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biggest-stupidhead · 3 years

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Can I ask for an request where Levi is a soldier who is pointed to protect a royal person. Then he fell in love with her active attitude, smart brain and support to the scout

AN: This took me so long. I deleted it like three times on accident so this is as good as its going to get 😂. do let me know though if I misspelled anything I didn't skim over it sooooo YOLO.

Summary: Levi is asked to attend the summer gala with !princess reader.

Word Count: 2.8 K

Warnings: mentions of Levi's scarring, some cussing? I think? that's about it

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Levi's hand trembled as he ran the fine toothed comb through his damp hair. He scowled back at his own reflection, eyes avoiding the pink scars that marred his skin. It had been nearly a year since he had been discharged from the military due to his injuries. At first he had struggled to find a routine, having been in the military for more than half of his life, it was a huge loss.

His hand jerked unexpectedly and the comb pulled through a knot in his hair painfully. He clicked his tongue and dropped the comb, gripping the edges of the sink to steady himself.

How pathetic.

There was a time when he could complete these tasks with no problem. But now his body seemed to be failing him, if he stood for too long his joints protested, he struggled to hold a pen due to his lack of fingers. He also wore an eyepatch to cover his milky right eye and some of the scars that covered the right side of his face.

Normally Hange would help him get ready, they were the only person he could stomach seeing him this way. But Hange was busy, they had meetings all morning. So Levi was left on his own, and he managed as well as he could. Although it took him double the amount of time it usually took, he still did it.

He grabbed his cane on his way out of his humble apartment, the carriage was waiting for him outside. In the carriage was the last person he wished to see, Zeke Jaeger. His glasses glinted in the sunlight as the coachman held the door for Levi who sat as far away from the war chief as possible.

Zeke blew out a puff of smoke, which swirled around in the small space. Levi's lip curled into a sneer, and Zeke smirked pleased to rouse a reaction from the retired Captain.

"Big day today eh Levi?" He spoke around his cigarette and Levi rolled his eyes.

"I suppose." He agreed, eyes never leaving the man.

That was about the only words exchanged between the two, the ride was thankfully short. The carriage arrived to the castle just after noon, the coachmen opened the door for Levi and Zeke. The sunlight was bright and made Levi squint, it didn't help that the castle seemed to glow as the sun bounced off of it.

"This way old friend." Zeke instructed and Levi followed begrudgingly, Zeke led Levi through the halls and into a large ball room. The castle staff was scurrying about, carrying massive bouquets of flowers and other decorations in preparation for the summer gala. Levi had attended this very event many times over his career, but he had not intended on joining in this year. Zeke paused a few feet away from Erwin, who was standing before a young woman Levi had met a handful of times. You had aged in the past two years that he hadn't seen you, although you weren't any taller, he could see the age on your face. Much as he assumed you could see in his, you also carried yourself more confidently, shoulders back, chin up.

Erwin paused and turned to greet the two men, who both saluted him and you.

"Captain, how nice to see you." You hummed, a pleased glint in your eyes as you curtsied, much to his surprise.

"You as well Zeke." You seemed less excited to see the war chief.

"Princess, you look lovely." Zeke closed the distance between the two of you, taking your hand a bit too eagerly and bringing it to his lips. You smiled a bit tersely, but allowed it.

"Ah, and you look...as hairy as the last time we met." Your jab threw Levi off, but Erwin seemed to have expected the exchange. Zeke laughed heartily and pulled back.

"Such a sharp tongue on you princess." He chuckled and you shrugged, a smug grin on those lips of yours.

"You make it easy."

"Princess, you are aware that Levi is to accompany you to this year's gala yes?" Erwin steered the conversation in a more relevant direction and you nodded.

"Mhm, and I'm very excited to be escorted by Eldia's most eligible bachelor." Levi wasn't sure if you meant it sincerely, or if it was his turn to face the wrath of your sharp words.

"I'm sure you are." Erwin chuckled, his hand falling on the back of your tricep. You gathered your skirts and took a few steps closer to Levi.

"The last time we met, you weren't keen on dancing, I do hope that's changed." You smirked at him and Levi barely fought the flush off of his cheeks as you pushed past him.

"We can go in the drawing room and discuss logistics, the gala is a mere week away after all-" Levi tuned out whatever it was Erwin was babbling about, too focused on watching you saunter out of the room.

Levi spent the next week trailing behind Erwin, attending meetings and luncheons with other high ranking military members. It was boring, but nothing that he hadn't done before. The day of the gala, Hange arrived with the remaining of the 104th cadet corps. Levi felt great relief at seeing the familiar faces, Hange had eagerly came to hug him, and he pretended to hate it. Mikasa even came and gave him the briefest of embraces, Connie had been the most excited, throwing his arms around his former captain and squeezing him tightly. Armin had grinned sheepishly, and offered a small wave. Jean just nodded respectively in Levi's direction. Gabby and Falco had tagged along as well, wearing their best uniforms, decorated with their medals.

"I can't believe we get to come to the summer gala!" Connie gushed, his hazel eyes wide as he soaked in the castle in all of its glory.

"We won a war." Jean huffed, eyes sharp, hand fidgeting with his medal on his lapel.

"We lost more than we won." Mikasa murmured, her own shaky hands reaching for a scarf that was no longer wrapped around her neck. The cheery mood quickly dissipated at Mikasa's statement, Hange cleared their throat and clapped their hands in an attempt to drag everyone from their thoughts.

"Let's go meet Erwin then." They said, and Levi nodded.

"Let's." The group walked through the halls, Hange in the lead and Levi at their side, it felt like old times. The kids, well they weren't really kids anymore, were beginning to return to their annoying selves.

"-will we be able to eat the food?" Gabby asked, and Levi nearly flinched, the statement reminded him all too much of Sasha. Connie seemed less phased, he sighed and brought his arms behind his neck as they walked.

"I sure hope so."

"We're here on business." Mikasa reminded them and Jean hummed in agreement.

"We're here as representatives." Armin added, and Hange chuckled.

"Use this as an opportunity children." Hange cooed, pausing in front of the doors to the drawing room.

"Have some fun, get drunk, you've earned it." Hange then pushed the doors open, revealing the cozy drawing room, Erwin sat with his legs crossed in one of the arm chairs, a book in his lap. He closed the book and stood, his sleeve hanging limply where his arm once was.

"Cadets, erm or should I say captains." Erwin chuckled awkwardly as the kids all jumped to salute him, fists clenched over their hearts.

"Commander." They all greeted in unison.

"Sit, we have much to discuss."

The discussion was rather tame, a short bit of it had been relevant. Where the kids were to stand, what they were to say and how they were expected to act. The rest of the afternoon had been spent catching up and enjoying each other's company. Just a few hours before the guests were to arrive, Erwin sent the group off to find their spots.

Levi found himself waiting outside of your room, his watch gripped tightly in his fist, watching the minutes tick by. You emerged about fifteen minutes after him arriving, your dress was a deep emerald green, elegantly hugging your frame in all of the right places. You smoothed the silk gown skirts and smiled at him, the red lipstick on your lips making your teeth seem extra white.

"You look ravishing Captain." You complimented, accepting his arm before walking slowly down the hall, careful to keep his pace.

"...as do you." He choked out, a blush tickling his ears.

"Did you get all done up for me?" You pressed, hand tightening around his bicep.

"No." He answered, although he was partially lying, the truth was all he could think about as he dressed, was you. How would you be dressed? Was he to match you? Or was he expected to wear his usual military dress? He had opted for the latter, and it seemed to work well, the inky black dress coat and the gold medals that decorated his lapels seemed to compliment the emerald in your dress.

"Well, I sure hope that you will at least dance with me." You pouted, shooting him a hopeful look.

"Tch." He clicked his tongue, truthfully it was all that he could mange, he was nervous enough about joining you this evening. But you asking him to dance? He had never danced in his life, and with his legs in the state they were in now?

The two of you stopped, overlooking the ball room which was already filled with guests, milling about with flutes of champagne. You snuck a glance at Levi, who was looking down at the crowd with a bored glaze over his eyes.

"Ready?" You asked, squeezing his bicep once and he nodded, chin held high as the two of you slowly made your way down the staircase. Levi's eyes scanned the crowd, searching for familiar faces, which he found in their designated spots. He knew that the king had asked him to accompany his daughter largely as a political move, not for protection as he had in the past. But old habits die hard, he double checked exits and kept an eye out for shady people, it was easier than looking at you after all. Not because you were ugly, rather the opposite, you were stunning and that intimidated him.

After at least forty five minutes of socializing, the dancing began and you tugged impatiently on his arm, which you had yet to let go of.

"Please Levi, just this once." You whispered so only he could hear, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end at your closeness.

"Princess." He said sternly, although his voice did shake a tad, and you grinned, knowing that you had nearly convinced him.

"Captain." You countered, taking a step towards the dance floor.

"Just one." he said after a moment's hesitation before falling back in step with you.

"Just one." You affirmed with a wicked grin as you led him into the mass of bodies.

Levi felt his pulse race, his anxiety was roaring he had absolutely no clue how to dance, especially with his legs in the state that they were. You seemed to sense this, carefully taking his hand and resting it on your hip as you stepped ever so closely to him. Your chest was pressed against his, and he was sure that you could feel the pounding of his heart as it threatened to escape his ribcage.

"You just follow my lead." You whispered as he brought his other hand to rest naturally in the palm of yours. He nodded, eyes wandering down to glance at his feet, which were partially concealed by your skirts.

"It goes something like this, step-" You took a step towards him and he took one back.

"Then to the left," You instructed softly and he obliged, the two of you moving slightly out of sync.

"Then forwards again." You nodded as he stepped forwards and you stepped back, skirt swaying.

"Then to the right," You chuckled as his brows remained fixed in a tight knot as he tried to focus.

"Then we do it again." You seemed satisfied, and he nodded it was simple enough, although he could already feel the strain of the activity in his joints.

"Easy." He huffed, taking the lead and you giggled and fell into step with him.

"Tell me Levi, when you went across the ocean and fought those men, who were you fighting for?" The question caught him off guard and he nearly forgot the next step.

"That's an odd question." Levi shot you a mean look and you shrugged.

"I want to know what pushed Humanities strongest to be so strong." You answered, unfazed by his sour look.

"I fight for the people." He replied curtly and you sighed.

"That's a boring answer, I want to know what really drives you." You pressed and Levi frowned.

"Its the truth."

"Then tell me a lie." You raised a brow, challenging him and he screwed his nose up in distaste.

"Why would you want me to lie to you?" He asked out of genuine curiosity, no one had ever given him such a request.

"To spice some things up I guess." You hummed nonchalantly and squeezed your hand that held his.

"Then I would tell you I fought that war for you." He regretted the words, but you seemed to be pleased by them.

"Aw so you did think of me while we were apart." You cooed and Levi nearly broke away from you, but he only gripped your hand harder.

"You were the last thing on my mind." he huffed and you let out a throaty laugh. A lie, he thought of you often.

"You really are funny." You let your head fall affectionately into the crook of his neck and he swallowed thickly, as your scent washed over him.

"I didn't mean to be."

"I know, that's what makes it funny." Your breath tickled his neck as you spoke, you seemed to be in no hurry to pull away.

"Hmph." He hummed stupidly, unable to form words with you so close.

The song ended and you lifted your head, one of those wide grins sprawled across your lips.

"That wasn't so bad was it?" You whispered cheekily and he scoffed as the two of you exited the dance floor. You both found a seat at one of the tables set on the outskirts of the room, taking a break to drink and enjoy each others company.

Levi rubbed his knee under the table, the dance had truly taken a toll on him and he barely suppressed a groan. You noticed, shooting him a concerned look.

"Does it bother you often?" You asked, dragging your chair closer to his. He rolled his eye and pulled his hand slowly away from his leg.

"No."

"You're lying, just tell me the truth."

"I thought you wanted me to lie to you." He snapped back and you scoffed.

"Not about this." You reasoned and he sighed deeply.

"Yes, it hurts like a bitch." He turned to face you, his knee knocking yours and you frowned.

"You should've told me, I wouldn't have made you dance."

"I-" He paused, catching himself before the words left his mouth. But after one look at your open and concerned face he couldn't not say what he had been wanting to say.

