#i have about 3 more fairy tail fic ideas so eventually there might be more agin

[konohamaru-sensei]

Goddess of Water

I recently travelled Japan and when I saw the prompts for Gruvia week, somehow this popped up in my head. Can't tell y'all why, but here it is! Please be kind, otherwise I will cry.

The Gruvia fans were real nice to me last time, so here I am again, .. sorry? The floating Tori gate in Miyajima island is real pretty by the way, just saying. If you read the story, always think how pretty it is! Uh, yeah!

Juvia is a goddess & Gray is a human AU

Gray Fullbuster x Juvia Lockser

Rated T

Warning: very basic level (and probably wrong) usage of shinotism.

7185 words

Thank you to my dearest @kankuroplease for the wonderful additional artwork <3 Its so perfect I love it so much.

For @gruviaweek Day 2: Whisper.

When he was very little, Gray’s adoptive mother Ur took him and his foster brother Lyon to the floating shrine gate, a tall, orange structure that stood out in the water almost as if it was placed on its surface, when it probably ran deep enough to stand on the ground beneath. She put her hand on both her boy’s shoulders and told them matter of factly: “This is where you meet the goddess of water.”

Gray, who had always been fascinated by the different forms that water could contain, rain, waves, rivers, morning cold, and his very much beloved snow, had just about held himself back from gasping at that admittance. 

“There is a goddess of water?” His eyes went wide over the calm water in front of him to the shrine gate at the back. It seemed so very huge to him, as if a hundred men could have never carried it out there. With the way the sun illuminated the space right behind it there was no doubt in his mind that a god could live there. Despite his passion for water, he had never himself been out to sea.

Ur smiled at him: “Of course there is. Just like there are gods for sky and earth and plants and the seasons. They are honoured at different shrines than this one though, this one is only dedicated to water.” She stopped for a moment and then laughed a little. “You know Gray, each year you ask me when the snow will be falling, that is something you could ask the goddess for, since she can actually make it happen.”

“Really?” The little boy felt his eyes shine at the prospect.

[Read more on AO3]

[fairydares]

fuck it, new fic. let's do this.

(there's a 'keep reading' line so don't worry, this isn't too long.)

Title: Chasing Tails (AO3 Link) (Chapter 2) (Chapter 3)

Fandom: Fairy Tail

Rating: E (Explicit) because I'm almost positive there will be eventual smut. I'll be clearer about this as I actually decide what I'm going to write lol. Overarching Warning for Graphic Depictions of Violence.

Categories: 2nd gen fic; adventure, humor, romance, fluff, and angst in approximately that order. i guess.

Pairings: Nalu, Gruvia, Gajevy, Jerza, Miraxus+Fried (don't know what that ship's called sorry), Chendy, Sting/Yukino, Baccana-- next gen has pairings, too, but I don't want to reveal those yet.

Tags/TW's: The first chapter contains UFC/MMA-esque violence as well as some implied street violence. There may be more TW's I need to add later, but I honestly haven't written the whole story or decided everything, so that's all I can give you for now. I'll do my best to tag appropriately as I go.

Summary: It’s been almost 12 years since 17-year-old Layla O'Neil was found living alone on the streets and put in foster care, and she likes to think she’s done a pretty good job of forgetting the past. She doesn’t remember her birth family, the name “Nashi [*1] Dragneel,” or where she heard the absurd stories she told the police who found her. Stories about Wizard Guilds, flying cats, and–most cringey of all–her self-proclaimed status as a “Fire Dragon Slayer.”

But the past becomes pretty impossible to ignore when it confronts her in the form of some middle-aged, pink-haired stalker who won’t stop calling her the ridiculous name she’d nearly forgotten, and trying to convince her to come back to “Fairy Tale.”

Oh, and claiming to be her dad.

Like Layla doesn’t have enough problems! The last thing she needs is some delusional freak following around. Especially one who’s starting to make her want to take his hand…

Yep, this is a Second Gen (and therefore post-canon) fic. The idea took root and just would not let go. I’ll warn you ahead of time that the premise is somewhat dark. That said, I’m the kind of writer who likes (and tries to write) stories with sad beginnings, hopeful middles, and triumphant ends. I don't want to give too much away, but you shouldn't expect major character deaths or anything like that, though their may be some forms of lightly implied abuse.

Feel free to reblog, make your own additions with commentary, whatever. I'm quite lax with stuff like that. Hope this was comprehensive enough, and that you enjoy!

Chapter 1: Dragon-Slaying Aliens

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“That’s correct…a world that exists independently from the one we know. And, unfortunately, a world that’s begun losing its Magic…unlike here, in Edolas, Magic is a finite resource. Without limits on its use, it will one day disappear forever.” -from Episode 78, “Edolas”, (English dub, ~00:09), Carla’s line [*1]

------------------------------------------------------------------------------To say this mission had gone sideways was a big-ass understatement, and even Natsu had to admit it. 

It had started well enough. A relatively small mission. Not even S-Class! Puny wannabe Dark Guilds like the one Shirotsume needed dealt with–what was it called? Bony Jewel or something? Anyways, they were a dime a dozen, these days. Hell, Natsu was pretty sure he and Happy took out, like, a billion of them in the past seven years by pure accident. So how the hell was he supposed to know that this time, he’d get blasted to another world–one even Team Natsu hadn’t wound up in? 

And he was positive they’d never been here. He may have had a bad memory (something he’d begrudgingly been forced to actively acknowledge as he grew into a man) but he was sure he’d have remembered somewhere that made him feel this bad. It wasn’t just that he couldn’t use his Magic. If it had just been that, this might have been fun. Hell, a lot of the worlds Team Natsu had visited–even Edolas–had been fun.

This one sucked. 

If he hadn’t known better, he’d have thought he’d been transported to the future–one where FACE had been activated and all the Magic had been dissipated. Because it had felt, truly, like all the Magic was being sucked out of him. When he’d woken up on the forest floor, he’d felt as if he was dying. His lungs had burned with each breath (and not in the good way). His limbs had felt like lead when he tried to rise. 

He’d quickly realized that couldn’t be the case, though. Even if the Dragons hadn’t destroyed FACE, if all the Magic had been sucked from Earthland he’d have Magical Deficiency Syndrome. He’d either be down or in forced into his END form. 

He’d wandered around the small forest he’d woken up in alone, trying to focus through the stink and noise he was only capable of perceiving through what felt like about a hundred layers of thick blanket, and calling for his best friend as long as he could. It hadn’t been long before he gave up and left; Happy had never shouted back (something he considered fortunate, at this point; hopefully Happy was back in Earthland) his stomach was trying to eat itself, it was dark–and, worst of all–he still couldn’t use his Magic. At all.

Actually, scratch that: the absolute worst part was when a glance at his (as usual) bare shoulder showed him that his guild mark had vanished. It was just gone. So was his scarf, and so was his Mini Communication Lacrima. Obviously, his guild mark and scarf were bigger deals personally, but the Mini Comm was a bigger loss in immediate, practical terms. After That Day, seven years ago, Laxus–now Fairy Tail’s Master–had started putting Navigation Enchantments on everyone’s Comms so that anyone who went missing could be traced. There was a 3D map of Earthland and Edolas visually tracking everyone’s movements in the Master’s Office. It could even find them in Edolas. 

Now, Natsu’s was nowhere to be found. No one would be able to find him, wherever he was, and any hopes of contacting them were obviously dead in the water, too. 

He was gonna have to find his own way back, somehow. He only prayed his scarf was somehow back in Earthland, and that Happy had grabbed it for him. 

As he hobbled down the weird, too-neat walkway he’d found, he had to believe that whatever was preventing him from using his Magic was what kept him from sensing anything beyond the general–the stink, the sound, the pain, the hunger. Normally, with his better-than-normal resilience and enhanced strength, his pain would have mostly taken care of itself by now. Usually, making himself move helped. Now, it seemed to be making things worse. 

After finding the pathway, he’d kept shouting for his little buddy a whole bunch of times, but all he’d gotten were several loud verbal confrontations and one physical one. He’d expected to beat the massive brute towering next to the smaller woman beside him–and he had. But it hadn’t been as easy as he’d expected. His movements had been slower than normal. His limbs had felt like lead. His strength had been lesser. Every time he tried to call up his Magic, a wave of dizziness and lethargy had overcome him. It was like he’d feel the rushing up inside of him only to sputter to coldness at the last second; he hadn’t seen so much as a spark since he’d woken up. 

In the end, it was only experience and determination which had allowed him to level the much larger man, and hard-earned wisdom which had seen him running from the screeching woman and the gun-wielding, uniform-wearing soldiers her screeching had drawn. Yet the punch he’d taken to the nose had made it bleed and the kick to the thigh had made him limp. 

It wasn’t just that his Dragon senses had vanished, making him woozy, making it difficult to stand and excruciating to move. His strength was gone as well. Not even sealstone would have weakened him this much.

He’d wandered, now, for what felt like several hours. The number of Magical Vehicles around were astounding–astounding, and nauseating; just looking at them made Natsu want to vomit. The one good part of having an empty stomach was that he had nothing to give up. He meandered in a stupor, through unbelievably thick crowds, dodging Magic Vehicles and their honking, and glaring down anyone who yelled at him for not understanding something, occasionally barking back to scare them off.

He’d never been so disoriented, and the worst part was that deep down, he knew that there was no one to blame but himself. 

Lucy and Happy had asked him, point-blank, if the Quest he’d chosen had anything to do with his search for their long-lost daughter and kitten. 

It had. Of course it had. 

However, Natsu had denied it. Because if he hadn’t, he and Happy wouldn’t have been able to leave right then. Lucy would have forced him to bring someone else along; she was busy taking care of their son, Luke; the Perve-sicle was already out on his own mission/search for Juvia, and Erza was away, which meant he’d have had to ask someone outside Team Natsu. 

No thanks, he’d decided, covering up the fine print on the mission request with his fingers before holding it up to Lucy’s nose. 

Now, as he snarled at yet another person yelling at him for being in the way, Natsu was starting to consider the possibility that he just maybe should’ve been more upfront, and even that he should–perhaps–have waited for the stripper to get back before taking on Bony Jewel or whatever alone.

But how the hell was he supposed to have known it would end up like this?! It had been going fine–in fact, it had been going great! A couple opponents had offered a real challenge before their Master had shown up. Natsu had been laying down brick in that fight, too. Yet when the guy had been on his last legs, he’d whipped some creepy, sparkly rainbow skull from nowhere (now that he thought about it…that might have been what the Guild was named for!) and shot one last attack. One so big, Natsu had been unable to dodge–though, of course, he’d made to both block and finish the fight with an enormously powerful Fire Dragon Wing Attack. 

Based on his current predicament–he had to assume it hadn’t worked. Even though the skull had shattered in the heat of his flames at the last second, the blast had still hit him. His one consolation was that he was pretty sure his little buddy had heeded his final warning to get back. So he was almost definitely still back in Earthland.  

It had taken Natsu several pathetic attempts to stand. Getting here felt like a blur. Now, he had no idea what he was doing. What he should do. Their money had been in Happy’s knapsack, and without his precious nose, finding food was basically impossible anway. 

Man…Lucy’s gonna kill me, he grumbled internally, grunting at another group who shouted at him for bumping into him. 

Okay, yeah, maybe he should’ve been honest. Maybe he should’ve waited. But how could he do that when the lead was so good? When there was even the smallest chance he might finally find Nashi [*]? 

At the thought, his footsteps halted temporarily. He ducked his head, bangs shadowing his eyes. He balled his fists at his sides. The thought of the missing daughter he’d never stopped searching for never got easier to bear. 

It was the worst thing that could happen to a parent, to lose their child. Something he wouldn’t have wished on Fairy Tail’s most vicious, evil enemy. He and Lucy understood that too intimately. Still, he didn’t let himself get bogged down, not when it might hold him back, not when it might keep him from finding her. Seven years, she’d been gone. Her, Wendy–so many of their nakama and allies. Time had neither hindered nor halted his search for any of his missing comrades, but especially his little girl. She’d be twelve, now. He’d gotten better with birthdays and anniversaries when he married Lucy. He’d woken up and started crying on April 14th this year, the same as his wife. 

Still, even on that day, he’d spoken of her. When he was with Luke, Lucy, and Happy, he talked about it. He talked about how he’d find her and Harley–Happy and Carla’s kitten–how they’d be a family again. He spoke of the future to give it power, just like Igneel had taught him. Just like he’d taught his own kids. Wherever Nashi was, he was sure she must be doing the same; speaking of how she’d find them again, the same as he strove to find her. 

But he couldn’t continue his search (covert or not) until he got home. So getting home was definitely at the top of the to-do list. Right after eating. 

He kept walking.

Wherever he’d wound up was seedy, dark, yet strewn with lights that made paths across his newly-sucky eyes when he looked at them directly. Gross and smelly, too. The people he’d just bumped into started shouting back at him, something about bumping into someone’s girlfriend, and he huffed irritably. Normally, he’d never back down from a challenge like this, but believe it or not, he was too lost, confused, hungry, and tired to deal with another fight–not when the injuries he’d sustained from the previous one were still hurting this much. 

It was humiliating. He’d always been the type of person who refused to back down from a fight, no matter how outmatched he was. These days, a lot of fights were honestly pretty boring for him. Erza would always be scary, and Gray was admittedly pretty strong (if not badass enough to stand up to him, or so he would always insist). He could proudly admit to having achieved (at least) Gildarts-level strength without the clumsiness to make him dangerous. 

Now, he was balking out of fights with people who weren’t even using Magic. 

There was something viscerally terrifying about how much his injuries were troubling him. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t limp without worsening whatever injury that asshole had doled out on his knee. His nose felt bigger than his head. 

He stumbled on, brooding. 

The guy whose girlfriend he’d bumped into got louder, closer. Obviously, the freak wasn’t gonna let it go. Cursing, he started hobbling more quickly, turning the next corner. To his relief and curiosity, bright lights, loud voices, and a huge crowd–littered with food stands he might be able to beg food from–appeared. He made his way into the thick of it, ignoring the shouts behind him, and ducked and wove between people. It took him several seconds to realize he was still trying to find food by his nose, which barely even freaking worked. Frustrated, he turned his attention to the source of the light, which seemed to focus down on whatever sat in the middle of the crowd. 

Curiosity shoving past the numbness and hunger, Natsu pushed his way towards it. 

“Ow!” 

“Hey!” 

“Watch it, freak!” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Natsu grumbled. “Watch your damn selves!”

He still felt like shit, but the crowd was oddly invigorating. As he crashed through the thickest (front) lines of the crowd, more lights came on while the darkness behind him fell deeper. Natsu winced, blinking. It took him a few moments to register what he’d stumbled upon: a roundish sort of stage, elevated a few feet off the ground and bordered by some kind of chain-link cage thing. Two corners were open to be entered, but fended off  by some big dudes in black suits, holding back the crowd. 

“WELCOME, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!” boomed a voice that came from everywhere and nowhere at once, making Natsu flinch again and the crowd start chattering loudly. 

Match? Natsu wondered despite his disorientation and exhaustion, thinking of the Grand Magic Games. He shoved aside every stranger who tried to take his place at the front of the audience, looking around with wide, curious eyes, shoving his gnawing stomach to the backburner.

“FIGHT FANS! ARE YOU REAAAADDDDYYYYY??!!! ” 

Fight? Natsu thought, perking up, conveniently forgetting his injuries in a burst of excitement. Several people started chattering at the crack of the loud voice that was everywhere and nowhere, making Natsu look around even more fervently. 

“BECAUSE THIS LONG-WAITED MATCH-UP IS… ABOUT…TO…BEGINNNN!!!”

The cheering got louder, the shoving got more aggressive, and Natsu got more aggressive right along with it. He’d be damned if he was going to miss a good fight. Besides. He needed to see what the Magic here was like. He was being smart. So ha! How about that, Lucy?!

“INTRODUCING: OUR FIRST FIGHTER!” the voice shouted while Natsu continued to elbow and shove, anticipation rising. Music rang out, a dude’s loud, snarly voice backed up by a bunch of deep bangs and booms which had Natsu trying to decide if what he was listening to was awesome or fucking awful–nope, definitely fucking awful. For the first time, he was glad he couldn’t hear properly since he got here. 

A light flashed at one corner, drawing his eye. “UNLIKE HIS OPPONENT, THIS FIGHTER IS WELL-ESTABLISHED IN THE SEMI-UNDERGROUND OCTAGON! HAD HIS PERFORMANCES BEEN FORMALLY JUDGED WHILE THE UNDERGROUND WAS STILL ACTIVE, HE WOULD LIKELY HAVE LONG-BEEN PERMANENTLY DISQUALIFIED! YET, IN SPITE OF A CONTROVERSIAL CAREER, HE HAS REMAINED A STAPLE OF THE SEMI-OCTAGON FIGHTING WORLD FOR TWO YEARS!”

“Er, feels kinda harsh?” Natsu muttered to himself, sweating slightly. Though he didn’t really get what “controversial career” meant. 

“WHILE THIS IS NOT FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE, DUE TO HIS HISTORY, MANY WILL NO DOUBT VIEW HIM AS REIGNING CHAMP AND DEFENDER! INNNNTTRRROOODUUUCCCINNNG… ‘MAD BULL’ MATTHEW BRON!” 

A door Natsu hadn’t even seen was slammed open as if it had been kicked, and an enormous man–even bigger than the one that had managed to tag Natsu just a little bit ago, a man built like that potato head guy from Lamia Scale, and actually bearing a similar-shaped bald head–appeared, yanking off headphones and chucking them over his massive shoulder one of the lackeys who’d followed him out. The much shorter guy jumped, barely catching them and fumbling a lot once he had. “Mad Cow” or whatever grinned maniacally as he stormed for the ring, dark eyes wild.

The response from the crowd was mixed but mostly positive, Natsu quickly noticed as he glanced around. His eyes skated quickly over the group next to him (which was booing, unlike most of the crowd) then returned his focus to the stage-circle thing. He could see well enough, he was glad to note, even if his vision was nowhere near as sharp as it was back on Earthland. Big Guy took his place at the corner of the ring and immediately started pacing, lifting tree-like arms and roaring as he did so. Meanwhile his lackey scurried for the bit of protected corner behind him, trying to shout for his attention and getting nowhere as he continued to pace. 

Natsu quickly decided he didn’t like the looks of this guy, intro aside. He was the type of asshole Natsu lived to knock down a peg, and despite his injuries and exhaustion, Natsu found himself appraising the big bastard, hands twitching. Sure, he wasn’t in the best shape, but since when had he been one to turn down the chance to kick some ass? It was more a reflex than anything. For about the billionth time since he’d landed here, he tried conjuring up some fire only to curse internally as all he got for his efforts was a wave of dizziness and a wash of helplessness. 

“NOW FOR OUR CONTENDER,” the voice boomed. “SHE’D ONLY BARELY ENTERED THE UNDERGROUND BEFORE IT BECAME THE SEMI-UNDER, BUT WAS ALREADY MAKING WAVES! THIS FIGHTER HAS SPARKED INTENSE DEBATE ABOUT WHETHER WOMEN SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO FIGHT MEN–IN ANY OCTAGON!” More mixed din. Natsu frowned in confusion. Was it for the other fighters’ safety or something? Because someone should ban Erza from contributing to the guild hall violence. Oh, yes. That was a great idea. He’d have to bring the idea up to Gray when he got home. 

“BUT IT’S DIFFICULT TO ARGUE WITH HER HANDY VICTORIES!” the voice boomed. “THANKS TO HER NEARLY-UNBROKEN STREAK OF INSANE WINS, SHE HAS BEEN NICKNAMED THE THE ‘PHOENIX’, ‘UNDERDOG’, ‘TENMEN’...AND HER PREFERRED NICKNAME…” 

A new song started, and this one was undeniably cool, in Natsu’s opinion. Something hard, fast, and catchy, punctuated by an angry-sounding woman singing something about “not giving a damn” about something or other. The door at the opposite end of the ring swung open. A girl came swaggering out, and Natsu froze.

“THE DRAGONESS, LAYLAAAAA O'NEEEILLLLL!!!!”  

It wasn’t his daughter. It couldn’t be. Her name wasn’t Layla. Her name was Nashi. His Nashi would be twelve, and this girl was in her late teens–maybe even her early twenties. The fact that her fighting nickname was “The Dragoness” was a nasty coincidence, but that’s all it was. This couldn’t be Earthland’s Nashi.

But it was this world’s Nashi. Of that, there was no doubt. And Natsu couldn’t make himself take his eyes off her, couldn’t even make himself blink as he stared, ignoring the cheering and booing all around him. 

A couple strands of unruly pink hair at her bangs had broken free of their tight braids, as adorable and predictably unpredictable as his little girl’s. They clung to her forehead, bouncing as she strutted towards the monster still pacing, practically frothing at the mouth, and Natsu vaguely registered the sound of several peoples’ alarmed murmuring. If he hadn’t been so distracted, he’d have understood; she was about half the guy’s size and about -50% as insane-looking.

Not scared, though. 

And…she looked like Lucy. She looked so much like Lucy that it hurt. He could still remember times when he’d call his little girl’s name, she’d turn around, and he’d gasp–because it really was like an adorable, wild little pink-haired Lucy turning to look up at him, her whole face lighting up like he was the greatest thing in Earthland. The memory choked him up, a feeling he’d gotten used to over the past seven years. He swallowed hard.

But that wasn’t Lucy’s smile. Natsu felt like he had seen that smile somewhere but he wasn’t particularly interested in thinking about it all that deeply, because what mattered was that it was her smile, his little girl’s, big and toothy and unmistakable–a little lopsided, the corners of her lips characteristically curling. 

It hit his chest like a shot from Zeref, making him briefly clutch at his waistcoat’s dirtied fabric. 

Natsu knew, firsthand, just how similar other worlds’ versions of his loved ones could be to his. Hell, Edolas Lucy had chopped off her hair to make it a little easier to distinguish herself from Earthland Lucy. 

That didn’t make it hurt any less to suddenly see another world’s Nashi– Layla, this one was called. That was Nashi’s middle name. It made sense, when you thought about it. Names were one thing that seemed to sometimes differ slightly between worlds, as he’d learned on the 100-Year-Quest [*3]. Her canines were sorta sharp, maybe, but they weren’t Dragon Slayer sharp, like his and daughter’s. Besides. Edo Nashi and Fireball’s canines were a tiny bit sharper than normal, too. 

It couldn’t be her. It couldn’t be. Looking at her still felt like being punched in the chest by Erza. Yet he couldn’t stop watching as the music, cheers, and boos faded, she stripped off her sweats (to much catcalling and whistling) to reveal a black sports bra/shorts getup sort of like “Mad Bull’s” shorts, revealing a body packed with much more muscle than any of Fairy Tail’s women would’ve allowed themselves to accumulate. She looked pretty badass, he decided. 

The voice that was everywhere and nowhere boomed on:

“NOT ONLY A CHANCE AT THE UPCOMING TITLE ON THE LINE, BUT–POTENTIALLY–THE FUTURE OF MIXED SEMI-UNDERS. TWO CHALLENGERS, SQUARING OFF FOR A CHANCE AT THE SEMI-FINALS. THIS IS A GIGANTIC CULTURAL MOMENT IN THE HISTORY OF THIS SPORT… ‘MAD BULL’ MATTHEW BRON VS. THE ‘DRAGONESS’ LAYLA O'NEIL!” 

“‘Dragoness’ is fucking right!” Mad Cow or whatever roared while he hugged one arm across his chest, grinning ferally at his much smaller opponent. “Here hoping some man will look at you, fugly?!” 

Several people in the audience laughed. Even the announcer chuckled. Meanwhile, Natsu’s blood boiled. On some level, he knew he needed to separate himself from this. From this fight, from this “Nashi.” Especially when he was this powerless to do anything about any of it. But it was impossible to listen to someone say that to another version of his daughter and not have every protective instinct in his body flare, especially when the spectators apparently thought it was fucking hilarious.

However, her grin didn’t even flicker. “Like you’re one to talk!” she cackled. “You look like Popeye fucked Bigfoot!”

Natsu didn’t flinch at the language like many people in the audience seemed to. In fact, he found the disapproving murmurs confusing. The other guy hadn’t exactly been polite, but he hadn’t gotten the same reaction. Still, a solid number of people were laughing their asses off, including the group next to him which had booed Mad Cow. 

He also had no clue what the hell she’d just said even meant, but the way Mad Cow’s smile dropped off his face, a handful of people started howling with laughter, and the commentator’s chuckles cut off abruptly was enough to make Natsu grin. 

Some random guy in some sort of black, collared uniform entered the arena, signaling to the loud, annoying commentator. Unlike her opponent, no one had followed This Nashi into the arena; she was all alone. So she ran back to her own bit of protected yet empty corner and threw her clothes and a water bottle over the chainlink fence, then ran back towards the middle of the arena. There, she  hopped up and down, shaking out her arms. Stretched them above her head. 

“OUCH!” The commentator finally seemed to recover, though he sounded somewhat vexed. “WELL, ONE THING’S FOR SURE, THE CHALLENGER CAN TALK GAME…WHETHER SHE CAN LIVE UP TO IT IS ANOTHER QUESTION.” 

“God, I fucking hate when Hansis commentates,” the guy next to Natsu muttered, his friends snorting in agreement. Then he glanced at Natsu–only to double take. “Oi, are you related to the Dragoness or something?!” he asked, eyes on his hair. 

“Uhhh…” Natsu chuckled nervously, feeling himself start to sweat. He may have been what Erza would (and frequently did ) call an “impulsive idiot”, but he had no clue how to explain that he was the father of her other self. “Something like that.”

“Whoa, seriously?!” The guy’s friend leaned around him to look at Natsu with wide, shining eyes, then continued, “I won’t ask anymore, ‘cause obviously you’re trying to protect your identities or something, but that’s so cool! We’re huge fans!” 

“Hmm…” Natsu said, scanning their apparel–t-shirts and hats emblazoned with her face and silhouette–and what looked like homemade signs of her name, written in fiery letters. “I can see that…what is this, exactly?” He asked this while looking around at the lights, spectators, an unfamiliar kind of money being exchanged and counted between several people.

Natsu tilted his head, blinking. “No?” he said. 

“The semi-underground tournament?” the only girl in the group said, eyes almost as wide as her friend’s. When Natsu only continued to look confused, she said, “What, do you live under a rock?! You’ve at least heard of MMA, right? Mixed Martial Arts?” 

He perked up at this. “Like a fight?! Hell, yeah! How do I get in on this?!” He grinned, cracking his knuckles, his earlier scuffles and empty stomach completely forgotten. 

“YOU DON’T!” the entire group shouted, eyes bugging. 

The dude who’d first started talking to him huffed, sweating slightly. “The ‘semi-underground’ octagon used to just be called ‘the underground fights,’” he explained loudly, Natsu still having to lean in to catch what he said with his new, bad ears over the increasingly excited din. “It was illegal, but, like, illegal in the ‘everyone knows but won’t squeal’ way, you know?” 

