#hopefully I haven’t made a loophole for what I have in mind for the future parts

[weclassygirl]

visions

⋆˙⟡ sauron x fem!elf!reader (witch) ⟡˙⋆

summary: the high king makes his judgement, a new path opens

warnings: none

word count: 2,3k

author’s note: here we go, part two for bound… and soon more to come, let me just get their story straight. enjoy!

”The Woodland Realm has exiled you, why should we aid and welcome you in Lindon?” no greeting, no smile, you already feel that this conversation will take a toll on you.

“Did you believe me to be dead? Or did you wish for it?” you ask and curse yourself for your tongue speaks quicker than your mind. Gil-Galad looks at you with disdain. You try to calm your growing anger. “Whatever Oropher told you is not true.”

“Is it not?” he questions and steps closer. The guards watch your every movement, waiting for you to slip up, to give them a reason to attack. “Were you not the Elf that nearly killed a fellow companion because her anger grew into rage?”

An accident. A mere accident that decided the fate of your life.

“I never meant for—“

“But you did.” he cuts you off. You look to Galadriel who stands next to Elrond, he turns away from your sight but the Commander watches the scene unfold.

You wrote to her, countless times to seek her aid. Elrond as well. All of your letters went unanswered and you thought that perhaps an order was given to burn any passage written by you.

Gil-Galad regards you. “You sought out that which is forbidden. Lindon, Greenwood or any other Elven realm will not stand by it.”

You look up at him, the golden crown that adorns his head, gleaming in the sun. He looked like an emissary from the Valar themselves. Your eyes travel to your hands, so much harm they once caused. Gil-Galad waits as you try to gather your words.

“If you wish to punish me, do so when the blade at my neck is yours. I will not be humiliated. Not again.” you say through your teeth.

The Elves whisper around you.

Witch.

Traitor.

Morgoth’s servant.

Banish her.

Send her away.

You hear another whisper, so quick you almost miss it. Almost.

“Defiance does not suit you.” Gil-Galad states. He looks down at your hands, the dark fingertips as if dipped in black ash. The marks on your body, some symbols and some written in Black Speech. The sight disgusts him and for a moment he pities you and what you’ve endured for centuries. “You will fulfill your punishment in Eregion.”

You gawk at the High King as he makes his decree. “Eregion?”

He returns to his place by the Tree and the guards flank your sides, ready to take you away. “Be glad it’s not my blade at your throat. You will be confined in chains at all times, ones that will subdue your magic. Lord Celembrimbor will see to it. He makes them as we speak.”

Chained once again. You don’t know whether to laugh or cry, perhaps it’s best not to show any emotion while the others are looking. You let the guards take you away and you cast one last glance at Galadriel and Elrond. He meets your gaze finally and bows his head. You don’t know when you will see them again.

The guards chain you and tie your hands to the reins as the company gathers. You in the middle while four of them surround you. Most of the supplies for the journey were given to you, to weigh down your horse should you try to escape.

The road goes ever winding and after a few weeks of constant travel you reach the gates of Eregion. The Elves gather on their balconies, look through the arches to catch a glimpse at you.

The word has reached here as well.

You wonder why they take such interest in you but it is quickly dismissed. You dabbled in the dark arts, once made a mistake that scarred your path and were a prisoner of Morgoth, but you never served him faithfully, only to survive. The Elves had become paranoid.

The spell you cast was an accident, your companion was alive, received a wound in the process but survived.

Your curiosity however, you could never contain it and the darkness was alluring. It’s a shame to admit to it but it's a necessary truth.

However you don’t think yourself evil, yes you were quick to anger but who wouldn’t be after years of torture?

Celebrimbor stands in front of the gates with a man by his side, he holds a wooden box. When the guards help you come down from the horse you think of making a run for it but that would only prove your actions further.

Guilty and convicted.

One of the guards gives Celebrimbor a scroll, he reads through the letter from Gil-Galad with further instructions. He nods and twists the scroll back. He looks you up and down, your dress dirty at the hem, your wrists bound in shackles once again. You looked clean, no blood, no dirt, you never attacked the guards that accompanied you.

“Well then, I assume you never were to Eregion?” he asks out of pure curiosity.

“Once. Merely passing through.” you say and look around cautiously, Celebrimbor notices.

“Be at ease. You’re here in a form of punishment but I would like to see it as a form of shared work.”

You raise an eyebrow at his statement. “What will my duties be here?”

“You,” he starts and grabs the wooden box from the man beside him. When he opens it you notice two identical bracelets made of silver. “You will be an aid in my forge, however some… requirements must be fulfilled.” he explains and takes the bracelets. He steps closer and silently asks you to give you his hands. You do so hesitantly as you cling to your magic one last time.

He puts the bracelets on your wrists and tightens them ever so slightly, you would have to cut off your thumb if you wanted to free yourself and you did not want to witness that sight.

“This will hold your magic, you can still heal yourself and others should the need arise but until the High King gives a different command, they have to stay.” he taps them slightly and you think back to the way Sauron tapped your chains so often when coming up with another ways to seduce you into darkness.

He was persistent but you were glad you had someone to talk to, even if it was Morgoth’s right hand.

A shiver runs through you and your head whips back when you hear Black Speech in your ear. Celebrimbor looks the way your eyes fell but sees no one. “What is it?”

You shake your head and slowly turn to face him. “Nothing, I…“ you look back to where the sound came from. “…thought I heard something.”

The guards look at you as they mount their horses, ready to return to Lindon. One of them stays as he awaits a letter from Celebrimbor. He gives it to him, previously written since he knew you would not resist.

The Eregion guards take over and lead you to your chambers, as you settle and clean yourself up. You stand under a stream of water and look over at the bracelets, you try to tear them away, bent them out but the metal is sturdy. A perfect craftsmanship, you would expect nothing less from the grandson of Fëanor.

A knock comes at the door, the man that accompanied Celebrimbor at your arrival.

“If you’re finished I’ll take you to the forge.” he informs you and you follow him through the halls. You’ve put on a newer dress, the old one was the only piece of clothing you were left with on your journey to Eregion. The darker shade of blue fabric clung to your body and flew behind you with each step you took.

You visited Eregion briefly, a stop on your journey to Greenwood. You used to craft as well but never bore the talent such as Fëanor’s. You used magic to create whatever your heart desired, you used it when building your home in the north of Greenwood.

The woodwork became your craft rather than precious metals and as you enter the forge you begin to miss the comfort of your home.

The Elven smiths glance at you as you enter but continue with their work. Celebrimbor comes down from the gallery to show you around. “I believe you’ll come to enjoy it, I heard you once tried to create something as well.” he asks and you look down to the beaten ring you’ve made centuries ago. The black stone inside it broken but still held within the grasps of the uneven metal.

“A foolish attempt.”

He places a hand on your shoulder. “Not foolish. Perhaps with a bit more practice…” he says, leading you to a desk where a few jewelry pieces lay. Ring with green emerald, a necklace that shone like starlight, a golden bracelet with the most detailed design you’ve ever seen. Weapons laid there as well, shining metal in the dim light, handle wrapping around the blade. You stare in awe.

“Are you certain you have not bested Fëanor yet?” you ask genuinely but think that a bit of flattery on your end might help get out of your chains quicker.

Celebrimbor smiles and gestures to the forge. “Come, we have work to do.” and you follow.

You work for years under Celebrimbor, the Elven smiths have taken to converse with you even if at first they were avoiding you like a plague. With time you have learned to enjoy the craft, a slow process but it kept your life steady. No Morgoth, no torment, a temporary home.

The only pain you felt was the lack of magic in your life. You worked as a healer from time to time but it never compared to the dark arts. Your hands trembled at times as if trying to contain the power from bursting within you. And the visions didn’t help.

They came gradually, growing more persistent with each month of your stay in Eregion. A shadow, always the same and always cunning. It whispered into your ear, showed you the power you could possess. You almost gave in the first night it came.

But you felt it the most one day in the forge.

The same piercing pain you felt when you left Forodwaith. You hold to the table you’ve been working on, the saw and the pliers forgotten on it. The sound they made drew the attention of Mirdania.

“Are you alright?” she comes to your side as you claw at the fabric above your heart. You don’t hear her and shut your eyes as the ringing in your ears grows.

Celebrimbor hears the commotion and quickly comes to see the problem. When he sees you with your hands covering your ears his sight falls on the bracelets that subdue your magic. Could they have weakened?

But there’s nothing that would indicate that you used it.

Mirdania steps aside as Celebrimbor replaces her. His hands rest on your shoulders as you open your eyes. His voice is muffled as he calls your name.

“What’s happening?”

You shake your head, unable to answer and for a split second you see the same shadow behind him, it seems to be smiling.

Celebrimbor sees your frenzied eyes and tries to point where you’re looking at. The Elvensmiths gathered look helpless as no one knows how to help you.

The shadow vanishes as quickly as it came and the ringing in your ears stop. A drop of blood flows out of your nostril and you hear it as it falls to the ground. Your hand goes to your mouth and wipes away the blood, it’s then you notice your fingers. Where once they started to fade from the lack of dark magic, the mark showed up again.

Celebrimbor looks warily, the bracelets he forged would contain your power, he would know you used it even if done so unconsciously. The situation troubles him, the High King must be informed.

You grab him by his tunic as he stands up, the look on his face telling you his intention. “Don’t tell him, please. I didn’t use it, I swear.”

“How do you explain it then?” he points to your fingers curled around the fabric.

“It’s not my doing.”

“Then who’s?” he kneels down at your eye level.

You think over his question and dread the answer. You suggest Morgoth but would his influence still remain after all these years? You think of Sauron but you witnessed his death. Forodwaith is the only answer, centuries you spend there have left a mark, for you it’s the only explanation. You could not escape darkness even if you wanted to.

“He must be informed.” he leaves you with these words and you storm out of the forge. The guards close behind you as you run to the gardens and cover yourself underneath the shadow of a tree. It’s nearly dusk and you curse under your breath in every language you know. Black Speech makes its way on your tongue unconsciously and the guards tense up.

You stay there for a while until the cold wind beats against your skin. You look down at your hands and notice the black starting to fade once more, your head rests against your knees as you look ahead.

You close your eyes when you see it again, out of the corner of your eye but ever so watchful. It takes a form this time, not of a shadow but a man. You look away and his hand slithers under your chin to make you look up at him. When you do, you see perfectly green eyes and the stubble adorning his face, he looks at you so gently you nearly forget he’s the reason for your hauntings.

“Let it in.” he whispers. “A witch should practice her craft.”He returns to shadow and passes through you.

Your breath catches in your throat as you wake up in your bed. You look around and hold your head in your hands.

What is happening?

next part -> deception

[jasthelazyelf]

All the Obey me! boys discovering MC has kosmemophobia

Turns out I really have to write overly specific scenarios myself, so here I am. This was my first time writing headcanons, it’s more difficult than it looks like, but I managed! It also turned out way longer than I thought it’d be.

Kosmemophobia: a “fear” of jewelry. People with kosmemophobia will either not wear any jewelry at all, or may be comfortable with wearing non-metallic jewelry. Touching or being touched by jewelry makes these people feel somehow dirty (even though we know majority of jewelry is sanitized), uncomfortable, and will make people want to wash that part of their body it touched. People (dare I say mostly afab) usually notice it early on in their childhood. It is not known what makes people kosmemophobic atm, considering people have it since early childhood.

If you have further questions about it, feel welcome to ask. :)

Total word count: 4800-ish 

Gender of MC is not mentioned

Slight season 2 spoiler alert in Simeon’s part

Warning for verbally abusive parents in Belphie’s part

You have been warned.

Lucifer

He wanted to make the shopping trip enjoyable for the both of you, but especially for you

 He just wanted to take you on a date somewhere where his brothers wouldn’t constantly interfere, even if it was only for a few hours

You two were just window shopping at the mall when Lucifer decided to take you into one of the stores

 It was a store with magical items, from stones to a number of different trinkets, including jewelry

Somehow this was the part he was most interested in in the whole shop

Watching him look over it, especially necklaces made you feel uncomfortable and you had a feeling you knew where this was going

With what little hope you had, you subtly tried to nudge him away, but he wouldn’t budge

He finally took one of the necklaces out of the display and turned towards you

"What do you think? Wouldn’t it suit you?“

en he saw your eyes widen and you taking a step back, a shiver running down your spine, he was taken aback. Did he do something?