"I wanted to." He admitted and your eyes widened a fraction.

"You...really wanted to?" Your words were raw and clearly Levi had caught you, the witty young princess off guard.

"I did."

"Would you do it again?"

"Yes."

"Hm." A smug look crossed your face and Levi scowled at you, not liking the way you seemed to be plotting something unbeknownst to him.

"What?" He snapped and you let out a short burst of laughter.

"I knew that you weren't lying when you said that you thought about me." You teased and he growled lowly under his breath.

"Maybe that was your last dance with me."

"Easy now, let's not be hasty, we have the whole night after all darling." You patted his shoulder, standing slowly and walking around the back of his chair to squeeze his shoulders before slipping off into the crowd.

He hoped that you meant it, that you would come back even if he could not dance with you again. He hoped that you had thought of him too, that his fighting had all been worth it. To spend the rest of his life by your side, even if he was just your guard or even a political ploy. He would do it for you, and he would do so happily.

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songfell-ut · 4 years

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Chapter 13, something luck something

I gave myself the feels, @lostmypotatoes send help

Link here.

“…AND THIS, MY INTREPID YOUNG FRIEND, IS…THE ROYAL GUARD!! NYEHHHHHH!”

They’d stopped at the head of the staircase in the Grand Hall. Her new skeleton friend had thrown his arms wide at a line of monsters standing motionless in shiny black armor, as proud as a child showing a visitor his favorite toys. “NYEHHH,” he added reverently.

The Royal Guard was quite impressive, like gleaming statues that could come to life and kill you, but Frisk wasn’t scared. She could see their ears poking out from their helmets, and some of them looked pretty silly: a couple of dogs, a cat, a rabbit, a bug, something like a lizard or dragon…

But then there was their Captain, who had just removed her helmet. She did not look silly. “UNDYNE!” Papyrus blared at the tall, eyepatched fish-woman. “THIS IS KRIS! SAY HELLO TO HIM! …ER, UNDYNE? HIS NAME IS KRIS, NYEH HEH! …HE IS A HUMAN! …NYEH? UNDYNE?”

No answer. Undyne’s scarred, scowling, evil-toothed countenance did not waver. Her webbed hand was clenched on the shaft of her spear, cerulean scales and mostly-yellow eye glittering in the witchlight. Even her red ponytail looked menacing as it fluttered in the breeze of passing dignitaries.

The human’s path was clear. Her expression went blank with determination. Frisk looked around and saw vases full of fresh flowers against the wall; as the monsters glanced at each other in confusion, the child selected a vase, tossed out the flowers, lugged the vase back to the Royal Guard Captain, and, with one almighty heave, threw the water right into Undyne’s face.

Frisk woke him even earlier than they’d planned, looking as though she hadn’t slept and sounding very businesslike. Sans was too groggy at first to remember last night, and before he could wonder if it had even happened, she was already laying out their plan for the day.

And…it was not what they had discussed yesterday. It was the opposite. “Lemme get this straight,” he said when she was finished. “Ya don’ wanna sneak out anymore. You wanna tell everyone an’ their mom that we’re takin’ the monsters back t’the Underground as a goodwill gesture in exchange for more cool monster stuff.”

“Yes.”

“So we’re goin’ out as a big deal that everyone knows about, on purpose?”

“Yes.”

“We’re gonna let ‘em think you already cleared it with the King ‘n everything’s fine?”

“Yes.”

“That’s…that’s a big fat lie.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“Yes it is.”

“No. It isn’t.”

“Yuh-huh.”

“I’m not an idiot, Sans! If we disappeared without any indication whatsoever of where I’d gone, His Majesty would assume I’d been abducted and send soldiers after me. I just woke him up a few minutes ago and told him where we were going, and why.”

Something about the way she said it made him ask, “And he’s okay with it?”

Frisk smirked. “We’re going.”

Departing with a lot of fanfare actually took less effort than Sans expected. All he had to do was go down to the stables, announce that Her Eminence was leaving immediately on an important diplomatic mission, hand over her written instructions, and then stand back. For once, his scariness was a real advantage: by the time Frisk brought down the group of silent, shivering monsters, the wagons were already in place, the horses hitched up, and the cargo nearly loaded.

The priestess had been busy mobilizing a small army of assistants, which was a lot easier than their original plan to have him teleport everything from her room. Their provisions and gifts for the Underground were brought down and loaded according to the diagrams Frisk had drawn for the monsters: one wagon was for Ice Cap, who would travel with the majority of the food, while the other had Pyrope and Vulkin, who were wrapped in fireproof blankets and seated away from anything flammable. The other monsters would ride with them in order to stay warm—the canvas wagon covers were good for privacy, but didn’t keep out much of the wind.

Sans had made himself scarce while the work was going on, but when everyone and everything was in place, he stepped up to make Frisk get in with the flame monsters instead of riding up front in the lead wagon. She’d been standing in a corner of the freezing yard to supervise the last preparations; in her full High Priestess regalia, she was as impressive as ever, but he’d watched her closely and seen her trying not to cough.

As her personal guard, and her…whatever the hell they were now, it was his duty to not let her get sick again, but his official consideration was for her safety. They were traveling with a cortege of twelve guards, which would deter most attackers and also help clear traffic ahead of them, but there was no point in putting her on display for someone to take potshots.

They wheeled out of the castle gates and onto the main thoroughfare just after sunrise. Sans wasn’t a big fan of walking, or being in the cold, but his slippers and overcoat were mostly adequate. He wished he could poke his head into the wagon to check on Frisk, but she had asked him not to let the other monsters see him yet; besides, he heard her humming at a couple of points and figured she was busy keeping them calm. Pyrope was a twitchy little bastard, and Vulkin had a bad habit of “helping” via lava, so he’d just leave her to it.

The day passed, and to their pleasant surprise, they reached Frisk’s house on the outskirts of the city long before dark. That gave them more time than expected for Frisk to unload the monsters and shepherd them into the house; Sans grabbed enough food for that night and the morning, and the attendants took the wagons and horses to the nearest inn. Two guards took up positions outside the house before they locked the door for the night, and that was that.

None of the monsters had spoken or made eye contact with anyone all day, to Sans’ knowledge. As soon as they were gathered in the dining room, the priestess allowed him to step in and say, “Heya.”

Frisk retreated as the monsters came alive, swarming around the giant skeleton and all babbling at once in frantic relief. He had been somewhat scary to them in the relative peace of the Underground, but seeing him now was the best possible reassurance that the High Priestess had not been lying or playing some kind of sick game with them: they really would be home by the day after tomorrow.

After a few minutes, Frisk came back into the room, bare-headed and wearing a loose white gown, for Sans to re-introduce her as “Kris,” the not-really-a-boy from the human delegation. Six of the eight remembered her, and Pyrope got so excited that he left a couple of smoking holes in the carpet.

When everyone was done eating and talking, Frisk directed Ice Cap to the attic, where they could safely leave the little window open to keep it cold, while Sans built up the kitchen fire and made an asbestos-blanket fort for the flame monsters. The others sprawled out on the beds or any patch of floor they could, safe and well-fed; still, Sans noticed how uneasy they were, and understood what that was like. He just hoped they’d be able to feel safe again.

Once everyone was settled, Frisk was nowhere to be found. Of all the damn places she could’ve slept in, Sans finally found her wrapped up in her cloak in the bathtub. “Frisk,” he said accusingly.

She made a noise explaining that she was fine, a monster could have the remaining bed.

“Nope.” The priestess squeaked as he bent to scoop her up in both hands. “C’mon, kitten. Time ta sleep literally anywhere else.” Before she could object, he walked her into the smallest bedroom, dropped her onto the bed, and threw a comforter over her. “There. G’night.”

Frisk struggled to sit up. “Wait, where—”

Sans lay down on the floor and sighed noisily. “We’re not t’the Underground yet. Let’s just go ta sleep, okay?”

“…Okay. But, Sans—”

The boss monster emitted a loud, sustained fake snore, cut short by her pillow landing on his face.

Either the demon-child was still satisfied from the other night, or they were just too tired to be reachable, because they woke from a dreamless night to another stiff, sore day of travel.

The monsters were more animated today as they loaded into the wagons, which Frisk took as a good omen. Granted, there was a delay when Sans got too close to the draft horses and scared them so badly that the grooms had to unhitch them for a quick jog around the block, but the crowd gathering on the street to watch still cheered and waved as they set off.

It was another bitterly cold day, and as Frisk leaned into Vulkin, she tried not to think too much about spending the night in the no-man’s-land. King Stephin had still been sleepy when they talked yesterday morning, and the best objection he’d come up with on the spot had been the diplomatic ramifications of bringing so many humans so close to the Underground. She’d countered with the proposal that they leave all their attendants at the border and have Sans handle both security and transportation from then on, as he was a monster and knew the area well. The King tried to backpedal, but Frisk had gone on about a smaller group being faster and safer, attracting less attention, needing fewer provisions, etc., until he gave in.

“Very well. I will ask His Holiness to arrange the necessary financial matters for each monster,” the King had said coolly. “I am trusting you, Frisk, to bring back favorable news, and prove that this mission is any better than a child’s tantrum over not getting her way.”

“I wonder that Your Majesty has ever spent enough time with a child to see one,” she shot back, eliminating any chance of leaving him on a polite note.

Unfortunately, Frisk was now so busy thinking of that conversation – and trying to ignore the bruises she was accumulating from riding in a big, jouncing cargo wagon – that she forgot to mention it to Sans until they stopped for a break several miles outside the city. He’d started bemoaning the logistics they had to work out for that evening, trying to get all these guys fed and coordinated and bedded down and what they were going to do with the horses, and she had to cut him off with “They’re not coming.”

The guards and drivers looked up from their roadside sandwiches at a furious, smothered explosion of sound. They glanced at each other as the massive skeleton growled down at the priestess, but she didn’t seem worried, so they resumed eating as Sans carried on snarling and gesticulating.

Frisk could understand why he was upset, but the third time he ended a sentence with “—‘n did I mention I’m not a fuckin’ horse?!” was enough. “Sans,” she said, and he stopped. “Calm down and think about it. This may actually be safer. Have I ever shown you how I can hide something with a barrier?”

“Uh…” The boss monster shrugged crankily. “I know you’ve got a lotta different tricks.” Snort. “Any chance ya have somethin’ that’ll pull the wagons for us?”

“Yes. You.”

Sans blinked, and covered his face with one hand. “God damn it.”

Frisk turned her back to the guards so she could grin at him through the veil. “It takes a lot of strength, but if it’s just the two of us and the wagons, I could keep us completely hidden for short periods,” she said, more somberly. “In your opinion, is it safer to move by night, or camp outside the border till morning and then make as much time as we can?”

The skeleton tapped his dusty slipper on the grass, thinking out loud. “It’s probably better t’go at night. A lot of this place is so flat that you can see fer miles on a clear day. I can get by pretty well in the dark, so yer right. If we don’t have all of these dorks walkin’ with us ‘n makin’ noise, you’d just need ta cover up the wagons. It’s mostly bedrock out here, so with the wind blowin’ the sand around, we shouldn’t hafta worry about tracks.”

“I see. How far should we try to get tonight? I don’t think we can make it all in one push.”

“Not if I’m all we’ve got,” he grumbled. “Let’s get t’the fence and see how we’re doin’.”

Frisk had a word with the drivers; when they started again, they went at a quicker pace, the better to reach their destination and allow the men and horses time to get back to the nearest village before dark.

She grew more and more apprehensive as the hours passed, and finally dug out her satchel of clothing, asking the monsters to close their eyes so she could change into a more practical dress than her High Priestess leg-trap. Not long afterward, the wagon slowed and ground to a halt; they were at the border, a day’s journey from the Underground.

Sans waited till the other humans were almost out of sight to tell the monsters, “Come on out, guys.”

All but the flame monsters piled out to stretch their legs and wings while Sans ran a trace of red magic along the wire fencing. Frisk watched him pluck at a seemingly solid strand, revealing a length of twine holding two cut pieces together. “Humans go in ‘n out this way,” the skeleton informed her. “’s like havin’ a gate. They just untie it and tie it back up behind ‘em.”

