#his went by especially fast the final ones are all super blurred together but i did my best | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

myrandomfandomramblings · 3 years ago

Text

The Beach - a The Rookie/Chenford Fanfic

“7-Adam-11, show us responding,” Jackson said over the radio as Lucy leaned back against her headrest defeatedly.

“I didn’t think I’d ever say this but I really don’t want to go to the beach.” “Like ever again,” she added even as she took the first turn towards their destination.

LA was 4 days into a record heat wave and over that time Lucy had learnt a few important things 1) Unsurprisingly, extreme heat causes everyone to flock to the ocean. 2) It also makes people extremely irritable. 3) Lots of irritable people packed together in large groups leads to chaos and 4) wool uniforms are not ideal attire for patrolling beaches in temperatures around 100.

So after 4 days she was over it. She had spent Monday with Jackson getting sworn at, honked at and nearly run over as they directed traffic at the busiest beaches in the city. She spent Tuesday with Tim breaking up beach brawls, confiscating contributing alcohol and watching bikini clad woman flirt with Tim. At least 8 different woman had asked him to rub sunscreen on them or suggested he take off his shirt to cool down. She had rolled her eyes so much she had given herself a headache. Although it may have been the sun. Yesterday, her and Nolan and responded to a report of a missing child who was feared drowned or kidnapped but turned out had followed the music of an ice cream truck four blocks and was found, about 30 minutes after the officers arrived, happily eating a fudgiscle. However, they were kept at the beach for the remainder of their shift by various citizens with complaints ranging from seagulls, wasps and possible sharks to thieves, streakers and possible melanoma.

Now her and Jackson were headed back to a beach where the adjacent shrubbery was currently being consumed by a blazing bush fire, which was in all likelihood human caused and spreading fast. Therefore all hands were on deck as the LAPD worked with the LAFD to keep civilians safe, extinguish the fire and investigate its cause.

The rest of her shift passed in a blur as they interviewed witnesses, cordoned off the area, issued evacuation orders, ensured those who needed it got medical attention, joined a production line passing large buckets of water from the ocean to where the fire was burning and debriefed with their team which included Nolan and Tim, and Lopez and Harper. Luckily in the end, the fire was successfully extinguished, those living nearby were safe and happily back in their homes and the perpetrator, a cigarette butt flicker, was caught. But not until nearly 11pm by which time the entire team was exhausted, scorching and covered in soot and ash. With their job done the team of 6 headed away from the scene back along the beach to where they had parked their shops. They were right on the sand where they left them to create a barrier preventing people from wandering toward the fire and the beach around them was abandoned. Likely due to a combination of the late hour, the fire itself and the fact that the stretch of beach they were on was only accessible by walking about a mile from one of the main beaches on either side or by scrambling down the steep cliff behind them.

“Anybody want a cold one,” Nolan asked when they reached the vehicles, “well a hot one I guess” he amended as he pulled out a six pack he had confiscated earlier in the day from the trunk of his shop. Everybody made a face at the offer of hot beer but since the only light around came from the shops headlights shining in the opposite direction Nolan didn’t see them.

“Screw it, I’ll take one,” Angela said.

“Wesley and Patrice took the baby to meet the extended Evers clan so I have nowhere to be and now that I’m no longer breastfeeding I can have whatever I want. Even if that’s gross beer that’s been sitting in a hot car all day,” she explained.

“If we dig a hole near the water line it will fill with cold seawater and we can make a makeshift beer fridge,” Jackson suggested but Angela had already opened her can and was sipping away.

“I’ll help dig the hole,” Nyla offered. “I’d rather hangout here then go back to the station to do paperwork and Lila’s with her dad so I also have no where I have to be.”

“I’ll call Grey and tell him we’re clocking out and will do the paperwork in the morning,” Tim offered.

“Your staying?” Lucy asked a little too excitedly, “what about Kojo?” she quickly added.

“Tamara called several hours ago and offered to give him dinner, take him for a walk and put him to bed.”��She saw the fire on the news and rightly assumed we’d have our hands full,” he finished.

30 minutes later they all sat in the sand around their makeshift beer fridge. Shoes, socks and button up shirts discarded and pants pulled up to their knees. 3 flashlights were in the middle of the group, pointing skyward, their handles buried in the sand. They laughed as they went around and told stories.

“How is it still this hot?” Lucy asked a while later. It was after midnight and the temperature had yet to even consider dropping below 90.

She pulled her white t-shirt away from her skin fanning, herself.

“I’m going swimming,” she declared ready to stand up.

“Your going swimming? Right Now? In that?” Tim asked gesturing to her cotton tee and woolen pants.

Lucy shook her head. “I was just going to go in my underwear but now that I think about it I don’t really want to have to drive back to the station in soaking wet underwear.”

Tim nodded as if this is what he expected but Lucy didn’t see him and continued.

“I guess I’ll just skinny dip,” she concluded.

Tim managed to both spit out and choke on the sip of beer he had just taken.

Everybody else’s faces were turned towards Tim and wearing amused expressions but they were saved his annoyance due to the limited light and the fact that his attention was still fully on Lucy.

“What?” She asked Tim, “It’s not a big deal. It’s dark. Plus everybody here has already seen me naked.”

“Well except you,” she added, which earned another spit take from Tim.

Lucy rolled her eyes but couldn’t suppress a smile. She loved seeing Tim flustered, especially when it was her doing.

“What?” He finally managed to ask in a strained voice after a few harsh coughs to clear his throat.

“Everybody here’s seen Lucy naked but you,” Lopez offered, “although that was bound to change sometime soon,” she added.

Lucy and Tim both turned to look at her wide eyed. Nolan and Nyla were both hiding smirks and Jackson wore an expression of mainly panic as he spoke.

“She’s drunk. She has no idea what she’s saying,” Jackson offered before turning to look daggers at Angela and whisper something in her ear.

Lucy thought she heard the words bet, interference and disqualified but she couldn’t be sure.

When he finished Angela addressed them again. “Sorry, apparently my tolerance took a nose dive since pre-pregnancy. I didn’t mean anything by that I got you mixed up with Smitty and what’s her face,” she finished waving her hand disparagingly.

“Hmm,” Lucy said clearly not buying her lame excuse but Tim still had his mind on other things.

“Why has everybody else here seen you naked?” he asked, his tone almost suspicious.

Lucy laughed. “Are you jealous?”

He fixed her with his best TO look. “No.”

Lucy suppressed the urge to roll her eyes yet again and answered.

“Communal showers at work,” she began gesturing to Nyla and Angela. “Best friends and roommates” she added pointing to Jackson. “Life gets crazy. Sometimes closing doors or throwing on clothes just isn’t a priority,” she explained seeing Tim’s confused expression. “Also we had to help each other into and out of the bath after we were injured.” She didn’t have to specify her kidnapping or the beating Jackson took to take down Doug Stanton. This group knew. “It’s kind of ironic that when everything hurts all you want is a warm bath but when everything hurts it’s nearly impossible to get yourself into and out of a bathtub,” she finishes. “Oh and Nolan and I used to date.” She says it as almost an afterthought, super casual. But all the former TOs still look at her with shock.

“You and Nolan?” Nyla asks with a laugh. “Really?” “No offense,” she adds addressing Nolan.

“Ah, none taken?” Nolan replies, clearly confused by her reaction.

“When?” Lopez asks looking between the two P2s.

“For a couple months while we were in the academy. We called it off shortly after we started at Mid-Wilshire,” Nolan supplied.

“Wow, I just can’t picture it,” Angela continued shaking her head.

“Why would you want to picture it?” Tim spat. Then seemed to catch himself and schooled his scowl back into a blank expression.

“Why’d you call it off, anyway?” Angela asked. Half actually curious. Half just trying to do her friend a solid and take the attention off him.

“Bishop warned me that dating a fellow cop would brand me and could ruin my career,” Lucy answered and thought she saw Tim flinch. It was impossible to tell for sure with just the flashlights, nevertheless she added, “Somethings matter more-“ she was staring right at Tim now “-are worth the gossip, the assumptions, the risk.” As she said it she saw his expression change but she couldn’t read it. “But our relationship wasn’t one of those things. We’re better as friends, anyway,” she finished addressing the whole group but looking at Nolan specifically for confirmation.

“Agreed,” Nolan nodded holding up his beer.

“To friends,” Jackson said clicking his to Nolan’s.

“To friends,” everybody joined in clinking their cans together.

“So who’s coming skinny dipping with me?” Lucy asked as she started to make her way back to the vehicles where she could leave her clothes in a place where they’d stay sand free.

“I will,” said Angela, “pregnancy and caring for a baby really makes modesty go out the window. The two beers I’ve had don’t hurt either.” She began to follow Lucy to the cars.

“I’m in,” Jackson offered, “with you two practically glowing in the dark nobody will even notice me.” He teased as he got up to join them, earning a playful shove from Lucy.

“Nobody’s here to see anything anyway.” She retorted.

“Go ahead. I might join you later.” Nolan said and Nyla and Tim nodded in agreement.

10 minutes later. Lucy, Angela and Jackson’s clothes were inside Jackson and Lucy’s shop and they were out in the ocean. It dropped off quickly so they weren’t that far away from the beach even though the water came to just below Lucy’s shoulders. After four days of blazing heat and the fire on top today, the cool water felt like heaven to her. She dipped and dove through the water, relishing the cool and wiped at her face and hands to remove the soot that had coated them earlier. Beside her Angela was trying to show Jackson what her son does when they put him in the water. This led to reminiscing about childhood summers spent at the beach or in backyard and community pools. And before they knew it they were playing old games from those days. John and Nyla had joined them by this time. Claiming some combination of escaping the heat, joining the fun and more beer as the motivation. They were currently having breath holding contests.

“I win!” Jackson exclaimed as he came up for air to find everyone else already up.

“You cheated,” Lucy argued, “I saw you come up while I was still under. I had my eyes open.”

“I did not. Plus it’s pitch black under there you couldn’t possibly have seen anything.”

“Did Jackson come up?” Lucy yelled at Tim who was still sitting on the shore.

“I don’t know. I wasn’t watching,” he replied casually with a slight shrug.

“Yes you were,” Angela argued, “you haven’t taken your eyes off Lucy since she got in here,” then realizing what she said she quickly ducked back under the water.

Everybody still above the surface froze.

Then after a beat. “So did he come up or not. I need to know if I won,” Nyla asked, all business.

“He floated to the surface but didn’t lift his head up. He won,” Tim offered defeatedly.

“Told you!” Jackson bragged.

“Rematch. 3,2,1 go,” shouted Nyla as everybody ducked back under the water. Lucy a split second behind everybody else as her attention was still on Tim.

She came up about 30 seconds later just as a wave was passing by her and managed to swallow a good serving of water. She coughed and sputtered but before she knew it Jackson and Nolan were beside her and she was assuring them she was Ok just needed a bit of time to catch her breath. As she swam towards the shore to rest in the shallows she noticed Tim was just sitting back down and his pants were wet to just above the knee. But she didn’t let herself focus on it.

She swam to just in front of where he sat laying on her stomach on the ocean floor, head just above the water.

“You OK?” He asked shifting his eyes to her for the first time since she swam up.

“Ya fine, just swallowed a little water,” she assured him.

“Looks like you guys are having fun out there,” he nodded indicating the group still farther out.

“Ya the water feels amazing. You can’t honestly tell me that you aren’t hot.” She had meant it literally. He was sitting in above 90 degree weather with wool pants on. But then she realized he had taken off his white shirt and his muscled chest and stomach were currently on full display and the word took on an entirely different meaning. She was thankful for the darkness as it hid her blush but even that couldn’t hide the fact that she was definitely staring.

“The ladies on the beach the other day will be so disappointed they’re missing this,” she teased gesturing to his bare upper half, hoping to give a probable explanation for the staring.

He gave a short laugh. “Not as disappointed as the meat bags who were wolf whistling at you will be that they’re missing that.” As he gestured at her he finally let himself actually take her in. Her hair was still up in its low work bun leaving her entire back exposed. The upper half of which was completely taken up by a tattoo, he had never seen before, although the light was too limited for him to make out the design. The rest of her body was hidden in shadows except her face which was now free of soot and make-up making her look young and vulnerable. Freckles brought out by the last few days of blazing sun were speckled across the bridge of her nose. Her mouth was twisted in thought and her eyes sparkled in the light of the flashlights. She really was beautiful.

While those thoughts flew through Tim’s mind Lucy was thinking about his comment about the wolf whistlers. That had happened at the very start of their shift and lasted no more than two seconds. Lucy wasn’t even sure they had been whistling at her and she had completely forgotten about it until Tim brought it up just now. Funny that he would remember.

They were both pulled out of their thoughts by a sudden commotion further out in the water:

“DID YOU NOT THERE IS NO PIE!”

“DO NOT THERE IS NO DIE!”

“DO OR DO NOT THERE IS NO TRY!”

Were being yelled over each other.

“What are they doing?” Tim asked looking at the group out in the water.

They were in a circle. Jackson had just given Nolan a high five then they were under again.

“I think they are playing the guess what I said under the water game,” Lucy chuckled.

Tim was about to reply but he was cut off by “How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood” being shouted in unison followed by bickering about who said it first.

“I’m going back out to join them. You going to come?” Lucy asked turning her attention from the group back to Tim.

“I don’t need to be a part of that.”

“Come on Tim. You’re hot and dirty.” She still meant it literally. Really. He was covered in soot. Stupid double entendres.

He raised is eyebrows.

“Just get in the water,” Lucy said splashing water at him to vent her frustration with how flustered she was getting.

He wiped the water from his face and a small smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. “Fine.”

Lucy beamed back at him as he stood up and walked back to the shop to discard his remaining clothes then turned her attention back to her friends.

“It’s not Angeles Direct, you’ve already guessed that three times,” Nyla was saying to Jackson

“That’s what it sounds like,” he argued “and it’s definitely closer to that than ‘embroidery period.’”

“That was my first guess. I heard wrong,” Nyla shot back.

“Oh ya cuz ‘and was dressed’ and ‘indoors divest’ were so much closer.”

Any further argument was cut-off by Nolan. “I’ve got it: Angela’s the best,” he said confidently.

“Yes and yes,” Angela confirmed.

“Your turn Nyla.”

There was a brief silence as they all went back under the water followed by a flurry of screamed “this is stupid.”

“Happy now?” Came a quieter voice beside her and Lucy nearly jumped out of the water. She had been so wrapped up watching her friends she hadn’t even noticed that Tim had made his way back down the beach and was now sitting beside her in the water.

She smiled and nodded. “Aren’t you?”

He gave a non-committal shrug. “We’ll see after I get roped into whatever’s going on out there,” he offered but there was no bite to it. He was even smiling, although mostly with his eyes, as he looked at their friends.

“Well let’s go find out,” Lucy replied as she led the way into the deeper water.

As they approached the group they watched them go up and down and listened to their guesses.

“And further than game”

“Comforters at game”

“Temperatures endgame”

“Stanford is endgame”

“Checkers is a game.” “At least that’s a real sentence”

“Bradford has game?” “That can’t be right he most definitely doesn’t”

Then just as Tim and Lucy joined the group “Chenford is endgame!” Shouted by Angela who upon realizing Tim and Lucy had joined them turned to Jackson.

“This ones not on me it was your sentence.”

Jackson stood stunned for a second looking desperately between Tim, Lucy and Angela then swiftly closed his eyes and yelled “MARCO.”

There was a brief silence then Nolan yelled “POLO” and everyone was swimming away from Jackson at top speed. Everyone except Tim who was giving Lucy a look that said. “See what you got me into? I told you so.”

But she was busy swimming off with the others, grateful for the distraction. So he rolled his eyes and joined the game. The water did feel amazing although he wasn’t about to admit that to her.

Calls of MARCO POLO and laughter filled the air as everybody took their turn being it: Jackson tagged Nolan who tagged Lucy who tagged Nyla who tagged Jackson who tagged Tim who tagged Nolan who tagged Angela who tagged Jackson who tagged Tim who tagged Lucy. Well he meant to tag Lucy. He reached his arm out and jumped towards her “POLO” but she was closer than he thought and instead of the tips of his finger tagging her shoulder he jumped right into her. He hit her hard and she responded to being knocked off her feet and down into the water instinctively by reaching for the nearest thing to prevent drowning, which happened to be him. So when he opened his eyes her arms were around his neck and her legs around his hips and her face was only about an inch from his own as she coughed up water for the second time that day.

“Are you ok?” He asked moving a piece of hair that had fallen into her face behind her ear.

She nodded but continued to cough as he absentmindedly stroked her back.

“You caught me by surprise,” she breathed “I didn’t know we were playing full contact Marco Polo.”

He let out a relieved laugh, “I’m sorry.”

“A real Tim Bradford apology I never thought I’d see it in person,” Lucy teased earning an eye roll from Tim. This close Lucy could see all the different shades of blue in his eyes even in the dark.

“It was an accident.”

“So it wasn’t some sort of Tim Test to see how I would handle a fight in the water?”

“No. You got your last Tim test a year ago when you stopped being my rookie.”

“I can’t believe it’s been a year already,” she said. “Then again we’ve been through enough for an entire career,” she added as her hand reflexively moved from his neck where it was playing with his hair to the tattoo on her her ribs.

That’s when it dawned on her just how close her and Tim were, pressed together without a shred of clothing between them. She had felt so comfortable and content she hadn’t realized the gravity of the situation and what it could lead to. She was about to put some space between them when his hand covered hers over the tattoo marking her supposed day of death. The day he saved her from being buried alive. Although he would say it marked the first day of the rest of her life. The day she saved herself.

And the desire to move away died in an instant.

“I kept it,” she said quietly, “because of what you said.” “Because it’s a reminder that I’m a survivor. And that my team will always have my back.”

Tim was looking at her with an expression more open than she’d ever seen. “I have one of those,” he replied softly lifting her hand up and moving it to rest on his lower left abdomen. She was confused at first but as she felt the skin beneath her finger tips she realized it was scarred. The scar from when he was shot on her second day and she pulled him out of the line of gunfire.

She smiled and looked directly into his eyes.

“It’s a good thing we have each other in our lives,”

“Sure is,”

She was just about to lean in and close the distance between them when a voice interrupted.

“Hey you two. Keep it PG or get a room. This is a family outing.” It was Nyla.

Lucy laughed as she untangled her self from Tim and in that moment she realized two things. 1) this was most definitely her family and 2) she would very happily come back to the beach. Maybe next time she’d just bring Tim, maybe even as her boyfriend.

#the rookie #chenford #lucy chen #tim bradford #nyla harper #angela lopez #jackson west #john nolan

69 notes · View notes

dakotafinely · 4 years ago

Note

Can I get some headcannons of the mud dogs having a s/o that got bit by a oozequitoes turning into a cute animal like a rabbit or deer?Like they're like "it's bad that you got bit from one but you're even cuter now not that you were as a human."something like that.

Oh mi gosh!! Yas!!!

Also, I think I've seen @bootyyy-shaker9000 answer a question similar to this one! (They only did Leonard tho but still) So you could go check them out if you haven't already!

Also, this gets super long so-

Loathsome:

Word spreads fast about stuff like mutants in the Hidden City

Especially since a lot of them move down there with no place else to go

So needless to say anytime you went topside, he was worried

He'd overheard a mutant talking about their transformation and how painful it was and he-

He couldn't bear to know you'd gone through that

Even months after the whole oozesquito thing died down he still tried to be catious for you

You went on a hiking trip with some friends, they'd been begging you for months to come and you finally broke down and gave in

Leonard reminded you five times to pack bug spray

Whats the one thing you'd forgotten to take with you? Bug spray

Who cares anyways, you swear most of the time it doesn't even work for you.

You had a lot of fun on your trip, saw a large flock if birds fly right past you and even got a deer to let you come close enough to touch and pet it.

You got as many pictures as possible to show Leonard tomorrow

And as you were capturing a beautiful sunset picture, thats when it struck.

You felt like you were being stabbed by a thousand needles. Then it began to feel as though you dropped into a mixture of lemon juice and salt.

The pain was so bad your body passed out as a reflex

When you awoke is when you heard shouting.

"There! There it is!" Your friend shouted, as blinding lights began to block your vision. You began backing up, lightly bumping into the tree begind you

"Monster!" Another friend gasped in surprise. Looking dead at you.

Monster? What monster?

You try to turn your head to look around only for it to be caught in branchs

More specifically your antlers were caught in branchs

Oh... oh no

You run off, followed by the shouts of your friends. You eventually out run them and make it to your apartment.

You pass out again on your bed hoping it was just the weirdest dream you'd ever have. Only to wake up and realize it wasn't.

You were staring at yourself in the mirror, staring at the dark brown fur that covered your body. And your newly found antlers, that actually only leveled about five inches above your head, the way they twirled and sat made it look like some kind of surreal crown on you.

But you couldn't focus on anything other than the fact that

Loathsome was gonna kill you

Or at least thats what you thought.

A week passed with no contact from you. It worried Loathsome to his core

Heck, even on weeks whete you became unexpectedly busy you'd at least give him a text briefing him on whats going on.

But nothing, just radio silence.

Finally, he'd gained the nerve to break into your apartment (again)

He called out for you, slowly making his way toward your room.

When he'd tried to open it only to have you shut as quickly as possible he was partially relieved

You weren't dead oh thank anything above!!

But then came the next problem, you were actively avoiding him

"Babe?" He called out "Whats wrong?"

"Nothing!" You shouted, cementing yourself as the worst lair Loathsomes ever known

A beat of silence goes by before you sigh

"Okay, just... don't be mad."

"Mad? Why would I- oh"

Your ears twitched a bit as you waited for him to respond. Him staring at you liked he'd never seen you before.

"Im sorry!" You finally blurt out "I know you said to be catious and to take bug spray and then I forgot and-"

"(Y/N), I'm not mad."

"Your... your not?"

"No, why would I be? I'm glad your okay, and... you look extremely cute as a deer babe."

With that, you tackled him down with kisses

Dastardly:

Yeah, sure he’s heard about mutants, even met a few! But he doesn’t think it’s that big of deal

I mean, it’s been a solid while since that was even happening so you should be all good right?

Plus you’re a photographer so it’s not like you’re not already outside a lot if you were meant to get bitten by now it would’ve happened right?

You were doing a pregnancy photo shoot. A lovely lesbian couple heard of you through a mutual friend and asked for your help.

You had done it outside in a large open space with many wild flowers and surprisingly wild animals to help make the lucky ladies look magical

Heck when you guys were meant to be taking a lunch break a small group of rabbit’s came up and surrounded the pregnant one. Once you had a picture you lured one over with a piece of your sandwich and got in a pet before the small pack ran off

As you were packing up, the couple having already left with your assurance you’d be alright on your own, it happened.

Bit right as another rabbit came up to sniff if you had more food on you. You let out a large screech in the empty field. You hunched over to find a way to dull the pain.

You don’t pass out until you look at your own hands as they grow a brown and white marble mix of hair.

You woke up in the evening and immediately opened the camera on your phone

Yup, that was you, with long rabbit ears and brown and white fur covering you whole

What else could you but run over to your boyfriends? Not like anyone topside wouldn’t scream at the sight of mutant rabbit

You call him, telling him you’re heading over and that something happened

Without explanation btw, you basically gave the boy a heart attack

So needless to say when he just finds out that you’ve turned into a mutant- and a cute bunny no less -was probably one of the better outcomes he could’ve hoped for with a call like that

“Toots, I get it, and I’m sorry that this has happened. But at least you got lucky but turning into a cute rabbit.”

“That’s not the... I’m cute?”

Malicious:

Venison Jerky, of the Muntjac variety

A childhood delight of your friends and something you’d become obsessed with ever since they introduced it to you

You were heading over to Mickey to share some with him after you two had been talking about the weirdest things you’ve ever tried (He beat you by a long shot but that’s aside from the point)

You’d been swatting away flies the whole way over, you’re not sure why as the bag of venison was sealed tightly and the jerky didn’t even smell bad

You’d swatted away the oozesquito several times before it could actually get a bite on you.

Transforming you into a Muntjac of course

You stumbled in the alley way from the unexpected pain, knocking over a couple of trash cans as your vision blurred due to the pain

Mickey was coming through the portal, something he’d begun to do after you’d been chased by some no-named losers who didn’t know what “no” means

An watching you hold your head and stumble around was not something he was expecting

Same with watching light brown fur cover your body and small horns grow on your head.

Catching you as you pass out from the pain he quickly takes you to a yokai hospital

He’s actually quiet worried, mainly because that’s the freakiest thing his seen in a while. And you looked kinda like you were dying

So when you wake up seemingly fine (aside of from being mutated) he’s relieved beyond all belief

However it was not a relief for you when you realized what you’d become

Not that you didn’t like yokai’s, just that you never expected to be one

“Think about it this way (Y/N)! Now we can spend even more time together!”

“I suppose that’s a fair point, but I’m still mutated Mickey!”

“Aw! But I think you look extra cute this way!”

That gets a giggle out of you, and he grins wide

Heya! Sorry this took so long to get out! Ya know, life and stuff. But I hope ya’ll like it!!

#rottmnt #rot tmnt #rise of the tmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt mud dogs #rottmnt loathsome leonard #rottmnt malicious mickey #rottmnt dastardly danny #loathsome leonard #malicious mickey #dastardly danny #rottmnt headcannons #rottmnt ask #thanks for the ask!#ask response

54 notes · View notes

ailec-12 · 3 years ago

Note

Ahhhhhhh congrats to reaching 100!!! It‘s super deserved! Could I request something for House Potter, please? Like, maybe something with Sev and Sirius along the lines of hurt/comfort? But no pressure, if that is too much or would be too fast-forward into the story! :) thanks!!

Thank you so much, Anon, you're so sweet! I'm sorry you've had to wait so long to see this prompt done —I hope you'll actually see it!—, especially since it was the first one I started to write back in October. I just got a little stuck with it halfway through, but I loved it and hope you'll enjoy it, too.

I decided to take today off to rest and, though I know I probably shouldn't have, I couldn't help sitting down and finally finishing this prompt. I don't have the energy to edit it, but I wanted to post it anyway.

So, this is set in the future, but let's imagine Sev and Sirius have made no progress whatsoever in the meantime. Also, the Potters have either moved out or gone on holiday.

Also on AO3.

No Harm Done

He told himself, as he took James’s broom without breathing a word of it to anyone, that it was okay. James did let him have it, so it was none of Sirius’s business what Severus did with it. A voice in his head begged to differ, but he ignored it and ploughed on.

He was nervous and excited, although, in all honesty, it was hard to distinguish one feeling from the other. After all, the clench in his stomach and the tingling in his fingers seemed to fit well together. It was the first time he would be flying alone and his mouth had become completely dry long before he had sneaked out the broom. Still, he had no doubts about wanting to carry on with his plan and Sirius, who had come to watch over them and was currently sleeping on the sofa with Harry, did not ever need to know.

The day was clear, if a little windy. Severus mounted and kicked the ground once, firmly. The broom took off at once and he gripped the handle tightly before relaxing his grip ever so slightly.

Flying felt great, exhilarating. Any fears he may have harboured stayed well below him.

He was not confident enough yet to try some of the stunts that James performed as easily as breathing. However, he enjoying riding higher than any of the adults would likely have allowed as well as going round and round in progressively smaller circles. He was enjoying himself so much that, when he started to descend, he miscalculated the higher speed he had achieved. When he saw the ground come closer far too fast, he pulled up the handle abruptly and the broom responded with a sharp jump. Startled, Severus saw his own fall in slow motion: the way his hands failed to regain hold of the wood, how his body flew a bit higher than the broom and how the ground greeting him face first. The world around him went deadly silent.

The impact left no air in his lungs. He tried to take a breath and succeeded after a few desperate attempts. The pain came afterwards. Gingerly, he sat up to examine the damage. Although the grass had surely softened his fall, one of his arms hurt from the wrist to the elbow. His jumper was covered with green stains, as were his jeans. Luckily, he had not ripped anything off, but his knees hurt when he stood up.

All these thoughts were forgotten once he spotted the broom. James’s racing broom, the once he had used for matches at Hogwarts. Severus’s blood ran cold. If he had broken the damn thing…

His hands were shaking uncontrollably when he took it, but his heart began to beat again as he observed no major damage. There were some sticks that stuck out of place and a few scratches on the handle that would not look amiss in a well-worn broom —that is, if James did not keep his in prime condition. He was bound to notice, Severus knew, fearing the moment. He might be lucky enough that James may just think he forgot to fix it before putting it away the last time he rode it. Severus was aware that he was not half bad at lying and, although it left a bitter taste on his tongue sometimes, he was too much of a coward to take the blame if he could avoid it.

And yet, his thoughts were useless, for he never had the chance to do any of it. Halfway through the house, the back door slammed open and revealed Sirius, thus freezing Severus on the spot.

“Where the—” Sirius started to yell. Then, he saw Severus and strode in his direction. The boy gripped the broom, but did not move. “What the fuck, Snape? You were flying?”

His hands were trembling again as he offered the broom. He had been caught, so there was nothing to do but manage the damage.

“I didn’t break it, it’s fine,” he said mulishly, as if that could cover up the fact that he was unable to look up, instead keeping his eyes focused on Sirius’s tight fists.

“What the hell happened to you, though? Did you roll down a hill? Wait, did you fall while you were flying?” Sirius did not snatch the broom while berating him, as Severus had expected. “Fuck, you’re hurt.”

His tone became strangely flat when delivering the last sentence and the boy was unsure how he should interpret it. What could Sirius plan to do with that information?

