltingly but quickly trailed off.

Silence spread its ghostly hands across the room above and tunnels below for a long moment.

Kairi strained to hear, but either they'd gotten too quiet even for her keen ears or they'd fully stopped speaking.

"The things we did in the past," King Falco's faint mumble broke the deafening noiselessness. "It was terrible. Alright? You and I both know that. But at least I regret it. You're keeping it going."

Highlord Adhron didn't respond.

"At least I'm trying to atone for my mistakes. You should do the same," King Falco said. "Where's the old Adhron Galloford? As far as I can tell, he's dead. You're someone different."

"My apologies, my king. Is there any way I could possibly make it up to you?" Highlord Adhron asked, his concern so fake it was nauseating.

King Falco's barely constrained seething was palpable even through the floor. "I guess there's only one thing left to say: thank you for turning all the noble families against me."

Footsteps swiftly, angrily left the room.

"Tsk," Highlord Adhron scoffed. "What a fool."

Forfend started to move on, but Kairi remained rooted in place.

"Butler," Highlord Adhron demanded.

"Yes, my lord?" came the immediate answer.

"What is the current situation regarding my son?"

"He is currently facing life in prison."

"I'd like for you to contact the Highlord of the Sagemantle family. Get it handled," Highlord Adhron ordered.

"Understood, sir."

A second set of footsteps exited the room.

Again, Forfend started to move, but the others were staring at each other.

Kairi's brow was creased. "That wasn't good at all. That was really, really bad."

Forfend nodded. "We should move on."

Hurried steps reentered the room.

"Um, sir," the butler nervously started, but almost immediately cut himself off.

Forfend wondered what kind of hateful look Highlord Adhron had given to cause that.

"What is it?" Highlord Adhron ground out.

"Well, um, it's unfortunate to mention, sir, but it appears that the guard are here," the butler informed. "They're requesting entry to the premises."

"On what grounds?"

"Apparently, there is word of Envema here."

"Preposterous," Highlord Adhron scoffed. "Handle them. I shall prepare a greeting party in the meantime. They will find nothing and they will find themselves wanting."

The footsteps exited again, even more promptly than the first time.

Finally satisfied with their eavesdropping, everyone turned and continued down the steeply descending tunnel.

The tunnel opened very abruptly into a tiny circular room.

A ladder peeked up from a hole in the floor in the exact center. It descended into depths so dark, foreboding, and unknowable that Forfend couldn't help but shudder.

"Ladder," Melzaryn stated aloud.

"Ladder," Forfend agreed solemnly.

"Ladder," Kairi repeated.

"Yes, ladder. Can we move on?" Kagoshi snapped.

He tromped straight into the room and climbed down. Within seconds, the darkness had swallowed him.

Kairi followed, then Melzaryn.

Forfend stood at the top and stared down. It waited until it heard what it hoped to be the echoes of feet hitting the stone floor beneath.

It carefully gripped the ladder and very slowly made its way down.

The ladder creaked and groaned, protesting Forfend's weight. Luckily, it held.

Forfend finally touched down at the bottom and turned to see its allies already staring at the path ahead.

The ruins stretched out before them, all cold stone walls and stale air.

Forfend's core stuttered as recognition struck it.

This structure was ancient, built in roughly the same timeframe as Forfend itself. This place was a fortress designed during the Sundering to withstand the horrors of Atrox's ilk.

This was a Mortal Bulwark.

Created by Cassis himself to house mortal warriors for upcoming battles, these Bulwarks also served as barriers from and connectors to other planes of existence.

This one was far past serving its use. The walls were cracked. Dirt spilled through the cracks into small piles on the floor. A lamenting, oppressive air weighed on the place, as though it knew its importance in days long since past and knew it could no longer perform its duties.

Forfend felt understood standing within this relic of the past.

"Finally!" a voice echoed hauntingly through the decrepit hallway. "I wondered how long it would take you lot to get here."

Immediately, Forfend recognized the bowman's gravelly cadence.

It couldn't see the man at the far end of the dark corridor. It couldn't see how far the dark corridor even went.

"Welcome," the bowman called. "Do you know this place? Do you recognize it?"

"I do," Forfend answered. Its metallic voice reverberated off the walls until it disappeared into the distance.

"It's what ages long past called a Mortal Bulwark," the bowman explained anyway. "A sort of key to other planes, but also the lock. Fascinating, isn't it?"

Forfend hummed.

Even that low noise was carried far off and away.

"You know what's really fascinating about this place?" The bowman paused a moment and then answered his own question. "It gives one hell of a sightline."

Forfend heard the arrow release.

A massive glowing green bolt spiraled out of the black and slammed into Forfend's chest.

The whizzing turned to grinding as the javelin-sized arrow burrowed into Forfend's stone body.

Forfend slid back a few feet before it managed to plant its center of gravity low enough to stop itself.

It gripped the arrow, the merciless spinning tearing into its marble palms.

Pain burned through it.

The arrow's sickly green aura erupted.

Forfend's mind blanked as an icy grip crushed all its thoughts away, leaving nothing but a debilitating migraine behind.

Flashes surged past its blinded gaze.

It dropped suddenly onto its feet in Fornax's Forge.

Fornax stood like a mountain. He spoke with Riven and Cassis.

There was a fourth deity with them.

This one, Forfend didn't know. He was new. Freshly born into the chaos and desperation of a universe trying desperately not to die.

Accipo, the name came forth in Forfend's memory.

Fornax nodded solemnly.

The other deities took their leave. Whatever conversation they were having was resolved. They had no time to spare.

Fornax turned, staring down. "Forfend," he said, "a battle is oncoming. The Sunderer draws near to the Gleaming Isles. I cannot let him touch down."

Fornax's expression didn't change, but the weight of his seriousness did. "I leave this place as yours to defend. Can I trust you with this?"

"You can," Forfend answered with powerful determination.

"Hmph," Fornax hummed approvingly. "I'll take my leave immediately. We cannot let the Sunderer touch down, lest he sunder the Gleaming Isles from its place."

Fornax fixed a gaze Forfend recognized as proud onto it. "Live up to your namesake."

"I will," it promised.

Fornax nodded once.

He raised his forge hammer to the sky and slammed it down.

Golden light bright as the sun burst forth.

When it faded, Forfend was alone.

Forfend turned. It had duties to attend, mortals to protect.

It strode out of the Forge and down into the village just below.

The whole village had come crowding around, curious and scared about the commotion of other visiting deities.

One of them stepped forward. He was an older man, equal measures jolly and cantankerous.

Forfend knew him. Well, it realized.

His name was Chisel. He carved statues of livestock and other animals in his spare time.

Despite his age and the arthritic knots in his joints, he insisted on working. On helping.

"Forfend," Chisel said, his voice thin with worry. "What's happening? Where's Fornax gone?"

Forfend didn't lie. It felt no need to. "He has gone to battle the Sunderer in the Gleaming Isles."

A series of gasps rushed through the crowd. Murmuring followed.

"He's gone?" Chisel almost whispered.

"For now," Forfend hummed. "He will return."

Chisel pressed his hand to his chest and breathed in short bursts. "Oh no."

The village stirred up, the murmuring growing more anxious, more fevered.

"I am here," it promised. "I will care for you."

Forfend couldn't say it wasn't afraid. They were in dangerous lands facing dangerous demons and they wouldn't have a god to protect them for possibly quite some time.

But it had faith in these people. It was not alone and neither were they. The village would prevail together.

"We are only mortal," Chisel lamented. "We can't fight. We... We are frail! We don't live long. We won't survive long."

Forfend squared its shoulders, looking out over these people.

People who had traveled untold distance to plant their roots in the safest place they knew. People who held celebrations under bleeding skies because they believed they could make things good in the worst of circumstances. People who had survived demon attacks before and would survive them again. People who were resilient and hardworking and kind, no matter how roughly the world treated them.

These were not people who could not fight.

They all looked to Forfend as though it could bring about the solution to their problems. They'd been following it since it had met them.

It had been teaching them then, but now they knew. Now they could stand on their own. Forfend decided it was time to tell them that.

"Do not worry for your limited life," it heard itself begin, voice so strong it carried far over the plains. "We mortals live our lives to the fullest. Do not worry for your lack of skill or experience. Our mortal determination will overcome all. Do not worry about the pain and suffering we will face. We are more than our bodies. We are a community, a people, a collective soul."

Forfend saw the crowd stir.

They were listening.

Words continued to well up and pour out of it.

"You are unyielding," it spoke directly to and of its brilliant little village, "for you do not have fear. For your life is always lived to the fullest. You are undying, for your skills and art and legacy shall live on forever. You are unmovable, for you are more than a body. You are an idea, a heart, and a soul."

Forfend clanged its fist against its chest and held its arms out to the crowd it called family.

"You are not born in strife, nor forged in war. You are born of the hearth, the center of all mortal homes."

The village held at rapt attention, hanging on to every word. A new murmuring had started. A braver one.

"Remember yourselves," it called. "You are unyielding, for you fear nothing. You are undying for your legacy will live on. You are unmoving, for you are bigger than your one body."

Someone yelled. Another person whistled.

"You are Hearthborn!" Forfend shouted, slamming its fist against its chest again with a reverberating gong. "You are Unbreakable!"

The village stared, wide-eyed. Inspiration welled up like magic behind their eyes. Many of their mouths had fallen open.

Someone huffed something like a laugh and then pumped his fist in the air. "Yeah!"

Cheers erupted.

"He's right," a woman shouted. "We've come this far!"

"We've survived this horrible situation," another person hollered out. "We're still living happy! We can do this!"

Fervent roars built up and up until the ground shook with the force of mortal fortitude.

Forfend's chest lit up as bright as it had ever been.

Far quicker than it had gathered, the crowd scattered.

They spent the next days and weeks preparing themselves, training themselves, celebrating themselves.

They were ready. They were strong. They were survivors. They were finally fully their own.

Forfend couldn't possibly have been more proud of them.

As Forfend surveyed their work, a child ran up to it.

Mithril was her name, Forfend recalled. She was a sweet girl. Intelligent beyond her years and forever desperate to learn.

She gripped its finger and tugged. "Forfend, look! I made this!"

She thrust a small wooden panel up as high as she could reach. She'd embedded a thin sheet of silver into it, creating a simple but lovely handheld mirror.

"It's pretty cool, right?" Mithril asked giddily. "It lets you see yourself and other things around! Even right over your shoulder!"

Forfend crouched down to gaze into it.

The memory rippled like water as it did so.

The face in the mirror shifted from stone to metal. Its rune glowed faintly from beneath the metallic coating, fuzzy around the edges from the diffusion of light.

"It's beautiful," it heard itself say. "I like it."

Forfend was reeling from shock.

The memory, maybe vision, pulled it from its own body and let it see itself as it had once been.

Its back wasn't hunched. It stood straight and even taller than it was now. Metal encased its entire body from head to toe. It looked smooth, sleek.

The stovepipes on its back weren't exposed or quite so haphazard. Instead, they were housed in something resembling a massive metal dome built directly into its body. Open spouts left room for the smoke to billow free.

But it wasn't smoke wafting from the pipes. It was silvery-golden steam.

Inspiration, Forfend knew it to be called. Pure inspiration spilled freely from it as it stared out over its village.

"Thank you," Mithril spoke to the echo of Forfend's past it was now watching from a distance.

A sharp electric buzz cut Forfend's vision to white.

It staggered back into the present.

The arrow in its chest had finally stopped spinning. It sat lodged into the gap between Forfend's metal chest piece and its stone skin. Dead center of Forfend's chest.

The arrow dissipated into misty green magic and faded entirely away.

Dank, stale air rushed into the open gash, laying wispy fingers on Forfend's core.

Forfend shuddered.

The heat of the spilling ichor wasn't enough to keep it warm with its core exposed. If it was hit there again, it would surely perish.

It tried to pull its gaze up, but got caught on its stone hands.

Stone.

It recalled, very suddenly, its first vision.

"Iron for the body," Fornax's voice whispered in its memory. "Magma for the muscle."

