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the-amaranthine · 3 years ago

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memories

Summary: in which she enlists the help of Satoru Gojo and asks him to take her virginity, and parade he did so, by fake dating her, all to steer off her marriage prospects.

genre: fluff, eventual angst, smut(in future chapters)

pairing: satoru gojo x female reader (?)

tw/cw: sexual themes, misogyny, swearing, violence, (more warnings in the future chapters to avoid spoilers)

this first takes place before the zero arc, and progresses alongside the main story.

notes: I DO NOT OWN JUJUTSU KAISEN, all rights belong to Gege Akutami. This is only a work of fiction. I researched most of the lore regarding the Jujutsu world, but if I got something wrong please feel free to send me an ask and/or message me!

Full Summary:

Y/n Inumaki assumed she’s had a perfect upbringing all her life. Loving parents, and loving caretakers. She held the title as the only daughter of the Inumaki clan and is sought out by many to be their wife. When she started seeing visions of what was her life, memories of what she actually went through, she starts questioning everything that her life consisted of. She starts seeing what her prospective husband, Naoya Zenin, is for who he is. So, naturally, she receives help from the strongest sorcerer, Satoru Gojo so she does not become a mindless wife to the Zenin clan. The question is, is Naoya Zenin the only hindrance to accomplishing her plans towards freedom, or is there something far more sinister happening underneath the surface?

Prologue. Part One.

PART ONE

June 2006

The young Jujutsu sorcerer is in disbelief. It is the middle of summer vacation, so there should be fewer curses. He tries to recall all their lessons, and think about what to do when there is a 7-feet curse right in front of you. At any other time, he would find this whole situation bothersome and pay more attention to the raging headache emerging in the back of his head. However, he is not given a chance to swim in his thought since there is a stegosaurus-looking ugly piece of shit in front of him. To add more salt to the wound, his best friend and classmate are clutched in the curse’s veiny mud-green tentacle. The curse tried to wrap his tentacle around the boy and to the boy’s dismay, he is caught by this simple-minded oaf. He was about to perform his last resort when a glimpse of a familiar head of hair fills his line of sight. ‘Are you fucking kidding me?’ He thinks, now concluding that he not only has to save his idiot of a best friend but also this inexperienced girl, as she climbs the scales of the curse like the goddamn playground.

‘If my skin gets a scratch, my nanny, no my mother, will murder me,’ she determines. The image of the small frame of Amaya Inumaki pops in her head and she does not know what terrifies her more, this dinosaur-looking curse or her mother. Inexperienced is what she is, in fact, she is not even allowed in these missions, for fear that her incompetent physical abilities will hinder everyone else. She could not help herself, the girl from the Kyoto branch of Jujutsu Tech made fun of her, saying that all her purpose in life is producing children. She was only supposed to watch, gain visual experience as her seniors handled the mission. She is not supposed to be seen. However, when she saw that her other senior was taken by the ugly squid, dinosaur love-child she had to do something. So now, here she is, the girl who cannot even run the mile for warm-ups, climbing this damn curse. If she was not so petrified, she would take a picture, to brag to her cousin Toge, secretly of course. It is not like she tried, her touch was just not enough, she needed to get up near its ear, to speak suggestions. She has done it before, but the past times were to her handmaiden, a petite woman in her twenties. It cannot be much different, right? The only real difference is that this is probably a Grade 2 curse at least, and of course its height of 7 feet. She is feeling that height of 7 feet as she continues to climb one step, or should she say one scale at a time.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Is what the teenage boy screams in the clutches of the curse. She chooses to ignore his question as she is feeling queasy, and vomiting in front of them is pathetic. “Get down from there, then run to the outside of the veil and call someone useful instead!” The boy demands this time, feeling extremely frustrated that his kouhai is not listening to his words. ‘Is she deaf as well?’ He ponders, trying extremely hard to not say it out loud. He sees her reach the top and he finally realizes that Y/n is trying to save them. He hears mumbling on her end and sees that her hands are clasped tightly on the curse’s ears screaming her cursed technique in the monster. By some miracle, after a couple of minutes, the monster’s tentacles start loosening up on the two best friends, enough for the both of them to pry themselves off its slimy limbs. The curse wobbles a little, then slams to the ground. She did not kill it, merely gave the two boys a much easier attempt at exorcising the damn thing.

“Thank you Y/n-chan,” the boy’s best friend decided to fill the silence first with gratitude since he knows that his best friend would soon do the opposite. “If it weren’t for you-”

“What the actual hell was that? Are you able to even see? Do your rose-tinted glasses also hinder you from seeing and assessing that the curse that you just climbed on was dangerous?” The boy finally explodes after minutes of collecting himself. What Y/n achieved was impressive but there are more matters of import right now.

“I am sorry, I saw that you were also taken and I panicked. No one knew I was here, so I could not necessarily call anyone-” started the young girl but it seems her apology falls to deaf ears.

“Do you even understand what they will do to us, once they know that you were even within 10 feet of a Grade 2 curse? Do you wish for us to die? Princess, I understand that things always seem to go your way with a bat of an eyelash, but you are toying with our lives here! Do you just not care about-”

“Then do not tell anyone! Do not put me in the report, I was going to tell you that no one has to know that I was even here to not endanger your lives, you stupid brute! Don’t interrupt the girl who just saved your goddamn lives!”

If the boy she was arguing with was surprised she even had that side to her vocabulary, he did not show it and continued with his lecture. “A spoiled princess like you, Y/n, cannot even fathom the hardships that we have to go through in this missions. Someone who is favored by everyone and does not even attend physical training should not be allowed an opinion, let alone that attitude in missions. Do us a favor, and never repeat this stunt of yours, understand? Kids like you should not be allowed in missions either.”

“What the hell? If I am a kid then so are you, asshole! For your information, you’re welcome from saving you back there, next time I will see to it to turn a blind eye when you’re in need. Jackass.” The girl was spouting words she saw from a novel. It had an ‘enemies to lovers’ trope, thus why there are many colorful words. She is extremely happy that she picked that book up, if she did not do that, she thinks that the boy’s yelling will make her cry instead.

As the girl started her way back to the school she could feel the two boys behind her. There is the only way to their school after all. Y/n felt the burn in the back of her head, the boy glaring at her probably wanted to create a hole in her head instead. Regardless, this did not phase her, as she almost skipped school with self-satisfaction in her steps. ‘I have a chance to become an actual sorcerer,’ she keeps thinking. For once in her life, she felt that she finally had a purpose other than being a bride. Everything was exhilarating. Nonetheless, no one told her that once the adrenaline rush is gone, she would feel all her emotions about the prideful event all at once, as she spent her night vomiting in the girls’ dorm bathroom.

__________

Present

This void feels familiar to the young woman, agonizing and terrifying, but she is certain of its familiarity. The last thing she remembers was those damn dildos falling from her hands and a certain white-haired senior. In this void though, she could faintly see a man, no a boy, a very handsome one at that, albeit too emo for her liking. This man was yelling at whoever she is at the moment, something about being spoiled and taking everything for granted. It feels like he is talking to the young woman, but she could not be sure, since the Inumaki clan will not let their daughter in even the mere vicinity with someone that looks like him. However, she understands that the person that she is in right now, as her vision starts to cloud with what seemed like tears. The teenage boy in front seemed to soften when he noticed the tears, and quickly left the room. Another boy, on the other hand, looked more gentle, loving, and caring, grasped her hands, and offered her a comforting smile.

The scene in front fades and jumps to another. This one consisted of another teenage boy, a different one he looks more sinister than the previous boys, alongside an older man that resembles to be his father. Akimitsu and Amaya were all seated at a table in some fancy restaurant and the boy smiles with what seems to be charming to everyone else, yet his eyes hold a malicious and almost a carnal intent in them. The person that she is right now is most likely a girl and she did not feel comfortable. This girl stood up and it looked to be abrupt, catching the attention of everyone in attendance, and the juvenile woman started running towards the exit.

The scene jumps again, briefly seeing your Amaya Inumaki with eyes that are attached to waterfalls. Her mother came closer and for some reason this body was terrified, even whimpering in anticipation. Surely this must, not be Y/n Inumaki’s memories? She loves her gentle caring mother, even if she tends to be absent at times. Why is this girl so terrified of her? The scene fades to black, once again as the woman, Amaya, touches the girl’s head and hands.

Y/n hears screaming into the nothingness, realizing it is her own, having had no idea how terrifying this place truly is, she had no idea that this place even existed for this source of fear to foster. Rocking herself in what she hoped was a corner, not knowing how else one can bring comfort oneself, a faint light emerges, as another scene appears. Her parents, Amaya Inumaki and Akimitsu Inumaki are calling her their daughter, not believing such words because of what she has just witnessed beforehand. Her mother is telling the adolescent to wear the pale-yellow kimono instead, to please ‘Naoya-sama.’ Her father tells her pointers that can impress the Zenin clan and that there is an awaiting punishment if failed to do so. Seeing the world move up and down, indicates that this girl is agreeing by nodding. However, inside she feels burning bile that wanted, no that needed to be gone. Y/n witnesses several more scenes, some horrifying and some downright bloodcurdling, that she does not know if her wish from earlier to be taken away from that black void was the right choice.

________

The bright lights blinded her, but it was received with joy. All the visions, not the memories, alongside the void filled her with immense anxiety and this warm feeling of the light is most definitely welcomed. “What happened?” She somehow willed her vocal cords and croaked the words. She did not scream in ‘Spencers,’ did she? That would have been painfully embarrassing, as an image of a young woman in a kimono screaming like a banshee in front of the dildos’ section burned in her mind.

“Ah, the angel finally awoke from her deep slumber! Or is that sleeping beauty-”

“Gojo-sama,” Y/n interrupts, it was rude she admits, but she cannot hear this white-haired man continue his oncoming rant about Disney princesses when her family could be seconds away from finding her and in turn take her away. She has no idea how long it has been, and she needs to estimate her family’s whereabouts to make up a plan to intercede that.

“Stingy, are we? Was your beauty sleep not enough? If you must know, not only did you knock Shoko out cold, you, my angel, managed to also do it to the whole school! Fortunately, Yaga is still asleep and it seems like some of my beloved first-year students are close to waking up. I guess it’s convenient for you that the weekly sorcerers' meeting has been canceled today. I wonder what any of them will say when they learn of your capabilities?”

“Excuse me,” the girl does not know how to start. She was not even aware of anything, until a few minutes ago, after learning from her visions. “That’s impossible, I can only use my technique on one person at a time,” she reasons out. She now knows the widespread of her abilities and she would be damned if the Satoru Gojo finds out what they are, before Y/n can even determine her next step.

“Ah, ah! Angels can’t lie! If you don’t want to tell me right now, that’s alright, I can easily eliminate you if necessary,” Eliminate, not stop, the girl notes. She has unfortunately been written in Satoru Gojo’s ‘to kill list,’ it seems. “What you need to tell me, though sweetheart, are your intentions.” She hears the deeper change in intonation in his voice. This must be serious Satoru. “I can’t have you walk out of here without giving me some assurances.”

“I thought you could easily eliminate me in one go? Why do I have to provide you with assurances? Are you, perhaps, scared Gojo-sama?” She does not know, why now of all times has she let her filter go. This was extremely reckless to do, especially to someone that can kill her without him physically moving.

“And she has an attitude! Wonderful Y/n-chan! I do love a woman that keeps me on my toes, and you angel, managed to surprise me many times today! If you must know, you basically put everyone on hostage and the only one that is awake right now, it seems, is Toge-Kun. He is on his way here right now actually; does that mean he knows about this?” That damned Six-Eyes of the Gojo clan.

“No! Toge-Kun is innocent. He is only a child and he does not know anything. Please, keep him away from this. Especially, when my family comes for me. I am currently in a predicament and I do not know who to trust. He and I should be separated right now.”

“Nee-san?” I guess you were too late. Throughout the many years together in the Inumaki estate, you have come to understand Toge without his need to say the ingredients of onigiri. His eyes alone already speak a thousand words. You can see the hurt and betrayal in them as if to say, ‘you do not trust me?’

“I am sorry Toge-Kun! I didn't mean to hurt you. Mother and Father must be on their way, please do not let them see you here. I promise you that I will tell you everything once it has all settled down, okay?” A protest starts to fill his eyes and mannerisms, which Y/n quickly decimates with a firm yet motherly, “Now, Toge.” Her cousin let his head fall and nodded slowly. He starts his way to the door, when she quickly stops him, “I’m sorry, Toge. You are the only one I trust okay?” The cursed speech user seemed to brighten up more once he heard her reassuring words and quickly left the room.

“That was touching and all, but I am curious about one thing,” Gojo interrupts Y/n’s train of thought.

“Before you ask, will you please do me a favor?”

“What is it, my darling?”

“Please do not let my parents or the Zenin’s bring me back to the estate. I cannot afford to be brought back there again.” Now that Y/n is aware of the sinister things happening around her, the last thing she needs is for the cycle to continue by being dragged to the Inumaki estate and back to her parents’ clutches.

“You wish, my command, my darling, but it comes with a price. Fairly easy, actually."

The shit-eating grin Satoru has plastered on his face is a definite foretelling that this so-called ‘price’ is not even in the same galaxy as ‘fairly easy.’ Regardless, she abides by his wishes, because if anyone can stop the two clans' impending plan, it’s the strongest sorcerer. “Anything,” she responds with slight hesitation.

“Answer my questions,” he fires back as soon as she responded.

“Alright, if you accomplish the task I asked you to do I will answer all of them, is that good enough for you?”

“Wonderful! So, have you come to a choice between the pink or yellow dildo-” he did not get to finish, for Y/n threw the hospital pillow at him, with Infinity stopping the intended course of action of course. “I mean if you truly wanted some, this senior is overjoyed to oblige.” You could not retort an excuse as he teleported away comically looking like the Cheshire cat as it seemed like his grin was the last to leave the place.

‘That’s enough incentive for him, I guess,” Y/n thinks. Immediately, resuming to the forming and solidifying of her plan of action, once her family, no once Armageddon arrives.

To be continued.

part two.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I know it is a bit slow at the moment, but things will start picking up on the next chapter! The next update will most likely be this saturday nov 20 or sunday nov 21. I hope you all have a great day!

#gojo satoru x reader #jujutsu gojo #gojo x you #gojo x reader #gojo satoru x y/n #gojo satoru #jjk fanfic #jjk x y/n #jjk x you #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu sorcerer #jujutsu kaisen satoru #jujutsu kaisen gojo #zenin naoya #zenin #inumaki

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holly-fixation · 3 years ago

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Ink Clouds: Chapter 9

Summary so far: Cloud is sent back in time by the calamity, who permanently damaged his brain. He is now half squid, and constantly spewing ink that carries Geostigma. Cloud tried to deny the calamity and carve the location of Sephiroth's birth mother. However, he was in ridiculous pain because of it. He tried to ask Sephiroth to 'Forgive'. But every time, Sephiroth felt a sudden and barely controllable killer instinct take over, and a single thought that wasn't his own run through his head: I want you to beg for forgiveness.

Based on the prompt by @im-totally-not-an-alien

Please Enjoy!

Chapter 9: Planning

Hours after the latest interaction with the creature, Zack received a text on his phone. It was in the "First Class" group chat, which they all used so sparingly before the stigma that all the messages were only about meeting up for meals. The newest one, to his surprise, was sent by Sephiroth.

'Meet at my apartment at 9PM. We need to talk in private. I sent you all its location.'

Zack was the first to respond.

‘Gotcha. Is there anything we should bring?”

His mentor’s reply was way too quick.

‘Get photos of the creature’s drawings from R&D. That should be all.’

‘Understood.’

Then the other First’s replied.

‘I’ll be in R&D for cure testing. I’ll take some photos as a backup.”

Angeal, ever the planner.

‘I’ll be a bit late. I have a meeting with Lazard at 8:45.”

Genesis always had an excuse if his job wasn’t on the line.

‘That’s fine. We’ll wait.’

Sephiroth sent the final message, and the chat was silent for the rest of the day.

* * *

8:30 was the meeting with all the Firsts about their new schedule the next day. Nothing major, just the usual information on training rooms and helping a few of the Seconds, Thirds, and lower troops sharpen their skills. After the briefing was complete, three of the four firsts left without a word. Genesis stayed behind and addressed the director.

“What did you need to talk with me about, Director?" Genesis asked casually from the desk he was already leaning against.

Lazard pushed up his glasses and looked at the man in red. “I hate to ask you this-”

“But you’re going to anyway.”

“If there was another option-”

“You would have picked it.”

The director glared and paused.

Genesis glanced away with a soft chuckle. “You can fire me, I know. I’m just having a little fun before you drop the news.”

“Zangan is arriving in three days,” Lazard stated.

“What? Zangan?” He asked in surprise. Of course the SOLDIER had at least heard of him. “To SOLDIER or Shinra in general?”

“For SOLDIER. He explicitly requested to train some of the SOLDIER members in exchange for allowing his newest student to train with SOLDIERs and explore the SOLDIER floor,” He explained with little emotion.

“And to give Shinra a white limelight instead of a red one?”

“That’s…I don’t think that’s how that phrase works, but yes.” He continued, and now his expression turned sorrowful. “Shinra needs to look good, and the student will need a guide.” He paused.

Silence.

“You are not suggesting this.”

“There are no missions, no clean up, no monster attacks, no mako reactors, no nothing that can get you out of this. Shinra needs you to look good for the masses.” Sephiroth had Zack. Angeal had the stigma.

Genesis can’t push this onto someone else.

“Why does it have to be a First?” He questioned.

“With a name as popular as Zangan, we need to give an equally known name in return.”

He scoffed, but the director was right.

“Three days, you said?”

“Three days.”

“I’ll be ready.”

* * *

Sephiroth's apartment was different than Zack expected, absolutely different from the barracks and his tiny 'apartment' near the SOLDIER floor. Having more than twelve square feet of personal space was a mansion as far as he was concerned. The full living room and full kitchen he could see without opening the three or four doors were beautiful as far as he was concerned. But, after waiting for Genesis for thirteen minutes and counting, the three other SOLDIERs were getting antsy. Well, maybe just Zack.

"So how are the troops doing in all this?" Zack asked Angeal to pass the time.

Angeal gave a soft huff in reply. "As restless as everyone else quarantined from the stigma. Some of them are clearly looking for fights, but I've talked to a couple that have a real selfless drive."

"Ah, dreams and honor?"

He looked his former apprentice in the eyes. "Honor," He specified. "Some of them started out saying they were gonna be heroes, and now complain that they have nothing to kill. A few, and I mean a few, truly want to help others with the power SOLDIER can give them when they make it."

"'When'?"

"When. They have what it takes. It's only a matter of time."

"You better secure your place then, Zack," Sephiroth called from the kitchen with the slightest hint of a joke in his voice.

"Hey!" He yelled in response, and the other man laughed.

Finally, there was a knock at the door, and Sephiroth was the fastest to open it.

"Will you let me in if I'm fashionably late?" Genesis joked with a gesture of his hands.

Sephiroth smirked. "Hm. Have a seat."

The man in red entered and took the chair next to his old friend. They heard the door lock before the silver general took his seat with his tablet in front of him. They all silenced for a moment. It was time for business.

"Now," Sephiroth began. "You all have the photos Zack sent, correct?" He turned his tablet to the three of them with the three drawings the creature made on the screen.

They all nodded.

"Zack and I," He started but glanced at Zack for confirmation, who again nodded in response, "are trying to decipher the locations depicted in the latest two before R&D can send a team over to cover it up."

"Do you know specifically what is at these locations?" Angeal asked.

"If the creature drew them, it can't be good."

"I think I recognize this mountainscape," Zack pointed to the drawing with a waterfall. "But the mako reactor...might be Mt. Correl?"

"It can't be," Angeal corrected. "Mt. Correl's mako fountains were dug several hundred feet around the reactor. It's practically a mako crater."

"...Why do you care about this so much?" Genesis asked with no mockery, his voice holding logic and analysis.

All eyes were on Sephiroth and Zack.

"...The creature has shown capability for high intelligence since the day we captured it," Zack started first, trying to give Sephiroth an out. "If rumors are true, and it is a human that R&D experimented on that escaped confinement? Then they will do everything in their power to cover it up, and we'll never find or fix anything."

"Hojo will do anything in his power," Sephiroth corrected their story with malice leaking through his words. "All of R&D should not go down for his arrogance."

"Are you claiming it has nothing to do with you?" The man in red asked as he zoomed in on the first drawing the creature made: the one SOLDIER in question was clearly carved inside.

"...No," He answered honestly. "But if they get there first, and destroy all the information this creature somehow knows about me-"

"What he's trying to say," Zack cut him off, giving him the moment to calm himself down, "is that we know this cover-up can not only seal his past, but all of SOLDIER's origins." He barely breathed as he continued, "Think of it like… He's the strongest, we all know that. And if they're hiding info about him what the hell are they hiding about the rest of us? Would they bother to hide it until it's too large for them to control?"

That seemed to buy them over.

"You two became a team quickly," Angeal mumbled with a small hint of jealousy.

"If I believe you," Genesis started, "and we do try to get permission to explore these places, we won't be leaving for another week and a half."

"What? Why?" Zack asked in surprise as the two others gave the red head confused looks.

"Zangan is coming in three days. He's bringing a student to train with SOLDIER, and in return, he's training SOLDIER members for a week." He continued with soft annoyance. "The company needs to keep appearances better with the rumors going around, and we will absolutely be forced to stay here in order to make them look good."

"That's-!" Zack started but then sighed.

"Inconvenient," Sephiroth finished for him. "But not unbearable if they keep R&D locked up to prevent more leaks."

They nodded and couldn't argue with that one.

"Back to business," He continued, while Zack opened his own tablet. "We-"

"Wait," Angeal asked before moving the image to the last drawing. "Does this look like a carving the creature made?"

"It could be, if it was in pain," Genesis mentioned.

"It was," Zack informed as he continued on his tablet. "You could hear it and see it. Also the entire tank was pitch black when we arrived."

