#i wish i was half as good and patient as kali

[khaotunq]

Sprite: Powered by Love™ (Twins, 2023)

[the-silver-peahen-residence]

||Demon check-up part 6||

Hi everyone, Peahen mom here with another drabble to the Demon check-up mini series. If you wish to read the following chapters, they are below this:

~~Chapters~~

Part one

Part two

Part three

Part four

Part five

((Your reading part six right now))

||Drabble Summary||

The next poor victims caught was Jinx and Kali's fraction showing two more more have been taken. Now, the others remaining are still hiding in the hospital. Ophelia with her group along with Taz's own are getting closer to finishing their goal. Who will get caught next? Will they win? Read to find out.

||Warning||

~This is half funny/scary type of drabble

~crying/freaking out is present in drabble

~scared demons are present in this with a crazy happy doctor

~quick death and revival will happen during this drabble

((Guests in this drabble))

Yuuka Nakano, Ashley Butterfly, Rex oxford mills, Willow, and Jinx along with their fractions belong to me.

Van ink, Kali, Joshua, Fin, Ethan, Guam along with their fractions are in this. They belong to @demon-blood-youths

((Just a heads up: Grammar is not good and their will be heavy mistakes but this was written for fun so please enjoy. ))

~~~~~~In the main room with Akiko~~~~~~~~

"Sis please calm down it's alright..it's over now.." Rex was sitting by his fraction who was trying to calm a shaking and horrified Ashley butterfly down. She was hugging the panda plush she got as her reward while Rex was worried.

He knew both his team and his sister's team were horrified by what happened but he was feeling his own hands shaking. Yeah, not pleasant to remember. Aikio saw some of the fractions were here but the ones remaining was Ink, Jinx, Yuuka, Willow, Ethan, Joshua, and Kali's fractions. She wonders if the others were having trouble finding them?

As Akiko was thinking about it, the doors open to get everyone's attention. Rust was shocked seeing a knocked out Willow and Ethan who was asleep with their fractions. But he also saw another group come in.

He sees it was Kali and Jinx's group who was struggling.

"Ahhh more patients! Thank you so much dears!" She saw Taz give a light nod wlth Maki happily smiling. They didn't mind but this game was drawing closer to a close. The two leave to find the rest.

"I see we are almost done. Oh well, I guess I can check the two sleeping first. Then you guys can go." she smiled to Jinx and Kali before seeing Akiko walk over to pick up Willow then had help with Ethan.

"......Let me guess; Navarro ditched you guys too?" T-bone asked seeing Kali sigh and nod. "Figures..."

"Yeah, thanks to that we got caught along with Willow and Ethan. But Ink's team is still in along with Joshua's and Yuuka's." Kali explains but she still was angry. "Though, yes Navarro ditched us.." she sighed in her binds.

"You know, I was hoping to have lasted longer in the game but oh well!" Jinx laughed but her vixens were scared not wanting to go.

However, Melinda saw Echo looking quiet but she was half angry but half upset due to being ditched by Navarro. He seriously ditched her! HER OF ALL PEOPLE!!

"E..Echo? Are you going to be alright?" she asked but Echo only closes her hand in a fist to laugh darkly a bit. "U....Uhhh Echo?"

"I"m gonna kill him..I'm going to fucking Kill. Him." she growls showing a murder tenses to make Melinda sweatdrop. Echo was pissed. If she sees him again, she'll kill him for this. For now, the groups tense hearing the buzzing noise again when the check up was starting for Ethan and Willow's fractions. Then it would be their turn.

~~~~~Meanwhile~~~~~~~

"I can't believe you Navarro! How could you make us ditch both Kali's fraction and Jinx's fraction? What the heck!" Jaron said worried about Melinda now since she's never got treated. He did remember he saved her that one time. Now, she was there and getting it!

"I agree with him on this. Your really ditching everyone but it's just us few now." Shdwkyz said with arms crossed but he saw Navarro pacing left and right trying to think of a plan.

"Give me a second, I'm trying to think!" he said with Yuu looking nervous knowing they still were in hiding from the hunting down groups. Ink was thinking and sitting by Yuuka and Oblivion rubbing Yuu's back to keep her calm, while they were thinking of a plan. Joshua still was with them but he was worried about Ashley.

"Alright, their should be a main door somewhere around here. I think if we find that, we can get out!" he said.

"Again, we are NOT leaving the others here with the doctor! We need to save them! They took them and they took Ashley!!" Joshua said even if he wishes to help them. This ditching was getting out of hand.

"Oh come on! I said sorry!" he said worried.

"You've said sorry and you still ditched everyone!" he said. "You even ditched Echo and her team!" he said.

"He's got you there Navarro." Shdwkyz said.

"Look! I will again find a way to say sorry and make it up! Can we please keep moving on!?" he said as everyone sighed.

"Fine fine..Lets just go." Fosh said scared of being here as the fractions were about to leave. Fosh opens the door to see another hallway. Just how big is this Hospital!? They leave the hiding place and goes to move forward hoping to find them but Navarro was scared that he was already hoping to get away.

"You know? Why does this feel more like a horror film now? I really don't like when Akiko shows up here for her vacation." Yuu whines but Oblivion held her hand to calm her down.

"I know, Yuu but we will get out but we also will save our friends okay?" she saw her look at her and nod, holding her hand back still scared but she was fine. She did hope the others were safe.

As soon as they keep walking, they get to the end of the hallway to see a door! Maybe they can get out that way. As they get to the door quickly, something breaks the door down. Seems like Gerald found them again!

"BOO!" he smiled seeing them tense.

"Not again! RUN!"

They gasped but quickly runs off with Gerald chasing them. They kept on running faster and faster right through a hallway into another section of the hospital. They were running away trying to get away from Gerald but they saw the younger ones with her! Along with the healers!

"Come back guys! Stop running away!" Hex said as the spear he has was letting out the blue wisp threads to try catching someone but the three fractions kept on running. They get to a area with stairs as they hurry down.

"Come on guys hurry!" Luna said now freezing the door so they couldn't get in to follow the others down. They keep on heading down the stairs before getting to another door and opening it. They were on the first floor now running but Luna freezes that one too. They head down but heard foot steps while entering a metal chamber but their was a way out.

"There! Move!" Mina said as everyone kept running and going to the door however, as they did something was broken down showing Gerald breaking the frozen shut door.

"Guys! Come back!" He laughed following with the younger ones and Ophelia's group. They chase them down to the room but sees everyone still running.

"Hex?" she sees him nod, already showing the blue wisp strings from his spear as it shoots right towards them to try grabbing some few. As the DBT gets through, they heard some yelps seeing some of Yuu's fraction get grabbed by their feet to fall to the ground. The same for Joshua's own!

"NOOOOO!! NO NO NO!" Joshua screams scared struggling with his fraction seeing them scared trying to get free.

"I don't wanna die!" Wes said but the DBT sees them get taken quickly.

"Guys NO!" Yuu reaches but Ming, Trevor, Luna, Maxine, and Damien was struggling in the hold.

"Yuu, you need to get out of here!" Daimen said as he sees and heard the others coming. "You need to run!"

"NO! I won't leave my team!" she said trying to help by burning the wisp but some even wrap around Yuu!

"NO!" right away, Oblivion rushes to save her and grabs her hands. She struggles but Yuu saw her trying to help her. "Oblivion?!"

"OH no, your not going through that again!" she said trying to help her seeing her team get pulled back harshly while the DBT tries to help Oblivion. Navarro was busy working on opening a door that should lead them out.

"Come on, come on!" he said trying to break the door but Oblivion was still trying to pull her back away from Hex's hold. She didn't want to lose her next! She's been through it already but she didn't need this again. they keep on pulling but that's when Yuu used her goo to harden it to a blade and cut the strings to get free. Both her and Oblivion fell to the ground as they wince. She sits up quickly.

"I..I'm sorry!" she said to Tae but she groans holding her head.

"Your good..are you alright?" she asked to see her nod but then quickly looks seeing her team gone. "B..but my team.." she mutters.

"Don't worry Yuu, we will find them-"

"Come on guys, your not making this easy you know. Please stop trying to run from your check ups." A familiar scary tone said making the DBT tense. Ophelia was standing there but she still smiled as the others show up behind her. Right away, they got up to run again but as soon as the other two get up, Swan had two feathers flick over to sink into Oblivion and Yuu. Both of them saw that before they suddenly felt sleepy.

"Huh?"

"...W..what was that?" Yuu said nervous but she felt sleepy as Oblivion did too.

"Just to help you make it easy to take you back.....Gerald?" Ophelia saw him go and pick up the two while smiling. "We got you!" he laughed as Yuu and Oblivion struggles.

"Gerald put us d..down! Please, I don't wanna have to go through this again!" Yuu said struggling trying to fight the sleepy feeling. Oblivion struggles but looks to the remaining members of her team.

"Guys help!!" she said.

"Okay, this is getting more scary. We have t-"

"I got the door open, lets go!!" Navarro turns but saw Yuu's fraction was gone and now the others got Oblivion.

"Navarro! They got taken! We need to help Oblivion and Yuu!" Fosh said seeing Shdwkyz, Jaron, Ink, Hellmare about to help but he looks seeing the two caught. Now, would he stop and help or just run? His answer........

He threw a smoke bomb that got everyone coughing. In the smoke, he quickly pushes the other remaining members through before looking back. 'Sorry you guys. I'll make it up to you! I give you my word!!' he thought before getting through and closing the door.

Both Yuu and Oblivion was coughing but saw the smoke clear and saw Navarro with some of the DBT gone! Their eyes widen seeing Navarro ditch them too!!

"..H..He..He left u..us.." she mutters.

"Damn it Navarro.." Oblivion said as the two were now caught to slowly turn facing Ophelia who was smiling. "Seems we got more and you two as well. I'm sure Dr. Akiko will be happy to see you two again.." she giggled now turning to see Gerald take them back as they were struggling through the sleepy feeling due to being scared.

Seems they would get their treatments...Again.

[hargrove-mayfields]

Just A Dream Away

Chapter 12/13 read here on ao3!

