#him immediately going to smash the ring? like HELL YEAH

[galadrielspeaks]

i’ve seen lotr countless times but the scene where gandalf starts speaking black speech and gimli immediately grabs his axe like he’s gonna fight the air never fails makes me laugh everytime

[lillypad910]

It’ll Get Better

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Cheerleader!f! Reader

Word Count: 3717

Warnings: cussing, talk of sex, but no smut, breakup, depression, talk of suicide (and almost doing it), teen pregnancy, forced abortion, abusive relationships, tones of healing.

Summary: You are Andy’s girlfriend, friends with Jason and Chrissy and the rest of the popular kids of Hawkins High School, but your life flips upside down when you find out your pregnant. After a harsh breakup with your boyfriend and being discarded by all your friends, you find yourself at the Sattler Quarry, standing on the edge of the rocky cliff, will you jump? Or will a certain freak save you from your dark space?

A/n: Sorry for the long pause in posting! I’ve been working on this for a could days now, but it’s been a slow rolling with writer’s block and school work (I’m in a summer class this month and it’s been kicking my butt a little harder this week). Please enjoy!

You sat at the lunch table, your arms crossed as you listen to Chrissy tell everyone about her exciting date with Jason. “He took me to dinner at Enzo’s, then out to a movie, THEN we went to the lake for a light night dance! Isn’t that so romantic?” She chirps, practically glowing with joy. “Yeah, Chrissy, that’s lovely!” One of the other girls smile.

You stay silent, glancing over at the end of the table where Jason and your boyfriend, Andy, were practically slapping each other for fun. You love Andy, you really do, but god was he a bad boyfriend. All he ever does for you is take you out to dinner before dragging you out to the lake to fuck you in his car. “(Y/n),” Chrissy’s sing-song voice calls you back, “how are things with Andy?” Every fellow cheerleader looks at you and you smile. “Good…! We actually just went out last night too.” You immediately regret mentioning it. “Oh? What did you two do?” All the girls you call friends hold their heads up by their palms after sitting their elbows on the table. “Uh…” you hesitate, the still red handprint on your thigh just covered by your skirt as you pull it down lower. “We ate and then also went to the lake…”

Chrissy smiles, “how sweet!” And just then Eddie Munson decides to jump on top of his table. He talks about how everyone is annoying, besides his table, honestly you really weren’t paying attention, you could care less about what the freaks do. “You want something, Freak?” Jason stands up, going over to get closer to him, Andy following him.

The whole dilemma is squished quickly, with a teacher calling them all to relax. When the bell rings you walk up to your boyfriend, smiling at him. “Hey, you ok? Don’t let that freak get to you.” You place your hand on his chest and he groans. “He just pisses me off.” Lucas glances away nervously. “I know, Babe, but you need to control your anger more.” You remind him. He sighs and wraps his arms around you, “You’re so pretty.” He smashes his lips to your and you giggle.

You sit on your bathroom floor a week later, tears streaming down your face as you chunk the positive test across your floor. It had to be a faulty test, there was no way. Sure you weren’t on birth control because you couldn’t tell your mom you were sexually active, but he takes precautions. He… oh god, the lake.

How the hell are you gonna tell your basketball jock of a boyfriend that you’re pregnant? His entire career would go down the drain, hell his life.

You pick yourself up off the floor, shaking so bad your legs start hurting when you stand up completely. You feel like you’re gonna faint or throw up. Maybe both? You couldn’t tell anymore. Your stomach was tossing and turning, as you stepped closer and closer to the phone on your dresser. Dialing his number, you hold your breath.

“Hello?” His groggy voice echos out of the speaker. “Andy…?” You call out, still extremely nervous. “(Y/n)?” He groans, “Babe, what ever it is it can wait until tomorrow? I’m too tired tonight, ok? Bye.” He hangs up on you before you can get a second word out. You sigh, “Love you too…”

You place your phone down and turn towards your dresser, panning the pictures of the basketball team, some of you and the rest of the cheer squad. You all look so happy. One image catches your eye, Andy and you at a ballgame. He’d thrown the winning shot that Friday, and after cheering with the boys you ran up to him, so proud of him. He was so happy.

The memory calms your nerves. You could tell him, you knew you could. He’d probably panic, but he wouldn’t just drop you, right?

You sit on the floor of the gym the next day, your short cheer skirt barely covering your ass as you sit on your knees. The basketball team scurries across the gym floor, dribbling the ball between the teams, the ball flying through the air. You watch Andy carefully, nervous to tell him later after the game.

The game was won by Hawkins High, and your entire friend group decides to go out to dinner to Benny’s. Standing out in the cold with Andy next to you, hugging his jacket around himself, you huddle closer for warmth. “Hey, Andy?” You get his attention, “what?” You feel your nervous coming back, that aching feeling in your stomach. “Can… can we talk for a minute before the others get here…?” He looks at you confused.

You both move to the side of his car, “Im gonna say this and I don’t want you to freak out, ok?” You tell him. He raises a brow at you, “freak out? Babe, come on, I’m Andy.” He pulls you closer by the waist and you smile softly to yourself. “I know but…” you hesitate, pressing your palms against his chest. Your fingers grip around his basketball jersey under his letterman. “Andy,” you take in a deep breath, “I’m pregnant.” You don’t look at him, keeping your head lowered at you wait for his reaction.

A scoff leaves him, his arms dropping from your waist. “This is a joke right? You’re fucking with me.” His voice is colder than normal, hurtful, spiteful. “What? No, Andy,” you look up at him, “Why would I joke about this? I’m serious.” You frown at him, upset that he thought you would joke about something so serious. He shoves you away and you stumble back a little shocked by his sudden change in care. “Who did you fuck? Are you fucking kidding me? You fucking cheated on me?” “What?! No!! Andy,” you reach back out to him but he slaps your hand away, “I didn’t cheat, Andy, it’s yours.” You tell him, your eyes watering as your emotions get the better of you. He glares at you. “Bullshit.” You scoff, “Andy, why the hell would I cheat on you? I love you.” You try to tell him, tears now pouring down your face. Andy glares at you. “Well thats a problem.” You freeze, your heart suddenly stops as your breath hitches. “What…?”

Andy scoffs, “Come on, (y/n), you didn’t actually think I loved you, did you?” He laughs, a new smirk forming on his lips. But you just feel like your whole world is shattering around you. “What…?” Andy groans, rolling his eyes. “Of course no one would believe you cheated, shit. Why would you?” He smirks to himself, “I’m gonna be honest with you, at least this once.” He leans down a bit so he’s at your level. “I’ve cheated on you, with a couple of different girls. All on the cheer squad, all your friends.” Your breath hitches, fresh tears falling down your face. “But… but at the lake you… you said you loved me…” your voice is soft, hardly audible. He laughs at you.

Andy scoffs, “Come on, (y/n), you didn’t actually think I loved you, did you?” He laughs, a new smirk forming on his lips. But you just feel like your whole world is shattering around you. “What…?” Andy groans, rolling his eyes. “Of course no one would believe you cheated, shit. Why would you?” He smirks to himself, “I’m gonna be honest with you, at least this once.” He leans down a bit so he’s at your level. “I’ve cheated on you, with a couple of different girls. All on the cheer squad, all your friends.” Your breath hitches, fresh tears falling down your face. “But… but at the lake you… you said you loved me…” your voice is soft, hardly audible. He laughs at you.

“I lied, (y/n). It’s easy to do it to get what you want, even when I guess the girl is stupid enough to get herself knocked up from it.” You sniffle rubbing your palms over your eyes to get rid of your tears. “But… it takes two…” you mumble. He breaths in harshly, “No. It takes one girl being stupid by being active without being on birth control.” He glares at you. “It’s your own fault, Babe. Not mine.” He chuckles, “maybe if you weren’t such a whore this wouldn’t have happened.”

You stare at him in disbelief as the cars of your friends pull up. “You better leave.” His voice catches you off guard once more, “best tell them we ended it rather than let them know the truth huh?”

It’s been three weeks, you sit in the medical bed, your mother screaming at the gynecologists as they try to calm your mother down. “Ma’am, please. The operation was successful. There is no need to yell.” You mother’s face just gets more red. “No, the reason to yell was when my 17 year old daughter decided to have sex before getting on birth control!” Her head whips towards you but you don’t look at her, keeping your eyes looking out the window, your hand on your stomach. “Miss (l/n)?” A nurse smiles at you getting your attention. “Are you ok?” She asks. You expression is numb, your voice is monotoned, it worries them. “I’m fine.” You reply. “Mom, can we go home…?” You ask, your hand dropping into your lap. It’s not like it was rubbing anything anymore, anyway. As they said, it was successful.

You should be happy, thankful even. Your life isn’t uprooted or drastically changing. But it has, your friends don’t talk to you anymore, Andy made up some shit about you and now the entire team and cheer squad hates you. Chrissy wont even look at you.

It was just three weeks ago that your heart was shattered in that parking lot of Benny’s, two since your mother brought you in and you first saw that clump of cells in your belly on that monitor, and now today, when they showed you that screen again, now empty. You should be happy.

But you’re not. How could you be? You were thinking you would tell your boyfriend and somehow, some fucking miracle he would become that perfect boyfriend. He should have held you, told you everything was gonna be ok, that you would raise it together. But no. Here you are inside a planned parenthood nearly forty miles away from your home.

Your mother practically drags out to the front desk, her hand squeezing your wrist tightly. “Mom, please, you’re hurting me…” you tell her, trying to pull her clawed fingers off your wrist. “Oh I’m hurting you?” She signs the papers and drags you out to the car. “Ungrateful! Had the perfect boyfriend, perfect future husband and you wasted it away!” “Mom, I didn’t-” “Hah! When your father hears about this-” your eyes widen, “No, Mom, please! I’m sorry, just don’t tell Dad. It’s already taken care of we don’t need to get him involved!” You practically beg her, the fear of your dad making you grasp at her.

She told him.

You got home the next day from school and we’re greeted with a slap across the face. “You bitch!” Your dad yells at you, grabbing at your hair and pulling you outside, “You think that kind of behavior is acceptable in this house. Fucking hell no.” Your mother stands behind him, arms crossed. “Get the hell out!” He throws you back out the front door, “and don’t come back. You fucking filthy whore! Get out!”

You wandered the streets of Hawkins until you found yourself on the cliff of Stattler Quarry. As you stared down into the water bellow, maybe a couple hound red feet under you, you could practically taste the release. You step closer to the edge, your sadness being the most prominent thing in your brain. You wonder how deep it is down there, 20, maybe 30 feet?

You could do it. You could just walk off the edge, no one would miss you. Not your “friends,” not your mom nor your dad, Andy would probably joke about it at your funeral, if there even was one.

You wonder if it would hurt, if the slap of your body against the water’s surface would sting at all.

“Hey,” a voice calls out to you and you swiftly turn around. The one person you never expected to see stands there. Eddie Munson stands a good ten feet away from you, his hands out defensively. “Don’t come any closer!” You yell at him. “Don’t do it.” He tells you, his voice soft, “That’s a long drop, the collision would feel like your skin was being ripped off.” He takes a step closer and you heart races, setting father to the edge.

He glances around. “I’m telling you it’s not a good way to go. I know right now it probably looks promising, like a clean fresh start. But it’s like jumping straight into a bucket of ice.” He elaborates. You hesitate, “How do you know? You don’t get it!” Eddie takes a deep breath, taking a single step closer to you.

“I’ve dived into that water before, (l/n). Sure not the same circumstances, but I promise it hurt enough to make me never do it again.” He takes another step. “And what if I don’t care?” You ask him. He gives you a soft smile. “I heard you know, about what happened. Andy’s a dick, we all know it.” You let out a soft laugh, “He wasn’t always. That’s the point! He only became a dick to me after.” Eddie holds out his hand to you, which makes you step farther to the edge, so he recoils.

“Hey, hey, it’s ok. I know you’re scared. Everything feels really shitty right now, but,” Eddie stares at you as you turn to look away from him back over the cliff, “look at me, (y/n).” You look at him, your eyes wide with fear and he feels like his heart is breaking. No matter how cruel your friends were to him, he never thought you were a bad person. He’s not the type of person to wish death upon you because of your shitty friends. Hell especially not this way.

“Just…” he holds out his hand to you, slower this time not to startle you, “take my hand. We’ll get you down from there and we can go, I don’t know. Get a milkshake?” He chuckles softly and you eyes soften at the suggestion. “I can’t go back to school, Eddie.”

His eyes widen when you say his name. To be entirely honest, he had no idea you even knew his name.

“It’s ok, you don’t have to right away, but you will eventually. I know I’m not the best person to say this, but dropping out isn’t a great idea.” He chuckles lightly. For the first time in your life it wasn’t a chuckle you ignored, his words reach you now more than anything he’s ever said had before.

“Hey,” Eddie grabs your attention again, wiggling his fingers to bring your attention to his hand that’s still reaching out to you, “when you do decide to go back,” he smiles at you, “I’ll be right there with you, trust me they’ll pay more attention to the freak than an ex cheerleader.” You feel yourself laugh a bit, not because he said something funny, because what he said oddly gave you a sense of relief. Not because he was the ‘freak’ but because he said he would be there. You slowly reach out to his hand, going to step down from the rock you were standing on.

Just before you could grab him your foot slips. In those few seconds you realize you weren’t ready to die, your scream was probably heard miles out. But you never felt much air. Eddie had grabbed you so fast you didn’t even notice it, pulling you quickly away from the edge and against him, back on solid ground.

“Hey hey, it’s ok. I’ve got you.” He rubs his hand against the back of your hair, your sobs are muffled by his shirt as you cry, harder than you have ever cried before.

He stands there letting you cry it out against him, before pulling you even farther away from the edge, slowly getting you closer and closer to his van. “Here,” he opens the passenger side door and helps you inside, letting you get comfortable, or at least as comfortable as you could get with how tense you look. He buckled you in, pulling the seatbelt over your shoulder and lap, making sure it sits comfortably on you.

After getting into the drivers side he watches you carefully as you finally start to calm down, rubbing your eyes with your sleeves. He gives you a minute before holding out his hand to you. You look at him confused and he smiles. “I just… thought you would like to feel grounded.” He explains.

You lay your hand in his, your fingers locking perfectly together and you feel yourself smile. His hand is rough, something you didn’t notice before. You knew he played guitar, his band being talks about quite often amongst your group of ‘friends’ when making fun of him. You never realized until now how fucked up your friends were, how their idea of this guy was so misguided.

“Thanks…” your voice came out soft, and his hand squeezed your as he pulled out of the quarry, leading you both the an ice cream parlor for those promised milkshakes.

It had been a month since that faithful day, the day you realized the ‘freak’ was actually the nicest guy in all of Hawkins. He was calm, made sure you were comfortable, and didn’t bring up the subject ever again.

“Eds,” you had started calling him the nickname shortly after you moved in with him, his room becoming yours as he moved to the living room with his uncle. You were heavily against the idea of taking his room when he gave it to you. Obviously you could go home, but you were willing to sleep on the couch until you could get in contact with your aunt or cousins.

“Can we get some of these?” You hold up the container of Planter’s Cheez Balls. They were one of your newer favorite snacks. He laughs a bit, “sure, put ‘em in the cart.” You do so, throwing the snack in.

After finishing your grocery shopping, you make it back to his trailer, bringing all the bags in from his van. “Is Wayne working tonight?” You ask him, emptying out the bags on the counter before putting things away. “Yeah,” Eddie joins you, sitting the remaining bags down on the counter, “He said he’s gonna be at work until 7am tomorrow, so we need to figure out dinner on our own.” He helps you empty out the bags and put away all the groceries. When you finish, you both plop down on the couch, his arm behind your head as he turns on the tv. You pop open the container of cheese balls in your lap.

“Open up,” you hold a ball in between your index and thumb, turning towards him. He tilts his head back and opens his mouth, you throw, and the ball lands safely in his mouth, “good catch!” He smiles as you giggle happily continuing to eat your snack. He puts on a movie he knows you will like, before getting comfy into the couch cushions. You lean into him subconsciously. He stiffens up, shocked by you leaning in, which makes you freeze, “Sorry…” you go to pull away but his arm throws over your shoulders and holds you close to him. “Nothing to be sorry about, sweetheart.” He smiles at you, laying his head against yours. You smile as you both sit there on the couch, snuggled up together.

Eddie is very different than Andy was. Andy could be rude, refuse to cuddle you when you desperately wanted physical affection, but Eddie doesn’t. He leans into it, he may be a bit taken aback at first, but he doesn’t stop you, he encourages it.

About half way through the movie you catch yourself not watching anymore, glancing at the man you know would call your best friend, honestly he’s your only friend now. “Eddie,” you grab his attention, making him turn to you. “What’s up?” “Thank you.” He looks at you confused, “For what?” You smile at him. “Everything, you took me in, saved me from doing something stupid, told me everything was gonna be ok, and it has been, because you made it ok.”

Your words hit him hard, and he stares at you for a moment, “(y/n), I…” he hesitates, removing his arm from around you and turning so his full body is turned to you, making you a little anxious. “I don’t need a thank you, I did what any decent person would do. You don’t need to thank me for that.” “But I want to!” You practically yell at him, you hands balling up into fists and pressing against your chest. You know you look like a kid right now, but you don’t care. “I want to thank you…”

Eddie smiles and leans forward pressing his lips to your forehead, “Well then, you’re welcome. I’m glad you’re still with us, Sweetheart.” You blush at his physical affection, your cheeks burning as he pulls away, and you realize something. You like Eddie. You like him way more than you thought possible. “Eddie,”

He looks at you a little concerned seeing your scrunched forehead. “Yeah?” “I-I like you…” Eddie freezes, his heart racing as the words left your lips, those soft pink lips he’s been dreaming of kissing for the past few weeks.

Maybe it was the way you looked when he bought you that milkshake that day after he found you at the quarry, the soft smile you had as you excepted the treat. Maybe it’s the way you would jump up and down with joy when he bought you your favorite movie for you to watch together after a week of you living with him. Maybe it was the way you hugged him when you cried, remembering the fact that you weren’t alone anymore.

Maybe… maybe it was the way he wanted to be there for you for the rest of your life that makes him say his next words. “I love you…”

Your head tilted up, eyes wide when the words left him. “Y-You what…?” You eyes watering as you stare at him. “I love you, (y/n). I know you said you ‘like me’ but maybe given some more time-“ you cut him off, your lips smashing into his, practically falling on top of him. His arms throw around your waist, pulling you close to him as he kisses you back. It was everything you both had dreamt of, soft, sweet, and dreamy.

Tag List!

@cagethemunson @spikeybatt @cherrycolas-things

@r-a-d-i-0-n-0-w-h-e-r-e

[queen-of-deans-booty]

Halt & Catch Fire: Final Part

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~2.3k

Warnings: canon angst and violence, extra angst

Summary: You're done being a puppet in their plans. You're done letting them control you. You're finally going to take back your life by becoming something you didn't know was possible. your eyes are opened to something better and God forbid anyone who disrespects you.

Season Ten Masterlist

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Supernatural. All credit goes to their respective owners. I love seeing any and all comments <3

x

Dean locks up behind Sam and Delilah yarns tiredly.

"You getting tired?"

"No, I'm used to it. I stay up all night studying. It is mostly to avoid the nightmares. My mom's thrilled with my GPA, but I'm just miserable. I think about Andrew all the time, and I've never even met the guy."

"This is what you get for leaving the scene of a crime. Idiotic move is what it was."

"Watch it," Dean glares at you but you flip him off.

"It's pretty crazy to obsess over someone you've never met."

"It's not that crazy. The truth is, I can relate. I have made more mistakes than I can count. Ones that haunt me day and night." He immediately turns to you. "I don't need to hear it."

You put your arms up in defense and turn away from him.

"How do you deal?" Delilah asks.

"Whiskey. Denial. I do my best to make things right, whatever that may be. For you, maybe it's coming clean. You know, finding a way to ask for forgiveness and not breaking the bank at your local florist. I mean real forgiveness. You can't just bury stuff like this. You have to deal with it." His phone rings and he picks up Sam's call. "What do you have?"

"Dean, Andrew's not using power lines to move. He's using Wi-Fi."

"Come again?"

"The wires that electrocuted Andrew feed directly into a Wi-Fi tower right across the street."

"Even ghosts are online?"

"Apparently. It would explain the truck kill. Billy's cell must have been using the local Wi-Fi signal so Andrew's ghost must have just hopped on to Trini, the navigation app."

"Julie's death was by computer and Kyle's death was by stereo with wireless speakers."

"It makes sense, Dean. We're all just a bunch of electrical impulses, right? Whenever Andrew died, his impulses just transferred to another current. You got to get Delilah somewhere safe. Turn off all the routers in that Sorority."

"Yeah, sure, Sammy. We'll just kill the internet. Wait, can we?"

"No," you roll your eyes.

"Alright, how the hell are we gonna deal with the lawnmower man?"

"I have an idea. Do what I said. Stay safe. I'll call you back."

"Do you know where the routers are?" Dean asks when Sam hangs up.

"I have no idea."

Suddenly, the lights and her computer start flashing on and off. Looks like Andrew is here to play. Delilah is the last one. It gets so cold in the room that you can see your breath. Andrew's face, albeit burnt, appears on all electronic devices that connect to the internet. Delilah screams just as Dean starts smashing the devices one by one.

"Is that gonna work?"

"It's worth a try. I need you to turn off everything that's connected to Wi-Fi." Dean takes Delilah's phone and smashes both his and hers. "Give me your phone."

"Come on, this is the new one," you complain. Dean yanks it from your hand and smashes it. "You're getting me a new one.

"Fine. Let's go."

"Where are we going?"

You leave her dorm room and see Andrew showing up on every computer screen that you pass by. He won't let Delilah out of his sight.

"Someplace that doesn't have a Wi-Fi signal."

"Head to the basement. The reception sucks down there."

"Alright, go, go, go!"

When you finally get to the basement, Dean starts to salt the doors and windows.

"I thought the salt didn't work."

"Because of the Wi-Fi. There's no signal down here. There are no computers, tablets, or cell phones. Andrew can't bypass it. At least, I don't think he can. Just try to stay calm, alright?" Suddenly, something starts buzzing in the room. It sounds like a phone that's on vibrate. "What was that?"

"Sounds like a phone to me," you say.

Dean shoves his hands under the couch cushions only to find someone's cell phone in there. Andrew uses this to appear in the room so he can take vengeance on Delilah in person. Delilah screams and you turn to see Andrew in the room next to her. Dean approaches Andrew from behind but he smacks Dean into the pillar as hard as he can.

"Please don't kill me. We didn't mean to hurt you. It was an accident. I swear. If I could do it over again, I would have done the right thing!"

Andrew grabs Delilah's throat and starts to choke her out. You stand there and watch this happen for five seconds before Dean screams your name.

"Y/N!" You grab the iron poker and swing it through his body until he disappears and Delilah is saved. "Let's go."

"Where?"

The door is locked so there is no way of getting out of here if the ghost is using its powers on the door.

"Andrew, listen to me. You have every right to be pissed." Dean takes the cell phone he found and dials a message to Sam. "Take it from me, the more you kill, the crazier you'll get. The blood fuels the rage. So, it looks like to me you've got two choices. You can keep killing and become something that you won't recognize or you can move on cause that is the only thing that is gonna give you peace. So it's up to you, man. Pain or peace."

Andrew appears behind Dean and shoves him into the closet door, breaking it into pieces. He turns to Delilah but you speak up before he can hurt her.

"Some ghost you are," you scoff and he looks at you. "Getting revenge on kids? Lame." He goes after you but you duck out of the way easily. "Death by electrocution? Lame! Maybe it sparked some life into you."