“I’m fine,” he snapped, just in case.

Sirius’s fists relaxed a little.

“Really? So blood just comes out of your knee on occasion?”

His black eyes snapped down and he saw a darker stain than the ones from grass and dirt. His cheeks became warmer and he faced Sirius’s smirk, offering a scowl of his own.

“I’m fine. May I go to clean up?”

His heart was beating very fast. What if Sirius said ‘no’? Severus did not understand why that was so frightening. The most the man could do was not let him get out of his dirty clothes, maybe force him to stand in a corner all day until Lily and James got home past his bedtime. Sirius could not hurt him, they would not allow it —they had promised. And yet, Severus waited with bated breath for the answer.

“Let me check first. I don’t need anyone come down on me ‘cause I neglected you.”

For some reason, that did it. Severus dropped the broom and made a dash for the door that led inside the house. ‘Stupid,’ he would think a second later, when he realised he should have run in the opposite direction, even if the open field did not feel any safer when the other was a grown wizard with a wand.

Before he was aware of what was happening, there was something encircling his waist and trapping him.

“L– Let me go!” He could not help the way his voice sounded high pitched and scared. He did not want anyone to know he was scared.

He hit Sirius’s arm and tried to kick him, too. He struggled for a while and did not stop to see whether he was doing any real damage. He felt numb and detached and maybe fear was still there despite his best efforts.

“Ow, ow! Snape, stop! Bollocks, you twat, I was j– Okay, that’s it!”

And then, the ground under his feet disappeared. He may have let out a pathetic shrill until he got hold of himself, shut his eyes very tightly and kept still. His breathes were the only sound for a short second. Then, a likely livid Sirius carried him inside the house, stomping all the while. He took him to the living room and put him down in front of the couch. Nearby, Harry was playing with his moving animal toys.

“Sit down,” Sirius growled and Severus obeyed.

At the same time, Harry stumbled over them and demanded,

“Sev, play!”

The older boy only shook his head, leaving Sirius to explain just in how much trouble he was at the moment.

“Harry, I’ve got an important mission for you,” Sirius said, solemnly but still warmer than he ever addressed Severus. The toddler looked up. “You watch that Snape stays put till I come back, all right?”

Harry nodded, reciprocating the solemnity, and turning back around, repeated his request to play together. Severus refused in silence, letting his hair fall on his face and focusing on not letting fall the tears that had started to gather in his eyes.

He had mucked it up really badly that time. He had panicked and attacked an adult —a man that James considered his own brother. The world was a blur and his ragged breaths flooded his ears.

“Snape.”

An impatient voice broke his train of thought. Minutes could have passed, or perhaps hours. He looked up and saw a very irritated Sirius holding up a familiar blue bottle in one hand and his wand in another.

“Calmer now, aren’t you?” the man huffed. “Roll up your trouser leg, let me see what we’re dealing with.”

Severus shook his head vehemently. He did not understand what was going on, but his eyes were still fixed on the wand. His breathing was still making that horrible sound.

“Hurt?” pipped up Harry somewhere next to him.

“Yeah, mate, Snape’s hurt and too ruddy stubborn to let me help.”

Help? What did Sirius understand for help when it came down to a brat like him?

“No ‘Nape, Sev!” Harry corrected all of a sudden, drawing Severus’s attention to the pair.

There was a small chubby finger pointed at him and, when he looked at Sirius —his face, not his wand—, the man had a bemused expression.

“Right,” he said after a moment, turning his terrible grey eyes towards Severus. “Well, Sev, will you please roll up your trouser leg so I can heal your knee?”

Sirius dragged the short nickname with all the smugness he was able to muster and the boy found he did not like it any better than hearing his surname.

“I’m fine,” he tried once again, but his voice sounded small and frightened as his anger failed to rise.

Sirius let out a weary sigh and handed him the blue bottle. After looking between the children, he decided to put his wand between his teeth. Then, with no hurry, he proceeded to pull up Severus’s damaged trousers himself.

The bottle trembled in his grasp. The boy bit his lip and tightened his fingers around it. Staying still was his only task now.

Sirius was excruciatingly slow until he finally revealed the cut on his knee. It had stopped bleeding and clearly did not merit so much care, but there was no comment on it or the mess it had made. In fact, for once, Sirius forwent his habitual cutting remarks and kept mostly quiet, only speaking to assure Harry that everything was okay.

Severus was pretty sure he stopped breathing when the wand came near him. Yet, he did not move. He felt something warm and, when he looked down, the cut had disappeared. A cold feeling ensued as Sirius washed the dry blood away with a cloth under Severus’s fascinated gaze. The bottle was taken from his hands as Sirius began to apply it on his knee, even though the bruise had not appeared yet.

Next, the man rolled up his other trouser leg.

“Does it hurt here, too?”

Severus was about to shake his head again, but Sirius was staring at him intently and the boy knew his lie would be caught.

“Just a little,” he mumbled, looking back down.

Some balm was applied on that area as well without another word. Severus pondered whether he could ask for some for his wrist and elbow, but Sirius proceeded to examine his arms himself. The boy could not help a sharp intake of breath when Sirius took hold of his wrist.

“This has swollen.”

“It’s not broken,” Severus hurried to assure.

Sirius frowned at him, although he did not look angry.

“No, it’s not, but let me…”

And he moved his wand in a different pattern until both the redness and swelling had faded away. Still, he applied some balm there and on his elbow. Severus had no idea whether he should be more surprised that Sirius was healing him or that he apparently knew where to look for injuries.

At long last, they were done and Sirius obliged Harry by sitting him on his lap. A dense silence settled between him and Severus, who tried to still his fingers by burying them in the hem of his jumper. Eventually, the boy was the one to break the quiet.

“The broom…” he started, peeking at the open door, in the direction where the magical object remained lying on the grass.

“Accio Prongs’s broom.”

Harry was very excited to see his father’s broom flying towards them and Sirius let him grab the end of the handle while he examined it. Severus could not relax completely, but at least the man’s face was not giving him any more reason to panic.

“We’ve all fallen on our arses while riding; more than once, actually,” Sirius remarked, almost offhandedly. Then, he looked up, straight into Severus’s black eyes. “There’s no harm done, so I suppose no one needs to know… as long as you’re careful next time and let someone know before flying off.”

The unexpected reprieve from Sirius of all people took a moment to register in Severus’s brain. He hurried to wipe the shock off his face and nodded with all his might.

“I will, I swear!”

The man looked at him for a bit longer, until he turned to his godson with a big smirk.

“Harry, you up for beating Severus at Exploding Snap?”

#Harry Potter fanfiction #Severus Snape #Sirius Black #House Potter for Children in Need #A Hotchpotch of Feelings #HP #My fics #Prompt #100 Followers Celebration #*#I could swear I wrote Severus had bitten Sirius!#I think it's hilarious I've spent months thinking that happened but then I reread the thing and that image was nowhere to be found #It happened tho #Sev just didn't register he had bitten Sirius #Ask Ail #anonymous

17 notes · View notes

stitchandani · 3 years ago

Text

Story:

Lilo's College Days That Defining Moment The story of the moment Lilo and Mertle stopped being enemies and started, super slowly, being friends as teenagers. Written by Doverstar. Read below

16-year-old Mertle Edmonds didn’t go barefoot anywhere unless she was in her room. Especially not when every single pair of her sandals was a designer brand. Unfortunately, tonight she had to make an exception. It was a performance celebrating the 50th anniversary of her hula school. Being only two years from graduation, Moses, their Kumu, had decided to allow his oldest students to star in a special dance they’d all worked together to create. It was always easy working with Yuki, Teresa, and Elena. It was even easy working with Victoria. Mostly. But Lilo…Lilo Pelekai always had the worst ideas—the weirdest ideas. She was always trying to stink up the show, steal the spotlight. Luckily Moses didn’t approve half of her plans during the brainstorming, and the dance had come out okay. In fact, Mertle had shone out more than she usually did tonight. She did her part perfectly—the swing of her hips, the smoothness in her steps, the waft of both arms. Not a single slip-up, and not a curly hair came out of her ponytail. And of course, doing hula required she go barefoot. That made total sense. What was really not like her was running through the muddy trail down to the beach without shoes on. She didn’t intend to. She just had to get out of that building. Her mother had been there to congratulate her after the performance, as always. Moms gushed a lot, but at least Mertle could always say—with confidence—that her mom wasn’t doing it just because she was her mom. It was because, obviously, Mertle deserved every bit of the praise she received. When Mertle had gone to change into her green tank top and blue cutoff jeans, after the audience had all but left, she took her sweet time. It was even better that she got to the only bathroom right before Lilo had, so she got to see the sweet flash of irritation in those too-close-together brown eyes. Even that blue thing, Stitch, looked vexed. (Mertle had been telling herself for years that she didn’t know exactly what Stitch was, even if certain events during her childhood proved otherwise. Events and a talking dog who was probably asleep in her bedroom right now.) If Victoria hadn’t gone home so quickly after the show, she probably would’ve been annoyed for her creep friend too. Some nights just went too perfectly. Upon emerging from the bathroom, the redhead found that everyone was staring at her. As well they should—she looked great. But it was a different kind of staring. There was something really concerning in the way Teresa was practically biting her lip off and the way Moses seemed to be struggling to say something. “What?” Mertle tossed her ponytail, hands on her hips. “What did I miss?” Her mother, eyes strangely puffy, pushed past Moses to put her hands on her daughter’s shoulders. Mrs. Edmonds’ glasses looked foggy. “Mertle…sweetheart…” Was she getting all choked up? Why? Mertle’s eyes cut to Elena and Yuki and back to her mom. How embarrassing. Whatever it was, couldn’t it wait till they got out of the hālau first? Nobody liked a blubberer. Totally unprofessional. Her mom had always been just a little overemotional with, well, basically everything, and it got old fast. “Mom, everybody’s looking! What—” “It’s—Carl. It’s your daddy, Mertle.” Words blurred after that. Something about a phone call, something about missing the show tonight, something about “driving under the influence”. Mertle heard it. She just didn’t register what exactly had happened in the last twenty minutes. Her daddy couldn’t be gone. There was no way. He was rich; he owned a store, a resort, three convertibles. He was too important to be dead. As Mertle looked around, past her hysterical mother and at the remaining faces in the room, all she could hear was her own heartbeat. Everyone was still watching her, why were they watching her? She didn’t want to be watched. She didn’t want all the attention now. Not now. Couldn’t they take a hint? Wasn’t this one of those times where everybody was supposed to go away? Or just not be here? She hated the way they were gawking at her. Her daddy was

gone. What did that mean? Mertle felt it slowly sinking in further and further. Carl was dead. He died just moments ago. He was here then and now he wasn’t. Her face tingled. She knew she was about to cry, and she totally hated people seeing her cry. Didn’t cry often. She wanted her mom to give her one of those too-tight, really unnecessary, unwanted hugs, but everyone seemed frozen. Even Mrs. Edmonds. In that split second, Mertle looked at Teresa. Teresa looked away. Then Elena. She fiddled with her hair and glanced at the wall. Yuki met her gaze, just for a moment, and then she started fidgeting in her hula skirt, eyes downcast. The only person who stared right back at her was Lilo. Lilo was unashamedly waiting for Mertle to look at her, and the sympathy there, sympathy that was so clearly genuine, was almost enough to make teenage Edmonds gag. Without another word, she pushed past her mom, Moses, her classmates, and bolted out the open door into the warm night air. So there she was, barefoot, running through the slightly-damp path through the tropical woods to…she didn’t know where. Maybe the beach? Not home, no thank you. Mertle wanted to be alone, where those morons in the halau couldn’t find her and stand around being useless again. She didn’t know what she’d wanted them to do. Something, hello! Funny; she always knew what she wanted. Well, she knew what she did not want. What she didn’t want was...basically everything they’d just done. A whole lot of nothing. Nothing. That was what they were, after all, right? All of them. They were nothing. Not as important as she was. Not as talented, not as pretty. What had she expected? A posse wasn’t supposed to be a hug or a kind word. They’d never mattered that much in her world before. Except when she needed someone to yell at or to agree with her. So why did their actions back there matter now? She was out of breath already. Really needed more exercise. Wasn’t a dazzling hula career enough? Okay, maybe not a dazzling career, not yet. But someday. And practicing for it was clearly wearing her poor, hard-working body thin. She paused, hands on her knees, gasping for breath. She must be tired from the incredible show she’d just put on. That was it. Not out of shape at all. No way, not her. Someday she would have a dazzling hula career; she’d be a sensation, and then… Dad won’t make it to any more of my shows. The thought crashed down on her like the waves she heard beating the surf off to her right, somewhere past the trees and the palmettos. The weight of what she had learned just moments ago was finally starting to make her ache, and Mertle slumped against the trunk of a palm tree. Tears ran down her nose, and she felt herself sliding down the trunk, hugging her knees as she crouched in the sand. Moonlight trickled through the branches and stars twinkled in the clear sky. Mertle didn’t spend a bunch of time outside, unless it was a weekend. She might have enjoyed the night wind playing with her ponytail. If her daddy wasn’t dead. He used to visit. When she was little. When she was 5, 8, even once when she was 10. He’d bring her expensive gifts from his store in Honolulu. She wore a bangle he’d given her now, right above the old charm bracelet on her wrist. It said Daddy’s Little Princess in letters that used to be hot pink. She had been young enough then that being a Princess seemed an achievable goal. Here in the present, it was for luck. Or maybe to remind herself he existed. Because until today, she hadn’t heard from him in three long, disappointing years. Hadn’t seen him in five. Why was he gone? She needed him! Without Carl in the world, she felt…it was like she wasn’t special anymore. Like she wasn’t important, like she wasn’t a star. Her daddy, when he had bothered to show up or call or write or send her presents, had managed every time to make her feel like she was somebody. She believed it, too, to this very night, because he told her so often when they were together. He told her how amazing she was, and how lucky, because she had him for a father,

and he could give her anything. Not to mention a mother whose job gave them whatever they didn’t already have. Now there was nobody to remind her how incredible she was. How incredible she just had to be. She would start to think it was all a lie, and she was just as ordinary and witless as any of those girls in that stupid school. Because the one person in the world who believed it as much as Mertle had was on the side of a road somewhere, never to open his eyes again. “It’s not fair,” Mertle sobbed. “It’s not fair, it’s not fair, it’s not fair.” She jumped when she heard someone behind her. “Mertle?” Mertle thumbed the moisture out from underneath her glasses. “Go away.” “I know how—” “I said go away, Weirdlo!” Lilo was quiet as she slipped her yellow duffel bag off her shoulder, letting it drop in the sand, kneeling beside the redhead. She was in khaki shorts and a red top. Must’ve changed while Mertle had been running. It looked hideous on her. “I know how you feel,” Lilo said almost neutrally, going on as if Mertle hadn’t snapped at her. Mertle refused to turn and look at her. She so did not need this, not right now, not from…it. “You? Puh-leeze. Don’t make me laugh.” “I do,” Lilo insisted. “You’re probaby really confused.” She crossed her legs to get more comfortable. “And scared.” Her voice got lower and she looked at the hands in her lap. “And lost.” Mertle rolled her eyes, but that made hot tears spill faster down her cheeks and she rubbed them off angrily, worried her makeup would smear. “What do you know?” “I know you’re really gonna miss him. You talk about him a lot.” “Yeah, right.” Mertle scoffed, almost laughing for real then. “He wasn’t even a good dad! He was never here. Why should I care?” “But he was still your Ohana, right? I mean...he was still your dad.” Mertle was quiet for a second, contemplating that. Yeah, he was still her dad. But even so, what kind of dad up and leaves for the big city when you’re 2? Or stays away for years at a time, just so he can expand some dumb store? But he’d still come by every once in a while. He’d take her out to get some of Luki’s shave ice. He’d watch her surf. He’d even taken her to get her ears pierced. And when she picked out her first pair of earrings and held them up to him, two little diamonds, he told her they were dull compared to… Mertle felt her chest heave again and she turned her body further away from Lilo, to shield the mess she was obviously becoming. Worthless. She was worthless now, because she did have him to tell her otherwise. Stupid man. Why had he done this to her? What was he thinking? Had he been thinking of her as he died? Had he been scared? He’d been all alone. Lilo put her hand on Mertle’s shoulder, and the bespectacled puddle finally craned her head around to glance at her. “Why are you doing this?” Mertle demanded, sniffling, voice harder than she thought it would be. Lilo didn’t retract her hand. “I lost my dad, too,” she reminded the girl. “I know what it’s like right after….” She didn’t finish that part. Closing her eyes as if going back in time for a moment, Lilo sighed very softly, and Mertle thought she’d never heard someone sound so tired. Then Lilo opened her eyes and caught Mertle’s gaze again. “Anyway. I didn’t want you to be by yourself.” She managed a smile. “Nobody gets left behind.” Mertle gawked at her. She’d gawked at Lilo Pelekai plenty of times, dozens, hundreds. All the time they’d known each other, Mertle looked down her nose at Lilo. She’d sneered and called her names for over ten years. When they were children, the Edmonds child’s sole purpose in life had been to make her rival miserable, because if someone else could be miserable, Mertle wouldn’t have to be. This too-creative, too-nice, too-weird native teen was a freak. An oddball, a dork, a loser, a total irritant. The fly at Mertle’s lifelong picnic. Lilo was gross, loud, pathetic, had terrible taste in fashion… And she was the only one who’d stayed. Yuki, Teresa, Elena, they’d all looked away. But Lilo...Lilo had stared back, because

something of merit was happening to Mertle, something that mattered. She’d run after the girl who had tried to drag her down with every breath she’d taken since they were five years old. She acted like Mertle was important. Like Mertle wasn't worthless. Like she cared. Like they were friends. And slowly, through her tears, Mertle smiled back.

#doverstar posts #fanfic #story #lilo's college days #mertle edmonds #lilo pelekai #that defining moment #lilo and stitch #teen lilo #teenage lilo

7 notes · View notes

imaginethathaikyuu · 4 years ago

Text

another dono request for @karlitabi-rrito! thank you for donating and letting me write this for you in return! it was super fun and i really hope you enjoy it :)

if you would like a personal scenario, headcanon or a match up, please visit this post for information on charity donation requests

daichi sawamura x fem reader (who is asahi’s sister) (characters are aged up to be in college cuz thats the age range i prefer writing abt but it hardly matters) word count: 2845

When you had something to hide, it was always easy to keep it hidden.

Well, until it wasn’t.

You remembered the day your brother introduced you to his best friends like it was yesterday - which, let’s be clear, it was not. It was two years ago when you were surrounded by a group of boys, most of them looming over you in stature, while your brother guarded you like he was your watch dog.

To be fair, Asahi Azumane was a great brother and an even better friend, and you were the only one who got to see both of those sides of him. When it came to you, his prized sister, he was observant and protective. He saw the look you gave to one of his greatest friends - the one with the number one on his chest and the kindest eyes you had ever seen. And that was when he had to set some guidelines.

Tanaka and Nishinoya were already frothing at the mouth over you, so Asahi had every right to stand between you and the group of college boys and give all of them their own personal glare.

“Off limits. She’s my sister, and she’s off limits. Respect that.”

But maybe that was a bit too harsh. He saw their scared faces - especially on the first years - and he automatically felt bad.

“...Please.”

Your giggle could be heard by the entire team, and the only one you could see from behind Asahi - Number One - smiled at you. It was kind and knowing and pretty, and for some reason, you couldn’t look away from it.

“Well,” the boy said, finally breaking your staring contest to look at Asahi instead. “Could you at least let us introduce ourselves? It would be rude not to.”

“Oh. Yeah. Right.” He was feeling nervous, you could tell. He definitely wasn’t one for public speaking - and speaking to his entire volleyball team was classified as public to him. “I forgot to mention this, but the whole reason she’s here is to give us some management help. She’s basically going to be a team manager, I guess, since the upperclassmen are now finished. Uh… so, yeah, this is Y/N.”

He stepped to the side and tried to stop feeling awkward, and you only laughed at how awkward he looked. And the team was far too nervous to greet you, which only made it worse.

Well, most of the team. Just like you suspected, Number One was the first to step forward.

“It’s nice to meet you, Y/N - I’m Sawamura Daichi, the team’s new Captain.”

He said it with a genuine smile and he held his hand out to shake yours; when you took it, his other hand clasped over yours for the warmest handshake you’d ever had.

“It’s nice to meet you, Captain,” you said with a light laugh - you didn’t miss when his brow raised.

“Please - call me Daichi.”

You figure the exchange should have been awkward - what, with your brother watching over you - but it wasn’t. Daichi was as friendly as his eyes looked and as warm as the handshake he had given you. It made it hard to feel awkward around him.

You learned that more and more the months that followed. Daichi was warm in every sense of the word, and he was far too easy to get close to for there to be any preset boundaries between you. He made it easy to overlook them. He made it too simple to step over the line.

Being a manager for the team he was the captain of meant the two of you got to spend a lot of time together, and it was normal for a captain and a team manager to be close. He often met with you after practice so you could communicate things from the coach or anything you noticed about how they were playing, and both of you were always early so you could plan out the needs of the day. But that time was spent with blushing cheeks and lingering touches, knowing looks and bated breath, blurring lines and growing feelings.

It started when Daichi began asking you about your day before asking about practice. It started when you offered him your number “for emergencies.” It started when he walked you to your dorm, meaning for it to be a one time thing but making it a habit.

Goodnight messages turned into good morning texts. Accidental touches turned purposeful. Secret glances turned into meaningful looks.

All without your brother’s knowledge.

A quiet evening in the gym would be the setting for the night that set the standard for what your future relationship with Daichi would look like.

You had wandered to the middle of the room and sat down in the center, just for fun, and Daichi joined you. He was freshly showered and rightfully exhausted from practice, but he’d rather stay with you than turn in early.

You sat across from each other, sitting close enough to send your brother into a panic attack. That thought was always in the back of your mind during moments like this.

Daichi’s hand slid into yours, and you immediately felt warm. He was always so warm.

“...Asahi would kill me if he saw this. If he knew…”

You hung onto his every word. “If he knew what?”

He shook his head and squeezed your hand, trying to find a way to speak through the lump in his throat. “About my feelings for you.” He avoided looking at you until he got the words out, and when his eyes found yours he couldn’t look away. “This… is probably wrong. I shouldn’t -”

“He’s only my brother,” you argued. “He doesn’t own me. What he doesn’t know… won’t hurt him.”

Daichi nodded, speechless. Nervous.

You moved even closer to him. Your faces were inches apart. “This isn’t wrong,” you said. “My feelings for you… aren’t wrong.”

“So it wouldn’t be wrong to kiss you?”

Instead of answering, you pressed your lips to his.

The kiss was as special as most first kisses are, but when it ended, a condition was to be made.

“He can’t find out,” Daichi said without thinking, and you agreed just the same.

That was two years ago. Back then, two of you weren’t even in your fourth year, though you were just about to be.

Now, you had graduated from university. Daichi and Asahi’s college volleyball careers were over. You shared an apartment with your brother. And your relationship with his best friend was still a secret to him.

Even worse, the relationship was blossoming right under his nose. Every time Daichi came to visit Asahi, the two of you snuck kisses when he went to the other room. You had even snuck Daichi in from the fire escape more than once.

And you weren’t just hiding from Asahi - you were keeping it from everyone. For your brother to not find out, it meant no one could find out. No friends. No family. No one.

It was hard to only be in a relationship when others weren’t looking. It didn’t do a good job at making the two of you feel valid in your endeavors, and while sneaking around was fun and exciting at night, the awkward guilt ridden mornings weren’t worth it. Having to pretend you don’t know everything about Daichi for the sake of keeping up the act wasn’t worth it. Having to watch him pretend to be interested in other girls when the guys were around and asking him about his love life wasn’t worth it.

Keeping the love of your life a secret wasn’t worth it.

But, like most bad things, you ignored it because it was easier that way. You’d rather have a secret relationship with Daichi than none at all; you’d rather your brother keep his best friend than find out he’d been betrayed by him for two years; you’d rather keep it behind closed doors for his sake, because you couldn’t handle hurting your own brother.

Except, you were starting to slip up. Small mistakes, like making comments about Daichi you shouldn’t be making; letting Asahi see the photo of you and Daichi that was your phone’s wallpaper; accidentally calling him babe while your brother was in earshot.

They were rookie mistakes. You knew better than to slip like that. And you and Daichi had multiple conversations about it - you were going to be more careful.

Well, you would have been more careful. If you had the chance to.

Your brother was away on a business trip for work and wouldn’t be home for the weekend - that gave you and Daichi the chance to play house for a few days. Being lovers of cliches, you were currently laying on his chest on the couch while a cheesy movie played in the background. It was peaceful and loving and warm, just like every moment spent with Daichi. He was safe and secure and yours; he was your happy place embodied.

You were savoring it, because moments like these didn’t come often.

Until the apartment door opened.

You knew only one person would be walking into your apartment. Hell, you hoped it was someone trying to rob you and not the person you actually knew it was - surely Daichi could scare a thief off, but there was no way in hell he’d scare away your equally scary-when-mad brother.

You sat up fast, shaking Daichi to wake him up, but it was too late. The moment the door opened it was too late. There was only a short hallway separating the living room from the foyer, and you had to cross that hallway to get to your bedroom, so hiding Daichi there was out of the question.

There was nowhere to hide when your brother walked into the living room to see you straddling his best friend on the couch. You didn’t even have the chance to tell Daichi what happened, but Asahi’s booming voice cleared things up for him.

“What… in the world… are the two of you doing?”

He didn’t even sound mad - he was nothing but shocked. At first.

“That better be someone who looks like Daichi,” he said to you, “because if it isn’t a look alike, I’m going to freak out.”

“Asahi,” you tried, stumbling to your feet and approaching him like you’d approach an angry bear - which your brother was resembling at the moment. “Don’t get mad.”

And he completely ignored you, walking around you to face Daichi, who had stood up with you.

“Sawamura. What part of off limits don’t you get?!”

Daichi said nothing, and you said nothing, and Asahi was looking back and forth between you two waiting for something.

“I’m sorry,” you said, but it was no use. You knew what was coming.

“You know, I expected it from Nishinoya or Tanaka - hell, maybe even Sugawara! But you? Daichi - you?”

You saw Daichi break then. You watched any resolve he had crumble to nothing. He still had nothing to say. That wasn’t like him.

Instead, he just let Asahi ramble. He took the brunt of it trying his best to look Asahi in the eye out of respect, but at some point his eyes were cast to the floor and he looked as if he couldn’t keep listening.

“And you!” Asahi exclaimed, turning to give you a piece of his mind. “My best friend?! You went after my best friend? Out of all the guys in this city, you choose the one I don’t want you to date?!”

His words hit you like a slap to the face, and you were about to argue when Daichi spoke.

“Don’t - it’s not her fault, don’t blame her. This was all my fault, I knew better but I still pursued her and I’m sorry, Asahi, I’m so sorry. I never meant for this to happen.”

“How long?” Asahi asked, and when he got no answer he asked again. “How long has this been going on?”

Both of you stuttered out, “two years,” making Asahi groan loud.

“Dammit. Goddammit.”

He didn’t curse often, especially in front of you, so you were expecting something awful to come after that.

“What?” you asked, pressing him to just get it over with.

“Now I have to let you stay together!”

Daichi pressed him this time. “...What?”

“If this was just some stupid fling I could make you stop,” Asahi replied, now pacing back and forth and seeming to be talking to himself. “But no - two years?! What the hell?!”

“We’re sorry -”

“Save it,” he snapped, and though his tone was harsh the look he gave to you wasn’t. “Two years. You’ve been sneaking around for two whole years?”

“...Yeah.”

“Yep.”

“God. I should have known when I saw you guys together so much in university. I swear I saw this coming. Dammit.”

The room fell to silence, with you watching Daichi and Daichi staring at the floor and Asahi pacing back and forth like he had gone mad. Neither you nor Daichi knew what to do, but Daichi had a feeling he’d be forced to leave if he didn’t go himself.

“Okay, well… I - I apologize again, Asahi, but I understand if you don’t forgive me for this. I’ll see myself out -”

“Don’t you dare - you’re not just going to leave my sister, are you?!”

Daichi was completely taken aback and froze in place - Asahi was being far too brave and it was nothing short of abnormal and scary.

“I - I just thought -”

“So now that I find out about this relationship you’ve got going on, you’re just going to leave her? Do you want me to be pissed off?!”

“I - no, I don’t -”

And you had to step in and save your boyfriend. “Asahi.”

“If you think I’m going to force you guys to break up, you’re wrong. Honestly, I’m offended you think that. Is that why you hid it from me?”

No answer.

“What do you guys think of me, anyway? I would never force you apart. Well, maybe I would, but… not after two years of a relationship.”

Though his words were reassuring, he was still looking at Daichi with a hard stare, and Daichi was still on edge.

“We can talk about this more tomorrow. I need to go to bed.”

Obviously, Asahi just wanted to escape the situation. He’d probably just realized the weight of it all, and now a pit of anxiety was forming in his stomach. But you were glad to see him leave to his bedroom - he needed to calm down, and you needed to make sure your boyfriend was okay.

Even after your brother left, Daichi didn’t speak. He didn’t even look at you. You had to approach him yourself.

“Are you okay?” you whispered, hardly confident in your voice.

Daichi shook his head. “I’m a terrible friend,” he replied.

“Yeah, and I’m a terrible sister. We’re in the same boat, babe.”

He didn’t reply and it worried you, and you were sure this was the end. Daichi obviously felt bad for betraying his friend’s trust - was he going to break up with you as a way to attempt to make it all better?