"Is something wrong? You don’t like it? It’s fine to just say so.“

 Oh well, you would have to tell him one day, right?

"N-no, that’s not exactly it, it’s just that just the thought of wearing jewelry or even touching it is making me uncomfortable. I know it’s weird, but please don’t make me do this…“

Well this he did not expect at all. He put the necklace back and putting one hand around you, he turned you around and moved to a part of the shop with crystals and rocks of all different colours instead

 "I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. Let’s look over something else.“

You smiled at him and nodded. You had him curious about this fear of yours, he might have asked later on to give you more details on it.

Whether you are comfortable with sharing information about this with him or not, he respects your fear and does his best not to make you uncomfortable in the future

Mammon

-          Chaotic snuggle boy was all about protecting you and also hugging you, especially when in private where none of his brothers could see

-          It dawned on him pretty quickly that something about you was strange when you sometimes flinched every time he touched your skin

-          It wasn’t every time, and he just couldn’t understand the pattern

-          One day he had had enough, he just couldn’t wrap his head around it, it was driving him absolutely crazy

-          He finally mustered enough courage to ask you

-          "Oi, human, what is it with ya flinchin‘ when I touch ya?“

-          Damn… he noticed after all. You were trying to hide your phobia as much as you could, but you couldn’t help yourself. Well, better come up with the truth now

-          "Hah, w-well it’s not you, I swear. It’s gonna sound weird, but it’s your rings. The feel of them on my skin feels… uncomfortable.“

-          You tried to explain the feeling as best as you could, mostly how touching jewelry just makes you… want to wash your hands and the feeling appears also on other parts on your body

-          First he blinked in surprise, but listened to your explanation

-          Suddenly it all made sense. He only wore his rings on his right hand. You only flinched when he touched your skin with his right hand. How could he not notice this detail sooner?

-          Well, now he knows. He asks you if you’d rather he didn’t wear them near you.

-          If you say you’re going to hopefully get used to it over time, he will keep wearing them, but sometimes takes them off on his own

-          If you state that you’d rather not have to touch them, he will keep in mind to take them off before going for snuggles

-          Doesn’t really think much about it afterwards, he just takes it as a fact

Leviathan

-          Your birthday was getting closer and Leviathan wanted to get you a gift, but didn’t have many ideas

-          So he decided to invite you over to his room to watch some anime and play games, so that he could subtly take the conversation where he wanted and get an idea of what you might be interested in

-          When watching anime, he saw that you really liked the main character

-          Well what a coincidence! He totally imagined you cosplaying the main character and him cosplaying the character’s best friend. Duo cosplays are always the best!

-          "Oh! I once saw a set of their pendants and bracelets as a set on Akuzon! Wouldn’t it be a nice beginning of another cosplay?“

-          Your face completely changed its expression and you tensed when he mentioned it

-          This, of course, didn’t go unnoticed. Was he wrong all along? Did he assume wrongly that you liked the character? Do you actually not like the character at all?

-          Panic intensifies

-          "Oh no, I am sorry, if you don’t like the character, maybe we can cosplay another duo? Forget I said anything about it-“

-          "Levi… calm down, it’s not that I don’t like the character. It’s just the jewelry I am uncomfortable with.“

-          Oh

-          OH

-          Just like- nevermind, even though he probably watched the majority of anime in existence, he couldn’t remember a character who’s trait this would be

-          You tell him it’s okay, it’s a very rare phobia and not even that known

-          May ask a few questions about it and if there is a loophole for it

-          Either way, the idea of getting you jewelry gets thrown out of the window

-          For you birthday, he gets you and him matching hoodies

-          They‘re so soft

Satan

-          That day, Satan invited you on a date to his favourite bookstore

-          You were totally up for it, who knows, maybe you’d find something really interesting

-          Or something that is SO stupid that you just wouldn’t be able to not get it (Yes, I have one such book, I love/hate it so much)

-          He decided to také you to a bookstore you haven’t been to yet. Yay, more adventure! New store layout! So many possibilities!

-          You were browsing through bookshelves, Satan sometimes told about a few books he has in his own room that this bookstore also had

-          Suddenly he spotted someone and got rather excited

-          It turns out it was one of his aquintances and he wanted to introduce them to you. It was an elegant demon, by the looks of it quite rich

-          You were soon told they were one of the best selling authors of the Devildom, with a rather original, but easy to read writing style, which was probably how they got so famous

-          They wanted to shake your hand as a sign of politeness

-          When you saw the massive rings and bracelets on their hand, you gulped and widened your eyes

-          You didn’t want to be impolite, though, so you decided to shake their hand anyway

-          You couldn’t get the feeling of metal out of your hand and you wanted to go to the restroom to wash your hands real quick

-          Satan noticed you were getting tense as you tried to subtly rub your hand with your other hand and ended the conversation smoothly and took you aside

-          "Is there something wrong? Did they hurt you? You can ask for an apology if they did.“

-          You had to smile at this assumption. It warmed your heart to know Satan cared about you

-          "No, it’s just… have you seen all that jewelry? I am not saying they shouldn’t wear it, it’s their choice, but for me that was a living nightmare.“

-          Well he was glad they didn’t hurt you in any way. He was a bit surprised by your explanation and truth be told, he got very curious

-          After you quickly wash your your hands in the nearby restroom, he wants to know more about your phobia.

-          How long do you have it? How much does it affect your life? How did you find the right term? Do you personally know other people with this condition?

-          And so many more. Feel free to tell him there have already been too many questions answered and that you could continue another day in this interview. He’s already thrilled.

Asmodeus

-          You both planned the perfect spa day together

-          After all, who’d know more how to make you completely relaxed, if not Asmo?

-          You end up having lots of fun and you feel SO GOOD and relaxed after you’re all done

-          You hair has never been so very well taken care of, no matter you lenght or type, he probably gives you some useful advice you’ve never heard of yourself, bt it seems to be working, so why not?

-          And your skin is finally properly moisturized

-          All right, what now? Asmo doesn’t want this moment to end yet, he loves hanging out with you and you still had time

-          You end up visiting Majolish and trying on different clothes, even if it’s just for fun. Asmo loves picking out clothes for you and he really does have a good eye for what would suit you

-          You ended up putting on your 20th outfit. Asmo looked at you and thought for a bit. Something was missing.

-          Yes, sure, the outfit was nice and all, but it was missing something… but what?

-          He suddenly got an idea. He ran off for a bit and soon returned with something in his hands

-          When he got cloce to you again, you realized it was a set of small thin elegant bracelet and a metallic necklace to go with it

-          Your blood froze and you started to back away slowly, putting your arms up in defense and shaking your head

-          "What’s wrong? Do you think it’s too much? Maybe even too little?“

-          Before he could run off again for something different that could be to your taste, you quickly stopped him before he could do so

-          "No, wait, the jewelry… is pretty and you’re right it would go well with this outfit. But I am not willing to wear any jewelry. At all. It’s a very rare phobia and I can’t do much with it.“

-          You were surprised this hasn’t come up sooner, but oh well, it happened now

-          Asmo looked a bit disappointed at first, but upon hearing it’s a phobia, his expression softened and he gave you a little smile

-          "O-oh! All right, back this goes, then! The outfit looks good even without it, I just thought it would be a nice touch, that’s all!“

-          You smiled and nodded in acknowledgment

-          He would definitely question you later if it bothered you on others as well and how much. He’ll make a note to himself to wear as little jewelry as possible when spending time with you, depending what you’re comfortable with

Beelzebub

-          You were just meeting everyone in the human world for the first time

-          You were so excited, you had no idea you would ring the bell and Asmo would open the door

-          Everyone started greeting their favourite human like they haven’t seen you in years, when it’s probably been just a few weeks at most

-          These babies

-          Beel wasn’t home at the time, so you decided to surprise him and wanted to make his favourite human world food

-          Luckily, they already had enough ingrediants in the kitchen, so you didn’t have to go shopping as the first thing you’d do

-          Just as you finished, Beel came home. He got very excited to see you again

-          He took off his jacket and- oh no

-          He wanted to hug you, as was his habit even when in the Devildom, but upon seeing that heavy necklace, you had to move up your hands in defence

-          He got confused. Did he sweat too much and stinks now? Did you not like him anymore for whatever reason?

-          The biggest baby made confused puppy eyes, he just wanted to greet you

-          „Ah, I am sorry, could you please take the necklace off? Jewelry and especially jewelry like that makes me uncomfortable when I touch it.“

-          He sighed in relief. You didn’t hate him after all.

-          He quickly ran off, presumably to his room and came back in a minute, now without the chain necklace

-          You smiled happily and opened your arms, an invitation for him to hug and greet you

-          And he sure did!

-          He was just happy he could hug you again without you feeling uneasy about the situation

-          Doesn’t really ask anything else, just in case you’re not okay with talking about it, but he keeps that fact in mind and is now rarely seen with the chain on

Belphegor

-          You were once more taking a nap together. It became a pleasurable habit of yours to join Belphie. After all, you didn’t have to do anything and got some sweet sweet cuddles. What could be better?

-          Well, you finally managed to fall asleep

-          And Belphie got curious about your dreams, so he decided to visit your dream for once.

-          He was really there just to observe, he didn’t want to interfere with anything

-          He wondered what you’d dream about

-          Was it something really sweet? Would you go on an adventure to find the root of youth? Would you be enjoying a swim in a pool? Maybe you’d meet your friends from the human world

-          The posibilities were endless

-          What he didn’t count with, though, was the possibility of you having a nightmare

-          You seemed to be having a fight with two older humans. Maybe they were your parents?

-          You tried to persuade them not to make you wear the massive necklace the woman was holding

-          They had absolutely none of it

-          "Please, just don’t make me wear it. It’s not like it’s mandatory, nothing will really happen if I don’t put it on!“

-          „Nonsense! You need to! We chose this for you before you were even born, how dare you not want to wear it!“

-          "This youth, I swear, what is it that you want?! That it’s not made of silver?! OF GOLD?! Huh? Is that it? Are you really that spoiled?!“

-          "You don’t understand, I wouldn’t wear it even if it was made of the rarest metal ever! Why is it so difficult to understand it!“

-          Belphie was taken aback. He had no idea you were dealing with a struggle like that. When he thought about it, he realized you never wore any jewelry to anything, you always kept it simple with fabric patterns

-          He wondered if this dream was inspired by real life events

-          Why couldn’t some humans understand the boundaries of others was a hard thing for him to grasp

-          He decided to leave the dream and wake up for a bit. He felt you shivering and when he raised his head, he saw a pair of tears running down your cheeks

-          He hugged you tighter and fell asleep again, joining you in your dream

-          You were now alone, angry and upset at your parents

-          He came up to you and started to calm you down. You appreciated it. He couldn’t deny his curiousity and asked about the situation

-          Truns out talking about it helped you calm down more than anything and he spent the rest of the dream with you

Diavolo

-          Diavolo invited you over to hang out

-          He normally doesn’t have much time off, but since he took a liking to you, he managed to persuade Barbatos to give him more free time to be with you

-          Or he just straight up slacks from his work, he doesn’t really care

-          After sitting in the garden for a while and just catching up with each other, you suggested making anouther castle tour

-          Seriously, the castle is huge, you couldn’t fully enjoy it in a day or two, it took a while

-          He hapilly obliged, he knew the whole castle like the back of his hand

-          And there were so many stories connected to different parts of the castle

-          You loved listening to these stories, it was almost like a proffesional castle tour

-          Private, and for free and told by the actual owner

-          By now you at least vaguely remembered some of the more important royals except for Dia, Barbatos and the brothers. Maybe not in detail, but you can at least say you’ve already heard the name before

-          Today he decided to show you the treasury. You were curious what you’d see and if it also held some interesting stories to be told

-          Once the guards let you inside, you found yourself in a huge room with display boxes. Some of them were open

-          Inside the boxes was… jewelry. All different kinds, sizes and colours. You started to look over them

-          You admired the pieces for the fine craftmanship, you really did. Some of them were beautiful and breathtaking

-          Dia saw your awe and wanted you to experience as much as you can

-          "If you want, you can try some of them on, it’s okay.“ He beamed happily

-          You had to laugh a little. You got a bit nervous, but decided to calmly deny his proposition

-          "Don’t get me wrong, there are some beautiful pieces. The composition of some looks really nice! Some look so mild, yet they still say royalty. It’s almost as if it were engraved on them. But I am happy to just admire from aback, wearing jewelry makes my skin crawl. It’s something I’ve been dealing with my whole life.“

-          He nods

-          "That’s perfectly fine, too. I wouldn’t want to make you upset.“

-          He wonders if it is perhaps a common human thing and when you explain it’s extremely rare, he gets excited because he gets to experience something through you that is not common.

