#if he lived in fear for his own safety he probably did everything he could

[curseofdelos]

mentally I'm still here:

Nico insisting that neither of them are going to be sacrificed/left behind to satisfy the prophecy is a perfect encapsulation of his growth over the series and it makes me SO soft to think about

Nico as a character - particularly in BoO - doesn't have a lot of self-preservation. He doesn't really care what happens to him as long as the mission gets done. We see this most explicitly after he almost fades into nothingness after the Bryce Lawrence incident:

And again when he considers shadow travelling into Octavian's tent to assassinate him:

(Nico himself notes here that it was unlikely he would survive another jump. If Will hadn't stopped him, he probably would have died.)

In both cases, Nico was willing to risk death for the sake of ending the war. He puts very little value on his own life, and repeatedly argues to Reyna, Hedge, and Will that the possibility of saving camp (a place he never felt welcome at, might I add) is worth the risk of losing his life.

Even before Nico went on the quest with Reyna and Hedge, the others were concerned about his safety. Percy tried to remind him how unpredictable his shadow travelling could be, and Hazel notes that he has been acting strangely lately:

It's not quite clear what Hazel is worried about here, but my interpretation of this scene is that she's concerned that Nico isn't thinking - or perhaps, isn't caring - about what effect the constant shadow travelling will have on his wellbeing. Between Tartarus, the jar, and the Cupid incident, Nico's mental state is at its worst at this point in the series, and I think Hazel is worried he'll do something reckless - something he can't come back from.

And so in TSATS, when Nico is told that he's going to have to leave something of equal value behind in order to save Bob, the old him would have had zero issue sacrificing himself if that's what it took to ensure Will and Bob's survival. This version of Nico, who's been going to therapy w/ Mr D and opening up more and built a little support system for himself, can't fathom it.

Nico in BoO did not have a future. He had fully convinced himself that nobody cared about him or would miss him if he was gone - not Percy who fought for him at every turn in PJO, not his sister Hazel, not his new friends Jason and Reyna. He was ready to leave both camps behind because he couldn't see himself ever being happy there. He couldn't see himself being happy at all.

But now, in TSATS, he has a boyfriend that he loves, he has friends that he loves, and he has a community in Camp Half-Blood. He has experienced so much loss that losing someone else is his worst fear. The old Nico would have considered sacrificing himself to protect Will and Bob. At the very least, he would have kept that option in his back pocket as a 'just in case'; he wouldn't have sworn on the Styx that he wouldn't stay behind.

This Nico, however, is doing much better - not perfect, but better. He loves Will, and he wants a life with him, and he's not willing to give that up for anything. Nico has hope for the future, and he's clinging to that hope with everything he has. He sees a light at the end of the tunnel, and he wants to reach it. He's not willing to sacrifice himself because it means losing that future.

Gone is the cynical pessimistic Nico who assumes the worst because the worst is all he thinks he can have. Here is the Nico who has had a taste of happiness and is willing to fight to keep it. He's not going to sacrifice himself because he wants to live. He's not just fighting for Will here; he's fighting for himself too.

And seeing him go from "if it kills me, it kills me" to "it's not going to be me" makes me so ASDFGHJKL

[heavenbarnes]

under no circumstances did your simon want anyone from work knowing you existed.

far as the 141 (or anyone vaguely military) were concerned, simon was single.

when johnny tried to play matchmaker, he just assumed simon was guarded. when gaz harped on about this girl from his gym, he just assumed she wasn’t his type.

the boys lived with illusions of simon returning to an empty, sterile, sad excuse for a home. hardly a home, probably a shoebox of an apartment with the bare basics of furniture.

maybe a rhythmic drip of a faucet to keep him company.

never even an inkling of an idea that he might be coming home to you.

you who kept the home clean, but lived in- warm and loved in. soft things at every corner, soft bed you both slept in, soft couch for him to hold you on. doesn’t smell sterile, smells nice, smells like-

well, you.

it wasn’t shame, embarrassment- if he could, he’d tell any poor sod who’d listen just how much he adored you.

simon thought himself the luckiest fucker alive for even knowing you, let alone loving you. he’d die a thousand lonely times if he did anything to lose you.

safety.

“this job doesn’t lend itself to lovers” price’s voice had rung loud in his head.

he knew his captain was right, he trusted his word more than he trusted his own mind. but his captain hadn’t met you yet.

he hadn’t seen that look you could give him, fluttering lashes and a hazy smile. he hadn’t felt the way you held him, when the days were long and his actions were unforgivable.

he didn’t know that you’d forgive every terrible thing simon had ever done, without a second thought.

you weren’t just a lover, you were the start and end of it all. his big bang.

nobody was ever supposed to know you existed.

simon had been so careful, so fucking careful- he’d suffered days and nights keeping your existence secret. it still wasn’t enough.

it wasn’t johnny’s fault, he didn’t blame johnny but that was one person who knew you in the greater context of “ghost.”

one too many.

“d’ya know L.T’s got a pretty thing at home?”

gaz had laughed, laying another card on the table as he did it.

“and who’d that be? her majesty the queen?”

price even snorted a chuckle out his nose, surveying the hand he was sure to play.

“wouldn’t give me a name, all he’d give me w’sweetheart”

“simon’s got a sweetheart named sweetheart? yeah, and i’ve got a chance at beating the captain”

sweetheart.

security measure two, when the first fails. no names, an alias that was easy to remember. no slip ups.

thankfully, everyone thought johnny had been chatting shit (as he often did) and didn’t care to push further.

but rumours only grow.

simon felt like he was living his life checking around corners. he was used to it at work, but when he was home he was meant to be free.

he couldn’t breathe knowing you could be compromised- that there was a chance he could lose you when he feels like he only just found you.

and when you were finally compromised? hell hath no fury.

there was only one option, they wouldn’t stop hunting you. they knew you were the only thing simon was scared to lose. to him, there was no other way.

price’s hands might’ve shook as he placed the folded flag in your hands, royal blue and silken. returning his mask to its rightful home, skull plate staring back at you.

where his eyes should be.

“if there is anything we can do”

all you could do was a blank stare right through him- show no emotion, show no fear. simon’s words were banging around your head.

that unmistakable feeling of eyes on your back as you retreated, carrying what was left of “ghost” back to your home. to your bed, military corners still tucked perfectly.

gently laying the flag to rest, running the mask through your fingers. what could a ghost really feel like?

bringing it to your lips, pressing a sweet kiss to its centre- where you usually might, before you’d send him off to fight for his country, always assuming he’d come home.

he’d been so careful, it wasn’t enough, everything had changed.

he had to change.

he let you pull the mask over his face, tracing the shape of the skull under a gentle finger tip. standing on your toes to press a kiss-

right between the eyes.

“something isn’t right, he kept this secret damn near the whole time we knew him- he dies and suddenly it all falls in our laps?”

gaz and johnny tailing price as he tore through the base, your file tucked under his arm. thin wee thing that it was, barely enough to piece together an idea.

might as well be chasing ghosts.

“simon sacrificed his life to keep that one safe, why the fuck would he let the details out? when he’s not alive to protect-“

the door was nearly off its hinges with the three men bursting through, putting the fear right through the wee thing at the desk.

“where are simon riley’s ashes?”

“oh, i’m sorry- they’ve already been claimed”

“who? by who?”

whilst the poor girl was gingerly sliding the record towards price, johnny was letting himself into the back room. a space that’d once contained simon’s urn, empty spare the twisted plastic full of fine grey dust.

“cap’n, you’re gonna’ want t’see this”

gaz was nearly vaulting the counter, snatching the ashes out of johnny’s trembling hand.

men with precision aim reduced to a murmur.

“who the fuck did we cremate?”

both men looking to their captain for- for what? help? a fucking clue as to what they’ve really got themselves into?

no use.

price was running a finger down the log book, settling on the name “simon ‘ghost’ riley.” signed out within the hour, only thing left being some poor fucker’s ashes and a set of initials.

signed out by S.H

S.H

sweetheart.

[cirusthecitrus]

Thinking about the portal incident again How it was never explained what caused the portal to appear, was Light Hope involved, was it someone else or was it wild magic. Was it planned or was it a pure random and luck How it saved Hordak from certain death. How it saved him from Prime How it appeared at the right place at the very right time. And had this happened a day late or anywhere else on the front lines, he most likely wouldn't have survived

How in that moment on the battlegrounds Hordak probably no longer believed he could be saved and just accepted his fate

How he might've as well been mere weeks/days old and his life could've ended before it even began. And he was ready to accept it

How in his mind he might have thought he was dying. And how confused and defeated he must have felt once he realized that he was still alive. That this portal did not kill him, but rather took away his chance at doing something "right", the last chance at pleasing his god. How he might've saw himself as an even bigger failure, because he couldn't even die right

How this sudden brutal separation from Prime and the Hive Mind was necessary and, in retrospect, was the best thing to ever happen to Hordak. How by physically cutting all the ties he had to the Horde and the known universe, some random portal did more to protect Hordak than most people in his life ever did

How Hordak himself viewed his situation not as a miracle but as fate worse than death. How at first he only felt immense pain, fear and grief, like a very young child whom was forcebly taken away from their abusive family. How he did not understand that it was good for him and only wished to return home and see his brother again. How Hordak wasted years of his life trying to find him. How his indoctrination, loyalty and love were stronger even than such powerful magic/technology

How Hordak had no idea what to do with himself at first, for he never thought he would've lasted this long. For he was not meant to live that long. And yet, he no longer welcomed death and once again found will to live. He did not let himself give up this time

How he's been looking for a portal home, hoping that one day it's going to appear again. How eventually, tired of waiting, he decided to create a portal of his own. How it became his life's work

How it was a portal that sent Adora to Etheria, someone who will one day free Hordak and the entire universe from Prime. How, if he wasn't waiting for another portal this entire time, no one would've come for her and Adora could've died on that field. But Hordak was there, and (as best as he could) he took care of someone who ended up in the same situation he was in

How it was a portal that brought Hordak to Etheria, and into Entrapta's lonely life. How they would've never met each other if it wasnt for that incident

How it was a portal that invited Entrapta into his life and helped him connect with a person who will forever change his life. How it was a portal that became a catalist for their friendship (and love)

How the "natural" portal that sent Hordak to Etheria can represent real connections and the painful process of growth and change (seeing new places, meeting new people, trying new things, distancing from harmful enviroment, learning independence, being responsible for oneself and others)

How the "artificial" portal Hordak created himself can represent desire to return to this false safety of the past, where everything was simple and familiar, as well as his desperate wish to rebuild his connection with Prime. A connection that was never there. How it was falling apart from the start, how at first Entrapta was so eager to help her friend succeed, but eventually realized that the portal was dangerous. How in the end it only hurt Hordak and everyone around him

How the portal that appeared "naturally" gave him not what he wanted, but what he needed. A safe place, people who understand him, a chance at better life, his personhood. How, after the "artificial" portal gave him something he thought he wanted, Hordak went back to square one. How, in reality, it only took everything from him

Portals, man...

[bangtaninborderland]

MYG - Secrets In The Sheets

Genre: smut, maid reader x mob boss Yoongi, 18+, REQUESTED

Warning: mentions of guns and death, spanking, oral (f&m receiving), penetration, hair pulling, choking.

A/N: thank you for requesting this! I had so much fun writing it! I hope you enjoy it please let me know what you think I always do try my hardest to make requests as good as possible.

BTS MASTERLIST

Yoongi sighed, tossing his keys atop the small glass table, and sliding his shoes off along with his jacket.

God, he needed a drink.

He shuffled over to the small drinks table he had installed in the corner of the living room overlooking a rather dark Seoul, picking up a bottle of whiskey not bothering to read the label as he poured himself a glass. It didn’t matter what it was called nor how strong it was, what mattered was the few moments of peace he felt as the liquid slid down his throat, a light burn in its wake. A small piece of relief in his rather hectic and unusual life.

He chucked remembering how Hoseok had explained that stress was his own fault, “Hyung.” The younger had called up, running in front of him to open the sleek Mercedes. “You know, you wouldn’t be so stressed if you took a holiday. You don’t always have to be a mob boss.”

“Hobi you know I couldn’t leave, probably end up with a bullet in my head on some random beach. You know I don’t feel like being fed to the fish thanks.”

“So uptight Hyung, get home safe.”

“Always do.”

He loved his team as much as he refused to admit it, his team were his life and he would step in front of a thousand bullets to protect them.

He placed his glass down, unbuttoning the top button of his black shirt. You could tell the fabric was expensive, but then again - everything about Min Yoongi was expensive.

He was about to settle in his study preparing to go over the mass amounts of paperwork that built up over the past week when he heard a shuffle in the upstairs bedroom.

Without a second thought, he pulled out his gun, checking the bullets before heading up the stairs. Eyes searched every corner of the house as the noise grew louder, what was once a slight shuffle now being muffled moans.

Definitely fucking weird.

He watched his steps, careful not to move too fast to alert the intruder to his presence, hand pressing his bedroom door open before returning to hold the gun properly.

He was taken back in absolute shock as he watched the maid laying on his bed, legs spread wide as her fingers disappeared inside of herself. Her other hand gripping the crisp white sheets.

Walking over to you he did the only thing reasonable, he held the gun against your temple. Eyes hard as you jumped in surprise before registering the barrel against your skin. Your face falls, overcome with a clear look of fear. “M-mr min.” You stuttered. Legs fold over themselves to give you some cover.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Yoongi spat, nudging the hun further against your head. “I don’t pay you to fuck yourself in my bed I pay you to fucking clean.”

You whimpered, pushing yourself into the bed further to make your frame seem smaller. “I- I’m sorry I just I I’ll leave please sir I’m so sorry.”

“What got you so desperate that you couldn’t wait?” Yoongi raised an eyebrow, his curiosity taking over as his eyes raked around your body. You felt your nipples harden against the fabric of your uniform, your thighs coated in wetness.

He tore his eyes away, mentally shaking his head, he may have been a ruthless killer but he had some decency.

Your eyes wandered around, a hint of embarrassment in them. “It- y-you Mr. Min. I was just cleaning the spare room and a box fell and the… the toys fell out and I… I’m sorry I’m so sorry.”

He sighed, removing the gun from your temple, flicking the safety on before placing it on the table close enough but still out of reach. “What was it that turned you on?”

“What?” Mr min I do-“ you stuttered being cut off as yoongi placed his hand over your mouth.

“The only thing I want to hear from you is an answer. What got you turned on.” He tutted, tongue licking at the corner of his mouth as he pulled his hand away. Resting it atop his hip. “Well?”

“The- the vibrator sir.” Your face was flushed, the embarrassment only worsening with every moment you were trapped underneath Yoongi.

“Why?” He was genuinely confused, his little toy box housed an array of toys, ranging from relatively simple to more complex, degrading.”

“I.. uh….” Your voice grew quiet as you mumbled out her explanation. “I thought about you using it on me.”

