#i am extremely afraid of the red hood run | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

lily-drake · 2 years ago

Text

Peter and His Pixie

Neverland is home to Lost Boys like me, And Lost Boys like me are free

After a year of collecting money he was almost able to afford the private investigator that was highly recommended by Gotham’s middle class, he just needed a bit more. He’d find his Pixie no matter what, she was his Pixie after all. He looked around for a good car to steal parts from when he saw the jackpot. The Batmobile. It looked like it had just gotten new tires, but the hubcaps hadn’t been replaced yet. Surely he wouldn’t mind if he took those old things, it was for a good cause after all, and Batman was known for his “good causes”. Looking around he didn’t see anyone so he quickly got to work. After years of doing this, he was able to remove and hide the first three tires. He was headed back for the forth when he heard a deep voice say,

“Coming back to finish?”

He jumped and held his tire-iron out in defense when his eyes landed on the big bat himself. He turned to run, but wasn’t able to get far as the dark figure lured over him and grabbed the hood of worn out red hoodie. He wasn’t afraid though, he couldn’t afford to be afraid, he needed to find his sister d*it!

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Tightening his grip on his weapon he grit his teeth. He wasn’t going to get out of this, and it would do more harm than good to attack him. He would just have to find a few more different cars to steal from. With a sigh he said,

“I’ll put ‘em back.”

Batman raised a brow and stepped aside and released his hood, but still kept close enough to grab him if he tried to run again. He got the tires out of their hiding places and quickly reattached them. Once he was done he tried to leave but the stupid bat grabbed him once more.

“Come with me.”

Oh no. He had to get away now .

“Like h***. I put ‘em back now, leave me alone.”

It seemed he didn’t have a choice though as he was thrown into the Batmobile and the hatch closed when the Bat was in too which meant that he no longer had a way of escape. The next thing he knew was the car was speeding off at nearly impossible speed and soon after he was in a dark cave. The hatch opened, but Jason didn’t dare get out now. He only dared to peek out slightly where he saw an old nicely dressed man standing and waiting there for them.

“Oh goody, company.”

The old man said with a heavy British accent. He stayed on guard, he doubted that any good could come from being taken by The Batman.

“Please do follow me.”

The man said again, as he turned to walk away. Jason turned and saw Batman staring at him, he quickly followed the old guy not wanting to be near Batman in case he got any other ideas. He followed him to some stairs and stayed a few feet behind him as he followed to make sure there weren’t any traps. He was led to a hall that looked extremely fancy. He felt out of place in his torn up hoodie and torn jeans. He was led to a room where the man opened a large door and walked inside first, as if to demonstrate that there was not a trap there.

“Welcome to Wayne Manor young master. My name is Alfred Pennyworth and I am at your service. I will try to find some suitable clothes while you go wash. I will also provide a warm meal, please ask if you need anything.”

After that he walked away. Wait. Did he say Wayne Manor?! As in playboy Bruce Wayne’s manor?! He hesitated before he cautiously went into the room as there was still a chance that there was some type trap set in place for when he entered. The room was big, too big for comfort. It was cold, then again he’s always been cold since he lost his Pixie Dust. Some stupid Captain Hook took her from him. He needed to save his Pixie back! He looked around the room looking for any recording devices. When he found none, he went to the bathroom and did the same thing before he dared to even touch his hoodie. When he was done looking and concluded that there was indeed nothing there, he stared at the large bathtub/shower. It was big, fancy, and filled with bathing supplies. Maybe a bath wouldn’t hurt, he honestly didn’t remember the last time he took one.

He closed and locked the door, checking multiple times that it was really and truly locked, he stripped and stepped into the warm water of the shower. He washed his hair multiple times until brown and gray stopped coming out from his hair. It felt nice to be clean again, he would have stayed in the warm water for the rest of his life if he were able. But the thought that somewhere out there, his sister could potentially be being beaten, dead, or worse…raped, filled his mind and all he wanted to do was get out and go back to searching for her. He needed to get back to his safehouse where he kept all of his cash. He just a little more then he could find her! He could nick something from the manor here, he doubted the man would miss it, and that would be more than enough to pay for the investigator! But, that’s not what ended up happening in the end.

________ He lived with Bruce for about a year and became his Robin a few months after he took him in that fateful night. It was August when he felt small aches and pain in random places. He was used to it as he sometimes felt them before he got adopted by Bruce, but they felt more frequent now. He often felt uneasy, but it wasn’t the manor, it was something else. He just didn’t know what yet.

________ He didn’t fully trust Bruce yet, even after a year of being with him. He didn’t want to tell him about his sister, but he must have known about her by now. He highly doubted they hadn’t checked his background, yet Bruce had never mentioned anything about her. He did all his research for her at the library, he refused to risk it. He didn’t want his sister roped into his new crazed life if he did find her. He knew she’d try to get herself involved if she knew. He was able to narrow down his search, but he still hadn’t found her! He hired the investigator, a better one than the guy he was going to use from before, but he hadn’t been much help yet.

________ Gotham Academy was …interesting. He hated the uniforms, but he was just happy that he was able to go back to school. Unfortunately it was very uptight, and everyone there were snobs that looked on him even though he currently had the highest marks in almost all of his classes. He knew he didn’t belong there, he knew he was just a street kid who got lucky, but dang it if he wasn’t going to take advantage of everything he could get before Bruce finally saw that and kicked him back out onto the streets. He hoped beyond all belief that his sister was ok, that may be she too was at least receiving a good education wherever she was. He hoped she got lucky and was able to escape if she was put into a horrible place like his thoughts often imagined. She would probably fit in here. She always had this magical way of attracting people to her.

________ Bruce just didn’t seem to understand. These people were ruining Gotham! It was best to take them out before they do any more harm to the city because he knew that they wouldn’t be prosecuted. The system was too corrupt! He’s not saying they need to kill them, just make sure that they can’t hurt anyone else by giving them a permanent injury or two. Gotham will never get better if they keep breaking out of the revolving door that is Arkham and Blackgate just to continue to hurt more and more people. As he was looking through some information on the Batcomputer he noticed a file off to the side. It was information he had gathered from Jason’s search for his sister. Bruce had been going through his information even when he wasn’t using any of his personal things to do his own search for her. There was a message from the investigator he had hired that stated that it appeared that she had been taken to Ethiopia. Why would Bruce hide this from him? There were notes next to the message saying how it might not be true, but he didn’t want to risk it. He didn’t have time to waste, he didn’t have time to ask Bruce to take him there, and didn't want to risk him saying “no” when she was so close! So he left, he was going to bring her back to him even if it was the last thing he did.

________ It turns out what he did was a terrible decision. He didn’t think that the man would trick him so that he would run right into the Joker of all people. Now here he was beaten to a pulp by the Joker by a crow bar about to die in an empty warehouse with the only thought being that he needed to escape so that he could find his sister. He didn’t want her to find out that he died if she ever returned. He just wanted to see her smile one last time. The bomb slowly ticked down as memory after memory played through his mind as he wiggled the locked handle that lead to the outside world. Tears slipped down his cheek as he chanted over and over in his mind,

“Sorry Pix, I wasn’t able to find you, I’m so sorry. Please be safe, please be alive, keep going for me.”

3…

2…

1….

Batman was moments too late. The bomb exploded and with it Jason.

________ Marinette was now 23-years-old and aching in the invisible grief that devoured her life. She just wanted to go home. There was nothing left for her anymore in Paris. She had taken the black cat, butterfly, and peacock miraculi back and made sure that Gabriel and Natalie were placed behind bars for their crimes. Now that she and her class were adults she no longer had anyone to protect. So with the money she saved from commissions she bought a ticket and flew back to Gotham, back to her home. She had to see if her brother, her Peter that made her want to fly away, was still there, still looking for her. She was bouncing in anticipation, she couldn’t wait to see him after so many long and painful years. She just knew she’d recognize him if they crossed paths, she just hoped he’d recognize her.

It was night, which was a terrible time to be out. She didn’t mean to leave this late, but she was held back at the grocery store line. As she walked back to her apartment, pepper spray clenched tightly in hand, she listened for even the smallest of sounds as she continued her walk past the alleys. When she began to hear footsteps behind her she turned a corner and waited for the person foolish enough to think they could trick her. Never again she told herself. Never again would she fall victim to another person’s schemes to use her for their own personal gain.

The sound of footsteps stopped at the mouth of the alley and when she saw the figure turn she sprayed the pepper spray in the person’s eyes. She heard the giant man scream in pain as she kicked him in the groin and kicked his temple successfully knocking him out. She knew how to play dirty, she knew playing dirty was the only way to survive in this place. She looked up and saw a figure on the roof above her. She looked up the vigilantes here to see what she had missed, there had been three new Robins since she had been taken, and one of them went missing, many theorized he was killed. The original moved on and became Nightwing. But the one on the roof was definitely not the current Robin. This one was big and had a hideous red helmet covering his head.

“Hey, are ya gonna come help?”

She called. He had been watching her for a bit, and she didn’t know why. When the figure landed beside her she studied him closely still on guard. It seemed he was watching her just as intently.

“New here?”

He asked, the helmet distorting his voice to sound more cold and mechanical, yet he still sounded almost familiar.

“No, I lived here for the first eleven years of my life. Was taken and shipped to Paris while on the streets.”

He also felt familiar. Something in the back of her mind said that she could trust him, and she had learned early on in her time as Lady Beetle to never ignore her instincts.

He lifted his hands to touch his helmet in certain places at the back of his head as if to take it off. She got ready in a battle stance and prepared herself. But she wasn’t prepared. No. She wasn’t prepared at all. There he stood. She didn’t need to see his eyes to know who he was. He had his face, there were even a few scars on his face where she had patched him up. She knew this man in front of her, she had known her for all of her life before she had been stolen from him.

“Peter?”

“Pixie Dust?”

She broke. She ran into his arms and sobbed. He held her tightly to him as well, gently swaying them side to side for a bit before he leaned down and whispered,

“Can I take you back to my safe house? We can talk there.”

All Marinette could do was nod against his chest. Goodness he had gotten so tall! With that confirmation he quickly lifted her in a backward piggyback hold and ran back to his safe house, to their safe house.

“I d-didn’t mean t-to be taken. I t-tried to fight. I-I…”

“Shhhh…. It’s ok Pix. It’s ok now. I’ve got you. I know for a fact it wasn’t your fault.”

Tears fell down both the siblings' cheeks as they were finally reunited.

“I’m s-so glad I f-found you.”

“Me too Pix. I never stopped lookin’. I swear it.”

“I know.”

Now, Red Hood had plans that night. He was going to stake out a warehouse near Crime Alley where people thought that they could bend his rules then plot a course of action to teach the morons a lesson on why you follow the Red Hood’s rules; but when he saw familiar dark hair, when he saw those blue eyes in the dark, when he saw her take down the man with moves that he had taught his sister, he just had to be 100% sure. He needed to check to make sure it was really true. So when he talked to her, listened to her voice, saw the freckles on her face, the familiar scars from when they were on the streets, he knew that whatever his plans for the night were, they were not important anymore, in fact he could always deal with the fools tomorrow. He had his sister back and she had her brother back, and if Marinette had any say in what would happen next he knew that they would rule the Underground together. She had been just as intricately involved as he had when they were on the streets. She knew what the drug trade was like, what criminals were like when they thought they could do whatever they wanted with no consequence. They both lived through the consequences of those exact actions. If the bags under her eyes and the aged look of a warrior returned from battle had anything to say, she’s seen more than they ever should have while she was away. For now though, for now they could simply exist together. Brother and sister reunited after so many years of loss.

Jason hummed a gentle song to his sister, as he continued to rock her as she cried deeply into his chest. He ran his fingers through her hair, she used to love the feeling whenever he did it before, and placed gentle kisses on the crown of her head every so often.

“I missed you.”

She would whisper.

“Me too. I’m so glad you’re back.”

He would whisper back.

“I love you Peter.”

“I love you to my Pixie Dust.”

And it would repeat until the early hours where they both fell asleep desperately clinging to the other as both prayed that this wasn’t a dream and that they were indeed reunited at last.

~End~

Taglist:

@mystery-5-5 @aespades @adrestar @astrynyx @doll246@queenz-z @toodaloo-kangaroo@crazylittlemunchkin@seraphichana @miraculous-ninja @dorkus-minimus@mysticsoulgirl @ritacrow-blog @snow-leopard-777@fidget-eep@sometandomstuff333 @lady-phoenix-of-tardis @shreeing @achaoticmess1 @liquid-luck-00@buginetye @stainedglassm@prettylittlebutterflie@laurcad123 @iloontjeboontje@heartsong18@raeuberprinzessin @when-no-wings-do-broomsticks @jennifer-rose123 @moon5608 @corporeal-terrestrial @skitarii-alpha-c6-555@saltysugarysembei @phantom120@kking13@depressed-bitchy-demon

119 notes · View notes

niqhtlord01 · 3 years ago

Text

Humans are Weird: D&D Part 3

( Please come see me on my new patreon and support me for early access to stories and personal story requests :D https://www.patreon.com/NiqhtLord Every bit helps) Human Barbarian: I roll to decapitate the shop keeper. Alien DM: Is there a reason you keep on decapitating LITERALLY everyone you meet? Barbarian: My character can’t die unless he falls in battle. Alien DM: But they aren’t battles if you kill them in one blow. Barbarian: True, but my guy has been around for hundreds of years and now just kills people for fun. Alien DM: *Looks at other party members* Is this normal? Wizard: Honestly it’s pretty tame for a barbarian. Rogue: At least he’s not the bard that became a necromancer. Alien: What happened with them? Wizard: They became a necromancer just so they could woo the woman that killed herself after talking to him. Alien: *Looks at Necromancer* Really? Necromancer: I was very proud of my seduction streak and I wasn’t about to let death break it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alien: Why do you always pick humanoid characters? Alien: Why not team up with something that is as large as a bear? Thief: We used to have a Loxodon fighter in the party, didn’t end well. Alien: What happened? Monk: We got trapped in a room flooding with water and only one way out. Warlock: The Loxodon insisted on going first through the doorway because they were afraid of water, but then became wedged in the tiny frame and couldn’t get free. Alien: How did you escape? Monk: We didn’t; we all drowned to death. Alien: If you all died then how are you here talking with me? Thief: Let’s just say we owe a man of questionable magic practices a lot of money. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Warrior: Wizard, cast fireball on my sword! Alien Wizard: Why? Warrior: So it will catch on fire and do fire damage as well! DM: I’ll allow it. Alien Wizard: Okay. *rolls a nat 20* DM: Your fireball impacts the sword dead on and melts it instantly. Warrior: What? DM: What do you think happens to cheap metal after it’s been super-heated? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DM: As you sift through the remains of the now fallen lich lord you come across his most powerful weapon. Alien players: *getting excited* DM: A cursed blade slaked in the blood of a thousand thousand victims, each one adding their strength to whomever wields this mighty blade; the most powerful weapon you have ever come across. Alien players: *Really excited now* Alien warrior: Does it have a name? DM: *Nods* It is called……the Bunny Fluffer. Alien warrior: What? You can’t be serious. DM: I did say it was a curse blade. Alien: How can a blade called the “Bunny Fluffer” be cursed?!? DM: Every time you use it in battle you must loudly announce that you are attacking with the bunny fluffer. Alien warrior: You monster! That’s so evi- Alien warrior: *Now realizing why it is cursed* ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Human: If I feed a Locathah sushi, am I committing a hate crime or unknowingly making them a cannibal? Alien DM: WTF man?!?!? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Human DM: You find yourself in a very suspicious village. Alien: You can’t just label an entire town as suspicious. Human: Roll a perception check then. Alien: *Rolls 20* Human DM: You see the town square barren save for a giant stone slab at the very center, the surface of it covered in strange red glyphs that seem to bleed the longer you stare at it. Human DM: The towns people all full length cloaks that hide their appearance with hoods so deep you cannot make out a single detail of their faces. They speak no words nor make a sound as they shift and to and fro between the buildings. Human DM: You stare up at the sky and see it thick with grey clouds that appear to bulge and retract randomly as if they are holding something within. Alien: Alright, alright, we get it. Alien: No need to be so on the nose about it. Human: You walked passed a mass murder drenched in blood because one of you saw the bar tenders dog run outside and wanted to go pet it. Human DM: I take no chances now. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alien DM: You find yourself locked in the mansion, the body of the host laying across the ballroom floor as all the guests and staff look on. Alien DM: Any one of them could be the killer. Human Warlock: I say we lock all the doors and burn the house down. Human Paladin: What? Human Rogue: That’s a bit extreme. Warlock: Listen, I’ll cast a spell that will make anyone with a guilt free conscious fire resistant. Warlock: That way when the house is on fire only the killer will catch fire and everyone else would be safe. Rogue: I guess that might work…. Paladin: Still… Warlock: Look, I’ll even stay inside to prove how trust worthy it is while you all wait outside and bar the doors. Paladin: Very well. *some time later after the mansion burned down* *Party sees only the warlock remaining among the ashes* Paladin: Impossible! Paladin: They couldn’t all have been the killer! Warlock: True, but their minds were not guilt free so I’m afraid they caught fire. Rogue: So you knowingly just had us kill an entire mansion’s worth of people. Paladin: How are you still alive?! Warlock: Simple; I did not feel the slightest bit guilty about it. Warlock: *Proceeds to remove an artifact that collects the souls of the recently deceased* ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alien DM: Pick your characters. Human: I am a Halfling necromancer. Human 2: I am an elf necromancer. Human 3: I am a human necromancer. Alien: Seriously?! Alien: Does no one want to be something else? Human 4: I am an orc shaman. Alien: Well thank y- Human 4: That dabbles in necromancy. Alien: Gods damnit! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Human DM: And with that you have finally slain the great dragon Human DM: The town of Scabersburgs will forever be in your debt. Alien Wizard: That was a stupid encounter, let’s end it here. *Human DM makes note as the group leaves for the night* *Next week’s encounter* Human DM: You return to find the town of Scaversburg in the grips of a deadly plague. Human DM: The town’s folk are being driven mad as over the last few days many of them have begun growing scales across their body, talons where their fingers once were, and some have even begun sprouting lizard like wings and tails. Human DM: As they see you all return to the village their collective shouts of anger roar across the town as the entire city springs forth to hunt you down. Alien Wizard: Wait what!? Alien Wizard: I call bullshit; how could this suddenly happen?! Human DM: Well, if you had waited long enough to hear the dragons dying words he placed a powerful curse on his blood that any who should drink of it shall become as he once was. Alien Wizard: That’s still bullshit! Alien Wizard: No way the villagers would just walk up to a dead dragon and drink its blood. Human DM: Unless because you failed to dispose of the body the blood seeped into the ground and mixed with the towns water supply, thus contaminating everyone. *Group angrily looks at Wizard that encouraged them to leave early* Human DM: Roll for initiative. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alien DM: As you make camp deep within the frost mountains of Galgieth you find that your provisions bag has torn open and you have no food to eat. Alien DM: Unless you act quickly you will starve to death. Wizard: I got this. Wizard: *Turns to barbarian* Wizard: Cut off my left arm. Barbarian: Done! *rolls a nat 20* Alien DM: *Confused* You chop off the left arm of your wizard, the limb falling lifelessly to the ground as spouts of blood pour out. Wizard: I cast regeneration to regrow my severed limb. *Rolls a nat 20* Alien DM: *Still confused* Your left arm grows back as if it was never gone. Wizard: I put my severed limb over the open fire to cook. Alien DM: You want to turn your party into cannibals? Rogue: Wouldn’t be the first time.

#HUMANS ARE WEIRD #humans are insane #humans are space orcs #humans are space oddities #funny #short #banter #dnd #d&d

423 notes · View notes

mochegato · 3 years ago

Text

Heroic Deeds

Thanks to @boldlyanxious and @ive-fallen-down-the-rabbithole for the idea

Marinette was going to kill her roommate. Because that’s why she was in this situation in the first place, her roommate was too busy to pick up his own damn paperwork. And she was just too “nice” to say no. And puppy dog eyes should be illegal. In fact, that was the next house rule. No puppy dog eyes. She has never in her life been able to say no to puppy dog eyes and mean it. Manon, Etta, Ella, Adrien… no more! Hence forth they were banned. It was already a rule with the kwami. It would just have to be instituted as a rule with humans as well.

But until then, she had to deal with this ridiculousness. This thief that sounded like he was bored out of his mind, like she was inconveniencing him by being held hostage. Is it too much to ask for him to be more invested in this than she is? I mean, she may be the one with the gun pointed at her, but he’s the one that’s pointing it and he’s the one that broke into the office to steal whatever documents he was halfheartedly looking for during the day instead of at night when NOBODY WOULD BE THERE.

But noooo, this jackass had to do it during the day and at the exact moment when she would be there. Really, what was her luck? Was this punishment for not wearing Tikki constantly anymore? She was only supposed to be in this office for a total of a whole ninety seconds. Walk in, grab the documents that were supposed to be ready and waiting for her, and walk out. But instead she was stuck here critiquing this idiot’s ransacking skills, because that ninety seconds is exactly when this blasé thief decided to strike.

At least Kate was safe, she huffed to herself. Kate had been lucky enough to have gone to the backroom for the documents just a few seconds before Idiot Man came in. Hopefully, she had escaped through the backdoor and had contacted the police already. Because apparently Kate hadn’t pissed off the kwami of luck like Marinette somehow had. She and Tikki were going to have a very long, very hissy discussion when she got back home.

And this guy wasn’t. Even. Paying. Attention. To. Her. The gun was pointed in her general direction, but it was like she was the furthest thing from his mind, like she held the same threat level as a kitten. But that was his mistake, underestimating her, because this kitten had claws. God, she’s been hanging out with Adrien too much. She’s beginning to think like him. She let out a breath and banged her head against the back of the chair she was sitting in out of frustration and disappointment in herself.

It wouldn’t be so bad if he was ignoring her to focus on his search, but he wasn’t really paying attention to that either. She would think he was high on something if there were any other signs of it. No, this just was just bored, like he was wasting time, waiting for the police to show up. Maybe it’s the ski mask he was wearing that was annoying him. Who wears a ski mask in the summer? And… did he just check his phone! Oh, Hell no! That was the final straw.

She moved before she could overthink it, sliding over the desk she had moved behind when he came in. She plowed into his chest with both feet, catching him completely off guard and knocking him back into the filing cabinet.

“Hey, get off me!” he yelled, sounding more affronted than worried.

She twisted around and kicked the gun out of his hand with one leg, following it up with a punch that would have broken his nose if he hadn’t blocked it with his forearm, redirecting her hit. She stopped her momentum before breaking her hand on the filing cabinet. She pulled her arm back instead striking her elbow directly into his cheek.

“What the fuck!” he yelled, holding his cheek and looking up at her like she was crazy.

He reached for his gun, but she kicked his arm and raced for it herself, kicking it under a nearby cabinet. “That was my gun!” he gritted out, rounding on her. At least he finally looked invested in this.

“I noticed,” she smirked at him, delivering a roundhouse kick to the face. He dodged at the last second and shoved her leg, changing her momentum and sending her flying toward the edge of the table. She squeezed her eyes shut as she braced herself for the impact. If she timed this right, she could use the table as a springboard to go back at him. The table was solidly built from thick, heavy wood and metal. It had to weigh several hundred pounds. It would be able to take her weight without moving even a centimeter. She took a breath to prepare, but the impact was significantly softer than she had anticipated and didn’t give her the bounce back she expected, causing her to end up sprawled on the floor instead of springing back at the thief.

Before she had even registered what happened, she heard a grunt in front of her and the sound of the table scraping against the floor as it moved. She looked up to a red helmet looking back at her. Her eyes flicked down quickly to his chest as if she needed the confirmation the bright red bat there gave her. He stood up quickly, rubbing his shoulder as he approached her. He knelt down in front of her. “You okay?” His voice was considerably softer than she would have anticipated from the vigilante considered to be the most dangerous of the bats.

She stared at him for a few seconds, shocked by the tone and to see him there in the first place. She had been expecting the police not a bat. It was daytime, everyone knew they didn’t come out during the day. The bat signal didn’t work during the day. “Miss,” he tried again, his voice taking on a concerned edge.

“Oh! Yes. Yeah. I’m fine.” She nodded rapidly and reached down to rub her leg where the thief had pushed her, more to relieve anxiety than because it actually hurt.

“You’re hurt.” It was a comment, not a question.

“It’s okay, really,” she tried to assure him, but he was already up and stalking toward the thief who had started edging toward the door. Marinette mentally scoffed at his stupidity. She understood underestimating her, she was an unknown and looked tiny. But Red Hood was a known entity. His threat level was well established. Why on Earth wouldn’t the thief have run as soon as he appeared?

“Hood…” he started nervously, holding up his hands as though trying to placate him.

Whatever other argument he was going to try to make died on his lips as Hood picked him up and threw him through the large, plate glass, front window. He stood at the window for a few seconds, watching the thief run away. Satisfied with what he saw, he turned back to her. “How badly are you hurt?” He approached her slowly. He rolled his shoulder a few times, almost imperceptibly. If she hadn’t been familiar with trying to hide an injury, she might have missed it.

Marinette smiled at him. “I’m not. Are you? Did I hurt your shoulder when I slammed into you?”

“Are you sure?” He stopped a respectable distance from her. He seemed to eye her leg suspiciously, but backed off questioning it. “I mean emotionally too. An incident like that can be stressful for some people.”

Marinette rolled her eyes. “Please, that wasn’t stressful. That was annoying. And you didn’t answer my question. How is your shoulder?”

Red Hood paused for a few seconds watching her. “It’s fine. You weren’t afraid?”

Marinette scoffed. “No. The most stressful part of this is I’m supposed to be picking up some important documents for my roommate and I don’t know if I’m going to be able to get them now.”

“If you didn’t feel afraid of what he would do, why did you attack him? You could have provoked him into doing something he wasn’t going to do before,” he gently chided her.

Marinette let out an annoyed sigh. “You sound like my roommate.”

“Sounds like a wise man. Why didn't you listen?” He cocked his head to the side.

She mumbled something into her feet, not making eye contact with him.

He arched his head closer to her. “What was that?” She mumbled something again, slightly louder this time, but still not loud enough for him to understand what she said. “What?”

“Because he pissed me off. Okay?” she finally yelled in exasperation.

“What did he do to piss you off?” he asked carefully, because if the guy did anything to hurt her, he was going to hunt the asshole down and kill him.

“He was bored,” she growled. “He was holding me at gunpoint and acting like I was the one that forced him into the situation and it pissed me off, okay. I mean the audacity!” Red Hood fought laughing at the adorable scrunched up face she made as she talked. She waved her arms around agitatedly as she spoke. “You don't want to be here? Newsflash, asshole! Neither do I! I mean, if you’re going to threaten me, put some effort into it, you know? Am I not worth the effort?”

“You are.” Red Hood answered instantly. “I mean, you seem like you are… from what I can tell.”

“It’s just disrespectful,” she groused, crossing her arms over her chest and pouting as she leaned against the table.

“Extremely,” he agreed absently, staring at her pouting lips. “Lucky for you though. Seems like he underestimated you. I don’t even think you needed this knight in shining leather to rescue you.”

She huffed out a laugh. “I already have a knight in shining leather. Two, actually, if you count my roommate, which I do. I don’t really need another.”

He motioned like he wanted to take his helmet off but stopped himself. He positioned his arm on the table she was leaning on, supporting his weight as he leaned closer to her. “But are they heroes?”

