#hey at least pit Bonnie is having a good time

[chloesimaginationthings]

Abby and Into the pit Oswald have similar “friends”..

[angelofrainfrogs]

We Found Him, Superstar: Ch. 13

Fandom: Five Nights At Freddy’s: Security Breach

Description: Since starting his new afterlife at the Pizzaplex, Gregory has managed to befriend the Glamrock animatronics and made a surprising discovery—Bonnie’s been hidden in the basement warehouse this entire time, badly decommissioned but still powered on. Along with Bonnie are the endoskeletons that, no longer under the virus’s control, seem much more sentient than normal animatronics… Gregory and his friends are determined to get Bonnie back into commission and figure out the mysteries of what exactly these endoskeletons are—and how to help them, too.

Chapter Summary: Bonnie’s tour of the Pizzaplex continues, although a stop at Gator Golf brings back memories that the recently-decommissioned rabbit would rather forget…

Rating: T

Read on Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/38728158/chapters/107679360

“That is what you are hearing?!” Freddy exclaimed, his ice blue eyes wide.

This wasn’t good—they voiced said never to go to the basement again, so why were they reaching out? Did William somehow get free?!

But… no, Gregory told him they’d specifically stated “she is still here.” That could only be referring to one person, then… Freddy shook his head, filing this thought away for now. They could talk about this later, when there was time to think—maybe Gregory would have another dream that could provide more context.

“Wow, that sounds… horrifying,” Bonnie eventually spoke up, shaking his head lightly. “I’m sorry you guys had to go through that…”

“Mhm!” Gregory hummed in agreement with Freddy’s earlier question, resting his hands on the rabbit’s head once again. “Oh, it's okay Bonnie... As long as everyone’s safe now, that's all that matters! Besides, that guy’s gonna stay down there for good this time!”

“Yeah.” Bonnie smiled half-heartedly. Why did this creature had to be a rabbit, of all things? Although, he supposed if it was another animal then it would’ve just gone after a different animatronic… At least in a roundabout way, he saved one of his friends from getting decommissioned for spare parts instead.

“Everything is fine,” Freddy said, reassuring himself as well as the others. He reached up, standing on tiptoe to ruffle Gregory’s hair and giving the boy a smile. “Now, let us not dwell on the past; we should prepare ourselves for the fright we might receive when we enter Monty’s domain…”

“You're right! He always scares me when he jumps out!” Gregory said with a giggle, gently gripping Bonnie’s ears to prepare for anything that might come their way.

The group wasn’t far from the golf course, so it only took them a few minutes to ride the elevator down and step out into the faux-swamp atmosphere.

“Monty?” Freddy called. “We are here to show Bonnie the golf course!”

“Hey! I didn't know ya’ll were comin’… if I did, I would've gotten into position!” the gator exclaimed, running over to the trio with a golf club in his right claw. “Well, that's okay—feel free to look around. I was just workin’ on my shots.”

Bonnie was uncharacteristically silent, his eyes wide as he slowly looked around the attraction. Not much had changed from the last time he’d been here. The ball pit was the same, as was the little stage, and over there was where Monty had—

—the low, demented laugh of someone who he’d thought was his friend, sharp claws and gnashing teeth coming right for his face—

—ripping, tearing, BREAKING—

—his connection to the others severed completely, unable to call for help—

—dazed, confused, carried down below—

—he’d never be whole again—

“Oh…,” Bonnie breathed out heavily, his entire body starting to tremble. He reached up and grabbed Gregory under the shoulders, holding him out to Freddy with shaking hands as he simultaneously started backing away from Monty, eyes darting between the animatronics.

“T-Take him, take him!” Bonnie exclaimed, shoving Gregory into Freddy’s outstretched hands as he moved towards the elevator, trying to get away—

Monty was bad. Bonnie had been hurt here before and Monty was going to do it again if he didn’t leave right now, he had to GO—

Gregory didn't seem to notice Bonnie's nervousness until the rabbit began trembling, which caused the boy to shake along with him. He remained still as he was held out to Freddy and set in the bear’s arms. Gregory was confused, wondering if he’d done something wrong… until he noticed the way Bonnie looked at Monty.

He wasn’t just scared of him—he was absolutely terrified.

Unfortunately, the gator didn't understand what was going on, simply holding his golf club over his shoulder in a lax grip.

“Bon, what's wrong?” Monty asked as he stepped forward, giving the rabbit a confused grin. “It's like you've seen a ghost, or somethin’... Heh heh!” Letting out a nervous laugh, he tried to make the situation lighthearted.

“DON’T!” Bonnie yelled, holding up his arms defensively as the club glinted in the dim light. He backed up a few more inches until he hit a wall, then simply rested against it and continued to shake, keeping his face hidden.

“Oh no, Bonnie… I am so sorry, I did not think—Monty, I never got the chance to tell you—I am sorry—” Freddy mentally kicked himself; this was the worst place to take Bonnie, and Monty had no idea why. Freddy looked between the animatronics then down at Gregory, unsure what to do. It only took a few seconds more to make a decision however, setting Gregory down to rush over to Bonnie—the rabbit needed his comfort more right now.

“It is alright; you are safe—Monty will not hurt you,” Freddy soothed, gently reaching out. Bonnie actually took an instinctive swipe at him but Freddy leaned back to avoid the impact. Once he realized who was in front of him the bunny immediately pulled Freddy into a hug, gripping the bear so tightly his fingers left dents in his shoulders.

Monty immediately stepped back, watching the pair with wide eyes behind his dark glasses. He wasn't sure what to do at the moment, but he figured giving Bonnie some space would be the best thing—clearly whatever he was going through directly related to what happened while he was still infected. The gator couldn't even remember the attack, but... maybe it happened here?

“…Is Bonnie okay?” Gregory asked quietly, to which Monty simply nodded and led the boy further into the golf course.

“Uh, yeah he is! He just needs some time,” Monty replied, lightly patting the top of Gregory’s head. “C’mon, lets you and me get some practice in while ol’ Fredbear’s distracted!”

“Okay…” The boy spared a final worried glance over his shoulder before he rounded a corner, cutting off the other animatronics from view.

***

After a few minutes Bonnie stopped trembling and released Freddy, letting out a huge sigh as he regained his composure.

“I’m okay, I’m okay,” he said quietly, closing his eyes briefly before meeting Freddy’s gaze with a shaky smile. “Sorry about that—I… didn’t expect the memory to hit me that badly. Also, sorry about your back…”

“There is no need to apologize,” Freddy replied with a shake of his head. He smiled in return, patting Bonnie on the arm. “I was not considering the ramifications of taking you here so soon.”

“I’m fine, Fredbear.” Despite the words, the rabbit couldn’t help but grimace. “I probably freaked them both out, huh? We can catch up to them, just…” He closed his eyes again with a small shiver. “Can you ask Monty to put the golf club down? I’m definitely gonna need some more time before we try that activity.”

Freddy nodded, giving Bonnie’s shoulder a squeeze before leading him to where Monty and Gregory were standing. By the time they reconvened, Monty had Gregory under one arm while he held the club in the other. As they approached, Freddy said softly, “Everything is alright. Monty, could you please put the golf club away for a moment?”

“Sure thing!” Monty replied with a grin, simply tossing the metallic stick off to the side. “If you want, you guys can come back another time. Gator Golf is always open for visitors!” Unprompted, he lifted Gregory up and began using his body like a toy gun, making “pew pew” noises. The kid didn't seem to mind, simply laughing as he was jerked around.

“Oh my goodness Monty, do not use my son as a Fazerblaster!” Freddy exclaimed, his true nature as an exasperated parent instantly re-emerging. He reached out for Gregory, but stopped mid-action and turned as Bonnie burst out laughing, doubling over and holding his sides. It wasn’t that funny, but it seemed like Bonnie’s mind was trying to overcompensate from the traumatic flashback he’d just experienced.

“Sorry, sorry!” Bonnie choked out eventually, calming down. “I’ve just never seen Freddy so annoyed… I’m good, though.” He straightened, giving Monty an easy smile. “We can stay a little longer; just no golf tonight, okay?” His gaze shifted to Gregory. “You’ve still gotta point out all the coolest places around here!”

Monty offered the old rabbit a bright smile before handing Gregory back over to Freddy with a laugh of his own. “Fine, Mr. Grumpypants! I'll let the lil’ squirt lead the tour!”

Gregory immediately latched onto the bear, resting his head on his shoulder to keep himself from becoming too dizzy. He shut his eyes, giggling quietly. “Oh, yeah! This place is a lot of fun!”

“I can see that,” Bonnie agreed with a snicker, then looked around the room. “I’ve gotta say, it is really awesome in here with all the lights…”

Gregory nodded his head, soon pointing towards one of the fake “rivers” set up around the attraction. “I love those ball pits!”

“Looks like a perfect place to completely lose your golf ball,” Bonnie commented, gently nudging Monty in the side. “How many have you found in there after hours by now—hundreds?”

“Thousands!” Monty replied. “Oh man, I’ve picked up so many things you wouldn’t believe—it's why we have a lost and found here!”

“Oh, and the coolest part is the catwalk!” Gregory chimed in, pointing up towards the ceiling. Now that he knew Monty wasn’t going to chase him around in a crazed state, he really wanted to check them out again sometime. “You can see everything from up there!”

“…We will not be going today,” Freddy commented, gazing upwards. Gregory let out a small “aww” at the news, but relaxed as Monty patted the top of his head.

“Do you still have those Fazcams as prizes?” Bonnie asked, looking towards the prize counter. “I always thought those were cool, even though they kinda hurt our eyes…”

“Yeah we do!” Monty nodded, then tapped the side of his star-shaped frames. “We’ve also got the coolest shades in the universe!”

“Oh, I have a feeling that someone will want a pair of those…,” Freddy said, looking down at Gregory with a knowing smile.

“Heck yeah I can get you a pair, squirt—no problem!” Monty said, placing his hands on his hips, to which Gregory pumped his fists in the air excitedly.

“Anything else you wanna show me while we’re here, bud?” Bonnie asked, tilting his head.

Gregory looked around momentarily before lightly shaking his head. “I don't think so!” He hummed, thinking of where they could go next. “Maybe now we can see Chica?”

“Ooh, have you actually tried Mazercise yet?” Bonnie asked, hopping excitedly. “I think its fun, but I can never seem to get the moves quite right…”

“We have stopped by once before,” Freddy replied, then smiled at the gator. “We will leave you to practice your golfing skills, Monty.” He held out a hand for a fist-bump. “See you in the morning for our first performance!”

Monty grinned before bumping fists with Freddy. “Of course! Catch you guys later!”

Gregory waved goodbye with a bright smile as they headed for the elevator. While they listened to the catchy music play on the way up to the main atrium, Bonnie reached over to ruffle his hair. “You’ve been back to the daycare too, right? I mean, I guess so since you’re no longer banned…”

“We have visited quite a few times, in fact,” Freddy replied. “It was only recently that we saw Moon, however; usually we only speak with Sun.”

Gregory nodded, shutting his eyes as he leaned against Freddy comfortably. “Mhm! Sun’s super nice, he's just... kinda scary sometimes, like if you make a mess. But Moon is even scarier!”

“I never talked to Moon that much, but he didn’t seem too bad…,” Bonnie commented. “Besides, he’s still just Sun deep down, right?”

Freddy nodded, glancing down at Gregory briefly. “Gregory is convinced that they are two separate entities, though I have tried to tell him otherwise many times.”

“That's because they ARE!” Gregory insisted, pouting a bit. “I saw it with my own two eyeballs!” He folded his arms over his chest. “That's the freakiest part about them, you know—that there’s two!”

“I will believe it when I see it,” Freddy said with a laugh. They walked up a few flights of escalators before coming to Mazercise, where they heard upbeat dance music playing from inside.

“Hey, Chica!” Bonnie exclaimed, throwing open the door with a big grin. Chica was there, but not on stage, as expected. She was standing by the food counter, a piece of real pizza clutched in her hand and a surprised, slightly guilty expression on her face.

“Hey! I thought you said you guys aren't allowed to eat real food!” Gregory exclaimed, folding his arms over his chest. Chica stood frozen, looking from side to side before giving a nervous laugh.

“Ahaha, o-oh! I didn't expect you guys to show up,” she mentioned, slowly setting the pizza slice aside and pulling the box behind herself.

“You’re still doing that?!” Bonnie exclaimed, although he sounded more amused than judgmental.

“Chica, you know that does horrible things to your mechanical systems; the techs will not be pleased tomorrow morning…,” Freddy lectured with a sigh. “How many pieces have you had?”

“But it's so yummy!” Chica exclaimed, giving up her attempt to hide the evidence and revealing that the box contained a still-hot pizza missing three slices. She couldn’t really taste it, per se, but it was the concept of eating that she couldn’t resist. “I didn’t take a lot…”

“I want one!” Gregory insisted, holding his hand up and waving it around. Freddy sighed again even more heavily, then set Gregory down before the boy wiggled out of his arms.

“You’d better eat the rest before Chica does!” Bonnie laughed, walking over to pat Chica on the back. “It’s ok, we’ve all got our weird habits; yours is just… kinda detrimental to your systems, unfortunately.”

As Gregory dug into his unexpected snack, the rabbit took stock of the room. Thankfully, not much had changed since he’d last visited.

“So were you practicing your dance moves?” Bonnie asked, playfully nudging Chica’s side. “Unless you came all the way up here just to sneak some pizza…”

The bird nudged him back, then crossed her arms over her chest. “Oh, be quiet! I was just dancing, then I needed a quick break!”

“Were you trying a new routine?” Freddy asked, handing Gregory a napkin as he noticed grease all over the boy’s face.

“Yeah! Earlier today they installed a few new dances, so I’m learning them before the Pizzaplex opens tomorrow!” Chica explained, watching Gregory wipe his face and hands.

“I’m sure the kids will love that!” Bonnie said with a grin. “It’s always good to change it up once in a while.”

“Speaking of ‘changing things up,’” Freddy began, glancing down at Gregory. “You should tell Bonnie about when we tried out the maze!”

Gregory looked over at Bonnie and giggled. “Oh yeah! The maze was so fun! Freddy and I did a race to the end and I actually won! Freddy's good at everything so I didn't think I would, but… I did!”

“What?! That’s awesome!” Bonnie congratulated, giving him a little round of applause. “See, Fredbear’s not good at everything… just most things.”

“We are all good at most things,” Freddy chuckled. “It is in our programming.”

Gregory hummed, shrugging his shoulders. “I dunno... I still think Freddy’s good at everything!”

Chica smiled, nodding her head with a small giggle. “He's quite the bear, isn't he?”

“You sure found a nice one, Freddy,” Bonnie added with a chuckle, watching as the bear scooped Gregory into his arms and gave him a tight hug.

“Gregory is my superstar,” Freddy replied, gently pressing his forehead against his son’s. That simple phrase said it all.

“Look at that sweet little smile!” Chica commented, clasping her hands together as she saw Gregory’s expression. “You really are the best dad—Gregory loves you so much!”

“Thank you, everyone,” Freddy replied with a laugh. “It is obviously not something I thought I would experience, but I would not have it any other way.” He smiled at the boy, then gestured with one arm to the animatronics. “But Gregory is well-loved by everyone, not just myself!”

“Heck yeah he is!” Bonnie exclaimed, hopping closer and pretty much falling onto Freddy and Gregory in a big group hug. He grabbed Chica’s hand and pulled her over to the pile as well.

“Aww, you guys rock!” the bird chirped as she held onto the group. Gregory smiled as he snuggled close to everyone, simply taking in the warm embrace. He was thankful to have others to look out for him.

“Okay, what’s next, bud?” Bonnie asked once everyone separated.

“Is there anywhere else you would like to show Bonnie?” Freddy added, tilting his head questioningly. “They daycare, perhaps? Or one of the arcades?” He paused, humming softly. “Now that I think about it, we have not visited the West Arcade together after the incident…”

“Hmm…,” Gregory thought to himself, playing with the strap of his backpack. “Let's go to the arcade! Then the daycare.”

“Alright,” Freddy agreed, tilting his head so Gregory could reach better. His gaze shifted to Chica’s and he smiled warmly. “We will leave you to your exercises, Chica.”

“Try not to eat anymore pizza!” Bonnie said with a laugh, already walking towards the exit. He was excited to explore more before the dayshift, and was going to take full advantage of this opportunity.

Chica sighed, looking over towards the box of pizza. “No promises... But I'll see you guys later!”

“I like the arcade games but I haven't actually played any! Maybe we can try some out?” Gregory mentioned as he kicked his legs back and forth.

“Yes, we can definitely do that; there are a lot of games to explore!” Freddy replied with a laugh as they exited Mazercise. It was a short walk to the West Arcade, and they paused outside the elevator door as Bonnie pushed the button.

“I haven’t seen Music Man in forever,” Bonnie commented as they waited for the elevator. Freddy glanced down at Gregory, slightly concerned.

“He is in sleep mode during the night since he requires so much power,” Freddy said, meeting the boy’s wide-eyed gaze. He knew that Music Man had chased Gregory at some point, but wasn’t aware of all the details—including the fact that the huge animatronic had a “bouncer mode” in the first place. “We do not have to wake him up if you do not want to.”

Gregory lifted his head to look up at Freddy, smiling nervously. Music Man was such a giant animatronic, even though he was supposedly docile Gregory was still afraid of accidentally getting crushed…

“Mmm… no, we can! I'm a brave boy,” Gregory stated, folding his arms over his chest. He just hoped his bravery wouldn’t dwindle upon the actual sight of Music Man rising to his full height.

“Alright; I promise you that he really is a nice fellow,” Freddy reassured as they stepped into the elevator.

“Yeah, and I’m right here with ya!” Bonnie added, copying Gregory’s motion of crossing his arms over his chest. “Between Freddy and I, you’re totally safe!”

Gregory nodded slowly, wrapping his arms around Freddy's neck once again with a shudder. “I just hope he won't squash any of us...”

“He would never do such a thing!” Freddy replied, surprised that Gregory would think that. Then again, based on what the boy had described… it was probably a valid concern the last time they’d met. “I did not even think he could leave his stage; I have never seen him do so, at least…”

“Oh trust me—he can,” Gregory insisted, looking away. There was a lot they hadn't seen, and a lot Gregory wished he hadn't either. “He chased me in the bathroom! I thought I was safe there but he put his arm in through the doors. He was trying to squash me with his hand! And... And he chased me through the back hallway of the arcade! I didn't even think he'd fit back there, but he sure did!”

Freddy and Bonnie shared a grimace. Obviously, Music Man had been a lot more aggressive than either of them thought possible. Just then the elevator opened, Freddy holding Gregory tighter as they entered the arcade and rounded the corner to see the large animatronic sleeping peacefully on his stage. Freddy and Gregory hung back before actually stepping onto the foggy dance floor, their eyes trained on Music Man's sleeping form as Bonnie cautiously approached him.

Bonnie soon reached the giant hand hanging over the edge of the stage. He gave it a few light taps and quickly backed up, asking quietly: “Hey, Music Man? There's a surprise for you if you open your eyes!”

“Huh...?” Music Man said, his booming voice echoing through the room. It was clear that he wasn't upset, though—his voice was loud simply due to his size. “Who's... uh... Bonnie?” Slowly, he roused himself up onto his front legs, peering down at the comparatively small rabbit. “That really you?!”

“Yup!” Bonnie announced, waving cheerfully. He'd gotten along well with the DJ in the past, and despite what happened with Gregory, Bonnie was glad to see him again. “Sorry I haven't visited in a while; I was... kinda stuck somewhere, but Freddy and Gregory found me! They're over there, too

“Hello!” Freddy called, smiling. He'd stopped by the arcade once after the incident to check in on the DJ, but hadn't really gotten a chance to talk to him about anything since it’d been during the day. However, he figured that like the others Music Man wouldn't remember anything about the other night, so he felt no need to bring it up. “We have a new friend for you to meet—this is Gregory.” He shifted the boy a bit higher, still keeping a firm grip on him. “He is a bit shy, so please forgive us for staying over here.”

The sound of Music Man’s voice filling the entire room caught Gregory off guard, only making him clutch onto Freddy closer. When he was shifted up higher, the boy hesitantly lifted his head up to look at the giant animatronic. After getting a good, long look, Gregory was quick to latch back onto Freddy with a quick shake of the head, fear making his voice freeze up.

“Oh... Heeeey, little man!” the DJ said, his grin ever-permanent as he waved one of his front hands. His voice was deep and slow, his chill personality evident in the way he spoke—the complete opposite from the last time Gregory had seen him. “You don't have to be shy; I'm just here to play music and have fun!” He paused, then nodded in understanding. “Buuut I get it—I'm pretty big for such a tiny one like you.”

“He will warm up in time,” Freddy said, hoping this to be the case. He figured it would take a bit longer than everyone else, but hopefully someday Gregory would be able to come in here without being frightened.

“No rush!” Music Man laughed. “No rush at allll, little man—would you feel any better if I played you some tunes?” Three hands moved simultaneously: one held onto his headphones while the other two moved to some of the sound mixers on either side of the animatronic. “I've got a huuuuuge library of songs—what's your favorite?”

Gregory couldn't even recall the animatronic talking once, so it was fascinating hearing his tone and the way he spoke. Nonetheless the boy remained quiet, keeping close to Freddy. As Music Man offered a song, Gregory finally seemed to perk up a bit.

“Um... I don't have one,” the boy mumbled quietly, trying to think back to any songs he heard. “The ones Chica has are pretty good, I guess…”

“Ohhh, the Mazercize soundtrack?” Music Man asked, nodding his head. “Yeah, I've got allll those! I think they just added more today, too... Which playlist did you want?”

“The one that was used just prior to today's update should be good,” Freddy replied, smiling as Bonnie came over to his side and patted Gregory's head reassuringly.

“Okay, let me seeeee...” The DJ searched around for a bit, limbs moving every which way before pressing a button that immediately sent music blaring through the arcade. “Aha! Got it! Is this what you wanted?” He was now bobbing his head and a few arms to the beat, looking exactly as he did once Gregory deactivated his Bouncer Mode. The boy nodded in response, offering the DJ weak smile before lowering his head against Freddy's shoulder.

“He seems nice, I guess...,” Gregory murmured, swinging his legs to match the rhythm.

“See, it is as I told you—nothing more to worry about,” Freddy reassured, nuzzling Gregory's nose with his own until the boy giggled. He then looked back at the DJ, giving him another wave. “Thank you for the music! We are going to explore the rest of the arcade, but we will stop by again before we leave!”

“Alriiiight!” Music Man cheered, pumping a fist in the air. He was in his element now, happy to entertain even though it was the middle of the night.

“Bye!” Bonnie called with a wave, following Freddy and Gregory to the other side of the arcade. The music was playing through the speakers throughout the attraction, but the volume was more reasonable as they moved away from the dance floor.

Gregory felt a bit better after a good laugh with Freddy, looking around as they made their way through the arcade. He’d given the games a brief glance when running by, but he hadn’t had time to actually check any of them out with Monty and Chica on his tail. “Whoa… there’s so many games!”

“Most of them are consoles, but there are some other types as well—like air hockey, right there,” Freddy said, pointing to a long table in the middle of the room and setting Gregory on the floor so he could explore on his own.

“I was never super good at that...,” Bonnie admitted, scratching the back of his head. “I'm definitely better at the arcade games, especially the old school ones. Here, Gregory—try this one!” The rabbit pointed to an arcade console to the right. It was a pac-man style game, except instead of pac-man versus ghosts, it was Chica going after sentient cupcakes (and vice-versa). “You'll get the hang of it in no time!”

Gregory curiously walked over to the arcade game, standing up on his tip-toes. “Ooh, this looks so pretty!”

He'd never played with a game like this! He'd seen handheld devices of course, but never actually played on one. He stared at the starting screen for a few seconds, before beginning to press every button besides the ‘start' button.

“First of all, you need to be a bit taller,” Freddy said with a chuckle, pulling out a stepstool hidden in a dark corner of the room for this exact situation. He placed it in front of the console and Gregory quickly hopped on. “Now, the goal of this one is to move Chica with this joystick here—” Freddy demonstrated by gently grasping the joystick with the tips of his fingers and wiggling it around. “—and collect the little white dots that appear on screen. However, you need to avoid the cupcakes that will come after you. If you are caught too many times, you lose.”

“BUT if you touch a piece of pizza, it'll make it so you're going after the cupcakes, and you get extra points if you catch them!” Bonnie piped up, hopping excitedly. He might need to find another one of these consoles so he could try it out himself…

“It will make more sense once the game starts,” Freddy reassured Gregory, then pointed to a big red button. “When you are ready, push this button here and it will begin.”

“I'm ready!” Gregory announced as he hit the big red button, watching the screen shift to a maze-like display. He began moving the character, giggling happily as he quickly caught on to the controls as Freddy predicted.

“Wow, you're awesome at this!” Bonnie commented, eyes widening as he watched Gregory play. Freddy nodded in agreement, looking quite proud as Gregory did even better than he expected. Gregory didn't seem to pay the two any mind, already focused on the game and squealing as the cupcakes followed after the character.

Freddy and Bonnie decided to let him be; he was clearly having fun, regardless of whether he was playing “correctly” or not. Bonnie looked around the room before finding a similar arcade cabinet, rushing over to it so he could play his own game.

“I died!” Gregory whined as GAME OVER flashed red across the console a few seconds later.

“You did very well for your first try!” Freddy told him, ruffling his hair. “It takes practice to build up skills for these games; the more you play, the better you will do!”

“Then I'll come and play more often!” Gregory held his arms up for Freddy to lift him. “I wanna play one with you one day, too!”

“That will certainly not be a problem; there are many two-player games,” Freddy replied, lifting Gregory up and taking him over to where Bonnie was wrapped up in his own maze. Bonnie's AI was working hard trying to calculate exactly where to move the character to get the maximum point value based on what was on screen. He played for a few more minutes before misjudging which direction to go and running straight into a cupcake.

“Aww, I was making some progress!” he said, both ears tilting down as the GAME OVER screen flashed brightly. “Oh well… So are we trying more games, or heading to the daycare?” Bonnie asked, perking up at the prospect of their next activity.

“We can go to the daycare!” Gregory suggested, clinging onto Freddy comfortably.

“Let us say goodbye to Music Man on the way out,” Freddy said as he walked them back over to the dance floor. As before he stopped before actually stepping onto the floor, making sure to keep Gregory a comfortable distance away.

“We’re heading out, DJ!” Bonnie called, waving to catch the large animatronic’s attention.

“Aww, so soon?” Music Man asked, waving back when he noticed them. “Alright, stop by aaaaaanytime!”

Gregory kept a tight hold of Freddy, staring up at Music Man. He felt a little more comfortable than when they’d arrived, but he couldn't help but still feel afraid of what the huge animatronic could do. He hesitated before lightly waving his hand to the DJ, then propped his chin on Freddy's shoulder. “I think Sun will be happy to see you again, Bonnie.”

“Yeah?” Bonnie asked as they headed to the elevator, a grin lighting up his face. “I’ll be happy to see him, too; he and I always got along great!” He laughed, pressing the button to take them up. “I bet Sun just looooves you, doesn’t he, bud?”

Gregory hummed, lightly shrugging his shoulders. “I think so! He's very nice to me[Ma1] …”

“He cares for you a great deal, just like the rest of us,” Freddy said as they exited the elevator and began the trek to the daycare. Bonnie held out his hands with a grin, making grabbing motions until Freddy chuckled and handed Gregory over to rest on his shoulders. When they reached the daycare, the group paused just inside the interior door in front of the slide. To their surprise, the lights in the play area were off, making it impossible to see if anyone was wandering around… although the faint sound of jingling bells echoed throughout the cavernous room.

“…I suppose Moon wanted some time in the open,” Freddy mused aloud, glancing over at Gregory to make sure he was okay.

The boy nervously looked to his caretaker, smiling weakly as he gently hugged onto Bonnie’s head. “I-I'm okay… let's go!”

“We’ve got you, bud; don’t worry,” Bonnie reassured, placing his hands over Gregory’s and giving them a squeeze before holding onto his legs securely. The last thing he wanted was for Gregory to get scared and fall off from wriggling too much.

“We will all go through the main entrance this time,” Freddy stated, though he already knew there was no way Gregory was going down that slide alone right now. They walked down the staircase and Freddy knocked on the big wooden door, opening it carefully as he called out: “Hello? Moon, are you here? We have brought someone to see you, as promised!”

As the big door creaked open, the faint jingling suddenly stopped. It took a moment before they suddenly became quicker and closer, to which Gregory immediately tensed as the thought that he might possibly be face to face with Moon since he was on Bonnie's shoulders suddenly hit him.

“Mmph... Hold me!” the boy insisted frantically as he let go of Bonnie's head in an attempt to crawl down his shoulder.

“Okay, okay—hold on!” Bonnie exclaimed, trying to get ahold of him. He managed to grab Gregory under the shoulders and ended up flipping him 360 degrees before settling the boy in his grasp as Freddy usually did, one arm supporting him underneath and the other wrapped securely around his back. Freddy stepped closer to the pair to give Gregory another level of comfort, listening to the jingling rapidly approach.

Gregory was quick to hug onto Bonnie, shutting his eyes tightly. Soon enough, Moon's rapid tiptoeing stopped as his head slowly peered out through the crack of the door to stare at Freddy.

“…Ehehehe, visitors! Oh, is little Gregory hiding away?” Moon asked slowly, carefully stepping out from behind the door with his hands behind his back.

“Forgive him, Moon, Gregory is still a bit shy,” Freddy said apologetically, then gestured to the pair next to him with a smile. “But look who is holding him!”

Bonnie grinned, not intimidated by Moon in the slightest as he tilted his head back to see the tall animatronic properly. He wiggled one of his ears in greeting so he didn’t have to let go of Gregory to wave. “Hi, Moon! Long time no see.”

“Wh-what?!” Moon exclaimed, throwing the doors wide open and gesturing everyone inside. “Where have you been Bonnie? Oh, this is such a great surprise, hehehe!”

He hopped around in excitement, sending another flurry of jingles through the airwaves. Gregory shoved his face into Bonnie's shoulder, getting comfortable in the bunny's arms as he tried his best to calm down.

“I was a little… stuck,” Bonnie said vaguely, rubbing Gregory’s back soothingly. “But Gregory found me and helped me get all fixed up and active again, so… here I am!”

“Oh, Gregory! You're such a smart boy, ehehehe! Thank you for bringing Bonnie back— we missed him so much,” Moon said. “Just wait until Sun hears about this, hehehehe… He still talks about you, Bonnie!” The animatronic spun around to look over at the little room above the ball pit.

“Aww, he does?” Bonnie said, his grin remaining wide. Like everyone else, he was used to Moon and Sun speaking about each other in third person, so he didn’t pay this any mind. “I missed him, too!”

Freddy tilted his head curiously, thinking about Gregory’s insistence that the daycare attendants were separate animatronics. He’d always assumed they were just opposite sides of the same entity, but by the way Moon was speaking he began to wonder if Gregory might be onto something…

“Would you like me to get him? I've been out for some time anyways,” Moon mentioned, then crouched down to get a look at Gregory. The boy turned his head as he heard movement come closer before quickly looking away once again, simply nodding in response.

“That would be wonderful, if you do not mind,” Freddy agreed, moving near the light switch. “Let us know when you are ready and I will hit the lights.”

“It’s good to see you!” Bonnie said with a cheerful laugh. “We’ll definitely hang out more, okay? You’ve gotta tell me all the crazy naptime stories I missed while I was out, anyway!”

“Hehehehe, I have plenty!” Moon confirmed, giving Gregory a pat on the head before waving at Freddy. “I'll see you all soon, ehehehe...” Moon gave his usual cackle and then crawling back to his hideout, which Gregory happened to catch as he finally lifted his head.

“I told you he crawls!” the boy whisper-yelled, wide-eyed as he watched the animatronic literally scale the wall to reach the entrance to the little stage.