for @harringrovebigbang

~~~~

They don’t have time to wait for Steve.

Over the radio he’s told very bluntly that Billy is not going to make it if they wait for Steve to find them first, and they have to get him to the hospital immediately.

He understands, but they say they can’t even put him on the radio, and he hears coughing in the background before the radio is turned off, so he has to find his way out of the woods alone, then wait on his front porch, bat clutched tightly in his hands just in case, for Joyce with a car full of kids to pick him up and drive him to the hospital.

The half hour it takes is the longest of his life, so that by the time he’s in the hospital, he’s running on waxed floors, tennis shoes skidding as he pushes forward into the endless labyrinth of white tiles and fluorescent lights.

Billy. The boy he'd held as he died in this very hospital. Now alive and breathing in room 340, just a floor above from where he’d thought he’d lost him forever. His legs can’t carry him there fast enough.

He’s only vaguely aware of the kids running behind him, or of the nurses who shout at them that visiting hours are over, unaware that they have a free pass, a special government sanctioned patient to visit. He thinks he hears Max, just as breathless as he is, shout something vulgar back at one of them.

They pass by room after room, Steve muttering the numbers under his breath as they skip the until they reach the start of the wing Billy’s being kept in, and he sprints so fast the numbers are too blurry to count.

He catches himself with both hands on the door frame of 340, leaving small scuff marks on the floor as he skids to a stop. There isn’t even time to take a breath and prepare himself before he’s rushing into the room.

The small group that he hadn’t left out in the hall is already in the tiny hospital room, Kali and El and Robin standing around the bed, talking to Billy. That’s a good enough sign, but they’re still in Steve’s way, the one last barrier keeping him from reuniting with his love. He has to see him.

“Move.” He hears himself breathe out, and they do, stepping aside each with matching looks of respect and sympathy for all that had got them to this point.

Billy looks up at him, the closed off, traumatized expression behind his eyes melting into one of relief and love that was mirrored perfectly in Steve’s own features. He’s sitting on the side of the bed, feet flat on the floor so he’s facing the door. An oxygen mask not much unlike the one that had kept him, or not really him, alive for so many months strapped to his face and a bandage wrapped tightly around his arm. Tired, deep blue eyes glassy with tears stare straight back at him.

Steve is completely frozen in place, can’t process the fact that he’s standing across from the boy he’d buried a year ago now. The one he never stopped mourning. Never stopped loving.

Billy’s the first of the two to say something, his voice cracking with the effort, with emotion , as a tear slips down his grimy cheek, “C’mere, Stevie.”

Steve practically trips over his own two feet, throwing himself into Billy’s open arms, “Baby, oh my god.”

“I know, Stevie.” Billy comforts, rubbing soothing circles into his back, but it only makes Steve cry harder, nuzzling Billy’s mess of hair and sobbing, “I lost you.”

“No, baby, I was here. I was here the whole time.”

Steve nods, sniffling as he tries to calm his tears, “I’m sorry.” He’s apologizing for everything, from crying to not saving him sooner to not being there in the first place.

“Sorry? Stevie, you saved me.” He thumbs over the bloody scratch on Steve’s cheek, “You could’ve been killed doing that for me with just a baseball bat.”

Insistently, Steve shakes his head, “Don’t make this about me. Look at you , you’re covered in blood.”

“Most of it’s not mine. There’s so many of those fuckers over there. They used to mind their own but something was different. Had to kill tons of ‘em.”

“But you’re okay?”

“Mhm. Doc says I’ll be on oxygen for as long as I breathed that shit in, maybe longer, and this damn bite’s getting infected, but s’nothin they can’t fix.”

“Good. I was so scared.” Steve sighs, relieved, and Billy chuckles, somehow despite everything still like himself as he teases, “You were scared? How do you think I felt?”

“Oh shut up. I’m serious. I thought you were gone, and then they said you might not make it.”

“We’ll I’m here now, baby, and I’m doing just fine.” Billy assures, so much confidence in his voice, albeit tired and worn, that Steve believes him.

Steve smiles, Billy’s attitude being back such a relief to his worry, “I love you, Bill.”

“Love you too.”

“Is that my bandana?” Steve gently tugs on the bandana tied at the back of Billy’s neck, the tiniest blush appearing on his face, but before he can answer, Max pipes up from the doorway, “And is that my watch?”

Billy’s face lights up all over again, “Maxi! C’mere, shitbird.”

Max runs up to her brother, stopping just short of the bed, her freckled cheeks already tracked with tears, “Am I allowed to hug you?”

“I fought monsters and you’re worried a hug’s gonna hurt me?” Billy smiles and holds his arms out for her, “Give your big brother a hug.”

Still just on the side of apprehensive, Max hugs him, and Billy starts to interrogate her, asking quietly, “Are you okay, Maxi? How’s home been? Has Neil hurt you?”

Max shakes her head, “Your dad’s been all depressed since you.. well since you died. He hasn’t hit my mom since before your funeral.”

“You telling me the truth?” He looks to Steve for confirmation, who nods as well, had heard the same from Max.

“Well don't congratulate him for that. I have half a mind to take that shotgun down there and give it to him for everything he did before.” Billy continues, voice grumbly, but Max pulls away from his hug to tell him, “Please don’t. You don’t ever even have to come home again. I never want to see you act how you used to have to around your dad again.”

“I’m not leaving you, Max.”

“You won’t be. Like I said, he doesn’t bother us anymore.” Max drops her voice to a whisper, her face somber and serious, “Just move in with Steve, please. That would make me feel better.”

It won’t be that easy, the two of them both know that if the glance they share says anything, but Billy agrees regardless, can’t bear to crush his sisters optimism after everything she already had gone through because of him.

“Alright, Maxi. I trust you.” Billy undoes the small yellow watch on his wrist, handing it back to her, “You can have this back. Sorry if it’s broken.”

Max takes the watch gently, holding it tightly in her hand and throwing herself into him for another hug, sobbing hard into Billy’s chest as her well-kept composure comes undone. He holds her and runs his fingers through her hair, mumbling on repeat, “I gotcha, Maxi. M’sorry.”

It takes until Joyce comes back in the room with news for her crying to calm down, pulling away from him and retreating to stand by El while she listens, a couple of the other kids thumbing away discreet tears from the emotional display as well.

Joyce had at first ushered all the kids in the room and told them to be supportive of Max, before leaving to talk with Billy’s doctors in the absence of his parents. Now she was back with something to say, and Billy looks to her expectantly, “So? How long’re they keepin’ me in this hell hole?”

“A month at least. They’re going to want to do a lot of tests. Monitor how you’re adjusting.” She smiles sympathetically, “I wish I had better news, but it’s for the best they keep you a while.”

Steve looks to Billy, holding his hand for assurance, worried he’ll take it badly, but he only nods determinedly, “Whatever it takes.”

[razorblade180]

Shackles 11: Resolve

[part 10]

“Anymore?” That’s all Ilia could think to say in the windswept desert, surrounded by wounded escapees and the guards she struck down. Ilia looked to her left to see Yang tend to Adam’s wounds as best as possible with the supplies they had. “Should we expect anymore to come out? There’s…less than I expected.”

“Other than Blake and Jacquelyn, I couldn’t say. Right now I’m worried about whether any one of us can make a trip to Vacou in this condition.”

“I handled that already. Right now I’m more concerned about-” a tremor cut her off. The entrance of the mine shaft began crumbling as Blake and Jacquelyn ran out. The maiden raised her foot and stomped the ground again, causing another tremble that closed the entrance with rubble.

Jacquelyn looked at her handy work briefly while she brought her hands together to pray. “It’s not a proper burial, but it’s the best I could offer. Forgive me.” She gave a moment of silence before running off to Adam. Beside him was a girl she didn’t recognize and Yang. “How is he!?”

“Breathing, but that’s about all I can say. I did stop some bleeding. In this situation though…”

“I got it…” Jacquelyn uttered. She sat by his side quietly and took his hand. It was faint but she could feel him gently squeeze back. “Hang on a little longer okay?” Her eyes watered. Unsure of what to do or feel, Jasmine remained speechless.

Yang stood up and gave them space. Truthfully she didn’t think she could watch Jacquelyn cry. Something about it…hit a little close to home. Despite her personal feelings, Yang hoped for the best. Her eyes spotted Blake standing apart from everyone else. Yang approached without hesitation but was shocked whenever she tried reaching out and Blake moved away; not even looking her way.

“Blake? Hey, what’s wrong?” She waited patiently but didn’t get a response. “Blake, you're scaring me a little. What happened?”

“I…I just…” Blake dropped to her knees and covered her mouth. She could that pit in her stomach start churning as she did her best to keep calm. She could still feel it. The pounding in her chest and the adrenaline that made her shake violently. Next thing she knew Yang had was holding her while Blake struggled to breathe.

“Blake!? Blake what’s wrong!? Ilia! Something is wrong!”

“What!?” She came rushing over and saw Blake on the ground, her pupils extremely cat-like. “She’s hyperventilating! Blake you gotta calm down! Look at me. Deep breaths.”

Try as she might, Blake couldn’t. Her senses felt heightened beyond anything she’s ever felt. The cries of friends became muffled and their tearful expressions blurred. Blake once again found herself fading into darkness.

xxxx

Blake couldn’t understand what was happening to her or how long it lasted. As quickly as the darkness came, there was light again. However, it wasn’t sun light; and she wasn’t on the sand. Blake was staring up at the ceiling. A quick head tilt told her all she needed. Blake in a hospital, Menagerie’s hospital. Wait…

Blake sprung up. “How’d I get here!?” She looked at her to see an IV drip connected. She was about to take it out when the door opened. Blake gasped to see her father walk in. He was just as surprised to see her awake.

“Blake!” He ran over and gave her a hug. “Thank goodness you’re okay!”

“Dad? What are you doing here?”

“Me? I should be the one asking you that. At least…that’s what I would say if Sun hadn’t filled in your mother and I when we returned.” Ghira finally stopped hugging but grabbed his daughter’s shoulders. “Blake, how could you not tell us something so important?”

Blake’s eyes softened with guilt. “It’s not as if I didn’t trust you. It was just…a lot to process. I’m still processing. Ugh, my shoulders.”

Ghira let go. “Sorry. I didn’t realize-”

“No, it’s not you. My entire body feels like lead. What happened to me? How am I back here?”

Her father sat by her side and stroked his beard. “Well for starters the doctors say you had a severe panic attack. As for how you’re here, you arrived by airship flown by Ilia; along with several other ships with more of Sun’s friends.

So that was it. Sun or Ilia must��ve told the rest of team SSSN ahead of time to be ready with evacuation. It was pretty ridiculous that asking for their help didn’t even cross her mind.

“You’re not all they brought. There were few others. The ones that didn’t need immediate help or couldn’t manage in Vacou. Unfortunately… some didn’t survive.”

The pit in her stomach came back again. “I see. Guess it would’ve been wishful thinking to assume otherwise.” Blake gripped her knees and shut her eyes. No need to beat around the bush. “Where’s Adam?”

“He’s in intensive care, underwatch.”

“Take me to him.”

“Blake you need to-”

“I’ll search every room, so just tell me.” Blake removed the IV drip and proceeded to leave. Ghira didn’t think twice following behind her. He didn’t even know why she asked for help. Blake was heading in the obvious direction. Where the noise was loudest.

Way down the hall near the back of the hospital had many empty rooms. Menagerie typically never reached close to max capacity, so the fact several rooms had wound in it at all was a shock. The furthest room was surrounded by guards . The only thing in their way being Yang.

One guard in particular, a man with a faded scar on his right eye, confronted the blonde. “For the hundredth time, step aside.”

“You know I would’ve thought the third time I said no would be enough to get the point across. Ninety seven more times feels obsessive.”

“Ma’am if you continue this behavior then-”

Blake called the guard’s “Saber!” They all turned to the approaching leader and former leader. “What’s this about?”

“Blake! You scared me half to death!”

“Madam, your friend refuses to let us in and restrain the terrorist.”

“Restrain? He couldn’t even see last time I saw him. I’m shocked he made it on life support.”

“Be that as it may, he’s far too dangerous to be left unrestrained. Once he no longer needs treatment he will be locked up and tried-”

“He’s not going to jail.” Blake said calmly. No surprise that everyone looked at her like she said something crazy. By all means it was. “The world thinks he’s dead. Let’s keep it that way.”

“Keep it that way? He’s wanted everywhere; terrorized everywhere! We can’t simply keep that under wraps Mrs. Belladonna.”

“Said who?” Blake challenged, standing up straight. “The world already has its story and as far as I’m concerned, it’s pound of flesh as well. That hell we found him in was worse than anything a judge could pass onto him. Besides, people would get unrest learning he’s alive after everything that happened.”

“That doesn’t change anything! His name causes panic and discourse regardless if people think he’s dead. All the lives he’s uprooted, the divide. A beating-”

“Saber.” Blake’s voice cut through the air like her blade, demanding attention. “Do not try to preach to me about the people he’s hurt. I’m well aware.”

“That’s…I didn’t…” Saber bit his tongue. Yang put her hand on the man’s shoulder.

“Take it from me, you’re not going to persuade her.”

Blake walked to the door and faced all the guards. Their mixed emotions plain to see and obvious frustration. “All of you have protected the people and my family more times than I can count. You’re always dependable. I trust you. However, I can’t just ask you to keep this a secret; I’m ordering you to, as High Leader. Wash your hands of it completely.

Saber and others were stunned. “You can’t…Ghira, you’re just going to let her do that!? That’s a blatant abuse of power!”

“Calm down Saber. It’s true that I would never use status like this and I would advise my daughter to tread lightly with that title, but I have no more power than you here. Let’s all just…discuss the details later. For now I don’t see the point in alarming everyone about our…our patient.”

“Your patient, not mine or the guards.” Saber and the guards began to take their leave. “But we will not say a word, per the High Leader’s orders. However, I expect that man to be in one of our cells discreetly. Once he heals of course. Discussing his fate means nothing right now.”

Blake kept any remarks she had about that condition, choosing to bow instead. “I appreciate your cooperation.” She rose, not expecting a reply. “Yang, thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. I was only around in the first place because I wanted a check up.” Yang rubbed her stomach. “Looks like stubbornness runs in the family. Doctor says the little spitfire is perfectly fine. Embers are burning strong.”

“I’m glad to hear, honestly. Heh…Ember, that’s a good name.”

Yang chuckled. “Meh, too on the nose. But…I’ll give it thought. Sun was here earlier by the way. He took Jacquelyn to your home with Ilia. Those two weren’t exactly happy with the guards. Not to guilt trip you but Sun has been doing a lot without question. Love or not, you owe him.”

“She most certainly does.” Ghira piped up. “Your mother didn’t take the news well.”

Blake winced. Yang patted her back to offer any comfort. She never saw Kali angry before but if she was anything like Blake was on that mineshaft, then Sun was a real trooper. “Listen Blake, try to slow down for a while. For everyone’s sake.”

“I…sigh, yeah.”

“Good. Hate to tell you but I think I’m at the end of my rope. I’m spent.”

Blake frowned. It made sense, but it still hurt to hear. “I take it you’re leaving then? Sorry this trip wasn’t anything it was meant to be.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?” Yang smiled, pulling Blake into a hug. “I made up with my ex. Be safe, okay?”

“…Sure thing.” Blake’s arms tightened the hug. Funny, was Yang always this warm? Blake couldn’t remember. Maybe it’s just been far too long since they felt comfortable with each other. “Let me know Jaune’s reaction.”

“Oh I’m recording it.” Yang let go and walked away. However, she felt the need to look back at Adam’s door. “For what it’s worth, I don’t think we rescued the person we fought at Argus, but that doesn’t mean I think you’re right. Still, I hope you prove me wrong.” Yang waved goodbye and left. Hope wasn’t something she had for the situation. Nevertheless, if Blake called, Yang would answer. And who knows? Crazier things have happened. It made her wonder…

“Hmmm, I should talk to mom again.”

Blake couldn’t explain why Yang’s words calmed her nerves but it did. She gave her loving father a glance. “I should‘ve told you and mom from the start. I’m sorry.”

“Sigh, I’m not upset. Not anymore; I feared this secret was quietly terrifying you; that him being out there would give you unrest. I never expected you to come to his defense.”

“Do you think I’m being stupid?”

“Sweetheart, of course not. There’s not a day that I have thought that. However, recklessness and naïveté, no one is immune to those.”

“Dad, you’ve taught there’s strength in forgiveness; that it is infinitely harder to believe a person can change after they crossed so many lines. I…I can’t go around preaching that to others around the world if I don’t at least try once, really try. So…” Ghira placed his hand on her. His calm expression and gentle eyes locked with her as he nodded ever so slightly. Blake grabbed his hand and nodded back. “Watch the door.”

“Oh you were never going to stop me from doing that.” He smiled.

Blake let go, finally going inside. The shades were tilted to let in a bit of light; the windows tightly locked. There he was, the center of all of this, laying in a hospital bed. Adam’s face wasn’t swollen anymore. Now it was only covered in red and purple bruises. Monitors beeped steadily and he was hooked up like she was, but with the addition of a nasal cannula. Blake took a seat to unwind.

“I know you’re awake.” She watched Adam’s head turn to her and smirk. The man opened his tired eyes. Right of the back, Blake understood what Yang meant. “Hey…”

“Hey. You look a little rough there Blake.”

“Like you’re in a position to say that?”

“Heh, I always look rough. Now I just feel it too. Gotta admit, I’m shocked I cheated death again. How’s Jackie?”

“Seething or crying most likely, but safe.”

Adam let out a sigh of relief, sinking into his bed. “Good. I thought I heard her earlier but I wasn’t sure.” He noticed how tense Blake looked. Her ears were alert and posture rigid. “I take it you want answers?”

“No shit! What the hell happened? The last time I saw you was when both of you took off in an airship. Had I known you two were planning to hide in Menagerie’s desert…”

“Her idea, not mine. Though I gotta admit that it was pretty solid for the most part. Up until now anyways.”

“That’s what I don’t get. Out the blue, people with an axe to grind come knocking on your door and-”

“They weren’t here for me.” Adam interjected, sitting up slowly. “Blake, Menagerie is ground zero for White Fang. They came looking for anyone they wrote off as a beast who needed correcting. Plans changed though once they found me.”

Blake’s eyes widened. That thought never crossed her mind but it made sense. Plenty of old White Fang members chose to stay here. If they saw Ilia as a beast then of course they would look here. It was only by coincidence that she was in Vacou helping.

“You’d be surprised how many people actually try sneaking onto the island from the desert. Most don’t last while others are more persistent. One day Jackie went off to town and that’s when they showed up. That had to have planned it because the timing was too perfect and the numbers were too heavy for infiltration. The house was surrounded and I was in bed.”

“They caught you off guard, of all people ?”

“Things have been quiet for years. I don’t go into town so yeah, I wasn’t expecting karama to open the door like it opened the place.”

