#i had this scene come to me at 2am and you can bet i got up to write it down before i forgot it | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

jeongyunhoed · 5 months ago

Text

As seen on my FF.net Also seen on my Ao3

Following the events of fifth year, a new adventure awaits for Norah Lee. Boys, exams, school events, common room parties, and old foes outside of Hogwarts. Even battling pensieve guardians was easier than this.

Main Pair: OC / Ominis Gaunt Genre: Adventure/Angst/Fluff (it's a little of everything, tbh)

KEEP IN MIND: Characters are aged up (even if the story's got them in sixth year) to make it more appropriate. Time period is leaning towards the modern day so in case you might find anachronisms in the dialogue or references, this is why. This may also be quite a lengthy fic too.

BE WARNED: Social anxiety, mentions of blood and injury, grief, drinking, kissing but nothing more than that, death (this is Hogwarts Legacy, after all)

P.P.S: Hufflepuff partay! Spin the Bottle so there's kisses involved. Snuck something in for the Poppy/Imelda shippers too. Ominis and Norah being idiots part 2. Amit drinks his romantic troubles away.

Masterlist

Chapter 20

It's 2AM and the city is sound asleep But the scene keeps playing to the groove of my heartbeat

"Does everyone want to know what the rules are in Spin the Bottle?" Charlotte declared as many of them gathered in a circle. "Or do we need to refresh it for many of you?" A sly grin was plastered on her face, especially as she saw Norah, Ominis, Sebastian, and Amit taking their places after being coerced by Henry and Natty. Poppy and Andrew were already sitting across from each other in the circle, exchanging knowing looks. No doubt Poppy had told him the rules of the game, which they never got to play when it was first introduced.

"Alright then, remind us," Eric Northcott raised a brow as he sat down.

"This is an enchanted bottle," Charlotte brought out what looked like an ordinary soda pop bottle from the table behind her. "It'll spin, and whoever is on both ends of the bottle, well," Her grin grew wider. "Will kiss."

In real life, I would stutter With you in technicolor At 2AM in my head, we're bound to meet

Amit's cheeks turned a shade of pink, but he wasn't the only one. Norah suddenly felt anxious at the thought. She spotted Caleb and Adele come in, hurrying to join the rest of them that were already seated.

"I'll bet a few chocolate frogs Norah's going to get a lot of boys wanting to be on the other end of the bottle," Imelda was enjoying the spectacle that would unfold as soon as Charlotte would say it would. When Norah looked over, having overheard her, she gave a thumbs up.

"That seems like regular spin the bottle, doesn't it?" Caleb was confused.

"Revri, you need to pay attention," Charlotte blew a raspberry at him, making him shake his head. "It'll spin yes, but it won't just point to people sitting across from each other. It can also point to the others out of your line of sight. Ready?"

They all agreed, and Charlotte spun the bottle, getting out in time before the bottle started pointing at anyone.

I don't want anyone to wake me up I fall asleep, it's never been so fun I know it's wrong but it's true I like the things that we do in my Bad dreams, bad dreams Bad dreams, bad dreams

"Merlin, this is interesting," Natty looked on as the bottle finally pointed to a Gryffindor and Slytherin. Both of whom crawled to the middle to exchange a shy kiss followed by cheers and claps from everyone else. The pair sat back down in their places with ruddy cheeks.

Norah noticed Ominis fidgeting in his place next to her. "You okay?" His cheeks were a little pink.

"Yes, Norah, I'm fine," He said, almost in a whisper. "I didn't think this would be an outcome of the game."

"Muggles play this at parties a lot," Norah chuckled. "Especially muggles our age. It's a way to get close to whoever you fancy. At least for many of them."

I'm still on stage, and you're watching me count the stars Then I eat you up like milk and Lucky Charms In real life I'd be patient Fantasy adjacent So I indulge the sum to see the parts Fuck you, I love you, I need you

The bottle stopped to point again to Leander and Nerida, who gaped at each other and exchanged amused expressions. Leander reluctantly made the crawl toward Nerida, who took the initiative and kissed him. They also pulled away with red cheeks. "This never happened," Nerida pointed out.

"Agreed," Leander nodded, laughter erupting from everyone else. "Merlin, so this is what that game is about."

Sebastian looked over at Norah and Ominis, who were focused on the bottle that was spinning. The dilemma remained, even as he had overheard her conversation with Natty in the Room of Requirement. Norah was under the impression that Ominis liked Anne, but more importantly, that Norah liked Ominis. And he himself knew, that Ominis liked Norah too.

The cheers suddenly grew louder when the bottle suddenly pointed to Poppy, and, to the surprise of Andrew and many others, to Imelda. Norah gaped at the choice, grinning at her fellow Slytherin, who didn't seem to be phased by it. Oohs and aahhs erupted when the two girls had given each other friendly pecks and Poppy making sure to double the affection she showed Andrew, who was still shocked.

"That changes everything," Everett Clopton grinned, seeing everyone get increasingly excited when the bottle spun again.

I don't want anyone to wake me up I fall asleep, it's never been so fun I know it's wrong but it's true I like the things that we do in my Bad dreams, bad dreams Bad dreams, bad dreams

Everyone took a break from focusing on the game to the rest of what the Hufflepuff house had to offer in the party they hosted. The music grew louder, making everyone dance in their places while in conversation or while eating whatever snacks they could try. Garreth was preoccupied in giving everyone cups of his brew, looking pleased when people liked it and wanted more.

"Ah, Thakkar," Garreth eyed the Ravenclaw as he approached the table. "Care for some? You look like you could use a swig."

Amit suddenly noticed Samantha, who was talking to some of their fellow housemates in one corner. At the same time, he also noticed Nellie, who was already trying to climb up the mantel to the increased cheers of some Hufflepuffs, who had already consumed several cups of the strong beverage.

"Yes please," He said, reaching for a cup for Garreth to pour some of the alcoholic drink into. He downed it all in one go, to the surprise of the Gryffindor boy. Amit wrinkled his nose. "That is strong. I want another."

"Alright then, but too much can play tricks on your head," Garreth warned, pouring him another. "Probably get you drunk."

"That's what I'm counting on," Amit mumbled as he closed his eyes at the taste.

Relive the sin in REM And do it all again

Norah was helping herself to a few pasties at the very end of the table where the food has been on display. Several others returned to sit in the circle again to continue playing the game. Perhaps to wonder who they ever get to kiss if the bottle pointed at them at some point. She caught Garreth looking at her, and she waved as he gestured for her to have some. She shook her head, not wanting to get tipsy just yet.

"This party's different this time," Sebastian noted, his mouth still full of food.

"Yeah, who would've thought Imelda would get what she wanted," Norah chuckled upon remembering, making Sebastian stare at her. "Oh come on, you must have known."

"I did, but I didn't think it was Poppy," Sebastian grinned, looking over at the girl herself, who already excused herself to leave, passing by a few of the members of their house team. "Well, that might have knocked her down a peg."

Norah laughed. "Maybe, and also she's got a complete team for this year. I wonder when the first match is going to be."

"Possibly before the Yule Ball. I heard the teachers are already taking bets as to which house is winning the Quidditch cup this year," Ominis appeared, having overheard their conversation. He came after some prodding from Henry about Norah.

"Take this chance, Ominis," Henry reminded him as soon as he was sure Natty was out of earshot. "Otherwise, she might get kissed by someone the magic bottle's pointed to."

Norah chuckled. "Who are they betting on? Everett Clopton's got himself the newest broom, by the way."

The blonde took a careful bite out of the pasty he was holding. "That might be true, but it's on Gryffindor as usual, and Slytherin, of course. I heard Professor Weasley say it's going to be a battle of pride between Adele and Imelda."

Sebastian and Norah looked impressed. "Adele did tell me that her time was what Imelda had to beat before I beat Imelda's," She said.

The two boys hummed in confirmation. "Wouldn't expect anything less. If you were related to Alexandra Kang, you'd have big shoes to fill," Sebastian commented, glancing at the girl, who was talking with her fellow teammates. Norah and Ominis nodded.

"She must have a lot of pressure on her shoulders, but she certainly didn't seem like it when I talked to her before," Norah recalled, remembering the time she got caught coming out of the secret passage that led to the werewolf tapestries. She finished the last pasty she was holding and took a drink of butterbeer.

While the music had continued playing, Norah saw everyone simmer down in chatter when she realized the bottle was pointing to her. The enchanted bottle spun again in front of her, only for it to stop in front of Eric Northcott, followed by whispers and expressions of surprise amongst the students. Ominis felt his heart skip a beat, and a kind of sadness came over him when he realized the result. Sebastian had also felt even more crestfallen, especially as the Gryffindor boy - whom he remembers Norah bested in Crossed Wands - looked like he had won something.

Charlotte, on the other hand, looked slightly annoyed but defeated nonetheless. Nerida, who was actually dating Eric, looked intrigued and even exchanged knowing looks with Grace, who eyed Ominis. Natty and Henry looked shocked as well, the two of them breaking into clapping and cheering.

Norah laughed as she wiped her mouth with a napkin. "Better luck next time Garreth," She teased, with the freckled redhead grinning and giving a thumbs up. If Ominis wasn't going to be her first kiss, at least Eric would be, she thought as she approached him, calm as ever, to let Eric plant a soft peck on her lips. The two of them fist bumped as they pulled back, with Norah returning to her two friends, and Eric with his friends and Nerida.

"That seemed fun," She said, feeling even more calm. "Now that the bottle's already pointed to me, I'm just going to watch if you two get pointed at. Anne might've enjoyed this."

"She would have, but I don't want to see that," Sebastian cringed in disgust at the thought, while Ominis laughed.

"We might scare whoever it is away," Ominis added. "But parties seemed to be so much more bearable when she was with us. We'd be in the corner and Sebastian would be trying to flirt his way through the drinks table."

Sebastian glared at his friend. "I don't flirt with just anyone. Besides, it proved effective when I finally got them to move away from all the butterbeer and the food."

Norah took another drink of butterbeer, mentally kicking herself for having been the first one to bring up Anne. "I'll just get myself a pint of Garreth's fizz-beer."

I don't want anyone to wake me up I fall asleep, it's never been so fun I know it's wrong but it's true I like the things that we do in my Bad dreams, bad dreams Bad dreams, bad dreams

Norah managed to find a little corner in the midst of the merriment and sat down, suddenly feeling overwhelmed by their conversation. She looked on at the rest of the game that was happening, amused at the next set of people that the enchanted bottle was pointing to.

She was even more surprised when the bottle pointed to Adele, followed by it pointing to Sebastian. Both of whom looked completely shocked, but the initial surprise disappeared when the two of them confidently kissed each other. The Gryffindor girl, in particular, even cupping his face for good measure, and it was met with louder cheers. Sebastian seemed to enjoy making the spectacle as they pulled away, hitting high fives before going their separate ways.

"There you are."

She snapped out of her thoughts when she saw Ominis, his wand pointing at her. Norah cleared her throat and shifted a little when the blonde sat down next to her. "Enjoying the party so far?"

A smirk formed on his lips. "Especially as Sebastian kissed Adele? Definitely. She took him by surprise, reminds me of your first duel with him."

She nodded. "I didn't see that coming, but I'm not completely surprised. It's that Gryffindor courage."

"This is one of the rare times I wish I could see without my wand," Ominis said, stifling a laugh. "He must've been so red afterwards."

"Oh he was," Norah laughed, making him laugh as well. She took another sip of her drink then glanced at him. "You must miss Anne a lot, huh?"

"Hmm?" Ominis hummed, tilting his head toward her. "Oh, I do, from time to time. The adventures you had with Sebastian in fifth year definitely made me think of her a lot."

She nodded. "...Are you thinking of asking her to the Yule Ball?" There it was. Norah wanted to confirm it, no matter how much it might hurt.

The blonde seemed taken by surprise at the question. "Me? Take Anne to the Yule Ball? Sebastian would kill me, pun intended."

Norah stared at him, then poked his side. "Too dark, Ominis," She said.

The action made him laugh, and it prompted her to keep doing it, tickling him. The sounds of his giggles like music to her ears. It was rare to see Ominis laughing like this. "Alright, alright, that's enough, Norah," He caught her hand, slightly warm from the butterbeer she was holding.

His heart was pounding as his hand enveloped hers. Henry's prodding seemed to help. All Ominis needed to do next was to hold her hand properly, lace their fingers together. He could only hope she couldn't feel his heartbeat through his hand if it was possible. This was all he wanted to do, keep holding her hand and maybe let her rest against him.

"Really, Ominis," She said quietly, cheeks ruddy from how gentle he was in holding her hand. "Are you taking Anne to the Yule Ball?"

"No," He replied, clearing his throat. "I never thought of asking her in the first place even if I've written to her. As much as I care for Anne, I don't think of her in that way."

There it was. The answer she wanted, which took Norah by surprise. She looked down at their feet while taking a long drink of butterbeer. "So...there was something else I wanted to talk to you about, but I never got around to asking."

Ominis tilted his head toward her again, and he swore their faces were a little too close this time. "What?"

As the music grew louder when the group decided to end the game, it made Norah lean in to speak near his ear. "Those letters, when you summoned me, what were those about?"

Ominis could feel his cheeks heat up even more. It reminded him of his previous dream. But before he could answer-

"Hey, Amit's gotten sloshed, we should probably take him back to his common room or something," Sebastian suddenly came in, making Ominis let go of Norah's hand.

"The most we can do is bring him to the door, we can't exactly go inside the Ravenclaw common room," Norah said.

"I'll do it, he's had far too many of Garreth's fizz-beers to drink," Henry suddenly came over to them, followed by Natty, who looked just as concerned, but was holding the hangover tonic she took from the freckled redhead. "We'll bring him back to the common room to get some rest."

As Henry and Natty went back to fetch Amit, the Ravenclaw boy had already passed out near the Hufflepuff house chest. Nellie was sitting by him, fanning his face.

#hogwarts legacy #hogwarts legacy angst #hogwarts legacy fluff #hogwarts legacy mc #sebastian sallow #ominis gaunt #garreth weasley #amit thakkar #leander prewett #natsai onai #poppy sweeting #imelda reyes

6 notes · View notes

the-dreadful-canine · 3 years ago

Text

Thank you v much for the tag @noire-pandora, @oxygenforthewicked, @emerald-amidst-gold and @dungeons-and-dragon-age I appreciate you all~ 🥰

On this fine day, I bring a snippet of the gang having a sweet moment at the tavern (but then I throw angst in the end because I am built like this).

Cw for: gambling, drinking, mentions of blood, ptsd, mild panic attack (it sounds really bad omg)

Balanced on the back legs of her chair, Elizabeth hid a soft smile behind a sip of her cup’s contents. The well-fed fire burned merrily on the hearth, bathing her chilled skin and the tavern in flickers of gold and orange, enhancing the homey atmosphere its patrons created. Scouts, Chargers and members of the Inner Circle alike gathered, piling around a couple of hastily pushed together tables.

Groans of defeat and pleased laughs filled the air, fistfuls of sweets, coins and the odd piece of clothing changed hands at the end of another round of Wicked Grace.

Following the self-assigned role of fire keeper, she eased the chair’ legs on the floor, turning back to the flames. It burned low, so she fed it a new log. Reaching her will outwards, Elizabeth called out to some of the curious *kindlings floating above the table, coaxing them to feed on the offered wood.

“Kadan, please.” The sudden baritone rising above the hushed gambling made her head turn, and she watched a coatless Dorian caught on his lover’s embrace. He had his nose in the air, arms crossed and eyes closed, a clear dismissal to whatever Bull tried to convince him of.

Finding his reasoning ignored, Bull let go of his lover with a sigh. Who was more than happy to return to the table and take a healthy gulp of his glass. With less grace than the usual he bent halfway under the thing, returning moments later with a triumphant expression. Whistles and hoots followed the clinking thud of his shiny boots being dropped over wood, and more than one pair of eyebrows rising at the rare bet.

“Deal me in, rogue.” Dorian spoke, managing to appear somewhat regal even while hastily tucking his now much colder feet under himself.

“You sure, Sparkler?” Varric drawled, eying the expensive item “That’s quite the pretty thing to risk.”

“And it’s about to look prettier surrounded by everyone’s piles of coins I’ll win this round.”

“A brave claim for someone clad only in a shirt and breeches.” Taunted Josephine from over her hand of cards. The ambassador perched like a golden dragon on her chair, her loot spread around her. “This will be a pretty addition to my collection.”

“You, Montilyet, shall rob me of no more items,” he scoffed, “for I have picked up on your tell.”

“A lady has no tells, Pavus.” She retorts swiftly, sipping from her wine with a smile like the cat who ate a canary gracing her face.

“Oh but she does.” called a voice from the door, a series of disheartened mutters rising from the table when the owner revealed herself. “If you know where to look.” she smirked, eying the offered footwear. “Now Mister Tethras, if you will?” Leliana spoke, roosting smoothly on a chair and motioning for Varric to deal her some cards.

Elizabeth nearly snorted on her drink when a chunk of the table suddenly decided to skip the round in a wave of half-baked excuses. Wise decision. But her favorite necromant’s wisdom had drowned somewhere around his fifth serving of liquor and he grew bolder, teasing the new rival, and she shook her head.

How in the Void Dorian still had enough clarity of mind to play Grace was beyond her. Their shared taste for the spicy, embrium-infused drink meant they were sharing a bottle this night; she was barely half her second cup and already her body started to feel all kinds of woozy. But then again, her ability to hold her liquor was never anything to boast about.

A fond smile made way to her face when the laughing and voices of other companions joined the growing banter. They were precious, these moments of peace where they could all come together and enjoy each other’s company. Even if for a few hours, they could ignore the ever-looming presence of the falling skies and rising evil magisters.

Much too often the hearth provided a melancholic light devoid of warmth and drinks not for loosening and unwinding with friends. The burning found at the bottom of the cup was a way to numb down the senses. To forget the days on the battlefield. To hope their bloodstained souls would not stain in crimsom their sleeping hours.

Something cold and sticky seeped on her thigh, and only then Elizabeth noticed the shaking hands. The spilled red liquid trailed down her fingers to pool on the rug, like blood pouring from a gaping wound. She closed her eyes and held her breath, willing her mind to settle. But it was too late. The homey smell of burning wood and roasting meat wafting from the kitchens twisted, and the stench of smoke and scorched flesh filled her nostrils instead. The laughing voices, warm and friendly grew louder, too loud. They bled and mixed into each other until all she heard was a cacophony of horrified screams of the uncountable lives she had to take just to survive.

A gentle, firm tug at her hand, pulls her from the edge of the vortex inside her mind and she reopens her eyes, blinking away the blur of unshed tears. Pale blue stares back at her, the familiar depths filled with so much empathy and understanding and it feels like an anchor; one she allows to ground her.

She can’t hear his words at first, but works trough the calming exercises until his blessedly monotonous and unwavering voice returns to her. The rest of the tavern’s voices and noises following soon enough.

Once awareness returns Elizabeth notices the rug she’s sitting in, the walls of the attic a familiar sight. She has no memory of getting there, but is thankful all the same. The boy in front of her gets up from his crouch, tugging her to her feet with a strength that never ceases to surprise her.

“Come.”

“Cole,” she tries pulling her hand out of his, but the spirit refuses to yield his grasp “thank you for coming to my aid but, really. I’m alright. I’ll be alright.”

“You are hurting.”

“Well, once you reach your thirties, you’re always hurting somewhere.” She jokes, trying to lighten the mood, but Cole sees right through her act, and although his face wears the usual neutral expression, his eyes scream his disapproval. With a sigh, she gives in, allowing him to drag her down the flights of stairs to the floor level.

“I can’t make you forget. They can help.” He says with a ghost of a smile once they reach the last step of the stairs. And then he’s gone.

There’s no time to feel awkward for standing alone in a dark corner, Varric’s finding her in a heartbeat. He calls out to her then, a wide grin on his face, warm brown eyes glimmering from something more than being on high spirits.

“Stop hiding, Stabby!” the table perks up at the mention of her nickname. More eyes and smiles turning to greet her “You’ve got too little alcohol and way too much dignity left in your body, you’re making us all look bad!”

The giggles and assorted noises of agreement wash over her like a warm cocoon, and weight she wasn’t even aware being on her shoulders slowly melts away.

Maybe Cole was right, she thinks - hopes -, while walking to the table. They could help.

* I tweaked Elizabeth's abilities based off her origins. She's from Earth not Thedas, and so I gave her earth-like magic: her 'magic' comes not from the Fade, but from borrowing from the elementals in the ambient. The kindlings mentioned in the scene are that, smol fire elementals attracted by the flames of the hearth.

#wip wednesday #i had this scene come to me at 2am and you can bet i got up to write it down before i forgot it #oc: elizabeth montes #dorian pavus #the iron bull #josephine montilyet #leliana dragon age #cole dragon age #varric tethras #cw: alcohol #cw: blood #cw: ptsd #cw: panic attack #my writing #mgit #modern girl in thedas #cw: gambling

17 notes · View notes

bears-necessity · 2 years ago

Note

im curious of what you think about the yiik characters. i need to know what other yiik fans think. alex is my personal favorite (i want to kick him down the stairs) but i like michael a lot too. theyre all stupid nerds. honestly if you have any headcanons id love to hear them.

OMG THANK YOU FOR ENABLING ME TO BE ABNORMAL I HAVE SO MUCH THOUGHTS ABOUT THESE GUYS OKAY SO im putting this under a cut just so its not super long on ppls dash here

first off every YIIK character is queer and neurodivergent becuz I'm queer and neurodivergent and I said so, the specifics of that depend on my mood and what sort of au bullshit i'm coming up with at 2am in a VC with my friends tho

Alex is complicated. i hate him hes a massive douche but also I really do get what the devs were trying to with him. the occasions when he's being nice and having fun with his friends are where he shines and honestly at heart hes just some guy who needs to get a grip and get his shit together (relatable). if i knew him personally i'd probably slap him and then we'd be good, he probably specialised in sci-fi/fantasy creative writing for his libarts degree and definitely wrote an essay at somepoint about videogames as an art form. He has tattoos but they're all probably really cringe and embarassing because they were super trendy when he got them and then fell out of fashion, he has one of those barbed wire ones around his upper arm.

Michael is my FAVORITE GUY OF ALL TIME HES SO SILLY but also i've made him horribly angsty in my brain as well it's so. i think him and alex have a really good "friends who are used to each other's bullshit" dynamic but also i ship them a little bitty bit just cuz i'm a sucker for besties who are obliviously in love with each other as a trope. He would hate-watch ancient aliens and buzzfeed unsolved because he thinks he knows better than them. If you read his comments on ONISM he also seems to be a really sweet and supportive guy with the userbase and thats rlly cool hes such a guy Aside from that though he has the most unexplored depth as a character imo, since it's confirmed he isn't from the present reality and at some point definitely becomes aware of that fact I like to think underneath the funnyman bestie thing he's probably having a crisis about who he is and stuff because even before he's consciously aware of it he probably felt this vague subconscious feeling of like,,,Not Belonging ig? idk i think he probably knows this isn't where hes really meant to be and hes trying to truck through it but the impostor syndrome is definitely there. I love michael so much he is a certified blorbo

Rory is sooo mecore I stole his name online because he's so mecore we are both emo/scene kids and his canon favorite song according to some questions directed at the dev team is a brighteyes song that i also love its like fate. ANYWAY I feel really bad for Rory because i think his character is probably handled one of the worst just with the tonal whiplash a lot of his character-centric moments has. I bet he listens to weezer and radiohead. If YIIK was set now he would be into creepypasta and he would get michael into it since it ties in with his paranomal urban legend stuff, they would vlog hunting for slenderman together. him and alex run a gaming channel together (THIS IS AN INSIDE JOKE BUT I HAD TO PUT IT IN I COULDNT HELP MYSELF)

Vella is pretty and I think she's super cool, one of my besties LOVES her so I kinda let him be the friend group CEO of vella stuff but my biggest takeaways from her is that I hope she gets back into making music again, but for her own fun this time instead of to fulfill some success pressure. maybe she starts a crappy little garage band with some of the gang and they write terrible songs about aliens who smoke pot and dance the macarena and she's the only one there who can actually play but they have fun with it. She also knows all the videogame cheat codes and keeps setting high scores that alex and michael cant beat. Also her mind dungeon reminds me of yume nikki and thats super cool cuz i love yume nikki

Chondra and Claudio deserved way more time for their characters to develop and also their lore is weird and confusing and I think the whole missing brother thing is rlly weird too becuz of the reveal of how that all works with alex and shit. BUT if they had been handled bettter they probably would be my favorites because I think claudio is super fun and his VA sounds like he's really going for it and he's just such a chill guy and he's super passionate about his interests and i respect that and 100% would be his bestie chondra is super cool too, she's clearly really into sports and I bet she hangs out at the local skate park and impresses everyone cuz of her roller skates and also probably gets vella into skating too and they go together and have matching customised helmets just for the extra cool factor. alex and michael and rory come and watch them but are too pussy to try (alex has had enough from that stupid skateboard ability you get in vella's dungeon). Maybe she goes to some competitions for it and stuff too

uhhh some other various stuff the essentia is really cool but also confusing and it took ages to make sense of her lore but i LOVE her voice the effects to make it robot-y are *chefs kiss* and essentia 995 is just SO idk how to describe it the part when she says "often it is necessary to lie to oneself to get a tough job done" hits really hard for some reason. shes metal as fuck, metaphorically and literally. sammy is literally a caricature of a real life dead girl and i think that's pretty fucked up and they shouldnt have done that, but she would have been really cool if it wasn't for that big yikes. in general i really love a lot of the influences yiik has i'm a huge fan of rpgmaker horror and murakami books and a bunch of the other shit that it references so hehehehehe thats cool

this is long but also this is everything I can think of off the top of my head thank you for letting me be abnormal about this stupid game i hate it and love it so much :D

#yiik #yiik: a postmodern rpg #asks #ty for letting me go off for like an hour i have been exploding with thoughts about these guys for so long

11 notes · View notes

technowoah · 4 years ago

Text

Cant Handle This

Quackity's facade keeps breaking, and he tries to keep the pieces together. You're the only one who can make him show his true self

- Quackity x gen neutral reader

- this is a long one yall.

