#i gotta fix up one of the gold details on the spine and do the hand then that's it

[aaabatteryy]

making a notebook into journal 3 for both the heck of it and cosplay, and i wasn't even done painted the thing red and my siblings were asking "where's the three?? where's the hand???" like- chill lil guys, beauty is pain and art is beauty, n all that jazz

[kay-wren]

I'll Come Running - R.C. - Chapter 5

"Alright so, you remember years ago when my dad went looking for the Royal Merchant treasure?" John B asked Jessie after they made their way back into the Chateau.

"How could I not?" Jessie scoffed, never forgetting Big John's obsession with treasure hunting.

"So, my dad died looking for that treasure-"

"Ward Cameron killed him." JJ butted in quickly as he stuck his pointer finger up in the air matter-of-factly.

"What the-" Jessie proclaimed, only to be interrupted by John B once more.

"Yeah, yeah, anyways. We found the gold." John B finished with hope in his eyes as he laid all their evidence out on the table in front of Jessie. The map of Tanny Hill, the pictures of the archives, etc.

"But when we found the gold, my dad got wind of it, bought the property that housed the gold and seized it for himself." Sarah said with defeat in her voice, as if to say she was ashamed of her father's actions.

Jessie scoffed "Not surprising" was all she could say as she leaned back in her chair and rested her chin on her hand. "So what does this have to do with me?"

"Well," John B began with a much softer tone. "Ward... killed himself after he realized he was caught for the murder of Sheriff Peterkin."

"Wait.. what? Sheriff Peterkin-"

"Is dead, yes. Minor detail." JJ answered swiftly as if to say that they need to move on.

However, this was anything but a minor detail to Jessie, she couldn't believe Sheriff Peterkin was dead-- she had a long history with that woman. Peterkin was the only person on that island that believed in Jessie, believed that she could be something more than the troubled daughter of a dead beat drug addict. Peterkin got Jessie her first job as a waitress at the country club when she was only sixteen. Peterkin always bailed Jessie out of trouble in anyway she could. Jessie couldn't believe it.

"Except it wasn't actually Ward that killed Peterkin... it was Rafe" Sarah said with even more guilt in her voice, so much guilt she couldn't even look at Jessie.

Jessie popped her head up. Just the mention of his name again sent shivers down her spine. Her look was no longer a look of confusion, but one of stone-cold annoyance. Yet she still had nothing to say to that, letting the rest of the Pogues continue.

"So Ward took the blame for Peterkin's murder and Rafe is now the sole proprietor of Cameron construction... and the gold." Kiara exclaimed.

"Are you kidding?" Jessie scoffed with a smirk. "Ward took the blame for something Rafe did? No, no, there's gotta be more to that. Ward hates Rafe-"

"Hated... Rafe." Sarah interrupted, now the one who was annoyed with Jessie. "Rafe changed after you left." Sarah sassed.

"Oh and you think that's my fault? Look here little miss kook princess, I don't owe you or-" Jessie said defiantly as she stood up and made her way over to Sarah. She dreamed of the moment where she could tell off a Cameron, any Cameron would do.

"Woah, woah, woah. Calm down! She is not the enemy here." John B butted in as he got in between the two girls, clearly saving Sarah in the situation.

"So again... what does this have to do with me?" Jessie said sharply as she looked around the room demanding an answer.

The room went quiet. JJ finally moved closer to Jessie, knowing that this had to come from him.

"Jessie," he sighed, "You're the only person that can do this." He looked down at his lap. Jessie sat back down motionless with her eyes fixed on JJ waiting for him to say more. "You have to convince him to give up the gold." JJ said as he looked up with a stone-cold expression of determination.

"No way." Jessie said angrily as she stood up from her chair and started pacing around the porch. "I left because of him JJ and you know that!"

JJ knew this was going to happen. He knew she wouldn't go for this and he knew she would be angry at him. He already regretted his decision. He knew he was now picking at old wounds that Jessie never asked to be opened. Still, he persisted.

"Jessie, I know this is really hard for you. But what's happening it's, it's... injustice!" JJ replied with conviction in his voice.

"Injustice? You wanna know what's injustice? Asking me to fly thousands of miles to see my baby brother thinking he was this close to being dead or in prison for the rest of his life, only to find out that he wants to me to be some ploy in a plot to steal back some gold?!" Jessie yelled with a look of both confusion and anger. "I vowed the day I left to never be a pawn in Rafe's game ever again, and I'll be damned if I-"

"Jessie, please... for me." JJ begged with a look of desperation in his face. It looked as if JJ was about to get down on his knees next and beg with his hat in his hands.

Jessie breathed out a long, angry breath and looked out at the water for a moment to collect her thoughts.

"What if he doesn't give in." Jessie said as she threw her hands up in the air. She wondered if they had even thought of that possibility. After all, it had been four years, surely he had moved on. Jessie hadn't, but that wasn't the point.

"He will." Sarah said with a confident, stolid look on her face. Sarah knew what Jessie meant to Rafe. Even after years of time apart and plenty of random hook ups and drugs to make him forget about her. Sarah knew there was no one like Jessie. "It will work, Jessie. He will always come running back to you." Sarah proclaimed.

"Oh please." Jessie scoffed with a disgusted look on her face as she looked out into the water again, possibly to throw up. "You guys can't be serious?" She asked.

"Trust me, we've tried everything else, Jess." JJ said softly as he walked up to her and put his hand on her back. "You are our last chance."

"You just have to seduce him long enough to convince him to do the right thing." Kiara added.

"I won't have to seduce him." Jessie said as she stared at the ground, as if she had just remembered something that could change the whole narrative. This statement only confused everyone, but finally JJ spoke up.

"W-what do you mean?" he asked with furrowed brows.

"I said, I won't have to seduce him." Jessie replied looking up and back at JJ with annoyance in her voice as if to say that JJ should not have questioned her.

"....oooookayyyy." JJ replied in only a way that he can, with confusion and yet with sass.

Jessie had to take this all in. What about her daughter? How long would this take? What all was involved? Could she even bare to see Rafe again? Would it fill her with too much rage, sadness... joy? Jessie put it all out of her mind, trying to get back to her teenage state of mind, where she would have thought and acted out of impulse. What does she have to lose right? Only everything this time. Now that she's an adult, she has a family, a life worth living, a steady income, a purpose, all things she didn't have before she left. And now she's going to throw it all away? For JJ? Yes, for JJ.

"What do you need me to do first." She sassed with a clear look of disapproval on her face. They all sighed with relief and a smile came to their faces, but JJ's smile was no doubt the biggest.

"He's taken the gold to the Bahamas at their summer home. We need you to meet him there. You'll get a cut of the-" Pope said frantically, as if at any moment she would change her mind.

"I don't want a damn cut." She said coldly. "I want this done, and over with. As soon as my job is done, it's over."

JJ didn't expect that, not even from Jessie. Sure she was calloused and guarded but... she doesn't want to share in the reward? She doesn't want to spend any extra time with her brother? The thought hurt him, but he put it aside as they calculated their next move. The awkward silence finally faded.

"We've gotta get you to the Bahamas." Pope said.

[skellebonez]

Because I'm sure this is going to be inevitable, how about some angst for the Chaos Trio (Mei, Jin and Yin)? With 61 and 52

Oh I have been looking forward to Chaos Trio angst since you sent me this, anon. Despite how they act in show... I think Jin and Yin are not exactly harmless. Especially if you mess with people they start to consider family.

The Cursed AU and the Chaos Trio in it come from @winterpower98!

Warning: blood and head injuries, enemy demons limbs (not detailed).

That is not a good hiding spot./I am a really bad actor.

Things had been going pretty well, all things considered. Jin and Yin had no problem getting Mei to join them in a little bit of... let's say "competitive insurance" as it were. They had to make sure they were secured in their own little tech related ventures, and after some financial setbacks they needed extra fallback. They’d planned the whole thing out with her help, more than 2 steps and everything! She was good at that.

The problem was that someone got a lucky hit.

They would have made it out with no problems, if they all hadn't decided going on Mei's motorcycle as a group (which, now that Yin thought about it, was probably incredibly dangerous and illegal with 3 of them on it... not that they cared about legality for themselves but somehow when it came to Mei that suddenly made them concerned). But nope. 1 bike. 3 people.

One lucky shot to the rear tire.

The three of them went flying, Mei landing very impressively on her feet whole Jin and Yin bounced on a bush and thanked anyone listening that demons were sturdier than humans. They didn't thank anyone for the pieces of bike that came flying at them all, and they were certain that they heard a piece make contact with something hard, maybe the nearby light pole, but couldn't be sure.

By the time they looked up they just knew they had a group of very angry demons that were pissed they stole and then wiped their code for... something, didn't matter to the twins what it was. They just wanted their competition out of the way. For solely selfish reasons. Nothing else. Not like they wanted it to see what it was and maybe figure out a counter attack so that certain overpowered people with monkey motifs would have an easier time in the future.

Not a chance.

As they fought off the attacking demons they insisted to themselves they didn't care that much.

"That is not a good hiding spot!" Jin yelled across the battlefield as Yin ducked behind crates. "Just chuck it for now and beat em with the blunt end of something else!"

"Just give me 2 seconds, I can fix it!" Yin yelled back, trying his best to reassemble a part of his sword hilt that had broken off.

"Come on, these guys ain't so tough!" Mei laughed out, easily dodging projectiles and backsliding and slicing and dicing as she went. No one was actually killed, but they were lucky because the only reason for that was the young woman wasn't exactly out for blood. They'd be feeling every single hit well into morning though! She was doing much better than the two of them. "Grab a pipe or something! Wish I had MK's magic building power though, I'd rather not be here all-YIN!"

The younger twin looked up from where he had been crouched, eyes widening as he saw the form of a much larger demon hulking over him and ready to batter him with a club.

Things had been going well. All things considered. Then someone got a second lucky hit.

Right as Mei dove in to push the younger silver twin out of the way.

For a second the fighting stopped. There was just the sound of wood hitting hard plastic and fiberglass as the club was sliced in half by her sword and the lopped off half continued it's trajectory and slammed into Mei's head to lead to her crumbling on top of Yin. Jin stood on too of a pile of crates, watching as a line of red seeped through a crack in her visor and stained the white of her suit.

And then his entire vision was red as he lunged at the demon and sliced, sending his arm flying in the opposite direction.

The demon screamed, holding the stump that was his arm from the elbow down, backing away as quickly as he could. "W-what the hell!?"

"Mei," Yin said softly, carefully clicking the emergency release button to make her helmet digitize away. Her eyes were closed, blood dripping from a slice running along her scalp... but as far as he could tell it was from part of the helmet being cracked and cutting her. She was most likely knocked out from the impact, breathing odd but steady in her unconscious state. "You... we're going to get you to the hospital."

His tone hardened as he carefully laid her on the ground, standing tall as he grabbed his broken weapon and a nearby piece of broken steel.

"You. Are going. To pay for that," Yin said coldly, stance no longer lose and half playful as it had been the whole battle. His stood tall, eyes wide and cold and the demons surrounding them felt a chill run down their spines.

Jin stood in front of him, blood from the other demon splattered across his face and chest in a stark contrast to his orange visage.

This... this wasn't the pair of Gold and Silver Demons they had heard about before. They were known for not taking almost anything seriously, making bad deals and pacts and weird blood oaths they wasted on bizarre favors. They were known for being good at tach but not much else, most demons in the area knew vaguely of their history with the Monkey King but even that ended in failure. Their plans were half baked, goofy, and lately they'd heard they'd gotten roped in with the Monkey King's successor and renewed flame of the Six-Eared Macaque.

The two standing before them did not look like the demons they'd heard about.

Mei hadn't wanted to seriously hurt anyone. The demons heard her yelling as much on the battlefield. But now Mei was hurt.

And the twins did.

It happened fast. They wanted to get it over with quickly. Mei had also not wanted to kill anyone at the very least the twins could do was keep up their promise from earlier in the day to avoid that. And they did.

That didn't mean there weren't lost limbs. Hands and arms. A leg or two. More than a couple eyes were lost. Someone lost an ear. Another a tail and horn.

Injuries they could recover from meant as warnings.

All it took was 3 minutes and the entire storage area they crashed in was a mix of grey and brown and red. Demons holding their injuries or running off.

The one who had attacked Yin and hurt Mei stood in awe and fear, looking down at the smaller twins who has decimated an entire group so fast.

"I-how!?" He yelled, backing up slowly. "This isn't possible, you're not this strong!"

"Who told you that?" Yin asked slowly, tilting his head and watching as the demon realized... he'd never heard they couldn't fight. "We don't fight like this because we don't want to. Never meant we can't."

"Why?"

"We are really bad actors," Jin said, wiping the blood off his weapon on an unconscious demon's shirt. "Why bother trying to hold back when we can just hide it by not trying?" He turned to the demon, glowering coldly as he watched his brother pick Mei up carefully. "Tell anyone who asks nothing. We'd like to keep it that way. Unless you want a round two where someone else doesn't hold us back."

And then they were gone.

~

"What in the actual hell happened?" Macaque asked in an even tone. Practiced even. A dangerous even.

"Well-" "You see boss-" "we kinda-" "-there was-"

Jin and Yin tried to think of a reasonable excuse, faltering as everything they thought of sounded worse and worse in their heads.

The two sat in Mei's hospital room, towels draped around their shoulders. They’d been smart enough to stash Mei's bike somewhere safe and wash off in the ocean before coming to the hospital, less covered in demon blood meant less scared humans when they rushed in with Mei in tow, and it was easy to make the nurses believe them.

Simple bike accident, friend hurt, help please.

With Macaque staring them down with his patented death glower, shadows growing and warping around the room in response to him, it was infinitely harder.

Of course Mei's emergency contact was MK. Of course MK could call Macaque before her parents (who were apparently on their way back from some kind of dragon family business trip when they learned). Of course Macaque would show up almost immediately and begin asking questions.

"It was my fault," Mei chimed in, voice slightly off from having awoken with a nasty concussion. "I thought it'd be fun to go on a joy ride late at night, I've done it before without issues! But, uh... I've never had two passengers before... and we hit something. Don't be mad at them?"

Macaque looked like he believed Mei as much as he believed Tang would lose interest in the Monkey King and switch his field of study to obscure methods of basket weaving. Which is to say: he didn’t. But he sighed, giving Mei a small smile as the shadows returned to normal.

"Ok," he said softly, tone much more gentle with the dragon descendant as he reached out to brush loose hair out of her face. "I won't be mad at them. I'll be very disappointed-" his tone hardened for a second at those words as he turned to the twins with a glower again. "-but I won't be mad. Do you need anything?"

"Maybe a candy bar from the vending machines outside?" Mei asked with a smile.

"Sure," Macaque laughed and shook his head, moving to the corner of the room. "I'll be right back."

He sunk into the shadows, a cool trick that the twins would always be impressed by, and they breathed a sigh of relief at knowing they were alone. For now.

"You didn't have to do that," Jin said, frowning at Mei in concern. Maybe it was just because he was now the eldest in the room, but some kind of protective feel pulled at him.

"I know," Mei said with a tired laugh, laying back into her pillow. "But you guys are like... my bros. I gotta stand up for my bros."

And that made both Jin and Yin pause. They looked at each other, eyes widening as they both came to a realization that was probably a very long time coming at that point.

"Yeah..." Yin said, a soft smile forming on his face. "We'd do the same for you... you know, if you didn't take that hit for me you probably would have kicked everyone's ass way better than us! We barely got out by the skin of our teeth!" A full truth and a blatant lie, but he hoped Mei wouldn't pick up on that second part.

"You know it, boi!" She didn't.

It was odd for him in particular. Yin had never really thought of himself as an older brother before.

First time for everything.

[hobbitsnapes]

The Red Hoods Protègè chapter 18

Older Damian Wayne x ofc

(Photo made by my lovely friend @inspeech)

Summary:Red hood has taken a young vigilante under his wing and subsequently changes Damians life forever.

Tags: @comic-nerd-dc @comic-brew @psychovigilantewrites @psych0crybaby

Leaves crunched under her boots the further out she got. The cool air sending shivers up her spine despite the heavy jacket she wore. The faster her steps fit, the harder the leaves rustled against her feet.

Today had been a long day, having been out since before the sun breaked over the sky. She had left at 5:30 to head into the city, going to various shops with Tim. They were hurrying to gather everything they needed for Saturday.

In 2 days time, was the Wayne Halloween gala. Bruce would always host one each year, but with the help, and threats, sandy convinced him to let her decorate.

Usually, there wasn’t much. A punch bowl filled with dark red punch, people wearing black, and the ovation all scary song. But not this year.

Halloween has always been one of her favorite holidays. While her parents didn’t let her leave the house, they would decorate their home with spooky decor, bake Halloween treats for them to enjoy and dress up and have a dance party.

Since her adoption, she kept up the tradition. Last year having baked cookies whilst dressed up with her father. Her dresses up as Dorothy, and Jason as the cowardly lion. It suited him, for his large stature, and as she put it, “nearly as much body hair.” Which caused him to laugh. Halloween has a special place in her heart, it wasn’t just scary costumes and scares. It was about having fun being someone that you aren’t. Well, some did that everyday.

She kept walking outback, further out than she had ever been. Usually she stuck to the large garden, but today she went further.

She stopped in her tracks when she noticed a pond, and beside it was, a small barn? Questions swam in her brain as to what it could be. It didn’t look old, or vacant. Her curiosity got the better of her as she walked up to it.

Reaching for the handle, she braced herself. What could be in here? Is she allowed? She’s far from the manor, barely seeing it from this distance.

A noise from inside startled her, her heart sinking slightly. Somethings in there. She finally turned the knob, a gasp leaving her when she opened the door.