“My maid is fantasising about me fucking her?” Yoongi smirked, an idea already forming. “I suppose you want to keep your job huh?”

You sighed, that was something easily answered. “Yes, Mr Min.”

“Okay, only if you let me give you what your pretty mind was thinking about.” He sits on the end of the bed, expressing nearing bored as he continued his mental assessment of your body.

“I don’t- I can’t.” You looked away, not bothering to move but not as settled. “It’s wrong Mr Min.”

He shook his head, a wicked smile tantalising the maid. “Call me Yoongi, I won’t force you, sweetheart. If you want to go you know the house better than I do, I can give you a recommendation I’m sure someone else would love your…services. However, you could give yourself what you want most and keep your job.”

Yoongi lets you have a few minutes to think, never wanting to force someone. “If…if I took you up on your offer…would we get to do it more than once?”

He shrugged. “It depends on you and if it’s good.”

“I think I can be of satisfaction to you Sir.” You pouted, lightly offended by his comment.

“Now don’t pout, why don’t you show me how else you can use those pretty lips?”

“You really want me, Mr Min?” You giggled shyly, it was no secret Min yoongi was a wanted man. Anyone who had the privilege of seeing the man wanted a taste of him, both men and women alike would take their shot throwing all kinds of compliments and date proposals at him only for him to reject every single one of them.

“I wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t true darling.” He rasped, watching you drop to your knees was a fucking sight. He wasn’t a bad man, not in that sense anyway, but he knew a beautiful woman when he see one.

“Want me to take your cock out, Yoongi?” Your tone had a dangerous lilt to it as you said his name for the first time, If he wasn’t hard before he was now.

He nodded, resting his hands behind him to keep him steady. “Do whatever doll.”

You relished in the cute pet names he had easily been addressing you with. You didn’t respond to him verbally, instead, your hands went to his belt buckle, undressing him as fast as you could. You wanted to moan the second his cock sprang free, the length and thickness both much better than you could ever have imagined. “Fuck.”

“Like what you see?” He chuckled, he was very aware of his body, of how good he looked.

“Love what I see.” You corrected, looking up at him for consent before continuing. He gave you a small nod once he realised what you were asking, once he did your hand was wrapped around his cock pumping him a few times. “What do you want from me Mr min?”

“I told you, darling, I want to see what that pretty mouth can do.” He winked, throwing his head back as you brushed your finger along the tip of his cock.

“Well then Mr min, I won’t keep you waiting.” You smiled, lips parting around the head of his cock, tongue swirling around a few times earning a groan from him.

You felt his hand upon your head, he didn’t push you down instead he lightly brushed your hair from your face. “God you’re fucking amazing.”

You responded by hollowing your cheeks, taking his cock as far down your throat as you could, even pushing a little past that point to show off. “Fuck your mouth is like heaven.” He groaned, thrusting upwards a little making you gag.

You recovered quickly, ignoring the feeling of tears pricking your eyes as you continued sucking his cock, hand wrapped around the base massaging the length you couldn’t fit. He let you sit there for a few minutes, his hand running through your hair, gripping it gently every time your tongue swirled around the tip, before lightly parting your cheek. “Off, my turn.”

You pulled off, making a ‘pop’ sound as you did. “You’re turn what?” You panted, your own arousal still growing.

“I want to see if you taste as good as you look. Lay down on the bed.” He patted your thigh, waiting for you to situate yourself on your back before he pushed your legs apart, making room for himself between them. “Every part of you is fucking beautiful, I might just have to keep you here forever.”

“All for yourself Mr Min? isn’t that selfish?” You teased.

“I’d like to see anyone try and touch what I claim doll, everyone knows to stay away from whatever the mins own.” He chuckles, shaking his head as though surprised and your comment. “Shuffle closer.”

You carried out his request, pushing your body closer to him, letting your eyes flutter closed as his breath grew heavier against your skin. He started at your thighs,, kissing and licking every now and again choosing a particular part to bite down on, definitely leaving marks. “More.” You whispered, hand reaching down to pull him closer.

Everything stopped and you opened your eyes, confused by the lack of touch. As you did his hand grabbed your jaw, forcing you to look at him. “Patient girls get nice things, do you want me to show you what I do to girls who demand darling?”

You shook your head, mouth dry and eyes a little fuzzy. “N-no Yoongi.”

“See I knew you were smart.” He smiled, moving back to his previous position. This time you let him carry out his torturously slow pace, trying to keep as still as possible. The last thing you wanted was for him to stop.

Eventually, he moved higher, his lips heaving over your labia and whether you meant to or not you bucked your hips at the sensation earning a slap to your thigh. “Still. Don’t disturb me.”

“Yes, Mr min.” You whined, fisting the sheets to keep you grounded. “Sorry.”

Once again he brought his mouth to your cunt, tongue licking a long stripe between the folds. “God.” You groaned, relishing the way his tongue swirled around your clit.

He was good with his tongue, too fucking good. He covered your pussy with his mouth, both sucking your clit and using his tongue at the same time to flick the bud repetitively giving you no time to catch your breath. His hands wrapped around your thighs, keeping you trapped against him.

“Yoongi- too- ah fuck too much too much” you screamed, hand pushing at his head to move him away.

Despite his smaller frame, he was much stronger than you, your fighting did nothing against him if anything it only encouraged him more as he slid his tongue into your hole. “I’ll cum right now yoongi fuck wait.” You thrashed around, the pleasure overwhelming you.

Your orgasm was winding around your stomach, with just a few more stripes of his tongue you’d be brought to a mind-blowing orgasm. You would have been but you weren’t. He pulled away just before you could be pushed over the brink, your orgasm dwindling away. You’d never been edged before but the smug look on his face when you opened your eyes initially wanting an explanation somewhat calmed you.

The look he wore told you what you need to know, he wasn’t ready to be done.

“I want to see you riding me. Think you can handle it or are you done already.”

“Please.” You huffed, brushing your hair out of your face before pushing him backwards, his body landing on the bed with a light thud. “Give me a little more credit Mr Min.”

“Someone’s got a little confident?” He raised an eyebrow “Condom. Top drawer.”

You rushed off the bed, handing him the packet. Within a matter of seconds, you were back on top of him, his eyes dark, focused, watching you align his cock with your entrance.

His energy was everything, dark, alluring, dangerous but even so he was still smug and the thing about you? You could be smug too. You smiled back, practically a grin as you slid down, tightening your walls around him as much as possible. “I’ll show you confident Mr min.”

You ground your hips in a circle before beginning to ride him, his cock filling you up perfectly. “Come here.”

He pulled you down to him, placing a rough kiss against the corner of your mouth before locating your lips properly, you riding him made it a little more difficult but still his grip around your throat was firm, keeping you close enough to explore your mouth with his tongue.

You moaned into his mouth as he thrusted his hips upward, his free hand grabbed your ass cheek, slapping it hard enough to echo throughout the room. You pulled away from the kiss, biting his lip. “Want you to fuck me.” You gasped, legs growing tired.

He flipped you around, your body pinned beneath his. His cock slid inside of you easily, your pussy dripping with the need to orgasm. He fucked into you, your eyes rolling back as he pressed into you further. “Fuck you’re so warm, so tight.” His voice was raspy, rough.

“Slow, slow please.” You mumbled, already too fucked out to speak clearly.

“Whatever you need petal.” He mumbled, his hips rolling against you, his cock filling you most deliciously. Every antagonising stroke sends your nerves haywire.

“Who knew the pretty maid could be so dirty hm?” He slid his length out leaving just the tip, pausing for a second before ramming into you, a resounding scream tore out of you. “I used to want you cleaning, used to see the way you’d bend over right in front of the cameras. You’ve always been a little tease, haven’t you? Wanted me to come and bend you over my desk and teach you a lesson?”

“Wanted- wanted your attention.” You stuttered in between moans.

“Let’s see how that works out for you doll.” Without warning his hand wrapped around your throat, squeezing lightly around the sides, only enough to make you dazed. His hips snapped against you relentlessly, the sound of skin slapping filling the room accompanied by your moans and slurred words.

“S’ good” you babbled, nails scarring down his arms. “gonna cum.”

He reached down, kissing you effortlessly silencing your screams. “Cum for me sweetheart, cum around my cock.”

With a few more thrusts you were pushed over the edge into a blissful orgasm, everything went fuzzy. You felt him grow erratic, his thrusts slowing down as he filled the condom. “Fuck.” He groaned as he pulled out.

You whined at the loss of contact, still out of it. “Let me get a cloth to clean you up, love.” He explained, disappearing for a few seconds before returning with a black cloth. You winced as he helped clean up the mess between your legs. “Do you want a shower? You could have some clothes?”

You nodded. “Later. Was it good?”

“It was fucking amazing.” He chuckles, placing a kiss on your forehead before flopping down next to you. “Sheets are a fucking mess, the maid is going to have fun cleaning that up.” He winked.

You slapped his arm, laughing. “Shut up. You can clean these it’s your fault. I can’t believe you held a gun to my head.”

He shook his head. “Actually if you weren’t having a world of fun in MY bed we wouldn’t have done that. I was surprised you didn’t run away the second I did that, sometimes I can be a little erratic forgive me.”

“Please don’t remind me it’s so embarrassing I really didn’t think you were going to be home until later and I swear I would have changed the sheets. It’s forgiven by the way, it’s not as bad as some things I’ve seen working here.” You’d grown used to an awful lot over the five years you’d worked for Yoongi but you stayed because he wasn’t a bad man, he treated you respectfully.

“Thank you.” He smiled. “and don’t worry about it love we all do things we aren’t proud of.” He sighed, his voice was softer than usual.

“Wait, you said it wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t catch me.” You sat up on your elbows, eyes wide. “You weren’t tempted one of the many times I teased you?”

“More than you know. Felt like an uncontrollable school boy watching you.” He laughed, hand threading through your hair.

“Well, the schoolboy got top marks on the exam.” You giggled, playing along.

“Who said it was finished? That shower is still an offer.” He winked, standing up with a hand out.

You groaned, slipping your hand into his.

Min Yoongi may have been a vicious crime lord, a dangerous killer, and a powerful businessman but he was also the best boss you’d ever had, him having a great cock and high stamina was just a bonus. A very big bonus.

[gay-dorito-dust]

Hii I saw your posts how you’ve been wanting some Liu Kang and other requests so may I request Liu Kang’s reaction to a gn!reader who obviously has a crush on him but they think he doesn’t know? You could also add Raiden and Kenshi if you’d like! <333

Thank you and take your time 🫶🏼

I LOVE YOURE WRITING!!!! ❤️💜💕

This was probably unlike what you wanted and very ooc Liu Kang??? I just think he’d be the type of guy to selflessly put others first and prioritise their safety over his own cuz he’s fully aware of his capabilities. Not saying that the man can’t be selfish but I just don’t think that he had it in him to be. If you get what I’m saying? Or I could be wrong and this is all still a bunch of ooc bollocks.

Also a tad bit of the sad. 🦦

Liu Kang finds your crush on him amusing to say the least and doesn’t say anything in regards to it out of the respect he had for you, unless it was brought up by you first, but however finds your attempts at hiding your crush on him even more amusing; essentially with the way you’d try to act nonchalant within his presence but to Liu Kang, it comes as stiff and uncomfortable to the point he’s concerned that you might hurt yourself.

He’s very flattered but that could very well easily comes across as him being a little awkward and not in a negative way either, it’s just that since he was a god, the title came along with an abundance of duties that cannot simply be pushed to one side for a later date; so dealing with such mundane matters such as crushes and the fear of rejection felt like a lifetime ago for Liu Kang.

It probably also didn’t help your case that whenever Johnny would openly confirm what Liu Kang already knew to be true, poor Raiden would attempt to defend your honour by telling Johnny to be a bit nicer to you about all this, having seen Liu Kang enter the room midway, whilst simultaneously consoling you by rubbing your back and having your head buried deep into his neck; hoping to avoid further embarrassment then you were already subjected to when it came to Johnny and his playful teasing.

While the crush you have on him is very sweet but Liu Kang fears that even if he did pursue this, he wouldn’t ever have enough time for you to form an established relationship. He wouldn’t know your interests, your hobbies, your likes and dislikes nor get to know or ever meet your family and because of that Liu Kang didn’t want to subject you to such. He couldn’t be the man that your fantasies made him out to be, he wouldn’t live with himself if he was the reason for your pain and heartbreak, you deserve everything and so much more and despite what his status maybe, he couldn’t give that to you unfortunately.

Being a god doesn’t grant him leniency I’m afraid.

And no matter how much it may tug on his heart strings, Liu Kang wasn’t one to give up his resolve once it was made. He’d enforce it and remind himself that a relationship between the two of you wouldn’t end well, and that it would only end with you inevitably loosing yourself and loosing the love you once had for him along the way.

Liu Kang only wants to protect you from the harm you’d endure if you were to be by his side. It wasn’t something he was willing to risk but he had came to respect that ultimately the choice was yours to make, not his and because of that Liu Kang would probably contemplate on whether or not it’d be a smart idea as to keeping a close eye on you, just in case. While loving him would be a blessing, it also came with it’s sacrifices.

So instead, Liu Kang chooses to watch you from afar then up close.

[pagannatural]

1.18

Something Wicked

-Winchester brothers investigate a sickness that spreads through child-siblings that’s really a monster that’s really the thing that haunts Dean for letting it get to Sammy. Help

-“Two queens” “I bet” Michael thought they were a gay couple trying to hide their relationship

-Nine-year old Dean made his little brother’s dinner and didn’t even sit down to eat anything himself. He gives the last bowl of lucky charms to Sammy due to puppydog eyes. He throws away Sammy’s spaghettios rather than eating them, saying Sam was the one who wanted them in the first place- so he probably doesn’t like them. Everything in this scene is for Sam.

-Sam offers Dean the cereal box prize. Dean remembers that 17 years later, which means it really meant something to him, which is so fucking cute.

-This is also the age at which Dean started making his own money Somehow and got a subscription to a news magazine. I think he wanted a way to feel like he was connected to the world outside that still allowed him to stay home watching Sam so he didn’t have to risk leaving again.

-Dean knew about all of the monsters his dad hunts and knew how to shoot a gun at this point and yet he wasn’t scared to leave the motel by himself and walk alone at night. And he’s in what, third grade? His fear center is broken

-Sam was probably scared to be woken up by his dad losing his shit over him, glaring daggers and yelling at his older brother standing in his doorway pale and shaking.

-Dean tells Sam “he gave me an order and I didn’t listen and I almost got you killed.” No wonder he did as John said for the rest of his life.

Sam tries to comfort him by saying he was just a kid, but Dean shuts him down.

He was never a kid. He still feels guilty for this.

-It’s not like he ran away or froze up. He pushed open Sam’s door, picked up and aimed his gun, and then hesitated when the monster roared at him. I think he was out of his mind afraid of what he was seeing-Sam in danger- and afraid that he would miss and accidentally shoot Sam. He tells Michael to get under the bed before they can take a shot at the shtriga later in the episode, so that’s definitely on his mind.

