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pandas-nsfw · 1 year ago

Note

Could I possibly request c!Dream smut with a winged male reader?

Preferably bottom reader with a praise kink and knife play if that's alright-

Of course sweetheart, thank you for requesting <3

Between the limbo of your feathers

C!Dream x Amab!Reader.

Friendly reminder this is with their Minecraft personas! I don't write about CCs.

Read rules before requesting~°♪

Warnings: Praise kink, Knife kink, Knife play, Bottom reader, “Songbird” used as a nickname for reader. Spanking (once)

C/N: I apologize for this coming out so late. No inspiration plus class starting for me in my country (law class) made it hard for it to end. I hope you enjoy this, my pretty sins.

He knew it was dangerous. Whenever he would like to admit it or not, be with you would only attract danger. Either to him or you, he knew the risk that it contained. He knew it too well, even for his own liking.

But he couldn't stop. His heart ache for you, and just craved more of your existence. Your attitude and personality, undeniable charming that got him locked between your fingers, as he slowly craved for more than just your attention. He lost it the moment your wings spread wide in front of his eyes.

Beautiful mahogany wings, spread open as you layed down in the middle of the forest. Grass and leafs slowly touching and decorating your wings. If it wasn't for his mask, anybody would have catched quite quickly how down he was for your mere existence, as his forest green eyes never once would stop staring at you, controlling that you were okay and afar from danger.

He stared with greed and lust, as you softly moved alongside the air. Your wings rustling against the dirt, your mind absent from whatever you where doing, just getting lost in the song the wind brought to you. And he loved every second he would see you move.

Your eyes found his presence, and the smile you gave him was enough to drive his whole mind crazy. He knew he wasn't in the right state of mind, god, he wasn't dumb. But there wasn't anything else he would do.

Slowly, soft but slowly, his hands found their way to your waist. Your wings jumped, as they were slight startled by the unexpected movement. But willingly you let yourself be drown into the blond's warmth, slowly dancing against the melody you found and he was following.

The moon shined brightly, and it was only then when you realized the time that had passed. You didn't notice when it turned dark, your mind lost away in the mesmerising dancing you both had.

His voice, shushed like who tells a secret, rasped next to your ear. Soft words making you shiver by how low they were. "Songbird..." He called you, the fresh air around you starting to tense. As your body was practically glued to each other. "Dream?" You mumbled back, your eyes fearing to leave his white mask.

"You dance beautifully, songbird", he hushed, his breath feeling even closer to your neck. "Why don't you show me how well you can move in other places?", You swore you heard the way he smirked underneath the mask. "That's a bit risky, isn't it?" You whispered, not looking away from him once. Not even when his hands started to travel slowly alongside your body; his slim fingers barely teasing your stomach all up to your chest.

"Oh, songbird, everything about you it's risky for me", he whispered in your ears, a sweet-like venom lacing from his tongue with ease. "That doesn't mean I'll lay back." You could feal his slicked tongue lick the lobule of your ear, stealing a broken gasp from your lips. "So? Whatcha say, songbird? Will you sing for me?"

You're not sure you never agreed to something that quickly.

You barely remember how the both of you ended up in a 'secret base' he had. All you knew is that the second you stepped forward you ended up layed down on what seemed a huge map engraved on a table. If you payed enough attention, you would have seen all the countries and who lived where.

But that kind of information didn't matter when you got a hot psychotic blond over you with promises of an unforgettable night.

Dream hummed as he stared down at your body laying down on the table. A sly smirk decorating his lips as one of his hands started to trail down your body. "Look at you, songbird~" he commented as he scanned you from head to toes, "looking so pretty underneath me," he reached near your ear as his left hand made its way to your wings, "left alone at my mercy."

His shushed tone made you unconsciously shiver, making him chuckle darker as he petted your wings. "If they were white you'll probably look like an angel, right now. Although they're prettier this way, don't you think?" He teased you, his lips making contact with your neck as words were whispered against your skin. You drowned a moan down your throat, making a pathetic whimper instead.

Dream seemed content with the sound, as you felt his smile grew against your neck. "Come on now, songbird, you can be louder than this can't you?" He mocked you. Grabbing you by your chin to make you look at him. You didn't know how, but you definitely thought he looked hotter.

He gave a little 'tuck' on your shirt, silently asking for permission to take it off. You nodded as he kept staring, only to be completely naked in front of him. Splayed down on the table like a meal for him to satisfy himself. Dream took you by your chin and kissed you; feeling warm coldness fuse against your lips.

You were drown on the way he moved and kissed you. The intoxicating way he touched you so calculated; nothing more than a mere winged puppet. A silent cry made you choke, feeling a silver cold against your skin. You felt him smile before breaking the kiss. "What's wrong, songbird? You were doing so good for me" he teased, innocently as if he didn't know what he was doing.

Your eyes tried their best to see the metal against your throat, his eyes following yours and chuckling at the realization. "Oh? You're searching this?" He showed you the dagger he was holding. You looked frightened, and as much as he loved to influence fear in others, making you fear him in such a heated situation wasn't ideal. "There's no need to fear, songbird, I won't hurt you..." He trailed off, giving small, soft kisses to your neck.

"You had been too good for me to even think of hurting you, that wouldn't be fair, would it?" He taunted, words growing deeper into your brain. "It's just to make it a little more fun, songbird, you just have to control your movement or otherwise..." He pressed the dagger against your neck, not making you bleed in the process. "This little dagger will stain your body with a wonderful crimson red" he smirked.

The idea was twisted. And if you weren't as lost as you were right now for that man, the idea should have been repulsive to you, not turning you on like it did. You whimpered softly, making him grin even wider. "I'll treat you good, pretty boy" he whispered in your ear, earning a swallow moan at the pet name.

You could felt his mouth moving expertly around your dick. Of all things you knew he was good at, you didn't expect that he would be this good at giving blowjobs. "D-Dream~" you groaned, one of your hands coming in touch with his golden locks. He hummed in acknowledge, sending vibrations down your dick, making you moan at the feeling. "D-Dream, fuck- I'm gonna- I'm gonna cum, please" you begged, whining at the lost of his mouth.

You stared at him with watery eyes, looking disappointed and upset for him stopping. "Come on now, songbird, don't give me that look" he hummed, taking you by your chin. "I can't let you come yet, if you're going to do it, it will be with my dick up your ass" he whispered in your ear, a soft whine escaping your lips. "Now, be a good boy and turn around for me, alright?" He mumbled, walking away from you to let you move freely.

Shakily, you turned around on the map table, exposing your ass to the psycho behind you. He loved it nonetheless. As his hands roamed your body and caressed it. "Mmm..." There was a low hum you could hear from him, "Your body is missing something..."

Next thing you knew, you yelped in pain as he started to carve something on your body. "Sh... The pain will be over soon, pretty boy" he mumbled, you didn't need to turn around to know he was smirking. "There we go".

Tears ran out of your eyes, your body trembling weakly as you felt his tongue —warm and slickly— liking your tights, carrying a warm liquid with him. You gazed back at him, seeing his tongue stained with blood. "Pretty thing" he muttered.

"W-What did you carve...?" You asked between sobs, the pain being too much for you body in that instant. The blond smirked as his hands came in touch with your body. "Why, I carved my own mark on you, pretty boy" he whispered in your ear. A soft whine escaped your lips at the possessiveness he was speaking with. "Now, everyone that tries to fuck your pretty body will know you belong to me, songbird."

You sobbed softly to the map, your body still reacting positive at his touch and sweet poisoned words. "Now, do I have your permission to ruin your pretty body in a pleasurable way?" He mumbled, his voice getting into you and going straight up to your dick, who twitched at the mere idea of being used by the blond man. "Y-Yes... Ruin me please", and that was enough for him.

You hear a small sound of a chest opening underneath the table you were exposed on, followed by the sound of a bottle cap opening. "I don't know if you ever have fingered yourself, songbird, but it this might hurt a little" he warned you, softly pushing inside of you a finger wet in some sort of liquid you didn't get to see.

A small hiss came out from your lips, he wasn't moving his finger until he felt you were getting used to the feeling.

The movement was slow at the start, speeding up bit by bit as he pushed a second finger inside of you. A soft moan came out from your lips, the feeling of Dream's fingers inside of you turning to feel better than you could ever imagine (not that you had fantasized about having sex with the biggest psychopath of the entire server for half a year, of course, who would have thought about that?), And he seemed to notice too. A third finger coming in and started to pound you as fast and deep as he could, purposely avoiding that sweet spot that could cause so much pleasure for you.

He admired how much of a wreck he was leaving you to be just with his fingers. All your sweet sounds reaching out for him in the best ways, it did fulfill his ego, probably more than it ever should, but as you kept on moaning and whimpering his name, with silent prayers for more, he felt like he actually deserved feeling this prideful about his work.

"There we go, songbird, sing for me, doing so good" he praised you, focusing on every little reaction your body made for his words and actions. "Such a good boy, taking my fingers so good, bet you'll be even louder once I fill you up like you deserve, hmm?" His words resounded in your mind, as if his words were the only truth your mind could process. "Yeah? Think you'll be able to take my cock as good as you're taking my fingers, songbird?" You helplessly nodded, moaning against the map as his fingers barely brushed your prostate.

"More, Dream, please, more". 'More' didn't meant the lack of fingers inside of you, but Dream did it anyway, scoffing at your whine for the loss of being full. "Whiny, don't worry pretty boy, you'll get filled soon."

You wanted to protest, but your throat betrayed you by whining as you felt something bigger than Dream's fingers make pressure against your hole. "D-Dream" you whimpered, your whines becoming louder as he slowly made his way into you, and fuck if he wasn't big. "Fuck, fuck, fuck-" you chanted under your breath, your breathing becoming shorter as you tried to get use to the feeling.

"So tight, songbird, first time feeling something up your ass?" He asked with a mix between mocking and genuine curiosity, his hands rubbing softly your hips as he waited for you to get used to him. You nodded then shook your head. "Fingers, it's all I had" you mumbled, your breathing becoming more steady. Dream gave you an acknowledgment hum, his eyes never leaving your body.

Your hips wiggled a bit, wanting Dream to move already. "Ready for me, songbird?" He asked in a sushed tone, still caressing your body like it was going to break. "Mhm, please Dream" you whimpered, being cut off at the end of your sentence by a soft moan.

Dream hummed, taking his time with you besides not being so patient himself. His hips rammed slowly against your skin, enjoying himself with the sweet moans you were leaving out. "Sound so pretty, song bird" he groaned, your hole tightened by the pleasure. "Relax dar', I'm not going anywhere" he hummed.

"More, please Dream, fuck me" you demanded, earning a small spank on your ass that had you gasping, you cursed yourself out for being turned out by that. "Come on now, pretty boy, don't be a brat when you're doing so good" he threatened, smiling to himself when he saw you nodding softly. "Won't happen again..."

"Oh, darling, I know that, you're so good for me, aren't you?" He taunted you, his hands caressing your tights as he kept on fucking you slowly. "I asked you a question, songbird, I would like an answer", you helplessly nodded, "I'm good, I'm a good boy for you" you whined, getting high on the feeling of being fucked.

That man surely was intoxicating.

"Good boy, I should recompense that, shouldn't I?" You could hear his smirk, and with no warning before hand, you cried out with your head on the table. Dream had started to fuck you faster than before, which meant he also went deep enough to drive you crazy.

"Fuck-!" You moaned as you helplessly tried to grab onto something. Adrenaline and the high of having sex starting to numb your brain.

"There we go, songbird, doing so good," he mumbled as he kept on searching for a specific spot. A loud moan, accompanied by your legs giving up, let him know that he had found that weak spot. A grin covering his lips as he decided to abuse such point.

Your head was completely dizzy, barely understanding what was happening around you as you felt Dream's dick fuck you endlessly. It was too much, but so good you didn't want it to end, it showed in the way your wings didn't stop moving up and down, barely hurting themselves in the process.

Your body, however, seemed to have other plans. Feeling the knot in your stomach warning you of it's soon release.

"D-Dream, gonna- ah," you got cut off with a moan as your head rested violently on the huge map.

"Close already, songbird?" He taunted, his hands standing firmly on your hips. "Mmm... Suppose I can let you come already, you've been so good for me," he hummed, dragging you closer to him by your hips. Ending deeper inside you in the process, your body was going to give up any second.

"Let go, songbird, cum for me," he whispered in your ear, like a dirty secret that sent shivers through your spine. "Let me know how good I'm making you feel."

Your body obeyed like a servant, coming untouched as Dream fucked you through your orgasm. Whining as he slowed his pace.

"Sh... Good boy, so good for me," he hummed as he caressed your back, letting you calm down from your high.

"Dre..." You slurred out his name, whining as you tried to move against his body. Dream didn't let you, keeping you on your spot with his hands. Not too harsh, but strong enough for you to not move. "Haven't cum..." You mumbled, the sentence making more sense in your head than your words.

"Don't worry about me, I won't abuse your body just yet, songbird," he stated, his hands travelling up to your hair to play with it. A soft smile crossed his lips, "Maybe next time, if you're good."

You didn't have any place to protest anymore, as his soft movements started to make you sleepy. Soon enough, you were completely defenseless next to the blond man, as you fell asleep on Morpheus's arms.

#dreamwastaken smut #mcyt smut #dreamwastaken #dream #dsmp smut #dreamwastaken x reader #dream x reader #sins #sinners #Lust

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thewitcheswitch89 · 4 months ago

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The Witches Image

Papa Emeritus IV - Part 28

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Min Heyoka (@TheWitcheswitch89) - Wattpad

Copia led you back to his apartment, his arm around your waist for comfort and support. Once inside, he gently led you to the couch. He went to the kitchen to get an ice pack from the fridge. He returned and placed it on your throat.

Copia settled on the couch beside you, his arm still wrapped around your waist, giving you a sense of security. He remained silent for a moment, just holding you in his arms as he watched you cry silently into his chest.

Finally, he spoke softly, breaking the silence. "It's going to be okay," he reassured you, his voice soft and steady. "Madison is in good hands. The others will look after her."

"Lilith won't stop until she gets what she wants...and she's affecting the people around me now...because she can't reach me," you cried. Still feeling the pain in your throat, you cough.

Copia held you close, his grip tightening as he listened to your words. He knew only too well what lengths Lilith would go to get what she wanted.

"We won't let her control us," Copia replied, his voice firm. "We will find a way to stop her."

He put his hand gently to your throat, feeling the pain and hearing the cough. "Does it still hurt?" he asked, concern etched into his face.

"I thought she was going to kill me!" you cried in a sore voice.

Copia pulled you closer, his arms wrapped around you protectively. He could hear the rawness in your voice, the pain and fear that still lingered in your mind.

"Shh... calm down," he said softly, his own voice hoarse with emotion. "You're okay. You're safe. Lilith won't get to you."

"because you are with me! but how is that even possible?"

Copia pondered your question, his mind trying to make sense of the situation. It was true that you seemed safer with him around, as if his presence acted as a buffer against Lilith's influence.

"I'm not sure," he admitted, his voice filled with a mixture of confusion and concern. "But I'm not leaving your side. We'll figure it out together."

"Maybe because of your Papa?", you said.

Copia considered your suggestion, his mind working to find a rational explanation.

"Perhaps that could be it," he replied, his voice thoughtful. "As Papa Emeritus IV, I have a certain amount of power and authority within the Church. Maybe there's something about my position that protects you, shields you from Lilith's influence."

"Or... or because your love is like a shield!"

Copia smiled softly at your words, his heart swelling with affection for you.

"Perhaps you're right," he said, his eyes filled with tenderness. "Love is a powerful force. Perhaps it has created a protective barrier around you, keeping Lilith at bay and ensuring your safety."

"But she said she would find a way!"

Copia listened intently as you recounted the threat Lilith had made. His jaw clenched, anger and determination etched on his face.

"Then we must be vigilant," he said firmly. "We can't underestimate Lilith's power or her desire to get what she wants. We have to stay one step ahead of her, and we have to work together to keep you safe."

You coughed.

Copia stroked your back gently as you coughed, his touch comforting and soothing.

"You should rest," he said, his voice soft. "You've been through a lot, and your throat needs time to heal. I'll watch over you, okay? I won't let anything happen to you."

He helped you up and led you to the bedroom.

Copia led you to the bedroom, his steps slow and steady. Once inside, he carefully helped you lay down on the bed, fluffing the pillows behind your head for added comfort.