Freddy and Bonnie shared a look as they watched Moon scuttle away. They still didn’t understand why he was designed with such a personality, but… it did counteract Suns’s perfectly, which they supposed was the goal. Upon Moon’s call Freddy flipped the switch, instantly flooding the daycare with bright overhead lights. Seconds later Sun ran out of his room and literally launched himself off the stage, quickly scrambling out of the ball pit so he could rush over and fall onto Bonnie in a hug.

“Bonnie! I missed you!” Sun exclaimed, squeezing the rabbit tight, then pulled back as he felt a cool presence in-between them. “OH! Gregory, I didn’t see you down there! Are you okay?!”

Gregory watched Sun practically throw himself over the edge and bound for Bonnie, immediately turning his away before the two made impact. The boy groaned upon being squeezed in-between them, taking a deep breath as Sun pulled back.

“I-I'm okay!” Gregory said as he kept his arms and legs wrapped around Bonnie tightly. If only he knew how to control his teleporting, he would've definitely moved out of the way sooner…

“Oh goodness…,” Freddy muttered, rushing over to make sure Gregory really was alright.

“I’m sorry!” Sun apologized, bowing his head as Freddy looked Gregory over. Once satisfied he was okay, Freddy ruffled the boy’s hair and turned back to the tall animatronic.

“It is alright,” Freddy replied with a small chuckle. “Just… please try and be more aware of your surroundings next time.”

“Yeah, it’s easy to miss my little buddy!” Bonnie added, bouncing Gregory slightly before turning a bright grin on Sun. “Anyway, hi! Nice to see you again!”

Gregory blinked a few times, leaning into Freddy's palm comfortably before resting his head against Bonnie's chest. Luckily for him, even if he were to get hurt it'd immediately fade away as if nothing had happened to him.

“I see you and Bonnie are already fast friends—how sweet!” Sun said, clasping his hands in front of his chest.

“Yup, Gregory and I stick together now,” the rabbit agreed, shooting a wink at Freddy.

“Ooh, Freddy, you’d better watch that little ray of sunshine before Bonnie steals him away!” Sun said with a dramatic gasp.

“I do not think that will happen,” Freddy replied with a playful jab to Bonnie’s arm.

“Mhm! Bonnie is really nice and stuff, but Freddy’s my dad and I'm staying with him forever!” Gregory exclaimed proudly, resting his hands on his hips. He knew they were all joking, but he still wanted to make it very clear that he had no plans on leaving Freddy's side whatsoever.

“Ooh, Sunshine, you’re so cute!” Sun exclaimed, instinctively reaching forward to snatch the boy up and hug him tight. However, he thought better of this based on the warning glare from Freddy and lowered his arms with a small chuckle. “Force of habit, sorry…”

“It’s nice to see you’re as chipper as ever,” Bonnie commented, and he really meant it—Sun’s personality had always meshed with his quite well, and Bonnie used to visit the daycare often to hang out with both him and the kids. Even though he technically wasn’t back on the character roster yet, he was just glad he could still visit everyone when night fell.

“Sun’s very chipper!” Gregory echoed. Although he didn't entirely know what the word meant, he assumed he could agree with Bonnie on most things even if he didn’t fully understand them.

“Thank you!” Sun said, pressing a hand to his chest dramatically. “I always try to be for the little ones!”

“They appreciate the constant affection, I am sure,” Freddy commented as he took Gregory into his arms with a soft smile. He knew Gregory also appreciated constant affection, though usually it was from one specific animatronic.

“Yeah…,” Bonnie trailed off, looking around the daycare with his arms crossed in front of his chest, then gave a nod. “I’m sure this will be a great place for them while we’re sorting out all the details later on…”

Sun tilted his head curiously. “Who’s ‘them?’” He gasped, pressing his hands to his cheeks. “New friends for us to take care of?!”

“Oh yeah, we have a bunch of kids we have to save in the basement!” Gregory said, looking up at Sun with a bright smile. “And they'll be my first kid-friends ever!”

“Kids… in the basement…?” Sun repeated, slowly lowering his hands to his sides. Freddy and Bonnie shared a grimace.

“Oops… probably shouldn’t have shared that yet,” the bunny said with a small sigh.

“It is a long story,” Freddy chimed in, shaking his head. “I will tell you all of the details another time, but the part that pertains to you, Sun, is that there are more children like Gregory within the Pizzaplex. They are currently stuck in the basement, but we hope to get them out soon, and we were hoping that you and Moon might be able to look after them for a while when we do—or at the very least, perhaps we could use the daycare as a gathering place?”

Sun nodded slowly, still looking a bit confused. “Yes, yes, of course we’ll take care of them! But… why are they stuck in the basement?”

“Because they're ghosts attached to the endoskeletons and don't know how to get out!” Gregory answered brightly, not phased in the slightest by Sun’s reaction. He figured telling the daycare attendant now was as good a time as any!  “And we're gonna help them out of there!”

Sun merely stared at Gregory for a long while as he tried to process the information, his head tilted so far to one side that his plastered smile was almost upside down. Just when Freddy was about to ask if he was okay, Sun suddenly shrugged and let out a hearty laugh.

“Well… Gregory’s a ghost and he’s a little ray of sunshine, so I’m sure the others are just as wonderful!” Sun exclaimed, hopping from foot to foot excitedly. “Ooh, it’ll be sooo nice to have little ones running around here at night as well! You have to keep us updated on your progress getting them out—and let me know if we can help!”

“Thank you, Sun,” Freddy said gratefully. He’d taken the information well, and the bear was happy about that.

“They’re gonna love you, I know it,” Bonnie added, smiling up at the tall animatronic.

Just as Gregory was getting comfortable, the sight of Sun staring at him for a moment too long soon made the boy immediately turn his head away. Of course, Gregory knew Sun never meant any harm, but he still couldn't help but be scared by certain gestures he did… and that apparently was one of them.

“I'm tired!” Gregory suddenly announced as he rubbed at his eyes, hoping Freddy got the hint.

“Alright, time to go,” Freddy said with a small chuckle, shifting Gregory to hold him closer. “Thank you again, Sun; we will let you know when there are any developments with the other children.”

“Please do!” Sun gave the group a cheerful wave as they moved to the exit.

“Good to see you!” Bonnie said with a grin, waving back over his shoulder.

“Yes; come visit again soon!” Sun called after them, then met Gregory’s gaze over Freddy’s shoulder and waved more vigorously, jumping up and down a few times. “Bye, sunshine!”

Gregory let out a relieved sigh as they started moving for the exit, lifting his head as Freddy turned. Upon seeing Sun wave, the boy hesitated a second before returning the gesture. “Bye…”

As they finally exited the daycare, Gregory let out a tired yawn. He was actually more exhausted than he’d originally thought, it seemed. He gave a small frown, looking back at Bonnie. “I wish Bonnie could stay with us…”

“I’ll be with you soon, don’t worry,” Bonnie reassured with a grin. “We’ve just gotta find a way to reintroduce me… but that’s okay, because even if I’m back in the official lineup, I’m gonna stay downstairs with the kids until they’re free!”

“Yes, we are not in a rush as far as Bonnie is concerned,” Freddy commented, then frowned slightly. “Although I am unsure of exactly how to present you to the company… we likely need a staff member on our side to vouch for us, as management does not tend to take animatronics at their word.”

“…What if we get Thomas and Leon?” Gregory suggested after a moment of thinking, patting Freddy’s shoulders excitedly. “I'm sure they wouldn't mind, and if they know the kids are closest to Bonnie it'd be even easier for them to say yes!”

“Hmm…,” Freddy hummed, perking up as well. “That is not a bad plan at all, superstar! Good thinking!”

“You think they’ll go for it right now?” Bonnie asked, a bit hesitantly. “From what I know about them, they seem kinda… easily overwhelmed, and they just learned about the kids.”

“Yes, that is a fair point.” Freddy thought for a moment, then nodded resolutely. “We will give them another day or two before bringing up the topic if possible, as I believe they are currently hyper-focused on the children—who of course are top priority.”

“I can't wait for them to come back and tell me about my powers!” Gregory said as he snuggled against Freddy's shoulder comfortably.

“We shall see what they found out,” Freddy said gently, not wanting Gregory to get his hopes up too much just in case the guards didn’t come back with the results they expected. “Keep in mind that they know even less about you than the rest of us do, although they have access to a wealth of information that we animatronics do not.”

“I’m sure they’ll find something good soon, though!” Bonnie added, ever the optimist. “Just based on the little bit I overheard, they seem really determined to help.”

“Maybe I'll have crazy powers like a superhero!” Gregory’s gasped, gently gripping Freddy's shoulders until he felt the dents from when Bonnie had squeezed him. While Freddy could feel the pressure of being actively squeezed, he couldn’t feel the dents themselves, although he figured that they were there.

Oh well—just another thing for the techs to fix tomorrow morning, along with cleaning out whatever pizza remnants were stuck inside Chica…

“Well, you can already teleport,” Freddy said, holding up the hand not supporting Gregory to count as he listed things. “And technically you are in a sense invincible… as well as invisible!” He met Gregory’s gaze with a grin. “I think you are well on your way to becoming a full-fledged superhero!”

Finally, the group reached Rockstar Row and Bonnie leaned over to give Gregory’s hair an aggressive ruffle. “Alright, this is where we split tonight; thanks for the awesome tour, bud!”

“Of course!” Gregory laughed as his hair was left messy and wild. “Tomorrow I can go back down to the basement... I promise!”

“Okay!” Bonnie said cheerfully, then gave Freddy a pat on the shoulder, smiling apologetically at the fingertip-shaped dents. “Sorry about that again, Fredbear…”

“Do not worry; I will be good as new in a few hours,” Freddy responded with a smile of his own. “Tell the children hello for us, will you?”

Bonnie nodded and Gregory waved goodbye as he was carried off, then smiled up at Freddy as he carefully shrugged his backpack off and dropped it on the couch. “Thanks, Freddy! You're the best dad ever!”

“And you are the best son ever, Gregory,” Freddy replied with a smile neatly placing his backpack in the nearby box. He then tucked Gregory in, fixing his hair as best he could. “Rest well, superstar.”

Gregory curled up for a moment before lifting his gaze, hugging a few of his plushies close. “Hey… Thanks for always taking care of me.”

“I will always be here for you, no matter what,” Freddy reassured, smiling down at him softly. “I love you very much, and nothing will ever change that.”

“I love you, too!” Gregory said, leaning up to give him one last hug before settling down to bed for another day.

***

Masterlist of chapters on Tumblr here!

Please check out The Superstar Series on ao3 for all fics in this series: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2726401

[weepingvoidpenguin]

Misconception

Summary: After Elijah harshly cuts you out of his life, you’ve learned to move on from a love that once was. Or was it? The love lingers there but when Elijah returns he’s met with an unexpected surprise and you have to decide whether you want to forgive him or finally let him go.

Warnings: Angst, or at least my attempt at it

Word Count: 2k

Author’s Note: Hey guys! I’m sorry I haven’t posted so long! I just started the school semester and I’m working part time so I rarely have free time but I don’t want to leave anyone wondering. For those of you who are following me for The Gods’ Blessing story, don’t worry it hasn’t been discontinued. Again, just busy. Sorry! I hope you enjoy!

  “There’s nothing about this conversation that can be serious,” you said, standing up from the armchair and gliding your way over to the container of bourbon on the platter.

  There was a pause, a hesitance in Elijah’s tone that sprouted just a hint of fear in your heart but you pushed the negativity aside and poured the liquid into a glass. The trickle of the alcohol was the only sound that could be heard in the room, you hadn’t even realized you’d been holding your breath in hold of his response.

  “(Y/N) . . . please.” You twirled around and raised an eyebrow at him over the brim of the cup as you sipped from it, “Let’s not make this harder than it already is,”

  You watched how his eyes never met yours, how his throat strained at the guilt mingling in his voice and how he looked down at his phone expectantly, his gaze roaming back and forth from the floor to his screen.

  “Who are you waiting for?” You twirled the liquid around in the glass, your elbow rested on the hand wrapped around your own waist.

  For the first time since the beginning of the conversation, Elijah looked up at you and there was an honesty, a hidden pain behind his gaze that triggered the reality of his words in your soul. You exhaled the little breath you withheld and a tight knot formed in the pit of your throat. He wasn’t kidding. You fought the sudden overpowering ache in your chest and forced yourself to blink away the tears threatening to spill over despite never being afraid to cry in his presence before and the glass slipped from your grasp.

 You were sure the shattering of the crystal was loud enough to draw the attention of everyone in the household but no one came and it dawned on you that they knew that this was coming. They knew what was happening and they had been ordered to stay out of it.

  “Why?” you croaked through the pain in your throat.

  His phone lit up. Your attention shot to the device on the side table and the name sprawled across the screen clenched at your heart.

Hayley.

He pried his sight away from the black screen and his flared nostrils mixed with the red rim of his gaze spoke volumes louder than his words ever could.

“For her?” You cursed yourself for emitting so much vulnerability in your tone, “You’re leaving me for her?”

“I-I love her,”

“You love me!” You shouted, stepping around the shattered glass that lay around your barren feet. “Or have you forgotten that?”

“(Y/N), I – ”

“Does she cloud your judgement so much? So much so that you forget the promises you’ve made me?” You clamped your hand on his jaw and jerk his face towards yours. If he was gonna do this then he would have to bare witness to your pain.

“She clouds nothing!” Elijah yelled, the pain in his voice constricting his words.

Your eyes studied his own, observing how his gaze never landed on yours and danced across the room. You felt the beginnings of stubble under your fingers and the smell of him, of his scent, was among the many things you were to miss.

“You’re lying to me, Elijah,” You hissed, the tears no longer contained by your lids, “I know when you’re lying,”

Elijah gripped your hand painfully and pried it from his face, “You believe what you choose to despite me telling you what’s true,”

“It’s not!” You shouted, ignoring the pain shooting up from the sole of your foot.

Elijah looked down, already smelling the cause of your pain and unlike his usual mannerism, ignored it and held strong in his words. He was showing that he cared nothing for you anymore. You were no longer his concern. And that went into effect immediately.

His glare bore into yours and a ferocity that replaced his pain urged him on despite how much he knew he was hurting you. It had to be done.

“You have ‘til the end of the night to find somewhere. If not, I’ll personally escort you off the premises,”

Your glare softened and disbelief took over, “E-Elijah,”

He bent over ever so slightly so he was at your level and you took a step back to make up for his intimidation, “Get. Out.”

~

Four years. It’d been four years since you’d last seen Elijah.

That night you called Damon and he offered you his home with open arms. Very un-Damon like but you sighed with relief when he did. Your family was back in Mystic Falls and although they’d be the logical option to move in with, your brother had a wife and you didn’t want to intrude on that.

The first year was hard for you. Everything about everything reminded you of Elijah. The kindness in your friends, the suits on Damon, the morality of Alaric. It was all too much for too long. Then Bonnie came up with a solution, temporary of course. She offered alleviation. A numbness without a cold. You would feel nothing but a dull ache while you sorted your pain out. Eventually, it worked.

These days, Elijah was the last thing on your mind, truly. You’d moved on, lived your life and stuck with Damon as a weird duo but you’d retained your mortality, until you were ready to give it up anyway. Or so he offered. But you weren’t sure. You couldn’t trade all that you currently had for immorality.

And as you sat on the chair outside The Grill, waiting for your food and drink, the reason for your hesitation waddled out of the restaurant, her eyes looking for your familiar figure. Your smile met your eyes as you outstretched your hands, repeatedly closing and opening your fists to motion for her to come to you. Her laugh brought a joy to your ears you’d long thought you’d lost but she rejuvenated you.

“Where’s Daddy?” You asked, not waiting for a reply. “Where’d he run off to?” You continued your chatter with her, not noticing the figure walking up to you.

“(Y/n) . . .” a voice emerged from behind you and your heart twisted in your chest.

You couldn’t bring yourself to turn around, afraid of seeing who you thought it was. Or worse, not seeing him at all. Your body shook but for what you didn’t know. Was it agony? Anger? Excitement? You didn’t have enough time to ponder its reasoning before he spoke your name again and you slowly turned around.

And seeing him now hurt just as much as when he’d kicked you to the curb.

“Elijah,” you whispered, afraid at how weak your voice sounded.

You watched as he looked you up and down slowly, not in a way to objectify you but like he was taking you in all over again. Like the first time he’d ever set eyes on you.

“W-what are you doing here?” You asked before a tugging on your leggings caught your attention and you looked down to see the toddler’s hands reaching out for you.

“Up!” she demanded and you contemplated it momentarily, afraid you’d honestly drop her from how hard your body shook but you seceded and picked up her light figure, resting her on your hips.

Elijah observed as your motherly instincts took over and a tightening in his chest that he’d felt throughout the years came back with a ferocity. It was too late. Unless . . .

He watched how you almost hid the girl from him, as though you were afraid he would notice something about her and the tightening twisted into physical pain at the thought that crossed his mind but he couldn’t help but ask.

“I-is that . . . I mean, is she,” but he couldn’t find the words, rather he pointed to you and then to himself. Normally, he wouldn’t even have considered the idea but Klaus managed to have a child with Hayley so anything could be possible, he thought. He hoped.

You twisted the child away ever so slightly and shook your head, “She’s not yours if that’s what you’re wondering,”

He smiled sadly at the child and stared down at you, of course she wasn’t his. That’d be more ‘good’ than he deserved. Especially considering how he behaved the last time he saw you. But he needed you gone, needed you safe. And you were.

The ache pulled at his stomach and made its way up to his throat, cramping it up. He’d waited too long to come back for you. How foolish he was to think you’d wait for him.

“She looks like you,”

You nodded and jumped up to raise her higher onto your hip, “I get that a lot,”

Moments of silence passed between you before you cleared your throat and shook him from his fantasies.

“I’m sorry to bother you, I have business to attend to,” he whirled around and took elegant but hasty strides away from you.

Oh God. Don’t go.

“Elijah,” you whispered, knowing he heard you despite the hush of your tone but he didn’t look back. He never looked back.

~

“It’s too late, Klaus. I’ve lost her,” The words burned Elijah’s throat as he spoke them.

“That’s not possible, Elijah. The woman’s in love with you,” Klaus responded, bearing no mind to the pain that his brother was living through. “You snap your fingers and she’ll come crawling back to you I know it-”

“She has a child, Klaus. A daughter.” Elijah whisked back the drink in his hand, staring menacingly at the lit fireplace.

Klaus raised his brow, “How old is the child?” He asked, the same curious tone that Elijah emitted not too long ago.

“Three, maybe four,” he responded.

Klaus’ eyebrows raised even higher, “Could it be-”

“She’s not.” Elijah silenced his brother in his retort. The topic would no longer be discussed.

“I see,” Klaus rested lazily back in his seat, “That’s too bad, Hope could do with a cousin her age,”

“This is your fault,” Elijah spoke, no specific emotion prevalent in his words.

Klaus let the silence go on for a beat too long, not knowing what he could say to calm the heartbreak of his elder brother. “You know she wouldn’t have left if you hadn’t broken her heart, Elijah. She’s a stubborn one. She would’ve stayed for the war and then you’d have truly lost her forever,”

Elijah chewed on the inside of his cheek, the resentment he had for his brother at a point he wasn’t aware it could reach, “I already have,”

~

By the time you pulled in to the driveway you were practically a mess, only holding it together for a few more moments before you were going to implode.

“Let’s go,” you said, unbuckling her tiny body from the new car seat you bought and walked her over to the front door before looking at the man standing beside you and waiting for him to pull out his keys. When he gave you a sheepish smile, you rolled your eyes and knocked on the door. 

The seconds of silence that passed gave you the opportunity to immerse yourself in the pain you’d avoided for years now and if the door wasn’t opened soon you wouldn’t be able to hold it together for much longer.

“Mommy!” The door creaked open and she ran up to her mother and jumped into her arms.

“How was she?” she asked and you smiled, hoping the man beside you couldn’t see the pain in your action but he knew you too well to not notice.

“She was great. We went for ice cream and took a walk around the park then played on the swing set.” You chuckled at how loving she was towards her daughter. She watched as her husband entered the house looking as exhausted as ever.

“Thank you for watching them both.” She giggled and gave you one of her world renown smiles.

You nodded, “Of course, you know I love her and am obligated to love my brother as well,”

“No! Stay Aunty (Y/N)!” The toddler demanded and you smiled lightly at her.

“I’ll visit again soon, I promise!” You stuck out your pinky for her and she twisted her own miniscule one around yours.

“Pinky promise,” she said and smiled goofily at you.

“Pinky promise,”

[ahatintimestorybook]

Coffee Shop AU- Going on a Snatcher Hunt

So as I was in the middle of working on another new story as well as the next chapter of my OtH! AU story. @doodledrawsthings surprises everyone with a new Coffee Shop AU that I fell in love with! So I had to create something for this AU, and ended up with coming up with three ideas for this AU.

Anyways Coffee Shop AU belongs to @doodledrawsthings

“Dad! Dad!” Harriet shouted coming home from school. Luka was in bed enjoying his day off, and not worrying have to go out somewhere, where he would get caught in the middle of transforming. Luka looked up from his book to see his little girl running to him and giving him a hug.

Luka chuckled and hugged his little girl back, “H-hey princess! How was school?” Luka asked.

“It was good, but I got some good news.” Harriet replied.

“What is it?”

“I’m going on my first camping trip!” Harriet cheered.

Luka got up from the bed and looked at his daughter in a mix of surprise and glee. “Camping, with who?” He asked.

“Me, Bonnie and Mu. She’s the one organizing it.” Harriet explained.

Luka gulped hearing Mu’s name. Since moving with his daughter, Mu and her mom Cookie were the first to welcome them into the neighborhood as well as give Luka a tour of the town. She even recommended him to work at the coffee shop right next to her place.

However, while Cookie was a nice lady her daughter Mu was a different case. For one, Mu enjoyed cryptology as well as hunting down his monster form. However, that wasn’t his main concern. Mu tends to be a bit rebellious and snarky getting into fights with kids who pick on her and Harriet,  even older kids. Luka was worried Mu could be a bad influence on his daughter, but he couldn’t say it to Harriet as Mu is her best and first friend she ever made since they were on the run.

“Hattie, I know you and Mu are best friends, but you know how she can be with me, right?” Luka asked.

Harriet nodded knowing how her best friend’s goal is to find her father and prove he’s real. “I know, I know, but this is the first time I got to do a hang out with her and Bonnie.” Then Harriet put her hands together and started to beg. “Please dad. I may not get a chance like this if we have to move again.”

Luka sighed. His daughter was right. They moved so many times, and Harriet never got to have some quality time with friends, or even make friends. “Okay, you can go.” Luka said. Harriet smiled and hugged her dad tight.

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” She repeated. Harriet then jumped off the bed and ran to her room to grab her stuff she planned on bringing with her for camping. Once Harriet was fully packed she ran into the room to give her father a kiss before leaving to meet up with Mu and Bonnie.

Meanwhile, Mu and Bonnie just left the grocery store buying an abundant of junk food for them to chow down during their camping trip. “Do we really need all this stuff, Mu? Its just one night in the Subcon Woods.” Bonnie explained as she put the candies in her bag.

“You and Harriett never been camping before have you?” Mu asked. Bonnie shook her head. Mu sighed and went on to explain about the enjoyment of camping and why they need all this food. “However, this camping trip is going to be special!”

“Why?” Bonnie asked tilting her head.

Mu grabbed a piece of paper from her pocket and gave it to Bonnie. Bonnie unfolded the paper and gulped seeing it wasn’t only a camping trip, but also a hunt for the mysterious cryptid, Snatcher. Bonnie looked scared, she knew who the Snatcher was and Mu was planing to hunt him down.

“Its going to be fun! Just us in a dark, creepy forest waiting for a ghost monster to show up!” Mu beamed. “Can you imagine if we caught evidence of it! We’ll be rich, the first ever millionaire 9-year olds!” Mu exclaimed.

Harriet walked by when Mu shouted” millionaire 9-year olds” chuckling at the thought of it. She knew why, and while she did get nervous her father would be caught by Mu one day, the thought of her and her friends being millionaires made her laugh.  “Sounds like your excited, Mu.” Harriet said.

Mu froze and blushed in embarrassment when her best friend came by ready for their camping trip. Mu chuckled rubbing the back of her head. “H-how much did you hear?” She asked.

“Everything.” Harriet replied, giving a smug smile. Mu’s face turned red from embarrassment, as Bow giggled as well.

Mu shook it off and grabbed her bag. “Well come on! We need to make it too the woods by nightfall! Us standing here means were wasting time.” Bonnie and Harriet nodded and followed their friend heading to the Subcon Woods for the night.

Bonnie got scared walking around the dark and spooky Subcon Woods. It was dark, creepy, and anything could come out and snatch them away. As they walked, Bonnie held on to Harriet’s arm for protection. “S-so how far are we going, Mu?” Bonnie asked.

Mu chuckled. “Oh were not near the campsite yet.” She replied. Bonnie gulped and held on to Harriet tighter.

“Don’t worry Bonnie, were a group as long as we stick together and not separate we’ll be fine.” Harriet comforted.

“I hope so.” Bonnie whispered as she kept following her friends. The three girls kept on walking as they passed through a log bridge, towards some bushes, into the middle part of the woods.

This part of the woods and dead burnt trees, a few tree stumps where the girls can sit, and a small fire pit. There was also a red hood similar to the one Mu wore hanging up like a flag waving at the wind. “Girls, welcome to my secret campsite, Camp Mu!” She beamed.

“Wow!” Bonnie and Harriet said at the same time. “This is where you camp?” Harriet asked.

“Oh yeah.” Mu replied as she unpacked her stuff including her tent. “Every Friday night I’m here looking for weird creatures, cryptids, and the Snatcher,” she started her explanation. Soon she grabbed a net from her bag, “set up a few traps and hope to catch them.” She explained.

“Wow! Do you think you’ll have a chance to catch it tonight?” Bonnie asked.

Mu nodded. “Yep! I plan on putting traps all around our campsite. Hopefully the Snatcher would fall into one of them.” She explained.

Harriet nervously chuckled. “Y-yeah! And what do we plan to do when we catch them?” She asked.

Mu chuckled. “Like I said Harriet, since you heard my speech. We’re going to be millionaires, leave Subcon for good and go on an adventure around the world!” She shouted.

Bonnie smiled and clapped her hands. She would love to travel around the world and see many sights that awaits them. Though she was more to the sights and adventure rather then going cryptid hunting.

“Oh yeah.” Harriet chuckled, rubbing the back of her head.

Later, the girls got everything set up for the night, and soon by sunset, which was blocked by so many trees that it looked like nightfall came early, the girls were roasting marshmallows by the fire to make s’mores. The girls were chatting, enjoying their junk food and s’mores and sharing a laugh.

An hour or two later, Bonnie started to get tired and retreated back to the tent to get some rest. This left Mu and Harriett to leave traps all over the woods for the Snatcher to stumble upon. Once all the traps were set, Harriett too retreated to the tent to get some rest as well, while Mu stayed up for a bit.

A while later, Harriett woke up to see Mu was still in awake and looked like she was writing something. Harriet got up from her sleeping bag carefully not to wake up Bonnie and slowly walked over to her friend.

“Mu?” Mu jumped giving a squeak, but sighed it was only Harriet who spoke to her.

“Don’t scare me like that again.” Mu threatened.

Harriet giggled. “Sorry. I mean its just us, Bonnie is asleep.” She explained. Harriet sat close to her friend and looked up at the stars. “Do you plan on staying up all night, till you find the Snatcher?”

Mu scoffed. “What do you think?” She asked. “Of course! If I fall asleep I’ll miss it!”

Harriet rolled her eyes. As much as she didn’t want to hunt for her own father, she didn’t like the fact Mu was going to be out here all alone. Heck, even if they do capture him at least she can try and explain to Mu everything that’s going on.  “Think you need some company?” Harriet asked. “I’m willing to stay up till dawn with you.”

Mu thought for a bit and shrugged. “Ah what the heck.” Harriet smiled excited that she and Mu can get closer now. It was quiet, except for the crickets chirping as well as the pages of Mu’s book being turned. Harriet looked over Mu’s shoulder and saw the book she was reading.

The book looked like it was written and had drawings as well as pictures inside it. “Did you write this?” Harriet asked.

Mu nodded. “Yeah. I want to make a series of journals talking about cryptids, witches and wizards, and other kinds of magic paranormal stuff in Subcon.” Mu explained. “This here is my first book!” Mu closed her book and showed the cover with the glowing eyes of the Snatcher as well as a #1 painted on it.

“T-that’s awesome!” Harriet replied giving a small stutter seeing the Snatcher, her father’s eyes on the cover of her friend’s book.

Mu ignored her friend’s nervousness and smiled. “I know! One day I’ll publish my journals so the entire world can read everything about Subcon! I’ll be a famous writer!” She beamed. Harriet chuckled seeing Mu had her future planned.

“You’ll make an excellent writer.” Harriet said.

Mu smiled. “Thanks.” Mu looked at her journal and frowned. “Do you think writing about these conspiracies makes me a weirdo?” She asked.

Harriet raised an eyebrow. “No why do you ask that?” She asked back.

Mu sighed. “Just everyone thinks of me as some dub girl who wears a mustache, looks for creatures that may or may not exist, and goes all cartoony ways to find them.” She explained.

“Your not dumb!” Harriet comforted. “I think its cool your doing this. No one should insult you for doing what you like to do!”

Mu chuckled. “This is why I like you Harriet your just so nice, and positive. You help others feel better, even though you can get jumpy at times.” Mu replied.

“Well that’s just how I am. I want people too feel positive then a burden.” Harriet sighed.

Mu frowned she knew that Harriet’s father, Luka divorced his wife before moving here and from what Harriet told her it was a very messy divorce, so messy that she remembered Harriet was about to cry the more she talked about it.

She also hated the fact, Harriet’s own mother didn’t truly love her like her own mom. Mu knew mom’s had to be caring and kind, and well sweet as sugar, that’s what Mu’s mother explained to her.

Harriet knew what Mu was thinking about, but she had to bring up one question. “Mu.” Mu turned to look at her. “I know you have a mom, and since I told you about my mom. I just want to know where’s your dad?”

Mu froze. She never told anyone about her dad before. She sighed and looked down from her book. “I never met my dad.” Harriet’s head lifted up and turned to Mu. “He...died when I was just 2 years old.”

“M-Mu I’m so sorry.” Harriet whispered.

“I-Its fine. I was really young when he passed, so I don’t have any fond memories.” Mu reassured. She then sighed and looked down again. “But I do miss him, and wondered if he never went on that trip, he’ll still be alive and we can have a close father and daughter bond like you and your dad.” Mu explained.

Harriet sighed, she knew how that felt only with a mom. “I know how that feels. Wish I was like that with my mom.”

Mu put a hand on her best friend’s shoulder. “Hey, if you and your dad need any help just come talk to my mom. We’ll help as much as we can.” She explained.

Harriet gave a small smile and hugged her friend back. Mu smiled and hugged her friend back as well. That is...until a rustle coming from the bushes caused them to let go. Mu smiled widely knowing it could be the Snatcher.

“Harriet grab the camera!” Mu whispered. Harriet was in a mixture of stunned, scared and anxious. Is this the night her father gets caught and Mu finding out she’s been keeping the cryptid she long hunted for from her. “Harriet!” Mu called out again snapping her friend from her thoughts. Harriet nodded and handed her best friend the camera, which she snatched away.

Mu held the camera close as whatever was coming right in front of them was about to jump up. Harriet covered her eyes and hid behind Mu not wanting to see what will happen next. Just as the figured jumped out Mu took the shot.

“Got it!” Mu cheered. “Huh?” She asked confused. From the bushes wasn’t the Snatcher, but a fox.

Harriet opened her eyes and looked over Mu’s shoulder to see it was just a fox passing by. “Aww, what a cute little fox.” Harriet smiled. Mu sighed and sat down on the floor.

“Great! Wasted this time for nothing.” Mu sighed.

“Hey cheer up.” Harriet said putting her arm around her friend. “You’ll be able to find the Snatcher soon.”

Mu scoffed. “Yeah and I thought it would be tonight.” Just as she said that though, she heard someone getting caught in one of her traps. Mu chuckled and ran off towards her trap hoping to see if she had captured the Snatcher.

