#hiccup's mommy issues making an appearance

[useless-moss]

Early Hicstrid stuff but it's just Hiccup falling asleep within fove minutes every time he's cuddled between Astrid's breasts. It becomes the fastest way to get him to fall asleep when he's on a creative bender and trying to pull an all-nighter.

The gang proceeds to learn any breasts will do, and it's actually (most likely) the combination of soft warmth and the heartbeat that lulls Hiccup to sleep.

Additionally, Viggo learning this. Like he has Hiccup captive and was holding him because of rough seas and he didn't want Hiccup falling (and, hey, chance to get close) and within five minutes he realizes that Hiccup is OUT. Down so hard Viggo briefly panics wondering if his little dragon rider finally dropped dead from stress.

[dontsh0vethesun]

pretty when you cry

therapist!wanda maximoff x fem!reader

18+: mommy issues, minimal therapy talk though, smut; mommy kink, dacryphilia, thigh riding, praise kink, fingering, darkish in the fact that, not only is it an inappropriate relationship, she almost uses r’s weaknesses(?) against her, manipulative ish and a lot of language inferring r being dependent on her? idk how to describe it :/

wc: 1.5k

Wanda listened to the way your intake of breath was shaky. She watched the subtle tapping of your foot against the carpeted ground and the way you played with your fingers in your lap.

“You never deserved to be treated that way,” she spoke. “I hope you know that.”

“The realisation of the pain almost feels worse than living through it,” you uttered back, your voice quiet as you lifted your eyes to the ceiling to will away the building tears. You avoided her gaze, the soft eyes, the wanting eyes that she couldn’t help but train on each feature of your sullen face. 

You were broken and she wanted to put you back together again. Or perhaps she aches to break you all the more, just to see how dependant on her she could make you; how lovely you would be to need her. 

“This guilt you’ve expressed - about this resentment you hold towards your family - I’d like for us to throw it away,” Wanda returned. “I hope that, together, we can bring you back - lift you to where you should be without the weight of your mother on your shoulders.”

At the tremble of your bottom lip, she lifted herself from where she sat, instead taking a seat beside you despite that line of professionalism. She took in the scent of your perfume and the up-close sight of the side of your face. She adored the shy way you glanced towards her, quickly diverting your glistening eyes when the tears began to roll along your cheeks. 

She couldn’t keep her touch away at the sound of a sniffle, a sigh of breath from your parted lips. A comforting hand took place on your thigh and you couldn't deny the warmth it ignited. Whether it was the comfort or the forbidden closeness you weren't quite sure. 

You leaned into the arm that encircled your waist, accepting the guiding of her hand that brought the side of your head to rest against her shoulder. 

“Oh, sweet girl,” she whispered with her lips ghosting the top of your head. You’d never experienced such fondness, a soft embrace when you felt as though the world had left you crumbled. 

Never before had someone shown you this kind of affection and any path of sense grew blurry. Should she be holding you this way with her hand on your leg? Should the scent of her vanilla body lotion make you dizzy? You don't know. All you know is that you don't want her to let go. 

You'd recognised her beauty, of course, and this close it was that much more astounding. When her finger and thumb took hold of your chin for you to look into her eyes you could see each fleck of colour, each bit darkened when her sights were set upon you and your pink-hued whites, your wet eyelashes and cheeks striped with tear marks. 

“You look so pretty when you cry,” she whispered, taking in your appearance lustfully. She wiped her thumb through the droplets that ran down your cheek and the touch was enough to calm the hiccuped breaths that caught in your throat, serving as a reminder of the present. Of the beautiful, older woman in front of you who was showing you that someone cared. 

Despite the hungry way she peered down at you, watching your pain slide down to your chin, her touch remained gentle. The way she watched you intently barely made you shrink, her musing eyes drank up the pathetic sight happily. Crying before her you looked so helpless, so pretty, so broken in need of a motherly hand to guide you. She’d bring you to tears over and over as long as she’d be the one to pick you back up. 

When you lifted your face to greet her lips with yours you were barely thinking, though when you did it was only to find her reciprocating with fervour; her hands took your face between them and yours found a place on her back with the silk material of her shirt in your grasp. It was a line you feared would have consequences. It was a line Wanda had only thought of crossing in the confines of her bedroom - one that was dangerous and thrilling and so tempting. But even a strictly professional woman such as herself has desires, she couldn’t pass up such an opportunity. 

You could feel the slick of her lip gloss against you, and you sighed at the intrusion of her tongue licking into your mouth. Her attention made your head spin. The idea that you were her sole focus, so desperate to have you she’d risk it all, the closeness of her body when she pulled you onto her lap felt safe. When wandering hands crept beneath your shirt you leaned into their touch, feeling the shivering of your spine when her nails scraped along the skin whilst her lips made their way to your neck. 

The way her body felt beneath your touch was sublime, the softness of her waist and the pillowy flesh of her breasts when you palmed at them through her bra. 

Wanda’s breath was hot against your throat, her tongue licked across the bite mark she left behind whilst she pulled you impossibly closer in her eagerness to have you near. She pulled your hips into hers, smirking against your collarbone at the whimper you failed to hide. When she pushed her thigh upwards into your clothed cunt you couldn’t hold back the grunt at the back of your throat, feeling the pressure in your aching clit. She knew you’d be soaked, that her attention would reward her with the feel of your hips aimlessly rutting against her. 

“Let mommy help you,” she murmured, pulling away from you with swollen lips, her hands taking claim of your hips to aid your movements. “I just wanna make you feel good. That okay?” 

Her voice was soft and so were her eyes and it all made your brain so hopelessly empty, succumbing to the hold she has on you. All you knew was that she cared for you, the feelings she was igniting were setting you alight and, although you shouldn’t, you wanted it. Each and every thing this woman would offer you, you’d take and swallow down. 

When you nodded she smiled and cupped your cheek. 

“Good girl.” 

She inched a hand between your bodies whilst her lips pushed to yours again, unfastening your jeans to creep past the hem of your underwear. Her fingers found how soaked you were with a swipe through your folds, your hands dug into her shoulders at the feeling of them brushing over your clit. 

“So worked up aren’t you, hm?” she murmured against the pulse point of your neck, burying her fingers into your pussy with a curl that made you moan out into the crook of her neck, your teeth daring to ghost the soft skin. You wanted to know her taste. To consume her entirely, to show her just how grateful you are. 

She adored the way you clung to her, keeping her as close as possible with your lips pressing kisses to her jaw while her fingers fucked into you; the heel of her palm pushed against your swollen bud, bringing you towards your release. 

“C’mon,” she cooed, pulling your face away from her with a gentle hand in your hair. “Look at mommy when she makes you feel good.”

You did as she said, letting her keep her eyes focused on your pleading ones. The ones that held the remnants of your tears, that were replaced with a sensual hue, glossed over and wanting. You looked at her as though she was the only thing that mattered and it made her ravenous.

The sight of you cumming onto her digits had quickly become one of her favourite views and the sounds she pulled from you would echo in her mind. Feeling your mouth against hers made her smile, the way you thanked her for the pleasure. Her pliable little doll. 

You’d do anything for her and she knows it. 

She was pleased with your obedience when you accepted the fingers she nudged past your lips, slackening your jaw to suck them clean of the mess you’d made. She tasted your sweetness in the kiss she reunited you with, knowing right away she’d have to taste you properly as soon as she could. 

Not much longer she was helping you stand up, fixing your appearance for you to take your leave, a tension lingering in the air of what was to happen next. 

“Thank you, Wanda,” you sheepishly began. “for everything - for today. I mean-“

She cut you off with a laugh that eased your awkwardness and a touch to your arm that you leaned into. 

“Same time next week?” she questioned to which you nodded right away. “And you’ve got my number. Give me a call if you need anything in the meantime,” she added with her lips quirking into a smirk as she reciprocated your small wave goodbye. 

[shawtuzi]

i’m having thee worst plug!eren brainrot rn so here’s some random hc’s for himmm

mdni///cw include: black coded reader, SMUT, a whole lotta tooth rotting fluff, drug usage, major gun kink, talks of mommy and daddy issues, some grisha slander heh, not proofread so there may be some spelling mistakes :((

♡ so it’s goes without saying he is one of those ppl that has no idea what to do when someone’s crying in front of him. he grew up in a household where if he was ever caught crying he’d be told to suck it up and act like a man :(( so it’s very hard for him to find the right words to say or do the right actions when comforting someone. on the bright side he has gotten better at it since he’s met you.

♡ the first time you cried in front of him was when you made the horrible decision to show him the movie ‘my sisters keeper’ and you were an absolute mess by the time the credits rolled. “are you….are you crying?” he asked absolutely flabbergasted that you were crying, sure the movie was sad but was it really that sad?? (yes it is). “of c-course im sad *hiccup* did you not watch any of the damn movie?” you sniffled crossing your arms over you chest. instead of talking about it any further eren just pulled you onto his lap and tucked your face in his neck muttering out a ‘whatever you say weirdo.’ after witnessing many moments like that he’s wayyy better at handling your lil emotional self.

♡ he’s surprisingly a natural with kids!!! one of his homeboys has a three year old daughter who is absolutely too precious for her own good and every time eren sees her he can’t help but turn into a pile of mush. he doesn’t do the whole baby talk thing though he’ll talk to that little girl like she’s one of the homies much to your dismay. one time he bought her a barbie car as a present and the gesture was adorable a first until he opened his damn mouth, “and if any of those kids at the park mess with you just run them over with this and they’ll leave you alone okay? listen to your uncle eren he knows his shit.” that earned him a smack upside the head from you and an exhausted head shake from his homeboy. he rlly is too much.

♡ seeing you with his homies daughter also ignited something in him he’s never ever felt before. eren could never see himself as a dad, maybe the cool uncle but nothing more than that. but goddamn seeing you handle kids makes him wanna buy a big ass house and give you as many kids as you’ll let him—hence his raging breeding kink that appears from time to time. you always wondered why he got so riled up every time he saw you with his friends daughter and then it all started to make sense one night when he was fucking you like a madman and kept moaning n panting about how pretty you’d look carrying his kids. you both came to an agreement that kids were off the table for a while but it didn’t make it any less fun when he stuffed you full of his cum until he was basically shooting blanks.

♡ “g-goddamn fuck y/n,” eren groaned into your ear, emptying his fourth load into your aching pussy. you were absolutely spent—nothing but a babbling, brain dead mess. you thought eren would’ve been too tired as well, but when he pulled his face outta your neck he still had that mischievous glint in eyes that had you folded up in the first place. “m’still hard,” he whispered making you whimper. “no…n-no more ren too sensitive,” you whined making eren hum. he glanced at your thighs that were still shaking from the aftershocks of you previous orgasm, then looked back into your eyes. you knew what he was hinting at and meekly nodded your head making him smile. he slowly pulled out of your pussy, gently shushing you when he heard you whine before sitting back on his knees. he pushed your thighs together and quickly slipped his dick between the pillowy skin, groaning at how soft you felt. “yeah…that’s it you feel so good mama,” he grunted pulling his kiss swollen bottom lip between his teeth. every once in a while he dick would glide across your overly sensitive clit making you mewl. it didn’t take long for eren to reach his peak once again and without warning he parted your thighs and shoved his dick back into your pussy knocking all the air out of your lungs. “so good….always so good for me. my perfect girl i love you do much,” eren muttered breathlessly into your ear.

♡ his love language is words of affirmation hands down!!!! he practically purrs like a kitten when you tell him how much you love him and how much he means to you :((

♡ i don’t think it’s any surprise he’s got some pretty bad mommy AND daddy issues. losing carla at a young age had a monumental impact on him as a kid and grisha didn’t even deserve the title of being a father. his whole life he’s never been able to be vulnerable in front of anyone until he met you ofc. you were his light, his safe haven and he didn’t know what he did to deserve someone as caring and nurturing as you but he never dared question it. you’d only seen him cry one time in front of you and it was when you went with him to visit carla’s grave. he looked like he was holding so much in and it absolutely broke your heart. “it’s okay to be upset eren you don’t ever have to put on that tough façade for me,” you whispered pressing a kiss to his trembling lips that was full of so much love and care he could’ve sobbed. he still has his moments where he closes his emotions off from you but day by day you’re slowly breaking down those walls he built up all those years.

♡ he is a true crime girly!!! he’s one of those ppl that can go to sleep watching the i.d. channel and still sleep peacefully.

♡ you’re a tad bit too clumsy for your own good so eren keeps a thing of bandaids and alcohol in his car and then a small lil box of sanrio themed bandaids in your purse. you thought he was absolutely ridiculous for keeping them on standby until you used damn near all the sanrio themed bandaids.

♡ “not so ridiculous for keeping these around now am i huh?” he chuckled putting the bandaid on your scraped knee. you didn’t say anything instead letting out an annoyed huff, but the annoyance quickly went away when he gave your knee three kisses. “my clumsy girl,” he snickered giving your pouting lips a kiss. “s’not my fault these heels are just too tall,” you mumbled kicking them off in annoyance. eren smirked and reached behind his seat pulling out a pair of fluffy slides, “i knew you’d get annoyed with them eventually—put these on instead,” he said setting the slides on your lap. you tried to your bratty act up but you just couldn’t stop the smile that crept on your glossed up lips, “you’re the best renny,” you giggled giving his cheek a kiss. “i know i am.” cocky ass mf.

♡whenever y’all are at your place it’s such a sight seeing this big, strong, mean man all comfortable in your pink fluffy blankets n cuddling with your squishmallows even though he supposedly has beef w them—but let me not even get into that seriously. sometimes after he’s done beating your pussy up he’ll grab two of your plushies and make them hump each other pretending it’s the two of you.

♡ “yes yes yes eren!” eren moaned on a high pitched voice making your cheeks burn in embarrassment. you tried snatching the plushies from his grip but it was no use he was too damn strong. “oh my godddd eren enough!” you whined smacking his chest, leaving a red handprint in the making. eren’s jaw dropped and he turned to you his brows furrowed, “now that wasn’t very nice was it?” he said turning his head to plushie. “not very nice at all,” he said dropping his voice an octave making you giggle. you moved yourself onto his stomach and grabbed the plushies, tossing them aside. “m’sorry baby,” you pouted giving the red mark a sweet kiss, “let me make it up to you.” and that’s how you ended up face down ass up while eren pounded you from behind, the force making you grab onto your plushies for dear life.

♡ he’s very very into gunplay and it’s all your fault. that day you asked him so nicely to fuck your mouth with his glock was the day you created a monster.

♡ one night you both were at a block party and ‘get low’ by lil jon started playing and you couldn’t help but make your way over to where everyone was dancing and join in. eren admired you from the side taking a hit of his blunt every once in a while. you looked so damn good it was criminal. the way your denim mini skirt began to ride up your thick thighs from dancing had eren’s dick jumping in his pants. while you were dancing you suddenly felt a pair of strong arms around you and knew exactly who it was. “you look so fine dancing out here you’re killing me baby,” he chuckled pushing your backside into his front and that’s when you felt it. you froze in your spot making eren smirk, “you okay mama?” he asked pressing a wet kiss to your neck. not even five minutes later you dragged eren to his car and bounced on his dick while while you sucked on his glock. even though the windows were blacked out anyone with eyes could tell what was happening with the way the car bounced and jostled. “fuck just like that baby make a mess on this dick,” eren groaned, pushing the glock deeper into your mouth.

♡ it didn’t stop there either sometimes eren liked to have you point the gun at his head while he fucked you. “look at my sweet girl holding my—goddamn m-my fucking gun. so damn naughty hm?” he grinned loving the way you were struggling to hold it against his head.

♡ his only social media is instagram and it’s basically a fanpage dedicated to you. his profile pic? a picture of him laying on your ass with the biggest smile on his face. his pinned photos? a picture of you and him with matching grills, one of you both wearing ski masks while his gun is pointed at the camera beam on and everything, and the other one is a pic of you two in a photo booth—you were smiling oh so prettily while one of your boobs was in his mouth. he only follows a few of his friends and the only girl he follows is you ofc not bc you made him only follow you he just chose too <333

♡ now after eren gets locked up life is a little bit different than it used to be. since being a dealer was out of the question he started working at an auto body shop w connie and although he wasn’t making as much money as he was before he still provided for you in every way. you didn’t mind the lack of expensive gifts in the slightest you were just happy your renny was back in your arms. he worked a lot more than he used to which left you a lot more needy for his touch and attention but he always made sure to take care you even after an excruciatingly long day at work.

♡ “missed you so much ren today went by so slow,” you whined against his lips as he fucked into you. he was pretty tired so he went a little slower than he usual fast pace but you didn’t mind in the slightest. “missed you too mama. you’re so sweet f’having dinner ready for me n’ helping me out in the shower,” he groaned pushing his thumb into your mouth which you greedily sucked. he always took a shower as soon as he got off, not wanting to get any oil or other grime from the shop on your pretty clothes. you couldn’t stand to not be in his arms a minute longer so you followed him into the shower and just wrapped your arms around his toned stomach while he showered not saying a word. little did you know in just a few days he’d be taking you on a vacation to barbados (somewhere you’ve been dying to visit) and while you both were there he planned on making you his forever by putting a fat rock on your finger.

[iamthecomet]

Mommy Comet!! Mushy ficlet!!!

(Ik you kind of wrote something similar so you can take your creative liberties with this as much as you want!! :>)

Dew is fucking stubborn, He tries to keep up appearances while Swiss is teasing him relentlessly, Dew is having self esteem/abandonment issues, he feels like he’s only useful if he is playing the guitar or getting his insides scrambled by someone’s but is too pissy to tell Swiss because again “appearances”. He INSISTS on doing a rough scene because he can “take it,” except he can’t, he breaks down and won’t tell Swiss what happened, which makes him very worried!! I wanna see Swiss taking it slow with dew, dew doesn’t want to stop (not quite subdrop but Swiss is worried he might dip and dip bAD if he keeps going like this) so Swiss just comforts him while still inside him and tries to make him feel really good, talks him through whatever he’s feeling, lots of kissies!!! Aftercare too!! Once Dew feels better swiss gives him some back rubs and nape kissies and combs/braids his hair!! Dew gets mushy and happy, no more sad tears!!! Blease i would cry if u wrote dis i luv u comet <3 ur the best mommy :>>>!!!

-(long lost) leafy anon🌿

I adore you, Leafy. I hope you know that. I also know you've been waiting so patiently for some good Swiss content, so I'm gonna try my very best. It's long and sweet and dirty. Just for you, love. ~Mommet <3

Swiss notices something isn't right when Dew's keens of pleasure start to choke off into staggering hiccups. Swiss has a bruising grip on one of Dew's hips, the other is in his hair hard enough to burn. Dew was the one who asked for a rough scene, to be tossed around and fucked into the mattress, but now, Swiss can tell just from the shudder in Dew's body that it isn't giving him what he needs. Swiss lets up, slows the pace, he peels his fingers out of the skin of Dew's hip and tries not to look at the bruises already forming. "Dewy, if you need a break we can--" "Keep going, I'm fine," Dew growls. Beneath all the anger in his voice, Swiss can hear the desperation, the whine, the way it all threatens to break apart. Dew's not fine. Swiss loosens the death grip he has on Dew's hair and Dew slumps forward, falling forward to rest on his elbows. He makes a noise that can't be mistaken for anything but a sob. Swiss makes to pull out, to gather Dew into his arms and figure out what the fuck is going on, but Dew rocks his hips back as Swiss does. "Don't stop--fuck--please you can't stop--I--"Dew's breath hitches. He has his face pressed tight to the pillows but Swiss can see the way his shoulders heave as he fights between breathing and sobbing.

Swiss slides his hand up Dew's back, along the knobby line of his spine, to grip the base of his neck. It's gentle, far gentler than he's touched him in the last half an hour. "Dew, what the fuck is going on?" Dew shakes his head hard, he doesn't raise his face. Swiss watches as Dew digs his fingers into his own hair, gripping hard at the scalp. Swiss is afraid to move. Knows that the second he moves to pull out--to stop this--Dew is going to spiral further. Swiss presses his thumb into the base of Dew's skull and rubs, pressing up into the sweaty hair at the base of his neck. "Dew, you have to help me out here. Give me something."

Dew rocks his hips back again, clenching down as he does. Swiss hisses. He grabs Dew's hip hard with his other hand and holds him in place.

"Not that, fuck. Can I move us?"

Dew's still for long enough that Swiss thinks that means no, but eventually he nods slowly. And Swiss maneuvers them onto their sides, legs slotted together.

Dew's muscles contract in rhythm with his crying, and Swiss really should have gone soft by now because of Dew's panicking, but Dew's body is making sure he can't, fluttering and clenching. Swiss presses his nose to the back of Dew's hair. Dew grinds his hips back on instinct and Swiss has to stop him again. Dew's stuck somewhere between subspace and a full break down and Swiss is stuck with him. Swiss curls his arm around Dew's stomach and holds him tight.

Swiss locks his other arm around Dew's hips, and finds Dew still hard and leaking copiously. He whines as Swiss' fingers brush over the head of his cock, grinding his hips back against Swiss' almost mindlessly.

Dew's so far gone, it happened like a flipped switch and now Swiss has his hands full of weepy, desperate fire ghoul. He rests his face against Dew's neck, and presses a kiss there. "Dew, you have to help me."

Dew tips his head back against Swiss' shoulder. He rolls his hips again. Dew reaches down, he pulls Swiss' hand from his sternum and drags it up to his peck, pressing Swiss' fingers down on the nipple ring, and keening at the touch.

"I need--" Dew slurrs, "don't stop. Please don't stop I'm ok. I'm ok." And Swiss knows he's not ok, but he also knows it'll be worse if he stops. If this ends now, Dew will shutdown. If he sees it through, he has a better change of talking him through it, of pulling him out of it. They've done this before. He takes Dew's nipple ring between his fingers and tugs, far gentler than he did five minutes ago, but he wouldn't know it based on the sound that Dew makes. "I won't stop, Droplet," Swiss promises.

Swiss grinds his hips forward and the air hisses from Dew's lungs. It doesn't take long before Dew is dragging Swiss' other hand to his cock. Swiss jerks him off with slow measured strokes, it matches the gentle way he's fucking into him.

"I'm fucking useless," Dew says as he grinds back against Swiss, the words slurred and breathless.

"No." Swiss keeps the pace leisurely. Now that Dew's talking he doesn't want him to stop. And if what's going to make him talk is a dick grinding into his ass then Swiss is going to give it to him. "I am. This is the only thing I'm any good at and I can't even get fucked right--" "All you have to do is lay there. I'll take care of you."

"You shouldn't have to."

"I want to," Swiss says, dragging his teeth along the line of Dew's jaw. "look at me."