“Yes,” she answered without hesitation. “I mean… to me,” she added quickly. She didn’t need anyone making any kind of a connection between her and Chat.

He seemed to contemplate her for a moment before responding. “You must be quite something to have so many knights willing to fight for you. But, maybe you can use another, after all they’re not here right now and I am. I can be your knight in shining Kevlar instead.”

She chuckled, looking down shyly. When she looked back up, it was through her eyelashes. “Yes, you are here and during the day too,” she smirked at him. “I didn’t think you guys could come out during the day. I thought sun repelled you.”

“You’re thinking of vampires.”

She pretended to study him carefully. “So you’re stating for the official record that you are not, in fact, vampires then? Just regular bats. Interesting.” She looked away nodding as if in thought. “I’ll have to let my friend know you’re refuting that theory. She runs a superhero blog. The vampire Bats theory is one of the more popular posts.”

He chuckled and she could hear the smile through his words. “We aren’t. Well, I’m not. Can’t vouch for Robin though. He’s definitely some kind of cryptid.”

Her face was starting to hurt from trying to contain her smile. She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at him. “Although… you could be lying. After all, you are entirely covered right now… in the middle of the day… in the summer. That’s a lot of leather for a hot day. It kind of looks like you’re hiding from the sun.” She shrugged her shoulders innocently.

Red Hood stared at her a few more seconds and she was cursing the helmet for an entirely different reason than she usually did. Right now she was dying to know what kind of face he was making. Was he smirking? Was he frowning? Was he blushing? Did she make Red Hood blush! Was he enjoying the interaction or was she annoying him? He moved over to the window he had thrown the thief through earlier and stopped a few feet from it. He pulled up his sleeve to reveal his forearm and exposed it to the sun. “Happy?”

Marinette looked at his forearm for a few seconds, struck by the muscles that were so defined even in his forearms. The things that man could probably do with his hands… She walked closer and started to reach out to touch his forearm only to snap her hand back at the last second. Her cheeks blazed brightly. She cleared her throat lightly. “For now,” she nodded as casually as she could manage, looking everywhere but his eyes.

“Don’t feel shy, P… rincess,” he smirked at her. “Feel free to feel freely.”

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest, as much to stop herself from reaching out to touch him as embarrassment. “Probably not a good idea to go around groping people you don’t know so….”

“So,” he started quietly, moving closer to her, “you’re saying you want to get to know me better and then you’ll grope me.” He quirked his head to the side as he took another step closer. “How well do we have to know each other for that? ‘Cuz, I’d let you do it now, so it’s all up to you.”

Marinette’s cheeks blazed a deep red. She looked away to collect herself. While this was fun and Red Hood’s body should be as illegal as his actions, she wasn’t looking to be another notch for him and considering the speed he was moving with someone he just met a few seconds ago, that’s all she would be. She took a breath and looked back up at him. “I’m saying… I should find the papers I was sent here for and get them back to my roommate.”

“Let me walk you home. Make sure the guy doesn’t come back. I can check the security of your place too to make sure you’re safe,” he offered in a tone that sounded sincere.

“Okay,” she nodded.

“Okay?” He sounded surprised at her answer. Most women must not say yes to him, which frankly she had a really hard time believing.

“To the walk, not the apartment check,” she corrected him firmly. “My apartment is safe.”

“Are you sure? I can…”

“My roommate made sure it’s safe and I trust my roommate more than I trust you,” she cut him off. “No offense.”

Red Hood was silent for a few seconds before nodding. “Okay.”

<><><><><>

Marinette laid down on the couch for a while after getting home replaying the events in her head. No matter how many times she ran through them, they still didn’t make any sense. The thief didn’t make sense. Red Hood being there during the day didn’t make sense. And Red Hood hitting on her… didn’t not make sense, but it definitely dampened the crush she had on him.

After a little while, her stomach reminded her she had planned to pick up something to eat after picking up the paperwork, which means she hadn’t eaten since the croissant she had at breakfast and it was now dinnertime. She let out a groan and forced herself up off the couch. Maybe chopping some vegetables would make her feel better anyway.

She had already started sautéing the onions when the puppy dog eyed man himself finally made it home. “That smells great, Mari. Were you able to get the paperwork?”

Marinette blinked at him a few times before narrowing her eyes and pointing the knife she was holding at him. “You’re not allowed to do puppy dog eyes anymore!”

“What? Why? I mean… I don’t… do that,” he trailed off quietly at the glare she was sending him.

“Yes, you do,” she glowered and went back to cutting vegetables for dinner a little more forcefully than she had originally.

“So what happened that was so bad?” he asked carefully. He moved to sit on the counter, but made sure to keep a fair distance between him and Marinette, or more specifically, her knife.

“The office got robbed!” she exclaimed loudly, waving the knife wildly. “While I was in it!”

He jumped down off the counter and ran to her. He grabbed her shoulders and looked her over carefully for any signs of injury. “Mari! Are you okay? Did you get hurt?”

Marinette scoffed. “No. ��I just started trying to take him down when Red Hood interrupted.”

“Red Hood, huh?” He waggled his eyebrows at her.

“Yes, Red Hood,” she rolled her eyes. “Shut up.”

He opened his mouth to say something, but shut it quickly and took the knife from her hand first. Once he was fairly safe from getting stabbed, accidentally or on purpose, he continued. “Did you flirt with him?”

“What?” Her cheeks flared brightly. What the hell! Why was he asking her that? That was not a conversation she wanted to have. It was hard enough to have normal conversations with him and his tight shirts and charming smile and piercing eyes, but him encouraging her to flirt with other people was really not a conversation she wanted to have.

“Well you… you like him, right? You said he was your favorite and he was a dilf, even though I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have any kids,” he said nonchalantly as he swirled the onions in the pan.

“Yeah, because he could be my daddy,” Marinette muttered to herself, but apparently not as quietly as she thought she did, judging by the choking sounds next to her.

“What!”

“What?” The smug smirk making its way across his face told her that her denial didn’t come across as innocently as she had hoped. “Shut up, Jason.”

“So he made a good impression then?” He asked somewhat awkwardly, which was bizarre for him. “You might even want to see him again?”

She smacked him in the shoulder pausing when he flinched heavily. She stared at him, studying him closely. That was where Red Hood had been nursing earlier. Red Hood, who has the same dimensions as Jason. Red Hood, who had a still healing cut on his forearm in the exact same spot as the one Jason mysteriously showed up with a few days ago. Red Hood, who knew her roommate was a he. Red Hood, who reminded her so much of Jason, which is why she liked him so much in the first place. Red Hood, who was definitely flirting with her as he rescued her while she was the only one… in Jason’s aunt’s office… after saving her from someone who, thinking back, had the same dimensions and eye color as Roy…

“Oh he made an impression,” she said absentmindedly, still staring at his shoulder.

“A… um, a good one? He did save you, right? Heroic deeds and all? Women love a hero,” Jason added casually.

Marinette stared at him for a few seconds, letting the pieces settle into place. Finally, her eyes widened in realization. “You set it up…”

Jason’s face went blank. “I… What?”

“You set it up,” Marinette repeated with more confidence. “You… Why?”

“What are you talking about?” Jason tried desperately.

She punched him hard in the shoulder. “Jesus! Fuck, Pixie. That hurt.” Jason cried out as he rubbed his aching shoulder.

“Good! What the fuck? Why would you do that? Were you trying to scare me?”

“No! I was… Because… because you liked Red Hood. I wanted you to meet him,” he said defensively. He looked away and took a breath. When he looked back, his voice was quieter, shakier. “You wanted Red Hood and… and I wanted you so…”

“You know, you could have just, I don’t know, popped up on the roof when I was there or showed up when I was walking home. You didn’t have to stage a robbery! Think about all that damage Kate has to deal with now!”

“She was remodeling anyway. She needed to demo the entire office so… two birds, you know?” He shrugged a little too casually to be casual and flipped the onions again.

“And one bat.” He rolled his eyes at her. “Or you could have just… said something”

“You weren’t interested in me. You were interested in Red Hood.”

Marinette let out a long sigh. “I was interested in Red Hood because he reminded me of you.”

His eyes widened in realization. “Oh.”

“Yeah, ‘oh’. And liking him seemed less emotionally damaging than destroying my relationship with you by flirting.”

“You thought I wasn’t interested?” He looked at her incredulously. She looked down at her feet, shuffling them awkwardly, refusing to make eye contact, almost like she was afraid of what he was going to say. He couldn’t allow that to continue. He turned off the stove and walked up to her slowly, careful not to scare her, just like Red Hood had earlier that day. He gently cupped her face, softly enough that she could pull away if she wanted to. He stroked her cheeks tenderly.

When he finally spoke up again, his voice was loving and reverent. “Pix, I’m head over heels. I don’t think you even… no, I know you don’t know how much or you wouldn’t question why I tried talking to you as Red Hood instead. I love you, Pix. I love your heart and your humor and your sass and your passion… and your face. I love that too.

“And God, your smiles. I love your smile when you’re happy, which is different than your smile when you beat me at UMS, which is different than your smile when you see a little kitten, which is different than your smile when you’re thinking about home, which is different than your smile after you’ve completed a commission, which is different than your smile when I make an amazing joke that you hate. I love them all and I just want to see any of them, all of them, every day.”

He didn’t realize how close he had gotten to Marinette’s face until he realized the gasp she let out sounded like it was right next to him. She laid her hands over his wrists. “Jason…”

“And I really hope I didn’t…”

“Jason!” she interrupted. He looked at her wide eyed. She smiled reassuringly at him. “Can I kiss you?”

“Oh God, Pixie, you can’t imagine how happy that would make me,” he smiled down at her, lowering himself so his lips were close enough for her to reach.

She grinned back up at him as she pushed herself up, her lips a few millimeters from his. “Oh, I think I have an idea,” she whispered before closing the distance.

@jasonette-july-event @maribatserver

#maribat #jasonette #Jasonette July #Jasonette July 2021 #prompt - heist

191 notes · View notes

nastybuckybarnes · 4 years ago

Text

Monsters - Eight

Pairing: Dark!Bucky X Reader

Summary: Bucky Barnes is a man who just wants to do better. But he can’t stop the monster from coming out every now and then. As a last and hopeless attempt at calming The Winter Soldier, SHIELD finds him something they figured would help. An innocent young woman with not a lot going for her. Or, The Winter Soldiers newest victim.

Warnings: Angst, Injuries, Language, Violence

Word Count: 2.1K

A/n: Hello and welcome back to this shitshow!!!! I have a midterm next week but I wanna write today instead of studying. I’m gonna start up part nine and I want you all to hold onto your pearls cause I’m in the mood to fuck shit up

THIS IS A DARK FIC WITH SEXUAL AND TRIGGERING CONTENT!!!

SORRY IF SOME TAGS ARE FORGOTTEN!!!!

Series Masterlist

~*~

Natasha’s chest heaves, her eyes hooded and dark as you pull the thirteenth orgasm from her. Her legs are trembling and her body is covered in sweat, but you have no intention of stopping.

“So, Natty,” you sneer the nickname, eyes hard as you look at her.

“Have you learned your lesson? Are you gonna leave James alone? Or do I need to take more extreme measures?” She glares up at you and you giggle, leaning forward and pulling the gag from her mouth.

She pants openly then spits onto the floor, trying to get the taste of your panties out of her mouth.

“Why are you doing this to me?”

“Because you think you can have him. You think you can have James. You think you’re strong enough for him. You’re not! And I am! I’m the only one who can take the pain.” She furrows her brows in confusion.

“What are you talking about?” You chuckle, the sound hard and lacking humour.

“What do you think I’m talking about?! I’m his fucking remedy! I’m the reason he’s so calm! I’m why the monster stays away! I can fucking tame the soldier! Me! Not you! You’ll never be able to tame him like I can!” The pieces slowly click in her mind and she gapes at you.

“He's been taking it out on you, hasn’t he?” You scoff. “He loves me.” She shakes her head, seeing through you.

“He hurts you.” You shrug. “But I can take it. I’m strong enough to handle it.” Her eyes flash down to the long angry scars on your wrists and she raises one eyebrow.

“Really? Because it doesn’t look like it.” Your hand is suddenly wrapped around her throat, squeezing tightly while she struggles to breathe.

“Make another fucking comment. I dare you.” Her eyes stay hard and trained on you, even as her face turns red then blue. You finally let her go and she drops her head forward, coughing and trying desperately to catch her breath.

“You fucking doubt how strong I am... how strong I have to be.... you have no idea what I’ve been through. The shit I've endured. And I’ve only come out stronger because of it.” She scoffs, the sound weak and scratchy.

“Oh yeah? Like what?” An idea pops into your mind and you walk away from her to grab the tablet off of the table across the room. You return, plopping down next to her.

“You really wanna know what I’ve gone through?” She suddenly looks slightly afraid, not liking the fact that she has no idea what you’re going to show her.

You open the tablet and scroll through the files until you find the video you’re looking for.

“You think you know James. You think that you can handle him, that you’re strong enough to take what he dishes out? Fucking tell me that after this.” You push the tablet between her spread legs, the video playing at full volume.

Anger burns in your belly and you watch on the video as Bucky fucks you with a gun. The memories burn the back of your mind and you look at the redhead, watching as tears fill her eyes.

She stares, absolutely hypnotized by the video as she watches the man she thought she knew humiliates you on camera.

Her eyes dart to your face, and suddenly it makes more sense while simultaneously making less sense.

“Why do you love him?” She asks softly. You look at her, the video now acting as background noise.

“Because I’m important to him. He saved me. He cares about me. He needs me. Without me, he’d be alone. He’d be hopeless. James needs me and the soldier needs me. They both need me. I love them because they need me and they take care of me.” She shakes her head, glancing down at the video in time to see him pressing the gun to your head.

“This... this isn’t love.” You raise your eyebrows. “Oh? And what do you know about love? Do you love James? Does he love you? I didn’t think so. And to prevent that from happening, you need to be taken out of the picture. That’s why I brought you here. You’re not going to get in the way of me and James. Not again. He’s been spending too much time with you.” She looks up at you with pleading eyes.

“(Y/n) this isn’t healthy. He’s hurting you. This is your mind putting up a shield to protect you from the pain he’s caused.”

You stand up, shaking your head at her. “This is love. He loves me. They both do. And I’m not gonna let you come between us. Not now, not ever.”

~*~

“Still nothing from her?” Bucky asks into the phone, a frown on his pink lips. Steve huffs from the other line. “Nothing. It’s not like her to just disappear without saying anything to anyone. Even Fury doesn’t know where she is.” Bucky pushes his front door open and tosses his keys aside, stressed beyond belief.

“Alright. Keep me updated.” He hangs up the phone and pauses, listening carefully before sighing. It sounds like you’re upstairs, from what he can hear. He’s not exactly in the mood to be with you, far too worried about where Natasha is.

He makes to sit down on the couch, halting for a moment when he looks at the coffee table.

His tablet’s missing.

The shower starts upstairs so he knows you’re here. Why would you touch it? What would you do with it?

He grabs his phone and opens the ‘find my device’ app that Tony installed, thankful that it’s finally coming in handy.

He follows the little red dot, brows furrowed when it leads him down the stairs. His tablet is forgotten momentarily when he hears what sounds like sniffling coming from further in the basement. Following the sound, he gets to a latch on the floor that leads to the cellar.

With his heart racing in his chest, he lifts the latch and listens closely, brows furrowed in confusion.

That’s not what you sound like when you cry. Part of him is disturbed that that’s the first connection he made, but he quickly pushes that aside, hesitantly descending the ladder and looking around the dimly-lit room.

His heart nearly stops when he sees the redhead bound across the room, tears on her face as she shudders in the cool air.

“Nat!” He cries, sliding to his knees in front of her, his hands fluttering around uselessly as he tries to figure out what she needs first.

Her head snaps up to him, different emotions playing across her face before horror settles on her features.

“Don’t touch me,” she whispers, jolting away from him. He stares at her in confusion before his eyes zero in on the tablet between her naked legs, a familiar video playing.

The colour drains from his face and he looks at her, mouth gaping.

“I- th-that wasn’t...” She shakes her head at him, fear and anger chasing each other through her body. The wooden ladder creaks as someone enters the cellar and both spies look to the sound.

“James! I wasn’t expecting you home so soon! Welcome home,” you say happily. He’s absolutely beyond confused.

“What the fuck is going on?” He demands. You smile sweetly at him, walking over and pressing a gentle kiss to his cheek.

“You know, I found out that you don’t really talk about me to your coworkers. I’m hurt. Imagine my surprise when Natty over here doesn’t even know who I am. That hurts my feelings.” He’s still so fucking confused.

“I invited her over. I wanted to get to know her better. Turns out, she spent this time getting to know you better. She didn’t know what you did. Who you are. But now she does.” The two spies are silent for a long moment, Bucky avoiding the redhead’s intense gaze.

“Why did you do it?” Nat asks in a whisper, glaring at the man.

“I didn’t... it wasn’t me.”

“Bullshit!” She snarls. You watch the exchange, a smile on your pretty face as Natasha lashes out at him.

“But it’s okay, James. This is why we’re so perfect together. This is how lesser people react to you... all of you. But not me. You bring out the best in me, and I tame the beast in you. We’re so good for each other.”

Natasha shakes her head, terrified for your sake.

“You can’t possibly believe that. Not after everything he’s done to you.” You shrug, resting your hands on his shoulders and smiling at the redhead, smugly showing off the fact that you can openly touch the man before you.

“I love him,” you say simply, ignoring the way he stiffens at your words.

“No, you don’t.” You shrug again, running your fingers through Bucky’s hair then tugging gently to get his attention.

“James I’m giving you a choice, an escape. You don’t need her. She could never understand you the way I do. She’d never be able to handle you the way I can.” He looks between the two of you, brain running in circles as he tries to figure out the best course of action. You grab his hand and pull him to his feet, tugging him towards the exit.

“Come on. Let’s go upstairs. I’m thinking we should have pasta for dinner.” You turn around and walk to the ladder, stopping when you don’t hear him behind you. You look over your shoulder, frowning at the way he’s looking at Natasha.

“You’re not... you’re not seriously considering picking her over me, are you?” He looks up at you with pain in his eyes and you giggle.

“Come on, James. Look at how she reacted from seeing the monster. Imagine what she'd do if she ever met him.” He walks over to you, eyes glazing for half a second before returning to normal.

Two hands cup your cheeks, one cold and one warm, and you sigh happily.

“You are so very important, (Y/n). To me and to... him. But I can’t just leave her here.” Your eyes snap open and you stare up at him, lifting your head out of his hands just a bit.

“Is that your final choice?” You ask, voice a soft whisper. He squeezes his eyes shut and nods.

“I’m sorry. But I... I can’t.” You purse your lips and nod, one hand coming up to cup his cheek while the other reaches into your pocket.

“It's okay, James,” you whisper, pressing your lips to his while your free hand slowly sneaks out of your pocket.

He’s surprised but kisses you back, hoping that this will be enough for you to let him and Natasha go without him having to hurt you.

“If I can’t have you,” you murmur against his lips, pulling away to kiss down his neck, “no one can.”

By the time the words are registering in his brain you’ve already plunged the knife into his stomach and ripped it out again.

“No!” Natasha screams, watching the bloody knife enter his torso again.

You smile and pull away, eyes wild and dangerous as you stab him a third time, this one under the ribs.

He stumbles back and you sigh. “I really hoped it didn’t have to be this way, James. I love you. And you... you let me be the person I’m meant to be. The person I’ve buried away for so long. I’ll never be able to thank you enough for it.” You push your hair away from your face, leaving a bloody streak of red across your forehead.

He slumps against the wall, hands pressed tightly to the wounds on his chest.

You step over his outstretched legs and up the ladder, not sparing a second glance at the two of them before closing the latch and locking it tightly.

~*~

“Why did you do it?” Natasha asks, her voice rough with emotion. Bucky leans back against the wall, wincing at the pain in his abdomen. You’ve hit something important, that much he knows for sure. He’ll probably survive, but it’s gonna hurt like a bitch for the next week or so.

“I... it wasn’t all me. It started off as me but then it was... him.” She furrows her brows in confusion. “What do you mean ‘him’?” He sighs and closes his eyes tightly.

“The monster. I can’t control him. It was getting better but... that was the worst. And I’ve never... he’s never lashed out on her like that since. I think subconsciously I’m starting to appreciate her and realize how much she helps, but I never thought...” He thinks back to how you stabbed him with a smile on your face. Whoever he thought you were clearly isn’t who you are. And at that moment, he’s sure that even Fury would be surprised by this.

403 notes · View notes

pl-panda · 4 years ago

Text

The vines that bind us - Chapter 9

Chapter 1 || Previous || Next

------

She opened the window and picked a pencil. With deadly precision she tossed it. The wooden tool sailed through the air until it hit the binoculars and broke one side of them. She huffed and closed the window before pulling the curtains closed. How rude.

Jason cursed under his breath. Any other day he would probably avoid the projectile, but it caught him completely by surprise. By all accounts, it was physically impossible to use a pencil with such precision and force to destroy military-grade night-vision binoculars. At least the memory card was safe so he could give it to replacement later on for analysis.

Still in bad mood after having his gear ruined, Jason zipped to Dupain-Cheng’s window and gave a light knock. No response. Another knock. Still no response. Finally, after the third knock, the blinders opened and the window itself followed, revealing a very angry girl. Jason finally had a chance to get a better look at her. She did, in fact, have blue hair and now that he’d seen it close, he would bet half his paycheque that it was somehow a natural color. The purple too. She must have had her hair dyed for the first day of work. Her eyes were another part that he memorized. They were blue and iridescent green at the same time, giving a slight unnatural aura. Or maybe it was just that she looked ready to murder him.

“Are you done staring?” She asked, clearly annoyed. “You are not my type and much too old. And the stalker routine is plain creepy. Get lost old guy.”

She was about to close the window when he started speaking.

“I actually came to apologize. I did not ‘stalk’ you, thank you very much. I was just checking on you, miss. You do realize that you single-handedly kicked Riddler’s ass and got quite a bit of publicity.”

“Suuure. You do that for every brave citizen?” She asked with a raised eyebrow and a small grin. “You would be really short-staffed. I hope that overgrown furry does pay you for the overtime.” Any traces of amusement disappeared from her face. “Now get lost before I sic Chloe on you. She recently started dating Damian Wayne and the two seem to bond over ruining people. I’m sure you would make a decent target.” Without further ado, Mari closed the window and put the blinders back in place, completely cutting him off.

Jason didn’t protest. He was too busy processing the fact that Demon Spawn apparently started dating someone. Oh, he would have so much fun teasing the little menace.

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

When the motorbike entered the Batcave, Jason expected to meet perhaps the Replacement or Demon Spawn. He definitely did not expect to see the entire family sans B and Alfred.

“Do you want to perhaps explain why dad received an angry call about ‘some idiot in red bucket’ stalking her through the window?” Barbara asked. frowning deeply.

“Or at least why were you stalking her?” Dick added.

“Or where you hid my coffee?” Tim joined.

“Timothy!” Several of them shouted.

“What? It’s important!”

“Back to the matter at hand.” Dick turned back to Jason. “What exactly were you thinking?!” He screamed.

“Geez. You thought about joining some opera?”

“Tt. Answer the question.” Damian interrupted.

“That reminds me. Did you know Demon Spawn got himself a girlfriend?” Jason asked, trying to deflect. He really did not like how they jumped at him.

“Not… important.” Cass stared daggers at him. “Talk.”

“Fine!” he threw hands in the air. “I followed a hunch. And I was right. She is a meta!” He procured his destroyed binoculars. “There is no human way to destroy military-grade equipment like that with just a pencil.”

Tim picked it up and quickly tossed it onto the table nearby. A blue light scanned the products and the bat-computer started to display the scan plus introductory analysis.

“Well, he is right. There is no way that a simple pencil could destroy it.” He pressed some buttons and recording from the last seconds of the item’s life played. They could clearly see her throw a pencil at it and then everything went black. “Or I was wrong.” Tim started to do a series of calculations.

“Bucket-head might be onto something. With her muscle mass, it would be impossible to throw a pen with enough force. Actually, it’s almost impossible to make that throw. Not with human muscle density…”

Barbara rolled over to him and the two started to work side by side. “But that’s also not probable since the body is not…”

“She would probably…”

“Plant fibers have a similar structure, but she would…”

“Maybe… Unless she is not strong and instead…”

“Um… earth to nerd corner. Can you explain?”

“Jason might have hit the bullseye.” Tim grinned and several groans could’ve been heard. “She is definitely a meta. It still doesn’t explain why you stalked her.”

“Is that not reason enough?” Red Hood asked. He immediately regretted it when Duke stared daggers at him.

“You do realize, that metahumans are not as rare as it was believed at the beginning?” Tim asked.

“What?”

“Roughly ten percent of humans are born with dormant meta-gene and the number is increasing each year. And about one in twenty people have an active meta-gene. They just don’t go around wrecking everything or don a cape and run around beating people.” Tim spoke in a matter-of-factly tone.

“What?”

“Yeah. Eidetic memory, or perfect recall for our uneducated bucket-head,” Tim snickered while Jason grumbled.

“I hate that name.”

“I think it will stay for a while.” Stephanie was smiling. “She does have a way with nicknames. First an overgrown furry, then red Buckethead…” She was on the verge of laughing. “I wonder what she does next?”

“As I was saying,” Tim regained the control of the conversation, “eidetic memory is actually one of the earliest forms of registered active meta-ability.”

“What?”

“The gene tends to activate under extreme duress, but, as we learned, the definition of extreme duress varies from person to person.”

“So what? A guy afraid of failing an exam might accidentally unlock super memory?” Jason dismissed it.

“More like if someone lived in years under pressure and is about to crack.” Dick pointed. “I mean there was even this large awareness campaign about four years ago led by Beast Boy. Where were you?”

“Dead.” Jason deadpanned. “I was dead.”

“Oh… I guess you didn’t see Garfield’s movies then?” Steph asked, being the first to break through the heavy atmosphere.

“She is still a meta.” Jason tried to fight, but his arguments were wavering.

“Which changes nothing. You will go to her tomorrow and apologize.” Tim said categorically.

“Ugh! Fine. But I got one more interesting fact: Demon Spawn got himself a girlfriend.” He grinned and turned to Damian. Everyone followed his gaze.

“Tt. I have no idea what you are talking about Todd.”

“That blonde! Charlie saw you two sitting and eating pastries together! She is the new intern!” Dick had a big fat smile on his face and his eyes were almost glittering. “Who is she? How did you two meet?”

“Blonde?” Tim suddenly paled considerably. “There is only one blonde intern. Please tell me you aren’t dating Chloe Bourgeoise of all people!” He squeaked.

Damian wanted to deny it further, but seeing the Replacement’s reaction he changed his mind. The grin that formed on his face was borderline malicious before turning back to the emotionless mask he wore every day. “Yes. She finally admitted that I was not at fault for the cake incident. She is actually tolerable now.”

“What cake incident?” Steph asked, smelling some juicy story about her ex. That kind of story was the best.

“Tt. When we were at this gala in Paris two years ago, Replacement attacked me and we fell into the birthday cake.”

“It doesn’t sound…” Dick started, but Damian interrupted him.

“The cake had six levels and was about as tall as I am now. Mayor Bourgeoise was not happy that we ruined his precious princess’s birthday.”

“So that’s why we no longer go to Paris?”

“Tt. No. That’s because Jason almost trashed the Louvre.”

“Right…” Tim mumbled while his eyes closed. In just a moment, he was snoring away on the chair.

