#if i start reading major character death it’ll be a sign of the end times

[lasagnaboxlesbian]

scared to report (at least with reading)

if u guys have any good angsty ronance and/or steddie fics please recommend ❤️

[written-in-flowers]

Lovesick: Chan x Male!Reader Pt. 6

Pairing: Bang Chan x Male!Reader | Side pairings: Minho x Chan, Minho x Male!Reader (unrequited)

Word Count: 5k

Genre: Horror, Angst, Smut | AU: Yandere!au, Videogame!AU, Highschool!AU

MINORS DO NOT INTERACT!

Summary: After being sucked into the dating simulator "Lovesick", Park YN has to defeat five rivals to reach his goal. However, he soon learns his rivals aren't the only thing he must contend with for Chan's love.

Tags: Graphic depictions of violence, Main Character Death, dark fic, dead dove: do not eat, yandere behaviors, yandere!reader, stalking, murder/violence, blood and violence, toxic relationships, mentions of murder, unrequited love, mentions of domestic violence, school massacre/genocide, implied teacher/student relationship, homophobic parents, mentions of bullying/trauma, obsession, possessiveness, manipulation, high school setting, anal sex, anal fingering, edging, eventual smut, pool sex, locker room sex, blowjobs, choking.

A/N: PLEASE READ TAGS BEFORE READING! I'm not responsible for any feelings you end up having because you ignored this warning and the ones above.

Seo Changbin: Monday < | > Seo Changbin: Wednesday

****

Seo Changbin: Tuesday

Despite the agreement you signed, word about Sohee and her string of teenage lovers spread throughout the school. A majority of them remained quiet about their experiences, feeling confused and upset by the entire thing. Other boys, like Felix, boasted about their encounters. You did not particularly care to hear them. Your main concern was Changbin, and what his family had done about the situation. 

“They’re suing the school for hiring a predator,” one of the boys said as Chan passed out potential flyers during an early club meeting. “They said they can’t believe the principal knowingly hired a person with a spotty record.”

“Do you blame them? If my child was abused by a teacher, I’d sue them too.”

You lifted your head up from the flier in front of you. “They’re not taking him out of school?” you asked incredulously. 

“No,” they said, a bit unnerved by your tone, “Why would they? He didn’t do anything wrong; she did.”

“He’s too important to the school for him to leave,” said another member. “He's our star athlete.”

“His parents already paid his tuition,” a girl with golden earrings said. “They won't get a refund if they withdraw him so late in the semester.”

“But…Isn't he ashamed?” 

“Why should he be? She abused him,” she replied a bit curtly. “What happened to him isn't his fault.” 

You felt their stares turn somewhat sour, and you shrunk back. “I didn't mean it that way. I meant that people will start spreading rumors about him and not be as understanding as us. I thought he'd want to start somewhere fresh.”

Which is what was supposed to happen. Why did that not happen? Changbin’s elimination required his secret, which would bring him shame and make him withdraw. Why had that not worked? You knew why. It came to you immediately. Minho. Your fingers curled inwards to your palms, digging into the cuff of your sleeve. This is his way of getting back at you. A pang of anger needed to be restrained in front of everyone, but it festered inside.

“I think it's disgusting,” said Chan, examining one of the possible flier choices. “She is a pedophile. She should be in jail, not another high school. It's the school and parents not wanting it to be big news. They care more about their reputations than the students’ safety.” You heard the spite in his voice, “Two students went missing and it was barely investigated. It's shameful.”

“Yeah,” you added. “You’d think a school that boasts about being safe would, you know, be safe.” 

“It’s not like he didn’t want it though,” one boy smirked. “Wish she’d come after me, eh, right YN-ssi?” he nudged you, and you coughed awkwardly. 

“They might have wanted it at the time, but I’m sure they regret it now and it’ll scar them one way or another,” you replied. “Unless you’re Felix, since it hasn’t bothered him at all.” 

Chan snorted, “Nothing phases Felix, to be honest. In his head, he bagged a hot older woman, not that he’d been preyed upon by her. Felix doesn’t make romantic attachments as easily as Changbin, so it wouldn’t hurt him like that.” He picked up another flier, considered it, and said, “I just feel sorry for Changbin. He was crying when I saw him come out of the coach's office. I’m glad they fired her.” 

Sohee’s continued employment was no concern for you. Your failure was. You stewed in your disappointment during the rest of the meeting. Even after following all the steps, you failed. You'd gotten hold of the secret, gone to the counselor, and gotten rid of Sohee. Changbin, with his good boy reputation, was supposed to feel so ashamed he left school. That is what Minho told you. You shouldn't have listened to him, but you'd trusted him back then. The sinking feeling of losing Chan suddenly came over you while they talked about baked goods and flowers. Yes, you had three more days before the Friday deadline, but you’d lost a whole day. Any plan you hatched needed to be quick. 

Chan believed hosting a garden party at the beginning of spring term might promote the club. They’d sell baked goods from a member’s family’s infamous bakery chain, showcase their nicest plants, and offer pamphlets on proper nature care. By the end, everyone decided to put it into motion. Meanwhile, you focused on your next move. It’d have to be something inconspicuous; not death since too many deaths might result in further investigations. You had no idea. Your mind appeared to be blanking. Minho mentioned there being loads of ways to take out opponents, but usually involved murder. You couldn't trust anything he told you now.

You walked out of the school garden with Chan when someone blocked your path. 

“Hey, YN-hyung! Hey, Chan-hyung!” Seungmin beamed at the pair, holding his usual notepad and looking at them hopefully. “How’re you guys doing?”

“We’re doing well, Seung-” Chan began to say, but Seungmin cut across him. 

“-That’s great, anyways, YN-hyung,” he addressed you directly, “I hear from several reliable sources that you’re the one who exposed Mrs. Yoon for the pervert she is. I’m writing a column in the school paper about it all, and was hoping you’d like to comment on the situation.”

“Seungmin, what can you possibly add in your paper that people don’t already know?” you asked with amusement, glancing at Chan who shared the feeling. The pair of them began walking with Seungmin in their path, the journalist walking backwards. 

“Rumors are not facts, Hyung,” he said pointedly, “And I only write the straight facts.”

“That’s debatable,” Chan noted. 

“So, what are your thoughts on Mrs. Yoon escaping a jail sentence?” he asked, putting his pen to the notepad, “Bewildered? Outraged? Disgusted? The people are dying to know. You outed her to get her put behind bars, and that did not happen. You gotta be peeved about it.”

“No comment, Seungmin.”

“Come on,” he groaned, “Give me something. Anything. Changbin won’t talk to me-”

“-Oh my god, Seungmin, you asked him?” Chan asked in disbelief. “What is wrong with you?”

“It’s always good to hear the full account from the victim-”

Ugh, people saw him as a ‘victim’. This will only endear people to him more, and make it harder to get rid of him. The thought of him having another dirty secret came to you, but that sounded unlikely.  

“What I’m giving is ‘no comment’,” you finally told Seungmin. “Thanks.”

You and Chan managed to pass him, ignoring his stammered pleas. What are the odds Changbin has another secret? From what you understood, every student only had one and you’d exposed Changbin’s. You needed something else. Right now, everyone pitied Changbin. Perhaps tarnishing that reputation might give the right results? 

“He’s something else, isn’t he?” Chan commented with a scoff. “Always looking for a story. Changbin is going through enough as it is. Having someone like Seungmin poking around must be making him feel worse.” 

And Chan pitied him. This sympathy will bring them closer together, you could tell. 

“I try not to give him any attention,” you said. “Otherwise, I might end up being talked about next.” 

“Nobody should. Seungmin is nosey and messy. He loves causing drama between students and making up fake theories to spread around. Can you believe he once said a girl was selling photos of herself online and she had to withdraw due to the the embarrassment and bullying? It was so wrong of him.”

Hm, at least he despised Seungmin, which would help down the road. “He’s just bored with his own life, so he does stuff like that.” 

“You have no idea,” he rolled his eyes. “Want to grab breakfast with me? You have to try the breakfast sandwiches. They’re to die for.”

“Sure,” you smiled brightly. You had been standing in line for food when he got a message. 

‘Hey, where are you? I haven’t seen you since yesterday. I miss you.’

Minho. Your blood simmered reading his name alone. He was the last person you wished to speak to right then. There'd be an actual murder if you did.

You noted that Chan ordered himself a bacon and egg sandwich with extra hot sauce on it, alongside some chips and an iced americano. You ordered the same thing, though you would have rather shared a plate with Chan. You wanted Chan’s sandwich just to drag your lips across the bitemarks and taste the same flavors Chan tasted. Having only a piece of him would comfort you. Everything about him did that. You admired his beauty in the morning sunshine. The sun caught in his dark curls, and made him glow like an angel. 

‘Hey, answer me. I want to see you. I saw your elimination plan didn’t work. Let’s talk about it.’ 

You ignored the message again, and bit into your sandwich. 

“Minho?” Chan guessed when the phone buzzed a third time. You noticed him glare at the phone, but quickly covered it up by eating. 

“Yeah,” you sighed defeatedly. “He and I…Well, things got awkward and I’m not sure if I want to see him right now.”

“What happened?” he asked, sipping from his coffee. 

“He…” you struggled to say the words, “He told me he had feelings for me and I don’t know what to do about it.”

“Do you like him back?” 

“I don’t think so. He’s been super helpful to me since I’ve been here, but nothing romantic has happened between us.” You would never tell Chan about the kiss. You preferred not to think about it either. “I don’t want to hurt his feelings, but…”

“You also don’t want him thinking you feel the same?” 

“Yeah.”

“Dump him.”

You looked up from your food to see it happening again. Flickers and shimmers went across Chan’s face in blue and white, and you swore you saw a black void between them. It was almost like someone slicing a hole to peek from inside Chan’s body. It sent shivers up your spine and made you twist your neck. You worried it might swallow him up completely. 

“Chan-hyung?” 

“Du-um-m-p hi-i-mmm,” Chan said, his head twitching as the glitching continued, “Dummmp hi-i-m-mm-mm ughhhh.”

He froze entirely. It was as if a player pressed pause in the middle of a cutscene dialogue. You looked around the area in case anyone noticed, but the world went on around them. Eventually, the glitching stopped. You kept looking to see if someone else saw, but Chan might as well not be there. You wanted to help him, but didn’t know how. When you reached forward, wanting to feel the disintegrating pixels, they stung your fingertips. White hot and crackling, it might have been pure fire. Chan went still for a few seconds, then smiled broadly at you. 

“How’s the sandwich? My eggs could be a little more runny, but it does the job.” 

You were speechless. The last time Chan glitched, it’d lasted mere seconds. This one lasted longer. This could be leading to a larger problem. 

“YN-ssi,” Chan smiled, a bit confused by your silence, “Earth to YN…Hello? Are you with me?”

“Um, uh, yeah, yeah,” you nodded, giving a nervous laugh. “The sandwich is great.” 

“You okay?” He asked with a small smile. 

“Yeah, I’m good,” you assured him. A thought came to you again, “I was just thinking about Minho.”

Chan’s smile disappeared. “Oh…Yeah, well, you would since he’s your boyfriend.” This distaste was obvious, and struck you as odd. 

“He’s not,” you said. “He likes me, but I don’t feel the same.”

Another blue flicker went through him, and you stopped the conversation. You’d been about to bring up going to class together when a disturbance went through the crowd. 

Turning your heads to the center of the canteen area, you saw Felix and Hyunjin at each other’s throats. The tension between them went across the area to the other students, who stood staring as the boys provoked one another. The boys shouted insults, pushing and shoving before hell broke loose. Felix swung his fist straight into Hyunjin’s face. The tall boy held his jaw for a second, groaning in pain before retaliating with his own fist. The fight happened so suddenly. You looked on as they grappled at each other, punching and grunting to try loosening the other’s grip.

“Aw, fucking hell,” Chan sighed irritably. “I’ll be back.”

“Wait, Chan-”

Chan ignored you as he pushed through the gathering spectators and into the fray. Grabbing the back of Felix’s blazer, he pulled him off the boy with ease, while another student took Hyunjin away. Felix, red-faced and bleeding, shouted more curses and insults over Chan’s shoulder but did not struggle against him. Hyunjin retorted with his own remarks.

“You and your dad are fucking finished, Lee! Finished, you hear me?!”

You watched Chan and Felix disappear into a nearby bathroom, and you couldn’t help following them. You slowly walked into the small hallway leading inside, pressing yourself to the inner wall while listening for their voices.

“What the hell’s the matter with you?” Chan asked, appalled. “Starting a fight with Hwang Hyunjin in the middle of the canteen with everyone watching? What’re you thinking?”

“Hyunjin’s a fucking cunt,” Felix remarked. The sound of a trash bin being knocked down echoed in the small room. “He’s been pushing in on my contraband territory. What am I supposed to do, hyung? Let him?”

“Yes,” Chan said, “Yeah, let him. Who the hell cares if someone else is selling stuff on school grounds? You could do with some healthy competition.”

“The only healthy competition is no competition, Chan.” You heard him growl angrily, “Then he started talking about my dad, and nobody talks about my dad!”

“What was he saying?” Chan asked.

“He said my dad’s nothing but a cunt in a suit, and that he was going down.”

“Ugh, this is all so childish. Felix, your father is one of the richest men in town. He’s got a whole army of thugs who will do whatever he says; he has his hands in every important pocket around. I doubt someone like Hyunjin’s dad could even make a dent in his business.” You heard him move closer, “And you starting fights with him will only stir things up more. Whatever crap is going on between your families should stay outside of school. You can’t risk getting expelled because you decided to be a dick and start a freaking gang war.”

“But Hyung-”

“-You know just as well as I do that if you get suspended or expelled from here, your dad will tear you a new one. I remember what he told my dad: he pulled a lot of strings and called in a lot of favors to get you in here. Don’t ruin your dad’s efforts by letting him down.”

Felix fell silent, his anger coming to a simmer. “You’re right,” he finally said. “You’re always right. It is stupid.” You heard them hug, patting each other’s backs, “What would I do without you steering my head the right way?”

“Get arrested,” Chan said, humorously at the end of the word.

They laughed together, and your jealousy burned. You watched the two boys walk down towards the school canteen area again. Their conversation would normally upset you, but not right now.

The blue static did. It had come out of nowhere. Its sudden appearance and then disappearance concerned you. If you had the control room, you could fix the system bugs. The idea the game might completely crash came to you. You looked up at the sky, expecting to see it across the fluffy clouds and bright sunlight, but it didn’t happen. Nothing changed. Could your failed elimination be another result of the glitch? A bug in the system where the elimination goes as planned but still fails? 

Not having to worry about Felix until next week, you put your efforts into Changbin instead. Watching him from the shadows of the courtyard, you noticed a change in him. The light he once carried appeared dull; he did not meet anyone’s eyes and stayed quiet in the group. It appeared his friends did not want to brooch the subject. Nobody did. While people whispered behind their hands and gave concerned looks, nobody walked up and comforted him. Good. The less people talk to him, the easier it’ll be to eliminate him. But how? The thought frustrated you.

Expulsion? You could buy contraband items and put them in his bag the rest of the week. 

Bullying? Ruin his reputation so much that he leaves school on his own. 

Setting him on fire in an accident? A bomb? A trap? A car accident? Something. Anything.

Your phone buzzed in your pocket, and curiosity got the better of you. 

“Just kill him. Where’s the fun in the game if you’re not killing people?”

You ignored Minho’s message again. To be honest, you didn’t know if you could handle a second murder. Jisung’s happened in a fit of rage and frustration. You hadn’t intended on it. You recalled the burning hatred that had flowed within you, tensing your muscles and creating a headache. While it’d felt exhilarating at the time, you didn’t know if you wanted to go through that again. At least, not so brutally. 

“Hey YN-hyung!” Jeongin appeared in front of you with another food tray. This time he’d made hotteok. The round, sweet pancakes sat lined up on the tray; you could smell the cinnamon and sugar inside them. “Want a little sweet treat before class? They’re fresh! It’s not good to-”

“-Start the day on an empty stomach,” you finished irritably. Why did he have to come now? To give more cryptic messages? “No thanks, Jeongin-ssi. I’m not hungry.”

Jeongin stared over you, thin eyes crinkled in his forced smile, then said, “What’s the matter? You seem down.”

“It’s nothing.” 

He stepped closer. “Have you been to our library, hyung?”

“Not really.”

“You should,” he said. “It’s a quiet study place, and not a lot of people go in there. They have a lot of informative and educational books there.”

“Like a lot of libraries…”

“Well, I only bring it up because you might find the solution to your problem there. There’s this one book I really enjoyed when I read it. It’s called ‘Elimination: A Guide to Self-Help and Problem Solving’. I think you’ll like it. It’s on the third shelf in the case closest to the window; it's behind the books. If you go now, you can read it during class. I'm sure the teacher won’t mind since it’s a library book.”

You held his gaze. Since you’d arrived, Yang Jeongin did not act as the other NPCs did. He seemed to move more fluidly, and broke off from his bubbly, friendly persona at times. Yes, you’d changed the autonomy and artificial intelligence of the student body, but this felt different somehow. While you’d normally suspect a trick by Minho, Jeongin did not express any malice or ill will towards you. He’d covertly helped you. He did it through messages and quick words. If it were Minho, he wouldn’t be trying to hide. 

“Thanks, Jeongin,” you said with a head nod. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“I’m always happy to help, hyung,” he beamed, stepping back and leaving you under the shade. 

Knowing you’re on a deadline, you left the courtyard for the empty library. Not very large, it only had four bookcases in total. Most of the shelves had books of various sizes and colors, but no titles on the spine. Out the window, you saw an outside view of the school’s garden. A nice quiet place for a studious person to get some work done. You went to the tall case near the windows, and found the book hidden behind several others. After years of being handled by various players, the book’s age showed in the worn out corners, peeling plastic, and stained pages. You saw previous players scribbled in the margins. Some were helpful tips they picked up, but you found some disturbing messages.

‘HELP! HELP! HELP! HELP!’

‘HE’S GOING TO GET ME!!’

You tucked the book in your bag and went straight to class. If this book offered any sort of help, you’d take it. Chan appeared to still be with Felix, so you had time to yourself before he arrived. The spine cracked stiffly as you opened to the first page. It gave a short introduction into the game, and offered a map of the school. You realized, as you skimmed the content list that it was an old game guide. It offered you information on every single aspect of the game. You knew why this book had been tucked behind the rest. It contradicted a lot of what Minho had told you. You skipped to the eliminations chapter, and looked up “Secrets”. 

“Once you discover your rival's secret, leave a note in their locker with a time and place. When you meet them, tell them you know about it. There are three eliminations tied to this: Blackmail, Befriend and Betrayal…”

Minho had told you to turn them in. He said it would work. He'd lied again, but this time you were not surprised. You searched the rest of the chapter. The book listed every possible elimination and offered step by step instructions. You could crush Changbin by throwing a heavy object from the school roof. You could drown him by sedating him and throwing him into the school pool. You could matchmake him with a student who has a crush on him. But, you saw one that caught your eye. Framing. You read on:

“A difficult elimination, you can frame your rival for a murder. If done right, it will result in an absolute elimination.”

Underneath, you saw the instructions on how to carry it out. It involved grabbing supplies, making your rival touch the murder weapon, and then using it to kill another student. You considered the method, worrying over the difficulty and time it’ll take. You read another elimination: Drive to Murder. 

“Another difficult elimination, you can brainwash a student to murder your rival or vice versa. This is achieved through the kidnap and torture method (See section 3, page 12). 

You read this with images flowing through your mind. These both sounded like viable options, but needed more than three days. You needed something quick and easy. Crushing sounded good. The book gave you three options: the rooftop air conditioner, a bookcase or one of the lockers in the locker room. The rooftop had a large air conditioner you could unscrew, then push onto Changbin when he’s underneath it. The bookcase and locker required luring him behind it and then pushing it onto him. All you needed was a screwdriver, which the book said was found in the workshop. 

Faking Suicide: Forge a suicide note in your rival’s handwriting, lure him to the rooftop, and then push him off. 

Electrocution. After spilling water near it, have your rival turn on the faulty light switch and watch him fry!

So many options, and you wanted to try them all. Minho never intended on anyone finding this book, so he could make himself the sole guide throughout the game. You wondered what else he was keeping from you. 

****

You’d start with the electrocution first. It was the easiest one out of them. The book said you’d find the bucket and water in the Home Economics room. During lunch, you’d been filling up the bucket when someone noticed you. 

“Hey, what’re you doing? It’s not cleaning time yet,” said a girl with dark auburn hair, holding a bento box. 

You paused, thinking quickly and said, “Oh, there’s this huge spill in the canteen area. I’m helping clean it up.”

“Oh, okay!”

You went back to the bucket, which you then lugged all the way to the second floor bathroom. A few students did stare in confusion when they saw you. You told the same spill story to those who happened to question you. As you walked, you worried being seen with this might implicate you later on. But, they’d have no proof you did anything to Changbin. After dropping it off in a corner of the bathroom, you went to the courtyard where you found Changbin. 

“Hey, hyung,” you said, adrenaline starting to build inside you. 

“Hey, YN,” he said flatly. You could tell he didn’t want to really talk, but that didn’t matter. “What’s up?”

“I thought you should know that someone wrote some graffiti about you in the second floor bathroom,” you lied.

“Someone wrote something bad about me?” He said with sad eyes. “What did it say?”

“I don’t think I can repeat it. I wanted to let you know.”

“Well, we should clean it off before anyone else sees it.”

“Yeah, I already got the bucket and bleach. I tried scrubbing it, but I didn’t get off much.”

“Let’s go see it.” 

Changbin’s helpful nature would be his undoing. You followed him as he went upstairs to the bathroom. Your heart thumped hard in your chest when he turned the corner into the dark bathroom. The light slaps of his shoes in the water puddle amplified in the empty room, and you forced yourself to suppress a giggle. 

“Ugh, it’s dark in here,” he scoffed. “Of course you couldn’t scrub it, YN-ssi. You can’t see the walls.”

“I had trouble with the light switch.” 

“Yeah, it’s broken. Someone said you have to fiddle around with it.”

You braced yourself to hear the flipping switch and sounds of agony, but nothing happened. “Whatever,” he sighed. “It’s not that big of a deal.”

“What?” you asked, flustered. 

“Yeah,” he slumped past you, “It’s probably nothing people haven’t already said about me.”

“What are you talking about? People like you. They feel sorry for what happened to you.”

“Not everyone,” he replied, looking at you over his shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, YN. It’s not like anyone actually goes in there anymore.” 

“But, Changbin-”

How can your elimination be foiled so quickly? Could it be that Changbin’s mood has made him apathetic to everything around him? You needed to move fast. 

Burning. The book said a bucket of gasoline and a good door trap can do the trick. You only needed matches from the Occult room or a Bunsen burner from the science lab. As lunch progressed, you ducked into the black and red Occult club where you saw they kept their ritual candles stacked in a corner. You scanned the black table for the matches, which you found hidden between two of them. Then you went to the gardening shed for gasoline. 

“YN-ah?” Chan came through the doorway, curious and looking about the shed. “What are you doing? I thought you’d be in the cafeteria.”

“Oh, I was on my way there when, um,” you tried thinking up a reason you’d have a gallon of gasoline in your hand. It was hard with Chan staring at you with his pretty brown eyes and furrowed brow. “When, um, one of the teachers asked me to get gasoline from the shed. Yeah, in the cafeteria, the gas stove isn’t working so she said to get this.”

“That isn’t how gas stoves work, YN-ah,” he said. “I think it’s a bad idea. Here, I’ll take it for you,” he reached for the gallon and you pulled away by reflex. “YN…”

“She asked me to do it,” you said nervously. Time was running out. Lunch time will be over and you’d have a harder time catching Changbin after school. “I don’t want to bother you with it.”

“Gas stoves don’t use this kind of gasoline. After Mrs. Yoon, I’m finding it harder to trust the staff around here. Please,” he grabbed the gasoline can before you can protest, “I’m only helping you, YN. I don’t want you to get hurt.” 

“Hyung, I’m sure she doesn’t-”

“-Come have lunch with me,” he said, putting the gasoline back on the shelf and withdrawing a key. As he led you out of the shed, you watched him lock it with disappointment. “They’re serving seaweed wraps today. I’m going to eat like a million of them,” he laughed sweetly. 

As tempting as lunch with Chan sounded, Tuesday is halfway over. “Sorry, hyung,” you said, “I already have lunch plans…with Minho.” If anything seemed to upset Chan, it was Minho’s supposed presence in your life. 

“Right,” he said, the smile dropping into a small scowl. “Minho…" the name came out in a soft hiss, hard turning stony and cold. You don’t even…Why would you…” 

His hand tightened around the padlock, and you saw him staring right at it. It came back like before. The familiar blue and white flickers went down Chan’s entire body this time. They made him wave in place like static on a screen. You saw anger flaring up in his eyes, all sweetness gone as he took in your words. 

“Hyung?”

“You do-on-t-t-t- lik-ikeee hi-m-mmm,” he said, neck twitching and hands shaking. He then froze in place, eyes bulging and mouth contorted at an odd angle. 

“Channie?”

"He-e-eee won-t treat you like I woul-l-ld." You saw him struggling to get the words out. The sense that someone else is behind these words came to you. "Don't go with hi-i-mm-mmm."

"Chan-hyung, what's wrong?"

"Min-n-h-ho-ho." Like before, he crashed completely. You moved to examine him closely, but he then suddenly snapped back to his usual bright smile. “Have a good lunch, YNie.”

He walked away from you. You waited until he turned the corner before leaving. Another glitch. What was happening? You worried what might happen if these glitches kept appearing, especially with Chan. But, what concerned you more was what he'd said and his reactions. The bugs became more apparent whenever you mentioned Minho or any romantic feelings surrounding him. It seemed whatever jealousy Chan developed since your changes now messed with the game. You stomped your foot in irritation. Why did this have to happen now? You have plenty of things going on. You don't have time to investigate this.

When you exited the garden, you saw Chan again. He stood talking to Changbin. You saw Chan put his hand on the boy’s shoulder, giving reassuring words of comfort and gentleness. Jealousy boiled inside you seeing them standing so close together. It should be you that Chan was speaking to so sweetly. It should be your jaw he’s caressing and your tears he’d wiping away. Maybe if the bug fixed itself, he really could do that. In the middle of the empty pathway, nobody saw Chan speaking soft words to a weeping Changbin. Nobody but you saw them embrace, Changbin sobbing into Chan’s shoulder. 

You needed to get rid of him. Quickly. 

With Changbin usually walking around school alone, crushing sounded like a good and easy option. You stole a screwdriver from the workshop room, and grabbed a piece of paper and pen. On it, you scribbled a note saying to meet by the dumpster after school to discuss “our predator”. You quickly folded it as you made your way to Changbin’s locker, the screwdriver heavy in your pocket. This had to work. This can't possibly fail.

Yes, yes it could.

Once the bell rang, you made your way up to the school rooftop where a large air conditioner vent stayed on one side. After expertly unscrewing the bolts of the machine, you pushed it closer to the edge where it’d easily topple over with a good shove. It didn’t take long to see Changbin walking from the locker rooms to the dumper area. Judging the proper aim, you took steady breaths to still your racing heart. You counted his steps as he walked into the gated area. He stared around for a moment, and you took your chance. Putting your back against the air conditioner, you pushed it over the side of the railing and down to the ground. Smirking, you thought you’d find a bloody, broken Changbin underneath the smashed unit. However, you didn’t. You saw Changbin standing two feet away from where you’d aimed, shocked and frightened by his close call with death. 