You stood there waiting, but he didn’t make the wait long. His hand soon slid into yours, and it was as nervously as the first time he held your hand. But it was just as warm, too.

“We’re okay,” he stated - he sounded as if he’d just decided it. “Everything… is okay. Right?”

“Seems like it,” you mumbled. “We’re still standing. He didn’t do what we thought he’d do…”

“I don’t even know why we thought that…” Daichi sighed. “We’ll have to make it up to him.”

Making it up to Asahi consisted of breakfast the next morning, as well as a lengthy conversation explaining your reasoning for sneaking around. And Asahi listened. He understood. He even told you that he thought you were a cute couple.

It made you realize you had been taking your brother for granted all this time; instead of seeing his caring, understanding nature, you only saw your own fear and anxiety. You’d spent so long skirting around him and trying to present something that wasn’t real to him that you hardly knew how to be honest with him.

And that did hurt him. He did feel betrayed by Daichi and lied to by you - even so, it was okay. You were both family. You both love him, and you two loving each other was only a plus. And he would be okay as long as the two of you were, too.

While a part of you would always miss the thrill of sneaking around, there was nothing better than proudly being with Daichi, and now that your relationship wasn’t so weighed down, you could finally grow together.

But it wasn’t all great, because you had found a new weight on your shoulders no sooner than you had lost the previous one.

Asahi had just finished his breakfast when he looked up at the two of you. “Well, since it’s been two years,” he said, “when’s the wedding?”

Daichi looked more afraid than when Asahi caught the two of you together.

“We’ll talk about it.”

#dono req #sawamura daichi x reader #daichi x reader #haikyuu imagines #haikyuu x reader #scenario #fluff

168 notes · View notes

peace-coast-island · 3 years ago

Text

Diary of a Junebug

The trail of the Whispering Winds

The Moonlit Woods transforms into a different place after midnight. It's still as eerie as ever, but in a different way though - as in different vibes. I hardly venture out here for good reason so when I do, it's usually with a group, preferably those versed in magic and supernatural stuff.

Last time I came to the Moonlit Woods was with Team Magic - Pippa, Mariposa, Angie, and Willow. While hunting for gyroids we came across an old travel log and found a cocostar tree, which is super rare, so we struck gold with that discovery. Being with the girls made me feel a bit more confident about venturing into the woods so since then, planning out my next adventure has been in the back of my mind.

Speaking of Team Magic, the girls are looking forward to coming back for another gyroid event. Mariposa's been working with Daisy Jane on gyroid designs since then and they're pretty much ready to go. We just haven't been able to set a date yet because the girls are busy with school and college apps but they're hoping to drop by sometime in the near future.

Instead of Team Magic, we have a new group accompanying us in the woods. They don't have an official name but they have been working as a team for years. There's Taiki, a freelance exorcist who comes from a family that has dealt with the supernatural for generations. He's a friend of Miki's, having gone to the same university together.

Nene's his best friend from his hometown - she actually spent a semester at Tome U so she also got to know Miki a bit. She's also the artist Rika has been following, the one who just set up a Patreon and is in the process of getting her webcomic, Seven Wonders, published.

Haru is what they call an untethered spirit. He used to haunt the halls of the school Taiki and Nene went to before it was demolished. Basically Taiki contacted Miki who contacted her brother and his friends at the consultation center so they can find a way to keep Haru around. I only know this because Mikayla asked for some sparkle stones and essences a while back.

Then I got curious and decided to do a bit of research. Turns out there's a lot of different kind of procedures that have varying results. So what Taiki and the others did was no easy feat and they succeeded either by luck or some other factors. In other words, Haru's still a ghost or a spirit, but now he also has a physical form. He looks young - 13 or 14 at the most - but he's obviously a lot older than that - though for the most part he's like any other guy as far as I can tell.

Nene is an artist and the author of Seven Wonders, a webcomic about a girl who befriends a spirit who resides in her school. The story's loosely based on her life - as well as Taiki and Haru's. She started writing it a few years ago, originally a side project to keep herself busy. Then she began updating it regularly and grew a following, prompting her to expand the story. The webcomic then reached international audiences when Taiki offered to translate her work into English so that's when it really started taking off.

The three of them go way back, having first met almost a decade ago. Nene managed to summon Haru in hopes of granting a wish, similar to what happens with the main characters in Seven Wonders. The two end up in a series of misadventures that result in them being bonded by a curse, resulting in Nene being connected with the spirits of the school. Then Taiki came along with the intent of exorcizing spirits such as Haru, only to end up befriending him.

They've been through a lot together, even defying fate (Haru's words) so they can have this future they're living in right now. From what I've heard, dealing with the supernatural - willingly or not - always has a price to pay. It's one of those things where no matter how lightly you tread, you'll step on a landmine either way.

In other words, there's always something to lose.

Taiki was never one to have a "normal" life considering that he comes from a family of exorcists. He has an older brother and younger sister, both who are powerful and pretty well known back home. Miki mentioned that he hasn't really spoken to his family much since moving out. According to Nene and Haru, Taiki was close to his brother, having looked up to him a lot back in the day. Nene and Miki have both speculated that the rift between Taiki and his brother was probably one of the reasons why he decided to stay in Mina Creek instead of going back to Inazuma.

Nene stuck around Inazuma before deciding to join Taiki. Even after graduating she stuck around the school to see Haru, working as a janitor so she'd have an excuse to be there. But when Taiki graduated the following year, the trio didn't see much of each other. Taiki went abroad to Tome University and while Nene still visited Haru and the other spirits, she had to focus on her studies.

Then Nene signed up for a study abroad program, which happened to take her to Miki and Taiki's school. I remember Miki talking about helping out this freshman who was an international student. She said he was struggling quite a bit so it was lucky that they ran into his old friend - his senpai, as he called her back in the day. During her time there while reminiscing with Taiki, Nene was inspired to write Seven Wonders so that's how it all began.

Nene ended up dropping out of university after that semester so she became an artist/content creator while working as a school janitor. Along with that she was also the bridge between the living and the spirits, a role she carried since becoming Haru's assistant when they first met.

In the years that followed, Nene and Haru got involved in supernatural affairs while Taiki offered his assistance once in a while. Things were going well until the school had to close due to financial problems. If that wasn't bad enough, the city was going to demolish the school and a bunch of other old buildings in that area. So Haru was in a tight spot as he would have nowhere to go since he couldn't be outside of the school. And as for Nene, she didn't really have anywhere to go either since being a janitor was what kept her afloat.

Thankfully Taiki and the others were able to come up with a solution or else Nene and Haru wouldn't be here with us. Taiki made the offer for Nene to join him in Mina Creek, something which she was understandably on the fence about. She says she's been adjusting to the move a lot better than she thought, probably because she has been here before so it's not too drastic of a change.

However, it's a big leap for Haru considering that he's been restricted inside a school for years and now he's in a foreign country surrounded by a lot of unfamiliar things. He does seem to be a fast learner - Nene and Taiki were surprised at how quickly his English's improving and if I didn't know, I'd think he'd been studying the language for at least a year or so. Taiki's obviously quite fluent while Nene's sorta in between - Taiki serves as an interpreter when they need a bit of help, which is pretty much what he does during his non-exorcist job.

So far Nene's enjoying life at Minai Creek, though she admits to missing home. She finds the change in scenery intimidating but also necessary. On one hand she's sad to leave the school and the other spirits but at the same time she feels it's probably for the best. Haru's holding his own, though Nene worries about him as the changes they're going through can't be easy on him. She's also worried about Taiki too, especially since it seems like he's completely cut off his ties from his home - by that she means his family.

Nene definitely comes across as a big sister/mom friend. Taiki sometimes calls her onee-chan, which is a way one addresses their older sister in Japanese. I've met Taiki a few times before and I see a different side to him when Nene's around. Or maybe it's because this is the first time I've really gotten to know him? He just seems more ...himself? open? ... when he's with Nene and Haru. It's sweet how much he looks up to Nene - whenever he talked about her in the past you can tell how much he respects and admires her - and now that I finally meet her, I can see it. I think Nene and I are gonna be good friends.

Taiki's had his eye on the Moonlit Woods for a while as there's a section that's kinda dangerous to tread if you're not well versed with spirits and such. Only the bravest exorcists venture there to help clean up the place a little and contain the bad karma by doing what's necessary. He did his research extensively before considering going to that place due to rumors of seasoned exorcists being ill prepared and becoming corrupt, which is the worst case scenario.

Since strength lies in numbers, Taiki needed a reliable team to keep things under control and make a speedy retreat if necessary. Haru and Nene's connections to the spiritual world are valuable, especially since Haru has a bit of a pull with certain higher status spirits that can come in handy in case things go south. As for me and the campers, we're kinda the brute force, serving as the muscle and sort of an anchor to keep the others grounded. Something about certain spirits having an effect on those who can see and interact with them and taking advantage of that by blurring the lines between reality and delusion so we have to keep them from straying.

I don't know how the trio does it, especially Taiki and Nene. To live between mortals and spirits is not easy, more of a curse than a blessing to many. For people like them, they have no choice but to fulfill their roles - Taiki in damage control and Nene in being the communicator. And for Haru, being a spirit who voluntarily chose to stay in the world of the living after being bound to one through a curse, I can't imagine that being easy on him either. There's a lot to unpack with these three and whether I'll get to know the full story or not, it's clear that there's a lot on their shoulders.

Like I said, there's always a price to pay when it involves things beyond our understanding. I just hope that it was worth it. Me being cautiously optimistic, I'd like to think it was or else they wouldn't be together.

The Whispering Winds trail, as expected, was full of perils. On one hand, it was kinda good that I was kept in the dark in an ignorance is bliss sorta way. But that also makes it a bit harder to know exactly what's going on. In a place where the spirit world and mortal world becomes blurred, it gets disorienting, to put it simply. We know we're there when us mortals can see some spirits so it's important to keep our guard up.

There's a reason why they call this trail the Whispering Winds. I heard voices from all around - it wasn't a pleasant experience, to say the least. It was jarring at first but then I grew numb to it. Still, it was an unsettling feeling - 0/10 do not recommend. This is why it's best to go in a group because unexpected things will happen so it's better to be (over)prepared.

In between exorcism rituals we did a bit of sightseeing, which helped lighten the mood. Haru introduced us to some spirits he knew to be harmless and they served as guides through areas they were familiar with. Taiki and Nene did most of the heavy lifting when it came to the rituals while the rest of us stood guard. From what I've seen, it looks like a lot of work - the kind of thing you should leave to the professionals.

All around us were these blue light orb things - spiritual remnants that serve as trail markers according to Haru. Depending on the traces the remnants can leave behind, Nene can manipulate them to open up new pathways. The deeper we go into the trail, the harder it is to navigate as it's supposed to be like that for good reason. Nene's the only one who can directly interact with stuff like that so people like her are the ones who really are granted access to forbidden parts such as these. According to Haru, he and Taiki can't touch them because it can cause trouble due to their blood - meaning it's off limits for exorcists and spirits.

The light orbs also gave us some much needed visibility as well as an eerie glow. When things got quiet, it sorta felt like we were just walking down a long, dimly lit path. When things start to get a bit hazy, that's when it was time to investigate. The feeling is heavy, almost suffocating - a heavy burden to bear indeed. When the heaviness is gone, we move forward, going as far as we can before hitting a dead end. From there, our trek is over and instead of venturing a different path, we go back the way we came, careful not to disturb the newfound peace.

It was an interesting experience - again, it's probably for the best that I don't know too much about it. There's a whole 'nother world out there with exorcisms, spirits, psychics...as curious I am about these sorts of things, I respect that it's not my place when it comes to certain aspects. It's a fascinating world out there but we can't experience or begin to understand certain things that are beyond our scope. It sucks sometimes being just a bystander or outsider but it is what it is.

#animal crossing #animal crossing pocket camp #Diary of a Junebug #headcanon ramble

3 notes · View notes

marvelslut16 · 5 years ago

Text

Can’t live without you

Pairing: Stanley Uris x reader (adults)

Synopsis: (Y/N) finds out that her best friend didn’t arrive back in Derry with the rest of the losers club, and finds out that he tried to kill himself. Glimpses of her past with Stan are seen as she visits him in the hospital. Will the best friends that have been pining over each other since they were kids finally get their happy ending, or will Patricia and the very different lives the lead get in the way?

Word count: 5,314 this is a lot more than I originally planned, guess I got carried away.

Warnings: Attempted suicide. Talk of self harm. Blood/gore/violence, typical for the IT fandom. Brief implication of domestic violence from a father and a wife. A little angsty at times, but fluffy. Swearing. Tooth rotting fluff near the end.

A/N: Stan may be OOC, but I tried my hardest for my first IT story. Stan the man Uris is fantastic and deserved so much better. AU where the characters I love don’t die. The reader in this story isn’t Jewish, if you are Jewish, I apologize. There is a cute little story-line that relies heavily on the reader not having the same faith as him.

It had been just over twenty years since you were last in your home town of Derry Maine, and you hadn’t thought if it once. It wasn’t that you didn’t want to remember, you just couldn't. There were days when the name Stan would randomly pop in your head, and from a place buried very deep in the back of your brain, you were sure he was an important person in your adolescent life.

When Mike Hanlon called to tell you that Pennywise was back, your heart started pounding so hard you were convinced it would leap from its place inside your chest. You didn’t exactly remember Pennywise, but you remembered the fear. You also remembered a mop of curly light brown hair that you immediately associated with Stan.

Upon arriving at the Chinese restaurant in Derry flashes of your childhood came back, they were so unfamiliar it was like watching somebody else's life. Stan was the center of almost all of them, your old best friend and boy you had been in love with since you were six. It was great catching up with your old friends, but it didn’t feel right without Stan.

The other six members of the losers club opened their fortune cookies, spelling out; ‘I,’ ‘cut,’ ‘not,’ ‘it,’ ‘guess,’ and ‘could.’ Your heart falls into the pit of your stomach as you open your own and see the thick black letters spelling out Stanley.

“No,” you gasp out a plea to no one in particular. You lean forward and numbly move the papers around to say, ‘I guess Stanley could not cut it.’ The rest of the losers club had remembered enough over dinner to remember just how much Stan meant to you, causing them to stare at you as you try to blink back tears.

The group running from creatures breaking out of fortune cookies happens in a blur, your head isn’t clear until the cool night air hits it. Mike gives you Stan’s number as soon as he comes to his senses. You walk away from the group, wanting privacy for whatever you get on the other end of the call.

“Who is this?” a female voice answers the phone. Your furrow your eyebrows in fear and glance over at Mike who is watching you closely.

“Uh, (Y/N) (Y/L/N),” you state nervously, picking at your already chipped nail polish. “I’m sorry, I thought this was Stan Uris’s number.”

“It is,” the voice says slowly. “How do you know him?”

“We grew up together, we were best friends,” you smile as you remember gripping onto his hand as the wind whipped around you two the first time you jumped into the quarry. “Our friend group was having a mini reunion back home, and we got worried that he didn’t show up.”

“He’s in the hospital,” she says with no real emotion in her voice.

“What?” you ask in disbelief. Not your Stan.

“He’s in the hospital,” she snaps. “Do I need to say it slower for you? He slit his wrists and lost a lot of blood.”

“Oh my God,” you murmur, knees going weak at the thought. “Which hospital? I’d like to visit him before I go back home.”

She tells you the name of the hospital and hangs up before you can say anything else. Your knees buckle as soon as the line clicks dead, causing you to fall and scrape up your knees on the dirty pavement. Tears stream down your face and silent sobs shake your body. Ben and Bev immediately rush to your side, Bev kneeling beside you as she rubs soothing circles into your back.

“(Y/N)?” she asks nervously.

“He’s in the hospital,” you sob out weakly. “He tried to kill himself.” Bev helps you stand and sets you in Richie’s car so you can head to the hotel.

The rest of your time in Derry is a blur, it’s over so quick, but feels painfully slow. You instantly knew that your token was the menorah necklace that you’ve worn everyday since you had gotten it in sixth grade. Stan had bought it for you for Christmas as a joke, his father had made a not-so-pleasant comment about you not being Jewish the week prior. You knew you loved him the moment you tore the ribbon off of the box; he knew you better than anyone else, he let his guard down when he was with you, and he was the kindest, sweetest boy you had ever met especially when he stood up to his father about your religion.

Before you know it you’re assaulted by the smell of bleach and shiny white floors as you walk into the hospital Stan is in. After finding out the room number from the receptionist you slowly head to his room, wondering if you should really be there.

Through the small window of Stan’s hospital room you see a blonde woman sitting on a couch on the far side of the room, typing away on her laptop. When you enter the room she slams her laptop shut and walks over to you, making sure to stand between you and Stan’s bed.

“I’m Patricia Uris,” she makes no move to stick her hand out for you to shake, but makes the diamond on her left hand noticeable.

“I’m (Y/N),” you give her a small smile that drops as you look behind her, seeing Stan’s body lay there unmoving. “We briefly spoke on the phone the other night.”

“Right,” her eyes squint as she looks you up and down. “What happened to your face?” She’s referring to the healing cut that reaches from your hairline diagonally to your eyebrow, you should really look into getting side bangs or something. Pennywise was always great at mentally and physically scarring everyone.

“I was taking a shortcut through the forest in Derry when I slipped and cut it on a sharp piece of bark,” you lie effortlessly. She rolls her eyes but seems to believe your terrible excuse. “Is Stan getting any better?”

“The doctors say he should wake up any day now,” she doesn’t sound as excited about that as a wife should. “They say he should be awake, he just doesn’t want to. It’s all psychological apparently. It’s just like Stan to not want to do anything, always wanting to bird watch instead of going shopping with me.”

“Stan always loved to bird watch,” you smile at Patricia, pushing away the anger you feel at her ignorance and disdain she seems to hold for her husband. “He used to always drag me to the park in Derry to show me the different types, I was the only one in the group to enjoy it with him.”

“Yeah, well, it gets old fast,” she rolls her eyes, turning around to pack her laptop in her bag and grab her purse. “I’m gonna go home and shower, sit with him as long as you want to.”

Her heels click loudly on the linoleum flooring as she walks past you without a second glance towards Stan. You frown at her back as she walks down the hall to the elevator. You pull up a chair next to Stan’s bed and lightly grab his limp hand, running your thumb over the back of his hand.”

“You can’t leave me alone in this shit world, not after I finally remember,” tears spill down your cheeks. “I need you Stan the man. I’ll even go bird watching with you. Richie said, and I quote, so you can’t get mad at me for saying this when you wake up and remember me saying this, that you need to wake your ass up Urine, there are still a shit ton of birds to go look at. It’s all over Stan, we killed IT. And we all made it out, so you definitely need to wake back up. I’ve lived twenty years without you Stanley, I can’t go twenty more without you. I can’t even go one more without you.

Richie and Eddie finally got together, it was really cute. Eddie thought he was dying, he got stabbed by IT, so he confessed his love to Richie. But Richie was determined to get him out of there alive, and he did. So now they’re finally together, even though he married a woman that’s essentially his mother. Ben and Bev finally got together, we used to always say that they were made for each other. Ben is super fit now, but he’s still the biggest sweetheart I have ever met. And Bev is still so strong willed and fierce.

Bill is a horror writer now, which to me is pretty ironic. They’re making his stories into movies, where they always change the ending because they want something happy. He married some actress, who he’s divorcing as we speak. She isn’t great, insulting his work and not really caring that she’s hurting his feelings. Mike has been living in Derry this entire time, he took over his family's business. He was waiting these past twenty-seven years for IT to come back. Trying his hardest to protect the next generation from the horror that we faced.

I guess that just leaves me, I moved to Colorado, far far away from Derry. I worked my ass off to become a lawyer, the dream you always pushed me to go after. Even when I couldn’t remember you, your encouragement was in the back of my head, keeping me going when it got difficult. There were days that I would get foggy images of us getting ice cream, or splashing each other in the quarry, all of those times when you would let your guard down and have fun with me. Even after the losers club drifted apart as we went into high school, you stayed at my side. You defended me to your father when he hated that we were so close, even though I wasn’t Jewish. We were always there to pick each other up when Bowers or Greta and their friends would tease or beat us up. Stanley Uris, please wake up. I need you, we all miss you, and I definitely miss you the most.”

After spending hours with him, you head to the nearest hotel for the night. The next morning you stop by the hospital with the intent to say goodbye to Stan before heading home. When you walk up to the room Patricia and the doctor are talking.

“There was more brain activity yesterday,” the doctor’s voice drifts out through the open door and into the hall where you’re standing. “Whatever you did, do it again, because it was the first time we saw evidence that he could wake up.”

“Great,” she has a fake grin on her face, and she’s using a fake tone. Why doesn’t she want Stan, the most amazing man you have ever met and her husband, to wake up? “What are you doing here again?” she snaps as she notices you in the doorway.

“I have to head back home, so I wanted to say goodbye to him,” you nervously fiddle with the hem of your sweater.

“Didn’t you have enough time with him yesterday?” she glares at you. Why is she so defensive about you seeing Stan again?

“You were here yesterday?” the doctor's eyes widen as he looks at you for the first time.

“Yeah,” you answer shyly, flattening the side bangs you cut last night. Making sure they cover your stitched up forehead. His eyes light up in excitement and goes to talk to you once more, Patricia cuts him off.

“Well, as Stanley’s wife, I’m not sure I feel comfortable having you spend more time with him,” as she goes to continue with a string of complaints, a hushed and broken sound comes from the hospital bed.

“Oh my God,” you whisper, your hand covering your mouth. Your knees go weak, almost collapsing with relief as Stan repeats the sounds he had just made.

“I’m right here Stan,” Patricia forces her excitement once more, limply grabbing his hand.

“(Y/N),” his voice is clear this time, and your heart flutters as your old best friend says your name again. You rush over to his other side, gently grabbing his hand since that's where his IV is.

“Stan?” your voice breaks as you try to keep a relieved sob from escaping. Stan slowly and carefully flips his hand over, threading his fingers with yours. “It’s over. IT is gone, we got rid of IT this time.” His eyes open at your words, head turning to look you in the eyes. Tears finally escape the moment you can finally look into his deep brown eyes again.

“Did you call me urine?” his voice is rough and scratchy from not being able to use it for a week. More tears spill down your face as you laugh, because that was the first question he decides to ask you.

“I said I was quoting Richie,” your whole body shakes as you laugh, far too relieved to care if Patricia thinks you’re being over the top.

“I can remember,” his voice is softer, just like his eyes. “I remember everything. What ever happened to your necklace?” his other hand reaches across his body, but stops and hovers a few inches away from where the necklace once hung. You instinctively reach up to touch your chest where the pendent once fell.

“We needed tokens of our past, the most important thing from our childhood, that was mine,” he grips your hand tighter, the other one falling to his lap and away from Patricia. “I wore it everyday these past twenty seven years.”

“What necklace?” Patricia’s strained voice brings you back to Earth. You carefully let go of Stan’s hand and pull it back to your side. You had forgotten about Patricia, forgot that you aren’t allowed to love him anymore.

“I got her a menorah necklace,” Stan laughs at the memory, not noticing that you got awkward and pulled away. “She’s not Jewish, and my dad always hated that we were so close and she wasn’t. I used to joke that I would convert her one day, so I thought it would be funny to get her it for Christmas.” The doctor grins at you and Stan with a knowing look before backing out of the room quietly.

“Cute,” Patricia rolls her eyes and glares at you. You frown in response, wondering what on Earth you ever did to her. Ignoring Patricia, you hand Stan the unopened water bottle from your bag, sure that he’d need some water. He smiles gratefully at you before taking a large sip.

“What are you even doing here?” his stern gaze landing on Patricia. You furrow your brows, the Stan you knew would never treat his wife this way.

“I’m your wife!” her voice is shrill, hurting your ears and making you cringe. Stan on the other hand doesn’t seem amused with the outburst.

“We aren’t married anymore Patricia,” Stan’s voice is harder than you have ever heard before. “I divorced you three years ago, the only reason you're here is because I haven’t changed my emergency contact.”

You run your hands through your hair as you process the new information, Stan was available. You could love him without being guilty. You could finally tell him that you love him, that you always have.

“Well have fun with your deformed klutz over there,” she gestures towards you with a mocking grin. You had pushed your bangs back a moment prior without realizing it, Stan’s gaze on you quickly goes from confused to anger as he pieces together what happened to you.

“Leave Patricia,” the anger in his voice is kinda hot. “I never want to see you again.”

“Don’t come crawling back to me when you get bored with her,” and with that she leaves, slamming the door loudly behind her.

“What happened?” Stan brings his hand up and gently glides his fingers over the stitches Eddie put in.

“You aren’t married?” your heart is beating so fast you swear it would break out of your chest and fly away.

“No, I divorced her a while ago, I realized she was treating me terribly,” you start crying at his words. “Why are you crying?”

“I thought you were dead, and then I thought you were married and slowly dying,” you sob. “But now you’re suddenly single and very much alive. It’s a lot to process.

He lifts his hand back up to your face, wiping away your tears even if they’re being replaced as soon as he moves his thumb away from your skin. His hands are a little rough, but soft enough to know that he works behind a desk. His hand starts to caress your cheek, you have to fight the heat from rising to your cheeks and push away the excitement you feel from the tender touch. You’re just an old friend he hasn’t seen in twenty years, nothing more.

“What happened to your forehead?” his voice is soft again, and his fingers brush along the angry red cut once more.

“I was facing my fear,” images of a young Stan abandoning you in order to save himself, saying that you mean nothing to him, after you had fallen and your abusive father was closing in on you, race through your mind. “And Pennywise, as my father, cornered me after a young you pushed me down and ran away. As my father was hovering over me with a knife, he morphed into IT and he used his long sharp nail to cut my face, and try to gouge my eye out. I got lucky because there happened to be a large rock next to me, which I hit IT with so I could run away.”

“I would never leave you,” Stan says sadly, a hurt look in his eyes as he stares at you but can’t look into your eyes. “I’m sorry you had to see him again, even if he was just IT’s illusion.”

“It’s fine,” you reach up to play with your necklace, forgetting it’s not there anymore. Playing with the necklace had become a coping mechanism for your anxiety. The nervous tick had developed almost immediately after you received the present. “Really, everything is in the past now. I’m fine.”

Stan gives you a disbelieving look, you look around the room to avoid his gaze. Your eyes lock onto the clock, causing them to widen as you take in the time. How had that much time passed already? It felt like you had entered the room five minutes ago, it certainly didn’t feel like two hours had come and gone.

“What is it?” Stan grabs your hand, keeping you from standing from the uncomfortable hospital chair.

“I have a plane to catch, in an hour,” you pull your hand from his grasp, standing and backing away from the bed as well. “I need to go now if I have any chance of making it through TSA and to my plane in time.”

“Don’t go,” his voice is soft, broken even. “I lost you once, I can’t lose you again.”

“You’ll be fine Stan,” you flash him a watery smile. “You have healing to do, and then you can go bird watch all you want. We’ll remember each other this time, we can keep in touch.” You walk over to the side of his bed, pushing the curls off his forehead so you can give him a soft kiss. A tear slips down your cheek and lands on his curls as the fall back into place. “Goodbye Stan.”

It had been weeks since you had left Atlanta, and you’ve thought of Stan every hour of every day since. It’s like your mind is punishing you with thoughts of him since you had forgotten him for so long. You and Stan texted a couple times, you still had his number from when Mike gave it to you. And just like Mike gave you Stan’s number, he gave Stan your address. Because two and a half weeks after you arrived home, a small package from Stan arrived in the mail.

You stare at the package in shock for a few minutes, before finally opening it. You gasp as you see a menorah necklace inside, almost identical to the one you had gotten so many years ago. Your heart thumps against your rib cage at the thoughtful, heartfelt gesture.

You immediately send Stan a text, thanking him for the necklace, while lightly chastising him for spending money on you, and asking him to give you a call as soon as he could. It has been almost twenty four hours since your text, and you've gotten no reply. You start to fear the worst, that this could have been his last act before trying, and succeeding, to kill himself. As you contemplate finding a way to get a wellness check on him, there's a knock on your apartment door. Probably just the guy from down the hall that doesn’t understand that rejection isn’t playing hard to get.

When you open the door Stan is standing in front of you; his dark brown curls are styled instead of the chaotic mess they were at the hospital, his face clean shaven, his striped button up and pressed khakis are reminiscent of the outfits he would wear as a child. This is how you always imagined Stanley Uris would look like as an adult, well without the small almost unnoticeable scars on the side of his head.

“Come in,” you finally snap out of your trance and step to the side, leaving more than enough room for him to walk into your modest two bedroom apartment. He takes in the living room and kitchen, but his eyes light up when they land at the necklace hanging delicately from your throat. “Wh-what are you doing here?” you glance down at the small carry on he’s holding.

“I thought I should tell you why I did it,” his voice is strained. “And I didn’t want to do it over the phone, since I know you were getting ready to make some smart ass remark about telephones.” Stan really was your best friend, because he’s spot on with his prediction about what you were just about to say. “I don’t know if it’s because I saw the deadlights for so long or something, but as we kept getting closer to twenty seven years I started to remember. It started with you and the rest of the losers a few years ago, but as soon as Mike told me IT was back I remembered all the pain we went through. I knew that we all needed to go back to Derry, but I knew I couldn’t do it. I knew that if I went my fear would be putting you in danger. I thought suicide would be the only way to keep you safe and where I didn’t have to face IT again.”

