#i couldn't help but through in the other two since the summoner is apparently very villain prone-

[fe-husband-heaven]

Time - Grima/Reader

I've had this in my head all day and had to write it gahhhh

It's also self indulgent on my behalf hee hee~!

Warning~! Slightly more docile Grima who has to deal his new bodies weakness to emotions~

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_______________________________________

He prowled through Askr's halls in a less than pleased mood. He'd been separated from his worm for far too long, and he had no more patience for it.

A small haughty laugh from behind halted the Fell Dragons stomps footsteps. He looked behind him to lay eyes on Julius, who possessed an almost crazed grin.

Grima's eyes narrowed, he's well aware of what kind of human Julius was. Corrupted.

Much more than others were, his own human had mentioned that it was his tome that had distorted him. He knew nothing more of him, he wasn't interested in hearing about him nor had he been happy that his human was speaking about another man.

He had ended that discussion quickly.

At the very least, Grima knew Julius wouldn't approach without an ulterior motive.

So automatically, he was on guard.

"Look what the cat dragged in."

His worm had already chided him about injuring others in the Order of Heroes, and as impudent as their lecture was, they were much easier to deal with when they weren't upset.

So he didn't crush the bug before him immediately.

Grima continued to stare at the man, maybe he could stare a hole through him, perhaps he'd disintegrate if he tried hard enough.

"Slithering off to your little pet?"

Grima was starting to get angry, he already didn't like being approached by pests but he especially didn't like when they started involving you.

"What do you want, worm?"

The annoyance in his tone was clear.

"Oh...nothing..I was just curious about how long you intend to play the human? How long you intend to pretend with that little summoner...?"

Grima growled,

"You don't know anything, worm. Stay out of my sight and I won't rip you to pieces. Come near what's mine and I can assure you that I'll have no qualms about ending whatever pathetic life you have."

A malicious purple aura was beginning to radiate from Grima, his eyes were glowing red and the air around him was suffocating enough that any other person would be on the ground begging for breath.

Julius however wasn't even fazed.

"Hmm..tamed you, have they?" He laughed,

"Any other day, you'd have already made well of your word...hah! How cute. The human taming the beast. Not that it'll last long."

Grima's smirk was almost feral,

"Is that a threat?"

Julius scoffed,

"Oh, please. As if I need to bother, you'll lose them either way."

Grima frowned, now confused,

"What are you babbling about, worm?"

Julius's smirk fell for a moment, then he studied Grima for a second before breaking into a loud howl,

"Oh this is too rich! You don't even realize it, do you?"

Julius cackled, clearly finding something very amusing. So much so that he had to clear the tears from his eyes from laughing so hard.

Grima stood baffled, any anger he had was now just confusion. Last he checked, most humans didn't behave this way. He considered just turning around and leaving this lunatic behind in favor of finding his human.

You were strange, but you were a bearable strange.

"You're a dragon! They're a human!"

Julius had to take a breath to speak,

"They'll die years before you ever do! To a dragon, a human life is merely a blink of an eye-"

Julius broke into another fit of laughter,

"That precious little human of yours is just like the rest of them, they'll wither away with age and there'll be nothing left but a lonely dragon and a skull. The end of the little Summoner."

Julius watched in glee as Grima was hit with the realization. The anger, confusion, and dread all in one. Grima hated such confounding emotions, he hated how he felt a chill at Julius's words. Hated how he felt as though someone's cold and clammy hands had raked down his spine, and he loathed the churning of his stomach at the thought of you leaving him behind.

Curse this frail human body, prone to every damning emotion known to man.

Julius stood with an impish grin as Grima snarled at him, that previous malevolent aura returning full force. He seemed to be awaiting a show, the complete explosion of Grima's wrath, but it didn't come.

He watched in surprise as Grima turned away from him and stormed down the hall, eyes a beading red, and his face set in a deep frown.

Disappointed, and with his entertainment gone, he huffed.

"How dull."

__________

Grima hurried his steps once he was out of Julius's sight. As much as he had wanted to rip the tongue from that fool's mouth, he was much too overcome with the urge to see his humans face.

He made his way to your room, surely by now you were done with whatever useless strategy meeting the worms had dragged you into. Along the way, he had managed to slow the frantic breathing he didn't realize he had developed.

However, as he neared your door Julius's words had rang in his ears

"-there'll be nothing left but a lonely dragon and a skull."

He shook his head, brushing the thought aside but when he gripped the doorhandle, the image of your smiling face morphing into that skull had flashed in his mind causing him to slam the door open, nearly breaking it off it's hinges.

The force of him opening the door had you nearly falling from your chair, the squeak you made had him locking his eyes onto your form.

"Gri-"

You tried to ask what the hell was going on but the intensity of Grima's gaze caught you off guard. That, and he charged towards you so fast you didn't have time to word questions.

He pulled you out of your chair by your wrist, the terrain maps you were looking at previously were now fluttering to the ground.

Grima scanned your face, for what you didn't know but he seemed to have found it since his tense shoulders relaxed. All at once, his frown melted away and he just looked drained.

Were all human emotions so taxing?

Pathetic.

You stayed quiet as Grima leaned forward to rest his head on your shoulder, clearly something was wrong with him, he often would coil himself around you in a show of dominance but he was being so...tame that you knew something had happened.

"Is something wrong?"

You wrapped an arm around him while your other raised to stroke his disheveled hair. If it wasn't the eyes and demeanor that made him distinct from Robin then the ruffled mess of white hair he always had, did.

He responded only by turning his head into the crook of your neck, inhaling your scent.

You toyed with his hair for a couple more seconds before turning the wrist that he held so that your hand held his. You lead him to your bed where you sat upright in the middle of it, knowing he'd just plop himself on top of you like he always did.

And he did, although this time, rather than throw himself on you haphazardly, he wrapped his arms around your waist and laid his head over your chest, listening to the steady beat of your heart.

You are so stupid to allow him near you, he could crush you in a split second.

You're so foolish, foolish and naive.

Stupid, foolish, naive, and warm.

"Grima...what happened?"

He let out a low growl, and for a moment you thought he wouldn't tell you. But he rocketed up to face you, clearly annoyed and angry.

"You're going to leave me."

"Huh?"

"You're going to perish."

"I..Excuse me?"

You stared at him incredulously, was..was he threatening you...??

"Grima what are you..."

You trailed off as you put the pieces together, "You're going to leave me."...oh...

"I see..so that's what this is about..." You smiled at him sadly, unsure of what to say. You couldn't lie to him, it was true. Eventually, time would take you away, it happened to every human. It would happen to you too.

Still, Grima hated that look on you. Before, he might have laughed at such an expression, but now he loathed it. Your incessant optimism was no where to be seen, and it perturbed him.

"Grima."

You called his attention, maybe you couldn't change the circumstances but maybe you could soothe him a little. You couldn't imagine his turmoil, the one human who managed to weasel their way into your life is bound to die by nature's laws.

You held his face tenderly, letting a thumb ghost over his cheek. You sighed and Grima watched intently.

"You know..." crimson eyes watched as your smile went from sad and sympathetic to honest and a light happiness.

"Even if my life may seem short...I..I wouldn't trade it for a longer life where I wasn't with you."

The stabbing pain was immediate, was this normal in a human host? To feel like you're being ripped in two?

He felt like a piece of him was being crushed, like he was losing, surrendering, laying down while what was his was being taken from him.

"No." he muttered, just low enough that you could hear.

"I-...No??"

You really wish he would elaborate sometimes but what can you expect from the Fell Dragon that does as he pleases-

"No, I refuse." he hissed.

Before you could ask what he meant, he tangled a hand in your hair and pulled you into a hungry territorial kiss. Caught completely off guard by his change in mannerisms, he managed to slip his tongue past your lips, ridding you of breath with the fervor of which his mouth claimed yours.

When he had reluctantly pulled away, he allowed you a brief moment to breathe before immediately pushing you down against your bed.

Caged between his arms, you watched as he licked his lips in anticipation.

"I won't let you go so easily, I won't- I refuse to relinquish what belongs to me."

You had squirmed your way into his life, cemented your place in it, made him feel what he was not meant to, and never asked anything of him. You became something that he was not willing to part with and nothing was going to stand in his way.

If he had to challenge time, then so be it.

And he knew how to start, by marking his possession.

_________

Julius made his way through the halls, looking for the next being to terrorize for fun.

Only to halt when he heard your laugh further down the hall, he grinned wickedly and with a little skip in step he moved in the direction he heard you.

His impish smile fell at the sight of you and Grima walking past at the end of the hall.

Grima caught his gaze and let a triumphant smirk take over his features, "I win." was splayed out on his face and for a moment Grima considered going over to rip off Julius's head for his previous impudent display.

But if he did, he would have to remove his hand from where it was intertwined with yours.

So he settled for extending his middle finger (something he learned from his summoner) and pointing it at the baffled Julius watching from afar.

Julius knew not what the gesture meant but he felt insulted anyway.

As the two of you walked further away from Julius, the Fell Dragon reflected on what had transpired. He had been claiming you when it happened, in the midst of marring your skin with his lips and making you his mate at last, he had felt it.

The interlacing of your life force.

You both had been confused at first, but then you felt the tug of an invisible bond, a stronger connection between the two of you. You had laughed, the solution to a problem that had arose as quickly as it had been solved was sitting in front of the two of you and the prospect that Grima had picked a fight with Time- a metaphysical thing- had finally registered.

The Fell Dragon unabashed, watched the little creature below him giggle, a human that belonged to him in now both body and spirit. When you had finished your fit of laughter, you had looked up at him and uttered 3 little words that had him going far beyond consummating your bond.

Yes, he had won it all.

Solved his problem through making your body his, showed off to the maggot that instigated this, your affection seemed to have doubled, and he found a new pastime that he very much intended to indulge in much more than he had.

A gentle squeeze on his hand pulled him out of his thoughts, turning to look at you, he was slightly blinded by the brilliant smile you had flashed him.

Hnn..

Grima was hit with the sudden urge to reenact what had occurred in your bedroom. Looking ahead, he took notice of the broom closet further down the hall.

How perfect...

__________

"So your plan failed spectacularly."

Julius narrowed his eyes at the new arrival standing next to him, watching you and the reptile walk away.

Valter.

"Hmph. That lizard only strengthened his clutches on them. I was sure at the very least that it would cause a rift between them.

Ugh, how droll...no matter, I shall make them mine eventually. He's merely a place holder."

Valter laughed.

"Yours? Perhaps you haven't noticed but the Summoner is my prey."

Julius scoffed,

"Surely you jest, I've made it clear that I intend to lay my hands upon them."

The air was dangerous, one waiting for the other to make a move. A lance and a tome at the ready, neither afraid to end a life.

But the tension dissipated as the loud threatening rumble of a dragon was heard in the distance...

[angelguk]

oc is back on her bullshit!!! miss out and about im gonna forget about you!! im so sorry for this part actually. descriptions of oc sleeping with someone who is not jaykay (warning!! infidelity but not really). suppressed feelings on jks side. chayoung is still Suspicious. everyone is now mildly shitty actually. roughly 2k. listen to not gonna cry by emma steikbakken and stranger by tove lo.

titled — fuel to the fire

It's been three days since you last spoke to Jeongguk (and four weeks since your break-up). Not about your relationship or the horrendous state your sudden break-up left you in, or about the fact that Jeongguk had moved on before your heart had even registered the cracks he'd left in his wake. No, not that – none of the actual life changing important stuff, only him briefly mentioning that you needed to hand in your event proposal for the student committee before the deadline approached. It was unbelievably strange to watch the person you'd basically surgically attached to your being behave like a complete stranger. It didn't help that he didn't seemed unfazed approaching you, while you on the other hand actively avoided him and all the usual corners of campus where he liked to lurk (which sucked because those corners were some of your favourites places too). But there he was, ambling to you with an ease that made your gut violently twist, acrid bile slithering up your throat.

He'd spoken so freely, the sound of your name on his tongue a brand on your skin. You'd frozen, heart a wild animal locked in your chest, before you could summon the mettle to look him in the face.

The first thing you noted was that his hair was no longer long. Dark locks cropped short around his ears now and casually gelled back, idle strands playfully framing his face. His features are what you settled on next, eager eyes remapping the sharp slope of his nose, easily identifying the sneaky dimple on his cheek begging to burst free and then shifting down to the dark mark right below his soft pink lips.

Your first instinct was to pull him into your arms but they were frozen, glued to the table beneath you before that blinding rage rose it's head, sparking through your veins the longer you looked at him.

He didn't even seem to realise it, rattling off the list of things you needed to email him for the spring scavenger hunt or else the event could be cancelled (which sucked because that was an idea you had created with Jeongguk and now you were stuck carrying the bulk of the event alone).

Your replies had been curt, blunt as they left your lips before you'd pointedly turned away. Maybe if you had looked a little longer you would detected the lingering gaze he granted your features, how he shuffled on his feet, unsure and hesitant, words on his tongue longing to be released. Eventually he had swallowed him down, mumbled a quick goodbye and wandered off, the hands shoved in the pockets of his baggy jeans aching to hold yours again.

