#i'm so glad i forgot to pop it the previous fight

[honourablejester]

Things I have now learned in D&D 5e: when you’re low level and you’re facing a swarm of spiders and you’re down to your last spell slot, the Sleep spell is 100% a girl’s best friend.

Twilight Sanctuary is also a girl’s, and everyone in 30ft of hers, best friend.

Sweet Selune, I don’t know how I didn’t die there.

[lovingsiriusoswald]

Damned

Part 1 | 2 | 3

Fallen Angel!Sirius AU

Heavily inspired by: Fallen by Lauren Kate

Disclaimer: The first few parts will be based from the Prologue from the game, credits to Cybird for that! If the "series" gets too long, go to the "Damned - Sirius" tag for easy navigating!

************

Me and Ray started to discuss that what if MC was the next Alice. He had mentioned that she would be necessary for fending off the Red Army. Internally, I was against the idea of using a precious lady as a tool for war, but I nodded to him instead.

"If she joins the Black Army, we could withstand the magical forces of the Red Army."

A bright light from beyond the hedges to where MC had run off to had caught our attention. That's where the Red Army Generals' meeting had taken place. I hope she didn't get hurt by that light.

"Call in Luka and Seth, she's surely held captive by the Red Army now."

We immediately rushed back to the Black Army Headquarters and I called in Luka and Seth. They got a little too excited to hear that Alice had finally arrived in Cradle. Fenrir had overheard the orders and immediately volunteered to be back up in case of an emergency.

"All you need to do is spy on the Red Army barracks and see what they plan to do with MC. Do not engage a fight them. We will then meet up at the Central Quarters by sunrise. Understood?" I bellowed. I was worried that she would get scared if a fight broke out so suddenly.

"Yes sir!" They rushed to their horses and took off. I started to call the soldiers of the army, Ray had wanted to meet them before dawn by the courtyard. Once everyone was ready, I turned to Ray and he stood in front of them.

"Soldiers!" He shouts and the army stood upright then saluted. "A few hours ago, Alice had arrived in Cradle named as MC. She is currently held captive by the Red Army and no one knows what they plan to do with her. She could either be used as a weapon against us, or our greatest defense. " I flinched subtly at his last sentence. "We are at the verge of war and MC can help us resolve our conflicting issues if she joins our side. For the protection of Cradle nd its people, we must protect and keep watch over her. Understood?"

"Yes sir!" The soldiers respond in unison.

"Freedom soars on Raven wings!" Ray shouts.

"Freedom soars on Raven wings!" The soldiers yell back. Ray scans the soldiers and I start to worry more, it was bad timing that MC had arrived at a time like this. Her safety is something that I need to prioritize, but being the Queen of Spades, it was difficult to do so.

A raven messenger had arrived with a piece of paper tied around its neck. Ray immediately opens and reads the letter. His eyes grew wide and turned to us again. "Go to the Central Quarters quickly! Luka, Seth, and Fenrir are under fire!"

I rush to the carriage and the carriage takes off immediately. I looked up at the sky that was starting to glow a crimson light. The first rays of sunlight after a long eventful night had reached through the leaves of the trees and grass. I watched the landscape transition from the Black Army Headquarters, to the dewy fields and quiet town of the Black Territory, to the cobblestone streets and buildings of the Central Quarters quickly. My worry for MC was starting to grow -- what if she decides to join the Red Army? That means I would never be able to see her. Worse, I might just watch her fall in love with someone else.

The carriage stops and I quickly stepped out, I stood next to Ray and faced West, where the Red Army Territory was located. Three horses was seen at the distance and they were charging in fast.

"They're safe!" A Black Army soldier cheered. I squint to try and see the extra figure in Luka's arms. MC was with them!

They halt when they neared us and got off their horses. Luka helps MC off and I stare in shock. She didn't take their side, she's here!

"Glad you're back in one piece. But why did you bring MC back with you?" These weren't the words I wanted to say.

"Nice to see you again so soon, MC." Ray grins at her. She lets out a breath and smiles widely at us, her eyes squinting and her cheeks tinted with a light dash of pink. Despite being up all night, she looked like she was glowing against the sun's rays.

"Ray! Sirius! You have no idea how relieved I am to be back here!" She remarks happily to us. I could already see the imaginary flowers blooming around her and the cute little sparkles. She was absolutely adorable.

"MC, you already know our king and queen? Talk about a small world, huh?" Fenrir chips in. She inhales a sharp breath as she turns to look at us, I guess we forgot to tell her our roles.

"You're really good at popping up at the worst possible time." Ray softly smiles at her. It was very true, in her previous lives, she would always burst in at the most unconventional time. During her life as a 17th century Victorian noblewoman, she would suddenly enter at Security Meetings held at the Grand Hall, without really intending to. She would often use me as an excuse, which was both annoying and life saving. Another event was during the gladiator match in Greece, she fell from the balcony by accident, making me push the man I was fighting with so far away from me that he travelled across the arena and I quickly ran to save her from her fall.