Harriet followed after her knowing she would have to explain everything if it was her father that did fall into the trap. Or, she could pretend that she didn’t know the Snatcher and could try to get her father to go along with it. Whatever, the case may be she may not keep this secret any longer.

“Sorry dad, but Mu needs to know.” Harriet whispered to herself. Harriet and Mu made it to the clearing and Mu was even more disappointed at who got caught in her trap this time. Harriet gasped at who got trapped, but was relieved at who it was.

Trapped in Mu’s trap was the Snatcher, or at least his human form, Luka Princeton, aka Harriet’s father. “Mr. Princeton?” Mu asked. “What are you doing out here?” She asked.

“Well, Harriet dropped something when she was about to leave and well I had to hand it to her.” He explained showing a golden necklace with an hourglass engraved on it. Harriet gasped and quickly grabbed the necklace from her father and put it on. “Glad I asked your mom where you were otherwise I’d be lost.”

“So I didn’t catch the Snatcher?” Mu asked.

Luka gulped, and shook his head. Mu sighed and cut down Luka from her trap as he landed in a hard thud. “Could you be more gentle with your traps?” Luka asked. Mu didn’t reply and just marched back to camp, mumbling how she never caught the Snatcher, but her best friend’s dad.

“Should I tell her she caught the Snatcher?” Harriet asked.

Luka shook his head. “Nope.” He replied.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So I have a headcanon with this AU on how time pieces with work. Instead of it being an hourglass it be a necklace, and I'll explain more of this headcanon later when I work on the next fanfic for this AU.

[lucarioisinthevoid]

AHHHHHHH I HAVE IDEA!!

How about Henry interacting with Helpy and the “annoying” Ultimate Custom Night characters! Maybe throw in Funtime Freddy!! Helpy could be his son or maybe Bon Bon reincarnated! Just sheer silliness and stupidity :p

Animatronics: Bonnie, BB, JJ, Phantom BB, Phantom Mangle, Phantom Freddy, Old Man Consequences, Trash and the Gang, Helpy, El Chip, Funtime Chica and Phone Guy! (Sorry, no Funtime Freddy here, wasn’t an option- though I don’t mind adding characters that aren’t an option, I would just had to write around that a little more, so I didn’t want to go all in. Events and surroundings all randomly generated like this in-game! Just with slight adjustments for a bit of writing flow). (Special note: This is an experiment. This is a whole ass chapter. Tumblr might not be the right place for it, but I have no better place to put it. If you have an idea on what would work better, I’d love to hear it, but for now this is just it. If you don’t want to read a long chapter, you should probably not press “read more” Honestly, this might not be as much fun as I imagined it to be, I’m terrible at making fun events, heh. If it is, take solace in the fact that it might be the only chapter of this kind on this blog.)

Henry groaned, his bones sending agony through his nerves. It felt like his insides had splintered and were now stuck in his flesh. His throat was burning, but he managed to open his eyes. He was- somewhere. At least it was a place. That was actually news, good news, last time he hadn’t been that lucky after all. Having a couch below him and a room surrounding him was actually a deep relief- it was a room he didn’t have to create himself. Sitting up, he looked around. It seemed to be some sort of employee lounge, a coffee machine, a tv and a couch, with lockers against the walls. A few posters painted the walls. -CELEBRATE!- They said, over and over again. Henry showed his teeth, a grin with no hint of amusement. “… that is what you would like to do, huh?” Standing up he stumbled a little, but the pain only served to keep him awake and grow his confidence. It HURT. And it was GOOD. It hurt, his body hurt, HIS BODY was REAL and in PAIN. When he left to the outside, he was surprised to see that he was inside of one of the oldest locations- at least in form. He was standing beside where the stage was supposed to be, coming from where the saferoom used to be, but to his surprise instead of a stage it was a giant price corner, filled with all sort of plushies and other goodies. Sweets and candies, candles, little gadgets… … and a silver coin among them. It shined and felt oddly… powerful. Ten Faztokens. The other things didn’t even have a price tag, so he decided that he would check back on that later. All items were hidden behind a thin glass wall and he wasn’t sure if he could break through it. Maybe he should try later. Moving further down, he realized a few more things were different- There were TWO pirate coves in the main area and- ‘Pssssst… hey… I have something to tell you…’ Abruptly Henry turned around. Where had that voice come from?! ‘Hey… hey, down here…’ It seemed to come from one of the hallways, leading down to the office. As quick as he possible could, he followed the source of the noise, the mysterious whispers slowly growing louder. ‘It is really… really… important…!’ Finally, he was near the supply closet, looking around. “Hello? Where are you? Who are you? What is this place?” The questions broke out of him more erratically than he wanted them too, the desperation and quiet panic bubbling under the thin veil of cold control- it was almost cracking out of him. ‘Pssssst…’ He spotted a little crate with eyes, and leaned down to investigate- Suddenly a loud noise! The thing was all up in his face, making a low noise, pure bass, causing his head to HURT, but not enough that he would have to hold his ears- Just enough that it shook his skin uncomfortably, from the inside out. Stumbling backwards, he shook his head, the crate had disappeared, leaving him with a headache and burning aggression, so potent that his throat felt sore, as though he had screamed from the top of his lungs… despite not a single noise having come out of him. Moving inside of the office, he was somewhat stunned. It looked like a bedroom. With closet and everything. The wallpaper and whole atmosphere felt… old. A child’s bedroom… except there was an office desk, with a fan, a microphone and a weird little action figure of Bonnie on top of it. Some air ducts were hanging into the room and there were- multiple vents, two doors- A flashlight. Quickly he grabbed it. Great- now all he needed was a taser and maybe he would feel like- “… Henry Miller…” A raspy voice sounded to the side of him, causing him to make a few steps back. In front of him, a creature was forming, a Freddy, burned and see through- It grinned. “… long time… no see…” “I have never met you.” “… your memory is failing you, Mr. Miller…” At this point it seemed to become more and more corporeal, reaching out to the table, its paws scraping over and only slightly moving through the material. Turning to the Pink Guy, he opened his maw a little, nothing visible inside. It was getting ready… “… that’s on you however-“ A squeaky voice sounded. “Maybe you should shine your light at him, Mr. Miller!” Instantly, the flash of his light ripped through the ghostly Freddy, who was quite disgruntled to say the least. “… Helpy… you are supposed to help US.” With that he vanished, giving Henry the chance to turn to around and see who’s mysterious helper was. His eyes fell on a little walking bear standing on the blue shelf, trying to hide between the purple fan. “Whoops…” “… who are you? Can you EXPLAIN this place to me?!” “I’m Helpy! Don’t you remember me, Henry?” Fully irritated the Pink Guy stepped back. “No. No, I did not make you. I THOUGHT about making you, but I never did!” “Oh my, Henry, you must have fallen on your head!” Helpy laughed. “But- I can’t help you actually. Everyone else will be mad! So I won’t tell you how the other people here work!” “Can you at least tell me who exactly these ‘others’ are?!” “Uhm… no. I don’t think so.” Slowly he was reaching behind him for something- But Henry couldn’t worry about it, as a phone suddenly started ringing. Shoving off the bear off the shelf (resulting in a little squeak), he tried to find the source of the noise, his head throbbing. He thought he shortly saw a “mute call” button pop up, but as soon as he saw it, it was already gone. Instead a receiver just- fell from the ceiling, randomly. How? Who KNEW- “Uh- hello? Hello, hello?” “… Phone Guy?” “Scott. Uh- anyways- uh, anyways, I wanted to record a message for you, to help you get settled in on your first-“ “This is not a recording. You just interrupted me. And why would there be a phone RINGING if you were to play a recording!?” For a moment it was quiet, then Scott started laughing. “You never changed, did you?” Irritated Henry skipped past that question, having more urgent matters to talk about. “Scott. Good old Scott. Listen, I think I am in some level of hell.” Dumbfounded there was silence on the other end, while the ghostly Freddy tried to reform, being instantly shooed away by the light. Until finally- “… yes of course. Of COURSE you’re in hell, Henry. Uh. What did you expect?” “I-“ “No, no, no, let’s uh- let’s talk about this. Where did you THINK you are? Because, uhm- not sure how to say this, but- uh- I DIED and I’m in HEAVEN right now and you DIED, sooo… uh- yeah.” “I am glad we talked about this. I cannot recall how I GOT here, however. And everyone seems to know me.” Displeased he shined the light at the grinning grimace of the phantom, before he could even fully form. “Yeah… uh… can’t help you. Actually, I have to go. You don’t have a noise activated animatronic around, do you?” “A- what?” “Hm. Too bad. Talk to you later!” “Wait-“ But before he could say anything else, the connection was cut, and his camera system was blinking up red. ‘Catch a fish!’ the title said, his head becoming dizzy as he watched the little red thing move from one side to the other. Wait, that wasn’t just- the noise and the flashing, the air was getting harder and harder to breathe! … smells like brimstone. He managed to catch the fish, albeit just barely, then opened the camera feed, where a warning sign was blinking. The camera itself was completely covered by another phantomlike animatronic, the Mangle this time. Shortly he blinked at it, shaking his head, then clicking the button that said ‘RESET VENTILATION’. A gust of fresh air instantly blew through the location, allowing him to finally breathe again properly. The fan itself seemed useless- he deactivated it. Having climbed back up, Helpy was back on the shelf, looking at him happily. “Are you having fun?” For a moment Henry looked at him, shining away the Freddy once more. “… no.” Out of the corner of his eyes he spotted Balloon Boy, staring at him with his terrible grin. Instantly he hit the button to shut the door, a dull thud coming from it right away. At least that one gave him a hint of satisfaction, pleased with the mental image that the obnoxious plastic abomination ran face-first into the metal wall. “But you look like you have fun!” Helpy reached behind him, before Henry shoved him over again, still not interested in what he was hiding. “You are TERRIBLE at reading emotions then. A useless AI.” Pouting Helpy sat beside the shelf, not answering this time around. Looking around, Henry got comfortable in his chair, slowly growing… a little bit hot. Huh. Seemed like the fan wasn’t entirely useless after all. Maybe it kept the heat from the hell around them away. … what an image… a Freddy’s in the middle of a fire-y pit. He hoped it wasn’t the case. That would make getting out a lot more complicated. “Is this all I have to deal with?” Henry asked Phantom Freddy, who chose not to answer, but only smile grimly. “… I can live with that.” Leaning back, he quickly flipped up the screen once more resetting the ventilation and shutting the vent to the side one more time for good measure. Again, a bonk. Hopefully Balloon Boy. He relaxed. A routine would form easily. Shine your light, reset the vent, keep the generator going, close the side vent for a while. At least for now the place seemed empty- Suddenly something DROPPED from the ceiling. Lights flashed a heap of shadow-y humanoid figures entered with what sounded like cameras, flashing and shining, making Henry’s head spin. On the top of his table stood Funtime Chica posing elegantly. “Don’t get distracted~!” She spun around showing herself off, then blew a kiss down at him. Then she turned to Helpy. “Helpy!!! Why didn’t you tell me our guest was already here!!!” She whined, upset. Her paparazzi had vanished again, she however stuck around. “My first impression was TERRIBLE! Because of YOU!” “I’m sorry Miss Funtime Chica!” Helpy didn’t seem bothered by the accusation. “He was just suddenly here!” “Aw- well- at least he’s a total cutie!” “Why thank you.” Henry rose an eyebrow, but tried to continue focusing on the plastic children trying to enter the office, as well as the Phantom trying to materialize behind her. “I appreciate the compliments, especially from someone who seems to have an eye for it.” “Oooooh, look at him~ so adorable~ I wanna pinch his cheeks!” Sitting down on the desk, the bird smiled widely, watching him. “How’s the night going~?” “Rather fast. I think I have a grip on it though.” “Hm? Are you sure~?” Before Henry could answer his tablet acted up. For a few seconds he saw the little 8-bit fishing game- but before he could catch it, the screen changed showing an add. “COME TO EL CHIP’S FIESTA BUFFET, WE HAVE-“ Instantly clicking on skip, Henry managed to get another glimpse at the game- And then it was gone, a red GAME OVER stuck on his screen. His breath was getting shorter as the smell of brimstone slowly started filling the room again, the red alarms blinking, but the screen constantly flashing error when he tried to access it. More and more his head hurt, the room seemed to become darker and darker- was this smoke?! Was smoke entering the room? Would he be poisoned by the gasses!? Desperately he rattled the screen, while Chica only giggled and left, Helpy watching intensely from the shelf. “You know, if you just wait a few minutes, it’s gonna-“ Frustrated Henry shoved him down once more, his mouth filling with a disgusting taste as the room began spinning- It all come together, once Freddy formed, the Balloon Boy loomed in the vent, a second after, the telephone was ringing- Suddenly the screen flashed back up and he instantly grabbed it, trying to get his bearing as he hit the button to reset, being stuck for a second too long on the grinning grimaces of both a phantom Balloon Boy and Mangle- the latter of which suddenly crawled out of the screen and while he managed to hit the button, his office had descended into chaos. Helpy was holding a horn, the phantom Freddy had almost formed, the phantom Mangle was slowly extending its neck towards him, screaming and gargling in insane glee and to top if all off, the screen flashed red AGAIN, forcing him to focus on that instead of the other two things- Balloon Boy was snickering as he tried to make his way inside, Henry barely being able to shut the vent on him before discovering the stupid crate from the start looking at him from under the table. “Uh- hello? Hello, Hello?” “Scott. Bad timing.” “That is my job!” Cheerfully the Phone Guy said. “To be as much of a nuisance to you as possible. Uh- glad to hear the high praise. How are you? Bad? Good. Uh- anyways, I will now read to you the company greeting, but only the imperfect, first draft so you feel bad about what bullshit you wrote!” “I can crush this phone.” “No, uh- you actually can’t! The afterlife is neat, huh?” “I can mute you.” “If you are fast enough. Which you obviously weren’t. You really grew old, uh- up there…” “MY REFLEXES ARE GREAT AS EVER.” “If it were the case you wouldn’t, uh- y’know. Fighting with me over this.” “I am not fighting with you, I am merely correcting you. As I always did while we were alive.” Stopping the petty crap, seeing as he wasn’t even sure if this WAS actually the real Scott, he turned his attention to more important things. “What is this place? Who made it?!” “Uh- Welcome to Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza! A magical place for kids and grown-ups alike, where fantasy and fun come to life. Fazbear Entertainment is not responsible for damage to property or person-“ Instantly Henry tuned out. “Good riddance, Scotty.” He mumbled to himself, taking solace in the memory that no matter what, this obnoxious Phone-head had been dead for much longer than he himself. While the words kept going in the background, he kept working, pausing as a bright green mechanical parrot flew through his office. But- it didn’t really do anything, so he decided to ignore it for now. A good amount of time passed with his voice in the background, until it was abruptly cut off- seemingly by the ad for El Chip’s. Once that was skipped, the office was quiet, aside from the fan. Finally! The silence lingered. For a second Henry felt a bit lonely. Not even the little bear was there anymore. There was enough to do though, as the air kept needing to be reseted, Freddy kept popping up, the parrot came through once more, the minigame, the annoying balloon children wanted in- At last… … it was five AM. One last time the call sounded. Henry allowed it to come through, despite eyeing the ‘mute call’ button. “Hello? Hello, hello!?” It sounded on the other side. “Hey! You’re doing GREAT. I, uh- didn’t expect you to last this long! I mean-“ He broke off. “Y’know. Usually I expected you to move on to other things by now… disappearing into the void like you should, seeing as there’s no out.” “I will not disappear.” “Huh. Guess I owe the person who made this place an apology. I was wrong-“ “Who?! Who was it?! Who are you TALKING about?!” But before anything could be said, the bell chimed. Six AM His screen changed once more, a high-score board showing, then loud music started blasting from the speakers, hyper and fast paced, the numbers blinking and colorful, rapidly climbing higher and higher as fireworks were set up on the screen and around Henry, raining down confetti as they exploded- GREAT JOB! FANTASTIC! The fireworks stopped and the jingle ended with a congratulatory little up and down. Then the office was dark. Slowly he stood up, leaving to the outside, checking for danger- “Hey! You won. Here, take this for your trouble.” Suddenly ANOTHER Freddy was there, a golden star on his chest- he dropped a battery into Henry’s hands that he had grabbed, then he walked off. “Wait- wait a moment! I need an explanation! I need-“ The bear was gone. After a while of searching around the place and not finding an exit, Henry finally sighed and made his way back into the saferoom- or employees only lounge, or- whatever. Inside it was just like before. Safe. Except this time the TV was on. And there was a Fredbear suit on the sofa. How? Who knew. Why? Hopefully not to kill him. Slowly he moved next to it, inspecting it. At this moment it seemed completely lifeless, yet somehow he felt watched. “Am I… interrupting…?” No reaction. Walking past the suit, he put away the battery. Still no reaction, but he could swear the creature was looking at him. Unsure he approached it once more, sitting down besides him. “… looking at… fuzzystatic. I see. I think I will… join.” Suddenly, a loud noise of came from the tv, then it flashed. INTERMISSION. A little bit later, Henry was done watching a samurai Freddy fighting an ULTRA edgy Foxy, he put his face into his hands. “… send me back out. Please. I actually prefer it.”

[queencarolinemikaelson]

//klaroline au week// - day 6: canon-ish

This definitely requires the ‘ish’ after ‘canon-ish’. It takes place right after the sacrifice at the end of season 2. Caroline dies as the vampire sacrifice, Klaus is successfully killed, and Bonnie uses her power to resurrect Caroline. Similar to how she brings Jeremy back. What will the aftermath of this sacrifice be?

///

“Caroline…”

“Caroline?”

“Caroline!”

Caroline woke with a start, disorientated. She felt the phantom racing of her heart, even if only as a feeling of the past.

She took deep, calming breaths, attempting to centre herself after her abrupt rouse from slumber.

She was different, in the months since the sacrifice. It wasn’t good different, or even bad different, necessarily. It was just different.

Of course, as Bonnie had said, Caroline’s experience with the sacrifice was possibly unique.

“Caroline, you’ve died and come back in some form twice now,” Bonnie said to her, months ago, just before the witch left for a summer away from the supernatural life in Mystic Falls. “You died your human death, then the vampire magic brought you back. Then when Klaus killed you in the sacrifice, you died a vampire’s death, and my magic brought you back. There is no blueprint for what that kind of magic will do to a being.”

Bonnie’s words of course, rang true with Caroline. All actions had consequences, after all.  

And, little by little, Caroline started to notice things. Different experiences that were inexplicable, but tangible.

The first instance had been quite innocuous, really. She was alone in the middle of the woods, and suddenly she felt a presence, like there was someone there, but just beyond her field of vision at every point.

This happened for a week or so, and from there, she began feeling… energies. It was similar to the first occurrence in the woods, except each presence emanated different vibes. Like the subtle differences in wine flavours. A chardonnay and a moscato were both white wines, but they still were very different.  

She just began trying to distinguish different features of each energy, jotting down her experiences, but then then the dreams started.  

A few times a week she would wake suddenly, after a fitful night of amber coloured, feral eyes, and someone whispering ‘Caroline’ intermittently over hours.

When the dreams began, she stopped feeling the energies. It was a relief of sorts; she didn’t have to be on guard every waking hour. But after weeks of poor sleep, she thought she would readily trade her restless nights, with peculiar days.

It was all quite off putting, but she made the conscious decision to deal with it on her own for the time being. No one was getting hurt, and she was just a little uncomfortable from time to time. Also, she had no idea how to even broach the topic if she wanted to anyway.

Besides, there was so much else going on that rendered her discomfort quite the back burner issue in the goings on of Mystic Falls.  

There was her friendship with Tyler, that was growing stronger by the day. There was Matt, who was still pointedly ignoring her at every chance she got. There was her mother who was just getting her head around her daughter the vampire, Caroline wasn’t going to pile any more weird unknown supernatural things onto their relationship just yet.

Then there was the kicker.

Stefan was still missing.

In the crazy aftermath of the sacrifice, Caroline was still a little fuzzy on how it all played out. But she had been provided all important notes.

After Caroline was sacrificed, Klaus swiftly moved on to Elena. From there, his werewolf transformation began. This was where Bonnie came in, channeling the incredible power of the full moon, the sacrifices, and the ancestral witches, Bonnie brought Klaus to the brink of death. While Klaus fought against Bonnie’s onslaught and for his life, as defenseless as he had ever been, Elijah delivered the final blow, ripping Klaus’ heart from his chest.

Whenever Caroline thought about what transpired while she was dead, she couldn’t help but feel terribly sad for Klaus. What a betrayal, and what a gruesome way to die. She knew she was supposed to hate Klaus, but she wouldn’t have wished that death on anyone, not even Klaus.

Caroline was told it all happened very quickly after Klaus died. Bonnie, suddenly able to channel the power of the death of a Hybrid as well, turned her grief of losing her two best friends, to resurrecting them. Having already weaved a spell to protect Elena with John Gilbert, Bonnie let her magic flow completely into Caroline.

Caroline remembered that bit, or at least, she remembered taking a sudden gasping breath after an oppressive nothingness. Immediately following Caroline’s return, a new figure appeared on the seen, an irate and distraught blonde woman. They since discovered the woman was Rebekah Mikaelson, Klaus and Elijah’s only sister. She knocked Elijah away from Klaus’ desiccating body and the they began to fight him. It was a battle unlike Caroline had ever seen, two exceptionally powerful beings at total war with each other.

At some point or other, Rebekah noticed Stefan who was skirting around the furore, in a vain attempt to get to Elena’s corpse. For some reason this caught Rebekah’s attention, and before anyone could do anything else she snapped Elijah’s neck, then Stefan’s. And the she was off with the limp bodies of her two brothers, and with Stefan’s.

And none of them had seen any of them since.

They had managed glean a vague idea of what Rebekah and Stefan were up to, thanks to Caroline and her mom using resources at the Sheriff’s department to track their movements throughout the summer. Though, every lead that was passed onto Damon seemed to run cold.

Apparently, Rebekah was traipsing across the entire country, searching for something. They just hadn’t figured out what yet. And for whatever reason, Stefan was with her, and he was staying with her, and they hadn’t figured out why that was either.

As for Elijah, that was another thing they didn’t know. They assumed Rebekah had a dagger of her own she made use of, though no one could know for sure. And because of this, Caroline felt slightly uneasy knowing he could be back at any minute.

So here Caroline was, an entire summer later, with things just settling down, she didn’t want to put more supernatural drama onto anyone. She could deal with the spine tingles, fear, and few nights a week of restless sleep, if it meant her friends were better off.

Though as she lay in her bed that morning, Caroline resolved to talk to Bonnie if it got worse. That way there would actually be cause for concern.

Throwing off her bed covers, Caroline dressed with faux-excitement – fake it til you make it right? Because today was Elena’s 18th birthday.

And no matter how mopey Elena had been over Stefan’s disappearance, no matter how messed up everyone was feeling, tonight would be a party to remember if Caroline had anything to say about it.

//

“Hey!” Caroline beamed, as she sat beside Tyler at the Grill.

“Hey, Care,” he replied. “How’s it going?”

She was poised to answer, when that feeling of being watched tingled through her, and she heard a voice whisper her name.

She whipped around, attempting to find the owner of the voice. But there was no one. Plus, it sounded inexplicably like the same voice who whispered to her in her dreams.

Now this was a development. She had never heard that voice during the day before.

“You okay?” Tyler asked. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Caroline thought about confiding in Tyler. If anyone could handle it, surely it was him? But what would she say? Something happened to me when I died and came back for the second time, so now I feel enigmatic energies, have nightmares, oh and hear voices now too apparently.

“Yeah, I’m okay, I guess I didn’t sleep well last night.”

//

“You’ve outdone yourself, as usual Caroline!”

It was later that day, and the compliment came from Jenna, who was coming down the stairs with Ric, about an hour after the party began.

“Yeah, really Caroline, why anyone else tries to throw events, I have no idea,” Ric added.

Caroline smiled at the two lovers. After all the bad stuff that happened to them over the past few months, it was nice having Jenna in the loop, and nice to see a bit of normalcy from the young couple.  

“Don’t have too much fun!” Caroline said. “You are the chaperones, remember.”

As the two adults laughed and walked away, Caroline tried to pretend she was having a good time, tried beaming around at all her hard work paying off.

But she couldn’t.

On top of all Caroline’s other issues, Elena was still mopey, Matt was simultaneously drunk and high, and was still managing to ignore her as loudly as he could. And then there was Tyler.

Now, logically, Caroline knew she had little claim to Tyler. After their kiss months earlier, she turned him down, she said no.

But, boy, he was grinding all over slutty Sophie, and, god, it was grinding her gears.

How dare he. Seriously.

“Hey, great party, Caroline,” Sophie said, as she and Tyler left the mosh pit.

“Thanks!” Caroline said, the word dripping with insincerity. “Now leave it.”

Sophie obliged with a pleasant smile, and not a word. Of course she would, compulsion will do that to a person.

“What the hell?” Tyler said, indignantly.

Caroline just rolled her eyes, and brushed past him.

As she melted into the crowd, she stopped dead in her tracks.

Mixed in amongst the faces of her drunk class mates was a face that couldn’t be there.

It was lit with a smug smirk, and there was a calculating glint in his eye.

“Klaus?” Caroline said, weakly.

He flicked his eyebrows at her, but at that moment, one of her class mates bumped her, breaking her concentration, and when her head shot back to where Klaus was standing, he was gone.

Rattled, she decided she needed a real drink. Surely some O+ would settle her nerves.

//

“What’s your problem? You pissed that I brought someone?”

It was half an hour later, when Caroline made it down the stairs after her blood-bag pit stop, and Tyler was already in her face. 
Could she not catch a break today?

“Why would I be pissed?” she answered, petulantly. “You brought a date, you’re dating! That’s awesome.”

She stalked away from him, she had bigger fish to fry that evening, like getting so wasted she could forget she was seeing faces in crowds.

It was useless, however, as Tyler just followed her and said, “should I not be dating?”

“Hey, you’re horny all the time, right?” she shot back. “I mean a guy has needs!”

“He sure does, sweetheart.”

“What did you say?” she snapped, as for the second time that day she spun around, trying and failing to find the face of someone whispering in her ear.

Caroline’s skin was crawling. She knew it wasn’t Tyler who said it, and she knew the voice didn’t come from one of her class mates. But she shuddered to think that maybe the voice from her dreams, and the voice that had been following her all day, belonged to the same dead man who mysteriously appeared in a crowd of drunk teenagers only thirty minutes earlier.  

“I didn’t say anything,” Tyler pouted, sulking at Caroline’s harsh tone. “What’s the matter with you?”

Caroline scrambled to find the best way to dodge his question.

And, maybe it was because she was drunk, or maybe she just wanted to shut him up, or maybe she was just so on edge about her rapidly deteriorating grip on reality, but she grabbed Tyler by the lapels and kissed him.

They kissed ferociously for a few moments before Tyler pulled away.

“Let’s get out of here?” he asked, panting his way through the words.  

“Uh uh.”

//

Much much later, Caroline found herself tiptoeing as quietly as possible out of the Lockwood Mansion.

Sex may have been great, and an excellent distraction, and she may truly have some sort of feelings for Tyler – maybe. But that still didn’t make up for the fact that when she drifted off for some post-coital sleep she fell straight back into her nightmare.

A voice, endlessly calling to her, reeling her in. And the eyes, those amber eyes, suddenly had a face to go with them.

His face.

Klaus.

So, when Caroline woke with a start, as was inevitable, she silently donned her dress, and slipped from the room.

There was nothing else for it, she would have to talk to Bonnie. If Klaus was somehow haunting her, or whatever, having a well-informed witch on her side would be only an advantage.

Caroline was just about to reach the front door, when none other than Carol Lockwood appeared, looking ever so judgemental. Curse her bad luck!

“Mrs Lockwood! Hi,” Caroline said, as innocently as possible.

“Leaving so soon?” the older woman asked, pointedly.

“Ah, I didn’t mean to be so… I mean, we were just….” Caroline floundered, her ears still ringing with Klaus’ whispers. “I’m gonna get my purse.”

She reached for her little silver bag, and as she touched it her hand began to burn. Before she could turn around, pain exploded through her back, quickly permeating her body, as Carol shot her full of vervain.

Caroline quickly lost consciousness, and she saw Carol’s concerned but determined face loom over her – and in Caroline’s last moments before the darkness claimed her, she was sure she saw the grinning face of Klaus waving at her over Carol’s shoulder.

//

Hope you liked! Not a hell of a lot of KC for KC AU week, but the things we do for the sake of exposition. The aim is for this to be a multi-chapter story??? Let me know if you’re interested. If I can actually keep writing with the vim I have been this week, this will hopefully end up being a bit of a season 3/4 TVD and 1 TO rewrite. I have a semblance of an outline, and a few chapters in the bank, but who knows with me. I’m really great at starting stories and not finishing them. Once I can figure out a name, I will post it to the places. No beta though, as per, and I hate editing so soz for mistakes. 

See you tomorrow for the final day!! I’ve been loving reading all the things from the other days!!! And I’m sad I never got my stories finished for Tues/Thurs/Fri so I could participate more!! <3 <3

[alison-anonymous]

flawsome bandits pt. 16 ♡ sonic

Flawsome Poison 

Hey, my darlings! Here’s chapter 16 for you! I just want to take a moment to thank you all for all the support and feedback, it means the absolute world to me. I hope you all enjoy the humor and romantic moments I bring to you, and stay safe and happy! Enjoy! 

Warnings - implied sexual harassment (he’s a yandere, please keep this in mind) It is not very bad and only lasts for like 3 lines, but if you’re sensitive to that please skip it ♡

♡♡♡

Knuckles was a very troubled echidna.

He had never been the sharpest tool in the box, which he openly admitted to. But he was more than just a dimwitted echidna, like most people saw him. He was the last of his kind, and there had been a reason why he was deemed guardian of the Master Emerald. There had to be at least a sliver of intelligence within him. Perhaps that was why he was having such strange doubts about this whole plan to begin with. 

True, he had only met the Bonnie and Clyde hedgehogs once. And they ended up attacking, but he and Shadow were indeed the ones who fired first. He highly doubted that they would have done anything bad to them had they not tempted them with an idea of a fight. Knuckles rubbed his bleary eyes. He hadn’t been getting much sleep lately. Robotnik had been keeping him awake all hours of the night, running errands for him and using him as an assistant to perform dangerous tasks that the boss alone dared not to attempt. He was still aching from the electrocution he went through trying to hotwire the drone. 

Knuckles shook his head, glancing past his sleeping boss at his partner. Shadow hadn’t slept much either. He had begun asking questions about the girl, what was her name? Y/n? Bonnie? And her relationship to the boy hedgehog, Sonic. If Knuckles had half a brain, he would have guessed that Shadow had fallen for the girl. But that was insane. You couldn’t fall for the enemy. Even if Knuckles wasn’t quite so sure about them being his true enemies. Robotnik seemed a thousand times worse than Sonic and Y/n could ever be. But he wasn’t 100% sure. 

He watched quietly as Shadow slipped something into his bag and slung it over his shoulder. Where was he going? He barely even got to wonder before Shadow had melted into the darkness of the forest. 

I have a bad feeling, he gulped.

♡♡♡

When Y/n came to, she wasn’t where she had been before.

The ground felt different here. Harder. The blades of grass scratched against her back in an annoying fashion. Had she rolled off of the blanket by accident? She squeezed her eyes shut tighter and rolled on her side, reaching out blindly for Sonic. It was freezing without his body warmth. But the more she reached, all that she received was empty air. Confusion riddled her mind and she rolled onto her back once more. Her eyes opened, and she let out a scream.

“Hello, my love!” 

And Shadow got a punch in the face. 

He let out a shocked cry in pain and instantly leapt off of his previous position leaning over Y/n’s face. Y/n herself was hugging her aching gloved fist to her chest, staring at the dark hedgehog in pure fear, shock, and anger. He… he kidnapped her? While she was sleeping? He would have been able to blend into the shadows flawlessly, stealing her away without stirring a single person. Her stomach churned, and not in a good way. She quickly sat up and began to push herself away from him, but he was quick to grab her wrist.