He sat on the edge of the bed, his eyes never leaving you. "Sleep," he whispered, his hand coming up to gently brush a strand of hair away from your face.

You nodded.

Copia continued to sit beside you, watching as you closed your eyes and surrendered to the embrace of sleep. He sat there, his own thoughts and worries swirling in his mind, but he remained vigilant. He had promised to keep you safe, and he would keep that promise with every fiber of his being.

When he was sure you were asleep, he sat and waited for Terzo, hoping he would bring good news.

Copia sat watching over you, his eyes alert as he watched carefully. Time seemed to pass slowly, but after a while there was a knock at the door. Copia rose to answer it and found Terzo standing on the other side.

Terzo sighed as he entered, his expression serious and tired. "She's fine, for now," he replied, his voice equally hushed. "The others have her in one of the private rooms. They're watching her closely, and we've stationed some siblings to keep an eye out."

Copia led Terzo inside, closing the door quietly behind him. He glanced back into the bedroom to make sure you were still asleep.

"How is Madison?" Copia asked. his voice soft and full of concern.

Terzo sighed as he entered, his expression grave and tired. "She's fine, for now," he replied, his voice equally hushed. "The others have her in one of the private rooms. They're watching her closely, and we've stationed some siblings to keep an eye out."

"What about the exorcism?"

Terzo's face darkened as he answered, his voice heavy with ominous news. "They are preparing for it. They're gathering the necessary supplies and preparing the ritual room. It will be a difficult and dangerous process."

Copia's heart sank when he heard Terzo's words. An exorcism was not something to be taken lightly, and the fact that it had come to this filled him with dread. "When will it begin?" he asked, his voice deep and tense.

"Tonight," Terzo replied, his tone determined. "The sooner, the better at this point. The longer we wait, the more time we give Lilith to work her influence. We need to be proactive and take action now."

Copia nodded, his mind racing with thoughts and concerns. "I understand," he said. "I just hope everything goes smoothly...and that we can save Madison from the demon. Maybe he is gone."

Terzo placed a reassuring hand on Copia's shoulder, his expression sympathetic. "Trust the Church and the power of the ritual. We've done this many times. We know what we're doing. We'll get through this and save Madison."

"The next step will be Lia!" said Copia. "We have to act...this can't go on like this...!"

Terzo nodded in agreement, his expression becoming more serious. "You're right. If Madison is possessed now to bring Lilith's message to Lia...the danger for her is only increasing...we have to find a way to stop Lilith's influence on Lia!"

Copia's determination flared within him, and his hands clenched into fists at his sides. "We will not let Lilith win," he said firmly. "We will find a way to counter her influence, to protect Lia from her manipulation."

"But how? Lia does not seem to be possessed by Lilith as we once thought," Terzo said quietly.

Copia furrowed his brow, silently pondering Terzo's words. "You are right," he replied slowly. "But if she's not possessed by Lilith, then why is she having all these nightmares and sleepwalking episodes? ?"

Terzo shrugged, his expression troubled. "That's the million dollar question," he replied. "There has to be something else at play here, something we're missing. But whatever it is, we need to find out and stop it before it gets any worse."

"The only problem is... if she is only safe with me? How am I supposed to fulfill my duties...Sister Imperator will be furious!" said Copia.

Terzo grimaced at the mention of Sister Imperator's impending wrath. "You're right," he agreed. "This definitely complicates things. You can't be at her side all the time, Copia. You have your duties as Papa to attend to."

"But we cannot risk leaving her alone and giving Lilith a way to get to her," Copia said.

Terzo nodded solemnly, his face etched with concern. "You are right. But at the same time, we can't have you at her side every second of the day. We can't let Lilith control our every move and action. There has to be a way to keep you both safe without compromising your duties as Papa."

"But how?", Coia said frustrated.

Terzo sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm not sure yet," he admitted. "But we'll think of something. We have to. We can't let Lilith keep manipulating and threatening us. We'll find a way to keep you both safe. We always do."

Copia nodded, his resolve not wavering despite the uncertainty. "We will find a way," he repeated, his voice firm. "We have to. I refuse to let Lilith win. We will protect Lia, and we will stop her from doing any more damage. No matter what it takes."

With that, Terzo left the apartment. They agreed to meet the next day with the other Elders.

The next day, all four papas stood in a private room, their expressions serious and determined. The room was filled with a sense of urgency as they gathered to discuss the situation with Lia and find a way to protect her from Lilith's influence.

"We need a plan," Terzo said, breaking the silence. "We can't keep Copia at Lia's side 24/7. We need a way to keep her safe without compromising his own duties as a Papa."

The other Papas nodded in agreement, their faces showing that they were all struggling with the same problem.

"Exactly," Secondo agreed, his eyes narrowing. "We need a solution that allows us to keep Lia safe while still allowing Copia to fulfill his responsibilities."

Secondo crossed his arms, deep in thought. "Perhaps we could increase the security around her, station more siblings to watch over her and protect her," he suggested.

"Ghouls would be better!" said Nihil.

Terzo nodded in agreement with Nihil. "I was thinking the same thing," he said. "Ghouls are stronger and more capable than the siblings. We could assign some of the more capable and trustworthy to watch over them."

Primo nodded. "Ok. Who will go and tell Copia?"

The four Papas looked at each other, their expressions all saying the same thing: they weren't looking forward to telling Copia the news.

"I'll go," Terzo finally volunteered with a heavy sigh.

The other Papas nodded in agreement, thankful that they wouldn't have to face Copia's irritation and protest.

"Good luck," Secondo muttered, a wry smile on his face.

Terzo rolled his eyes, but couldn't help a small grin. "Yeah, yeah," he replied. "I'll do my best, but don't be surprised if I come back with a few burns."

The other Papas chuckled, knowing all too well Copia's temperamental nature.

"Try not to upset him too much, huh?" Primo teased, a grin on his face.

"No promises," Terzo quipped, a cheeky tone in his voice. "You know how he gets when someone tells him what to do."

Secondo laughed. "Oh, I know all too well. Just don't forget to duck if he throws a chair or something."

"Noted," Terzo replied, his grin widening. "I'll dodge the flying furniture with grace and finesse."

"Try not to lose an eye, huh?" Primo chimed in, chuckling.

Terzo rolled his eyes, but a small grin tugged at the corner of his lips. "I'll do my best to keep both eyeballs intact," he assured.

#papa emeritus iv #ghost band #cardinal copia #ghostbandfanfic #the band ghost #occult #papa terzo #papa emeritus iii x female reader

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pitterpatterpot · 3 years ago

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I for the life of me couldn’t find the original post so here’s this prompt story once more:

Hello sweetie! Can I give you a Lion's Pride prompt? If you don't feel like it or if you don't like it, feel free to ignore.

Aedion: "YOU GAVE AWAY YOUR FIRST BORN IN A BET!"

Gavriel: "I NEVER PLANNED TO HAVE YOU AEDION"

Aedion: "ooh is that suppose to make me feel better? because it doesn't."

Gavriel: "i'm sorry, I promis i'll fix it."

(cadre's name that won the bet 100 years ago): "your mine now boyo. You're my son now, time to raise you. Wait how do you raise a child?"

~~~

“Aedion Ashryver, you get your blond ass here right this minute!”

Aedion freezes, looking down the long, winding hallway that leads to the throne room. He approaches said room, expecting Aelin to be sitting on her throne with a devilish smirk. If their last stunt is anything to go by, Rowan will attempt to banish him. But that wasn’t the kings voice summoning him. So he expects Rowan and maybe a formal advisor or two, trying to find a loophole around the immunity Aelin gifted him.

Not for Rowan to be sitting in his throne with an exasperated look, Vaughan doing a small small dance next to him while Gavriel sits on the small steps leading up to the thrones with his head in his hands. Fenrys stands to the side, leaning against a wall with his arms crossed.

“Has... something happened?” Aedion asks.

Vaughan throws his arms up in victory as Gavriel moans. It’s the first time Aedion has ever viewed the other male so animated and expressive.

“I have a son!” Vaughan announces.

Aedion’s brows fly up in surprise, his eyes cutting over to Fenrys. “You two are taking in a child?”

Fenrys finally cracks a smile, looking away, shoulders shaking. “This is more of Vaughan’s thing. But I would be honoured if you accepted me in that c-capacity.”

The male breaks off at the end, wheezing and doubling over. Gavriel releases a pitying whine. Aedion looks between the four of them, from Vaughan’s small dance to his fathers clear dismay.

“I need more information,” Aedion announces.

~~~

“-so we all thought Gavriel would never, never have a bastard child, out of all of us,” Vaughan explains, a wide grin splitting his face. “But, obviously, you exist. And that’s the story.”

Aedion blinks, then laughs. Rowan looks at him with a raised brow, Gavriel staring in horror at his reaction. Unaware of their expressions Aedion looks to Vaughan, grinning.

“Very funny story,” Aedion grins. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have about forty kids waiting outside for basic self defence classes.”

“Aedion,” Rowan’s form tone stops him. “This is not a jest. They both swore on the bet in old tongue. By all fae laws, it is legitimate.”

Turning back, Aedion blinks. Then whirls to Gavriel.

“YOU GAVE AWAY YOUR FIRST BORN IN A BET!” Aedion roars, tensing in anger. “Who does that?!”

“I NEVER PLANNED TO HAVE YOU, AEDION,” Gavriel yells back, face twisted in panic and dismay, his raised voice a sign of how frazzled he’s become.

“Ooh,” Aedion narrows his eyes, crossing his arms and leaning back, “is that supposed to make me feel better? Because it doesn’t!”

“I’m sorry, I promise I’ll fix it,” Gavriel swears, near tears.

Vaughan cackles from where he stands. “You’re mine now, boyo. You're my son now, time to raise you,” hesitation flickers briefly in Vaughan’s stance. “Wait, how do you raise a child?”

“You tell me,” Gavriel mutters, head bowed to the floor and rubbing his brow.

Aedion glares at his father out of the corner of his eye as he addresses Vaughan. “You’re not raising shit. Now all of you fuck off and find a way to fix this or I’ll disown all of you.”

“I’ve done nothing!” Fenrys scowls.

“You laughed,” Aedion hisses, turning on his heel and storming out.

“You couldn’t have had a less dramatic child,” Rowan snaps at Gavriel.

“Well, he was just traded away,” Vaughan grins, rubbing his hands together. “Now, if you’ll excuse me- son, wait! Let’s have lunch!”

Gavriel whines, crumpling once again as Vaughan chases after Aedion.

~~~

“There has to be some loophole,” Gavriel mutters, hunched over an ancient text in the library. “A fae oath must have some method of cancellation.”

“Don’t ask me, I didn’t even know the scholars managed to hide books this old,” Aelin hums, pouring over a large, leather bound book. “Maybe there’s a Wyd mark I could use... why did it have to be an oath? Couldn’t you have just done an ordinary bet?”

“I was drunk,” Gavriel groans, leaning back in his chair.

Rowan walks in, placing another book on the library table. A fine layer of dust covers the king thanks to his trips into the deepest basements of the library.

“Most of the rest are water damaged,” he informs them, sighing through his nose. “It’s lucky you two didn’t make a blood pact on it; oaths and promises through magic are more likely to be reversed.”

“Where is Aedion?” Aelin questions.

“He’s playing catch with Vaughan.”

Gavriel chokes.

~~~

“Is he watching?” Aedion asks through his smile, passing Vaughan a ball.

The male laughs as he catches it, nearly looking to one of the many palace windows that peer down into the gardens. “You’re a cruel child. You do realise this is killing him?”

“He deserves it. Now pass it back and look like we’re bonding.”

“I think he’s weeping.”

“Good. After this do you want to go on a hunt with a few members of the Bane and I?”

Vaughan perks. “I would be overjoyed.”

“Excellent. But just so you know, we can get...” Aedion smirks, “...a little wild.”