"That's not my intention, but--" MC tries to explain before Luka had cut her off.

"We can chat later, the enemy is approaching." We turn our gazes up and see the four generals were leading a perfectly synchronized battalion of soldiers clad in red and white.

I see MC, tensed that something big was gonna happen.

"What the heck is this about?" Ray frowns as he watches the Red Army march towards us.

"Well, you see, we had a little run-in, so to speak, with the Red Army at the gates to their barracks." Seth explains.

"Seriously? Do I need to send you all back to school for Recon 101?" I frown at him. It wasn't necessary to put MC in danger like this.

"There you go again with that salty face. I don't know why you're so upset!" He smiles as if a fight wasn't brewing. "If you really thought that nothing was going to happen, then why did you bring so many men?" He glows as he grins, eyes so deceiving that you'd never think he wants to fight for a war.

"The Reds have been waiting for 500 years for an excuse to strike, and they've finally found their reason." Ray frowns as the Red Army's march had stopped. We faced against our opposing side.

"I'm quite impressed, I wasn't expecting the Black Army to send its leaders out to welcome us." Edgar smiles, unbefitting to the situation at hand.

"You took that girl, who was under our care, and then had the audacity to attack. Explain yourselves." Jonah's icy amber eyes pierces through us, the way he says it makes it look like he was playing the victim card.

"You almost had me fooled into thinking you were a victim there for a minute. Twist the truth too much and your face might end up that way too." I couldn't hold back my tongue from talking as I smirked at him, his eyebrows furrowing further.

"Say that once more and you'll rue the day you were born!" He says through gritted teeth.

"How dare you insult our Queen!" A red soldier retorts, I almost laugh at their pointless aggressiveness. The Red Army's growls and hate starts to grow louder until a loud voice booms from behind.

"Silence!" Lance bellows as the soldiers part in half to give way to his entrance. He looked powerful as always. His head was held high, with a cold emotionless gaze that had seemed the only expression he ever had since he became the King of Hearts.

"Bow down to the King of Hearts, Lancelot! May glory run crimson through our veins!" A soldier yells.

"May glory run crimson through our veins." His eyes were fixated on MC as she stares back, her body slightly shaking from tension. He knows. "My proud men, there is no need to draw your swords." His eyes glowed red as he waved his hand. Our weapons were lifted to the air and had suddenly vanished. A dirty player as always.

"There goes our boss again, overdoing it with the magic." Kyle sighs as his shoulders slightly slump down, making it known that he was uninterested with the whole fiasco.

"It looks like we skipped over the "threaten the enemy" stage." Seth declares as if this was a casual process.

"You think that's all it takes to stop us? Come on! We've been waiting for this battle for 500 years!" Fenrir's eyes held excitement and manic, he clenched his fists tightly as he smiles widely.

"He's right. Leaders of the past may had put this battle off, but the time has come for us to fight." Zero declares. He was a good soldier, his courage and strength made him the perfect Ace for the Red Army.  He was always in a firm stance, always ready to fight.

"An excellent summation, Zero. Well done!" Edgar remarks out of nowhere, earning a pained look from him.

"If you're thinking of surrendering, now is the time. I hope you heard that Luka. " Jonah's face softens as he glances at his beloved younger brother, who in turn, looked away with a frown.

"Did somebody say something? Because all I heard was a gust of hot air." He rolls his eyes and Jonah sighs softly from across us.

I glance over at MC again and see her look back and forth the two sides worriedly, completely caught in the middle of a brewing war.

"Lance, call this off!" I call out to him, hoping that our friendship could reach through his heart and withdraw the fight.

"Don't speak as if we're friends, Queen of Spades." He looks at me with cold sharp eyes, his  expression never faltering, then his voice lowered a pitch. "I have a message for the Black Army -- from this day forth, you have been absored into the Red Army."

"I have a message for the Red Army -- quit spouting nonsense." Ray replies, the two Kings glare sharply at each other.

"In that case, I'll just have to dissolve every last one of you." His eyes glowed crimson again as his hands start to illuminate with magic. Before he could raise it towards us, MC quickly reaches her hands out, in between the two Kings.

"Please! Stop!" She cries as a barrier of light appears in front of her. Lance's spell dissolves into nothing as the light fades away. He looks at her again, his frown softening back to his usual empty expression.  "So Jonah's report was true." He looks at her from head to toe, "Alice the Second really has appeared." He walks towards MC and looks down at her, making his voice loud and clear for her to hear very clearly. "Just be warned, Alice -- I consider anybody who gets in my way an enemy." My blood boils at his threat, he didn't have to frighten her more, she's already confused and tired at everything being thrown at her all at once. You're not like this, what happened? Before I could open my mouth to speak, Ray had stepped forward.