“L-let me go! Why d-did you kidnap me?” Y/n cursed her stutter, her e/c orbs wide with fear. Shadow rubbed his stinging jaw and sighed lovingly at her even as she desperately tried to yank her wrist out of his hand.

“I came to take you away from that disgusting hedgehog, Sonic! You belong with only me, my lov-” 

And Shadow got punched in the face for a second time. 

“Owww…” Shadow whined, clutching the other side of his jaw like a little baby. He kept an iron grip on his lady’s wrist, though, refusing to let her go until she accepted his love for her. Y/n, however, had other plans. She furiously tried to yank herself out of this yandere’s grasp, but he held firm. She even tried to gnaw on his fist, and he still continued to stare lovingly at her, like she had just been married to this guy. 

“Y-you’re crazy,” Y/n snarled, finally managing to pull herself free of his grasp. Her words stung him momentarily, but he quickly readjusted his thinking and sighed, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her into his chest. Y/n let out a yelp in shock and instantly began to try and pry his arms off of her, kicking her legs like crazy. He simply held her closer, bathing in the feeling of her body warmth. He breathed in her scent deeply, and a sickening smile spread across his lips.

“Oohhh… Only crazy for you, my dear.” He chuckled. Y/n’s heart pounded. She had to get out of here, and fast. “Why don’t you come with me? You can leave all of those nasty friends of yours behind and-”

“My friends are NOT nasty!” Y/n cried out in disgust, finding a loophole in his bear hug. She relaxed her body, allowing herself to slip through his grip like a wet fish. Shadow’s eyes widened for a moment, slightly shocked at her attempted escape. He didn’t think she had it in her to try and resist him. “I will never go anywhere with you, Shadow.” 

“You say that now,” Shadow snickered darkly, a certain malicious intent crossing over his eyes as he stalked after Y/n. She backtracked, stumbling slightly on the uneven ground, but her eyes never wavering from the dark hedgehog. Fear blared a thousand alarms inside her brain, warning her to find an escape attempt. She could try running, but he might come after her. She could hit him on the head, but he had a gun… She might be trapped with the hedgehog that was supposed to kill her. 

“L-look, Shadow, this is all very c-creepy and everything, but I’m not going anywhere with you. You-you’re insane,” It was only when Y/n’s back collided with a tree that she realized…

He had cornered her.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why you don’t walk backwards when you’re trying to escape from a yandere who kidnapped you in the middle of the night. The bark scratched up against Y/n’s furry back, her eyes growing wider than the sun with fear. What had she done? Shadow chuckled to himself, and rested his hands on the tree on either side of her, staring down at her with the scariest look Y/n had ever seen. 

“You won’t be saying that once I get my hands on you…” Shadow drawled. If Y/n had known any better, she would have thought he was drunk. His hands slowly moved from the tree onto her shoulders, and began to move down her body at an agonizing place. She knew exactly where he was headed, and it wasn’t a good spot. 

She gulped, the tears already beginning to spill out of her eyes.

“S-stop it,” she whimpered, the feeling of pure helplessness swallowing her whole. “S-Shadow…”

“I love it when you say my name,” Shadow sighed, his hands pausing at her hips. Y/n’s breath hitched, petrification causing her to freeze in her place as the tears continued to stream down her face. He didn’t seem to care. What was he going to do to her? She wasn’t about to ask, she didn’t even know if she could speak another syllable. A dark pit filled in the pit of her stomach. 

Sonic… 

She wanted Sonic… 

Suddenly, an electric blue blur shot past her. One second, she was pinned against the tree by Shadow, the next she was free. She gasped, tears dripping off of her chin and down onto the ground. A large thump sounded, followed by a groan in pain. Y/n blinked rapidly, trying to see through her blurry tears. 

Was that… Sonic? 

The hedgehog in question stood before an unconscious Shadow (who had a very large welt growing on his frontal lobe), his eyes raging in an electric blue. His quills were flickering with little bolts of lightning as his fists trembled by his sides. Saying he was furious would be an understatement. If he could, he would kill Shadow right this second. But Y/n was more important right now. 

“N/n?” He cautiously approached the female hedgehog, who was still frozen in place on the tree. Her eyes were still wide with fear, tears falling silently down her cheeks. They were open, but she wasn’t seeing anything. Sonic gently cupped her cheeks in his hands and wiped away the tears, the lightning bolts slowly dwindling away, but his eyes still remained supercharged. How could he have let this happen? How could he have been so stupid to have slept when he knew something like this might happen? He should have been watching her. He wouldn’t make that mistake again. “Y/n, say something. Please.”

She remained silent for a moment longer, until she finally blinked and the girl he loved returned. “S-Sonic?” 

“Yeah,” Sonic broke out into a relieved grin, instantly pulling his girlfriend into his chest and burying his face on top of her head. “I’m here. I’m so, so sorry, hun. I won’t ever let this happen to you again.” 

In response, Y/n simply wrapped her arms around him and wept until morning.

♡♡♡

The next day, our favorite four musketeers were hard at work making some food for lunch. They had settled on making chili dogs since they were a Sonic favorite (if you don’t like chili dogs, change it to your favorite food), and things were actually going quite well. Sonic and Y/n had decided to keep last night’s… predicament to themselves, thinking it better not to add even more stress to the already stressful situation by telling Spirit and Tails that one of their rivals was in love with Y/n. 

Little did they know that Shadow wasn’t about to give up that easily. 

While Tails was working on the chili in one of Spirit’s pots that she had brought from home, a pair of ruby red eyes emerged from the bushes nearby. They narrowed, a little plan formulating inside the brain that owned them. 

“Hey Tails! Can I borrow you for a sec?” Y/n’s voice called from the other side of their campsite. Tails nodded and raised from his sitting position, leaving the chili unattended. As soon as he disappeared around the truck, Shadow crept over to the pot, and lifted a tiny vial out of his bag. It was a clear liquid, colorless, tasteless, scentless. But it would sure as hell have a kick. He envisioned Sonic taking a bite and then instantly falling to the ground, choking until he breathed his last breath. He would only need one or two, but his anger and jealousy got the better of him.

He poured the whole vial into the chili, stirred, and hid once more.

About thirty minutes later, everyone had sat down and was about to eat. Stomachs growling, mouths drooling, they all looked eagerly at the food before them. They were about to take a bite when Sonic suddenly stopped them.

“Guys, wait…” He furrowed his brows, his seriousness returning once again. He couldn’t explain it. There was nothing different about it, but for some reason, the food looked… strange. “Don’t eat this. I don’t know why, but I feel like something is wrong with this.”

Without a second thought, they all threw out the food and found something else to eat. When it came to dire times like these, even if there was no evidence or proof of something, they would give them the benefit of the doubt. From deep within the bushes, Shadow snarled, his eyes full of fiery flames of fury.

He would have to find another way to kill Sonic.

But even as he turned around and began to head back to Robotnik’s camp site, he began to formulate another plan in his head to eliminate Sonic. He didn’t want to, but he would take out the girl and the little orange fox too if it meant that he could finally take Y/n. It didn’t even matter if she didn’t love him at the time; she would gradually learn to. 

Because he loved her.

Little did she know that that was the most dangerous thing of all…

♡♡♡

Tails was having a very difficult time.

No, it wasn’t about the whole helping his newfound friends evade death and stop the evil man with a sausage mustache. It was about, well, Spirit. 

Yes, he knew it was crazy. A human and a two-tailed fox, the kids would be really weird… But he couldn’t help it. Whenever he was around her, his heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest and his hands were always sweaty. Thank god he was wearing gloves all the time or else someone might notice. But he didn’t know what to do. Should he try to court her? Should he just leave it alone? He was brand new to this. All of the other vixens back home hated his guts and thought he was weird, always chilling in his lab with his new inventions and stuff. They thought he had no idea what being romantic is. 

...No matter how many books he read or how many times he tried, it never mattered. To them he was just a nerdy, two-tailed fox with no girlfriend.

Tails glanced over at Spirit. She was forming an attack plan with Y/n, and the hedgehog must have said something funny because she burst out laughing. Wow… the way she closed her eyes when she laughed and tilted her head back… she was beautiful.

How could he ever deserve someone like her?

“Watcha doing, buddy?” Sonic’s voice snapped him back into reality. Tails glanced over to his side only to see the electric blue hedgehog wiggling his eyebrows at him, a smug grin on his face.

“N-nothing! W-what are you doing?” Tails nervously tried to play it cool, but he should have known better. Sonic was a master at this sort of thing. 

“Watching you fawn over Spirit,” He winked, watching as Tails instantly began to blush. “Don’t even try to deny it.”

Tails sighed, and buried his furry face in his hands. He felt the hopelessness wash over him like a wave. “I don’t know what to do, Sonic. I don’t even know how to talk to her without sounding like a complete idiot! I know it’s crazy, but I just…” 

He groaned in the agony and peered up at the hedgehog. Sonic chuckled and threw an arm around the fox’s shoulders. “Fear not, my little friend! I can tell you everything you need to know!”

“You can?” Tails grinned. Sonic nodded.

“Of course! All that you need to do is just play it cool. Girls go nuts if you pretend like you just don’t care.”

Tails was confused. “Wait… but don’t I want her to know that I care?” 

Sonic shook his head. “No. The more that you act like you don’t care, the more it’ll drive her closer to you and to the point where she’ll fall madly in love with you and you don’t even have to do anything!” Sonic grinned, but then a serious look crossed over his face and he whispered in Tails’s ear. “Just, whatever you do, don’t become a Monika, okay?”

“A Monika?” Tails furrowed his brows. “What’s a…? Never mind. So I just need to play it cool?” 

“Exactly.” Just as he said that, Y/n suddenly came over to the two. Her icy blue fur shone beautifully in the sun and her eyes were glittering in the light. Sonic instantly froze, his heart beginning to race and the butterflies began to panic. She shot them both a smile.

“Hey boys, what’s up?” She asked. Tails opened his mouth to answer, but Sonic beat him to it by letting out a panicked stutter.

“Y-you’re gorgeous- I MEAN hello… to you… too.” His face was a bright red by the time he finished, emerald eyes wide. What the hell was wrong with him? Why were his hands so clammy? “Is it just me, or is it hot in here?” 

“Play it cool…” Tails chuckled next to him. “Right.” 

Y/n giggled, running a hand through her quills and smiled bashfully at her boyfriend. “Thank you, Sonic. What are you two talking about?” 

Sonic’s face turned an even darker shade of red as Y/n plopped down next to him and looked to Tails. He better not tell him about what he just said! If he did, Y/n might make fun of him! But wait… why would she make fun of him? Unless he deserved it, then it was totally called for. Gosh, did she look beautiful today. I mean, she looked gorgeous every day but there was something about today that just made her look… radiant. 

Sonic didn’t even realize that the two had been talking until he finally rejoined the conversation. 

“Every girl is different, Tails,” Y/n spoke confidently, leaning against Sonic. He quickly got the hint and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him. Their hearts began beating in sync, the excitement and butterflies suffocating one another in their stomachs. Tails leaned forward, intently waiting for her advice. “Some girls like grand romantic gestures and some would be perfectly content just to sit on the couch with you. But honestly? All you need to do is just be yourself. You wouldn’t want to be in a relationship with someone who knew you to be someone else, would you?”

Tails slowly shook his head. “No, I wouldn’t.”

Y/n smiled warmly. “As long as you don’t pretend to be someone you’re not, you’re golden. And if she doesn’t like you for you, then you deserve someone better. It’s as easy as that, right? I mean, yeah there’s a lot of other complicated stuff, but I just don’t want you to push yourself to pretend like you’re someone else just to impress a girl.” 

It warmed Tails’s heart to see Y/n so sincere. She truly cared about his well being, didn’t she? He was glad he had come to warn them. Looking at the two of them cuddling together, there was no way that they could ever try to hurt another person if they didn’t have to. He processed Y/n’s words for a couple moments before glancing back over at Spirit. He knew he would probably never have a shot.

But at least he could try.

♡ a.a.

[countingwithturkeys]

Contest Winner Fic!

Hi guys! Quite a long time ago (I know, I know, I suck sometimes) I had a contest, wherein the winner would get a request fic. The winner, @azkadelia-the-werewolf, made a very interesting selection: something fluffy for Tyrant and Bonnie. This proved an interesting challenge, not because Tyrant is no longer with us except in the most literal sense, but because by her very nature the Baddie lacks free will, and thus it’s arguable as to whether or not she’s even capable of genuine love, let alone to the one she’s in service to. Although I wrote and rewrote this story almost a dozen times since that choice was made it just never really felt right, so I had to put it aside until an opportunity presented itself, rather than present something I wasn’t proud of. An opportunity presented itself! Ultimately, I do personally consider this story to be canon to the Symphony Universe, but it did not flow where it should logically go within the story. As such, the chapter count for OA will be going up, and the last chapter will be this story as bonus content. It might be slightly edited in the meantime, but as my tumblr followers (and the contest winner especially!) have been waiting a long time for this story I wanted you guys to have it first. It’s possible I may do another contest in the future when we reach the next milestone (I’m thinking when I hit 125 followers?), because despite the fact that this thing took a billion years for me to finish I think it made me think more in-depthly about my own story, and it’s ultimately added a new layer I otherwise would never have thought of without being prodded to. In short, it was a challenge, and the challenge made me a better creative thinker. What do you guys think? Would you be interested in another contest? Have fun, and I (sincerely) hope it was worth it! Oh, slight content warning: Starts off with some feels, mentions of past character death, and hints of future lady-adult situations.

Where am I?

Wherever Bonnibel was it had a heavy atmosphere, oppressive and hazy, somewhere she vaguely remembered. Somewhere familiar, and not for positive reasons, somewhere she had been once before that she never hoped to return to. Recognition flickered across her consciousness, not enough to be useful but more than enough to frustrate her. What was worse was that while she may not have been aware of where she was logically the atmosphere couldn’t have cared less; somewhere in her, somewhere deep inside, something instinctual, recognized her location.

It hated it.

Her stomach soured, bile was in her throat. Rancid. Bonnibel reflexively closed her eyes before cursing her own absurdity, forcing them open, ignoring the mounting anxiety. Everything felt too surreal, and instead she focused on that. It was absurd, it was choking, but it was something grounding that she could tease reason out of. Yes, this was familiar as well. In fact it was a feeling she had felt somewhere before. And recently. Focus, Bubblegum. Figure out where you are. She started by glancing at her hands, feeling her fingers curl into lazy fists, then relax. Well, at least I’m in control of myself. Belatedly, the princess found that oddly reassuring and wasn’t sure why. Somehow that made everything even more uncomfortable.

What was worse was the outfit she was wearing. She wouldn’t have caught it had she not been so hypervigilant, so acutely aware of her surroundings in a comical and naive attempt to make sense of everything. Instead of answer she found that she was wearing the jacket, the same varsity letterman jacket Tyrant had given her just before she die- No. Before I killed her. Admit it, Bubblegum. Admit what you did, her thoughts hissed, malice bleeding through in the form of fine tremor in her hands. It was degrading, but then so were the tears stringing her eyes, tears which were expertly pushed back under the guise of clinical detachment. Yes, she was wearing the same jacket, the same sneakers, the same deep purple pants she had worn during her twisted and deranged adventure. But that wasn’t all that was the same.

Now she knew where she was. The yellowed and dead grass beneath her feet. The sky of dust above her head. The putrid lake littered with refuse from a deranged and shattered mind, rubbish that washed up on the shore only to be left to rot. There, over her shoulder, the approximation of the cabin she grew up in, before she was even a princess. It was intact, immaculate even. Well, except for the windows, covered in thick metal plates, bolted in snugly with screws thicker than her arm. That had been Usurper’s doing, Bonnibel remembered that as well. It had been before that awful day, when the deranged vampire had been eagerly awaiting her arrival and needed something to do with that pent up energy. Something besides planning her once-lover’s demise. Oh yes, Bonnibel knew exactly where she was now.

She was exactly where Tyrant had died.

But why? That was the real question, now wasn’t it? A quick survey of her surroundings confirmed for the young scientist that she was alone. No Finn, no Jake, no Marceline or any piece of her. It was just as quiet as she remembered, just as haunting. Was she actually back? How did she get here? Where was everyone? Was this some sort of punishment? Had she been killed in some laboratory accident and dropped in the deepest pit of Dead World and forced to relive her trauma as penance for her sins-

“Hey Bonnibel.”

The candy golem startled, glancing up at the voice, overwhelmed with the desire to find the source and confirm that she wasn’t imagining it. Where…? Bonnibel wasn’t looking for long, didn’t have to look far. There, on the cabin’s porch, hidden by the shadow of Usurper's handiwork. Bonnibel exhaled; exhaled the tension, exhaled the tremor, exhaled the apprehension. An unfamiliar serenity replaced it all and despite the surreal situation and the suffocating atmosphere new tears, happy tears, began to emerge and this time the princess didn’t try to stop them. She covered her mouth in disbelief, trembling anew at the unexpected visitor. At the familiar face. At the warm, understanding smile.

Tyrant?

The vampire was apparently as surprised to see the candy golem as the candy golem was to see her. Surprised, but repressing her own sheepish smile. She rubbed the back of her neck nervously, not meeting her favorite piercing green eyes as she smiled apologetically. “Sorry. I know you hate when I sneak up on you like that… but you were definitely doing that thing you’ve been doing since you bailed us out of here where you let your mondo mega brain destroy itself ‘cause it gets overactive and turns on you. Can’t let that happen, you know? It’s like… literally my job not to let that happen.” She stopped. Dropped her hand. Frowned. “Figuratively? Still no idea how that works.”

Yes, only Tyrant would have that self-deprecating glint in her eyes, only she would have been that concerned over something the pink-haired woman could never admit to anyone, least of all herself. It was strange, though, Bonnibel pondered. The musician was clothed in simple black shorts and a white tanktop, hair still shaven in a slight mohawk. Had that been what she was wearing when she died? Why can’t I remember? Why can I remember what I was wearing but not what you were? Oh, but she remembered that collar alright. That soft pink collar that declared the vampire her property, an accessory with no beginning or end, and no visible way to remove it. Even now, it seemed, that part of Marceline considered herself owned.

That bile again.

Only now, with their adventure over- is it over? -did Bonnibel truly appraise the woman before her, that submissive portion of her lover chewing nervously on her lip with just enough restraint not to piece the soft flesh. After all, I have rules, the princess bitterly mused. But she wasn’t responding, and she realized almost too late that not responding was what Princess Bubblegum did when she was displeased with the half-demon’s antics. When Tyrant released her lip and prepared to speak a brief spark of panic shot through the scientist where she knew her heart was meant to be, because if tradition held true-

“...Should I go? Sorry.”

It was a whisper, and only now, with their adventure over - if it was indeed over - did Bonnibel truly get a good luck at the Baddie, at one of the three strongest chunks of her mate’s psyche. Marceline had always been a master of disguise and stealth but she had never learned to prevent her eyes from betraying her feelings, and clearly the older woman knew it if how hard she was trying not to look at her was any indicator. Tyrant was powerful, just as strong as Usurper and Lady Evil, but Bonnibel was all-too aware now that she herself was the Baddie’s greatest weakness, that she was just as in love with the scientist as she was afraid of her.

Even now, her shirt was torn just above her heart. Exactly where the wretched silver dagger had found its mark and ended her Unlife.

She ran. Not away from the cabin or her crimes, but to her favorite person in the world, the one she loved above any and all others and else. The embrace was tight and warm and readily returned, Bonnibel’s fingers digging into the half-demon’s shoulder possessively knowing now just how fleeting their time together truly was, what she had to lose if she let go just a moment too soon. The noise she made into that shoulder was wordless, an expression of some emotion that had no name, and Tyrant held her, the dark wings of her void form coming to wrap around both immortal women. Bonnibel pressed herself against the older woman, a cool hand rubbing soothing circles against her back.

It worked. It always worked. Marceline just knew her too well.

“Sorry, Marcy,” Bonnibel began gently once her breath came under control and her dignity was restored. The wings retracted and the queen withdrew, just enough to give her princess space. Belatedly, the scientist realized that were she dealing with Marceline, Whole Marceline, the vampire would undoubtedly have already fled, too afraid of making some implied situation worse. But Tyrant would never flee because she was incapable of disobeying. And Princess Bubblegum had rules against Marceline interpreting her will for her. Every word will have to be chosen carefully. “I was just… surprised to see you.” Surprised, and so hap-

“‘Cause I got ganked?” A wry smile.

“Yes.” No sense beating around the bush. “Because I lost you,” Bonnibel clarified. That was important, emphasizing that Tyrant had been lost and hadn’t failed her princess. When her warm, pink hand came to rest on the other woman’s cool cheek Bonnibel couldn’t help but smile. How could she? Not when her lover relaxed, not when her head tilted into the touch, not when her eyes were sliding shut at such a simple gesture. It was just so endearing, and what remained of that fear, that anxiety that had taken up valuable real estate in her heart edged out to make room for the warm fuzzies only Marceline could inspire. “There. It’s alright, Marcy. I’m not mad,” she promised. “I’m happy to see you.” And she was, more than Tyrant could understand.

“...You are?”

She sounded so bewildered it hurt. Is this what I did to you, Marcy? True, the vampire had been her normal snarky self with Finn and Jake, but Marceline’s defenses were always lowered around her best friend. No. They’re all Marcy. You’re just the part I twisted most to suit my needs. Despite the stab of guilt Bonnibel gave the musician a soft smile, watching as her garnet eyes slid open again at the confession. Just like that, the stab of guilt gave way to something warmer, the princess’s self-pity no match for how beautiful that spark in her mate’s eyes was. I have so much to tell you. For now, it would have to not matter exactly where the pair were or how they ended up there, it would have to be enough that they were together. “Come here, Marcy.” The pink hand lowered, taking the calloused grey one. Tyrant didn’t resist.

When was the last time the duo sat on those steps and had a conversation as deep as the one they were about to? I suppose… when I abdicated my throne and you helped me with my varmint problem. How long ago had that been? How many lifetimes? How many failures? Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Bonnibel lowered herself onto the cabin’s stoop, pulling her queen with her. Her queen who, though noticeably calmer, was just as skeptical, clearly uncertain of what was happening or what to believe. Of course, I did kill you. I wouldn’t trust me either. Green eyes briefly flickered to the torn shirt. There was a faded stain of maroon blood but no sign of an open wound and before Bonnibel could reconsider she was reaching out, touching the outline.

Tyrant tilted her head but didn’t flinch. “It doesn’t hurt.”

The candy woman gave her her own wry smile. Of course you would be able to predict my thoughts. You’ve always known me better than I know myself. Still, Bonnibel didn’t recall her hand, needing to know for herself if anything remained of her treachery. A scar, a scab, a pus-filled wound, anything. She traced the shirt’s torn fabric and over the vampire’s chest, but there wasn’t so much as a scratch or a wince. “...I’m sorry, Marcy,” she whispered. Even when she was satisfied that nothing remained of the dagger, Bonnibel kept her hand in position, too reluctant to break physical contact with the half-demon.

Tyrant scooted closer, closing her own hand around the candy golem’s for reassurance. “It’s alright, Bonnibel. You had to, remember? We had to go back-”

Now the bile was solidifying, mixing with its owner’s thoughts. “That’s not what I mean.” Her eyes closed as she took a deep, steadying breath, but when her eyes opened Tyrant seemed only quizzicle, absolutely nonplussed.

“...I don’t get it.”

No, you wouldn’t. You can’t. It’s not in your nature. “I was always the cruelest to you. You and Navigator. You’re the part of my Marceline that’s the most loyal and devoted. You trusted me, and look what I did to you.”

“Aw, Bonnibel…” The princess didn’t resist when the older woman pulled her back into her arms, letting her rest against her shoulder. “Don’t be like that,” she murmured against her lover’s pink temple as she kissed it. Against her better wishes the scientist smiled at the oddly tender gesture. “You know I accept you exactly like you are, right?”

Exactly. Therein lies the issue. Tread carefully, Bubblegum. “But… that’s the problem, Marcy,” Bonnibel whispered. “I took advantage of that. You began life as the whole’s sense of loyalty and devotion and I manipulated you. I turned you against yourself because it suited me. At my worst I practically controlled you, and at my best I was barely passable as a mate. I took loyalty and devotion… and I corrupted both into submission.”

“Mm.”

Bonnibel didn’t object when Tyrant pulled her closer. Did she deserve the embrace, that oddly tender affection? No. But the Baddie undoubtedly needed it, needed the younger woman’s warmth. Even in their brief time together, before her untimely death, the princess had realized that much. How could she deny the vampire now? How could she stand to be so cruel? No. Not now. Never again.

“But… you’ve always been the dominant one between us.”

Bonnibel laughed humorlessly, almost argued the point before her Common Sense stopped her from making a dreadful mistake. Ask. Don’t tell. “Do you prefer it that way, Marcy?”

“Yes.” It wasn’t the answer that stunned Bonnibel. It was how quickly it was offered, how very certain Tyrant sounded. There was no hesitation, no reluctance, it simply Was. “It’s… better this way, Bonnibel.”

For you or for me? A fair enough question. “For you or for me?” The candy golem kept her tone conversational, centuries of experience in controlling her emotions around foreign and potentially hostile dignitaries suddenly invaluable. Tyrant more than any other part of her Marceline was attuned to the younger woman’s body language, her tone of voice, all of her little tells. Any lie, any omission and Tyrant would see right through it, and unable to flee to protect her own sanity, if she sensed something amiss, if she even thought for a moment that she was causing the young scientist distress, she would run the risk of self-destructing. Bonnibel Bubblegum knew all about self-destructing.

“Both?”

Bonnibel laughed, this time affectionate humor creeping in. Tyrant just sounded so adorably bewildered, as if she had not never truly thought of the implications of her assertion that this arrangement was in their mutual best interest. With a kiss to her cold cheek the younger monarch pulled away, letting her hand rest on the vampire’s. “Are you asking or are you telling?” It was risky, she knew, to tease this particular Marceline- but maybe the semblance of normalcy will be good for her, reassuring even.

Tyrant blushed slightly, rubbing the back of her neck with her free hand. It was the second time she had expressed her nervousness with that gesture. “...Both?,” she repeated.

Now Bonnibel’s smile was genuine, and not purely for the Baddie’s benefit. Perhaps she sensed it, because the sight eased some of the tension away from both the musician and the tension between the two immortal women. Yes. I can work with this. You might be corrupted by my own hand, but you’re still Marcy. “You wouldn’t feel comfortable otherwise, would you?”

“Not really.” Nervousness passed, Tyrant dropped her hand. “I guess it’s kind of a security thing? I’ve never really thought about it, to be honest,” she shrugged.

Interesting… Although Bonnibel had long suspected that was the case it was a different matter entirely to hear confirmation from the one part of her lover incapable of lying to her. It does make sense, though. Even whole she’s unable to harm me. I suppose when you’re terrified of what you’re capable of it’s reassuring to know you can be stopped. When she squeezed Tyrant’s hand Tyrant squeezed back. If she can say it, so can you. “I… know what you mean, Marcy,” she whispered. “We’ve always relied on one another for accountability. If it came down to it…”

She trailed off, closing her eyes as a new onslaught of unpleasant memories commenced. Tyrant made a noise of understanding, of concern, of recognition, before pulling her princess back into her arms. “...Guess I’m not the only one who’s had those thoughts, huh?,” she murmured as the younger woman settled her head back ontp her shoulder.

Bonnibel shook her head, arms snaking their way around her vampire’s waist. “...No,” she admitted. “I know what I’m capable of, Marcy,” she muttered around a blush triggered not by embarrassment, but by shame. “I’ve… become much more introspective since bringing you home. I’ve had to be, in order to improve myself and be worthy of my status as your mate.” She sighed, head turning so she could bury her face in Tyrant’s chest. “How did you put up with me? With what I put you through?”

Even muffled, the Baddie could hear the heartbreaking sound of her lover’s voice cracking, and she kissed the shell of her ear to stop whatever track the princess’s train of thoughts found itself on. “You know the answer to that, Bonnibel. Besides, there’s always been good stuff too, you know? I know Nav told you all about it.”

The inconsistency prompted the death spiral that was Bonnibel’s sense of self-worth to halt, at least for the moment. Though she didn’t pull away she did turn her head, glancing up to catch the singer’s eye. It was true that Navigator had gone well out of her way, moments before her death, to reassure her best friend that everything would be alright. However- “Yes, that’s true… but that conversation happened in Lady Evil’s Citadel, shortly before her death. You were already…” Pause. Unpause. “You weren’t around to hear it. How did you know?”

“Mm.” Tyrant pulled back slightly, not enough to break the embrace but enough to lift her left arm. “Same way I have this.”

Raising a skeptical eyebrow, Bonnibel shifted her position, turning to see what it was that apparently gave the Baddie insight into events that happened after her demise. What she saw caught the breath in her throat and threatened not to give it back. She opened her mouth to speak, but words failed her and instead she settled for reaching out, hand shaking. How did I miss…? But there it was, and the princess would know the sight of it anywhere, the feel of it anywhere. “...My offering..?” she asked in quiet awe.

Tyrant chuckled. Now it was her turn to wiggle, to give the younger woman the opportunity to confirm that she was indeed seeing what she thought she was seeing because there it was, hugging the fallen Baddie’s arm: sheer black with gold streaks of demonic text, impossibly strong, warm to the touch, and crowned with a piece of Bonnibel’s very soul, embedded in the royal gem that had once been her own. Unable, or perhaps simply unwilling, to do otherwise she consented to the younger immortal turning her arm this way and that, finding her perplexity rather adorable all things considered. “Yeah. Remember? The forest where we found The Morrow’s Egg? You gave it to me? It was kind of a big deal.”

Bonnibel laughed. She couldn’t help it. There was just something about Marceline’s lop-sided smirk, about the mischievous glint in her eyes, that made any awful feeling fleeting. Instead it was replaced with a foreign but welcomed warmth blossoming in the candy golem’s chest, something that drowned out her self-doubt and chased away her melancholy. She couldn’t help it. Marceline simply had that effect on her. “You’re such a butt,” she mumbled playfully, smile growing when Tyrant snickered her agreement with the assessment. “Am I to presume I’m dreaming, then?” Although that made the most logical sense Bonnibel found herself hoping she was wrong. If it is, then I still can’t apolog-

“Eh… kinda?”

“Kind of?” She settled back in her lover’s arms for what she hoped would be a good or at least entertaining excuse. It didn’t escape Bonnibel’s notice that when Tyrant held her once again she wrapped her right arm around the younger woman, but allowed her left arm - vambracer included and especially - to be held against the candy scientist’s chest, directly over her heart. Tyrant was quiet, but Bonnibel knew better than to press her question, both because she knew it logically impossible for the Baddie to disobey or ignore her, and because the older woman finally seemed at ease. What right do I have to rob her of that sense of peace merely because I’m impatient? Even the thought caused her nose to wrinkle in disgust, but she kept the sentiment to herself. They were having a nice time. Why ruin it?

When Tyrant did finally answer her voice seemed far away, not from melancholy or detachment, but as if she were reliving some fond memory. “I had something like it happen too, way back in the ol’ days when my soul first chose yours. I dreamt about you.”

“What did you dream about?”

A wince, but it quickly settled, too swiftly for Bonnibel to draw attention to. “I was bloodlusting. It was like some mondo-weird out of body experience. Like… I could feel all the rage and anxiety  and stuff, could feel junk breaking in a bajillion pieces in my claws, could feel how good it felt to gank things and rip heads off, but I couldn’t stop it. I mean I can’t really stop it anyway, but this was super not being able to stop it.”

“Like you were stuck?”

Tyrant nodded, tensing at the memory of her dream, but one kiss to her cheek and she relaxed once more. “Yeah, that’s a pretty grock word for it. I was just stuck in ‘wreck everything up’ mode. Then… you were there. And I kinda freaked out, ‘cause you’ve seen me bloodlust. You know what I’m like. It was a dream, though, so I didn’t know if I’d be able to keep my prom about not hurting you if I was stuck like that. So… I was pretty scared, you know?”