You, however, didn't miss the muffled giggles of girls he passed on his way out, a sick icky feeling clogging your throat. You didn't mind the fan girls when you were dating because you knew Jeongguk was yours and yours alone. But now? When he'd moved on not even a weak after your break-up you didn't know how to feel. Jealous, maybe. Furious, absolutely. For a second, you considered throwing your mini stapler at their huddled heads, weighing the odds of possibly going to jail for assault. But there was no reason to truly justify that reaction, not when Jeongguk was single and apparently available for everyone. But did that feeling still brew inside of you? Turning into something black and vile and vengeful? Perhaps.

And maybe that's why you're here now, the body of some boy pressing against yours, your bare back prickling as the night wind grazes against it. The dress you'd plucked from your closet was criminal, clinging to the dips and rounds of your body perfectly, a silky emerald backless piece that shimmered beneath the soft lights of the porch you'd abruptly accoupled. His name might be Lucas – you may have been able to accurately remember that three drinks ago but you're beyond that now. And it didn’t really matter when all you wanted was for him to fuck you. He's also big and huge, massive shoulders caving you in, and his hands is snaking it's way up your thighs, ginger kisses peppered along the span of your neck.

Which is not what you wanted. Not in a one-night stand at least. You don't want soft and gentle, you want something wild – feral even. Something harsh enough to wipe the memory of Jeongguk's hands on your skin, something bright and fierce and new. Something to make you feel alive again.

Lucas gets the hint soon enough, spurred on by the bold movement of your hand guiding his closer, right between your thighs were you wanted him. Deft harsh fingers on your clit followed, pressing against the damp fabric with no remorse. You couldn't help the whimper that floats from your lips, the tension stringing through your limbs finally alleviated.

"Cute," he murmurs, seemly pleased judging from the broad smile that tugs at his lips. You make a noise of agreement in return, drawing in him for a kiss as the pad of this thumb toys with you. There's the sillage of whiskey on his tongue, something that nearly makes you freeze because you're used to tasting that on Jeongguk. But you beat down that apprehension, a muffled moan breaking past your lips when Luca's tongue mets yours.

"My place?" He suggests, lips glimmering from your lip gloss. You smile, a familiar giddiness bubbling in your chest when he shifts a little, hard bulge bumping into the base of your stomach. You give in a little bit more easily than you normally would have, clinging onto his hand as he guides you out of the party towards the neighboring building. Chayoung and Sieun are going to kill you later for this but you simply can't force yourself to care. 

"You're in that frat?" You finally murmur out when he keys himself into the building. Lucas hums, glowing under the moonlight when he smiles at you.

"Mhm, Sigma Chi for life, babe."

Babe. A complete one-eighty from the bunny you'd grown accustomed to.

It hits a little harder when he gets you into his room, the mess unlike anything you'd ever seen at Jeongguk's (he's very anal but his room and how clean it should be, specific down even to the various scents he kept around to ensure the air he breathed was perfect). Lucas was the average frat boy, messy but neat enough that you find yourself naked on his bed a couple moments later, his tongue deep inside of you. Your brain couldn't help but recall the last time a head had settled between your thighs, Jeongguk eager to lick out the pool of cum he'd left there. But this wasn't him and as of five seconds ago you decided you’re no longer allowed to think about him.

Lucas makes it easy, tongue skilled and swift around your clit, a fervour in his movements that leaves you dripping down his chin. Jeongguk evaporates from your mind entirely when Lucas descends on you, his mouth glistening and his tongue tasting of you. His kisses are hungry now, forceful, just what you need. Your palms stray down his wide back, a strange tingle erupting in your gut when your nails dig and he groans right down your throat.

"You're so big," the comment is a mumbled slur, lost in Lucas's mouth. For a second, you think he misunderstands, his hard cock twitching against your thigh. You're actually talking about his shoulders; they're broad, muscles rippling every time he shifts to press you harder into the mattress. You like the weight of him on you, it makes forgetting easier.

But Lucas knows what you're saying, discerning your wandering fingers and clouded eyes well.

"I know," he returns with lopsided smile. "Perks of swimming."

Oh, of course he was an athlete. Maybe you had a type after all.

Before Jeongguk has a moment to resurface Lucas has you in his arms, easily twisting you around so that your face is buried in his sheets. It short-circuits you, brain sparking with how large and huge and strong he feels. The following sudden press of his lips against your ass doesn’t help, your heart thumping loud in your head as your shuffle onto your elbows.

"Good?" Lucas asks, rising to fetch a condom from his drawer.

"Mhm," you return, thighs trembling when he returns. He easily lines himself up with you, the head of his cock pressed into you coaxing a low groan from your throat. The first thrust hurts, probably because you're body isn't as on board with this as you thought. But that changes quick when Lucas's hand slides underneath you, swiftly settling on your clit until you're leaking around his length, skin tight with tension and sweat beading along the length of your back. The stretch feels strange – he's larger than Jeongguk, wider. At first it's too uncomfortable to feel good. Your senses narrow on the sound of your meeting instead, loud and lewd, your pussy squelching with every drag of his cock inside of you. The ripple of your ass helps you relax too, a pleasant almost dizzy feel spreading through your body when Lucas draws you closer, shoving himself deep inside, the whine floating from his lips painting your skin warm. He fucks you hard enough to leave marks, large fingers digger into your hips with every resounding collide of your bodies. You shiver when he finishes, a grimness appearing on your skin. It's vanished by Lucas tugging you close, his mouth light on your lip as he kisses you, cock slowly slipping out.

It feels better the second round. He's perceptive, quickly learning how you like your clit touched, or that you like when his teeth sink into your skin rather hard. You actually cum this time, spread open over his massive strong thighs, his length splitting you open, the stretched welcomed.

You forgot about Jeongguk and your sore heart for a total of two wonderous hours, before your phone starts blaring from your discarded mini-bag on the floor. Lucas is the one that gets it for you.

"Hi?"

"Y/N! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?" Chayoung's tone is aggrieved, wavering through the sound of some song blasting in the background.

"Oh. I left." You hope she gets it, doesn't press any further. But what was Chayoung if not a button pusher?

"WHERE? YOU WENT HOME? WHEN?"

"No, I'm not home. And awhile ago." Lucas is pointedly not listening, pattering through the adjacent bathroom of his room. The pressure ebbs when he turns the tap on loud.

"WHAT?"

"I said I'm not home! And please stop yelling!"

There's a loaded pause. You can feel Chayoung thinking through the line. "Okay... Who are you with?"

"Fine, yes I'll meet you there," you say instead, completely ignoring her question. Lucas is out of the bathroom now, massive and still naked as his knee sinks into the mattress. He crawls to you as you scramble to get out, phone wedged between your shoulder and ear. "Yeah, yeah I know I'm sorry. I'll come get you."

"What the hell are you talking about Y/N? Who are you with?" Chayoung's words are bitter now, stinging as they hit your ear.

"Gimme five seconds, I'll be right there," you return, swiftly cutting the call. Chayoung is going to kill you the second you see her but you'd rather attempt to live through that than Lucas overhearing you gossip about him on the phone with your friend. The man in question is watching you with a chary gaze as you hurriedly tug your dress over your head. "Sorry," you supply, pulling the hem down hard over your butt. "My friend needs me."

He nods slow, strawberry blond locks swaying. He's actually very hot, an observation that has you stilling for a second.

"Cool. See you around, yeah?" His eyes are round and big, bright even – almost like Jeongguk's. That breaks the spell.

"Yeah, see you around." And then you take the chance to flee, bag swung over your shoulder. Except Lucas halts you with a low cough, raising his hand, something bunched up in it.

"You forget this, though." It's your underwear, red and lacy. Your cheeks match the colour of fabric, flushed hot as you pluck it out of his wide palm. Lucas watches you slip them on with a smug smile, one that you should hate but there's a humour in it that blooms through you. He lets you part with a fond squeeze of ass when he gets up to open the door, still grinning.

"See you, Y/N," he says, leaning against the doorframe. He's very tall too, how did you miss that?

"Yeah," you squeak back, eyes shifting from his face with speed. "See you."

He's not Jeongguk, and that's good. He also makes it easy for you to forget about Jeongguk, another plus. And you can't help but wonder as you scurry back to the party, that it might be nice to see him again.

—

That sentiment gets jumbled when Chayoung avidly spills to you later that she'd stumbled into Jeongguk with his hands tangled with another girls, leading her right out of the party as Lucas had lead you. It stings, of course it does, but not as much as the first one. Not when Lucas is in your DMs, his messages sweet albeit corny, and you can still recall the taste of you on his tongue. 

But despite everything, even with Jeongguk a new stranger and Lucas's body warming yours, you haven’t truly let go. You can feel it in how you cling to the clothes Jeongguk had left in your closet. He hadn't requested to come pick them up yet, a fact that keeps a wedge in the door you're not sure you can close alone. Your heart still spikes when you see him on campus, and there's a home game coming around the corner that you're longing to go to. Because you still want to see him. Still want to be by his side Sometimes it felt nice to want to forget but you couldn't – not yet at least, not until you know whether he wants to forget about you too.

[asmo-baby5]

Burned

Request: @seerachii-art

Description: Mc had gotten very used to the Devildom and would wander around by themself now. They had pacts with the seven highest ranking demons right after the Prince himself and they were close friends with the angels, the powerful sorcerer, and Barbatos and Diavolo themselves. They never accounted for a lower ranking demon wanting to attack them for these relationships.

CW: mentions of burns, slight gore (not a lot)

Lucifer-

•he had gone out looking for Mc after they never showed up for dinner.

•he was very pissed that they went out alone, but he assumed if they really needed help they would call or use their pact to summon him.

•he walked through the Devildom with a very calm demeanor.

•of course, that was right up until he actually saw them.

•Mc was sitting outside of RAD with Barbatos hovering over them like a worried mother.

•"Mc, it is past time for dinner. What are you doing still at..."

•his voice faded out as Mc looked up at him.

•they were holding a damp towel over half their face and tears were flowing freely out of their open eye.

•his normal calm demeanor gave way to an eerie calm.

•"what happened?"

•his voice was low and made Mc flinch away from him.

•they looked so pathetic...

•Barbatos tried to explain what happened but he looked straight at Mc, waiting for their recount of events.

•"he was saying, saying bad things about you." They somehow got out through all the crying.

•lucifer was starting to fill in the blanks himself, but he still needed to assess the damage in order to decide what punishment would befit a lower demon who dared to harm this human.

•Barbatos helped Mc to gently pull the towel away from their face and show Lucifer the large burn covering over their eye.

•the cold towel had stopped the skin from pulling away from their face more than it already had.

•needless to say that calm demeanor quickly turned into burning hot (no pun intended) anger.

•with the help of Barbatos, who had just so happened to be leaving RAD at the time Mc was attacked, Lucifer was able to get them home.

•he offered, more than once, to fly back but they refused so he settled on just carrying them back.

•every fiber of his being wanted to go after the demon that harmed Mc, but he knew he had to get them home and settled before he could even think about leaving their side again.

•Mc refused any magical treatment, so Lucifer took them back to the human world for medical treatment.

•they ended up with a scar over the eye they had unfortunately lost sight in.

•everytime Lucifer saw that scar he'd get very irritated and would be stuck to Mc's side up until he physically could not have them with him for work.

•would pass them onto Simeon so he could keep an eye on them because he didn't trust any of his brothers to keep them completely out of harms way.

•the demon who hurt them was currently (and for the next few centuries) being used as a chew toy for Cerberus.

Mammon-

•rarely let's Mc out of his sight,

•so when they somehow manage to give him the slip one day he starts to freak out, rightfully so.

•not only that but his pact mark was starting to heat up, that only happened when Mc was in trouble.

•he retraces their steps from that day hoping to find Mc at one of the places they had visited.

•he smells them before he actually sees them.

•a mix of tears, sweat, and burnt flesh drew him towards a corner just outside of RAD.

•Mc was holding a sopping wet cloth up to their cheek and was wiping at the tears falling down their face with their free hand.

•every so often they would grimace as they moved the cloth around.

•Mammon was frozen in place looking at his human crying and shaking.

•he could practically feel their pain and their fear.

•he snapped out of it when he caught a glimpse of what was under the cloth.

•"Mc, who the hell burned ya?"

•he tried to keep calm, but let's be honest, being calm when the one person he loved above others was hurt was not exactly easy.

•"who. Burned. You?" His tone dropped to a threatening low growl.

•when Mc flinched at his tone he did calm down a bit though.

•he had to take care of them first before looking for revenge.

•when Mc explained that they were cornered by two lower demons and then lightly burned before they ran away, Mammon had to literally fight to keep from growling.

•it was bad enough for Mc to be attacked, but to be cornered by two demons was the most cowardly thing he had ever heard.

•when he checked the burn his heart clenched.

•there was a good chunk of flesh missing from their cheek.

•he flew them home and tried to convince them to get it magically treated so it wouldn't take as long and there'd be no scar, but Mc refused.

•he didnt leave their side after that incident.

•if you thought Mammon was possessive before, just wait until you see him now.

•he sleeps in Mc's room

•walks with them to school

•constantly texts them when in separate classes

•and goes with them wherever after school

•he doesn't trust anyone else with Mc's wellbeing.

•seeing the scar on their cheek ups his protectiveness and he will follow them around like a puppy.

Levi-

•he knew something was wrong when Mc never showed up for the new episode of an anime they were watching together.