You managed to hide before he looked up. 

Agitation settled inside you on your way down. You wanted to punch something. You wanted to scream and shout into the void. After everything, you still have failed to eliminate Changbin. You took a seat on one of the canteen benches to consult the book. Reading the eliminations you’d done, you realized your mistake: you did them at lunch time, where most students are hanging about and will note your strange behavior. Before or after school are the best time for these eliminations, since there will be no witnesses or questions raised. You thought of trying them tomorrow, but that will only waste more time. 

For the next three days, time is of the essence. 

*** Later That Night***

They tried fixing it. They searched through strands and strands of code to find the broken pieces. They’d originally considered your reconfiguration a special surprise, but now it was more of a nuisance. They’d managed to patch up the cracks littered throughout the systems, but the character ones became rather tricky. They’d gotten to the Principal before she completely broke, but it’d been hard. They did not want to alter your changes too much, but the game might crash if these remained unchecked.  

Dark blue and white, they flickered like dozens of fairy lights strung against a black backdrop. Usually, the strips of code were pure white and moved in single strands. These lines twisted together with your additions, which had turned blue. They saw how the two lines tried meshing into one solid piece in places, but some parts remained separate. These made the glitches. Ropes of them went through the principal’s makeup, causing several holes that they filled. She had not been the only character affected by the change. The problem started with background characters who’d been lagging through the school or frozen in place by the twinkling glitches. Now, they found them in the main rivals and other important characters. They briefly wondered how long it’d take them to get to Minho. 

Finding a piece of Chan’s data file, they saw the glitching piece in the middle of the code. It hurt them to even be near their old self like this, so close and personal. They wished with all their being to become one with themselves again. Having been locked in the classified folders, they’d lost touch with their body. They did not feel human anymore. Seeing Chan like this hurts them , even if it is an altered version. They admitted they’d avoided diving into the character systems, worried they’d run into their old code. But, seeing the breakages that needed to be removed, patched, and put back, it was unavoidable. They’d move to fix the broken piece and replace it with a new one…

But then they saw you. They didn’t see you outside in a third person perspective like the usual way. This time, they had a first-person view. They looked at the world through Chan’s eyes in this small slit. Gingerly, they poked the spot and it vibrated through the strand, causing a ripple effect to the rest of the codes. They did it several more times, and realized what was happening. This tear in the code was their escape. It was their real escape back into the world. When they plunged a bundle of pixels in for a final time, however, the split began to burn. They yelped in pain and moved away. 

Pain. 

They felt physical pain. They’d never felt anything before. They touched the glitch again simply to feel it. They continued going through the lines, seeing breaks in the fake Chan’s codes and touching them. Each spark made them feel more alive. They saw pieces of the world, their little game world, through his eyes. It’d been so long since they’d been Chan, they’d become a ‘They’, a ‘Thing’, a ‘Code’. They’d stopped being ‘Chan’ and became ‘Lovesick’. All because of Minho’s jealousy and violence.

With these broken pieces, they could be ‘Chan’ again. They could live again. Picking up a broken piece, they saw it was part of the model designs. Yes, this was the first step. 

And they’d take it. 

****

A/N: What the hell is going on in this place?? Glitches, bugs, and failures aren't going to help YN. Please reblog and like <3

[talesofafangirlwithadvr]

April 2021 Picks

And we’re back with the end to another month. April! Wow! Lots more great picks to talk about this time. Lots of new ones to the list too. So, let’s dive in!

Spoiler territory ahead!

THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER

or should I say Captain America and the Winter Soldier

I just finished the finale last night, so it felt right to start off with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. I really enjoyed it and I feel the episodes got stronger as the series went on. Each one felt like a mini-movie and I was upset it was over and had to wait another week for another one. I think the finale was my favorite. Especially the reveal of Sam as Captain America. I love his suit, his speech and the montage of everyone watching him. The last part of the episode was definitely my favorite and one I can watch on repeat. I loved seeing happy Bucky and him goofing off with the kids in Louisiana. He deserves so much happiness as he has now accepted he’s no longer who he once was. Bucky and Sam’s relationship is fantastic and I can’t wait to see it more. I know there’s a possibility of a second season and they have to be in a future MCU movie. Regarding the villain, I feel I was confused for most of the show as to what their objective was. I’m curious if this is because they had to reshoot parts during the pandemic. I also am mad with Sharon. Like what happened with her? She is definitely the true villain of the show. I also don’t love that we haven’t seen the end of Walker (but Wyatt Russell did a fantastic job). I also loved Torres and I hope he becomes the next Falcon. Definitely so different vibes from Wandavision, but just as good!

THE IRREGULARS

This is a show that more people need to be talking about! It was SO GOOD! I feel like I heard some buzz about it when it first came out, but not much after. It follows the teens featured about who live on the streets during Victorian London. The leader of their group, Bea gets approached by Dr. John Watson (that’s right...as in Sherlock and Watson) to take on a case that has more supernatural qualities. The story takes off from there. I think the group dynamic was fantastic. There wasn’t a character I didn’t like and each one brought something else important to the group (which they even bring up towards the end of the show). [I’ve watched a few cast interviews since finishing the finale and they seem like they get along really well in real life too.] There is a kind of love triangle, but it didn’t bother me and was over fast. I did like both combinations though. Lots of twists and turns along the journey. I have no idea if there will be another season, but there should be. It didn’t end on a major cliffhanger, but definitely ended in a way where it could continue nicely. Come on Netflix. 

HBO’S THE NEVERS

From one show set in Victorian times to the next. The Nevers just premiered on HBO and HBO Max earlier this month. It follows an ensemble of characters, similar to other HBO shows, ranging from characters who are called “the touched” to men in government who are against them. Being “touched” means they have a special talent or power, which can range from healing to speaking other languages, being extremely tall, or being an expectational inventor (I seriously love Penance. I just don’t know how to explain her ability). Amalia True and Penance Adair are two of the main characters and they help bring in others who are touched to a remodeled orphanage that is a safe haven for people like them. Of course there are those who are against them existing. This seems to be at least two groups as someone is abducting and experimenting on some of the touched, but we don’t know who they are...yet. I love the fusion of a historical setting with a fantasy element. I am very excited to see where the show is headed. I also love seeing so many of my favorite British actors on the screen together.      

ONCE UPON A TIME IN WONDERLAND

Time for a throw back. Fans of ABC’s Once Upon a Time might remember the short lived spin off following Alice in Wonderland (and some of Aladdin). It only lasted for one season of 13 episodes, but I remember loving it and I am so happy I can rewatch it on Disney Plus. It reminds me of why I enjoyed OUAT so much and I think this show deserved another season or more crossover with the original show. (Luckily the Knave got that opportunity.) I think it should have aired as a summer show or when OUAT was on hiatus, this way more fans would have tuned in. It is something I’ll believe forever. 

Anyway, I’ll stop ranting now... I love Alice. I think she’s a badass and a fierce warrior. If you follow some of my posts on my other blog, Lydia-yougowith-Stiles, you’ll know that I love a warrior romance and Cyrus and Alice fit that perfectly (even if they are apart for much of the series). I also love Alice’s hair and outfits. Everything about her is cool. Her relationship with the Knave is one of my favorite friendships ever. I think they balance each other out so well and how they spend most of the journey together. Back in the day, I totally shipped them, but now I definitely don’t. (Even though I don’t love Anastasia.) This is definitely worth the watch if you’ve ever heard of Once Upon a Time or not. There is very cheesy CGI especially for 2013, but once you get pass that you’ll love it. 

ZOEY’S EXTRAORDINARY PLAYLIST

It was on a longer break than I expected, and I didn’t miss it as much as I thought I would (which I know doesn’t sound good for a show), but I am still loving all the episodes this season. It feels like there are more musical numbers, which I love. Mandy Moore is killing it with the choreography. There are so many amazing moments. I also was a big fan of the newest glitch episode. Everyone is so talented and I also like that we’ve started to hear from more like Jenna and Tobin. Leif has become one of my favorites. I don’t love the new neighbor next door, but I think we’re done with his storyline. I’m not loving the Zoey love triangle, but I do like her with either Simon or Max. She seems really happy with Simon now. (FYI: I haven’t watched the most recent episode yet. The glitch one was my latest.) Can’t wait for more!    

KUNG FU

CW’s newest show this month was Kung Fu, which I just learned was a reboot. It follows Nicky who returns after 3 years to her home in San Francisco. Her family has mixed feelings as she has had no contact with them for the last 3 years. She is now a Kung Fu master and warrior, out to avenge her mentor’s death and stop a villain from acquiring mythical weapons. The show gives me Arrow vibes every time I watch it. It has similar flashbacks each episode to an earlier time in Nicky’s life. While Nicky’s mission is different, the style just gives me early seasons of Arrow vibes, which I am not complaining about. It stars Legacies’ Alyssa Chen, who I didn’t love on Legacies, but instantly fell in love with Nicky. I think she’s a bad ass character and love how she’s fighting for the underdogs on the streets of San Fran, while also taking down a bigger evil. The love triangle is heating up and I’m definitely team Henry (even though there’s some mystery there). I think he’s great and once again we have an awesome warrior romance. They balance each other so well and it’s only been like 3 episodes. Now they’ve also been sleuthing together and it’s just amazing. 

NANCY DREW

Are you sick of hearing me talk about CW’s Nancy Drew? I hope not because I’m going to fangirl again. I LOVE THIS SHOW SO MUCH! I can’t wait till Wednesday comes and I tune in a little after it starts, so then I can fast forward on my DVR. Then when the episode is over I basically start it all over again and watch select scenes that were awesome. (More specifically, they tend to be Nancy and Ace scenes because I love them and we’re entering so much angst I don’t know if my heart will be able to handle it!!!) 

I’ll say it a thousand times: THIS CAST IS EVERYTHING! Their dynamic is amazing. You can have any match ups and it’ll be a great time. There is not one person I don’t like. I was so upset that there wasn’t a new episode last week (especially because it was my birthday). I loved the last one with the Hardy Boys and that Nace reveal! OMG! I’m so sad that Grant has left again because we barely had him, but I feel he’ll eventually come back. He has to. I loved the ending when he spoke to Thom by signing to him. (My heart!) I seriously can’t say enough great things about this show. It is not your typical CW show and deserves more love and views. So happy a third season has already been confirmed!! 

LAST NOTES

Just started Shadow and Bone on Netflix and am loving it! I’m sure I’ll have an entire post dedicated to it when I’m done. (Currently going to start episode 6.) I have no background on the universe or the books (just what my sister is filling me in with as we watch). I definitely plan on reading Six of Crows after this!

So what are you enjoying? Let me know. I’m always looking for more shows to add to the list! Can never have enough. 

[rookie-ramsey]

Across the Universe, Chapter One

Description: All the medical training in the world couldn’t prepare Ethan for a terminal brain cancer diagnosis.

Warning: Major angst and eventual character death ahead.

Preview: “Ethan? What is it?”

Ethan didn’t meet her eyes. When he spoke, she had to lean closer to hear him. “Glioblastoma multiforme.”

The weight of his words almost took her breath away. Her chest tightened as she tried to convince herself she’d heard wrong. “That’s… that’s terminal…”

He was always the first one to wake up.

Ethan awoke before his alarm, to the early rays of sun bathing the room in soft golden light. He stifled a yawn and opened his eyes. His body curled around Olivia’s, his arm draped over the curve of her waist, the same way they’d fallen asleep.

A smile tugged at the corners of his lips. She’d been living in his apartment for over a month and each morning he still awoke in awe that he got to wake up with the woman he’d been longing for lying next to him.

Ever the heavy sleeper, she remained peacefully oblivious to his gaze fixated on her. Ethan pressed a soft kiss to the back of her head and quietly slipped out of bed. He made his way into the kitchen and turned on the coffee maker. As he started breakfast, he heard the alarm ringing in the bedroom.

A couple minutes later, Olivia shuffled into the kitchen, yawning and wearing Ethan’s shirt from the evening before.

“Morning,” she yawned. She hugged him from behind, squeezing his waist and pressing a kiss to the nape of his neck. “Something smells good. I assume it’s not pancakes.”

“Hilarious. I made eggs.”

“Not as good as pancakes, but it’ll do,” she teased, helping herself to a serving and taking a seat.

“I suppose it’ll have to. I don’t think pancakes will become a reality anytime soon.” Ethan reached into the cabinet and found the bottle of aspirin.

Olivia frowned when he swallowed a dose with a sip of water. “Is your head bothering you?”

“A little bit, but it’s not serious.”

Unconvinced, she watched him closely. “You wouldn’t be taking anything for it if you weren’t really uncomfortable. That’s the second headache you’ve had this week. They’ve both happened early in the morning, too.”

Ethan leaned down and kissed her. “Don’t worry about it.”

“If I were the one having headaches out of nowhere, you’d be nagging me.”

“That’s… not inaccurate,” Ethan admitted.

Olivia rolled her eyes, but dropped the argument. After breakfast, they dressed and left for work. Hand in hand, they walked into the hospital, crossing the atrium and making their way upstairs.

Ethan fought to suppress a groan when they found Bloom already waiting for them. “How can we help you?”

“I just thought I’d drop in to see how the case is going.”

“As expected. The latest test results ruled out several possible causes. We have another set of tests to run today,” Ethan explained as Baz and Tobias joined them.

“Ah. And is there a chance those can be expedited? Our patient’s willing to pay for faster results.”

Annoyed, Ethan pinched the bridge of his nose. “The tests take a few hours. We’re not going to sacrifice quality to save a few minutes.”

“I see. I hope this team keeps solving cases the way you have been, because we have plenty of interest!”

“Fantastic. If you don’t mind, we have work to do,” Ethan dismissed. “Now that we’ve already been sufficiently bothered, let’s discuss the next steps,” he instructed when Bloom left the office.

XXXXXX

At the end of the day, Olivia clocked out and found Ethan in his office. He had his attention buried in their patient’s test results and didn’t seem to notice her entrance.

“Ready to go?”

Ethan looked up from the patient file on his desk. Nodding, he set it aside. “Yes. I’m on the verge of going cross-eyed from paperwork.”

“Sounds like you need a distraction.”

“Are you volunteering?”

“Maybe.” She grinned and winked, earning a low chuckle in response. “Let’s get out of here.”

As Ethan stood up and reached for his jacket, he felt the dull ache from earlier returning to his temples. He winced involuntarily.

The motion didn’t go unnoticed. Olivia frowned. “Another headache?”

Ethan shrugged. “It’s from stress. I can’t help but notice they seem to strike when Bloom meddles in our work.”

She gave him a sharp look.  “It worries me. I think you need to have it checked out.”

Ethan shook his head as he slipped into his jacket. “I’m fine. Don’t worry.”

“Aren’t you the one who always says not to ignore any symptoms, because they could be part of a bigger picture?” Olivia countered, gently poking her finger into his chest.

At her adamance, Ethan smiled wistfully. “I should have known you would learn to use my own advice against me.”

“Yes, you should have. And you should get some scans. Even if the scans are completely normal, it helps us figure out what is or isn’t causing your headaches.”

Ethan arched a brow, mildly amused at the sincerity of her voice. “You sound remarkably like me.”

She smiled softly, but the determination didn’t leave her eyes. “We have state of the art MRI machines. Let me do one for you. Even if it shows up completely normal, it wouldn’t be a waste of time since we’d be able to rule out some causes.”

“I think I’ve created a monster.”

Olivia tried not to laugh. “Yes, you have. But you know I’m right."

There was no sign of her giving up, so Ethan sighed in defeat and nodded. “Fine.”

Satisfied, Olivia leaned up and pressed a kiss to his lips. Ethan leaned into it, deepening it for just a moment before she pulled back and flashed a teasing smile that made his heart skip.

“Let’s do your MRI now while nobody’s using the labs. Nobody would ever know. It would be our not so dirty little secret.”

Ethan rolled his eyes but followed her in the direction of the MRI labs. “Now’s as good a time as any. Might as well get it out of the way.” He followed her down the hallway and to the MRI room, empty this time of evening.

When they stepped into the lab, Olivia closed the door. “You know what to do. Take off anything with buttons or zippers, so… strip.”

Ethan stripped down to his underwear. He sat down on the MRI table and leaned back. Olivia took a seat in the observation room and turned on one of the computer monitors. Then she pressed the button to start the scans.

Seconds later, the machine started. Ethan held still as the machine whirred with noise. “Anything?”

“The image is just starting. And… there. Nice and clear. I’ll take a look and-“ When a spot of light caught her eye, Olivia froze. She leaned closer and felt her heart quicken when she saw an illuminated shape on the scan.

Her silence spoke louder than words. Ethan frowned. “What is it?”

Olivia bit her lip, a hard lump forming in her throat. “There’s… there’s a tumor. Near the back of your frontal lobe. It’s close to the base of your skull.”

Ethan fell quiet as he took in her words. He barely contained a sharp breath. “Print the scans. I want to see them.”

Olivia processed the prints and ended the MRI. Once Ethan slipped back into his clothes, she handed him the films. She met his eyes for a brief moment, but he diverted his glance before she could get a read on him.

Ethan pinned the scans to the backlight and stared at them. Sure enough, a spot illuminated. “The shape isn’t particularly distinctive.”

“You’ll need a biopsy to determine what type it is.” Olivia gingerly rested her hand on his arm and hesitated before she spoke. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking I’ll schedule a biopsy and work on determining if it’s operable.”

“That’s not what I meant…”

Ethan hesitated, not taking his eyes off of the MRI films. “I know. But there’s no point in getting worked up until we have a definite answer.”

She tried to take reassurance in his words. Letting out a long breath, she focused on everything she’d learned since med school. “There’s a seventy to ninety percent chance it’s benign. Let’s get your biopsy scheduled right away so we don’t waste time.”

“Right.” Ethan nodded tightly. “I’ll find somewhere else to have it done. I don’t want the entire hospital knowing until I know exactly what’s going on.”

“Okay... “ Olivia slipped her hand into his and squeezed. After a moment, he responded, curling his fingers around her hand. She rubbed the back of his hand with her thumb and looked up, her eyes locking with his. His gaze remained almost unreadable, but she could just barely detect the worry he tried to mask.

Ethan cleared his throat and removed the films from the illuminator. He slipped them into an envelope and tucked it under his arm. “I’ll make some calls in the morning.”

“Alright.” Taking his hand again, Olivia urged him out of the room. Silence fell between them as they left the hospital. Neither of them spoke until they were settled in Ethan’s car and he pulled out of the parking lot. “Are you okay?”

Ethan nodded. “Like you said, there’s a seventy to ninety percent chance that it’s operable and benign.”

Whether he was trying to convince her or himself, he didn’t know.

XXXXXX

True to his word, Ethan made some calls and arranged for a biopsy two days later. He didn’t want to get people worked up too soon, so he ruled out Edenbrook and Kenmore and scheduled the procedure at Mass General.

He took days off so rarely that he knew Naveen suspected something when he filed for a day off on Friday, but the older man didn’t push him for information.

The procedure went simply enough, the only evidence of it being the small spot on his scalp that had been shaved and sutured. Once he combed his hair over the spot, it was unnoticeable. Nobody questioned his absence and Ethan planned to keep it that way.

Four days after the biopsy, Mass General called him to retrieve his results. Ethan picked them up on his lunch break. He couldn’t bring himself to open the envelope right away. It was ridiculous, he knew, but he didn’t open the envelope until he got back to his office.

Ethan’s hand hesitated over the envelope seal. He groaned and chided himself. Waiting and worrying wouldn’t change a thing, so he sent Olivia a text before he tore open the envelope and read the paper inside.

Reacting to the message the second her phone chimed, Olivia rushed to his office. She closed the door behind her. Immediately something felt off and the color drained from her face when she took in Ethan’s absent expression.

“Ethan? What is it?”

Ethan didn’t meet her eyes. When he spoke, she had to lean closer to hear him. “Glioblastoma multiforme.”

The weight of his words almost took her breath away. Her chest tightened as she tried to convince herself she’d heard wrong. “That’s… that’s terminal…”

Time slowed to a crawl. Neither of them spoke or moved. Olivia’s head spun as she rushed to him and hugged him tight. At first, Ethan didn’t respond.  After several moments, the tension slowly eased from his body and he leaned into her.

“What else do you know?” she whispered. “Maybe it’s early enough that they can get it removed.”

Ethan shook his head almost imperceptibly. “It’s inoperable. Since it’s grown into the brain tissue, complete removal would never be possible. The only option would be a partial removal and treatments that might shrink what’s left.”

The words left his mouth just as he would have recited them to a patient. But they felt peculiar, as if they carried no meaning. Maybe some part of him didn’t think this was real, or maybe he needed time to process, he didn’t know for sure.

“Oh god…” Olivia let out a shaky sigh and took a deep breath. Determination set into her eyes. She tightened her arms around him. “We’ll get you a second opinion. You never know.”

“Anybody else is going to say the same thing.”

“You don’t know,” Olivia repeated. We can ask Harper. She knows this better than anyone in the country. Maybe she’ll know of something else you can do.”

Ethan shook his head. “No. I don’t want to tell anyone else yet.”

“Ethan…”

“I mean it,” he insisted. “Until I know what the next step is, I want this to stay between us.” Uncertainty crept into his eyes, but it vanished as soon as it began. He cupped Olivia’s cheek in his hand and urged her closer, stealing a soft kiss. Ethan leaned into it, taking some comfort in the tenderness of it.

“I won’t tell anyone,” Olivia surrendered reluctantly. She gave him one more kiss as he stood up. Before he could leave the room, she touched his hand. “Promise me something.”

“What’s that?”

“You won’t shut me out. I… I know you need time to think about this. It’s… I can’t wrap my mind around it yet, so I can’t even imagine what it’s like for you. Just promise me you’ll talk to me when you’re ready.”

His features softened a little and he nodded. “I promise.”

“Thank you.” Olivia waited until he left the room. Then she found the extra set of scans she’d kept, the ones she’d removed his name from. Anxiety gripped her heart as she tucked the envelope under her arm and made her way to Harper’s office.

 Next Chapter

Note: This is a re-write of my series (under the same title) that I originally wrote in 2019 and never finished. I’m deleting the original one. I have my reasons for putting Tobias on the team and keeping Harper in her original job. Stay tuned!

Tags, part 1

@princess-geek / @lapisreviewsstuff / @silverlitskies​ / @paulfwesley​ / @dr-brianna-casey-valentine​ / @junehiratas​ / @choicesstanblog​ / @trappedinfandoms​ / @justanotherrookie​ / @bellcat2010​ / @desmaranj​ / @lion-ess24​ / @nooruleman​ / @caseyvalentineramsey​ / @xee-na​ / @edith-eggs1​ / @oofchoices​ / @schnitzelbutterfingers​ / @tefigranger​ / @jlynn12273​ / @laceandlula​ / @crazy-loca-blog​ / @somegdchoices​ / @briefdreamlanddream​ / @forthebrokenheartedthings​ / @lilyvalentine​ / @parkerattano​ / @drramseysownsme​ / @misswhit12​ / @drethanfreakingramsey​ / @juneiswriting​ / @macy-ray85​ / @swimmingauthordreamerbonk​ / @myusualnerdyself​ / @siaramsey​ / @takemyopenheart​ / @queencarb​ 

[sleepless-stories]

A Shot In The Storm

Summary: A world where People are given scores rating the strength of their powers. There are myths of assassins who kill and target people who have no powers or have a large amount of power and who they deem too powerful. Logan and Virgil were in a happy relationship. Then Logan goes to get tested and it results in a score higher than anyone would've thought. This score leading to Logan's demise. Following Logan's death, caught up in grief Virgil begins to hunt those he believes to be responsible, and starts to kill them. 

Ships: Analogical

Warnings: Major Character Death, Killing/Murder, Kidnapping, Blood/Gore, Violence, Weapons (Knives, Guns), Torture, Threats, Governmental Conspiracy, Angst (Little to no comfort), Panic Attacks, Oxygen Deprivation, Grief/Mourning

As a Part of the @sandersidesbigbang Art for fic by @lickoutyourbrains  (Here) Beta Read by @5-falsehoods-phonated

Read On Ao3

__________________________

Virgil walked through the city, hood over his head as he walked. Passing the signs and billboards, advertising to get your power test rating, as he walked down the sidewalk. 

Go get tested today! Get your results Find your strength 

The tests were required by the state to be taken every year. If you were recorded not taking a test in a single year, you’d be brought to one by the city’s security, maybe even put in jail for a few hours. 

Every year Virgil had taken the test he just constantly scored in the low 20s, which wasn’t bad. Nobody ever scored over 40 afterall. Even with the score ratings going up to 150, not a single person scored that high ever, it was practically impossible. It wasn’t known why or how nobody scored that anywhere near 150, maybe powers declined in strength over the years. Some said that those who scored high had too much power, that they burned out, dying from all that power, or even went mad with power and tried to attack people and the city. Then those few rumored people who did end up scoring high, disappeared. They didn’t really exist. There were rumors… theories, that they did exist, and were taken out. That the city had contracted assassins to eliminate those who scored high, they were deemed too powerful, too dangerous to exist. Nobody really ever confirmed anything, they couldn’t… everything was rumored or conspiracies. 

Virgil shook his head, ignoring the billboards, and  pulled his hood more over his face, crossing his arms as cold breezes passed by him. The air felt heavy, humid, like it was going to rain in the next coming days, or hours, the darkened clouds just confirmed that.

Virgil walked through the crowds going to his boyfriend's apartment. He walked into the building getting into an empty elevator. Virgil looked at the button panel and pressed to go to the 5th floor. He stood silently as the elevator slowly took him up, making a humming noise as it ascended floors. Gladly the elevator went up, not stopping on any other floors. It dinged as it got to the floor, the doors slowly sliding open. 

Virgil sighed relieved, running a hand through his hair as he walked out then down the grey hallway lined with apartment doors. Virgil finally got to Logan’s apartment door, lightly knocking at it waiting for an answer. 

Logan opened the door in surprise, “Good morning, what are you doing here?”

“Just wanted to stop by, say hello… You don’t have work today, do you?” Virgil asked, he didn’t think Logan did… but he didn’t want to interrupt him and be in the way. 

Logan shook his head, stepping out of the way, “No, today is my day off. I’m just surprised at seeing you. I didn’t expect you to be coming.” 

“Sorry, I should’ve texted.” Virgil sighed walking in. 

Logan shook his head, shutting the door softly, “No need, you do have a key. You’re welcome over whenever you please.” 

Virgil smiled and stepped closer pulling Logan into a hug. 

Logan wrapped his arms around him hugging back. “It’s quite good to see you, though a nice surprise too.” 

Virgil laughed softly, pulling away, “So what were you doing today?”

“Ah, I was going to get a test in a few hours, got a letter in the mail summoning me to go.”

Virgil rolled his eyes, “I hate testing. Takes forever.”

“Yeah, I know how you feel,” Logan laughed. 

Virgil walked through the apartment towards the balcony and went out onto it. 

Logan followed him out and leaned on the railing. 

“When is it going to rain?” Virgil asked, looking into Logan’s stormy blue eyes. 

“Today, Evening maybe… tomorrow too,” Logan said softly, looking up at the sky. 

Virgil nodded, “Anything else to report, Mr Weatherman?”