“Nothing I won’t be able to handle.”

~~~

“Looks like Vaughan will just have to willingly pass parenthood of Aedion back over to Gavriel,” Rowan sighs, rubbing his temple as he closes a book placed on the war rooms table. “With that this entire meeting can be done with.”

All present Cadre members nod from their places, Aedion glowering and Aelin and Lysandra raising a brow each. Vaughan nods in his seat, skin strangely pale and clammy.

“Two days of research for that,” Fenrys snorts. “Alright Vaughan, give Aedion back to Gavriel.”

“I’m not some loaf of bread to be traded!”

“Of course not!” Gavriel quickly placates his son. “That’s not what anyone meant.”

“The issue with all this,” Vaughan clicks his tongue, a glint in his eyes, “is that I’ve quite enjoyed having a child. I’m not sure I’m ready to stop being a father.”

“I will find you a baby,” Gavriel whirls on him, snarling. “My son, now.”

Eyes wide, Vaughan nods. “I pass parenthood of Aedion Ashryver onto Gavriel, the Lion. May my position be removed and passed onto him.”

They clasp hands, all the tension releasing in Gavriel’s shoulders as a flow of magic transfers between them.

“Interesting,” Aelin murmurs, eyes fixed on where their hands meet.

“There,” Aedion huffs. “And no one in this family is ever allowed to place me as collateral on a bet ever again.”

“...I may need to speak to Kyllian...”

“Lysandra!”

Rowan and Vaughan watch as everyone files out of the room, Lysandra and Gavriel both arguing with Aedion as Aelin and Fenrys laugh. Rowan turns to Vaughan once the door is firmly shut behind them.

“You couldn’t wait to be rid of him, could you?” Rowan smirks.

Vaughan laughs weakly, shoulders drooping. “That obvious? We went on a hunt and things were more intense then I expected.”

“It couldn’t have been that-“

“I found a grey hair, Rowan!”

#tog #gavriel #aedion ashryver #prompt #ask

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lick-me-lennon22 · 3 years ago

Text

How they calm you down when you're very stressed/having a breakdown 💜

thanks so much to @betchq who requested this one! hope you enjoy :) 💕

(these ended up wayyy too long.. whoops :P)

Paul:

it's all too much- you can't take it anymore

one minute you're sitting on the bed venting to Paul about work and family troubles- frustrated, but not devastated- and suddenly you've spiraled again

you're practically hyperventilating, gripping the duvet so hard your knuckles turn white, sobbing about how unfair the world is and how you'll never truly be happy

"Woah, woah, what's this all about darling?" he interjects tenderly, a gentle finger lifting your chin up to look at him, briefly breaking you from the hope-devouring clutches of your panicked mind

"It's -*hic*- just too m-much to handle Paul, I -*hic*- c-cant do it anymore," you manage to squeak out between sobs, your voice wavering and your lip quivering

Paul gazes into your tear-filled eyes, scanning them with his own in an attempt to gain understanding, a deeply concerned expression on his face

he places a firm, loving hand on each of your shoulders, eyes still locked on yours

"Listen to me, my love- nothing, and I mean nothing, is so wrong or bad that you can't take it on, or that this world would be better off without you. I know things are difficult for ye right now and it's completely understandable that you're overwhelmed- but you will get through this. And I will stay glued to your side every step of the way"

you inhale shakily, the cascade of tears that once flowed down your cheeks slowing to a halt as Paul continues his pep talk:

"Regardless of how daunting and scary it seems and no matter what it takes, you are going to be okay- more than okay, you are going to get through this and emerge from it even better off and happier than ever before. Ye hear me?" he says sincerely- his gaze stern, piercing, and comforting all at the same time

you nod slowly, eyes glimmering with residual tears, and sniffle once more

"You are the strongest, most capable, and most resilient person I know. I don't ever want you to feel that the days are becoming too heavy for you to handle. And if you do you know you can always, always come to me, no matter how insignificant you think your struggles are- they're not. I don't care if I'm 'busy,' nothing ever takes priority over you and your wellbeing, Y/N. I mean that."

you smile up at him with appreciation as he wipes your cheeks with his thumbs

"T-Thank you, Paul. It all just gets so overwhelming.. I don't know what I'd do without you"

"It's no trouble at all love, that's me job"- he gives you a small smile and pulls you in for a long, gentle hug

"I adore you Y/N, you are my whole world. Promise you'll come to me if you ever feel this way again?"

you nuzzle into Paul's chest: "I promise"

"That's my (girl/boy/love). I love you more than anything in this world- don't you ever forget that" ♡

John:

you don't even hear the front door open and shut, the sound drowned out by your sobs combined with the melancholy tunes coming from the record player on your dresser

"Y/N, I'm home!" John calls out, kicking off his shoes and coming to find you

he searches for you on the couch, at the dining room table, and then in the kitchen- but you're nowhere to be found

That's strange, he thinks, Y/N's almost always sat on the couch waiting for me when I come home...

"Where's my sweet birdie?~" he tries, striding briskly down the hallway to your shared bedroom, still in pursuit of his partner

John raps his knuckles against the wooden door and waits a few moments for a response

when he doesn't get one he turns the doorknob and pushes his way in, panic flooding his mind and senses

nothing could have prepared John for what he sees- the love of his life curled up fetal-style in bed, clutching the blanket for dear life, cheeks glistening with tears and features screwed up into an agonized expression

he rushes to your side immediately, placing a firm hand on your shoulder and shaking you softly to alert you of his presence

he spooks you and you startle, eyes snapping open in shock

"Are you alright, love? What happened- did somebody hurt you?? If someone upset ye I swear I'll make 'em rue the day they were born-" he seethes, interrupted only by you sitting up against the pillows and taking his hand in yours:

"J-John, calm down, I'm fine.."

"Did.. did I do something? Was it me? Tell me what I did wrong Y/N, whatever it is I'll fix it I promi-"

"No John, you've done everything right," you sigh

"It's j-just.." you trail off, unable to meet his gaze

he waits for a moment before encouraging you with a "Go on darling, you can tell me anything"

you take a deep, shaky breath before continuing- "Everything is so overwhelming and heavy.. just living feels like too much some days. I don't know what to do John, I'm downright miserable!!" you exclaim, your eyes once again welling up with tears

"..Oh sweetheart, come here" he opens his strong arms, pulling you in for an emotionally charged hug

John isn't the greatest at discussing feelings, so he offers comforting words instead

"Shh, everything's alright... I'm here, Johnny's got ye" he soothes, stroking your hair as you quiver in his arms, your body wracked with sobs

"I-It's just one of those days where I don't know how I'll ever b-be -*hic*- happy" you croak out, clutching his body close to yours

John draws in a deep breath before responding: "I understand how you feel- I've had plenty of those days meself," he confides in you

"But we can't let them stop us from living. Sometimes your perspective gets all screwed up and ye can't see through the bullshit your mind hurls at you,

"But one bad day is still just twenty-four hours, ye know? It helps me to think about that- that this too shall pass," he reassures you candidly, rubbing gentle circles into your back

"I know it seems impossible right now, but you'll- we'll," he corrects, "get everything sorted- including that pretty little 'ead of yours- and you'll feel like yourself again sooner than you know. Got that?" he asks

you simply nod, beginning to calm down but unable to speak just yet, and nuzzle further into John

he squeezes you tightly: "Y/N- ye know I know what it feels like to be stressed and depressed, and I just.." you hear John start to choke up and feel him tremble as he begins to cry, himself

"-ah don't ever want ye to feel hopeless like I 'ave, you know I'd take it all away in an instant if I could" he says, trying and failing to mask the wavering of his voice

"Even if it meant I'd have to take it all on meself instead, I can handle it- I'd do anything for you Y/N, I've never loved anyone or anything like I do you and it hurts me to see you in such pain"

John's voice breaks at the end of his monologue and you hear him sniffle

with that, you finally speak up: "Oh John, I'll be okay- I promise. Thank you for changing my perspective, it's just so difficult to pull yourself out of despair sometimes.. some days are just so.. heavy" you say, pulling back and looking up at him; "I didn't mean to make you cry too"

you dry your face with your sleeve and John takes your hands in his

"Y/N you know I understand completely, and I want ye to come right to me when the days get too overwhelming- I'll be sure to set your perspective straight. Don't you ever worry about making me upset or anythin' of the like, okay love?"

you nod- "And besides, I ain't crying" John says somewhat defensively and shifts his gaze away from you, still clutching your hands in his larger ones

you chuckle softly and roll your eyes at him- "Whatever you say Johnny.. you can't fool me, I know you're a softie" you tease, booping him gently on the nose

he pulls one hand back from yours, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly- "Yeah, yeah, that's enough" John says, expression hardening as he tries to disguise the grin making its way across his face

you place a hand on his cheek and turn his face to look at you

"Thank you, John. I feel so much lighter now"

"Ahh, don't mention it darling. Anytime at all- you mean the world to me. I love you, Y/N."

"I love you too, John." ♡

George:

to your boyfriend George, it's a day like any other

he walks down the hallway to your shared bedroom, fizzy drink in hand, intent on watching some cartoons in bed with you

he knocks and upon hearing your, "Come in!" enters the room with an "'Ello, gorgeous!"

"Room for one more? I was thinking we could have a cartoon marathon this evening- what do ye think?" he proposes, approaching you and taking a sip of his drink

you hesitate a moment before answering: "Yeah, that's fine Geo" you say flatly, punctuated with a quiet sniffle

"...Are you feeling alright, dear? What's got you down?"

George sets his glass on the nightstand and sits beside you in bed

"Nothing's the matter babe, I'm okay" you mutter unconvincingly, avoiding eye contact

George studies your face, just now noticing the red and puffy appearance of your eyes

"Have you been crying..?" he asks gingerly and places a gentle hand on your cheek

you finally turn to look at him, sighing: "...yes but before you freak out, it's really nothing- just one of those days, you know?" you offer George a weak smile, downplaying your stress

"Y/N." he begins sternly, "I can tell when something's wrong. Do you want to tell me about it, doll?"

"I would, but there really isn't much to talk about... it's just life, I guess. Nothing specific" you shrug

"It's not 'just' anything- if it matters to you, it matters just as much to me," George reassures you sweetly

"Thank you Geo, but I don't know what to tell you. I just feel...tense and pessimistic, you know?"

George nods in understanding: "Really just that sort of day then, eh? That's the worst- ye can't target anything to fix it," he sympathizes and you nod in agreement

"Tell you what- I don't care if it takes all night, I'm gonna do whatever it is I can to make you feel comfortable and calm, all right? Starting with getting some food in ya- I know that always makes me feel better" he grins

you offer him a half-hearted smile, as much as you can muster in your state

"Of course it does, George" you chuckle, "that sounds lovely"

George disappears down the hall and returns just moments later kicking the door open, arms full of snacks and sweets (including jelly babies)

your face lights up at the sight of him

he unloads everything, opening his arms and dumping it all on the bed for you to choose whichever item you please

"Thank you, Geo" you giggle and grab one of the bags of crisps, opening it and promptly reaching in for a handful to munch on

"Anything else I can get you, darling? Anything at all?"

"Hmm.. no, I don't think so-" you start, but George cuts you off before you can finish your sentence

"Oh I know! You need a nice, warm cuppa- that'll be sure to soothe you. Be right back, love" he says and with that, he's out the door once more

you wait patiently in bed for a few minutes and graze on the treats George had brought you until he reappears, a ceramic mug in one hand and a box of tissues in the other

"Here you are dear," he says, handing the mug to you and placing the tissues on your nightstand- "I thought you might need these"

"You really didn't have to do all this, my love- thank you. It really warms my heart" you tell him earnestly, "I already feel so much better"

George beams at you: "Of course gorgeous, it's no trouble at all. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Hmm..." you contemplate his question for a moment before responding- "Just one more thing, I think"

"What is it, Y/N? Anything at all, just say the word"

"Get over here and cuddle me!"- you lift the blanket and invite him to lay with you

"I thought you'd never ask" George says cheekily and hops into bed, pulling you close to his chest to spoon you

(and reaching over you to grab an overflowing handful of crisps, shoveling them into his mouth)

you can't help but laugh and snuggle into George, your worries forgotten

"Thank you, Geo. You're the best"

"What kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't look after my (girl/boy/love)? And besides, it's no inconvenience at all- don't you worry. I love you, Y/N"

"And I love you, George" ♡

Ringo:

Ringo has always made you feel safe, heard, and loved, and he's assured you that you can confide in him whenever you need to

he's made it a point to tell you to come to him whenever you need him, and that he'll drop everything to help you in any way he can

on one particular evening, nothing seems to be going right for you

you're beyond stressed and overwhelmed, and you can't help but break down from the pressure and weight of the world

at first when you step out into the living room, face red and tear-streaked, Ringo is oblivious

he carries on watching the television, gaze locked onto the technicolor screen

"Ritchie..?" you say meekly; "What is it, my love?" he calls out, eyes still fixed on the telly

upon seeing how invested he is in the program, you suddenly feel like a burden despite what he's told you numerous times before about coming to him when you're upset

"Umm.. nevermind" you squeak out, about to turn and drag yourself back to the bedroom when Ringo finally whips his head around to face you

his wide eyes take in your pathetic, hunched frame- hair tousled, eyes puffy and blanket pulled tight around you

"Oh my- sweetheart, are you okay? What's wrong?" he scrambles up off of the sofa and rushes over to you, panic evident in his expression

he places his hands on your shoulders and looks you over, eyes searching yours for answers

"Yeah, I'm okay" you sniffle, "but.. remember all those times you told me I should come to you if I'm ever stressed out?"

"Of course I do love, what's got you so stressed?" he inquires delicately, rubbing your shoulders

"Life, existence, everything!" you confess, exhausted

"Oh honey, everything's alright- I promise! Come here" Ringo beckons you closer and smothers you in one of his renowned bear hugs

you begin to sob quietly into his shirt

"I'm sorry, I don't know what's come over me today, I don't want to burden you-"

"Love, don't you ever worry about being overbearing or burdening me- I am always ready and willing to help you, please understand that. Managing your stress is so important and I'm thankful that ye came to me. That's what I'm here for" he reassures you as he holds you close to him

you sniffle and tremble, your tears soaking through his cotton t-shirt

"Shh, everything's going to be fine. It's okay to cry" Ringo soothes

"It's just a bad day. It doesn't mean that everything is falling apart, I promise. I'm right here. We've got this, together- you and I could take on the whole world if we had to!"

you pull back from his embrace and gaze into his eyes; "Really?"

"Of course we could, baby! Now let's get you to bed, how about that?"

you nod and Ringo lifts you up, carrying you bridal style to your shared room and setting you down gently on the bed

he swaddles you in a blanket burrito and proceeds to kiss your tears away, peppering your face with little smooches that make your heart flutter and your mind go blank

"Ritchie!!" you exclaim, giggling

"What? Kisses are the best medicine"- you agree, as long as they're his at least

once he's finished administering your treatment, he asks: "What else can I fetch ye, cutie? Anything?"

"You!"

"Why, of course!" Ringo's grin widens, lighting up his face as he pulls you close to him in bed

you rest your head on his chest and close your eyes, the dull thud of his heartbeat lulling you into a serene state of mind

for the remainder of the night Ringo refuses to leave your side, even when you drift off into peaceful slumber at last

"I love you, Y/N" he mumbles, the last thought occupying his mind before he too dozes off to sleep ♡

#beatles #the beatles #beatles x reader #john lennon x reader #paul mccartney x reader #george harrison x reader #ringo starr x reader #beatles imagines #john lennon imagines #paul mccartney imagines #george harrison imagines #ringo starr imagines #john lennon #paul mccartney #george harrison #ringo starr #richard starkey #LMLBeatles

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echo-three-one · 4 years ago

Text

Good Day!

As I told earlier, I finished my Soap x Reader Fic and yeah here it is.

I suck at titles and that shows.

Midnight Coffee Rush

John MacTavish x Female Reader

Warnings : Smut. Read at your own Risk or whatever.

Cross-posting to AO3 later 😳

THUD!

You softly slam your head on the desk as you stare blankly at the blinking cursor on your laptop. An article is due next week and you haven't really started on anything yet. Your editor keeps on calling you earlier today on how she can't work on last minute submissions. You assured her that yours won't need that much editing and she trusts you with that, but still, a deadlines a deadline.

Scanning your empty apartment room for ideas, you decide it's best if you take this ordeal outside and look for open places to work on. Coincidentally, the local café "John's brew" happens to open for 24 hours starting today. You feel uneasy at the name of the shop but that won't stop you from your goals today.

After a chilly midnight walk across the streets of your city, you finally make it to the shop, it looks like it can compete with the local Starbucks as its outer layout gives off the same vibe.

You push open the glass doors and the bell chimes from above you, this made the barista at the counter turn his head and greet you with a friendly smile. "Welcome to John's Brew!"

You stand just across the counter as you look up to view what the store has to offer while the barista waits patiently for your order. You order some fancy named coffee, wanting to try out why it has a star next to it's name as the barista, who now you know goes by the name "Gary" based on his name tag, explains that it's their best selling and unique blend coffee. He then passionately tells you how the coffee you chose is created by the owner of the shop and judging by the tone of his voice, he's excited for you to try it for the first time.

"Thanks Gary, here's my card." you reach out for your card and he cheerfully accepts it.

"What name should this go by, Ms. L/N?" he asks readying his marker.

"Just Y/N." you say. Gary raises his eyebrows in confusion.

"Sorry, I'm sure I heard that name somewhere." he dismisses his thoughts and writes your name on the cup.

"We'll you're a barista, I'm sure you've heard a lot of names in your line of work." you jokingly reply. It made him laugh as he gives your card back and you make your way to the corner of the room.

The music is soothing and the ambience is more than enough to keep you going, you pull out your laptop as you start typing ideas for your article.

Gary took the liberty of delivering you your drink saying "You looked very focused" and "There isn't that much customers anyway" and you smiled at the service he's done. He stays for a while insisting that he wants to witness your initial reaction as soon as you taste the coffee. So you slowly blow off the heat and took your first sip.