Tims phone rang beside him, startling him awake. Drool collected at the side of his face, wiping it away. He picked it up, answering the call without looking. “Hello?” He asked, his voice strained and groggy with sleep. “Tim, I, um. How do I put this? Help.” His heart picked up as he’s fully awake, panic fills him when he hears the tone in Sandy’s voice. Slightly wavering but calm. “What’s going on, where are you? Are you hurt?” Each question he asked came out more urgent than the last. “First off stop panicking. Second, I um, went for a walk outback and I came across a small barn. And I’m. Idk how to put this so I’m just gonna say it. There’s a cow and it’s currently sucking my hand like it’s a nipple. I’m stuck.” Relief filled him, then questions, then laughter. “So you’ve met batcow.” He chucked. “Huh? I’m, what?” Her response made him laugh even harder. “Damian got her when he was younger. She’s actually the reason he went vegetarian. Why don’t you just pull your hand out her mouth? She’s not mean.” “That’s the problem. Each time I try she cries. I don’t want to offend her.” Laughs boomer out his chest, his head thrown back as he clutched his stomach. “So she’s doing that again, alright. I hate to say this but, I’ve gotta call Damian to go get you. Sometimes she does this and he’s the only person she listens too. Are you okay with that?” “It’s fine, just tell him to hurry up. It’s cold out here.”

Damian sighed when he spotted her, confusion coming even faster when he got up to her. She sat against the barn, with batcow still sucking her hand. He watched as she talked to the cow as if it was a normal person. “So you’re talking to animals now?” He asked, a small smirk on his face. “You’re one to talk.” He raised his eyebrow at her. “You dress up every night, inspired by a bird. That’s totally normal.” Both chuckle slightly at her response. He bends down to both of them, bringing his hand and scratching the top of the cows head. “Alright come on pretty girl. You gotta let go of her hand.” As if he used magic, the cow let go of her hand. She shakes her hand, wiping it off on her pants. They both stand up, putting the cow back inside the barn.

She ran ramped down the hallway, dispersing and running back down for what was the 36 time. Dick and Damian both opened their doors, stepping out. She ran into dicks chest, nearly knocking both of them over. She had a box in her arms, handing it to dick. “There’s more in my room. Both of you, bring it down to the gala room now.” She frantically exclaimed. Running back to her room, running out with 2 more boxes.

Shock filled them when they entered the room. The usually plain grand room filled with decorations. Cobwebs strung on each wall corner. Toy bats hung down from the feeling. Pumpkins filled each window and empty surface along with candles that hadn’t been lit. “How did you-“ “lots of dedication, and a ladder. Now both of you, get everyone to come in here and help me.” Shock filled them further. She looked tired. Her usually wavy hair now curly and wet. She wore high waisted jeans with a tank top tucked into it. Her botfly glistened with a layer of sweat. Her face was flushed, shiny due to her sweating. Both of them looked around again, still in awe of the room. “You’ve done all this, by yourself?” Damian asked. “Yes, I started around 2 this morning.” She replied. Her voice sounding even more tired than before as she rummaged through another box. “Wait, 2? I heard you go to bed at 12. Have you slept?” Duck asked, worry filling him as he watched her. “Couldn’t fall asleep. I gave up at around 1:30 and started getting everything ready for tomorrow.” Worry stuck both of them at her response. “Sandy, go to bed. You need to sleep.” Dick says, his voice harder than usual. “It’s fine. I need to get this done. Besides, Tim does it all the time.” She replies, annoyance laced in her voice. “Yes and he's done this for years. You haven’t. So go to bed.” Damian said, his voice growing slightly irritated. She set the candles down on the floor, looking at him. Her eyes bore holes into him. “Damian, shut the fuck up. You’re the last person who should be talking about my wellbeing. So stay the fuck out of this.” She exclaimed. Anger evident in her voice. Rage and anger filled him at her voice, his arms slightly shaking at his sides. “And I don’t need you to fucking drop and fall because you didn’t sleep last night.” He replied, anger in his voice. “Oh so now you care. You’ve never once gave a damn if I was okay or hurt. So you know what Damian? Go fuck yourself. I tried fixing us, I tried being nice. But you have your panties in a twist. Screw you.” She yelled, tears in her eyes nearing falling. She walked away, her footsteps hard and fast as she left the room. His heart throbbing in his chest in pain.

The commotion could be heard from floors away, everyone who could make it was there for the annual Wayne Halloween gala. But while usually the room was how it usually looked, now decorated from floor to ceiling. The staircases were lined with white taper candles that stretched . Tables covered by black and red table cloths with the same candles in the center. Walls covered with old paintings, some of which were family, others horror. Pumpkins filled the corners of the room. Small fake bats and spiders lined the ceiling along with cobwebs.

She smoothed out her dress for the tenth time in the last few minutes. She added a final hair pin to her hair, smoothing the long tendrils out of her face. She wore a long black wig, styled in a curled updo with a dark rose. The front layers lay curled at the sides of her face. It was strange, seeing the way she dressed for the night. She looked as if she came from early Victorian times. The long black lace dress she wore was beautiful. The intricate lace that covered the entirety was astonishing. The only color to the dress was the dark red corset that showed through the chest piece. Very little make was applied, alert from fake blood that dropped from her mouth down her neck. The fangs she wore in her mouth weren’t as uncomfortable as she thought, having gotten more realistic smaller ones rather than the large ones you’d find at a Halloween shop. And with one final look, she stepped out of her room.

All eyes watched as Damian walked in, the room going slightly quiet. He wore a long dark black coat, along with a dark red vest underneath with gold details. A puffy white button up underneath that only showed in the chest. Black dress pants with shiny black shoes completing the store. His hair covered by a shoulder length black wig, messily tied back by a ribbon. His usual dark emerald green eyes now dark yellow. The only giveaway as to his costume was the fangs in his mouth.

His breath caught in his throat, heart thumping loudly in his chest when he saw her. She looked nothing like herself. Her usual short hair now long in an intricate updo. What would usually be her usual sweater with capris, now a long bold Victorian ball gown. His eyes follow her as she glides around the room.

She watched as countless people cane up to her, her heart beating wildly in her chest. Her stomach tied in knots as they all greeted her. She swallowed the vomit that she was sure would come up and put on a smile. She shook more peoples hands in 10 minutes than she ever had in her life. Her chest closing up the longer she was around them.

This wasn’t her thing. All the people, the dresses, the fear of someone taking photos, everything was growing too much. Tears collected in her eyes that she blinked away. Her throat burning as her heart sped up further.

She let out a gasp when a hand was placed on her shoulder. Her heart sank further. That is until she turned around, a large smile grew on her face. “Tim!” She exclaimed, throwing her arms around him. His breath being knocked out by the force of her hug. He let out a laugh as she latched into him, wrapping his arms around her. “Hey, everything alright?” He chuckled. “No” she mumbled into his chest. He let go of her, looking down at her. His face concerned. “What’s going on?” He asks, his hands on her shoulders. “How do you do all of, this?” She asks, gesturing around the room. “God I feel like I’m gonna puke.” She says, swallowing the lump in her throat again. “Here’s the thing, you don’t. None of us like this, not even Bruce or dick. What you do is you put on a happy smile, shake peoples hands, and barely answer questions. But hey, now you’ve got me with you.” He chuckles, watching as her shoulders relax. “Now come on, I’ve got a few people you should meet.”

“Sandy, this is-“ “commissioner Gordon.” Both men looked at her shockingly. “He was one of the first on the scene the night my parents died.”

Tears streamed down her face like a waterfall that couldn’t stop. The pain in her back was nothing compared to the shocking pain in her heart. It felt like white hot searing pain that wouldn’t leave as she stared at her parents. “M-mom? Dad? Please.” She sobbed. The screams of both of them ringed in her ears as her heart screamed out. She couldn’t move from the floor, the blood now cold against her front as she begged for death. “God, please.” She begged, slipping into what was hopefully death as she welcomed it.

Bright lights blinded her eyes, her coming to and hearing people all around her. Her heart beating out of her chest as she moaned out in pain. Trying to alert anyone that she was alive. “We've got a survivor!” Someone yelled. They sounded so far from her, as if she was underwater and was hearing the yell from above her. A gasp was heard before she opened her eyes, seeing an angel crouching down to her. His hair was a light red, along with his Mustache. He wore thick framed glasses that hid his light blue eyes. “Hey I need you to stay with us, everything is gonna be alright.” She heard the man say, before she fell unconscious again.

Both men look at her again, mouths open in shock, neither one knowing what to say. “How did you remember?” Tim asks. “Because that night I thought he was an angel. You gotta remember, I wasn’t allowed around people. The first person I saw besides my parents was, him. My mom and dad always taught me that before you go to heaven, you are visited by an angel.” She said, the corner of her eye shining momentarily. She watched as Jim’s eyes glossed over before he blinked it away. “You know, I always wondered what happened to you after that night. And when I saw your face in the newspaper, it took me a bit to recognize you. And when Barbara confirmed it, it made me tear up a little.” He said. Tears gathered in her eyes. A smile formed on her face before standing on her toes and hugging him. He froze momentarily before wrapping his arms around her. Tears fell down her cheeks onto his coat. Tears collected in his eyes as he rubbed her back. “It’s so good to see you doing so well. It’s cases like yours that keep me going.”

She walked over to the table with drinks, spotting a man standing there already. He wore a long black jacket with gold embellished. It was tight to his body. Showing his broad shoulders and muscular build. His hair was long and black, pulled back by a ribbon. She took in a deep breath as her stomach shook slightly. She walked over to the table, taking in a final breath before getting beside him. She looked up at him, her heart sinking into her stomach.

He heard someone walking behind him, hearing their large intake of breath before they got beside him. He heard her breath caught in her throat. Looking over at her, his heart reasoned with pain and shock.

“Wh-what are you wearing?” He asks, his tone sharp. “I should be asking you the same thing.” She bit back. Anger evident in her voice. He looked away from her, taking in a deep breath. “You gotta be kidding me.” He whispers. Anger rises in her as she folds her arms together. “What’s that supposed to mean.” She asks. Boring holes into his face. “We’re at a Halloween gala, wearing the same theme. Do you have any idea how much the press are going to write about this? They’ll have a field day with this.” He bites back. Anger in his voice as his body tenses up. “Oh I’m so sorry I couldn’t read your fucking mind. But yeah suure let’s blame me like you always do. Because Damian Wayne is never in the wrong and it’s always me.” She says, pain shooting through her heart. “Oh you’re one to talk. It always starts with you. You just bring it out in me.” He retorts. “Oh yeah like it was my fault you threw that Batarang into my shoulder.” She says, tears collecting in her eyes. He balls his fists tightly, jaw set as he bore his eyes into hers. “It was an accident!” He exclaimed. Voice slightly louder. “Just like you.” She says. She walks away from him, heart throbbing in pain.

Tears collected in her eyes as she sat in a chair, watching everyone dancing. Her heart still panging against her chest as she dabbed her eyes with a napkin.

She felt a warm hand on her shoulder, turning around and letting out a chuckle. Behind her was dick, but it was hard to tell with what he wore. His usually dark hair was covered with a blond wig. He wore a whit shirt with a blue collar poking out. Blue pants and an orange scarf. He rolled his eyes playfully, a smile on his face. “Yeah yeah yeah let it out. This was babs idea.” He chuckled. He got up and sat in the chair beside her, turning it to face her. “Now what’s going on?” He asks, her breath getting caught in her throat. She took in a deep breath. “Damian was just being an ass earlier. All because we happened to be dressed as vampires.” Dicks face slightly falls and turns annoyed as he looks away. Closing his eyes and letting out a sigh. “I’m sorry sands.” He says, eyes caster down. She puts her hand against his shoulder. “It’s fine dick. You can’t control how he is. It just sucks how it puts me in a horrible mood every time.” She says, eyes looking down to her lap. “Well then come on, I know a way to cheer you up.” He says, grabbing her hand and pulling her up.

Both of them walk onto the dance floor to Barbara, who’s talking to her dad and laughing about something. She turns and her eyes light up when she sees dick. Causing him to smile and put his arms around her waist. Kissing her lightly before she lets go from him, both smiling. She turns and sees sandy behind him, breaking from his arms and pulling her into a hug. “Hey sweetie. You look amazing. Now come on, let’s have some fun!” Barbara says, a bright smile on her face.

She can’t help the laugh that bubbles out of her as she seats side to side. Her arms around Barbara’s shoulders and they both sway fast to the music. They twirl in a circle, causing her dress to glide along the floor in a large circle. The song comes to a close as they both laugh. “Okay time to switch!” Barbara laughs, letting go of her and spinning her around. She nearly falls into dicks chest, causing both to let out large laughs. Another song starts playing, a gasp leaving dick as a wide smile takes over his face. She recognizes it as bob seger, her dad playing him when they go out driving together. She laughs as dick stars moving his hits side to side as he raises one arm in the air. “Just take those old records off the shelf!” He sings out loud, causing her to throw her head back and laugh as both dance to the beat. She can’t stop as tears stream down her face as she dances with him, her head thrown back in laughter.

He watches as her head throws back as laughter erupts from her. His heart throbbing in pain that causes him to look away. It hurts, he remembers the times he could get her to laugh just the same way. Tears falling down her face as she clutched her stomach. Sometimes getting her to laugh so hard she would snort. A tear fell down his cheek as he looked down. He couldn’t stop hearing her laughs, even with everyone else in the room. It was as if, it was just her. That’s all that played in his mind.

His feet dragged as he walked down the hallway, his eyes slowly closing the further he got to his room. All the energy he usually had, was drained from him.

His head spin slightly the further he walked, nearly falling due to his Exhaustion. Every bit of him fighting and straining to continue. But relief filled him when his hand grabbed onto the knob.

He opened the door, a smile on his tired face formed when he stepped into the warm room. He took his jacket and shirt off and dropped it to the floor. Not even bothering with his pants. Not noticing the carpet on the floor, or the smell of vanilla in the room. Not even noticing the dress that laid on the floor by his feet. Too tired to notice the completely different bed when he crashed down onto it. Smiling as he snuggled into the silk bedding, the smell almost familiar. But his exhaustion was too high to think about it as sleep overcame him.

A scream startled him awake, his heart nearly falling out from how fast it was going. Jumping as the scream didn’t stop. Only opening his eyes in sheer panic.

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!” She screamed out. Panic filling him as his vision cleared. His heart going ramped when he saw her. Her hair was wet and falling in her face. Small droplets of water cascading down her body. She stood in her doorway of her bathroom that was right in front of her bed. She was bare as the day she was born, no towel or clothing to cover her. She crouched slightly, her legs and arms doing a poor job to shield her body from him. What was once exhaustion that filled him, was now adrenaline pumping through him. His body feeling like a fire burned inside him.

Panic surged through him as he abruptly got up from the bed, eyes still wide at her. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY ROOM!” She screamed. “I-Im sorry, I thought this was my room.” He stuttered out. Panic still high in him along with the burning growing stronger. His breathing raged and fast. “GET OUT!” She screamed, him running out as fast as he could.

He slammed his door shut, his breathing ramped and fast. His heart beating wildly, nearly painful. He fell onto his bed, his body still feeling that burning grow. He was conflicted, he wanted to run away as soon as he saw her. But he was frozen in place. A strong urge to grab onto her, to feel her wet skin on his as his body surged with electricity and want. A feeling deep inside him craving even now to go back, to feel her skin beneath his. To feel her warmth and touch on him. Memories flooding him of that night. The feel of her skin in his hands as he gripped onto her. The paralyzing feeling of her wet lips on his neck. Her warm tongue pressing against his pulsepoint that sent shocks through his body. Energy surged through him in a way that he hasn’t felt since. It was adrenaline or fear. It was akin to his body burning from the inside as his nerves felt sensitive against the sheets. His heart still ramped.

His Breathing slowed down, feeling existed after some minutes. His heart slowing back down as his eyes grew heavy. The feeling inside him growing down the further he grew tired. Finally relaxing as his eyes shut, sleep taking him under once again.

(Warning, heavy petting)

Walking into his room, he noticed the lights were off. The only source of light coming from the windows. Panic slighting growing when he noticed that they we’re open, the curtains blowing in the wind slightly. But what truly shocked him, was the silhouette of a person on the other side of the bed. He watched as they moved around the bed to the foot of it. Their steps light against the floor. It was a woman, panic being replaced with desire as her body came into view. Her face was hidden, the lights from the windows only showing what she wore, well, lack thereof. Dark green lace barely covering her glowing skin. He watched as she walked closer to him, his body burning with energy and want pulling him to her. But he stood froze, watching as she grew closer to him. The lingerie she wore standing out more the closer she got to him. The baralet she wore was see through. Her nipples hard against the thin fabric. He watched as she stood no more than 2 feet from him. A gasp leaving him when he sees her face. Her lips painted red as her hair was curled slightly. Her usually sapphire eyes a dark midnight blue. “What are you-“ he questioned, before she put her finger to his lips. “Shh, it’s okay.” She whispers, before flushing herself against him, pulling his face to hers, their lips crashing together.

A large gasp leaves him as he jolts awake. His breathing ragged as he opens his eyes and sits up. His heart beating wildly against his chest as he shakes. That feeling inside him worse than before as the images played in his head. A groan leaving him as he shuts his eyes, trying anything to fight the sight of her body against his. His body shaking worse as he grips the blanket underneath him. That burning feeling back and worse the longer he sits there.

His cock throbbed inside his pants, the feeling almost painful.

He abruptly got up from his bed, walking into his bathroom. Tuning the light on as he walked over to the shower, turning it on. He stripped from his pants and underwear and got in. A gasp leaving him as the cold water hit his back. Causing his breathing to grow heavy as his body tensed at the freezing temperature. His body no longer feeling hot as he shivered in the stream. Hand against the wall as he lowered his head, heart still ramped as when he woke, the images still playing in his mind.

[anywhozits]

Kristoff’s Favorite Christmas Present

Rating: G

Words: 4583

Verse: Canonverse

Pairing: Kristanna

Summary: Anna has a plan to give Kristoff the best present of all time. Naturally she must enlist the help of her magical sister and twin daughters.

READ ON AO3 HERE

“I’m sorry—you put the peppermint where?” Anna gasped, stopping her frantic Christmas present rearranging to stare wide-eyed at her daughter.

Two-and-a-half-year-old Iduna’s lower lip curled as she whispered, “Reindeer’s nose?”

“Reindeer…” Anna furrowed her eyebrows. “Sven’s nose?”

Iduna bobbed her head up and down, and Anna couldn’t help but laugh despite feeling mighty sorry for Sven.

“Duna!”

She shrugged. “He was hungry!”

Anna laughed again, dropping to her knees to explain calmly, “Hungry means you should put the peppermint into his mouth, not his nose. Nose is for smelling. Mouth is for eating. Let’s get this sorted out, okay? Why don’t you go with…” Anna’s eyes scanned the entire room for somebody—anybody—to lead this expedition, but they all looked more than busy.