-          The rarity of this phobia makes him curious, so he may have some questions, but not as many as Satan

Barbatos

-          OH HE FINALLY GOT A DAY OFF

-          He needed it. He wouldn’t have ever admitted it, but he got slightly clumsier that day, which didn’t go without Diavolo noticing

-          He protested at first, but had to accept his fate anyway, because Diavolo insisted he take the day off

-          You wanted to spend the day in the mall and visit different shops to observe the differences between the Devildom and the Human world

-          You were supposed to write an essay about differences between these two worlds for the Human studies 101 subject

-          Why you had to take THAT class was completely unknown to you, but you attended anyway. I mean come on, those were some easy grades for you, since you were brought up there

-          And so Barbatos joined you on your adventure through the mall

-          Although there were some differences, most of the shops were similar to what you knew

-          Restaurants, cafés, boutiques, wine bars, adult toys stores, book stores, you name it

-          What you didn’t have in the human world was obviously magic tool stores, potion stores and potion igredients stores

-          Barbatos seemed to really enjoy talking about some of the peculiar potions that caught your eye, be it for their vibrant colours or the fact that some seemes to have sparkles in them

-          At last, you managed to come by goldsmith’s. When you saw this shop, you acted like you didn’t and went on your way to a tea house Barbatos suggested visiting after your tour

-          This surprised barbatos, since you spent some time at least writing the name of the shop down to make a note of it, but you weren’t even acknowledging the existence of this one store in particular

-          Once you both got yor tea in the tea house, he couldn’t help but ask why you just did that

-          "Oh, me and jewelry are old enemies. I don’t like wearing or even touching it, I just always want to wash my hands afterwards. I guess it’s sort of like your relationship with rats.“

-          When you mentioned rats, a shiver ran down his spine and immediately understood what you meant. He just took it as a part of you, the person he adored so much and didn’t qestion it any longer

-          He just suggested if you ever needed to vent, he’d be there for you

Solomon

-          You two made plans to bond together in his room in Purgatory Hall after school to let off some steam and vent to each other like human to human

-          This became a semi weekly tradition for you two, you both enjoyed it and you were glad you could relate to another human being

-          You were also staying for dinner that day, luckily for everyone, it was Simeon’s turn to cook

-          Don’t think he didn’t try to swap with him just so he could "impress“ you, though, he totally did

-          You were glad Simeon didn’t budge

-          After eating your meal, you both just flopped onto the couch and just decided to relax a bit

-          In silence

-          He enjoyed these silent moments, the joy of doing nothing together

-          You two soon drifted off to sleep on the couch, so when Simeon was about to tell you it was time to get you back to the House of Lamentation, and found you two asleep next to each other like that, he let Lucifer know you’d be staying the night with them

-          When you woke up and checked your D.D.D. you  almost jumped out of your skin, but then saw the message from Lucifer knowing about your situation through Simeon

-          You decided to scroll through social media, while Solomon was still sleeping

-          He soon woke up when he heard you looking through memes and trying not to laugh. You were failing miserably, though

-          Oh well, what’s done is done, now he is watching you scroll and when you find something funny, you both laugh, but not too loud, to not wake up Luke. It was around 11PM after all

-          Whenever you scrolled past an ad that was advertising jewelry, Solomon noticed you were furrowing your brows every time you found one

-          What’s more, you even hid the ads, hoping you wouldn’t get another one, but they just kept coming

-          You groaned

-          "Do they really bother you that much?“ Solomon asked sleepily

-          "I normally don’t bat an eye when I see an ad, but I do not and have never worn any jewelry, since I have kosmemophobia and touching or wearing it makes me uncomfortable. But even if I keep hiding these, they just keep popping up like they want to change my mind about it. I would much rather have ads for overprized pencil sharpeners.“

-          Well that was something he didn’t know about you. And he couldn’t even say he knew people that had the same problem as you, since he either didn’t notice it or he really just never met anyone like that

-          He asked a few questions about it, since he didn’t know anything about this phobia, and was glad he could learn something new. Even better that it was about you

Simeon

-          You decided to have picnic in a park

-          Not the most private setting but it’d do

-          You were just chatting about your lives, you mostly telling stories from the House of Lamentation, him mostly talking about his ideas for a new story

-          You were his huge inspiration and sometimes he straight up wrote down one of your stories. He assured you he would mention you as a co-author if he ever decided to publish those

-          It was getting rather late, so you packed up, carefully put all the plates and bowls back into the big basket and folded the blanket you’ve been sitting on the whole day

-          When heading back to the Purgatory Hall, he mostly talked about Luke’s different pastries. Just the description made you hyped up and you wondered if he was making something at that moment

-          You know he did. When you got back, your nose was hit with the lovely smell of cinnamon and apples and you couldn’t wait to try whatever he made

-          You had to put the things on their places first, though

-          Simeon asked you to put the basket to its place and you agreed. What you forgot though, was that its place was in a cupboard… too high for you to reach

-          Lucky for you, you knew a few spells and levitation was one of the first ones you purposely learned

-          Once Simeon saw you looking at the cupboard, he wanted to suggest you to take the folding stairs to help you, but you declined

-          "I want to do this alone, I know I can do it.“

-          He smiled and nodded, he knew he couldn’t change your mind

-          First you managed to open the doors and then you carefully levitated the basket to its place. While you were directing it where to go, your mind momentarily lost its concentration at the basket as you stared intensely at the Ring of Light on you hand

-          The name described it perfectly. It was literally a small band made out of pure light hugging one of your fingers. It was othwerwise incorporeal and only visibly showed when you used your magic

-          It took you a second to regain your concentration and you finally put it to its place

-          However, Simeon definitely noticed your momentary loss of composure there

-          "What made your mind wander off so suddenly?“ he asked, genuinly curious

-          "Oh it’s just… I am still not used to seeing the ring on my finger. It’s so weird, it doesn’t feel like anything, it just shines and what’s most surprising, I don’t feel like washing my hands constantly. It’s what would happen with normal jewelry. I am just not used to it, it’ll probably take some time.“

-          Huh! Okay then! He was just glad it wasn’t something you couldn’t handle

-          In all his long life he never met anyone who would openly speak about being disturbed by jewelry, so this was new experience to him

-          Will have questions, but reassures you you don’t have to answer any questions that might make you too uncomfortable

Luke

-          You two were assigned to find some rare herb that was supposed to be growing in the field

-          Fortunately it wasn’t far from Purgatory Hall so even if you somehow got lost, there was a high chance of actually finding your way back

-          While you were at it, you took it as the perfect time to bond with the young angel

-          So while you were searching, you both started weaving flower crowns

-          It was a fun activity and you even got to tell each other stories

-          You were reminiscing about the time you learned how to weave flower crowns and Luke was telling you things about the Celestial Realm and Michael

-          Once you were both finished, you put on each other’s flower crown and continued looking for the herb

-          Somehow it didn’t take too long for the two of you to find it

-          When you were picking it up, you flower crown fell from your head, but you managed to catch it… and not break it

-          Luke almost shrieked, but sighed in relief that nothing happened to it

-          "I have an idea, what if I transform these to not wilt! You know, like real crowns!“

-          With the mention of that, you just had to ask this question

-          "What would they then be out of, though? Metal? Plastic?“

-          He didn’t understand the intention of your question, so he straight up asked what you meant by that question

-          "Ah, excuse me, I’ll explain. I am kosmemophobic and especially metal jewelry makes me uncomfortable. I they were ot of plastic, though, I wouldn’t mind.“

-          Oh, well that explains it. He reassured you they would feel like out of resin, so you didn’t have to worry at all

-          Now you both have matching flower crowns and you can always remember Luke when you look at it

[sodamnbored]

I so badly want a Roman prequel series. More than a Solangelo book. There could be so many great things in it.

Ideally, we’d get a series, basically original PJO but on the Roman side, presumably then following Jason in the same way we originally followed Percy.

But that would just be rehashing what we’ve already seen! Jason’s story would be too similar to Percy’s! - I hear you cry. But bear with me.

Yes: there would be some big similarities - following a son of one of the big three as he grows up and masters his powers and all that. And yes it would also conclude with him fighting a titan. But! I also think they’re different enough that it would read more as parallels than just copy and paste. It could be really interesting.

For one thing: Jason is starting way earlier than Percy. And I am desperate to know about the wolves thing. Correct me if I’m wrong, but all the info we have thus far is pretty vague, no? We know he went to the wolves when he was about two years old. But we don’t really know how long he stayed with them.

There’s the idea that he was raised by wolves (which don’t get me wrong I love that) and only went to the Legion when he was older - for parallels sake say about twelve. But we don’t know that’s the case for sure. He might’ve just spent the more or less normal time period with the wolves, or even if he were there longer than most - a year, two years even - he might’ve toddled off to camp still pretty young.

Cause this is another thing: we know very little about Camp Jupiter. In CHB you see for a fact that there are plenty of young demigods there, talking ten and under. Unless I’m mistaken, we never really heard mention of any little kids in the Legion right? Hazel was what, thirteen, in SoN, which is fairly young, but I don’t think there was any mention of anyone much younger than that. There was the little girl helping Terminus, but she was from New Rome not the Legion. And the Legion isn’t a summer camp of course, that’s a crucial difference.

They are quite literally an army, preparing for war should one ever arise. So do they have a minimum age requirement? Would not be unreasonable to assume they would. We know the majority of Legionaries are legacies from New Rome as opposed to actual half bloods, so it’s not unreasonable to think these kids live normal lives in New Rome until they hit a certain age and get conscripted/have the option to join the Legion for training.

If this is the case, then Jason might not’ve been with the wolves for years at all. He could’ve done his time and then been passed along to the care of New Rome. Set up somewhere to go to school and grow up and have something of a life to prepare him for his future in the Legion. That would be an interesting difference from Percy who had grown up not knowing about his heritage, for Jason to be fully aware of his godly parentage and to grow up knowing he was heading to the Legion as soon as he was old enough. I’m not sure about timings because in The Lost Hero pretty sure he’s fifteen and has twelve lines on his tattoo “for twelve years of service in the Legion” according to the wiki; but the wiki for the tattoos alone says the lines can be for years at Camp Jupiter or for completed quests and such, so it could mean he was toddling about CJ at three years old in mini Legionnaire armour like Caligula (oh the irony), or just that he crammed a crap load of cool stuff into just a few years when he was older.

So the series could quite happily start with him joining the Legion and maybe just summarise his life before that, have the important parts explained as relevant to the plot, I dunno. But it would give us more info on how Camp Jupiter actually works because personally I am clamouring for more info on the Romans.

Presuming that Jason is at least a Probatio by the time he’s about twelve (and it’d be cool to see him earn his full place in the legion too), that also means we’d get to see other people’s stories happening alongside his.

We know he fought the Trojan Sea Monster at some point, so that would be a cool quest to see play out. We don’t know a lot of other things he’s done, but we can assume he’d have been in the Legion when Reyna turned up, which would also be a really interesting story to follow.

We know from tSoM that Reyna and Hylla were on Circe’s island, when Percy was about 12/13, and it seems in SoN that he and Reyna were both around the same age, 16 or so. We know Reyna and Hylla spent some time after tSoM on Blackbeard’s ship before she made it to Camp Jupiter. So somewhere between ages 12-16, she would pop up at camp and I firmly believe she would’ve been Jason’s friend before they both became Praetors. And I would kill to see it. I wanna see them go on a quest together so badly. They would be an awesome team.

But we’d get to see Jason go through the steps, Probatio to Centurion to Praetor. We’d see him improving the Fifth Cohort’s standing in the Legion. We’d see Reyna become Praetor. (We’d ideally see Jason and Octavian gently bitch at each other like with Percy, but that’s just for me.) We’d get to see Jason and Reyna being Praetors together for a bit hopefully. That would be cool. And no doubt the series would conclude with their side of the Titan War, with Krios’ defeat - which would be so cool to see!