Now playing...

Can't Handle This (Kanye Rant)

Bo Burnham

0:01 ─●──────── 3:29

⚠︎ swearing, angst, mentions of mcyttwt, based on the song above, and ofc its not proofread

Part of my Inside Special!

Quackity sat in his chair currently streaming right now, he seemed like he was having a good time from your spot on his bed. You were currently laying on his bed after he invited you here to relax.

You two had laid in his bed just enjoying eachothers company until he got a call from Tommy saying he was ready for the lore stream which sent Alex into a frenzy. Alex sent out a quick "Im sorry" about the lateness of his stream and then quickly set everything up.

He then started to stream which left you alone on the the bed to your own devices. You were scrolling through Twitter looking at Alex's fans talk about what's happening on the stream and posting screenshots of his character and himself.

You admired him from afar as he ended the lore part of his stream, he took time to type on his phone to text you that he decided to stream longer to talk to his fans. He looked to you and you have him a nod with a smile and he gave one back.

"Hey guys! That's the end of the lore!" He exclaimed to his chat as he types at his computer setting a new background.

You continued to listen to him praise his chat for supporting him and making him be able to make those types of streams. You were always proud of Alex no matter what he did, you were always his number one supporter no matter what happened in reality or on the internet.

"So anyways! I wanted to talk to you guys! How are you all?" He smiled at his camera looking back and forth from his chat.

◇T0mm71nn1t: THE STREAM WAS SO GOOD QUACKITY

"Oh thank you! Im glad I could share this with you. It takes so much to put into these movite type streams, so I know now it is all worth it."

Quackity's pov. . .

He felt so overwhelmed, he shouldn't have began to stream again. The stress of putting everything together, plus being late to the stream made him rush into it more. He just wanted to lay back down with his lover who was enjoying watching him stream, and that's the goal he wants. His goal was to entertain, it was his job and he doesn't want to fail, he doesn't want to crack.

◇Mayatooni3: WE LOVE YOU QUACKITY

◇catiiequak: QUACKITY ITS MY BIRTHDAY CAN I GET A HAPPY BIRTHDAY??

◇yriaaolic: 💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

"Happy Birthday!" He said seeing the comment pass in a second. "Happy Birthday to anyone who's Birthday it is today."

Right now it was hard. It was hard to keep up when there was always a constant demand, the constant need to be perfect, his past being brought up, and trying to one-up his content everytime. He loved this, but at the same time it had the same weight as a job.

In the back of his mind he knew the "When is Quackity streaming???" is mostly lighthearted, he never wants to leave.

"Quack are you okay? Im fine! Just thinking about how to get something to eat at 2am." He laughed lying to his fans, he wanted to stop this stream.

He kept looking over to his lover lying their head on his pillow scrolling through their phone and alternating their vision from him and their phone. He always caught a glimpse of their small smile everytime he looked. He was doing something right.

"Do yall think Taco Bell is open? The only problem I have is that Im fucking starving."

He paused for a moment taking a deep breath trying to keep his emotions down. The stress was getting to him, and he fucking knew it, but he didnt stop. He was going to get burnt out eventually and stop streaming and YouTube all together, but he needed this. He needed a break, he needed to take time for himself and stop putting on a happy face when he isnt.

TTS ◇pulixsaxe: "Did you see what was happening on Twitter quackity?"

"Wait what's happening on Twitter?" He asked with a weary laugh.

I can sit here and pretend like my biggest problems are

Pringle cans, and burritos

The truth is, my biggest problem's you,

Your eyes widened as he mentioned Twitter. Truth be told he was trending because of his stream, yes, but also they brung up stuff from his past again in the wake of another content creator's past or present being brought up. You hadn't paid attention to that, you were only getting fueled up from Twitter bringing up an issue that he already had addressed.

Tempted to speak and tell him its fine, he already spoke up before you.

"I bet it's fine! I dont wanna... I don't need to look." He said with a smile. He always had that smile on.

Either it was a full smile or a half smile. It never left his face and it comforted you somehow. Maybe it was that you were his significant other, but you always wondered if anyone saw the same things as you. The things like his smile that never left his face.

"Yeah! I dont need to look at that." He waved his hand dismissing the comment away. He then sighed letting his shoulders relax as you saw his smile fade and his eyes close for a second and immediately put that small smile back on his face while his eyes were glossy, but bright.

He needed to end this stream soon. You saw his face fall then in a split second come back to life except his eyes were glossy with tears. You wondered if anyone else noticed.

"I want to please you

But I want to stay true to myself

I want to give you the night out that you deserve"

His eyes tearful as he tried to blink them away trying to not make a scene.

"Sorry! Allergies ugh!" He said as he wiped his tears away claiming them as allergies.

"Are you crying? No! Im not a pussy!" He yelled at his chat in a joking manner.

He was crying and he felt weak. He felt emotionally weak, and weak as in not strong, he didn't feel strong and his lover who was sitting on his bed with a concerned look on their face always told him that it's okay to feel weak. The only meaningful thing is how you pick yourself up, they always told him, bur now he felt at rock bottom.

He wanted to give his fans "himself", the goofy, lovable, loud, quick-witted, Quackity. But then again his lover always told him to separate Quackity from Alex. He wanted to give himself to his audience, he wanted to be authentic and share himself, but he cant. Alex isn't all laughs, he is serious, calmer, and when he gets on the screen is when he lets it all out then goes back to his more calmer self. That's not what they want.

"But I want to say what I think

And not care what you think about it"

Giving himself meant dialing back, he wants to tell how hes actually feeling, he wants to say what he thinks about Twitter, what he thinks about certain friends, about his fanbase, and then leave it alone. He wanted to delete social media and then speak his mind without knowing what anyone is saying about it. It was paradise to him, but of course it cant be that way and that's what he hates. He feels like a actor when he really wants to be himself.

"A part of me loves you,"

Alex loved his fanbase, he had such a supportive fanbase that loved his content. Some of them did atleast he didn't fully know, but they gave him the courage to do this time and time again knowing that his content is at least taking them from the harsh reality of real life for a few minutes or hours. This was the reason he did this, for them.

Alex would never admit this but they boosted his ego too, it would for anyone. The fact that there were people who wanted and enjoyed content from him made him feel good about himself.

"part of me hates you"

He hated the contant criticisms, he hates that they feed his ego so much that it makes him want to stream more to feel good about himself and to make people get away for awhile. Alex knew inside of his heart he couldn't truly hate his fanbase, they gave him everything he ever wanted. He hates them for that and that's such a scary thing. He never fails to wonder if he did the things to deserve all the love and hate he gets.

"Part of me needs you,"

They feed his ego, they make him want to go above and beyond. Alex knows that his fanbase is the reason he is here in this chair infront of three expensive monitors. He knows that this is some sort of a job that he needed. He needed the push to keep going and that was them, it was the 200k people watching his stream watching him answer questions about him and

"part of me fears you"

He was fearful of loosing himself to them. Loosing his authenticity to them was something he feared. He didnt want his funny, loud persona to consume him and make him forget about Alex instead of Quackity. He fears what they think as well, he claims he doesnt care, but he does he wants to please them. It feels like two parts of his brain fighting about if he should care or not.

"And I don't think that I can handle this right now"

The text-to-speech bot continued to speak out people's comments that theu paid for while he sat there quietly. He bit his bottom lip trying to not break down infront of everyone he needed to be strong. He needed to be strong.

If he looked up at the camera everyone would see his tears, they would see him breaking.

He played it off as he brough his shirt up to wipe the tears away, claiming it as sweat.

"Im good! Im sorry I spaced out for a second." He shook his head.

He saw you look at him with that same concerned look on your face. As he switched his gaze between you and his computer, he felt his tears come back again.

"I don't think that I can handle this right-"

"Alex." You tried to get his attention.

"Yeah guys Im fine!"

"Alex"

"I don't think that I can handle this right-"

"I have plans later for another lore stream, so Ill start doing that later tonight."

"ALEX!" You yelled and his head turned around to face you.

"What?" He laughed, biting his lip again.

You couldn't stop him doing this, you could try to course him into going to bed, but right now you couldn't find the words. You just stared at him while he looked at you with a somber smile trying to tell you that he was okay.

He felt his mind telling himself that he need to rest. He wouldnt allow himself to and thats why he was breaking down.

"I don't think that I can handle this right-"

Alex was blinking rapidly trying to keep his breathing and tears at bay while he answered his fans.

"My allergies are fine! And I drank water today."

◇moonchild21: WE LOVE YOU

◇sopusand: Why do you look like that?

◇wuackityoo: are you crying??

"Crying is for the weak! I am a strong manly man! Im crying cause I noticed how alpha I am!" He tried to play it off as a "Im a man" joke but you could see right through it.

"I don't think that I can handle this right-"

You had sent a quick text to Alex which told him to end the stream for his own mental health, but he left the message unread. He began sniffing and the wiping his eyes again. It was a wreck and you couldn't seem to stop it without literally dragging him out of his chair.

Meanwhile the screens were getting to Alex. Alex's eyes were getting tired of the bright screens and the rapid messages that popped up on the screen overwhelmed him for what it seemed like the first time ever in his strraming career. He wanted to give them the fun night they deserved and wanted, but he knows it's getting hard to. He dosent know how long he can keep this up.

As Alex kept joking around about his eyes and physical state the chat was filled with "LMAO" and "HAHAHA" which fuled him more and then at the same time makes him want to stop.

Look at them, they're just staring at me, like

"Come and watch the skinny kid with a

Steadily declining mental health, and laugh as he attempts

To give you what he cannot give himself"

He cannot give himself the luxury of happiness. As he went on with his career it became more and more like a chore, there was mostly down days and of course there were up days, but recently Alex gave his fans the happiness and laughes they wanted while when he turned off the camera he couldn't replicate that same energy as he had before.

It messed him up, he felt himself become separated from his streaming. He wasn't being himself anymore he was being Quackity and that became more apparent as the days passed. He wanted to be himself on camera and at first thats what he thought he was doing. He was himself then it turned into a persona.

Alex wasn't okay and he he needed to take a break from the internet for a while, but he tries to act like he dosent have a dilemma going on inside of his head everytime he sits in this seat. Its for the fans.

"Think that I can handle this right-

I don't think that I can handle this right-

They don't even know the half of this right-

They don't even know the half of it"

"Alex you need to end the stream. Please?"

He looked towards you again where you moved your position from the middle of the bed to sitting up on the end of the bed.

"Ive told you millions of times." He paused for a moment looking down at his lap before looking back up to you. "Im-Im okay." He nodded trying to convince you.

"But I know I'm not a doctor, I'm a pussy, I put on a silly show

I should probably just shut up and do my job, so here I go"

"Cant you belive them!" He laughed to his camera. You scoffed at his comment but still kept an eye on him as he talked.

You didnt need to baby him at all, but right now you were worried about your lover.

Alex continued talking and talking, which you drowned out. You were focused on his face and how he faltered time to time just showing a small frown.

He laughed and showed them a good time even though he was hurting. He kept going and going and you were convinced he was going to hold out until you heard him sniff multiple times while trying to make a joke about the new Minecraft update and how the glow squid has no use.

"Stupid ass squid! Why- why? Its no use expect for glowing ink. Who voted for that!?"

You can tell them anything if you just make it funny, make it rhyme

And if they still don't understand you, then you run it one more time

"Dumbass squid!" He pulled up a picture if the squid as he yelled at it.

You began to worry even more as you saw tears running down his face. He quickly tried to wipe them away, but he knew everyone saw.

Handle this right

You don't even know the half of this right now

Right now (Haa!)

Now

Handle this right

I'll handle this right, I handle this right now

Alex leaned back in his seat and had a blank stare towards the monitor. Looked down for a second and then you heard sobbing coming from his spot. Alex had his head in his hands and was crying harshly into them.

He had finally broken, he couldn't stop the tears from coming and the loud sobs that came from his mouth. He was trying to desperately breathe in to be able to sob, but ended up hiccuping while doing so.

Your eyes widened as you rushed to him resting your hand on his knees and you kneeling infront of him.

"I cant do fu-fucking anything!" He yelled into his hands.

"Hey! I know. Its okay." You tried to console him.

"Its not I try so hard! And I-"

You cut him off. "You are a hard worker Alex and you deserve a week or two off. Take care of you self babe." You stood up bringing his hand with you and trying to make him stand up. He followed your movements and stood up with you putting his head on your shoulder crying into it.

"I just ca-cant right now!"

"You dont have to do anything right now babe."

"Im sorry!" Alex sobbed.

"Dont be." You said bluntly trying to get your lover to calm down.

You rubbed his back soothingly as he sniffled into your shoulder. "Im sorry for ruining your shirt." He tried to laugh through his tears.

"Dont be sorry! Please. You just need rest okay?" You kissed his forehead and he nodded in response.

Alex raised his head up an started to pepper kisses all over your face as you laughed. He gave you one last peck on the lips as he walked away to quickly change into night clothes. You smiled as he laid underneath the covers and continued to softly cry into his sheets. At least he was in bed and not makijg himself even worse.

He couldn't stop the tears from flowing, it was like a flood that could only be stopped with time. He felt like a boulder was lifted off his shoulders only to be replaced with smaller rocks. The smaller rocks was the guilt he held. He felt guilty of making his lover worry about him, he didnt want you to worry.

You rushed over to his desk and turned off the stream and his computers not even bothering to give them a goodnight or goodbye. After the computer lights were turned off it was quite dark in the room except for small light.

Finally you were where you wanted to be all day, in bed with Alex. But this wasnt the predicament you wanted.

"Forgive me. I just cant do shit right can I?" His eyes were still full of tears and he was getting tired.

"Alex dont listen to anyone but yourself." You tried to console him.

"That's what I'm telling myself."

Silence filled the room as you looked at him through tearful eyes of your own.

"Alex, you're so amazing and I cant even tell you how much I appreciate you, and how much you change my life. You do so much shit right its scary sometimes. Some days I think you're perfect, but there's-"

"There's no such thing as perfect." Alex finished your sentence.

"Exactly! Even the best people have their downfalls, they just dont show it. And Alex I know you struggle with that! All I can say is that I love you for you." You finished.

"Can I talk to you about my dilemmas?" He tried to laugh again.

"Tomorrow we can talk. We both need the rest." You said to him as he closed his eyes and nodded in response. He gave you a kiss on you lips before laying back down to sleep.

"Thank you."

"Thank you

Good night

I hope you're happy"

TRENDING

ARE YOU OKAY

10.1k tweets

QUACKITY

20k tweets

ARE YOU OKAY QUACKITY?

13.7k tweets

340 notes · View notes

bokutobaes · 4 years ago

Note

I loved the bad day hc it was so gooood🥺 can I get a hc (w the same boys👀) of ur first night over their house?? Bet Atsumu snores like a freight train lmao😭😭😭

first night at the inarizaki boys house :p

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭ .・.

☆- with: suna, atsumu, kita

☆- no warnings!

☆- a/n: this request was soo cute i had so much fun writing this🥺thank u for requesting i really hope you like it <33 and im so happy u enjoyed the bad day headcanons

authors: lu and sen <3

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭ .・.

☆- suna:

-you were in fact enjoying a nice saturday in your room, pixie lights strung, your favourite show playing and you in a warm fuzzy blanket. it was bliss

-until.. the vibration of your phone shook you from the scene you were watching, and who else would call you on a saturday at 1am

-“hello?”

-“hey”

-“uh whats up”

-“wanna come over.. to sleep”

-“suna- it’s one o clock in the morning”

-“so?”

-“so why would i-”

-“i miss you..”

-your heart just exploded from the fact he just said that

-“say no more okay i’ll be there in 10”

-“okay :)” you could hear suna’s smirk from his voice

-you’d snuck out before in your first year of high school just to hangout with some friends so you knew the basics

-you left a note to your parent(s) saying that you went to a friends house early in the morning because she had a boyfriend emergency

-the things u do for suna🙄

-the way to sunas wasn’t long, he only lived a few streets away so you packed a bag, threw on your comfiest cutest sweats and headed on down

-when you got there suna was already at the door leaning against the frame with his hands stuffed in his black hoodie

-“hi”

-“hi.” he hugged you, “come on it’s cold out” then he grabbed your wrist and with a finger on his lips telling u to tip toe and whisper you headed to his bedroom

-now, you’d definitely been to sunas bedroom before to hangout after school and study and whatnot

-but it now dawned on you that you’ve never stayed the night

-heat rushed to your cheeks

-“so where am I gonna sleep”

-“here?” he said

-“where?”

-“in my bed. you’re sleeping in my bed.”

-“suit yourself, but I kick people in my sleep”

-he scoffed, “and I’ll kick you back tf”

-you guys hopped in the bed and just immediately went on your phones

-but you were in one of those close ass positions where you could see what was on eachothers screens

-so you exchanged tik toks and tweets

-the night was filled with you both trying so hard not to laugh out loud

-you guys rambled on for a long time after seeing a post about astrology

-“i don’t get it.. your saying i’ll be in a bad mood on the 5th of next month because mercury is in gatorade.?”

-did he really just disrespect retrograde like that

-once it was getting really late your eyes started feeling heavy

-you switched your phone off and snuggled deeper into suna’s chest

-you were basically hugging eachother

-suna yawned

-“goodnight y/n”

-“goodnight rin”

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭ .・.

☆- atsumu:

-you were already at atsumu’s house, you’d walked there together after school to spend the friday together

-currently you were in osamu’s room with the twins playing “winning eleven”

-why they were so obsessed with this game? you do not know

-but right now you were being betrayed by atsumu

-he told you he’d “go easy on you” since you’ve never played before

-then just abandoned that idea

-“atsumu wtf your not even going a smidge easy on me”

-“hey it’s not my fault yer skills are lacking baby”

-ur about to punch him

-“ok then here” you hand your remote to osamu and cross ur arms scooching away from atsumu

-“wait heyyy hey don’t be like that I was joking” he paused the game

-osamu was literally on his phone at this point

-he smushed your cheeks and you rolled your eyes

-“what time even is it?”

-“10:43” osamu drawled

-“omg it’s late i have to go soon”

-atsumu got up and told you to come his room so you waved to osamu and headed out

-“stay the night”

-“really?”

-“yes really please i don’t want you to leave yet”

-🥺🥺🥺

-“awww tsumu”

-“SHUTUP! are you gonna stay”

-“yes I’ll stay” <3

-he took your face in his hands and kissed you all over

-you shot your parent a text saying you were sleeping at your friends house and then sat on the bed where atsumu was already sprawled out watching something on his phone

-“i don’t have a toothbrush”

-“there’s an extra in the bathroom babe”

-“i don’t have clothes”

-he looked at you

-“i have clothes”

-“aww are you gonna give me your hoo-“

-“nvm go home now”

-LOL

-it was already almost midnight after you had watched some movies on his bed

-you guys got up and brushed ur teeth together

-“next time you’re gonna sleep at my house instead and we’re gonna do face masks”

-you though about tsumu in a panda sheet mask and laughed to yourself

-when you were done washing your face he asked if he could put the moisturizer on for you

-so you sat up on the counter and he was being so gentle🥺 just looking at you

-your cheeks starting feeling hot and atsumu noticed

-“oh embarrassed now are we?” his stupid smirk plastered on his face

-“shutup tsumu” you looked down smiling

-it was half past 12 when you guys finally got in bed and you were honestly tired since it was the end of the week

-atsumu squeezed you tightly from behind and was playing with your hair

-it knocked you out

-“g’night baby”

-“goodnignt tsum”

-(you were not prepared for the snoring that came out of him at 2am but you loved him anyways)

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭ .・.

☆- kita:

-this sleepover with kita was actually planned by the two of you

-you wanted to spend time together outside of school and you thought this was a nice idea

-you came over a little before dinner and he was cooking when you got there

-“hi!” you said walking in through the kitchen door

-“hi love” he stopped stirring a pot on the stove and came over to hug you

-he kissed your forehead and asked how you are

-(like he didn’t ask you 1 hour again when you were texting)

-you ate dinner with kita and his grandma, she told stories about kita when he was younger embarrassing him but making you awww out loud

-after dinner you headed to his room, you’d put on something to watch but it ended up just being background noise in a conversation you were having

-“y/n.. did you wanna sleep in the spare bedroom? i want to make sure you’re comfortable”

-“its okay babe i don’t mind sleeping with you”

-so you both were on his bed just looking out the window together, now that it was later you’d switched from watching tv to sharing earphones and looking out the window at the stars

-a song came on, something soft and gentle playing through your ears

-“wanna dance?” kita said looking at you with a smile

-heart combusted

-“of course”

-you got up and he grabbed your hip, hand in hand you two just swayed slowly looking at eachother

-both your cheeks burned but you were so happy that you were here with him right now

-now you’d been dancing for a few minutes and your face was in the crook of his neck

-you were both starting to get a bit tired but then you remembered the face masks you’d brought in your bag

-“kita..! we should do face masks”

-“face masks?”

-“yep! i brought some. let’s go”

-leading him to the bathroom you started to put the sheet mask on him

-the fox imprint on the mask made you laugh being on kitas face

-you two looked so silly, a fox and a panda in pyjamas on a saturday night

-after taking a few photos the masks were done and you washed up for bed together

-it felt like taking a look into the future

-soo domestic

-sleep came really easy that night, you lay on kitas chest and rambled for a bit before you noticed he had fallen asleep

-poor bb probably tired from volleyball practice

-you fell asleep soon after right after kissing him on the cheek

#suna x reader #suna x y/n #suna x you #atsumu x you #atsumu x y/n #atsumu x reader #kita x reader #kita x you #kita x y/n #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu!!#haikyuu headcanons #haikyuu hcs #hq hcs #haikyuu #bokubae!hcs #lu!writes #sen!writes

245 notes · View notes

6sakusa · 4 years ago

Text

‘worth more’ part 2, oikawa tōru.

warnings : implications of a toxic relationship, triggering break up themes?, me not proof reading, angst

part 3

you peered down at your hands where a thin layer of ice was struggling to form due to the flashing sheets of cold droplets that bombarded your skin in every way possible. how long had you been here again? you were unsure. you could barely differentiate your own tears from the rain, the only thing that was keeping you grounded was the sliver of moonlight that had cracked through the clouds. not even the stars were in the sky tonight and this was the kind of darkness that could swallow you whole, both mentally and physically.

you had been reminiscing on the time you’d spent with oikawa, as both his bestfriend and his girlfriend in an unforgiving loop. was this really it? was it all over? if you had known things would turn out like this then the day you realised how truly and utterly in love you were with the setter then maybe just maybe you would’ve been selfless for once and said no.