"It's clearly carved," Sephiroth added. "R&D can't waste resources on carvings in the tank without getting caught by the board."

"What makes you so sure?" Angeal questioned.

He paused and gripped his fist. "Hojo takes too much interest in the creature to risk falsifying information."

Zack nodded. "We saw him. He's too invested."

"Then we'll keep that as a maybe," Genesis replied.

"Agreed," the silver general affirmed.

"Found one!" Zack suddenly yelled as he smacked his tablet down on the table. "Finally had time to try Moogle Maps."

He was right, this was the lake in the mountains with the waterfall.

"Where are we?" Genesis asked as he watched the little Moogle model idly hop from foot to foot.

"The center of the western continent, on the river south of Gold Saucer."

"It'll be harder to get go-clearance, but it's a start," Sephiroth mentioned. "Any luck with the other?"

"I did," Genesis interrupted as he showed them his phone. "A list of mako reactors and pictures of each, the closest resemblance is in the mountains behind a small village called Nibelhiem."

"Isn't that also on the western continent?" Angeal asked.

They all paused as Genesis looked.

Damn.

"It's not that far from the waterfall," He stated as if it was more helpful that way.

Zack leaned back, thinking out loud, "Getting a ride to either is going to suck."

"Getting a ship from Junon may be the least of our problems," Genesis added.

"...I may be able to pull something," Sephiroth started, now with the full attention of the rest of the table. "R&D may try to go to these locations as well, but they won't get clearance alone. They may need a SOLDIER escort."

They looked to each other for a moment.

"Let's keep that as 'Plan A'. For Plan B," Angeal suggested to Sephiroth. "You rarely ask for anything in return from the company. Can you use that as an excuse?"

"I can try. However, I'm not sure that will lower suspicion," He explained. "Any other ideas?"

"I may have an unrelated friend in Junon with a helicopter," Genesis mentioned casually. "She can probably get us on the ship, possibly to Gold Saucer."

They nodded.

"Plan C," the silver general stated as Angeal tried to hide a tired yawn. "That may be good for now. If you come up with anything else, call me. Do not leave a message and do not text."

Genesis nodded. “No paper trail?”

“None.”

They all nodded in agreement.

“If that’s all,” the red head began to stand. “I have some much needed rest I need to catch up on.”

“And I have to mentor some new troops at 4AM,” Angeal mentioned as he followed.

“Alright, you win,” Genesis put his hands up in defeat. They all chuckled.

“Then see you later,” Zack said with a smile before turning to Sephiroth. “Can I use your bathroom?”

He nodded and flicked his head to the hallway. “First door on the left.”

“Thanks,” Zack left as they continued their short goodbyes. Once the two other SOLDIERs were gone long enough, he came back out.

Sephiroth gave him a strange look.

“We need to talk,” Zack stated with no hint of anger or annoyance, completely calm, “about what happened with Cloud this morning.”

Thanks for reading!

#final fantasy 7 #cloud strife #ff7 #sephiroth #final fantasy vii #zack fair #ffvii #i was gonna keep going but I wanted this to have a cliffhanger #also i was terrified of writing sephiroth when i started #so im glad i tried #your support really helps #slightly longer chapter this time guys #thanks for reading!! hope you enjoy!!#first attempt at a fan fiction #ink clouds

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ghostlywritten · 4 years ago

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If Only I Had Stayed In The Shadows - Chapter Ten

James Potter x OC

Words: 4,8k

Prologue Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine

The break passed and life in Hogwarts continued in blissful peace for the next few months. At least for us students. Outside of the walls and grounds of Hogwarts, the situation was getting darker and darker each day. People went missing or were declared as dead, causing chills down our spines whenever the list grew longer with each newspaper.

I sighed, folding a piece of parchment that contained a letter from my parents about their well being. They were alright but had to take a lot of extra hours, giving how more and more muggleborn or halfblood wizards and witches were registered every day and night with the worst injuries at their hospital. Some - if not many - did not make it by the end of the next dawn. A hand snatched the letter from my hand and I glanced over at the messy-haired boy next to me as he unfolded it again. "Ever heard of privacy?" I asked and his eyes widenend in mock-astonishment, "No, what's that?"

His good mood evaporated slightly though after he skimmed the letter and an usually solemn expression graced his features instead. "Things are really getting worse everyday, aren't they?" he asked quietly, catching Sirius' attention from his other side.

"What's getting worse everyday?" he questioned, joining our conversation. Remus, Peter, Lily and Marlene looked up from their sheets as well. We were gathered together in the Common Room, sitting at one table to 'study'. Some would think it odd since we never usually mingled together, especially with Lily's open hatred towards James and everything the Marauders stood for. But ever since he and I got together, everyone consequently spent more time together as a group, surprisingly getting along...most of the time.

"A lot of people are dying or getting injured," James replied, handing me back my letter.

"Mom says, the hospital is being run down. They won't be able to carry so many patients for long," I added, feeling uneasy, "Apparently the healthcare system is close to collapsing."

"That's bad," Marlene commented, worry creasing her forehead, "What's going to happen if this goes on?" Everyone shrugged, glancing at each other helplessly as no one had an answer.

"The Ministry will figure it out eventually," Remus tried to reassure us all, straightening up in optimism.

"Right, they always do," Lily agreed, causing Sirius to scoff quietly. She gave him a challenging look, raising her eyebrow. "You've got anything to say, Black?"

"There is a lot I could say that would certainly not please you, Evans," Sirius quipped.

"Anyways," James cut in before a bicker session could begin between them, "We shouldn't turn our hair grey because of this. We are young! And still have more than a year left in the safest place in the country."

I nodded in agreement, leaning into him as he threw his arm around me. Lily silently flickered her deep green eyes between us.

"But what happens after we graduate?" Peter spoke up with an almost quivering voice as he still looked worried.

"Let our future selfs worry about that," Sirius dismissed.

"We should still have a plan though," Lily pointed out and I allowed a frown on my face after she finally ripped her intense gaze off. She had been doing that a lot lately, staring at our interactions longer than deemed normal. What was her issue? "You know, the teachers are planning to start sessions for career advice with each of us. Having no plan probably won't look good."

"Oh, I already know what I'm going to do," Sirius shot back immediately, smirking confidently, "Auror sounds pretty enticing, especially during this time, doesn't it?"

"Same," James said and I resisted the urge to raise my eyebrows at his confidence, "That or Quidditch," he added as an afterthought.

"I don't know," Marlene mused, "Auror does have a nice ring to it but I always thought I would do something with Potions...," Stunned silence and a collective jaw drop followed. The brown-haired beauty burst out in laughter at our disbelieved looks, shaking her head, "Just joking. You should see your faces."

I rolled my eyes at her. "You really got us there for a second, Marls," Remus chuckled.

The evening passed and even though I would have liked to say we did a lot of studying...we didn't. "Well, Remus and I gotta go," Lily sighed, getting up, "We're patrolling tonight."

"Uh, sounds fun," Marlene commented sarcastically and the red head shot her a look.

"Right, on it!" Remus got up as well, readying himself, "Boys, don't pull any pranks tonight. It will make me look bad."

"But Moony, now is the best time! With you on patrol, we won't get any punishment!" Sirius stated indignantly.

"That's exactly what I mean with making me look bad," Remus remarked with a sigh, "I'm a prefect, mate. Help me out by not doing anything."

The black-haired boy seemed to contemplate his options before giving in with a pout, "Fine, but you owe me."

"Good boy," Remus said, patting his head like a dog, "I'll see you guys later...ladies, have a good night."

"Night, Remus!"

"So, if no pranks are allowed...how about we get a midnight snack from the kitchen and head to the Astronomy Tower?" James suggested and I gave him an offended look even though my heart fluttered at his romantic suggestion. "I am second to your pranks? Really?"

"Of course you are!" Sirius snickered.

"Of course you are not!" James contradicted and it was his best mate's turn to give him an affronted look. "Really, Prongs? You're giving me up for a lass so easily?"

"...Pretty much, yes," James shrugged, causing me to snort.

Sirius pouted. "Can I at least tag along?"

"Me too?" Peter added himself.

"Sorry mates, this time is only for me and my love," James declined, pulling me closer as we got up and kissing my temple. I blushed slightly at his open affection. Ever since New Year's Eve we had become closer and practically glued to each other. I couldn't believe my luck at this point, wondering how I had managed to capture the attention of this charismatic and sweet boy when I was a rather boring girl with a boring life. Yet, here we were, officially together for about four months in and going strong.

After grabbing a few snacks from the kitchen, we headed up to the highest tower in the school. I sat down at the ledge, leaning against the barrier with my arms and resting my chin on them as I breathed in the fresh night air. James settled down next to me, quietly handing me a sandwich I bit into immediately whilst we enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere and presence of the other. The view was magnificent, moonlight reflecting from the slight waves of the black sea and I imagined the Giant Squid breaking the surface with its tentacles from time to time.

"What are you thinking about?" James eventually asked softly and I glanced over. His cheek rested on his crossed arms, eyes locked on my face. I blushed slightly at his gaze, looking back out at the landscape. A tinge of happiness rose in me as I thought how life was for me at the moment. Despite my parents throwing fits because of my career choices, I had a great boyfriend, who supported me in everything. And as cliché as it sounded, he made me feel safe during the dangerous times of war raging just outside of the Hogwarts grounds. Is that what love makes you feel-? My thoughts came to a screeching halt at the l-word before it started racing uncontrollably fast. Love? Did I love him?

"Cec?" James poked my arm, breaking me out of my reverie and I twitched slightly in surprise, "Are you spacing out on me?"

"N-no, I was just...," my eyes flickered around for an escape, "..daydreaming," I ended lamely, pressing my mouth against my underarm.

"Okay?" James raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing me, "Are you cold? You are twitching like a weirdo."

"Jeez, thanks," I said sarcastically, though immediately blushed when he scooted closer, throwing an arm around me. "It's alright, weirdo," he said with a grin, "I'll be your knight in shining amor once again and keep you warm."

"And once again, I gotta remind you of a little magic trick called Heating Charm," I replied with the same grin, warmth spreading through me at his cute gesture. James was full of cute gestures, it was a miracle no one knew that. Maybe, because he had never been able to show this side of him before. I bit my lip, shyly acknowledging the increase of my heartbeat at his proximity, the realisation of my feelings suddenly becoming clear.

I had fallen for that idiot.

Days had passed and I was mulling over how to tell James about my feelings. Should I tell him at all? Should I wait for him to say it first? Did he feel the same anyway?

There was only one person to ask for love advice. Someone, who had helped me before.

"Marlene, should I tell him?" I asked.

"Absolutely not," the beautiful Gryffindor answered immediately with her eyes wide.

"Why not?"

"The boy has to say it first. That's the rule."

I made a face. "Is that really? Or are you just making it up?"

Marlene sighed, grabbing my shoulders. "Dearest Cec. We girls easily fall in love. And we figure it out quite easily, too. A boy usually needs a while longer and if the girl were to approach him with her feelings, he would immediately feel swamped and make a beeline for the next exit. Until he is not sure of his own feelings, I wouldn't tell him."

I frowned slightly, "That's a bit biased, don't you think? I'm sure not all boys would try to run away."

"Oh believe me, they will," Marlene stated almost darkly. Something told me, she was talking from experience but I was not enough of a Gryffindor to dig deeper. She noticed my gaze though and immediately let go of my shoulders, leaning back in nonchalance. "I mean, you can risk it and tell him or you can wait. Personally, I believe waiting is the best. It doesn't hurt now, does it?"

I pondered over her words whilst wandering the halls in search of the one boy, who kept running through my mind. Sure, it wouldn't hurt to wait for him to say it first, but the question was how long would he need to realise it? Could I perhaps quicken it up by just telling him first, making him notice his own feelings faster? Or would it just pressure him to say it, too even if he doesn't mean it? That thought filled me with horror and I swiftly decided to keep my mouth shut.

Though, when I rounded the corner to the courtyard and saw him standing in all his bespectacled, nut brown messy haired glory I couldn't help but suddenly hear my heartbeat loud and clearly, drumming in my ears in a pace it would usually go after a sprint or a run up of blasted staircases. I couldn't help but stop short in my movements to savour the sight of his smile for a second, the same smile he would direct at his mates and me, all the people he loved (perhaps he did actually love me, too), his teeth shining in the sunlight that would occasionally peak through between the many clouds and I decided to tell him my feelings then and there, head slightly dizzy from the once again quick change of mind. But before I took a step forward, my eyes flickered away from him at the reflection of the sun on shiny red hair, rippled in perfect waves and slightly blinding. And then they flickered towards a pair of glistening, emerald green eyes that were smiling at the exact same boy I wanted to talk and spill my feelings to.

I swiftly stepped back in the shadows, wincing at my own behaviour. Why was I spying on them? They were doing nothing but talking, laughing at each other...something I had never seen Lily do with James before. Ever. Wishing I could hear what they were saying I looked back at James, feeling my chest warm at the sight of his smile but almost burn at the realisation who it was directed to. All the people he loved...

'No,' I shook my head, 'We've talked about this before we got together. He made it clear that he lost interest in her...after pining after her for years.' She clearly never reciprocated his feelings, so their not-lovestory was over when he moved on. But what if she did reciprocate his feelings? I thought back on all the times I caught her staring at us. Could it be that she had been feeling something for him all along and was just hiding it? Or didn't realise it until now?

Marlene's lessons on keeping a boy interested crossed my mind. Would trying hard to get work on girls, too? After all, James had been chasing her for years and suddenly stopped paying attention to her. He was even in a relationship. But would that spark an interest in Lily? Certainly not. She wasn't the type to chase after someone, who was taken, not to mention one, who had been annoying her for years. No, she was just befriending him now that he wasn't pining after her, seeing as they were in the same friendship circles. We were all spending more time together, the girls and the Marauders. And as Marlene, Alice and I were starting to get along more with the boys, so was Lily. It was bound to happen that we all grew closer. If anything, it was a good thing.

I relaxed a bit at that conclusion, smiling slightly as they laughed quite loudly at something James said. Back then, when I was obsessing more over other people's relationships (since I had none of my own), I always thought they would get along really well if James hadn't been chasing her in his boisterous and overly-done way. Him, with his wild and goofy nature that would dare her to many adventures, and her, who would be able to tame him and not take it too far, keeping him on the ground.

+A perfect friendship.

A perfect relationship.

My smile faded and I turned around. Despite myself, I didn't dare to reveal my feelings to the boy on that day.

Neither did I on the following days that turned to weeks until we reached the end of the spring and the world slowly turned warmer in the first days of the summer with a turn from April to May. Everything was as normal as it could get when you were friends with the Marauders. Classes were the same, Quidditch practices were the same, we had won the last game against Ravenclaw and were now on first place to win the Cup as long as Slytherin lost against Hufflepuff (which was quite unlikely, but nobody tell James). The Marauders pulled their usual pranks, although they were more tamed than in their previous years and less directed at us girls. James and I were still going to strong...yet none of us had said the l-word even though we had been together for almost eight months by now. And although Marlene kept reassuring me that it was normal for boys to take longer in their admittance for love, all the romantic books that I'd read throughout my teenage years stated otherwise. We should have long since reached that stage to proclaim our love for each other, shouldn't we? Hell, James proclaimed his love for Lily everyday for years ever since he saw her and they weren't even together. It shouldn't be hard for him to realise whether he loved me or not.

This fueled my insecurities more each day that passed without a confession, which caused me to keep my mouth shut about my own feelings, too. Instead I found myself frequently catching James and Lily alone, deep in conversation, whenever I was looking for him after he went missing on all of us. Either at the library, where I had never seen him go as often as now and on his own will, too, or outside at the courtyard or on the Hogwarts grounds with her sitting in the shade of a tree and him dangling from a branch above her, grinning down at her as she laughed whenever his glasses slipped askew from his upside down position. It was practically a picture ripped from the pages of a romance novel. And the burning feeling in my chest would continue.

"Lily and James are getting along pretty well, aren't they?" I commented off-handedly one day. Marlene, Alice and I were sat in the library together, studying for the upcoming exams with Lily having gone to fetch more books. Alice tensed up slightly, her eyes flashing from me to her book whilst Marlene looked up, shrugging nonchalantly. "Guess so. Now that he is not annoying her anymore."

"Right. Good thing," I said, nodding along to her words. Needless to say it was relieving to see that she had the same thoughts as me about this. An expert like her would have caught on if there was something more to their sudden closeness, right? Nonetheless I looked over at Alice, who suddenly seemed very busy with scribbling something down on her parchment. Alice, who out of the three of us was the closest to Lily and who would likely know exactly what was going on. "What do you think, Alice?" I asked her bluntly as she didn't seem to want to join the conversation on her own.

Startled, she looked up and I gave her a tight-lipped smile as I awaited her answer. "Eh, yes. They seem to get along better than before. At least, Lily is not yelling her head off anymore every time she sees him," she replied, laughing albeit nervously. Just then, the aforementioned girl headed back towards our table with four books stacked in her arms. I gnawed on my lip, wondering how to ease the constriction in my chest that had been my constant companion for a while now with the ongoing uncertainty.

"Hey Lily, are you dating someone?" I asked her as she sat down. Her books promptly landed on the table with a bang as she had slackened her grip on them in surprise. I cringed slightly at the glare thrown at us from Madam Pince and Lily mouthed a silent 'sorry' at her.

"What? Why do you ask?" she coughed slightly, glancing at the other girls, who had looked up in interest now.

I shrugged. "Just wondering. You are pretty and someone ought to have to courage to ask you out, now that James is not holding anyone back from it," I laughed slightly at the end, hoping to dissolve the suddenly awkward atmosphere that appeared at my statement.

"She's right, Lils," Marlene thankfully butted in, blissfully unaware, "You are the only single among us and you've been for a while. It's time to get some!" Lily went beet red, reaching over to smack her on the arm as we all snickered slightly. "Jesus, Marlene. That's so inappropiate!"

"What? It's true! You are the only single among us. And someone is bound to have asked you out lately! Right?" the brown-haired beauty pressed on and I had never been more grateful for her noisiness than now.

Lily grumbled under her breath, hesitating slightly before she gave in, "Maybe. Some Ravenclaw perhaps." Our eyes widened and Marlene squealed as quietly as she could. "I'm not interested though!" she quickly added at our excited looks, deflating my relief, "Now drop it. We are here to study." And with that, she successfully ended the topic.

Later at night I met up with James at the Astronomy Tower, our usual spot when we wanted to hang out after curfew. "Hey, how was your day?" he greeted me warmly as I sat down next to him at the edge of the tower, resting my arms against the railing. A cool breezed rushed throughout the tower and James quickly scooted closer to wrap his arms around me before I even started to shiver and I smiled at his sweet gesture.

"Quite well. Studied a lot. And you?"

"Quite well. Pranked a lot," he mimicked, grinning when I laughed slightly. "Which poor soul did you harrass this time?" I asked, resting the side of my head against my arms as I listened attentively to him recounting each prank with great detail, his arm leaving me once in a while to emphasize something but never failing to come back around me. "Sounds like you had a lot of fun today...," I remarked when he ended and he nodded with a beaming grin, "...and when did you study?" His beam deflated into a pout, causing my shoulders to shake in silent laughter.

"I don't need to study," he grumbled nudging me. "Sure, you don't." I nudged him back, slipping to the side and almost under the railing when he nudged me slightly harder. He quickly grabbed me by the arm and pulled me back towards him. "Sorry about that," he apologised embarrassed and I giggled slightly, resting against him. "Don't worry, I don't mind this at all," I replied, snuggling my head against his chest. He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me tightly towards him. "Mhmm, I'm sure you don't," he chuckled into my hair, his lips grazing slightly against my earlobe and causing me to shiver. I could feel his smile as he deliberatly brushed against my ear again and I squirmed slightly, burying my red face in his chest. "Why so shy all of a sudden?" he teased and I stifled a gasp as he playfully nibbed at my ear. "I'm not shy," I protested, voice muffled. "Is that so?" He tried to back away but I tightened my arms around his waist, firmly keeping my face planted against his chest. "Yes!"

He laughed lightly, promptly dropping on his back and pulling me on top of him. I adjusted my position, placing a leg on each side of his hips and resting my ear on his chest, listening to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat. "I could stay like this for a long while," James commented with a blissful sigh as he wrapped his robes around me for warmth. I raised my head to shoot him a smile and he grinned back at me softly. Craning my neck I placed a kiss against his jaw, unable to resist the urge. He quickly pulled me further up, rising up slightly to capture my mouth with his and my eyes fluttered shut as he held the back of my head, his fingers grasping my hair. I fisted his shirt, a swarm of butterflies causing a wreckage in my stomach as he molded his lips against mine, his tongue peeking out to run across my lower lip when a sudden noise erupted somewhere close.

I pulled away quickly. "Did you hear that?" I asked breathlessly as I looked up.

"Hear you moan for me?" James tugged me back down by the neck. "Not yet," he whispered huskily against my mouth. My eyes widened in surprise, heart pounding against my ribcage at his words. He nipped at my lip with his teeth playfully before fully placing his lips against mine again until I almost forgot what had interrupted us in the first place. But the fear of getting caught outside of curfew broke me out of my daze once more. "Seriously, James," I whispered breathlessly, looking up to squint at the doorway, "I think someone's down there. They might come up." James groaned, tugging at my shirt. "No ones down there."

"And what was that noise? What if we get caught?" I asked, sitting up.

"Probably gonna get detenti- uff," he hissed and I glanced down at him to see him holding his breath. "What's wrong...?" I questioned when I realised I had sat up directly on his groin.

Oh.