•he was immediately anxious but tried to reason that maybe they were just caught up doing homework or maybe getting snacks and Beel cornered them for the food etc etc.

•yeah, his reasoning quickly turned into overthinking.

•he was about to go looking for them when suddenly he felt a pit in his stomach.

•he could just feel that something in the House of Lamentation was wrong.

•he opened his door only to be met with panicked shouts from floor to floor and the sound of running footsteps.

•like he thought, something was wrong.

•"Leviathan!"

•angry Lucifer shouts were coming from downstairs, so thats where he headed to see what was so wrong.

•he stopped in his tracks though as the view of Mc curled into a ball on Mammon's lap with a towel over their face entered his field of vision.

•he was supposed to be looking after them and the pit in his stomach only grew as he watched Mammon make very small and soft movements with Mc, something he never did ever.

•"Mc...?"

•Levi's voice was small as he got closer and could finally smell it,

•the burnt flesh on Mc's face being held together by the cold towel.

•he almost gagged, and would have if Lucifer didn't suddenly grab his shoulder pulling his senses away from the smell and sight. 

•"where were you!?"

•is all Lucifer had to ask for Levi to realize that Mc got hurt,

•they got hurt on his watch,

•he couldn't protect them.

•"I- I'm ok, okay." Mc had stuttered out, the pain made it hard to string words together

•it took a moment for Levi to compose himself, and even when he did outwardly he was an utter MESS inside.

•do-dont lie, Mc..." he slowly made his way over to them, but kept his distance from them.

•they got hurt because he wasn't competent enough,

•there was no way he could let himself ever indulge in their presence after this.

•he would of course take revenge against whoever dared to hurt Mc,

•but when they reached out and gently held onto Levi's hand, their's still trembling,

•he finally decided that being with them was the only place he wanted to be.

•as much as he wanted to absolutely decimate whoever hurt them, Mc needed him there more,

•and his Henry always came first.

•besides, he was fairly certain Lucifer was already making preparations to take care of the demon.

Satan-

•he was out with Mc looking for some new books from a bookstore that just opened.

•the two got separated for barely two minutes,

•but it was more than enough time for a group of demons to walk over and taunt them.

•Mc's already poor relationship with the other demons in the Devildom had recently got worse.

•its not like Satan didn't know this,

•he was hyper aware of the fact Mc was being targeted more often by lower demons for petty jabs.

•that's why losing them in a new store caused anxiety to creep into his body and sit like a rock in the pit of his stomach.

•Mc had expressed their fear of these demons (cowards, as Satan kindly referred to them) trying something more than jabs,

•so he felt very protective over them since then, wanting them to feel safe when they were with him.

•But safe was the exact opposite of what they were now.

•Satan quickly found Mc, but he also witnessed one demon slap them,

•hard.

•hard enough that they left a burnt handprint scarred onto Mc's cheek.

•Satan could barely process what had happened.

•before he knew it his vision had gone red and he could feel a low growl coming from deep in his gut.

•he was about to go after the demons who did this but Mc stopped him with a whimper that immediately brought him back.

•he wasn't really the most calm all the time,

•but in a crisis he was the best demon to go to because he could keep a surprisingly cool head.

•once his temper had cooled down enough for him to stop clenching both his jaw and his fists, he set to work caring for them.

•As he took the time to properly dress the wound the human way, Mc explained to him what happened.

•the group apparently confronted them about Satan's reputation.

•he was once known as the cruelest and scariest demon right after Lucifer,

•but apparently rumors had started to spread that he had become soft.

•many demons blamed Mc for this change because they had a pact with him and Satan was most definitely not known for having pacts with anyone.

•as he listened to this his anger started to spike again, but he pushed it back down enough to swiftly carry the Mc home.

•he didnt want to have to rely on Lucifer for anything, but only he could come and go between the human world and the Devildom,

•and Mc needed burn treatment in an environment that would promote healing for humans.

•once he knew Mc was being well taken care of though, he finally let his anger rise and bubble at the surface.

•he got a pretty good look at the demons who hurt Mc, and Satan NEVER forgot a face.

•once the Mc had come back, the scar left by the demon made Satan's rage come back anew every time.

•he even requested that Asmo try any and all facials and treatments that could get rid of scars.

•and as for the group of demons?

•well,

•let's just say,

•you should never make the Avatar of Wrath your enemy...

Asmo-

•he and Mc were on a date.

•clothes shopping, tea, sweets, spa, and hairdresser.

•everything was going great,

•Asmo was having the most perfect time being with Mc for so long without his brothers interfering.

•that is, up until their hair appointment.

•the two were separated for a bit because they each needed different treatments done to their hair.

•Asmo didn't think much of it.

•he had taken Mc to this particular hairdresser many times already, so he never thought anything bad could possibly happen to them.

•he was proven wrong when a scream came from the other side of the building,

•the area where Mc was.

•Asmo shot up out of his chair and practically teleported to where they were.

•what he saw made this normally pretty calm demon's blood boil.

•one of the workers was bowing and apologizing repeatedly as Mc looked at them dazedly.

•but what really got to him was the intern hiding behind a corner, laughing.

•"so this is funny, is it?"

•he had snuck up behind them and asked, his voice unusually low.

•"this particular human is under the complete protection of Lord Diavolo, would you like to explain to him why there is now a burn covering half their face?"

•the intern paled at that and shook their head.

•"I would not think so. Now explain to me how this happened."

•the intern explained that they dipped the cloth that goes on Mc's face in scalding hot water.

•they knew Mc was a human and they wanted to test their limits,

•but they adamantly maintained that they never intentionally harmed Mc.

•Asmo was furious, especially because this happened in a place where he was only a few feet away.

•but he did give up on grilling the intern, deciding he'd give their name over to Diavolo and Lucifer later, in favor of comforting Mc.

•they were coming out of their daze but that meant the pain was starting to set in.

•Asmo was able to carry them out of the shop and quickly home before they could scream again,

•or cry.

•he would definitely go on a rampage if Mc started crying and killing a demon in broad daylight was not a good look for his cute image.

•he informed Lucifer what happened and trusted he would then take it to Diavolo.

•Asmo carried Mc to his room and set them in his low hanging seat so he could tend to their burn.

•thankfully it wasnt bad enough to be cause for major concern,

•but it was bad enough that Asmo was worried about some scarring.

•he was able to clean the skin around the burn and then apply a few different treatments to lessen the scarring process.

•he promised to use all kinds of facials on Mc, once they were feeling up to it, so the scars would heal quickly.

•once Mc was taken care of, he couldn't even think of leaving their side,

•so he opted to lie down on his bed with them.

•Mc fell asleep rather quickly, the trauma making them exhausted.

•Asmo couldn't fall asleep for a while though as he spent time blaming himself for the injury.

•he would never, ever, forget this day...

Beel-

•he was out to eat with Mc as usual.

•there was an all you can eat buffet that had just opened up and Beel was all willing to pay for both of their meals if Mc went with him.

•of course they did.

•it is way too hard to say no to Beel.

•while he was on his fifth plate of food, Mc wandered of to the bathroom for a small break.

•they accidentally ran into a group of demons on the way there and got into a small altercation.

•they started badgering Mc and complaining about how the nicest demon brother was no longer able nor willing to hang out with them because he'd rather be with Mc.

•it was a small, petty, argument that unfortunately ended up in a small burn that ate through the first and second layer of skin on Mc's cheek.

•the demon that did it freaked out because they knew humans were weak by my god they're way too weak!

•the group ran away, out of the restaurant, leaving Mc staring wide eyed at the floor, the pain from their cheek slowly starting to register.

•they walked calmly back to the table to grab Beel.

•"B-Beel, Beel, we need to, to leave." They had stuttered out.

•the pain was making it hard to form sentences.

•"Mc, I can get a free meal if I finish this..."

•Beel's sentence had faded off as he finally looked up.

•Mc's eyes were glazed over from the pain and blood was dripping down from the pretty sizeable hole in their cheek.

•the big demon was up and out of the restaurant in no time, carrying Mc with him.

•he didnt really know what to do in the moment but he did know Mc needed help, fast.

•he went to Solomon first because his magic is the first thing Beel's panicked mind landed on.

•Solomon immediately went to work cleaning and bandaging the wound.

•because of his medicinal herbs, he had learned a fair amount of human medicine and knew how to care for a burn.

•Beel refused to leave their side, only doing so when Solomon convinced him to call Lucifer and inform him of what happened.

•After Solomon had taken care of the burn, he talked Beel into letting Mc stay at Purgatory Hall for a few days so that the rowdy demon brothers wouldn't interfere with their healing.

•Beel was over every day, almost every hour, to check up on them.

•once the burn had healed a fair amount, Solomon was able to use his magic to prevent any scarring.

•Beel 100% blamed himself for the injury, he felt he had once again failed to protect an important part of his family.

•it took a lot of convincing from Mc and Belphie for him to stop blaming himself so much.

•he was never focused on revenge against the demons that did this as his full focus was on Mc and their recovery,

•Lucky for him, Solomon and Lucifer weren't as focused on Mc..

Belphie-

•he never really left the house and he wasn't super overprotective of Mc like the other brothers were.

•he knew their strength but also knew that if they needed him they would call for him.

•so when the pact mark he had with Mc started to heat up and quickly started to burn, he knew that was them calling for him.

•they needed his help and he was more than willing to give it.

•he left the house in a hurry as the mark started to burn more and more.

•despite trusting Mc to pretty much take care of themself,

•he couldn't deny the worry and concern rapidly growing.

•the pact mark between a human and their demon is supposed to connect them and one is supposed to be able to find the other through this mark

•but Belphie was new to pacts with humans and he wasn't quite sure how to use it to find Mc.

•this did not help his concern as he realized they could literally be anywhere in the Devildom.

•he decided to just go to all their favorite places to see if he could find them.

•he eventually found them pacing right outside the planetarium.

•it was their place, the two of them, so he mentally slapped himself for not checking there sooner.

•"Mc, whats going on?"

•he walked over to them but they turned away from him.

•he froze as one of the worst smells ever finally reached his nose.

•it was awful.

•"Mc, what happened?" He tried to reach out and grab their shoulder but he stopped when he noticed them trembling.

•"Uh, um, its nothing, nothing bad."

•their voice was trembling just as much as their body and Belphie had finally reached his limit.

•he spun them around and was about to say something but he froze.

•Mc was crying while holding their jacket over one half of their face.

•Belphie grabbed the hand that was holding the jacket and gently pried it away from their face.

•Mc grimaced with every movement and Belphie swore under his breath, hating that he was hurting them.

•once the jacket was fully gone his sleepy eyes widened and any left over drowsiness from earlier was completely gone.

•there was a large burn over their eye and the skin around it was pulling away.

•he realized that's where the smell was coming from.

•"What happened?"

•he repeated his question from earlier but this time there was no way anyone could ignore his threateningly low voice.

•"N-nothing, seriously, Im taking care of it. And I, I called Solomon and he's on, on his way to help. I'm okay."

•Belphie felt his heart drop as Mc said this.

•either they didnt trust him enough to let him help or they didnt love him enough to tell him what happened.

•he really hated both of those options.

•"I'll stay here with you until he shows up then."

•he'd feel even more awful if he brought it up and made Mc feel guilty on top of their physical pain though.

•he sat with them silently for a few minutes until Solomon showed up.

•Solomon took them back to Purgatory Hall to clean and patch up the burn.

•Belphie went with and held their hand as Solomon had to get rough to fully clean it.

•he stayed with them the whole time, swearing to never leave their side again.

•once they finally fell asleep he took it on himself to go after whoever dared to touch, let alone harm his human.

•they would pay.

•he wasn't nearly as cruel, or strong, as some of his older brothers,

•but he sure knew how to hold a grudge.

•and that promise of never leaving their side could hold off a few more hours...

[shepard-ram]

You know what's a fun idea combining two of my favourite au's enjoy.

You didn't know how it happened one minute you were testing redstone machines in creative mode in your nice room sat on your comfortable gaming chair the next you were in a forest ( and missing your precious gaming chair). Wandering around gave no clues as to where you were it was just more and more forest, it was almost unnerving just how silent the forest was, another thing you noticed was that you weren't getting tired from all the walking around even as the sun or what little you could see through the branches started to set. You had been walking since before noon how were you not tired or at the very least thirsty. The realisation of what had happened came to you when you came face to face with a skeleton, one that was walking,had a bow and was ignoring you...? That was when it all came together for you after all the hours you had put into the game there was no way you wouldn't recognize the iconic mob but it didn't explain the other things unless oohhhhhh....you thought about a nice fresh piece of bread and how it would be really nice to have one before hearing a quite pop and looked at the loaf in your hand yep you were in creative mode.