Natsu nodded, fully getting this. After all, how many times had soldiers arrested him only for Queen Hisui to let him off with a finger-wag. Of course, his luck on that front had run out seven years ago…

“The feds finally cracked down on it,” the guy continued, “but didn’t prosecute any of the fighters. Now, it’s called the ‘Semi-Underground’...it’s got no weight-classes (which is why the Dragoness can fight big dudes like Mad Bull). All genders are free to compete and fight each other. It’s a bit more for entertainment than pure fighting prowess– that was different, before,” the guy added with a wistful tone. “But still! You can’t just go waltzing into the octagon, you know? Back in the basement where this used to happen, you could’ve gotten away with that, but now you’ve gotta work for it, you know? Seriously, do you live under a rock or something?” 

Irritated, Natsu opened his mouth, but his response was cut off when a loud voice–not as loud as the announcer, but still–redrew all their attention to the ring. “Alright, fighters,” the black-collar guy said into a microphone which was smaller and not as loud as the commentator’s, quieting the audience. “We’ve been over the rules. Protect yourself at all times. Follow my instructions. We’re going to have a clean fight, you hear me?” He glared at Mad Bull, but This Nashi was the only one who dipped her chin in recognition. Natsu’s eyes narrowed along with hers when her opponent refused to acknowledge the guy’s words. “Now, touch gloves at this time, and come out ready to do this!” 

Both fighters instantly danced away from each other. Black collar guy scowled. Both the commentator and the audience made sounds like “ OOOOOOOH!” 

“NO TOUCH!” came the commentator’s gleeful voice, “I REPEAT, NEITHER FIGHTER TOUCHED GLOVES, AND SO FAR, NEITHER ARE REALLY MOVING FOR EACH OTHER–” 

“SAY YOU’RE PRAYERS, BITCH!” Mad Cow roared. “YOU’RE DEAD MEAT!” 

“BRING IT!” This Nashi roared back, and Mad Cow lunged, swinging in immediately with a big, dramatic overhand hook that would have knocked her out immediately if she hadn’t skated out of its way. It took about three similar exchanges for Natsu to sag in disappointment. 

“Oi!” he shouted, utterly let down, “Where the hell’s the magic?!” 

“Geez!” the guy next to him laughed. “The fight’s only just started: give them a minute to warm up! Then we’ll get to see the cool stuff.”

“What, they’re not allowed to use it at first or something?” Natsu asked, still staring as This Nashi fended off huge, devastating blows raining down from above and leapt back from the powerful kicks, eyes narrowed and expression tight. 

“...Er, what?” the guy asked. 

“Magic–duh!” Natsu huffed, flickering wide eyes between the guy and This Nashi, who was now darting backwards around the round-ish ring, still fending Mad Cow off, weaving and ducking with a speed few could hope to match. “You know?! Fire, Ice, Celestial Magic…?

The guy stared at him for a second along with his companions, all of whom were also sweating. It was then that Natsu knew: 

Something more was going on here. Something he didn’t understand. This place…wherever he was, it was like Edolas. Not now, but back when he, Lucy, and the others had gone there. Magic didn’t just not exist, here; was some kind of… taboo on it.

“Oh, sorry,” he chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. Trying to keep his voice as quiet as he could over the crowd, he continued, “I didn’t mean to say something that would get you in trouble...” 

The group’s only response was to sidle away from him surreptitiously, glancing at him and sharing looks with wide eyes. Natsu was thrown for a loop once more. Ooo- kay, talk about overly-suspicious. Were there guards listening in on their conversation or something? As discreetly as possible, with his hand still at the back of his head, he looked around, eyes narrowed. 

Yet…he saw nothing to warrant their suspicion. An unruly crowd…and an astonishing lack of guards. At the Grand Magic Games, there’d always been a ton of guards. Way more than he wanted to be there, honestly. Did this have something to do with the whole “underground” thing? 

He looked at the group again, then realized something important: it was him they were looking at nervously. Nervously, and like…he was crazy or something. 

It had taken time, but the years had made Natsu wiser–cooler–about situations like this. Even as his stomach sank with the realization that getting home was going to be a much harder task than he’d initially realized, he acknowledged that he’d need to be careful about mentioning Magic here. Dropping his hand, he forced a small smile at them then turned his attention back to the arena, where Mad Cow continued to chase This Nashi around the edge of the arena. Meanwhile, his mind continued to reel, loud to himself and no one else. 

“–IT’S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE SHE’S CAUGHT IN A CLINCH, HERE, AND THEN OUR NIGHT WILL BE OVER!” the commentator was blaring. It was sort of surprising, how easily he’d been able to tune out when Natsu’s ears were registering so little. “I HATE TO SAY IT–” (Based on the glee in his tone, Natsu doubted that.) “–BUT HOWEVER MUCH OF AN EXTRAORDINARY FIGHTER SHE IS, SHE’S STILL A FEMALE FIGHTER. HER OPPONENT HAS WELL OVER A HUNDRED POUNDS ON HER [*4]. AND, AGAIN, I HATE TO SAY THIS–BUT THERE ARE JUST PHYSICAL BARRIERS NO CHICK FIGHTER WILL EVER BE ABLE TO OVERCOME! RIGHT NOW, THIS IS A DOG FIGHT, AND NOT ONE SHE CAN KEEP SCRAPPING IN! SHE’S NOT GOING TO COME OUT AS THE ‘UNDERDOG,’ THIS TIME–”

“Man, she’s getting her ass beat!” someone from the group broke the awkward silence as This Nashi was swept aside by a blow that caught the guard at her ear. 

“Maybe she’ll make a comeback!” another guy said, tremulous but hopeful, as a log-like shin crashed into her stomach. 

“She definitely will!” the guy who’d first spoken to Natsu said, though there was a distant note of doubt in his voice as she barely reeled from an arrow-fast straight right. 

Despite the awkwardness of their last interaction, Natsu couldn’t help appreciating these people, who were so devoted to this world’s Nashi. He decided to end their night more positively. “Is that what you think?” he asked in a somewhat bored tone, eyes on the girl still gliding backwards, dancing away from the hits and kicks or else blocking them. He felt, rather than saw, the group’s eyes jumping to him, some of them quickly leaping away only to dart back. 

“What do you mean?” the first guy ventured when he said nothing else, edging a little closer once more.

Natsu crossed his arms over his broad chest, eyes thinning as Big Boy brought down a hailstorm of fists on This Nashi’s head. His eyes tracked the way a particularly big hit caught her forearm–but only barely, seeing as she’d slid out of the enormous range even as she blocked. Just like he’d thought…

His stomach churned uncomfortably. It was eerie and cruel, how much her movements and the memories aligned–

“OUCH! That hurt, Daddy!” After the exclamation, Nashi began grumbling, vigorously rubbing her forearm where his fist had just him. 

“Woops!” Natsu chuckled sheepishly, “My bad!” 

Despite the fact that she was still rubbing the arm he’d tapped with a light hit, the little girl who barely came up above his knees scowled. 

It was midday, now. In their front lawn; his and Happy’s house, now much larger with the rooms he’d added for Lucy and their kids. 

“But–” He grew serious. “–you think your enemies will take it easy on you, Nashi? You think they’ll give you a break because you say ‘ouch’?” 

She dropped her arms to her sides and scowled–pouted, really. She was so cute, he couldn’t have kept his lips from quirking into a grin if he tried. Strutting forward, he planted a hand on top of her head, rubbing the unruly locks. He only grinned wider when she turned her scowl/pout up to him. “Sorry, kiddo, but they won’t!” 

Lucy would have lost her mind, if she saw the interaction. Natsu could just hear her now: “NATSU, WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?! SHE’S FIVE! BE CAREFUL, WOULD YOU? BLAH BLAH BLURGH BLAH– !” 

He never really got Lucy, when she acted like that. Nashi was a Dragon Slayer, like him. She could take much more than a normal human, but would never learn that she could if he didn’t show her! Not to mention that Igneel had been way tougher on him, when he was five. Besides, he didn’t want his kid to be some weakling! What father did want that? 

Not any good ones, that was for sure. Especially not when their kids had Nashi’s determination and drive. 

“I’m sorry I hurt you,” he apologized again, still rubbing her head affectionately. “But you’ve got to understand…if I hurt you, it’s because I know your enemies will hurt you the same way…I don’t want it to surprise you. I want you to be able to fight back, still. You do still want to be a big-time Dragon Slayer, don’t you?” 

She stared up at him dubiously, but the smile caught on quick. She’d never been able to resist smiling back at him. 

“...Yeah,” she admitted finally, feigning reluctance. 

He lifted his hand off her head, cupping it around his ear and leaning down towards her. “What was that?!” he shouted. “I couldn’t hear you…what was it you want?!” 

“I–pfft–I WANT–” Her small smile turned to a grin–the big, corner-curled grin only his daughter ever could or would achieve. The one that always melted his heart. 

“I WANNA BE A DRAGON SLAYER!” she managed to roar through her grin. “NO–I MEAN, I WANNA BE THE STRONGEST DRAGON SLAYER EVER!” 

“HELL YEAH, YOU DO!” he roared back, the pride managing to make his chest burst even as he squared up again, preparing for more training. An adrenaline only teaching one’s prodigy could spark electrocuted his system. “IF THAT’S REALLY TRUE, THEN COME ON, NASHI! YOU’VE GOT MORE IN YOU! I KNOW YOU DO!” 

“OH YEAH? WELL I DO! I GOT WAY MORE IN ME!” She dropped into the stance he’d taught her, grinning for everything she was worth. The sun illuminated her smile. 

He somehow managed to grin even more widely. “Right, then listen up!” he commanded. “When Dragon Slayers fight, they got one big advantage: they can take a whole bunch of hits–then still get up. So that’s exactly what you’re gonna do.” 

“...Huh?!” The little girl’s eyes bulged out of her head. “You’re sayin’ I’m gonna let myself get hit?!” 

“Well, not too hard,” he elaborated. “And not too much…you’re just gonna play defense for a while, see?” He moved for her, throwing a fist much more slowly than he normally would have. Automatically, she wove away, eyes wide on his face. His right fist was followed by his left, then a kick–all too sluggish to be real. She easily moved around and blocked all of them. “This way,” he continued, throwing another kick. “You can learn the guy you’re fighting, how step, how they breathe…” 

“How they step…how they breathe…” she repeated to herself in a murmur, eyes flickering all over his body as he continued to pantomime a real fight. Natsu couldn’t help but grin. Nashi was a distractible kid, but when it came to fighting, she was always on the ball.

Natsu didn’t mind one bit when Lucy blamed him for that. 

“...how they fight,” he finished. 

“...how they fight!” she whispered. 

He started speeding up his movements. Let her orient before he lit up his fists. She mirrored him, flames igniting her much smaller fists. Their dance became even faster “That’s it, Nashi!” he praised as she leapt back from a kick, only letting it clip her shoulder. “Get into the flow of it! Read my movements! Remember, breathe, and–” 

“She’s reading him,” he murmured, voice softer than he’d meant it to be. “Fending him off and waiting for the right moment; his hits are only clipping her.” His hunger was catching up with him again, as was his pain. He ached. He wanted to sleep. And…

…It hurt. It hurt too much. Knowing it wasn’t his Nashi…that just made it hurt more. Each hit, each block, each flash of those brown eyes…they felt like shards of glass piercing his heart.

I can’t stay here, he realized. 

“What was that?” the girl in the group asked, venturing closer to him. 

His heart was heavy, sinking as he watched the girl. Embarrassment washed over him as he realized that had been a stupid thing to say in the first place. This wasn’t his Nashi. She wasn’t using what he’d taught her because he hadn’t been the one to train her. Hell, she probably wasn’t even gauging her opponents’ movements; she was probably fighting for her life, here. 

She would lose. 

“Nothin’,” he replied thickly, dropping his arms even as he watched the girl roll away from a rather impressive and extremely long-ranged crescent kick, not even the man’s big toe catching her at all. “I was wrong…enjoy the rest of the fight, guys.” He used the ensuing beat of silence to stare–for just one more second–at the girl. This world’s version of his girl. 

Without thinking, he went to heft up his backpack, only to sigh in quiet defeat–the exhale almost visible even in the warm air–as he remembered it wasn’t there; he was just a weakling in this world. That’s why his back (and whole body) felt so heavy. 

“Oh, you’re leaving?” the first guy who’d spoken to him said as he turned away, pushing back through the crowd. His tone was an odd mixture of relieved and disappointed. Natsu said nothing, merely waving. 

Overhead, the booming voice–which he’d tuned out during the competition–continued to sound off. “–AN ADMITTEDLY UNBELIEVABLE DODGE, BY ,” it said, clearly shocked, as Natsu pushed past a woman who was obviously excited to be moving closer to the arena. “BUT THE NEXT FLURRY OF BLOWS LANDS, ALTHOUGH IT APPEARS SHE’S BLOCKED MOST OF THEM–” 

“YOU’RE DONE, BITCH!” roared Mad Cow, so loud that he managed to drown out the commentator–who went silent, anyway. This made Natsu pause, his brows knitting with fury. 

It doesn’t matter, he reminded himself. She’s not your daughter. He refused to look back, forced himself to take another step, then another. She’s just some fighter from another world who’s, apparently, out of her league. She’s not–

A loud slam, like a body falling on a mat. “SHE’S DOWN! I REPEAT, ’S DOWN!” 

Natsu smirked. “See, dumbass?” he murmured to himself. 

“IT’S ALL OVER, FOLKS! SHE’S–” 

All of a sudden, a fleshy CRACK rang through the air, followed by an enormous chorus of gasps and cries of surprise from the crowd. A deafening silence ensued. 

“... HOLY– UNBELIEVABLE!” the commentator managed. “A KICK FROM THE GROUND–AND O’NEIL'S BACK ON HER FEET! THEY’VE GAINED GROUND FROM EACH OTHER, AND MAD BULL–MAD BULL IS NOW TRYING TO RECOVER!”  

Despite himself, Natsu slowed even as he urged himself to keep walking. Even as he continued to force himself not to turn back. Looking back is only a distraction. It’s not Nashi. That is not Nashi. It’s not–

“Man, I really hate guys like you, you know that?” 

The seething voice was what made him stop, closing his eyes. There was just…something about it. A growl. A fire. Something that punched right back into his memories:

“Remember, breathe, and keep your eyes on my chest! That way, you can see my whole body at the corners of your eyes!” A combo, one which he pumped more speed and power to than before–throwing her off on purpose. 

“Oof!” she grunted as she landed on her butt. 

“There, when you fall– that’s when you make your comeback! Now that you’ve watched your opponent, and tricked him into thinking you’re down– now is when you get back up and blow them away! That’s how a Dragon Slayer fights! That’s how a Fairy Tail Wizard fights!” She stared up at him with huge eyes, shining with admiration, and flushed cheeks. 

He grinned. 

“So?! Get up! Always get back up, Nashi! I’m not asking the impossible of you–you can do this! I know you can!” 

“I–I will!” she scrambled to her feet, fists blazing with gold heat as she lunged for him. “I’ll always get back up! No matter what, I’ll–” 

His chest seized. He clenched his jaw, knowing he needed to make himself keep walking, but unable to do it. Even as people churned around him, trying to push past him, he found himself shoving them off, refusing to move from exactly where he was. One foot planted in front of the other. Half-hovering. Eyes still closed. 

Whatever just happened had quieted the crowd, an anticipatory sort of silence that made him clench his fists, eyes still closed. 

And then, Natsu’s world flipped upside down: 

“You didn’t even bother to study my previous fights, did you?” Her growl carried across the hushed crowd. “Tch, typical…if you had, you’d know: You’d know I always get back up!” 

His eyes flew open. 

He whirled back around and watched, wide-eyed and world rocking, as the pink haired girl rose. Rolled her shoulders against her ears, one at a time. The grin was gone, a heavy, intimidating scowl having taken its place as she recovered, getting her feet back underneath herself, her stance back in place. Her nose was wrinkled in fury. Her eyes burned. 

Natsu’s lips parted on a gasp as he stared. 

Mad Cow scoffed, hunched and rubbing his chin with a hand like a mitt. Natsu guessed that This Nashi must’ve caught him there–probably with a kick, given the size difference. That must have been what made the crowd react with shock. They were recovering now, though, getting louder.

“And why the fuck would I bother to do that?!” Mad Cow shouted, dropping his hand. “I don’t need to! Every guy you’ve faced could’ve beaten you easily if they’d quit acting like even more of a little bitch than you! You shouldn’t fucking be here anyway…fucking birds, knowing dudes will take it easy on you so you can take advantage of it and collect the reward…well I’M NOT ONE OF THEM!” He roared the last part. The bitter fury in his voice was a kind Natsu was familiar with. 

“Studying what you can find of your opponent’s fighting style–that’s basic! And you wanna sit here and bitch about how I don’t deserve to be here, you lumpy-headed fuck?! ” 

“The FUCK you just call me?!” McCow snarled back. 

“YOU HEARD ME, SHITWIT!” 

“THAT’S IT!” the man shouted. “I’ve had it! I was gonna take it easy on you, but–” 

“THAT’S MY LINE!” 

It seemed that was both their limit. 

They flew at each other. But now, everything was different, and Natsu doubted that anyone without a trained eye and fighting experience like him could recognize it. 

Apparently, the commentator was one such person: “THIS IS–THIS IS INCREDIBLE!” the voice boomed, full of disbelief, as the girl caught the fist rocketing towards her face with a hard elbow, making Mad Cow let out a roar of pain. She kicked away an arm flying towards her head, and launched a sidekick at his now-uncovered stomach–one that landed hard. She built on the damage, bearing down on him as he stumbled backwards, tripping over his own heels. A right roundhouse followed by a left to his head. Despite the fact he was obviously disorientated, he caught the first one– blocked it and tried, unsuccessfully to catch her foot–but not the second, which cracked into his ear and made him stagger, her chasing him and hammering him with surprisingly powerful blows. Each one of her hits accumulated speed and strength.

The commentator picked up again, saying something or other about “striking machines”, but Natsu didn’t hear. His eyes were wide, now, and glued to the girl cracking her shin into her opponent’s nose, teeth bared. The expression on her face…the fire in her eyes…the speed of her hits…her fighting style…it was like he’d begun watching the fight currently happening through one eye and a stream of memories through the other, his breath going still in his lungs–

“–No matter what, I’ll always get back up!” screamed the little girl, running forward and hammering him with fiery strikes, kicks, and even elbows. They’d only just started elbow work. Natsu staggered back with each good combo she landed. He put in the effort to make it look convincing, pride swelling within his chest. 

“That’s it! Build on it! Faster…harder! C’mon!”  

This Nashi slipped underneath and into one of Mad Cow’s big overhand hooks, the corrected trajectory of his fist barely skidding over her shoulder as her right fist tore up, slamming into his chin. Even as his eyes rolled and he staggered backwards, her expression was so mutinous it was almost funny. 

But as good as the uppercut was, it turned out to be a set-up: 

“LOOK AT THIS COMBO…CROSS, HOOK–WHOA! AN ABSOLUTELY DEVASTATING LEG KICK! CLASSIC MUAY THAI-INSPIRED COMBO FROM TURNING–” 

“FUCKING BITCH–!” Mad Cow roared, but his opponent cut him off with a voice like thunder. 

“I’M THE BADDEST BITCH YOU’VE EVER MET!” 

“I’LL ALWAYS GET BACK UP! I WILL! I’M GONNA BE A GREAT DRAGON SLAYER, JUST LIKE YOU! NO–I’LL EVEN BEAT YOU, ONE DAY!” Nashi took a deep breath, and Natsu grinned, allowing the pause in the fight, because he knew what was coming. The catchphrase both like his and not. Inspired by him, but all her own. 

Her fists blazed brighter than ever. The sun illuminated her grin.“JUST WATCH ME, DADDY! DON’T EVEN BLINK! BECAUSE I’VE–” 

“–GOT A FIRE IN ME THAT YOU’LL NEVER PUT OUT!”

Mad Cow’s eyes were wild with fear as he desperately swung for another, big lead cross–one which spelled his downfall. The Dragoness leapt off her left leg–her back leg. Her right shin cracked into his already dipping head. 

He fell forward and bounced off the mat, limp as a ragdoll, while the audience screamed all around him. 

Even as the giant fell still, she made for his prone form, fist raised, but didn’t fight at all when the black-collared man appeared seemingly from nowhere, grabbed her around the waist, and practically threw her away. Instead, This Nashi– The Nashi skipped backwards, smirking, and raised a wrapped fist. 

And that was the realization which thundered through Natsu, now gaping up at the victorious, pink-haired fighter stalking towards the edge of the cage: not This Nashi. The Nashi. 

After seven, grief-filled years, Natsu Dragneel was absolutely sure he had just found his daughter.

*1. Yes, there will be quotes from the original series (the anime dub, sub, or the manga depending on whichever version I like best) at the beginning of each chapter. HOWEVER. The quotes are not spoilers and are often only tangentially related to my plotline. The one for this chapter, for instance, is specifically about Edolas, but is not actually true of the world where Natsu has landed.

*2. Yes, I know the canon Edolas Nalu child is “Nasha.” I decided on “Nashi”, instead, for reasons which will be explained later.

*3. Sorry in advance, but I pretty much kept what little I remembered/liked from 100YQ and ditched everything I didn’t. Same with the original story, but way more with 100YQ. Idk what it is but even though I’ve read the whole thing, 100YQ has this unique quality where a lot of what happens slips straight out of my mind as soon as I’ve read it. In one eye, out the other. So you’ll just have to roll with me, sorry.

*4. Real-life inspiration for Layla (/Nashi) comes mostly from Ronda Rousey, whose biography I read and happen to have on hand, along with Kaoklai Kaennorsing (especially his fighting style). Those are the two main ones. If you’ve read My Fight, Your Fight, you’ll understand how Layla (/Nashi’s) personality is inspired by her–especially as you go on. I highly recommend looking up the Thai kickboxer/Muay Thai fighter Kaoklai Kaennorsing. He has been called the Giant-Slayer because he did, in fact, defeat opponents who had over 100 pounds on him. Watching his fights is just an incredible experience. Other inspirations include Rose Namajunas, Connor McGregor, and some others. There are also several fictional inspirations including and outside Fairy Tail which I won’t bore you with (some of them I’m sure fellow anime fans will be able to guess lol).

[dev-fiction]

Hi! I love your fanfic Echoes and would be more than willing to be a beta reader if you ever need! I recently saw on your feed that Victoria is not your only OC-insert, do you mind sharing who your others are?

I'll definitely keep that in mind if I ever desire a beta reader <3 Thank you so much for the offer!

Of course I don't mind sharing the others - the more I get to talk about my oc's and my complete obsession with them, the happier I'll be ♥ I've actually been slowly putting together little character templates that I might post later, if anyone is interested :)

This is going to get a bit long-winded, so apologies in advance!

Of course, you know Victoria so we'll just skip right on by her starting with characters that currently have public fics, starting with-

Shippo Inuzuka, from Bare my Fangs Fandom: Naruto Current Word-Count: 34k Rewrite Word-Count: 20k Twin sister of Kiba Inuzuka, Shippo is currently an Academy Student in training within Konohagakure. Alongside her ninja pups Aomaru and Momomaru, Shippo dedicates her days to studious training and play as she gets to know her fellow classmates. I have a lot of feelings about this fic. I started it before Naruto came to an end which always made it a little more difficult for me to write. I love the Inuzuka Clan a LOT and was very disappointed at the lack of oc-inserts more focused around them - so, I decided to write my own! It's been a very long time since I've updated this fic or even really thought about it and a large part of that is now that Naruto has come to an end, I'd really like to re-write it.

It's an old story with a lot of themes I no longer like, going in a direction I'm no longer sure about. However, because of this I'm excited to work on the project again! I have a lot more writing experience compared to when I first started it and I'd like to apply that to this story the proper way it deserves ♥

As it is, for any BMF readers here you can consider the current iteration of the story abandoned as I undergo this. Some major themes will stay the same, but a lot won't.

Shippo as a character is someone I've thought about a lot and have really come to love - the Shippo I envision now is someone a little unhinged; feral, in a sense, someone who plays off the wild nature of Kiba Inuzuka and the clan as a whole effortlessly. I don't really want to spoil too much about her and what I currently have written of the rewrite, so I'll leave it at that.

Her pups will absolutely be staying the same - I love Aomaru and Momomaru so so so much. I have very big plans for them.

Monkey D. Lucy, from Abyssal Fandom: One Piece Current Word-Count: 32k Rewrite Word-Count: 0k, Under Plot and Character-Building Twin sister of Monkey D. Luffy, Lucy is a young girl residing with the mountain bandits - and her brothers - on Dawn Island. She spends her days training in preparation for her eventual departure to sea with her twin and her overall terror of the ocean.

Abyssal has always been one of my backburner fics; One Piece was nowhere near its final arc when I first started it and I had been desperately hoping for more information on Luffy's background as a whole before delving in too deep into the story - it's a fic I didn't focus on too much and worked on when the mood struck.

One Piece is still my favorite anime/manga, so of course I plan on continuing with it eventually - most likely after the series has reached its conclusion.

Monkey D. Lucy will retain her terror of the ocean, only she now comes with a brand spanking new personality.

I have a general idea of where I want to go with her - someone who's passionate, reckless, violent, and beautiful. I have a character outline page written and a lot of rough sketches :)

Yuta Amelia Heartfilia, from Soulbound Fandom: Fairy Tail Current Word-Count: 10k Rewrite Word-Count: 45k This fic as it is has been completely abandoned. I've been working on a rewrite from the ground up for a while now - starting with the awful name, which is now Amelia.

I haven't talked about this fic anywhere or approached Soulbound in a long time - but I have been working on a rewrite for a few months now.

I adore Fairy Tail a lot - and now that it's come to a close I feel like I have a lot of freedom with this fic. There really isn't a lot of world-building and the general makeup of magic is very fluid to work with. I think Fairy Tail's strongest asset is its characters, which are honestly so so much fun to write.

As a result of this, I think Amelia is one of my more rounded-out characters.

Amelia is the younger sister of Lucy Heartfilia - and by younger, that is to say at the start of her story she is 11 years old, which makes her 6 years younger than Lucy.

Amelia is a quiet kid with no filter when she does speak - which makes her, rather unintentionally, a bit of an asshole. She's not good at reading people and has no real desire to engage with them - she leaves all of that charisma bullshit to her sister. Growing up on the streets after running away from home at a young age has made her street savvy; she's small, but lithe and very agile when she expends the effort towards it.

She spent most of her young life in cheap rooms in dodgey areas situated above taverns or whore houses while Lucy picked up odd jobs and magic requests to keep them afloat. This has encouraged a crass nature and a proclivity towards swearing that exasperates her sister greatly.

She's incredibly co-dependent on Lucy, who has acted as both parental roles for the majority of her life. She can't imagine life without her and is willing to do anything to keep her safe.

She holds no memories of any previous lives she may or may not have lived.

She was blessed with a rather simple form of Celestial Spacial Magic; the ability to teleport herself and objects a short distance around her. She adores her ability and often uses it for the purpose of being lazy.

I've been having a lot of fun writing this fic. Unlike my other fics this one alternates between the main siblings frequently, to the point that I'd say that they're both the main protagonists.