“Bev saw visions of everyone's death, how we would all die if we ignored IT. She saw you in your bathtub, and ironically she saw me bashing my own head in with a law textbook,” you laugh awkwardly, changing the subject from his reasoning and proof that he isn’t alone in this. “IT found a way to get to us, no matter how strong we are or how far away from Derry we were. Do I think you and Bev had it worse because you two saw the deadlights? Yeah, I do. I’m sure you got memories back as IT was waking up, you saw the deadlights the longest. You never should have made it out of those sewers alive that summer, but I’m glad you did. That probably made you more susceptible to that rush of fear you got again. And I just want you to know that you aren’t alone Stan.”

“I’ve missed you,” his voice frail as he pulls nervously at the bottom of his button up.

“It’s been two weeks Stan,” you try to ignore the warm fuzzy feeling growing in your stomach. “You couldn’t have missed me that much. Plus, you could have called to talk.” Stan takes a deep shaky breath, and you frown in concern at his actions.

“I’ve loved you my entire life (Y/N), it’s been two and a half weeks and I can’t stand to be away from you,” Stan says earnestly, his words warm your broken soul. “Not for two weeks and three days, I don’t think I can even go a day without you near. I love you (Y/N) (Y/L/N).”

“I love you too, Stanley Uris,” a grin spreads across your face, the joy mirrored in your eyes. “I knew I loved you the moment I got my first menorah necklace from you. It showed me just how special I was to you, you stood up to your father for me and you got me something that would forever remind the two of us of that moment.”

Stan doesn’t say anything, he just leans forward and captures your lips with his. The kiss is electric, you swear there are fireworks, just like those cheesy movies. With your left hand you caress the scars on his head from all those years ago, and your right tangles into his styled curls. Stan’s hands grip your hips tightly, like he’s afraid you’ll float away if he lets go. When you pull apart your lips are tingling, both you and Stan panting heavily.

“Can I stay here tonight?” Stan breaks the mood smiling shyly, causing you to laugh. “I kinda just threw stuff in a bag and got on the first flight out of Georgia, didn’t really plan ahead.”

“Who are you, and what have you done with my Stanley?” you laugh lightly, his ears turning red at your teasing. “He would never leave the house without having a well thought out plan first.”

“What can I say?” his smile grows, and so does yours as you watch the dimple on his right cheek deepen. “Your spontaneity and want for adventure always rubbed off on me.”

“You can stay for as long as you want,” you lean in, gripping his shirt and pulling him into you. This kiss isn’t soft this time, it’s rough and needy. Twenty seven plus years of wanting this and it’s finally yours. The kiss is all teeth and tongue, you sure as hell weren’t going to complain about the amount of passion in it. The kiss was finally a way in which the two of you could express every deep and long buried feeling.

It was four months to the day since Stan showed up at your doorstep, and the two of you had only been apart for a week the entire time. You couldn’t get away from work again so soon and Stan had to go back to Georgia to pack up his belongings. The apartment that you had resided in soon turned into a home, all thanks to Stan. You two invited the rest of the losers over to visit, figuring that you had settled into your new relationship so easily you didn’t want to hide it from your friends. This time there would be no IT, no life threatening tasks to complete, and it’s the first time in twenty seven years that you would all be together. What you don’t know is that Stan is planning a big surprise, with the help of the most important people in your lives.

You run out to grab salsa from the store you swear you picked some in preparation for today earlier in the week, but Stan said there was none in the fridge. You drive as fast as you can, the losers club should be over within an hour, and you didn’t want them to beat you home.

The apartment is strangely quiet as you swing the door open; Stan isn’t muttering to himself as he goes over a client’s finances, and he isn’t sitting at the table working on a puzzle. Where is your Stanley?

Before you can get too worried, your brain immediately racing to the possibility that he is in your bathtub, that seeing everyone after all this time was too much for him, Eddie appears from the kitchen. You go to guilty greet him, feeling bad for being a bad hostess and not being there when he and Richie arrived, bet the hypochondriac cuts you off.

“Your smile that can light up a room,” he grins cheekily at you, like he knows something you don’t.

“Your smokin’ bod,” Richie joins the two of you, his laugh ending when Eddie smacks his gut. “Fine, fine, your eyes that sparkle when you’re truly happy.”

“How incredibly smart you are, especially when you find holes in the other lawyers arguments,” Bev winks at you, you look around desperately for Stan. Where is he? And what's going on?

“Your perseverance, you always make the hard days look easy,” Ben walks out and wraps his arm around Bev’s shoulders.

“How caring and understanding you are,” Bill stands beside Richie, the grocery bag with the salsa in it, on the floor and long forgotten.

“And that your voice can calm me with just one word,” you furrow your brows at Mike.

“Those are all things I love about you,” Stan’s gentle voice comes from behind you. You whip around to see his grinning face, no trace of fear or sadness from his past anywhere to be seen, only excitement for the promising future. “I could write a whole book of things that I love about you, but that still wouldn’t cover it all.”

“Stan?” your heart leaps at the glint in his eyes and the softness of his voice, things you want to experience for the rest of your life.

“I love you (Y/N) (Y/L/N), with my entire being. I always have. When we were kids I knew I would marry you one day, I knew, even then, that there was no way I could live without you. So (Y/N)-” Stan pulls out a little black box from his pocket as he gets on one knee.

“Yes!” you exclaim a little too loudly as soon as he flips the lid open. The diamond is sparkling up at you, your eyes fill with tears.

“I didn’t even get to finish,” Stan pouts, humor and happiness twinkling in his eyes.

“I don’t care,” he laughs, sliding the one carat ring on your finger. It’s a perfect fit, meaning good luck through some old superstition. “Just kiss me.”

Stan shoots up from the ground, grabbing your cheek in one hand and caressing it softly, the other slipping into your hair. You pull greedily at the front of his freshly ironed button up as he deepens the kiss. A moan escapes one of you, and from the sounds of how deep it is, you’re sure it was Stan.

“Get a room,” Richie wolf whistles, you and Stan pull away embarrassed.

“I can't wait until I can finally call you Mrs. Uris,” he breathes, ignoring Richie, as he rests his forehead on yours.

“Neither can I,” you close the distance and kiss him again, not caring about the audience, or the quiet sound of disgust from Eddie. Just because he makes out with Richie often, it doesn’t stop the thought of thousands of germs being passed back and forth when he sees someone else kiss.

You finally get your happy ending with Stan, after all of those shitty years without him, you two will never be apart again. And there is no better way to start the rest of forever together than with the help of the losers, your chosen family.

Permanent tags: @crimson-knuckled-queen @rexorangecouny

346 notes · View notes

mypoisonedvine · 4 years ago

Note

Director's cut for seeing red?

oh gosh that whole series is a blur let’s see what I can remember...

(ask me for direction’s commentary on any of my fics)

I started writing it with the idea of seeing someone having sex in the backseat and making eye contact... it was very loosely based on/inspired by a scene from one of my favorite films (kill your darlings, 2013) where a character is getting a blowjob and makes eye contact with his friend and ends up coming super fast as a result (lol) so it was like that but with the power dynamics sort of flipped.

so I wrote part 1 planning to have them eventually get together, but then I was partway into that when I wanted to instill more angst so I was very much writing it as I went along which was scary but fun. the addition of sam as a side character was relatively last minute but I was so happy with how it turned out because I love writing him especially in a friendly role. I feel like I struggle to capture sam romantically sometimes but platonically it’s a lot more natural. plus I got to have my samnat moment cause I ship them so damn hard omg.

it turned out a little wonky because I was adding new themes pretty late in the game but for a working draft where updates are coming out before the finale is finished, it kinda makes sense. and I don’t normally know how to write slow burn, and I still wouldn’t call this a slow burn but I did enjoy building up their friendship a lot before getting into the smut. and it was nice to have a story that doesn’t just end with them hooking up, but follows their relationship from coworkers to friends to lovers, and then through struggle and marriage and all that good stuff.

it is currently still the longest series I’ve ever written and I have so much pride in that. I know there are some massive series out there but this one was very long for me and it was exciting to develop something on that large of a scale.

thank you for asking love!!

#Anonymous

6 notes · View notes

spaceguybob · 4 years ago

Text

“A memory that remained” Housamo fanfiction Scenario - Ophion.

Tokyo After-school summoners. Fanfiction/scenario. "A memory that remained"

PREFACE - This Fanfiction is my personal love letter to the creators of the TAS game, their imagination and fantastic story telling. Especially to Ophion who is a amazing husband character and i thought his storytelling could use a bit more.

** That bizarre adventure was finally over with things seemingly back to normal. Both you and Seth laughed when you saw each other again this day, especially since you thought you may not see one another ever again. Faith has some odd twists and turns. But now, you were glad, able to finally relax. As much it was possible of course in the summer resort when you were surrounded by a gang of over-hyper friends chasing around the swimming pools, jumping into the water and causing general havoc. "Come on! If you don't get in the pool I'm going to bash you till you do!" Kengo yells impatiently from the water area but his words get blurred out by water sprays coming from Hanuman's water gun. Seth laughed in the background after seeing the scene, he and Shiro oddly found a common language together. Ganglie and Ryota snuck away to replenish the food supplies, and Toji and Moritaka were hiding in the shade debating something formally, perhaps it was sword fighting or training? Or just generally plotting revenge on Kengo for throwing both of them into the pool. Closing your eyes, sitting comfortably on the lounger you only want to drift away. The muscles still felt bruised and tired, although there is no physical sign of the experience you went through, the mind still thinks all the signs are there. Also, there are things you are still slowly processing. Especially one thing. There was a memory that kept creeping on you, almost every time you closed your eyes. It was hard to describe to be honest because memories have images and this one felt so distorted, it was a mix of colours, images, conversation and laugh, and most importantly music and a feeling. The last two things started following you in a pair, always. There is a melody you remember and a longing. Having been told multiple times that your rule has permanently cut you off from memories of your many lives past you have eventually accepted the fact that whatever the past was, it will have to stay in the past. Except for this one broken memory which felt like it was coming from a badly adjusted radio.

A sudden squirt of cold water pulled you sharply out of the depth of your mind. So sharply your whole body jerked up in surprise. “Undercover ninja attack!” Hanuman flashed his teeth from the edge of the pool waving his water gun at you. “Sleepy face gets a direct hit from the super water blaster 1000!” Kengo cheers with him jumping out of the pool heading in your direction fast.

“Sorry partner but you asked for it! I warned you” He grins rubbing his hands ready to grab your legs, but you are faster than him and swiftly turn around jumping off the lounger before he even tries, unexpectedly Kengo slips on a puddle of water created by Hanuman’s gun as he tried to outmanoeuvre you and ends up flat on the lounger waving his arms in panic. You can’t stop but laugh together with everyone else who was observing the scene. Kengo immediately tries to retaliate with a face red like a boiled lobster and chase you but he doesn’t have the stamina you have. Time and time again he tries grabbing you but with a swift zigzag, you outsmart him every time, having the rest of the gang cheer loudly with each of your successful escapes.

“Not fair partner! I’m barefoot!” Kengo huffs loudly.

“Like that stopped you before!” You shout in the air trying not to lose your path, still just to make sure you were far away, for only a split second you turned your head to see Kengo a meter behind, and he suddenly stopped with a surprised face and then – thump! Without knowing you run into something or someone solid feeling the air escapes your lungs as you sat down in shock.

Before you was Xolot standing still firm like a tree, unmoved. He looked down at you with an awkward, slightly fearful smile.

“Oh hi!” Then his expression changed as he realized what just happened. “Sorry! Sorry! It’s my fault I didn’t see you! Mistress Hakumen told me to find you and your friends I didn’t see you run. Are you ok? Sorry!” As you thought that nothing can beat the avalanche of his apologies a high pitched laugh pierced the air and immediately you closed your eyes in a grimace knowing Mistress Hakumen was incoming. Brace yourself you thought.

“Ohohoho! My darling Lucifuge why do you always assume I am up to no good? That’s so presumptuous of you! I’m but a flower pulled by the winds of never-ending emotion!”

“My dearest. You are a jelly fisher. One can have a conversation with you that seems all nice and friendly and sweet, then you suddenly feel like you've been stung with deadly poison, or end up locked in a prison, or even worse; without knowing what happened.” Lucifuge nervously giggled.

As you tried to sneak away back to your group Xolot extremely over-enthusiastically and loudly shouted: “Mistress Hakumen I have found him! You will be so happy I found him, Mistress! Yes!”

You felt as you were betrayed on the spot and couldn’t but grin covering your ears.

“Thanks for blowing my cover.”

“Oh sorry! Were you hiding? I’m so sorry! Please forgive me!” But, you couldn’t be angry at Xolot since he was always more than loyal to his mistress, even if it was in a very misguided and not very smart way. And so you braced hoping not to, again, become the object of their fights, and love arguments of these two.

“Milord! There you are! Oh!” Hakumen sang with her flirtatious voice toward you trying to hide behind Xolot, only for him to be shoved aside by her. “Move you idiot!” her songbird voice turned into a snarl. She still kept her flashy swimsuit on.

“I’m sorry! Mistress!” Xolot yelped putting down his ears.

Uhhh here we go, you think to yourself forcing a polite smile as they surround you from both sides.

“My fallen star! Don’t you just find it exhilarating here? My dearest remember, nothing succeeds like excess, well of everything! Maybe with one exception” Lucifuge glanced at Hakumen. You wondered how he wasn’t feeling hot in his flamboyant clothes where everyone else was practically half-naked.

Hakumen snarled slightly in response. “What does that supposed to mean Lucifuge, you half-jelly devil! I have not spared any excess to make this place perfect for my beloved Milord! Don’t you think my bellowed? I know it is so because you enjoyed it so far! Ah, the adventure we prepared for you! And the excitement you had! Ohohoho! There will be more!” She flutters her eyes to you.

“It’s fascinating my bellowed fallen star how Mistress Hakumen can turn any offence into a half baked compliment.”

“It wasn’t?”

“I must have said it wrong.”

“Maybe you should try it too Lucifuge. It would save us so many awkward situations when you behave like you swallowed a toad. Some aristocrat you are.”

Lucifuge looked genuinely hurt and shocked. “Mistress Hakumen, is this your new tactic now? Slander me in front of my divine lord! The beautiful star I wish to capture?! How low of you!”

You can feel like their argument and bickering is getting more intensive every second, completely ignoring your existence which oddly is a relief although you still didn’t even manage to say hello to anyone.

“I would never! Not in front of my beloved milord! For him, I’m a precious flower and I-”

She gets interrupted by the very familiar beaming voice that towers everything and everyone.

“I do hope I am interrupting something! What are you two arguing about now? Isn’t there enough scheming and plotting you caused recently?” Ophion towers above the pair, behind him Aizen marches with his ever-odd military precision and an angry look. You are sure he is judging every square inch of the summer resort and thinking of ways of purifying it from the filth.

Then Ophion saw you and skillfully moved himself in front of the arguing couple.

“My bellowed flower, my world, I heard what this vixen has done. Are you Alright? I should have known she cannot be left without a proper supervisor, as this may end up in another unplanned adventure as she calls them only to vow you into her claws.”

“That’s outrageous!” Hakumen squealed behind him but Ophion stopped her with his arm.

“Silence! Is it not another of your plans? Whenever my spouse is involved you always have a scheme ready. You twisted fox, you have schemes within schemes within schemes!”

“No need for such excessive complaints my dear! My beloved milord already knows his mistress is a genius among her peers!”. Now all three began arguing. It was fun to watch initially but it always becomes tiresome after a while. Especially with Aizen giving you murderous looks.

But the fact was, the moment Ophion showed himself you felt something change. It was that scrambled memory that keeps haunting you. Unsurely if it was the memory or yourself, or both your attitude changed towards Ophion. Yes, he was too much, but what can be expected of millennia-old god dragon that created life – or so he claims. And although it was extremely embarrassing for you to hear him proclaim his love to you every single time so loudly everyone within half a mile could hear, it was also cute. But, was it you or this memory. You couldn’t hear the music anymore, but there was something you decided to do during those nights you spent on the desert with Seth, Hanuman and Ganglie. You decided to gift that one memory to him.

Now only if you could get their attention.

“Hey everyone -!” But they were too occupied in arguing. Well, since nobody is paying attention, you though there is only one way. Next to where you were standing, on one of the loungers, there was a water gun, one of many that were left around the pool for the enjoyment of the guests. So you thought – Let’s see how they like a cold shower.

Their expression was priceless when you squired water around. The bickering stopped immediately and everyone looked just at you!

“Now since everyone is back to planet earth.”

“My dearest milord how could you!” Hakumen cried in shock.

“How undignified! I need a change of clothes!” Lucifuge complained. But Ophion didn’t say anything only piercing you with a highly amused look, you flashed his teeth to him winking innocently.

“How dare you! Have you no brain! Look what have you done to Sir Ophion’s clothes!” Aizen suddenly roared.

“Aizen, you need to stop this!” Ophion waved his hand annoyed at the man.

“Well, if the only way for You to stop arguing about nonsense was me squirting all over you then, I’ll gladly do it again!” You grin at the trio.

“Ohoho the wordplay! My darling milord, you make me blush! Ohohohoh I want to hear more! Please don’t stop!”

“Lady Hakumen, must you want him only for yourself all the time! Such lack of dignity eh!” Lucifuge complained loudly, messing about with his wet shirt. “No, no, no this will not do! I cannot be seen in such an imperfect, undignified outfit” He mumbled to himself and turned on a heel and walked away ignoring everyone.

“My darling spouse is absolutely right. How shameful of us, concentrating on tiny squabbles. Please forgive me, my beloved. “ Ophion steps in front of them closer to you, only to have Hakumen overtake his position pushing him away with her elbow.

“Hmpf! Speak for yourself lizard! There is nothing tiny about us!” She envelopes the curves of her body with her hands. “Mistress Hakumen is all about beauty and grandeur! We go big or not at all! We love or we fall! My milord must know this! He needs to know at all cost how I love him!” You could feel your face getting hot from embarrassment as Hakumen was performing her little dance around you, touching your shoulders and hips in an unwanted way.

“Ha! Pick your words and actions carefully fox-woman! You shall not touch what is not yours!” Ophion’s voice roars in the air.

“Lady Hakumen! Have you no shame! I shall not tolerate frivolous behaviour like this polluting our guests! Especially with this one!” Aizen adds after Ophion glaring at her with fire in his eyes.

With a heavy sight, you can see them start again.

“Lady Hakumen, Xolot mentioned you were looking for me?” The security therion moved his ears and grinned happily as he heard you mention his name.

“Oh, oh! Indeed my beloved milord! How could I get my mind clouded so much by this stupid debate!” Hakumen put on another singing performance. “We, wish in our grace, to invite you to an evening concerto today evening. Of course, you are welcome to bring your friends with you. Just make sure milord they like such events. We only want to make you happy! It won’t be your typical music show, however, ohohoho! Oh no, no, no! There will be a live performance and all guests will receive pillows and drinks or food for their leisure! It will be performed here in the resort and it will be marvellous!”

It sounded fantastic to you since, at least you think, you enjoyed music, saying you think only because with the lack of memories it’s hard to know if you ever heard a live concert. But always enjoyed listening to different radio stations whenever given the chance and craved the occasion to listen it live.

“I would love to!” You say eagerly without hesitation.

“You would, my beloved spouse?” Ophion jumps into the conversation.

“Yes, I never listened to the music being performed live. Or at least I don’t think I did.”

“Ohohohoho! Milord, you please me gratefully! Oh, so many preparations need to be made before tonight! Now my darling run along and let your friends know and leave everything in my hands!”

“My darling spouse, my beloved jewel of the skies, if you are attending so shall I! I will reserve us the best spot and the most luxurious of seating for your comfort!” Ophion shakes in excitement. “I, your husband, delight in well-played instruments!”.

“Not in a million years!” Hakumen snarls. “I won’t let you steal and hurdle him only for yourself!”

Aizen who kept quiet jumps straight into the conversation. “Ophion, sir! I beg you to rethink! This is absurd. You cannot waste your precious, glorious time on such idiotic whims!”

“Nonsense!”Ophion shrugs Aizen’s words away. “I have but all of the eternal time for whims that will please my beloved spouse!”

“Ophion… could I- Could I talk to you for a second? Please?” And so you said it loudly for the first time, unsure if it was best left alone, but you can’t just let it drill a hole in your brain.

“Absolutely not! You shall not pollute my lord's mind with your absurd ideas!” Aizen roared angrily pulling his whip. You were sure that one day the blood vessels in his eyes will rapture spectacularly.

“Silence!” Ophion snapped at Aizen that immediately shrunk within himself in fear. Then looked directly at you with an intense stare, so intense it could only rival the one you remember from when you first saw his younger incarnation that recognized the piece of the soul of his wife within you. “My dearest, my beloved, I am all yours! Please tell me what it is!”

“Uhmm..” You suddenly lost your courage having everyone, especially Ophion look directly at you. It was definitely harder than all of the scenarios you run in your mind before, and even harder when you had to ignore Lady Hakumen scowls and angry grimaces of her theatrical sobs just now. “Can we talk somewhere in private?” After saying that you did expect Aizen to come out with another snotty comment but the last reprimand hit hard on his ego.

“Ha! All these moments I have waited for such a request! Oh, everything of this world! Your Ophion shall give you as much time as you want! Let us find ourselves a quiet place and talk my love!” The golden dragon leads you to a fairly empty bungalow just a few steps away from where you stood. You don’t even want to look back at Lady Hakumen, because her theatrics are just too much. Both her and Aizen are probably burning a hole in the back of your head right now.

“Look here my beloved, shall we step in and hide from the prying ears of the world.” The inside of the bungalow is quite narrow and you are surprised Ophion manages to go inside at all for his massive posture. He is after all much higher than any human, with his wings and long tail and massive physique. But without thinking you follow and close the door.

“Ah, my beloved! I cannot contain my happiness! Please tell me what burdens your heart and mind! My flower of the skies I want to know everything.” Ophion’s voice boomed so loudly you were absolutely sure anyone outside could hear him. And you were also sure the walls had ears, so without thinking you lifted a finger to your lips. The golden dragon looked at you curiously with a smile and a playful wink.

“Are you sure this room isn’t too small for you?” You then said in a low voice. He did look a bit uncomfortable. “It would have been better if You sat on the floor I think.”

“My dearest spouse, I do not care about such trivial problems! The closer I am to you the happier I am but I shall follow your request. The roof of this place is painful for my wings.” Ophion answered and slowly sat down. It felt as he was sitting in a dolls house. “Now, my dearest, please tell me, is everything alright.” But you heard a creak just outside and were sure somebody was listening. The last thing you needed.

“I think somebody is trying to listen so I’ll have to whisper to your ear if that’s OK.” You say casually to Ophion. The dragon turns his head curiously and looks around. But as you think how you can whisper to him you realize how big his stature is. “I’m sorry but I will have to climb on top of you!” You whisper again oblivious about what you just said.

“My dearest! Those words! I can’t believe this wonderful day!”

“That’s not what I mean – ah!” You try your best to reach to his ears, especially since Ophion doesn’t seem to want to help you and without realizing you place your hands on his bare arm. And then it shocks you.

“Ah!” There is a quiet gasp that leaves your mouth

"Is everything alright my darling? My jewel! Are my scales to tough for you?"

"No... No... You are very warm." You leave your hand on his arm and then another on his shoulder for a few seconds.

"I don't think I've ever touched you but it is like I know how it feels all along."

Ophion glances at you with his dark amber red eyes with intensity for a few moments.

"And how does it feel my darling spouse. Is this body of the godly dragon wonderful? Please give me, your beloved husband an answer, my jewel." When Ophion isn't screaming to the whole world his voice is surprisingly husky.

You hesitate not knowing what to say but you don't remove your hands just looking at him.

"There is something I'd like to give you. I have... I've been remembering something and I thought you should have it. As a gift." You whisper closely to his years. " And I don't want others to know because... Because I would like to keep it between us only."

You feel Ophion's hand on your back, you think he was trying to help you keep balance but... Well, this feels really embarrassing and your heart is pounding. This is definitely too much for one encounter, especially since nothing is going as you imagined it. This is harder than fighting. Why does it have to be harder than fighting?

"My beloved, oh how adorable you look blushing like that. Oh my jewel, I'm at a loss for words. Do you have a gift of memory for me? For me? Your husband? Through the cosmos, I knew this day would come. I shall empty my whole calendar for you, my beloved spouse. Will this be a romantic encounter? I shall ask for dinner to be prepared! "

"No... No... Can it just be two of us? Nothing special, no dinner. I'll bring something with me. Will that be ok?" Gods you feel so embarrassed and it feels Ophion grew in size since you asked him. Not sure if it's because he is so proud of himself or excited or both, proud and excited, which reminded you.

"Please, don't go telling everyone."

"Ah, my beloved jewel, why do you think I would do such a thing?" Ophion protested quietly.

"Because you would want everyone to know how proud you are, and to make Lucifuge and Hakumen jealous and angry." You point out.

"My beloved, your words are so hurtful, however true. I would take great pleasure in making, especially that fox woman, jealous as you say. Her scheming is always troublesome." Ophion grimaced and then smiled towards you sticking his tongue out the way he always would. You both spend a moment in this odd silence. Your hand on his arm and shoulder leaning towards his head, Ophion's hand holding your back. You feeling his touch on your bare skin. His dark amber red eyes piercing through you with an intensity you haven't seen before.

"Sir Ophion! My lord! Please I beg you, enough of this. This is inappropriate! This situation should cease immediately!" You hear Aizen's voice coming loudly from behind the door.

You think of moving but Ophion's hand remains still holding you.

"My beloved jewel, I made a promise to shower you with my love for every day I have missed you from my lonely existence from when you have fallen into the sea forcibly. This short encounter, my beloved, has given me so much joy I struggle to express it with words. I... This young Ophion is stunned. You may think my beloved treasure, that I'm rash, and juvenile. But for one like me who lost so much and lived lonely in different worlds, I learned to treasure every moment. That's why my darling spouse, my heart's shouts so much whenever I'm with you. Please don't think any less of this godly husband of yours because of that."

You could hear a commotion outside.

"I... Think...I missed you." You say quietly embarrassed. Ophion closes his eyes with a smile and as your words were a magic spell his grip loosens letting you go.

"I will see you tonight before the concerto, yes my darling? Will that be suitable for you? And then tomorrow? Yes? My beloved?"

You nod in response. Suddenly the door bars wide open.

"My precious fallen star! Others have told me you were her-!" Lucifuge barges straight in completely oblivious he was set up probably by Lady Hakumen. He stops mid-word once he saw both you and Ophion and his face struck with panic and shocked grimace.

"Oh, gods this is so embarrassing." You back away from Ophion who pierces Lucifuge with a deadly stare and very, very quickly excuse yourself and leave both of them who just started their typical arguments.

"What do you mean you don't want to come with me? Come on? Nobody?" You cry annoyed hearing all of the gang decline your request.

"Kengo?"

"I'm sorry partner but I have a training session with Moritaka. Besides, I'm very into music and all sorts. Maybe if it's a fighting club or something. And we can join in!" He clasps his hands.

"I can't believe you are even thinking of asking this meathead. He doesn't know the difference between a drum and a cello if he saw one." Shiro huffs unimpressed. "Had I known earlier, and I mean days earlier I could have made different plans but this is too late of notice."

"I understand Shiro." You say resigned. "How about you Tsathoggua?"

"No!" He yells back at you from the gaming console.

"But-!"

"Nope! I mean there will be too many people there, and Hakumen and the rest. I just want a peaceful evening, yeah?"

You roll your eyes looking around the room.

"Ryota? Come on, please!"

"I would like to, but I've made plans to see Maria earlier so I can't. What's the problem anyway? Just go and enjoy yourself."

"Certainly, it will be a good, new experience for you and you can tell us everything about it. Just make sure you are back in time, yes? Keep me noticed about everything?" Shiro reminds you with a stricter tone.

"That goes to all of you. Not just our Guild Master!" He roars across the room.

"Sure dad" Kengo grins and quickly slips out of the room before Shiro reacts.

"Right, you all have fun. I wanted to see Mr Mononobe and ask him for a favour."

"Enjoy the music" Ryota's voice follows you as you leave.

"Thanks!" You stick your head back through the door with a grin.

Mr Mononobe wasn't the easiest to find but eventually, you spotted him during his round checking classrooms.

"Hello, Mr Mononobe. I hope you are well." You start politely.

"Ahhh. Hello, young one. Are you not getting ready to enjoy the weekend? I can see you have been spending a lot of time outdoors, the sun has definitely left a mark on you."

"It's just too hot to stay indoors if you don't have to. Can I ask you a favour Mr Mononobe?"

"Sure, let's hear it. I can't promise anything though." He smiles gently looking at you with his typical fatherly look.

"Can I borrow the star projector from the astronomy classroom for a day or two? There is a... project thing... I'd like to use it for."

"Project thing you say?" He measures you up with his look for a few seconds thinking. " Well, I can't see no harm in it. We do have more than one in the inventory, so I'm happy for you to borrow it as long as you return it in the same condition you took it." Mr Mononobe says, but then seeing you smile adds "But, in return, I'd like you to help Shiro out with his duties for the next week after that, yes? Fair deal?"

It sounded more than fair to you, especially since in your mind you imagined it going much less smooth.

"Thank you so much Mr Mononobe. You are the best!" You add with a smile.

"Everything for my students." He ruffles your hair flashing his teeth for a second then walks away to finish his duties.