"Oh, Cec," he breathed out as his eyes darkened, "You really shouldn't have done that." He shot up, crashing his lips against mine before I could get another word out, his hand coming up to entangle in my hair as his other arm wound tightly around my waist, pulling me flush against him. A small moan escaped me when his sudden movement caused his hips to grind against mine as I sat securely between his torso and his slightly raised knees. "There is my moan," he smirked against my lips and I could have sworn my heart stopped at this devilish sight. Breathing out shakily, I took his face between my hands, seeing his eyes soften slightly before I tilted my head to deepen the kiss, unable to restrain myself in any way. He reciprocated eagerly, his hand fisting in my hair as our tongues clashed together. I moved slightly against him, a flash of excitement coursing through me when I heard his breath hitch. "Fuck, Cec," he groaned in my mouth and my eyes almost rolled back in pleasure at the mere sound. He reached down to grasp my thigh tightly, pulling me closer and I gasped against his mouth. His thumb stroke softly over my skin, smiling at the goosebumps erupting everywhere. He let his hand travel up until he reached the end of my skirt. "Can I?" he asked without detaching his lips once and I nodded, resisting the urge to moan when he dug his fingers in the exposed flesh under my skirt. "James," I breathed out as I broke away for air, feeling him shiver. His mouth trailed down to my neck, nibbling on it as I tangled my hand in his hair, his own letting go of my waist and reaching up to undo the buttons of my shirt-

"James and Cec sitting in a tree," an all to familiar voice reached our ears and my eyes snapped open. "K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" James halted his movements, burying his face in my neck with a groan.

"First comes love!" Sirius sang joyfully as he appeared by the doorway, a piece of parchment in one hand and his wind lit up at the tip in the other. "Then comes marr-holy shit!" His eyes widened slightly at our disheveled figures but his smirk came back as soon as it had disappeared. "My my, first come the babies it seems with you two!"

"Fucking hell, Sirius!" James cursed, turning around to glare at his best mate.

"Hi Prongs!" Sirius greeted innocently, waving his parchment.

"Worst timing ever, mate!" I buried my face in my hand in embarrassment, wondering if our compromising position would go unnoticed if I pretended that it wasn't compromising.

"Sorry Prongsie, your babymaking has to wait. We've got a little something going on tonight," Sirius said, not sounding sorry at all as he nodded outside. I peeked a glance between my fingers to see James' eyes widen under his slightly askew glasses. Glancing over my shoulder I caught sight of the full moon, partially obscured by a few clouds.

"Right, give us a minute please," James requested and Sirius disappeared down the stairs again. His hazel eyes appeared startingly lighter under the shine of the full moon as he grasped my hips softly with both hands. "I've got to go," he said quietly and the atmosphere seemed suddenly serene in contrast to a minute ago.

"That's okay," I replied as quietly, adjusting his glasses once again and he smiled that sweet smile, that one damn sweet smile only reserved for his loved ones and my mouth opened before I could stop myself, "James, I l-"

"Prongs! Hurry up already!" Sirius cut me off from down the stairs. James huffed, rolling his eyes at his mate.

"I'm sorry. I really gotta go," he said and I nodded quickly, scrambling to get up and off him. He adjusted his clothes before stepping closer, giving me a sweet kiss. "Good night, love," he said softly as he fastened up the buttons he had undone on my shirt, "I will see you tomorrow?"

"Definitely. Good night."

Unbeknownst to him, to Sirius and to me, Sirius had just saved me from committing the biggest mistake tonight. Twice.

Chapter Eleven

#James Potter #james potter x reader #james potter imagine #james potter x oc #james potter fanfiction #harry potter imagine #marauders imagine #harry potter fanfiction #marauders fanfiction #marauders era #Marauders #sirius black imagine #Sirius Black #Remus Lupin #Lily Evans #marlene mckinnon #marauders fic #Harry Potter

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tsarisfanfiction · 4 years ago

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Chocolate Thief

Fandom: Thunderbirds Rating: Gen Genre: Family Characters: Virgil, Scott, Gordon, Alan, John

Scott’s on the warpath.

It’s 5am, this is not proofread. This is also thanks to a random comment from @gumnut-logic (again) regarding missing chocolate and siblings... I just turned it into some sort of TAG mess. Oops :P I’d call this a birthday fic for Scott, except I don’t think he wants this as a birthday present (and also it’s technically the 5th here now...)

The sudden sounds of outrage from the kitchen yanked Virgil out of his painting zone and rudely deposited him back in the den, where he clearly had one fuming brother the floor below him. He eyed his painting for a moment, wondering if it was worth investigating or if he should just leave his brothers to their mayhem.

Then something went crash and the medic in him reluctantly gave a nudge. Someone had to make sure no-one was injured, and summoning Grandma in the direction of the kitchen… His stomach made a minor noise of fear. Yeah, no. It was going to have to be him.

With another sigh, he gently set down the palette and brush and made his way to the warzone below.

The fuming brother was Scott. That was only marginally surprising; his eldest brother did have a bit of a temper – more than a bit, if Virgil was honest – but he tended to keep it on a firm leash around family. The defiant Terrible Two standing opposite him, arms crossed and faces a matching disgruntlement, seemed to be the targets of his ire.

A stool was overturned. Presumably that was the source of the crash. None of his brothers looked injured, though, and Virgil surmised that it was probably just knocked over.

Whatever had upset Scott, big brother clearly wasn’t running out of steam any time soon. Virgil considered interrupting to get some sort of explanation for the sudden rage, but decided it was probably best not to draw attention to himself. There was a high chance that Scott would just turn on him, and as Virgil knew he was innocent of whatever crime had apparently been committed, he wasn’t interested in opening himself up for the firing line.

Besides, neither Gordon nor Alan looked like they particularly needed his help. Scott on a rampage could be a terrifying sight, but in this instance, neither of Virgil’s little brothers looked particularly cowed by it. Alan was pouting and Gordon’s mulish glare said that he was just waiting for Scott to pause for a breath.

Unfortunately for the squid, Scott seemed to have forgotten the need for something as simple as breathing as he continued to snarl about… chocolate?

Oh. That explained things.

Scott was barking up entirely the wrong tree; Virgil wasn’t the guilty party and had not snaffled any of his brother’s chocolate stash when his back was turned, but he had a pretty good guess who it was.

There was a member of their family who was very conspicuously absent.

It was also a member of the family Virgil didn’t feel like getting on the wrong side of. He certainly didn’t want to be between them and Scott, so with the mystery solved and enough faith in his little brothers to handle the false accusations of an upset big brother without his intervention, he made the decision to retreat back to his painting.

Maybe he’d relocate to the studio, away from the ruckus of Storm Scott.

He’d made it up all of two steps when there was the sound of a scuffle, and the medic resurfaced. It wasn’t like his brothers would actively try to injure each other, but accidents happened…

With a groan, Virgil reversed course and trudged back into the kitchen.

Gordon and Alan had clearly decided they’d had enough of the accusations and had jumped Scott.

On the plus side, it had worked to silence him momentarily as he staggered under the weight of two little brothers in his arms. There were some flailing limbs, and with some alarm, Virgil realised Scott was losing his balance.

Reflexes honed from rescues had him across the kitchen floor in moments, grabbing Scott from behind and steadying him before he toppled.

Gordon had a hand shoved over Scott’s mouth – or rather a fist stuffed in it, which was both gross and rather impressive. His arms full of little brothers, Scott had no way of forcing him to retract it, either.

With a sigh, Virgil decided that maybe it was time to play family peacemaker.

“You really think those two stole your chocolate?” he asked Scott.

The muffled noise said yes, he did.

Virgil wasn’t about to endanger himself by pointing out the real culprit, but thankfully he didn’t have to, because the two blonds decided that was the perfect cue for them to start proclaiming their innocence.

Loudly.

Virgil left them to it, glancing up at the balcony attached to the den, where someone was stood watching them. Green eyes met his, one eyebrow raised, and he shrugged them off.

No, he was not getting in the way of that. He quite liked not having to look over his shoulder constantly inside his own home, thanks.

He wasn’t sure he even wanted to know what Scott had done to have his chocolate stolen in retaliation. Then again, sometimes boredom or mischief was enough of a motivation.

Messing with Scott was like poking a hive of wasps with a stick, but not everyone was particularly worried about the retaliation. Some people even found it amusing. Gordon was also on that list, admittedly, but stealing chocolate wasn’t normally his style.

Deciding that Scott was well in hand – the blonds were small but mighty, and big brother didn’t stand a chance even if he liked to pretend he did – Virgil released him and once again headed up the stairs, away from the fallout.

“You know he’ll want revenge,” he pointed out as he reached the balcony and paused to observe the kerfuffle from a safe distance. Gordon’s fist was no longer in Scott’s mouth, but he was still yelling over anything Scott might be trying to accuse him of, and Alan was like a terrier puppy as he clung on for dear life, his own protestations of innocence interjecting between Gordon’s declarations.

“I’d like to see him try.”

The tone it was said in informed him that boredom was the motivator. Virgil would have winced, but at least it wasn’t aimed at him. Then again, it never was. The schemes only ever targeted Scott, or very rarely Gordon. He and Alan tended to remain in the clear, or as occasional accomplices.

“Chocolate?”

A bar was offered, and Virgil eyed it for a moment, before glancing back at the trio of brothers in the kitchen – now leaving the kitchen and heading in the approximate direction of the pool. One or more of them was going to get a dunking for sure.

“I’ll pass.” Not that he didn’t want chocolate, but he knew that was the very same chocolate Scott was flailing about, and if he ate it he would become an accomplice, if not a full-blown scapegoat.

Neither of those particularly appealed.

“Suit yourself,” John shrugged, tearing the wrapper open and biting off the first few squares. “Your loss.”

He let the wrapper drop, the sea breeze light enough that it carried straight down, landing in the pool at the same moment an almighty splash indicated that all three brothers had ended up toppling in together in a mess of limbs.

Virgil hurriedly retreated, out of sight, as Scott caught sight of the wrapper and let out a deafening roar.

“JOHN!”

Green eyes glimmered in amusement.

“I’d say that’s my cue to get back to the office,” Virgil’s trouble-making big brother commented as though there wasn’t a sopping wet eldest brother on the warpath for him. ��See you later.”

“Bye,” Virgil said automatically, watching as John strode over to Scott’s launch chute and slipped inside just before a dripping Scott Tracy thundered up the stairs and into the den.

“Where is he, Virgil?” Blue eyes sparked with fire and, knowing neutrality wasn’t going to work in his favour against Scott, Virgil pointed at the chute.

A second roar and Scott tore for the stairs to the hangar, even though Virgil knew full well it would be too late. By the time he reached the hangars, the space elevator would be halfway back to Thunderbird Five, John and his stolen chocolate safely aboard and out of Scott’s reach for the foreseeable future.

Shaking his head at his brothers’ antics, and resolving to stay out of the way of whatever feud this was going to start between his big brothers – John seemed to enjoy provoking Scott when he was bored, and the youngest three had all learnt the hard way that it wasn’t worth getting caught in that crossfire – Virgil returned to his easel and paints.

One thing was for sure. Life with his brothers was never boring.

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds are go fanfiction #tsari writes fanfiction #scott tracy #virgil tracy #john tracy #gordon tracy #alan tracy #thunderfluff #chocolate thief

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iamdunn · 3 years ago

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Miraculous Flash Forward Part 11: Something Missing

A Miraculous Fan Fic

Written by

AJ Dunn

Adrien didn’t get much time to spend with Marinette during her first week here as she thrust herself into preparing for the Fashion show. She wanted to make it perfect as Felix was counting on her. Adrien didn’t like her working so hard to impress his twin brother/cousin, but it made her happy to be doing what she loved and Felix was giving her every reason the G brand had to offer.

It was easier to refer to it as the G brand rather than change all of the insignia from the Gabriel Brand to the Graham De Vanily insignia, considering there wasn’t one. However, now the G brand was featuring the Marinette label. It made a lot of the Shanghai designers jealous but they got over it quickly when they met Marinette and her kind-hearted always helping everyone else persona. Adrien was proud of her, but he was still waiting for his cousin to leave at the end of the week so he could have her to himself.

“So what are we having for dinner tonight?” Marinette propped herself up on the stool as Adrien worked in the kitchen. “Another Cheng specialty?” she mused.

“Breakfast actually.” He cracked several eggs into a bowl, added some spices, chives, and scallions then whisked them together. He poured it over a hot skillet that he had melted butter onto. The eggs hardened slowly as he layered the egg with nori and sliced cheese. He then began rolling the square egg until it looked like a pinwheel sandwich and sliced it just the same. He separated the pieces onto three plates, then added some sausages that he had sliced to look like little squids, and a scoop of rice topped with sweet & sour sauce. He set the three plates on the counter then turned back around to hang up his apron. He moved some bowls to the sink and accidentally splashed liquid egg onto his shirt.

“Damn,” he said stripping his shirt off without thinking about it. His back was turned to Marinette but he could feel the heat in his face as he turned and left the kitchen without looking at her. He got a clean shirt from the drawer in his closet and returned to the kitchen. Felix was already sitting next to her on her right so Adrien sat on her left. “How is it?”

“I’m inclined to stay another week if you keep cooking like this, brother.” Felix had grown accustomed to calling him that and now in front of Marinette who didn’t seem fazed by it, it was normal between the two of them. Adrien watched as Marinette toyed with her food lazily. He picked up his chopsticks and grabbed one of her sausages and shoved it into her mouth. The legs of it still hanging out of her lips as she turned to him in shock. Adrien and Felix began to laugh. The sausage quickly disappeared into her mouth as he cheeks lit up.

“What was that for.” She choked as she swallowed the sausage.

“You need to eat, you have been running yourself ragged all week.” Adrien chastised.

“What about you, up before the sun, gone before me, and you still make dinner.” Marinette pouted.

“Just want to make sure my princess is well taken care of.” Adrien smiled.

“My plane leaves early I better get to bed.” Felix finished the last bite of his tamagoyaki the set his plate on the counter.

“You can clean up if it means that much to you.” Adrien offered. Marinette smiled and began to eat her food unassisted.

“Okay, I will.” Marinette finished her food and began rinsing the dishes and loading them into the dishwasher. Adrien watched her for a minute then went to the couch and turned on the television. He must have fallen asleep because he woke up to Marinette sitting on her knees in front of him.

“See, this is what I am talking about.” She stood up taking his hand with her as if she could lift him from the couch herself. He moved his body to her command as she guided him to his room. He stumbled lazily behind her. Once in his room, he allowed him to fall onto his bed. He held onto her hand as she tried to leave the room. One tiny tug and she was laying on top of him, her face inches from his. He smiled coyly at her as he wrapped his arms around her then rolled to the side nesting his face into her neck. He pretended to snore as she attempted to wrestle out of his grip.

“You are not sleeping you goof.” she laughed, her struggles were in vain. His grip held her arms to her sides. He was safe until he wasn’t.

“What are you doing?” he looked up at her in concern as her fingers began a blind exploration of the tiny hairs circling his navel. “Hey now, stop it, come one what are you doing.” He laughed uncontrollably as her fingers tickled the skin on his belly and crept to his side. He didn’t want to let go, but he didn’t know how much more he could take. He released one arm grabbing the invading hand. It was enough to give her an advantage as she threw a leg over his rolling body until she was sitting on his belly with his arms pinned to his side by her legs. She continued the invasion of tickles on his side as his shirt lifted nearly to his chest. He lifted her bottom up with his arms as she fell forward catching herself by dropping her hands on either side of his head.

It had been enough to free his arms so he could grab her face bringing it in for a kiss. Before their lips could meet, they heard a cough at the door.

“Should I be recording this?” Felix asked, annoyed. “I mean you did leave your door open, maybe it’s an invitation to join, a … free for all?” Adrien threw a pillow at him. Felix threw it back hitting Marinette who grabbed it then leaped off the bed to hit him with it. Felix wrestled it out of her hands and beamed her on the head. Running for cover as Adrien came at him with another pillow. Marinette was left without a weapon and the boys now blocking her escape. The boys smacked each other around for a few minutes before Felix finally surrendered tossing his pillow to Marinette then headed back to his room.

“You guys are too much,” he said laughing. Marinette gave Adrien one last swat with the pillow as she marched past him. He grabbed her arms pulling her back to him as he kissed her lips gently then released her.

“Good night purrrincess.” Her face lit up

“Good night, kitty,” she whispered, then went to bed. Adrien couldn’t stop thinking about how comfy it had been holding her on his bed and wondered how it might have been if she had been holding him back. He fell asleep with that feeling in his mind.

Felix was gone before Adrien got up. He went into the bathroom to take a shower still groggy from yesterday. He didn’t want to hire a chef to cook for them, but he worked a lot and so did she, he also didn’t want to have to eat out all of the time. So for now, he would agree to rotate kitchen duty with her.

Adrien stepped out of the shower grabbing his towel to dry his face when he realized he hadn’t brought in any clothes.

“She’s probably still asleep.” He breathed to himself. He finished drying off then wrapped the towel around his waist and left the bathroom. To his surprise, Marinette was already in the hall dressed and now frozen in place right in front of the bathroom door. Part of him wanted to rush to his bedroom, part of him was as frozen as she was but the larger and more boisterous part of him wanted to take advantage of the situation.

“Good Morning Princess.” He wrapped his wet arm around her waist pulled her closer with one arm as his other hand held her face as he placed a loving kiss on her lips. She melted into him as he knew she would. He released her and left her on the landing as he returned to his bedroom. His heart throttling in his chest as he leaned against his closed-door panting trying to catch his breath. He could hear a dozen tiny voices laughing from the hall. He listened until he could hear Marinette squeal before she slowly walked downstairs. He smiled and shook his head.

“Adrien.” Felix had called him “I am at the airport there has been a change of plans.” Adrien had only just gotten dressed and was about to head downstairs. “Hold off on telling her please, Emelie and Amalie want you two to come to London, I am heading there myself.”

“Why?”

“They’re our moms, why else?” Felix didn’t sound convinced himself. “Emelie had something about signing the Agrest Mansion over to you, and staying with Amalie.”

“I’m not dragging Marinette all the way to London just for that,” Adrien said. “Besides, I still have a lot to process about all of this.”

“Emelie has made a full recovery,” Felix said “She wants to see her son, she needs to know what happened and why you are avoiding her.”

“I’m….I’m not ready to see her.” Adrien thought to himself. “It’s just that, She was dead, I mourned her, I recovered.”

“That wasn’t her, that was…” Felix stopped, talking about Gabriel had been hard on both of them over the past year, more so since Amalie confessed to them their true parentage.

“How do we know that she didn’t end up in that coma the same way Nathalie ended up getting sick, she had the same symptoms.” Adrien had often wondered if using the Peacock miraculous had caused his mother’s condition. Nathalie had confessed that it was damaged while she was using it.

“Go talk to her,” Felix said. “I have to go, my flight is boarding.” He hung up the phone and went downstairs. Marinette was in the kitchen making breakfast. Adrien could smell something in the oven baking, how did she have time to bake something.

“What’s for breakfast?” He said, taking his seat at the counter.

“Biscuits and gravy.” She said, mixing a pot on the stove.

“How…. did you?” His eyebrows narrowed as he scrutinized her. “Did Tikki help you?”

“I mixed up the batter last night and dropped the biscuits this morning, the sausage gravy is the easy part.” She pulled the pan from the oven then flipped a biscuit onto two plates then spooned the thick sausage gravy over them both.

“I was thinking if you want me to…” Adrien took a bite. She handed him a glass of orange juice then sat down next to him. “I could hire someone to come in and either cook or clean up for us.”

“Pfft, what for?” She said as she began to eat. “Besides, we need to get used to it being just the two of us here, we also have waaaay too many secrets to trust just anyone in.” She wasn’t wrong, while Plagg and Tikki were always with them, the rest of the miracle box was safely hidden in her bedroom. Yet the Kwami’s were free to roam the apartment as long as they stayed unseen by anyone but them.

“Marinette?” there is something we need to talk about.” Adrien gulped. She set her fork down as he watched her eyes looking back at him with concern. It was as if she could read his thoughts.

“What is it?”

“It’s kind of about Me and Felix, but it’s kind of also about my mom, or should I say moms.” He turned his head away. This was a lot more difficult to say.

“As in plural?” she sounded confused.

“Felix and I are twins, and Amalie is our mom.” Adrien announced then shoveled food into his mouth.

“Oh, well that explains a few things and makes a lot of sense.” Marinette seemed to understand something he didn’t. “I mean, after her first pregnancy she couldn’t have any more kids, and that was way before our time.”

“Wait, what are you talking about?” Adrien dropped his fork unsure of where it landed. His head began to spin.

“I know we never talk about your sisters, because no one really knows what happened one minute they were there, and the next…”

“I don’t know what to say, how do you know so much about my family?” Adrien had no idea what she was talking about. He decided to play along.

“You know I used to be a huge fan of the Gabriel Brand, I thought I knew everything about him.” She paused to take a bite. “His wife, his twin daughters who looked just like her. And how one day, they were just gone. I remember reading a news article that said wanted to move on and not think about what happened to his ‘little angels’.

“When was this?”

“I think I was ten when I read that article.” she picked up her phone and typed something into the search bar. “There hasn’t been another mention of them since.” She held up the article on her phone. A picture of a set of twin girls in their early teens posing for the camera appeared under a headline, The Agreste Twins Were Lost At Sea. He read the article. He remembered the yacht that his father used to own and how they were hit by a massive storm, he had survived with his parents but the yacht went down.

“I’m sorry you must miss them.” Marinette placed a hand on his shoulder.

“We have to go to London.” His voice was ragged as he spoke. His whole body shook as he stared at the article. He sent it to Felix then handed her phone back.

His phone rang as he was packing his overnight bag, Had insisted that Marinette go with, though he felt bad dragging her into the drama of his family.

“Marinette sent me an article I think you should see.” Felix said.

“It was me, she showed it to me on her phone, so I sent it to you.”

“We need to talk about this.” Felix wasn’t wrong.

“We are heading to the airport, we’ll talk when I get there.” Adrien hung up the phone and headed to Marinette’s room. She was scrambling around trying to figure out what to pack.

“Is this a Marinette thing or are all girls chaotic when packing for a weekend trip?” He laughed at her. His laughter was met with a Cat Noir pillow to the face.

“I’m going to be meeting your mother…” She turned around looking at him confused. “Mothers?”

“Amalie is our biological mother, but Emelie is my mother.” He said. It was weird how she was more accepting of this new dynamic than even he or Felix were. “Don’t be nervous, I mean, I am but it’s only because I haven’t seen her… or I mean see her awake all of these years.”