Frisk shook her head and hugged herself tighter under her cloak. Sans didn’t have time to admire how the cold air had turned her cheeks red, or be really irritated at how the men had all gawked at her without her veil, but he did it anyway while the monsters got ready to resume their places. “So,” the skeleton said, resigned, “how’re we gonna do this crap?”

Five minutes later, Sans was trudging along in the fast-fading light, his hands shoved in his pockets, the wagon’s shafts wedged between his wrists and his hipbones so he could pull it in lieu of a horse. Frisk sat in the driver’s seat of the second wagon, whistling softly and watching the tufts of red magic keeping its shafts upright. Sans had to admit that the flat terrain and the laws of physics made it easy to keep the wagons going once they’d started…but it still sucked.

“Are you doing all right?” the priestess asked at one point.

“Neigh,” he responded, and she started snrrking so hard that he threatened to stop and make her pull the damn wagon. Then he had to deal with that mental imagery until it got darker and he could focus on maintaining a tiny speck of magic to sharpen his night vision. It was nearly a new moon out, perfect for moving in secrecy.

It happened some time after midnight. The monsters had fallen asleep; the priestess was dozing, and Sans was on the verge of stopping for the night when a shriek rang out from the wagon behind Frisk, who nearly fell off her seat. Sans had to lift her down for her to run back, leap into the wagon, and rouse Vulkin from a nightmare, humming urgently to quiet her.

“Shit,” Sans muttered as a torch flared in the distance. “Hey, kitten?”

She didn’t waste any time: a whistle raised a golden bubble around them, and Sans winced at the sheer power crackling through it. For the first time, he found he was less worried about being trapped inside a barrier than he was about the amount of magic it was costing her.

Minute after minute passed. Strange human voices drew way too close, and Sans could only stand there while Frisk held the spell steady, diverting enough magic to soothe the terrified monsters. The giant skeleton had no idea how she was blocking both sound and light and hiding the barrier’s presence from the other side while she hummed, but she did it, because the poachers soon concluded that it’d been a false alarm and wandered back the way they’d come. “They’re gone, sweetheart. Drop it,” Sans ordered, and he heard a ragged sound as the barrier evaporated.

That was enough. Sans set the wagons’ brakes, grabbed as many rocks as his remaining magic could carry, and formed stacks under the shafts to hold them upright, then stuck most of his head into the back of the wagon. “I’m so sorry,” whimpered Vulkin. “I didn’t mean to—”

“It’s not yer fault,” he said roughly. In the monster’s glow, he could see the priestess lying on the wagon floor, resting her head on her forearm as she struggled to catch her breath. “Hand ‘er over.”

Later, he would kick himself for dragging Frisk into the cold again, but he had to see for himself that she was okay. Sans bundled her under his coat and sat down against the wheel, folding her into the crook of his arm while he summoned up heat and softness, everything a skeleton usually couldn’t offer.

That was all well and good, but as she turned toward him, trying to reach up around his neck, something weird happened. He allowed her to stand on the ground and rest her weight against him, her arms sliding under his coat and over his bony shoulders; he’d almost gotten used to that amazing, fluttery, possessive thing his SOUL did when she was on him, but this time, it got physically warmer, and he felt like something was…leaving him? What—

Frisk’s whole body jerked. She pulled her head back enough to stare at him. “Sans? What did you do?!”

“I…” Sans had to close his sockets against a rush of dizziness. “I dunno.”

The priestess withdrew her arms and looked down at her hands. She raised one and snapped her fingers, and another barrier roared to life around them. “What the crap, Frisk?” Sans rasped. “Ya don’t have the strength fer that!”

“I do now,” she said blankly. “How…how did you give me magic directly? Is it—”

Just like that, the dizziness had become full-on vertigo. “Sansy needs t’go night-night,” the skeleton mumbled, and the darkness politely stepped up to pull him back down with it.

A band of poachers had made camp near the river. Their sentry glanced up from his breakfast, then leapt to his feet and called out as someone emerged from the morning mist. “Whoa! Easy, pal,” said the stranger, stopping a polite distance away and holding his hands up. “We’re not lookin’ for trouble. I’m just checkin’ somethin’.” He made a strange face, as if he wasn’t entirely sure how faces worked. “Have ya heard who’s s’posed to be out here right now?”

“Maybe,” the sentry admitted. He eyed the interloper’s oddly pale hair, the contrast it made with his black coat and red shirt, and lowered his crossbow. “Depends what you’ve heard.”

“Someone from the High Priestess is passin’ through, doin’ somethin’ with a buncha monsters,” said the newcomer, lowering his arms very slowly. “I was makin’ sure ya weren’t them. We’re pretty new at this, so—”

The sentry gave a bark of laughter. “Dumbass! It’s the High Priestess. She’s out here with nine or ten monsters, all by herself.”

“Really?” The stranger blinked too many times. “Hot damn.” He laughed, too, sort of. “Too bad we can’t get magic outta her, huh?”

The sentry leered at him in male camaraderie. “Ever seen her in person? I know what I’d get out of her!” He slapped his leg, oblivious to the stranger’s twitching eye and clenched fists. “Well, if you’re new to the business, take it from me: keep any humans you find and save ‘em for ransom, ‘specially her.”

Blink. “Ransom?”

“Yeah. Ransom,” the poacher said impatiently. “You know who her dad is, right?”

The pale-haired stranger blinked again. “Duke Whatshisface?”

“Seriously?” The sentry shook his head in disbelieving pity. “Her dad’s the King, dipshit. You never heard about it?” He gestured expansively with the crossbow, enjoying the stranger’s dumbfoundment. “No joke. The old man used to fuck anything that’d hold still long enough. There’s five or six kids left that we know of, and she’s his favorite.” His grin broadened. “You really didn’t know? Man, you’re fuckin’ stupid.” He flapped his hand. “Get out of here. Go on home before you trip ‘n kill yourself.”

In a daze, the stranger put his hands in his pockets and turned around. “Oh, by the way,” he said, and without warning, something erupted from the ground, impaling the sentry’s foot.

His screams brought his comrades running to see him clutching a huge white bone sticking out of the bedrock, and a stranger pointing wildly toward the river. “Holy crap, it came from over there!” he shouted. “It’s that big-ass skeleton thing! It’s definitely over there!”

Only one of the poachers tried to say, “Who’re you?” before another line of projectiles slammed into the ground heading away from them; he ran to follow the rest of the group, leaving the luckless sentry to try to wrestle the bone free. When he looked up to demand the stranger help him, there was no one there.

“Fuckin’ fuckstick,” Sans muttered to himself from a few hundred yards away, jerking a hand to summon more bones and make it seem like they were still under attack. “I oughta fuckin’…” He kicked a rock so hard that it hurt his stupid wimpy human toe.

Fuck-a-duck. He couldn’t go back to camp like this. With the mist covering him and the poachers haring off in the opposite direction, he could think things over for a minute, starting with whether Frisk had ever come out and said who her father was.

…No, she never had. He’d just remembered something about Rosa – who he now knew wasn’t even her mom – working for a duke, and reached a reasonable conclusion that was totally wrong. It was probably such an open secret that she either hadn’t thought to tell him or hadn’t wanted to in case he treated her any differently. She was probably sick of that already…

Sans was too lost in thought to see something moving in the mist, following him away from the poachers’ camp along the riverbank. When he absently turned to stare at the water, it vanished, only to reappear as he turned again.

So, Frisk had pulled this crazy stunt because there was nothing else she could do about the monsters being sold. According to everything Sans had seen, only the Cardinal or the King could go over her head; therefore, while Duke Whatshisass was in charge of doling the monsters out to new owners, it probably wasn’t him who’d actually decided to sell them. The Cardinal hadn’t bothered her since she said she’d be retiring, and she hadn’t mentioned him at all, which just left the King.

Sans had seen for himself how much the old man treated her like a daughter, go figure. Knowing Frisk, she’d probably told His Majesty to his face that she intended to free those monsters, and he’d decided to keep her out of serious legal trouble and also remind her who was boss by ordering them sold right away. No wonder she’d been willing to flip him the bird right back by stealing the monsters and getting public opinion on her side.

Against all logic, Sans felt his poofy lips curling upward. In a weird way, this was the push he needed to be a little less miserable about not deserving her and a bit more smug that she’d picked him over the zillion guys desperate to snag an illegitimate princess. At this point, she transcended the concept of anyone deserving her. He still thought he sucked, but so what? If he hadn’t imagined what she’d said the other night, then…

The mist was beginning to thin out as the sun came up. Sans paused and glanced behind him, but nothing was there. He turned back toward their camp, reaching for his chain. Better not confront her about something she hadn’t really been hiding in the first place, though now he was determined to ask about her m—

Only the hiss of something flying through the air alerted him in time to fling up a wall of bones, barely deflecting a blow aimed at his neck. Before he could even swear aloud, more things came at him, and he instinctively turned to run away from their camp.

“Hey! HEY!” a voice shouted. Sans’ human ears perked up at the sound. “Come back here, meat-wad!”

His aim wavered as he threw a wave of pointed bones behind him, just missing the figure in the mist. It easily caught one and threw it straight back at him, only to see it glance off another wall of bone. “You!” the figure snarled. “How did you get Sans’ magic? Where is he?! Tell me, you damn coward!”

Sans dodged another one. “Hey!” Dodge. “Hey, listen, ya crazy broad! It’s—”

“Sans?” They both froze at the sound of Frisk’s voice. “Sans, where are you?”

The boss monster finally understood that expression about blood running cold. Fighting chills, he turned his head and opened his mouth to tell Frisk to run.

That moment of distraction was all the figure needed: Frisk came up just in time to see a bone spin end over end and smash into the back of his head, nearly knocking him out.

The High Priestess had heard Sans’ attack on the poachers as she was balancing a frying pan on Vulkin, who’d volunteered to help cook breakfast. Frisk just prayed Sans could divert them without killing anyone, or that he would at least try.

Several minutes later, though, he hadn’t returned. She was passing the pancakes around and had retrieved the bucket for more water when she heard shouting. Her stomach lurched at the sound of bones breaking. Sans!

Telling the monsters to stay put, Frisk reflexively grasped the bucket handle and ran out of the warded camp, keeping another barrier ready. “Sans?” She looked around, squinting through the last tendrils of mist. “Sans, where are you?”

She saw him a split-second before someone threw one of his own bones straight back at him. Frisk choked on a scream as he hit the ground, blood darkening the sand. “Sa—"

“Hey. You.”

Frisk gulped as their attacker advanced on her from the edge of the water. “What’d you say about Sans, human? You know where he is?” The tall monster emerged from the mist, removing her helmet as she glared down with one mostly-yellow eye. “Oh, come on! Don’t tell me you took out a boss monster! How’d you do it? Cheating?” She almost spat the last word. “Start talking, you—”

“Undyne?” Despite her fear, Frisk smiled. “Undyne, it’s you!”

A spearpoint flashed in the air, stopping the priestess as she tried to step forward. “How’d you get my name? Did you torture it out of someone, human? Huh? Was it Sans?!” The spear poked at Frisk, forcing her backward. “Tell you what,” Undyne snapped, pivoting toward the human-shaped boss monster, who was still struggling to get up. “Let’s assume you care at all about your accomplice here. Either you tell me what I want to know, or…” The spear rose.

“No!” In sheer panic, Frisk threw a barrier between Sans and the other monster.

A moment later, she realized her mistake: Undyne had only been threatening him, but as she looked back at Frisk, her gaze was now murderous. “That’s it! That’s how you did it! You used a frickin’ barrier!” She stomped the ground so hard that Frisk felt the bedrock tremble. “I ought to gut you like a fish, you damn cheater! Do you hear me? A FISH!”

“Wait!” The priestess held up her hands, too distressed to be amused by Undyne’s choice of words. “Undyne, please! I’m—” She bit her lip. That wouldn’t work; Undyne wouldn’t believe that she was Kris. It might make her so angry that she’d try to kill them outright. Frisk racked her brains for some way to prove it—she had never shown Undyne her scars, but…

The Royal Guard Captain scowled deeper, this time in puzzlement, as Frisk stared at the bucket dangling from her forearm. “You’re what, human?” Undyne demanded.