Realising what's the hour you run back to your dorm room, but something catches your eye. On a wall within the main building was a painting, which you never noticed before. Thinking it through you realise it must have just been hang since you are absolutely sure it wasn't here before. The painting, presented in brilliant colours and detail a scene where a huge wave of water covers what looks to be Japan. With a red torii in its right lower corner and there a medieval warrior with a golden shield and what looked like a ghost of a woman.

Struck by the beauty of the painting and how unusual it was you remain in the hallway for a few minutes only to hear a familiar voice.

"Sheesh! It's so hard finding you! Hanuman gasps wildly, he must have been running all over the place trying to find you.

"I'm sorry. I was just on my way back to my room and got sidetracked". You reply.

Hanuman just gesticulates at you silently, clutching his knees and trying to catch a breath. Then he produces three envelopes and waves them in front of your face.

"Those came for you just now..."

You take the envelopes from him, all of them came from the Roppongi guild.

"Listen, Hanuman don't you want to go with-" You start saying but when you lift your head to look at him he is already running away.

"Sorry gotta go!" You can't stop yourself from making a sour face.

It's a bit off to receive three different envelopes from them, but you have a feeling you know what they are.

The first one containing a card that's so heavily soaked with perfumes you started sneezing. It's from Lady Hakumen who praises you in a million different ways and invites you to join her in her private pavilion for the concerto.

The second envelope contained a card that's full to the brink with gold leaves and very elaborate writing. You must admit the way the words were written is quite beautiful. It's from Lucifuge who also invites you to his private pavilion and to enjoy his company.

Holding the third envelope you are absolutely sure whom it's from and you feel a small tingling sensation when you open it and take the card which says: My dear friend. Would you like to join me today evening for tea before the concerto? I'm looking forward to seeing you. Licht

You read a few times, surprised and immediately make a decision as you haven't seen or talked to the Roppongi guild master in a while and thought it would be a nice change. At the same time, you feel just a small amount of disappointment you haven't received a card from Ophion. Quickly shaking that thought off, your return to your room and change. Thinking on your feet about what to wear you decide to put on a light yukata haori with a white upper part and a black lower one, hoping it's going to be presentable for the concerto. It looks good you think and leave. Glad about your choice you head towards Roppongi. Because of how light your clothes feel the summer heat doesn't bother you much anymore, still, the air feels heavy this evening.

After a while, you reach the resort. Surprised you noticed Melusine.

"Hi, Melusine" you say approaching her.

"Good evening, young milord. I'm happy to see you." She bows slightly, so wearing a summer yukata in pastel colours.

"Did Licht send you to meet me?" You ask thinking you already know the answer.

"Indeed, Monsieur Licht asked me to show you to the pavilion and prepare tea for you." She answers and you start walking together slowly.

"That's very kind of him. We haven't spoken in a while, it will be so good to catch up. Is everything ok with you? "

Melusine seems a bit distracted and before she can answer a stranger runs up to you. She stops suddenly and immediately steps in front of you as if she is trying to protect you.

"Is it him! Is it the one everyone is talking?! Is it the one Mistress Hakumen mentioned? The one who's soul contains souls of others?!" Melusine stops him before he can even get near to you.

"I'm sorry but I won't allow such behaviour around young milord, he is a guest here and under my protection!" Her voice changes slightly, becoming less friendly, not yet threatening.

The man stops but there is an odd uncontrollable craze in the way he talks and moves.

"Melusine it's ok." You feel like you should help him if you can. "Can I do something for you?" You ask stepping forward, finally able to look in his face.

His crazy eyes search for something within your face for a few seconds and then... His whole body shrivels down, like life and all hope has left him.

"I... I... I'm sorry. I thought you may be her... I thought... I'm sorry." The man apologies in a shaking stream of words and leaves.

Melusine doesn't say a word and both of you resume your walk. When you get to the concerto venue you can see there is plenty of sitting space for everyone with a multitude of comfy pillows in from of a large stage and a few smaller ones. All this from three sides is enclosed by three private pavilions that let you hide from the public eyes but still enjoy the music and the atmosphere.

"Monsieur Licht had some guests earlier so do not be surprised by the decoration" Melusine adds softly as she opens the door for you and you stop in the doorway speechless. The pavilion it's filled to the brink with the most delicate orchid flowers in gentle pastel colours, their sweet fragrance seeping into the evening air. Like a child, you wander around with an obscene smile touching the flowers and smelling them.

"This is... This..." You start but Melusine finishes for you with a rare mysterious smile.

"This is amazing? Please have a seat-" she points at pillows and seats and a coffee table "I will bring the drink and... Monsieur Licht should be here shortly."

Before she disappears you ask.

"Melusine, that man we met, who was that?" There was something about him that felt familiar and made you sad.

She stops with a sad look on her face.

"That was Orpheus, he is one of the artists that's going to perform tonight. Beyond that, I can't say I know more." You thank her for this and Melusine leaves you alone. Yet within a few seconds you couldn't but get up to explore the room and the beautiful flowers and their shapes. You heard shushed voices thinking it must be Licht and returned to looking at the flowers. Some of them were small and looked like butterflies in dozens on a single spike, where others were easily the size of the palm of your hand with long pendulous garlands. They were just beautiful, and you struggled to find and other words to describe it. What Licht was thinking you had no idea, and what guest he had earlier but this went beyond your wildest dreams. And then you thought maybe, just maybe it was for Melusine knowing their history.

"My dearest, beloved jewel." That voice.

You turn around only to see Ophion standing in the entrance where Melusine disappeared. He was wearing a white and gold yukata that lightly enveloped his body, uncovering a lot of his imposing, muscular stature. His wings spread only slightly as he wanted to make sure you won't run away. "What do you think, my wonderful spouse? Has your husband surprised you? This is a beautiful, delicate trap I have prepared for you."

"I have walked straight into this one, haven't I" You agree defeated, it was never an option you thought about. You had to admit you felt flattered.

"Of course, my beloved, my light that fills the darkness. This young Ophion, although not as experienced in strategy or tactics as my elder self, has unprecedented knowledge of what may please your heart. And if I know, I will spend every moment to find out! Hahaha!" Ophion laughs triumphantly.

"I can't believe Licht would trick me..." You ponder amused.

"Oh, my darling flower, do not hold this against our Guild Master. I have merely asked him for a... favour, which he was happy to oblige. Because of this nobody shall interrupt us if we don't want it. My beloved, I planned this just for you, we have so very few moments together alone... " He opens his arms wide invitingly but behind him appears Melusine with a bow and quietly excusing herself.

"Ophion, sir. Please forgive me the intrusion, I have brought the requested refreshments."

Ophion only nods looking at her nonchalantly and let's her prepare the table, after that she retreats bowing slightly again and sending you a brief smile.

"I..." You start."The flowers are beautiful... I've never seen anything like this before." You add to him. You are embarrassed, especially that you let yourself get into a trap as beautiful like this. Especially when you feel really flattered and there is a lot of thoughts rampaging around your head.

Ophion laughs triumphantly "These are merely a shadow to your beauty my darling, but it warms my heart knowing you like this little trap I have made. Shall we rest?" He extends his hand to you. "Do not be afraid, we won't be interrupted by anyone. I made sure of that."

You sit down and offer to fill his glass with a cold juice which he accepts with a warm smile towards you. But you notice, not for the first time there is an odd flame in Ophion's eyes, and now it hits you, it's somehow similar to the one you saw in the man you met earlier, Orpheus.

"There was something strange that happened today." You start hesitantly. "A man approached me and Melusine, he seemed... Troubled... Very, troubled and sad. He wanted to meet me, he seemed desperate, having his hopes high up and once he did he seemed... Disappointed. Like he lost all hope."

Ophion listed in silence but you could see he wasn't too pleased yet you continued.

"Melusine said his name is Orpheus, and I was... Concerned. "

A few moments passed before the golden dragon finally responded.

"My beloved spouse, I know the man of whom you speak. He is a fool. A poor fool, but a fool nonetheless and there is nothing you can do for him. He brought his fate on him himself."

But not being too happy with such a puzzling answer you decided to push on being honest about what you realized.

"There is a look in your eyes, the Old Ophion was very similar to him." You say slowly trying to pick the gentlest of words. Ophion ponders for a moment with a stone expression and then extends his hand to you inviting to sit closer to him.

"My darling spouse, this what you speak of, is the experience of loss." You hesitantly accept the invitation and sit next to Ophion, feeling the warmth of his skin. "Let me tell you a story of Orpheus, the fool as he is."

"Orpheus was born with a talent of music he was and always will be a singer, musician and poet, carrying a magnificent lyre on his shoulder able to enchant god, man or beast with his music, he had recently proposed to Eurydice whom he loved with all of his heart and beyond, but on the day of their wedding, ‘in the very bloom of her life’, she was bitten by a viper and died of its venom. Distraught with such grief, Orpheus fell into madness and wandered the earth looking for a way to bring his wife back to life. He wondered day and night until he finally found the entrance into the underworld and descended into the fiery pits of hell itself, determined to restore her to mortality. Nothing could stop his brave loving heart. He finally pleaded with Hades the god of the dead and Persephone for his wife's return, and his courage, devotion and eloquence ‘melted the hearts of the gods and the denizens of the underworld, and all fell silent’. Even Cerberus, the fierce three-headed dog that guards the gates of Hell, lies meekly at Persephone's feet.

The gods agreed to Eurydice’s return: Persephone especially sympathetic as she recalled her own forceful abduction by Hades. The only requirement was that Orpheus would not glance back at Eurydice until she was safely ensconced in the upper world. If he broke his word, she would be lost forever into Hell and there would be no changing the god's mind this time.

Orpheus agreed with the loving lightness in his heart and both him and Eurydice depart the underworld, him in the front paving the way for them, she quietly behind him stepping softly. However, Orpheus as emotionally tormented he was through all this time, with the creeping madness slowly started doubting and struggling to look ahead soon the deities have consented to her return. Throughout the underworld, the lovers ascended a steep and misty path and, as they neared the earth’s rim, Eurydice hasn't spoken a word in fear of what the gods may make of it snd anxious Orpheus began to shake inside of his soul. "What if they lied to me and this is but a trick, a joke of the gods. What if this is not my beloved Eurydice but some monstrous wickedness." These were the thoughts in his head. His mind fought with his heart. And just as they approached the exit from the underworld, just as the morning light shone in front of them through the dark gate, the fool Orpheus looked behind thinking "We are almost here. It won't hurt and I must know. My heart must know! He looked for his bride, and as he did he saw her gentle face her loving lips and eyes filled with fear when their gaze met. Eurydice immediately fell in pain and only managed to whisper a final farewell before being taken by a deathly shadow that dragged her into to the dying place. A godly force punched Orpheus out of the underworld and the gates shut before him and disappeared. He cried, pleaded and begged but no one would listen to him and after many days and nights broken Orpheus began to wonder again the world playing his music, with a mind of madness and a heartbroken beyond repair. Somehow he found his way here to this world my beloved spouse, and he hopes, maybe, maybe his wife was reborn in a different form. " Ophion finished his story with half-closed eyes, being so engulfed in his voice you didn't even notice when the music started and it must have been playing for quite a while now. "There is something we share, your Ophion and the fool Orpheus, we both lost our beloved, forcibly taken away by the world. You have seen my elder self, who was beyond help with his heart darkened and madness in his mind. This is why my dearest, my glittering jewel, I promised to gift you my love, my passion, with my whole self every day. This Ophion has finally found you!"

He finishes with a strange note in his voice. You think you finally understand, both what Orpheus and Ophion went through, it's different yet so similar. Remembering how much it took for the elder Ophion to snap out of his destructive madness. What loneliness and sorrow must have driven him to such a state. Looking for words to say you realise that through the story Ophion was slowly using the fact you were so enthralled into his tale to get closer to you. Both his large hand and wing were wrapped around you as he was laying on his side stretched across the floor with your body naturally using him as back support. He was surprisingly gentle.

"They say we are all fools when we are in love." You say finally.

Ophion laughs delighted, his ego right now must be beaming knowing he has you where he wanted, and willing to accept his advances.

"Indeed my beloved spouse, indeed we are. But let this golden dragon tell you who knows many stories, in my millennia-long life I learned it's what you do every day about your love that matters."

You then thought to yourself well what if you are a bit of a child and a coward. Fighting is definitely easier than talking about one's feeling, even Shiro's knowledge tests are easier than... Ok just breathe. You look around the pavilion, the sun slowly setting down painted the inside in crimson and amber shades. Shades elongated everywhere and within them Ophion's burning eyes and the music in the air.

"My darling starlight, beloved spouse, you are so beautiful today, this husband of yours cannot take his eyes off you. Had I known it would be so easy to capture you in this beautiful trap of my devotion I would have done it a long time ago. "Ophion says caressing your shoulder with his arm.

"I wasn't expecting tonight to be like this, you are correct, but everything else after was because I wanted it to happen..." You say turning your head away, but Ophion's lures your gaze back at him by placing his fingers along your chin.

"Is that so, my beloved spouse? Has this husband of yours made you happy?" His voice lowers to a grumble.

"I can't confirm or deny because I'm worried you may want to tell everyone gathered here." You tease lightly.

"Bwahahahaha" Ophion laughs amused. "My beloved, always so feisty, always know how to keep your husband on your toes. How you turn my words against me my jewel in a delightful skirmish."

You close your eyes with an amused smile, having to admit this evening had turned so much better than you could have ever expected.

"Could you tell me another story? Something about heroes, or how the stars were created." You ask, Ophion seems to have a talent for telling captivating tales, or maybe it's because he tells them to you. The golden dragon smiles mysteriously sticking his tongue out.

"Ah, my beloved spouse, you want another story? But where is there a reward for your dearest husband? I have gifted you one tale of the past already. This dearest Ophion of yours should ask for something in return. All stories are of value." He says still smiling mischievously. But before he can make his loving demands you stop him.

"What about if... Umm... If I move closer." You say trying to move your body but Ophion's arm already pulls you towards him.

"Closer you say, my beloved? I'm not sure if this husband of yours can accept such a payment" He murmurs amused.

"Closer..." You reply with a laugh feeling his arm move you further.

"Perhaps... This Ophion can agree to such a delightful agreement, but I'm not..." He continues pressing on your arm, you can feel the pillow you are sitting on moving.

"Just shut up and embrace me" You laugh finally in response and with these words you can feel his huge figure move suddenly, his large strong arms find their way under your own wrapping themselves around your chest. You are glad for your light clothes because of the heat emanating from his body, feeling the stone-hard musculature touch your back.

"This Ophion has finally captured the most beautiful pray in his delightful trap." He says into your ears.

"A pray would only allow such a thing if they wanted to be caught." You answer him with a strongly beating heart, feeling that Ophion will not let you go that easily tonight.

"My beloved spouse, you... You... hahaha I have fallen in my own trap! You make this Ophion's heart so happy, I can feel my body trembling." There was a shiver that travelled across his arms as he spoke, his words rumbling in your ears. "I shall grant your request, my beloved, my jewel in the skies, let me tell you a story of a war between two cities and a woman who caused it all..." As he spoke his voice mixed with the music in the air that evening.

You slept well this night after you returned from the event. Ophion purposely extended his story almost making you late for the school curfew. But you didn't mind at all.

This night you experience a dream, very different from the calm ones you seemed to have. Before you would see beautiful, serene scenery, hear a piece of gentle music that you taught yourself to replicate and a gentle song. What you remember most was a pair of gentle amber-red eyes following your every move.

This nights dream was different. You found yourself on a beach overlooking a vast dark ocean covered in thick clouds. A bright fiery light cut through these lights like and hit the ocean like a projectile of fire only to vanish under the waves momentarily. The clouds opened only for a second for you to see a tall mountain. Everything started to shake, the ground moving violently and suddenly the mountain top exploded ravaged by bright, angry flames sending massive pieces of rock everywhere. As you cover your eyes and duck you see a tremendous, angry wave approaches the coast growing bigger and bigger. The ground doesn't stop shaking.

You wake up suddenly only to realize the shaking hasn't stopped and an alarm is resonating through the school. Slightly panicked you look around, furniture creaking and moving. Right now you should be making sure you were looking for cover and sticking to the disaster prevention and Safety protocol, but instead struggling to keep your balance you throw on your clothes and run out to make sure your friends are safe.

Not long after you see Kengo and Moritaka half crouched trying to hold their balance.

"Kengo! Moritaka! You are ok!" You shout running towards them

"You idiot! What are you doing here? It's dangerous!"

"Indeed my friend, you should not be exposing yourself to any dangers like that. Earthquakes are not something we can control with sacred artefacts."

"Oh? And I thought you just bashed Kengo's head hard enough the ground started shaking." Suddenly you hear Shiro, he was walking slowly toward you. "You shouldn't be looking for trouble in a situation like this!" He adds angrily.

"Same goes to you!" You respond quickly.

"It's my duty to make sure everyone is safe!" Shiro huffs unimpressed.

"I have to make sure my friends are safe. Where is Ryota? Did you see Hanuman?" You flash a challenging grin towards Shiro. His frow disappears hearing your words replaced by embarrassment.

"Ryota stayed over at the Aoyama yesterday, he called me asking for permission. "

"Hanuman was in training with us but left earlier, he said he was starving. I'm sure he will be fine..." Moritaka responded to your questions and halfway through the shaking eased down and stopped. Everyone was waiting in silence but the quake didn't return.

"Mr Jin there they are" You recognised Toji's voice.

"My students! My beloved students are you alright?! Is everyone safe".

"I'm so glad we found you!" Hanuman jumps all over the place happy as you slowly get up, lending your hand to Kengo, who is unimaginably heavy.

"You really need to cut down on chocolate." You say after he is up.

"Oi! Cut it out. It train really hard!" He protests with a fake anger outburst.

"Hey, why is everyone here," Toji asks. "Hanuman only said about Kengo and Moritaka, not you two."

"I had to make sure my friends are alright. Shiro did the same."

"I'm so glad you all are safe!" Mr Jin laughed and suddenly stopped. "What did you say?! You were ignoring the obvious dangerous situation?! "His angry roar could be heard from everywhere and it attracted the attention of Mr Mononobe who together with the other teachers was making sure everyone is ok and there is no structural damage to the school.

"Mr Jin, what is this shouting? Are the students alright?" Mr Mononobe was walking very with a serious face. He must have been incredibly worried and stressed.

"No, no, no Mr Mononobe. All of our beloved students are fine, except these two who blatantly ignored the crisis of the situation." Mr Jin talks very fast giving both you and Shiro an unpleasant, angry look.

"How do? What have they done." Mr Mononobe forces himself to be calm narrowing his eyes at both of you. Shiro's face went pale but you decided to take the blame even if there was nothing wrong about what you have done.

"Mr Jin, Mr Mononobe. We have only left the safety of our rooms to make sure our friends and anyone who may be in trouble is safe." You straighten up without letting the teacher speak. Mr Jin huff loudly surprised.

Mr Mononobe considers his words for a few seconds, his frow eases down.

"What if you helping others would put you in direct danger? Have you thought about that?" He asks you.

"It won't matter as long as we can help them." Shiro jumps in the conversation.

"That's right." You agree.

Mr Mononobe closes his eyes and nods slowly.

"It's ok Mr Jin, those kids have their heads and hearts in the right place. Now stop standing around and go help! "

Quickly the whole gang scatters around the school to help the teachers and other students. Your whole morning passes in a new busy routine, checking the news and listening to your elders to make sure everything is going to be fine. The earthquake was classified as an isolated tremor that came from the land, with no predicted aftershocks. The city didn't experience any problems or damage except some broken furniture and unfortunate accidents that were treated in the hospital right now. It seems everything was back to normal.

Having the chance to relax you pick up the projector from the inventory and send Melusine a polite message asking her for a favour explaining you would need something transported to Ophion tower, small personal items. Only if she wouldn't mind. Shortly after Melusine answers, she would be happy to help and she will meet you shortly at the school.

Gathering your thoughts you return to your room. You look at a guitar that stands hidden in the corner. So far you managed to keep it away from your friends, especially Kengo, as you were worried he would break it by just touching it with his large, clumsy hands.

When the dreams started, the memory a few weeks back you could hear a melody. Initially, it was all scrambled up, just like everything was in reverse or through a badly adjusted radio. You couldn't make sense of anything. But then you started concentrating on one thing, the melody and each time it was clearer and clearer. Then one day, on a whim perhaps you thought, this melody shouldn't be hard to replicate, and being able to play it yourself could help with understanding the memory.

Thus you found a music shop, that stored all kinds of instruments, from drum and percussion kits to electric guitars and pianos. A very slim transient feline covered with many colourful patches of fur welcomed you very enthusiastically. She introduced herself as Saraswati and proceeded to praise all of the instruments and types of music.

Her welcome filled you with warmth and confidence, so you proceeded to explain, however badly, you wanted to learn how to play a melody from your memory. Saraswati was perplexed by your explanation but it made her curious so she kept asking questions, what instrument.

"AHH... I'm sorry... It was ancient-looking. I know how it looks but I don't know the name."

"How did you learn that melody in the first place?" Saraswati asks curiously.

"Most kids come in here wanting to become the next great idol, play the cool thing. Very few come because they love music, even fewer want to learn to play the piano or a violin. Sad times are upon us. I know all instruments, maybe if you draw it for me I'll be able to guess." She gives you something to draw on.

You agree and take a pencil from her. The lines you draw are a bit shaky and in the end, you present an image of u shaped instrument that reminds you of a horseshoe with strings in the centre of it going to the crossbar connecting both arms.

Saraswati studies it for a few seconds and then presents you with a smile. "That's a lyre. It's an instrument used in ancient times. You can say it's similar to a harpe but the rules of its music are more like a modern guitar."

"A lyre? Oh, that would make sense." You think about your dreams.

"Would it? Why so?"

"I saw this instrument in a dream that I think maybe a memory. But it's only a guess."

"Well, the only problem is I don't have a Lyra in stock. So sorry. On fact, it would be hard to get one anyway. These types of instruments are done per request and are quite pricey. Then you would need to attend a special lesson... Oh, trust me you don't want that!" She chuckled softly. "But... I have an idea".

Saraswati adds seeing your disappointment and pushes you into the depts of the shop.

"As I said the modern guitar operates on a very similar principle as the lyre. If you look and listen carefully you may even find one that sounds almost identical." She winks at you mysteriously.

"None of them is secretly sacred artefacts are they?" You joke nervously.

"Ahahaha oh no! Can you imagine what problems that would cause? Oh no, I can't have that in my shop! I put too much heart into it!"

Following Saraswati advice, you slowly look through all of the guitar instruments. There are electric ones in futuristic shapes or ones that resemble those you saw musicians holding on posters, then there are large guitars called acoustic but their sound just doesn't sit ok with your ear. Lastly, you glance on smaller, simpler guitars called classical one, their soft strings produce a warm melody very similar to that from your dreams.

And then you see the prices of these and your heart sinks while the jaw levitates very close to the floor. You have some money you managed to save up recently but not nearly enough to afford even the cheapest of those instruments.

Well, this plan will have to be put on hold for now you think and then unexpectedly something draws your eyes. You just noticed a boxed display with a Sale label on it. Within it you see all sorts of instruments, some are ex-display models, some seemed slightly damaged. In this box you find a single classical guitar, there was absolutely nothing wrong with it except one string being broken. You have just enough money to buy it.

"What's wrong with this guitar?" You ask Saraswati, the feline takes the instrument from your hands to inspect it.

It's a beautiful light guitar, painted in a very dark blue colour that reminds you of the night sky with silver nylon strings.

"There is nothing wrong with it deary, except the broken string. I can thread one for you for free, it will take me just a minute."

"Why was it in the sales box?" You ask curiously.

"It's the colour you see. Very few people would buy a guitar that's not in a light colour like brown or cream. If they are lacquered then maybe but this beautiful thing is in matt."

You admit you are completely lost and ask if you could buy it.

"Of course you can. Let me put on a new string, you know what because you are my first customer today why don't I present you with a guitar case and a book how to play it, yes?"

Saraswati is so kind and nice there is no way you can refuse her. And from that day each free moment, you found you spent on learning how to play the instrument, learning how to replay the sounds from the dreams. Initially, it was hard, your fingers hurt but each time seemed a bit easier. Then the dreams slowly became clearer, and the melody guided you. With the melody came words and suddenly you saw a familiar face with burning dark amber red eyes. Then you realized it wasn't any memory or dream, it was something from Ophion's past.

"Now I know what you were doing all this time when you weren't with us! Are you planning to become a musician, Guild Master?" Shiro's voice interrupted your chain of thoughts as you were sitting on your bed plucking the strings lovingly. Your heart sank and you face immediately felt flushed. Shiro laughed hard seeing your expression. "Don't be concerned, I'm not going to tell the others unless you want me to!"

"Don't you know how to knock?!" You cry out embarrassed.

"You left the door crack open."

"Ah-! I'm... I'm sorry I have been distracted recently." You reply slowly feeling guilty.

"I have noticed that's why I came to talk to you. Your head seems in the clouds, you drift away more often than usual. Is everything alright?"

You scan Shiro's face and measure your words not to say too much and you tell him about the memory and then your last dream with the earthquake.

Shiro almost jumps excited but there is some concern I'm his voice too. "Having a memory recall like that is fantastic! It means something in you is unlocking its secrets even if just a small bit. Do you know who’s memory it is?"

"Y-yes..." You stutter.

"I'm guessing you don't want to share it ?"

You silently turn your head.

"No... Not yet at least. And then there is a matter of the last dream."

"Hmpf... I wouldn't worry too much now. I would think your dreams were merely the effect of the earthquake. Like when you hear a sound while you dream and your brain incorporates it into the dream itself. "

"How do you know things like that?"

"I pay attention in class compared to you and Kengo! That reminds me. Melusine is looking for you." Shiro replies and readies to leave only to turn around. "Remember if there is anything, you can tell us right?"

You nod with a smile.

"Thanks" and Shiro disappears behind the door. Taking a deep breath you put the guitar into a case and pack the projector into a separate box. With both of them, you direct yourself to the school entrance where Melusine is waiting patiently.

"Hi, Melusine!" You greet her from afar, as you get closer you notice her usual outfit has been decorated in many places with garlands of familiar flowers.

"Hello young Milord, I hope you are well? I must take this chance and ask for forgiveness after yesterday. I was only following Monsieur Licht's request who specifically requested not to mention at any point Sir Ophion will be joining you."

"It's ok Melusine." You interrupt her. "It turned out better than I hoped. I... I thought it was Licht's gift to you. "

"Ah-!" Melusine blushes "That would be impossible. But Sir Ophion made a great deal of effort to get everything prepared. Nobody except humble myself and Monsieur Licht knew about his plan. He must care about you very much young Milord. In fact... I don't ever remember him carrying about anything and anyone in the past as his older self. You seem to cause impossible change whenever you go." She added with a hint of a smile.

"What's with these?" You ask about the flowers.

"Oh, forgive me, Milord. Monsieur Licht said I can keep any flowers I want before they get removed so I kept a few of them."

" And you keep saying some things are impossible. They look beautiful on you. Send my kindest regards to Licht when you see him, and thank you so much for your help. Hopefully, I can repay it somehow one day. Oh, by the way, one more thing. Is there any way through the building I can take to avoid meeting literary everyone?"

Melusine takes the boxes from you and slowly explains a route that should help you pass unnoticed, then leaves with a mysterious half-smile as she was deep in thought about what you said earlier.

The weather outdoors is still sunny and pleasant giving you some hope you won’t need the projector and nature will provide the best possible scenery. Does Ophion have a balcony you think only to chase those weird questions away and return to your room to get dressed and leave.

As you leave the dormitory and leave the school building a heavy hand lands on your shoulder unexpectedly.

“Hey-ho partner! Where are you going? Don’t you want to join us for some combat training?” Kengo stops you mid-track, his hand is firmly stuck on your shoulder and you can’t wriggle out from under his tight grip. The grin you see means he is up to no good again.

“Heyy! Actually, let’s get some snacks. We feel like we didn’t have the time to talk recently and I’m curious how the concerto was. Kengo said you got back really late yesterday?” Ryota is just next to him smiling innocently holding a bag of what looks like different colourful candies and crisps.

“Did he now?! And why are you here not at your room doing your penalty studies?!” Suddenly Shiro’s voice pierces the air loudly.

Kengo’s face goes pale.

“Oh crap! Sorry partner gotta run! Catch you later yes? I want the juicy details!”

“Me too!” Ryota tries to catch up with Kengo who left a trail of dust behind him.

You raise your thumb up to Shiro and wave. You can see him smile at you and then you get a message on the App.

“Stay out of trouble, OK?”

“I will.” You reply and press send. As you arrive at the Ophion tower with plenty of time to spare and make your way to the security reception.

“Hi, I’m here to see Ophion. He… is expecting me.” You say nervously.

A completely uninterested transient measures you for a second and then lets you in. “Yes, we have been told.” With relief, you direct your steps following the route Melusine told you which is the executive walkway that is almost always empty and takes an elevator. In your mind surprise visit would be out of place, especially since Ophion is not any man and may be occupied. The corridors around are lavishly decorated and you feel slightly out of place. But finally, the elevator arrives and you step into it.