“Damn. I thought it would work faster.” Barbara complained while peeling the near-invisible sticker away from his neck.

-----

Thursday actually passed without any trouble for Marinette. The class finally got it through their collective single brain cell that she had the power to end their trip with two words. She was slowly getting the grip on the work and after some talk with Penny, where the woman practically forced Mari to listen to some additional advice. She was actually offended that the girl didn’t call her immediately.

She did have to practically drag her barely conscious boss to a meeting in the afternoon, but he didn’t put up much of a fight after she gave him a Tikki Special Coffee. The small goddess giggled inside her pocket the entire time as the boy begged on his knees.

After work, she and Chloe went to the Gotham Zoological Garden. At first, she wanted to go to the Botanic Garden first, but their class was supposed to visit there after work, so the girls went to Zoo instead. Gotham had a much broader collection of birds than Paris did. And the less chance of running into their classmates, the better.

“...He did what?” Chloe asked louder than necessary, but nobody paid the two girls in smart outfits any attention.

“Yeah. But don’t worry. I gave him a piece of my mind.” Mari dismissed it.

“It’s still creepy.”

“I know. That’s why I sicced the police at him.”

“That’s my girl!”

“Well, I threatened to send you and Damian after him, but I decided it would be too cruel.” She smiled. “Besides, I’ve seen that Red Buckethead is trending already.” She pulled out her phone and showed a post there was a picture of Red Hood next to a reversed red bucket.

FashionMari @QueenGoldie Someone in a red bucket was stalking me. I was torn between calling the police and criticizing their fashion choice. In the end, I did both.

“Only you Goldie. Only you…”

--------

Friday was press conference day. For once, Mari woke up earlier and got dressed in record time. Chloe watched from the side-lines as the girl moved around like a tornado, preparing everything and triple-checking all arrangements. She changed outfits four times before finally the blonde grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to sit down.

“Goldie! You know I love you and I would kill for you,” She started, “but if you don’t calm down I will tie you up and leave you here for the day.”

“But…!” Bluenette tried to protest, but Chloe cut her off.

“No buts. We are only sixteen. I for one came here to learn a bit and maybe meet someone. You are supposed to be learning. Nobody said anything about getting a full-time job.”

“The deal…”

“So what if they fire you?” Chloe raised her hands over her head. “Ridiculous! Utterly Ridiculous! You have Gabriel Agreste and Audrey Bourgeoise fighting over who will get you while Jagged Stone is willing to fly over half the world just to give your references in person. You run a very successful flower shop and even more successful boutique.”

“But…” She tried to muster a weak protest, but Chloe’s angry gaze made her wither.

“I will not let you run yourself dry!” The blonde stated firmly. “So either you take a step back and breathe or I will call your uncle.”

“Not uncle Jagged! he already banned me from drinking coffee!”

“So you will behave?” Chloe asked with a smirk.

“Fiiiinneee!” Mari couldn’t help but smile. “Thanks, Queenie. I needed this. I’m glad I have you as my friend. And sister.”

“Well of course you needed me! Everyone needs me!” She huffed before her expression became more gentle and she pulled Mari into a hug.

Downstairs the class was waiting for them. Probably they finally gathered the courage to confront her about Alya’s fate. The girl shouldn’t have lied while filing for promotion. Mari and Chloe stormed past them not even sparing them a glance. Outside, Adrien was already waiting inside the limousine with Gerard at the driver’s seat.

“I’m glad your driver is finally here.”

“Me too!” The blond boy was practically beaming. “I’m free from Lila’s clutches.”

“Could you drop us at… No. 2 Twine Street?” Mari asked the gorilla, who only grunted in response.

“Um… We should be going to Wayne Tower.”

“Nope.” Mari popped the ‘p’. “You,” she pointed at Adrien, “are an intern in PR. I asked for you to be present at the press conference to help move stuff around and so on.”

“And me?” Chloe asked. “If you expect me to…”

“You’re there to support your boyfriend. He was the one that practically demanded that I get you there. He hates publicity.”

“Oh… Good then. Let’s go.”

“Boyfriend?” Adrien asked curiously. “You mean Wayne?”

“Yeah. Apparently Chloe found herself a partner in scheming.”

“I bet that their dates are filled with planning to take over the world.”

“We could’ve taken the world over by lunch if we wanted.” Chloe looked almost offended. “The question is what way would be the most suitable one.”

All three of them broke into laughter as the car rode through the city of crime.

----

About fifteen minutes before the press conference was scheduled to start, Tim Drake was still not there. None of the Waynes were there in fact. She sent about fifteen angry messages to Mr. Drake and he was still not here, which only fueled her stress and anger.

The press had no idea so far and they were eagerly awaiting whatever news the company wanted to present. She bit her lower lips. Chloe was on the phone, trying to reach her boyfriend.

“If that idiot doesn’t get here in the next ten minutes, I’m going to consider stabbing him.”

“Damian?!” Chloe shouted into her phone.

“Tt. What do you want?”

“First of all, that’s not how you talk to your girlfriend. Second of all, where in the world is your excuse of a brother?! Mari is an inch from going ballistic!”

“Tt. He’s asleep.” Damian answered in an impassionate tone.

Mari leaped over and wrestled the phone from Chloe. “You go to him right this moment or I swear to all that’s holy and…”

“I get it.” He interrupted her, showing signs of irritation. There were some static and the camera blurred for a moment from the fast motion. When it returned, she saw barely awake Tim Drake wearing blue onesies.

“wah…”

“Get yourself cleaned up and into a suit in the next three minutes!” She shouted. God bless the soundproof backstage.

“Um… But I will never make…”

“I’m certain you have a great webcam somewhere in this big mansion of yours. Set it in the library and call me in the next few minutes. I so hope you were not supposed to be the model because gods help me…” She took a look at his terrified face. “Of course you were…”

“In my defense…”

“Shut up. Get going!” She hanged up and turned to Adrien and Chloe, who were looking at her with a mixture of fear and awe. “What are you waiting for?!” She tossed a package to the boy. “You get dressed in the new product.” She pushed him outside and into the janitor’s closet on the other side. “And you’re coming with me!” She dragged Chloe toward the main room. The blonde was sent to the technics room to get the feed started while Mari stepped on the scene. The chatter died quickly and all reporters turned to her.

“Hi. Please forgive us for the slight delay. We have minor technical difficulties that are being solved as we speak. In the meantime, you are free to take the seats. The conference is about to start.”

Behind her, a screen slowly descended. She saw Adrien leaning from the doors leading backstage and smiling at her.

“Without further ado, I present you Tim Drake, CEO of Wayne Enterprises.”

The image of the teen with black hair appeared on the screen and he waved everyone. He was holding a red cup of coffee with black polka dots, the same Tikki summoned for him the first time.

Satisfied with herself, Marinette allowed herself a moment of rest. The conference was going well and after a minute of silence for the dead in the recent attack, the presentation began. Adrien was a natural model so it all went great. Wayne Tech in co-operation with Gabriel brand was introducing a new line of ‘smart’ fabric that could withstand medium stress and was almost impossible to dirty or stain. She had to admit it was quite amazing. Apparently, it was partially how Mr. Agreste got her class internship. Granted, Adrien was not supposed to be the model but you don’t look a gifted horse in the mouth.

Everything was going great until the doors to the room were kicked open and several goons barged in, followed by none other than Two-face. Everyone immediately fell onto the floor. Mari couldn’t help but sigh exasperatedly. Why did it have to go wrong at every turn?

Ignoring the terrified stares, she stormed toward the intruders. “Excuse me, sir?” She asked with an emotionless face.

“What?” The man looked clearly irritated.

“I don’t see your name on the guest list. Did you remember to call in advance?”

“Of course not! Do I look like…” The criminal was clearly angry.

“Then I apologize, but I must ask you to leave now.”

“Do you have any idea who I am?” Two-face pulled his gun.

“I’m sorry, sir, but if you are not on on the list, I can’t let you stay.” She said in an emotionless voice. Mari was honestly too tired to care at this point. Maybe at least the evening would be better.

“I’m not sure you get the situation, miss. I’m not here for the interviews. Everyone pull out your wallets and drop them in the sacks!” He shouted while his men started to walk around.

“Hm… That won’t do.” She said. After muttering something under her breath, Mari tossed her clipboard. The spinning board hit one of the mooks in the head, knocking him cold, before bouncing and hitting the next one. After that, it returned to her hand.

That was enough for Two-Face. He aimed his gun at her, but she moved faster than he anticipated. Within seconds, she grabbed his wrist and pushed it up so he was aiming at the ceiling. She squeezed it hard enough to make him drop the gun right into her other waiting hand. The girl let go of his wrist and disassembled the gun into pieces in what could become record time.

Now irritated, Mari grabbed Two-face by his tie and pulled him down until they were at the same eye-level.

“I was trying to do it peacefully sir. I am now ordering you to leave. Otherwise, I will actually have to hurt you.” She leaned closer until she was able to whisper. “And don’t make mistakes, Dent. I can and will hurt you.” For a moment her eyes lost the blue coloring and became entirely iridescent green, glowing slightly.

Harvey Dent rarely felt fear. His life was more often than not guided by the toss of a coin. Now though, he stared in the eyes of Poison Ivy, except ten times scarier. He was already afraid of that woman after she almost fed him to her ‘precious’.

“I… I am deeply sorry madame.” He spoke carefully. “Men! We are moving out. Leave the bags!” And with that, they were all gone.

Most of the reporters gave Mari big applause. There was only one angry old man that stared daggers at the girl.

“You let that scum go away!” He shouted. “He was a criminal.”

“Sir. You are free to go after him if that’s your wish. I’m at work and my job description never included chasing after criminals.”

“But… But…”

“Anyway, we were in the middle of the press conference if I’m not mistaken.”

-------

#miraculous #miraculous ladybug #miraculous lb #batman #BatFam #maribat #marinette dupain cheng #BAMF Marinette #Mother!Ivy #redeemed!chloe #Good!Adrien Agreste #dc #MLB #mlb x dc

220 notes · View notes

genshinimpact-fanfic1 · 3 years ago

Text

Chapter 2 : The Moving City of Memphis

He then pinned both of my arms on top of my head while trapping both of my legs in between his. Being unable to move, I glared at him and asked “What is your problem?! LET ME G-” He pressed his mouth roughly onto mine. I tried to tell him to stop, only for him to use that opportunity to slide his tongue inside of mine.

After he was done abusing my lips and mouth. I was left a mess, now trying to catch my breath. “Try to escape one more time, and it won’t end with just this.” Shocked with what he said, my eyes grew wide.

Knowing that there are guards all over the place, I had followed them obediently. The exotic maid, along with others, began to usher me into the finest bathroom I had ever laid my eyes on. The place was very huge, and the water was covered with rose petals.

I don’t have a way out. Well not right now. I should roam around the place first to find a way to escape.

As I was lost in my thoughts, I had not realized that they had already finished dressing me up.

Then I was led to an extravagant room, filled with golds, jewelries, ornaments, and other riches and a bed in the center of it all. I was told to wait inside. Bored out of my wits, not really knowing what to do and what exactly was happening, I decided to roam around the room.

There was a balcony. I ran towards it. A breath of fresh air, I could only see pillars below and what seemed to be an endless terrain of sand. I lifted both of my arms, to feel the breeze completely. However, that was soon interrupted as a pair of strong arms lifted me off the ground like a sack.

Noticing who it was, I tried to break free. But I was thrown on the bed and angry eyes were looking at me.

He is scary.

He thought that I was trying to escape?

This made me laugh. The guy was looking at me like I was now crazy, while thinking maybe he overdid it. Then I told him “I wasn’t trying to escape. I was just feeling the breeze. And looking outside.” Although it wasn’t noticeable immediately, the guy’s ear had turned red, embarrassed about what he had assumed.

Now we were sitting beside each other on the bed. Awkward silence filling the room. I was still clueless as to what was happening and where I was exactly so despite the tension clearly still present, I decided to ask him. “Where am I?” The guy told her “I am Kaeya Alberich, the great ruler of Memphis. You are currently travelling with me in the city of Memphis.”

I wondered what he meant by travelling in the city of Memphis? As if knowing what I was thinking, he led me out to the balcony once more, whilst holding me close to him, afraid that I would run away. Then I realized the pyramids that were distances away from us were moving. I showed extreme surprise on my face while looking at everything in awe. I asked him “H-how? What?” He could not contain a smirk from appearing on his face.

He was amused how the girl who had shivered, cowered, glared and fought back is now letting her guard down around him. He then proceeded to explain to me that the city was a walking machine and they could travel anywhere. My eyes now seemed to contain stars in them with how amazed I was about what he was telling me.

He was now telling me stories on how the city came to be and how he was the ‘god’ that ruled it. I got so comfortable and even decided to tell him my name. “My name is Lumine.” and then he looked at me as if telling me that he knows but just nodded. He then told me “It’s a great name. Being named after the greatest goddess of all time. That represents not only beauty but fertility as well.” As he said that, his amethyst colored eyes that seemed to suck me in like an abyss were now darkened and lust could be seen in his gaze.

This made me once again stiff and uncomfortable with how he seemed like he wanted to ravage me. But I could not do anything about it, I was trapped in his arms on the balcony of his domain. He leaned down on me. Kissing me passionately and smoother compared to earlier. Then he started slowly nibbling on my ear, earning him a moan.

He continued his ministrations on me. Kissing my neck, then collarbone and going lower. He then began to massage my rather massive breasts while grinding on the lower part of my body. I began to whimper, arousal continuing to grow as I unconsciously started to answer to his actions. I rubbed my legs, trying to create friction to satisfy my needs but to no avail. I wanted, no, I needed something more. Something long, thick, and --- hard.

Just as I was getting into it. An explosion and screaming could be heard in the city. Smoke started appearing in the skies then a hurried knock was on the door. Kaeya knew what had to be done so he told me to wait for him on his bed and to stay inside.

I did not want to admit it but I was disappointed. I still felt hot all over, so I had started to touch where he had. But it did not feel the same. I was about to go further when one of the rather expensive looking vases in the room had fallen to the ground in pieces.

That’s when I realized I was not alone. The mysterious guy approached me slowly. His eyes hooded. Although the sight before him was a major turn on, he knew they had no time to waste. He quickly told me how we needed to leave if I did not want to be trapped in this place.

Even though I was reluctant to go with a stranger, I remembered the moment Kaeya had told me that he was the one that had ordered for me to be killed. I was face palming myself at the moment, wondering what had gone through my head to let my guard down on that man. Despite not being able to forget the things he made me feel and his looks that were most certainly captivating and alluring.

Stop! Forget about him! My consciousness told me.

I decided to take the outstretched hand that was offered to me by the man. Then he immediately lifted me up in his strong arms, carrying me in bridal style. I was caught off guard by the sudden action and the guy was heading towards the balcony. Scared that I was going to fall, I closed my eyes, raised my arms and wrapped it around the guy’s neck. As the guy jumped off the balcony, wings suddenly sprouted from his back.

I slowly opened one of my eyes wondering what was happening and I was pleasantly surprised to know that they were flying. I could see the town below us and the view was just so fascinating.

#genshin impact #lumine #kaeya #kaeya smut #lumine x kaeya #lumine harem #lumine supremacy #first person pov #ao3

21 notes · View notes

anothertimdrakestan · 4 years ago

Text

Batboys Getting Betrayed By Their S/O HC

Requested? Yes! From a lovely anon!

“Hello! I'd like to make a Batboys reaction request if I may! If writing for all of them is too much please pick whoever you'd like! Have fun with it! Batboys finally catch the villain they've been after for a disgusting amount of time, they grab their mask/helmet, rip it off and BAM!! It's their S/O. How do they react? Thank you for your time!!”

THIS HC TURNED INTO AN EPIC COLLAB BETWEEN @birdy-bat-riya AND WE POPPED OFF!!! Riya really said “lets break the boys heart then give them the best fluff in the world” and I agreed then BAM this beauty. I hope you enjoy and I’m super excited to collab w my tumblr soulmate more!!!

ALSO GO CHECKOUT STAY WITH ME A TIM DRAKE FIC THAT IS KINDA LIKE THIS IF YOU WANT STORYLINE IT’S ONE OF MY FAVES!!!

Damian Wayne

- Damian would not see it coming

- after a painful bout of hand to hand combat, Robin had you stuck to a wall with Batarangs, and he stalked forward

- hoping he would get pulled away by Batman so wouldn’t notice your similarity to the love of his life, you sucked in a deep breath as you realized there was no escape

- “The great villainous sidekick defeated by Robin. Sounds good doesn’t it? But I want to know just who I bested” he quipped, reaching for your mask

- as he pulled it off he froze, your mask dropped to the ground as you began begging for forgiveness

- “Baby it’s not what it looks like! I’m sorry you know I couldn’t tell you! I love you Damian please understand!” you cried, pulling against the batarangs you felt your suit rip as you jumped to the ground reaching for Damian

- Damian looked beyond stunned, trying to process the idea that the one person he trusted above all had betrayed him. He’d spent months hunting, fighting, deeply wound you, then calling you beloved just a couple days later

- pulling yourself forward you flung your arms around him, trying to love him into submission

- instinctively his arms began to wrap around you and you could feel the material of his gloves grace over the exposed parts of your side from where your suit ripped, but he drew them back, pushing you off of him

- “belov- Y/N” his tone was harsh, and broken, “is this really you? You knew I was Robin, and yet you lied to me every day? Learned my weaknesses and my truths all just to use it against me?” you could see him shaking, his domino mask hid his glassy eyes but not his heart broken expression

- you realized he thought you’d only befriended him to use him and you jumped to explain “No! Babe never! I keep this life and our life completely separate! I never used anything and would never tell your secrets to anyone! This, this life [ you gestured to your suit ] is out of necessity, for my survival I have to be strong. But with you, Damian, with you life is worth living, you make my battles worth fighting, everything I do is for us!” you realized how good it felt to let everything go, tears streaming down your face

- Damian looked conflicted, broken because of your betrayal, but you could tell he still loved you

- “Y/N you know I can keep you safe, why? Why live this life when you know of the one we could’ve had together?” Damian

- “I didn’t think of it that way” you whispered, thoughts flying through your head

- “Then let me help you” was all Damian said, and he reached out a hand

- Batman and your boss appeared behind you and Robin, both confused with what was happening

- Bruce looked shocked to see who the villain’s sidekick was, but he was trying to keep his Batman level confidence

- “C’mon kid lets go” you felt a tug on your shoulder, trying to lead you back to your base, but the look Damian was giving you stopped you, unable to turn your shoulder on him

- this was Damian asking you to pick a new life with him. And you knew he was the only thing that truly made him happy, but this would be the end of your reputation, and your safety

- you began to reach for Damian but stopped, needing his reassurance

- “you promise you’ll protect me?”

- “always.” you took his hand, falling into his arms, and decided a future with Damian was better than anything else

Dick Grayson

- Dick didn’t know you were Slade’s protege after Dick told him no all those years ago

- you knew he thought of your villain persona as his greatest opponent and you couldn’t break his heart

- you’d both been in the good guy vs bad guy business since you were kids so you couldn’t expect him to understand, so you hid it.

- he told you he was Nightwing a couple months before and your heart dropped realizing you’d been fighting the love of your life for years, and were trained by one of his greatest tormentors

- in a terrible turn of events you, Nightwing, and Slade all ended up fighting each other, Nightwing and you after Slade for seperate reasons just before his escape he noticed how you couldn’t hurt Dick like you used to

- in an act of revenge for you leaving his side all those years ago, he shouted “catch you later sweet Y/N!” before jumping out a window out of your sight

- Dick’s head whipped to you, a look of confusion at Slade knowing your identity

- hoping he’d missed it you tried to run out of the building and take off

- angy Dick is basically super powered so he caught you (yes i said angy)

- when he rips off your mask and the face he’d adored for years looks up at him he physically can’t stand

- watching the love of your life crumple to the ground is the hardest thing you’ve endured

- frantically trying to explain you keep trying to cup his face in your hand but he pulls away, refusing to look you in the eyes, eventually finding the strength to get up and grapple away

- the entire batfam goes after you. Damian especially, because he trusted you, glad Dick had someone that loved him the way he secretly did. There is no way you’re gonna get away from an angry Batfam especially when their mutual favorite brother has been broken

- I honestly don’t think Dick would let it go back to normal. His family would never approve and knowing you lied for months was too much, he knows what is good and bad for him and is surrounded by family.

- One day the two of you would team up and apologize, continuing forward as mutuals that come when the other needs you, but Dick wouldn’t be able to look at you the same, and Damian would never leave his side, refusing to let Dick get hurt again

Jason Todd

- Jason was used to coming home to you bruised and cut. He never liked to see you battered and bleeding, but he understood it was part of your job as a Criminal Investigator.

- at least that’s what he thought

- you were used to seeing him beat up too. The only difference was that you knew the real reason he came home beaten and injured.

- it was because he would spend his nights fighting you.

- you truly loved Jason, but you couldn't bear to break his heart by telling him the truth. That the woman he loved was his sworn enemy and was lying about it.

- little did you know, he was beginning to get suspicious of your injuries. They seemed a little extreme for an investigative agent, and dare he say, they seemed to match the injuries his enemy walked away with last night.

- then one night, it happened. You were being chased by Red Hood. You thought you were in the clear. And knowing jason would be home any minute, you headed back home, hopping from rooftop-to-rooftop.

- you stopped in the parking lot of your building, about to take off your mask when you heard a voice. Red Hood was leaning on your car, looking more tense than usual. “Go on. Take off the mask.”

- you were mortified. You tried to run but he caught you and you were cornered. He took off the mask and you looked down, afraid to meet his eyes.

- he wasn’t startled or shocked. You heard the seams of his gloves rip as he clenched his fist. You looked up and saw him scowling, but behind the anger, there was so much disappointment. You could see his heart breaking.

- he stepped back and began to walk away. You tried so hard to explain and apologize but he only turned you down, unwilling to see your face.

- realizing everything was ruined, you gave one final apology. “Jason, I know you can’t forgive me. But I truly am sorry. I'm sorry for lying, I’m sorry for hurting you, I’m sorry for everything. But I promise, I really do love you. And I know you might not believe me, but I mean every word.” Tears were streaming down your face, and he wouldn’t let you see it, but they were brimming in his.

- you left and didn’t come back. You kept your distance from Jason but made sure you knew was still alright. He was frequenting bars, skipping patrols. You began to worry when he was nowhere to be found, so you donned the mask once more, only without your usual uniform.

- that night, to your disbelief, you found the Red Hood fighting some petty cat burglars outside of a museum. You noticed how his punches held more force than they used to and felt a little pained, seeing his hurt in his movements.

- while he was taking care of the robbers, you saw one of them run off to a car with a jade vase and instinctively charged in. You hopped in the car roof and swung into the passenger seat, knocked out the driver, and safely drove the car back.

- you put the vase back where it belonged and left the scene of the crime without anyone’s attention.

- Red Hood turned the burglars over to the cops. There was something about a tripped alarm and missing vase but the item was kept exactly where it was meant to be when they checked.

- he was about to trudge away when he heard something. “This masked broad, she jumped into the car! From the bloody window!” His mind wandered. It couldn’t be…

- that night, you returned to one of your old safehouses and headed to your closet to put away your mask, but the first thing you saw was your suit. You looked at the domino mask in your hand and all you could remember was Jason’s face when he found out. Right then and there, you threw it all away.

- months passed. You hadn’t heard from or seen Jason Todd. You revamped your suit and donned a new mask. You went by your old name still. You couldn’t change who you were, and you didn't want to either.

- the only difference now was that you didn’t kill. something tilted the needle on your moral compass, and as much you wanted to deny it, Jason rubbed off on you.

- you took your burglary jobs, and got into your own type of trouble, but you could almost always handle it. Emphasis on the ‘almost’

- once or twice you bit off more than you could chew, for example the time when you needed to collect some money from a Bludhaven gang. you were outnumbered and unarmed. just when you thought it was all over for you, you heard two gunshots and violent cursing.

- you found yourself standing before two gangsters with bloody hands and one Red Hood. “You’re welcome.”, he said with his usual snarky tone, muffled by his helmet.

- this was the first of many times he would save you. You would drop in on his gigs sometimes as well, just to lend a helping gun.

- bad blood aside, you were always there for eachother. He meant it as a silent acceptance of your apology and that’s exactly how you took it.

- soon enough the tension faded, you both went down your own roads but found comfort in knowing that you were never alone. It was an unspoken pact that when one of you needed the other, you’d never be far.

Tim Drake

- Tim would notice something, maybe you stuffing your suit in your trunk, you using a phrase his enemy always used, something that gave him the wrong feeling

- he’d push it away, always wanting to believe the best of you

- but eventually it wouldn’t add up

- Tim came over one night and made a beeline to the back of your closet, a drawer he never saw you open during all the years of knowing you

- you heard a small gasp when he pulled out the suit of his rival, the strangled sound of disbelief was the last noise he made before he threw your suit on the floor and stormed out, and it was the last you saw of him for months

- watching the news seeing “RED ROBIN GONE BAD?” or “IS THIS IS THE SAME HERO?” as you watched Tim become more and more reckless and cruel. Tim rarely got so physical the medics came instead of the police but watching him through your screen you saw a new person

- seeing Tim (and Red Robin) break down on television gave you the realization of the necessity behind Tim’s heroics

- almost as an homage to his heart break he began using the moves you’re villainous alter ego used on him on his new targets, showing you the hurt and the damage you’d done to your victims

- after weeks of watching the torture you knew villainy wasn’t worth it if it meant Tim was broken like this

- knowing he’d be on patrol like always you waited on the top of the building he’d brought you to the night you started dating, hoping he’d miss the memory as much as you did

- rushing up to him, begging for him to listen, even after the heart break Tim couldn’t say no to you, and he needed to know why, this was a mystery he really couldn’t piece together

- frantically explaining everything from your childhood forward, you couldn’t stop, the honestly was refreshing, and Tim listened the whole time

- after admitting everything you brought your suit out, and in front of Tim you began to rip it to shreds, hoping he’d see the meaning behind your words

- this was a lot for Tim, and he asked for a week to settle his feelings

- Red Robin was inactive for a week, 168 hours you spent praying to anything that he’d take you back

- and exactly one week later, you were holding your head in your hands sobbing, wishing you could’ve changed earlier and hoping Tim would go back to his heroism - when you heard your apartment window carefully opening

- Tim came back, suited up, holding a new suit for you that he’d had created

- Tim explained that he wanted you back, and he intended on helping you fix all your past mistakes, one life saved at a time

- you often looked back on the news from that week, the headlines showed a new chapter of your life

“RED ROBIN AND NIGHTINGALE Y CRIME FIGHTING DUO!” “RED ROBIN IS BACK AND BETTER THAN EVER WITH A NEW HERO AT HIS SIDE!”

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS IS A REMINDER TO GO FOLLOW @birdy-bat-riyaBECAUSE SHE IS THE REASON THIS IS SO AMAZING ILY GIRLY

460 notes · View notes

askdjphantasmagloria · 4 years ago

Text

Smooth Operator (Rewritten)

So, yeah. I decided to rewrite Smooth Operator because I didn’t like how it was written. Here’s how I think it should’ve played out. I hope you like it!

╔═══*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*═══╗

It was dark, cold, and frightful. A lock of red hair whooshes by as a hooded figure rushes through the bushes. They had just had an encounter with a terrifying creature and they were trying to get out of the forest as fast as they could. Little did they know that they would soon stumble upon Queen Poppy and the other TrollsTopians, who were getting ready to play a wonderful round of Glitter Ball.