-Michael asks Dean if he would do anything for his little brother and Dean says “yeah I would.” Sam has told Dean both “I would die for you” and “I would do anything for you.” It’s Sam’s way of communicating how much he loves Dean. But I don’t think he’s heard that from Dean yet. Dean really doesn’t express how he feels with words the way Sam does, so he probably loved hearing this.

-Sam says “I’ve really given you a lot of crap for always following Dad’s orders. But I know why you do it.” Dean turns away and says “oh god kill me now” like this is too emotional for him. If the reason he followed orders was like, For Safety, this wouldn’t be an emotional conversation. Sam’s looking at Dean like, I know you do it for me.

-Shtriga attacks Sam, and Dean gets to save him and kill it, maybe allowing him to start changing the belief that challenging John would lead to Sam getting hurt. Before it was I failed so Sam almost died, now it’s I acted and I’m not nine anymore.

-Sam says sometimes he wishes he could have the innocence of never having known about monsters. Dean says “if it means anything, sometimes I wish you could too.”

Dean doesn’t even wish for his own innocence. I think Sam notices this.

Dean got to be a part of Sam’s life before he knew about hunting. He probably saw how Sam started getting scared, how he resisted hunting, and wished he didn’t have to do it. This is Dean admitting that yes, he does question and resent the way they grew up sometimes, he does see the ways that it hurt Sam. They both acknowledge the realities of each other’s lives- Sam understanding why Dean always follows John’s orders and Dean understanding why Sam wanted a different life.

This whole episode was about how big Dean’s love for Sam is, and about a monster that feeds on children’s youth and life force that Dean believes only got to Sam because of him. But Sam doesn’t even remember, Dean is the one living with that guilt.

[missmarveledsblog]

Is it the end? ( Joel miller x reader)

summary : y/n opens up the about the past, mark starts on his plan and well a patrol leads to an ambush , y/n face the beast of the past and this time she ready to go down to make sure he can't hurt those she has come to love even if it means she might never see them again

warnings : angst as fuck some fluffy moments but this one is also heavy , mentions of abuse in the past including SA , domestic violence , facing an abuser , violence a lot

A.N : this whole chapter is a warning if any of the following could trigger please look after yourself and skip this one (you're not alone , you got this, we are all proud of you ) hopefully see you in happier fic in future

Previous part

Maybe it was the events of the night or maybe it was because it was Joel miller. She never felt this way , something her mother described  as love it was all new and scary and yet it filled her with warmth , comfort and safety when the man was near her. How instinctively her body new he was close like sense searching him out and even in her most scared state she felt the rush of calm the moment his arms where touching her skin, his scent of  oak and musk in her nostrils and the gruff husk to his voice all those made her feel safe , all those felt like home. The man who made her feel like she wasn’t alone again . years of living hell more hell then infected hell she’d prefer them to her ex.They had more mercy , mindless zombies had more compassion then her ex to which is she didn’t get free well she would of threw herself to them. But here she was with joel sitting on edge of his bed and she wanted to be open with him completely , not hold or hide anything. 

“ i wasn’t scared because it was nigel ,it wasn’t anything to do with him it was the feeling that sent me back” she breathed out feeling the words ready to burst from her mouth like a dam every single one  that needed to be said.” he wasn’t the one that was attacking me like in my head it wasn’t him, it was like i was back there back in a past so dark it felt like a black hole, sucking the life out of me every second i didn’t even feel like a person just puppet on a string or when times seemed fit the whipping boy for when he was having a bad day”she laughed dryly .

“Jonah found me i was exhausted , starving and probably on the brink of death i thought he was my knight in shining armor like stories my mama told me about as little girl , he was on a horse and everything, brought me back to his camp and i had food and warm clothe even a blanket because i refused to ruin my brothers, then after a while i found my prince was a monster with a pretty mask , one that hid the evil he truly was start slow i would talk to passers by the first time he hit me claimed it was some sort of ptsd thing then he stopped using excuse , stopped wearing the mask every time i opened my eye i hated it , hated he didn’t just kill me like he kept telling me it wasn’t something i feared anymore it was something i wished for only thing i had was that blanket, my mama made it from some wool we found , then jonah found it made his men hold me down and he burnt it right before my eyes and something snapped inside when he went  let the melted material fall i grabbed his knife i cut him , i cut em all and ran with the bag  on my back, then there i was falling over my own feet , starved , dehydrated and my body ready to give up until a man called out just as i hit the ground ,i woke up here  in jackson and your brother as telling me i was ok , i was safe” she sniffled .

“ so when nigel hit me pushed me it wasn’t him i was seeing , smelling and hearing it was jonah like i did every single day since i was fifteen” she smiled weakly the tear that filled her waterline and once more she spent a night crying in joel millers arms feeling the weight of the past off of her shoulder. 

He just held her ,tight holding only her . she didn’t need his words to tell her how strong and amazing she was that could wait. What she need was to feel safe , to truly feel protected. How much he hated the world for trying to break her , how it made her hurt in ways a person should never hurt.  She needed to feel comfort and security to know that he had her, he was going to protect her no matter what . Tommy must have known more about his behavior to suggest it   he wasn’t going to ask. She already told him so much but he could only imagine what else the monster had done. It didn't take rocket science to see that .  He hoped his touch told her what his mouth didn’t , He meant it every sense that day he said it , she had him  in every way she wanted him .  More and more he felt him drawn to her seeing every side to the woman and she was still beautiful even more so like a flower blooming  a bed of weeds . one he will do everything and anything to keep it flourishing . he barely slept that night , watching her sleep the way her lashes touched her cheeks , the soft even breathes that pull and pushed through the pillow plush lips .  How perfect she fit in his arms like she was always meant to be there , how she should always be there and if he could it would always be that way . 

Mark wanted to leave , this needed to be over with  the longer he was gone the more danger they were in .  Jonah promised they would be safe if he did this but it even he couldn’t trust that man’s word , he did know once this was over he was taking his wife and daughter some where else far away shit he would build a boat if he needed to .  It need to end soon longer he waited the longer it would take . 

“Mark we got your present” the radio crackled as he rushed off. 

“ so fucker made it huh  he should be able give you details of the patrols , y/n does them weekends two days from now i can’t stay” 

“ two days  and i get my wife back good enough for me i’ll give you a horse and your cunts back” jonah snickered. 

“ two days” mark gritted his teeth before turning the channel off. 

Even though it was an absolute nightmare of event the night before it was the best sleep she gotten in a long time , every single time she was a sleep in his arms she had dreams  actually dreams and not nightmares that made her wake in a panicked sweat . She woke rested and calm , she was safe.  Even if it was the wake of a storm she felt safe In joel millers presence . Something about the man always made her protect something wod Seem like it was made up concept . 

“ hey love bird  breakfast Soon” ellie voice called she didn't have to look at the teen to see the smirk that was there , feeling it was enough . 

“ we'll Get up in minute go ahead” his voice god his morning Voice had her thighs clenching and her stomach In a tornado Of feeling. “ darling you wake” he rasped. 

“ do I have to” she sighed nuzzling more into His chest her head bobbed at the vibration of his sleep filled laugh . 

“ sadly you do , ya need to eat and get your head checked … I mean the wound On your head checked” . 

“ need my head checked wouldn't hurt either” she snorted as she stretched out something was different yet the same like unspoken new Development to their friendship or whatever this was . 

“ don't we all come on your grumpy when ya don't eat” he pushed her gently as he got himself up the glare she sent him was down right adorable In his eyes . Leaning down as their face so close ,Eyes locked on the each . 

“ If you're good I'll Make you a cup of the good coffee” He smirked lips ghosting over her , he could easily fall into the temptation of one simple movement And he could finally feel her soft lips . Yet he pulled back as her eyes followed his confused tilt Of her head she looked like a confused puppy . The fucker was playing with her well she could match him . 

“ I ain't ever been good  might need a man put me in my place” she whispered in his ear before heading down the stairs almost beaming when she seen ellie Standing there.  That smirk all over her face as y/n descended the stairs. 

“ looked cozy up there thought i was actually going to have to go ahead”.

“ nah couldn’t leave you to walk two minutes on your own” she giggled. 

“ my hero , hows your head that bruise isn’t as big as i thought it would be either , where’s joel?” . 

“ here i am  come on both of y’all get cranky when you don’t eat” he shot y/n a look to say whatever started was definitely not over. 

The three walked easily through town til she stopped outside that alley a shiver sent through her body until she felt his hand land on her lower back and suddenly she didn’t feel so scared continuing on their journey to the mess hall. 

As soon as she walked in it was like all eyes were on her and  they probably are few looked at her with pity , some in respect and some in pride.  Tommy had a shit eating grin on his face as he almost studied the two, ellie ran off towards dina and some of the younger residents of jackson. Maria looked  both worried as she took in the injuries so did the residents doctor making her roll her eyes. 

“ after i eat you can poke away” she finally said . 

“ oh you bet your ass you should of been brought last night” the doctor playfully glared. 

“ i also need to talk to you after if you don’t mind doing it while doc does his thing”maria ask quietly.

“ course then i want the good coffee”she turned to joel.

“Fine fine come on before benny gets there before us” he chuckled  moving her along as maria gave them an appraising look to only see her own husband watching with a big grin on his face. 

The rest of the breakfast was same the two found ways of touching each other like a couple of love struck teenagers til she was taken to the clinic  both and doc wanting to make sure the wound on her head properly taking care of  . which only good thing the man could say was it was cleaned properly but it needed stitches and should of  the night before . 

“ so you wanted to talk to me what's up may as well distract me” she laughed nervously. 

“ patrol found kid note attached erm mom was  well found not far later but was too late .. couple that was gonna take him changed there mind and maura she is watching him but she too old for kid so was wondering if he could stay with you” maria explain softly  and carefully. 

“ how old ? “  she asked wincing and gripping the chair as she felt the skin being pulled. 

“ four  his names charlie , cute little thing”. 

“ can i think about it after patrol this weekend i’ll give you an answer i mean its alot” she went to look at the woman. 

“ yeah of course i can take your time really” maria nodded . “ are you her shadow” the woman joked. 

“ something like that erm she ok”joel asked. 

“ fine but i needed stitches which i tried to tell the old fool it was my idea not come here” y/n winced . 

“ bad influence young lady” the man playfully chuckled cutting the thread. “ come back in a couple days to check it over keep it clean now off with you” he shooed her off. 

“ and i thought you liked me” she pouted.  

“ as much as a headache” the doc grumbled. 

Maybe it was the way she was raised , a couple who could of easily left her to die but choose to care for a complete strangers child not once but twice and the conditions We're  less dangerous than before  so maybe  it was something to consider .  Like a sort of paying it forward help a child like she was . She could ask ellie to help watch on patrols but then again this was big what if the possibility  Of jackson falling and then she was trying to survive with a child and watch if she screwed kid up.

  She walked Through town watching where he was . He was playing with his toys as the elderly woman watched. The way his Eyes lit Up with the snow all around til he must of felt her eyes on him suddenly he was looking right at her and wasn't charlie it was her brother lucas the way he would play , his Little chubby cheeks that went Rosie when it was cold. Yet when she blink he was gone Charlie head tilted looking at the woman . She gave a warm smile and wave although joel could see it , he knew that feeling of seeing a person of the past in someone else . 

“come On darling let's get that good coffee” he smiled softly . 

“ you think I could do it,  don't pretend you don't know “ she smiled weakly. 

“ I was one to suggest it at meeting” he nodded . 

“ you have too much faith in Me joel miller” she sighed laying her head on his shoulder As they walked . 

“  nah I just know you'll know how he feels” he said wrapping his arm around her shoulder letting himself being so close. 

“ I'll make  my choice after patrol” she nodded although he had a feeling that she Already  had her answer.  

The two could feel the shift Hell a blind person could see it . They were so close  and yet each waiting on the other to make that move . Each afraid of reading it wrong in so sort of way although  It was just more afraid. She sat closer to him, he would touch her more letting himself get closer , each so close and so far. 

They were like that the whole couple of days it was driving them both crazy  just wanting to take that step joel more so . 

“ you gonna grow a pair and make a move” tommy asked as they all were tired of the dance and just wanting the two to finally just get together. 

“ I was thinking talking to her tonight but since you got  like four of us out here I’ll have to change my plan” joel sighed although slightly relieved at the change of plan knowing it was safer in case nigel was out there .

“ well he's armed, Mark was too busy beating him to notice slimy prick taking them hence him want making it right” tommy huffed. 

“ yeah well I ain't worried about them” joel huffed as she walked past on the horse . 

“ you girls gonna keep chattering or will we get going” she smirked . 

“ you were less mean when you didn't talk” tommy playfully narrowed his eyes at her. 

“ well blame your brother is like that pardon box thing” she shrugged. 

“ Pandora box sugar “ tommy snorted 

“ yeah that too come on” she laughed as joel hopped on his own horse they all walked out. It wasn't a big one just check around make sure everything was safe make sure the cabin was empty and if it wasn't make sure it wasn't raiders. She sat on her horse humming away  eyes looking around she wasn't scared whether nigel was armed or not , he wasn't greatest a shooting and his knife or fake knife skills well they weren’t  anything to fear but she would give him on thing he was sneaky.  But he wasn't around he was definitely gone she nothing was around not an animal or infected but she stalled moment she seen the prints in snow .

“ something this way” she called bolting off before anyone could grasp her words .

“ I got her” mark headed off as joel and kai  the other man followed after. 

She kept going and going she was ahead of group something she now regret something in her stomach told her to run but before she could even turn she was knocked off the horse hitting the ground with a thud knocking the air from her lung  as the sound of footstep came towards her . The crunch in the snow was she tried to focus her vision on the blur looming over her .

“ i missed ya darling” that voice , that voice that made her stomach twist and turn , the one that made the bile rise in her throat . 

“ fuck you” she gasped feeling his boot heavy on her throat.  

“ aint something you should say your husband dear” he pulled her up by the hair. 

......

She pushed and pulled out his how not caring for how it felt like her scalp was burning in his hold. One thump to her head she was out cold. 

“ good job Mark shame was fer nothing huh” jonah laughed shooting the approaching man before his men put y/n on his horse and leaving the area hearing the ones approaching . 

When joel finally got there was two minute later ,  he wanted to scold her for taking a head  when he saw mark on ground and her horse empty  something told him that wasn't going to happen today . 

“ where is”  joel crouched voice trailing off at the sight of more blood trailing off . 

“ jonah took her  , he said he'd give me my family back if I did” mark laughed coughing as blood stained his lips . “ settlement up … fuck up north about an hour an abandoned warehouse they stay in cold months ” mark cough and spluttered. 

“ get tommy on radio now” joel growled not knowing if he should save the bastard or let him suffer. Saving him would help get y/n back . “ why didn't you ask us help stupid bastard” he pushed harder on the wound making man cry out. 