“We were inside the house. There wasn’t a sign of a struggle whatsoever.”

“Because I went quietly.”

“Why!?” Blake stood up forcefully. “It makes no sense! You’d sooner die than let anyone capture you. I don’t care how many years it’s been.”

“…heh, you’re not wrong. Truthfully, I was ready to slaughter as many as possible. But…the house would’ve been obliterated; and Jackie would’ve come back to a literal dead beat. Did she tell you that she’s pregnant?”

“You knew!?” Blake gasped, “She said she didn’t tell you yet.”

“The house is only so big. Jackie is bad at hiding her feelings and items, like a pregnancy test. Even without it, things were obvious. I’m with her constantly.”

Blake took her seat again. Now things were fitting together. “You left to protect her.”

“More or less. I don’t know, that’s giving me too much credit. I did leave for her safety but also to keep myself alive a bit longer. I never doubted that she would look for me. Involving you though… I guess her pregnancy was more of a hurdle than I thought. Jackie never wants help.”

“She was a mess when I found her in my house.”

“Like I said, she doesn’t hide emotions well. So, I doubt I have to tell you anything else. You saw where I ended up. Is Sobek dead?”

Blake clicked her tongue and narrowed her eyes. “I can’t say. The mineshaft was sealed but that’s all I know, and we both know that no body doesn’t mean death. ”

“Hehehe.”

“How could you laugh at that!? It’s not funny. I’m so sick and tired of….ugh, I don’t even know what’s pissing me off anymore!” Blake put her head in her hands.”

“…Things would’ve been easier if I died that day, huh?”

“YES! I mean…no, I…what are you doing!? What’s the angle!? Why is everything connected to you just a spit in the face to me!?” Blake got up again, tears running like a river. “All things you’ve done to me, the bonds you tested, I should feel nothing but anger for what you’ve done to me; yet the day I learned you were still alive was a weight off my chest. I wanna tell myself I don’t care but even now I’m happy to see you actually speak to me in earnest. You didn’t believe in my dream, my beliefs, and this entire mess not only proved I’ve actually done nothing so far, but also that I’m clueless to what’s happening in my own home! Despite all that…I ran to you. Adam I killed for you. Sobek was made because of you and yet I felt anger deep inside I never had before. I was borderline feral! Yet here I am, upset at myself because I’m buying into every little prayer that I have about believing you are changing as a person and aren’t playing the two people in this world that actually want you alive!” Her lungs burned immensely.

Adam watched her eyes constrict and her body shook violently, yet just as Blake said, her eyes didn’t hold the rage he once had. They could never hold it. Adam bit down on his lip, straining his body to get out of bed. The stitches on him bled while his legs barely kept him up. Forgiveness was unthinkable to ask for. There wasn’t much he could say that wouldn’t sound wrong or halfhearted. Still, saying nothing now was not an option.

“Blake…” he leaned forward, falling actually; gently onto Blake who caught him. “Thank you for having hope. As for that anger, it’s proof you’re different from me, Jacquelyn, Sobek, and anyone like us. Righteous fury, to truly be angry for someone else’s circumstance, it’s why people follow you; why they will continue to follow you. Why…I’ll follow you.”

Blake hadn’t realized it until now, but she was still trying to keep calm; to let the turmoil inside her subside, but now…she couldn’t. Not after that. Her legs gave, falling to the floor with Adam. The tears she thought were running free rushed out twice as hard as Blake audibly began to cry her heart out, gripping Adam’s clothes.

“Please…I’m begging you…” She sobbed heavily. “Let this be real.”

He finally put his arms around her, unsure of all his actions. “I swear.”

Words weren’t enough, but a foundation needed to start somewhere. Against many opinions, Blake chose to believe in his words. It was far too late to turn back now. The tidal wave of emotions that festered inside had finally run its course. Blake couldn’t say she felt better right now, but she didn’t feel worse. A small victory, but one nonetheless. All the tension Blake had made her fail to notice the rummaging outside the door. Suddenly it swung open, startling Blake to her feet. In just a single blink, a blur of black and white dashed behind Adam. It was the girl that was near him in the desert.

Ghira rushed in. “Sorry! I tried stopping her, but she barreled her way through.” He looked at the hospital gowned girl who growled and quivered behind Adam. “Do you…know this girl?”

“I guess you can say that. She was in the mines too.”

“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that little one. If that’s the case then having you run around might be dangerous if you aren’t healthy.” Ghira took a step and the tiger faunus ducked behind Adam in fear, shaking. He took a couple steps back. “Poor child. I can’t imagine how she’s feeling right now. Does she…have a family?”

Adam was about to speak but small hands gripped his shirt. Jasmine made no effort to speak. She simply stood there, her eyes vacant and almost dead. She would’ve been nonexistent if not for the fact they were all looking right at her.

“Can she speak?” Ghira asked.

“She can, or at least could.” Adam reached for her. The child’s eyes softened slightly, her ears falling down when his hand rested on her head. Jasmine’s eyes shut tight and she began whimpering. Tears trickled down dark sunburned cheeks.”

“I can’t imagine what happened in that place, but it appears someone got attached.”

“She snuck past guards to speak to me several times. As well as stopped them all from branding me with another scar. Both her parents and her brother…didn’t make it.”

Blake could only ache for the child. To have lost so much so early on. It was clear to see why Adam would be drawn to her. “What’s her name?”

“It’s-”

“Sienna.” Jasmine said, breaking her silence and shocking everyone. “My name, it’s Sienna.” Her voice was meek and a bit dry. The lie came naturally, almost like instinct. However, it didn’t feel like a lie. Not to her, or to Adam. An unspoken acknowledgment happened when their eyes met, a sad truth and new reality. Back in the mineshaft in that cruel cell, there may have only been one body, but two people died there. A brother and sister that loved each other to the end. The girl he rescued was not the one who got imprisoned; nor would it ever be.

“That’s right.” Adam uttered, lamenting the deaths brought by his own past arrogance. “Her name is Sienna.”

[capricities]

Dynasty AU: Part 4

(Hey guys, here’s a new part for Dynasty AU cc: Thanks for the people who’ve been religiously following updates for this AU, my heart goes kokoro whenever I see them like these posts. Oh and here’s the masterlist in case you wanna see the other parts. Happy Reading!)

The Land of the Hot Sands was dry, it was also insufferably hot, and Yuu didn’t like hot places as much as he did the cold. At least when it was cold, you could just bundle up and you’d be fine, but you could only do so much to relieve yourself from the heat. Luckily, nights in the desert were rather cold, so Yuu wasn’t complaining. Besides, Yuu quite enjoyed running around Kalim’s home, it was just like his, but a lot more...cluttered.

Kalim’s house was comparable to the fabled Cave of Wonders, treasures were scattered and on display, multiple tapestries and paintings adorned the walls, clothes were everywhere. It was such a change from the orderly home Yuu grew up in, and he wasn’t going to question why there were several rugs in the shape of nooses.

Maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him, considering this place really gave Yuu a shock, but in a good way. But that shock still wasn’t enough to take his mind off of...that. Yuu was sure he wouldn’t be able to forget that until the day he died.

He really didn’t need to see that. And quite frankly, he started to trust everybody less, including Hatsuko, even though she’s been nothing but patient with him. Maybe she didn’t really deserve him giving her the cold shoulder-

“You look sad, you know.” Kalim hummed as he set down the kalimba he was fiddling around with. He didn’t know how to play it anyway, and he was pretty sure a kalimba shouldn't be making screeching sounds.

Yuu’s train of thought broke as he rose a brow. “I do?” 

Kalim nodded. “Yeah, you’re acting a lot like Jamil when he’s frustrated. He crosses his arms and glares at the floor. Except you’re glaring at your sandwich…” Kalim pointed to the plate in front of Yuu. The half eaten sandwich sat on it sadly.

Yuu sheepishly chuckled. “Sorry about that...there’s just something bad that happened back at home.” Bad was an understatement,  but he wasn’t going to tell Kalim that and worry him even more.

“Oh...at first I thought you didn't like how it tasted-” Kalim started.

“Oh no no no no, it tastes great...I’m just very distracted.” Yuu cut off, frantically waving his hand. It really did taste great, it’s the power of Jamil and his magical cooking expertise after all. Yuu wished he could cook like that.

Kalim stared at Yuu for a few seconds before standing up from the table. “Follow me!”

Yuu blinked. “But I-”

“Just trust me,” Kalim smiled. 

Yuu couldn’t ignore Kalim after that.

––––––––

Just when Yuu thought the manor couldn’t get any bigger, Kalim throws this vault at him. When he said his house was like the cave of wonders, Yuu thought that would be the end of it. Now that Yuu saw this, he felt like he was walking inside the legend itself. Yuu was honestly impressed, then again, it didn’t take much to impress him.

“What are we looking for anyway Kalim-kun?” He asked as he picked up some sort of goblet. It was, of course, gold, just like the rest of the things in this room, apart from some jewels. It was rather impressive how everything was just left out in the open, lying on the ground and all. 

“A sentient national treasure.” Kalim chirped as he made an attempt to climb the small hill of gold. Kalim had gotten rid of the overcoat he was wearing out of pure desperation and was practically running on adrenaline. But hey, he really wanted his friend to be happy.

Yuu almost dropped the goblet he was holding. Did he hear him right? A...national treasure? “Kalim, what are you talking about…” He trailed, and he didn't really like the sound of that. Besides, what type of treasure was sentient.

Kalim grabbed onto the small handles on the wall. “You’ll see it in just a sec, I just need to- oh, found it!” Kalim exclaimed excitedly as he tugged onto a tassel. 

Yuu watched as Kalim unfurled the carpet on top of the mountain load of precious gems and climbed onto it. Okay, so far, so good, it seemed normal, it didn’t look like Kalim was falling, though it did seem that he was moving. Wait, he was moving. HE WAS MOVING.  Great, was Kalim going to die? What was Yuu going to do-

Yuu almost screamed when the carpet started sliding downwards with no signs of stopping. “Wait Kali-” “I’m fine!” He was this close to getting a heart attack when Kalim suddenly appeared in front of him, a wide goofy grin on his face as he held onto the carpets tassels.

Yuu took a deep breath before staring at the carpet, and then back at Kalim. “Y-you’re okay?” 

Kalim furrowed his brows. “Why wouldn’t I be?” 

Yuu smiled. “It’s nothing.” He replied. “So, this was your plan.”

Kalim chuckled. “Yeah! Hop on! I promise we won’t crash.” He said as he reached out to grab Yuu. As much as Yuu hated to admit it, he found himself following Kalim a second time. He should really learn how to say no to him

–––––

Jamil was having a normal day off. He was just relaxing, keeping time to himself, something that was unbelievably rare in the Al-Asim manor.  He was just reading the mythology book his parents had gotten him, something about Elysium, calmly running a comb through his hair as he enjoyed the peace and quiet.

And then he had to hear shrill, horrified, somewhat excited(?) screaming.

Jamil felt his stress levels rise as he saw Kalim and Yuu, on the carpet, soaring through the courtyard at a dangerously fast speed. He took a deep breath as he placed a hand on his temple, massaging it. Kalim was going to get both him and Yuu injured if he wasn't careful.

Jamil set his book down on the table and tied his hair into a lazy ponytail. He opened the windows of his room, cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled.  “KALIM!”

He could already feel the two of them speeding away even more. Jamil really didn’t get why he had to deal with all this.

[melodiouswhite]

Lady Summers’ servants

(A/N: I wanted to give you short characterisations of her servants, so here you go. I started with the more important ones, because honestly, those are the ones who play an actual role in the story.

Lady Summers, Consulting telepath and conversational therapist, has a multicultural ensemble of servants under her payroll. They're very different from each other, but have two things in common: they're all illegitimate children and half-siblings of their mistress (don't ask – her father was a ladies' man with a weakness for the exotic). This will be brought up a lot, so I thought I should say this beforehand.)

1. The butler: Sameer Singh

He was born on 15th February 1853 in New Delhi, India. He is the illegitimate child of a European nobleman and a poor washing girl (who also happened to be a Rakshasi in disguise, but the father didn't mind). His father left India before he was born, so Sameer stayed with his mother for almost eighteen years.

In 1870 his future mistress Lady Summers came to India, specifically to find him. After some negotiating with Sameer's semi-divine mother, the Rakshasi agreed to her son serving in the Lady's household as her butler (under the condition that he would be treated well, of course). He has been her butler ever since.

No one outside the Lady's household knows why she hired him specifically (or any of the other servants), but he does a splendid job, so no one complains.

Sameer is mild-mannered, polite, patient and very dedicated to his work and his mistress.

He likes animals, flowers and spicy food (as long as it doesn't contain beef, as he's Hindu), his employer and all of his half-siblings. As a Hindu, he worships Shiva and Kali specifically.

What he doesn't like are lowbrows, racists, religious fanatics and everyone who messes with Lady Summers and makes her upset.

Apart from his native languages, Hindi and Sanskrit, he speaks German, English, French, Latin, Greek and Arabic.

He's also good at sword fighting.

From his mother he inherited several magical traits, shapeshifting for example.

His natural appearance is that of a relatively tall Indian man with tanned skin, black hair and brown eyes, but he also has a demon form, which is fearsome beyond description.

2. The lady-in-waiting: Kurogawa Aoimoku (Aoimoku is the given name)

She was born on 2nd March 1855 in Kyoto, Japan, to the daughter of a Ninja (not as cool as it sounds). Despite not having demonic heritage like Sameer (who is her half-brother), she was born with the ability to make herself invisible. That and the fact that she was a bastard child made her childhood rather tough, as she was viewed as inhuman. Therefore, she grew up with her grandfather, the only person around who wasn't scared and saw her ability as a gift rather than a curse.

Under his care, she received intensive training, until in early 1871 Lady Summers arrived in Kyoto to look for her. Her grandfather only consented for the fifteen-year-old girl to go with the German Lady after he would die. So the European stayed with them for almost a year, until he passed away. Then she took Aoimoku back to Europe with her.

The ninja girl didn't trust that strange foreigner at first, but changed her opinion at seeing how much the two of them had in common.

Aoimoku is nonchalant, demure, calm and (like the rest of the household) deeply loyal to Lady Summers.

She likes Japanese food, piano music (Chopin in particular), literature, flowers and making herself invisible to prank people (and come on, can you blame her?).

What she hates is loud noise, rudeness and anyone who angers her mistress. Like any proper ninja, she can make a weapon of anything and hide it anywhere.

She looks like your average Japanese lady, except that she has ice blue eyes, like her mistress (hence her name Aoimoku, which roughly translates to “blue eyes”).

3. The day nurse: Marie Rickinger

She was born on 17th September 1846 in Innsbruck, Austria. Therefore, she's the oldest member of Lady Summers' staff, being less than eleven years younger than the Lady herself.

Her mother died in childbirth, so she was raised by her grandmother, a nurse. Consequently, the little girl resolved to follow in her footsteps. Her grandmother, knowing who the father was, wrote a letter to him, informing him of the child. So he took her in and to financed a thorough training for her as a nurse.

Marie doesn't like Prussians at all, but her late father and older half-sister are the exception. After finishing her training at the age of twenty, she became their nurse and was with them wherever they went. Lady Summers is fond of her to the point, where she puts up with how much Marie (being a nurse) frets over her and her fragile health (even though it annoys her). The Prussian Lady takes her nurse with her when she wants to go out, but doesn't feel too well.

She is fiercely loyal, caring, cheerful, temperamental and blunt. At times she can be extremely overbearing, much to her patient's chagrin. But she always means the best.

Marie has the same hair and eye colour as Lady Summers, but is taller and chubbier. She's well-endowed and hates that a lot of people check her out. So she resorts to drastic measures to keep people from leering at her bust or behind (she doesn't resort to violence, but when she's done with people, they often wish she did).

Although she's not the most high-ranking of the servants (that's butler Sameer) and neither has any supernatural powers, everyone looks up to her and respects her as the second oldest person in the house (after the Lady herself).

4. The coachman: Sean O'Connor

He was born in a village in Skibbereen, Ireland on 23rd January 1850, after the Great Famine, to the widow of a man, who had fallen victim to the famine. His mother received from his biological father a large fortune to live on, which she used to move to England. Even though he received a good education, he decided to be a cab driver. That was to the great disapproval of his mother, since it's a very underpaid job. The O'Connors were sought out shortly after his father's death in 1870, by Lady Summers. He agreed to become her coachman and has been her driver ever since.

She pays him handsomely, much to his mother's satisfaction. Mrs. O'Connor passed away in 1875.

His special ability is that he always knows the way. That doesn't sound like much, but for his job it's very important. It helps him in places he doesn't know.

He's cheerful, generous, blunt and quick-witted, but also has a hot temper and can be really petty.

He likes singing, dancing, the country, the Lady's horses and helping people. But he hates cruelty, indifference, English people who look down on the Irish and everyone who doesn't treat their horses well.

As the Lady's coachman, he sticks to her like glue and drives her everywhere. She accepts no other driver, be it in London, the country or even abroad.

He's a relatively tall and bulky red-head with lots of freckles and emerald green eyes.

Like all the others, he's loyal to his mistress and dedicated to his work. To him it's only natural to get his passengers to their destination at all costs, so he always has a gun with him. He also doesn't recoil from hitting people with his horsewhip, should they endanger his Lady.

5. The hair dresser: Julie Alexandrine Desmoulins

She was born in Paris on 1st April 1847 (and likes to joke about how she's an April Fool's joke). She has a little sister, who is also on Lady Summers' pay roll. Her mother's husband, a hair dresser, raised the girls as his own and taught the older one his craft (the younger became a nurse). Their mother sought out the biological father after her husband's death in 1866. He took the girls in and they ended up as his legitimate daughter's employees, when he died (Lady Summers loves them, but she doesn't tolerate freeloaders).

She is the happy-go-lucky sort of woman and one of the few servants who have a family of their own. However, when it comes to hair fashion and food, she's a bit of a snob. Like the nurse Marie, she has no supernatural abilities, but she doesn't need any.

Julie likes her job, her family, the newest gossip, flowers, ballet and French cuisine. She does not like violence, bad fashion trends and bad hair styles. Lady Summers' trademark hair style is her French plait and fourrières and it annoys Julie a bit, that she only gets to style her hair differently on special occasions.

She is a tall brunette with ice blue eyes, like her mistress.

6. The night nurse: Philippine Desmoulins