Being able to see more of their side of the war would also be really interesting as well. Because surely, there was more to it for them than just that one battle out of nowhere right? They must’ve been aware of the war and enlisted by the gods to help out right? Maybe there were some other titans for them to fight, maybe they had defectors too? Perhaps they were under the impression Kronos was still chopped up in little bits and Krios was running the show, either wanting to take Kronos’ place as the big cheese, or thinking the titans were working to reform Kronos, but they were kept out of Luke’s side of things so they didn’t realise that he already had been? Who knows. Certainly not me, cause we don’t have any books on it.

And there would be opportunities to have almost crossovers. Particularly regarding the war. They might just overhear things that don’t necessarily make sense to them but that we get, stuff like that. See some aftermath from one of Percy’s visits to the area. So many options.

Oh also actually, just for added angst and a different view than Percy’s, there was that freaking tragic bit in HoH I think where Jason thinks about his mother. The part about following orders and rules bothered him, but he insisted on doing so and keeping his promises because his mother had abandoned him and broken her promise. That would be an interesting aspect for the narration and his point of view because it’s the exact opposite of Percy. Percy doesn’t mind pushing the limits with the gods and exploiting loopholes or calling them on their faults, focused on surviving till the end of the day when he can go home to his mother and forget the gods and their stupid rules. Jason, on the other hand, doesn’t have anywhere to go back to. Camp Jupiter and the roles he’s given there are quite literally it for him, so even though he may resent it as much as Percy, he feels the need to bite his tongue and do everything in his power meet expectations and stay in line, etc. And yes, it’s for the benefit of others like he said in HoH, but maybe also the threat that if he makes too much trouble, where else is he gonna go and who else outside the Legion does he have?

Unfortunately we wouldn’t get to see Frank and Hazel come into it as newbies because that would’ve only happened after the war, so unlikely the series would continue after they beat Krios. But it’d still be a good set up to lead back into HoO alongside original PJO.

Also, I wanna know if Jason would’ve been particularly aware of his dad handing him off to Juno, or if she took a back seat until yoinking his memories out his head and dumping him on a dusty bus. I quite like the idea of him knowing, that she wouldn’t have been shy about popping up now and again as his patron, maybe sending him quests, offering occasional assistance like Poseidon did for Percy. Juno cared about her little champion, you can’t tell me different. I’d like to see her drop by from time to time. Or if he just accepted he was Jupiter’s and his dad basically never wanted to talk to him, and was a bit blindsided when Juno popped up after his hit on Krios.

Maybe he was just heading to bed after a long day of Titan slaying, thinking what he’d have for breakfast tomorrow and poof - Juno staring at him in his PJs, doesn’t he feel underdressed. Barely gets out an “um-?” before she’s like “got a quest for you. Surprise!”

(Since we got The Fall Of Jason Grace from Apollo in ToA, this series could be called something silly like The Rise Of Jason Grace to mirror it. I dunno.)

Either way, I need this. We deserve this. I will literally pay like 20$ per book if we could get this.

Wrote this hella sleep deprived and without sources and I’m still in ToA and haven’t read the extra books yet like demigod files and the Probatio one, so anything I’ve missed, had been answered, or is just plain wrong, let me know.

[the12thnightproject]

Chapter 8: Lessons in Seduction

Taking a moonlight bath in a lake near Kasugayama was a really bad idea. Trying to bargain with a strategist... a worse idea.

Notes for a future life: if the audience is screaming ‘don’t go into the basement, don’t go into the basement,’ then don’t go into the basement.’ Or in this case, don’t go skinny dipping in an unsecured location.

As I continued to curse my luck, Shingen looked at the ground, leaned over, and casually picked up my “towel.” (No, bath towels haven’t made their way over from Persia yet, but for simplicity’s sake, I’m mentally using the word towel, because it’s faster than using the phrase ‘large piece of fabric that I intended to use as person-drying-device’… and yes, my brain did short circuit into ramble mode because for the first time since we’d met, Shingen directed the full wattage of his charisma at me, and… it’s a lot. It was surprising that the water closest to him hadn’t started steaming. Yet.)

He examined the towel. “Not a mermaid then. A Moon Goddess, bathing in the light of her celestial sister.” Ok, there was a quarter moon out, I’ll allow him that one. Thankfully, it was no brighter than that, or I’d be worried he’d connect this me with Katsu.

Now leave me alone sir, before I freeze. It felt a lot colder once I was no longer splashing around.

He opened the towel and shook it. “Do you want this back, Angel? I imagine you do – I can tell you’re very cold in there.”

Yes, of course I want the - then my brain kick started with embarrassment. How exactly could he tell that I was cold? I sunk lower until the water covered my chin.

“Your teeth are chattering.” Oh. So they were. Ok. At least he didn’t see- “And,” he directed his gaze to the water line. “Other reasons.” I closed my eyes for a moment, thinking, “I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you dead.” When I opened my eyes, he was still there. Could the developers please hurry up with the ‘kill you with my mind’ patch?

Keeping one arm over my “other reasons” I edged closer to reach for the towel, but he was holding it just out of range.

“I’m proposing a trade, Angel. You want this,” he shook the towel again. “And I would like one kiss from those very blue lips.” He looked at me, then the same slow smile that he had loosed upon the women at the teahouse last week spread across his features.

Why hadn’t I kept my eyes closed? His smile is lethal.

If I answered him, would he recognize my voice? Thanks to Aki’s training, I was used to pitching my voice as ‘Katsuhira’ lower than my normal tones. I should be safe, but I also had thought my bath would be uninterrupted and Mai had thought the water would be warm enough, so the women of Kasugayama were 0-2 in judgment today.

My poor judgment further manifested when I began shivering.

Shingen stepped closer to the lake. “Get out of there before you freeze to death. I’m catching a cold from looking at you.” There was an edge to his voice that suggested he’d come in after me if I didn’t hurry. Of course, if he really wanted me to get out of the water, he should leave me alone, but that didn’t seem to be on his agenda.

I raised my hand, and circled my finger, hoping he’d get a clue and turn around. He folded his arms and leaned back against a tree, clearly prepared to wait me out.

Right. Didn’t think that would work.

Ok. What were my options?

Plan A. I could swim to a further part of the shore and book it out of here. I was certain of my ability to outrun him, but I wasn’t keen on the idea of streaking barefoot through the forest. If Sasuke was leaking ground spikes again, I’d be risking foot injury – which would be difficult to explain tomorrow.

Plan B. Stay here and freeze. No, let’s avoid any solutions that would involve cryogenics.

Plan C. Game this thing out. After considering that idea, I realized he had left me a loophole.

I held up my index finger, signaling “one.”

“Right. One kiss in exchange for this nice, dry, warm, blanket.” He held open the towel.

Alright. I guess we’re doing this.

I took a deep breath for courage and bolted out of the water, zipping squarely into the towel he held open like a target. “There you go,” he murmured as he wrapped me up. His body radiated a potent heat compared to the lake water, making me aware just how close I had come to courting hypothermia. He briskly rubbed my back and shoulders, then grabbed a corner of the towel and scrubbed it over my hair a few times. Maybe he had truly been concerned that I would freeze.

Then he leaned closer, his voice scorching my ear. “Kiss me, Angel.” He brought that beautiful face closer to mine.

I rose up on my tiptoes and at the last moment, changed the angle to briefly kiss his cheek. (Loophole!). I almost laughed at his chagrined expression.

Then I pulled back and tugged at the towel. He did not let go. Again, I tried to pull away. “That didn’t count,” he said.

Risking a verbal response, I said, “You didn’t specify where you wanted to be kissed.”

“She speaks!�� He ran his thumb across my lips, his touch doing much to counteract the cold of the lake. With a smile, he continued. “You are correct, Angel, I did not specify.”

I gripped the towel to my body and again tried to leave, but his arms were firmly wrapped around me. Though I wasn’t frightened, I was annoyed enough to give him my best glare.

He tapped my nose with his finger. “Our agreement was for one kiss in exchange for the blanket. You are holding the blanket, are you not?”

I was, but…

“If you wanted to leave with the blanket, you ought to have specified.” Then he winked (!) at me.

One, all.

Forgot I was dealing with a strategist. Let’s try this again. I drew myself up to my full height and spoke with as much dignity it was possible to muster when wearing only a towel and a warlord. “I would like to leave right now with the … er, blanket, alone, and be assured that you won’t follow me.” That, hopefully, would cover all contingencies from sneaky warlords.

“An Angel who negotiates. I’m intrigued.” He pulled me closer, resting his chin on the top of my head. I made a half-hearted attempt to scoot away, but he massaged more warmth into my shoulders. “You’re still shivering. I’m only trying to warm you up.”

Yeah. No one with half a brain would believe that one. Even the chorus of crickets in the background was going, ‘nope, nope, nope.’ “And next, you’re going to try and sell me a castle that you don’t own?”

I could sense him smiling into my hair. “You opened the negotiation with three requests. One proper kiss of a suitable duration, per request – for a total of three kisses.”

“I can count,” I muttered. If I had to kiss him, then at least then I would know what it was like to kiss him, and I could stop wondering. I’d have to stop at one kiss though – one kiss, then this ‘Angel’ was going fly away forever. I felt a slight pang of disappointment about that, but staying with him too long only increased the chance that he’d find out that ‘Angel’ was also ‘Katsu.’ So. That was that. I counter-offered with, “One for the lot.”

“Two. Two proper kisses of a suitable duration.” He lifted a clump of wet hair out of my eyes, flicking it behind my ear.

That … was vague. Too vague. I leaned back and looked at him. “What do you mean by a proper kiss of-”

I got almost through that question and that Star Wars Fish Alien whose name I can’t remember broke through my obviously hypothermic brain (I normally would not have made such a stupid miscalculation), yelling ‘it’s a trap!’ then Shingen said, “Like this” and closed the gap between our mouths.

Oh.

Oh!

He really is good at this.

His lips glided over mine, gently at first, merely brushing past before pausing, hovering, almost touching, but not. Maybe I should have moved, but instead, I held my breath, until he pressed his mouth to mine again. He held me firmly against his body, but didn’t try to overpower me, and as I relaxed into his kiss, he brought one hand up to cup my cheek.

His hair tickled the back of my hand - only then did I realize I had put my arms around his neck to bring him closer. He took his time, acting like he wanted to savor me, like I was one of those pastries he loved so much. And with that image, came the taste of sugar – I don’t know if he actually tasted like sugar, or if it was because I associated him with pastries – but I had not expected such sweetness in his kiss.

Then he flicked his tongue across my lower lip and nipped at it. Surprised, I gasped, and he slipped his tongue inside my mouth. He placed his hand on the back of my head to draw me closer still. His kiss was warming all over, defrosting my lake frozen-body, and I wanted to get closer to that warmth, let it burn through me even, and that was my last coherent thought for a while and I went with it.

Yes. Him. Now.

Then bargains and agreements went out the window, as he slid his mouth down to the base of my throat and pressed a kiss to it that had me catching my breath in a moan and I grabbed his shoulders to keep from sliding to the ground in a boneless heap.

“I knew you’d like that, Angel,” he murmured. There was both laughter and triumph in his voice, and finally my brain woke up and broke free of that seductive hold.

Angel. Goddess. He wasn’t kissing me. He didn’t know me. I could have been any woman. The realization, as cold as the lake, help me retake control of my senses.

No, I would take my chances with the ground spikes.

Flipping the towel up and over his head, temporarily blinding him and tangling him up in fabric; I used that element of surprise to make a run for it.

I dashed through the underbrush, then swung up into the tree I had secreted my clothing in earlier. In a flash (literally), I was sitting on a thick branch, clutching the bundle of ‘Katsuhira’s’ clothes like a security blanket. I pressed my hand to my mouth to silence my rapid breathing – my lips were still tingling from his kiss.

Somewhere below me, Shingen was crashing through the trees, calling for “Angel”.

The calls stopped suddenly with a muttered oath.

Watch out for ground spikes.

*******************

Luckily, the night guards didn’t examine me too closely when I returned to the castle, my damp hair tucked into my clothes and creating a giant wet spot on my back. They were used to Shingen’s staff coming and going at all hours. Once inside, though, I had the sense that someone was watching me as I hurried through the corridor to my room. I paused, looked around, and noticed that a doorway that had been closed when I passed it a moment ago was now cracked open.

After a brief mental debate – I was wet and armed with only a dagger – I crept back, and peered through the tiny sliver of open space. It appeared to be a storage room, I couldn’t see anyone in it, though they could be lurking behind the door. I listened for movement, breathing… anything, but the only noise I heard was coming from the corridor behind me – two vassals were heading my way, engaged in some nonsense argument over the best brand of sake in the area. Not wanting to be caught lurking, I gave up on the idea of investigating further, and returned to my room. I’d return to this one tomorrow and give it a thorough examination.