Bonnibel nodded. She may not be a demon, but she had seen her paramour in that state of mind before, had even held her, whispering soft reassurances of love and support as she tore herself apart in contrition for those she harmed without intending to. “I know, Marcy.”

“You… weren’t afraid, though. You just went right up to me and hugged me. Held me? You told me to relax, and… I did. It was like a switch. I was back in my body, I was calm. Like nothing had happened. It was freaky, but in a good way. I felt like me again. Wasn’t even bloody anymore, it was all just… gone.”

Just like that? “What else did I do? Anything?”

“You told me that it was time to go home.” Tyrant shook her head to clear whatever emotion was starting to make itself known and Bonnibel held the arm against her chest tighter. “So I woke up and I felt… pretty rockin’ actually.”

Bonnibel allowed herself to indulge in a smile. “Is that when you knew? That your soul had chosen mine?”

“Yeah,” Tyrant sighed, not uncomfortably. “I knew. I could like… feel my soul looking for yours? Kinda hard to explain, sorry.” She offered a sheepish grin. Bonnibel returned the gesture with a kiss.

“Perhaps, but I understand,” she started gently. “I suppose it was your mind making logical sense of what happened with your soul.”

“I guess. You’re the brainlord, Bonnibel.” An affectionate tease. Yes, Bonnibel could definitely get used to that from her Tyrant. “Not sure why I dreamed about that, though. Mondo weirdness.”

Now the train of thought was on a better track. “Mm. Perhaps not,” she mused. “Perhaps it was the manifestation of one of your greatest fears.”

“...Bloodlusting? ‘Cause that actually feels pretty good.”

Bonnibel chuckled, both at the statement and the confusion inherent within it. “No, silly. You’ve always been terrified that you’ll hurt me.”

A sharp intake of breath. “Oh. Yeah. That,” Tyrant muttered. “I mean… I can’t, but…”

“But whole you theoretically could.” The embrace tightened, becoming a mixture of affectionate and protective. Perhaps enjoyable from Marceline as a whole, but from this one in particular? A slippery slope. “Shh…” Bonnibel stroked over the fingers held against her chest, reminding their owner through her warmth that she was alive and unharmed. I’m safe. See? “You’ve never harmed me, Marcy. You’ve always taken your vow with deadly seriousness. You’re the reason I’m here still, and I mean that quite literally.”

“I guess…”

So you say, but you sound uncertain. You’re not even aware of it, or you wouldn’t be able to- The pieces clicked. “I think, Marcy… that your dream was a way of reassuring you that everything is alright. You’ve always been afraid of what’s inside of you, but I’m not.”

“...Yeah. I know.” The protective edge to the hold abated, leaving only the original affection. “You rock.”

Debatable. But not a debate worth having. Not now, not with Tyrant, not here. “I suppose this must be a similar situation for me. You, the Whole you, accepted my offering this evening. I may not be a demon, but I devised a method for my soul to artificially choose yours. I don’t believe it to be a coincidence that I’m facing my demons - no offense intended, Marcy, please don’t look at me like that - when you faced your own after your soul chose mine.”

Tyrant tilted her head. “So… what are you facing?”

You. But that wasn’t entirely accurate. It wasn’t Tyrant herself that Bonnibel feared. How could she? How could she ever fear any part of her queen, the woman who loved her unconditionally, who had stood by her through everything, who had accepted her exactly as she was? Even Usurper defined me as her mate in the present tense, and psychological torture not withstanding she never harmed me directly. Even she was bound by the promise. No, it wasn’t Marceline Bonnibel feared above all else. It was- “Myself, Marcy.”

“...Bonnibel?”

The candy golem turned, letting the arm she was using as a security blanket return to its owner. Instead she caught Tyrant’s gaze, needing her to see the sincerity and understand why Bonnibel was there. Now is the time for me to confront my demons. This may be a dreamscape, but my emotions are real. You taught me that. “We share many things in common, Marcy, but one thing we never intended on sharing was our mutual fear of hurting the other. I never realized how destructive a force I was in your life until I acted as the catalyst to your mind shattering.”

Tyrant frowned. “But… I mean, like I just said, Bonnibel, you’re the reason that I’m… you know. Trying and junk.”

Bonnibel gave her a soft smile, cupping her cheek. “I know, Marcy. I ground you. But you also ground me. I hold you when you inevitably fall apart, but you protect me from myself… and I never realized that until I-” say it say it say it “-killed you.”

“But… you had to. To bring us back.”

“Yes. That doesn’t make it any less… traumatic.” Now it was time for their positions to reverse, for Bonnibel to pull Tyrant against her and allow her to listen to her favorite sound in the world: her princess’s steady heartbeat. It elicited a soft purr from the Baddie. That and the fingers stroking down her mohawk. “You made me realize what I had turned into, and what I had sacrificed to do so. For the privilege of being the most powerful monarch in Ooo I sacrificed my best friend. I know better now, but…” A humorless chuckle, but it didn’t get far: Tyrant pressed herself closer. That was a much better feeling. “...I’ve been using your death to torture myself. I’ve always been so focused on punishing unconscionable failure that I never really considered that… how do I put it...”

“...I don’t want you to?”

Bonnibel laced their fingers, curling her hand around the cool thumb stroking her palm reassuringly. “Yes. You’ve only wanted to build up, whereas I’ve been focused on being punished for my crimes.”

“...Think that’s why you dreamed of me? Like, specifically?”

The candy golem settled her cheek on the demon’s forehead. “Yes. You were - are - such a large part of Marceline. You’re self-deprecation, you’re submission… but you’re loyalty, too. You’re still so loyal, even now, and I think…,” she took a deep breath, exhaling her reluctance and trepidation, “...I think that the best way I can move forward with you is to let go and stop beating myself up for who I was. I need to respect that you wouldn’t want me to suffer, let alone inflict it upon myself. Indeed, that would go against everything you’ve ever strived for, both individually and as a whole. It would be an insult to what happened here, at this cabin, for me to look at this opportunity and see only a way to harm myself with it.”

Tyrant chuckled, holding up her left arm. “This isn’t meant to be a cage, you know?”

Bonnibel took the Baddie’s hand with her free one, kissing the knuckles. “Yes. It’s freeing in a way I never imagined it could be. Now I can grow into a better person. A better ruler, perhaps, but… first and foremost, a better person.” The hand was released so that she could tilt the vampire’s chin up so that their eyes met. “You taught me that. You showed me how. Thank you,” she emphasized wholeheartedly. “I understand now. I was a monster, that is inarguable, but I’m not that person anymore.”

“Except to peeps all up in your biz?”

Bonnibel pressed her mouth into a thin line and Tyrant snickered. “...I amend my statement. I was a monster, but I’m not that person anymore. To you.”

“Just to the lessers?”

“Precisely.”

Now the snicker was actual laughter, which in turn became a devilish grin. “Rock. I’m proud of you, Bonnibel.”

For some reason, that made the candy golem blush. Instead of confronting that bundle of curious emotions she instead reached up, tapping the soft pink collar. “Do you want me to leave this on?,” she asked one last time.

“Yeah.” No hesitation, no nervousness. It still Just was.

Bonnibel gave her a soft kiss, letting her fingers trail from her cheek to her neck, resting over the collar. “Very well, Marcy. If you feel better not altering our dynamic, I can certainly respect that desire.” It wasn’t like she disagreed with it, after all, and with one last reassuring tug her hand, and the matter, were dropped.

“Thanks, Bonnibel. I gotta ask, though. What are you gonna do when you wake up? This is nice, don’t get me wrong… but you gotta wake up sometime.”

That was an interesting question. The princess hummed in thought, resting her hand over the vambracer. It’s so warm. Her expression brightened into a devious smile. “I think, Marceline, that you and I have a lot of lost time to make up for.”

Tyrant grinned. She’d know that smile anywhere. “Cool. I’m sure I’ll love rebuilding my trophy collection.”

“Mm. And do you plan on healing them this time?”

“Eh. See how the day goes. Why rush art?” Bonnibel chortled, finally breaking the embrace to stand. When she offered her hand, Tyrant gladly took it. As the Baddie rose to her full height the cabin door slid open, and both royals glanced over it. “Pretty sure that’s your cue that you’re waking up, Bonnibel.” Despite everything, there was still a twinge in the candy monarch’s chest at the idea of leaving Tyrant behind. It must have read quite easily, because the half-demon squeezed the hand that lay so comfortably in her own. “It’s alright, Bonnibel. I’m not gone. Remember? Still me. And when you wake up next to me? Still me, too.”

Bonnibel breathed a sigh, perhaps of relief, perhaps of hesitation. In the end, though- “Yes. You’re right, Marcy. Walk me out?” Tyrant nodded, leading the way.

“Come on, Bonnibel,” she smiled. “Let’s go home.”

[incorrectsmashbrosquotes]

The Beginning... Episode 1 Part 1

*A darkened room, dominated by a large round table, around which Ganondorf, Wolf, Ridley, King K Rool, and Bowser sit*

Ganondorf: It’s official. We’ve been given permission from the higher ups, and the lambs are on their way to the slaughter right now.

Ridley: Hahah! This is gonna be so much fun!

Bowser: Finally! We’re gonna get even with those jerks!

Wolf: At least with twenty of them.

Bowser: Meh, it’s a start.

Ganondorf, rising from his seat: Alright everyone. It’s time. Lights... Camera... Drama!

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*A large boat is chugging across the ocean. Aboard are twenty of the Smashers. Link, Samus, Ike, Marth, Zelda, Roy, Pit, Dark Pit, Leaf, Corrine (female Corrin), Robyn (female Robin), Lucina, Red, Bonny Janet, Joker, Captain Falcon, Daisy, Peach, Rosalina, and Erdrick.*

Link: Will we get there soon?

Red: I hope so. Master Hand sounded worried in the message.

Samus: Okay, but am I whe only one who wonders what’s so important about some island in Muskoka?

Marth: It must have been important if he requested all twenty of us.

Rosalina: I hope the kids are doing okay.

Captain Falcon: Eh, don’t worry. I left someone responsible in charge of them.

*At the Mansion*

Conker: Hey! What are you kids doin’?

Ness: We’re going into the woods to hunt monsters.

Meggy: I have an axe! Ree! Ree!

Conker: Hmm... sounds like something a responsible parent wouldn’t let ya do... Good thing I’m a fun uncle archetype! Knock yourself out kids.

*Back on the boat*

Captain Falcon: They’ll be fine.

Ike: Heads up guys! We’re going in!

*The boat pulls up to a rickety old dock that looks like it was assembled by drunk toddlers. Awaiting the Smashers as they leave the boat is what looks to be a below-code Summer Camp*

Marth: What the- is this some kind of joke?!

Bonny Janet: Aye laddie! Where doos tha’ floatin’ fook get ‘is kicks sendin oos ta this shite oof a camp?!

*********: Oh, it’s no mistake, trust me!

Erdrick: Okay.... did everyone else hear that?

*********: Ladies, Gentlemen, and that lovely and beautiful technicolor rainbow in between! It is my unique pleasure to welcome you, to TOTAL-

Link: That voice sounds familiar.

*********: DRAMA!

Zelda: And it sounds an awful lot like-

*********:: SMASH BROS!

*There is a sudden display of pyrotechnics from either side of the dock. There is a blast of purple smoke and the voice reveals itself to be Ganondorf... but something is off. He is wearing a gaudy golden suit and sunglasses and his teeth are unnaturally white*

Ganondorf: I’m your host, Ganondorf Dragmire, and over the next few months we’ll be putting these twenty competitors through Hell and High Water as they compete for fame, acclaim, and fabulous prizes!

Link: ... Ganondorf have you finally lost your mind?

Ganondorf: I’m as sane as I’ve ever been my Elven adversary! And you’ve been chosen for this epic show. Aren’t you honored.

Corrine: Cut the shit Ganondorf! Where’s Master Hand?!

Ganondorf: Good job with that spitfire attitude little miss dragon! You’re going to need it. *Ganondorf turns back to the audience* We’ll be right back after these messages! Don’t go anywhere, because today is our first CHALLENGE!

*Ganondorf freezes for a moment then drops the attitude to turn to the Smashers*

Ganondorf: In answer to your question, Master Hand will be here in a few moments.

Roy: Seriously Ganondorf. What is this!?  We we’re called here on an emergency. Not to see you finally lose your marbles.

*Master Hand approaches from the cabins*

Master Hand: Oh it’s no mistake, and it certainly is an emergency.

Robyn: Master Hand! We were so worried!

Master Hand: Flattering, but it won’t save you here. No, Ganondorf hasn’t lost his mind. You all are now the stars of a reality TV show. ...Well Reality Netflix show, but you get my meaning.

Zelda: What? Why!?

Master Hand, getting in their faces: BECAUSE YOU IDIOTS KEEP BLOWING UP THE MANSION EVERY THREE DAYS! YOU LITERALLY BLEW ALL OUR MONEY! NINTENDO WON’T PONY UP ANY MORE! *backs off, reigning in his temper* So, we’ve been lacking any funds to repair the Mansion after your next bout of shenanigans. So when Ganondorf came and pitched this idea to me I hopped right on board. you guys want to cause trouble so much?! FINE! Make the Mansion some money while doing it!

Lucina: And you put GANONDORF in charge?!

Master Hand: What can I say, he nailed the audition.

Captain Falcon: You know what?! This is totally bogus!

Joker: I’m going to do my best to ignore the fact that you just used the word Bogus.

Captain Falcon: I’m not going to just stick around and let Ganondorf jerk off to our torture. I’m getting o that boat and I’m leaving!

Master Hand: No, you aren’t.

Captain Falcon: Oh yeah?! Why not?!

Master Hand: 1) If you leave without permission of myself or Ganondorf you will never be welcome at the Mansion again. 2) *Master Hand snaps his fingers and the boat that brought them to the island blows up*

Captain Falcon: ... That’s fair.

Master Hand: Anyway, it’s not all bad. Ganondorf wasn’t kidding about prizes.

Ike: Wait, seriously?

Master Hand: Yup. If you win you get the Grand Prize of twenty million dollars!

*instantly all the smashers are interested in this new development*

Samus: Well... looks like we don’t really have a choice.

Master Hand: Good. Glad to know we’ve cleared that up. Now, I’ll take my leave... and don’t screw this up.

*Master Hand leaves in a flash of light and Ganondorf puts his Host persona back on*

Ganondorf: Welcome back my esteemed viewing audience. Thank you for you patience, but it’s finally time to begin TOTAL... DRAMA... SMASH BROS!

-

-

-

So... TDI was one of my favorite shows growing up. I got back into it recently, and this idea popped into my head. If you guys like it I’ll be doing one episode a week, broken up into two or three parts. If this does well, expect Part 2 of Episode 1 tomorrow. See you later, be good people!

[cassercole]

the one with the band

SHIP: PROCTOR-ROGERS FAMILY FEELS  RATING: TEEN WORD COUNT: 2,943 PROMPT: Just a fun little prompt with Steve and Tristan -- his younger son!  TAGGING: (permanent tag list): @whindsor​ @hrhatbat​ @fraysquake​ @sgtbuckyybarnes​ @elenacarinandherfandoms​ @chuck-hansens​ @luucypevensie​ @mystic-scripture​ @perfectlystiles​ @allaboutocs​ @anotherunreadblog​ @witchofinterest​ @hvproductions​ @heirsoflilith​ (WANT TO BE ADDED TO THE TAG LIST?)

Steve was well aware of how his teenage son was sneaking out at night. And it wasn’t even late at night sneak outs that he had assumed he would have to deal with, no. Tristan would leave after dinner with no word as to where he was going or when he would back. And right through the front door -- not even through a window like the countless movies and tv shows had prepared Steve for. 

The first couple of times, he let it slide, thinking his son had at least told his mother where he was going. But when he mentioned it to Q, she told him she had no idea where Tristan was going. 

“Why does it matter? He’s back before curfew.” she shrugged while she finished loading the dishwasher with the plates from their earlier dinner. 

“Yeah and when did you get back from your teenage antics when you were his age?” he asked, leaning one hand on the counter. 

“Before curfew so my parents wouldn’t suspect anything, then I would sneak back out after --” she cut herself off, staring at the open dishwasher for a moment as her words caught up to her. He gave her a pointed look, waiting for the realization to hit, “Oh goddamnit.” she sighed heavily, closing the dishwasher rather dejectedly and then meeting Steve’s look, “We should’ve just stopped with Bonnie. We didn’t realize how lucky we were, not having a kid like me.” she sighed. Steve rolled his eyes at her dramatics, knowing she was just fishing for a compliment but not focused enough to give her one. 

“I’m gonna see where he’s going.” he told her, pushing off the counter to go get his hoodie from the chair at the table. 

“I want to tell you to not to, but if he’s anything like me, he’s probably in a liquor store putting alcohol into his purse.” she sighed again, annoyed that those genes out of everything were the ones that were passed on. Steve gave a dry laugh as he zipped up his hoodie, 

“Or in the city, pit-pocketing some rich Wall Street guy.” he added, reminding her of another thing she used to do in her youth. 

“Or plotting a break in to a highly secure government facility, then being found with a dead body and a literal smoking gun.” she continued, making Steve pause and look over at her, “Too soon?” she grimaced, knowing it wasn’t. He shook his head, moving over to give her a quick kiss goodbye.

“I’m sure it’s nothing more than a study group.” he tried to calm both of them down with something rational that their son could be doing. She scoffed at his comment, knowing that wasn’t true. 

“If only.” she sighed again, giving him another kiss before he turned to leave.

As with most things in his life, modern technology had made finding Tristan much easier than it would’ve been years earlier. While he did feel a little bad about tracking his son, the fatherly instinct to make sure he was okay outweighed the guilt. Except it only returned when he figured out where exactly Tristan had been going. 

The coffee shop in the small town was dimly lit, but plenty crowded as Steve opened the door. Curious to see what was going on, he looked over the sea of people who were all looking in the same direction. Up toward the front of the shop a band was taking their places, all of varying heights and styles, armed with different instruments. It was easy enough to spot Tristan standing to the left of center stage; with his lanky, tall frame and the wild dark curls he had earned from his mother. Surprisingly, he had some sort of electric bass slung over his shoulders and was pretty expertly picking at chords while the rest of the band warmed up. 

“Hey, hi,” one of the other members of the band stepped forward to the mic and quieted the crowd, “Hey, we’re Blanket Statement and we’re gonna get started with a couple of covers first and then play you guys some new stuff that our bassist, Tristan, wrote.” the front woman explained the show. Surprise seemed to be the theme of that evening as Steve learned that Tristan was not only able to play the bass, but also in a band. One that had a seemingly large fanbase for the small town they lived in, and was talented enough that he even wrote some songs. He stayed where he was as the band started to play the first of the few covers they had prepared -- two songs he had heard before, a long time before when he lived in DC with Q, and was pleasantly surprised at how good they sounded. The Tame Impala cover the girl sang seemed to be the one people looked forward to the most, and the one Tristan seemed to be having the most fun playing. (Of course it was one of Q’s favorite songs so Steve wasn’t surprised by that).

Then came the songs Tristan had apparently written. Steve waited with bated breath, not knowing exactly how they would sound. It wasn’t like he or Q had any sort of creative writing bone in their bodies. Sure, sometimes Steve would try writing poetry now and then, but it wasn’t one he fostered like his art skills. But musical ones? Nothing. Nada. He remembered seeing a guitar in Q’s apartment in DC however long ago, but it had a thin layer of dust on it like she never ever picked it up. Though, as on theme with the night, he was pleasantly surprised and rather impressed at the songs his kid created. And couldn’t help but grin to himself as Tristan leaned close to his microphone to sing backup with the lead singer. 

Of course Steve would be proud of his kids no matter what, but watching his son share his talents and musical gifts and actually look like he was having fun for once in his life ignited a bright flame of pride behind Steve’s sternum. Seeing Tristan pluck at the bass and groove to the beat he was creating was something he never could’ve imagined happening in a hundred years, but he suddenly couldn’t imagine Tristan doing anything else. It was perfect for him. 

Not wanting to be caught, Steve ducked out before the show finished. He made his way home where Q was waiting up for him in their bed. He found her reading some sort of trashy romance novel that would do nothing but give her ideas (ones he would be happy to participate in), but when he walked into the room, she marked her page and pushed her reading glasses up to the top of her head, 

“You find him?” she asked with a raised eyebrow. 

“Mhm.” Steve nodded, wanting to tease her a bit as he shrugged out of his hoodie and then pulled his shirt over his head, “Guess where.” her eyes widened a bit at his tone and she pushed the covers off of herself, 

“Noooo, don’t tell me he was dropping balloons filled with colored powder off the roof of a building at pedestrians.” she groaned a bit, making him laugh.

“Nope.” he crawled onto the bed on all fours, “He wasn’t doing anything illegal.” he assured her, flopping down onto his back so his head hit the pillow, “He was at that little coffee shop on Wyndmoor.” he gestured vaguely to the direction of the coffee shop, moving on once Q nodded, “Playing bass. In his band.” he stressed, raising his eyebrows up and watching his wife’s face for her reaction. Her eyes widened at the word, then her mouth opened a bit at the imagery, then she pulled the corners of her mouth down -- nodding a bit as she thought it over, 

“I can see it.” she commented and Steve laughed a bit, “Were they any good?” 

“Really good.” he admitted, shifting on his pillow so he was a bit more comfortable and still able to make eye contact with his wife, “They covered that Tame Impala song you like,” she gasped a little at the mention, “and he even wrote a few songs himself. Hopeless romantic stuff, you know.” she awh’ed at the theme of their son’s songs, nudging her husband a bit,

“He gets that from you, you know.” he scoffed, rolling his eyes, but knowing she was right. She grinned at him, leaning over to give him a quick kiss. 

“Think he’ll ever let us come see him play?” she asked, almost hopefully. The pair looked at each other, letting a moment pass before both of them burst into laughter at Q’s ridiculous question. Their son would never let them come watch; they’d ruin his ‘cool factor.’

Still, that didn’t stop Steve from at least sneaking into Tristan’s shows. He enacted the undercover protocol that kept him safe for the year or two that he was an enemy of the government but still wanted to see his wife: dressed in dark clothes, hood or hat always on and pulled over so enough of his face was covered, and he didn’t talk to anyone. He was able to just stand in the back of whatever coffeehouse or underground bar they were in and listen to his son play his songs. 

Though his cover didn’t keep for long. One night, he had gotten there too early, which meant Tristan spotted him. He watched his son do a double take and then the easy smile slid off his face, replaced by the stoic -- almost annoyed, expression he usually received from his youngest. God, sometimes he reminded Steve so much of Dawson, it hurt his heart a bit. They would’ve gotten along so well.  

“What are you doing here?” Tristan asked once they were close enough to talk and not cause a scene. His eyes flicked around like he was afraid someone was going to see them, “Is Mom here too?” 

“No, no, it’s just me. We found out you were in a band and I just...I wanted to come see you play.” Tristan’s eyes returned to his, looking doubtful but still annoyed. 

“Don’t you have anything better to do?” he scuffed the toe of his Converse against the ground and Steve chuckled,

“No, actually I don’t.” he admitted and Tristan scoffed, glancing away from him, “It’s a nice way to spend a little quality time with you.” he added. They didn’t do much together as it was; Tristan didn’t like baseball or running like Bonnie did. Steve had a hard time finding something they could do as a father-son duo. If this was as close as he was going to get, he wasn’t going to let it pass him by.    

“What if all our songs are about how much we hate our parents?” he eyed him skeptically, testing him. 

“Then you would’ve told us about this much sooner.” Steve volleyed back with a small gesture to the stage. Tristan rolled his eyes, but fell quiet for a moment, 

“No, Dad, this isn’t cool. This is my thing, okay? I-I don’t want you here,” he raised his shoulders up while Steve tried to ignore the flash of hurt at his words, “I mean if someone recognizes you…” he trailed off, only semi-voicing his insecurities, but it was enough to let Steve understand. 

“I’m not trying to steal your spotlight.” he assured his son. He wasn’t even sure if anyone would really know who he was anymore. The world had moved on. There were bigger and better heroes around. He was just content to tend to his garden and go to his kid’s mini-concerts as a random middle-age (or older) dad. “I just wanted to see you play. Or hear you. Or whatever.” he got an eye roll from Tristan, who then shoved his hands into his pockets. He let his kid mull over what he said for a moment. The teen shook his head, letting his wild, dark curls flop around, then heaved a heavy sigh,

“Fine, whatever, but the moment someone asks to take a picture with you --” he pointed a finger at Steve, who raised his hands up in the air, “that’s it, Dad. Seriously. Just stand there. Don’t move. Don’t talk. Just watch.” 

“Deal.” Steve agreed to the terms, hoping this coffee shop was dim enough where that wouldn’t be a problem. Tristan eyed him for a moment longer before walking away to rejoin his band. 

As much as it killed Steve not to cheer along with the crowd, he tried as hard as he could to respect the rules Tristan put into place. If only because he didn’t want to miss one of the shows. Just like he hadn’t missed one of Bonnie’s track meets or the weird improv shows she did with her community group. 

Though he ended up breaking one of the rules by accident after one of the shows Tristan played. While waiting for Tristan to finish up his mingling with people who stayed after the show (Steve was now driving him to the sets), he saw his son talking with a rather pretty girl. His immediate reaction was to take a picture to show his wife later, but as much as technology had improved his life -- it also made it a lot worse. The constant updates had his settings all out of whack which meant when he tried to take a sneaky picture, the flash immediately went off. And he was caught. 

Having enough time spent in the field, Steve knew how to quickly exit a bad situation. He exited the coffee shop and headed toward his car, hoping that Tristan hadn’t realized what he had done. But a sharp, loud, “What the fuck, Dad?!” coming from behind him in his son’s angry tone proved him wrong. 

Steve froze, then winced, knowing he had messed up and now had to deal with an angry teenager. Really, he’d rather deal with Bruce’s other persona. Much easier to talk to than a hormonal, angry teenager who already disliked him as a base feeling. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I was just trying to commemorate a moment.” he held his hands up in defense, but Tristan ignored the look of innocence. 

“Fucking bullshit, Dad.” he snapped out, “You just did the creepiest thing ever. This is why I didn’t want you to come to these!” he gestured back to the coffee shop and again, Steve felt his heart sink a bit at not being wanted by his son. All he wanted to do was support him.

“Plenty of people were taking pictures, Twist.” he used the nickname he used to use when Tristan was a kid, “I was the only one who had the flash on.” he admitted his mistake, making Tristan groan. He fell back on one foot, twisting his torso away from Steve a bit as he looked up to the night sky,

“God! Dad! This is unreal! You can’t just be, like, a normal dad?!” he gestured frustratedly at his father. Steve made a face, tilting his head to the side a bit,

“I feel like this was a very normal dad thing to do.” he pointed out and Tristan groaned again, shoving his hands through his curls, 

“This is so fucking embarrassing.” he muttered under his breath. He turned away from him, heading back to the coffee shop.

“At least let me take you home.” Steve offered, but Tristan didn’t even pause,

“I’ll get a ride!” he called out from over his shoulder. Steve opened his mouth to try and convince Tristan to change his mind, but Tristan spun around on one foot, spreading his arms out wide as he continued, “I think we’ve had enough quality time tonight, Dad.” he shoved the knife a little deeper into Steve’s chest.   

After getting home and being made fun of by his wife for not knowing how technology worked, Steve waited up until Tristan got home just to apologize to him again.

“Dad, it’s fine, okay? Just let it go.” Tristan disregarded his apology, heading for the stairs as Steve followed, 

“So when’s your next show?” he asked, trying to be casual but Tristan shrugged, not giving him an answer, “Can I come?” he asked with a slight eyebrow raise.

“Fuck no.” Tristan scoffed out, “Not after tonight.” 

“Twist, come on.” Steve put his hand on the railing and the other went to rest on his hip, “I just want to see you play.” 

“Why?” he asked, turning on the stairs to look down at his dad, “Why is this so important to you?” he raised his shoulders up, looking rather angry and annoyed by his dad taking an interest in his activities. 

“Because I like...seeing you excel at stuff.” Steve answered, apparently giving a wrong answer by the way Tristan glared at him,

“Oh, so I’ve just failed at everything else then?” 

“No, Trist--no, Jesus. I mean, it’s great to see you doing something that you’re good at and that you love.” His son eyed him warily for a moment, fiddling with the edges of his flannel as he turned over what Steve said, then nodded slowly.

“Alright, yeah, okay.” he turned away from his dad, heading back up the stairs to his room.

“So can I come to another show?” he tried again, more hopeful this time. “Won’t even look in your direction, promise.” he added on to entice him. 

“Ugh, fine, whatever.” Tristan agreed, sounding annoyed, but he agreed. And Steve was going to go to every show he could.

[glitchcrows]

Through the Heavens' Grand Plan [A GO Fic]

Okay. This fic I'm finally going to publish here? It.... it's been sitting inside a Google Doc for the better part of a month. I've fought with myself over the endless what-if's but now, I suppose it's time to let it be seen, to be read by any who want.

That said, I want to give thanks to a few people who gave me hope and the encouragement in the process: @single-man-tear, you get top billing for providing, nudging the ideas while I was on an exhausting road trip. @softangelofsoho, you beautiful, wonderful PDX Dandy, thank you for your support and dealing with me babbling. For to my @codename-nightmare-pet , you really have lit up my world when it's been so hard at times lately. I love you and am so grateful for you. Lastly and certainly NOT least, thank you to @drawlight .... Your support amidst me reading, devouring your own work really got me thinking that hey, maybe I can do this.

Thank you to each of you and thanks to the ineffable boys and their creators themselves for this.

-----

Through the Heavens' Grand Plan

The gramophone was old, almost a hundred, if not a bit more than that. It stayed hidden from the public view and more in the quiet confines of what would be considered to be the living quarters within the angel's business. Crowley enjoyed switching up the record choices or changed the album to fit his needs. One did not anticipate to hear Mama Cass singing "Don't Stop Me Now," but surprises often found themselves in the bookshop when Crowley wanted to be mischievous. 

Aziraphale tolerated it at best, but Crowley also knew there were records that he wasn't allowed to mess up. One in particular the demon knew fully well he wasn't EVER to temper with at any given time. Beethoven's 9th Symphony, 1947, Bruno Walter as the conductor. Beethoven was someone that Aziraphale had admired for ever so long, had possibly tried to even be a guardian angel towards.

Aziraphale pulled the record from its sleeve once afternoon when taking his extended lunch break and started the gramophone, moving the record to the fourth movement as he took a seat next to the device, sandwich in hand, tea in tow.

The strings came to life, the familiar musical strains plucking at his own heartstrings, the faint hiss of the old record there. Aziraphale began to eat his lunch, foot tapping in time with the masterpiece....

---

"Was die Mode streng geteilt;

Alle Menschen werden Brüder!"

(What convention strictly divided;

All people become brothers!)

-Winter 1822-

"Please, Crowley. This isn't me asking you to make Goethe popular. This is me, your...." A hesitation to say 'friend' there, considering their discussions with one another could continue to have raised eyebrows from both Heaven and Hell. Crowley gave an unamused look towards the hesitancy. "Say it, angel. Friends, unless you feel acquaintances wouldn't go amiss. My side wants him, you realise. He's the perfect one for the pits. He and Wolfgang would get along swimmingly." Aziraphale felt disgust by the insinuation, the idea of it all. Ludwig von Beethoven, in Hell. 

A small whimper.

"Please, Crowley. I.... I...." the angel stammered, Crowley's lips curling into a smirk. "Say it, angel. Say it." Aziraphale felt himself hesitating more but knew how much this was to him. Hell didn't deserve him, God knew that. "I'm begging you. Please. Please let me have him. You can have Brahms, Schubert, Schumann. Let me have Beethoven. Please..."

Crowley's smirk never left his face.

Anything for his angel.

---

"und der Cherub steht vor Gott..."

(And the cherub stands before God.)

---

-Spring 1823-

"Let me help him, your Majesty. Let me work with him. One last piece. One magnum opus. Let me be his guiding force. If....if you'll let me. I won't let you down."