“ you don't know them like I do their worse than a rabid dog” .

“ well time put rabid dog down” joel growled.  

“ tommy and men on their way doc too” kai spat looking down at the man , the betrayal.  

“ she dies you will regret it I don't care who you think jonah is or how bad if y/n get hurt well  even devil himself will stop me” he spat . 

She woke up tied up to pole in an abandoned office it seemed as she looked around . 

“ well wife good to see your finally home , I may  forgive you some time but this ain't that time “ he slapped her hard making her head jerk to the side with the blunt force of it . 

“ you think I'm scared I got away once I can again” she laughed only to be slapped again . “ jesus you hit like a bitch” . 

“ looks like I gotta train you again I got time hell might break those legs of yours” he kicked her in the stomach making her slump over gasping for air. “ would you look at that I still take your breathe away” he chuckled. 

“ when I do get free I will make sure your dead this time” she growled feeling the hilt of her blade still there. 

 “ well our new  man here will make sure you dont” he smiled whistling as nigel walked in  face as smug as anything . 

“ ah the guy who tried rape me I'll make sure to kill him too” she spat only the mood instantly shifted as jonah head shot to the man.

“ she liar man” nigel laughed not noticing the shift. 

“ his hand will show you other wise I cut him with your knife both have matching scars now real besties” she rolled her eyes. 

“ show me your hand” jonah stalked closer. 

 “ she lying man I didn't touch her” nigel backed up his smug smile long gone . only as jonah pulled him close seeing the same blade pattern his blade across the wound .

“ you tried take what's mine huh guess both ya need teaching “ he growled knocking man to the ground kicking him hard . Giving her time to pull the knife from her sleeve cutting the binds . 

He kept kicking and kicking as the man below him stopped moving only stopping when he felt the metal touch his throat. 

“ put that down sweety and I'll forgive you”. 

“ only thing that's being put down is you , how dumb you think I am to think you would forgive you psychotic fuck” she pressed harder making him hiss only for him to slam his head back hitting hers he pulled out of her hold and she held on the knife. 

“ I don't care if it kills me but you ain't walking out this office alive “ she stood adrenaline coursing through her veins as she jumped behind the desk as he pulled his pistol out , she smiled feeling hers in her boot pulling it out she stood only for him to be right there his gun pointing right at her.  Two pulled and pushed the guns direction as she heard more shots and screaming behind her . She heard joel  calling her name that all she needed to push the gun from her to him as it went off sending her ex to the ground. 

“ I ain't that scared little child bride of yours I keep my promises now she took her own revolver shooting him in the head.  Walking needing to get to him only door open their he was standing completely in front of her .  While hers showed relief , he told different story. 

“hey what's wrong” she stood confused til she followed his line of site seeing what had him so concerned the knife sticking out her stomach.

“ why don't I feel it” she said slowly slumping to the floor. As joel and tommy ran over both ignoring two dead men  only focusing on her. 

“ I need to stop meeting you like this” she joked looking at tommy as he torn  her husband shirt off placing it around the wound . 

“ hey look at me we're  gonna get you to doc right” joel promised holding her hand. 

“ joel hour way I don't think we can..” tommy hissed. 

“ I got him , he thought was gonna be scared little girl but I got him” she smiled weakly Trying not to scream . 

“ you show em who boss” tommy felt himself getting choked up . 

“ we need to move her  some how” joel yelled feeling a sick sense of history repeating.  He couldn't watch another Person he love die in his arm not again it was good enough killing him . 

Her eyes felt heavy  everything felt sore and burning yet she felt weightless . 

Her hand lifting weakly towards his face holding it like it was last time she was going to see maybe She would See see him again  in another life more peaceful life not Filled with infected or Monsters under the guise of men . then Her hand felt and hit the ground , everything was cold and black  as she watched the sequence of her life passing by most of best parts involved joel  , she finally understood what those stories Meant , the ones of the Knight Saving the princess .  Joel miller was her Knight and she was happy she knew a good man , she was happy to fall In love . 

next part

Taglist: @harriedandharassed @vickie5446

[redrobin-detective]

Simon and Marcy's relationship through the years

So I finally watched the Stakes miniseries in Adventure Time and I think like I finally understand Marceline and her motivations better, especially regarding Simon.

So seeing the stuff with Marcy's mom from Stakes I think it's pretty clear why she sent Marcy away in the first place.

She didn't want Marcy to see her die. It could be any general post-apocalyptic illness I suppose but with a mutagenic bomb I'm gonna assume it's some sort of radiation poisoning. Marcy is little here, between 5-7 so I don't think she processed why her Mom 'abandoned' her, only the hurt left behind. We see she hadn't really accepted/understood until Distant Land's Obsidian.

So that fear of abandonment translates over to Simon who, also, is forced to leave 'for her safety'. So, objectively, it's about the crown, how he's slowly losing himself and could potentially hurt her. I had asked, right from the start of my AT watch 'why does he keep putting the crown on?' We see in Simon & Marcy, its as a deterrent against the dangers of a post-war world. But Marcy was important to him, surely he could find some other way, I mean look at this

This is not a man eager to leave behind the child in his care. So why did he?

And after watching Marcy's mom succumb to radiation poisoning it hit me. Simon left Marcy for the same reason her mom did: to spare her the pain of watching a parent die. Here are the lyrics from I Remember You

"This magic keeps me alive / but it's making me crazy"

The crown was keeping him alive through the apocalypse, if it wasn't poisoning from the bomb it might have been something else. Marcy, being half demon, was protected but Simon was totally human without the crown's protection. Simon realized he had no choice but to leave her: by dying as a human like her mother or lost to madness of the crown. So he left, to ensure she didn't have to see either one. It was probably the hardest decision he ever made and he felt guilty enough to write Marcy a note. He wrote it on the back of a picture of Marcy so she'd see it but she didn't get to read it until almost a millennia later. But for a thousand years, Marcy harbored resentment towards Simon and later Ice King.

Marcy stated she originally became a vampire hunter to protect the remaining humans, thinking it was an extension of protecting her one time protector. She grieved his loss in her life greatly which turned into bitterness and frustration. Marceline was seemingly abandoned by two close parental figures in her early childhood which -coupled with vampirism and living unchanging for centuries- turned her into apathetic, isolated punk rocker we meet at the start of the series.

We don't know when Marcy and Ice King formally met but we know they didn't have much interaction in the main Adventure Time series until I Remember You. If I were to guess, Marcy probably tried to get through to Simon briefly before giving up and then avoiding him. She probably assumed he left her for the power of the crown, her own hurt clouding the memories of Simon's actions and his words to her.

We know Simon reached out to her multiple times, tracking her down and spending time with her without really knowing why. Marcy, it seemed, did her level best to just avoid him. Until she finds the note Simon left for her.

It doesn't explain everything but it's enough for Marcy to understand the important bits: that Simon did not leave her willingly, that he loved her and seeking forgiveness for his future actions as the Ice King. After this episode, we see Marcy hanging out with Ice King of her own volition and, to the best of my knowledge, she only refers to him as "Simon" from now on.

It's a big step for her, who has clung to this hurt and anger for a long, long time. To look at a man who doesn't remember her and open her heart just a crack to let him through again. I think the note from the past plus the singing in the present gave Marcy a way to bridge this crazy wizard to her old friend. One of my favorite details in the song is we hear Tom Kenny's distinctive dopey Ice King voice throughout it until we get to the last few harmonizing Da Da's. Maybe it's my imagination but the last few tones on his end are softer, more human, closer to the Simon of memory.

Its a reminder to Marcy and to us that Simon was still there.

TLDR: Marcy's mom sent her away so her daughter wouldn't watch her die and Simon chose to do the same since he would have died without the crown. Marcy hung onto this grief for years shaping it into her early AT self. I Remember You gave Marcy closure on assuring Simon's affections for her and why he left. It was also when she finally saw him for the first time in Ice King and began to allow him back into her life which led to him being freed. These two make me so emotional.

[andreal831]

Do youn think Esther loved all of her children equally and how her relation with Elijah was?

I think Esther is a lot more of a complex character than people want her to be. It's easier if she can just be painted as an awful mother. But it is clear Esther did love her kids, all of them. Just differently. I don't think you can truly measure love in quantity, but she definitely had favorites and least favorites.

Esther loved Freya so much that losing Freya fundamentally changed who she was. She wanted to be a mother so badly that she was willing to do anything to make it happen. People often blame her more for trading Freya for the ability to have children, but don't blame Dahlia for making her own sister trade away her first child. Esther was young when she made that deal and didn't fully know what it meant. She also probably naively believed her sister wouldn't steal her child. But she loved Freya dearly.

Esther also loved Finn a great deal however their relationship grew twisted and toxic because of the loss they both shared. She essentially trauma bonded with her four year old child. Finn's trauma is rarely discussed but it is clear that his mother became his safety after losing Freya. He would do anything for her and Esther exploited this at times and even used him for emotional support. She did love Finn, but the trauma colored that love.

Elijah is her least favorite child. She basically admits it when she tells Klaus that he brought joy to their lives and made them a family again after losing Freya. She was heavily pregnant with Elijah when she lost Freya meaning Elijah's birth and multiple years of life did not bring their family joy or make them feel like a family. Although it's important to remember that while pregnant, she lost her child and moved across the ocean to a new land where she was alone with a volatile husband as this was also the period where Mikael starts becoming a bad/potentially abusive husband. I can't imagine she didn't experience some level of post-partum depression after having him. To top it off, Elijah favors Dahlia more than either of his parents. He likely reminded her of her sister and everything she had lost.

She views Elijah as more of a second parent. She expects him to always behave and keep his siblings in line. When the others step out of line, she has more sympathy for them. She offers Finn, Kol, Klaus, and Rebekah second chances in witch bodies but tortures Elijah, mocking him for what he is and that he is no longer her "noble son." We never see any exchanges between Elijah and Esther that have any type of warmth. This doesn't mean she didn't love him, but hey have a very strained/neglectful relationship.

Klaus is her favorite child. He was the only child she had with the man she truly loved. Even though Klaus seemed to get the brunt of Mikael's anger, he also gets the most protection from Esther. To the point that Finn is jealous of this attention. Klaus arguably did the absolute most vile deeds that should disgust Esther but she still showed love and compassion to him. He was the problematic child that could do no wrong.

Kol is pretty low on the ranks but still above Elijah simply because he had magic. Esther would have wanted to pass on her magic somewhere even is she wasn't truly practicing. She would have loved it but also feared it. Kol would have also driven her crazy because he was always so independent and often getting in trouble.

Rebekah has a special place in her mother's heart as the only daughter she had after losing Freya. It would have been painful at first as she looked so much like the child Esther lost, but she would have viewed it as a second chance. Rebekah always had a soft spot for Esther and losing her mother devastated her.

Henrik is pretty high at the top simply because he is the youngest. Henrik seemed to have a happy spirit from the few brief moments we see him. The baby of the family is always special. His death sent Esther into such a spiral that she created vampirism.

None of this means I think Esther is an awful mother. There are definitely terrible things she does, but at the end of it, she truly loved her children. Was she the best mother in the word, no. But we have to remember she was a young woman who was also a victim.

Thanks for the ask!

[loaflovesdoodling]

"Just keep walking straight, we're almost there." Fylass instructed, accompanying Ades through the long corridor.

"Just hope I don't slam my face into something, hahaha." He joked, slightly nervous and confused.

They proceeded to walk for another thirty seconds or so, before the kid finally stopped him:

"Okay, you can take your blindfold off on the count of three. One... Two.... Three!!" They called gleefully. Pleiades untied the cloth, blinked a few times, and soon enough his eyes lit up with shining star bits and his jaw dropped in shock and surprise.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!"

"..H-HOW...."

"Hehehe, Blossom told Dolly and the others! She really wanted them to know, and they decided to organize a super-duper-secret-silly party!! Happy birthday!!!!!"

"Oh, yeah, there's also cake, of course. Come on, pull the ribbon!!" TK cheered, taking a hold of his big brother's hand, dragging him over to the party table, on which lied a flimsy cardboard box. Pleiades did as he was told, and, soon after, the box opened to reveal a beautiful dark chocolate cake.

"Before you ask any more questions; yes, we did find your sneakily hidden 100% cocoa bar in the back of your cupboard. I always knew you were a glutton for bitter stuff, but... wow." Selene called him out mockingly, his face contracted in a humiliated expression.

"I art sorry I hathn't found anything that strong for thee, I hope thee wilt still enjoy this cake in it's sweetness--"

"Are you kidding?! Dero, I didn't even expect anyone to know when my birthday was, let alone a birthday party and cake!!" Ades cut him off, surprised by his words.

"Alrighty, Mister Secret. Only one more thing before you dig in, be patient." Twilight teased him as they handed him a... letter?

He opened it, and started reading out loud:

"We know you may not know how special this day really is, you've probably done this thousands of times. But this is the first time we get to live it together, so let us thank you for everything you've done for us.

Thank you for always showing your support for me, defending me from my father, putting your own safety at risk.

Thank you for playing with Dolly and letting her show you every little thing, making sure she never felt alone anymore.

Thank thou for always offering a shoulder to cry on, and having my back at even the darkest of times.

Thank you for helping me reach the stars, comforting me every step of the way, drawing your sword just to protect me.

Thank you for being my brother, for holding my hand tight as I fought all my fears, never leaving my side, no matter what.

Thank you for being with us. Happy Birthday, Sir Pleiades."

As he finished reading the letter, he took a shaky breath, his hands trembling as he tucked the letter away in his cape, trying to wipe away tears with his paw before they could start dropping down. The others wrapped him in an affectionate embrace, and, as he finally gave in and accepted the hug, he somehow also felt the vague presence of another soul...

"Happy Birthday, Pleiades."

Fylass belongs to @george228732

Dolly belongs to @ilikesillythingswooo

Twilight Knight belongs to @that-fanperson-meg

Dero belongs to @monsterhatdoodles

Selene belongs to @moon-mage

[jess-the-vampire]

I think not enough people talk about how a lot of the conflict between Philip and Caleb comes from a ton of misunderstanding and lack of communication between the two brothers.

Because while yes. Philip and what he did was utterly terrible, this entire situation was also not putting him in a great position to improve or come out of his delusions either.

Having grown up in a community where he was fear mongered into hating witches, philip wasn’t given a lot of opportunities to consider otherwise or think of witches as anything but monsters. These kinda towns were very black and white about the topic and men who tried to defend those accused of witchcraft were put to death as witches pretty much instantly. So it makes a lot of sense Caleb and Philip conformed, it’s more then just fitting in, it’s also survival. 

Maybe caleb fully believed in witches being evil before, maybe he didn’t, but as philip’s only family and guardian, it makes a lot of sense he’d push for philip to dive further and further into these ideals so his brother would be safe.

This however, runs into further issues, one being, philip has no one to really pull him out of these ideals when caleb leaves.