“Ok, for my team, my third first pick will be... Dante!” Poppy smiled as she pointed towards the Classical ambassador. Honored to be chosen, Dante smiled and bowed to the crowd before floating over to join the queen and the rest of her teammates.

The hooded figure then heard the voices and began to creep closer, their eyes squinting as they tried to remain mysterious. Slowly lifting up their hood, a scarlet red mustache began to appear...

Val Thundershock was also on the Glitter Ball field, assembling her team for the game to come. But then she took notice of the mysterious troll in the shadows and, like always, began to be suspicious. Who was this troll? What did they want? Were they a threat to the society that she and the other ambassadors worked hard to build up? “And my fourth first pick will be... the mysterious figure in the shadows.” She concluded, motioning to the figure. Confused, everybody turned around to look at the stranger that had been eavesdropping on their conversations. Knowing they had been spotted, the troll stepped forward and slowly took off their hood to reveal... my word! It was the seductive siren, the sultry-silked, the devilishly divine god of romance himself... Chaz Deveaux!

Chaz calmly smiled at the crowd, seemingly not alarmed at all by the fact that his cover was just blown by a keenly-eyed Val. Why should he be afraid? He knew what TrollsTopia was all about due to the fliers that Poppy had sent out a few weeks ago. This was finally his chance to find a family! People who would accept him for who he was! No more running, no more hiding, no more drowning in a sea of loneliness and resentment due to his ex-boyfriend dumping him for something that he couldn’t control. It all ended today.

The crowd gasped along with Poppy, who couldn’t believe that one of the bounty hunters whom she had encountered back when Queen Barb had her famous world tour managed to find their way into her beloved city! “Chaz? The Smooth Jazz troll?” She asked, in complete disbelief.

“That’s my name, darling.” Chaz calmly responded, raising an eyebrow in a curious manner. “Why are you so surprised? Was it not you who summoned me with this flier?” He asked, pulling out the piece of paper. Poppy gently took it from his hands, giving it a thorough read before her face lit up with glee. “Oh, you found it! I was worried that we’d have to use one of our scouts to track you down ourselves, but this is way easier! Yes, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something. Our city is expanding but I’ve noticed a lack in diversity of music. I was wondering if maybe... you would like to join our entourage? Come live with us in TrollsTopia, Chaz!” Poppy smiled, her eyes sparkling.

Val, extremely confused by Poppy’s optimism, got in between the two of them and looked the pink cupcake-lover in the eye. “Whoa, whoa, WHOA! Poppy, aren’t you going to tell us who this is? Where did he come from, what’s with his hair, and why does he have two tigers following him around?” She asked, motioning to the two tigers that were sitting besides Chaz.

“I am Chaz Deveaux. I’m half-Classical and half-Pop. My hair is naturally like this, but I do make my own conditioners, shampoos, and lotions out of natural ingredients such as Gigglefruit juice and Sparkle Berries. Also, when you say tigers, you mean Saturn and Jupiter? These are my pet tigers. They’re the only thing I have left of my tribe after... the war. Everybody I knew and loved was stolen from me. Everybody who was still alive, died shortly after. I’m the only survivor...” Chaz explained, tears coming to his eyes as he talked about his life story.

“Aww, you poor thing! What an ordeal...” Poppy frowned. She couldn’t believe that any troll would have to go through such a thing. Let alone a guy who was seemingly so sweet and charming on the outside.

“I’m sorry... talking about it gets me all emotional. Yes, I would love to join TrollsTopia. Wherever shall I stay? You didn’t exactly mention a Smooth Jazz section in your poster the last time I checked and while I would love to reside in Classical Crest or just stay with you Pop trolls, none of those areas properly reflect... me. I need something genuine.” Chaz mentioned, brushing a lock of his hair to the side.

“Ah, yes. We don’t really have a place like that at the moment... but thankfully, my ambassadors and I are known for acting on a whim. Give us about an hour, and we’ll surprise you!” Poppy smiled, gathering the ambassadors and leading them away.

One hour later...

Poppy led Chaz along the grassy path as carefully as she could. The former bounty Hunter was blindfolded and as shown from her experience with the Trolls’ piñata festivities, being blindfolded could pose a bit of a threat to everyday life due to the one who’s eyes are being covered losing their sense of sight and therefore not being able to see what they’re doing or where they’re stepping. “A little farther. A little farther! Listen, Chaz, it breaks our hearts that you don’t feel like you belong. So, we’ve been working on a solution! I called up Barb and asked her if we could use that tiny little beach that she was going to give you back when you were hunting us down, and she said yes! If you would just stand right here...” she said, before stretching out her arms to reveal Chaz’s new home. “TADA!”

Chaz opened his eyes and gasped, his face lighting up with nothing but pure joy at the sight of his house. It was gorgeous. A beach condo made entirely out of what seemed to be marble was waiting for him along the beautiful sands of TrollsTopia’s beach. He could see everything, including the ocean stretching over the horizon. Tears began to well up in his eyes. “Poppy... it’s- it’s beautiful. Thank you...” he whispered, smiling softly.

“Oh, you haven’t seen anything yet! Come on, let’s go inside!” Poppy giggled, opening the door. Once they were inside, Chaz could immediately see the luxury. A grand fireplace with a picture of him mounted over it, a soft and cuddly fur rug that was just perfect for him to swoon somebody over, comfortable plush chairs that came with built-in cup holders for the jazz troll to hold his many cups of grape wine, a grand kitchen for him to prepare his meals with only the finest ingredients (courtesy of Classical Crest), a deluxe bathroom with everything a troll needs to keep themselves tidy, and a bedroom that was all romantic-themed.

“Wow... thank you, Poppy. I know I haven’t exactly been the best to you during Queen Barb’s world tour, but I was only doing what she said because I didn’t want my music to die out! If she didn’t offer that tiny little island, I would have never even helped her in the first place!” Chaz sighed, facepalming.

“Aww, it’s ok, Chaz! You’ll always have a family here. Your days of being alone are over. Bygones are bygones. After all, my people aren’t exactly squeaky clean either. We all have our flaws. Nobody’s perfect.” Poppy comforted Chaz, giving him a hug. As he hugged back though, Poppy began to internally cringe. She didn’t REALLY believe that Chaz had changed from World Tour! How could somebody who used to EAT other trolls change in the blink of an eye?! Surely he had to be faking it!

The next day...

Chaz was a little crushed, but then he shook his head and smiled. “That’s alright... I suppose I could get used to the new paint job. It does look kind of pretty...” he laughed, trying to remain positive about the situation like he always has. He then gasped as he saw his beautiful beach littered with spray cans and other garbage. “AH! My beach...” he frowned, his heart dropping another few feet.

“Sorry, Mr. Chaz. Queen Poppy never implemented a trash disposal system, so we had no choice but to dump all of our things here. I hope you don’t mind.” Priscilla piped up, the children leaving back to their pods. After that whole mess was dealt with, Chaz decided that maybe a trip into town would make him feel better. He waved hello to any trolls that would walk by, but they all seemed... scared of him. Some would nervously wave back while others would scream and run away. He then overheard a few Classical trolls speaking to each other about Chaz’s music. “Have you ever heard anything so repulsive? Smooth jazz... what a disgrace to our genre. It’s barely a step above lounge music!” One of them said.

“Pip pip to that!” Another one agreed. “The way he obsesses over his appearance is... nasty, to put it the nicest.” A techno troll whispered. Chaz couldn’t believe it. Nobody really liked him. They were only pretending to be nice to him because Poppy said so! Now Chaz didn’t feel positive anymore. Why should he? He was in a world where it didn’t matter what he did. Everyone would always see him as a savage.

“Hey, Chaz! Are you enjoying your stay in TrollsTopia?” Poppy asked, completely oblivious to the situation. A new feeling began to bubble up in Chaz’s chest. All he could see was red. He was tired of being mistreated. It was time to fight back. “That’s it... I have had enough... enough of the stupid pranks! Enough of the mockery! AND MOST OF ALL ENOUGH OF YOU, POPPY!” Chaz growled, letting his frustration and anger merge together as his hair began flowing like a siren’s hair would when she was angry. His hair began to move like tentacles, grabbing the trolls that were around him and holding them up against a nearby rock.

“Chaz! What are you doing?!” Poppy asked, squirming in an attempt to get free. “You think I’m an idiot? I know how you guys REALLY feel about me. All I ever wanted was to be accepted. I just wanted to be loved! But you guys keep treating me like garbage... all because of something I can’t control. If you want a monster so badly, then by all that’s Trolly, I’ll be that monster!” He growled, using his hair to thrash the trolls around.

“Yo, yo, yo! I finally found the red velvet blanket, guys! Would you believe this was the last one on the shelf? What a lucky break!” Synth cheered as he walked in. He gasped, dropping his gift as he saw what was going on. “WHAT THE BARNACLES IS GOING ON HERE?!” He yelled, feeling scared and confused. Chaz turned around, smiling evilly. “Another one? No problem. I can take another.” He laughed, before he began to play his saxophone again.

Surprisingly, Synth was not affected whatsoever! “Uh... what?” He asked, tilting his head before leaning in closer to hear Chaz’s music better. But no matter how much Chaz played, Synth was simply too oblivious to be hypnotized! He smiled at him, placing his hands at his hips. “Cool music, bro! Lemme show you how I play now!” He said, a techno beat beginning to play as water shot up from the ground. Synth formed it into a gigantic water orb and shot it at Chaz, trapping the smooth jazz troll in a ball of sick beats. The ball then collapsed, sending Chaz flying into the distance. The smooth jazz troll tried to launch himself back to Synth to land a punch, but the water had made his hair unable to stretch. Saturn and Jupiter, seeing their master rocket into the sky, emerged from their hiding spots to chase after him. Synth had just saved all of TrollsTopia from Chaz’s rage.

As she caught her breath, Poppy engulfed Synth in a huge hug. “SYNTH! Thank goodness! That was amazing, how did you do that?” She asked. Her eyes lighting up with joy. “You mean that giant orb thing? Oh, I was born with those sorts of powers. I wonder why the music had no effect on me...” Synth thought, before Meadow’s shiny new flower caught his attention. “GIRL! You shine like a glowstick! I could stare at you for hours!” He laughed, swimming towards her as Poppy shook her head and smiled.

“Classic Synth...”

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of TrollsTopia, Chaz fell into an area that was surrounded by marshmallow potatoes... Marshtatoes? He groaned, dusting himself off as he looked upwards. A sinister grin illuminated in the dark, an adorably high-pitched voice ringing out in the silence. “Well hello there... what brings a handsome guy like you to a place like this?” It asked.

“Ugh, I’m glad you asked. I just got kicked out by a walking fish stick. Who are you, anyway?” Chaz asked, raising an eyebrow. From the shadows emerged the mistress of mischief herself, Marshtato Mary. “Me? Call me Mary. And you, my devilishly handsome disciple, may just be the key to helping me get my revenge on those filthy little elves.” She smiled.

“Revenge, you say? Well then...” Chaz smirked, walking closer to her.

“I’d love to join your cause.”

The End

╚═══*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*═══╝

#out of character #trolls world tour #trolls #trollstopia #trolls chaz #val thundershock #synth #trolls poppy #meadow spriggs #meadynth #my writing #rewrite #smooth jazz chaz #chaz trolls

34 notes · View notes

diaryofabeautyfiend · 4 years ago

Text

Some warnings: Implied violence then some magical violence. Just covering my bases.

This chapter is long and it gets weird. Continuing on with a very slow burn. I hope you are all still enjoying this fic. Comments ❤️❤️ and reblogging all encouraged and appreciated. Please don’t pass this off as your own writing. I’ll find out and laugh at you.

Small Time Witch (5)

When you got back to the compound Steve’s phone rang. He walked several feet away from you to speak to whomever was on the other end. When he came back he looked flustered. “Everything ok?”

“Yeah. I’m actually going to have to run. I had a lot of fun with you today. I’d like to do it again. Maybe without stabbing?”

Before you had a chance to answer he kissed you on the cheek. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

You felt like he rushed out of there really quick and that made you nervous. You walked back towards the building from the garage and tried to call Loki. No answer. You tried Wanda but the call kept dropping. No texts from either of them. You pressed then elevator button several times. It was taking forever. You decided to take the stairs. All of the hair on the back of your neck stood up. You looked around and saw nothing. When you opened the door to the stairwell something (or someone) clocked you hard on the back of the head. You blacked out.

STEVE

Steve hated everything that was about to happen. He got the call on the way into the building that he needed to leave you there. It was time. Two masked agents would be waiting for you in the stairwell. They would blindfold you and take you to a small dark room. There, you would remain bound and blindfolded while someone would repeatedly ask you about sensitive information while you were being “tortured”. No one was going to physicality hurt you. Loki would use his methods to trick your mind into thinking you were being hurt. All SHIELD agents with high level security clearance went through this training.

Everyone was waiting in the upstairs viewing area. Steve sat down with a huff and prepared to watch. “You said this was to test her endurance under pressure. This is torture. For the record I hate this.” he said to Loki.

“Duly noted, Captain. I’ll have an ear piece and Dr. Banner will be able to monitor her vital signs. This is ultimately for her safety.”

“It’s cruel.”

“As a habit I do not deal in cruelty. I will keep her as safe as possible. I assure you no physical harm will come to her.” Loki felt guilty. He’s never experienced the emotion before but now, with a pit in his stomach, he had to betray your trust.

Nat tried reassuring Steve the best she could, “Look, Steve, we’ve all been through the real thing at some point in our careers. No one likes this. Better that she experience it now so she knows what she’s up against.”

He wasn’t convinced. Bucky sat next to him and patted his thigh. “She’s tough. She whooped your ass earlier. She can handle this.”

“How can you of all people believe that?”

“Because I have to or else I couldn’t bare it. If things get too dicey we’ll stop it ok?”

The room they were in was sound proof. They had mics to be able to hear you. It was all two way glass so, even if your blindfold came off, you wouldn’t know they were there. The agents brought you in. You were awake and fighting hard. They were instructed not to hit you or fight back but to secure you. They both looked extremely frustrated. One of them had a cut above his eye. They tossed you in the chair and slammed the door. When they went in the room with the rest of the team everyone stared.

“What the hell happened?” Steve asked

“She threw an elbow, sir. She almost got away. Had to taze her.”

Steve bounded across the room pinning the agent to the wall, “You were told not to hurt her.”

“Yes, sir. We were also told not to let her get away. We didn’t want to hit her again.” His nostrils flared and the back of his neck was red a splotchy. Nat put her hands on his shoulders and directed him away.

“Good job, guys. You can go.” They couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

“See? She did exactly what I taught her. She’s going to be ok.” He shook his head and went back to his seat. He couldn’t take his eyes off of you.

They removed your gag but kept the canvas hood on your head. You struggled against the bindings trying to free your hands. They bit at your wrists. You called out demanding to speak to someone in charge.

Sam laughed, “Damn. Is she asking to see the manager?” Mostly everyone laughed. Steve’s jaw clenched. He couldn’t understand how anyone could make jokes right now.

“She’s remembering her one day of training so shut the fuck up, Sam.”

“Sorry, Cap.”

“Does anyone else feel disgusted that we’re having a public viewing of our colleague being tortured?” No one would look at him.

Bucky was the only one who was quiet. He was remembering himself in this very situation. He knew your mind was racing which is why you couldn’t magick your way out of this. If he could only get you to calm down. That’s when he saw Wanda pressing her face to the glass. She looked distraught. He went to sit next to her. Neither of them spoke for several seconds. They held hands and wallowed in their shared trauma. “She’s screaming for me, Bucky. I can hear her.” She wiped a few tears from her eyes, “She’s so scared.”

“You can’t tell her what’s happening? Can’t she hear you?”

“Loki put up a barrier. She’s alone.”

“How can he do this to her?” Bucky was furious with Loki.

“He is doing as he was ordered. You know what that’s like.”

“Ordered by who?!” he said in a harsh whisper.

“Director Fury. The Security Council. They won’t give her clearance for this or any future missions unless she undergoes the same training as any other agent. It was Loki who convinced them to do it this way. He takes no pleasure in this.”

“Then why did he agree?”

“Because if he didn’t do it SHIELD would have. She would be in the middle of nowhere being tortured for real.” Bucky was seething. Surely Steve didn’t know any of this. He went to tell him when you let out a blood curdling scream.

Everyone was silent. All that could be heard was Wanda sobbing. Nat tried to comfort her to no avail. The interrogator asked you another question. You played dumb. You screamed again.

“I hope Loki is enjoying himself.” Steve grumbled

“He’s not. How dare you say that?! This is hurting him too.” Wanda was pushing against Steve. Her eyes glowed red. He couldn’t think of anything else to do so he hugged her.

“Nat, call down to the booth. Tell them stop. Tell them now.” She grabbed the receiver to call the booth when the line went dead. “It’s dead. Somethings wrong. I’m going down there.”

Bucky was already out of the door running to where you were.

The whole place was plunged into darkness. Wanda smiled knowing that you were fighting back. A brilliant white light emitted from the room. You were floating above the chair with your hands out. You lifted the interrogator from the ground and flung him against the wall knocking him unconscious. Steve and Wanda ran down the ramp leading to the booth to stop you. Loki was already in the room.

“Y/N! Stop this! Listen to my voice. You are safe.” You lifted your hand again slamming the door behind him. The two way mirror shattered. All of the shards of glass were pointed at Loki.

“Y/N! Please. I’m not going to hurt you.” Wanda was behind him now and tried to use her magic to subdue you. You whipped your head in her direction and pointed a shard at her throat.

“We will not be trifled with any longer.” Your voice was calm and steady. Behind it echoed many more voices. “We are the daughters of the moon. Daughters of Diana. Daughters of Hekate. You seek our power. You will receive it in abundance.”

“Enough!” Loki shouted, “I know you can hear me, Y/N. Fight this.”

“Loki?” you whimpered.

“Yes, pet. I’m here. Please. You’re safe now.” The glass dropped to the floor and so did you.

He was at your side at once brushing your hair from your eyes whispering your name. Begging you to wake up. His eyes were wide. He looked at Wanda pleading, “What have I done? What have I done?”

“Bruce! Someone get Bruce! We need help.” Bruce rushed in and instructed Loki to put you on a gurney. They rushed you into a room and started examining you. He and Tony hooked you up to electrodes to measure your brain waves and monitor your heart.

“Tony I can’t find anything medically that would be causing her to be unconscious. But look at her brain waves.” There were several lines spiking indicating that there was more than one brain essentially.

“I’ll call Strange.” Tony went pale when he looked at the monitor.

Loki and Wanda refused to leave your bedside. Steve paced the hall outside of your room. Fury walked in looking actually worried for once. “How is she?” he asked Nat. Before she could answer Bucky was lunging for him. Fury regarded him unfazed. “You wanna take your hands off me, Sergeant?” Steve pulled him away.

“Come on, Buck.”

“She didn’t deserve this.” He walked away to get some air.

“Is this how you do it? You pit them against each other under the guise of ‘security’ so you can break them down? Are you so afraid of someone else having power...” Fury raised his voice to interrupt Steve.

“Yes, Captain Rogers, I am. I am especially afraid of the one in the bed who is basically a nuclear bomb. I’m afraid of her teaming up with the other one to become a formidable force. If a demigod joins them they become unstoppable. It is my job to squash that before Loki gets the bright idea to take over the world again. Those two can be more powerful than the entire Chitauri army of they wanted to be.”

“She’s just a kid, Nick.”

“A kid with a lot of power.”

“Yep. And we just pissed her off.”

Wanda was asleep on the couch in your room. Thor patted Loki on the shoulder, “Brother, why don’t you rest? I’ll stand watch for a while.” Loki didn’t take his attention away from you.

“I’m not leaving her. What if she wakes up and I’m not here?”

“Loki? What’s come over you? I’ve never seen you worry over someone like this.”

A smile ghosted over his face, “Only over you, Brother.”

“Is this love or guilt?”

“Perhaps a little of both. No matter. She has feelings for the soldier. And, when she wakes up and realizes what I’ve done, I’m sure she’ll hate me.”

Thor’s brow furrowed, “Tell her the truth. She’ll understand your position.”

“I should have crushed their skulls. That should have been my position. I’ve hurt her. Who can blame her if she never wants to see me again?”

Thor returned to the common room where the rest of the team was sitting.

“Any change?” Sam asked

“No. I’ve never seen Loki like this.”

“Like what? Remorseful?” added Tony

“This is on all of us, Tony. We should have put a stop to it. We watched it happen. Given Loki’s criminal status with SHIELD he wasn’t really left with a choice. He did what he thought was right.” Steve scolded

They all looked up when they heard faint footsteps. “Were you defending me, Captain?” he didn’t give Steve a chance answer, “The wizard’s here.”

They all went into your room where Doctor Stephen Strange was ruminating over your chart. Dr. Cho was already there talking to him. “Dr. Banner join us won’t you?” Strange adjusted hung your films from your MRI. “What were the results of her CT?”

“Her brain was functioning at an extreme rate mostly around the hippocampus.”

“That’s her memory center” Bruce explained to Wanda who was still sitting vigil by your bedside.

“Well team medically, with the exception of the heightened brain activity, she’s healthy. Magically speaking, it looks like the spell she cast had a built in safety feature.”

“Can you fix her?”

“I can. I need everyone out. Not you.” He pointed at Wanda, “You stay.”

“I’m not leaving.” Loki said sternly

“You’ve done enough. Bye.” He waved his hand and Loki went flying through a portal into the next room. Strange waved his hand, “Let’s have some privacy. This should keep out the riff raff.”

“Can you fix her?” Wanda was hopeful

“Oh yeah” he waved a hand over you “She’s good.”

“That easy?”

“Yes. You know you could have done this?”

“I wouldn’t know how or where to even begin.”

“Yes, you do. I know you know that you are more powerful even than me. You are so afraid of disappointing those fools out there. You shouldn’t be.”

“They are my family.”

“Your family fears you so you think you have to muzzle yourself. You don’t.”

You opened your eyes and sucked in your breath, “Where am I?!”

“There she is. Y/N it’s very nice to meet you. I’m Dr. Stephen Strange. You gave them quite the scare.”

“Loki! Is he ok?”

“He’s fine. He’s the one who put you here.”

“I need to see him.” You started pulling out wires and ripping off electrodes.

“Honey let me go find him. You need to stay in bed.” Wanda was trying to stop you.

“The newest Avenger. How does that feel?”

“I’m not an Avenger. I’m helping out. I work for SHIELD.”

“Either way you’re backing the wrong team. I know what the Kale’s did to your coven. If you ever want real answers here’s where you find me.” He handed you a card with an address on it embossed in gold. He winked at you and excused himself when Loki appeared in the doorway.

“Wizard” “Sabrina” Loki cocked an eyebrow but Strange kept walking.

“Darling. Are you ok? I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” You knew of only one other time that Loki looked this wrecked and that’s when his mother was killed. Poor guy.

“You didn’t. I mean not really. The spell has a fail safe. Only meant to scare my attacker.” He sighed with relief.

“Are you very angry with me?”

“No. I couldn’t hear your thoughts but I could feel you. I knew you were there.”

“So you knew I was hurting you.”

You put your hands on the sides of his face, “I thought you were trying to protect me.” You stared at each other for a moment. His heart was racing. He placed his hands over yours. You brushed an errant hair out of his eyes. “Darling I...”

Steve burst in the room wrapping you in a hug, “I’m so sorry I left you. Are you ok? Are you hurt?” Loki stood watching what was unfolding. You looked back at him. He raised his eyebrows and shrugged. He left the room to give you and Steve a minute.

“Steve. Shhh. I’m ok. I swear.” For reasons neither of you could explain he grabbed your face and crashed his lips into yours. Your eyes went wide then you acquiesced. Your tongue massaged his. He leaned his weight into you. When he broke the kiss he said quietly, “I’m staying with you tonight.”

“You really don’t need to. Loki will be there. I’m ok. I promise. I’m much stronger than I look.”

“I would feel better:”

LOKI

Loki sat alone on the big fluffy couch in the common room. He toyed with the frayed edge of a throw pillow. It was silent but he could hear your heartbeat quicken. Your breath catching in your chest. Your racing thoughts. He felt your butterflies when Steve came into the room. You liked Steve. He supposed the captain was a decent enough guy. That didn’t mean he had to like him.

For a moment when you were touching his face he felt something. He wasn’t sure if the feelings were yours or his. It felt deeper than just a crush. The way you looked at him. Almost like you were committing his face to memory. Your eyes studied him. For a moment he felt seen.

Thor sat next to him and pulled him in for a very firm embrace. “Get off of me you oaf”

“You’re staying with me tonight. It’ll be fun. We’ll bunk together just like when we were children.”

“Do you still snore?”

“That depends. Do you still talk in your sleep.”

“I wasn’t talking in my sleep. I was whispering spells to silence you.”

Thor smiled, “I hope you remember them.”

#steve rogers fanfic #captain america x reader #mcu x reader #steve rogers x reader #loki x you #loki x reader #loki of asgard #steve Rogers slow burn #marvel witches #marvel #slow burn #mcu witches #witchyvibes #witchythings #wanda maximov #bucky reader insert

51 notes · View notes

zootopiathingz · 4 years ago

Text

Into the Wilde

Meet (Not So) Cute

There are many steps of a hustle. The first one being that you have to have the confidence to actually do it. Not a lot of mammals I know have the guts to try. But when you're like me and you've been doing it since you learned how to talk, it basically becomes your whole personality. My lifeline is based on tricking other animals to get what I need so I can sell my product and earn some money. At first I wasn't proud of this, but now I've gotten used to it after 20 years.

Today's just another day of work for me. I'm going to meet up with my business partner, Finnick, at an elephant ice cream parlor to scam our way into getting a giant popsicle. Then we're going to resell it as our own branded "pawpsicles", and to earn some extra cash we'll sell the leftover sticks to some construction workers, maybe some rodents. It sounds convoluted but it's worked so far. I don't see why today should be any different.

Right about at noon, I make my towards the ice cream parlor known as Jumbeaux's Café. Sure, the place is meant for bigger animals, but that's the point. We need the biggest popsicle we can get so we can melt it down to smaller sized treats. And so no one suspects us, we have the perfect story that's sure to fool the owner.

As I cross the street, a Fresh Doe truck drives right past me, nearly running me over. I look back at the ram driving it, and he shouts at me to watch where I'm going. What an asshole. Eh, I expected him to blame me for it. Everyone in Zootopia's always blaming the fox. That's just how it is.

Moving on, I walk in front of the café, but I have to make sure no one's watching me. You can never be too careful with this kind of stuff. Once the coast is clear, I follow an elephant lady inside, and now begins the plan. I see Finnick waiting for me by the door, wearing an elephant onesie costume.

Finnick and I go way back. I've known him since I started doing this type of business. He showed me the ropes and was the first to suggest that we do this together. At first I didn't want to, since I was dead set on becoming independent. But after a few years I decided to accept his offer, since we could make twice as much money working together than by ourselves. Besides, what was the harm in having a friend? Well, we never exactly referred to each other like that, but that's pretty much what he is.

He walks past me to get in line, murmuring, "Let's get this over with." I follow him quickly and we make our way towards the front of the line, and since we're smaller than the elephants, no one notices that we cut.

The owner (I think his name is Jerry, so I'll call him that) turns around to take another order. He almost doesn't even see Finnick and me, so I have to call out to him to get his attention. He looks down at us, and I see in his face that he's not happy. I don't need to guess why.