She is Julie's little sister, having been born on 23rd January 1848. Unlike her older sister, she pursued the profession of a nurse. After finishing her training, she became the night nurse to assist day nurse Marie. They get along fine, despite having completely different characters. She gets along even better with Aoimoku, though.

Philippine is shy, sweet and demure and doesn't speak much. She doesn't like to talk to people, especially about her problems and focusses more on those of others and on her work. Lady Summers of course can tell when something is wrong and then they talk it out. Telepathically.

She loves peace and quiet, flowers and birds and being there for people, who need her. Needless to say, she does ABSOLUTELY NOT like loud noise, bright light and large crowds.

She has incredible night-sight, which is the main reason she chose to be the night nurse.

She looks a lot like Lady Summers, but is three inches taller (1,55m).

[jadekitty777]

Bound to the Sky with You

So, fun fact! Every story from today onward will be an AU. Because that was the rule I decided to set up for myself, just to keep things interesting.

Day 2 – Take Your Kid to Work Day @taiqrowweek

Summary:  Life for Taiyang was simple. He told stories to his kids. Brought in the dawn. Kept watch for the clan.

It was meant to stay that way.

And then he found Qrow, and that complicated everything. [Dragon-Fantasy AU]

Rating: K

Word count: 8k

Notes: So, I will absolutely understand if this story isn’t reblogged, because as it stands right now, it’s only got setup for potential Taiqrow. Why? Because while originally wanting to do a one-shot for the event, this became a prologue to a much longer novella I have not yet had time to give adequate focus to, but one I hope to pour time into later on this year. The more plot I mapped out, the more I truly wanted to let the story breathe and flourish. Believe me when I say Taiqrow will be the focus (because, I mean, have you met me? I’m all about these boys) but like the story, I want that aspect to have time to come to light.  

For now, thanks Taiqrowweek for the inspiration and I hope you all enjoy this humble beginning!

Ao3 Link: Prologue

~

A long, long time ago, when the world was still very new, the great God of Light turned to his first-born son and decreed that he was to travel the entirety of His vast lands and, upon returning, would have to bestow a gift to the world. The demi-god, named Ozpin, thought very carefully on what he wished to give as he traveled from corner to corner. It was a long journey before he stood back before his father, and when the God of Light asked what his son had decided, Ozpin said:

“Father, I have scaled the great mountains and walked the open plains. I have been to the dusty deserts and to the rolling seas. I have trudged through the murky swamps and drifted through the canyons. I have chipped off ice from the glaciers and taken the molten rock from the volcanos. I have climbed every tall tree in the forest and counted every small pebble in the pond. And now that I have returned, I have realized one thing.”

“Speak it, my son.” The God commanded.

“The deserts were always hot without relief. The mountains always had snow that never melted. The forests rained endlessly and the winds roared across the oceans constantly. I wish to grant the world a chance to change at different times of the year. I want to see rain in the deserts and the clear tops of the mountains. For the forests to dry and oceans slow.”

“And how do you propose for this to come about?”

Ozpin replied with a smile sly and proud: “We can create a new species for the world as bright as humanity. One of which will coexist with the fauna and flora and will oversee these ‘seasons’ of change.”

And that was how Dragons came to be.

However, trouble was instantly afoot. The God of Darkness, who knew of his brother’s plans, made sure to speak up at this moment – for it was unfair for Light���s son to give a gift when his daughter was not given the same indulgence. Seeing no flaw in his sibling’s reasoning, Salem too was set out on a journey and returned much sooner than her cousin. When asked what she had decided, she said:

“I have seen what Ozpin’s gift has done. The trees that do not gather enough water stand in your forests and rot without end. There are ponds both too dry and overflowing. There are creatures unable to stand the frigid cold or burning heat, yet unable to do more than suffer.”

“This is quite the problem.” The God of Darkness pronounced. “Speak, my daughter. What do you say should happen?”

“The gift I wish to bestow is that in which things can pass on and be reborn. For things to fall and come back. For the world to move like the sun and the moon.”

And that was how Time began.

At first, everything seemed to be in balance. The seasons shifted and the wildlife flourished, creating a world of beauty and life. Dragons and humans especially lived among one another with respect and care to each other. Dragons would kindly share their talents to protect their counterparts and provide a long, fulfilling livelihood for the humans and, likewise, the humans would offer their own protections and offer their companionship that made their lives richer than all the gold in the world. They existed together in perfect harmony.

But that was the funny thing about time. It had a habit of-

“Daaad! You’ve told this story a billion times.”

“Sssh. It’s just getting to the good part.”

“Ruby you’ve heard this a billion times.”

“So now it’s a billion and one.”

“But we’re gonna miss the sun!”

“There’s no missing the sun Yang.” Taiyang input patiently, hiding a chuckle as his eldest daughter gave out a little roar of fury, throwing up her hands and falling back into a heap on the stone floor. “You wouldn’t have to wait so long if you didn’t get everyone up so early.”

“Humph!” She crossed her arms, her long, slightly spiked tail thumping on the ground in quiet agitation. It was a good thing she wasn’t an earth dragon or, even in her humanoid form as she was now, she might have caused an earthquake.

“Hey, hey dad! Can I come this time?” Ruby, who had been lounging in her full dragon form, sprung forward like a rabbit, her clawed, front feet landing on his knee as she leaned towards him. “My horns grew a whooole inch overnight, see?”

He placed his hand between the little bumps on her head. He squinted. “You can’t mean these tiny nubs, can you?”

Now it was his youngest’s turn to whine as she splayed across his lap. “Nooo, they’re big and beautiful!”

“They will be one day but you can’t rush growth.” Taiyang sighed fondly as she continued to carry on, scratching his claws along her scaled back soothingly. “When did I get such impatient daughters?”

Yang pulled herself up, rolling her shoulders and stretching out her feathered wings. “Patience is for old guys like you.”

He laughed heartily. “You only get to call me old when I’m losing half my sunbeams on the flight in like a certain overeager fledgling I know.”

“Hey!” His eldest pouted. “Just you watch, I’ll bring so many in you won’t even need to be there!”

“Is that so?”

“It’ll be so much ‘so’ that you’ll just go ‘whoa’!” She said, inflecting the last word with a sense of awe.

“Take me with you. I wanna see!” Ruby demanded as she rolled onto her back. She started to wiggle, giggling when he started to scratch her stomach. “Aahaha, dad no, that tickles!”

“Then you shouldn’t leave your stomach exposed!” He said, tapping her nose affectionately.

The sound of wings flapping through the air drew their attention, the three of them looking over as a fledgling flew into the mouth of the den. She was primarily white with light blue accents to her scales and a deeper blue shade on the underside of her wings. She was built similarly to himself and Yang when in full form, wherein she stood on four, powerful legs like an oversized lizard, and her wings connected to her shoulder blades, the span of them stretching nearly twice her length. She had an elongated snout and jagged horns that shot up from the back of her skull. The only differences were that she was much slimmer, aiding for the softer flight ice dragons often had to have when laying frost or breathing snowfall, and her spikes went all the way along the base of her spine rather than just down her tail. As they watched her, the small dragon hopped forward some as a much larger one glided in behind her, this one very similar to herself except instead of blue, her accents were a shimmery silver.

“Weiss!” Ruby rolled out of his lap, charging forward to run over to the other fledging, bouncing around her. “You’re back! How did it go? Oooh, tell me everything!”

“Well,” The other replied, shifting into her humanoid form. Tai guessed it was only because she wanted to give his daughter the full effect of her smug grin as she loudly proclaimed, “I put up all the icicles in the trees today.”

Before she could get too proud of herself, her older sister, also transformed, delivered a sharp rap to her head. “Don’t lie.”

Weiss nursed the bump with a frown. “Alright so, maybe not all of them.” She turned back to other, saying, “Still, I did a lot!”

“Well, enjoy them while they last because once I bring in the sun, they’ll be gone in the blink of an eye!” Yang said as she joined them.

“Oh, so you mean I have nothing to worry about?”

“What’d you say iceberg!?”

“You clearly heard me sunburn.”

Winter rolled her eyes at the young dragons’ antics, turning when he approached. “I spotted the Belladonna brood on the way in. Blake was with them today.”

“Really? I bet Ghira and Kali are overjoyed.” Tai could almost picture the furred dragons’ proud gaits as they walked their daughter through the steps of shadow manipulation. “Bet they’ll be talking up a storm when they get back.”

“Hmm.” Winter arched an eyebrow his way. “Sounds familiar.”

“Ehehe.” He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, trying hard to block out how embarrassing he had acted after taking Yang on her first flight to dawn. “Maybe I had been a little excited.”

“Try a month of nothing but you chattering everyone’s ear off who cared to listen. We’re all dreading the day Ruby’s antlers come in.” Before he could find a good response to that, a loud commotion drew their attention, seeing the animated young drake was dancing around her sister and friend, little red petals falling around in little bursts. Winter shook her head. “Which is going to be very soon, it seems. Petals already?”

“Yeah. They started up last night. By spring, she’ll probably be ready to bloom flowers.” Tai said, unable to keep the weight from his voice.

Astute as always, the younger turned to him, crossing her hands behind her back. He always wondered how she managed it with her wings. “You’re going to have your claws full pretty soon. Have you given any thought to who you’ll have discipline her?”

“Uh, well, Peach maybe. Fruit isn’t that different, right?”

The look she gave him was definitely disapproving. “If I recall, the Pine brood are garden dragons.”

“Oscar’s only a few seasons shy of maturing himself. I can’t possibly ask when they have their own son to focus on.”

“The Marigolds? Their son is much older.”

Tai growled lowly at the thought of the detestable drake whose honor as a dragon was about as low as the roots he planted. “I’d sooner throw myself to Salem’s Grimm.”

Winter sighed. “What, will you train her yourself?” When he didn’t respond for several seconds, she deadpanned, “You must be joking.”

“I watched Summer for years. I think I could handle it.”

“You know it’s not even remotely the same-” She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I don’t know why I bother. Though, if you’re going to do something that foolhardy, then I don’t know why you keep denying her on coming along. You’ll need the practice.”

It was surprisingly hard to beat that logic. “You know, being lectured by you is rather uncomfortable.” He shot her a grin. “You’re so frigid about it.”

“Ugh!” In a fit of rare immaturity, she smacked his arm. “Don’t you have some sunlight to catch?”

He laughed, glancing towards the mouth of the den where the sky was turning cerulean. “I guess I do.” Tai called over to where the girls where still chattering away, “Yang, it’s time to go!”

“Yes!” She flew over and shifted into her full form halfway over, bouncing on the tips of her claws. “Let’s go!”

He placed a hand on her head. “Just a second.” He looked back across the den where his other daughter had lowered her snout to the floor, every inch of her radiating disappointment as she blew away some of her petals. “Ruby, you too.”

Her head shot up, looking to Weiss who merely shrugged and waved her away, before Ruby was up and across the floor in three giant leaps. “Really?!”

“As long as you promise to stay close-”

“Yes, yes, yes! I promise!”

Yang seemed equally excited as she bumped heads with her sister. “Just wait until you see me in action!”

He nodded to them. “Alright. Let’s get going.”

~

Light was remarkably heavy.

Even after all these months, Yang still had trouble keeping her flight level as she tried to keep up with her dad. She could feel the weight of the beams on her glowing wings, the pressure trying to pull her down. It took all her power to fight against it. It wasn’t nearly as bad when she first started out though; back then, she had plummeted right out of the sky at the mere touch of the sun and her dad had to swoop in and catch her.

She wasn’t sure how her dad did it every day, bringing in all the light to their hollow like it barely fazed him, especially when she knew, besides herself, he was the only sun dragon in their area. They weren’t like the mountain clan – who she’d heard had at least two broods, one of which had eight kids. She’d heard a few of the other adults talking, saying maybe a few might migrate this way when they came of age. It only made her more determined to learn as fast as she could, so no one had to worry anymore.

“Yang!” Her dad called, “You’re losing too much altitude. You need to glide more.”

“Yeah, I know!” She said, trying not to flap her wings too hard as she tried to catch herself back onto the air currant. She only lost a few beams before she was able to level out again.

He gave her a fanged smile. “Not bad. You’re definitely getting better.”

“Yang, you look awesome!”

She looked at where her sister was, perched on their dad’s back. She couldn’t help but preen, calling back, “Yeah?” She really hoped Blake thought so too. Her best friend had promised to watch her when she flew in and she didn’t want to make a fool of herself.

“Hey wait, what about me?” Tai intervened.

Ruby snout wrinkled. “Dads can’t be awesome.”

He placed a clawed foot against his heart, mock-groaning in pain, “Oh no, I think that comment mortally wounded me. How will I ever go on?”

Yang tuned out their antics, focusing on her flight and each careful wingbeat as she looked to the horizon. It was a few more minutes before the jagged, shadowed peaks that surrounded their valley came into view. “Dad, the ridge!”

He nodded, glancing over his shoulder. “Hold on tight Rubes, the dive is pretty steep.” Then to her, “You want to lead today, little sun?”

“Definitely.” She answered, brimming with confidence. Holding the light on her wings while also curving them inward was the most difficult part and she had only just started to get it right. But she had been practicing the technique for days now, hours spent mimicking the way her dad did it the best she could. A few times she had even carried Ruby while trying it, hoping to mimic the heaviness that would be on her wings but she couldn’t keep balance and they ended up crashing through a few tree branches. Hazel had given them quite the talking to after that one.

But she knew she was really getting the hang of it as she broke over the hills and turned her nose towards the ground, not even flying slightly crooked as she came down. Leveling out over the treetops was a bit more tough, and she lost a few more beams as she had to bat her wings a bit too hard, but after that, it was just a matter of flying to the center. She watched the nighttime darkness get overtaken by her light – though it couldn’t reach the corners of the valley. It would be years before she could do that, when she would eventually grow into as massive a dragon as her dad.

Yang held herself aloft with the currants, trees turning into wide areas of snow dusted plains and then finally water as she passed over the central lake. She could tell Weiss had helped make the clumps of frost on the edges for there were a lot of ugly, deformed bumps lacking the natural style Winter had. As she got to the other side, Yang pulled up vertically, spreading her wings wide and giving a hard flap to shake off the last beams, watching the small cone shape that formed and hit to the other end of the valley. She gave a roar of excitement – it was twice as big as yesterday’s! – before she cartwheeled out of the sky and landed on the bank. Her feet sunk into a few inches of snow.

Barely a minute later, her dad was soaring overhead, the rest of the darkness quickly being eaten up by the light before he was touching down beside her. He laid across the ground, making it easier for Ruby to slide off, and her little sister came bounding right for her, eyes glittering like stars. “That was so great!” She exclaimed. “You made it look so easy.”

“Well, of course.” Yang fibbed, standing a little taller. “But you haven’t seen anything yet! Dad, can I take Ruby with me while I do the dapples?”

He gave a nod. “Just don’t stray too far.”

“We won’t. Come on Ruby!” She said, hurrying towards the tree groves. Ruby hopped after her, creating big holes in the snow where ever she landed.    

Dappling, otherwise known as guiding the light through the thick leaves of trees so they touched the ground, was one of the easier things she had to do, especially during winter when most trees didn’t even have leaves. She knew her quick-to-impress sister would get a kick out of it. It wasn’t like she never saw their dad do these same things, but Yang understood there was something more exhilarating about watching someone they had shared the hatchling burrow with doing things the adults could. It was a sign they were all growing up.

“Okay, so watch this.” Yang said as she hovered underneath the branches of some pine trees. She tilted her head back, sucking in a deep breath, before blowing it out. A tunnel of wind and golden sparkles emitted from her throat and caused the branches to shudder, light coming on through. Similar to a fire dragon, her breath held a certain heat to it, though it wasn’t hot enough to scorch or burn. She looked down at the speckled ground, drinking in her sister’s cheers, and leading her through the forest. After a few more groves, she started to throw in a few flips and cartwheels to add a little extra flair to her performance.

Shortly after they entered the eucalyptus field was when her sister fell unusually silent. Yang paused turning to look back at her and seeing Ruby had frozen, peering off into the snow. “Hey, what’s wrong?” She called, turning back to rejoin her.

“I don’t know.” She said, sounding trouble. “But doesn’t that look weird?”

Yang turned her head, quickly spotting the unusual mound in the snow at the base of a tree. She could have believed it was another mishap of Weiss’s if not for the slightest tuft of black sticking out of one end. “Maybe a wolf?” She took a few steps forward, cautious at first until she recalled they had been making enough noise to startle the beast had it been able to awaken. “I think it’s frozen.” She said.

Ruby gasped in excitement. “You could unfreeze it!”

“I, uh, I don’t know how to do that.” She’d seen dad do it a few times to some unfortunate animals and even once to a whole trove of unlucky sparrows that had frozen to the ice of the lake. But she wasn’t really sure how it worked.

Her sister deflated some, sparing the mound a concerned look. “We can’t just leave it though…”

“Yeah.” She turned, flying up between the trees. “I’ll call dad.”

~

As he walked around the lake, Tai swirled his tail in the frigid water, watching the ripples carry the sheen of light across the glossy surface. He had just completed the circuit and was blowing warmth back into the tip of his now numb tail when he heard Yang’s roars. They were urgent but not panicked, so he knew she wasn’t in danger. Still, he didn’t waste time, taking off and quickly finding his daughter, her head poking up between the eucalyptus trees. “What happened?” He called, shifting into his humanoid form so he could more easily navigate through the branches.

“We found a frozen animal.” Yang said.

Ruby had scuttled forward on her belly, a hair’s breadth from an unusually-shaped pile of snow. It looked like it could have been as big as an adolescent deer. She looked back at him, trying to whisper, “We think it’s a wolf.”

Tai frowned at the sight of the poor thing, only to look down when Yang nudged her snout against his hand. “Can I try unfreezing it?”

“Well…” He hesitated, glancing back at the creature, debating. He knew it would be good practice and at least it was a large animal; it would be less delicate. “Alright, I’ll guide you through it. But, you have to go really slow, okay? If it is still alive, you can shock its system if you try bringing it back too fast.”

Yang seemed a little nervous, but mostly determined. “Got it.”