Dew does, turning his head so they can see each other. Swiss takes the opportunity to kiss him, slow and languid. Dew's hips twitch up into Swiss' hand. He's clenching repeatedly around Swiss, his body shuddering. Swiss kisses the corners of his mouth when the pleasure is too much and Dew's mouth goes slack against Swiss'

Dew's back bows as he cums all over Swiss' hand and his own chest with a grating sob. Swiss tries to be gentle, but the spasms of Dew's muscles drag him closer and closer to the edge and he hilts himself harder than he means to when he cums, growling into Dew's shoulder. He crushes Dew to his chest, locking his arms around his ribs and squeezing. Dew shakes in his arms, his breath catching on sobs. Swiss presses his lips to every inch of available skin, brushing his hair out of the way to kiss the back of his neck and along the edge of his jaw. "Dewy," Swiss whispers in his ear, "are you ok?"

Dew nods, but doesn't say anything, and Swiss lets him go quiet. A few minutes later Dew starts to squirm against him, the position no longer comfortable, and Swiss lets him move. Dew rolls over and pushes at Swiss' shoulder until Swiss lays flat on his back. Dew seals himself to his side, pressing his head to Swiss' chest. Swiss slides his hand up to Dew's hair and starts to brush it out with his claws. "I'm sorry," Dew finally says. "You don't need to be. And don't think we're not going to talk about this."

"About what?"

"You, and this 'I'm useless' bullshit."

Dew stiffens. "It's fine."

"It's not," Swiss insists, "and we're going to talk about it."

"Not yet?" Dew asks. "Not now?" Swiss reaches over with his other hand and starts a small braid near Dew's temple. Dew goes even more boneless. A purr kicks up in his chest. "Fine," Swiss agrees, "but I'm not going to forget about it." Dew presses a small kiss to Swiss' pec, just over his heart. "You never do." They fall quiet for a few breaths, Swiss works the braid into Dew's hair, and Dew continues to sag more and more into him as all of the tension drains from his body. "Thank you for taking care of me," Dew whispers, breath fanning out over Swiss' chest. Swiss smiles. He finishes the first braid and starts another. The hair is silky between his fingers. Dew's eyes slip closed as he starts to drift. "I'll always take care of you, firefly."

[star0mania]

TWD OC U3U

"I am Eddie Delkins. The Theatre Kid and Carl's awesome boyfriend....NOW EAT THIS SUCKA!" 

Full Name: Edward "Eddie" Delkins

Preferred name: Eddie

Age: 10 (season 1) 12 (season 2-3) 13 (season 4-5) 14 (season 6-8) 15 (season 9)

Date  of Birth: Unknown

Place of Birth: Utah

Gender: Male

Birth gender: Female

Titles: -The Theatre Kid -The Class Clown

Nickname: Eddie (various people) Eds (close friends) Eddie Spaghetti (best friends) Stupid nutbrain (sister)

Sexuality: Panromantic, Demisexual

Weapon: A baseball bat with needles

Personality: Kind Honest Brave Bold Adventurous Funny Loyal Caring Independent Stubborn Impatient Sarcastic  Kind of innocent? Cocky "You hurt them, you die" Tries to make people feel better about the currant situation- 

Hobbies: Playing on piano Solving puzzles Playing with his pet fox Reading Playing on the drums Drawing  Magic tricks

Best Friends: Carl Grimes 

Friends: Judith Grimes Your OC Daryl Dixon  Hershal Greene Beth Greene Mikey Lori Grimes Maggie Rhee  Glenn Rhee e.t.c

Enemies: The bad guys pfff

Family: Cole Moncreo (adopted father), 31, deceased, got beaten by Negan's bat Actor: Pedro Pascal

Elle Delkins (twin sister) alive Actress: Bella Ramsey  Crush: Enid Rhee (soon becomes her girlfriend)

Terrence Delkins (brother) 15, deceased, got shot by Eddie after getting bitten by a walker in season 3 Actor: Tom Holland

Millie (mother) 41, deceased, eaten by walkers -Picture: Unknown-

Jacob (father) 41, deceased, got shot by Rick in season 5 because he was an enemy working for an enemy group, The Fireflies (yes I made it up).

Firestar (pet fox) deceased, suffered from starvation in season 9

Rofee (pet dog), deceased, got stabbed by Elle after getting bitten by a walker in season 9

Cottontail (sister's pet rabbit) alive

"Terry, why doesn't mommy and daddy love me?...."

Actors:

Kid:  Jackson Robert Scott

Teenager: Cameron Boyce   (RIP  our favorite Carlos De Vil  <//3)

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

"I'm so glad my awesome boyfriend is okay!"

Love Interest: Carl Grimes

Ship Name: Ceddie Edarl Carlddie

Music in Me- HSM Never Enough- The Greatest Showman A Million Dreams- The Greatest Showman Heather- Conan Gray Teenage Dream- Katy Perry Heat Waves- Glass Animals Rewrite the Stars- The Greatest Show(edit version) Cheerleader- OMI Love is Love- Trey Pearson  A Thousand Years- Christina Perri Bad Romance- Lady Gaga Dandelions- Ruth B.

Love languages: Physical affection Quality touch

Relationship tropes:  sun + moon Energetic x Tired Endgame Right person, wrong time

Relationship Status: Season 1-2: Friends Season 3-4: Crushes Season 5-8: Dating

Relationship Variants: Robin x Finney (TBP) Shinsou x Denki (MHA) Kai x Adam (The Hollow) Amity x Luz (TOH) Kirishima x Bakugou (MHA)

Character variants:  Sammy (JWCC) Hawks (MHA) Izuku (MHA) Squirrelflight (Warriors) Michael Afton (FNAF) Luz (TOH) Rodrick (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) Richie (IT) Boris (The Goldfinch) Hiccup (HTTYD) Jack Frost (ROTG)

Dead or Alive: Dead

Cause of Death: Influenza 

First Appearance:  1x2, Guts  First Line: "For a kid my age, you're kinda short, short-stack"--- to Carl Grimes when they meet Last Appearance:  8x2, The Bridge Last Line: "Meet ya'll on the other side..."---- to Elle and the group before succumbing to the illness

Theme songs: Mary on a Cross- Ghost Ghost- Justin Bieber  Lovely- Billie Ellish Its Been So Long- The Living Tombstone  Waiting on a Miricle- Encanto Requiem- Dear Evan Hanson Walking the Wire- Imagine Dragons Enemy- Imagine Dragons Believer- Imagine Dragons Changes- Hayd Daddy Issues- The Neighborhood  Home- Nick Jonas Family- Mother Mother See you Again- Wiz  Khalifa Poker Face- Lady Gaga Boys don't Cry- The Cure

For the Delkins family: Its been so long- The Living Tombstone Afton Family- KryFuze

"I should be dead...but I'm not...." "Hurt my friends and I will kill you..."

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

Backstory: Edward "Eddie" Delkins was born to a "happy" married couple named Millie and Jacob Delkins.  He had two siblings. An older brother named Terrance and a two-year younger sister named Elle. His parents always expected a lot from him but hey, he still loved them. He revealed he was trans when he was 6 but of course his parents didn't like that, but his siblings accepted him and helped him go through treatment. When the outbreak happened, he was in his room, reading until he heard his older brother yelling. When he went to check what was going on, he saw two zombies eating his mom. He   lets out a horrific scream as his brother practically threw him, his sister's bunny Fluffball, the family dog Rofee and his sister into the van and drove off. They soon find Pedro who raises them like his own children. In season 5, the Delkins siblings and their dad were reunited. Elle and Eddie had their suspicions and didn't trust him but Eddie pretended to so he could get the truth from him. Once Eddie and his dad were alone, Eddie's dad told him about his plan to wipe out the survivors and demanded him to join them, even guiltripping him but Eddie refused, causing his dad to go off the edge. He soon went  to the survivors and attacked them with the Fireflies. But the fight stopped when Eddie shot his dad. And the rest is history :D

𝐹𝒶𝓋𝑜𝓇𝒾𝓉𝑒𝓈;

Spicy Food:  Butter Chicken

Sweet: Candy

Book: Warriors

TV show: Stranger Things

Movie: IT

Anime: My Hero Academia

Manga: MHA and Assassination Classroom

Animal: Foxes and Wolves. Can't forget bunnies or dogs

Song: Running up that Hill by Kate Bush

[ushidoux]

Be My Last - Iwaizumi x  Reader (Pt. 3)

Summary: You have trouble getting over a past relationship and it’s preventing you from moving forward. (~2.5k words)

Warnings: again poor communication!!! angst, no sex in this chapter

A/N: Let me know what you think!

Part 1|| Part 2 || Part 3 || Part 4 || Part 5

---

“Oi, you fucking bastard, you knew!”

Iwa losing his temper over the phone wasn’t exactly atypical, even if it had become a less frequent occurrence, but for once Oikawa was actually genuinely surprised to hear his friend this angry over the phone. Especially given that it was almost 2pm in San Juan, which made it the very early AM in Tokyo, so whatever had worked him up had also kept him up way past his bedtime, given that Iwa was now extremely careful about his sleep hygiene. 

Oikawa took enough time to properly swallow the bite he’d just taken of his choripan before answering.

“What did I know, Iwa-chan?” He finally inquired, setting down his sandwich in the wrapper spread across his lap before leaning back into the park bench on which he was sitting. It was a wonderful sunny day, the type of day where it was a shame you were being yelled at, he mused briefly.

“About ___ and Ushijima.”

Oikawa’s eyebrows furrowed, not that Iwa could see the confusion on his face. There was a short pause which Oikawa broke eventually.

“Am I missing something or…?” His genuinely confused tone didn’t serve in any way to make Iwa less irritated.

“You didn’t say anything!” He hissed loudly enough that Oikawa winced, holding his cellphone a good distance from his ear before answering. “You used to tell me about that motherfucker’s every move, and now that it’s useful information, you have nothing to say?”

Oikawa frowned.

“Why are you blaming me for your communication issues, Iwa-chan?!” He all but whined.

When Iwa’s voice grew silent on the other line, Oikawa grew slightly nervous. But he was right. This was a particularly severe lapse in communication between Iwa and you that he was now projecting onto him, severe because clearly it had ended up being a bigger deal than it should have been in the first place.

As much as Iwa didn’t want to admit it, yesterday evening was evidence that something was very, very wrong in his relationship with you, or at the very least a residual tangled web of feelings to sort out, and it wasn’t exactly something he could easily fix or improve on his own. 

Not that he wouldn’t try. 

“What happened?” Oikawa finally asked, and Iwa retreated.

“Nothing. I’ll… talk to you later.”

The phone cut off on Iwa’s end and Oikawa sighed with mild irritation before returning to his lunch thousands of miles away.

On the other side of the globe, Iwa made his way from the balcony to the bedroom, setting his phone down on the nightstand and taking a glance at you who had appeared to be finally sleeping soundly, but betrayed by the intermittent soft hiccups of someone who had been crying just moments earlier. 

He hadn’t meant to make you cry. In fact, he hadn’t even meant to force another discussion at all, but hours after the last guests had filed out, none the wiser about the fight that had just transpired earlier (even if Hinata had made a single innocent comment about the bruise blooming on Ushijima’s cheek), the elephant in the room had grown entirely too large for him to bear. Unfortunately, the simple demand for clarification had spiraled out of control and ended up with a shouting match which had culminated in you bursting into tears.

It wasn’t a good look for him to behave like this. 

Even so, Iwa couldn’t stop thinking about how the subject of your argument had replied to his grumbled apology with the admission that he probably deserved the hit for all he’d done. Somehow, the persistent remorse in his voice made Iwa consider hitting him a second time for good measure. 

That wouldn’t be the right move either. There wasn’t really a right move, was there? All Iwaizumi could do was hope that everything would blow over. 

You loved him after all; he was sure of it.

---

you knew, didn’t you?

knew what?

You grit your teeth at the quickly returned text message, then set your phone down at your desk letting out a hushed but aggravated sigh, before picking it up again and typing furiously. 

you texted me, ‘how’s everything going?’ right before all that shit happened.

that could mean literally anything??? What???

You didn’t know how much longer your friend was going to feign innocence, but it looked like not very long because once your eyes flitted back to the unfinished project proposal you had been working on, your phone quickly buzzed again. 

By the time you had told her what happened this morning on your morning commute to work, she had grown a little too quiet, interjecting very little as you spoke and not asking any clarifying questions. You had assumed that she had just been being extra considerate, but now that it was early afternoon and there was a lull in your concentration, it occurred to you again just how clearly she must have anticipated the awkward situation.

YOU said you didn’t follow sports anymore + it’s been 3 years. HOW was I supposed to know you were going to overreact?

Overreact?

There was a small pause in which you saw her speech bubble pop up and then down, and then up again.

Not overreacting I guess, but I’m just confused… Don’t you and Iwa talk? How did it become a huge deal?

You decided you didn’t really have an answer to that. All you could do was return a noncommittal idk, letting the conversation die out and returning back to the task at hand.

---

“Mommy, why does he look like that?”

Ushijima glanced for a split second at the small child pointing openly at him, giving a small, understanding nod to the mortified mother trying to quiet her son’s whispers before continuing on his way back to his hotel.

His face didn’t exactly throb anymore, but the bruise he had been gifted with was very noticeable even if he had to be thankful he didn’t have a black eye. Iwa had hit him surprisingly hard, which was good. At the very least, he could count on him to protect you.

Getting hit in the face by your athletic trainer wasn’t ideal but he and Iwaizumi were both professionals. They could put it past them.

Even if they didn’t have a deep friendship, there was a sort of camaraderie since they’d met in California years ago. That relationship didn’t have to sour, he told himself. 

He just needed to give you two a wide berth. 

Even if he didn’t want to, he had to. It was the right, mature thing to do. 

Even if he didn’t miss on the court, he’d missed a crucial set in life. 

He had no right to demand a second chance.

---

You hadn’t traveled home alone in a while, you realized, as you set pace towards your apartment after a long shift. The subway was cramped as usual, but the closeness of the quarters felt more noticeable and uncomfortable now that Iwa’s hand wasn’t holding yours and keeping you close to him. He’d messaged you about an hour before you were about to leave work to give you a heads up that he would be returning late, and for a moment, you wondered if it were really true or if he was still mad at you.

But you knew Iwa well enough to be confident that he didn’t hold grudges, and if he were still uncomfortable he would tell you - he would never actively avoid you. 

Then again, you hadn’t had a conflict like this before.

I don’t love him, I only love you, you’d said to him almost screaming, defensive because Iwa’s voice had sounded hurt when you failed to come up with the words to explain why you were so shaken still.

You’d meant that with your whole heart. So why exactly did you react so poorly? 

Maybe it was the final death rattle of unresolved feelings, rearing their ugly head before being banished to whatever realm past hurts went once they were healed.

When you finally made it to your apartment, you stood for a moment at the entryway after flipping the light switch, taking a couple of seconds to blink away the fact that things didn’t look quite right. 

For a moment, you couldn’t remember exactly when you had replaced your TV - was that before or after Ushijima? Had that couch always been in that position? 

Fatigue even made you wonder where your houseplants had gone, until you remembered you had all but given them all away, telling yourself that those last vestiges of your relationship would have to vanish before you could truly count yourself moved on.

Now that the plants were gone, were you truly over it?

You let out a sigh and set your keys down before shooting a message to Iwa to let him know that you had made it home. That proposal wouldn’t write itself, and you could tackle it anew once you’d treated yourself with a warm bath and a modest glass of wine.

---

Seated in his soon-to-be minimally used office, Iwaizumi leafed through the short stack of papers before him, including prior athletic history and a formal written statement from the team physician. Satisfied, he gathered the documents and gently pushed them across the desk towards the silent, patiently waiting athlete sitting across from him.

“It looks like you’re cleared for practice tomorrow,” he said, offering a measured smile to Ushijima.

“Not that I expected any issues,” Iwa continued, compelled to keep speaking from the lack of response from the man before him. While he didn’t exactly sense hostile energy from Ushijima, it seemed like he was even more difficult to read than usual. 

Then again, Iwa was unsure if he was projecting; he acknowledged that prior to this very moment in time, he had been more standoffish than usual, having avoided unnecessary interaction with Ushijima during the day’s orientation activities.

He took a surreptitious glance at the wall clock above his head. There were only two more members to clear after Ushijima and then he’d be done for the day and could go back home to you, maybe picking up sushi on the way home as a peace offering.

Ushijima didn’t exactly look like he was getting ready to leave, but Iwa hadn’t explicitly dismissed him.

The two sat in an awkward silence and Iwa wondered if he should apologize again to settle the stagnant air between them, not knowing that the man before him was considering the exact same thing. 

What happens now? seemed to be the question du jour.

“How’s your father?” Iwa asked abruptly, shifting in his chair and leaning forward on elbows propped onto the desk, maybe a little too forward, in attempts to keep his mind off the fact that the volleyball player before him had also played with his love’s heart.

“He’s been well. Thank you for asking.”

Another pause ensued and Iwa was running out of ways to tell him politely to get out of his office for his next client, but for once Ushijima was the one to break the silence.

“I want us to have a good working relationship despite everything.”

The statement hung in the air for a second before settling and Iwa could feel irritation start to bubble in the pit of his stomach once again, but instead he forced a pleasant smile.

“Of course.”

---

With feet tucked beneath you, your laptop perched on the glass coffee table and a half-drunk glass of white wine (refilled once) atop the end table next to the couch, the sad truth was that you had only written about five lines in the past 45 minutes. 

Instead, against all the advice you’d ever been given in your life, you had sleuthed your way into your ex’s Instagram and Facebook accounts, gleaning as much information as you could about what had happened after you were two, after you’d blocked him cold turkey on every social media application and vowed never to look back.

As expected, the pictures and life updates he posted were few and far between, but there were still some to learn from, especially when you looked through those snapshots taken by others in his life. You were initially surprised to see old pictures of you together still up if you went back far enough, but clicked past them quickly because the fact that you looked so happy was more irritating than sad at this point of time. 

You took another sip of your wine, feeling a soft warmth in your cheeks and a light pleasant haze fill your head while you kept perusing. Some pictures you recognized from his prior team here, Schweiden Adlers, and then there were other promotional images from a new team, Orzel Warsawa... He had even traveled to Poland without your knowledge, you mused.

You took special note of women he looked all too close to for friendship as you browsed, noting a gorgeous, tall blonde in several pictures he appeared to have dated for a brief stint of a couple of months.

1 short relationship in three years. It was a shame, you thought. They could have had the prettiest kids.

And there, you finally realized your internal monologue was crazy. Why were you doing this again?

You threw back the final bit of wine and switched back to your Word document. Maybe writing while a little tipsy wasn’t the best of ideas but any words on the page were better than none.

…

It didn’t take long for you to doze off and your boyfriend to find you sprawled on your belly on the sofa, your glass empty and precariously placed at the edge of the sofa, and your laptop placed just inches above your head.

Iwa’s smile was immediate as he admired your silly position while setting down dinner, quickly walking over to gather you up for bed.

You murmured slightly as he scooped you into his arms, your face instinctively nuzzling his chest. He couldn’t help but think of how cute you were, kissing your forehead softly before tucking you under the covers. You had been so exhausted lately from work, so he’d let you get some early shuteye rather than disturb your peace.

Leaving the bedroom to eat dinner alone on the couch, he noted your laptop in suboptimal location, moving it to the table before sitting down to avoid a future accident.

It flashed on with the slight movement, revealing a lengthy document with heavy blocks of text, which he saved just in case because autosave failure would bring you to tears. He then clicked out, only to see the results of your cyberstalking session.

His heart may have skipped a beat or two but he closed your laptop instead, leaning back into his chair to finish eating dinner.

The uneasiness that filled his stomach instead had to be related to the raw fish he’d brought home. 

There was simply no other explanation, couldn’t be.

[mcrninqstar]

discord: it’s you. it’s always been you.

SUMMARY: Lucifer accidently sends Maze the wrong text leading her to believe her best friend is dead. He goes to her to clarify and they end up revealing more to each other than they anticipated.  TRIGGERS: Death Mentions, Daddy Issues, Mommy Issues WRITTEN WITH: @mazikeenofmurders

MAZIKEEN: She'd been in Hell, torturing Will when she got the update from Lucifer. Charlie's dead now. She'd seen a lot of people die in her lifetime. Most of the time it didn't bother her, but Charlie was her best friend. It was heartbreaking. Her chest felt restricted, and her eyes filled with tears. She wiped them away before anyone could see them. If Charlie had ended up in Hell, Maze should've been told, but no one came while she let out her anger on Will, which meant that she'd gone to heaven and that Maze wouldn't be able to see her again. She let Belphegor continue torturing Will on their own while she went back to her own place in Hell. She didn't tell Belphegor the news yet. They'd need to figure out how to break that down to them. They were already upset enough that she'd been hurt. Maze had diverted their sadness to anger, but handling her death would be harder. Maze remained stoic until she got home and saw a picture of Charlie, Lucifer, and herself in a frame on one of the walls. She picked it up and broke down into tears, clutching it to her chest as she laid down on her bed. Now she'd really never get Charlie to sleep with her and Lucifer. That made her cry more.

LUCIFER: "Well, that was bloody awful," Lucifer lamented as he appeared in Maze's home. He needed someone to complain to about this. He'd already tried calling Linda a couple times but she declined the calls on account that it was close to 2am now. "Maze?" he called out to her. She wasn't in the living room, but he could feel her presence about. He figured she must've gone to bed. Surely she wouldn't mind being woken up to some good news. Lucifer helped himself to the bar, pouring two glasses of champagne and placing them on a tray. He carried them into Maze's room like some sort of fancy butler. He expected to find her maybe in some sexy little number or maybe nothing at all. But what he hadn't expected was to find her crying. "Mazikeen..." he lowered the tray onto the nightstand beside her. "Why are you crying? I thought you'd be over the moon, honestly..." Becoming Death was one hell of a promotion, especially for a human reaper. Charlie had essentially ascended to an angelic form of being. It was unheard of for humans to do that. It was historic and spicy and no doubt causing Uriel to panic a little. Lucifer very much liked that idea. But Maze...he'd never seen her like this.

MAZIKEEN: She heard it distantly when someone came into her home. Sometimes the other demons tried to sneak into her place to fight her when she was off guard. She was never really off guard, but she could recognize Lucifer's presence. Archangels like him radiated power that was unmistakable, especially him. She didn't move when he called her name. She didn't want him to see her crying like this, but she couldn't stop. It hurt too much. Charlie had been too important to her. "I'm not crying," she insisted, even as her voice cracked and tears spilled down her face. The picture frame she'd been clutching left imprints on her arms as she sat up. She sniffled as she wiped at her face, but more tears kept coming. She looked at Lucifer with confusion. "Why would I be over the moon about this?" she asked. Why was he? What was good about any of this? "She's gone, Lucifer." She took in a breath trying to push back the tears, but it just distorted her face. Admitting that she was gone was hard. It was possibly one of the hardest things she ever had to do, and she dealt with Cuphegor all the time.