All its iron had been stripped away. Its magma had hardened in place of the missing protective layer.

Forfend wasn't meant to grind and crack and scrape when it moved.

It was wounded. It was still so very horribly wounded.

Its hands shook, horror sinking deep into its center.

A soft, but distinctly malicious chuckle sounded through the shadows.

The bowman.

He had Duncan.

Forfend fumbled for the mace at its side and pulled its shield up in front of its wretched chest wound.

Forfend had other priorities right now.

It would worry after it had rescued Duncan.

[itsalola07]

"Normally, you know im totally pro beating the shit out of people type gal"

"Sally, don't you fucking finish that sentence."

"But you going after a wall? Jer, so brave, so bold, so fucking stupid," Sally was turning red from laughing so much, with a shit eating grin, Jeremiah glaring daggers.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up." Jeremiah was growing redder by the second, looking away as they both could feel the heat of his embaressment.

It was part of their normal routine to try and trip the nerds leaving their nerdy advance math class, usually they could get at least two before they realized they were there. Usual nerd taunting ensued and they would go on their way, hands in their pockets and bruises on their knees.

Today however, one little bitch decided to yell back. Tell Jeremiah how he's just a bully, true, that's going to end up alone for being such a creep, untrue. And if there was one thing Jeremiah and his temper didn't like was people trying to fight back. He normally didn't do anything violent to the math class other than tripping, as he reserved that for stronger people that would gain him more respect and authority, but sometimes people need a reminder of their place. And so, Jeremiah went for a punch strong enough to break that little punk's stupid like nose. Well, it would have if Sally hadn't tripped him again, not paying attention to the situation, she wanting to trip him again for being so rude. And so, with the nerd falling to the ground, his fist collided straight into the wall with a loud crack, and an extremely loud string of shout and profanities.

The nurse at the school was not particularly fond of them, or rather most of the school wasn't, so after a switch, nose breaking headbutt, Sally dragged Jer out to the empty metal bleachers, pulling out her pink and bedazzeled first aid kit from her purse that she learned she'd need.

"Now give me your hand you big strong man, got to have you in tip top shape next time you see some bricks."

"Again, shut the hell up."

"Lighten up, okay?" Sally poured out some peroxide onto a small cloth, Jeremiah reluctantly holding out his hand. It wasnt broken, fingers able to move around, but his knuckles were torn up from the bricks and bleeding. She took his much bigger hand in hers, looking it over for a second before pressing the cloth to the wound.

"Oh fuck, thats worse than the fucking wall"

"Almost done you big baby., she pulled back, wiping away extra foam from the wounds and the white liquid dripping down his fingers. "I will say, that headbutt though?" She guestured a chef's kiss with a large toothy grin, giggling to lighten the mood. "That was goddamn impressive."

"I dont feel impressive," he grumbled simply. Sally just rolled her eyes, grabbing a bandaid and yanking back the folds with her teeth.

"Yeah if I had done that I'd be crying like a little bitch, give yourself some fucking credit."

She placed the bandage down, smoothing it out to make sure it stuck. It still bewildered her how big his hands where. One hand against his palm, the other, gently rubbing his knuckles, both of them still dwarfed in comparison. To be fair she didn't think much of his hands before, but now the thought had wiggled into her brain.

She noticed his skin, it wasn't calloused, but not smooth like hers, rough. And it was awfully warm, which she began to feel herself in her cheeks.

"Sal?"

"Huh? Oh yeah. You better not get an infection from this, I'll clean it up again tomorrow, k?"

"Yeah sure, nurse. Now can I have my hand back?"

Sally hadn't realized she was still holding his in hers, and let go with maybe too big of a reaction, hands up above her head as it dropped.

"You sure you're not the one who headbutted someone?" The brunette cocked an eyebrow in amusement, rubbing at his knuckles as she turned red.

"Shut the hell up, come on, we got class soon and I'm ready to go to sleep," sally said huffily, tossing her med kit in her bag and standing up from her seat, trying to step down without tripping over the slotted metal in her heels. He grabbed his own bag and followed after her, a lot easier, as they headed back into the main building.

"Hm.."

Sally behind her to see Jer staring at his hand awkwardly, before seeing her gaze and returned it to his side.

"You good?"

"Yeah, lets go."

Jeremiah wondered why he never noticed how small and soft her hands were.

(Written by @25thhanabusa ♡)

[dreamsuvivor]

tw: mention of violence

How can anyone still believe AH after watching her testimony is beyond me. And I’m not even talking about her awful acting here, just logically thinking about the events she is describing.

I just rewatched a short bit of her testimony (the part where JD aparently wanted to slap her sister). First thing: she describes how he grabed her head from behind and slamed her down onto the stairs, this way she should be laying face down on the stairs possibly feeling at least a bit of pain. But then she describes how he goes around her as if seen from 3rd person perespective and doesn’t mention any pain. I know every person is different and experiences things differently, but I once tripped over a bench a fell face first onto the floor and I can tell you that the sudden pain was so blinding and distracting that I hadn’t even realized that people were around me all of sudden, let alone how did they get there.

Then she proceeds to describe how he dragged her by the hair up the stairs, again no mention of pain which I’m pretty sure should be blinding from having your entire weight hanging on by your scalp. Next she apparently smashed her head against a brick wall, again no pain being mentioned. I would imagine you would be sitting down, blinded by pain with your ears ringing and head spinning, if not having outright concusion. But not Amber, bc she apparently possesses some superhuman strenght and she is back on her feet in mere seconds remembering every word that Johnny apparently said (words that sound suspiciously similiar to cheasy western movie). After this miraculous recovery AH is headbutted and her nose is apparently broken (but somehow magicly healed the very next day). Finally she feels some pain, but unlike the rest of us who experienced the excruciating pain of a broken nose that leaves you blind with pain, her brain is not being blocked by pain receptors, no she has time to think about why didn’t hit her in a different way.

These are just a few thoughts I have about like 5 min of her testimony out of several hours. There is so much more including her lack of need for medical attention after apparently sustaining some very horrific injuries.

[redgalaxyarts]

Cat Fucker - Shinso/Reader

Synopsis: You get hit with a mutation quirk while chasing a villain and while you're waiting to transform back to normal, Shinso finds you. (MxF reader)

Warnings: Language, violence, fluff, smut, masturbation, quirk use, choking, gagging, spanking, pet play, pet names, deg/praise, breeding kink, very slight dubcon if you squint

The reader has a fireball quirk, your hero name is Cherrybomb.

(Y/H/C = your hair color)

The chill of the cold night air hits your sweaty face and palms creating a slight tinge of pain from the contrast between the temperature of the night and your body. You have been running away from the robbery in progress after the police arrived to chase after the villain who caused it. Your calves burn and your feet feel like glass from how long you've been running and chasing after him. You dip, dodge, and jump over all the obstacles in your way and as he threw something behind him, you just barely ducked enough for it to only graze your palms as you tossed it out of the way, a little scrape left in the wake.

"Will you fucking stop already?!" You scream out to the villain dressed in an all-black outfit with a purple short cape swirled with various patterns that seem reminiscent of various animal footprints on it.

"You seem too slow hero, might need some help with that!" The guy yells back before slapping a random shape on the back of his cape and using his fist to throw an orb of light at you but you quickly sidestep out of the way just in time.

Taking the chance after he stumbled from throwing it at you, you open your palm wide and fire three balls of fire at the villain in front of you. They all land perfectly into his side and he doubles over and falls over his own two feet while running. He skids along the pavement and takes out a lamppost in the process but he ultimately comes to a stop and lays still while breathing shallow breaths.

"Hah, I, hah I got you, villain." You say panting and out of breath. "Damn I need to work on my stamina." You say mostly to yourself.

You bend down and flip the villain over onto his back before grabbing a tight pair of handcuffs from your utility belt and quickly clasping his wrists with them and hiking him onto his two feet.

"Cherrybomb did you apprehend the suspect?" Your partner Shinso asks you over your earpeice.

You reach your free hand up and tap the button before replying.

"Yeah just now. Head back to the office and I'll meet you there after I call a cruiser to take him to the station."

"Heard, stay safe."

You confirm with Shinso and tighten your grip on the suspect before notifying the police of your new location and wait for them to arrive.

Only a few minutes pass before the cruisers show up and they grab the villain from your arms, and right as you're about to pull away, the suspect breaks free from one of the officers grasp and walks darts towards you and grabs your wrist in an attempt to attack you while you were distracted talking to civilians. You turn around to attack him back but the officer already managed to grab him before another brawl could start and slapped him with another pair of cuffs. Unbeknownst to any of you, he was able to slap a paw print on the back of his cape and touch you with it when he grabbed your wrist. The villain gets shoved headfirst into the back of the quirk and armor-proof van before the doors shut loudly and they drive away.

"Cherrybomb! Cherrybomb yet another excellent takedown of a villain and you stopped the bank robbery with no casualties, how did you do it?" A reporter asks while the cameraman points the camera towards you and you confidently reply how you normally always do.

"Meow!"

You freeze in confusion, the reporter freezes in confusion, and so does the crowd that has gathered around you all.

"I'm sorry, meow?"

You go to speak again but before you can, you feel a tingle in your hands and you look down to see that your fingertips are slowly morphing into sharp feline-like claws.

You roll your eyes and mutter a "fuck" out loud but to everyone else it just sounds like another meow. Before you could be bombarded with more questions, you take off running down the road and into the secret alleyway you knew one on would find you at. You had found this alleyway months ago after you had gotten beat up pretty bad in a brawl with the LOV and managed to stay secluded all night until you told Shinso your coordinates to find you.

When you duck under the torn hole in the chainlink fence to get to the hiding spot, you brace yourself up against the back of the brick building and look down at your hands to see they've morphed into paws as well as your feet. When you look back up at the brick, you also notice you've gotten incredibly smaller than you remember. It wasn't until you turn around and see a big fluffy tail attached to your butt that you realize what that villain's quirk was; Beastmorph. He turned you into a cat.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me." You say to yourself in your head. You try and find a way to break out of your transformation by running headfirst into the brick wall but all you get out of it is a nasty headache, you can't seem to break out of it by force. You shake your head and droop your ears at the pain and lick your paw and rub your ear to ease the pain.

You saunter around the damp alleyway and see your reflection in a puddle next to a garbage bin and stare into it. You see a slight scar from where you headbutted yourself and notice your very fluffy y/h/c fur blowing in the slight breeze and getting damp from the rain that started to roll in overhead. Staring into your feline eyes in the puddle, you don't even notice the hulking figure walk up behind you and scoop you up. You yelp at the sudden loss of connection of concrete on your paws but feel relaxed in the strong arms of however picked you up, even more so when you feel two soft fingertips rub behind your ears.

"Hey, kitty kitty what are you doing out here?" You look up and instantly recognize the purple hair of who grabbed you.

If a cat could look surprised, you were surely embodying it.

"Where the hell is y/n, she's not at the office and she's not here. God, I hope she's alright."

The rain starts to fall harder and you yelp at the sudden feeling of your soaked fur. You accidentally sink your claws into Shinso's arm while hiking your butt up to try and shake off the wetness and you hear him slightly gasp at the pain.

"Hey hey, kitty it's okay. Come on let me take you home and get out of this rain."

Before you can try and jump out of his arms, he grips you tightly and covers you under his cape while taking off his mask and doing his best to walk under awnings to keep you both from getting even wetter.

You recognize all the turns and roads Shinso takes to get back to his house as you've been there multiple times. It doesn't take him very long to make it back and when he enters his house he shuts the door behind him and places you on his comfy couch. You drop with a slight bounce before he sets his things down on the counter and locks the door behind him.

"Make yourself at home kitty, I'll keep you here tonight and figure out what to do with you tomorrow."

He leans over the back of the couch and starts petting your head and back, and while it feels awkward, it also brings on a strange warmth that you haven't felt before. You smile the best a cat can and you feel your tail swish back and forth. Shinso chuckles before scratching a certain place on your lower back, right above your tail, and your eyes practically bulge out of your head at the extremely weird pleasure it brings on. You are torn between trying to move away or enduring the weird feeling, and it wasn't until you feel a rumble in your chest that you realize you're purring so you decide to hold out and enjoy the scratches.