The archangels watched Aziraphale standing in the heavenly courts. Uriel and Gabriel eyed him suspiciously about the idea of interference while Michael sat there, looking as though the idea wasn't completely a stupid waste. God contemplated long enough before giving a blessing, warning Aziraphale to keep a low profile, to do right.

"Thank you, Lord. I promise I won't let you down."

---

Ludwig was difficult, he soon learned. Old age and bitterness did not make for good work between the pair when he was annoyed, angry. That said, the pair were able to bond over fond thoughts of delicious schnitzel, apfelstrudel, sacher torte, often indulging in the sweets when they had made some progress. 

People had wondered who the incomer was, often having Ludwig shout that it wasn't any of their damn business, to be frank.

Yes, he was aging and dying, but Aziraphale refused to let him go without finishing. He recalled how well that had gone for the other side and the Requiem Mass for Mozart. 

"Herr Fell?" Beethoven had said between bites of their strudel purchase on a particularly long day. "Why me? Why pick me?" Aziraphale's fork hesitated to place another piece into his mouth. Oh, there were so many reasons, the angel knew, but he supposed the composer deserved a chance to be remembered for all time wasn't all a bad idea either. Grabbing a piece and an ink quill, he scribbled his response:

"Everyone deserves a second chance. Including you, Herr Beethoven."

Beethoven's eyes misted with wet tears.

---

"Ahnest du den Schöpfer, Welt?"

(Do you sense the creator, world?)

-May 1824-

Aziraphale sat where Ludwig wouldn't see him, opting to be practically invisible until he felt a hand to his shoulder. A small yelp was followed by a pointed look when it became apparent the tapper was Crowley. "Easy, angel. Who'd you think I was? The guillotine squad?" Aziraphale squinted. "Clever remark, honestly. Did you think that up on the spot?" came his snippy reply as Crowley took a seat next to him. "Testy, testy! Take it easy...." Aziraphale seemed unconvinced. "Really now, angel. I'm here to see how good this magnum opus is. Word is that it's going to blow minds."

Aziraphale gave a sigh.

"Uh... that it's going to be his crowning achievement," Crowley corrected. "Yes... I do believe you're right," he whispered as the lights dimmed and the symphony began. 

An angel and demon both found tears that night by the end of it all.

---

"Such' ihn über'm Sternenzelt!

Über Sternen muß er wohnen."

(Seek him above the starry canopy!

Above stars must He dwell.)

"Aziraphale? ..... Aziraphale!"

He was being shaken and soon was snapping back to the present by Crowley. The record scratched at the edge, giving indication that the number was over. "You've been crying. Is everything all right, angel?" he asked in genuine concern for his angel, friend. Az moved a hand and felt the wetness to his eyes. 

"Aziraphale? What in the bonny, bloody blue blazes- -" Crowley began to growl before taking note of what the record was. The demon blinked, realising that perhaps, in this moment, tenderness was warranted. "Oh, Aziraphale." The angel gently began nodding his head. "I....couldn't help myself. Would....would you like to hear it? With me?" 

Crowley gave a wistful smile, sitting on the empty space on the loveseat as Aziraphale started the section all over again, settling in the hold of his demon.

And again, many, many years later, an angel and his demon bonded over their love for Beethoven.

[the-metal-reaper]

An Eye For An Eye - Chapter 2

Today's chapter is a bit longer than we're used to, I know. Don't really have much to say, so I'll just let this chapter speak for itself, I suppose.

I hope you enjoy Chapter 2 of An Eye For An Eye!

--

Dark plumes of smoke emerged from the hood and tailpipe of Michael’s rusty old car. The gas-guzzler is nearly as old as Michael himself and had barely made it to the restaurant. Charlie is convinced that the car won’t make it through the year, and assurances from Michael have not changed that opinion. 

For a moment, Charlie’s heart stops as she looks up at the building. Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria had been her home away from home while she was alive, but after her death, it became her prison (at least until Mike came and saved her). But when Charlie left, she had to leave her best friends behind, too. The other victims. Her dad had mentioned on the tape that he had spoken to some of the spirits residing there, so maybe everyone was still there! But… Were they angry at her? Did they—

“Lee. Let’s go.” Michael pulls Charlie toward the door, snapping her out of her downward spiral. Something about the determination in Michael’s glance tells Charlie that this was intentional. Subconsciously, Michael squares his shoulders before knocking on the door. It opens immediately as if someone was waiting behind it for them to arrive. Charlie and Michael could barely recognize the man behind the door. With a scraggly, unkempt beard, a face aged beyond its’ years by loss and fear, and eyes that had stared death in the face and lived to tell the tale, Henry looked like a different man; though Michael and Charlie had changed too, in more ways than Henry had. 

His voice, too, had aged, but not beyond recognition. “Michael?” 

“Mr. Miller.” Michael gave Henry his best imitation of a smile. “May we enter?”

“Sure.” Swallowing his questions, Henry pulls the door open wider, looking Michael up and down again and again.

Still wrapped around Michael’s arm, Charlie finally regains her voice. “Dad? Can you hear me?” She flickers, tears about to start budding in her eyes.

Henry stops dead in his tracks when he hears her faint whisper. He can’t see her yet, but he feels Charlie’s warmth as she wraps her arms around him.

“I never thought I’d see you again.” Charlie’s voice, exhausted from the stress of the day’s emotional blows, quivers almost to the point of incomprehensibility. Her father can’t seem to find words to describe his overflowing emotions.

“Is that her?” 

“It is! It’s Charlie!”

At the same time, Michael and Charlie spot four spirits leaning over the corner, curious as to what’s happening. After only a few seconds, Charlie, composed as always, sprinting towards the children with her arms open.

“Guys!” She says, pulling the children into her arms, “I missed you all so, so much!” 

“We missed you too.” From Charlie’s arms, Suzy’s voice rings clear as a bell. 

Charlie does a double-take and somehow smiles even wider than she was before. “You learned how to leave your bodies, just like I taught you! I’m so  proud.”

“It still makes me really sleepy, though. Don’t like that.” Fritz pouts playfully,  making Charlie giggle.

They continue to chatter, slowly making up for the five-odd years that they had been separated. Near the door, Michael and Henry stand awkwardly,  watching.

“So, Michael, if it’s not too personal—” 

“What happened to me?” Michael cracks an irony-filled grin. “You  recall Circus Baby’s Pizza World, correct?” 

A pit forms in Henry’s stomach. He remembers those chrome robots; they had filled him with dread even back then. All those monstrous extras: “deter and  misdirect,” “parental tracking,” “voice mimic?” How had he not seen what William was doing?

The guilt-ridden look on Henry’s face showed Michael that he did indeed remember. “After it shut down, my father kept the animatronics. He put them in a bunker underneath our old house. I went down there to look for Elizabeth. Instead, well…” As Michael gestures to himself, the false charm in his smile fades, leaving only a cold, angry grimace. “...I lost my soul.” His voice sends a chill down Henry’s spine.

Henry sighs and stares down at his feet. “I’m sorry, Michael.”  

“Don’t be.” The bottom hem of Michael’s trench coat trails behind him like a cape as he walks off, ending the conversation. He crouches next to Charlie and the rest of the children, and his smile reappears. 

“Hey, Mike! You remember everyone, right?” The four children, curled up close to Charlie, brighten when they see Michael. “This is Gabe, Jeremy, Suzy,  and Fritz.” Charlie beams up at him.

“Hello, everyone. Do you know why Henry called us here?” Michael says, sitting cross-legged to Charlie’s left. 

As if on cue, Henry approaches the group. “Actually, that’s what I wanted to talk about. I brought you all here today because… I want to free you all. You children have been stuck here for far too long, and it’s time you moved onto the afterlife.”

Michael swallows a sharp retort. It would be wise to wait until later to tell Henry that Michael couldn’t be freed. You needed a soul for that. He glances over and sees that Charlie’s shifting in her seat and they meet worried glances.

“Gabriel, Jeremy, Suzanne, Frederich, you’re all still bound to the animatronics, right?” Unaware, Henry continues. The children all nod, and Michael turns to look at the four six-foot robots standing powered-off on the stage. Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, Foxy. Ever since one of his friends had worked the night shift at the restaurant and told Michael spine-chilling stories of the animatronics moving around the restaurant seemingly at random (a story that Michael now knew was completely true), he had always taken to counting them, just to make sure that they were all still there.

Henry stands up and walks towards the stage. “I’m pretty sure that dismantling them would unbind you. Then, hopefully, you could move on to the afterlife.”

Suddenly, a thought seizes Michael, and before he can stop himself, he stands too. “I want to get revenge on my father. He deserves to pay for his crimes,” he blurts out.

“He will,” Henry looks slightly worried at the suggestion, but replies nonetheless, “I’m going to get evidence and turn him in to the police.”

“Not good enough, Miller. He should pay with his life. We have to stop him now, before he hurts us, before he hurts you.” His glare is unwavering, strong. Michael isn’t backing down.

Charlie’s voice, quiet but determined, reaches his ears. “Mike.”

He still continues, “It couldn’t possibly be that hard. All we have to do is find him, and I have a few leads.” The children watch him, agreement dawning in their eyes.

“Michael.” Charlie pulls on Michael’s arm, trying to drag him back to his seat, but he doesn’t budge.

Henry says, “I-I don’t really think it’s necessary to that level, Michael.”

“Oh, but I think it—” Michael stops abruptly, suddenly aware of how he was speaking to the man who had practically raised him after Mom passed, who housed and fed him even after Charlie died. With a ragged breath, Michael sits back down, clenching his fists so tight that he could feel the wires in his fingers digging into his palms. Charlie flashes him a grateful smile, and he returns with an anxious one.

“It’s almost midnight, the night guard will be here soon.” Smiling nervously, Henry helps Michael to his feet. “You two should go.”

Michael sighs, “Thank you, Henry.” 

With a tinge of regret in her eyes, Charlie waves goodbye to the children as they re-enter their respective animatronics. Together, Michael and Charlie stand outside the restaurant, it's neon sign still shedding a little light, a dim reminder of the building’s age.

Michael murmurs, “I’m so sorry about how I acted before, Lee. It was stupid, I just got carried away.” 

“I know, Mike. It’s okay.” Charlie says, a twinge of happiness sounding in her at his admission. “Just please don’t talk like that in front of my dad again, okay? You saw how upset that made him.”

Raising his right hand, Michael smiles and says, “Never again.”

They both laugh for a moment and walk a few steps in silence.

“Speaking of him, is it okay if I hang back for a little bit?” Jabbing a thumb towards the double doors of Fazbear’s, Michael says, “I’d like to apologize.”

“Sure! I’ll see you at home.” Charlie’s smile is almost as bright as the glow of her skin as she walks silently off into the night. 

As soon as she’s out of sight, Michael turns back to the restaurant. Henry still hasn’t left yet, and he’s nowhere to be found. Where else could he have gone?

“Dave? Can I talk to you for a minute?” 

Michael could hear Henry’s voice, but couldn’t see him. Henry and whoever the hell “Dave” was must be in the storage room. 

“Sure thing, boss.” 

Stopping dead in his tracks, Michael’s skin crawls. He recognized that voice, though it was masked with a fake Brooklyn accent. 

“What’s up?” ‘Dave’ continues. 

The lightheartedness begins to drain out of Henry’s voice. “Drop the act, William. I know that it’s you.”

William’s cold chuckle makes Michael’s hands shake. “You were always smart.” Michael can feel the fake cheer dripping from William from his hiding spot in the dining area.

“I know you did it. That you’re the Fazbear Killer.” Henry says.

“Really?” William has dropped all of his warm pretenses, revealing ice-cold anger underneath. “And how exactly did you come to that conclusion?”

“I found the old tapes.”

“How? I deleted all of the camera footage.” 

“Not all of it. You’ve grown sloppy, old friend.” 

Michael tenses, ready to bolt if either of them got violent. 

“You little— Fine. What the hell do you want?” 

“I want you to turn yourself in.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re human, William. I know there’s still good in you, that a tiny, minute sliver of you is still the same person who started the Fazbear franchise with me, who married Isabel—”

“Don’t you dare use her to try and guilt me.”

“William, please. As a friend, I beg of you. End this madness. It’s what she would’ve wanted.”

“Henry… I’m afraid that just isn’t going to happen.” A metal-on-metal sound echoes through the restaurant, followed by an agony-filled scream. 

Yanking open the door so fast he almost rips it off the hinges, Michael bursts into the storage room to see Henry kneeling on the floor, a butcher’s knife lodged in his wrist, and tears pouring down his face. William stands in front of him, a crazed look in his eyes that is replaced with fear the moment he lays eyes on the rotting monstrosity that he used to call a son.

“Get away from him,” says Michael, in such a low timbre that it comes out as more of a robotic growl than actual words.

William, in near-hysterics, grabs Henry by the back of his shirt and holds him in front of himself like a meat shield, pulls the knife out of his old friend’s wrist, and hold it across Henry’s throat. “S-stay back! Come any closer and I’ll—”

He’s going to enjoy this. “I told you, get away.” With superhuman strength, especially considering his figure, Michael grabs his father by the throat and tosses him across the room as if he weighed little more than a pillow. Michael turns to finish William off, but then he sees Henry out of the corner of his eye. 

Henry, the father of his best and only friend, with blood pouring out of his gaping wound and pooling around him, was paler than bone. He needed medical attention, fast. But, at the same time, Michael was alone with William. Michael could finish that wretch off the way he deserved to go. Slowly and painfully. 

Michael takes one last glance at Henry, more of an apology than anything, when he’s reminded of something that makes his stomach twang. Charlie. She, unlike Michael, fiercely adores her father, and she would be devastated if he died. Especially once she learned that Michael could’ve saved him, but simply chose not to.

Reluctantly, he turns back to Henry. With a final glare of warning at William, who took the message to heart, sprinting out as fast as his legs could carry the moment Michael took his eyes off of him, Michael pulls Henry into his arms, putting his injured wrist in his lap. 

“Henry? Can you speak?” Michael examines the older man with worry. Henry sputters out a few garbled vowel sounds in response, but nothing comprehensible. 

He racks his brain, trying to think of something, anything he could do to stop Henry’s blood loss. The idea to call Charlie briefly flashes through Michael’s mind, but he quickly comes to the conclusion that little good could come from that. After all, what could she do to help? Instead, Michael walks as quickly as he can into the night guard’s office. When he sees an abandoned jacket on the desk chair, an idea inspired by one of the many action movies he’d seen as a kid. Michael grabs the jacket and ties the sleeves tightly around Henry’s arm, just underneath the elbow. Maybe a little too tightly, Michael couldn’t be sure, but he left it. 

Now that Henry had mostly stopped bleeding, Michael reached for the phone with a blood-slicked hand and dialed 911. The voice of a middle-aged woman exhausted from years of late nights and early mornings crackles over the phone, “Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?” 

“My fr—my boss, Henry Miller, was attacked. He’s lost a lot of blood.” Michael desperately tries to insert emotion into his usually monotone and robotic voice, racking his brain for memories of what it was like to have a full range of emotion, but coming up with nothing. He just hoped that he didn’t sound too insane to the operator. 

A note of concern enters her tone. “Where are you, and who attacked Mr. Miller?” 

“We’re at the Hurricane branch of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzaria, on Monkton road.” Shifting Henry in his arms, Michael checks on the wound. Something’s wrong with it, but he can’t tell what. Not that Michael has much medical experience. He hasn’t had to deal with so much as a papercut in quite a long time. “And… it was one of his employees, goes by the alias Dave Miller. His real name is William Afton.”

A stifled gasp echoes across the line. Apparently, his father was more infamous than Michael knew. “Stay on the line, sir. What did you say your name was?”

“Joseph Stein.” Michael reads off of the name tag on the jacket tied around Henry’s arm.

“Okay, Mr. Stein. We’re sending an ambulance over right away.”

--

Previous | Next | Where it all Started

[vacationcalendar]

8/7/21

Hi boyfriend~

Just took a weed gummie in honor of Bonnie’s birthday weekend. My present for my friend is that I’ll suck it up and be an active participant in their life for a change. I’ll be game for a whole weekend. I got up early today and tagged along to volunteer at a charity 5k. We grabbed some coffee and wandered to the halfway point of the course (thus walking an entire 5k in the process! Not too shabby ;D), and then camped out a water station that I’d say should be very grateful I actually showed up to work its sorry ass. Bonnie didn’t have to do any managing/delegating, they just got to post up and chatter at the runners-by. I’m pretty sure if I didn’t go, and I promise I am not tooting my own horn, that water stand would not have been the fun water stand that it was. They would have had 2 dunces making it go worse, and only 3 people managing 4 tables of water cups. Volunteers man, what are you gonna do? I’m sure that’s why they were looking for 8 people per water stand, just to statistically ensure that SOMEONE with half a brain would be around to help out.

Great morning though. JUST a little too hot, but that’s how you know you were doing solid work out there. The proof is in the pits, baby!

Ok, 40 minute bathroom break is over. Man, nothing like starting the blog to make me SO productive in the mornings! It’s such a cheat code. I did laundry, dishes, pooped; my whole day is bright and available now! But now I’m tired and I don’t want to write anymore. I had about a 6 minute where I wanted to do this today and I actually hit it for a second before I had to stop and do ANYTHING ELSE I guess. So, fuck. What do we write now?

I had to get up suuuuper early for this 5k thing, and I only got like 4 hours of sleep because I did not factor in the early wake up until like 6pm yesterday, and I had already slept like 14 hours that day :I That’s right, I woke up, immediately crushed the blog, went back to laying down, played League, and watched tv and shit until I felt tired enough to sleep and get ready for the 5k, which was 2am. So now I have a weed gummie digesting in me and I have a nap climbing up my priority list and this is why I don’t like weed. I feel like I have to plan my fucking shit around it, and I’m not good at that. Part of me thinks I can crash right now and wake up before the drugs make me sleep for 2 hours longer than I want, and give me weird, unpleasant dreams. I can’t possibly pull that off, I’m not sleepy, I’m just like sluggish. So basically what I have to do now is power through into the “trip” (maybe I’ll luck out and miss it and I can just pretend I’m high, which I won’t do, but hey we’re brainstorming here), and let that smoothly transition me into a nap. And THAT would mean that I have to entertain myself for the time being to get me into a good place to start being high...? And then I can like power up my activities WHILE high, and that would be fun. Playing video games, great. Playing video game high? That’s the whole point of it. I mean like, that’s the whole point of life, right? And then I can be like NAPTIME BITCH, and that would be fun also, in theory. And then I can go put a podcast on and go to the movies? Ugh, I don’t want to go the movies anymore. I’m to tired :( This sucks.

I’m trying to go see Green Knight. I’m sure that sentence won’t matter at all in even like 4 months from now, but I think it should be a fun time. So much more productive than anything I can do from the desk. And it’s not summertime like this forever. You gotta get that shit in so you don’t think you miss it when the weather turns. You want to be sitting inside on a cold autumn day thinking “good riddance, being outside is entirely overrated.” And I’m not there yet. Man I don’t know. Well how bout this? Let’s do a little more brainstorming while I’m trapped here writing to your dumb ass. If you ever read these again this part will be like a little prank on you lol. Ok: 1: Stay here, no movie. Let’s lock that in. that should make having to navigate being high so much easier. Let’s let the pipe dream of doing everyone’s favorite thing of being at a theater high wait just a little longer. Today can be a trial run. We’ll walk around today and think about what it would be like if I had biked 20 minutes to a movie theater and watched a 2 hour movie and biked home. And when we suss out that it would have been unenjoyable, we’ll feel like geniuses for making this call. So that’s out of the way. LOCK IT IN

2. I don’t know yet. Let’s just start simple. Food. What’s up? We have almost no groceries. We have no bread for a tuna salad sandwich, but let’s put that in the to-do list. We need more english muffins too. That was an A+ 10/10 move last month. Just muffins w/ strawberry jam, and egg McMuffins whenever the fuck I wanted, which was always. Frozen Veggies like Corn or Beans would be good. Bag Chop Salad kits. They weren’t on sale last week, and it’s goddamn highway robbery when they’re at full price. So this week would be the perfect time to check in on ‘em. And I’ll commit more to an equivalent substitute this time if I can’t find a good deal. Let’s see, what else? Oof my wpm and accuracy is starting to take a hit. The first and only symptom! Nice! Miku. Meat. Spaghetti and meat sauce? Gotta check out what ragu shit you have in the house before you do that. Consider this your reminder! I know you’ve never successfully pulled that off, but I have full confidence in you. Oh fuck, now I’m starting to worry a little bit the coherent quality of this is about to start dropping. Well, another fun little prank for ya bitch! Fruit leathers? I just have no fucking idea. Ok, so shopping can 100% wait for another day. This isn’t anywhere close to a cohesive trip. So we can eat out somewhere! Great, lock it bitch. I’m starting to swear more; it’s because I can’t find the right words anymore. Oh boy, the weed smelling burps are happening. This really is so gross and difficult. Beer is just a more bitter version of soda. It’s actively refreshing. Damn, if only I’d been a little more exposed to peer pressure at an earlier age. I’d have been past this awkward uncomfortable phase of weed, like how I (and basically everyone) was with alcohol. You slam Natty Lites with your nose closed until you start to realize life is little more pleasurable than the absolute Kelvin zero you had come to be familiar with. Uh, ok, I’m starting to let my mind wander. He’s daydreaming, chief! I suppose I could just transcribe the dialogue of the daydreams, but I can’t keep up. This is just break o’clock.

3. What do I fucking eat!? I had to make a whole nother numbered point, and I still don’t have the plan. Jesus H,. Ok here’s what AROUND. Chex Mix, unopened. 1 Grape Soda. Cookie Dough Ice Cream (w choc sauce). Raisins, PB, Ramen, meh. Reese Cups! I just looked behind and was like, “oh yeah! Nice”. If that’s not everything, that’s REALLY close. So what’s calling my name? Pizza? Chinese? Damn, I might just have to play this by ear. Nothing at all sounds interesting, and I’m not the slightest bit hungry (we got free Dim Sum after the 5k. It was called the Dim Sum and Then Some 5k). Ok, so other options to keep on the back burner for later would be: Kebab, Chicken Sandwich, go get Pizza Rolls and Chippies at the store. Ok that’s enough options, that fuckin really took it outta me, I can’t believe it. My hands are kinda feeling heavier now too. I better think of a #4 thing to write about quick or I may lose all my inertia.

4. UMmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Movie time? I watch arrival and turn off all the lights and pop popcorn and have my soda? Where sunglasses and pretend they’re 3-D glasses? Maybe. Ugh, I can tell right now my eyes are gonna get bloodshot, or dry out or whatever. They already kinda hurt :(. It’s fine. I feel more good than not. Like I’m wrapped up in a blanket, even though I’m not. Maybe OH- Maybe I lay out on the beach chair and read in the sun with an ice coffee? Oh fuck that might actually be perfect. Then I can go no shirt and just feel nature, and maybe bugs are less troublesome when you’re high. And then I can pop Doughboys on and shower! Shower high, seems like a guaranteed home-run. Ok, I like it a lot. I have to do SOMETHING away from Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum or I’ll go crazy this weekend, especially if I have to tag in on occasion and “participate” for Bonnie’s Birthday. Which, let’s be clear, is the least I can do. It’s a gimme. I owe Bonnie AT LEAST this much, even just as like backpay for holidays or yore. Like if I have the zhuzh to punch in for birthday shtuff, I better do it, right? I just looked it up, it might officially be zhoosh, not zhuzh, but zhuzh appears to me to be the best way to do it. And there’s like 5 accepted spellings of it. Stupid, not helpful. Just because it employs a sound that has no [conformed] applications in the english language? Poor excuse! Oh man, it’s so early I can’t believe it! That 5k feels like a day ago, wild. Well, hey! Point 4 is finished. Moving on!

5. What to do tonight? Who gives a fuck. Figure that part out when you get there, it does not matter at all. There, numbered list over.

Ok so, let’s just wrap this up I guess. I’m cracking an hour here, that’s plenty. Maybe tonight you do a little PRE-WRITING before bed, so this isn’t so “chore-y”. Let’s just remember you seriously considered letting yourself down completely and bailing on the blog earlier this morning. So we need to keep our expectations at appropriate levels still. It’s this NEXT week that should be very interesting. Just in terms of output. A little more practice, and little more muscle-memory. A little less crap to distract me (I have been burning through non-stop crap youtube/tv this last week since coming home, it’s fantastic. I was gonna say it was sucky, or disgusting or something, but that’s a lie I tell to myself to pretend I’m more diligent than I actually am. ACCEPT who you are and love yourself for it)

I accept you and love you Max. Ok, I have to go, I feel like I’m gonna puke... awesome 

bi

[teamkaiforever]

MISTAKES

Kai Parker x Reader word count: 4 335 summary: Kai comes over to Reader’s house with a very important question about their future, when things take an unexpected turn. * gif by me _________________________________________

A sigh left her lips and she sat on the couch, glancing at the clock. Earlier when he had called, her boyfriend had promised he’d be there by 7PM and it was already 8PM. He was never late and if he was going to be he always called, but just as she reached for her phone someones hands covered her eyes and someone’s breath tickled her neck. Instantly her breath got caught in her throat and her heartbeat increased. There were things she’d recognise in her sleep, things that could bring her back from the dead … and his touch was at the top of the list.

   “Malachai Parker…” she muttered, “Hasn’t anyone told you? It’s not polite to make a girl wait.”

Kai kissed her cheek and tossed himself on the couch next to her, instantly pulling her into his arms. His palm brushed against her cheek and their lips collided in a gentle kiss from which neither could pull away. Or get enough. It was always like this no matter how many times they kissed, ever since the first kiss a few weeks ago.

   “I’m sorry. I couldn’t get here sooner. Something happened.” he said softly, resting his forehead on hers and longingly gazing into her eyes. “I’ll make it up to you. It’s a promise.”

   “What happened?” she shifted on the couch, semi-climbing onto his lap. “Tell me.”

   “Not important at the moment.” he placed his hands on her waist while hers hooked around her waist. “What matters most is you being in my arms and nothing else. I um – there is something I wanted to ask you but you might get upset with me and I –”

   “I am not just your girlfriend, I am your best friend. You can tell and ask me anything.”

Kai smiled nervously, glancing at their hands as their fingers intertwined together. They’ve been together, romantically, for over two months now. Two absolutely blissfully happy filled months, minus the two weeks they spent apart due to her friends leaving him in 1903… They shared laughs, inside jokes and so many of the same interests. And no matter what her friends had told her and kept telling her about him, nothing could change her mind about them. Whenever he was around Y/N was always dopey grin happy and he loved seeing her like this, but –

   “Malachai –”

Y/N tilted her head slightly and playfully slapped his chest once, twice… her lips curled into a smile watching him look at her with his ocean blue eyes glowing like never before. Something was different about him and even though she couldn’t put her finger on it, she knew she liked it. No, she loved it. Slowly her smile turned into a laughter and he started laughing with her until he gripped her wrists, pinning her against the couch.

   “I’m leaving –”

   “What?”

   “—and I want you to come with me.” he added, gazing into her eyes. “I know your life is here, your friends… your family. That I am asking you to leave everything you know behind to be with me and –”

   “My life is wherever you are.” she interrupted him. “Wherever that is – this town, another continent or another planet or galaxy or the corner of the furthest galaxy. Another dimension –”

Kai smiled widely at her and pressed his lips briefly against hers. “You mean it? You’d leave your friends … your home, your family just to be with… me?”

   “Yeah…” she smiled, lightly holding her lip between her teeth. “I have no family remember? I mean, they are all at the cemetery. And I can make new friends um wherever it is we are going. Which is um… where exactly?”

Kai leaned in towards her, pressing his lips against hers and slowly trailing them down her neck.    “Anywhere. Everywhere… another planet, the corner of the furthest galaxy. Another dimension –”

Y/N laughed under her breath for a second and tangled her fingers in his hair.     “Just you and me. Forever. Like we were actually meant to get to the normal boyfriend-girlfriend stuff after everything that happened. You know, Prison Worlds… my friends trying to break us up.” Her eyes fluttered closed for a second enjoying his touch when suddenly his lips dissappeared. Y/N opened her eyes finding him look at her as if he was seeing her for the first time.

   “I don’t deserve you.”

   “You deserve the world, Kai.” she said quietly. “You deserve to get to live the way you want and to be happy. How many times do I have to remind you that, silly? I’ll go pack now cuz that will take forever.” she started to push him off her, when instead he pulled her up and her stomach rumbled. Kai laughed under his breath.

   “You do that.” he tapped her nose, smiling at her. “I’ll go make dinner cuz someone is clearly hungry and … we can leave in the morning?”

   “Sounds perfect to me.” Y/N cupped his face and pressed her lips against his in a long slow kiss before getting off the couch and almost running towards the stairs, stopping at the bottom to look at him. “I love you.”

   “I love you too.” he smiled at her, watching her make her way upstairs while his hand rested over his pocket. “More than words can describe.”

Y/N pushed her bedroom door open and pulled out a suitcase from under the bed, her smile unable to leave her face.  It was happening – she was about to get everything she could’ve ever dreamed about. A boy who loves her with all her flaws, who she loves with all his flaws. Someone she could start a family with, have children with. Someone she could grow old with. Her hands reached in the dresser and she almost tossed everything in the suitcase without even bothering to look until it was so full, she had to push it on the floor and sit on top of it to close it when she heard her phone ringing downstairs. She called out for Kai to pick it up but he didnt seem to have heard her so she ran downstairs. Her slippers slipped on the carpet in her hurry to pick it up and she almost fell on the couch before grabbing her phone from the coffee table. CAROLINE said the caller ID. Swiftly she swiped the screen and answered the call.

   “Hey, Care. Can I call you later? I’m kind of in the middle of something.”

   “Um no.” said her friend, lightly sniffling. “This can’t wait.”

   “What is it?” asked Y/N feeling a pit start to form in her stomach, slowly growing wih every second.

   “You should come to the Salvatore house.”

   “I can’t. Kai is o–”

   “Kai is dead, Y/N.” said her friend.

   “No, Care he isn’t—“  she got up heading towards the kitchen where supposedly Kai was making dinner. “He – he was just…” she ran around the house looking for him, feeling her heart sank a little deeper with every step she took. “What –”

   “Y/N, he has been dead for at least a few hours.” replied her friend. “He linked Elena to Bonnie then tried to kill her…and Damon –”

   “Damon what, Caroline?” said Y/N through gritted teeth, barely able to catch a breath. Tears had started to fill her eyes and even though she knew what the answer to her question would be, she dreaded hearing her friend’s answer. “What did he do?!”

   “He… killed him.”

   “No.” Y/N cried, resting her back against the wall in the living room. “No, you are lying. Damon wouldn’t do this to me. He knows how much Kai means to me. He… he wouldn’t.”

   “Y/N, I asked Damon to wait before he buries him so you can say goodbye but yo—”

Y/N’s phone slipped to the ground and slowly her back slid down the wall. But he would. a tiny voice told her. He absolutely would and he had. Damon had taken him away from her, again. Having Kai back for three days in secret… Three of the happiest days in her life and now he was gone all over again and this time forever.

As if from a distance she could hear her friend still talking to her on the phone but none of it mattered. There were no words that could comfort her, no words that can make the pain go away. Tears started streaming down her face and her body shook from the sobs while she hugged her knees, rocking back and forth on the ground trying to figure out if had her mind been playing tricks on her or if she was seeing ghosts. Or maybe Kai had played a trick on her friends so they can get away.

No, she shook her head. He would’ve told me. He wouldn’t put me through that kind of pain. He wouldn’t do this to me.

Y/N grabbed her phone and smashed it against the wall, quite literally turning it to bits but not before it knocked over the reading lamp hear by. Plastic and glass shreds covered the floor around her and it felt as if time stood still. Or the world had stopped spinning. Her mind kept spinning, replaying everything that had happened barely half an hour ago. It had felt so real, but if what Caroline had said – it hadn’t been and her friend wouldn’t lie to her. As the thought that she had lost him for good started to sink in, she felt as if all oxygen was being sucked out of the room, and the world felt as if was literally crashing and burning around her. It took her a couple of minutes to gather up the strength to stand up, get her car keys and get in her car, headeding straight towards the Salvatore house. On a few occasions on her way there, she ran a red light and when she finally parked the car before the house she had only one thought remained in her mind.