“It’s just the first time…” Marinette blushed

“If she doesn’t like you then we leave.” Adrien said flatly.

Adrien’s nerves were on edge even more as they exited the plane. He saw Felix standing near the baggage claim. He had convinced Marinette to only take one bag of clothes because he didn’t expect to stay very long and would carry her back if he had to.

They carried their bags to the car Felix had waiting. The driver took their bags as they climbed into the back seat.

“How much does she know?” Felix asked dryly. He took a deep breath preparing himself.

“That we are twins…” Adrien started. “That Amalie and Gabriel are our parents.”

“Anything else.”

“Gabriel and Emilie had a set of twin girls.” Marinette added. “Emilie couldn’t have any more after that.”

“You know something we didn’t, how odd.” Felix said. “How do we not remember them, Adrien.”

“Given that we now know Gabriel was Hawk Moth we can only assume he used his powers to erase everyone’s memory of them.” Adrien guessed.

“How would he do that?” Felix was still ignorant to the intimate knowledge Adrien and Marinette had to Hawk Moth’s powers.

“Remember that one time, we were on a school trip and an akumatized victim was erasing people’s memory.” Marinette pitched in.

“Right, he could have sent one back then to erase everyone’s memory who knew about them.” Adrien added.

“Then how did Marinette know?” Felix asked.

“Who would expect a ten year old girl to be so invested in the Agreste family.” She shrugged. “I was always a huge fan of his before...you know.” she tucked her hair behind her ear as Adrien threw his arm over her shoulder. He could tell she was getting nervous, especially talking about Hawk Moth, it had been primarily the two of them to finally defeat him after years of battling his victims.

“But, why would he want to erase everyone’s memory of them?” Felix wondered.

“I guess we’ll have to ask them about it, yeah?” Adrien said as the car pulled up to the Graham De Vanily Manor.

#felix graham de vanily #Adrien Graham De Vanily #miraculous fandom #ladynoir #miraculous chat noir #adrienette #miraculous ladybug #miraculous world #marichat #miraculous Flash Forward #miraculous fanfic

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chaseatinydream · 4 years ago

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snakes, cats and dogs || c.s (atz)

➵ pairing: reader x choi san (ateez)

➵ word count: 2831

➵ genre: hogwarts au; rivals to lovers

➵ synopsis: at the rate things are going, hogwarts is going to become a zoo

>>>

You don’t think it’s a secret to anyone that you hate Choi San.

Alright, perhaps hate would be too strong of a word. Choi San is annoying. He pisses you off. He’s like a pesky little fly that buzzes in your ear and lands in your soup but you can never catch, he’s just that.

Annoying.

Really, really annoying.

You sigh, shaking back the sleeves of your robes to look at the time. A glance at the watch sitting on your left wrist tell you that it’s time for prefect patrol, getting up from the plush leather seats of the common room, you bid the Giant Squid goodbye with a weary wave as it slinks past the windows, basked in the ghostly green glow.

Stepping out of the doorway, you tuck your hands into your pockets, the dungeons can get a little chilly, especially at night, and you’re not in the mood to catch a cold at this time of the year. There are exams to be taken and you can’t afford to fall sick now. With a soft hum, you head to the Great Hall to meet up with the other prefect on duty tonight.

Tonight, Kim Hongjoong is waiting for you with a cup of hot chocolate in hand, feet swinging back and forth gently, perched on very end of the Ravenclaw table, bundled up in a warm knitted blue scarf. The sixth year is one of your good friends, having started off as a good mentor for your studies, as uncommon as inter-house friendships sounded.

He waves warmly the second he sees you step into the Great Hall with a soft, secretive smile, the massive school is entirely quiet and empty, completely yours. There’s magical feeling in the air when your footsteps echo in the silence of the hall, the air so often filled with chatter and laughter now hushed and drowsy with slumber.

“Good night to you.” Hongjoong raises his mug in some sort of greeting and you laugh quietly, taking a seat on the bench next to him. He slides a cup over to you as well and you sip it, letting the sweet warmth spread from the tip of your tongue down to your toes. “It’s cold. Didn’t you bring a scarf?”

“I didn’t think I would have Apparated to the North Pole the second I left the Common Room, but by then I was too lazy to go back and get it.” You shrug and Hongjoong chuckles, he’s used to your careless attitude. “I’m alright. I’ll just finish up patrol, head back to the dorms and defrost in front of the fireplace before I go to bed. Anyways, I’m sure running after him will get my body temperature up.”

At the sheer thought of him, your face pulls into a scowl.

Hongjoong winces in sympathetically. “That kid still giving you the run for your money, huh?”

“He’s so... ugh!” You complain, slamming your mug down on the table for added impact. Luckily for you, it’s already completely empty, its contents having all gone down your throat. “I just spot him sneaking out in the corridors all the time and I’m not fast enough to catch him! He’s as slippery as a snake, honestly!”

An amused smile curves Hongjoong’s lips. “Aren’t you a Slytherin too? Moreover, didn’t you use to slip out at night after curfew too last year?”

You pause, scowling, it’s too late for your mind to be working at this hour. “I... yeah, but I’m supposed to be a prefect now. It’s... it’s a pride thing. If he keeps escaping me it’s like a taunt in my face. I’ve never even seen him do anything, but he’s just there.”

Hongjoong does laugh this time, his melodious voice ringing throughout the Great Hall.

“Alright. How about we get to patrol fast so you don’t become a walking icicle by the time you return to bed?” He raises a chocolate warmed hand to pinch your cheek playfully and you laugh, batting his hand away, your bad mood instantly gone. “I take the eastern side and you take the other?”

“Howdy, Future Head Boy.” You salute and he pushes you in the arm with a laugh, you set down the mug; the house elves will clear it later for you. The two of you get up and start walking out of the Hall, Hongjoong making small talk with you about Transfiguration and the latest Quidditch match. After he makes you promise to attempt to stop San from sabotaging the semifinals (Ravenclaw against Hufflepuff), you wave and part ways.

The hallways are ghostly silent as usual, and by that you mean deathly silent aside from the mad cackling of Peeves in one of the upper classrooms. With a sigh, you slide a hand into your pocket to rest on your wand, ready to cast an Obscurio charm on the poltergeist in case he’s round the next bend. Slytherins aren’t known for being resourceful for nothing, and you guess that you’re one of the only people to know that the blinding spell works on ghosts as well.

Making your usual rounds, you scale the stairs, careful to make sure that the whimsical staircases aren’t about to move before hopping up the steps as fast as you can. And just as your foot touches the floor, you hear the groan of the staircase moving behind you; there goes your fastest way back to the dorms. With a sigh, wishing that you’d thought to bring a scarf, you step forward... and hear a strange, muffled noise.

You frown.

Pulling out your wand with cold numbed fingers, you move towards the noise, you’ve heard the basilisk stories and whatnot about werewolf professors. While you’re pretty confident in your dueling capabilities, having been invited to join the Dueling Club in your third year, you don’t want to risk anything. So, warily, you inch closer and closer to the end of the corridor, the shadows being cast by the windows in the light of the full moon really aren’t helping your paranoia, and you keep Protego on the tip of your tongue, ready to blast a Shield Charm at the first sight of danger as you round the corner-

“Woof!”

Huh?

You poke your head around the pillar and make a face, to your surprise, it’s a Shiba Inu sitting there, tail wagging excitedly. Your stare continues even as it barks a joyous little sound and runs circles around you, tongue lolling out - you’re pretty sure dogs are not on the list of approved pets in Hogwarts, and that you should report it to the teachers immediately, but...

But you’ve always had a massive weakness for dogs, and from the way this one keep pawing your legs excitedly, it likes you too! You can’t help but feel your heart fill with warmth.

“Hey there, little guy.” You murmur, getting on one knee to crouch in front of the dog, immediately it licks your hand vigorously, barking the entire time. It rubs its head against your palm and nuzzles its snout into the folds of your robes, as if searching for treats. “How did you get here?”

“Woof!” The dog barks brightly in reply, and unluckily for you, you don’t speak a word of dog. However, lady fortune shines upon to you tonight, there’s a noise down the hallway you’d just come down and you rise to your feet instantly, wand already out even before you realise.

“Shiber?” You hear a voice calling, and to your glee (and perhaps annoyance) you realise that it’s Choi San’s voice. Then you frown and glance down at the Shiba Inu at your feet, who’s still panting happily and looking up at you. Why on earth is San looking for his cat at this hour of the night?

You ignore it, however, and merely wait for your prey to round the corner. Finally you will catch him, finally you can stop running after him, and finally-

The dog runs out and you barely manage to fight down your gasp, berating the dog mentally for startling you, but before you can get upset, you hear San cry out in happiness.

“Shiber! Thank goodness I found you!” He says, sounding relieved and there’s a series of short barks in reply, and to say you’re confused is an understatement. You wrack your mind, desperately, trying to pull the frazzled pieces of your mind together, it’s eleven at night and it’s too cold for this. Isn’t Shiber a cat?

“Why did you run away, huh?” San’s voice turns scolding now and you keep silent, still utterly confused about this. You’re pretty sure San either had some wrong mushrooms at dinner or he’s just plain sleepwalking right now, until you hear the next words that leave his lips. “What would have happened if any of the professors were walking around at night and found out that you’re actually a dog, Shiber?”

For a second, you simply make a face, mind trying to fire its remaining cylinders in the cold. And then your mouth falls open, and it clicks.

Shiba Inu. Shiber. Shiba Inu. Shiber. It makes so much sense now.

“Choi San, you have a dog?” You say, incredulously as you round the corner. San almost leaps five feet into the air in shock, as if you’re Sirius Black out for his blood, with an incriminating Shiber clutched tightly to his chest. Now that you look at the Shiba Inu a little more clearly, you can see where the coloring of its fur matches that of its feline form, the coat is of the same shade, the ears twitch in exactly the same way. ”Oh my god, that’s some high level Transfiguration skills right there-”

Before you can say another word, San pins you to the wall, one hand pressed urgently against your mouth and you make a noise of protest, smacking his arm hard indignantly. “Yah!”

“Shh!” He hushes you immediately, glancing around warily as if looking out for something. Of course you don’t listen to him - what does he think he’s doing - opting instead for flailing about in a bid to get free but he’s too strong, deceptively lean arms hiding well toned biceps and forearms.

“You can’t just do this to your house prefect!” You protest against his palm, the sentence coming out more like a garbled string of incomprehensible noises rather than anything resembling real words. He ignores you, you feel your fury spike up and you’re ready to stab him in the eye with your wand when he turns to look at you, he’s very close, way too close.

“Shh! What if a teacher walks past?” He whispers fiercely into your ear, a scowl replacing his usual, devil-may-care grin. You give him and death glare and kick him in the kneecap, but he doesn’t budge in the least. Rolling your eyes, you lean away as far as you can from him, there’s nowhere to go but the warmth of his forearm cushioning your back from the stone wall, it burns through your thin robes and an unwilling flush rises to your cheeks.

“Then you’ll get detention like you should!” You hiss in reply, trying to wriggle out of his grip. “And then get into trouble for bringing a dog into school, like you’re supposed to!”

San’s face go white the second those words leave your mouth, than to your absolute shock he grabs your hands pleadingly, wringing them back and forth with a frantic look on his face.

“You can’t tell.”

“What can’t I tell?” You grumble, suddenly immensely awkward, you weren’t expecting him to do this in the least, and immediately contrive to extricate yourself from the social train wreck as fast as possible. “Choi San. Choi San, let go of me!”

“You can’t tell the professors.” San says almost desperately, subconsciously pressing forward in his distress, and you make a face as you try to back away, whoa, whoa, whoa, personal bubble, boy! “Please!”

“I’m a prefect, I can’t just let you get away with stuff like that.” You snap, still trying to pull away from him. “What, the worst thing they can do is send Shiber back to your parents, it’s not like the school will turn him into hot dog or something-”

“They won’t.” San tells you, and for the first time you hear the edge of desperation and sheer, undiluted fear in his voice, his hand gripping your impossibly tight. “But my parents will.”

It’s no secret to the whole school that Choi San is practically nobility, even among the Slytherins. He’s the only son borne of a marriage between two aristocratic families. Power, prestige, wealth, he has it all, and even his money has its own prestige, it’s old money, businesses and trades that have been passed down the generations. And his parents wouldn’t take care of one dog?

“Wait.” You pause, giving him a confused look. “You mean... your parents didn’t give you the dog? How did you get it?”

“I rescued him from Hogsmeade.” He says, finally removing his hands from you, belatedly, you realise that you miss the warmth of his hands, goosebumps immediately racing across your skin where his skin once touched yours. “It was winter of our third year, and I found him in an alleyway behind Knockturn Alley, freezing and starving to death. I figured his previous owner must have abandoned him, so I brought him back with me to the castle... they aren’t allowed in the school, so I transfigured him to look like a cat... but he still barks sometimes and-”

“Explains your weird ass cat.” You realise, unable to believe how long you’ve been fooled for two whole years. “You mean this kind of Transfiguration in Year Three? All on your own?”

San at least has the conscience to look a little guiltily, scratching at his head awkwardly. “Well I... I did ask Mcgonagall to give me advanced lessons meant for the Year Sixes, that’s how I-”

You hold up a hand, sighing. “Okay, okay, I get it, you’re genius.” San opens his mouth to protest but then you crouch in front of Shiber, who’s still barking cheerfully, one hand coming up to scratch the fur around the ruff of his neck. “You say your parents won’t take him in? Then what do you do during winter break when you go back to your home?”

“Not home, house.” San corrects you immediately, a dark shadow crossing his face the second the words pass his lips and you feel a twinge of sympathy. Even for a Half Blood (one of the only to ever get in Slytherin, you might add) yourself, you've heard of the notoriety of the nobles and are lucky not to be one of them yourself. “Wooyoung takes him back with him to his family in the Muggle world but...” He pauses, looking slightly upset. “I don’t want to cause more trouble to his family than I already have...”

Slytherins are well known for being skilled in getting others to do what they want through any means possible. Whether it be emotional manipulation, underhanded, subtle pressurizing or completely shameless, full blown threatening, the means don’t matter, only the end. The lot of you are Slytherins, after all, and to each his own. San might be just trying to play you along like a puppet on a string, but still, you have nothing to lose by allowing him to keep his pet (you do have a weak spot for the small cat... uhh, dog).

However, you can’t just let this opportunity slide past you, it’s simply not in your nature to do so. “Well...” You drag out the word, pretending to consider this carefully and rubbing your chin. “I can’t just let you get away with doing something like this...” Your sentence trails off meaningfully and San’s eyes widen minutely, before he pauses to look at you more carefully with a guarded expression.

“What do you want from me?” He asks cautiously. Will it be money, an invitation to one of those prestigious galas that his parents host but he never wants to go to, or something even more exorbitant? Instead, you shrug carelessly. He’s a Slytherin, you’re a Slytherin. The two of you are birds of the same feather, or well, in this case, snakes of the same scale, and he knows that no Slytherin will ever in their right mind do a favour for a stranger without a reward.

“Nothing at the moment. How about you owe me a favor?” You say, with a cheeky grin, fingers reaching down to stroke your fingers through the dog’s fur. San takes a moment to think, looking down at Shiber, the dog barks happily and wags its tail at its master.

The he sighs, nods and turns to you. “Fine.” You smile triumphantly, hold out your hand, a grin playing on your lips.

“Deal?”

“Deal.”

And that’s the beginning of it all.

#ateez #ateez fanfic #ateez fanfiction #ateez san #choi san #san fanfic #san fanfiction #w; san #w; oneshot

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hxseok-honee · 4 years ago

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peripeteia | part 3

>> This water’s cold as fuck! <<

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a/n : hope you guys enjoy!! i wrote this shit at 4am and it took a lot of turns i didnt plan on originally but it just be like that sometimes -- lmk what you think!

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“You certainly took your time.” Namjoon calls out to Y/n just as she’s turning the corner into the corridor leading out to the castle grounds. He’s leaning against the wall, his silhouette stark against the moonlight streaming onto the bridge behind him. Y/n makes her way to him, choosing not to point out that he seems a bit breathless, as if he’d raced to get to her -- the thought, however, puts a smile on her face.

“I like to make you wait.” He rolls his eyes, and she knows he’s not upset by the way he turns his head and fights to hide his smile. She continues, pointing out toward the bridge. “Taking a stroll on the grounds?” He stands to his full height, tilting his head to look down at her.

“That depends -- do you have any authority on the grounds, Head Girl? Or is it just inside the castle walls?” Y/n levels him with her glare, taking a step toward him. He mirrors her playfully, taking a step back and bathing himself in moonlight when he crosses the threshold of the castle wall and moves onto the bridge. Never once does he take his eyes off of her.

“Are you asking, Mr. Kim, because you want to avoid the detention I’ve already written for you?” He laughs loudly, shaking his head and turning away from her. He responds as he wanders down the length of the bridge, not bothering to check that she’s following him.

“Actually, I’m asking because I’m wondering if you can get away with taking a stroll yourself.” He turns to face her again, walking backwards and noting that Y/n’s followed him without thinking, her hand running along the walls of the bridge while she looks out at the Black Lake. At his question, she stops, planting her feet firmly as she shakes her head.

“It’s not on my route for tonight.”

“Then change your route.” Y/n sighs, giving him a disapproving glance.

“It’s my first patrol, Joon. I can’t. What if the Head Boy figures out I’m gone?” Namjoon raises his eyebrows in question.

“Where’s the Head Boy now?” She hums, pulling her phone out and checking the schedule. As she scrolls through her phone, she’s vaguely aware of Namjoon coming close, hovering over her to look at the schedule with her. She becomes extremely aware, however, of the sheer amount of warmth he radiates, heat falling over her in a way that leaves her head strangely foggy and her thoughts elsewhere.

“--listening? Y/n?” Lifting her head, she meets Namjoon’s confused gaze.

“Huh? Oh yeah, sorry. I was just thinking. What was I saying? Oh, right! The schedule…” Namjoon watches as she scrolls through her phone, wondering what had caught her attention. He doesn’t get a chance to ask. She’s started talking again.

“Oh, okay, he’s by the kitchens tonight apparently. I guess he’s taking that half of the castle and I’m over here…” Namjoon cheers, and Y/n sighs as he reaches out to her, taking her wrist in his hand and dragging her out toward the grounds.

“That means he won’t even know you’re gone, that’s perfect!” Y/n rolls her eyes, but doesn’t stop him, letting him lead her away from her route.

“Okay, but can we make it quick? One of the prefects might see us through a window or something.” Namjoon sighs, and Y/n watches the back of his head while he scolds her for worrying too much.

“Can’t you just enjoy this nice little walk with me? It’s a beautiful night!” He releases her wrist, spreading his arms out and spinning slowly, smiling up at the moon before meeting her eyes. He notices she’s pointing down at his hand, the one that hadn’t been holding her.

“Then why’d you bring that sweater?” He lifts his left hand, shrugging as he looks at the blue and silver knit sweater.

“The castle gets chilly at night--”

“But you were going to come outside anyway, and it’s not that chilly out here--”

“I was preparing for you to say no to my idea--”

“Are you sure you brought that for you?” Namjoon scoffs, throwing her a look of disbelief.

“Does it look like I brought it for you?” Y/n keeps her eyes locked on him, raising an eyebrow for emphasis. He finally cracks under her gaze, sighing in annoyance and tossing the sweater to her.

“Whatever, just don’t get anything on it.” He walks away from her in a hurry, wandering down to the lake. Y/n is sure by the shake of his head that he can hear her laughing. She hurries down to join him, singing playfully at him as she goes.

“Namjoon likes me, Namjoon likes me!” He hears her chant and can’t stop himself from yelling out at the lake in frustration before turning to her.

“How did they make you Head Girl? You’re a child!” Y/n doesn’t say anything about the redness around his ears, choosing instead to tug on his arm, pulling him closer to the lake. Releasing him, she jogs the rest of the way to the edge of the water, calling out to the giant squid and joking that maybe it’ll hear her and come to greet them. She bends down and dips her fingers into the water before, rather enthusiastically, yelling back toward Namjoon.

“This water’s cold as fuck!” Without a second thought, she’s slipping on the sweater in her hand and wrapping her arms around herself, realizing and just as quickly pushing away the thought that Namjoon smelled a lot like firewood and fresh ink. On the edge of her consciousness, replacing her previous and mildly embarrassing thought, she registers a pleasant feeling seeping into her body. It starts slow, then emerges quickly, crashing over her like a wave -- the feeling of adoration. It’s an emotional trigger that her body has come over time to recognize as her soulmate’s. It overtakes her for a moment, then fades to allow her own body’s emotions to return. It’s been happening every day since she was 11, but she’s never been able to get used to it. She’s heard before that no one ever really gets used to it, the force of someone else’s emotions a shock to the body every time.

Breathing deeply in order to process that wave of emotion, Y/n turns her head and finds that Namjoon’s settled onto a cluster of rocks not too far away, and, more interestingly, that he’s already looking at her. He pats the spot next to him before leaning back on his hands, gazing up at the sky. Y/n makes her way there, hopping carefully across rocks in order to get to him. She only realizes that he’s watching her out of the corner of his eye when she miscalculates her next step and slips, her arms reaching out to grab hold of something.

In the time it takes her to yell out for help, her hand is being gripped and she’s tugged roughly in the exact opposite direction that she’s been falling. Against her will, she faceplants into something warm, the dull sound of thumping filling her ears, much like a heartbeat. It’s followed by a rumble of laughter, and she realizes that this something smells a lot like firewood and fresh ink. Pulling back, the first thing Y/n notices is how long Namjoon’s eyelashes are, and that’s how she knows she’s very close.

“Thanks.” She breathes out the word, still a bit in shock, but most certainly not from the fall. It’s as if she’s hyperfocused on his eyes -- those eyes that fold into half moons when he smiles -- but her own eyes are drawn just as quickly to that very smile. That very smile which reveals his dimples as if they’re secrets of the universe. That very smile which pulls her attention to his lips like a magnet, so much so that she can feel herself leaning into it, encouraged by the fact that he’s not pulling away --

Wait. What the hell am I doing?