—

“what do you think is out there y/n-chan?” your lips curved into an unwilling smile, you couldn’t help it, not when you were around oikawa and he was once again babbling about one of his conspiracy theories. he’d always been a strong believer in aliens and area 51 and you couldn’t help but marvel at how adorable he was. the two of you had snuck out to the park after he woke you up at 2am begging you to come and watch the meteorite shower with him since iwaizumi had refused to get out of bed.

“i think there’s a lot of things out there that we don’t know of and we probably never will, i guess it’s scary in some sort of way, there could be a whole species that we have no clue about, but it’s also comforting to know we aren’t alone in this universe.”

oikawa was slightly taken aback by your answer, he’d expected you to tease him and maybe laugh while he would pout and try to defend his point. but instead you hadn’t spared him a glance even after all those words, he could see how infatuated you were with the sight before you. the night sky ablaze with brilliant blues and pinks which soared through the universe leaving a white fiery tail in its wake. the world had never been as enchanting as it was in this moment and neither had you.

he cursed himself for only noticing it now, the way your eyes widened and the beauty of nature reflected through them, the way your eyelashes looked so much more exaggerated with the shadow caused by the light spectacle from the heavens, the way your lips separated when you spoke about your interests, and the way you were so attentive when it came to his. it was all art, and the best moment of his life. yes, he truly was cursing himself for only now realising that he was so deeply in love with you.

“so you do believe in aliens?” he proped himself up on his elbows and turned to face you with his signature smirk, however you could tell that something had shifted in the atmosphere, something unfamiliar but welcoming. “i’m just saying there’s a probability.” you flicked his forehead causing the both of you to break out in a chuckle, everything had always been so easy between the two of you, it was natural.

there was something about being here now, with you by his side that made him invincible. if there was anything he wanted to ask the heavens for he knew now was the time to proclaim his wishes, he could feel the magic in the air tonight.

“you know y/n-chan, this meteorite shower has made me feel like i can do anything.” he stood admiring the sight before him as he knew it was a once in a lifetime event. you watched as he raised his hand to the air, your eyes followed his fingers which landed on the ball of silver that resided in the sky.

“i want to be the absolute best setter.” hope flooded his eyes and enthusiasm leaked out of his demanour. “so i’m going to do something no one else can do, one day i’m gonna set the moon.” he smiled with pride and you couldn’t help but adore him in that moment.

oikawa toru would set the moon one day, and you would do anything to be by his side to see it.

—

“y/n.” you heard the echo of a voice, so distant but so close, if you were any further in your own mind you wouldn’t have been able to decipher your own name. “hey y/n.” you felt a hand on your shoulder shake you back to your bitter reality. that meteorite shower had happened over a year ago and you would do anything to go back to that day, just one last time.

“iwaizumi.” you breathed out, moving your eyes to lock with that of the ace, you could see the worry laced in his features as his nose contoured while he evaluated your state. “you’re freezing.” he put a hand on your cheek, hissing at how the ice bit him back. he scrambled to take his coat off draping it over you in less than a second, of course he would, in his mind he was just looking after his bestfriends girl. you wondered if anything would change between you and iwaizumi once he learned about the outburst between you and oikawa a couple hours prior.

“what are you doing out here?” he began zipping up his jacket, doing everything in his power to stop you from falling ill but even he knew you were past that point. the way you were drenched and rain and your fingertips were so cold to the touch there was no doubt that you would wake up with an almost deadly cold the next morning and he was ready to beat himself up for not arriving to the scene sooner.

“i don’t know.” you whispered, even if you wanted to, you didn’t have the lung capacity to speak at a steady tone and the lump returning to your throat wasn’t making it any easier. “where’s oikawa? he never went home, i bet that bastard is still practicing.” he clicked his tongue ready to scold his bestfriend for overworking himself, and even more so for doing it to the point where he wasn’t aware that you were out here on the brink of freezing to death.

but at the mention of your ex-boyfriends name you couldn’t help but break down into tears once again, your heart only shattering further and your breathing becoming more frantic. “y/n? what’s wrong? why are you cr-“ then it hit him. of course oikawa was the reason that you were out here, staring out into some kind of void under the fury of tonight's weather. it seemed that you had the same idea that he had, only you had just thought of it first. there was a reason the setter had been radio silent on all forms of social media after school today, because he was in school overworking himself exactly as iwaizumi presumed. and there was no doubt you caught him in a bad mood, the ace shivered as he imagined the cruel words that oikawa had likely flung your way, he knew how mean the man could be when he was unhappy with himself.

“come on, come with me let me take you home.” he reached out to you, steadying you to your feet as the two of you began walking towards the direction of your house. even though he was being cautious with his words he couldn’t help but be extremely taken aback by the way your clothes were dripping onto the concrete floor. just how long had you been out here for? it had to be more than an hour, maybe even hours. he couldn’t imagine the mess you would leave behind as you trailed towards your bedroom. hopefully your parents wouldn’t penalise you for it once they had realised just the kind of state you were in. afterall it wasn’t your fault, it was his own and his shitty bestfriend’s fault. how could the two of them both not not come to your rescue sooner? he felt like a complete and utter idiot.

he waited for a moment outside of your house, watching the way you stopped in the doorway turning to him with nothing but sadness in your eyes and voice. “thank you, iwaizumi.” he smiled in return. he didn’t think you should be thanking him for human decency but nevertheless he bowed slightly before dashing off to the gym where he didn’t doubt oikawa would still be.

and when he got there he would make him answer for himself.

157 notes · View notes

aijamisespava · 3 years ago

Text

I Remember It...All Too Well

Last week, I stayed up until midnight waiting for Taylor Swift's rerecording of her 4th album RED. And let me tell you, it was...an experience. I bought breakfast sandwiches at my school convenience store (I'm in college), got some coffee for a "breakfast at midnight" ordeal like she sings in the song "22." I painted my nails red hours before while listening to the songs she owns (basically any album not released by Big Machine, singles that came out during the Lover era, and her rerecording of Fearless earlier this year). And it ended with me staying up until 2am listening to refreshed versions of an album first released when I was 10 years old. I also dressed in red, with a hat, a scarf, and OF COURSE red lipstick! To top it all off, I watched the premiere of the All Too Well Short Film on Youtube on my dorm bed...holding a pillow my mom had made of my Red 2012 t-shirt that was my birthday gift just the week before.

Oh yeah, I might have wanted to start like this. As you can kinda tell, I am a Swiftie. I have been since her first album, and stayed for the whole time. I mean, look at my username here. 1989sspeakingnow is a reference to my two favorite albums of hers, 1989 and Speak Now. My Wattpad bio has my album ranking of all her albums, and yes. I have three things of red lipstick. And I bought the Taylor Latte at Starbucks last week as well. Okay, enough about me, let's get to the point of what this blog will be about.

One thing I had been doing since this past summer was ranking albums that I listen to often. It's so interesting because you're listening to them and finding your favorite song, but it's hard when you love the artist and all their songs are good (Like me ranking Taylor Swift's songs!). And I had been wondering what to do with my rankings because I don't want to just leave them for nobody to know, but I am a little nervous about people being like "bUt WhY iS tHiS sOnG sO lOw (or hIgH)?" So I figured I would put them here.

Normally, I would put a reason as to why (in my own opinion) a song ranked where it did, but with 29 songs to rank? I'm not going to do that. I'm going to give the ranking, and then I am going to pick a couple songs that I want to highlight at the end. This blog is going to be long enough. So buckle up! Here is my ranking for RED (Taylor's Version)! *note: I'm not putting (Taylor's Version) or (From The Vault) on these songs. They're Taylor's now, and I will prolly discuss my favorite vault songs later*

29. State Of Grace (Acoustic) 28. Run (feat. Ed Sheeran) 27. I Almost Do 26. Treacherous 25. Sad Beautiful Tragic 24. The Lucky One 23. The Moment I Knew 22. Girl At Home 21. Starlight 20. Holy Ground 19. Better Man 18. State Of Grace 17. Come Back...Be Here 16. Nothing New (feat. Phoebe Bridgers) 15. Forever Winter 14. 22 13. Stay Stay Stay 12. Babe 11. Everything Has Changed (feat. Ed Sheeran) 10. Red 9. I Bet You Think About Me (feat. Chris Stapleton) 8. Message In A Bottle 7. The Very First Night 6. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together 5. Begin Again 4. The Last Time (feat. Gary Lightbody) 3. I Knew You Were Trouble 2. All Too Well 1. All Too Well (10 Minute Version)

Songs to Highlight: I have to start off with "Girl At Home". I LOVED the electro pop additions to it, and it made a song that was already a bop a bop even more. Mind you, I had already ranked the original songs from RED, and just added the vault tracks in when listening to them, so that's why "Girl At Home" ranks so low.

Next, I want to talk about "Message In A Bottle" and "The Very First Night." Those songs are actually closer to being tied! I loved their happy feel and was already jamming to them when I was barely a minute into listening to it.

"I Bet You Think About Me" was definitely one song I was not expecting to like so much. I had faded from the country scene not long after RED was released in 2012. Not to mention the high expectations I had for it after hearing Chris Stapleton perform at the CMA awards a couple nights before. But oh my goodness did I love it! The music video that came out on Monday was also hilarious and matched the tone of the song. *note: favorite line is "Oh my god, she's insane, she wrote a song about me"*

I had already really liked "The Last Time" when I heard it before. It ranked at number 3 in my original rankings before the rerecording. But OH MY GOD GARY LIGHTBODY! I had spent the whole song saying that Gary Lightbody's voice sounded amazing! It's one of the songs I have had on repeat this whole week! And the strings at the bridge to the end? LOVE IT!

I think the most anticipated song on RED was "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" and I was also highly anticipating it. The original "All Too Well" was my favorite song of not just the album, but of Taylor's whole discography. After hearing the whole 10 minutes, I had said on my socials that "Only All Too Well could beat All Too Well." This version of All Too Well overtook the original by so much. Not to mention that it was already number 7 of my most listened to tracks of the month literally 3 days after the album was released. I think I have this on repeat too.

Well, that's my ranking of RED (Taylor's Version). All the songs are amazing and I'm so happy she owns them! I may be back on here later to get my Fearless (Taylor's Version), Lover, folklore, and evermore rankings up. So, see you later!

#red taylor swift #red tv reaction #taylor swift #all too well 10 minutes

2 notes · View notes

lifeofa-fangirl · 3 years ago

Note

3, 14, 22

Hopefully your having a good day

3. What is a very unpopular band you're into? Tell a little bit about them?

Lo Moon. And by unpopular I just mean that I don't think many people heard of them yet. I saw them live a couple of years ago when they opened up for London Grammar on their European tour and it's been a long time since I enjoyed an opener so much. Had to immediately get their debut when it came out in 2018. You should go check them out, I definitely recommend listening to This is It, to get an idea of their vibe.

14. _th favorite song by your _th favorite band?

Let's say we'll covering this in the next question lmao.

22. List 10 favorite songs by your top 10 bands (each)

You might wanna sit down for this one... In no particular order:

The Beatles

Here comes the sun

Blackbird

Hey Jude

Sgt pepper's lonely hearts club band

Penny Lane

I want to hold your hand

Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da

Love Me Do

Yesterday

Everybody's got something to hide except me and my monkey

Arctic Monkeys

505

Do I Wanna Know

Anyways

Fireside

I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor

When The Sun Goes Down

Star Treatment

Crying Lightning

Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High

Arabella

Måneskin

La Parole Lontana

Moriro da Re

L'altra Dimensione

Coraline

For Your Love

I Wanna Be Your Slave

Zitti e Buoni

Torna A Casa

Close To The Top

Mamma Mia

Taylor Swift

Champagne Problems

Shake It Off

Paper Rings

Dress

Blank Space

Bad Blood

Fearless

Fifteen

Our Song

Panic (!) at the Disco

Northern Downpour

Impossible Year

Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off

Folkin' Around

Camisado

Death Of A Bachelor

Hey Look Ma I Made It

Hurricane

When The Day Met The Night

There's A Good Reason These Tables Are Numbered Honey, You Just Haven't Thought Of It Yet

Fall Out Boy

Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy

Chicago Is So Two Years Ago

A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More Touch Me

This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race

What A Catch, Donnie

The Phoenix

7 Minutes in Heaven (Atavan Halen)

Pretty In Punk

The Music Or The Misery

Sophmore Slump or Comeback Of The Year

Ed Sheeran

The A-Team

Barcelona

Happier

Perfect

Tenerife Sea

Thinking Out Loud

You Need Me I Don't Need You

Don't

Hearts Don't Break Around Here

Supermarket Flowers

K's Choice

Not An Addict

Paradise In Me

The Ballad of Lea and Paul

Almost Happy

Cannonball

I Wanna Meet The Man

God In My Bed

Dad

Echo Mountain

Believe

Death Cab For Cutie

I will follow you into the dark

I will possess your heart

Brothers in a Hotel Bed

Transatlantacism

Champagne For A Paper Cup

The Sound Of Settling

Soul Meets Body

The New Year

What Sarah Said

You Can Do Better Than Me

Snow Patrol

Just Say Yes

Set Fire To The Third Bar

The Finish Line

Chasing Cars

Don't Give In

Shut Your Eyes

This Isn't Everything You are

The Symphony

Crack The Shutters

You're All I Have

Random Music Asks

Thank you for the asks! I did have a lovely, relaxing day. Going to bed now though, cause I just realized it’s almost 2am, oops...

#answering asks #about me #life is music

2 notes · View notes

florenceandthemachine · 5 years ago

Note

sleeping in the same room with buck is proving to be extremely annoying to eddie because at 2am, they'll be trying to sleep and buck will randomly start singing this is halloween from the damn nightmare before christmas and it's the middle of fucking june, and the only way eddie can get him to stop is to kiss him (for the first time)

“Wait, what do you mean you’ve never seen Toy Story?”

Eddie’s voice is in a weird balance of shock and accusatory, the tone making Buck squirm a little on the couch. Chris had all but conned (well, not really, Buck was just a sucker who didn’t know how to say no) Buck and Eddie into a movie night to start off what was affectionately being called ‘birthday week’.

After all, it wasn’t every day that your kid turned ten. Double digits were a big deal—Buck may not know the Toy Story, but even he knows that.

“I don’t know, no? We weren’t really a Disney family growing up.”

“How is that possible?? You’re basically a Disney prince!”

Eddie has that look on his face, the one he gets whenever Buck tells him something that he thought was normal about his childhood—it’s a combination of sad, and desperate, and a little angry, though Buck can’t figure out why—but he has figured out that defending his childhood doesn’t usually go as well as he hoped.

(“I had food and shelter. What more could I ask for?” Buck asks, one particularly exasperating night, after Eddie gives him that look again. Eddie’s response is so soft, Buck almost misses the “So much more.”)

So they watch Toy Story. It’s not a bad movie, at least. It’s... nicely made. He definitely doesn’t feel his entire body tighten up as the toys strap themselves to a rocket and race after a moving truck. And in no way does he breathe a sigh of relief when they fall through the sunroof.

The movie was nice, but the bet part of the evening is, by far, Chris falling asleep against his arm. It didn’t register immediately—he just put his arm around Chris instinctively to keep him comfortable—but as the credits roll, Buck can’t help but smile as he looks down. Somewhere in between gently pulling Chris’ glasses off and scooping the little man into his arms, he catches Eddie’s gaze, and he actually feels his breath catch in his throat.

Because the look on Eddie’s face fills Buck with want. Buck’s seen it before—the soft, dreamy look that Eddie gets more often than not when Buck and Chris interact with one another—but lately, he’s been noticing it more and more, when Chris is nowhere around, at work, on calls, when they’re just hanging out, and it’s dangerous enough that Buck catches himself seeking it out.

Which is a terrible idea, really, one that would only end poorly for him.

Buck clears his throat to break the spell, nodding to the crutches that Chris left by the couch as Eddie jumps up. “Wanna grab those, and we can get little man to bed?”

Eddie doesn’t know when Chris and Buck fell so in synch with one another, but it lifted a weight on his heart that he didn’t even know was there, knowing that even though Chris didn’t trust easily, he could still trust those that deserved it. He followed Buck’s lead as they got to his room, and had to literally grab onto the doorframe to steady himself as Buck tucked Chris in and kissed his forehead.

Wishing Buck a goodnight was never easy, but somehow that night was harder than it had ever been. Eddie wanted to reach out, to tell him to wait, to stay, but all he could do was swallow and smile and wave when Buck pulled out of the driveway.

Unfortunately, fires did not wait for birthday weeks, and Eddie and Buck were both stuck on an overnight shift a few days later. The beginning of the shift had started out easily enough—back to back calls could keep anyone busy—but Buck felt himself lagging as the night wore on.

Around three AM, Eddie swooped in and saved him, as he had a knack of doing. Pulling Buck into the media room, he all but dragged him over to the couch, picking a DVD off of the shelf and putting it in as he claimed his space next to Buck. As soon as the Disney castle became clear in the opening credits, Buck snorted, turning toward Eddie as he rose his brow.

“Hey, don’t shoot the messenger. Chris said Disney would be good for you. If I don’t at least try to fill this apparently horrendous gap in your life, I’m not sure he’ll ever speak to me again.” Eddie said defensively, raising his hands in surrender as Buck laughed. It was always nice to know that Eddie was a full grown man who was so totally bent to the whims of his son.

More dads could be like that, Buck thought.

He had to admit, though, he definitely didn’t expect what was coming next. While Toy Story had been emotional, the Lion King was kind of a fucking wreck, hitting him with sucker punches left and right in the first half hour of the movie.

“What the fuck.” Buck actually found himself whispering as the dust cleared, only to be confronted with Mufasa’s whole fucking corpse, because apparently that passed for okay in a G rated kids movie in the 90′s. “Eddie, what the actual fuck!” he said again as Simba entered the scene, not entirely proud of how his voice cracked.

Eddie must have heard it too, because the movie was immediately paused, Eddie giving him a concerned once-over before he had to actually hide a smile, the bastard. “Eddie, it’s not funny! This is fucked up! How is this a kids movie!” Buck hissed, reaching out to shove Eddie’s shoulder. Eddie did laugh at that, even if it was a quiet one, and Buck found himself smiling in spite of himself.

“You want me to continue the movie, or do you need a break?” Eddie teased, but Buck could see it for what it was, an easy out. Waving his hand as he wiped at his cheeks, he sunk deeper into the couch, watching as the scene continued. He didn’t realize how close he had been to Eddie until the other male spoke, voice low in the darkness. “You know, whenever something like this gets to Christopher, he usually lets me hold his hand... just a thought.”

Buck almost laughed at the absurdity of the offer until he turned and faced Eddie head on, the words dying in his throat as he saw just how... soft Eddie looked. The trace of teasing was long since gone, the only proof that he had spoken were the way his lips were slightly parted, and Buck felt color rise in his cheeks once again as he shrugged.

“Well... I suppose that would be alright. If you do it for Chris, anyway.” he murmured, letting himself move a little closer to Eddie, their shoulders and arms flush against the soft fabric of the cushion beneath them. He felt a shiver dance along his spine as Eddie gently brushed his thumb over Buck’s wrist, never breaking eye contact, and Buck could feel himself drawn in, moving in closer, until—

—until he jumped about a foot in the air as the siren went off, awake and more high-strung than ever as Eddie doubled over laughing.

(The call was a false alarm—and as annoying as that was, when they got back to the firehouse and finished the movie, Eddie didn’t let go of him until they were off the clock that morning. So, Buck reasoned, it wasn’t all bad.)

Chris had all but begged to have a sleepover the night before his birthday, and who was Buck to say no?

Granted, he thought that Chris would be inviting his friends over, like, friends from school, and not just Buck, but... that was fine by him.

(Eddie was a gracious host, at least—he seemed to realize how weird Chris’ request was, and he had given Buck about ten outs at work before Buck had easily shut him up. They had been... flirting? For lack of a better word, for the past few days, and Buck wasn’t afraid to use that to his advantage.

“Eddie, are you telling me you don’t want me to come over and stay the night?” he asked, a grin spreading on his face as Eddie blushed, he actually blushed, and just like that, Buck knew he won that conversation.)

He figured he may as well move up the ranks in Chris’ friend group, so he showed up with pizza and soda, depositing his winnings onto the kitchen counter before joining his Diaz boys on the couch. “Alright, nearly birthday boy, what’s the movie pick for tonight?” he said with a grin, the juxtaposition of Chris’ answering smile and Eddie’s near grimace catching him for a loop.

“Nightmare Before Christmas!” Chris almost shouted, as Eddie let out a sigh. “It’s his favorite movie.” he explained, making sure that Chris was looking forward before mouthing “I hate it.” Buck only barely managed to catch his laugh as he sat beside the pair, pizza at the ready.

The movie wasn’t bad, honestly, but even then Buck could absolutely understand how Eddie suffered through the movie whenever Chris demanded. The kid was absolutely entrapped in the entire movie, from skeleton to Santa Claus (”Sandy Claws”, Chris corrected, and Eddie actually groaned).

One good thing, though, was that the movie was short.

The bad thing about the movie was that meant Chris could ask to watch it again, and neither Buck nor Eddie could find it in their heart to say no.

The other bad thing—the worst thing, even—was that no matter how hard Buck tried, even as Chris was tucked in and read to, he could not get some of the fucking songs out of his head. He didn’t know the words. Hell, he barely knew the tune. But that didn’t stop him from humming as he and Eddie got ready for bed.

They were no strangers to sharing a bed—when you were on a twenty four hour shift, you slept where you could, and if that meant sharing a bed, it meant sharing a bed. At the very least, Eddie didn’t have a twin sized bunk. Buck also wasn't a stranger to death threats, which Eddie was full of the longer that Buck hummed.

“Buck, please.” Eddie groaned, one hand reaching over to smack Buck on the chest. “You’re cute and all, and I love how much you’re enjoying your Disney binge and I love that you’re having a good time but if you don’t shut up right now and get some sleep I will actually kill you.”

Needless to say, it works, though probably not for the reasons Eddie intended. Buck can almost feel Eddie drifting off again beside him when he clears his throat—ignoring Eddie’s groan—as he says “You think I’m cute, huh?”

Buck actually felt Eddie freeze for a minute before he rolled over, and the smug grin on Bucks’ face only grew as he came face to face with a scowling Eddie.

“Yeah, I do. You got a problem with that?”

Buck’s smirk softened into an outright beaming grin, only encouraged as Eddie started to smile back at him. He brought his hand up to Eddie’s hip as they both moved closer together—Buck let his eyes close as he tugged Eddie chest to chest—and then they were kissing.

It was soft, and it was sweet, and it was perfect.

The best part, though was the blush that was painted across Eddie’s cheeks when Buck opened his eyes. He brought his hand up from Eddie’s hip to his cheek, stroking it with his thumb. Eddie was cute as fuck, and that was undeniable, but... Buck couldn’t help himself.

He brought Eddie back into another kiss, painfully—unpleasantly—aware that a kiss was about as far as they would be able to go tonight, with an impatient Chris in the next room.

That might have been part of the reason that Buck decided to open his mouth—the other reason was probably because he was a child at heart, and nothing would ever change that.

“You’re blushing, you’re blushing! I can’t believe my eyes.”

Eddie actually beamed for a moment, before realization clicked on his face, and he shoved Buck away, groaning as he covered his face with his hands.

“Buck, oh my GOD.”

#buddie #evan buckley #eddie diaz #buddiefic #911 #christopher diaz #nightmare before christmas #crackfic #flospeaks #floanswers #mutually assured devotion

110 notes · View notes

howtowhumpyourhiccup · 4 years ago

Text

Whumptober Day 31: Something Within Him

HAPPY WHUMPTOBER EVERYONE!

Summary: Written for the final day of Whumptober, Day 31. Set during RttE. Viggo has always looked at him like he knows something about Hiccup that he, himself, doesn't know. Hiccup can't phantom what it could possibly be and he isn't interested in finding out. But then one day he's captured and he figures that maybe he should've at least wondered.

Rating: Mature

Characters: Hiccup, Astrid, Toothless, Fishlegs, Snotlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Viggo

Pairing: Hiccstrid

Words: 13 627

Fandom: How to Train Your Dragon

Prompt: “Experiment

Whumpee: Hiccup

Author’s Notes: THIS IS IT! WHUMPTOBER DAY 31 HAS FINALLY ARRIVED! MY GRAND FINALE FOR THIS YEAR'S WHUMPTOBER IS HERE! ALL 13K OF IT!

I started at midday and now it's 2am for me! I said that this was going to take all day to spell-check and it did! :'D

Constructive criticism is appreciated!