"Good kitty."

His words strike a chord in your head and you roll your eyes and shiver from the unknown feeling inside of you. Shinso smiles once more before stopping and turns into the kitchen and grabbing a bowl from a cabinet.

You whine at the loss of contact and hop up on the back of the couch and stare at him while cocking your ears behind your head and staring at him.

"Sorry girl, I don't have any cat food but I'll pick some up tomorrow after work."

He says to you as he places a glass bowl of water down on the floor next to a wall. You hop off the couch and walk down next to it, as much as you highly don't want to drink from a bowl like some animal, you are pretty parched from the earlier fight so you lap it up while you can. When you finish slurping it up, you look up and see that Shinso has disappeared and you go to look around his house for him before you see his bedroom door open. You strut over into it and your eyes go wide at the sight in front of you.

His shirt is off of his body and he's walking around in just his boxers as he takes his dirty uniform and tosses it into the laundry basket. His slight muscle definition makes your mouth water when he turns around and you catch a good look at his back. This is the first time you've seen Shinso completely shirtless within the few years of working at the agency together, which is surprising considering the countless amount of times you two have had to patch each other up, he's even seen you completely shirtless besides your breasts as you've always covered them. You walk further into the room and he turns around and you see an array of patchwork tattoos scattering along his arms and a few on his chest. A few of these you've seen before, but you also notice many new ones which make your mouth water even more that your tongue lulls out the side of it.

You are quickly blushed when you see that he's about to pull his boxers down, and with the fear of perversion coming over you, you quickly pounce out of the room and back onto the couch. You shake the thoughts from your head until you hear Shinso's voice speaking to you from two places at once; your head and the adjacent room.

"Y/n, where in the fuck are you. You weren't at the office or your alleyway. Are you alive?" He asks you over the earpiece, which is weirdly enough still attached to you in your cat form. You go to speak but remember how it came out as a meow last time, but you are surprised by the actual words from your mouth.

"Yes I'm okay, I had a uhm, accident and I'm waiting for it to subside." You speak in your actual voice from underneath the couch where you moved to in fear that Shinso would hear or find you.

"What? What accident?"

"A mishap with the villain's quirk I think. I'll be okay I'm just waiting for it to disappear. "

"I-okay then. I'll see you at work tomorrow." He says more of a question than a statement.

"If I'm better by then, sure."

"Okay, goodnight y/n."

"Night Toshi."

You get out from under the couch and trample into his bedroom after checking if the coast is clear first. You see that the en suite bathroom is in use by him when you hear the shower start and him grumbling as he steps inside. You leap onto his bed and stare at yourself into the mirror attached to his side wall that faces the bed. You stare into your eyes and notice that your pupils are no longer stretched like a cat's eyes are and that they've reverted back to your normal eye color and shape. With your voice back and your eyes reverting back your normal body should return by tomorrow. Oh shit, your normal body will return tomorrow. How can you leave without Shinso catching you?

You're caught off guard when you hear the bathroom door open and steam billowing out of it and a very stark naked and dripping wet Shinso walk out of it.

"Me-ow" You gulp to yourself out loud when you see him walk over to the bed while wiping his damp hair with the tan towel around his broad shoulders. You can't help but trace his body down and notice the purple patch of hair above his pelvis and the happy trail connected to it, it fits perfectly against the shallow v-line under his hips.

You feel a shiver ripple through your body and your tail swish back and forth slowly while you take in the sight of the juicy man in front of you. You don't even hop off the bed when he sits down on it next to you and begins petting you. A very loud purr erupts from you and you nudge your head against his hands before he pulls away and scoots you a little bit away so he can get under the comforter.

He turns on his side and flicks off the bedroom light before huffing and puffing while rolling back over onto his back. He slides his fingers through his hair and tugs on it slightly before sliding his hands down his face and dropping them on top of the blanket. He turns back over to you and smiles as he pets your head.

"I hope y/n is okay kitty. You'd like her if you met her, she's beautiful and sweet to every animal she meets. She has one hell of a mouth on her to just about everyone else though." Shinso chuckles to himself at the last thought and you can't help but feel taken off guard at the unknown compliment he gave you. "What I wouldn't do to just make her shut up sometimes."

You quietly gulp to yourself when you feel him tense up while he's petting you before he stops entirely and sits up in his bed and scoots you off of it and towards the door but never shutting it. He whispers something that you don't quite hear before walking back towards his bed and sitting up against the headboard.

You can't help your curiosity as you tip-toe your toe beans into his room and tilt your head around the edge of his dresser and catch sight of what he was doing.

He groans as he rests his head back against the headboard with his eyes shut and his one hand tracing his nipples while the other strokes his cock to get it hard while quietly muttering your name. He's sitting above the comforter and you feel impressed at the endowment of him, you'd never think he'd be that big. You lick your lip and accidentally catch your tongue on your fang before shaking your head and walking closer to the bed to hear and see him better, your morals are entirely out of the window as you don't care how wrong it is to watch your coworker touch himself to the thought of you.

"Fuck." He moans out as he takes his thumb and spreads his precum around his cock while rubbing his nipple with his thumb. He pumps himself while squeezing the base of his cock and you see him shiver at the feeling with taking his free hand and dropping it onto the comforter and gripping the sheets until his knuckles turn white.

"Y/n, just like that, fuck." He says shutting his eyes tightly while envisioning you riding his cock all nice and tight.

You've somehow found your way into his closet and are staring at him through the doorframe of it. Also at this point, you haven't noticed that your hands and feet have reverted back to normal, along with everything else about you. Well, besides the fact that you still have your tail and cat ears. You still don't realize it when you take your hand and touch yourself along with him and rolling your eyes backward when you feel your fingers rub your clit in pace with his pumps.

Moving your hand in time with Shinso's, you stick your fingers into your wet cunt and you moan out his name at the feeling of it, but you quickly clasp a hand over your mouth and put your back against the closet door hoping he didn't notice.

At the sound of your moan, Shinso shoots his eyes open and his head pops up and he stops touching himself while looking around the room. He quietly turns on the end table light and his eyes squint at something in his bedroom when he sees your bare foot poking out of the side of his closet. He gets up from his bed very quietly and walks over to the door and slaps his hand alongside the doorframe making you scream before slamming the oak door right into his face.

Confusion, arousal, and aggravation fall over Shinso's body at the sight he saw before him. He saw you standing stark naked in his closet, with your fingers deep in your cunt, with a pair of cat ears and a tail matching the cat he took home earlier today. He scans the room and takes in the fact that the cat is nowhere to be seen and he smirks as his knuckles come up to the closet door to lightly rap against the wood.

"Oh y/n?"

Silence, which is hard considering you're still touching yourself while also biting your hand and clamping your eyes shut as you try and hold back your lewd noises.

"I know it's you."

It's no use, you can't help but let your noises and words slip.

"Fuck."

A flip switches inside of your body and you're frozen, waiting for some unseen instructions to guide you. Shinso smirks to himself and you curse at yourself in your head as you forgot about his quirk.

"Open the door and come out."

His husky tone sends shivers down your body as you do exactly what he says. You open the door and see him standing there with his arm above your head resting against the closet doorframe. You step in front of him and his free hand comes up to grip your chin and stare into his eyes and the contact breaks you out of your trance.

"Hi, kitten." He says hungrily.

"H-hi Toshi." You gulp at getting caught and now fully realize you're, mostly, back to normal.

"So this is the mishap? Didn't think to tell me about it?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't even know what happened. The villain must've blindsided me with his quirk and I got turned into a cat."

You don't know why you feel like you have to explain yourself to him, but you're utterly at his mercy and it isn't at all due to his quirk. You're entirely yourself right now.

"Hm, how unfortunate. It's even more unfortunate about what I'm going to do to you for deceiving me."

You gulp.

"What, uhm, how did I deceive you?"

"You acted like such a good kitten when in reality I know you're nothing but a slut wanting to be fucked by me. Dirty fucking girl."

"Toshi, no I can't, we can't."

That trance is back that you felt before.

"Shut up."

You do.

His hand drops from your chin and he stands confident and tall above you.

"Get your ass on the bed and wait for me."

Your feet mindlessly walk on their own. You squat onto his bed and turn towards him while sitting on your thighs and letting them plump out around you. Your palms rest against your thighs and your tail swishes back and forth while you wait for him.

"Good girl."

You're still locked in the trance but you feel the pool starting to drip from your cunt at his words and actions. You watch as he stalks over to you, like the way a cat does to a mouse, but in this case, you're the ladder in this situation.

You gulp when you feel his fingers trace your bare chest before stopping on your breast and giving one a good squeeze. You moan while getting knocked from your trance and he takes that as an invitation to continue. He releases your breast and immediately grips the back of your neck with force before bending down and kissing you sloppily and passionately at the same time. You moan even more and you feel him smirk into you as his free hand traces down your breasts, flicking your nipple, then trailing it down to your sopping core. You whimper when you feel his finger ghost over your warm folds and then he slides his finger in between them to catch all the juices coming from you.

"Well look at this, my kitten is all nice and wet for me already. I knew you were a slut y/n."

You roll your eyes at the words and it was a big mistake on your part when you feel a slap against your breast and you gasp and look up to the lavender eyes drilling into yours.

"Don't be a fucking brat with me." He dips two fingers between your folds again and as you whimper, he takes that chance to stick them into your mouth and down your throat. "Taste yourself and shut up." His hand grips the back of your neck tighter and bends it back as his two fingers get shoved down your throat and you gag on his fingers. Tears prick your eyes at the feeling and you feel yourself grow wetter and wetter at the force and words he's using on you and you just want more.

He pulls away from you and you both smirk at the long strands of saliva that trail from his fingers and your mouth and he licks it off his own fingers before releasing your neck and pushing you down onto the bed.

"Do you taste good kitten? Spread your legs for me and let your owner taste."

"Ho, fuck Toshi."

You say as he pushes you back and bites your thigh, but he shoots up and tuts at you.

"It's master now."

Your eyes roll back in pleasure as he spreads your legs and kisses your folds and you let bliss take you.

"Ye-yes master." You bite on your finger from the pleasure and use your other hand to twist into Shinso's locks. He groans into your pussy when he feels you tug on his hair and as you buck your hips into his mouth, he wraps an arm around your thigh and rests his hand flat against your pelvis, and uses his other hand to rub up and down your chest and squeezes your breasts making you shiver and shake.

His tongue is that of a god, he's eating you out like no other has done before and you don't want him to ever stop. His tongue speaks passion into your core as he twists your nipple in between his thumb and forefinger and gives it a sharp tug which makes your chest rise and gasps of pleasure drip from your mouth. You feel him smirk into your pussy and your thighs clamp around his head when he nibbles your clit and he smiles even more with the feeling of it happening.

Within minutes you're seeing stars as he plunges the hand he was using on your breasts into your warm cunt while he uses the hand on your pelvis to rub your clit. He sees you trying to resist the urge to cum and he feels himself grow harder which only causes a mix of pleasure and pain to score through him. He needs contact but he only wants the focus on you, he only wants his precious kitten to feel good tonight.

"Fuck master, can I cum? Can I please cum baby?" You beg him as you knot his hair tighter with both hands now.

"Go ahead kitten, cum on my face for me."

He plunges into you and rubs harder at the same pace and dips his mouth back to your pussy before you release onto his face so much that it drips down his chin. He pumps you a few more times before pulling his fingers out of you and smiling down at you panting and wiping sweat from your brow.

You're caught off guard when his dominant persona is dropped as he bends down and kisses you on the forehead and lips before checking in on you.

"Are you okay baby? Can you keep going or can you stop?" He asks so sweetly and innocently.

You run a hand through his hair softly and swipe your thumb against his lips before bending up and kissing him, tasting a mix of himself and your fresh juices which make you want round 2 even more now.