Y/n blinks hard and stops, putting her hand of Namjoon’s chest to steady herself. He blinks in just as much confusion before pulling his head back and releasing her as if she’d burned him.

“Uh--” He steps back, breathing hard as he thinks of something to say. “Maybe we should--”

He’s about to suggest that they head back into the castle, but a note being slapped to his forehead cuts him off. He pulls the note away from his face, turning it to read the word DETENTION stamped across it in bold letters. Lifting his eyes, Namjoon takes in the sight of Y/n half-sprinting across the grounds toward the castle, and he can’t help the breathy laugh that escapes him. Shaking his head, he glances back down at the detention slip before laughing fully, shoving the note into his pocket as he makes his way slowly back to his room.

“This girl, I swear…”

#bts texts #bts au #bts smau #bts social media au #bts soulmate au #bts hogwarts au #kim namjoon #namjoon texts #namjoon x reader

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official-weasley · 4 years ago

Text

The Irreplaceable Charlie Weasley: Pt. 2, Ch. 4

PART 2: THE YEAR OF MISCHIEF AND SNEAKING AROUND Chapter 4 - The Forbidden Love

Nova

After rolling the events of the previous day in my head, I still couldn't believe that Snape actually gave us detention in the Forest. Of course, he thinks it's dangerous but he doesn't know that Charlie and I have been begging Hagrid to take us since last year.

Hagrid, who gave us nothing but excuses so far and it looked like what he promised Charlie last year seemed like an honest mistake and more as if he was kidding when he suggested it to him, won't get a chance to say no now. He doesn't really have a choice, does he!

I dressed quickly, careful not to wake up Tulip who was fast asleep. Poor lad, I have no idea when she returned from her detention with Filch last night. I hurried to the Great Hall where Charlie and I decided to have an early breakfast. The detention wasn't until later that evening but we just couldn't wait to talk about it.

He was sitting at the Gryffindor Table, leaning on one hand, sleepy as every morning, eating his cereal.

“Hi, Char.” I ruffled his messy hair and sat next to him.

“Well, isn't it just a lovely morning?” He grinned at me. I giggled. “Where are the girls?” He looked behind my shoulder.

“I reckon Tulip and Penny will skip breakfast. Tulip is fast asleep, I haven't got a clue when she came in last night. Poor lads, I don't want to know how their detention with Filch went.” I scratched my head.

“Polishing trophies without magic.” Scoffed Charlie. “That ought to be the most boring detention in history of detentions. I would've fallen asleep right there in the Trophy Room.”

“Wotcher, Charlie.” Tonks' tired voice greeting Charlie, sitting down, didn't say anything good about her detention. “Wotcher, Nova.” She looked at me now, she was exhausted.

She tried to open a box of cereal but seemed to be too weak to do so.

“Tonks, are you alright?” I tried sitting next to her.

“I wouldn't do that if I were you.” She put her hand up and stopped me. “I smell worst than the Dungbomb itself.” She yawned.

I sat back next to Charlie and leaned my head on his shoulder.

“Were you cleaning the mess in the Dungeons all night long, Tonks?” Charlie frowned at the idea.

“It's the next day already?” She yawned again, crossing her hands on the table and resting her head on them.

Charlie and I exchanged looks and decided it was better if we just leave her to rest a little. We would wake her before we go to class.

Charlie and I started to whisper about our detention. We couldn't wait to go down to Hagrid's and we both wondered where he will take us and what we will see. Charlie was very optimistic about finding a Dragon in the Forest, I on the other hand wasn't so sure. Of course, I didn't tell him that, looking into his sparkly eyes, hopeful to finally see and pet a Dragon. I wouldn't crush his dreams if I was tortured to do so.

To be honest, now that the day for us to go explore the Forest has finally arrived, it made me really wonder what creatures hid in there. Hagrid told us a lot about the creatures he has encountered but never revealed which of them are lurking in there as much as Charlie and I tried to trick him into telling us. Professor Rakepick did mention some of them in our Defense Against the Dark Arts class but didn't want to reveal too much either.

About 15 minutes later, Tulip and Penny dragged themselves into the Great Hall. Penny sat next to me and rested her head on my shoulder. She had to be exhausted as she didn't even do her braids this morning. Tulip sat down next to Tonks and leaned closer to her to see if she was alright.

She looked at us and nodded in greeting and slowly opened the box of cereal which Tonks left after her failed attempt to open it. Tulip indicated that we should talk when Tonks wakes up and she instead started to eat her breakfast. It looked as if the spoon was the heaviest object she has ever had to lift as she took it to her mouth sluggishly.

Penny suddenly rose from my shoulder as if waking up from a nightmare.

“I just took a quick nap. I'm fine.” She leaned towards the box of cereal.

“Could you leave that and take some porridge instead?” Whispered Charlie.

“Oh, of course. Here you go.” Penny wanted to pour the cereal into Charlie's bowl.

“No, no. I don't want to eat it. I want to take it to Helga.” He grinned.

“Helga?” Tulip's face looked puzzled.

“You know, the Squid in the Lake.” Charlie said casually as if he has told us about Helga many times before.

Penny, who only a minute ago, placed her head on my shoulder again, got up. “You mean the Giant Squid in the Black Lake?” She was stunned.

“The one that is the main reason why we're prohibited to swim in the Lake?” Added Tulip. Charlie nodded. I looked at the cereal and back at Charlie. I narrowed my eyes and looked at the cereal again and back at him.

“You're feeding it, aren't you?” I couldn't believe what I just asked.

Penny gasped and it seemed she was finally awake.

“You not only befriended the Giant Squid in the Black Lake and named it Helga but you're feeding it cereal?” Tulip looked bewildered.

“Yes, about once or twice per week. You should see her, she is so happy to see me every time.” Charlie couldn't be happier to talk about this.

“Yeah and while you're walking towards IT, it is definitely not happy to see you as a hamburger rather than the nice human that is feeding it cereal.” Charlie rolled his eyes at Penny's remark.

“I can't believe you are feeding the Giant Squid with cereal.” I giggled and couldn't help but notice that I was the only one amused by this.

“You're doing what?” Tonks suddenly lifted her head as if she just woke up and the only thing she heard was my last sentence.

“I feed the Giant Squid in the Lake.” Charlie beamed at Tonks.

“Wicked.” Was all she managed in reply as she put her head back on her arms.

“Uh-oh, angry-looking brother coming your way.” Penny said warningly as Charlie and I both looked at the entrance of the Great Hall.

It was Bill, walking toward us rather fast, frowning. Bill who has always been so loving and always had a soft expression on his face, now seemed like someone who you should definitely run away from.

“I think he found out I got detention.” Charlie, on the other hand, knew exactly what that look meant.

As Bill stopped at our table, Charlie turned around to face him, his cheeks slightly pink.

“You've gotten yourself in detention?” Bill tried to control his voice.

“Yes.” Charlie said slowly. “But it wasn't his fault.” I cut Charlie off. Bill now bestowed me with the same angry look and I couldn't help but shrink into the bench a little.

“And you!” He said to me. “How am I supposed to tell mum that you've both gotten detention AND that you are going into the Forbidden Forest! She is going to send me a Howler and then the whole school will think that...”

“That you're a bad brother, yeah, yeah. We know already.” Charlie obviously wasn't as scared of Bill as I was.

“That would've been my fault, mate.” Tonks said suddenly. We haven't even noticed she woke up, all of our heads turned to Bill.

“My bloody Dungbomb exploded right in Snape's face.” Bill, looking shocked, couldn't hide the amusement as he probably imagined the scene.

“Get off it Bill, we're going to be alright.” Charlie reassured him. “We're going with Hagrid, he'll keep us safe.”

“Not even Hagrid can keep you safe from what's in that Forest, Charles!” Bill frowned at his little brother again. I have never heard him use Charlie's full name before.

“Even if it wasn't your fault, mum will blame me! One day that I don't keep my eye on you and everything goes wrong.” Bill facepalmed himself.

“Uh, Bill...” I tried to gather the courage to say something to him. “We're going to be careful, we promise, don't we Charlie?” I poked Charlie in the ribs with my elbow. He nodded quickly at his brother.

“And...” I continued. “We'll write to Molly and explain everything. It's not your fault we got detention. If you kept an eye on us, you would've gotten detention too.”

“Yeah, probably polishing tro...phies.” Yawn Tulip.

“Or helping Tonks get the stench out of the Dungeon walls.” Added Penny.

Bill exhaled, feeling sorry for Tonks. Even he couldn't deny that the Forbidden Forest didn't look that bad now. He considered our proposal to write to Molly and finally gave in and sat down next to us. Charlie slapped his hand as he wanted to take the box of cereal.

Bill looked at me but I just shook my head. It was better that Bill doesn't know his little brother was feeding cereal to the Giant Squid. One shocking news at the time.

Since I couldn't wait for our detention in the evening, the classes were going as slow as ever. Snape, of course, didn't help the time go any faster in Potions as he made us all take notes on the Strengthening Solution, a potion we were going to brew next week. We didn't see the need for that as the instructions were quite clear in our books.

However, Penny and I couldn't shake the feeling that he was doing so just to get back at us some more. Even though Tulip, Penny, and I agreed that Tonks did quite a good job getting rid of the awful smell of the Dungbomb, it still found our noses here and there during class.

Charlie and I decided to go down to Hagrid's right after our last lesson. We thought it couldn't hurt to get an early start into the Forest. Hagrid, on the other hand, wasn't as amused as we were. He kept asking us if we've gotten ourselves in trouble on purpose and he kept muttering to himself what sounded like navigation instructions.

“Am only doin' this cause Professor Snape made me.” He frowned at us. “Should 'ave known, I'd 'ave to take yeh sooner or later.” He put on his coat. “Now, drink yeh tea and we'll be on our way.” Charlie and I both grabbed our mugs and started gulping down the liquid.

Hagrid gave us both, what looked like a poorly made jumper out of a very furry animal. “Gonna make you less noticeable, that will.” He said proudly and led us outside his hut, Fang right behind him.

“Alright, then. We'll enter 'ere.” He pointed at the narrow passage right behind his hut. “Don't think I'mma take yeh in too deep. Dangerous beasts live in this Forest.” Charlie frowned in disappointment.

We followed Hagrid inside, Fang next to me. We walked slowly as the path disappeared and the trees behind us made it look as if we have been walking for hours. The trees only got thicker and it got darker the further we walked.

“Oh-ho,” Hagrid looked up at a tree, “yeh see that over there?” He pointed up and only when I narrowed my eyes did I see something green on a dark-looking branch.

“Can either of yeh tell me what that is?” For the first time since we were in the Forest, he looked excited.

“A Bowtruckle!” I said a little too loudly and Hagrid put his finger up to his mouth in a sign that I should keep it down.

“Right yeh are, Nova.”

“'ere yeh go.” He took something out of his pocket and placed it in our hands. It looked like tiny eggs.

“Fairy eggs.” Charlie whispered to me.

“Now, be careful with these. They were expensive.” He winked at us and indicated that we should move closer to the Bowtruckle.

Charlie and I exchanged an exciting look and tiptoed to the tree where the Bowtruckle, now looking in our direction, sat.

Hagrid lowered his hands and we stepped onto his palms. He lifted us slowly so that we were on an eye level with the creature.

“Approach slowly.” He whispered to us. “Yeh don't wanna startle 'im.”

I took a Fairy egg from my left hand and showed it to the Bowtruckle. Its tiny eyes beamed.

“Bowtruckles love Fairy eggs. It's a delicacy of theirs.” Hagrid told us.

I placed the egg on the branch and gently pushed it towards the creature. The Bowtruckle took it at once and ate it in one gulp. Charlie squeaked in excitement. Now he gave one of the eggs to the creature and he ate it just as quickly. After we both ran out of eggs, we nudged Hagrid to bring us down.

“See, Hagrid. This wasn't so bad.” Charlie grinned. Hagrid couldn't help but smile at us.

Suddenly, a galloping noise was heard a little deeper in the Forest. Hagrid hid us behind him, as we all stood still and listened.

“Hagrid, is it a Centaur?” Charlie tried to hide his excitement.

Hagrid shook his head. “A Unicorn.”

“Could we go and see it?” I tried not to sound too excited.

It looked like Hagrid was considering it for a moment. “Oh, alright.” He finally agreed and we slowly moved deeper into the Forest.

Following the sounds the Unicorn made, which were almost indistinguishable from those of a horse or an Abraxan, we soon followed it and came upon a large meadow that seemed to come out of nowhere.

In the middle of it was a beautiful Unicorn. It moved slowly towards the edge of it. I have never seen anything so graceful before. I stared at it in awe, suddenly forgetting how to close my mouth.

“It's so beautiful.” I gasped.

“They are and they should be left in peace.” Hagrid pulled me back as I started walking towards it.

“But they prefer a woman's touch, Hagrid.” I pleaded.

“We're not disturbin' this creature's dinner, Nova. Yeh lucky that we even found one. Now, let's go back.” He started to turn around, pulling both me and Charlie away, as we couldn't take our eyes off the Unicorn.

We knew that we had to keep quiet on our way out of the Forest but Charlie and I kept looking at each other as we couldn't wait to discuss what we just saw. To both of our surprise, we were in the Forest for almost 4 hours. It felt like one to me.

After a cup of tea and us promising Hagrid that we won't get ourselves into more trouble or ask him again to go into the Forest, we headed back to the Castle.

“Did you see how silky-looking his fur was?” I beamed at Charlie.

“And the Moonlight reflecting off it!” He added.

“That Bowtruckle was so adorable! I wish we had more eggs.”

“I wonder where we could get them from?” Charlie scratched the top of his head.

We discussed possible options where to get the Fairy eggs all the way up to the Castle. We hugged, said goodbye, and headed to our Common Rooms as our ways parted at the top of the Grand Staircase, both knowing very well, we would do anything to get into that Forest again.

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tagsecretsanta · 4 years ago

Text

From @Fallenfurther

to @vegetacide

Secret Santa does not own this work, full credit to the author above!

A night to remember

The crackle of snapping wood filled the air as John threw yet another chunk of driftwood onto the fire. Embers flew up towards the darkening sky, swirling on the gentle sea breeze. The smell of the sea competed with the smoke when Alan inhaled, but that was okay with him. His eyes were on his fingers as he scrapped the toasted marshmallow on his prong onto a graham cracker. A smile crossed his lips as he turned it upside down and onto the chocolate that he’d placed on top a second cracker. Squashing the sandwich between the fingers he took a bite. The sweet crunchy treat hit the spot and he devoured it hungrily, sucking off the bits of marshmallow that had stuck to his fingers, before reaching out for more supplies.

“I’d be careful getting that close to Gordon, Penelope. You might find you’ll never get a s’more!” Virgil joked, as he toasted two marshmallows at once.

Laughter rippled around the circle, as Lady Penelope settled down in the sand beside Gordon and allowed him to drape the offered blanket over her shoulder. She pulled it in closer, as Gordon wrapped the other half around himself. The two lovebirds, as Grandma called them, smiled contently at each other as Penelope rested her head on Gordon’s shoulder. Winters on Tracy Island were rarely cold, but they often involved late nights around a campfire when there was enforced downtime. It was a family affair, everyone coming down to the beach, to spend the evening in each other’s company. Alan had memories of it happening before Dad disappeared, though he’d only been present for some of them. They had stopped for over a year after Dad had disappeared, but as they grieved and learnt to continue without him, they started to occur again. It had been a way of bonding, remembering, and forgetting the troubles of the world. This was the first enforced downtime since Dad’s rescue that they were able do one, and his brothers were eager to take Dad down to the beach. So here they were, nine years since the last one, all older, wise and yet they were still the same family. Even though it still felt weird to Alan, having Dad around, it was okay. Everyone he cared for, except Brains who rarely joined them on the beach, was here.

“Or he’ll let one rip like he did to me last time!” Scott chuckled before raising his beer to his lips.

“Hey! That was so not last time, it was at least a year before that, and you’d just stolen the last marshmallow.”

Alan giggled at the memory. Scott had indeed taken the last marshmallow, and Gordon had sidled over and given Scott a side hug, in an attempt to relieve their brother of his freshly made s’more. Instead, Scott had pulled Gordon into a big tight hug and eaten the treat over Gordon’s shoulder, getting crumbs down the Squid’s shirt. Gordon had wriggled intensely, trying to free himself from their brother, which only prompted Scott to hold on longer, even after the s’more had been devoured. An angry and frustrated Squid had subsequently let off the loudest fart, not only prompting Scott to release him but also for evacuation of the log Scott, Kayo and John had all been perched on. Alan had cried laughing, and Kayo had stared daggers after Gordon’s retreating, chuckling figure.

“Don’t remind me of the obnoxious smell. To this day, you still haven’t told me what you’d eaten that day.” John stated, in the way only he could, while entirely fixated on the careful construction of his own sweet treat.

“My bet is still on a rotten celery crunch bar.” Virgil piped in, having just passed one of his two s’mores to Grandma as he grabbed a beer from the cooler behind her.

“Remind me never to go in Thunderbird Four with you again. The filth alone makes the craft smell without you adding to it.”

Kayo chipped in; her tone entirely serious as a small shiver rocked her body. She hadn’t been there for that campfire as she had been off the island trying to track down her Uncle. There had been so many small leads that led to dead ends, but they had all needed investigating, just in case. Alan glanced in her direction where she was sitting cross-legged to the right of Virgil, her beer half-buried but upright in the sand. Scott and Virgil were leaning against a small bench they had carried down and turned on its side. They both appeared relaxed, leaning back with a beer in one hand and marshmallow topped prong in the other.

“I should hope Gordon knows how to treat his machine with respect by now. It is a rescue vehicle and should be in pristine condition, ready for a callout. Although, I could ask Brains to add extra air filters to the inventory if such foul smells are a common thing.”

The deep voice of his father still surprised Alan and always seemed to demand the attention of the room. It was something Alan was still getting used to hearing. This would be their first Christmas together as a complete family. His brothers would always say Mum was missing, and they were right, but Alan didn’t remember a Christmas with her. It had always been the seven of them for him; Grandma, Dad, his brothers, and him. His Dad was currently sitting on a blanket next to Grandma, who had one hand on his arm, almost as a way of keeping him there, and her s’more in the other. She had changed, in a good way, since Dad had come home. She pestered them less and chased after his father more. Dad always got first pick of her cooking creations, her excuse being he needed to make up for lost time, and Alan was not going to complain about it. The fewer of Grandma’s cookies placed under his nose the better.

“There is no smell in Thunderbird Four and she is perfectly clean and ready for duty.” Gordon proclaimed.

“So, you wouldn’t mind if I do a quick inspection first thing in the morning?” Dad countered.

The sheepish look that crossed Gordon’s face briefly told the real story, though it was Penelope that tried to save his brother from the mess he’d gotten himself in.

“That will not be necessary, Jeff. I was in Thunderbird Four earlier and gave it the once over. I can confirm that it meets all the required standards and is ready for immediate deployment.”

“Sure you did.” Scott grinned, wiggling his eyebrows.

Heat rose in Alan’s cheeks as Penelope shot Scott a glance that radiated pure distaste for his vulgar mind. She managed to glare in the most ladylike way, but Scott just laughed. Alan just tried to get the thought out his mind. He did not want to know what his brother and Penelope did in their spare time; he was simply happy that they were happy.

“I do remember you getting yourself into awkward situations as a teenager.”

The sly grin on the space monitor’s face had Scott glaring a challenge at him. Scott had never been that open about his teenage years to Alan, though he had heard a few stories that had been told around the campfire. He’d also heard a few second hand from Gordon who remembered that time better or had eavesdropped on their older brothers’ conversations.

“Don’t even go there.”

“I was only thinking of the time you got stuck in that tree trying to retrieve the model plane Alan had crashed into it. That woman really didn’t appreciate you hanging from the branches.”

John’s voice was dripping innocence as he lent back on his elbow. Scott shook his head.

“I was worried when she called her husband, and so glad that he saw the funny side.”

“I remember that. The poor woman was distraught, despite her husband’s reassurances. She wanted to get the police involved. Thankfully he said was a waste of time because you were still technically a minor, it really was just a misunderstanding, and you were only in the tree for the plane. I had you apologise at the time as well as write an apology letter that went with the hamper I sent over.”

Scott groaned as Dad relayed the facts, his head falling into his hand.

“How could I be so stupid?”

Scott had indeed gone up the tree to fetch the remote-control plane, which Alan had accidently got stuck in its branches. Alan had told Scott the wind had taken it, but he’d actually been trying to show off to Gordon by doing some tricks. Only he messed them up and sent the plane crashing into the top of a tree. He’d tried to climb the tree himself to get it down, but it was impossible as Gordon refused to help him. In fact, Gordon had laughed and chuckled the entire time, especially when Alan had to go up to Scott and his girlfriend and disturb their make-out session. Scott hadn’t been happy but had reluctantly gone up the tree to retrieve the plane. Unfortunately, a branch had snapped while Scott was up there, and he’d lost his footing. He’d ending up hanging upside right in the line of sight of the woman’s bedroom window. Scott’s relationship hadn’t lasted long after that either. His girlfriend had posted a running commentary of Scott’s ‘heroics’ on social media, including photos of the husband rescuing him, and she refused to take them down until a week later when Dad got involved. Scott had been upset by the incident and apparently some of his friends hadn’t been kind to him about it either. Alan had felt terribly guilty, knowing it was all his fault, but when he admitted it to Scott he was rewarded with a hug. Scott told him not to worry and was glad that he was no longer with such a horrible girl. They had spent the rest of that evening playing videogames together, his big brother trying to show of his skills and failing spectacularly.

“At least she got to eat her hamper. I remember quite distinctly receiving a lovely chocolate hamper that I never got to enjoy.”

Grandma’s voice was full of jest as everyone turned towards Gordon, who just shrugged awkwardly beneath the blanket.

“I was young, hungry and it was chocolate. What was I meant to do?”