A few days after your realisation and exploring the local area via creative flight you were just having fun building redstone machines it was fascinating to see to they actually worked, when you heard a scream alongside the telltale sound of skeletons. Rushing to where you heard the scream wiling a neatherite sword to appear in your dominant hand bursting through the trees you started to hack away at the few skeletons felling them before turning to look at the large caravan of people looking at you in awe, seeing that one of the adults was injured you just poofed a splash healing pot into existence and chucked it next to them watching as the wound just closed up. Talking to said adult ( who was looking at you like you had hung the moon and stars) informed you that they were refugees fleeing some place called the Arctic Empire's expansion, you told them that they could stay here if they so desired after all your exploring had shown that the way they came was the only way in since mountains surrounded the rest of the expansive forest. The group of around twenty or so in total families gleefully accepted saying about how lucky they were to have found such a benevolent being, a little weird but ok, as you floated about and summoned blocks to help build houses and workshop/shops for the refugees you could hear them muttering and you could feel the weight of their stares. Over the next few months the settlement got bigger and bigger as more refugees from various nations from this world somehow found their way into the forest at first it was a small village,then a town but now as you floated around your small settlement had become a city state with redstone machines providing the non renewable resources like fuel, ores and the entrance to the forest now had tall obsidian walls to protect from any incoming threats plus a cathedral that they were strangely insistent on you had only built the shell so they could fill the interior with what their faith required it was odd how everyone seemed to worship the same god though you thought there would be a little more religious diversity.

That wasn't the only change though as you looked at your refection in the newly made lake you now sported a pair of wing and halos and you had even adopted one of the orphaned kids that had arrived with the first caravan, a young winged enderman hybrid by the name of Talos he was a handful but seeing the once sorrowful child smile made all the effort worth it, you had also grown so attached to these people the knowledge that their families and friends had been slaughtered by this empire that only seemed to be expanding for the sake of greed made you stomach turn. If the empire every turned their gaze to your peaceful little part of the world you would be more than happy to use creative mode to make their lives hell.

Emperor Philza overlooked a map with his eldest son and general of his army's, they had almost done it the world was very nearly united under the banner of the Artic empire there were only a few nations left and they couldn't hope to stand against the Empire's might. A scout burst into the tent with odd news apparently on a routine scouting flight they had found a massive obsidian wall spanning the miles wide and at least a mile thick at the entrance to a forested valley, that was very odd the amount of time it would even take to mine that much obsidian let alone build it would be a decades long task not to mention the build time they couldn't move their army forward with such an unknown behind their lines looks like they would have to figure this out first.

Ender-anon

This was a blast to write also I'm not leaving out the adorable Talos.

AE AND YOU'RE GOD AU???? And of course talos is here we love the little guy :]

God I can't- I don't what to say just <33333

[enha-woodzies]

➸ CHAPTER 7 | " A BREW GONE ASKEW "

starring: enhypen ft. i-land daniel

pairing: jungwon x fem!reader x sunghoon

genres: royal au, romance, angst, slowburn, 18th century setting

word count: 1.7k

warnings: mentions of blood, very mild swearing

taglist: @serendipitysung (betareader) @angeljungwon @en-sun @affectionaterainoflove @renkiv @softforjungwoo @jislix @gyeraniee @fluffi @stxrryemxlys @jungwon-luv-bot

[ PREV. CHAPTER ] | [ M. LIST ] | [ NEXT CHAPTER ]

A week has passed since the favored pair passionately promenaded around town. They’ve always looked very fond of each other, and the ton can only imagine the two tying the knot by the end of the year.

Only a week in but Sunghoon was already finding it hard to keep himself away from Y/n’s side. From their long, humorous talks, to past secrecies, bliss, and memories, Sunghoon isn't always a big talker. But when it comes to the young miss, he blurts out almost anything and everything that comes to mind, and the lass would happily enjoy them; so much that she even laughed with a snort once, to which Sunghoon found really adorable and charming.

Sunghoon told her she was magnetic, and the girl helplessly clung herself to the marquess like an ornament.They've shared a lot of stories with each other in the course of a week. And in every topic, Jungwon never ceases to be mentioned. Y/n almost always connects everything with the boy, and Sunghoon can clearly see how Y/n’s got it so bad with Jungwon.

He told himself that he was going to change that.

Today, it was said they were seen traipsing around the Swan’s Lake一 a cradle for the tons banal scandals. Further ahead, the Queen’s garden can already be seen just by the tip of the tiny greenhouse that’s solely standing amidst the wildflowers. Sunghoon leads the way for the young miss to enter first.

“See that? The garden admires you.” Sunghoon whispers against her ears and send tingles through her entire body.

“This is amazing. I’ve only ever been here once, you know. It’s actually one of my favorite places here in Northumberland.” The young miss exclaims while softly touching the brightly colored flowers in each step she takes.

“Was the first visit special enough to make this one of your adored places?”

“Yeah.. I was with Jungwon.” She mutters the name under her breath with a look of regret.

“What was the reason he brought you here?”

“We were nine. He said he wanted to show me something that only this garden can offer.”

“Let me guess. Was it a ring made of twigs and he played pretend like he was proposing to you?” Y/n chuckles at the marquess. Though she wouldn't admit it, she finds Sunghoon very ideal and gentle.

Could it be that she wishes Jungwon to be more like him? Or is she just telling herself that Sunghoon’s perfect enough to bury down her dying feelings for Jungwon?

“That’s cute but unfortunately, that's not what happened. He showed me the Catalpa tree and gave me its flower. He said it reminds him so much of me and that I should tuck the flower in my favorite book to remind myself that he thinks of me often.”

“Ahh. Quite the romantic our little Jungwon here, eh?”

Y/n looks down to the ground remembering the dead Catalpa flower that was tucked between Jungwon’s Austen book; the book that was now back in the comfort of its owner after she threw it in the Kielder Forest. 

“Once upon a time, yes.”

Sunghoon quickly picked up the mood and snapped it away. Seeing how Jungwon made this hole in her heart annoyed him to the extent he realized he had been living in hypocrisy as well.

He oddly sees himself in Jungwon, although in his case, it was much different. Jungwon never had any rivals when it comes to Y/n’s heart. Whereas with him, he had Niki, who wasn't even a bad guy in a story that Sunghoon tried so hard to own.

“Did you know that there's a poison garden here?” He breaks the silence.

“A what now?”

“A poison garden. The Queen’s very particular with it. Although it's off-limits to everyone except the royal gardener, anyone can still have a peek at it. I bet Jungwon never told you that.”

“He didn't.”

“Of course. Your chap doesn't alway know things, Y/n. You sometimes think so highly of him.”

The young miss kept her mouth shut the whole walk to the poison garden’s entry. They decided to take a brief peek, as per Sunghoon’s wishes, and she went along. It's not an everyday occurrence that you get to see a real and existing poison garden in Northumberland's Alnwick Castle.

“Sunghoon? Until when are we going to keep up with this whole ruse?” She softly whispers.

“Well, Jungwon hasn't told you anything worthy yet, has he?”

“The other day, he uhh… he told me to stop seeing you.”

“Why do you suppose he would say such thing?”

“I don't know. Must be something that happened between you and my brother?” she stopped shortly.

“What happened, Sunghoon? How come they all know about it and act like it was so horrid, yet keep it very subtle?” Sunghoon clicks his tongue and hisses before letting out a deep exhale.

“It's all in the past now. Even Niki. Though, I want to start fresh with him, but he doesn't seem to give me any chance at even trying.”

“What happened?”

“I don't think your brothers would want you to hear it. I respect Jay the most, and I owe Niki a whole lot. Or even if they do, I won't tell you anyway.”

“Was it… that bad?” Sunghoon fakes a chuckle while sitting on the nearby cemented bench. Y/n reaches out to hold his hand and the gent softly grips her fingers while brushing it with his thumb, locking hands with her in the process.

Sunghoon wanted to let everything out. But he fears the young beau would distance herself. If he were to be honest, there's nothing for him from this ruse they plotted. It was just to help the poor miss and satisfy himself with the look of envy upon Jungwon's face. He has nothing against the chap, but he may just simply be a schadenfreude.

The following day, Jungwon received a personal letter from the soon-to-be-duke himself. The moment he read the contents, he hastily dashed from his house and onto his horse, galloping in a speed of light to the Kielder Forest.

It is peak afternoon and the golden sun hit the forest perfectly, making it look like the two men are bathing under the immaculate bliss. Picture perfect as it may look, they didn't meet there to dawdle time away.

“Your Grace.” Jungwon bows to which Sunghoon returns in the aftermath.

“Why did you summon me here?” Jungwon glints at the marquess with a scorn. As much as he wants to showcase his manners, it didn't seem like the time and place to do it.

“Let's cut the formalities from here on out, Jungwon. Who do you think you are to give orders to Y/n? You know, the more you convince her to stop seeing me, the faster she runs to my tail. You're just doing me a favor to be very honest, and I am so pleased for this wonderful opportunity. You don't have the slightest idea of what convenience you are to me right now.” Sunghoon mockingly exclaims with both hands holding together like a child in prayer.

Jungwon aggressively walks towards the marquess and grabs his cravat with both hands. “You pompous blowhard! What are you doing with her?!” Jungwon grunts while shoving Sunghoon against the tree. With a stern look upon his eyes, the marquess suddenly finds the situation very amusing. He smirks and chuckles before pushing Jungwon's hands from the tight grip on his clothing.

“Are you talking about yourself? Take it easy, Yang. I don't think you're hearing yourself right now. Shouldn't I be the one asking you that?” Sunghoon lets out a laugh that makes Jungwon even more furious. It was his plan, after all.

“You haven’t had enough of triggering Niki, and now you're using his sister?! You're a big mess, Sunghoon! Admit it! You couldn't have Yena all to yourself with Niki around, so you're tainting Y/n to get revenge on the both of us?! You’re a lost cause!”

“Am I? A lost cause, eh? You're plainly calling yourself out, don't you think? All these years of having the most beautiful lady in Northumberland at the palm of your hands, yet you're too much of a dimbo to even hold onto her. And besides, it's like hitting two birds with one stone, yeah? You and Niki?”

Sunghoon mockingly laughs at Jungwon's fuming face and before he even realized it, his glorious face landed on the cold ground with an angry clobber from the chap. Jungwon straddles him and continues punching him while sitting on top of the fallen boy.

In a swift response, Sunghoon pulls Jungwon by the collar and pushes him aggressively to the side. While landing several punches on Jungwon's face, the marquess spits out blood in the process.

“Enough!” Sunghoon sternly yells at the former who is now bending over his knees, huffing out exhales with a fast beating heart.

“Stop this stupidity you're doing with Y/n! You're no good for her, Yang, and you know that! Can't you see? You're just wasting her time when she could've been married last season already!”

“Don't fucking tell me what to do, ugly bastard!” Jungwon hisses with gritted teeth, mustering up his anger to give the marquess another blow of his fist.

“Stain my face with more blood, Yang, and you’ll have to kiss your princess goodbye. Mark my words, you will never have Y/n. Not even a useless moment with her.”

“Niki! Niki! Niki!”

Daniel runs inside the Park manor with such haste, unknowingly bumping the mansion’s servants along the way. “Nishimura Riki!” The boy helplessly cries out to the latter, who apparently seems to be very preoccupied in the garden, impulsively firing the target on the branch.

“What?!” Niki yells back.

“I have big news to tell you!”

“If it’s about Sunghoon then shut your mouth ‘cause I have no intentions of hearing it. Sister will get tired of him soon enough, so I’m not worried. I trust Y/n’s wit to deliver her from that traitor.”

“But this is about Y/n and it's something that you should be worried about!” Niki swiftly turns his head to the boy bearing no more second thoughts as he throws away the blunderbuss and rushes to Daniel, “what happened to sister?!”

“She made a deal with the devil himself.”

*send me an ask or a message if you wish to be added on this series' taglist!

ㅡ © ENHA-WOODZIES, 2021

[guigz1-coldwar]

'Moment of peace' : New chapter for "Redemption in a Spirit in a Cold War" is out !

"Moment of peace"

"We have an night for us and now, I only want you....only you !"

Chapter Summary : Yirina & Park has no choices but been forced by Hudson himself to get to the Mount Yamantau to discover what Perseus is planning there.....

To read it on AO3, click here !

Words : +3200

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

Yamantau...It was sounding familiar to me, not because I remember that Mason & Woods had to go to that mountain to retrieve an important object for our hunt against Perseus and not because of Hudson old mission 16 years ago but I kinda feel that this place...I did maybe visited it in my old life. I did have an memory of me, been in the Ural Mountains with Freya in that old cabin but I couldn't know if that 'supposed Perseus base' I remembered in that memory was the old one Hudson & Woods mentioned. That must be the case as now, Perseus has his sight on an soviet base in the mountain.

However, it happened that Hudson decided to only send me & Park at that place without any supports from the others. All protested about that decision but Hudson been Hudson, he refused everything pretexting that the 'others need to stay in Verdansk' to watch any possible locations about where Adler could be. That's meaning that me & Park are going to be send right at the Yamantau without any radio support & not even an single help from some agents....just the two of us, our guns, our knifes and our fists.

Hudson did make some calls after that, calling some friends in Moscow to help for transporting us in hidden sight and everything was planned to be operational in the evening of the 1st of June, tomorrow. I've spent an long night, fighting inside my head to know something more about the mountain but nothing came...nothing. The day...it went pretty fast, I didn't even see the time pass so fast while trying to intercept any communications from Perseus. When the evening came, it was time for us to go, taking an civilian car to drive to the Verdansk Airport where Hudson's contact is awaiting for us.