Y/N reached towards the backseat and pulled one of Rick’s compeessed air weapons, tucked it in one of her sleeve and in the other a couple syringes with concentrated shot of vervain.

   “Y/N –” said Stefan, reaching to hug her but she pushed him away.

   “Where is he?”

   “Damon is burying him in the woods.”

   “Where?” she insisted. “Tell me. Now.”

Stefan sighed and opened the front door, motioning for her to follow her. For a while they walked in silence, leafs and branches crunching under their feet. Her mind was drowning in memories shared with Kai – their first kiss, their first time… all the talks about their future, while she tried to decide what she’d do next. Seeing Kai’s body… A part of her knew it would crush her even but somehow, she had to see him herself because her heart refused to believe it. How could it be true? That the only person she had ever loved, ever cared and was ready to leave everything behind for was gone. No.

   “Look, Y/N…” started Stefan. “I know you must be in shock, I know you cared about him and loved him but –”

   “Love.” she corrected. “Present tense.”

   “Right.” nodded her friend. “But he crossed a line.”

Y/N stopped in her tracks. “And you haven’t? Damon hasn’t? Caroline hasn’t? All of us have crossed a line but murder… is never the answer. I thought someone who has lived over century and a half on this planet would know this by now.”

   “I do.” he watched her walk past him. “But Damon –”

   “Damon is Damon. He gets what he wants, as usual, no matter who he hurts in the process.” she muttered, pushing a branch away. “Kai –”

Damon looked up at her and then glanced at Kai’s body at his feet. He took a step towards her, blocking her view.   “Y/N, I am sorry. I –” his hands reached for her, but she pushed him away.

   “Stay away from me or I swear –”

   “Tell me what I can do to make it up to you –”

   “You can go to Hell –” she hissed and when he tried to touch her again, she staked him in the stomach and verivained him. Stefan took a step towards them unsure what to do. “Don’t take another step unless you want to join him on the ground.”

   “I understand you are hurt but this isn’t you.” said her friend, taking in another step. “Don’t –”

   “But it is.” she blinked back tears. “It is 100% me and you know it. Stefan, he took away the person I was in love with. The first person I was ever in love with, the only one who understood me completely. He took away my soulmate. Just be happy I staked him in the stomach, not the heart like I wanted to.”

   “You know what happens if you do kill him?” asked her friend taking another step towards her. “At first it will feel really good… but then you will crumble.” he took another step towards her and placed his hands on her shoulders. “I can help you deal with this pain –”

   “There is nothing you can say or do. I’m sorry, Stef.” she said apologetically.

A second later she watched his body drop to the ground. Taking in a shaky breath she took a step towards Kai’s body, wrapped in a large piece of cloth, and knelt down next to him. He deserved a proper burial, not an unmarked grave in the middle of nowhere and even though she had no idea how she’d get his body to her car she knew she’d find a way. For a moment her hands hovered over the fabric and finally she pulled it away, uncovering the body. Her tears filled eyes widened at the sight before her.

   “Oh my God –" she covered her mouth with her hand. Her world turned upside down again and she fell backwards on the ground trying to remember how to breathe when –

   “Care to explain why I had to do a locator spell to find you?” said a male voice. “And what are those two doing unconscious on the ground?”

Y/N got up and turned around, able to breathe for the first time in the past 30 minutes. There he was, Kai, leaning in against one of the trees. His lips curled into a smile and she took a step backwards from him while he took a step towards her. “You are alive… I will kill you myself for putting me through this.”

   “You weren’t supposed to leave the house. I went to the store – you had run out of a couple of things I needed to make dinner special. How was I supposed to know your annoying friends would call to tell you I died? Well, not died died…” he took a step towards her and another until his hands were around her waist and her back pressed against the tree. Purple/black veins flashed under his eyes and he could see the surprise in her eyes.

   “You are a vampire.”

   “A heretic actually.” he corrected her. “It’s incredible really. I can siphon my vampirism and convert it into more magic.”

   “Good for you.”

   “But what I love most is—” he said softly, brushing his fingertips against her cheek. “—is that now I can hear your breathing change when I touch you. Your heartbeat changing when I kissed you earlier or every time I touch you or call you mine. How it changes when I tell you that I love you. Like it did just now –”

   “I um –”

   “Let’s go home, bunny. I will explain everything.”

   “No. I am not going anywhere with you.” she pushed him off, angrily walking towards her friends then stepping over them.

   “Y/N –” he called out after her but she kept walking. He briskly made his way around the unconscious brothers and when he finally caught up with her, he had to yank her back because she still refused to even say a word to him. “Come on, Y/N. Talk to me.”

Y/N pushed him off, glared at him and scoffed continuing to walk on her way. An hour and her entire life had been turned upside down so many times she wasn’t even sure which way was up anymore.  Or if anything happening around her was real for that matter. Her angry footsteps echoed in the woods and she was pretty sure she was heading in the wrong direction but none of it mattered. Her mind was spinning and having Kai walk behind her wasn’t helping at all. She wanted to kiss him, hug him, slap him, kicking and punch him at the same time. A part of her was so upset with him and wanted to yell at him, to tell him off, the other wanted to suffocate him with kisses and never let him out of her sight again.

   “Yell at me. Punch me, come on.” he insisted. “I hate it when you are upset with me and… I know it’s been a couple of minutes but I miss the sound of your voice so –”  

   “I hate how much I love you.” she muttered more to herself than to him, stopping a few steps later to turn towards her boyfriend. “You mess up, repeatedly and I keep forgiving you because I love you more than I have ever loved anyone in my life. In fact, I’ve never loved anyone as much as I love you and you –” she sighed, placing her hand on her forehead. “You lied to me.” she said, blinking back tears. “You said you weren’t going to the wedding. You said all of this is behind you and that we are going to spend the evening together. And then you came home an hour late as if nothing had happened. Kai, you didn’t even tell me you’ve –”

Kai took a step towards her, attempting to touch her but she pushed him away. “I didn’t mean to hurt you… I –”  

   “You made a life changing choice and didn’t even tell me about it!” she continued. “You took away something I –”

   “Something that you what?” he questioned. “Tell me.”

Y/N wiped her nose with her wrist, blinking back tears before looking at him. “And to top it all, the least thing you could’ve done was leave a note before leaving the house. Ten words, that’s all you had to write…  ‘Hey, kitten. I am going to the store cuz you had ran out of pasta or whatever.’ I would’ve kept your secret. I trusted you…and you betrayed me.”

Kai laughed under his breath. “Kitten? More like a tiger, but yes. I understand. Big mistake… That’s three strikes on me. I – Let’s go home, please.”

   “Home?!” she muttered. “H-how did you even–”

   “—walk into your house without being invited in earlier?” he finished. “Remember earlier when I called you and you told me to ‘let myself in, mi casa es tú casa’?”

   “Right.” she muttered, looking at her shoes. Kai brushed his palm against her cheek and tilted her face up, forcing her to look at him. “Are you going to tell me what happened at the wedding, or should I go wake the two stooges over there?”

   “I got a peace of mind I’ve been longing for such a long time… and now I am free. We are free.” he cupped her face. “We are free to be together forever. That’s all I want. You. Always by my side, always in my arms… To spend eternity with you. And only you. I love you, Y/N. I love you more than you can possibly imagine and I can’t imagine spending a second without you. Yes, I screwed up. And I am so terribly sorry for this. You are right and …” he sighed. “Do you want to spend eternity with me? Or have I crossed the last line in our relationship, because if I had… I wouldn’t be able to go on living.”

   “Why do I feel like this is a marriage proposal?” she ran her fingers through her hair, glancing at him.  He glanced at his shoes and she noticed his hand in his jeans front pocket. Y/N shook her head. “OH no… no. You have a lot to make up for if you want me to say ‘Yes’ when you ask.”

Kai took a step towards her, holding her tightly against him. His forehead rested on hers, his lips almost touching hers as he spoke. “Well, I better start now then.” he pressed his lips against hers, or… tried to.

Instead of his lips meeting with hers, they met with her fingers.

   “No. D-Don’t do that. I am upset with you and –” he cut her off with a kiss and almost instantly she melted in his arms forgetting what he had done until the memory broke through her haze and she pushed him off. “K-keep your lips away from me. I am mad at you.”

   “No, you aren’t.” he shook his head, his lips twitching for a second. “Not really anyways –”

   “I am absolutely furious –”

He cut her off again, kissing her passionately when she pushed him off and her palm connected with his cheek. “I had that coming.”

   “Cloak yourself.” she demanded, spinning on her heels. “We are not done talking about this.” A couple of minutes later she almost ran out in the front yard where Caroline was waiting for her by the door and instantly ran to hug her.

   “Are you okay? Right… sorry, of course you are not okay.”

   “I’ll get better… OH and, I may have vervained Stefan and Damon in the woods. Tell them, I’m sorry.” she opened the car door. “Actually, tell Stefan I am sorry.”

   “You shouldn’t be alone right now. I’ll come with you –”

   “No, Care. I need some time to… process things. Having my life turned upside down in the span of a few hours. Losing everything I’ve ever wanted, I –”

Caroline nodded, watching her get in her car where Kai was waiting on the passenger seat already. “I get it. I’m here for you if you need me.”

   “Thanks, Care.” said Y/N, forcing a faint smile before putting the keys in the ignition and pulling down the driveway without even glancing at Kai.

For a while they drove in silence, both of them getting lost in their thoughts. Kai kept glancing at her trying to figure out what to say but the more he searched for the right words, the more it seemed he got tongue tied. Hurting her had never been his intention. He had hopped to the store to pick up a few things and when he had gotten back and seen the shattered pieces on the floor, unable to find her anywhere in the house he had felt as if he was dying all over again. How was he supposed to know her friends would call her that soon?! He had hoped they’d call her tomorrow when they’d already be gone and now… Whatever future he and Y/N had was so unclear, he couldn’t help but wonder if he had ruined the best thing that has ever happened to him. His gaze drifted from her out the window, watching the people on the street It was late but there were so many – husbands and wifes with children running around them or playing with each other… What if he never got to have that? What if he couldn’t fix things between them?

   “Y/N, I –” he started to say when she turned on the radio so loud his ears started to hurt. He flicked his wrist lightly, lowering the volume and sighed. “Tell me how to fix this.”

Y/N parked the car on the driveway, got out of the car and tossed him the car keys as he got out from his side. He caught them mid-air, quickly locked the car and chased after her only to have the front door slammed shut in his face. A sigh left his lips and he walked in after her, watching her climb up the stairs. It took him a split second and went after her.

   “You are not sleeping in my bed.” she stopped at her bedroom door. “You can sleep on the couch.”

   “No.”

   “No?” she turned towards him, “It’s the couch or the floor. Take your pick but you are not allowed to even get under the sheets with me in any way until you apologize –”

   “I did apologize.”

   “No. You haven’t. You apologized for everything except for the thing I am upset with you about.”

   “How can I know what you are upset about if you won’t even tell me?!”

   “Figure it out.” she started closing the door but he held it open. “What?!”

   “I’m sleeping on the floor.”

   “Not here you aren’t.”

   “You said ‘couch or floor’. I chose floor. You didn’t say where and I choose right there by your bed because I can’t be apart from you.”

   “Sucks to be you, then.”

Y/N struggled against him, trying to push the door. A groan of frustration escaped her lips and finally she decided to push him away herself. Her hands found their way on her chest and for a moment she almost caved in, allowing him in her bedroom. But having him that close to her after everything… No, she pushed him off and shut the door in this face right before locking it.

Kai placed his palm on the door and sighed, listening in to her breathe on the other side. He slid down to the floor, bringing up his knees to his chest trying to figure out what he had to apologize for when suddenly he heard her from the other side of the door… crying.

_________________________________________

MASTERLIST - SMUT MASTERLIST - FLUFF

[that-wandering-belle]

Back to You Pt. 2

(Part 1)

Dedicated to all of the lovely people who asked for a continuation and left me that really wonderful feedback on the first part. Thank you, I truly appreciate it more than you know! <3

This quickly ran away from me so I would also like to apologize in advance. Also doesn’t help that my writing is probably as rusty as it gets so again, apologies!

Caroline sucks in a small breath as she tries to control her nerves and takes her seat before she starts fumbling with her seatbelt.

She'd so much rather be performing in front of a crowd than this.

She hasn't been on a plane in many years and she doesn't have the fondest memory of the last time she was on one. She hadn't been an avid fan of flying even then and she still vividly remembers how terrified she had been during the turbulence that had been so severe, even her mom had looked afraid as she'd clasped her small hand.

But she tries not to think about that now.

The sky looks dark and cloudy but thankfully, this trip for the basketball tournament is much shorter than the one she and her mom had taken to Oregon in mid December when storms were aplenty.

It's with these thoughts that she tries to calm herself down and pulls out her iPod, half listening to the chatter of the rest of her classmates and team as they all shuffle into their seats and throw their duffel bags into the overhead compartments.

She glances over to where Bonnie is sitting next to Kol Mikaelson, a look of annoyance already spreading across her face as he leans over her to set his stuff down and she almost sighs in relief that at least she's partnered up with Elena.

The last thing she needs is-

"Hello, Caroline," she hears his accented voice and quickly looks up to see Klaus looking down at her with his trademark smirk.

She arches a brow but before she can ask him what he's doing, he's speaking again.

"May I?" he asks, nodding towards the empty seat beside her.

"Elena's going to be here any minute-" she starts to say when he interrupts her.

"Actually, Elena's already in her seat," he informs her all too happily. "We traded seats," he adds, looking back in the direction where the brunette was sitting.

"What?" she all but sputters as she stands up and spins around to indeed see the brunette sitting and animatedly talking to Stefan.

That traitor.

She hears Klaus chuckle, almost as if he's reading her thoughts and he takes the opportunity to slip behind her and into the empty seat.

Scowling over in her friend's direction one more time for good measure, she turns around back in her seat to notice Klaus looking at her with no small trace of amusement.

"Is the idea of sitting beside me that bad?" he smirks. "Though I can see how it might drive you crazy that this new seating arrangement messes with your careful plans to avoid me."

She feels her face flush a bit but tries to hide it.

"I'm not avoiding you," she denies, the response coming out defensive even to her own ears.

"Is that why I've hardly seen you since Christmas break?" he counters with his trademark smirk but if she didn't know any better, she would almost say he sounded a little hurt. "I may not be 'Mr. Congeniality' like you so poetically put it, but even I can tell that you've been avoiding me."

She has to look away at the almost hurt look on his face, the burning sensation in her face growing a little stronger as the guilt creeps up on her.

Maybe she has been avoiding him a little…though it hadn't been entirely on purpose. Not at first.

It all started when she came home from winter break after being forced to spend it with her dad in his new home 5 hours away. She still remembers how long and mostly miserable those 4 weeks had been. Still remembers how it felt even longer whenever she thought of her friends and him. Klaus.

Almost the whole break she'd thought of her last night in town and how he'd tried to cheer her up after he'd found her sulking in the small dance studio. She'd thought of how she'd laughed as he pulled her into a dance but that laughter had soon subsided and she'd thought of how nice it felt being so close to him like that and it made her wonder what it would be like being this close to him all the time.

Alone with these thoughts and no phone or computer to contact her friends (she'd lost "phone privileges" early on after an argument and snarky comment to her dad), the break had seemed even longer. But thankfully, all things must come to an end and so did that never ending break.

She can still vividly remember how excited she had been to return home, to see him, only to hear of the party Kol Mikaelson was throwing that night. She'd shown up, anxious to see and surprise her friends and Klaus, double checking her appearance one more time in their hall mirror when she'd frozen and felt like she received a sudden blow to the chest.

She'd stood there, frozen for a moment as she watched Klaus near the back patio, in the middle of a heated kiss with Tatia Petrova, Elena's older cousin that had moved to the small town right before Thanksgiving break. She didn't even know that Klaus knew her.

She didn't realize when the tears that had started forming in her eyes but she quickly tried to blink them away as she fought against that tightening in her chest. She was glad nobody had seen her as she'd quietly slipped out of the party and that nobody knew that she was there.

The next day, she'd learned from a disgruntled Elena that her cousin and Klaus had apparently become an item so when she'd seen them together at the Grill, it had been less of a blow but she hated that it still felt like a blow at all. So, she'd taken to avoiding the couple and maybe she'd been avoiding him too…It was easier to avoid the pit in her stomach this way.

"I'm sorry," she says genuinely. "I've just… been busy," she adds on a little lamely.

It's not a total lie. She does run a busier schedule than most of her classmates, especially with preparations for auditions for the town ballet coming up and all the different committees she's involved in.

"You've been busy?" he repeats, looking at her as if saying 'Is that the best you can do?'

"Yes, busy," she says a little defensively, maybe feeling a little cornered and the way he's looking at her not helping. "You know, as in doing stuff, helping out in the dance committee for the Valentine's dance, getting ready for auditions, meeting with Tyler-"

"Lockwood?" he interrupts, looking at her like she'd suddenly announced she beheaded his favorite horse. "So Kol's right and you have been ditching me for Lockwood? What happened to the quarterback?"

At this, she can't help but roll her eyes because of the dramatic way in which he says it all. She seriously thinks he should go into acting sometimes.

"His name's Matt and you know it," she says with a pointed look. "And not that it's your business, but nothing's going on there."

He arches a brow in disbelief but she doesn't really feel like going into that story.

"And I don't know that I'd believe anything Kol's told you but yeah, lately I have been hanging out with Tyler."

"I thought you didn't like the prick?" he interrupts before she can continue.

She really doesn't like him in the way Klaus is implying but…

"You know, now that I'm getting to know him better, he's not as bad as I thought," she shrugs.

She shoots him a look when she hears him let out a derisive snort.

"Hey!" she protests. "You should know better than anyone that sometimes reputations aren't what they seem."

"He's been on your enemy list since your freshman year," he points out dryly.

"I know and I'm not saying he wasn't an ass back then but people can change I guess," she shrugs again. "Even Tyler."

"He made you cry," he retorts.

"So did you when we met remember? And I forgave you too," she points out. "Eventually."

"That was different," he argues, shooting her an offended look. "We were kids. And I wasn't trying to make you cry."

Now it's her turn to shoot him a look.

"But now we're getting off topic. I believe we were talking about how you've been ditching me for Lockwood," he says, looking at her like she kicked his puppy or something of the equivalent.

"I'm not 'ditching' you for Tyler," she denies. "We're stuck on this annoying history project together so we've been meeting up for that," she continues, starting to get annoyed with the way he's looking at her like she did something wrong. "And besides, I didn't think you noticed anything nowadays unless you could find it inside your girlfriend's mouth."

She doesn't mean to say that last part but it just comes out like word vomit and she can feel her face flush a little as she looks away.

"Is that why you've been avoiding me?"

She can feel her face flush a little, wishing she wasn't having this conversation right now but knowing she has no way out of it because he won't drop it and also knows that he'll see through her lies.

"Well now that you mention it, I'm not exactly dying to have front-row seats to you swapping spit with my friend's cousin," she says more sarcastically than she intended.

She's thankful for the interruption from one of their teachers as he comes down the aisle making sure all of his students are seated. Or at least, she's thankful until he reminds her that the plane is set to depart in just a few minutes and she sees the flight attendant making sure all the passengers are indeed in their seats and ready for departure.

She feels her hands go clammy as she glances out at the dark clouds sitting in the sky.

Caroline feels her heart pick up its pace but tries to hide it as she feels the plane start to move a few minutes later at the same time one of the other flight attendants begins his announcement over the intercom, welcoming everyone on board and giving safety instructions and points out the exits in case of an emergency.

You're fine, she silently tells herself as she sucks in a breath.

"Have you ever been on a plane before?" she hears him speak quietly next to her ear, reminding her that he's there.

"It's been a while but yes," she answers somewhat stiffly, hating that he can pick up on her nervousness.

She tries to distract herself with her iPod but that distraction is short-lived when she suddenly feels the plane jerk a little as it starts to pick up speed.

She momentarily forgets about Klaus again, doesn't realize she's gripping the edge of the seat as the plane picks up more speed until she feels his hand settle on hers.

She turns to look at him and she's thankful to see no amusement on his face or in his eyes as he looks at her and gives her hand a small but reassuring squeeze and doesn't let go.

"It helps if you lean back and close your eyes," he tells her quietly. "Kol will never admit it now but he used to be terrified of flying and it used to work for him."

She finds herself nodding and giving him a small but grateful smile as she does what he suggested.

It sort of works… but she sucks in a breath and tightens her grip on the armrest when she feels the plane shake a little.

She's distracted however, when she feels him take one of her earbuds that were still sitting on her lap.

"This band's still not grating your ears hm?" she hears him ask and she doesn't have to look at him to know he's smirking.

He was such a damn music snob sometimes.

"Color me impressed."

"I'll color you green with envy instead," she retorts, keeping her eyes closed and trying to focus on what he's saying instead of the feeling like her stomach's hollowed out.

"What's there to be envious of?" he chuckles. "You know they're going to be a 'has-been' group in a few years tops don't you?"

"They are not!" she argues, now opening her eyes to glare at him for talking down one of her favorite bands.

"Afraid they are," he smiles smugly. "I asked my Magic 8 ball a few weeks ago."

"You're such an ass," she shakes her head, trying to fight back a smile and for a moment, she doesn't focus on the fact that the plane's still ascending.

"Language Miss Forbes," he chides in a perfect imitation of the vice principal and she wants to laugh at his take on an American accent. "This is a school trip after all. Think of what your mother would say."

She rolls her eyes but this time, she's unable to fight back the small smile that tugs on her lips.

"Never mind, she'd probably agree with you," he says dryly and she can't help but laugh a little.

It was no secret to him that her mother hadn't been his biggest fan over something that was not entirely his fault. Not that her mother saw it that way.

"Don't worry, I think she's warming up to you a little bit."

"Oh good," he remarks sarcastically. "It's only been a year. Maybe she'll fully warm up to me in the next decade. Or century."

She giggles and nudges his shoulder playfully.

"Well, at least I like you," she says and feels her cheeks redden a little at her confession so quickly continues. "Most days anyway."

She smirks at him but feels her heart skip a beat at the smile that appears on his face.

It's small, but no less meaningful.

She forces herself to look away but then he speaks again.

"I'll keep the snogging to a minimum," he says and she jerks her head around to look at him, wondering where the hell that comment came from. "When I'm out in public or when you're around, I'll keep the snogging to a minimum."

She feels that tightening in her chest again and this time, she's not sure if it's because of his words and the image of him with Tatia, or the meaning behind his words. She knows this is his way of telling her he wants her around and the truth is, she misses having him around too.

She gives him a small smile and slightly nods her head. She knows he's putting in an effort, she tells herself she can too. Although she's not sure she can stomach the sight of the two of them making out all over the place so she really hopes he'll keep his word on keeping the 'snogging to a minimum' or maybe she'll stick to avoiding them when they're together but stop avoiding Klaus altogether.

"Good, because I think some people were ready to spray you two with water," she jokes and he smirks amusedly in response. "And by some people, I do mean your sister."

He rolls his eyes and she turns her attention back to her iPod before looking back up at him after a minute of silence.

"By the way? Snogging?" she mimics teasingly. "Can you be anymore British?"

He shoots her a look but she can see the smile tugging on his lips.

"I don't know can I?" he deadpans.

"Are you going to start demanding a proper cup of coffee in a proper coffee pot?" she teases in a very poor imitation of his accent.

"Was that supposed to be me?" he laughs, causing her to playfully glare at him. "They say imitation is the best form of flattery but I don't know if I should be offended right now."

"Shut up," she laughs, feeling her cheeks flush a little more brightly. "Your American accent isn't so hot either buddy."

Total lie and he knows it if his expression is any indicator.

"And yet it's still better than whatever that was," he shoots back with an excessive arrogance that makes her scoff.

Cocky jerk.

"I think someone's in desperate need of some accent lessons," he chuckles. "In fact, I feel like it's my civic duty to give you some."

She rolls her eyes again.

"Remind me again why I put up with you?"

At this, he shoots her a too pleased grin that showcases his dimples (that she tells herself it doesn't affect her at all) and she narrows her eyes at him.

"Because I'm incredibly charming?" he smirks and Caroline can't help but snort, shooting him an unimpressed look that only seems to amuse him more. "Because I'm fairly certain you enjoy me as much as I enjoy you."

She shoots him another look and rolls her eyes but he can see the hint of pink staining her cheeks and his smile widens.

"Because you like me," he continues with a dimpled grin. "You said it yourself."

She rolls her eyes and looks away.

"I said most days," she counters. "And obviously today's not one of those days."

"If you say so," he grins, looking far too pleased with himself.

She tries to keep a straight face but is ultimately unsuccessful when she hears him start laughing the more she pointedly ignores him and feels him nudging her side to get her attention.

And as she sits there trying to ignore him, she realizes how much she's missed this. Missed him.

As she's looking ahead, she notices one of the flight attendants walking down the aisle again and she realizes that the plane's leveled out. She hadn't even noticed and she knows it's because of him.

He effectively distracted her.

He took her mind off it.

"Twizzler?"

Caroline's pulled from her thoughts and turns to see Enzo offering her some of the bright red candy he was already munching on despite the early hour.

"I'm good thanks," she says as he takes another bite out of the candy and completely ignoring the flight attendant explaining the safety protocol instructions up front.

She forces herself to pay attention and not think about the long flight ahead. Turns out, her aversion to flying hasn't exactly gone away.

She feels the plane start to pick up speed and sucks in a small breath.

Gripping the armrest beside her, she leans back and closes her eyes.

                                                       xxx

Caroline tries to stifle a yawn as she makes her way through the crowded airport, but despite her exhaustion from spending the whole day traveling and layovers, not to mention the long rehearsals the day before, she feels her body growing more tense with every passing minute ever since the plane landed.

But she tries to shake the feeling and focus on the excitement that has also been growing at the realization that she's going to see Bonnie again. It's been far too long by her standards and she's missed her dearly. And maybe she's a little excited to see Kol again too.

And maybe a little anxious because maybe, thoughts of Kol lead to thoughts of other Mikaelson's and the vicious cycle ensues.

Bonnie. You're here for Bonnie.

"What's on your mind Gorgeous?" Enzo asks from beside her, visibly at ease as he takes in the crowded airport. "Wondering how many celebrities we'll be rubbing elbows with, being in the land of 'fame excess' and all?"

She feels a smirk tug on her lips even though her mind falls on one particular actor she's fairly certain they'll see that weekend.

"Are you? Got your autograph book ready?" she teases in an effort to distract herself as they weave their way through the crowd.

"Please," he scoffs. "Everyone knows a picture is the autograph of the 21st century," he adds with a wink.

She grins amusedly, not for the first time feeling grateful that her roommate decided to accompany her.

As they finally make their way down the escalators towards baggage claim, Caroline almost immediately sees Bonnie standing in the arrivals area, with a bright smile on her face that matches the one that breaks out on the blonde's own face.

It takes every will of effort not to push past the other people on the escalator but as soon as she steps off them, both girls are practically sprinting towards each other and pulling each other into tight hugs.

"Bonnie!" she squeals excitedly.

"I'm so glad you made it!" the other girl exclaims.

"Like I would miss this! You're engaged!"

"So I've heard," Bonnie says laughingly.

"Let me see that ring!" she demands.

They both laugh together as they pull away, Caroline taking the opportunity to quickly snatch up Bonnie's hand and inspect her beautiful ring even as Bonnie jokingly complains that she had already sent her pictures.

"Damn girl, now that's a rock," she smirks while Bonnie laughs again. "Kol did good."

"Oh trust me, he knows," Bonnie says with an amused eye roll and she laughs at her friend's expression.

She's about to ask where the man in question is when-

"Well, well, well. If it isn't little Caroline Forbes in the flesh once again."

Bonnie rolls her eyes while Caroline feels her spine tense slightly in anticipation and turns around, her eyes meeting those of Kol Mikaelson in person for the first time in years.

She's seen him a few times in pictures that Bonnie sent and in the background during some Skype sessions with Bonnie before the latter shooed him out of the room, but this is the first time she's getting her first real look at him like this.

Though he obviously looks older than when she saw him in person last, he still has that same mischievous and amused glint in his brown eyes that match the smirk on his handsome face.

"It's good to see you, darling," he says and despite the smirk on his face, she's almost certain that he means it.

"It's good to see you too Kol," she says with a smile before adding, "And you do know I'm the exact age as your fiance and only a year younger than you right?" she asks with a quirked brow, referring to his "little Caroline Forbes" comment.

She hears the sound of a throat clearing behind them just then and quickly turns to see an amused looking Enzo.

Crap, Enzo!

"I hate to interrupt the happy reunion but perhaps we should grab our bags before somebody snatches them?" he jokes.

She shoots him an apologetic smile at the realization that she kind of forgot all about him and left him there.

"Ah, so you must be the bloke I spoke to on the phone the other week," Kol comments as he takes in the other man and shakes his hand before turning back to her. "You know darling, I always knew you'd end up shacking up with a Brit, just not the one I originally thought."

She rolls her eyes, an action that Bonnie echoes as she elbows him in the ribs before shaking Enzo's hand.

"Enzo," her roommate introduces himself with a grin. "Nice to officially meet you in person Bonnie and not just in the background of a computer screen," he adds with a smirk while Bonnie grins and nods in agreement.

"I'm glad you could make it," Bonnie smiles. "And please try not to listen to anything Kol says. We usually don't," she adds jokingly while Kol shoots her an indignant look before catching sight of the teasing grin on Bonnie's face and pressing a quick kiss to her cheek.

Caroline watches as he murmurs something into Bonnie's ear that makes her friend narrow her eyes at him and swat his chest but she can also see the hint of color that appears on the brunette's cheeks.

The blonde smiles, remembering their bantering from their high school days but it's that look that he gives Bonnie, that look of pure adoration that's new and has her smile growing and the blush on Bonnie's cheeks brightening a little more.

It was no secret that Kol liked Bonnie back in high school (more than he let on), just like it was no secret that he never lasted more than a few weeks with his girlfriends which is why Bonnie never gave him a chance back then.

But now here they are…

Bonnie looks up and catches her gaze, giving her an almost embarrassed smile before clearing her throat.

"So should we get your bags and head out then?" she asks a little loudly, shooting her a warning glare when she giggles at her friend's obvious embarrassment.

Kol smirks at the brunette in his arms, his amusement growing when she pushes him away.

"Yes, you're probably right darling," he agrees. "Traffic will be terrible at this hour and we wouldn't want dear old Bekah to get crankier than she already is if we keep her waiting too long."

"Rebekah's already here?" she asks in surprise.

"Yeah, her flight got in a couple of hours ago. She was tired from her flight so we let her sleep while we came to pick you up," Bonnie explains.

She gives Caroline a smile that the blonde finds comforting as she loops her arm through hers and starts leading the way to baggage claims.

And maybe for the first time since she set foot in that airport back in New York, she feels some of her anxiousness leave her knowing no matter what happens that weekend, she has her friends beside her.

                                                        xxx

After managing to weave their way through the heavy LA traffic miraculously in one piece (she made a mental vow not to ever get in a car with Kol behind the wheel again), they finally pull into a gated driveway and Caroline's eyes widen a little.

To say Bonnie's and Kol's new place was gorgeous was an understatement.

As she gets out of the car, she feels Enzo come stand beside her, letting out a low whistle as he also takes in the large, and beautiful home too.

"We're definitely not in Kansas anymore, Gorgeous," he mutters.

She's about to answer when she sees Bonnie and Kol opening up the trunk to start taking out their bags and quickly scurries over to help -or try to help- since Enzo and Kol insist on carrying the bags themselves, with the latter claiming in a too innocent tone that he wouldn't want her to think he was ‘anything less than an excellent host.’

As soon as they're inside, Bonnie offers to show them up to their rooms and she takes her bag from Kol and the latter announces he's going to make everyone some drinks.