Her heart skipped a beat when she saw Kristoff. The reminder that he was only minutes away from opening his Christmas present was enough to send an excited tingle down her spine.

Her wonderful husband had his arms full carrying their other twin, Asta, while also trying to balance Elsa’s presents. Anna could hear Asta’s adorable squeal, “Papa, papa! Booger tastes gingerbread-y!”

Anna chuckled. Oh, Asti…

For fear of spoiling everything prematurely, Anna had to look away, thus noticing that only one person—well, snowman, appeared not otherwise occupied. Smiling widely all the way, Olaf hobbled around the room, greeting everyone he saw with a wave of his twig arm and a repeated “Oh, I just love the holidays!”

“Olaf!”

“Oh, hi, Anna! Merry Christmas!”

“Merry Christmas! Hey, can you take Iduna to find Sven? I think he might have a peppermint stuck up his nose…”

“Gotta put mouth! Sven hungry!” Iduna reached out to grab Olaf’s hand.

“Gotcha!” He said, giving Anna a wink. “Why, hello, Princess Duna. Looks like we were both on the nice list this year?” Olaf gestured to the mountains of presents under the tree. Each member of the family had a different wrapping paper color to help differentiate the gifts. Olaf’s, for instance, was blue, centrally featuring several friendly snowmen. Both Iduna and Asta, however, had already opened their presents when they woke up at the literal crack of dawn. The carnage of red and gold wrapping paper now sat in massive piles in the corner of the ballroom.

Iduna let out a high-pitched laugh. “Ya!”

As Anna watched them walk away, she let out a sigh. Still so much to prepare… and she started to feel so nervous and excited (hah—nervecited) all over again.

Her eyes drifted to Kristoff once more and then all the butterflies in her stomach unleashed themselves at once. She needed to look away. Nervecited. Yup. Still couldn’t look at Kristoff. Noted.

“Els!” Her sister, instead, provided the perfect distraction.

“Yes, Anna?” Elsa was working diligently on her ice sculptures, finishing up the last details of the ice sleigh she loved featuring as a centerpiece.

“Are you—you know what we’re gonna do? You know the plan?”

Elsa smiled. “Yep. I’ve got it.”

“Okay. Good—great.”

“You feeling all right?”

“Yes, actually. Just—”

“Nervecited?”

“Uh-huh.”

Elsa gave Anna a gentle nudge. “You don’t have to wait much longer, you know.”

And then Anna sighed. “It feels like I’ve already waited too long.”

“Why don’t we get on with it, then?”

“Okay. Yeah. Okay. That’s a good idea. Why wait anymore, right? We can… we can just go for it. Celebrate! He’ll want to celebrate, right? We’ll all celebrate?”

“Definitely!”

“Definitely, right! God, I’m so excited! Wanna grab the girls? I sent Iduna off with Olaf to find Sven and fix his nose—"

"Fix his—?"

"And once they’re back—”

“Oh! They’re here!”

Turning around, Anna saw her daughter and Olaf quickly approaching, both of them moving about in a clumsy pattern due to their collectively short legs.

“Mama!” Iduna called. “Sven love peppermint—no hungry more!” Anna giggled as she picked Duna up and snuggled her.

“Thank you for doing that, sweetie.”

“Welcome, Mama!”

“I’m happy that he loved it,” Anna said. Afterwards, Iduna tightened her hold on Anna and snuggled in close, popping her left thumb into her mouth and sucking gently. Anna kissed the top of her blonde hair.

“Shall we get started on our present for Papa?”

Iduna’s head nodded a couple times.

Okay—it was time. Nervecited. But now, way more excited than nervous.

Just one more twin to round up…

“Asti!”

She heard a little bit of a moan or a groan or maybe even an excited squeal and turned to see Asta stuffing her face with most, if not all, of the chocolate from her stocking. Her mouth was so stuffed that barely any sound could make it out.

There was also heaps and heaps of melted chocolate on her hands and her cheeks and her lips. She was a chocolate mess.

But Anna loved it. She didn’t even mind when Asti took her hand and all that melted chocolate squished between them.

“We’re gonna give Papa his present, okay?”

“Mmm!” Her mouth was still so full of chocolate.

Elsa soon joined them next to the tree, bouncing up and down in her own excitement. She took Asta’s other hand.

“Okay!” Anna shouted. “It’s time to finish opening presents!” Excited, excited! Nervous—nervecited. Excited! Anna’s mind and heart utterly couldn’t pick an emotion today. “Kris, you’re next!”

He strolled toward her with an amused smirk, kissing the twins’ foreheads before bringing in his wife for a tender smooch.

“I told you not to get me anything,” he said as he snaked an arm around her waist.

Anna laughed. “Oh, hush! You know we’d never listen to a request as ridiculous as that!”

“Besides, Kristoff, you’re gonna love it,” Elsa explained. “Right, Anna? He’s gonna love it?”

“You’re gonna love it,” Anna confirmed.

“Okay,” he said, kissing his wife yet again. “I’m intrigued.”

Anna absolutely beamed before handing Iduna over to Elsa. Elsa immediately placed her gently on the floor next to her twin. Iduna looked up at her aunt with her big cerulean eyes and kept sucking on her thumb.

The three of them—Elsa, Iduna, and Asta—then formed a circle. Elsa got on her knees, trying to remain at eye level of the two-and-a-half-year-old twins. She whispered something into both of their ears, and they smiled. Iduna freed her thumb from her mouth.

“Remember what I told you yesterday—think really, really hard about what you want to do. Picture it in your head. Concentrate… on what you want to create and how much you love your mama and your papa.”

“Auntie, too!” Asta added.

Elsa hesitated. “Oh—I… if you want to think of that, too, then—yes. You can… you can think of Auntie Elsa, too.”

“Love you!” Asta squealed, making Elsa blush.

“And I love you, too. Both of you!” Elsa booped the girls on their noses and they giggled. “Okay—are you ready?”

Both Asta and Iduna nodded and joined hands. To harness the full strength of their magic properly they needed to share it. Either they used their powers together or one relinquished the powers temporarily to the other. It’s a twin thing. And given their May Day birthday, their power must be spring themed…

Branches came to life, flowing across the room with an elegant choreography. The branches weaved together to form the shape of a wicker bassinet. The twins controlled nature—springtime nature—the earth, really. Flowers, dirt, trees, the like. The other side of Elsa’s powers.

As the girls finished their bassinet, Elsa swirled her own hands together to create the final touch—a baby made out of permafrost and ice, connected to the twins’ creation. Complete with a lovely semi-circle arrangement that allowed this piece to hang on a Christmas tree.

Ta-da, Elsa gestured. “It’s an ornament!”

“For you, baby,” Anna added as she gave her husband a slight nudge.

“Auntie Belsa! Up, please!” Iduna reached her hands out to Elsa, who happily lifted her up. Somehow, Elsa and Iduna looked more like twins than Iduna and Asta did. Truly the only key difference was that Iduna had slightly darker more-Kristoff-than-Elsa blonde hair.

Meanwhile, Asta plopped down to the floor to start licking chocolate off her hands and her face. She had more of the Kristoff genes—kind brown eyes and a fierce nose. But her face was still covered in Anna’s freckles.

“It’s beautiful,” Kristoff said. “I love that Elsa taught our daughters how to use their powers to make this.”

Anna sighed. If he hadn’t mentioned… did he really not get it? Or … was this an actually a super dumb idea akin to those first few supposedly impossible charades hints that Elsa and Olaf couldn’t get?

Kristoff gave thankful kisses to his daughters and a gracious hug to his sister-in-law. “I mean it. Elsa, you’ve clearly taught them so well. They already have such good control over their powers.”

“Well,” Elsa shrugged. “They’ve got a lot of love in their lives.”

Okay—fine. Time to push a little more. Anna urged, “Sooo, what do you think this ornament is?”

Kristoff looked at her curiously. “What?”

“Like, what’s… what’s in the ornament? What’s the theme? Who’s the baby?”

“Oh—well…it’s a nativity ornament, right?”

Both Anna and Elsa exchanged confused glances before bursting out into laughter.

“What? This is … baby Jesus, right?” Kristoff continued. “The nativity… it’s Christmas.”

Elsa buried her head in her hand and Anna groaned, clarifying, “It’s not a… it’s not a nativity ornament…”

“I can see why you’d think that, though, Kristoff,” Elsa said. “Because, well, it is Christmas. We probably should’ve given this a bit more thought.”

Anna’s heart skipped a beat. All right. Time for Plan B.

She scurried to the tree and pulled out a present wrapped in Kristoff themed red reindeer paper. “Here. This one’s from me.”

Kristoff gave it a couple hearty shakes, then he ran his hands along the creases. “Feels like a book.” Next he brought it up to his face to take a closer look. “Looks like a book.” And, finally, sniffed it. “Smells like a book.”

This was it. The present was obvious—clear. No room for misinterpretation this time.

Ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod it was about to happen.

“OPEN IT!” Anna yelled, unable to contain her excitement anymore.

He tore off the paper quickly and started smiling at a black leather notebook. “Thank you, baby. You know I love a good notebook.”

“There’s something inside, Kris!” Anna eagerly explained. “You should read it.”

Giving his wife a curious look, Kristoff opened the notebook.

The second he allowed himself to read the words written in Anna’s script, his jaw dropped.

Baby Bjorgman Number 3

Week 8: Baby’s the size of a kidney bean

-Feeling great overall! Shocker!

-Little bit of nausea when smelling onions

-Truly disgusting amount of saliva in the mouth. Need to spit every 2 seconds

-Kinda tired? Maybe? From baby or from queen things?

-Super weird, vivid dreams about Sven dancing in a tutu. Like, every night.

He was silent—in shock. When he looked up, finally, Anna beamed at him. “See, it wasn’t Baby Jesus. It was—”

Before Anna could finish the thought, she flew in the air. Kristoff lifted her up and twirled her around—his signature move.

He had done the same when she told him she was pregnant the first time, and it meant so much to Anna that he was just as excited this time around.

As Kristoff brought her back to the ground, he kept his hands around her waist and then drew her in for a tender yet passionate kiss. One of his large hands dropped to her stomach to caress her nonexistent baby bump.

“Our little bean!” He kissed her again. “This is the best Christmas present I’ve ever—and it’s even more special since you, Elsa, and the girls worked on this together. With the magic and the ornament, and, obviously, the journal you made.”

“Yay—good! I thought this would be fun! You know—since we surprised Elsa last time, I thought it only fair we return the favor. Really get you good.”

He smiled and said, “You got me real good. I had no idea, honest. I can’t say I didn’t hope but I still didn’t expect it. I take back what I said about not wanting anything for Christmas. This is what I wanted. This is everything I ever wanted.” His hand still rested protectively on Anna’s belly. “How long have you known?”

“Barely a week! I thought I was just late or stressed or something since I’ve been feeling really great, honestly. Maybe this means there’s only one baby this time?”

Kristoff laughed.

“So, you’re happy? You’re excited?”

“Of course, Anna,” he said. “This is the best Christmas present I could ever ask for.”

Tears actually shot out of Anna’s eyes. Her husband was quite literally the perfect human.

Kristoff kissed her again, and he felt it too. Honestly just as emotional as his wife. On the brink of tears. In reality, he had hoped this announcement would come soon. The doctor told them to wait until the twins were at least two before they started trying again, but on their birthday, Anna and Kristoff had decided at least was a useless phrase. Two years would be plenty.

And now, seven months later, their third kid was on the way… 8 weeks on the way already.

When Kristoff pulled away, he suddenly remembered that he and Anna weren’t alone.

“Elsa, I—thank you, again. It means… it’s so much more special now that I know.”

“You’re welcome! It’s been fun to plan. I knew you’d be thrilled.”

Kristoff smiled so genuinely his eyes crinkled. “You know me well. When did you find out?”

“She told me when I got here a few days ago. Well, she said that she thought maybe, but didn’t know for sure.”

“Once the doctor confirmed everything, we started planning this.” Anna had wanted to really surprise Kristoff this time around. She was so anxious and excited and enthusiastic the first time it was nearly impossible for her to keep anything to herself. It all started when she got that weird headache a week before her monthly cycle was due. From that point on, she told Kristoff everything, in great detail. This time, all of her thoughts, feelings, and emotions about being late but without any of her previous symptoms remained barricaded in her mind and her mind only. She really had convinced herself it was nothing more than stress. But even still, given the other-more-exciting thing was definitely a possibility, she had to keep mum. Because she really wanted to surprise him—do something special. And, conveniently, Christmas had been just around the corner.

It shocked Anna that she made it this far, honestly. A perfectly kept secret.

“And you told the twins too?”

“Yep. I told them… although not too sure how much they really understand what’s going on,” Anna laughed. They really did look as confused as ever. “But whatever—I still wanted to make sure our little cuties were involved! And Elsa kept saying that their magic lessons are going so great, too, so I wanted to see!”

Kristoff reached down and took Asta into his arms. She had wholly cleaned herself of the chocolate. Sugar-high very much imminent.

“Asti, you’re gonna be a big sister! How does it feel?”

“I have sister!”

They all laughed.

“You do have a sister. You have Iduna. But this summer—uh, when exactly did they say?”

“Mid-July, probably. Maybe late July. Maybe early August,” Anna responded. “Toss-up between Cancer and Leo baby!”

“Ooh right. That’ll be interesting,” Elsa said. “Honeymaren said she wanted to help me with a full astrological reading whenever you have your next baby. We’ll have some thinking to do before this summer.”

Anna legitimately squealed. “Aww, that’s nice of her! How fun! I love your readings, Els.”

“Thanks.”

“So, wait. Anna, you’re really feeling okay?” Kristoff sounded stunned. Granted, he had to watch her throw up everything she put into her mouth (other than chocolate) for the first almost 15 weeks of her last pregnancy, so his shock was more than founded.

“Uh-huh! It’s super weird. Disorienting, honestly. I can eat real food and not have to worry about tossing it back up later. Although now that I said that I bet it’ll all change and I’m gonna have to throw up all the—ugh, I’m totally jinxing it, aren’t I?”

“Nah, honey. There’s no such thing as a jinx.”

“You’re talking to someone who has a fifth spirit sister, a talking snowman best pal, and also twin daughters with special earthy springtime nature powers,” Anna deadpanned, so much so that Kristoff chuckled. “There are totally such things as jinxes, husband. Totally, totally.”

She was probably right on that one.

“Well I know you’re—ah, guess I shouldn’t say that, with the jinx and everything—but, um, even though you’re—” Kristoff gestured and made noises that sounded like he completed the phrase with ‘feeling great’ without actually saying the words. “But, what would you say if I started up my chocolate collection again?”

“Um, well, obviously I would say the only thing I can say which is… bring it on, baby! I’d love some chocolate. Chocolate sounds amazing right now. Honestly I was about to lick it all off of Asta’s hands until she licked it off herself.”

This got Asti’s attention. “More chocolate?”

“Chocolate for Mama this time! And maybe we’ll save some for you, too, soon-to-be-big-sister.” Anna said while giving Asti’s blonde hair a good ruffle.

In the meantime, Kristoff’s eyes darted quickly to the hutch in the corner of the expansive ballroom and he eyeballed the collection of silverware, trying to locate his favorite chocolate-making spoons. He couldn’t help but note the fact that one of the spoons is distractedly off-kilter. He smirked. “Asti, wanna come with me to get some chocolate, love?”

“Mmhmm!”

And then they were off.

Anna looked around curiously for a second before turning back to Elsa. “Wait, wait, wait, wait. Where did Olaf run off to? Was he even here when Kristoff figured it out?”

“I have no idea.”

“Duna, have you seen Olaf?”

“Nuh-uh.”

“Olaf!” Anna called out. “Olaf, are you here? Are you anywhere?”

Nothing.

But then, soon enough, they heard the pitter patter of snowman feet on the wood floors. “I’m coming, I’m coming, I’m coming!” He was going as fast as he can, holding onto an extremely shoddily wrapped present.

He stopped in his tracks, right in front of Anna, took a bow, and then held up the present to her face. “This one’s for you! And Kristoff!”

“Oh! Thank you, Olaf,” Anna said, taking the present into her hands. “When’d you run off?”

“After you gave Kristoff his gift.”

“Oh—so you—”

“Anna! Chocolate!”

Anna snapped to attention when a bar of sea salt dark chocolate barrels toward her face. She caught it with her left hand thanks to some kind of crazy reflex she didn’t even know she had. “Thank you, husband!”

When she gave Kristoff a gracious look, she noticed that Asta was sucking on some more chocolate. All right. Super, super crazy sugar-rush now even more imminent.

Olaf skipped toward Kristoff. “I have a present for you!”

“Oh, uh—”

“I’ve got it here, Kris,” Anna explained, holding up said present.

“Great!”

Kristoff put Asta down and stood next to his wife, helping her tear open the present. Upon removing the crumpled wrapping paper, a marvelous creation revealed itself.

Adorable blue knit booties. Baby-sized.

Both Anna and Kristoff’s eyes widened to a saucer-like degree. Kristoff started, “Olaf, how did you—”

At the same time that Anna added, “Did you make these yourself?”

“Yup! Made them yesterday—oh boy was I excited when I overheard you and Elsa talking about the new baby! And now I know that babies come from eating a special pie thingie from the trolls, and that they start off really tiny inside you and then they’re born after a really, really long time. And when they’re born, they have little feet that could get cold! So yes, I made these,” Olaf said proudly. “And by the way, I did such a great job keeping the secret—but it was so hard. I told so many rocks and trees and snowballs in the forest. And a couple fish. Oh, and maybe twelve puffins!”

“Those puffins. Surprised they didn’t come blabbing,” Anna joked, giggling. “Well, thank you, Olaf. These are adorable and it’s so sweet that you worked so hard to make them! Baby’s gonna love them. You’re right, they’ll be perfect for keeping baby’s little teeny tiny feet so nice and warm. But, wait… since when do you know how to knit?”

“Just something I’ve picked up with my old age.”

Kristoff raised his eyebrows. “Old age, huh?”

Entertaining Kristoff zero, Olaf narrowed his eyes and waddled closer to Anna. “So the baby’s still really tiny, right?”