Logan laughed, shaking his head, “Hmm, there will be clear skies. The rain storm might have thunder and lightning but it’ll pass quickly. After that there will be cloudless clear skies.” Logan smiled looking up at the clouds as he talked, “Bring an umbrella… though I know you already do that. Prepare for a heavy but short lived storm. After the storm there might be a rainbow. But everything will be bright and clear… the perfect weather.” Logan sighed and looked at Virgil. 

Virgil stood there smiling, staring at Logan, just amazed. “Thanks, I’ll make sure to remember that.” 

“You better, or else you might go out and for once not bring an umbrella.”

Virgil laughed, shaking his head, “if I forget an umbrella I’ll just think of a more creative way to stay dry.” He raised his hand up a bit, making a dome of air around them. He dropped it after a moment and just watched Logan. 

“Yeah… but just remember, umbrella.” Logan shrugged, pushing himself off the railing, walking back indoors. Logan walked into the kitchen with Virgil following behind him, “Tea?”

Virgil nodded softly, “Yes, thank you.”

Logan nodded and grabbed the kettle, he had one hand under it and the other resting on the side as he turned on the sink, carefully Logan took the hand off the side of the kettle manipulating the water to go into it. He started heating the bottom of the kettle as he grabbed mugs and tea bags, setting everything up as he waited for the tea to be done. 

Virgil sat down on the kitchen island as he watched Logan make the tea, “You’re just showing off,” he teased. 

Logan looked up, shaking head, “Yeah whatever, this is the quickest way though.”

Virgil shrugged softly, “Whatever you say.”

Logan laughed and looked at the kettle when it started whistling. He carefully put it down on the stovetop, so as to not burn any surfaces. He picked it up by the handle lightly pouring water into each mug then adding a teabag. “Want any sugar or anything?”

“Nah, I’ll just have it black… as always.” Virgil shrugged, getting the counters before going over to take his mug. 

Logan picked up his own mug smiling softly. “Alright,” he nodded. 

Virgil flicked his wrist, having a bit of air blow on the hot liquid cooling it off a bit. He smirked when it was a bit cooler, the steam no longer coming off of the top of the liquid. Virgil sipped it, leaning back against the counters. 

Logan stood leaning against the opposite counter staring at Virgil for a few moments just grinning with his own mug in his hands. 

Virgil glanced up, looking at Logan, “What’s up?”

“You’re just… Breathtaking.” Logan said and laughed.

Virgil blushed brightly looking at his tea. 

Logan looked at the time and sipped his tea. “I should get ready and go. Better to get the test sooner rather than have to go out and do it later on...” 

Virgil nodded, “I’d rather you not forget about it all together. It’d be better if you went now… I’ll just hang out around here while you’re out.``

“Oh are you?”

“Yes, I am…”

“And what will you be doing while I’m out?”

“...cleaning,” Virgil mumbled, though the whole apartment was absolutely spotless. 

“Mhmmm yes, cleaning. Well, you have fun ‘cleaning’ my apartment.” Logan laughed softly putting down his half full mug. 

Virgil put down his own, stepping forward hugging Logan. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Yeah, I’ll be back in an hour.” Logan nodded, grabbing his wallet, phone, and jacket. “Lock the door.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll lock it the moment you step out the door,” Virgil said as he picked up Logan’s mug, placing it in the microwave to preserve some of the heat of the tea. 

“Thank you.” 

“You’re welcome.” 

Logan walked over giving him a quick hug. 

Virgil kissed his cheek before pulling away. “Now go,” Virgil told him, laughing.

Logan rolled his eyes, “Yeah, yeah. It’s not like I’m always on time for everything.” Logan nodded, going to the door. 

“I’ll see you later.”

Logan waved before walking out the door. 

Virgil walked over, locking it behind Logan before looking around. He picked up some things, not doing much cleaning. Instead he decided to start making lunch for when Logan got back. 

__________

It had been over an hour now, Virgil sat on Logan’s couch, watching some tv while the lunch was in the oven. He jumped slightly when he heard knocks at the front door. Virgil walked over and checked through the little hole in the top of the door, smiling when seeing it was Logan. “Hey! You’re ba-” he paused when Logan stared at him with an expression one could only describe as horror. “Lo?”

Logan avoided looking at Virgil and walked inside, he sent a gust of air at the door slamming it shut, ripping the handle from Virgil’s hands. “I…”

Virgil winched when the door slammed but just locked it before turning to Logan and pulling him into a hug, “L… what’s wrong? How was the test?”

Logan shook his head softly, “one seventy.” he mumbled. 

Virgil looked at Logan confused, “What? What are you talking about?”

“My… my score… It's one seventy.” He said, looking at Virgil fully, and… afraid. 

“You got a hundred seventy? How… How is that even possible? The highest you could get is a hundred fif-”

“Two hundred… the highest score is… two hundred.” Logan replied. 

“How? But… you only scored a thirty seven last year… no. no. This isn’t possible. They said your score was wrong. Maybe you just got a seventy one.”

Logan shook his head as he pulled out a paper from his pocket with his test evaluation. On the paper in big red ink was written one seven zero.

Virgil took the paper shaking his head as he looked at it. “This doesn’t make sense… no. How? You should be tearing yourself apart right now from that much power.”

“I’m not sure… it doesn’t make sense, but I feel fine.” Logan told him, looking scared. 

Virgil took a deep breath, hugging him tight. “You’ll be alright.”

“But what about the as-”

“They’re just conspiracy theories… just theories. Nothing to be worried about.” Virgil pulled Logan to the couch and sat him down. He went to the kitchen, heating up the remaining tea before going back over to Logan and handing him the mug. “Just relax. Everything is going to be alright. Maybe their computers were malfunctioning, and they’re just going to call you back tomorrow to redo the test.”

“Virgil… This is my score, they don’t make mistakes.” Logan told him, his voice unwavering as he spoke. He sipped the tea looking down. 

Virgil shook his head holding his boyfriend. “Well it doesn’t matter, you’re safe.” he told him, taking a deep breath. 

Logan nodded, “Yeah, it’s ok. It’s just a score, it’s not bad. It’s high but not bad at all.`` Logan nodded. 

Both Logan and Virgil froze when there was a knock at the door. 

Virgil carefully got up walking to the door, he grabbed a large vase on his way to the door. 

There was silence. 

Virgil slowly opened the door, nobody was there, all that remained was a small card. Virgil kneeled down picking it up. He took a deep breath seeing the words. 

24 hours, your time is up

Virgil glanced back at Logan. 

“Virgil? What is it?” Logan asked softly, walking over to Virgil. 

“Um… Logan… everything isn’t going to be ok,” He whispered looking at Logan handing him the card as he stood. 

Logan glanced over the card, panic rising in his chest. “I….”

Virgil stared at him and stepped closer. 

Logan took a step back, “No! Wait… Virgil, go.”

“Lo, I can’t just leave you.”

“I said go!”

Virgil took a deep breath, “Logan, maybe it’s some prank.”

“Virgil, I have some time to get everything in order, maybe a chance to run. Go now.” Logan glared, “Or I’ll make you go, I can’t have you getting hurt at all.”

Virgil nodded, walking backwards to the door, “I’ll come back for you in a few hours,” Virgil told him as he stood in the doorway. 

Logan didn’t respond as he flicked his wrist slamming the door shut. 

Virgil took a step back quickly as the door came flying shut. He stood there staring at the closed door for several minutes before walking away down the halls and to the elevator, reluctantly heading home.

__________________

Virgil grabbed an umbrella before running back to Logan’s a few hours later. He arrived at Logan’s apartment quickly, using his key to open the door. 

Logan stood inside tossing things in a bag, his apartment a mess. 

Virgil shut the door, putting his umbrella down, “Lo?”

Logan turned around quickly, “Oh… you’re back. Um… I’m leaving.”

Virgil ran over and hugged him, “You’re running away?”

“I wouldn’t say it like that, but yeah.” Logan nodded, hugging back. “I love you.”

“I love you too… But you’re not going alone.” Virgil glared, stepping back. 

Logan nodded, taking a deep breath, “Fine… You could come with me, as far as seeing me off.”

Virgil nodded softly and hugged himself looking down, “Thank you…” 

Logan kissed his forehead before grabbing his bag and an umbrella, walking to the door. 

Virgil looked up and followed behind him, grabbing his umbrella before following him out of the apartment. 

They took the elevator down to the ground floor in silence, the air somber and heavy around them. Neither saying anything to one another. 

Virgil paused at the threshold of the building, the exit to outside. “It’s raining.” He mumbled looking out the glass then looking back at Logan. 

Logan nodded, “As predicted…” 

Virgil took Logan's hand as they walked out of the building, he opened the umbrella as they stepped out so they wouldn’t be soaked. 

Logan held his own umbrella over his head as he led Virgil towards the park, walking down the path of the park towards the other entrance. 

Virgil’s pace slowed as they walked closer to the other side of the park, his hand tightening in Logan’s. 

Logan looked down softly at Virgil and nodded, “It’ll be alright. I promise, my dark star.”

Virgil just nodded silently looking down towards the ground.

Logan slowed, stopping when they got to the park’s second entrance, their exit. 

Virgil looked up at Logan, staying by the park’s archway entrance. He stood holding the umbrella.

Logan smiled, waving before walking towards the street.

Virgil watched reluctantly as Logan crossed the street, watching him walk away through the rain. He stood there watching his boyfriend just leave... 

“Logan! Wait!” Virgil yelled, dropping his umbrella, running to Logan. 

Logan turned when he heard Virgil yell. He put an arm around him when Virgil practically collided with him.

“Please, don’t go.” Virgil whispered, wrapping his arms around Logan.

Logan shook his head holding his umbrella over them both, “I’ll be safe.” He replied softly.

Virgil nodded then leaned up, kissing him.

Logan held Virgil closer as he kissed back. 

Suddenly there was a bang. Virgil couldn’t react fast enough, he didn’t even realize what had happened before he pulled away from Logan, seeing pain in his eyes. Virgil ran one of his hands across Logan’s back and looked at it. His hand was stained red by blood. 

Logan stared at Virgil, his eyes tearing up as he mouthed that he was sorry. The umbrella he had been holding fell to the ground as he collapsed.

Virgil made sure to catch Logan before the other fell to the ground, practically lifeless. “Logan, no… please, you… you can’t die.” He pleaded, “Logan just keep breathing. Don’t you dare leave me.” 

Logan shook his head softly, “they’re real… I should’ve listened to you… all your conspiracy theories.” He whispered weakly.

Virgil shook his head, “stop that! This isn’t a fucking ‘I told you so’ moment!” He pulled out his phone, hands shaking as he called emergency services.

Logan looked up at the sky, rain falling on his face as he looked at the dark clouds. “I’m sorry.”

Virgil shook his head wiping away tears, “you’re not dying, not now.” He replied. He took one of Logan’s hands, squeezing it, “stay with me.” Virgil sighed softly when the dispatcher answered. Virgil quickly told them what was happening, only half making sense in his panic. Though he already knew it was too late, they wouldn’t arrive in time… professionals don’t miss, and Logan was dying.

Virgil finished his call and dropped his phone just holding Logan’s hands on his own. “I love you,” Virgil whispered as he squeezed Logan's hands.

Logan smiled weakly, “I love you too… but this won’t be the end…” He whispered. Tears slipped down his face, disguised by the rain pouring down on them. He knew he was bleeding out quickly, it was the end… a slow, painful demise. 

Virgil held Logan’s hands tight. He leaned down resting his forehead on Logan’s chest just listening to his heart, to the slowing beats. 

It was too late by the time the ambulance arrived, Logan died. The pavement stained with his blood as Virgil kneeled beside him refusing to go.

________________

He looked at his phone smiling, target acquired, scored 170. He packed his things quickly, grabbing his bag. He put his gear on, and slipped on his hood over the mask before picking up the bag. He got on his motorcycle to the location of the target. 

“Target on the move.” came over his communicator. 

He glanced at the GPS directing to the location of the target’s home, seeing the park right near it. He knew where the target would go, and would try escaping to. He drove quickly, stopping outside the park’s south entrance before driving around the back of one of the buildings. He grabbed his bag looking at the building’s back entrance. 

He went in starting to climb the stairs, getting to higher ground. He reached the 5th level of the building, walking down the hall. He paused at one door, breaking it in, and walked to the first window he saw once inside. “Perfect.” He whispered. 

He put his bag down pushing open the window before opening his bag. Inside was a large, dark red silenced sniper rifle with a small gold sword decal on the side. He simply took out the gun, setting it up, then pointing it out the window towards the park. 

Then… he waited. 

“Target spotted.” he said into his communicator after a few moments. 

He took aim, whistling quietly causing soundwaves to move in the direction of the target. He kept whistling as he fired. Watching the target and a civilian kissing before the target was on the ground. Hit dead in the back. 

He smirked, packing up the gun as he watched the civilian morn. Though the target was dangerous, if not now they would have been in the future. The target was too powerful, if they ever had a breakdown they probably could take out the city. He was just protecting it. 

“Base to Prince, Report.” a voice came from the communicator. 

“Target down, waiting for confirmation of death.” 

“Stay at location till confirmation, EMS on the way.”

“Copy,” Prince replied, finishing putting away the weapon and just sat back against the wall listening to the rain fall outside the window.

Sirens blared down the road after minutes, driving closer before stopping. Paramedics got out checking on the target. They spoke before picking up the target onto a gurney, they placed a blanket over the body covering the face putting the target into the truck as one paramedic tried to help the civilian out of shock. 

“Target cold.” a voice came through. 

Prince smiled, “I’ll make the report.”

The red and blue lights continued flashing outside reflecting off the wet pavement as Prince left the room and exited the building through the back, returning to base. 

__________ 

Virgil stayed seated by the pool of blood, long since soaked into the pavement. The body and paramedics, gone. He just sat there in sickening silence, covered in Logan’s blood. 

A car drove up beside him and stopped. Someone got out walking over to him slowly before dropping to kneel next to him.

“Virgil, the hospital called me… I heard what happened.” A voice said softly.

Virgil took a deep breath before looking at the other, a man with half his face covered in green snake scales, brown hair, an amber and yellow snake eye wearing head to toe black. Rage and mournful sorrow in his eyes. “He was shot…” he growled.

The man, Janus nodded and opened his arms to offer a hug.

Virgil simply shook his head pushing himself up to stand. “He was murdered… Everyone thinks it’s just a conspiracy, that these assassins don’t exist, but they do! They really do!” He yelled out into the empty night air. Taking a breath he shook his head, “I can’t let them take Lo from me that easily.”

Janus smirked slightly, standing. “Well I’m here to assist you as needed, I’m quite good at acquiring information. Plus, I could offer you a ride,” He told him as he took off his cloak, putting it over the rain soaked Virgil.

Virgil nodded, “Thank you.”

“But you’re not going hunting tonight, Spider, you’re going to rest and mourn.” Janus stepped forward pulling the other into a hug. 

Virgil hugged back starting to cry again. He was led into the passenger seat and buckled up. 

Everything was a blur, getting home to Janus’ house, going to bed in the guest room, waking up. 

Virgil was just now sitting at the kitchen table, feeling out of reality. The sun up and the clock reading 7:30AM. 

Janus walked over, putting cereal in front of Virgil, “Here, eat.”

Virgil nodded and took a deep breath and started to eat. “I… how am I going to hunt a myth?”

Janus smirked sitting across from Virgil, “I know someone, he’s a bit… out of it. But you might be able to get some information from him. He’s all about all those conspiracies and myths, just nobody believes him.”

Virgil nodded softly, “alright, where could I meet him?”

“Hmm well there are two potential places you could find him.” 

“And are you going to tell me then?”

“Well you’re not going to like it.”

“Janus, I don’t like anything right now…. My boyfriend literally got killed last night in my arms last night! I don’t really care much where I have to go.”

“Dark market, or The Underground.”

“Hmm so an illegal black market, or an underground nightclub of criminals.”

“Exactly, that’s why I was saying you wouldn’t like it-“

“I’ll go… could you bring me home though for right now? I need to get changed.”

“Fine… though I didn’t even expect you to agree. Do you want me to come with you? Or would you rather go alone?”

“I’ll go in alone, just tell me how to find him, and give me a ride.”

Janus nodded, “first, eat.” 

Virgil ate before Janus took him to the car and let him bring him home. 

Virgil got out of the car at his apartment and went inside. He went to his apartment quickly getting changed into a black leather jacket and dark jeans with combat boots that had purple laces. He hid his grey half heart necklace that he had shared with Logan, under his shirt before looking in the mirror staring at himself. He hoped this was good enough. He looked around and paused when he saw across the room on his chair was one of Logan's ties. 

Virgil held on to his chest as he went over picking up the tie, carefully tying it to one of his belt loops on his pants before heading to the door. 

Janus had gotten bored of sitting in the car, just waiting, and waiting… well it wasn't that long he probably waited like 3 minutes before he grew bored. Janus walked into the building and went to Virgil’s apartment. He got to the door grabbing for the handle, it seems someone forgot to lock the door behind himself. He shook his head sighing before walking inside.

Virgil jumped a bit when he saw Janus standing there in the doorway, “Hey.”

“Hmm hello, you look great. Though you’re missing something.”

“What? What am I missing?” Virgil asked, confused. 

 Janus guided him back into the bedroom and into the bathroom, pushing the grieving emo to sit on the toilet seat. “Makeup, we’re concealing your identity after all.”

“Why does my-”

“So nobody knows who you are, everyone conceals theirs. It’s so nobody will recognize you if they know you. Nobody who goes to The Dark Market or The Underground ever means good, and it's especially not good to be recognized.”

“Then I’ll wear a mask.” Virgil rolled his eyes. 

“Fine you can, with makeup too, and I have an idea.” Janus smiled, grabbing out Virgil’s makeup. He smiled looking at everything in the box. He pulled out a pair of bright violet contact lenses and gave them to Virgil, “Put them in.”

“Fine.” Virgil nodded, taking them. He stood up looking in the mirror as he put the contacts in. 

Janus pushed Virgil to sit down as soon as the contacts were in. He started adding some eyeshadow below Virgil’s eyes and some slightly above. After he took some eyeliner and made drips down from his eyes, like tear streaks. 

“Are you almost done?” Virgil asked impatiently. 

“Just shush. Just a few more things to add.” Janus smiled, taking some neon purple eyeliner and drawing some spiderwebs on Virgil’s face, “All done. You’re a new person.” 

“Yeah sure I am.” Virgil rolled his eyes, getting up. He looked in the mirror smiling, “Looks good, you didn’t do bad. So how do I find this guy?” He asked, finding a black mask and putting it over the lower half of his face.

Janus put away all the makeup before guiding Virgil out and back out to the car, “Well I’ll explain in the car, how does that sound.”

“Fine, as long as you think he could help me.”

“Well… help is questionable, he could just push you in the right direction.” 

Virgil nodded softly, “Alright.”

Janus got outside to the car and got in.

Virgil got in after looking over at him, “So… talk to me.”

Janus pulled out a box and handed it to him, “Well put this earpiece in, so I could talk to you as you're in there.”

“Alright, fine.” Virgil nodded, taking it out putting it in his ear. 

“But basically, I think our first destination should be The Dark Market, he's most likely to be there. He only visits The Underground at night, but that is never certain. If you’re lucky he’ll approach you… but that would also mean you could be in trouble. Just be smart, Spider.”

Virgil nodded, taking a deep breath. “Alright, but you’ll be right here, waiting in the car?”

“Yeah, of course. Now he looks a bit crazy, but I promise he's.. Relatively safe. He has rainbow hair, a choker with an octopus, and his eyes are lime green.”

“Alright, thanks for the description.” Virgil nodded. 

Janus nodded and parked, “Be safe, Spider.” he said and pulled out a knife, handing it to Virgil with the handle facing him. 

Virgil took it, putting it in his pocket before getting out of the car and walking inside. He walked into the dark building and descended the stairs. 

At the base of the stairs there was a large door and a man standing at it, “Business?”

“I’m searching for someone, someone crazy.” 

The man nodded, opening the door letting Virgil in, the door shutting behind him. 

Virgil glanced at the door before he looked around. He was surprised there were actually many people down here, there were booths and tables selling things, people walking around. Small rooms off to the side for some businesses. 

He took a deep breath and started walking through the crowds, the blacklights lighting up him and all around him. 

“Alright you inside?” Janus’ voice came from the earpiece. 

“Yes, I am. Where could I find him?”

“Left side walk down the aisle till you see a room with flags of octopuses and one that looks like blood splatter, above the door will be some green light.” 

“Alright.” Virgil followed the directions walking around. He saw the door and paused before walking up to it. He grabbed the handle but before he could open the door it opened for him. 

“Hello! Do you require my services?” A guy asked, grinning widely.

The guy looked exactly how Janus had described him, messy dyed rainbow hair, lime green eyes, an octopus choker; he looked a bit more normal than he would’ve believed if he hadn’t seen him. 

“Yes, a Serpent sent me, said you could... Assist me,” Virgil said, taking a step forward. 

The guy stepped out of the way nodding, “I’m Kraken, and you are?” he held out a hand to shake Virgil’s.

“Spider.” He greeted, shaking his hand. 

Kraken smiled, shutting the door behind Virgil then sitting down on a chair across the room, “So what do you require? Most don’t normally come to me for help, everyone sees me as some insane conspiracy theorist.”

“Well I believe your conspiracy to be true, after a myth killed my boyfriend.” Virgil replied taking a seat, he avoided eye contact with Remus, just looking around the room. 

The walls were littered with newspapers and images, with some sticky notes. There was a desk and a soft rug, the room actually seemed quite comfortable. The overhead lights were dim, some unlit candles sat in holders on the walls, and some rainbow LED lights lined the base of the wall. 

Remus raised an eyebrow in interest. “A myth killed your boyfriend? How’s that? Tell me everything!” Remus told him like this was some new gossip. He grabbed his notebook and a pen quickly to get ready to write everything down, he was intrigued. Nobody had ever come to him with information for his cause, to prove all the legends of the assassins and myths were real. So he was going to write down everything. 

Virgil told him everything, Logan’s score, the note, how they left, and how he had gotten shot dead in the street. He told him that he wanted information so he could go after the assassins, and find out who killed his boyfriend. 

Remus wrote everything down then went through his notes telling Virgil everything he could. He wrote things down, giving him copies of his notes. He fully wished to support Virgil. He had been wanting to find out if these assassins were real for years; he had dedicated his life to it and other conspiracies. Remus didn’t care that Virgil wished to kill them; he wished some of them would die himself, as long as Virgil proved their existence for Remus and gave him evidence that they were real. He had been after them for years since the day people showed up and took his brother, leaving without a word.

___

Janus had brought Virgil home and he went to his room looking over all the information Remus had given him instantly. It had seemed that Remus was able to identify a few people who might’ve been involved, one guy in particular was connected to the testing and another organization that Remus had suspected was the one that was in charge of the assassins. Virgil looked over at the time and decided now was as good of time as ever, he wanted his information, he wanted to avenge Logan.  He read the name and the address before leaving his house.

Virgil walked to the address and looked up at the house, it had been across town in a more suburban area. He walked into the yard and smiled seeing a light on, his target lived alone so the light could only mean that that was where they were. Virgil still wore his makeup from earlier with the mask he was wearing over the lower half of his face. 

He went over to the side of the house and grabbed onto the top of a window pulling himself up quickly, he almost felt weightless in the air as he pulled himself up and smashed the second story window getting into the room. 

“I’ve been looking for you.” Virgil growled seeing a guy sitting at a piano. 

The guy got up instantly startled and put his hands up, “Please! What do you want? I could pay you!” He responded quickly. 

Virgil walked over to him and pulled out the knife Janus had given him earlier, putting it to the guy’s neck. “I need information about who you work for.” He glared. 

The guy started in fear and relaxed almost noticeably for a moment, he quickly moved his arm and touched the knife before Virgil could fight back. The blade suddenly became dull and bendy, he had manipulated the structure of the knife. 

Virgil jumped back, dropping the knife when it became dull. 

The guy lunged forward reaching for Virgil’s neck. 

Without thinking Virgil suddenly pulled the air from the room, pulling it all around himself.

The guy gasped, falling to the ground in an instant, trying and failing to breathe. 

Virgil watched in surprise, his eyes wide. He let go of the air in the room, returning it to normal. 

The guy looked up at Virgil stunned, “You shouldn’t be able to-”

Virgil kneeled glaring, “If you don’t tell me what I need, I’ll cut off your oxygen. I’ll make you gasp for the air that isn’t there, and die. Now tell me!” 

The guy stared at him, looking in Virgil’s eyes to see if he was bluffing, but all he could see was pain and anger in Virgil’s eyes. “I’ll tell you… I’ll tell you,” he relented. 

Virgil smiled under his mask, “Good, I need information on the assassins, and the scores of the power testing.”

“I… No… I couldn't possibly-”

“Would you like to continue breathing?” Virgil threatened and pulled the air from the other’s lungs for a moment before letting him breathe again. “You will tell me.” 

The guy looked down in defeat before nodding, “Alright… ok… I will. What specific things do you need to know on the scores and the assassins.”

“Are the scores rigged, and how are they determined, and how are the assassins contacted?” 

The guy nodded, “Ok… I can’t tell you but I could give you paperwork on it.” He replied pleadingly. 

“I’ll accept that, and also tell me who is in charge of calling the assassins, who is in charge of the assassins, and who is in charge of the test scores.”

“I… I can’t… I can’t tell you.” The guy shook his head frantically, quickly printing out dozens of pages of paper off of his computer, “Here… that’s all the information you need!”

Virgil sighed and ripped the oxygen from the other’s lunges as soon as the papers were printed. 

The body dropped down to the floor, completely lifeless. 

Virgil let go of the air, the guy not needing it anyway. The dead don’t breathe afterall. 

Virgil walked over to the computer and printed out a second set of the papers from the computer before shutting it down. He grabbed all the papers packing them away before he left the room. Going back to his apartment in silence. 

Virgil got through his door before dropping everything, falling to the floor with his items. He pulled his knees to his chest, ripping off the mask, tossing it to the other side of the room. He… he had killed someone. 

He was a murderer…

That guy, he killed him. 

Virgil took deep breaths trying to calm down, trying to figure everything out. But it had all been so fast. He was just freaking out. He couldn’t breath, he couldn’t think. 

What had he done?

This… this was all for Logan, he was doing this for Logan. He just wanted Logan back, something that would never be able to happen. 

One thing pulled the fog from Virgil, for just a moment for him to get back to reality. 

Virgil’s phone rang. 

Virgil crawled to it, picking it up, “Hey…” He said weakly. 

“Virgil?” Janus’ voice came through, “Is everything ok?”

“I… I don’t think so. I… Killed someone.”

There was silence, sickening, dead, silence. Then Janus finally spoke, “Everything will be alright, I’m going to come over. We could talk about this. It’ll be ok.” Janus tried assuring Virgil, though it seemed to have no effects. 

Virgil just quietly made a noise of affirmation before hanging up. Virgil got up, going to the bathroom and taking a shower, cleaning himself up. Trying to relax in the scalding hot water, trying not to think.

By time Janus arrived Virgil was laying on the couch cuddled up under several blankets. He looked exhausted and scared. 

Janus walked over to Virgil; he sat down pulling Virgil into a hug in silence, not asking any questions. He just held him close and relaxed with him. Just to let him know, he wasn’t alone, he wasn’t going to be alone. 

Virgil cried in Janus’ arms letting himself be held and relaxing as much as he could. 

__________

Virgil got up the next day and went back out to The Dark Market, after getting ready and applying makeup. He walked in and to Kraken’s office. He went in sitting down, waiting. 