"Can I help you?" He asks, eyeing me up and down. I get why it would be weird for a fox to buy something from a shop for elephants, but damn, he hasn't even heard me say anything and just assumes I'm up to no good.

"Yes sir, I'd like to buy a jumbo pop, please." I say politely.

Apparently I wasn't polite enough, since he just glares at me. I can tell he's observing my behavior very closely, so I try to stand still in the least suspicious way possible.

"Listen, I don't know what you're doing skulking around during daylight hours, but I don't want any trouble in here." He says. "So hit the road!"

Geez, if this is how he treats customers, then it's a mystery why this place has a four-star rating. But I want to avoid arguing with him, at least not aggressively. That would get me nowhere. I have to keep up an act. "I'm not looking for any trouble either, sir." I say in my own defense, "I simply wanna buy a jumbo pop," I gesture down to Finnick, who trots to my side. "for my little boy."

Yeah, the plan is to pretend we were a father and son. Acting cute and pulling on heartstrings is the best way to hustle, so that was our usual routine. I bend down to ask Finnick, "You want the red or the blue, pal?"

He walks up to the glass displaying the three jumbo pops. As expected, he points toward the red one. We always got red, it was just how we liked it and it always sold the best.

Jerry, however, just shoos him away with his trunk. "Okay, come on, kid. Back up." He looks down at me, "Listen buddy, what? There aren't any fox ice cream joints in your part of town?"

"Uh, no, no. There are, there are. It's just, my boy," I pat Finnick on the head. "this goofy little stinker, he loves all things elephant, wants to be one when he grows up."

Finnick pulls up the hood of his costume, which has the ears and the trunk of an elephant. It even has its own trumpet, which he uses now to emphasize my point. "Is that adorable?" I ask as he leans against my leg. "Who the heck am I to crush his little dreams, huh? Right?"

But Jerry isn't impressed. Honestly, he could not care less, it seems. "Look, you probably can't read, fox," He takes a sign and points at it with his trunk, "But the sign says 'we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone'! So beat it!"

Refusing service to someone because they want a jumbo pop seems extreme to me, but hey, I'm not a café owner. Still, we can't give up yet. We need that jumbo pop, and we have to get it one way or another.

"You're holding up the line." An elephant lady says as she pushes me from behind.

Finnick trumpets sadly and I rub the top of his head 'sympathetically'. We have to appear as cute and as sad as possible now, so maybe we can be pitied by Jerry or another one of the workers. But these elephants have no mercy. Great. Now how are we supposed to sell today? There aren't any other ice cream parlors that sell big enough popsicles that we can get in time.

Suddenly, I hear a voice from beside me. "Hello? Excuse me?"

I turn around to see a bunny speaking to the owner. She's wearing a hat and an orange mesh vest, so I guess she does parking duty. Why she's even here is beyond me, but I get the sneaking feeling it has something to do with me and Finnick.

"Hey, you're gonna have to wait your turn just like everyone else, meter maid." Jerry says to her.

"Actually, I'm an officer." She says, pulling back her vest strap to show off her badge. Huh, that's weird. I didn't think they let bunnies on the police force. Then again if she's doing parking duty, she must be new. Makes sense. Police work isn't meant for animals like her.

"Just had a quick question," She goes on, speaking a little louder. "Are your costumers aware they're getting snot and mucus with their cookies 'n cream?"

A couple elephants sitting nearby hear this, one even spits out his ice cream all over the other's face. I have to hold in a laugh.

Jerry looks down at her confused, "What are you talkin' about?"

"Well, I don't wanna cause you any trouble, but I believe scooping ice cream with an ungloved trunk is a class-three health code violation." The bunny says, "Which is kind of a big deal."

Wait, is she trying to help me? She might also be trying to help out the customers by not getting snot in their ice cream. But still, she just randomly shows up while I'm trying to buy a jumbo pop for my 'son'. It can't be a coincidence, right?

Jerry glares at her for a moment before she continues, "Of course I can let you off with a warning if you were to glove those trunks and, I don't know," She gestures for me to step forward, in which I oblige. "Finish selling this nice dad and his son a...what was it?" She whispers to me.

"A jumbo pop." I say, smiling up at the owner. "Please."

"A jumbo pop." The bunny repeats.

Wow, I honestly did not expect anyone to actually help us. I was starting to think our little ruse wasn't going to fool anyone. I almost feel bad that we're having to trick her, too.

Jerry sighs in defeat, deciding to give in. And I don't blame him. "15 dollars."

"Thank you so much." I say, then nod at the bunny. "Thank you."

But as I reach into my pocket, I'm surprised to feel nothing there. Or so, that's how it looks to the others. Of course I have my wallet with me, I'm not an idiot. It's just all part of the ploy. "Oh no, are you kidding me? I don't have my wallet!" I chuckle nervously, pretending to be frustrated with myself. "I'd lose my head if it weren't attached to my neck. That's the truth. Oh boy," I sigh and kneel down to Finnick, "I'm sorry, pal. Gotta be about the worst birthday ever."

I might have improvised that part, only to further guilt the animals around us. Hey, a fox has to have a little fun.

"Please don't be mad at me." I say, cupping Finnick's face in my paws, kissing his head. I know he hates that, but I have to do whatever it takes. I stand back up and take his paw. "Thanks anyway." I say sadly to the bunny before walking out of the line. I can feel Finnick trying to reach out to the jumbo pop, probably pouting like a child.

Before I can even walk out the door, I hear someone slam something onto the counter. Not to my surprise, the bunny pays for the jumbo pop for us. I'm surprised she actually fell for our little fib. She really is a rookie.

After we're given the red jumbo pop, the three of us walk outside the café. Finnick holds the bunny's paw while I carry the jumbo pop over my shoulder, surprisingly it's easy to lift. Just a few pounds heavier than myself.

"Officer, I can't thank you enough. So kind, really." I say to her, "Can I pay you back?"

As I get a better look at her, I catch a glimpse of something in her belt. It looks red, maybe pink-ish. But just from that one glance, I can already tell exactly what it is. I've seen it many times in my life. Hell, I'm used to seeing it almost everyday. Fox repellent.

Of course a bunny would be carrying that around. They were all afraid of us. But then why did she help me when she obviously isn't fond of foxes? I guess she's just trying to make herself feel better. Now I feel less guilty about tricking her.

"Oh no, my treat." She answers, releasing Finnick's paw. "It just— you know, it burns me up to see folks with such backward attitudes toward foxes."

Really? Then explain that fox repellent, two-faced meter maid.

"I just wanna say you're a great dad and just a..." She pauses to find the right words. "A real articulate fella."

"Well, that is high praise." I put a paw to my chest, deciding to play along. "It's rare that I find someone so non-patronizing. Officer...?" I ask, hinting that I want to know her name.

"Hopps." She tips her hat. Of course she has a last name like that. "Mr...?"

"Wilde. Nick Wilde." I hold out my paw, and she gladly shakes it.

I probably should've used a fake name so this can't be traced back to me. But I'm not worried. It's not like she's a real cop, anyway. And I'm not doing anything illegal, so it doesn't matter.

She bends down to look at Finnick, smiling widely. "And you, little guy, you wanna be an elephant when you grow up? You be an elephant. Because this is Zootopia." She pulls out a sticker from her pocket and places it on his chest. "Anyone can be anything."

Now I know she's not from around here. Anyone who actually grew up in Zootopia would know that that stupid saying doesn't mean jack shit. You can't just be whatever you want. God, someone needs to open her eyes and introduce her to the real world. Oh well, she'll figure that out soon enough.

"Ah, boy. I tell him that all the time." I say, then hand the jumbo pop down for Finnick to hold. "Alright, here ya go. Two paws!" He holds up the jumbo pop easily, probably better than me since he's actually stronger despite his size. "Oh yeah, look at that smile! That's a happy birthday smile! All right, give her a little bye-bye toot-toot!"

Finnick toots twice, and the bunny mimicks the sound with a small laugh.

"Bye now!" I say as I turn around, walking along the sidewalk with Finnick.

"Goodbye!" She says, but I don't bother to turn around to see if she waves. I honestly don't care less.

Well, that was a painfully long five minutes. But it worked. Now it's time to move into phase two of our popsicle procedure.

#zootopia #nick wilde #judy hopps #finnick zootopia #wildehopps #zootropolis #zootopia fanfiction #fanfic

14 notes · View notes

black-streak · 5 years ago

Text

Little Pistols - The Killing Type

Chapter 5

First Previous Next

So more from Tim here. A look into how dark he's gotten, if you will. I promise, this is showing more the extremes of how far he's willing to go. Not how he is on the day to day. But, I digress. Mari will be the next chapter.

Btw, to anyone I haven't replied to on comments, I see you! I appreciate you very much, I've just lost track (and time) please know I still am very grateful to for your thoughts and support!

LP Taglist

@zalladane @moonlightstar64 @amayakans @elmokingkong @queen-in-a-flower-crown @karategirl119 @dreamykitty25 @danielslilangel @melicmusicmagic @xahriia @sassakitty @yin-390 @zotinha456 @indecisive-mess-named-me @heldtogetherbysafetypins @theatreandcomicfreak @alexandriamw @messymessyml @bubblegumpinup

Permanent list

@naoryllis @throneoffirebreathingbitchqueen @my-name-is-michell @maribat-is-lifeblood @dast218 @novicevoice @shizukiryuu @princess-of-fangirls @bigpicklebananatree @pirats-pizzacanninibles @abrx2002 @breemeister @darkthunder1589 @thestressmademedoit @severelyenchantedwonderland @isabellemasen @multi-fandom-freak0221 @fantasyloversblog @bzz75 @cloudiedraws @jardimazul @orbitsvt @gingerdaile @sotheresthatthought @kadmeread @novaloptr @unabashedlyswimmingtimemachine @crazylittlemunchkin @18-fandoms-unite-08 @tiny-goddess-of-chaos @ladybug-182 @toodaloo-kangaroo @the-alice-of-hearts @vixen-uchiha

~---~

The first time Tim tried his newest method of fighting crime, he felt exhilarated. Freed. Able to breathe freely and know he made an actual difference. Felt justified and right. Coming home to someone who wouldn't condemn him for it only made it better.

"How're you holding up, babybird?" Jason idly inquired as the other slid through the front door and started to kick off his shoes and shrug off a jacket.

"Fine. Better than fine, really. I think I understand now, what you meant before."

"Plan on elaborating, Timmers?" Jason quirked a brow, hands stilling on a book page, mid-turn.

"Sometimes, just scaring people isn't enough. Sometimes striking fear of repercussions or enforcing them won't stop bad people from doing bad things."

"Yeah?" He glanced up, watching Tim as he engaged the security system and picked his way over towards the armchair perpendicular to Jason where his laptop waited.

"Mm. Every now and then, some of these people need to be taken out of commision entirely. I understand that now."

"Tim, you trying to tell me you're killing now?"

He felt how Jason's look turned sceptical, but appraising.

"Yeah, total murder bunny now, wanna see my collection of decapitated heads? I got a new duffle bag to match yours" He drew out, gaze flat.

"Fuck off," Jay shook his head, mumbling to himself, "Should've known you'd never let that go," then raised his voice back again, "Okay, so if not taking them out of their rotten misery, how have you magically cured them, oh perfect one."

A vindictive little smirk lit the side of his mouth as he turned on his laptop, eyes cutting to his companion with a calculating look, "You of all people know how few of our asylum patients are actually mentally ill in a way that would justify their actions."

"Still say the insanity plea should only stand for recently mind controlled or Lazarus dipped, the poor bastards. Mental Disabilities don't equate violent people. It's such a fucking rude stigma to paint on people who actually have them. Add on that the regular patients are sharing space with actual criminals and of course no one willingly admits themselves, so the people who need the help aren't getting any. Also, if you are going to allow the plea for so many of them, then fund these damn places properly to help them, not just hold them captive until they get bored and escape," Jason went off, book forgone in preference for one of his more impassioned rants.

Tim indulged him for the moment, agreeing but having already heard twenty variations of the same speech, before cutting in towards the end, "Yes well, I figure if they're going to receive the charge anyways, I might as well help them make it more believable, right? So why not give them that little push."

That really caught the other's attention, drawing him in to properly lean over the space between them, elbows propped on knees and fingers laced in the space between as he watched Tim with a curious smile, "What'd you get up to, little bird?"

Clicking through the encrypted files he'd transferred over just tonight, he pulled up a video feed. Inside, bodies were attacking each other, another curled up in the corner, one banging its head against a wall away from the others. They weren't easily distinguishable from one another in their state. Tim felt Jason lean to the side to peak at the screen, brows rising as a whistle left his lips.

"They killed your friend, right?" He grimaced after the words but didn't apologize, for which Tim was grateful.

"Yeah. The flash rogues."

"Why are they..?"

"Psychological torture. They're afraid to leave the room, even though it's unlocked. They're afraid of each other. Of the world. What they do now is up to them. Leave the room and live on paralyzed by fear or stay there and tear themselves apart. I won't kill people. I don't have it in me. But their actions are their own. What do you think?"

Jason's eyes were kind of wide and off guard as he stared at him, "I think you might be the fucked up one here, Tim. Not to say I don't get it, but shit, that's just brutal."

"Eh, killing them seems to lack in proper punishment. It's just getting rid of the problem without making them face the consequences. No need to make a deal of it anyways, not like I put them through anything we haven't survived ourselves."

That got a bark of laughter as Jason relaxed back into the couch, reopening the book. Hm. Through the Looking Glass today. "Well in that case, if they can't handle it like we can, that's their problem," Tim grinned at his conclusion, "glad you found your own way of working. It's about damn time you decided your own morals."

Silence fell over the room, "Jay, did you forget it was your turn to make dinner?"

"... No?"

…

Okay, so it hadn't always been this way. They started off kilter and unsure and lost. Tim, an absolute mess in his grief and lack of direction, Jason freshly returned to Gotham again and wanting to help, but not knowing how with the distance between them.

He knew Jason had offered a position to him in the past, but that'd been within the violence and cruelty. With the pits still lingering and the desire to take him away from Bruce. He knew Jason saw him as an asset to his own agenda then, strictly professional. Now though, it came with personal attachments, shared space, a camaraderie that couldn't be forced. They were both replaced. Both seen as not good enough, outcasts of the family. Both broken in their own ways.

It was like chewing on shattered glass, trying to find footing around each other.

Jay brought him back to a lesser safe house, had let him stay there. Help gather intel on his cases, play his own personal Oracle at times. The first time Tim watched the Red Hood kill from the helmet's camera, he nearly threw up.

He let him teach Tim how to shoot, the ins and outs of every gun the man had on hand. Learned exactly what each was capable of. Unfortunately for Hood, he wasn't capable of wielding them against anyone. Not really.

It took months before Red Hood tried to bring him out into the nightlife, partly due to his own hesitance to chance a run in with the new Batman and Robin. But he let himself be led out anyways. A small patrol of the Bowery and down into Crime Alley then back. When all went smoothly, Tim felt himself relax into the new routine. By the third outing, he officially took up his new title. Red Robin.

However, Tim still hadn't broke out of the moral code ingrained into him for so long.

It took really stopping, really taking the time to watch Hood as he interacted with the girls on the corner or the kids that hid in the night, just as he once had, to fully understand what motivated his partner. It took the reminder of his own loss to determine his need for a stronger method.

It was sheer dumb luck that he decided this before having tracked down the flash rogues. That it was perfectly timed for him to experiment on people he wouldn't regret ruining. That upon telling Jason that he needed to disappear for a little while, the other had agreed readily, with no argument nor lecture. Like true equals.

…

It took longer to perfect his style. How much to hold back or not depending on who they were up against. If Jason chose to kill them, he didn't stand in the way unless it was uncalled for. But if Jason chose not to, Tim decided how far they went with each rogue they encountered. They had a system and it worked. They worked. When the two of them hit the darkened world before them, they painted it with Red and Red and the true scum of the city learned a new type of fear.

#maribat #ml x dc #timinette #timari #Dark!timinette #tw: mental health #tw: psychological torture

240 notes · View notes

tlbodine · 4 years ago

Text

A Horror History of Werewolves

As far as horror icons are concerned, werewolves are among the oldest of all monsters. References to man-to-wolf transformations show up as early as the Epic of Gilgamesh, making them pretty much as old as storytelling itself. And, unlike many other movie monsters, werewolves trace their folkloric roots to a time when people truly believed in and feared these creatures.

But for a creature with such a storied past, the modern werewolf has quite the crisis of identity. Thanks to an absolute deluge of romance novels featuring sometimes-furry love interests, the contemporary idea of “werewolf” is decidedly de-fanged. So how did we get here? Where did they come from, where are they going, and can werewolves ever be terrifying again?

Werewolves in Folklore and Legend

Ancient Greece was full of werewolf stories. Herodotus wrote of a nomadic tribe from Scythia (part of modern-day Russia) who changed into wolves for a portion of the year. This was most likely a response to the Proto-Indo-European societies living in that region at the time -- a group whose warrior class would sometimes don animal pelts and were said to call on the spirit of animals to aid them in battle (the concept of the berserker has the same roots -- just bears rather than wolves).

In Arcadia, there was a local legend about King Lycaon, who was turned to a wolf as punishment for serving human meat to Zeus (exact details of the event vary between accounts, but cannibalism and crimes-against-the-gods are a common theme). Pliny the Elder wrote of werewolves as well, explaining that those who make a sacrifice to Zeus Lycaeus would be turned to wolves but could resume human form years later if they abstained from eating human meat in that time.

By the time we reach the Medieval period in Europe, werewolf stories were widespread and frequently associated with witchcraft. Lycanthropy could be either a curse laid upon someone or a transformation undergone by someone practicing witchcraft, but either way was bad news in the eyes of the church. For several centuries, witch-hunts would aggressively seek out anyone suspected of transforming into a wolf.

One particularly well-known werewolf trial was for Peter Stumpp in 1589. Stumpp, known as "The Werewolf of Bedburg," confessed to killing and eating fourteen children and two pregnant women while in the form of a wolf after donning a belt given to him by the Devil. Granted, this confession came on the tail-end of extensive public torture, so it may not be precisely reliable. His daughter and mistress were also executed in a public and brutal way during the same trial.

Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

The thing you have to understand when studying folklore is that, for many centuries, wolves were the apex predator of Europe. While wolf attacks on humans have been exceedingly rare in North America, wolves in Europe have historically been much bolder -- or, at least, there are more numerous reports of man-eating wolves in those regions. Between 1362 and 1918, roughly 7,600 people were reportedly killed by wolves in France alone, which may have some bearing on the local werewolf tradition of the loup-garou.

For people living in rural areas, subsisting as farmers or hunters, wolves posed a genuine existential threat. Large, intelligent, utilizing teamwork and more than capable of outwitting the average human, wolves are a compelling villain. Which is probably why they show up so frequently in fairytales, from Little Red Riding Hood to Peter and the Wolf to The Three Little Pigs.

Early Werewolf Fiction

Vampires have Dracula and zombies have I Am Legend, but there really is no clear singular book to point to as the "First Great Werewolf Novel." Perhaps by the time the novel was really taking off as an artform, werewolves had lost some of their appeal. After all, widespread literacy and reading-for-pleasure went hand-in-hand with advancements in civilization. For city-dwellers in Victorian England, for example, the threat of a wolf eating you alive probably seemed quite remote.

Don't get me wrong -- there were some Gothic novels featuring werewolves, like Sutherland Menzies' Hugues, The Wer-Wolf, or G.W.M. Reynolds' Wagner the Wehr-Wolf, or even The Wolf Leader by Alexandre Dumas. But these are not books that have entered the popular conscience by any means. I doubt most people have ever heard of them, much less read them.

No -- I would argue that the closest thing we have, thematically, to a Great Werewolf Novel is in fact The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. Written in 1886, the Gothic novella tells the story of a scientist who, wanting to engage in certain unnamed vices without detection, created a serum that would allow him to transform into another person. That alter-ego, Mr. Hyde, was selfish, violent, and ultimately uncontrollable -- and after taking over the body on its own terms and committing a murder or two, the only way to stop Hyde’s re-emergence was suicide.

Although not about werewolves, per se, Jekyll & Hyde touches on many themes that we'll see come up time and again in werewolf media up through the present day: toxic masculinity, the dual nature of man, leading a double life, and the ultimate tragedy of allowing one's base instincts/animal nature to run wild. Against a backdrop of Victorian sexual repression and a rapidly shifting concept of humanity's relationship to nature, it makes sense that these themes would resonate deeply (and find a new home in werewolf media).

It is also worth mentioning Guy Endore's The Werewolf of Paris, published in 1933. Set against the backdrop of the Franco-Prussian war and subsequent military battles, the book utilizes a werewolf as a plot device for exploring political turmoil. A #1 bestseller in its day, the book was a big influence on the sci-fi and mystery pulp scene of the 1940s and 50s, and is still considered one of the best werewolf novels of its ilk.

From Silver Bullets to Silver Screens

What werewolf representation lacks in novels, it makes up for in film. Werewolves have been a surprisingly enduring feature of film from its early days, due perhaps to just how much fun transformation sequences are to film. From camera tricks to makeup crews and animatronics design, werewolf movies create a lot of unique opportunities for special effects -- and for early film audiences especially (who were not yet jaded to movie magic), these on-screen metamorphoses must have elicited true awe.

The Wolf Man (1941) really kicked off the trend. Featuring Lon Chaney Jr. as the titular wolf-man, the film was cutting-edge for its time in the special effects department. The creature design is the most memorable thing about the film, which has an otherwise forgettable plot -- but it captured viewer attention enough to bring Chaney back many times over for sequels and Universal Monster mash-ups.

The Wolf Man and 1944's Cry of the Werewolf draw on that problematic Hollywood staple, "The Gypsy Curse(tm)" for their world-building. Fortunately, werewolf media would drift away from that trope pretty quickly; curses lost their appeal, but “bite as mode of transmission” would remain an essential part of werewolf mythos.

In 1957, I Was a Teenage Werewolf was released as a classic double-header drive-in flick that's nevertheless worth a watch for its parallels between werewolfism and male aggression (a theme we'll see come up again and again). Guy Endore's novel got the Hammer Film treatment for 1961's The Curse of the Werewolf, but it wasn't until the 1970s when werewolf media really exploded: The Beast Must Die, The Legend of the Wolf Woman, The Fury of the Wolfman, Scream of the Wolf, Werewolves on Wheels and many more besides.

Hmmm, werewolves exploding in popularity around the same time as women's liberation was dramatically redefining gender roles and threatening the cultural concept of masculinity? Nah, must be a coincidence.

The 1980s brought with it even more werewolf movies, including some of the best-known in the genre: The Howling (1981), Teen Wolf (1985), An American Werewolf in London (1981), and The Company of Wolves (1984). Differing widely in their tone and treatment of werewolf canon, the films would establish more of a spiderweb than a linear taxonomy.

That spilled over into the 1990s as well. The Howling franchise went deep, with at least seven films that I can think of. Wolf, a 1994 release starring Jack Nicholson is especially worth a watch for its themes of dark romantic horror.

By the 2000s, we get a proper grab-bag of werewolf options. There is of course the Underworld series, with its overwrought "vampires vs lycans" world-building. There's also Skin Walkers, which tries very hard to be Underworld (and fails miserably at even that low bar). But there's also Dog Soldiers and Ginger Snaps, arguably two of the finest werewolf movies of all time -- albeit in extremely different ways and for very different reasons.

Dog Soldiers is a straightforward monster movie pitting soldiers against ravenous werewolves. The wolves could just as easily have been subbed out with vampires or zombies -- there is nothing uniquely wolfish about them on a thematic level -- but the creature design is unique and the film itself is mastefully made and entertaining.

Ginger Snaps is the first werewolf movie I can think of that tackles lycanthropy from a female point of view. Although The Company of Wolves has a strong feminist angle, it is still very much a film about male sexuality and aggression. Ginger Snaps, on the other hand, likens werewolfism to female puberty -- a comparison that frankly makes a lot of sense.

The Werewolf as Sex Object

There are quite literally thousands of werewolf romance novels on the market, with more coming in each day. But the origins of this trend are a bit fuzzier to make out (no pun intended).

Everyone can mostly agree that Anne Rice’s Interview with a Vampire was the turning-point for sympathetic vampires -- and paranormal romance as a whole. But where do werewolves enter the mix? Possibly with Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter books, which feature the titular character in a relationship with a werewolf (and some vampires, and were-leopards, and...many other things). With the first book released in 1993, the Anita Blake series seems to pre-date similar books in its ilk.

Blood and Chocolate (1997) by Annette Curtis Klause delivers a YA-focused version of the classic “I’m a werewolf in high school crushing on a mortal boy”; that same year, Buffy the Vampire Slayer hit the small screen, and although the primary focus was vampires, there is a main werewolf character (and romancing him around the challenges of his wolfishness is a big plot point for the characters involved). And Buffy, of course, paved the way for Twilight in 2005. From there, werewolves were poised to become a staple of the ever-more-popular urban fantasy/paranormal romance genre.

“Sexy werewolf” as a trope may have its roots in other traditions like the beastly bridegroom (eg, Beauty and the Beast) and the demon lover (eg, Labyrinth), which we can talk about another time. But there’s one other ingredient in this recipe that needs to be discussed. And, oh yes, we’re going there.

youtube

Alpha/Beta/Omegaverse

By now you might be familiar with the concept of the Omegaverse thanks to the illuminating Lindsay Ellis video on the topic (and the current ongoing lawsuit). If not, well, just watch the video. It’ll be easier than trying to explain it all. (Warning for NSFW topics).

But the tl;dr is that A/B/O or Omegaverse is a genre of (generally erotic) romance utilizing the classical understanding of wolf pack hierarchy. Never mind that science has long since disproven the stratification of authority in wolf packs; the popular conscious is still intrigued by the concept of a society where some people are powerful alphas and some people are timid omegas and that’s just The Way Things Are.

What’s interesting about the Omegaverse in regards to werewolf fiction is that, as near as I’ve been able to discover, it’s actually a case of convergent evolution. A/B/O as a genre seems to trace its roots to Star Trek fanfiction in the 1960s, where Kirk/Spock couplings popularized ideas like heat cycles. From there, the trope seems to weave its way through various fandoms, exploding in popularity in the Supernatural fandom.

What seems to have happened is that the confluence of A/B/O kink dynamics merging with urban fantasy werewolf social structure set off a popular niche for werewolf romance to truly thrive.

It’s important to remember that, throughout folklore, werewolves were not viewed as being part of werewolf societies. Werewolves were humans who achieved wolf form through a curse or witchcraft, causing them to transform into murderous monsters -- but there was no “werewolf pack,” and certainly no social hierarchy involving werewolf alphas exerting their dominance over weaker pack members. That element is a purely modern one rooted as much in our misunderstanding of wolf pack dynamics as in our very human desire for power hierarchies.

So Where Do We Go From Here?

I don’t think sexy werewolf stories are going anywhere anytime soon. But that doesn’t mean that there’s no room left in horror for werewolves to resume their monstrous roots.

Thematically, werewolves have done a lot of heavy lifting over the centuries. They hold up a mirror to humanity to represent our own animal nature. They embody themes of toxic masculinity, aggression, primal sexuality, and the struggle of the id and ego. Werewolf attack as sexual violence is an obvious but powerful metaphor for trauma, leaving the victim transformed. Werewolves as predators hiding in plain sight among civilization have never been more relevant than in our #MeToo moment of history.

Can werewolves still be frightening? Absolutely.