To my surprise, I managed to fall asleep without much difficulty, especially considering the effect my night swim and the aftermath had on my imagination. My brain basically just shut down in self-defense. I woke up once a bit later when my brain produced the name of the Star Wars Fish Alien (Admiral Ackbar), fell asleep again, only to be jarred awake again by the sound of my door sliding open.

I reached for the dagger I kept next to the futon.

“Don’t be alarmed, it’s just me,” Shingen stood in the doorway, a lantern in one hand, and a packet of letters in the other.

Actually, I found that pretty alarming. Had he figured it out already? Had ‘Angel,’ like Cinderella, left something behind?

He gestured to the messages. “Can you deliver these first thing?”

Oh. Ok. He hadn’t figured it out. “First thing as in right now?”

Please say no and go away.

“No, I’m simply dropping them off. It can wait until sunrise.”

Good. Now, go away.

My mind control was working about as well as it had earlier this evening – which is to say not at all. Perhaps I should have added the phrase these are not the droids you’re looking for to it?

He moved from the doorway and came into the room, and I was suddenly conscious that I wasn’t wearing the binder over my breasts, and that my hair, though pulled back, was still wet. I pulled the blanket over my head and rolled into a ball and did my best impression of a lazy teenager. “Will do.” I mumbled, trying to give every indication that I was nearly asleep again.

“You’re not terribly alert for someone who’s already legendary for getting up and around early in the morning,” as he placed the letters on my writing desk, then sat down behind it.

I risked Kilroying my eyes and nose over the edge of the blanket. “Being a morning person usually requires being asleep at this particular time of the night.”

He laughed. “Don’t mind me, I just realized I need to write another.” He grabbed some paper and the brush off the desk and I was suddenly glad that I was the organized type of person who did not leave incriminating things lying about. (Actually, that is exactly why I am organized).

As I once again retreated under the blanket, I wondered if maybe he had figured out my disguise and was torturing me for the fun of it, but the rhythmic and determined scritch of the brush across the page convinced me he truly was writing an urgent message. Finally, my curiosity won out, and I asked, “What’s going on?”

He bent over the desk, the light of the lantern turning his hair from auburn to burnished red. “I’m looking for a woman.”

“Aren’t you always?” I muttered, as I mentally swore at myself for asking. That catch-all nickname “Angel” still stung my ego, even as I rationally knew it shouldn’t. I hadn’t told him “Angel’s” name, and for all he knew, we had just “met.”

“A specific woman,” he clarified, the brush still scribbling furiously on the paper. “Part Mermaid, part Moon Goddess.” He mumbled something else under his breath that may have been ‘imp.’ Or limp? Well, he had stepped on a ground spike.

“What makes that one special?” Ego damage repair sequence initiating.

He rolled the handle of the brush over and over his fingers like a magician manipulating a playing card. “We were playing a game of sorts, and the next move is to be mine. But I need to locate her first.”

I needed to shut this thing down. Though it might be a good idea to learn what he had in store for Angel, so that I had a next move of my own. Or, better yet, avoid getting into a situation where a move needed to be made. “A game? Like shogi?”

“Somewhat, although I’ve never found that particular game all that exciting. But it does involve thinking several moves in advance.” He smiled, and I got very very worried. “Of course, if we play this game correctly, we will both win.”

I might be in trouble. I inched further under my blanket.

“What have the messages to do with it?” Did he write Angel a note and address it to the North Pole? Or the Moon, probably, because of that goddess thing.

“I’ve asked my mitsumono to search for her, as the lady is probably a spy.”

I am definitely in trouble.

He tapped the pile of letters. “Sorry to have disturbed you, Katsu.” And then he was gone.

Link to complete work, Twelve Lies I Told Shingen Takeda here:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/32812042?view_full_work=true

[magaprima]

Part 2 Episode 6 Analysis (3/?) (i.e the horrible scene where Adam is served on a plate)

And now we come to That Dinner. Firstly, the table has been set, the vegetables cooked and prepared, the candles lit, and that’s a lot of small details and there’s music and everything’s just clearly prepared for a romantic meal, and while I know Lucifer clearly wanted to lure Lilith into a false sense of security, I can’t imagine him being someone to ever have the patience to do all that and to make it right, to make ti feel genuinely sweet and romantic. So the torturous part of me thinks that he killed Adam in the cottage, or in the garden, possibly while Adam was making dinner, so all these preparations were Adam’s, but then Lucifer killed him and made him the main course. But regardless, this does mean, as Lilith is eating a cooked steak, that Lucifer went to the effort of not just killing Adam, but getting him into a sizeable portion that fit in Mary’s oven? Side note: Mary must get a new oven if Lilith didn’t already rip the thing out. Second side note; where was the rest of Adam’s body? What did Lucifer do with it?

“You are a man of many talents, Adam; this roast is delicious”

This line kills me for two reasons. The way she says ‘many talents’ suggests she has seen his other talents, that she’s gotten to know him so well that she knows his skills, she knows what he’s good at. It also nicely implies some sexual/romantic gifts. The other reason this line kills me is that she thinks the roast is delicious, in a way that suggests it’s extra delicious, more so than usual....and it’s just, in retrospect (or in foreshadowing for that matter), the confirmation that Lilith feasts on male flesh. She doesn’t eat it, it’s not something she has to have to survive like a vampire with blood, it’s something she feasts on (her own choice of words) which is to say it’s something she indulges in, it’s a treat, it’s something she really enjoys. And the fact Lucifer knows this about her, and knows how much she’ll enjoy the taste because of how much she enjoys feasting on male flesh, and uses it against her, knowing that not only would she be horrified to realise who she is eating but that it would likely permanently ruin her enjoyment of feasting on male flesh permanently (as it is interesting we never see her eat human again after this episode)...is just such a specifically cruel way to torment and punish her. 

“I promised you deliciousness once upon a time”

Lilith is so blissfully content and blissfully ignorant in that contentment, she totally misses the clue in that line. The promise of deliciousness, the phrase, the implication it is, is always tied to Satan.....yet she doesn’t even blink, she’s too happy and satisfied in this little world she believes she still has. 

Now when Lucifer!Adam says ‘Dessert is your reward for saying yes to Tibet’, the first time I watched it and we didn’t know Adam was dead, I immediately had the thought of ‘oh so now we’re seeing who the real Adam is, that he’s not as nice as he’s appeared, we’re going to find out he’s controlling and abusive’, because that phrase was so out of character for Adam. It was the sort of demanding thing he never does, and it’s like even when Lucifer is pretending to be Adam he can’t manage to mimic him right, because Adam respects women and respected Lilith and would never imply such a demand-and-reward attitude. And you do see Lilith pause at this, as if thinking it odd or dislikeable herself. Which is why she stares at him and says ‘I haven’t said yes yet’ in her usual defiant way. 

Yet, when Lucifer!Adam replies ‘but....you’re going too’, she reconsiders and seems to think that rather than being demanding it was simply Adam knowing her well enough to have already guessed her answer, and this reveals a lot about her feelings for Adam, how much she loved him. She presumes he knows her that well now, because she feels that open and free with him, she may not have told him her real name, but she isn’t acting like anyone but herself, the ‘new Mary’ he believes he’s seeing is just Lilith without much filter at all. So therefore, he knows her in her opinion. Then  it also tells us that she loves him and knows him so much that she knows he wouldn’t ever demand anything of her, he would never hold something over her head, so she therefore ‘knows’ it can only be that he’s teasing her. Which would have been true....if Adam wasn’t actually fucking Lucifer. 

And it’s in that moment, that moment when she thinks she’s realised he knows her so well and she’s come to the conclusion she also knows him, and it’s this knowing-each-other-respectful-love that she makes her decision about Tibet. She takes a huge breath, she pauses, she sets her wine down; we are in no doubt that this is not an easy or sudden decision for Lilith, this is a big deal. She knows in saying yes to Tibet she is giving up being Satan’s right hand (or left hand as they’ve said in the show), she is giving up playing her role in the prophecy, she is giving up Lucifer, and most importantly, she knows she is giving up the throne. That is a huge fucking deal. And she is giving it up, because for the first time in her life, Lilith has a choice for happiness. Before she’s had choices between freedom and prison, death and survival, power and powerlessness, this is the first time ‘happy’ has been part of the choice, and when given a choice between happiness and power...she’s choosing happiness. And that says a lot about her character and her true nature. And it’s such a big fucking deal. 

And the moment she says ‘Yes, I am’ and takes a bite, is the moment the audience gets a flash of what’s to come. It’s a single frame, a glimse of the future that lasts no more than a single frame of a second, showing Adam’s head and Satan sat at the table. We know the truth before Lilith does, which is like saying ‘this is a joke on her. this entire conversation was a farce at her expense’. But it’s so quick, you don’t really see it unless you freeze frame by frame, it’s subliminal, giving us the sense something is very wrong as we then hear the unnatural crunch to Lilith’s bite and we see her pull out the enchanted ring

"How did that get in there?”

Okay, let me just cry at this line. Lilith says this so breathless with genuine confusion, she’s so bewildered because she cannot understand what’s happening. Lilith is usually the first to click about what’s going on, she’s also a very suspicious person, and as Ambrose says she notices everything, but right now, despite every sign telling her something is horribly wrong, she’s oblivious. She was that content in her little happy bubble that she forgot for a moment that Lucifer is an abusive arsehole who murders people and tortures her to keep her in her place. She was so lost in her feelings about Adam, and the hope of having a new, free life, and of going to Tibet, that she briefly thought she lived in a world without the Dark Lord. And it’s just so freaking innocent; the way she says it is one of those flashes we get of the way Lilith was in the beginning. The innocent, hopefully, yet strong and rebellious Lilith from the beginning, the one who had yet to suffer betrayals. 

Even when she sees his clawed hands, even when she looks up and looks straight in the Dark Lord’s face, it doesn’t click straight away. She’s surprised, she’s fearful, but the penny still hasn’t fully dropped. She’s in a state of denial, as if subconsciously, she still naively hopes that Adam is somewhere else, that he’s just at the shops while Satan is here tormenting her. just like when he spoke to her that night, threatening her, while Adam was in bed, utterly oblivious to it all. 

And then you see the fear deepening in her eyes as she glances down at the table, and I think, even  before Lucifer lifts the platter, she’s already starting to finally realise why the steak tasted like it did, and how the ring got into her meal, but she still doesn’t want to confirm it. You see how much she tries not to look at the platter, but it’s unavoidable....and then she can’t take her eyes away. And you can physically see her trying not to try, she is trying her hardest to hold back her sobs and, what I suspect, would be a scream of horror. She doesn’t want to give Lucifer the satisfaction, it’s a knee-jerk habit she undoubtedly has learned over the millennia to show as little weakness as possible, but this is really testing her. You can see the horror on her face and you can also see her heart slowly breaking in two, you can physically feel it. Everything she thought she had, everything she was counting on all of thirty seconds ago, just thirty fucking seconds, has all be taken away, violently, cruelly and deliberately. And then, what is both more heartbreaking and also interesting, is we see her horror start to turn to panic. She starts breathing erratically, because not only is she having to face this horror before her, but she also has Lucifer’s words in her ears, reminding her of what it all means:

“Our bond is eternal. Our bond is unbreakable. There is no escape to Tibet or anywhere else”

He is telling her that no matter what he does to her, no matter how he treats her, no matter how she changes her mind, no matter how her desires may change, no matter how she might want other things, no matter what she does, no matter whether she wants to serve him or not, no matter whether she wants to be with him or not, she has no choice. There is a bond between them that is eternal and unbreakable. Two interesting choice of words, as we know witches and warlocks sign the Book of the Beast as part of a contract, but it’s never said to be eternal or unbreakable, and from what we saw at Sabrina’s trial we know there are loopholes. We also know that Lilith never signed the book and was a witch in her own right, so any bond between them was never in exchange for power. So the fact there is a bond between them at all should be something self made. But the fact it is an eternal and unbreakable bond tells us it’s something beyond the norm, it’s something deeper than signing a Book, it’s something bigger than family, or even King or Queen, it is something ancient and powerful. Their stories are entwined, and Lucifer uses this to his abusive advantage. But the language choice is so interesting and revealing, and is perhaps the more mystical way of saying what Lilith qualified as ‘co-dependent’. 