As a general result of leaving home so much earlier than canon, Lucy has changed a lot as well, but well - I'll leave that for the readers to find out when I do finally start posting chapters.

As for the fics I've kept almost completely on the down-low; these are fics I don't plan on posting for a very long time, but have been working on.

Anna Weasley, from Untitled Project Fandom: Harry Potter Current Word-Count: 60k Anna Weasley is a starry-eyed child - she sees the world through dream-hued glasses tainted at the edges by nightmares brought on by her rather bad habit of dying. Sometimes she sees things that others can't and that's okay - she has her twin, Ron, to help her sort out the muddled mess that is her mind.

She's bright in a simple kind of way, and a bit odd, but eternally optimistic and loyal to those she loves.

As much as I would love love love to talk endlessly about Anna, this is where I'm going to leave it. I have a lot planned for this fic and writing it between Echoes has been fun. I love the Weasley's, if you couldn't tell, and I feel like passing up the chance to jump into a story with a Weasley-centric OC would be a travesty.

Also Anna is like, in my top 3 OC's to doodle when I feel up to it ♥

Umeko Haruno, from Untitled Project Fandom: Naruto Current Word-Count: 70k Umeko Haruno has had her nose stuck to the grindstone studying and training for her future career as a shinobi for as long as she can remember. Growing up with a training companion in the form of her brilliant twin has pushed her into a diligent pursuit to surpass her own limits.

This mentality was largely influenced by the passing of her shinobi mother when she was still very young. A casualty of a mission gone wrong, her loss was felt deeply by the family with ripples that never quite ceased. Umeko's desire to live up to her mothers legacy, become strong enough to protect those she has left, and push herself to the extreme has resulted in her being a workaholic with an obsession to become a more efficient shinobi.

She's very book-smart and clinical, but she doesn't let that overshadow her kindness. She has a low tolerance for incompetence and values training above all else - there is almost no form of training she isn't willing to try, no matter the blow it might deal to her dignity or the respect others have for her.

I'm really really excited for this fic. It's a lot more fast paced than my other ones and writing it has been a lot of fun - Umeko is just a lot of fun. I've kept this fic completely hushed up simply because of Bare my Fangs, but as you can see I've got quite a bit written already.

I have a very strong idea of her story progression and how it will ultimately affect those around her, as well as the plot as a whole. I've got a few twists and turns planned that I can't wait to unveil ♥

What's this? It's A - Bonus Round!

Ↄ̶̵̸̢̰̩̪̠̗̟̪͉̮͈̯͉̹ͤ̈̑ͨͤ͌͊ͪ͛́̈͑̽͘̚͟͞ͅ ḻ̢̛̩͇̥͚̲͉͉̤̆̓̏̀ͮͥͨ͒ͪ̽̀ͤ͑͛̋͒̔̽̎ͭ̀̒̓̚͟͟͠ ἀ̴̡̩̗̫̩̮͕̼̋ͨ́̌ͣͬͨ̈́͛̆ͧ̈́͐ͣ͗̓ͭ̃͊͘̚͜͢͝ я̛̱̘̦̺͍͓̉͡я̛̱̘̦̺̉͡я̛̱̘̦̺̉͡ α̸̴̙͖̯̖̩͈̿́̏̾ͫ̓̀́ͧ͘͟α̸̴̙͖̯̖̩͈̿́̏̾ͫ̓̀́ͧ͘͟_̵̶̵̡̘̯̗̣͓̻̳̼̦̭̅ͣ̇̔̎ͬ͆̃̂ͥ͡ Fandom: ⸮⸮⸮ Current Word-Count: ⸮̷̩͓̙͔̰͎̰̘̲̤́̋̒ͥͦ͌̌͗̉̐͊ͭ̉̋ͨ̋ͬͩ̈ͨ̐ͣ͟⸮̱͈̩̜͎͖̳͚͉̤̰͎̯̞̭̖̂̊̋̀̿͐̀ͮ͘⸮̧̢̼̭͎̦͍̫͉͖̀̏̀̏ͥͦ́ Objective: ⸮⸮⸮ She'd built her life, from the ground up. Through the muck of slurried-trash heaps and the grime of sick rot tearing away at her clothes and her food and her dignity she'd persevered.

And then-

Afterward, nothing much mattered, anymore.

There was a peace in that.

More, than peace, it's like she ascended-

And then, she found, she wasn't alone.

🤫

Thank you for asking about my OC's and sorry if it was a lot more than you bargained for! I really do love them and have been quietly sitting on them for a while now :)

[alexrphub]

~~Cough. Cough. Good lord, I don’t remember it being this dusty around here. Probably what happens when I disappear for, what, 3 years? Returning has always been a reoccurring thought. But that thought has always been shot down by the “aren’t you too stupid for writing now that you’re off your meds” thoughts. I still ponder ideas about my characters, dreaming of actually doing something with them. But sadly, that requires effort and motivation.

But hey, stick around. I might actually do something. Assuming I actually tidy things up on this hell site (I did a quick scroll through of my dash and I don’t remember it being this dead). in the mean time, here are some of those ideas I’ve toyed with instead of actually sleeping.~~

Giving May (FMA OC) a little sister. This thought never went too far. I wanted to give her some kind of physical disability from the Ishvalan war that automail couldn’t fix, like her eardrums ruptured and she lost her hearing, giving May a reason to learn sign language, or shrapnel to the eyes taking her sight, giving May a reason to learn brail. Or making her sister mute. You get the idea. I thought about trying to write an actual fic about it, making May’s reason to learn about medicine and medical applications for alchemy be that she’s trying to “fix” her sister. It turned into more focus on May, than anything. Never did come up with many ideas for her sister.

On the subject of May. I kept playing around with the events of the Promised Day. Never got around to anything good. Mainly just May encountering Bradley, finding out the truth about Ishval, getting pissed (rightfully so), and trying, and failing, to fight him. Bradley wouldn’t grant her the mercy of a quick death, and so he’d cut off her arms (ouch) and leave her to bleed out. But help would arrive in time (I wasn’t gonna kill her off like that) and eventually she’d give in and get automail for her now missing arms, and long missing leg.

Post-Promised Day May would begin learning everything she could about proper medical uses for Alchemy. Learning that alkahestry has actual medical applications, but different fundamentals from alchemy, she’d begin researching some kind of hybrid. One close enough to alkahestry to be used medically, but still close enough to alchemy that it wouldn’t as much of a pain in the ass to learn. And if the State Alchemist program still existed, she’d show off a proof of concept, allowing her to continue her research, and earing the title “Healing Hands Alchemist”

Actually revamping Stacey (Fairy Tail OC). Dear God was there gonna be a LOT of revamps. Her name, her timeline of events, personality. I’ve changed so much she’s basically a new character with a few references to the original sprinkled in. She was going to grow up in an orphanage since she was a baby, only having the first name Samantha. It was going to be called the Alamar Orphanage and be in Hargeon. She was going to befriend a scrap yard owner (I called him “Old Man Jakobs)”, who’d later adopt her (she’d have no idea) so she could leave the orphanage and join a guild, eventually ending up at the front doors of Fairy Tail. (this would be just a few months before the Tenrou Island arc). Needing a full name for the guild application, she’d chose Alamar (someone, either Erza’s or Lucy’s, suggestion) to remember how far she’s come. It being the Fairy Tail guild, she’s be welcomed into the guild with open arms and treated like family. When the Tenrou team vanished, Samantha would stay a faithful member, and eventually (over the next year or two) bring in a few new members before the guild’s popularity finally tanked. I had ideas for celestial wizard with a good amount of silver keys, 2 2nd gen dragon slayers, one with gold dragon slayer magic (He was one of the few with names. It was gonna be Aurther. I wanted something with “au” in it. I wanted his big quirk to be that he ate change), and the other with earth dragon slayer magic (never had much ideas for this one, but this one’s quirk was they were gonna eat mud), and finally a team mate that needed a special bow to focus her magic into different arrows. Eventually calling themselves “the Golden team.” (and yes, them some of them having powers similar to the main characters was intentional, with them eventually being referred to as a poor substitute for Fairy Tail’s best.) Samantha would eventually lose her adopted father, with her finding out from his will, and inheriting his belongings, including his old, small, ship. Allowing the Golden Team to use it when needed. And for them to be present when Tenrou Island eventually returned. When Fairy Tail disbanded, so too would the Golden Team. I never settled on the others, but Samantha would eventually (after 2 or 3 months) find herself joining Mermaid Heel, where she would train with Kagura to improve her skills, eventually becoming an S Class candidate and Mermaid Heel’s latest S Class Wizard. Some time later, she would partake in the Grand Wizard Games as a representative of Mermaid Heel.

Can you tell what characters I’ve poured the most thought into?

[ljf613]

20 Fic Writer Questions

Thanks to @theboyfrommakapu and @old-and-new-friends for the tag.

1) How many works do you have on AO3? Technically 66, but 9 of those are really just stubs of fics I will write someday.

2) What’s your total AO3 word count? 131,183.

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they? 14: Miraculous Ladybug, Tales of Arcadia, Teen Wolf, Space Boy, Dr Quinn: Medicine Woman, Children of the Wolves: Ame & Yuki, Yona of the Dawn, Fairy Tail, Shall We Date?: THE NIFLHEIM+, The Dragon Prince, Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic, The Familiar of Zero, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Avatar: The Legend of Korra, and several others that have not yet been posted. (The NIFLHEIM fic was just as a crossover for a Fairy Tail fic, I'm not invested in that one enough that I'd really write a story in that fandom on its own.)

4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos? 1. nobody wants to pay the asking price (716 kudos) 2. you don't get what all this is about (669 kudos) 3. we all bend and break sometimes (644 kudos) 4. I'm worse at what I do best (559 kudos) 5. fifteen for a moment (541 kudos) (The we all want love/we all want honor series is way more popular than I ever anticipated it would be.)

5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not? Always. There are times when it takes me a little way to come up with a good response, especially for the really detailed comments (I think the oldest unanswered one is from way back in January), but I get around to it eventually. I think it's really important to interact with people who've not only taken the time to read my stories, but also want to talk about them.

6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? It's Winter Again (And I Can't Wait To See You), without a doubt. I wanted to write a super-angsty Yuaang fic, and I believe I succeeded.

7) What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending? The happiest? I haven't actually ended too many fics, and most of them didn't end particularly happily-- hopefully might be a more apt description....... I guess The Bells of Kardia Cathedral had a pretty happy ending.

8) Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you’ve written? I've only written one real crossover (aside from a couple of ATLA/LOK "crossovers"), the aforementioned Fairy Tail/NIFLHEIM fic Fairy Tail in NIFLHEIM, which was pretty crazy. I do have an ATLA/Magi crossover planned that I think might be pretty interesting.

9) Have you ever received hate on a fic? I don't think so (unless I deleted and forgot about it). The closest I can think of (although I can't find it now, so I either imagined it or whoever wrote it deleted it) was someone who thinks the way I'm handling Toph in the Ba Sing Se arc of we all want love/we all want honor is rather OOC for how I've set her up in this series. I actually do understand where that person is coming from, and I plan on addressing exactly why she's behaving the way she is sometime in the next few chapters.

10) Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Nope. Never have, never will, don't even ask.

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not..... exactly? Someone's reposted the entirety of wawl/wawh and reposted it in a single doc, but it was posted privately for personal use (to make it easier for them to download the whole thing together). I haven't yet decided what I want to do about that.

12) Have you ever had a fic translated? No, but I'm totally open to it if anyone's interested!

13) Have you ever co-written a fic before? Nah. There were times in the past when I almost did, but it never seemed to work out.

14) What’s your all-time favorite ship? Nathan x Haley (Naley) from One Tree Hill #otp: always and forever

15) What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will? Well, nothing's completely off the table, but probably The Death of a First Crush. I have a lot of fondness for that fic-- it was probably the first real longfic I ever attempted to write, and I always knew exactly where I was going with it and how I wanted it to end. However, I started it at a very particular time of my life, when I was going through some very particular emotional stages I was trying to convey, and I don't think I could recapture those feelings if I wanted to. And maybe also Children of the Wolves. That's a story I was super-excited about, and I'd probably been thinking about since middle school (long before I discovered that fanfic was an actual 'thing' other people might actually be interested in reading)-- but the response was so lackluster I couldn't muster up any real motivation to continue it. I would like to get back to it someday, but only if there's some real interest.

16) What are your writing strengths? I'm but a lot of thought into my at worldbuilding, I do my best to avoid plotholes, and I think my dialogue and descriptions are pretty good.

17) What are your writing weaknesses? I don't know how to draft things-- they have to be absolutely perfect the first time, or I will sit and wait until they are. Also, I can't really write action-- fight scenes and such require a lot of visual/spatial awareness my aphantasiac brain just isn't capable of.

18) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? Well..... I don't think I've ever really done it, although I wouldn't be opposed to it if it made sense for the plot. If it was a real language, I'd definitely want to get help from an actual speaker, rather than just relying on Google translate or something.

19) What was the first fandom you wrote for? The first fandom I ever posted for was Miraculous Ladybug. The first fandom I ever wrote for (that I actually have posted, we're not discussing the mediocre Twilight stories I scribbled out in middle school or anything) was Familair of Zero.

20) What’s your favorite fic you’ve written? My absolute favorite? IDK...... I really love the age of wizardry is over, and I'm super-proud of both Between the Emotion and the Response and we all want love/we all want honor.

Tagging: I have no idea who has and hasn't been tagged for this yet, so if you're interested, just go for it!

[k7l4d4]

Midnight Striga: Fairy Tail/Owl House Cross Fic Episode 4 Part 5

Hello all, here is the second to last section of Midnight Striga, episode 4! Everybody Clap Your Hands!!

“GET DOWN!” Luz screamed, diving towards Boscha. As the two crashed to the ground, the savaging claws just barely skimmed overhead. With a roar of fury, the Owl Beast rounded on them, murder just barely visible in its Pitch-Black eyes. As King desperately waved them towards the hallway, Luz tried to crack a joke, nervous fright bleeding into her voice. “Huh, guess that kids’ story turned out to be true, eh Boscha?”

“I Really Wish It Wasn’t!!” Boscha yelled, naked fright burning through her voice.

“Less talking, and more running!” King shouted, running up beside them as fast as his legs could carry him.

“SHRRRRRRIIIIIIIAIAAAAAAAAKKKKKKK!!!” The Owl Beast roared behind them, the sound of its talons digging into the wood of the floor as it closed in, sending chills down their spines. As the Beast’s footfalls pulled closer, Luz spared a glance back. The Beast was soaring through the air, talons raised to slash through them.

“Shit!” Luz bit out. Raising her hand, she quickly cast. “Quick Flash!” A burst of light bloomed in front of the Owl Beast’s eyes, prompting it to roar in pain as its sensitive sight was assaulted. As it crashed to the ground, it frantically wiped and scraped at its eyes, desperately trying to clear them. When its vision returned, its prey had vanished. It roared in rage. Snuffling, the Beast stalked around, ready to attack at the first sign of the intruders who had dared to disturb its home. Hiding in one of the nearby closets, the three let out sighs of relief as the sound of the Owl Beast went off into the distance.

“Okay, so,” Boscha breathed. “Just what the heck was that!?”

“You tell us, seeing as how you described that curse.” King huffed, trying to disguise his shaking at the close brush with death the three had received.

“I didn’t think it was real!” Boscha retorted, flailing her arms in the crowded room.

“Why would you think that!?” King exclaimed.

“It’s not the kind of thing you really expect to be real, I mean seriously, a curse from the Titan!? Please!!”

“Well we might not be stuck in a closet if you had mentioned this earlier!”

“Excuse me!?”

“Quiet!!” Luz hissed, grabbing the bickering duo by their ears, much to their mutual pain, particularly when she twisted. “We. Do. Not. Have time for this!” She muttered as low as she could, releasing the two. Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to calm down, and she wasn’t sure she actually managed it. “Okay, look. This is a very bad situation. Eda has apparently turned into a freaking Owl Beast, and we need to do three things: 1) figure out how and why she turned, 2) subdue her so she can’t keep trying to kill us, and 3) find a way to turn her back so we don’t have to worry about keeping her bound. Agreed?”

“”Agreed.”” The two echoed, both sharing looks of mixed fear and determination.

“Alright then,” Luz said, putting on a confident expression, while internally squealing in relief that they listened. “Let’s make a plan.”

They hungered. It was not unusual; they always hungered when awakened. Once more, they found themselves bound. This time, the binding was less… infuriating. They were bound within the not-tree/nest/den that the shell called their own. They growled. This was not THEIR home. They were an outsider, but the shell acknowledged this place, thus it was acceptable.

They sniffed, growling at the scents of invaders. Those who would bind/capture/restrain them. They would be eliminated. They prowled forward, claws digging into the not-tree dead-wood-flesh beneath them. They would not be caught by surprise again. The bright-flash-with-bang was painful, but not impossible to defeat. The one-who-danced-with-light they saw in the shell’s dreams was skilled, but could not challenge their might.

They screeched in fury. Once more, oppressors attempted to steal their freedom. Unacceptable. They sniffed. One of their prey was nearby!! But where!?

With a growl, the Owl Beast shook its head, trying to track down the source of the scent. Unbeknownst to the fierce beast, it’s target was actually creeping along the ceiling, right behind it. Boscha tightened the handholds she had gotten in the ceiling, internally begging for her fingers to stay strong. ‘How did I let myself get talked into this!?’ She worried.

“Wait a minute, you want ME to spy on that thing!?” Boscha incredulously demanded.

“I’m wondering about that myself.” King said. “I mean, I hate to say it, but I am smaller than her, wouldn’t it make me harder to see?”

“You are smaller,” Luz conceded, before her gaze sharpened. “But Boscha is an athlete; out of all of us, she most likely has the best stamina for getting to safety if caught. Besides,” She smiled, giving Boscha a wink. “I believe in her.”

‘Oh yeah,’ she deadpanned, ‘that’s how.�� Dang it, being praised was gonna end up being a weakness for her now, wasn’t it? Ah well, at least she stayed out of the Beast’s sight. Silently sighing, Boscha crept after the Beast as quickly as she dared. She had to keep the Beast in her sight at all times, and if it looked like it caught wind of what was happening upstairs, she was to make a big racket to distract it, and then break for cover. And, if necessary…

‘I always have my… flames to fall back on.’ She mused internally, holding back a shudder at the thought of those bloody flames. No, she had no room in her heart and soul for doubt right now. No matter what, if she needed to use those flames, she would. The alternative was one she refused to accept.

“If everything goes to crap, make a break for it and run away.” Luz bluntly stated.

“What!?” Boscha just barely kept from shouting.

“Luz?” King trepidatiously asked.

Luz gave her small friend a sad smile, and ruffled his head. “Out of the three of us, she’s the only one who can reliably survive the rain. Odds are, this will end one way or another far before it stops.” She sighed, fixing Boscha with a stern look. “That’s why I’m saying, if only one of us can get away, it should at least be the person who will survive getting through the barrier. Make a break for it, and live, you hear me?”

“Yeah.” Boscha said numbly. “I hear you.”

‘Sorry Luz,’ Boscha internally focused her resolve. ‘I’m not going to keep that promise.’

Luz huffed, feeling like she had just been defied for some reason, as she and King silently crept through the rooms, looking for any sign as to what could have caused Eda’s transformation. After a few false starts, they eventually found themselves in Eda’s room. Luz just stared in dumbfounded disbelief. “Wow.” She quietly muttered. “She actually sleeps in a nest.”

“Yeah.” King quietly added. “With the whole ‘turning into an Owl Beast’ thing, it makes a lot more sense.”

“Same with the attraction to shiny objects.” Luz mused.

“And eating small rodents at night!” King laughed.

The two shared a quiet chuckle, picking through Eda’s nest/bed, and while they found a lot of strange bones, including a disturbingly complete humanoid skeleton, and a miniature mountain of shiny bits and bobs, they hadn’t found anything that could be considered a source for her present state. Holding in a growl, the only thing keeping Luz from thumping her head against the wall was the knowledge that it would draw the Owl Beast’s attention. “Let’s go King, I think this is a bust.” Luz muttered softly.

“No!” King insisted. “I’m sure we can find something, we just have to keep looking!”

“I don’t know King,” Luz muttered sorrowfully. “It really doesn’t look like there’s anything here. Come on, let’s try another-” She cut off, her eyes drawn to the slight opening of the closet. It was a long shot, but it just might work. “Scratch that, King. Let’s check one last thing, then we head to the next room.” With that said, she headed for the closet. King followed behind, grumbling but accepting her decision, knowing he wouldn’t be able to out-stubborn her.

Opening the closet, Luz scanned it’s contents, panning her vision up and down, before catching sight of an glowing bottle filled with an orange liquid. Bringing it up to eye level, she slowly read out the tag affixed to it. “A potion a day keeps the curse at bay…” She muttered. Turning wide eyes towards King, she said, “This must be how she’s kept the curse under wraps!”

“Yeah!” King agreed. “But, why didn’t she take one today?”

Luz’s mind flashed back to the events of earlier today; when Eda sorted through the massive pile of Lacrimas she had accumulated, something that took upwards of four hours to complete, and when she pushed herself to set up the barrier against the rain. Luz grimaced. “I have a pretty good idea.” An ear-splitting scream cut through the air. “”Boscha!!”” The two exclaimed, abandoning subtlety to race towards the commotion.

They were growing annoyed. No matter where they went, they could not find the intruder. It was very aggravating. They growled, spitting to the side. How could the intruder avoid them so completely? It was impossible. They were apex, a beast beyond the limits of what could normally be challenged, let alone avoided when hunting. It made no sense! Where could the intruder be…? They were not found on the ground, not in the smaller dens riddling the not-tree/nest/den, so how could it avoid them? Unless… pricking their ears, a faint noise came through. The faint sound… of a heartbeat. They bared their fangs.

Boscha was worried. The Beast was just standing there, panting lightly. Could it have…? No, that was crazy, no way this thing was smart enough to try and trap her!! Still, better to be cautious. ‘After all,’ Boscha mused darkly, ‘being reckless is ultimately what got Skara hurt. If I had never gone after Luz that night, I never would’ve gotten that stupid Lacrima, and never gone crazy.’ Shaking herself out of her thoughts, Boscha relaxed her hands and wrists, ready to start casting the instant the Beast made a move.

Without making a sound, she slowly crept closer to the doorway, ready to spring into action. She turned her head for just a second… and blinding pain surged through her side. With a shriek, she jumped as hard as she could, feeling the talons exit the newly formed wound in her side. Biting back a curse, she crashed to the ground, blood oozing underneath her fingers as she stared at the Beast, which was clearly staring back. Its teeth were bared, its nostrils flared and scenting, the movements of its head clearly showing it was tracking her visually as well. The twitch of its ears drew her eye. Was her noise how it had caught her?

They gurgled, pleased they had managed to wound the intruder. It was a youngling of this Land’s dominant race. How amusing. With a shriek, they closed the distance between themselves and the intruder, her scent reeking of fear. She twirled her hands… With a shriek, they pulled back as the bright light burned before them. That little rat!! How did she threaten them with the light!? Howling in rage, they chased after the wretch. They would savor the taste of her blood upon their tongue for such an insult.

Bouncing off of the walls as platforms to propel themselves forward, they chased after the soon-to-be-dead youngling. They would grudgingly admit, they found her tenacity admirable, were she not trying to bind them again. With a pleased roar, they leapt into the air, ready to rip and tear… why was the youngling showing joy?

“Eat Boiling Rain, you dumb bird!” Boscha shouted, jumping to the side. The Owl Beast howled past, crashing through the window and part of the wall from the force of its jump. Internally, she felt guilt at putting the Beast through something like that, but it would at least slow it down-

With a roar, the Beast hurled itself back inside using the talon it managed to keep clinging to the floor.

-Scratch that, she had just delayed it for a few seconds, and probably annoyed it.

“Demon King’s Rocking Roar!” A familiar voice screamed. Boscha barely had time to cover her ears, for all the good it did, as a solid mass of sound slammed into the Owl Beast, prompting it to scream in agony. Boscha felt a twinge of sympathy; she was fully aware of how painful King’s magic was for those with sensitive hearing. While the Beast was distracted, she rushed over to King and Luz who were waving her over.

“Guys!” She cheered. “Did you find something!?”

“Yeah, we did!” Luz said, giving her a quick hug, which honestly left her feeling… weird. She wasn’t used to hugs. Luz gave her a crooked grin. “We honestly found it just before we heard your scream. A second earlier, we’d have probably taken off without.” She opened her hand, showing off the potion inside.

“A Curse-Suppression Potion… of course!” Boscha exclaimed. “That’s how she keeps it in check, and keeps from turning into that thing- Gah!” She yelped as pain flared throughout her side.

“Boscha!” Luz shouted worriedly, looking at her side. “What happened!?”

Boscha grimaced. “It figured out how to track me.�� She glanced back at the Beast, wondering how long they had until King had to drop the spell; when he let it down, it would be up to Luz and herself to get this potion down the Beast’s throat. “I’m not sure how, but it got to me, and slashed at my ribs.”

“Yeah, I can tell.” Luz deadpanned, looking over the wound. “It’s kind of weird, this injury isn’t as deep as it should be, and it’s not bleeding anywhere near as bad as you’d expect. How’s the pain?”

Boscha blinked, it finally clicking into place how odd the fact the wound had phased her so little was. “Honestly, not much at all.” She gently brushed the gash. “That is weird.”

Luz snorted. “I guess we can add hard to injure to your list of Devil Slayer powers.”

Boscha chuckled nervously. “Yeah, I guess we can!” She was still incredibly uncomfortable with the whole ‘Devil Slayer’ thing, but if it came with benefits like this, she’d try not to let it get to her.

Luz grew serious. “Okay, King’s going to have to drop his spell any moment now, and then we’ve got what has to be at least a ton of Owl Beast bearing down on us. Are you ready?”

Boscha grinned with a confidence she wasn’t sure was fake. “I was born ready.”

The Beast shrieked, King having tapped out and released it. It charged them.

“Then let’s go!!” Luz shouted, jumping into the fray, Boscha joining her with a shout.

[sheyshen]

My FanFic compilation

I figured I have written quite a lot over the years and especially this year, that putting together something like this, that has everything I’ve written so far in one place all organized would be a good idea! So please! Enjoy!