“Yes! You could tell if the baby were bigger. Remember last time the babies grew a lot before they were born?”

“Oh, yes, I do remember,” Olaf said. “It looked like you ate Sven!”

Laughs all around.

Then, Asta toddled on over to her snowman best friend. “Play, play with Olaf!”

“I would love to play with you, Princess Asti!”

Iduna started squirming in Elsa’s arms, signaling that she, too, wanted to play. Elsa set her down carefully and Iduna’s legs propelled her toward Olaf at warp speed.

“Hello again, Princess Duna.”

“Olaf!” She ran to give him a hug. “Play!”

“Why, yes, I’d love to play with you too! This is so much fun—playing with the twin big sisters! What should we play?”

Asta started, “Ring around rosie!”

And Iduna chimed in at practically the same time, “Olaf says!”

“Hmm. Both wonderful games! And I bet we have time for both. What should we start with?”

“Ring around the rosie!”

“Olaf says!”

“Huh. A stalemate. How can we solve this? A dance off?”

The girls giggled.

“Or can I choose the order?”

They both stared blankly at Olaf.

“Ring around the rosie first! Sorry, Iduna. We’ll play Olaf says next, okay? And I’ll make it extra special just for you, future-big-sister.”

Asta jumped in the air and ran around in probably twenty circles in excitement. The chocolate evidently hit Asti right at that second.

Eventually, they positioned themselves for game time in the middle of the ballroom, leaving Kristoff, Elsa, and Anna alone by the tree.

Kristoff took this as his opportunity to cozy up to his wife. He usually wouldn’t do this in such a public space. As much as he loved physical touch and affection, he was never one for PDA in the usual sense of the term. But something about today felt different. Something about this whole wonderful and exciting situation felt different.

Immediately he dropped to his knees, and then two large hands grabbed Anna’s still-small waist. First, he ran one hand along her stomach, and then he planted gentle kisses on the place that would grow over the next seven months.

Anna giggled and blushed. She always loved when he did this. It made her feel even a pang of regret that she worked so hard to keep the possible pregnancy a secret. Because she missed out on four weeks of this…

But seeing his wide, surprised, ecstatic eyes… and witnessing their daughters working to make this surprise present happen made it all the worth it. They’d still have time for this. Now, even—now was the perfect time.

And it was, clearly. Kristoff felt it, too. He cooed, “Tiny bean baby. Not Sven sized—bean sized. I love you, baby bean. Papa loves you.” His voice got pretty high-pitched and sing-songy when he spoke.

Of course, Elsa heard from Anna that Kristoff tended to speak a little differently around her—their cutesy nicknames only one example. But witnessing it firsthand made Elsa smile a smile unparalleled in sincerity.

Bringing in Olaf’s booties close to her heart, Anna blushed in pure delight, cherishing them as much as she cherished the moment.

Kristoff continued making faces at Anna’s stomach, putting his ear against it, and speaking in high-pitched whispers.

This visual was far too cute for Elsa and she felt the emotions getting ready to pour out of her.

“I’m so happy for you two! Really—I said this all to Anna the other day—with tears and everything, but you’ve both been so wonderful to Duna and Asti, and it’s clear to me, given how they already have such a good grasp on their powers. I guess I did have control somewhat when I was younger, but then it got worse, when, uh—” She hesitated but then cleared her throat. Not wanting to go down that road tonight. “But you two. You’re really doing well. You’re great parents. You’re meant to be parents.”

This made Kristoff stop what he was doing and run to give Elsa a nice, big hug. “Thank you.”

“Yeah, Els,” Anna agreed, walking over to put one loving hand on Elsa’s shoulder. “That means a lot to us. Like, a lot a lot. We were just two fools who knew a lot about being alone. And almost nothing about childrearing.”

“Your heart’s so big, though. You… you always had it in you. Both of you.”

Anna laughed and Kristoff hugged Elsa tighter. PDA-mode very much activated. “Hope this’ll hold true once we’re outnumbered.”

“You won’t be outnumbered,” Elsa explained. “You’ve still got Auntie Belsa.”

Anna automatically felt tears welling up in her eyes. One cute little line from her sister and she was off to the crying races yet again. “Thank goodness—we’re so lucky to have you.” Okay, it had gotten worse. Anna was practically a hyperventilating mess of tears at this point. Barely able to get out the sentence without a sob in between each word.

Then they heard a chorus of rambunctious squeals from the twins and an enthusiastic yelp from Olaf. Their attention focused on the middle of the room.

They gasped.

Iduna and Asta had created floating roses that hang above their heads as they play the game, and each of the three held their own bouquet of roses in their hands.

When Elsa said they had good control of their powers, Anna didn’t quite think she meant this. Without Elsa’s coaching, even.

They watched as the roses swelled in time with their singing

Ring around the rosie

A pocket full of posies

“Posies!” Asti yelled. “In pocket!”

With two swirls of her hand, posies appeared. Both Asta and Iduna stuffed them into their dresses. Olaf positioned a couple on his head. The girls laughed at that sight.

Seeing this, Anna sighed, lovingly and longingly. “They’re perfect.”

“And another perfect one’s on the way.” Kristoff smiled and rubbed her belly one more time for good measure.

“Wow,” Anna gushed. “Next year there’ll be three.”

“Outnumbered,” Kristoff added.

But Elsa huffed. “Not outnumbered!”

“I can’t wait!” Anna squealed.

And she couldn’t. They all couldn’t.

Because this Christmas was absolutely everything they could've wished and hoped for. And naturally, all their future Christmases, complete with a gaggle of three or four or five-hundred Bjorgman children, would be just as perfect.

With its open gates, full hearts, and an even fuller castle.

[james-bucky-barnackle]

Two Night Stand

Synopsis: (AU) You can’t wait for your contract to end and get that recommendation to get an actual job as a writer so you found yourself at a club drinking away to forget about the stress of your shitty job as the assistant of the biggest Editor in New York, you end up hooking up with the man of your dreams only to wake up to a nightmare when you find out he’s the son of your boss.

2NS Masterlist

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Warnings: Mentions of sex but not detailed, mostly fluff.

Word Count: 4k

A/N: I suddenly thought about this story and had to write it down, so if I have typo’s I am so sorry, I’ll fix them when I get some shut eye, but right now I gotta go because I’ve got classes tomorrow! 

Shots are flying faster than lightning and I am calling for more. Winifred isn’t gonna put me down, only alcohol will. She has got to be the absolute worst person to work for. Winifred, what even is that name? Were her parents obsessed with Winnie the Pooh that they had to name their daughter the female version of the nicest crop top wearing bear ever? Tonight, I dedicate all the hatred and stress I’ve gathered from working as her assistant. If only she wasn’t the editor in chief of the View then I wouldn’t be letting myself be ass kicked just to jump start my resume. I’m desperate to get a better job than receiving calls, fetching coffee, and carrying tons of clothes, I’m a writer! I should be out there doing way better things than this. 4 more months to go before my contract ends and I am outta there.

“Y/N! Come on let’s dance!” I hear my name called to the dance floor. It’s my ever so patient roommate, Wanda. I bet she’s tired of hearing all my rants but she’s always been there, and heck I’m there for her too no matter what.

“I’m coming!” I shout as I slam one more shot of tequila and walk towards her at the center of the dance floor. We dance like lunatics; the music is blasting wild and everyone’s cheering to the beat. I plan to get hammered, really hammered. I don’t care – I don’t care because I don’t have to go to work tomorrow. For all I care, Winnie could call me right now and I’d scream at her face, wait- maybe not really, I need that recommendation and I still have a few weeks left, but I really need tonight so I could finally try to act my age and get a life outside that darn office.

“Tonight, I forget about all the bullshit that I seem to be so good at getting.” I shout at Wanda who’s showing me her best moves. “Ooh yes girl!” I say which makes us both giggle.

“Tonight, you could try giving someone a night they won’t forget,” she points her head to a mysterious guy in the corner whose blue eyes are all over me. I raise my eyebrow and turn towards him, wow he’s hot. He has nice hair, dark brown and messily slicked back. He’s wearing a leather jacket with a white shirt underneath, his jaw sharp with a stubble that says I-pretend-I-don’t-know-I-look-good-but-I-do. I give him a smirk and he walks in my direction, jiving to the music with every step he takes. He’s so gorgeous I’m not even sure if he’s moving at the same pace as everybody else, it’s like my vision’s blurred the background and he’s walking in slow motion.

“Straight out of the office, I like it,” he teases when he finally gets to me. I laugh considering that I do look a little overdressed for this place.  His hands move their way to my hips and mine to his shoulders before caressing the nape of his neck. The music continues to blast and we’re trapped in our own bubble. His eyes pouring into my soul, his smile is contagious, his lips look so soft, and I bite mine taking his features in. He notices and he moves his face closer to mine, our lips meeting. His lips are as soft as I thought they looked and our tongues doing a better job at dancing. His hands are now all over me, and I’m intoxicated. He smells so good, I’m taking him in, and while we’re having this moment, I’ve already forgotten what drove me to be at this club in the first place.

He opens the door and he pushes me against the wall and begins to suck on my neck, that is definitely gonna leave a hickey, but a really memorable hickey. Gosh this guy definitely knows how to do it huh? He continues to kiss me getting lower as he lifts the hem of my blouse and I comply lifting my arms as he takes them off with ease. I grab his jacket and push it back, as he takes his shirt faster than I could thank Jesus for this man’s existence. His body is sculpted, like God really took his time to make this one. I’m getting so hungry for him. He scoops me up and brings me to the bed then he crawls his way towards me, this has got to be a dream. I grabbed his pants and didn’t even try to hide how eager I was.

“Oh no baby, are you in a hurry?.” oh God how did I end up being the girl under him right now. He pulls my skirt off then my panties, and throws them behind as he places himself between my legs.

Sunlight hits my face and my eyes open to see a beautiful being in front of me still heavy in his sleep. I smile like it's Christmas morning; his hands are draped around my waist. I try to resist waking up the angel beside me for round 2. I don’t want to sound shallow, but I can’t stop admiring him, I move my hand to gently caress his face, my thumb brushing against the cleft of his chin. I feel the sudden urge to pee, and I lift my hand from his face and his arm on my waist as slow and carefully as I could so I don’t wake him up. I grab his white shirt from the floor and put it on. The shirt still smells pretty good. Okay, now where’s the bathroom? I’m walking through his penthouse, my bare feet making contact with its cold white marble floor. Wow this place is huge. I go through a walk-in closet to see a door leading to the bathroom. I look like a mess, I’m glad I didn’t put on eyeliner yesterday because that would’ve made me look even worse. I wash my hands and face after doing my business, and tousle my hair a bit to at least try to look sexy. I hope he wasn’t that intoxicated to look at me in the morning differently, I laugh at myself. As I leave the bathroom, I think about making pancakes. Should I make him some? Should I ask him to eat breakfast with me? I’ve gotten pretty rusty at this hook up thing. If he planned on throwing me out he would’ve insisted we go to my place so he could make an escape come morning, but we’re here so- I pause when I come across his work table. There are frames hung up on the wall of certificates and trophies on the shelf. Great, I already forgot his name. I know he told me his name at the bar but I guess I was too deep into his voice that I was just hearing and not listening. Hell, he could’ve been talking about cleaning toilets and I’d be too immersed in his voice to even care. I walk close to the shelf and grab a trophy, it’s a humanitarian award, of course it is. I bet he could fly, if he’s too perfect. I run my fingers through the gold letterings, it’s for – James Buchanan Barnes. Hmm, like a prince, I like how his name rolls off my tongue. Barnes, the surname reminds me of something but I can’t put a finger on it. I put the trophy back and a picture frame catches my attention. It’s a family photo, how cute, so he’s family oriented? I guess. There’s another one beside it. He’s in his late teens, at a polo game, holding a wooden mallet, standing between a white horse and an older woman, it must be his mom. I look closer at the woman and it sends shivers down my spine. I almost drop the frame; my hands are shaking as I try to place it back. It’s Winifred. It’s Winifred Barnes with her son, James Buchanan Barnes. Anxiety floods my face and a drop of sweat breaks through my forehead. Oh no, no, no.  I dash back to the bedroom, to see him still asleep, thank God, he’s still sleeping. I picked up my clothes and did not even put them on, I just grabbed my jacket and quickly made my way to the door. I felt a pang of guilt as I reached the door and I decided to grab a sticky note from his office and write something, sticking it to the nightstand where his phone was.

“I’m so sorry! You were wonderful,” I whisper to him reaching my hand out like he’s a male lead from a movie screen. I grab the door knob and get out.

“What do you mean you slept with the spawn of Satan?” Wanda asks, very confused at the tone I was speaking, I was panting on the phone from the sprint I’ve just done.

“He’s Winnie’s son! I saw a picture of them on his table! This is bad Wanda, if Winnie finds out about this, she is gonna kill me, and all of New York will know about it. She will make sure I never get a job anywhere!” I’m practically shitting myself right now. I’m struggling to slam my clothes into my handbag. I wore James’ shirt like a dress since it was long enough to be, I was in such a hurry I didn’t have time to put my skirt on. I’ve stepped on the back of my heels ruining the shape and am now having a hard time getting a cab.

“That is straight out of a movie, Y/N.” she replies I hear shuffling from the receiver, she’s probably cooking breakfast. “He looked like an angel, how could someone so evil give birth to a beautiful human being?” Finally, a cab stops for me.

“That’s what I said to myself too! I’ll tell you more when I get there, I’ve got a cab”, I get in and the driver looks at me through the rear view mirror, my walk-of-shame looks too obvious to ignore.

“Okay, I’m making pancakes.” I am the luckiest roommate ever! I raise my eyebrows at the driver and say “What? Step on it”, he rolls his eyes, and I tell him where to go as he hits the gas.

“Mmm, this is sooo good, I might just have to ask you to be my wife” Wanda laughs as she places another pancake on my plate. I’m holding a fork with my right hand and a half-eaten bacon with my left.

“You know, if he’s the bachelor you described him to be, you don’t really have to feel guilty about anything. He’s probably used to runners like you,” She’s trying to ease my guilt over leaving him after sex, I really don’t want to be that person but this is a different matter. It’s the life and death of my career, my career which hasn’t even started yet!

“I stole his shirt too.”

“He’s rich, he’s probably used to people stealing stuff from him too.” a smile escapes my lips only for it to go back to an ugly frown.

“You’re right, and I did leave him a sticky note… Gosh it makes me look stupid! I shouldn’t have let my nice ass leave him a note, he probably won’t even read it.”

“Another thing for you to forget”

“And I thought last night’s tequila slamming contest was the solution to shooing my problems away.” I say as I take a bite of the last of my pancake.

My phone’s buzzing. Ugh, who could it be? I glance at the screen and it says W. Barnes. Shit! Did he already tell her? He’s way too old to be running to his mom, right? Did I tell him my real name?! Did I tell him my name? Does he remember my name? Holy shit, it’s rang thrice now, Winnie’s gonna be pissed. I hit on the answer button.

“What took you so long? I need you at the office in an hour, I have a meeting later and I need you to be there to write the transcript.” her icy voice beaming through my phone’s speakers. Relief rains over me, but I’m still confused, I’m supposed to have the day off.

“But I thought I had today off?” I mutter and I immediately regret it.

She laughs, “Naive child, I know, but I need you and you work for me,” she says in a sing-song voice, and immediately morphs into the robot I’ve come to know and hate, “In an hour, Y/L/N.” and drops the call. Think positive, at least I didn’t get busted over hooking up with her son. I mean, it could’ve been a lot worse, coming to work on a fucking weekend shouldn’t bother me.

I turn to Wanda’s wide-eyed face and I shrug my shoulders, “She wants me to come to work for a meeting.” Her shoulders relax and I run to the bathroom to take a shower and get ready.

I wear a silk orange camisole, high-waisted jeans which my ass look pretty darn good in, put on white converse sneakers and pull my hair up in a bun. It’s the weekend, and Winifred allows employees to wear casual outfits to the office during these days, the only rule I like that came from her. I grabbed my tote bag and gave Wanda a kiss on the cheek before heading out. The office isn’t too far from the apartment, and I like walking. I feel like I’m being healthy by moving my feet, and besides, walking with my earphones on, drowning my surroundings, make me feel like a runway model. A no-poise runway model. My phone notifies me of a text, it’s from Winnie, she wants me to grab the coats for tomorrow’s fitting at the local Balmain outlet and not be late. No worries, it’s on the way, If I take a ten-minute detour. I wrinkle my nose and mentally scream my boss’ name.

I managed to get into the office building fifteen minutes early and I ran to the elevator just as the doors were about to close. “Hold the elevator!” a hand reaches out to stop the doors, I get in and mutter a “thank you” and press floor number 30. Catching my breath, practically panting, I look up and breathe, the elevator ceiling covered by reflective glass. I immediately look down. What have I done so wrong in my past life to have a miserable one at present? I’m slowly moving to the back, lifting the coats I was carrying to cover my face, careful not to attract the eyes of the man inside the elevator with me. Its James Buchanan fucking Barnes, with his good hair, good smell, and amazing back and me, awkwardly moving behind him. Last night’s laid-back look is now replaced with a posh upper east side vibe. He looks like a snack either way, I mentally slap myself for having thoughts like this at a time like this. The elevator pauses and opens on the 6th floor and a group of 5 middle aged corporate looking, and speaking people come in, which makes James move to the back. Great, 24 more floors to go. I struggle to hide and I move to the far-right corner at the back, hoping I’m not too obvious. I’m fiddling with the coats and I see one with a hood. I lift it up and gently put it over my face. I look really stupid right now, but I’m so nervous. And me being nervous in a confined space is not good. I don’t see anything anymore, with a hood over my face, and the elevator woman in the speaker announces we’re on the 17th floor where two more people go in. Are you kidding me?! I’m sweating buckets. I’m glad I wore a sleeveless top or my pits would’ve looked soaked with a shirt on. I shuffle as more people get on, and the hood falls from my face. Panic takes over me with him squished at the back almost leaning at the elevator wall, I excuse myself and move a little bit to the front. He won’t recognize my back, right? I mean, it was dark at the club last night, and I was naked at his place. He wouldn't know what my back would look like dressed in an orange camisole with my hair up now wouldn’t he?