LUCIFER: "Right, of course," he nodded and sat down at her bed side. She was too crying but he wasn't going to call her out on it. He simply pulled out the handkerchief from his pocket square and held it out to her. He had no idea what brought this on. Maze normally loved when he sent people out to be tortured by her specifically. William especially had been a thorn at her side. What he'd done now warranted permanent death so naturally he figured Maze would be happy about that but she wasn't. She was crying about someone being gone. It didn't take long to realize she was talking about Charlie. "She's not gone," he replied, placing his hands on either side of her and rubbing down the length of her arms in a reassuring manner. "I mean, I don't really know where she's at right now specifically. She's kind of hiccupping in and out of afterlives and I'm not allowed entry into some of them because of politics. But she's very much alive...unalive...sort of dead?" he sighed trying to figure out how to explain it. "She's Death now." He didn't see what was so bad about that. Maybe it was because Maze couldn't hug her? "I mean, sure, it would be ill advised to touch her at the moment but you'll be able to give her a hug when she reigns her powers in a bit. Raphael said they'd help."

MAZIKEEN: She took the handkerchief he offered her and wiped the tears off her face, still not admitting that they were tears, not that he was insisting they were or anything. He hadn't argued her lie, and she appreciated it. She leaned against him as he rubbed her arms.  She thought he was giving her some spiel about how their afterlives didn't really mean they were gone or something. That wouldn't have made a difference to Mazikeen if she couldn't see Charlie herself, but that wasn't what he was talking about. She wasn't sure what he was talking about actually. "What do you mean she's alive? You texted me and told me she was dead." Her voice was raising angrily. She'd been so upset. "You made me think my best friend died!" She hit him in the chest as she spoke. "I was crying because I thought I lost her!" She spoke with a mixture of shouting and sobbing.

LUCIFER: "What do you mean? No I didn't," he defended as she shouted that he sent her a text saying Charlie was dead. He pulled out his phone to try to get a look at what he said but she started smacking him. He swatted her away briefly to take a peak and sure enough...he grimaced. Bloody autocorrect. "That was meant to say she's Death, not she's dead," he corrected, not that it mattered in hindsight. "I wouldn't break that kind of news to you over a text message, Maze," he tried to assure her calmly. "That's Levi levels of avoidance. I'd send a carrier pigeon at least." Perhaps it wasn't the best time for jokes but that was really the only way he knew how to work through the kind of day he had. It wasn't exactly easy having to run a death scythe into an old friend and hope for the best.

MAZIKEEN: "Yes, you did!" she snapped. She'd read over the text several times just to make sure she'd read it right because that news was so serious. It didn't make a difference to her now that it was a typo. If anything, she was more furious that he hadn't noticed the typo before he'd sent it, or even that he didn't see that it had changed once he had sent it. He could've corrected it immediately and saved her the heartbreak of thinking she'd lost her friend. "A carrier pigeon?!" she repeated angrily, not finding his jokes as funny as he did in the moment when she was still reeling from thinking her friend had died. She started hitting him. "You're so stupid! I can't believe I fell in love with you, you asshole! Who jokes about that?!"

LUCIFER: "In my defense a lot was going on," he lamented, still wanting to complain about the situation. "I wasn't exactly sipping Bacardi with Raphael up there." He might've put too much faith in his phone to get the message across. "I knew you were worried about Charlie's condition and I wanted to get the news to her ASAP. I had a million and one things I needed to do to secure the veil after everything happened and I wouldn't have had time to come down to hell until well...now. I didn't think it was fair for you to wait that long." He was trying to ease her nerves but thanks to his phone he'd done the opposite. He grimaced as soon as the pigeon joke left his lips and braced himself for another round of smacking. It didn't hurt and he let her carry on. It was best to just let Maze air out her frustrations rather than let them fester. He expected her to insult him. That was par for the course. But he hadn't expected her to say the other thing. He sat up a little straighter and held her firmly so that she would stop hitting him and look at him instead. "You don't...you can't...you don't mean that, do you?" he asked her in all seriousness.

MAZIKEEN: Realistically, she couldn't blame him too much for what had happened. All in all, it was a simple mistake, and anger was the main way she knew to release her emotions. She knew Lucifer  knew that, and there were ways she could make it up to him later when she wasn't emotional. She sighed. "I guess I do appreciate you trying to tell me as soon as possible, even if you did fuck it up." She really did appreciate that, considering how worried she'd been about Charlie. "So I really can't hug her though?" She was one of the people Maze actually liked to hug. Lucifer was also one of them, but him grabbing her took her by surprise. He probably just was getting annoyed with her constantly hitting him, but most of her anger had gotten out now. She sighed. "You are kinda an asshole sometimes, but I like it most of the time."

LUCIFER: "Well, someone will suffer for the ill conceived attempts of autocorrect," he assured her. It wasn't going to be him, but someone would. Surely there was probably a demon to blame for this. "Probably Sam," he offered, hoping that would lift her spirits some with another soul to torture. "Charlie managed to separate him and his evil twin. She dragged the parasitic one here. Not sure which kingdom but when we find him, he's all yours," he replied, still running his hand up and down her arm in a comforting gesture. "No, I'm afraid you can't hug her for now. She's deadly to everything except the Archangels now." Although Charlie was young by comparison, her ranking was up there with Cupid now that she was Death. Love and Death were fundamental forces in the balance of things. "But I'll give her extra hugs on your behalf," he replied. He didn't mind it one bit. Having to stab Charlie wasn't exactly pleasant and he wanted to ensure she was okay every step of the way. His features softened and his grip lightened when she remarked he was an asshole sometimes, but she enjoyed that about him. "That's not what I meant...I meant the other thing you said. The one about falling in love with me..." he clarified so that neither of them could be mistaken this time. "You don't mean that, do you?"

MAZIKEEN: "As they should." She nodded in agreement. She smiled brightly when Lucifer suggested that it would probably be Sam. She'd always wanted to torture him. "Is it my birthday again already?" she asked jokingly. She was a little disappointed that it wasn't both Sams that ended up in Hell, but she guessed that it was good for Charlie's happiness or something. "That's pretty hot," she remarked with a smirk. "It makes me want to try it anyway. I'll tell you what it feels like." She grinned. Lucifer couldn't have all the fun in being the only one of them to be able to hug Charlie. Her smile faltered when he clarified what he'd heard her say. "Ah," so she had actually said that then? She'd thought that part was just in her head, but it was hard to keep a cap on her thoughts when she was that upset. Her chest clenched up. She was trying to gauge his reaction to that before she said anything else, but it was hard to tell how he was feeling about it. The most she could tell was that he was uncertain, but she couldn't decipher if that uncertainty came from disgust at the idea, if he wanted it like she did, if his trauma from the curse just had him scared to trust it, or a combination of a few of those. She sat up straighter, holding herself higher to make sure this confession didn't make her look weaker in any way. If he didn't like it then fuck him anyways. "I do. I've been in love with you for a while now." She let out a breath of air. That was a weird thing she never really thought she'd let out, but it was out there now. She watched Lucifer carefully for his reaction, prepared to backtrack or defend herself if she needed to.

LUCIFER: He was glad to see her smile after the particularly awful news she thought he'd delivered. He knew he'd be paying for that for the next few weeks but for now at least the storm had passed and she knew Charlie was safe. "If your birthday occurred anytime that man nearly dies, you'd be aging at twice the rate," he pointed out. He really did feel for the Winchester's Guardian. That angel had to be doing overtime on most days. "Wear protection," he teased. "Safe hugging to prevent untimely death." Maze wore enough latex that it really shouldn't be a problem. Charlie was careful too. Lucifer had instructed her to go to Val in the meantime for pointers and perhaps a pair of sturdier gloves.

He swallowed back a bit of initial panic when she confirmed that he'd heard her correctly. His automatic thoughts and fears were that his curse was back. Why else would anyone love him? He projected outward confidence because he had to. It was expected of him as King of Hell to know what to do, or at least to look like he knew what he was doing. Maze knew better than most Lucifer had no idea what he was doing. He was a mess just trying his best. Truthfully, the curses had set him back quite a bit. He still struggled, wondering if any of the relationships and connections he'd made in his life were real. Chloe had left him long before the curse was broken and he couldn't blame her. But Maze stuck around. She'd been there before he discovered his curse and she was still there afterward. She'd been there through all of his milestone and all the trials life could've thrown his way. He couldn't have imagined doing any of this without her. In fact, he was certain he couldn't have done it without her. The duties of keeping Hell running and keeping his siblings both happy and alive stretched him thin. He needed a partner and Maze was the best one he could've ever asked for.

If she really did love him, then this was a blessing because as much as the feeling scared him, he loved her too. He hadn't realized how much she did for him until she'd disappeared to the other timeline. He'd been a mess then and so had hell. Since then, he tried to show her that he appreciated her more and more. He tried to do what he could to spend time with her because he didn't know how much time they had left. He realized some time ago if the void was going to take over, she'd be the person he'd want to be with in the end. He thought those feelings were just friendship, but he knew deep down it went deeper than that.

"Okay...." he took a deep breath. "Okay..." he ran his hands up and down her arms as a soothing gesture. "Mazikeen, you are one of the most important people to me. You're the first person I check in with in the mornings and the last one I see before I go to bed. You're..." You're the one person I can see myself spending an eternity with. Just say it Lucifer. Come on. "The last time I felt like this about someone, it turned out to not be real. How do we know any of this is real?" he questioned. It was an unfair question to place on her but he wanted to be upfront with his fears. He'd known Chloe for all of 4 years when she left. And her leaving left a hole in his belief in love. He'd known Maze for much longer. If this turned out to be a curse and if she left too...he wasn't sure where that would leave either of them.

MAZIKEEN: She laughed a little at his comment about Sam's deaths. "Even better. Maybe I can catch up to you, old man." It wasn't like they really aged anyways. Birthdays were an arbitrary thing they made up just for an excuse to celebrate. They were all too old to actually keep up with their ages, and even if they did, it just made them look so much better despite their ages. "Don't worry. My strap-on has a condom and everything." She grinned. She'd be careful enough, but the thought that her best friend could kill her with just a single touch was exciting and she wanted to see what it felt like. Hopefully, she wouldn't kill herself completely in the process. She wasn't actually suicidal like some people.

Her chest ached seeing that look on his face. As a demon, she considered it a skill of hers that she could recognize the fear in her victims, but Lucifer wasn't a victim. He was her closest friend and the person she was in love with. She usually knew him better than she knew herself most of the time, but she couldn't tell where that panic came from in the moment. Was he as scared of rejecting her as she was of being rejected? Or was he just as scared of allowing himself to love as she was. She knew that with his curse, he'd been hesitant of his relationships, romantic or otherwise. It was part of the reason she'd been so hesitant herself recently about talking about it (though it was mainly because of her own fear). The way he held onto her arms, rubbing them to reassure her, convinced her that this was a rejection, so she prepared herself for it.

She had to admit, he was setting up the rejection nicely. She imagined that he was going the route of asking if they could still be friends so they could still do all of those things. The last time I felt like this about someone... So he did feel the same way about her then, and his panic was about the curse. Even so, the doubt of whether this was real or not hurt. She knew his curse was broken. Cupid had confirmed that. Maze wasn't particularly great at dealing with her emotions, so the pain she felt at his doubt turned to anger. It wasn't rational anger, considering how valid his doubts were, but she was angry nevertheless. How dare he doubt her love?!

"I'm not Chloe," she snapped. "What, do you think that just because I was with her when Cupid broke your connection that it somehow transferred from her into me? Well, it didn't because I've been in love with you for a lot longer than that. I didn't fall in love with you because of a curse. I fell in love with you because unlike everyone else you were always there with me and for me from the day I met you. It wasn't some immediate infatuation. I don't do the love at first sight thing." She barely considered the love thing until she realized it was actually a possibility. "I don't just have the feeling that I love you. I know I love you because I consider the day you picked me to be your right hand one of the best moments of my life, and maybe kicking Azazel's ass made that day better too, but that's not the important part. You are. I like working for you. I like your dirty jokes because I have the same sense of humor. And your corny jokes are awful,  but occasionally I'll find myself making them too." She sounded annoyed as she said all of this, only angry that he didn't see it. She shouldn't have been surprised though considering that seemed to run in his family. "I know a lot of people think it's a little extra the way you will do whole musical numbers. I agree, but I fucking love it!"

He looked like he was about to say something, but she cut him off. "I'm not done yet! You wanted to know how I know that this is real, so you're going to hear it all! When I was younger, and practically everyone was doubting me for being your right hand, you didn't. You never doubted my capability to kick their asses and make them shut the fuck up. I fucking love the fact that even though you're an archangel, you trust me to handle myself and fight my own battles. I'd be pissed if you tried to, but I never had to worry about that with you. I never have to worry about most things with you because I trust you. Hell, even your problems I don't mind dealing with. You self-sabotage constantly, and so do I. You've got the the world's biggest daddy issues, and I've got the world's worst mommy issues. But we know how to deal with each other's issues. The drama in your family is exponential, but I don't ever want to stop dealing with it. It's honestly really entertaining, and don't you dare fucking tell them this, or anyone for that matter, but I started to care for them too. Some of them anyways. Just a tiny barely noticeable amount." She probably shouldn't have said that, but she kept going.

"When we came up here together at first and Chloe made you vulnerable, you have no idea how terrified I was. I am your right hand and your bodyguard. I don't usually have to protect you from much because you're an archangel, but there you were getting injured constantly just because you kept going near the thing that was making you vulnerable. I was honestly glad that it was a curse just because it meant that you could be safe again." Sure there were other things that could hurt him but not many. "I was just glad that I didn't have to worry about losing you."

She continued to list off more and more reasons to prove how she knew her love was her own and not from some curse. It spanned from centuries in the past all the way to the present, including the smallest details like the way he laughed when he was scared or  the way his hair looked after sex to more major details and events like the fact that she saw him when she looked at Asmodeus or how jealous she felt when she saw the other universe's Maze seeming to have everything with her Lucifer and how glad she was to come home to her own. It took her hours to get through everything, and it was well into the morning now. "And if that's not enough to convince you that this is real, I don't know what is," she huffed. "Cupid's been trying to get me to tell you for ages now, and she wouldn't do that if she had any doubts about my feelings for you being a curse. She might be a pain in the ass half the time, but I know you at least can count on her being genuine about love."

LUCIFER: "At the rate he dies, you'll likely catch up to Aamon or Michael at this point," he joked although he really hoped Sam would slow down a little for Charlie's sake. He chuckled when she replied that her strap-on had a condom. "A paragon of safe sex. I expect no less. I'm sure Charlie will appreciate the sentiment." If anything, Charlie would at least appreciate the jokes and the company. It had been a rough few hours for her. Those hours spanned days in hell. Days that Maze must've spent feeling anxious about her friend's wellbeing. No wonder she'd reacted so poorly to his faux pas.

He was hoping to make it up to her, but it was clear his hesitation was contributing to her anxiety. Being a demon from Aamon's kingdom, that anxiety naturally expressed itself with rage. He flinched as she snapped at him. He swallowed hard when she replied that she'd been in love with him for a lot longer than he'd been cursed. Maybe they'd looked at the curse all wrong then. Maybe it was there from the beginning. Maybe Chloe wasn't the original victim, but rather Mazikeen. The thought of that ached and hurt more than anything. She was his best advisor and his closest friend. The thought of their closeness potentially being driven by a curse was a hurt that threatened to tear his chest open, but continued to listen. It was best not to interrupt her when she was in one of these passionate rages.

His features softened and his panic started to drop off slightly as she started listing tangible things she liked about him. Love curses couldn't go that deep, could they? Cupid had told him even the strongest curses can only mimic a base and superficial love. What Maze was describing didn't feel superficial. She'd also said that real love felt different. It made you feel complete even when you felt like you were falling apart. Maze made him feel that way. She understood him in ways even those around him didn't seem to get.

She didn't try to change him or insist that he be someone else, someone more mature or someone she felt he needed to be in certain situations. She trusted his judgement even when he didn't trust himself necessarily. Apparently not everyone was the same way though. There were people out there that didn't like his musical numbers? He was about to open his mouth to retort, but she cut him off. He closed his mouth and patiently waited as she continued, a smile growing on his face.

Just as he'd been reminiscing about how she never doubted his abilities, it was clear she felt the same way about him never doubting her. He always knew that she was capable. His siblings might have been more powerful than her, but they always knew that Maze was an extension of Lucifer. She wasn't a subordinate, she was family to them. And it was clear Maze felt that they were her family too. That made Lucifer brighten considerably. He knew Maze didn't have a good relationship with her family and sometimes his own relationship with his family was rocky too. But she found her place among them and that was important to him.

She was as afraid of losing him as he was of losing her which was both terrifying and a relief. When she was off in the other timeline, he'd been a mess just thinking about it. It wasn't just the daunting task of finding another right hand if she never came back. It was the inexplicable pain of losing someone whom you couldn't imagine your life without. There was no one in this world or the next that could replace Maze.

"Mazikeen," he cupped her face as she finished, letting her take a few deep breaths to calm down. She looked like she needed a drink too. "I believe you," his voice was soft and gentle as he spoke. The previous panic that it carried was now gone. He really did believe her. He knew Maze well enough to know cursed or not, love was the last thing she wanted to admit to. It took guts to get this far and now it was time for him to show the same kind of bravery. "And I love you too," he smiled. "You make me a better person without trying to change a single thing about me. You listen to my fears and insecurities and you don't let them be the only voice inside my head. When shit hits the fan you are the only person I know I can count on. It's always been you," he replied as he leaned in and kissed her gently. "It's always going to be you."

MAZIKEEN: "He's really got issues if he's going that far." Maze could see the appeal of getting close to death. She liked pushing things that far all the time. Having sex with archangels who could easily end your existence provided a similar thrill, but Maze didn't actually want to die. "Yeah," Maze agreed. "Hopefully becoming death doesn't autocorrect her sense of humor." She was joking just to pick on Lucifer's mistake, but she was a little worried about how this change would affect Charlie. She didn't know everything about what becoming death entailed. She had always been closer to Charlie than Azrael, and Azrael wasn't very social. She hadn't talked much about what being Death was like either. Maze didn't know how much she could help Charlie, or how much any of them could.

She looked at Lucifer angrily as he cupped her face, waiting for him to make fun of her or say that her explanations weren't enough to prove that this was real even though she knew it was. Her expression softened when he said he believed her. "You do?" She asked, relaxing into him now. He'd gone through so much lately that she really didn't expect him to take her at her word. "You do?" She asked again as he told her he loved her too. She felt warmer, and she was smiling brightly. She didn't think she'd been in love before him, and just getting that confirmation was such a relief. She felt lighter and happier. She looked at him in awe as he explained just what made him love her too. "I don't need to change anything about you," she said in defense of him, but she couldn't counter the rest of it. She deepened the kiss. Her hands moved into his hair, pulling on some of the strands, but this kiss was different than their usual make-out sessions. It wasn't just from lust, though she was feeling hornier now. Adding an emotional extension to kissing someone was . . . Interesting to say the least. She might've loved him before, but loving him and knowing he loved her had the most thrill she'd ever known. Cupid could never be told that. She'd never hear the end of how right Cupid was, but this was something Mazikeen had needed to do on her own anyways. Maze smirked as they pulled out of the kiss. "If it's always going to be me, do we need to discuss anything else, or are you going to get me out of these clothes?"

LUCIFER: "There's minor death kinks and then there's whatever Sam's got," he chuckled. He would pass off Linda's number to Sam and maybe even introduce them. She'd get a kick out of an interdimensional client and Sam could really use the help after all of this. He groaned at the joke Maze made about Charlie's humor getting autocorrected. If course she wasn't going to let him live it down. Despite her ribbing at him, he knew there was some truth hidden in her jokes. She was afraid that this whole transition to becoming Death would change Charlie. "She's a little overwhelmed right now, but still Charlie. It's like the second Frozen movie where Elsa transitions into the fifth natural force," he giggled to himself. "You know, that sort of makes you Anna. I've seen dark before..." he sang through his giggles, ducking away before she could smack him.

"I do," he nodded. "It doesn't mean I'm any less scared about it or that I even know what I'm doing, but I believe you and I love you," he assured her. Admitting it out loud again felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulder. The more times he said it out loud, the more sure of himself he felt. He did love her. This wasn't the curse talking, this was him. He smiled when she replied that she didn't need to change him. He'd gone a good portion of his life thinking there was something wrong with him. He didn't fit the mold his Father intended for him. He never accepted him for who he was and simply wanted to beat him down until he was a perfect soldier like Michael. But Maze never tried to change him. She never made him feel like he was built wrong or that he was too soft, too hard, or too much for the role placed on his shoulders.

As she deepened the kiss, he pressed her against the wall, wanting to feel every inch of her. Having aired out how he felt, and having her accept it and feel the same was exhilarating and quite frankly more of a turn on than anything else he'd ever experienced before. He could hardly focus as she pulled away. "Well," he smirked, trailing kisses down her neck as his hands explored her body. "I do have some making up to do for my previous faux pas." He gripped her tightly and picked her up before plopping her down onto the bed. "You know what they say, no time line the present," he smirked, dipping down to kiss her again.

[ofmermaidsandmarauders]

stolen dreams took our childish days - chapter 2

Read on AO3, FF, or below the Read More

February 2020

It was Fergus’ first day back to school and he was dreading it. His stomach was in knots and despite Jamie’s best efforts, he was essentially refusing to eat the pancakes that are placed in front of him.

“C’mon, lad. I even made them into wee Mickey’s!” Jamie stared at Fergus for a moment before letting his own shoulders fall. “Fine, fine. Eat some of yer fruit and then we’ll head off to school.”

Fergus felt like this was a fair trade-off, so he took a few bites of the berries that were on the plate. He knew that he had survived a school day on less. In fact, this meal was like a feast fit for kings. Claire and Jamie had wanted to make his first day back special, and he knew they were just trying to be nice, but it was making him more nervous. He was afraid that his friends would notice a new family dropping him off and ask questions. His teacher would likely know what had happened, and her eyes would be full of the pity that usually shone through after something tragic like this. 

He had observed the change last time it happened in front of his own eyes. He had only been six when his teacher asked where the bruise on his shoulder had come from. Fergus had tried his best to hide it but the shirt he was wearing was dirty and had slouched off while he was taking his coat off after their recess break. Looking at the bruise, he had just shrugged it off.

“Oh, that’s just from my mom’s boyfriend. He was angry last night.” His answer had been so matter-of-fact. He was only six. How was he to know that it wasn’t the norm? Most mommies didn’t have boyfriends who hit their six-year-old children. His teacher’s eyes had instantly shone with tears and from then on had looked at him with this pity and sadness. She had called someone. The police, maybe? He wasn’t sure. All he knew was that the next night, an officer and a caseworker had shown up at his mom’s door. They had talked with his mom for a while. Her boyfriend wasn’t there after they had gotten into a fight. The officer and caseworker had left after pulling Fergus aside and reminding him that if anyone ever hurt him he should tell a teacher at school again.

The minute they had left, Fergus’ mother was in tears and approaching him. Her hands were shaking and he noticed that she looked more tired than usual.