There’s quite a lot so they’ll all be listed under the read more, They’re all organized by series (fairy tail, swtor, mass effect, dragon age, greedfall, anthem, and smut fics) as well as by pair with a short description, starting with the first fic I wrote (fairy tail) and the latest (fictober 2020 prompts)  :D

Fairy Tail: (Leading off with this because it’s my first ever fic) -Shall We Dance, Pair: Laxus/Lucy: 38 chapters, Finished https://archiveofourown.org/works/4351550/chapters/9870611

Swtor: Main fic: -Breaking the Bad News (aka BTBN), multi-pair, main focus is shan trio: currently 70 chapters, Ongoing. https://archiveofourown.org/works/9340892/chapters/21164699

Side Fics: Kara Hawke’s Backstory(s):

Pre-Class story: -A Smuggler’s Tyr, no pairing, intro to Kara’s first crew: Currently 1 chapter, Complete (Might add more eventually)

During Class Story: -Adventure of a Lifetime, no pairing focus but will mention Darmas, meant to build on what we have of the in game class story: Currently 1 chapter, hiatus (plan to work on more with 2021)

Post Class Story: -Hawke Legacy: While Kara Sleeps, mentioned Theron/Kara, focus’s on Koro delivering the news of Marr’s ship being attacked to Theron. 1 chapter, Complete -Downtime, Theron/Kara, Post arrival on Odessen but prior to chapter 9 on kotfe, 1 chapter, complete -Desert Reunion, Theron/Kara, Introducing Kara’s dad and bringing him into the Alliance, 3 chapters, complete -A Moment, Theron/Kara, but starting to poke at the idea of Arcann being involved, 1 chapter, complete

Prompts: -Fictober 2018, day 1: Can you feel this?, Kara/Arcann/Theron, post-umbara/pre-copero so theron’s only mentioned -Fictober 2018, day 3: How can I trust you?, Kara/Arcann/Theron, post-Nathema, and a bit on the trio +kids, dealing with Theron’s return -Fictober 2018, day 5: Take what you need, mentioned Kara/Caleb (her first husband from her original crew), takes place before the class stories, short story about a job she had done -Fictober 2018, day 6: I’ve heard enough, this ends now. Kara/Arcann (sometime pre-nathema so sorry Theron’s not really in this one), bit of covering a reoccuring nightmare Kara had for a few months -Fictober 2018, day 7: No Worries, we still have time, Kara/Arcann/Theron (Arcann’s not present tho, just mentioned), little bit of the pair of workaholics +kids taking a break -Fictober 2018, day 12/13: Who could do this/Try harder next time, Kara/Arcann/Theron & Koren/Trey (Will have this in both pairs), sometime post-nathema probably, little adventure with Kara involving having to save her sons -Prompt: I Care about You, Theron/Kara, little bit of a rebuild of their kotfe reuinion -Prompt: Come Cuddle, Kara/Arcann/Theron, Short fluff story of one of their movie nights with some bad jokes -Promptless idea: Arcann Singing, Kara/Arcann/Theron, I’ve always had this idea that Arcann can sing at least as well as Senya does, so here’s a bit of him singing to kara’s boys, and also kara. -Fictober 2019, day 2: Just Follow me, I know the area, Kara/Arcann mainly, post onslaught so Theron’s involved but just not featured in this prompt. Little bit of a romantic night out. -Fictober 2019, day 3: Now? Now you listen to me?, Kara/Arcann/Theron, follow-up to the fictober 2018 day 6 prompt, and resolution to the chronic nightmares Kara was having -Fictober 2020, day 7: Yes I did, what about it?, Kara/Arcann/Theron, post-nathema, small bit of theron and kara heart to heart about a choice she made (involving Valss because I’m still bitter we didn’t get a save option for him) and both prosthetic users in the trio are sore (maybe there’s a storm moving in) -Fictober 2020, day 15: Not interested, thank you, Kara/Arcann/Theron (Arcann isn’t present for this), one of a handful of reminders that Kara and Theron are parents, connor just really wants to make his lightsaber -Fictober 2020, day 18: You don’t see it?, Kara/Arcann/Theron (post umbara pre Nathema so theron is only mentioned), something of a pep-talk from arcann.

Nora Hawke/Mikael Hawke: -That Time Back When We First Met, backstory on how my sith warrior and pub trooper met before they started their relationship: currently 2 chapters, hiatus (plan to work on more with 2021) -Fictober 2018, day 4: Will that be all?, little bit after they first met, can be considered a continuation chapter... technically

Koren Gates/Trey Hawke: -Fictober 2018, day 2: People Like you have no imagination, Koren/Trey & Shey/Torian (will put it for both pairs), little adventure of my bounty hunter squad +sith BF -Fictober 2018, day 12/13: Who could do this/Try harder next time, Kara/Arcann/Theron & Koren/Trey (Will have this in both pairs), sometime post-nathema probably, little adventure with Kara involving having to save her sons -Fictober 2020, day 13: I missed this, Koren/Trey, bit of fluff between my overly caring hunter who could use a day off and his grump of a sith boyfriend. -Fictober 2020, day 28: Do I have to do everything here?, Kara/Arcann/Theron, Arcann and Koth decide to play a co-op holonet game, with only minor arguing. -Fictober 2020, day 30: Just say it, Kara/Arcann/Theron, Kara gets a little time to herself and the trio’s weekly movie night ends up being a bit more than just the three of them.

Shey Shen/Torian Cadera: -Fictober 2018, day 2: People Like you have no imagination, Koren/Trey & Shey/Torian (will put it for both pairs), little adventure of my bounty hunter squad +sith BF -Prompt: I’m Right Where I Belong, Shey/Torian sometime post kotet, a rare time that I bring up the fact that she has amnesia and still can’t remember anything prior to about 2 years prior to the class stories starting. -Prompt: ... out of habit (kiss), former Shey/Koro mention as well as Shey/Torian, because Koro is a mess and while him and Shey have been divorced for years habits die hard. -Fictober 2020, day 8: I’m not doing that again, Shey/Torian & Kurana/Andronikos (will be under both pairs), Little bit of a fun idea of who would win in a fight, our dear pirate or mando

Kurana Knight/Andronikos Revel: -Prompt: One Falling Asleep with their head in the other’s lap, Kurana/Andronikos, I keep thinking of this prompt now and then because writing Niko being soft for his wife is a lot of fun. -Fictober 2020, day 8: I’m not doing that again, Shey/Torian & Kurana/Andronikos (will be under both pairs), Little bit of a fun idea of who would win in a fight, our dear pirate or mando

Lyra Hawke/Doc: -Fictober 2020, day 1: No, Come Back!, Lyra/Doc, little adventure on an unnamed planet that I honestly love the idea of -Fictober 2020, day 6: That was Impressive, Lyra/Doc, Another little adventure of information gathering featuring Kara’s youngest son, Connor. -Fictober 2020, day 22: And neither should you, Lyra/Doc, little bit of fluff and doc trying to get his wife to take a day off

Ren Hawke/Vinn Atrius: -Fictober 2020, day 9: Will you Look at this?, Ren/Vinn, I need to write more of them outside of btbn so this was a start to hopefully more building on my didn’t plan to ship this as strongly as I ended up doing pair.

Ava Reiner/Jonas Balkar: -Fictober 2020, day 20: Did I ask?, Ava/Jonas, Small job featuring a couple of SIS agents, and including a bounty hunter I got attached to in a hurry.

Kyri Dennan/Arn Peralun: -Fictober 2020, day 21: This, this makes it all worth it, Kyri/Arn, little build up for another pair that I didn’t expect to get attached to, featuring some implant maintanence.

Airi/Theron (one off because disaster spy/spy pairing I had to write at least once): -Admittance, 1 chapter, complete

WoW: Aulara Stormdawn/Kieran Grimmarrow: -Lunar Eclipse, (Technically my first fic but I didn’t post it until after Shall We Dance), A story involving Aulara (an orphaned night elf priestess), Koren Haven (her brother from the orphanage, a human paladin), Kieran (a blood elf noble, hunter who doesn’t have much people skills), and the friends they meet including Rokar an old orc shaman and Sen a orc huntress, that navigates through the warcraft story starting with vanilla wow. Currently 7 chapters, on hiatus but planning on picking it up again in 2021! -Fictober 2020, day 4: That didn’t stop you before, Aulara/Kieran, A quest during Legion and a bit of a flashback from one of their first quests together around when they first started fighting side by side during BC -Fictober 2020, day 25: Sometimes you can even see, Aulara/Kieran, The burning of Teldrassil and Kieran deciding he’s willing to risk everything he’s ever known to be with his wife. Koren is there to give him a hand. -Fictober 2020, day 26: How about you trust me for once?, Aulara/Kieran, early BC before they became a couple, Kieran and Aulara get a moment to talk alone in Nagrand, involves something close to an awkward confession. >:3

Shey Wrynn/Varian Wrynn: -Prompt: Are you testing me?, Shey/Varian, post WoD but pre-Legion, little walk through elwynn turning into an adventure between the king and his wife, Shey is not amused when he charges in head first. -Fictober 2020, day 2: That’s the easy part, Shey/Varian, mid to late WoD, bit of fluff while planning the push towards hellfire citadel, bit of fluff and bit of proposal.  >:3 -Fictober 2020, day 10: All I ever wanted, Shey/Varian, post-BFA Pre-Shadowlands, proof I can write at least a little bit angsty, some platonic Shey & Anduin. -Fictober 2020, day 16: I never wanted anything else, Shey/Varian, something short around late Cata early MoP involving Shey having a birthday. -Fictober 2020, day 27: Give me that, Shey/Varian, probably what I consider the most ooc i’ve written him but honestly i had a lot of fun writing them being dorks. -Fictober 2020, day 31: I trust you, Shey/Varian, sometime early Cata soon after they started a relationship. The one and probably only time I’ll ever mention Shey’s old house, and a touch on the fact that i’m 100% certain that Varian would try and sneak out of the city time to time.

Shey & Anduin (platonic, it’s always platonic/familial between them) -Fictober 2020, day 19: I can’t do this anymore, Shey & Anduin, because sometimes a girl just needs to sneak her son out of the city to give him a break and maybe check out a ruin or something.

Shey Wrynn/Aethas Sunreaver: -Prompt: By your side, Shey/Aethas. Post legion, a bit of a moment between them early BFA. I started writing them as a potential pair before settling as friends with benefits that might form into more, so this is a possible hinting at them becoming “more”

Mass Effect: John Shepard/Kaidan Alenko: -Prompt: War’s End Kiss, Shenko, Post ME3 when they’re just a couple of retired old soldiers and John’s slowly recovering from his injuries from the final push. -Fictober 2019, day 4: I know you didn’t ask for this, Shenko, Post ME3, a bit of a heart to heart between them and tending to slowly healing injuries. -Fictober 2020, day 3: You did this?, Shenko, Post ME3, Kaidan runs across some old footage of John over the years from before they met to the reaper war. -Fictober 2020, day 14: You better leave now, Shenko, during ME3, short mission against a hold out of mercs, featuring James. -Fictober 2020, day 24: Are you kidding me?, Shenko, during ME3 probably, featuring Kaidan “my headache doesn’t hurt that bad” Alenko and John “please just take a nap” Shepard. -Fictober 2020, day 29: Back up!, Shenko, during ME3, mission to clear out a cerberus warehouse including some battle flirting and James lending a gun.

Scott Ryder/Gil Brodie: -Fictober 2020, day 12: Watch me, Ryder/Gil, Post main MEA story, something short of Scott looking forward to getting out and exploring while Gil (and eventually Sara) work on the Nomad. (Sara is my pathfinder)

Dragon Age: Garrett Hawke/Fenris: -Dawning, Fenhawke, Short bit of fluff and my firt step into writing dragon age. Late or post DA2.

Lia Hawke/Fenris (a one off when I was debating on canon hawkes & romances for them): -Fictober 2020 day 5: Unacceptable, try again. Fenhawke, little bit of teasing and bad taste in books.

Rana Cousland/Alistair Theirin: -Promptless ramble, Rana/Alistair, Set during DAO with Rana reflecting on those she’s lost, worrying for her brother and realizing just how in love she’s fallen with Alistair. -Fictober 2020, day 23: Do we have to?, Rana/Alistair, set post DAO, pre-DAI, little romantic picnic between the king and queen of ferelden before she heads off on her next mission. (hints at Nathaniel being involved with the both of them.)

Greedfall: Lydia de Sardet/Kurt -Fictober 2020, day 11: I told you so, Lydia/Kurt, short bit trying to get my footing writing these two, Lydia thinks she can still climb trees like she used to as a kid. -Fictober 2020, day 17: Give me a minute or an hour, Lydia/Kurt, short bit, and Kurt not being as subtle about his feelings about Lydia as he probably thinks he has.

Anthem: Raya Auren/Matti (1 of the 3 Matthias Sumner) -Fictober 2019 day 1: It’ll be fun, trust me, Raya/Matti, Bit of an adventure involving Raya taking her favorite arcanist out of fort tarsis to see something very special. (also involving me having no clue how they transport people when there’s only one javelin and winging it)

Smut: (all of them are swtor so far) -A Moment Reprised, Kara/Arcann, takes place post-umbara and pre-nathema, and sometime late in BtBN, no plot. -Moving on, Koren/Trey, takes place right before chap 35 of BtBN, featuring my dorks of a hunter and sith setting in stone they’re serious about each other. no plot -Just a short vacation, Kara/Theron, takes place post-nathema pre-onslaught, A moment in Kara and Theron’s honeymoon at a lovely resort and the closest to taking a day off Theron will ever probably take. No plot -Welcome Home, Kara/Arcann/Theron, unlike the other 3 doesn’t have a specific time that it takes place other than post nathema. No plot

[krreader]

friend or foe | chapter 2.

pairing: kim taehyung x reader fandom: bts ; snsd ; g-idle ; shinee ; solo artists (sunmi + iu) ; g-idle ; red velvet ; twice ; nct  warnings: non idol!au ; supernatural!au ; cult!au ; language ; kidnapping genre: angst ; mystery ; smut previous: 1

summary: when you were younger, stories of vampires, demons and other monsters used to keep you up at night, until you grew up and realized none of them were real. that’s what you continued to believe until you found yourself mixed up with a cult that had these same exact monsters as members and you weren’t sure if you were going to be their next meal or if they had something else in mind for you..

a/n: I love this fic so much, like as much as I love writing my other stories, this one has just so much amazing supernatural and science shit going and I’m liviNG okay. I hope you like it!!!!!!

“Are you okay?! Did they hurt you?!” was the first thing you asked Yoona when they put you and her in another room, but your sister immediately cupped your face and smiled reassuringly.

“(Y/N), please.. calm down, alright?”

“Calm down? Did you just hear what they said? They're crazy!”

“They're not, sweetheart,” she sighed heavily and pulled you onto a couch that was standing in the middle of the room, grabbing both of your hands and looking directly into your eyes, “They're telling the truth. About everything.”

It was one thing to know that this girl inside there could do weird magic tricks, but believing you're a goddess from another galaxy was a bitter pill to swallow.

“They manipulated you, didn't they?”

“No, unfortunately they didn't. Trust me, if I could change your fate, I would do it in a heartbeat. You deserve a boring life where you go to university, fall in love, find your dream job, get children and then die peacefully. But that life isn't yours to live.”

“Listen, my memories might be a bit shit, but I don't remember being in another fucking galaxy, okay? I remember.. a mom and a dad and..-” you closed your eyes for a moment, the images flashing so quickly before your eyes that you had trouble comprehending them, “A.. normal.. life.”

“Stop,” she cupped your face once again and waited until you were looking at her again, “I wanted you to think you had a normal childhood with a family, but that was never the case. I kept giving you new memories, every year. When you were a child, I gave you memories of a family that was with us. When you became a teenager, I gave you memories of that same family being proud of who you became.. but there was never a family, (Y/N). Think about it.. did you ever hug them? Kiss your mother's cheek? Look into your father's eyes? No.. no, because I had to give you these fake memories, in order for the real ones not to come through yet.”

“Real ones? What real ones? That I'm actually a goddess? That my parents died tragically because of an invasion?”

“You were a baby.. no baby would remember this night. But you're a goddess, (Y/N), your comprehension is better than that of others. I knew that if I didn't give you fake memories, you'd eventually remember what really happened, even if it were just faint flashes or sounds. And then you'd start having questions that I couldn't answer yet..”

“So what.. you're not even my real sister? That was all a lie too?” you kept pushing the whole goddess thing away, kept telling yourself that it was fake and wanted to talk about other things in order to distract your mind from the real issue. 

However that question you just asked was an important one to you. Because this woman in front of you was the only real thing you could truly remember. The only person you ever hugged and whose warmth you felt. The only woman you ever cried with at night.. she was the only real thing that you were sure of.. or maybe she wasn’t.

“I..-” Yoona gulped down hard, “Your mother was my best friend. She knew that the only person she could trust with this task, who would be able to do it, to get you to safety, was me. But she didn't want you to grow up without any family at all. And because of my age, or at least the age that I appear to be, I figured posing as a sister was the easiest way..”

Posing as a sister.

So much for her being real.

“The easiest way,” you repeated, then started laughing humorlessly, “You tricked me. You made me think I had a family that loved me. You made me think I had people that cared about me!”

“I do care about you,” while you were getting angry, Yoona remained calm, “(Y/N), I told you that your mother was like a sister to me. She always said that when you'd grow up, you'd call me Auntie Yoona. That's what she wanted.. she wanted me to be a part of your life.. a part of this family.”

You were angry, confused and emotional. Your brain was pushing out one memory after the other and they were all glitchy, because now you knew they never happened.

Nothing was real.. your entire life was based on a lie..

“I don't have a family,” you said bitterly, getting up from the couch and walking out. But before you could, someone stood in your way.

Taemin.

“Can't let you go, sweetheart, boss won't allow you to leave.”

“Tell your boss he can suck my non-existing balls. I'm done with you assholes and this shit show! I just want to go home and figure this bullshit out.”

“I like her,” Sunmi said with a chuckle, “She has more balls than you do, Taemin.”

“Do you want me to show you..-”

“Enough!” Taehyung yelled, walking into the room looking just as good as he had before, still in that business outfit of his, “(Y/N).. please.. let's talk about this in private.”

“You guys are crazy! All of you!”

“Ouch,” Yuqi said, suddenly standing right beside you and scaring the shit out of you again, “Oops. Sorry,” and then she was gone, just as quickly as she had appeared.

Proving your point.

“Please.. have a cup of tea with me. Just you and me,” Taehyung offered you a smile and held out his hand, hoping his charm would work on you like it did at the party.

But a lot had changed since then, even if it was only a few hours ago.

“Fuck. You. Fuck you and your stupid, bullshit..-”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Yeri appeared beside you, a calming smile on her face. So calming that, somehow, the second your eyes landed on her, you were okay again. It was as if life would figure itself out, “Come on, honey. I'll show you outside, okay?”

Taehyung wanted to protest, but one look from Yeri was enough to tell him that he just had to trust her on this.

It seemed as if right now, she was the only one you were okay with.

An advantage she wanted to use.

“Please don't think too badly of our leader, he's.. just very passionate about our cause. He's been waiting a long time for this moment, you know?”

“Yeah, well.. sucks for him. I won't help him.”

Yeri kept her promise. She showed you outside, but not like you expected her to.

Because suddenly you were standing in a garden, a grand one at that. Flowers were growing everywhere, fireflies and the moon illuminating it in the most gorgeous light, a small pond being right in the middle of it.

It looked like straight out of a fairy tale movie.. not in a horror movie. Because that's what you thought you were in.

“To be honest, I wouldn't have told you who you are the way that Taehyung did. He thought a direct approach would be the best idea, but I told him that wouldn't work. You've grown up as a human, you think like a human, you behave like a human.. you see a vampire, a witch, a demon, a ghost, an angel and the devil in one room and you freak out, that's normal. But I would have shown you the good side of us first. The side that humans usually like when it comes to supernatural beings.”

“I don't know.. unless you have mermaids and unicorns here that poop butterflies..”

“Well,” Yeri thought for a second, then pulled you to the pond, that turned out to be a lake actually.. bigger than you thought it would be. Just another trick your mind was playing on you today, “They don't poop butterflies, but they do exist. Our unicorn ran away last week, though. Sunmi had a really bad day and tried to bite it, it's.. it's a long story. But we do have a mermaid.”

“Stop shitting me.”

“I'm not,” Yeri laughed, turning to the lake, “Jieun? Are you up?”

Nothing happened. A few moments, everything except for the chirping of the crickets was silent. You almost wanted to laugh, but then..-

“It's only 3 AM, of course I am,” Jieun, apparently, appeared on the surface of the lake, only her head sticking out, “And who is that? A new recruit?”

“She's the one the boss kept talking about. (Y/N).”

“Oh my god! I'm so sorry!” Jieun immediately swam towards you and only when she hopped onto the grass did you see the tail.

And then you screamed.

“No, no, no, don't scream! Wait, let me..-” it took a few seconds but then the tail turned into legs and then she stood in front of you like she was a normal human being. Like she didn't just have a fucking fish tail there a moment ago, “Here.. see? I'm normal now! I'm like you!”

“You're a fucking fish person!”

“Mermaid, actually, fish person is kind of offensive to my people. But you're (Y/N), so you can call me whatever you want to call me. After all, you're the hope of our people.”

“Fish..- Fish people? I'm the hope for fish people? What, do you want me to kill all the sharks?”

“Nah, they don't bother us, I'm actually friends with one of them.”

This was a little too normal of a conversation you were having right now. She was a fucking mermaid after all. But then again, tonight you had met all sorts of other creatures before, and quite honestly, mermaid was your favorite so far, because from the looks of it, she seemed to be the least threatening one next to Yeri.

“Supernatural being doesn't necessarily mean something bad, (Y/N),” Yeri started, a soft smile on her face, “We have nice creatures too. We have fairies, nymphs, elves, spirits, hybrids.. we have people that live normal lives and that only come here on weekends to play cards with the elderly. We have people that have normal partners, despite their supernatural abilities. We're not all bad. We just want to stop hiding..”

“Well, let me tell you, if you do that in public,” you pointed at Jieun, “People will make Sushi out of you.”

“Sushi,” Jieun shuddered, “Disgusting.”

“Aliens, Androids, Supernatural beings.. what does it matter? The human race will never be the only race.. and someone has to make a start and come out of hiding and say: Hey humans, you're not alone here, so stop pretending as if you are.”

“Not sure they'll be too happy about that.”

“But see, that's why we need you and Taehyung. That's why we need good leaders. Taehyung has so much power, (Y/N), but he's.. well. To put it nicely, he doesn't have the necessary qualities to interact with the humans and make a deal. But you? You've lived with them for all these years, you know how to talk to them. If anyone can convince them that we're not a threat, then it's you. With your help and your powers, we can form an alliance that is so strong that nobody can break it.”

You listened carefully, but then remembered what Tzuyu had said earlier.

“The witch.. she said that I could either be a rightful and just leader or a destructive one.”

“I'm an angel, (Y/N). And while I can be.. angry sometimes, I do like to see only the good in people,” she grabbed your hands, “It is true, ultimately it will be up to you and Taehyung on how to approach the situation, but I don't think you want to conquer humanity.. do you?”

“No.. no of course not!” you replied, but then quickly added, “Not that I will do any of that. Because I'm just a normal girl.”

“Of course you are,” Yeri smiled, “I understand that it will take time for you to accept your role in all of this. Nobody had expected you to jump onto the band wagon and scream Yeehaw. But for now, I just want you to see that you don't need to be afraid of us. That when you're here, you're not in danger. Because believe me when I say, these people here, these beings.. they look up to you. They want to protect you, because they know who you are. Nobody here would harm you, they would rather give their life for you than hurt you in any way or form.”

“Not sure that's any less creepy, but thanks.”

You ended up walking through the entire garden with Yeri, meeting several other people on your way. Old people, young people, even children. They were kind, they smiled, they were happy. More happy than you had ever seen any human.

There was no hatred here, there was no judgment here only pure bliss, happiness and kindness.

Usually, when you were walking down the street to your apartment, you had at least three guys looking at you weirdly or catcalling you, women eyeing you like you were disgusting and children being disrespectful brats and running straight into you without apologizing.

But these people here were peaceful. They were at ease..

..and that was a nice change for once.

While you and Yeri strolled around and got to know the people here to take away your fear, Taehyung watched you from the rooftop with a smile.

Until someone else joined him.

“You don't even know if she's the right one, the prophecy said a goddess from another galaxy.. so why try to convince her of it when you have so many more goddesses from other galaxies to choose from that would be more than excited to become your queen?” Taeyong joined him, an angry look on his face, “You're wasting our time here.”

“Shouldn't you be.. I don't know.. down with the dead where you belong?”

“Very funny,” Taeyong pretended to laugh, but then became serious again, “The Comet Galaxy, the Black Eye Galaxy, the Sunflower galaxy, just to name a few.. they all have goddesses like her. Goddesses that grew up ruling. That know what to do. Her? She's an amateur and she's going to ruin everything we’ve built for our people.”

“You don't know shit, Taeyong.”

“But you do? See, this is exactly what I told people would happen if they appointed you as the ruler and not someone like me or..-”

“I know, I know,” Taehyung interrupted, “I know there were many candidates for the position, but the people chose me. So get over it, alright? I want her and that's my decision.”

“Whatever,” Taeyong turned around on his heel and started walking away, “I just came here to warn you, brother. Out of all of us, I'm the one that wants to see you gone the least. The others, however? Now they will do anything they can to overthrow you and take your place. And.. your queen.”

“They can try,” Taehyung muttered while the god of the underworld disappeared through a portal, “But she'll be ready when they come. I'll make sure she knows how to protect herself.”

He had faith in you.

That's why he chose you and none of the other goddesses.

Because he believed that you were the only one who could do this.

[tbehartoo]

200 Follower Thank you

Once upon a time, I said hey I’m about to have 200 followers. That’s 199 more followers than I ever expected to have. Maybe I should show these people some appreciation for following my hodgepodge of a blog? I asked what would be considered a good Thank you and received a whopping one (1) reply to the possibilities I mentioned. This is a result of that poll. Please note: I will NEVER volunteer to do this again!

200 Head Canons from the various fandoms I’ve written fan fic for (Fairy Tail, Miraculous Ladybug, and Voltron: Legendary Defenders). Please note these are made up things from my very tired brain and not necessarily thought through or even complete ideas, though I did try to make them internally consistent there are no guarantees. They might contradict each other and most certainly will contradict canon. Please take everything with a grain of salt, and enjoy!

Erza Scarlet (Fairy Tail)

1-Erza only likes red fruits- strawberries, cherries, raspberries dragon fruit, apples, etc.. But they have to be red in color not other versions of the same kind of fruit. No black cherries, green apples, or the like- she can taste the difference even blindfolded.

2- Erza likes to go stargazing on summer nights, but can’t sit still for watching clouds.

3- Between missions she will occasionally try to write poetry. It does not go well

4- She has never told anyone about the poetry!

5- There is a small part of the space she uses for her requip items that contains the locked box with her writing journals. 

6- Erza and Mira like to go shopping together. The stores tremble in fear when the two are on a campaign to find the perfect outfit. One boutique has had to hire a couple of mercenaries at the door to give the staff sufficient time to brace for impact, whenever they have a sale and the girls are in town.

7- There is a cat colony near Fairy Hills and every single cat knows Erza. They are all feral cats, but they trust Erza to provide calming attention.

8- Two things Erza does in any new place is find the baths and find the gyms. 

9- She likes to go to different gyms to observe new fighting techniques, but she doesn’t like to be recognized so she always goes in disguise.

10- Every time she asks to be taught a new technique, there is one guy (you know that one guy) that feels he needs to mansplain things to her.