Andrew appears in front of you and slams you against the wall. He wraps his hands around your throat, pushing the device further into your neck. Maybe he might be able to get it off for you. You're not scared of Andrew but you do become concerned at the thought of him killing you.

Thankfully, you don't have to know the answer to that because his wife's voice fills the room. You and Andrew look at Delilah who has the phone in her hand which has his wife's face on it. Sam must have FaceTimed to get her to speak to Andrew.

"Andrew? It's Corey. Please listen to me. You have to stop this. Revenge is hollow, and it's pointless. It won't bring you back. I should have said this earlier but I couldn't let go. Now, it's time for me to let go and for you to do the same. Please. I'm begging you." Andrew lets you go and turns to her. "Do this for me. Do it for us." He nods slightly. "Goodbye."

Apparently, this is enough for Andrew to find peace. He closes his eyes and disappears in a flash of white light.

In the morning, Sam and Dean bring Delilah to Corey's house so she can talk to her and seek forgiveness.

"Looks like Andrew wasn't the only one who chose peace."

"Yeah, looks like. I think I'm gonna follow his lead, too."

"What do you mean?"

"My peace is helping people and working cases. I can't do that with this thing on my arm. I can't do that with my wife being the way she is. If I stay down this path, it'll be my downfall and I'll bring her with me." Dean looks at you who is across the street on your phone. You're absentmindedly picking at the device on your neck while looking at your phone. "I have to find this cure. If not for me, for her."

"Cas is so close to finding Cain. He has to know of a way."

"I believe there is a way. You said it yourself. You got through the literal devil and made it out alive. There's a way and we're going to do whatever we can to find it."

"What if she won't take it?"

"We'll make her. You should have seen her when we first met Cain. She was so determined to take it with me. I shouldn't have let her."

"You know her losing her soul isn't your fault."

"How is it not?" Dean asks with tears in his eyes. "Tell me how this is not my fault."

"Whether she had the Mark or not, she would have been soulless either way."

"Yeah, because I took it from her. Do you want me to be honest? I'm scared I'm gonna wake up one day and she'll be gone. I'm scared that when we finally do shove her soul back in her, it'll be too late."

"You don't have to shoulder this burden alone," Sam says and places his hand on Dean's shoulder. "We're going to find this cure. We'll cure you both."

"Thanks," Dean whispers.

He looks at you again and prays to God you don't get any worse.

You don't care if they have a remote that will activate your shock machine. You're leaving this Bunker tonight with or without their permission. As soon as you get back, you pack a bag as light as you can carry. You'll get more stuff along the way. Where will you go? You're not sure but it sure as hell isn't going to be here.

Sam and Dean are in the library when you walk past them into the war room.

"Where are you going?"

"Parading all over the country is not what I want to do. I'm sick and tired of you two controlling me. I'm done." You turn to face them by the base of the metal stairs. "I'm leaving and I'd really like to see you try and stop me."

Dean takes the remote out of his hand but you're a step ahead of him. You swiftly take out your gun and point it at him. Sam freezes in his steps because he's nervous you're actually gonna start shooting.

"What are you gonna do?"

"You can't press the button if you're dead."

"Do it. You're not leaving this Bunker."

Your finger twitches against the trigger like you're going to pull it. Then you see Sam with wide eyes and you know that if you kill his brother, all you're asking for is a Winchester up your ass. You'd rather not spend your entire life running from one of them. Instead, you aim at the remote and shoot. The remote explodes into pieces and Dean jumps back from the shock.

"What are you gonna use now?" you smirk.

You turn to the stairs but both Winchesters jump into action. They run out in front of you, effectively blocking your way.

"You might have a chance with one of us but not both," Dean glares.

"Oh? Just because you're big and tall, you think you'd win in a fight against me?" you scoff and take a step back.

"You've relied on magic all your life. You're not as good a fighter as we are."

You smirk and toss your bag and gun to the side. "If I beat you two, I leave."

"If you don't?" Sam asks.

"Back to the dungeon I go, and I won't fight you anymore on this cure for the Mark."

Sam and Dean look at each other before lunging at you. You see their moves coming from a mile away. While Sam and Dean are fighting to subdue you, you're fighting to kill. You have nothing to lose. They have everything to lose.

Sam swings his hand to punch you but you grab it at the last second and twist it behind him. Dean comes running at you two so you kick his ass and they go crashing into each other. Dean is the first one up and runs at you. He grabs you from behind thinking he got you but you're two steps ahead of him. You let them believe he got you so when Sam comes over, you kick off his chest and swing over Dean. You land on the floor and punch Dean to the ground, almost breaking his jaw.

The problem with the Winchesters is you're too damn flexible for them. You roundhouse kick Sam in the face, and he sprays a line of blood as he goes down. They start to think you might win this so they have to pick up their game or you will kill them. Dean ignores the pain in his jaw as he grabs one of the chairs and smacks you in the back.

You crumble to the ground in a grunt of pain. He and Sam grab you on either side and refuse to let you go. You struggle as hard as you can to get away from them but it's looking like you might lose this fight. The more you struggle, the more you get angry. The more you get angry, the more your Mark flares and burns. The metaphorical pot inside your body is bubbling over, and the only thing fueling it is the Mark.

"Let me go!" you yell.

"Admit it! You lost this one!" Dean grunts.

"Let go of me!"

"You lost, Y/N, just give it up!" Sam yells.

"I said. LET. GO!"

Bright red magic explodes out from all sides of you, causing Sam and Dean to go flying into the walls behind them. The entire war room is covered in a red hue, and you look down at your hands to see red magic flow out of them. The power you feel right now is so... exhilarating. Your Mark is burning so much but it's the good kind of pain. The kind of pain you crave. The kind of power you crave.

You look at the brothers with an evil smirk. They're too scared to do anything. They know you've fallen over the edge. There is no coming back from this. You lift the brothers with your magic and fling them so hard into the wall again that it cracks from the pressure. Both of them are too weak to do anything which is exactly what you want.

You reach up and peel off the device from your neck like it's a goddamn sticker.

"You don't control me anymore. I win. I'm leaving. If you want to try and stop me, well, you can't. No one can," you laugh.

You grab your bag and head to the metal stairs.

"This isn't you!" Sam yells loudly. You pause by the stairs but don't face him. "You're the Sapphire Witch! You help people!"

"Honey, the Sapphire Witch is dead."

"Yeah? Then what are you?"

You face the brothers with a smirk and bright red eyes.

"I'm the Scarlet Witch."

x

Follow my library blog @aqueenslibrary​​​​​​ where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)

[bella-rose29]

episode 3 - Doubt Thou the Stars

major spoilers for the show and books, swearing, I go feral on multiple occasions, spent most of this simping for cam/lockwood and I'll apologise now for some of the things I've said (multiverse of George I'm blaming you for a couple)

I would just like to reiterate that this is not a proper analysis of the show, this is my immediate reactions to what happens in the show. barely anything constructive is actually said in here 👍

a ring is what we're looking at

Georgie I love you

hands (oh dear starting early)

hands again

"which you stole illegally" honey-

you have me in a chokehold lockwood

hehehe fairfax

"George, this... negativity, it's why I don't tell you things in advance" first of all I am weirdly obsessed with the way he says that, second of all I wanna give George a hug

hands

ok but who gave cam the right to look that good

"miss Kingston got her hair done special" George I love you

"straight into the office. that's a classy move"

omg I love lucy's jumper

his cheeky smile omg

hands

ring

"you lie like a politician" yeah bc he has to

you can do any job for me lockwood

hands and ring

absolutely we have a deal I'll do anything for you

hands (omg I need to stop)

they're children how did they get alcohol

bottle opener thingy scene

omg Georgie in his apron and gloves 😭

so sad we didn't get the "nice... towel" scene

barnes is so sinister sometimes

I love lockwood and george's friendship, just yelling at each other about cleaning

ooo green lighting when she's taking the keys

tut tut

"I visit my gran in Sidcup" "...sidcup is in London"

"you've got a real hard-on for him, haven't you" "well, if... you wanna put it like that"

"I'm practically a serf" aw lockwood honey

all I can think is the Traitors castle even though I know it's not the same

lockwood's so pretty

oh lord what the hell was that look lockwood don't lower your head with that intense gaze wtf

"apart from anything else, we've got much better flares" 😂

don't you just love it when someone who doesn't have any clue about your job tells you how to do your job

lots of smashing

he's fishing (where tf did he get a fishing rod from)

hands

his grin omg

oh crikey this boy needs sleep I can see his eye bags even though the lighting is dim and my room is bright

"What, and deny us all this... beautiful moment?" you're a beautiful moment- wait that doesn't make sense

his smile I am on the floor

aaa suspense I don't like it

omg we get to see George's Touch again I love that

ew cobwebs

hands

well that was silly

oh no

you can disrespect me anytime woah what is happening to me holy shit

EXTREME CLOSE UP

ewwww cobwebs

I could never be an agent I have arachnophobia

ok those special effects were awesome

"probably wanted to warn us not to go down there" *proceed to go down there*

Lockwood say what's on your mind

ok I get why Ali said that the monks were terrifying that chanting haunts me still

turn your torches off you'll see the ghosts better

ohh I don't like this

Lucy no

LUCY NO

LUCY NOOOOOO

aw the boys saved her

hands

"make a wish" I wish for you to marry me and we live happily ever after

slap

"my cheek hurts"

husband calls out pathetically for wife after waking up, she crawls over and he reaches desperately for her hand

"oi, where's his slap?" fair

hahaha the way they just drop to the floor

you look so silly in those goggles

lockwood's voice is doing Things to me

I love that you can see Ellie rethinking as Fairfax goes on

"we don't travel round with it, we're not insane" *while focused on Lucy*

"you're just a performer too, aren't you?" we love a masking king

MICRO-EXPRESSIONS!!! CAMERON CHAPMAN THE MAN YOU ARE

"She stole it again, Lockwood" yep

I love that you can sort of make out the flowers on her dress

oh christ that was scary

ew old man burning

hands

heavy breathing lockwood (I blame the multiverse of George chat for that)

"I'm working with maniacs" got room for another one?

why did Ellie think it would be a good idea to try and run straight through the middle

"Shut up!" their faces afterwards

kipps pls stop sounding so smug

dw I believe you lockwood

punch me like that wall pls

barnes looks so sad

omg he's being a protective dad

hands

ohhhhh lockwood in a proper suit 🪣 (bad timing for it I know)

"do you know my name?" George I love you

"that's a shame, she was a fool but... she really fitted in there actually" *lockwood nudges him* George I love you even more and I think we would be the bestest of friends

I love the lavender in the pockets of Penelope and Ellie

hands

omg Lucy's drawing! like she said her hobby was in the books!

hand + ring

*George casually pulls out stolen evidence*

I want lucy's jumper

the way lockwood's sat on the chair has me weak

"You belong here" *stares at her with heart eyes*

hehehe

hehehe

oh dear

why does he keep sprawling on the chair

I don't want to talk about the sound I just made at that one frame of lockwood

"She's good, and... she's finally starting to get me" aw Georgie I love you

"she's a lot tougher than you think" *thumps as Lucy passes out*

I DONT WANT TO TALK ABOUT THE SOUND I JUST MADE AT THE OTHER ONE FRAME OF LOCKWOOD (YOU ALL KNOW THE ONE) - "Luce?" shgisuhuigjd

seriously who gave him the right

[punsmaster69]

21/OCT/20XX

"UNDYNE, ARE YOU SURE THIS IS A GOOD IDEA..?"

"...You're right. It's not a good idea."

"It's a GREAT idea!"

undyne climbed further up the tree. while she hurled apples down haphazardly, papyrus tried his best to catch what he could in a basket.

me and flowey spectated from the sidelines.

"She's gonna KILL someone with that aim."

"you wanna bet on how many apples make it out alive?"

with far more force than required for apple-picking, an apple immediately smashed to applesauce in front of us.

"YOU come do it then, punks!"

"How the hell do you expect ME to climb?!"

"You stumble on flat ground, sure, but I 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 you can do stairs."

"How is that relevant?!"

"This is, like, basically the same thing!"

"𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹!"

"FLOWERY, COULDN'T YOU USE YOUR VINES?"

"I don't need help from that-"

she glanced at paps.

"..Uh, very...nice.. friend of yours."

"Good! I didn't plan on helping you, anyways!"

"....."

(silence of glaring at undyne.)

"..........."

(silence of undyne glaring back.)

"..Wait, why aren't YOU up here helping, Sans?"

"HE CAN'T!"

"SANS... CAN'T CLIMB!"

"Why not?"

"..HE JUST CAN'T!"

"If he falls, one of us can catch him. Easy!"

"HIS SAFETY IS ENSURED HERE, ON THE GROUND, EVEN EASIER!"

"....Howdy, Toriel!"

"It's... going."

"Sans? He's right-"

"-here."

i snatched my phone back from flowey.

"gimme just a sec, tori."

"..why did you pick up my phone?"

"YOU'RE the one who didn't notice the ringing."

"..Why is Toriel "fluffy lady" in your contacts?"

ignoring him, i re-answered tori's call.

"heya. what's up?"

"How is the apple-picking going for you all?"

"it's..."

undyne conked papyrus in the skull with an apple, but it still made it in the basket. he seemed relatively unaffected by the hit.

"going well enough, i'd say."

"how's shopping going for you three?"

"We have found nearly everything we need! Me, Alphys, and Frisk should be returning shortly."

"Ah! My child, please do not climb the shelf!"

"Allow me to get it for you. Hold my phone for a moment, will you?"

"...."

"Hi Sans."

"sup, kiddo."

"Did you know your name in her phone is just a bone with a blue heart?"

"..huh."

"Frisk!"

"And your contact photo is-"

"What are you telling to him??"

"...It is not a bad photo, I promise."

"It's you, sleeping.."

"Alphys!!-"

"SANS, LOOK OUT!"

with a deafening 𝙘𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙠, a bone collided with an apple above my head.

"......."

"Whoaaa!"

"Sick shot, Paps!"

"Do it again!"

"NO! DON'T THROW MORE!!"

"UNDYNE, THAT COULD HAVE ENDED VERY BADLY!!"

"Sans?? Is everything alright? That was quite loud."

"yeah, i'm good. nearly got clocked by an apple, though."

"Oh dear. Who is throwing them?"

"undyne."

"...I do not know who else I expected."

"Please tell her to be more careful.."

"hey, undyne."

"Yeah?"

"tori says to be more careful."

she paused mid throw, instead switching to a mild toss.

"WH-"

"WHY WEREN'T YOU DOING THAT THE WHOLE TIME?!"

"Should I grab some apples as backup while we are here?"

"there's a decent enough of them surviving."

"Well.. if you say so."

"I will see you in a bit, Sans!"

"seeya soon, tori."

"Do not get hit by any apples!"

"i'll try my best."

"......"

"...Papyrus, you might have to catch your brother."

"WHAT?? WHY???"

"He's totally 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯 for Tori."

"That's quite the lovestruck look for just a 'friend', dude."

"not making any look."

"You BETTER not be!"

flowey's face contorted into a look of disgust.

with a loud thump, undyne jumped down from the top of tree.

"The denial is strong with this one."

"not denying a thing."

she flicked me in the head.

"Whatever, nerd. Keep telling yourself that."

"C'mon! Let's go wash these up before they get back!"

undyne grabbed flowey with one arm

(he hissed like a cat. it was pretty funny.)

and ran inside, papyrus and the apple basket in tow.

——

i'm no dessert connoisseur by any means; store bought stuff is usually just fine for me.

but, now i'm totally convinced.

there's no going back after trying homemade apple pie.

[itjazzbicch]

Looking Out For You

Pairing: Draken x Fem Reader

Summary: Being a girl in a gang is unusual in the readers conditions, but she uses that to her advantage, specifically in a fighting ring between gangs where she earns herself money, but also makes some enemies and when she thinks she’s done for, her friends come to save the day, Draken being the one to take care of her…

Warnings: Swearing, Male x Female fight, mentions of blood

Word Count: 3.6k

I DO NOT OWN THIS GIF:

“You gotta be kidding me!”

All of the guys at the fight were laughing hysterically whenever I stepped up, all of them pointing at me, some small girl, popping bubble gum with my hands in my pockets.

It looked like I was lost, but this exactly what I wanted.

“Who would bet on you, shorty?!” This guy was sure he had this fighting in the bag, poking my forehead to send me back some before going into stance, “I’m gonna get a whole lot of money out of this one.”

“Don’t go easy on me,” Pop went my bubble gum, shooting a smile as he ran after me.

All of these guys were so typical and easy to read. They were just street fighters, the crowd cheering him on as they thought he had the advantage:

“Show her who’s boss! Kick her little a-“

That boy threw his punch and it was so easy to dodge, raising up my knee and spinning to the side with my left, leaving the back of his head wide open for my right leg to shoot up and kick him in the head.

Silence fell as he dropped like a ton of bricks, knocked out cold, slumped murmurs falling out of his mouth with drool onto the concrete.

“What was that about kicking my ass?” I snickered, blowing another bubble, “Didn’t even lose any flavor in this gum yet!”

“Wha- Did she just knock him out?!”

They were all flabbergasted, meanwhile I was smiling, eyes locking onto my next contestant.

“You got lucky! But that won’t work on me, girly!”

Some shaved head idiot started raging toward me and right as he approached me, one kick up right under the chin.

He was tougher than the last guy, that one didn’t knock him out, but it wasn’t done just yet, smashing his head with an elbow and that one did the trick, having him falling to the ground just like his friend.

“Anyone here actually gonna give me a challenge?”

Looking around, all of the guys here we frozen, jaws on the ground with all eyes on me.

“No?” I popped my gum again, shaking my head, “What a shame. Make sure you’re all ready for next time. You haven’t seen the last of me!”

This was such an easy game. Considering my mother worked all night long and still didn’t make much money, I fought in these little tournaments between gangs to earn some money.

No one would ever bet on me because I was the only girl who would stepped up to a man, let alone gang members too.

I was a member of the Tokyo Majin Gang, but I rarely showed my face, so I was a mere stranger to everyone.

But I had a friend on the inside. He’d bet the money, I win the fights, we split the profit and we both get good money from it.

“You never fail, Y/N! Look how much yen we got this time!”

Heading over with Joko down the alley we always took home, he sure had a bright smile on his face and it went right onto mine.

“Oh hell yeah!” I smiled, taking my half, “Just imagine all cash we’ll get if we keep it up!”

“No kidding, sis!” He laughed, cheering as he skipped down the alley, but suddenly coming to a halt as he stumbled into a tall stature.

“Oh, hey Draken,” I nodded up at him, but his face was as stone cold as ever. Something told me that he wasn’t happy with me.

“Excuse me! I’m so sorry, sir!” Joko immediately bowed his head and kept posture.

I was close to Draken, so I didn’t bother, but did stay still whenever Draken commanded to Joko:

“You go on ahead home. Y/N and I need to have a talk. I’ll walk her home.”

“Yes, sir!” Joko bowed once more before waving to me and running off.

“Aww, Kenny. If you missed me that’s all you had to say,” I giggled, joining his side as we began our walk.

“What did I tell you about calling me that?!” He growled, making me laugh more:

“Don’t be so serious, my man! Anywho, what we do we need to talk about?”

“You can wait till we get to your place,” He murmured, hands in his pockets and following me along.

That wasn’t a good sign. Was something happening with the gang that I needed to know about?

Regardless, during our walk I prepared myself. Thank goodness my mother left already, heading in and getting us two colas , sliding on to him over the counter.

“So, we’re here. What’s the deal?” Some cola eased my nerves a bit, and finally Draken spoke his mind:

“So, why do I still keep hearing about a some short girl, who likes to pop bubble gum, showing up at gang fights for money?”

“Uhhh-,” I giggled softly, sipping my cola and clearly lying, “I have no idea! She sounds dangerous.”

“What did I tell you about fighting in those little rings, huh?” Draken wasn’t messing around this time.

Just great.

“That’s what this is about, man?” Why was he so worried about this?! “You know that I’m a taijutsu master! Those guys are so easy to beat! It’s easy money that I put towards the gang and take care of myself with. You know I don’t have it easy, Draken!”

“I get that, but it’s dangerous,” He glared deep into my eyes, he seriously didn’t want me doing this and I already knew why, “You’re a-“

“Girl?” I shot an intense glare right back at him. I hated whenever someone told me not to do something because I’m a girl. It’s such bullshit.

“And one of these days, you’re gonna run into a big dude that you might not take down!” Draken slammed his hands on the counter, already towering over me and that made him feel even bigger, “Or you’re gonna piss them off so bad that they’re going it try and jump you!”

“Like that’ll happen!” I slammed my hands down right in front of him and attempted to size him up, “I get why you worry, but come on! You’ve seen me fight!”

“For fucks sake, Y/N! What would you do if one day those guys get you alone, huh? And you have to fight a whole group of them without Joko or someone else with you? Tell me!”

His scenario did make me think and I truly didn’t know what I would do. Even my cockiness wouldn’t kick in while thinking about it.

“Listen,” Draken sighed deeply, trying to settle the tension between us, “I just want you to be careful, okay? You’re fighting between multiple gangs and I don’t want this to turn into a big issues when it’s stupid.”

Again, I just stayed quiet. I guess there were other ways I could earn myself some money, but fighting is one thing I’ve always known and it was the easiest route.

Coming around the counter, he placed his hand on my shoulder, looking down into my eyes:

“Do you at least understand where I’m coming from?”

“Yeah, I understand,” I whispered softly, staring at the floor till his fingertips lifted my chin so our gaze reconnected:

“I know you can kick ass, Y/N. You are a badass, you just can’t be so reckless.”

“Aww,” I couldn’t stand the seriousness anymore, getting him tongue tied when I twirled the strand of blonde hair in his face, “Who knew you were such a big softy.”

“Softly?! How dare you!” He growled, swatting my hand away, making me laugh more:

“Chill, man! You’re blushing, by the way.”

“Blushing?!” That only made his face more red and I held my stomach from laughing so much!

“It’s kinda cute though,” I just had to keep poking at him, till he booped my forehead:

“Whatever. I’ll see you later, shorty.”

“No hug goodbye? How rude!” I teased, thinking I’d get a cold shoulder, till he wrapped one arm around my shoulder and side hugged me:

“There? Happy now?”

That made me smile, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Draken hug anyone, let alone me!

“Yeah,” I smiled softly, stopping him before he walked out of the door, “And hey, I promise I’ll call it quits with the fighting ring for a while You did make a good point.”

“I always do,” He smiled softly, looking away for a moment thinking, and he made me smile even more, “Tomorrow the guys and I are gonna go for a ride and do some talking. Tag along, I know that bike of yours can ride.”

“Faster than yours,” I giggled, left smiling as he rolled his eyes, shutting the door:

“Whatever you say, shorty!”

*the next day*

Today was as typical as any other. School was easy, I went to taijutsu practice after and on the way out, I got the text to meet up so we could have some fun racing before the meeting.

I wasn’t paying attention while walking out the back door into the parking lot, sending Draken a text that I was leaving practice, but my head jumped up as I heard metal crashing.

My bike! That asshole I knocked out yesterday was smashing it with a bat!

“You dick!” I yelled at him, charging right for him till I felt someone grab me by the hair.

“What do you think you’re doing, huh?! Haha!”

The other guy I knocked out too?! I quickly grabbed his wrist, pulling his arm down and elbowing him in the joint as hard as I could.

That was enough to make him let go, backing away quickly to see that I was surrounded. That guy and all of his buddies were here.

Shit, this was bad. Very bad. To think Draken was right about this.

“You think we were just gonna let you off the hook after the stunt you pulled yesterday, huh?”