“What the hell did you do that for, kid? Can you imagine if Adam had actually been here? You would’ve gotten him in so much trouble! He didn’t mean to hurt you the other day!” She seemed to just be ranting at him rather than talking to him, so Fergus kept his mouth shut. Claudia was distressed, tugging her hands through her long, curly hair. It looked like she hadn’t showered in a few days. “God, it was just an accident.”

With an eye roll, she walked away from Fergus without another word. Not even to hear him whisper that it was all on accident, too. He hadn’t meant to tell. Moving forward he promised not to talk about his home life. None of the bad stuff. Unfortunately for him, his teacher had also vowed to keep an eye on him. For another month it was okay. A caseworker came out occasionally to check in with Fergus and Claudia. Adam somehow was never around when the caseworker came, but he didn’t care. It was less of a chance of something bad happening.

Almost a month to the day, Fergus came in with finger marks on his upper arms, peeking out from under the hem of his sleeves. There was also a long scratch on his chin he tried to blame on a cat, but his teacher was smart. She knew Fergus didn’t have any pets from their introduction assignment at the start of the year. She knew what the bruises meant and she called the police to come and take Fergus away.

He didn’t think it was fair. He had to leave and Adam got to stay with Claudia. Why was Fergus the one who had to leave his mom? Why didn’t they make Adam go away forever? If he would just go away, Claudia could be happy again. He could make his mom happy.

“Fergus, I asked are ye ready to go to school?” Fergus snapped out of his reverie and saw that Jamie was looking at him with a broad smile on his face, the brand new navy backpack hanging by his side. 

“Oui,” he mumbled, leaving his uneaten breakfast on the table and taking his belongings from the man’s hand. He looked happy to be taking Fergus to school. Adam used to complain when he had to walk Fergus a few blocks to his class. 

Fergus wondered when Jamie would start to get annoyed.

It was Thursday evening and Fergus was completing his homework while Claire finished up with some chores. Jamie had gone to pick up their dinner, a treat, and a surprise, he had said. She just laughed and waved him off as she tried to finish the laundry.

“Claire, have you seen my green blanket?” Fergus asked from the other room, having finished with his work. She popped her head in and nodded, the laundry basket in her arms.

“Yes, just finishing some laundry. I washed it so it’ll be clean. I’ll put it in your room before bed, don’t worry.” She assumed that he would be settled by this, but instead Fergus’ face appeared to grow red and he seemed to shake. His whole body was trembling, fists clenched at his sides.

“Why would you do that?!” The words came from his mouth like a burst of anger, raising to a decibel she didn’t even know he had in him.

“I… I just thought that you’d want it clean. For the… For bedtime,” Claire started stammering over her words, not sure what the issue is.

“I didn’t want it washed! I want you to leave my stuff alone! Do you hear me? Don’t touch my stuff! Don’t touch my stuff!!” He kept screaming, the tears running down his cheeks now. Claire stood frozen in the doorway, the laundry basket now feeling like it had concrete loaded inside.

“I’m… Oh, Fergus. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know…” she whispered, her own tears filling her eyes. 

Fergus knew that it was an accident. Claire was just being nice, but he didn’t care. It was the only way that he was still connected to his mom. His caseworker still hadn’t told Claire or Jamie when he could start visiting her again. Last time it had been over two weeks. What if it took longer this time? At least with the blanket, he could hold it tight and smell her, but Claire had taken that from him. Just like they had taken him from Claudia.

“Go away!” he yelled angrily, running to shove the door closed before she could come in. He didn’t care if it was going to hit her, Fergus just wanted her out of his face. 

Claire looked at the mix of laundry in her basket, letting the tears fall only after Fergus had effectively shut her out. She barely made it to her own bedroom before breaking down into hiccuping sobs. It hadn’t even been a week and she had already done something to make him hate her so.

Most foster parents spoke of the ‘honeymoon’ stage with a child. The child would be on their best behavior, no tantrums, no acting out, for at least a few weeks. They had all sworn it up and down in the classes. The worst part is that she didn’t even blame Fergus. She had obviously broken a boundary that he had set without realizing it. She was the only one to blame.

Claire wasn’t sure how long she lay in the bed, frozen with tear tracks on her cheeks when Jamie came into the room. 

“Claire?” he asked softly, moving to push some hair off of her cheek. It took a slight tug, glued to her skin by the saltwater that had dried. “What’s wrong, mo chridhe?” 

“He hates me,” she whimpered pathetically. Claire couldn’t bring herself to look at him. There was a reason she couldn’t have children. She couldn’t be a mother. She wasn’t meant to be a mother because she was bad at it.

“Claire, I’m sure he doesn’t hate ye. What happened? I was barely gone for twenty minutes, ye ken? I come home and ye’re crying yer eyes out and he’s in there throwin’ a wee fit.” Jamie had a slight smile on his face despite the situation, knowing that the two had obviously gone at it.

“I was just trying to wash his things. He just… He flipped out. He was angry I touched his things. And he’s right. I should’ve asked. I don’t know what he’s been through. They say in the classes that personal items from home can be a major trigger and look at what I’ve done! I just disrespected his boundaries!”

“Christ! Claire, ye ken that there was no way for ye to… Ye had to do the laundry.” Jamie pulled her into his arms, letting her rest between his thighs with her head against his shoulder. She took a deep breath and then let it out, her breath covering his skin in a sad exhale.

“Yes, but I should have asked what he needed to be washed,” she insisted, trying to find some way to make herself at fault. He knew what path she was heading down and was determined to steer her from it.

“Claire, ye ken that ye did nothing wrong. Now, we will go in there and deal with the lad, but I need ye to see that yer doing a wonderful job as a mother. Besides, ‘tis only the sixth day together. There will be plenty more fights where that one came from,” Jamie reassured her as his hands slid down her arms. She leaned back to look him in the eye and finally cracked a smile. 

“You’re right. We can fix this. He can’t stay mad forever, can he?” She smiled a little more and placed a hand on his shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. “I love you.”

“I love ye, Sassenach.” Jamie guided her to stand by her hips before standing on his own. 

Knocking on Fergus’ bedroom door, Jamie called out to him and heard a feeble mumble.

“I’m going to take that as an agreement that we can come inside,” Jamie called through the door, opening it a crack. Fergus was curled up in the window seat, his own tears now dried. His things had been tossed about within his bedroom, obviously the aftermath of a tornado tantrum.

“Och, now, what’s the matter, lad? I understand that ye were upset but ye canna leave yer room in such a state. Let’s clean it together and then we’ll all talk over dinner.” Jamie looked proud of himself, and Fergus perked up a bit at the thought of dinner. He was very hungry after his tantrum. “I brought home Italian. Spaghetti, meatballs, chicken parmigiana, and the likes!” 

“Alright,” he agreed, moving to grab the closest toy, opening the window seat where he stored most of his unused things.

With the room clean and the three of them settled at the table, Jamie glanced between his wife and their newest addition. The two of them both appeared uncomfortable. He nudged Claire’s shin with his toes, arching an eyebrow. She needed to be the one to fix this.

“Fergus… I…” She trailed off, chewing on her lower lip for a moment before sighing. “I’m sorry for touching your things. I didn’t understand how important they were to you and I should have asked you to give me what you wanted to be washed. I hope you can forgive me.” 

He stared at Claire for a moment, blinking repeatedly before nodding. Jamie watched the boy for a moment, waiting for him to say something, though he remained silent.

“Fergus, Claire just apologized. Can ye acknowledge her apology?”

“Oh, um…” Fergus looked nervous, his fork pushing some of the spaghetti around on his plate, though no effort was made to eat any of it. “I’m sorry I got mad at you, Claire. It’s just…” He froze, realizing that he was about to reveal exactly what had upset him. For a minute, he wasn’t sure he should say anything. What if they laughed at him? But then again, no. They had helped him clean up his room, even though the mess was his fault. And Jamie didn’t look mad at him for yelling at Claire. In fact, he looked like he was actually trying to take Fergus’ side and make things better. 

“I just miss my mom. She gave me that blanket and it smelled like her so now it won’t. And I was really mad at you, Claire. But I’m sorry I yelled and that I threw my stuff and made you guys help me clean. I won’t do it again I promise. Please don’t be mad at me, okay?” The words tumbled out of him faster than he could think them. 

Once Fergus realized the gravity of what he had done, he was suddenly even more anxious that he would carry the weight of the blame for the situation, and the two would want to be rid of him. He had heard of kids being kicked out for less.

“Oh, Fergus. Honey… I…” Claire trailed off, her eyes fresh with tears as she stood from her chair and crouched in front of him again. Get on their level. That’s what all the books and blogs had said. Get to their level so they feel like they’re being heard. Well, she was trying that approach again, hoping that he knew how sorry she was. “I never should have touched your personal things. I’m so sorry for washing your blanket. I can’t imagine how much you miss your mum.” Her hand smoothed down his thick curls, a sad smile gracing her features.

“Och, lad. Of course ye were upset. Only an accident though, aye?” Fergus looked up at Jamie’s words, a flush of anger spreading over him before realizing that Jamie wasn’t mocking him. He had a similar smile to Claire’s, his own hand reaching over to rest on Claire’s shoulder. Claire didn’t look like she was in pain though, not the way that his mom did when Adam put his hand there. In fact, Claire reached up and squeezed Jamie’s hand, like she wanted him to hold her.

“Yeah, just an accident. I’m sorry for yelling,” he told Claire again, placing his own hand on her forearm. Their limbs all created a link, connecting them together as they got through their first argument as a family.

“Fergus, maybe tomorrow we can call Ms. Sutton and see how soon you can see your mom? If it’s not going to be for a while, we can see if she’ll let us call your mom in the meantime. Do you think that would help?” Claire’s offer was one that was foreign to him. Nobody had ever sought out his mom. Nobody had ever tried to offer him that lifeline before. Fergus nodded enthusiastically and leaped into Claire’s arms, hugging her tightly around the neck.

“Thank you, thank you. Merci, merci, merci!” He repeated over and over into her curly hair, tears filling his eyes.

[totally-incorrect-theatre-quotes]

I Feel Like I’m Drowning (Fanfic)

After much ado I have finally finished this story and it is...sad as heck. No lie I cried writing a few scenes of this and I’m a typically sad writer. This is a fanfic about the time between the events of the musical and the events of fannon where Lydia and BJ are chaotic siblings. How did he come back? How did they become friends again? How did Lydia cope with the trauma she endured during the events of the musical? 

Is it angsty? Yes

Did I give it a happy-ish ending? I mean probably...

TW: Mentions of Suicide, Blood, Death, Panic Attack, Suicidal ideations, trauma. 

__________________________________________________________

Two weeks. It had been two weeks since they had moved into the house, and while it had been a more than interesting experience, to say the least, it seemed like everyone was settling into the new environment. Adam and Barbara had been getting along well with Charles and Delia, though it had still only been a short amount of time Lydia was tempted to say that the four of them were friends, especially Barbara and her father who had a lot more in common than she had ever expected. The house started to feel more like a home as the days went by, but there was still something hanging over Lydia. Something keeping her awake at night and plaguing her dreams when she did manage to sleep.

She killed someone. She killed Beetlejuice. It was self-defense, of course. He was going to kill her father and probably her too but she had killed him. She stabbed him right through the chest and nobody has talked about it since. He was a demon she tried to remind herself, he wasn’t really alive in the first place but he was...she had brought him back to life and she had essentially killed a newborn. She can still hear the sound of the bone-crunching, it made her hands shake and her stomach tie up into knots. Lydia never knew she was capable of such a thing, even when she and BJ were scaring the people coming to their house it was just pranks, nobody died.  She felt awful for that too, she still can’t make eye contact with the mailman or her neighbor. She wouldn’t even know how to begin how to apologize. “I’m so sorry I traumatized you because I was struggling to cope with my own mental health issues so I simply passed them onto another person.” That sounded ridiculous, everyone tells her that she’s just a kid and that she didn’t mean for what happened to have happened but it doesn’t change the fact that she did it. She was responsible for all of what happened, and nobody wanted to talk about it. 

Her included. She had tried a couple of times to talk to her father or to Barbara about some of what went one, but she couldn’t bring herself to actually open up and tell them what it’s been doing to her. She would stay in her room, for the most part, it didn’t arouse suspicion, she often spent time in her room even before her mother died. She was an introverted person, she got more pleasure from being alone that she did in crowds. It overwhelmed her, but now the solitude was becoming suffocating, and she felt so so alone. She woke up one night from another one of her nightmares, her entire body trembling as she ran into the bathroom to scrub her hands clean of the non-existent blood, no matter how hard she scrubbed she just couldn’t feel clean. Her hands were red and raw from the soap and she slumped down on the tile floor, pulling her knees tight into herself just trying to make all the memories stop. They haunted her days and ruined her nights. She wanted to just be okay, she just wanted to be normal but she had screwed that all up. 

“I’m a murderer,” she whispered to herself, saying the words out loud made it ten times worse and she felt panic rising into her chest. She wanted to shrink into herself and disappear but she couldn’t. She couldn’t run away from the consequences of her actions. She couldn’t even say she was fucking sorry because he was in the Netherworld now on a vision quest to go find his father. Summoning him would be selfish, he was probably happy now, finally glad to have some freedom...glad to be rid of her the pathetic sad kid that he was so easily able to trick and manipulate just because she missed her mommy. God her mother, she wondered what her mother would think about all that she has done now. She must be so ashamed of the monster that her daughter has become. She did all of this because she missed her but her mother would hate everything she had done, her mother would hate her. 

Lydia shifted, tucking her knees tighter into her chest and fell onto the floor, hot tears running down her cheeks and landing on the floor as she cried. She covered her mouth with her hands, stifling the sobs and screams. She didn’t want to wake anybody because she knew they would just try to tell her it wasn’t her fault, they would tell her it was fine when it wasn’t. She didn’t deserve their pity, she didn’t deserve their comfort. She deserved exactly what she was getting, but she didn’t know it would hurt this bad. She wanted it to stop, she wanted so badly for the pain to stop. She slowly got up from the floor and pulled herself up on the counter, opening the medicine cabinet and holding a bottle of pills in her hands. It had been two weeks since she had been on the roof when Beetlejuice stopped her. There was nobody to stop her now, she could just open the bottle and swallow them all. She didn’t even know what the pills were but she imagined that a bottle full of anything would probably do the job. It would all be over, all the hurt would be over. Just like Juno said she could just fade into the soothing nothingness of the Netherworld. 

She clutched the bottle so tight in her hands that her knuckles were starting to turn white, her face red and tear-streaked in the mirror. Taking in a shaky breath she tossed the bottle in the garbage, she couldn’t do it. She didn’t want to leave everyone, especially not her dad who had already lost so much and was coming so far trying to be a better father to her. She didn’t want to leave them, not just for them but because she loved them. She sat back down on the floor, the weight of her break down taking a toll on her as she became exhausted. She was so tired all the time. A mixture of the lack of sleep, the energy it took pretending to be okay, and the weight of all the guilt, all the sadness, all the grief. 

“Beetlejuice.”

She didn’t even know if it would work. She didn’t know if her doing this would even summon him anymore. 

“Beetlejuice.”

Even if it did work he probably wanted nothing to do with her. She wouldn’t blame him, she wasn’t want to deal with herself either. She was a fucking mess, nobody should have to deal with this. She didn’t know what she was even bothering, she shouldn’t be bothering him he deserved his shot at happiness. Just because she ruined her own doesn’t mean she should do it to him. That just proved to herself more that she was a selfish monster. 

“Beetlejuice.”

There he was. She couldn’t believe her eyes at first when he appeared but there he was standing in her bathroom. He didn’t even look confused he simply fixed his hair in the mirror while he casually said, “I was wondering what was taking you so long, kid.”

“W-what?” she hiccuped

“You sure took your time summoning me back,” he glanced down at her and his tone changed instantly, “What’s the matter with you? You okay scarecrow?”

She couldn’t help but give a small smile at the silly nickname he had given her. She lept up from the floor and threw herself into a hug with the demon, “You’re not mad I called you here?”

“Mad?” he questioned, still not sure why Lydia was hugging him. Even when they were friends she didn’t hug him except when she was tricking him in the marriage. He had to admit he admired how clever she was, but something about the way she was holding onto him now made him think this was different than before. She was desperate. She was alone. And she called him. Not Chuck. Not Babs or Sexy. She didn’t even go to Delia. Whatever was wrong this was something either very bad or something she wanted to keep a secret, “Why would I be mad that you called?”

She sniffled in his coat, he ignored the fact that she was getting snot and tears all over his coat, though granted with all the other stains he wouldn’t really be able to tell. She croaked out a weak explanation, “Because you were looking for your dad, and I brought you away from that/”

“Oh my god that was for dramatic effect kid, my dad left when I was a baby I don’t give two shits where he is. What I do give two shits about is why the hell are you sitting alone in the bathroom looking all sad and pitiful after I cleaned up everything so nicely for you? I got rid of my mom, I fixed your whole fucked up family situation. So why am I here.” he looked around the room for any kind of clue. He saw something orange in the garbage can and released himself from Lydia’s grip, grabbing the bottle and shaking it. Sleeping pills. Looking at the script it wasn’t expired so there should be no reason it was thrown away other than... “What did you do?” 

“Nothing. Nothing, I didn’t. I didn’t actually do it. I thought about it, but I couldn’t do it.” she turned her face away like she was ashamed of herself, but she stuck her chin up and cleared away the tears in her eyes, “I didn’t want to do it.”

He didn’t know what to say. He had no clue how to handle someone in a fragile emotional state as hers. He was never good at the whole emotional thing, he had stopped her once before but that was because he was being a dick and only wanted to use her to get what he wanted Now they...he saw her as a friend, like the little sister he never had. He asked the only question that he knew, “Why?”

“I can’t take it anymore.” She sunk back down on the floor and burrowed her head into her knees, unable to even make eye contact with him anymore, “I’m a monster and I didn’t think I deserved to keep going on after everything I’ve done. I hurt people! I traumatized people, that poor little girl scout, god I probably ruined her life. I almost exorcised Barbara, I caused so much damage and-and-and I FUCKING KILLED YOU.” 

Beetlejuice stopped. He had been listening attentively until she mentioned him, “Kid-”

“I fucking killed you! How can you just be standing here and not screaming at me or hurting me. Don’t you want revenge?’

“Is that really what you think of me?” he asked, hurt by her words, “Kid why the hell do you think I saved you and your family? My mom was going to drag you back to the Netherworld and that would have been the end of it, you would have been dead. Now here we are, you were about to just do it for her and you only wanted to because you thought I was going to hurt you? Really Lydia..you really think I don’t give a fuck about you? Look I did some fucked up shit but I have never wanted to do anything that would hurt you.”

“Why! Why do you care about me? I killed you!”

“Not gonna lie, that did kinda suck but I’m not meant to be alive Lyds, I’m meant to be dead. Think of it as you doing me a favor life is a goddamn roller coaster and I was not at all prepared for any of it. It is a good thing you stopped me, I was so out of control I could have killed you all. Lydia, you did what you had to do. It’s better this way.”

She was silent, not moving or even looking up at him. He sighed and sat down on the floor with her, she eventually roused a little and rested her head on his shoulder. They sat in silence for a while, her breathing slowing down and a little color returning to her unnaturally pale face, a little life returning to her eyes and she glanced in disgust at the pill bottle now thrown in a corner of the floor. Beetlejuice didn’t move, he didn’t make any crappy jokes or poke fun at how emotional she was being, he just let her sit there on the floor as she attempted to regain her composure. While his words had been a slight comfort she still couldn’t shake the feelings brewing in her stomach. She thought she was going to be sick, but she hadn’t been able to properly eat anything almost all day her stomach had been so upset. She huffed out a shaky breath and looked up at the demon in her house. He looked just like he always had, his hair an unusual white color but tinted purple at the ends. 

“I still hear it..and see it. I feel like I’m drowning and I’m constantly fighting back the waves. It’s so exhausting fighting all the time. I killed you” She whispered, “You were alive and I took a-aa... and I killed you. How are you sitting here with me right now? I murdered you!”

“It was you or me Lydia.” he reminded her, “And it is honestly better for everyone that it was me. I have a way back, you didn’t. You would have been gone, stuck in the Netherworld forever and you would have no way back. Lydia, you’re just a kid, I couldn’t handle it if I had killed you hell if I had killed any of the assholes in this house. I have no clue why I wanted to be a human so bad, I wouldn’t have any of my cool powers like I do as a demon. Like this-” He waved his hand and two more of him showed up, leaning casually on the door, one making a very silly face earning a weak laugh from Lydia, “I really only wanted to be alive again so that I wasn’t invisible anymore. I wanted so badly for someone to see me, for someone to actually be there and want me there. When you wanted to find your mom I felt like you were abandoning me.”

Lydia bowed her head again, remembering the broken-hearted look on his face when she ran up the stairs so determined that what she was doing was the right thing even though everything she had been doing was so very wrong, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, really kiddo. I’m used to it by now. People only deal with me when they want something and when I stop being that, they’re onto the next thing. Don’t give yourself any credit for originality, you weren’t the first and you definitely won’t be the last. People don’t want me.”

She felt tears running down her face again as memories of how they bonded over their shared invisibility surfaced to her memory. She acted out because she wanted to be seen, she wanted to feel like she belonged in her own family again, and she was so caught it up looking out for herself that she didn’t consider anyone else, but she wasn’t alone in that either. She knew Beetlejuice was the same way. Neither of their actions were justified, they both made mistakes. They both hurt people, including each other, but maybe...maybe they would help each other now. Maybe they could help each other be better. She took his hand in hers, it was so much larger than hers was that his almost swallowed hers when he closed his grasp. She looked up at him with her tear-filled eyes, “I want you here.”

“Kid no offense but you don’t want me here. You wanted me to make you feel better and I hope I did, one of us should be happy.”

“I missed you.” 

He stared at her, like a deer in headlights, unsure of his next move. He looked down at this kid...god she really was just a kid. She was so small and young, and vulnerable just like he had been and he fucked her up. He did some real damage to her and she said that she missed him? He couldn’t deny that he missed her too, they had some fun during those two days her dad was gone. She was a funny kid, and it did his cold-dead heart some good when he actually saw her laugh and smile. He thought he was helping, but looking at her now he couldn’t help but to feel responsible for how broken she had become. She was driving herself insane blaming herself for his death, she had bags under her eyes and he believed her about the nightmares it looked like she hadn’t slept since he left. He hadn’t wanted to leave but he thought it would be for the best if when he did come back it was on their terms. When she summoned him he didn’t even care why he was just excited to see his friend again but now he wanted to run away, leave before he made things any worse for her than they already were. Chuck would get her a good therapist and she could have a happy life, and all of this..all of him would just be a distant memory.

He must not have said anything for a while because now Lydia was looking at him with her big sad brown eyes, just waiting for a response, “Beetlejuice..can I ask you something?”

“Sure bud.”

“You can be honest with me, I completely understand all things considered but.” She twisted her fingers in her hands, “Did you miss me?”

“Yeah,” he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and hugged her gently, “Yeah I did.”

“I want you to stay. I want you here, I think we could be good.”

“Good?”