11- This man is always handed his ego on a silver platter with a side serving of crow. Sometimes quite painfully.

12- Erza was once invited to an underground gym by a woman she met at the baths. She was so surprised to find it was a group dedicated to learning to fight like the Great Titania. Most of the women had histories of being abused, but had been inspired by the leader of the Fairies to stand up for themselves and get safe. They then worked to make sure that others are safe on the streets of their city and in their homes. Erza actually broke down at learning of their strength and resilience. 

13- The only time she purposefully took off her disguise was for these women to thank them. She then spent the rest of the night helping them train.

14- Erza is demisexual which is why she fell so hard for Jellal as she had a strong connection to him. 

15- She continues to have fond feelings for Jellal, but is no longer romantically or sexually interested in him.

16- Erza doesn’t bother to tell others in her guild about her changed feelings for Jellal which means the girls are always trying to get them alone together whenever he’s in town.

17- Meredy once sneaked a sensory link between Erza and Jellal and herself to figure out what was going on with them. She never told anyone what she found out, but she worked at toning down the FT girls’ attempts at matchmaking. 

18- Erza works really hard to keep her strength in check. She has trained with Guildarts to get her control as finely tuned as it is.

19- Erza has yet to find a mode of transportation that is fast enough for her. It’s a pity that Magnolia doesn’t have jet propulsion or rockets.

20- Her favorite hot drink is cinnamon tea with a little sweetened condensed milk in it.

Lucy Heartfilia (Fairy Tail)

1- Lucy prefers the feel of cotton over silk, but she prefers the look of silk over cotton.

2- She has to invest in cotton, linen and woolen clothing as a member of Team Natsu since they don’t burn as easily as other materials.

3- Lucy has asked Levy to look for a fire retardant/ fire proofing spell to be able to use for both her clothing and her apartment.

4- Lucy was taught to crochet when she was a young girl. Though she doesn’t make the fine lace she was expected to produce as a child, she does use those skills to make tiny amigurumi mice for Happy.

5- Lucy also crochets scarves and hats every autumn for her friends. Often she makes a couple extra ones to donate to the local women’s shelter.

6- Aires likes to bring Lucy wool like thread/yarn from the spirit world for her to use in her projects.

7- Lucy likes to go fishing with Natsu and Happy.

8- She does not like catching fish with Natsu and Happy.

She like casting her rod and reeling it in, but she does NOT like baiting her hook or killing the fish. Natsu and Happy have no problems taking care of those things for her.

9- Lucy prefers moving rivers and creeks over still ponds and lakes.

10- She loves going to the beach to watch the waves break along the shore.

11- Lucy was taught how to steer a boat, well it was a yacht but why quibble over details?

12- She once claimed she was going to sail around the globe, but her father told her not to talk nonsense and then sold their boat to keep her from ever trying.

13- Lucy made friends with the birds in the garden and can whistle their calls almost as well as the birds themselves.

14- Lucy has always told herself stories. Even when she’s on a job with Team Natsu she’s often composing short stories as her day goes along.

15- Lucy hates the taste of truffle and will instantly distrust anyone who claims to like it.

16- She prefers to have short hair, but keeps hers long to be able to use the comb and brush set her mother used to use.

17- Lucy has two special silver hair pins that her mother gave her when she twelve. They belonged to her grandmother and her great-great-aunt. They get passed down to the next generation on the twelfth year after they have sparked. They always end up with a celestial mage.

18- Lucy’s understanding of celestial contracts is both modern and archaic. She is well aware of what is expected from a modern magic user, but she has been well taught in the lore of celestial beings. 

19- Most celestial spirits are pretty plain speaking with what they will, can, or won’t do. Some however, the eldest spirits, are very tricky and will find whatever loopholes through imprecise language they can to do what they can to be maliciously compliant. This is why, even though the elder spirits are more powerful than most of their siblings, they are rarely contracted with.

20- Lucy eventually has five contracts with elder Celestial Spirits. None of them have been able to twist out of their responsibilities to her.

Natsu Dragneel (Fairy Tail)

1- Natsu only flies off the handle so easily so that he has “legitimate” reasons for using his fire.

2- He has to eat a lot to have enough fuel for his fire.

3- He really just likes to eat and uses his fire so often so that he has room to eat more.

4- Natsu often lies awake at night trying to come up with good insults for Gray, Gajeel, and even Loki, though he rarely remembers them thus having to fall back on old and well used insults.

5- When Natsu does remember a new insult, he will rate the reaction on a scale of one to five and if it doesn’t get a four or a five he will drop using it.

6- One time he said something about Levy to Gajeel that was rated a ten and after he healed up, he never used that particular insult again.

7- Because of the sheer amount of energy that routinely flows through Natsu, he has a faster healing rate than most people, including dragon slayers, except Wendy. Wendy’s magic makes her quick to heal so that she can heal others.

8- Natsu has several potted succulents that he and Happy take care of whenever they are in town. 

9- Natsu talks to his plants and has named each one.

10- One time a new neighbor overwatered his plants while Natsu was ot of town, killing all of the plants.

11- The new neighbor was mortified and offered to buy replacements, but Natsu was offended. You don’t buy FAMILY MEMBERS they are FOUND!

12- Natsu and Happy took nothing but desert and costal assignments for a year to find new plants for their place. They even took a few over to the neighbor to teach them how to care for the very laid back plants.

13- Natsu isn’t dumb, he’s just simple. No need to be all stealthy when you can just flame broil a problem. Right?

14- Natsu likes to come in Lucy’s apartment through the window because she’s always good for a laugh when he does it.

15- Happy, and Natsu, likes to stay the night at Lucy’s place because she will read them a bedtime story.

16- Natsu’s favorite stories are about the constellations and the heroes that got put into the stars.

17- Happy’s favorite stories are about animals acting like humans, and who like to eat a lot. (Basically he likes Redwall stories, just those from Earthland)

18- Natsu hates the Pied Piper story because the kids didn’t help their lame friend go with them and Happy hates it because he scared all the rats away. Somehow the book with that story in it mysteriously burned to a crisp.

19- Natsu doesn’t have a favorite color. It changes every time someone asks.

20- When Natsu is really stressed Happy will curl up in his lap and start purring. When Happy is stressed, Natsu will raise his body temperature slightly and then hold Happy close until Happy feels like he can purr again.

Gray Fullbuster (Fairy Tail)

1- Gray doesn’t like the feel of most of his clothes touching his skin.

2- He only likes the feeling of heavy clothes touching him. Lightweight clothes bug him.

3- Gray prefers to take jobs that take him up in the mountains because it’s cooler there, and there tend to be less people he has to deal with.

4- Gray’s favorite place to vacation is the beach in the summer, but otherwise he prefers foothills in the spring for all their blooms, mountain slopes in the winter for the ice and snow, and mountain valleys in the autumn for the color change of the leaves.

5- While ice and snow don’t bother Gray, and even charge up his magic, he still prefers to come in and sit in front of a toasty fire with a warm beverage after being out in the snow.

6- One reason Gray doesn’t object to Natsu being around and being annoying is because he always has that portable space heater thing going after being cold when Natsu is around.

7- Gray experiments with poetry when he travels on his own. He never writes any of it down.

8- Gray is obscenely good with numbers and logic puzzles.

9- He’s been banned from many gambling establishments for exposing their crooked practices, even the ones that usually go unnoticed.

10- Gray kind of assumes that other people also see what he sees and doesn’t understand why he’s expected to spell everything out for the rest of Team Natsu.

11- Gray is slow to warm up to people. He’s been let down before, so once he considers you a his friend, he’s your friend for life.

12- People that really know Gray were surprised at how quickly he befriended Lucy. With most people Gray takes at least a year to even start acknowledging their existence.

13- Gray thinks Lucy is like a little sister that needs careful watching up until Tenrou.

14- After Tenrou, Gray thinks of Lucy as an equal that can and will kick his butt if he needs it.

15- Gray is not afraid of Erza, unless Natsu is involved.

16- Gray was once emotionally and verbally abused by a girlfriend, it’s what makes Juvia’s first behavior and love declarations so uncomfortable for him.

17- Gray will never admit that he’s jealous of Natsu and Gajeel’s exceed companions. But he does want to have his own flying cat occasionally.

18- Gray’s least favorite food is egg nog ice cream. He just doesn’t care for the flavor and you couldn’t get him to drink hot egg nog for love or money.

19- Gray’s preferred hot drink is Lapsang souchong tea. He likes the pine flavor in his tea cup.

20- One time Lucy, Erza, and Wendy invited Gray to accompany them to a fancy Hotel for afternoon tea. It was the only time he willingly wore a three piece suit!

Marinette Dupain-Cheng (Miraculous Ladybug)

1- Marinette likes to make lots of different kinds of pastries.

2- She only likes to actually eat a few types of pastry.

3- There are baked goods that she makes, but never eats because the textures give her the heebie jeebies. She knows other people love them so she’ll still make them.

4- Sabine, Marinette’s mom, was a martial artist of Chāquán. It is “a Chinese martial art that features graceful movements and some acrobatic aerial maneuvers. Chāquán also includes a large range of weapons.” Sabine was especially proficient in the use of the hookswords and the spear, which she has taught Marinette.

5- Sabine still goes over her forms every morning and young Marinette practices with her.

6- Marinette was fairly good at the acrobatic maneuvers until she hit puberty. Her mother often reassures Marinette that after she finishes her growth spurts she’ll be back to doing those moves again without messing up every third one.

7- Even though her father is an only child Marinette has dozens of “uncles” from around the world. Tom played on a rugby team in college and even was in the minor league for awhile. All of his team mates were made honorary uncles when Marinette was born. They get dozens of Christmas cards, letters, and emails to keep in touch.  

8- Marinette and Tom once did a tour of Europe only staying with his old teammates. They never had to find a hotel during the two weeks they traveled. They’ve had a fair few of them stay at their place in Paris, too.

9- Marinette often makes presents for her uncles, aunties, and cousins throughout the year, and receives small presents from them as well.

10- She was saving up for a trip to Australia and New Zealand for her sixteenth birthday, so that her family could visit with a couple of uncles in that part of the world, but suddenly Hawkmoth came up and now she’s not sure they will ever take that trip. 

11- She mentioned Chat Noir and Ladybug in an email to one of her ‘cousins’ in New Zealand who hadn’t heard of them, so she linked them to Alya’s Ladyblog telling her that this was really going on in Paris.

12- Two weeks later she got a video from them asking Mari to pass it along to Ladybug and Chat Noir. It showed their family and all their neighbors doing a haka for Paris and the heroes. They said it was to encourage the heroes to be strong and have courage in the face of Hawkmoth.

13- Mari cried when she saw the video as she knew what a big deal it was for them to do this for her. She asked for a translation of the words and was surprised to find it was actually written by her cousin’s grandfather, who was considered a great warrior chief, specifically for LB and CN.

14- Mari asked if only someone from her cousin’s tribe could perform that haka or if it would be considered appropriation for her and her friends to do it, too. She received another video that was an interview with the man who wrote it. He explained the tradition, the words, and showed exactly how each part should be performed. Then he gave all of Paris his blessing to do his haka for the heroes.

15- Marinette brought Alya over right away and showed her the videos. Alya promised to put both videos up right away. The traffic shut down the blog host’s servers!

16- Marinette invited this cousin’s family to visit during the summer to thank them for all that they did. During their visit an akuma attack happened. This family was delighted to suddenly have Ladybug calling the city to order and joining in as all across the capital young and old were preparing to dance strength and courage into being.

17- Marinette has noticed that her strength to stand up to Hawkmoth and perform her duties as Ladybug has increased dramatically ever since she, and the rest of Paris, has started doing the special haka.

18- Marinette likes to put youtube on autoplay and start on a random video when she’s trying to come up with a design and feels blocked. She stops it on the third and seventh video and then tries to come up with a design based on the video’s title.

19- Marinette has just started trying out needle felting and loves to make little felt mice for the animal shelter Chat Noir has endorsed.

20- Marinette has become the vice-president of the Chat Noir fan club at Francois- Dupont. Nino is the president.

Plagg and Tikki (Miraculous Ladybug)

1- Plagg watches  a video of camembert making on loop whenever he can get Adrien’s phone. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atOpLj-q5nA) [People in the comments are seriously convinced that Plagg would like this video!] 

2- Tikki likes to watch crafting videos and always makes sure to leave an encouraging comment on each one she watches.

3- Tikki prefers sweet things to eat, but she can recharge on almost any food. 

4- Plagg actually needs those fermented, slightly spoiled foods to recharge completely otherwise he’s acting on about half power.

5- Plagg wanted to explore Adrien’s house more, but Gabriel’s interest in Adrien’s ring has made him stick close to his boy.

6- Plagg spent the first month of being awake getting familiar with current events using Adrien’s phone. The invention of the computer has made him ridiculously happy.

7- Plagg may or may not have had something to do with a computer virus that infected the mansion’s protection protocol after Gabriel was akumatized. Now Adrien can get out of his room an time lockdown is initiated and doesn’t have to feel trapped in his room.

8- Tikki doesn’t sleep as much as Marinette does. She gets about an hour a night.

9- Tikki emits strong “sleep rays” when she sleeps to help her holders get to sleep. Her creative types can be overthinkers that need help dropping off. 

10- Tikki doesn’t need to sleep. Whenever creation is happening she is energized and really doesn’t need to rest. She’s the originator of “pulling an all nighter”

11- Tikki tends to get a surge of power at the equinoxes while Plagg receives more power at the solstices.

12- Tikki loved coming across this video of The HU and plays it as often as she can. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM8dCGIm6yc

13- Plagg found out about punk rock and now plays it as Adrien sleeps hoping that the messages of the music makes through that thick layer of “presentability” Gabriel has forced on Adrien. 

14- Tikki sometimes leaves Marinette’s purse to flit over and peek at Nathaniel’s progress on his drawings if the lesson is boring.

15- Plagg’s hearing is very sharp and his ears let him tune into conversations without moving much. He is careful to check into the class gossip, but also listens in to what’s happening in Mr. Damocles’ office and the teacher lounge.

16- Plagg listened in on Tom and Gorilla’s talking about Marinette and Adrien and snickers whenever he remembers Gorilla saying, “My money’s still on Marinette confessing first. Mine’s to dense to realize how far gone he already is. He might believe she likes him on their golden wedding anniversary.”

17- Even though Plagg can phase through matter he still has a healthy respect for Gorilla’s brute strength and doesn’t want to test if he’d be quick enough to dodge the big man in the even of an emergency.

18- Tikki spends many nights creating pictures of fractals using Marinette’s digital drawing tools.

19- Tikki may or may not be the cause of Marinette having more advanced capabilities digitally than any major studio on earth.

20- Tikki despises the nickname Sugarcube, but it is the best out of Plagg many, many tries so she puts up with it. Stinky Sock is the mildest nick name Tikki has ever called Plagg. 

20.B- Most of her other names for him would be considered unprintable, but they’re in dead languages so it’s probably safe for her to use them. 

20.C- Plagg tries not to mess up so badly that she uses the Babylonian curse on him.

20.D- Plagg can tell how angry Tikki is by what language she slips into. The older the language is, the more angry Tikki is.

Nino Lahiffe (Miraculous Ladybug)

1- Nino used to play percussion on everything he ever came in contact with until his uncle brought over a small hand drum for him to play. His parents called it ‘tapping’ when he was little.

2- The rule around the house was that he could only tap on the drum and not other parts of the house, when he was inside. Everything outside of the house was fair game.

3- Nino’s uncle came over every day to teach him the basics of playing his doumbek.

4- After a year of lessons, his uncle would take him to his weekly drum group where the more experienced drummers would teach little Nino drum tricks like rolls and pops.

5- By the time Nino was eight, he was a regular member of the drumming group and often went with them to play at weddings, parties, or other events. He was the cutest kid! When he was all decked out in traditional Moroccan garb playing smoking hot solos, he was often the source of viral videos.

6- In school he tried to join the band, but he was far too advanced for the beginning players and they didn’t have an advanced group for him to join.

7- The band teacher wanted to help him continue with his music so he showed Nino how to record and remix his own drumming.

8- The summer after that, he spent every day busking with a different member of the drum group to be able to afford his own recording equipment and programs.

9- The summer music money plus his share of the money for playing events with the drum group allowed him to be able to turn his room into basically a recording studio.

10- He soon became the group’s recorder which led to him also video taping performances.

11- The year before Stoneheart happens, the art teacher was able to teach Nino some basic film editing.

12- Nino’s tapping was one way for him to relieve his anxiety, the other way he tries to release it is through blowing bubbles as a kind of meditation.

13- It was hard for him to use his bubbles again after the Bubbler incident.

14- When Alya and Nino got locked in the cage at the zoo, it took all of ten seconds for Alya to figure out he didn’t actually have a crush on her. It took fifteen seconds for her to figure out it was Marinette he’d liked. He was really embarrassed about it.

15- However, after talking a lot about things they liked and disliked they found they really had a lot in common. Alya told Nino about Marinette’s crush on Adrien and Nino was upset for a moment, but then Alya made him laugh and he was suddenly thinking, “Marinette who?”

16- By the time they were out of the cage Nino was firmly in Alya’s corner for matchmaking Marinette with his friend Adrien.

17- Nino’s anxiety can get high during an akuma attack, unless he has someone to watch out for or protect, then he’s calm and collected. Which makes running after Alya toward the big scary monster the better choice for him during those moments. 

18- Nino was a natural at wielding the Turtle Miraculous as it played to his need to protect.

19- After being Carapace, battles in which he wasn’t called to be a protector of Paris were excruciating to watch even as he kept Alya from coming to harm. He craved using the Miraculous as it allowed him to care for more people at once.

20- Nino introduced Wayzz to both smooth jazz and rap music just to see what the kwami would do. He loved everything Nino threw at him! Wayzz requested a copy of Nino’s latest mixes and a song by Sade before he had to go back to the Guardian. Nino found an old iPod to give to the little godling who claimed it would be his most precious treasure. Nino couldn’t talk for a full five minutes as he was too embarrassed and proud to speak.

M. Gorilla (Miraculous Ladybug)

1- Gorilla and Tom played Rugby on the same team in college.

2- He often stops by the bakery after dropping Adrien off at school if he isn’t needed by M. Agreste immediately.

3- He’s convinced that Adrien is in love with Marinette, as are Tom and Sabine. It’s a topic of great interest and much discussion when he comes in, if there aren’t other customers around. Sabine and Gorilla have a bet on who will confess their feelings first. (Sabine’s money is on Adrien.)

4- Tom and Gorilla met their future spouses as they acted as bouncers at a local club on weekends all thorough their Junior and Senior years at university.

5- Sabine and Gorilla’s significant other, Jerome, were in a group of friends that frequented the night club regularly. Sabine dared her friend to get the cute bouncer’s phone number by the end of the night. After a few shots of liquid courage, he’d brazenly asked Tom for a date and his number, but Tom gently, and privately, told the young man he was straight. He then motioned for Gorilla to come over and introduced the two. The young man returned to the bar with two phone numbers: Gorilla’s for him and Tom’s for Sabine. 

6- Tom made the cake for Gorilla’s commitment ceremony, before same-sex marriage was legal in France. When Marinette was ten, he also made the wedding cake for Gorilla when he and Jerome were legally able to be married.

7- Jerome had a child from a previous relationship that he and Gorilla took care of for the first five years of the girl’s life. She was taken away when the girl’s mother claimed that Jerome wasn’t the father of the child. DNA tests proved he wasn’t. The mother tried to sue another man for child support, then took the girl and moved to another country.

8- Gorilla and Jerome were distraught to have their little girl taken from them. They tried to adopt another child, but they were denied and not even allowed to foster any children.  

9- Gorilla started working for the Agreste family shortly after he lost his daughter.

10- Emilie saw how angry he was over anyone that wasn’t an Agreste coming near Adrien and eventually got the story out of him over why he’d be so protective to keep people from potentially taking her son away. It was something she was very appreciative over. Gorilla considered her a friend after she went out of her way to find out about his heartbreak.

11- Gorilla is legally Adrien’s godfather. When Emilie heard what that woman had done to Gorilla she took Gorilla and Adrien to her lawyer and made Gorilla legally responsible for Adrien and any future children she may have regardless of his continuing employment by the Agreste family. Gabriel signed the papers without complaint, but didn’t actually read them carefully, or register exactly what he was signing..  

12- Gorilla worked for the DGSI, the French CIA, as an informant while playing rugby. It allowed him to travel for legitimate reasons and keep tabs on one of the players for the DGSI.

13- After university, Gorilla was recruited to become an agent. He was injured on an assignment and decided to retire to be an up and coming rocker’s body guard.

14- He and Jerome get invited backstage any time Jagged is in town to be able to catch up.

15- Gorilla really enjoyed doing his job as a bodyguard, but wanted to be home more with Jerome, especially after their little Marie was taken from them.

16- The DGSI came to Gorilla to ask if he’d be interested in working for them again as they look into the workings of one Gabriel Agreste and the Gabriel empire.

17- Gorilla was actually key in getting Nathalie in the door at Gabriel. She is also an informant gathering evidence on Gabriel Agreste.

18- Gorilla was speechless when their higher ups requested that he and Nathalie continue to aide Gabriel once he became a magical terrorist, they were interested in seeing the power of the moth Miraculous and what it could do. Nathalie complied willingly, but Gorilla refused to do anything that would put Adrien in trouble.

19- Gorilla despaired of Adrien ever figuring out how to give him the slip, and he was so proud when Adrien succeeded at eluding his tailing him through the Metro. Then he panicked because he just lost his child!

20- Gorilla is fully aware that Adrien is Chat Noir. He was the one to change the angle of the security cameras, and conveniently show Adrien their blind spot right outside his window. (Seriously, that boy needs all the help he can get.)

Pidge Gunderson/Katie Holt (Voltron: Legendary Defender)

1- Katie was introduced to Pokemon when she was very young.

2-For awhile all she managed to find were Pidgeys in her game. And she collected every one she could.

3- Matt laughed at her for this and nicknamed her “Pidge”.

4- Katie didn’t like his teasing and vowed to make her pidgeys the strongest she could to beat Matt’s team.

5- She eventually fulfilled that vow.

6- Later Pidge went on to collect and evolve almost every pokemon in the pokedex.

7- Matt never recovered from being beaten by a flock of pidgeot, and has refused to pick up the game ever since that time. Pidge considered that her greatest accomplishment until she infiltrated the Garrison.

8- Katie has loved robots ever since she watched the Iron Giant movie with her dad.

9- Katie first started building robots when she got a MeccaSpider Robot Kit for her sixth birthday. 

10- She was dissatisfied with how klunky the spider turned out to be and proceeded to borrow a few parts from something of Matt’s to make it work better. It’s ability to move as quickly and silently as a spider was not appreciated by all the inhabitants of her home. 

11- Katie has never grown out of her ability to see other uses for mechanical parts past their intended use, or for cannibalizing parts from anywhere she can get them.

12- While Katie likes to build robots, what she really adores is programming them. She hopes someday to make a small robot that can serve to help the physically disabled with everyday tasks.

13- Seeing her mother’s father struggle after he fell and broke his hip was what has spurred Katie on in her endeavor to build helper robots.

14- For all the squabbling and tattling that she and Matt engaged in, they were very good friends. When he left for the Garrison, and had to stay there, Katie cried every night for a month.

15- Katie hates to be in the middle of drama, but she loves to watch it unfold. She has been guilty of bringing snacks to watch Lance confront someone about a perceived slight.

16- Katie is a multishipper of fictional characters. When Hunk asked if she shipped Lance with any of the other cadets at the Garrison, she read him the riot act for shipping “real people”.

17- Pidge faked a crush for a whole week while in the Garrison when Lance wouldn’t stop pestering her about it. Then the female cadet showed up with a girlfriend and Lance tried to console Pidge about not having a shot since her “crush” was into girls. Pidge didn’t know how to feel about the entire situation and started telling Lance to “Zip it!” whenever he started up about Pidge needing a girlfriend.

18- Pidge finds the idea of “love at first sight” baffling and illogical, unless it’s a sweet piece of tech. Then she totally gets it. Her idea of a “sweet piece of tech” is not the same as Lance’s, but Hunk gets her.

19- Pidge is curious about everything! She likes to tinker with things to find out how they work as well as read about discoveries others have made.

20- Pidge finds sociology fascinating. People and cultures can be hard to understand, robots are nicer that way, but once she gets to meet so many other sentient beings, see their environments, and how they adapt to them- she thinks they are almost as awesome as the robots.

Hunk (Voltron: Legendary Defender)

1- Hunk’s grandmother (his father’s mother) was a chef at an upscale hotel. She’s the one that gave him his first lessons in cooking, knife skills, and developing one’s palate.

2- Hunk’s grandfather (his father’s father) was a fisherman who demonstrated traditional fishing techniques at their island’s living history museum three times a week once he’d retired. There was always plenty of fish to go around on those days.

3- Hunk’s other grandfather (his mother’s father) was an electrical engineer and worked for the county as lead engineer. He often had little models of circuits and old mother boards that he let Hunk tinker with and program.

4- His other grandmother (his mother’s mother) was the designated worrier of the family. She also had a lush garden that she tended daily. It was full of strange plants that often bore unusual fruits for the family to eat. 

5- Hunk learned to combine the strange fruits with the kitchen skills he had to make things his younger siblings would eat. Not every experiment turned out well, but he always tried to analyze what went wrong and strategize a better plan to execute his vision for the star ingredient.  

6- Hunk and his cousins often had “Bake offs” when they went to TiTi’s house for sleep overs. Hunk usually lost as baking was not his forte.

7- When he and his cousins did their own version of “Chopped” then Hunk usually won hands down. Especially when given a strange basket of ingredients to work with.

8- Hunk is highly anxious but working in the kitchen helps to calm him down. The rules for cooking are simple and there are few surprises he’s not prepared to deal with.

9- Hunk uses his cell phone to ease his anxiety about things in the kitchen. He always takes a photo with a time stamp when he leaves the kitchen. Also he has remote access to all appliances with alerts to let him know when everything is being used.

10- Hunk has installed cameras and view screens on every major appliance in his family’s homes so that if he starts to worry about them, he can check his phone to see what their status is.

11- The first time Hunk left something on in the Castle he realized he’d need to come up with the same kind of thing so he wouldn’t worry while on a mission.

12- The Castle had no clue what Hunk was doing, but eventually allowed Hunk and Pidge to install primitive sensors in the kitchen appliances (and the garbage disposal for some reason) but absolutely refused to allow remote activation of anything. Hunk had to be content with that.

13- Hunk has difficulty standing up for himself, but his anxiety has “Protective Mom” override mode. He will absolutely end someone messing with his friend or family member.

14- Hunk’s favorite color isn’t yellow, it’s orange. However he was drawn to the Yellow Lion because they both want to protect their friends and family.

15- The first night Hunk spent in the Castle of Lions he made sure to lock the door then proceeded to do a traditional siva tau in memory of his family whom he never expected to see again.

16- Hunk has composed a special siva tau that includes some of the people and places he’s been. It offers each of them encouragement to be strong, to trust in the goodness of others, and realize that they are not alone in the universe.