As long as human nature remains conflicted, there will always be room at the table for man-beasts and horrifying transfigurations.

This blog topic was chosen by my Patreon supporters, who got to see it one week before it went live. If you too would enjoy early access to my blog posts, want to vote for next month’s topic, or just want to support the work I do, come be a patron at https://www.patreon.com/tlbodine

#horror history #werewolves #horror #werewolf #long post

52 notes · View notes

gumnut-logic · 4 years ago

Text

Dear John

@purfectpurple asked for question number 8.

(why won’t Tumblr tag you????? Aaargh! Stupid program!)

Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

I have written far too much fic. It took me a while to work out which fic to choose, but then I remembered this one.

This is built almost entirely out of text messages so it is almost all dialogue. The back story is that Virg was seriously injured and due to reasons, he can’t see his brother John without a serious negative emotional reaction to his presence. But Virgil loves his brother and tries to reach out and talk to him anyway, even if it is only through text messages. And John loves his brother too.

This one was both painful and hilarious to write. It is one of my very early fics and part of a series that is kinda special to me. I’m particularly happy with this one because, honestly, for what it was, I think it works really well.

I’ve posted the whole thing rather than a snippet because I think it needs to be read as a whole to get the effect.

It should also be noted that at the time I was still terrified of writing John :D

-o-o-o-

Title: Dear John

Tales of Sotto Voce

Author: Gumnut

9-10 Sep 2018

-o-o-o-

Message from OntheVirg.

Dear John.

I don’t really know where to start other than to say that I am so sorry. This is not your fault and I know I’m hurting you. If I could stop I would.

I miss you, little brother, please don’t doubt that ever. This thing that bastard has done to me has come between us, but I still love you (yes, I said it, you can now poke fun) and we will get through it. Somehow.

I’m having a hell of a time talking at the moment, so even if I could bear to be in the same room with you, having a conversation would be difficult. Would you mind if we swapped words using the message system? A little odd to be pen pals when we are only a couple of rooms away, but I’m hoping it will help. And I miss you.

Your brother, Virgil.

John stared at the message and something inside him broke. He knew the state his brother was in. He was still confined to the infirmary, could barely walk due to dizzy spells, could barely speak, and was wracked with emotional instability, his brain struggling to right itself after the attack.

Yet, he had managed to write this?

Message from GuyintheSky.

Certainly, Virgil.

I think it is a good idea. It is likely to help us regain our relationship.

It is also great to see you able to write so well, considering your condition. I am very happy to hear from you.

And yes, I love you, too. No poking required.

I am also so sorry this has happened to you. I would offer some regrets, but I cannot see any way that we could have honestly prevented it. Looking back reveals so many opportunities, yet given the same situations with the same information at the time, we would have acted in exactly the same manner. It appears the Hood planned well for once in his life and he almost succeeded.

The only element that he didn’t plan for was you. It is you we have to thank for his failure. I have never been more thankful for your stubborn streak in my life.

I’m am so proud to have such a strong big brother.

John.

He hit send and bit his lip. He wouldn’t list personal relations in his list of best skills, but Virgil knew that. He just hoped he was good enough.

Several hours later, John was startled out of the sub-function he was writing by a chime from his tablet.

Message from OntheVirg.

John.

Thank you for your vote of confidence. To be honest all I could think of at the time was that I couldn’t let you have my ship. You yelled and screamed, but no, you couldn’t have her. Then you hurt me, tried to force me, but no

Sorry, wasn’t you.

It was to be expected. John was surprised the message had even been sent and not deleted. Perhaps Virgil had hit the wrong button. Or perhaps he was trying to explain.

Message from GuyintheSky.

Virgil.

There are no words for the extent of the anger I feel for the violation made against you. There is no need to apologise. I understand, big brother.

Please if you need to talk. I am here.

John

He swallowed and hit send.

Message from OntheVirg.

Do you remember that deer Dad found on the side of the road that had been hit by a car? How it looked up at us desperate for help, but somehow knew it wasn’t going to come?

It felt like that.

It hurt so much. I couldn’t do what he asked, so he just hurt me more. And then I think he just hurt me because he could. There wasn’t any way out.

And he looked just like you. I think that hurt the most.

He had to resist the urge to run down the hallway and hug his brother. He rubbed his eyes instead.

Message from GuyintheSky.

I really wish I could hug you right now. Tell Scott to give you a hug from me.

Do you know why he looked like me?

John

Message from TheFlyingScottsman.

Hug delivered.

You okay?

Message from GuyintheSky.

As well as I could be considering the circumstances. How is he?

John.

Message from TheFlyingScottsman.

Struggling to type. We’re going to have to call it quits soon. It is taking everything he has to hit those keys. But I think he needs this.

Thank you for being there.

How goes the programming?

Message from GuyintheSky.

Don’t let him overtax himself.

Where else would I be? He is my big brother.

Slowly. Whoever did this really knew what they were doing. It is cutting edge work. I can guarantee that the Hood outsourced it. Far too smart for him. I recommend we set Penelope and Kayo on their tail. I dread to think what else this person could be capable of doing. Brains has already started the groundwork to protect our systems. We have a long road ahead to get our equipment up to a level I will be happy to let out on the field without fear of compromise.

I’m afraid International Rescue is down for the count for the foreseeable future.

John.

Message from TheFlyingScottsman.

Damn. I still had hope for a magic wand. Do your best. I know you will.

Oh, and if you need to talk, let me know. Virgil isn’t the only victim here.

Message from OntheVirg

Gonna have to stop soon. Tired.

I have thought about that and I’m not sure. Have you ever met the Hood? I don’t think you have. So I’m wondering how on Earth he knew what you looked like.

But then perhaps he didn’t have to know. Perhaps the program just needed to source the most likely person in my head it could use. You are unique, little brother. Because you spend so much time on TB5, I mostly see you as a hologram. That would be extremely convenient for a mole.

In any case, I fell for it.

Message from TheFlyingScottsman.

He’s asleep.

You know, watching him, I can see why the Hood didn’t win. He won’t give up. By the end of his last message his hands were shaking so badly, I had to help him tap the right keys. Wouldn’t let me do it for him, no, he had to do it himself.

We are so damn lucky to have him for a brother.

Message from GuyintheSky.

I know.

Message from TheFlyingScottsman.

Johnny?

He was still sitting, staring down at his tablet when Scott entered the room behind him. He continued to stare as his brother’s hands took away the tablet and placed on the shelf beside him. When a hand was placed gently on his shoulder he finally looked up into those caring blue eyes.

It was enough to break him again.

For the first time in many years, his biggest brother drew him gently into a hug. John let his forehead drop to the soft material of Scott’s shirt and simply clung.

-o-o-o-

Message from OntheVirg.

Roses are red We wear blue I look groovy And so do you.

Message from OntheVirg.

There once was a flyboy named Scott Who used to fly around a lot He flew so fast He kissed his own ass And completely lost the plot.

Message from OntheVirg.

And then there was one named John Whose appendages were quite long In space he was ace Full of delicate grace But in gravity everything went wrong.

Message from GuyintheSky.

GORDON, GET OFF VIRGIL’S TABLET!

-o-o-o-

Message from GuyintheSky.

You there, Virgil?

Message from LikeaVirgil.

Yeah.

Message from GuyintheSky.

How are you?

Message from LikeaVirgil.

Been better.

Message from GuyintheSky.

Scott with you?

Message from LikeaVirgil.

No. I sent him to bed. He looked awful. Please make sure he looks after himself. You know what he is like when one of us is injured.

Message from GuyintheSky.

I’ve been trying, but he is slippery. Any tips?

Message from LikeaVirgil.

Don’t take no for an answer and, if necessary, manhandle.

Message from GuyintheSky.

I don’t exactly have your physique, Virgil.

Message from LikeaVirgil.

Out logic him then. He does see sense occasionally.

Message from GuyintheSky.

I’ll try.

Virgil, I had an idea about how we could see each other. Do you remember my prom?

Message from LikeaVirgil.

Really?!! You’d try that again?

Message from GuyintheSky.

Do you think it would help?

Message from LikeaVirgil.

Honestly, John, I don’t know. Maybe. It is certainly a fond memory, for me, if not for you. Would you really do that for me?

Message from GuyintheSky.

Of course. It will grow back and maybe that could help you ease back into seeing me?

Message from LikeaVirgil.

You would really go that far?

Message from GuyintheSky.

Wouldn’t you?

Message from LikeaVirgil.

Maybe.

Message from GuyintheSky.

I know you better than that.

Message from LikeaVirgil.

It is asking a lot. Are you sure?

Message from LittleSpaceballs

John.

Can you please give Gordon access to his tablet. He is driving me insane.

Message from GuyintheSky.

Yes, Virgil. Give me a moment. Alan is throwing a hissy.

Message from GuyintheSky.

No, Alan.

Message from LittleSpaceballs.

Then at least change my username for me. He’s locked me out of my settings and his sense of humour leaves much to be desired.

Message from GuyintheSky.

Sure.

Message from TheShortestOne.

Thanks, John. Yours isn’t much better.

Message from GuyintheSky.

Now you lack the balls.

Message from TheShortestOne.

You’re not safe on your little satellite at the moment, John. Remember that.

Message from GuyintheSky.

Go and see Virgil. He needs the company.

Message from TheShortestOne.

How is he doing?

Message from GuyintheSky.

Go and ask him. I’m sure he would love to see you.

Message from TheShortestOne.

I guess.

Message from GuyintheSky.

Have you gone to see him at all?

Message from TheShortestOne.

I’ve been busy.

Message from GuyintheSky.

Alan.

Message from TheShortestOne.

Okay.

Message from GuyintheSky.

Alan.

Message from TheShortestOne.

I hate seeing him like that.

Message from GuyintheSky.

We all hate seeing him like that. This isn’t about us, it is about him. He sacrificed so much to protect us, the least you can do is visit him while he is recovering. He’ll be missing you. You know what he is like.

Message from TheShortestOne.

I know.

Message from GuyintheSky.

Get Gordon to go with you if it will help.

Message from TheShortestOne.

Maybe.

Message from GuyintheSky.

Alan, do you have any idea how much I would like to walk in and see Virgil right now? But I can’t. Move your ass and go see him.

Message from LikeaVirgil.

Everything okay?

Message from GuyintheSky.

Yeah, Alan is just being Alan.

Message from LikeaVirgil.

He tends to do that. Being Alan and all.

Message from GuyintheSky.

Ha ha.

Message from LikeaVirgil.

So you are going to try it?

Message from GuyintheSky.

Yeah.

Message from LikeaVirgil.

I’ll owe you big time, Johnny.

Message from GuyintheSky.

No, you won’t.

Message from LikeaVirgil.

Do I get to keep proof?

Message from GuyintheSky.

I’m sure Gordon will oblige - at a factor of approximately one thousand.

Message from LikeaVirgil.

It will be painful. You have my sympathies. Speak of the devil, the terrible two are here. Speak to you later?

Message from GuyintheSky.

Of course. And you have my sympathies too. Yell if it becomes unbearable.

-o-o-o-

Message from EatYourVirgetables.

Fgxzs

Message from GuyintheSky

Virgil?

When his brother didn’t answer, John pulled up the video feed from his room. Virgil was not in his bed, the covers ruffled and discarded.

Frowning John scanned the room. For a moment he thought it was empty, but no. Right on the very edge of the camera field, a hand lay across a discarded tablet on the floor.

He hit his comm. “Scott, get to the infirmary, now!” And he was moving.

He didn’t know exactly where in the building Scott was, but John was close. He dashed down the corridor, tore around the corner...and Scott had beat him to it.

Virgil was on the floor, distressed and disoriented, struggling to get up. Scott knelt beside him, his hands on his brother’s shoulders muttering reassurances.

John slipped back into the shadows. He could not be seen. Certainly not when Virgil was in this state.

“It was a nightmare. Only a dream.”

“It h-rts. G-d, it h-rts.” There were unshed tears in his brother’s voice, a shaking hand fumbling at his temple. “Mk it g ‘way.”

“I-I can’t, Virg. I’m so sorry.”

Virgil let out a sob. “Why? Why d-s he w-nt to h-rt m?

“Because he was a self-serving bastard who would do anything to get what he wants.” The venom in Scott’s tone startled Virgil.

“J-hn?”

Oh, god.

“No! John would never-“

“H-rts.”

Scott drew his brother close, rocking him gently, desperately trying to calm him down.

John slipped back into the corridor and headed back to his room, heart in pieces.

-o-o-o-

Message from TheMightyFish.

John?

Message from TheMightyFish.

Johnny?

Message from TheMightyFish.

Jooooooooohhhhhhhnnnnnnnnnnyyyyyy.

Message from TheMightyFish.

I really don’t like being ignored. You haven’t answered your comms and your door is locked. C’mon, John. We’re worried about you.

Message from TheMightyFish.

John. John. John. John. John.

Message from TheMightyFish.

Please John. I really don’t want to have to deploy Scott, he looks like shit.

Message from GuyintheSky.

What do you want, Gordon?

Message from TheMightyFish.

You okay?

Message from GuyintheSky.

I’m fine.

Message from TheMightyFish.

Don’t believe you. This all sucks big time. Let me in, pleeease.

Message from TheMightyFish

C’mon, John. We need each other in this.

John sighed and walking out of his bathroom, opened the door. Sure enough, Gordon was standing outside, tablet in hand, worry on his face.

“What’s wrong?”

“I should be asking you that question, bro. You look almost as bad as Scott.”

“Well, plenty of reason.” He sighed. “Is he okay?”

“Who?”

“Scott. Virgil. Pick a brother. Everyone is hurting.”

Gordon looked at him for a moment as if he was going to say something, but then decided against. Instead he took the opportunity to push past John and into his room. “What are you doing in here anyway?”

“Gordon-“

“What?! You’re going to dye your hair???” His little brother let out a laugh. “This will be good.” He grabbed the packet. “Blond? Do anything to be me, huh?” The humour in his brother’s eyes was definitely infectious.

“I’m hoping it will help.”

Gordon immediately sobered. He looked down at the packet. “Prom?”

“Yeah.”

“That sucked.”

“Yes, it did.”

Gordon reached up and patted his shoulder. “Hope it works better than it did last time.”

John looked down a moment. “Hey, Gordon. Do me a favour?”

“Anything, bro.”

“Can I borrow one of your shirts?”

Gordon cracked up. “Anything to be me.”

-o-o-o-

Message from EverVirgilant.

You ready?

Message from LongJohnBlondie.

Are you?

Message from EverVirgilant.

Scott’s here, and Gordon. Dunno where Alan is. We have enough troops should I lose it.

Message from LongJohnBlondie.

You are not going to lose it. Do me a favour and cuff Gordon about the ears for me. I don’t know how he has changed my username this time, but even I’m locked out now.

Message from EverVirgilant.

Cuff deployed. Consider yourself scowled at. I’ll speak to Brains later. See if I can get his font to appear pink with flowers and fairies.

Message from LongJohnBlondie.

Sounds great.

Message from EverVirgilant.

Now get your ass in here.

-o-o-o-

Scott was tired. But that seemed to be the permanent state of affairs since his brother had been injured. He was wary of this experiment, but agreed that it was worth the try. Virgil missed John, and John was going through his own version of hell in this, so if it helped just a little, it would help a lot.

Gordon dashed back into the room, a grin on his face. “Awesome. Totally awesome.”

Scott glared at him, but his grin would not be subdued.

He reached for Virgil’s hand. Simple reassurance.

Virgil’s voice was hesitant. “C-m in, J-hn.”

The middle brother edged around the doorway, and Scott felt Virgil tense.

Oh my god.

His tall lanky brother had cut his hair short and dyed blond. He had obviously shoved a pile of product into it and it stood up in messy spikes. On top of that he was sporting a pair of John Lennon sunglasses, conveniently hiding his eyes.

One of Gordon’s just a little too small, blindingly colourful shirts hung from his shoulders, leaving just a hint of bare skin at his waistline. Low hung burgundy linen pants and leather sandals finished off the ensemble.

So far from their John that a new man stood in the room.

“J-hn?” Virgil’s voice cracked.

John attempted a grin.

Virgil succeeded. “Yu l-k gr-t.” Scott started as Virgil suddenly pushed aside his covers and clambered out of bed. He steadied him as he wavered predictably, but let him go as he hesitantly approached his little brother.

His shoulders were tense, but he reached out and laid a hand on John’s chest. “H-w r yu?”

Quiet and still tentative. “Getting better by the minute.”

Virgil looked up at him, a mess of emotion on his face.

“How are you, Virgil?”

Whispered. “G-ttig b-tter b the m-nut.” He swallowed, then leaping in, closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around his little brother. “M-ssed yu.”

John gently returned the embrace. “Missed you, too.”

Scott swallowed as something caught in his throat.

They stood there for a moment before Virgil broke it off, stumbling a little and backing off. Gordon caught him and led him back to the bed.

John stayed where he was standing as his big brother sat back down on the bed. Scott grabbed a hand. “You okay?”

Virgil smiled up at him. “Ye, I th-k I am.”

The biggest brother in the room broke into a grin and tightened his grip. He looked up at John and finally saw a hesitant smile on the man’s face.

They had made a beginning.

-o-o-o-

Message from ScottyWantaCracker.

GORDON!

Message from TheVirgilQueen

What has he done now?

Message from HeWhoLooksUpSkirtsBecauseHeisTooShorttoLookDownShirts

What the hell?!

Message from BlondHippyandLippy

He’s in the pool.

Message from ScottyWantaCracker.

I’m going to drain the damn thing!

Message from SleekSilverandFoxy.

I’ll take care of it.

#Username reset

ScottTracy

VirgilTracy

JohnTracy

AlanTracy

GroovyGrandma

GordonisGrovelling.

-o-o-o-

FIN.

The rest of the series can be found here.

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds #thunderbirds fanfiction #John Tracy #Virgil Tracy #Sotto Voce

27 notes · View notes

my-brothers-corrupted · 3 years ago

Text

Book Four - Part 14

Anti's "puppets" take a final stand against him.

Tws for violence, fighting, grief, death, blood, and extreme distress.

Part 14 - Gone

unpredictably-ghostly asked: O-kay, whatever up with Anti can't be good, what's happening? Dapper, do you know what he's doing, have you seen it before? You're all so close to the happy ending you deserve, and we're so proud of you for making it this far, please keep fighting!

Dapper stares up at the corrupted version of himself from the ground, coughing hard, his body exhausted from what little fighting they’ve done so far. He’s hot and his head pounds. He can’t tell if this is real or not. He’s afraid.

“Look at you,” signs the being above him, cold white eyes, pupil-less and uncolored, staring back at him. Strings rope the monster from head to toe, pure white strings wrapped so tight they leave marks behind and drain all blood from his porcelain form. He is so young he may as well be a child, wearing a suit which is choking the air from him. “You really thought you could ever get away from us? From yourself. Psychotic and weak and mute to all the world but Anti, the only one who really knows exactly who you are. Pretending to be Christ’s little lost lamb. You’re just Anti’s murderer. Anti’s smiling, stupid, helpless little murderer.”

Blood fills up the monster’s mouth and comes drizzling down his chin, staining his neat beard. Blood follows from the eyes and ears. Blood coats the hands and drains from beneath the strings. He is coated in it. Those bloodied hands reach down and grab Dapper by the throat, hauling him up to look into those dead white eyes.

“And you always will be.”

He shudders and cries, clinging to the wrist of the amalgamation.

Anonymous asked: None of them belong to you. Let them go or die right here and now. At least lose with dignity, you bastard. Jack never intended for you to win this fight, and you're absolutely right on one thing. None of you can escape the destiny of your story.

“I won’t fall down like this!” Red shouts, even as he feels his heartrate pick up and his skin begin to tingle and hurt, everything too cold and too close and too overwhelming. “They’re right and I finally realized it! You were always meant to lose. You were always the villain in this story!”

“But it took us so long to realize,” answers a voice beside him, somehow both too loud and too quiet, and always entirely unaware of it. He drags his gaze up to the being beside him, sitting in the grass and rocking himself, eyes closed and hands over his ears. A black hood covers his face, but everyone can see the tears running down. He’s thin and his nails are filthy and broken from scraping against chains and locked doors. “So, so long. And we weren’t just passive - we were part of it. We hit them… we yelled and insulted them, dragged them by their hair and their throats. They hated us. They still do. And they’re scared, too, everyone but Blue. If Anti goes away, all of them will get sick of us. We’re so pathetic. No one can take care of us and we can’t take care of ourselves. You were a coward when they needed you, blind and cruel to them!”

Red feels something in his chest begin to shake. He’s sobbing again despite himself, shaking his head.

“Look at you, crying again,” sneers the Anti-Red, gritting its teeth. “You weren’t enough for Anti and you’re not enough for them. You didn’t save them. We drove Max away and he said he loved us exactly as we were! Even now, look at you - writhing in the grass. We have to go back to Anti. Go crawling back and beg he forgives us. If we’re not his attack dog, we’re nothing.”

Anonymous asked: No more, Anti. They won't take this from you anymore. You're right, not a shred of pity left for you. You've abused and used them for years, this isn't betrayal, this is comeuppance. Well deserved, at that.

“I won’t take any more from you,” breathes Blue, trying to hold himself together, digging his fingers into the earth even as the foot crushes against his windpipe. He feels his power moving in his fingers, soothing at the steady earth, where trees and flowers grow, warm and loving. “I am Blue, the witch, the one who takes care of them. I’m not scared of you, Anti. They’re right - this is comeuppance.”

“How noble,” whispers the cold version of himself. Its hair is grown out long and silky, surrounding the eyes like emeralds that glitter at him from a ghostly face. Its ears and throat and fingers are hung with jewelry and it is dressed in a clean blouse and jeans, a fine black boot pressed to Blue’s throat. Its whole body seems to glow, somehow. It is so beautiful it makes his heart throb and his throat tighten painfully. “Now, after you have lost everything and have no way of saving them, you are ready to scream against him. Stop fighting. You lost, Marvin.”

“I’m not - I’m not - ”

“You’re disgusting,” sneers the alternate, drawing its foot away as though repulsed even to touch him. “What an ugly, scarred-up, hollow little bitch you look like. Masculine and emasculated at the same time. You think you’re powerful just because you got your magic back? It was never enough to save us from him, Marvin. We will never be enough. All we can do is care for them when they’re in pain, nursing them through these last few years of their life before Anti gets sick of all of us. Don’t you see? It’s already too late. And now that you’ve chosen to fight back instead of taking care of them like you were told to do - ”

Blue is hoisted up by the throat, choking. He lets out a scream of pain, not for the hand on his neck, but for this - the sight of his family writhing and crying out in the grass, begging someone to make this stop.

“This is all your fault,” whispers his shadow.

Anonymous asked: You think you're going out with a bang when you're going out with an overdrawn tantrum. Enough. You cut corners, so now you get to cut your losses. It's your fault that the loss is literally everything you've built so shoddily.

For a moment, Anti is there, is himself, is visible to you.

He is in the middle of them, something black dripping from his eyes. His face is scrunched up in pain, his form flickering so weakly its hard to distinguish him from the background of the forest. He gazes around himself, panting. One moment he is not-Blue, not-Red, not-Dapper, not-Trick. He leans over himself and spits black gunk into the grass.

“Anti,” comes that same weak voice as he heard before, small and soft.

“Jack,” answers his voice from meters away, glitching and shattered.

“You’re killing yourself. You have to stop. Anti, Anti.”

Trick is in the grass nearby, lying on his side. Nearby, a shadow hovers over him, crying in silence over a dead cat in its arms. The smell of booze sweats from its skin and it shivers in the cold, bandages wrapped around its head and wrists.

“I want this to stop,” whispers the corruption, wiping at the tears in his eyes. “Let’s just go back to how we were. We just want to feel loved again. Don’t care what I have to do or who I have to be. We can’t do anything. We’re not the protagonist. We can’t even stop him.”

“Anti,” cries Trick, head pounding. He tries to drag himself to his hands and knees, but the dark image of himself kicks him back to the ground. He hears a faint squeak and shields the little body in his pocket as best he can, struggling to focus, struggling to do anything, just like always. “Please.”

Anti’s eyes flutter shut. He dissipates again, power over-exerted in the corrupted forms he’s manifesting, no longer able to control his own tangibility.

Anonymous asked: There is no shame in how long it took you to realize Jackie. Abusers are good at disguising things, especially if they have the power to give you amnesia and change your brain. You have nothing to be ashamed of or embarrassed about, especially not being neurodivergent or being afraid Heroes can be afraid too sometimes. Your brothers loved you as the old Jackie, and they love you now! You are their hero, and everything you've ever done has been to keep them safe. Don't lie down in fear Jackieboy!

Ro closes his eyes, trying to listen to you over the turmoil in his own brain.

“He made me forget,” he agrees. “He - he made me feel fond of him. I tried so hard to love him.”

“And still weren’t enough,” answers the broken version of himself.

“Well, maybe he was the problem!” cries Ro, letting Blue’s fiery warmth soothe against his palms. “Blue loves me even when I breakdown. Max thought I was someone worth spending months searching for. And my brothers forgave me for the things I did because I - I tried to get better. Not like him! I’m not!”

“You still failed them!” shouts his other self, gripping his shoulders. “You’re nobody’s hero! Just a burden to everyone around you! You were supposed to protect them, but you just watched! You let this happen!”

“I have a chance to save them now,” gasps Ro. “Don’t I have to try?”

aether-mae asked: Hey Marv, something I’ve learned recently is that hating yourself or feeling uncomfortable in your body is something that is confined to the moment, and can ease or change with time. Right now you feel this way but slowly with time and patience you can find the things that bring you one step away from those feelings. Think less about your ideal ‘fixed’ self and look more towards how you can make urself comfy in the moment, one step at a time

“There’s no comfort to be had from this,” snarls the Anti-Blue, eyes full of the same derision he’s seen in the mirror for days. “It’s your own fucking skin. No escape. No relief. Or Anti’s skin, more like it. You will never, never be rid of the feeling of him making your flesh his own. Just a fucking puppet.”

“I hate you!” screams Blue, striking his hand against the earth, but the cry, no matter how fierce, only seems to make that dark version of himself more tangible, its form straightening up and becoming less translucent while Blue sinks towards the ground, holding his head.

“You may as well give up.”

“I didn’t always hate myself like this,” sobs Blue. “I want to go back to that. Like they said. I want some comfort.”

“You will never get it.”

Anonymous asked: Don't fall back into his lies JJ! You are already free! Fight it, fight him as hard as he's forced you to fight others! Show him what 'carver' means, Jameson!

“How are we going to fight?” asks the other version, anguished. “Even if we could get away, what then? What will we do? We can’t touch others without being triggered. We’re scared of both open spaces and being locked away. We can talk to hardly anyone and none of our brothers even remember who we are! All we’ve been for years is Anti’s pet in the attic! We’re evil and we deserve to be locked away.”

“I’ve done bad things,” Dapper manages, his hands fumbling and tired. “But I… I don’t want to give up. I do want to fight.”

“As if. You don’t have the strength.”

Anonymous asked: You are not disgusting, Blue, you are not an object either. Don't let this bastard objectify and make you sick any longer. You are more than just caring for them, you are fire as well as flowers! You can be whoever you want as soon as you get away from him. You will be worthy of love and happiness no matter who you are, no matter if it's Blue or Marvin or anyone you wish! You are beauty and danger together as one! Show this bastard who's boss, wonderful magician.

“I’m not disgusting,” whispers Blue, trying to pound it into his head. “I’m not, I’m - I’m not. That’s a lie.”