"I can't believe we're actually doing this." I expressed in the car as Park was driving and me on the front passenger seat, we were on the main road near the coastline at almost 2 km from Verdansk limits. "Guess that is too late to return to the warehouse ?" I demanded rhetorically.

"Yes, unfortunately." She decided to reply nonetheless to my question, sounding a bit funny un her voice. "The thing is that we just have only our outfits, our guns and our knifes...that's it." She exclaimed as we were already dressed in an part in our military outfits, our guns just on the backseats.

"Not even an radio." I whispered, looking at my outfit : an light-browned jacket, green half-fingerless gloves, an green sweat and an blue bulletproof vest with an UK flag ensign on it....one of Park's outfits...

"I don't understand why it's just us." She said, tapping her steering wheel with her two index finger, focused on the road.

"Like Woods said...." I started in an low voice.

"Hudson been Hudson...." We both scoffed in unison, wanting to break an laugh about it.

"Do you think that it because he think that it's maybe something not very important ?" I questioned her, looking at the sun getting set in the horizon.

"I don't know to be honest." She responded, not even putting her eyes away from the road. "If Freya and Knight are summoned to get there, I think it could be important." She claimed, knowing in me that she's right.

"We will have to watch out with Freya." I warned her even if she was already knowing it as she nodded to me. "Damnit, if we can collect that data before they can come, it will be better." I stated.

"Let's hope so." She grinned an little, removing her eyes from the road for only an second before putting them back in place.

"Necessary data..." I whispered, thinking of that transmission I intercepted last day. "It could be anything."

"Yes, it could be anything." She repeated my words, having the same thoughts. "Maybe Stitch is now trying to really make Nova-6 for real or...he's trying to find something important for him." She added. "As you heard, Dragovich, the guy behind the Nova-6 threat in 1968, was hiding important things in that place."

"Maybe that some of his documents could have been transferred to the soviet base." I suggested, trying to think of the multiples possibilities but everything was confusing. "Shit, we should wait until we found what was this mission all about when we are arrived in that base."

"Sure, thinking of it is going to make my mind blow up." Park proclaimed, making an little laugh from it. "We should better think about everything before." She proposed.

"That's better." I snorted, still looking outside at the horizon, seeing the sun disappearing in the darkness. "Park."

"Yes ?" She breathed.

"The day you received this letter from me...after what happened to your brother...." I started, changing the subject and sounding very silent. "What was your first thoughts ?" I asked her, looking back at her.

"Uhm..." She was looking an bit disturbed to hear me ask that question, an subject that we didn't talk for days.

"Be honest." I whispered, not sounding like an actual order.

"Well and to be honest with you, I wanted to...meet you." She answered first as we were arriving in the city limits and driving to the airport, her hands was like trembling from my question. "I wanted to know things...an lot of things."

"Listen, if you don't want to tell me, it's okay." I proposed, wanting to destress her, seeing her like that wasn't making me well at all.

"No, I think that you should know." She shook her head with an very small grin. "You opened yourself to me about your life and I should do the same." She continued and she was right : during 2 months, I did help her to know more about who was 'Bell' and even if she did help me to know more about her, there were still some things to discover. "Like I said, when I received this letter, I wanted to meet you." She reaffirmed.

"And what you would have done if you actually did ?" I questioned her.

"Just an talk, nothing else." She admitted, turning in an parking in hidden sight and discovering that we were arrived near the airport. "Things would have maybe been different, you know." She added, stopping the car in an parking space.

"Yeah." I breathed. "Maybe I would have defect earlier, maybe I was maybe going to join the MI6 earlier." I exclaimed as I took an deep breath to look around outside. "But it's too late for thinking about that, I already did." I scoffed in an silent way.

"You did." I heard Park's voice, speaking away from me, sounding pleasant before looking back at me. "Well, I think we can go now." She proposed, stopping the car engine before getting out of the car.

Since the car was in an parking who was in complete darkness and not civilians around to disturb us, we could unload the equipment we were going to use even if we didn't take many things : an grenade for both of us, 3 to 4 mags in our respectives MP5, 2-3 to our pistols, water and two MREs rations and that was it, nothing else. Our large part is still back at the safehouse as our mission could have been more difficult if we took everything with us.

Once we grabbed everything from the car, we quickly moved to get at the rendezvous point with Hudson's contact in the airport near it's helipad. Hudson told us that our transport was an soviet helicopter, an Mi-24 Hind and since it's an military helicopter in an civilian airport, it wasn't going to be hard to find between all of those commercials airplanes but the thing that was disturbing me an litte was the fact that the airport was looking deserted.

There were no planes taking off or landing on the multiples runways of the airport, no crew to load the place...this place was really deserted, something that we're not aware was happening but there were nothing of that type in the few transmissions we decrypted this day. Nonetheless, it did help us to sneak below the few planes parked in the airport to walk until we got our eyes in the helipad.

"Here's our contact." I pointed to Park with my left hand, the only Mi-24 Hind that was standing at the airport helipad with an man dressed in an soviet uniform near it.

"Let's present ourselves, then." Park said as we started to move towards the Hind as in me, I was wondering how Hudson managed to have an contact in the Red Army.

"You're my passengers ?" The man asked, his head looking down as he was smoking an cigarette...and also wearing an cap, looking american.

"Yes, we're...." Park stopped herself when the man put his head up to look at us. "Belikov ?" She breathed, astonished to see him there...and me too.

"Miss Park ?" He was also like us....shocked to see her as the two shook hands until his eyes was on me. "Miss Bell?"

"I'm not Bell anymore." I told him in an normal voice as he couldn't know about it before we shook hands together "It's been almost 2 months now that we didn't see each other." I added, my voice getting surprised.

"Exactly, I hope that everything is fine in your life." He grinned, wondering about it and I nodded to him.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Belikov." I expressed, smiling at him.

"I never thought that it would be you two, thinking instead that it would be Woods & Mason." He exclaimed, dropping his cigarette at his feets to crush it before passing his hand through his hair, removing his cap in the way.

"Hudson didn't tell you about us ?" Park demanded and he shook his head.

"He did say that 2 agents needed help to fly to the Yamantau but he didn't tell who." He replied, putting his hands on the Hind to hold himself on it. "Apparently, some Perseus agents are trying to steal some data."

"Yes and if we can, we are trying to steal it before they does." I explained, making him nod with an smile.

"Seems that's very important since I'm asked by him." He scoffed, releasing an laugh from his mouth, followed silently by me & Park.

"Belikov, why's the airport this quiet ?" Park questioned him, having thinking of it too.

"City officials." He instantly responded, looking at the big control tower far behind from us. "They closed the airport an week ago due to an 'foreign terrorist threat'." He continued, opening the transport bay door of the Hind. "Must have been Perseus pulling some strings to make Verdansk an quiet place."

"Also meaning that he's also hiding Adler in there." I suggested as Belikov raised his shoulders.

"Maybe or they're planning something else." He chuckled, keeping the door widely open. "Anyway, you should get yourselves ready, we're going to fly for almost an long time." He ordered, making us to move inside the troop transport bay. "Hope you don't have airsickness." He joked after we got ourselves in the Hind before he closed the door to install himself in the cockpit.

I took an deep breath as the Hind was starting to take off the helipad, only thinking positively about everything right now, the helicopter flying away to the Yamantau and like Belikov said, it was going to be an very long flight for us and during all of it, everyone including our pilot Belikov was mostly focused on themselves, in their own thoughts. From time to time, I was watching through the little porthole giving to the outside and seeing the view.

At almost one hour of flight after we left the Verdansk Airport, we could already feel inside of us that the climate was changing, going colder and that would mean that we were approaching from the Mount Yamantau. Hopefully, the clothes we were wearing was going to protect us from the cold...I will never thank Park enough for giving some of her clothes to me....

"Shit, I will have to land." Belikov told us, breaking the silence of having no one talk in almost an hour.

"Why that ?" I demanded to him from the transport bay.

"Got an radio message from the authorities on the ground, an snowstorm will soon occur." He replied, sounding normal in his voice. "They're asking for every planes and helicopters to not cross the region until it's done." He added to his response.

"You know where to land for sure ?" Park asked him.

"Yes, got an perfect landing zone right now." He responded, causing me to look outside, seeing the mountains around us and below us, an little place perfect for the Hind to land. "Landing now." He said as the Hind touched the ground, feeling it before the rotors stopped and we opened the doors.

"You were right, looks like an storm is coming." Park affirmed as she was looking away in an direction.

"I'm sorry but I will have to leave you here." Belikov expressed, sounding apologizing. "I can't let an military helicopter in the middle of nowhere in the Urals mountains and I don't want to make the soviets suspicious." He continued.

"Guess we have no choices then ?" I breathed, scratching the back of my head while holding my MP5 in my right hand

"They should be an place where you could hide in safety for the night." He suggested as he was going back inside his cockpit. "It would be too dangerous for you to wander in the middle of an snowstorm." He expressed, sounding very right in his words.

"Yeah, we ain't going to risk this." I muttered, discovering an little path going away in an direction "You have an map of the base by the way ?" I asked him and directly, he handed me an map showcasing where that hidden base was on the Yamantau.

"Should be now easy to find it now for you." He said before he got back inside his cockpit.

"We should be on the move now." Park suggested and I nodded as she start to move slowly to the path I was seeing seconds ago.

"Da svedania, comrades." Belikov scoffed, waving at us from his cockpit and we waved back before we start to walk away and him to take off the little landing zone and leaving us alone in the mountains.

We walked through this path during almost 30 minutes, avoiding every dangers and not wanting to get jumped by an animal or an surprising soviet soldier or an Perseus soldier but more I was walking with Park on that path...more I was starting to have an impression of dejà-vu in my head, like if I already took this path before....wait...I think I did have an memory about this...I couldn't remember right but I think that it's true...

"There, an cabin !" Park was leading the way until she pointed at an old cabin that was in front of us at a least 100 meters and...shit, that cabin was exactly the same one in that memory with Freya...."We should move quickly, the snow is falling more faster now." She stated as the wind was going more faster and louder and we start to walk faster to get to that cabin and then, we entered it.

"In time to be honest." I breathed as we crossed the door to get in and Park closed the door behind me....that cabin...in four year, it didn't change at all but it was more old and not used for an while. "Park...I've been here before." I revealed as she was moving to put her MP5 in an table.

"Really ?" She whispered, stopping her in her moves.

"Yeah." I started, moving to put my MP5 on the same table like here before moving next to the fireplace, Park still looking at me curiously. "It's here that....I told her that I wanted to defect." I then sit in front of the fireplace, looking at it with questioning eyes. "I was like this."

"Shit, I didn't know." She expressed, sounding apologizing.

"You couldn't know that." I turned my head around to look at her before looking back to the fireplace...discovering an metal piece among the ashes inside of it. "And even after all these times, it's still here." I exclaimed.

"What ?" Park moved to get next to me.

"The necklace I was wearing before." I responded, putting my hands in the ashes to grab the Perseus necklace in the fireplace, now looking in bad shape and not looking very nice....better like that. "Threw it in the fire in that memory." I added as Park got sit next to observe the necklace.

"I prefer when it's like that." She stated, having the same thought as me.

"Me too." I said before I put the necklace back into the fireplace, moving to get some wood from an basket near by and thanks to an lighter I brought with me, I used it to put some fire in here and give us some heat. "That's better, now." I chuckled, sitting back next to Park to obverse the fire and putting my arms on my kneecaps.

"Yiri ?" Park whispered.

"Yes ?" I turned my head slowly towards her before she moved her arm to get it behind my neck.

"Do you...like this little moment of peace ?" She demanded in an curious & low voice to me.

"Yes, I'm liking it." I answered clearly in my voice, smiling at her.

"Nobody to stop us, to disturb us." She admitted and it was true that those rare moment to be alone was so much better like if we hoped to be only the two of us in this world. "I was wondering : do you not fear about your diary getting read back in Verdansk...knowing Wolf."

"I gave it to Woods for the moment." I told her to reassure her even if she narrowed her eyes to me, not sure. "What ? I know that Woods will never give it to Wolf."

"But maybe Woods will read it." She suggested.

"Maybe, we'll see when we will come back." I blowed some air inside my hands to give me some heat. "If he did make Wolf read my book, I will kill him." I joked about it, not wanting to kill Woods at all and Park saw it, making her laugh.

"In case, be ready to not only kill Woods." She scoffed, continuing her silent and lovely laugh as I was watching her in an lovely way, like hypnotized by her until our both eyes met together. "Yiri." She breathed as she moved her hand to remove the scarf hiding her scar.

"Park." I said before we both moved at the same time to kiss each other on the lips. That kiss was so different and changing from the last days....it's been like days that we couldn't feel that feeling inside of us. Then, I moved my head to start to slowly kiss passionetely alongside her scar, making her moan in pleasure.

"We should....move to the...hm....bed." She proposed but she was too pleasured and it was too late as she slowly started to get on her back on the wooden ground of the cabin with me on top of her as I removed my jacket and the bulletproof vest with it. "You're looking lovely." She affirmed, putting her hands around my waist.

"You too." I admitted, putting the bulletproof vest aside before I leaned myself against her, our face just at at few centimeters from each other as I put my hands on her face, feeling her nice touch and smiling to see her in love.....

"We have an night for us and now, I only want you....only you !"

[etlunainmorte]

A word of stern warning before we proceed.