"Stop making stuff up as you go!" He walks towards Lance and MC, shielding her away from the King of Hearts' gaze. "Her name is MC, not Alice."

A carriage violently pulled up before us, taking the attention of all the soldiers and Generals. "That'll do, gentlemen." Blanc steps out of the carriage, along with Oliver. He walks towards the two Kings, who then parted from each other.  He smiles softly at MC, calming her worries little by little.

"I don't know what you're thinking, pulling a stunt like this so early in the morning. Don't you know people live here?" Oliver frowns at MC, who looked more confused than ever.

"The Central Quarter is a neutral zone. Any and all forms of combat are strictly prohibited here." He yells loud enough for everyone to hear. "The entire country of Cradle will be at great risk if you destroy its economic and political center."

You always knew how to break up a fight at the right time, thank you, Blanc.

After a long moment of silence, Lance finally speaks, anger and annoyance evident in his voice. "Let it be known, this is the only time I will humor the request of a record keeper. Troops, fall back!" MC sighs as Lance takes his leave, along with his entourage of soldiers.

"I can't leave you without something to fret over, Alice." Jonah walks up to her and Luka grips his greatsword tightly. I raise my hand to stop him from doing anything stupid, although I myself want to break that pretty boy's face for trying to threaten her like that. "I'll have you under my command soon enough. You'll learn to enjoy serving me." He leans a little to close for comfort and I hear Luka scowl at his brother under his breath. "I hope you'll look forward to it as much as I am." He turns and Lance faces MC once again.

"Alice -- I doubt that it will be long until I see you again, but until then, enjoy what little time you have left with your life." For a sheer second, his eyes grew sad, something was up. His cape flies around him as he turns, leading his troops to retreat back to the West. I gather up the courage to finally talk to her again, hoping to try and deviate the threats from scaring her too much.

"So you really are from the Land of Reason, MC?" I try my best to make small talk. She nods at me and meets my eyes again.

"Yes, I am. It wasn't my intention to come here, but now I'm stuck here until the next full moon." She explains. She looks away from me and bit her lip, thinking hard of what could happen next.

"Don't worry." I place my hand on her shoulder and she looks back up at me, hoping that this gesture could ease her nerves. "We'll make sure you find your way home." London was the safest place for her, she would never be happy here, being caught up in the middle of a war. I rethink my choices and plan what to do to keep her safe and under my care, but I know that it would never be possible.

Things need to change, and sending her home in 30 days is all I need to do to keep her safe. I'm fighting against fate now.

"Thank you, Sirius." She smiles up at me, the tiredness had slowly grown evident in her eyes.

[onewomancitadel]

Argh no! This chapter was good. No, it was too good! It went by so fast now I'm left with a cliffhanger that's got my heart pumping with adrenaline and anxiety. Everything towards the end was happening at such a rapid pace compared to how it started, loved it.

The beginning with everyone in the dark, Emerald and Mercury curious about what Jaune and Cinder talked about because to them, Cinder never talked with them, just to them about the plan, strategies, how things were going so far, etc...

For a second I was confused why Blake could see when nobody else could, she's a faunus. I forgot. It's really easy to forget that faunus can see in the dark when you don't see it that often. So, loved that little touch.

Ren was so, understanding. This little bit with Ren explaining how he saw Jaune's love was something I wanted to happen, so yay!

In the background after rereading the previous chapter before diving into this one, I was waiting for Winter to show up. Then she did. Then Qrow showed up with Theodore, kind of forgot about Theodore.

Seeing Qrow break down was a little hard for me. Let me explain. Qrow is one of my favorite characters, if no my favorite then second favorite. He's so complex and riddled with flaws beneath flaws. Seeing him break down like that after Summer really hit me in the feels. Then of course Raven shows up with a mention of Neo. I lowkey thought Neo was done in this story, guess not, but I'm not complaining!

Ruby being missing was nerve wracking. I had a feeling Salem or someone was after her, we later find her near Salem. Then the little talk between Salem and Jaune. Oof, I was kind of getting scared for Jaune. Then Salem is stabbed in the back by the Summer Maiden! What? What! That's crazy! It was something I suspected might occur but I didn't think it would happen, until it did. So that was great. This is when the chapter pacing began to grow like a snowball incredibly well.

People were talking about a three way Maiden fight after last chapter, what about a fight with all four Maidens? Fantastic! I did not see Raven coming back into the story so soon, but this was amazing.

Now finally... nooooo cliffhanger!

I'm kind of sad it ended so soon. But by the brother gods was that a good chapter. Your story telling skills are phenomenal and I can't wait to see what happens next.

That scream at the end, was that Cinder?

All right. Time to go read the chapter again!