“Alright Ruby come over here and give your sister room.” The garden dragon lifted herself from the snow, slinking over to his side. Yang took her place, leaning down on her front legs. “Okay. So, it’s just like how we melted morning frost during autumn. Use soft, short bursts of breath back and forth along the body. If you get too tired, let me know. We can trade off.”

His daughter nodded, inhaling deeply, before her sun breath sparkled along the snow, turning her head to and fro as she did. It took a few minutes before true progress started to show, the snow slowly turning to slush, falling off of the form in wet clumps. For the most part Yang paced herself, he only having to warn her once when she went a little too fast, a huge chunk falling from what he assumed was its rump, tufts of wispy black fur coming into sight.

“I can hear it breathing!” Yang said, tail wiggling with excitement as she inhaled again.

“Do you think it’ll want to play when it wakes up?” His youngest asked as her sister continued to warm the beast.

He crossed his arms, saying sternly, “We’re not keeping it Ruby.”

“Aaah. But I already named it Zwei!”

Anything else he was about to say to that caught in his throat when another clump fell away, revealing not more dark fur, but a broad forehead and the curved dip of an eye framed by a fine eyebrow. He choked on air, his tail wrapping around Ruby, pulling her close to him as he shouted, “Yang, stop!”

His daughter did, at first in confusion and then with dawning realization as she quickly wheeled backwards, running into his legs. They stood there, several long seconds ticking by, and Tai tensed up as more snow fell, exposing the rest of the face; he had a slightly pointed nose and an angled chin with fine hairs of scruff along his jawline. Definitely a man.

Questions twisted in his mind without answer, heart beating a panicked rhythm in his ears. How was he here? Where had he come from? How had no one else spotted him until now? Were there more? Or, perhaps, was he a scout for another group? Were they planning a raid?

Yang looked back at him, “Dad…?”

“Is that a human?” Ruby also looked up at him.

He grit his teeth, voice a rough growl as he said, “We’re leaving. Now.” He turned. He needed to get his girls out of here and tell Sienna of the intruder.

He was so caught up in his thoughts, he almost tripped over his youngest when she jumped out in front of him. “But we can’t just leave him! He’ll die!”

“Ruby this isn’t up for debate. He’s a human. He’s dangerous.”

She looked past him, back at the crumpled form in the snow. “He’s not dangerous, he’s hurt.” When she looked at him again, her face was earnest. “Didn’t dragons used to help humans?”

“That…” He sighed, pressing a hand against his forehead. “That was a long time ago. Things have changed.”

“Then can’t they change again?”

“Ruby, enough! We’re going!”

She ducked around his hand that tried to grab her, hopping over to hide against her sister. “Yang, you agree with me, right? We should do something.”

“Well…” The elder fanned a wing over her sister, taking a few uncertain steps back when he whirled on them. She darted looks between him and the human, saying, “He… hasn’t done anything wrong yet.”

“It doesn’t mean he won’t. It doesn’t mean he hasn’t. He could of set traps.” He waved a hand back towards the mountainside. “It was those kinds of things that scarred Blake. Took away Hazel’s sister. Killed-” Tai’s throat closed up, unable to finish. The sharp nails of his hand dug into his palms as he clenched them into tight fists.

“But won’t we be just as bad as them if we do nothing?” Ruby’s voice wobbled. “This is wrong! You know it is!”

He spread his wings, roaring back, “It’s not that simple! Actions like these have consequences! You can’t just-” The sudden sob drew him short, chest tightening as he watched the way his youngest buried herself into the underside of her sister’s wing. He shut his eyes, taking a few, calming breathes. When some of the heat in his blood had subsided, Tai knelt down in the snow, saying gently. “Rubes, you’ve got a good heart. Like your mother, you have a deep-rooted desire to bring hope to this world. But, truth is, whether they be dragons or humans, not everyone is ready for that.”

One wet, silver eye peered towards him. “Not even you dad?”

The expression was so startling familiar to him, that he couldn’t help but see a younger Summer imposed over her from a time long ago, when he was still an adolescent himself.

He found her sitting in the middle of her flower field, curled in a protective ball with her knees drawn to her chest and tail curled around herself. Even the little white roses growing in her antlers seemed wilted. As he approached, stepping around her blossoms with care, he heard a few sniffles and it managed to break his heart. She probably knew it was him, because she didn’t startle as he settled down beside her. “I uh, I beat up Cardin for you?”

She drew in a sharp breath, looking up at him with watery eyes. “You don’t think it’s stupid, right?”

“Of course not.” He reached out, using his knuckle to brush away some of her tears. “I think it’s admirable. It takes a strong heart and steady resolve to say the things you do. Don’t let what that acid-spitter says get you down.”

She gave a shaky giggle, wiping away the rest of her tears. “He doesn’t spit acid Tai.”

“Coulda fooled me.” He growled some, though he was quick to shake off the irritation, focusing back on the drake. “Tell you what. Let’s do it together. Just me and you. We’ll make the world a better place.”

“You promise?” She tilted her head towards him in quiet askance. “You really promise?”

He chuckled as he lent down, hooking one of his horns with hers. “Cross our antlers, hope to lose them…”

She smiled, pressing their foreheads together. “-Stick an arrow through our sternums.”

His hand curled around his left horn as the memory faded away. He looked to his girls, Ruby’s hopeful gaze and Yang’s uncertainty seeming to strike at him without ever uttering a word. Slowly, he looked to the human still lying in the snow.

And he got to his feet.

~

Warm.

It was the first thing Qrow was aware of; it was warm. It felt like the springtime sun, bearing down but not stiflingly so. Had he fallen asleep in the fields again?

“Mm…” He turned his face, his cheek brushing against something smooth. He couldn’t really process well what that could be; the most ridiculous thought was it was a river stone, but it was definitely too large to be that.

Wait, hadn’t it been winter?

“I think he’s waking up!”

“Ruby you promised to stay back.”

“I got her dad.”

The unfamiliar voices stirred him further and the effort it took to try and come to awareness was unusual. Something seemed wrong about all this, but he couldn’t quite figure out why. His mind felt like it was slogging through a swamp, struggling to keep itself above water while bits of information sunk into the mud and out of reach.

He was finally able to open his eyes. They were dry and unfocused and it took him a few blinks before he was able to adjust to the daylight, the fuzzy features of what he had felt before unblurring, until he could discern that he was curled up against a wall of honey yellow, a bit taller than where his shoulder was. It was also scaly.

Like it was catching onto a decaying vine only for it to fall hard to the ground when it inevitably snapped, his mind decided that was the time to slam a flood of disjointed memories into the forefront of his head.

“We really caught a winner this time!” Mercury laughed, kicking the metal cage. The brown dragon within gave a yelp of fear.

Qrow crossed the tent, fury boiling under his skin as he clutched onto his sister’s wrist. “Have you gone mad?! You took a kid!”

“Sssh, just stay quiet.” He soothed to the shaking drake, trying to pick the lock as quickly as he could before Emerald came back. “It was Amber, right? You’re gonna be just fine.”

While the rest of the room warped and twisted around him, he found he could still focus on the red eyes that pierced him with their intensity. “You disappoint me, little brother.”

He was falling, falling… into darkness and cold.

Qrow jerked upwards with a cry, “Raven!”

He quickly found that it had been a poor idea, his vision blurring worse than when he would try and drown a keg of penny-ale. He fell against the yellow wall, groaning as he pressed a hand against his face. He’d been tossed through his twin’s portals before. While it often did knock him out, they’d certainly never left him feeling weak like this. “Ugh, what happened?”

A voice, the first one he had heard and was definitely that of a young girl, came somewhere from in front of him. “Dad kissed you back to life!”

…What?

“N-No! I was breathing warmth into his lungs.” That one, male and rather gruff, came from behind him and… above. Qrow was starting to reach a conclusion of where exactly he was and knew it would be just like Raven’s sick sense of humor to choose a place like this. If he ever saw his sister again, if he got out of this alive that is, he swore he was going to punch her in the face.

Still, he took a breath and braced himself, opening his eyes to just make sure.

His eyes zeroed in on the wingless drake first. She had a serpentine body that was mostly black, though her belly and the tiny, thorn-like spikes on her spine were red. She was very young, barely any horns to speak of on her head and she stared at him with an open sort of curiosity and innocence that seemed to be universal in kids.

The mimic standing protectively by her was a few years older and had clearly lost some of that youthfulness. She had hair that was canary-yellow bright with wings that matched, though he caught hints of orange as well, almost like fire. Her white horns were particularly interesting, curving back from the forefront of her skull, bending away from one another only to re-meet at the tips in a heart-like shape.

Qrow looked down at the tail he was using for support, trepidation filling him as he turned his head and slowly looked up.

And, Ozpin be damned, there was daddy.

He was impressively large, about the length of a cottage and, if he stood, probably as tall as one too. His whole face radiated danger, from the tip of his nose where a single sharp point rested to the spikes that poked out from his upper jaw, to the massive, tusk-like horns that curled out from his temples and bent back along his skull in a staircase-like pattern. The amount of ways Qrow could die from gorging or crushed bones was merely a choice of favor. That didn’t even include the rows of deadly fangs that could rip him apart in a heartbeat.

He was yellow all over, though unlike his daughter he lacked her brightness, seeming to be of a collection of burnt shades. His main body was all honey-yellow, but underneath his jaw and probably down his belly was a more burnt-orange coloration. He didn’t have any protrusions on his back, only from the base of his tail to the tip, where it fanned off into a collection of fiery-shaded feathers that reminded him of a falcon’s tail, but with a few elongated stems that ended in rhombus shapes like a peacock’s. The stem of his wings had scales like his body, but the rest of them tipped off into gigantic feathers that matched the shade of the tail’s.

“I hope you didn’t kiss me with those teeth at least.” Qrow articulated intelligently.

Check ‘a dragon rolling its eyes at him’ off the list of things he thought he’d never see. “Can you walk, human?”

Unsure if he should push his luck, he quickly got to his feet, swaying a bit. “Uh, yeah. Definitely.”

“Good.” He turned his head some, looking to the younger pair. “You two. Home. Now. And not a word about this to anyone.”

“Aaah. Can’t we stay?” The drake whined.

“No.” That was not a tone even Qrow would argue with right now.

The elder sister was still watching him carefully. “What are you going to do?”

“We’re going to have an exchange of some words and then I’m going to take him out of the valley.” He really hoped that wasn’t actually code for ‘eating him alive’ or something. It had the air of how a farmer would tell their littlest ones that all the chickens that were mysteriously disappearing were merely ‘flying home’.

“Alright.” She gave him one last look-over, before turning and heading further into the forest. “Come on Ruby.”

Ruby gave another elongated whine. “Okay, okay.” She waved a paw – a foot? – at him, “Bye Mr. Human!” before hopping after her sister.

Despite his best efforts, Qrow felt his legs give out on him. He sighed and watched the children disappear into the tree line. “Cute kids.” He wasn’t sure what to make of the rumbling noise the other made – was he humming or growling? “So uh,” He looked up, not entirely surprised to see the other was already staring back (was this what mice felt like when they were under a cat’s paw?), “I normally have a lot more pride than this but: don’t eat me, please.”

The dragon’s nostrils flared. “Why would I go through the trouble of helping you if I was just going to kill you?”

Qrow actually didn’t know what to say to that. “Maybe you like your meals… running?” If only he could get copper in exchange for all the times he still said inane stuff anyways, he’d be an aristocrat by now.

“Look, human.” He returned impatiently, “I’m not going to hurt you unless you give me reason to.” He lowered his head to view him better and Qrow became acutely aware of two things. First was that this dragon’s face was wider than his whole chest and one bite would undoubtedly tear him in two. The other was that he had dark blue eyes identical in hue to the evening sky. “So, how did you get here?”

“Well uh, you see,” He said, trying to stretch for time as he searched for a response that wouldn’t end his life instantly. Lying was out of the question – no way could he come up with something adequate under such a situation. But telling the full truth was equally a poor choice that could lead to dire consequences on his still breathing body. He settled for as little detail as possible. “I ended up losing a huge chunk of revenue for my village. One of the witches exiled me here. Probably hoped I’d be ripped apart.”

The dragon tilted his head. “Revenue?” He repeated, testing the word.

“You know like, money?” When it was obvious that also didn’t register, he explained, “For us, it’s a necessity. We use money to trade for things we need. Food, clothes, ale; that sort of thing.”

“So, you lost this ‘money’ and your punishment was death?”

“It was a lot of money. Enough to probably feed most of the village for several months.”

“How did you lose it?”

Uh-oh. He probably should have expected that question. A cold sweat built along his back. “Some of us sell… animals, to one another, that help us with our lives. Like horses. They pull troughs on our farms and help us travel. Chickens and cows provide food. I ended up not locking the cage we were transporting them in and well,” He spread his arms out, “There went the money, running away.”

“Sounds like a steep sentence for a run of bad luck, if you ask me.”

He couldn’t help but laugh bitterly at that. “Welcome to my world, bud. There’s a reason I was named Qrow.”

The dragon drew back some. “What’s wrong with crows? They’re rather intelligent, if a bit recklessly brave.”

“Uh, never mind. Guess it’s just a human superstition.” The other made that growly-hum noise again, perhaps debating another question, when a crackling overhead drew his attention. Qrow looked up as well, seeing an avalanche of snow from the trees was starting to fall, only to yelp as he was cast in sudden darkness. He flinched, ducking his head, every muscle in his body tensing up in preparation for the end.

A few moments passed, and he dared to peek upwards when nothing happened. Yet, even when he realized the dragon had stretched his wing over him, it didn’t seem to comprehend.

“Winter is going to kill me.” The dragon grumbled, shaking out his feathers, bits of snow flying everywhere. That sentence didn’t make any sense either. Qrow knew the dragons had a lot to do with the change from one season to another – could the seasons somehow punish them if they didn’t do it right? How would that even work?!

Then, for the second time that day, he remembered it was winter – but it had been so warm, he was having trouble remembering. As the other drew back his wing, Qrow looked around, realizing that most of the forest floor around them had been cleared of snow, revealing the brittle grass and shriveled leaves underneath. But it only seemed to cover the immediate floor around them, as if they were in some sort of summer bubble; beyond that it looked as icy and unforgivingly chilly as the season promised to be.

“You’re,” He spoke up hesitantly, “Making it warm?”

“Of course I am. You were frozen in the snow.” The other replied matter-of-factly.

“Oh.” He racked his brain, trying to recall if he’d ever heard of a dragon having such a power before. He knew different dragons had different abilities. That there were fire breathers and ice layers and flower bloomers. Amber had been a leaf turner, which was part of the reason why she had been so highly desired in the first place. The noble class had become rather enamored with catching ‘beauty dragons’, those that were mostly harmless but could create gorgeous displays. They paid top coin for decorations that would perform for their amusement.

Yet, he’s never heard of one that just created warmth. “How?”

He never thought a dragon could look so baffled. “I’m a sun dragon.”

“A what?”

“I’m…” This was starting to feel like backwards déjà vu as it was now the beast’s turn to try and find the words to describe something he inherently knew.  He scratched a claw against the underside of his chin. “You know the first light you see that touches the earth when the sun rises? Or the rays that come through during cloudy days? Dragons like me do that.”

So, he was a light bringer. Qrow didn’t know why it seemed so strange that the species had their own names for themselves. He had just assumed they all used the same terms. He wanted to ask more questions, because it still didn’t explain how he was making it warm, but the other spoke first.

“Anyways, can you actually stand now?”

He coughed down his embarrassment and got to his feet, surprised to find that it was indeed much easier than it had been before. He took a few steps parallel to the other’s tail, ascertaining there was no shake in his knees or stiffness to his muscles anymore. “Yeah.”

“Good.” Then, right before his eyes, quicker than a blink, the dragon changed. One second he was tall as a house, the next he was standing only a few inches shorter than himself, copycatting a human form. He was dull blond with tanned skin and broad shoulders. Like all mimics though, he kept his wings, tail and horns, though in smaller, much less threatening size. When he spoke, even his voice had changed, no longer having that permanent snarl to it, “Come on then.”

Qrow, who was still trying to catch up to what he just witnessed, didn’t really process the command. What was that? There hadn’t been a sound of bones popping around or a bright light or anything he had expected there to be. Was it just illusionary magic like Emerald’s? But no, he couldn’t move around so quietly if it was just a trick like that. It had to be actual shapeshifting, but how did it work then?

“Uh, human?”

The voice broke apart his thoughts and he looked up at the other, finding it odd that the once terrifying face now seemed so kind. Then again, that was the entire crux of the trick. Dragons knew that appearing as if they were the same or, at least similar, embedded a false sense of security that humans grew lax to. It gave them an edge so that when the time was right, they could shed that fake skin to steal away with whichever goal they were aiming for.

So then, why didn’t you change Amber?

Qrow rubbed at his temple, finding things weren’t adding up like they should be and he wasn’t really sure what to do with that knowledge. “Uh, sorry, I’m coming.” He said hurrying after him. He came to walk astride him, though making sure he kept a respectable distance, side-eyeing him. He couldn’t help but wonder if the light hairs on his face was meant to copy the spikes on his jawline, Qrow’s own scruff or just was a personal preference. “So, what’s your name?”

“Why do you want to know?”

He shrugged. He actually didn’t know. “Just curious, I guess.”

Those eyes, still very blue, narrowed suspiciously. But, whatever ill thoughts the other had seemed to go nowhere as he still chose to answer. “It’s Tai.”

“As in, tie a knot?”

“As in, Taiyang.”

“Wait. Doesn’t that just mean sun?”

“What can I say?” He shrugged, waving a hand outwards. “I radiate sunlight.”

Qrow stared, a little stupefied. “Was… that a joke?”

“Well look at that. I’m sunny and funny.”

He wasn’t sure what was more ridiculous: the words themselves, the deadpan delivery or the fact it actually got him to laugh, even if he did try to stifle it. He was doubly surprised when Tai let out a soft chuckle as well. This has been probably the craziest day of my life. Qrow decided. I’ve gone from thinking I was about to be breakfast to laughing with a dragon.

It wasn’t a far walk before they were out of the trees, and the forest opened up into a wide, pure white field of snow. Its centerpiece was a gigantic lake, the edges piled with ice, though it wasn’t quite cold enough to freeze over yet. There were more woods surrounding the lake in every direction, a mismatch collection of trees both evergreen and deciduous. It felt like walking into a fairytale’s magical land, everything so beautiful and pristine.