“27th floor” the elevator lady says. Okay 3 more, I lift the coats higher, hugging them like they’re my 9-year old teddy bear collection. 28, 29 – oh no, I hear him excuse himself from the other people in the elevator to get closer to the door. I’m starting to move closer to the door too, but my face is practically an inch away from it, there’s nowhere else to go. 30! The elevator doors open and I sprint. I look like a bear who’s just gone from hibernation and has caught tons of fish to take home to her cubs. I’m running and I hear him say something but I don’t look back.

“I see you’ve gotten the coats I’ve requested, just hang them on the racks,” good morning to you too, Winnie. I begin hanging when I feel her cold gaze on me, have I forgotten something? Did she say Balmain? Balmain wouldn’t just give me these coats if it weren’t what Winnie called for right? What did I do wrong this time?

“I thought I told them to include the snake skinned one,” shoot! I remember that, it’s gotta be here somewhere.

“Looking for this?” I hear him, it’s him. I’m dead, can I hide in a coat, surely one of the closets here is a portal to Narnia, right? “Your assistant was pretty much in a hurry, she dropped it at the-“ *thump* I accidentally drop a hanger, his last word spoken a lot slower “-elevator” he raises his eyebrows at me, a combination of surprise and confusion now covering his face. He looks amused. I looked back at him, wide eyed and gave a nervous smile with a pretty unconvincing shrug that spells I’m not okay.

“Oh! My dearest James, you’re here early!” Winifred giddily says as she hugs James placing a kiss on both his cheeks. “I thought you wouldn’t be here until after lunch?”

James looks in my direction, smirking. “I thought I was gonna have breakfast with someone, but she bailed on me at the last minute” his eyes looking down. So, he was gonna have breakfast with me! Damn Winnie, why does she have to take every happy thing from me. I blush and look away and continue fiddling with the hangers not really needing to but I have no idea what to do. I shouldn’t just stand here, I should at least pretend I’m busy.

“Whoever that woman was, is stupid enough to turn down eating with my beautiful son.” Damn right, Winnie.

“I doubt it, mother. She probably has a good reason.” he licks his lips as he takes another glance at me. I bite mine, I feel guilty. Is he guilt tripping me?! But he sounds really nice and forgiving. He doesn’t seem bad, and he hasn’t still told his mom about me. He would if he was a jerk, right? I’m a mess. “She even left a sticky note on my table, I thought it was really cute.”, I’m blushing like crazy, I need to get out of here, I feel so guilty with him being so nice about it while having an indirect conversation with me.

“I’ve taught you so much about the finer things in life and here you are amused by a sticky note,” Winnie jokes as James shakes his head. I take this moment to excuse myself.

“Uhm, if you need me, I’ll be in the- uh, outside. I’ll be outside, at my desk,” she gave me an irritated look, told me to be useful to someone else present at the office and return an hour before the actual meeting and I turned to the door. I feel James’ eyes on my back burning a hole through me.

I resist the strong urge to call Wanda and tell her about how things have definitely just gone wrong. But is it really wrong? James pretty much seems nice about it, I mean he looked hurt but I’m just an assistant, I’m sure he’s been with richer, Barbie-doll looking girls. He was probably just playing with me, having a good time finding out that the girl he brought home last night was none other than his mother’s assistant. I’m searching through my desk looking for things to do and can’t seem to find anything. The meeting’s been rescheduled to 7PM, at the Eleven Madison Park which of course, Winnie didn’t bother telling me that she knew it was rescheduled before she even called me to come in for work. I see her and James having a good conversation seeing as how Winnie’s lips are pretty much touching her ears. I need to get out of the office, I see Nat, one of my co-workers, she’s part of the creative design team, her red hair bouncing as she was walking.

“Hey, Nat!” she turns surprised that she’s not the only one in the floor.

“Y/N! Let me guess,” she looks through Winnie’s office through the glass wall, “last minute errands?”

“Exactly. Uhm, uh- Nat, do you have any work to do outside the office? Like sourcing, or pickups or coffee fetching, I could do it!” I was speaking too fast, by the time I finished she was laughing.

“I’ve just done all those things before I got here, you trying to be employee of the month or something?” hopeless.

“I just don’t wanna stay in the office today, just thought I could help my favorite girl with some stuff!” I grab her shoulders and pull her into a hug, “I need to get out of here for a couple of hours” I whisper, desperation clear in my voice.

She chuckles, not understanding what the hell was happening. “Okay miss, busy bee. Samuel’s making me go with a friend of his for a fitting. It’s for a photo shoot, something about 30 under 30. It’s in 15 minutes. Vision’s gonna drive you, I’ll call him now and tell him you’re switching with me.”

“THANK YOU!” she shushes me as I suffocate her into a hug. She hands me the paper with the memo and instructions and I run to the elevator and hit the upper ground floor.

I get to the ground floor with a new-found confidence. Ha! Goodbye my dearest James and Winnie, I’m going to forget last night even happened. I see the car and wave at Vis as he greets me with a smile and ushers me to the back seat. And now we wait, I’d rather be with another male model than the very career-risky man upstairs with his mother. After about ten minutes Vision asks me,

“What’s that on your neck, Miss Y/N?” Fuck, I forgot to cover my hickey with makeup earlier.

“Looks good on her, huh? It’s my work of art,” I hear someone get into the seat beside me. It's him. He gives me a wink and turns to Vision, who’s now seated at the driver’s seat. He says it quietly just enough for Vision not to hear it. My cheeks are a flush of red, my heart is beating so fast, this is not happening, this is not happening.

“Good morning, Sir James, are we all set?” Vision eyes us through the rear-view mirror, I look like I’ve just got strapped to a roller coaster against my will with James smiling, really enjoying himself.

“Yeah, step on it, we don’t wanna be late for the fitting.” He nods at Vision, and continues, but now has turned his face in my direction, “and please, call me Bucky” his teeth displayed as he lets out a silent laugh.

Talk about giving someone a night they won’t forget. 

Part 2 |  Check my other stuff out too? M A S T E R L I S T

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[sunnydwrites]

The Silk Parade

Part I — Wild Radiance

The cake was salty. Granted, salted caramel cakes were supposed to have a certain degree of salt — it was in the name, after all — but something was off. Natalia gave a tight-lipped smile to the people at her table and excused herself through the food in her mouth, taking her napkin with her.

She had always been told that the food at the biannual Silk Parade was the best in the nation. When the invitation arrived in the mail, she imagined a night full of dishes made by master chefs, accenting their steaks with flecks of gold or whatever it was they did to make food fancy. Only when she was sure nobody was watching did she spit her mouthful into the napkin, grimacing.

“Is everything all right, miss?” someone asked, but she did not look. Instead she nodded and hurried the other way until their hand was on her arm and she was forced to pay some attention.

Natalia forced a smile. “Wonderful,” she said. “Simply delectable.”

The attendant — still holding onto her arm — was resplendent in a dress that seemed to be made entirely out of living flowers and butterflies, and somehow the colors all blended with each other. She took a moment to look the whole thing over, immediately caught up once again in the wondrous aspect of fashion that came with this night. If she remembered correctly, this gala’s theme was “Wild Radiance”, and they captured it perfectly.

Each of the flowers seemed to be a different shade of soft orange or red, blooming and closing as if on their own cycles. The butterflies followed suit, creating a mesmerizing flow of wings and petals that were all somehow perfectly timed with each other.

It put Natalia’s own dress, a fiery orange garment that flared out with petals towards the bottom hem, to shame. She had previously loved the way the orange made her dark brown skin glow, but now the look seemed drab. Underwhelming.

“Excellent,” the attendant smiled. “May I take you on a tour of the kitchen? I’m sure your father would quite like to see our operation.”

“I’m sure he would,” Natalia said. “Too bad you get me instead.”

The attendant simply laughed, but the look in their eyes said it all. “Come this way.”

She followed the attendant across the dining hall, trying to pick out each and every design for the night. How many people would wear these again? How many would be simply tossed aside, shoved into a display case to be seen in mansion hallways decades later?

As they walked, she caught dresses and suits and headwear and jewelry and makeup and all sorts of different wonderful things in brilliant shades of purples and yellow and everything in between. None of them paid her any attention, but why would they? The famous reason she was here wasn’t even at the banquet.

“I think your father would be especially pleased to know that we used his recipes and his recipes only for tonight’s meal,” the attendant said, breaking through Natalia’s haze.

“Only… his recipes?” she asked, and the attendant nodded. “Including the salted caramel cake?”

“How could we exclude that?” they laughed. “It’s iconic.”

“Iconic indeed,” she hummed along, surveying the crowd. What were the chances that she could get back here at the next banquet?

They arrived at the kitchen doors and the attendant pushed them open, inviting Natalia to lead the way. She wasn’t sure what she expected to see, but it wasn’t a large group of teenagers following recipes off the screens of their tablets. They wore plain gray aprons smeared with flour, batter, and various different sauces. They looked clueless and completely exhausted. Natalia raised an eyebrow and the attendant gave a nervous smile before clapping her hands to get the cooks’ attention. “Everyone, this is Natalia,” she said, making a grand gesture, “the daughter of Chef Mirialo.”

Everyone murmured and greeting and went back to their work, except for one worker. She watched Natalia with dark mono-lidded eyes, lifting her chin to meet Natalia’s gaze. The feeling sent shivers down her spine, the sudden feeling of being watched setting her nerves on edge.

“Looks like everything is in order here,” Natalia said, pretending for once to have a knowledge of cooking and how kitchens work.

“Fantastic,” the attendant beamed. “Let’s get you back to your table, then.”

“I actually need to run to the bathroom for a moment,” she said, then hurried away in the direction she was pretty sure was the bathroom.

It took a while, a couple of twists and turns and some run-ins with almost-acquaintances — as in people who somehow knew her father — but she got there. The din of the massive dining room was muffled behind the door and she took a deep breath walking to the mirror. Someone walked in behind her and directly into the nearest stall.

“Rough night?” she asked, and received no reply. “Yeah, we’ve all been there.” A whispering began and she assumed the girl had taken some sort of hallucinogen; apparently those were getting popular at parties now.

She leaned in closer to the mirror to check her hair, to make sure each of the gold and orange artificial lilies were in perfect position in her coarse black hair. Usually her father encouraged her to “tame” it, but tonight — as with every other occasion in his absence — she had let loose her hair and it now framed her face like a dark halo. Her shimmering gold lipstick seemed to be wearing off, but that wasn’t something she could fix.

Every detail became a point of focus as she tried to further procrastinate going out into the sea of people once again. Someone came out of the stall behind her and she offered a smile. “Keep some water���”

Then there was a knife at her throat.

Salted caramel cake was supposed to be a foolproof plan. The client had told her upon hire that it was a crowd favorite, a recipe invented by the chef’s daughter herself and perfected to a tee. She had dropped the poison in herself, insisted on serving the girl’s table. It should have gone without a hitch.

So why did Natalia Mirialo walk into the kitchen to observe the cooks work like everything was perfectly fine?

She called her underboss, who picked up on the fourth ring. “Who’s ringin’?”

“Who do ya fuckin’ think?” She paused, lowering her voice. “Something’s up. I put the poison in and she’s walkin’ like it’s nothing. Did you do me dirty?”

“I wouldn’t never do nothing like that,” the cronie on the other line stammered. “Who do ya take me for?”

A rat, she thought. “Then tell me why she’s breathin’.”

There was silence on the other line. “I—I don’t know,” he said.

“Gotta do everything for myself around here,” she growled. Before she hung up the phone, she added, “You’re paying for this once I get this contract settled.”

“Wait, boss—”

She hung up and drew the knife from its sheath inside the waistband of her pants. The Saint almost felt bad for this girl’s impending freeze until she remembered the mistakes of her imbecil father. You don’t cheat the Saint, and you sure as hell don’t get away with it.

This time she recognized the flaming orange of the girl’s dress, and she took a step forward. Another step and she placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder, getting close enough to place a blade on her throat from behind.

“Don’t make this hard for me,” she warned.

The girl began to hyperventilate. The Saint watched as her chest rose and fell, faster and faster until—

“Are you gonna—”

“Kill ya? Unfortunately for you, that’s the plan,” she said, flicking a piece of dark hair out of her eyes.

“Why?”

“Ask your father when he makes his way up there with you.”

Her shoulders sag and a dangerous anger burns in her eyes before she hides it. “He made a deal, didn’t he? You’re with the mobs.”

“That’s a bit of an uncivilized term,” the Saint said, taking on a bit of the regality she had learned from these events. “We prefer organized ‘service’ — anyway, that’s not the point.” She pressed the blade a little harder and the girl whimpered.

“Why me?”

“He didn’t pay. Ever heard of ‘life for a life’?”

“That… sounds kind of illegal, actually.”

The Saint smiled a cruel smile, leaning forward and tilting her head. “Nothing’s legal around here, darling.”

“Don’t call me that.” She paused. “And if it’s really that important to you, he couldn’t come because he’s sick. Really sick.”

“What’re you saying?”

There was a pause and that same anger flashed in the girl’s eyes again. This time, she didn’t do as good of a job to mask it. “You could make it look like an accident.”

“You want to help me kill your father?” The Saint blinked. Of all the things she had experienced in this short lifetime, helping someone ice their own blood was not one of them.

She coughed, refusing to meet the Saint’s eyes. “I wouldn’t say help… I—I just don’t wanna die.”

The Saint sheathed her knife. “Where can I find him?”

“At my house. It’s—” the Saint held her hand up; she already knew the Mirialo address. What good boss didn’t?

“Just don’t walk in on the crime, and you won’t get caught up in it. Sound good?”

“How long should I wait?”

The Saint paused. “I’ll have to do some cleaning,” she murmured, “and then… Just attend every after party you can find.” The girl nodded. “Don’t get in my way.” She had no intention of cleaning up, really, but she would have preferred not to give a witness any more opportunity to sell her out.

She sheathed her blade again in an easy movement and walked back out into the party. It was easy to blend into the crowd as a serviceman — of a different kind — as she dialed the same number. It sent her immediately to voicemail and she made a mental note to talk to her subordinates about this. “Our contract has been changed a bit. Don’t bother calling, I’ve got this whole charade under control. We’re going after the man himself.”

Natalia’s heart pounded in her chest; even after the dark-haired girl from the kitchen disappeared, she couldn’t seem to get it back to a normal pace. With a shaky breath, she placed her hands on either side of the sink and leaned in towards the mirror. There was a light sheen of sweat on her deep tan skin, but nothing drastic enough to ruin the makeup on her face.

“Did I almost just—”

Someone walked into the room and she straightened up immediately.

“—ruin my makeup? Oh, stars, I hope not.”

Whoever walked in rushed over immediately, putting their hands on her face. I’ve never regretted saying anything more. She put her face close to Natalia’s, inspecting her makeup.

“No, darling, you’re fine,” she said after a while, releasing Natalia’s face. “I do admire the layer of gold in your eyeshadow, by the way.”

“Thanks,” Natalia said, jerking away before rushing back to the party.

The gala had continued on without her, and it was safe to say they were getting drunker by the moment. Someone latched onto her arm and she let them follow her for a moment before batting them away. The people at her table watched as she sat down, quieting down.

“What?” she asked, a numb feeling growing in her chest. Her father would die on this night.

There were a few shrugs and Natalia covered her lap with someone else’s dark red cloth. A slice of salted caramel chocolate with a single bite taken sat on her plate; knowing now what was inside, she shuddered and repressed her appetite. She couldn’t quite bring herself to partake in the festivities everyone else seemed to be enjoying. The easygoing comfort she had felt before was slowly replaced with a terrible cold feeling, one that started in her chest and spread out to the tips of her fingers.

She just signed her father’s life away.

A fleeting idea of her ability to save him ignited in her mind but she extinguished it just as quickly. If she got in that… that assassin’s way, she’d be putting her own life on the line as well.

Her father, the famous Dante Mirialo, would die tonight.

And she could do nothing to stop it.

Natalia found herself lost in a sea of bright colors, blooming dresses and suits themed after all sorts of colorful bugs and flowers. It was a spectacle, really, a once in a lifetime experience for someone like her. Someone offered her a dance.

She stood and pushed past them, ignoring the strange girl’s warning to stay out longer than usual. At the door, the grand entrance, a man in a plain black uniform — sleek but drab against the background of the crowd — stopped her.

He checked a list and handed her an envelope, but she didn’t dare open it yet. Instead she hailed a taxi and gave them her address; the driver tried to make small talk about her father’s wellbeing and the gala. She shut the speaking window and opened the envelope.

It was an invitation to the next Biannual Silk Parade. The paper was like a blade in her hands, but she didn’t dare let go.

She changed into her pajamas before calling the emergency line. She looked through his cracked door while she spoke the the operator. A pool of blood soaked into the carpet; certainly the girl had meant to be cleaner with Natalia’s death than with her father’s.

At least someone prioritized her over her father.

She looked down to the invitation in her hand. It was addressed to Natalia Mirialo, not to Dante. Not even an invitation to come in his place. No, this was all hers; she walked into her room with a soft smile and stayed there as the paramedics make their futile attempts to revive Dante.

[letitrainathousandflames-archive]

Sequence to the AU in which Fives and Dogma are living in hiding in the Outer Rim. Full chapter below the cut:

-

Fives went to the window seat, hesitating before he placed the helmet on his head. He’d always hated the goddamn bucket but wearing it now felt so right, like it was meant to be there, like a second skin, a layer of himself. He lowered his visors and peered out of a small opening he’d pulled in the curtains.

He sees the barren way downhill where the large glimmering insects common to this planet were flying like tiny little blue stars in the dark. The road up there’s gotten even worse now, and Fives was glad they had all they need to live up there – going down for supplies without a walker or another vehicle could end up being dangerous. Luckily none of them had ever needed medicines aside from the ones Rex had brought with himself when he’d brought Fives to live there. Fives had seen blood-stained bandages in the bathroom’s trashcan once but he never asked Dogma what had happened. It wasn’t any of his business anyway, and Dogma seemed fine. Maybe he’d cut himself playing with his stupid bes’bev hell if I know.

Dogma, however, was still cutting his damn meilooruns methodically into little triangles. It was like Rex’s sudden visit had given his life a new meaning – he’d tidied up the living room, the bedroom they shared, cleaned the bathroom, finally got the pile of laundry hanging on the usually vacant chair into a large bucket outside to be washed, served his still-warm bread on the chipped white plates, poured the tea made of freshly-picked herbs in the small round cups and kept moving the cutlery two inches to the left and one inch up with some sort of nervous obsession. Fives looked away from the window for a moment, letting out a tense laugh.