This was the first time in a long time I had to take my fighting stance in a real fight. I was surrounded, all of them closing in on me.

In that moment, I thought of what Draken said, what was I gonna do?

Looking around the circle, I was left with only one option. I picked out the smallest guy and punched his lights out to kick off the fight:

“I don’t go down easy! Bring it on, bitches!”

It’s been a while since I’ve been in a situation like this, but I didn’t go down without a fight. I actually took out a good bit of them.

It was just so hard to watch my back, that being the one disadvantage when I felt my hair get gripped up tight.

The grip left a burn in my scalp, but I wasn’t giving up, trying to kick the one guys away, but he kicked my knee out then kneed me right in the ribs.

That instantly knocked all of the wind out of me, about coughing up a lung, eyes heavy and head woozy whenever he picked my head up by the hair again:

“Told ya we’d teach you a lesson! Coming to our fight club and thinking you own the place!”

A punch right to my gut made me collapse, but he kept me up by the hair. All I could try to do in that moment was breathe, but the sound of motorcycle engines caught my attention.

Tires screeching made everyone come to a halt, hearing from behind me:

“Y/N!!”

Baji?

“You get your damn hands off of her!”

There was Draken right in front of me and he sent that dude into another atmosphere with just one punch.

Finally, I was let go and I fell to the concrete, curled up into a ball, coughing and heavily panting. Those punches and knee strikes were so strong I still couldn’t breathe right.

“Wait? She’s with the Tokyo Majin Gang?!”

That sure took them all by surprise. Glancing upward briefly, Draken, Baji, and Mikey were kicking all of their asses.

“Hey, Y/N! You gotta breathe! Don’t worry, I got you,” Mitsuya scooped me up in his arms softly and I tried my best.

Along with his coaching, I was finally breathing right, but damn did I feel like crap.

“You listen to me!” Everyone stopped what they were doing, all of those guys beat up and on the ground while Draken had their leader by the shirt.

I’ve never seen Draken so intimidating and terrifying before, that guy about pissing himself, shaking in fear as Draken growled in his face:

“If you ever even come near her again, it’ll be the last thing you ever do!”

“Now, fuck off!” Baji made sure to get one last hit in, laughing while they all picked themselves off and ran for their lives.

“How is she?” Mikey was the next to come over and I hated that they had to see me like this.

This was the first time someone managed to put me down in a brawl, attempting to stand up as I groaned:

“I-I’m fine.”

The moment I stood up, I collapsed again, but Draken was there, holding me in his arms:

“No you’re not, Y/N. You got a bloody lip and all.”

“And they destroyed your bike?” Mitsuya observed, and I was defeated, just laying my head against Draken’s chest:

“I have no idea how they found out where the dojo is. They completely blindsided me.”

“Baji, Mitsuya! Take care of her bike. I’m gonna take her home.”

“On it,” Mitsuya and Baji both came to my sides, helping me up to my feet.

“Don’t worry, I can hang on to your bike,” Holding my stomach, I limped alongside Draken, making sure to thank them all, “You guys really came in the Knick of time huh?”

“We planned on meeting up here after all, it’s a good racing start,” Mitsuya informed me, “Good thing we came when we did.”

“You know we always have your back, sis,” Baji smiled softly, Mikey smiling at me too:

“Always.”

“Thanks guys,” I said softly, head down as I went to Draken’s bike.

“You sure you’ll be okay for the ride?” Draken was hesitant to hop on because of my condition, but I climbed right on and just nodded.

This pain was like burning in hell. I was clinging onto Draken for dear life during that ride and it wasn’t even five minutes.

I was so grateful that my mom worked nights, if I came home like this and she saw me? Dear goodness, she’d lose her shit.

When we walked in the door, I had my back turned, ready to take care of myself alone, telling Draken:

“Thanks for bringing me home. I’ll take care of myself, I promise.”

“Y/N,” He sighed, shaking his head, “You can’t even walk.”

“Barely, but I’m still walking,” I went to take another step forward, but Draken shut and locked the door, coming and scooping me softly.

“You got anything to clean that cut?” He asked, taking me to my room and sitting me on the bed softly.

“Bathroom on the shelf,” I whispered softly, sitting there trying to hold back tears from how my ribs hurt.

I was so pissed that I allowed this to happen to me, that Draken was right about the bad side to this fighting ring stuff.

I never lost a fight and the fact that they had to jump me? What cowards.

“Alright, I got some wraps for your ribs too. I can tell they’re banged up,” Draken came back to me, kneeling in front of me as I sat on the edge of the bed.

“No kidding, guess I’ll just get it over with,” I went to take the wraps, but I stopped as he instructed:

“Lift your shirt up. It’s gonna be hard to do yourself.”

“O-Oh, okay-“

Why was I so nervous all of a sudden? On top of that, it hurt like hell when I lifted my arms up, biting my lip to hide the cry trying to come out of me.

“Here,” Draken slipped my shirt off like it was nothing, leaving me in my sports bra and when he looked down at me, gosh my cheeks were hot.

“T-Thanks,” No one ever made me stutter like this, I hope I wasn’t being too awkward, but it was like nothing to him:

“You’re welcome. I’m gonna try to be as easy as I can. You should ice this too.”

Running his large hand across my side, his hands were soft, which surprised me a little, the both of us noticing the bruises forming on me already.

“Ready?” Draken looked up to me for assurance before wrapping up my ribs and I just nodded, sucking in a breath, eyes shut tight but it didn’t stop the tears.

Even when he was as gentle as possible, the stings and pains were a lot.

“Hey, all done. It’s okay,” My eyes were still closed, but I felt his thumb wipe away the tears running down my cheeks.

“I’m sorry, Draken,” I cried softly, wiping the rest of my tears, “I should’ve have listened to you. I tried to fight, but there was just too many of them. I would’ve been dead if it weren’t for you and the guys.”

“It’s not your fault those guys are a bunch of punks,” Draken sighed, trying to help just because I was crying but I shook my head:

“You told me to stop fighting before something like this happened and I didn’t listen. I’m so stupid!”

“Listen, all that matters is that, we got you out of that fight,” When I felt him holding the side of my face, I finally looked him in the eyes, his gaze settling me along with his deepening voice, “There’s nothing we can do to change it, but it’s all gonna be alright.”

Nodding softly, I whispered softly, “Thanks again, Draken. I don’t think I can thank you guys enough.”

“Like Baji and Mikey said, we always have your back. Always.”

That put a small smile on my face and it was nice to get a smile back from him. It made all of the bad emotions start to drift away.

“Need anything else? Don’t worry about the little meeting. We can handle it another time,” I was so appreciative of him taking care of me and I did want to ask him something, but I was so nervous.

I always had the, fuck it, mentality, so I went ahead and asked softly:

“Do you mind s-staying the night?”

“Your moms not gonna get pissed, is she?”

Wait, he’s cool with it? That about made my eyes pop out of my head, snapping out of it a bit to reply:

“She crashes in her room as soon as she comes home. Literally always. I’m not worried about it. It’s just-“

“Just what?” No one’s ever seen me like this and I think that’s why Draken was being so understanding, extremely hard to get off my chest:

“That was the first time in my life I think, that I was truly scared. You know how some of these gangs are and what they do to girls. Let alone one who kicked their asses.”

“Now, you know I’d never let anything like that happen to you,” He assured, hugging me softly as he stood up, “Let’s get you laid down, you need to relax.”

That I surely agreed on, fixing my pillows and laying back as softly as I could, groaning through some pain, but relaxation waved over me as Draken turned off the lights, trying not to watch him too much as he tossed off his shirt, left in his tank top and shorts, definitely not admiring his tall, muscular stature.

He got into bed next to me as softly as he could, but the little bounce from his weight made my head hurt more, and he noticed how hard I closed my eyes.

“I’m sor-“

“It’s alright,” I cooed quickly, fixing my hair, “That guy about ripped my hair out and it still hurts.”

Everything came to a sudden halt, the pain I was feeling, my heart, time almost, whenever Draken scooted closer to me, kissing the top of my head softly.

“Hair pulling is such a bitch move.”

I went to speak, but nothing came out, my heart going double time as pet the top of my head softly, slicking my hair back.

“You alright?”

Sometimes he was so oblivious to others feelings, and I managed to get something out when I whispered:

“Is it okay if I tell you something?”

“What’s up?”

Again, completely oblivious. Hopefully, my actions made things more clear as I took his arm that was close to me, placing it over me softly, fighting tears again as I admitted to him:

“I feel so safe with you. Like nothing could ever hurt me.”

“That’s because you are,” Another kiss, but on my forehead, made those tears happy ones, feeling the drowsiness guiding me to sleep along with his whisper: “I’ll always protect you, Y/N.”

[blackhakumen]

Mini Fanfic #1087: Ambushed (Super Smash Bros Ultimate X Kingdom Hearts)

5:56 p.m. Outside of Smash Mansion's Entrance......

A giant ring appears out of thin air in front of the Smash Mansion's doorway as it shows Dark Pit and Yoshi, who are both visibly injured and bruised, walking out with Kirby, Hades, and Sephiroth, with Pichu strapped onto his chest in a pouch, follows behind them as the ring goes back to it's original size.

Yoshi: Well. We just got our butts kicked out there.

Dark Pit: ('Tch') More like eviscerated. (Throws his Hands Out in Frustration) Who the hell would attack us out of NOWHERE in broad daylight like that!?

Hades: That's what ambushes would do to you, kiddos. You never know who or what would try to go out of their way to annihilate you in the worst way imaginable. (Puts on a Bit of an Evil Grin on his Face) That and how oh so easy the process in doing so truly is in concept

Kirby: (Already Has a Worried Look on his Face) Poyopoyo Poyopoyo.

Yoshi: Yeah, I still don't have a lick of clue who any of those guys were who attack us.

Sephiroth: Can't say I know for sure who the four masked figures are.....(Grabs his Chin While Thinking) But the one in the black cloak, with eye pitch does look somewhat familiar.....

Yoshi: (Turns to Sephiroth) Is he another one of your past enemies or something?

Sephiroth: Perhaps, but the memory escapes me at the moment. (Smirks a Little) But it was mild entertaining seeing him run away with his tail between his legs. (Looks Down at Pichu) Isn't that right, son?

Pichu: (Happily Nodded in Agreement) Pi Chu!~

Dark Pit: Well, whoever those bozos are, we're gonna get back at them one way or another. And we're keeping all of this to ourselves.

Yoshi: ('Sighs Heavily') I dunno, man....I'm all for going back for another round or a few as much as the next guy, but those guys were WAY too strong for our liking.....

Hades: Also, are you....(Raises an Eyebrow at Dark Pit) Absolutely sure about keeping this under wraps from everyone here? Especially from your MOTHERS of all people?

Kirby: (Starts Hugging Dark Pit's Leg in Plead) Poyopoyo Poyopoyo Poyo!

Dark Pit: (Kneels Down to Kirby's Level Before Wincing a Bit in Pain and Gently Rubbing the Top of his Head) Look, I know it's a dumb, risky move on my part, but it will only be until we find a way to beat those jerks in their own game. And besides, the moms aren't even close to being dine with their little shopping spree adventures. We have plenty of time to go in there, heal ourselves up, and act like none if this ever happe-

'GASSSSSPS'

The boys turns around to see the Certified Moms stare and drop their shopping bags in horror, at Yoshi and Pitto's bruised state as they immediately rushes over to them.

Peach: What HAPPENED to you two!?

Yoshi: (Raises an Eyebrow at Dark Pit Beside Him) You were saying?.....

Dark Pit: We uhh....(Immediately Gets Up From the Ground While Wincing Some More in Pain) Just....got into an accident is all.

Tifa: What kind of accident?

Dark Pit: We tripped. O-Off a few staircases or whatever! (Chuckles Awkwardly) Long fall too I'll tell ya what. (Quickly Nudge his Shoulder Onto Yoshi's Side)

Yoshi: (Winces a Bit in Pain Before Speaking Up) U-Uh Yeah! Yeah, it's true. The.....stairs made us trip and fall.

Sephiroth: Pichu and I saw it from our own eyes.(Closes his Eyes) It was tragic.

Pichu: (Closes his Eyes as Well) Pi.

Kirby: ('Sighs in Defeat') Poyo poyo......

Hades: ('Groans') For the love of- The boys here were ambushed earlier by a group of masked hooligans and some guy wearing an eye pitch.

Lea/Aqua: WHAT!?

Aqua: Luxu and the Foretellers did this to you!?

Dark Pit: (Slowly but Surely Turns to Hades With a Sharp Glare in his Eyes) What the HELL, HADES!?

Hades: Look, I was doing you two a favor! Besides, this is leagues better than lying to and trying to cover your wounds up at the very last second.

'GASPS'

Rosalina: (Covers her Mouth in Shock) Oh my god.......

Samus: (Glares at the Two Boys) You were about to keep this a secret from us!?

Yoshi: (Quickly Points the Blame at DP) It was his idea! I never WANTED to lie to anyone!

Dark Pit: (Turns to Yoshi Beside Him) You mother-

Yoshi: Look, I'm sorry alright! And as much as it pains me to say it, Hades is right! You and I both know that we're not any good at keeping any secrets hidden well for the life of us!

Dark Pit: I know that! I was just.....hoping it would last for....('Sigh') I dunno a few months or so?

Daisy: You were gonna to keep this from us for MONTHS!?

Dark Pit: (Turns Back to the Moms) I was thinking about it, okay!? I didn't know we were gonna get caught so soon! And maybe we would've gotten away with it if.....(Turns Right Back to.Hades With a Glare) SOMEONE didn't blurt everything out!

Hades: (Rolls his Eyes) Again, did you two a favor from making fools of yourselves, not like your already doing spendid job of doing that already.

Dark Pit: I'mma about show you who's a REAL fool in second if you don't-

Palutena: PITTO!

The loud, booming voice from the green haired goddess was more than enough to shut everyone up completely as she slowly, but very angrily approaches to her dark angel as the love of her life, Bayonetta, follows behind her, trying to calm her down but with little to no pervail.

It was no secret for Pitto that out of everyone in the Snash Family, Palutena is the last person you ever want to provoked, given that her title as goddess is not to be taken lightly by anyone. That and the powers she possesses are a lot more lethal than it ever was inside the tournament.

As the fellas, Hades especially, steps away from the potential conflict, Pitto turns away and closes his eyes expecting the worse, only to be greeted by a firm grasp on the shoulders. Once he slowly opens his eyes, he sees his mother on his knees, staring at him with tears falling down her cheeks as she tries her very hardest to keep it together, much to his genuine surprise.

Dark Pit: Mom...........

Bayonetta: (Kneels Down to Dark Pit as Well) Now Darling, why on earth would you try and keep this a secret from us?

Dark Pit: (Let's Out a Heavy Sigh Before Speaking) It was our fight. Or in our cases, an unexpected beat down...... And I just didn't want any of you to get involved or....waste your time worrying over us.

Bayonetta: And that's all well and good. But you and Yoshi know as well as I do that your mothers and I will always worry about you kids no matter what you do. And if this Luxu person really went out of his way to hurt you, then we must handle to the situation thoroughly and see it that him and his goons won't ever lay a finger on either of you again.

Peach: (Frowns Sadly) But we can't do that if you won't tell us what happened. (Tears Starts Falling Down From her Eyes as Well) Please.....

Pitto looks around see the rest of the moms staring at him and Yoshi with worry and sadness in each of their eyes as they patiently wait for him to give them details, even Kirby looking up and nodding at him to tell them everything.

Dark Pit: (Takes a Deep Breath Before Speaking) Okay. So.....Yoshi and I were in Twilight Town, right? And were walking around, eating Seasalt Ice Cream and whatnot. Then suddenly, that Luxu guy you mentioned, and his four goons came completely out of nowhere and started attacking us. So we fought back as hard as we could, but surprise-surprise, it didn't go all that well.

Flashback to The Streets of Twilight Town

'THUD THUD'

Dark Pit: (On the Ground in the Pain Along with Yoshi) Argh shit....(Turns to Yoshi) Hey, how are you holding up?

Yoshi: My arms and legs are starting worn-out on me as we speaking and I can't move without feeling immense pain. (Groans in Pain as He Rolls Overs and Starts Sitting Himself Up) See?

Dark Pit: (Tries Getting Himself Back Up on his Feet While Groaning in Pain as Well) Yeah. It's.....(Pushes his Back Forehead as He Winces) ('Crack') Bitch in a half. Did you call or text for back-up yet?

Yoshi: I texted someone, but....(Pulls Up his Now Broken Phone) My phone got busted up before i could even see who it was. (Phone Shatters into Pieces) What about you? You do have your phone on you, right?

Dark Pit: I......(Starts Looking Away a Bit) may or may not have it one me right now.....

Yoshi: (Gives Pitto a Deadpinned Look on his Face) Are you serious?

Dark Pit: ('Sigh') Yeah, I forgot to charge it up earlier today. But with message received, someone's bound to come here eventually. Assuming we don't die by then.........

????: Well, now!

Without warning, the four masked Keyblade wielders appears in front of the boys. One is wearing a unicorn, the second wearing a snake mask, third wearing a white tiger mask, and the last one, whom the boys had the second most trouble with, I'd wearing a bear mask. And their supposed leader appearing before them is none other than the one eyed snake himself, Luxu.

Luxu: (Puts on an Evil, Cocky Grin on his Face) You boys are having fun so far?

Yoshi: (Glares at Luxu) We're having a misery time actually!

Dark Pit: Why the fuck are you doing this!?

Luxu: Oh come now. There's no need for the hostility here.

Yoshi: You attacked us on broad daylight, out of nowhere, how ELSE are we supposed react to that!?

Luxu: Fair point. But in our defense though, we have a perfectly good reason in doing so.

Dark Pit: (Already Losing his Patience) Oh I wanna hear this...

Luxu: (Points at the Snake Masked Figure Beside Him) You see, Invi girl here have been dreaming of meeting and examining an actual angel from up close. So I told her about meeting you back at Firelocks's place a couple of months ago abd here we are. (Grabs his Chin While Taking a Look at the Dark Angel) Though, I don't think I remember seeing your hair and wings all that black.....

Dark Pit: That's because I'm not the angel you were looking for, genius. It was my brother Pit you saw.

Luxu: Ah-haaa!......Gotcha. So like, what? Are you his broody, inferior twin brother or something?

Dark Pit: You mean less obnoxious of the two? Then yes I am.

Back to the Present

Bayonetta: Pitto!

Dark Pit: What? He's annoying! Most of the times.

Isabelle: (Put her Hands on her Hips With a Motherly Glare in her Eyes) But he's also your brother.

Moms: Yeah!

Dark Pit: (Sighs While Rolling is Eyes) Look, I apologize for being rude. Now can I please continue?

Back to the Flashback

Yoshi: Okay, so why are after ME then?

Luxu: Oh that's simple. See, Lil' Gula here been wanting a pet for the longest time now, and when we spotted you walking around town, I told "Hey, there's a green talking dinosaur you can take home" and he stepped out of the portal quicker than any of us did.

Gula: I wanna talking dinosaur.

Luxu: See? He knows what he wants.

Yoshi: (Couldn't Believe What He is Hearing Right Now) You....(Starts Getting Back Up on his Feet) Heartlees- ('Crack') Ack!

Dark Pit: (Quickly Made his Way to Yoshi) Hey, you Good?

Yoshi: (Glares Harshly at Luxu and the Foretellers) As soon as we pummeled these twerps to the grovel, I will be.

Luxu: (Casually Shrugs) Sure! We're down to go a few more rounds. It'll might cost you your own lives though. So-

'Smack'

Before Luxu could finish talking, a chili dog flew in out of nowhere and hits his face.

Luxu: .........('Tongue Click') 'Kay. Was not expecting that of all things to hit me. (Licks a Chili Off From Side of his Lips a Little as He Tastes It) ('Mm') The chili's pretty good at least. (Notices Something Behind Pitto and Yoshi) Say, was that giant ring portal always there or-

Dreamland's savor, Kirby, jumps out of the dimension ring ready for action.

Kirby: Poyo!

Dark Pit/Yoshi: Kirby!?

Hades: (Walks Out of the Ring as Well) Annnnnnnnnnnd HADES!

Luxu: Wait. That's the Hades? You look a whole lot different than from what I've seen. Where's the blue fiery hair?

Hades: (Raises an Eyebrow in Confusion) Bluey fire- Ohhhhh right. I forgot you have another version of me in your universe. I should really look up on that one of these days.....Anyways, we're here to take the boys back home now.

Luxu: (Starts Smirking Evilly) Or what? You're gonna fight us or something?

Hades: Oh not me. I just got back from getting my nails did for the month and I am not risking the chance of getting them broken. (Forms a Smirk of his Own on his Face) Buuuuut not to worry. Besides the pink puffball, you'll be fighting someone else to take my place in the meantime. Ohhhh Sephyyy!~

*Cue One Winged Angel (Advent Version)*

Another figure slowly walks out of the ring with long silver hair, wearing an all black attire, carrying a long sword and a Pichu on his chest pouch happily waving hello to everyone present. His presence alone may not effect the Foretellers in a way, but to Luxu however........it was stepping back into horrific nightmare he never thought he would ever return to after all these years. A nightmare that will continue to haunt him for the rest of his days.

Luxu: No.........No no no no no. Anyone but him......

Sephiroth: So.....these five will be our opponents for the time being?

Hades: Yep. The boys here is in rough shape, so it's gonna be a two-on-five fight. That won't be a problem for you, will it?

Sephiroth: (Forms a Small Smirk on his Face) ('Hmph') Please. (A Large Black Wing Emerges From his Back) This will hardly be a challenge.

Gula: So is he like a.....Half angel or something?

Invi: Fascinating.......

Ira: We must give it our all regardless of who this may be. Isn't that right, Luxu?

Luxu: .................................

Ira: (Turns to the Others Who Shrugs at Him Before Turning Back to his One Eyed Companion) Umm.....Luxu, is something the-

Luxu: Everyone retreat.

Luxu immediately summons a dark portal behind him, must to the Foretellers' confusion.

Gula: What.

Ira: Luxu, what are you-

Luxu: I'll explain everything along the way. Right now, we need to the get the hell on out of here before it's too late!

Aced: (Angrily Stomps the Ground) NONSENSE! We are Keyblade Masters! We do not run and cower from any-

Luxu: (Glares at the Bear Masked Figure) Look, I don't have the time or mentality to deal with your prideful bullshit today, Aced! So quit your yammering and get your ass into that portal before I drag you in there myself!! (Sprints Off to the Portal)

Aced: But-

Ira: (Place his Hand on Aced's Shoulder) Let's do what he says for now. There's no telling what this one winged angel figure is capable off.

The Foretellers did as Luxu commanded and retreat themselves back to their current headquarters with Aced giving Sephiroth one last glare before following behind them. It didn't take long for the portal itself gets smaller and smaller till it disappears completely.

Yoshi: ........Yeah, you better run.

Back to the Present. Again..........

Yoshi: And that's basically about it. They spotted us, beaten us to a pulp, and we would've been done for if Kirby, Hades, Pichu, and Sephiroth haven't stepped in at the last second.

Peach: And we couldn't be any.more happier. (Turns to the Four Beside Pitto and Yoshi) Thank you so much.

Kirby: (Smiles Sheepishly While Rubbing the Back of his Head Back and Forth) Poyo~

Hades: Ah it's nothing. Though.....(Starts Smirking) If you really wanna thank me, you could reward me something valuabl-

Smaus: Don't push it.

Hades: (Sighs Whille Rolling his Eyes) Nevermind. I'll treat myself to a vuctory drink or whatever. Care to come with, Selhpy?