Thank you very much.

✒ P.S. I Love You ✒

***

XIII

***

"Mr. V, are you okay?" Roman asked him as he and Griffon helped him.

"It's him." V whispered, feeling the pain in his chest increase.

"Who?"

The poet clutched at his chest, feeling his own tears come down his face at what he just witnessed. He looked at Roman and Griffon, and with an anguished voice, he spoke,

"It's Christopher Lancaster. He was the one,... behind (Y/N)'s suffering. And Victor,” V inhaled deeply as he clutched at the metal cane in his hand, his anger overwhelming him and taking over what’s left of his sensible reasoning as he began seeing red in utter madness and hatred. “He,… DID NOT LISTEN TO HER! HE,… LEFT HER!”

With all of his might and anger, he threw away the cane that hurt (Y/N).

No. He threw away the cane that belonged to the man who hurt her.

Griffon squawked as he flew over to the thing to retrieve it.

A few moments later, Roman was going through Nico's files in the computer, trying to find something. Fortunately, the woman has woken up according to him but, she didn't linger and fell asleep once more a few moments later.

But, not without telling an important message first.

And whatever that was, Roman was frantically looking for it amongst the files, recordings, and videos they were able to record for the past two nights.

V, on the other hand, still felt indignant. He still couldn't believe what Victor did to her that he refused to take the cane from Griffon's waiting beak.

Other than that, he couldn't do anything else at the moment but wait for Roman to finish his research. He knew that some writings have manifested in (Y/N)'s journal. He just didn't have the heart to look at them given the current situation.

"Dios mio,..." Roman breathed as he slapped his forehead for seemingly the tenth time that day. Just like how Nico was two days ago, the Hispanic guy couldn't seem to find exactly what he was looking for. "What does 749 mean, anyway? Ms. Nico kept saying it over and over again before passing out. Do you know, Mr. V?"

"No."

"And the way she pointed at her mouth as she mumbled those digits! She looked like she wanted to eat something.”

"Hmm,..."

"And look at this! Someone just entered the first room on the right."

V felt electricity run through his veins as he quickly stood and made his way towards Roman to view the PC.

"Would you kindly show that to me?" He told Avery's fiancé. The poor guy obliged and one click of the mouse later, a video popped out, showing a man clad in white from head to foot enter one of the rooms on the second floor.

It was the one of the three rooms on the right, which was previously locked.

With a deep sigh, he turned on his heel and made his way towards the second floor. But, not before instructing Griffon to stay put with Roman should anything happen. And Shadow? Let's just say she's been out of commission since the incident with Nico. It really seemed that she couldn't fight against whatever creature attacked the Artisan.

He should be safe, right? After all, it's broad daylight,...

He strode towards the said rooms and didn't hesitate to fling open the first door. And he was right. It was unlocked.

But, how and when?

The room looked pretty decent, actually. It was a simple bedroom that looked the same as the one for the guests on the ground floor, but only with one canopy bed. He stepped within it, hoping that no creature in white would attack him. Then, he began searching every nook and cranny for some more clues, notes, photos, heck, even newspaper clippings, anything. He looked under the bed, behind the closet, the side table drawer, even behind the heavy maroon curtains. But, there was none.

That was, until he began looking underneath the sheets and pillows.

V's eyes widened as his hands came into contact with what felt like long, thin threads, and when he took them out from underneath the pillows, he realized they were human hair.

Blonde human hair.

V dropped them almost instinctively as yesterday's horror came back to his senses.

That restless spirit of the maid named Roselle,...

He knew that Christopher Lancaster was the one who murdered her and (Y/N)'s father. And (Y/N)? It was pretty obvious to him that she only married him because she didn't want the sinister doctor to kill anyone else who was close to her.

And Victor? Apparently, he wasn’t able to understand anything because he didn't listen to her that day! And he even hurt her!

"I would never hurt you, (Y/N)." He whispered as if he was talking directly to her. "Never."

All of a sudden, he heard some noises from the other room. V cautiously made his way closer to the source of sound, and as he pressed an ear against the wall, he heard it: shrieks and cries and pleas of a woman.

The poet drew back in terror as he hastily made his way out of the room towards the next one, practically kicking it open and revealing the neat office that probably belonged to that evil doctor.

"Please, stop! I beg you!"

V heard the voice once more, and when he entered the room, he finally saw the source of the pleas.

And a few tense minutes later, he, Roman, and Griffon were looking down at a very old device back in the entrance hall.

"I think that's a phonograph." Roman mused as he examined the antique device that V brought along from the doctor’s office. "Like a very old record player. Professors or even doctors used these for their studies."

"Doctors?" V asked him.

"Exactly. You know, like for documentation purposes. Or experiments."

Experiments? "That screaming lady in the record. I think it's one of Lancaster's patients."

"Patients?" Roman chuckled as he crossed his arms over his chest. "More like victims to me. Look, if - "

V's eyes narrowed as Roman's voice seemingly drowned in the music that was coming out of the phonograph's horn.

His eyebrows furrowed, his sight getting blurrier and blurrier. V pinched the bridge of his nose, the melancholic music forcefully invading its way to his head and giving him a feeling of nausea.

He closed his eyes, wanting so much to chase away the feeling of depression that suddenly took over his whole being. And when he opened them once more, he found himself seated on a pew amongst the crowd of aristocrats wearing white. The music was still playing on the background, and as he looked at the front, he saw two people exchanging wedding vows before the officiating minister.

The man unveiled the bride and V saw her,...

While other women might consider their wedding day as the happiest day of their life, (Y/N), for understandable reasons, was not at all joyful with the event. And while she may be wearing a very beautiful gown made entirely of the most delicate white lace, silk, and satin, her sad and tired eyes clearly showed those endless days and nights she wept for all the things she lost.

And as Dr. Christopher Lancaster gave her a chaste kiss on the lips and as the crowd applauded in celebration, she abruptly turned away, tears pouring out of her eyes once more.

V turned away, the pain in his chest overtaking his whole being once more. He turned back just in time as (Y/N) collapsed in Lancaster's arms.

Panic settled over everyone. He was about to go after her when the surroundings before him got wiped out like painting on a canvass against turpentine. Darkness and silence engulfed V, and when he was pulled back into the light, he saw Daniella and (Y/N)'s loyal maidservant talking to her, arguing with her, pleading with her.

"Get rid of it!" Daniella begged (Y/N) as tears flowed down her face. "He will kill you!"

"Young Master Victor will never accept this!" The maidservant added. "Please, my lady, heed lady Daniella's wishes and rid yourself of this burden!"

(Y/N), who now have dark circles beneath her once radiant eyes and hollow cheeks that were once pink and plump, looked at the two ladies as she protectively placed a hand on her belly.

"This,... is what remained of Victor's existence in my miserable life. Of the love we once shared." She told them, her voice resolute, and yet it trembled with each word she uttered, especially when she mentioned the name of the man who hurt and left her. "Victor may not accept this as his own but, I will raise this no matter the cost!"

"But, Lord Lancaster will never allow this!" Daniella argued as she kneeled before her friend. "I beg you! Please! Do this for your own safety."

(Y/N) inhaled sharply, then she closed her eyes and looked away as her shoulders shook with her sobs. "I have made my decision,..."

"YOU, BITCH!"

V heard the unmistakable howl once more as his surroundings changed. And as he heard the clatter of silverware from a distance, he went after the light that beckoned to him.

However, nothing in his own miserable life, not even his experiences as a Devil Hunter in the face of real danger in the hands of his enemies, prepared him for what he saw.

Standing next to (Y/N) as she sat on a chair facing the fancy table was the doctor, himself. He somehow looked more intimidating than ever, and his stance alone made the servants in the room cower in fear.

But, (Y/N) was an entirely different story, altogether. Her belly, its size now clearly grown, showed, and as she gently rubbed on it with her now skeletal hands, she looked at it as if it was the most precious thing in the whole wide world.

And this infuriated the doctor even more.

"LISTEN TO ME, YOU, BITCH!" Lancaster howled as he grabbed the back of her head and brought her face down to the bowl of porridge on the table before her. "YOU DO AS I SAY AND OBEY ME! YOU DO NOT DISHONOR ME BEFORE OTHERS! YOU DO EVERYTHING I TELL YOU LIKE THE GULLIBLE BITCH WHORE YOU TRULY ARE!"

V has had enough. He was about to summon his familiars but, it proved to be useless in this realm. And as his eyes stung with the unspeakable scene before him, he wrathfully strode towards Lancaster and tried to strangle him.

But, of course, it didn't do anything.

When Lancaster let go of (Y/N)'s head, she howled in pain, her now slightly burned face a mess. And not even a second has passed when Lancaster grabbed the back of her head once more and did the same to her face to the now empty bowl, breaking the porcelain, its shattered pieces wounding her face.

"FOOLISH WHORE!" Lancaster howled once more as he let go of her head and spat at her once lustrous hair that V has come to adore.

V kneeled before her, unable to do anything, helpless in front of an enemy he couldn't slaughter. The poor woman silently cried as her loyal maidservant came forward to clean her wounds and the mess on her person.

"My Lord." A servant came forward and handed a white envelope to Lancaster. The doctor opened this and read the contents.

Then, after that, a sick, sinister smile showed on his features. He went to (Y/N) once more, and as V braced himself for another onslaught of violence, the doctor only gently touched the woman's face as he placed a kiss on her bloody forehead.

"Clean yourself. Get dressed." The doctor told her. "Our presence is needed."

With those last words from the sick and evil doctor, V's surroundings changed once more, its colors getting more and more twisted as he descended upon the most painful memories of (Y/N)'s life.

And when he found himself back on the same church, sitting on a pew amongst aristocrats, he found her sitting just next to him. Her hand clutching her chest, and her veil covering her wounded face, she wept, her tears staining her once beautiful and lively features. He looked at the altar and saw, in his utter shock, Victor Blake, the man who was the cause of all this misery, exchanging wedding vows with another, younger and more beautiful woman.

Please, don't forget me, my dear, humble poet, and of those times we spent time together.

I will cherish those moments for as long as I live.

I will never forget May 11. I will never forget I have met the most wonderful man in the whole wide world.

I will never forget you for as long as live, V.

Yours truly,

(Y/N), your Little Wanderer, Evening Star, Beloved Muse, Little, Innocent One, and Little Lamb.

P.S.

I Love You

(Y/N) stood just in time as Victor lifted the veil and kissed his beautiful bride. And as half of the guests celebrated, including the doctor, who probably do not consider Blake as a threat now, the other half watched in shock as the woman the poet once adored walked away from the church,...

... and collapsed, her pain - streaked voice piercing the cheers of everyone else inside the building.

Daniella, who also wore the same veil as her, came for her and noticed the blood staining her immaculate white dress. She turned to Lancaster and to the other guests, her face contorted in fright.

"It's coming!" She screamed just as Victor came forward and saw how the woman he once loved bled.

V didn't do anything as his surroundings morphed.

He didn't even do anything as he watched (Y/N) give birth, her arms and ankles tied to the bed posts to keep them in place, her mouth gagged to suppress her screams.

He didn't lift a finger when the beautiful babe was taken away from her by force.

He didn't do anything when Lancaster closed the door of their shared bedroom as he removed his cravat and unbuttoned his shirt.

However, the moment he heard her voice, he trembled and opened the door, revealing (Y/N), now reduced to a skeletal form of herself and with more wounds and bruises all over her body, talking quietly to the loyal maidservant who stayed with her all throughout her life.

The only actual person who stayed with her despite the risk of being murdered by Christopher Lancaster.

And as V watched how she hurriedly talked to the woman who took care of her, he felt the tears go down his eyes as he covered his mouth to stifle the sobs. No amount of self control could stop his own heart from weeping for the once radiant, beautiful, and beloved girl.

That's how he knew that he -

"Take this. Hide this. Do everything you can to keep these memories safe." (Y/N) said as she handed her own journal, the journal that V has in his pocket right now, to her most trusted servant. "And when I die, I want you to go to Victor and tell him everything. Give this to him. And go away from here. As far away as you can."

"My lady, let's just run away from here!" The servant pleaded as she held the journal close to her heart. "Take the child with us."

(Y/N) only shook her head as tears fell down her face. "I can't. I will die here. I know. You take care of my child. Raise her as your own. Do it for me, please."

"Day twenty - one: Bloodletting and purging."

V heard Lancaster's voice in the phonograph a few seconds later as the atmosphere around him changed one more time.

And what he saw next made his stomach turn.

Three nurses wounding (Y/N) on both arms with a knife as she was restrained on a metal chair inside a sickly bright room, letting her blood stain the perfect white floor. He turned and saw Lancaster speaking to the cylinder of his phonograph as the poor girl screamed in pain and begged him to stop.

"Please, stop! I beg you!"

"Internal biochemical relationship was behind mental disorders. Bleeding, purging, and vomiting will help correct these imbalances in the body and would help heal the physical and mental illness.”

"I'm not insane! Please! Pl - !" (Y/N) screamed before one of the nurses stifled her howls of pain with a gag.

"One trait of mental illness is denial. The patient often finds itself unable to grasp what's truth and what's not. At times, they would even go as far as hurting the people they love. And worse, themselves."

V looked away, wishing the visions to stop plaguing him, to stop showing him these painful memories,...