Caleb, for one reason or another, chose not to tell philip about evelyn, nor did he seem to tell him he was leaving for assumebly forever. So caleb did have a change of heart about witches, but didn’t choose to do anything on his part to change philip’s mind, deciding rather to not involve himself in that at all.

Now, there could be many reasons for this, maybe he was worried about telling philip that everything he told him for years was no longer true, maybe he was worried philip would get the village and it would put him at risk, maybe he was worried about evelyn being exposed (Tho with her being an actual witch, who could wipe the floor with them, i’m not sure on that one)....

tho judging by how much both brothers care for each other and put the others safety how they did, the idea philip would put caleb at risk from their own town seems unlikely.

And when caleb reunites with philip in his memories, he doesn’t see him as a threat, so he probably didn’t do it cause he feared philip.

No, it seems more likely to be of two options, either caleb was worried about putting philip in danger by having him be involved in magic and thought it was safer for him to leave then put his own brother at risk, or....caleb saw the isles as a place that would make him happier and live out the rest of his life and thought philip would be better off without him on earth, under the impression philip was happier there and he was holding him back.

A choice he made for philip, without telling him.

Caleb, no matter what reason he had, sure underestimated how much philip needed him though, and how far he was willing to go for him.

And the thing is, as much as so many people say it’s philip’s fault for not accepting the real caleb, this situation kinda makes it clear philip never really got to meet “The real caleb”, because caleb chose to hide that part from him.

And there is a memory where philip seems to figure out caleb has been meeting her in secret at least by his teens, given he’s older then baby philip but not as old as young adult philip.

He may be around luz’s age at this time.

 Whether he confronted caleb about it remains to be seen but we also have no timeline of when caleb left philip and how much time it took for philip to get to the isles to rescue him. So we don’t know if caleb had left philip when philip was an adult, or when he was still in his teens.

Just that by the time he DOES arrive there, he’s a young adult at least.

All philip knows is the caleb he grew up with, he was never eased into this new caleb who loved witches and the isles because caleb made the choice to not do that.

So when philip finds out about caleb is gone, of course his natural reaction is to think caleb got tricked and was kidnapped. Caleb was part of the crowd who promoted the idea of witches being evil and tricking people, not to mention that for him, why would caleb ever leave him willingly? He HAD to be tricked and kidnapped!

And the he spends months, maybe almost a year, judging by beard growth, trying to find caleb and the dude is completely a different person then he knew him when he finally finds him.

He’s chilling with the witches, starting a family, and he doesn’t seem upset at all about leaving his brother at all? For someone grown up on these stories, it’s not odd at all philip most likely assumed caleb’s mind had been warped.

He doesn’t think this is how caleb naturally is and was hiding from him, he most likely saw the witches as having done something to him, because he never got to naturally get to know caleb going though these changes on earth, so it looks like something it wasn’t to him.

And we’re missing a lot of details regarding the knife fight, such as a timeline, where flapjack is, where evelyn is, what philip’s thought process was (Did he think he was saving caleb, did he go for evelyn and caleb stepped in, did he actually attack caleb in anger because he realized caleb lied and left him on purpose? ect ect) but this was bound to result in some fight between the brothers given the context of the situation.

Caleb probably had NO real harm meant to Philip at all, he’s had to be an adult while still being a child and now he’s finally getting to discover who he is and that magic and witches actually make him feel happy and free. It’s just because he chose to handle things the way he did, philip ended up misinterpreting the situation and feeling thrown away and betrayed by him and it’s easy to see why.

And why philip is so angry and upset by it.

Philip did still have opportunities on the isles to maybe realize things were not what he thought, but given he seems to truly think all witches are trying to trick him it seems like his stubbornness to not look at things from a new angle continued to make him worse.

And had caleb maybe handled things better with him, maybe philip could of come to terms like he did about witches, caleb was the character who was most likely to reason with him and because of the memories philip was still a CHILD when caleb was already changing his ways. It’s not as if he was already an adult by the time caleb was meeting evelyn apparently, he was still pretty young.

Maybe it would not of worked, maybe philip would not of listened if caleb had been open about how he felt at first, but we’ll never know.

And caleb is not a bad person, i’m not blaming him for what philip went on to do because he could never have predicted what his brother would do because of all of this. Just that it didn’t help and probably unintentionally caused philip to have issues he never could of expected. 

Philip had some opportunities to improve on his own when he got to the isles and he didn’t and that’s on him, but i can’t say i blame him for not automatically being happy for his brother given caleb’s own choices and how it makes everything look to him.

Their conflict is driven by a lot of unfortunate circumstances that are out of their control and lack of communication, more then you would think the more you look at it.

Philip’s not forgiven for how he chose to respond to this whole thing and how much were hurt from it, but he also wasn’t set up on the best course to improve either when the one person he cared the most for and had the best chances to help him chose to leave him behind without thinking everything through.

The comparisons to Luz and Camilla are warranted, luz and caleb are not malicious people out to hurt their loved ones, they were just thinking about what made them happy.

They just didn’t consider the consequences of running away from their problems and how it would affect their loved one.

It makes the relationship far more of a tragedy when you consider it all.

[xmalfoyweasleyx]

Anything - Steve Harrington x reader

Summary: When Steve's girlfriend (Dustin's sister) almost gets involved in their usual adventures, Dustin asks him to do anything to get her away from it. But things get out of hand...

Warnings!: ANGST, Steve hurts reader (accidentally), fighting, f!reader, henderson!reader , words: 1k

A/N: I'll probably make a part 2 for this cause I'm a sucker for fluffy endings ;) —> part 2

“Why are you both so rushed? Is there something wrong?” y/n asked, standing in the middle of the living room with her arms crossed. Her boyfriend Steve and her brother Dustin were acting suspicious for a while now.

“Nothing wrong” Dustin lies, sounding scared and rushed. “Yep, everything’s fine honey” Steve adds. He presses a quick kiss on y/n’s lips and runs to the dooropening where Dustin is standing.

Y/n is confused about the sudden attitude of the boys and even feels left out. She used love the fact that her boyfriend and brother are best friends, but now it seems like things are changing. “Wait! Stop! You’re both really bad liars. You look like the world’s gonna end” she sighs angrily.

Ironically, she wasn’t wrong about that. A few seconds earlier Mike had warned them through the walkie talkie, a demogorgon was in the woods nearby. Y/n didn’t know anything about the crazy stuff the boys have been through. They kept it a secret for her, to keep her safe, just like they’re doing now.

“Baby, trust me, don’t ask questions, it’s for your own safety” Steve reassures her.

“W-What? I don’t understand, what’s going on?” Y/n sounds worried now. She gets overwhelmed with anxiety when a weird sound comes from the wood. At first y/n would have thought it was just some kind of wild animal, but when she sees the look on the boys’ faces, it seems more than just an animal.

Never in her life had she seen them look so scared.

“What was that?” Y/n screams now.

The boys stay silent, confused at what to do: comfort the girl they love so dearly or just leave and save the world.

“We need to go Steve” Dustin whispers, ignoring his sisters scoff.

“She’ll follow us” Steve answers. “Damn right, I will” y/n adds.

“Please, Steve, you have to make sure she doesn’t get involved, please, anything, what if she gets hurt… or… or killed?” Dustin whispers, so only Steve could hear.

Suddenly something clicks in Steve’s mind.

This sudden feeling, the need to protect her. The realization that if he lets her go with them, his biggest fears might come true. Flashes of his nightmares crossed his mind. They were almost always about her, and the monsters. Y/n always knew how to comfort him when he woke up screaming, but she never knew what the nightmares were about. When he lets her go with them, she’ll be in great danger, and it would be… His fault. He would never forgive himself for that.

“Hellooo?I’m standing right here, stop whispering” y/n gets annoyed, her fear turning into pure anger.

“Honey, you have to stop acting so stubborn” Steve sighs

“Excuse me?! Stubborn? You guys are acting all crazy out of nowhere and you expect me to ignore that?” y/n feels her skin starting to burn, turning red out of anger and confusion. “Look, I have no clue what’s going on but I’m not blind, if you guys are in danger I will help and you ca-“

“NO” they simultaneously cut her off. Steve gets away from the door opening, trying to get a little closer to his girlfriend again. His hand touches her arm cautiously, as if he’s trying not to break her into pieces.

“Y-you have to trust us” he sighs. His loving look almost calms her down, but the anger is still coursing through her veins.

“I don’t want to wait here” y/n says accentuating every word.

“Goddamn it woman, for once, listen to me!” Steve loses his temper.

“Don’t speak to me that way Harrington!” she speaks heavily. Steve takes a step back, shocked by the way she says his last name. She never called him that. Lots of people called him Harrington, with the right amount of disgust on their face. But she never did. Until now.

It almost felt like fume was coming out of his ears. Dustin still stood there, he was getting nervous, this was escalating.

“Steve.. I think we should…” Dustin tries.

But Steve doesn’t hear him.

“This is BULLSHIT” y/n spits out the word her boyfriend hates.

It becomes black before Steve’s eyes. He doesn’t even realise it when he steps even closer to her and grabs her wrists harshly. “STOP IT!” he screams.

“LET ME GO STEVE” she screams back, completely in shock by the sudden unfamiliar way he acts. His big hands press harder on her wrists, it feels like it’s going to leave bruises if he holds on. For a moment it’s like her Steve isn’t there anymore. The affectionate, soft, adoring look he always had when he looked at her. It was gone. Y/n could only see dark eyes with nothing behind them.

She calms down almost immediately, her angry words turning into whimpers.

“Steve..” she whimpered softly, focusing on the hands gripping her,

It was silent now. A tear falls down her cheek. “Steve… Steve? Y-you’re hurting me” she cries.

Suddenly, his eyes soften again when the unfamiliar cries of her voice make him realise what he’s doing. He lets go immediately.

Steve is in shock. He’s focused on the redness on y/n’s wrist, doesn’t even have the guts to look at her hurt face again. That look was the worst things he’s ever seen.

“Y/n, I’m so so sorry, I can’t even believe I did this.. I-I..” he whines with a hurt expression. His heart shattered into a million pieces when he dared to look at her again. She looked scared.

Scared of him.

[catdemontraphouse]

Ok I wanna have an autistic moment about triangle man if that’s okay. This is just my own opinion clouded by my own biases, but yknow

Guys please how do I do “read more” on mobile so I don’t kill peoples braincells with my crappy essay?!

————————-

Seems pretty obvious to me that Bill Cipher’s severe problems stem from having grown up under a violent dictatorship that probably actively wanted him and his family dead or at least silenced. He says it was illegal to talk about the third dimension, which is weird. Like the government of his country was suppressing scientific facts for who knows what reason, maybe religious, maybe something about maintaining control idk it just smells fishy. Were they maybe ruled by a 3D shadow government lol idk?

And it was so much of an issue his parents poisoned him. Like, what kind of sus back alley doctor did they have to go to get treatment without being turned into the feds as bad actors/traitors? How did they even know his eye was an issue if they couldn’t see it? Who diagnosed Bill with “eye on the top of your head syndrome?” How could another 2D being see the eye was facing up if they can only see in 1D? WTF? Just who were Bill’s parents in this fucked up society and were they connected to some kind of anti-government activities? Or maybe did they work for the government and have to hide the 3rd dimension being real?

So I didn’t watch the whole Flatland movie nor have I read the book because I’ve got the attention span of a water flea, but I do recall some kind of thing about a place where they violently deform babies that don’t “look normal” so they can be “normal.” Bill’s homeland is said to be similar to Flatland. So uh, bro lived until the age of (or the equivalent of) 13 if I’m not mistaken, under a government that would likely try to imprison him, smash his face violently until he conformed, or kill him if he didn’t lay low. Because he has a birth defect that makes him “dangerous”😬 I know the “shoelaces are fascist” was a joke but also like maybe he learned that word from like, his parents whispering about facists idk? 🤷‍♀️

So anyways long post long but we eventually get to the whole “he accidentally killed everyone.”Gotta wonder if some of that need to prove the third dimension was real was because he was desperate to not live in fear anymore of him and his family being killed or thrown into prison. Or maybe he was trying to save his parents from losing government jobs and social status. If he could prove the existence of 3D to everyone then maybe the people would rebel against the government for killing citizens who talked about it? Or maybe a scandal would create some leeway to negotiate his family’s safety and wellbeing? I think Bill hated his country, rightfully. He probably did actually want to “liberate” the people. I think it went beyond just self-aggrandizing and proving he was “right.” If he could see the 3rd dimension it makes me wonder if he could be like the sphere in Flatland and see what goes on behind close doors too. What if he saw them killing babies….

Also if he lived in this kind of society maybe they did public executions which would explain some of his blasé reactions to violence? Oh and he can prob see everyone’s guts so I bet that’s where his sick fascination with guts comes from. He probably recognized people by their guts more than their faces or some weird shit 🤷‍♀️

So he’s young, alone, he killed the only people that mattered to him and also failed to liberate the masses, and now he’s somehow surpassed corporeal reality… I don’t rly get how that part works but okay.

So he’s a god now. Not by choice, by accident. A young being who has lived under totalitarian rule and the threat of persecution his whole life suddenly exists in this fucking vacuum where anything is possible, time isn’t necessarily real, you can shapeshift at will etc. He goes from being afraid and living in a very viscerally corporeal reality to suddenly everything he was ever terrified of is like, gone? So he might feel it didn’t matter? Like his life was some kind of sick twisted joke? Like oh… my whole world was a lie. My existence is meaningless. I destroyed my family and I have nothing now, I mean nothing to anyone, nothing is real, blah blah. It’s quite bleak. He can’t die from what I can tell. They say he “died” but like he didn’t at the same time and suggest that a person is ultimately an idea and you can’t kill an idea? I don’t get how death works in Gravity Falls tbh. Like at all. But basically this fucking dude is alone in the soup of chaos between dimensions or whatever with his entire world reduced to a speck of dust and now he’s god and I guess he didn’t die or can’t die idk it’s fucked up and weird ok???

He probably thinks he’s actually doing Earth a favor by bringing Weirdmageddon? No rules because he’s adverse to any kind of rules due to his upbringing. Do whatever, be whatever kind of freak you are. Nobody can tell you what to do or what to believe. Ironically the way he enforces it is pretty totalitarian but yknow. He’s got issues man. And hey, if once you transcend your dimensional limitations you become a god who’s impervious to death? I think an unhinged out of touch god would be like “well death happens, you’ll get over it and being liberated from your flesh prison is good actually. It’s better than living a lie. Now you can be limitless like me! Trauma is whatever, now you can fly so who cares about therapy?”

Bro was like, yeah great let’s destroy the prison that is the 3rd dimension and turn it into a safe haven for people who love freedommm! 🦅 whoever has to die or get their face rearranged so be it for the greater good, and they will physically recover eventually anyways so it’s whatever. (There’s several instances in canon of god like beings being “killed” or dismembered and recovering such as in one of the books it says Time Baby has to regenerate for a thousand years or whatever after Bill shot him, the guy Pyronica ate in the Fearamid who showed up next scene unscathed, Bill getting his eyeball ripped out and regenerating it etc)

It’s fucked up and twisted but it makes sense so much narratively I think.