Sephiroth: (Shrugs) Don't have anything else to do. (Looks Down at Pichu) Would you be alright without daddy for the remainder of the night?

Pichu: (Happily Nodded) Pi-chu.

Dark Pit: I wanna fight them again.

Everyone: (Immediately Turns Back to Dark Pit) WHAT!?

Yoshi: (Glares at Dark Pit) You're going back out there after EVERYTHING we've been through today!?

Dark Pit: (Glares Back at Yoshi) Not now obviously! I'm gonna heal myself up first, THEN, I'll go back and face them again.

Yoshi: Oh my freaking god.....Please tell me you're hearing yourself right now.

Dark Pit: Dude, they came out of nowhere, thrashed us, treated you like a pet, and me like some kind of test subject they can experiment on daily. I'm NOT going down without another fight!!

Aqua: We understand how you feel, Pitto, truly. But you cannot challenge him or the Foretellers again, especially now that you know how powerful they truly are.

Lea: Now, for me personally, I'm not sure how Luxu is now that he's the actually the apprentice of that Master of What-its-face, but I know for SURE how dangerous he was back at the Organization.

Samus: How dangerous are we talking here exactly?

Lea: Sneaky, conniving, and precise on almost ANYTHING he set his sights on killing. He was a menacing back then, and there's no telling kind of new tricks he got in his sleeves......

Palutena: ('Sniff') They're right, you know?

Dark Pit: (Looks Back to See Palutena Finally Calmed Down a Little) Mom, you okay?

Palutena: (Starts Wiping the Tears Away) Yeah.....I mean, I'm not completely happy, but I'll be fine. (Takes a Deep Breath as She Gently Grab Hold of Dark Pit's Hands) I know what happened to you and Yoshi earlier is upsetting and I am fully aware of how capable of a fighter you are, but there's a lot more to those people than any of us could imagine. And the last thing we want right now is for them to hurt you WAY more than they already have! So please, don't do this.....('Sniff') I beg of you.....

Pit: (Takes One Good Look at Palutena's Watery Eyes For a Brief Second Before Finally Sighing in Defeat) Alright. If you guys really have what it takes to beat 'em, then I'll back off. And whenever you do fight 'em, just.....(Immediately Gives his Goddess Mom a Hug) be careful out there, alright?

Palutena: (Giggles Softly) Awww~ Is our angsty, baby boi getting worried about us already? That's soooo unlike you!~

Dark Pit: (Rolls his Eyes) Yeah, well, it was bound to happen eventually. I'm way too exhausted to try and hide it now......

Palutena: I know, sweetie. I love you so much.

Dark Pit: Love you too. And thanks.

A blue dust of light suddenly surrounds the duo for a few seconds before disappearing completely along with Pitto's cuts and bruises.

Dark Pit: What the- (Pulls Away From his Mother's Embrace as He Takes a Looks at his Upper Body) I'm healed?

Palutena: (Smiles Brightly) Yep! I can any wounds in one's body with a simple touch of the hand. My hugs are no exceptions.

Yoshi: Ah dude. I wanna a healing hug! (Starts Walking Towards Only to Felt a Pain on his Pain') ('Crack') Ack! Dang it! Not again!

Daisy: I gotcha, honey! (Quickly Makes her Way to her Son and Helps Him Makes his Way to Palutena)

Peach: Once Yoshi gets healed up, we're gonna have ourselves a group hug session!~

Moms: (Cheers in Rejoice)

Dark Pit: Yayyyyyyyyyy..........

Aqua giggles softly at the Pitto's blatant sarcasm along with the others before noticing a worried look on Lea's face.

Aqua: Lea?

Lea: (Comes Back to Reality) Hm? Yeah, teach?

Aqua: Is everything okay?

Lea: ('Sighs Heavily') Yeah, just.......Thinking about Luxu and whatnot.......I know I shouldn't waste my time worrying, but......

Aqua: Hey, I get it. Today's been.....surprising to say the least, but we can't let boggle our minds forever, you know?

Lea: Definitely. But there's one thing for sure, and I never thought I would ever say this, but....I really need to train more.....

Aqua: (Place a Hand onto Lea's Shoulder With a Soft Smile on her Face) And Terra and I would be happy to help you.

Samus: (Wraps her Arm Around Lee's Other Sode of the Shoulder) Same here. Couldn't help but overhear your need to training and I want in.

Tifa: (Happily Chimes in) Me too. Namine and I could really use another sparring partner.

Lea: (Eyes Widened in Fear) Uhh! Actually, I'm....gonna have to take a pass on the whole hand-to-hand sparring invitation.

Samus: (Forms a Teasing Smirk on her Face) What? You're scared of getting your ass kicked? Your gonna have to take the beating sooner or later.

Lea: (Glares at Samus) I know that! I just.....(Twiddles his Fingers Around) Being cautious is all.

Samus: Cautiously scared?~

Lea: You know what I mean, woman!

Tifa: I know it's a Intimidating, but I promise to do everything I can give you the best training exercise you could ever hope for.

Aqua: (Smiles Brightly) I think we should give this hand-to-hand combat a chance, Lea. I'll might come in handy one of these days.

Lea: I doubt it, but sure, I guess.....

To Be Continued

@keyenuta

@bestpony666

@ma-lemons

@cyber-wildcat

@albion-93

@26shann

@khtext

@italian-love-cake

[kidelune]

TW: Mature themes, death, violence, blood, all that jazz. Read at your own discretion.

one | two | three | four | five | six | seven | eight | nine (1/2)

I'm writing this down now while it's still fresh on my mind, so in the case I'm ever found and arrested for it, I'll have this log as some sort of proof. Or even a confession.

[October 29, 2023, Somewhere between Yongsan and Incheon]

On the 29th of October of this year, four days ago, I was supposed to land safely on Japanese soil by 6 in the evening. My dad had agreed to pick me up from the airport and together we planned to grab a meal and some beer on the way back to Kyoto, where we live. It cuts me deeply now to remember how happy I'd been that day. After such a fun weekend spent with my boyfriend and friends, and of course, getting back to pops, which always excited me to all ends. I spent all morning holding my precious partner before he went to work, then gave him my afternoon, too. We had some lunch together right before my flight, though eating had been a challenge as parting for us was nothing short of bittersweet. We already knew we'd be apart for four days; he had work. And yet it had never occurred to me then that on top of that, I'd disappear entirely.

In hindsight, my joy had been a red herring of sorts.

Something strange happened around eleven, same day. The other gangs have been more aggressive lately, especially the Greens who've recently suffered a few greater losses than they've had to deal with in a while. The general goal had shifted from yielding for peace to blood for blood. They wanted Gun-pyo's head and would not stop until the hit is finally made on the right man. So around eleven that morning, I heard the burner phone I'd stolen a while back ringing for the first time since I found it. At first I had no clue what the sound was, until I realized during the second time it went off from somewhere in my closet. I found it but waited for the call to go dead prematurely, then waited until the very last ring to pick up. Up to my ear, while standing within the darkness asleep among my jackets I heard someone on the other end murmur, "I know it was you."

And for a horrifying moment the voice sounded like it came from the other side of my closet door. It didn't, but remembering now how I felt back then, how I held my breath and flushed with ire, I'm sure, despite everything, that I would've killed him on the way out.

Instead I quietly shrugged it off, drowned and then smashed the phone, blackmail material be damned. Because according to my logic and possibly greed, yeah it was me, so fucking what? Everything has already gone to shit and I was not about to be in Korea at all after the three following hours anyway.

At least I thought I shouldn't have been, but life wouldn't be life if it didn't have other plans in store for me, of fucking course. Halfway to the airport I'd asked my hyung to drop me off somewhere quiet so I could get a taxi instead, right after I noticed we were being followed. He has a kid so I didn't want him to get in trouble along with me if it came to it, although he'd stubbornly refused to abandon me at first. I hope to tell him soon that although my insistence got me kidnapped almost immediately after, I don't regret it. I could've died like he said, but I lived, after all.

As I expected though, my kidnappers were an odd mix of Greens, Reds and Blues, all guys we did business with. And I'm under the impression, still, that they'd followed me from home or somewhere too close to home for my comfort. I tried to fight them off and run, but I had nothing to protect myself. Next thing I knew I was somewhere in an abandoned building, disoriented as all hell. I didn't know in the beginning where exactly I was, though it couldn't have been too far from where they'd first apprehended me as I likely was not out of it for long. Alas, in that short amount of time they'd moved my unconscious body on location, stripped me of my clothes and belongings entirely, and was bound by the wrists and ankles on my knees.

I braced myself for a beatdown as soon as I was conscious again and rightfully so, as a beatdown I received after every question and threat of theirs I refused to answer (Tell us where your boss is. Do you know what will happen to you if you keep secrets? If you just talked, we wouldn't have to kill you). So their priority hardly was to keep me alive and that's the thing, I didn't mind it. I never could mind a split lip, some deep and tender bruises and black eyes, not even a stab. Even if they broke my bones and spit in my swollen eye and open wounds, I wouldn't snitch, though not for loyalty—not even fucking close. I have people to protect and if I had to die to guarantee their safety, I would.

Realizing this, the bastards started to burn my shit. Threw my suitcase and handbag into one of the braziers in the area. I lost my phone in that fire, alongside a lot of precious memories, messages and some of my skin. Which they burnt with a rod that's been cooking in the flames, dragging the thing down my back with a slowness so infinitesimal the space momentarily became hell itself. I saw red, I saw white, and then I couldn't see at all but just squirm there with the smell of my burning skin. While I tried to hold in my tears I imagined: this is what it must feel like to an angel having its wings ripped off.

That was the first night I disappeared.

[October 30, 2023, Somewhere between Kyoto, Japan and Seoul, South Korea]

The following section will be literal word of mouth, though as verbatim as I can help it. I trust my pops wouldn't lie to me.

He said and I scribe: he knew something was up within the first hour after I was supposed to land in Japan. I've warned him in the past before that while apart, if I ever went for more than 24 hours without replying to his messages or calls, assume I'm missing or dead. So he was more than prepared for situations like this though he also thought about waiting a while—maybe my phone had ran out of battery and I somehow forgot to charge it, while simultaneously forgetting he was picking me up. He went home, he said, and waited precisely another two hours before finally booking himself a flight to Korea for the morning. Nothing could get in the way of him finding me at that point, dead or alive, he said.

Much to my dismay, that's how he met Byungwoo for the first time. Instead of how I'd planned to introduce them in Japan, they were forced to meet prematurely at the expense of my safety. In front of my apartment proper, both of them desperate for some kind of sign of life from me. Maybe one of them might've even hoped it was all a bad dream and that they'd wake up in the next minute to me back in their realities. I would've hoped the same, yet that was our reality: his immediate suspicion upon seeing my boyfriend—who at the time to him was just another stranger, possibly some unsavoury figure from another gang waiting by the door for me to show up or come out. But pops' ability to read people is really impressive. Always has been. He could tell right away after getting closer that Byungwoo meant no harm, that they were both vulnerable flies approaching the same trap.

He told Byungwoo straight up about my position: his guess on point, being that I'd been taken somewhere and my phone had been shattered to limit contact. I don't really want to repeat what he'd said about Byungwoo's reaction to this, though. It truly breaks my heart to disastrous degrees to think about his face, the horror overtaking the beauty he'll always possess. The instantaneous panic, then a worry so raw and harrowing that it'd probably kept him up at night, waiting for who would not return so soon, nor as whole as he'd left. Who might've never returned. All I ever wanted was to do better for him. To not leave him behind to sleep and eat alone again, or have him worry to the point of tears and anger he hardly knew. All I wanted and will want, breathing or six feet under, is for him to be happy. Yet I've failed him again, to the point where my father had to warn him about getting near my apartment, lest he wanted to get hurt.

But in scenarios like this, I'd noticed, he becomes as determined as he is afraid, my partner. Last time I returned home hurt, he swore that he'd kill the people that wanted to hurt me. The hatred in his eyes at the time shocked me more than anything ever has before. It was real. Have you ever loved someone so much that you'd risk in a heartbeat something so incredibly horrendous for their sake? That'd make the two of us, at least. They ended up tracking my phone together. Two months or so ago Byungwoo and I decided to install a tracker app on our phones so he could track me in the case of an emergency. This was life or death, pops'd said, after they finally came across a distinct crosshair on the map that would serve as the first clue to my location.

Desperate but hopeful, my father rushed to Incheon with his eyes wide open, diving headfirst and alone into a full blown brawl between too many gangs to count. Kim Junseo, a legend of his own time, returned and purposely falling within the same trap his son did.

In the name of love. In the name of blood.

[naayewolf]

“Cuddles” A Mitsuri x Fem!reader [Fluff]

TW: Boob hugs, mild suggestive content, one bed senario Summary: You go to the love hashira’s home for a sleepover.  You’ve been Mitsuri’s Best friend for YEARS. It’s a sleepover with Shinobu, Giyuu, Rengoku, Tengen, And of course Obanai + Gyomei. Notes: Ok so I absolutely LOVED this idea when I 1st thought it. Mitsuri is just- !!Asfgqwersdtfg!! Also some notes about the context of the sleepover.  The idea of truth or truth is a game me and my friends play Irl I don’t Ship Tengen x Giyuu, it’s just for the plot, plus I LOVED the idea of Tengen getting shitfaced and being a flirt towards the other male Hashira Muichiro/ Sanemi are out on missions Gyomei is a lightweight despite being the HULK Ik that some people like to think that Rengoku wouldn’t drink because of his father, but for the sake of the plot and my “sanity” he does drink with the rest  For future references, my ships for the Kny Fandom are:  Giyuu x Tanjiro  Giyuu x Shinobu Mitsuri x Obanai  Inosuke x Tanjiro  Nezuko x Zenitsu Tanjiro x Kanoe  For serious reasons, I am a Multishipper, and I don’t ship anyone that I don’t think have any Canonical backup [Most times]

You and Mitsuri had been friends since you were little. And even though you are both 18 now she hasn’t changed from her childish self.  She’s insisted that you have a sleepover at her place with some of the other hashira since you're all free from missions for the meantime.

You arrive at The love estate with a small travel bag on your back. You're actually not sure about this. You open the invitation Mitsuri sent you through your crows. 

Heyyy (Y/n)! This weekend is our free day. So I talked to the other Hashira and we’re all having a sleepover at my estate! I know you're not a Hashira, but we’d love to have you! Uzui loved meeting you last time, so I’m sure he and Rengoku would Love to have you! Shinobu even convinced Tomioka-san to come! 

There's going to be Snacks, Sake, games, and lots of fun! I hope you’ll attend,

                                                     -    Kanroji Mitsuri

You sigh, running one hand through your hair and using the other to ring the bell. You met with Giyuu at the door with Kocho on his back. They have party hats on and Giyuu has a lipstick mark on his left cheek. You knew that the Hashira partied hard, but that lipstick mark is a different color from Kocho’s … 

This is exactly why you showed up an hour late. Mitsuri meets you guys at the door and squeals with excitement at the sight of you. “Come in! You’ll have to forgive Giyuu’s state.” You tell her it’s fine before entering and sitting on her couch. Gyomei is long abandoned, being a lightweight and has passed out on the loveseat. His face has frosting and paint across it in the shape of a mustache.

You watch Uzui run out in an obvious drunken state and smash a Sake bottle on the floor before yelling “Alright bitches it’s time to play a Game!” You snort out laughter recognizing the lipstick from Giyuu’s cheek on Tengen’s lips. Obanai yells in protest as everyone gathers around in a circle, each person getting a separate Sake bottle. 

You all start playing a game of truth or truth with the punishment of lying or passing a question to take a chug of Sake. Mitsuri goes 1st being the youngest. “Uzui, 1 or 2” Tengen picks 2 with confidence. “Uzui, have you ever done ‘it’ with a man?” There’s collective “OH SNAPS'' and “Oh we're getting right into it.” Uzui not wanting to lose so soon grabs Giyuu from across the circle and slurs out a “Hell yeah I have.” 

Giyuu immediately turns beet red and shoves himself out of Uzui’s lap. “No we haven’t, take a drink.” He grumbles obscenities before taking half the bottle down with one chug.  

You all go through the line before you and Mitsuri are the only ‘Sober’ faces at the estate. Mitsuri and Rengoku help all of the Hashira to their selective couches. You watch Giyuu roll over and hug himself into Kocho’s small figure. You chuckle, they look like a wolf hugging a kitten. Rengoku has one arm/leg over the couch, one arm under him, and the other leg hanging off the couch onto Tengen’s face.

Obanai is on the loveseat laying across Gyomei’s lap. You giggle a little, standing with a wobble. Mitsuri lets Rengoku find his spot on the floor before making her way back to you. “C’mon I have a spot in my room for you, I figured you wouldn’t want to sleep in a room full of drunken strangers.” You take a moment to LOVE Mitsuri for that thought before getting up to follow her to her room. 

The second you put your travel bag down she turns to you and asks “Didn’t you bring a futon?” You begin to panic, turning back to her. She seems to read your expression and find the answer. “You didn’t.” She Thinks for a second before squealing out and then, realizing the others, she lowers her voice. 

“You can sleep in my bed! Remember when we used to cuddle together as kids?” You calm down, smiling at her softly. You do remember, the two of you used to have slumber parties back in your village and the two of you would sleep in the same futon like tiny kids. Hell, you two even took baths together at one point before you two were too old. Maybe growing up with her is the reason you have no interest in men.

“Yeah, that’d be great.” you let out a soft hum moving to slide onto her pink and maroon bed. She moves in beside you turning so you two face the same way. In her moving to face you, and you moving to get closer, you end up face first into her cleavage. You freeze there for what feels like forever before falling to put your face in her pillow. You let out a scream into the pillow. Curse Mitsuri and her boob window obsession. 

“I’m so sorry!” Mitsuri whisper-yells to you. You look up bright red and tell her it’s fine. She moves in closer and you two lay on your backs looking at her glow hearts on the ceiling. 

You look up before pointing up at them ”You get them from the West?” She hums a yes moving her head to look at you “How do they glow?” You’ve only ever seen Glow Bugs glow before. This new technology was strange to you. She smiles a toothy grin and laughs lightly.

“They glow because of some kind of chemical from the sea. I could buy you some, they come in all kinds of shapes.” You shake your head no before letting your thoughts wander to the party earlier. You laugh a stuttered laugh turning your head her way.

“Where the hell did Tengen even get the lipstick from?” She laughs for a second before thinking and then laughing again.

“I don’t even Know, I don’t own Makeup and Shinobu-san didn’t bring any.” You let a thought wash over you earning a laugh. 

“What if it’s his?” Mitsuri busts out laughing. “I’m serious! What if he secretly uses it on himself around his wives?” With that Mitsuri laughs out harder. 

“Kinda fruity.” With that statement, you're both holding your sides from the pain of laughing so hard. Soon the laughter dies down and you're just staring at each other. You're the one to make the first move.

“Suri, can we cuddle? Like- How we did when we were little?” The question dusts your cheeks red and baffles Mitsuri. She does appreciate the nickname though. 

“(Y/n) you don’t even have to ask, C’mere!” She pulls you in making cuddle noises. You roll your eyes at her childish antics before snuggling into her hair. You reach up tugging the braids out carefully to let her pink and green hair fall free. Her hair always smells like cherry trees and apple cakes. 

She loves this, you're a bit shorter than her so she’s wanted to cuddle with you like this for a while now. She lets the sake control her for a second and reaches down to place a kiss on your cheek. You shoot up redder than you’ve ever been.

Mitsuri lets you look at her in bewilderment for a sec before realizing what she did and turning the same hue. “Wah! I’m so sor-” You reach up and plant a kiss on her lips. You don’t even let her reply before burying your face in her hair again, taking a deep breath of cherries. 

 “O-Oh .. Well I guess now we’re even ..” She hugs you closer, placing her chin on your head. She smiles closing her eyes ``Goodnight (Y/n), we’ll talk about this in the morning.” She pulls a pink blanket over you both and hugs you in her arms, gently lulling each of you to sleep. 

Endnotes: The idea of truth or truth is a game me and my friends play. We all sit in a circle and all partie would usually write their truth questions on cards and separate them into 2 piles. The 1st person to go picks a card from each deck, assigns a number to each one, and asks the player of their choice to pick a number. The player then has to answer the question with complete honesty and if anyone calls them out on a lie they have to chug a bottle of alcohol [Or soda if your underage] the game continues until [the cards are shuffled and put back unless you want to write new questions] a player has run out of drink or you decide to stop playing. 

[jadeylovesmarvelxo]

Fixxer up

I know most of your requests are angst to fluff but could I request a fluffy piece where y/n lives with just her mom and her mom is always working so any time something breaks in the house she has to figure it out by herself or just leaves it broken.

and when eddie visits one day he notices some broken things and she has to explain that she doesn’t know how to fix it so he tells her to make a list of everything that’s broken and he will fix it for her 😭 sorry if it’s hard to understand

Warnings; none, fluff, sweet Eddie

"Ahh shit". She didn't mean to break the vase, she didn't, she was trying to tidy up the house for her mom who was always working and wasn't around or too tired to do it.

One minute she was hoovering and the next she had knocked the table over and the vase, the table was fine. The vase was not.

The vase wasn't the only thing broken, she still hadent managed to fix the broken alarm clock in her room or the broken drawer in the kitchen.

It was beginning to stress her out. How the fuck did you fix an alarm clock? It didn't help that she was just getting over a bout of the flu either.

She was a lot better but she still had a headache from hell.

Her boyfriend Eddie was coming over soon and she didn't want to be stressed while he was over.

Eddie was an incredible boyfriend and he knew when she was anxious, he would suss out her mood in seconds so she brushes up the vase pieces, accidentally cutting her arm with a shard while she was to get all the pieces.

It stings like mad.

She just has time to clean and disinfect it and put on a plaster because the doorbell rings signalling Eddie's arrival.

She beams rushing to open it and throwing herself in Eddie's arms.

He chuckles kissing her hair.

"I missed you too my princess". He shrugs off his jacket and kisses her deeply. He rubs her shoulders and then stops, frowning.

"You're tense baby, what's the matter?". She sighs and cuddles into his chest.

"Broke a vase". He raises an eyebrow and she motions him to follow her.

She points to the broken vase pieces.

"I tried to fix the vase but I don't know how. I cut myself on a shard of it by accident and mom is going to freak, I didn't know what to do and now I'm panicking and have the worst headache".

He soothes her immediately and brings her arm to his lips, tenderly kissing it.

"Breathe sweetheart, sit down, I'll fix it". She shakes her head.

"S'not your job Eddie". He strokes her cheek and smiles tenderly.

"I can fix it, I want to do it. Write me a list of what needs to be fixed then sit down and relax, I'll be done soon".

"Eddie..." He gives her a stern look.

"No buts princess, you're just getting over the cold, you have a headache. I don't want you getting sick again or stressing yourself out so sit". He orders.

She does what he says and writes the list watching in awe as he begins to fix the alarm clock, the vase is unfortunately smashed beyond all repair but her mother was never, particularly that fond of it anyway.

He also fixes the drawer in less than fifteen minutes. She throws her arms around him grateful, her headache has also thankfully faded.

"Thank you, thank you, Eddie. You're amazing". He nuzzles her neck.

"Eddie the handyman to the rescue". He jokes.

"How did you know how to do all that?". She's curious now and his smile is a little sad.

"Getting used to not having a lot of money growing up, learned how to fix broken things myself, didn't have much of a choice".

She softens and kisses him again.

"Come on handsome, now it's me and you time yeah? You've earned major boyfriend brownie points". His eyes light up and trail suggestively down her body.