She nodded, “I think we could be good for each other. I want to be good again, I want my mom to be proud of me again.”

He bit back a comment about how her mother was dead and had no clue about what Lydia was doing never the less Lydia’s morality, he figured that wasn’t what she needed to hear right now instead he rolled his eyes playfully trying to ease some of the tension, “You’ve always been good Lydia. I tricked you into doing some shitty stuff. You would have never had to do any of that shit if I hadn’t forced you to. Lydia, it was my fault, trust me I never take responsibility for my actions, that’s how I roll but this? This was all me, you need to stop beating yourself up over it. I was being a real asshole and I fucked up a perfectly good goth kid because I was lonely.”

“I’m lonely.” she admitted to him, “Maybe we can be alone together. Friends?”

He chuckled, ruffling her short black hair, “BFFFFs forever. Now you just have to convince everyone else to let you have a demon roaming around.”

She punched his arm jokingly with a genuine smile on her face, “I’m sure they’ll all come around.”

It was that awkward time of the night where it was both late and early. Too early to be awake for the day, but too late for her to go to bed without sleeping until an ungodly hour. She and BJ went down to the living room and watched movies together until she eventually fell asleep on the couch, her light snoring distracting him from the cinematic masterpiece that was Ratatouille. When the movie ended and he was sure she was asleep he floated out of the living room and went back to the bathroom, he picked the pill bottle up off of the floor and put it back in the medicine cabinet. He picked up the scattered bathroom items that she must have been throwing before she summoned him, making it look like nothing at all had happened. He thought about running away, she was asleep. She wouldn’t notice until the morning but something kept him from leaving, it wasn’t that his abilities were weakened but something inside him was keeping him here. He just kept hearing her repeating in his head that she wanted him to stay.

He was wanted. 

[zombiesbecrazy]

down in the cornfield

Summary: “No,” said Clark quietly. “I’m going to retire from being Clark.”

AO3

It wasn’t the first time that Lois had found herself randomly standing in a cornfield in the middle of Kansas.

Well, she assumed that it was Kansas but that was just based on past experience; she could be in Iowa for all she knew. She took in a deep breathe and spun around to get a better look at the view and then smiled at the familiar farmhouse roof in the distance beyond the rows of stalks, confirming that it was absolutely Kansas. It made sense. She had been having her lunch in the park, listening to a podcast and generally just minding her own business on her mandated lunch break that Perry had kicked her out of the office for when Kon had appeared in front of her said something along the lines of “he won’t listen to me or Ma so you have to come and deal with him” , scooped her up and leapt into the sky.

Kryptonian air taxi services were all well and good, but she definitely wasn’t going to tip this one because he hadn’t even given her the chance to grab her coffee off the bench or bothered to tell her what was going on before he took off again.

Three star rating at best.

Abrupt as it was there would only be one reason that Kon would have brought her here. “Smallville?”

Several seconds passed and Lois was wondering if this wasn’t some sort of elaborate Kent joke that she wasn’t privy to and was trying to figure out if she should wander around in the corn or head to the house when she finally heard a tired voice say “yeah ” a little further into the field.

She found him sitting in the dirt, bending some of the corn around him, leaning back on his hands and looking up at the sky with the sun beaming down on his face, giving him an unnaturally human glow. He was in that odd in between of not quite Clark Kent and not quite Superman, with his jeans and flannel shirt but no glasses and hair curl in place. It was the version of him that she loved the best, a complete version of who he really was. This is the Clark who she lived with behind closed doors, the one that only the chosen few got to experience. She sank down onto the ground beside him and waited for something, anything, but Clark seemed to be determined to sit in silence forever. “Dime for your thoughts?” she finally asked. That got his attention because he had an adorably confused look on his face and Lois shrugged. “I don’t have any pennies and it looks like you might be having some rather big thoughts.”

It wasn’t something that he did often, but it happened enough to recognize it when it did; the inevitable weight of the world becoming overbearing and Clark just needed to stop and hide and just get away from it all.

“I’m retiring.”

“You’re a little young for that. You can’t collect social security until you are at least 62. You are barely halfway there. And who will proofread my brilliance if you retire?” Clark didn’t say anything, just staring off into the dirt now. “Fine. I assume you were referring to the cape, but we both know how that would turn out. You’d ‘retire’ but then about two weeks would pass and something would happen and you’d say ‘just this once, Lois, they need me’ and then you’d be back to wearing the blue spandex under your work clothes again, thinking that I wouldn’t notice.” He had tried it before and it had never stuck for one reason or another, not for long anyway. It was something that was annoyingly amazing about him. His heart was just too big.

“No,” said Clark quietly. “I’m going to retire from being Clark.”

A light breeze blew through the field, and Lois was glad that she was wearing long sleeves to avoid the corn cutting up her arms. “You are making negative amounts of sense. You can’t just not be Clark. You are Clark.”

Clark reached around her and pulled her tight into his arms and rested his chin on her head and they sat there together, rocking gently in tandem. “This morning. I was at the bank ordering new cheques.”

“Who orders cheques in person? Hell, who even uses cheques anymore?” She could feel Clark clench his jaw, unbreakable teeth grinding together. She turned her head to get a better look at him, and she could suddenly see how tired he was, fatigue pulling at all of his features, maybe not in a way that anyone else could see it, but it was clear to her. “Sorry. Not the point.”

“There was a robbery. A bunch of men with guns held up with place.” Clark swallowed deeply, and pulled her in a little tighter. “There were little kids there, Lo. Scared and crying. One of them was whispering that Superman would come and save them. But I was there so he couldn’t come. I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t help because I was Clark, not Superman, and I couldn’t do anything to make them not scared.” He was rambling and cyclical in the way he did when it was just the two of them, hiding from the world after a bad day. “One of the tellers got shot because I was busy being Clark instead of him. They’re in critical condition and those kids are traumatized and all because of me insisting on playing pretend with a regular life.”

“Oh, honey.” As far as bad days went, this one wasn’t terrible for Superman. No one had died, the world hadn’t ended and there was no international disaster, but it seemed to be the tipping point of a large issue that he had been secretly struggling with. She twisted around so that she could be the one to wrap her arms around him and he sank into her touch. “I hate to break it to you but you wouldn’t be able to save everyone regardless.”

“I’d be able to do so much more though. I’m here so that I can help people. That’s the whole point”

“No it’s not. You are here so that you would be able to grow up safe and happy. Your parents sent you here so that you had a chance to be Clark, even if they didn’t know that name. Superman is just a side effect of random space science. In the bank. What did you do?”

“Nothing, I couldn’t do…”

“What did you do?” She thought about it a little more and then clarified her words to avoid any confusion about what she was asking. “What did Clark Kent do?”

“I sat on the floor with the other hostages.”

“How were you sitting?” She prodded. Lois knew the answer, but wanted to hear him say the words out loud. “Were you sitting against the wall, out of the way?”

“I was… I was between the gunmen and the rest of them. I made sure that the kids were behind me. Between me and their parents.”

“Was that because you are Superman?”

“I…”

“I’ll fill you in. It wasn’t. It was because you’re Clark and you are a good man regardless of the cape or being bulletproof.”  Clark didn’t give any indication that he was going to say anything so Lois barrelled on in the way that she did when he needed her own personal brand of pep talk. “If you want to quit your job and be Superman full time, that’s fine. I can support that if that is what you really want to do. But under no circumstances will you ever be able to quit being Clark Kent. It’s who you are.” She grabbed his hand and squeezed it tight between hers, as hard as she could, trying to force the idea through his impervious skin. “And even if it wasn’t, I won’t allow it because I think he’s pretty cool.”

“Liar. You have never thought that I was cool.” Clark chuckled softly and buried his head in her neck, giving her a light kiss on her collarbone. “ I need to think about it more,” he mumbled before stretching back up to look at her shyly. “Can we stay here for the weekend?” It was his way of saying that he needed to step away from it all, just for a little while, just to recharge in the quiet that was Smallville.

“Sure. Ma and I can whip your butt at gin.”

“I hate those lead cards Bruce made her.”

“Because you are a card cheat.”

“I’ll never admit to that.” Clark tilted his head towards the sky, and was listening to something that only he could hear. “Actually, if you’d like to join me, there is something that I’d like to do first if you don’t mind a quick trip back to the city.”

“Would love to. Kon didn’t give me a chance to pack before he kidnapped me here.”

***

Lois sat on a different bench in a different park and watched the children playing on the playground when a familiar figure in blue and red floated down nearby. A hush came over the park until a child let out a laugh and it broke the stillness and all the kids ran over to Superman, excitedly crowding around him, with the parents following suit with a more muted but obvious enthusiasm. She watched as Clark smiled and laughed with the children, answering all of their silly but earnest questions before he turned to a young boy, probably about 5 years old, on the edge of the crowd. Clark took a few steps towards him and knelt down so he was at eye level with him.

“Hi Ethan.”

A silence spread over the crowd, with a few excited whispers wondering how Superman knew Ethan. Ethan looked up at Superman with big surprised eyes, but said nothing. Superman gave him a shy smile. “I heard you had a scary trip to the bank earlier. A friend of mine was there and he told me how brave you were.” Ethan nodded his little head.  “I’m very glad that you are safe but I wanted to tell you that I’m very sorry that I wasn’t there to help.”

Ethan stood in shock, staring at Superman, and then suddenly threw himself at the hero, wrapping his arms around his neck and sobbing into his chest. Clark looked startled for a second but then wrapped his arms around the little boy and rubbed his back gently until the hiccuping tears subsided. Lois saw the look of anguish on Clark’s face as he held the younger boy.

“It’s okay,” Ethan sniffed as he pulled back and rubbed his eyes. “Mommy said that you were probably busy helping someone else in trouble. That you can’t be in two places at once.” She watched as Clark hesitated, never very good at lying, especially to kids, but he nodded. “It was so scary, but there was a man there and he told me to hide behind him. He was very brave. And tall. Almost as tall as you.” He narrowed his eyes and looked Clark up and down with careful scrutiny. “Was that your friend?”

It sounded like a loaded question, like the child knew more than he was letting on, but that was crazy. He couldn’t have figured it out. “You know what? It might have been.”

“Can you thank him for me?”

Clark looked surprised at that. “I can do that.” Superman held out his arms again, and Ethan gave him another hug, this time giggling. Clark was laughing too when they broke apart and he stood. He waved to everyone around him, and took off into the sky, with everyone waving back.

Lois stood from her bench and walked two blocks to where she found Clark, leaning against a streetlamp, waiting for her patiently. He bent down and greeted her with a kiss.

“Hi.”

“Hi yourself.” Lois took his hand and squeezed it before they started walking down the street, Clark with a bounce in his step that had been missing since the cornfield. “Still think that you are going to retire?”

“I think I might keep at it a little while longer.” He grinned and tilted his chin upwards towards the sky. “Smallville?”

“Smallville.”

[maedarakat]

hey I love your work, could you do a fic where instead of Ruff-nut getting left behind and captured by Grim, it was Tuff-nut? Pleeeeeease?

(Omfg yes, absolutely, and thank you! XD)

——-

“Stop. Doing. That,” came the snarled, supremely irritated warning, as the second pencil in an hour broke its tip.

The kissy noises coming from the cell did pause, but not because the annoying prisoner inside was cowed into silence. 

“What’s your dragon’s name? This one, over here?”

Grimmel growled. Don’t answer, he told himself. It was beneath him to answer.

“Is it Betsy? She looks like a Betsy. Hey, c’mere Betsy -“ and again with the blasted kissy noises.

“Quiet!” Grimmel barked. “You want her to come to you, daft creature? And spit  acid at your face?”

“Oh yeah! She spits acid - I forgot!” Rather than sound afraid, the blond fool sounded entranced. “Fascinating! So what do you feed her? Fish? Boar meat? Mutton?”

“Dragon,” Grimmel answered, waiting for the horrified gasp that was sure to follow.

“Awesome! That’s so completely badass - awww, do they bring you little dead Terrors in the morning and lay them on your face while you’re still in bed?”

That was disgusting and oddly specific. “Of course not!” Grimmel snapped, actually turning to stare at him. The boy was leaning forward against the bars, giving his Deathgripper big doe eyes. She snarled at him viciously, waggling her dripping pincers at him, and he appeared to melt with barely withheld affection.

“Betsy, you’re amazing. I hope Grommet takes very good care of you, because a fierce mighty huntress like you deserves only the best, yes you doooo -“

“It’s Grimmel,” he corrected flatly, but Tuff didn’t appear to hear him.

“You know, Betsy, you better stay away from Hiccup’s secret base - because the last time a dragon snacked on other dragons? He walled it up in a cave to die. It was very mean of him and there’s a lot of caves on New Berk so … I don’t know, I wouldn’t trust him - hand thing or no hand thing.”

Huh. Secret base? Grimmel masked his sudden idea with annoyance, which wasn’t all that hard to do.

“You seem remarkably unphased by the possibility your beloved dragons might end up served as dinner.”

“Nah, we have a huge dragon hoarding issue, so it’d actually be solving a lot of our problems at once. You know, the way nature intended. Anyway, I hope you at least vary her diet from time to time - make sure she eats enough Gronckles, cause you know Gronckles have way more minerals than the average dragon. Also, when have you last groomed and detailed her scales? Her poor little claws are filthy! Tsk, this is absolutely shameful.”

Tuff reached his hand through the bars, scritching the Deathgripper’s flank as she passed by, bored with failing to intimidate her besotted audience. The dragon’s eyes widened at the touch, first in shocked rage, then in consternation. She stopped all movement, sitting down on her rump and slowly leaning in to Tuff’s ministrations.

“Ah, there we go! Is that a good spot? Is it? What about a little higher, huh?” Tuff cooed at her, getting in between her scales. The Deathgripper didn’t seem to be in control of the situation any longer, leaning yet closer to the bars. One clawed foot came up slowly, twitched a few times, and then started to drum ecstatically on the floor.

Grimmel’s jaw dropped in a disbelieving scoff.

“Alright, that is it - you are out! Get the hell out of my lair.” He stormed over to the cell, giving Betsy room to shuffle sheepishly out of the way. The other Deathgrippers glowered at her, looking disgusted with her betrayal (and quite possibly jealous).

Wrenching open his cell, Grimmel dragged Tuff out by the arm. He also freed the baby Nadder huddling in terror in the next cell over. His Deathgrippers could find dinner elsewhere.

“Go, fly off - I don’t need you here causing no end of trouble -“

“Dude - groom your dragons! This is abuse. I should report you to someone,” Tuff shot back, rubbing his hands soothingly on the baby dragon’s hide. It churred and nuzzled his hands.

“Get out.”

“I should report you to your mom. She’d whup your butt to Valhalla and back. You wouldn’t even know what hit you - you’ll be scheming in your lair and all of a sudden, here comes the ear pinchy -“

Grimmel whacked away Tuff’s reaching hand. “Do you know where the exit is? Right there! Look, open skies! It’s even sunny! Go!”

Tuffnut got onto the dragonling’s back and it didn’t hesitate, hopping them both toward escape, flapping its wings frantically.  “And -whack- with a rolling pin, right on the head, and you’d be all ‘owww, I’m so sorry, Mommy! Boohoo, I’ll never mistreat my dragons again!’ Yeah, that’s what you deserve.”

Glowering after him flatly, he watched as they flew off - finally too far for the boy’s voice to reach him any longer.

He sighed, shaking his head and smirking coldly.

The idiot was going to lead him right to Hiccup’s base. How fortunate he hadn’t suffered all that for nothing.

[reid-fiction]

Maze Misadventures

In which Spencer’s daughter discovers how easy it is to get lost in a corn maze.

a/n: This gif haunts me...

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It was no secret to anyone that Spencer loved Halloween.

In fact, Spencer loved everything about the autumn season, from the crisp smell of the air to the bright, vibrant colors of the changing leaves, to the spooky masks and ghostly decorations that went up in store windows as soon as October began. Any excuse he could find to incorporate a fall activity into your weekend or evening, he would use it. 

When your daughter came along, Spencer made sure that she took on his love of autumn as soon as she was old enough to understand the concepts. Her first Halloween - when she was only 7 months old - he had dressed her up in a little cat outfit and paraded her around your neighborhood if for no other reason than to show her off to anyone who passed by. She slept through the last hour or so on his shoulder, but that didn’t stop him. If anything, he was enjoying just wandering around the neighborhood and commenting on how cool all the costumes were to any child who passed him. 

A few years back, the two of you had taken her to a local farm that included hay rides, haunted houses and general fall fun. She had been far too little to truly understand and enjoy the experience, but Spencer had vowed he would take her back when she was a bit older so she could try out the one thing you had skipped that day: a corn maze.

The adventure began on a fall day in late September when (Y/D/N) was about 4 and a half. By now, you also had a three-month-old baby boy, so the four of you bundled up and made your way to the farm. The atmosphere was buzzing with activity and excitement, as dozens of families wandered around and engaged in the various activities the location offered. 

Your daughter seemed excited, but slightly overwhelmed at the number of people as she kept a tight grip on Spencer’s hand. After taking a hay ride and picking out some pumpkins to take home, there was only one thing left that Spencer wanted to do. As they approached the corn maze, he let go of her hand and knelt down in front of her.

“Sweetheart, would you like to go through the corn maze with daddy?”

He pointed in the direction of the large stalks of corn in the distance.

“What’s a corn maze?” she asked.

“It’s like a game where you have to walk through a path and try to find your way out to the other side and the walls are made of corn,” Spencer explained. “Sometimes, there are paths that don’t go the right way, so you have to go back and try again. It’s really fun!”

She glanced around him at the maze, and then up at you.

“Mommy, do you wanna come too?”

The tiny baby in the stroller had been fussing for the last few minutes and you assumed he was hungry. Going through the corn maze would likely make him more unhappy.

“Mommy’s going to stay out here and feed your brother,” you said. “But you and daddy will have lots of fun in there, and I’ll see you when you come out on the other side, okay?”

You weren’t surprised that the notion of walking through thick corn stalks that were taller than she was, and not knowing exactly how to get out, made her nervous. She had always been a cautious child, even if one of you promised to be there with her. But, it might have been the excitement in Spencer’s voice or the general happiness on the faces of those exiting the maze that gave her that touch of bravery that she needed because, next thing you knew, she was nodding with a wide smile on her face and grabbing Spencer’s hand again as she started making her way toward the start of the maze.

“Bye mommy!” she waved, just before the two of them entered. “Don’t get lonely while we’re gone!”

You laughed, sitting down on a nearby bench and taking your crying son out of his stroller as you watched Spencer and your daughter disappear into the maze. 

On the inside, Spencer took your daughter over to the small map at the start of the maze that - while not giving away the correct path to take - did make a point of specifying where the ending was.

“Okay, we have to find our way from here to there, you see?” Spencer said, pointing at the beginning and end of the maze so she knew where they were. “You think you can find our way out?”

She nodded, even more excited now that she was actually inside. Without another word, she took off in a dash, running ahead of Spencer toward the first crossroads.

“Wait for me!” Spencer called after her, picking up his pace. “I don’t want you to get lost. Stay where I can see you.”

She slowed down slightly, but Spencer knew he would have to be on guard the entire time. His daughter was cautious, but she could also be fearless once she was sure of her self. He watched as she paused, looking both ways as if deciding which one to take, and finally chose to go left. 

Spencer was able to follow her without an issue for the first half of the maze, but she eventually turned a corner and was out of his sight. He didn’t panic, quickening his pace to a jog in order to catch up, but he ended up coming in contact with a larger group who were also working their way through and it slowed him down. By the time they passed, his daughter was nowhere in to be seen. 

On the other side of a wall of corn, (Y/D/N) was having the time of her life. When she eventually hit a wall, she knew to turn back and try another way. She turned around, expecting to see Spencer behind her. When she was met with nothing but an empty path, she frowned. Maybe he was waiting for her around the corner? She ran back in the direction she first came, but turned down the wrong way, leading herself into a totally new area of the maze. Spencer wasn’t there either. A few more twists and turns with no sign of her dad, and that’s when she knew she was lost. 

“Daddy?” she called out, a hint of nervousness in her voice. 

When she received no reply, her bottom lip started to wobble. She remembered what the two of you had told her about what to do if she ever got lost: stay in one spot and wait for you to find her. It was one thing for her to know that, in theory. It was a whole other thing when she was currently lost in a corn maze, and the tall stalks around her were looking more and more like scary monsters in the waning light of the afternoon. 

“D-daddy?” she called again, tears starting to roll down her cheeks, hoping desperately that he would hear her.

Only a few feet away, but on the other side of a wall, Spencer was also starting to panic. It was getting later and later in the afternoon, and the sun - though still a few hours from fully setting - was starting to pull behind the clouds, making the pathways in front of him get darker and harder to navigate clearly. 

“(Y/D/N)?” he shouted, not caring how loud he was. “Baby, where are you?”

He dashed around every corner, looking down each pathway to see if he could locate her, and calling her name over and over again.

Finally, he heard tiny cries echoing from just in front of him. A quick turn to the left and he saw her. She had curled herself in close to one of the corn stalks and looked positively terrified. As soon as she saw him appear, she opened her arms for him.

“Daddy!” she wailed, now out of relief instead of fear.

Spencer rushed over, scooping her up and holding her close.

“Shhhh,” he soothed. “It’s okay. I’ve got you, you’re okay.”

“I couldn’t see you anymore! I called for you but you didn’t hear me and I got scared!” she blubbered, clinging to his shirt. “Where were you, daddy?”

Her words broke his heart as he smoothed down her hair.

“I was looking for you,” he replied, feeling his heart rate start to return to normal. “You ran off too fast and got too far ahead of me. You need to stay close to me, love, that’s why I told you to slow down and not run off without me. You have to be careful, okay?”

She pulled her face from his neck, nodding in understanding as she continued to sniffle and cry in hiccuping sobs.

“I’m sorry!” she cried, looking completely devastated. “I’m sorry I ran and got lost, I didn’t mean to!”

“Oh sweetheart, it’s okay! I’m not mad at you, you just scared me when I couldn’t find you.” Spencer reassured her. “But, you’re okay. You did really good staying in one spot when you realized you were lost, like mommy and I told you to. That’s how I was able to find you.”

She seemed to calm down a bit after that, and Spencer reached over to wipe the tears off her cheeks.

“You okay?” he asked, giving her a comforting smile.

“Uh-huh,” she nodded, still pouting and sniffling with the after-effects of her misadventure.

“Alright, let’s find our way out of here,” Spencer said, kissing her forehead. “I think we should find mommy and your brother and head out for a treat.”

Her eyes lit up at the mention of a treat, but she opted to stay in Spencer’s arms for the remainder of their time in the maze. By the time you saw them emerge, she looked completely happy and you wouldn’t have known anything had gone awry if she hadn’t immediately ran over to you and exclaimed,

“Mommy, guess what? Daddy got lost!” 