He is also telling her that he knew precisely what Tibet was for her, he know she wants to escape, he knows her thoughts have changed, that her ambitious and priorities have shifted and that her loyalty has wavered and is waning also, he knows exactly what Tibet meant to her on every level, and Lilith is realising as she listens that as he has taken Tibet away, he will take away anything else she ever tries. He is reminding her that she is trapped. And as she looks at Adam’s severed head, she is seeing the person who respected her and made her feel happy and genuinely free has been ripped from her life, and all she is left with once more is nothing but her abuser. 

“Now, clear your plate of the mortal”

This instruction is horrendous. We don’t see her following this order, we only know that she does by the vomiting scene. But after telling her precisely what is on her plate, he makes her eat it. Bear in mind, she canonically states that Adam was the ‘one thing’ that she loved, bear in mind that we saw her excessively happy with him in the previous scene, bear in mind she was a minute ago planning to run off to Tibet with him, and she is being made to look at his severed head on the table, his dead eyes staring at her, while she eats a steak made of his fucking torso. She is made to clean her fucking plate. That is trauma that not even the rightful Queen of Hell is going to get over any time soon (hence why she broke into fucking horrified panic in Part 3). But thankfully, we’re spared seeing that scene.....all we watch is the moment where Lilith finally breaks.

You know that defence I mentioned above where she tries not to cry and you can see she knows showing weakness makes him win and makes everything worse and you can see her employing her usual survival techniques? That all goes the moment he tells her to clean her plate and she knows she’s going to have to, because she’s all alone and there’s no one going to help her, no one going to defend her or support her. She breaks, we see her give into the sobs. A choking sob, before she covers her mouth, trying to hold it back, but there’s no denying it, she’s not hiding it, she’s had her heart broken. Again. 

[bigskydreaming]

kai06leaf replied to your post:

Ended up all night, with sleep derailed by a RUDE...

Um I had asked for a link for your batman related works?:)

Oh score, this is actually weirdly timely then! FlashinthePan is my Batfam pseudonym (https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlashInThePan/works), its just it hasn’t been useful for much other than to use my bookmarks page there as a fics rec list. Since the only other things still up on it are the YJ WIP I haven’t updated in a couple years and an elephant’s graveyard collection for the random ficlets I often write on here while forgetting they’re usually long enough to be actual one-shots...and that I then forget to actually add to that one, that I created for the specific purpose of putting all those in one place. My mind. Its just....*staggers at the Legend of it all*

I’ve been on a pretty committed “No more posting unfinished WIPs kick” for the past couple years but am finally at a point where I have stuff to post without cheating, so that streak officially ends today, when I finish my read-through of the first fic* in question and hit publish. “The Requiem Rites of Robins,” the ten chapter first story in an AU Battle For the Cowl fix-it series, “A Legacy of Robins,” with TRRoR being roughly 40K, focuses on Dick and Jason and their issues with each other and Bruce’s believed death, picking up and going AU at an indeterminate time not long after the end of BFTC. 

Specific goals of focus with this particular fic were addressing Bruce’s bullshit last will and testament to Jason (ugh), the eternally unremarked upon moment that was Dick watching his brother refuse to take his hand and instead fall to what at the time must have seemed very likely to be Jason’s second death, in a pretty fucked up parallel to his parents’ death (ugh), various other unaddressed issues between the brothers that kept them making like they were Cain and Abel instead of two people who loved each other and very much could use each other while grieving for their father or even just pretending they weren’t....and also steadfastly jumping their combined train of events well off the tracks before Morrison’s whole...”Jason” thing ever happened at all (ugh).

Just a headsup for readers for whom certain characterizations of Bruce are a dealbreaker - full disclosure, this fic and its sequels do consider various less pleasant moments between Bruce and his two eldest to be in character and canon, with NTT #55 and the ending to UTRH the most touched upon and relevant. For what its worth, my intention there (and hopefully my execution of things) was not to vilify or bash Bruce, or to make it at all a question of whether or not both really loved Bruce and he them. 

To be clear...I do categorize Bruce’s actions towards Dick and Jason at those times/specific others as abusive, but a huge part of my reason for even writing this particular fic was to explore and examine the reality of loving a parent even despite a history of actually abusive behavior on their parts. Of how to mourn for someone you loved at some times and hated at others, who was both the person who made you feel whole again and the one who made you at other times feel the most broken. 

Especially when you’re two people who pride themselves on being heroes, who are ‘supposed to know’ that there’s no defense, no excuse for some of the things their father did, but that doesn’t always change or erase how much they want to. And who are both looking for an answer in the other, as to how they’re supposed to live with the fact that deep down, there’s a part of them that will always still be those ten and twelve year old orphan boys who came to believe their father was a man who could literally do the impossible...even mend what was broken, make things right with them and the world as they knew it just like he’d managed once before, when he’d first come into their lives and they’d been just as certain then that there were no more happy moments in their futures at all. 

And with the both of them still, even after everything, having held onto that secret hope that someday he was going to find the secret loophole, the magic words that let them forgive him, that let them let the past all just be in the past and the future all that really mattered, that their best days as a family weren’t all behind them yet and there was still time for things to be different, for him to be different....because their dad wasn’t like other ordinary dads, their dad was the Batman, he was a superhero.....

....who was also still just a man, and sometimes men die with their most important deeds still left incomplete.

This first story is centered firmly on just Dick and Jason, because I have a tendency to let things get too widespread and expansive plot-wise the more characters I focus on, and because this first story, about mourning Bruce and finding a way to move on, needed to be just Dick and Jason, although Cass and Tim and Damian, as well as Steph and Babs and Alfred all have things in the wake of his believed death that IMO they needed explored, and that were never explored in canon. But Dick and Jason had to be the first two and a solo act except for each other, especially as this series is still geared towards Bruce’s eventual return, and just to a much different status quo....because the thing about Dick and Jason at this specific point in time, is that they were quite possibly the only two people in the world who would ever have the relationship with Bruce that they did, to see him the way they both at times did, and nobody else ever fully grasped. 

They knew him at his highest and his lowest points, the best parts of him and the worst, the center of their whole universes and the destroyer of them....and for them, at this place and time, its about being forced to realize that for as much as come between them over the years, they each are the only ones who will ever fully be able to speak to the entirety of their father as not just Bruce Wayne, the Batman, the myth and the legend, but Bruce the man, the flawed father who was supposed to be better than his worst mistakes with them, because he was supposed to be a hero. 

Even as close as others were to Bruce, there were specific slants to the light they saw him in....for Alfred, even when making his worst mistakes, he was still his son, for Cass he was still the father who fought her personal demon not because of what he wanted her to be but so that she could be who she wanted to be, for Tim, he was imperfect but still larger than life, the hero he’d still first only come to know through the lens of a camera from a great distance, a perspective he’d yet to entirely shake, and for Damian he was still largely a figure of make believe, a bed time story he’d been told all his life. 

There’s an inherent goodness, a nobleness around the idea of Bruce for most others in his life, that defies coming face to face with the realities his failings could be.....which only Dick and Jason could ultimately attest to, as losing the ability to keep sight of that innate shine was why they’d found themselves so disillusioned by their father at the lowest points between them. And so in a lot of ways, the ultimate goal of writing this fic was trying to get Dick and Jason to a point where they could share their full, messy, complicated as hell feelings about their father with each other, but simultaneously feel a need to preserve the way each of their siblings still saw him, because the truth is that if there’d been someone who could have preserved that shine for their own eyes, to keep their memories of him clear and unobstructed by complication....they would have been glad to have been left just missing Bruce their father, and not the mess of feelings forever tied up in a Gordian knot upon by his death.

So yeah. LOL. That’s the link to my Batfam works, though there hasn’t been much on their for ages, but stay tuned for Chapter One of The Requiem Rites of Robins, later today.

“In the wild, a group of robins is called a round. But Gotham’s birds have always been of a different sort, something entirely unique. And the only proper plural for them, I’ve found, is a legacy.”

An investigation leads the newly minted Batman to London, alone and without Robin’s back-up for the trip. In the past couple months, Dick Grayson has barely found time to breathe, let alone to grieve for his father and come to terms with his new role as the Dark Knight’s successor. But his distracted state leaves him vulnerable, and when a new villain’s one-man war threatens to make a casualty of him too, he’s left with no alternative but to work side by side with his rescuer - at other times better known as his brother, his successor, and a couple times his would-be killer.

(Their family always has been one of over-achievers. And if you’re going to pick a pair of brothers to play compare and contrast against with that in mind, its hard to go wrong with something biblical.)

But Dick seeming no more happy about it than he is, doesn’t do much to pick up Jason’s mood. He’s come to London for his own reasons, and no, he’s still not inclined to share. Curiosity killed the cat, but he’s sure Selina wouldn’t mind if innate nosiness knocked off a few birds here and there as well. Well-earned paranoia aside, however, secrets and cynicism can only carry them so far when the two are forced to rely on each other to fight their way free of a city turned death-trap. Both are keenly aware that the last time they’d fought side by side like this, they’d been all the way back on the other side of Jason’s first untimely death. And as far as potential omens go, that one’s about as shitty as they come.

But a mixed curse and blessing are nothing new for them, and so that’s not just a painful reminder, but also proof that things were different once. That the brothers they’ve become were not always the brothers they were supposed to be. It was time and pain and bloody loss that weighed them both down so much further than the altitudes that came most naturally....not fate, or destiny, or even them. And as their new enemy forces them deeper and deeper below ground, it becomes all the more clear there’s only one skill in either of the brothers’ arsenals that will see them through to the other side of all this: 

And only if they can not just remember, but rediscover, how to shed all of that and finally fly free again.

[10holmes]

Cardan POV set after the Wicked King Ending

Alright guys... I’ve also fallen prey to Holly Black’s superb writing style and imagination and finished TWK way too fast and too soon and my heart is still raw from that f****** ending and cliffhanger...

As a way to cope, I, therefore, wrote a little fic about Cardan’s POV after this certain event at the end....

SO DON’T READ IF YOU HAVEN’T FINISHED TWK!!!!!!!! SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!

*

*

*

Cardan had no recollection of how he made it back to the palace and into his rooms. Of how he'd departed from the place where he had probably made the wisest choice for the future of his kingdom and his dangerous heart but also possibly the biggest mistake of his immortal life.

What had his final words to Orlagh been? Where had she and Nicasia departed too? Had he called in a meeting with the remaining Living Council to discuss how to proceed with Madoc and the army he'd so treacherously stolen from him?

He couldn't remember. All he saw, thinking back, was Jude.

How she'd been dragged down from her horse.

How she'd stared at him after he had announced her punishment – first in shock and disbelief, then with utter loathing and incomprehension, the impact of his betrayal clearly written in the wet and angry gleam of her eyes.

He heard her voice crying out to him that she was his queen and that he couldn't do that. And he heard the assembled Fae laughing at that preposterous claim.

He would have liked to strangle every one of them for their impertinence. He would have liked to make it clear that Jude, in fact, was his queen and there would never be another, that they should accept her as ruler or else face the consequences of their shared wrath.

But he couldn't have done that. He had had to follow through with his plan: He had had to laugh at her as well.

He had had to exile her.

Make her hate him in the process but at least keep her safe from herself and any further stupid actions on her part. Keep her safe from Fairy and any injuries and near deaths it would bring her.

He could not cope with her being hurt, much less with her being dead – not after what happened to her with Orlagh in the Undersea.

When the truce had been called and he finally got to see Jude again, after the most agonizing month of his existence, he had been chilled to the bone – as if he had just risen from the ice-cold depths of the Undersea himself.

Jude had looked like a wraith – pale as snow, lips cracked and blue, her beautiful eyes dull and sunken. And she had lost so much weight. One month and she looked like she had been starving for years.

That image would forever be burned into his memories. It would forever haunt his nightmares. It already had for the last three nights – when he'd tossed and turned and got no rest, his thoughts always returning to Jude and how she was doing, whether she was alright, what he could do to make sure something like this would never happen to her again.

Especially now that it was even more imperative than ever to keep her safe, with Madoc on the lose, intent on putting her in her place, at best, and getting rid of her as worst case scenario. Now, that Madoc had truly accepted her as his equal and was bound to treat her as such...

Yesterday evening he'd finally come up with a semi-decent plan, and Jude had given him just the perfect opportunity to enact it...