"Please master, I want you to fuck your little kitten-like no one else has before." You whisper seductively into his ear before nibbling on it and licking his neck and falling back down onto the bed.

"Holy fuck." You managed to catch him off guard this time. He gets back into the persona, now even more eager before gripping your hips so tight you know for a fact you'll bruise, and flipping you over with a hard bounce back on the bed and you gasp when you feel him hike your ass into the air.

"Look at your precious cunt, so beautiful and wet for me." He smacks your ass and you yelp out in pleasure before he scissors inside of you with his fingers, stretching you out and pulling away and to his side drawer.

"No master, let kitten feel you. Please?" You ask him while reaching back to grip his wrist.

"You want me to fill you nice and full with my cum kitten? Dirty fucking girl."

He spits into his hand and pumps himself a couple of times before lining himself up with your hole. He grabs both of your ass cheeks and rubs them gingerly with his thumbs before spreading your lips and entering your pussy slowly, getting you used to him.

"Hah, fuck Toshi- Master, I don't care, oh fuck." You shake out the words as you feel him bottom out inside of you and you don't even fathom how you managed to take him so well. Your toes are already clenching when he pulls out and slides back in just as slow as he did before.

"Fuck yeah kitten, I'm gonna fill you so good and full with my cum. Can't wait to have my fucking child can you?"

His head falls backward as he starts to pick up the pace inside of you and groans loudly when he feels you squeeze around him. The villain's quirk has entirely disappeared by now but neither of you has noticed and neither of you cares from the absolute ecstasy you both are receiving from the other.

His cock is slamming back and forth into you at an incredible pace. For every handful of hard pumps into you, it's followed by a slow and teasing pound that hits your spot perfectly every time. You don't know how long you've been going at this, minutes, hours, doesn't matter, you don't want it to ever stop. Your pussy clenches around his cock like it was perfectly molded to be there. Shinso slaps your ass with so much force it leaves a gorgeous dark handprint afterward. You both moan out a "fuck" from the way it made your pussy jump and Shinso picks up his pace inside of you.

"I-I'm about to cum Toshi, fill me up nicely with your cum baby."

You barely manage to get out as he slams harder into you, hitting your g-spot with precision. He smirks and you hear it in his moans. He slows down slightly before bending down and slowly tracing his hands along your sides, squeezing your breasts, gripping your throat, and bringing you back up with him so that your back is against his chest. This new position has you absolutely in pure bliss. You see your entire life flash before your eyes when he grips your throat tightly and bites the side of your neck while his other hand rests against your hip bone and rubs circles into it.

"You're going to be such a good mother, baby." He bites your neck harder. "You're taking my cock so nice, and I'm about to fill you to the brim with my cum. Can't wait to see your stomach bulge with my kid." With that last sentence, his hand moves from your hip to your stomach and he pushes on it, especially in the place where he feels himself slightly bulge your stomach.

"Fuck, can't wait to be a daddy huh? Fill me the fuck up already." You quip back to him, gathering confidence when you feel his thrusts become sloppier and you know he's about to cum with you.

"Watch your tone." He says into your ear while gripping your throat even tighter, cutting your breath off a little before kissing you on the lips and biting your lip while letting go of your throat to let you breathe.

As soon as he bites into your shoulder, you both moan out at the same time when you each release with one another. Your cum mixes with his as he shoots his seed deep inside your cunt. You feel it pulse inside you and your tongue lolls out at the feeling. Shinso keeps himself inside of you until your cunt takes every last drop and when he's content with how much he filled you, he slowly pulls out and watches the cum drip from you before using his fingers to push it back in.

"Keep it in there while I go get a towel to clean us up."

You whimper out a confirmation and as soon as Shinso steps out, you fall back onto the bed and giggle to yourself at the absolutely insane situation you just had. You'd never imagine that you'd fuck your coworker but here you are. You don't move when Shinso comes back and kisses you on the forehead and lips while he wipes in between your legs and anywhere else you may feel hot or sticky. You grab him before he moves away and you bring his forehead down to yours and give him a sweet kiss on his lips and you both smile at each other.

Shinso tosses the towel into the basket and slides under the covers next to you. He lifts his arm up to have you slide up next to him and he breathes out a content sigh.

"So...have you always wanted to fuck a cat?" You ask trying to break the ice.

Shinso laughs and gets beat red at your comment and turns his head to face you.

"No, no I haven't. To be clear, I didn't want to fuck a cat, I just wanted to fuck you."

"You surely did." You pause before your next thought. "Did you mean what you said when you were talking to the uh, well, cat-me?"

"All of it, yeah."

"Oh, cool, cool."

You stop for a minute and try and get comfortable but there's still an unease in the air.

"Look, if this was just a horny-sex haze type of thing for you I get it. I won't mention it again." You say while sitting up to talk to him, as your breasts fall from the sheets, Shinso can't help but stare. You giggle and snap your fingers in front of his face to get him to look at you.

"No y/n, it's not a one-time thing for me. I don't know what I feel for you but I know it's not a one-night stand type of feeling."

"Oh..good, cause I'm pretty sure I fell in love with your dick."

Shinso bursts out into a fit of laughter before pulling you down on top of him and kissing you intensely and having you straddle him.

"Funny, my dick fell in love with you too, kitten."

[narrators-journal]

Moonlight

warning: Light depictions of violence, Aku really admires Atsushi’s tiger (idk if it comes off as super sexual, so idk might be a bit monster-fucker-y) Nothing sexual or vulgar, just him being super into watching Atsushi kill.

edit: Had to fix some glaring formatting issues, also just editted some of the choppier bits of the text :D

Akutagawa had no clue why he was out looking for a pissy tiger gijinka at 10 pm, but he was. He wasn't super thrilled about it, to say the least. However, Dazai had called and explained that Atsushi had apparently had an awful day at work or something and then changed into a weretiger in the evening, and the bandaged ADA agent wasn't sure if that was intentional or because of the full moon, so it was now up to Aku to go find the weretiger and bring him back to his apartment before he could cause any trouble.

Any good mafia member would've told the traitorous sociopath to go fuck himself with a cactus, but some weird urge had led the goth to agree to return Atsushi home for his old mentor. Had him receiving the crybaby's address from his mentor and heading out into the darkness.

It wasn't that he still wanted acknowledgment, he'd gotten his praise and acknowledgment a few weeks before. So while he still highly respected Dazai, he wasn't out clicking his tongue into alleyways and lifting himself onto rooftops at such a late hour for his praise. It definitely wasn't out of concern for Jinko, he could care less if the brainless house cat got hit by a car or stuck up a telephone pole. No, what had Akutagawa out near the hellish docks was a lingering sense of curiosity. He couldn't exactly place what he was curious about that exact moment, but he was intrigued. So, he poked around until he finally spotted a familiar flick of white and black disappearing around the corner in the slums.

When he spotted the first signs of Atsushi, Akutagawa dropped to a crouch and crept forward until he could look around the wall to see a dimly glowing white tiger nosing through a trash bag he seemed interested in. With him distracted, Aku took the chance to move towards him, bringing Rashoumon to life once he was close enough. Either the energy or the light near-instantly drew the predator's eye, but either way, he was now staring into the golden eyes of Atsushi Nakajima, or, more so, his tiger.

In that dangerous, uneasy situation, it finally clicked. He'd wanted to see this. Atsushi's full tiger form. That's why he'd agreed to go hunting for him upon Dazai's request. Not only that but staring into those predatory eyes brought a new sensation through his body. Awe.

        "Jinko," He said, doing his best to sound calm while he internally battled a storm of fear, awe, and honest wonder. "Can you understand me?" He asked it nonchalantly, his grey eyes just staying glued to the tiger's golden gaze as he circled to face the vampire of a man properly. With no answer, obviously, Aku took a deep breath to steel his nerves before trying to reason with the creature again, "Listen, I know we don't get along, you annoy the shit out of me, I'm sure you dislike me just as much. But, Dazai sent me to try and return you home, so can you please cooperate?" He asked, but the answer he got was a pretty huffy tail lash and the creature walking past him and across the street to dig through more trash. And for a moment, Akutagawa was nearly mesmerized, forgetting what he was going to say. The hunter's movements revealed the powerful muscles just beneath its snowy, striped fur, it knocked home just how dangerous this car-sized cat could be. He hasn't attacked me though, the mafioso realized, normally Jinko would maul me on sight, but his tiger isn't. Not even a growl. The realization almost made a sense of honor well up in his chest as he followed the giant cat to the next bag of garbage he seemed intent on investigating.

For a bit, the goth trailed after the large predator, his original task abandoned, mesmerized by the sight of it moving so quietly despite its lethal claws and hulking, muscular form. However, his observations were interrupted when a realization hit him like a brick to the face, Of course! He's hungry! No wonder he's been digging through stray garbage bags and whatnot, he's probably looking for meat! He slapped his hand over his face at how obvious that had been, then, he whistled to the massive feline, coughing a few times before he spoke again,           "Would you like to actually hunt, Jinko?" The snowy ears of the creature perked at the mention of hunting, perhaps he can understand me to some extent, the thought was swiftly shelved for later though, he had mentioned hunting, he had no time to ponder how conscious his nemesis was as a likely impatient and hungry tiger. "If you follow me, I can take you to someone you can hunt," he offered, once again looking into the yellow eyes of the beast, almost able to see him contemplating his offer before he suddenly moved forward.

Akutagawa's first thought was that the car-sized feline was going to eat him instead, but no. In reality, Atsushi simply headbutted him in the chest, sending him sliding on his back across the pavement, coughing and wheezing from the air leaving his weak lungs so suddenly.             "J-Jinko!" he snapped between coughs, glowing red in his annoyance, but instead of being even slightly intimidated or on-edge from the show of hostility, Atsushi just continued to headbutt or nose him, pushing him along the pavement until the choking mafioso finally managed to put his hand on the cat's striped, moon-silver forehead, Holy shit, you're so soft, and shove him back enough to let him get back to his feet. "What are you doing Jinko? Don't nuzzle up to me just because I offered you food, dumbass!" he snarled, keeping his pale hand on the cat's head as he glared at him.

The two stood there for a moment, Akutagawa's glow intensifying when Atsushi pushed against his hand and made him step back to avoid tumbling over again, all the while the choppy-haired vampire was trying to decipher what the weretiger might be doing this for. It's not likely that he wishes to eat me. If he did, he would've pounced as soon as I was on the ground...That also means he's not looking for a fight. Could it be his way of thanking me for offering to take him to hunt? Is he just trying to NUZZLE me?? His cheeks heated like stovetop burners at the thought of the elegant predator showing him, his most hated rival, affection of all things. He could handle the tiger trying to maul him, half expected it honestly, but he didn't know how to feel about Atsushi nuzzling up to him as a thank you or otherwise.

It was only when he gave another attempt at a nudge that Akutagawa got the message at long last.           "Oh! You're wanting me to take you there!" He rolled his dark gray eyes at that and pushed himself away from the weretiger, turning around with a huff and starting to lead the way. This also gave his pale cheeks the time to return to normal in the cool night air, though his heart couldn't seem to stay at a steady, calm pace. It kept jumping and thumping unpredictably with the excitement of maybe seeing Atsushi on a proper hunt.

It was sure to be a fascinating sight, to see the massive feline crouched, creeping up on an unsuspecting victim, to see his muscles bunch with so much power just before lunging at the prey. He was excited at the thought of seeing the weretiger's lethal talons tear into a person, and his jaws crunch down mercilessly on his victim's bones. The sheer power of it. The fact that he had fought someone who could tap into that primal potential. He'd looked into such an animal's eyes, he'd seen the human intelligence mingling seamlessly with the animalistic cunning. Atsushi's razor-sharp fangs had been mere inches from such a vital part of his body, and yet he'd done no malicious harm. No, not a scratch. Aku couldn't place the feeling of awe and nebulous adrenaline-pumping thrill he got from it. From being so close to a beast who could end him without hesitation or issue, and yet he hadn't. All of that strength was so beautifully control-

The goth's thoughts were interrupted by another headbutt, this time to his spine, sending him sprawling onto the pavement with an indignant squawk.           "Jinko! Wha- Are you trying to get me to speed up, or fucking kill me?!" He snapped, scrambling to his feet with a small cough and a tidal wave of humiliation for the noise he'd made on his way down, but his only response was another nudge from the beast, one he swatted away. "Oh no! I am not jogging or running ahead of you! Quit acting like an impatient toddler," he scolded, dusting himself off while the tiger huffed like said impatient toddler.