Your eyebrows raised and your cheeks blushed as the warm beverage tickles your tastebuds a wave of nostalgia brings shivers down your spine.

***

"So, what do you think of this?" A shirtless man with a signature mohawk and scar on his left eye approaches you just as you get up of bed. You remember smiling at the view, his deep blue eyes pierce through yours as he excitedly offers a cup of coffee he claims to mix himself.

"Mmm! This tastes, well... something even I can't describe! It's good? delicious? heavenly maybe?" You giggle as he inches closer to you crawling up the bed and reaching on your face for a kiss, blindly reaching for the cup and putting in on the bedside table.

"Not even the words from your thesaurus can't describe?" He whispers as he pulls the kiss away, eyebrows wiggling. Your heart melts at the sight of him.

"I'll tell you the perfect word when I find it." You giggle as you reach for his face and pull him to yours, as he softly crashes his body on you, rolling around the bed.

***

"Maam?" Gary taps your shoulder and you immediately flinch and turn to him.

"I'm sorry." you laugh nervously.

"It felt like you had a good time going on with that drink. We're having a contest as to which word best describes it. If you want to submit your word, I'll leave this pen and sticky note on your table." he cheerfully explains as the door chimes, making him rush back to his counter.

Shit. You thought to yourself. Of course it had to taste the same, even the name of the shop checks out. Your heart starts to thump louder and louder as you put the pieces together, you convince yourself it's just the coffee, but then again the evidences never lie. John's Brew, that exact taste, no word yet to describe it.

You flinched as you turn to the heavy door slam to your left, just by the counter. A man, walks out of it wearing a very fit long sleeve tucked into business pants, you assume it's the manager. Then again, you see him scratching his head, which happens to have a rather unique haircut. A mohawk. Holy Shit.

***

'Congratulations Ms. Y/N L/N! You have been accepted on the writer program. Please report tomorrow for your orientation.'

The text read just as you wake up. Your face lit up in excitement as you squealed like a kid. Your life would change for the better.

A very wet John MacTavish popped out of the bathroom, his face was full of worry as he quickly wrapped himself with a towel.

"What's wrong?! Something out to get ya?" He asked, a bar of soap on is arms ready to throw to the intruder.

"I just got accepted!" you squealed excitedly at him, hugged him thight not minding how wet he was. He slowly wrapped his arms around you and you felt that you're the only one excited about this news.

"Congrats. But what about your life here? What about me?" he muttered, his facial expressions dropped.

"I'm sure we'll work it out? It isn't that far, right?"

"I'm sure we'll work it out"

"Not now John, I have articles due."

"I'm too exhausted for today, John"

"I'm sorry. I fell asleep."

***

The loud growl of your stomach shocked you back to reality. Come to think of it, it's already 2 in the morning and you're almost through with your article. A muffin won't be that much of a distraction. You turn to the counter and see John catering to a lady on a bright red dress. She probably came from a club and now trying to sober up with a coffee. You pretend to type on your keyboard but secretly view the event from the corner of your eye. They are laughing and he escorted her as she is walking tipsily to the sofa. They exchange some words you barely make out and can't help but feel rage bubbling inside you. But then again, you don't have the slightest audacity to do so. You slowly ignored him while focusing on your job. You left his messages on read and calls on voicemail. You feel guilt rushing through you. Out of impulsive emotions, you quickly decide to finish the article home as you grab your laptop and coffee and rush to the exit.

"Ma'am! You left your sticky note." John's voice echoes across the shop. This made the few notable customers look at the both of us in curiosity.

You slowly turn back to him leaning on the counter, his elbows resting on the counter looking at you, he knows what he's up to. You remember telling him to stop flexing his biceps in front of you in public. It's kind of an inside joke for the two of you and he seems to remember it all too well.

"Your word. For the contest." he points out to the bulletin board of sticky notes on the other side of the hall.

"I... can't think of anything yet..." you stammer as you exit the door, walking as fast as you can away from him.

"Y/N, wait!" he quickly grabs your arm. You almost expect that he'd do this even after all those times.

"John I-" you quicky turn to him, hot tears start forming on your eyes as he pulls you close to his warm embrace.

"Yeah. You've been very busy... I know." He mutters as you sniffle on his chest, smelling his musk that never changed even after all these months.

"Congratulations on your most recent award, you know. Article of the month, and the month before that and that one time you wrote about the wildlife in Africa..." he trails off while rubbing your back as more tears fell from your eyes. He'd been watching your career grow, even after all this time. It somehow feels you don't deserve him. And you believe you really don't.

Pulling away, you looked at him with a smile.

"I'm sorry..." you croak.

"Why are you sorry, Y/N? You met someone else out there?" he asks. Then again, you both didn't really have a proper conclusion to your relationship. You initially felt like you were slowly drifting away from each other as your careers grew, but here he is, having the same sparkle in his eyes as when you last saw each other.

"No... but, it's been very long and I have been ignoring you... breaking my promi-" He suddenly pulls you close and kisses your lips, you deny him at first but you slowly grip his arms and let him have access to your mouth.

Longing is the only feeling you both feel right now as you slowly kiss back and respond to his mouth. His kiss gives you assurance that even after all this time he yearns for you to come back, his assurance that you did what you had to do to get where you are now even at the cost of completely shutting him out. But of course you weren't, you also long for him every single day, but life has to keep going, and you believed that he'd found someone else after all those times. But this moment made you feel wrong about him, and it's now your chance to get things right between the two of you.

"You know, I always assumed you're still my girlfriend." he smirks. He is true though, there was neither a formal nor informal break up effort on both sides, just indifference due to many reasons.

"Well, I assumed you looked for someone else... and I'm to shy to ask how things have been..." you croak, trying not to cry again. You realize your stupidity once more, but he wipes off your tear with his thumb and lifts your chin up to look at him.

"You still owe me a word, you know." he jokes as he walks you back to the cafe, arm wrapped around your shoulder. As soon as you both enter the door, Gary greets his boss while mopping the floor.

"You were right boss, she is pretty!" The barista smiles and gives John a thumbs up to which he replies,

"Guess I'll be back in my office doing paperwork, Gary. You take charge here okay?"

"Yes, Captain!" he jokingly salutes and continues his work.

"You done with that article?" he asks, a tone of concern in his voice.

"Almost.." you reply shyly. You still can't digest everything that happened so far, but your heart keeps on thumping and your mind's been trying to scream something to you.

"You know, I could use some company while I do some paperwork..." the trails off, the tone in his voice shifted into something you felt excited about. Something along those words mixed with that accent sends flutters across your insides.

"If you'd want me to..." you reply as he opens his office door letting you in. It was a small office a sofa just beside the door, two chairs infront of a large office desk filled with scattered papers, ledgers and journals. He quickly folds his laptop and puts it in his bag as you take off your coat, admiring the view. Plaques, certificates and awards plaster across the walls, along with pictures of his staff calendar schedules and some other things scribbled across the whiteboard. He offers his hand and you give him your coat, only to be pinned to the door.

"God, I missed you so fucking much." He breathes as you stare at his cold blue eyes blazing with desire, you know full well where this is going and you have no objections. You wished for this to happen as soon as your plane touched the city.

Unable to form any words, you quickly pucker your lips, signaling him to move closer and kiss you. Now that you're both alone, his kisses felt much more intimate, needier and his tongue explored every possible area he could. You hear the door lock itself and his hand slowly caresses your ass through the tight jeans you're wearing, pressing himself so you could feel the tension growing beneath his slacks. You slowly slide your hand through it and earned yourself a chuckle from him, as he moves his lips below your ear and around your neck, hearing each smack of his lip and sniff of his nose.

You let out a soft moan as you feel overwhelmed on what he does to your body, you couldn't focus on what's going on, your hands rubbing his hard crotch, his hands softly caressing your ass or his mouth doing wonders around your neck. He continues to do this until your pants and whines become erratic and fast and stops just at the right time for you to catch your breath.

You open your eyes to him, who seems to be enjoying your reunion, a sexy smirk across his face. You let out a smile whist still panting, and he seems to like what he sees, letting a soft chuckle.

"I remember that look on you. You're up to something.." He recalls as you push him to the sofa to his side, straddling on his crotch as you unbutton his long sleeves.

He grunts as soon as he plops on the sofa and groans as soon as you slowly wiggle your ass on top of him. You could clearly see the building frustration in his face as well as in his jeans.

You quickly undone seven buttons as he quickly tosses it somewhere and viewed his muscular physique as you sit on him. He became hairier and you find it very sexy, trailing your hand down his body, all while staring at him as seductive as you can. He smiles at the gesture as you slowly unbutton your shirt, never breaking eye contact, until he can't resist anymore and got up from the sofa. He lifts you down and you stand on the floor as he works your way to slide off your jeans. He quickly buried his face on your pussy as soon as he sees it and devours it like a hungry wolf. He never dissappoints as the feeling made you shudder, grabbing onto what's left of his hair in excitement. This goes on up until you softly pull his head out and move to unbuckle his belt, sliding his slacks all the way down as his cock springs free as soon as you take his boxers off.

You stare at him as you slowly jerk your hand around his cock, his eyes almost in a trance, as you teasingly kiss the tip, which was slowly oozing of precum. He grabs your hair and tucks it behind your ear as you slowly swallow his cock, giving him a blowjob that you've always imagined of giving him when you meet again. You're tongue slowly swirling around his length, feeling every vein and skin around it. You countinued mixing it up with your hand and mouth until he groans in anticipation and pulls you out of him.

He slowly gets up and shoves all his paperwork away from his desk and carries you to it, spreading your legs as he slowly pushes his tip on your opening.

You whimper at the first entrance, it felt different than usual, maybe because it's been quite a while since you to have done it, but that didn't stop the both of you from continuing. His eyes mesmerize you as he slowly picks up his rhythm, you can see his chest muscles bounce as he thrusts himself deep in you. He slowly rubs the upper area of your pussy as he thrusts, giving you a sensation that makes you wanna scream in pleasure. But given the circumstances, you only let out small gasps and whimpers. However, his grunts and moans are also getting louder, so you decide to let loose and follow his volume.

"Fuck." You whimper as he continues his fast pace as evidenced by the loud slapping noises. He quickly flips you to the desk and continues to fuck you from behind. Each thrust felt like the desk is inching closer to the wall, you didn't protest as you loved the sensation, how your walls clench as his warm cock slides in and out of you. You feel his motions change and you know full well what that means, you moan softly signaling him thay you're also almost there as he makes his final thrusts and shoots his warm load inside you, feeling the rush of his cum drip as he pulls his cock out.

He pulls you up and reaches for a kiss, a long yet intimate one as you both use the language of kiss to assure that you'll still be the same way no matter how distant it may be.

"See you after my shift?" he murmurs as he puts on his clothes, now all wrinkly and messy.

"Yes." you smile reaching for another kiss.

After preparing to go home, you quickly grab a pen and wrote the word you describe the drink, plaster it on the board and make your way out of the café.

#horRAYfic #codmw #Soap x Reader #john soap mactavish

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imtryingmybeskar · 3 years ago

Text

Part 14 of Fugitive. Quite a bit of deviance from what has gone before. Much plot, many darkness.

18+, 12k words.

"Cyar'ika...please..." A cruel smile curved your lips as you heard the Mandalorian's plaintive cries. They soothed your tormented soul like a balm after so many years of being denied. "You cannot do this. Please. Listen to me." The seemingly sourceless orange light splayed across his beskar like an oil slick fire.

You frowned and advanced on him, hissing. "I cannot? You do not tell me what I can and cannot do." As you reached him, he fell to his knees, the T shape of his visor fixed on your face.

"Please do not make me do this, cyar'ika," he begged as you heard the click of his blaster cocking.

"You think you'll...what? Shoot me? Kill me?" your words were icily mocking as you tore the blaster from his grasp and hurled it away without ever laying a finger on it. "You cannot kill me. You cannot harm me. As you say, I am your beloved. You love me." As you spoke you lifted the helmet from his head and dropped it on to the dusty black earth next to him as you looked down into his face. His nose and mouth were leaking blood and his lip was puffy and bruised. "As well you should," you added, bending down to stroke your hand through the hair at the back of his head and grabbing a fistful roughly. You planted a bruising kiss on his mouth and his lip split anew, the iron sweetness of him coating your own lips. His eyes were huge and staring, but his fear was being tempered with anger now. That too was as it should be.

"I love you. Not...this. Whatever this is. This is wrong." Bestowing another smile upon him, you released his hair and brought your hand around to cup his chin instead, speaking so softly and so, so dangerously.

"Wrong, Mand'alor? Are you quite sure about that?"

"I am not the-" But his denial of who he was drowned out by the gasp of pain he emitted as you flooded his mind with images. Of him sitting upon the throne in the royal palace of Mandalore, the Darksaber in one hand and his beskar spear in the other, the very picture of a warrior king. Of a war room filled with Jedi and Mandalorians alike, plotting and strategising their slaughter across the galaxy. Of legions upon legions of fanatical Mandalorians, loyal only to Din and cutting swathes through stormtroopers in a riotous orgy of blood and smoke...At this last you felt his mind rebel and struggle against yours, like a moth battering itself against a lamp. "No...," he managed to spit feebly.

"No?" you asked gently, your voice honeysweet and kindly as you withdrew from his mind and let him get his breath back. "But isn't it a glorious future? You and I working together to rid the galaxy of the vermin that plague it? I know you want to make them pay. For what they did to your child. For making you the Mand'alor in the first place. For Alzoc-" You knew what he was going to do before he did it. So predictable. His hand reached for your throat and closed around it as he stood, but you had already compensated your breathing and the gesture did little except excite you. His limbs were shaking with rage, as well as from his ordeal and you smiled sweetly at him. "You see?" you scraped out, "You do want this. We can set Mandalore aright again. Together. Husband of mine." His hand relaxed its grip a little, but his fingers were still around your neck. He swallowed as if something bitter were trying to force its way up his throat.

"The woman I married would never say such things, never force me to see such things. You are not my riduur." And suddenly his other blaster was in his left hand and pointing directly between your eyes.

You snarled at him, an animalistic noise of purest hatred, "You are weak, Mandalorian. You have betrayed your Creed countless times. And I know that you could never-" Suddenly the world went white, then dark, and you knew nothing more.

***

Seventy two hours earlier

***

"Din, you have to stop!" You were desperately trying not to giggle and encourage his behaviour. "I told you, either I do the ritual here or I go to my room in the Academy alone and do it."

"But mesh'la, how can I concentrate on anything else with you like this?" he said pleadingly as he gathered you into his arms.

"Like what?" you asked innocently, even though you knew perfectly well what. After you had taken shelter in the ship, you had set your robe and clothes to dry and sought out some fresh ones. Apparently you had gotten behind on laundry and had very little that was clean besides underwear, so had asked Din to borrow a spare undershirt and he had obliged. It wasn't often that you wore his clothes, but you loved having the scent of him so close to you all the time. The trouble was that you didn't have any clean spare trousers and now found yourself trying desperately to relax your mind and body when you could almost feel the heat of his gaze as he watched the bottom of his shirt grazing the tops of your thighs. "Would you prefer me naked?" That was the wrong thing to say. Or, possibly the right thing. Apparently the only thing more arousing to Din than you in his clothes was you out of them. He ground his erection against your stomach and kissed you.

"Always prefer you naked," he murmured against your lips.

"Are you going to make a liar out of me?" you asked, smiling. "I told Luke you made me a better Jedi. I also said we wouldn't be doing this here and yet..."

"And yet," he echoed, his nose stroking over your cheek. "Since you've already broken that promise once, would it be so terrible to do it again?"

"Absolutely," you answered. "But I can never resist you, Din Djarin. You know that."

Two hours later, you were finally sitting calmly and meditatively in front of a small bowl of water and a lit candle - the reflection of the candle upon the water helping to clear your mind and soothe your spirit. Recalling your meeting with Paz Vizsla, you went through each stage of what led to your anger at him, analysing and considering all possible angles to avoid a repeat of such behaviours in the future. At the core of it was your attachment to Din, your desire to never see him be hurt or damaged. You had to be mindful and better at managing your emotions surrounding him, else it would be increasingly easy to act that way again. The candle suddenly flickered although there was no draft that you could feel, and you could see a darkness swirl within the bowl. It...had to be a trick of the light. The bowl was white, there was nowhere that the darkness could be. Still, it was there and as you concentrated on it, you thought you heard a noise. A low level thrumming like machinery, but punctuated by the occasional voice calling, shouting in distress, screaming...

"Mesh'la?" Din's voice struck through your mind like an arrow, and his hand on your shoulder shook the dream from you instantly. "You fell asleep," he said needlessly, a smile playing about his lips. You looked down at the candle and bowl. The water was clear and ordinary, the candle not burned down by much. You couldn't have been asleep for more than twenty minutes. "Are you okay?" he asked when you didn't reply to him.

"Yes, fine. Just a strange dream. And apparently I'm more tired than I imagined." Din helped you to your feet. "Can we go back to the Academy? We need to speak with Luke again." His face took on a stony, annoyed countenance. "I know, I know. But we do have things to talk through. Not least the Council's discussion about you and I. Luke...he is a good man. Please trust me on this. And when you feel ready - if you feel ready - you can talk to me about whatever it is that has made you so...well you know." He nodded and looked into your eyes, his own softened and filling with love as he beheld your face.