[hbyrde36]

The Crawl

Part 2 of 5

Part 1 here AO3

WC: 2773

-Edd!e-

Eddie retreated into the trees once Will was finally out of sight and on his way to safety on the other side of the fence. 

He hoped he’d done the right thing. The kid had survived his original stay in the Upside Down without Eddie’s help, obviously, but when he had found Castle Byers in the middle of the woods and discovered the boy hiding within it, he couldn't just walk away. 

The idea had come to him shortly after he ‘woke up’.

Whenever Eddie thought about his unholy resurrection it was always in terms of sleeping and waking. Of course, he knew the truth. 

He remembered everything. 

Seeing Dustin to safety. Cutting the Rope. Leading the bats away, and ultimately fighting them to the death. He remembered how one of the little fuckers had wrapped it’s tail around his throat, and exactly what their small sharp teeth had felt like as they tore into his skin. 

He remembered dying. 

But if he allowed himself to think about it too hard, he’d have to face other harsh truths that he was even less prepared to deal with. 

Like the fact that he was probably not human anymore, and though he was able to resist it, he could feel Vecna’s call. That he would most likely never get out of this place, never see Uncle Wayne again, or any of his friends, or the kids, or Steve, who he’d grown inexplicably close to and fond of over the short time they’d spent together during the most hellish week of his life.

So instead of worrying about the what, how, and why of his current existence, he focused on another mystery that had been plaguing him since the first time he’d set foot in the Upside Down. Why was this place stuck in 1983 on the day Will went missing? And could that mean there were other time related anomalies?

Since he had nothing better to do than wander around and try to avoid Vecna, as well as the other creatures of the Upside Down, he decided to explore the possibility and found he was on to something. 

His first theory once he found Baby Byers, was that time in the Upside Down was absolutely fucked. 

He didn’t know if it was moving backwards, or forwards, or everywhere at once, and frankly the implications of the whole thing made his head spin. 

His second theory, and the only way he could even remotely make some sense of things, was that maybe each gate into and out of this place was somehow tied to the time in which it was used.

It was why when he’d decided to step in and get the young boy out of there he hadn’t taken him back to the trailer park, even though that gate was closer. He was too afraid of what might happen if he was right and he wound up sending a 12 year old Will Byers through his ceiling and right into the future.

Eddie didn’t know everything that had happened to the party relating to the Upside Down, in fact he was sure he only knew a very small fraction of the story, but he did remember being told that Will’s mom and Hopper had somehow retrieved him through the lab way back when, so it seemed like a safe bet to take the boy there. 

He only interfered in the first place because the poor kid had looked minutes from death. He hadn't planned on doing anything more than getting Will out. He was well aware that messing with past events could have disastrous consequences, he’d read enough sci-fi novels to know that much, but he figured, what harm could it do to help the young boy escape this nightmare realm a little bit sooner? 

As long as he didn’t tell the kid anything, it would be okay. His biggest fear was that somehow he would make things worse. In his own time, he’d managed to lead the bats away and save Dustin. If he did something wrong here and anything happened to the little shit as a result, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself. 

If living was the word for it. 

But, then they’d been talking, and his big mouth had run away with him, as it usually did. He mentioned Mike and called Will by his D&D moniker, all of which only stoked the kid’s curiosity more. 

And Eddie started thinking, could it actually get any worse? 

They hadn’t defeated Vecna for one thing, he knew that for a fact. The guy was still alive and traipsing around down here like he owned the fucking place. Yes, Eddie had saved Dustin but what had become of everyone else? Steve, Robin, and Nancy? Red and the others? The town as a whole?

And, sure, maybe he didn’t know everything, but he knew a little. Would it be enough to change the outcome for the better? 

Only one way to find out. 

So, he’d gone and told Will anything he could recall that might help. It was erratic at best, his usual storytelling abilities all but non-existent in the wake of everything he’d been through. He forgot a lot and didn’t provide enough context for any of it, but he did what he could and hoped it would be good enough. 

Given that time was fucked, Eddie wasted none of it in making his way over to Lover’s Lake, content to watch and wait for as long as he had to. 

The bitch of it was, if he had changed things enough Steve might never get pulled down here through the underwater gate. In some ways it was the ideal outcome, even if it meant that Eddie would never truly know what was happening in the Right-Side-Up until Vecna either did or didn’t die.

But if Steve did get pulled through the lake’s depths and into the Upside Down as he had before, whether because Eddie hadn’t done enough or because fate was just that cruel a mistress, he would be right there to help him.

Eddie sat, and watched, and waited for an indeterminate amount of time. 

He had no concept of it passing anymore, no way to gauge it. He didn’t get cold, or hungry, or thirsty. He didn’t even feel the need to fidget anymore.

He just existed.

The only thing that plagued him outside of his own thoughts was a little nudge at the back of his mind. He knew it was Vecna. Mostly it was a dormant awareness of the asshole but every now and then Henry would flex his power, urging Eddie to find him and join him. It was easy enough to ignore, at least for now. 

He knew it was coming a few moments before Steve came bursting up through the hole in the dry lake bed. The vines around the small opening that had previously been lying completely still, had suddenly come to life, and he raced to the gate from his nearby hiding spot. 

Eddie, oar already in hand, beat at the vine that had a hold on Steve's ankle until it let him go. The other boy stared up at him, eyes wide and chest heaving as he worked to catch his breath.

“Holy shit.” Steve gasped out between breaths. “It is you. You’re… really here.”

“Sure am, big boy.” Eddie smiled. That answered the question of whether Will had told the others about him or not.  It was so good to see a familiar face, and Steve’s in particular if he was honest. A bit weird, knowing this wasn’t exactly the same boy he had once known, but good. 

He offered Steve a hand up and he took it, allowing Eddie to haul him to his feet. Steve still looked a little dazed, but that was understandable. He also couldn’t seem to stop staring.

“Come on.” Eddie said, tugging on Steve’s hand and urging him to move. “We’ve only got a minute or two before Nancy, Robin, and the other me are going to come popping out of that hole, assuming they were with you on the boat?” 

He glanced back to see Steve nodding in confirmation. 

“I don’t know what happens if he and I get too close to each other,” Eddie continued. “And I don't particularly want to find out.”

Once they made it to the tree line Eddie stopped, turning to fully face Steve. He had this horrible urge to embrace the other boy. It’d been so long since he’d had contact with another person, let alone hugged them, but there was no time to indulge in that kind of comfort and no reason to think that Steve would welcome more of his touch. 

He had so many questions, too many for one short stolen moment. The bats would attack soon and the others would be coming through any minute and…

“Eds, I'm so sorry.” Steve whispered, voice trembling as he squeezed Eddie’s hand. Neither of them had let go yet.   

Eds? That was new… 

“For what?”

Steve gestured at him from head to toe, struggling for words. 

In fairness Eddie hadn’t looked in a mirror in a while, so he only had a vague idea of how bad he must look, but judging by Steve's pained expression, it… wasn’t good. 

“I guess I don't really know, but obviously something goes wrong, er, went wrong, and I didn’t…”

Eddie cut him off. “No, this wasn’t…” He trailed off looking down at his own dirty, torn, and bloody shirt. “You weren’t there when this happened. It wasn't your fault.”

“Maybe, maybe not, but it’s my responsibility to keep everyone safe. Everyone. And you… god. I can’t believe I wasn’t there.” Steve looked like he was genuinely fighting off tears.

Eddie was a little taken aback. He hadn’t thought Steve cared about him that much, at least not at this point in their getting-to-know-you journey. It was true that they had grown close towards the end, shared trauma and a heart to heart in the middle of the dark and twisted woods will do that to you, but none of that had happened yet for the Steve in front of him. It made him wonder just how well this Steve and his Eddie knew each other. 

“Stevie, don’t do that to yourself.” The nickname rolled off of his tongue like it was second nature though he was pretty sure it was the first time he’d ever said it.

Steve had finally looked away, eyes on the horizon where a small grouping of demobats was quickly making its way towards them, but at those words his gaze snapped back to Eddie’s again. He stepped closer, reaching out like he meant to touch him, but stopped just short of it. 

Eddie’s stomach flipped and suddenly he wished he’d thought to clean himself up somehow before coming here. He probably still had dried blood on his face, of course Steve wouldn’t want to touch him. 

He shook his head at himself. 

There wasn’t time for this. None of it mattered, he wasn’t important. What mattered was the future, and making sure that Steve and everyone else had one.  

“Listen, I don’t know what might have changed between what I remember and your timeline, or if I made any difference at all. I don’t know if any of this will make sense to you yet but I can tell you what we did.”

It looked like Steve wanted to say something else, but he nodded and let Eddie move the conversation along. The bats were getting closer and it seemed even he could sense they were almost out of time.

“Vecna got Nancy. She snapped out of it but he gave her these terrifying visions and basically told her his whole evil villain backstory about killing his parents, winding up at the lab, becoming a number, and his vendetta against Eleven for sending him here. We already knew that gates are formed anywhere he makes a kill right? But after that we figured out that he needed four kills to complete the set, kicking off his end of the world plot, or whatever. So we came down here, tried to beat him on his own turf. You, Nancy, and Robin went after him, while me and Dustin caused a distraction to keep those bats away. On the other side, Max, Lucas, and Erica were baiting him, like a different kind of distraction. Keeping his mind busy while you three went after his body.” 

Steve was staring at him again, a hint of a smile playing on his lips. They were standing in the middle of a hellscape on the precipice of the end of the world, and Steve Harrington was smiling at him with a soft look in his eyes that Eddie didn’t think had ever been aimed at him before.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Eddie asked shyly.

“Sorry, you’re just so… you.”

Eddie was pretty sure if he could still blush he would be doing so, furiously.

Steve cleared his throat, looking a little pink in the cheeks himself. “It sounds like a decent strategy, more of a plan that we usually have anyway.”

“Maybe, but we still failed. I don’t even know what happened to the rest of you.”

“What about you?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It matters to me.” Steve insisted, pleading with his eyes. “Eddie, if there's any chance it could help me save you, I need to know. Please, just tell me what happened.”

Eddie stared at the ground as he spoke. “Me and Dustin were on the roof of my trailer, here in the Upside Down. I played my guitar to lure those flying fuckers away from Vecna’s house, where you were headed. It worked phenomenally well, they came in droves. We reinforced the trailer as best we could, but they were too strong, and there were too many of them. They started to come through the air vents, man. We had this rope rigged up through the gate in the ceiling. I sent Dustin up and out first, but I realized the bats might follow us through, or worse turn around and attack you guys. I cut the rope so Dustin couldn’t follow me, and then I led the bats away…” He trailed off, unwilling to finish the story. It didn’t need to be said anyway. His fate was obvious.

This time when Steve reached out, he didn’t stop himself. He cupped the side of Eddie’s face, running his thumb back and forth over his cheek. Before Eddie could stop it he found himself nuzzling into the touch. 

Steve opened his mouth to speak, but hesitated when they saw Robin, Nancy, and the other Eddie climbing up out of the gate off in the distance. The trio was looking around panicked, shouting Steve’s name, and the bats were already starting to swarm. Nancy picked up the oar that Eddie left behind, and was already brandishing it against the onslaught.

Time’s up, Eddie thought as he pulled away from Steve and ducked around a tree to keep hidden. 

Steve's eyes darted back and forth between the Eddie in front of him and his friends behind him. “What about everyone else?” He asked quickly. “You didn’t mention El or Hopper, Joyce, Jonathan, Will, Mike.” Steve paled. “Did something happen to them all?”

“I don’t know, Hopper was dead and the rest were in California. You guys kept trying to call but-”

“California?” Steve said, confused. 

Finally it clicked. “Oh shit, Hopper’s alive and the Byers didn’t move?! I guess I did some good after all.” Eddie said, feeling a sudden surge of hope. They had so much more help this time if everyone was in the same place. They had El! 

He wished he knew how that had all come to pass. He would have loved to sit with Steve for hours and find out all the little differences between his past and Steve’s present, but he could settle for not knowing as long as the people he cared about made it out of this mess alive. 

“Take them to my place, the trailer. You’ll be able to get out there.”

“I don’t want to leave you here alone.” Steve said, even as his eyes strayed back to the others.

“You have to. They need you. Your Eddie needs you.”

Steve let out a pained sound, but finally turned away and ran back to where he belonged, leaving Eddie behind as he rushed off to help the others finish off the demobats. 

Part 3

Thanks forever to @penny00dreadful for being the best friend, cheerleader, and beta in the whole fucking world 💜 truly could not do it without you.

I'm going to tag anyone who interacted with part 1 but feel free to tell me to fuck off (🤣) and let me know if you want to be removed from the list!!

@hissunflowers @sadisticaltarts @gutterflower77 @epiclazershark @yeahhhh-suga @soapyscoobert @thetrueghostqueen @guppynuggets @reh-hateshumans @katdeerly @kolorzapster @useless-nb-bisexual

[misguidedasgardian]

The White Dragon (14)

14. Dragonstone

MASTERLIST

Summary: Despite all your efforts, the ancestral seat of your House is the witness of how everything was going to unravel 

Pairings: main Harwin Strong x Fem!Targaryen reader

Warnings: cursing, incest, medieval and A song of ice and Fire AU customs, talks about underage marriage, violence, death, rituals of marriage including use of blood. Talks about infidelity and "bastards"

+18, MINORS DNI

Wordcount: 3,0k (shorter than usual, sorry babes, the next one is greater though)

Notes: It is getting intense people, I’m so scared that I'm neglecting Reader and Harwin a little and focusing more on his children… but they are so cute I love them 

You had barely slept a wink, Aemma dozed off with a little of milk of the poppy and was sleeping soundly right between you and Harwin. Her busted lip was still swollen, it had taken five stitches to put it back together, and it was going to scar, but the maester did a good job, and you were sure that this wasn’t going to affect her in any way. 

You had never felt anything like it, when you realized she was hurt you just saw red, somebody had harmed your daughter and you wanted blood. but you realized that what happened to yours was an accident, but Jacaerys had taken Aemond’s eye on purpose, or sort of, he had wielded a blade against him.

Has your family reached the breaking point of no return?

Could you just leave? return to Harrenhal and the White hall? it's certainly something you would like. Aemma got scared, Aemond lost an eye, Lucerys got his nose broken, all the drama passed down from your generation right onto them. And you had no idea how to fix it.

Alicent had broken off the engagement between Jacaerys and Helaena, engaging Helaena to her own brother Aegon, though it was tradition, it made you scared, it meant what you had always feared, Alicent was going to take a shot at the throne.

If she was scared of what could happen when Rhaenyra took the throne she would have engaged Halaena and Jacaerys to ensure her daughter´s safety. Other heirs to the throne’s lives were forfeit when one took the throne, it was known, especially since Rhaenyra was a woman, and Aegon was the first born male. 