17- Hunk has performed his siva tau on only three occasions. Each time it was at the request of Allura for other groups that had lost their home planets. After each performance Hunk would have several people ask if he would teach them the dance.

18- After the defeat of the Galra, Hunk composed a second siva tau to celebrate the victory and also to mourn those who were lost to the conflict.

19- On the anniversary of this moment Hunk, his family, and any Paladin that is near will gather to celebrate. The evening always closes with the bon fire being stoked up and a performance of that second siva tau. 

20- At Hunk’s death there was a large crowd full of many species that honored his family and expressed their grief at his passing by performing Hunk’s first siva tau. It was said that the earth trembled as each foot/appendage touched down and the skies carried the sound of their voices all around the globe.  

[gaymirajane]

My Top Favorite Works of 2020, So Far

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 5 favourite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world. Tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

I was tagged by the lovely @mdelpin and @aki-natsuko, so thank you for thinking of me!

1. The Fox in the Firestone (Erza x Mirajane - Fairy Tail): I know that putting a fic with only one chapter as number one might seem strange, but I have so much love for this story already it’s unreal. I think this will shape up to be my greatest work yet and I can’t wait to share it with you all. 

2. Come into Bloom (Anna x Irene - Fairy Tail): This was actually a commission, but as soon as we’d settled on an idea it more or less wrote itself. I loved how the story flowed and how the dialogue was framed. I think this is easily one of my most believable works, and that’s ultimately what I strive for. 

3. Heaven is Where You Are (Erza x Jellal NSFK - Fairy Tail): This one took me by surprise as it’s not a ship I think about a lot, but I learned so much from writing it and I’m really happy with how it turned out. It even inspired some wonderful art, which as a writer is an incredible compliment!

4. “It’s just... you look good.” (Yuki x Kyo - Fruits Basket): I had like four different furuba fics vying for this list but I eventually settled on this one because I love writing Yuki and I think his relationship with Kyo is so interesting. I want to explore it more.

5. “Please, call me Shinjiro.” (Kurama x Ami - Kamisama Kiss): I think that they’re a very underrated couple and I definitely wanted to see more of them, and I guess those feelings got trapped in this haha... I guess I just think it’s neat? Idk.

Honorable mentions:

Homemade (Tohru x Kyo - Fruits Basket)

Riptide (Shigure x Akito - Fruits Basket)

Abstinence (Erza x Mirajane, lots of other ships - Fairy Tail)

This was fun to think about! I’m gonna tag... @zaltylaw @yumehii @pan-princess-levy and anyone else who wants to do it :)

[natsubeatsrock]

So, I read My Immortal, and...

Morbid curiosity is a dangerous thing. The Ancient Greeks told the myth of Pandora opening a box unleashing all the evil upon the world. In its most well-known versions, she was told specifically not to open the box, but decided to so she could see what was in it. The version I was originally told involves her being coaxed into opening the box by the evils within the box.

It's one thing to hear that My Immortal is one of the worst fanfiction ever written. It's been the butt of a lot of jokes. It's another thing to read it for yourself and realize how bad it is.

Let's get two things out of the way. I don't care about comparing this to the Harry Potter canon series. That would require me to have actually read the books. It's kind of difficult to do that given the current situation. I'm also not going to touch the theories of this as intentionally bad. That theory has been going around for a while and it's fifty-fifty in my book. Neither necessarily affect what I have to say about this story.  

I read this story just as I was starting to get into fandom stuff, especially with Fairy Tail. The Fairy Tail fan stories I read were Nalu fics, and a couple stories were in the vein of the stories I talked about in Bye, Bye Lucy. After that, I figured it would be fun to read My Immortal. (It wasn't the worst thing ever.) More recently, I re-encountered the story in OSP's charity read.  Considering I've decided to start writing fanfiction of my own in between readings, I want to talk about my takeaways from this story as a writer.

Number #1. Don't piss off your editors.

One of the big things happening behind the scenes of this story is that the author has a friend who helped her edit the story. As the story continues, there are times where she's not on the best of terms with her friend and the grammar suffers in places because of it. They do makeup and the subsequent chapters are better because of it.

I don't generally vet my stories or writing in general. A lot of the writing I've been doing for a while has been put through Grammarly as I type it and I'm fairly thorough about my drafting process. However, if you're putting your work through another set of eyes, it's not a good idea to piss off the people your work's quality is dependent on.

Or just get good, I don't know.

Number #2. Treat criticism well.

A few of the posts I've made during this month have dealt with the critiques levied toward series and that's not ending anytime soon. If you're going to be making anything, criticism, valid or otherwise, is eventually headed your way. The mark of any good creator is being able to handle that criticism well.

It won't shock you to know that the writer of the story didn't take well to being criticized for their story. It's one thing to insult people leaving negative reviews or deciding to hold back chapters without a certain amount of positive reviews. This author threatened self-harm if chapters got bad reviews. This isn't a good way to deal with people disliking your stories.

Number #3. Don't get hacked.

I almost wish this was a random point.

Apparently, chapter 39 was written by someone who wasn't the author. They hacked into the original writer's account and provided an interesting end to the story where it was. Considering the story didn't get a proper ending, I almost like to think of it as the ending the story deserves. (If you're interested, Draco ends up with Hermonie in this ending.)

Then again, I can't say that getting hacked is something good. Be careful about your account's security and... don't hack people?

Number #4. Make something you're proud of.

In this post, I've been referring to the author by "she and her". As it stands, we don't know who wrote this story. We have the name of the account it was published under originally, but we don't know who is behind the account. While pretenders have popped up, they've been proven to be false.

I'm a bit conflicted about this. On the one hand, I find it fascinating that we may never know what became of the person responsible for one of the most infamous fanfiction, what they're up to, and (of importance to me) if they've improved as a writer. On the other hand, it's not as if they have a lot of reason to admit to writing this story, regardless of their initial motives.

For whatever reason, it doesn't seem as though the original author is proud of her work. Reading it today, it's not terribly difficult to see why that might be. It's clearly a relic of its time and its only notable quality is how bad it is on so many levels. The fact that we're even arguing if this was done terribly on purpose is proof enough of that.

Whatever you make, whatever story you write, make something that you can be proud of years after you made it. Even if you don’t love everything about it or think you could have done it better, make sure that whatever you create is done to the best quality you can manage.

[mamabearcat]

M Rated ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) NaLu Fic Recs

Ah yes, my other list. This one is a lot longer. But it’s still no where near all of them there are lots more I could add, but it’s already crazy long. All the ones on this list were ones that I immediately thought ‘yes, I’d love to read that again!’

One day soon, I’ll do some Inuyasha Fic Rec lists. But until then, enjoy the NaLu!

One and Two Shots

Anatomy by x-benihime:  Keeping up with your classmates at the most prestigious art school in the country is hard enough without distractions. But for Natsu, the blonde he caught in the art store was more than welcome to drop into his life...literally. Modern ArtSchool!AU. OneShot. Complete.Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance/Hurt/Comfort - [Natsu D., Lucy H.] Gray F., Igneel - Words: 14,234   

Bite Me by edxwin-elric:  Nalu One Shot/Smut - Natsu and Lucy finally get some much-needed alone time after a particularly long job, and Natsu gets a tad bit kinky.Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance - [Natsu D., Lucy H.] Happy - Words: 3,484

Cupcakes by Rivendel101:  NaLu Week Day 3: Ribbon. A bet, a red ribbon, and some sinfully good cupcakes on the line. Natsu blames everything on the ribbon, but he's not really complaining. Warning: Lemon/Smut. Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance/Humor - [Lucy H., Natsu D.] - Words: 4,266

Garden and Lace by Shelbyshoe:  Levy had enough of Natsu and Lucy's argument by the end of their mission. She decided to solve her problems by trapping her partners' in a little glass bottle that housed her precious secret garden. With lots of time to kill, Natsu and Lucy must make up, but Lucy has other sensual plans of revenge. Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance - [Natsu D., Lucy H.] Levy M. - Words: 4,553  

Hanging by a Thread by AbsentAngel:  Lucy just wished that Natsu would let her take control in the bedroom every once an a while. Cana's solution? Simple - tie the bastard up. [NaLu] [Oneshot] [InexplicitLemon] Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance - Lucy H., Natsu D. - Words: 3,954

Happy by Tonoxic:  He had convinced himself a long time ago that his desires were a concern that was tertiary compared to her happiness. Rated M for lemons. Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance/Humor - Lucy H., Natsu D. - Words: 5,388

Hot to Touch by AbsentAngel:  Every move he makes in that ring is painted foreplay. The way his muscles flex and strain, the burning in his eyes, and the power in his limbs calls to her with the subtleness of a wildfire. He is a honed blade, and she wants so very much to be the sheath that keeps his edges sharp. [NaLu][AU Oneshot][InexplicitLemon] Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance - Lucy H., Natsu D. - Words: 2,355

I’m back by Chikachoo:  Natsu welcomes Lucy home, in the way he knows best. NaLu Smut OneShot. Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance/Drama - [Natsu D., Lucy H.] - Words: 3,226

In the Closet by nalusaurus:  AU. Lucy finds herself trapped in the closet whilst the boys are getting changed and overhears some interesting stuff. Just as she thinks she's safe from being discovered, Natsu gets thrown in with her. Nalu. One Shot. Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance/Humor - [Natsu D., Lucy H.] - Words: 3,856

Master by LoadedEel (EndLu): In which Lucy deems END a little dirty, and like a good Maid, decides to clean her Master up... (Rated M for mature language and adult situations) A companion chapter to the story "Stolen" same universe, PWP. Smut. A gift fic for all the reviewers who helped get "Stolen" to 550 reviews. ENDLu. (one-shot) Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance - [Lucy H., E.N.D., Natsu D.] - Words: 6,020  

Nest of Gold by notjustanyfangirl:  The freedom of True Love is not always just a happy way to end a fairy tale. Sometimes, it may be the solution you never thought possible. Princess!Lucy and Dragon!Natsu AU. Nalu Lovefest Day 2: Bite  Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance/Fantasy - [Natsu D., Lucy H.] Aries, Loke/Leo - Words: 10,985

Rising Steam by Voltage Axe:  Little did both Natsu and Lucy know that their unexpected encounter, in an unlikely place...would result in more than a good soak in the hot springs! Oneshot. Heavy sexual content, reader's discretion is advised. Read and review! Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance - [Natsu D., Lucy H.] - Words: 16,300

Sway With Me by Preussenlied:  In theory, doing it in Natsu's hammock sounded like a fun idea. In practice... not so much. NaLu smut. Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance - [Natsu D., Lucy H.] - Words: 1,234

Unsatisfied by Moeruhoshi:  "You're messing with an impatient woman." She grinned wildly as he purred, his hands gripping her hips and relished in the delicate feeling. He smacked her ass with an erotic force, gripping the creamy skin of her behind as he dipped his tongue into her honey center. "...Greedy dragon..." Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance/Supernatural - [Lucy H., Natsu D.] - Chapters: 2 - Words: 10,916

Chapter Fics

Angel of Oops by ShanaHollows:  The Fairy Tail Division of Heaven didn't know what to do with him. Natsu Dragneel was incapable of performing his duties without major disaster. Known as the "Angel of Oops", they pair him up with an unlikely mentor in an attempt to give two young ladies a chance at a normal life. It's not clear, however, who is giving who that opportunity. Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance/Adventure - [Lucy H., Natsu D.] Gray F., Levy M. - Chapters: 68 - Words: 232,848

Banging Beats by mushi0131:  All Lucy wanted was to go to the concert with someone. Her friends were busy, so she had to look outside of her inner circle. She wasn't too picky, as long as they agreed to accompany her to the event and weren't creepy. When she found the guy she wanted to go with, she quickly realized she might have been in over her head with this one. Modern AU. Rated: Fiction M - English - Friendship/Romance - [Natsu D., Lucy H.] - Chapters: 4 - Words: 31,875

Boiling Point by Satyrykal:  Lucy and Natsu have known each other for years, facing crisis after crisis as the bond between them grew stronger. With the fall of Alvarez, life has finally begun to settle down and there's no impending doom to distract them from how much they've changed. When bottled up feelings no longer have an excuse to hide, it's only a matter of time before they reach their boiling point. Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance/Friendship - [Lucy H., Natsu D.] - Chapters: 13 - Words: 84,949

Celestial Dragon by Silken Ink:  What if – instead of Natsu bringing Lucy into Fairy Tail, it's the other way around? This is the story of a Fairy Tail celestial mage who stumbles across a red burning key…one that summons a celestial fire dragon. Nalu pairing. It will be a slow burn romance with eventual fiery lemons. Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance/Adventure - [Lucy H., Natsu D.] - Chapters: 56 - Words: 490,987

Chains by shelbyshoe:  Lucy is rewarded a virtual reality headset by a client. It was fun to create new places with one of her best friends. It isn't until Natsu turns up, with sexy intentions, that she finds herself way over her head. Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance - [Natsu D., Lucy H.] - Chapters: 3 - Words: 16,080

Compulsive by stopnatsu:  Lucy's been sent to Tranquil Pines, a rehabilitation facility for troubled teens to help overcome her destructive behaviors. There, she encounters others dealing with their troubles and addictions. Although,one person stands out: Natsu, a boy who never tells the truth. Will she be able to unlock the truth about his past, as well as overcome her own? *Warning: depicts self harm* Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance/Drama - Lucy H., Natsu D. - Chapters: 31 - Words: 87,305

Deck the Halls, Bitches by Rivendel101:  One week before Christmas Lucy realizes she has a problem. In her frustration, she may or may not have told her entire extended family she was bringing a date to Christmas. She lied. Cana's solution? A Craigslist Ad posted by one Natsu Dragneel. Too much whiskey, crazy family members, and a multitude of awkward situations only serve as obstacles. There will be casualties. Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance/Humor - [Natsu D., Lucy H.] - Chapters: 8 - Words: 76,855

Dirty Daydreams by joydragon:  Lucy can't seem to get her mind out of the gutter- how long until her naughty secret is discovered? Where will these thoughts lead to...? MA ONLY FOR ADULTS Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance/Humor - [Natsu D., Lucy H.] - Chapters: 28 - Words: 68,577

Friction by seehunnybees:  A simple job meant to take her mind off things, becomes more than Lucy bargained for as she tries to make sense of her feelings for her salmon haired partner. Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance/Hurt/Comfort - [Lucy H., Natsu D.] - Chapters: 5 - Words: 22,797

Hakobe Ice by mushi0131:  A twist on episode 221. When Natsu, Lucy and Happy go to Mt. Hakobe to find some magical ice for a client, they run into some unexpected trouble. With Happy leaving for help, Natsu and Lucy spend their time in the freezing depth of a dark cave. The temperature is dropping, but the heat is rising for these two wizards, who are forced to turn to each other for comfort. [NaLu] Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance - [Natsu D., Lucy H.] - Chapters: 4 - Words: 23,641

Heartstrung by x-benihime:  It's been said that wherever you have/had a birthmark, is how you died in your past life. A scar that marks the fatal wound that killed you so you could be reborn again. It is also said that when/if you meet the person who killed you, you remember your past life and death and Lucy isn't a big fan of the pink-haired man she's run into. Soulmate AU. NaLu. Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance/Hurt/Comfort - [Lucy H., Natsu D.] Gajeel R., Gray F. - Chapters: 8 - Words: 81,963

Heated Nights and Dark Shadows by Princess Cherry Blossom:  Natsu and Lucy head out on a mission to take down a brothel that forces girls into prostitution. In order to succeed, Lucy has to infiltrate the brothel as a prostitute. But when a certain dragon slayer's possessive instincts kick in and all kinds of challenges occur, will chaos ensue? (NaLu) Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance/Drama - Lucy H., Natsu D. - Chapters: 8 - Words: 30,390  

Her Strength by yeetedaway:  Lucy doesn't want to be protected anymore. In her desperation to be seen as capable in her friends' eyes, Lucy sets out on the path to becoming powerful. Only one problem: Natsu just always seems to get in her way. So what happens when the two of them are kidnapped and Natsu is rendered useless? Lucy's greatest chance arises. Soon, everyone will know her strength. Rated: Fiction M - English - Friendship/Romance - [Lucy H., Natsu D.] - Chapters: 71 - Words: 169,989

Ignite by AbsentAngel:  Puberty hits late, and it hits hard. Natsu quickly learns that not even he can extinguish a fire when there is fuel to feed the flames. [NaLu] Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance/Friendship - Lucy H., Natsu D. - Chapters: 21 - Words: 75,046

Love Thy Neighbour by snogfairy:  Natsu has taken a liking to his new next door neighbour, a dorky blonde in space leggins. His newfound fascination leads to an elaborate scheme and a strong desire to show her his dragon - if you know what he means. (You don't.) But who will truly be left speechless in the end? What surprises does she have in store for him? (NaLu Next Door Neighbour AU - with a little twist) Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance/Humor - Lucy H., Natsu D. - Chapters: 4 - Words: 14,124

Matrimonial Madness by eviltrinity:  He wondered if her lips would taste like the Piña Colada she had been sipping on and there was only one way to find out. Weddings were the best way to meet new people. NALU Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance/Humor - Lucy H., Natsu D. - Chapters: 2 - Words: 11,377

Of Piercings and Dreams by notjustanyfangirl:  A late night text from Natsu sends Lucy's mind down a oneway track to more-than-friendly places. Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance/Humor - [Natsu D., Lucy H.] Gajeel R. - Chapters: 2 - Words: 19,534

Parallels by Mslead-Kytrin:  Lucy always knew books opened roads to new adventures, but never had she dreamed she would be falling into one herself. When she comes across a dusty old book, Lucy finds herself thrust into a journey filled with evil wizards and a tricky dragon who kept looking at her like she was lunch. She had to find a way to return home, but at the end of the day - would she want to? NALU Rated: Fiction M - English - Fantasy/Romance - Lucy H., Natsu D. - Chapters: 61 - Words: 265,197  

Paranormal by riverofmemories:   Living with a mostly friendly poltergeist and dealing with his "generous" acts of "kindness" is one thing. Figuring out just how he ended up there is a completely other matter that has Lucy's head spinning. And it certainly doesn't help that he's getting to be not nearly as friendly as time goes on. {WARNING: some of the content might not be for sensitive readers!} Rated: Fiction M - English - [Natsu D., Lucy H.] Gajeel R., Levy M. - Chapters: 31 - Words: 99,628  

Reckless by Preussenlied:  Natsu and Lucy took a job request that seemed to be simple enough, but proved to be slightly more difficult than they thought. Upon their return, Natsu expresses his anger about Lucy's reckless behavior on the job. NaLu smut. Lots of it. Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance/Drama - [Natsu D., Lucy H.] - Chapters: 10 - Words: 32,566

Sandcastles by Mslead-Kytrin:  Lucy's job wasn't the best, but it paid the bills. Plus, she could catch up on her reading on local legends while watching her crush surf. She just never dreamed the two could possibly mix. Or what would happen when they did. NALU Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance/Fantasy - Lucy H., Natsu D. - Chapters: 9 - Words: 36,265

Sensory Overload by Edo-Salandria:  Natsu and Lucy have been targeted. A mysterious tattoo appears on both of them that changes their relationship in ways they could never have imagined. *Lemons (sex/smut/intercourse whatever you prefer to call it ;-), Explicit Language and Adult Situations* Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance - Lucy H., Natsu D. - Chapters: 18 - Words: 33,565  

Spread Your Wings by noseinabook145:  A series of unfortunate (or fortunate?) events leads to Lucy taking an offer to travel Fiore on a secret mission. She'll save lives, grow her skills...but will have to leave Natsu, with whom things are starting to heat up, behind. She swears to return, stronger than ever, but can she survive her adventures to face a hidden danger at home? NaLu Rated: Fiction M - English - Adventure/Romance - [Lucy H., Natsu D.] Lisanna S. - Chapters: 14 - Words: 67,432

Tempest by Mslead-Kytrin:  Captain Heartfilia lived a cursed life, her steps plagued by the shadow of a god seeking to destroy her. Thrown into a maelstrom not of her making, she is plunged into a cycle of rebirth, and it will take all her strength to survive the coming tempest. [NALU] Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance/Fantasy - [Natsu D., Lucy H.] [Gray F., Juvia L.] - Chapters: 52 - Words: 245,725  

The Astrologist by NavyBlueWings:  When Mira stumbles upon Lucy's secret talent, she offers her the chance of the lifetime; becoming Fairy Tail's love astrologist. To find her friends' happiness, Lucy takes the job. But can she teach these scarred dogs new tricks? Can Lucy handle her past and present crashing into each other? And will she be able to find her own happy ending? NaLu, GaLe, Gruvia, Jerza, and more! Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance/Humor - [Lucy H., Natsu D.] - Chapters: 17 - Words: 166,273  

The Dark Gauntlet by Arzuera:  Lucy is angry at Natsu and decides to go on a mission by herself. Only for it to go completely wrong. Will she be able to save herself or will her friends get to her in time? NaLu pairing Rated M for language and dirty stuff that will happen later. Rated: Fiction M - English - Adventure/Romance - Erza S., Gray F., Lucy H., Natsu D. - Chapters: 13 - Words: 35,754

The Game of Life by riverofmemories:  "You're new here, so I'll explain the rules once. Winners get one lash, losers die. It's quite simple. The last one standing gets no lash. We do one game a day here and you live as long as you can stand it. If you somehow miraculously try to get away, I kill you. It's quite simple really." [Not for sensitive readers!] Rated: Fiction M - English - [Natsu D., Lucy H.] [Gajeel R., Levy M.] - Chapters: 13 - Words: 29,222

The Keys of Fire by LoneStorm:  Runaway Lucy Heartfilia finally gets to join Fairy Tail, house and school for homeless kids. What she didn't expect was to be brought there by a pink-haired, pyrotechnic black belt with a blue cat, that she might start falling for him, or that this boy could help her solve the mystery behind the golden keys left by her mother that hold a deadly secret. High school ninja AU. Nalu. Rated: Fiction T - English - Adventure/Romance - [Lucy H., Natsu D.] Levy M., Team Natsu - Chapters: 51 - Words: 343,076  

The Next Morning by thyFreshPrincess:  Lucy and Natsu have made a mistake. Humans make mistakes, right? Well, when it comes to booze, a city that never sleeps and a can of feelings that should never be opened... they made one of the biggest. So when Lucy wakes up in a wedding dress, with a ring on her finger, and a tattoo on her ass, she realizes that a raging hang-over isn't the worst thing she has to deal with. Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance/Humor - [Lucy H., Natsu D.] Happy - Chapters: 26 - Words: 112,014

The Raven by Rivendell101:  Magnolia is no longer a safe place to live. Seven girls are already dead, murdered brutally by the Serial Killer dubbed "The Raven," and Magnolia's Police Force is no closer to finding out who did it than they were the day it started. There are no leads, no clues, and no suspects. To bad Lucy's next. AU Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance/Suspense - [Lucy H., Natsu D.] Igneel - Chapters: 30 - Words: 168,413  

Village in the Stars by madartiste:  Getting lost in the woods is the least of their worries when Natsu and Lucy blunder their way into a cursed village and a prophecy that leads them to understand something about themselves. Rated: Fiction M - English - Mystery/Romance - [Lucy H., Natsu D.] - Chapters: 6 - Words: 29,160  

What’s Your Fantasy? by notjustanyfangirl:  Natsu frowned at her tone, he had no idea what she would be so scared to say. Giving a short nod, Natsu turned his hand over to link their fingers together, giving her small hand a light squeeze. Lucy smiled up at him slightly, though he could still feel waves of nervousness roll off of her. Taking in a deep breath, Lucy rushed out her words. "Iwaswonderingifyouhadanyfantasies?" Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance/Humor - [Lucy H., Natsu D.] - Chapters: 2 - Words: 8,336 

[sapphicscholar]

Pride Month Prompts Day 22: Wedding (Grace/Frankie)

From this Pride Month Prompts post! I’m taking the opportunity to write some short fics for a variety of pairings that I haven’t written for as much. I’ll be sure to tag them all with #pride month prompts so you can find them later if you’d like!

Day 22: Wedding - on AO3 as Casual Simplicity

Pairing: Grace/Frankie

A/N: I apologize if this has already been done and I haven’t gotten to read that particular fic yet!

“Marry me.”

They’re words Grace never expected to hear again, not after 40 years of a loveless marriage came crumbling down around her, the husband she’d tolerated for so long apparently deciding that the years she gave him weren’t enough to make up for that “more” he’d gone chasing in another man’s arms, sneaking away on long “business trips” and leaving her alone with the children she’d come to love but had never wanted for her own sake. But the words are real. Nick is real, sitting there, right in front of her, looking perfectly handsome in a tailored suit from a designer that Grace has heard of and approves of. But the words—they have to be a joke, and she says as much.

Only Nick doesn’t leave. He stays there, telling her he doesn’t care if it’s crazy; he wants to marry her anyway. There’s an answer for every question, even that why that Grace has tried to avoid thinking too hard about when it comes to most of her romantic decisions. But Nick smiles up at her, more guileless than he’ll ever be during the business day, and tells her it’s simple, says, “I love you,” says, “I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

And there’s something so damn attractive about simple.

Robert had seemed simple. He was a lawyer from a wealthy family with a charming smile and an easy laugh. He was a perfect gentleman on their dates, never pushing her to do things she didn’t want to do—later, she’ll wonder if all those years of polite manners were just repression dressed up in bourgeois niceties. When he asked her to marry him, neither of them asked why, neither of them wondered if it would be enough, if it would be the kind of love that sent them reeling. They fit. Socially, politically, financially, hell, even aesthetically—Robert’s taller, slightly stockier frame the perfect accessory to finish off Grace’s ensembles, right along with all shimmering, pre-packed gift jewelry that accentuated prominent collar bones and thin wrists and long, perfectly manicured fingers.

Simple makes sense. Simple is Byron telling Grace she’s “smokin’ hot” and sweeping her off her feet—quite literally—his desire plain for the world to see. Simple is the way her body had reacted to that show of need, of someone wanting her so clearly, so straightforwardly, at least until her mind caught up with her.

Everything with Nick would be simple. Problems would be purchased and turned into solutions or made to disappear. Love would be something declared in clear prose. Meals would appear and could be ignored in turn, the dishes vanishing and leftovers sliding down a garbage disposal that would never be clogged with paint or dirt or the DVR remote that had gone missing weeks ago. Sex would happen on a semi-regular basis and would continue to be semi-good, and Vybrant, promising older women that they could enjoy genuinely fulfilling sexual pleasure, would continue to flourish, and never would she let herself hold those two things up side-by-side for a comparison that might show her things she didn’t want to see.

Grace leans over and kisses Nick, hoping it’s answer enough when she can’t make her mouth form the sounds needed to agree to this next simple step. He cups her jaw and kisses her, smiling into it, and it isn’t Byron’s rough hands, but it’s real. It isn’t some video broadcast to the whole Internet talking about kisses that never happened—kisses offered in jest and discussed in public and penciled into Grace’s otherwise pristine planner in all capital letters, but never a real option.