“It’s not a lie,” snarls the other self.

“No, it is,” gasps Blue, determined now. “I know it because that’s the same sort of bullshit Anti would always tell my brothers. That they’re broken, somehow, because they’re different and because they’ve been through shit that hurt them. Well, I - I don’t believe it about them. I won’t believe it about me. I won’t.”

He pulls at his hair, eyes gritted shut. He can’t make himself stop hating the way he looks and feels right now, but he can’t give up either. They need him!

Anonymous asked: You are enough Jackie! Being autistic doesn't make you less than, don't let that ableist bastard warp your thoughts! You're more than enough to protect your brothers, everything you've ever done for them has been an effort to protect and take care of them! You've beat him to ashes before and you're strong enough to do it again, you brave, tremendous hero!

Ro hears Blue’s words faintly from a few meters away. Isn’t this what Blue has told him before? That he’s not less because he’s different or because he breaks down sometimes? If Blue won’t believe it about himself, well - Ro has to try not to believe it about himself either.

“Cause we fight side-by-side!” he cries, striking the earth, and flame bursts against the grass. “I was manipulated for a long time, but I remember what Dap said. I needed time, but I never stopped trying to protect them. And I won’t fucking stop now!”

“No, just surrender!” screams the Anti-Red.

“Why? Huh? Why, cause you don’t think I’m worth it? Cause you don’t think I can handle it?”

“Because we’re afraid!” cries the shadow, grabbing his shoulders. “We’re afraid, I’m afraid!”

Red feels his heart pounding so hard he’s scared he might die. It’s true. He is. Jackie would never be this afraid…

“We’re not Jackie,” sobs the shadow. “We’re just… just… the brokenness that remains.”

Anonymous asked: You are strong enough, Jameson. You are powerful, and wonderful. You can heal if you give yourself time being free! You need to show yourself kindness and fight the words of this asshat. Anyone can heal and work through their triggers with time and therapy, but you can never start healing if you don't get away from him. Remember, you are a strong, capable, powerful man who deserves freedom and happiness.

“I deserve a chance to heal,” his hands whisper.

His eyes are closed. He’s bent over himself as though kneeling.

“I deserve a chance to be free. To be happy. The chance that Anti took from me…”

In his pocket, pictures of times when he was happy, if only for a moment. In his pocket, a torn prayer card. In his pocket, tickets to go back home.

“I’ve come so far,” he signs against his chest, bowed and exhausted. “I’m so tired.”

“If we were healthy, maybe then we could fight,” signs the Carver, grabbing his hair to force him to look at his hands. “But Anti’s ruined us permanently. We’re just ash now, Dapper.”

“Ash to ash,” signs Dapper weakly. “Dust to dust.”

“Don’t parrot Christianity at me like God gives a fuck.”

“I think everybody’s just ash sometimes,” says Dapper, almost dazed. “I… I think we’re all sinners. I’ve done bad things, but I deserve a chance to give back some goodness to the world. I want to be nice. I want to make other people happy. I want a chance to grow old. I have to fight for it.”

But, oh, he’s so tired. Carver’s hands rest on his back. Dapper sinks against the earth, unable to get up.

“You always know what you have to do,” signs Carver, derision in white eyes. “But you never have the strength.”

“No,” protests Dapper softly. “No.”

Anonymous asked: You can find comfort Blue! But comfort starts with learning to love yourself. You need to fight this self hatred, Anti wants you to hate yourself. The biggest spit in his face you can do would be to say "fuck it, I love myself!". You are powerful and magical, The Magnificent. Find freedom first, then we can work up to comfort. Right now, your family needs you to fight this! It wasn't your fault, not in the slightest, but right now you have a chance to fix it, get your family back!

“I can find comfort, I can find comfort.”

Azul is chanting it to himself, trying to get up off the ground.

“I can, I can. I can help them still. I can avenge them and protect them and love them, even through everything that follows. It hurts, I - I’m trying to keep fighting, but I - ”

He glimpses his own body. His filthy hands and his scars. His shirt too big on him and his hairy legs.

He’s on his knees, overwhelmed. Eyes full of tears, he looks over and sees Ro looking back, their misery reflected in each other’s faces.

Anonymous asked: Boys, this is a difficult battle, but remember you're not fighting it alone. All your brothers are here with you, see? You know each other, way better than some glitch bitch does. Draw from that!

Trick is holding Dok’s little body in his hands.

He’s shaking in the grass, consumed by his own thoughts and intrusive desires, desires that never seem to go away no matter how hard he fights. His corrupted self sits beside him, crying and crying, no longer able to keep up the fight.

Dok moves against his palm.

Soft and warm. Soothing. His tiny nails scrape against his fingers.

Trick sucks in a deep, desperate breath, heaving for air. His own fingers stop scratching so hard at his wrists, no longer trying to get the blood out.

And the fat, fuzzy little body of that rat, sick and tortured and exhausted - that rat, his brother, staggers its teetering way out of his pocket and comes crawling all the way up to sit between his neck and his shoulder, and comfort him.

“My brother,” croaks Trick.

Fuck, a rat. He’s a goddamn rat and he’s still comforting him through his pain.

That’s how much he loves him.

Trick cups his warm body against his neck, tears dripping down his face. Dok’s nose pokes lovingly at his cheek. He is already ready to fall asleep again, his big dark eyes sliding shut.

“It’s better to die than live,” cries Trick’s darkness.

Trick looks up at it. He sees his own face, his own faults, his own regrets, his own pain.

“Hey,” he whispers, dragging himself up. “Don’t… don’t say that.”

“It’s true!” cries the other version of himself. “The cameras are wrong! We’re alone. Who would want to fight for us? Nobody will ever love us.”

Trick stares down at his hands. There is a burn scar in his palm. He set a fire to keep his brother warm. Dok crawls into Trick’s hood, curling up against his neck, and Trick can feel him there, beside him, just like through every dark night that never seemed like it would end.

He looks up at the other version of himself, sobbing and scarred.

“We’re already loved,” he says. “And we always have been.”

He sits up. He reaches out.

And in that moment, Chase hugs Trick to his chest.

Anonymous asked: Blue, Ro, Dapper, you don't have to suffer alone! You're both worthy of love, respect and comfort, right now, regardless of what those shadows say. If you can't love yourselves right now, that's okay, you can get there later if you must, but right now, you can love each other. Would you ever want anything the shadows say to you being said to your brothers? Why would these poisoned words would only be true for you?

“Dap deserves everything,” Ro agrees in a croak.

“I don’t want to see Blue in pain anymore,” signs Dapper weakly.

“I need to get to Ro. I want him to feel okay.” Blue staggers to his feet, shoving at the shadow when it grabs him, baring its teeth as it pins him back on his knees. As he fights, he sees the others.

Dapper is tussling with Carver. Ro and his shadow watch each other warily, both self-soothing with the same motions. And Trick?

Trick -

Chase.

Chase is on his feet. The corrupted being is no longer beside him.

He looks back at Blue and reaches out for him.

aether-mae asked: I wanted to let u know, bud (any bud who needs to hear) that once anti is gone and you’re away from him things won’t instantly fix. They won’t fix a little and they certainly won’t fix a lot. Taking away the pressure doesn’t heal the wounds, only time and patience can do that. You need to be patient with ur selves, however long that will take and how ever it may happen, let it happen and don’t force healing

Blue reaches shakily out to touch the shoulder of this other version of him.

No. Not another version.

This is a part of him.

Chase takes his hand, trying to smile at him despite everything that’s happening. His perfect little brother. In so much pain of his own, and he chose to come over and help him. That’s how much he loves him.

Isn’t that worth something?

The shadowy being is disappearing from beneath Chase’s hands, clinging to him like a lifeline.

“It won’t really be gone,” says Chase. “These parts of ourselves still exist inside of us. Maybe they always will. But Blue, we will deal with them together. That’s the only way we can. We can’t fight them alone, but we are not alone.”

Blue touches his cheek.

Cups his little brother’s face, eyes full of tears.

“And we… we never will be again?” whispers Blue.

“Never,” swears Chase, just as soft. “You will always have my love.”

They move together the way that trees which grow side by side wrap together.

“I love you,” whispers Chase. “So much.”

“I love you too, Amata,” answers Marvin the Magnificent, drawing back to kiss his cheek. “Go help Ro, okay? I’ll get Dapper. It’s going to be okay. Not today, maybe, and not even tomorrow. But someday.”

Anonymous asked: Wrong, wrong wrong, and wrong again. You are Jameson motherfucking Jackson! You are the philosophizer, the violin player, the man braving our hallucinations in a safe laundry room, you are the most powerful magician in the world, a strong and capable adult man, and most importantly you are A FUCKING FREE MAN! Fight it, you know who you are, even through his breaking of your identity and his claws at your mind. JAMESON JACKSON, RISE UP AGAINST YOUR TORMENTOR!

Dapper can’t see past the blood. Can’t smell anything but copper. It’s in his mouth, on his tongue, down his throat. His face is wet - with tears, with the lifeblood, he doesn’t know. With both?

He can’t breathe.

He feels sick.

His heart is this fading, flickering thing in his chest, pounding so hard and so weak at the same time. He pukes into the grass, but Carver is still signing at him, still dragging him by the throat and head, still pouring venom into his head and bleeding, bleeding, bleeding.

It never stops. It never stops. It never stops.

“Give up,” signs Carver. “Just lie down and die already. It’s what you’ve wanted for years now, isn’t it?”

“No,” signs Dapper shakily, trying to keep from crumpling into the grass. “No. I want to go home with my family and be happy and safe. I want to fight.”

“But you’re not strong enough.”

“You bet your ass he’s strong enough!” screams a voice of rage, like a clap of thunder from the sky, and vines burst from the earth and begin winding around Carver’s tortured body. “That’s my little brother and he’s my fucking hero!”

Dapper sobs aloud, reaching blindly for help. Warm arms encase him in a hug, in a shield, in a promise, and he feels their bodies rock in time, soothing, soothing.

“This is my little survivor!” cries Blue, kissing his face once, twice, all but ignoring the struggling Carver. “This is my fighter, my time traveler, my friend! Clever, powerful, kind, sly as a fox. My perfect darling. I’m here. I love you.”

“Don’t, no, please,” protests Dapper, and Marvin pulls back in surprise. “No, I don’t want you to touch me or kiss me. I’m so filthy. No one should ever touch me again.”

Prepared to draw back at a request for space, the explanation only makes Blue’s eyes harden with determination. He lunges forward again and wraps his brother in his arms so tight it makes Dapper cough, kissing his filthy, bloodied face and the side of his head over and over again.

“My darling, my love,” whispers Blue. “There’s nothing wrong with you. There’s nothing dirty about you. Oh, Dap, don’t you know you deserve the whole world? You, little brother, have spent your life surviving Anti. In all his hatred, in all his cruelty, in all his lies and manipulation. You survived. You even fought, goddamn! This is the man who slapped him! This is the man who pulled so hard against those strings! And here you are now, my brother, still striving to get up from the ground. Sick and exhausted and still trying.”

He cups Dapper’s face and presses their foreheads together, letting his little brother ugly-cry in front of him and slump against his shoulder, truly worn, down to the heart of him.

“I will help you through everything that comes after this,” Marvin vows, rocking him against his chest. “Don’t be afraid of what we’ll have to deal with. We will deal with it together.”

“Please,” prays Dapper, nodding his head against him. “Yes, please, that has been my wish for so long, though there were times I did not even recognize the desire inside myself. Marvin, Marvin. Don’t let go.”

“Here I am, my heart. Here I am.”

Carver is slumped back against the grass, staring up at the sky with despair in his white eyes. Blue looks over at him and feels the urge to snuff this deranged version of his little brother out - but it is Jameson who stops him.

With the last of his strength, JJ gets to his knees and crawls over to where the vines bind that broken, hurting child tied up in string and coated in bloodshed. Tears well in JJ’s eyes and fall down on Carver, clearing, for a moment, the trails of blood away.

“We’re not going to be a prisoner anymore,” he says, reaching out for Blue’s hand. He presses the witch’s fingers to the vines and the string.

Blue understands his request without words. Glancing once more at JJ, he turns to the strings and let the vines grow careful thorns, tearing through the white lines which cut into his flesh.

The strings fall away.

Carver’s eyes clear. For a moment, they are blue instead of white, and he is looking up at the sun.

He disappears from view, fading into wisps of smoke.

Anonymous asked: Jackie was afraid sometimes too! Stop putting the past you on some pedestal, Ro, Jackie. Listen to me, you are the same person as the past you, you just have a little more hardship you've seen. And that only makes your stronger! Heros are allowed to be afraid, Jackie! Your fear doesn't make you weak, it pushes you to fight harder!!

“I can fight harder,” pants Ro, squaring up with this dark version of himself, this useless, pathetic version of himself. He hates it!

“I can fight harder,” he repeats, louder. “I can fight harder. I can fight harder! I can fight harder!”

He throws himself at his shadow with a howl, grabbing its shoulders and shoving it to the ground. He knows how to fight! The other him fights right back, yes, snarling and scratching at him, but Ro is past caring. Blood seeps out of his cheek from a long scratch along his face and when it drives its knee into his stomach, he stops breathing for a good thirty seconds, but never once does he stop fighting.

“I’m going to be a hero again! I can fight harder! I can fight til it fucking kills me if it keeps them safe! I’ll kill you, I’ll fucking kill you!”

“Red!” someone is screaming, grabbing at his arms. “Ro, stop, this isn’t helping!”

“I’ll destroy it! I’ll kill it like a bug! I can fight harder, longer, dirtier, I don’t care!”

He drives his thumbs into the double’s eyes just like Anti’s taught him to, feeling the juice squelch beneath his fingers.

“Stop! Ro, stop!”

Chase’s hands wrap around his own, tearing him away from the other being, which is too beat to rise again, groaning and sobbing with pain. Chase tears Ro back even as he screams and thrashes, trying to get up to attack it again.

“Lemme go! I’m going to keep you safe! I gotta make it up to you! I can fight! Don’t get rid of me! I’m useful, I’ll fight for you, I’ll protect you, let me show you!”

“Ro… Ro… stop, bud, just - shit, man… I’m here, okay?”

Ro is sobbing, striking the ground.

“Look at me,” he cries. “I can’t be what anyone needs me to be. I’m not warm or comforting like the rest of you. I’m not a medic or a magician or a problem-fixer. I’m just a dick.”

“Reddy, you just get overwhelmed sometimes.”

“It’s not that!” Ro howls, shaking his head against Chase’s chest. “I get these horrible thoughts. When I’m angry, I want to hurt people. I have hurt people. Not just my enemies, but the people I love too. I’ve done horrible things… to you, to Dapper, to anyone Anti sicked me on. You five deserve to be free and happy. I’m just a mean person with a horrible fucking temper. And yet I still spent so long cowering from Anti when I should have been angry for you. I forgot my own fiance… I’m a monster. Just like Anti.”

“That’s not true,” whispers Chase. “No, hey, don’t go protesting right away. It’s not true. Red… we’ve all done bad things. For different reasons - anything from mind control to having a bad day. It doesn’t make you a monster. Shit, Red, look at all of us. Look at all this baggage we’re all carrying. This darkness… it’s a part of all of us, Red.”

“What if mine’s worse than yours?” sniffles Ro, wiping at his face. “What if I’m genuinely a bad person?”

Chase is draping his weight over his shoulders, holding him tight.

“Ro. Bad people don’t change when they hurt someone else. Good people do. When they do bad things, they do everything they can to make it right. They try not to let it happen again. They apologize.”

“Then I’m sorry,” begins Ro. “For - ”

“Bro,” laughs Chase, hugging him tighter. “We already did that, remember? The only person who hasn’t forgiven you… is you, Red.”

unpredictably-ghostly asked: Ro, you don't need to be Jackie! You're enough, and worthy and deserving of love as Ro, as who you are right here and now. You don't need to be Jackie to be a hero, or help your brothers. You've already done so much good, Ro, and you're not a failure or a burden. It's okay to be afraid, this is really, really scary. They say courage isn't the absence of fear, but acting regardless. You can still fight afraid, but please remember you don't need to fight alone.

“Can I tell you something?” whispers Chase, cuddled up close to him. “Something I never even told Dok?”

Henrik pokes his little head out of Chase’s hoodie.

“Yeah, bud, what?” asks Ro. “Anything.”

Chase knocks their heads together, swaying gently against his back. “You were always kind of my hero.”

Ro starts. “What? You hated me! We fought all the time and I was awful to you.”

“You kept me and Dok fed,” says Chase. “Gave us blankets and medical supplies even when it meant you didn’t have enough for yourself. Took fucking beatings for us, Ro. Even when you thought I didn’t like you, you still laid yourself down for me and my twin all the fucking time.”

Ro is quiet beneath his hands, staring at his double, now panting against the ground. “I didn’t know you knew that I would… maybe give you more than I gave myself. Sometimes.”

“You starved for days sometimes for us,” says Chase, feeling his voice tremble a little. “We never told you no because you were in charge of us and you always told us to do what we were told so Anti wouldn’t be mad. But we knew, Ro. And when Blue came to stay with us and you started to get some joy back… I just felt sorry I hadn’t been the one to make you smile like that to begin with.”

Jackie chuckles wetly, swiping at his eyes. “You two were my only happiness when I couldn’t see Dapper. I didn’t think you’d ever like me, so I stayed away. But when I got a chance to see you happy or hear you laughing, I would hold on to it for days. It was what I lived for… the only thing I lived for. Protecting you. Making sure you ate. Making sure you stayed together. My twins in their nest in the corner, guarding me through the night.”

He threads his hand through Chase’s hair. A soft nose touches his hand and he laughs, reaching back to steal Henrik out of Chase’s hood. Body beginning to relax, Jackie closes his eyes and nuzzles his head against Henrik’s, stroking his round grey and white body with one hand.

“My healer and my guardian,” he whispers. “I love you.”

“Well, I’ll tell you one more secret,” says Chase, sitting down beside him. “Dok and I talked it over, and we’ve come to an official consensus - we love you too.”

Ro closes his eyes, hugging both of them against his heart.

“And we want to make you happy too.”

They stare at that fading shadow on the ground for a long time. It won’t drain away completely.

“I’m still afraid,” whispers Ro. “That’s why it won’t go.”

“I’m afraid too,” says Chase. “Scared out of my mind. So is Dapper and Blue, and maybe even Dok, but he’s just a sleepy little guy right now. But Ro, I think they’re right. I think Jackie was scared too. And he was still my hero.”

“You didn’t know Jackie,” laughs Ro.

But Chase doesn’t laugh. His face is serious.

“No,” he says. “But I see him in you. And that, Jackie - that has always been true. My big brother. Being scared together - that’s what families do.”

Ro rises slightly, getting to his knees and looking down at the other Red. He thought he saw weakness in him, weakness and anger and a threat. Now, all he sees is fear. His own fear.

He doesn’t want to hate himself for it anymore.

Jackie watches the other being fade away.

nikkilbook asked: Oh, Jackie. How many times are we gonna do this? In Norway, when we first met Red, the first thing I realized? Was that Red did what he did to draw the fire. You kept your brothers quiet and in line, so that if anything bad happened, you were the odd one out. You drew Anti’s fire. Maybe you don’t have any of what makes your brothers special. What you do have is love. Even if it comes through out of focus, you love, Jackieboy. You love with a love that always tells the truth. Lies do not become you. You do not become lies.

And all this talk of “you’ll fight til it kills you”? Frick that noise. You’d crash like a falling star if one of your brothers gave their lives—what makes you think they’d mourn you any less if you were gone? What makes you worth less? What makes you any less important or cherished or loved? I’ll say what I’ve said to you in a different life—you’re a trauma victim, not a bread loaf.

Stand up, Jackieboy. Be afraid, be overwhelmed, be uncertain of what to do with your own thoughts—but stand up, just one more time.

“You draw the fire for everyone,” says Chase, cupping Ro’s warm, gloved hand, where a small blue flame flickers. “Sometimes literally.”

Jackie laughs softly. He turns at the sound of crunching grass and sees Blue and Dapper walking towards him - or, more accurately, Blue walking towards him with his little brother in his arms. Immediately concerned, Jackie reaches out for him, and a moment later, Blue settles JJ into his arms.

“What’s going on?” he asks, brushing Dapper’s hair from his face. “He’s still sick?”

“He hasn’t had any good rest,” says Blue softly. “And yes, I think still a little sick. He’s not feeling up to walking. Maybe as he calms down he’ll feel a little better, but right now I think he’s just overwhelmed physically and emotionally. He’s not a healthy guy, really.”

Jackie holds JJ’s head against his heart. “We have to get him somewhere he can rest.”

“We have to all get somewhere to rest,” says Blue. “They’re right about you… always worried about everyone else. You try to tell me that’s a mean person.”

Jackie smiles gently, turning away with a slight tint of pink in his face.

“We’re not fighting til death today if we can help it,” says Blue, kneeling down beside him and pulling him into a hug. Close to his ear, he murmurs, “don’t you know it would kill me to watch you die for me?”

Jackie just hugs him back, closing his eyes. Chase is pressed against them a moment later, squishing all three of them in close around JJ.

Dok peeks out of Chase’s hood, poking at Blue’s face.

“And how’s my poor Deutsch?” asks Blue, immediately starting to baby over him again, patting and stroking him. “Shit, Chase, how long will he be like this?”

“I don’t know, it was his magic necklace.”

“Well, at least it makes it easier to move him around. He and Dap are going to need a lot of recovery time… all of us, really.”

“Don’t go just yet,” mumbles Ro, pulling Blue and Chase back into the hug and making them laugh.

“Is this… done, then?” asks Chase. “Did we scare Anti off? Because - ”

A gunshot. Chase hears one of his brothers scream. Jackie’s on his feet, Dapper in his arms. Everyone’s moving. Everything’s loud. Chase’s head spins. Someone drags him standing upright and they’re sprinting towards the trees for cover, shouting and calling for each other.

Red and Blue shove their younger brothers behind the fallen body of a great tree, tucking them into the side.

“Stay here!” shouts Jackie, touching Chase’s face and placing the slingshot and fighting staff down beside him. “Protect them. I love you.”

“I love you,” agrees Blue, leaning in to kiss Chase’s cheek before summoning his power and turning away. “We’ll handle this.”

“Guys,” cries Chase, his heart shaking. “No, I don’t want you to get hurt.”

They’re already racing off towards the figure in the yard.

“Oh, holy shit,” breathes Chase, his hands taking up the tremble as it spreads. “I tried to warn him… Anti…”

Anti can no longer be mistaken for a human being.

His body seems to drip coding and black gunk, making the air around him distorted and wavering as the air above hot pavement in the summer. Most of his body is consumed in glitching. What can be seen is no longer opaque, perhaps not even tangible. His eyes glare straight ahead, blank and unseeing, his mouth flat and unfeeling. His whole body glitches and for a moment, he can be seen screaming. In his hand, Dok’s gun.

“I’m here, guys, I’m here,” breathes Chase to JJ and Henrik, shakily loading a stone into the slingshot. “Please… please don’t let them get hurt.”

Anti feels his thoughts from meters away, eyes sliding shut.

“I should have killed you all the day I found you,” he whispers, in a voice layered and faltering, and he drops the gun aside, and draws out a knife instead.

He is the movement of the fire, the leap and bound of it, the blaze. He has strength again and courage, too, in the face of all his own fear. Blue is beside him. This is all that matters.

They fight.

There is no way to ward off something that moves as fast as Anti does in most circumstances, but now Jackie burns with heat and fire and Anti stumbles as he transports, sometimes forced to fall to his side for a moment of rest. Blue always presses these advantages. Anti screams as brambles wind around his neck, cutting deep as they can go, and struggles to get back to his feet, tearing at the thorns.

“Choke on them,” shouts Blue, leaping at him and pinning him down. Anti draws his legs back and kicks Blue hard in the chest, throwing him off and glitching away again. He makes a swipe at Jackie from behind and suffers a burn even when Jackie dodges away, his older brother following up with a swing of a fiery fist at his head. Anti stumbles away, recovering with a flip of his knife that sends it spinning towards Jackie. It’s Jackie’s turn to fall to the ground, throwing himself away hard enough to fall.

“Where’s all that power now?” hollers Blue, jumping right over Jackie to leap at Anti again, plants tearing from the ground, catching fire and throwing dirt into the air. “Where’s the snide comments and the mockery? The death threats and the flashy tricks? Where’s the dog, Anti? Where’s the wolf bite, huh?”

Anti turns his head and coughs, pixels and gunk flooding down his lips. He glitches back, panting, as Jackie gets to his feet.

“You were jokes when you were created!” shrieks Anti. “At least Jack gave a fuck about me being frightening and strong! You two are pathetic. A onesie and a Game Grumps cape - he never even tried.”

“Well, it’s a good thing we, unlike you, have the presence of mind to realize Jack is in the past,” answers Jackie, his flame turn brighter as the heat increases. “This is now, and you can’t stop us.”

For a second, Anti’s head snaps towards the trees to his right, his flashing eyes going wide and his mouth parting.

“Dark? Is that you?” He takes a shaky step forward, head whirling. “You came to get me?”

There’s no one in the trees but the others. If Dark is there, hidden from all sight but that of another monster, they do not act.

“Just surrender, Anti,” says Jackie.

“No,” snaps Blue. “Let him keep fighting til he destroys himself all over again.”

He races forward, palms full of aconite.

And Jackie -

Jackie falls back.

He remembers what Jack told him.

He turns and picks up a camcorder dropped in all the commotion. He makes sure you can see.

Anonymous asked: get 'em guys!! your audience is here with you, we are here with you.

“Are we really going to hurt him?” Jackie pants, finding himself back-to-back with Blue as they circle, warding off blows from Anti. “It’s like he’s losing it. He’s weak.”

“Yeah, we’re going to fucking hurt him,” spits Blue. “Remember everything he’s done to us, Ro.”

“I don’t want revenge, I just want my family to be safe from him. We - where’d he go?”

There’s a moment of silence as they stare around them, waiting for Anti to leap out of the flame-licked trees. Then Ro hears Trickshot screaming from a few meters away.

“Oh, that’s fucking it,” he roars, tearing through the foliage towards them. He tackles Anti the moment he sees him trying to bring his blade down on his little brothers, slamming the glitch into the ground. Anti tries to transport away, but Jackie’s hands are digging into simulated flesh and Anti doesn’t seem to have the strength to tear off.

“Stop it!” he screams, finally throwing Jackie aside and leaving a dark gash across his stomach. Jackie grunts in pain, gripping at the hot wound as his blood comes forth. He gets back up to his feet and starts after Anti again, grabbing him with hands full of fire. Anti shrieks from the pain, his form melting like plastic where he’s touched.

“You’re hurting me, Red, you’re hurting me!” Anti wails, tearing at his hands. “Stop, stop!”

He transforms weakly, making himself look like Dapper, complete with soft curls falling into his face and sad blue eyes. Jackie falters and Anti swipes again, tearing a second line into his chest. The stone of a slingshot whips through the air and strikes Anti’s head so hard Jackie sees the blood burst into the air for a moment as Anti crashes to the ground, gasping and clutching at his skull.

He tries to get up. His eyes roll. He crawls away on his back, panting roughly and trying to see as his vision blurs and his head throbs with pain. He blinks blearily at the log of the fallen tree and sees Trick staring back at him, face ashen, the slingshot in his hands.