"I do trust you. Of course I do. And I trust that what I need to tell you will not change us. Its just-" he swallowed thickly, "-its hard to say out loud after so long." Your arms came round his back to hold him close and you felt the understanding pass between you, strengthening you both individually and together.

Once your clothes had (mostly) dried, you got dressed and Din gave a low hum of approval when he saw that you were continuing to wear his undershirt. "You look far better in that than I do," he remarked and you kissed him happily before handing him his helmet. He held your hand on the approach back to the Academy, seeming to want to be as close to you as he could after your disagreement, even through his coverings. Just as you were about to enter through the main doors, Tolea came out to you.

"There you are," she smiled. "I've been looking all over. Luke said there is to be a "Council meeting" after the evening meal?" You could almost hear the quotation marks around 'Council Meeting'. "There's hardly a Council to speak of!" Her eyes fell to where yours and Din's hands met and she raised an eyebrow, more suggestive than questioning. You set about introducing your fiancé and your friend properly. He seemed inclined to trust her as when you gave his name as "Mando", he interjected with his real first name and held out his hand to clasp hers.

"So, a Mandalorian, hey?" she teased. "You always did have a thing for them!" Your eyes had gone wide at her words and you could feel the heat rise in your cheeks as you saw Din's helmet turn to face you in the periphery of your vision and heard what sounded like a laugh swiftly muffled by a cough.

"I did not have a "thing" for them," you spluttered indignantly. "I was just interested in the history of the Mandalorian Wars!"

"Yeah, yeah. But the armour helped, right?"

"Tolea!"

"Alright, I'll stop," she promised, her hand coming to pat your shoulder in a good-natured way. "I actually just wanted to see if you would come and spar with me? I'm a little rusty and it might be a good learning experience for the Padawans."

"I will, if you never mention the word 'Mandalorian' in front of me ever again," you joked. She bowed to you in a mockery of a solemn promise and turned away to walk you around the building to the outside exercise yard. Your cheeks were just beginning to cool when Din's faintly amused voice spoke softly to you.

"A "thing" hmmm?"

"Oh don't you start," you urged, holding up a warning finger toward him.

"Well....I can see it, that's all I'm saying." He paused briefly. "And there was that "thing" with Fett too." Apparently Tolea's hearing was excellent because at this she rounded on you, her face gleeful as you turned to Din, horrified.

"DIN!"

"Excuse me, what? Boba Fett the Bounty Hunter?! The one with the armour, yes? I just want to be clear!" Din's rumble of laughter at your face and Tolea's delight made your heart give a sudden squeeze. It had been so long since you had been with friends that you knew and trusted, and even though they were currently ribbing you mercilessly, you were so grateful to have them both in your life again. Your voice was teasing as you made your rejoinder.

"I'd be careful if I were you. You just asked me to spar and told me you were out of practice. Such a shame, what accidents can occur," you said breezily to Tolea. "As for you," you narrowed your eyes at Din and gently poked your finger at his breastplate, "Copaani mirshmure'cye, vod?!" He laughed at your meaningless threats and caught your hands before pressing his helmet to your forehead for the briefest moment.

"I should not have taught you that one," he said softly. "I mean...I beg your pardon, verd." Tolea was looking between you both, a little bemused.

"I'm going to assume you said something disgustingly private and leave it at that," she ventured.

"Close. I was threatening to smack him in the face. That's kind of Mandalorian courting, isn't it?" you teased.

"Excuse me!" he exclaimed, ruffled. "I'll show you Mandalorian courting!....That...wasn't supposed to sound like that," he added in a slightly defeated tone as both you and Tolea roared with laughter. The good natured teasing between the three of you lasted until you were almost at the exercise ground.

"Okay," Tolea breathed. "We have to be calm and act like actual adults for the children now." She tried to make her face solemn, but giggled slightly when she caught your eye as you were trying to do the same thing. "I missed you," she said as she patted your shoulder again and the warmth of your friendship sloshed between you like a tropical ocean wave. You managed to collect yourselves enough to greet the children with a modicum of decorum. Din settled himself on the edges of the training ground, a little apart from the Padawans - you assumed so as not to distract them. It worked, for the most part, although eyes would occasionally stray to where he stood, monolith-like in his size and stillness.

"As some of you may know," Tolea began, gesturing at you, "we both trained together at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant before the Empire came. We have spent many years apart, but the bonds of kinship as Jedi remain strong, as well as the bonds of friendship." She smiled fondly at the Padawans in front of her. "We would often practice our Forms with each other and train together. Hopefully, our bonds will show through there as well, despite the time apart." She took up her initial stance opposite you, and you followed her lead. As she ignited her lightsaber, you blinked in surprise.

"Yellow? That's new." Tolea smiled.

"I lost my lightsaber that night but I rebuilt it when I came here. There is an ancient Temple not too far from here. I found an old and broken lightsaber within it and was able to rescue its crystal and purify it as my own. It felt like it was meant to be mine, even more than my old one, somehow."

"We shall see how it serves you," you replied with a smile. "I'll go easy on you and spare you the double blade, for now." Tolea tutted at you, but there was warmth in her eyes. You began by slowly demonstrating various aspects of the Forms and explaining how to incorporate Force abilities within some of these aspects, but after a while the joy of training with your friend again overtook the teaching somewhat. It was as if everything else fell away and for a brief time you were both ten years old again, with so few responsibilities, delighting in your new lightsabers and your abilities. Tolea was far less rusty than she had lead you to believe and before long the sweat was running down your back. When you came to a natural break, you begged a few minutes and she gladly acquiesced. It was at this point that you noticed that the number of people observing had swelled considerably. Master Kholi had come to join you with his group of students and was looking with approval at yourself and Tolea.

"This is good to see," he commented. "I myself was never very skilled with weapons. I was a Healer at the Temple and never had much time for them. I am glad the children can learn from such as yourselves." He glanced over to Din who was holding Grogu protectively, the child's back against his chest. "I see the Mandalorian seems more inclined to stay. This too is good. I will see you both at the meeting."

Tolea and yourself set to pairing the children up according to ability. There were practice sabers for the very youngest that were little more than padded sticks and these were distributed. With Din holding tight to Grogu there was an uneven number, so Tolea herself matched with Loro. As you approached Din and Grogu, you could hear his soft words spoken toward the child.

"...know everything about how to defend yourself. We will make sure of it. You will be a great warrior one day. Like your buir." With these last words, he raised his helmet to you, and you realised he wasn't talking about himself. A surge of pride and love roared through you and as you came to Grogu and kissed his head, he reached out to be held by you a while. You took him and cradled him in your arms, so that he could continue to observe the training going on around him and stepped backward a little so that your back was resting against the right side of Din's body. His hand came discreetly to the small of your back and stroked you softly. "You were amazing, cyar'ika," he said softy. "I pity the person who gets in your way."

You beamed at his praise. "Perhaps you could teach the children too. I don't think many of them know how to handle a blaster. I'll raise it at the meeting." You turned around to him and could see his helmet tipped questioningly at you. "I don't know what the others will say, but to me it seems silly to have an expert in weaponry here and not take advantage of it. Your lessons saved my life many a time."

"Teaching children? Do you really think I'm suitable for that?"

"Absolutely. Why wouldn't you be? I had never taught children before I came here. Just...be yourself." You looked across at the training yard at the students. "See, you already have a fan," you added, amused. Alikas was watching you and Din and when she saw you looking, she waved at you, the distraction causing her opponent to be able to knock her training saber out of her hand. She scowled at him, reached her hand out to raise it from the ground and retrieve it, and redoubled her efforts in sparring.

"That one reminds me of you," said Din, and you could hear the smile on his lips through the beskar. "Fierce and unafraid to speak her mind."

"And this one," you said, planting another kiss on Grogu's head, "Reminds me of you. Stubborn and very cute." He chuckled and reached out a finger for Grogu to grasp.

"Where do I sleep tonight?" he asked softly. "And where do you?"

"I think that will depend on what is discussed later. We will have the evening meal first, and then it will be the children's bedtime." At your words, Grogu turned his head toward you with a hopeful coo, and an image came unbidden to your mind. "I'm sure there will be eggs for you, little one," you assured him.

There were indeed eggs, along with fruit and meats and bread and vegetables and a type of savoury pastry you had never had before, but you took to well. The mood at the table was jovial and light, despite the fact that Luke was nowhere to be seen. Alikas displaced you by sitting next to Din before you could this time, and she and Grogu giggled happily together as they shared in their meal. Once Grogu had eaten his fill and was merely playing with his food, Din tasked her with watching him while he gathered a plate of his own to eat. The child nodded solemnly at the request and Tolea squeezed your arm in a silent promise that she would watch over both children. Just before he left, Din took a small silver ball out of a tiny pocket on his belt. Grogu babbled a long stream of happy nonsense and reached for it, using his power to take the ball from Din's hand. Din huffed a small laugh of contentment and stroked Grogu's head softly before picking up his plate. You led Din out of the dining hall and to the right, down one of the corridors of the quadrangle to one of the classrooms where he could eat his meal in peace. After removing his helmet and sitting down with his back to the door, he attacked the food with fervour, having had nothing since breakfast and once his immediate hunger was sated, he stared around at the pale blue walls surrounding him and the windows that looked over the grassy plains.

"Why do you have such a big space for so few?" he wondered aloud.

"Partly because we are hoping that we will not be so few in the near future," you smiled at him. "But also because this structure is part of something more ancient. Certain planets have more of a connection with the Force than others. Or at least, the Force flows more freely through them. This is such a place and is one of the reasons Luke chose to found the Academy here. Other Jedi came here before us and also settled. Some of their buildings survived and were in turn built upon. You paused, then said more softly, "I wish you could have seen the old Temple on Coruscant. It was a thousand times the size of this. The amount of times I got lost, even after having lived there for years...And it was so beautiful. Vaulted ceilings that were so high you could barely see them, or it felt that way. carvings and tapestries of Jedi past everywhere. And a serenity that permeated it. As soon as you walked in you felt more at peace with the galaxy." You only realised that you were staring out of the window, when Din took your hand. You had been looking at the plains but actually seeing the slanted sunbeams coming through the windows of the Temple and hitting the marble floors.

As you came back to yourself Din said softly, "It was your home. You've told me that it was before, but I've never really seen you speak of it as such until now. I'm sorry I cannot offer you a place like that to live."

"Don't. I just need you. The ship feels more like home with you in it than it ever did when I was alone." You stroked your hands over the stubble at his jaw as you spoke and he moved his cheek against your hand, almost burrowing into your touch. "I love you, Din. I don't tell you nearly enough." His eyes met yours and they were soft and warm with his matching adoration of you. You leaned forward to capture his lips with your own and as you did, heard a slightly embarrassed cough from the direction of the door. You raised your eyes to see Tolea standing there.

"Sorry," she grimaced. "Its just, the children are about to prepare for bed and I thought you might like to say goodnight." Din put his helmet back on and stood, gathering his plate and cutlery as he did so. "Here I'll take that," she offered. "You go."

Instead of sleeping in one room, the children were now divided into three dormitories, and Loro had his own little room to himself next door to the younglings. It was strange to see how much had changed in the relatively short time you had been away. Grogu shared a room with Alikas and a little boy called Dann. Even if Luke hadn't mentioned Tolea's biological children, you would have recognised those eyes anywhere. As you went to tuck the children in, Din hung back a little by the doorway, clearly still unsure as to whether he should be there. But when Grogu reached for him, he went immediately, stroking his fuzzy little head and covering him over with the blankets in his crib. "Goodnight, kid," he murmured. "Sweet dreams."

Din and you went your separate ways shortly afterward - he returned to the Haldon while you joined the other Jedi in Luke's study. Luke looked pensive and a little worried as you entered and he immediately asked you about the Mandalorian.

"He is troubled. Less by what we spoke of and more about something deeper, something from his past. He has not spoken to me about that yet, but he is also concerned about the alliance you spoke of. Din has no desire to be the Mand'alor. He obtained the Darksaber almost accidentally. He wishes a peaceful transition of power to the Mandalorian who does wish to rule." Tolea and Ka-Moon both looked a little confused about what you were saying, so you set to telling them an abridged version of what had befallen the day that Luke had taken Grogu. "We have plans to meet with Din's people. After that we will have a better idea of how to proceed. He does not want another civil war amongst the Mandalorians, especially since they are already so few. But the Mand'alor must be determined by combat. There seems to be no way to reconcile these things. An overt alliance with the Jedi at this time would muddy the political waters even further and bring undue attention upon us here," you concluded.

"I understand his reaction a little more now. And yet a reluctant ruler can sometimes be the better kind. He does not seek power for himself, or for its own sake. What about the one that wants the throne?"

"I know little about her, other than Din considers her honourable. I trust his judgement." Luke nodded, looking thoughtful again. Tolea piped up, a little hesitantly.

"I don't mean to detract from the seriousness of the situation, but if he did choose to take the throne does that mean you would be a...queen?" You smiled at her. It was a question that had passed through your mind but that you had paid little real attention to.

"I don't think it works that way. There is only one ruler of Mandalore. There are few shades of grey in their society. I think I would be viewed as his consort, but would wield no actual power. That's if we were married, of course." The unadorned mention of why you were here caused a slight tension in the room for a few seconds before it relaxed and released, the bubble burst by your simple words. No one seemed surprised by your declaration and your suspicion that the others had at least sensed the feelings between Din and yourself seemed to have been proven right. That was if Luke hadn't just told them both outright.

"I am personally unsure about the wisdom of doing away with such rules," Ka-Moon said, a little stiffly. "We all know where such attachment can lead."

"So much has changed," countered Tolea. "The dangers of allowing attachment to drive emotion are still present, but how can we be away from the rigours of Temple life for almost twenty years and then return to that life as if nothing were different?"

"We cannot," agreed Ka-Moon, "But nor should we let go of everything that made the Order what it was."

"I agree," Luke chimed in, "But we should find a new way forward. The Order fell in part because it was not responsive enough to change. I believe we need to be more flexible in how we operate, now that we are so few."

"Forgive me, but you were not there. I do not believe you have sufficient knowledge of how the Order used to be run to be able to criticise it in such a way."

"But we all were," you interjected, "And Yoda himself trained Luke, and I agree with him."

"You have a vested interest in this particular discussion," pointed out Ka-Moon gently. "I am not dismissing your view, only pointing out the circumstances surrounding it."

"Then I too must have a vested interest," said Tolea. "Since my children are here. Would you have us leave, Master Kholi? If we are adhering to the old ways, the children should not be in my presence." She sighed. "We cannot go back. We must build what we can."

"Bringing force sensitive younglings to be trained is far different than seeking marriage. The children are already here, we cannot deny them. We need to nurture them and their abilities. Ratifying marriage within the Order is new territory and possibly dangerous."

"The Mandalorian and I will continue to live as we have," you pointed out. "Whether we speak the words or not, he is my husband in my life, in my heart."

"So what difference does it make?" asked Ka-Moon.

"Precisely," you answered.

The debate stretched. Tea was made and drunk and made again. The light had almost totally failed and only a few streaks of pale green across the blue of the sky to the north showed where the sun had been by the time a decision was made. Ka-Moon was still not entirely happy, but had come around to the idea of forging a new path for the Jedi. Afterward he confessed that his own heart ached for a past love that he had been forced to give up in service of the Order and you understood his reluctance a little more. When you had suggested that he go and seek him, as you had Din, he gave a sad smile and shook his head. "He died fighting the Empire a long time ago. But I wish you and your Mandalorian much happiness in your life together." You were grateful for his kind words and told him as much.

"So...how do we go about this? I mean, can we do this here? Soon?"

Luke smiled a little at your eager impatience. "I don't see why not. If you can find somewhere you want to conduct the ceremony. What will the ceremony be, anyway?"

"I don't even know. There is a very brief Mandalorian ritual but as to what I am bringing, I just don't know. I would like to have you all there, though. My family in attendance and to witness." Tolea was overjoyed for you and hugged you close with tears starting in her eyes as she did so. As the meeting broke up, she caught your hand in her own.

"Come with me, I want to give you something." Curious, you followed her to her chambers - which were dark panelled but hung with beautifully woven and brightly coloured tapestries all over, giving the impression that you were walking into some sort of botanical garden. She rummaged around in a trunk at the end of her bed and finally emerged with a folded garment in her arms. "This was-" she began before her voice cracked. You stroked her shoulder, encouraging her to go on if she could. "This was the dress I was wearing when I met my husband. Well...he was never my husband under the law. He died before...But I was going to use it for my wedding dress as well. If you like it, I want you to wear it."