"Brownie points hmm? Well as you're handsome, handyman boyfriend. I think we should spend the rest of the day in bed yeah?".

Hell yes. She takes his hand and leads him upstairs for more fun activities.

❤💫

[krushkreates]

sam angst concept

cw/tw: listener and vamp death, blood, anxiety, frantic shouting

—

sams fed up with everyone calling him and asking him to heal. it’s not like he minds it, he really doesn’t. he still enjoys helping, like he did when he was human, but there comes a point where he can’t, and doesn’t want to expend anymore of little magic he has left. frankly, he wants to be left the hell alone and and have someone else doing that goddamn healing for once. he refuses to heal anyone, telling the clan and others that if it’s anything less than bleeding out or some severe illness, not to call.

this goes on for a few weeks until it comes to a head one night when vincent’s over at his place. they’re discussing some monarchal summit stuff after dropping by the monthly dinners they have when he gets a call on the landline. it’s a number he doesn’t recognize but he can feel the question coming already. he ignores, feeling the annoyance already building again from the first ring.

he lets the phone leave a voicemail, and goes back to talking. it rings again, the shrill tones beating against his eardrums. that damn vamp hearing again.

vincent asks are you gonna answer that to which sam gives a short, clipped like hell i am. i’m sick of being used like some sort of mobile medical station. it’s all yours if you’d like, im sure it’s just one of our clan members.

the former gets up and answers with a funny “collins residence, home of the polars, where opposites attract” but his face immediately drops and sam swears on his not life he goes a shade paler. his voice drops to an octave and becomes so somber sam feels a shiver go down his spine.

vincent hands the phone to sam, to which he hears crying in the background, accompanied by frantic shouting and echoes of is he coming? god please tell me he’s on his way- look at me darlin, look at me it’s okay. hey! don’t close your eyes! and sam swears and nearly drops the phone, his blood colder than the tundra.

sam? sam are you there? david’s usual rough voice is now filled with gravel and sam feels his uncertainty through the speaker.

he swallows thickly before saying yeah it’s me. what’s wrong david? is that asher? darlin’s there? where?

his eyes are going wider as david explains they had a run-in with quinn that resulted in his death and now darlin’s on the ground, a scream rips from their chest and claws it’s way out of their throat when asher applies pressure to wound.

it crackles the speaker and every hair on sam’s body is on end as he grabs his keys and shoves his boots on, vincent already has the door open and insists he’s coming along.

forcing himself to calm down, he asks david where they are and swears again when he learns it’s 25 miles out from his place, a text on his phone dings in his pocket and he promises he’ll be there as fast as he can.

fast isn’t fast enough as he arrives to hear darlin’s death rattles, the choking alone making him nearly hysterical as he inspects the wound. deep, oozing, with various debris lodged inside and he’s pretty sure he can see crushed bone. how they didn’t completely bleed out is a miracle. they feel so cold, and for the thousandth time tonight, he’s kicking himself for not answering that first call.

he does his best. fixes half the gaping gash and the bone looks as though it’s never been smashed and darlin’s skin is an ashen shade. they’re barely clinging to life and as much as david wishes he could help, he used the rest of his magic to get them to some place decently safe.

they tap his hand, their signal to him to lean in closer. he does, close enough to nearly touch their lips when they reach a shaky hand up. his head is turned so he’s looking at them and they give him the most gentle kiss he’s ever received from them. they go still after, their body limp in his arms. a wretched yell leaves his lips, animalistic cries and acrid tears burn his cheeks. the others look on in somber grief, tears silently falling from them.

it’s too late.

[bitsandbobsofwriting]

The Hell he’s been through;

The Knights have no clue of the suffering Merlin has endured… until one day, they do.

TW: Scars, panic attacks, nightmares, PTSD except they don’t have a word for that, non-graphic description of scars/injuries

Part 2(final part)

It was the height of summer, the bright blue sky was utterly free of clouds and the noon sun beat viciously down onto the training field.

Only the central six knights, their King, and Merlin braved the exhausting heat, the other knights had chosen to train later in the day, when it was cooler, so the field was empty of anyone else. Merlin was sat cross-legged in the shade of a tree, jacket and neckerchief removed (not that Arth- anyone noticed. Definitely not.), though his sleeves were still pulled low over his wrists and his tunic was fastened high up his neck. Despite that, the lack of an extra layer definitely displayed Merlin’s surprisingly broad shoulders more than normal (another thing that Ar-no one noticed). 

The knights were shirtless, despite Merlin’s warning of sunburn, sparring semi-playfully with wooden dummy swords, the type squires train with, and no armour.

Merlin rubs absent-mindedly at the dull, almost gone ache in his ribs, just below his armpit, as he rolls his shoulder. The injury, if it could even be called that, had never been serious and hadn’t even hurt that much when he’d gotten it on the last patrol (a stray mace swing from a bandit just clipped him), at least, not compared to other injuries he’s sustained over the years, but it was an annoyance that made his shoulder stiff on occasion.

Unfortunately, the movement caught Arthur’s eye, and the King frowns, stopping his observation of Elyan and Mordred’s spar to lay a crudely hidden concerned gaze upon his manservant. 

He’d fussed endlessly when he found that Merlin had bandaged his own torso after the fight, demanding that he let someone help next time; Merlin just rolled his eyes at that. The other knights had wisely chosen not to comment, knowing that the attack, and Merlin’s subsequent injury, had already put Arthur in a bad enough mood; though admittedly, the only thing stopping Gwaine from ruthlessly taking the piss out of Arthur’s mother-hen tendencies all the way home was Percival harshly clamping a hand over his mouth and pushing him away.

Merlin looks up to see Arthur staring at him, and the King quickly covers his concern with a look of annoyance when the manservant raises an eyebrow:

“If you’re not going to do anything useful Merlin, get up here, you clearly can’t be trusted to even cower effectively, so you’re going to have to learn to defend yourself.”

Merlin’s eyebrow just rises higher as the rest of the knights’ attention is drawn to the conversation. Lancelot and Mordred hide knowing smiles, well aware than Merlin was more than capable of defending himself, if he really needed to. Gwaine went to open his mouth with teasing grin, though quickly pouts when Percival punches him on the shoulder, and Leon and Elyan smirk at each other before moving their amused gazes to Arthur.

When Merlin doesn’t move, just stares at him disbelievingly, Arthur rolls his eyes and gestures at the half-empty rack of wooden swords:

“Come on, Merlin, up on your feet, grab a sword.”

Merlin just snorts in amusement and shakes his head, settling back against the tree trunk even more:

“Absolutely not. I can handle myself just fine, thank you very much.”

The knights (bar Lancelot and Mordred of course) raise their own eyebrows. Gwaine snorts out loud, stepping up next to Arthur and dropping an overly-friendly hand on his shoulder, much to The King’s displeasure:

“I know you can hold your own in a tavern brawl Merls, but that’s not the same thing as facing bandits and assassins and shit. Princess is right, it might be worth it for you to at least know how to use a sword.”

Arthur turns an accusing gaze on Gwaine, shrugging his hand off as he says:

“And I presume all the tavern brawls Merlin has apparently been getting into are your fault?”

Gwaine grimaces slightly before shrugging with a smirk, and Merlin hides his laughter with a cough before inserting:

“Entirely his fault. Gwaine starts the fights, promptly passes out, and I have to finish them.”

Arthur laughs incredulously; Mordred has to hide the angry clench of his jaw and Lancelot has to hide his sorrow when Arthur replies in a taunting tone:

“I’m meant to believe that you are regularly winning Gwaine’s unfinished fights, am I?”

Merlin shrugs in mock defeat, a grin on his face:

“Believe what you want, Sire, I’ve faced worse than you lot and come out singing, I don’t need training.”

Arthur resists the urge to smirk at the appealing way Merlin manages to make his title sound insulting, and he instead raises his eyebrows:

“You’re not getting out of this, Merlin. I can’t have you bruising yourself every time we leave the city.”

Merlin takes in a deep breath, settling a disconcertingly assessing gaze on The King for a few moments before he sighs and stands up, walking towards the equipment and picking up a sword before turning back to Arthur:

“I suppose you’re right, I doubt any of the other servants would be willing to put up with you if I got too injured. Who would you like me to spar, My Lord?”

Arthur scoffs and shakes his head as the others step back, looking upon the whole scene with fond amusement, bar, once again, Lancelot and Mordred, who are looking an odd mix between concerned and proud. They know that Merlin is capable of more than he lets on, even with a wooden blade.

“You can’t spar with any of us, Merlin, that would be far too dangerous. We’ll start with some basic moves, and then maybe we can move on to a slow, choreographed spar.”

Merlin twirls the sword expertly in his hand, and he’s vaguely away of Gwaine nodding approvingly and Leon raising an eyebrow out the corner of his eye, though he pays them no mind, raising an eyebrow of his own at Arthur:

“Surely starting with a simple spar will tell you my exact skill levels so you can tailor the lessons? You need to know how crap I am before we start.”

Lancelot hides a snort behind a hand, knowing full well that Merlin is just trying to goad Arthur into letting the servant show off his skills without too much effort beforehand. Or without giving Arthur the satisfaction of thinking that he was the one who taught Merlin how to fight. Thankfully, Arthur takes Lance’s snort as a teasing one aimed at Merlin, as opposed to what it really is, so waves him into the ring with a smirk.

Merlin just rolls his eyes, moving to stand opposite his best friend and muttering, just loud enough for everyone to hear:

“Fine, but I’m not taking my shirt off, I’m not as arrogant as you lot.”

Lancelot widens his eyes as Arthur freezes, dread growing in his stomach at the knowledge that The King would take that as a challenge. Arthur turns slowly, a shit-eating grin on his face, and Lancelot grimaces as Arthur claps his hands together:

“Right! I wasn’t going to mention it, but you do have a point, Merlin, if you are to train, you must train as one of us. Come on, tunic off.”

Elyan, Percival, and Gwaine just laugh, but Leon rolls his eyes exasperatedly, and Mordred and Lancelot frown in concern. Neither of them have seen Merlin’s scars in their entirety before, but knowing about the servant’s secret second life had definitely made them more observant than the others, and they had seen hints of old injuries here and there. That’s not even mentioning the times he’s shown up in their chambers, bloody and bruised and in need of treatment, but not wanting to worry Gaius.

Merlin just flushed and stared at him indignantly and Arthur’s teasing grin grew:

“Don’t be shy, Merlin, I’m sure whatever horrific mole or ugly birth mark you’re ashamed of isn’t that bad.”

Merlin rolls his eyes, stepping away from Arthur when he moves towards him. The demand to de-robe, even partially, had immediately put him on edge, and he had gone from playfully annoyed to genuinely irate in a split second. He crosses his arms over his chest protectively when Arthur gestures at him demandingly:

“I don’t have a weird mole, Arthur, you Clotpole, but unlike you lot, I’m not all that keen to show off my old scars.”

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say. Merlin was hoping that mentioning his scars in passing would appeal to the knights’ warrior sides, would make them sympathetic to his… shy-ness. It did not. It just made them laugh, even Leon, and they all began to point out various scars they had on their chests and back, remarking that he couldn’t have worse than them. 

Gwaine twisted to the side, patting a pink, jagged circle halfway down his back, a grin on his face:

“This beauty is from when I propositioned a lovely fella who was, apparently, already taken. Man’s wife smashed her bottle on the counter and damn near took my eye out with it.”

Elyan cackles at Gwaine’s story, pointing to a perfectly square burn on his shoulder-blade:

“Yeah, well at least you didn’t fall back into a red hot brand at the ripe old age of fifteen because a girl smiled at you.”

Merlin’s back-up plan, which was sneakily sulking off whilst the knights compared their most embarrassing scars, was cut short basically immediately when he heard Arthur yell out:

“Absolutely not, Merlin, I’ve already told you that you’re not getting out of this. Tunic off, spar Lancelot.”

Merlin huffs, annoyed, feeling rather like he was backed into a corner, and Mordred walks forward, to be between him and The King, quietly saying:

“You don’t have to Merlin, just fight with it on.”

Arthur narrows his eyes in suspicion, but before he can say anything, Merlin squares his shoulders and looks at him defiantly, dropping his sword to the floor as he begins unlacing his tunic, his words coming out harshly, his tone dark:

“No, no it’s fine. The King wants to see my scars, and we all know that The King gets whatever he wants.”

The smiles melt rather quickly off the knights’ faces as Merlin speaks, and Arthur flinches slightly at his tone, starting to realise with just a little guilt that maybe this wasn’t funny anymore. He opens his mouth to take it back, to tell Merlin that he was only teasing and he could keep the tunic on if he really wanted to, but before any words come out, Merlin is gripping the collar of his shirt, pulling it over his head swiftly and screwing it up before tossing it to the side, not once breaking his stare on the now pale King.

Arthur lets out a sharp breath at the patchwork of scars that cover Merlin’s chest, and he’s vaguely aware of the various low cries and gasps of outrage coming from the knights behind him. There are so many, some are large and some are small, some look to be from clumsiness, but others look like they should have been fatal. Arthur’s eyes can’t focus on just one, he’s barely taking in each scar before his gaze is drawn to another, and then another, and then another; it’s a little overwhelming, and it’s only when he starts to feel a little woozy that he remembers to breath.

When he finally comes to the conclusion that his brain isn’t going to able to process this for a while, he looks up to Merlin’s face, instead taking in his resolute expression and hard eyes:

“Merlin, what… what happened to you?”

Merlin raises a slow, mocking eyebrow before breaking his statue-like stillness and picking his sword up again, turning to face a distraught looking Lancelot. This movement only reveals the second mosaic of scars covering his back, but he speaks over the next round of gasps and muffled curses, his tone still unbearably dark as he gestures Lance to get into position:

“I told you, I’ve faced worse than you lot and come out singing.”

The knights are so distracted by the myriad of scars covering Merlin’s torso that it takes the servant’s first harsh, well-aimed blow with his sword to break them out of their stupor. They watch the ensuing spar with morbid fascination, finding that not only can Merlin hold his own, he’s winning. Lancelot loses his breath and rhythm much quicker than Merlin does, and the fast-paced spar only lasts around three minutes before Merlin lands a strong punch to the centre of Lance’s chest and the knight stumbles back in shock, lowering his sword just enough for Merlin to step forward and trip him up.

The scarred servant’s chest rises and falls deeply, but not too rapidly as he lowers his sword and offers a hand down to the beaten knight. Lancelot takes it with a slightly shocked smile, patting Merlin on the shoulder as he stands. Merlin flinches away from the touch, no one misses it, clearly not too fond of people touching his bare skin, and Lance drops his hand rapidly, frowning only briefly before he smiles again:

“Bloody hell, Merlin. I knew you were good, but not that good.”

Merlin gives him a strained smile, grateful for the distraction. Everyone sees the moment Merlin’s mask goes up again; he gives Lance a smug grin and twirls his sword once again as he shrugs mockingly:

“I’ve been watching you lot train for ten years, and I’ve been in a few sword fights in my time. I picked up a few things.”

Arthur finally reacts, scoffing as he shakes his head in disbelief, scars momentarily forgotten:

“There’s no way that you can- that was a fluke.-”

He looks smug as he says it, like he’s figured out some great secret, and Mordred lets out a low, annoyed growl; no one notices thankfully, but Merlin shoots him a quick frustrated line across their mental link:

“Please try not to antagonise him any further.”

Mordred looks to him, keeping his face blank as he nods almost imperceptibly. Lancelot and Gwaine look openly disapproving of Arthur’s assertion, but Leon, Percival, and Elyan look almost convinced. Arthur nods decisively, picking up his sword once again and waving it in Merlin’s direction:

“-My turn. And once I’ve beaten you, you’re going to tell us about all of… that.”

Merlin’s eye twitches, but he doesn’t say anything, just nods slightly as he holds a placating hand out in Lancelot’s direction when it becomes obvious that his best friend is going to start trying to defend him.

Arthur takes Lancelot’s place in the ring and Merlin grips his sword tightly, his shoulders tense and his face showing only mild annoyance, despite the anger that Lancelot and Mordred were sure was simmering under his façade. At Arthur’s nod, Leon reluctantly counts them in, and the match begins.

This one is somehow even more fast-paced, though no one is surprised. The last ten minutes had caught Arthur extremely off-guard. An off-guard Arthur is a grumpy Arthur, and a grumpy Arthur is, unfortunately, still the type to take his frustrations out on others. Arthur wasn’t good at dealing with his emotions, meaning the disturbing mix of horror, guilt, and anger at Merlin’s scars, slight… shock, (because he refuses to call it anything else) at his deceptively strong physique, and surprise that apparently his servant can take out one of his best knights without all that much effort, all together have The King bursting with adrenaline. 

He throws blow after blow, but Merlin’s defence is incredibly strong, and Arthur has yet to land a hit anywhere other than the opposing sword. After a couple of minutes, Merlin switches styles, and Arthur almost trips when he realises his servant has, in the space of a second, gone from fighting like Arthur, to fighting like Leon. The knights notice it as well; Gwaine lets out a low whistle and Elyan smacks Leon on the shoulder, pointing incredulously at a sequence of complicated footwork that usually only the First Knight can manage so gracefully. Apparently Merlin can do it too.

Arthur adapts to this quickly; Leon was his sparring partner most often, meaning that he was accustomed to switching between their styles, and they were the most similar fighters in all the group. 

Another minute passes, and the pair still don’t slow, seemingly unbothered by their dumbfounded audience and the sweltering heat, and this time Merlin suddenly starts fighting more like Gwaine. Instead of staying on the defensive and trying to trip Arthur up, he goes on the attack, landing heavier and heavier hits as The King barely manages to defend himself in time.

Merlin is quickly growing tired, his stamina not nearly as good as Arthur’s, but The King grows complacent, even with the vicious pace, certain that he just has to wait Merlin out. He was wrong. Arthur finally gets an attack of his own in but Merlin dives to the side instead of blocking it, rolling and coming up to Arthur’s left before the blonde has time to regain his balance and turn around. He freezes in place when Merlin touches his wooden sword to the side of Arthur’s neck. He can feel it shaking, but it’s undoubtedly a killing blow, and when Merlin drops the sword to the floor in favour of bending over, one hand on his knee and the other on his side again as he pants, Arthur turns around faster than he thinks he’s ever moved before:

“How the fuck did you do that?”

Merlin is vaguely aware of the knights all clapping and shouting encouragement at him, but he doesn’t look up, just waves dismissively in Arthur’s direction:

“I told you, I’ve been watching you lot train for years. It’s easy to imitate you after a little practice.”

Arthur just stares at him in disbelief, but Leon hands the servant a water-skin, ripping his gaze from the whip marks on his back with clenched teeth before schooling his tone and face into something more friendly:

“Merlin, you switched styles twice in as many minutes… you beat the best swordsman in the Kingdom after already being tired from another spar, that’s… that’s incredible.”

Merlin drinks the entire skin as Leon speaks, looking up with another playful mask on his face:

“Well believe me, I’m so sore I don’t think I’ll ever be able to do it again.”

Merlin’s smile drops when he realises everyone is back to staring at him, more specifically, his scars. He steps away from the curly-haired knight, who furrows his brows in concern and resists the urge to reach a comforting hand out to him. Merlin crosses his arms over his chest defensively, hunching his broad shoulders slightly as he frowns at the floor.

Lancelot quickly throws his tunic to him, and Merlin scrambles to pull it on as quickly as possible, but before he can even get his arms through the right holes, Arthur snatches it away, a stern, angry look on his face. Though every one of then can see the badly hidden concern as well:

“No, you agreed to tell us.”

Merlin makes a move for his tunic, but Arthur jumps out of his reach. The servant huffs, annoyed and close to tears all of a sudden as he petulantly replies:

“Actually, you said once you beat me, I had to tell you. I won.”

Arthur raises an eyebrow, taking another step back:

“I’m happy to go another round if you are, Merlin?”

Merlin glares at him angrily for another few moments before completely sagging, staring at the floor with sad, tired eyes as his arms drop to dangle at his sides. Arthur and the knights are completely taken aback at Merlin’s sudden change of disposition, though it heartbreakingly strikes them as less of a change and more of a... reveal. A reveal of some kind of sadness that’s been there all along. How did they not notice this??

Arthur’s breath hitches and his tight clutch on Merlin’s tunic loosens slightly as he all but whispers:

“Merlin... who did this to you?”

Merlin finally looks up at him, letting out a humourless chuckle as he rakes a hand through his sweat-dampened hair roughly:

“Does it matter? Most of them are dead, I-”

His eyes narrow and his voice lowers. The knights hear it nonetheless:

“... I made sure of that .”

Arthur lets out a huff of frustration, not bothering to hide the desperation in his eyes as he pleads:

“Please, Merlin, you’re my... subject, you’re meant to be under my protection. And don’t lie, none of these are more than eleven or twelve years old at most and you got here ten years ago, so they happened in Camelot, under my watch. Please, Merlin.”

Merlin sighs, walking towards the tree’s shade once again. For a moment Arthur panics, thinking he’d pushed Merlin too far as he turned away, knowing that if this conversation wasn’t had now, their relationship would never be the same. But before The King can say anything, the servant slumps back into place against the tree trunk, sitting cross-legged again and biting his lip as he looks at Arthur expectantly.

Before anyone else can move, Mordred and Lancelot take the places either side of Merlin, sitting protectively close. Lance gives Mordred a pointed look, to which the younger knight nods before settling a blank expression on the side of Merlin’s head. Merlin doesn’t look back at him, but pats the knight’s knee as the corner of his mouth turns up briefly in a barely-there smile.

Arthur narrows his eyes, but stores that odd exchange in the back of his mind to deal with at a later date before sitting across from Merlin; the other knights look to each other, worried, before settling in the empty spaces to complete the circle. The group is silent for a while, all staring at a statue-still Merlin who in turn is staring at the grass in front of him; he doesn’t move even when Lancelot brings his hand into his lap, stroking his thumb over the servant’s knuckles absent-mindedly.

It’s Percival that finally breaks the silence, asking in a quiet voice:

“What happened, Merlin?”

Merlin looks up suddenly, as if he had forgotten he had company, taking in a deep breath and tightening his grip on Lance’s hand. He gulps before once again running his free hand through his hair, shrugging slightly as he mutters:

“I don’t recall all of them in perfect detail, just ask about... whatever catches your eye I guess, and we’ll see what I can remember.”

The knights all nod, looking to each other expectantly, no one really wanting to go first. Eventually Leon clears his throat, his voice gentle:

“Why don’t we start with the whip marks on your back?”

Merlin nods, grateful that they were at least starting off with the non-magical injuries. He doesn’t make eye contact with anyone as he speaks, his voice croaky and quiet:

“The newer ones are from Cenred, from a few years ago. He wanted information and I spat at his feet and told him to fuck off. He... he didn’t take too kindly to that.”

Gwaine lets out a quiet curse, and Arthur sits up straight, saying in a crackingly authoritative voice:

“Merlin, if anyone ever tries to extract information from you again, you give them anything. Everything. We’ll deal with the fall-out afterwards, it is not your job to withstand torture.”

The other knights nod approvingly but Merlin just looks up at The King with a raised eyebrow:

“Like hell. I can put up with a remarkable amount, I’d never sell Camelot, or you, out. Never, Arthur.”

Arthur huffs and resolutely ignores the tears gathering in his eyes, but Elyan beats him to the mark:

“That’s not... you shouldn’t have to put up with anything Merlin, it’s not necessary. You just... keep yourself safe. We’ll worry about everything else.”

The other knights nod again, but Merlin scowls and tenses even further, even as Lancelot squeezes his hand comfortingly:

“I’ve been through literal hell, multiple times, in order to protect my home and the people that are important to me. I’m not going to stop that just because it makes you lot uncomfortable, and you have no right to tell me to it’s not my place.”