As Grace walks down the beach, tucked into Nick’s side, she finally manages a, “Yes.” And that settles it. Because Nick doesn’t offer things he doesn’t mean. He doesn’t proposition someone for years only to laugh—loudly, too loudly—and insist it had been a great big tease all along when they finally start to say yes.

Only, it turns out that for all his simplicity, Nick wants some of that simplicity in return. He wants someone who will want him back. Can deal with a third player in the game, but not when it becomes clear that player 3 will always be priority 1.

They’re in the back of Nick’s car, flying down the highway on their way to be married, but all Grace can think about, can talk about, is Frankie. About what Frankie said. About everything Frankie has done. About all the ways Frankie has been telling her, again and again, even after her walking disease of a boyfriend took his yurt and fucked off, that what they have isn’t enough—and why shouldn’t it be enough? Why can’t it be enough? Why is Grace—again, always—being told that what she valued as enough someone else saw as lacking, never the “more” that would somehow make it worthwhile?

Nick shrugs his shoulders, as laissez-faire in his attitude towards Frankie’s behavior as he wants the government to be about his business. “Maybe Kooky wants something that you already have without her.”

“And what the hell would that be?” Grace snaps, yanking her hand free of Nick’s, too annoyed to want his easy comfort right now.

Nick turns to face her head on then, and Grace can see something like resignation in his expression, wonders how she’s fucked another thing up today, all before the sun has even set. “I meant me. A relationship.”

“Oh.”

Before Grace can get out one of those light, breezy laughs and paper over the fact that she’s forgotten the very thing she’s on her way to concretize in binding, legal documents, Nick takes her hand in his once more. “Maybe I should have listened when you told me this was crazy.”

“Nick.”

“I love you, Grace. I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. But not when you’ll always be there wondering about someone else.”

“It’s not the same,” Grace insists, her voice cracking as Nick’s words edge close—too close—to the questions that she’s been trying to quiet with pills and drown in vodka.

“No, it’s not the same. But I think I’m on the losing side here.”

---

Hovering on that thin line between still drunk and already hungover that would normally have Grace reaching for either a new drink or an Ambien and a few Advil, Grace pulls her sweater tighter around herself to ward off the chill as she wanders down the beach. The sea lions are quiet now, the breeze barely a whisper in the air. If only Bud and Allison had scheduled their wedding for 4am, then no one would have known that Grace couldn’t make heads or tails of Frankie’s pictionary Post Its.

The lights are almost all out at the beach house now, though the outside decorations are still up, long strings of fairy lights twinkling in the night sky. Grace knows she could walk back in, go up to her room, and sleep in a bed, but after hours of drunken contemplation alone, she isn’t quite sure she deserves it. Yes, Frankie had left stupid notes that made no fucking sense, but Grace could have asked, could have dealt with Joan Margaret and gotten on Frankie’s calendar, or pulled a Frankie and scrawled her name across the entire day (and she thinks Frankie may well have honored such a request). Instead, she’d assumed that Frankie was being, well, Kooky—and the caricature of Kooky that Nick thought he knew, not the slightly kooky but also brilliant, caring, warm woman Grace had come to know over the years.

Of course, there’s still anger there, too. Anger at Frankie for thinking that her life only meant something if she drank disgusting cacao and slept in a yurt on a beachfront in La Jolla and stole the Whole Foods groceries Grace was still buying for her and acted like somehow it was all enlightened because some man who smelled like feet and patchouli told her it was. Anger at Frankie for getting stoned and tweeting out promises that would bankrupt the company they’d worked so hard to build together—their refuge in a world that told them they didn’t matter. Anger at Frankie for posting some poorly edited video that made it sound like they were some old lesbian couple selling vibrators and sneaking into one another’s rooms late at night to kiss and test out their merchandise. Anger at Frankie for making her think about those things, making her wonder about those possibilities.

Then Frankie’s own anger and hurt comes rushing back at her. The betrayal in her voice when she’d seen the store-bought cake—the last straw that seemed to scream into that big empty kitchen: “I don’t trust you to do anything, not even when it comes to your children.” But Grace’s mind keeps returning, again and again, to the big fuck you moment—at least the one Frankie named as such. “You ran away with your boyfriend.” Grace absolutely loathes the hope she can feel bubbling up in her chest at the thought that maybe Frankie does see value in what they are together, that maybe Nick hurt Frankie—not because he was a capitalist or a fiscal conservative, but because he was there, with Grace, the new second name to her “Grace and”—as much as the yurt hobo and the version of Jacob who’d decided Santa Fe was a good idea had hurt Grace.

Eventually Grace settles herself in on a pile of rocks, tries to ignore the aches and pains that have become so much sharper as all the alcohol from earlier fades into the cold sobriety of almost-morning. Closing her eyes, Grace lets her mind drift, thinks about all that might have been had she run off with Nick and gone through with the marriage. Would she be here now? She doubts it. A wife would have been at home in bed with her husband, not sitting on the beach desperately needing to make things right with the woman who’d been her home for the past five years.

---

It’s a little after sunrise when Grace sees what she thinks is another figure down the beach. Her eyesight isn’t as bad as Frankie’s, but it certainly isn’t what it once was. Deciding it’s worth the potential humiliation of yelling at a stranger or an inanimate object, Grace stands and starts moving toward the blurry shape, yelling, “Frankie!”

But then the blurry shape is standing and yelling, “Grace!” right back at her.

And she doesn’t care that her knee is screaming, doesn’t care that Grace Hanson most definitely does not run, because her heart is pushing her as fast and as far as she can go—even if it isn’t very far or very fast.

“I’ll come to you!” And Frankie, who eats carbs and whipped cream and gummy bears for breakfast, is running like some sort of elite athlete in the 65+ category, while Grace waits, half hobbling, desperately hoping her knee won’t give out on her now.

Then Frankie is in front of her, and all the anger slips away in the face of the person she might have lost, maybe forever, and everything Grace has been thinking comes pouring out of her. Apologies for the terrible things she’s said. Admissions that she’s become a better person, someone that most days she can stand to look at in the mirror, with Frankie at her side. And somehow it all builds to Grace, standing on the beach, waves crashing beside them and the surf inching closer and closer to their feet, holding Frankie close, calling her a best friend, a partner, telling her that she needs her. And there’s nothing simple about that need. There are no straightforward lines where Frankie can do x or be y to fulfill z. It’s a need mingled with pangs of annoyance and frustration and anger but wrapped up in what Grace is finally realizing is love, and somehow that outweighs everything else, makes it simple even when it’s not. “I need you,” Grace repeats, blinking back tears that make Frankie look blurry, even now when she’s only inches away.

“Oh, I need you too.” Frankie falls into her arms with the words, holds her tight, the last vestiges of their fight falling away the longer they stay like that. “So, let’s go home.”

A sentimental part of Grace that rarely rears its head, and even more rarely gets anything out, wants to say that she’s already there. Instead she blurts out, “Nick asked me to marry him.” In an instant, all the happiness and love in Frankie’s expression is clouded over with hurt. “I—we’re not.”

“Not getting married?”

“Not getting married. Not together.” A deep breath. “He felt like he was always competing with you. Competing and losing.” Frankie’s usual taunts about beating Nick in any way are absent. She looks cautious, and Grace wonders if the same fragile hope is demanding shelter from her too. “Maybe he’s right.”

The quiet maybe isn’t enough to bring Frankie back to that joyous openness—not after she’s put back up those walls so few people realize she has in the face of all the pain Grace’s declaration had been poised to deliver.

This will never be simple, and Frankie will never be Robert, assuming Grace will say yes because it follows logically. She will never be Nick, convinced so deeply of her own charms that she’ll put her heart on the line in matters of love without a moment’s hesitation. Despite the “fuck it” lifestyle, she will never be Byron, desire plainly written in every move.

But, Grace realizes with a jolt, she can be that for Frankie, can let her see everything she’s offering—no jokes or questions about it.

Grace steps forward, closes the distance that had pulled them apart again. Her hands find Frankie’s arms first, one coming up to hold her jaw, thumb sweeping across her cheekbone. “I’m not going anywhere this time. I promise.” A kiss to the forehead, like Frankie had asked for all those years ago, only to have Grace deny her in a moment of panic about why—dear god, why—the thought of pressing her lips to any part of Frankie had sent her heart pounding. Then Frankie���s cheeks, one after the other. Grace pauses, waiting, centimeters away from Frankie’s mouth. “I promise,” she whispers again, the words ghosting across Frankie’s lips. Her eyes flutter shut as she leans forward, her mouth finding Frankie’s. Just one kiss. One sealed promise. One hint of what might be waiting for them.

When she pulls back, she finds Frankie blinking at her. Everything is still and silent for a long moment.

Frankie’s hand reaches out, tangling around her own. “Let’s go home.”

[dragonshost]

Back To The Start

Chapter 3: Complications And Missing Places

Pairing: Acnologia x Lucy

On FFN:

On AO3:

Summary:  Lucy has lost everything she ever cared for, all thanks to the black dragon of the apocalypse. So, with the help of two old journals belonging to her ancestor Anna and a dragon slayer 400 years dead, she will find out the secret to Acnologia’s defeat. No matter the personal cost.

Chapter 3 of the giveaway fic for @momocheww

Sorry this took so long to get out!  I finished it a while ago, but I only just got around to editing it.  Also, I cried while writing this chapter.  A lot.  Lucy’s still got some growing to do in this fic, but she’ll get there eventually.

Contrary to her initial hopes, it took Lucy the better part of the day to merely map out the layout of the Tower’s first floor.  It was best to know where things were, she had decided.  That way she wouldn’t have to keep calling on Crux every time she wanted to know where something was.  He had a life of his own in the Celestial World, after all.  It would be the height of rudeness to send him home only to drag him right back.  Now that she knew how the time flowed differently between the worlds thanks to the party her spirits had thrown her, she understood just how disruptive calling upon them could be for their daily lives.  Aquarius’s irritation at her childhood habit of constantly summoning her made a lot more sense now.

It was better for both her and Crux to just keep him summoned while they figured out where everything was, and then she could send him home once she had a grasp on the books’ organization.  She just hadn’t expected it to take as long as it did before she could do so.  Even the bottom floor of the place was massive. Furthermore, it was a veritable labyrinth that didn’t follow any convention of organization that she could readily recognize.  Whatever ancient correlation it had, it was beyond Lucy’s ability to intuit.  Which forced her to plot everything out in her journal as she went.

Then there was issue of the fact that Lucy couldn’t read half the languages that the books were written in.  It had been a depressing realization, to open up half a dozen books only to find herself incapable of discerning their contents.

She missed Levy intensely in that moment.  The blue-haired woman would know exactly what these books said, no matter the language. Loneliness welled up inside of her. The absence of her friends and teammates ached like a missing limb – a large chunk of her soul cut out and gone with them.

It wasn’t as if she wouldn’t find any information in the library without Levy’s help, she knew.  Several of the tomes were bound to have translated versions somewhere in the building.  And Fiore’s national language was one that had existed for at least four hundred years without too much deviation.  The question was whether she’d be able to find the books written or translated to it, and if their contents held what she needed within them.

She wasn’t placing much hope in her infamous luck to help her out in that department.  Besides which, it felt lately that her luck had long since run out.  Tenrou Island, the Neo Oracion Seis attempting to sacrifice her to a clock, getting the crap beaten out of her at the Grand Magic Games and being thrown into jail, a dragon invasion, and then… Tartaros.

Yeah… her luck had run out a long, long time ago.

Perhaps it had all been used up in meeting Natsu, and in joining Fairy Tail.

By the time she had to call it a day, Lucy had come to the crushing realization that even if the library held all the information that she needed, it was going to take her a lot of time to comb through it all.  Let alone discern what information was actually helpful for her cause.  Lucy highly doubted a book existed that would be so fortuitously titled: How To Defeat A Dragon King.

The bright spot in all of it was that while he’d helped her, Crux had also provided enough information for Lucy to write a preliminary article on the place for Jason to look over. She would organize her notes once she got home for the night, though, and then write it.  Skipping lunch while working in the archives had been a poor idea, and her stomach was complaining so loudly that it would have gotten her kicked out of a normal library.

“Is it alright if I summon you again tomorrow?” Lucy asked him, just before dismissing him for the day. “I think I’m going to need more help figuring out where everything is.  But if not, then I can work with what I’ve already got.”  She refused to be an imposition to him.  Not like she had been to Aquarius.

The spirit considered it. “I’m afraid that I’m unavailable tomorrow,” he said slowly.  “My apologies, Miss Lucy.  I would love to continue to assist you, but it will have to wait two of your days, at least.”

Crestfallen, Lucy nodded. “That’s alright.  You have your own life to live.  It would be selfish of me to take up too much of your time.”

A kind, if sorrowful, smile spread across Crux’s face.  “Miss Lucy, you aren’t an imposition to us.  I fear that Aquarius’s lack of patience is to blame, here.  Hardly any time passes in our world while we’re in yours. Our lives are not disrupted by any great account in being a part of yours.  We all knew what being bound to gate keys would entail when we agreed to be so. Truthfully, our lives are enriched for the experience – time moves so slowly in our world that it’s easy to become stagnant, to fall out of touch with what is happening on Earthland.  We take great joy being your spirits, and a part of your life and adventures, Miss Lucy.  Please take heart in that.”

Hot tears gathered in Lucy’s eyes at his words, and her cheeks and ears burned.  Shakily, she nodded her head.  “Okay,” she breathed out.  She furiously wiped her eyes with her arm and gave Crux a tremulous smile. “I’ll try to remember that.”

She’d keep his words in her heart, always.

“Miss Lucy,” Crux continued, his wizened face relaxing at Lucy’s response, “I am not the only one of your spirits that you can call upon to help you.  Most of your spirits will know at least one of the languages in these tomes.  Although they aren’t quite my advanced age, they’ve been around a long time, and served many summoners in the past.  Call upon whoever you wish, and they’ll keep you company for as long as you need them. And, I suspect, if you should want them longer than that, they’ll happily remain then, too.”

Lucy hiccupped, trying to force back a sob.  These were the things she’d needed to hear, she realized.  She hadn’t known that she’d needed them until they were already said, and yet they slid so easily into an empty place in her heart.  “I will!” she told Crux, her voice heavy with emotion. Lucy needed her spirits, and they needed her, too.  She would face them once more, and this time she would try to do it with love in her heart instead of sorrow.  “I promise.”

The library, true to Crux’s warning, did attempt to keep Lucy’s notes that night.  It took her the better part of a half hour to escape with her notebook intact, though Lucy couldn’t quite explain how the library was doing it in the first place.  One moment, the book was in her hand, and the next it was back at the table she’d been working at.  It played tricks on her mind – she couldn’t actually say for sure that she hadn’t left it there herself.  Multiple times.  But she knew enough of magic to know when it was trying to bamboozle her.

It was a minor blessing that it kept returning to the same table, all told.  Lucy wasn’t sure she’d be able to find the damn thing again if the library were to shelve it somewhere else in the building.

The whole ordeal rendered Erza’s previous success with removing the clock piece somewhat incredible to Lucy.

Early the next morning, an inability to sleep, despite how tired she was, drove Lucy from her bed long before she had intended to.  It seemed as if these days she was perpetually exhausted; on the verge of dropping off to sleep at any moment.  And other days, insomnia plagued her instead.  Her sleep schedule had gone completely off the charts in terms of predictability.  The odd hours she worked with Jason were also not conducive to a consistent night’s rest.

Lacking ought else to do, she found herself at the Library of Sorcery.  The world was still covered in blue, the morning songs of the birds just starting their first notes.

Maybe the early start would help her make more progress than the day before, or so she reasoned.  The stone edifice of the Tower was hard to pick out, somehow, in the predawn.  Like her eyes just… slid right past it.  Given the intricacies of the spells within the building, it wouldn’t be too surprising if there were spells on the outside of it, too.

In fact, that might be a large part of the reason it was still standing after four hundred years. Lucy knew from her childhood obsession with the ruins spoken of in Key Of The Starry Skies that very few buildings of that age remained intact around Fiore.  She wasn’t sure about Ishgar as a whole, but for Fiore it was definitely true.  Not even Cardia Cathedral came close to that age, and it was easily the oldest building in Magnolia.  Objectively, Lucy knew that countless wars and the early days of magic experimentation had a lot to do with that.  She couldn’t help but feel a sense of loss, however.  How many libraries had disappeared over the past four hundred years?  Or libraries even older than that?  Lacking the extensive, mind-boggling protections that this building possessed, how much knowledge had vanished altogether?

This was the sort of thing that she would have liked to talk to Levy about.  Or maybe even Freed.  Warren knew a lot about this sort of thing too, surprisingly enough.  If he was there, he’d probably regale her with tales of other magical places he’d come across in his extensive traveling.  Freed would be over the moon in dissecting the spellwork that comprised the Library, and Levy… it would have been her dream come to life to read the ancient books stored here.

Stars above, she missed them.  More than she had words for.

She wondered where they were, at that moment.  Her friends were scattered all over the place, so it was hard to find them. There was a map, in her apartment; studded thick with pins and articles tracking individual guild members as they settled into new lives for themselves.  Originally Lucy had just been planning to write to them, to check on how they were doing.  A way to feel connected, despite the distance.  And maybe, if she had the time, she could drop in on them for a visit.

But the reality of her own busy schedule had come crashing down on her hard.  It was probably no different for them.  They had new lives and new concerns to deal with.  She’d just be intruding.

She kept adding to the board anyway, though.  It would be too painful to take it down now.  That would be like she was admitting that they would never be a family again.  Not like they were before.

Lucy swallowed thickly, her hands curling into fists at her sides.  With an abrupt turn on her heels, she strode away from the towering library. Lead sorrow sat in her gut, heavy in her chest.

She couldn’t do this today. She’d try again tomorrow.

When she returned home, she fell into bed, and immediately dropped off into a thankfully dreamless slumber.

Jason was more than pleased by how fast Lucy had gotten the first draft finished, nearly blowing out her eardrums over the phone with his excited shouting.

“This is fantastic! Super cool of you!” he crowed, as Lucy held the receiver at arm’s length away.  Much as she enjoyed working with the man, he was putting her hearing at serious risk.  He was capable of indoor voice, she knew that from experience.  But when he got excited it was as if someone had cranked his volume up to the max, and then broken off the dial.

“Thank you!  I’m glad you liked it,” Lucy told him, smiling broadly at the praise and flushing with happiness.  This was the best she’d felt in a while.  The past few days of research on her personal project, and the work she’d put in towards the article on the Library of Sorcery, had beaten her spirit into the ground, honestly.  Three days straight of painful quiet, with only Crux and Capricorn to occasionally break the monotony.  Three days where she failed to produce the results she wanted.  Three days of fighting with the building to let her keep her notes.  She was exhausted.

“Liked it?!  I loved it!  I think we can get this one into the next issue, for sure.”

Lucy’s eyes gleamed; Jason’s excitement was downright contagious, for all its volume.  “Thank you!” she said again, so overwhelmed that she couldn’t formulate anything more articulate.  “Thank you so much!”

“So on another note,” Jason said, his voice returning to a normal decibel, “I think I’ve gotten a pretty good lead on a possible interview for the magazine.  Something that would catch a lot of people’s attention.  Since you did so well on this piece, I was thinking you might be able to handle it.  Aside from which, the subject requested you personally.  Can you come into the office tomorrow, so I can give you all the details?”

‘The real world intrudes,’ Lucy thought morosely.  ‘Again.’

It wasn’t as if she’d been making much headway at the Library, though.  As much as she still thought it would contain the solutions she sought, they were proving difficult to locate.   Extremely difficult.  Capricorn and Crux had been a great help, of course. The two spirits had done everything in their abilities to assist her in her search.  The old goat had even left off comments about her weight and diet, which was nice.  Keeping them in Earthland for as long as she had was improving her magic by leaps and bounds as well, but it was probably high time she took a break.  The day she’d gone home and fallen asleep hadn’t really been much of a real rest.

“Lucy?” Jason voice came through the receiver, his clear concern shattering her thoughts.  “You still there?”

“Yeah,” she responded with a shake of her head that he thankfully couldn’t see.  “What time do you want me in?”

“Seven, please.”

“Got it.  See you tomorrow, boss!”

When she hung up, Lucy stared blankly at the wall for a long minute.  “I wonder who it could be?” she said aloud.  Shooting a glance at the map, bright with pins and cluttered with cut out articles, she let out a self-deprecating little laugh.  “Probably not.”  Lucy shook her head at her whimsy.  For all that she wanted to see them so badly, it was pretty clear at this point that the feeling was not reciprocated on their end.  They would have reached out, otherwise.

Calling it an early night, Lucy put herself to bed before the sun had even fully set.  She would need the extra rest, after all.

For once, her dreams were peaceful.

[neen-writes]

Iron Legends: Reforged -- Chapter 12

Series: Fairy Tail

Characters: Gajeel, Levy, plus appearances from Natsu and Lucy.

Genre: Hurt/comfort, Sci-fi

Summary: The old lab had always been fuel for a good story, something you would half-heartedly joke about going to sometime.  Some did, and when they came back they never talked about it again.  The legends circulated, telling of ghosts, monsters, and anything else someone would be likely to conjure up about an abandoned building.  But even with all the stories meant to keep everyone away, there are still those for whom the intrigue is too tempting.  

Read the Reforged chapters on FF.net here, Ao3 here, and read the entire original story here!!  AND find this fic’s soundtrack here!

Ch. 1  Ch. 2  Ch. 3  Ch. 4 Ch. 5 Ch. 6 Ch. 7 Ch. 8 Ch. 9 Ch.10 Ch. 11

It had been nearly a week and a half since that night in her kitchen.   The first few days after the incident, the skies had remained clear and she had been able to make her way out to the facility to keep looking for him.  She hoped with everything she had that one day she would find him there as she had before.  Levy was relentlessly determined to find him, so much so that she considered fanning out her search, looking past the facility with the idea that he might have had some other shelter to hide in.  But even with the let up in the weather, she couldn’t safely go farther than the grounds.  She didn’t know the area at all, didn’t have the equipment, and with the snow layer everything looked the same.

She had tried, on one of the earlier days, to follow the service road at the back.  She hadn’t forgotten the fresh destruction that led a trail to the demolished gate.  It hadn’t been like that any other time she came to the grounds, and it was worth following the only trail he left.  It helped that it was easier to walk on the buried pavement, but she lost signal on her cell phone after walking for about ten minutes.  What she did gather, was that the trail Gajeel left was very deliberate.  Because once past the gate, there was no sign of him except the hint of old footprints, which eventually veered off into the woods and were lost entirely.  She couldn’t reasonably follow such an unreliable trail, and with no way of communicating, she was forced to turn back.

The next day, the snow returned with a vengeance.  Still, she tried, but made it less than halfway there before her sense urged her back home.  She’d suffered over the incredibly difficult moment, trying and wanting to push herself, but she had started to lose sensation in her fingers and up to her knees.  It did no one any good, least of all Gajeel, to be lost in the snow.  She had to concede to the fact that she couldn’t make it out there anymore, as much as it tore her up inside.

The following days when she was trapped between her home and work were even more excruciating.  There was some solace to be found in visits from Lucy and adjusting to her sudden new pet(which was fun to explain to Lucy), but with no further sign of Gajeel and the cold trail left by the sinister scientist, there was little peace for the booky bluenette.  She had read through the journals more times than she could count, but no more answers came to her.  They had no real proof that anything was starting again, and she was too afraid of risking Gajeel’s safety to go straight to Natsu’s father for help before they had anything concrete.  There had been absolutely no sign of Jose, and thus they were left with nothing.

All she could do was keep rereading and telling herself she had missed something.

At one point, somewhere after the one week mark, she finally had to force herself to stop and reel herself back into her own life.  She was skipping meals, she’d been late to work... just because she was so unfocused.  Only when she paused did she realize how out of touch she was.

Levy looked up from her book, nestled on the couch with Lily lying across the top, and stared absently across her living room.  What do I do?  What if he doesn’t want to be found?  What if I need to just move on?  The girl frowned suddenly and shook her head, lifting her book to rap herself on the forehead with it.  The thought felt like a betrayal.  That was not something she could live with.  Call her a bleeding heart, but she couldn’t just give up like that.  Neither her conscience, nor her dreams, could ever let her.  

And oh, the dreams.  Nightly she dreamt of him, and Levy couldn’t settle on whether it was a gift or a curse.  It was usually the same thing, reliving that morning in her living room.  She saw him smiling at her, felt him holding her hand.  She would watch him speak, grin at her, but never heard anything that he said.  The dream was always silent; like that was the best way her subconscious could capture it.  Pure peace; silent ease.  The tenderness shared between them and the safety she felt next to him weren’t the worst things to revisit.  But waking up, cold and alone save for a black ball of fur at her feet, definitely was.

Then, every now and again, there were the dreams that reminded her of what she had done. The horrible thing she had said, the information she didn’t give to him fast enough, the things she didn’t say in time.  These dreams were dark and loud.  She was on her knees every time, struggling to get up but her legs wouldn’t obey.  He was there, fully iron, standing in darkness and roaring her name.  Asking her why, always asking her how could she.  She would fly awake, the roar in her ears indistinguishable from her racing heart.

She tried avoiding sleep, but it made no difference.  When darkness crept in, and the lights extinguished for the evening, the dull ache set in.  He made the house smaller, less quiet.  Now, more than ever, the dark was more foreboding, knowing there was a true beast out there that knew her face.  The quiet made it hard to breathe.  After the taste of what a fuller home could feel like, she couldn’t bear the solitude.  She didn’t want to beg Lucy to stay, because she had stayed so many times already, she had home sometime. The only comfort for her now were locked doors, caring for the small cat, and her books.  

I’m not giving up on him.  He deserves more than that, she thought to herself, looking up to Lily.  He had opened his dark eyes to look down at her, calmly, from the top of the sofa, the tip of his tail swaying quietly.  “I’m sure you miss him too,” Levy said softly.  The quiet stare persisted.  “I’m going to get your friend back, Lily.  Don’t you worry.” Levy put on a small smile, grateful for the live-in reminder of the mission she had set for herself.  Crazy as it was, she found more comfort than she would admit aloud from talking to the cat.  He seemed overly interested in her and was always on her heels around the house, so she found herself talking to him more and more.  As distressing as his arrival had initially been, she was now grateful for it.  

A knock at the door roused her suddenly from her spot on the sofa, and she glanced at the time.  It was mid afternoon, so not a bizarre time at all for someone to be coming by.  Levy brushed some hair from her face and set her book aside on the way to the door, “Just a moment!” she called, clicking open her locks and pulling the door open as a cold wind bit at her cheeks.

Levy felt the blood drain from her face when she saw the man on the other side of the door.

“Hello, Miss McGarden.” A sickening smile spread on very sharp features, both hands clasped behind his back as he leaned forward slightly and tilted his head.  “I don’t believe I need to introduce myself?”

In that moment she felt like she might lose the contents of her stomach.  He found me.  He. Found. Me. her thoughts spiralled for a few seconds, before her instincts caught up with her, and her grip tightened on her door and she willed a calmness onto her likely colorless face.