"Tolea I...that's so wonderful of you. Are you quite sure?" She nodded, sniffling a little.

"It was supposed to be a wedding dress. It should be a wedding dress," she said, simply. "Try it on, we'll see how it suits you and if we need to adjust it anywhere." You gently shook the dress out. It was long and flowing, made of some material that seemed to catch and hold the breeze within it, and a beautiful lavender colour that rippled as it undulated gently. Tolea helped you put it on and aside from some minor adjustments to the waist, and the sleeves being a little too long it fit almost perfectly. Her eyes welled up again a little as she took in the sight of you and you thanked her profusely as you embraced. "I can't believe I have my friend back and now you're getting married? It's so strange! Do you remember those nights we couldn't sleep and would talk about what it would be like to have a "normal" life? We never expected we would actually do it!"

"I remember both of us being giggly over Master Kenobi," you said, laughing. "We weren't exactly model Jedi, even back then!" Tolea laughed and rummaged in the trunk again, coming up with a small sewing kit.

"Let me just adjust this a little for you. It will be finished by tomorrow." She took her measurements and made her markings and you gave the dress back into her capable hands before putting on your usual clothes. "Go tell Din the good news," she smiled as she shooed you gently out of her room.

Even though the hour was late, Din had not closed up the ship, clearly expecting that you would indeed visit after your meeting. As you approached, you wondered why he had not come out to meet you, as the sensors in his helmet would have told him of your approach in good time. Reasoning that he had perhaps become weary of his beskar again and was hiding out in the ship, you all but ran up the incline of the entrance ramp, calling him as you did. He was not in the hold and there was no reply. You opened the door to the room you shared, but he was not there. You couldn't hear the shower running in the fresher either. The elation you had felt was souring to anxiety in your stomach as you climbed the ladder to the cockpit where you found Din's hulking form slouched in the pilot's chair, his helmet thrown carelessly to one side and his right arm dangling loosely over the armrest, the hilt of the Darksaber in his hand. He did not turn at the sound of your approach and a brief moment of terror seized your heart when you thought he might be unconscious, or worse.

"Din?" you called again as you came up to the back of the seat, and this time he stirred a little, though his eyes never left the view from the cockpit window. "Din, what's wrong?" you asked as you came to his side and touched his elbow. Finally, he dragged his gaze to you. His eyes were lit with the same wildness that you had seen when he had kissed you in the rain but it was wrong somehow, muted, dulled, and sickly. A thin trail of dark blood leaked from one nostril.

"I can hear it," he frowned, his words slightly slurred and coming slowly. "Is this what you hear? How can you bear it?"

"You can hear what, Din?" you asked, trying to keep your voice calm as you pressed the back of your hand to his head. His brow was both cold and slick with sweat.

"Everything," he panted. "Why can I hear it? I...I can feel it." His eyes grew suddenly wide and fearful, something you had never seen before and which chilled you to the bone.

"Din, you need to come with me," you said firmly. "You're unwell. Master Kholi will look over you and then you will be fine." This last part was more for your benefit than for his. There had only been one other time when he had acted in a similar way, long ago when you had first travelled with him, before you had ever known him fully. It had been such a silly mistake. As you had chased your quarry through a jungle landscape, he had tripped over a root and fallen headfirst into a bush. You had teased him mercilessly about it for the rest of the afternoon and all seemed well until the next morning. It transpired that as he had removed his beskar for the night, a thorn that had snagged on his clothing had scratched a jagged line onto his skin, its swift poison working its way through him as he slept. Even through his delirium he had managed to put his helmet back on before you found him. It had been his last rational thought for several days.

The beautiful depths of his eyes grew cloudy with confusion at your words. "But...you asked me. If I could feel it. And now I can."

"Its okay, kar'ta." you murmured soothingly to him. "Come with me, everything will be-" A thought struck you like a thunderbolt. "Din," you whispered haltingly, "Do you mean you can feel the Darksaber?" In reply he held the hilt limply up toward you, almost as an offering. It seemed to take all of his strength to make that simple movement. You gulped as you reached for it with trepidation, wanting to take the burden of it from Din, but not wanting you both to be afflicted with whatever it was that was happening. As your fingers closed around the hilt, a wave of sound and emotion hit you. Terror and abandonment and rage and screaming madness and the same thrumming that you had heard earlier as you had meditated, stronger this time and more defined as a heavy thumping the longer you held the hilt. As blackness crowded the edge of your vision, you dropped it to the floor of the ship. Din made tiny anguished noise at the sight and reached down weakly to grasp at it again. "No!" you exclaimed sharply as you pushed him gently but firmly back into his seat. "Leave it there!" You kicked the weapon away out of the reach of you both, the terrifying cacophony blasting through you for a second time as your boot connected with it. Din lay back into the pilot's chair, his chest rising and falling rapidly as if he couldn't quite get enough oxygen into him. Quickly, you used the communication array to contact Luke, silently offering a prayer of gratitude when he answered almost immediately.

"What's wrong?" he asked. "I sense-"

"Get Ka-Moon and come to the ship. Din is ill. Please hurry." Luke disconnected at once and you turned your attentions back to the man in front of you, kneeling down beside him and taking his gloved hand in yours while stroking the sweat soaked strands of his hair back from his forehead. "Kar'ta, they will be here soon and we will make you feel better, I promise. Can we take some of your beskar off? You might be more comfortable when they arrive." His attention seemed to have meandered back to the cockpit window. You stood and looked outside yourself, but could see only the darkness of the plains ahead. Only starlight existed out there to illuminate anything and it wasn't enough. Bending back to Din, you began to remove his pauldrons. He did nothing to stop you, but nor did he assist. You weren't entirely sure he was able to move to help, nor that he was even aware of what you were doing.

Your mind was turning furiously, trying to piece together what had happened. Clearly he had been well enough to get up the ladder to the cockpit in the first place, so this was a relatively new affliction. But you had been at the meeting for hours. Who knew how long he had been here in this state? The thought of him experiencing the torment you had heard and felt for that long made you choke back a sob that tried to make its way up your throat, and you forced your mind back to rationality with some difficulty. When you had been on Artorias and had begun teaching him about lightsaber forms, you had asked him if he could feel anything from the Darksaber, if the crystal within it spoke to him as your lightsaber crystal spoke to you. He had replied in the negative. What had changed? Location was the most obvious answer. This planet was strong with the Force. Was it possible that he had a degree of Force sensitivity but that it took a planet like this for it to be strong enough to be noticeable? Or was the Darksaber reacting differently and not Din himself? You had held the weapon previously and had felt nothing like what you had just experienced. As your mind whirred you were removing his thigh armour and this time he moved his legs up a little, you believed in an attempt to give you easier access to the fastenings. Your heart gave a hopeful leap at this and as you pulled the beskar away you cradled his face and looked into his eyes. They were still hazy, with pain or confusion you couldn't tell, but his attention was fixed on you now, and he held your gaze. Both of which you took to be good signs.

"Its okay Din, it will all be okay. I love you. I love you so much. We will make you better, I promise. I'm here with you and it will all be okay." You were babbling a stream of near-meaningless nonsense, for your own benefit as much as his. You heard Luke's voice and footsteps approach up the incline of the ramp and pressed your lips against Din's briefly, thinking (hoping?) you felt him try to reciprocate. You stroked his face softly before easing him forward from the headrest and placing his helmet back on his head, calling to the Jedi below as you did so.

The next couple of hours were a nightmare whirlwind for you. Ka-Moon made his basic assessments of Din, but was hampered by the fact that you refused to allow him to take his helmet off. You had no idea what choice Din would make in this situation, given that Luke had already seen his face, but you were determined to err on the side of caution and to retain his dignity for him as far as possible. Din seemed to be able to move a little more as the minutes ticked by and eventually could stand, aided by a person on either side of him, though he seemed to have lost the ability to speak when you took the Darksaber from him. Getting him down the ladder was problematic to say the least. While his hands were still able to grip the rungs sufficiently, you ended up helping to physically move his legs while Luke was on standby to catch him, with the Force if necessary. Mercifully, there was a floating stretcher waiting in the hold and as you helped Din to lie back on to it, he groped for your hand and squeezed it when you gave it to him. It was a pitiful fraction of his usual strength, but it bolstered your courage and gave you hope in your heart. You ached for him, that people were witnessing his physical weakness and for the first and only time you hoped that his wits hadn't entirely returned, to spare him his shame. As you had appraised Luke of what you had experienced, he had wrapped the Darksaber in a thick woollen blanket that you had provided, taking care to only touch it with his gloved mechanical hand and looking grimly thoughtful as he did. Tolea was there to greet you at the door of the Academy again and she accompanied you all to the medical bay. Ka-Moon swore that he would not remove Din's helmet but requested that he be allowed a degree of peace to run his tests. You knew it was the best thing to do, but were also having trouble leaving Din's side. Much as you trusted in Ka-Moon's healing capabilities, you couldn't help but feel that somehow this was your fault and that by leaving Din alone you were compounding your mistake. Only when Din managed to breathe a shaky "Mesh'la" to you before stroking his thumb clumsily over your cheek did you feel he was recovered enough for you to be just outside the room. You kissed the top of his helmet and pressed your forehead against it before you left, accompanied by Tolea and Luke.

"What's happening? Did you feel anything from the Darksaber? How can I help him? What can I do?" you fired these questions in quick succession at Luke, your voice breaking on the last one. Tolea came to you and hugged you close.

"I have a theory," Luke began haltingly, "But its not complete...Tolea, tell me again what you saw when you went to the Temple." Tolea let you go and turned to face Luke, but before she did you saw the look of trepidatious realisation on her face.

"The Temple where you got your crystal?" you asked, frantically.

Luke nodded. "I don't know if you remember but just before you left to find Din, I mentioned that I thought I had found reference to an ancient temple nearby. When Tolea arrived she volunteered to go and find it if she could."

"There was something...bizarre about the place," Tolea said, her eyes a little distant. "The further in I explored the more untouched it looked. As if one day everyone had just flown away and left. I found a few useful things scattered around - datapads and the like. The only ruination I could see had been caused by the weather and so was mainly on the outside. Until I reached what looked like the meditation room. There were...bones in there. A lot of them. All jumbled up. And scorch marks from weapons on the walls. Its where I found the lightsaber that I took my crystal from. There were a few of them scattered around, but I was drawn to that one in particular..."

"Did you feel anything from the Temple?" you pressed. "Anything that might explain-" you broke off and gestured helplessly at the room behind you.

Tolea shook her head. "You were always the more perceptive of us," she answered. "I felt nothing but the sadness and emptiness of yet more death around me."

"I need to go there," you said instantly. "If it might help-" Luke held up a warding hand.

"I know its not what you want to hear," he cautioned, "But you must be patient. Do not rush in until we have more information." He spoke more loudly over you as you began to protest, "I know you want to feel like you are doing something. But he needs you here. Once he is back on his feet, you know he will follow you wherever you may go. And without knowing more about what has happened here, you might just be leading him into more danger." He was right, you knew he was right.

"So what can I do?" you whispered miserably.

"You can help me with my research. The Darksaber is a unique weapon in the galaxy as far as we know. And so much of its history is lost. We will start with information on its creator, Tarre Vizsla, and then-"

"Vizsla," you murmured. Luke looked at you, puzzled. "Vizsla was the name of the Mandalorian I met. The one I...lost my control with." Had it really only been the previous night that you and Din had been wrapped around each other in the magnificence of that bed? It seemed like weeks ago. "I knew I recognised the name, but I couldn't think why. I have read about Tarre Vizsla before. Do you think it is relevant?"

"At this point, I don't want to rule anything out," Luke said grimly.

"Can you spare a datapad? I don't want to move too far from here."

Luke's eyes and voice softened a little as he replied. "Of course," he said. "I'll upload everything I have been able to find out about this planet and the Darksaber and I'll bring it to you." Tolea was the one who actually brought you the datapad. She came to you twenty minutes after Luke had departed and she also brought along water, some fruit and a couple of large colourful patchwork cushions that you recognised as having been on her bed earlier.

"In case you want to be a little more comfortable," she explained as you gratefully accepted them. There were no chairs in the corridor and the toll of the day had begun to make itself known to you. "No news?" she enquired, her eyes flicking toward the medbay door. You shook your head wordlessly, not trusting yourself to speak at that moment. She brought you in for a hug again. "Everything will be okay," she soothed as she stroked your hair. "He is strong. He will be just fine."

"What do I-" your voice broke and you stopped to take deep breaths before continuing. "How do I tell Grogu?" you whispered miserably. "He's only just got Din back and now..." Tolea took your face in her hands and looked into your eyes.

"You won't need to tell Grogu anything because Din will be fine," she insisted. You nodded sadly and Tolea sat you down on one of the cushions, positioning herself on the other opposite you. "Can I ask something?" she spoke hesitantly and you nodded for her to continue. "What did he say to you in there? That word that made you come away." You felt your eyes well up and had some difficulty controlling the spasms of grief that passed across your face. "I'm sorry," Tolea apologised hurriedly. "I shouldn't have-"

"It's ok," you said, your voice a little wobblier than you would have liked. "It's Mando'a. He called me 'Mesh'la'. Its his name for me, when we're together. I don't think he's ever said it quite that publicly before. It means 'beautiful'." And for some reason, that was the word that broke the through the dam you had tried so hard to keep strong. Tears flooded down your face in a silent stream as Tolea held you against her shoulder, stroking over your back through your shuddering breaths.

Once you were calm, you insisted Tolea go to get some rest. It would already be a challenge to focus on the datapad in front of you, when Din was so close and yet so out of reach. You didn't want to hurt Tolea's feelings, but you did not want an additional distraction to your task. She left, but only once she had extracted a promise from you that you would call her if you needed her for anything. Once you settled back down on the cushions and began to read, you realised that much of Luke's research was more of a reminder of what you had already known than anything new. Tarre Visla had been the first Mandalorian to train as a Jedi on the Temple on Coruscant. He had created the Darksaber as a way to marry his Mandalorian and Jedi identities and it had later become a symbol of power among Mandalorians, Vizsla himself using the weapon while he was the Mand'alor. After he had died, the Jedi had brought the Darksaber back to the Temple and it had been kept there until members of House Vizsla had taken it back and used it to unite the Mandalorian clans. That had been during the fall of the Old Republic, over a thousand years ago and its history was shrouded in mystery for many centuries thereafter.

More interesting was what he had been able to discover about the Temple that lay not far to the East. It had been a Jedi stronghold towards the end of the Jedi-Sith wars, around the same time that Vizsla was alive, and although it was small it was apparently of some strategic importance to both sides. There were reports of frequent Sith attacks, all of which seemed to be successfully repelled by the Jedi stationed there. However, the last report that Luke had been able to find had some interesting details that caught your eye. The Sith that had attacked on this occasion were bolstered by a cell of highly trained fighters that had managed to withstand the Jedi offensives, even though they themselves were not Force users. And there was a mention of a "Hunter" that stalked the plains, picking off any unwary Jedi that strayed too far from the confines of the Temple. The very last line of this account was a desperate plea to Coruscant for extraction, with a warning that the Temple was now unviable and a line that sent a chill down your spine; "They did not conquer, they did not have to. They were always here. They will always be here."

As you pondered the implications of those words, the door behind you opened and Ka-Moon's kindly face looked down at you. "Come in," he invited, and you scrambled to your feet to do just that. Din was sitting up on one of the beds, his back to the wall and with one leg on the bed and one on the floor, as if he were about to attempt to walk. His remaining beskar, cape and gloves were piled on a chair near to the bed, but his helmet was on. "Don't let him do too much," Ka-Moon was saying as you made your way across the floor to Din. "He needs rest. I will be back shortly." You thanked him a little distractedly as he withdrew from the room, and then turned your attention fully to Din. He moved to take the helmet from his head and you gladly assisted him. He looked exhausted, but much more himself and you couldn't stop the tears that spilled from your eyes as you bent and kissed his lips tenderly.

"Kar'ta," you whispered, as you gathered him to your chest and pressed him close. "I was so worried. I thought...I thought I had lost you."

"Never," he replied, his voice a little raspy. "It will require more than that to take me from you, cyar'ika." You took his face in your hands and scanned him, even as he wiped the tears from your cheeks. There was no evidence of physical hurt to him, even his nose had stopped bleeding. His eyes were his own again and that pleased you more than anything.

"What happened?" you asked as you sat yourself on the bed, holding his hands in your own. "What do you remember?" He was shaking his head at the questions.

"Ka-Moon asked me the same and I will tell you what I told him. I went back to the ship to attend to my weapons and beskar while you were in your meeting. I did so and took a shower afterward. That is all I remember." You frowned.

"You don't remember getting dressed? Putting your beskar back on? Going to the cockpit?" He shook his head at each question as you fired them. "When do your memories return?"