Frisk swallowed hard. “I want to show you something,” she said, and took a deliberate side-step toward the water, ignoring the raised spear. “It’s not a barrier, and it’s not some kind of trick. Just watch, all right? And don’t hurt him!”

Undyne glanced around them in case this was a diversion, and at Sans, now lying still and silent. Frisk saw him, too, and her expression made Undyne lower her spear ever so slightly. “What is it? Make it quick!”

Frisk took a deep breath. To Undyne’s bewilderment, the human’s expression went neutral. She went to the river, dipped up a half bucket of water, carried it back to Undyne, and threw it into her face.

Through the haze of pain and gut-wrenching fear, Sans distantly heard Undyne yelling at Frisk, and he felt the barrier she put up to protect him. He wanted to shake her for thinking of him and not herself, and for showing Undyne she could do it. Then there was a dreadful silence, and he couldn’t get up to—

“NGAHHHHHHH!”

Sans threw himself forward, not quite gaining his feet. Hitting the ground again on all fours, he looked frantically for Undyne and whatever horrible things she was doing to—

Frisk was dangling, not from a spear’s bloody point, but from Undyne’s bear hug as the dripping-wet monster swung the human in time to a joyous bellow of “My little bestiiiiiiiiie!”

What the…no, never mind. With an effort, Sans pulled off his disguise and tried not to collapse as the world lurched sideways. “Ow,” he muttered, just to be part of the moment.

Undyne froze, not quite releasing Frisk. “Sans? What the—where’ve you been?” she demanded.

Sans’ glare would have set a lesser monster ablaze on the spot. “Almost gettin’ murdered by yer crazy ass!”

“Really?” Undyne looked puzzled. Then her face lit up. “Ohh, that was you! Ha!” She gave her giant-toothed grin. “Sorry about that, boss. How’d you do that? And why were you saying all that crap to that human back there?”

“I was tryin’ ta throw him off our trail! We’re the monsters and the High Priestess!” Sans sat up and raised one hand to heal his aching skull, indicating Frisk with the other. “Now let ‘er go before ya squeeze her t’death!”

“Hm? Oh, right.” Undyne set Frisk down, letting the priestess catch her breath. “So you’re Kris, huh?” The Captain planted her hand on one hip, watching Frisk brush herself off. “Did you know she was a girl?” she asked Sans.

“Nope. She had us all fooled.” Sans closed his eyes to focus his magic. Fuckin’ Undyne. If he hadn’t been a boss monster, that would’ve killed him!

“It wasn’t my idea,” Frisk protested as she picked up the bucket. “I was only ten, and they said it’d be safer. Can I help you with that, Sans?”

Undyne waved her spear. “Whatever! You’re here now! Ignore him, he’s being a big baby.” She glanced around. “Let’s move out before any more damn humans show up. No offense.” Frisk inclined her head. “You say you’ve got more people with you?”

If the monsters had been happy to see Sans, they nearly turned to dust when Undyne strolled into camp and announced that she would be escorting them the rest of the way home. Once everyone had calmed down, Sans had to admit the fish-lady knew how to get people moving: they scarfed down the remaining pancakes and some leftover oranges, then loaded right up and took off toward the Underground.

“Man…” Undyne was holding it together better than he had the first time he found himself inside a barrier, only betraying her fear of the dome overhead with a tighter grip and her eye darting back and forth. “I can’t believe it. She really is the High Priestess, huh?”

“Yep.” Sans was very pointedly nonchalant, sauntering along as the barrier crackled and the fish monster twitched. Served her right. “She coulda killed me a zillion times over, but she never did. Hell, I tried ta kill her a few times, an’ she smacked me down without hurtin’ me.”

Undyne shook her head. “It’s just…Kris is back, and he’s a she, and she’s the High Priestess, and she’s crazy strong…but she’s still Kris. It’s a lot to take in, you know?”

“Tell me about it.” Sans adjusted his grip on the shafts. He was pulling one wagon, and Undyne was pulling the other one alongside him; all it’d taken to get her going was a hint that she couldn’t do it. She was puffing a bit, but doing well now that they were moving. “So how’d you suddenly know it was her?” the skeleton asked.

“It was from the first time Papyrus introduced us,” Frisk said from the driver’s seat behind him. “I thought Undyne must’ve been upset because she was thirsty, so I grabbed a flower vase and tried giving her some water. …In her face.”

Sans guffawed, freeing one hand to slap his femur. “How’d that work out? Did the nice fish say ‘thank you’?”

“No, she just looked surprised. I thought she was feeling better, so I went back and—”

“The little punk tried to do it again! It was the stupidest thing I’d ever seen, but the kid wasn’t scared of me at all.” Undyne shook her head. “Then the King ordered us to be friends with the humans, so I figured I’d be the best damn friend Kris ever had.”

“And you were.” Frisk sighed. “When we get there, Undyne, I have something for you. In fact, we brought gifts for everyone. Did Alphys ever read the last two Adventure Lady novels?”

“Nah, and it’s been bugging her for years, the poor—” Undyne’s eye widened. “No. You didn’t!”

Sans let them chatter, profoundly grateful that they weren’t doing that weird thing where women hated each other for no reason. Having Undyne on their side, both physically and for moral support, was worth a dozen other monsters. “Did you get him that outfit?” she asked Frisk, nodding at the boss monster. “He’s been growing nonstop, so after a while, he just quit buying new clothes. It drives Papyrus nuts.”

“He’s my bodyguard, and it pays pretty well,” Frisk explained. “Those were a bonus for helping me shop for everyone.”

“Nice!” Undyne couldn’t reach over and smack him in congratulations, so she contented herself with jerking her head. “Good job, boss. Way to find a nice—what do humans call it? A ‘sugar mama’?”

Frisk burst out laughing and couldn’t stop, Undyne joining in as Sans sputtered. Stupid women, he thought sullenly. Why couldn’t they hate each other instead of giving him shit?

A few hours later, Undyne called a halt. “At this rate, we can get there by nightfall,” she said, offering a hand to the priestess half a second before him. “Er…do you have to, uh, go?”

Frisk looked uncomfortable enough for Undyne to nod hastily and point behind the wagon with her spear. “Not much privacy out here. We’ll just pretend you’re not doing anything, okay? Here, I’ll dig a hole for you.”

If that was awkward – and it was – it was nothing compared to the piscine monster making the others talk to cover the sound of Frisk’s business, then leaning over and whispering to Sans, very matter-of-fact, “Is it just me, or is it weird that Kris turned out to be so damn cute?”

Sans wished the ground wasn’t so flat around here, because then he could find a nice big pit and jump right on in. Luckily, Frisk suddenly said to herself, “Oh, dirt, why now?” and stuck her head beneath the wagon to call, “Undyne? Can you please get the little gray bag out of my satchel for me?”

The Captain obligingly found the only satchel with human clothing in it, rummaged around, and tossed the bag over the wagon and into Frisk’s lap. The young woman mumbled her thanks, but sounded so aggravated that Undyne asked, “What’s up? Are you okay?”

A prolonged sigh. “It’s nothing, just a stupid, ridiculous thing that human females have to put up with.” Frisk came back around a few moments later, stuffing the bag into the satchel. “Now, once we reach the Underground, should we all come in through the Grand Hall, or should Sans and I go through the Ruins into Snowdin?”

Sans exchanged glances with Undyne, who was munching on a roasted potato as if it was an apple. “You’d probably better not go straight to Asgore,” she said reluctantly. “When Snowdrake came back, he was pretty messed up, and the King was…uh…”

“Not happy?” Sans guessed.

Undyne’s eye closed. “Yeah. Not happy.”

“We’ll tell him what happened,” piped up Vulkin from inside the wagon. “We all heard the humans talking. Lady Frisk’s in big trouble for bringing us home, but she’s doing it anyway.”

The monsters made generally affirmative noises, and Frisk managed a smile.

“You are?” Undyne scowled. “Here, we’ve got to get going if we want to make it home before dark. Why don’t you give me the whole story on the way?”

They did, starting with Frisk being brought to the convent after her stint in the Underground and her memories being removed at her father’s request— “Oh, crap, that’s right,” Undyne interrupted. “That scumbag said the King’s your dad. Is that true?”

Frisk looked down at Sans in alarm. “Yeah, that’s what the guy told me,” Sans confirmed, not turning his head. “He was talking about her being worth a lot for ransom.”

The priestess grimaced. “I might not be, after all this.” She swallowed. “I wasn’t sure if you knew. I’m sorry if I—”

Sans made himself shrug. “It’s fine, kit—kiddo. Not like ya ever actually lied about it.”

“I don’t get it,” said Undyne. “If your dad’s the king, why aren’t you a princess?”

“Because I was one of many, many children the king had with women he wasn’t married to,” Frisk replied. “To be a princess, I’d have to have come from his actual wife. The first queen died childless, and his second wife died having the Prince.”

Undyne started. “Wait, so he…with just anyone, and you didn’t even count? What the hell is wrong with humans?”

“There’s the million-g question,” Sans mumbled.

Frisk sighed. “Anyway,” she said, “once I stopped begging to go back to the Underground, I settled down and studied as hard as I could. I was ordained a priestess when I was sixteen—”

The story continued until it was time for Sans to pick up with how he’d been caught by a party of five sorcerers almost a month ago. “I figured I’d hang out in jail until someone came ta get me, then kill ‘em,” he said conversationally, “but guess who came strollin’ downstairs?”

“The Duke asked me for help. There was a huge monster in the cells, and no one could decide who would be suitable to take him,” said Frisk. “I figured he must be a boss monster, and I scared them with stories about how powerful he was and how lucky they were that he hadn’t destroyed half the castle already. Then I said I’d take care of him.”

“And you tried to kill her?” Undyne snapped at Sans.

“Tried to burn ‘er, squish her, and blast her,” the boss monster said, almost proudly. “Nothin’ worked. Next thing I knew, I’d signed up fer a month of bein’ a witch ta learn how to grow better crops.”

“Which turned out to be much closer to three weeks, thanks to His Majesty,” Frisk said sourly. “I had each of these monsters taken from humans who were mistreating them so badly that even the Church wouldn’t allow it anymore, and I brought them out here to keep them from being sold again.” Even over the sound of the wheels crunching on sandy rock, they could hear her teeth grinding. “The King knew what I wanted to do, but he thought I shouldn’t have to worry my pretty little head about it anymore, so here we are.”

Sans considered pointing out that the King probably just wanted to keep her out of trouble, but decided he’d rather not be murdered. Undyne’s sole contribution was “…Damn.”

They rolled along in silence. “In three days or so, we can go back to the village and pick up the grain and other things Sans ordered,” the priestess said. “It won’t feed the entire Underground, but it will help.”

“That reminds me, Undyne—ya know the big farm over that way with the maple trees?” Sans nodded in a direction. “She’s gonna get it fer us.”

The Captain gaped at him. “She what?”

“I shit you not,” said Sans. “The human who owned it croaked, an’ she’s been negotiatin’ ta buy it. Turns out bein’ High Priestess makes ya super rich.”

Undyne muttered something under her breath, taking a fresh grip on the wagon shafts. Then her head swiveled, and without being told, Frisk immediately began whistling again. The air around them, which had been a translucent gold, solidified until it was nearly opaque. “They can’t see or hear us at all?” asked the fish monster, glancing up warily.

Frisk shook her head, and paused long enough to say, “They’d have to literally be touching the barrier to know we’re here.”

“No kidding?” Undyne squinted to watch the far-off group of humans through the barrier. Sure enough, they were moving away. “So,” she said presently, “how long are you gonna stay this time? Another month?”

“’Bout ten days,” Sans answered for her.

Undyne nodded slowly. The whistling stopped, and the human said, “Yes, if all goes well. It depends how long Asgore will let us stay, and what we’ll be allowed to bring back to the castle afterwards.”

“‘We’?” repeated the Captain.

It took Sans a second to realize what Undyne was even asking. He and Frisk had yet to discuss whether he’d be coming back to the castle after her visit, but the possibility of leaving her hadn’t even occurred to him, and she obviously felt the same way. “Yeah, I’ve gotta learn more witchy crap,” he said, hiding his elation. “Plus, the more monster stuff she gets ta show the other humans, the less trouble she’ll get in fer cartin’ these guys off in the first place.”