Alicent was going to take a shot for the throne. And with her father by her side as Hand of the King, she had a good chance

You needed to find her. 

Luckily Aemma woke up slowly, showing you her beautiful green eyes at you

“Good morning sweety”, you greeted

“Good morning mama”, she whispered

“Does it hurt? How are you feeling?”

“Waaay better”, she giggled, you kiss her forehead

“Would you mind to go find your brothers?”, she shook your head, “ask Viola to help you dress, alright sweet girl?”

“Yes!”, and she jumped off the bed to go find your lady in waiting. Awakening your husband with kisses, you decided to jump off the bed as well to find Alicent, and then talk to Rhaenyra. 

As you tried to go and see all the parts of your broken family, Alicent and Rhaenyra, your own children were discussing their own problems 

“Is dad the father of Jacaerys, Lucerys and Joffrey?” asked Rhaegar to his brother.

“I don’t know”, Maekar had a lump on his throat. He thought now that is was pretty obvious, if everyone was saying it, it was probably true, even though he had never saw aunt Rhaenyra before they came to King’s Landing

“Are we bastards?”, he asked then

“No…”

“Why not?”

“Because our parents are married”, he continued, “Harwin is our father and mom is our mother”

“What is a bastard?”, asked Aemma, her lip still a bloodied stitched mess.

“A person that is born of two people that are not married, or a parent is married with somebody else and not their other parent”, explained Maekar calmly 

“I don’t understand”, she whispered 

“Whatever, you can’t repeat it Aemma… ever”, said Rhaegar

“Alright, I promise”, she whispered, “does dad have another family?”, she asked then

“No” growled Maekar 

“Are we sure?” asked Rhaegar

“No”, repeated Maekar

“Is dad going to leave us?”, Asked Aemma. Rhaegar, seeing her sister’s tears, engulfed her in a hug. 

“No sweet girl, he is not going to leave us”

“Then why did he have kids with somebody else?” she cried in her brother’s chest

“I don’t know” 

“Don’t cry, our parents are good, they are together, that is what matters”, Maekar sentenced, and Aemma just nodded, wiping her tears. 

Harwin entered through the door, searching for them

“Are you ready? We are going to leave soon with the King in his ship”, he said gently. He then saw the tears in her daughter’s face. “What happened?”

“Nothing”, they all answered at once 

“Hey sweet girl, you can talk to me”, insisted Harwin, but Aemma wouldn't even look at him in the eyes

“I promised not to tell”, she whispered

“I’m your father my dragonling, you can always talk to me”

“No”, she whined, and escaped from her father’s arms and ran towards her assigned room, under Harwin’s sad gaze. He then looked at his sons and they too averted their gaze from their father.

Alicent was standing next to a fireplace when you found her. Her big eyes were unsettling to you, as she looked at you with a scared glance 

“Are you going to deny my son now?”, she asked with a broken voice, “now that he is lacking an eye? Now that his mother has lost her mind?”, she said, looking back at the flames, it was indeed a cold morning

“I must say that yesterday, when I saw my daughter was hurt I too wanted blood to be spilled”, you reasoned, “I wanted to burn it all for her”, she looked at you with fear, “it is unfair of men to tell us to control our emotions when they don´t know how it feels when your pup had been hurt, they might be fathers as well but they will never truly know”, she nodded, “my daughter might have gotten hurt and she will scar but your son lost an eye, I understand your reaction”

“It means a lot”, she said, you nodded 

“My father is right, this family is falling apart, and I will not have it”, you said firmly, you shared looks with Alicent.

“What do you mean…?”

“We will betrothe my daughter Aemma with your son Aemond” you said firmly, she seemed surprised

“You still wish to unite our families?”, she asked 

“Yes”, you conceded 

“They can wed when she has her first bloodmoon”, she said

“I want to wait until she is eight and ten,” you contradicted, she frowned

“Six and ten”, she said then, negotiating. And you understood it, Aemond was 3 years older than Aemma, asking him to wait until he was 21 was a lengthy wait

“Alright”, you said then, promising yourself to prepare your daughter for her future.

“This will make the king very happy”, she assured you

“I know”, you sentenced, “it will also make him very happy if you reconsider Helaena´s match”, you tried, but her face was serious again

Betrothing your daughter had broken your heart, but it was something that needed to be done. You know even in this young age Aemma cared about Aemond, and that she was going to grow to love him. If not, you will find a way and an excuse to break the engagement. 

You left the room to go find Rhaenyra. The other part of this mess. 

She haden´t sleep either, she was looking at the horizon from a stone balcony

“I never thought Alicent was capable of something like that”, she started 

“Believe me, me neither”, you concluded, “I asked our uncle to stay with us”, she then looked at you

“What did he say?”

“He was going to think about it, but he is probably going to say yes”

“He is not going to the Red Keep”, she sentenced

“What do you mean?”, you asked

“We are going to Dragonstone”, she settled

“Rhaenyra”, and then she looked at you

“Come with us, just for a fortnight”, she insisted

“What do you…?”, she grabbed your hand tightly and you shared looks

“I’ve been awful to you”, she admitted, “And for that I’m sorry, but I want you to know, I appreciate everything you are doing for me, for our family, and I understand what is at stake here, yesterday made it clear”, you nodded. She squeezed your hand

“Good”, you sentenced

“Daemon will stay to support us”, she confirmed, “I’ll make sure of it”

“He is going to be of great help” 

“And you betrothing Aemma to Aemond as well”, you nodded, “Let’s go to Dragonstone”, she said, “let’s gather our strength, figure out a plan, how to proceed…”, and you nodded

“I’ll make the arrangements”, and you left her, crossing paths with your uncle.

Aemma didn’t want to see her own father, she felt sad when she looked at him, so instead, she found herself at the door of Aemond’s assigned quarters. Ser Criston Cole was at the door, and he looked down on her with contempt in his face, even though she was just a little Princess

“I want to see my uncle”, she told him with a smile

“It’s Prince Aemond”, he corrected, she got so nervous she played with her fingers in front of her

“I’m sorry”. Criston sighed loudly

“He doesn’t want to see anyone”, he said firmly

“But I’m his niece”, she said softly. The Knight looked at her, condemning her in his mind. Aemond was a good boy, but just like many other young men, he was going to be ruined by this girl in the future, he knew it. He knocks on the door announcing her, and to his surprise, Aemond lets her in. 

“I have a gift for you”, she sang. The boy seemed as hurt as the day before sitting on his bed, his shut eye and wound even more swollen. Just like her lip. 

“What is it?”, he asked, she walked until she sat beside him, and she grabbed his hand and placed on his palm a sapphire, a beautiful round blue stone that gleamed under the moonlight with incredible shapes inside of it. it was huge “Where did you get this?”, he asked then, amazed

“The other day I saw Laenor and his friends Qarl and Joffrey giggling and laughing, they were drinking wine but they had ran out of it, they told me if I could fetch them more they would give me a reward”, she explained simply, “Ser Qarl told me he took it from a pirate!” she exclaimed, “and had a full bag of them!” Aemond played with the stone in his hand. It was beautiful

“Thank you”, he answered, he leaned in and dropped a kiss on her cheek.

Criston called for Aemma soon after, you were looking for her to tell her you were traveling with her cousins to Dragonstone. She seemed jumpy, and Harwin had told you there was something wrong with your daughter. 

“Sweetheart, talk to me”, you demanded, as you hold her hand and walked through the hallways of High Tide 

“I can’t”

“Why won’t you look at your father, sweet thing?”, you tried 

“I can’t tell”

“Why not?”

“Regar made me promise”

“You can tell me, I promise not to say anything”, Aemma couldn’t hold it anymore and started to cry. you leaned into her and she threw herself at you and you received her in your arms, “What is it sweet girl?” you whispered, and her cry broke your heart

“Aemond told us Papa has another family”. She accused 

“That is not true”, you whispered

“Is Jacaerys our brother?”, she asked, finally looking at you with her big green eyes. And you didn’t know what to say. Did she deserve the truth? No, she was too young, she couldn’t handle it, imagine if she confessed this to the wrong people

“No, darling”, perhaps another day, you didn’t need to, right now, to place this weight over her little shoulders, “Papa only has us, we are his family”, and then she smiled brightly

“Oh good”, she muttered simply. hugging you tightly. You hugged her against your chest, “I love our family”, she whispered, “Although, I always wanted a sister”, you laughed

“Did you now?”, and she nodded

You father, the King, with the Queen and your half-siblings left for King’s Landing, and you left for Dragonstone with your family and Rhaenyra’s. Laenor stayed in High Tide.

You had always liked Dragonstone and you were so happy your children were going to see it, of crouse as soon as they landed on their dragons they ran off with Jacaerys and Lucerys, you warned them to stay away form the Dragon Mount, and they took Aemma with them as well 

You met with Rhaenyra and Daemon, in a room Aegon himself used multiple times to plot his conquest. And they seemed to be plotting their own

“We are joining our blood”, Rhaenyra told you, grabbing your uncle’s hand. And you looked at them in disbelief, “we are getting married, in the traditions of our House, of Old Valyria”

“Rhaenyra you are married”, you said, “with Laenor! you cannot marry unless…”

“We have a plan”, Daemon assured you, and you took turns looking at them

“It better not involve people getting killed”, you warned 

“No, it doesn’t”, Rhaenyra said, “but we need to pretend someone did die”

“That is insane! you are going to pretend you died?”

“not me”, Rhaenyra said, “Laenor”

“Is he in on this?”, you asked then

“Yes, he is”, confirmed Rhaenyra, “only the four of us”

“Are you sure this is what you both want?” You had seen it, all over the years, and the pleasure house scandal, and the way Daemon looked at Rhaenyra, you had always known. 

“We will join our blood, and the three of us, together, we will defeat the Greens”, Rhaenyra assured you

This could go so wrong, but this also could go terribly well. 

They promised to keep you out of it, as they took residence in Dragonstone, you enjoyed a few days with your nephews and your sister and uncle, and then you returned to King’s landing.

Aemma when she learned that they were unclaimed dragons in Dragonstone, she didn’t want to leave, but those dragons were famous for being untamed and dangerous, they had eaten people, you couldn’t let her come close to them, it cost you tears and strength, but you managed to pull your poor daughter from the island, promising her that you were coming back

And as you tried to show yourself as uninterested and surprised like all of them. You, in King’s Landing received the news of Laenor being murderer by his lover. His face melted in the hearth, unrecognizable. And Qarl and Joffrey are missing. The story to tell is that they both fell in love with each other and killed Laenor who was getting in the way. That is the version the family was given, for the world he was murdered by his squire in a fit of rage.

And you were there when your father received the news that his daughter had married his brother. He reacted poorly, cursed his brother, told the small council he never wanted to see him again, he even told them you were the next in line and if he was Jaehaerys Rhaenyra would be truly dishonored. But he didn’t dare to go that far. He went into a fit of coughing and Alicent had to tend to him, send him the maesters. His health is decaying.

But you saw him again at night, when you reunited with the big family to dine. You sat by his side where Rhaenyra should sit, and took his arm

“I love your sister and you” he whispered to you, “but I will need time”, he assured

“Your brother is a new man”, you reminded him, “he has changed, he is good, he truly loves her”

“One as a father can only hope his daughter finds happiness”, he confided in you, “And i’m most happy!”, he spoke to the table, “that we are uniting our families, when princess Aemma comes of age, she is to wed prince Aemond, my son!”, that seemed to irritate Otto, who was taken by surprise.

Harwin grabbed your hand and gave it a squeeze, smiling at you reassuringly. And you looked at Aemma, who had her little cheeks rosy, and looked down at her plate smiling softly. You weren’t truly sure she knew what being married truly meant, but you will have time to figure it out how to tell her.

Everyone on the table cheered, Aegon mocked Aemond but the boy gave a small smile. Even sweet Helaena seemed happy about the news. Alicent was content enough, as she looked at Aemma in the corner of her eyes. 

Did she have a plan as well? Did she plan on using your daughter? 

You escorted little Aemma to her room, and you dismissed her lady and helped her get ready for bed, like you used to do when you were home. 

“I’m I really going to get married, mama?”, she asked, and you giggled, brushing her silver hair

“One day, when you are older”, you said simply

“Like Helaena?”, she asked, the Princess was barely 12, and Alicent couldn’t wait to marry her

“Older”, you assured her. “Do you know what getting married means?”, you asked her

“You and Papa are married”, she said simply, “you get to live with the person you are married to”, she explained

“Well, yes”, you giggled

“You are mine and I’m yours”, she said then, looking at you through the mirror with her big eyes, “right mama?”. And you wanted to cry

“That’s right my love”, you whispered, kissing the top of her head. 

So that night you found yourself undressing in your quarters, Harwin by your side, undressing as well

“So despite all your efforts, Rhaenyra is not coming back”, grumbled Harwin

“Not willingly I´m afraid”, you said back, “father couldn't take the news that she married Daemon”

“That means we are staying”, he sentenced, and you nodded

“It was probably for the best though”, you muttered. And he looked at you with a strange face, “I don´t know if I should be traveling in this condition”, you said softly, placing a hand on your stomach. Harwin frowned, like not wanting to believe it. And then he looked up to your face

“Really?”, you nodded enthusiastically, and he stood up to engulfed you in his arms, spinning you around in joy, “I fucking love you”

More Notes: I found it funny how Laenor told Rhaenyra a story about Qarl taking a bag full of sapphires the size of walnuts from a pirate… and then Aemond shows up with a sapphire on his eye the size of a walnut 😂😂😂something went down there 

We have another time jump in the next episode, this one of three years 

Taglist!❤️ @tearsarcane @integra1127 @aestmilky @thanyatargaryen @tythaitie @lostinworldofdarkness @voodoogoul @wildmindedbeauty32 @lil-pudd @alicattx @electric-bloo @astaaan-lol @stargaryenx @kaitieskidmore1 @bregarc @lilpnd @jcpenneyyy @janelei @fexibau @ladyoakenshield157 @danielle-leah1997 @lady-ragnvindr @cecilyjmorgenstern @omgsuperstarg @bugheadskid @batprincess1013 @her-fandom-sanctum @holb32 @blue1006

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

Somehow, Through the Storm

Summary:

Living in the slums of the Warehouse District, Kaz and Inej are struggling to cling on to life through a seemingly unending winter. Wrapped up in a stranger's overcomplicated marriage contract that he is convinced is key to solving the merciless weather, Kaz remains busy and distracted for days on end, putting everything else at risk. So when a storm ravages the city and sweeps Inej into danger, the offer of safety, food, and a place to stay is an overwhelming one - no matter the cost. Terrified of mounting threats, Inej signs a contract - not knowing she would land herself trapped at the Menagerie. Kaz signs a contract that states if he can walk all the way through the city and back to the Warehouse District with Inej behind him, never looking back at her, they will both go free. But this is the Barrel, the darkest part of the city where the rules of physics can change with the stroke of a pen; the journey back will not be the same as journey there…

This is a Hadestown-inspired reimagining of the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice, casting Kaz and Inej as our main characters and heavily featuring our beloved Crows, set in an alternate version of the Grishaverse with a different magic system based entirely on contracts.