It was a small prize to pay really, sending her away from his side – in a way, letting her go. Cardan was prepared to suffer this new kind of heartache that came with losing her and her possibly hating him for real and forever after this. As long as it meant she'd be safe and alive.

And she would be safe with Vivi and Oak in the Mortal World while he took care of Madoc, the Undersea and anyone who still opposed him.

And he would strengthen his reign, too. Become a king worthy of fairy. Equal to Eldred, if not better than his father. He finally realized what it meant to rule. He finally accepted the lot that Jude had dealt him.

At first he had been so angry with her and furious about their bargain, and swore to himself that he would make her pay for playing him like that. But during the shared five months of their reign he had had plenty time to think and realized two things:

He didn't mind Jude holding the strings as much as he'd at first thought – except for some instances when she would drive him crazy with her little, uncalled for insecurities and trust issues. Then again he was amazed that she was cunning and strategic enough to think of almost every loophole and that her decisions and running the kingdom was rather formidable at that.

But he also, secondly, realized, that it couldn't go on like that and he had to finally grow up and pull the strings himself. That month in which Jude was gone had proven it and he never wanted to feel as helpless and lost as he had felt that first week without her ever again. And to become the king Fairy needed Jude had to go as well. At least for a little while.

Once all that was done, and he also deemed Fairy safe again, he would pardon Jude and welcome her back.

If she forgave him and just felt relieved for being welcomed back all would be well.

If she came back simmering with rage and bent on revenge, unable to forgive him, he would be fine with that too. He would learn to cope with her hatred. He had done it once before after all.

But that was before they'd crossed that one fateful line. Before he was no longer able to tell her how much he hated her because that had turned into a lie. Before seeing Jude and even just thinking about her had begun to make his heart feel like a butterfly trapped in his rib cage.

He certainly could not go back to a time before. Not after he'd tasted her lips – sweeter than the Everapple – not after he'd seen and got to know every bare inch of her and found it more beautiful than any of the Folk could ever be. Not after he had made that most sacred and ostentatious of vows in making her his wife – his queen.

It actually was a bit ironic how Jude – a master of strategy and deceit and lies – was unable to notice when she was made a pawn of one. First the Ghost – now Cardan himself – and both times Jude had just accepted the deception but not thought an inch further.

It was probably testament to his reputation as the cruel and capricious prince and his inability to just have told her about his true feelings, when he still could have, that she immediately accepted him discarding her so roughly and seemingly without caring in the least. That she though it to be an act of revenge and getting back at her for his brother's death and that stupid bargain... Despite what had clearly happened between them. Despite him making her queen. Making her his equal. She still couldn't see.

Truth be told: He had been a bit cross with her for killing his brother, even though he'd implored her not to, and then had not told him the truth although he had thought they were past secrets and finally trusting each other. At least he had trusted her... when he had mistaken Taryn for her...

It still nettled him.

He didn't know how he could have made such a grievous mistake. Taryn and Jude might be twins but to him they couldn't look more different. He should have recognized her to be Taryn, even with some of the poison still in his system. The antidote had already been working...

But his mind had clearly not...

Still, it didn't make any sense... or maybe he just didn't want to admit how stupid he had been to even trust Jude enough to be able to make that mistake. Maybe it was in that moment that he had realized loving her was a weakness in more than one aspect. That he actually needed to be rid of her...

Not only made it Jude vulnerable to attacks that were meant for him or to get her out of the way. She could also get hurt, thinking that she had to protect him and give her life for his as High King. The latter just owing to Oak still not being ready to take the throne of course– not because of certain feelings on her part... No, she had made it clear that she didn't reciprocate the feelings he so obviously had for her.

But it, also, made him vulnerable because Jude meant too much to him. Because he didn't want to see her hurt or dead. Because she could be used as leverage again. Because he could, in a bad moment, fall for a deceit of Taryn’s again and he wanted to make sure she was the only twin around and that there was no one there to confuse her with...

And he, moreover, feared that, as much as Jude might be able to hold her ground, at some point or against a certain someone she would not be able to compete...

What had happened in the Undersea had already proven that she was not invincible and still annoyingly mortal and fragile...

Jude burned too bright and if she didn't look out – which she, frustratingly enough, didn't – her candle would burn away to nothing too soon, and it was now his mandate to make sure her candle burned a lot longer than her careless, stupidly fearless demeanor allowed for...

In the mortal world she could first of all get back her strength and, secondly, learn to re-evaluate her life and, hopefully, when she came back, she would understand all this...

Someone cleared their throat behind him.

Cardan was cut out of his thoughts and reveries and turned towards the sound. It was the Bomb – Lilliver. “You summoned me, my High King?” she said and eyed him with concern.

Cardan took a second to collect himself and then remembered why he'd asked her to his side: “Yes, Lilliver, I have an important task for you. I trust you to go about it diligently and as discretely as possible...”

Lilliever throwned: “What is it? Why do you sound like it's going to be possibly awful and / or dangerous?”

“In a way it is”, Cardan huffed a small laugh, “I want you to watch over Jude. Look that she's safe, that she's doing well. Report to me every day. But don't engage her! – She mustn't know that you're there! That's why it is a rather difficult task – should she find out you're there, she could possibly react a bit harshly. But I'm only assuming this... She could also be fine with discovering you – she likes you, after all... Anyway, should you be discovered by her at some point, don't tell her who sent you! Understood?”

“Alright,” Lilliver just replied and bowed, a task was a task and she would go about it immediately, not questioning it. With that she turned and left the room, leaving Cardan too his own devices yet again.

Cardan sighed and set out to call in a meeting with the Living Council. He hardened his heart and concealed his true feelings as he was used to doing and began his work: He had a kingdom to run.

Thanks for reading! I might even continue this... After all I have to somehow make it through 2019 till QoN.....

[robininthelabyrinth]

Fic: Nocturne (24/30) - Ao3 Link

Fandom: Final Fantasy XV Pairings: Mostly Gen

Summary: In which Cor Leonis loses his temper, accidentally acquires a kid, and tries to single-handedly dismantle the Lucian immigration system – and that’s before he and his lawyers find out about this Prophecy business. If the Astrals think Cor’s going to let his kid’s best friend die without a fight, they’ve gotten the wrong cheetah ‘taur.

(a young adult novel set in @kickingshoes’ ‘taur AU)

—————————————————————————————— ——————————————————————————————

“I can’t believe you actually still made the detour to Succarpe,” Regis says, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Clarus passes him a cup of tea and pats his shoulder. They’ve already had the welcome ceremony for the Oracle – there was no way they were keeping this one quiet, so they didn’t even bother to try – and Sylvia was very regal and accepting and retreated quickly to her rooms, pleading exhaustion, but more likely with the intention of speaking with Luna and Ravus as soon as possible.

In Clarus’ view, after the whole incident where an entirely airborne unit from Niflheim’s army showed up at the Wall, claiming to have defected, dealing with the Oracle and Cor is positively easy in comparison.

Thank the Glacian for mobile phones, at least. If Highwind's unit’d showed up without Regis and Clarus having been informed of their impending arrival ahead of time, even Clarus isn’t sure about what would’ve happened.

As it was, he’s still not sure what to do with them, other than simply acknowledging that the Crownsguard now has a de-facto aviation branch that’s gotten quite a lot of people very excited, running the full gamut from children who now dream of taking to the air in Lucis’ defense to engineers who descended upon the repair workers of the crew with demands for technical specs and factory designs. On one hand, they need to vet them; on the other, everyone is very excited...

For that matter, he's also not sure what to do with the visiting dignitary-slash-religious-figure that's staying – potentially indefinitely - at the Citadel. The diplomatic reaction from Tenebrae, not to mention Niflheim...!

And unlike some people, Clarus thinks grumpily (and admittedly ungraciously) as he looks at the perfectly serene Cor, I don’t have the fortune of being able to shrug and say ‘not my problem’.

"The detour to Succarpe was necessary," Cor says, adding in a belated "Your Majesty" the way he tends to when his heels are dug so far into the ground that he will hear no word against whatever it is that he did. "I obtained the Katana of the Warrior, which would have otherwise required a lengthy trip in its own right."

"You're telling me the Oracle didn't object to the diversion?" Regis asks, looking skeptical.

"Oh, she objected all right," Cor says. "I shoved Prompto at her as a distraction, told her we were going to find something for him, and went anyway."

"You – of course you did." Regis sighs. Clarus shakes his head; of course Cor did. "And then you fought a – what was it?"

"The taxonomists have called it a Marlboro," Cor says helpfully. "The Ulrics were very useful in defeating it, as was the Oracle –"

"I thought you left the Oracle with Prompto," Clarus interrupts.

"I did," Cor says. "Prompto informed her of our actual destination when she began to question how long the train was stalled, and she decided to give me a piece of her mind and followed us down the trail to do so. Of course, she got distracted when she saw the Marlboro attacking –"

"Giant tentacled plant monster," Regis says with a sigh. "Yes, I'd imagine that would be a touch distracting."

"She was very helpful in defeating it," Cor repeats. "And then the tomb was right there, so it was easy enough to pick up the Katana and usher her back to the train before she remembered to start yelling again. And she brought the Trident with her as well."

"She did? Of course, she would – wait, how many does of the Arms that get us to?" Regis asks, now thoroughly distracted from yelling himself.

Clarus reflects to himself that Cor's gotten rather better at diplomacy over the last few years, or at least the forms of diplomacy involving avoiding other people getting too angry over his latest ridiculous stunt by cleverly applying the art of distraction.

It won't work on Clarus, of course. He’s just choosing to save his yelling until they’re in private.

"All but one of the Royal Arms," Cor reports. "The only outstanding one is the Mace of the Fierce."

"Do we know where that one is?"

"Yes," Cor says, with a small sigh. "The Rock of Ravatogh."

"Ah. I see."

"Yes. We'll have to pick that up when we go there for the covenant with Ifrit," Clarus says. "Which, as we've discussed before, will require a serious frontal assault by the military. Niflheim's defenses around the volcano are considerable, and will only become more so."

"There's a chance that they might become distracted soon," Cor offers. "Hopefully requiring them to withdraw at least some of their troops from the Rock."

"Something you've omitted from your official report, Cor?" Regis asks, giving his Marshal a sharp look.

"Not at all," Cor says. "Just a hypothesis."

"Do share," Clarus says dryly.

"The people of Gralea have taken in the MT children," Cor says with a shrug. "Some of them have left Gralea to visit relatives further out in Niflheim so as better to avoid notice. Either way, word will spread."

"Of how the MT program works?"

"And how they treat children that look exactly like their own," Cor says dryly. "Even if they had some idea of the MT process, which I doubt, the subjects of Niflheim put a lot of stock in their emperor being good and just, and this evidence will suggest to them that he is being corrupted – presumably from the outside. The usual blame-the-evil-minister business."

Clarus thinks wryly to himself that Cor is far too familiar with such accusations – for all of his popularity in Lucis, he has definitely faced more than his fair share of accusations of undue influence, especially when Drautos was quietly fomenting unrest among the populace – but that, indeed, he's finally learned diplomacy.

"You're trying to get them to depose Chancellor Izunia," he says, more than a little impressed.

"They won't launch a palace revolt against Aldercapt, that's for sure," Cor replies with a shrug. "The Emperor is old, and he's been moderate enough over the years, treating them well enough when it comes to taxes and whatnot. The first stab at his popularity came when the Glacian attacked, but he handled the aftermath well – more leniency, more Niflheim-centric parades and education. The reduction of the draft was also particularly popular."

"The MTs," Clarus agrees. "They went from a supplement to the main force of the army after that point, allowing the army regulars to become officers or to lead supplementary forces only. All our attempts to show them how exactly that miraculous cut in the draft was accomplished have been ignored as foreign propaganda, though now that they have evidence and testimony of kitlings of their own – yes, I suspect they might be very unhappy indeed."

"How do you intend to turn them against Izunia in specific?" Regis asks. "Emperor Aldercapt has many advisors."

"By coincidence, Besithia left quite a few documents thanking Chancellor Izunia for his assistance," Cor says dryly. "I didn't even have to go to the effort of inventing any."

Clarus snorts.

Regis shakes his head. “We can hope, but we can’t count on it,” he says. “We haven’t generally been lucky when it comes to Niflheim, historically speaking…on the other hand, there’s only one Covenant left, and one Royal Arm. After that, the Chosen King – technically, Prince, at this point, unless I’m about to keel over –”

“Try not to,” Clarus advises. “Regencies are terrible, and I say this as the person most likely to be splitting power with Aulea if there is one.”