Remus came in after a few minutes, “Hello…”

“I have some information for you, and my next target.” Virgil said quietly. 

Remus grinned jumping up and down, “Yes!” he quickly plopped down in a chair near Spider, “Give!” 

Virgil sighed giving him the copies of the papers, “Next guy I’m after seems to coordinate the assassins. I’m getting closer…” 

“Hmm you work fast,” Remus smiled looking up at Spider from the papers. 

“Yeah I guess…” Virgil shrugged. 

Remus skimmed the papers a bit before putting them down, “do you want payment for this information?”

“No, this was my payment for the info you got me before, though the rest will cost you…” 

Remus nodded, “That’s perfectly fine, oh! And could I give you a flashdrive to get information for me next time. You could just download all the files from the next guy.” He suggested. Remus lunged across the room to his desk. He pulled out a flashdrive from a drawer then tossed it over to Spider. “Thanks!”

 Virgil watched him and nodded, “You’re… welcome.” He said and stood. 

“Could we be partners?” Remus burst out. 

“Um… What?” Virgil looked confused taking a second to process what he had just been asked. 

“Could we be business partners? You get the information, I pay you for it and look through it for you.”

“Hm fine… as long as you tell me what you see in the files.” 

“Of course!” Remus nodded enthusiastically. 

Virgil nodded and sighed leaving the room. He looked down at the flashdrive in his hand quietly as he left. 

Virgil had driven here himself today, Janus not with him. Though it was probably better… He didn’t want to have to use Janus as basically a taxi all the time. Virgil got into his car driving home. He’d go out tonight, for his next target. Everything was moving so fast, but he also felt so close, he was so close to catching the assassin who killed his boyfriend, or who sent the assassin to kill Logan. He was so close, and everything was happening so fast. But… what would he do when he found the person responsible? Would he kill them? Would he question them? Or… would he just let them go? What would he even do after? He didn’t have many plans. 

Virgil shook his head taking a deep breath as he parked. Looking up Virgil saw he was… he had gone to Logan’s apartment building. Where he’d never see Logan again. 

Virgil paused a moment before getting out of his car going into the building and up to Logan’s… what had been Logan’s apartment. He should be getting ready to go out again but, he was just... here.

The elevator dinged as it got to the floor. 

Virgil walked down the hall and to the apartment, somberly unlocking the door to the dead silent apartment. Everything was exactly like how it had been when they had left. It was just calm and quiet. 

Virgil walked through looking at everything, he should pack up everything… he couldn’t just let the landlord throw it all out. He’d get boxes… he’d get boxes and pack everything up. Just pack it up for Logan. 

Taking another deep breath he went into Logan’s bedroom. He walked around in the room looking at everything. He opened a box on the dresser smiling at the collection of ties adorned in the box. He placed it back down then sighed going over to the bed and laying down, relaxing.

He laid there for a little while before he sat up opening up the bedside drawer, inside was a book and… a box. 

Virgil tilted his head picking up the box and opening it. Inside the box was a black ring. Virgil gasped, dropping the box, letting it fall to the floor. 

Logan…. Logan was…. Going to propose? 

Virgil covered his mouth gasping, tears threatening to fall. 

Virgil quickly got up and left, he locked the apartment door before he raced down the stairs to his car outside, driving home. He didn’t know what he was going to do… but he’d figure it out. 

Virgil got to his apartment and started getting ready, ready to go to meet his next victim. 

He had left the ring box on the floor of what used to be Logan’s bedroom when he left. 

___

Virgil got out of his car down the street, walking over to the address. There was a car in the driveway… that was good. 

Virgil went to the side of the house and climbed up to the second story, he checked the window smiling when it opened up with ease automatically. He slipped into the building, hitting the floor silently. Looking around nobody was in the room, it was completely vacant. Virgil walked out of the room, going downstairs. There a man was sitting on a couch laughing at some mind numbing tv show with a near constant laugh track. Virgil went up behind him, pulling out his dagger and resting it on the man’s neck, “Good evening.” Virgil whispered. 

The guy went still, frozen in place, “Who are you? What do you want?” 

“Information, and for you to log into your computer.”

“My… my computer, why? You wouldn’t find anything there.” The guy said, his voice peaking in nervousness. 

“I believe I’ll find exactly what I need there.” 

The guy nodded softly, “My computer is in my office,” he said, not resisting.

“Lead the way.” Virgil pulled the knife away, putting it in its sheath. “Just know I don’t need a knife or any weapon to get rid of you, just your breath.” 

The man stood timidly as he walked down a hall, he pulled open a seemingly hidden door and walked into the secret room with Virgil trailing right behind him. 

Virgil  looked around curiously, this man had a hidden office… interesting. 

The man sat down at his desk turning on his computer then logging in. He logged in again to a screen that popped up after his desktop loaded up. 

Virgil grinned, “Thank you.” He said pushing the desk chair to the side and put in the flashdrive. He pulled up the computer files, pulling all the files from the computer onto the flashdrive.

The guy looked at Virgil in surprise, “I… you don’t want some specific ones? I… I could find them for you.”

Virgil smirked under his mask looking at the guy, “Why? Is something wrong? Are you worried about something? Is there something I shouldn’t see on here?”

“I.. um… no, of course not. Everything is alright.” The man replied looking a bit more anxious than before, “It’ll take you a long time to go through all those files.”

“It’s ok, I have someone going through them for me.” Virgil replied looking back at the computer, he opened up a browser checking before going into the guy’s emails and downloading all of them. “It’s ok, I’ll make it quick for you, nothing for you to worry about. I’ll end you quickly and… somewhat painlessly, it’ll all be fine in the end.”

“I… no ple-” the man spoke before he started choking on… air? No, it was a lack of air, as if all his oxygen suddenly left his lungs. He put his hands to his neck gasping only for nothing to be breathed in. His lungs left starving. 

Virgil stared at him as he stole the man’s breath away. He watched as the other fell over, turning purple from the lack of oxygen. It was as quick as he could make it.

He looked away after a few moments, turning back to the computer as he waited for everything to finish downloading onto the flashdrive, he hoped this information would get him… somewhere. 

As he waited, Virgil took the man’s wallet and found his phone too. This would hopefully all be enough to get everything he needed. 

The computer dinged when everything had finally finished downloading onto the flashdrive; he got everything. 

Virgil safely pulled out the flashdrive before he put everything in his bag escaping the house. He got into his car driving to The Dark Market, he would give everything to the Kraken now. He wasn’t going to wait.

When Virgil arrived he got out of the car, going to the doors of the market. He was let in easily, nobody around stopping him from having passage indoors. He walked directly to Kraken’s shop, knocking at the door. 

Remus stepped out yawning, “Oh! Spider~ What do you have for me?” Remus asked not hiding his excitement.

“Everything I could get from the guy’s computer. I also took his phone if that helps at all…” Virgil replied, holding out the flashdrive and phone. “Payment will be you telling me everything you find on those.”

Remus nodded, taking them happily, “Well I definitely will be able to pay. Hmm come to me here tomorrow night, I’ll get you something… Probably not everything though.” 

Virgil nodded, “Sounds good.” He said, stepping back. 

“You’re leaving already?” Remus asked softly. 

Virgil looked back at him, “Yeah… I’ll be back tomorrow, I need to try to sleep.” 

Remus nodded, “I know this is revenge, but don’t wear yourself out.”

Virgil nodded and walked away, going home. 

Remus sat at his desk, only a small lamp on, illuminating his desk and giving just enough light to see his keyboard. He wrote quick notes in a notebook about what he saw as he read through file after file of the documents on the flashdrive. 

He yawned as he opened a file named Associates, there were many codenames in the file. Curiously Remus clicked on one, Prince. Remus opened a document skimming through it, it had some normal information, name, age, birthday, record, history…. Name. Remus shook his head, slapping his cheek to wake himself up a bit. The name, it was Roman Royalentie… Roman. Remus quickly clicked out of the document, opening up some more documents in the folder, there was a list of past assignments, some reports made by Roman… and pictures. Roman looked… he looked older. Of course he fucking looked older, Remus hadn’t seen Roman since he was taken when they were children. Taking a deep breath Remus wrote down as much information as he could. He read through a document trying to find out where Roman was. On one document it listed where Roman was currently stationed, it was some high-rise in the middle of the city, if he could convince Spider to go there for him… maybe he could kidnap Roman or something. He needed to see Roman. 

Remus continued looking at the files about Roman for hours before he ended up passing out. 

______________

Virgil woke up the next day in the afternoon. He got up deciding… Maybe Kraken would have some information now? Though he was told to come back tonight… It was still daytime. He took a deep breath getting up and dressed, he would go now, if there was nothing… he’d just go back later. 

Virgil sat down in his bathroom putting on his makeup and mask before he left, going out to The Dark Market. To check with Kraken. 

Virgil arrived going inside the market he was let in and started walking to Kraken’s shop but paused. He went over to a stall tapping on a man’s shoulder. 

Said man turned around, his snake scales glinting off the dim light above them, “Spider…”

Virgil nodded, “Serpent.”

“Good to see you, are you… feeling any better?”

“Still too soon… but Kraken might have more information, I’m on my way now.”

Janus nodded, “I’ll accompany you.” 

“Alright.” Virgil nodded, walking, now mostly by memory, to Remus’ room. 

They both got to the door looking at each other for a moment before Virgil reached forward knocking on the door. 

No response. 

Janus looked a bit concerned and confused when there was no response, no crashing of objects inside, no yells of incomprehensible words, nothing… silence. Janus wouldn’t completely admit it but he… was concerned for the disaster that was behind the door. 

Janus pushed Virgil to the side before pulling a key out and unlocking the door in their path. He walked inside the room, relaxing a bit seeing that Remus was simply just sleeping at his desk. Papers scattered everywhere around him. Janus walked over tapping on Remus’ shoulder. “Kraken, wakey wakey.”

Remus jumped, opening his eyes looking around startled before relaxing. “Oh, hello there… Serpent ~ What are you doing here in my humble abode.”

Virgil stepped into the room shutting the door behind himself. 

Remus nodded, “Ah… only business I guess… it’s always business with you both, never any pleasure.” He flicked his hand at the candles around the room, they lit on fire with water that burned and illuminated like a flame. 

Janus shrugged walking to the far wall looking at the pictures and strings mapping together theories. 

Virgil sat down near Remus’ desk, “Any information?”

“Is it night-time?”

“I… I’m sorry, I know I came early, but I-”

“No… like I was genuinely curious, I wasn’t sure if it was night yet.”

“Oh… no it’s afternoon.”

“Ok… well I have some information, but I also have a request for you.”

“What is it?” Virgil asked suspiciously. 

“I… my brother.”

“Your missing, kidnapped, brother.”

“You… technically found him for me.”

“I... what?”

“The files… there was one marked Prince… My brother is alive, he’s one of the assassins. They took him, to use him to work for them… I… I want you to find him, and kidnap him. I need to see him.”

Virgil thought for a few moments before nodding, “Fine… where could I find him?” 

Remus quickly handed Virgil a notecard with an address and a picture he had printed out. “Thank you, I really, really owe you for this.” 

“Yeah, I’ll take you up on that… where should I take him when I get him?” Virgil asked, looking at the notecard. 

“Hmmm…” Remus sat back looking at the ceiling as he thought. 

“The Underground.” Janus replied, still looking at the wall of Remus’ evidence of conspiracies. 

“The Underground? The nightclub?” Virgil asked.

“Yeah, they have private rooms. Plus it’ll be easier to bring someone kidnapped into there, than getting past the security here.” 

“Fine.” Virgil nodded. 

Remus nodded thinking, “I could head over there soon and get a room, Serpent, will you be able to let them in the side entrance of the building?”

“Yeah, I think so.” Janus nodded to the Kraken, finally turning around. 

Virgil nodded, getting up, “I’ll go out now…” 

Remus nodded, thinking momentarily before pulling out a bottle from a drawer of his desk, “Here take this.” He said holding it out. Then looked in his drawer again. 

“What is this?”

“Sedatives… so he doesn’t fight you.” Remus replied then gave him a syringe. 

Virgil nodded slowly, putting both objects in his bag. “Um… thanks.” He said slowly. “I’ll meet you at The Underground. Serpent, I'll text you when I’m on my way over.” 

Janus nodded and waved to him watching Virgil leave before he looked at Kraken. 

Virgil drove across town, the skyscraper, to the address. 

Virgil arrived at the building getting out of his car, he sighed looking up at the building, he needed a way in. He looked around before deciding to go to the side of the building looking for another way. 

There it was. 

Virgil smiled walking to the service entrance, he blew open the lock using air before pulling open the door and going inside. He was cautious as he walked in, it was quiet. He pulled out his notepad looking at it, Roman should be near the 10th floor. Virgil looked up at the stairs taking a deep breath before beginning his climb.

Around the 3rd floor Virgil paused, there had to be an easier way up, this would take forever. He looked around before smiling. He could try jumping floors… Virgil took a deep breath and ran up some stairs before jumping, using the air to boost him and push him up. He practically flew to the next floor. He kept ascending the stairs quickly from there. 

Virgil finally stopped when he got to the 10th, he pulled up his mask before opening the door out of the stairwell and walking down the hall. He walked checking the note for whatever door he should find Roman down… well if Roman was here. Virgil ignored that thought. He finally got to a room smiling at the number, well if Roman is here… this is the place. 

Virgil walked into the room, taking the air away as he stepped in shutting the door. 

There was some choking to the side of the room.

Virgil quickly released the air going over to where the choking had been, on the floor there was a small guy, blue hair, glasses, weird patches of skin that seemed to be like a clearish blue green with yellow spots. This wasn’t Roman. Virgil kneeled down next to the guy. 

The other looked at Virgil, staring into his neon purple eyes. “Hello… I’m Patton.” He said, sounding slightly intimidated. 

“Where is Roman?” Virgil demanded quietly. 

Patton flinched slightly at the tone, “I don’t know who you are but I’m sorry. Roman isn’t around currently. He went out over an hour ago, I don’t know when he’s coming back.” 

Virgil sighed, annoyed looking at Patton, “Fine…” He shook his head thinking. Well… he could take this guy, if he’s lucky Roman will come for him, they were in roman’s room after all. “You’re coming with me then.”

“Sorry… but stranger danger?”

“I will take your breath away, and that is a threat.”

Patton stared at him before standing up, “Fine, but you really should be nicer.”

“Sorry being nice isn’t on my priority list this week.” Virgil rolled his eyes, he grabbed Patton’s arm pulling him out of the room. “Don’t run.” He whispered as he pulled him into the stairwell. 

Patton followed silently, not fighting his kidnapper. “I don’t plan to…”

“Don’t scream either.” Virgil replied as he picked Patton up going over to a railing. He held onto Patton tight as he jumped over the railing falling 9 stories before slowing himself down with the air around them to make them land softly on the first floor. 

Patton held on for his life, he didn’t even realize he was holding his breath till they landed. He was quite shaken from falling practically 10 stories. 

Virgil looked at Patton and decided that the guy probably wasn’t going to be able to walk on his own for a bit so he just carried him out of the building and back to his car parked near the side of the building. He put Patton into the car before he drove off to The Underground. 

Patton sat in the car and took deep breaths, trying to articulate his thoughts. Everything was ok… he was… relatively ok… He  was being kidnapped…but Roman would come, maybe… this might be a trap for him though, this guy did ask for Roman… who even was this guy? Where were they even going? “Excuse me… but who exactly are you?” Patton asked, breaking the silence. 

Virgil looked over at the guy confused, “Um… well you could call me Spider.” 

“Ok, Spider, could I ask you some questions?”

“No… I’d rather you not.”

“Ok, so where are you bringing me?”

“I… I literally just said no questions.” Virgil sighed, shaking his head. 

Patton sighed, pouting a bit as he looked out the window. He quietly sat there trying to braid his bangs as they drove. 

Virgil was amazed and grateful for the silence, he texted Janus as he got closer to the club. They arrived at the club quickly, parking in the back alley. He got out helping out Patton before he went over to a back door and knocked. 

Patton stood there looking around scared and anxious. He wasn’t sure what was going on, he had just been kidnapped… they had wanted Roman but took him… Patton snapped out of it when the door to the building opened up. There stood a guy with dark hair, snake scales running down half his face, the other half covered by a black mask, and a dark outfit. 

Virgil nodded to Janus smiling under his mask before he walked inside. His makeup began to glow in the black light, and neon, lit club. He looked over at Patton gesturing for him to come in too. 

Patton hesitated for a minute before walking inside the door, it shut behind him. He hugged himself looking around the room. He heard loud blasting music everywhere. It sounded like there were tons of people. The place was dimly lit even with the weird colored lights. He took a deep breath looking down then gasping when he saw patches of himself glowing blue from the blacklights, it was the patches of frog skin he had, they just were… glowing. He smiled slightly at that. 

Virgil looked at Janus, “Lead the way.”

“Who is this?” Janus glared, “Spider… this isn’t Roman.”

“I know this isn’t Roman, but he wasn’t around… this guy was in Roman’s room, so he came with me instead.”

Janus groaned running a hand down his face before putting his hands up in defeat, “Fine, fine. I’ll let Kraken deal with it. At least you have someone… lets just go down, now.” He said open up a door that led down some stairs. 

Virgil nodded and grabbed Patton’s arm, “Come on, let’s go.” 

Patton jumped slightly when he was grabbed, just a bit startled. “Oh… ok.” He nodded then started following Virgil down the dark stairwell. He was a bit scared of what was going to happen. It wasn’t like he had much combat training, he was just a medic afterall.

Virgil just followed Janus and held onto Patton, He couldn’t really see in the dimly lit basement that well, his eyes not adjusting yet. 

“In here.” Janus spoke up, opening up another door to a room that seemed to have some lights on inside. 

Virgil nodded, pulling Patton in front of himself then pushing him inside the room. Kraken had been sitting in a chair in the room, he instantly stood when the door opened, he was excited to see his brother. His face fell when he saw some other guy with Spider. “Who is that?” He asked, annoyed.

“This… is Patton… I couldn’t find Roman, but he was in his room. So I assumed Roman would come here to find Patton.” Virgil explained guiding Patton to another chair. 

Remus nodded softly, staring at Patton, glaring a bit at him. 

Patton wasn’t going to lie… he was intimidated. Also the weird green glaring guy looked quite like Roman. He waved a bit at him. 

Virgil sighed, taking a deep breath just relaxing a bit. 

Janus came over putting a hand on Virgil’s shoulder, “Everything ok?” He asked quietly so nobody would hear. 

“I… Yeah… I think I’m going to ask Patton some questions.”

Janus nodded, “That’s a good idea.”

Virgil walked over to Patton pulling up a chair next to him, “I have a few questions for you.”

Patton nodded looking up at Virgil, “Um… I could try answering them.”

“How is it chosen who you kill… How is it chosen how people are scored?” Virgil asked, trying to keep his voice from wavering. 

“I… We… I’m only a medic, I only know we score people based off of how their powers present. Hmm you must be at least a 50. But… I don’t know anything about how they chose who are taken out and how they are planned.”

“I’m a 15... thanks for no help.” Virgil sighed getting up. 

Patton looked confused, a fifteen? That seemed way lower than this guy should have… and this guy seemed so distraught that Patton couldn’t help him. “What’s wrong?” He asked after a moment. He recognized how the guy felt, darn empathy Roman would always say when he caught him crying, but this guy was clearly sad and maybe grieving. 

Virgil looked at him, “You all killed my boyfriend… as corny as it sounds, you killed the love of my life.” He said before he left the room. 

Patton sat there, what… his boyfriend… well he must’ve done something wrong right? He was probably a threat. Patton moved to get up when the scaled guy came over pushing him back to sit down. 

“You stay.” Janus told him. 

Patton nodded, not defying him. 

Janus looked over at Remus, “Get Spider.”

“Will do, boss.” Remus replied winking and saluted him before walking out of the room. 

Janus looked at Patton, “you look quite interesting.” he commented running two fingers down one of the spots of Patton’s skin.

“Frog.” Patton replied blurting it out before blushing in embarrassment “I… I’m a frog… You’re a snake, right?”

“I am… Good eye.”

Patton snickered a bit, “Like you have one snake eye.” He said quietly. 

Janus stood there looking unamused, though internally he was laughing. “Um… yes…” He nodded, stepping away. 

Remus came in with Virgil after a few moments, if Virgil’s makeup was a mess it was hard to tell with how dim the room was. 

Virgil came over sitting next to Patton. 

Janus went over to Remus, “Kraken, would you like to go stand guard with me by the door, wait for when Roman arrives.”

Remus instantly nodding eagerly, “Yes, definitely.” He smiled and waved at Patton. 

Patton waved back watching the snake guy and Kraken leave the room. Patton looked at Spider, “So you are looking for Roman? Is it because he is one of the assassins?”

Virgil looked over at Patton, “I… yes, and no.”

Patton nodded, “We call them the guardians, taking out those who are dangerous or hostile…”

Virgil tilted his head, “Guardians? But… what classifies them as those?”

“Well… I’m not exactly sure. Last guy Roman told me he took out he was out in the road, apparently he was about to go out and take someone out. Roman caught up to him when he was about to cross the road to his car. The guy was apparently kissing someone before Ro shot them. The other person was probably devastated, but the guy was really dangerous.”

_____________

Roman got back to his room a half hour later, he was humming softly as he walked in. Patton should be here by now. He had the alert that Patton came in. Roman looked at his computer pausing, the alarm went off 3 times? Someone came in after Patton then someone left. He quickly connected to security cams. 

Someone had left taking Patton with them.

Roman grabbed his jacket and knives. He checked the other cameras watching the guy jump down the stairs and go to a car. He had to find them, maybe he was lucky and Patton had his phone… though that would be a hilarious if the kidnappers let Patton keep his pho- 

Patton had his phone on him, and it was tracking him to some building across town. 

Roman laughed and shrugged he left the room taking the elevator to the ground floor then got into his car to drive to the building

Roman stopped, parking in some parking lot. The building seemed to be some random abandoned factory. He walked to what seemed to be the main entrance of the building, he opened the door pausing when he saw nicely painted black walls and lights. He saw a guard standing at the door right ahead… What was this place?

Roman cautiously walked forward, “I’d like to get in.”

The guard looked Roman over, “Password?” He smirked.

Roman stepped back surprised, a password… he didn’t know a password. He pulled out his knife putting it to the other’s neck, “I’d like to get in, my friend was abducted and taken here. So if you could, open the door.”

The guard looked at Roman and smiled, “Hmm you didn’t seem like you belong, but I see it now. Step back so I could open up the door.” 

Roman put his knife away taking a step back. 

The guard unlocked the door, opening it, “Go on in.” 

As soon as the door was opened the blasting music could be heard from inside, along with the sound of many voices. 

Roman took a breath before walking through the door, he became tense as it shut behind him. He shook his head and kept walking into the place. He looked around once he emerged from the hall, there were so many people. The blacklight lit up his clothing as he stood in the club. He looked over the crowd of people in the dimly lit, colored neon room. How would he find Patton here? Patton was… small. He ran a hand through his hair walking around the perimeter of the room. Patton had to be close. He turned smiling when he saw that instead of a wall there was a curtain, of course. Why would the kidnappers keep Patton in the main room when they could hide him elsewhere in the building. He walked through the curtains looking around, the area still had the same neon and black lights, but it was a small area. There was a door to outside, an alley, then two small doors to the sides of him, one was labeled stairs. Roman went and opened the unmarked door first, a storage and janitor closet. He sighed turning to the stairs, pulling out a knife he opened the door descending the stairs. At the bottom there was another door, he opened it up only to see two people standing there, each leaning against a wall of the hallway ahead. Roman stepped into the hall and held out his knife. “I’m here for someone, I do believe you have him.” He growled. 

Remus was the first to look up. “Roman!?” He asked, looking at Roman. 

“I… how do you know my name?”

“Do you not… you don’t recognize me?” Remus asked, a bit broken.

“No? Should I know you-”

“Remus! It’s me Remus! Your brother! Please Roro.” 

Roman paused, “Remus?” Roman paused before his eyes went wide, “Remus!” He dropped his knife to the floor before he ran over pulling Remus into a hug.

Remus hugged back tightly.

“Seems the whole family is huggers.” Janus mumbled, nodding softly as he walked away to let them have their catch up time. He went back into the room only to see Virgil extremely distraught.

Virgil stood near Patton taking deep breaths, his hands tangled in his own hair, he stood there kinda pacing a bit. 

Janus walked over looking at Patton skeptically before looking at Virgil, he placed a hand on Virgil's shoulder comfortingly, “Spider?” he whispered. 

Virgil looked up at Janus, focusing on him, “I don’t know what to do.”

“What do you mean?”

“Roman… he was the assassin who killed Logan.” Virgil whispered trying to keep himself calm. “He was the one who took Logan from me!”

Janus squeezed his shoulder slightly, “Virgil, take a deep breath.”

“How? How do I know what to do now? I… I-”

“Virgil, Roman is not your target.”

“Who is then!”

“Who contracts the assassins and picks the targets?”

Virgil paused, taking slow deep breaths, “You’re right… you’re right.”

“Don’t kill Roman, for Kraken at least.”

Virgil nodded, dropping his hands to his sides, putting them in his pockets. He looked to the side, biting the inside of his cheek as Janus talked, not wanting to look in his eyes. 

“Roman isn’t your target, if you kill him it’ll just mean yet another person to kill. The person who decided that Logan was to be killed is your target, not the assassin ordered to make the kill, he was doing as he was told.” Janus whispered. 

Virgil nodded softly listening to Janus, not saying anything. 

The door opened then, everyone looking over to see Roman and Remus walking into the room together. 

Roman saw Patton and ran over to him, He kneeled by his chair looking over him, “Are you alright? Is everything ok? Did they hurt you?”

Patton just smiled at seeing Roman, “No, I’m alright… I’m ok.” 

Roman nodded, smiling back at Patton. 

Janus got behind Virgil and wrapped his arms around Virgil hugging him and holding him back. “Everything is ok.” he whispered softly. 

Virgil nodded softly just staring at Roman not moving. 

Roman turned around and saw Virgil, recognizing him from the security footage. He stalked over glaring, “Why did you kidnap him?!”

Virgil looked away before looking at Roman glaring, “Why did you murder my boyfriend?!”

The room went dead silent. 

“I haven’t murdered anyone, I’m saving people by taking out threats-”

“He wasn’t a threat! He just got tested only to later get a note that he had 24 hours. He tried to leave! You shot him dead on the street! He died in my arms! He… he just wanted to get away… He wouldn’t hurt anyone…” Virgil sighed looking down, taking a deep breath. 

Janus’ arms tightened around Virgil to comfort him. He glared daggers at Roman as he stood holding the defeated Virgil. 

Roman stepped back in shock, “I… no… no. He had to have been bad, I wouldn't have… I wouldn’t have had to go after him otherwise.`` Roman started rambling. He ran a hand through his hair trying to think. No, he wasn’t a bad guy… he was doing good… right? He was protecting people and being a guardian of the city against those who posed a threat and/or were hostile. He wasn’t a murderer… He… he did kill people… but he was told it was to save people. He was saving people! His boss gave him orders and targets, but those targets they scored high… they couldn’t control themselves… they were a threat. They… they would have hurt people. He had always been taught that if someone scored over 60 then they were going to lose control, they would hurt people, they couldn’t control themselves and would end up hurting anyone and everyone around them. The guy this kidnapper was talking about scored 170… he probably was just hanging on right? He was going to lose control and probably would end up destroying half the city. 

Remus walked over, putting a hand on Roman’s shoulder. 