Pondering why there is always a piece of weird music whenever you go to the office buildings a slight shake resonates around you. Unsure if it was just your imagination or something else you squeeze yourself into the corner. Another floor beeped before your eyes, and as you were counting down, only three more to go, everything starts shaking around you. Whatever is happening knocks you off your feet and you land painfully on the floor. At the same time, the elevator slows down and stops. The lights around you suddenly go out and you hear and electricity creek followed by a metal one. Suddenly there is an empty feeling in your stomach and you painfully drop on the floor again. Panicking you somehow roll to the corner. The elevator must have dropped down but the safety break kicked in just in time. For what feels like an eternity you are in total darkness, unable to understand what’s going on, absolutely scared. And then blue safety lights turn on. Still scared you slowly climb up and try to use the help alarm button on the console and call for help. But there is no reply from anyone. So you try and press every floor button hoping you will be able to get out this way. And then the shaking starts again and instantly you cover in the corner hearing the elevator creek dangerously. It’s a situation your powers won’t do you any good and it feels like you stopped between floors too. You try the help button again. Nothing. You try again. The elevator creeks dangerously again and you start praying to anyone and anything for it to hold and the shaking to stop. Not sure but you think you hear an alarm and screams in the background. With what feels like the worst shake so far everything feels like liquid around you. Suddenly you hear a metal creek just a meter above you and the light blind you. For a moment you flicker your eyes looking at a huge silhouette before you. In the elevator door using all of his might is no other than Ophion covered in dust and grime.

“My beloved give me your hand!” He extends it to you and you gladly take it. Ophion who is extremely strong being an eternal dragon god lifts you out the elevator without any problem. Once you are out and on your own legs you embrace him as hard as you can. That was a horrible and scary experience. “I’m here, I’m here my beloved flower, and nothing is going to hurt you anymore.” He is completely surprised by your reaction and accepts the embrace without hesitation.

“I’m… I’m ok, thanks to you. What happened?” You ask.

“My beloved, we experienced consecutive shock waves. Much, much stronger than these before. Alarms are going through the whole city of Tokyo as we speak. You should thank Aizen here as he was the one who heard plead for help through the elevator device.”

Surprised you thank Aizen, who for once doesn’t look angry. He remains quiet and nods in response. Then you look back at Ophion.

“Are you ok?” You suddenly notice a scrape on his arm. There is no blood but still.

“Oh, my beloved you worry about me? My heart is touched beyond imagination.” He says still embracing you. “I am fine, it was just a few ceiling panels that fell on me. Nothing that can hurt this godly dragon. “

“Ophion, sir! Are you sure you are unhurt? Maybe we should finish this little scene and get into safety!” And the old Aizen is back, however his expression remained unchanged. Once he said that a group of security mobs appeared running toward them.

“Sir! We found you! It’s good you are unharmed sir! We have news!”

Ophion reluctantly lets you go, but won’t let you move away from the reach of his hands or wings.

“Report! What’s the situation? Are you evacuating the civilians? Are there any injuries? Where are the other tycoons?”

“Sir we have been informed by the security forces this was no ordinary shock, but it was caused by the world collision.” One of the mobsters has pointed at the windows. To your surprise, the Tokyo border wall from the harbour was gone stretching to an open sea covered with angry clouds. It wasn’t destroyed in the quake no, it just vanished due to the collision event.

“Where was the source of the earthquake located?” You open your mouth asking loudly. Your mind went straight into the geography lessons and then something else entirely.

“What?” The mobster asked stupidly.

“What the earthquake on land or at sea?” You repeat.

“My beloved, what are you thinking?” Ophion asked.

“If this world collision has temporarily exposed us to an open sea and there was an earthquake which happened at sea everyone in Tokyo is in grave danger. “

Aizen was the first one to get what you were saying.

“Tsunami! The god wave! If the harbour wall is gone the wave will flood the whole city, bottling up because of the border wall!” He turned pale as paper.

“We need to send a message to everyone who has the app! Tell them to go to higher ground!”

Suddenly Tsathoggua appeared from nowhere holding Melusine, breathing heavily.

“Oh, you are ok! Melusine said you were in the building. I was right to think…” He had to stop to breathe. ”I’m not getting any better at this.. huff.. huff.. I was right to think you will be where Ophion is.”

“I'm extremely sorry if my guidance has caused you any trouble young milord.”

“It’s Ok Melusine, you couldn’t have known something like this would happen.”

“Shut up everyone!” Aizen roared. “We need to warn everyone”

“What about the non-app users?” You ask immediately. “We can’t just hope they will be alright. We need to do something.”

“How much time do we have?” Tsathoggua asks still breathing heavily. You look at the long line of windows and with a shiver see a dark shadow on the horizon.

“We don’t have much. Look.” You say pointing at what you saw unconsciously squeezing your sword. Your sword. Then something hits you. A shiver travelled from the top of your head down to your toes. Something you saw earlier, something somebody told you earlier, something you have heard before. The music you have been hearing, It had words and until now you couldn’t understand them. These words were “In the day’s to come my darling, I shall love you, my child, I shall protect you with the power of my ethereal shield of light.” Feeling a warmth come from your sword you now understand those weren’t just idle lyrics. It was the words of a rule of a secret artefact. One of the 24 pieces of what was embedded in your sword. And the scene from your dreams was almost identical, but there is no falling star and an exploding mountain. But the wave remains. And it’s coming fast.

“Are you ok young friend?” Tsotsung pulls your sleeve, it seems everyone is looking at you. “You switched off suddenly.”

“My beloved, we need to get into the shelter.” Ophion insists.

“No.”

“No?” He is troubled and confused. “But my jewel-“ You interrupt him.

“I need to get to the harbour. I think I can stop the wave... I’m not sure how yet but if this is a collision event and it’s somehow connected with an error within the app once this is over everything should go back to normal, yes? I had dreams and in one for them, this was exactly what I saw.”

“Those are just wild speculations! Where are those idiotic ideas coming from?! There are innocent lives at stake and you are trying to play a stupid hero! How incredibly childish of you, I couldn’t expect anything else.” Aizen snarled at your words.

“Aizen leave now!” Ophion almost hit the man in anger.

“Tell us what do you want to do.” Melusine insisted, together her and Tsathoggua expressed will to help.

“Since I know you, your plans and crazy ideas never failed. I trust you friend. I will take you to the harbour.” Tsotsunga said putting on a brave face.

“No! My beloved, my jewel, my darling spouse. I want to help you. I will take you to the harbour, but you must tell me about your plan. We don’t have much time. The wave is almost upon the city!” Ophion stepped in front of you showing all of his protective nature, almost as if hearing others offer help before he instigated a change of mind. Maybe he felt less worthy.

“My sword contains the shard of another sacred relic which was the Etheral Shield of Light its rule was Protection against all. Or so I think… ” Ophion’s eyes grew wider as he listened to your words astounded. “I have a memory that’s been following me for weeks now. That’s why I wanted to talk to you. It’s like something within me knew such an event may happen!”

“My flower! My love!” Ophion was trembling. “You must tell me everything once this is over. Let us haste to the harbour. I will be with you and be behind you at every step.”

You nod silently.

“Let everyone know to find shelter above ground. Tsathoggua please try and reach Mr Triton and others who have any degree of command over water if they can help.”

“On it” Tsathoggua vanished within a split second. At the same moment, you felt a strong arm wrap around you tightly and suddenly you were in the air. Ophion flew out of the terrace next to where you were, taking you with him.

“My beloved, why have you not told me sooner? Why keep this as a secret! My heart is trembling knowing there is even a minute piece of you that feels what I feel toward you!”

“Ophion, We are flying-!” you gasp shocked by the sensation.

“Don’t you like it, my love? There was no other way to get us to the harbour fast enough.”

“If it wasn’t for the circumstances I probably would enjoy it, but I wasn’t ready! Next time ask!”

“I'm sorry my darling, my fiery flower, my spouse. But you haven’t answered my question. Whatever happens, I want to know.”

You fall silent for a moment trying to gather words for an answer.

“I... I wanted to know if it was really me or just the memory. And then when the accident in the TSA happened and Seth’s shadow transported us to a real desert where we spent days wandering, each night I would look at the sky looking for the Dragon constellation… and think about the melody. And each night I would think that although I barely know you, I would miss you even if I never met you.”

“Ooh... Ooh...!” Ophion the Golden Dragon was trembling so much you could feel the hands holding you shaking. “This trembling feeling within my soul is equal to Heaven and Earth's creation itself. Those words! It filled the loneliness in this weary heart that has grown for millennia within seconds! My beloved! You cannot imagine how happy I am right now. But first, let’s save this diamond of a city from disaster. “ Your journey through the skies didn’t last long and you set foot in the harbour, that was already full of people and transients. Each one of them in a line trying to control the incoming wall of water.

“Thank gods you are safe!” You hear Shiro’s voice, behind him is Kengo and Ryota. All running towards you.

“What are you all doing here?! It's dangerous!” You shout at them as you set your feet at the ground.

“Well partner that’s not how you should be welcoming your friends!” Kengo measures Ophion with a cold look. “Looks like you had an interesting way of getting here!”

“Ophion sir! Thank you for helping our friend and bringing him here!” Shiro slurs out to Ophion.

“How did you get here? Where is Tsatsunga? Is he OK?”

Ryota gesticulates at a tall building nearby. “He collapsed exhausted after transporting dozens here. Moritaka is with him right now. Shiro used his powers to get us and Mr. Triton here the minute we got the message.”

“Shiro! Are you ok after that?” You ask your friend who seems paler than usual.

“Yes, yes I am fine. I had a minor nose bleed but it stopped now.” He answers avoiding your stare. “I’m not sure what can we accomplish. A Tsunami is a force of nature, us app users and other Transient don’t seem to have any chance to stop it. This is going to be a massacre!” He keeps trying to rationalize.

“My sword contains a shard of another sacred relic, the Etheral Shield of Light its rule was Protection against all. I know it is going to work.”

“How do you know what? Is it something to do with that memory you said you kept having?” Shiro asked looking at you and then at the approaching wall of water. It was getting nearer and nearer and it didn’t look like the united forces of water relics were doing anything beyond slowing It down.

“Come on kids! Put your back into it! We have a whole city counting on us!” Mr Triton was shouting louder and louder.

You turn around to Ophion. “Can you protect the civilians and anyone who may get into the harm's way?”

“My darling love, Of course! Whatever your plan you need to be ready. I will help as much as I can. I shall call upon my children to be ready to lift anyone into the skies to protect them from the flood wave.” And he has done as he said lifting his sacred relic into the skies, and with a blast of light, dozens of wyverns filled the skies ready.

The tsunami wave was incoming faster now, filling the whole horizon, the sky darkened angrily. This must-have happened somewhere you think, at some time in the history. You think about that picture you saw.

“Shiro, I saw a painting of a tsunami wave, and there were a man and a ghost of a woman that was trying to stop it. What is the story of that painting.” You ask bracing yourself.

Shiro is quite stunned after you tell him this.

“You are talking about The Great Wave off Kanagawa, but there is no man or woman in that painting.”

“Great, so either I’m hallucinating or something else is happening.”

“What if the collision of the worlds started happening much earlier than we thought, and what you saw had something to do with it.”

“I’m thinking my resurfacing memory has something to do with the tsunami.”

Shiro nodded eagerly.

“Don’t you remember? It happened before that you remembered a forgotten part of your powers before during different events.”

“But this is different, this started happening weeks ago.” You say to him.

“Whatever happens Partner, we are here to help you. We will always have your back.” Kengo adds. “Let’s see what my fists can do against a wall of water.”

“I will be with you my friends, even if you take me to the scariest places in all of the 23 worlds.” Ryota yelps quietly. He is scared and shaking yet still with you.

“Oh, gods it’s coming!” Somebody shouted! Screams started getting louder, some transients panicked and run and Mr Triton started having issues controlling the speed of the incoming wave. You could feel an unearthly rumble as the wall of water was before you.

You felt ready. You were ready, you had to be.

”Role of Wanderer, Rule of Rending! Engrave mine name onto thee Come out, Boundless Tail!!”

But nothing happened. Nothing at all. Your swords shone its normal light, but there was nothing your power could affect.

“No, no! This is not right! I know I can do something!”

Ophion lay his hand on your shoulder. “We must go now, my love!”

“No! I know I can help! I just… The song! The words were: In the day’s to come my darling, I shall love you, my child, I shall protect you with the power of my ethereal shield of light.” You panic seeing the wave almost upon on you, glancing over everyone.

Ophion gives away an odd laugh that seems so out of place right now.

“My dearest, you are calling upon the wrong artefact! You must call upon the rule of protection! With the memory this strong it means it has a power of its own over your sacred artefact.”

You turn back to the wave in fear.

“Role of the guardian, Rule of protection! Engrave my name unto thee! Come forth Ethereal shield of light!” But still, nothing happens.

But you don’t give up concentrating even more with your eyes closed. “ Rule of protection! Engrave my name unto thee! Come forth Ethereal shield of light!” There is still nothing.

Feeling the water droplets on your hair and screams around you shout again one last time. “ Role of the guardian, Rule of protection! Engrave my name unto thee! Come forth Ethereal shield of light!” Suddenly a force so powerful hits your body as something has torn the flesh out of your bones. The wall of light emanating out of your swords is so bright you can’t even physically keep your eyes open as and the vibration of the blade is almost breaking the bones in your hand. But you hold it tight as a wall extends in every direction. You know it’s the shield of light, the same one the goddess Euronome used to protect her children during the war of gods, the same she used on Olympos to protect those innocent around her dragged into the war of Titans. You feel your body strength failing and drop on one knee feeling tremendous pain. But there is a dozen of hands suddenly holding your back keeping you from falling. You hear so many voices, calling upon so many rules. You hear Mr Triton calling his rule, you hear Ophion shouting out commands to the Wyverns at the ready to help in an evacuation, You hear Ryota providing healing to others and yourself.

“You can do it, my child. Hold on just a little longer!” Somebody, a woman whispers to your ear. You will try as much as you can, but there is blood going down your nose. The force you are against may just kill you. But you don’t care hearing the words of Mr Mononobe in your head over and over intertwined with the song. “Prove yourself that you are not just a hero in the App. Prove you can defend those innocent from forces far greater than any battle.” With your hands in so much pain, you don’t know if you will be ever able to move your fingers again, with no sounds coming to you because you think your eardrums exploded and the blood is dripping down your neck the strength of your body finally fails you and collapse into darkness.

In your dreams, you hear and see many things, and the beautiful watercolour world around you dances gently and suddenly a slender figure emerges from the kaleidoscope of colours.

“Well done my child, you have done it. I’m so proud of you.” The woman speaks to you, her voice feels like it is coming from far away.

“Are you-?” You ask without words spoken.

“I am. Or I may be, or I may be just the figment of your imagination. After all, you exhausted your frail body greatly.” She responds with a crystal laugh.

“I thought you would be…” You start but she stops you.

“A dragon? Like my husband? Ahahaha… We were born beyond such boundaries, unconcerned by shape.”

“You are strong for one who has such a great burden on them. I only hope you are strong enough for all the challenges awaiting you. “ She continues. “ As for what is perplexing you, it’s not the memory of me that’s keeping your mind confused, it never was.”

“Am I falling for a god then?” You ask, although unsure if you did but the words resonate anyway. Realizing you won’t have any secrets here.

“Haha-!” The woman laughs warm. “And what if yes? What burdens does it bring to you?”

“Ophion is a bit much. He is a god, a godly dragon… and…”

“And what of it my child? Give yourself and him a chance. Remember he is the father of all in our world, and his golden heart is pure, and his love eternal. Yes, he has spent millennia without a force to restrain his fatherly ego, and in loneliness. Such things would poison any mind. What you witnessed, in your last dream was the moment of my fall… and the moment his heart broke… “ She added sadly. “I am sorry this somehow has influenced your world.”

“It’s time for you to wake up my child. Beware thou, the Rule of the Guardian is not one to be taken lightly as it is a burden that will exhaust your body beyond the boundaries of this peculiar prison everyone is tied to.”

“Can I ask you-!” You suddenly try to find where the voice is coming as the woman seems to have disappeared. Only to approach you from behind and whisper to your ear “Wake up”.

You were in a hospital room, your head still dizzy and the sounds coming to you weren’t completely normal. “So everything truly happened.” You lift a hurting hand trying to reach to your ear but it is still painful. So that’s how physical pain feels like compared to a memory of it from the app. Then you notice Ophion on a large chair next to you. How odd it looks having him here, his large frame bigger than any human, sleeping so peacefully. He must have taken a nap while being here. And then he gave out a gentle snore making you laugh quietly to yourself. It didn’t take him long to wake up and yawn revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth.

“Hey, sleepyhead.” You greet him with a smile.

“My beloved! Forgive me, with so much going on I didn’t have the time to sleep at all.” He looked at you with his dark ember red eyes.

“How long has it been?”

“You slept for almost three days my jewel. How are you feeling? The healers here said your body needs rest. It was hard to explain to them what exactly ailed you since the App injuries seem to be beyond the comprehension of your medicine.”

“My head is still tired, and my body aches but I’m better. So… we have done it. The city is safe?” You ask with a weary voice.

Ophion shifts on his chair leaning towards you.

“Yes my darling spouse, everything is back to normal. It seems your conclusion was correct, my beloved, and after the wave of water was stopped the glitch in the app caused by the world collision cleared itself out. With one exception. World collisions don’t function as app battles, and some physical damage caused by the quake remained, but nobody was hurt.”

“I'm so happy everyone is ok.” You let out the words with relief.

“Yes, yes, my wonderful flower. My children scouted the city to help while you were resting. Your friends will be here shortly I assume. But before that, I need to tell you, my love, no, I need to ask you to promise me not to do anything like that ever again! It was brave but foolish! I, your husband will sacrifice my body for you If I have to! You should never endanger yourself! Not in this frail form! I could not bear losing you again! My beloved, you must promise me! If you won’t I will have to come up with a plan to perhaps enslave you temporarily whenever danger is near to stop you from running toward it.” Ophion is back being himself, with his voice booming across the room.

“You want to enslave me to stop me from getting hurt?”

“In the most comfortable of ways my love!” He adds quickly.

“You know you snore? I’m going to tell everyone if you even think about locking me up somewhere!” You tease him.

“My darling spouse you wouldn’t-!”

And you just thought you have a secret weapon flashing a cheeky smile at him.

You found yourself staring at the elevator door at the Ophion Tower waiting for it to arrive. It’s been a few days now since the event and you are back on your feet. Of course, this goes without saying you got into trouble at school which Mr Mononobe was willing to turn a blind eye as long as you attend a few extracurricular lessons with him to make sure you caught up with all of the lessons you missed. But this Friday evening you were only thinking to yourself “I just hope I'm not going to embarrass myself”. The weather outside has taken a dramatic turn with a heavy downpour forcing you to rethink your plans. The elevator doors finally open, still with a bit of a fright after the last time you enter and purposely press the floor just below your destination. Closing your eyes for a few seconds you await the familiar sound and yes, you are here. As the door opens you exit with relief with. It was Melusine who told you to skip a floor, claiming you may walk into Aizen. She was right, as you approached the staircase you hear a loud marching noise and a very annoyed monologue.

“I can’t believe my beloved sir Ophion send me away! Me! His loyal servant! To meet this stupid brat! I will find a way! I will! The embarrassment! How dare he!”

“Oh dear,” You think to yourself waiting for the man to disappear and then you walk up the staircase. With each step, it feels harder to walk as if somebody would be adding sand to your burden. But you made a promise, and as nerve-wracking this is you knocked on the door. And there he was. Ophion opened, with his huge silhouette filling the door frame. You just realized they probably had to enlarge all entryways just for him. Unlike his usual clothes, he was wearing a black shirt that was fully pinned up which somehow felt odd.

“My beloved! Please enter. Welcome to my private chambers, that not many have the right to enter! You look unearthly today.” He says trying to sway you as always.

“Hi… You… look different?” You hesitate. “It’s a good different, but I never saw you buttoned up.”

Ophion laughs loudly.

“My darling, I, your husband still need to run a business. But if it pleases you I can change in something more attractive to your eyes? Yes, my love?” You can feel your ears burning.

“You are impossible.” You reply.

“Ah my beloved, of course, I am impossible, I am the godly dragon beloved by all,” Ophion responds with his typical smile and a wink. You are sure he didn’t understand what you meant.

“My flower, my love, I wasn’t sure if you were hungry or thirsty so I asked some refreshments to be brought up. And yes, my spouse, the items you asked to be delivered here were left untouched. You think I wouldn’t notice?” He teases you.

With a pounding heart you think to yourself “Well, this is a moment of truth”. And you approach the boxes that have the projector and your guitar case.

“I’m not hungry right now. And…” Ophion stares at you intensively. “Can we spread some pillows on the floor to sit down?” You ask hesitating.

“Anything you want my love.” As odd it feels you and him take some pillows of the elegant sofas that are within the living area of the apartment and move the furniture away to make more sitting space. You ask Ophion to sit and make himself comfortable, and with amusement you watch the dragon take his time to awkwardly sit on the floor, he smiles like a giddy child to you all the time. You take out the projector and place it on the floor and then uncase your guitar. Finally, you kneel in front of Ophion who is with great anticipation is observing your every move. There is something in his dark amber eyes you can’t quite place or name.

“Right… I feel nervous and embarrassed.” You say out loud.

“My beloved, why would you be? There is nobody here beyond us.”

“I’m nervous because you are here.” You repeat.

“My darling spouse, I’m confused.” He reaches out and grabs your hand with his. It’s very warm on your skin.

“So… I wanted to see you because I have something for you. A gift let’s call it. It’s the memory I’ve been having, and I wanted to reconstruct it for you somehow.”

“Oh, oh-! My beloved, my heart is shaking. Did you go to so much trouble… for me? Your Ophion?” He smiles openly.

“Can we dim down the lights?” You ask.

“But my dearest jewel, are you sure the floor will be comfortable enough, what about the bedroom-!”

“Ophion!” You protest loudly before he can finish.

“I apologize, my beloved! But you made it so easy…” He sticks out his tongue and does as you request diming down the lights in the living area, not completely dark but enough to what you wanted to do.

“Because mother-nature has been fickle today and I can’t do what I wanted I thought I will present you with something.” You say like a magician preparing the audience for a magic trick.

“Oh my starling jewel, I cannot contain my excitement, I-!” He starts but you interrupt him.

“I give you the stars on a night’s sky.” You say and turn on the start projector. The device lights up the entire room with hundreds of constellations, and stars from all over our galaxy, gently moving to simulate the motion of a night sky above us. With that you pick up your guitar, and gently settle yourself in front of Ophion, with your back towards him, almost touching his chest feeling the heat of his body, but far enough not to touch him while playing.

“In this memory, I would sit like this and play an instrument very much like this and you were listening.” You say lowering your voice as you start gently pulling the nylon strings. Although in his memory the melody was played on an ancient lyre, you were able to easily reproduce it on a classical guitar with almost identical quality. The first few notes came out a bit harsh but once the nerves went away the melody flew gently and pleasantly in the night air with the stars above you. It felt magical and you didn’t want it to stop. Surprisingly you felt Ophion reach-out to you and slowly wrap his large, solid arms around you and place his head on your shoulder. It didn’t stop you from playing at all, it just made your heart beat faster and harder. The melody wasn’t long at all and it was easy to repeat in an infinite loop, perhaps even it was created that way.

“I know it’s not much but I wanted this to be a gift to you.” You say softly still playing.

“Oh my world, you need not say anything, this is the mo1st beautiful of gifts you have ever given me and I wish it wouldn’t stop. Among these riches that surround us, this is the only thing worth cherishing” Ophion says smiling with his head still on your shoulder.

“I’m happy you think so.” You add and after a moment of thinking you turn your head and kiss his cheek, feeling the gentle giant tremble as you do it.

END

#ophion #housamo #TAS #toko afterschool summoners #tokyoafterschoolsummoners #fanfiction

29 notes · View notes

fandomrewrites · 4 years ago

Text

Season 2; Episode 11: Battlefield

Hello all! I’m almost done with season 2! I’m super excited for you guys to read the last few chapters. As I was looking over this chapter I realized there are some time differences from the show but I need it like this so it makes sense for (Y/N). In the future I may go back in change it but if I do it will probably only be changed on my Wattpad. I hope you all enjoy and as always constructive criticism is appreciated!

Season 2; Episode 11: Battlefield

Pairings: Scott McCall x Twin Sister, Lydia Martin x Best Friend, Isaac Lahey x Reader

Warnings: mild violence

Word Count: 3,061

Season 2 Masterlist

Waking up the next morning was something I didn’t quite understand. I was confused. I thought I had died and I didn’t know what really happened since I passed out or bleeding to death for most of the night.

When my eyes fluttered open because sunlight was streaming through the crack in my curtains, my first instinct was to look around and figure out where I was. Once I realized I was in the safety of my bedroom and not in a hospital bed like a normal person who was shot would be, something in my mind clicked.

I immediately shoved the blankets off of me, realizing that I was in my pajamas and not the same clothes as yesterday. Though I decided to ignore that and instead pushed my shirt up to see the gunshot wound, only to see that there was nothing there. I turned to my night stand to look at my clock which read 10:00am, I guess I’m not going to school today.

I subconsciously ran my tongue over my teeth as I stood up to go take a shower and prepare for the day. Once I finished I made my way downstairs and grabbed some food. On the counter was a note: (Y/N), please get some rest. Stiles said that Matt hit your head hard XOXO Mom

I crumple up the note and throw it away once I finish eating. I then grab my house keys and my phone, locking the front door.

About ten minutes later and I make it to the abandoned train station that I know Derek and his pack are hiding in. “Derek!”

He comes out of the shadows, his blue eyes looking me over. “You look better than last night.”

I cross my arms, teeth clenched, “You bit me.” All Derek does is nod. “I told you to let me die. I didn’t want this.”

Derek briefly looks down before meeting my eyes once more, “You need to speak with Stiles. He’s the one who convinced me to give you the bite.”

“And I will. But just because he told you to bite me doesn’t mean you had to listen. Why couldn’t you respect my wishes?”

“Honestly? I almost did respect your wishes. But after hearing what Stiles said I knew I couldn’t let you die. Hell I didn’t want to let you die even before Stiles asked me to bite you. I knew that if I couldn’t possibly save your life I needed to give it a shot.”

“It wasn’t your call.”

“No, but I still think I made the right decision. You’ll thank me later.”

I scoffed, my anger rising and eyes flashing white. My hands squeeze into fists, “Yeah right. Maybe next time actually listen, you’re supposed to be good at that, being a werewolf and all.”

When my eyes flashed Derek’s mouth dropped open but I didn’t let him say anything as I turned to walk away. “(Y/N).” Derek grabbed my wrist.

I yanked my hand back, “Leave me the hell alone.”

“Wait! Your eyes...” He trailed off.

I narrow my eyes in question, “What about them?”

“They flashed white.”

I pause thinking, “What does that mean? I thought Beta’s have yellow eyes?”

Derek shakes his head, “I don’t know. Just try to control your anger. I don’t need you turning randomly.”

*_*_*_*_*_*

Instead of making my way to my house I made my way to the Stilinski residence and climbed in through Stiles’ window to wait for him.

I lazily lay across his bed waiting to hear his arrival. At the sound of his footsteps I move to a seat position, waiting for the door to swing open. “Holy crap, (Y/N/N). What are you doing here?” He gasps when his gaze falls on me.

“We need to talk.”

Placing his bag down he stops to really look at me. My face has a look of betrayal mixed with anger, though he tries to pretend he doesn’t know why I’m here, “Yeah. What’s up?” Stiles sits down next to me.

I start to shake my head, “Why did you tell Derek to bite me even after I said I didn’t want it?”

Stiles takes a breath, “I couldn’t let you die. I knew it would break your mom and Scott. And maybe I was being slightly selfish cause I didn’t want to live in a world without you. I mean you’re basically everyone’s rock, “(Y/N).”

“I didn’t want this though.” I whisper, tears glistening my eyes.

Stiles looks at me concerned and hesitantly grabs my hand, “I’m sorry. Are you mad at me?”

“I was. But now I’m just sad.” I took a breath and wiped a tear that slipped down my face, “I don’t know what to do. Does Scott even know that I was bit? And what happened with Matt?”

“I told Scott at school that Derek had to bite you to save your life. Matt died, drowned. And your mom knows about Scott, I don’t think she knows about you though.”

“How?” I choke out, referring to the fact that my mom is now aware that her son is a werewolf.

“She saw him change at the station last night.” I nod, slightly dazed from all of the new information.

“I went to talk to Derek. He said my eyes were white. And he didn’t know what that meant.”

“They weren’t yellow like Scott’s?” I shake my head, “So are you a werewolf or something else?”

“I don’t know. I healed fast, there’s not even a scar from the bite or the gunshot wound. Actually I don’t even know where Derek bit me.” Stiles points to my arm, where there is no mark present to show that I was bit by an Alpha werewolf.

I paused turning my arm to look at where I assumed the bite mark once was. Finally, I looked back up at the brunette boy beside me, “I was thinking about asking Deaton.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea. I’ll bring you.”

*_*_*_*_*_*

Walking through the front door of the vet clinic, I hear the chime go off at the same time I hear Isaac’s laugh. Not even a minute later, Isaac, Scott, and Deaton come out of the back room.

“Stiles, (Y/N). Come on back.” Dr. Deaton says, with a smile on his face.

My eyes immediately land on the dog on the exam table, my nose wrinkling at the smell, “He’s dying.” I bluntly state.

Scott’s eyebrows knit together, “How did you figure that out so fast?”

I pause, blinking, “I-I don’t know. I just sensed it or something.” My attention quickly turns to the vet, “That’s actually kid of what I wanted to talk to you about.”

Deaton nods, “Something concerning you about the bite.” Though he’s asking, he says it more like a statement.

“Yeah.” I take a breath, “I went to talk to Derek. He said my eyes flashed white not yellow like a normal Beta.” I carefully watch the vet’s face to see if I can notice any change, “Am I werewolf or something else?”