“Hell, will you relax? We’re not having the Chancellor over.”

Dogma didn’t even raise his eyes from the table he kept fixing up.

“If we were, this tea wouldn’t be made of harmless mint leaves.”

There was something refreshing to seeing goddamn Dogma from the 501st carelessly talking about poisoning the supreme chancellor of the Republic, and Fives actually laughed at that.

“My, aren’t you just full of surprises.” he turned his gaze back to the window “Oh, wait. I think it’s him.”

There was a shadow climbing up the painfully steep hill up to their home disguised as ruins, mounting on a small walker, proper for two users. Behind there was another walker. One of them seemed to be carrying two people indeed. Dogma placed his helmet over his head too, looking out at the same crack Fives’ had been eyeing through.

“Republic walkers. Gotta be Rex.”

Fives growled, pushing Dogma out of his way as he got up.

“Put your armor on. I don’t trust anything from the Republic, not anymore.” He picked his blaster up from  the worn-out couch “And grab your gun. If they’re after us to kill us or arrest us, they got another thing coming.”

When Fives came out of the house to the front yard covered in tall glass and purposefully unkempt to give out the impression of an abandoned home, he pointed his blaster straight at the nearest walker’s pilot as he carefully and quickly set an old, alternating flashlight on the ground, where it gathered a few twinkling insects.

“Slow down, soldier.” he ordered, and the words flow easily from his lips. Being an ARC trooper Fives was used to issuing orders, and his brothers would obey without question “I got you in my aim. No sudden moves.”

The pilot let go off the controllers of his walker, raising his hands up. The man behind him did not do the same. Fives’ finger tensed up over the trigger. In the dark, he could but only merely make the clone trooper armor of the pilot, the large blue pauldron of a Captain’s over his left shoulder. He couldn’t, however, see any details or paintings on his helmet. This could be Rex. But it also could be an enemy, someone sent by goddamn Separatists to kill him, after all Fives was the only one who knew about all that mess with the chips.

Dogma joined his side, his gun pointing at the stranger in the other walker that approached them slowly. Fives was aiming straight at the soldier’s heart, right where Fox had shot him back in Coruscant.

“Tell your friend to put his hands up too unless you want me to shoot!”

The man with the Captain’s armor blocked Fives’ aim to the other trooper, who wore a plain shiny’s armor. There seemed to be something wrong with his arm. Why was the plating of his right hand and arm gold instead of white?

“It’s me, Fives, it’s Rex. He can’t put his arms up.” the Captain said, and his voice sounded like a clone’s, but anyone could hack in the modulator of their buckets, Fives thought tensely “He’s injured.”

“If you’re Rex” said Dogma equally tense “take off your helmet.”

The man lowered his hands very slowly towards his head.

“Very well. Everyone stay calm. I’m taking off my helmet.” He reached for his bucket under Fives’ and Dogma’s attentive eyes and, as he pulled the thing off his head…

“Rex.” Dogma sighed with a smile as the clone on the other walker slowly took his helmet off as well “Kix.”

Rex looked at Fives, who hadn’t lowered his blaster yet.

“It’s been a long time, hasn’t it? It’s good to see you too again, Fives.”

 I’ll bring a friend to see you, Rex had said, and there was Kix. But…

“Who’s the shiny?” Fives asked, and Rex climbed down from his walker, where the shiny remained immobile and Fives still had his blaster pointed at him “Who is he?”

Rex walked to fives, carefully  grabbing the muzzle of his blaster and lowering it.

“He’s the friend I mentioned.” he says enigmatically “But right now he’s still a little groggy, we had to drug him for the flight down here. Now stand down, soldier, and let’s get inside, away from any curious eyes or probes that might be hovering around, okay? It’s not like having you two living here is perfectly legal, and the same thing goes to him.” Rex points at the Shiny over his shoulder as Kix gets down his walker, running towards Dogma.

Fives looked up to Rex’s face, to his short blond hair and his brown eyes identical to his own; That was his Captain. Even having thousands of faithful copies of each other walking around, Fives could always recognize a brother and tell him from the others; this used to impress the shinies back in the day. Meanwhile, Kix had grabbed Dogma in a hug so tight it reminded him of the way Wookies would try to crush the bones of their enemies. And before Fives could protest, Rex did the same to him, wrapping his arms around his shoulders and slapping his hand on his back over the armor.

“I missed you, brother. The 501st isn’t the same thing without you.”

Fives slowly managed to lift his arms to hug his captain back, but he couldn’t stop looking at the armored shiny still sitting on the walker. He leaned in Rex’s hug however. He had no idea he’d missed his friend so much.

“I missed you too, Rex.”

Rex had to pull the shiny out of the walker and practically had to carry him to the house with Kix’s help. By the time they got in the cozy house, Fives could actually notice his legs and arm, all gold-plated; they were prosthetics, but he didn’t seem to be well accustomed to using them. Kriff, what the hell had happened to this shiny to get him a damage of this extension? Furthermore, how he was still alive? If a clone walked into Kamino with three missing limbs, Nala Se would have him killed as if he were a mere defective droid – could you imagine the Republic wasting money on prosthetics for one of their tools of disposable lives, an expendable clone? Not likely, and not like them at all.

The shiny, however, seemed to be a little nervous as Kix eased him down on the couch mumbling:

“I’m good, I’m good.” There was something to his voice that sounded very familiar to Fives, and even if he wasn’t’ sure what it was, he felt a shiver run down his spine “Where’s Fives? Where is he?”

Kix looked at the table where Dogma had sit down at, his hand still on the trooper’s shoulder.

“Aren’t you hungry? We’ve been through a long way up here, and Dogma here has set a nice meal for us.”

Kix sounded like he was talking to a cadet. Nice and mellow, very friendly, full of tact. Fives frowned at Dogma, and Dogma just shrugged, as confused as he was.

“I don’t feel much hunger lately. Back when I was… They wouldn’t…” he fell silent for a moment to then repeat himself “Where’s Fives?”

That voice, Fives thought, it can’t be. It’s impossible. He pulled his own helmet out, walking to the shiny and pushing Kix’s out of his way by his shoulder to then place it on the couch beside the shiny.

“I’m Fives.” he said, and his heart hammered under his damaged sternum as he reached for the clone’s helmet, carelessly pulling it off his head “Now who the hell are you?”

He was met with a clone’s face, of course. Tall cheekbones, large nose, brown complexion, hazel eyes a little lighter than Fives’. His hair was really short, as if it had been recently shaved and had only started to grow back. That, however, was where the similarities stopped. His cheeks were hollowed and he was thin as if he’d been severely starved; there were scars all over his face and the right side of it clearly had been burned badly and now was a patchwork of scarred, lighter skin. The small cuts all over his face were clearly former shrapnel wounds. But even in this mess of a face, even in this man’s exhausted, confused and frightened expression, his eyes—

Fives stumbled back and gasped, dropping the shiny’s helmet and the thing landed on the floor with a dull thud as Rex walked up to him. Fives’ eyes went wide, and he covered his mouth with his hand as Rex held him by his shoulders.

“Is that…” he gasped as Dogma inches in closer to take a look at the scarred trooper “Is that…?!”

Rex nodded as Kix turned to face Fives with a grimace.

“Yeah, Fives.” He nodded to the mutilated clone whose eyes couldn’t be anybody else’s “That’s Echo.”

Fives gasped again, lowering his shaking hand to then reach for the trooper that cringed away, breathing fast in clear distress. Fives stopped halfway into reaching for his face to then turn to Rex, snarling:

“What kind of sick joke is this?”

Rex sighed and tensed up his jaw, looking into Fives’ eyes.

“I know it’s confusing, Fives—“

“Echo is dead.” Fives took a step towards Rex, standing less than a few inches away from his Captain “Dead! I watched that damn clanker explode him into nothing. I saw his helmet letting out smoke! He died in that shuttle!”

Rex knitted his brows, grabbing Fives’ armored shoulders.

“I know.” he said assertively “I know, I saw it too. But they managed to get him out, the separatists, they captured him and… and…”

“And what?!” Fives yelled in the Captain’s face

Rex lowered his eyes, gesturing to Echo. His voice was still low and full of grieving.

“And they… did that to him. They had been using him to access our strategies, our codes, our internal tactics, everything. We found him thanks to a signal he sent us. He was smart, Fives, thanks to that we found him.”

Fives’ eyes were wide, darting back and forth as he would shake his head in obstinate denial.

“How?... How did they get him to say it? He wouldn’t, not Echo.”

All troopers had training to resist torture until death. Even shinies, hell, even cadets knew that nothing was more important than their mission. And ever since the cadets were alphabetized and able to understand concepts, the first one to be drilled into their minds was that they were expendable, that their lives were meaningless. They were weapons, tools, battle fodder. No trooper went down without a fight, but they accepted death as part of their duty. One of the living proofs of the trooper’s resilience was commander Wolffe, who had been captured by the separatists and never said a word, not even when they cut his eye out, not even as blood ran down his face like a river and he was barely conscious before General Koon got to him. Echo was made of the same brave blood. He wouldn’t open up to anybody.

Rex went very pale at Fives, and a tremor ran over his cheek.

“They...” Rex hesitated before continuing “they connected him to some kind of machine that had direct access to his brain. They opened his head up like a damn datapad.”

Fives frowned for an instant, trying to understand what the hell Rex had just said. He felt the blood draining out of his face and pushed Rex away from him.

“No. No way…”

Rex shook his head, biting his lip. He hesitated a couple of times before saying in a low, voice that Fives had heard him use more than once to talk to soldiers after they’d lost a close brother:

“He was put in a cryostasis chamber, Fives. For… For whatever’s worth, at least Kix believes he wasn’t in pain.”

“Shut up. Shut the fuck up.” Fives turned to face the man, that shell of a person they’d brought him and said it was Echo “It can’t be. It can’t be…!”

Kix grimaced at Fives, while Dogma seemed unable to tear his eyes away from the scarred man sitting on their couch.

“It’s him.” Kix said “I ran all the tests, having the same DNA makes it difficult to identify a clone but it matched all his previous ones. A naturally lower sugar level. Some mild thyroid alteration. Ambidextrous. And when we got him back, before he managed to speak normally, he only kept saying…”

And as if they had rehearsed, the man grumbled:

“We need to get to that shuttle… We need to get to that shuttle… Fives… Brother…”

Fives looked at the man, and then to Rex. The captain shook his head.

“I’m so sorry, Fives.”

Fives walked to the clone very slowly to then kneel down in front of him, reaching up to touch his face. The clone’s widened, distressed eyes met his, and he knew it. This was…

“Echo…” Fives had said in a whisper “Echo, is… is that you?”

In sharp, erratic movements, Echo managed to lift up his left flesh hand up to Fives’ face, slapping his fingers over Fives’ scarred, clearer patch of skin where his tattoo used to be. He frowned at it to then scowl.

“You’re not him. Y-You look like… But… You’re not my brother. You’re not—“ his voice grew louder as did his distress “You are not my brother!”

Kix opened one of the compartments on his belt and reached for a syringe filled with a clear green liquid, pushing Fives out of his way.

“He- Hey!” Fives exclaimed “What are you gonna do?!”

“He can’t get that worked up.” Kix said as he pierced the needle on Echo’s neck before he could react – if he could react at all with those stiff prosthetics “His state is still very fragile, his internal organs were almost in total failure when we got him back, he is… he’s a mess, Fives.”

Echo squinted angrily at Kix before his eyes became heavy and his neck dropped down in an instant chemically-induced slumber. Fives looked at Echo in utter horror, and ever since he’d been shot, his chest had never felt so tight.

It had started to rain outside, and Echo laid still on the couch after Kix had set him down. His prosthetic legs didn’t fit entirely in the two-sits furniture, dangling out. Fives couldn’t stop staring at them from the dinner table. They seemed too thin, too frail, all of Echo seemed thin and frail.

The clinking of a fork against a plate made him snap out of it as Kix said quietly:

“Good thing you have meilooruns. When he wakes up, he should eat something soft. He’s just gotten back to eating solids” he raised his eyes to Fives and gave him a tentative smile “he’s gotten really happy about it.”

Fives frowned, leaning against a wall as Rex, Dogma and Kix occupied the three chairs. It didn’t matter - he hadn’t eaten anything in hours but his hunger had been replaced by a dull feeling of nausea, so he wouldn’t need to sit to eat anything. The last time he’d felt like this had been when Tup pressed his blaster against General Triplar’s head and pulled the trigger in front of him.

“Is he… Does he even know who he is? He seemed so…”

“He has his moments.” said Rex, shoveling food into his mouth as if all he wanted was the sustenance it would provide and he couldn’t care less about how perfectly triangular were the meillorun piece cut by Dogma “He talks a lot about you. More than he talks about himself.”

“As you know” Kix began with annoyance in his voice “the clones don’t have any kind of psychological support so after asking back and forth to Jedi generals and professionals of the republic for guidance I started a psychology course about two years ago, to try and help my brothers.”

“With his salary.” Rex growled as he drank down his tea in one sip “Senator Amidala’s demand for free education was barred so, guess where all of Kix’s credits are going.”

“You are angrier at that than I am.” Kix said calmly as he pierced another piece of fruit with his fork “Anyway, I’ve been managing to get to him. There’s a right way to read his signs. Sometimes you need to give him space. The damage in his mind has a specific way to be treated, just as any physical wound does.”

At that, Dogma tugged on the cuffs of his blacks. Fives had noticed the habit, probably another of his damn obsessions for order and properness. Kix, however, eyed Dogma for a moment before he drank his tea.

“Dogma, I believe that Rex and Fives have a lot of catching up to do regarding Echo’s rescue and his arrival here today. What do you say about showing me around the place? Rex had only told me a bit of your little hideout and I’m curious.”

Dogma stuttered at the suggestion.

“Uh… I mean, sure, maybe the captain would like to join us?”

Before Rex could answer Kix got up, narrowing his eyes at Dogma.

“I would prefer if it were just the two of us. C’mon now.”

With a last look to Fives, Dogma got up and dropped his shoulders, walking out of the room. Fives sat on the chair he had been sitting, looking up to Rex. His voice came out hoarse even though he didn’t know why.

“How long did he stay with the seppies?” Fives asked.

Rex returned his gaze, drawing in a breath.

“Almost two years.” Five’s sighed painfully and he added “You couldn’t know. None of us could.”

“Should’ve come back for him.” Fives nodded, his face twisted in pain “I know he would’ve. He… Hell, he would never leave me behind to be tortured by those bastards. Some brother I am.”

“We saw his helmet, Fives, what else could we think?” Rex reached for Fives’ hand on the table, but Fives pulled away from him “I know you cared about him, we all did. But in that mess, it was run or die.”

“And he chose neither.” Fives snarled, shaking his head “He fought for us, stood his ground, all for… For nothing. For this rotten republic.” He looked at Echo’s small frame lying on the couch. “He was my closest brother. We weren’t from the exact same batch but we were born on the same day, placed in the same squad, domino squad. He said… He said he would die for me, and I said the same to him but in the end I couldn’t even…”

Fives clenched his jaw so hard his head hurt; He had failed Echo, left him behind to be mutilated and tortured by the seppies, spent his days wallowing in grief and self-pity while his brother was suffering. Rex leaned in closer to Fives, his voice low and assertive.

“Fives, you couldn’t know. An explosion of that size… We saw the fire, his helmet, we couldn’t imagine--”

“Should’ve gone back for his body” Fives murmured angrily between his clenched teeth as he’d shake his head “should’ve tried to at least bring it back to us but I was too kriffing afraid of what I’d see in there, then you told me to run…”

“Fives…”

Fives pounded his fist so hard on the table the cutlery clinked against the plates. His face was reddened and the lines on his forehead brought by his premature aging grew more evident in his tension.

“You told me to run and leave my brother behind, Captain.” he spat “This is all your fault.”

With that he got up, ignoring Rex’s call for him and he stormed out, into the small corridor sided by the his bedroom door on his way to the backyard. And from the small crack opened on the room he shared with Dogma, he heard Kix’s low, concerned voice.

“—have to stop doing that, Dogma.”

Then came Dogma’s voice. Small. Quivering. Hesitant.

“I… I’m trying. I promise.”

“When did you started doing this anyway? I was your physician back in the 501st and I never noticed those before we faked your death.”

Fives peeked into the room, seeing Kix sitting on Dogma’s bed beside him, holding Dogma’s forearm. It was covered in small linear scars, some of them clearly recent. Two of them had only start to coagulate.

“It began after I shot Krell.” Said Kix in the same hesitant tone “After I was put in custody of the Republic. I couldn’t clip my nails in jail, and, and I’d scratch myself. Gave me a rush. I never could stop.”

Then it crossed Fives’ mind. The blood-stained rags and bandages he’d see every once in a while in the bathroom trashcan. Shit. Fives couldn’t see Kix’s face but he could hear the clear concern in his voice, as some pity he was probably trying not to let Dogma realize.

“I know, but stars, you could’ve hit an artery here. You’ve got to stop this.”

Fives just kept walking to the backyard. This was all too much for him to handle. Echo alive, all messed up in the head and mutilated. Dogma cutting himself. Rex being the reason for which Fives never went back to get Echo to safety. He practically ran out of the house under the pouring rain, reaching for the gun in his holster, the gesture so natural it was almost as if he were born doing it. The armor felt light on his body, the small grinding of his knee pads on his leg armor and his elbow guards on his arm pieces so familiar; he felt the cool night atmosphere on his face and he turned on his heel to face the target, already raising his blaster to aim at it when the gun merely let out a dry click at the pull of its trigger. He had forgotten he’d emptied the thing in his anger earlier, and he tossed the gun at the target instead, screaming his lungs out in rage and wiping his damp black locks away from his face.

His chest hurt even more now, and he coughed. His breathing was labored, painful, and Fives felt his entire self boiling with rage and grief and guilt and as a coughing fit got hold of him he begged his goddamn damaged lungs to finally give in and let him die for once because this shit hurt too much, it never stopped hurting and it never would. Rex walked out of the house and rushed to him, slinging his arm over his shoulders as the rain soaked him over his armor.