Regis swats at Clarus’ tail with his hind-paw, rolling his eyes. "After we obtain all the pieces we require, Noctis is supposed to 'vanquish' the Accursed, at a terrible price of some unspecified sort. Shouldn't we wait until he's a little older..?"

"The whole point of doing this now is so that we can shoulder his burden for him," Cor points out. "He'll be ten by the next Inferniad. It's not an ideal age –"

"Says the 'taur that took his son to infiltrate Niflheim at age nine –" Clarus coughs.

Cor ignores him. "– but I still think it's better to move forward. Bahamut accepted Scientia's arguments that if Noctis is below the age of reason, his price could be paid by another; if we wait much longer, that loophole won't apply. Who knows what age the Astrals consider to be the age of reason?"

"And so we must proceed," Regis agrees gloomily. "Has Scientia checked on the legal technicalities..?"

"They're sound," Clarus assures him. "Under Lucian law, if you declare your abdication and trasfer the Ring to him, Noctis becomes king – in law if not by coronation – until the imposition of a regency. Once we have the final few pieces and figure out how we will be confronting Izunia, we will give Noctis the title he requires for the final battle."

"Don't forget: Noctis can summon Astrals now," Cor adds, his voice dry. "He stands a decent chance, by my calculation."

"We don't know what this Accursed can do," Regis points out in return. "We can only guess."

He sighs, looking down at the ring on his finger. The Ring of the Lucii, which burns those who are unworthy from within and which pulls the life out of those who bear it. When Noctis had been born, Regis had been relieved by the thought he had decades before he had to impose that burden on his son, and here he was, less than a decade later, plotting to give it to him early. "A Covenant, a weapon, the title and the ring. After that – a mystery."

Clarus doesn't bother to reassure him any further. He knows that no one can predict the future, and Regis has had so many sorrows to endure in his life. So many disappointments. He won’t be the cause of stirring up hope when there was a good chance this could only lead to another. Who knows what the future might require? The Astrals have already demanded so much from the line of Lucis...

"We have only a little time left," he says instead. "Cor's mission has taken up much of the time between the Archead and this year's Inferniad, but it has also given us an entire airborne division to supplement our own forces. The calculus of a frontal attack therefore changes considerably."

"We might not need to do it that way," Aulea says from the door.

The three of them turn to her. She has a letter in her hands.

"Have you found what it is that you were searching for?" Regis asks. Her library mission has rather consumed both her and Cyrella, and Clarus is fairly sure that if Scientia wasn't tied up with the final Kingsglaive prosecutions, she would be there at all hours, too.

"Not yet, but I think we're getting close," Aulea replies. "This is a little different."

"What is it, then?"

"An invitation," she says. "To an Inferniad celebration."

They blink at her.

Her tail is lashing with anxiety, Clarus notices, and wonders what possible party invitation could have spooked the normally unflappable Queen so much.

"An Inferniad celebration," Aulea says slowly, "at the Rock of Ravatogh."

"What?" the three of them chorus.

"Courtesy of one Ardyn Izunia," she says, then suddenly frowns. "You know, I was looking for an Ardyn, under the assumption that the last name was a fake, but it may very well be that Izunia is a name of some significance; we will have to expand the search –"

"Aulea," Regis interrupts gently. "The letter?"

"Ah, yes," she says. "A trap, obviously. It requires that we all attend this 'party' at the very top of the Rock – we meaning the Lucis Caelums and the Nox Fleurets, that is – and that we do so alone. I'm just not sure if the goal is to lure us away from Insomnia, or if he's simply trying to set the stage of the battle on his own terms."

"Either way, we should accept," Cor says.

"Cor!"

He shrugs. "He knows what we're after, and where. He can stop us indefinitely if he needs to. Obviously we bring our own forces, but I don't really see that we have much of a choice."

"We really don't," Clarus says grimly. "We should convene a Council meeting to discuss strategy at once, but I agree with Cor: we have to accept this invitation."

Regis sighs. Aulea crosses the room to sit by him, pausing only briefly to hand Clarus the letter, and puts her hand on her husband's.

Clarus knows how to take a hint.

He and Cor quickly retreat.

"I'll go summon the relevant military personnel," Cor says, nodding down a certain hallway. "We should be able to –"

"Later," Clarus says firmly, and puts a hand on Cor's shoulder. "First I want to talk with you about our guests. And your tendency to blow things up every time you go to Niflheim. And –"

Cor considers this for a moment, and then makes a break for it.

"I'll get you later!" Clarus shouts after the blur of a cheetah in full retreat. "You're such a child!"

Honestly.

Luna's not sure what's the worst part about having her family here in Lucis.

The best part, of course, is that she finally gets to see them again in person after so long.

The worst part, though...there's so many options to choose from.

There's the fact that she was ten the last time her mother saw her in person, and somehow her ability to recognize Luna as anything older than that (as she seemed to do when they spoke on the phone) has entirely disappeared, right alongside with any scraps of respecting Luna's autonomy.

There's the fact that Scientia is clashing none-too-subtly with her mother about parenting techniques, caught halfway between "she's your child and I respect your right to raise her as you wish now that you've been reunited" and "there is nothing wrong with how I parented her for nearly half a decade and anyway she's still living under my roof so my rules still apply".

There's the fact that her mother gets immediately swarmed by a long line of petitioners from Insomnia and its surrounding regions, many of which are far too distant to make a pilgrimage to Tenebrae to see the Oracle and which are trying to take advantage of her temporary presence, since apparently Luna isn't good enough for them, and that means she barely even sees her mother during the day anyway.

There's the return of the uncomfortable overly-formal family dinners that she never much liked, with fancy catered food and too many types of forks and impromptu quizzes on international politics at any moment, with stern disapproval pointed your way if you fail. Not to mention that the sort of active debates Scientia prefers at her table are expressly disapproved of as unnecessarily combative, which is less actual disapproval and more that her mother is still resentful of Scientia's influence on Luna.

There's the uncomfortable dawning realization that they all have during these dinners that Luna would really prefer to be having dinner with Scientia and Iggy, and that makes both her mother and her brother sour – and that sourness, in turn, makes it harder for Luna to connect with them, which she really was initially happy to get more of a chance to do.

Her brother – oh, that's its own can of worms.

Ravus was planning on kidnapping her.

For "her own good", of course – he viewed it as saving her or some such rot, because apparently he'd decided on his lonesome that King Regis had stolen Luna away from Tenebrae and corrupted her, no matter what she had to say about it, and the only thing for it was for him to trample all over her agency and sense of self and come galloping to the rescue.

Oh, it makes her so angry even to think about it. She'd been overjoyed when he'd first arrived in Lucis freed from Niflheim, horrified by his stories of what had happened there, and then, when he'd finally spilled his story, when he'd confirmed what Luna had until that point refused to believe: that he had in fact gone to Niflheim willingly, of his own free will, and, worse, that he defended that decision by saying it was meant to be for her benefit...

She'd slapped him and stormed out of the room, disregarding her mother's orders that she come back and apologize.

Apologize – hah!

She still refuses to speak with him, despite all of her mother's lectures – that Ravus was misled by Niflheim, that he is only a mere boy (two years older than Luna!), that he's family, that he should be forgiven.

Luna doesn't care about any of it.

How dare he blame his weakness on her! How dare he choose to believe his own version of events above all evident logic, above her own regular reassurances that she was doing fine, that she was there uncoerced, that they were treating her well..!

Oh, Luna still helps her mother try to heal him at their now regular sessions, pushing back the Starscourge flowing in his veins – it’s a new strain of it, one they’ve never seen before, and only by working together do they even make an impact, and finding a way to heal it fully is still a long ways off – but she won't forgive him. Not until he actually apologizes, anyway – his mealy-mouthed excuses and explanations that he didn’t realize the extent of Niflheim’s crimes aren’t apologies, they’re ways of avoiding guilt. They’re all nothing until he admits that he was actually wrong. Wrong to doubt her, wrong to doubt Lucis, wrong to take up arms against them – wrong, wrong, wrong!

It makes those formal dinners even more awkward than they were back in Tenebrae, but if they think Luna's goodwill can be won by overwhelming and guilt-tripping her, then they had better think again. She can be stubborn when she wants to be.

Coming home from school, she reaches the end of the hallway to her new quarters – her mother insisted on Luna moving in to the guest quarters where she's staying despite it being less comfortable than the room she spent nearly five years in, even though Scientia offered to let her continue there, another stupid powerplay on her mother's part – and heads inside, planning on retreating to her room as always.

Ravus is there.

"Lunafreya," he says quietly, his left hind-hoof scratching the ground in silent anxious misery. "Can we talk?"

"No," she says, and turns around and marches right out of there.

"Luna, wait!" he calls, and she hears the distinctive clopping sounds of his elk hooves on the tiled floor, coming after her.

"I don't see why I have to," she says, marching steadily onwards.

She's not expecting him to break into a sprint to catch up, or for him to grab her arm. "How long are you going to keep this stupid grudge?" he shouts at her. "You won't even let me apologize –"

"Apologize? Hah!" she snaps back, finally saying out loud what she’s been thinking for days. "You just want everything to be sunshine and roses and the blue fields of Tenebrae again –"

"I don't see why that's such a bad thing to want! You were born in Tenebrae – it's your home –"

"The blue hills of Tenebrae belong to Niflheim now," Luna says. "And so do you, you awful, filthy traitor!"

She rears back onto her hind hooves and kicks at him with her fore-hooves.

He's not expecting that, but he dodges to the side. "You've been here too long," he says grimly. "They've gotten to you –"

"Oh, yes," Luna says with a sneer. "That's it, that's definitely it. There you go again. It's evil Lucis this and evil King Regis that, because obviously poor dumb little Luna couldn't possibly be making her own decisions –"

"That's not what I meant –"

"I don't care what you meant! That's why I won't forgive you, you know, because you still don't think you were wrong – you just regret that it didn't work out the way you wanted, with you getting all the power and respect you've always wanted – wanted more than anything – more than family –"

"That's not true!"

"– and all it really is about is the fact that you're jealous, pure and simple!"

Ravus' fingers tighten on her arm. "Jealous?" he spits. "Jealous of Lucis, sitting safe and snug behind their Wall, while other people suffer outside –"

"Jealous of the fact that I have a new brother I like better than you!" she screams at him.

His grip tightens even more. "You take that back!"

"Let go of me! You're hurting me!"

"You take that back!"

Luna drops abruptly, going limp just the way Cor taught her, and uses the way that it throws Ravus' momentum off to snap her hind-hooves down and around in a spin to knock Ravus off his hooves, sending him tumbling over her back.

She climbs to her hooves, still glaring at him. "And you want me to let you apologize," she snarls at his startled face. She's so angry at him. "You want a truce, not peace – you've lived under Niflheim so long that you've forgotten what real peace looks like! You know why I call you a traitor? It's not because you were stupid enough to go to Niflheim. It's because you're still there, in your heart. You're an enemy to Lucis, Ravus, and to be an enemy of Lucis now as we get closer to the fulfillment of the Prophecy is to be an enemy of the future. And I won't have it!"

Ravus looks up at her from the floor in shock.

"You want my forgiveness?" she continues, glaring at him. "Then prove it. Prove that you're not just saying whatever empty words you think will win me over. Prove that you're on our side in this war, that you believe me that this war is real and that it's here and that you've picked life over the emptiness of death and daemons."

"I –" he starts.

"And maybe," she continues, still seeing red, "maybe when you do that, you'll apologize to King Regis, too, for all the things you've said about him, and to Noctis, and to me, too, for all the times you made me cry because I thought it was my fault that you were being so awful! Until then, you can go jump in a firepit!"

She storms away.

"Luna!" he calls.

"I'm going to Scientia's for the evening!" she shouts back. Mother technically hasn't banned her from doing so, but it's been heavily implied that it would be better for Luna to be at their awful family dinners and stay in her new room instead to better 'acclimate' back to her family. "You can tell Mother I'm spending the night. And tell her that I don't even care what she has to say about it!"

She makes it all the way back home before the rage seeps out of her, using the key that she still has to make her way into the living room – where Scientia and Iggy are sitting quietly, putting together a puzzle, and look up in surprise when she bursts into the room –

And then she bursts into tears.