With his own grumpy huff, he continued, leading Atsushi out of the slums and into the nicer parts of town. It wasn't the rich end of Yokohama, where the homes were capped with long driveways and wrought-iron fences or had names for addresses, but it wasn't the slums. The neighborhood they ended up in, while sparse of people on the sidewalk and road, thrummed with life within the safety of the nightclubs and bars that were scattered about. It was somewhere near the outskirts of town without being too far, around there Akutagawa would find the mafia's casino and the one rival casino whose owner was as equally a customer of the mafia as much as a rival.           "Alright, you stay here for a moment. I've got to go find your food. Don't worry, they aren't good, innocent people, so you shouldn't feel a lick of shame for eating them." He promised Atsushi, now standing a few buildings down in a wide alleyway from the rival casino. "You eat the men in suits to your heart's content, in return, I'll destroy the street security cameras." The creature made a noise he assumed was agreement, so he left him in the alleyway and began prowling the street, taking out cameras as he went until he'd not only left the whole street defenseless but also found the owner of the second gambling hall.

Once he'd located the man and his goons relaxing at an outside table, smoking and drinking their booze in front of the closed shop, he used a ribbon of his coat to slither over and knick the owner with the sharpened cloth, slipping away before he realized it was more than a simple bug bite or accidental scratch. With the fresh blood now on his coat, he slunk back to Atsushi, letting the striped hunter sniff the strip of cloth thoroughly before he hoisted himself onto the roof with Rashoumon.

From his vantage point on the rooftops, the wheezy goth could follow the weretiger as he prowled down the street, following the scent of blood until he too spotted the prey at the cafe table and fell into a hunter's crouch. The goth repressed his coughing and wheezing as much as possible, paused with the cat, his grey eyes fixated on the silent animal as he inched closer to the men.

It amazed Aku that neither the owner nor his goons noticed the rabbit-soft white-and-black fur of the weretiger, part of him wanted them to spot the beast before he pounced, just so he could watch them run and panic and really see Atsushi chase down his prey. Sadly, by the time the small group had finally realized they were being stalked, it was too late. Atsushi was already on them, tearing them apart, his powerful jaws turning their muscles to pulled pork in seconds, his talons tearing into them like a hot knife through butter. They tried to run, but they didn't get far before each one was picked off with one swipe of the dark claws, or powerful jaws of the predator.

Akutagawa watched the scene from the safety of the rooftop, his heart racing with excitement, his breath quickening as he grinned like a lunatic. Not even his subsequent coughing fit could ruin the absolute thrill that zipped through his blood at the sight of such a gorgeous, efficient predator crunching on bones like they were nothing, his white fur now stained a lovely shade of red. It took a moment for him to come back from that high and realize that his lightheadedness and shortness of breath had gone from pure elation to an issue, so he had to swiftly fish his inhaler out of his pocket and pull from it, hoping it was enough to open his airways so he would avoid the hospital. He was not keen on having to explain to a doctor what exactly had gotten him so hyper.

Thankfully for the pale mafioso, his inhaler worked. So, after a moment to catch his breath and regain his composure, he brought Rashoumon to life and used it to lower himself down to the pavement again, a safe distance from Atsushi, who was contently tearing the mafia's rivals apart and devouring their flesh. With one final calming breath, he slowly walked over to the beast, not getting a glance as he approached until he was beside the car-sized feline while he chomped at a bone until it splintered.

Once he was sure Atsushi wasn't interested in him, Akutagawa crouched down and gently, tentatively put a hand against his side, feeling the soft, silky, striped fur and perfectly honed muscles just beneath his pale fingertips.          "I can see why Dazai chose you...over me..." he muttered quietly, his eyes glued to the tiger's mouth, admiring his fangs as they worked at the bones and meat of the casino owner, "You are far beyond my power level. So much more controlled, so much stronger, so much more capable than I'll ever be." It hurt to voice these shameful realizations, but for some reason, Aku felt like he wouldn't be judged by the beast, even if it did understand his words, it wouldn't shame him for his admitting to his faults.

So, he just sat beside the tiger, running his hand over the beast's side, shoulder, even along its back, from snout to as far as he could reach behind him. Just taking everything about him in. The car-sized feline didn't seem to care at all, unbothered by the admiring pets, or when Aku grabbed his back paw to flex his toes and unsheath his talons. Some part of the mafioso still reminded him, He could still eat you next, but it did nothing to dissuade the child-like curiosity that fuelled his exploration of every deadly part of the animal, from tracing his muscles, to bringing out his bloodied talons, all while Atsushi ate his fill of his prey until nothing remained save for their shredded clothing.

The pale man simply gathered those up and ran a hand through his chopped up hair,             "I guess I should take you back to your apartment now before dawn comes." he mused, judging that they had about an hour or two before the sun rose and Atsushi likely changed back to his more pathetic, weak form. Aku looked at the weretiger, watching as the beast licked his chops and shook himself off, then turned with a sigh to head to the address Dazai had given him. Atsushi followed without complaint, padding alongside the goth, much more content, it seemed.

Once Atsushi was safely back in his own home, and the clothing was burnt and disposed of, Aku went home to his personal apartment, flopping onto the bed with a half groan, half sigh. Now that he wasn't running on thrills and curiosity, he was exhausted. His only thought before passing out was Never telling anyone of this.

[kenjikutie]

Starlight [Dabi x Single Mom!Reader]

summary: when you and your children are saved by a man covered in burns, you offer to repaire his staples and clean him up, an offer that gets you much more than you’d bargained for word count: 2.6k warnings: a tiny bit of violence pairing: dabi x fem!reader

waking up at five am every morning to prepare yourself for the day certainly was not how you saw your life turning out four years ago. but, the moment where you opened the door to your twin son’s room washed away all over your regrets and filled the space with nothing but love. you thanked whatever was above you each day that they had ended up looking like you, rather than their father. you didn’t know what you would have done if you had to look at his face for the rest of your life

kindly stroking hibiki’s cheek, you watched as your son squirm awake, blinking away the sleep in his eyes. you smiled softly and whispered your morning greeting to him, watching as he beamed at the sight of his mother. hibiki kicked his small legs at you, a signal for your attention. with a huff, you lifted your son from his bed and sat him on your hip, slightly ticking his sides to see him giggle

when you felt a small tug on your pant-leg, you glanced downward to see hitomu giving you a pout, clearly jealous of the attention his brother was getting. you set your hand on his head, ruffling his soft y/h/c locks before setting down hibiki to present them their outfits for the day. the two had rambled on and on last night about how excited they were to attend their first day of preschool

though you would never tell them, you were just as happy to get a day to yourself while your sons were taken care of. you had so many errands to run, bills to pay and groceries to buy. living as a single mother in the city was tough, both financially and mentally, but it was worth it. you didn’t want to rely on the boy’s father for anything

while you were caught up in your thoughts, hitomu took your hand in his much smaller one, showing you a bright smile, though it was missing a few teeth. he proudly held up his all might lunchbox and you came to the realization he was trying to imitate his idol. hibiki took your other hand, beginning to mutter about how the three of you should get going before they miss breakfast

after locking up the apartment, you kept a steady grip on their hands, not wanting them to get lost in all the hustle and bustle of the city. the boys seemed to glare at everyone who past you, taking their roles as the ‘men of the house’ very seriously. you, on the other hand, were focused on reviewing the route to their preschool, praying that you didn’t get lost along the way

suddenly, you felt a sharp tug on your elbow, causing you to gasp, preparing to let out a scream before a rough hand clamped over your mouth. hitomi and hibiki gripped tightly to you, calling out to you as the three of you were dragged into a nearby alleyway. you were harshly thrown onto the concrete, wincing when you felt your knees scrape against it, surely drawing blood

hibiki clung to your left side, burying his face in your stomach with a sob, “mommy! are you h-hurt?”

you reached upward and set your hands on his cheeks, “hitomi, take your brother and get out of here right now! please!”

darting your eyes around, you caught sight of hitomi but your stomach dropped down to the pits of hell when you saw what he was doing. hitomi had his hands balled up into fists, holding his all might lunchbox in front of him

“l-leave my m-momma alone!”

“hibiki, stop!”, you screamed, terrified of what could happen next

the man laughed, a cruel, wicked sound, before snatching the prized possession out of your son’s hands and throwing it against the brick wall, smirking when he heard it split open. you pulled yourself off the ground, doing the best you could to ignore the throbbing pain in your skull. swiftly, you wrapped your arms around hitomi’s torso, pulling him behind you

with a tightening of your fist, you laid a punch on the attacker’s face, wanting to scream from how bad it hurt. he wiped the blood off of his nose and gripped you by the collar, slamming his forehead onto yours, causing your vision to become nearly entirely black. you could hear your sons crying but couldn’t speak a word

then, a bright flash of blue brought back your vision, feeling yourself slip from the man’s hold and back to the ground. you didn’t even look back at the attacker, despite his screams of pain and agony. hitomi and hibiki were holding one another, tears running down their horrified faces. quickly, you held the back of their heads and tucked their faces into your chest, hoping to hide whatever gruesome thing was happening behind you

when everything went quiet, you shyly lifted your head, flinching when bright blue eyes stared right back at you. the man in front of you was lanky and tall, scars littering his chest and face, along with staples holding his normal skin together. he looked like he was in so much pain and it made your heart ache

“you good?”, he asked, voice gruff and rougher than any sandpaper

“n-no, but,”, you looked up at him with wide eyes, “thank you. thank you so much.”

he didn’t move or acknowledge your thanks, only walked behind you to pick up the lunchbox that now had a huge crack in it, right over the face of your son’s hero. hitomi pulled away from you reluctantly when he felt a tap on his head. his eyes watered at the sight of his lunchbox but he took it back anyways, clutching it to himself

you slowly stood up, but even that was too much for your head. your knees buckled as soon as you were on your feet and you would have fallen back down again had it not been for the hand that steadied your lower back. everything was turning hazy again and you were sure you head a concussion. the last thing you saw was the concerned eyes of your sons and their mouths opening, surely calling out your name

---

you slowly fluttered your eyes open, feeling yourself relax into the softness of a familiar bed. then, you remembered the events before you fell asleep. lifting yourself forward suddenly, you felt the pain in your head come back but you pushed it away, determined to know how you got home and where your children were

the first place you checked was the living room, heart beating even faster when you didn’t see them, only the mess that had been left from their toy playing session the other day. where were your sons? how did you get home? and where-

a relieved sigh left your lips when you opened the door your sons’ room, only to see them snoring softly in their racecar beds. you had never been happier than that moment. when a cough came from the doorway, you jumped, holding out your hands in defense while the figure chuckled

“geez, chill out jumpy. it’s all good.”

the man from before stared at you with humor in his eyes. a part of you said to hit him until he left your home, to chase him out but, another part was begging you to make him stay. you just had to know who had saved you from something so terrible

taking one last look at your sleeping sons, you joined him in the hallway, keeping the door open out of paranoia. he kept his eyes on you, making you more nervous by the second

“um, thank you for back there. if you hadn’t come-”

“you already thanked me. hit your head that hard, jumpy?”, he teased and you felt your fists clench

“well, im sorry if im a bit uneasy after being attacked in an alleyway!”, you threw up your hands and stormed into your room, hearing him cackle behind you but follow you nonetheless

taking a seat on the edge of your bed, you felt tears begin to pool in your eyes. hurriedly wiping them away with your hand, you could feel the bed dip beside you, but neither of you said anything. you held your face in your hands, softly crying your heart out

dabi winced at the sound, the noise of a mother sobbing bringing back memories he would much rather have forgotten. when he had seen you and your kids get pulled into the alleyway, he had contemplated doing nothing to help, just continuing back to the bar. but, the face that had comforted him throughout the nightmare that was childhood would not leave his mind until he saved you

you peeked out from between your fingers to see a tissue being dangled in front of your face. eyes widening, you reached out to accept it, dabbing at your eyes with the soft tissue

“im a failure of a mother.”, you whispered and dabi quickly placed his hand on your shoulder, turning you to face him

“from what i saw, you punched the dude in the face and managed to protect your kids even after gettin’ the life headbutted outta ya. you’re not a bad mom.”

when he began to stand up, you latched onto the sleeve of his long jacket, head hanging down, “why are you doing this? i don’t even know you.”

and at that moment, all he saw was his mother

“you remind me of someone i know.”

raising your head, you tossed the tissue into your garbage can and looked up at him with a pout. he nearly laughed at how much you looked like a little kid but your splotchy eyes made his heartache

“let me repay you.”, dabi raised his eyebrows with a teasing smirk and you blushed, “not like that! i meant that i could fix your staples, they look like they hurt.”

after thinking for a minute, he nodded, “lead the way, jumpy.”