Everyone looks desperate to argue, but they can’t deny that, after what they’ve seen today, in the last half a candle-mark only, Merlin is evidently a lot stronger than they’ve ever given him credit for. Both physically and mentally. Leon just gives Merlin a small smile and nods; he’s the only one here who has known Merlin just as long as Arthur, and he may not be as close to the younger man as The King or Lance or Gwaine or Mordred, but he’s seen his loyalty in action several times over the years:

“You said the newer ones were from Cenred. You’ve been flogged more than once?”

Merlin nods at the knight, grateful for his understanding and change of subject, even if said change of subject was back to his scars. His expression turns slightly guilty as his gaze moves to Arthur, and The King has a feeling he’s going to feel incredibly terrible at whatever it is Merlin is about to say:

“The others are from... uh.... Uther.-”

Arthur takes in a sharp breath as the tears he had just about managed to get under control gather again. The other knights just look angry, bar Leon, who, though miserable, looks as though he sort of expected it:

“-He didn’t like me very much.”

Arthur whispers his response:

“When? Merlin, when and why did my father have you flogged, and how did I not know about it?”

Merlin tenses his jaw, going from guilty to angry in a split second, snapping his response:

“Why do you think?!-”

Arthur recoils and Merlin closes his eyes briefly as he takes a deep breath, looking back to Arthur with a blank mask and speaking in a monotone voice:

“What did you think he would do every time I took the blame for you missing a meeting or a meal or a training session because you were entertaining a woman or pissing about with your knights? I had to walk into the council room and apologise for your absence because I slept in or I forgot to tell you or I sent you on a hunt on the wrong day. Uther was in the habit of burning people and chopping off an alarming number of heads, did you really think I would get away with it punishment free??

Arthur goes pale as a sheet and his hands tremble with the understanding. He shakes his head slightly as he looks to his lap, ignoring the tears on his cheeks as he murmurs:

“Merlin I am so sorry, I didn’t... I didn’t think... if I had known I would have duelled him in the damn town square to protect you.-”

Arthur looks up sharply, wiping his face clean as he settles an assessing gaze on his servant, ignoring Gwaine’s murderous glare as he slowly continues:

“-... which is exactly why you never told me, isn’t it?”

Merlin shrugs, a small smile on his face:

“You may never admit it, Arthur, but you were protective of me, even then.”

Arthur flushes slightly, before frowning again and shaking his head:

“You should have told me, it’s my job to protect you.”

Merlin raises an eyebrow, smirking slightly:

“I think we’ve already had this conversation.”

Arthur huffs and narrows his eyes again, good-naturedly this time, and Merlin just rolls his eyes before seeming to sag again, speaking quietly:

“Come on, next one.”

Elyan raises his hand slightly before pointing to the centre of Merlin’s chest:

“How the hell did you get a burn like that?”

Merlin tenses, rubbing a hand over the roughly circular, pink and white scar in the centre of his chest. The flesh looked melted in places, white scar tissue spider-webbing out from his sternum, beginning to fade just before it stretched around his sides, and stopping a few inches above his naval:

“Witch threw a fireball at me. Hurt like hell, but there was quite a lot of adrenaline at the time so I didn’t really notice the pain until later.”

Gwaine raises an eyebrow, evidently trying to control his anger as he asks, in a shaking, though forceful, voice:

“And what were you doing fighting a witch powerful enough to throw fire around?”

Merlin stops rubbing at the scar when Lancelot tugs his hand and Mordred mutters “You’re going to hurt yourself, Merlin.” in his head, curling his hand tightly in his lap instead and speaking slowly, as if he were choosing each word individually:

“Only Leon and Arthur were in Camelot for that. Arthur was dying from the Questing Beast bite, I... went to the Isle of the Blessed to speak to the followers of the Old Religion. There was said to be someone there who had power over life and death and I... Arthur was dying, I had to try.-”

Arthur’s eyes widened at Merlin’s words, mostly the mention of such a power, but stays silent, nodding at him to continue:

“-But the Old Religion requires balance, a life for a life,-”

Leon releases a deep breath, looking to the floor at the implication with his eyes closed, and Arthur lets out a whispered whimper, knowing the depths of Merlin’s loyalty:

“-I offered my own in exchange for Arthur’s. She, Nimueh, that is, accepted,-”

Arthur opens his mouth to say something, he’s not sure what, but before he can yell about Merlin’s self preservation, he notices the darkness on his dearest friend’s face and his voice catches in his throat. Merlin stares at the floor, his face drawn and angry and his voice stormy and clipped:

“-but she tried to trick me. I didn’t appreciate that, we fought, she died. Her life for Arthur’s: the deal was done.”

An audible gasp goes up around the circle, and Percival, who is (other than Merlin and Mordred of course) the most well versed in Magic Info, responds breathlessly:

“Merlin... Nimueh is a High Priestess, The master over Life and Death, she’s very very powerful.”

Merlin looks up at the gentle giant sharply, his gaze unforgiving and his tone harsh:

“Yeah, and she’s also very very dead, because she pissed me off.”

Percival gulps and lowers his gaze, but Arthur seems to have missed everything the two of them just said as he stares blankly at his servant:

“You’d barely known me a year, and I’ll admit that I was an arse back then, and you tried to give your life for mine. Why?”

Merlin looks at him curiously, not responding for a few moments as his anger dies down and his pride grows:

“I had it on good authority that you would become a Great King one day. It only took a little squinting to see it, you were a good man, a man I was, and still am, prepared to sacrifice myself for. You were an arse, yes, you still sort of are, but I have faith in you, always have, always will.”

Lancelot and Mordred smile fondly at him as the other knights stare dumbfounded, but Arthur clenches his jaw, ignoring the shaking in his voice as he says:

“Well, I... I forbid it. You are officially forbidden from sacrificing yourself for me, legally.”

Gwaine perks up slightly:

“Out of curiosity, do we all get the same-”

Arthur interrupts him with a forceful, though slightly amused:

“Shut up, Gwaine. And no, you’re a knight, your entire job description is to jump head first into danger so I don’t have to. I have every faith that you’ll die for me one day.”

Everyone lets out quiet snorts at that, bar Gwaine of course, who looks jokingly affronted before he nods and shrugs, quietly muttering “Yeah, fair enough,-”, the rest of his sentence (”especially considering you’re in love with him but not any of us.”) goes unheard and unchallenged.

Merlin chooses not to respond to Arthur’s demand, but everyone knows that’s his way of not committing to anything, knowing full well that Merlin had never listened to Arthur’s orders before, and sure as shit wasn’t going to start now.

“Next one.”

Merlin’s face had fallen slightly, knowing he wasn’t going to get away with explaining only two sets of scars, and Gwaine asks next, his eyes being drawn to Merlin’s gesturing hand:

“The red bands around your wrists and neck. They look like burns, but not very deep ones. How did they scar if they weren’t deep?”

Merlin looks down at the scars on his wrists, resisting the urge to absent-mindedly claw at the one he knows sits low on his neck. They’re about two inches wide, pale pink and almost impossible to see in the dark but impossible not to see in the light of the noon sun, even sat in the shade. The edges were clean cut and perfectly straight, and Merlin winced slightly at the memory of his magic being contained in such a way.

He looks around the circle, speaking easily. Though it was painful, it was no where near the worst Merlin has ever had, and even if he couldn’t tell the full truth, it felt sort of nice not to have to hide these ones:

“Some sort of enchanted chains, they drained my energy, made me sick and tired, but the magic in the metal sort of... stung, I guess. I don’t really know. I’d been captured by Morgause (is Morgana not mentioned in this entire fic but still Good? Yes.) again and I suppose she didn’t want to take any chances.”

Everyone looks shocked at his casual admission, and Leon is the first to break the tense silence:

“When were you captured by Morgause?”

Before Merlin can respond, Arthur pipes up incredulously:

“Again. You said again. Merlin, how many times have you been kidnapped by Morgause without anyone realising? How many times have you been kidnapped in general?!”

Merlin winces slightly, speaking in a slightly defensive tone as he stares at Arthur as though the answer is obvious:

“Arthur... I’m The King’s personal manservant. I have the power to overrule the Steward and the Housekeeper if I wanted to; as far as servant’s go, I have the most authority, even more than some low level nobles, especially when it comes to running the citadel. I’m sort of... a big deal. I have access to pretty much any information I could want, even more than this lot-”

He gestures to the knights around the circle. Mordred and Lancelot look a little proud once again, Leon is staring at Arthur, shocked that The King didn’t know this, and everyone else stares at Merlin, only just realising that... Merlin was right. None of them have considered it before, but he practically runs the castle.

“-most of the time, and I’m the only one who knows every single state secret, simply from my proximity to you and your council and your paperwork. That is rather... desirable to people like Morgause, people who want to attack Camelot.”

Merlin purses his lips awkwardly as everyone stares at him blankly, but Gwaine is the first to break the silence:

“... and we’ve just been letting you walk around, unprotected.”

Merlin raises as eyebrow:

“I think we’ve already established I don’t need protection.”

Arthur huffs and throws his hands up awkwardly:

“Well you obviously do, if you’re getting kidnapped so often. When even was this?? You haven’t disappeared for a while, and we haven’t had any trouble from Morgause in months.”

Merlin’s face falls, and the knights are taken aback at the reappearance of the... cruel darkness in his expression:

“Believe me, I know. She... won’t be bothering us any longer, I wasn’t fond of her repeated attempts to kill me or you so I... took care of it.”

The knights go pale at Merlin’s casual admittance of killing yet another High Priestess of the Old Religion. He smirks into his lap briefly until Lance once again squeezes his hand, as if reminding him of the mask he should be wearing. Arthur stares at his servant and long time friend, struggling to reconcile the clumsy ideal he has in his head with this... hardened, tortured protector:

“How? Nimueh and Morgause... just... how??”

Merlin’s eyes slowly move up to meet Arthur’s gaze, and The King gulps at the assessing way the servant tilts his head:

“Playing the role of clumsy rural idiot can be a little demeaning sometimes, but it also means that people tend to underestimate me. They think I’m an easy target, and by the time they realise I’ve played them, it’s too late.”

Arthur recoils slightly, and Merlin once again changes dispositions, shrugging casually and smiling easily, his tone light:

“You can get away with a remarkable amount when people think you’re stupid.”

The circle lets out an in-sync breath. All of them knew that Merlin wasn’t stupid by any stretch of the imagination, but they didn’t realise just how smart he is. None of them would admit it, but Elyan, Leon, Percival, Arthur, and even Gwaine on some level, still subconsciously considered Merlin “just a servant” in the back of their minds. At least... they did. 

(Not that that old thought process made them think any less of him, they just didn’t think of him as complicated, as a warrior.)

Merlin takes a deep breath, knowing that his friends would never see him in the same way, but sort of hoping that that was a good thing, gesturing vaguely to the circle once again. Arthur asks the next question, touching his hand to the back of his own neck softly:

“There’s a cut on the back of your neck. It looks deep, like it was reopened over and over, what is it?”

Merlin grimaces slightly, wiping his free hand over his face in exhaustion as Lancelot squeezes his other hand, and Mordred pats his knee comfortingly:

“That one was a few years ago, courtesy of Morgause again. She put something called a Fomorrah in me-”

Percival gasped slightly, harshly whispering “Gods.” under his breath. Arthur spares him a quick glance, making a mental note to question how his knight seems to know so much about sorcery at a later date:

“-so she could try to make me kill Arthur; it sort of... controls you. Makes you only able to focus on whatever instruction you’re given when it’s first put in you. Gaius kept having to cut it out of me, it wouldn’t stop re-growing until we killed the rest of it’s body, and that was with Morgause somewhere out of the city.”

Arthur looked a little outraged, hiding the worry of “I now know that Merlin could kill me without any trouble at all so how the fuck am I alive?”. Apparently he doesn’t hide it well; Merlin gives him a comforting smile and shrugs his shoulders slightly:

“I fought the compulsion pretty well, kept coming up with increasingly complicated assassination plans instead of just... stabbing you in your sleep or something.”

Arthur goes to respond, but he’s interrupted by Leon loudly cursing, his eyes wide as he stares at Merlin with flushed cheeks:

“I just... gave you a crossbow!! You said you were going to kill Arthur and I thought you were joking and I let you walk out the armoury with a crossbow and a handful of bolts!!”

Merlin chuckles, a blush of his own rising as he responds, rubbing the back of his neck again:

“Yeah... I don’t really remember it, but Gaius and Gwen filled me in on what had happened. To be fair, it’s kind of flattering that you never considered that I was the assassin, despite the repeated attempts being made on Arthur’s life and the fact that I admitted it to your face.”

Leon stares at the floor with wide eyes, seemingly trying to process the fact that he had pointed a would be assassin in the right direction, muttering something along the lines of “oh my Gods oh my Gods oh my Gods” over and over until Elyan awkwardly patted him on the back, breaking him from his embarrassed horror.

Arthur clears his throat, staring at Merlin with an almost unreadable expression:

“I did wonder why the attempts just... stopped?”

Merlin understands the question in his tone and nods slightly before replying:

“Hmm. Gaius and Gwen figured out it was me, found a way to paralyse the thing in my neck until I managed to get back to Morgause’s little lair and kill the main body.”

Arthur nods distractedly. How many times had this happened? “This” being something entirely ridiculous and/or incredibly dangerous right under his nose.

Percival clears his throat and Merlin looks to the nervous man, nodding at him to ask whatever it was that was on his mind, despite his growing discomfort:

“There’s... on your back, it looks like a stab wound but... worse. The veins around it are black and it looks painful despite it’s obvious age and... well... it looks like a Serket Sting, but it... it can’t be, right?”

Merlin tenses, back to looking as exhausted and scared and as ready to bolt as he had at the beginning of the conversation. Lancelot squeezes his hand again, tightly this time, and Mordred takes his other to stop him from clenching it too harshly, murmuring:

“You don’t have to, Merlin, not this one.”

Arthur clenches his jaw at the knowledge that two of his knights had known about this. Had known the collage of agony on Merlin’s body, had known what he’d been through and done nothing. Hadn’t prevented it, hadn’t brought it to Arthur, hadn’t protected him. But equally, with how protective and loyal and secretive Merlin is, and how heartbroken the two of them had looked when Merlin first took his tunic off, they likely hadn’t known the full extent of damage.

Merlin just sighs and shakes his head, sensing the curious stares of the others before rising to his knees and turning around, running a shaking hand over the scar briefly before dropping his hand to his side again. The others stare, astounded. They’d only caught brief glimpses of it before, but now they could see it properly it was undoubtedly a Serket Sting. 

The deep puncture mark on his lower back had closed up, but the skin was still sunken in slightly, red and angry looking with hints of purple towards the middle. Percival was right: dark veins, as if permanently poisoned, stretched out from the centre of the wound, dipping below the waistband of his trousers and fading about halfway up his back. 

After a few moments, Merlin turns around again and sits back down, placing his still shaking hand back in Lance’s lap without prompting. Arthur’s one-word question is whispered and cracked, and no one judges him for the tears in his eyes; most of them have tears of their own gathering and falling at their friend’s pain:

“How?”

Merlin gulps, not looking up as he leans slightly into Mordred’s shoulder. The young knight presses back, knowing how fond the servant is of warm pressure, not minding the sticky sweatiness of their still uncovered torsos in the noon heat:

“Morgause again. She got annoyed with me always ruining her plans, getting in the way. Left me chained up in the middle of a nest of... in the middle of a nest.”

Leon takes a deep breath, rubbing his eyes harshly and sniffing before asking, his voice strong despite the slight waver:

“How did you survive that? I’ve... I’ve seen men get stung by serkets and it’s not... nice.”

Merlin breathes shakily, his mouth open slightly as he stares at the floor, memories flashing through his mind and the scar on his back twinging uncomfortably. Again, Percival was right, despite it’s age, it did still hurt. He takes one last deep breath, clenching his eyes shut tightly before looking up at the curly-haired knight, not quite making eye-contact:

“I uh... a lot of screaming, and the help of an... old friend. I was out of Camelot for a few days whilst I recovered, my friend didn’t fancy being executed for helping me, for just existing.”

Arthur furrows his brows but the others, bar Leon, nod in understanding, looking only slightly guilty and not looking to The King as he asks:

“What do you mean? If someone has found a way to cure a Serket sting then they most definitely wouldn’t be executed for it.”

Elyan snorts and Mordred and Lancelot frown at the floor as Merlin stares at Arthur with poorly concealed contempt:

“Arthur... the cure for a Serket sting has been around for centuries, it just involves very strong, very complicated magic. I didn’t fancy dying in absolute agony, and my friend didn’t fancy being executed for the act of saving my life so we stayed away from the city whilst he treated me.”

Arthur looks at his servant, dumbfounded and confused, and the knights stay silent in their awkwardness. Leon, a lifelong citizen of Camelot, is the only other person to look surprised at Merlin’s explanation, though he nods after a few moments, conceding that it... makes sense. Of course it does.

Mordred frowns when he notices Merlin’s knee begin to bounce up and down slightly, but it’s the way he gulps and tightens his grip on Lance’s hand that has the two knights begin to properly worry. They share a quick look, obviously agreeing on something, before Mordred takes Merlin’s other hand and settles a soft touch on his vibrating knee whilst Lancelot looks to Arthur:

“I think we’re done for the day. This has been... a lot.”

Merlin is getting paler by the second and Mordred can sense the man’s distress, shooting Lance a desperate look before subtly trying to shuffle closer to Merlin, who leans even further into his touch. Arthur doesn’t seem to notice, looking annoyed at Lancelot’s assertion and rolling his eyes before moving his gaze back to Merlin’s quivering form:

“No, Merlin’s suffered and I need to know why. There are mace wounds on both your shoulders, I remember one, but not the-”

Arthur is interrupted by a low whine from the back of Merlin’s throat as he thumps his head back against the tree, eyes still shut tightly. His words out come quietly and broken, as if it were a struggle to breathe, let alone speak:

“Can we please stop now?”

Mordred ignores Arthur, moving to kneel in front of the servant whilst Lancelot glares at The King. Arthur just huffs slightly, though he obviously completely underestimates the distress his friend is in, looking concerned, but not letting up:

“Merlin, we’ve barely gone through a third of them, we can’t stop-”

Lancelot lets out a low growl, letting go of Merlin’s hand and moving towards Arthur, glaring as he says:

“Arthur, we need to stop. Now.”

The young King looks taken aback, though the argument is stopped in his throat when Mordred’s quiet voice interrupts him:

“Merlin, you need to breathe.-”

He peers around the young knight as best he can, but Lance’s still vicious glare stops him from moving too close. Mordred brings one of Merlin’s hands up, pressing it against his chest and continuing his soft instructions:

“-Copy my breathing, alright? Can you tell me where you are right now, Merlin?”

The knights all stare on in horror at Merlin’s pale skin and ragged breathing, staying still in their places when Lancelot gestures at them firmly. It’s Merlin’s next word, cracked and whispered, that trigger another round of tears to gather in their eyes:

“C...cave.”

Mordred shakes his head slowly and Lancelot curses under his breath, kneeling back next to Mordred and retaking Merlin’s other hand, holding it between his own securely. Mordred’s soft voice floats in the wind, and if the knights weren’t so distracted by their friend’s pain, they would think it sounds almost magical:

“No, you’re safe, Merlin. Think, listen, feel. Can you try to tell me where you are again?

Merlin shakes his head roughly, his still-shut eyes not stopping the tears from squeezing out as he flinches, strikes of lightening-like agony shooting out from the scar on his lower back. Lance worries his lip between his teeth, rubbing one of his hands up and down Merlin’s shivering arm; a nod from Mordred has Lance speak, his words soft and low despite the waver in his voice:

“Merlin, you know where you are, and me and Mordred are right here with you. You need to open your eyes buddy, tell us where we are.”

Merlin’s breathing instantly seems to calm a little at Lancelot’s voice, and he cracks his bloodshot eyes open, immediately sighing when his blurry gaze lands on the canopy above him, whispering:

“Tree... sky... Camelot.”

The others can see Mordred let out a relieved sigh, and they force themselves to relax slightly. Merlin’s body sags again and Lance frowns, but the young servant’s stuttering words as he stares blankly up into the tree interrupt any reassurance he could have offered:

“Please, I can’t... I don’t... please don’t make me-”

Lance stills his hand on Merlin’s shoulder, not even paying the slightest bit of attention to anyone else as he replies:

“No one’s going to make you, Merlin, we can carry on another day-”

Arthur’s interrupted “But-” is quickly shut down when Lance turns around to glare at him, a sharp “-I said we’re done for the day.” sent his way.

Merlin flinches again, the pain in his back getting worse and worse and making it harder to keep a grasp on reality, so damning the consequences, Mordred presses a hand to his forehead, closing his eyes and he mouths the words to a sleeping spell as quietly as he can. Thankfully, everyone’s attention is on the glaring contest between Lancelot and The King, so no one immediately notices the way Merlin falls forwards into Mordred’s arms, not until he nudges Lance in the leg and mutters:

“He passed out. We should get him to Gaius, he needs proper rest and pain medication.”

Lancelot nods his head firmly, back to ignoring Arthur and the others as he moves to Merlin’s side, pulling his arm over his shoulder as Mordred does the same on the servant’s other side. Mordred’s eyes scan over the knights, searching for whoever looks the most likely to help without question; his gaze stills on a terribly worried looking Gwaine:

“Gwaine, run ahead to warn Gaius, tell him that Merlin had a really bad episode and then passed out.”

Gwaine gulps but nods, gathering his tunic in quick hands and putting it on haphazardly as he sprints back to the castle. Mordred and Lancelot adjust their grips, standing and bringing Merlin up with them as they turn in the direction Gwaine had ran and begin the careful journey back to the citadel. The knights follow behind them closely, hastily dressing themselves and desperate to ask questions, but knowing that now was not the time. Elyan jogs ahead of them to open doors and clear a path, and Percival had grabbed Merlin, Lancelot, and Mordred’s tunics as Leon put all of the swords away before catching up.

Thankfully they don’t come across many people, though Lance and Mordred still do their best to conceal Merlin between them, knowing that he would be distraught if anyone else saw his scars. They make good time to Gaius’ chambers, and they find the Physician preparing a few strong pain potions and sleeping draughts as Gwaine paced.

Gaius looks incredibly worried, but unsurprised, and Lance and Mordred carry Merlin up to his room without prompting; the sick feeling in Arthur’s stomach tells him that they’re practiced at this. The King goes to follow them, but they kick the door shut behind them so they can have at least a little privacy whilst they settle their friend in his bed. They leave the covers off, knowing that he’d just overheat or kick them off in the nightmares that they know are coming. Lance nods knowingly at Mordred, and the younger of the two moves swiftly back into the main room, shutting the door behind him again softly, avoiding eye contact with anyone bar Gaius, even as Percival hands him his tunic.

The elderly Physician raises an eyebrow, and Mordred answers the wordless question quietly, though not quiet enough for the other knights to not hear him:

“Not yet, but soon, he’ll definitely need a sleeping draught to get him through it. It was his back, so he’ll need the strongest pain one you’ve got.”

Gaius nods, picking up two of the many concoctions he had prepared, not reacting to Arthur’s desperate questions, leaving the conversation to Mordred:

“What are you talking about? Get through what??”

Mordred sighs and frowns slightly, unable to get over all of his anger at the King for pushing Merlin so far:

“The nightmares. He always gets them, especially after an episode that bad.”

Arthur recoils, just a little horrified, but Gwaine beats him to the mark, asking in a shaking voice:

“Episode??”