Roman flinched then looked at Remus, “I’m saving people… right?”

“You’re being played… lied to. I’ve researched plenty, recent information acquired in… ways. The only threat the people pose is to the organization and the city’s government. You’re sent to kill them because your bosses are afraid that these people will go against them, they fear revolt.”

Roman stared at him, “No… that can’t.” He shook his head and looked at Patton.

Patton looked back at Roman, “I don’t know… it… it makes sense. I don’t know...” He sighed looking down. 

Roman took a deep breath, anger overtaking his shock. “Fine…” He looked around the room, “Then… we are going after the man in charge. The true villain here.”

Virgil pulled himself away from Janus, walking towards Roman, “I’d love to, though I get to be the one to kill him.”

Roman stared at Virgil for a few moments, and glanced away, before he nodded “Sure.”

Janus sighed, “I’ll join you both. Who knows how emotional you both are right now. I might as well make sure you’re not doing anything completely stupid.” 

Remus started jumping up and down, “Ooooh! I want to come! I want to come!”

Roman looked at Remus, “No, I just got to see you again… I’m not losing you if something goes wrong.”

“Well same here Ro-Bro. I’m not losing you again, so I’m coming with!” Remus replied cheerfully. 

Roman went to argue Remus coming and tell him he couldn’t when Janus stopped him. 

Janus looked at Remus, “Fine, you could come.” He said then walked over to Patton, “Will you be coming with us, froggy?”

Patton looked around at everyone, “I don’t know… I’m not exactly someone who fights. I’m a medic and I-”

“We could always need a medic, in case someone gets hurt.” Janus encouraged.

Patton thought before nodding softly, “Alright… I’ll help.”

“Let’s go!” Roman growled and went to the door. 

“Where the hell are you going? Do you have a plan?” Janus asked immediately. 

“I… No, I don’t” Roman sounded a bit defeated as he responded. 

“That’s what I thought. Now how about we all sit down and chat, come up with a plan. Order drinks maybe?” Janus asked then looked around the room only to be met by all serious expressions and… and Remus. “Alright, no drinks then.”

Everyone found a chair and sat down, coming and sitting close by. 

Janus nodded looking at them, “Now come up with a plan.” 

____

Thunder erupted in the sky as Roman stood in front of the building with Patton; he nodded softly before walking inside with Patton. He scanned his ID walking in without any suspicions. 

Remus waited on the side of the building with Janus. 

Virgil stood on the roof of a building next door, his hood over his head as he looked up at the sky, dark clouds forming and coming overhead… a storm was coming.

Their plan was in action. 

Roman had Patton go to the side door as he went into the security office. He quickly knocked out the one guard in the room before turning off all the security cameras. Everything was going well so far… He took a deep breath before leaving the room. He went to the custodial closet grabbing some coveralls before going to the side door to meet Patton. 

Patton had the door open, Remus and Janus standing by him. 

“Here you both go, the top fashion of this building.” Roman smiled and bowed as he gave them the coveralls. 

Remus instantly started stripping right there to put on the new clothes. 

Roman turned around, heck no he wasn’t going to see that. 

Patton blushed brightly before covering his eyes. 

Janus rolled his eyes only taking off his cape before pulling the coveralls over his current clothes of a black shirt and black close fitting jeans. 

Patton uncovered his eyes after a moment, relieved to see Remus had his clothes on. 

Remus grinned and gave them all a thumbs up, “Alright!”

Roman turned back around and nodded, “Well… now we have to go upstairs, You both take the stairs, I’ll be taking the elevator.”

“Oh I’ll go with them!” Patton smiled.

Roman grabbed Patton’s arm, “It’s better if you come with me, we’re seen often here and it might seem odd for you to take the stairs when you never do.”

“But they don’t know where they’re going.”

“I don’t want you to get hurt.” Roman replied. 

Patton nodded, sighing and waved at Janus and Remus before going with Roman to the elevator.

Janus nodded to Remus and started quickly climbing the stairs. They were all going to meet up without Virgil, on the 15th floor. 

Roman got on the elevator with Patton, going to the 10th floor. They got off when the doors opened, Roman went straight to his room. 

Patton followed looking around making sure nothing bad was happening. 

Roman went into his room with Patton. As soon as the door was shut he opened a closet full of weapons and began pulling some out, tossing them in a bag. “Alright, let's go,” he said when he had filled the bag with a decent amount of weapons. He put the bag over his shoulder and went to the stairs with Patton following close. He sat down on a stair waiting for Remus and Janus to get there. 

Remus and Janus appeared minutes later arriving at the 10th floor. Surprisingly both were rather athletic. 

Roman stood up, “There you both are.” He nodded, opening the bag and showing them all the weapons, “Take what you want.”

Janus smiled looking into the bag. He took out some daggers and a bottle that seemed to contain poison, “I believe these will be perfect for me.”

Remus nodded, pulling out a whip and a few throwing knives, “These will be good for me.” 

Roman nodded, “Alright so 15th floor… it’s going to be hard to get inside, we need to get past some security.”

“That’s where I come in perfectly, were those people at the front desk allowed up to the 15th floor?”

“Umm yeah why?”

Janus smiled as his form changed into one of the secretaries at the building’s front desk. “Let's go.” He said ascending the stairs once more.

Patton looked at Remus giving him a reassuring smile before beginning to climb the stairs. 

They finally reached the top and opened the door, Remus staying behind in the stairwell waiting.

Roman went through the door with Patton and Janus, walking down the hall and to the second door. All of them stayed silent, tense with anxiety of being caught. 

Patton motioned for Remus to follow. 

Roman took a deep breath before walking through the door he smiled nodding at the security guards of the room. “Hello good men… good looking… sorry, sorry.” Roman said and sighed smiling. “I would like to go to the boss's office. 

The guards looked at Roman, one of them blushing slightly. One stepped forward, “Sorry, can’t let you in. Entitled Prince.” He glared. 

Roman rolled his eyes pulling a large glass marble out of his pocket, tossing it up and catching it a few times, “want to see a magic trick then?” He asked looking behind him to make sure the door was shut and everyone was behind it. 

“Fine, what is it? You going to pull a rabbit out of your ass or something? I don’t see a hat.”

“No, I would never abuse a rabbit by having it face you, it would die of fright. No, I was thinking of another trick.” Roman smirked. He cleared his throat and hummed a few notes on a scale before he bowed to the security guards, “Now, enjoy the show.” He smiled. He tossed up the glass marble then started singing. The room shook as he sang. 

The glass ball shattered, the glass flying at the security guards. 

Roman smiled, singing a bit higher, manipulating his soundwaves as he sang. The windows all around the room suddenly shattered. 

Remus came out the door smirking as he had wind that resembled fire swept through the room, no heat or burn coming with it.

Virgil saw the fire and the windows shatter, their signal. He turned around going to the opposite edge of the roof before running forward. He jumped at the edge of the roof using the air and wind to boost him and make him practically fly. Rain drops and wind hitting his face as he flew.  He dove through a shattered window, pushing himself past all the broken glass on the floor before he touched the ground. The room lit up with lightning seconds after he crashed in. Virgil stood up and smiled, nodding to Roman and Remus, “Let’s go.”

The door opened and Patton came out with Janus. “Alright, everyone be careful.”

Janus nodded looking at Patton as he shifted back to himself, “I’ll be making sure these idiots don’t get hurt, you didn’t bring medical supplies anyway.”

“I… I don’t use supplies… but thank you.” Patton smiled before walking across the room to the next door. 

Roma bent down taking the ID off one of the guards. He walked over scanning it on the door before opening it up. He nodded looking at everyone, “They’ll know we’re already here, no turning back.” He said before walking up.

Remus and Virgil walked behind Roman, Patton and Janus trailing a bit behind as they all went up the last set of stairs. 

The beginning of the end. 

When they got to the top of the stairs there was only one person sitting in the room. The room was large with white marble floors and grey walls. Most walls were completely covered in windows looking out to the city, rain hit against them rhythmically. Only one man sat in the room though, smiling at them from behind his desk, the boss, the contractor of the assassins.

“Good Evening.”

Roman stood in front of the group as everyone came into the room from the stairwell. 

Virgil glared and pushed Roman out of the way and pulled out a dagger, “You! Ruined my life!” He growled. 

The guy sighed resting his head on his hand, bored, “Hm what a shame. Killed someone you know? Well I’ll let you in on a secret, you’re not the first to come after me. But you won’t be the last, you’re as weak as the rest, why else would you be alive. You’re weak-”

Virgil glared, pulling all the oxygen from the room.

Patton made bubbles around everyone but Virgil to trap some air around them.

Virgil glanced back before looking at the man and walking closer, “You’re weak.” He got behind him and put the dagger to the guy’s throat. He released the air letting it flood back into the man’s lungs as he slit his throat slowly and painfully. 

But he was slow. 

The moment the man dropped his head on his desk dead, still bleeding out of the artery in his neck.

Then thunder boomed, a shot rang out through the room following the thunder. 

Virgil gasped in pain falling to the floor. 

Nobody knew what happened. 

Patton created a bubble around the room before running over to Virgil. 

Roman looked out the window seeing another assassin on the roof of a different building, they had taken their shot… and they hit their target. 

Remus slammed a hand down on the floor and water began to rise up along all the walls. 

Roman looked confused and walked over touching a wall only to not feel anything wet… instead it felt hard, like cement. He looked back at Remus confused before looking over to Virgil. 

Janus kneeled with Patton next to Virgil. He held Virgil’s hand tightly, “Hey, you can’t die!” He glared. 

Patton let go of the bubble around the room and took Virgil’s other hand, “I… I could help you.” He said softly, nodding as tears filled his eyes practically blurring his vision. 

Virgil shook his head, “I’m sorry… you can’t.”

“Serpent! Computer!” Remus called out. 

Janus sighed softly, pushing back Virgil’s hair, “Hold on.” He said.

Virgil nodded softly, “let everyone know what's been happening.” He whispered pained.

Janus got up going over to Remus looking at the computer. “I’m releasing everything.” He quickly opened up the files and the email of the computer. He signed in with an anonymous email as he put in all the major news media companies around them as the recipients. “Alright” he nodded, looking over at Roman who stood in front of the desk staring at the dead corpse in silence. Janus shook his head looking back at the computer as he started to fill the email with files. 

Patton pulled open Virgil's shirt to see the damage… he had a shot wound through and through, right near his heart it was a bit diagonal… it went through Virgil’s lungs and part of his heart… Patton took a deep breath holding Virgil’s hand, “I can’t save you… But I could make this painless… I’ll help you.”

Virgil shook his head, “No… No you don’t” tears rolled constantly down his cheeks, pain filling him. “Don’t… just stay here with me.”

Patton shook his head, he couldn’t stand seeing Virgil in so much pain… the least he could do was make his death painless. Patton took a deep breath holding Virgil’s hand tighter as he took on all Virgil’s pain, absorbing it into himself. He cried out in pain as he took it all, sobs coming from him. 

Virgil held onto Patton’s hand watching him sit in pain as the world began fading out all around him.

Virgil looked out a window watching the rain pour down, and lightning light up the sky, he watched the sky cry as his life faded away. 

____

Patton didn’t remember how they got to wherever they were, he felt out of it the whole time. He opened his eyes to see Janus sitting by him. He looked around, he was in a bed in a dark bedroom. The comforter was black… the room was kinda a gothic theme. “Where-”

Janus smiled softly, “It’s good you’re finally aware… awake. You’re at my home. I temporarily kicked out Roman and… Remus as his name appears to be.”

“Ok…” Patton nodded softly, taking a deep breath. “What happened?” 

“Well after Virgil.. Passed. You were in immense pain. We managed to escape, but it was hard. I decided we’d come here. Roman wouldn’t explain what was wrong, but he was quite distressed, I couldn’t let him come in and potentially distress you more. But I would like you to explain what you did… what happened?”

“I… I couldn’t stand seeing… Virgil? In pain. So… I took it away. It was so much all at once… I… I’ve never felt so much pain. Not just physical, but emotional. I could take away people’s injuries, and their pain. I would’ve died taking on his injury… so I took the pain on.” Patton whispered looking away, “I’m so sorry.”

Janus shook his head taking Patton’s hand, “Relax, it’s ok. You just went through all the pain of dying, relax. You were out of it for two days.”

Patton instantly moved to sit up when Janus’ hand rested on his chest holding him down, “I… two days! What… What happened? During the days I missed, what happened?”

“Well Roman is in hiding with Remus currently, I’ll call them back here soon. The testing sites have closed, the media is spreading select files from the ones I had sent them. Everyone is scared and confused. Nobody is exactly sure what is going to happen from here.” Janus explained softly, “I’ve kept you here at my home while you rested.”

Patton nodded softly, “Alright…”

“Sorry, this must be so much to take in.”

“A little…” 

Janus nodded, he was about to say more when a high pitched whistling. “Oh… That's the tea, would you like some?” He asked getting up. 

“Um sure, thank you.” Patton nodded, smiling.

“Alright, you stay there,” Janus told him. He left the room going into the kitchen, he pulled the kettle off the stove pouring the water into two tea cups with tea bags. He then picked them up walking back to the bedroom. When he came back in, Patton was sitting there just spaced out a bit. “Are you with me, Froggy?”

Patton flinched and looked up at Janus, “sorry, sorry.” He sighed.

“It’s ok, I didn’t expect you to wake up and be perfect.” Janus sat down next to Patton giving him a cup of tea, “Here you go.”

“Thank you.” Patton blew softly on the tea before sipping on it. 

Janus nodded, “You’re welcome, are you hungry at all?”

“Yeah… a bit.”

“That’s perfectly fine, I’ll go get you something to eat, anything specific?”

“Cookies?”

“Sorry, but that is a dessert not a meal.” Janus smiled as he left the room. 

______

Remus sat on his table watching Roman who was silently lost in thought, he hadn’t moved in 3 hours, 3 hours! Remus moved like every minute, no, every few seconds. But here his brother was, still like the dead for 3 hours. Remus was afraid, and intrigued. 

Roman was silent, his mind racing, thoughts coming and going. What was he going to do now? Was he really a bad guy? He was never a hero was he? What was he supposed to do? He didn’t know anyone… His whole life was a lie! The thoughts repeated over and over in his head, a constant spiral with no end, just an infinite loop. 

Yeah… Remus was bored of this, “Roman!” He called at him. 

Roman flinched looking at Remus, “I… uh… sorry I wasn’t listening, what’s wrong?”

“Um you’re what’s wrong… Are you ok? Relatively?”

“Well… No. But, I’m fine.”

“Ro… I’m too dumb to decrypt what you just said, so yes or no, you good?”

“Not exactly, no… Lots of thoughts.”

“Hmm well in that case I’d like to ask you questions, to fill my own empty brain with thoughts.”

“Uh ok?”

Remus smiled hopping up and down on his desk, he pulled out a notebook and a highlighter. “Ok! Question one, Is there a secret tunnel system under the city that the assassins used to get around?”

“What no?-”

“Next question!” Remus nodded. 

It went on for hours, Remus asking several questions, all related to conspiracies and theories that he thought of or supported. Roman sitting answering them in confusion. 

That was until Remus’ phone went off. 

Remus jumped up grabbing his phone and reading the text before breaking out in a grin, a grin in these grim times. 

Roman raised an eyebrow staring, “Is there something amusing?”

“Patton woke up!”

“He woke up?!”

“Yeah!”

“Could we go?” 

“Yep!” Remus jumped up grabbing his jacket and keys, “Let’s go.”

“Wait… do you own a car?”

“I own a unicycle…”

“How am I supposed to come with you if you only have a unicycle?”

“Now… Did I say that I only owned a unicycle? No, no I didn’t. I’m not crazy, I also own a motorcycle with one of those side carts. You could ride in that.”

“No… I’m not riding in that.”

Roman sat in the cramped motorcycle side cart glaring up at Remus from under the stupid helmet, because safety first. 

Remus smiled watching the road as he drove to Janus’ home, as he now knew his name to be. He happily parked in Janus’ driveway before getting off the bike, “Alright! Let’s go inside.” 

Roman grumbled as he got out of the cart and stretched out. He waited till they walked into the house before taking off the helmet. 

Janus stood at the door looking amused as he opened it, “You didn’t take the unicycle.”

“Why does everyone assume that is my only mode of transportation?!” Remus exclaimed, shaking his head and rolling his eyes. 

“Because you’re insane.” Roman replied, crossing his arms. 

“You can’t call me that! You’re my brother! We’re related! So you’re insane too then.”

“Well… I was an assassin, by your logic you are too because we’re related. But I don’t see you killing anybody.”

“Mmmm, fine.” Remus glared and pouted. “So how is Patton!”

Patton came out of the bedroom, “I’m ok… Just feeling better.” Patton smiled softly. 

Remus nodded, smiling. 

Roman waved slightly, “I’m glad you’re alright.” He said with a nod. 

Janus nodded softly, “He will be alright.”

“What do you-”

“He went through all the pain of death, he will be traumatized…” Janus replied, nodding to him. 

Roman nodded softly. 

Remus went over to Patton and sat down with him talking. 

Roman looked over at the two sitting, “I’m leaving… You’ll take care of Patton… Right? He’s my only friend.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’m not sure… I just need to get away.”

“Are you sure?”

“I need to… I’ll come back… But I don’t know when. I’m just confused, I’ve spent my whole life thinking I was doing good and being a hero. Now I don’t know what to think.” Roman sighed, running a hand through his hair, “I… I just need to go.” 

Janus nodded softly, “I understand. Could you wait a week? We’re holding a small funeral, could you wait and leave after that?”

“I could wait till then,” Roman nodded, agreeing.

“Thank you.” Janus flashed him a smile before walking away and going back over to where Remus and Logan were sitting. 

Roman stood there staring at the three before coming over after a few moments. He sat down listening to Remus and Patton talking. 

___________

It was raining, thunder cracking in the air. 

Janus stood with Remus, Roman, and Patton. Two coffins in front of them. All holding black umbrellas as they stared at the coffins and the holes they were to be buried in. 

Janus stepped forward sighing lightly placing a black rose on one of them, “Goodbye.” He whispered then glanced at the other coffin, “Thank you for being there for him.” 

Patton went over and placed a hand on Janus’ shoulder, he lightly put a yellow rose on the coffin and looked at the second. “The other is…”

“Logan… His boyfriend.” Janus said softly. 

Roman heard and slightly took a step back from everyone and looked at the ground. 

Patton nodded, “At least… they’re together. I know how much Virgil missed him.”

“You felt his grief?” Janus asked, looking at him surprised. 

“I felt all his pain, even emotional.” Patton nodded before stepping back. 

Remus stepped closer putting a daisy on the casket, roots, dirt, and all. 

Roman waited a moment before stepping forward he leaned over placing two white roses, one on each casket before stepping back. 

Janus lingered next to the coffins before looking at the cemetery attendant and nodded before stepping back. 

Remus stepped closer to Janus, “Ready to go?”

Janus took a deep breath, “Yeah…” He glanced back and nodded, “Let’s go.” 

Remus nodded and led the way to Janus’ car. 

Patton stayed next to Janus as he walked back. 

They all got to the car and Roman stepped away, “Thank you… all of you.”

Patton tilted his head, “What?”

“I’m sorry Patton, I’m leaving.” 

“Why?”

“I just… I have to, just for a while, I’ll try to come back.” Roman sighed. 

Patton ran forward into Roman, pulling him into a tight hug. “I’ll see you soon.”

“I’ll see you again Patt…” 

Remus walked over pulling Roman into a hug as soon as Patton let go, “I can’t believe I’m losing you as soon as I found you again.”

“I know… I hope to get to know you. But you know I have to do this.”

“Yeah… I get it. Figure everything out, then come back, we’ll be here.”

Roman nodded letting go of Remus, “Thanks for the motorcycle, But I took off the sidecar.” He smiled walking over to the motorcycle. 

“Yeah, whatever. I better get it back safe!” Remus called at him.

“Remus, it’s alright, if your unicycle tire pops I could always let you ride in my car.” Janus said getting into his car with Patton getting in the back seat. 

Remus sighed, “Alright, b- I’ll see you again.”

“See ya again.” Roman nodded. He put on the helmet driving away. 

Remus got into the car with Janus and Patton.

Janus took another glance at the cemetery as he pulled away and drove home. He was silent during the ride just watching the road. Everything was changing and different, it had taken only a week and he lost his best friend and gained new… friends… 

Logan and Virgil were buried. 

Roman left to figure out what he was doing and to take a step back from where he was lied to his whole life. 

Patton was staying with Janus. Remus had finished his life’s work of finding his brother. 

Now from here everything was ambiguous. As much as Janus didn’t like it, he didn’t have any plans anymore. 

Patton looked out the window during the drive, the signs of getting your powers tested torn down, testing sites boarded up. He was tense looking at everything he had always aided in not knowing what he was helping. 

Remus reached over taking Patton’s hand, “Just breathe… Everything's ok.” He whispered, smiling. 

Patton nodded, “Everything will get better?”

“By time Roman is back everything will have a new normal.” 

Patton nodded, “That’s good.” 

They arrived at the house. 

Janus got out then opened Patton’s door helping him and Remus out. “Let’s go inside, I'd rather not be soaked by the rain. 

Patton nodded and ran with Remus to the door. Remus picking the lock and running in. 

Janus took a deep breath looking up at the sky and closing his eyes for a moment before walking inside the house.  _______________________

Notes: Written using this short Fic Idea ________________ General Tag List @crazy-multifandomfangirl @aceawkwardunicorn @mistythegenderqueermess

[itmighthavebeenintentional]

We've Got Tonight - Ch 2

Summary: “It’s not your job to do this, Andy. You make people happy. I was in the diner all of ten minutes, and you knew exactly how to get me to smile. You do normal, real things like garden and sing karaoke. Saving the world is my job, Sam’s job. Sometimes it’s even Cas’s job, but it’s not yours.”

Inspired by Bob Seger’s “We’ve Got Tonight”

Warnings: Major Character Death, More Major Character Deaths (sort of?), higher than show level violence, blood, light smutting, language, demons, apocalypse, inferred suicide, cult activity.

18+ ONLY, MINORS DO NOT PROCEED

Author’s Note: This story is set hazily around season 8. Just squint a little, and it’ll settle in somewhere. I wrote this story after certain big revelations in the show, but before other big ones; you’ll most likely be able to tell which. I play with time a bit in the story itself, so if things seem out of order, they are. Hopefully, by the end, all the pieces will fit together.

What the hell, let’s give it a shot.

Image and major edits by the incomparable @there-must-be-a-lock . Heavy editing and cheering by @thoughtslikeaminefield . Thank you both so much.

This is the longest chapter, but it's worth it, I promise.

Word Count: Ch 2 - 2952

In case you missed it: Chapter 1 ItMightHaveBeenintentional’s Masterlist

...

We've Got Tonight

Chapter 2

Clutching the strap of her backpack in a death grip, Andy silently crosses the landing. She places her foot on the top stair just as Dean rounds the corner from the hallway below her, both hands fisted in his hair. Even from this distance she can read the lines of tension in his shoulders. Her stomach twists, nausea and joy warring at the sight of him, and she can’t decide if she should turn and sprint for the door or throw herself at him and admit absolutely every foolish thing she’s done.

No. No, not foolish. She’s saving the world. That’s only a little stupid. She’s saving Cas and Sam. That’s good. She’s saving Dean.

That’s non-negotiable.

Then her weight settles on her foot, and the goddamned step creaks. Dean’s eyes snap to hers. For one hopeful moment, relief and genuine happiness flood his expression, and he smiles. The unclouded light shining from his face scraps any thoughts she has of bolting, and Andy makes it halfway down the steps before she’s engulfed in his arms.

He embraces her fiercely, and Andy allows herself a couple of seconds of peace and comfort, of the sense that she’s somehow home even though she’s only known him for a few weeks. Then the overwhelming realization of everything she’s signed away comes crashing down, closing her throat, choking off her air, and suddenly even the heat and safety radiating from Dean into her very bones isn't enough to ward off the chill of dread.

But she’s doing this to save him, to save Sam, to save...everyone. So, really, she’s not losing anything. If you save something, it’s not lost, so, really, she’s not losing anything.

Right?

Then her face is trapped between his hands, his face inches away, his eyes boring into hers with that burning intensity. The lies evaporate on her tongue, and she wracks her brain. What was she supposed to tell him? She has to say it before he starts questioning her, or she’ll blurt out every single thing she swore she wouldn’t.

“Are you okay? Where the hell were you? Was it those anti-Jesus freaks? How did you get away?”

What? Oh, yeah. The cultists. The whole reason she has a lovely new scar on her left arm and she met the Winchesters in the first place. The source of all their current troubles. Well, the main source, aside from her blood. Yeah, that would have been a good cover story, too.

Shit.

“Andy?”

“I’m fine, Dean,” she manages, thankful at how little her voice shakes. She puts forth the effort of the ages and extricates herself from his grip, an act she recognizes as necessary while regretting it all the same. “I’m sorry I scared you. I had a lead, and I had to leave right away. They were really twitchy when I first contacted them, and I thought they might take off if I waited too long or tried to take anyone else, and by the time I realized I’d lost my phone it was too late to come back.”

Anger and disbelief seep into his expression, tainting the relief that animated him only moments before. “Okay, first of all, we’re going to have a long, detailed talk about taking off on your own for any reason without backup, much less chasing your own leads, because no. Just no. Second, what the hell? Did all phones between here and wherever the hell you went just vanish?”

“You programmed your numbers into my cell, but I never memorized them. I didn’t have any way to contact you once I got there, and-”

“And you couldn’t leave a damn note?!”

Deep breath. Keep steady.

“Look, I’m really wrecked, Dean, it was a long drive, and it ended up a bust. The guy never showed. I’m dying for a shower and some food. You can interrogate me all you want, but can we not do it right here, right now?”

She pushes past him, brushing him off in a way she’s never done before, but if he keeps gazing into her soul with those jade laser beams of his, she’s going to lose every ounce of self-control. Her fingers tremble with strain, and she clutches her bag tighter, determined to hold herself together for his sake.

She only gets a couple of seconds of reprieve, though, just barely making it off the staircase. He catches up with her as she passes the map table, aiming for escape through the library, and he snatches her elbow. His grip is harsh as he pulls her around to face him, and her fingers fumble at the fierce heat behind his eyes. Her backpack drops, spilling its contents on the floor.

Her stomach bottoms out. She immediately tries to crouch down, to stuff her papers and books back in before Dean can see them, but his grip tightens on her arm, and he forces her back up to meet his eyes.

“You don’t get to disappear for two and a half days and then just-”

“Andy!”

Oh, thank god for Sam.

Andy takes advantage of Dean’s surprise to pull out of his grasp, but before she can bend down, she’s engulfed in a second, longer set of arms that feels almost as much like home as his brother’s.

God, what has she done? She really is going to lose everything. But this has to be worth it. Saving them is worth it, she knows it is. It’s going to be okay.

“Andy, are you okay? Where were you?” Sam is still in his concerned phase, and she’d like to make her exit to gather her thoughts before he hits Dean’s level of suspiciously pissed. She knows of no force in Heaven or Hell that can withstand the combined onslaught of Dean’s anger and Sam’s lectures.

“She says she found a lead,” Dean cuts in before she can try to explain herself. He’s definitely on the outer edges of pissed, and that’s fine. She can handle pissed, she just has to figure out what to do before he reaches volcanic levels of anger.