“Gordon Tracy! How could you be so mean to your Grandmother? I hope you replaced it.”

Alan sniggered along with his brothers as Penelope berated Gordon for his actions. There was a grin on Parker’s face, who was observing the couple intently over the rim of his beer. As her ever faithful companion, he always had Lady Penelope’s back. A little bark came from Sherbet, who had woken up from the nap he’d been having on Parker’s discarded jumper. There had been a grumble from the man about the fact that he’d only put it down for a second before the dog had claimed it. Alan hadn’t quite caught all the words, but it had sounded along the lines of ‘mangy mutt’. Penelope opened the blanket to the pug and allowed him to wriggle in and curl up on Gordon’s lap. Gordon gave Sherbet a scratch behind the ears as the dog settled down with a yawn.

“Was that not the Christmas that Virgil got stranded at his friend’s ranch by the massive snowstorm?”

John shifted as he spoke, leaning back to snatch a chocolate bar and beer from the open cool box. The beer he passed to the man in question, who accepted it grateful. It was his father that answered John.

“I believe it was. Mum and I went out on the tractor, as we had an old snowplough attachment, to some poor folk who’d gotten caught just a few farms over, so we ended up heading over and picking Virgil up too. It did mean we were out longer than expected.”

“Giving Gordon time to eat all the chocolate while under my watch! I caught him trying to make the hot chocolate, but I didn’t realise it was Grandma’s when I took over to stop him making any more mess on the hob. I got grounded because of him.”

Scott recounted with a sign. There was a clatter of glass as Scott dumped his and Virgil’s empties in the allocated recycling bag, before continuing.

“Thankfully, that little hill was technically on our property, so I could still go sledging with everyone the next day. I remember the snow being so deep we had to carry Alan and we made a family of snowmen near the house.”

“I remember that,” Virgil interjected, “You and I raced the sledges while John judged who won. I had Gordon with me, and you shared yours with Alan.”

“And they both fought us for control. How many times did we almost hit each other?”

“Too many. I had to roll us off more than once, especially when Gordon had us going straight towards that big tree. Though I think Alan took it a step further when he tried to take you both off by steering you into the fence.”

His eldest two brothers were chuckling at the shared memory. Alan had a few memories of snowy winters in Kansas but had no idea if he remembered that one. It sounded familiar, but he couldn’t tell if it was that day or another similar sledging day. They all seemed to merge into one in his head. He could only separate a few out as specific years thanks so unique events. Like Gordon’s bright yellow and orange wool hat that he got for Christmas only to lose it two months later, and the last winter before moving to the island as half the house was packed away and they had all enjoyed the snow for the last time together. There had been one Thanksgiving and Christmas on the island with Dad before the accident, so this would be the second. It felt weird to Alan. In a way, moving to the island was the start of his life without Dad. He had been at boarding school for most of the time and was only home-schooled after they had lost Dad.

“Don’t forget the time Gordon aimed for me.”

There was a smile on John’s face and a glint in his eye that let Alan know there were no hard feelings, and no one had been hurt.

“Though I think my favourite was when Alan dragged Dad onto the sledge and demanded he be taken to space.”

Alan’s ears pricked up at his name as a deep chuckle rumbled from his father.

“There was barely enough room for Alan once I’d gotten on that sledge, but we made it work. You managed to slip between my knees and yelled ‘To the moon!’ as we were pushed off. You were so disappointed when the ‘rocket sled’ got to the bottom and hadn’t launched into space.”

There were smiles on everyone’s faces while Alan’s cheeks reddened. His Dad’s blue eyes were on him, and Alan swore there were tears in them. He didn’t remember that day, but he did remember looking up to his astronaut father. Alan had loved the time Dad had made for him, when they would sit together, and Dad would recount his stories of space. He also remembered his Dad getting busier, and that time becoming less, as Dad started to set up International Rescue. John had filled in, telling Alan of the stars, while Scott, when on leave from the Air Force, told him of the thrill of flying in planes and going superfast. However, for Alan, there was nothing faster or cooler than a rocket.

“Remember Alan’s first Christmas when we were decorating the tree with Mum?”

Scott asked the group, though his eyes were on Virgil, obviously expecting him to have the clearest memory.

“Yeah. Mum was trying to keep Gordon from running around and breaking everything while we were emptying the boxes of decorations. She’d left Alan on the mat with some toys thinking he’d be happy and safe there.”

“He’d been oddly quiet at the time when you think back.” Scott slipped in, “We wanted to get the lights on the tree, only to find Alan had managed to roll over to them and was lying on his belly happily chewing on them.”

“Mum had rushed over, and Alan had screamed his lungs out when she’d managed to pry the light from his mouth.”

“He had refused to let go of them as well, to the point that we almost didn’t have lights on the Christmas tree. Mum managed to coax the wire through his little fingers, though we all spent the next five minutes trying to find a suitable substitute to stop Alan from crying. John then had to check over the lights, but Alan was too young to do any real damage, but Gordon managed to scatter baubles everywhere in the meantime.”

Alan watched his brothers gleefully relay the story between them. There was a hollow feeling in his chest at the mention of Mum and him. He’d been told how much she’d loved and adored him, but this was the first time this story had ever been told. Not that there were many to tell. His brothers had been young so didn’t always remember things and Dad; well, he’d always struggled to tell stories about Mum. It’d gotten better recently, but there still weren’t many of him and her. A hand fell on Alan’s shoulder and he turned, half expecting Scott to be there. He had to blink when it was his father, who lowered himself onto the sand beside him. The similarities between Scott and Dad were striking and Alan felt guilty for not thinking of his father first. It was no longer Scott’s responsibility to worry after him now. The hand slid along his back and pulled him into a side hug.

“You okay, son?” His father whispered into his ear.

Alan nodded, his head brushing against this father’s shoulder. There was no way Alan could express how he felt, especially not here and now, but the warmth that was seeping through from his father helped. It was new and it was different, but he had his Dad again. A Dad who was trying hard to fit back in and get to know his sons again. His father was being careful about not getting in the way or treading on their toes. Maybe Dad felt the same concerns that he did. Maybe next time they gamed together Alan would bring it up. He wondered if any of his brothers had asked how Dad was coping. He bet Grandma had and was paying close attention to their interactions. His father’s hand rubbed the top of Alan’s arm, bringing him from his thoughts and Alan shifted closer to the astronaut.

“Talking about Christmas lights, I remember a December morning when a certain someone woke up strapped to the bed by a large tangle of lights. Fancy reminding me of how that came about Alan?”

There was a sparkle of mischief in his father’s blue eyes as he peered down at Alan, who gave the man a big grin back in return. Alan remembered that morning well, especially how hard it was to not giggle as he carefully wrapped those lights around his brother’s bed.

“You mean the December Scott was been a really moody teenager and didn’t want to spend the day decorating the house with his family? Apparently, his girlfriend was more fun and a lot less annoying than us, and that he’d rather spend the day with her.”

Alan enjoyed taking the lead on the storytelling, especially when he got a satisfying groan from Scott, who appeared to have forgotten the events of that day until now. Alan’s body rocked as his father chuckled.

“Gordon and I only wanted to help cheer you up and fill you with the same festive cheer we had. The night before, we collected up every string of lights we could find and hid them in my room, before setting our alarm clocks for seven am. We snuck into your room, quietly unravelled the lights, then we each started wrapping them around you and the bed. We wrapped them tight enough to stop you from getting out. Our PJs were covered in dust from wriggling under your bed, but we managed, and we even found an extension cord and plugged some of them in. Your room lit up with some many colours and cheerful flashing lights, it was the most festive thing we’d seen that year. You almost woke up too, trying to turn over. We snapped a few pictures, turned off the lights and your alarm before we snuck back out to my room where we fell on the bed laughing. Your angry cry of “GORDON!!” had been the loudest in a long while, though you weren’t happy when it took so long to free you. You ended up missing the time with your girlfriend. Dad told us not to cut the lights unless we were prepared to buy new ones, which we weren’t, and you couldn’t afford new lights as well as a present for you girlfriend. We did get to spend the day decorating the house together, so the prank worked!”

“Leanne refused to wait for me saying if I really cared about her, I would be on time. She dumped me four days later for a guy two years older. At least I hadn’t brought the present yet, so I didn’t waste my money.”

There was a little bitterness in Scott’s voice when he mentioned her moving on so fast. If Alan remembered rightly, they had been dating for almost a year until that point, though it must not have been going as well as Scott thought considering how quickly she replaced him. Bet she wished she’d made it work now he was the commander of International Rescue, though for all he knew she could still be bragging about it. Gordon had insinuated on many occasions to Alan that not all the business trips their brother took were all strictly business, though the fact that Scott often returned stressed and with more ‘urgent’ paperwork made Alan doubt Gordon’s claims.

“That was the year you all ganged up on your father in that snowball fight, practically making him a snowman! You all came back inside red in the face, damp, and shivering. I had to get out so many extra blankets and make so much hot chocolate to get you warm again.”

“But you do make the best hot chocolate, Mum.”

“Seconded!” Scott cheered, raising his bottle to the sky.

The stories and drinks continued to be passed around the fire, which John packed high with the last of the dry driftwood. The stories were now from more recent times, tales from the past eight years without Dad. The gentle rocking from his Dad’s chuckles reassured Alan, who offered his own versions into the mix. When goosepimples covered his arms and legs, Grandma wrapped a blanket around him and Dad. Even on a tropical island the evenings were cool, especially when you are still in shorts and a t-shirt. Alan’s head was comfortable against his father and he started to fight his eyelids that kept trying to close. It was a battle he lost.

******

When his eyes flickered open again, the fire was dying. Alan was still beneath the blanket with his father’s arm firmly around him. He yawned as he rolled his stiff shoulders. Blinking, he took in his family who still circled the fire. John and Grandma were cuddled up in a thick patchwork blanket, while the legs of Scott, Virgil and Kayo were cover by a striped one, as they all lent against the bench. Lady Penelope had fallen asleep in Gordon’s arms, though they had acquired a second blanket from somewhere. Parker was still standing in the background, his reclaimed jumper now on, and there was a bucket of water in his hands.

“Shall I h’extinguish the flames now, Mr Tracy?”

“Please do, Parker.”

The fire hissed out, sending steam into the night sky. Stars were scattered above them, and Alan’s eyes were drawn to the familiar constellations. With the fire out the cold started to creep in, and his family started to move, yawn, and stretch. With practiced movements, everyone started to collect their belongings and rubbish, shaking sand off everything and heading towards the path. John and Grandma held coolers, Virgil and Scott took each side of their bench, and Alan grabbed the rubbish bag as Kayo grabbed the recycling. Gordon coaxed Sherbet off his lap before sweeping Penelope into his arms and carrying her away. Sherbet and Parker, bucket still in hand, followed close behind them. As Alan started up the cliff path his Dad’s arm returned to his shoulder. He was staring up at the stars though Alan couldn’t place which constellation he was gazing at.

“It’s good to see these stars again. Did I ever tell you about all the nights Lee and I would stargaze on Alfie? There was the observation deck with this massive glass window in the ceiling, and we’d lie beneath it….”

Alan smiled, remembering the story well, but wanting to hear it again. There was something special about the way his Dad told it.

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds 2015 #tag team secret santa #secret santa 2020 #alan tracy #Gordon Tracy #Lady Penelope #Scott Tracy #John Tracy #Virgil Tracy #jeff tracy #grandma tracy #kayo kyrano #parker

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bluepenguinstories · 3 years ago

Text

Remoras Full Chapter XLIII: Demetrioi

Great. She just ran off and left me to deal with some unexplained mess.

“Wait!” I called out. “Don’t leave me with her!” My voice carried out into an echo and as I stared into the darkened tunnel, hearing her footsteps growing fainter, I knew that it was too late. I was stuck. Stuck with this person on the floor who by all sense of logic, shouldn’t even be alive, let alone speaking.

Oh, but since when has logic played a factor in any of this? Hmm…

Really, though, to think we went through such a battle, which was already a great deal of bullshit and now...this? Hell, first of all, I didn’t even have to come back to help her out, and to think she just runs off? That’s the thanks I get?

“Juniper? Are you still there?” Came the faint, hoarse, but actually kind of cute voice of what was presumed to be Rhea. The OG.

Wait. Does she think I’m Juniper? Do I really sound anything like her?

“Uh. Hi? Wakey wakey?” I replied. Nervous, I waved, before realizing that since her eyes were closed, waving did me no good.

“Who was that just now?” She then asked.

“Uh…” You, but not. But I can’t just say that, can I?

“Ves?”

Oh, come on, do you really think…? No, never mind. I’m going to stop questioning things or so help me…

“Oh. Yeah. That was Ves,” I decided to just go with it. Why not? “It was too painful for her to stick around. You know how she is.”

I dragged my feet in place. When I returned to the diner, there were several things I prepared myself for. I trained and everything. I put myself in a fucking nun outfit. But this...I was not prepared for.

“I see.”

There was a second of silence. I was ready to let out a sigh of relief and declare that she had passed on, that it was just a brief moment of weirdness, but then –

“Juniper?”

“Yeah?” I replied, then gulped.

“Can you come closer?”

This is a trap, isn’t it? I shook my head. Maybe, but I’m ready for a fight.

“OK, but you better not start sprouting tentacles,” I warned her as I walked up to her. Each footstep felt like a cinder block was attached to my ankles.

“Why would I…?” She asked.

Either they’re more dedicated to their role than before or...no, I’ll play along.

“It really is you, isn’t it?” I sighed as I dropped to the floor beside her head.

“Who did you expect? Squid girl?” Her confusion was pronounced, even with the dry and hazy air to her voice. As harsh as she may have been in life, there was a softness to the tone of her voice that I couldn’t deny. It was enough to make me question that this was the same killer I had heard so much about.

“No. Uh. Never mind. It’s just...haa...what a day, am I right?” Yeah. I was at a loss for words. Could anyone blame me? What was one to say to a dying (and already been dead, for, what? Three years) person that they barely knew and only heard about from others?

“I’m sorry about that,” she frowned, and Remora’s voice returned to the front of my mind: “Comfort her!”

Why should I? I spent over a year trying to get over you and now you expect me to try to care for someone when you don’t even care about me in the first place?

“Don’t be,” I did my best to say something, anything, to comfort her. As much as I had my issues with this whole...situation, it still felt wrong to leave her alone. Trying to think of something comforting, I offered, “Is there anything I can do to help you rest?”

“I think...if I can lay my head on your lap…”

My heart skipped a beat.

“Fine,” I sighed, then smiled, trying to make my voice sound as soothing as possible and not like a fizzled out balloon, “I suppose I can do that much.”

I scooted over and reached my hands down, but they felt about ready to fall off with all the heavy vibrations they were doing. Hell, my own pulse felt louder than anything else in the room.

I’ve never even done something like this before and now I’m...I agreed to this…

“Okay…” my voice was just as shaky as well. “Up you go,” I sat crisscross and placed my hands on each side of her face, then lifted her head onto my lap.

“Ha. There we go,” I wiped my forehead. I didn’t break a sweat, but it sure felt like I did. When I looked down at her short, blue hair, which looked fine and silky, almost like I could glide my hand through and each hair would float on by. It was amazing how unchanged she appeared despite the last time she drew her final breath. My eyes scanned down and noticed her thick, coarse dark brown eyebrows, and even that was beautiful with how pronounced it was. Despite some small scrapes and scratches on her face, her hazelnut skin looked just as smooth as it must have always been. Her eyes remained closed, and her breaths were faint, but when I saw her lips…

They had spread to a smile. It startled me at first, caught me off-guard.

“I must be the luckiest girl in the world right now,” she beamed, “getting a lap pillow from Juniper.”

I covered my mouth with the back of my hand.

“It’s nothing. Really,” I replied, my voice muffled by my sleeve.

“But it’s not nothing...it’s not…” her voice lowered at those final two words, like she was fading away.

“Well, I’m glad that I can do something to help,” I conceded. Her smile soon faded as well, back to that usual neutral expression that I would have expected from her.

What? Did I say something wrong?

“I don’t know how much longer...I thought I would have been gone by now…”

Oh. That’s what it is. Yeah. You’re not the only one who thought that.

“It’s okay. Take your time.”

I wonder how Sunny and the others are doing. I wonder what they would think if they saw what I was up to right now. I wonder what Remora would think. She’d probably say something like, “this is the most action you’re ever going to get” and then I’d say, “hey, this was your idea!”

“I’m glad you’re here,” Rhea spoke up again, “I’m...sorry…” she let out a soft cough, and her voice sounded pained, but she went on, “I’m sorry I said that your kindness was a weakness. It’s not. It’s a strength. Even if you may be naive sometimes, I’m...really glad to have met someone...as kind as you. Even to someone like me.”

Was Juniper really nice to her? Oh, dear...I guess that does sound like her.

“Hey, it’s okay. I’m a pretty forgiving person,” I replied.

“To be honest, I think I got a bit of a crush on you…”

Why are you telling me this?

“...But I know you and Ves are already good for each other.”

“Glad you think so.”

“Hey Juniper?”

“Yeah?”

“Have you ever been in love before?”

Seriously?

“Uh. Yeah. With my wife. Who I’m married to.”

“Oh. Right. Well, it was worth a try.”

It really wasn’t, but OK.

“How are you feeling?” I changed the topic for the sake of my sanity, and possibly hers as well.

She scrunched her face and pursed her lips.

What? Was that a bad question? Gosh, I’m sorry.

“Hm. Warm?”

“Really? It’s kinda chilly for me,” I remarked. For real, why didn’t the heaters work down here? Why was there such a draft?

“Oh no. Am I contagious?” She asked with a concerning level of sincerity.

“No, it’s, uh...just the wind.”

“That’s a relief,” she smiled and let out a serene whisper. Jeez, who knew her voice could be so pretty?

There was a pause, a stillness, yet not all was still. There was a sort of sensation at the back of my mind, like I was letting go of something, or something was being released from me and making me lighter. It stung, like a dagger being pulled out, but also felt relieving. But before I be put at ease, I noticed tears start to well up in those closed eyes.

“No, no. What’s wrong? You’re warm, aren’t you? Isn’t that what you want?” I scrambled to try to figure out something to say, but I had nothing.

“I...I messed up, didn’t I?”

“What do you mean?”

“I knew how important this job was, that Ves’ existence threatened the world, but the more I got to know her, the harder it was for me to do it.”

“But you still fought anyway. Why?”

“I don’t know why I do the things I do sometimes,” she answered. It wasn’t good enough for me, however. For whatever reason, I couldn’t accept that.

“But that’s not true in this case, is it?” I urged. Urged for some kind of answer. There had to be one.

“I needed to. It was her or the world. But the more I talked to her, the more I related with her, and it got to the point where I just couldn’t take it anymore. Who I am, the kinds of things I’ve done...”

Whatever relief I might have had disintegrated and in its place was a cyanide-laced pit in my stomach. Yet she had more to say.

“...others would have come after me if I left. There was a legitimate threat posed by her continued existence. Yet I just couldn’t do it. So I tried to provoke her, get her to fight me, make it look like I was still serious...because I should have been...but I just wanted to be free even though I knew it would cost the world.”

“Y...you can rest easy,” my voice shook as I told her, “the world’s still here. I’m still here. Ves may have left, but she’ll return and she’ll be healed by then. She’s smarter than you might think. She’s just sensitive.”

“I’m glad, then,” she turned her head.

“I wish you and her didn’t fight, though. I care about both of you,” I added. It really seemed like something Juniper would have said.

“I know...and I really do wish I could have been friends with you guys. You seem like a great person.”

“I’m not as good as you think I am,” I corrected her.

“Maybe not, but I don’t think you’d want to know me. I’ve done some bad things…”

You don’t say.

“You might be right. But I can’t say for sure unless I knew you better.”

“I’m sorry I threatened to harm you and your wife,” she deflected.

“It’s okay. We’re still here.”

“But at least you won’t have to deal with me anymore. I won’t cause you any more pain…” She mumbled, like those really were going to be her last words. Such bull. Really? Some kind of guilt trip? Did she have any idea? Any at all?

“You fucking IDIOT!” I shouted down and my fists shook. I found myself on the verge of tears. “Do you...do you think this absolves you of the pain you caused? Any of it?” I sniffed, tried to hold back my emotions, even as I knew what a futile effort that was.

“Maybe not, but there’s nothing to be done. It’s too late,” she smiled, nuzzled against my leg.

Screw comfort. Screw everything.

“I...I shouldn’t be emotional over you! I hardly know you!” I shouted and shut my eyes, defiant, but the tears still came. It was hard to tell if she was still breathing or not, and I began to feel numb all over. Numb, yet overfilled with emotion. There was a ringing in ear, yet I heard a pronounced gasp from her.

“If anyone has the right to be upset, it should be you, Juniper,” she spoke, as if to reassure me. Me. No. Not me. Who she thought I was.

I don’t want to be Juniper anymore. I don’t want to be you, or Sister Cecilia, or anyone else. I just want to be me.

“I didn’t even cry at my grandmother’s funeral! I never even knew my father because he died before I was born! So why you? Why?”

I opened my eyes, held my hands in front of my face. They were all wet.

“I’m sorry,” I heaved out the words.

Again, I didn’t know if she was still breathing or not or if she had passed on. I looked over and saw a matchstick on the floor next to where I sat.

Please go. So that I can go back to being me. Please.

However, my pleas went unanswered. She turned her head, back to facing forward.

“Juniper, can I make a selfish request?” She asked.

“Yes,” I answered, as loathe as I was to do so.

“Can I lay my hand on your cheek?”

I tried to force a smile.

“Yes, but nothing more, OK?” I softened my voice.

Her free arm raised, the one that wasn’t held over her stomach (thank goodness. I didn’t want blood on my face) and I closed my eyes, not ready for whatever sensation might have come. When I felt that palm, those fingers, my breathing grew heavier. Her hand was far warmer than it had any right to be. She stroked my cheek and I shivered about, then, she set her hand back down, lowered her arm back to her side.

That also felt better than it had any right to. Not to mention the fact that it wasn’t meant for me in the first place. God, all of this is so wrong.