“Fives, Fives, breathe. Your lungs—”

“Could kill me already for all I care.” Fives managed to spurt out between coughs and, when he finally managed to catch his breath he drove a punch to Rex’s ribs; the Captain let go of him, and Fives didn’t even feel bad for what he did, for he knew the armor would protect him “You caused this! This is all your fault!”

Rex tried to say something, but now that Fives could finally let his anger out, now that he finally let out the dark, monstrous shadow that only seemed to grow inside him ever since his exile in this godforsaken corner of the galaxy, he felt unchained off what little self-control he believed he still had.

“All your fucking fault!” he barked “You walk all proud with your captain rank and your captain armor and us? The little shinies under your charge? Dying by the dozens! Shot and blown up and electrocuted and stars know what else! But the goddamn 501st captain is still alive and well, because we are all laying our fucking lives down for him and his goddamn Jedi General!”

Rex looked at him as if every word hurt, as if every screamed insult was a knife to his guts, and Fives kept breathing hard through his mouth, his face so tensed up it hurt. Fives’ kept talking still, no matter how it felt like his lungs would collapse at any minute.

“And you… You carve your stupid tally marks all over your goddamn armor like some kind of display of honor, like you should be proud of how many brothers died under your watch, like you should be proud of how we’re treated like grenades to be thrown by the Republic, this is all your fucking fault! Say something!” he bellowed at Rex, his screams tearing at his raw throat.

The rain ran rivers on Rex’s face, infiltrating on his eyebrows and running over his full lips, dripping out of his nose and chin, and he shook his head just slightly, raising his voice above the storm that raged on.

“Why am I supposed to say anything? You’re right.”

Fives gritted his teeth, snarling. He wanted Rex to be angry, to scream back at him, to say no, it was your fault, you let it turn out like this. Growling like an animal, he lunged at Rex, grabbing him by his waist and throwing him down on the ground, where the mud stained his white armor. Fives was on top of the Captain now, cold rain running over his face and into his beard, dripping down his hair, and he drove a fist to Rex’s face, but the captain blocked it, grabbing Fives’ hand in a firm grip.

“You are not angry at me, brother.” he said as a bright lightning strike hit the ocean and thunder filled the air like war drums “And you know it.”

“Shut up!” Fives screamed as he punched Rex’s face with his free hand

Rex pulled him closer to then throw him to the side, climbing over the former ARC trooper and placing his forearm over his throat. He looked down to him with a calm face, the same one he had in Umbara despite the constant bombings and shootings, despite the growing number of casualties, despite what Krell did to them.

“You’re angry at the Republic!” Rex screamed as blood trailed down his lips and over his chin, washed away by the rain “You’re angry at the Kaminoans! You’re angry at the Separatists, at everyone, and yes, you are angry at me, but the one you’re the angriest at is yourself!”

“FUCK YOU!” Fives roared as he kicked frantically, trying to break free “FUCK YOU, WE NEVER ASKED FOR THIS, NONE OF US NEVER DID, I FUCKING HATE YOU AND I FUCKING HATE THEM AND THEY JUST LEAVE US FOR DEAD AND YOU LEFT ECHO FOR DEAD FUCK YOU FUCK YOU ALL!”

Rex got off of Fives, pulling him up by his armor into a hug and Fives didn’t understand why but his eyes felt hot with tears that the rain washed away; and as he felt Rex’s arms around him he also could feel his shoulder’s jumping softly with small sobs. This was enough to make Fives break down for once, hugging Rex back and finally allowing himself to cry.

“He deserved better…” he said weakly between sobs “He deserved…”

“They all did, Fives.” Rex said in a strange, strangled voice “And so did you.”

[letstrysomefanfic]

Frostbit (Peter Parker x Reader)

A/N: So this is my first fanfic like ever and I’m really proud of it I just hope you guys like it! I intend for this to be a series (as for how long, who knows), but please let me know if you want it to continue. Suggestions and constructive criticism is welcome!

It’s from Peter’s POV for the most part, but in the third person. Everything else after this will alternate between Peter and the reader’s POV. 

EDIT: I just edited this like a year after I first posted it because I wanted to make it more gender inclusive, not just for fem!reader. Also I fixed some stuff so its less all over the place and has less wordy details, but the story and events are pretty much the same.

Warnings: violence (there’s quite a bit of action in this, but no one’s seriously hurt though)

Word Count: 1.6k

Part 2   Part 3   Part 4

Glass exploded onto the ground as the bat broke through the case.

“Hey! Careful! You don’t wanna break the very thing we came here for,” a masked robber grumbled. His partner, clad in black like his partner, turned around and shrugged, then grabbed the dirty terra cotta vase from among the glass shards. 

Peter looked down from where he stuck to the upper corner of the exhibit, both amused and confused. Why lock up some dirty old vase? he thought. Why bother robbing it? There’s so many more valuable looking things all around here anyway! Like that old gold cup over there, or that cool sword—oh Ned would like that one...

He was about to jump down to voice his questions to the petty thieves, when something moved in the hallway across the room. A third person’s head peeked out from behind the wall, unseen by all but Peter. They dashed to the sword display case, curiously dressed in all blue, and braced themselves against it. They checked back to the robbers again. Then they sped to another display case, then another, and another, slowly creeping closer to the thieves but remaining out of their line of sight. It was here that Peter noticed that the third individual had an odd-looking, light-colored mask covering their face. 

Once they stopped next a giant ceramic jar, just a few paces away from the robbers, the mysterious individual turned to face them, crossing their arms.

“Hey boys.”

Wow, Peter thought. They’ve got some guts. 

The thieves whipped around. The robber with the gun raised it up at the straight-spined figure; the one holding the vase jumped, nearly dropping it. 

“Ooooooh, I wouldn’t drop that if I were you.”

“Who the hell’re you?!” One of the robbers shouted. Peter noticed the blue figure stiffen just a little as they glanced at the barrel. He tilted forward, ready to spring into action. But something about their demeanor let him know that he wasn’t needed just yet.

“Woah woah woah!” the blue challenger cried as they slowly raised their arms up. “Calm down. I just wanna stop a petty theft. We can do that peacefully right?”

“Who you callin’ petty?”

“No one. I said the theft was petty, not any person.”

“What?”

An exasperated sigh. “Ugh, never mind, can you guys just put the vase back gently, and we can just walk away, like this never happened? Well I mean you guys’ll obviously get caught ‘cause the cameras, but…” they shrugged. Peter had to stifle a small chuckle.

The thieves looked at each other, then back at the individual. They began to back away, towards the stairs. Then as if in slow motion, Peter saw the gunman’s finger squeeze toward the trigger. He pushed off from the wall, firing a web at the gun and yanked it out of the robber’s hands before it fired. His other hand shot a web at the ceiling.

“Alright, party’s over, guys,” he hollered, swinging toward the blue figure. He grabbed them, pulling them both into the wall he swung towards, almost knocking down the display case with the gold cup in the process. 

“What the hell—”

“Just stay here alright?” Peter spun around and webbed the gunman’s hands together as he tried to run off. “Wait come back here, man!” he called, pouncing after him.. “You gotta clean up this mess!” 

Meanwhile, he could hear the other robber with the vase stumbling towards the stairs, another pair of shoes pounding the floor, then a sickening thud of bone on metal. Peter turned from the first thief he had just webbed, just in time to see blue lurch away from black as the robber struggled to get up. He suddenly flung himself, swinging the vase. The blue-hoodied head briskly leaned back, their face barely missing the incoming vase.

“You gotta be kidding me,” they muttered. They lunged forward and grabbed the robber’s wrists. He screeched and let go of the vase, his hands shaking. Before Peter could fire a web, the other person swooped down and caught the vase, inches from the floor. They spun where they were crouched, kicking the robber’s legs from under him. Peter webbed his hands and feet, pinning him awkwardly to the ground and stairs. 

Peter turned to face who he assumed was a fellow vigilante. “What happened to staying there?”

They stood up, examining the vase. “It didn’t happen, obviously.” They tucked the vase under their arm and darted up the stairs.

“Hey wait!” Peter cried. He followed in hot pursuit of the hero-turned-thief. Winding through hallways and exhibits and weaving through precious displays, they raced through what seemed like the entire floor of the museum. “Slow down!” he wheezed. How could someone be as fast as him? he wondered.

Before they could speed around another corner, Peter spurred forward, putting on enough speed to get close enough to seize an opportunity and fire his web. It trapped their free hand to a wall, effectively halting the chase.

Peter sauntered down the hall while the panting vigilante struggled to pull free of the web. He leaned against the wall, crossed his arms, and tucked his foot, trying to appear casual and hide the fact that he too was trying to catch his breath. 

“So,” he huffed, “You must be new ‘round here,” he stated, scrunching his eyebrows as he tried to distinguish a face beneath the bumpily-textured mask that covered nearly half of it. 

“What do you mean, ‘new’?” They asked, leaning forward and bracing their feet on the wall, trying to use their body weight to break free of the webbing.

Peter shrugged, “You know… I’ve just, well, this is the first time I’m seeing you. Because normally I’m the one going ‘round stopping petty theft. Also, thought you might wanna know: people who’re trying to stop petty theft, normally don’t finish the job they just stopped the bad guys from doing.” 

That got a chuckle. “Well believe me, I ain’t new. I’m just not as famous as certain heroes like you.” They paused a moment, but shook their head.

“So you long’ve you been doing this how long then? And why were you stealing the vase just now, if you’re supposed to be a ‘hero’?” Peter asked pointedly. 

“‘Bout three months now. And I wasn’t stealing it; I was gonna return it myself, so the cameras will catch who really saved this vase.”

“Three months?” Peter was shocked. How had he not noticed? Someone else was out here, trying to help their city just like he was. Problem was, how much longer could they do it? Sure this person could somehow run as fast as he could, but they didn’t seem to have any other powers or enhancements like he did. That meant that they were at the same risk as those whom he was trying to save.

Peter sighed, “Okay, well, look. I don’t want to be rude or anything but I think you should leave the superhero-ing to those who can handle it.”

“Scuse me?” the figure hissed. “I think I handled it pretty damn well perfectly back there,” they stared accusingly at him. "And ‘superhero-ing’ isn’t even a word.”

“Whatever, but no you didn’t actually have it back there, ‘cause the guy was gonna fire the gun at you, which — if I hadn’t been there — would’ve happened, and then it wouldn’t have been handled at all!”

"Oh,” they muttered, obviously taken aback. “Well thank you, mister Spider-man, but just know that I still could have handled it, even if that gun went off.”

“Oh really?” Peter pushed himself upright. “How? You can somehow stop a bullet?”

“Maybe—”

“Still though, someone young as you shouldn’t be out here putting yourself in danger like that.”

“OH?! Just how old you think I am?!” they demanded.

“What? You gotta be like, what, twelve? At most.”

“Really? Wow, what are you, like ten? You sound like your body’s still deciding whether to go through puberty or not!”

“What?” Peter scoffed, his voice three octaves higher from surprise, which didn’t help his case. “That’s, you know, not, that’s not—shit.” 

Peter had noticed the clock on the wall next to him read 9:10. “Well if you don’t mind I gotta get going, so I’ll just take that nice little vase back to the exhibit, thank you very much.” He held his hand out.

It was the girl’s turn to scoff. “Seriously? This is my save, buggy. I’m getting the credit.”

“See but I’m the one who actually stopped those guys.”

“And I’m the one who slowed them down so you could do so. Plus I saved the precious antique, so...” she shrugged.

“You slowed one of them down,” Peter retorted. “Just give me the vase and you can go once that webbing dissolves in about two hours.” He reached for the vase. 

“Umm, I think not.” Suddenly a crackling and popping sound. Peter stopped his advance and glanced in time to see a film that resembled their mask had encased the webbing trapping their hand. It suddenly shattered to pieces, and they flicked their newly freed hand towards Peter. He barely had time to duck as something whizzed over his head, impaling the wall he had been leaning on. When he looked up again, the figure was already down the hall, turning down the corridor they had previously came from. 

“Hey! You have to return that vase!” Peter shouted, taking chase once again. He whipped around the corner and shot another web. This one stuck their foot to the floor, causing them to sprawl forward, dropping the vase. It smashed on the floor into pieces. Various pieces.

“You idiot!” The hood of the hoodie slipped off at the speed that they whipped around and thrust their arms out. A thick, blurry white mist shot out their hands towards Peter. Before he had time to register, something intercepted the incoming Spider-man straight in his gut. He flew backwards onto his back. Gasping for air, he looked to see what had knocked the wind out of him. A football-sized chunk of ice sat on the floor beside him. It was already beginning to melt.

Peter’s head whipped up. “Did you just— what the— how— WHAT?!” he exclaimed incredulously. He looked up and saw that they had again broken free of his web and was rushing to the window at the end of the hallway. Peter shot a web at the shrinking blue and yanked backward. They flew back with a cry of alarm. “Oh God! Sorry — didn’t mean — sorry—” he stammered, wincing. 

Peter began firing web after web, trapping more than just her one hand to a wall this time. They simply laughed, “Oh you’re thick, aren’t you?”

The crackling sound again filled the air, and the film — or ice, Peter realized — grew all over the fresh webbing. With a grunt, they thrust their body forward, off the wall, shattering the ice. They made a throwing motion, forming icicles as their arm arced over their head, and hurled them towards a stunned Spider-man.

Peter threw himself to the side as they whizzed past. When he back at the ice-lobber, they were already running towards him. He caught their incoming punch with ease but completely missed the kick to the groin. He crumpled slightly. “Dick move,” he groaned.

They scoffed, “I know.” They used their weight to slam him to the wall, and quickly stepping back, thrusting one hand towards the ground and the other at Spider-man. As they mercilessly shot snowballs at Spider-man’s disgruntled figure, a thick semi-circle wall of ice rapidly grew around him. A muffled cry came from behind the newly-formed wall. 

The ice wall began to crack, and not long after, a breathless and shivering Peter burst through with his right hand limp and numb. Even though he was in there for just a few seconds, he felt like he had been stuck in the freezer section of Costco for hours. His head spun toward the window in time to see the figure turn their head, to face him, smirk, then slide out. 

“Wait NO—!” Peter shouted. He rushed over, left hand ready on the web shooter, and stuck his head out. He looked down frantically, but saw nothing. Looking to his left, he saw chunks of ice jutting out of the cement wall leading to the roof a few floors up. He climbed out and awkwardly clambered up, careful to avoid using his now blue-tinged right hand. When he got to the top, he scanned all the nearby buildings trying to spot any sign of the strange ice vigilante.

But they were gone.

[nico-in-space]

Sunny/Bright/Winter/Night

This is an original story of mine that I’m working on. I figured I could post the rough drafts online so I could get probable feedback on them! :) They’ll just escape into the void of Tumblr, so it’s not like it really matters, but I’m putting myself out there anyway, just for the hell of it.

Summary: For each situation, there are at least a hundred different perspectives. Naturally, when the aliens invade Earth, there are a few different perspectives on that event.  One is in favor of the operation. It will, in the end, benefit Earth's prosperity, and add more diversity to the already incredibly advanced ecosystem.  Another couldn't care less if aliens are invading. She's currently in the process of writing her application for MIT. It's not going so great. Also, she just had a MASSIVE fight with her best friend, who's been unusually grouchy lately. What's up with that? Not that it really matters, at this point. Now, what to study next...  One wishes that the aliens would beam her up, as she's feeling lost, alone, and depressed for many, many current reasons. But maybe she's been feeling like that for longer.  Another has been trying, fruitlessly, to defend Earth from the eventual capture of its people, but really wishes she had a helping hand in her project. Her co-workers don't seem to understand that a battle cannot be won with only force. You need knowledge, too, which is something she has quite enough of, thank you. How do their stories intertwine? Find out in Sunny/Bright/Winter/Night.

Also cross-posted on Wattpad here! I update there more regularly. :)

CODENAME: AGENT S1143

I sigh, leaning back in my chair. It protests at the action, squeaking unpleasantly, the sound reverberating in the large domed room that my cubicle, along with many others, is situated. I'm done working for the day, finally. It always feels like my work is never-ending, but my job is important, at least in the eyes of the Overseer. 

I flex my feet, hearing the joints crack. Us menial workers "run the show," according to the many posters hung up around the satellite base. We are the backbone that run the hypothetical "body" of the Earth Mission #024. At least, that's what the Overseer tells us to make us feel better.

 My work consists of an infinite amount of paperwork. Well, fairly recently in terms of history we've gone digital, so it's all computerized work. My older co-workers often complain about the supposed "laziness" of folk my age because we never had to sort physical paperwork like they did. It's really fucking annoying, to be honest. But I digress. My job is basically to scan over the documents which detail, in exactness, the birth of a Human, and all their medical "traits." I run the document through diagnostics to make sure there are no glitches. It's just some debug program, one that I could probably program myself if I had the desire,  but I'd probably get in trouble with my Local Leader. As much as I don't give a literal fuck what my Local Leader thinks, I don't feel like being electrocuted to death anytime soon. After the document goes through diagnostics, I click the confirm button, and the next document pops up. It's all I live for, basically.

It's menial; almost an insult to my intellect. I pride myself on being a fairly smart Ki'golian these days, though I was fairly rebellious in my youth, and didn't spend much time at the Academy. I preferred to spend my time in more...lucrative ways.

I get up, rubbing my shoulders. Terror above, they're sore... What I wouldn't give for a sauna in this damn place. Not like I'd ever be able to use something like that, as a folk of my status.

Feeling rather sour, I leave the Dome to head to my apartment. I swipe my card, entering my apartment Block, then find my room number and swipe to enter that. Alone at last. I recline on my bed, looking out the small window to the view of Earth. The planet is large, and I am currently viewing the Pacific Ocean. It's the largest one, which is the only way I can remember it. It's incredibly blue, even covered with clouds, and I find that I can't look away. The sun's light reflects on it even from my vantage point, though the clouds cover most of it, swirling gently, circularly. Actually seeing it in person is kind of a shock to me still. I've done boring work before, in boring places, so I figured the Earth Mission, when they reached out to me, would be no different. But the scenery, at least, is incredibly extravagant, even if the pay isn't.

 ...it really is a beautiful planet. I suppose there are things that don't have a monetary value. Scenery like this, I suppose, can be counted as one of them.