“And I’m not pulling the wagons back on my own,” Frisk added.

“Got it,” Undyne murmured, and Sans breathed an inward sigh of relief. Another thing they needed to hash out: what to tell the other monsters about…whatever they were now. Everything still depended on him working on himself, didn’t it? It would be easier to learn to control his magic in the proper directions inside the Underground. Who knew? Maybe if he kept thinking happy thoughts and not actively loathing himself, it’d really be possible. Maybe, if he was in good enough shape by the time they straightened things with Asgore, they could really—

The priestess resumed whistling, snapping him out of it. Undyne began bobbing her head along with the melody, and immediately started getting the rhythm wrong, but Sans decided not to say anything; he had a lot more thinking to do before they got home.

Very much against her will, they left Undyne just out of sight of the Underground’s principal entrance. She would announce their arrival, see the monsters to each of their homes, and then report to Asgore; knowing the King would insist on the wagons being inspected before he allowed them inside, they would also remain here.

Undyne checked over the little group of monsters as they climbed out, then paused. “Hey. Sans? Are you…gonna talk to Her Majesty?”

Frisk knew a loaded question when she heard one. Sure enough, Sans took a much longer time to reply than usual. “Yeah, I kinda have to. If she’s asleep already, I’ll leave ‘er a note.”

“Okay.” The Captain picked up her helmet from one of the shafts, pulled it back on, and nodded to them. “I’ll be in Snowdin as soon as His Majesty’s done with me. Good luck, guys.”

“We’ll see you soon,” Frisk replied, giving her a smile and ignoring the butterflies in her stomach. This was it. They were here!

The monsters trotted off, and they very faintly heard Undyne hail the sentries from atop the rise. “Welp,” Sans said. “This way.” Frisk obediently grabbed her satchel, which she’d stuffed with apples and potatoes, and set off after him, trying to be happy and grateful and not on the verge of barfing.

It was another cold, boring day in Snowdin. The monsters were pretty sure they knew what was going to happen today – nothing – and that it was going to keep happening, and it was hard to care much about it anymore. Sure, Papyrus kept nattering about how Sans and a mysterious human had told him they were going to come back to the Underground soon and everything would be all right, but…Papyrus. The denizens of Snowdin carried on with nothing as usual, secure in the knowledge that—

Every monster in town stopped what they weren’t doing and looked around in confusion. Magic was building in the air like smoke from a barely contained fire; there was a hhhwp, and in the empty space in front of the skeleton brothers’ house, there now stood a boss monster in black slippers and a tiny human peeking out from beneath his overcoat. “I told you to wait,” she scolded him, moving the coat aside like a giant curtain.

“What? You were the one whinin’ about how cold it was,” retorted the skeleton.

“Hey!” To their surprise, Undyne sprang up from where she’d been sitting on the step. “Where have you nerds been?” she snapped. “It’s been five frickin’ hours! Were you talking to Her Majesty, or what?”

“Nah, we got lost in the Ruins,” said Sans. “Tori’s asleep, so I left her a note like I said. What’re you doin’ here already? Is everyone okay?”

Undyne looked at them narrowly, then said, “Yeah, it turned out Asgore was already in the Grand Hall, so we didn’t have to waste time finding him.” She had changed into the outfit Frisk remembered: a short jacket, wool shirt, long pants and red boots. “Everyone’s home by now. I left Ice Cap with his family a few minutes ago.”

Frisk nodded gratefully. “What did the King say?” she asked, setting her satchel down.

Undyne hesitated. “Well…he was happy to see everyone, but then they started talking about how the High Priestess was coming in through Snowdin, and he wasn’t happy anymore.”

“How not-happy is he, exactly?” Sans demanded. “Is Frisk in any danger?”

“Nope. The others kept going on about how you saved them from the other humans, and when I told him you were Kris, he got really quiet.” Undyne put her hands in her jacket pockets. “He said you could stay until we ‘know your true intentions.’ I have to babysit you, and he wants to talk to Sans as soon as possible, but that’s it.”

Sans and Frisk breathed sighs of relief. “Good enough,” said the boss monster. He stood on tiptoe, the better to see most of the way across Snowdin. “Where’s Pap?”

Shrug. “I don’t know. No one’s in the house. He must be at the store or something.”

Frisk rubbed her arms unconsciously, turning in circles to look around them, especially at the light-spangled house. “I can’t believe it,” she murmured. “I—” She swiped at her eyes.

The Royal Guard Captain stepped over to the High Priestess and put an arm around her shoulders. “You know what? May I be the first, K—Frisk, to say: welcome back.” She gave the human what was, for her, a gentle squeeze. “C’mon. We’ll introduce you to everyone again. We can take it nice and slow, no pressure to—HEY!” Undyne had spotted a nearby cluster of monsters staring at them. “What are you looking at? Haven’t you ever seen a human before? I know you have!” She pointed at Frisk, who was still tucked beneath her arm. “Remember Kris?”

Frisk quickly forgot her irritation as several monsters hurried over. “Kris! Bro!” One dinosaur-like creature shouldered its way through the crowd, hopping from foot to foot. “Is that really you? Do you remember me? Hi, Undyne!”

Of course she remembered Monster Kid, who was only a little bigger now, still wearing the same armless sweater—twelve years obviously didn’t go as fast for monsters as it did for humans! There was the bunny who ran the store, Gyftrot – stuff still dangling from his horns – a couple of the various dogs she’d petted and thrown sticks for…

Once the first wave of pleasantries had subsided, it was time to tell them the reason for her visit, what Sans had been up to, and why “Kris” had turned out to be a lady. She noticed a few of those who hadn’t greeted her falling back to go spread the news, but saw no signs of Papyrus.

She wasn’t the only one: right in the middle of a very important discussion on someone’s baby sister being ready to hatch soon, Sans let out a growl that shut everyone up at once. “Where’s my brother?” he asked.

Shrugs and mumbles all around. “He was staring at the river again,” volunteered Gyftrot.

Sans waited for more information, then nodded. “Okay, everyone,” he told the little crowd. “We’re gonna head inside for a minute. If anyone sees Pap, don’t tell him I’m back yet, don’t mention Kris, and don’t do anything to freak him out. Got it?”

A chorus of agreement. “Don’t freak out,” someone said helpfully to Papyrus, who had just stepped into view.

Papyrus froze, staring up at Sans. “BROTHER?” he said. Then: “BROTHER! NYEHHH HEH HEHHHHH!” He leaped up and threw his arms around Sans’ massive ribcage, doing a pullup of sheer joy. “YOU’RE HERE! YOU’RE REALLY HERE THIS TIME, LAZYBONES! I THOUGHT…THE GREAT PAPYRUS THOUGHT—”

“Yeah,” Sans mumbled. “Hey, Pap.” He hugged him back for a long moment, then glanced downward. “She said she’d bring me back safe, didn’t she?”

Papyrus looked at Frisk, who was grinning. He looked at Undyne, who was grinning and nodding. The younger skeleton released his brother and launched himself straight at his best friend, tackling her with a wail of “THANK YOU, UNDYYYYNE! NYEHH!” Before the Captain could correct him, Papyrus dropped her and caught Frisk up in a less forceful but similarly enthused hug. “THANK YOU, HUMAAAAN! I—” He stopped, and turned his head to look at her quizzically. “NYEH. WHY AM I THANKING YOU, HUMAN?”

“Ya met ‘er the last time we talked, Pap, in the dream,” Sans reminded him. “An’ you were right. She is Kris.”

Papyrus blinked, still holding on to her. “I SEE,” he said sagely. “NYEH HEH HEH! OF COURSE THE GREAT PAPYRUS WAS RIGHT! I…I…” His eyes rolled up, and Sans caught Frisk just before she hit the snow along with the fainting skeleton.

“Geez. He probably hasn’t eaten anything or slept in a couple days. No worries, we can fix that!” Undyne punched Sans reassuringly in the ribs, then bent and rummaged in her friend’s “armor,” helping herself to the house key before slinging Papyrus over her shoulder. “Listen up!” she shouted at the assembled monsters. “This is all very exciting, but these guys’ve been traveling for a couple days straight to bring the others back to us. We’ll see everyone in the morning, okay?” She poked Sans as he turned to teleport into the house. “Not you! Asgore’s waiting. Get your bony butt over to Alphys’ place before he comes looking for you.”

Frisk gripped his sleeve, but she made herself say calmly, “It’s fine. We’ll be here when you get back,” as she picked up her satchel.

He stared at her for a moment, then gently removed her hand, and was gone.

Undyne let them into the house, flipping the witchlights on and kicking the door shut as Frisk walked into the living room. It wasn’t the biggest or nicest of dwellings, and it didn’t help that Papyrus had probably been stress-cleaning—it would explain why the couch cushions were still damp from the last time he’d mopped them, and why the pet rock by the kitchen was barely visible under a pile of rock-candy shards. Had Sans set those out for his brother to use, just waiting for the pun to sneak up and hit him out of nowhere?

“Here you go, Pap,” Undyne said briskly, tramping up the stairs while Frisk marveled at how much smaller everything was than she remembered. The priestess heard her deposit Papyrus in his pirate-ship bed, slam the door behind her, and come back down to pull a kitchen chair out for Frisk. “Have a seat. Sorry, but they don’t have anything in the fridge.”

“That’s all right,” Frisk said. She unbuckled the satchel and offered Undyne an apple.

The Captain took it politely, but as Frisk glanced down to dig another one out for herself, the monster chomped the apple nearly in half, wiping her mouth on her sleeve. “So,” she said casually, “what were you and Sans up to in the Ruins? No one’s dumb enough to just get lost in there for that long.”

Frisk felt her face grow stiff and hot. “I had to stop and rest because I used too much magic today,” she answered truthfully, and Undyne nodded. “I…actually, maybe you’d know this—is it possible for someone to directly give someone else some of their magic?”

The Captain paused, her eyebrows rising, a smile growing into a giant grin. “Haven’t you heard of—”

Frisk’s face got even hotter. “Not like that! I just mean, if you were weak and needed a little extra power, could, say, Asgore or Alphys give you a handshake, or a hug, and lend you some magic?”

“Nope. They couldn’t.” When Frisk looked skeptical, Undyne sighed, then made a fist. “Look, pretend this is my SOUL.” Another fist. “This one is…we’ll say Alphys.” Frisk wondered if it was her imagination, or if her friend’s face was turning red, almost purple under the smaller blue scales. “My body’s made of magic, and so is hers. But my SOUL is self-contained, and so is hers. Even if I took a chunk of my magic and handed it to Alphys—” She knocked her fists together. “Nothing would happen. She can heal me, but that’s just repairing damage, not giving me power that I could use to attack someone or do my own spells, assuming I knew any. There’s no way to combine or exchange magic unless you’re trying to have a kid, and that’s a whole different thing. It takes a lot of power and concentration, and…it’s different.” She was definitely purple now. “Why are you even asking?”

The priestess thought about it. She made a fist, and loosened her fingers until she could slide the fingers of her other hand through it. “After you left today, I was tired, and Sans gave me some of his magic again,” she said distantly. “Monsters can absorb a human SOUL, but…” Her fingers wiggled. “I don’t think it works both ways. Humans can’t take a monster’s SOUL, at least not directly into ourselves.”

Undyne suddenly looked very, very uncomfortable. “That’s true,” she commented, “for normal monsters. For Sans, the rules are a little different.”

Frisk was so startled that she dropped her hands. “Are you saying I was able to take some of his SOUL because I’m human and he’s a boss monster?!”

“Hell no!” the Captain snapped. More calmly, she said, “It doesn’t work like that. If you really took something from him that he couldn’t get back, he’d be acting a lot weaker, or he’d be dust already.” She shrugged. “If he did somehow give you magic and you had to wait for him to recover, and he did, then nah, there’s no permanent damage.”

That was something to think about. Frisk remembered last night, when she’d just wanted him to hold her. There was that jolt of energy, and he’d almost immediately passed out… She thought of a few hours back, when she’d gotten anxious and her magical exhaustion had suddenly kicked in, forcing her to sit down. Sans had – somewhat correctly – assumed that she was getting cold feet, gotten impatient, and picked her up, and when she turned to put her arms around him, it’d happened again.