And it was also so silent that it was near impossible to miss the faint roar in the distance. It was definitely not from any normal mammal and it was quick to remind him he wasn’t exactly safe here.

The other heard it too, glancing in the direction it must have come from, though his expression didn’t shift much.

“Friends of yours?” He asked nervously.

“Someone’s playing.” Tai offered as explanation. He wasn’t sure he wanted him to elaborate.

“So uh,” He started, turning to the other, “Where are you taking me anyways?”

The mimic pointed to the northeast where a mountain range with snow-dusted tops stood tall. “There’s a trail that runs through those mountains and leads to a human village. It’s the closest one around. I’ll take you halfway; but after that, you’re on your own.”

He nodded. Yeah, he could handle that. “So, how are we getting there?”

The look the dragon sent him could only be described as wicked. “You’re not afraid of heights, are you?”

…You have got to be kidding him.

~

As it turned out, Qrow was not afraid of heights.

He was, however, quite terrified of being crushed between dragon feet, which was the more immediate danger he found himself in as he sat between Tai’s cupped claws. He felt rather like an insect that had been caught by an eager child rushing to the house to show his parents what he had found. At least the dragon’s grip was steadier than one’s; so much so, were it not for the roar of the wind and the rotating swish of heavy wings, Qrow may not have believed they were in the air at all. There was little to see in his dark hollow, the only light coming from above him where the other’s feet didn’t quite meet. Looking through the space yielded nothing but the view of the other’s underbelly.  

As the minutes ticked on, merely sitting and waiting for them to reach their destination, it occurred to Qrow that in the span of an hour, he had given a dragon more trust than he even held for his own blood. It perhaps beat out the last, most foolish act he had ever done. Considering he had only done said act last night, he started to wonder if he was perhaps stricken with madman’s disease. Or was being compelled by Salem’s troves of phantom Grimm. A witch’s curse?

He was given no more time to consider further, as the gravity around him shifted with sudden descent and the wind’s roar turned into a whistle. The impact of them landing was jarring enough Qrow was thrown onto his back. A moment later, the other’s top foot lifted, and he had to blink away spots from the onslaught of sunlight suddenly coming down.

“We’re here.” The light bringer announced.

Shakily, Qrow got to his feet, stumbling a bit as he hopped to the ground below. Just like in the clearing, the surrounding area was clear of snow. Behind them was the range of mountains that had been miles away just minutes ago and, before them, a straight path cutting between leafless trees. Winter’s grip on the forest made it appear quite lifeless and desolate.

The dragon morphed once more, stepping up to stand at his shoulder as he gestured forward. “This is an old migration route. No one travels it anymore, but if you continue to follow the path out of the forest, it’ll lead you to a meadow. The town is situated not far from there.”

“Got it.” He felt weary just looking at the snow-packed trail he’d have to plough through. “Kind of wish I wore better boots though.”

“This might help.” Tai spread his wings, just enough for him to pluck off a feather. He rose it to his face and when he breathed out, a gentle light like miniature sunrays emitted from his mouth. It caught the feather, alighting it in a soft, golden glow. He held it out towards him. “The magic won’t hold forever but should last until you get there.”

Hesitantly, Qrow took it, feeling an immediate warmth radiate from his fingertips and rush down his body like a gentle blanket. “Whoa.” He awed as he looked down at himself, almost expecting to be glowing himself. When he looked back up, it seemed the mimic was trying his best not to be amused by him. “I uh, I think this is twice I’m in your debt now.”

“No.” Wings rustled as Tai turned his gaze away. “If you’re in anyone’s, it’s my daughter’s. I was going to leave you to freeze.”

Well.

Fair enough.

“She’s, uh, a good kid.” He coughed down his unease and tried to mask just how eager he was to get moving and put this strange, strange event behind him.

From the look on Tai’s face, it was clear he felt similarly. “Well.” He haltingly said, “May Ozpin’s grace be with you.”

He still had enough manners about him to give the proper reply. “And his power with you.”

The mimic nodded, facing back for the valley as he mumbled, mostly to himself, “Would rather have his omniscience.” He spread his wings and took off for the sky, changing mid-leap.

Qrow watched as the dragon disappeared into the mountains. When certain he was truly alone, he clutched onto the feather and started his journey onward.

[johnsonjordan1994]

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[the-sinnamon-roll-writes]

So, I had every intention of writing for Yuri on Ice, but then I marathoned the second season of Stranger Things and I felt the need to expand upon the very ending because it absolutely killed me. In the interest of avoiding spoilers, I’m gonna put all of this under a read more, because this takes place at the very end of the last episode.

Jane Hopper. It was official. Holding the birth certificate was a surreal experience, though far from a bad one. As he listened to Dr. Owens talk, somewhere in the back of his mind, Jim was considering ways to break the news to her. He could just see the look on her face when she read the document. The proof that she was alive. A chance for her to be allowed to act like normal children do. If anyone deserved it, it was El. She had endured things that no one should have to endure, especially at her age. Sure, he would have to give it a little time as the doctor said, but it wouldn’t be like the past year, Hopper was set on that. Hell, he might not even wait a month. How to tell her? Just show her the birth certificate? Take her out? Throw a small party for her? No, none of those. They would only serve to make Jane confused or anxious. She needed something semi-familiar. He would think of something soon enough. Somehow it felt like a second chance. Another daughter. And there was no way in hell he would let go of that. No matter how bullheaded and difficult Eleven could be, Hop was sure that this would work out. She had friends, and soon would be able to go to school or to the movies or dances with- wait. That was it. “What about one night out?” ••• When he got the go-ahead from the good doctor, Jim went straight to the little store where Joyce worked. Much to his disappointment, he found that she wasn’t there. Oh well. He could figure out what he needed on his own. ••• “Alright kid. I don’t know how any of this stuff works so we’re gonna have to practice.” Hopper had just got home and spilled everything he got on the dining room table. “Practice?” Jane had jumped at the sudden intrusion (Jim no longer made her lock the doors and she was having a difficult time adjusting to him just walking in without his special knock) and then stepped out from her room to look at what sort of ‘stuff’ he had gotten. She was surprised to see little colorful containers and three magazines with beautiful women on the covers. It took a moment for her to register what these little containers were- makeup. She recognized it now. Eight had used makeup in small containers just like that to decorate her face not so long ago. “It means weep on trying ‘till we get better at it. I figure we still have a few more days. The two of us can work this out.” “Why?” “Well, I thought that you might’ve wanted to go to that winter ball thing or whatever it is. Did you want to?” Jim asked casually, pulling out a chair and sitting down. He kept a close eye out for her reaction. El’s face lit up immediately. For once she actually looked like the kid that she was, that she deserved to be, instead of the hardened, overly alert girl that she had been raised to be. It did Hopper’s heart good to see that. “Yes! I can go?” “That’s why I got all this crap,” he replied with a smile. “Do you wanna mess around with it now?” She nodded enthusiastically and walked over to sit down beside him. “Let’s try it.” ••• An hour later they were still figuring out what went where and had a damp kitchen towel covered with makeup. Jim hadn’t been paying very close attention when he was shopping, and didn’t really have a clue what half of it even was. How thick should he put on the blush? Did the hairspray go in before or after styling? What the hell was eye shadow and where did it go? God, he wished they came with instruction manuals. “Okay Jane, we’ve got this. I’m gonna flip through these magazines again, I’m really hoping we missed something and one of them will have some sort of guide to putting makeup on.” He started scanning the pages more carefully. Even some vague descriptions of the makeup types would be helpful. “Kali did my makeup. She didn’t show me how though. I think I can do mascara though.” “Cool,” Jim said, half tuned out and flipping through the pages of magazines. “She made it really dark. Bitchin’. Can we do that?” “Well, that’s not exactly the ideal look for a school dance kid. Maybe we can give that a try over the next few weeks, okay?” “Compromise?” “Right, scoot over here. I think I’ve got an idea of how to do this. Stay there for just a second, I’ll be right back. From the other room, Jane could hear him dialing a number and start to talk to someone on the phone. “Hey Joyce, it’s me- no, everything’s fine, I just had to ask you some questions. Where exactly does eyeshadow go? In the magazines it looked like it’s just all around the eye, but I’ve never seen anyone actually do that.” “Eyeshadow? What is this about?” “I’m planning to let Jane go to this winter dance that’s coming up. I thought we could put some makeup on for fun, but this stuff is impossible.” “Oh! Well, eyeshadow typically just goes on the eyelids. Less is more. Make sure you blend everything, and go light on the blush.” “Light on the blush, blend, eyelids. Alright, and what about hair? I swear, it’s getting longer every minute.” “It’s actually pretty short right now. You probably won’t be able to do anything fancy with it. I’d say just smooth it back then spray it down with some hairspray when you like how it looks.” Joyce could hear Jim’s exasperated sigh over he phone and smiled. “You’re having fun, aren’t you? Don’t worry, you’ll get it. Did you need help with anything else?” “I don’t think so. She said she knows how to put on that eyelash stuff herself. We should be able to get it done from here.” “Okay, I’m gonna be here, so give me a call if you need anything.” “Yeah, alright. Thanks Joyce.” Hanging up, Hopper took a deep breath, and walked back into the living room where Jane was still waiting. “I’m pretty sure I’ve got this figured out now,” he said, sitting back down in front of her. “Light on the blush, blend it, eyeshadow goes on the eyelids. Here, let’s go ahead and start with the blush. It looks like we just put some on here-“ he picked up the small brush and started to dab some on both of her cheeks- “and then blend. Smile, so I know where to spread this.” Eleven did as she was told. The brush tickled her cheek, but she waited patiently and resisted the urge to laugh. “Alright,” Jim said, holding up a small hand mirror. “How does the blush look to you? Is it gonna work?” She nodded. It wasn’t like she was an expert, but she felt like she looked better than normal. “I like it,” she said, then paused briefly. “I’m having fun.” Hopper looked mildly surprised, then touched, and reached out to ruffle her curly hair. “Good. Now let’s take a crack at the rest of this stuff.” ••• It was sweet to see how excited she was over a silly middle school dance. Silly, but heartwarming all the same. In the year that Jim had known her, he couldn’t remember ever seeing her smile this much. The closest instance he could think of was when he first took her in and they had worked together to make the small house livable again. It had taken them a couple of tries, but eventually they had managed to master the makeup that they had. Eleven had a hard time letting Jim touch her eyes, so she took over that with him directing her through it. Hopper took care of the rest of the face, and did her hair. For that he ended up just doing as Joyce had suggested and brushed it back. One little curl of hair refused to stay put, so he just let it hang loosely to the side of her forehead. He had to assure her many times that it looked just fine before she allowed him to come at her with a can of hairspray. She the one dress she had that they had gotten the first time they went on a shopping trip together. He wasn’t able to take her out very often, so he had let her wander through the isles and pick out a few outfits and some small toys. Most of what she chose was large, loose clothing that was more focused on comfort rather than style. She did pick out the one pretty dress though, perhaps remembering the one Mike had given her. All in all, they were able to put together a reasonable ensemble for a middle school dance. The drive to the dance was mostly quiet. Eleven kept trying to catch glimpses of her reflection in the window and the side view mirrors. Whenever she got a look she would reach up and touch her cheek or around her eyes. “Hey, easy with that. You’re gonna wipe it all off before we even get there.” “Are we close?” “Mhm. We’re just a couple blocks away,” Hopper replied. “You excited?” “Yes. Mike will be there, right?” “Yup. I’m sure he’s already waiting for you. I think it started like, ten minutes ago.” They pulled up and parked on the sidewalk in front of the school. “Alright, before you go in, I’ve got one rule for you. Don’t leave the dance, okay? I’ll keep a radio on me, if you want to come home early, just step outside, find me, and wait for me there.” “Okay. I can do that.” “Otherwise, I think Joyce said this thing is done at ten, so I’ll be here to pick you up then.” “I know,” Jane said patiently. She knew he was just taking care of her, but she was anxious to go inside and find out exactly what a dance was. She had unbuckled herself and was starting to figit with the door handle, slowly scooting over to the edge of the seat. “Can I go inside?” “Okay. Go on in. And have fun kid.” He had to chuckle at how fast she swung open the door and rushed into the school. It took him a moment to start his truck back up and start to roll forward. She’d be fine. He was surprised, however, that he hadn’t seen another parent in a similar state of mind anywhere. He’d had a hunch that she would be hanging around somewhere. When he didn’t see her up front, he figured that he should double check the rest of the perimeter, just to be sure.   He had checked three sides, and was just glancing down the last, and darkest, side when he noticed someone standing alone just outside of a car. Right away, he knew who it was. And he knew why she was there. Joyce. “Hey.” ••• Ten o’clock came, and Hopper and Joyce waited outside along with all the other parents. She had cheered up a little when Jim told her about Jane, and they’d both discussed what the future might hold for her. “You’re gonna tell her tonight?”Joyce asked as they watched the flood of children exiting the school. “Yeah. I’ve got the certificate in here,” he confirmed, patting one of the pockets in his pants. “When we get home, I’m thinkin’ we’ll have some ice cream or waffles or something and then I’ll give her the news.” “Oh, she’ll love that. There they are! Oh Hop, she looks so pretty. You did a good job. Hi sweetie!” Joyce beamed as Eleven and Will peeled away from the crowd to walk towards them. Seeing Joyce’s smile, El let herself be pulled into a warm hug. “You look beautiful honey.” “Thank you.” “Did you two have fun?” Jim chimed in, looking down at the two children fondly. They both nodded enthusiastically. “I got asked to dance, mom!” Will looked incredibly proud of himself. “It was so cool!” Jane wandered over to where Hopper stood and looked up at him. “You ready to head home kid?” When she nodded, he opened the passenger door for her and waited for her to climb in before closing it and walking around to the driver’s side. They both waved goodbye to the Byers, and then were off. “So you did have a good time? Did you dance with the Wheeler kid?” “Mike. Yes.” Something was off about her expression, and Hopper picked up on it immediately. “What’d he do? Did he try anything inappropriate?” Eleven looked slightly confused at that. “Inappropriate? What would be inappropriate?” “Well- conversation for a different time. I mean, did he do anything that made you uncomfortable?” “No. I just didn’t know if you… liked him.” “Oh. Oh!” Jim laughed when he realized what she meant. “You were worried I wouldn’t approve?” “Yes. I heard you yelling at each other.” She wasn’t looking at Hopper, and truth be told, he wasn’t 100% dialed in on what was bothering her. But this was supposed to be her night, so he took a stab at fixing whatever it was that was bothering her. “El, as long as you’re happy and he hasn’t done anything stupid to hurt you, I’m fine with him.” “Promise?” “Yeah, I promise.” She perked up after that. When they got home, she hurried in ahead of him and in towards her room. “Wait! Kid, come back here, there’s somethin’ I needed to talk with you about. No, don’t look so anxious, it’s nothing bad,” he assured. “Here, come sit down and have a little ice cream with me.” After they settled on portions (“no, you cannot have that much, I said a little!”), they sat at the table together and Jim listened to her tell him about the dance. From the way she described it, it had been the kind of night every little girl dreams of. Spending time with friends, laughing at jokes, slow dancing with someone special. She didn’t quite have all the words to explain what she had felt, but she was animated enough that Jim understood. As they were finishing up the treat and Jane was winding down with her tales, Hopper decided it was time. “Well, I’m glad you had fun. I’ve got somethin’ for you to check out now. I’ve been trying to think of some clever reveal, but theatrics have never been my strong suit.” While Eleven watched, he pulled out the opened envelope and slid it across the table to her. Puzzled, she picked it up, pulled the sheet of paper out, and unfolded it. Her mouth moved silently as she read along to herself. It was clear when she finished, because her mouth remained open and she looked up to meet Hopper’s smile with wide eyes. “W-what does this mean?” “This means you don’t have to hide anymore. We are going to keep a low profile for a while though,” he warned. “We aren’t doing anything crazy. But you’ll be able to start school, and go over to other kids’ houses, play outside. You don’t have to stare at a tv all day for entertainment.” “I’ll be like the others?” “That’s right. We’re gonna be Norman Rockwell here.” “Who?” “Rockwell was this guy who pretty much set the tone for what American families should look like. Mom, dad, two kids living in the suburbs. A plain, normal guy. We won’t actually have all of that, but we can still be a family.” Jane was wearing her sweet smile that lent a twinkle to her eyes. “So… you’re my papa now?” “How about we just go with ‘dad’? I like to think I’m not old enough to be someone’s papa.” “Dad. Daaad.” She played around with the word, testing it out. “Dad. It works. You’re not like papa.” “I’m glad to hear that. He wasn’t a good guy. Right now though, I have to be the bad guy. Go on and get ready for bed. It’s past your bedtime and you’re lookin’ pretty tired. We can talk about this some more in the morning, alright?” “Yes.” She went to the bathroom to brush her teeth without complaint for once. He couldn’t be totally sure if that meant she was upset that she had to go to bed or is she was just happy enough to not put up a fight. Hopefully the latter. As she went through the nightly routine (brushing teeth, washing up, putting on pajamas, getting a cup of water for her small bedside stand), Jim wandered about the living room and kitchen, picking up  glasses and tidying up small toys he had gotten her as he went along. At some point in the future he might have to talk to her about picking up after herself. It had never been too much of a problem before; she was generally a pretty neat kid. But even the most straight-laced of children made messes every now and then. “Dad?” Broken out of his thoughts, Hopper turned around to see Jane standing in the doorway to the hall. She was in her pjs, and appeared to be ready for a good nights sleep. “What’s up kid?” “I’m ready for bed now. Could we read?” It was hard to say no to her small smile, so he nodded and followed her into her small room. She climbed into bed and under the covers, and Jim took his usual seat in the chair beside her. He picked up the book they’d been working on from the bedside table and flipped open to the last page he’d dog-eared. Taking a deep breath, he began reading out loud, angling the book so she could read along with him. After a couple pages, they switched, and Eleven read while Hopper followed, correcting her as needed. They went on like that, back and forth, until they finished the chapter. Jim was the last one reading, and he noticed her starting to doze off. By the time he was finished, she looked totally konked out. He dog-eared the corner to mark the end of the chapter, but made a mental note that they would most likely need to go over the last bits of that chapter. Taking great care to be quiet, Jim stood up and looked down at the sleeping child. Brushing some stray locks of hair off of her face, Jim leaned down and pulled the covers up over her shoulders, rubbing her back gently. “Goodnight kid,” he whispered, unsure if she could actually hear him, “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Dad?