Tags: @lunarthecorvus @marielaure @multi-fandom-bi @igotthisaccountunderduress @thelibraryofalexandriastillburns @devoted-people-hater @spraypaintstainonawhitewall

If anyone else would like to be added to the tag list let me know <3

Warnings for this chapter: implied sa references, slavery references (similar to Kerch indenture contracts), implied imprisonment

AO3 link:

Chapter 4 - Nina

The River Styx is a river of stone. And Hades lays them high and thick, with a million hands that are not his own. 

- Epic II, Hadestown

Nina hated Ketterdam. 

She lay on her side for almost an entire hour after she’d awoken, staring at the wall and keeping her hands clutched close to her chest in the warm little cocoon beneath her blanket. Her fingertips were cold as she stretched them out to touch the skin of her forearms, as far as she wanted to move for fear of losing her comfortable warm spot and failing to find it again, and ran them over the tattoos hidden under the sleeves of her nightclothes. Nina had three tattoos; two on her right arm, one on her left. Only one of them was important, but she lay and traced her fingers over all of them anyway. Just as she’d done before she fell asleep last night, and just as she would do tonight, and tomorrow morning, and tomorrow evening. At night it had become a strange comfort, something in the routine or the motion or the soft, kind touches she could give herself that could carry her away from this city as she closed her eyes, could trick her for a brief moment into comfort, even safety. In the morning, it was just anything to extend the minutes she spent alone, calm, quiet, for as long as possible. 

She had to get up at some point, though. Nina sighed as she rolled out of bed and fumbled in the half-darkness for her slippers; dawn seemed to mean little in this city, with its endless winter and relentlessly thick clouds, so even when Nina begrudgingly parted the curtains it did little to illuminate the room. She peered through the slightly misted glass down to the street below. 

It wasn’t particularly busy this morning, probably too late in the day for the work rush to be in full swing, but a few strangers in fine suits hurried over the road and disappeared between the buildings. Nina used to have a better view of the city from this window, looking out the Government and Zelvar Districts, her position on the fourth floor even letting her see the distant harbour and a pocket of the True Sea on a clear enough day. Not anymore though. The wall was too high for that by now. A cart trundled by on the street beneath her; an old wooden thing with a half-faded laurel painted on its side, pulled by a tired-looking horse and carrying more tired-looking workers next to the stacks of bricks within. Nina couldn’t see them properly from here but she knew the workers perched atop the cart were wraiths, that their eyes would be glassy and their voices non-existent. The horse plodded along the cobbles, making its way towards the wall even though the driver was paying far more attention to the wraiths huddled behind him than the road ahead. Nina watched them for a moment, until her throat became too dry to breathe and she forced herself to turn away. 

What time was it? She must be due at the house relatively soon. 

The Red Laurel Enterprise’s property extended down pretty much the entire street, this and the next building being accommodation for the Grisha who wrote the company’s contracts, but the house itself stood at the top of the road, glowering down on it like a castle casting shadows over its crooked kingdom. Nina was to report to the house each morning and if she was needed, which it would be a damn miracle if she weren’t, would complete her tasks for the day within its walls. Let it just be reviews, she thought, eyes drifting back to the window. Reviews were hardly easy, but they were better than drawing up a new contract from scratch. That was the kind of thing that she thought might drive her mad one day. 

Someone shouted her name from down the hallway, and a moment later came a hammering on her door. 

“Nina!” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Nina sighed as she shoved her arms into her dressing gown, tying it loosely as she crossed the room, “I’m coming,”

Nina hadn’t been expecting to see Eamon on the other side of the door, but of course it had to be him - why would her luck ever swing in a different direction? He smiled at her and a surprisingly charming dimple creased on his cheek, as though it existed for the singular purpose of juxtaposing the boy’s unpleasant, leering smirk. 

“Nice to see you dressed for the occasion,” he said, leaning against the doorframe and very neatly placing his boot in the way of her closing it again. Not that she would’ve done, not matter how much she might’ve liked to trap his ugly fingers in the hinges, “Suits you,”

His eyes wandered up and down Nina’s gown, and she considered giving him a swift kick between the legs. 

“What are you doing here?” she snapped, “Because if you’re just here to-”

“Don’t you own a calendar, love?” Eamon smiled again. Saints, he really did look punchable, “‘It’s changeover day,”

Nina felt something tense inside her chest, and hoped that it hadn’t been visible. How could she have let it slip so close to changeover without realising? 

“I thought he didn’t need me until this afternoon,” she said, trying to keep her voice as casual as she could manage. 

“Well you thought wrong then, din’t you? You fancy hurrying up? I ain’t got all day,”

“Then you’d better move out the way so I can close the door,” 

Eamon huffed a small laugh, and for an unpleasant moment Nina didn’t think he was planning on leaving. But then he took a step backwards, and she slammed the door against his nose as quickly as she could. 

Changeover day. 

She closed her eyes and took a slow, shaky breath, trying to still her shivering hands.

Changeover day. 

She’d done it before, and she could do it again. 

Nina had been in Ketterdam for almost a year, and in that time had seen herself through three changeovers. She didn’t entirely understand how the deal struck between the Barrel and the Geldin District worked, but she was one of around twenty or so Grisha who officially resided in both areas. Every three months, the changeover came. Nina did not want to go back to the Barrel. But, of course, no-one had asked her for an opinion on that.

She dressed quickly, wrestled hair into a little red ruffle because there was more than one skiv around here who had an unpleasant habit of taking hold of it when it was loose, and shoved her feet into the single pair of shoes she owned. They didn’t exactly work with the outfit, the ridiculous little skirt and blouse embroidered to mimic a Grisha kefta that the Geldin District specifically required of her, but if Jan Van Eck didn’t like that then he’d just have to buy her a new pair. Maybe she should point out how incongruous the clunky leather boots were herself, just on the off chance that it meant she would get something new for once. 

Eamon thumped his fist hard against the door again as Nina was washing her face, shouting for her to hurry up. She brushed a hurried line of gloss over her lips, then slipped out the door and ignored Eamon’s grumbling as they walked downstairs. 

This outfit really wasn’t suitable for the weather. Goosebumps prickled up and down Nina’s legs as she followed Eamon through the front door and onto the damp cobblestones, a cold and angry breeze catching them the moment they stepped outside and clinging on so tightly that it may have been trying to pierce her flesh and dig right into her bones. Hopefully she would be able to get a seat below decks on the boat - it wasn’t a long journey, but she would gather together every crap of warmth she could for as long as possible. The walk to the Van Eck house wasn’t long either, but Nina was still almost surprised to discover that she hadn’t turned blue by the time they arrived. 

They didn’t go in through the front entrance, of course, but were greeted at one of the side doors by a blank-eyed girl in dark uniform, a laurel tattoo on her arm that matched the one on Nina’s. Eamon practically threw his coat at her and Nina more than noted his wandering eyes, but either he wasn’t stupid enough to try anything in the house or he wasn’t stupid enough to try anything in front of Nina. Still, politenesses or none, Nina wasn’t sure she’d have minded withstanding whatever waited for her in the aftermath of beating him to a pulp in the middle of the Van Eck living room so long as she got to do it. 

The girl hung Eamon’s tattered coat over the hatrack very much within his reach, then led them down the hallway in silence. Nina always found this house eerily quiet. It was too big for itself, like it was abandoned and ought to be overgrown with ivy and weeds. That might look prettier than the austere panelled walls that glared down at them now. She tried to imagine the carvings, which were mostly stories about Ghezen, the Kerch god of industry and commerce, replaced by leaves and flowers. Maybe they could even grow amongst the gaps between the bricks and tear down the wall. Maybe Ketterdam could fall to something as simple, something as complicated, as a single geranium. 

Maybe Nina needed to give herself a firm shake. 

The girl gave a quiet knock on an unnecessarily tall door, and a moment later they were inside the office. It was a spacious enough room, home to an oversized, ostentatious mahogany desk, a real DeKappel hanging on the wall, bookshelves that reached the ceiling. Behind his desk, of course, sat Jan Van Eck himself. Ever at his side was Marya, clad in the traditional black dresses of the merchant wives, a dark red rose tucked into her hair the only show of colour in her outfit. Nina had had two whole conversations with Marya Van Eck, and still she was just about her favourite person in the entire city - or at the very least, the only person she could stand. Right now she looked distinctly bored, an expression she was making absolutely no effort to hide from her husband, and Nina thought that was hilarious. 

Nina bowed, as did Eamon - not even he was enough of an idiot not to - and waited a moment for acknowledgement. He always liked to make them wait.

“Nina Zenik?” asked Van Eck, glancing briefly up from the list of names laid out over his desk. 

“Yes, sir,” 

He beckoned her forwards, and Nina rolled her sleeves up as she obeyed. It was the same process every time. 

Van Eck surveyed her left arm, where the laurel tattoo lay, first. At his instruction Nina turned her arm each way to show him that there was nothing new, nothing wrong with the mark, and then held herself very still as he reached out and took her wrist in his hand. He pressed his fingers hard into the ink of the tattoo, and in response it darkened and pulsated beneath his touch. Nina closed her eyes as her skin thrummed like something was trying to clamber out; Van Eck’s signature trying to return to him with every contact. Relief flooded through her chest as he released her, nodding his satisfaction, and the hot, rushing pressure vanished from her arm as quickly as it had appeared. She opened her eyes to meet Marya’s sympathetic gaze, and tried to smile - and tried to keep her gaze from drifting to the woman’s gloves. Nina was very much in the minority of people who knew what was hidden underneath them, and she definitely didn’t need Jan Van Eck knowing that she knew. 

Van Eck nodded at her other arm, and she raised it up. There were two tattoos on this one; a ring of growing ferns around her bicep, and a lion curled into the shape of a crown sleeping on her forearm. They rattled through the usual questions about them - Where did she do her work for Rollins? The Sweet Shoppe. What did she do for him? Exactly what she did here. When had she signed the contract? The day after she signed the one with the Red Laurel Enterprise. Who had drawn up the contract? She had. And the ferns? A prior contract. With? Matthias Helvar. Where is he? Hellgate prison. Has she had any contact with him? No. When did they sign their contract? A little over a year ago. Who had drawn it up? She had. Did she have the contract? No. Did he? No. Where was it? Lost somewhere at the bottom of the ocean, with no hopes of ever being undone. 

Saints, you’d think that they could just write all this nonsense down somewhere. Why did he have to make her say it every time? Though maybe it was good for her. Maybe if she wasn’t forced to stand here and relive everything she had done to Matthias, the memory of its pain would start to fade. She couldn’t have it do that. She wouldn’t let it. 

Van Eck nodded. 

“Alright then. Thank you for your service,”

It almost took effort not to laugh at that. Nine gave each of the Van Ecks a polite nod. 

“Sir, Ma’am,”

Van Eck waved his hand to dismiss them, and Nina bid them good day as she turned around and murmured something she hoped sounded polite about seeing them in three months. 

“Oh, I’ll miss you this time, dear,” said Marya, softly, the first time she’d spoken at all. 

Her voice was gentle and melodic, like at any given moment she might be about to sing, or like she knew how to shape the world around her into a tune with every word. Nina wasn’t sure if she was supposed to turn back or not, but when Marya kept talking she decided it was probably more polite to look at her as she did so. 

“I’m visiting my mother for a few months at…” she glanced at her husband, smiling at him, “well it’s about at the same time, isn’t it?”

His only response was to nod. 

“So I suppose I’ll see you in nine months, Nina,” 

Nine months? Of course, yes. Nine months. 

It took Nina a moment to form words, but when her voice finally answered her she could only wish Marya a pleasant trip, politely excuse herself, and try to hold back the need to run from the room. 

Nine more months. Here. In Ketterdam. Right. 

Nina stared at her beaten up shoes as she followed Eamon towards the harbour, and the melancholic melody of Marya Van Eck’s voice followed her all the way. 

*

“Have you had any contact with Matthias Helvar in the past three months?” 

“No,”

Nina resisted the urge to sigh. Had she not just been through this with Van Eck? This Saintsforsaken system was nothing if not thorough. 

“And do either of you have a copy of this contract?” asked Rollins through the cigar tucked between his teeth, leaning back in his chair as he shook out the match he’d just used. 

The office above the Emerald Palace was both similar to and completely unlike that of Jan Van Eck. It was dissimilar in its colour - its outright gaudiness, to be frank - and its shimmer had a fake, almost cheap sheen to it even though Nina was sure it had taken a good amount of cash to fill it with all this nonsense. It was exactly the same as Van Eck’s office in that both of them were the most ridiculous show of overcompensation that Nina had ever witnessed with her own two eyes. 

“No,” she repeated, through gritted teeth as she tried to argue her impatience deeper into her stomach to hide, “It was lost off the coast of Fjerda,”

“Destroyed?” 

Saints, he was making Nina want to bang her head against something. 

“Well it's made of paper and it sank to the bottom of the ocean, if you need help connecting the dots then-”

“That’s enough,” he snapped.

Nina bit her tongue, but thankfully Rollins appeared to be done. He waved her off impatiently, and you definitely didn’t have to tell her twice. Besides, now that all of the ridiculous meetings were done she didn’t need to have an escort. She was free of Eamon and she could wander to the Sweet Shoppe in her own damn time - although, in saying that, it was still cold outside and she was still wearing a skirt that didn’t reach her knees, so the walk probably wouldn’t be turned into a long one. 

Nina hated Ketterdam. But it was probably fair to say that she hated the Barrel, individually, even more. The Staves were both busy as she moved across from East to West, buzzing and thrumming with the endless sound of brightly-costumed thrill seekers moving through the streets and over the bridges, moving like they were one creature, ebbing and flowing as though the canals had burst their banks and were crawling over the cobbles. As she approached Goedmed Bridge, where most of the bigger pleasure houses were situated, a barge passed along the canal close enough for to see a wraith in purple silks with someone’s arms tight around her. She stared blankly out over the barrier and into the city as he leaned closer, until his lips met her neck and she tilted upwards in response to the movement. Nina closed her eyes for a moment. If she’d thought anyone was listening, maybe she would have prayed. 

By the time she arrived, Nina wanted to wrap herself in a blanket and hide away in her room at the Sweet Shoppe for as long as humanly possible, doing nothing and speaking to no-one. But, typically, it was apparently not going to be her choice - the first thing she saw when she slipped into the third floor bedroom was a note on the table in unmistakable, scratchy handwriting. 

Boundary stone, 5 bells. Someone you should meet. 

Nina was just about ready to rip the note into shreds and scream into a pillow. 

Of course Kaz Brekker knew it was changeover day. And, of course, he couldn’t let her have two minutes of something that might have vaguely resembled peace.