She drops down before anyone else can stop her and starts shoveling handfuls of papers in her bag. She needs to get them out of sight. She should have burned them, why didn’t she burn them, god if Sam sees some of it, he’ll know what she did without her having said a word to him, and -

“Andy, what the hell is this?”

Dean’s voice has dropped to a low, measured growl, and her eyes slide shut in dismay.

Don’t admit to anything, you don’t know what he found, just -

“You said you lost your phone, and now it falls out of your damned bag? You’re lying to me? Why-”

“Maybe because of this,” Sam cuts in, and she hears a rustle of papers from her other side, and she swears that it’s the loudest sound she’s heard in her entire life. It doesn’t matter which of her papers or which book Sam is showing his brother. They are all equally damning, and she really should have known better than to think she could get away with this plan.

“I had to do something. We were running out of time, so I made a decision while I still could.”

She’s impressed and surprised at the steadiness in her voice, the actual conviction. She is equally surprised to find herself standing when she opens her eyes, looking down at two of the most important people in the world, one of whom is regarding her with dismayed shock, and the other…

Her stomach wars with her brain; rational thought says the logical response to someone glaring at her with as much venom as Dean is packing is to run. Her stomach, on the other hand, is fully in favor of ejecting all contents in sheer terror. Somehow, she manages to shove down both impulses and stand her ground.

There’s a long moment where it seems like the whole bunker, the whole world, holds its breath, waiting for something to snap the tension. To Andy’s astonishment, Sam breaks in before Dean’s temper can explode.

“Tell me you didn’t. After everything we’ve told you, everything you know about us and our history, you called a crossroads demon? Where did you even find the summoning spell?”

She turns incredulous eyes on the younger Winchester. “Sam. I...really, Sam? When I asked to help, you put me on research. I didn't know where to look, and you gave me a stack of books, most of which had some variation of that or a similar spell in it. You gave me access to one of the world’s biggest fix-its, and you didn’t think I would do something with that?”

Sam opens his mouth, his face set with stubborn indignity, but he falls silent as Dean stands abruptly. He stalks past Andy, his silence far more worrisome than any shouting or lecturing could ever be. He stops at the bottom of the library steps, gripping the back of his neck like he’d rather have his fingers wrapped around something’s throat, and he stands like that for what feels like forever.

“I made a deal. To save you, Sam, Cas. Everyone. I had to do it.” Andy can’t stop the words that tumble from her trembling lips, and she can only be thankful that she doesn’t have to see Dean’s face as she says them. She should never have tried to lie to him, to them both, but especially not to him. Not after all the lies he’s had to live through.

“I won’t apologize. I found a way out of the end of the world when we had no other options, and I took it.”

Dean stands stiffly, unmoving as she confesses to his back. Sam wisely keeps his mouth shut, kneeling on the floor to look through Andy’s papers, avoiding looking at either of them. The gravid silence that hangs over the room is broken only by the thudding of her heart and the crinkle of pages as Sam rifles through her backpack’s spilled contents.

“Explain. Now.” Dean’s words are quiet and caustic, their bitterness cutting Andy straight to the heart.

This isn’t what she wanted, but their time is too short to try to work everything out. There will be nothing like a fairy tale ending for them, so she forces herself to say what she can. There are still some details she doesn’t want to tell him; if he knew everything, he could keep her here, keep her from going back to finish the deal, and she absolutely cannot let that happen.

“I did what you and Sam do every day. I did my research, I made a plan, and I faced the monsters. I made a choice, Dean.” She only just keeps the notes of desperation from creeping into her voice, though it’s a near thing.

He moves as she speaks, turning back to the table, his face inscrutable as he leans down to grip the back of one of the chairs. He holds onto it as if it’s the only thing keeping him together, and she feels a ridiculous stab of sympathy for the piece of furniture that’s bound to come to a bad end.

“And you think sneaking around, lying to all of us, and making a deal with a crossroads demon is going to magically fix everything?”

He’s too calm, too quiet. The chair creaks ominously under his fingers, and Andy takes a hasty step back. Sam rises, his forehead wrinkled with concern as he takes a step towards the table.

“Andy, just tell us the details,” Sam interjects, his tone low and placating, like he’s trying to calm a cornered animal. “We can figure out a way to get you out of the deal. What did the demon you met with look like? Did they tell you their name? How much time do you have?”

“God DAMN IT!”

Dean slings the chair to the side, and it skates over the floor, shredding through her papers before slamming into a support pillar with a deafening metallic clang and careening across the room. Sam steps up protectively next to her, his hands half-raised like he can’t decide if he should try to talk his brother down or block more pieces of flying furniture.

“Why, Andy? Why didn’t you just wait for Sam or Cas to find something? We were looking!”

“There was no time left, Dean!” She knows there aren’t enough words in any language to explain her decision in a way that will satisfy him. It doesn’t matter to him that she’s one of the sources of all their troubles right now, or that she is an adult who was perfectly capable of making decisions about her life long before the Wonderful Winchesters and their guardian angel rode into town.

“We had days left, at best! I don’t want this anymore than you did, but it was my blood that started this whole disaster, my blood the cult needs to finish everything, literally everything! It’s my blood that’s the solution to this whole shitshow, and that means it’s my mess to clean up. I learned that much from you and Sam, at least! You clean up the messes you make, whether you meant to make them or not. You, of all people, could at least try to understand!”

“Understand what?! That you think selling your soul will actually fix anything?”

Dean closes the distance between them, his fingers digging hard into her shoulders, knocking Sam to the side as he disregards all concepts of personal space.

“Selling your soul never solves a damned thing! And don’t you think for one second I’m gonna let you go through with this deal.”

“I’ve already gone through with it, I signed the contract. You can’t stop it, and you can’t change it. He said you’d try, and-”

“Wait a minute, ‘he’?” Sam cuts in, and Dean’s face flushes a deeper shade of crimson.

“You didn’t. Tell me you didn’t make a deal with that son of a bitch Crowley.”

Fuck.

“I made a call,” Andy finally answers. “I was either going to hell and taking the rest of the world with me, or I was going by myself and keeping the rest of you safe.”

“You had no right-”

“To make decisions about my life? The hell I don’t, it’s my life, Dean! Who gave you the right-”

“We were supposed to be in it together, you and me! It’s not just your life, and you damned well know it!”

The three of them stand frozen, the words echoing faintly through the enormous room. Sam gaping at the two of them, Dean grips Andy like he thinks she’s about to bolt, and Andy tries desperately to remember why she’s not simply throwing herself into Dean’s arms.

Castiel, with his impeccable timing, chooses this moment to enter the bunker. The creaking door catches their attention, and all eyes turn to Cas, who stands on the landing, surveying the tableau of chaos beneath him. His eyebrows lower, his consternation clear.

“Andrea?” Cas’s voice is confused but gentle as he cautiously descends the stairs. She knows from the stories Sam and Dean have told her that her friend has a fearsome warrior side that makes even the worst demons think twice before approaching, but she’s never seen a hint of that part of him.

She’s seen this man soberly examining a bowl of Cheetos, questioning their attractiveness to large, feline predators; she has a difficult time picturing him facing down the worst monsters the universe has to offer, and yet, according to Sam and Dean, he does so without hesitation on a regular basis.

Which is why his cautious approach should really worry her.

“Dean, is it really necessary to hold on to Andrea quite that hard? You’re bound to leave bruises, and she doesn’t seem to be attempting to leave.”

Dean releases Andy abruptly. His face is dark and lined with the effort of repressing his rage, and he storms past the bewildered angel. He stops at the bottom of the stairs, hand on the banister, legs flexing and trembling as if he has to force himself to stop even that long. Sam takes a step towards him, but Cas holds out a restraining hand, and for once, Sam complies, though he looks seconds away from protesting.

“You should’ve waited, Andy. You should’ve talked to me, given me a chance to find something, anything but this. I can’t...I’m done. I’m fucking done.”

He climbs the stairs three furious steps at a time and is out the door before anyone can think of how to stop him, leaving Andy lost in the remnants of his anger and her shoulders aching more from the loss of his grip than the roughness of it. Her throat is burning, her jaw aching with strain, but her eyes are dry.

There was no other way, there just wasn’t. I did the right thing, and damn Dean to Hell if he thinks I’m going to cry for that.

“Andrea?”

Cas reaches out and steadies Andy, his grasp gentle and comforting in stark contrast to Dean’s furious hold. He considers her for a long moment before finally speaking.

“Our lack of information regarding your whereabouts was quite troubling, and we assumed the worst.”

“Maybe not the absolute worst,” Sam sighs, leaning wearily against the table. He scrubs his hands over several days’ worth of stubble before rubbing his eyes. When he speaks again, he can’t even meet her eyes, and an acidic splinter of shame twists in her stomach.

“You really should have waited, Andy.” ...

Chapter 3

[danny-chase]

hello! if you're still taking requests for your bthb card, could i request Insomnia with Dick Grayson?

Thanks for the request! In case anyone's wondering, requests are still open :D

Insomnia - Read on AO3

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Titans (Comics), Nightwing (Comics) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Major Character Death Relationships: Dick Grayson & Roy Harper, Dick Grayson & Donna Troy, Dick Grayson/Joseph Wilson, Dick Grayson & Jason Todd Characters: Dick Grayson, Roy Harper, Barbara Gordon (implied), Donna Troy, Joseph Wilson, Jason Todd, Lilith Clay (briefly), Danny Chase (briefly), Lian Harper (briefly) Additional Tags: Emotional Whump, Dick Grayson Whump, Protective Roy Harper, Dick Grayson Needs a Hug, Dick Grayson Gets a Hug, Kissing, POV Alternating, POV Dick Grayson, POV Roy Harper, Black Eye, Minor Injuries, Minor Violence, Sleep Deprivation, Angst with a Hopeful Ending, Pancakes, IHOP Series: Part 7 of Bad Things Happen Bingo Summary:

An old friend comes to visit when Dick finds himself unable to fall asleep.

Full story under cut

Now: A doorbell sharply buzzed as Roy walked through the glass door, a half-asleep attendant perking up in front of him. The room was cramped, the flooring tacky, unkempt ancient wallpaper peeled at the seams. A bucket sat in the corner catching a steady drip of – what he hoped was – water.

The lady gave him an unimpressed look, her manicured nails clattering against the keys of a dusty old laptop. “You here for a parole meeting?” Roy rolled his eyes.

“Lady, do I look like I’m here for a parole meeting?” She shrugged, shuffling some papers. Her icy blue eyes lingered on his sling for a moment.

“Could have fooled me, you get in a fight?” Crossing her arms, she stared at him challengingly.

He widened his stance. “Nah I’m here for-”

“Robbie Malone.” A robotic voice chipped in his ear.

“Robbie Malone, you can charge bail to this card.” He finished, slipping an envelope out of his pocket.

Clacking away, she sliced open the envelope. “I’ll need proof of ID.” She continued, not giving him a second glance. He bristled, placing his left hand on the counter, flexing his muscles. The clattering sped up, growing louder as she determinedly focused on the screen. “Waiting room is over there.” She titled her head towards a dark hallway.

“Everything alright?” The earpiece buzzed. Dingy lights flickered as he made his way to the room. He sighed as he entered the room, finding a too-small uncomfortable looking chair.

“Peachy.” Leaning against the doorway, he rubbed his aching right arm, breathing deeply. Crossing the room, he took his place in the shitty chair. Tilting his head back, he stared at the off-white, water-stained ceiling.

How the hell did we get here?

Last Night: Dick aimlessly stared up, counting the holes in the safe-house’s ceiling tiles. If he counted one row and one column he could multiply them – but he kept messing up and starting over.

This wasn’t productive. He should be doing literally anything else. He was moping, this was pointless, he ought to-

Shit, I lost count.

He started over. In truth – he’d tried getting up but a weight in his chest pinned him to the spot. Stars danced above his head – mixing with the holes - but he couldn’t bring himself to care – he was just… so tired.

There’d been a human trafficking ring – it was gruesome sure, but he’d seen gruesome before - he’d been managing fine – then obsessed – he let this happen - this was his fault – Bruce would be disappointed – Babs too –

Fuck it, he didn’t care anymore. And he lost his count.

He felt awful – like his body was imploding. He needed a shower. Couldn’t remember the last time he ate. He hadn’t slept in five(?) – he wasn’t keeping track anymore but he didn’t even have an excuse not to sleep anymore.

He could sleep any time he wanted.

Yeah - he chose not to sleep…

Totally.

He closed his eyes. The case was over – that’s what was bothering him right? He could sleep now – he was fine – the kids were safe – everyone was safe – everyone was –

Don’t think about it.

His eyes shot open before he could see her face. His insides squirmed – he rolled over, picking himself off the floor, compelled to do something – he couldn’t patrol, Bruce had helped with cleanup and ordered him home – the thought of food was nauseating, that was out – he could clean… but he didn’t even know where to start – he could –

Someone knocked on the door… was he expecting someone? At… what time was it? It was dark out and the clock was too blurry to read. Another knock and he lost his train of thoughts.

Drawn forward, as if in a daze, he gripped the door-knob, twisting before even bothering to look through the peephole.

That’s how Barbara got shot. Bruce’s voice chided.

He grinned as he swung open the door, revealing a shining face. “Donna.” He nearly tripped over the doorstep, Donna laughing at his antics, spreading her arms wide.

“Good to see you, Boy Wonder. Heard you were having a rough night, I thought you might want to talk?” Dick nodded, already enveloping her in a tight hug, lost in the faint scent of coconut shampoo. “Let’s take a walk.”

Now: Roy sat, watching a clock across from him tick. His ass hurt – arm hurt – he hadn’t eaten breakfast. He was supposed to spend the day with Lian – but fuck – here he was cleaning up after the batboy. Dick owed him pancakes. With chocolate chips. Maybe eggs. Homecooked – like he used to make post-successful mission.

Who was he kidding?

He was sitting in a county jail waiting around for a friend he hadn’t talked to in nearly a month. They couldn’t just eat pancakes and magically fix everything. Rubbing his eyes, he tried to ignore the awkwardness of the situation.

It was a shame – Dick’s pancakes were amazing. Yeah. Pancakes…

Had the clock grown louder when he wasn’t watching?

He pulled out his phone, resolving to find the nearest IHop. If things were going to be awkward, he would at least have food to distract him. “You owe me a meal.” He whispered into the earpiece.

“There’s an iHop 5 minutes away. Turn left coming out and it’ll be on your right.”

“How did you-”

“I’m amazed you think I can’t get into your phone.” Showoff. He quietly whistled.

“Rob’s got friends in high places.” The voice was silent for a moment. It was the weirdest thing (albeit not the weirdest thing that had happened to him) – someone had just slipped an envelope and earpiece on his kitchen table – a letter O was written on an attached sticky note.

“You’d be right about that.” There was an unspoken rule in the superhero community – never turn down an assignment for Oracle.

Last Night: Metal squealed as he swung back and forth on a little swing set. “I miss this.” He pumped his legs forward. “We should do stupid shit more often.” He flipped off the swing – doing a perfect double flip before landing. “You see that?” He beamed, turning to face – “Donna?!”

“Yes, yes, you’re brilliant. The crowd goes wild.” She rolled her eyes, politely clapping. “But I came out to talk to youuu, and you haven’t even told me how you’re doing.” She swung her legs, keeping her swing impossibly still. Well. She was Donna – she was perfect – she could do things like that.

“I’m fine.” He solved the case after all – that was what had been keeping him up – he could sleep after this.

“Dick…” The corners of her mouth turned down, pulling at the strings of his heart as they went – Donna was perfect, he was having fun – things were fine.

“Don’t – please – I’m fine, I don’t want to fight right now.” His mouth went dry, his pulse speeding uncontrollably. “Could we just… keep hanging out on the swings? Like we used to?” His legs shook, knees threatening to give out. “Please?” He croaked.

“Okay.” She pulled out a camera, smiling. “Next time, I’ll take a picture.”

Now: This was taking forever. He impatiently tapped the side of the chair, staring at the blank wall ahead of him.

“I can play music.” The voice offered.

“How long is this going to take?” He groaned – his arm throbbed; he left his ibroufen at home. Fuck. His. Life.

“Maybe thirty more minutes.” Came the guess.

“I’ve been here forever.” He complained; he was starting to suspect the lady was purposefully taking her time.

“It’s only been one hour.” The voice deadpanned. “Quit whining or I’ll play country.” Roy sighed.

“You got Rob’s playlist?” Maybe it was silly, but listening to his friends’ playlists made him feel a bit closer to them. And dammit, he missed Dick.

“Mmmhmm.” If nothing else, Dick’s trash taste in music was better than country.

Last Night: He caught a glimpse of a familiar face walking towards the playground. His heart swelled, chest lifting as he leaped off the swing.

He fumbled the landing, recovering quickly – and running, he spread his arms open wide. “Joey?!” His feet pounded on the grass, and he launched himself into a flying hug, momentum accidentally carrying them both to the ground. Dick laughed, hugging Joe tight, hands racing through his golden curls.

Empathetic eyes found his, concern clear, swimming behind stunning green irises. It was as if Joey was looking in his soul – or rather - his heart. Joey started signing. ‘Are you-’

Dick cut him off. “I’m fine, can I just – have this?” Joey’s face softened, leaning forward. Dick closed the gap between them, cradling the back of his head in his hands. Their lips met, butterflies filling his stomach – he was on top of the world - completely invincible in the moment. He slipped a hand up, feeling Joey’s steady pulse, and moved down, adorning his neck with a kiss.

Joey tenderly pressed a kiss to the crown of his head. ‘Not here.’ He signed. They were in public – not that he cared.

“I love you.” Dick protested, standing, and pulling Joey to his feet. He kissed his hand, tugging him into another hug. “I should have told you sooner.” He whispered.

They stood, illuminated by moonlight – melding into one. Joey was soft and warm, and smelled of honeysuckle. He felt nineteen again, dumb and in love, with everything to lose – but everything to gain, spending reckless nights flirting and teasing. Donna cheered in the distance. It was breathtaking, he was happier than he’d felt in years.

Perfection was something he was always searching for – and this – right here – he’d finally found it.

Joey pulled back, signing again. ‘I love you too.’ He smiled softly, studying his face. ‘You haven’t been sleeping.’ Reaching out, he gently pushed back Dick’s bangs, leaning forward for a quick kiss before pulling away again. ‘You promised not to do this.’

Dick brushed off his worry, taking Joey by the hands. “I swear I’m fine – I feel better than I have in years now you’re both here.”

Someone laughed behind him. No. It can’t be. The laugh continued, tinkling like a little bell. Joey placed a hand on his shoulder, tears welling in his eyes as he turned.

“Jason?”

Now: “Rob?” Dick stepped into the little room, stonily staring at the floor. Stubble decorated his unshaven face, his left eye swelling – bruises blossoming across his face. The skin under both was dark and puffy, his eyes bloodshot. Roy rose to his feet - automatically rushing forward. The lady stepped between them, getting in his face and handing him a thousand papers to sign.

“You’ve got to be kidding me, he needs medical attention.” Roy bit back a scream. Dick crossed his arms, refusing to meet his eyes, as he tried to get a better look. His mouth was set in a taught line, as if determined to show no emotion.

“He refused. Sign the papers.” The lady spat, shoving a pen at him.

“You better fu-”

“Play nice!” Chided the voice in his ear. “Just sign the papers. I’ll pay for all the pancakes you can eat.”

“Excuse me?” Frost tinged the woman’s words. She turned on her heel, whipping her hair around – almost hitting his face as she stormed back to her desk.

“I’m signing the goddamn papers.” He aggressively clicked the pen open. Fuck this. He scribbled his signature as fast as he could, flying through the papers, throwing them each at the lady as he finished.

Dick remained silent, staring at the floor, standing completely still.

“What the fuck did you even do?” The woman sneered at him disapprovingly. He shoved the last paper at her, throwing the pen on the counter. Dick remained silent.

“They picked him up at 3rd street park this morning.” The voice supplied. “He’s charged with loitering and resisting arrest.”

Last Night: “It can’t…” He trailed off, looking at Jason’s grinning face.

“Sure it can.” Jason asserted, darting forward. “Tag!” His heart leaped, as he ran after. Laughing, Jason took the steps to the little castle two at a time, meeting Lilith at the top.

“Oh no, I don’t want to play.” She put her hands up. “Get Danny instead!” He turned, watching Danny wave from over by the fountain. He kept contorting the water into different shapes.

Dick grinned, running forward. “No way, I’m going for my baby brother!” Jason snorted, flaunting around on top of a slide. His smile was so wide – always so wide –

Robin gives me magic.

Dick doubled his speed, they should go for ice cream after this – just the two of them, like old times.

“Please, as if an old geezer could catch me.” Jason taunted, doing a cartwheel as Dick started climbing up a rock wall to the top. “Especially with the shape he’s in.”

“I’m in better shape than you!” He teased back.

“You really aren’t.” Donna’s face appeared at his side startling him, he found himself losing his grip – falling back off the rock wall. His shoulders hit woodchips, knocking the wind out of him. “If you were, that wouldn’t have happened.” She pointed out.

Dick couldn’t breathe – his lungs were frozen – he couldn’t –

Joey kneeled on his other side, helping him sit up. He wheezed, desperately sucking in air.

“See you can breathe.” Jason’s head popped out overtop the wall. “Must be nice.” He muttered.

“What -” he panted, “do you… mean?” A coughing fit overtook him. Donna slapped his back.

“Really?” Jason looked at him mournfully. “You’re being pathetic.”

“Jason!” Donna chided. “Quit reminding him we’re-”

“Don’t!” Dick sputtered, burying his chest in Joey’s shirt. It smelled like honeysuckle – honeysuckle and lilac. “Please!” This was all he had left. “Don’t take this from me. Please, Jason – PLEASE!” Broken fragments and shards of memories.

“Robin?” Tears spilled over into Joey’s shirt. His heart was bursting in his chest. Let him have this. Please. For just a moment more. Joey pushed him back slightly.

Jason popped up in front of him, looking at him accusingly. “I thought I was Robin.”

Now: “Dick, what happened to you?” Roy asked, rummaging through the trunk. No response. He looked up through the rear-view mirror. Dick stared out the window – looking at nothing at all. “Dick?” What the hell?

His hands closed around the first aid kid. He slammed the trunk walking back up to the front seat.

“How is he?” Roy nearly dropped the kit, anger overcoming him.

“How is he?! How is he?!” He flailed his arms. “That’s it! You fucking Bat people just keep pushing and pushing each other - tell Bruce he’s FUCKING OUT OF THE GAME – that’s all you fucking people care about isn’t it-”

“-Roy you don’t understand-”

“I UNDERSTAND JUST FINE!” A couple across the street stared at him. He shooed them off, putting his phone up to his ear belatedly as a cover.

“We love him too.” The voice insisted. “I only want what’s best for him. So does Bruce.”

“Then where the fuck is he? And why isn’t he the one bailing him out?” The line went silent for a moment.

“I said I wanted what’s best for him. Why do you think I sent you?” Roy found himself speechless – not a problem, the voice continued. “Wally was busy, and Garth is still in the hospital, and you should visit him by the way, Dick’s only been stopping by at night - they haven’t even talked! ROY! Don’t talk to me about understanding Dick Grayson, you aren’t the only person who gives a shit about him.”

Roy pinched the bridge of his nose. What the fuck was going on? “Does Bruce even know?” Another pause.

“No.”

“What do you want me to do?” Roy watched cars whiz past on the little town road.

Finally, the voice replied. “I don’t know.”

Last Night: A calloused hand rested on his shoulder. His fists still clenched Joey’s shirt, tears blurring his vision.

“Dick, aren’t you going to turn around?” Jason asked, squatting on the ground. Panic overtook him.

“I can’t.” He tucked his knees to his chest. She can’t see me like this. He was pathetic.

“Mm.” Donna hummed knowingly. “Why not?”

“You know.” Joey gently patted his back as he squeezed harder.

“I do.” She dropped down slipping an arm over Jason’s shoulders. “But I’d like to hear you say it.”

“Why are you doing this?” He choked back a sob. “Can’t we just… talk on the swings – and Jason we can go out for ice cream you can meet Danny and Joey and Lilith can come and - ”

“Dick. Look at me.” Donna placed a hand on his shoulder, waiting until he met her eyes. “You know we can’t stay.”

“You can’t tell me you don’t know this is all in your head. You’re smarter than that.” Jason kicked wood chips without spraying any around. “We didn’t die so you could end up like this.” Joey tapped his shoulder.

‘What he means is, we love you and it hurts to see you like this.’

“Dick, if you won’t talk to us, could you talk to them.” Donna sadly smiled.

“I’m sorry.” He was a disappoint – a failure – it was his fault – his –

“Deep down you know I made a decision.” Donna stated. “And that I don’t regret it.” Dick jumped to his feet. “What do you mean you don’t regret it – you fucking DIED FOR ME, DONNA. HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO ME?!” He grabbed her by the front of her overalls, she just sadly smiled as he shook her. “YOU LEFT ME ALONE! IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ME – DONNA – HOW COULD YOU!?” She shrugged as he screamed, dropping to the ground. “It’s hard for you to look at me?! Try looking at your graves and knowing that you’re the reason you died!”

Joey placed a hand on his shoulder. Dick stared at him. “I’m so tired of being alive.” He confessed. Joey pulled him into a hug. “Just. Let me stay with you… please.” He breathed in, but the scent of honeysuckle was long gone - the warmth of Joey’s body fading. “Please?”

“Dickie.” He’d nearly forgotten the sound of his father’s voice. “You have someone to get back to.”

“Multiple someones.” Donna added.

“A new little Robin.” Jason noted. “Take care of him for me, okay?”

“Can’t you just stay?” Joey shook his head. The hand slipped off his shoulder.

“Sleep well, love. Take care of yourself. We love you.”

He turned, diving for a hug, finding nothing but empty air, as he skidded through woodchips, splinters tearing through his skin. Someone grabbed his shoulder and he screamed, clamping onto their wrist. No. No one was getting away this time. Just as he looked up, a blow finally sent him into darkness.

Now: “So… How are the pancakes?” Roy shoved another scoop into his own mouth. Dick poked at his plate without actually eating anything. “Hey, I bought those. You’re going to eat them.” Dick wistfully swirled a piece around in syrup. “Lian’s going to be jealous.” A spark of recognition passed through Dick’s eyes at the mention of her name.

Alright. New tactics then. Talk about his daughter. Oh, this would be easy. “She’s been getting math homework recently. Math homework! Can you believe it? She’s in first grade and this teacher is already giving out math!” He blundered through the conversation, Dick slowly looking up to make eye contact. “And it’s not the crap we learned as kids either. They want them to count a whole different way! I mean how on earth do you count differently.”

“Binary.” Dick suggested, Roy tried not to cringe at how rough and raw his voice sounded.

“So, you could help her with that, yeah?” Two birds, one stone. “She needs help and you’re the best math nerd I know.” Dick turned to stare mournfully out the window. “Finish your food, we’ll go back to my house, you can sleep, and I’ll bring home Lian, and when your brain’s working again you can help her with math, sound good - yeah?”

He probably failed to keep the panic out of his voice, but at this point he didn’t know what else to do if Dick said no. They weren’t kids anymore – he couldn’t force Dick to do anything he didn’t want to, or call in Bruce. It felt like he was teetering on the edge of losing another friend.

Now: He was hurting Roy – Roy’s smile was forced, his shoulders were tense, he was holding his fork too tight. Dick looked out the window, avoiding his gaze.

You have someone to get back too. Multiple someones.

Lian needed math help. Roy needed someone to talk to. Tim needed more training.