“Thank you,” she said.

“You’re welcome.”

“Juniper, can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“I wasn’t meant to wake up, was I?”

So she figured it out. Well, she may as well know.

“No. You weren’t,” I answered, and even with a smile and tinge of softness, it still felt rough to say.

“I thought so. Can I ask you something else?”

Let me guess: “Why am I not dead?”

“You’re not really Juniper, are you?”

I was startled and my heart began to thump in place.

“I...well...you see…”

She opened her eyes wide and stared into mine, then scowled.

“I shrunk in the wash?” I scrambled for an explanation. However, it didn’t even seem to register so much as a chuckle from her (everyone’s a critic) and I watched as she lifted her head up, then struggled to lift herself up.

“Ooh, ow, ow, ow,” she winced and hissed as she sat up.

“You’re in pain!” I gasped. She just turned and glared at me.

“And you’re not Juniper,” her disappointment was chalked into every syllable.

She stood up, much to my protests, and began to look around.

“What is this place...a brewery…?” She muttered.

“You should lay back down!” I urged her, despite knowing she wouldn’t listen to me, “do you really want your final moments to be painful?”

“How I spend my final moments is between me, myself, and I,” she dismissed me, not even turning to look my way.

“Come on! I was told to comfort you!”

“And who told you to do that? Huh?”

Oh crap. I can’t actually say.

“You wouldn’t believe me…” I lowered my head.

“I already don’t believe you. You used me, made me think you were Juniper. Who are you, really?” That time, she turned to me, still with a disgusted look on her face.

“I’m Juniper’s cousin!” I explained.

“Oh, sure. And I’m the Queen of France,” she scoffed, then walked away toward the back of the room, toward where the ladder against the wall was. That same ladder that led up to the diner.

“Well, are you?” I leaned in and asked.

“I could be...if I wanted to. That was sarcasm, by the way,” she replied, still walking.

“You don’t say,” I shot back, deadpan.

“Yes. I do say. I just said so. Just now, in fact.”

“That was sarcasm too, you dummy!”

“Don’t be mean to me. I just woke up.”

I can’t believe this. How is this supposedly merciless killer so ridiculous?

“Now let’s see...what is this place? Why am I here? What am I doing awake? Is this the afterlife? Why is there some green troll doll pretending to be Juniper?” She muttered to herself as she continued to look around.

Hey I resent that last remark.

“For your information, it wasn’t my idea to pretend to be Juniper,” I argued.

“I don’t care. I don’t even know who you are. Why would you pretend to be someone else at all?”

What is with you two and the whole ‘I don’t care’ thing?

“I don’t know,” I admitted, “it just sorta happened.”

“Well stop.”

She limped on over toward the ladder, now just a couple more paces away.

“Rhea...you’re bleeding,” I pointed out. I hoped that such awareness would bring her to her senses, get her away from there.

“You know how it is with spaghetti…” She grunted.

...What?

Now, against the wall, with one hand on one of the wooden planks of the ladder, I knew any more convincing would be useless.

“Tell me,” she turned to me, “if I go up here, will I be in heaven?”

I smiled and shook my head.

“More like hell,” I joked, “but I’ve come to think of it as home.”

She just shrugged.

“I’ll take it.”

Before she readied her arms up to climb, I spoke up once again:

“Rhea. It was nice to meet you,” I wiped away a loose tear. Let’s hope that was the last one.

“I’d say the same, but I don’t actually know you,” she just replied.

“Demetria,” I told her.

“Yeah,” she squinted, “I’m not gonna remember that.”

Then I watched as she climbed up. Through the pain, through the blood that dripped down, somehow she managed. All the while, I just sat and felt powerless to stop her.

“I hope this time you have an undisturbed rest,” I remarked. That time, she didn’t answer. I didn’t mind. She lifted the hatch, shook a bit, and for a moment, I thought she would fall off, but she clung onto the floor of the diner, then shimmied her way up. “Goodbye, Rhea.”

There was a moment which seemed to go on for an eternity where I just continued to sit there in disbelief. All of that, that whole conversation, her getting up, being alive, even for a short while at all...that really happened? Then, the realization dawned on me: I had let her get away. What would the residents of the diner think? They were gonna freak out, weren’t they? Ugh.

I got up and clasped the sides of my head with both hands.

“What am I supposed to do now?! ‘Hey guys, no biggie, but we got a case of the walking dead!’” I paced about in frustration.

I shook my head. Worrying myself over such things was pointless. She wasn’t going to last, and besides, as much as that was a small distraction, that’s all it was: a distraction. I still had to head back with the group. We had a whole final boss to deal with. Our journey was far from over.

“OK,” I let out a deep breath, “time to get a move on.”

Through the entrance to the tunnel, I ran, while keeping my motions and pace steady. Not far in, I saw her: Remora. The one that I knew. She sat up against one of the stony walls of the tunnel, her head hung low and leaned against her own shoulder.

I’ve still got lots of mixed feelings, but…

I snapped my fingers in rapid succession.

Remora jolted up, then looked around, wide-eyed.

“S-Sorry! I must have passed out. That fight exhausted me,” she explained in a stammer.

“Can’t say I blame you, but we gotta get to the others.”

She nodded, then stood up.

“Is she gone? Did she pass on?” She asked, an odd sense of nervousness in her voice.

“Yeah. She uh, went upstairs, so to speak.”

“What?!”

“Not literally...you know, like her spirit ascended,” I tried to explain.

Even though, yes. Literally.

“Oh. Phew. Thank goodness. I was worried for a second there.”

“What for?” I paused, surprised.

“Because if she were to live, then what would happen to me?”

“I don’t know,” I answered, dry and without confidence.

“I’m scared,” she admitted and looked down to her side. After one glance at me, “it’s said that if two versions of the same person cannot exist in the same timeline. It’s rare, so rare that such a rule would seem unnecessary, but it’s said that if someone entered another timeline when a version of them already exists, then one of the versions would die to keep it at just one.”

I wonder if that what his plan, then. It never occurred to me that he would have such a power, but if that’s true, then it would be an easy way to get rid of Remora. Of course he would use some dirty trick like that. The fog, everything else, it’s all been one cowardly trick after another.

“Like I said, I don’t know,” I repeated. I shuffled my feet and tried to search for some form of assurance, and all I could come up with was my mission at hand. “I can’t say what the future holds for any of us, but I swear I’ll do all in my power to put a stop to this. Now, can you run?”

She nodded, her face relaxed into the neutral, stoic form which I knew from her.

“Good. Let’s meet back up with the others.”

We ran at a pace steady enough that she was able to turn to me and make conversation. Something I really didn’t want to do, especially what with how things ended up when I was last at the diner, before all of this shit with the fog went down.

“So, what’s the plan now, Sister Cecilia?” She teased.

“Hey!” I snapped. “At least nobody figured out it was me, Captain Acab!”

“You could tell it was me?” She pointed to herself all while keeping pace with me.

“Duh. I can spot your shivering from a mile away.”

“Y-you can?” She stammered and started to slow down.

“Maybe that was a slight exaggeration, but even if you hadn’t been shivering up a storm, your voice gives you away. That’s why I had the whole ‘vow of silence’ thing going on,” I explained. “As for the plan, I’m pretty sure I know what, or rather who, is behind all of this. I’ve dealt with him before.”

“Him?! You mean a man was inside her? Disgusting.”

I skidded to a stop and spat out.

“Why would you phrase it that way?! Do you have any idea how that sounds?! That’s so...so insensitive!”

I stifled back laughter and snickered, but it didn’t help; soon it forced its way out all on its own.

“Ah ha ha! But that’s just like you to say something like that,” I remarked, still unable to help myself but laugh.

“I don’t know what I said that was funny, but I’ll take that as a win,” she replied. Yeah. I guess she would be clueless to something like that, and maybe I was just reading too much into things.

“It’s...never mind.”

“But yes, I fought someone who might be the same guy,” she disclosed, “he said he was inhabiting a spare corpse. Apparently that guy we fought in the cave, Buddy Fairweather, if that even was his original name, was also the same guy. To think he would go as far as using the body of my other self…”

“Yes,” I agreed, “to use one of your words, it’s disgusting.”

As if there weren’t other things beside that which could be called ‘disgusting’. Like how ‘he’, or whoever it was in question, through some mystic power or whatever nonsense, made this fog and harmed, even took innocent lives. For what? To instill a sense of fear? Or to hide out and hope the fog would do all the work for him?

“That’s why we’ve got to regroup with the others and put a stop to this,” I declared, then took off once more.

She kept pace with me the whole time, something which I found annoying yet expected. I just tried to keep my focus forward, and not on her. It was bad enough that she had returned at all. Worse that if I had just stayed with the others, I could have delayed having to see her again.

“It’s good to see you,” she spoke up again.

“Wish I could say the same,” I replied, then realized how harsh that sounded, I turned to her, “for the record, I don’t dislike you...it’s just hard, considering…”

I didn’t want to think about it. Not when there were other things to worry about. Other things to get mad about.

“I think I get it. I’m glad to hear you don’t dislike me.”

For whatever reason, my face turned red.

“Yeah, well anyway, that’s not really important right now.”

It was a little further in when I saw a faint, orange glow in the distance. As we approached, the glow turned brighter, more pronounced, and the stone walls illuminated around us. Then, I saw them: Sunny, Ray, and Tigershark, all sat against the wall, with Sunny holding up the torch. Remora and I slowed down to a walk upon seeing them, and Tigershark was the first to look up. She beamed, then got up and ran over to Remora and hugged her.

“You’re back!” She cheered and clamped onto Remora’s right leg tight.

“Hey, little one,” Remora knelt down and hugged Tigershark right back with that same weary, raspy voice I heard from Rhea...something which I would have rather forgotten.

I looked around and saw piles of stone rubble just past Sunny. It must have been what was once those animated stone creatures. Sunny and Ray were bruised and scraped up, but they didn’t look too bad. Just exhausted. At least, I hoped it wasn’t too bad.

“It was scary! There was someone who looked like you, but then it turned out to be a monster!” Tigershark sobbed into Remora’s pant leg.

“I know. She’s gone now,” Remora tried to comfort Tigershark. Or maybe just comfort herself. Either way, it rubbed me the wrong way. Like an obfuscation.

“That thing,” I cut in and shook my head as I did so, “wasn’t Rhea. The reason why it looked like Remora was because Rhea was her twin sister, but she died a few years ago. That thing was just a disgrace to her image. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“I didn’t know you had a twin sister!” Tigershark broke away from the hug and gasped, astonished.

“Yeah...about that…” Remora looked away, shot me a quick glare, then continued, “I don’t really like talking about my twin sister. We were never very close and for the longest time I’ve had mixed feelings about her, almost like we came from different worlds.”

How subtle.

“If she’s your sister...does that mean she’s mine too?” Tigershark pointed to herself.

“Look at you, collecting sisters left and right,” Sunny remarked.

“That’s right!” Tigershark grinned.

They continued their conversation, and I’m sure it was great for them all to reunite. Really, I should’ve been happier, but all I could do was look ahead. Somewhere, further ahead, was the one behind everything. No doubt, we’d be in for a fight, and with the battles we’ve already had to endure, our odds weren’t great.

But it has to be done all the same.

“What do you think, Ray?” I asked while continuing to look ahead.

“Hmm...it seems like Tigershark’s family grows bigger each day,” he mused.

“No, not that. What do you think about settling matters?”

“I’d love to. Now, whether or not I have any fight left in me...that’s another story.”

“And I’m sure you can tell that story another day. For now, I’m sure we can settle for having a nice little chat with our guest.”

“Ah, that,” he picked himself up, “may as well. We’re probably closer to our enemy by now than we are to the diner. Worst case scenario, even if we all die, at least we’ll have done so with the intention of setting things right.”

“Plus we’ll have done so as a family,” Sunny added.

“Yeah. No thanks. I’m determined to see us all live, whether we like it or not.”

When we all gathered close together, Sunny turned to Remora.

“You’re pretty badly injured!”

“Wounds heal,” Remora dismissed.

“Here, I’ve got some antiseptic ointment. Lemme apply it for you.”

“Um...n-no thanks,” Remora backed away, “you can just hand those to me. I’m still not comfortable being touched.”

Though I suppose hugging Tigershark is an exception.

“That said, I’m willing to let you touch me, Demetria,” Remora added, and upon hearing my name, I turned stiff and jumped in place. I had done all in my power not to be near her, in fact, I was at the very right end while she, Sunny, and Tigershark were on the left. But it was all for naught, as she had addressed me all the same.

“I’m not the one with the ointment here,” I looked away and grumbled.

We walked on, as none of us felt the need to run any longer. Besides, although I still had plenty of energy to do so, I imagined the others might not have. It was up in the air about a certain ‘R’ word how much energy she had left, but either way, after all the biding of time he’s forced us into, it was only fair that he too wait for us. Funny, though; I was impatient to be done with everything and there I was, content to walk with the rest of them. But it could have been because I had an aching, foreboding feeling, that we weren’t far.

Yes, each step forward carried that feeling. Part of me wondered if anyone else felt it, or if it was a link with the entity that only I shared. Silly that. Why would I be the one to share a link with them at all when I was so ordinary, so mortal?

Of course, I refuse to acknowledge this entity as anything other than a man.

Just a little further ahead, we came to a halt: before us was a fork in the tunnel: two paths. One which continued forward in a straight line, and the other a slight diversion off to the right side.

“What the – this wasn’t here before,” Ray gasped.

“OK, but be real, hun, how often do you come down here?” Sunny teased and nudged him.

I shook my head.

“It doesn’t matter. Our enemy can affect reality in slight ways like this. This should be par for the course by now.”

I cocked my head to the side, noticed a faint, purple glow which seemed to sparkle and glimmer. How obvious, I thought, then turned and walked in that direction.

“Come on,” I motioned for the others.

It felt a little strange to lead the way. I’ve never considered myself to be a leader for anything. If anyone ever had that role, it was one of the other adults: Sunny, Ray, Remora. Hell, I often found myself feeling inferior to them and how experienced they each were in comparison to the young and naive person I was. However much I’ve grown, if at all, I still didn’t consider myself above them, only more aware of the situation at hand.

Up ahead, the glow grew more pronounced. It was hard to say brighter, but others soon took notice of it, and then another shape took hold: a clearing, or rather, an end to our jouney.

“Look!” Tigershark pointed.

“It’s just like that camping trip,” Sunny reminisced. It wasn’t hard to imagine the similarities to our last battle with such a foe, within that cave where Remora was the one with the plan and our battle with “Buddy Fairweather” took place.

“I doubt it’s a coincidence,” I commented, offhand. My footsteps grew heavier the closer we all got. An equal measure of nervousness and eagerness. All that long ago, I failed to protect two siblings, twins who put their trust in me, just to be taken before my eyes. Now the question remained whether or not I could protect these people I’ve come to hold dear over time, or if even after everything, I still remained powerless?

No matter what happens, I will show him that I too am a force to be reckoned with. He is the reason I have all this anger stored up, and he will receive every ounce of it.

“Are you ready?” I turned to them and asked.

“No. But what other choice do we have?” Ray met my question with one of his own.

“You have choices. You can return to the diner, where you may be safer. I’ll stay to face this horror alone.”

“And let you risk your life? If things take a turn for the worst, I think it’s much better to die in the company of others than alone.”

Taken aback, my eyes widened and I had to make a conscious effort to narrow them.

“You underestimate –” I tried to say, but Remora interrupted me.

“You’re being stupid again,” she scolded, “do you really think you can say something like that after you came back to help me when I fought the one pretending to be my other self? Do you really think that the others wouldn’t do the same for you if you were to take on something like that alone?”

I scowled at first, but then relaxed my face and sighed.

“I guess...this is just as much your fight as it is mine…” I relented, but looked down as I did so.

“Not quite, kiddo,” Sunny chimed in, “it’s all of ours. We’ve all been affected by this in some way or another.”

“Very well,” I nodded, then declared, “I don’t think you need me to tell you guys this, but be prepared for anything.”

III

Our surrounding was filled with that same, dim purple glow, and as we stepped through, one detail became apparent: way off in the back of the large, circular room was a series of vines, tangled against themselves. I looked up to find darkness where I would have expected a ceiling. Although I knew it not to be the case, it gave off the impression that we were in a different realm altogether, one that was limitless. Maybe such an impression was intentional.

In the center of the sea of thorny vines, there was some sort of casing, like an egg or chrysalis, but made out of the vines that surrounded it. As if sensing our presence, the casing of vines opened up, and a familiar robed figure emerged with his hood up and that same faceless stone mask, held up by one hand. He stood, gaunt, and hunched, yet held an air of authority, almost as if bowing to us.

“At last you have arrived,” he spoke in a strange calm and polite manner. Despite the distance between us, a wide gap, his voice echoed our way. There was no sense of joviality, no humor, but instead, despite his calm demeanor, malice floated on the tip of each word.

“Are you done hiding behind the remains of others?” I skipped right past the greetings and cut through the chase.

“Ah. That,” he stood up, then removed the mask from his face and dropped it to the floor. What I expected was to see a mangled pile of worms all writhing around in place of where a face should have been. Instead, I was met with a face that was more or less normal: light brown, almost copper looking hair flowed down as his hood lowered. His skin, pale and thin to the point that the definitions of his cheek bones could be shown along his face, and if I had to wager, highlighted the rest of his skull as well. “That, unfortunately, has no easy answer.”

His eyes remained closed, and it was when he opened his mouth that I noticed how his mouth was unusually wide, to the point where I wouldn’t have been surprised if he was secretly some kind of hand puppet.

“You possess the bodies of the dead, do you not?” Remora shouted, demanding an answer. Upon hearing her speak, he opened his eyes just a crack and I noticed a red glow seep through. He clenched, then opened his fist several times before answering.

“Yes.”

“So you just use them as toys, props, tools to be used and nothing more?”

“I give them a purpose.”

“And how many of them consent to that purpose? What do you know of the dead?”

“I know all about the dead. After all, I myself am dead. You killed me.”

Thank you. That was all the confirmation I needed. Not that I ever had any doubts, I felt a little triumphant upon hearing him utter such words.

“What did you call yourself way back when? Cronus the Harvester? Or should I call you ‘Tarrare’?”

“You mean the baby eater?” Ray was dumbfounded by such a name.

“I never was a fan of that codename, but call me as you wish. I take it you remember me, then?” Cronus answered. Maybe that was the name I was most accustomed to, and as such, that was all I would ever think of them. He didn’t even warrant being called anything other than enemy, so he should be grateful I was referring to him at all.

“After what I went through, how could I forget?” I asked right back, rather rhetorical, at that. How could anyone have forgotten such an ordeal? The very notion that I could just erase such a thing was nothing less than insulting.

“So then you must know the purpose behind my actions?”

“I can wager a guess. Or at least what you use to justify yourself,” I had no doubt that in his own mind, his actions were sound, but all I heard was distorted white noise.

“And knowing this, will you still defend her?”

I shook my head.

“No. I’ll defend all of us.”

My response was met with a slight, stifled laughter. Shame, too. I was dead serious.

“Even after all this time?”

“I think I’ve told you before,” Remora interjected, “if it’s simple revenge that you want, you should have just gone after me. So why all those researchers? All those people that had nothing to do with me? Why?”

“Because I knew you were in the area. It didn’t matter what other lives were taken in the process, so long as there was the chance that you were swept up along with them.”

“So that includes Tigershark’s parents?” I demanded, my voice shook as I did so.

“What?!” Tigershark looked up at me.

“I really wish you hadn’t said that,” Remora turned to me as well.

“She deserves to know,” my gaze was fixed on Cronus, all the while.

“What are you talking about, Demetria?” Panic filled Tigershark’s voice.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not a very comforting person. That blizzard, the one that took your parents, almost took you, was no natural blizzard,” I explained, then pointed at Cronus, “WAS IT?”

“It was similar enough to hold the same effect. So in the end, what was the difference?” He smirked and there wasn’t a hint of remorse in his voice.

“Their deaths would have been tragic either way, but if it was nature, then it could have been chalked up to an unfortunate accident. That you conjured something like that up in your pursuit of someone else is more than a tragedy: it’s blatant cruelty, plain and simple.”

“Had I known that one would be rescued by the one you call ‘Remora’, I would have put in more effort to ensure such a thing didn’t happen.”

I growled. To think he would have slaughtered Tigershark, and for what? For the proposed crime of associating with Remora?

“I’m sure there were many families torn apart by his actions,” Remora stated.

My thoughts shifted to the Mel twins. Indeed.

“What does it matter to you? They were no one you knew.”

“That doesn’t matter! It’s because they had nothing to do with me that it matters. They mattered to somebody, even if they would never have mattered to me!”

Cronus grimaced, then his face shifted to a scowl. His long mouth seemed like it dragged the rest of his face down with it.

“You talk as if your past actions were any different. Did you ever stop to think about what kind of people you killed, or did you just kill them?”

“Even then, I only took out my targets, no one else.”

“You killed people?” Tigershark asked Remora.

“Yes,” Remora answered.

“Bad people?” Tigershark gulped.

“I think I was the bad guy, actually.”

Cronus laughed a hearty and spiteful laugh.

“Wonderful. Yes, little girl. You now get to learn that your so-called savior was a monster all along.”

“It takes one to know one, doesn’t it?” I snarled at him.

He leered my way, then answered:

“Yes. If not for her monstrous actions, I wouldn’t be the monster I am now,” then his gaze shifted toward Remora, “tell me, were your coworkers your assigned target? The very people who worked for the same company as you?”

Remora twitched, the realization must have dawned on her.

“No. I did it because I wanted to leave and I knew others would be sent after me if I did so. I was trying to keep myself from being pursued.”

“I suppose I can’t blame you for that. After all, if even just one of your colleagues happened to survive and catch wind of what happened, then surely they would come after you. So you can’t blame me, then, when I do just that.”

“I see. So that’s how it is.”