---

dabi was sat on the edge of your bathtub, watching your every move. when you bent down to take the supplies out of the cabinet, his eyes trailed a bit lower but he shook his head with a smirk. you would so not be into that, he thought

“it’s probably gonna hurt but don’t worry, i took a few nursing courses in college so i don’t think i’ll kill you.”, you joked and it made him feel a bit better that you had calmed down

“that’s good to know, jumpy.”

you stood up and set a hand on your hip, looking down at the man with a look typically reserved for your children, “would you stop calling me that?”

kneeling down in front of the tub, you began to wet a cotton ball with some peroxide while dabi shook his head, “no can do. i don’t know what your name is.”

“well, i don't know yours either.”

“and you’re not gonna- jesus!”, dabi jumped at the sudden sting on his cheek and you quickly apologized, rambling about how it was supposed to hurt less if it was a surprise

the two of you entered a comfortable silence, you gently removing and replacing his staples after disinfecting his raw skin. dabi began to look around your bedroom, at least what he could see from the doorway. no photos of anyone but your kids and someone he assumed was your mom. the right side of the bed looked like it hadn’t been used

“your husband probably won’t be happy to find me here, ya know?”, he was pressing slightly, watching to see any reaction you made but your face stayed neutral as you tossed another cotton ball into the trash

“i don’t have a husband, just me and my sons.”, your eyes held sadness, a different one from earlier, this one was dull and seemed very old

“oh. did he-”

“yes.”, your hold on his skin turned harsher and dabi caught your wrist, meeting your eyes before pushing your hand back

“sorry.”, you muttered, going back to your work while dabi watched you intently

the father of your kids must have been someone pretty stupid to leave the three of you. your sons seemed to love you a ton, considering how their walk home consisted of one of them glaring at him while holding your hand and the other quietly telling him where to go

he remembered looking down at your face while you slept in his arms. you were one of the most beautiful women he had ever laid his eyes on, so it was only natural to think you had someone waiting for you at home. but, the only boys who had your heart where the four-year-olds who wouldn’t leave your side until they fell asleep

he had been so deep in thought that he hadn’t even noticed you had finished up. you were right. dabi felt much better. he could finally move his arms and face without feeling like he was about to rip his skin off. maybe he would come back here again if it ever got too bad

“thanks, jumpy.”, dabi said, watching as you glanced down at the tile floor

“y/n. i’m y/n.”, he hadn’t expected you to tell him your name, figuring your paranoia would still have the better of you

dabi fixed his coat and let you walk him to the front door, taking a glance at you from the side. you were gorgeous but, there was nothing he could do about it. he was one of the most wanted villains in japan. it was a miracle you hadn’t noticed who he was yet

the two of you stood in the entryway, you avoiding his gaze and him refusing to look anywhere else. he would probably never see you again with how his life was going but there was a pull in him, a part of himself he had locked away a long time ago, that wanted him to stay here, to fall in love with you

you felt a rough hand place itself on your cheek and you gasped, locking eyes with the man who had saved your life. dabi leaned in and couldn’t help but notice that you did too, but, all you received was a peck on the forehead

“you don’t have to leave, you know?”, you said and he could see the worry in your eyes, but it wasn’t fear for yourself

“sorry beautiful, but i have some prior engagements to take care of. but, you ain’t gotta worry, nothing like that’s gonna happen to you again.”, furrowing your eyebrows as the man opened your door, you reached out to grab him, but he was faster than you

“see you tomorrow morning, y/n.”

the end.

[hannie-dul-set]

→ stuck on you (like a spotlight). PREVIEW.

LOVE U LIKE A LIGHTSHOW collection.

SUMMARY. star crossed lovers— but cross out the lovers, because he doesn’t even know you. yet even when he doesn’t know your name, your face, you couldn’t stop the gravity of being pulled back into the constant motion of you finding your attention stuck on him, like the spotlight shining above his head on the stage where you’ve always seen him.

PAIRING. huang renjun x female! reader GENRE. strangers to lovers! au, high school! au, rival schools! au, singer renjun & public speaker mc, school competitions, PINING, romance, fluff, humor, mild angst, featuring idols from other groups (also let’s pretend hyunjin & felix are from sme and not jyp for the sake of plot) WARNINGS. lots of swearing, anxiety, depictions of an extremely unhealthy school culture of competitiveness, the use of too many metaphors LMAO WORD COUNT. actual fic: around 10k, preview: 818 RELEASE DATE. late february  TAGLIST. @danishmiilk @wownajaemin @leejunini @astroboy-lele @unkown5tar @w0nni3wrld @charm-art @bingbingbish @sehunniepot @pretty-junjun @elcie-chxn @khcnehle @kthpurplesyou @lcvemark @sweetlyjaem @peachyyjaes @tteok-bokkies @bat-shark-repellant @lebrookestore @lenaluvs @nct-writers​ @czennienet​ @neowritingsnet​ @kpopscape (ask/dm to be tagged!)​

NOTE. first out of the four and i’m super excited! also do not be fooled by the preview, this is not a skz fic HAHSGFJ this is perhaps the less true to life accurate out of all of the fics in the collection, and if you could relate to our darling mc in this, then my heart is out for you <//3 hang in there, buddy JSGJS.

preview under the cut!

“Oh, Y/N.”

When Hyunjin had too much energy to release, he only had only one victim to release it on.

You.

“You must be really excited now that sports season is almost over. Next week is a big week for you, after all. I can only imagine how thrilled you are—”

A big week for you, sure. But thrilled and excited? Not so much. There was nothing thrilling and exciting about your upcoming competition. You couldn’t put a finger on what he was babbling about.

Of course, that was until the next words made their way into your ears, and you were this close to headbutting him.

“—thrilled to finally see your crush again after a whole ass year.”

You could only retort with one thing.

“Eat a horseshoe, Hwang.”

Hyunjin let out a tiny whine when you jerked your head back, hitting him right on the chin which caused the other three boys to laugh at your friend’s pain. He finally stopped strangling you with both of his arms, opting to nurse the injury that you’d inflicted instead. You didn’t even hit him that hard, yet he looked as if you’d just skinned his dog alive in front of a live audience. “C’mon, when was the last time you’ve seen him? Isn’t your heart just dying to catch a glimpse of your fairy boy after all this time?”

“Please, stop talking. You’re putting me in a position here,” you hissed, smacking his arm. “I’m already getting dirty stares from my schoolmates for ‘fraternizing with the enemy’, or some shit. Don’t make it worse.”

Your last assault on him finally forced him into silence because Hyunjin didn’t bother pushing your buttons anymore, and was instead more focused on shooting you glares and grumbles. That didn’t mean you were safe, though.

“Liar,” Jisung clicked his tongue. Oh, how you wanted to pelt him in the eye with your grape juice box. He was sitting two levels below you. The perfect height. “You’ve never been bothered about that, little miss. You can’t hide your gushy wushy embarrassment from us.”

“The guy’s not here anyway— his coach skewed him away before he could even enter the bus. Maybe you’d only get a glimpse of him next week,” Felix joined in, looking at you as he spoke with earnestness, but diverted his attention to the person on your other side. “Seungminnie, looks like you’re competing with him again.”

Seungmin simply shrugged. “What a surprise.”

While this week and last week were focused more on the sports events, next week would focus on solo competitions— quiz bees (reminder to pay respects to the half-dead contestants), public speaking (reminder to not become part of the half-dead, yourself), and of course—

Singing.

Reminder to not lose your shit at the event.

Jisung let out a long, remorseful sigh, eyes closed with a hand falling above his forehead, and all. “Oh, to be torn between supporting a friend and a not-even-friend-so-definitely-not-a-lover for the full support of your heart,” he opened one eye to look at you. “Though it is evident where your heart rests, madam. I admire your persistence even at the face of a brick wall.”

“Shut it,” you groaned. God, they were really reeling out a violent side from you today. “It’s not like I’m hoping for anything more, anyway.”

“That’s because you’ve never tried to turn into something more, Y/N,” even Seungmin was joining the shit on Y/N like a bunch of laxative high pigeons party, now. “Last time you went to their school and chickened out the moment you spotted him.”

“Holy shit, that was hilarious,” Hyunjin chimed it with a cackle. “I was shocked to see her— even more so when she said she was there to treat us to dinner. Her? Treating us to dinner? I thought she finally had a change of heart but oh, if only I knew back then.”

Felix let out an uncontrollable burst of laughter, to which he quickly suppressed in guilt after seeing your look of utter betrayal. Seungmin decided to brush over that topic for your sake. “You know, it’d be easy to set you two up with these two gremlins creeping around.”

A grimace crept onto your face at the referral to the two gremlins— Felix, maybe you could trust. He was smiling at you and nodding so cutely that you might actually take up on the offer, expression softening (blatant lie). But then your gaze darted over Hyunjin and it felt like looking at his shit eating grin alone was analogous to feasting on an entire freaking lemon.

“No, thank you,” you deadpanned, looking away. An offended gasp, and you didn’t even have to look  to know from whom it came from. “And like I said— I’m fine with the distance.”

You sipped on your near-forgotten grape juice, now slightly warm and disgusting, and you glowered.

“It’s fine.”

© hannie-dul-set.

[eastenderkray]

OMG MY FIRST PROPER FANFIC!!

I loved your idea @alfiesolomons-treacle I hope you enjoy this!!

( You thought I would be writing 2 seperate fan fics didn't you? Well how bout some James on Freddie action eh?!)

Go easy on me skilled writers and trained reader cause punctuation ain't my strong suit and niether is proper spelling! I just know words and how to read 'em lol!

I have a facking use for you babes! Delanely x Jackson

Word count: 636. (Warnings: Light smut, Hot men, Mostly likely bad punctuation but I tried!)

Freddie was never interested in men. They never made him hot inside, Never made him hard, and he never wanted to fack one.

James on the other hand had always had an interest in men. It was small at first but he realized over time the meaner the men the better in bed.

Freddie was in no rush even though he was late. He was walking a bit faster than usual making his heart pound gently. He looked down to his watch when suddenly he crashed into a tower of a man!

The man grabbed his arm and pulled him back to his feet. The man looked stowic but a small grin rested upon his face. Freddie felt his heart get faster." Fack was you doing walking into me like that?!" He boomed.

The mans face lights up." Mnn, You were the one not paying attention. You should not talk to me that way." Freddie inched a bit closer. His face red but not out of anger.

A slight annoyance crept over him." Fack off!" He brushed past the man. Why was he wearing so much black? He was facking hot! Fuck is I thinking?!

All these thoughts flooded his head, He was just glad he would never have to see that bastard again.

------------------------------------------------------------

1 month has gone by since Freddie has last since the man in black. He had frankly forgot about him and their little encounter! All he wants to do is get away from Jackie and the kids for a bit. So he sits, Holding a glass of wiskey and watching the stripper with big bare tits twirl round the pole. He feels a bit stiff in his pants, He'll phone Patricia soon for a quick fuck.