"I have flashes but I don't know if they are real memories or not. I remember taking my helmet off but I don't remember why. I remember a voice. Not yours. But a woman's. And...other noises." He visibly shuddered and then pulled himself together. "The sky. The sky was on fire. I remember your face. You took some of my armour off. And you held my hand. I remember reaching out to touch your face. Then everything seemed to settle in my head but you weren't there anymore. I've felt more like myself again for half an hour or so."

"Do you remember what this woman you heard said?" He frowned, his eyes focused on the floor but not really seeing it.

"She wanted something from me. I don't know what. I can't remember what she said, but I remember her hatred. Its still in my mind, like a bad taste I can't get rid of." He shook his head as if to dislodge what he was feeling.

"Are you in pain?" you asked him gently.

"My head hurt. He gave me something for it." He paused. "What happened to me?" You explained the situation from your point of view. When you came to talk about the Darksaber, Din almost absent-mindedly groped behind his back to feel for it and you gently took his hand in yours again.

"Luke has it. It seems to be connected with what happened but we aren't sure how yet." As you continued with your story, the crease between his eyes deepened until he was fully frowning at your words. You made sure to skate lightly over how much assistance he had required from the ship to the medbay and he didn't seem much inclined to ask. Your story ended with what you had read on the datapad and your own conclusion that you had drawn. "I have to go to the Temple, to investigate."

"Mesh'la-" he began, warningly.

"No, Din. I have to go. I need to stop this ever happening to you again, and for that I need information."

"Then I come with you." He made as if to heave himself off the bed, but you halted his progression gently with one hand.

"You need rest right now. I will not be going any time soon. I still need to see if Luke has discovered anything new." Din reluctantly settled himself back against the wall. When you spoke again, you did so hesitantly, not wanting to make him relive his traumatic experience quite so soon, but also needing answers only he could provide. "I know you say you remember nothing," you began, "but you said to me that you could hear the Darksaber, that you could feel it. Do you recall taking it out? Or using it? Or anything unusual about it from this evening?" Din frowned again in concentration and you squeezed his hand to remind him that you were there and he was safe. He spoke haltingly when he replied.

"When I cleaned my weapons, I held the Darksaber and switched it on to check it was all in order. But I remember that clearly, there was no voice then, nothing was wrong. It was all as it should be. I think...the Darksaber was the way that the woman could speak to me. But I don't know why I think that, I just have a feeling."

"Trust your feelings," you urged. "And let me know if anything else comes back to you. But for now, you must rest." You moved to the other side of the bed to settle next to him. "I am here, kar'ta," you murmured, as he lay down on his side and faced you. You kissed his forehead and held him close and within no time at all his breathing was deep and even as he fell into a deep sleep of exhaustion. After you had moved carefully and quietly back out of the room, you found Ka-Moon and informed him of Din's helmetless and sleeping state, promising him you would return shortly. Then you made your way to Luke's study where you were not surprised to find Tolea assisting in the research he had promised.

"I couldn't sleep," she confessed. "Not when everyone else was awake and doing something." You nodded and squeezed her hand gratefully before sitting in a chair next to her and putting forward the theory that had started to come together in your mind.

"I think that the Darksaber was here on this planet before, a thousand years ago. There is a mention of what sounds very much like a mercenary band of Mandalorians in that information you gave me, Luke. And a reference to a Hunter picking off Jedi, which may also have been one of their number. If Mandalorians and the Sith were working together here, is it not possible that the Darksaber was...infused? With some kind of memory perhaps. If one of the Sith were that strong, could they have done such a thing? And now that the weapon is back here, the echoes of it are strong enough to reach out and try to connect with us. If Din has any Force sensitivity it would explain why he was affected so badly. With no training to shield him, his mental defences would be minimal. I know its not a perfect explanation, but I think it fits a lot of the pieces together."

Luke seemed to ponder what you had proffered in silence for a time. "I have heard of artifacts and weapons retaining an essence of their owners, if their owners were sufficiently powerful in life," he mused. "I am troubled greatly by all of this. Not just because of what has happened to Din, but for the future of the Academy. I thought I felt a darkness...somewhere. I thought it was the remnant of what had happened between you and Vizsla, but now I begin to suspect it is something more. I have had dreams here and there ever since Tolea got back from her exploration, and I should have paid them more attention." He slapped his mechanical hand on the desk, and rose to pace the room.

"When you held the Darksaber, did you feel anything from it?" you enquired.

"No. And that troubles me too. How could someone who is not Force sensitive as far as we know hear it and I not? Unless..." he trailed off and turned to you. "Unless whatever was possessing it had got what it wanted. If possession is the right word. There's still so much we don't know."

"Which is why I need to go," you insisted.

"I will go myself," Luke said. "You are too close to this. If something is targeting you or Din, you need to stay far away from there. And I will not go until I am sure I have learned all I can about this situation." He spoke more softly toward you. "Go to him. Its the best thing you can do right now. And if you can, get some rest. We will resume tomorrow morning."

"The children-" you began.

"The children will be fine," Tolea interjected calmly. "And there is no sense in worrying about them or Grogu right now. Din may well be fully recovered tomorrow. Give it a night and see." You looked between she and Luke, feeling somehow that they were ganging up on you, even though what they were saying was perfectly logical and, you suspected, the right thing to do. You nodded and rose to leave the study.

"Before you go," Luke added, "Could you make out any words in what you were hearing when you held the Darksaber? Anything that might help?"

You shook your head slowly. "I don't think so. It was like a wall of sound. Of screaming in pain and anger and a weird thumping noise. But I should tell you something else that happened to me earlier." And you proceeded to inform him of your dream that you had had while meditating. "I don't know if its related, but the thumping kind of sounded the same and it seems like too much of a coincidence to not be linked."

"Agreed," Luke mused. "Go. I'll catch up with you tomorrow."

As you made your way back to the medbay, your mind was spinning once again. It was logical that Luke be the one to investigate the Temple, but something didn't sit entirely comfortably within you at that notion. You couldn't identify why, but you had a deep feeling that you should be the one to sort this mess out. Din was the most important part of your life and you wanted to be sure that proper justice would be done for the hurt he had suffered. Not that you didn't trust Luke, but you felt that with your additional investment in the situation, perhaps you would be more motivated to get answers. There was a part of you that wanted to just go, leave, fly off in the Haldon and fix it now, now, now. But you resisted the impulse. Din needed you and he came first. When you re-entered the room, Ka-Moon seemed to be running some tests, Din was sat up on the bed, his face covered once again.

"Well, the good news is that you are in wonderful physical shape," he was telling Din as he removed a sensor from the end of his finger. "And if you say you feel fine there isn't much more I can do for you at the moment. I would perhaps ask that you remain here overnight..." He trailed off as Din shook his head.

"I don't like hospitals," he grunted. "I won't get any rest."

"I'll be with him," you told Ka-Moon. "We'll go to my chamber here so we will be close by if anything happens." He inclined his head at you in acquiescence and moved off. Din reached for you as you approached and you took his hand and helped him to his feet. He was quite steady and apparently didn't need to lean on you. "Do you feel okay?" you asked. He nodded, but kept hold of your hand as he gathered his belongings from the chair.

Your chambers had remained almost untouched since your departure many months before. The droids had been in to clean and air the room and fresh bedding had been put on, so it wasn't dusty or dank, but it did have that sense of being unlived in that places get after a time with no one moving around in them. You lit the lamp by your bed and its soft yellow light permeated the room. Din shut the door behind him and deposited his clothes and armour on top of your dressing table, topping it with his helmet and then taking some time to look around him. The space was sparsely furnished and decorated. Everything that had meant the most to you, you had taken along with you upon your departure. Not that there was much, even then. The walls were dark panelled, similar to the room Tolea inhabited and this gave the room a cocoon-like quality. Strip lights were embedded in the walls, but you chose to leave them unlit - right now you wanted to make the room as conducive to sleep as possible. Some hangings in purple, pink and blue decorated the wall behind your bed. Their colours had reminded you of sunset on Naboo and you had bought them on impulse some years before. You had rescued Tolea's cushions from outside of the medbay and you stacked them neatly next to Din's armour before moving to the window and closing the curtains.

"Wait," Din instructed before you could block out the outside world entirely. He came up behind you, slid his arms around your waist and rested his chin on your shoulder, nuzzling his cheek against yours as he did and pulling you flush against his body. "I want to see the view."

"You can see much more of it when its not the middle of the night, Din," you smiled.

"Perhaps I meant the other view," he murmured as his finger snagged on the neckline of his undershirt, hanging so much more loosely than your usual garments and giving him an eyeful of your cleavage. You smiled fondly at his persistence and impetuosity.

"You just had quite an ordeal. Is this really the first thing you want to do?" you asked, half expecting it to be a rhetorical question. He held you even tighter to him and you were astonished to feel his breath hitch a little behind you. You tried to turn to him, to see his face and take him in your arms, but he held you firmly against him.

"I...just need you, cyar'ika. I do not know what happened today and that scares me. That is twice I have been afraid today, and twice I have told you so. What is happening to me? I do not think this place...I do not think it is for the likes of me. Perhaps there is a reason that there were no other Mandalorian Jedi. Maybe these worlds are not supposed to mix in this way." It shocked you, the uncertainty in his voice. It was so unlike Din to sound unsure. Even when he had no idea what he was doing, he would plough on ahead and try until he got the result he wanted through sheer force of will and bloody mindedness.

"You have me, Din. Always," you reassured him and all at once you remembered that amidst all of the worry and trauma of the afternoon, you had still not given him the good news. You squeezed his arms tighter around you and turned your face toward him, your lips brushing lightly over the tip of his nose as you added "If you still want me forever."

You heard the initial confusion in his voice as he said "Of course, why would I-" and the sudden joy that infused his words as he realised what you meant. "We will marry? You will not have to leave the Order?" He turned you to him as he spoke and held your upper arms. You smiled your answer at him and his lips crashed excitedly against yours. "Can we-I mean...I still don't know if you have a ritual to follow. But I want to do this. Now, if we can."

"Right now?" He nodded and cradled your face in one of his hands.

"I need you," he repeated.

"Don't we need someone to officiate? A witness?"

"Usually the head of the Clan is the one to hear the vows. I am the head of the Clan. I am...well, I am head of all the Clans..." he trailed off In a slightly embarrassed way and then continued swiftly as his eyes darted back to you. "We can reaffirm in front of the Tribe when we see them. We can do whatever ritual you wish in front of your Order. But I have been without you as my riduur for long enough. Besides, I wish to look upon you with my own eyes when we are joined."

"Yes," you whispered joyfully. "Let's do this." His smile was like the sunrise as he leaned forward to kiss you softly.

"I must teach you the words first," he smiled. He did and you spoke them slowly together, promising unity in all things, to share your lives in love forever and to raise Grogu and any other children you might have as warriors and looking with love and devotion upon the other as you did. He kissed you again afterward, the beautiful swell of his lips tenderly caressing over yours, the promises that had fallen from them captured between you in unbreakable bonds.

"My riduur," you murmured as you pressed your cheek against his chest, hearing the thunder of his heartbeat and his arms encircling you. "My love."

That night you held him. He lay on your bed with his back to you, looking out over the inky blackness of the planet's nightscape. One hand was around his stomach and curling up to his chest, stroking over his marred skin, and the other was softly stroking his curls while you placed occasional chaste kisses across the top of his back and shoulders, inhaling the heady masculinity of his scent as you did so. Your leg was hooked over his, resting against the sturdy muscle of his thigh and he stroked you there softly, seeming to just want the reassurance of your proximity. Long after he fell asleep you remained awake, your mind still unable to settle after the trauma of the day and the exhilaration of finally being joined with Din in all ways. He stirred a little, a small grunt emanating from him as he twitched in his sleep. Perhaps he too was reliving what had happened. You sent soothing, calm, loving feelings toward him and held him closer and he settled again, breathing a deep sigh and muttering nonsense to himself. Just before the dawn quite made itself known, when the sky was still blue enough to see the stars you succumbed to your weariness, slipping into a dreamless, formless unconsciousness but safe in the knowledge that Din was with you, now and always.

#the mandalorian #din djarin #star wars #the mandalorian x reader #the mandalorian x you #the mandalorian fanfiction #din djarin x you #din djarin fanfiction #din djarin x reader #darksaber shit

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devinescribe · 4 years ago

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Knowing You Again

Chapter 6 of '100 Promises'

Chapter 5 | Chapter 7

Warnings: Swearing, bullying, I think that's it, let me know if I missed any

"Wow this place is amazing! So many games!" You awed, amazed by the amount of games and the lights. "Yeah, it's not anything like the one I went to on break, but since I can't take you there yet, I thought here would be good," he explained. "Thank you!" You exclaimed, hugging him and jumping up and down. He laughed, "Ok, ok. Calm down! What game do you want to play first?" You looked around, seeing all the different games, the people rushing from the machines and back. And you saw one that wasn't being used. You lead him over to it. "This one?" You asked. He nodded, and you two began on the game.

You walked into the grand lobby of the hotel, and sat on one of the waiting chairs. You watched in curiosity as people filed in their groups, cheering and laughing. Even if they'd lost a member, they were happy to be alive. A relief that it wasn't them. Maybe it was that everyone here had begun to accept their new reality. It made you smile in the slightest, that not all the people here were weak and useless. "Hey there new girl," someone said from besides you. "Hi Chishiya," you greeted without even turning to look besides you. "Hm? Attentive," he said. You didn't have to look to know he was smirking. "No, your voice is just very distinctive. It's soft, but also a very condescending undertone in it. Give people the illusion you know more than them," you stated, finally looking at him. "The hell did you study in college?" He asked with a laugh. "Major in forensics, minor in psychology. I'm pretty good at psychological mind fucking," you stated. He smiled, looking up. "Mind fucking? That's how I know you're friends with that idiot," he said. "Idiot? Niragi? No way. He studied game programming and engineering, and is 20 times smarter than anyone I've ever met," you said, surprised anyone could call him an idiot. How much did he change in the borderlands? Even then, his intelligence wouldn't have faded. So what did he do? "Hmm... maybe I'll change your opinion. You haven't met someone like me before," he said, looking at you. His eyes stared back into your own. It was like he was seeing into your soul, trying to really read into you. "I like a challenge. Impress me," you stated, a smirk playing on your lips. "Will do. Your friend is up on the roof for his patrol. I'll see you later at the pool. Kuina is quite fond of you. You two get along well," Chishiya said, walking off. You stood up, walking over to the grand stair case.

"I haven't slept in 4 days... gods help me," you groaned, running your hands up through your hair, it getting stuck from the knots. "Fuck me... SUGU! ARE YOU ALIVE?" you yelled. You heard a groan in response. He came out of his room, his hair sticking up every which way, his glasses were crooked on his face, and there were dark eyebags under his eyes. "I think... I think I'm alive..." he said. He was almost falling asleep standing up. "You need to take a nap," you suggested, standing up and walking over to him, yawning and rubbing your eyes. "No, I need to finish my project, you need a nap," he said, as you fixed his glasses. He could see that you were also running on no sleep. The dark eyebags under your eyes, your messed up tangled hair. It was different to say the least. You always looked nice, but college said no, please fuck up your sleep schedule to get this project done for me. Oh, and it a worth 75% of your grade! He hated school, but enjoyed what he was studying. Your projects took longer, and we're a bit gross at times, seeing as you had to take both forensics and psychology classes. "How about coffee instead then? I have a project to finish too..." you said, combing his hair out with your fingers, making it lay flat once more. "That sounds nice..." he muttered, the sensation of you playing with his hair almost making him fall asleep on the spot. "Yeah, I don't think you drinking that many energy drinks is healthy. Or not sleeping for four days. Let me get dressed, fix my hair, and we can head out, yeah?" You scolded at first, softening your tone.

"You look like shit," he insulted as you two walked to a coffee shop. "You're one to talk. When was the last time you washed your hair? Who are you, Snape?" You joked back, knowing his hatred for the character. 'He treated a kid like absolute shit because the kid's dad used to bully him in school. Oh, and his obsession with a girl who just saw him as a friend, but we're not going to talk about it.' He always said that when you asked him about why he hated Snape. It was funny to you because you had never met someone besides yourself that had that much genuine hatred towards a fictional character. "Ew, compare to anyone but him. Anyone," he said, genuinely grossed out by the fact you'd compared him to that character. "You really should take care of yourself more though. I need you to last me my whole life dude," you said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Mhm, if I remember correctly, promise 40 was if we were still 28 and we were single, we'd marry each other," he chuckled. You laughed. "Well, yeah. We keep our promises, you got that?" You said, punching his shoulder. "Ow, what was that for!" He whined, laughing. "I don't know. I don't want to go back to that apartment. I need to stay out of that, school is just... taking a toll on me. When we finish school and get jobs, I hope it's easier... Let's go on an adventure today," you said, leaning onto him. He thought for a bit. His project was almost done, and it was due in three days. He was running on no sleep, 5 energy drinks a day, and the occasional coffee you brought him.. Taking time off for you was worth it. He could finish the project tomorrow. You were worth that and more to him. "Sure what kind of adventure?"