“You’re all healed?” Deaton questions.

I nod, “Even when I woke up at 10 this morning, I didn’t have any marks on me. From either the bite or the gunshot wound.”

He narrows his eyes, gazing at me with curiosity, “I don’t know for sure, because these are quite rare, but once you turn on a full moon you will know for sure. It’s possible that you’re a Zeta werewolf.”

“A Zeta werewolf?” Scott asks, just as confused as I am.

“Yes, they’re a rare type of Beta. Their eyes are usually the same color as their pelt.”

“Pelt? You mean that she can turn into an actual wolf?” Stiles questions the vet.

Deaton nods, “This can be controlled and you wouldn’t necessarily turn into a full wolf every time but until you learn control, every full moon you will probably turn into a wolf.”

“Cool.” Stiles breaks out into a smile as he looks between me and the vet.

“Is there anything else different about a Zeta?” I ask, curious to learn more about the type of werewolf that I may be.

“They are usually the Alpha’s left hand. They’re considered the most intelligent among the pack. Your strength won’t be as enhanced compared to a Beta or Alpha but your speed will be just as good as the Alpha. Even in human form you can possibly move like a blur. Your agility will also be just as good as an Alpha, even sometimes surpassing an Alpha’s agility.”

“Well that explains how easily I climbed up to your window.” I look at Stiles.

“Zeta’s also have superhuman intelligence. Which is probably why you quickly realized that the dog was dying. And despite the bite being from an Alpha, it healed so quickly because the healing process in Zeta’s matches that of the Alpha. Zeta’s are especially special in the fact that they have a partial immunity to wolfsbane.”

“Wolfsbane won’t kill me?”

The vet shakes his head, “It will make you slightly weaker and you will need to rest but it will not kill you. Of course, like any other werewolf you will have heightened senses. But Zeta’s have another sense known as the danger sense.”

“That sounds important.” Isaac mumbles.

Deaton nods in agreement, “That’s because it is. A Zeta Werewolf is able to detect dangers to themselves or the pack before anyone else. It’s one of the many reasons why Zeta’s are the left hand of the Alpha.”

“This seems like a lot of responsibility.” I sigh.

Deaton gently smiles, “There is one more thing. When shifted into their wolf form Zeta’s have a strong mental link, even stronger than the Alpha werewolf, which connects to both born and bitten werewolves.”

“Mental link? Like be able to communicate?” Scott asks.

“Not exactly communicate. But be able to sense how the others in the pack are feeling. If you practice enough you may be able to do this in your human state too.”

I nod, “So pretty much I’m a badass werewolf with a lot of responsibilities? Cool.”

“Look at it this way. A Zeta werewolf is so rare because most people cannot handle the position. If your body reacted to the bite this way, it’s because it knew that you were the right fit.” Deaton reassures me.

“Sometimes the shape you take reflects the person you are.” Stiles states looking at me.

*_*_*_*_*_*

The next night was the championship lacrosse game. Scott originally wasn’t planning on going but after Isaac told him that Jackson would be there, he knew he had to go.

Scott also caught me up with what was going on. Mom doesn’t know that I was bit and for right now we wanted to keep it that way considering we were pretty sure the Argent’s didn’t know either.

Speaking about the Argent’s, Gerard now had control of the Kanima, which makes Jackson even more dangerous than before. After finding this out I instantly had a sense that something bad was going to happen. I guess that was a warning from my danger sense that Deaton told me about.

I also found out (From Stiles not Scott) that Matt was in fact a creep and stalker. He had a lot of pictures of me saved on his camera and computer. Though it wasn’t just pictures, there were edits of us together. It was like he created a whole relationship between us. This obsession apparently started even when I was still dating Nate.

I didn’t feel sorry that Matt was dead. The only reason I was slightly concerned about his death was because without him alive, Gerard had control of Jackson which was slightly more terrifying than Matt stalking me.

To put it simply, I had a lot running through my mind throughout the day. I was growing more and more weary about the sense of doom that was hanging over my head and I was upset that I didn’t have a plan to stop whatever was about to happen.

The only thing I knew I could do was warn Scott and Derek that something was going to happen. And it was going to happen tonight at the game.

So I sat on the bleachers next to Sheriff Stinlinski and my mom waiting for the game to begin. Of course, I kept my main focus on Jackson and Gerard, knowing that the elder hunter had some sort of game plan set in motion.

My attention drifts from Jackson as the Sheriff asks, “Why’s my son running onto the field?”

I knit my eyebrows together and quickly scan the field finding number 24. “Because he’s on the team?” My mom says, though it sounds more like a question.

“He is. He’s on the team. He’s on the field.” Sheriff Stilinski gets more excited as he exclaims, “My son’s on the field!”

The whole crowd is giving the sheriff weird looks but I can’t help but to smile, also excited for Stiles.

Just before the game begins, Lydia takes a seat beside me. She smiles as she sits down and reaches to give me a brief hug. My eyes dance around the field looking out for any sign of danger.

Being so focused on the people below me, I flinch slightly at the sound of the whistle, still not used to having heightened senses.

Soon after the game starts Stiles glances in shock as the ball lands in the pockets of his lacrosse stick. I hear him whisper, “Oh God.” Before he even gets the chance to turn around an opposing player rams into him.

I cringe as my mom says, “He’s probably just getting warmed up.”

As the whistle blows, Stiles races forward slapping helplessly as players start to surround him. Another vicious hit has the crowd flinching. “He’s just a little nervous. Plenty of time to turn it around.” Lydia states.

“Yeah of course. It’s his first game. He’ll be fine.” I nod agreeing. Though part of me is doubtful.

At the next whistle we watch as Stiles tries to catch a pass but the ball bounces off his helmet instead. My mom, Lydia, and I all exchange looks, unsure of what to say. We then glance at the Sheriff but rather than watching the field or looking at us, he has his head buried in his hands..

A motion on the team bleachers catches my eye. I notice Isaac, in his lacrosse uniform, sitting beside Scott. I quickly start listening in on their conversation. “You came to help.” Scott says.

“I came to win.” Isaac replies. Both boys turn their heads to Gerard, who does not look happy with the surprise player. “You got a plan yet?” Isaac asks Scott.

“Right now it’s pretty much just keep Jackson from killing someone.”

“That might be easier if you’re in the game. We have to make it so Coach has no choice but to play you.”

“How do we do that? He’s got a bench full of guys he can use before he ever puts me on the field.”

I slightly shake my head as I watch both teenagers turn their attention to their teammates. This is not going to be good. “Can you do it without putting anyone in the hospital?” Scott asks.

“I can try.”

The next time the ref blows the whistle Isaac races past to take his position on the field. The ball drops and in the crash of players rushing to get the ball, Isaac knocks shoulders with a teammate sending him crashing to the ground. “Ramirez! You’re in.” Coach calls.

The injured teammate is helped past Scott as Cody Ramirez races to the field. Another whistle and another brutal crash of a Beacon Hills teammate. “Murphy. You’re in.” Coach then turns his attention to Isaac, “Lahey, what the hell’s your problem?”

Isaac glances at Coach and acting innocent, holds his hands up in apology. I bite my lip to hide the smile that is threatening to slip onto my face.

Bodies crash into each other on the field. There are several downed players, Isaac being one of them. I quickly stand up in concern, trying to get a better look. I hear Isaac whisper to Scott, “It’s not broken. But I can’t move it. I think Jackson nicked me. I can feel it spreading.”

I can then hear Gerard speak to Scott, “You want to play chess, Scott? Then you better be willing to sacrifice your own pawns.”

I see Isaac be pulled onto a stretcher as I hear Coach call, “McCall! Either you’re in or we forfeit.”

“I’ll be right back.” I mumble to my mom and Lydia. As soon as I make it away from the bleachers I whisper to Scott, “I’ll check on Isaac. Focus on Jackson and the game.”

*_*_*_*_*_*

I rush inside to where Isaac has been taken on a stretcher. Straining my ears to pinpoint his exact location, I hear the stretcher clatter to the ground. Then I hear Gerard’s voice, “It was a good effort, Isaac. It was. This would be so much more poetic if it were halftime.”

Finally understanding what Deaton meant by moving like a blur even in human form, I sped into the boys locker room seeing Gerard and two other hunters surrounding a half paralyzed Isaac.

Eyes glowing white, I quickly shove the first hunter flying into the wall of the showers, effectively knocking him out. I send the next one slamming down on the benches, splitting the wood in half. I glance around seeing Isaac but not Gerard, “Where is he?” I ask the hunter still in my grip.

When he doesn’t answer I punch him hard across the face, knocking him out too and rush to Isaac’s side. “How did you control it?”

I shake my head, “I don’t know. I think I was focusing on protecting you.” I pause looking down, “I remember Scott saying he didn’t lose control when he was focused on protecting Allison. Maybe protection has something to do with remaining in control.”

Before either of us can say anything else, an ear piercing scream is heard from the field outside.

#teen wolf imagine #series rewrite #lydia martin imagine #isaac lahey imagine

30 notes · View notes

jess-the-vampire · 4 years ago

Text

Sky And The Forces Of The Multiverse, Chapter 43

Previous / Next

Sky had never seen her wand...crack, before, in fact she'd never seen any wand crack before.

What kinda force had that thing used against her to cause THAT?

Sky was left with a pit in her stomach, her wand had acted broken before, but this was on a whole nother level. Would it even still work? Could it even be fixed? Why would they break the wand they needed? Granted, with the panic they were in it was probably unintent6ional for them to actually break the wand at all, but now that it was broken, sky was at a loss for words.

All around them people were yelling and talking, the entire castle was being searched top to bottom, and everyone was contemplating everything that occurred. some people seemed injured, most were dirty, some were shouting for the criminal to be executed for this. There was so much going on it was kinda hard to even focus, how could anyone focus?

The castle wasn't too badly hurt, but it still had been wrecked quite a bit.

Not to mention the kidnapping and wand situation.

What a mess.

Judas could hear his father speaking to his grandfather nearby, remembering sunny, mason, and galexia were with him. How was he going to explain this mess to them? What was it like from their angle? God how was he supposed to explain all the damage that happened? Hopefully none of their bedrooms were super damaged, or their safe room for that matter.

Judas felt tired.

So did Sky.

This day had been a hell of a ride, everything went by too fast .

They'd be lucky if they didn't have nightmares from this.

Everything for awhile felt like a blur of people, too tired to focus on everyone around them sky felt herself start to pass out. Falling to the ground with a thud, scaring those around her as they cuddled up, making sure she wasn't sick or injured. She was asleep, her body tired and finally letting go, unable to gather enough strength for the time being.

She was drained, emotionally and physically.

And she drifted off to sleep.

Sky awoke later, finding herself in her castle's hospital wing, she couldn't tell how long she was asleep but there had been a plate of cookies set out for her, alongside some milk. She had to guess it was from either her mother or judas, but judas also appeared to be asleep in the bed next to her, though he was tossing and turning in his sleep, clearly not in the best shape.

In fact everyone was here.

Angel, Celeste, Landon, Bernard...

And on closer inspection, she saw their parents, all resting nearby.

They all looked dirty, like they'd probably been going through a damaged castle in fact. Though it seemed between whispers in the dark she could hear them talking about the repairs that were quickly going down. They couldn't live in a run down castle and they needed to get it fully operational for judas's coronation and for protection purposes, though sky couldn't hear much else.

They worked fast, though it probably wouldn't be fully together till the end of the week.

She felt achy still, feeling around for her wand, only to find it wasn't on her person. It wasn't on the bed next to her and it wasn't on the table nearby either. In fact it wasn't anywhere in sight. She sat up in the darkness, had it been taken when she was sleeping? It had been a bit cracked last time she saw it, so maybe it wasn't stolen. But what would-?

"Your mother confiscated your wand".

Sky turned to find angel was still awake, turned to face her, though he was whispering to avoid the adults listening in.

"She what?", sky whispered back.

"She saw what happened to it".

Well at least it wasn't stolen but at the same time, they didn't wand that wand confiscated, especially if it might help in returning the girls. Could they even go home now it it was cracked? Was her mom tasking it to repair it?

Sky wasn't that great with magic without her wand.

"What happened? I think I-".

"You passed out...and they escorted us here to check us for injuries and rest, sunny and the others are supposed to come back soon...but we aren't allowed to leave until they can be sure everything is ok.".

Sky fell back on the bed, "I guess you couldn't rest could you?".

"I'm too scared to rest...", she whispered back, shifting in his sheets.

Yeah, she couldn't blame him there at all, that would scare anyone, he'd come close to a panic attack back there.

"Are the others-?".

"I think they're ok, at least I hope so...nora was a bit scratched up though...mostly by rubble.".

Sky paused for a moment at the mention of nora being hurt, "It wasn't too bad...right?".

"I think so.".

Poor nora, that whole thing probably freaked her the heck out, especially since it was so unexpected for her. She couldn't even fight back like how most of them could, she could've been seriously hurt if she had been directly targeted. But at least no one had been too badly hurt, at least not like how angel had been hurt like the last encounter they had.

Guess the wand was better then any of them being badly damaged, she just wished she knew for sure everything would even be ok. Judas was a mess, her wand was damaged, luna was gone, Landon seemed to have unlocked new powers, how much longer could this whole thing even last at this point? Either they broke or that thing did at this point.

Though angel seemed...happy? He was tired, but there did seem to be a smile on his face.

Sky didn't even have to question it before he nodded to his sleeping mother, who was breathing better then the last time she had seen her. "While this was going down...they were working on her...she's making progress...". He almost seemed on the brink of crying, "I-I know today was crazy...a lot of days have been, but it...i can't thank you and your family enough for helping her".

Sky suddenly felt choked up, guess through all this mess, there really was some glimmers of hope out there.

"It's ok angel, I didn't play that massive of a role anyway-".

Only for angel to quickly pull her in a tight hug, sitting up in his bed and wrapping his spider legs around her, some attention drawn to them from the adults who were awake nearby. "I don't care sky, she never would've had a chance without your family or you in general. Not even nora would've had the courage to help without you, it just means...so much to me".

Sky was caught off guard at first, but she gave in, patting his back.

"Hey...I'm glad if i did anything to help her".

"I can't wait for her to wake up and see us like this, well I mean uh...last time she was...herself, we didn't get along".

"And you didn't have much friends", sky continued, the two ending their hug.

"Yeah...I think, I think she'll be really happy...".

"Yeah, i think so too".

"Kids, i'm happy you both are doing alright but maybe keep it down a little more and get some more rest, ok?", Queen lucitor called from where they were sitting, nodding towards judas, landon, nora, and well...mostly everyone. Sky rubbed at her head and apologized, but marco shrugged, "I'm happy to see you up and yourself again, but maybe you outta lie down some more after what happened...there will be time to talk about everything tomorrow".

Fair enough.

Angel laid back down on his back, knowing he needed to get a lot of rest after the events of today ,"We'll talk later.". He did seem sad he and sky couldn't talk longer about everything but he couldn't deny he was achy, turning on his side and folding his long legs together. Wrapping his covers over himself as the room was once again mostly silent.

But she could still spot the smile on his face.

At least someone came out of this in some kind of good mood, and if it had to be anyone, sky at least was happy it was the one most affected by what happened during their last encounter. Angel probably felt a little more...brave, for going in despite how terrified he was, like he really did something amazing. He wasn't wrong, he did do pretty great out there, sky could admit to that.

She just wished...well she wished this all hadn't had happened.

They couldn't keep this up much longer, otherwise they might not be so lucky to make it out like they have. Someone got kidnapped after all, no one was safe, not even those in other dimensions. Were their earth families going to move in too? Was there anywhere that was safe anymore? Were they going to have to move dimensions or something? There was no way they could continue like this.

Could she even go back to sleep after that?

Sky wasn't sure she actually could.

For all she knew they were around the corner, waiting for her, or waiting for everyone to fall asleep so they could strike. No one could claim that wasn't a possible reality at this point, no one could trust anyone and they couldn't trust their own homes. There was no way anyone could even go alone anywhere at this point, how was anyone supposed to relax?

And her wand...

"Can't rest?".

Sky turned her head towards the noise, seeing landon sitting against the wall and keeping an eye on his parents so they didn't listen in, "I can't either...". Guess that was expected, a lot kinda just happened today, she had the feeling he was probably growing a massive headache just from processing everything that had happened. Though he also just seemed rather sad, though sky had a feeling why.

"It's not your-".

"They kidnapped him because of me...you know that..."., he interrupted crudely, "There's no reason for them to even bother going after him if they hadn't known about us being friends, it was intentional to get to me.".

"They went after your grandparents first", after said those words she knew it wouldn't work as an argument, but it was all she could think about.

"That doesn't change anything, they knew he was a target because we're close...only reason they didn't go after your weird friend mel instead was because she was further away, bernard was right across the street. They knew about him because of the sleepover and everything, he was only in danger because we're friends and he could've gotten hurt and-".

"It's not your fault.".

"I can't believe i was so stupid to try and confess, what was i thinking, under these circumstances? Probably one of the last things he wants to hear is something like that.", this was really tearing him up inside. He was mostly staying quiet, he didn't want a lot of people to hear after all, bernard especially. "And these stupid marks...all this time i was so frustrated about judas and mason being special and i just had these dumb things on me for how long? And i can barely use them?".

"You only found out you had them today kinda...", sky mumbled, "C'mon, i mean, you'll get used to them, and you can confess later...when he's feeling better. Like it's not over or anything like that...you'll have other opportunities where he isn't in danger to do it.". Landon was silent about it, he might of just been in a bit of a mood swing right now, but at least talking to him seemed to help a little.

"How...how do you handle it?".

"Hmm?".

"Y'know...all these pressures and everything, you seem to not freak out so much about it...like me".

She gritted her teeth, hugging her legs, "Simple, i don't...i just kinda deal with it really.". Landon just stared at the floor, pressing his body further against the wall, "You ever think we'll actually catch them? Finally put this all to rest?". Honestly she had no idea anymore, even if they caught them, the damage had been done, no one would ever forget what had happened here.

But at the same time.

"We'll try...but i think maybe we can catch them, we just need to be one step ahead for once.".

"How can we be a step ahead if we don't know what they'll do and where they'll strike!?"

Sky tapped her fingers, "Well, i thought about this today and well...so maybe we can't guess what they'll do...but i mean, maybe we don't need to guess. Maybe we need to make them come to us instead of us figuring out them, like y'know, a trap? Then we wouldn't have to guess, we would be prepared, like i mean, then we wouldn't be caught off guard?".

Landon blinked at her, actually, that was a good idea.

"Honestly, i kinda personally don't think they intended to divert us, i think after bernard got found they just kinda y'know...took advantage of it? So maybe we're thinking too hard about this...maybe they're not as crazy smart as we think.". Granted, she could be completely wrong, but no mastermind would've forgotten about jude's grandmother or left all their stuff behind.

"If they aren't how do they keep getting away from us?".

"I didn't say they weren't smart enough to think on their feet".

She could hear angel shuffling next to them, he was probably still listening in on everything. She outta be careful not to say anything that might trigger him for now, perhaps save this conversation for when everyone wasn't tired. She looked over to landon and nodded her head to angel, "We'll talk later...with the others...but...i think...the only way we're going to get this done is if we outsmart them for once.".

"You're not going use him as...bait right?", landon said, whispering, his eyes glancing at the spider prince.

"Uh...no, but they want a wand...right?, and they'd probably freak if we tried to reveal them or something...so..."., she twiddled her fingers together, "Look, we'll figure it out later...but...i think i might have an idea".

Landon softly mumbled something under his breath before heading to his resting place, and sky had the feeling he simply told her "Alright". It would have to do for now, but at least having an idea of a plan was better then no plan at all. She laid back on the bed, tired and worn, the loss of her wand currently reeling her. But for now that would have to wait.

Sky awoke still in the wing, but the people around her were a lot more lively this time around. Some were still resting of course, but some were talking, debating, and checking on others. Sky took one of the cookies left for her and took a bite, she was hungry all right, and she needed some energy if she was going to handle whatever they were in for today.

She expected anything by this point.

Even the worst outcomes.

But the reaction around her seemed more mixed rather then sad and depressed, everyone passing information between each other rapidly. Some were stating their theories and others were trying to come up with plans and it seemed overall everyone was quick to get into the action after what had just happened. Not wanting something like this to ever happen again if they could help it.

Sunny was the first to come over to her, the small girl excited to see her up and well.

And with her was-

"Melaine?".

Sure enough, the human was there with her, accompanied by two guards and looking like she might burst with excitement.

"SKY! Your parents sad it was cool for me to come and see you! Well i mean, at first they said no, but when i saw them leaving with bernie's parents and grabbed onto their carriage thingy they couldn't say no! Though these guys haven't left me since.". Though personally she didn't seem to mind that one bit if it meant she got to see more magical stuff.

"Did...did they tell you-?"

"About bernie...yeah...but you saved him right?! That's great!" she looked excited, like this was one of those things that played out in her fantasy books. She could do with being a bit more concerned about her friend who got kidnapped and held for ransom, but i guess if you were from the outside perspective of this whole thing hearing your friend getting magically saved from a villian would seem fantastical.

"Well, yeah, we did...you're right about that.".

But melaine could tell sky wasn't exactly...happy about that either, despite her wide smile, her eyes staring at sky as if expecting her to say more. Sky coughing into her fist and eating more of her cookie, "Yeah but um...we didn't catch the guy again, they wrecked the underworld castle and my wand got kinda...broken. So...yeah, not as great as it could be...".

"I'm sorry i missed your texts.", she clutched at her hands, "Some stuff went down with my mom and I-".

"It's ok, i know you get busy sometimes...".

Sky offered mel a cookie only for the girl to turn her down, "Nah nah, no sweets for now, mostly because mom says they'll spoil my food later. But hey, talk to me later, i got some cool stuff to share with you!". That seemed to make sky a little more upbeat, new stuff? Did melaine find out more information about the individual they were after? That could easily help with setting up a trap.

"Um...sure ok! Uh how long are you staying?", melaine's arrival had been so unexpected sky had to wonder, especially at a time like this.

"Just another hour, mom doesn't want me here long, and neither does your family".

Guess if they could avoid another child getting kidnapped due to being close with their kids, they were going to take it. But at least she got to see melaine in person, if even it was on bad timing of all things. "Yeah, i can't say i blame them too much, but um...thanks for coming all this way to see me, i know we can't always talk like crazy with everything happening but-".

"Nah sky, i'm always happy to have you as my pal".

Sky smiled softy at that.

"To be honest, the more i'm here the more i wish my family lived on earth, the place seems far less chaotic.", she was mostly joking of course, but frankly earth seemed tame compared to all this. Melaine seemed to be in the opposite direction, where earth was tame in comparison to the excitement of the alternate world of mewni, with it's fantastical beings and lands.

Maybe they outta trade places sometime.

"So where's your wand?".

Sky gulped.

"Yeah, my mom has it...actually, i have no idea where she or it is now.".

"I think i saw them earlier!", sunny leapt up on the bed next to sky, "But i think she went into her office, so i can't be sure if she's doing anything more with it for now. I am sorry to hear it cracked...". She placed a hand on sky's shoulder, "The wand is pretty important to y'know...butterfly history, but hey, y'know, maybe they'll fix it! It's been broken worse before!".

Right, when her mom split the gem in half.

"But for how long though?".

Sunny could only give her a shrug on that, there was no way to be sure, but only time would tell. "Hey, cheer up, maybe for now you can work on well...wandless magic and stuff, till it gets back. Even if it's not from eclipsa, i'm sure others could help you out with that so you can keep defending yourself". Melaine seemed excited at that idea, "Oh ! YES YES YES!".

Wandless magic eh? But she was barely good at magic with a wand!

Though angel never needed a wand to do his magic, or judas for that matter, but it came a bit easier for them to learn when they never needed a wand in the first place. But angel was about as powerful if not less so before and he had gotten better, so maybe, maybe it wasn't such a bad idea. Maybe she keep up with the others and manage without a wand.

Or fall flat on her face, that too.

"I-I'm not sure honestly...i'm not that great..."., not to mention she did feel naked without her wand, despite it not always working right, it still was a apart of her. She wasn't exactly much of a sword fighter like Luna or a merciless stabber like sunny, i mean, unless you counted tasing people and maybe on occasion headbutting them. Which wasn't gonna do much unless she snuck up on the enemy and zapped them.

Actually, that wasn't an awful idea...

"C'mon sky, you're better then that, but hey, we'll figure this out, we're not dead yet."

Way to be morbid Sunny.

"Sky! You're awake!", and soon enough angel approached, though for a second sky thought it was judas, but maybe it was just the fact angel was still wearing his clothes. Actually, judas didn't seem to be anywhere in sight, angel just noticing melaine standing there and pausing, melaine only ogling at seeing him in person. "Spider- Angel!", she corrected herself quickly, squealing.

"Mel...um, hi?".

Well at least she got his name right this time around.

But Sky didn't have time to worry about all of this right now, and she had questions, "Hey...where's judas? I saw him when he was sleeping last night but...I don't see him around here today for some reason. He's not hurt right?". Judas of course didn't have to be here but he usually would wait for his best friend to wake up and stay by her side then leave like this.

"Judas? He kinda got called off elsewhere...".

"Where?".

"The underworld, he's helping with fixing things up and getting looked at by his parents, he wanted me to stay here for him instead. He wasn't given much of a choice on the matter frankly". Though if sky had been awake she probably would've ushered him to go and get any kind of help he could really get while his arm was acting...how it was for now.

Trying to use that necklace like that and all that magic seemed to have had a weird affect on it, or maybe that was just the pain it caused that had seemed to trigger it so strangely. Having someone look at it might just do it some good, if they could come up with any theories about what happened, like was that magic supposed to do stuff like this?

If it was pure dark magic it would've been purged...wouldn't it?

But it wasn't.

The arm was very much still there and still thriving inside of the demon prince, coming and going. It had been affected but...it was hard to describe exactly what it did, and sky sure had no answers. The sooner judas got the whole thing looked at the better probably, lest it only gets worse and they feel the affects of it. There was no way he could do much like this.

"Well, I hope he's ok...y'know...considering everything.".

Angel seemed to agree just as much, sky offering him one of her cookies, which he took carefully, "I-I'm really sorry about your wand, it's a prized heirloom, it must be hard seeing it well...like that". She nodded, folding her arms together, "At least maybe it's possible to fix, it's been broken before and way worse then this but...I do feel rather naked without it".

"I can imagine".

"You could go back to using your earth wand!", The human suggested, sky suddenly feeling embarrassed having her taser brought up right next to angel of all people. "It's not magic but it can do the job if you need it to alright, give them a piece of your mind". Angel, realizing what she meant, only let out a sheepish smile, "Oh yeah, that wand uh...does hurt alright".

At least he seemed nearly amused by it rather then mad or upset.

"Is everyone else ok? Seems like most of everyone left already...nothing happened right?".

Angel looked over to the group behind him, "Nora was mostly shook up actually besides the scratches, she insisted to have a little break in the garden, eclipsa is with her actually. I think she wanted fresh air, which, all things considered sounds really good by now. I'm kinda personally feeling well...a bit stuffy surrounded by all these people...it's...maybe a mental break would be nice.".

"Maybe we all outta join you?", the demon said, smiling, and pointing to melaine as well, "I mean, with supervision of course, but...looking at pretty flowers actually sounds pretty good right about now." That actually did sound like a good idea, especially since sunny had yet to tell them what happened on her end since everything went crazy and they had yet to go into everything with them either.

Maybe some fresh air would help sky feel less...however she was feeling, away from all the mess and with some fun and happy company for a little bit. There was a little too much anxiety just staying here, hearing everyone discuss their next plans and form of action, some more aggressive then others, really wasn't reassuring her. At this point she just wasn't in the mood to hear about what they'd do about the guards or spies or anything.

She needed to get out of here.

Angel happily helped sky up, the girl shoving another cookie into her mouth, letting sunny and angel eat the rest as the four passed through the mess of people, guards still following behind them. There was people coming to and fro all over the halls, no matter where you looked there was a servant or guard running around. Some were interrogating others, some were comforting others.

There seemed to be a lot of underworld people here actually, probably till the castle was back to normal.

But even so, she'd be too terrified to even go back, who knows what backlash the Lucitors were getting from this whole thing by having a break-in twice by the same person, and having said person still get away with a partially destroyed castle. Doesn't say a lot of promise when your own royals couldn't even protect themsleves all that much, much less the poor people who felt the blunt of it.

Sky could even hear protesting going on outside in fact, even if she was mostly ignoring it.

Not that she could blame everyone who was mad, she'd be pretty mad too, but her family had been trying as hard as possible to just keep everyone safe. She knew how hard they'd been working to help everyone and keep them safe. They couldn't be blamed for all of what just happened, they all got dooped. Though sky could agree maybe they should have at least had one of them stay behind at home.

But on the other hand, a child had been in danger.

Sky was happy to leave the noises of the protests to be led to the much more relaxing garden instead, nora was right in finding this place calming and nice to just rest at. It had so many pretty flowers and sky could hear the sound of birds all around. Even though she wasn't all together, it gave her a much better feeling then the headache she'd been growing inside of the castle.

Angel seemed pretty happy to be able to stretch his legs as well, able to outstretch them to his heart's content without hitting anyone out here. Melaine of course just wanted to see more of the castle in general so she was happy no matter where she was going, looking at the plants to see if they'd attack her or do anything out of the ordinary from what they did on earth.

A Happy Mel was a good Mel.