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Tag List:

@cynbx@gabriellewritermua @wheresthewater @toomanyfandomsshreya@thatisthemagic @helayes @marvelouspotterhead @randomfangirl1415 @criminally-me  @the-unfortunate-fangirl @everyday-imfangirling @skrrrrrrrrrrt @jhillio @elenarogersbarnes13 @reid-187 @spencerreid-iq187 @princesswagger15

[itsthesinbin]

You Bring Out The Worst In Me (Chapter 2)

Chapter 2 is done! I would’ve written this out sooner today, but there was an issue with some Ants.

As usual,  updates won't be this fast/daily like this. I just... tend to use the first few chapters to get an idea of what I want to do, and then settle into a plot/idea I like and go from there. Idk why but I can't plan out the rest of the fic until I write out like... four/five chapters first.

Yes I did copy/paste that from what I said on Ao3.

Read on Ao3!

Black Hat’s manor was as oppressing as the demon himself. The top hat shaped building loomed over the roundabout, blocking view of the sun. You felt a chill run up your spine when you entered the shadow of the building. Your irritated eyes welled up with new tears, much to Black Hat’s annoyance.

“Will you stop crying back there?! You were sobbing the whole way here!” You flinched at the harsh tone, quickly turning away from the eye glaring at you in the mirror. You bit back a whimper as the van parked.

“Flug, take her to the holding cell. Be ready with the cambot within the hour.” Flug didn’t have a chance to answer as Black Hat left the van to go into the manor. Demencia giggled as she crawled off of the roof of the van.

“AND DON’T LET THE BEAR GET NEAR HER,” Black Hat yelled from the doorway. Flug didn’t acknowledge the extra order as he went around to grab you out of the back of the van. You took in a shaky breath, wishing you could work up the nerve to say something- anything- to try and convince this man to let you go. Flug didn’t seem like a terrible person. He was just… working for a terrible man.

With these shackles on you, you couldn’t even tap into your powers to try and communicate with him that way. Might be for the best, anyway. You couldn’t afford to get one of your migraines in this situation. You doubt Black Hat will have mercy on you, if he catches you half unconscious due to your own reckless use of your powers.

You were dragged into the dark, depressing manor. You might’ve liked the decor, if Black Hat’s face wasn’t plastered onto every wall. Not that Dimencia seemed to mind, you noted, as she made goo goo eyes at every portrait she came across. She slithered down a hall, while you and Flug went in the opposite direction.

You couldn’t stop yourself from letting out a hoarse hiccup, fresh tears dripping down your stained cheeks. You felt a headache coming on, anyway, from the amount of crying you’ve been doing. Flug hummed nervously, glancing everywhere but you, before looking at you.

“Look, you’ll… be fine, as long as you cooperate,” he sighed, voice laced with unease. He knew you were an adult, but goddamn if you didn’t look like an abandoned puppy, at the moment. He’s not the type to get all nurturing- except with 5.0.5- but… He let out a small huff, shaking the thought from his head.

He brought you into a dungeon-like area, opening a cell door before bringing you in.

“The walls of this entire floor are made with materials to block almost any power known to man. You won’t be able to use them, no matter what. You won’t get a shock like you did with these-” he pulled off the shackles- “but, it’ll still be useless.” You stretched your arms, shaking your wrists, before getting his attention.

“Will I be able to go home,” you signed, hands shaking as you tried to form the symbols. “If I listen to him?”

Flug stared at your hand movements for a moment, before seemingly realizing what you were doing. He groaned, slapping a hand to his bagged forehead.

“Oh great, you can’t speak. Boss’ll be angry that you won’t talk to the cambot,” he grumbled. After a second, though, he remembered you were actually talking to him.

“... Do it again,” he ordered. His sign was rusty, but as he watched your hands repeat your question, he could get a vague idea. Maybe it would be better to pretend he couldn’t understand you.

“... Look, I don’t know. If I knew what he had in mind, then maybe I could tell you.” Flug began to leave, shutting the cell behind him.

“I’ll have to tell him about your speech issue. Be ready for us to come back with the cambot, later,” he said, high-tailing it out of the dungeon before you tried to ask something else. You lowered your hands in defeat, wide eyes watching his retreating form until you couldn’t see him, anymore.

You turned to your small cell, seeing a slightly clean cot, a bucket, and some shackles on the wall. A broken sob escaped your chest as you slid down the wall to your left. You gripped your hair with trembling hands, curling up until your face was in your knees. Stuttering whines and breaking wheezes left you as you openly wailed. Might as well get it out now, while Black Hat isn’t here to yell at you.

At least… he didn’t see your neck. He doesn’t know yet. You might be able to get away with him not finding out, if you’re careful. You just… have to make sure your turtleneck doesn’t come off, or get pulled down.

Your eyes grew uncomfortably hot. Your powers were trying to manifest, as they normally do when you’re this distressed. With whatever metals blocking them, however, it just left you with a headache and sore eyes.

Taking a breath, you forced yourself to think, rationally, about your situation. Black Hat probably wanted you for ransom- or blackmail. He’d ask your mother to leave him alone, you’d most likely get dropped off at a hidden location later, and then you’d be home with your mother. You’d be safe. You just… have to hide your mark until you’re away from that monster. You can do that. You hope.

You don’t know how long you sat down there. You finally reached a point where you just couldn’t cry anymore, no matter how much you wanted to.

Well, you didn’t want to, but your body wanted to.

Muffled footsteps came towards your cell. You forced yourself to stand, backing up against the farthest wall. A large, looming shadow tip-toed towards your cell, making a hoarse whimper leave you.

Then, a large, blue bear stopped in front of your cell. You stared at him in confusion as he came in, wearing a maid outfit and carrying a tray of food. He set the tray down on a small table, turning to you with a friendly little grin. The flower growing out of his head bobbed as he waved at you. He left as quickly as he came, letting out little grumbly-humming as he went.

Well… alright. That happened.

You, slowly, moved to look at the tray. A glass of water sat on the corner, and a single sandwich was on a small saucer. It was a simple ham and cheese sandwich. Just enough to keep you full for a while.

You gulped down the water, sore throat screaming at you for relief. You finished the entire glass quickly, wondering if you really should eat the sandwich. It could be poisoned- maybe not enough to kill you, but to make you sick. Make your mother worry more- be more irrational.

Your low energy and hunger outweighed your fear, in the end. You took small, slow bites of the sandwich. If you began to felt sick, you’d stop eating immediately. Thankfully, it seemed like the food was poison-free.

Food gone, you sat down on the cot. You curled up again, dropping your head onto your knees. You sat, numbly, for as long as you could. You had no energy left to cry anymore, due to the upcoming migraine and the amount of crying you’ve already done. Your body shook lightly with fear and frustration.

You don’t know how long it was until new footsteps came into the dungeon. You heard the voices of Flug and Black Hat, much to your dismay. You lifted your head, quickly making sure that your neck was covered by your sweater. You looked at the two as they arrived, but they didn’t bother to glance your way while they conversed.. A camera floated behind them, red light on to show that it isn’t recording.

Black Hat sneered, turning to you with an oddly hungry stare. You straightened up out of fear, taking in a breath.

“I see you’ve finally stopped whining,” the abomination said with a huff. His sneer turned into a malice-filled grin.

“A shame, really. Perhaps mommy might be faster if she sees you weeping.” You swallowed, looking away from him in hopes of hiding your fear a little. It doesn’t work. The man could smell fear.

He turned back to Flug, you was standing behind the floating camera. The doctor was fiddling with some settings, nervously glancing between the controls, his boss, and his captive.

“Flug? Is the damned robot almost ready?” The bagged scientist nodded, earning an evil laugh from the demon. He turned back to you, a glint in his visible eye.

“Now, you just be a good little girl and do as your told. Your pain will be kept to a minimum, if you don’t piss me off. Understood?” Your body was tense as you nodded your confirmation. Black Hat mumbled a “good”, before turning back to Flug and the camera. He made sure you were obscured, at first.

“Take one-” Dimencia appeared out of nowhere, snapping a clapper board with a cackle- “... Action”. The red light turned green, signalling it was recording. Black Hat grinned at the camera.

“Greetings, heroes. More specifically- hello, Ideal Mistress. I believe you’ve been missing something, correct? Ever since your little… activity, at the headquarters.” Black Hat stepped out of the way, exposing you to the camera. You were staring at his back, so when he moved, you were face to lens with the camera. You hoped you didn’t look too distressed. You wanted to seem strong. To seem like the hero- well, sidekick- your mother wanted you to be.

You sat up straighter, putting on your best brave face. Black Hat immediately snarled at you, making you violently flinch back. Well… there goes the idea of seeming tough. His grin returned, and he turned back to the camera. The bot floated back a bit, putting you both in the shot.

“Yes, your child is alive and well. If you follow our instructions, she will be returned to you… relatively unharmed.” You suppressed a whimper, looking down at the ground.

“My first order is to stop interfering with my business. My minions are to be left alone, and my transactions are to be completed without your giant ego butting in. My second order… well, I’ll figure that out later,” he chuckled smugly, grin widening inhumanly.

“You will be contacted in the near future, upon seeing this recording. You WILL meet my future demands if you want your little sidekick back. If they are not met…” Black Hat walked into the cell, glove tearing apart as claws manifested on his hand. He grabbed your jaw forcefully, digging the tips into your flesh and drawing blood. He turned you towards the camera, his pupil a dangerous slit and eye glowing slightly.

“You don’t want to know what will happen to her, should you deny my requests,” he growled, voice lowering a few octaves into something demonic. He held that pose for a second, before the camera light turned red again. Black Hat released you, pushing your head away and knocking you back slightly. He cackled, licking your blood off of his claws.

“Great take, sir. I don’t think we’ll need to redo it.” Black Hat smirked, returning his hand to normal as he shut the cell door. He resummoned a glove, examining the new material to make sure it was matching his current one.

“Yes, well, I still want to see the footage for myself, after it’s been edited. I’ll tell you if it needs to be redone.” “Yes, sir.” Flug began to leave, having to drag Dimencia out by the end of her hair to keep her from attacking Black Hat. The Eldritch being turned back to you, looking at your bleeding skin and your disheveled appearance. He eyed the top of the words that were peeking out of your turtleneck, making you lower your head slightly to try and hide the skin. His grin widened.

“I’ll be back with news for you. We’ll see if mommy cares enough to betray her fellow heroes,” he cackled, heading down the hall after his minions.

Despite how tired you were and how sore your eyes were, you began to sob again. You heard his footsteps stop, before he let out a snicker and continued on his way.

You didn’t stop crying until you finally fell asleep.

[laurabelle2930]

Every Life has a Moment 3/5 ~Olicity Fic

So here’s 3/5 and this time a lot of heavy emotions come out to play so yes I might be warning you to have a tissue handy. 

As always enjoy and you can read it here or on A03

“Past Issues”

Last time in Chapter two....

1 Year Later…

“You’re not asking me to marry you?” she squeaked from the floor of their shared home.

Oliver fell to his knees and wept openly, “Yeah baby I am…”

She gazed at him with tear filled eyes, “You wouldn’t be if I wasn’t pregnant…”

Oliver shook his head ruefully then placed the ring box on the ground between them, “When will you believe you mean everything to me?”

She sputtered as her palm flew to her stomach, “When I believe that you only loved me…”

Twelve hours before...

She heard his knuckles lightly rapping on the bathroom door while her forehead lay resting over the edge of the toilet seat. She grumbled in misery, “I’m okay baby it’s just my stomach again...” 

She heard his forehead inching down the door panes as he sighed gently, “Honey please just cancel the lunch. It’s just mom, and the social chair for the committee that they both want you to organize...” 

Felicity’s insides churned violently as the acid from her stomach coursed through her throat, she felt the burn before the stinging acid bit along her tongue moments before it came falling past her pale lips. Her body quivered as her stomach’s contents came up forcefully through her slight form. Oliver pleaded gingerly, “Felicity please just cancel the lunch, I’ll come home and we’ll go see Dr. Franklin.” 

“No...” she winced as the bile lingered in her raw throat. “You have the board member meeting today...” 

“So you’re more important than that!” he protested sharply. 

She let her body shudder in agony before her forehead once again fell over the seats rim. “I love you for that baby I do but I’ll just have mom take me okay?” she whined weakly as her stomach once again began to burn. 

She heard his gruff, “I’d rather be with you,” through the closed, thin door. She smiled slightly and called out, “I’d rather be with you too...” 

She could hear his smile when he quickly replied, “I’ll call you around 2 for an update baby...” 

“I’ll make sure the phones not on vibrate,” she replied before she heard his footsteps along their homes grey laminate floors. 

“I love you,” he called out quickly before he knew she’d no longer be in earshot. 

She screamed back, “I love you too,” before she let herself fall backwards into the comforting embrace of the cool, bathroom tiles. Her body’s tensed muscles eased the moment her spine felt the cold air from the ceiling vents brushing over her heated skin. She placed her hands over her stomach and growled towards the offending body part, “What the hell is wrong with you?” 

Her stomach burped and gurgled but did nothing more in reply. She scoffed emptily and crossed her legs while her back remained on the floor. She heard the drip from the bathroom sink, she heard her downstairs neighbor’s blaring stereo system through the floors, and she even felt the vibration from the loud beat as she wondered aloud, “Could this be more than the flu?” 

She gave herself a mental quiz...which ended up being her wondering aloud to the bathroom walls. “Okay so when did we have unprotected sex?” she first thought as the music below her back continued to beat pleasantly along her elongated spine. Her first thought of course was the shower but that was more than six weeks ago and she’d only been feeling unwell for the past three days. She clicked her tongue along her lower teeth and drew a calendar along her stomach. Her cycle tended to be a bit irregular so she normally never really thought about when it started she just always knew that it did. 

She laughed to herself when she recalled the last time she’d felt like this...

It was about three days after the snow storm. Oliver’s fingers were tangled in her hair as she felt her slender body heave violently. He placed his free hand over her shoulders and whispered through her gnarled cries, “You know this is really not sexy...” 

She hiccupped in humor, “Really? You don’t find the sight of your best friend’s vomit to be an instant turn on?” 

He held his breath, “Ummm no...” he joked in his very nasal tone while she crinkled her disgusted nose. 

“Well you wanted a relationship,” she noted as he gently pulled her back and onto his lap. She curled into his chest with her face pointed outward while he put his chin over the crown of her head. His arms were anchored around her waist as he placed a timid kiss to her head. 

 “So you’re still just my best friend huh?” 

“What title would you prefer Oliver?” she groaned in mild if not faked annoyance. 

She felt his fingers pinching along her sides as his throaty laughs echoed through her tired body. “I was thinking girlfriend if that isn’t too much to ask...” 

Felicity bit at her lower lip in contemplation. “Well I’m a girl and I’m your friend...” she thought aloud. 

Oliver mused quietly, “And you’re the love of my life who I recently had sex with...” 

She elbowed him gently which still made him wince, “Ow...” while she breathed, “Do we really have to put a label on it this soon? Can’t I have like a trail period where I get to explore the item before I decide if I want to buy it?” 

“I feel like a set of steak knives Felicity,” he choked before kissing her hair gently. 

She couldn’t help the giggle that raced through her body, “I would have gone with dildo but hey I guess knives work too...” 

That remark led to his fingers trailing along her aching sides until her muscles cramped. He tickled her until they were both on their sides with her back still pressed firmly to his front. He laughed happily, “Seriously baby what do you want?” 

She laced their fingers then brought them to her stomach until their hands overlapped, “I want to be us, just you and me is that okay?” 

He nuzzled at the nape of her neck then breathed, “Yeah baby we can just be Oliver and Felicity...” 

She smiled slightly as her stomach finally began to settle. “You know I’m surprised you haven’t asked me...” she realized as they each fell into their unique rhythm of enjoyable silence. 

“Asked you what?” he mumbled against her skin. 

She placed her forehead along his bicep and sighed, “Well we had unprotected sex and now I’m sick so...” 

His nose nuzzled along the small hairs of her neck, “Please if you were pregnant I’d be the last to know,” he commented simply. 

She nodded in agreement, “Yeah that would trigger some issues for me...” 

“Exactly and anyways if you were pregnant I doubt you’d have morning sickness three days later...” 

Felicity wanted to smack her forehead when she realized how blind she’d been once the memory ended. She glanced around the black and white bathroom with brushed chrome finishing’s and groaned, “How the hell did I let this happen...” then promptly leaned upward and left the comfort of her floor and searched for her phone.

The hospital gown felt stiff, uncomfortable, and frankly itched as it lingered over tingling skin. “Relax Felicity, I’m almost done...” Dr. Franklin barked lowly as Felicity’s toes curled. 

“Well I’m sorry but I hate this damn gown, and frankly having your head between my legs is not exactly ideal!”

Rita bit back a laugh but still her words were said in great humor, “Well you can ease those toes sweetie I’m all done.” 

Felicity released her held breathes as the metal contraption of evil slid down her cervix and back towards the room’s cold air. Her body shuddered a bit when the instrument finally was freed. Her fingers tapped out what she swore was Morse code as she quickly tilted up her head. Rita’s kind, wrinkled smile appeared moments later as she slowly stood. “Well?” Felicity gulped, “Is it a cyst like I thought?”  

Rita had her first glove off and was working on the second one when she smiled, “No it’s the option you’re not willing to vocalize.” 

Felicity’s head fell back over the rigid pillow in defeat, “How far along am I?” she nearly cried as her hopes for something far less devastating were dashed.

Rita reached for her trembling hands and slowly grazed her thumb over her white knuckles. “About six weeks I’d guess,” she soothed. 

Her stomach plunged to her toes while Rita continued to gently stroke her hands. “Sweetie pregnancy doesn’t have to mean death,” she offered knowing Felicity’s history better than most. 

She nodded while her eyes filled with unshed tears, “Yeah that’s what the father will say when I finally find the courage to tell him.” 

Rita patted her hands gently once more then said, “Well now that we’ve confirmed your symptoms are due to a baby and not a cyst would you be willing let us take a picture of your little tyke?” 

“Can’t you just say sonogram?” Felicity pleaded with emptiness filling her crumbling soul. 

“Do you want Moira to be here?” Rita breathed as she prepared to stand. 

Felicity’s eyes flicked to the small machine before they flickered to the bottle of gel, “He deserves to know first but...” she chewed on her lips as always and internally debated her options. While Oliver deserved to be first person told he wouldn’t forgive her if she didn’t ask for help when she clearly was emotionally distressed. She felt the bile rising to her throat while she remained in her uncomfortable supine position. Rita was already lifting up a section of the gown to expose her still taut abdomen. She hesitated for another second before muttering, “I need my mom.” 

Rita smiled sadly then replied, “I’ll have her brought back okay?” 

Felicity nodded relived while her heart clenched in despair. Rita pressed the intercom as Felicity’s mind wandered to the moment her world truly changed...

The room was cold that much she remembered clearly. The bright iridescent bulbs burned her small eyes as a pair of strong hands dragged her through the hospitals off white halls. She blinked rapidly as her small five year old legs struggled to keep pace with the older paramedic’s stride. She hiccupped in fear when the man came to a grinding stop. “Where’s my mommy and daddy? Where’s my baby brother?” 

His blue eyes she later came to find were the reason that Oliver’s own always made her feel safe. His small lips curved sadly while he folded his tall, angular frame until he was crouched over his large feet. Felicity blinked away another stray tear as the man’s hand began to shake. She sniffed, “What’s wrong?” 

Those blue eyes slid closed while he sighed, “Something happened when they tried to deliver your baby brother...” 

His touch felt foreign, cold and frightening as she croaked, “I want my mommy...” 

The kind stranger tired to say something more in comfort but all he could say before a loud scream filled the waiting room was, “Sometimes things go wrong...” 

After that she saw the familiar sight of her father’s business partner and long time friend Robert Queen. Behind him was the source of the pained scream...behind him was his wife Moira. Felicity peered over the stranger’s shoulder as he too glanced towards the disturbance. He whispered, “Do you know them?” 

Felicity cocked her small head and narrowed her blurry eyes. The paramedic glanced over her tired face and smirked when he asked, “You normally wear glasses don’t you sweetie?” 

She bobbed her small head, “Yes but I was tired so mommy put them in her purse while I took a nap.” 

He grinned, “You’ve awfully smart for your age aren’t you?” 

Felicity shrugged her small shoulders and mumbled, “I guess so...” as the screaming woman approached. Her heels clacked along the cold, white floors like ice as it rained down over a metal roof. Her caramel voice melted through the tender moment as she scolded the kind stranger for his actions. 

“I pray you’ve left the details to my husband and I Mr....” 

She had to squint to read the faded print of his name tag. Felicity being closer gathered her wits the said, “Owen...his name is Owen Mrs. Queen.” 

Moira’s icy eyes immediately melted as they drifted from Owen’s face and down to Felicity. Her skin glowed as she smiled sadly. “Angel would you mind giving me a moment with Owen?” 

Felicity glanced between the two and shivered. “Mrs. Queen is my mommy okay?” 

She bowed her head and whispered slowly, “Sweetie how much do you remember from the accident?” 

Felicity remembered nothing other than how it felt when she was shaken awake by her mother’s awful sounding screams. She squared her small shoulders and grimaced when she admitted, “I just remember her screams...” 

Moira’s eyes fell in shame. Owen patted her small shoulder then spoke sternly towards the older woman, “She was found between them. Her father we suspect died on impact when the metal frame crushed his bones. Her mother was found with a weak pulse and the girl curled in her lap.” 

Moira’s cold voice snapped at the man’s insensitive approach, “You couldn’t wait until she was in another room!” 

Felicity’s small voice felt even smaller when she whimpered, “Please where’s my mommy?” 

Moira fell to the floor, scuffing her shoes and destroying the knees of her hose. She cupped Felicity’s small cheeks with warm comforting hands and brushed her thumbs over her tear stained cheeks. Owen kept his hand over her small shoulders while Moira’s lips quivered through the painful truth. “Tonight while you were coming to the hospital something bad happened.” 

Felicity nodded with the innocence of a child. Moira continued with tears streaming down her own narrow face. Felicity could see small flecks of black as the lines of her own tears marred her otherwise perfect face. “Your car was hit by another driver...” she nearly sobbed as Felicity caught Robert’s grief stricken face lingering just behind her. His usually bright eyes looked pale and forlorn as he slowly fell to his own knees upon the hospital floor. He placed a cold hand on Moira’s shoulder and whispered to her ear, “They didn’t make it. The strain of pregnancy was too much...they’re gone...”

Moira’s controlled sobs changed into a blood curling wail as she drew Felicity tightly into her trembling arms. She moved willing into the awkward embrace, her cheek fell upon her coat’s collar as the older woman murmured, “It’s going to be okay Felicity, It’s going to be okay...”   

“Hey Angel you still with me?” she heard her adoptive mother ask as she placed a tender kiss to her furrowed brow. 

Moira slid her fingers through Felicity’s as her other traced along her damp cheek. She smiled and brushed her thumb over a falling tear. “You know the baby didn’t kill her sweetie the car accident did...” she soothed as Felicity nodded in fear. 

“She had a complication that’s why the baby was six weeks early...” Felicity wept as Moira squeezed her shaking hand. 