Then, of course, they’d been in a uniquely ridiculous quandary where she was brimming with magic that wouldn’t help them get anywhere, and he couldn’t even stand up. Thank God she’d had something for him to eat in her satchel, or they might have been stuck out there all night waiting for him to recover. When she half-jokingly suggested she try giving his magic back to him, he’d almost bitten her head off.

Wait. Wait a second. If his magic was supposed to be so dark and terrible and evil, etc., how had she not felt anything like that from him, much less been poisoned? Frisk had the sudden, idiotic, schoolgirl-ish urge to giggle—did the good magic come out of the top half of his body, while the evil stuff came out of the other thing?

Undyne was shaking her head in wonder. “You need to tell all this to Alphys. She’d have a better idea of what’s—”

Crack went the window.

Both women whipped around at the sound of shouting outside. Undyne wasted no time, slamming her chair back and throwing the door open to roar, “What the hell is going on?”

A moment of quiet; it might have ended there if Frisk hadn’t peeked around her friend’s shoulder. A group of four or five young monsters stood a few yards away, holding stones, their body language scared but defiant. Their ringleader was a feathery snow monster who looked very familiar. “Chilldrake, isn’t it?” the human asked.

The hoodlums drew back as Undyne’s face darkened. “What do you want, kid?” she snapped. “If you’ve got a good reason for breaking Pap’s window, I’m listening!”

“We want her gone,” the drake said, shifting his feet and glaring at Frisk. “Haven’t you seen Snowdrake? He’s not Snowdrake anymore! How can you let a human in here after what they did to him?!”

“And what if she blows us up?” his friend added.

Undyne grabbed a spear from thin air and thrust it in the monsters’ direction. They shrank back, but stood their ground. “That’s not up to a bunch of kids like you,” the Royal Guard Captain snarled. “His Majesty said she could stay. Are you telling me you know better than Asgore?”

They shuffled back again, but a moment later, Chilldrake drew himself up. “Does he know she’s the humans’ High Priestess?” He raised his voice for the monsters standing nearby to hear: “Does he know she makes barriers?”

That got an anxious murmur going. Frisk felt sick; this was everything she’d been afraid of, no matter what Undyne said, or Sans. She glanced around instinctively, but he wasn’t there.

“He knows way more than you do, punk!” snarled Undyne. She advanced down the steps, leaving Frisk in the doorway. “Now get out of here before I get you out of here!”

“Fine!” Chilldrake shook his ruff, dancing a little in place. “If she’s here, it’s not safe anyway! We should all leave before she traps us and drags us off!”

The murmurs were louder and more upset now. The Royal Guard Captain looked at the other monsters in disbelief. “Guys, you were just telling her how glad you were to see her again! She’s the same damn person she was fifteen minutes ago! Are you going to listen to this little—”

“Is she really the High Priestess?” the shopkeeper asked Undyne.

The piscine monster’s face said it all. Too late, she snapped, “It doesn’t matter! She only uses her magic to—”

Everything happened at once. A stone came sailing over Undyne’s head, straight at Frisk, who did not stop to think that it was better to get a black eye or a bad cut than to confirm their worst fears. Reflex kicked in, and a barrier flared in front of her, pinging the rock away.

Her one piece of luck was that every monster froze in place instead of screaming or running to spread the tale of the human who had snuck Underground to use barriers on them—every monster but Chilldrake. “See?” he screamed, flapping his wings so hard that ice crystals flurried off them. “What did I just tell you?! Get out, human! We don’t want you here, and if I have to go tell His Majesty that you’re using barriers, I’ll—”

Whump.

It wasn’t a rock, or a spear, or a barrier. A ball of pure flame struck the ground in front of Chilldrake, who yelped and hopped backward, crashing into his friends.

The monsters’ heads turned toward the magic’s source, the edge of the field to Frisk’s right; each one immediately dropped to their knees or the equivalent thereof, with the hoodlums dropping the rocks and throwing themselves flat on their faces.

Undyne took one look, shook her hand to dispel the energy spear, and went to one knee as another monster advanced. “Your Majesty,” she said in wonder, then apprehension. Her head ducked. “Majesty, I can fully explain and take responsibility for—”

A gesture silenced her. The monster came to stand in front of the house, her amber eyes coming to rest on the High Priestess, features impassive.

Frisk’s heart constricted. She was suddenly ten years old again, not knowing whether to be afraid, whether she should bow or do something royal. She came down the steps, and to her horror, she found herself breathing harder, eyes prickling, throat tightening. “Lady Toriel,” she whispered.

Toriel folded her arms at the waist. She wore a plain robe, adorned only with the Delta Rune in white—the same thing Asriel had worn the day she fell into the Underground, only purple instead of black. The former Queen regarded Frisk for a long, terrible moment. “Where is the human named Kris?” she asked sternly.

It took all of Frisk’s training, all her experience as an exalted and lonely member of the Church’s highest echelon, to speak up. “The human child you knew was not a boy, and his name was not Kris. He was a girl, and his name was Frisk.” She swallowed. “I am Frisk.” Damn it, her voice wouldn’t stay steady. “I’m back, Lady Toriel. Please—”

Toriel took a step toward her. Another, and another. Her white-furred hand came up to brush Frisk’s hair from her face. The boss monster stared into her eyes…

And she stooped, opening her arms and folding Frisk into a huge, warm, cloud-soft hug.

Everything pent up behind Frisk’s defenses rose in a surge that crumbled the walls like wet paper. She still smelled like cinnamon and golden flowers, Frisk realized, and she wasn’t ashamed to grab hold of the velvet robe and get it soaked with tears again.

“My poor child,” the boss monster murmured, stroking Frisk’s hair as the priestess’ shoulders heaved. “My poor, dear girl. I’ve missed you so much.” She hugged her tighter. “I cannot tell you how very glad I am to see you again.”

Frisk was sobbing without restraint now, not caring what anyone saw or heard or thought of her. Toriel rested her hand on the back of the young woman’s head and looked up for the first time, her eyes bright with unshed tears. “Am I to understand that this human is not welcome here?” She didn’t raise her voice. She didn’t have to. “Would anyone like to say anything?”

Chilldrake had collapsed in on himself. His beak moved, but all he could muster was “…High Priestess, Majesty.”

Toriel’s hand grew heavier. “Is this true, my child? You’ve become the High Priestess?”

Frisk didn’t have the courage to raise her head. She just nodded.

The boss monster inhaled, and sighed, her diaphragm moving under Frisk’s cheek. “Then we are very fortunate to have you, Frisk.” She glanced up, once. “Wouldn’t you agree, young man?”

Chilldrake did not nod so much as vibrate his head too fast for it to be visible.

“Splendid. We…what, my child?” Toriel listened as Frisk turned her head to mumble more clearly. “They broke Sans and Papyrus’ window? My word.”

Frisk didn’t see who rushed forward, but she heard a scramble to be the first to check the cracked glass and figure out how to fix or replace it or something right now.

Toriel waited for the priestess to get herself under control, then stepped back and took Frisk’s hand. “Captain,” she said, and Undyne was instantly on her feet, fist on her chest. “We have much to discuss. Please accompany us.” And with as much grace and ceremony as if the old house had been a marble palace, the boss monster went inside, allowing Undyne to glare once more at the crowd, then shut the door gently behind them.

#songfell man i love my mom but

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writing-is-my-guilty-pleasure · 4 years

Text

Coffee Shop Romance || Loki x Reader ~ Part 2

A/N: Part 2! Hope you enjoy, and I wanted to finish this smaller series and give you guys some content while I’m writing Part 2 of ‘Patient’! (can be found in the Star Wars Masterlist) Excuse me if it takes a few more days to finish it - I want to make sure it’s as good as it can get, and also I’m still getting back into the swing of writing!

Part 1

Main Masterlist

Marvel Masterlist

“Are you sure about this, Loki?” You asked, fiddling with your watch-strap nervously, as you paced around your boyfriend’s kitchen, keeping one eye on the food you were cooking. “I mean, we haven’t been dating for that long, do you really think that I’m ready to meet your parents?”

“And brother.” Loki chimed in, not taking his eyes off the book he was reading, simply turning the page as if his girlfriend wasn’t stressing out in the corner of the room. “And sister.” He added after a seconds pause, “And my sister.” He glanced up at you, and seeing panic flash across your face at the prospect of meeting Loki’s entire family in one sitting, he put his book down. “But she might not even be at home, Y/N, she’s nearly always busy with her work.” The panicked expression on your face lessened slightly at his words, but it was nowhere near gone. Loki crossed the kitchen to stand infront of you, and rested his hands on your shoulders. “If they get to be too much we can always reschedule the dinner. God knows my brother seems to be more ‘excited puppy’ than the future owner of my father’s company.” Loki muttered to himself, but even though he sounded grumpy, you knew he loved his brother more than he expressed.

“No, no…I suppose it’s time to meet them all. And if they’re anything like you, I’m sure I’ll love them.” You smiled at Loki, and he pressed a kiss to your forehead before he moved away, a real smile on his face, not the usual cheeky smirk that so often graced his face. “I’m going to get changed, they’ll be here soon and I don’t want your mother and father to see me like this.” You gestured to the apron you were wearing, that was dusted (ha) in the various ingredients that you had used when cooking dinner, the scruffy-looking jeans you had thrown on haphazardly this morning as you rushed out to buy said ingredients that were on you, and one of your older, baggier shirts that you didn’t mind getting messy. While those clothes were comfortable, you didn’t fancy your boyfriend’s family meeting you while wearing them. Simply from looking around Loki’s apartment, it was obvious that he and his family were quite well off – it had a glorious view from the living room where you both sat and watched the sun go down through the large windows that made up one of the walls of the room.

“You still look as beautiful as ever, darling.” Loki’s smile turned to a smirk. “Even if you’ve managed to get half of our dinner onto your apron.” You laughed, smacking his arm lightly as you made your way to the bedroom that the two of you shared, and you spent more nights together than you did apart.

The two of you had been dating for a year now, and the unspoken question of whether or not you’d move in with Loki was beginning to occur between the two of you. Loki obviously couldn’t move in with you, as you currently shared a house with two roommates, so it wouldn’t be practical. Honestly, you really wanted to move in with Loki, but you didn’t want to bring up the topic of moving in until after you’d met his parents. Loki had met your family a couple of weeks ago, and they had all loved him. He’d turned up the charm tenfold, and when Loki excused himself to take a phone call, your mother instantly cornered you, demanding that you tell her why you hadn’t brought him over before. You’d been apprehensive of meeting Loki’s family, and even though you’d had a date fixed for a while, you’d heard enough from Loki about his father to almost scare you off completely. Well, scared was a strong word – you weren’t too sure what the word was, but hearing about how Thor was always the favourite child in his father’s eyes, meaning that Loki was pushed aside, didn’t exactly make you approve of Odin. Frigga, Loki’s mother, sounded like an absolute delight. You could tell from the way Loki’s face lit up whenever he spoke about her that she was definitely the favourite parent, and that Loki loved her more than anyone in the world.

You hummed to yourself as you peered through your various items of clothing in your wardrobe. You didn’t want to totally glam yourself up because then it might seem like you were trying too hard to impress them and you weren’t yourself, but you didn’t want to meet them while wearing scruffy jeans and a simple t-shirt. It was the ‘smart-casual’ category that was needed for tonight, but even that was a nightmare to figure out. Eventually you settled on a relatively smart-looking jumper, and a pair of normal, not ripped and not covered in today’s dinner, jeans. As you were glancing in the mirror to check your hair and outfit you heard someone knocking at the door. “Loki, can you answer it please? I need to get dinner out of the oven!”

You heard Loki call out his response, and hurried to the kitchen as Loki opened the door, smiling when he saw his mother, and stepped aside to let his family in. You pulled on your oven gloves and pulled your dinner out of the oven, setting it aside for a moment while you grabbed plates from a nearby cupboard.

“So, where’s your lovely lady, Loki?” A woman’s voice came from the hallway, and you smiled, feeling your face grow warm at the compliment – she hadn’t even met you yet. You divided the food amongst the plates you’d got out as you listened for Loki’s reply.