Sunny looked tired herself, if the guards weren't right there she probably had a lot to spill to sky, but it seems they'd have to wait for more on that. However, she was qucik to point out that they were not alone. As expected, Nora was already there, Eclipsa nearby, looking at roses herself, nora drawing in her smaller notebook and speaking to her on occasion.

They both seemed too busy to have noticed them yet.

But that didn't last long as Melaine was quick to call out to them and wave, startling nora and making eclipsa turn and smile at the sight of having more guests. Sky wasn't even mad anymore, she was too tired to be mad, did eclipsa already know about the state of her wand? She probably did at this point, no reason at least one of their parents wouldn't have said something about it.

Not that eclipsa would be mad about that but-

"Sky! Sunny! Angel! It's good to see you as well!".

Eclipsa also seemed tired in fact, like she hadn't slept at all last night. Though she did seem pleased to have seen the kids, despite all that. Nora seemed to brighten a little at the sight of seeing her friends, looking up from her work. It seemed someone had given her fresh clothes after last night, and she got to clean up really well. Though she also looked very tired and they could spot Band-Aids on her legs and arms.

"Hey Eclipsa...hi Nora...".

Nora put down her book and walked over to her friends, hugging sky and angelus together as tightly as possible. She hadn't gotten to have a proper moment with them when everything went down and seeing them sparked something in her. The two hugging her back gently, sky patting her back and letting her hug them as tight as she could right now.

They all needed a hug.

"Judas still gone?".

"Yeah...", Angel said, sadly, "We'll see him soon, I think".

Nora left the circle of hugs, tugging on her slimy hair, "I guess after last night we might not be able to stay in our homes anymore...". Her parents were already scared stayed here to begin with after the first break in, no where seemed safe anymore at this rate. If the most powerful kingdoms were made fools through this, then was anywhere safe?

Maybe the safest place was far away from these families as possible.

"Well, maybe not...maybe", angel was trying to be optimistic but who really knew honestly.

They couldn't deny it being a real possibility, it was a real one all things considered. How could anything be trusted anymore? How could anyone live knowing no one was safe? There was a real genuine fear here and no doubt their parents had all been arguing about what they should do to keep everyone safe at this point. Maybe separation really was the best way to save everyone?

Though the thought of that seemed to build something in sky.

Made her angry.

This one person, one person, ruined so many people's lives, caused so much panic and anxiety throughout mewni, and nearly got her friends killed or in prison.

She worked so hard to be better this year, to make friends, to actually do things she never did before.

And now her wand was broken and she might lose everyone.

Was this how angry landon felt last night?

She felt her fists clutch, and sunny quickly put a hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her down.

"Sky?".

"I'm not letting them hurt anyone else...never again".

And she meant that too, more then ever.

"I'm so sorry about your wand sky...", nora mumbled, "I mean it, i know that it scares me sometimes, but i know it means a lot to you, i wish there was more i could do for you there.". Sky appreciated the kindness. from her and everyone today. They didn't need to be so nice, but they were anyway and didn't seem mad or ill willed towards her for the mess.

"I'm glad you guys aren't uh..."., she started, well to be honest, there were MANY things she was glad they weren't after that situation.

"Hey, that's because of you, you helped keep us safe!"

Sunny seemed to squeal a little about that last bit, "You went in to save your friends, like a hero! That's super duper cool! And you got them out without a scratch on you! That's not something most people can do!". Sunny was a master of pep talk, and sky had to appreciate the compliment, even if she knew far and away if sunny had been in her place she would've done way better.

Granted, maybe comparing her and the others wasn't a good idea at all after her already obvious mommy issues.

"I have to agree", eclipsa coming forward to the small group, brushing her dress off, "Not an amazing day by any stretch but you handled yourself rather well all things considered, going back for your friends was noble even if dangerous". Sky didn't seem to amused by her compliment, considering it was coming from the same woman who before felt it was too dangerous for her to go after the same person not that freakishly long ago.

Eclipsa seemed to recognize the hypocrisy, coughing into her hand.

"I...know what happened still bothers you, but with your mothers being absent, well...going back for them, sky i...I want to tell you i thought what you did was brave. Dangerous, but brave, even if it meant losing your wand". Sky didn't want to admit she was happy to hear her compliment, but in her mind she did appreciate it, even if it was coming from eclipsa.

"Look, I just...I wasn't going to abandon them...ok?".

"And I wouldn't expect you to, frankly".

Sky continued to glare and eclipsa sighed, "I don't regret telling your parents, the situation could've more dangerous, especially since no one knew what they were dealing with out there, but here...you knew what you were up against, you had help, and you handled yourself well sky. You're really starting to turn into your own queen, even if through baby steps.".

"I didn't get to fight them...".

"Saving your friends and not getting yourself hurt is just as good if not better, trust me".

She rubbed at her face, trying to rub the sleep out, "Spent all last night taking the watch, though it was hard to sleep with everything that went down, the Musty Mountains are just rioting for the commotion that happened and not to mention we have people there investigating the secret hideout. We're going over everything for evidence, i think we'll have their identity soon enough".

"You mean like...dna?".

The word seemed to leave eclipsa a little confused, even with humans around seems mewni still had some stuff to kinda learn.

"Uh...i'm not sure what that is...is that a fancy human word?", she was playing it off funny but the others didn't seem to be as amused as she was, sky shaking her head.

"Eclipsa, me and judas wouldn't exist without the stuff", her hands on her hips, "Anyway, like you know what they mean, hair or skin or blood...unless this person never took off their clothes one we outta find SOMETHING. Maybe then we can figure out why they have powers and know all this secret stuff and y'know...are the way they are, it could make things easier".

"You're not wrong, but i admit i'm nervous to find out whose behind this".

"I think everyone is secretly...whether it's someone we know or something we knew back for revenge or something, they're not some random mewman...they have to be someone we're aware of to know so much information, to frame me...I wish i knew who'd have this much of a grudge though, but the people who hate me are idiots and aren't even royalty...".

"Well, we'll hopefully sleep easier knowing who it is...", she fixed up her hair and looked to the crowd, melaine about a second away from bursting, "So...what brings you out here anyway? Getting away from all the drama perhaps? I know the feeling". She motioned to the roses, the flowers looking rather well taken care of, "Being out here is preferable to all the arguing in there...especially with Moon on the way".

"Granny's coming?", Sky asked, surprised.

"She wanted to come for a bit but your mom kept saying she'd take care of it, i guess she finally had enough and she's coming here to uh...help i guess? She said she'd never come back from her retirement unless it was an emergency, seems like this was more then enough to bring her back out. But um...considering what happened to your...you know, maybe this time around you might want to stay out of this".

Oh, right.

"Your mom's trying to convince her not to get involved, since she knows she'd freak, but, that's moon for you, can't be shocked.", she actually seemed to be amused by this all, judging by the smile on her face. Though this was no laughing matter to sky, who did not need another adult coming in to make things more stressful for her, her fists clutching as she spat out her next words rapidly.

"I have a plan to catch them!"

She didn't know why she said it how she did, as if the universe would stop just because she might have an idea.

But it got everyone's attention.

"You...do?",Eclipsa asked.

"Well, sorta...we should still stake out and stuff before we even do it, besides planning, but...it's an idea, for a trap.".

"What kind of trap?".

"Well, i haven't figured it out completely yet, it's just...y'know, lure them into the castle , make them think they're smart and then we catch them i think...", it didn't sound that great when she said it like that frankly, but it seemed to spark sunny's attention. "Wait, i'll ask lexi! She's super smart and creative with these kinds of things, i bet she can help!".

"I heard about this last night", angel said, "You spoke about it with landon".

Right, he did hear all of that.

"Yeah, i mean, i was thinking, a gathering? Lure her in and capture her there...and well...ok It's a bad idea but i thought that maybe, the least suspicious way we could do it is through...judas's coronation. I know that's a selfish idea cause that's important to him but i just thought that...if we did anything else it'd come off a on more suspicious then something planned in advance".

"Sky, a coronation is an important step in any new ruler's life, i can see where you're coming from, it's a special day and using it for a trap sounds like a rather good way to sour the mood of a wonderful night...", Eclipsa sighed, her eyes running off elsewhere, "But, you're not wrong in the fact that something like that would be something perfect to lure them in...but that's jude's choice.".

"I'd throw a party or something but c'mon, it'd look stupid considering how clearly panicked we all are", sure, her family could be a little party crazy sometimes but when everyone was going through what was an obvious crisis , something like a celebration would look funny to anyone, any trap they wanted to pull had to actually not look like a trap.

"Well ok, so you have an idea...but...what would make them WANT to go?".

"Well, we're all there, wands are there...and it's crowded, they could hide in plain sight", she tried to explain, "I just think, we need to be smarter, if they keep dodging us...we'll never catch them, but if we're one step ahead...well...maybe they can fall into our trap then the other way around...like we need to make them think we're dumb while also being super smart.".

Sunny seemed to be nodding along, tapping her foot, "You're right, but what if they do figure out it's a trap? I mean at this point they have to be expecting us to y'know? Be planning something to get them, unless you really think a coronation is inconspicuous ?". But sky did, if she was behind the mask, she'd think the royals would completely avoid making a day of celebration a trap for a serious matter.

If only because they'd want to protect every serious moment of happiness they could in a situation like this.

It's be more believable they'd still do a coronation then most things at least.

And her words seemed to make the others really consider this idea, hiding a trap beneath a royal event could actually work.

Maybe.

"We'll all need to think about it, but mostly judas...", angel rubbed at the shirt he was wearing, one of jude's obviously, only drawing more attention to the purple half demon who wasn't in the room. "His coronation is important to him, but...he seems to not want to draw too much attention to himself, with how others treated him and all, i'm not sure if this would make him better or worse".

"Yeah, me neither...jude was kinda afraid to make an impression others didn't like"., she had to agree, a trap at said party would definitely draw more attention then he had wanted.

"Also...", Sunny popped in, "The thief might not go anyway, they always wear their mask and well...they'll stand out pretty well if they go in with one when no one else is wearing one, it might not be worth it to them". Leave it to sunny to notice some of the flaws in this idea, but it was basically a rough draft anyway, so it wasn't going to be perfect without more ideas in the pot.

"We'll talk about this with your parents more later...maybe we can make something from this".

Sky could agree with that, for now, in fact she felt happy someone actually liked her ideas and supported them at all. It was nice despite all the problems going on, the girl heading away from the group to rest with the flowers, wanting to clear her mind. Sunny following her example and taking a seat in the grass, eclipsa watching as only angel stayed by her side.

Nora returned to her work.

Melaine and the guards went off to look at the plants and strange insects so melaine could squeal to her heat's content.

They were all ready for a breather.

Angel looking off into the distance, the queen smiling at him.

"I'm proud of you too y'know, for going back in there, no one could have blamed you for backing out, but i think it's lovely you went in to help sky save her sister". Angel rubbing at his head and nodding, "Thanks...but i was still pretty scared...i couldn't help it...sky told me to go back but i couldn't, so i helped her...and we worked together...I...I didn't want to abandon her.".

"That's pretty brave of you, doing all that for a friend".

"She went back to save me and make sure i was ok, I'd do it again if i could".

She patted his shoulder, " I miss teaching you both for the record, haven't had that much fun with some goofy teenagers since my own daughter, at least I'm glad it worked out for the two of you". He nodded, "Yeah, thanks a lot, for...teaching me and everything, well i mean, some of the lessons weren't great. But i well, i appreciate all of it...at the very least...if it wasn't for you...well...".

He looked to sky.

Eclipsa smirked, "Hey, if you wanna tell all of mewni about how i helped bring two kingdoms closer as friends and stopped a feud between their kids, feel free." She was partially kidding but she wasn't wrong either about any of that. Angel crossing his arms and snorting, "You think this plan of hers might work? I'm just worried about it going...well...like the last few plans".

It was a fair worry all things considered.

"Well think of it this way, the last few times no one had time to plan, they were in a rush to save people, they had no time to think when lives were on the line...", she explained, "Now, we have time to think about this, less chance for us to be fooled if we have more control and time to think about what to do and how to do it. Star was a master of "Winging it", but this just isn't like that".

"What is it more like?".

"It's more like try try and try again till at some point we do it, while getting better along the way, star got lucky...not to say she was never talented, but she never would've gotten through everything without luck and help, we're going to have to work through it". But she seemed rather confident all things considered, ruffling the prince's hair, "But...with all our heads together, i think we can do it...eventually".

"You went out there...to save them".

She nodded, "Yeah, i did...if i had known they were coming here i might've let globgor handle it, but...it is how it is...but i had no idea what we were in for when i went down there. The best thing i can say is because i went there, they were able to come back before anything got worse, so i can't say i regret it, i'm going to be in charge of investigating her lair.".

"Wait, why you?".

"Well, the queens and king are busy and it was a place me and globgor know a bit about, so they insisted we be the ones to go over it for any other evidence...such as well..dna i guess. Give us a few days and we might have a culprit...thankfully they weren't given any time to burn any of this stuff before we got our hands on it...i think nora's book might be in there".

Angel sighed in relief, "Well at least she'll have her book back".

"Well with her book, maybe she might finally be able to figure out what's wrong with poor judas...", she was right, nora had been doing a lot of research in that book, with it back maybe she could finally help judas properly, though maybe with him worse then he was before unfortunately. "Was anything else in there that had been stolen, or was it just from us?", eclipsa's head shaking.

"There seemed to be minor thefts, in fact mostly everything in there seemed to be stolen, so i guess when we hadn't seen them they had kept themselves rather busy, if to just steal old bottles and potion materials...but...once things are sorted through we might officially know their plan. If we know their plan, well that outta make things so much easier for everyone".

Angel's body felt heavy, tired, like he could barely keep himself standing right now. He outta join the others frankly, get a break, take a moment for himself for a little bit, though he didn't, and eclipsa could guess why. Her lips quivered and she let out a sigh, her fingers twisting together and her voice letting out a breath as she got it out of her system.

"Sky's grandmother isn't the only one showing up soon".

Angel's curiosity peaking, who else could possibly be coming? The high commission? The ghost of queen solaria? Glossiryck?

But eclipsa put on her best comforting expression, trying to be careful of her words.

"Your father is coming here, tomorrow, he heard about your mother and you being in trouble and he's coming, globgor is actually going to be watching over your kingdom in the meantime, i don't know for how long this will be going on...but it is how it is.".Eclipsa said it knowing angel's emotions were bound to be mixed on the matter, bracing for either impact to be possible with his feelings.

And Angel seemed speechless, his father was finally coming to see him? What would he think since the last time?

Especially with how his kingdom felt after finding out, they had been furious, and who knew how that would affect his own dad after he had to deal with the worst of it.

Angel wanted to see him, there was no doubt about it, missed how much he got frustrated with him, how much he wanted him to be a better prince, even if he wasn't the best dad he still cared and angel missed that. No wonder eclipsa was nervous to tell him, angel was nervous about it himself. He didn't even know what was going on in his own kingdom.

"I-...".

"I'm sorry if you're worried, but I know you miss him...and we wanted to make sure you saw him...so globgor offered to take over shorty. I know...if i was in your position, i'd wish i had my mother there to comfort me". She was right and he knew it, he wanted a hug from his father, he needed something more then just his friends, he missed his dad.

"Thank you...", he let out, eclipsa patting his back, "it's no problem, but you outta get some rest before this point, you need it...we have curfews and many other new rules to attend to for safety, so better enjoy all of this while you can, your friends are waiting for you". She motioned to the others, angel lugging his way over and sitting next to sky on the grass.

Proper rest at last.

"You know can't give this back to you...right?".

Star held the family wand in her hands, currently transformed into her old one, red horns, purple shell, star gem-

with a crack in the middle.

Sky shrugged, "I mean, kinda...I was expecting it".

What else could she say? She totally thought her mother would given her back a wand she had broken? Not when they knew she wanted the wand, to steal it, no way sky could have it with that happening. Granted, even her mom kept the wand when monsters tried to steal it, but the monsters who did were not as dangerous by the sounds of it.

So...fair.

Sky wished she was back in the garden already, she had a few hours of break and all of a sudden she had to get called into her mother's office? She knew it was important but still, this had to be the 20th time today someone talked to her about the wand thing and she already felt bad enough about it without everyone else talking to her about it.

"Will i ever get it back...at any point?", probably a dumb question to even ask in the first place but considering how important it was for her to have a wand, it was something she'd have to ask". Star gritting her teeth, "Well, yeah, but not until we catch the guy, on and uh...the girls? We might have to take their wands too...y'know...better not to have any wands that can be grabbed out there?".

Not so fair.

"But...they're not our wands to take...technically...and luna-".

"Isn't here, i know, but still".

"But they need them too! Without them they can't...mom their wands are important". She wanted to argue but how could she, what was even there to argue? Sky had lost this battle before it had even begun. He mouth gaping but no words coming from it, the girl standing there awkwardly as her mother smiled at her, knowing she did her best but her best wasn't enough this time.

In fact her best only seemed to have caused more problems then anything, as much as sky didn't want to admit it.

But if she stayed out of it, who knew if things would have gotten significantly better either.

"Look, i'm sure their wands are important, but so is making sure no one gets ahold of any of them, sending them home with a missing or broken wand isn't going to do much good either". She wasn't wrong about that, but sky wasn't sure any of the girls would be willing to give up their wands at all, especially since they were their biggest line of protection.

Well Sunny and Luna might be fine but the others...

Celeste would probably rather spend a week with luna then give up her wand, and that was saying a lot right now.

"I'm not sure the girls would give them up...", her tone was deflated, downer, "It's one of the last things they have from their home right now, this whole thing is kinda already stressful enough...". She knew it wouldn't make much of a difference, but at the same time she didn't want to just say nothing either, her sisters had been roughed up enough.

Taking away their safety, even if it was for the best, it just made her worry for them.

"I know sky...", Star tapped her fingers on her desk, sticking her tongue out in thought, "I...I know i haven't been like...an amazing mom, i should've trained you to fight without a wand more and helped you use magic better. I guess when you're put in the front for monster relations and dealing with the consequences of past queens sometimes you forget to focus on the stuff in front of you".

Sky said nothing, eyes glancing to the floor.

She hadn't been expecting her mom to get into this, not right now, it kinda caught sky entirely off guard. Her mom admitting she felt bad about her actions and taking responsibility, even saying she hadn't been a good mom, it's something sky always wanted to hear and yet...it felt weird now.

Her mother then bit her lip, tapping her fingers again, "When this is all over...I'm...I'm going to do better...train you better, help you more, not put so much on you...honestly i should've known better considering what i went through at your age". She seemed to actually be honest about all of this, her eyes tired and stressed, "Mom always put pressure on me and i guess i ended up doing the same thing...and then sorta shoved it on eclipsa quickly as a bandaid fix".

Well, that wasn't ALL her fault, stuff had gone down after all.

But, it was still nice to hear.

But Star almost seemed nearly defeated, the queen's head on her desk, moping, "You didn't even want me to know about...this entire situation, and i'm your mother, i'm supposed to be someone you can trust and i failed at that. Eclipsa's taken so much good care of meteora and made her a fine young woman and here i can't even help my own daughter properly".

Sky couldn't remember the last time she saw her mom so...like this.

How long had her mom been holding all this in exactly? Had to have been a few weeks at least, years at most, and sky barely knew how to react. She couldn't deny she hadn't trusted her mother, and she couldn't lie and say she had no issues with her all her life. But she didn't like seeing her mother feel so miserable either for everything that had happened.

But then her mom sat up, fixing her hair, "This is kinda partially my fault and i'm going to have to work on fixing it, well, when you're ready for my help that is. But...you're never going to fully be a good queen without me and i need to start helping with that...better then when my mom helped me...". She stood up, stressed still, but smiling this time around.

"I'm going to help all you girls in fact, we'll all be a team directly".

Wait...What?

Sky seemed utterly speechless about this, she was not expecting this to be the result of being sent to her mother's office, far from it. Sure she was technically their mom but also at the same time, not really, she wasn't ever going to be like the ones they knew. And with all the warnings judas gave about thinking too hard about the other universes...maybe her mom wasn't thinking this through enough.

"Uh...mom, maybe that's not-".

But Star wasn't done, raining her finger, "I have another thing we need to talk about before you go...i know you already know because of your little spying but...we found that mask when it was broken awhile back and well...you may want to know this...it's remarkably similar to the one your other mom owns...the transformative one...in her collection? Janna loved using it to play halloween pranks on us since it could be anything she wanted". Sky was at first annoyed by her mom stopping her but the information hit her like a bullet.

That mask?

That mask was only special enough for her other mom to keep because it could change appearances, it could look like a clown, a bear, anything the wearer wanted it to be. Not that that was important but those things were so rare and having a magic under who knew butterfly stuff and who wore a mask owned by the butterflies left butterflies in sky's stomach, and not the good kind.

Her mom weakly laughed at sky's anxious face, back to her usual mom once again.

"Yeah...i've been meaning to talk about that, i mean, janna's isn't stolen but well...if word got out...well...rumors might put you back on the list unfortunately."

Gee, thanks for the warning mom.

It made the gears twist and turn in the young girl's head, she couldn't help it. Left wondering just how much further this could go, granted it wasn't unreasonable the dangerous magic person had a magic mask but the coincidences kept piling up. Regardless her mom knew she'd have to let sky go anyways so she could get back to work and take care of everything.

Not to say she was happy about that but sky had enough going on today.

"We'll talk later...at dinner, we want to hear your input, so...if you have any ideas...we'll be all ears.".

Wait, was her mom saying she wanted sky's help? Because that's exactly what it sounded like. It sounded like her mom needed sky's help if they were to get further in this, something sky didn't expect at all. She looked kinda puzzled considering everything that happened, like her mom would've wanted her even further away after all of this, but she wanted her help more?

"W-why?'.

She couldn't help but ask.

"Well, my mom learned how to trust me before we were able to stop our foes, i should probably learn to trust my own kid too when i can...i mean, i still care for your safety, but... maybe i need to stop being my mother for once...". Her blue eyes met sky's, "We're finishing this, this kingdom has been through enough, we catch them or die trying at this point".

Die trying?

Let's hope not.

Star sighed before planting a kiss on sky's forehead, "I can't give you back the wand, not now, but i promise i'll make it up to you...it's time for a new course of action...time to think outside the box". Thinking outside the box was something her mother always tended to do but it seemed this time around even that had become predictable, especially for this person.

"How outside the box...exactly?".

"So outside the box, we'll be on another dimension!", she responded, clapping her hands together, 'Wand or no wand, we got work to do and they messed with the wrong family". Sky got up and off her chair, her mother pushing her to the door, "I'll see you soon, make sure everyone attends dinner, we all need to get to work and we'll start there".

Her mom actually seemed kinda excited almost for dinner, leaving sky a bit confused as the door closed behind her. Outside the doors she saw a friendly face who had already been standing there, the one of her best friend to be exact, judas standing here and waving to her. He still seemed to be rather tired but tired in a different way, as using magic to help with your castle was bound to cause stress and exhaustion.

How long was he out there? Had he been waiting for her? There's no way he had known she was here right? Or had angel told him when her mother called for her?

It probably didn't matter, she was just so happy to see her best friend right now.

"Jude...you're here...".

"Yeah, after i finished helping i wanted to talk to you...and i heard you were here so...", he shrugged, smile on his face and overall just looked like he could use a big hug right about now . Something sky could absolutely agree with, even if it meant being completely crushed by judas's amazing half demon strength, the more hugs the merrier right now.

Judas quickly pulled her into a hug, nearly pushing them both over from being so tired, not to mention his weight. Sky let him hug her as long as he needed, noticing his cursed arm was swelling a bit. She looked at it, concerned before looking back to judas, "Is it...is it painful?". It looked painful,. she couldn't imagine an arm swelling like that to be anything but painful.

But to her surprise, judas shook his head.

"Honestly, no more painful then how it usually transformed, it was the pure magic that made it act up...because that stung, but honestly...it's not that bad. I feel like...it feels like it's fading...i'm not sure what it did to it but ...I have ideas maybe.". Sky wanted to ask what he meant but just then landon came around the corner, the boy clearly still tired from lack of sleep.

"There you are jude...", he said, not as enthusiastic as the words out of his mouth would pertain. His feelings about what had happened to his crush and to him were still lingering in his mind and he looked a mess, had he even really eaten at all today? The demon clearing his throat to talk to his brother, "Mom says they're ready for you at the med wing to check your arm and whatever...".

"Oh? Thanks, i'll get to that...but first i wanted to talk to sky...about well...the you know what".

"You mean the wand?", sky blurted out, "You don't need to get so secretive with me lucitor, i know...everyone's talked to me about it it seems, my grandma's arriving and everything because of it...not to mention at this rate jackie might even come back from her luna mission". She huffed, "Honestly i feel rather naked without it, like i'm missing something about myself".

"I guess that's why you were in your mom's office?".

She nodded.

"But well, mom actually wants to work with us properly, over dinner, and uh...", seeing her friend made her remember her plan idea from earlier, stopping for a moment and eyeing landon before spitting out the question she was just going to have to get off her chest. "Look, i might have an idea of a plan and i was thinking...maybe we could set a trap and um...", she hated to ask, she already owed judas enough for his actions before, but she had to.

But judas sighed much to her surprise, like none of this surprised him whatsoever, smiling knowingly.

"My coronation, right? You want to do it there?", he said as if it was the most obvious thing ever.

Sky gritted her teeth, feeling like an idiot, "How did you know?".

"I mean, you wouldn't have to ask permission for any other reason, it had to be because of something like this. If we were setting up a trap any other way you'd be like Judas, i have an idea and we should do it here and there , But you had to ask my permission, and the only reason you'd do that...is if it was something to do with me, i'm no fool". But judas didn't seem mad or anything, which sky of course was expecting but even so she was expecting a bit more resentment. Even Judas could tell everyone was surprised, looking to explain himself.

He clutched at his arm, and looked to his brother, "Look, i spent awhile wanting a boring party...because i didn't want to be judged anymore, i wanted it because everyone else wanted it". He was looking for the right words concerning this, hoping it was coming out right, "I'll admit, i never REALLY wanted to have a party like that...i didn't...but i just thought...if i kept myself normal...i could manage better, less stress...no pressure to be this great uncursed king."

"Jude...".

"This whole mess though...I...I'm not going to be able to escape it, i know i'm not, i'm not a normal prince and i'm not a normal demon...no matter how much i want to be so and try, everything i've done won't let that happen, luna was right...i can't please them...especially not through force."

Even landon was left standing there, wordless.

"But...I helped save bernard and nora and angel and...no stupid coronation is going to remove all the insane things i did, it's not easy for me to fully deal with but...i...cursed or not...i'm...". He seemed to be having a hard time getting the words out but landon finished for him instead, "You're a hero...you mean, you're saying that despite being cursed...that never stopped you from being a hero...you saved people, not hurt people".

Judas snorted, "I'm not going to pretend i'm not still hurt...about everything, but the curse...it doesn't define me...or who everyone thinks i am, i...saved people...i went in and saved them...curse or not...and people were proud of me...for just being...me...and i held myself back because i was scared of myself...but if i could do all that, maybe...maybe i can really overcome all this, like for real ".

He actually did sound hopeful, and surprisingly happy despite all the stuff going on around him right now. He did seem to look a bit like a mess and there was clear evidence he had been crying earlier. Which he couldn't deny he had, helping out earlier had gotten him a bit upset, being left to think to himself and everything that had happened on his own till further notice.

Maybe he was acting a little crazy, but he had thought heavily about this.

"Judas...are you-?", she was a little concerned, reaching out to her friend just in case he was mind controlled or something.

"I'm ok, I just...with everything happening i stopped focusing on being judged and all i cared about was keeping everyone safe...because that's what matters to me", he looked like he had been crying on closer inspection, "Sky i...i might never fully get over all the stuff i went through...and the feelings or um...well...anxiety...but if it means saving you all, then i'm happy to help in any way possible".

"You sure?".

"Sky, let's be honest here, knowing us...my coronation was bound to take a wild turn anyway, might as well be because of us instead of something else much worse". She had to agree with that, his coronation was bound to be a target no matter what at the end of the day, better it had a good result then a bad one. Sky might still have been worried, but if judas was ok with it, then she wasn't going to protest too much.

The girl nodded, landon simple still standing and watching, rubbing at his currently normal cheeks. Judas pulling himself together to face his brother, "Hey landon...for the record...even if i think some of it was dangerous and stupid...i'm proud of how brave you were throughout the whole thing. You really clearly care about your friend and i think it's great how you stood up for yourself...even if i still think it was partially dumb".

Landon didn't say anything, but they could tell he appreciated it, even if he still wished judas had allowed him to go.

"What's...what's the plan now?".

"We'll talk about it over dinner...but...we'll figure it out", the princess then hesitated, before asking carefully, "Um...is bernard allowed to come?". She didn't want to come off as intrusive or anything, she just knew bernard should be included if he could and landon was the best one to get that information from. The demon's shoulders sagging in response to her question.

"I-I don't know...".

But there was no time for the demon to elaborate on what was going on, because soon enough some of the knights were running through the halls, getting the attention of the young royals, as if something had just happened that got their attention. And Star burst out of her office, startling the kids before catching her breath, a panicked look in her eye that at first made sky worry.

Only for the woman to turn to her daughter in disbelief more then anything, her eyes glistening.

"They caught her...they have her in custody".

#star vs the forces of evil #svtfoe #svstfoe #sky and the forces of the multiverse #janstar bby #tomstar bby #tomco bby #spiderslime #my art #fanfiction #fanfic #star butterfly

9 notes · View notes