Mordred moves his gaze to the worried knight, a little more sympathetic to the man he knew was more loyal to Merlin than he was to The King:

“Flashbacks, panic attacks. Merlin has been through... a lot. Chronic pain or difficult conversations sometimes trigger a sort of... breakdown, he struggles to differentiate between memories and reality. Normally he can just wait it out with a little help. When it’s really bad we put him to sleep, it’s the only way to stop him from hurting himself accidentally.”

Everyone looks horrified at that, their focus on Mordred rather than Gaius, who was stealthily ascending the steps to Merlin’s room, potions in hand. Arthur is the first to break the tense silence:

“How long? How long as he been getting these episodes, and why the hell did no one think to tell me?!”

Mordred moves his harsh gaze back to The angry King, glaring at him when his voice rose:

“With all due respect, My Lord, lower your voice. Merlin needs rest, he needs to not be disturbed.”

Arthur looks annoyed, though still heartbroken, but nods slightly, almost whispering as he responds:

“You didn’t answer my questions. How long, and why wasn’t I told?”

Mordred sighs, looking to the floor briefly as he crosses his arms over his chest . After a few moments of considering his answer, he finally looks up again, suddenly appearing exhausted and resigned as he replies softly:

“I don’t really know. He didn’t tell us, we just... found out. It took us a while to convince him to explain it properly and let us help. He didn’t want anyone worrying or treating him like glass; it doesn’t happen very often at all, and this is... this is the worst one I’ve ever seen.”

Arthur frowns and shakes his head slightly, but it’s Leon that speaks next:

“Why not tell us, at least? What if something had happened and you weren’t with us? We wouldn’t have known what was wrong.”

Mordred takes a deep breath and shrugs, nodding slightly, obviously aware that he couldn’t tell them about his and Merlin’s mental link:

“We tried telling him that, but he wouldn’t have it. We were maybe one more conversation away from convincing him to tell Gwaine or Guinevere, but I guess that’s not necessary anymore.”

Arthur pushes down the twinge of jealousy that Merlin had never even considered telling him, but it obviously shows on his face; Mordred scowls slightly, clenching his hands to try and cover his annoyance. Before either men can say anything, Lancelot comes back down from Merlin’s room, leaving Gaius with the young servant:

“It’s starting, Mordred we need to go, everyone else, out.”

Percival throws Lance’s tunic to him as the knights move to the door, albeit reluctantly, but Arthur doesn’t move, glaring down at Mordred angrily when the younger man stops him from going into Merlin’s room:

“He’s my manservant, I want to be there when he wakes up.”

Mordred narrows his eyes, and Arthur kicks himself for never realising how much Merlin meant to him before now, but before the knight can say anything, Lancelot steps up next to him, answering in his stead:

“No, me and Mordred will be there, that’s all he needs. You need to go, My Lord.”

Arthur gears up to argue, to pull rank, squaring his shoulders and snarling slightly, but an angry Lancelot is something he’s never seen and never had to deal with before, so he’s far too surprised to say anything when the knight interrupts his posturing:

“I said no, Arthur. He has to pretend in front of you. You’ve already done this to him,-”

He gestures angrily to the door to Merlin’s room:

“-he needs to not tense up and stress out immediately upon waking up.”

Arthur steps back slightly, but clears his throat, pushing through the slight heartbreak and guilt to argue:

“Oh, and he doesn’t have to pretend in front of you two?”

Mordred rolls his eyes, giving Lancelot a pointed look before stalking up to Merlin’s room, leaving the older knight to deal with the angry King. Lance clenches his jaw and lets out a harsh breath, looking away briefly, as if trying to stop himself from saying anything cruel, before giving up and glaring back at Arthur:

“No. He doesn’t. Because we, and Gaius, are the only people who actually know the first thing about Merlin, and he trusts us. He needs space, and time to heal, and comfort, not the demanding presence of a King whose already pushed him too far, who treats him like shit and forces him to think he has to hide who he is. For God’s sake, Arthur, can you please, for once, think of anyone but yourself.”

Arthur widens his eyes, and though Lancelot looks a little like he regrets what he said, he doesn’t back down, nodding to the door behind Arthur and not moving away until The King steps back again. Arthur takes a deep breath, turning to exit the Physician’s chambers before the knight could see the guilt on his face and the tears in his eyes. He leaves without looking back, ignoring the gaggle of knights waiting worriedly in the hall and stalking straight to his chambers, only just managing to shut the door behind him before the tears finally started falling.

Back in Merlin’s room, the servant thrashes in his sleep, whimpering despite Mordred’s comforting whispers in his head, Gaius’ hand in his hair, and Lancelot’s soft lap as a pillow. 

This... was going to be a tough one.

~

The End of part 1!!!

This was legit supposed to only be one part buuuuuuut we can all see how that went. Part two will follow on really quickly, but it was getting far too long to leave all as one 😅

I hope y’all enjoyed it, link to part 2(the final part) at the top!! :)

[vacant--body]

MASSIVE TRIGGER WARNING: Su!c!de attempt, graphic description of bl00d, mentions of death, medical procedure talk, loss of pregnancy, PTSD, lots and lots of angst, mentions of drinking.

Female!reader, love triangle with Steve and Bucky (kinda?)

Word count: roughly 2,076

Please don't read if any of these warnings will trigger you :)

I'M SO SORRY PLEASE DON'T HATE ME

✿~~~✿~~~✿~~~✿~~~✿

Bucky's eyes snapped open, his advanced hearing honing in on the soft wails coming from down the hall. It was you, it always you. He inhaled sharply and pushed himself out of his warm bed, his dog tags clinking against his bare chest. It gets worse when Steve isn't here; your night terrors. He's the only one that can rock you back to sleep, soothing your tear stained cheeks and calming your raging mind. Bucky isn't very good at it, but he can get the job done.

His door slid open and he walked quietly down the hallway, careful not to wake anybody else up. Tony had to semi soundproof your room. When you first came to live in the compound, your screams would keep everyone up all night. Now only Bucky and Steve could hear your cries, which often made for sleepless nights. But lately it’s been getting better, which he was thankful for. Both for your sake and his sake.

Bucky stopped in front of your door, expecting it to just slide open like it normally does. But it didn't. Confused, he waved his hand in front of the sensor but it didn't budge. "Friday?" He yawned, annoyed. What couldn't Tony just put in normal doors? They're so much simpler. "What's wrong with the door?"

"It seems that Ms. Y/L/N has locked it." Strange. You never lock it.

"Well, unlock it." He snapped back at the AI.

"I cannot. She has over-ridden my capabilities to unlock it."

"What?" Bucky asked, suddenly more awake. The hairs on his arms stood up and a gut wrenching feeling began to churn in his stomach. He could hear you on the other side, still crying. "Y/N!" Bucky yelled pounding on the door. The cries grew harder. "Y/N open the door!"

"Go away!" You screamed. "Just go!" This wasn't a night terror, you were awake. “I don’t need you, Bucky!”

"Friday, get Tony down here." Bucky yelled, pounding on the door again. "Y/N please just open the door! Let me help!"

"Don't need your help." There was the sound of the bathtub starting up. "Just go."

"Bucky,” A tired voice groaned from behind him. Sam. "It's 2:30 in the morning, why in the hell are you screaming."

"Y/N locked us out." He muttered, pressing his ear against the door. He could hear you whimpering on the other side. "Friday can't open it."

"Friday, get Tony-"

"He is on his way." She replied back. "Ms. Y/N also disabled her cameras. I can't see inside there either."

"Y/N!" Bucky tried again, his voice cracking just enough for him to notice. Hopefully not enough for Sam to notice.

"Does someone wanna tell me why I am down here in the middle of the god damn night?" Another voice said behind them.

"Just get the fucking door open." Bucky snarled. Tony took note of the worry and urgency in his voice and unlatched a panel that was next to the door. He moved some wires around and the door hissed open.

Bucky rushed in and the state of your room hit him like a truck. It was a wreak. Your mattress was halfway off of its frame, your dresser was knocked over with all the clothes torn out, and there was a smashed chair in the corner. You had also punched out your mirror, making Bucky's footsteps crunch as he walked through her room. How did he not hear this? Why didn't he wake up? But that's not what bothered Bucky. His nose instantly picked up on a coppery smell that stung the inside of his nostrils, making him instantly nauseous. He pushed into the bathroom, where somehow the cupboard was shoved in front of.

The sight before him was enough to make him cry and vomit at the same time. You were submerged in the bathtub, the water stained a bright red color. A long shard of glass from the mirror was laying on the floor, stained with your crimson blood. Two deep long cuts had been carved into your forearms. The ringing in his ears slowly subsided and he heard the sound of either Tony or Sam dry heaving behind him. He wasn't sure who it was.

"Friday, prep medical bay. Get Banners ass up. Now." He heard Tony growl.

Bucky sunk to his knees, his sweatpants become stained with the blood soaked water that had sloshed over the edge. "Y/N." He muttered. She was pale. Too pale. "Y/N!" He yelled grabbing her by the shoulders. “Open your fucking eyes and look at me!" You didn't open her eyes, the only movement was coming from your chest. You were taking quick short breaths, which Bucky figured wasn't good. "Please don't do this to me, please. I need you, fuck-" He choked back a sob.

"Buck, we have to get her down to-" Before Sam could finish his sentence, Bucky was lifting you out of the water and took off towards the med bay.

Banner was already down there, a suturing kit already laid out. "How much blood has she lost?" He asked immediately as soon as Bucky came barreling through the doorway.

"A lot." Was all he could manage. He carefully laid you down on the cot. His thoughts were going a mile a minute. You were supposed to be getting better. Sam and Banner were supposed to be helping you, the therapy was supposed to be helping. Not killing you. Why wasn’t it helping? Why were you so selfish? How could you do that to us? To me, to Steve. To this whole team?

"Well good thing most of the team is A Positive so we have some on standby for her." Banner said. Bucky wasn't sure if he was talking to him or to himself.

Banner flushed out your wounds with what looked like water, and carefully began to stitch you up. Bucky noticed the slight shaking in his wrist and he pulled your skin together.

"Where is Steve?" Bucky whispered to Tony, not taking his eyes off of Y/N and Banner. For once, you looked like you were at peace. Your features were smoothed and relaxed, nothing like your previous state.

"His teams on their way back. ETA 4 hours." Tony whispered back.

A heavy silence fell over the med bay. Bucky felt drained. He couldn't keep his thought straight in his head, and it was numbing. He just kept asking the same thing. Why? You were doing so good. You were laughing, smiling, and actually making progress to talk to people outside your comfort zone. Of course you were still having night terrors, Sam said those wouldn't go away for a long time. But other than that you were fine. You said you were fine. He couldn't understand why.

Banner was done with one side. He moved over to the other and began to repeat the process, but one of the machines she was hooked up to began beeping rapidly. His head snapped up and his brows furrowed.

"Friday do a full body scan please." He grunted.

"What? What's wrong?" Bucky pleaded, his skin tightening and his stomach doing loops.

"Blood pressure is dropping. Not good." Was all he heard over the several machines firing at once.

"There is hemorrhaging. Location: uterus." Friday said back. "Surgery is recommended."

Banner quickly finished the last of the sutures and yanked your water and blood soaked sweatpants off. There was a large amount of blood pooling in between your legs.

"Bruce what is that?" Bucky yelled rushing over to them. "What's wrong with her, did she stab herself there?" He felt like he was going to vomit.

"Bucky-" He started as he fumbled with some tubing.

"What are you doing to her?!" Bucky yelled again his voice become more and more distressed. "You're gonna kill her please help her!"

"Tony get him the hell out of here!" Banner screamed finally, the Hulks voice peaking behind his anger and frustration.

Bucky was being yanked out of the bay by Sam and Tony. He could fight back easily, fight them off so he could be with you. But his legs were so shaky he could hardly stand on his own two feet. The windows that looked into the bay dimmed and Bucky caught one last look as Banner yanked down Y/N's underwear. A sob escaped from Buckys lips as he crumpled to the ground. What was happening now? Y/N must be so scared. He was so scared.

He felt that hot tears prick at his cheeks and dribbled down into his beard hair. He was crying. Crying for the first time in who knows how long. He couldn't loose you. You were the only one who truly understood Bucky. You meant too much to him.

"Buck-" Sam started but Bucky just cut him off.

"Leave me alone." He sobbed. It felt like a metal pipe had been shoved down Buckys throat. He couldn’t breathe. "Please just go away." Tony and Sam shared a look before the disappeared down the hallway.

He sat there for what seemed like days. But it was only hours. Soon enough Steve came jogging down the hallway to where Bucky sat.

"Buck." Steve gasped, kneeling down next to him. "What happened?"

"I thought she was having a night terrors." Bucky's voice was raw and it hurt to swallow. The crying must have stopped hours ago, but he couldn't remember when it ended. "But she locked me out. Tried to...tried to..."

"Oh god." Steve whimpered, understanding what he was saying. “Is she...?" Bucky shook his head.

"She started bleeding. I think Banners still doing surgery." Steve's face was screwed tightly together as he stood back up. Bucky couldn't tell what he was feeling. He paced the hallway for a bit before he slid down against the wall across from Bucky, his eyes blankly staring at the door. He could see the trembling in his chest when he inhaled.

They sat there in silence for about another hour, when suddenly, the doors to the med bay swung open. Banners eyes fell on them. He sighed heavily and put his hands in his pockets.

"What? What is it?" Bucky pleaded getting to his feet, which caused Steve to stand up.

"Is she okay?" Steve asked, his brows closely knit together.

"Yeah. She's stable. Woke up for a few minutes but she's sleeping now. I had to give her some medicine to calm her down. And I had to..." He trailed off. "Restrain her. She's very agitated." Bruce exhaled and wrung his hands together.

"Then what happened? Why did you have to do surgery." Bucky prodded. He could tell Banner was hiding something.

"The bleeding was caused by a mixture of shock and her blood pressure tanking. I couldn't-" He cleared his throat like he was keeping back tears. "I couldn't save the fetus. She miscarried."

It felt like someone had punched Bucky in the gut. Fetus? Miscarried? She was pregnant?

"From what I could tell she was about 15 weeks along. I ran the DNA because I wasn't...I wasn't sure who the father was."

"I had a child?" Steve whimpered. Tears were falling freely down his face.

"No, Steve.” He whispered softly. “Bucky, it was yours.”

"What? No. That's impossible." Steve scoffed. "You must have your science shit mixed up. There is no way."

"No, he's right." Bucky whispered, absolute shocking talking grip of his body.

"I'm sorry. It was a boy."

"What? No. No! It's wrong. Go test it again Banner! I know it's wrong!"

"Steve-"

"You were fucking her?!" Steve screamed, turning to Bucky. "You knew I was in love with her and you were fucking her?!"

"It was once Steve! Almost 3 months ago! We were drunk and you were away on a mission and I came onto her!" Bucky bargained, staring into the flames of his best friend’s eyes.

"You fucked my girl! My girl!" Steve was irate, barely able to contain himself.

"She isn't yours Steve, you're not even together!"

"I told her that I loved her! And you went and fucked her anyway! What, do you always follow your dick!? I bet that's why she refuses to look at you!"

"No, she told me that she loved me!" Bucky screamed back, his voice echoing in the hallway as silence washed over them. Bucky took a deep breath. "She said it first. And I told her it was a mistake and should be with you." He said quietly.

Steve let out an animalistic growl, and his fist made contact with the side of Bucky's cheek and the back of his head smashed against the wall.

"I love you Bucky." Y/N's soft voice said. Your head was currently buried in Bucky's bare chest. "It's you. It's always has been." You whispered.

Bucky reached down and cupped her cheek, making you look at him. He has been waiting to hear that since they first met. He didn't believe in love at first sight but ever since he first laid eyes on you, he started to believe.

"You don't mean that, doll." He muttered back. Alcohol was still running its course through their bodies. "You're drunk."

"Drunk words are a sober mans thoughts."

"Y/N-"

"I want you Bucky. Just you. No more going back and forth between you and Steve. I can't do that anymore, Bucky. Please believe me." You pleaded, your large eyes staring into his.

"You deserve someone like Steve, not like me. You can't love me." He sighed, letting go of your face.

"I love Steve. He’s amazing and kind, but I love I have for him isn’t like how I love you.”

"No. You love the thought of me." He snapped, rising off the bed. "But you don't love me Y/N. I promise you, you don't. You shouldn't." He gathered his clothes from the floor and shimmied into them. He reached the door and stopped at the sound of your voice.

"But-" Bucky winced at the sound of your voice as it was filling with tears.

"I'm sorry." He whispered turning away, his own eyes brimming with tears. "I don't deserve you. You can't love me. I'm sorry."

part 2

[kelieah]

lover boy (arvin russell x reader)

summary: a group of boys kept picking on you and arvin’s relationship, and you knew just what to do to shut them up

word count: 1.2k

warnings: sexual themes, foreplay, language, no spoilers and doesn’t follow the plot!

edited: tbh idk what the fuck this is but enjoy ig lol

a/n: i can’t get enough of arvin basjhdbsd, so for some reason i can write a one-shot but not finish a chapter </3

masterlist 

It became a daily routine for Arvin to pick you up from high school. You loved the adrenaline rush of sprinting out of class first thing when the bell rings, making your ways down the halls and out the door. Seeing his pretty face waiting in that damn car of his erupted butterflies in your stomach every single time.

He glances over at you with a small smirk on his lips, pushing the door open and taking another puff of his cigarette.

“Hi there, pretty boy,” you breathe out and rush into his car, sitting down. You close the door and lean towards him, connecting your lips with his.

He smiles against your lips and cups your cheek, kissing you back. “Hey there, doll. Y’ hungry?” 

“For you? Always,” you place your bag down, sending a wink his way.

He rolls his eyes, disregarding the way his heart jumped out of his chest at your tease. “Y’ know what I mean, babe. Wanna head to the diner?” he asks as he hands you his cigarette. You nod and take a puff, flicking off some ash out of the window.

“Yea yea, of course,” you smile and lean back, furrowing your brows as you realize he had another black eye. You sit up and place a hand on his jaw before he drove off.

“What?” he glances at you, licking his lips.

 “Darlin’, what’s this,” you mutter and gently brush your fingers against his bruise.

“It’s nothin’, don’t worry,” he shakes his head and starts the car again.

“Arvin,” you hold his chin and make him look at you, a stubborn expression upon your face. 

He sighs heavily and grumbles out his words, “Just the same damn low lifes picking on me because they saw me come to y’ house with some flowers.”

Arvin was always known as the outcast who could never get it and you were always known as the church girl who’s life was dedicated to God. Both were wrong. Arvin was never the same after he met you, he would’ve never thought that you’d be the one to take his virginity. He wasn’t complaining but from then on, he’d never judge a person by their looks. Turns out, you hated your religion just as much as he did. You were no typical church girl, that’s for sure.

“Jesus fuck, can’t you do anything without getting picked on? I’ll fucking show them-” you pull away from his face, about to exit the car.

You instantly melt as he places his hand on your thigh, sitting you back down. “Sweet heart, y’ know damn well you can’t take on three boys like ‘em.”

“I-I know, but damnit Arvin. It’s like you can’t even breathe without them wanting to beat your ass,” you huff and glance over at him.

He admires your passion and stubbornness, it’s two of the many things he loved about you. “Remember?”

“Wait for the right time,” you mutter in memory of every single time Arvin had told you that saying he learned from his own daddy.

“They’ll get what’s comin’ for them one day. If anything, they’re probably just jealous that they don’t have what I got,” he teases and squeezes your thigh.

“O-Oh shush you,” you blush and bite your lip, looking away.

“Let’s head on to the diner now, yeah?” he asks, driving out of your school parking lot.

“Sounds good to me,” you smile at the feeling of him caressing your leg.

Not too long after, the two of you arrive at the diner and pull towards the front to park.

You and Arvin immediately tense at the sight of the three boys exiting the diner, their obnoxious laughing and yelling filling your ears.

“Look who pulled up, damn! Is that lover boy and his little prude bitch!?” one of them insult, pointing at the two of you.

“Shit, I thought them boys are usually at the drive-in. Why the hell are they here?” he mutters, about to put his car in reverse to leave.

You send them a piercing glare as they continue to stand in front of his car, harrassing you both. “I don’t-” you mutter and instantly jump when a piece of cream pie was thrown at your window.

“Here’s the only kind of cream pie you’ll be getting, fucking loser,” another one of the boys spit, wiping their hand on the back of their jeans. Arvin clenches his jaw and grips on his wheel harshly.

“Let’s get out of here,” he scoffs about to back up until he heard your seatbelt click. “Doll, don’t you dare go out there-” he quickly looks over at you, his eyebrows knit with concern. 

You roll up your skirt a bit and sit on his lap, “Can I do this?” you murmur against his lips and wrap your arms around his neck.

“S-Shit I mean, y-yeah but they’re right there- mmph-” he blushes as you bring yourself closer to him and smash his lips against yours.

“I don’t give a fuck, I’ll show them ‘em much of a lover boy you can be,” you say in between kisses and smirk against his lips as you feel him grown beneath you.

“Holy shit!” you hear one them gasp as they notice you and Arvin’s heated make out.

“G-Goddamn, Y-Y/n,” he grunts as you roll your hips against him, your heat brushing onto his.

“Yeah?” you breath out and thread your fingers through his hair, reconnecting your lips with his.

“Mhm, f-fucking hell,” he groans into your mouth when you palm him through his jeans.

You quickly roll down his window and grind yourself down onto him, making him let out a loud moan.

The three boys instantly shut up and begin to back away, “L-Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

“Y-Yeah,” one them agrees and they all walk off to their car, driving away.

You grin mischievously in triumph and slip your tongue into Arvin’s mouth, continuing to move against him.

“Baby d-doll, they’re gone,” he chokes and places his hands on your hips, holding you down for a moment.

“I know,” you exhale and lean your forehead against his. You give him a look and he easily catches your drift.

“You wanna go to our spot?” he breathlessly chuckles, his breath fanning your lips.

“Please,” you pout and peck his lips, climbing off his lap.

As soon as you both drive into a forest that you both called your “spot” near his house, you were back on his lap. Needy kisses and touches being exchanged here and there.

“Watching, seeing and feeling you take over l-like that darlin’, fuck. The things you do to me,” he mutters lowly.

“I had to shut them up somehow,” you giggle and leave gentle kisses down his neck.

“You, my love. Surprise me everyday,” he cups your face and presses a kiss against your forehead.

“I know.”

“Can’t believe you got me harder than a rock and didn’t finish me off though,” he pouts, causing you to throw back your head and laugh loudly. 

“Why do you think I asked you to drive here?”

“To talk- oh.”

“Yeah.”

“W-Well shit, you should’ve told me e-earlier,” he scrambles beneath you and slides off his shirt.

“Oh, lover boy,” you roll your eyes and bite your lip, bringing your lips towards his once again.

taglist + inbox link under the cut! thanks for reading ツ

leave a comment, give me some feedback pls! it’s greatly appreciated mwah

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[fanfic-me-up]

All The Colors We Cannot See {Bakugou x Reader}

Synopsis: He sees you in the colors that light the sky, and longs for you in the darkness that follows.

Pairing: Pro Hero! Bakugou Katsuki x fem! reader

Warnings: attempted suicide, suicidal thoughts, language

Word Count: 4k+

A/N: This took me like 9 months to complete, but it’s finally here. I didn’t completely stick to the request, but this is what came out. I still hope you like it! Banner made by my amazingly talented friend, go follow her @jm.rvice on instagram! 💖

💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥

Blood pumps to his legs. Cement pounds his feet. Bits of rubble catch in his boots. The first spark of the night shoots up- swallowed whole by the black sky. A trail of embers remains in its wake. 