ENJOY!

Ao3

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

Viggo has always looked at him like he knows something about Hiccup that he, himself, doesn't know. Hiccup can't phantom what it could possibly be and he isn't interested in finding out. Whatever Viggo knows, or thinks he knows, so long as he doesn't use it against him, it matters little to Hiccup.

But then he's captured. And Hiccup wonders, staring at the bars of his cage, that maybe he should've at least wondered what it is that the Dragon Hunter Chief has on him.

The place he's being held in, it isn't their usual base. Hiccup has only seen the inside of it, but this is what appears to be a giant cave chamber. There is a large pool and so far, having been stuck in this cage, Hiccup hasn't been able to see how deep it actually is. From his position, though, he can't see the bottom.

And there is a considerably sized hole in the ceiling, where sunlight comes through during the day. But it is evening now, the sun has set and the moon can be seen reflecting what little light it can down into this cave.

Toothless isn't here, for some reason Viggo simply left his dragon behind. Viggo is here, however. It's just the two of them, no Dragon Hunters, and Hiccup wonders what he's planning as he stares at the man's back.

In front of Viggo, there is a table. On it there are books, one of which is splayed open, tools Hiccup can't quite see and are making him nervous, and a bottle with... something. All in all, everything about this scene before him brings him nothing but discomfort.

Finally, Viggo breaks this silence between them.

"Have you ever wondered where this connection with dragons of yours comes from?" He asks, a peculiar question to break the ice with. Hiccup shrugs, not interested in answering him, worried for Toothless and worried for himself. Doesn't matter if Viggo can't see him since his back is turned to him.

Seemingly receiving no answer, Viggo turns to face him.

"Well?"

"What does it matter?" This time Hiccup asks. It requires talking, which he isn't a fan of as he's a little annoyed with his current situation, but it still doesn't answer the man's question.

Viggo isn't even bothered. Something got the man in too much of a good mood and that honestly just makes Hiccup's mood even worse.

That and that this means he has something special planned for his captive tonight, which can only mean bad news for Hiccup.

"What about your natural innate ability of flight?" He asks. It's as if Hiccup isn't held against his will and they are talking under more casual circumstances.

Legs crossed and elbows resting on his knees, Hiccup's brows furrow.

"What natural ability?" He asks, genuinely curious as he, while he's quite good at it, doesn't have his own wings. He needs Toothless in order to fly, he can hardly call that natural. Certainly not innate.

Viggo, however, thinks he's just playing dumb.

"My sources tell me all I need to know and they've told me how you and your dragon have always flown so perfectly together, like you are one dragon. You're certain you don't know why that may be?" He speaks his next question and Hiccup looks off to the side for a moment. It all comes down to his bond with Toothless and how well they understand one another, it's not that mysterious.

"Let me rephrase my inquiry, how did your first flight go?" Ah, a question he can answer!

"Quite disastrous actually." Hiccup tells him nonchalantly, a slight smirk, but Viggo ignores this response.

"When the two of you were up in the air together for the first time, what did it feel like? Did it feel right? Did you feel a sudden burst, an epiphany, and suddenly you knew what to do?" Viggo asks and Hiccup hopes the surprise isn't too obvious on his face.

That managed to trigger a memory. He's reminded of his first flight with Toothless and while it had truly been disastrous, he did feel exactly what Viggo is describing to him.

He remembers letting go of his cheat sheet and simply letting pure instinct and his little experience guide him as he and Toothless weaved through those sea stacks. It had felt like a sudden epiphany, like he finally realized how flying truly worked. And yes, it had instantaneously felt right, like he was always meant to be in the sky.

But he can't tell Viggo that. For whatever reason this man is interrogating him about this and that means he can't tell him.

Hiccup wishes he has something to keep his hands busy with, they're restless. He stands up.

"What's with all these questions? If you're thinking about me teaching you to bond with and ride a dragon, you can forget it!" Hiccup reassures him that he won't, tiring of all this interrogating and not liking where all of this is going.

There is a smirk on Viggo's face as he knows that he hit the nail on the head. Hiccup is such an open book, how can he not reveal it?

"I have no interest in riding dragons myself, my Dear, this is simply more evidence to a theory of mine."

"Theory? What theory?" Hiccup moves closer to the bars of his cage, not liking those words. But Viggo has already turned his back to him again and is reading through the pages of whatever book he has lain in front of him.

It's thick and dusty. Hiccup trusts it just about as much as he trusts anything else in this cave.

"Viggo, what theory?" He tries again.

He doesn't like that he's been put in this cage. It's big, too, obviously meant to hold something that is not him. Although, the bars aren't wide enough to slip or crawl through.

Viggo doesn't care to answer and why should he? His prisoner is at his mercy, not the other way around. It does little to settle Hiccup's nerves.

Then he turns away from the table and approaches with the key in hand. Hiccup, noticing, steps away from the gate and backs up to the other end of the cage.

With a swift motion, Viggo inserts the key and turns, unlocking the cage and swinging it open before gesturing to his prisoner that he may step out of his cell.

He almost appears too trusting, seemingly relying on Hiccup not to run away and Hiccup, therefore, decides that he won't. Not because he sees this as a good sign, not at all. That Viggo is being so "trusting" only means he has this place more guarded than it first appeared to be to him.

But Hiccup doesn't step out. He crosses his arms and stares at his captor, as if telling him "you really think I'm falling for this?" As if he would ever see this as anything other than a blatant trap, no matter how suspiciously amicable Viggo is being.

"I'm giving you the choice to cooperate and let this be a learning experience for both of us. You do love knowledge, do you not? Or have I completely misread, Hiccup Haddock?" Viggo suggests, Hiccup's reluctance not fouling his mood, and so he decides to step out.

Doing this the hard way most likely means calling in the help of Dragon Hunters who would love to manhandle him until he's bruised all over. More Hunters simply means more trouble for him. If it's only Viggo he has to worry about, he might have a chance.

Besides, maybe there is something a little tempting about his foe's offer, if only to see what kind of information he's hoping to garner and how helpful it's going to be to him and the Dragon Riders.

Viggo smiles as he passes him by on the way to the table, or rather, smirks as he does. Just short of saying; "Now there's a good boy."

Hiccup tries not to let it get to him or at least not show that it is. The last thing he wants is to give him any more ammo than he already has.

Standing by his table, Viggo briefly turns back to Hiccup.

"Mind joining me?" He asks and gestures to the workspace in front of him. Probably having little choice, Hiccup joins him.

He doesn't like standing next to him, but what truly sends a chill down his spine is what he sees lying before him.

The book the Dragon Hunter Chief was reading is closed now. It's as if he doesn't want Hiccup to see what he's so fascinated by that he wants Hiccup's help of all people.

Or he guesses that's why he's here. He certainly hopes it isn't to become the subject of that fascination. Because he can now see those tools and he doesn't like what he's seeing.

There are knives of all sizes, though most likely all just as equally as sharp. A small hammer and a chisel, not the kind you would use for hard work, but rather for more delicate tasks instead. There's a saw as well as many more, but Hiccup can't imagine what Viggo would want to use this for. He doesn't want to imagine what any of these things can be used for.

Just what is Viggo planning? Those tools aren't going to be used on him, are they? And what about that mystery bottle? Whatever it's containing, Hiccup is willing to bet it can't be anything good.

He's rearranging them, making sure they lie neatly on the wooden surface. Hiccup can't tell if he's doing it out of compulsion or just to make him nervous.

"Tell me about your dragons. What is your relation to them?"

"Excuse me?" Hiccup asks, briefly glancing up at him, but then deciding that it must be a better idea to watch his hands.

"The dragon pack on Berk. My sources tell me that, amongst all the Vikings, it's you the dragons listen to the most, even above the highest authority figure in your village, your father. Why is that?" He asks so casually as if they're having a simple conversation and completely ignoring the fact that they're enemies.

The last thing Hiccup would want to talk with him about are the dragons Viggo would very much like to capture and sell. Either whole or piece by piece.

"Why would I tell you about Berk's pack? The pack that counts on me to protect them?" What Hiccup wanted was to emphasize how the man with him should not expect anything out of him, that his lips are sealed, but that isn't what Viggo hears.

"They count on you, do they? You specifically? Firebreathing dragons, a whole pack of them, rely on you, a single human, to keep them safe? And you honestly expect me not to ask you any more questions?" Viggo places a hand on the table as he faces his current "partner" in science.

Hiccup doesn't like this. He doesn't like this at all. Viggo's whole demeanor tonight is so peculiar. There is such curiosity, such fascination, and in the usual Grimborn way, they present themselves in such a malicious way.

"No, I'm not answering your questions, Viggo!" Hiccup smacks his hand on the wood, hoping to show how determined he is not to answer.

Viggo doesn't look entirely too pleased with this display, glancing at Hiccup's hand on the table.

"Are you sure that's what you want to be? Difficult? Did my offer to perform this experiment as equals not satisfy you? I can always call in outside help." So he lets out a subtle threat and Hiccup can't quite tell which one he should be more afraid of. The verbal one, or the one where Viggo gently fingers the saw lying on his side of the table.

So if he refuses to answer his questions, he doesn't just have some good old manhandling to look forward to, but whatever that saw can be used for as well?

Viggo is going straight for the kill on this one, isn't he? Whatever this "experiment" that he just mentioned is about, it's big enough that he isn't willing to take things slow. Either Hiccup cooperates right this instant until it's all over, or he risks being held down and lose a couple more body parts.

Hiccup swallows visibly, shaken by the threat. His gaze meets Viggo's.

"Well?"

Hiccup lets out a sigh. Perhaps to calm himself?

"You've heard of the Red Death before?" He asks once he's managed to regain his composure a little. He hopes he isn't shaking, he's usually good at steadying himself.

"Yes, of course. I've done my research ever since our very first encounter. At first, I thought the tale of the Boy and the Dragon who defeated the Red Death was nothing but a way for a disappointed father to make up for his disgraceful son. After all, that is the way it goes with you Vikings, is it not?" Viggo responds to his question and in a more timely manner than his "equal".

Hiccup feels himself getting a little angry at that comment and looks away. It hits a sore spot.

"But then our games properly started and I realized that, if anybody would successfully destroy a dragon that size, it would have to be you," Viggo speaks to him with an air of admiration, as if hearing the truth behind this tall tale has pleasantly surprised him.

"However, as much as I would love to discuss this story with you, we don't have the time as you've left my question unanswered." Hiccup fights the urge to sigh again.

"The Red Death, she acted like a queen for the pack that now lives with us on Berk. Fishlegs thinks that, since it was my plan that defeated her and there were plenty of dragons to see that, I may have taken her place. But it's just a theory!" He emphasizes that last part. He doesn't want Viggo to get any crazy ideas.

But Viggo, he just looks content with this information, like Hiccup just reaffirmed something he already knows.

"But you knew that already." So he states and crosses his arms, but whether it's in agitation or defense, he doesn't know.

"I had my suspicions. Perhaps I didn't take you for a "queen", but yes, I had my suspicions." The man says, taking some enjoyment out of annoying his young, and temporary, cohort.

This entire situation, Hiccup finds that Viggo is having way too much fun. This isn't some friendly meeting that they're having.

No, it isn't and he hates everything about this. Standing here next to Viggo, talking with Viggo, almost as if they are partners or fellow scholars. It feels so wrong.

And he soon finds it's about to get a whole lot worse than this.

"But now that this is sorted, I want you to undress."

"Wait, you want me to what?" Hiccup wasn't exactly making himself comfortable, but that still takes him off guard.

Viggo picks up a knife before he answers and admires its glint in the torchlight.

"You heard me. This experiment requires you in a state of undress. Don't worry, I only need you to remove your armor and your tunic." He answers as if that is in any way comforting. Especially when he's playing with that knife in that manner.

"I'm-I'm not going to..." His words end there, his level of discomfort rises dramatically.

"Hmm, I could always-"

"O-okay, fine!" He knows what Viggo wants to say, he wants to threaten him with "outside help" again. And if there is something that would make stripping for Viggo Grimborn worse, it's stripping in front of and being stripped by Viggo Grimborn and his men. It would be humiliating.

So he does it voluntarily, or about as voluntary as undressing under duress is. First removing his pauldrons before pulling his chest armor off. At his tunic, he hesitates.

"Well?" Viggo presses when he notices Hiccup's reluctance. His good mood takes another little dip, he's growing impatient.

"I-I-I can't just... Viggo, hey!" Hiccup is about to his express his hesitation when Viggo takes the knife in his hand, grabs Hiccup's tunic, and cuts right through it. Because of his carelessness, it grazes his skin and creates both a red line and an accompanying awful stinging on his chest.

Hiccup backs away startled and looks down at himself, hands grabbing the cut pieces of his clothing. The cut is already bleeding and Viggo managed to get through most of his tunic as well as his undertunic. He glares up at him and Viggo returns the favor.

"I am a man with reasonable patience, Hiccup Haddock, but my patience is wearing thin. I am not taking the time to watch you dilly-dally when we have a schedule to uphold."

"A schedule? Is there an actual schedule or are you just saying that because we're running out of time?" Hiccup asks him, angry with his current situation.

Though he asks this, neither sound like a good option. A schedule can mean that Viggo wants this to be a regular thing, undressing for whatever reason, for however long Hiccup will be held captive by him before the Dragon Riders eventually save him. Meanwhile running out of time may suggest that there is something Viggo wants done before it's too late to do it and that can make a man desperate and unpredictable as a result. So really, neither are preferable.

Viggo doesn't answer his question, instead furrowing his brow.

"Tunic, Hiccup."

So he removes them, both layers, and is left bare from the figurative belt up. As if this couldn't get any worse, though Hiccup has a feeling it might still get worse and in so many ways.

He can feel Viggo's gaze on him and he can't bring himself to meet it. After all their interactions and Viggo's subtle hints, making himself vulnerable in this way isn't exactly something he wanted to do.

Gods, he can feel Viggo's eyes on him as he passes him by, knife just grazing his arm harmlessly and making goosebumps appear on his skin.

He's doing it on purpose, he must be. He can't let it get to him.

But he does, his breath hitches when the knife leaves his skin and Viggo walks away from him. He can't tell if it's because of discomfort, his nerves, or something else entirely.

The Dragon Hunter Chief approaches something standing in the beam of moonlight coming down from the hole in the ceiling. It's elevated and flat, but still made of rock, like some sort of pedestal has been carved out. Hiccup isn't sure if he wants to follow him, nervous about what might happen when he does.

"Are you coming or not?" Unfortunately, his captor isn't giving him much of a choice.

"Viggo, what are we doing here? You demand answers from me, threaten me with force if I hesitate to give them, the least you can do is tell me what I can expect in the next... however long this is going to take." Though he's used to the cold north, he shivers as he speaks.

"You'll see." Of course, that's the answer that he gives him.

"Pedestal, get on it." Viggo orders next and Hiccup figures he has to. Otherwise, he'll just be threatened by "outside help" some more.

So he gets on it, attempting to stand, but then Viggo pulls him down onto his knees. His upper body is already bare and vulnerable, might as well be forced into a submissive position, too.

Hiccup grunts and almost fights it. He was right to think that things can still get worse.

Viggo is standing behind him now, rolling the blade in his hand. Hiccup can feel his heart pounding. He hates having that man so close and beyond his view.

His free hand settles on his shoulder and Hiccup nearly jumps straight to his feet because of how on edge he is.

His hand is warm, though, warmer than Hiccup would like it to be.

"What're you doing?"

"Calm yourself. No need to get worked up and make this experience any more unpleasant than it needs to be." Hiccup glares at his fists as they rest on his lap. How is he supposed to listen when that is the kind of reassurance he's being given?

He wishes he wasn't shaking, but he is. He's so aware of everything, he's pretty sure he can hear the man behind him breathe.

The cold of the knife touches the skin on his back, a little above his right shoulder blade.

"Viggo-"

"Relax, don't struggle and it'll be over soon."

The blade nicks into his flesh and Hiccup can't take it anymore. He jumps to his feet and spins around to face the other, removing himself from the platform.

"No, I can't do this! I'm answering your questions, I've stripped down to just my pants, and now you expect me to just let you cut into my body?! And for what?! You haven't given me any answers of your own and you refuse to explain what you're endgame is!" Hiccup raises his voice, heart pounding.

Viggo simply watches him, wearing an expression that tells Hiccup that he's not even considering changing this one-sided exchange of information.

"Fine, if you want to do it the hard way." So he calls in two of his men to grab Hiccup, one on each arm, to force him back upon the rock.

"What?! No!" Grunting, Hiccup attempts to fight them, struggling himself free on one side before a third Hunter joins them to pull the lead Dragon Rider back onto the pedestal.

"No, let go! Viggo! Viggo, all I want is some answers! I don't understand why you can't give me those. What are you planning on doing to me?!" It is frightening. To be manhandled in such a way by three men both bigger and stronger than him, to be forced back down on his knees and held down to keep him at the mercy of Viggo Grimborn and his questionable actions.

"I've told you, Hiccup, you'll have to wait and see. Something things are better left to be experienced. Now be quiet and take it." Viggo glowers down at him. That is about the only explanation he'll be getting from him and all it does is make him even more anxious.

Viggo supposes this isn't a bad thing. A fast heartbeat just means it'll be spread through his system faster.

Taking place behind him again, Viggo replaces the blade on his back, presses, and drags it down. It is slow and methodical, he's more concerned with keeping his cut straight than he is with Hiccup's comfort.

And Hiccup, he's left to deal with it. He doesn't want to show how much it pains him to have his flesh slowly split open, but there are pained whimpers he can't suppress. And neither can he stop the shivers of his body, nor the way the muscles of his back contract, as if they stand a chance of stopping this.

Viggo is done after it is repeated on the left side of his spine as well, but the three Dragon Hunters don't let go.

"Fuck..." A curse slips past his lips this time. It hurts so bad and those two slashes aren't all that short either. His neck is starting to hurt, too, from the way he's being held.

The three men keeping him pinned let out a chuckle, laughing at his misery.

"Quiet. We aren't here for hilarity or pranks." Viggo suddenly sounds farther away. Hiccup wants to look, but his restrainers aren't allowing him to.

It sounds like Viggo is back by the table and Hiccup hopes that it isn't to pick a different torture device.

"You, let him go." The Hunter Chief orders the man holding Hiccup's neck to release him and he does. After a little push for extra measure, naturally.

Viggo returns and kneels down in front of Hiccup holding the bottle that was previously standing next to the mystery book.

"Tell me, Hiccup Haddock, what do you know about Fireworm Queens and the gell they secrete for their young ones?" He asks.

"What can I tell you that the Dragon-Eye hasn't already?" Hiccup asks in turn, still an edge to his tone despite his watery eyes.

"I am simply testing your knowledge, no need to be so hostile." He can't tell if Viggo is actually being serious or not. He does all of this to him and then expects Hiccup to not get hostile? He must be joking.

Viggo stands and uncorks the opaque bottle. A smell that is horrendously sweet fills the air almost immediately and makes everyone present gag at the intensity. Their nostrils burn.

"That's-"

"The secretion of a Fireworm Queen is contained within this bottle, but it isn't the kind fed to all her offspring. Can you tell?" He asks and Hiccup supposes that he can.

That scent is familiar, he remembers smelling it in the cavern of the Fireworm Queen he and the Dragon Riders went to, to save Hookfang's life once or when that same dragon came to them for help. But that smell wasn't as strong as the one he can smell now. This one is much, much stronger, to the point that it makes him want to throw up. He has a feeling he knows what it is.

Noticing Hiccup's refusal to respond by how he clenches his jaw, Viggo answers for him.

"This is the hormonal gel given to Fireform larvae that are meant to become queens someday. It is potent and it is the star of today's experiment. Well, the two of you share the spot." He tells him with a smirk and then moves behind him again.

Hiccup watches him go until he's out of sight, dread knotting his stomach.

"Do you know what it does? It makes a Fireworm independent from the gel that gives them their heat, it enables them to produce it themselves, changes them so they can grow in the same size and strength as the queens before them. They become a queen themselves." Hiccup can hear Viggo pull something out by the way it's dripping the gel back into the bottle. Fireworm gel shouldn't be this liquid.

"Do you know what this means, Hiccup? With a certain dosage, a Fireworm's hormonal gel can change a larvae's very physiology to the point that they become an entirely new kind of dragon. It brings out that which is hidden deeply within them to elevate them to something new. Imagine the kind of power such a gel can give if experimented with, imagine the possibilities." There is such passion in Viggo's words as he dumps all of this info on his abductee.

"You're very talkative all of a sudden," Hiccup says.

"I am merely sharing what I know."

Something is placed on his back over one of his injuries, splatting onto his person before it's properly put in place. It feels like a long strip of cloth drenched in diluted gell and it's mingling with his blood, soaked up by his wound.

It feels cold at first, until the gel seems to activate with his body heat and quickly warms up to the point of hurting. Hiccup breathes through it as much as he can. If it's this intense in a diluted form, what is the gell like in its true form?

The same thing happens to his other cut and Hiccup hisses as the second strip heats up, too.

"Can't imagine it to be too comfortable." Viggo sasses, as if that's something Hiccup wants to hear.

"Oh... Why-why are you doing this? What are you hoping to accomplish?" Hiccup tries once more, his cheeks flushing as the temperatures of his body rises. Within moments he feels feverish.

"What I am trying to accomplish? Hopefully, the exact result I'm looking for." Again, not what he wants to hear.

Viggo appears in front of him again and grabs his chin. Hiccup tries to break free, but Viggo's grip is tight.

The muffled sound of an explosion shakes the cave chamber and small stones drop down from the ceiling here and there.

"Dragon Riders." One of the Hunters mutters and another groans in dismay.

Meanwhile, Hiccup feels relief wash over him.

At least for a short moment.

"Then we'll have to hurry." Viggo's grip on his chin tightens and he forces his mouth open. Hiccup struggles to break free, but the third man joins in again and grabs hold of his hair and jaw.

"No!" A garbled yell leaves Hiccup, but it's no use. Whatever else remains in the bottle, Viggo forces it down his throat and this isn't as diluted as the gell on the strips of cloth.

The effect is instantaneous. His lips, the entire inside of his mouth, his throat, everything becomes unbearably tingly and hot. It's as if he's being burned from the inside out and it makes him panic. If he wasn't crying already, he certainly is now.

Covering his mouth and nose, Viggo keeps Hiccup from spitting it back out, smiling all the while.

"You'll have to forgive, my Dear, but considering our circumstances, I was forced to give you more than the natural doses. Much, much more." He tells him and Hiccup can feel it, with the way he's burning from the inside out.

There is another explosion, followed by another.

"I really wish I could stay and see what happens, but it is time for me to leave soon." He says as he still keeps his hand in place. He doesn't plan on letting go until he's certain it's all gone.

Or until a plasma blast sends them all flying.

It isn't aimed at them, but at the ground instead, lest the Night Fury responsible ends up hitting his own Rider. But the force behind the shot is still powerful enough to fling all five of them.

Hiccup falls to the ground and rolls in the direction of the lake. As per his luck, he falls right in, ending up completely submerged.

Or perhaps it is fortunate, the hot sensation on his lips and tongue alleviates just a tad bit with the cooling water.

"Hiccup!" That is Astrid's muffled yell and Toothless roars in unison with her.

Hiccup can't see what is happening, cringing as the freezing water cools his body and takes his breath away.

He doesn't regain any movement, body locked by cold, but he doesn't have to. Toothless dives right in to pull him out.

Sputtering out water after he's pulled to the surface, Hiccup clings to his dragon and fervently rubs at his face. That burning on his lips and mouth, it needs to go and water is his best option. He tries to wash everything off.

Toothless doesn't quite get what is wrong, but he lets Hiccup do as he wishes. If it helps him to wash whatever it is that is wrong with him off, then he will try and stay as still as he can. Hiccup is holding onto him for support.

Once the burning tingling has been taken care of, Hiccup lets Toothless pull him onto solid ground. It isn't completely gone yet, but it has lessened enough to make it bearable. Just slightly more bearable than it was before, that is.

Astrid helps him get out of the water, grabbing Hiccup's hands to pull him up. The other Dragon Riders are there, too, and they surround him immediately, helping with getting him up. Toothless follows swiftly.

"Hiccup, are you okay?" Astrid asks, hands on his shoulders, but he takes them away from him. She gives him a look.

"I'm sorry, I just can't stand touching right now." His skin is still too tingly, too sensitive. The other Riders quickly take their hands off him.