Rita I just need a quick minute is that alright?” she asked without ever averting a gaze from Felicity’s terrified eyes. 

“Of course Mrs. Queen I’ll just make sure the equipment is calibrated,” she answered before the door behind them clicked closed. 

Moira’s chest faltered as she swept a piece of hair behind her ear. Felicity leaned into her touch as she spoke, “You’re afraid that he’ll die the same way your father did aren’t you?”

Felicity felt shame as she croaked out a pathetic, “My father died protecting his children and, Oliver wouldn’t hesitate to do the same...” Her chest began to ache as her selfish fears poured forth. “It was bad enough when I fell for him...” 

Moira smiled, “I’m going to selfishly disagree since that for me was a very blessed day,” she murmured as her eyes softly fell. 

Felicity’s eyes rolled, “You don’t understand, I can’t lose him Moira, I can’t face the idea of living from day to day in a world where he doesn’t exist.” 

“I’m practically your mother so let’s drop the Moira and secondly Angel loving him is what saved you hell it’s what saved him...” Felicity saw the wheels turning in her mind so she saved her the effort and admitted with shame...

“I never intended to give him a child because I knew in the end it would destroy us both.” 

Moira’s lips pursed in empathy not disgust. “That’s why you tried to keep your relationship platonic I assume?” 

Felicity digested the question then mumbled, “Yes...” 

“And when he pushed you into admitting your feelings I’m betting you put up another internal wall?

Again Felicity mumbled, “Yeah and look where my “emotions” left me.” 

Moira leaned forward until her lips were at Felicity’s ear. She whispered in a snippy tone, “That’s what condoms and birth control are for sweetie.” 

Felicity gulped as Moira placed her forehead over hers. “You’re saying that subconsciously I wanted a child aren’t you?” 

She felt the older woman’s smile grow as her nose crinkled, “You’re too smart to leave anything up to fate angel, you always were.” 

Felicity groaned, “Apparently this time I did...” 

Moira laughed, “No you didn’t Felicity. You’re ready for more but you’re just unable or unwilling to admit it.” 

“That’s ridiculous,” she scowled. 

Moira pushed further, “Then say it, tell me why didn’t want to love him from day one?” 

Felicity felt the confidence in her voice, she felt the determination in her eyes and she felt the empathy in her touch. Moira was pushing her to break down another wall the only problem was Felicity didn’t want to crumble for anyone but Oliver. 

“I didn’t want to love him because...” Felicity started just to end the verbal brawl as Moira held her hand tightly. Felicity felt her chest stammering as her heart fluttered. The moment felt wrong, the timing was off and the forehead that should be there wasn’t. Her words felt cold and dis-joined as they left her numb tongue but still she managed a weak but somewhat honest declaration through her muted tone, “I didn’t want another grave taking up residence in my shattered heart.” 

Moira pushed lightly, “And why don’t you want a baby?” 

Felicity’s entire body shuddered. This wasn’t meant for her it was meant for Oliver. Her truth, her words, her fears all of those moments were meant to be shared with him as he held her in his loving arms. She stammered and groaned as her mind searched for the words to end the conflict. “I don’t want him dying because of them...” she offered weakly but Moira knew better. 

She pushed back with harsh words, “Don’t be the selfish brat that broke my son’s heart, be the person he deserves instead of the weakling who nearly let him marry the wrong woman...” 

Felicity croaked, “They were never close to that and you know it...” 

“Still you almost let him go and I want to know why? Why are you really afraid of having a baby with the man who’d give his life just to see you smile?” she probed as their foreheads remained connected. 

Felicity stammered, “Please don’t make me say this...” 

Moira pushed back, “I won’t but only if you promise to tell him...” 

Felicity’s eyes slammed shut, “He’ll never understand...” she whimpered almost uncontrollably. 

Moira insisted once more before she pulled away, “He knows about that day sweetie he’ll understand why you’re afraid...” 

Her chest heaved as she spoke, “Moira…mom it’s not the simple.” 

She nodded in empathy, “I know but something inside of you is still broken from that day...” 

Felicity nodded grimly, “He won’t understand why I didn’t tell him, he won’t understand why I lied...” she breathed as something inside her heart finally began to heal. “He doesn’t know that she almost died while giving birth to me, he just thinks it’s about my brother he doesn’t know how far it really goes...” she admitted in one large painful breath. 

“He’ll ask you to marry him Felicity...he’ll push for more if you don’t give him the truth willingly,” she murmured just as Rita knocked on the door. 

Felicity looked up at her adoptive mother and cried softly, “The problem with that is I want to marry him...” 

Moira’s tears fell, “You can’t marry him if he doesn’t know sweetie, he has to understand he could lose you...” 

She gulped heavily, “I’m going to end up pushing him away.” 

Moira croaked, “He’ll just push harder...” 

Felicity simply sighed, “Yeah until I break his heart...” 

She leaned her aching forehead over the numbers upon their front door. She savored the cold of the bronze metal and yearned for the courage to face what she know was waiting beyond the threshold. Her eyes burned then her vision blurred as she swallowed a strangled cry. The sonogram picture was crinkled between her fingers, their child’s image was in her hands and all she could do was struggle with the urge to scream. 

The ground below her vibrated, the beat seemed to permeate through the soles of her shoes as she swallowed a gnarled plea, “Please don’t let me screw this up...” she begged lowly. “Please let me heal...” she prayed as her free hand flew to her stomach, “Please let this child be born...” she wept before she stowed the picture in her coat pocket and solemnly reached for the door. 

The darkness engulfed her willing as she stepped slowly inside the stillness of the empty room. She flicked the switch by the door and dropped the keys into the ceramic bowl on the kitchen counter. She stood there frozen. Her bones felt like concrete had filled the hallow spaces. She lumbered forward, she felt the cool, marbled, grey colored granite beneath her trembling fingers. She squinted her eyes when she saw a broad set of shoulders lightly heave. She leaned her hip along the counter top’s beveled edge and roughly cleared her clogged throat, “Most people turn the lights on when it gets dark outside...” She kept her tone light and even as her mask fell swiftly into place. 

She saw the slope of his shoulder heave as his head fell. She managed to drag herself to a chair along the island; she even managed to pull the dark colored wood outward but stopped when he mumbled almost deadly, “Mom called me after your appointment...” 

Her nimble fingers curled over the chairs back, “How much do you know...” she spat angrily as she started slumping to the cold floor. 

“Let’s not blame her shall we...” he growled with his back still slumped against the back of their off grey colored sectional. 

Felicity rolled her eyes swiftly while allowing her body to fall back against the white paneling of the islands cabinets. “Why not? It’s her fault we even met to begin with so it makes complete sense to me...” 

She heard him roll his broad shoulders and even cringed when his elbows landed on his stiff knees. “Don’t Felicity, just don’t I’m not going to rip apart our history just so you can avoid telling me the truth,” he replied coldly with no regard to her fragile state of mind. 

It was then she knew that Moira had said nothing. She huffed in agreement, “Fine so what do you want?” 

“Felicity,” he sighed painfully. 

She proceeded to crack her neck, he in turn groaned as she smiled with glee, “What baby still hate that habit?” 

He inched off the couch and maneuvered around the table by the sectional. The light from the city below lit his face in an array of conflicting shadows as he moved along the living room rug. Felicity watched him gingerly walk the floor as she sought to control her rattled nerves by rubbing her fingers along her coat covered upper arms. 

He glanced toward her and breathed with strain lacing his throat, “Just tell me is it what you thought?” 

She bowed her head and bit her lip, “That depends on how you look at it I suppose,” she cowered in shame. 

He dragged his palm down his chiseled face and sighed, “Cut the crap Felicity and just tell me what to expect.” 

She shrugged lamely, “I don’t know what would you expect from someone whose six weeks pregnant?” 

She heard him place his dress shoes on the grey floors. He shuffled forward nervously while mumbling, “We’re having a baby?” 

She glanced up sarcastically, “Yeah and guess what I’m not elated.” 

He froze about three feet from her seated form. She noticed his left hand was dancing about nervously in the left pocket of his trousers. She cocked an eyebrow and swallowed a painful laugh before muttering, “You’ve got to be kidding me...” 

He shrugged, “It’s the logical next step?” 

“How? You thought I had the stomach flu! How is marriage the next logical step!” she shouted in confusion. 

His tone weakened, “Well mom said the news was life altering and I figured it might lessen the blow if you knew that no matter what I was with you...” 

Her body began to crumple. The mask she’d managed to hold was fading as the weight of her unsaid confession weighed heavily on her soul. The tears she’d managed to swallow now were creeping along the ducts of her eyes. Her fingertips felt bruised as she rubbed them raw along the fabric of her coat. He stood proudly with the ghost of a smile as she finally felt her emotions give way. 

“You’re not asking me to marry you?” she squeaked from the floor of their shared home.

Oliver in an uncharacteristic move fell to his knees and wept openly, “Yeah baby I am…”

She gazed at him with tear filled eyes; “You wouldn’t be if I wasn’t pregnant…” she tried with a stammering heart. 

Oliver shook his head ruefully then placed the ring box on the ground between them, “When will you believe you mean everything to me?” he nearly cried with anger fueling his strangled words. 

She sputtered as her palm flew to her stomach, “When I believe that you only loved me…”

He glanced at her with confusion literally dripping from his mournful eyes. “That I only loved you?” he garbled as she watched in interest. 

Her plan was simple. It was calculated but simple; she was simply going to convince him that she feared he’d love their child more than he did her. He’d be disgusted and if she was lucky he’d leave her in a fit of rage. If this worked and the pregnancy ended up killing her then at least he’d be spared the pain of mourning his wife...Her plan was simple but, something inside her felt strange. She chewed at her lip and hid the small ghost of a frown over her full lips; her stomach ached as again something inside her twisted not with guilt but oddly with anger…She shrugged off the strange feeling and remembered her silent vow…

She told Moira in Dr. Franklin’s office that she was going to break his heart and dammit she intended to but, what she’d forgotten to foresee was what she’d always failed to see...

Oliver wasn’t going to let her self-destruct...even if it meant he did in the process. 

He folded his hands over his lap and scrunched his adorable forehead. Felicity despite her thoughts smiled at his adorable grin. He however glowered when her words finally clicked into horrifying place. “You know you had me,” he declared. 

She splayed her hand over her stomach and gulped, “Had you?” she purred innocently. 

He smirked but it wasn’t the one that indicated she was about to made a very happy woman, no this smirk was to indicate she’d been caught. “Yes Felicity,” he seethed, “Had me, you almost had me until I saw where your hand was positioned...” 

Her ashamed eyes fell as she muttered quietly, “I was trying to spare you...” 

He huffed angrily, “When will you get it through your thick head I’m not leaving you, I’m not quitting us, I’m not abandoning you, and I’m fucking in love with you!” 

She shouted back with downcast eyes, “YEAH WELL I FUCKING LOVE YOU AND THAT’S WHY I WANTED TO SPARE YOU!” 

He growled darkly, “And what making me believe that you were selfish enough to hate me for loving our child was your plan? I mean honestly Felicity what did you think I’d do? Were you going to tell that because your father died saving you, you were afraid of losing me the same way? Did you really want me to just walk away and leave you?” 

She glared then seethed bitterly, “What gave it away?” 

Her comment caught him off guard, she smirked in happiness as he shook his rattled head, “Again only loved me was a bit telling given you’re pregnant.” 

“Shit,” she moaned bitterly. “I knew that was the wrong word,” she groaned as she eyed the small box before her. “Mom’s wedding set I assume?” she asked defeated. 

He laughed lowly, “Yes and stop avoiding the fight. You were going to what tell me that because your father died saving you, you were afraid to lose me the same way right?”

She mumbled lowly, “It was a thought yes…”

He nearly cracked his jaw when he growled, “You had a backup plan I know you…” Her eyes slipped shut while he groaned through her possible list…”Let me guess you were going to end this pregnancy because of your mother’s second pregnancy? Or even better...” he continued on as she sat there and quietly stewed. “You weren’t going to tell me at all; you were going to simply leave before you started to show?” 

“Well I put more thought into the plan than that but, yes I was going to put up another...” 

“Wall...” he interrupted glumly. 

She glared then gulped, “Yes, I was going to put up another wall and convince you that I couldn’t be with someone who loved our child more than me.” 

He mumbled in disgust, “You’re sick you know that?” 

She bowed her head and lightly patted her stomach, “No I’m scared and guess what fear makes me do foolish things,” she said weakly to aid her defense. 

“Trying to convince me that you’d despise me for loving our child is pretty low even for you...” he groaned as he began to move backward along his knees. 

She nodded in horrified agreement, “I’m not too happy about my choice either but the truth is worse.” 

His retreating form froze, “How is that even possible?” he asked in what could only be described as terror. 

She looked up with freshly fallen tears and mumbled, “Because based on my medical history both the baby and I could die.” 

Oliver’s eyes fell so she kept going while her hand remained firmly over her stomach. “Do you remember when I was around fourteen?” 

He nodded then mumbled gravely, “You were sick for about a month. Mom wouldn’t let me or even Thea see you, she alone tended to you. Well she and Dr. Franklin...” 

She saw him breathe heavily; his body seemed to retract inwards as he brought his palms to his elbows. Felicity swallowed a tender cry of remorse before continuing slowly with empathy brimming in her voice. “Apparently I had an ovarian cyst; which terrified me because when my mother was pregnant with me she had one that ruptured...” She felt the tears falling freely down not only her face but she somehow could feel his as well. 

He breathed, “That’s why you were going to the hospital that night...” 

She nodded, “She’d been sick for a few days. She was being monitored because of what happened with me. They delivered me via C-section after the cyst ruptured. She barely survived the procedure and I was trapped in the ICU for almost a month because I was about 5 weeks early.” 

“That’s why you had glasses at such a young age right?” he mumbled as he gradually moved closer. She could feel his soul breaking before her as he pushed the ring box across the floor and towards her feet. 

She again nodded and reached for the token. “Yeah...” she murmured as she folded her fingers around the box’s hard edges. 

“Your brother was the same?” he asked a bit awkwardly. 

She smiled sadly, “He would have been had it not been for the accident...” She felt his knees bumping along her feet. She gazed at his handsome face and finally lifted her hand from her stomach. She saw her fingers tremble as she inched her way towards his titled jaw. She gasped when he reached forward grabbing her hand and twisted her wrist until his lips were at the center of her palm. 

He croaked through the tears in his throat, “You didn’t want me to lose both you and our child...that’s why you did all of this...” he suddenly realized.  

He kissed her skin tenderly once more before he moved his hand to her fallen chin. She in turn cupped his cheek as they each leaned inward. The moment their foreheads touched she immediately found home. “I’m so sorry but I’m just so fucking scared to be without you...” she sobbed almost instantly. 

He chuckled lowly, “Well I’d say the feelings mutual but based on your actions you sorta knew that.”

She smiled before her lips fell back into small frown, “I swore I’d never put you through this…I swore but now that I’ve seen him or her I can’t lie and say I’m not overjoyed…”

He croaked, “I don’t have the words to describe what I’m feeling but dammit honey this has got to stop…”

She mumbled contritely, “I know baby, believe I know…”

He murmured against her lips, “Why didn’t you tell me about your mother? Why didn’t tell me that’s what you were afraid of?” 

She mumbled incoherently, “I was so young when it happened and I didn’t realize that I could have the same condition, and then when I fell for you it got really complicated. So I put up about a thousand walls figuring you’d never be dumb enough to tear them all down but, then you did and like an idiot I started wanting you to.” 

Their lips brushed endlessly as she spoke, his reply to her endless words made her stomach flutter with hope. “Then why not just bring them down yourself? Why did it take me years of groveling for you to realize you’re it for me?”

She let him kiss her soundly with more tenderness then she deserved before her words fell freely from her bruised lips, “By the age of five I’d learned two very painful lessons, one love kills and two living without love is damn near impossible.”

He whispered against the corner of her mouth, “Then why the hell did you fight me?”

She inhaled deeply then pressed her fingers gently over his skin. His head tilted into her shaky touch as she exhaled over his tingling skin, “Because I can’t live in a world where you don’t love me and, letting you in meant you’d have to love all of me…”

He pulled away just enough so she could see his heart in those perfect eyes. “Then tell me you’ll marry me,” he murmured. “Tell me you’ll spend the rest of your life with me as we both work on eradicating those damn walls of yours.”  

She starred into those endless blue eyes and marveled at his capacity for forgiveness. She mumbled along his bottom lip as their fingers traced along the other’s skin feverishly, “How can you still want to marry me?” she questioned briefly. 

He pressed a very timid kiss to her slightly parted lips. She felt his tongue skimming along her bottom lip as he muttered, “I’d be lost without you so I understand the twisted logic...” 

She kissed him tenderly, “Can you ever forgive me?” she asked once they parted. 

His nose rubbed along her own as they remained connected by their foreheads. “As I already said this has to stop honey. You can’t keep running from me Felicity. I can’t keep losing us because you’re afraid I’ll leave, I can’t keep fighting for us alone with one hand tied behind my back,” he pleaded endlessly as the box once more fell at her feet. 

She glanced down at the unopened square then glanced back to his eyes. She licked her lips as he brushed his own over them. She smiled into the deepening kiss as he pulled her closer. She parted her legs and pulled herself over his lap. Her knees rested along the floors with his hips burning the skin that touched them. She murmured as his fingers became twisted in her hair, “Then yes…”

Oliver’s heart stopped and for the first time she felt the skipped beat. She timidly placed her palm over his thudding chest and whispered lowly, “I felt that...” 

He bypassed the statement for a moment and uttered, “You said yes?”

She giggled, “Yeah I said yes, why wouldn’t I?”

He nearly choked in shock, “Would you like to go through out tortured history?”

“No,” she mumbled as his heart jumped again. Her eyes flared when she muttered, “It happened again…”

“What did?” he asked quickly.

“Your heart, it literally just skipped another beat and somehow I felt it,” she croaked emotionally with a feeling of solace racing through her once nervous veins.

His eyes blazed, “How?” he murmured before their lips touched. 

She shrugged then realized as their lips brushed, “It’s because I’m finally ready to stop running…” Moments later her timid tongue was softly touching his. 

His moaned, “So we’re going to be a family?” raced through down the smooth muscles of her throat before they edged their way firmly into her steadily beating heart.

She smiled once more as her whisper was engulfed by the first of many endless kisses, “Yeah because we already are...” 

Tagging: @emmaamelia95 @pleasantfanandstudent @coal000 @memcjo @lesanchea @mrsbubblelee @olicitylovemaking @miriam1779 @love2luvyyou @almondblossomme @diggo26 @rivaroma @cjjingram @vaelisamaza @befitandchase @pimsiepim @andjustforthismoment @anonymiss118 @thelockpickingvictorian @yet-i-remain-quiet @lexi9515 @kathrynelizabeth89 @marniforolicity @marytagus @myuntetheredsoul @myhauntedblacksoul @blondiegrl00 @independent-fics @felicity-said--yes @relativelyobsessedfangirl @i-m-a-fan-world @mel-loves-all @somewhatinvisible @danski15 @stygian-omada-fan @malafle @emilyp05 @oliverfel4 @alemap74 @vicky-vale @charlinert @hope-for-olicity @missafairy @arrows-4ever @jaspertown @sweetzcupcake @captainolicitysbedroom @nalla-madness @smoakingarrow19 @bwangangelic @ccdimples88 @lalawo1 @yespleasehawkeye @ireland1733 @quiveringbunny @scu11y22 @detbensonsvu1 @tdgal1 @cinfos @xxliveyourlife @onceuponarrow @supersillyanddorky06 

[nezzfiction]

ENMY Chapter 38 - No Honor Among Assassins

Chapter Synopsis: With Yang dealing the finishing blow to Qrow Branwen, the fight between Team ENMY and Team RNJR draws to a close. But things rarely ever send so simply.

Series Synopsis:

Team RWBY is disbanded, and Yang must find herself new allies. For her, that might very well be yesterday’s enemies. Joining up with the likes of Emerald, Mercury, and Neo, the four will comprise Team Enemy.

Links to read the series: Ao3 or FF.net

Or hit the jump below

No Honor Among Assassins

.

She hates fountains.

Flipping little coins.

Paying for wishes that won’t come true.

All they do is shine.

Shimmering little things.

It gobbles them up and doesn’t care.

Grave of shiny things.

Grave of wishes.

.

.

“Do it, Em!”

Shut up.

“Tell me this team meant nothing! You conned me!”

Shut up.

“You saved me, and I trusted you. I didn’t want this.”

I didn’t want this either.

“I came to care about all of you.”

SHUT UP!

“Do it, then! PULL THE TRIGGER!”

Yang twisted and turned in her sleep. Dreams a jumble of confused and angry words. Something trapped her, beckoned her. Unable to sleep, but also unable to wake.

…

The girl found herself walking down a busy street she didn’t recognize.

It was broad daylight.

She looked down at her short legs. Her feet wrapped in tiny, cartoon-brand sandals. She was wearing boyish clothes, easy to run in. They were dirty and rough.

Yang realized she had the stature of a child. Small enough that her parents had to hold each hand, as they made their way to the city square.

She looked up at them, but they weren’t Taiyang or Raven. Their faces were distorted by black X’s scribbled in pencil. The more she tried to make out their expressions underneath, the more intense the cover became.

Still, somehow, she knew they were her parents.

The small family made their way to a fountain at the center. It was so wide the thing could have passed for a swimming pool. Its watery surface reflected rippling light on her face, and at the bottom, she could see all the shimmering coins people threw in.

“Honey,” came her mother’s voice. “Why don’t you go ahead and make some wishes?”

She felt her mother let go, and a pouch of coins placed in her hand. They never let her do this before. They said it was a stupid waste of money.

She knew why they were letting her do it today.

“…Okay,” she answered.

Her father let go of her other hand.

“You have to close your eyes and concentrate. You also can’t say the wish, or it won’t come true.”

“I know, daddy.”

Yang dug into the pouch and pulled out a coin. Her eyes closed. Her lips trembled.

…

It’s fine.

…

Just go already.

*Plop*

She flipped the first coin into the fountain.

Go away.

She heard the footsteps start to scatter.

…

I won’t cry about it.

You never wanted me.

SO, JUST GO AWAY!

The footsteps grew fainter, disappearing into the mess of noise.

I DON’T NEED YOU!

*Plop*

WHO WOULD WANT SUCH SHITTY PARENTS, ANYWAY?!?!

…

*Plop*

All you do is slow me down!

You’re the slow ones! Not me!

…

*Plop*

The footsteps were gone.

I got enough this week! I know I did!

*Plop*

…

…

Please…

*Plop*

Please, come back.

I’m sorry.

…

…

*Plop*

I’M SORRY! I’M SORRY, MOMMY! I’M SORRY, DADDY! PLEASE!

JUST COME BACK!

A heavy splash sent water everywhere, as the whole pouch was thrown with all her might.

…

She was screaming.

She was crying.

Please… come back…

I’ll be good.