Donna could have helped Lian. Joey could have talked to Roy. And Jason should have been the one training.

They weren’t here anymore.

When are you going to face reality?

“Okay.”

He stabbed into a piece of pancake and stuffed it in his mouth. For the first time in days, he ate something that didn’t taste like ash.

Later: Roy flipped through channels, as casual conversation continued in the kitchen. “Okay so if you cut the pancake like this, it’s in thirds, so there are 3 pieces. Get it? Like halves but now there’s one more piece.” Dick had been trying to explain fractions for the past fifteen minutes.

“Mmmm, do I get to eat the pancake?” Lian giggled, smacking the table excitedly. Roy admired her ability to avoid talking about math, that – that was something she got from him.

Time had passed, Dick was rebounding – he always did, and Lian got a perfect score on her last test. Things were good.

For now…

One day, they wouldn’t bounce back – maybe he would die or Dick would shatter, but for tonight fractions were being taught with pancakes – and that wasn’t something he thought possible a week ago. And as Lian served him his piece, he painted on a smile because that’s all they could really do anymore – real smiles seemed to have died with Donna – but maybe if they kept surviving, they could go back to living.

Dick knowingly cocked an eyebrow and placed a hand on his shoulder, ducking down to whisper thanks in his ear, wrapping his arms around his neck, squeezing tighter than usual. Dick’s chin settled on his shoulder, warm puffs of air a constant reminder of his presence.

Tomorrow was unknown, but tonight Dick was alive and healing and Lian was smiling and squealing, and for him, that was enough.

[lady-grace-pens]

This or That: Writer Edition Tag Game

@writingonesdreams tagged me to do this! Major thanks to you!! I’ve actually wanted to do this tag for a bit now lol

1. Historical or futuristic?

Futuristic just doesn’t fit my vibe at all lol, plus it’s kind of boring. I’m a huge fan of history and vintage things! Always have been

2. Opening chapter or closing chapter?

I haven’t written many closing scenes yet, but I feel like I would be much much better with them as compared to the opening scene.

3. Light and fluffy vs. Dark and gritty

I thrive off of the drama I give my characters lmao, give me angst any day

4. Animal companion or found family?

5. Horror or romance?

Hot tip: I’m a big sucker for cheesy Hallmark romance movies and I’m not afraid to admit it ;p

6. Hard or soft magic system?

I honestly have no idea. I haven’t read or written enough fantasy or done enough research in order to really form an opinion on this

7. Standalone or series?

I don’t have any plans on writing a series. Right now I prefer to write standalone novels that have enough potential set up for a sequel if I so desire to write one in the future. I feel like that’s a happy medium between the two

8. One project at a time or always juggling 2+?

I’ve said this before, but I like to dedicate all my love and attention to one story at a time. I can’t imagine trying to juggle any more than that, so huge props to those who are able to!

9. One award winner or one bestseller?

Both. Both is good

10. Fantasy or sci-fi?

Fantasy! By far. Im so sorry, but sci-fi is just so boring to me 😂

11. Character or setting description?

I feel like I’m good at both. Characters have my heart but I’m also good at describing things! Especially places.

World building though… uuuuuggggghhh 😂 I HATE it. Like I need to do it because I don’t usually set my stories in an actual real life town or country, but still. It’s hard as fuck and I dread doing it.

12. First or final draft?

Oooh boy, I’ve got enough to say about this to write a whole post and start a little conversation 😂

The short of it though, is this. As of right now, I like investing all of the love, planning, and care that I possibly can into my first drafts. That way it’ll resemble the final product and I’ll save myself future frustrations. Quality over quantity, pay attention to all the little details, and focus on making the story exactly as how I see it happening. That’s my personal attitude towards this, and that as a result does make me a slow writer which sucks ass. But hey, you can’t have it all right?

Besides, the payoff seems worth it to me in the end. I’d rather have a first draft that I enjoy instead of something I hate and will have to rewrite and edit to death.

13. Literary or ‘commercial’ genre?

Both? Neither? As a reader, I don’t really look at one vs the other. I just enjoy stories that I enjoy.

As a writer though, my talents tend to be with literary, character focused stories

14. Love triangle in everything or no romantic arcs?

I tend to not enjoy romance outside of the actual genre itself. I typically avoid writing it in my own stories. It’s only when I can’t imagine a certain pair of characters being separated that I include romance. Usually though I don’t enjoy it as a writer and reader. I like to focus more on showing interesting family dynamics and strong platonic relationships.

15. Constant sandstorm or rainstorm?

Both of these choices sound evil to me. Give me sunny and 75 degree weather by all means 😂 Buut if I had to choose, I’ll take the rain because I’ve never been in a sandstorm before.

—

Think I’m gonna leave an open tag for this one. If anyone out there who sees this and wants to join in, do it! This is your sign lol

[littlespaceporgs]

i have a need for more soft plo my dear 💕 how abt “i wanted to say ‘i love you’ for the first time without stuttering, but that failed” with everyone’s fave kel dor? also i love you to the moon and back and am super proud of you

A/N: Yeah that’s right, I’m back mostly fully now and yes I am writing the requests I have! JJ - I hope you like this! I LOVE U TOO! It’s funny to start off with and then goes angsty and then goes super fluffy and is an emotional rollercoaster from start to finish. I was aiming for a little 500 word blurb... it stands at 1.7ish i think 💀

So if you haven’t been reading my Clone Wars Reacts series, you probably aren’t aware that I am a massive simp for Plo Koon (and others characters 🤦‍♀️)and if this is you deciding to read them here’s the link to my masterlist, which has all the parts posted already.   

Glimpse

Word Count: 1.7k Pairing: Plo Koon x Jedi!Reader Summary: Anakin running late, an awful sense of foreboding, and one thing that you were yet to say, mixed with a glimpse of a future you couldn’t have. What could possibly go wrong?

Tags for my loves: @peacelandbread @clonewarslover55 @libradusk @catsnkooks @mcu-padawan

The reasons why you agreed to go on a mission on Skywalker seemed to escape you at the moment. His plans, though working occasionally, had the reputation of heavy damage and being absurdly reckless. You did however, enjoy working with Ahsoka, though she could be just as bull-headed as Anakin on occasion. Maybe it was for her sake that you joined the mission?

The plan had originally been for you to lead a small troop of men in quietly, retrieve the data you needed, and then Skywalker would swoop in and distract them so that you could escape. The entry went well, and collecting the data happened without a hitch, but you were spotted on the way out and Skywalker was late. Again. And to make things worse, your comms stopped working a very long time ago.

“If you concentrated on getting out instead of what you’re thinking, we might just survive.”

Ah, that’s why you came on this blasted trip.

“Well maybe if you focused on this, instead of your sarcasm, we may live past the next 10 minutes, Plo.”

You’d known the Kel-dor for many years, almost as long as you’d been a Jedi, but the feelings you had for him were only a few years old, and started shortly after you began going on regular missions with him. He always had put the wellbeing of others ahead of his own, which was frustrating to no end, but endearing all the same. He knew that you had a way of overthinking every situation and very quickly becoming a ‘stress head’, so he always simplified the instructions and looked for the tell-tale signs of you steadily becoming unstuck. Always waiting for the clones to get on board an escape pod, making sure there were enough supplies, somehow always having all the answers and a witty response. It was the little things at any rate.

Like now for example, as you both knelt behind a box, trying to catch your breath, and he was trying to use humour as a way of distracting you from the very real possibility of dying by the hands of a droid.

You stretched up from your crouch and turned to look over the box. Oh shit, there’s an entire battalion of droids just a few meters – oh, and that one’s pointing- oh.

With a sharp tug, Plo pulled you back down, the blaster bolt whizzing past where your eyes had been only half a second ago. Despite not being able to see his eyes and mouth, he still gave you an exasperated expression.

“Be more-”

“I was fine! I saw it coming and I was going to move!” The Kel-dor ran a hand across his forehead, although, at this point he should be used to this type of behaviour from you.

Despite the joking and poking fun, your stomach was sinking further by the minute. As you just realised, if you stepped out, you would surely be shot instantly. A vast majority of the clone troopers had long since been torn apart. Swallowing, you closed your eyes, and leaned back resting your head on the box. There is no way either of you are going to surrender and get captured, but you both were aware of the fact that you likely weren’t making it out of this either.

Your shoulder was burning, and your ribs and abdomen ached, and there was a blaster burn on your leg. Another hand wrapped around your own, and squeezed it tight. Trying to stop shaking, you spoke.

“I – we’re not getting out of this one…” You turned your head and opened your eyes, finding his face. His eyes were turned down at the edges, and his shoulders were slumped the smallest bit. “Are we?”

Plo turned and took a similar position to you, not letting go of your hand.

“We must not think like-”

“Be realistic we-”

“It’s going to be-”

“Don’t- don’t you dare say it’ll be fine-”

“Skywalker-”

“isn’t coming! Or- or if he is, he’ll be too late!” you couldn’t stop your voice from shaking now, stuttering more with every word that came out.  Plo’s head hung and you could see the weight of your words hanging on him.

“At um – at least we’ll go out as we are, teasing the s-shit out of each other, you old man.” He let a laugh drift out of the mask.

“Don’t call me old, youngling.” You laughed back, smirking all the while. If you’re going to die here – if technically you wouldn’t be jedi – your heart raced at the thought. The code was – well if you’re dead you can’t very well follow the code, now can you?

“I- I um I love you.” As soon as it was out, you felt lighter and heavier all at once. His back straightened so fast the back of his head nearly whacked the crate. When he finally turned to you, his brows were sitting much further up on his face than what they had been before, so you traced every corner on his face with your eyes, just in case. His hand squeezed yours tighter.

“I- well I wanted to say it without stuttering, and preferably when we weren’t a few minutes from death, but well- I guess there’s really no time like the present?” He still hadn’t moved, frozen and staring at you. Oh, no. You waved your free hand in front of his face, trying to break his stupor.

“Plo? Are you-”

“I love you too.”

You couldn’t help but smile, your hand moving to his face instead, moving your thumb across his cheekbone. Idly, you noticed that he hadn’t let go of your other hand yet. His hand moved the hair from your face, smudging the ash and dirt also. With a hand on the back of your head, he gently pulled so your foreheads pressed together. Your eyes slid shut, and you concentrated on the feeling of warmth and light that this brought. If this was the last thing you remembered before death, then you would die happily. For now, you savoured the few seconds you had sitting there. You sighed, and opened your eyes.

“I – just-”

“I know.” You pulled away, and despite the happiness of a few seconds before, a sense of foreboding sat heavily in your chest. You swallowed harder, and moved to grab your lightsaber. You grasped it tight, and ignited the glowing blade. Next to you, you heard his blade reveal itself. Your muscles in your legs tensed, and you braced your shoulders. One more time. When you turned to him, he was still looking at you, with a sad expression that rivalled your own. You shuffled so you were instead in a crouch, ready to fight. Might as well go out swinging.

You took a deep breath and steeled your nerves. For a second before you stood, you couldn’t hear anything. When you thought back and remembered it, there was the sound of droid’s legs and chatter, of occasional blaster fire of those who were left, and your lightsaber humming in your ear. At the time, there was nothing. You just kept staring at Plo, hoping that somehow, you’d get more of this, more than 5 seconds.

Faster than a blink, you got a glimpse of a future that could have been. Cold nights on Coruscant, wrapped up in blankets, watching the night sky past by. Daybreak, curled up in each other’s arms, feeling the glow of sun come in. On missions with small troops of trusted clones, being able to be open with your relationship. Sneaking around before council meetings, trying to savour what moments you could before missions. Feeling like young padawan’s again, running around quietly. Visions of you leaving the order, years from now, quoting being unable to stick to the code, Plo following shortly after. Of you building a home, your stomach steadily growing outwards.

And just like that it was over, and you were stuck with a reality of death.

Your throat burned and your vision blurred. Now.

And then Plo’s hand desperately grabbing yours and pulling you down again, a shrill beeping coming from his wrist. Your heart pulsed in your ears and you looked to the sky. Of course.

“Sorry, we were busy dealing with Ventress! How are you holding up?” A scathing laugh burst out of your throat. The droids were falling back, away from your position at the sight of the sheer number of Republic soldiers. You laid back on the dirt, feeling the sun on your skin, soaking up whatever light you could. It was only now that you felt the weight lift, where the light feeling of relief took its place. Plo begun to answer Anakin. You cut him off with a venomous tone.

“We’re a-”

“We’re alive, you’re late, and I am going to kill you, Skywalker.” There was an audible sigh that sounded suspiciously amused from Plo as he made to stand.

“I wasn’t that la-”

“Don’t even finish that sentence.”

Plo’s hand reached down and hovered near your face, though you ignored it and shot up on your own, winding your arms around his neck. He softly grunted as you laughed and the realisations began to sink in. Maker, we nearly died. We were very nearly dead. You nearly had to watch the man you fell in love with die.

Whilst your mind rambled, he pulled apart, and was still brushing the hair from your forehead again. You hadn’t noticed, but he was taking in every freckle, wrinkle and scar you had, like you had been doing to him not too long ago.

You nearly died. Plo nearly died. You almost didn’t get to say – oh, no. You told him. You thought you were going to die and you told him. But now you’re not going to die. And he said it back.

He said your name and whisked you from the spiral. His leathery forehead leant down and pressed against yours.

“I love you.”

Maker, he said it again. You grinned, and pulled him closer. You wanted to say it one thousand times at the top of your lungs, and suddenly the glimpse didn’t seem as far out of reach as it had a few minutes ago.

“I love you too.”

[love-and-monsters]

Wyvern Prince: Epilogue

M wyvern X F human, 2,346 words

CW for major character death

This is the last chapter of Davrakoss and Sara’s story. It’s been almost a year since I started posting the original story. We’ve come a long way! For all the people who’ve followed the story, thank you so much! It was really fun to do another long form story. Just as a note, because this story ending coincides with grad school beginning, I’m going to go on a short (two week) hiatus to get all my ducks in a row. Thank you all again for reading and your patience. Enjoy the epilogue!

Davrakoss legitimately hadn’t noticed at first. In his defense, he wasn’t very good with human ages. He’d spent little time with them and, given that wyvern aging slowed significantly after maturity, he didn’t have a good baseline for what humans were supposed to look like as they got older.

So, when Sara didn’t look that mush different after ten years, he assumed it was normal for some humans and didn’t think much about it.

It wasn’t like he was a complete idiot. He noticed that other humans changed. And he was aware of what aging looked like. The servants showed signs of age first, their rough lives wearing into their faces with stress wrinkles and graying hair. Nobles had the ability to mostly disguise their aging. Hair could be dyed or disguised with wigs, expensive creams could be brought in from other countries to prevent wrinkling, and life without rough work meant that they kept their youthful looks for much longer. And given that Sara had been elevated to the level of a noble, Davrakoss compared her looks to the other nobles and saw minimal differences in both.

But aging couldn’t be avoided forever. And by ten years of minimal changes to her looks, other people were starting to notice, even if Davrakoss didn’t.

The nobles spoke to Sara first, prying into her beauty regime. Most were eager to know if she’d found some kind of beauty secret from another country. Given that Sara had basically no beauty routine, the questions were parried away quickly. But it was the beginning of the realization that something was different.

Davrakoss found her, several nights after that, peering at herself in the mirror. “Do you think I look old?” she asked him one night, when they were in the bathroom together.

“No,” Davrakoss said honestly. She didn’t. She barely looked older than when they’d first met. Maybe there was some slight wrinkling at the corners of her eyes, a slightly more mature look to her face, but she didn’t look that different.

He had expected her to be pleased. Humans didn’t seem to like aging all that much. But her brows had creased and she’d leaned back looking discomfited.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, setting down his brush and moving to her side. She frowned into the mirror, tilting her head back and forth as if hoping her expression would suddenly change.

“Shouldn’t I look old?” she asked. “Well, maybe not old, but older, at least. I’m in my thirties, but I look like I’m still in my twenties.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Davrakoss asked cautiously. “Humans don’t like aging.”

“It’s a weird thing,” Sara said. “It’s not normal. I should be getting older.” She drew back from the mirror, gripping the edge of the sink tightly enough that her knuckles started to go white. “People are noticing. If this keeps going on, more people are going to notice.”

Davrakoss stroked his fingers through her hair, twining a few strands together. “It’ll be all right. People are just going to assume you look youthful.” He kissed her forehead. “Come to bed.” He tugged on her hand. “I’ll make it worth your while?”

Sara smiled and took hold of his hand, following him.

Now that the seed had been planted, Davrakoss found himself looking at other humans, comparing their current looks with what he remembered from ten years ago. And, once he was looking for it, he could see that there was something wrong.

Everyone else looked different. Some of the changes were subtle, but if he looked, they were all present. Sara looked almost no different. In fact, looking at himself in the mirror gave himself a realization.

She had changed exactly as much as he had in the past ten years. Small little changes, but nothing big. Nothing that indicated they were aging.

Feeling mildly panicked, he wrote a quick letter to his parents. They responded a week later and he read the response with a tight, thrumming anxiety in his chest.

“We need to talk,” he said to Sara. She gave him an alarmed look. “In private,” he added, casting a look to the few servants lingering in the room. She frowned, but allowed him to pull her into their room and securely latched the door.

“What’s wrong?” she asked as Davrakoss sat on his bed and gestured for her to sit next to him. She looked at him cautiously. “What happened?”

“Nothing in particular,” Davrakoss said. “But, ah. It concerns you.” He passed Sara the letter.

She read through it. He saw her eyes move over the letter once, then twice, then three times. Her fingers tightened on the paper and she took in a strangled breath.

“Are you okay?” he asked. He tentatively touched her shoulder.

“Your parents think I’m not aging anymore?” she said, glancing up at him.

“You did suggest it first,” Davrakoss said. “I wrote to them in case they’d heard of something else like this. They hadn’t, but they did have some theories.”

“I saw that,” Sara said, glancing at the letter. “They think you’re healing me from again?”

“Oh.” Davrakoss felt his face starting to warm. It was an unfortunate thing about being human that they showed things like embarrassment so easily. “Yes, um, you know how I mentioned that wyvern blood and saliva and such has healing power?” Sara nodded. “All our body fluids have healing powers. My parents suggested that maybe if you were to be in contact with my, um. Fluids. Repeatedly. It might start healing other things. Like aging.”

Sara’s mouth opened slowly. “I’m immortal?”

“I think they said that’s unlikely.” Davrakoss glanced back at the letter again. “Yes, right there. It’s unlikely that you’ll stop aging entirely. You’ll just age a lot slower. Probably around the same rate as me.”

Sara stared down at the bed. She was breathing slowly, apparently focused on something else. Davrakoss squeezed her arm gently. “Sara? Are you all right?”

“Fine,” she said, but her voice was a little faint. Davrakoss took hold of her and pulled her into him, letting her rest her head on his shoulder. He smoothed her hair with a hand. “We just spent so much time worrying that I was going to die a lot sooner than you. And now it turns out we don’t have to worry at all.” She let out a weak giggle, snuggling her face further into his shoulder.

“No,” Davrakoss said. “We don’t.” They sat together for a few minutes, allowing relief to roll through them.

After a few moments, Davrakoss cleared his throat. “We need to discuss something else,” he said. “Um. I don’t know if you read through the letter entirely, but they do mention at the end…”

Sara lifted her head. “They want us to leave.”

Davrakoss found himself trailing his fingers through her hair over and over, trying to soothe himself. “People are going to notice that you aren’t aging.”

“People have already noticed that I’m not aging,” Sara said.

“I know. It’s only going to get worse the longer we stay and the more obvious it gets, the more likely that people are going to start connecting the dots.” Sara worried at her lower lip with her teeth. “They said they’ll give us some territory close to the border. My sister will be able to take over for me in a couple of years and then we can just stay in our own territory full time. We can even live near a human town, if you want, so you can still interact with humans.”

Sara nodded slowly. “I remember you telling me you wanted to live out there. Just you and me together. No responsibilities.”

“Mmm,” Davrakoss hummed. He leaned into her and she leaned into him so they were supporting each other. “Are you okay with it?”

Sara squeezed his hand, working her fingers over his knuckles. “We’re going to get away from all the annoyances of noble life. It’ll be just the two of us.” She glanced up at him. “Yeah. I think I’m okay with it.”

A pulse of delight rolled through Davrakoss’ body and he was overwhelmed with the urge to kiss her. She laughed as he did. “We’ll have to leave soon,” he said. “Within a few months. We don’t want to stay around here any longer than we have to.”

Sara smiled up at him. There was nervousness in her eyes, but her expression was confident. “We’d better start getting ready, then.”

In the end, Davrakoss was able to use the nervousness people had toward wyverns to his advantage. Dropping a few hints that suggested he needed to be somewhere open to exercise his hunting instincts seemed to give the nobles a fright. Within two months, he had managed to convince them that he needed to live in a larger territory or he was going to eat them all.

“It’s been ten years,” he said to Sara as they packed up their belongings. “You would think they would know better. I’m not going to eat them!”

“Humans just get nervous around anything stronger than they are,” Sara said matter-of-factly. Davrakoss gave her a smirk.

“You speak as though you aren’t human.” A strange look crossed Sara’s face.

“Maybe I’m not entirely one anymore,” she said. “Not sure it’s such an awful thing.”

She was silent for much of the ride out to wyvern territory. Davrakoss tried to spark conversation a few times, but it all felt hollow. In the end, he fell silent and let her say goodbye to her home in peace.

He carried her up to their home on his back. Her fingers dug into his scales. He could almost feel her nervousness. The home was a cavern, not on top of a mountain, but in the midst of a forest. It was a quiet, pleasant place, and the cave had been used as a wyvern den previously, meaning it was well-insulated and not as dirty as a normal cave would have been.

It took some time to get Davrakoss’ horde settled. “It’s homey, isn’t it?” Davrakoss asked. With lights set up and a rug and nest of blankets and pillows set up, it was warm and inviting. Sara looked around and gave a single, pleased nod.

“It’s nice here,” she said. She turned and gave him a broad smile, which he automatically returned. “Welcome home.”

It didn’t take too long to settle into a routine. Davrakoss spent time hunting and Sara would rummage through the forest for plants to set up a garden. On the weekends, she and Davrakoss would go into a nearby town for any pother supplies they needed, and to allow Sara to socialize.

The longer they stayed in the wilderness, the more obvious it became that Sara wasn’t aging. Gradually, she and Davrakoss tapered off their interaction with any humans. There were murmurs of a mysterious, ageless woman who loved in the woods with her strange husband, but they were stories told ton scare children, and if anyone of power believed them, they were too afraid to go looking for her. No one ever seemed to connect their presence with the presence of the wyvern they sometimes saw flying over the woods.

Davrakoss engaged in politics with extreme rarity. He would occasionally guide his sister in her princess duties, but he seemed to enjoy not being in the limelight.

“It’s calmer,” he said to Sara. “Much simpler. And I don’t have to worry about anyone except you.”

They lived together in peace. Davrakoss found himself more contented than he had been in his entire life. He had his mate, he had a territory to hunt in, and he had few worries other than filling his belly and relaxing

Years passed in slow contentment, and they watched as humanity advanced. Prejudice against wyverns faded, though it didn’t vanish entirely. Davrakoss was able to see his species establish peace and trade with humans and watch as communication between the species became more open. Wyverns fought alongside humans in a couple of wars and several wyverns even took on human forms more permanently and lived in human societies.

Wyverns lived long enough that, to most humans, they appeared ageless. But they weren’t. And eventually, Davrakoss noticed the streaks of gray that worked into Sara’s hair. There was white in his hair too, but it was blonde enough that it was difficult to notice. She pulled at her hair with dissatisfaction until Davrakoss reassured her that she was beautiful nonetheless.

All things considered, she lived a remarkably long life, for a human. Two hundred and eighty was far longer than most humans could expect to live, even if it was slightly under wyvern life expectancy.

Davrakoss sensed it coming before it happened. He couldn’t have said exactly what it was. But he woke in the morning with an odd sense of dread in his stomach.

He was supposed to hunt, really, but he spent his day curled around Sara. There was just a sense that if he left, something would go completely wrong. She must have known he was anxious, because there was no teasing or prodding him to get on with his normal day. She just stroked his scales (as he got older, transforming took more effort and he spent more time in his wyvern form) and sang to him.

Eventually, late in the evening, Sara slumped against him. She slipped quietly into sleep. And then, with Davrakoss curled close to her, sleeping peacefully in her home, she died.

Davrakoss buried her in the forest outside their cave. He spent hours at her graveside, ignoring his complaining stomach.

For the next twenty-five years, he never assumed his human form again. And when he sensed his death was coming, he crawled outside his cave and lay down on his mate’s grave.

There was a sense of peace in it. For twenty-five years, he had missed his mate. And now he was going to return to her. Contented, Davrakoss closed his eyes for the final time.

[estellaelysian]

All that you left me - Part - 4 (Dakota x MC)

From With Every Heartbeat

Every time

This is angsty and deal with mentions of major character death. reader discretion is advised.

Catch up here: Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

She giggled as Dakota grinned at her from the video.

‘Look Amber, I am riding! I AM RIDING!’

‘Yeah you are,’ her year old voice said, also giggling, as she chased him in the park.

She had got used to not pausing the video again and again because of her breathlessness. But today was different.

Today, she felt more breathless than usual.

And still, it felt like all the air was rushing past her, as if she were still riding beside Dakota, as if they were going straight to the diner, like they had that night, as if he were still alive.

‘Come on, look, look! I can turn too!’ he said, erupting into a fit of childish giggles.

She giggled too, watching as she followed him around, before finally, he came to a stop in front of her, jerky and unstable.

The video ended.

She closed the over-bright computer. It was late, but this was the only time when she watched his videos, because she didn’t want anybody’s sympathy, nor the pitiful glances people tended to give her.

He was gone, after all, and he had left her behind. At least that was what people thought.

People, who thought they knew him, but did not.

Pocketing the flash drive, she rose from the bed and walked to the desk, pushing away her laptop, before rummaging through her desk drawers for the key of her bike.

She needed air.

She needed to breathe.

That’s what he would told her in her dreams, whenever he visited her at night.

Breathe, Amber, you’ve got a lot more to do. I am right here, by your side, watching over you.

With his deep gaze embedded in her mind, she walked out to the garage and led her bike outside.

The night had fallen upon the world. Most people would already be sleeping, but the diner would still be open. Which meant she had somewhere to go, and someone to talk to, at this late hour, instead of her usual place where her mind played tricks on her.

She took a long meandering route to the diner, an unnecessary detour through the vista, letting the cool night breeze brush past her and run through her hair. Making a quick cut through the park, she was reminded of the very first sign of his cancer that she had witnessed, even though he had not told her so. She had not known that time, but she knew it now…

Deeply breathing in, she pushed herself forward, riding in the dim glow spilling from the pewter lamps, the diner closing in.

How many nights had they spent here, having fun, making the most of the time they had?

Too many, her mind told her. Too many to keep track of.

And yet, she remembered every memory she had made at this place very vividly, as if it were just yesterday that all these things had happened.

With hesitation filling her, she stepped inside. She hadn’t come here since the graduation, and she wondered if…

‘Amber? Hey sweetie,’ Beatrice said from behind the counter, looking tired and exhausted.

‘Hey, Bea. How are you?’

‘I am fine, honey. What’ll it be?’

‘A strawberry milkshake–’

‘–with extra whipped cream?’

‘Yeah,’ she said, handing her the money.

‘Okay, sweetie, just a minute please.’