Caroline briefly wonders where Rebekah is but the house is quiet so she figures the other girl is probably still resting.

"Caroline, this will be your room and Enzo, this one will be yours," Bonnie says as she points to two different doors. "Your room has its own bathroom, Care and Enzo, I hope you don't mind but you'll be sharing one with Kol's brother. He won't be arriving until the weekend though so you'll have it to yourself for a few days," she adds and Caroline feels her body tense slightly at this last bit of information.

"No problem whatsoever," Enzo says with a perfectly charming smile. "I've always wanted to brag that I've shared a living space with a celebrity."

Caroline shoots him a look that Bonnie doesn't miss.

"I see Care's given you a rundown of the Mikaelson's?" Bonnie jokes. "Don't worry, he's pretty high maintenance which is a good thing in this case because it means he's not messy."

"We have that in common then," he says with a smirk as he looks in Caroline's direction and this time, she can't refrain from rolling her eyes but she reminds herself that right now is so not the time to get into an argument over his cleaning habits.

Just then, Caroline hears a door open down the hall and sees a familiar individual walk out of the bedroom.

The woman pauses, taking in the small group gathered in the hallway, her piercing blue eyes lingering on Caroline.

"Hey Rebekah," she greets the other blonde with a somewhat nervous smile.

Carolin's seen the other blonde's face on advertisements for her fashion line but just like with Kol, this was the first time in years she was seeing her in person.

Rebekah for her part, doesn't respond right away, simply takes her in for a moment with an expression that's unreadable and Caroline tries not to visibly squirm under that damn powerful Mikaelson gaze she'd been subjected to on far too many occasions in the past.

"Hello, Caroline," Rebekah finally responds, the corners of her lips curving into a smile that reminds her far too much of another certain Mikaelson.

As if she needs anymore reminders.

"Glad to hear you made it out of that one-pony town for good."

Caroline smiles a little at that.

"Yeah, me too," she says, giving the girl a small and almost tentative smile. "It's good to see you."

"Pardon the interruption but this is driving me crazy," Enzo interrupts suddenly, his focus on Rebekah. "Do I know you from somewhere, darling?"

Caroline turns to look at him questioningly while Rebekah raises a brow as she regards the man standing in front of her.

"Trust me darling, if you'd met me before you wouldn't be questioning it."

Enzo chuckles, an almost pleased grin appearing on his face.

"Forgive me, I suppose I just haven't had the opportunity to meet someone as memorable as you obviously are," he retorts and now it's Caroline's turn to raise her brows because…is he seriously flirting with Rebekah right now?

"And you are?" Rebekah questions in an almost bored tone.

"Lorenzo, but you love, can call me Enzo," he responds smoothly as he extends out a hand.

Yep. Definitely flirting.

Fighting back the urge to roll her eyes at her roommate's antics, she watches with a hint of amusement as Rebekah seems completely unfazed by the obvious charm her roommate's turning on.

"Pleasure I'm sure," she responds as she briefly shakes his hand. "Now if you'll all excuse me, I need to speak with my idiotic brother about a pressing matter."

Enzo steps back and Rebekah leaves with a quick and final look at her. Caroline think she sees something in her gaze but the other blonde is gone before Caroline can even really question it.

As soon as she's gone, Caroline turns back to her roommate.

"Seriously? You can flirt with anyone in Los Angeles and you just have to flirt with Rebekah Mikaelson?" she asks with wide eyes. "You know one of her brothers will kill you right?"

She had a fairly good feeling she knew which brother that would be too.

"Come now Gorgeous, no need to be jealous," he jokes. "I wasn't flirting, I'm just a naturally charming man," he grins and this time Caroline doesn't fight the attempt to roll her eyes.

Bonnie grins amusedly as she looks between them.

"Well I hate to leave you guys like this, but I think I have a pretty good idea what Rebekah wants to talk to Kol about and since I'd actually like to have a chance to marry him instead of attending his funeral, I think I should probably check on them," she smiles apologetically. "I'll let you two start getting settled in and then I'll come check on you?"

"Yeah of course, go take care of whatever you need to and if you need backup, just use our signal," Caroline jokes, making the brunette laugh and nod her head in agreement.

Caroline opens the door to her room and lets herself in and after setting her stuff down, she walks over to the window, where the curtains have been opened, and takes in the beautiful view of their backyard complete with an amazing swimming pool that she really hopes they get to explore at some point that weekend.

With an almost wistful sigh, she turns back to her bags however, the idea that her clothes are getting more wrinkled the longer they sit there, too much for her to ignore or put off.

She's in the middle of hanging up a dress when she hears a light knock on the door, shortly followed by Bonnie's voice.

"Come in," Caroline calls out, smiling at her friend when she walks in and closes the door behind her. "Everything go okay down there? No 'World War Mikaelson' erupting?"

"No, thankfully crisis averted," Bonnie laughs. "Today anyway."

Caroline smirks, years of witnessing the Mikaelson temper coming to the forefront.

"Settling in okay?" Bonnie asks as she makes her way to sit on the large and comfortable bed.

"Yeah, you might have a hard time getting me to leave after this weekend Bonnie Bennett," she jokes.

"Because that would be such a horrible thing," Bonnie smirks. "I would not say no to having you around and getting to see you more than once a year."

Caroline can't help but vehemently agree.

"Sometimes this whole 'adulting' thing and living across the country from each other really sucks," Caroline jokes.

"Yeah, sometimes I actually miss waking up ridiculously early to carpool to school," Bonnie smirks.

"Carpooling and jamming out to the Spice Girls," she chimes in with a grin. "Or the superior boy band, the Backstreet Boys."

"You're entitled to your wrong opinion, Care," Bonnie smirks while the blonde playfully glares at her.

"Speaking of people with wrong opinions when it comes to boy bands," Caroline jokes. "Is Elena coming this weekend?"

"No, she has her shift at the hospital this weekend," Bonnie answers. "She's been trying to take on more hours to help her prepare for her exam in a few months."

Caroline nods, feeling for her old friend.

"How's everything going with rehearsals?" Bonnie asks. "Are you excited for your big role?"

Caroline feels a smile tug on her lips.

"I am," she admits. "But not gonna lie, some days are really long and I can't feel my feet and it's a wonder I even make it to bed," she laughs a little. "But there's nothing else in the world I'd rather be doing."

"I'm really happy for you, Care," Bonnie smiles earnestly. "You're living out your dream."

"With a few adjustments," she tries to add laughingly, feeling a small knot form in her throat.

"Your parents would be really proud," Bonnie adds with a soft smile and Caroline feels her eyes grow a little misty as she returns her smile. "We all are."

"Thanks, Bon," she says genuinely.

"And did I tell you that Kol and I are looking into plane tickets for New York to attend a certain show?" Bonnie grins.

"You're coming?!" Caroline exclaims suddenly excited and feeling some of that sadness at the reminder of her parents ease a little.

"Um, yeah?!" Bonnie laughs. "You didn't think I'd miss it did you?!"

Caroline lets out an excited squeal and rushes to hug her friend.

"Did I ever tell you that you're the best Bonnie Bennett?"

"Not enough," Bonnie jokes, prompting the blonde to laugh as she pulls back. "But I'm glad you think so," Bonnie adds, giving her an almost nervous smile. "Because I kind of need to ask you for a really big favor."

"What's up?" she asks curiously.

"Well you see, with all this talk about engagements and weddings, I realized I'm going to need someone I really trust to stand up there with me as my maid of honor and I was hoping you'd want to take the job?" Bonnie asks with a bright up slightly nervous smile.

"Seriously?" Caroline gasps, laughing and feeling her eyes grow misty when Bonnie nods her head. "You don't even have to ask Bonnie Bennett, of course I would!" she exclaims happily. "In fact, I would be honored to take the job," she asks with a wink.

The two girls laugh as Caroline pulls her friend in for a hug.

"God, I still can't believe you're getting married, Bon! I mean, I can because you're like the whole package but who would have thought it would be to the guy you swore up and down that you did not like for years," she adds teasingly and Bonnie rolls her eyes amusedly.

"Okay, you should understand the allure of the Mikaelson charm better than anyone!" Bonnie says only to seem like she immediately regrets it. "I-"

"It's fine Bon, it's not some taboo subject," she quickly tries to brush it off with a light laugh. "You're right, I did fall under the Mikaelson charm too. I mean let's face it, they can be charming bastards when they want to be," she continues jokingly.

Bonnie smirks in agreement before glancing back at her.

"I haven't really gotten a chance to talk to you about it," Bonnie starts. "How are you feeling about seeing the Mikaelson's this weekend?"

Caroline almost smiles at her friend's carefully crafted question, knowing what she's really asking is, How are you feeling about seeing Klaus this weekend?

She feels that twinge of nerves she's been feeling for over a week now but musters her best smile.

"I'm fine Bon, really," she assures her. "I knew they were all probably going to be here this weekend, even Klaus. It's not like we're the divorced couple who can't be in the same room- okay that was a horrible example because it's not like we dated much less married but you get my meaning. It'll be fine," she insists firmly.

Maybe she's nervous as hell and sometimes the anticipation of seeing him again creeps up on her and drives her crazy, and maybe she's been thinking about him lately more than she would like to admit or she knows that she should, but she tells herself it will be fine. Even if she has to see him with his costar that he's apparently involved with according to various sites, she tells herself it will all be fine. No matter what happens this weekend, she'll be fine just like she was back then.

"And besides, this weekend is all about celebrating you and the future Mr. Bennett," she says. "You know, that actually has a nice ring to it," she adds laughingly.

Just then, they hear a knock on the door that was only partially closed, and it opens to reveal Enzo on the other side.

"Ladies," he greets with a smile. "Sorry to interrupt, I just wanted to return Gorgeous' cellphone charger that got mixed up with my stuff."

"Oh, thank you!" she exclaims gratefully as she stands to take it. "I thought I had forgotten it somewhere in the airport."

"Oh good, the rest of gang's all here," she hears Kol's familiar voice coming up from the stairs and looks behind Enzo to see him stop at the doorway to her room. "I trust our guests are settling in nicely?"

Enzo nods and while she nods too, the smile on Kol's face makes her almost narrow her eyes suspiciously.

"Yeah, thanks," she says as she eyes Kol almost cautiously.

"Excellent," he smirks. "Now, I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is we seem to be out of the good margarita mix and as much as I adore my beautiful fiance, she has terrible taste when it comes to margarita mix so the other stuff tastes like sewer water."

Bonnie rolls her eyes and Caroline fights back a smile.

"So what's the good news?" she asks, fighting back a witty comment that she's sure will get them started on something else entirely and be counterproductive.

Kol looks at the group with that grin she had witnessed far too many times growing up, right before he would say announce a plan that was undoubtedly get them all into trouble.

Nice to know some things never change.

"How do you lot feel about some good old fashioned karaoke?"

                                                                xxx

It's hours later and Caroline's sides hurt from laughing too much, especially during Enzo's and Kol's rendition of Don't Stop Believin'. She's had one too many drinks (she'd promised herself she'd only have the one margarita), she's eaten way too many tacos and she knows when she's back at rehearsals this is going to bite her in the ass and yet, she can't bring herself to regret anything in that moment.

When they all decided to go out that evening, she wasn't really sure what to expect with the Mikaelson siblings in particular. Truth be told, she expected it to be awkward and while Rebekah's been mostly distant, Kol on the other hand, well one would think that no time had ever passed at all. He was his usual mischievous self though she can pick up on subtle changes in him and seeing him with Bonnie, it's definitely not a mystery why these two are getting married.

Just like she suspected, Enzo easily fit right in with the others, and it's even been a mix of annoyance and amusement watching him try -and fail- to flirt with Rebekah throughout the evening.

They're now on their third round of drinks and in the midst of relentless mocking and teasing and just general good humored bantering, it almost feels like old times back at the Grill.

Almost.

"So sweet Caroline," Kol starts as he finishes his drink. "Are you planning on finally taking your turn up there or are you going to hide back here all night?"

"Kol," Bonnie chastises with a light slap on the shoulder.

"What darling?" Kol protests innocently. "We've all taken our turn, I've even gone up there twice now and-"

"And we all really wish you hadn't," Rebekah interjects dryly.

"And like I was saying," Kol continues, tossing a tortilla chip at his sister. "Obviously I've been the best but don't let that intimidate you darling," he says, turning his attention back to her with a mirth dancing in his eyes letting her know he's not entirely serious. "Not everyone can be as good as me."

"Leave her alone, Kol," Bonnie elbows him while Caroline rolls her eyes with half-feigned annoyance. "Care will get up there when she feels like it."

"Yeah, Gorgeous here just needs to work up that liquid courage a little bit more," Enzo smirks as he slides his mostly full drink closer to her, chuckling when she narrows her eyes at him.

"That or she just needs a different type of motivation," Kol snickers, continuing when they look at him questioningly. "I seem to recall a particular instance where you got up and serenaded a young bloke."

"Really, Kol?!"

"What darling?" Kol asks his fiance innocently. "I'm just trying to figure out if that's the motivation sweet Caroline here needs. I'd be more than happy to find a lad for you to serenade," he adds with a smirk as he turns back to her.

She glares at him and downs the rest of her drink in one go before settling the empty glass down on the table firmly as she stands up giving Kol an overly sweet smile.

"Don't come crying to me when I kick your ass at karaoke."

"Put your money where your mouth is, Forbes," he challenges.

Rolling her eyes amusedly, she walks away from their table, fighting back a blush when she hears her friends start loudly cheering.

She makes her way to the front to write down her name on the sign up list and looks for a song to pick when she spots a familiar one and smirks mischievously as a thought strikes her when she remembers Kol's grumbling every time 'another bloody ballad' was sung.

"Woooo! Go Care!" she hears Bonnie shout when she finally takes the stage and she laughs a little, feeling her face burn a little too, both because of the literal spotlight on her and the the sound of her friend's shouts that draw even more attention to her.

No backing down now Caroline.

"Hey everyone," she says with a nervous laugh. "Tonight is a very special occasion because we're celebrating the engagement of two people who could not be better suited for each other."

She smiles as most of the audience starts clapping, with Kol being the loudest as he points to himself and Bonnie while the other girl looks almost embarrassed at her fiance's antics.

"Now this next song is very special too because you see, the groom is a true romantic at heart, even if he doesn't like to admit it," she teases. "But he just can't get enough of those love ballads, especially Ed Sheeran, and fun fact here that not many people are aware of is that this next song is the very song that inspired the lucky groom-to-be to propose to his beautiful bride."

There's a chorus of "aww's" around the room and she winks over in the couple's direction, seeing Bonnie laughing and clapping amusedly while Kol is giving her a sarcastic smile, no doubt mentally flipping her off, and she sees even Rebekah looks amused from where she sits across from him.

She still feels nervous about singing in front of all of these people (she'd rather take dancing anytime thank you very much) but when she finally hears the familiar tune start, she feels her nerves settle some.

                                    I found a love for me                                   Darling just dive right in                                     And follow my lead

She smiles a little as she hears Enzo and Bonnie's encouraging shouts, thinking how maybe she's not the only one who's indulged in a drink too many tonight.

                     'Cause we were just kids when we fell in love                                     Not knowing what it was                                 I will not give you up this time

She hears a few audience members start to slow clap along to the slow rhythm of the song and her smile grows a little as she lets herself get lost in the moment.

                     Darling, just kiss me slow, your heart is all I own                               And in your eyes you're holding mine

She closes her eyes and lets herself get lost in the song, lost in the words, and maybe a little lost in her own memories.

                                   Baby, I'm dancing in the dark                                     With you between my arms                  Barefoot on the grass, listening to our favorite song      When you said you looked a mess, I whispered underneath my breath                     But you heard it, darling, you look perfect tonight

And maybe, these memories lead back to him.

"Why am I the only one bussing tables and doing your jobs right now?" Caroline snaps at the group of huddled teens standing around laughing and talking amongst themselves.

The teenagers all look up at Caroline with terrified expressions when they see the chair of the 3 different prom committees glaring at them, none of them daring to move.

"Why are you still just standing there?" she huffs. "Go!"

They all scurry away and she shakes her head with an annoyed sigh, really wishing she had pushed so someone else could oversee clean up duty.

The dance was already winding down, most of the people had already started heading out to either a prom after party or to attend to whatever other plans they had made. Her own friends and Tyler had already left back to his place to set up for the party but she was stuck here. Overseeing clean up duty.

"Now how'd I know I'd find you at the helm of this ship?" she hears an amused voice that she hadn't heard in too long but would still recognize anywhere.

She snaps her head around quicker than she thought was possible and sees a familiar pair of dimples and blue eyes that are shining with amusement and something else she doesn't take time to question as she all but jumps into his arms, causing him to let out a surprised but pleased laugh.

She's surprised when his own arms wrap around her, pulling her in closer as he holds her tightly against him for a moment so she's encased by the scent of his cologne and his scent that she's missed more than she knows she should have. Smiling, she holds him tighter and is surprised when he holds her just as tightly instead of letting go.

She takes a moment to breathe him in, to revel in the feel of him in her arms again, before pulling away, lest anyone see and get the wrong idea and start spreading rumors that would get back to her boyfriend. Tyler was already not fond of the Brit or their friendship as it was.

"I take it you missed me?" he smirks when she pulls back.

She rolls her eyes but is unable to wipe the smile that appeared since she saw him off her face.

She hadn't seen him since last summer when he came to visit for a few weeks since the Mikaelson clan had all gone back to London for this last winter break and she almost can't believe he's really here right now. They had kept in touch as much as they could but it was getting more difficult with their different and increasingly packed schedules and besides, no phone call or text would compare to having him there in person.

She's not sure if she's imagining it, but she thinks he looks taller. His curls have grown out some as well and she has to fight back the urge to run her fingers through them. She also notices that he has a bit of stubble that's new but surprisingly finds she likes on him. The dark button-up and dark jeans he's wearing certainly look good on him too, but not wanting to get caught checking him out yet again, she quickly raises her eyes to meet his.

"What are you doing here?!" she exclaims excitedly. "Wait! When did you get back into town? Are you here for the summer?! Like the whole summer this time?!"

"Slow down there, love," he chuckles. "Which question would you like me to answer first?"

"All of them! But you can start by telling me what you're doing sneaking into a 'lame high school prom'?" she asks with an arched brow. "I thought you'd definitely think you were too cool for them now that you're in college."

"First off, I'm not sneaking in," he protests amusedly. "I'll have you know I know one of the chaperones and she let me in to see my sweet sister who called home demanding Kol bring her bag that he snuck out of her car. I decided I'd come to surprise her since I just got in earlier, and I decided I'd surprise another blonde whom I had suspected I would find bossing minions around and you did not disappoint."

She rolls her eyes but still can't wipe that grin off her face.

"And for the record, I would never call anything you worked so hard on, 'lame'," he adds and she can she the honesty in his eyes and feels her smile grow a little bit more.

"Alright everyone, grab your dance partner and join us on the dance floor for the final dance of the evening," the DJ announces just then.

Time After Time starts to play through the speakers and she sees the last remaining couples link hands and head to the dance floor.

She notices Klaus glance around too and wonders if this is the part where he says goodbye and she's almost unsettled by how quickly every part of her seems to protest at the thought.

"Isn't this the part where Lockwood comes to swoop you away?" he asks with a hint of sarcasm.

Needless to say, Klaus had never gotten over his aversion to Tyler even if she had.

"He would if he were here right now," she answers, giving him a warning look to be nice. "But he's getting everything set up for the party at his place while I oversee clean up duty here."

"Oh?" he asks with new and clear intrigue. "In that case…"

She watches on in confusion as he offers her his hand, a small but dimpled smile on his face as he keeps his eyes on hers.

"What are you…"

"Will you do me the honor of having your last dance Caroline Forbes?" he asks with that smile still in place, looking perfectly serious as he waits for her to answer.

"Seriously?" she asks, a small but surprised laugh escaping her as she looks down between his hand and back up at him and she can feel her heart start to pick up its pace.

"Seriously," he responds, all dimples and amusement and perhaps a hint of nerves.

Or maybe that's just her projecting.

"One dance," he smirks, looking intently at her. "I won't bite."

She rolls her eyes amusedly but takes his hand and follows him as he leads her backwards out onto the dance floor, never taking his eyes off her nor she off him.

A smile tugs on her lips as he slowly spins her around. He puts a hand on her waist and pulls her close so she can feel his lean and firm body against hers and in that moment, dancing there with him, with him between her arms, his scent and warmth enveloping her again, it feels like she's gotten back some part of her she didn't know how much she desperately missed until she got it back.

She wonders if he feels the same when she feels him tighten his hold and tug her closer, almost like there was too much space between them.

The two dance in a comfortable silence for a short while before she feels him lower his head slightly and next feels his warmth breath fanning against her ear, making her suppress a shiver.

"You look beautiful tonight, Caroline," he whispers.

She feels her cheeks flush at his words because while she's heard several compliments tonight, there's a raw honesty with Klaus that affects her more than a million compliments from the rest of the world ever could.

Still, she tries to laugh it off and shakes her head slightly, prompting him to pull back slightly and look at her.

"I probably look like a hot mess from dancing all night," she says laughingly.

He smiles a smile that showcases those dimples that she's always been a little partial to.

"Doesn't make you look any less stunning."

She furiously tries to fight back the color rushing to her face and tries to keep from smiling like a maniac and maybe she's not entirely successful but it's hard to mind when he's looking at her the way he is.

"I think somebody's growing soft on me," she tries to tease. "That, or you just missed me too."

He laughs, a low and genuine laugh that makes her heart constrict. A perfect reminder of how much she's missed him.

"Perhaps," he smirks.

The two share a smile and continue to dance around that mostly empty dance floor, completely oblivious to the rest of the world around them.

She may not have won prom queen, but dancing in that mostly empty room with Klaus between his arms, she feels like she's won something infinitely better and all she knows in that moment is that she's in no rush for it to end.

Caroline tries to fight back the memories of this night that she never lets herself quite linger on and tries to fight the small knot that seems to have formed in her throat.

She keeps her eyes closed, not daring to open them as she continues singing and she doesn't know if it's because of the song or the feelings this memory has brought, but standing on that brightly lit stage, she imagines she feels his familiar gaze on her in the middle of that crowded room. Imagines that he'll be there if she just opens her eyes, watching her on that stage just like old times.

The music plays on and she keeps her eyes closed, and she doesn't know why, but she lets herself pretend for just a moment that he's really there and everything is like it was once upon a time.

Imagines that he's there, looking at her like he only seemed to. Like he looked at her that night. Tries to imagine that no matter what had happened and how many years had seen them grow together and then apart, for just that moment, she tries to imagine that had not changed.

            Baby, I'm dancing in the dark, with you between my arms                 Barefoot on the grass, listening to our favorite song

And as she stands there, singing the final chorus of her song, imagining those stormy blue eyes she once knew as well as her own, she can't help but wonder when her song became about them.

Became about him.

                               You look perfect tonight

Because she knows that in the moment, she was singing to him alone even if he wasn't there to hear it.

                                                        xxx

He stands there, tucked away in a corner by the back exit where he's mostly hidden, watching the stunning blonde finish her song with rapt attention.

The place could be falling down around him but Klaus Mikaelson would never notice, his entire focus only on the blonde on that stage. Just like it had been since the moment he walked into the crowded bar after he'd heard her voice from where he lingered outside debating with himself on whether to go in or simply leave. But the second he'd heard her voice, heard her laugh, he was powerless but to follow the sound that he knew would lead him to her.

And now he stands there, the closest he's been to her in years and yet it's not close enough but he can't bring himself to move closer.

                                       You look perfect tonight

He almost smiles at how fitting those words are. Almost smiles at how he's been thinking those very words about her since the moment he saw her up on that stage.

Almost smiles at the irony of how he's been thinking those very same words about her every time he's laid eyes on her since they were kids.

No matter how many years saw them grow together and then apart, that much has not changed.

And as he moves just a little closer when he hears the crowd start to cheer, eyes greedily drinking her in the entire time after years of relying on his memory and old photographs alone, he suspects it never will.

                                                      xxx

Caroline smiles as she hears the crowd break out into applause as the music comes to an end. Shakes her head slightly with a small laugh when she hears her friends cheer loudest of all.

She finally opens her eyes and looks out at the crowd that stares right back...and that's when she sees the face she hasn't seen in years but never learned how to forget.

In the middle of that crowded room, her eyes easily find him, just like they always used to.

Klaus...

[queenofcats17]

Couple of quote prompts (for separate use)

-“But it’s nine o'clock on a Saturday!” -“No time to explain. Get in the car.” -“Hey, try clicking on the tape recorder. Maybe that does something.”

I’m sorry these are so short. I was up pretty late finishing them. 

Prompt #1:

Wally had been enjoying his Saturday morning by sleeping in, curled up under his threadbare covers and dreaming of going dancing with the girl who worked at the coffee shop. His dreams were rudely interrupted by the ringing of a telephone, though. Wally groaned, lifting his head from under his blankets, fumbling his way out of bed and to the phone.

“Hello?” He said, yawning.

“Wally!” Joey’s voice boomed through the phone. “How are you this morning?” Wally tried not to groan. Joey calling on a Saturday could only mean one thing. Work.

“Fine, sir.” Wally said. “Um, why are you calling?”

“I need you to come in.” Joey said brightly. “I’ve an urgent problem that needs your attention!”

“But it’s nine o’clock on a Saturday!”

“All the more reason to get it dealt with!” Joey said. “You wouldn’t want to work about this your entire weekend, would you?”

“No.” Wally rolled his eyes. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Perfect! See you soon!”

Wally hung up the phone and leaned his forehead against the wall. Geez, did Joey live at the studio or something? Actually, he could see that. Wally dug through the piles of clothes on his floor, looking for something clean to wear. He usually did his laundry on Saturdays, so he hadn’t had time to wash anything. Surely Joey wouldn’t mind. He was just going in to fix something real quick. It would be alright. He threw on his least ink-stained shirt and pair of overalls and headed out. It was raining as he drove to the studio. The perfect complement to this shitty shitty day. Traffic wasn’t too bad since it was early on a Saturday morning. The studio parking lot was empty when he showed up. Not a car in sight. Except, of course, for Joey’s lone black car. Wally shivered a little at the sight of Joey’s car. There was something just so ominous about Joey and everything he possessed.  Wally quickly shook his head and went inside. As expected, the studio was empty. And yet, Wally could hear Joey’s radio was on. Which likely meant he was working. Wally sighed to himself. Did his boss ever stop working?

“Hey, boss, I’m here.” Wally called out, closing the door behind him. “What did you need?”

“I’m in the ink machine room!” Joey’s voice echoed from somewhere within the studio. “Please, do come in!” Wally had a really bad feeling about this. But nonetheless, he headed deeper into the studio. Wally Franks never left that room. But Boris the Wolf did.

Prompt #2:

Wally had always suspected Sammy and Susie were a little bit like Bonnie and Clyde. But he’d never really experienced how terrifying their collective mischief could be until he got dragged into it. He’d been coming out of the studio after work one day when Sammy and Susie had pulled up in Sammy’s car.

“No time to explain. Get in the car.” Sammy said over his sunglasses. Wally had almost dropped his keys at the shock.

“Um…What?”

“Get in the car.” Susie repeated, taking a sip from her milkshake. Wally wasn’t sure what was going on, but he got into the car anyway. Together, the three of them peeled out of the parking lot.

“Where are we going?” Wally asked once they were away from the studio.

“We’re going to go screw with some people.” Susie glanced back, a sinister smile gracing her normally angelic features.

“…..More information would be nice, Susie.” Wally leaned back in his car seat.

“Some people have been heckling me.” Sammy never took his eyes off the road as he explained. “Susie too. So we’re going to go and pay them a visit.”

“And I’m involved in this, why?”

“Because we need a scapegoat if things go sideways.”

Wally groaned. They really were Bonnie and Clyde, weren’t they? He was just the fall guy. At least Sammy had a nice car. He could enjoy the ride over, even if he was going to be miserable once they got to wherever they were going. Their destination turned out to be a jazz bar on the other side of town, one Sammy occasionally played at on his days off. Susie had sung with him once or twice. As it turned out, they were a rather good music duo.

“We’re gonna get kicked out if we start a fight.” Wally said.

“Who said we were starting a fight?” Sammy asked with a smile. It almost seemed innocent, if not for the malicious glint in Sammy’s eyes. Wally tried not to groan again. Oh, this was definitely going to get messy. Sammy and Susie strolled into the bar as if they owned the place, with Wally trailing behind. A loud group of men in the corner went silent at their arrival.

“Well well, look who showed up.” One of the men stumbled over. “You come here to admit you’re a shitty composer, Lawrence?” Wally could smell the liquor on his breath even from where he stood.

“On the contrary.” Sammy said. “I’m here because you owe me an apology.” The men burst out into laughter, each slapping their knees and each other’s backs.

“We’re not apologizing to a shit-stain like you!” The leader roared.

“Oh really?” Susie raised an eyebrow. “Because that’s what your compositions are.”

“What did you say to me?” The laughter immediately stopped, and the men turned to anger. Wally shrunk back a little.

“Susie, maybe we should go.” He whispered.

“I said your compositions are shit.” Susie said, smiling sweetly. The leader took a swing at Susie and Sammy, who both sidestepped the punch. The men were drunk, making it quite a bit easier to avoid their punches. The men ended up hitting each other, which led to more yelling and more punching as they devolved into fighting one another.

“FIGHT!” Someone yelled.

“We should go.” Sammy said, grabbing Susie by the arm and making a break for the exit. Wally followed, bemoaning the choices that had led him to this moment. 

Prompt #3: 

Set in @metamatronic‘s Optic Ink AU

Sammy was eternally glad that he’d met up with Lensey. He didn’t want to be stuck in this creepy-ass studio by himself. Even if Lensey didn’t talk much, and was a little off-putting, it was good to have someone else with him. It was good to have someone to hold him above the ink as well. Currently, the two of them were on the 14th level, which happened to be filled with ink.

“THIS WAS A BAD IDEA!” Sammy yelled, trying to scramble higher on Lensey’s body. The projector-headed man made an irritated noise before setting Sammy down on a crate in a corner of the level.

“T-Thanks.” Sammy smiled nervously. He tried looking around, hugging his knees as Lensey looked around. The 14th level had never been this freaky when he’d been working there. He wondered how exactly things had gotten this bad. Lensey seemed a little put off as well, pacing the length of the room.

“Hey, try clicking on the tape recorder. Maybe that does something.” Sammy pointed to a tape recorder sitting on another crate. Maybe that’d distract the big guy.

“Now I’m not lookin’ for trouble. It’s just the nature of us projectionists to seek out the dark places.” Norman’s voice drifted through the abandoned level. Sammy’s face lit up.

“Hey!” He said, making grabby hands at Lensey. “It’s Norman!” Lensey handed it over, a strange look coming over his singular light eye.

“I haven’t heard his voice in forever!” Sammy grinned, holding the tape recorder close to his body. “Man, I hope he’s alright.”

They listened to the rest of the recording in silence. Sammy stared into the black depths of the ink. He had the worst kind of feeling in the pit of his stomach that Norman was here in the studio somewhere.

“If…If he’s here.” Sammy said quietly. “He didn’t deserve it. Sure, I did, but most people here didn’t.” He could feel tears beginning to well up in his eyes as he hugged his knees. “Makes me wonder why I got off easy.” As tears trickled down his cheeks, Lensey’s hand snaked over Sammy’s knees to lift Sammy’s chin. It was difficult for a projector to have an expression, but it almost seemed as though Lensey was crying. Ink leaked out of Lensey’s, well, lens.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Sammy asked, forcing himself to smile. “Why’re you crying? I’m just worried, is all. Don’t you go getting worried, too.” Lensey stood up, shrugging a little bit. He still looked distressed and worried.

“Why don’t we go to a different level?” Sammy suggested. “This place is way too inky anyway.” Lensey shrugged again, picking Sammy up bridal style.

“Hey!” Sammy began to struggle. “Don’t hold me like this! It’s weird.” Lensey made a noise that might’ve been a snort. This only made Sammy struggle even harder as they went back to the elevator and went up to level 9.