“Y/N’s in the kitchen, mother, she’s been fussing over dinner all day – she’ll be getting it ready for you all.” Loki’s voice sounded from just outside the kitchen door, and you stopped sorting out the food to properly welcome Loki’s family.

You opened the kitchen door, poked your head out of the doorway, and smiled at the people infront of you. “Hello, it’s lovely to finally meet you all!” Loki’s mother greeted you first, pulling you into a firm hug, before pulling back and examining you.

“Well, Loki was certainly right when he told us all how beautiful you are.” She mused, and her kind face lit up as she took in a deep breath. “He didn’t mention that you were a good cook as well!” She smiled kindly at you, but her eyes held the same cheeky twinkle that Loki’s did.

Your smile grew, your face growing even warmer at her words. “Thank you, Mrs-” You paused for a few seconds, trying to figure out how to address her. You knew that Loki didn’t share the same last name as the rest of his family, but you didn’t know what his mother wanted to be called.

“Just call me Frigga, dear.” She smiled kindly at you, and turned to face her husband and another man who must be Thor. Loki’s sister was nowhere in sight, so you took that to mean that she was busy with her work, as Loki had told you earlier. “Hela couldn’t be here today, as her work needed her to be abroad for a few days, but she wishes she could have been here to meet you.” At these words, Loki snorted slightly, before moving towards you and placing a hand on the small of your back, and nudged you in the direction of his father and brother.

Loki’s father surveyed you for a moment through his one eye – you noticed that his other eye was covered by a gold eyepatch, (whether it was real gold or not you couldn’t tell, but it wouldn’t surprise you if it had at least been coated in gold) but then stepped forwards with his hand outstretched, and a small smile on his face. “It’s lovely to meet you Y/N, I’m Odin, but I’m sure Loki’s already told you about me.” He shook your hand firmly, and upon letting go his gaze turned to Loki, and you noticed that his smile became forced as he locked eyes with his son. You thought that when Loki told you about his rivalry with his father that he was being slightly dramatic – sometimes when you were the youngest child you weren’t paid as much attention as any older siblings, so you’d admittedly taken his words with a pinch of salt. But now, seeing the look that the father and son exchanged, you realised that Loki might not have been exaggerating the rivalry they had.

Thor stepped forwards eagerly, breaking the tension between Loki and Odin, and also held out his hand to you excitedly – he really was like an excited puppy. “It’s nice to finally meet the lady that brings a smile to my brother’s face!” Thor’s voice was louder than you’d expected, and you started slightly, but beamed at him.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Thor, Loki’s told me a lot about you – about you all.” You shook Thor’s hand – well, Thor shook yours vigorously – and you let go. “Well, I was just about to serve dinner – Loki will take you to the dining room, but I’m sure you’ve been here before so you know the way.” You grinned, and turned back into the kitchen, and finished plating up the food, bringing it out to everyone.

Dinner had been going well so far, and before you knew it, desert was being served. Considering everything that Loki had told you about how awful his father could be sometimes, you thought Odin was on his best behaviour infront of you, which had probably been Frigga’s doing. The only stumble in the evening occurred when Frigga approached the topic of whether or not you were currently living with Loki at the moment, and if you weren’t, when you would be moving in, and for the first time since knowing Loki, you saw him panic and have a physical reaction to his mother’s question. He’d almost choked on his drink as soon as the sentence had left Frigga’s mouth, put down his wine glass a bit too hard which caused some to splash onto the table, and spouted a vague response of ‘we’ll think about it when we’re ready’, before hurriedly changing the subject.

Eventually, dinner came to an end, and Loki’s family were getting ready to leave. As Frigga slipped on her coat, she pulled you aside, leaving Loki with his father and brother.

“Thank you for having us over tonight, dear.” She said warmly, zipping up her coat as she spoke. “I’ve been looking forward to when we would all meet for a while; Loki speaks so highly of you whenever we’re on the phone or on the occasional meetup.”

You flushed lightly at her words, looking over at where Loki was engaged in a seeming uncomfortable conversation with his father. Thor was busy looking around the apartment, examining some ornaments you’d brought over that you thought would go with the general aesthetic of Loki’s apartment. “I didn’t know Loki talked about me like that- he’s always so quiet.” You smiled as Loki glanced over at you, the tension visibly draining from him as he looked at you. “And thank you for coming over, because I was so nervous to meet you all and you’ve been so lovely. It’s no wonder that Loki wanted me to meet you.”

Frigga chuckled slightly, and pulled you into a hug. “Well, we won’t keep you any longer. You should both come and stay sometime, you’re always welcome.” She turned to sweep Loki into a hug, and you found yourself also being hugged (a bit too tightly) by Thor.

“I thank you, Y/N, for taking care of my brother, and making sure he doesn’t get into too much trouble.” Thor beamed at you, and patted you on the shoulder before going to attempt to hug his brother. Finally, you found yourself face-to-face with Odin.

Mirroring his actions from when you first met him, Odin held out his hand for you to shake. “Thank you for your hospitality this evening, Y/N. It has been nice to finally meet you- it seemed for a moment as if Loki was determined for me not to meet you at all.” You laughed awkwardly at his words, shaking his hand.

“I’m sure Loki was doing what he thought was best. Maybe he thought that the moment wasn’t right until now.” You smiled tightly, before letting go of his hand abruptly. “Maybe he had good reason not to.” A look of realisation crossed Odin’s face at your words, accepting that Loki had most likely mentioned how strained their relationship was. Before he could say anything else, Frigga was ushering him and Thor out of the door, reminding Loki to call soon, and suddenly, they were gone.

As the door shut behind Loki’s family, you breathed a sigh of relief, and crossed to the kitchen to pour yourself and Loki another glass of wine. In a comfortable silence, the two of you made your way over to the sofa, and sat down together.

“Well, that wasn’t as horrendous as I’d imagined it to be,” Loki mused, after taking a few sips of wine. “I thought my father would throw a fit of some sort of how I wasn’t worthy of something and embarrass himself.” You hummed in agreement, your mind going back to a topic of conversation that had been brought up during dinner.

“I’ve been thinking about us.” You said abruptly. Loki paused, tensing slightly, wine glass just touching his lips, about to take a sip. He lowered his glass slightly.

“Oh dear.” He sighed slightly. “I thought this might happen after meeting my family. I know they can be a little intense but I promise they aren’t as insane as they come across-”

“No, not about your family.” You said absentmindedly. Loki nodded, relaxing back into the sofa, and resuming his sip of wine. “I think we should move in together.”

This time Loki really did choke on his wine. After a minute or so of him coughing and trying to compose himself, he finally put down his wine, ran a hand through his hair so it was pushed away from his face, and stared at you in disbelief.

“Are you serious?” He gaped slightly. “Do you really want to?” You smiled at him, nodding.

“I’ve been thinking about it for a while, and I kept thinking that I wasn’t ready, but I kept noticing all my stuff that’s around here and then it was brought up again at dinner and I really think I’m ready.” You grinned at him. “You’re the best guy I’ve ever been with, and I couldn’t imagine living with anyone else.”

Loki beamed at you, a look of pure adoration on his face. He held up his wine glass to you, and clinked it on yours in a cheers. “Cheers to that, then.” His eyes twinkled as you both took another sip of your wine in celebration.

#loki x reader #loki laufeyson #loki laufeyson x reader #loki imagines #marvel imagines #marvel #marvel x reader #thor #tom hiddleston #tom hiddleston x reader

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dreamofcentipedes · 7 years

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Hey R-kun!! Just wanna say I've been stalking your blog these past few days because they're absolutely fantastic. (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ Gotta love your ideas, man :) Can I ask, what are your favorite chapters in re:?

Hey, thanks anon! For a brief selection, in chronological order:

31.5 - TheChristmas chapter. Perfect wind-down chapter after a very intense arc whichalso, I think, cemented the most strongly just what a happy life Haise led atthe CCG. It’s very difficult to read that chapter and not think “God, Iwish I was in that room”. Because it demonstrated that so expertly, it madeHaise’s struggles with his past life in the second half of the chapter all themore impactful - excited as we are to see Kaneki’s mask again, there’s anunderlying sense of unease that it’s going to sink its tragic teeth into theharmonious life that not just Kaneki, but we the readers, have just enjoyed (something also indicated by the leather eyepatch Haise gives to Mutsuki). Asindeed it does. As befits a Christmas chapter, it is primarily about bonds -bonds that are going to come under severe strain by the end of the next arc,which is why they’re painted with such a fine brush here to smoothly transitionbetween the two - Kaneki and the Quinx, Kaneki and Arima, and the memories ofhis old bonds through his mask and through :re. A real Christmas present of achapter!

53,56,57,58 - The death of Haise and the birth of the Black Reaper. :re was Kaneki’s attempt to escape histragedy, but it followed him even into the realm of a different story, and here,returning along with his memories, it finally re-establishes control. The worldof happy illusion is shattered after Kaneki is pushed to the edge by Eto (hisdoppelganger who reminds him of his true self and heralds Haise’s death) whoforces the fruit of Knowledge down his throat to bring him back to the path sheneeds him on. The darkness of the old world had been slowly creeping into thestory for a while now, catalysed by the reappearance of old characters andshards of Kaneki’s memories returning, but this was the spark that led to the infernoand the genre shift becomes gut-punchingly obvious with Kaneki’s new appearanceand attitude together with the death of Shirazu. The chapter is all the moreimpactful because for ages the audience had wanted Kaneki’s memories to return,but now they’re back, we remember why he wiped them in the first place. TheKaneki who returns is not the one we all know and love; it is the broken shellof a man who has accepted his fate to die at the hands of his genre, and whohas cast aside any pretences he once had to morality or selflessness. Thisstyle of transformation was so far from what was expected, and yet it makes alltoo much sense. The Kaneki we once knew, as we slowly discover, is stillunderneath all the burning hatred and cold defeatism, which only makes our pityfor this wretched creature all the stronger. Haise Sasaki’s existential dilemmabecomes one of the most heartwrenchingly tragic arcs of the whole manga,especially since the reader feels party to it as we ourselves wanted Kanekiback without properly acknowledging what it would mean for everything that hadmade Haise ‘Haise’. The contrast between the two fiercely drives that realisationhome. But of course, at the same time, who didn’t love “Shut the hell up?” Orhow Kaneki managed to wreck the fearsome One-Eyed Owl? Much as this was anegative development for Kaneki (albeit a necessary one), it’s difficult not torespect how he took his life back into his own hands after taking so much shitand playing puppet for so long. As my blog background and title alreadyindicate, I love this mini-arc with all my soul, and I haven’t even talkedabout throwing Tsukiyama off the building, the beginning of Kaneki and Eto’senthralling dynamic, and “I suppose this is my fault?”. Ah! Shivers.

120 – The first glimmer of hope for the CCG to accept the existence ofGhouls and to break the endless turning of the wheels of revenge. We’ve alreadyseen ways that Ghouls and Humans can live in peace through Nishiki and Kimi,Kuzen and Ukina, etc. but what about the CCG, who have spent their whole liveshunting Ghouls? 120 shows reconciliation is possible through Akira, whosehatred of Ghouls runs deep, forgiving not just Ghoulkind, but the specificGhouls who took her father from her. The chapter carries a powerful, reflectiveambience throughout, aided by many quiet moments interspersed with poignantconversation as well as excellent emotive facial and background art fromIshida. As well as shining a lot of light on Akira’s current mental state, wesee much more of how Touka has been confronting her issues in all the time wehaven’t seen her, and watching her now as a calm and wise mentor figurehighlights her incredible development from her brash and reckless teenage yearsas well as the influence of old man Yoshimura. An acceptingly melancholic butquietly hopeful chapter that portrays fascinating psychological developments inits three focal female characters – Akira, Touka and Hinami – and explorestouchingly their complex relationships with the past and the dead, and what itmeans to move beyond that.

122 – We all knew this chapter was going to be amazing after 121’scliffhanger. Kaneki and Touka finally open up, and it turns out great.Comparing this to the confrontation in the original series’ 120, it’s a wonderfulpiece of evidence for :re followingthe same path as the original series but going right where they once wentwrong. Incredibly satisfying to finally hear the feelings spoken aloud that weall knew were there, and Kaneki’s “Will you come with me?” led to the greatestbreath of relief I’ve had throughout the series.