"Day forty - six: Hydrotherapy."

The poet looked once more, and this time, he saw the nurses tying the girl's hands and feet and throwing a sheet over her head, twisting it roughly around her throat so she would not scream. They, then, put her in a bathtub filled with what looked like ice water.

"This turn of the century technique proved to be highly effective in reducing the patient's agitation by submerging it in cold water, especially during manic episodes. I will keep her submerged for extended periods of time, instructing my assistants to add more - "

"ENOUGH!" V howled as he chased the visions away.

And with just one blink, he's back to his own reality.

" ... and with the way they treat patients with mental illness is just horrific, it gives me the chills! Hey, Mr. V, are you okay?" Roman asked as he gave the poet a concerned look.

"I - " V began but was interrupted when he saw something going down the stairs.

"Mr. V? Are you - ?"

"Ssh!"

Roman looked behind him and saw the same thing with his own eyes. It was a girl carrying (Y/N)'s diary.

Her loyal maidservant.

With eyes wide with shock and mouth opened wide, the two men watched as the girl quickly made her way towards the huge heavy door. She opened it and made her way towards the house across the mansion without looking back.

Then, V finally remembered,...

The numbers on Nico's hand, the way she pointed at her mouth as if she wanted to eat something,...

... the number 749,...

She was pertaining to No. 749 Swan Lane.

***

✒ @la-vita , @micaelagua , @v-vic , and @birdgirl69 . ✒

***

✒✒✒

***

[abunchofbadchoices]

Michael's Song

HSS Michael x MC (Jordan) in Midnight Sun AU

*Disclaimer: Most of the lines and scenes I got from the movie the Midnight Sun and all rights belongs to the creators and writers, as well as the characters from PB. This is merely a converted fan fiction*

Part One | Part Two

Part Three

He found himself walking to the direction of the station, his neck craning in curiosity as the girl's voice starts getting louder for him. His feet seems to have their own mind and before he knew it, he is weaving through the crowd of passengers till they cleared.

There he goes, standing a few feet away from the girl, who has been singing her heart out with her eyes closed, voice soft yet deep emotions resounding from every words that comes out of her lips. Even the gentle glint of the flourescents from her blonde hair seems to add something to the song.

"I know if I reach too far,

I may not ever recover.

But I know the stars,

Ain't all I'm meant to discover

So I'll keep rea--"

The girl's eyes open and sees him standing there, the lyrics cut off suddenly and her bright green eyes now wide and utterly surprised.

"Hey." Michael let out a sheepish smile.

Panic spreads all over her beautiful features, her mouth gapes, and her breathing seemed to have getting problems. "Uh..." The girl looks like she suddenly had the urge to throw up. Then she stands, scrambling to pick up her guitar case and fumbled to put the instrument inside.

The case fell from her grasp and the coins spilled on the pavement, along with a pack of... M&M's?

"Whoaa!" He rushed to her side, confused. He wasn't even drunk, does he look messed up? They face each other nervously. "I didn't mean to freak you out." He holds out the pack of M&M's to the girl. "Here."

She grabs it in haste then holds it to her chest protectively. The girl lets out a breath and made a face. "Me? I'm not freaked out. Don't worry about it."

With that, she crouches to frantically try and fix her stuffs again.

Michael reached to give her a hand. "Here, I'll help you--"

"I'm not a freak."

"Why are you packing up?" He asks. "Where are you going?"

"Um, home." She answered briefly. "I gotta go home."

"Home?" Michael knits his eyebrows. "Wait, you live here? And wait, you didn't go to Oliver Berry High." He would have recognized her... Maybe Hearst?

"No." She shakes her head firmly. "It's a very different school. And, um-- you know-- I graduated today and my dad's a super big worrier-- So, I really gotta..." Finally, the girl managed to fix the case and stands, almost dropping it again if Michael hadn't seen it coming and catches it, their hands touched. "OhmyGod!"

Michael couldn't help but chuckle, their close proximity made him stop though. "Um..."

"I have to go." She pulled away quickly, as if the touch electricuted her.

"Wait! Wait! What-- I'm sorry!" He goes after her. "Why are you... What's the rush? What..."

"Um, I have to get home to my hamster." She says, face red.

"Your hamster?" Michael smirks.

"Yeah...it died."

He narrows his eyes at her, not buying any of it. Michael knows what bull crap is when he hears it, but he decided to at least play along. "So, you're not in a rush then, right?"

"No, no, I am!" The girl shakes her head quickly. "I have to plan the... funeral. For my, um, dead hamster that died. Yeah, it's super dead."

Michael nods slowly. He had been fighting the urge to burst out laughing but managed to maintain a straight face.

The weird girl took that as her cue and she darts to the opposite direction, clutching her guitar for dear life then disappeared.

"Wait! Wait--WAIT!" He yelled. "I didn't even get your name!"

Michael huffs in annoyance, not to her, but more to himself. He used to be so smooth at this kind of thing. Sometimes, he doesn't even need to speak to get a girl's number. Now he found a cute weird one and she dashed off as if she couldn't wait to get the hell away from him.

He turns around, finding the station quiet without the sound of her voice. On a bench where he found her sitting minutes ago was a thin hardbound notebook. Michael picks it up, studying it closely. The corner of his lips lifted once more, somehow, he has this reason to find her again.

▪️▪️▪️

At Cedar Cove Medical Center.

"You haven't noticed any changes in her? Motor functions still seem strong?" Dr. Maddox questions one after the other.

"Yeah." Scott responds instantly, his index finger tapping agitatedly on his pants as he sits on the leather couch. He nods his head quickly as well. "Yeah! No loss of intellectual function, no difficulty swallowing or talking." He breathes out a laugh. "Believe me on that... And, uh, no corneal ulcerations-- really, there's nothing to suggest any neurodegeneration."

The woman smiles, then nods her head once. "Any exposure to sunlight?"

"No, of course not."

Sitting there in the private office, Scott couldn't help but feel very nervous as if he was the one being diagnosed. It was Jordan's regular medical update that day, not only for her maintenance but also to help gather more data to help the funded research at Northbridge University regarding the possible treatments of XP.

Supposedly, Jordan will be asked a series of questions regarding her medical status or changes that she noticed to herself every week but today, it was only Scott since he let Jordan stay home and out of the sunlight.

Dr. Maddox stands from her armchair across his then headed to her deak. "I'm gonna refill her prescription for you this time but she really should be coming to these appointments with you."

"Yeah, well..." Scott thinks of an alibi, following the doctor as he fixes his coat. "You know teenagers. They get embarrassed by their dads."

"She has XP, Scott." His friend reminded him as if he forgotten about that. Maddox had been his friends since Jordan was diagnosed with XP and the woman doesn't hold back on reminding him how grave the disease can be.

Scott musters a tight-lipped smile. "I know exactly what she has."

"It's not gonna fall into remission and every year, the risk becomes more serious for her. So, if she's exposed to even the slightest bit of sunlight--"

"She won't be."

The woman eyed him skeptically. "She's reached that age we talked about."

"She won't be." Scott repeated firmly, but he was pretty sure it himself he was trying to convince more. The odds for his only daughter are getting tougher. He won't be taking any more risk. He can't lose another important person in his life, not after his wife left so early. He looked down and pretends to read something on her desk. "Any word on the Northbridge University Study?"

"I've submitted Jordan's name for their Phase Two trials, if it even gets that far." Dr. Maddox sighs. "I wouldn't get your hopes up. Research funding being what it is, we're talking about a disease that affects only one in a million people."

His heart sinks, but he refused to lose hope just yet as he knows to himself that he is going to do whatever it takes for his girl to live the life she deserves. The doctor handed him over the prescription listing a bunch of medicine Jordan has to keep on taking.

He let out a deep breath and look at the doctor with a confident smile. "We're in luck, 'cause she is one in a million."

▪️▪️▪️

"A hamster funeral?" Maria put down the book she was reading on and turns the swivel chair she was sitting on in a cross-legged way like her personal throne to face her, one sharp eyebrow raised.

Jordan groaned, diving face first into her bed and mumbled. "Please don't make me say it out loud."

Maria doesn't know whether to laugh at how ridiculous that was or giggle at how cute her best friend look when embarrassed. After twelve years of being best friends, she already knows every quirks the girl has. Right now, Jordan's usually pale face was tinged in deep pinkish glow from the amount of blushing she was doing.

Tilting her head to the side, Maria smiled fondly at the girl. "No, I mean, I've heard that dead pets can actually be an aphrodisiac--"

"Maria, what should I have said?" Jordan demanded, unburying her red face to sit on top of the bed and look at her.

"Any other combination of words in the English language."

"Like, 'Hey, I'm Jordan Lee. I've watched you outside my window for the past ten years, and I've been in love with you, stalking you every minute of the day!'." The blonde said every word fiercely.

"Okay, don't start with that..." Maria sighs, summoning a bit more patience in dealing with this annoyingly adorable creature that was her beloved friend.

Behind all that, she wished Jordan won't be so careless into throwing away the word love around like it meant so simple and to think it was directed to a guy like Michael...it just doesn't sit well for her.

She went to the same school with Michael Harrison for many years and despite having a decently good-looking face and a standing athletic recognition, Maria just doesn't see why Jordan got so hang up on him. It had taken a lot from her not to tell Jordan how hurt she gets when they see each other after school and all the girl could ask was if she ever saw Michael at school, or how is he, or what the hell he had for lunch.

Okay, to be fair, Maria has every right to be annoyed. For years, she tried showing what she really feels towards her best friend. There was a time when she was a freshman and she brings Jordan her favorite brownies and a single rose everyday as gifts and apparently, the blonde saw it as a gesture of sisterhood. Yay!

And Junior Prom Night... That was the same night Maria thought Jordan might have felt something for her too. She invited her as a date and oh God how beautiful she was on that dress but you see, they found it hard to dance well if one of them is mooning over another person across the room.

She wonders if Jordan got so blinded by her eternal crush for Michael freaking Harrison that she won't see if Maria ever had the words I love you, Jordan Lee tattooed right across her forehead.

Probably not.

That would have ruined her chance on her college applications. That will be a terrible decision.

Her raging thoughts were soon cut off when the book on her lap fell to the carpet in a muffled thud. Maria picked it up and looks at her best friend once more.

"Or how about 'Hey, you may remember me from kindergarten, when everyone called me a vampire'." Jordan continuously rants.

Maria frowned. "No one remembers that."

The girl gets up and stomps her feet like a grumpy little kid, dragging herself across the room and to the window where she plopped back on the soft couch. "What did I do?"

"It's bad, but we'll fix it."

"I feel so stupid and lame."

Maria follows her to the couch with her glass of juice and sits on the other side of it facing her. She grabbed a bowl on the coffee table. "At least you have some M&M's. So..."

Jordan grabbed a few colorful pieces and shoved them into her mouth. Then after chewing them to oblivion, the blonde picked up her guitar and starts playing.

She loves it when Jordan plays. Whether it was some silly tune they picked up on the radio or a song Jordan learned from YouTube. What Maria loves the most is when Jordan sings and plays a song that she had written by herself.

It makes Maria feel special somehow, because only her gets to hear the song (sometimes Uncle Scott too, but that was beside the point). It was something she has that Michael couldn't get.

But of course, she remains the best friend on Earth for Jordy and of course, she still helps her in this pointless dilemma. Ugh, my life suck.

Maria watched her play, thinking. "You've just gotta make up for it next time."

"There's not gonna be a next time." Jordan drawled.

"You don't know that."

"I do!"

The girl was pouting so bad Maria couldn't help but put her hand over Jordan's and stop her from playing. "This is good. This is what Taylor Swift does. She has awkward interactions with boys, and then she just writes amazing songs about it--"

Jordan's green eyes widen, her blonde head turning to face her quickly. "No, no..."

"What?" Maria asked, eyebrows knitted.

"Come on..." Her best friend rushed to the study table and rummages through her stuffs, then does the same to the coffee table littered with magazines.

"What's happening?"

"Did you see my notebook when you came in?"

"Your notebook notebook?" She shakes her head. "Not that I remember."

Jordan fell back to the couch, biting her lip nervously. "I think I left it at the train station."

"My God, Jordan..."

To be continued...

[blameitonthegirl]

Start a Fire - Part 5

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 6]

To say Aelin was in a bad mood was an understatement. She had a nasty cut in her arm, had slept two miserable hours and now would be obliged to flee from Naples before fulfilling any of her missions.

She couldn't even expect Maeve to find her. She did her part: she left the body in a perfectly good, findable place, with a perfectly good and unique dagger in its heart. But even if Maeve's men were as good as she believed they were, they would need at least one more week to track her. And Aelin couldn't stay in Naples one more week, not after last night.

If only she had the time to interrogate those men... she would at least know who had sent them.  But of course someone had to snoop around and ruin everything, she thought bitterly, shoving her clothes inside her packback. She was sure they weren't Arobbyn's, though. It wasn't his style to send a bunch of unknown men after her. No, Arobbyn's style was to deceive, scheme and explore one's weakness... and then beat you up. Plus, they weren't good enough to be part of the guild. So if they weren't Arobbyn's and they weren't Maeve's — because Aelin was sure that it would be the first thing they would've mention if the Dark Queen was involved —, who the fuck were they? The King? Aelin frowned. It would explain how they knew her face and her alias, but it didn't add up. She was, after all, under his orders — supposedly. If he suspected anything, all he had to do was to summon her back and she would have to obey.