"What the Hel is this?" Snotlout asks, referring to the strips of cloth covering what are clearly two bleeding cuts.

"I-I don't-I don't even know where to start. But please, get those off." Hiccup responds. The Fireworm gel seems to have cooled down from the water, a mercy considering what he felt like before.

Fishlegs moves behind him, four of the Riders looking over Hiccup's shoulders to take a look at what their healer will be doing.

"They look like they're stuck," Ruffnut states, just shy of touching the cloth.

"Well, let's hope they're not or we might be hurting Hiccup even more than he already is." Astrid retorts.

Fishlegs studies the strips before taking a corner and pulling a tad just to test the waters. Hiccup cringes.

"Oh no, they're stuck, they're very stuck." Fishlegs notices and stops.

Just like anything dragon-related, cooling it only makes it impossible to work with, much like the amber of Death Song dragons.

"Maybe it's better to take care of this on the Edge. We'll be home, you'll be in your hut, and we'll have a lot more supplies on hand than what we have now." Astrid suggests and Hiccup finds himself mulling it over.

Whatever Viggo's experiment is supposed to accomplish, leaving the gel to just sit on his skin might not be the best idea. But if he has to choose between having this issue taken care of here, in a dank cave with little medical supplies, and his home away from home, where his bed is and his workspace, then his choice is quickly made.

"Let's go home."

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

It was an uncomfortable trip. Hiccup was able to fly on his own as his injuries didn't keep him from doing so. A blanket had been fashioned into a makeshift tunic by use of a belt to protect him from the freezing winds, but it couldn't stop the pulling he felt on his back.

The two wounds alone would be troublesome on their own, but with the gel sticking cloth into them makes them feel like they're being pulled on and it's unpleasant at the very least.

Dragon's Edge appearing in the distance is a blessing and they eventually reach it. Before long, Hiccup is in his hut while Astrid and Fishlegs figure out what to do about their current problem. So long as those cuts are covered, they can't treat them and that means they need to get rid of those strips first.

"And you said they felt hot?" Fishlegs asks Hiccup to repeat, wanting to know if he heard right so he can properly think of a solution.

Sitting on a chair and finding no way to sit comfortably with his back situation, Hiccup nods.

"Like Death Song amber before it cools." He nods.

"Maybe we can free you from that Fireworm gel like we free someone from Death Song amber? Heat it up until it lets go?" Astrid suggests, sitting on a chair, too, as is Fishlegs. They're both behind him, inspecting the situation before them.

"Hmmm, yeah, that could work, but we'd need to be quick. That stuff was so hot, too hot, I don't want to burn my back." Hiccup reluctantly replies. He's not looking forward to what they most likely will end up doing to help him, he doesn't want to experience that kind of burning again.

But he knows it and they know it. Astrid and Fishlegs share a look, sharing Hiccup's thought process.

"I'll go grab the Inferno," Astrid says and gets up to fetch it on the loft. Hiccup watches her go for a moment before his attention is taken by Fishlegs.

"We promise to be careful, Hiccup, and we'll try to work as fast as we can." He promises him while Astrid returns with the Dragon blade.

They both look at her, watch her check if it's still covered in Nightmare saliva before she lights it with a button and Hiccup fills with dread.

Astrid joins Fishlegs again and they get to work, Astrid holding the sword at the stiff strips to warm them up.

Fortunately for him, it doesn't take as long as Hiccup fears, the gel becomes workable when heated up and Fishlegs manages to pull the cloth off. The second they let go, Astrid takes the Inferno away and Hiccup breathes a sigh of relief.

At least that's over with, now they can properly care for those cuts.

"Oh, this is going to be troublesome." But that is what Astrid says and Hiccup tenses up in alarm.

"Hiccup, the gel is all up in those cuts. Cleaning them won't be easy." Fishlegs warns him and Hiccup nods.

"Do they need to be stitched?" Hiccup asks.

"With all of this gunk in there? Probably. They aren't too deep, but it might help to avoid further risk for an infection." He tells him and Hiccup supposes that he'll just have to resign himself to the fact that he'll be here for a long while.

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

It took well over an hour, maybe two or even three. Bottom line is, Fishlegs and Astrid had to spend a long time heating, cleaning, and treating Hiccup's injuries before they could finally bandage him up.

"What was Viggo thinking?!" Astrid hisses angrily as she washes her hands.

"What does it matter? We all know Viggo's a creep." Snotlout complains. After a rejuvenating dinner, he and the twins have joined the others in Hiccup's hut to see how the treatment of their leader is going.

It's been hours since they got home and the three of them could see how much pain it was putting Hiccup in.

Cleaning open wounds isn't at all pleasant, let alone when a fire needs to be held close to said wounds in order to clean them properly. It wasn't good for neither his cuts nor his healthy skin.

His entire back is now red and tender from being burned and Hiccup trembles again from the abuse he was put through, that they had to put him through. Though they were given little choice, it angers them all.

But his wounds have been stitched and dressed and his newly required first-degree burns have been carefully cooled and treated with healing salve. He's eating now, the first meal he's had since he was taken. Or he's trying to, staring at his bowl of soup as they aren't sure what he's able to eat. Nothing warm in hindsight, the inside of his mouth is still sensitive.

He's quiet and without a doubt still reeling from this experience. He'll be fine eventually, but for a time, he'll need to recover from this mentally, too.

"I wonder what the purpose of this was, though. What was Viggo trying to accomplish?" Fishlegs asks, he's the first one to do so since they got home.

"Did he tell you anything?" Astrid faces Hiccup as she dries her hands. Viggo likes talking to him, maybe he told him something.

But Hiccup quietly shakes his head as there isn't anything to tell. He's too upset to take a spoonful and his stomach is too upset, too. Though it rumbles, he's too nauseous to eat.

"Hey, are you okay?" Noticing this, Astrid asks and approaches.

"Oh yeah, I bet he's fine." Snotlout responds sarcastically, finding her question to be a silly one.

Astrid glares at him momentarily. Of course, she knows he's not okay, but it never hurts to ask and see what he has to say.

"Ye-yeah, I'm fine, I just... I just feel too sick to my stomach to eat." Hiccup tells her, but whether it's because of the gel in his system, in his stomach, or because of the stripping of those strips, he doesn't know. Could even be a combination of all three, could be the exhaustion that this experience has left him with.

"Do you need to lie down?"

"Yeah." Hiccup hands her his bowl and she takes it before he can get up on wobbly legs. Fishlegs helps keep him steady.

Now that his injuries have been properly treated, maybe he can get some rest.

Toothless, who had been lying behind him, stands up to follow him up to the loft. He hasn't had much sleep as of late either due to his Rider disappearing.

The five watch them go up the stairs, noticing Hiccup swaying a few times before he makes it up.

"You want us to come back with your food later?" Astrid asks. Maybe they can heat it up over a fire when he does feel like he can handle a meal.

"No, I just want to be left alone for a bit." It makes sense. After what he's been through, Astrid would want to be left alone, too.

"So can we have Hiccup's food?" Ruffnut asks as they make their way out, the hut's door closing and leaving Hiccup and Toothless bathed in the light of a single candle standing by the bed.

Hiccup sits down on the edge of his bed, sighing and swaying. He feels so sick, the Fireworm gel must not be agreeing with him. He feels sick and he's tired, dying to lie down and curl up. So that's what he does.

He can feel his injuries protesting and almost doesn't go for the covers until Toothless pulls them over him, a corner between his gums.

"Thanks, Bud." Hiccup tells him, closing his eyes. He sleeps under them, not fully, with his back in the kind of state that it is. But his dragon is there to keep him warm, so maybe he can get some shuteye despite his many discomforts.

Soon after he closes his eyes, he sleeps, unaware of what Viggo's experiment has truly wrought upon him.

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

A couple of days later, evening arrives and the Riders are finishing their dinner while Astrid serves a sixth plate to bring to Hiccup. After having been briefly gone, Fishlegs returns to them with the medical supplies he would need to change Hiccup's bandages.

Tuffnut watches Astrid.

"Maybe we can get Hiccup to eat here?" He suggests to her, they haven't seen him as he recovers and the only ones who do see him are her and Fishlegs.

"We told you, Hiccup is too sick for visitors," Astrid tells him, surprisingly calm in spite of the fact she's had to repeat it many times already.

"Then how come you and Fishlegs get to see him? I can change a bandage!" Snotlout protests, mouth still full of mutton.

"Hiccup can barely stand our presence at the moment, I'm not exposing him to you or the twins." She tells him, picking the extra plate up.

The truth is, Toothless eventually did cave and come to tell them of the fever plaguing Hiccup. Since then it's only gone from bad to worse.

He's burning up all the time, his temperature dangerously high. He's throwing up everything he eats and drinks, already he's lost some weight. And then there's the pain that he's in. Claiming that every part of him hurts, he lies curled up most of the time, stomach upset.

"My back, there's something wrong with my back."

Astrid and Fishlegs have checked over and over again, even removed the stitches to look at the wounds themselves when he told them to remove them. They've found nothing and believe him to be hallucinating due to the fever.

If anything, keeping Snotlout, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut out of that hut is a favor to them, even if they don't see it that way.

Astrid and Fishlegs are both exhausted, barely having slept these past few days. Whatever is causing all of this, all they can do is help him be as comfortable as he can be in this.

They've already sent a message to Berk with the fastest Terrible Terror that they have. Now they'll just have to wait for Gothi, Stoick, and Gobber to come. There's no way Hiccup can make that trip back.

They go back to doing their own thing when Stormfly perks up by the entrance, where she waits for her human. Her attention seems to be drawn by something as she squawks and her head tilts like a bird's.

"What's wrong, girl?" Approaching with the plate, Astrid wants to ask her what it is that piques her interest. But Stormfly doesn't have to answer when it comes to them before she can.

It is a long blood-curdling scream that freezes them all in place.

They look at each other for a moment too long after it ends, reeling from the sheer torment in the sound.

"Hiccup!" Astrid yells and drops the plate of food she holds. They all sprint out of the clubhouse and towards the hut. Having been spooked, Stormfly is nowhere to be found.

It doesn't take them long to arrive with their legs carrying them as fast as humanly possible. They open the front entrance to permit themselves entry. As it flips open, they hurry inside and up to the loft to find...

"Oh... my..."

"... Gods..." Snotlout finishes for Astrid, who stare at the sight before them. They all stare.

Hiccup and Toothless are both nowhere to be found. What they're staring at instead is nothing but blood.

Sheets, bed, pillows, bucket, everything is splattered with blood. It's even on the walls and on the ceiling.

"What the fuck happened here?!" Tuffnut asks what they're all wondering, but can't say, too speechless to.

Something on the floor catches Astrid's attention and she leans down to grab it.

It's a torn stitch.

"Fishlegs," She calls him over to take a look.

"Is that..."

"From his back? I think so." Astrid responds, not wanting to imagine how or why it's on the floor and not where it's supposed to be. Snotlout looks as well, an expression of disgust on his face.

"Uh, that's not the only one." Ruffnut mentions and points towards several more pieces on the ground.

"Did they get torn off? What was Hiccup doing to himself?" Snotlout asks, that scream had to be coming from somewhere.

Nobody answers simply because no one can provide him with one. But from the patterns of the blood and the pieces of stitches, it almost looks like an explosion of blood had occurred, like it all came bursting out of the wounds on his back. That alone is mindboggling.

"Hey Astrid, considering our situation, maybe we should tell them how Hiccup was really doing," Fishlegs suggests and that doesn't make them feel too good with what they're about to hear.

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

They have left a convenient trail for them. It's a trail of blood, but it's something to find their friends with now that they've gone missing.

"Oh, I hope Hiccup's okay," Fishlegs wonders out loud, his arms full of medical supplies.

Snotlout rolls his eyes, too angry with Fishlegs and Astrid to even say anything now. Though the latter of the two sees it as a blessing, he's sure to make up for his silence soon.

"I'm sure he's fine. Or at least as fine as he can be and Toothless is still with them. They're probably waiting for us." Astrid reassures him.

"Uh, and how do we know that?" Tuffnut asks.

"Yeah, why would they be waiting for us if their first instinct was to run away?" Ruffnut asks and she has a point. That they would run away after an utterly puzzling experience like that is a strange thing to do. Especially for Hiccup, who should know better.

"I'm sure it was just the shock of... what must've happened." Astrid tries to give the incident a term, tries to call it something as things always feel better with a name, but finds she isn't sure what to call it. She also isn't sure anymore if it's a good idea to do this on foot as she naturally thought Hiccup and Toothless wouldn't be getting far. And yet, at the same time she can feel that they're close.

If they pass these trees, they'll find them. If they get past this rock, push through these bushes, but each time they end up being further away than she thinks.

"Ugh, this plan is dumb! We should be getting on our dragons and-" As Snotlout breaks his angry silence to propose a different plan, there is a loud rustling up ahead and they all grow quiet. It sounds like a dragon taking off and breaking through the trees to reach the sky, quite a specific sound, but one they're familiar with.

Recognizing this, they search the nearest opening in the greenery and look to the sky. High above them, they spot a black dragon with a little speck of red leaving the Edge. They would've thought it was Toothless and they would've given chase, if not for the fact that this species has four wings instead of two.

A new species of dragon? Now?

The Dragon Riders can only stare, too perplexed to climb onto their dragons to follow or to even grab a spyglass and see what it is, like it's their first time seeing a dragon.

But as exciting as it is to see another new dragon, they can't follow it. They need to find their team members first.

"What was that?" Tuffnut asks and no one can give him an answer.

They continue on the trail and while it ends quickly after, Hiccup and Toothless are nowhere to be found.

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

They tried to find their missing friends. The ceiling window was open and they figured that must be how they got away unseen. But after deducing that, they didn't get very far as the blood trail they followed ended after a little while with no further leads. It's like Hiccup and Toothless just vanished into thin air. Dragon's Edge isn't a small island either, finding them again will be hard.

But they've tried. They've searched the forests, they've searched the caves, any place where a human and a Night Fury could hide, only to come up with nothing.

So the Dragon Riders have decided to make a detour.

"You two shouldn't have lied about Hiccup!" Angered by the hiding and the deadends, Snotlout scolds two of the other Riders. He rides on top of Hookfang as they're all mid-flight.

But for once, Hookfang agrees with his human. He is of the opinion that Stormfly's and Meatlug's humans should've been more honest with the group.

"We didn't lie, Snotlout. Hiccup was sick, nobody could see this coming." Astrid is having none of that. She worries and she's been mulling the past few days over and over, trying to think of anything that she thought of as suspicious, but there really is nothing she can think of. She knows Fishlegs has been doing the same in vain.

There is nothing that pointed towards his back bursting open at the seams. The seams being the cuts Viggo put there.

"I still think you should've told us!" Snotlout exclaims.

"So you've mentioned." Astrid retorts, but before the former can say something again, Fishlegs speaks up.

"There it is!" He shouts, pointing towards the island in the distance.

They've left Dragon's Edge and their search to take another look at the place where Viggo held Hiccup and experimented on him. They don't expect to find anything, but finding Hiccup and Toothless first without a way to help might not be so wise. If there is anything this place can tell them that'll help, they would love to know.

What a first glance tells them? That the Dragon Hunters have packed up and left, the island is abandoned. Not surprising and not entirely a bad thing as that saves them the trouble of a battle, but only if Viggo left behind some clue to what he's done to their leader.

They find the cave quickly and ascend down the hole in the ceiling, steering there as they have little interest in the rest of the island for the time being. The hole is big enough even for Hookfang's wings to fit through.

Unsurprisingly, this place has been cleared as well. Everything's been taken.

Everything, except for one thing, a single book.

"Huh, that's weird." Snotlout remarks, most likely saying what they're all thinking as they land. His voice, Hookfang's last wing flaps, everything echoes here.

"Why would Viggo just leave something like that here? That not like him." Fishlegs wonders out loud. Meatlug, who he still sits on, gurgles worryingly in agreement. It is strange and she doesn't like it a bit.

"Maybe he forgot?" Tuffnut hesitantly suggests an explanation.

"Eh, I don't know, looks more like a trick to me." But Ruffnut offers a different perspective.

They all dismount, standing near the pedestal-like carved rock that still has Hiccup's blood on it. There isn't a lot, definitely outweighed by the bloodbath they found in his hut, but their eyes are still drawn to it.

"Ugh," Snotlout shows his disgust for what happened here.

Leaving her dragon's side, Astrid approaches the pedestal to get the book.

"Careful, what if it's a trap?" Fishlegs fears.

"No, I don't think so. I think Viggo left this here for us to find." Astrid thinks, picking the old book up with little problem. Which is a worrying thing to think. Because knowing Viggo, it most likely means he's done what he set out to do and that he wants to gloat to the Riders about another victory by leaving this behind.

The question now is, what will this book mean for them? Will it be an explanation or just more questions?

Astrid returns to her friends with it and they all gather around her to see. She flips it open.

At first glance, the book seems a little odd. There are pages showing strange creatures, texts detailing myths and legends even older than Vikings, a whole section on dragons. There is even something about the Fireworms and their queens, which is one of the pages bookmarked by the man who left this book for them to find.

Because, oh yes, Viggo has bookmarked a few pages for them. He's telling them what they should read, even leaving the occasional note to show which parts are important to read. And they know it's addressed to them as Viggo mentions Hiccup by name.

So clearly he expects his rival to be alive. If anything, it slightly eases the worry that Hiccup might be lying dead somewhere with Toothless in no state to get their friends.

Though it hurts their pride to give into Viggo's mockery, Astrid releases a deeply agitated sigh and turns to the first bookmark.

It is the aforementioned section on Fireworms, their queens, and their gel.

"So what is all of this supposed to mean?" Snotlout asks. Though the Dragons have a slightly easier time to see what is being shown, the Riders are all squeezed together behind Astrid to look over her shoulder and read what's been written.

What they read, isn't new information. They know how the gel works, they know how Fireworm Queens are made.

"For as sophisticated and handsome as he is, Viggo's a dick," Ruffnut says, feeling offended by the Hunter Chief's need to belittle their dragon knowledge.

"So we know from Hiccup that Fireworm gel was used on him, but this information doesn't explain why it was used on him or what it was supposed to do." Fishlegs mentions, so Astrid turns to a different bookmark and that's where the book's strange nature reappears again, causing even an array of befuddling reactions from the Dragons.

The pictures are the oddest part so far and they haven't even gotten to the walls of text yet.

"Uh, are those...?" Snotlout can barely finish his sentence, too spooked and confused.

"Awesome dragon people?! Sign me the fuck up!" Ruffnut excitedly declares, practically climbing over Snotlout to take a better look.

What they're looking at is indeed a page full of sketches with humans in possession of some very draconic traits. Horns, claws, spines, even large and majestic wings. The way they were drawn was in a strange mixture of both beauty and creepy. There appears to be a thin line between the two.

"Oh, yeah, sounds like real fun. I, too, want blood spurting out of me with such force that it hits the ceiling." Snotlout claps back at her, disgruntled with her words, whatever these dragon people have to do with what happened to Hiccup.

"Fishlegs, what do you make of this?" Astrid asks and hands the book over to him. Fishlegs takes it and pages through it, skimming the contents to get a general idea of what it's saying, paying special attention to the parts Viggo has marked for them.

"I'm not really sure. The author of this book clearly likes to talk about these stories revolving around a winged kind of people in this section. Like, a dragon species that look like humans or are something between humans and dragons or were once humans and turned into dragons." Fishlegs explains the gist of it, still paging through the book.

"So like the Wingmaidens?" Snotlout asks, curiously attempting to take another peek. He brings up Atali and her people because he wants to make sense of this. Things like books didn't always mean what they said, they were tricky like that. People with tiny dragons to carry them make a lot more sense to him than people who are dragons themselves.

"No, no baby dragons. More like, these people had wings of their own, they were born with them!" Fishlegs replies, fascinated by the very concept.

"Had?" But Astrid can't help but notice the wording he uses. Is it a coincidence or on purpose?

"Yes, had! This book talks about them supposedly having gone extinct a few generations back. During the time when Hamish the First became chief of Berk!" He responds.

"But in order for something to go extinct-" Fishlegs cuts Astrid off.

"They first need to have existed! And that's what this book is implying. That they weren't legends at all, but real!" He claims. This book implies that about a lot of things they know aren't real.

"So what's that got to do with Hiccup? He doesn't have wings. Or claws, or horns, or fire, he's not a dragon! Not in a literal sense." Snotlout brings up a point.

"Uh, obviously he is." Ruffnut rolls with her eyes in amusement.

"That's why he's also a magical creature because he's a dragon!" Tuffnut agrees, neither of them knowing how right their attempt at helping everyone relax will end up being.

The remaining three Riders and the Dragons focus back on their biggest clue so far, the book

"We should put him a year in the wild."

"Yeah,"

"He'll be so feral!"

"Yeah!"

"Can you two please take this seriously! The only way we can help Hiccup is if we take this seriously and find out what exactly Viggo wanted with him." Astrid scolds them when she has heard enough.

"Viggo wanted Hiccup to grow wings and you want us to take this seriously?" Tuffnut protests at the ridiculousness of it all. Viggo gets to do this and they let him get away with it?

"Uh yeah, not likely," Ruffnut says with a shake of her head.

"Viggo didn't want Hiccup to grow wings, that's ridiculous!" Astrid raises her voice.

"It kind of looks like that's exactly what he wanted to do, actually. He wants us to know about the Fireworm gel and the tales of these ancient people? This might be exactly what he's hinting at." Fishlegs argues in defense of the twins.

"But Hiccup is human!"

"Remember the cuts Viggo made? Those can't be a coincidence!"

"Okay, so let's pretend that's what he wanted to do, does it matter? We're here to find out what happened to Hiccup in his hut, not try to crawl inside a creep's head!" Snotlout puts an end to the discussion by diverting it just a tad.

"Except if... you know... he succeeded?" It's an outrageous suggestion, but Fishlegs still makes it.

They'll all have to take a moment to stare, the notion that that's what caused the mess in his hut not quite what they thought of. Even the Dragons are surprised.

"Okay, that's it, you're fired from dragon nerd duty." Snotlout decides, arms crossed.

"A winged Hiccup, you say. I'd tap that. The question is, will Astrid? Because if she won't I'm available." Ruffnut jokes, her brother nodding in agreement.

"Ugh, muttonheads."

Meanwhile, Astrid makes her way back to Stormfly, who lets her on her back.

"What're you doing?" Snotlout asks.

"We're going back to the Edge. We've done everything we can here and we know what we need to know." Astrid says.

"So what? You're just accepting this stupid theory?" Snotlout asks in disbelieve. But without answering him, Astrid and Stormfly take to the sky.

"Wait, seriously?! I thought you and Fishlegs were the smart ones of the group!" He shouts to her, but still, he and Hookfang follow her home, they all do.

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

Once on the Edge, the plan was to search again, to see where Hiccup and Toothless might've gone. That new dragon species might've thrown them for a loop, but not this time. They have tracker dragons and enough medical supplies and a general idea of what has happened, it was time to find them.

Of course, emphasis on "was" as the Dragon Riders arrive home late at night and Smidvarg comes to them with terrible news.

"Smidvarg! What's wrong, Buddy?" Tuffnut asks, a smile still on his face as he's always happy to see his Night Terror buddy.

The Night Terror screeches and shrieks flying off into a direction and expecting the humans and dragons to follow.

"We're following Smidvarg! Come on, Gang!" Astrid decides and they give chase, following the lead Terror to wherever the fire must be.

A fire is exactly what Smidvarg leads them to, a percentage of the forest on the East side of Dragon's Edge is burning, a large plume of smoke rises to the dark sky. And underneath it all, Dragon Hunter ships.

And just to make everything even worse, a plasma blast shoots free of the mess and creates a distress signal that briefly illuminates the sky.

"That must be Toothless!" Fishlegs cries out.

"And Hiccup is probably with them." Astrid acknowledges and Stormfly makes a dive.

Though a quick and effective surprise attack from above was probably the better option, Astrid and Stormfly let out a battle cry together. If only so it may take the Hunters' attention away from their missing friends.

It's a good attempt as a Hunter looks away from their captive to look at the source of that brave yelling.

"Dragon Riders!"

"Guys!" Hiccup shouts, overjoyed to see his friends. Toothless, who has just run out of fire to spend, can feel the relief as well.

"Quick, get a move on!" A Hunter orders, axehead clanging loudly against the cage Hiccup's been put in. The cage located on a cart, it starts to move as it's being pulled away.