He hadn’t been expecting a reply. “Hm?”

“Am I your new Sarah?”

That caught him off guard, although he knew it shouldn’t have. “No, you aren’t my new Sarah.”

“Oh… Okay.”

As soon as it had left his mouth, Hop had realized how that might’ve sounded, and El’s answer let him know how she took it. “You- you’re not my new Sarah because you’re my new Jane. Sarah has been gone for a long time. You’re not a replacement, El. You’re my girl. I know I’m not really good with words, but El, you mean a lot to me. Not because of Sarah, or in spite of her, but because you’re you.” He ran his fingers through his hair, frustrated. “I don’t think I’m getting my point across here-”

Eleven cut him off by reaching out and catching his hand, tugging it twice. “I understand. You’re dad because you aren’t papa. I’m Jane, because I’m not Sarah.”

Smiling, Jim nodded down at her and squeezed her hand gently. “Right. Okay, time for bed,” he added softly when she yawned.

She nodded and closed her eyes. She’d had a busy day, and it was late. She was asleep before Hopper made it out of the room.

Walking silently out the door and closing it behind him, Hopper took a deep breath and wandered down to his room with every intention of crawling into his bed. He stopped himself before he did stopping to get out of his work clothes. As he kicked off his shoes and started to take off his clothes to change, it hit him just how tired he was. He’d had a busy day too. He only pulled on a clean pair of boxers and a loose tee-shirt before collapsing into bed. A busy day indeed. But absolutely worth it.

[stilesderekscottissacandme]

Currents

Okay, so the last few days have been beyond hectic, we found Derek and Peter when I saw Derek he was healed and totally okay. I cried as I held our heads together. Everything was okay for a moment. Currently I'm with Scott at the hospital. Bringing our mom some food for dinner.

"Okay, keep pressure on it. The doctor's on her way. And does anyone know where Dr. Hilyard is?" Then Mom saw us and the food in my hands. "Oh, thank God. I'm starving. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Thank you for bringing me dinner. " She said while patients and nurses swarmed around us.

"Is everything okay?" I asked as she set the food down on the nurses station.

"Except for half the accident victims in a ten car pile-up being rerouted here from downtown, and the E.R. attending not answering any of his pages, yeah, I'm okay." She said, looking as stressed as I've ever seen her.

"What does not answering pages mean?" Scott asked.

"It means that nobody can find him, so now we have to wait for the on call to get here." She explained, when a women walked up to us and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Miss. "

"Yes?"

"Excuse me, can I kind of please have something for the pain?" She asked, mom shook her head.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I know. But, actually, giving you something could complicate things, so we really just need to wait for the doctors. Okay?" Mom said and the pain etched on this ladies face was almost unbearable.

"Yeah." She mumbled as she went and sat down. I followed while Scott talked to mom.

"Uh, you know, I think that I read online that sometimes human contact can help with pain." I said and the woman looked confused but agreed and I set my hand on her arm. The purple veins, the pain, all of it. Then a familiar voice filled the room and I looked up.

"Someone... Someone help me! Oh, I need help!" Ethan yelled and I ran over to him followed by Scott and mom. He was holding Danny, who was obviously struggling with his breathing.

"Okay, gentle, gentle, gentle!" Mom said as Scott and Ethan sat him down in a chair.

"What did you do to him?" I said with possibly too harsh of a voice.

"Nothing. He said he was having chest pains and trouble breathing, but it... it just kept getting worse." He said as mom checked his vitals in his neck.

"This is not good. How much longer on Dr. Hilyard? His larynx has shifted to the side. I think it's a tension pneumothorax." She said just before Danny bent over the armrest on the chair to throw up.

"Mistletoe." Ethan and I said at the same time. Mom got a bed to roll the boy into a room, we all followed.

"Can you three please go back to the waiting room?" She asked when we got into the room.

"Where are the nurses and the doctors? Where is everyone?" Ethan asked.

"It's a full house tonight. They're tending to other patients."She said. Danny's breathing continued to worsen.

"Okay, well, mom, how can we help?"Scott asked and I looked from him to the boy on the bed. He shook his head.

"Honey, you can't. His lung is collapsed. His heart is being pushed against his chest cavity, so..."

"He's gonna die, isn't he?" Scott asked. I knew it's what we were all thinking, at least the three teenagers.

"No." I said sticking my hand on his chest, wishing I hadn't taken the pain from that woman. He relaxed and I took my hand back after the veins reached my shoulder.

"No, he's not. Scott, you grab the tape. You grab those scissors and cut his shirt open. Okay." She said pointing me to the scissors. I grabbed them and did as i was told. Then my stomach dropped.

"Mom, he's not breathing." Scott and I said at the same time.

"I know, I know. Okay." Mom said before pulling out the biggest needle I have ever seen in my entire life and shoving it into the left side of his chest. After pulling it out and waiting in anticipation for what felt like hours but was only a few seconds his eyes opened and he thanked mom. Scott and I just stared at her for a second.

"No big deal." Then she realized we were staring and asked what it was about.

"That was awesome." We both ended up saying at the same time.

"It was no problem, you know? I mean, it wasn't a big deal." Mom said with an awkward smile. I then followed Scott and Ethan somewhere private to talk. Yeah, I saved his life but that doesn't trust the guy at all. And as we all know I have to protect Scott..

"I know you're not gonna believe me, but I didn't do anything. " Ethan said with his hands up. I was standing next to Scott with my arms at my chest.

"All I know is that the minute that you got here, you went right for Danny, and your brother went for Lydia." I said with an irritated voice. Scott glanced at me through the corner of his eye because him of all people knew just how bad the anger was getting.

"We're not gonna hurt him." Ethan said in a cautious voice. He was too uneasy for my liking, the confident teen alpha ego was gone.

"Why should we believe you?" Scott asked. I

"Because we knew one of them was gonna a be important to you, and now we know it's Lydia." Ethqn said but before either of us could reply our attention was tried to the oncoming car. It was swerving as if it were driven by a drunk driver.

Oh shit. I thought as the car slammed into a parked car. We all ran over. When Scott opened the door the was no one inside. Even worse than a drunk driver. I picked up a dead moht that was on the empty drivers seat.

"What is it?" Ethqn asked. I held up the moth. It didn't take long for several police cars to show up.

"Hang on, hang on. They were both in the car?" Sheriff Stilinski asked. I glanced at Stiles who had a hand on his forehead.

"No dad, they're trying to tell you hat it was two separate kidnappings okay? Two doctors both gone."Stiles said to his dad.

"So whose car is this?" The sheriff asked.

"Dr. Hillyard, the on-call doctor. The E.R. attending is the one that never made it in.

"Let me just focus on getting your story first all right?"

"Yeah"

"Kids, give us a second." Sheriff said. We walked a good ten feet away before speaking.

"These are definitely sacrifices right?" Scott asked.

"Yeah. It's the one Deaton mentioned: the healers."

"What about Danny? He threw up Mistletoe that's no a coincidence and if he hadn't been with Ethan, he probably would've died." I said.

"Danny isn't a healer." Stiles said. "I....can you hear that? " Scott and I paused.

"They found a body." We both said. After that we all went home.

The next morning found Scott, Isaac, and I sleeping in moms room.

"Really guys? Guys! What do you think you're doing?"

"Uh we were watching over you." Isaac said.

"We wanted to make sure you weren't the third sacrifice " I said, only if I had known just how wrong we were. But we would find out and soon. Dread embedded itself in my stomach and doubt filled my mind.

"But you were all asleep."

"You were on watch last." Scott said to Isaac.

"What are you talking about? Alex was on watch last" Isaac said and I shot him a glare.

"No, you were on watch last." Scott and I both said.

" I might've been on watch last."

"My heroes. Wait, didn't you say that they were all doctors? I mean, I haven't had an M.D. Recently attached to the end of my name, so I think I'm in the clear" mom said.

"Yeah, but it could just come under any kind of healer, mom, and you were definitely a healer last night." Was Scotts reply and he wasnt wrong.

"Yeah, well, I'm not gonna be anyone's human sacrifice today, so all three of you get your butts to school."

When we got to the school I was feeling more anxious than normal. Ms. Blake was subbing for Harris again so we saw her twice. We were in Hariss' class when Scott got a call.  The anxiety had a reason as Deaton had just been taken. Scott left not giving our teacher a chance to stop him Stiles called his father while I excused myself to the restroom. My heart was thumping loudly in my chest and my breathing was escalated. What if Scott can't find Deaton? When is the alpha pack going to go after Derek?

My thought process was disturbed when someone walked into the restroom. I lifted my feet and slowed my breathing. That is until I saw the bare feet and the disgusting claws.

"Come on Alex, come out now. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Do you even know how hard it is to get you alone? You are always with Scott and Stiles or your pedophile of a boyfriend. Sadly, that shouldn't be an issue anymore. Sadly for you, not for me of course. Come out now." Kali said and I opened the stall door with my head high and my heart threatening to jump out of my chest.

"You aren't going to lay one nasty ass claw on Derek." I said with anger and hatred blistering my words.  Kali laughed and I cringed at the noise.

"You're cute, but you are going to help us. Whether you want to or not. Derek is either going to die today or he is going to get a taste of what being a part of our pack really feels like."

"No." I said and I turned to run.

"So the hard way it is." She said and before I even realized the twins were standing behind her. I backed up as far as I could but she grabbed me by the throat and lifted me into the air. "I always liked doing things like this." I fought and I struggled, kicking her repeatedly in chest had no affect. I ended up kicking her in the soft spot in her ribs and her grip faltered. When I fell I crawled away gasping for breath.

"I'm sorry about this Alex." Ethan said and then there was an explosion of pain in the back of my head. I cried out before entering the world of unconsciousness. Even then I felt scared, my heart was racing and my stomach felt sick. When I slowly began to come back to reality, I kept my eyes shut in hopes they wouldn't notice.

"When we cut the power you and Ethan bring her up and use her as our leverage. By the time we leave he will either be dead or one of his betas will. Who ever dies its his choice. And look who is awake, just in time too." Damn...My heart racing must have given me away. I sat up and seen that we were in an ally by the loft.  "Ethan watch the failure of a guardian and we are going to go cut the power." When they left I struggled with the ropes around my hands, but they were soaked in wolfsbane, inevitably making it impossible to break them.

"Ethan, you don't have to do this." I said as fresh tears left my eyes. I felt so incredibly helpless, I couldn't do anything but hope I could push the right buttons.

"You don't understand Alex. Whatever Kali and Decualian say my brother and I have to do. It doesn't matter what happens, we owe them our lives." He said and I started shaking my head.

"What would Danny think of this? What do you think Danny would say if I told him you held me hostage and used me for leverage. How dare you say you care about him and then pull this bullshit. If you know Danny you know that he wouldn't be okay with this." Knowing I had pushed the right buttons but also knowing Ethan wouldn't budge  I gave up.

"Get her out of the car." Kali said through the window. "Bring her up with us but wait until I tell you, make sure Derek doesn't see her until I want him to. And don't think that just because she looks small that she can't do some stupid shit and mess this up, I want you to put this in her mouth so she can't yell for her boyfriend. Aiden, I want you to be the one to slit her throat in front of Derek." She said and with that she turned an walked away. Ethan's grip on my arm faltered while the other twin bruised my arm with his hold.

"You said we weren't going to kill her." He said as he stopped walking. So Danny's boyfriend did care.

"Oh don't be such a mush, shes a guardian, she will heal. It's just to give Derek that final push he needs to save his own life." And then I was hauled upstairs. The lights were obviously off and I could hear 3 beating hearts in the loft. Kali ripped the door open and I was forced to stay in the dark. The gag enabling me from making any noise.

"Gonna be honest, Derek. When Ennis died, I thought to myself I'd just go for it. Find you and kill you, wherever you stood. Then I remembered how you surround yourself with these teenagers, hiding behind them, and I thought, "what's a girl got to do to get you alone?"  with that the twins  dragged me into view, I was completely limp and I was terrified. How bad is it going to hurt when they cut my throat? How long is that going to take to heal? " You and me Derek, or they tear her apart. What do you say? You think you can beat me one on one?" Derek's heart had accelerated considerably. Isaac and Boyd backed off, the rag was ripped from my mouth and I got a hand, claws and all, around my throat.

"I'm gonna rip your throat out with my teeth." And then Derek was flying through the air with his claws out. He connected with her shoulder.  The fight left me in tears when her claws found their way into his stomach.

"Uhh! Derek!" Isaac yelled as the claws tightened around my throat.

"No!" I heard Derek yell before the pain shot through my body. The cuts were extremely deep, the bone itself was slashed.  Gargling on my own blood I fell to the ground. The twins let go and footsteps were heard running towards me

"Wait." I heard someone yell. I couldn't place the voice but I could hear the fighting continue. I tried to open my eyes, but I couldn't. I heard the sound of electricity and someone was holding me. They were holding my throat in place, helping the bones mend. They slowly and painfully did. I tried to breathe but still I couldn't. My windpipe was collapsed and the blood was drowning me. If I didn't heal soon I might die.

"Take him! I'm giving you till the next full moon, Derek. Make the smart choice. Join the pack... Or next time I'm killing all of you." I opened my eyes slowly to see Kali walking out. Derek was holding Boyd in his hands. The smell of blood evident. No.. I willed myself to heal. I prayed to whatever god there is that would listen to someone like me.

"It's okay. " I heard Boyd say. The feelings in the room were gut wrenching. Derek's guilt was like a hundred knives in my soul. I could feel his heart breaking and that numbing feeling of losing a pack mate. My bones healed but just barely.

"No, no. No, it's not. It's not." Derek said he was crying. Something the Big Bad Wolf never did.

"It's all okay, Derek." Boyd stuttered. I opened my eyes to see that Derek was still holding Boyd.

"I'm... l'm sorry."  Derek was in pain and I could help if I could just get there. If I could just..I pushed away from Isaac and crawled. My throat still healing I couldn't move very fast. Isaac didn't even try to stop me. He was still in shock. That feeling..the feeling of losing another pack mate...it's paralyzing.

"The full moon. That feeling... That was worth it. There's a lunar eclipse. I always wondered what... What that felt like for one of us. For one of us..." And then Boyd fell. I rushed over as fast as I could. My hearing not quite strong enough to pick up any heart beats. My strength was being pulled from my body like the blood still dripping from my throat. When I was close enough to touch him I knew it was too late. But still I tried.

Stiles, Cora and Lydia came in as Derek tried to pull me off.

"NO! THIS IS MY FAULT! Just let me try.." I begged and Derek's shaking hands let go. Cora was hugging his body and I was willing the purple veins. The pain was horrendous but I fought through it. I cried and screamed as the purple made its way up.. Just before I passed out and lost all strength Derek had his bloody hands around me and was rocking back and forth.

I had failed yet again. Another member of my pack..of my family was dead and I couldn't save him. I was still hurt pretty bad and the attempt at healing Boyd had pulled every ounce of strength my body had for healing out. Yet again I was unconscious in the bed of Derek Hale with IV's and this time a neck brace. I am Alex Blackridge a failure of a Guardian of the supernatural.

[lilblackfeather]

August 2015, 8:49pm

The make shift farm house was rotting away with abandonment. She had a fire going in a broken bath tub nearby, filled with wrecked crates soaked with gasoline.

The place smelt musky, surrounded by a vast field of over grown weeds, wild in ruins, rusted pulleys stationed sparingly on the still solid teak beams above. One of them had a new shiny two and a half inch customized sliver chain through it, with an end secured around the neck of a bloodied face Mr Ponchester, who was lying flat on the hay reddened floor.

He groaned painfully as he stirred awake, every inch of him hurts. Like fuck. His neck, his face...his groin.

His nose was broken, he suffered a cut on his forehead with dried blood down his right cheek, blurring his visions momentarily with the sticky fluid. The tuxedo he had on were tattered and torn, soiled from the rough road ride they made through the country.

He tried blinking his eyes profusely, wanting to get rid of the blood and dirt, his confused frown tinted with pain. For once in his life, Ponchester was utterly out of his comfort zone, he remembered vaguely what happened at the party as he tried to make out the feminine shadow standing fifteen feet across him.

Then it hit him--it was her. His eyes widened with realization, and his mouth dropped. She was there earlier with his family, at the charity ball, they were exchanging subtle seductive glances the whole night. In fact, he thought she had a thing for him; all the stolen moments at home when he caught her looking at him and her sweet shy blushes. He had slipped his missus a little something from his personal stash when they got home, and she was knocked out cold in her own room. He was going to try his luck with her tonight and he managed to catch her alone on one of the quieter balconies, without his twins near by.

He recalled walking up towards her, she was still in her lovely dress, he visualized the love making session they would be having and savoring the erection he was arousing in his pants. She made it known that she was aware of his presence behind her--as he reached out to touch her left shoulder--she turned and swung her right hand simultaneously, grabbed his forearm, brought him to the ground as she kicked his groin and knocked him out with her brass knuckles.

Ponchester was back to reality when he heard the chain clinked with the pulley above him. He swallowed hard and blinked several times, wondering if every thing was really happening. Her stance was strong, she had wrapped the silver chain neatly in her right hand, and her left fist rested on her hips. She was looking down at him, waiting. For him to wake.

Gone were the beautifully long navy chiffon dress she had on earlier for the party, she had exchanged it with a tight leather one piece jumpsuit and vest. Her hair was sleeked back into a high bun and her brass knuckle leather gloves were snug around her hands, stained with blood. His blood.