Aw, thanks anon for popping into my inbox. It's really nice to hear from you again. I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter, that's what I really want. (:

For a second I was confused why Blake could see when nobody else could, she's a faunus. I forgot.

Oh yeah, I caught that when I was editing the chapter lol. I try to cross-reference this stuff from memory. XD

This little bit with Ren explaining how he saw Jaune's love was something I wanted to happen, so yay!

I hope it was appropriately R/WBY-brand cheesy, I wanted it, I'm glad you wanted it, I was prepared for everybody to be like 'omgggg is she really doing this' yes she is

I forgot about Theodore too

Seeing Qrow break down was a little hard for me. Let me explain. Qrow is one of my favorite characters, if no my favorite then second favorite. He's so complex and riddled with flaws beneath flaws.

Well I hope I got your favourite character right. (: That's the issue with juggling an ensemble cast lol, everybody has their favourite. Although with that being said, I love all of the characters in their own way, so I have fun writing them. I'm just limited by perspective and the romance I'm writing.

My favourite characters are Cinder and Jaune, if you can't tell.

I really like Qrow, there were some things mildly offputting about him at first but I like the way his character evolved (which retroactively improves his earlier character for me). I like him especially as Weiss' STRQ analogue, that relationship is very interesting to me. Qrow also happens to be my Best Mate's favourite character who watched the show for the first time recently lol. I predicted that. Nora's her favourite of the young cast.

Oh actually I'm editing my response to also add that: the reason Qrow is my Best Mate's favourite is because he's one of those characters who manages to persist in the circumstances. He's the last of team STRQ (like Weiss is the last one standing in V8), but he still keeps pushing. He's sort of an unlikely hero in this respect. Part of the reason I like him is that despite ironic douchebroey antihero projection onto him, he's actually much more similar to Ruby, because he still has his classical idealism. It's challenged in the same way hers is, but despite everything he still believes in the same things she does, and he doesn't even have special silver eyes. That's why he works for me as a character. (I could go into it more, but I think the exploration of his character archetype in R/WBY is done very very well. That's what I mean about him at first putting me off and then coming around to him because I understood what they were doing with him).

Ruby being missing was nerve wracking. I had a feeling Salem or someone was after her, we later find her near Salem. Then the little talk between Salem and Jaune. Oof, I was kind of getting scared for Jaune. Then Salem is stabbed in the back by the Summer Maiden! What?

:D

I mean I like doing things a bit differently from how you might expect it to go :D which is a bit R/WBY-like. I also enjoy the way characters are connected to each other and reflect and foil one another in R/WBY, so Carmine is doing some interesting stuff here.

This is when the chapter pacing began to grow like a snowball incredibly well.

Oh the pacing turned out okay? I'm really pleased to hear that (from your reading), I struggled a lot to get it right, this chapter really gave me a pain. XD

I lowkey thought Neo was done in this story, guess not, but I'm not complaining!

I try not to leave loose ends where I can, mostly everything in the story should be relevant in some way. I'm not a very good writer but I try hard lol.

People were talking about a three way Maiden fight after last chapter, what about a fight with all four Maidens?

XD I got that anon ask excited about the three-way Maiden fight and I thought that was really cute and fun, especially because I had already planned a four-way one. If I don't get it in the show I'll be extremely unhappy

and I'd like the Maidens to team up, that's the ultimate answer I think in the show, "I'm waiting for my sisters."

I'm kind of sad it ended so soon. But by the brother gods was that a good chapter. Your story telling skills are phenomenal and I can't wait to see what happens next.

Yeah, it's why I want to get the next chapter up early, because I realise where I left it was a bit cruel. I did intend to post two at the same time but I got taken down by cluster migraines this week which was not especially fun. I know you mean this in a 'I want to read more' way, but also the chapters are usually 10,000 - 14,000 words in length. It's a lot to edit. XD I try to write it so each chapter has its own satisfying element/idea explored, as there's another introduced, so I hope I'm achieving that.

But on that latter note, :( I'm going to cry (in a good way), I'm just glad I made something that made you happy, thank you. <3

I'm glad it was a good chapter anyway, I know there are one or two people anxious for Cinder and Jaune to be back together. I can't really comment on that angle because I don't want to spoil it, but I am glad the separation has at least lended itself some mildly good reading, and then I guess we'll see what happens next. :D

Well actually, for the comments I got asking when Jaune and Cinder would be back together, I think I felt mildly sadistic writing the end of Chapter 12. I knew it was coming. I had known the whole story, but it was a bit like oh you want them back together. Fine

I chose evil

That scream at the end, was that Cinder?

(:

All right. Time to go read the chapter again!

Yay! Let me know how your reread goes! <3 <3 <3 Thanks so much for your ask about my fic, it's really lovely to hear from you, made my day. <3 It really makes posting chapters worth it too