"Bud!" Hiccup calls for his Night Fury before a tarp is thrown over him, completely blocking him from view.

"I've heard that a darkened cage is good for an animal, now calm yourself." The Hunter growls mockingly. But Hiccup can't calm, not even now that his friends are finally here and he can hear them engage the Hunters in combat. He doesn't know what took them so long, but they're here now.

"Riders, take care of the accompanying ships! We need Viggo for some answers!" Astrid orders and watches as a tarp-covered cage is moved onto the middle ship. She can hear Toothless and his sounds are coming from the forest. Hiccup must be under there.

The ships that have come for their friends are heavily armed, rightfully expecting a fight, but the Dragon Riders aren't about to be scared off by a few arrows and ballistas.

"Here we go!"

"Oh yeah!" Ruff and Tuff shout as Barch releases a toxic cloud of gas that envelopes a group of Hunters before it is sparked alight. The group screams as they are blown away, their cries cut short much too sudden.

"Come on, Hookfang, let's show them what we've got!" Snotlout tells his dragon and the Nightmare snarls in anticipation. He can feel the fire burning in his throat and he releases his fury onto one of three ships, burning the mast and the majority of the deck.

Meatlug helps, spewing lava in what remains and creating holes through each floor until the molten rock reaches the sea below.

Stormfly, she goes directly for Toothless, grabbing the net thrown over him while Astrid leaps from the saddle and runs at the nearest Hunter, axe raised.

With a cry, she brings it down and it meets the Hunter's sword. They engage each other in battle.

On Viggo's ship, the cage with Hiccup halts before the man himself and the tarp is lifted on one side.

Hiccup, though injured, backs up and hopefully stays out of Viggo's reach.

Viggo stands there, gripping the bars as he takes the sight of Hiccup in, everything that he can see in this darkness.

"You are more then I could've hoped for, my Dear Hiccup. Beautiful results." Viggo remarks and Hiccup hates what he's hearing. These are truly the last words he wants to hear come out of this man's mouth.

But at least he can see the familiar glow of fire, a ship must be burning to a crisp just out of his view. A good thing, it means his friends must be close.

"Viggo!" Astrid screams and Viggo lowers the tarp to hide his prisoner.

Astrid runs up the gangplank, axe bloodied and prepared while Stormfly and Toothless follow her onboard. There are still plenty of Hunters to take care of on this ship. And in the meantime, the other Dragon Riders sink the other ship accompanying the main one.

Viggo has come prepared, more men than usual are present and while the dragons take care of them, Astrid focuses on their Chief. She takes a leap and a swing and makes Viggo step away from the cage.

"Hiccup, we're here for you!" She tells him, loud enough to make sure she's heard through the cover and over the fire. She would like to lift the tarp and have a look at him, but the enemies surrounding them won't allow that. Though she can hear their dragons making quick work of them.

"Yeah, thanks." Hiccup's reply is surprisingly short, like he can't decide whether he should be thrilled or worried. A possible reason nags her in the back of her mind, but still having a hard time believing it, she pushes it away.

"What are you incompetents standing around for?! You're Dragon Hunters!" Viggo's temper flares when it seems like he may lose his experiment's precious results.

His men are useless and as his second ship begins to sink, the other Dragon Riders can all target this one.

With a growl, Viggo draws his sword and faces Astrid. After all his work, he'd rather not lose Hiccup now.

"You're surrounded, Viggo. Give up." Astrid challenges him, axe twirling dexterously in her hands. She's been waiting for this moment ever since Hiccup first got captured.

Viggo isn't too happy with her calls for his surrender, he would much rather just leave, but Astrid clearly isn't about to let him do so. His ship is burning all around him anyway, he won't be getting out of this unless he has a dinghy somewhere or something to distract her or stop her.

But then a burning mast comes falling down and Astrid needs to jump out of the way. It separates her and Hiccup.

"Astrid?!" He calls to her, having heard and felt something heavy fall right by his cage where she stood.

"I'm okay, Babe! Don't worry about me!" She shouts at him from over the roaring flames, looking back at Viggo over the fire only to find him gone.

"No!" She yells, frustrated with the Hunter Chief's disappearance.

Under the tarp, Hiccup makes use of what dragons put in a cage such as this can't take advantage of and that is a pair of hands.

In the dim light, he seeks the lock and thinks of a way to unlock it and free himself. Unfortunately, he has nothing on him, nothing besides his prosthetic. He could try to pry the door open with it.

Removing his prosthetic, back burning and hurting with every move, he uses it to force the cage door open. It takes a lot of effort, but the lock eventually caves with a groan. The door swings open and he's free.

Now what does he do?

Staying isn't an option as the tarp hiding him from view catches on fire. He has no time to think of his next move, his only choice is to get out of here.

Get out of here and expose himself.

Hiccup swallows the dread he feels, knowing he has to come out and reveal himself to the Dragon Riders some time. Now is as good a time as any.

Outside the Dragon Riders have finished the Hunters off, what few there remained, and their search for Viggo proved useless. If that man doesn't want to be found, they won't.

"Where did that bastard go?!" Snotlout growls, still needing to deal him some good old fashioned Jorgenson vengeance.

"Forget Viggo! Hiccup is trapped inside this thing, we need to get him out!" Astrid denies him his revenge, her eye has fallen on the burning tarp and she wants to get it off. She can't remove it with her hands, so her axe will have to do.

Or so she thinks until Stormfly takes initiative and grabs the tarp with her large talons, pulling it off and revealing the cage to be empty.

Astrid stares as Hiccup has apparently managed to slip out in the chaos? The lock appears to have been pried open.

"I'm-I'm here... I didn't leave."

Everyone looks toward the burning quarterdeck and find Toothless already there with his Rider. And Hiccup, he stands there with a mindboggling surprise for them.

Still shirtless, blood stains him and contrasts against his skin. On his back are the results of Viggo's experiment, two large, leathery, black wings akin to that of a Night Fur decorate his back. And in the light of the blaze consuming all around them, he makes for quite a sight.

None of the Dragon Riders say a word, too stunned to even think. The book was telling the truth. These people exist and Hiccup is now one of them.

"Do they hurt?" Astrid asks as she and Fishlegs tend to his back again, wiping down and cleaning the base of their leader's newly acquired wings.

Hiccup has told them how the day he got them went. How the pain in his back grew and grew, like something was dying to break from his skin until it eventually did, erupting out of him with all the blood and gore you'd imagine would accompany a birth such as that.

And when he heard the Riders come, he'd panicked and told Toothless to take him somewhere safe and isolated. This experience had left him a little rattled, to say the least, and he wanted to figure out what had happened to him, what was still happening to him, and if he wasn't just madly hallucinating it all.

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

"They do." Hiccup replies and Astrid lightens her touch.

The base certainly looks like something has torn right out of his skin. And though Fishlegs hypothesizes that this will heal nicely and grow to blend together seamlessly, they can't help but cringe at the sight now.

The burns on his back are gone, however. Fishlegs wanted to discuss what this could mean, but Hiccup had made it clear that he is too tired. That and he probably doesn't want to talk about underlying issues or whatnot just yet.

"We're going to leave you alone once we're done. Can't imagine how tired you must be." Astrid promises. They are all back at the hut anyway, so he can get some well-needed rest.

Or rather, they're at Fishlegs' hut since Fishlegs should probably keep an eye on him.

"Yeah, you look like you got dragged behind Meatlug again." Snotlout helpfully states. The twins are here as well and have been looking through the Grimborns' book. Upon closer inspection, much like the Dragon Eye, this book about legends that ended up being true also belongs to the Grimborn family, surprise, surprise.

"Oh, you think that I don't look too hot after growing extra bones, blood, muscle, skin, and what have you overnight?" Hiccup sasses back, so at least that is still intact.

"Eh, I don't know about that. I think the wings just make you look hotter." Ruffnut chimes in.

"Thank you, Ruffnut." Hiccup deadpans and Ruff clicks with her tongue and winks.

But the matter of his relationship with Astrid does bother him. Before Toothless, he couldn't even imagine himself together with her as a normal human being. But now that he's... that he's... this? What will happen to them now?

Astrid can see him think it, noticing first by the drooping of the wings she and Fishlegs are tending to. They're expressive, just like the rest of him, and to her, that means that they are definitely a part of him.

She moves to sit on his edge of the bed and draws his attention. His complexion is a ghostly pale after this experience and his eyes tired. It's a surprise he's even still sitting up after all of this.

"This doesn't change anything between us. I still want to be there for you through everything, the good, the bad, and the unexpected." Astrid tells him with honesty, lightly brushing one leathery wing only to have both of them freak out and spasm at her touch. Hiccup cringes, hearing a bowl clatter to the ground.

"Sorry, Fishlegs." Hiccup apologizes, looking over his shoulder at his fellow dragon enthusiast as he cleans the mess.

"Oh, don't worry about it! They're so new, I bet it's going to take a while to get used to them." Fishlegs accepts the apology, telling Hiccup not to fret.

Ruff and Tuff meanwhile, they share a mischievous look.

"Sensitive?" Astrid asks and Hiccup awkwardly nods. She makes a mental note to be more careful next time she touches them. He doesn't have control over them yet.

"Just promise me one thing. If I ever end up growing wings, that you'll still accept me in your life, too." She requests with a smile.

"You growing wings would be amazing. Just hopefully with less blood and screaming." Hiccup responds, voice still hoarse from that screech he had released when it happened to him.

Astrid smiles at him. Wings or no wings, she still loves him just as much.

"So what exactly does this mean?" Snotlout asks and grabs the book from the twins, who both protest at his thievery.

"If I had to make a guess, I'd say that at least one bloodline must still be alive to this very day." Fishlegs proposes a theory.

"If that's true, then why is Hiccup the only one? And why did Viggo have to make it happen?" Snotlout asks as it would make a lot more sense to him for Hiccup to have just been born with them.

"Survival? The book clearly states that their numbers dwindled rapidly. And Fireworm gel meant to make Fireworm Queens "bring out what was already there", so to speak. So if what makes the dragon people was even faintly present inside of Hiccup, the gel brought it out. And it came out a lot faster than was probably healthy because of the overdose Viggo gave him." Fishlegs give the most likely explanation of what he thinks might be going on here.

"Can I see it? When did this start happening?" Hiccup asks and Snotlout hands him the book. Before he can find the number himself, Fishlegs already has an answer ready for him.

"350 to 400 years ago."

Hiccup finds himself in shock, they all do.

"So when..." Astrid's voice trails.

"When the Red Death began her tyranny and demanded that dragons steal food from newly settled Vikings. These people... my people...? Either way, they must've been hunted down because Vikings thought they might've been the cause." It pains him to say it and he feels hurt thinking these might be his people that this happened to them.

That he's not entirely human, it's still too strange to think about. Even with those two things on his back to prove it.

He hands the book back to Snotlout, who takes it and closes it.

"Does it explain the hand thing?" Tuffnut asks curiously.

"The hand thing has nothing to do with this, Tuff, you can all do it." Hiccup replies. He's too tired to think any more of it. As fascinating as this discovery is, he's completely drained.

"Yeah, except for the fact that we can do the hand thing because you taught us how to understand dragons, Hiccup." Astrid reminds him, gazing at him. She's been holding his hand.

"Toothless taught me!"

"And maybe you understood because you were born with the ability to understand."

Astrid is giving him that look. That look that tells him that, as scary as it is, he should consider the possibility of what this might mean. And Hiccup supposes he doesn't have a defense for that one.

"So we kill the dragon people and it's a dragon man who saves us from all eventually dying from a tireless war against a faceless and nameless foe? Now that would be ironic." Tuffnut states and Ruffnut nods in agreement.

"So great, Hiccup is a dragon man. Which parent did he get it from?" Snotlout has one more question that needs answering.

And since none of them would know, they all look to Hiccup.

"After I got my mom's gift for me back, he told me that she sympathized with the dragons and that this is why she made me a dragon doll. She wanted me to sympathize with them as well. As much as he loves her gift for me now, it used to be his biggest gripe back then, with the whole war still going on. But dragons took her and, well, ate her." Hiccup explains and then looks at Toothless, who's apologetic rumblings draw his attention as if he was the one who did it.

"So I don't know who I would get this from. If I even got this from either of them." Though there is the dragon expert inside of him that tells him that dragons don't prefer humans as food, but fish. And that includes dragons as large as the Stormcutter who took his mother before he even turned one.

And besides, if she were still alive after all these years, she would've come back somehow, right?

Having a feeling what he might be thinking of, Astrid takes and squeezes his shoulder.

"You should rest." She tells him and Hiccup nods. There will still be plenty of time to figure everything out, including what he's going to wear now that none of his tunics are going to fit.

Though some vague ideas might be growing in his mind already.

Astrid and Fishlegs leave the bed, allowing Hiccup to lie down. He's only going to be able to sleep on his side and front from now on. Unless he pulls a Toothless and sleeps upsidedown. Now that would be fun to try out.

"Sleep," Astrid says and presses her lips on his in a kiss, still happy to do so. With or without Snotlout pretending like he's about to throw up his lunch in the background.

Toothless pulls a blanket over him and roars at the others to leave already.

"We know, T, we're leaving," Tuffnut says, hands up, and he leaves together with everyone else. They all give Hiccup one last glance, glad to have him back safe and sound, before they close the door and bathe the hut in darkness.

Hiccup watched them go, petting Toothless on the nose when he comes purring. After the days he's had, he wonders if he'll be able to sleep at all.

He knows the changes aren't done yet. He can feel that his body is still all kinds of wrong and he fears going through another excruciating experience like the birth of his wings.

And when the physical changes to his body are done, there will be other changes. The Riders have alerted him to the Terror mail they've sent to Berk, his father, mentor, and Gothi will be coming to the Edge tomorrow or the day after. They aren't going to take this well and Hiccup worries for his father's reaction the most. After Hiccup deals with those reactions, he'll have to worry about Berk's next.

And then there are the many unanswered questions. Clearly, those draconic humans existed, Hiccup is now living proof of them. But is he truly related to them? And what does that mean for him and his dragons? Has Toothless ever suspected anything?

Pulling his head away from the petting, Toothless rumbles and nudges his Rider, telling him to close his eyes and sleep.

"I will, Bud." Hiccup tells him, eyes heavy with sleep.

He supposes he'll have to wait and let the changes of the future come to him.

Hiccup closes his eyes and hopes his dreams will at least take him to more reassuring places.

34 notes · View notes

marauder-exe · 5 years ago

Text

AU list!

hi! These are a bunch of Au’s that i could write,and you could request! (reposting because it didnt work the first time)

General

Fake dating (My personal favourite)

Soulmates

Coffee shop

Modern Royalty

Rockstar

Running From The Police

Rebel Against The Goverment

High School

University

Law school

Delayed-Flights-And-Were-Stuck-In-The-Airport-And-Its-Like-2Am

Roommates

Road Trip

Arranged Marriage

Im-Arranged-To-Marry-Your-Brother-But-Were-In-Love

Amnesia

Tattoo-Artist-And-Coffee-Shop-Worker

Loved-Since-Childhood

Professor-Student (of age)

Met-On-Holiday

More detailed

21.You were singing/playing guitar/etc. in the park to protest the war and a policeman tried to dismiss you for 'disturbing the peace' but you argued that you were promoting peace and things got heated and next thing you know you're being arrested for assaulting an officer. You intrigue me, so I'm here to bail you out and maybe take you on a date?

22.the nice one who everybody loves with the grumpy and strict one that the students hate and the students wonder?????????how what the fuck

23.we just had a one-night stand but a massive storm hit so now we’re snowed in, hello awkward

24. i sit at the rental booth at our local ice rink and watch you teach children how to skate

25. alternatively, i watch kids teach you how to skate because you’re a terrible skater

26. i’m running late to an important interview/meeting and you accidentally spill your hot cocoa all over my outfit

27. you’re my hot ski instructor and i’m failing the bunny hill

28. i slip on some ice and you’re the stranger who catches me

29. i gave my winter coat to a homeless person and come into your store to warm up

30. our friends rent a cabin to go skiing and we’re the only ones who stay inside

31. you’re the asshole of our group and we don’t get along, but then i find out you make soup for the local shelter

32.we’re waiting in line for the club when you complain that your roommate stole your gloves so let me warm your hands up with mine

33.my family invites you to join our holiday meal as an obvious setup and i’m so sorry

34.the power goes out in our apartment building, but i’m not prepared for this, and you come to check on me

35.i’m having a snowball fight with my friend in the park and i hit you instead

36.a storm is delaying our flight home and i’m afraid of thunder, please talk to me while we wait

37. we’re both in small claims court and i got into a huge fight with the person suing me but you stepped in to hold me back before security got there

38. i drove two hours to the closest video rental store that’s still operating and you were checking out the only copy of the movie i was after

39. i hit you with my car but luckily you’re okay, but we should still exchange information i guess

40. i was worried about buying something off of someone creepy from craigslist but oh no you’re hot

41. my friend talked me into playing a drunken game of spin the bottle even though we’re all adults and now we have to make out

42. we both decided to take a [yoga/fencing/cooking etc] class and we’re the only two assholes not taking it seriously and everyone else is giving us dirty looks but we keep grinning over at each other

43. my date just made a scene in public and got arrested and now i’m stranded in a city without a ride home

44. sharing a cab together

45. you’re trying to get me to sign a petition and i have no idea what you’re talking about

46. you’re drunk at this festival and dancing on the table and when you eventually fell i caught you

47. we both play this stupid game online and you keep beating me every single goddamn time so i called you out and you are pretty cute but can you not

48. im a bartender and you just came in here without shoes sat down and ordered a chocolate volcano and idk what the fuck that is and im scared to ask

49. we are neighbours and every night at 3:14 am you start yodeling for no fucking reason??? why???? is that you yodeling??? its been 2 months???

50.im a pizza delivery person and i just delivered a pizza to someone in the middle of a satanic ritual and they gave me their number???

51. i woke up this morning to find you sitting in my living room with a goat in a poncho??? who are you??? why is the goat wearing a poncho??? how did you get the goat in here i live on the 12th floor???

52. we work out at the same gym and you always look super legit but i know you sing hannah montana in the shower and you know i know

53. im a cashier and i saw you stuffing you pants full of potatoes and i would stop you but you already have 27 and i want to see how many you can fit

54. its 4 am and im drunk as fuck in a mcdonalds and you have been watching my trying to eat this burger for 30 minutes

55. i was playing beer pong with a coin and i accidentally threw it right into your eye at a party

56. i’m at the beach and some kids thought it was funny to bury me in the sand when i dozed off can you please dig me out

57. it’s unbearably hot and we’re both fighting over the last handheld electrical fan at the shop at the amusement park

58. hey i just met you, and this is crazy, but i get sunburned really easily so can you please help me put sunscreen on my back?

59. thunderstorm after a menacing heatwave and we’re both getting weird looks for dancing in the rain

60.i have no idea who you are but you just fainted right in front of me holy shit dude you need to drink more in this heat

61. we both chased after the leaving ice cream van like ten-year-olds and now we’re both out of breath and a bit embarrassed

62.i clearly reserved this deck chair by putting a towel on it why on earth are you lying on it who the fuck do you think you are

63. My friends bet I wouldn’t buy these three weird and questionable items and you’re my cashier.

64.Once a week I go visit the pet store just to stare at the cute kittens and puppies and you’re the nice employee who always lets me hold them and wait I think I’m going to cry hold on.

65.You’re the DJ of the University’s radio station and every time you give an opinion on a current event I have to call and argue with you because could you seriously be anymore wrong?

66.We both wait tables at the same restaurant and you’re always mad at me by the end of the night because I make more in tips

67.We have the same class and once a week you wear this graphic shirt I don’t understand and I really want to ask you about it.

68.We both work at the same craft store that literally has no customers so we have nothing to do and I’m always reading at the register but you always have to criticize my book choice what the hell?

69.I’m working the concession stand for this week’s home game and this is the fifth time you’ve come back for snacks wait are you flirting with me?

70. we’re at a bookstore and you and I seem to have similar taste in books have you read this one? How about this one?

71. you look like you need help and I’m a professional roller/ice skater but I don’t want you to feel bad about how much you suck but wow you suck

72. You ordered your food before me and they gave you a drink you didn’t want so you gave it to me

73. We’re sitting at adjacent computers in the library and I’m taking extra care not to look at your screen out of respect but what the fuck do you keep laughing at

74. as a joke I yelled out “happy birthday to someone!” in this store and you called back “thank you!” who are you

75. You heard me talking about a TV show in class the other day and now you’re passionately yelling at me about how good it is we’ve never actually spoken before

76. It’s 10:30 at night and I left my glasses at home so I can’t read any of these labels and you’re one of the only people in the grocery store and GODDAMMIT DO YOU HAVE ANY TOMATO SAUCE WITHOUT CHUNKS

77. We go to the same support group; I have social anxiety and you’re a kleptomaniac who sorta stole my heart

78. You thought you were alone at the bus stop so early in the morning so you started passionately singing Fall Out Boy but your Patrick Stump impression could use some work and I’m not really afraid to point that out

79. I’m an artist and you have a really nice face so would you mind if I drew you?

80. We’re rival up-and-coming singers and every time one of us releases a new single the other does a cover to try to make it better; we’re always trying to top each other and out-cute each other, but half our fans aggressively ship us; our agents use this to their advantage and decide we should do a duet because it’ll be popular; unfortunately now that we’re in the same studio and I’ve seen what you’re like I really wanna know what your lips feel like

81.PLEASE I REALLY CANNOT FIND MY CAT AND I KNOW IT’S THREE A.M. BUT NEIL CATRICK HARRIS AND I WOULD BOTH APPRECIATE THE HELP

82. We were both stood up for dates at the same nice restaurant so we decide to eat together and split the check but I dunno you’re pretty interesting aside from your distractingly enormous eyebrows

83. We met at a mutual friend’s cheesy masquerade party and we agree that the only good thing about this party is the masks so you can’t judge a book by its cover only now that we’ve been talking I want to see your face but I don’t know how to ask

84. You used to date my friend who absolutely hates your guts after a messy breakup and now you’re flirting with me and I really shouldn’t be so interested in you but I am

85.We pass each other every day while we’re biking on the same path so we’ve started smiling at each other and one day you’re stopped because you’re having an asthma attack so I offer you my extra water bottle and now we’re talking and now I’M the one who’s breathless

86.I lost my little sibling in IKEA and I need your help finding them

87.I'm a private detective hired to follow you, but you're endearingly boring and mostly I just like watching you and oops, I sort of find you adorable.

88. You've been sketching me for half an hour now, and just shuffled up to hand me the finished product and it's TERRIBLE but you just wanted an excuse to talk to me.

89. I'm at an art exhibit and I just badmouthed the art, because I don't get it, okay? And it turns out you're the artist. I'm so sorry, maybe I could get you coffee and you could explain what it was supposed to be?

90. We're the only two people who turned up to an underground gig and it should be awkward, but the band is amazing and you asked me to dance and hey, there's nobody watching but us.

91. You live in the apartment next to me. We're not supposed to have pets, but I KNOW you have a cat. I'll make you a deal, I won't tell, if you let me pet it.

92. I punched you because I thought you were insulting my friend, but it turns out you know each other and it was an inside joke and I'm so sorry, let me drive you to the hospital?

93. We both wanted to rent a bike for an hour but the only one they have is a tandem bike

94. I’m on a terrible date and you’re my waitor please help me

95.Our dick landlord just evicted us both

96.I’m your neighbor and I can hear you fucking someone who shares my name

97. You’re sort of famous and we vaguely know each other through bumping into each other all the time but the media thinks we’re dating

98. Your roommate cheated on me and I just threw your laptop out the window thinking it was his

99. It’s 2am on the night of my 21st birthday and we gotta fix this fucking mess by morning or else we’re fucked

100.Fuck you and your bee farm I’ve had enough

Feel free to use any of these as your own! If you wanna request you could drop an inbox saying ‘ could you do ____ AU with this character’!

#remus lupin x reader #sirius black x reader #james potter x reader #lily evans x reader #cedric diggory x reader #regulus black x reader #fred weasley x reader #george weasley x reader #hermione granger x reader

187 notes · View notes

sierraraeck · 4 years ago

Text

Ancient History and Open Wounds (Pt.2)

BAU x OC Aundreya

Masterlist | Series Masterlist

Summary: In an effort to save Aundreya, the BAU has to turn to some unlikely allies before it’s too late. Story twenty.