If he was not in his current predicament he would have thought she turned dominant on him and was going to punish him into some sick sexual episode in this secluded abandonment. But the more aware he was, the more he dreaded the reason for the both of them to be in their current situation.

"W-w..." He tried to make sense of it, "why are you d-doing this?" With the help of his head and shoulders, he tried to sit up, but very slowly, because his hands were cable tied behind him. His penis hurts like hell and he wished there was something he could do about it.

"There was a bounty on your head." She said flatly, billowing it into his fucked up brain.

"A-a ba-bounty?" He was confused and slowly gaining awareness of what was coming for him. He tried to free his wrists but failed miserably. "You cannot this." He was feisty all of a suddenly, apparently trying pathetically to force her into submission like how he always did to the people around him, especially to the girls he was shipping off to Saudi for his clients and high society friends.

But he could tell in her quiet retort, she was serious with her words, "You have to die." She noticed the goosebumps on his bruised skin immediately.

"Plee-asee...pleaase, you don't have to do this. I can pay you! I can double...t-triple! Whatever the the guy is p-ppaying you! Please...let me go..." She watched on as the disgusting creature sobbed and made the disgusting proposal to her.

She glanced up immediately from under her lashes; glared at him all business-like with a grim line across her mouth, "If you have not noticed by now, money was never the issue." As if summoned by Kali herself to destroy the piece of trash in front of her, "I really don't give a shit to be honest." Her face was half covered by the shadows, eerily growing with the fire, a sense of sane psycho beneath her eyes.

"Then w-wwhy are you doing t-t-this--" She yanked at the silver chain around his neck abruptly, choking him in the middle of his sentence while fresh blood splattered on floor in front of him. She could actually feel her heart increasing its speed and the adrenaline pumping through her body.

Although yearning to finish this off, she forced herself to slow down her breathing and stare straight into his fearful eyes, which were asking for mercy, like a cobra hypnotizing its prey.

Without further conversations, the silver chain on the pulley tightened and the man was catapulted up in the air and in that split second she forced his head up and cuts into his throat with her customized spiked silver chain.

She had turned and ran from him. Pulling him up higher and higher closer to the ceiling as she kept increasing the distance between them.

He struggled helplessly as air escaped from his lungs and he struggled as the chain cuts into his throat. Ponchester struggled and choked up more blood before going limp at the end of her weapon of choice. His distorted facial expression would not be missed.

She dug her heels and kneed into the crippling concrete floor and waited patiently as she felt his life draining behind her.

He will never know. But his family would. It would be another two or three weeks before she hands in her resignation letter and leave his children for good. They will be alright, she comforted her self.

"Do. Not. Go. Soft. Now." She muttered each word with intensity through gritted teeth.

After about twenty nine seconds, his dead body limped with his hands on his side. His face a deep purple red with blood vessels bursting through his eye sockets and his mouth foamed with blood stains.

She had held him up there for another good thirty seconds before letting him free fall twenty five feet down. She looked down on her boots and stood up wearily.

The tears were already streaming down her face before she could stop them from caressing her face. She used the back of her leather glove to swipe away new tears and smudged the existing double streaks off.

Looked up with new determination and turned around to handle the body.

[razorblade180]

Sunshower 9

Dusk time, the time every resident has been waiting for has returned once again. Decorations start to light up like yesterday and one by one people started to roam the streets yet again; including Neptune. He leaned against a small metal railing that went down to the beach via several steps. His pants were replaced with red shorts and a black, half buttoned up shirt. Perfect casual attire for having fun on the beach. It also was the only place his goggles didn’t stick out.

Even though the festivities had just begun, Neptune had already been patiently waiting for Ilia. Sun had informed them of conversation that took place by the lake and eagerly waiting to hear her interpretation of it. He’d had practiced pretending to be ignorant about it for an hour. Secretly being the friend they both turn towards for this predicament was rather challenging, yet flattering. Not to mention he was kinda living for this type teen drama. It was sure more investing than dealing with grimm.

Neptune:Hmmm, where the hell is she? I hope she didn’t change her mind.

“Freeze Human! You’re under arrest!!!” A voice cried out behind Neptune that made him jump instantly and turn around with his hands up.

Neptune:Officer I swear it was Su- Judy?

Judy:Hahaha! Man I got you good!

The fox officer laughed hysterically while holding their scroll sideways like a gun. Neptune would’ve been furious if he wasn’t busy looking at Judy’s outfit. The uniform from earlier was replaced with some blue daisy dukes that showed off her legs and a red crop top that proved that Judy definitely was the type who took police academy seriously. It was a good thing Judy had warned him earlier about using compliments like foxy because he definitely would’ve said it here.

Neptune:Woah.......

Judy:I could say the same thing. I guess earlier I saw you in standard clothes and not party attire. Not to shabby.

Neptune:Th...thanks. You look....wow.

Judy:Hmmm first woah, now wow. Here I thought you had flirting down packed.

Neptune:I’m...sorry?

Judy:Don’t be. Bumbling is was more adorable. *winks*

Neptune:*red* S..so, you’re definitely not dressed for work hehe. I guess you’re off the clock?

Judy:Yep! But technically an officer never really is. If something pops off and I’m around then you bet your ass I got to do something about it. With parties like these even the best of people can do something crazy with enough liquor in their liver.

Neptune:Hehe, ain’t that the truth?

Judy:Hmm, aren’t you too young to drink?

Neptune:.......

Neptune:Am I about to get a ticket?

Judy:Pfft, that’s not worth the ink; and you won’t just here me say that. When Menagerie parties like this then it’s pretty common for the young adults to end up drinking as well. If we tried to enforce a law like the drinking limit during these then we’d run out of trees to make paper in a day. So we let it slide. It’s a double edged sword though. Anybody who gets arrested for something better not hope they’re illegally intoxicated. We’ll add that to the charge.

Neptune:So I’m guessing you’re what, 21?

Judy:Actually I just turned 22. I don’t drink though. Not really my style.

Neptune:I don’t know many people like you. A badass older woman fox cop. That’s a mouthful.

Judy:.......

Neptune:What?

Judy:*hands on hips smirking* Give it a second.

Neptune:......!!! Shit! I’m sorry! Badass older...person. Was that rude? I didn’t mean to-

Judy:*grabs his shoulder* Neptune, was it?

Neptune:Y..yes.

Judy:I’m just messing with ya. Lighten up; just wondering if you’d catch on.

Neptune:I sort of put two and two together with a bit of Ilia’s help. Sorry, I have a couple of gay friends but non-binary is a new one. I’ll try not to slip up too much.

Judy:*grinning* I appreciate the thought. I’m not sensitive about that sort of thing though. Cops need thick skin and I’ve lived this life long enough to be comfortable with how I’m addressed. Feminine pronouns are no skin off my back. Brownie points though if you do get the hang of it though. It would definitely make you more....appealing.

That last word was said strangely to him. Either he was reading the room wrong or there was a definite vibe sh-they were trying to give him. The boy was definitely out of his league with this one. Judy watched his face get a little redder as he was finally let go of.

Neptune:Good to know.

Judy:That’s enough about. Wanna tell me why you’re standing here all alone? I saw your friend up at the Belladonna estate just a bit ago. Waiting on a date?

Neptune:No, but I wouldn’t mind one honestly.

Judy:*raises eyebrow* How bold.

Neptune:That’s not what I- I mean if you wanna. Wait, I’m doing something important! I’m waiting for Ilia; I’m supposed to meet her here.

Judy:She was looking pretty rough earlier. I didn’t think she’d party two days in a row.

Neptune:She sort of got persuaded. I’m wondering what’s keeping her?

Judy:Why wonder when you can ask? You have her number right? Face time her.

Neptune:Why not just call?

Judy:Trust me, she doesn’t answer regular calls nearly as often. She’s probably just laying around.

xxxx

“I’m going to be the number one hero!”

“Fuck yeah you are!” Ilia shouted at her tv proudly as she put a spoon full of cereal in her mouth. “I wish someone could give me a super power.”

Bzzz!!! Bzzz!!! Incoming call

She looked down at her scroll to see the little goggle icon she gave Neptune shaking side to side Ilia wasn’t stupid. She knew what time it was; she also knew that she still wasn’t feeling in a party mood. ‘Maybe if I ignore it, he won’t call it again? Then again, it’s face time. Why not just call? .....screw it.’ Ilia answers it.

Ilia:H-

Neptune:Where are you!? Party time officially began at least half an hour ago!

Ilia:Uuhhhhh, fashionably late?

Neptune:Is that why you have dried up milk in the corners of your mouth?

Ilia:.....*wipes mouth* Yes? Hehehe.

Neptune:Are you even dressed?

Ilia:...Does a sports bra and basketball shorts count?

Neptune:You wear a bra in the comfort and privacy of your own house?

Ilia:Yeah?

Neptune:Hmmm, you would.

Ilia:W..what does that me-

Neptune:Never mind that! Ilia, put on something party casual and hurry up. Don’t think I won’t drag you out of your house.

Ilia:You don’t know where I live Neptune.

Judy:*offscreen* I do!

Ilia:Judy!? Are you with my parole officer!!? Am I on speaker phone!?

Neptune:...That sounds pretty bad out loud but yes. Say hi Judy. *hands her scroll*

Judy:Hey Spots. You look comfy.

Ilia:I was. Now I’m suspicious.

Judy:Relax, I bumped into your friend and simply asked what he was doing. Apparently he’s waiting for you, so get off your butt and put on your dancing shoes!

Ilia:Shouldn’t my parole officer encourage me to stay in one place?

Judy:All I have to do is recommend you make good choices, which is something I never had to do with you personally because news flash, you’re a good citizen; reformed anyways.

Ilia:Woah, almost a complete compliment.

Judy:You know I find you endearing. Now are you real going to bum out on your couch watching anime.

Ilia:How did you know it was-

Judy:Or are you going to enjoy the night with your friend who keeps jumping every time he hears a wave crash on the shore?

Neptune:Hey!

Ilia:Sigh........uuuugggggghhhhh

Judy:FYI, if I see you out and about tonight then you don’t have to wake up early and report to me tomorrow. You can sleep in.

Ilia:.......

Ilia:Give me fifteen minutes.

Judy:I’ll give you twenty five. I can smell you from here. *hangs up*

Ilia:I don’t-oooohhhh Judy you.....why can’t I have a normal parole officer!?

xxxx

Judy:She’s on her way.

Neptune:You’re good.

Judy:Nah, Ilia is just a big softie. Even if she won’t admit it. I do hope she cuts back on the drinking.

Neptune:Pfft, after yesterday she already said she’s not drinking a single drop of alcohol.

Judy:Whay happened yesterday?

Neptune:(Crap....) Oh you know..... too drunk to actually enjoy herself. I mean you saw her when I had to basically carry her.

Judy:Hmm, you’re definitely holding out on me. I can hear it your voice.

Neptune:What are you a detective? Wait, are you? *eyes widen*

Judy:No, you’re just really bad under pressure. That’s enough of you talking about what you do with females at parties. We have time to kill. *grabs his hand*

Neptune:*red* Where are we going?

Judy:Standing in one spot is boring! We’re going on a little walk on beach. Maybe get our feet a little wet?

Neptune:That’s...you see....bodies of w..water and I don’t exactly go together!

Judy:Yeah right. Your name is Neptune and I can see the goggles on your head.

Neptune:(I’ve made a terrible choice in fashion. Sun, I don’t know how but you owe me for this one.)

xxxx

Yang:Oh, you’re back....

Sun:Yeah, I have a room here....

The two of them stood in the doorway of Blake’s house. Not many people have come to enjoy the festivities inside yet but those who did were treated to uneasy tension the two radiated. Neither of them had changed. In situations like these, you come prepared for the worst.

Yang:I don’t want to argue with you.

Sun:Me either.

Yang:So why does it feel like we’re one bad move away screaming our heads off.

Sun:Because you’re obviously defensive over this. As for me, I’m.....sad.

Yang:*frown* You’re not sad Sun. I know what sad is. What you are is hurt. Badly. Not that I blame you.

Sun:But you still insist on rubbing it in my face knowing how I feel? I thought you were better than that.

Yang:That’s not what- listen, I get it. I started ya off on bad terms and might’ve...deserved some choice words. My bad. Can we at least try to look past that?

Sun:*folds arms*....For Blake.

Yang:For Blake.

Kali:*walks up* Well that was a sorry excuse for an apology. Shouldn’t huntsman be somewhat good with deterring hostile situations. Both of you are scaring guest. Now I may not know the complete ins and outs of your problems but I know Blake cherishes you both; I cherish you both. Ghira might not show it but Sun, he is fond of you.

Something about hearing that made him smile a little. It would’ve been nice for Ghira to say it himself but still, it was nice.

Kali:If one of you is upset then Blake is upset. If both of you are upset with each other then you better believe that Blake will be concerned and I’ll be mad at both of you. So please, actually try and forgive one another; faking it won’t solve the problem. You’ll only end up more hurt.

Yang and Sun:.......Yes ma’am.

Kali:Sun?

Sun:Yes?

Kali:I hope you know that you don’t have to force yourself to okay so soon? As much as I would be thrilled if you were, we all know that’s not how these things work. Take your time. After all, this isn’t some physical injury you got. You’re heart broken.

He was. Sun didn’t really want to give it that label. Him and Blake definitely shared a lot of deep moments together since they met but they weren’t exactly plentiful. Yet somehow Blake....really captivated him. She was special to him. That feeling itself hasn’t changed. there was now simply miserable end layer that followed it; like bitter sweet chocolate. Coming here in the first place was struggle on its own. His chest felt heavy and face slightly warm. It felt wrong to not be completely happy for Blake. It felt selfish....

Yang:You know, Blake is still getting ready. Kali and I can tell her you stopped by to let her know you just weren’t feeling well? If that’s what you wanna do that is.

Sun:..Yeah. That might be for the best right now. *rubs head* Tell her I’m sorry too.

Yang watched him turn around and begin walking down the stairs. Guilt didn’t stop with him. Even she had to admit this isn’t what she wanted. Seeing Sun low spirited was unnatural. Things couldn’t end like that; not completely poor. “Sun!” She called out to him without thinking and ran to him. Sun turned just in time to receive an unexpected hug from the blonde bruiser. It took a moment before he returned it in kind.

Sun:.....

Kali:*smiling*

Yang:Please feel better. I mean that. You’re just not you without a smile. I’m...I’m sorry I took that from you. I didn’t mean to.

Sun:Something was going to be collateral. No way around that. Thanks though; I needed a hug.

Sun spent no time putting distance between himself and that house. The sunset had was finally fading int night and with it brought more active people out and about. Many heading to where he just left, but some preferred to make the streets their dance floor. He wasn’t quite in a mood for it however. Instead he sat alone on a bench near the beach entrance and closed his eyes.

‘I wonder where the other are? They should be around here somewhere. Heh, Ilia is totally gonna be pissed that I didn’t follow through. Well, not exactly. At least Yang and I seem a bit more friendly. Still, so much for a part do over’

“Someone looks pretty gloomy for them to claim that making friends is their so called secret semblance.” The sarcastic tone was all he needed to hear in order to know Ilia was right in front of him.

“Hi Ilia.” No effort was put into making that sound cheery. “Sun, please tell me I didn’t get dressed for nothing?” His eyebrows scrunched at her words in confusion before actually deciding to take a look at the her. Ilia wore a simple white tank top and jean shorts that looked ripped by her own doing. They were faded and stopped halfway down her thighs. The most surprising part about the outfit, other than it being like colors, was her shoes. Sun didn’t expect Ilia to own a pair of high top sneakers. They were so blue with yellow stitching.

Sun:Where are the others?

Ilia:Don’t know; I just got here.

Sun:What? Shouldn’t you have been here like an hour ago?

Ilia:*red* I-I almost bailed. I’m sorry...

Sun:Don’t be. I kinda wished you did. It would make me feel a lot better about not holding up my end of the bargain.

Ilia:Someone looks like they have a story to tell. Or a reason to scream?

Sun:Try both.

Ilia:I just might. After you tell me about it first. Scoot over.

xxxx

Ilia:....

Sun:Well? No comments?

Ilia:Oh I have comments. They’re just mostly I told you so. Seriously, I’m the one who suggested getting space away from this situation in the first place!

Sun:I’m pretty sure you did not phrase it as kind. “Screw Blake Belladonna mentality” was what you said.

Ilia:Same difference. You got the message.

Sun:Yeah. Sorry, you were right. If you wanna go home then I won’t stop you. I’m not in much of a party mood anyways.

Ilia:.....

Ilia:Too bad

Sun:What?

Ilia:I said too bad. I’m already dressed and out here. You’re stuck with me. We decided on three hours right? Plenty of time to turn this night around.

Sun:But-

Ilia:Too bad....*grins* Listen, would you really rather sit here alone and bummed out. At least around me you’ll look cheery by comparison.

Sun:That’s pretty when you think about Ilia.

Ilia:Trust me, I know. So let’s at least try to fix that!

Her words and attitude were picking up steam so to speak. Only a little awhile ago did Sun hear the girl want to do nothing but lay around but now she was at least trying to give him positive vibes to feed off on. He hasn’t seen this much enthusiasm since their race. “You’re a real haggler aren’t ya?”

“You’re one to talk, banana breath.” She folded her arms and smirked with pride. The petty insult managed to put more of a smile on his face. “Look at that, you’re looking better already.” He playfully rolled his eyes; she might’ve been right though. He’d let her have this little victory if it meant her spirits was lifted too. A smile on her face was beginning to be a rare thing.

The two kept trying to read each other’s facial expression in an attempt to get some sort of edge over the other to tease them about. That all stopped however when the same thought came to both of them. ‘How long have I been staring?’ Unknowingly this had been going on for a couple minutes. Not only that, they hadn’t realized how physically close they had gotten in the process. Someway, somehow, Ilia had inched closer to him until there was almost no space between them except for hands that were finger nails apart. Sun was no better. He was so focused on reading her that he actually had leaned in a bit. Their faces only a few inches away. Ilia’s skin flashed pink briefly before her immediate jolt backwards away from him. Sun wondered if she had noticed? He wouldn’t bring it up if she didn’t. Even he could tell his face was probably a bit flushed from the unexpected breach of personal space.

Sun:S..Sorry about-

Ilia:No, it’s fine. My bad. We’re cool......

Sun:Cool. Cool...*rubs head* so uhh, let’s find Neptune I guess?

Ilia:Sounds like a plan!

They hop up from the bench and begin looking too see if they could spot him. “Judy was with him whe he called me. I’m sure they’re on the beach.”

“Let’s go then.” His mind instinctively went to grab her hand. He had caught what he was about to do but before he could backpedal, Ilia’s hand met his halfway and grabbed it. Her own subconscious action startled her. She had seen his hand swing back to her and simply...reached for it. Ilia looked at their hands then at Sun who was more than a little embarrassed by the incident.

Sun:I-

Ilia:Yeah, this crowd is getting pretty big. Wouldn’t want to get split and then have to find each other too.

She couldn’t tell if she was giving him an out, being logical, or rationalizing what happened to herself; and she wasn’t about to linger on it. Now was the time for fun. Anything else can be dealt with another day. Ilia took the lead and lead him to the beach.

Part8