125 – Surprise surprise. I’ve already spoken ad infinitum about thischapter, so in short, it’s an incredibly ambient, symbolic and beautifulexperience that results in the emotional salvation of the series’ two leadcharacters. Their catharsis is our own, and we go away from it feeling asthough a great weight has been lifted. It’s due to Ishida’s master craftsmanshipwith the art, lighting and mood of this chapter that it can connect so deeplywith the heart of the reader.

Honourable mentions to 117 and 119, for the Touka-Amon and Kaneki-Amon conversations, and like, all of the Cochlea Arc, but that would be cheating.

#tokyo ghoul #tg #tg meta #touken #kanetou #ken kaneki #haise sasaki #black reaper #akira mado #touka kirishima #hinami fueguchi #kaneki x touka #eto yoshimura #shirazu ginshi

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thehappyaccidentsteamblog · 7 years

Text

Chapter 6: It Could Have Gone Worse

“Well I guess I can’t criticize your pre-game ritual anymore,” Leyendecker chuckled weakly as Gil tucked bed sheets around his shoulders.

Gil returned the laugh, equally as strained. “No, you’re still absolutely correct,” he turned to sit lightly on the edge of Leyendecker’s bed. As one of the few elves left on the pitch, Gil had helped his team mates limp home after the very difficult game. “To keep myself honest, I'll admit I took several shots at the half.”

“And we didn't give up a single touchdown after the half,” Leyendecker groaned.

“I am pretty sure the alcohol had nothing to do with that,” Gil shook his head and laughed quietly.

Leyendecker joined him in chuckling at the logical folly. They quieted rather quickly because neither of them had much energy.

“How is everyone?” Leyendecker asked after a moment.

“Oh not too bad considering,” Gil forced a smile. “I followed Elizabeth and Albrecht to the hospital.”

“And?”

“They’ll both be fine, but will have to sit out a game. Al was asleep, but I talked to Elizabeth,” Gil continued.

Leyendecker sighed. “That's good news.”

“Yeah and Elizabeth couldn't be happier.”

Gil saw Leyendecker begin to quirk his eyebrows in confusion.

“In her words, and I quote,” Gil paused to let confusion fully filter into Leyendecker’s expression. He then affected a flaunting pose, throwing out his chest and forcing his voice into a higher register. “‘Hot damn this is great! Journeyman insurance never would have covered this. And I can wear a bitchin’ eyepatch. I'm gonna be so badass!’”

About half-way through the imitation, Leyendecker snorted loudly and buried his face into his pillow. “Oh my gosh,” he said, voice muffled by the pillow.

“And of course Tom is taking care of Robert, Frida has the two that live with her and Fragonard is just fine,” Gil added while Leyendecker was still laughing. “Could’ve been worse but it wasn't.”

The last of Leyendecker’s giggles left him and he gazed up at Gil. “You are right, Gil.” He sighed again and sank further into the folds of his bed.

Gil nodded firmly, then as one topic of conversation drew to a close, Gil glanced up to the wall beyond and then back down at Leyendecker. He shifted his seat towards Leyendecker then decided that was too awkward and went back to sitting sidelong. There was something Gil had been wanting to ask Leyendecker and it made his palms sweat. At least Leyendecker didn't seem to notice - in fact he was staring rather placidly at the ceiling.

“So J, can I ask you a question while you’re a captive audience?” Gil blurted out into the silence of the room.

“Yeah sure. What’s up?” Leyendecker rolled onto his side, giving Gil his full attention.

Gil suddenly felt flushed and he sort of wished Leyendecker had said no, I want to sleep. But now he couldn't backtrack and so he pushed on, trying to keep as much inflection from his voice as possible. “Back in college, you knew that I wanted to ask you to be my partner right?”

Leyendecker’s eyebrows knit together and he hesitated before answering. “...yes…” he paused again and when Gil didn't reply, added, “And you knew I was waiting on you?”

Not expecting Leyendecker to volunteer information, Gil stuttered, “...yeah...so uhh…” He gulped mentally and tried his best to keep his eyes on Leyendecker, but his courage failed him and studied the bed sheets instead. “If I had, what would you have said? Before everything went to shit.”

Gil couldn't tell where Leyendecker was looking, but he suspected it was at the horrendous blush Gil knew he had across his cheeks. “I would have said yes,” Leyendecker replied simply.

The next question came out much too quickly. “What about now?”

“What do you mean?” Leyendecker’s voice had gone soft in such a way Gil couldn't quite place. He didn't sound guarded, but it didn't quite sound like a normal speaking voice.

Clenching his fists into the bedsheets, Gil continued before his nerves could fail him. “If I were to ask you out now, what would you say?” There was an answer that Gil wanted to hear, and he'd spent a very long time thinking it up. And it wasn't a simple yes or no, but if he received anything but what he knew the answer should be, he wasn't going to like the answer.

There came a very long pause from Leyendecker in which Gil swore his heart stopped beating. “...What if I asked you the same?”

When Leyendecker replied, Gil’s breath caught in his throat and his next sentence sputtered out of existence. “Umm ahh,” Gil faltered, of all the things he was prepare for, a counter question was not one and of course Leyendecker would stumble on that.

Fortunately, Leyendecker didn't let Gil flounder for long. “I would say no,” his voice was careful, the ‘no’ hardly sounding absolute. But Leyendecker also seemed conscious of how his words still sounded like a flat rejection and he quickly continued. “But not because I uh...I’m not attracted to you or haven't thought about it myself.”

Finally Gil was able to pull his eyes back to Leyendecker’s and they held each other’s gaze steady. Gil stared, maybe a bit wide eyed, so stunned that he had heard what he’d wanted, he couldn't figure out what to say next.

As Gil drew out the silence, yet didn't seem distraught, Leyendecker continued. “So much has changed between then and now, that…” Leyendecker accompanied the mention of time with a sweep of his hand from one extreme to the other, “that I feel so unsure - about everything - and I don’t think that that is a good way to go into any relationship.”

When Leyendecker finished speaking, a great weight lifted from Gil’s shoulders and he laughed a short laugh that made his whole body tremble with anticipation. His earlier blush came back worse than before and he found his tongue only slight functional. “That’s uhm...actually…” he mumbled, eyes flicking from Leyendecker to the sheets back to Leyendecker, “That’s how I feel as well. To answer your question.”

Leyendecker blinked rapidly into the silence that followed. “Well...that conversation certainly worked out better than I thought it was going to.”

“You and me both,” Gil smiled and ran a hand through his hair. “So ahhh…” In fact, the conversation had gone so well, his plan to leave at the conclusion seemed wholly unnecessary now.

“So now that we’ve established that we both still have an attraction to the other, what do you want to do about it?” Leyendecker asked. He rolled onto his back again, looking up at Gil expectantly.

“We don’t have to do anything and that's OK with me,” Gil replied quickly, hands held in front of his face disarmingly. “I’ll leave it up to you.”

Leyendecker crossed his arms over he chest and regarded Gil with a bit of a smirk. “Well. I know that I want to get to know you again.”

Gil couldn't quite tell what Leyendecker was getting at. “That can be done,” he leaned forward eagerly. “How would you like to do that?”

“Like...maybe go do something to spend time together. Ya know outside of the team setting,” Leyendecker was unabashedly smirking now.

“You mean like a date?” Gil’s heart jumped.

“Now I didn’t say date, per se,” Leyendecker rolled his eyes so hard he moved his whole head.

“I think you just described a date,” Gil retorted and when all Leyendecker did was continue to smile, Gil understood that a date was exactly what J meant. Returning his own lop-sided smile, Gil teasingly chided, “Leyendecker are you asking me on a date after all these years?”

Leyendecker’s pale complexion quickly became bright red. “I - I - have two tickets to a Bard College theatre performance. Do you want to go with me?”

“And he already has the tickets, how presumptuous?!” Gil crossed his arms and tossed his head in mock indignation. But he finished the motion by leaning slightly over Leyendecker and giving him a full smile.

Leyendecker sputtered, crossed his arms even more firmly over his chest and tried very hard to sink into his bed.

“Of course I'll go with you, J,” Gil answered softly, sitting upright once again.

A broad smiled pulled across Leyendecker’s face as he uncrossed his arms and relaxed. Rolling back onto his side, Leyendecker gazed with heavy eyelids up at Gil. “I look forward to it,” he murmured.

“Me too,” Gil replied.

Leyendecker nodded against his pillow as his eyelids fell shut. “I'm going to sleep now though. Wake me up if anything happens?” He was trying his best to sound authoritative, but his words were just shy of being slurred together with sleep.

“I will,” Gil promised dutifully with a nod.

“Thank you,” Leyendecker yawned and Gil nearly squeaked when he felt Leyendecker pat his hand. His eyes snapped to the contact then back to Leyendecker’s face, but his eyes were already closed and the hand withdrew.

Smiling to himself, Gil gingerly got up from the bed and tip-toed from Leyendecker’s room. He shut the door behind him and leaned against it as his knees suddenly felt weak. Breathing out slowly, Gil righted his balance and made his way down the hall. Still smiling of course.

~~~

Leyendecker's usual post-game speech ended up being being delayed several days until Albrecht and Elizabeth returned from the hospital. When they did, the elves gathered in the living room of the house, which also lacked enough seats for all eleven of them.

As elves gathered on the couch, Robert sat on top of Tom and then yelled, “Yo Captain!”

Having not seen what transpired, Leyendecker turned from making his way to the front of the room with an actual concerned expression. “The couch is a little lumpy!” Robert finished his complaint with a wide smirk. He bounced up and down where he sat to demonstrate his point. Tom grunted.

Leyendecker narrowed his eyes and shook his head at the two of them. On the far end of the couch, Fragonard shrugged. Louise, the unfortunate elf in the middle laughed. Shaking his head, Leyendecker turned back around lifting his foot to continue to the front of the room and nearly stepped on Gil, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor directly in front of him. While Leyendecker did the one-foot hop to avoid Gil, Gil blinked innocently up at him.

“Guys you are so silly,” Leyendecker laughed and Gil scooted on his bottom to a more reasonable distance.

Then, Leyendecker turned to the rest of the room and cleared his throat. The other three chairs were now occupied, Elizabeth seemed to have brought down a chair from her room, and with Edgelord and Frida also sitting on the ground, everyone fit.

“So this’ll be sort,” Leyendecker began. “Coach's notes to us were mostly curse words and it being all her fault.”

“To be fair,” Gil interrupted, raising his hand as he did so. “Putting everyone on the line worked out last time - we are a group of hardy elves.”

Someone snorted.

“C’mon more confidence erfs!” Gil grinned.

Leyendecker shook his head. “Regardless, it was a mistake we didn't pay permanently for. And that's good.”

“And coach seems like she's more down about this one than us,” Gil nodded sagely.

“It's true,” Leyendecker agreed. “Coach said she doesn't want to talk about it - it never happened, so let's just move on?”

Various affirmations filtered in from around the room. “Who are we playing next, Captain?” Gil asked when the noise died down.

Leyendecker looked at his clipboard. “Uh… Dead Reckoning again.”

“Huh, well that should be fine,” Gil said.

“Oh and,” something about Gil's question also reminded him and he thumped the clipboard with a finger. “We have a new catcher joining us!”

“Really now? We made that much money?” Tom asked. “No, they probably just needed the money like the rest of us,” Robert smirked. Tom made a face and Robert laughed.

“I will have you know - “ Leyendecker wagged the clipboard in the general direction of the couch.

“They’re probably desperately in need of a job so we could hire them for less,” Gil added glibly.

“No,” Leyendecker frowned, jabbing the clipboard at Gil. He, of course, knew they were all joking and he was playing into their teasing. But that was just fine. “I will have you know we can afford to pay them the proper salary and - “ Then he paused, screwing up his face as he tried to remember if the new catcher was actually in need of money just like the rest of them. “No, I think they do need the money,” Leyendecker concluded aloud.

“That's okay, they’ll fit right in then,” Elizabeth laughed.

There was a chorus of knowing murmured from the room.

“Anyway, we’re going to have a welcome dinner for them on Friday and that's the end of team meeting.”

#blood bowl #bloodbowl #even union

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