Category: Angst.

Warnings: Cussing. Kidnapping. I don’t explicitly talk about torture, but it happens. Someone gets shot. Quick mention of previous sexual abuse and drug abuse.

Word Count: 4.8k

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

“I do not think this is a good idea,” Derek asserted as the team grabbed their go-bags.

“I’m with Morgan. How can we even trust them?” JJ seconded.

“Think about it,” Spencer tried to explain, “The only people who care about her more than we do, is her ring. And that Deen guy already had the chance to ambush you and I, JJ, and he didn’t because she told him not to.”

“Doesn’t mean he won’t abush us now,” JJ pointed out.

“I don’t think he will,” Emily stepped in, “I bet they’re already working on how to find her without us, so we might as well work together.”

“But we have to fly out to them?” Derek asked.

“We are the ones with the private jet,” Rossi interjected. “And besides, she was taken from Chicago, so there’s a good chance she’s still in Chicago.”

No one else was given the chance to argue because Hotch said, “Dave has a point, and it doesn’t really matter because I scheduled us to leave in ten. We have to go, now.”

The moment they landed, they headed straight to the bookstore. Morgan made some comment about feeling weird that they weren’t going to a police station or crime scene and is it even legal for them to work behind local PD’s jurisdiction, all of which Hotch or Spencer waved off. When they got to the store, Deen was already outside waiting outside of the large glass doors for them.

“Come in,” he said, opening the door. It was about 2am wo the streets were almost completely deserted. “Look, a lot of the people here are not excited about you all showing up, so I’m going to ask you to put your weapons in this.” He gestured toward a safe on the back wall, right next to an ‘Employees Only’ sign. The team exchanged a few looks. “I get it, okay? You don’t trust us, and we don’t trust you, all for good reasons. But we both have a goal of finding Alionth, preferably alive, so please just put them away. I’ve told everyone to put thier’s away as well, so let's just all agree that we want brains and not fire power involved here today.”

Spencer was the first to give up his gun, followed by Emily and the rest of the team.

“Alionth?” JJ whispered.

“Alionth, Aundreya, Cassy, Clara, I don’t know they’re all the same person,” Emily answered with a shrug.

When it was Penelope’s turn to enter, she just walked right past the safe.

“Woah woah woah,” Deen stopped her, “The pretty lady doesn’t give up her gun?”

Penelope, who had her nose buried in her computer still typing with one hand, looked up at him. “I’m their tech analyst.”

Deen’s eyes grew, “Wait. You’re the Black Queen?” Penelope’s shocked face was all he needed for confirmation. “Oh wow. It’s an honor to meet you,” he extended his hand. Penelope hesitantly shook it, looking over at her teammates who seemed in just as much shock as she was. “Alionth’s talked about you.”

“She has?”

“Oh yeah. We all knew who you were, with your massive skills and all, and were actually about to recruit you when you got hired by the FBI. But when we found out Alionth was going to work with you, we all made sure she told us everything,” Deen was giddy, flashing her his bright smile.

“That’s … wow. I had no idea,” Penelope stumbled out.

“Wait, what do you mean you ‘found out she was going to work with the FBI?’ I wasn’t under the impression she was still in contact with you,” Hotch asked. Leave it to him to overlook the flirtiness.

Deen’s mouth ran dry. They aren’t supposed to know about the deal with Archer. “Uh… just a little bit. Um, why don’t I show you to our work space.” He turned back to Garcia, “And don’t worry, we already have the type of technology that will be compatible with yours.”

They all started following him into a back room, but Derek hung back to talk to Penelope. “Was he just hitting on you?”

“I have no idea, I don’t want to talk about it,” Garcia rushed out.

“Oh my god,” Morgan commented, shaking his head. “And they were going to recruit you?”

“I don’t know, I’ll have to Aundre- Alionth, or whatever, about it after we save her life.”

“Right,” Derek replied with a small eye roll.

They entered the massive warehouse and were blown away. There were multiple levels overlooking the main one, and there were so many people watching them as they entered. It was dead silent as Deen stopped. He turned around and gestured for them to stay where they were while he walked forward to stand in the middle of the room.

“As you know, the behavioral analysis unit of the FBI has joined us today,” Deen started, addressing at least the 200 eyes on him, “This was the unit that Alionth was a part of, and they are here to help us find her, so I expect all of you to return the favor. If they need something, you get it to them. If we need a team of people to go with them for something, you will do that. If we want our leader back safely, we are all going to cooperate as one today. Understand?” A perfect chorus of ‘Yes, Deen’ radiated throughout the room. It sent chills down the team’s spines. They’d never seen first hand how some of these things worked from the inside, and were in a daze that at some point, that chorus was responding to the girl they knew. “Good. Proceed.” The groups of people dispersed, turning back to whatever they were doing beforehand, some even sparring on the mats.

“This is…” Emily started in disbelief.

“Yeah, it is,” Deen said with a nod, seeming to get the point, “She does it better than me, if you’re wondering.”

They filed into the conference room along the wall from the enternece where three people were already waiting. “BAU, meet Roman,” a short, thin girl with dark hair waved at them, “Niko,” a very tall, young, dark man nodded, “and Mateo.” Deen ended with a sigh as Mateo just sat there, arms crossed, just staring at the group.

Niko rolled his eyes at Mateo and extended his hand, “Please excuse my brother’s manners.”

“Manners?” Mateo bit, “You wanna talk about manners? How about them walking in here like they deserve our help, like they’re not the reason she’s in trouble right now.”

“Mateo,” Deen warned.

“What? You heard DeLeon! He said ‘the team’ not ‘the ring.’ Pretty sure he’s referencing them.”

“Mateo, do not-”

“It’s okay,” Hotch interrupted. “Can you show Garcia where she can set up and tell us what you have so far?”

“Absolutely,” Deen said, ushering Garcia over to the corner of the room, while Niko took over.

“As you probably know, she went after an old enemy of hers, Xena.”

“Yeah, we saw,” Emily said.

Niko smiled, “We know.”

“How?” she asked. He just smiled at her. “And how did you know what DeLeon was saying to Aundreya? I thought we were the only ones with a live feed.”

“She’s wired, which DeLeon is clearly okay with but, we’ll get there,” Niko said. “She was going after Xena because she figured out that she and DeLeon were behind everything that had been happening, including your imprisonment.”

“What?” Spencer was shocked. Suddenly he wished he’d paid closer attention to Xena’s face. It would be nice seeing with his own eyes, not just his eidetic memory, who did that to him.

“Yes, and that’s why she took the fall for you. Anyway, she got into it pretty bad with Xena, and walked away with some injuries-”

“What injuries?” Spencer asked.

“Her stitches were opened back up, the ribs refractured, a concussion, along with a sprained ankle and small cut on her throat,” Niko answered. “We took her to our doctor, who runs her operations out of her basement, to answer your next question,” he said, looking at Reid, “We knew that DeLeon was our next target, but after finding out that his partner, and apparently his girlfriend, was killed, Alionth was also his next target. So we gave her a small wire that would transmit everything said back to us, along with her location. However, while the wire is still intact, he must’ve been smart enough to turn off the GPS.”

“So you have nothing?” Spencer hissed. Hotch gave him a warning look, but was cut off.

“Guys,” Penelope interrupted, “The feed is back on.”

Looking at the screen, everything looked the same, except for Aundreya who was visibly drenched.

DeLeon flashed the camera a toothy grin, “I was hoping they would do that.”

“Do what?” Aundreya asked.

“I told you they would, too, you just refused to listen.”

She leaned her head back against the pole, “Fuck.”

“I wonder how they’re all getting along, you know? Especially how your boyfriend is getting along with…” he laughed, “well, your other boyfriend.”

“What?” both Mateo and Spencer asked at the same time. They spun toward each other and locked eyes. Looked like they got their answer.

“What? Nothing to say to that?” DeLeon pouted.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Aundreya tried.

“I’m sure you don’t. You never were good at identifying your own emotions,” he commented, “Do they know about your past relationships, though?”

“They know,” she answered, voice hard.

“Do they all know everything?”

“What game are you playing?” Aundreya asked instead.

“Why don’t you answer the question? Do you want more of that?” he gestured to her soaken state. She just stared holes through him. “Or do I have to remind you, yet again, of what’s at stake?”

“Why does he keep saying that?” Mateo angrily asked.

“Fine,” Aundreya’s voice came over the speaker. “Where do you want me to start?”

“Where do you think?”

She rolled her eyes. “They all already know that I had a dead-beat dad, was seen by the Slaughterer, went into witness protection, lost my family-”

“Blah blah blah. Get to the good stuff.”

“What do you consider ‘the good stuff?’ It’s hard for me to determine the highlight reel of my life,” she hissed.

“How about you start when you met Xena and I.”

“Fine,” she took a deep breath, “I met Xena outside the MMA gym. She introduced me to her grandfather, Rafael, the leader of the gang, and got me initiated. I started dancing and was recognized for my skills as a pick-pocketer and investigator. That’s when I met you.” Spencer and Mateo glanced over at the other to see if they knew about everything that went on with DeLeon and his friends. They shared a mutual look of hate that expressed they knew exactly what she was skipping over. Aundreya continued, “I moved up the ranks and eventually overtook Xena. She wasn’t happy about it, so she challenged me and lost. She was kicked out.”

“Okay so we have one motive for her anger,” Prentiss interjected.

“That and Alionth’s leverage with her grandfather,” Niko added.

Prentiss was about to ask him to expand on that, but as if on cue, Aundreya answered. “Rafael did everything he could to make sure I won, so that Xena would be as far away from the gang as possible. Of course, she didn’t know that he was protecting her, because about a week later, he told me the FBI was closing in. Specifically, the BAU. So to save his legacy, he killed himself and told me-”

“You mean you killed him,” DeLeon cut in.

“No,” Aundreya was adamant, “I didn’t. That’s what you thought, I mean you blamed me for it and tried to kill me over it, but I didn’t. He killed himself.”

“No. You see, I know for a fact that it was you. You’re one hell of a liar, and it seems you’ve even convinced yourself, but it's not true,” DeLeon seemed oddly calm for the occasion.

“DeLeon, I’m telling you, I didn’t kill him.”

“You did. Rafael was a surprisingly giving man, but he would have never done that. You knew your options. It was the two of you at the top and it was either you or him. One of you had to go down and take the fall, so you chose him. You knew that he was going to pin it all on you and give the gang to me, but you didn’t like that plan, did you?”

“DeLeon, that’s not-” she tried.

“Shut up!” he shouted, “You don’t get to talk. You killed him which made it easy enough for the FBI. They believed that the gang had crumbled, the leader was dead, and everyone else scattered. But they didn’t know about you. You slit his throat and told everyone to find you in a few months, taking over leadership of the gang, and then you tried to pin his murder on me. When you couldn’t, you wrote a letter that made it seem like a suicide. You held onto it all these years as leverage over Xena, which she stupidly believed, and then you killed her too.” Aundreya was silent. She just stood there, looking down. He walked over and grabbed her face, forcing her to look up at him. “Say something!” She just stared at him.

He walked out of the frame and returned with a lighter. “You’re pathetic.” He switched it open and brought the flame to her stitches. Slowly, one by one, the flame burnt through the thread keeping her together.

Hotch looked at the faces in the room, and every one was completely entranced by the video before them. Penelope had tears welling in her eyes, and some of them, namely Spencer and Mateo, seemed to be burning right along with her. To pull their attention away from what was happening, he asked, “Do any of you recognize anything in the room that might help us?”

It seemed to grab most people’s attention, and he could see them slightly snap out of it, and focus on anything but the horrors in front of them.

It was Roman who spoke up, “Do those windows behind her look familiar?”

“What?” Niko asked.

“Yeah, the windows. A-and the wood floors,” she continued. “You said you checked Madden’s place?”

“Yes, everywhere,” Deen confirmed.

“But doesn’t that look like Madden’s place? I mean the floor pattern is the same and she always talked about her fake windows because of how stuffy it was. Those are boarded up,” Roman pointed out.

“We checked everywhere,” Deen repeated.

“Even the attic?” Roman asked.

“Madden doesn’t have an attic. We looked for an entrance but there wasn’t one,” Niko said.

“Are you sure?” Roman asked.

“I’m telling you, I looked. I didn’t see an entrance.”

Everyone was silent for a moment before Mateo’s face lit up with dread. “There’s a secret entrance.”

Then, without another word, Mateo sprinted from the room. Quick to follow was Spencer, followed by Derek. Niko sighed to himself before taking off after them. The whole group started to follow, but then Deen yelled up to the groups of people, “JT, Dalton! Go!”

Two men jumped from the first floor into a dive roll, and sprinted after them.

“Wait, Dalton?” Rossi asked. “As in Dalton, Aundreya’s police escort when she joined the team for the first few months?”

Deen nervously chuckled, “Yeah, that’s him.”

“What the hell else do we not know about?” Rossi sounded exasperated.

“A lot,” was all Deen offered. They headed back to the room while the five men chased after Mateo to the doctor’s house.

When they got there, Mateo had already kicked the door in, and was taking the massive marble stairs two at a time to get to the top level. Derek and Niko were right behind him, followed by Spencer and the other two men.

When they all got there, Mateo had already started tossing books off of shelves.

“What are you doing, man?” Derek yelled at him. Mateo was in such a frenzie that he didn’t respond. Derek ran up to him and pushed him up against the wall. Like deja vu, he was on the ground in a matter of seconds. “What the hell!”

Niko walked up and grabbed Mateo by the shoulders and pushed him up against the wall just like Derek had. “Why are you throwing books?” It was the first time they’d heard Niko raise his voice.

“I don’t know! All I remember is that the entrance had something to do with the books or the bookshelves or something!” Mateo fired back, eyes crazed.

Niko released him and returned to his calming voice, “Thank you. That was all we needed.”

The four men started tossing books and moving old wooden shelves, while Niko offered his hand to Derek.

“Sorry about that,” Niko apologized.

“I get it,” Derek said, brushing himself off. “You know, Aundreya did the exact same thing to me when I met her?”

“You pushed her up against a wall?” Niko asked.

“It’s a long story,” Derek admitted.

Niko smirked. “I’m sure you realized that was a mistake pretty quickly. But to answer your question, we all trained together. She actually taught Mateo that.”

Derek gave a small smile and nodded, then turned to help Spencer with a bookshelf.

After about 20 minutes of messing with them, Mateo huffed, “This isn’t working.”

“Are you sure you remember correctly?” Spencer questioned, but it came across more like a challenge.

“What are you implying?”

“Nothing. Just sometimes our minds can make things up when we’re desperate, that’s all,” Spencer said in that piercingly calm voice.

“So you think I’m lying?” Mateo snarled.

“I didn’t say that. I’m just questioning how accurate your information is.”

“Spencer,” Derek warned, as if Spencer hadn’t just seen him get taken down by the same man who he was currently pissing off. Spencer just waved him off.

“Because, if you just wasted our time, who knows what could be happening to her right-” He didn’t get a chance to finish, because Mateo punched him right in the jaw. Spencer’s head shot to the side, and his eyes focused on the ground. He was about to retaliate when something caught his eye.

“Wait, that’s it,” Spencer said, crouching lower to the ground. There on one of the floorboards were two small Chinese symbols meaning ‘attic.’

“What, what’s it?” Mateo demanded. Spencer ignored him, running his finger over the symbols. They were slightly raised, and there was a faint outline of a square around them. He pushed two of his fingers down on them, and the small square section of the floor went down as well, revealing a keyhole in the wall.

“Kid, what is it?” Derek asked, much nicer than Mateo. Again, without answering, Spencer rushed down the stairs. “Reid!”

“I’ve seen those before!” he called back. There was a picture frame with Chinese art on the main level that had those symbols painted in the corner. Taped to the back was a single key that to Spencer’s eyes, seemed to be an exact match to the one upstairs. The rest of the men were about halfway down the stairs when Reid came pushing back up through them. He walked over to the keyhole and pushed it in. Immediately, the bookshelf swung open, inviting them in. Spencer looked over at Mateo and arched an eyebrow. Then he marched in, pulling a switchblade from his back pocket.

“I thought Deen confiscated all of your weapons,” Mateo pointed out.

“Yeah, our guns in our holsters,” Spencer shot back. He turned around to look at Mateo, who was also holding some sort of dagger. He snorted, “Like you’re one to talk.” Mateo just shrugged.

They headed up the creeky, barely carpeted stairs slowly, and when they entered the room, realized that it looked like an exact copy of where Aundreya was being held. Then they saw a female laying on the ground, tucked up behind the protruding metal pole. Spencer rushed over to her and let out a small sigh when he realized it wasn’t Aundreya.

“Oh my god it’s Doctor Madden,” Niko recognized.

“But Alionth isn’t here.” They could hear the sound of defeat in Mateo’s voice. A screen across the room roared to life, causing all six men to walk over to it. It flickered to the live feed of Aundreya and DeLeon, her stitches completely burned off along with some of her skin.

“Congratulations, you screwed yourself,” DeLeon said to the camera. On cue, the door to the attic slammed behind them. “Wow! Things just get more interesting by the second!”

“Damn it!” Mateo yelled. Derek ran back down the stairs to try and push the door back open, but the sound of DeLeon’s voice stopped him shy of kicking it down.

“I wouldn’t do that, Agent Morgan. You see, if you try to get out, I’ll just kill her.”

“Don’t listen to him, he wouldn’t,” Aundreya said nonchalantly.

“I would.”

“No he wouldn’t. Look he needs me for some sort of game he’s playing, and it would just kill all the fun if I was dead. So just leave,” she said with a shrug. Morgan was about to listen to her and force his way out when he heard a gunshot, followed by a whimper. Taking the steps two at a time, he faced the screen to see that DeLeon was holding a gun aimed at her foot. Blood was already seeping onto the floor.

“We can’t leave,” Spencer whispered.

Niko was on the phone with Roman, filling her, and the rest of the BAU in on what was happening. While he was doing that, DeLeon continued talking, “So, where were we? Ah, that’s right, you killed Rafael.”

“I didn’t.”

“It’s either honesty from here on out, or I won’t give you an option,” DeLeon threatened, waving his gun at something out of the frame.

“Fine. I killed Rafael and tried to pin it on you. But can you blame me?” Aundreya asked, “You know you would’ve done the same.”

“Maybe, but I can blame you.”

“Sure, then, blame me. But you’re only spiteful because it almost worked,” she smirked.

“Why is she taunting him?” Niko asked.

“She has to,” Mateo responded. Derek arched an eyebrow, realizing there were now three of them that had an idea what went on between DeLeon and Aundreya, some probably more than others, but it wasn’t his place to call it out.

“You’re smart, wouldn’t you say?” DeLeon asked. She just glared at him. “Let’s say you are. You’ve been studying me and your surroundings for the entire time you’ve been here, but you haven’t tried to send your buddies a message yet. You’re also smart for not trying that. And you quickly figured out what my little game was, but what I’m sure you don’t have figured out is why.”

“I killed Xena and Rafael, made you look like a fool and took the gang that was supposed to be yours. Plus, you’ve had it out for me since the beginning,” she quickly refuted.

“Oh, speaking of, have you told them what went on between the two of us?” he taunted. When she broke eye contact, that was his answer. “You haven’t, have you?”

“Only some of them,” Aundreya admitted.

“So do you wanna tell them, or should I?”

“Go ahead.”

“She and I met and became quite close. We actually dated for a while,” he smiled brightly.

Aundreya scoffed, “I’d hardly call it that.”

DeLeon whipped around and hit her with the gun. “Then what would you call it?”

She spit some blood at his shoes before answering, “You’re a coward.”

“Does anyone know what happened between the two of them?” Hotch’s voice came over Niko’s phone. They must’ve never hung up, “Reid, I know you said he gave her that scar but no one here knows anything else.”

Spencer and Mateo looked at each other yet again regarding this same issue, but neither moved to speak. The rest of the group wasn’t blind, though.

“What’s happening here?” Niko asked, gesturing between them. Still, neither responded.

“If any of you know anything, it might help us find her,” Hotch reminded.

Spencer was about to answer when Mateo beat him to it, “He was some super high ranked person in the gang, so when he invited her to some party with his friends, she couldn’t exactly say no. She was new and super good, so he and his friends were … well they were very interested. Th-they, uh-”

“They took advantage of her. M-mainly him though. It went on for all four of the years she was there,” Spencer finished. A deafening silence fell over the room and the line.

Luckily, or unluckily, DeLeon filled the silence, “Do they know that you got your best friend killed? How about that the reason she died was because you were high out of your mind?”

“Actually, it was Xena who killed her,” Aundreya tried, but they could hear her voice waver.

“Sure, but it was your fault she walked in there in the first place. If you could’ve recognized it was a trap, maybe we wouldn’t be here today. She’d be alive, and Deen’s leg wouldn’t be wrecked. Sydney’s poor little daughter might have a mother-”

“Stop!” she shouted, finally struggling against the chains.

“There she is!” DeLeon proudly stated, “The angry girl who couldn’t save her friends. She couldn’t even save herself.”

“What do you want me to say? That I’m a monster? That you violated me? That there’s no hope for me?” her voice broke.

“I want them to know how weak you are!” he screeched back.

Then, flipping a complete 180, she burst out into hysterical laughter. It was bone chilling, because despite the gut-wrenching chuckles, this had absolutely no humor to it. She managed between a bitter smile, “They already know that. Oh god, trust me, they know. They know that I’m weak, that I’m a liar, that I’m a manipulator, that I’m a criminal, that I run from my problems, that I ignore them at all costs, that I’m closed off and that the moment I open up, I get screwed over, so I shut down and fuck things up. And if they didn't know that well, then they're pretty shitty profilers,” she let out a couple more laughs and finished, “And pretty shitty friends.”

This totally threw DeLeon off guard. Clearly, that was not the reaction he was expecting. “What’s so funny to you?”

Aundreya finally calmed down enough to casually respond, “Just that you thought you could chain me up and make me look all weak and pathetic in front of them when the only version of me they’ve ever known was the pathetic one. Like, you thought this would come as a surprise to them, but it won’t, and you know what? I don’t care what they think. They don’t know who I actually am and it’s better that way. The ring knows who I truly am and where I belong, and they know the strong version of me. That’s what matters.” Despite how terrible the situation was, Mateo had the thought to smirk over at Reid. Sure, she was under duress, but she’d said it. She’d basically said that she would come back to the ring, where she belonged, and forget about the BAU when this was all over.

That was enough to push Spencer over the edge. He launched at Mateo with zero regard for how much better he was at fighting, and pinned him to the rotting wood wall by his throat. Mateo easily removed his hand, and kicked him to the floor. He pounced on Spencer’s vulnerabilities, going straight for his bad knee and gunshot wound. Before things could get too serious, both Niko and Derek were on Mateo, yanking him off of Reid. Even after being shoved to the ground, Reid was going in for another round, but Derek stepped in front of him before he could get himself more hurt.

“This is not helping anybody!” Surprisingly, it was Dalton who spoke. “Look, I don’t know her nearly as well as all of you do, but I’ll tell you that getting to work as her ‘police escort’ or whatever, was such an honor. She kept things interesting and fun, and neither the ring nor the FBI will be the same without her. So if either of you care about her, even a shred, which it’s blatantly obvious you both do, you will pull yourselves together, get your heads out of your asses, and focus on finding her! Because if she doesn’t get out of there alive, she won’t be picking either of you!” He sighed and mumbled to himself, “Jesus Christ.”

On the other end of the phone, Emily was saying, “They are going to kill each other.”

“Not if Alionth gets to them first,” Deen joked.

Series Taglist (open)

@justanothetfangirl @kris-stuff @blameitonthenight21 @wooya1224 @unded-bride @swiftingday @dezzxmx

19 notes · View notes

itsfrenchfornothankyou · 4 years ago

Text

Something New, Something Strange

what? another chapter already? and I edited it? I know, who am I? but yeah, i actually have a few written but I’m trying to be more consistent (famous last words), so I’m keeping some backlog anyway, here’s the chapter we’ve got some Patton! sorry its still so short, I swear the coming chapters are longer, but there’s just a couple of short scenes I had to get out of the way

pairings: still all platonic! Could be read as romantic moceit tho, open to interpretation

Characters: Patton and Janus, others mentioned (especially virgil)

let me know if i need to tag anything!

first chapter!

Next chapter!