“Yes. I suppose now is a good of a time as any to clear some things up, yes? No more leaving you in the dark. Even if that’s what you did to me. To all of us,” he lifted up one hand and little worm-like appendages writhed from the tips of his fingers. “You see, one moment I was standing in a crowd with others. Some of which I got along with. Then, a flash and we were all torn apart in the resulting blast. I struggled to open my eyes, and as I watched my colleagues, in pieces, I wept. My body, a mangled mess, burns all around me, and as I clung to dear life, begged to be let live, by some miracle, I watched the landscape turn to darkness.”

“You weren’t wrong to think these actions were the cause of a cosmic entity. I’ve heard the stories of such beings, the rumors. To me, such things as celestial beings, angels, never meant anything to me. But in that moment, when I was met with darkness, the last vestige of life slipping from me, I wanted to believe. So I called out, ‘if there’s anything out there, please, let me live!’ And I found myself entangled in a swirling mass of limbs while I stared into my savior: an unending sea of branches, wires, legs, and tentacles, all connected together and piled onto each other.

“Despite having no mouth, it spoke to me and nursed me to life by making itself a part of me. However, the changes were a little too late as I was weakened to the point where my body could no longer sustain itself but I soon found that I could grant myself new life through the corpses of others, along with their memories from when they were alive. It was like their lives had become a part of mine, and the more I occupied, the more energy I gained. Soon I was able to create my own projections and conjure beasts of my own. And along with all that...came a vast amount of knowledge, including of the one who killed me.”

“So the thing at the basement of the mansion, was that the so-called entity?” I asked.

“Yes and no. It was me. Or more, a projection of what I remembered it looking like and a little puppet in which I could speak through.”

“Well, that little puppet stole innocent lives.”

“No one is innocent. That’s the first thing you need to learn about life,” he waved a skeletal finger my way.

“Then did any of those other people lured in to that mansion deserve it? Did the Mel twins deserve it?”

“What does it matter? Life and death mean little to people like your Remora and I.”

‘My’? What?

“If that’s true, then you wouldn’t have begged for your own life, and you wouldn’t have tried to take hers. When it comes down to it, you’d probably use any excuse just to murder someone.”

“And you think Remora is any different? She doesn’t care about anyone else’s life but her own.”

“You’re wrong!” Remora argued. “I may have been that way before, hell, I may not have even cared about my own, but now I have friends. I have people who are important to me.”

“You don’t deserve friends!” He shouted, then, lowered his voice back, “I had friends. You took them from me.”

Maybe he’s right, from a moral perspective. From all the things she’s done, people she’s used, could it really be said that she deserved what she got? But then…I myself don’t really care about things like that. If anything, I’m just as bad as her. ‘Morals’? The only moral I have is protecting those who are important to me. Everything else is secondary.

“Maybe you’re right,” I replied. He froze, then a satisfied smile took over. I continued, “but to me, it’s not a matter of deserve or not. That she has friends is not for you to decide – if people choose to be friends with her, it’s their choice, not yours.”

“How bold. That you would align yourselves with her even after all you know only solidifies that you’re the enemy.”

I snorted. That was too much.

“Ah ha ha! No shit! We’ve been enemies for a long fucking time,” real quick, I turned to Tigershark, “sorry about the language.”

She still looked on the verge of tears, but she looked up.

“It’s okay. I think there are worse things to say,” she reassured me.

“So what happened to this entity, then?” Sunny shot her hand up and asked.

What? You think this is a classroom?

“We are connected, yes,” Cronus answered, “but I know not of its whereabouts. The last thing I heard was that they took on a human form. Which, I’ll give you all a freebie: since it has become human, it can be killed. If you can kill it, then the source of my power would go away as well, thus rending me mortal. But could you do it, knowing that in all likelihood, it wouldn’t have any memories of their previous self, and could be some ordinary man in Florida with a family of his own?”

Sunny wasn’t expecting such an answer. I was less surprised, even though I had no idea, myself.

“As for me, I have transcended humanity. I can create beasts, affect reality, occupy the corpses of others, and make people lose their sense of self. No matter which body I take, I can just regenerate and even if you destroy that body, then I just occupy a new one.”

Ray was the next one to shoot his hand up.

“Yes, excuse me, Mr. Death God? I have a question,” Ray spoke up.

“What is it?” Cronus was just taking questions now like it was nothing. OK.

“Was the whole thing with the fog, the impostor Rhea, and the stone constructs meant to wear us all down?”

“Yes. I had no doubts that you all would survive your whole ordeal on the way here. But by breaking both your bodies and spirits, then it would be all too easy to end your lives here and now.”

“Ah, the classic attrition strategy.”

“Now, your lives all end here!” He roared as several of the vines behind him shot forth our way. Their piercing thorns and the sharp, blade-like tips could have been sharp enough to impale us where we stood, if not bleed out.

Looks like it’s time for me to make my move as well.

I stood in front of everyone else and brought out the miniature bounded field. All of the vines rushed in where I stood, met the barrier, and disintegrated then and there. Everyone was unharmed.

“I kinda figured you were doing something like that as well,” I stated while closing up the miniature bounded field and returning the device to my pocket, “that’s why I chose not to involve myself too much in the previous battles.”

He laughed, smug as ever.

“Be that as it may, there was no need to weaken you. What could you possibly do? You’re just one ordinary human.”

“Maybe so,” a sinister grin spread across my face and I untied the black robe that was around my waist and put it back on, “but if anything, that just makes you more pathetic.”

“Again, you’re all talk.”

“What do you think we’ve been doing all this time? Talking. All because you know you yourself are too weak to kill an ordinary, pathetic human such as myself? See, the way I see it, you’re no death god. You’re just a human with a power trip. You claim you can kill anyone, do what you please, make others lose their sense of self, but you couldn’t even kill me! And as a matter of fact, I think I know myself now more than ever.”

“A minor oversight which I will fix now,” he growled.

“Really? You promise this time? ‘Cronus the Harvester’? Give me a break. You can do some fancy tricks, but at the end of the day, you’re still mortal and I will be the one to prove that to you.”

I brought out my switchblade, its black casing with the gold blade on the inside. I flipped down the switch on the side of the casing one notch, then flicked the switchblade open. The blade sprung up, and along with it unfolded a metallic rod which clicked into place. At the very tip of the rod was the blade, which then expanded and curled down. What was once the casing for the switchblade became the hilt and I then held in my hand a full-formed sickle.

It was much heavier in its current form than when it was as a switchblade, but the damn thing was heavy from the start. It had to be.

“This is why I called it Death Knight,” I turned to Tigershark. At first she still looked despondent and teary-eyed, but she looked up, then her face lit up and she grinned. I took it as a sign of approval. Ray, meanwhile, scratched his chin.

“Hmm...seems a little too edgy, don’t you think?” He pondered.

Jeez, nothing pleases you people, huh?

Cronus shot forth many vines from his hand and I charged in, took a swipe and cut them down. From the side, many more vines from the wall flew in my direction. I swerved and did a sweeping slash, cutting those all down as well.

“Your attacks are too slow and the shape of your weapon leaves too many openings for you,” Cronus observed.

“But it gets the job done for large swarms such as that,” I replied, then flipped the switch another notch and the blade’s casing turned to the side as the metal rod pushed through to the other side while black perimeter of the rod popped out to reveal a blade on its inside as well, while the outer shell, what was once the perimeter of the rod, teemed with static.

The original blade shrunk down and attached itself near the top of the newly formed sword.

“So you copied my sickle and took it one step further,” he noted, then from the vines that sprouted from his palm, he formed a sickle of his own, “but you forgot that I hold the original and while you use pieces of the entity to fuel your weapon, I am the real deal.”

He leaped into the air and swung his sickle down my way, but I took a step back as he hit the ground and his blade missed. In turn, I sidestepped and swung forth with my own blade, the electrical currents running through as I sliced him in half, but before I got through all the way, he grabbed my blade.

“That same trick won’t work twice,” he grunted, and vines moved around his body, spread out, and then the sparks dissipated, “what? Did you think I would be paralyzed too?”

I shook my head and smiled, “actually, I don’t really care about that,” and pushed the blade through harder until it tore through his grip and sliced his hand off as well as reaching the other end of him. He split in two, but before his top half hit the ground, appendages from the bottom half swung around and held tight to the top half.

Let’s not make this a smooth regeneration, I thought as I lunged forth and swung my blade downward until he was in fourths.

Even then, he was quick to connect.

“You just don’t get it: I can regenerate. Furthermore, even if you manage to kill the body, I will just find another.”

“Good. That just means I can kill you over. And over. And over again,” I let my excitement show, but more so, it was the anger that I’ve been holding back. “So answer me this: how many times do we have to teach you this lesson, old man?!”

He opened his mouth wide and roared and many appendages launched out from his mouth, each with mouths of their own. As he charged with his sickle, so too did those mouths, all looking to tear a chunk out of me. I ducked as he went for a horizontal swing, and at the same time, the appendages wriggled down and opened wide for a bite, but I sprung up to the side, then cut them all down and leaped up to to thrust my blade down into his mouth and a jolt of electricity exploded inside as I pulled my blade back out, then jumped back.

He screamed and wailed in agony, but then clamped his mouth shut and swallowed, seeming fine once more. He smiled, then licked his lips, to which I noticed just how long of a tongue he had.

“You’re doing amazing, sweetie!” Sunny cheered for me and I noticed in my peripheral Tigershark jumping up in the air as well. Really, that’s all I need.

He ran my way, once again with sickle in hand, and tried for a diagonal slash, but I took my blade and thrust upward, chipping off the blade of his sickle and splitting it in half. He leaned over and reached his head down with his large mouth with many rows of sharp, jagged teeth, and his large tongue splitting into many, smaller, thinner tongues. His breath was so close, but before he could clamp down on my head, I slid to the floor in between his legs and sliced upward, right through his crotch.

He let out a yelp of pain and blood dripped down from between his legs, and before he could turn, I thrust my blade into his chest. Just as soon as I did so, I released the blade and let the electrical currents speak for themselves as the red, metallic liquid which poured from his chest mixed with the sparks from my blade and it caused an explosion through his whole body which sent me back as well.

Light burn marks filled my cheeks, but that was nothing compared to the agony he went through.

“Is it over?” Ray asked.

I shook my head. Things were never that easy. Not that quick.

What first was a sharp, shrill cry of pain soon turned into a booming, earth-shattering roar and through the smoke emerged two large claws, each of which must have been of greater size than Cronus’ own body, or whoever that body first belonged to. His face appeared next from out of the smoke, elongated and filled with writhing worms. What once held eyes was sunken in. It was like watching a fleshy skull contort itself to that of some other creature.

“You think you only have to fight me?” He bellowed and from his open mouth emitted a heavy gust of wind with little frost particles. The air around us turned thick and gray at the same time.

He’s trying to conjure up both that pseudo-blizzard and pseudo-fog at the same time. He’s really ready to kill all of us, any means necessary. Well, I can’t say I’m surprised.

I ran back to the others, then faced Cronus, or whatever form he took now, and transformed my blade back into a sickle, then with both hands, made large sweeping motions.

“Ow, ow,” the others winced as little shards cut into them. I continued to sweep along, however, and soon the gusts of air created cleared away the fog and turned the air still once more.

Short breaths forced out of me as the motions took more strength than I expected they would. Cronus shifted back into his more human-like appearance, but whatever calm demeanor he held prior had washed away and in its place a hateful scowl was plastered on.

“You should give up now. You all will be much more useful if you join me, together in death,” he growled.

“Y’know, it could be my Gothic sensibilities talking,” Ray pulled out a cigarette from his jacket pocket along with his lighter, to which he flicked a flame, then took a puff from his cigarette, “but that sounds rather gay. I’m flattered, really, and if you were a different person who didn’t cause so many problems for me, I might have taken you up on your offer. As it stands, I want nothing to do with you.”

“Ray! Since when did you smoke?!” Sunny sounded appalled.

“I’m going to be blunt with you, Sunny,” Ray took another puff, “it’s weed.”

“Wait, really? You got one in there for me?”

Ray sighed, “this is why I was keeping my stash a secret from you,” then pulled out a joint for Sunny.

“Light me up. This shit’s been stressful for me too!”

Seriously, you’re going to get yourselves high at a time like this? Though given what we’ve all been through, I guess I can’t blame them.

“Do you really think you can protect them and fight me at the same time?!” Cronus’ booming voice shouted in my direction.

“I have to try,” I replied and clenched my fists.

“You know you will fail. Need I remind you what happened with the Mel twins? You know, I hold their memories. They never had any confidence in you.”

All you did was serve as a humiliating end to their lives, he spoke to me through my thoughts.

I’m not surprised, I retorted within my thoughts, if you think that will deter me, you’re mistaken. That they didn’t make it is the whole reason why I must take you down.

I charged at him and transformed my sickle back into its blade form. He, meanwhile, shot forth the multitude of vines once again, and I sliced through them but a few flew past from overhead.

Damn it! It’s too high up!

In a panic, I tossed my blade into the air to cut down the remaining vines. While my focus was on his summoned vines, he rushed in and swiped at me with the back of his thorny palm. Although I reacted in time to avoid any further hits, I was caught off guard by the swipe and they pricked little cuts into my cheek.

I winced, then kept my focus on my opponent, who had conjured up his sickle once more. He tried to swipe with it, much like he did his palms, but that time, I stepped far enough back, then took a leap forward and slashed down, but his sickle blocked my blade. We were in a lock, weapon against weapon, and he tried shifting his weight against his sickle, but when I still pushed harder, he unleashed several vines from his back and I let go of my blade, kicked against his sickle, knocking him back, just as the vines came crashing down my way, but it was too late; the space between us was vast enough that they all missed. I slashed them away, then charged in once more.

I sliced one of his arms clean off. Next I went and tore his sickle. He looked at a disadvantage, but as soon as his arm regrew, and right when I went for his head, limbs from his back grew, not just vines, but long and thick spider-like legs with needles at the tip. They pushed my blade aside, and then he grabbed me by the throat and lifted me up.

“I’m sorry. Did you think this was going to be easy?” He mocked.

I struggled to breathe, struggled to be let loose from his grip. At the same time, I held onto my blade as tight as I could, not wanting it to drop.

He could have killed me then and there, I was sure, but instead, he tossed me across the room and I landed on my feet rather than fell to the ground. My throat still felt tight, but I could keep going. I had to.

While I was working my way to fight him once more, he turned his attention to the rest of the group and launched the limbs from his back their way, along with the vines as well.

I ran forth, unsure whether I could make it to tear them down, or whether I should focus more on the main body. My nerves were on overdrive, however, as they seemed to be going too fast for me to do anything in time. I glanced and saw Remora shove everyone else aside as she intended to take the full force of the limbs and thorny vines.

“You idiot!” I shouted.

But instead of her sustaining any further injuries, she rolled out of the way in time.

Maybe I made the wrong assumption. Good job. As much as I still have my issues with you, I would much rather see you alive. That reminds me...

“I just have to ask: were you the one who brought Rhea back to life?”

“Yes, I lived through her corpse,” he smiled, amused at himself.

“No. That’s not what I mean. Did you revive her?” I put emphasis on ‘revive’ as I insisted he answer the question. He just shook his head with an irritated frown on his face.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s true that if I had that power, it would have made it easier to get rid of your Remora, but I have no such ability. If I did, the only person I would want to revive would be myself.”

Not your so-called friends that you claimed you had?

I steeled my resolve and ran at Cronus once again. At first head on, but seeing as he would have predicted that, I sidestepped, then swung my blade in a horizontal motion. He put up a wall of vines, but I slashed through those. Every time I went for the offensive, he put up more makeshift walls and backed away.

Is he weakening? I wondered, but soon, one of those limbs formed a mouth and in my carelessness, I was so focused on cutting down his walls that I didn’t react in time and it bit down on my ankle and tore out a chunk of my flesh.

“Aaah!” I screamed. I backed away to the side, but the pain surged through me and I began to walk with a limp, impeding my movements.

“Haa...haa…” I huffed.

He sent out more of them my way and I was able to turn to the sides to avoid them, but I couldn’t move as well.

I need to do something! I have to put an end to this here and now!

I tripped over myself as I tried to avoid the limbs once more and fell. I pushed myself back up, but before I could move out of the way, one of the limbs pierced its way into the back of my shoulder. Once again, I yelled out and my face grew strained.

“So much for your little act of heroics,” he taunted.

I rolled over and tried to hold up my blade, but he slammed his foot down against it and kept me from moving it.

“I’ve decided: you will be the first to be devoured,” he snarled and opened his mouth wide.

Devoured...devoured...of course.

I flicked against the blade and it retracted back into a switchblade, but not before slicing off his foot. He yelped, and as the vines repaired his injury, I limped and hobbled my way back toward the rest of the group.

“Nice try,” I heard from him, as a couple more limbs were sent my way. I thought I would have been done for, but Remora pulled out her rifle, split it into the two pistols, and fired at each.

“Thanks,” I wheezed out the word. While there were some unresolved things between us, I had to admit that at times, she had protected me as well.

“Do you think you can shoot off a chunk of rock from one of the walls?” I asked her in a desperate move.

“I can try. What are you thinking?”

“I’m just interested in reenacting an old myth,” I teased, and if I wasn’t already wincing, I would have winked.

The entire sea of vines in the back of the room seemed to head for us all as Cronus too approached us, little by little.

I transformed my switchblade once again into a sickle and tried to sweep them away, or generate enough of a gust to drive them back, but I found I no longer had the strength.

“Here, I may be a little buzzed right now, but I can still help,” Sunny suggested and held out her hand. In a show of trust, I handed her the sickle and nodded. With both hands, Sunny swept and waved the sickle in heavy motions, so much so that just as I hoped, the vines were driven back.

“This should buy us a little bit of time. Remora, your turn,” I ordered.

“What’s the magic word?” She teased and I was furious.

“Fucking hell! We don’t have time!”

“Nope. That’s not it,” she leaned over with a cheeky grin.

“Please!”

“There’s your manners,” she then stood up tall and formed her two guns back into a rifle and aimed at the left side wall. The resulting blast caused a few chunks of stone to drop.

Good.

Next was Tigershark, though I was a little reluctant, given that she was a child.

“I’m not going to force you to do anything, Tigershark, especially after some of the things you heard –” I began.

“Hey!” She scowled and looked at me. “I hate this guy too! I hate him just as much as I’m mad at you and Remora right now! Which is a lot!”

I gave a hollow chuckle.

“I guess I deserve that…” My attention turned to the stone. We still didn’t have a lot of time, but I was banking on a long shot as it was.

“Anyway,” I looked over, “do you think you can run over there and pick up the biggest rock you can find.”

“Um…” She looked toward Cronus, then back at the pile of stones.

“I won’t let any harm come to you and whatever I can’t do, someone else here can. I know I’m not the best, but…” Tears began to form. I wiped them away, then continued, “it’s not just me who can do something. I have to accept that.”

She nodded, then took off. Just as I thought, he sent one of the limbs her way while continuing to advance toward us. Remora shot it down before it could even get close to reaching Tigershark. I saw Tigershark look around at the pile, then she lifted up a large stone, large enough to be considered a boulder.

That kid sure is strong, I couldn’t help but smile.

“To think you were considered such a dangerous killer,” he mused to Remora, “and now all you can do is stay still and shoot your gun.”

“So...basically what a sniper already does?” She pointed out.

I saw Tigershark run back with the stone in both arms. Her run was more like a waddle, given the heaviness of the stone.

Four of the limbs from Cronus’ back shot in my and Sunny’s direction, but Ray wrangled them up with the threads he kept in his pocket. They tried to break free, but Ray held on tight and the threads were plenty tough in their own right.

“No matter,” he looked irritated, “it’s time to feed.”

His mouth opened wide, like the jaws of a shark, it was large enough to swallow a single person whole. Sunny tried to swing the sickle to stop him from reaching in any closer, but he held her wrist tight with one hand.

“Tigershark! Now! Toss this in his mouth!”

She looked to the side with a befuddled expression, but did as instructed as I backed away and she tossed the stone right in, as if it were a basketball and Cronus’ mouth was the hoop.

He clamped down and swallowed the stone then looked back at us once again.

“Not what I intended, but inconsequential.”

Maybe. It was a stretch. But I had to do something.

“Now,” he reeled one arm back as he readied it, probably for a clawed attack. Maybe he intended to impale one right through the chest. Something which unlike himself, I could not recover from.

However, nothing happened.

Or rather, I watched him struggle to move as he stood in place, then started to gag.

“What...the shocks did nothing...this shouldn’t be happening…” he wheezed out.

“It’s taking everything within your power just to break the stone down, I can imagine,” I theorized.

He continued to retch, then dropped down to his knees, shaking hands on his throat.

“I must have used too much power,” he heaved out the words, “with everything I threw at you all, it should have been enough.”

“You’ve been straining your power for a while now,” I corrected him. “And it just goes to show, you’re not without your limits.”

He spat out little chunks of rock onto the floor, then scowled at me, his face red.

“It will take a while for me to recover. However, I will return. Enjoy your peace while it lasts,” he warned.

“Oh, believe me, I will,” I stared down at him, then held out my hand to the side, “Sunny, my blade, please?”

She handed me the sickle and I transformed it back into a sword.

“You might want to look away for this part,” Sunny warned Tigershark. “And here, I’ll cover your eyes.”

With the last ounces of strength I had left, I plunged my blade down his open mouth. Behind us, the wall of thorns dissipated into little streaks of dark smoke. As I stared down into Cronus, blood gurgled out from his mouth, and then his eyes rolled back, lifeless. When I lifted the blade out, he fell to the floor before he too turned to smoke.

Exhausted, I dropped to my knees, retracted the blade back into a switchblade, then closed the knife back into its casing.

“A for effort?” I turned to everyone and joked. Exhausted, I thought I was about to turn to sleep. Maybe even an eternal sleep, but Sunny reached down and lifted me back to my feet.

“Let’s go back home,” Ray told us, or maybe it was Sunny. Their voices were a blur to the point where I wondered if I was the high one. But it was a pleasant thought.

Yes, home.

#remoras full #writing #stories #action #drama #death #supernatural #horror #comedy #demeter #rhea #cronus #sickle #sword

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