" Mmmn I rarely enjoy a show but seeing you makes me sit through and suffer."

The low growl makes Freddie jump a bit, He looks over to his left. The man in black, Legs crossed with one hand on his right thigh. The mans gloved pinky caressing his own upper thigh only makes his stiffy grow bigger." Fuck you doing here?!" Freddie shout whispers. He would normally yell but he doesn't want to draw attention to himself for once in his life for a reason he doesn't understand!

" Your pretty face is not forgetable. Now, I have a use for you." The man in black grabs the front of Freddies belt and pulls him up. Freddie struggles to break free. He would be free by now usually!! Fucksake he's done! After a few feet he throws his fist at the mans nose. It breaks but the man manages to get him out of the club.

They are both sweaty and exausted. The man in black pins Freddie on the red brick wall. Securing his feet onto Freddies and cuffing his wrists with his abnormally large hands he growls." My name is James, I know yours is Freddie." Freddies heart begins to thump as heavy as a drum, He wants to headbut this James fucker but instead he lets out a struggled strong." You fuck off, J-James."

James smiles and eases his grip off of Freddie. Freddie begins to laugh before shoving James away into the street. James can see right through that tough exterior though, He can see past the laughs, He can see all the way to his very prominet errection.

He walks up to Freddie still having a nervous laughing fit before seizing Freddies stiffy in his hand. Freddie stops laughing, His eyes open wide. He points a finger into James face." Get your hand off my cock or bend over so I can shove it where it sunshine don't shine babes."

James was a giver as much as Freddie is, " Mmmmn we'll take turns." James thought to himself as his cock became errect....

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To be continued!

( I will take requests for the next chapter so send 'em in!! )

[wildercrow]

Hello! ‘"Snuggling helps with a lot of things, so come here". For Ezekiel Surana/Morrigan. Thank you!

Aaaaaa thank you for giving me an excuse to write these two, I care them so much...

For @dadrunkwriting

~*~*~

Rating: General Characters: Ezekiel Surana, Morrigan Relationships: Surana/Morrigan Genre: Hurt/Comfort Word Count: 660 Content Warnings: Descriptions of anxiety, Nonspecific references to past abuse, Dragon Age Origins and Inquisition Spoilers AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/34368964/chapters/87059815

~*~*~

Context Note: in this timeline, Morrigan and Ezekiel has an adopted dragonling daughter named Aednat.

~*~*~

Ezekiel awakens, sweating and gasping, to a cold spot beside him in the blankets. He’s used to the nightmares. They’ve been a constant in his life since he became a Grey Warden almost eight years ago. But it’s still hard to get back to sleep after. Burying himself in Morrigan’s arms helps, but… where is she? Her absence leaves him equal parts worried and lonely.

He takes several slow, deep breaths to still the pounding of his heart. Leans over to press a soft smooch to Kieran’s sleeping head. Rests a gentle hand on Aednat’s side and gives her head a kiss, too. Then untangles himself from the blankets and crawls out of the tent to look for his partner.

It doesn’t take him long to locate her, thankfully. She’s sitting against a crumbling wall nearby, fidgeting with the rings on her fingers and gazing out into the vast abandoned emptiness of the Crossroads. Ezekiel shuffles over to her and wordlessly takes a seat at her side, affectionately bumping his shoulder against hers.

“You should go back to sleep,” she says, her voice raw and heavy with sadness. “’Tis the middle of the night.”

He shakes his head.

“Ah. Nightmares?” she asks softly.

He nods, then signs, “You?”

“’Tis nothing. I merely needed some time to think.”

Ezekiel gives her a look that wordlessly communicates that he’s not buying it.

She sighs, moving a ring from one finger to another with a metallic clink. “You have an infuriating way of luring me into talking about my feelings, are you aware?”

He chirps at her, tilting his head expectantly.

“Yes, just like that,” she says with a wry laugh. Then she sighs again, “Do you ever worry that we cannot give our children what they need? What they deserve? Is this really all so different than what my mother gave me?” She gestures at the emptiness around them.

Ezekiel frowns. There’s so much he wants to say. He wants to tell her that there is a world of difference between this and the way her mother raised her. That Kieran and Aednat have them and each other and are so, so loved. That this is hard for all of them, but it’s not the same. That she is not her mother. But words – even signed words – are hard on the best of days, and right now he’s sleepy and still a bit shaken, so all his brain seems to be providing is a jumbled mix of pictures and emotions. So he settles for wrapping her in a tight hug and gently headbutting her jaw.

She lets out a sad huff of laughter and reaches a hand up to pat his arm, “My apologies, I… should not have brought this up now. ‘Tis not a good time.”

He pulls away and signs “Tomorrow.” It’s a statement, not a question. A promise that the topic is not dropped, merely postponed for a time when he has more words.

A ghost of a smile flickers across her lips, “Thank you, my love.”

Ezekiel smiles back, then points to the tent and signs “Snuggle?”

“I doubt snuggles can untangle this mess,” she says, leaning back against the crumbling bricks and fidgeting with her rings once more.

“No,” Ezekiel signs his agreement, “but snuggles fix lots.” He once again points towards the tent, more insistently this time.

“Alright, if you insist,” she begrudgingly stands and follows him back to the tent, where they both kiss their sleeping children before crawling back under the blankets together, Morrigan on her back and Ezekiel curling around her with his head on her chest, his arm across her belly, and a leg tangled up with hers.

Despite her protests, the snuggles appear to be a powerful antidote to Morrigan’s anxieties, because it doesn’t take her long to drift off to sleep. Ezekiel follows soon after, lulled back to sleep by the familiar rhythm of his sleeping partner’s breathing and heartbeat.

[platonic-prompts]

Farm Things

This is honestly less for a fantasy setting and more for a more technologically advanced one, but it needs to be said

A lot of people make a bunch of noise over cows being artificially inseminated. Which to me makes zero sense because???? If a cow is in heat and there’s a bull around she’d get pregnant???The reason artificial insemination is usually used is because bulls are dangerous. If you can take measures to not have a bull on the farm, and you don’t need a bull on the farm, well, my mom heard a bull in the field and the first reaction is to nope out of there. 

Sheep can hurt you, same goes for goats. We only had sheep for a bit when I was little, probably about fifteen years ago or so. But I loved the little lamb we had named Tommy. Best lamb. His sister Tammy though? Headbutted the wall of the barn and broke a brick. 

A fair amount of farmers have to have their hands in other pots. Oil, coal, a day job, meth. That’s not a dig at farmers, that’s just a dig at the people not too far from me that were making a bunch of drugs.

Haylofts can be dangerous. If you fall through the drop hole or bales fall on you, it’s not going to be fun. Especially depending on the type of bale you have, square vs round. Round bales you really need a tractor to move effectively. They’re also very fun to sit on. Hay pokes through all your clothes though

Odds are, there’s a bunch of canned goods in the farmhouse. We have a cellar full, my aunts can food, my friend has a bunch of home grown canned food. We used to do a lot of canning when we could manage to have a big garden because se’d have a lot of food left over. 

The milk cows produce can be affected by what the cow eats. If they eat wild onions, the milk isn’t going to taste the greatest. 

Barn cats are a things, and they can be friendly or they can be skittish. Also cats will kill their kittens if there’s something wrong with them when they’re born. Other animals will do this too. 

There are more types of tractors than just John Deere. And tractors aren’t the only farm vehicles. We have a Gator that we use to get around the farm and move supplies.

And I think that’s all for now. Hope this is helpful for someone

[wild-ditto-appeared]

Duelist Kingdom but with Ditto

What would Yu-Gi-Oh! (OG) be like if Ditto was there from the beginning? How would Ditto have gotten there? Why would Ditto be there?

Here are some Sylvia braindumps from my most recent pacing session:

Ditto arrives on Duelist Kingdom Island, helpless and afraid and very VERY confused. There are no animals on this island, no trees bearing fruit or bushes with berries or, frankly, most food of ANY kind except the fish that swim down the streams--and Ditto is very much an herbivore, thank you very much.

So Ditto quite frankly, nearly starves to death on that damn island. Then it's startled by the sound of fireworks.

No, the Duelist Kingdom Tournament hasn't begun yet--won't begin for quite some time, actually--Pegasus just wanted a private show of fireworks that day.

Ditto Transforms and makes its way to the direction from which the fireworks came from--and when it gets close enough, it spots the giant castle (thanks to Ditto's small size, it's a lot harder to spot the castle when surrounded by tall-ass trees, so it needs to be much closer to be able to spot it on its own).

For story-telling reasons, Ditto never considered Transforming into a Flying-type Pokemon and just. Surveying the land. Like a sensible Pokemon. It was too young and never had to really do that before, so it wasted a lot of energy out there.

When it finally trudges all the way to the castle, sometimes Transforming and sometimes not because at this point Ditto is really really tired, Ditto stumbles onto the brick steps of the castle--not the front ones, mind you, but one of the rear entrances/exits meant for guards. And it can't get into the castle, so after considering giving up, it scales the wall as an Aipom, flips over onto the wall's walkway, and de-Transforms, using up the last of its energy before it falls asleep. This is where Ditto is found by some of Pegasus' guards.

They... don't know what to do with Ditto at first. So they grab it and lock it in a dark black box with only a little hole to breathe out of, then go on their way to lock it in the dungeons, never to be seen again when Pegasus finds them and asks what's in the box.

The guards tell him they found something suspicious on the balcony and they would throw it in the dungeons for trespassing. Pegasus analyzes the interior of the box with his Millennium Eye and ultimately decides Ditto is harmless, asking that the box is handed over to him. The guards, knowing better than to question him, oblige and go back to their respective duties.

Pegasus frees Ditto from its little prison, but Ditto is asleep still, clearly hurt and worn. At a loss for what to do, Pegasus panics slightly, ordering all sorts of food from his chefs. The whole castle is in panic. "Is Pegasus ordering a feast of some kind? Who is coming over that's so important? Why wasn't anyone notified?" Really, Pegasus just wants to know what Ditto will eat and he has nothing to offer of his own except wine and cheese.

Although lots of food is made, Ditto only eats the fruits and vegetables, and even then it's mostly the fruits and berries whose plates are wiped clean when Ditto finishes eating. So... all of that meat and fish and other such things are... sort of wasted.

Pegasus doesn't seem to really care, though. Ditto is sleeping with a full belly now, and he allows it to stay the night. Then another. Then another.

Fully befriended, Pegasus and Ditto become close enough friends that he even refers to Ditto as "his pet," which it doesn't seem to mind. Even after Ditto has shown off its transformative abilities--which in fact makes it appeal to Pegasus even more--Ditto is accepted wholeheartedly into the castle and treated with almost the same amount of respect by his guards as Master Pegasus himself.

Then the Duelist Kingdom happens and something changes in Pegasus. He's suddenly a lot moodier, a lot more serious, a lot less jovial than Ditto is used to him being. He seems to carry the weight of guilt and distress on him at all times. Ditto tries to relieve it, but Pegasus brushes off its attempts. Eventually, four duelists make it to the castle--plus one Seto Kaiba. For the duration of the duel, Pegasus orders the guards to keep a close eye on Ditto to make sure it doesn't leave its little box, so that Ditto doesn't have to see what happens to Kaiba when he loses.

After Kaiba has lost his soul, Pegasus allows the guards to release Ditto--and Ditto had obediently listened to Pegasus because it trusted him, thinking that he would not make me do this if it wasn't important. When it was allowed outside of its box, Ditto went straight to Pegasus to cuddle, because it had been scared something serious was happening. Pegasus tried to reassure it, but his voice was still heavy.

Ditto was present, however, for the finals. For Mai against Yugi and Joey against the "In America" guy because I don't feel like looking up his name right this second. Ditto sensed when Yugi's Millennium Puzzle activated and when he switched into Yami. Ditto then realized--wait, why does that somewhat feel familiar? A little different, but still familiar in a way.

And then it realizes that other similar feeling had been coming from Pegasus this whole time: the Millennium Eye.