-----

GAMER-ID: BETATESTER 112

"Dammit!" Tasha exclaimed, slamming her controller on the ground. Next to her, her friend Leila yelled in success, punching the air with fervor. She was at Leila's house, playing video games with her together after school. The room was brightly lit, and Leila's screen was massive. It was a video gamer's heaven.

"Fuck, Leila, you're way too good at games. Seriously," Tasha groaned, rubbing her temples. She continued, "you'd be real good in the robotics club. I could use a friend there."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Leila reiterated, setting down her controller and pulling a hair tie off her wrist, using it to pull up her hair. Tasha couldn't help but watch the motion, watched Leila's tan, toned arms as she fixed her hair. "You hate that the guys there think your sexuality's a challenge." Tasha blinked, focusing back on Leila's face.

"You think the teacher's wishy-washy for letting that shit happen. But you want to go to college for Rocket Science, so you're sticking with it anyway." Leila scoffed. "If I were you, I would'a quit the moment one of 'em started hitting on me."

"Not all of us have a career in lucrative hobbies, Leila. I gotta work for that future degree, y'know?" Tasha grumbled, annoyed. "Which means I have to be in a shit ton of clubs, even ones I'm...less fond of, and I've gotta do well in my classes, so that MIT might even consider me. I just wanted a little more support, that's all I was asking. It's not that hard to join a-"

"Stop." Leila's voice was tight. Her shoulders had tensed up. Tense herself, Tasha leveled her gaze at Leila, not about to back down now.

Outside, a bird trilled. Leila's robotic butler rolled to its charging dock and hooked itself on, shutting down for a quick nap, it seemed.

Leila scoffed.

 Tasha blinked.

 "Video gaming is hard work, okay! It's an actual skill."

Tasha glared at Leila. Leila was changing the topic again, like she always did when Tasha brought up her tendency to slack off. 

"No, it's not," she responded, annoyed with herself for encouraging this particularly irksome behavior of Leila's.

"Fuck you. It is," Leila growled, giving Tasha the respective finger.

Tasha groaned, frustrated, throwing her hands up in the air. This is how their conversations have been going lately, and Tasha can pinpoint it starting during the week that Tasha and their mutual friend Akane began casually dating, three months ago. Ever since then, for whatever reason, Leila has been really tough to be around, especially with applications for college starting up this month.

Tasha knew Leila was sensitive about her grades in school. No matter how much Tasha tried to reassure her it was just a letter, it didn't mean anything towards her intellect, it was still a touchy subject with her, for whatever reason. Leila wasn't planning on going to college, and college was all Tasha could think about. It was, in hindsight, a recipe for disaster. 

"You know what," she began, getting up from her seat. "I'm getting a little tired of your attitude, Leila."

Tasha grimaced, before flicking her off. She hated to do it, but Leila seriously needed a taste of her own medicine."Wait, Tasha," Leila whined, but it was too late.

Tasha had walked out of the door.

 Tasha strode purposefully to her car, parked in front of the Horton's mansion. Leila was just another nobody who spent all their time gaming. A nobody who had once been special to Tasha, but not anymore. Tasha had bigger things on her plate, and that plate didn't have room for Leila's rich girl problems.

Tasha gunned the engine, tasting the delicious feeling of knowing that Leila, right now, had heard that, and was probably upset.

It was almost like freedom.

-----

LEILA

She yearned after those Saturday nights spent drinking strawberry lemonade and watching the clouds, sun bright, in her eyes, in Tasha's eyes, the bright summer sky turning everything a shade of gold. Flittering, fluttering, old dandelion fluff from spring still in the air, making her nose itch.

She loved to watch as the white puffs blew in the slight breeze. She wished, oh God, did she wish, that she could fly like them, free, warmed by the sun, dancing against the wind.

And when she looked into Tasha's warm hazel eyes, she was part of the way there.

.

.

.

But all she felt now was the deepest chill, winter's chill creeping up her bones and settling in her spine. It froze her. She couldn't move, as her dearest friend and one-sided lover walked away, for what looked like the last time.

-----

DIARY LOG 10/10/40

Today's mission went pretty rough. Those damned beasts keep making the chase harder. I keep hacking into their mainframe to try and disable their cloaking device, but they change the security every time. And it's always so God...damned convoluted. Ugh, I have the worst fucking headache right now. Boss keeps telling me I need lasik, or contacts, or even old-fashioned glasses, but there's no time for that. Not when I'm the only hacker on the Resistance team. We really need to get someone else who can program. Jesus. 

End log.

[thomasroach]

Devil May Cry 5 All Enemies Guide

The post Devil May Cry 5 All Enemies Guide appeared first on Fextralife.

All Enemies Guide for Devil May Cry 5, featuring the in-game model images and descriptions by Nico, as well as where to find the enemies and some tips on how to take them on. If you want to learn more about DMC5, see our Bosses and Weapons guides as well!

All Enemies in DMC 5

There are a total of 19 unique enemy types in the Devil May Cry 5, and each enemy has its own moveset, strengths, and weaknesses. Some enemies can block and deflect attacks, some enemies have special rage modes, and others can only attack on melee or range. Learning their attack types and weaknesses is key to success, so read on for a full list of all creatures found in game and the best way to deal with them.

Baphomet Behemoth Chaos Death Scissors Empusa Empusa Queen Fury Green Empusa Hell Antenora Hell Caina

Hell Judecca Hellbat Lusachia Nobody Proto Angelo Pyrobat Red Empusa Riot Scudo Angelo

Empusa

Found in all non-boss missions.

They aren’t a real threat my any means, and are grappable at all times.

Melee Attacks Only

“Seems you’ll be running into a lot of these ugly suckers— and I mean “suckers” literally!

The good folks of Red Grave have had their blood sucked dry by these lil’ worker ants. Once the creatures have a butt full of the red stuff, they carry it off to the Qliphoth.

Well, on the plus side, they are pretty dumb—they might even ignore you and keep working until you turn on the heat. Be careful, though. Worker ants don’t seem so weak when you’re being swarmed by ’em.”

Green Empusa

Found in the Prologue and subsequent missions (frequent in harder difficulties)

Does not attack the player

Should be a priority for defeat, can be grappled at all times.

“If you thought those other bugs were bad, you’re really gonna hate these guys.

The green stuff in their butt ain’t any kind of blood—it’s a healing nectar that’ll fix up other demons’ wounds in no time at all.

My recommendation: Kill these first, before they make themselves a nuisance.

Oh, and it looks like they spit some kinda poison juice too. So, uh, maybe bring an umbrella.”

Red Empusa

Drops large amounts of orbs

Found in most missions, special Red Empusa groups reward players with blue / purple / gold orbs. See Walkthrough for details.

Higher difficulty Red Empusa attack the player

Interrupt their escape with a high-impact combo

Grappable at all times

“Ooh mama, this is a rare ‘un.

Just goes to show the power o’ blood—this one’s sucked up so much of the red vino that it’s crystallized its body. You could probably knock some of the crystals off with a few hits, or take this guy down and get the whole lot.

Trouble is, from what I’ve seen, these shy lil’ monsters are mighty skittish. First sign o’ danger and they’re outta there. Better work quickly if you want the big payoff.”

Empusa Queen

First found in Mission 05 (V). Appears from Prologue in harder difficulties

Can enrage (become red), dealing more damage and doing chained combos

Cannot be grappled

Can summon Red Empusa

Attack from the back to minimize the chances you take damage, if it grabs you use Devil Trigger or Arms to break free

“I knew it! Where there’s worker ants, there’s gotta be a queen too.

This big gal’s got the armor to take a beating and the tools to dish one out. And when she’s angry, she ain’t picky about her targets—she’ll scythe through her own demon buddies to get to you.

If that ain’t enough, she’ll get fired up if she sucks enough blood. Watch out if her body turns red—that’s your sign that it’s go time.”

Hell Caina

Melee Attacks with Scythe only

Easily Grappable

Their “charge” attack makes them immune to staggers

Easy to dispatch

“These shambling meatsticks are residents o’ the underworld, foot soldiers straight from the legions of Hell.

Time was, these things only appeared on the mortal plane by possessing a wooden doll, lump of clay, or something similar.

Now? Those creeps walkin’ around Red Grave are the genuine article. It’s a sign that the barriers between the demon world and the human world are breaking down.”

Hell Antenora

Appears first on Mission 02, consistently shows up afterwards

These guys can be grappled once, but after any combo they will enrage (glow purple) and charge at you. Their charge is ungrappable and prevents them from staggering from your damage.

They only have melee attacks, so charged ranged attacks can work well. Easy to separate them from others

Their charge will hit you from off-screen if it started on-screen

“Take a Hell Caina, torture it till it goes mad, throw weapons in its hands, and this is what you get.

Their hatchets are real nasty, and they’re nimbler than they look. Expect quick attacks when they go into a frenzy.

Judging by the samples we got, these things are extremely susceptible to pain—so you better believe they won’t take any punishment lying down.

Knock ’em down, but keep your guard up. Next thing you know it’ll be back swinging like a madman on fire.”

Hell Judecca

Appears first on Dante’s mission

Annoying escape-prone enemy, use trickster / stinger / grapple to get to it.

It can inflict ranged and melee damage, but its attacks are slow.

It is best to lure other enemies away from this one to thing out crowds on higher difficulties.

Using your devil trigger to deal with them is advised only in close quarters as they will otherwise teleport away.

Does not attack from off-screen, but be mindful of getting caught up in an “almost” off-screen attack

“A high priest in the choirs o’ Hell. Ain’t that somethin’?

These fellas tend to leave close-quarters fighting to the grunts, which they can summon in to take the heat off themselves. Meanwhile, they attack from long range by extending those snakey tentacle arms.

They’ll try to keep their distance and dodge gunfire when they can. You’ll just have to show these slitherin’ scumbags you got the smarts to get past their defenses and send ’em screaming back to the pit.”

Pyrobat

Staple enemy, ranged attacks only

Can be grappled at any time

Can be knocked off the air with Griffon’s dive ability

Best to deal with them first in a fight, or use them to trickster / grapple away from battle

If let unattended, they will eventually break your combo with one attack or other

“Ever heard the phrase “like a bat outta Hell”? Well, this is it.

These leathery lir pests have got some kinda combustion chamber built into their biology. Meaning? Well, they breathe fire.

On their own, these critters ain’t gonna burn your ass up too bad. Just watch your back when a whole swarm tries to crash the party.”

Hellbat

Regular on several missions

Incredibly annoying ranged attacks

Deal with this enemies as soon as possible by knocking them off the air and unleashing.

Trickster or Jump away when they die, as they trigger a large explosion on defeat

Can be grappled at any time

“Y’know, we see a lotta weird things coming up out of the hot place, but this one’s really somethin’ special.

See how the combustion chamber is mounted on its spine, so when it spits flame it sets itself on fire? That’s the kinda design I can get behind.

Not that I’ll object if you smash these little assholes to kingdom come. Try aiming for the combustion chamber on its back—should take the fire out the critter and make for easy pickings.”

Death Scissors

First seen in Mission 4, regular in several missions and common in high difficulties

The scissors provide blocking for this enemy, making it difficult to deal with

You can break their block with the right combo or powerful charged blasts, but it is risky to wait out the charge time

Pro Tip: Wait for it to attack then attack at the same time, this will “parry” the attack – now shoot them in the face for a 1HKO (the one you need for Secret Mission 7)

You should practice breaking their defense in The Void to learn what combo works best for you

Cannot be grappled

Attacks from off-screen as it teleports to you and attacks from underneath or a side

“Now a master engineer like me’s gotta have a profound respect for the laws o’ physics. So when these creepy specters come drifting through walls with their shears a-choppin’, it kinda gets on my nerves.

But they’ve gotta be solid sometime—otherwise they couldn’t block your attacks with them shears.

Near as I can tell, that noggin controls the whole shebang. Look for some cue from the head, and aim your attacks there. Might go down easier’n you think.”

Riot

Common Enemy

Its attacks can be stopped by heavy blows, particularly susceptible to Dante’s motorcycle attacks

Can be grappled

Melee attacks only

Easily separated from groups

Has a long downtime when knocked which can be used to deal further damage

“The pits of Hell spew up all kinds o’ reptilian nasties, and this is one of them.

I studied their cell samples and let me tell ya, their muscle tissue is something else. Each limb has power like a hydraulic cylinder. That’s how they jump so dang far.

And I ain’t exaggeratin’ when I say their retractable claws are razor sharp. I tried one on some sheet metal—zzzzip! cut right through. Weak to impacts though. Think you can break ’em off?”

Chaos

Appears in later missions

Very annoying spin attacks can come at you from off-camera

Can be stunned with heavy artillery, but the charge time has to be properly planned for

Can be grappled when not spinning

Best to launch them into the air to toy with them without the danger of being on the ground

“Another big lizard that’s crawled outta some deep dark hole in the underworld.

Each one of those spikes on its back is like a giant saw tooth, and it’s not afraid to get ’em spinning!

They’re sharp but brittle, so try snapping ’em off in between dodging its attack runs.

Oh, and it’s got these nasty little neurotoxin sacs inside its chest. Step aside when it starts hackin’ something up —that stuff is lethal!”

Fury

Extremely fast and deadly enemy

First appears in late missions, but is recurrent on higher difficulties

It teleports a lot, so using trickster is a must to stay ahead of it

It is very difficult to grapple it or land consistant combos

Stinger and such are good moves to get some damage in fast

“I got this theory that demons mutate based on their deepest, darkest desires.

So take this big lizard. It wants to hunt, right? It wants to go faster. Wants to kill faster. Day in, day out, all it can think of is speed.

A few generations of that twisted killer instinct, and you get a freak so fast it ain’t even moving under its own power no more. This sucker uses raw demonic power to do little space-time jumps. It’ll warp right next to you and bite your face off before you can blink! Hope you got quick reflexes.”

Scudo Angelo

Appears first as a mini-boss of a coop mission

Only deals melee damage, but can charge at you

The shield can be destroyed with sufficient damage

Jump behind them to get easy hits

Can be grappled if not shielded

Can be launched into the air for combos and grab.

Deal with them before taking on Proto Angelo

“In his journals, my daddy sometimes mentions the Black Angel—some kind of powerful demon that used to inhabit the underworld.

Daddy had a theory that it was created by transubstantiating an unwilling human victim into demonic flesh.

If that theory was right, then these dead-eyed creeps are like a mass-produced version of the Black Angel.

Their shields? Hella tough. If you wanna get around ’em, you’re gonna have to use your head. Good luck with that.”

Proto Angelo

Appears first as a mini boss on a coop mission

Deals large AOE attacks and has powerful charges

Can poise through combos

Cannot be grappled unless staggered

It is best to attack from behind

“Check out the armor and weapon on this demon. I’m seein’ clear similarities to the Black Angel.

My guess is these are some kinda prototype, or maybe modified version of the Black Angel.

We’ve seen these weirdos speaking to the mass-produced types, giving them orders like they’re in command. Seems they’re smarter than your average hell-beast.

And hey, I know you think you’re invincible, but that sword’ll give you more than a close shave. But, if you can parry it, I reckon you’ll have a pretty big opening to do your stuff.”

Baphomet

Appears in later missions

Summons ranged ice daggers that follow you

Summons ice spikes under you

Best to get up and close via trickster / grapple as soon as possible and knock them to the ground

Can be grappled

Deal with them first when multiple enemies are there

Does not attack from off screen

“Your average demon don’t have the smarts to actually wield their power as magic.

This fella breaks the mold, though—he may only have ice tricks up his sleeve, but that’s still enough to kill you if you don’t watch your ass.

Just look at those freaky, stick-thin limbs. Physically speaking it’s weak, and it knows it, too. It’ll try to keep its distance and throw up a magic shield to block your shots. You’ll have to get in its face, or wait for your chance to shoot past the shield.

Hey, nobody said this business was easy.”

Lusachia

Appears in later missions

A very powerful ranged mage

Puts an aura around you that deals large damage, stay on the move!

Trickster or grapple to it and melee it into the ground as soon as possible

Deal with them first in a multiple enemy scenario

“Sure was interesting dissectin’ this demon.

This thing bears out my theory on demon evolution. Can’t do magic incantations without a

mouth, right? So after a few generations of demons obsessed with arcane chants, you get something that’s all mouths, with its muscles so atrophied it can hardly move its limbs.

And more mouths means more power. My guess is this thing could kill you dead with a single spell if you let it get the chant out. If you see it startin’ something real ominous-looking, you better shot it down real quick.”

Behemoth

The enemy has a caged state where it does little damage, you can ignore it while in this form

When you break its bonds, it will hit for a lot of HP if it connects, so stay on the move

Can be grappled in devil trigger

Moves very fast, dodge its charges and avoid being near its head

“Every now and again you get a demon so absorbed with gluttony and power that it starts cannibalizin’ its own demon kin.

See how other demons have chained up this thing’s mouth? It’s good to know that even the demons are afraid of becoming chow.

With the restraints in place, this big boy’ll just stumble around lookin’ sorry for hisself. Not too dangerous.

Bust the chains off, though, and it’ll go hog wild, eatin’ everything in sight. If it chomps a few bad guys, all the better. Just don’t come cryin’ to me when it nips your buns.”

Nobody

Appears in later missions

Damage sponges, separate them and isolate them to focus fire

Deals melee damage but can fire eye balls at you that explode for AOE damage

They can be grappled if stunned

It is best to leave them for last in a group as they have high HP

“At first glance, these uglies seem half-formed, like they broke outta the egg too early. I gotta admit, there’s still a lot I can’t figure out about lem.

Half-baked or not, theylll tear you a new one if you don’t watch out. They got more strength in those spindly arms than your three average demons combined.

And what else is on the menu? Magic powers. When you see ’em kinda dancing around, they’re absorbing demonic power right outta the atmosphere.

What really bugs me is those masks they wear. The masks are important to ‘em somehow…Just wish I could figure out how.”

  If you’re enjoying DMC5, make sure to check out our Devil May Cry 5 Review, the DMC5 Walkthrough, and our other DMC5 Guides: 10 Things you Should know,  Skills List, All DMC5 Weapons Guide, All Secret Mission Guide, All Blue Orb Locations, All Gold Orb Locations, All Purple Orb Locations and All DMC5 Enemies, All DMC5 Bosses.

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