When she had gathered all her — few — belongings, she stopped in the middle of the room and sighed. She was so tired of running. So tired of looking over her shoulder, being haunted by ghosts and hunted by monsters. But she had made a promise to a friend, and she couldn't run away for good just yet. She had to think in another way to save Nehemia's country, some other way that didn't involve Maeve.

She scanned the room one more time and rolled up her sleeve to make sure her arm was not bleeding again. After sullying two towels with blood — which Aelin promptly burned and thanked god by the lack of fire alarms in italian's flats —, the cut had finally started to close and she was able to make a dressing. Aelin knew that she needed stitches, but she couldn't be bothered right know.

She grabbed the keys and went to the door. At least her landlord would be happy, since she had paid enough for a month worth and would only be staying two weeks. That should cover the towels.

She opened the door. And froze.

Because that silver-haired man was standing right in front of her, with a murderous look in his face.

— —

The look of surprise in the girl's face only made Rowan more angry. How dare she, after toying with him the way she did last night, show surprise because he was standing in her front door? Didn't she know what he was doing here, hadn't led him here?

The hours after he discovered that Pyro was her didn't do much to sooth his anger. First, Rowan was obliged to flee before he could ask any more questions to those men. Apparently, someone in the neighborhood got tired of the fight and called the police. But he couldn't waste anytime, so he left as soon as he heard the first siren, and immediately called Vaugh. If anyone could help him right know, Rowan thought, it would be Maeve's hacker. And he was right. He had just checked out of his hotel room when Vaugh sent him a list with all the rooms rented in the past three weeks inside a two kilometer radius with the club as its center. Rowan wasn't sure about this last condition, but he had this feeling that she wouldn't go to a club far of the place she was staying.

And although the list Vaugh had sent was relatively small, he spent the last four hours asking very sleepy and cranky and foul-mouthed landlords about a girl who could've rented their place, and probably hasn't showed herself to anyone. He was almost in the end of the list when a man said to him he had rented his place to someone called Ash Smith. All the contact was made online and the money deposit was unidentified. There you are, Rowan thought when the man finally passed the address, moved by Rowan's story of his search for a lost sister.

Rowan said to himself that he was in such a state because he hadn't slept and was forced to knock in people's door and invent stories to know her whereabouts. He’d even smiled to people, for god's sake. It was not because his pride and ego were bruised. It was not because she had found him before he found her. It was not because she clearly was in that club to taunt him, to show how smart she was. And, above all, it was not because, in daylight, her golden hair shined brighter and her eyes sparked more than Rowan could believe it was possible.

— —

"You're coming with me," he said through gritted teeth.

Aelin raised an eyebrow, trying to ignore how fast her heart was beating.

"You know, you're the second person that said this to me in a period of...", she said, faking concentration, "six hours. I must warn you that the first guy didn't like how the conversation ended."

She pretended to be unconcerned, but inside she was tense trying to analyze the situation. Who really was this guy? How did he find her? What would be better, to flee through the window or to try to pick her remaining dagger strapped in her lower back? By the look he was shooting her, it was obvious this wasn't a happy coincidence. She took a step back and he entered the room.

He crossed his arms, what made evident just how strong they were — as if Aelin hadn't noticed that the night before — but his eyes — his shiny and intense green eyes — didn't leave hers.

"I know, I saw the dagger you forgot in his eye. That's why you will not make any sudden movements unless you want one in your heart to replace the two you lost."

He uncrossed his arms and Aelin narrowed her eyes. He was now holding a dagger in his right hand.

Shit.

She tried to remain calm, and waved her hand dismissively.

"Look, I have no idea what you are talking about. I know that we didn't exactly hit it off last night, but you can't come with a dagger to a girl's house just because you got dumped."

That wasn't the right thing to say. Before she could react, he’d grabbed her wrist with an iron grip and had pulled her closer, holding the dagger near her neck. The arm he was holding was the one injured, and Aelin felt a pang of pain.

"Don't you dare to say you don't know who I am, Pyro. Your little act of last night was enough. You are coming with me."

Aelin raised her head and faced him, pain forgotten, her own blood now boiling. To hell with caution.

"So let me be clear, you bastard. Yes, I am Pyro, and yes, I did throw a knife in a man's eye last night. But I have no idea who you are and what do you want from me, so you better let me go right now."

His expression seemed to show doubt for a instant, but it hardened again before she could be sure of anything. 

"Do you expect me to believe that you coincidentally met me last night, without knowing that Maeve sent me?"

Aelin couldn't mask her surprise. She even forgot he was still with a dagger near her neck . 

"Wait, you are Maeve's?"

He took a step back and retreated the knife, but didn't release her wrist.

"Like you didn't know", he snarled.

Aelin tilted her head and couldn't help the smile that came up. That changed things considerably. If this man were really Maeve's, he was the one Aelin was looking for. She could carry on her plan to help Nehemia. Perhaps she wasn't so out of luck as she'd thought.

"You know what? Your charming self convinced me. I guess I'm going with you after all."

He looked at her with suspicious, his green eyes narrowing and the snarling — which Aelin was starting to think was permanent — never faltering. After a moment of consideration, he released her wrist, but didn't put away the dagger.

"If this is your attempt to trick me, Pyro, you...", he started.

"Yeah, yeah, you're going to stab me to death. Got that part." Aelin waved her hand again, but in doing that, she noticed that her arm was bleeding again. She sighed.

"Can I get my aid kit in my bag?", she said, rolling her sleeve up slowly. "My wound seems to have open, despite your delicate manners."

He looked at her arm and his face flashed again with anger. Like it was her fault to have been ambushed. Insufurable bastard.

He finally put away his dagger.

"I'll do it. I don't trust you with a needle either. Sit." He pointed to the chairs near the dining table, and marched towards her backpack.

"What, do you think I'll kill you with a needle?" She could do that, but he didn't need to know it. Yet. "Besides, if you wanted to look through my stuff, all you had to do was ask", she said, trying to tease him. 

She wasn't feeling very well, though. The lack of sleep and the blood loss was taking their price. When was the last time she ate? Yesterday morning? Does booze counts?

She sat to prevent the dizziness, trying to pretend she was doing it unwillingly. He returned with her aid kit, still looking angry, and sat in front of her. He prepared the needle and the line, and started to work in her arm silently.

His hands were surprisingly gentle, and the atmosphere in the room changed so fast that Aelin moved uncomfortable in her chair. He shot her a warning look, but that reminded her the way he looked at her last night, when Aelin still believed he was just a gorgeous man in the club — despite his acusations — and her only goal was to bed him. She must'd been really drunk to not notice that the threatening aura around him was an indication of something more. 

"So, you are part of Maeve's cadre?", Aelin asked, trying to shove away the memories of last night. "Who are you?"

He didn't looked up, but talked after a moment.

"Rowan."

It was the second time that morning that Aelin couldn't suppress the surprise in her face. Rowan Whitethorn, the Anemoi, and second general of Maeve's cadre. Maeve’d sent one of the best trackers in the world after her. People said that no one could escape Anemoi, because the very wind told him its secrets. And when he found his target, few lived to tell the story. 

Oh my god, I wanted to bed the Anemoi.

[dimensionsblog]

Chapter 10: Dynami part 1

"HUMAN WAIT! WHERE ARE YOU RUNNING TO?! UNDYNE IS IN WATERFALL!"

He stopped for just a moment to respond. "Just come with me a minute, I can get us there way faster!" He said, ignoring being called 'human' for the hundredth time.

"DO YOU PROMISE?!"

"Papyrus I promise you, this will get us there faster than our legs can carry us!" He replied. "Please, trust me!"

With a nod, Papyrus followed him back into Snowdin.

After a few moments of running, he suddenly stopped, looking around in the blizzard that suddenly appeared. It didn't even take the two long to become separated from each other, which worried him given the circumstances he woke up to. "Paps?" He called. "Papyrus answer me!"

"HUMAN? IS THAT YOU?" Papyrus said, finding someone else in the storm. "WAIT. YOU'RE NOT THE HUMAN I KNOW, ARE YOU OK?" He continued. He couldn't see the malicious intent in their eyes, the dust on their clothes, or even the fresh blood on their knife they held in their hand. "WELL, YOUR SILENCE OBVIOUSLY MEANS YOU NEED HELP! YOU MUST BE VERY COLD!"

"Paps?" He could just barely make out the skeleton, he was apparently talking to someone...a human?! "Papyrus wait!" He shouted, running towards him. Something was wrong, very wrong. He thought this human might be the exact reason Undyne called the Royal Guard to assemble in Waterfall.

"YOU ARE APPROACHING! I SEE YOU NOW WISH TO HAVE A HUG OF WARMTH!"

"Paps wait!!"

"WELL I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WELCOME YOU WITH OPEN ARMS!"

"Papyrus run!"

He didn't make it in time. The human attacked, and walked away, all that was left of Papyrus now was his head and scarf. In shock, and in anger at himself, he knelt down and picked him up, wrapping the scarf around him to protect him.

"CLOAK...I...I REMEMBER YOUR NAME..."

"P-Papyrus! Hang on, I'm gonna get you help!" He said, quickly standing up with him in his arms. "I'm so sorry...if I never suggested a shortcut, you wouldn't..." He trailed off.

"IT'S OK...IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT..." Papyrus started, his head was now slowly fading to dust as he finished. "I STILL...I STILL BELIEVE IN YOU...SO IT'S OK..." And with that, he was gone.

But the worst part happened just after, Cloak couldn't remember him. He couldn't remember why he was crying, what just happened, or who Papyrus was anymore. It was like his death erased his existence in the young monster's mind.

---

What?! Why the hell wasn't Papyrus guarding it like he was supposed to?!

W-who is that...?

---

"Undyne! Captain Undyne!" A royal guard member ran through Waterfall to find her, calling her name. "Captain Undyne?!"

She jumped down from the top of a nearby waterfall, landing in front of him. "What's going on?!" She said, sounding irritated.

"We...we lost all contact with S-Snowdin. The entire town it's...it's completely destroyed it seems..."

"What?! Why the hell wasn't Papyrus guarding it like he was supposed to?!" She yelled angrily.

"W-who is that...?" The guard responded. He was actually being honest, and seeing this actually stunned Undyne.

But that quickly faded when she saw the human behind him, and pulled him out if the way of their attack, taking a big hit herself in his place. "Go! Evacuate every remaining monster in the Underground! Do it!" She ordered, blocking her injury from his view until he ran and did as she told him to.

Standing up, she smirked. "You think one hit is gonna kill me? THINK AGAIN!" She yelled, launching a volley of spears at the human. They blocked them, not surprising. "Now no one can remember Papyrus?! What did you DO to him?!"

The human smiled, raising their knife. The blood was fresh, almost like....

With a fierce battle cry, Undyne used every ounce of determination in her body to become more powerful, powerful enough to avenge him. Powerful enough that their attacks wouldn't hurt.

Cloak ran as fast as his legs would carry him. He knew exactly who they were after now, especially with everyone evacuating, and he wouldn't let her die. He couldn't.

He apparently made it to witness their fight. She really took it.. He thought, he never expected Undyne to inject herself with Determination. It was risky all to hell, but seeing this, seeing her winning, it was worth it then.

"YOU'RE DONE, PUNK!" Was her final cry at the end of the long battle, at least it seemed that way to her. The human was weak, she'd easily be able to kill them.

But what happened instead, no one expected. As Undyne was preparing to finish them off, black bones suddenly impaled her, and they came directly from what they thought was a human.

"NO!" Cloak screamed, summoning one of her spears and launching it at the human, getting them to move away from her and stepping in front of her to protect her. He was prepared to continue the fight, but the...thing, whatever the hell it was, it took off through a strange, void-like portal.

He didn't even hesitate, he knelt down and quickly lifted her up in his arms, taking off towards Hotlands and the Core. She was melting, it was the side effect of Determination and he knew it, he was too stubborn to accept it.

"Cloak. Put me down." She ordered, surprisingly in a softer tone.

He debated arguing, but the look in her eyes told him not to. "I...I don't want to..." He admitted, but it wasn't admitting he didn't want to listen. He didn't want to lose her.

"Go find that thing, kill it for me."

"I can't...I won't! Not without you there!" He started to protest. "Just let me get you help...!" His normal composure, how he was always cool, calm, and collected, was finally breaking. He felt the tears welling up in his eyes. "I...Undyne I can't leave you..."

"You can, and you have to." She said sternly. "That thing is after everyone...and you're the only one who can follow it and stop it." She continued, placing her wedding ring in his hand. "Make things right, bring everyone back their hopes and dreams..."

With those last words, she faded into dust in his arms.

He didn't know how long he stayed there like that, crying silently and holding her ring. It honestly was the first time he'd broken down since the experiments. But after a while, hearing someone scream for help, something inside snapped.

He stood up, putting up his hood so his face was barely visible, gently placing her ring in his pocket. He closed his eyes and used a shortcut to Alphys' lab, it seemed he'd gotten there in time. The human thing was just about to attack her.

(All artwork belongs to their original creators!) [Continued]