But Pegasus was nice, and although the power Yami wielded was frightening to Ditto, he didn't seem to be doing anything bad with it... well, yet. So Ditto gave Yami the benefit of the doubt.

Then the final duel, Yami versus Pegasus. At first, it was fine. But when they reached the second phase of the duel, which took place in the Shadow Realm, Ditto felt BAD VIBES. LOTS OF BAD VIBES.

But not from the Puzzle. No, they were coming from Pegasus. From the Eye.

And for the first time, Ditto grew afraid of its friend. It grew afraid of its caretaker and followed Tea and the others when they ran to Yugi's side of the duel to try and reach him. Ditto tried headbutting the bubble headfirst as a Dreepy, as if being missile-shaped and going as fast as possible would break the barrier. It didn't, and Ditto nearly fell before Tea managed to catch it.

And it started to cry, because that was scary. Where did Fancy Man and Spiky Man go? Why was Fancy Friend fighting? Why did it feel so WRONG and BAD?

When the duel was over and Pegasus lost, Ditto flew straight to him as a bird, ignoring Yugi's friends' protests. It snuggled with Pegasus, buried itself in his hair, nuzzled his face, everything it possibly could to ask if he was okay, if the bad stuff was over.

Pegasus barely responded to Ditto, merely plucking it from his shoulders and carefully setting it down on his dueling field. With a sad smile, Pegasus spoke--half to Ditto, because his eye was trained on it and half to Yugi, who won the duel.

"Very well, Yugi. You win. I am a man of my word. I will release everyone I have captured."

Ditto was in shock, hearing this. Its feathers fluffed up, it stared at him incredulously, its eyes trained on him and almost shaking, as if to ask, "You... you had people captured?" And suddenly Ditto realized what the duel was about.

Yugi, Tea, and the others saw Ditto's reaction--didn't miss it for the world, despite having been taken aback when they first learned of Pegasus' transforming little pet--and felt sad for the little fella. Ditto truly cared about Pegasus, truly loved him, and now, like many others, Pegasus had managed to hurt Ditto too.

Pegasus told Ditto that he knew it would most likely not forgive him for what he'd done, that he wouldn't blame it if it wanted to leave, then left Ditto with that decision while he went to release the souls he'd captured.

Pegasus didn't come back.

Ditto witnessed the guards giving Yugi his prize money and title, and when they demanded to know that everyone whose soul Pegasus stole was okay, the guards simply said that Pegasus was handling it. Ditto was still confused, still lost.

What... what now?

When Yugi and the others went to check on him to make sure he did, in fact, keep his word, Ditto went with them. It wanted to know what happened to its caretaker, its friend.

Pegasus wasn't there. In fact, he was missing from the entire castle.

When Ditto found out about this, it cried. With Yugi and friends as witnesses, Ditto sobbed and grieved for Pegasus because he was gone. He was gone and Ditto hadn't even been given the opportunity to answer with its decision.

Ditto was there when it heard the reason why Pegasus had done all of this. Ditto was there when Yugi and friends met Kaiba and escorted Mokuba back to him safely and soundly. Ditto was there when they moved to leave, but Yugi hesitated.

Yugi turned to Ditto, pitying or sympathetic or empathetic or whatever, but he was clearly concerned for Ditto when he bent down and extended a hand in offer.

"I know Pegasus is gone now, and... and we'll never be him, but... maybe you can find companionship in us until Pegasus comes back," he offered Ditto.

And Ditto, with nowhere left to go and no other friends to turn to, nodded and accepted Yugi's offer, burying itself in his shirt to grieve. Then, they take the ship home.

Let me know if you wanna know how Battle City should go with Ditto, too. Just something I thought of earlier today. I'm gonna be real, it probably doesn't sound that great, but I don't think it sounds like trash either, sooo... //shrug// maybe it works? What do you all think?

[ithinkhesgaybutwesavedmufasa]

Heavy in Your Arms

Prologue

Summary/Author’s Note:  Back from the service and hell bent on drinking his way through Southern California, Tig Trager is a rambler. He's alone, he's lost, and he likes it that way. He stumbles into Charming, a quiet town with a large presence in the form of the motorcycle club. Here he finds more than he bargained for, and something else he never thought he would deserve.

I got a message about this story awhile back and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. This is the story Tig fans begged S*tter for and he never delivered. I have really been missing Tig lately so I edited this from its original form that I posted seven years ago. I originally posted this as an OC under the pen name thatlassiegotglassed - Which was my original AO3 back when I was foolishly ashamed of my fic. Now I don’t give a fuck. 

Pairing: Tig Trager x Reader Word Count: 1624 Rating/Warnings: Language, death, violence, blood, typical SOA stuff, eventual smut

[Masterlist] [One Shots/Drabbles]

--

"Yeah, I dumped an FXR on the I-5 and the poor bitch slid right in front of oncoming traffic...Found out she was pregnant. Really loved that one..."

June 21st, 1993

The roar of the big trucks and the swishing of the smaller cars blazing down the freeway filled his ears and would have been calming, but they were out of place. He had been asleep, safe in his own bed, the cars from the road had never been this loud. He shifted slightly and instead of cool sheets under his hand, he felt the grit of the blacktop and the wet clumps of side-road sand, rough against his skin. He did what he did every morning and slid his hand down, looking for you. You would hum contently as he wrapped his big hand around your hip and pulled you back against him so he could smell your hair, nose you awake--but he wasn’t in bed. 

He had had a dream, a wonderful dream, that he had been riding. His hands had gripped the handles as the sun played hide and seek with the oncoming rain clouds. The crisp smell of the spring air had tickled his nose and filled his lungs as trees and the tall grasses of the fields outside the city whipped passed him. You were a comforting weight at his back, and every time you squeezed your arms around his middle it brought a smile to his face. 

The weight on his head let him know he was still wearing his helmet. With slow movements, he reached up and unclipped it, shoving it off and letting it bounce against the road.

Everything hurt. Fuck. He coughed, the movement pressing his cheek back to the cool blacktop, the air from his mouth blew dust particles up and made him shut his eyes. 

Except this was no dream. And you weren’t next to him.

Shit.

He had been riding and it started to rain, and the semi cut him off and--

“Doll?” he said, his voice feeling like razor blades down his throat. He repeated but with your real name, hoping it would get your attention more than any of his terms of endearment. 

When you didn't answer, he knew something was wrong. A silence had fallen around him, all he could hear was the ringing in his ears, as he saw your body laying twenty feet from him. Your helmet had fallen off, hair spilled to the side, blood flecked your temples and down your cheeks.

He started crawling, using his forearms to drag himself closer to you as other cars came to a halt and people started yelling. If he got to you, if he reached you--everything would be okay. You would be okay.

You had to be. 

--

January 1st, 1991. Somewhere in Southern California

He had met you on a Friday. A pretty calm day, where the world was relaxed in a way that he was not. How could he be? Alexander 'Tig' Trager was, how did they say, 'fresh off the boat', back from his service, he had made it. But, he wasn't concerned with doing it ever again.

The whiskey burned his throat. It was cheap but it was plentiful and he had no plans on stopping. He would take that pathetic government check and he would put it in the pocket of the first shitty dive bar he found.

“Hey, doll!” he said, raising his empty glass at a leggy blonde standing by the bar and shaking it slightly.

She gave him a scowl, turned her nose up and quickly walked back over to a different table to sit down with her small group of friends. Apparently, she didn't work here. Shit. He almost felt like an ass. Almost. The feeling quickly went away and he contemplated getting up for a refill.

“Hey, if you're not using it, then get off.” A gruff voice said from behind him.

Tig looked over his sun glasses at a large man. The man was obviously referring to the fact that he was sitting on the pool table. With a neck that seemed to thick for his face, and large, ape-like arms that dangled worthlessly at his sides, Tig knew if it came to blows, this asshole was toast. He hadn't had a good fight in awhile and just one look told him that this could be the itch he needed to scratch.

He put a cigarette between his lips and took his time lighting it. With a lazy hand, he pushed his glasses into his short, black hair. “But I am using it, man.”

“Move.”

“Nah--”

“Listen, pretty boy--”

“Pretty boy?” Tig said. His blue eyes flashed and he smiled. The second was one of his true talents, he could twist his lips and flash his teeth, in a way that made men run for the hills and made women fall out of their skirts...or so he had been told. “I've been called lots of things, brother. But that?”

“Just move your ass, okay?” the ape-man said as he jerked a thumb back towards the bar.

Tig didn't like being told what to do. It was one of his weaknesses according to his higher-ups in uniform. They had tried to break him, get him to bend and take one in the ass for Uncle Sam, but he refused. He wasn't about to do it for some low life in some shitty, middle-of-no-where bar.

He took a long drag on his cigarette and blew the smoke over his shoulder. His pulse evened out, his breathing stayed calm, his subconscious entered that special place right before he spilled someone's blood on the pavement.

“Alright, one,” the guy started to count. 

“Oh, you’re counting, now?”

“Two.”

“Don’t hurt yourself.”

“Two and a half.”

“Three,” Tig finished for him and pressed the lit end of his smoke into the man's forehead. He may have looked like an ape, but the bastard squealed like a pig. He brought his elbow down in the middle of the man's back as he doubled over and clutched his face. Tig shoved him to the side as one of his friends came at him at a run.

“Fucker!” the second man yelled and managed to land a solid right hook to Tig's cheek.

The prick was wearing rings and Tig knew there would be blood without even looking. As he fell back against the pool table, it screeched across the hardwood floor and a few patrons jumped out of the way. His hand landed in a puddle of beer as he knocked a glass over on the felt and his brief moment of mourning was cut short by another blow to his face. That did it.

With a growl, he headbutted the other man. Skull connected with skull and he gripped his shirt, jerking him towards him before he could fall and sunk his teeth into the man's ear. Tig dug his hands into his hair and shoulder, kept his neck at a ninety degree angle and didn't stop till he felt the skin split between his teeth.

“Fucking psycho!” the man stumbled back and the ape man was back on his feet, yelling, arms stretched out and headed for Tig's neck.

Tig met him head on, bringing a firm right hook into his gut and bringing his knee up to collide with his face as the man doubled over in pain. He reached back and grabbed one of the pool balls, twisting around until it connected with the ape-man's temple. The sound was sickening and he dropped like a brick.

Tig raised up and could feel the first drop of blood slide down his cheek. He reached for his beer and pulled up an empty bottle. Dammit. What a waste. He flung it lazily over his shoulder and grit his teeth when it smashed against the wall.

“You owe me a beer,” he said, giving the man on the ground a kick. He didn't move. The fucker was out cold. He looked at the other man, still holding his bleeding ear and looking at Tig like he was about to start foaming at the mouth. “You gonna pay for it?”

The man just stood there, mouth open like a fish. Tig stooped and dug around in ape-man's pocket until he found his wallet and snatched a twenty-dollar bill from the main compartment. It'd have to do.

He heard the distinct sound of a shotgun being cocked and he looked up just as the bartender and apparent owner of the place was pointing the barrel at his chest.

“Get out, Mister,” he said, firmly. “I'll call the cops.”

“They started it,” Tig said, stuffing the money in his back pocket.

“Well, I'll finish it,” the owner answered, jerking the end of the gun towards the door. “Get out.”

“Gladly,” Tig said, grabbing his leather jacket off the end of the pool table. “This place is a fuckin' dump, anyway, man.”

The man with the ear, or well, lack thereof now, gave him a wide birth as he pushed through the double doors and onto the dark street. He pulled his packet of cigarettes from the pocket of his jacket, only to flip the top open and find it empty.

“God dammit,” he cursed, tossing the box across the lot. He ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath. It looked like he'd have to make a stop on the way home.

He threw his leg over his motorcycle and turned on the headlight. A deep glow lit up a small section of the dark parking lot as he kicked it to life and left the pathetic excuse for a pub in the dust.

--

Tell me if you wanna be tagged. I didn’t tag my Perm Tag List because I know you guys are all here for my Pedro Pascal character Fics so---I was not sure if anyone would wanna be tagged in Sons stuff.