I’ll be better.

Just give me one more chance.

…

That’s all I want…

She kneeled on the fountain’s cusp. Her hands braced her face fiercely. Tears poured between choking hiccups.

She was broken and unwanted.

There was some flaw in her she couldn’t see, but felt like everyone else knew.

I just want someone…

Anybody…

…

…

“Come with me, and I’ll make you whole.”

She lowered her hands and saw the elegant fingers extended to her. Nails painted dark-red, like coals smoldering in a fire pit. The person’s voice captured her, so alluring. Irresistible to bear.

When she found the courage to look up, the most beautiful person she’d ever seen was standing before her. Confident and strong. The very nature of defiance personified. Almost like she was a whole world onto herself, separate from her environment.

Yang wondered how someone could have such a presence to them.

She stood, and saw that the person was not alone.

A smug, young man could be seen nearby. He looked as fragile and broken as she was. So very much incomplete. Needy, but too stubborn to act it. A painful similarity.

There was also a small, quiet soul. Vicious and prone to hurting people where it hurt most. But knew the pain that dwelled within, more than anyone. This one liked to hide her words and heart.

Another figure appeared, large and bright. A prideful spirit that challenged at any given chance. But as tough as it acted, it was really trying to hide the broken toy she was. Discarded and alone. A misfit toy.

Blistering star one moment, and shivering candle the next.

But it made her feel warm.

They all did.

…

…

Yang returned to the city square again, surrounded by bustling people. Her form was her own. Still, not a clue as to what was going on.

That is, until she spotted a familiar figure sitting to her left, on the edge of the fountain.

Emerald had her legs crossed. Mouth cupped in her hand, facing away from Yang. The very picture of defensive body language.

“Em?” Yang tried to get her attention.

“…”

“Hey—”

“Don’t come over here. I’ll kill you.”

“Hahhh… Okiiiie.”

Yang kept her distance, patiently giving the other time to speak when she chose. The crowd passed around in a sort of hypnotic way. She wasn’t sure how many hours she waited. Time was vague in a dream.

I’d probably crawl into an embarrass ball too, if I was her.

“You saw all that?” Emerald finally spoke.

“Uh, yeah,” Yang worded carefully. “Was that… you?”

The girl made a sound of disgust. She squeezed the back of her neck, trying to build herself up to the explanation.

“My Semblance used to do this sometimes, before I got a better handle on it,” Emerald answered, still refusing to make eye contact. “The hallucinations come at random—usually something from memory. First time it’s happened in a dream, though.”

“Oh. Then, that…”

“Yeah. I don’t want to talk about it. Just—*Sigh!!*—why did it have to leak to you of all people?”

“Maybe, it was subconscious.”

“Don’t get therapist-y with me. It was an accident. A horrifying one, at that.”

Yang scooched beside the brooding Emerald, and leaned in.

“What? You pitying me, now?”

“Maybe,” Yang chuckled.

“Well, knock it off. I don’t want your pity.”

“Yeah. People with abandonment issues usually don’t.”

“Bite me.”

“Hey, you got to see me at my lowest point. Only fair I got to see one of yours.”

“So we can bond over tragedies? Don’t kid me. This doesn’t change anything.”

“I don’t know about that.” Yang stretched and rested her back on Emerald. “On the contrary, I think we’re finally starting to understand each other.”

Emerald pondered it a moment, before adjusting herself to sit back to back.

“I still hate you.”

“Sure, you do.”

“We’re not friends.”

“Sure, we’re not.”

They both thought back to the messy fight they had earlier. The words they exchanged were still raw. But in this moment, Yang acted as if to say, to hell with that.

The hallucination communicated how Emerald truly felt, and how she viewed Yang. Yang felt similarly. She thought maybe this was one of the reasons Team ENMY meshed together—because they saw a piece of themselves in each other and understood that aspect.

That was enough for her to move on.

“Do you trust me?”

“Yeah.” Yang paused. “Do you trust me?”

Emerald scrunched her face and made the “it’s iffy” motion with her hand.

“Come. On! Seriously?”

“If I didn’t, I probably wouldn’t suggest what I’m about to right now.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“I need you to follow my lead on something. And I need your complete trust.”

“I already said you have it.”

“Your implicit and absolute trust. I’m talking, blood pact, secrets die with you, under extreme torture, kind of deal.”

Yang gave it some thought.

And then, with a serious tone, she gave her heartfelt words.

“I won’t abandon you, Em. I swear to you, I won’t.”

Yang didn’t know how Emerald would take it, but she seemed to listen to the words for what they meant.

“Alright. Guess, we’re in business.”

.

* * * * *

.

The night before Yang left for her Semblance Trial, Emerald visited her dreams again. And the two walked an old memory of Patch.

“Do we have to speak here every single time?” she complained. “It’s kind of creepy to talk in my mind.”

“Well, it’s creepy being in your mind, but do you hear me whining about it? The school’s walls have eyes, and ears, and bullshit detectors. This is the only guaranteed safe way to communicate.”

“Sure, we shouldn’t tell the others?”

“Cards close to the vest, Yang. Mercury can’t act for crap, and who knows how Neo will take the whole thing. She’s too unpredictable. This stays between us for now.”

“Alright. So, I set a meet with my mom. I should have a good idea about my Semblance before the big fight.”

“Better hurry. Merc’s family’s keeping us on a tight leash and a timeline. If we don’t get ahead of this thing, we’ll be the ones pushing daisies. Maybe, we should get Raven’s help, after all.”

“From what you’ve told me, we need to handle this ourselves. We bring my mom in, and maybe they back off, but it’ll be the same thing that happened with Cinder; they’ll just come again, when she’s not around. The only thing we can do is jump them, and leave a scar to remember us by. This is a Team ENMY thing.”

“Fine, fine. I’d rather not rely on anyone outside the four of us, anyway. See you, when you get back.”

“Not gonna wish me luck?”

“Luck is for the dumb and the too dumb to cheat.”

“Such a cynic queen.”

“Whatever, lion queen.”

.

* * * * *

.

Yang had just returned to Haven Academy and parted with her mother, when she received a call from Emerald.

“Yang. Some stuff’s come up. We won’t be back for a couple nights. Caught a lead on Cinder, and we’re following it.”

Alright… So, it’s on.

Yang cleared her throat, and tried to reply as naturally as she could.

“I can come along. You know, I’d do anything to help—”

“No. We don’t need you. Just stay home, like a good little girl.”

“Em, I know things have been rough between us, but—”

“You really wanna help? Maybe, you can point me in the direction of an airship that’s easy to jack. Otherwise, thanks but no thanks.”

Yang sighed.

“Yeah. I think I might know of one.”

Later on, she would sneak aboard the airship her team flew to the Tower. Taking care to hide near the Dust Reactor to mask any sort of energy signature she might emit.

Along the way, she filled her partner in crime on the details of her new Semblance and together, outlined a plan.

.

* * * * *

.

While her teammates engaged Qrow and Team RNJR in the Tower of Tamonten, Yang was secretly surveying the landscape from above. An ear kept to comms, tracking the progression of the fight.

From her perspective, the battle was proceeding as planned, despite some hiccups. But the situation took a drastic turn once Qrow displayed a number of Ozpin’s old abilities.

“I hate Plan Bs,” she heard Emerald voice over the radio.

It may have sound like an offhand comment, but it was actually a signal to Yang.

Things are going that bad, we need to use Blindside?

In the wake of her inner thoughts, Yang’s scroll rang. She saw the caller was her mother.

“Mom?”

“Yang. Remember when I told you to be ready for my call because it would be important? I’m sending you my location. Get here as soon as you can. It’s important.”

“…Actually, I’m a little busy—Okay. She hung up. Sorry, mom. One crisis at a time.”

At that point, Yang no longer needed to remain hidden. Emerald blowing the whistle to blindside them, meant her team wouldn’t be able to manage without her.

So, Yang started steering the vessel. A direct collision course was set for the suspended pagoda.

Once the autopilot was engaged, she ran below deck to brace for impact.

A few moments later, the airship smashed into the top floor of the Tower. The bow cracked open, allowing her to exit the front seamlessly.

Upon her arrival, she searched for their team’s highest priority target. A find that was made easy, when the person in question, stood from the rubble himself.

“Hey, Qrow.”

Yang could see he was heavily wounded. She needed to put an exclamation point on this, while she had the chance. Before her uncle activated a newfound ability or Jaune had a chance to heal him.

She activated her Semblance and dove inside his guard. Her elbow struck Qrow’s abdominal, like a spear. Then, combo-ed the attack by grabbing him, and transitioning into a vicious suplex.

The wrestling move crushed the Huntsman through a desk and into the ground. Yang could sense consciousness fading from him. No sign of defense whatsoever.

The Life in Qrow fluctuated with a clear light. It traced every weak point in his body. There would barely be a need to aim her punch at all.

Yang cocked her fist back and held it aloft. Aura fed into the prosthetic so quickly, a numbing sensation spread in her limb.

As Ember Celica’s engines fired on all cylinders, Yang dealt the finishing blow to Qrow. A punch delivered straight to the heart, where the most veins of light gathered. The resting place of the soul.

…

It was by far, the most ruthless act Yang had ever carried out.

But it came easily enough.

She was resolved.

Her hands ran hot, but her nerves were cool.

The rest of Team ENMY joined her from the bottom floor. Mercury and Neo gawked as though they were struck by lightning, but Emerald paid it no mind. The confidant walked briskly to her side.

“Did you find any sign of them?” Emerald whispered.

“No.”

“Damn it. We just have to roll with it. How are you holding up?”

“Are you talking about my condition, or about me having to put down my uncle?”

“The former, obviously.”

“You’re monitoring my status, right? Using solely Aura for everything is killing me.”

“Yeah. Your levels took a nose dive.”

“Just that one punch, drained a serious amount of my gas tank. Don’t know how many of those I have left in me.”

“Not much, I imagine. Alright, go energy efficient. Make use of Merc and Neo when you can.”

“Got it.”

“Yang…?”

They turned around to see the members of Team RNJR surfacing from the ruin. Ruby, looking on at what her sister had done with a ghostly-pale expression.

“No…!”

“Hey, Ruby.”

“This is another illusion. You can’t have…!”

“Still love your big sister?♥”

“You can’t…be…” Ruby strained to find signs of Emerald or Neo’s Semblance. But she could only whimper, “It’s not true. It can’t be true!”

“…… See for yourself.”

Yang dug a foot under Qrow’s body and kicked it over.

Ruby and Jaune immediately caught him, and started checking him over. The glow of Jaune’s healing engulfed the Huntsman and closed his wounds. Every bit of the boy’s Dust and Aura went into the treatment, but no matter how much was restored, there was no denying the emptiness within Qrow.

They checked his pulse and his breath—nothing.

“She really did it,” Jaune’s voice quivered. “She really killed him…” He looked to Yang in disbelief. “Y-You killed him.”

The girl that met his gaze was unrecognizable. A cold, crimson stare, lacking any sign of compassion. Jaune had the distinct feeling that this was not the Yang he knew. She was changed. For how or why, he couldn’t possibly fathom—but it chilled him to his core.

Just then, a rush of power sent shockwaves through the chamber.

“AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!” Ruby cried the endless grief in her heart.

The world began to bend and blind by her silver sight. It was an event similar to when Pyrrha was lost, but on a grander scale.

Everyone in the room was bound by the overwhelming pressure. If things continued as they were, the Tower would likely be frozen like its counterpart in Beacon. Fortunately, one person broke free from their confines.

Yang zeroed in on where the cracks of light gathered, and pitched her fist with dead-eye accuracy.

Ruby’s ability cut out, as she clutched her chest in anguish. Falling to her side, she coughed violently, struggling to breathe. Yang’s strike to her solar plexus completely shut her down.

“Neo. Mercury. On your toes,” Emerald reminded them. “Conserve your strength, but assist Yang. Run the point, lion queen.”

Yang turned her neck to follow a floating scar, making its way toward her.

She bent down and flicked a pebble at it.

“Merc.”

The pebble bounced off the invisible person, and a moment later, Mercury sent a flying kick at the exact location.

Lie Ren reappeared and summoned a barrier to defend. The kick was stopped before inflicting any harm, but while he was distracted, Yang circled to his back.

He switched the position of his barrier to block the new enemy. Unfortunately, he was already caught in the middle of a familiar bully tactic, favorited by Team ENMY’s signature hard-hitters.

Mercury launched into a flurry of kicks that shattered the weakened barrier, when it came to his side again. Yang peppered jabs from the other end. And before Ren could mount any more resistance, he crumbled under the pair’s pincer barrage.

Jaune and Nora took action, but at that point, the swings of both their weapons were a hollow threat. Morale was nonexistent. Their edge and spirit was missing in every motion.

Yang almost felt sorry for them.

Almost.

She performed an uncharacteristic take-down, tackling Nora by the midsection. A feat performed with ease, because of the slowness of her opponent’s wind up. She postured on Nora’s torso and pinned her limbs.

“Five Finger Fillet,” Emerald gave the callous order.

Neo appeared above the pair and rapidly stabbed millimeters close of Yang’s body, but directly skewering Nora’s. It was a technique done with such surgical precision and speed, only a handful few could match. Unable to fight back, Nora was the next to fall.

Mercury confronted the last opponent standing.

He vaulted over Jaune’s shield and delivered a downward axe kick. The steel of his heel knocked the boy’s head into the stone. And then, a foot stomp came after for good measure.

Silence fell.

Team ENMY took in the room, and found no one else to fight. They had finally attained victory in their long-standing grudge match with Qrow and Team RNJR.

It was one gotten by dirty and cruel means, and there was nothing proud to take from it.

But Team ENMY never let that bother them before.

A win was a win.

Results over means, any day.

…

Suddenly, something spiked Yang’s senses from the outside.

“HIT THE FLOOR!!!” she bellowed.

Emerald, Mercury, and Neo immediately went prone.

Yang’s Ember Celica hummed to life, and she felt it gulp her Aura, like a thirsty beast. It was a feeling akin to having the blood sucked out of her. But it was a necessary price.

Something was inbound. Something fast, and most-likely, deadly.

Her feet dug into the fractured marble. The balls of her front foot pivoted so hard, it sent new fissures through the floor.

“HAAAHHHH!!!”

Yang rotated her hips, and her knuckles met the point of what appeared to be a high-tech arrow. Its length almost matching her height.

She grit her teeth and put more strength into the turn. Her hair blazed, and the arrow splintered down the middle. Sediment dust kicked up from the resulting contest.

Just when they thought it was over, a second arrow came streaming their way. This one golden with flames.

Yang tracked its trajectory and opted to move out of the way, instead of parrying it. So, she dove for cover.

The arrow singed her shoulder, and pierced a burning hole right through the building. Contrary to the projectile’s width, it caused damage equal to that of an artillery shell.

“Bastards!” Emerald cursed, brushing the gravel from her head.

“I know this Semblance,” Mercury muttered.

“Yeah. Your relatives are real assholes! Neo! Get an eye on these pricks!”

Neo conjured mirrors in the distance. Her sight extended towards the source of the attacks.

“But why would… Those mother—! They want to take credit for dusting Qrow! This was their plan all along!”

“Tone it, Merc. But I know what you mean. Killing us is one thing, but stealing our credit? That’s worse.”

“How is that worse than trying to kill us?!” Yang shouted from her cover.

“I get if they had to tie up loose-ends or whatever. That’s just business. But claiming ownership over my handy work? I take offence to that.”

“No honor among assassins, huh? Well, I’ll be sure to give them your complaints, before I shove their arrows down their throats. ‘From, Emerald. With love.’”

“Aw. You read my mind. Neo? Tell me, you’ve got eyes.”

Neo gave a confirming nod.

“Okay, Merc. NOW, you can do your thing!”

“This is what you blue-balled me for?”

“You mad?”

“Oh, I get to rain hell and havoc on my asshole relatives, instead with this? Nah, we’re square.”

Two more arrows flew past, and left titanic craters in the pagoda. The infrastructure would not last under prolonged bombardment. They had to put a fast stop to it.

“Hey, give me a lift?” Yang held out an arm to Mercury.

The young man grasped it with a debonair smile.

“Neo,” Emerald called, “send them down!”

Neo pushed her Semblance to its breaking point. Only the bare minimum of her energies would be left.

A mirror, summoned from the shattered pieces of glass everywhere, formed before Mercury and Yang, like a crystal gate.

They stepped through, and were instantly transported among the clouds.

A small-scale hovercraft tread the air below. Its girth about the same as a skiff. But where it lacked in grandiose size, the owners tried to make up for in gaudy, ornate decorations.

The only reason Yang hadn’t spotted it earlier, was due to how incredibly far away it was from the actual Tower.

On its deck, positioned two individuals. One in fancy gold armor, and the other in blue. The similar designs gave off the impression they were a matching set. And along with their outfits, were youthful, steel masks adorned by each of them.

“So, Jupiter sent Apollo and Diana for this. Figures king douchebag didn’t have the stones to come himself,” Mercury snarled.

“They look like pure range types,” Yang observed. The assassins were armed with bows and arrows, but not much else.

“Yeah! I’m gonna enjoy beating the crap out of them up close! THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE! HAHAHA!”

With a vengeance, he activated his Semblance.

The Talarion Strider unfurled its wings once more and gathered wind to its cause. The engines powered, and silver trails danced to its howl. For Mercury, there was no moment more perfect than this.

Yang fell through the sky alongside him, prepared to do her part, and deliver Team ENMY’s personal message to them.

.

* * * * *

.

Blake tasted the bitter iron in her mouth.

She wiped her lips and tightened the straps binding the young teenager.

The study was a mess, littered with members of the Azure Household. Their leader, caught between the rug and Blake’s shoe.

“He was tougher than the intel said,” Blake commented to the other two left standing in the room.

“For you… maybe,” Raven flicked her sword to shed the blood from it. There was barely a scratch on her armor. “Take Azure back to Salem, and get yourself bandaged up. Adam and I will take care of the rest.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. Good work today, Blake.”

“It’s… good to see you again, Raven.”

“Hmph,” the woman revealed the smallest of smiles.

Blake bit a piece of Bane to enter her shadow form. And in the next moment, she whisked Azure and herself away into the Never Realm. A tense silence followed her departure.

“Without Blake—” Adam started.

“We cannot capture the other targets. I am aware.”

“So, why send her back?”

“Because we were never supposed to capture them. Azure is different. He doesn’t deserve a death sentence…” Raven stared into the red reflection of her blade. “But the other two are fated for much worse.”

“Those weren’t Salem’s orders.”

“She’s given me full authority regarding this matter. If you don’t like it, then I’ll complete the rest of the mission myself. It might be easier without having to babysit a whining pup.”

“…”

“Or follow. The choice is yours.”

Raven cut open a portal and strode through it. Adam experienced some second thoughts before he went too.

The former master and apprentice arrived in a quiet meeting room. Only one figure was present, sitting at the head of a conference table. A woman wearing a lavish red gown and simple gold bracelets that chimed with a pleasant ring.

“I knew this day would come,” Vermillion spoke evenly. “The moment you returned, I knew you wouldn’t be able to put yourself above revenge. Argent was such a fool for trusting you,” she shook her head. “Branwens…”

The word oozed with contempt.

“You’re nothing but warmongering savages.”

In the face of the woman’s ire, Raven grinned.

“Words that come with a lot of credibility. Especially, from a child killer.”

“I did what was best for our Kingdom. Your family was a blight and a curse on everything and everyone you touched. Yes, I stained my hands with the blood of your siblings. But it doesn’t compare to the corpses they would have piled, if left to their own devices.”

“Too bad we’ll never know.”

“But we do. Or do you and your brother walk the path of pacifists? If so, I’ve been duly misinformed.”

“You have a point there,” Raven shrugged. “Congratulations. You have an excuse. Still killed children, though.”

She made her way to the head of the table, dragging her sword across the mahogany wooden surface.

“Any last words? You self-righteous, shit-eating, cunt.”

Vermillion pushed her chair back, and stood.

“I wish your daughter the best of luck.”

“…”

“There is good in her—a better soul than you or I. And she will come for you, and she will kill you. Be it her sense of justice or the Branwen in her, she will draw the curtain on your accursed existence. A rather fitting curse to leave you with, I think.”

Raven thought to answer, but held her words back. She instead, glanced at Adam.

“Go outside and make sure no one interferes.”

“This bitch is mine, and mine alone.”

.

* * * * *

.

(Two Chapter Release today)

[henrysonnier788-blog]

Why I, As A Mother Decide on Co

A wedding celebration is actually an incredibly pleased as well as occurring event for everyone in your home. I would love to make certain that I am going to certainly not waste time to reveal my respect, affection and appreciation to my mommy. March gave the mom herbal tea as well as tough, as well as sustained her along with assurances of help, while she dressed the little bit of baby as tenderly as if it had been her personal. I would certainly make an effort to ring-fence her participation if you have to go ahead along with the wedding along with your mama conducting this. About a year after my mom passed away, I felt something rousing within me-a wish to find my papa. Our team know the real record of exactly how Hiccup sheds his mom and Hiccough themselves discovers that factors are actually certainly not allows what they appear. The girl's personal mom bore the child for her little girl, that was unable to bear kids from her own considering that she possessed no womb. This found in favor of the mommy relating to the element pertaining to healthcare considering that the daddy decideded not to listen the issues and also suggestions from the youngster's medical and mental wellness specialists. Julie likewise wishes to introduce that her mama will certainly stay at home as well as quit working abroad. One of the most striking discovery among them was the skeleton of a youthful mom looking down at a youngster cradled in her arms. Rachel's initial example: Rachel reminded her mom that when the 'Hello Kitty' craze occurred a couple of years back, Rachel was already an elderly in secondary school, 18 years of ages. The mama and also youngster lived with the mother's moms and dads for roughly four and also one-half years commencing not long after the youngster's birth and it seemed from the documentation showed that a considerable connect created in between the little one and also the maternal grandparents. The Cook acquires an inn in Utrecht as well as proposes to Mama Nerve that she run it with him, yet decideds not to harbour Kattrin. Iona Opie, considered the authorization on Lukas-Excercisesblog.Fr the Mommy Goose tradition, performs certainly not provide support to either Elwes, Thomas nor the Boston presumptions. As the baby nurses breast milk, he or she not only obtains in health, yet also gets accustomed along with the love-filled connect that exists in between the little one and also his/her mom. There is actually just one from all of them remaining yet he still survives the cattle ranch outside Susanville, CA. I always feel a link with the people in the outdated images also. One thing that my currently 14 year old little girl fell madly in love with at around age 12 are actually bathtub and also physical body items. Baseding on TMZ, the former housekeeper and mom from Schwarzenegger's love kid lives a number of hrs away from Los Angeles with Schwarzenegger's boy and also her three other kids. A really good rule of thumb is actually making sure that all from the bridal gathering gowns, including the mom from the new bride, are logical with each other, as well as will look great with each other in those memorable photographs. House gos to as well as follow-up counselling companies after the mom has actually been discharged from the hospital are actually crucial.