When Darkness Turns to Light

chapter 2

Virgil has been avoiding Patton. Well, everyone is avoiding Patton these days; and he can’t really blame them. he’s worried about Virgil though. He’s been worried about him since he tried to duck out that one time, even just thinking back to it makes Patton’s heart tighten and his throat swell. He knows it isn’t good for Virgil to stay holed up in his room for so long.

God, Patton feels awful. He has been so harsh on Virgil in the past, he had had the audacity to even briefly entertain the thought that Virgil might be bad for Thomas. He had held every one of the other sides to a standard that it turned out even he couldn’t live up to.

He chews his lip nervously. He has seen them all in passing of course, glances in the hallways, briefly in and out of the kitchen. But it is more akin to how often he might see Janus sneaking food out of the freezer at 2am, back before they spoke in the videos. There’s none of the friendly family conversation or banter they once had.

Logan has at least let Patton apologise, but he knows it’s going to be a lot longer before he’ll be able to forgive him. Roman keeps brushing him off, not even bothering with excuses. Just ducking his head and leaving the room whenever he sees Patton. He saw Virgil hidden away in the memories, reviewing the video for himself, but he hadn’t stopped to say hello. If his exit after Patton had explained things was anything to go by, he wants nothing to do with him right now. Who can blame him really. Patton hardly wants anything to do with-

“You seem like you’re having a wonderful time holed up in here.” A dry voice cuts through Patton’s thoughts, and he drops the teddy he’s holding and looks up. Deceit, no. Janus, is stood in his doorway.

“Oh, Janus, I was just um, ah-” Janus holds up a single gloved hand.

“Please, keep looking for that excuse. I’ll totally buy it.” Patton caves in on himself a little. Is it that obvious? He supposes he can hardly lie to Deceit himself.

“Sorry,” is all he can think to say. He seems to be saying that a lot lately. Still not enough. Will he ever be enough?

“Well, this seems like the healthiest way of coping with your regret,” Janus quips with a glance around the room. It’s a mess right now, Patton knows that. still. He can’t help it. his room always reflects his own emotions, and now is no different. He’s been spending hours swaddled in piles of Thomas’ old comfort toys and childhood blankets. “I take it everyone else is taking the news well? I bet Virgil is just thrilled at the idea of seeing even more of me.”

There’s something in Janus’ voice that Patton can’t quite decipher. Hope? Fear? He isn’t sure. He’s afraid to ask though. Maybe he’s just imagining things, maybe he’ll burn the one bridge he still has remaining.

“Patton?” the edge of Janus’ voice has softened now, and Patton realises he still hasn’t said anything. He’s just been sat, staring at the floor.

“Oh, right. Virgil.” He swallows. “I don’t… I don’t think he exactly wants to see me either right now actually.”

Janus’ face hardens, whatever Patton saw in him moments before either gone or carefully concealed away. “Well, how very Virgil of him.”

“What?” Patton freezes, unsure of what point Janus is trying to make.

“He does like to have such a wonderfully simplistic black and white view of the world, of what’s good for Thomas and what isn’t.” Patton frowns. That doesn’t really sound like Virgil to him. “I doubt he appreciated you challenging those ideas.” Deceit continues, sighing dramatically. “Well, that reminds me. I have things to do, I suppose I’ll be seeing you around then.”

“Right.” Patton looks up at Janus through his eyelashes, fiddling with his thumbs. The other side sighs, and turns to face him just as he lingers in the doorway.

“Virgil will come around, you just have to give him some time. until then… I guess you’d better get used to me company.” Janus winks at him with hiss yellow eye, and Patton takes a deep breath, thinking about everything that lead the two of them here. And he makes a decision. He’s going to trust him.

“Thank you Janus.” The other side seems surprised, but smiles.

“My pleasure.” He stalls for a moment longer, the two of them are halfway between a goodbye and… something else. It’s all the opportunity Patton needs.

“Do you… want to grab some breakfast together?”

---

Tagging : @booklover223

Anyone else feel free to ask if you wanna be tagged

Anyway let me know what you thought! Validation can only lead to more writing!

#themaagoowrites #my writing #sanders sides fic #sanders sides #patton sanders #fanfic #janus sanders #moceit #platonic moceit #my fic #whendarknessturnstolight #moceit hurt/comfort

52 notes · View notes

jazzytriestowrite · 5 years ago

Text

Forget Me Not

Fandom; My here academia

Paring; Kurogiri x GN reader

Synopsis; Kurogiri running his daily errands late night, bumps into someone who changes his life for the better. Wanting to express his feelings somehow and in a cute way, he gets you flowers with beautiful meanings behind them.

Warning; Fluff and angst. It’s me, of course there is angst.

Word Count; 4,283

A/N; This is a bnharam sfw server collaboration! My first one actually. The theme for this was flowers, and you can read everyone else's here. I can’t wait to read everyones fic, and a big thanks to Jojo for making the masterlist. Also sorry for any mistakes, my dumbass was proof reading at 2am 😭✋🏾

♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡

‘’Sorry for being late, Shigaraki was having some issues today’’ The male speaks, a small smile on his face as he stares down at you. ‘’It’s hard to be on time when I’m babysitting a whole group of adults’’ He says with a chuckle, his hands trembling as he held the flowers in his hand.

Taking a deep breath, he put on a smile. ‘’I don’t know why this is so scary? I guess I’ve never really had to confess to anyone, as loving someone would be an extra task that I didn’t need’’ His yellow eyes close slowly as he thinks about his life so far.

‘’Bear with me though, I promise I won’t waste all your time’’ Kurogiri says with a chuckle, shuffling on his feet, his eyes watching you very closely.

‘’The thing is, For once in my life I felt seen. I always felt like a background character working behind the scenes that no one really cared for’’ He stares at you the entire time while he’s talking, not wanting to break contact. ‘’While I usually only saw people as tools to help further push Shigaraki’s success, I saw you as something more’’

He was very glad to have the purple shadow covering his face right about now, because his face felt hot and red. Was this what it felt like to confess? Why was he nervous?

‘’Y/N, The moment you caught my eye, I knew you were going to be a handful, but never did I expect you to sneak into my heart’’

♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡

‘’Thank you! Have a good night’’ You call out as you walk out the door, waving to the old man behind the cash register. Walking outside, your eyes were met with the pitch black sky, not even a star in sight. ‘’It got dark really fast’’ You mumble gripping the two bags to your side.

Although the darkness was unsettling, you continued your journey through the quiet streets of Japan. Humming a tune, you swung the bags back and forth as you walked, legs already wishing they could stop.

‘’Meow.. Meow’’

The soft melody of a cat had a smile forming on your face. ‘’A kitty!’’ Noticing that it was just around the corner, you sped up to an almost jogging pace and turned the corner quickly, your eyes searching for said cat.

While you thought you’d be met with a cute cat, instead you bumped into an actual human being. ‘’Ah! So sorry Sir’’ The apology slips out before you even look up, already feeling terrible. ‘’I just heard a cat, and maybe I shouldn’t have been running--’’

The male in front of you puts a hand up and shakes his head, ‘’It’s fine don’t worry, no one is hurt’’ Finally gazing up at the male talking, you noticed he was.. A purple shadow? In a suit?

Giving a small smile you rub your neck sheepishly, ‘’Maybe chasing after a cat this hour wasn’t the best decision’’ You say with a grin, trying to clear the awkward tension you had caused.

‘’Luckily you are okay, yet this is a dangerous place to be venturing about during this time’’ His yellow eyes gaze into yours, and for a split second you are curious as to who is behind the shadow.

Shrugging you give him a grin and thumbs up, ‘’I’m a grown up, I’ll beat anyone up who tries me’’ You say with happy determination, showing him a few playful punches to the air. ‘’Anyone who tries me is trying the wrong one’’

The male blinks, looks you up and down and then frowns. ‘’You are right’’ He said at first, which made you grin again, ‘’If they are a mannequin doll, you have a very good chance with those punches’’ and que your grin dropping.

‘’If you are SO worried about my wellbeing, then maybe you should walk me home’’ You say as half a joke, crossing your arms as you stare down the male, to which he laughs at you.

‘’And now you’re inviting me, a stranger to walk you home? You truly are something else’’ He keeps laughing, not even knowing how to process your words. How dumb were you? ‘’If it makes you feel better, I’ll walk you halfway’’ He turns on his heels, rolling his eyes.

You swing your bag in glee as you walk behind him a small smile on your face, ‘’It’s way better to walk home with company, and you seem nice so what;s wrong with a bit of faith’’

He looks over his shoulder and his expression deadpans, ‘’You are making me worried with your naive thinking, in the future don’t trust some random stranger. There are lots of villains lurking around here, and you might get caught up in it.

You stop walking and take in his words. He was right, but anyone could be a villain. From the man who works at the gas station with a happy smile, to the girl who sells newspapers.

Him noticing that you stopped sighed, ‘’Come on, I already said I would walk you home, don’t linger behind so much’’ He smiled when he heard your footsteps running at him to catch up.

‘’I’m Kurogiri by the way’’

♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡

‘’If anything, I think people who pour in the milk first and then the cereal are crazy’’ You state, your legs kicking back and forth as you sit on the park bench. ‘’People like that scare me, and I’ll run away’’

The person next to you laughs as he shakes his head, ‘’I guess I can agree, but Shi- Toma doesn’t agree with that. He says putting in the milk first is the only way to do it’’

‘’Kurogiri, I say this with much love,, but please get new friends. I’m scared for your wellbeing’’ You say honestly, shaking your head.

The two of you start laughing, both agreeing that this ‘Toma’ friend of his was a little weird. Sooner or later the laughing died out and a calming silence took over. Not that it was bad, You didn’t feel the need to fill the silence.

‘’Maybe, I should start heading home soon’’ You say softly, your eyes gazing out, eyes staring at the empty playground. ‘’Bet we look like creeps hanging out at 2 am’’ You say with a smile as you stand up.

Kurogiri nods, ‘’Sorry about that again, I work so much that my only free time is when the sun drops’’ He says with a sigh, his eyes looking up at the pretty dark star filled sky. ‘’It’s weird to think, that we became friends over you being stupid’’

‘’HEY!’’ You say walking towards him and poking his chest, ‘’If anything, you were the one who was so concerned’’ Crossing your arms you turn away from him, while making a sassy noise.

You hear a small chuckle before you feel soft hands turning you around, ‘’Thanks for meeting me again today Y/N, truly thought you’d stop showing up after the third time we met up here’’ Facing him again you give him a smile, ‘’Of course Kurogiri, We’re friends and I wasn't lying when I said you were interesting.’’

You were about to leave, but your eyes caught the purple smoke that was always around his face. ‘’Do you have a face behind there, or is the smoke your feature?’’ You ask

Kurogiri nods, ‘’I do have a face behind here, I guess you can call it some sort of mask’’ He says, alreadying knowing what you were going to ask next.

‘’Can I see?’’ You step closer, trying to peer into the purple mist, trying to catch a glimpse of something.

Kurogiri shakes his head, ‘’I’d rather not if that’s okay. If that makes you uneasy--’’

‘’Oh okay that's fine’’ You shrug as you smile, ‘’No need to give me a reason. I’ll take the no without an explanation. It’s not like I need to see your face or I won’t be your friend, it's only a face.’’ You think out loud, ‘’It’s your personality that matters, I was only curious’’

Kurogiri stares at you for a hot minute, before shaking his head. ‘’You are a weird one’’ He starts walking forward, ‘’Come on, it’s really late and you should be in bed’’

‘’Just promise me we can still hang out.. Don’t vanish or anything, not when I’ve already made a friendship bracelet’’ You jokingly say, taking pride in when he started to chuckle.

‘’I’d be very bored without a very wild and entertaining person like you’’

♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡

You walk slowly down the sidewalk, your gaze down as you enter the park. You were never good with hiding emotions, so anyone could read your vibe from a mile away.

‘’Y/N??’’ You hear his familiar voice, but you don’t look up to meet his gaze. ‘’I almost thought you weren’t going to com-’’ He pauses seeing the state you are in, and he’s already up and approaching you. ‘’What happened? Are you okay? Hurt anywhere?’’

You simply shake your head as you stare down at your feet. ‘’Kurogiri, I know I’m stupid, but I’m not that stupid’ You finally meet his gaze, tears slipping down your cheeks as you walk past him and sit down on the bench.

Kurogiri follows behind silently, and he could already guess what this conversation would be about. A conversation, he dreaded since becoming a bit closer to you. From the multiple times the two of you hung out here, he always waited until you would figure out the truth.

‘’So you’re a villain..’’ You finally say, fingers gripping your legs as you keep your gaze low. ‘’Saw you on the news, with Toma- Or Shigaraki and a few others. They say you guys are one of the biggest threats to this city--’’

Kurogiri sighs, ‘’We don’t have to go through the hard part of you explaining you don’t want to be associated with me, I understand and prepared for this outcome’’ He states in a monotone voice.

‘’Shut up! I wasn’t done’’ You snap as you finally meet his gaze once more, eyes narrowing as tears still freely slipped down your cheeks. ‘’I never ever said I’d leave, so shut up about that’’ You whisper, shoulders sagging.

‘’I don’t agree with the thought of harming others, if they are good or bad but..’’ You trail off, ‘’They called you a villain.. But what really is a villain’’ Your eyes gaze innocently into his golden yellow ones.

‘’A villain is someone who goes against the ideals set by a hero. In everyone's eyes, the hero is always right and the villain is always wrong. But I’ve been thinking… Is the hero always right? Is the world we live in right now how it should be? Is what the heroes are fighting for something that I stand behind?’’ You rant as your hands fly around the place as you explain.

‘’I think,, no one is born a villain, and throwing around the title is a waste,, I’d like to think everyone is good but I know that isn’t true’’ You trail off, ‘’What I’m trying to say is, villains usually have a reason why they fight, why they keep pushing when everyone is against them’’

Kurogiri stares at you, mouth hanging slightly open as his brain tries to process your words.

‘’Kurogiri… What's your reason you keep fighting? What's your motivation that makes you want to go against the heros? I think your a good person, so there must be something that drives you?’’ You ask, curiosity swarming in your eyes.

‘’I want to know why, and then we can go from there.. If you are some brute who just wants to see the world burn just because then maybe we shouldn’t bring our friendship any farther, but if there is a reason… I’m willing to listen’’ You finally end your rant, now giving him the stage to speak, to explain and to open up his mind to you.

Kurogiri opens his mouth to speak, but in all honesty he didn’t even know what to say. Usually when someone says villain, everyone is running the other direction. Quick to think that what they are doing isn’t for a reason, that they are just terrible people in the end.

No one ever.. Takes a second to even listen in the first place.. Which usually leads to far worse situations.

Who were you? And were you just naive and too trusting,, or were you more. He wouldn’t deny that somewhere down in his heart, he felt it flutter.

‘’I guess it's time to be honest with you, and everything started when--’’

♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡

Several weeks after Kurogiri’s confession to you about what he actually did as a job, things continued normally like nothing ever happened. Yet now instead of the two of you meeting late at night in a park, you often spent your time in a rundown bar with other people.

Or villains if you were to be honest.

They scared you at first, no need to lie. They had some powerful quirks and scary faces, so obviously you almost peed your pants when you saw them. But when you let it slip that you didn’t like the hero agencies and how things were run, you were engaged in a very deep, meaningful conversation about it with Shigaraki.

You gained more points when you said you didn’t really like All Might.

Within the several days you spent at their hideout, you felt more comfortable there then anywhere else. With these thoughts in mind, you came to the conclusion that the world was fucked up, and everyone in this hideout, had been treated wrong by the people who said they’d help out.

‘’Y/N?’’

You slip out of your trance when you hear your name, eyes looking around and meeting the very familiar yellow ones. ‘’Oh sorry! Just thinking about some things’’ You say with a smile.

During the weeks that went by, your relationship with Kurogiri changed drastically. While you were still friends, you felt as if he opened up more. That he was actually speaking to you and letting you in.. you felt like you truly knew him.

There was never a time where the two of you butted heads. He was always so mature and honest about things that it left no room to argue unless playfully.

While your heart hurt knowing that they were hurting people with their plans, you never really spoke about it much. And you noticed how the others didn’t really bring it up around you..

Other than Dabi.. He said he was going to burn some fellow to ashes and sprinkle them on their families yard for fertilizer. You laughed taking it as a joke, but soon realized he was serious when he came back with a bag of ashes.

Shaking those thoughts out of your head, you push yourself off the counter and yawn a bit.

‘’I see you're getting tired, I’ll get some dinner started and get you in bed as soon as possible’’ Kurogiri says behind the counter, setting down the glass he was drying off.

You hum, ‘’I was actually wondering.. If I could cook instead?’’ You take the silence as a big ass no, but continue going anyways. ‘’I’ve been here for a while, But I’ve noticed how you’re always taking care of everyone without expecting anything back. You cook, clean and babysit grown adults who cause trouble 24/7’’

You ignore the shouts of protest at your last statements.

‘’What I’m trying to say is.. Who takes care of you? I know you're a grown man and can do it yourself, but I believe you deserve a little break. So I’ll make dinner, and you’ll sit down and relax for a bit’’ You say hopping over the counter and pushing him out.

You hear a chuckle, ‘’So what, he’s your bitch now?’’ You turn and see the purple scarred male and shake your head. ‘’I don’t see you making your own meals or cleaning up, so shut up Mr. Wannabe Bad Boy.’’

You turn your gaze back to the male you were talking to originally, ignoring the protest of Dabi. ‘’I just want to help out, to care for you a bit. You’ve always been so kind to me without expecting me to give you anything in return,, so let me cook this one meal in appreciation. Let me show you I care’’

The small smile on his face gave you the answer you needed, and when he finally sat down at the bar you jumped in glee. Dabi and Shigaraki along with Toga also sat at the bar, watching to see what you’d do.

‘’I hope she can cook, I’m not up to eating mush just because Kurogiri has a crush’’ Dabi states as he lays his head on the counter top.

You shake your head at his comment, ‘’Oh Twice! Do you mind playing that song you were humming earlier? I really liked it and music sounds nice while cooking’’ You say looking towards the male, happy to see his face light up.

A few hours later, after everyone had eaten and settled down either on the couch or bar stools, you stood up slowly and yawned. ‘’I think I should be getting home, It’s really late and I have some work to do’’

Kurogiri who was sitting next to you stands up as well, ‘’Sorry, time seemed to go by so quick, I forgot how late it was’’ He apologizes, grabbing your coat and things, and leading you to the door.

‘’Thanks for the food, even though Kurogiri cooks better than you’’

‘’Yeah thanks’’

‘’Come back and cook again! Maybe we can have a girls night!’’

‘’Your cooking was great-- It fucking sucked you gordan ramsey rip off’’

You wave at all of them, giving them a smile. Glad they were semi kind to you every time you were here. You gasp, ‘’Actually I have something to give you!’’ You say excited as you bounce a bit.

Digging your hand in your pocket, you pull out a small item. ‘’I got you something! I hope it isn’t weird or anything but’’ You show the item, and it is a small blue pin with a flower on it. ‘’It’s a honeysuckle pin! I notice how you only wear these suits, so i thought a pin would be the best suit.. You’’ You laugh a bit at your own pun.

Kurogiri smiles at you, watching as you step closer, ‘’Thank you Y/N.’’ He says, letting you pin it on him. ‘’Was there a reason it’s honeysuckle?’’ He asked, wondering why the random flower, yet you were weird enough to see something cute and buy it.

‘’Well’’ You feel your face heat up, ‘’The meaning behind honeysuckle is.. Well bonds of love’’ You meet his gaze, ‘’Not that’’ You fumble over your words. ‘’I really like you, not as a friend but as something more. The love can be too soon or go too far, but I do love you. Maybe not as a partner yet, but I love you as a friend and want to push that farther.’’ You hear the entire room go quiet, and you lightly curse remembering that there were still people in here.

Kurogiri wraps his arms around you, and lightly pulls you into his chest. ‘’I’m glad we feel the same Y/N’’ he whispers into your ear, ‘’I’ll cherish this gift, and hope one day, probably very soon, We love each other more than friends’’ He runs his fingers down the spine of your back.

He was glad that you were confident as well, as he did want to say something about their friendship moving farther. He was more grateful that you weren’t moving too fast, that you were going with life as it came to you. A free soul who had no problem stating what they want.

‘’Oh yeah, Happy May!’’ You continue, your eyes meeting the ones in the back, a plan already forming to give them something else as well. ‘’I’ll have a gift for you guys as well tomorrow , So be here or. I’ll probably cry’’

A few laughs come from the couch, and they didn’t doubt that you, out of all people would start crying over something like that. They hadn’t known you for too long, but they could tell what kind of person you were.

♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡

‘’Thanks again for the present Y/N, I didn’t tell you before, but I was smiling for hours after you went home’’ Kurogiri said honestly, ‘’It was one of the first gifts I’ve received.’’

You didn’t say anything to his words, instead remaining quiet and letting him finish.

Kurogiri smiles, ‘’I remember you mentioning May, and looked into it some more. May day huh?’’ He grins, now knowing why the sudden gift of a flower pin. Of course he would participate, even if that meant the guys back at the bar called him names.

He reaches inside his portal and pulls out a bundle of different flowers. ‘’I may have gone overboard, but I wanted to actually put some thought into this’’

The yellow twining vines or shrubs, were known as honeysuckle.

‘’These mean Bonds Of Love, these are the ones you gave me just yesterday.’’

The light purple small flowers were Heliotropes.

‘’These mean Eternal Love and Devotion, since I never want to be without you. I don’t mean to be weird or anything, but I do see a future with me and you together for a long time’’

The pink and really big flowers were known as Hibiscus.

‘’These mean delicate beauty. Y/N, you are something out of this world. The beauty you hold is outside, yes, but also on the inside’’

The last ones in his hand were a light purple mixed in with different shades of blue, and were called Forget-Me-Nots.

‘’Well, I guess you can guess why I got these. Y/N, these mean true love memories, and do not forget me.’’

Kurogiri smiled, ‘’I never want to forget you, and I hope you will never forget me either. I feel like you've snuck your way into my heart, and it would be a shame to forget all the wonderful memories you’ve given me. I’ve always been so happy spending my time with you, and never once did I regret it’’

His heart warmed when he saw your smile, making his heart flutter.

Well, he could only imagine you’d be smiling. Bending down, he places the flowers he made on the pile of dirt in front of him. He glanced up at the headstone, his hand lightly caressing the side of it. ‘’I’m sorry I dragged you into my mess Love, and I’m sorry I couldn’t save you.’’

He stood up, hands trembling as he tried not to think about it too much. You wouldn’t want him to be this way, so for your sake he was holding it together. But wasn’t this funny? Him a villain, wanting to save someone, someone who he didn’t want to use as a tool for success.

You were someone he was willing to be a hero for. Anything you wanted he would have given you without a second thought. He wanted to save you, he truly did.

He turned around, all the memories of you flowing into his brain. Your laugh, that always made him laugh as well. Your smile that made him fall in love with you all over again. Then your pure heart. Even when you found out he was a villain, you still kept your heart open to him. Something he would never forget.

Stopping in his walk, he turned to look over his shoulder, yellow eyes gazing at the headstone. ‘’I love you y/n’’ He says softly, before stepping into the portal, and letting you rest peacefully.

When he stepped back into the bar, tears flowing down his cheeks, he slowly passed the four members who were standing all around the bar.

‘’Wait, Kurogiri, did you figure out who did this?’’ The soft voice of Toga said, her blonde hair covering her eyes as she tried not to cry for him as well.

Kurogiri just pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, placing it into her hands and walking away. ‘’I don’t care what you do, just do them some justice’’

Dabi slipping on his coat rolls his eyes, ‘’Don’t have to tell us twice, I’ll beat the shit out of all of them, myself Kurogiri. ‘’ He mumbled putting on his shoes before making eye contact with Twice.

Twice and Toga kept silent, rolling their shoulders back. They didn’t have anything to say, but they sure as hell had some pent up anger to let out. Some punks had taken the love of Kurogiri, and a friend the two of them made.

‘’Lets go’’ Shigaraki states, opening the front door and narrowing his eyes. Looking back at Kurogiri, he saw the tears still flowing, yet no expression on his face. He didn’t understand the feeling all too well, but his heart hurt knowing the person who was helping him out so much, was so heartbroken.

He’d kill them all. He’d kill them all for hurting his friend. He’d make sure to avenge y/n, the only person who wasn’t a villain, who he could talk to without wanting to kill them 24/7. They were a good person.

Toga, Twice, Dabi and Shigaraki was about to go fuck some people up.

94 notes · View notes