Katsuki stops. And waits.

A second passes- the crowd silent in anticipation. No one can see the spark, but everyone knows it’s there… waiting…  for the right time to explode. And just when the darkness thinks it has won, an enormous burst of light blankets the sky. In that moment, it’s so bright that Katsuki can see the skyline. Like paint splattered on a blank canvas, the sky now bleeds in red, and the explosion leaves an imprint the size of a supernova long after it’s gone. 

The crowd applauds. 

A roar is ripped from Katsuki’s throat. He pounds at the brick wall again and again, despite blood trickling down his fists. He rips his cochlear and smashes it against the wall. A sick satisfaction settles within him. The ringing that greets him is like a devil sucking on the lobe, whispering tempestuous nothings into his ear. 

Katsuki continues his ascent, taking steps by three until he reaches the top. The poor door is yanked off its hinges, but it doesn’t even cross Katsuki’s mind as he’s hit by everything all at once. Smoke slithers down his throat, roasted yakitori wafts up his nose, the rhythmic booms caress his ear, and the lavender shaded sky comforts his eyes. From up here, the people below remind Katsuki of the dots he used to see after he ignited a big explosion- how the dots blur, mix, and separate in one fluid motion again and again. 

His phone ringing is a distant echo. They’re looking for him no doubt, but who the hell cares. Not like they’d find him up here. This was yours and Katsuki’s place.

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

He’d blow himself up if he missed even a second. 

His lungs burned. They ached for a clean breath, yet inhaled the stench of nitroglycerin-like sweat. He could’ve just blasted himself to the top and saved himself the trouble, but fuck. That. Katsuki thrived on a challenge. He loved the rush of adrenaline more than his own mother. (He’d never tell her that- she’d kill him before he reached this goddamn roof.)

He threw himself against the door in time to see the first burst of citrine hit the sky. But he also saw you, a trespasser, standing on the ledge and looking like you were about to kill yourself. You didn’t flinch at the sonic boom (like most people) nor cringe at the heat. It was like you thought the beauty outweighed its destruction. 

All that said you were fucking stupid.

“Oi! Get down from there!” 

You were immersed in skylight, and though your back was turned, Katsuki knew you were staring up in awe; your eyes reminiscent of glassy pools reflecting red, yellow, blue and all the possibilities they create. 

“Fuckin’ hell…” Katsuki muttered. He just wanted to enjoy the show in his spot. Alone. Like he did every year. “Oi, lady! You wanna kill yourself? Do it on some other roof dammit!” 

You jumped at the blasted words, losing your balance and falling off the ledge. Katsuki expected you to scream, to gasp, to cry... anything but fucking wink on your way down like playing with death is just some fucking game. But Katsuki had no time to think before he blasted himself across the roof to grab your hand- but you didn’t need it. You threw a safety line in mid-air, hooked it to the ledge with skillful precision, and used the leverage to hurl yourself back up. You landed on the ledge like a ballerina tip-toeing on a tightrope. The sheer turn of events rendered Katsuki speechless. 

 “Phew! That was fun! Let’s do it again sometime, yeah?” You wrapped the safety chord before bouncing up to Katsuki.

The fuck?

How did you…? 

 You didn’t seem to notice Katsuki’s loss for words.

“I’ve never met someone with a quirk like yours. You could put on your very own firework show!”

You tried grabbing his hand, but Katsuki’s growl stopped you. The flickers popping in his hands were a sign to back the fuck off.

You’re scared. Good, Katsuki thought.

“Sorry, sorry, I’m a bit of a pyro.” You sheepishly smiled, twirling a pink and yellow band around your finger. (You’d later twirl your wedding ring the same way.) 

Katsuki’s growl cut in its tracks. You weren’t scared like he thought, in fact, you looked lost in his sparks- your eyes zooming back and forth, trying to catch each and every one. Katsuki killed his sparks, causing you to look up at him in disappointment.

“I can’t. Mine don’t change color,” he muttered. 

Fireworks always fascinated Katsuki. As a child, he wished his explosions could change color. He imagined people looking up in awe when his sparks rained down. They’d recognize the power and the beauty.

“Hmm…color is what makes a firework...” you trailed off.

“No shit,” Katsuki snorted. How stupid are you? 

“Hold out your hands.” 

Katsuki crossed his arms, “No.”

“Oh, c’mon! Gimme your hands!” You bounced up and down, overcome with excitement. Katsuki stepped back but immediately stopped himself because Bakugou Katsuki never backs down. 

“I’m not giving you anything, woman. You’re fuckin’ weird for jumpin’ off roofs and asking for stranger’s hands. Stay the fuck away from me. In fact, this is my fuckin’ roof. Find your own.” Katsuki looked down to see his hands popping. It must’ve happened on instinct- a defense mechanism to scare off the extras who won’t leave him the fuck alone. 

Except it didn’t work on you. You only came closer. 

“Do you want to burn in color or not?” 

Katsuki saw flashes of himself in your eyes everytime a firework went off. A hunger burned in the pit of his stomach- one he’s felt countless times during battle, but this one was different. This strange warmth made him feel like jumping off the roof himself, and if he put all his might into it, he could brush the spark of a firework from fifty feet above.

“Yes,” he said. 

“Then you’re gonna have to trust me.”

“Trust you!?” Katsuki shook his head, “I don’t even know you!”

“That’s half the fun, isn’t it?” You giggled, “Now hold still.” 

Katsuki grumbled how ridiculous this was, and that whatever you tried wouldn’t work, but you ignored him in favor of pulling his hands and laying them face up. You nodded and Katsuki sighed, activating his quirk anyway because what the hell.

You’re entranced from the moment flickers popped, one by one, in his hands. They died as quickly as they were born, but still left their mark in the air. 

Katsuki’s sparks faltered as cool fingertips brushed against his wrist. 

“It’s okay, keep going,” you encourage, and he does. 

He can’t pinpoint exactly when the change happened. Like all change, he blinked and suddenly his sparks burned in color. Angry red, rooted in tormented crimson, ravished the usual, boring, orange of his sparks. 

Katsuki laughed in disbelief because how is this real? Yellow began to flicker in and out of the red, until it finally caught like a flame and engulfed the red like a warm blanket. Pink and light green began to swirl around the yellow, and the firework show Katsuki had been looking forward to all year didn’t hold a candle to the fireworks fluttering in the palms of his hands.

Katsuki looked up at you. 

Who the fuck are you? 

You giggled at his awed expression, “Our very own firework show.”

And that’s how you spent the rest of the night. His hands in yours while he burned in color for the first time.

Katsuki later discovered you could read emotions through auras. The aura becomes visible, allowing you to color a person’s quirk.

He also discovered that you didn’t need to hold his hand for it to work.

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

A round of fireworks triggers the ringing in Katsuki’s ear. He throws his head back in ecstasy and prays the sensation tickles his eardrum for a little longer- enough to shut the part of his brain that keeps remembering you. 

Katsuki pulls the pistol out. The leather grip, so slick with sweat, that Katsuki has to wipe his hand to make sure he doesn’t accidentally set off his quirk. 

He’s not an amateur. He’s held a gun before. Every pro-hero has to undergo weapons training, but he’s never used one in combat. His quirk was always more than enough. But there’s something inherently dangerous about a gun. His quirk is an extension of himself, but a gun is a separate entity altogether- and it was designed to kill. 

Growing up, adults would praise Katsuki for his quirk. They’d say, “With a quirk like that, you’re destined to become a hero!” But they were still afraid to get too close. They saw his quirk as a weapon that was designed to destroy. And soon enough, Katsuki became the embodiment of just that. But he always felt incomplete. He wanted to be a hero like All Might. One that people looked up to- in awe of their power, not in fear of it.

That’s why he loved fireworks. The only explosion that makes people stop and stare, instead of running away, in fear for their lives.

You were the first and only person to see the beauty in his quirk.

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

“What’s your favorite color?” 

Such a basic question that Katsuki should already have the answer to. But color meant so much more to you. You saw the world in a way that made everyone else seem colorblind. 

You twirled that same pink and yellow band around your finger as Katsuki twirled the ring in his pocket. You leaned in closer, basking in the warmth radiating from Katsuki. He watched how your eyes never left the sky, and he was content with missing the show if it meant he can watch you instead. He caught glimpses of you only when lit by a firework. He made sure not to blink during those moments else he’d miss you. Your expressions mixed and swirled as the fireworks continued, but you never lost the primary color of mesmerization painting your face.

“Blue,” you said. Katsuki had to lean in to listen; your voice an ember in a sea of fire. “But not sky blue like on a sunny day. It’s nice, but I much prefer the darker washes of blue, deep like sapphire.”

Blue, the color of sadness. 

“Why blue?” Katsuki asked. The ring in his pocket danced between his fingers.

You turned back to the fireworks. You always made sure to think before you speak when answering a question that mattered.

“Because there’s always an interesting story behind an aura of such sorrow, more importantly, there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel.”

“So your favorite color isn’t blue, it’s yellow,” Katsuki cut in, but you shook your head.

“There’s nowhere to go but down with yellow. Yellow is the epitome of brightness and joy, and when you crash during the high, you crash hard. But when you’re drowning in deep blue, as I’ve seen many people do, you’re at the lowest of lows- you really can’t get any lower in this life. But when an aura- and I’ve only seen this once- when an aura changes from the deepest of sapphire to sunrise yellow- well it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

The twirling of the ring in his pocket stopped. 

“That is why I believe blue is the true color of hope,” you whispered.

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

Katsuki should feel the smooth texture of leather as he grips the gun in his hand. He should feel the weight of the gun as he brings it to his temple. But he’s numb to it all. It’s like an invisible string, pulling at his muscles, directing his body how to move. His mind goes blank for the first time, and all the inner-turmoil he’s been unable to escape just straight up… stops. It’s like he’s floating in a body of water with no current. Complete and utter stillness.

It scares the fuck outta him, but it feels good. 

As he’s about to turn the safety off, his phone rings again, snapping him back to reality. Katsuki guts his phone.

“Die!” 

The phone slides down the door like a dead pidgeon. 

“God-fuckin’-damn it...” He pushes the barrel back to his temple, craving that mind-numbing stillness once more. Anything to stop the feelings that just won’t seem to go away. 

The fireworks crescendo as the show reaches its climax. The colors begin to mix and blur together so much that it becomes too convoluted to look at. An infinite regress of color swirling in Katsuki’s mind.

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

You glowed on purpose so Katsuki could find you. He spotted you from miles away, like a beacon of light in the middle of a storm. The melancholic blue of your aura contrasted against the raging reds that painted the sky.

Katsuki ran. He pushed and pushed past his limit, harder than any battle he’s fought in. He could’ve made it if he used his quirk, but he was in a crowded marketplace with too many people. He ripped off his gauntlets and threw them in a random alley. He immediately gained speed. A couple more feet and one minute left.

He should’ve saved his breath. If he did, he would’ve caught you in time. But he had to make sure you knew he was there. You looked down at the sound of your name. He could barely make out your face, but you saw him. He knew you saw him because your aura changed from that melancholic blue to sunrise yellow in an instant. Everyone around him gasped at the flood of light emanating from above. 

You were right. It was the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen.

If Katsuki produced a strong enough blast, he could make his way to the top and get you out before the bomb went off. At this point, he didn’t care who else might get hurt in the process. Next to him, Kirishima knew what Katsuki was thinking. He hardened himself to block Katsuki’s takeoff.

“Don’t do it, bro.”

“Get outta my way.”

“You can’t make it.”

“Yes I can.”

“You’ll both die.”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP” Katsuki pushed him away, and prepared to blast himself, when two other heroes stepped in to hold him down, but no one stood a chance when Katsuki goes feral. Explosions erupted, not enough to seriously hurt, but enough to get people to back the fuck off. Even Kirishima (whose quirk is to literally be a human barricade) was having trouble blocking Katsuki. One more blast was enough to send Kirishima back and Katsuki used that half a second to blast off. But suddenly he couldn’t. He tried and he tried, but his quirk refused to work. A growl escaped from low in his throat as he whipped his head around, trying to find the cause to his problem so he could decimate it. 

Target acquired. 

Katsuki was about to march right up to his high school homeroom teacher and deck him right in his fuckin’ face, but before he could, he was held down once again.

He couldn’t fight three pro-heroes off without his quirk. He couldn’t get to you without his quirk. All Katsuki could do was look up and watch you die. 

Five seconds left.

He saw it in your face. The moment you realized he wouldn’t be able to save you. The yellow of your aura growing dimmer and dimmer.

Three.

You smiled through your tears.

Two.

And winked. 

One.

Then closed your eyes as you took your last breath.

The darkness that followed was unbearable.

A cacophonous wail erupted from Katsuki’s throat- loud enough to go up against any explosion. He couldn’t help but fall to his knees, unable to hold himself up any longer. He still wasn’t able to use his quirk and that only frustrated him more. 

He’d never felt so helpless in his life.

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

He hardly uses his quirk anymore because he sees you in the sparks. He’s got no drive to be Number 1 if you’re not here to watch him do it. His will to live is gone without you and that scares the fuck outta him. He hates you for filling his head with ridiculous bullshit. He hates you for opening his mind to the possibility of love, and hope, and shit that shouldn’t matter but it fuckin’ does for some goddamn reason. He hates you. He hates you. He hates you.

That same cacophonous wail erupts from his very core. The gun falls from his hands, to the ground. It could’ve gone off at that moment and Katsuki would never know. 

His focus zeroes on his hands. How tense they get when he flexes them, how the vein protrudes from his wrist, and how his glands secrete sweat from his palms. He points them to the sky, and a familiar rush of power, that he hasn’t felt in months, surges through him. His blood boils from under his skin and he’s literally shaking from the intensity. Like a volcano spewing hot-blooded lava after an eternity of dormancy, he shoots blinding white heat into the black night.

The color from the fireworks surround his explosions as if they’re echoing his sentiment. Hot red dominates the sky- reminding Katsuki of the sky that night. This causes Katsuki to rattle off explosions quicker, setting off one after another in a staccato rhythm. The crimson sky ravishes all other color. 

If only he saved his breath. If only he’d taken off his gauntlets sooner. If only he ran a little faster. If only he blasted himself a second earlier. If only he didn’t stay back at work that day. If only he turned right instead of left at that goddamn intersection. If only he picked up the ingredients for your favorite meal the day before so he could go straight home. If only he didn’t have to drive back to the market because he fuckin’ forgot the milk again. If only he decided it was still worth it to pick you up from work early like he planned. If only he cared more about your anniversary than about cracking Top 10. If only he went to more of your art shows instead of taking extra patrols. If only he went on that trip to New York with you instead of cancelling last minute because the agency needed him. If only he realized that you meant more to him than being Number 1 before it was too late.

Little by little the crimson wash is buried by the black night and Katsuki’s eyes hurt just staring into the black abyss. It’s suffocating him, weighing his chest down and making it hard to breathe. It’s enough to drop him to his knees, just like he did that night.

You and Katsuki had long talks about your future plans. How you fit into his life, and how he fit into yours. When you’d be able to properly settle down and have kids. You accepted that the first couple years into his career would be the toughest on your marriage. Katsuki would spend more time at the agency than at home with you. Relationships with pro-heroes were like that. But you respected his ambitions. You understood the amount of time that was required to fulfill those ambitions. You never held it over him, never guilted him into spending more time with you, and never made him choose between you or his career. You loved him enough to share him with the rest of the world. You were never each other’s other halves. Instead, you co-existed as separate individuals who made the best team Katsuki’s ever been a part of. 

Yellow begins to flicker in and out, but it’s muted behind the black veil of regret. The more Katsuki thinks of your empathy and your love, the stronger the yellow becomes. It finally brightens the black sky, to the point that Katsuki almost has to cover his eyes because it’s like looking into the sun in the middle of the day. 

And that’s when it clicks.

He’s burning in color.

You must be conducting this masterpiece from above, using the sky as your canvas and coloring the emotions coming from within him.

He kills his explosions as quickly as he fired them. The fireworks come to an end at the same time. The crowd’s cheers is a fly on the wall to Katsuki.

He falls back, lying flat on the ground and looking up at the sky still shaded in yellow. His chest heaves as he tries to get his breathing back to normal, and the sloppy mixture of sweat and tears continue to slide down his face. The cool breeze is a blessing against the nape of his neck.

He struggles to hold his hands up, they shake as he brings them up to his face. He reignites his quirk with the last bit of strength. The sparks lack their usual vigor as they flutter lazily in his palms. They remind him of fireflies swirling in a jar. For once, the orange doesn’t piss him off. 

Has anyone else seen his quirk like this? When he’s not trying to intimidate or take down a villain? The only person he could think of was you. Maybe his quirk wouldn’t be seen as a weapon, maybe he wouldn’t be seen as a villain, if the world saw what he’s seeing right now.

Katsuki sits in this revelation, and the calm that washes over him is nothing like the numbness from before. He’s far from being okay, and he still longs for you in these moments, but Katsuki has a hunch that if you were here right now - holding his hands in yours- his sparks would be burning in your favorite color. And he’s okay with that.

“That is why I believe blue is the true color of hope.”

Katsuki’s phone goes off even in its broken state. His eyes dart between the phone and the gun. He groans as he gets up. His limbs, heavy, after exerting himself. He picks up his phone.

“Hey. Yeah, man, I’m fine, don’t worry about it.” 

Katsuki’s about to hang up when he takes a look at the gun. A reminder of what he was about to do. A decision he could never come back from.

 If things turned out different, he would not be here right now.  

Just the thought is enough to make Katsuki slide down the wall. He takes a deep breath- his heart beating rapidly at what he’s about to admit aloud for the first time.

“Actually, I’m not okay. I need you to come get me.”

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

The Plus Ultra Chronicle

Musutafu Tower Attack: 06/18/2020

WHEN HOPE PREVAILS:

A DAY OF REMEMBRANCE

By: Yamamoto Ichika

06/18/2021

Today marks the one year anniversary of the 2020 Musutafu Tower Attack. Hundreds gathered this morning in remembrance of the lives lost that night. Several people who’ve lost loved ones in the attack have already come forward with statements.

Of those people, Number 7 Hero, Dynamight, has chosen to sit down with The Plus Ultra Chronicle for an all-exclusive interview. His late wife, Bakugou Y/N, was among the citizens that were held hostage that night. After taking a year sabbatical, he has decided to return to the field of pro-hero work. Here is a snippet of that interview; you can find the full interview here. 

“Thank you, Dynamight, for sitting down with us. It is truly an honor. The people want to know- what are your thoughts on what occurred that night? Can you take us through what happened?”

“It was hard on us all. Whether you were at home watching on a screen or out there in person. All of us heroes felt like sh*t- unable to do anything. It’s even worse when you had a personal attachment to a victim like I did.”

“It must’ve been difficult as a hero- having to make quick decisions that forced you to separate your personal life from the objectivity of the situation.”

“If I’m being honest, I couldn’t, and it took a toll on me.”

“Is that why you took the sabbatical?”

“Yes. I constantly questioned the validity of my title. Whether or not I deserved to be called a ‘hero’ if I couldn’t save the one person I vowed to always protect.”

“You’ll be returning to the field next month, and with a new addition to your hero costume. An amulet of what looks to be a blue-colored spark attached to the left side of your chest. It stands out against the black, orange, and green of your costume. What is the meaning of this?” 

“When I was at my lowest, my failures were all I could see. But someone once told me that you can’t get any lower when you’re at that point. The only real change you can make is to acknowledge and move forward.” 

“A symbol of hope is definitely something we all need right now. What made you decide to finally give an official statement?”

“It is my responsibility to protect the citizens of Japan so this never happens again. But I also think it is important for people to see the shortcomings of the heroes they look up to. We’re human too. We f*ck up. I used to think that made someone weak. Now, I see it as part of the journey. The testament of a true hero.”

[barbatos-devotee]

Sibling Headcannons!

You’re their little sibling!

(Depending on the Twin you main in your own game, that’s who’s with you while the other has been separated)

When the three of you ran into the Unknown God, Aether/Lumine managed to grab you and pull you close before you were attacked. The two of you watched as your sibling got taken in front of your very eyes, and when you tried to rush the God, you had begun to get trapped too.

Aether/Lumine managed to grab onto you as this was happening, and the two of you were sent away together. The both of you eventually woke up on that beach, and had been there for a couple of months.

You were a mischievous troublemaker, so you found yourself in danger quite often. And without your original powers to help you, well... Aether/Lumine had to kill a bunch of monsters to save you quite a few times.

You’re just a reckless little gremlin, why do you do this?

When you both fish up Paimon one day, you are thrilled to have another companion on your team. You’re no longer the little sibling!

Paimon does not appreciate being called little, honestly. But what’s she gonna do about it?

The normal events in the prologue play out, except now you’re there, and you are just climbing everything you see.

Aether/Lumine honestly does the same, and the people of Mondstat are wildly weirded out by these two chaotic good siblings just, climbing up the side of their church?

Venti think’s you’re hilarious! He would totally invite you to pull pranks and go gliding.

Amber thinks you’re fun to be around, but is worried about how good you seem to be at not abiding by the rules.

Lisa thinks you’re cute, Jean thinks you’re a pleasure to be around.

Kaeya... well, Kaeya kept flirting with you, and Aether/Lumine almost beat him up, honestly.

You’re their little sibling!!! No flirting on their watch!!!!

Diluc just sort of, sighs at your gremlin antics, he is perpetually tired. Aether/Lumine suggests to him that they can keep you in a harness, he shakes his head.

Ok but like- Aether/Lumine actually have a harness for you. The twin got it back before you were all separated, and travelling through worlds. You have a habit for causing problems on purpose.

One time, you managed to climb onto the statue of some famous ruler and break off the arm??? Y’all had to yeet off that planet real quick because now there was a warrant out for your beheading.

The harness came immediately after. You’re fine with the harness, you honestly think it’s kind of funny.

Also, you can run around in it and drag your sibling around as they stumble trying to keep up.

I think I’m getting off track. Uhhh anyways!

You go stupid when fighting monsters. If there was a way to describe real life fighting as though someone was button smashing your moves on the controller? Yeah, that’d be it.

The second you received Anemo power, literally nothing could stop you.

Aether/Lumine just stands back and watches as you cause a fire swirl reaction in the tornado you made, sweeping away the entire Hilichurls camp. Your maniacal laughter rings in the distance as you chase after it.

Just really big chaotic good vibes all over the place.

ANGST MOMENTS

The separation of your older sibling has affected you moreso than the other twin. While they are devastated, sure, you have been affected the most.

The twins are your only family, they practically raised you, ever since you were young. You all don’t know where your parents are, so your older siblings mean everything to you

You have nightmares about Aether/Lumine being taken away from you, and you often wake up crying, because there was nothing you could do. You feel so weak and helpless

Sibling grief cuddles by the fire, because you both don’t know whether Aether/Lumine is still alive or not. The tears are plentiful.

You spend your time acting so chaotic to hide the deep sorrow you feel for losing your sibling.. even with all the friends you make along the way, and the quests you go on to find them again, you can’t help but feel like a part of you is missing.

And Aether/Lumine literally feels like a part of them is missing! That’s their twin!!! Their other half!!!! What the fuck are they supposed to do!?!?

But they steel themselves, because they know they have to look after you, and protect you. Because their twin wouldn’t appreciate you getting hurt on their watch. They stay strong, just for you, so it’s okay if you feel weak.

The both of you are determined to get your sibling back, even if you must rip Hell from its roots, and beat the fuck out of the Unkown God while you’re at it.

(Insert nervous Paimon gulping in the case that the Paimon = Unkown God theory is true)