Anonymous asked: Jackie, he won't stop. Even now, at his weakest, he's taking advantage of your emotions and the love you have for each other. Killing for vengeance is one thing, (and we could talk morality all day and still not come to a proper conclusion on mercy vs consequence but I digress) but killing out of self defense might be a necessity if all of this is to truly stop for good.

Anti pulls out a knife and throws, but his aim is shot and his hand is unsteady. The blade goes flying past Jackie and clatters to the ground.

“You’re really done for, huh?” asks Jackie softly, staring at him.

Anti drags himself to his knees, reaching for another knife. He’s shape-shifting wildly - losing control, Jackie can see - and he looks like a different version of Jack or of them with every moment that passes. The rapid shifting only seems to make him feel more ill. He struggles to get up, but then dandelions and creepvine are exploding from the earth, wrapping him up so tight Jackie hears him begin to wheeze, splitting the wound on his throat and crawling inside. Jackie closes his eyes, nauseated. It’s not a sensory issue this time - Anti just sounds like one of his brothers, choking and crying in pain.

“Fuck, fuck,” whispers Jackie. Blue comes to stand beside him, staring down at Anti.

Anti lets out a fragile scream, and then another, fighting clumsily against the plants that pin him down, trying so hard to glitch that Jackie is scared he will burst into pixels and fall apart completely. His energy is drained and his face has gone shock-white, but still he writhes, looking up at the pair of them with something like terror in his eyes. For a moment, he is a snake, a dog, a bird, a person again. He keens in pain, blood slicking his face from the wound Trick put in his skull.

“This is horrible,” cries Trick, getting to his feet and coming to stand beside his brothers, putting hands on both their shoulders. “Please, make it stop.”

Something flickers behind Anti. Blue grabs Trick, ready to shield him from one last battle as something appears on the ground in front of them, but nothing attacks.

“Jack, Jack,” cries a weak, warbling, glitch-broken voice. A shadowy version of Anti sits behind the imprisoned one of the ground, his hands reaching out. “Sean, help me, I’m sorry, don’t go.”

His throat is wrapped up in bandages. He’s clutching a pumpkin in his lap, a knife sticking out the side, and as they watch, his form begins to sprout feathers, clawing their way out of his skin. The other Anti cries out in pain, pulling on his soft green hair.

On the ground, Anti has gone frighteningly still, his eyes dropping as the blood lists out of him. His fingers twitch around his last blade.

“He’s passing out,” mumbles Trick.

“He didn’t mean to manifest that,” says Blue. “He just doesn’t have control over his magic anymore. Look at him. It’s all his fear and insecurity brought to the surface at last. Not that he was ever very good at hiding it.”

“Jack?” The other Anti is staring up at Trick. He coughs and there’s blood on his throat and fear in his eyes. “Why won’t you help me? Please, please. I’m scared. Don’t let me get stuck again! I don’t want to be an animal! I can’t move!”

Feathers tear his face apart and he howls, scraping at his skin. Trick’s chest heaves and he moves forward, but Blue grabs him and holds him away.

“I’m sorry, Tricky,” he says quietly, keeping him back. “You know we gotta do this. Ro?”

Jackie stares down at hands full of fire. He looks back at both Anti’s. His chest shakes.

Clapping draws their attention and all three of them turn to see JJ shaking his head and signing at them.

“Don’t hurt him anymore,” he begs. “Let him go with Dark. He promised Red this would be the last time he tried to make us his servants.”

“He will never stop following us!” shouts Blue. “He will never stop trying to hurt us! You know that!”

“I can’t watch this,” weeps Dapper. “My brother.”

They have been together since the day he was born.

Anonymous asked: We hear you JJ, but Marvin's right. If you let Anti go, he'll be back with a vengeance as soon as he heals - if not to enslave you all again, then to kill you all one by one. There's no way he'd let this go. This is painful and traumatic, and you have the right to feel like you do, but Anti is not your brother. Your brothers are beside you, protecting you, loving you. That writhing creature before you is not your brother. It is a monster who has only ever tried to break you down.

Dapper covers his eyes, pressing his head against his knees. He’s too sick to deal with this right now, unmedicated and running a fever.

“They’re right,” says Blue softly, reaching out to take Jackie’s hand. “Ro. Come on, okay? He’s in pain anyway. He’s ruined himself. He won’t recover from this, not really. End him.”

Jackie steps close to Anti.

His monster is lying on the ground, still. One green eye slides open and stares up at him. His mouth moves like he might speak, but nothing comes out.

“Anti?” asks Jackie.

Anti’s throat bobs. He closes his eyes. Jackie’s palms fill with fire.

And extinguish again.

“I can’t do it,” he says, backing away. “I’m so sorry. I know I’m big brother. But I can’t do it.”

He turns away and goes to Dapper’s side. They wrap around each other and breathe.

“Blue?” asks Trick anxiously.

Blue is staring down at Anti, chest heaving, face stony.

“Why do none of you want to do it?” he asks. “Don’t you know I’m right?”

Chase blinks down at Anti, a little sick to his stomach.

“I think you are right,” he answers hollowly.

“Great, then go for it,” says Blue, turning to him. “Look, Dok’s right there with you. If he were human, he’d be telling you the exact same thing I am.”

It puts a little fire in Trick’s blood. He coughs like he can expel the sickness from his stomach and reaches down to take the knife from Anti’s hand.

And suddenly, he wants to do it. He wants to. Oh, fuck. So bad it hurts.

He remembers everything since the first time he was reset, remembers torture and barbed words, remembers getting slapped for kissing a girl, being trapped for his suicide attempt, being forced to pull triggers on people he didn’t want to kill. He remembers, most of all, every fucking time he saw Dok cut, bruised, beaten, crying, hurt - all because of Anti.

“All because of you,” hisses Chase, tears pouring down his face. He flips that knife in his hand and grips it tight. “You, goddamn it.”

“Jack,” asks the shadow Anti, its arms wrapped around itself. “Jack, please.”

He thinks it’s him. His creator.

Chase sobs and drops the knife, turning bitterly away, hands clenched into fists. Blue stares at his brothers, face cold. But he doesn’t move.

unpredictably-ghostly asked: Dapper, you've known Anti as long as you've been alive. Do you really think he'll keep his word? You know how long and intense his obsession with Jack has been, do you truly believe he'll be able to let you all go and live without him after all this time? Also, would any of you ever be able to feel safe, knowing he could find you and try to capture or hurt you again?

Trick circles back to Blue, touching his shoulder. “Let’s just call Dark to come get him, Blue. We can’t do it. I know he’s hurt us, but he… he was one of us for a long time. Or we thought he was. We all tried to love him. Some of us… some of us still do.”

“That’s not true,” says Blue flatly. “We didn’t all try to love him.”

Chase squeezes his shoulder, face softening with sympathy. “Blue, it’s okay to admit. We did it because we’re loving people. That’s not wrong. You weren’t wrong. But look… you can’t do it, right?”

Blue doesn’t move.

“None of us can,” sighs Chase, scraping his fingers through his hair. “We… we’ll have to figure it out from here, buddy. And the cameras, I - I’m sorry to you guys too. I know you’re probably seeing clearer than we are right now, but none of us can do it. I definitely can’t.”

Blue is still.

Chase sighs again and lets him go, turning back to the others.

“Maybe you can’t,” says Marvin, and he grabs that knife off the ground, and he stabs Anti, once, twice, thrice, even as his brothers let out screams of alarm, who cares, it’s all in the background, they don’t try to stop him despite their weak little cries, so all that matters is this, is the faint way that Anti’s last sobbing scream shudders from his throat, in the hot spluttering flood of something not-quite blood, is the writhing beneath his fingers, and he stabs, and he stabs, until he has gotten past the chest, yes, dug it open and gotten past the ribs, until his hands are full of blood and he finds, between his fingers, a simulated mass of muscle meant to be something almost like a heart.

Can you tear your eyes away? Some of you are watching. I know that for a fact because, in that moment, Anti’s life passes out of him, and his glazed green eyes stare up at the merciless sun, and he is dead without a final word to mark his passing.

Marvin can hear himself laughing aloud.

“I fucking told you,” he spits, crushing blood and muscle between his hands. “I promised you from the beginning, you goddamn parasite - I will kill you for what you’ve done to my family.”

No answer. No answer from anyone. Overhead, the fluttering of birds.

unpredictably-ghostly asked: Is this Anti's end? We are ready and watching. You deserve to be free, and we will be here to support you, whatever happens.

Free. Yes. Free. Marvin’s laughing, clutching his shoulders. No more. No more. Free.

“You are never going to get under my skin again!” he screams, drawing back that blade again. “You are never going to torture my friends and then leave them with me to care for while they cry for mercy! You are never going to hit us, you are never going to possess us, you are never going to hurt my family again! You - ”

Warm arms wrap around him, pinning him as much as hugging him, and someone wrestles the blade from his hand before he can stab anything else. He lets out a scream without even knowing why, so loud it sends deer dancing away for miles, and lets his body slump back against the one beside him.

“My twin, my twin,” Ro is whispering, rocking them in time, pressed close together. “It’s over, okay? We’re okay. Look at us, Blue. We’re all okay. Or - or alive, okay? We’re all alive. I’m here. Blue. I’m here.”

Blue closes his eyes, light-headed.

“I don’t regret it!” he cries out, because it’s important to say.

“I’m here,” Jackie repeats softly, again and again, until Blue is breathing clearly again. “Just rest. I’m here.”

Anonymous asked: It's over?

Trick and Dapper stand together a few feet from their siblings, staring. Trick feels numb. He reaches for his hood and finds Dok fast asleep despite all the commotion, exhausted from all that’s happened. Trick doesn’t know if he’s okay. He rubs his thumb over his twin’s back and some of his soft grey fur falls away, leaving a patch behind.

“I think I need to get him back to the house before he transforms,” mumbles Chase.

It’s true, but it doesn’t really address the fact that Dapper is standing beside him on shaking legs, sobbing so hard he makes no sound at all.

Jackie turns back to them, looking eerily calm, though his eyes have a sort of desperate shock which manifests in a slight tremble in his hands.

“Get them both back to the house,” he says flatly, face pale. “Blue, come on, you go with.”

He pulls his twin to his feet, holding his hands. “I need you to look after them,” he says,squeezing his hands gently. “Focus on that right now, okay?”

“What - what do I do?” coughs Blue, wiping at his teary face.

“You know how to take care of them. It’ll be okay. Get everyone cleaned up and fed and bandaged. Try to find Dap’s medicine and help Trick take care of Schneep. Then you go through the house and you get absolutely everything that you think we can pawn or sell. There’s enough in this house to keep us going for a while. Pack bags with clothes and all their things and all the food that can travel. Put out some food and water in case Noodle comes back. Lock all the doors and stay out of the forest. It’s going to be okay, alright? Can you do all that?”

“Yes, Roser.” Marv tries to catch his breath again. Tries to be strong for the others. “What will you do?”

Jackie’s eyes flicker to the body on the ground.

“Are you sure you can handle that?” asks Marvin weakly. “You’ll have to…”

“I’ll start a pyre,” says Jackie softly. “Just go, okay? You shouldn’t all be here for this.”

Blue sniffles and nods, glancing back at the others. He knows he has to get them back to the house. Has to look after them. Anti may have been the one who told him it was his place to care for everyone else, but right now, it’s what he wants to do for them. His family.

“Be careful,” whispers Blue, leaving him with a squeeze of the hands. “Come back as soon as it’s done.”

Jackie nods and watches as his siblings walk away. He sees Dapper turn his gaze back, his eyes red with crying.

Jackie doesn’t move for a long time.

The ground is dark with ash. He never let the fire blaze out of control, but he’s burned the earth and the trees for meters around his feet, leaving everything warm and silent. Soon it will be cold and silent.

The body will be too. In fact, leaning down, Jackie finds that Anti’s skin is already chill as frog skin to the touch. Jackie wonders if he was ever warm to the touch at all. He seems to remember his hands being cold every time he struck him.

“I meant it.”

His voice is the only sound in the clearing.

“I would have loved you with all that I am.”

Anti’s still face does not answer. In death, he looks very small. He’s beautiful in a way that hurts Jackie down to the heart of him, beautiful like all his siblings are beautiful.

Jackie scoops that body up, and there, in the woods, he lets Anti’s body burn.

“Over,” he reads your question softly, staring as the pyre burns. “Over, I guess… I guess this is what over is.”

The fire crackles. The wind breathes.

Over.

Anonymous asked: Dapper, honey, I know this is hard, but you have to let them do this. Anti will never leave you alone. He has to die or you can never be free. Find acceptance in this fact: you will never be free from him until he has died. All the happiness you deserve will never come to you. You must let him go, let go of the attachment, and see, as you always have, his true nature. You know his anger better than anyone. He will never leave you free and happy. You're just a prisoner to him.

“Is this freedom?” cry his white hands.

“Shh, baby, shh.”

He’s sitting in the bathtub in the master bedroom, still crying his heart out. Blue is cleaning him with a washcloth, stroking clean, warm water across his face and lathing the blood from his hands.

“You killed him,” sobs Dapper. “He was already beaten, Blue. He promised Red that would be the last time.”

“He doesn’t keep his promises, angel,” sighs Blue. “Come on, Dap, I’m so tired… just let me get everyone cleaned up, okay? I thought you were fighting with us. You poor thing, you’re so hot. Do you know where Anti put your medicine? We can’t find it anywhere.”

“I was with you - I am with you. But that was - I didn’t want - and now I - I - ”

“Dap, Dap,” whispers Blue, cupping his chin. “You’ve got to just try and rest for now.”

Dapper hugs himself, red eyes staring straight ahead as he lets Blue clean him. He covers his eyes as he cleans his hair. He takes his time despite his exhaustion, getting every inch of filth and blood out of his baby brother’s skin and soothing at the heat in his head. Dapper closes his eyes.

“Okay, come on,” murmurs Blue when fifteen minutes have gone by. “Let’s get you out.”

Wordlessly, Dapper lets himself be pulled from the bath. Blue towels him down with the fluffiest towel he can find hanging up and wraps him in a fuzzy green bathrobe stolen off the hook on the door. Dapper shivers and hugs himself, sniffling.

Blue takes his hand and kisses the side of his head. “I’m going to try and find some food,” he says. “And then we’ll get you all tucked up in bed so you can rest.”

“Do I have to stay up here?”

“No, honeybee. You’ll come stay with us. We’ll all be together now. Okay?”

Dapper stares at the floor.

“Okay,” he signs finally.

“I’ll be back in a few,” says Blue gently.

He leaves him alone.

Dapper sinks to the floor of the bathroom, water dripping off of him, and he doesn’t speak for a long time.

Free.

Is this free?

He had thought it would feel better.

He drags himself back to the bedroom and he crashes onto the bed, sobbing into the pillows. Anti does not come and lie beside him.

Anonymous asked: Trick, how are you? Is Henrik human again? This can't be easy, so I hope you can support each other through whatever happens next.

“Hey,” Chase whispers, picking up the closest camera and pressing it into his brother’s hands. “Look, the cameras are here. You love the cameras. Do you want to talk to them?”

Only soft, shallow breathing answers. The hands he places you in do not wrap around the body of the camera.

“Dok, look at me, look at me,” pleads Chase. You see his side moving as he leans forward, murmuring reassurances. “You’re okay now, Deutsch. I’m going to look after you. Don’t be scared.”

“Trick?”

He turns around and his movement knocks you to the ground. You clatter to the ground and there is Henrik.

“He’s not doing well?” asks Blue, his voice starting to shake.

He isn’t doing well, no. He’s human, at least, but about as white as the rat was, with blue circles under his eyes and a terribly blank look in his face. He’s just staring, straight ahead. Trick strokes his hair, but Dok doesn’t respond.

“He - he gets like this sometimes,” croaks Chase. “He’ll snap out of it.”

“Is this because we turned him into a rat?”

“No, he was all silent and frozen beforehand too. Dok, Dok, come on, you’re scaring Blue.”

Blue doesn’t even deny it. He hurries forward to stand over him where he’s lying in bed, pulling his blankets away.

“Oh, no,” he whispers. “He’s… this was torture, Trick, this was… this… intentional and - these will all scar and he must be in so much pain, oh, we - we need to go to the hospital! We’ll walk again, can you carry him? Come on, we - ”

“No,” cries Chase, bending over his brother’s body. “No, I’m his nurse. I’ll handle it, okay?”

“Let me help you. He needs to get cleaned up.”

“You need to go look after Dapper and please, Blue, make something to eat. We need food and water more than anything. I promise, I can look after him. I’ve… treated worse.”

Blue touches his shoulder, his fingers shaking.

“Just go get me all the first aid stuff, okay?”

“Okay,” whispers Blue. “Okay. He… he’ll survive?”

“Just go get me all the first aid stuff.”

Anonymous asked: Chase! How's you and Henrik doing? Has he turned back from the mouse form now?

“Yeah, yeah, we’re… good. We’re okay. It’s fine, it’s fine, it’s fine. He gets like this sometimes. Don’t you, buddy? Yeah. The cameras have seen you like this before. They know. You’re okay. Just take your time. I’ll look after you.”

Henrik is wounded and weak.

“I’ll look after you. I will. I’ll be okay tonight so you can get through this. We’re going to be okay.”

As Chase adjusts that unmoving body and begins to help put him back together, you can see the cost of their freedom littered across his skin. Chase does not cry, though his mouth shakes. He stitches his brother together. Soothes bruise cream over black and blue injuries. Brings him painkillers and antibiotics and helps him swallow them with cool water. Cleans him from head to toe with a washcloth and redresses him in a clean grey t-shirt and soft pj pants.

And even an hour and a half later, when there’s nothing left to be done, Chase is still right there, lying beside him, hugging him against his body and speaking to him.

Chase always bore a resemblance to Jack, but so did all of the others. If you want to know why Anti always saw more of their creator in him, it was this one ability of Chase’s: the ability to speak comfort for hours on end. The words don’t have to mean anything. He’s there.

“And I won’t go,” he whispers, watching Henrik drift off to sleep beside him. “I won’t let anything happen to you again.”

Anonymous asked: It's not over. Anti may be over, but you're all still here. Together, breathing, living. What comes next may not be easy and processing everything is going to take an ungodly amount of time. The future will be scary but it's already brightening up and eventually, I believe you'll all be shining again. I hope you know that too.

Blue stares out the kitchen window as he waits for apple crisp to bake in the oven, his eyes watery and exhausted. In the other room, he can hear Trick soothing his brother, and he lets everyone’s words of comfort wash over him and hold him steady. Hope and comfort and love and bright futures. He did what he had to do. His eyes well up and the tears run over. He curses softly and brushes them away, mouth trembling. When he can see again, Jackie is walking across the lawn towards the house, leaving dark trees behind.

Marvin gives a dry sob. He tears open the back door and he runs out to meet his twin. Jackie scoops him up and lifts him off the ground. In the grass, beneath the sun, Jackie holds him and does not let go.

“I love you,” cries Marvin.

“I love you too,” answers Jackie, so fiercely his voice could turn tides in the other direction. “And we will survive this - together.”

Marvin’s arms wrap tight around him. They are pressed in close to each other, breathing in sync, in harmony, together.

They do not let each other go for a long time.

Anonymous asked: Marvin, you did what you set out to do. I'm proud of you. You're not out of the woods just yet and God, none of us could have predicted what's become of you and your brothers since that first day but... we're on the other side. A little worse for wear all around, but strong nonetheless. I really don't know what I can say, it's hard to pinpoint where you are in your head sometimes but I hope you know that walking by your side was worth it. And whatever comes next, we'll remain here as long as you need us.

“I don’t know where I am in my head,” laughs Blue frailly. “I… I don’t know what to do with myself. But thank you. Yeah, I… I just… I just want us to move on. I don’t know what to do.”

“How about for now,” murmurs Jackie. “We just go get some food and have a nap.”

Blue laughs again, soft and broken. He hugs his brother one more time.

“Okay,” he says. “Yeah… yeah, okay.”

And that’s what they do.

They bring a camera along and they get the apple crisp out of the oven, adding stale chips and canned green beans for their lunch. They fill up cups of water and go back to their room, where they find Trick and Dok dozing on the bed.

Blue goes to bring Dapper downstairs too, to get him fed and look after him.

“I just want to be alone right now,” Dapper tells him.

Marvin blinks, touching his shoulder. “Are you okay?” he asks carefully. “Do you feel - ”

“Don’t worry,” Dapper signs back, face grey with fatigue. “I’m okay. I just really want to be alone right now.”

Marvin sets a plate and some water beside his bed, feeling a flutter of unease. “You’re sure?”

“Leave me with a camera,” recommends Dapper. “Then they can tell you if I’m in trouble. But yes, Blue, I’m sure. Please, I… I just want to… just to be alone.”

“We’re right downstairs if you need us.”

“I know.”

He leans down to kiss him again, but Dapper pushes him away and hides under the blankets of the bed. Blue draws back, worried. He gets his bear out of his backpack and sets it down on the pillow beside him, and then he goes back downstairs.

He finds Trick and Red cuddled up close, sharing green beans and talking quietly, warm under the blankets of the bed. Blue lets out a low, fluttering sigh. Food and togetherness and a feeling of safety at long last… it’s what this was all for.

He closes his eyes. For a moment, he just breathes.

The other side, at long last.

“Thank you,” he whispers to you.

Then he goes and joins his brother, and warm arms wrap around him, and he thinks, just maybe, that things will be okay.

Anonymous asked: (Oh god, oh no. Please... please tell me noodle is going to be okay. I'm going to be wrecked if anything happens to this baby)

That’s when there’s a knock on the door.

It’s almost comical how fast Chase, Jackie, and Marvin all shoot up in bed. Henrik’s first expression in several hours is vaguely judgemental.

“Who is it?” Jackie asks you, voice soft and dangerous.

Outside the front door, a familiar man in a grey hood, shifting nervously in his unlaced running shoes. He is carrying a box.

Jackie slides towards the door, picking up his fighting staff. When he sees Shep, his posture relaxes, but not entirely. Slowly, he opens the door, holding his weapon beside him.

“Uh,” says Shep, trying to smile. “Hi.”

“Hi,” answers Jackie cautiously, lifting an eyebrow.

“Um, I kind of expected Anti to answer. Wasn’t sure if I should come at all. Hope you guys are getting things figured out. But, uh, I just wanted to apologize for what happened. The viewers asked me for a favor, so, uh… here.”

He hands the box to Jackie. Jackie pushes aside the top and -

“Noodle!”

It’s Chase, sprinting towards them from all the way on the other end of the hall.

“My cat! My cat!”

He goes crashing into Jackie and steals the box from him in one swoop, pulling his kitten out and hugging him tight against his chest, tears running down his cheeks. Noodle beeps and meows, taking a moment to adjust before tilting his head up and beginning to lick Chase’s beard like nothing has changed in the whole world.

“Thank you!” cries Chase, covering his cat in kisses, so overwhelmed he thinks he might just keel right over. “Thank you so much! My cat, my cat. Oh, Noodle, I missed you so much…”

He sees Marvin smiling nearby. Jackie speaks with Shep, thanking him and telling him about their plans. Noodle meows and snuggles up close to him, warming him, comforting him. Chase cries into his fur.

Maybe things will turn out okay after all.

Anonymous asked: Death never feels like the correct way to end things. When there's hope and love and trust and promise of change in the world, death just seems too final a consequence. But Anti was a denier of all those good things, and sought to replace them with spite and animosity and hopelessness. I know none of these words will help you all feel better but... I understand the sense of loss all the same, justified or not. Mourn how you need to mourn, feel how you need to feel. And hold tight to each other.

Dapper sits upstairs, alone.

Fuck, the room is quiet. The room is so quiet. Not that it was ever very loud up here, but damn.

“It wasn’t the correct way to end things,” he tells you. “He could have… he could have… I could have…”

But the truth is, he knows you’re right, and he knows Blue’s right, and he knows, he knows, he knows.

He buries his face in his hands, shuddering.

You watch him get to his feet and head into the bathroom. The thick smell of the lotions and bath salts fill his nose until nothing else is distinguishable. He sits down against the side of the tub and closes his eyes.

He doesn’t have the strength. He doesn’t have any strength at all.

But he needs to do one more thing.

A silver light flickers in his eyes.

The Northern lights waft through the sky like the body of a slow-moving dragon, vivid and ethereal. Their cold, swirling colors drift over the side of the mountain and illuminate the ocean in blue and green and pink. He knows because he can see for miles from the window above his bed. The trees, stretching out around him, the birds flickering through the sky, the faraway ocean, moving forever without him - yes, he remembers.

A young man in a big yellow jumper stares out at the Norway sky. His eyes burn with the colors of aurora borealis.

“What are you looking at like that?” asks a soft, familiar voice.

Dapper turns and finds Anti lying beside him, grinning up at him. He smiles back and Anti reaches out to grab him, holding his waist and yanking him back down onto the bed. Dapper laughs, falling onto the mattress beside him, and when Anti pulls him to his chest, all Dapper does is wrap his arms around him and hold him in return.

“Tomorrow’s going to be good,” says Anti, rubbing his back in slow circles, looking up at those lights through their window. “I’m a fucking genius. Finally. Finally I did it.”

“What, Anti?”

“What? Don’t play dumb with me. Finding Marvin.”

He has soft hair, dyed dark, and clear green eyes. Warm at his side and glowing in the light, Anti is relaxed and beautiful, soft to the touch and at ease with the world.

“I’m heading out to go get him soon as my intel finishes downloading,” says Anti. “Sneak up on him at night and have him back by morning. I’m so sick of Red moping around. He’ll finally have someone to cheer him up again. Fuck, and the pair of them will be so badass. We’ll be able to get whatever we want. I’ll have him look after all of you, actually, or that’s what I was thinking. Would you like that? Someone checking in on you sometimes? Someone other than me, I guess.”

Dapper stares up at him. Memorizing the lines of his face. The way he looked when he wasn’t scared or angry or lost in his misery. These moments - these moments where Anti seemed to love him - this was what he always held on to. It was the only way he survived.

“Dapper?”

“Yes,” he signs distantly. “Yes, I would like that.”

Anti nods decisively, settling down again, looking up at the stars. There’s a smile on his face. He rubs warm circles against Dapper’s spine. Downstairs, through the floorboards, he can hear Trick and Dok and Red talking - about nothing, about everything.

“Yeah,” says Anti, letting out a low breath. “Tomorrow, I’ll have Marvin. And then everything will finally feel right. And nothing will ever be able to hurt us again. Tomorrow, everything changes.”

Dapper is there. Against his side. Breathing in time with him. His brother.

“There’s his face,” smiles Anti as his security feed footage finishes downloading on the computer beside him, his eyes changing to blue as he sorts through it. “I’m so fucking good at this. Yes! Okay, I’m heading out. Be ready to reverse if something goes wrong. It won’t, though. It’ll go perfectly. I’ll be back soon, okay?”

Dapper reaches out for him, but Anti is already out of bed, changing his form and packing his things. He’ll take Red and he’ll be gone.

He’ll be gone.

“Okay,” says Anti, hoisting up his backpack and turning back to him, running his hands through Dapper’s curls. “I’ll be back soon, little brother.”

“I love you,” he signs.

In just a moment, he’ll be gone.

“Do you have to go?”

“I have to go. Little dork. Bye.”

Anti leaves Dapper behind, heading down the stairs. But right before he goes, there’s a moment where he pauses and looks back.

“I love you too,” he signs. “I’ll be home soon.”

It is only a memory. Nothing more.

He’s gone.

End Chapter Four - the Witch’s Promise

#chapter four

4 notes · View notes