"A little birdie told me you'd be up here," you said once you had opened the door to the roof. He turned around, facing you. "Really? Let me guess, Chishiya?" He stated. . He had his gun slung over his shoulder, and looked around boredly. You nodded. "How was your game?" You asked, going over, and sitting on the edge of the roof. He went over, sitting by you. "It went great. I'm alive, aren't I?" He stated sarcastically. You sighed, seeing as you were right. You had sensed it last night, but now it was more obvious. The games had changed him. For better or worse, you didn't know yet. "Mmm... and are the games any way to treat me differently? Because I'll hit you right now if you say yes," you threatened, glaring at him. He noticed your anger, but he guessed it could also be sadness. He'd left you alone for... how long had you said? 6 months? He didn't remember being gone for that long. Maybe time ran differently in the Borderlands than it did in the real world?

"No, it's not. Just know that I'm not going to act the same around you. I have a reputation here," he said, staring out. A light breeze brushed across the roof. A reputation? Well, you had noticed not many people coming up to talk to you all day. You heard whispers of 'that's the girl Niragi brought in. We should stay away from her.' So you assumed people feared Niragi. But you were curious. You know what they say, Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back. "Tell me about it then. Tell me everything that's happened. All the good, all the bad, I want to know. So spill," you said. He sighed. He didn't want to tell you. A part of him was confused about it. He wasn't proud of the things he did, but on the other hand, he wasn't ashamed of them. The only thing stopping him was the fact that you were the only person who's opinion he cared about. The only person he had his whole life who cared about him the way he cared about them. You were the only reason he wasn't completely alone. "You want to know? Why?" He asked, putting up a defensive front. You shook your head, noticing it almost immediately. He had built walls in the games, you could tell. But that wasn't going to stop you. "Because you're my best friend,and I thought you had died. Because I want to know what you've been doing here? How'd you get such a high rank? When did you learn how to shoot? What's your specialty of the card games? Is it fun? Have you killed anyone?" You asked, going off on a small tangent. "Ok... let's do this. I've been playing the games, I got a high rank by playing the games, learned how to shoot here in the borderlands, surprisingly enough it's almost like shooting in a video game, my specialty are diamond games, yes it's extreme fun, and yes I have," he answered. You nodded, leaning your head on his shoulder. You had a suspicion there was worse he'd done, but you didn't want to know. He could keep it to himself until he felt comfortable to tell you. It felt like before, in a way... When you two would sit on the roof of some apartment complex down the street and watch the stars. Where your worries would go away, and you didn't have to worry about being the perfect daughter or the bullies. You were just (Y/N) and Niragi, the two kids. Because that's what you had been. Kids. When everything happened, you were kids. No kids should have been treated like how you two had been treated.

''I can't believe they broke your glasses," you muttered under your breath, brushing his hair out of his face. His bullies had gotten him while you were cleaning the classroom after class. He waited outside, but they decided to rough him up. The had beaten him up pretty badly. You had cleaned up the cuts and blood as much as you could, but it didn't change the fact his glasses were broken."It's fine..." he said, not wanting to look you in the eyes. "It's not fine, Sugu. You need your glasses, and glasses are expensive. Plus your dad..." you trailed off, seeing his hands beginning to shake. "Don't remind me..." he whispered. You hugged him, and whispered back, "You'll be ok. I promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep, (N/N)."

"But I have to. Promise 1, we promise to keep each other safe, remember?"

He sighed, and nodded. You were scared for him. You knew somehow, you'd get roped into it. You looked up at him, seeing him pick at the cement on the roof. "Eventually... we're going to have to go back. We can't stay here the whole night," he said. You frowned. "I don't want to go back. We should run away. Just the two off us."

"(L/N)?" Someone called out from behind you two. You turned to face the person. It was Ann. "Hatter would like to see you... Alone."

#alice in borderland #niragi #niragi×reader #plot is getting kind of weird now but ill fix it

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lauwrite1225 · 4 years ago

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Somebody to die for.

Finan x OC; The Old Guard inspired Alternative Universe

Summary : Victoria’s life is rather simple until she has a car accident from which she ends up miraculously unscathed. A series of weird events animates her daily life, everything seemingly bringing her to a strange man. Until this very man knocks at her door.

Spotify Playlist • Masterlist

A/N : Happy Sihtric Saturday, and a Sihtric moodboard to go with it! I am so sorry i disappeared from Tumblr! I posted on Ao3 the chapter and totally forgot to do it here and then kept pushing back the moment because of work... Sorry again and here is the chapter!

Warnings : death, blood, violence... A lot of ugly things lmaoo

Chapter 12 : I'll find you here inside the dark

The sound of the rain falling on the car’s roof makes Vicky grow impatient. They are parked in front of the building serving as the foundation headquarters in Munich for thirty minutes now, waiting for one of the employees she has drawn to potentially come out of it. Victoria is pretty sure that they aren’t keeping Finan here, nor doing all their experiments she has been seeing through Sihtric’s memories, giving her shivers, but somewhere more isolated. But obviously she wasn’t able to locate the place with Sophie and so they turned to a more lopsided plan: following one of the employees who would hopefully get there.

“We’re going to spend the night here.” She sighs, sinking in the backseat.

“It’s not even midday.” Osferth replies, staring at her in the rearview mirror.

“With that shitty weather it feels like it.” She childishly replies, her only way to fight her frustration.

For three days she has been seeing Finan in her dreams weak and tortured. She knows Sihtric is using him to make her come by herself and Finan pretends to hold on not wanting to alert her. It makes her heart squeeze to see that he is protecting her despite his own suffering. It reminds her of his promise and how he truly meant it.

“Là!” Sophie suddenly says, pointing at a man with a long coat and brown curls. “It’s one the scientists, no?”

Vicky narrows her eyes and leans forward, her hand gripping the passenger seat. “It does look like him.” She confirms, her gaze following him as he stops next to a car.

“Then we follow him.” Osferth declared, starting the car once the man had driven away.

Vicky sits back correctly in her seat, heaving a sigh of relief. If they want to be sure to take them by surprise, they have to find out where they are before the end of the day and not give Sihtric the chance to possibly know where they are. The whole drive, Vicky kept her eyes covered to not give the Dane any clue of where they were.

Osferth keeps a good distance between them and the man’s car to not be noticed. Though, when they are out of the city, the monk fears that they start to be too obvious, so when the man turns at a crossing, Osferth drives straight and they use Sophie’s phone to search what Vicky could describe as a mansion in the area. When they find what looks like one, the monk parks the car at a reasonable distance and they get out of it. He opens the trunk and unzips a bag in which they have hidden guns. Osferth hands her the one Finan has kept from the attack in London. She observes the weapon between her hands. She has never used one like this before, only the old rifle, and she is now wondering if she’ll be able to use it. But most of all, will she be able to kill someone if she has to?

“Vicky?” Osferth's voice brings her back to reality as he is now handing her a magazine for her Colt. “It's just in case, you won't have to use it if it goes as planned.”

She takes it and puts it in her pocket. “But you will?” She asks him.

Osferth hesitates, his fingers tightening around his own revolver. He doesn't have to speak for her to understand that it doesn't please him more than her to have blood on his hands, but they have to. He shakes his head, instructs Sophie to wait here in the car and to not hesitate to leave if things go wrong. She reluctantly accepts his last demand before pulling him down in a kiss.

“Fais attention.” She whispers to him. (Be careful)

He smiles at her. “Promis.” (Promised)

Then she turns around to take Vicky in her arms. “You too, be careful.”

Victoria nods the most confidently she could, but her hands are shaking. Sophie waves them goodbye as they start to walk away in the forest. Osferth is silent beside her and she can almost hear her heart beating hard, her guts twisting in her stomach. She's about to do the bravest, or maybe craziest, thing she has done in her entire life, something she has only seen in movies until now. And if in theaters it generally are the good guys that win at the end, she doubts reality to be so kind.

After several minutes walking between the trees, they finally perceive the mansion. They crouch behind a bush at the end of the forest to observe the area. The building is huge, three floors and a basement Vicky remembers from her dreams, where Finan should be.

“First we free Finan.” Osferth says, making Vicky look at him. “Then, Sihtric. With luck he'll find us first.”

“Alright, but how do we get in?”

“By force.” He answers staring back at the building.

“Alright.” She says after a heartbeat, they are so close now.

“Let's go then.”

Osferth stands up and walks toward the mansion, Vicky close behind him. They cross no one until they step in the hall, the man they have followed to come here. He stares at them with wide eyes, about to ask them what they are doing here but Osferth pulls out his gun. The man drops his pile of documents to raise his hands in sign of peace.

“Bringen Sie uns zu Ihrem Gefangenen und wir werden Ihnen nicht wehtun.” Osferth explains to him, turning the barrel of his gun peacefully. (Take us to your prisoner and we won't hurt you)

Vicky looks everywhere at once, scared that someone else arrives while the man hesitates. But he finally agrees and Osferth kindly smiles at him when he takes the lead toward the basement. He hides his gun in the inner pocket of his coat but stays close behind their now hostage. They take a long corridor, Vicky's breath becoming more and more erratic at each step. This plan can fail in a thousand different ways and she seems to keep discovering a new one the closer they are from their goal. Feeling her anxiety, her friend briefly glances at her.

“Everything will be fine.” He reassures while the man struggles with his keys.

“Sie werden Sie erwischen.” He stammers, looking at them however with more confidence. “Es sind überall Kameras, jemand wird es schnell genug bemerken.” (You're going to be caught. // There are cameras everywhere, someone will know soon enough.)

“Machen Sie sich um uns keine Sorgen.” Osferth replies but the German keeps staring at him, this time more defiant. (Don't worry for us)

He suddenly turns around and raises his fist wrapped around the carabiner to try to hit Osferth in the face. Vicky doesn't have the time to warn the monk that he has already moved aside grabbing his wrist and pushing him against a wall. She closes her eyes when she notices that the monk pulls out his gun and jumps at the shooting sound resounding. Her heart beats even faster in her chest and she dares not opening her eyes.

“He isn't dead, Victoria.” Osferth says after she hears him taking the keys from the man. She opens her eyelids and he is handing her the rattling of keys. From the corner of her vision she perceives the man, bleeding out but still bleeding as he lays unconscious. “You go downstairs to fetch Finan. I stay here to cover you.”

“I thought you were fetching Sihtric?” She frowns at him, taking the keys.

He briefly looks to the other side of the corridor. “The sound will have alerted others, it's better to keep the way clear. And Sihtric might stand with them.”

Vicky takes a deep breath and nods before opening the door, calming the shake of her hands. She turns for one last approving sign of her friend before climbing down the stairs appearing behind the door. She runs, careful not to stumble and fall, but she can't prevent the want for everything to be over. When she reaches the end of the stairs, she hears footsteps approaching and when two armed men appear right in front of her, she's paralyzed. They bark something in German at her and as she doesn't answer, they point their guns at her. The one on the left shoots her in the middle without more hesitation. The strength with which the bullet hits her makes her stumble and fall back, gasping for air and of surprise.

She feels the panic running in her veins, the pain growing in her stomach as the men approach her. But slowly, the ache eases and she calms down, searching for a way to get away from this situation. She remembers how Finan killed the men in her flat and decides that it might be her best solution. She slows her breath and closes her eyes, pretending to be unconscious. One of the men kneels at her side and starts to go through the pockets of her jacket while the other speaks something in a walkie-talkie. Victoria tightens her grip on the carabiner and then throws her fist in the man's jaw.

The shock of pain knocks him and he falls next to her. She sits up, wincing at the still sharp pain in her stomach and meets the other's wide eyes. He shouts at her and before he can shoot her again she grabs her Colt. Without thinking, not even taking the time to aim, she pulls the trigger and hits the man in the thigh. She watches the man fall to his knees, crying out in pain, not realizing what she just did.

She shakes her head and leans over the knocked man to take the keys hanging on his belt. She then stands back on her feet, following the path Sihtric did in her dreams until she finally recognizes Finan's cell's door. She heaves a relieved sigh and unlocks the cell before pulling the door open. Her breath runs short when she finds Finan sitting in a dark corner, his head falling forward.

“Finan?” She calls him as she steps carefully towards him.

He doesn't react, even when she kneels in front of him. She studies him briefly, his clothes are dirty and torn in parts, his hair is messy and his beard has grown out of control. She slides her hands behind his ears, her thumbs grazing over his cheeks, to lift his head.

“Finan, come on, wake up.” She says as he still doesn’t react. She nervously looks behind her shoulder, fearing that men could arrive. She shakes his shoulder with one hand but nothing again. “Come on, we have to leave.” She urges him before resting her forehead against his, feeling his slow and difficult breath on her face. “Please, I need you.” She begs him.

She looks up to the ceiling when she hears agitation upstairs. She swears, realizing they have no more time. She gives up the kind way and decides to wake him up, so she slaps him across the face.

“Wake up!” She shouts at him, her voice startling him along with the blow.

Finan opens his eyes abruptly, gasping for air and raising his hands to push her away instinctively but she moves faster than him and grabs his wrists. He stares at her in the dark, narrowing his eyes until he succeeds to recognize her.

“Vicky?” He whispers, his voice hoarse.

She smiles tenderly at him, brushing back the hair falling over his forehead. “It’s me.”

He huffs, though it sounds more like a sob as he leans forward to bury his face in her neck. She holds him tight, enjoying their reunion despite the urgency of the moment. Feeling his weight in her arms, even if his state is still worrying her, warms her heart with relief.

“We have to go.” She says, moving away but keeping her hands on his shoulder. “Can you stand?”

When Finan nods she stands up and stretches her hand to help him, though he still has to lean against the wall to succeed. His legs shake a little but he gives her a lopsided smile as if everything is fine. It isn’t, but Vicky knows they don’t have another choice anyway. She grabs his hand to wrap his arm around her shoulders while her own encircles his waist. They slowly walk out of the cell, Finan’s body heavier against hers at each pace. When they reach the stairs, she notices how his gaze hovers over the two unconscious men before falling on her. She pinches her lips, not proud of it but it was necessary.

“Osferth waits for us upstairs. He covers us.” She explains to him before they start to climb the stairs.

When they finally are on the first floor, the fight’s noises have faded and only a few unconscious or dead men lay on the ground. She bites her lips nervously, not seeing Osferth. He might have left to find Sihtric after all so she doesn’t sink in more worry and keeps walking, careful to avoid the bodies on the floor. When they reach the end of the corridor, the monk appears in front of them, breathless and covered with blood.

“Oh Christ.” He whispers when he studies Finan still held by Vicky.

He moves to take her place which she gratefully gives him. “You haven’t found Sihtric?”

“I did, but he lost me.” He admits.

“But I have to meet him!” She protests, raising her hands annoyingly.

“I know.” Osferth affirms to try to calm her. “But we have to leave before reinforcements arrive.”

Victoria grips her hair nervously, hesitating between following Osferth’s command or running on her own after Sihtric. But Sihtric is a warrior as good as her two friends and she’s far from overcoming them even in training. If the Dane captures her, all of this would have been for nothing. She sighs and reluctantly accepts to leave. She takes the lead of their escape, her Colt lifted at eye level, ready to shoot whoever would present themselves. There’s a heavy silence in the mansion as they head to the front door and the same expending on the outside. It doesn’t reassure Vicky who keeps looking around until they are in the forest. When they are far away, they allow themselves a break, especially for the Irishman. He leaves Osferth’s side to lean against a tree, his fingers curling on the bark as he throws up the little content of his stomach, exhausted by the effort. Vicky comes to rub his back kindly while he takes back his breath and composure, chewing her inner cheek in worry.

“Sophie is waiting for us in the car, it’s not far.”

“Alright.” He mutters, straightening his back. The concerned look that they both give him doesn’t go unnoticed to Finan. “I’ll be fine.” He assures them, waving a hand.

Vicky and Osferth don’t object, even if they doubt the truthfulness of Finan’s affirmation, they don’t have any other choice than continue to walk. It obviously takes them much more time to join the car, both of them supporting the Irishman and it’s a real relief when they finally see the car with Sophie waiting outside. She immediately runs to them to check if they are all fine.

“Bordel, are you all alright?” She asks them, her eyes however lingering on the man between them, grimacing slightly.

Osferth grabs her arm tenderly, his thumb rubbing the fabric of her jacket. “We are, but the further we are from here, the better it will be.”

She nods and they all take place in the car, taking back the road quickly. All the pressure on Vicky’s shoulders seem to disappear as she stares at the landscape outside, leaving her totally drained of energy. She briefly thinks of the two men she fought in the basement, her guts squeezing at the idea that they could be dead by now, because of her, but the thought fades as soon as she turns her head to Finan. He has already fallen back to sleep his cheek pressed against the window. She knows they are still in danger as she failed to meet Sihtric, but right now she can’t help but feel like nothing more can happen to them.

Tag : @for-bebbanburg @osferth @maggiescarborough @finansarms @dumbledoreisnotmyhubby @solinarimoon

#somebody to die for #finan #finan x oc #the old guard #the last kingdom #fanfiction #finan the agile

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