Jose furrowed his brow, “What?  No words now that I’m finally here?  You’ve been looking for me, haven’t you?”  He knew the answer to that.  She could hear it on his voice, he was playing with her already and she wanted no part of it.  Not an ounce.

Levy inhaled, steadying herself.  “I don’t know what you’re,” on the last syllable, she swung the door shut mid-sentence with everything she had.  Defiance, fueled by survival adrenaline, sung through her.

But it was short lived.

To her horror, the door hit resistance hard enough to send her staggering backwards: he had already inched his boot into the doorway to stop it.  She hadn’t even noticed.

The man chuckled gleefully and took a step forward.  “Now now, we don’t need to be so rude,” he tsked, wagging a chiding finger at her.  “I am just looking for something of mine.  Something I lost some time ago.  Something I’m fairly certain you can help me find?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she finished what she had started to say before, “and I don’t know who you are.  You have the wrong house, and my parents are going to be home any minute,” Levy said, tight-lipped.  She backed away a step, having lost her hold on the door.

“You can abandon the clueless act, it’s unbecoming.  I’ve had time, and I know all about you, Levy.  No one is coming home.”  Jose, standing a step inside her doorway, gripped the doorknob and leaned on it slightly. “You’re going to tell me where he is,” he commanded, a shadow falling on his face, “Or you will help me find him.  Your choice.”

“Never.”  With fiery determination on her face, she grabbed the hallway table and pulled it over as she sprinted back to her room.  She slammed her door shut and locked it, looking frantically around the space.  Finally, she grabbed a pen and one of the notebooks from the nightstand, opening it to the front cover.  Crudely, she scribbled, ‘He found me’ and shoved her insurance under her pillows.  She kicked her bag with everything she had taken from the lab under her bed as far as she could.  One more time she swept her eyes around the room and cursed under her breath; her phone was in the living room still.  Running, it seemed, was her only option.

The woman turned her attention to her window as her doorknob started to shake violently.  “Miss McGarden!” Jose drew out the last syllable of her name, sounding more pleased than made her comfortable.  ”Please don’t make this any more difficult than necessary,” his voice called from the other side of the door, chilling her.  She pulled her icy window open and desperately forced herself though with far more ease than the last person she had tried to squeeze through there.  Now was the only time her size had been a blessing.  

The chill assaulted her as she fell face first into the snow, freezing the bare skin her t-shirt didn’t cover.  At the very least she had on thick, cotton pants to protect her legs, hopefully, long enough for the sprint she was about to make.  She only needed to make it to town, to anyone.  Surely if they had witnesses he would back off for his own secrecy, and then, then she would go to Igneel.  

Levy scrambled to her feet, looking at the window behind her as she started to run.  Inside, she saw Jose in her doorway, but he wasn’t running for the window.  No, he just smiled at her.

She tried to run as best she could through the snow, and the moment she turned to face forward she slammed straight into a wall, knocking the wind out of herself.  Levy fell backwards, right back into the snow, blinking the stars from her eyes.  She gasped for the air she had lost, looking up to see a man with short, black hair in front of her.  He gave her no time to make out who he was, before something dark lashed out and struck the side of her neck, sending pain shooting through her like an arrow.  Everything went black, and Levy went limp in the snow.

A quick, double-knock at the solid wooden door stirred the fiery redhead from the papers at his desk.  He removed the glasses from his scruffed face and leaned forward on his elbows, “Come in,” Igneel called tentatively, hazel eyes watching none other than his son come through the door.  It was uncommon enough that Natsu would come here at all, but the obvious shallowness of his breaths set him on edge immediately.  Still, he kept his tone calm, “Natsu?  What brings you here?”

The boy wrung his hands together nervously, the words he needed to say heavy on his tongue.  “Hey dad,” his slow, uncertain tone was one Igneel was more than familiar with.  But it still worried him no less.

“What did you do?” he asked, frankly.  Natsu bounced on his feet a little, and it was then that his father noticed the paleness on his face.  The jitter in his hands.  “Out with it, Natsu,” Igneel ordered firmly.

Natsu gulped, making solid eye-contact with the police chief.  “Pops, Levy is in trouble.”

There was a moment of pause, and a flash of concern finally slipped onto the older man’s face.  “What kind of trouble?  That’s unlike her.”

He took a deep breath, and when he opened his mouth, everything came out in a rush.  “Look, I know what this sounds like but I need you to listen to me.  And I know I’m in trouble for even going there, but Levy is missing.  We went there that one night and we found something weird there but we thought we had put it to bed.  But then she told us about this guy that she found there.  And these powers he has because of some kind of experiments, and she only told us what she knew about the place--”

“Natsu,” his father stopped his rambling son with a low warning, “Stop, you’re not making any sense.  Where did you go?  How long has she been missing?” Igneel kept a dangerous calm in his tone to try and offset the boy’s shock, and though his son had a penchant for mischief, he now had his full attention.  It was clear that he was shaken, trying to get all the information out at once, but putting it in order was a challenge.

“The old lab,” Natsu finally clarified, and Igneel went stiff.  “Levy said it was called Jupiter something, and she was looking into it a lot after we went,” Natsu spoke as quickly as he could, and the more he said, the darker his father’s face became.  “And then she told us about this guy named Jose that she saw in town, and I think he might have something to do with–”

The chief’s chair scraped across the wooden floor as he stood abruptly, both palms resting on his desk. “Who?” Igneel snapped, cutting the boy off.  “Did she give you a last name?”

Natsu blinked, choked a little by his reaction. “In the notes, it said Jose Porla.”

The name seemed to strike a blow on Igneel and he flinched.  After a moment, he leaned forward, narrowing his eyes considerably.  “Are you sure?” his deep voice rumbled.  The recognition was not the reaction that Natsu had expected, and for a moment too long he stared slack-jawed at his father.  “Natsu!” Igneel snapped impatiently.  “You need to tell me right now how you have any of this information.  Any of it.  This isn’t a joke: how do you know any of this?” Something else seemed to catch up to him as the gears turned, processing the information.  “How long has she been missing?  How deep was she in all of this?”

“I don’t know, maybe a day,” Natsu answered, his voice wavering as urgency settled onto his father’s posture  “We saw her last night, and Lucy went over tonight after work and says she left behind her phone, her bag, everything.  She found a note under her pillow, all it said was ‘he found me,’” Natsu explained.  “She definitely told us that name.  She was in deep.  We only know all these details because of Levy.  All this time she had been trying to find out whatever she could, because of the guy we found there: Gajeel.  She’d had him staying with her.  Levy said he took off after she had run into Jose.”

Igneel cursed, “She had who at her house?”  Every word out of his son’s mouth was more kindling to the fire in his head.  He shook his head quickly, “You should have come to me with this immediately.” The edge in his voice looked like it struck the boy with each word.  But there was little he could do about it now.  Because he had a much bigger problem.  “Damn it.”  He turned from Natsu, stepping back to one of the many filing cabinets lined up behind his desk.  “I thought we were done with this.  That it had gone cold.  To think he would be as brazen as to…”

“Pops?”  Natsu called to him, but not immediate answer. “Dad, you know about all of this?”

“Of course I do,” he barked back over his shoulder before resuming leafing through several folders.  “Magnolia had a massive missing person’s crisis years ago.  It was one after the other, all of them were young adults and all of them had no connections: no family, few friends.  It took forever for us to even get wind of their disappearances and it was usually through landlords.  Who knows how many more we never heard about, some were just speculation: residents we knew lived here in cars or alleys, but just stopped being seen years ago.”  Igneel’s tone dropped slightly, “The disappearances stopped when the lab was destroyed and we found some evidence that some of the missing people had been there, but none of them were actually found.  It was the only solid connection we could make.  The building was condemned, half of it we could never get to.  Though it seems Levy found the cracks we didn’t.”  Igneel finally seemed to find what he was looking for and pulled out a thick file and dropped it onto his desk.  “I never wanted to touch this again,” he muttered under his breath.  “Levy may not have family but she still doesn’t fully fit the bill of their usual targets,” he mused, flipping open the manila folder and glancing up to Natsu, “You said she found someone in the facility?  A Gajeel?”  

Natsu nodded, “We all found him, just before Halloween.  He chased us off but she went back after.  She said she’s been taking care of him since, but like I said, he disappeared after she met Jose.”  

For all he knew about Levy, none of it was surprising.  Neither was the fact the three of them headed out there to snoop to begin with, as frustrating as it was to a father.  He flipped through the stack of papers on his desk, knowing he had read the name before.  Finally, Igneel dipped his head and tapped the print, “Right here.  Gajeel Redfox.  He was one of the unconfirmed, but he was well enough known around town that people noticed when he left.  No surviving family, more enemies than friends.  We had no proof of a connection to the facility, so we thought he left town.”

Natsu swallowed hard, not quite expecting to have dug up this much.  “She brought a whole bunch of notebooks from the place after he left, that’s why she wanted to go when we went the first time.  She thought she might find something that would help her find him, but it was all just details on what they did to them.”  The boy paused, heavily, “They’re not human anymore, dad.”

“She knows things she shouldn’t,” Igneel stated ominously, “And she’s gone ahead and got herself way more involved than she should be.  From Porla’s perspective she’s the only link he has to valuable property.  And she loosely matches up to just the type of person they used to target.  It makes perfect sense that he’d take her.”  Natsu tilted his head in questioning.  “They were going to sell the procedures for a fortune, that’s likely why we didn’t find any of them after the close-out.  That’s not something they are going to let go easy, but they all just disappeared after.”

Natsu swallowed hard, dread turning his stomach, “She’s in more trouble than we thought.”

“Much more,” he responded lowly, paging through the file.  “Her life’s in danger and if we ever want to see her again we need to work fast.”  Natsu watched him move past several photos of men and women, presumably the people who had gone missing.  

“I’ll do whatever you need me to.  We need to get her back,” Natsu announced, determination slowly replacing his shock.

“You will do nothing, you’ve already done what you can,” Igneel replied quickly, shooting Natsu a warning stare to show him he meant it.  Natsu frowned, but backed down as Igneel turned his attention back to his case file.  FInally, he hummed a little, “When we were conducting the investigation, we found evidence of another facility they planned to relocate to, in Hargeon.  But none of the original staff could be traced there, nor did we find any evidence of illegal or even related activity.  None of the locals knew anything.  The case was closed and went cold about a year ago.  That’s our best lead right now,” he slammed the folder shut and tucked it under his arm as he marched across the room and pulled open his door.  “I need to get some people on this.  I’m not letting this slip away from us again.”  Catching sight of the sick worry on his son’s face, Igneel strode around the desk and placed a firm hand on Natsu’s shoulder.  “We’re going to get her back.  I’m going to do everything in my power.”

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hey hun. So I am a Disney/fairytale/fantasy nut and was wondering if you could recommend any good Johnlock "Disney princess" or fairytale AU fics? Ta!

Hi Lovely!

I actually haven’t read any that come to mind immediately, other than these ones:

MOVIE /TV UNIVERSES

The Swan Triad Series by Pennin_Ink (T, 121,660 w. across 3 works || Swan Princess AU) – Sherlock and John grow up spending every summer together. Their mothers’ attempts to play matchmaker only fuel their mutual resentment and scorn. But then, one summer…

The Frost Child by twistedthicket1 (M, 9,944 w. || Frozen-ish AU || Angst, Fluff) – In a world where people are born with a Gift of varying levels, simple John Watson is the last person one might look at when thinking of any strong Magick capabilities. Hiding comfortably in the shadow of Sherlock’s brilliant deducing abilities, John is content to keep it that way…

Perdition’s Flames by i_ship_an_armada (E, 63,435 w., | Treklock AU) – Sherlock would do anything to save him. Risk anything. Give anything. His money, his life. His soul. What he does, though, is change both of their destinies forever. Genetic re-engineering is the only option left. It turns out researchers underestimated the life expectancy and potential abilities of genetically re-engineered subjects. The British government and what would eventually become the United Federation of Planets, however, had not. Part 1 of PF Universe

Coventry by standbygo (E, 52,020 w. || Dollhouse AU) – “Let me get this straight,” John said, wondering when his life had become a science fiction film. “Some guy orders up a personality, a person, to his specifications, and they program this into a real live person, who has consented to do this, and she goes to this person and acts as his wife, or lawyer, or Royal Marine, or Navy Seal or what have you, and she has all the skills, all the knowledge, everything? Then you say the magic words, and she follows you back to The House, and they erase it all until her next appointment?”

The Boy Who Drank Stars by kinklock (E, 36,187 w. || Howl’s Moving Castle | Slow Burn, Romance, Pining) – “I’m looking for a castle,” John informed the scarecrow. “A moving one.” Except that, as it turned out, it was not a moving one at all.

Impossible Improbable Truth by KaraRenee (M, 24,308 w. || Labyrinth AU) – John and Sherlock take a case investigating the disappearance of a teenage girl and her toddler half brother. What they find is an impossible adventure that leads them on a journey of discovery of their sexuality. {{I haven’t read this, but it’s on my Marked for Later and I remembered putting it on there LOL}}

Through Dangers Untold by hogwartswitch (E, 32,003 w. || Labyrinth AU) – The Goblin King has fallen in love with John Watson and visits him in dreams. But the evil wizard who cursed the Goblin King cannot allow that to continue. Will John survive the labyrinth? Or will he become a lost goblin like all the rest? {{I think I started this when it was a WiP, so I never finished it, hah. I don’t remember it all.}}

Malediction by MapleleafCameo (M, 36,680 w. || Ladyhawke AU) – Cursed to a half-life, John and Sherlock must fight the forces of evil to be reunited once again. {{I read this once a LONG time ago. I remember loving it.}}

Bel Canto by bendingsignpost (T, 96,751 w. || Phantom of the Opera AU || Major Character Death) – After years of waiting for wealthy patrons to faint, Dr John Watson discovers a far more interesting patient in the opera house basement. {{ Another I never finished, but this is the  “go to” PotO fic}}

The Dragon’s Soldier by twistedthicket1 (M, 154,667 w. || Smauglock || Past Rape/Non-con, H/C, Dragonlock) – When the dragons “came out” to the rest of the world, nobody expected the resulting War that broke out between Humans and Beasts. Both sides afraid and suspicious of each other, Humans drove Dragons into slavery, imprisoning them and turning their children into weapons for the military. Forced into hiding, many Dragons disguised themselves as Human and kept their secrets locked away, awaiting for the day when the royal blood line long since vanished would once again reappear and lay waste to the Humans that oppressed them. Can Dragon and Man really get along? Or even more, become friends? {{Another on my MFL list, haven’t read this yet so read at your own risk}}

The Soul Remembers by i_ship_an_armada (E, 43,636 w. || Oblivion AU || Dreams, Sci-Fi, Action/Adventure, Bittersweet Ending) – John Watson is the lone security repairman stationed on a desolate, nearly-ruined future Earth. His dreams are plagued by a tall, dark-haired man, and when his dreams meet reality, he will be forced to question everything he believes is the truth about his life.

Deducing Daisies by LlamaWithAPen (G, 144,583 w. WIP || Pushing Daisies AU || Friendship, Death, Humour) – What if you could touch someone and bring them back to life? Sherlock Holmes, the Detective, is a seemingly ordinary man with an extraordinary gift: he can bring the dead back to life with a single touch. {{Haven’t read this yet, it’s on my MFL list, read at own discretion}}

Once Upon a Beast Becoming by antietamfalls (T, 24,042 w. || Beauty and the Beast AU || Magical Realism, Romance) – An act of pride, a druid’s curse, an enchanted leaf; Sherlock’s torment has lasted an age. Hope arrives in the form of one John Watson, a man uniquely suited to break the spell. But with a single night to win his affections, Sherlock finds his carefully laid plans disrupted by a monstrous killer whose sights are set on the only thing he has left to lose: John. {{Haven’t read this yet, on MFL list. Read at your own discretion}}

SPECIAL ABILITIES

We Bleed into the Grey by QuinnAnderson (T, 4,989 w. | Fluff and Angst, Supernatural Elements) – It was stupid, really. What was the point of having an ability if it wasn’t even a useful one? Sherlock would just as soon be rid of his. Until he meets John Watson, that is. {{Sherlock can see Auras}}

An Experiment in Empathy Series by belovedmuerto (G to T, 62 397w across 13 stories) –  In which John is an empath, Sherlock is Sherlock, and an epic bromance happens. In the aftermath of The Great Game, John creates an unexpected bond between himself and Sherlock. Now they have to learn how to deal with it. John is better at this than Sherlock is. {{I LOVE this SERIES SO MUCH.}}

An Experiment in Apathy Series by belovedmuerto (G to E, 28,701 w. over 13 stories, WIP) – John and Sherlock navigate their complicated relationship. I adore this series, and it feels complete where it leaves off :)

Invisible by chappysmom (K+, 25+K w. || No Slash, semi-canon compliant) – John had had the knack for as long as he could remember. It wasn’t that he could become invisible, exactly. The laws of physics worked quite well in his vicinity, thank you very much. It was just that people tended … not to see him. {{This was one of the first AU’s I read, and I still love it to this day}}. SEQUELS: Still Invisible (ASiB) || Too Visible (THoB) || Invisible Once More (TRF) All are very good and should all be read.

Conductivity by Coquillage Atlas (K,11K+ w.|| Fantasy and Friendship) – John Watson, alone in London with a healing power he can hardly bear. A description of his life with magic, before and after Sherlock. {{Another really good AU!}} SEQUELS: Resistance || Reciprocity 

Left by lifeonmars (M, 45,153 w. || Magical Realism) – John Watson is left-handed. He’s tried not to let it affect his life, but as any Lefty knows, that’s almost impossible. (FAVE!!)

ANGELS AND DEMONS / WING!LOCK

I Used to Live Alone Before I Knew You by etothepii (T, 11,052 w. | Winglock) – Where Mycroft is an angel, Sherlock is a demon, and John is still John. {{I like this one because John is so perfect in it, and Sherlock cares so much about John}}

Fallen Series by Belladonna_Q & mamishka (T, 222,094 w. across 3 works, WiP || Angel!John, Fae & Fairies) – In a world where myth, mystery, and the supernatural flourish beneath the veneer of modern civilization, Sherlock is a master of magic as well as science and deduction. But there are some things that he cannot see, riddles he cannot unravel, even when they walk right beside him in the form of one John Watson…

A Certain Kind of Hunger by MapleleafCameo (E, 5,881w. || Somnophilia, Incubus!John, Tail Things) – A concerned Sherlock watches as John seems to be rapidly losing weight. What he discovers is that John really isn’t normal. And he is very, very hungry. The tail was the real surprise.

Angel by MrsNoggin (T, 1K+w. || Friendship, Winglock-ish) – John is an angel. That can be the only explanation. This is an interesting take on the Winglock universe.

Not The Hands That Kill by You_Light_The_Sky (M, 6,201 w. || Winglock, Implied Sex) – Having wings does not make Sherlock Holmes a guardian angel, not in the way that John Watson is his.

Guidelines by WithLoweredVoices (M, 43,018 w. || Winglock, Fantasy, BAMF!John) – The Good Soldier, one of the oldest and strongest of the fallen, is offered a bargain: to live as John Watson and to Guide a fledgling archangel so that he will stay on the path of good. Of course, Sherlock Holmes has different ideas about his destiny. Warnings for violence, occasional gore, and a whole load of hurt and angst.

It’s After That Hurts by jonnyluvssherlock (T, 2,791 w. || Winglock, Pining Sherlock, Minor Gore, Fallen Angel, Friends to Lovers) – Sherlock’s an angel stuck as a guardian to danger addict John Watson. Everything is fine until he gets too involved. Now he has to make the choice, eternity alone or one life time with a man who may or may not love him. {{This is only one chapter and it feels like it should be more… I love it but feels incomplete. Kind of an AU of City of Angels}}

VAMPIRES AND WEREWOLVES

John Watson’s Moon by patternofdefiance (E, 11,314 w. || Werewolf!John, First Time) – Sherlock finds out John is a werewold and wants to see the transformation. It, uh, gets really kinky.

An Acquired Taste by kinklock (E, 31,059 w. || Bat!Sherlock, Humour, Misunderstandings) – At Montague Street when Sherlock was forced to sate his body’s needs, he was at least able to wander about the flat as much as he pleased. At Baker Street, it was mini-bags in a mini-fridge and bedroom confinement.

Bleed Me Out by antietamfalls (E, 87,987 w. || Soul Bonding, John Whump, Fluff and Angst, H/C) – John isn’t exactly surprised to discover that Sherlock isn’t human. His vampirism doesn’t pose a problem, even when their relationship gradually grows into something more. That is, until a deadly revelation about John’s blood sends their lives spinning dangerously out of control.

MAGIC AND FANTASY

Shatter the Darkness (Let the Light In) by MojoFlower (E, 109,683 w. | GenieLock, Torture, H/C, Magical Realism) – Fairy tales are for those who remember how to dream; not John Watson, broken and hiding from his bleak future in a beige bedsit. But then he discovers a lamp and finds himself in the dangerous riptide of an enigmatic man whose very existence is unbelievable, murder charges against his sister, and the growing pains of feeling alive once more. {{This is a REALLY great story, which tears at your heart consistently}}.

De Veritate Unicornis Moderni by tepid sponge bath (T, 5K+ w. | Fantasy & Drama) – John Watson, a unicorn of this day and age, is trapped in a mortal body. Life as it is seems pretty pointless, almost unendurable, until he meets one Sherlock Holmes, consulting detective and very much a virgin. {{This is such an interesting take on unicorn mythology}}.

To Mend A Heart by dee-light (G, 1,472 w. || Magical Realism, H/C) – Hearts can be broken, and mended, and broken again. Good thing, then, that hearts are only the seat of all emotion, and not something Sherlock needs in order to live.

Winter of Life by You_Light_The_Sky (T, 5,178 w. || Magic Realism, Fluff, Christmas, Angst) – It was an experiment, really. On Christmas, Sherlock wrote to Santa asking for a friend. He got a broken toy soldier instead. This is the story of how he finds him again and again.

Software Malfunction by tiger_in_the_flightdeck (E, Tumblr fic || Android!lock, Jealous, Angst, Unhappy Ending) – Assigned as the head of Medical Research on the Baker, John Watson meets- and quickly falls in love with- Sherlock, a specially commissioned Companion android with a malfunction.

No Strings Attached by Elster (G, 2,714w. || Fae / Faeries, Love Confessions, Fairy Tales) – To save John from being spirited away Under the Hill, Sherlock challenges the fairy queen to a fiddle contest.

SUPERNATURAL AND UNEXPLAINED

The Semantics of Crop Circle Formation: a case study by Sherlock Holmes [unpublished] bycanolacrush (M, 41,710 w. || Sherlock POV, Aliens, Wordplay, Casefic) – “Look at these photographs,” I said, gesturing to the wall of crop circles. “What do you observe?”“Crop circles,” John replied.“Obvious. What else?”“Are…are those intestines surrounding them?”“Yes. The majority are bovine and ovine in origin. The farmers who have acquired these crop circles in their fields have also had a tenth of their livestock murdered and arranged thus.”“Why?” John said, presumably in a rhetorical fashion. I detest rhetorical questions. “That is what I must find out, John.”

The Red Dianthus by kinklock (T, 11,382 w. || BAMF!John, Misunderstandings, Halloween, Fluff) – The boys investigate a mysterious disappearance in a supposedly haunted house, and get much more than they bargained for.

Upon Waking by joolabee (E, 3,901 w. || Somnophilia, Mildly Dubious Consent, Angst) – It sets on slow: John can only be awake while Sherlock sleeps, and vice versa. Their lives are codependent, but never meeting. Like a set of scales.

London’s Ghost by JustlikeWater (K+, 5K+ w.|| Tragedy/Angst, MCD, TRF AU, Sherlock POV) – "Today, it’s been weeks since Sherlock died. Other times, years. He doesn’t know for sure, though. Time passes differently for the dead" 

Electric Potential by pygmymeese (T, 5K+ w. || Supernatural) – It’s not clear why everyone in the world suddenly gets a ghost only they can interact with. All John Watson knows is that he’s stuck with a brilliant, if smug, ex-consulting detective, and that life is definitely looking up.

Second Waltz by Atiki (T, 6,685 w. || MCD, Angst, Fluff, Cancer) – "The night I died, you wished I could wait for you.“

Where The Ghosts Have Voices by HappyJuicyfruit (M, 37,665 w. || John Whump, Magical Realism, Ghosts, Coma, Happy Ending) – John has lived his whole life as an outcast. It is only when he meets Sherlock, that be realizes being a freak might not be such a bad thing, and that the curse he has lived with his whole life may be a gift after all. {{Haven’t read this yet, it’s on my MFL list, read at your own discretion}}

SOULMATES / TATTOOS

The Heart On Your Sleeve by flawedamythyst (T, 5,441 w. || Heartmark, Stubborn Sherlock) –  Sherlock stared at the imperfect circle on his left wrist in horror, then sat down on his bed with a bit of a thump. After over thirty years, his heartmark was finally showing activity. This was not good.

The Best Picture of the Human Soul by SwissMiss (T, 5,776 w. || Tattoos, Finding Your True Love) – The stories of our lives are written on our skin. Every time you fall in love, you gain a mark. Part 1 of Imagines Moti

With All My Heart by QuinnAnderson (E, 19,257 w. || Tally Marks, Magical Realism, Fluff and Angst) – AU in which every time a person falls in love, a red line like a tally mark appears on their wrist. Sherlock is determined to keep himself from ever gaining one of these marks for fear that love will corrode his mental faculties. Then he meets John Watson.

Finding John by orphan_account (T, 5,456 w. || Symbolic Rings) – Sherlock Holmes has met exactly twenty-four Johns in his life. They have all been the wrong John. He’s getting tired of waiting, staring at the inscription on his finger and wondering when his John will turn up, if ever. Part 1 of Inscriptions

what’s in a name by flight815kitsune (NR, 1,285 w. || Soulmate Names) – There were some things you just knew. The name, if you were lucky enough to get one, was one of those things

the fearful passage of death-mark’d love by urcool91 (T, 1980 w. || Tattoos, H/C, Angst) – The first time that John meets Sherlock Holmes, the younger man has his sleeves pushed up to his elbows, wrists bare of any hint of ink. Within 48 hours, John has added “Jefferson Hope” to his clavicle. (Or: The One Where, When You Kill Someone, Their Name Shows Up On Your Arm)

OTHER

{{SEE ALSO: Johnlock Body Swap Fic Rec List}}

Bringing Colour to the World by SD_Ryan (G, 1,168w. || Est. Relationship, Sickfic, Fluff, Schmoop) – In which we encounter a sick detective, a snuggle on the couch, and a silly fairytale.

The Steadfast Tin Watson by what_alchemy  (T, 3,973 w. || Fairytales) – When the fairies left, they took their stories with them. But they left the characters behind.

Otherwise, I actually have a lot on my Marked for Later list, all of which have come from Alexx’s lists:

Sherlock & Beauty and the Beast Fusions

Disney & Sherlock

Magic, Monsters & Other Fairy Tales

Merlock, merfolk, mermaids

Ghosts