She disappeared behind a ser of doors, only to return a few minutes later with a tall glass of milkshake in her hand. She placed it on the counter for her, along with a small blue leather bound … diary?

‘What is this?’ Amber asked, confused.

‘It’s something Dakota wanted you to have.’

What?

She flipped it open, her shoulders tightening with emotions that flowed electrically through her entire body. It was filled with their photos, most probably taken secretly, because she had no clue until now that this book, album – whatever it was supposed to be called – existed. Her fingers grazed the first photo which she recognized almost immediately, taken on her first day of school, as she sat next to Dakota, looking out of place and, at the same time, blending in well with the crowd.

It barely took me a day to fall for you, the caption said, and tears leapt to her eyes, stinging, threatening to fall.

‘But I don’t understand…’ she whispered breathlessly.

‘It was supposed to be a surprise but…’ Beatrice wiped at her cheeks. ‘Anyway, he had told me to take pictures of you every time you came here, and he compiled it together, before handing it to me and telling me to give it to you in person whenever you came here. You weren’t, and I started getting worried, until finally, today, I had the chance.’

She stood abruptly and left, walking as far as she could. She had no idea when she had reached the park, and, indeed, that she had forgotten her bike outside the diner. In here was a full year’s worth of memories that they had saved at the diner, and she had not known about it.

She did not know what brought her to her knees, but there she was, crying in the park, alone at night, cradling the blue album in her hands.

She turned the pages, over and over, and at last, found the last page filled with words in his handwriting.

Hey Amber,

I know you must be feeling a lot right now, and believe me, I want to ease all your anxiousness, so I thought I’d make you this little … thing, I dunno.

I have no idea if it’ll ever do anything to make you feel better, (honestly, you shouldn’t keep it if it doesn’t), but I loved all our memories, and I know you did too, so I thought you ought to have this.

Indeed I do.

I hope this helps and doesn’t make you feel alone out there.

I love you.

I love you too.

She looked up at the stars, knowing that he was, somehow, watching her, and she smiled for him, knowing that he’d want her to.

I’ll always love you.

*********

I don’t really know if Dakota would do this or not, but it was worth a shot at writing down.

Also, I don’t know if this is a mess or feels repetitive, but thank you for reading.

Tagging: @tenaciouslandvoidgiant​ @choicesaddict5​ @starrystarrytrouble​ @dakotasteach​ 

Let me know if you want to be added or removed. 

[sokumotanaka]

Adressing this “Atlas is falling!” nonsense.

Originally I was gonna wait till I was up to try and get a good rest and maybe hash my thoughts out a little more but now I’m wired and want to talk about something people seem to have issues with from perspectives given to me and my own.

So atlas is falling and originally I saw many different takes on it people outright saying they wish they die, people saying that because rich people reside on it they dont care and more oddly nuanced thought processes, now I use the word nuance cause I want to address a elephant in the room; when I say nuance or hell anything it isn’t instantly to try and insult another person, what’s nuanced to me is my own understanding on what level of discussion is brought to the table, as long as it’s interesting it’s nuanced to me. (and I’ll admit I should of explained it better but at the time I wanted to end it and sleep but I have a bad habit of adressing people who continue talking to me on this site cause sometimes I get weirdly invested thinking it’ll lead to something interesting; no that’s not a dig I just like talking about media.) 

Anyway vv Read more vv

Alot of people who know me or know of me will get this but I wanna clarify it for those who dont and this will also be a great post to point to in the future so I dont accidently burn more bridges, but also understand I’m used to dealing with snide assholes so what you view as sarcasm and harmless cause the people using it are either friends of yours so you dont care; or share your viewpoint so you dont care. either or alot of twitter racist idiots like to use this and alot of rwby stans are straight out stupid so dont try to be snide and quipy.

A close friend of mine told me about Atlas falling apparently the upper plate is going to fall on innocent people, honestly I couldn’t bring myself to care, but I asked her why she didn’t care the plate was gonna fall out of curiosity and the recent drama around this; she point out one of the biggest flaws in rwby that I found myself kinda nodding with. “Weather the plate falls or not I can’t find myself to care about the people in atlas because well...RWBY doesn’t make the background civilians feel real, the characters dont care so I start not to care as well.”

I brought up the last time I felt that was SU and Avatar, a show we could both talk about and know exactly what the other was talking about.

“Exactly! not to mention this isn’t like Avatar where you got to see background characters, live thrive and root for them, Beacon fell and we never saw people from there struggling to live or talking about being displaced etc; Team RWBY just walk away from major problems and we just assume their solved, no one mourns Leo? no family? friends? team? There’s never moments in nations that affect the civilians greatly; hell Oscar’s aunt doesn’t even factor in to his mental state or memories or anything.” Honestly she had a point and it kinda bugged me more cause I never thought of it; I quit vol 6 and the last thing I remembered was a town guard being ripped to shreds asking  where cordova was.

To her it was just an artificial number of mannequins, it wasn’t black and white like “kill them” It was just “I dont care, the writing does them a diservice; RWBY doesn’t have so many “I dropped this.” “RWBY is bad.” videos for nothing, even fans can realize that to alot of them this is just emotional manipulation of the audience, and alot of them have better stances beyond “Just die.” “The writing just takes me out of the scene.” is much more interesting!  And when I talked to alot of people about this they agreed, hell I even got some people to swtich their stances. But I’m losing the forest for the trees, back on topic.

Despite people standing outside including jaune’s sister and her wife and child Jaune doesn’t bring them up or worry as far as my friend and many other eagled eyed people have told me. My friend’s stance isn’t as simple as “let them all die” and yeah I can’t predict everyone’s mindset. (Surely some people think that way. But not all and if they conversation ends in “Yeah but some people think that way. Then the intrique and dicussion is fruitless.) I rather challenge a mindset into thinking about different prespectives than just go. “Well I guess we have to agree we have feelings on subject.” Like a robot.

 Some people just dont care. MY theory about that and my personal reasoning for that is maybe people stopped caring cause either or RT is gonna destroy it and faceless people will die for angst but also it’s a poorly crafted narrative; Pyrrha died and people were like “well that was a thing.” Shock value doesn’t work on people anymore so people just roll their eyes and go “sure RT do what you gotta.” yeah maybe alot of people are like “eat the rich.” I can’t blame them, current events are wild man, and yeah they shouldn’t take it out on fictional characters but at the same time, they’re just that...fictional, someone saying “good let it fall.” isn’t a sign of how people’s perceptions of real life are, that’s ridiculous to think over a cartoon.

So that’s my stance and mine was also altered and challenged by talking to a person about it and not having their passive aggressive friends throw snide remarks and be allowed to while their friend preached for your respect.

The TLDR version is there are many nuanced, detailed and vast takes out there, try not to let it bother you, and using atlas citizens as an example doesn’t work if you use the racist;  Be good to yourselves out there and others; don’t let your friends send death threats to anyone on anon.

[aelaer]

Inspired by the X men ask: instead of Donna, what if Stephen's mutant powers manifest after she drowns? It's definitely writable with movie-only knowledge! (I think Stephen would have some scary strong powers).

This prompt is nearing a year and a half old and is my second to last prompt from 2019 so I wanted to try to get it out of the way as I attempt to do at least one prompt fic a month to clear my inbox of those remaining.

After being stuck on trying to figure this out for so long, I decided to approach it quite differently than I thought I would, and this is my first fic writing from this character’s POV. I made Stephen's age the same as Ben's for ease. I also prove, yet again, that my ability to write short things is very much lacking.

My interest in geography 100% leaks through, and I'm not sorry.

My thanks to nemmy for helping me decide the direction of this story.

Fate Won’t Compromise Fandom: Doctor Strange, MCU Genre: Gen, canon divergence Chars: The Ancient One, Stephen Strange, Donna Strange Word count: 5k Warnings: Minor canonical character death, near drowning

In the summer of 1995, The Ancient One felt a ripple in the fabric of reality.

Such ripples, while uncommon, were not unknown to her in her many centuries serving as Sorcerer Supreme. They happened as major events within their reality shifted from the threads found in similar realities across the multiverse. While change was inevitable between realities, commonalities often brought them back to follow the same paths, to hit the same major events, to survive the same catastrophes. Reality and time were excellent in creating situations that balanced the flow again and brought them back to their natural parallels across the majority of universes.

But sometimes, sometimes the fabric of reality and time was disturbed. It happened with a change, unexpected in its improbability and big enough that it diverted the parallel lines the majority of the multiverse followed to create a timeline that diverged, crooked and uncertain. If the ripple was small enough, the powers surrounding reality often fixed itself with countermeasures—new actors, new probabilities that helped bring time back to its parallel path. But some ripples, some ripples required intervention.

And this one? Well, this one absolutely shattered reality with its ripple effect.

Hmm. It was time to consult the Eye of Agamotto and see what changed.

— �� — — —

Her time with the Eye was long in her search. With such a significant ripple, The Ancient One first looked at the immediate months coming, searching for change in the most important of events for the remainder of the year.

There was nothing different. Interesting. Then this was likely an event that changed the course of the life of an individual, an individual who was very important sometime in the future. She scanned the years following more broadly after that, coming upon the events of the new millennium, both mundane and arcane, that would change the course of Earth's future forever. They all came as expected, one after the other.

It wasn't until her search took her to 2016, the year before her own inevitable passing, that she finally came across the anomaly: Stephen Strange never made it to Kamar-Taj.

The Ancient One pursed her lips; this was not meant to happen. While her sight beyond 2017 remained veiled, her experience and intuition as well as glimpses across the multiverse gave her an insight into the likely path of Stephen Strange. And from what she had seen, he was meant to be the best of them all.

So what had diverted him from the path that was written in the course of time, so much so that its lack of manifestation caused such a ripple in reality? Surely it didn't change her death; she had accepted the inevitably of that decades ago.

(She first discovered her death after the chaos of WWII, where the Masters of the Mystic Arts fought their own war against demonic invasions looking to take advantage of the chaotic time. She looked to prevent such a thing ever occurring again, then found her death. At first she wasn't concerned, and made plans to avoid it, just as she had several times before.

But it was different this time. With the Eye of Agamotto in the past, she was always able to find a route that allowed her to survive and the world to remain intact within a dozen attempts of altering her actions. It took her over a thousand attempts over the next year to realize that, no, no matter what, she was going to die before the fourth month of 2017. She never lived further than that.

And in the course that seemed most sound to her, the most consistent, she was always by the side of the unsure, amateur, but potentially great Stephen Strange.)

The Eye confirmed for her that, yes, she still died in early 2017. However, the manner of death was completely unacceptable, as it led to Dormammu eating their reality. She had not seen that possibility since she stopped trying to find a solution to her death several decades ago.

(She wondered how Stephen Strange managed to defeat him. She did not sense the end of reality after her death, so it was with confidence that she knew he found a solution. What the solution was, however, remained unknown to her. It was most intriguing. He had such potential.)

The Ancient One finally withdrew from the encompassing powers of the Eye and allowed herself a frown. She hoped Stephen Strange was not dead. It would mean finding another like him, and quite soon so she may prevent the terrible future she just saw.

Still, the ripple she felt did but not necessarily mean death; it meant change, for good or ill.

The first thing to do was to check on what was, and what would hopefully remain, her future pupil. She directed the Eye to review the timeline of Stephen Strange, going to the moment just before the ripple in reality occurred.

As she searched for that moment, flashes of memories not belonging to her flipped through her mind's eye: the first was a pair of hands on the wheel of a car, left side, as it turned off the paved road to a bumpy gravel-filled spot of driving, then quickly smoothed out to a road less rough. A large brown sign with yellow, capital letters read "Lewis and Clark State Recreation Area", with a smaller "Nebraska State and Park Commission" underneath. "Weigand - Burbach" was spelt on a separate plank just below the main sign with the same dark brown backdrop and bright yellow lettering. In the backseats was excited chatter from two others, women. Surrounding the road were tall trees of various species, all different colors of green.

Another flash, and she was now watching a small motorboat being backed up into the water from its trailer by a young man—barely a man—into a wide lake. Beyond the water the distant shore was all but flat, with only a small ridge of hills giving the horizon any distinct shape. A shrill voice shouted behind her, "Don't crash it!" and the man in the boat shouted back, "Shut up, Melissa!" Giggles followed, and then a voice came from the soul she watched, a deep baritone that said, "But seriously, if you crash it, my dad will kill you." The young man in the boat retorted, "Fuck you, Stephen!" in return, and Stephen's body shook with soft laughter. The man successfully maneuvered the boat into the water, and a short cheer sounded behind her.

Then another memory, and she was now on the motorboat, far out on the water which shone as bright a blue as the sky above. A young woman—a teenager, as they said in English in the 20th century, now—was doing some sort of sport she was unfamiliar with, letting the motorboat drag her along as she hung on by a rope with a handle at the end. Perhaps this was surfing. The teenager completed a short jump on the waves, and from her point of view, the memory's host shouted, "Nice, Donna!"

Another flash, and she was the one at the end of the rope. She quickly passed through it to the next memory. 

Time had passed; it was late afternoon, perhaps an hour or so before sunset. Her host was looking at the boat's controls. A female voice—Melissa—behind them said, "Okay, Aaron's ready to go. Start it up." As the boat motor roared to life, another voice—Donna—said over the noise, "We should get out of the water after this. It'll be dark soon." The soul behind the memories, Stephen, shouted back, "That's why we have navigation lights on this thing!"

The memory shifted again, and all four were on the boat now. The sun was set behind the horizon and the sky was painted a soft yellow before it melted into blue, then black. Stars were already appearing in the sky. Surrounding her were the other three, Aaron and Melissa and Donna, and there was a strong feeling of content within the memory. "We should get back to camp," Donna said, and she heard Stephen sigh and say, "Yeah," in reply. "Your turn, Aaron," he added. Aaron said, "Dude, I'm wiped out. You do it." Stephen retorted in return, "No, you."

Then it shifted again, and she was looking up at the darkening sky when Melissa said, "That boat's going fast." Her point of view changed as Stephen straightened himself, and she saw another motorboat running straight towards them. "Stop!" Stephen shouted as he got to his feet, and a second later, Aaron called out, "Jump!" and Stephen did, hitting the water and diving just as their motorboat was hit and destroyed. He was facing down into the murky, black depths of the lake as suddenly something hit his back, and at that moment some sort of rope or netting caught his leg and its weight started dragging him down. She could feel the alarm running through the young man's head and the Ancient One wondered if she was going to be seeing his death, now. A strange pang of regret went through her at the thought.

But then a sudden glow encompassed Stephen's body, subtle but in the blackness of the water, quite, quite clear. Confusion joined his panic but before any other thoughts came to his head, he was suddenly out of the water and on the shore of the lake. He collapsed the moment he went from liquid to air, falling on his back before turning to his side to cough up water from the lake.

The Ancient One stepped back from Stephen Strange's memories and blinked again back in the normal passage of time. As the green glow of the Time Stone's powers faded from her body, she considered the last memory.

She knew, from all her viewings of the future, that it was about this time that the mutation that came to be known as the X-Gene started popping up in the population. It would eventually have an impact on the future of Earth. But Stephen Strange was not meant to have it—or perhaps, rather, it was never meant to activate. Not if the flow of reality and time considered this an anomaly in the general course of the multiverse.

His appearance within the order of the Masters of the Mystic Arts seemed to lead to the event that prevented Dormammu's entrance into their reality, so he—or someone of his caliber—was necessary to have under her tutelage. And as he was not dead, she needed to see what had to happen to work him again onto a path that was the best for the universe's survival, regardless of this unexpected development in his life.

It was time to consult the Eye once more to determine the right path.

—————

Using the Eye worked outside the flow of time, and so all the Ancient One's endeavours, though seeming to her to take several hours, in reality only took her about twenty minutes since she first felt the ripple. She had passed through various scenarios and glimpsed at various extensions of those scenarios as needed until she had an outcome that had her satisfied with her decisions and, more importantly, made it very, very unlikely that the universe would end to Dormammu in 2017.

(Her own future, strangely enough, grew blurry and uncertain the closer she got to that year, which she found quite intriguing. She would pursue the matter at a later date.)

For now, though, she had a job to do. And so she created a portal that led her to the north shore of the lake, at the beach where the small hills lay. At this point of time it was nearly dark, and so she conjured a lantern—one of the elegant ones that they used to craft in Japan, the ones she preferred—and placed a small, magical light within the illusion. It would reveal its true nature soon enough. Despite the rockiness of this part of the shoreline, her footing was sure as she made her way along the edge of the lake.

In a couple minutes, a voice, expected and now familiar, called out to her. "Hello? Is someone there? I need help!"

In all her experience of using the Eye of Agamotto, the Ancient One had gotten very good at differentiating all the viewed possibilities to the experienced reality. Reality was sharper in every way, and the auras of people's spirits shone brighter without the power of the Time Stone to stifle them. And in the night surrounding them, Stephen Strange's aura shone very, very bright.

Interesting.

When she came close enough for him to see her clearly, his eyes widened as he took her in. She knew her resemblance was considered odd by late twentieth-century standards, but the memory of centuries of lice infestations made hair still undesirable and robes were infinitely more comfortable than jeans. But she was aware of its oddness, and as he stared, the Ancient One took the time to also observe him beyond the fuzziness of the Eye of Agamotto.

The gangly boy sitting in the sand in front of her hardly resembled the arrogant, talented man she had come to know through her past use of the Eye. Just breaking the cusp of manhood, his hair was still fully dark brown, and he wore a sleeveless blue shirt with long swim shorts, all still wet despite the time out of the water. His cheeks were fuller with the last remnant of youth still remaining, and the look in his eyes was wild and unguarded. Filled with fear.

Quite different from what she was used to.

"Who are you?" Stephen Strange whispered.

"A friend," she answered. She placed the lantern on a rock before settling down in the dark sand near him, about five feet away. "I mean you no harm."

He continued to stare at her, then looked at his leg. It was bleeding sluggishly and would need stitches. "Can you please help me? I—I'm not sure how I got here, but there was a boating accident and I—I need to find my friends and my sister. It's on the lake, I swear, I don't know why we can't see it from here but the accident just happened and it can't be that far."

She let him finish before she broke the news. "You are about seven kilometers west from the site of your accident, on the north shore of the lake. I believe you call this part of your country 'South Dakota'."

Stephen's eyes somehow widened even further, then he quickly shook his head. "No, that—that's impossible. That's completely impossible."

"Just as impossible as finding yourself drowning at the bottom of a lake one moment and being on dry land in the next," she said agreeably.

The wide-eyed look seemed it would remain a permanent fixture on his face. "Wha—how—how do you know about that?"

"It is my job to know of such things," said the Ancient One. "It is also how I know that, if you are found so far from the site of the accident, you will draw unwanted attention upon yourself."

Stephen visibly swallowed and looked around them, as if the unwanted attention was already watching. "What—what do you mean?"

The Ancient One offered him a benign smile. "You are not the first to perform the impossible. When figures of authority learn such things exist, they pursue them. And your story would draw their attention. Historically, your country has been known to use extraordinary people as assets when needed. Many kingdoms and governments throughout time have."

A soft wind blew in from the south, causing Stephen to shiver in the oncoming chill of the night. Regardless of his discomfort, his wide eyes narrowed into something more calculating and thoughtful. "Why are you telling me this? What do you get out of it?"

"A future ally, hopefully," she answered truthfully. "I have no interest in taking you from your studies, Stephen Strange—yes, I know who you are," she said, the benign smile coming again as he startled. "Your name is the least I know about you."

He stared at her once more, mouth hanging partially open. As the wind blew through again, he snapped his mouth shut and rubbed his shivering arms. "And why—why should I believe you aren't part of these secret government groups, or part of something that wants to use me? Why should I trust you?"

She kept that slight smile on her face as she answered, "Because I offer my assistance and ask nothing in return. I will guide you to the shoreline just north of the accident, and show you where you may find help. I recommend a forgetful memory between the crash and you reaching shore, which is quite common in times of traumatic events. No one will suspect anything different about you, Mr Strange."

The boy fidgeted at the name, as if not used to it. He really was a young thing, wasn't he? "You can get me there? Do you have a car nearby?"

The Ancient One smiled and lifted her lantern. "Remember what I said, Mr Strange." She let the lantern disintegrate, leaving only the glowing ball of light. Stephen's mouth dropped. "You are not the only person who can do the supposedly impossible. Can you walk unaided?"

Stephen snapped his jaw shut at the question and looked down at his leg. He pressed his lips together, and then with a grunt, he slowly shifted his weight under his legs, most of it on his good leg, before he pushed himself up into a standing position.

She offered another slight smile and held her hand forward to create a portal further east along the lake. "Follow me." The Ancient One did not bother to look at his reaction to the gateway, but had the ball of light follow her through. When she turned, Stephen was limping just through the portal, and after he got through she allowed it to close.

They were on the shore again; to the south in the water, a mile or so away, she could see the distant pinpricks of shiplights at the scene of the accident. Stephen, too, stared in that direction. But she forced his focus elsewhere when she pointed to the northeast, to the pinpricks of light beyond the trees. "Do you believe you can make it to those lit buildings? It is perhaps two hundred meters away. They should have a phone."

He offered a nod. "Yeah. My leg's not so bad."

"Good," she said. "Then I recommend you go that way; it may be some hours before authorities search the shore for you." She looked back at him. "I would not tell anyone of what truly occurred to you; such tales have an unfortunate habit of getting out, no matter how private the story is meant to be."

Stephen frowned at her, and she offered him another one of her benign smiles. "I will come to see you again, after you have had some time to recover. Good luck, Mr Strange." With that, she let the glowing ball beside her fade out, and created a portal into one of the darker rooms of Kamar-Taj and left the young Stephen Strange on the shore of the lake.

—————— 

Two weeks later, the Ancient One created another portal to the midwestern United States, landing underneath a narrow strip of trees that bordered a small creek that made its way through wide fields of agriculture. The nearest field beside her was corn, and just beyond it was a half-harvested wheat field. The trees bordering the water were a mix of oak and pine, specific species she was not familiar with but that she could broadly identify due to the commonalities found within their relatives in the Eastern Hemisphere. It was just after midday in this place known as Nebraska, and the summer sun was pleasant in this corner of the world, with a soft breeze taking off the edge of the dry heat.

She saw no one at first, but if the sling ring brought her here, that meant Stephen Strange was also nearby. A faint trail followed the bend of the creek and she paused in consideration before her instincts led her to go southwest.

In a few minutes, she came upon him. While her step was soft, the silence of the trail around them should have alerted Stephen to her arrival. But his back remained turned to her as he sat beyond the narrow trail and on the slope that led into the creek bed. His chin was propped on his knees and, since he had not heard her approaching, the Ancient One knew his mind was quite far away.

"Mr Strange," she said in greeting.

The young man violently started out of his daze and nearly lost his seating as he twisted around to stare at her. It seemed to her that he had aged some years in the last two weeks; his eyes were dark and sunken with lack of sleep, and his entire expression appeared drawn and pinched. His lips tightened for a moment, then he said, "It's you again."

"I did say I was going to return," she reminded him. She approached the sloping hill beside the creek and sat down beside him.

From the corner of her eye, she saw his expression tighten again. She remained quiet as he gathered his words. "Did you know?" Stephen asked after several passing seconds of heavy silence.

The Ancient One kept her gaze on the small creek. She knew what he was asking, and she would not play any games pretending otherwise; it wouldn't serve her purpose. "I knew that, by the time I came to you, your sister had died."

The tenseness beside her did not lift; if anything, it grew heavier. "Did you know Donna was going to die?"

An interesting question. She considered her answer; a multitude of answers would lead to an acceptable outcome, but this was reality. "We don't get to choose our time," she started. "In some probabilities, the question of death is split between a thin line that sways from one option to the other depending on the reality. In other instances, death is all but certain." She spared a glance at him; Stephen's grief was now layered with confusion. "I am sorry to say that, in the wide expansion of possibilities, your sister's death was largely unavoidable. All points led to it."

The young man's face contorted in anger. "I don't believe in fate or whatever the hell you're talking about."

"Some may call it fate," she answered, and looked back to the creek. "I call it probability. You may have been told, at some point in your life, that there are random events in life that are unpredictable. This is untrue, at least on a larger scale. Each event of consequence has a set probability in occurring, with the powers balancing reality and time ever trying to keep them as consistent as possible in the grand scheme of the multiverse. Certain people are always born. Certain events always occur. Certain items are always invented. Around people of consequence, events play out so that they may help play the part that they are meant to play."

In the corner of her eye, she saw Stephen run a hand over his face. "Look, lady, like I told you: I don't believe in that bullshit. And if you're trying to tell me that my sister was meant to—" He cut himself off and turned his head away. She saw his knuckles tighten to the point of turning white with the strain.

She slowly exhaled and closed her eyes. She had not spoken with youth who did not know her for who she was in some many years; she could not remember the last time a young person had spoken to her with such disrespect. But she had to keep in mind that Stephen was grieving, and that he was absolutely clueless.

Perhaps if he saw a small glimpse of what she saw, he would understand.

"I would like to show you something, if you would allow it," said the Ancient One as she opened her eyes and looked at Stephen.

His eyes darted to look at her with a side glance, though he did not look at her fully. "Show me what?"

"What my powers allow me to see," she said. His eyes narrowed. "It won't hurt or leave any lasting effects."

She saw the internal struggle, but one thing she knew well of Stephen Strange: his curiosity always got the better of him. And as she expected, he relented and said, "Okay, fine. How do you do that?"

A slight smile appeared on her lips. "Like this," said the Ancient One, and she placed her thumb upon his forehead and connected her third eye to his unused, undeveloped one. She picked from her memory a set of images gained by using the Eye of Agamotto in conjunction with the Cauldron of the Cosmos to explore the realities across the multiverse, the images she picked up some years ago as she looked into the man known as Stephen Strange and what he became in other realities.

And the images she chose were specifically referring to his sister's death. As she let him see various versions of himself (some with slightly different physical features, and a couple further in the past, but so very much Stephen Strange), she said, "The multiverse is a strange thing in its consistency. Donna Strange was not born only to perish at such a young age in every reality, but the probability was stacked against her. And many named Stephen Strange have experienced the grief you feel now. It is not your fault that the universe stacked probability against her survival."

She removed her thumb from his forehead and Stephen collapsed, rolling down a couple feet down the slope before catching himself. Laying on the ground now he panted heavily, trying to gain his breath.

When he finally raised his head, tears were streaming down his face. "It should've been me," he choked out. "She didn't deserve to die! None of those—" He cut himself off and shook his head, then angrily wiped at his face. "I—I don't know what the fuck you were doing—"

"I was using my powers to show you what I have seen," she interrupted, cutting him off for the first time. "After what you managed to achieve at the lake, are my abilities really so hard to come to terms with?"

Stephen shook his head again and pushed himself off the ground so he was standing. The Ancient One remained sitting and kept her expression neutral. "Okay, fine, so you have some crazy-ass powers that—that make no sense. I get it, you did physics-breaking things at the lake, too. What the hell does that have to do with me?"

She offered a benign smile. "Surely you haven't forgotten your unusual journey from the lake to the shore. Or have you been telling yourself that it was all a hallucination?"

By the look on his face, it appeared that that was exactly what he was trying to do. That would do no good.

"Unfortunately for you, your powers aren't just going to go away," the Ancient One said. "Whether they will manifest under physical or emotional stress I do not yet know, but they will return if you do not know how to control them."

"And what, you can teach me how to control them?" Stephen asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

"Yes," was her simple answer.

Stephen's eyes remained narrow, then he cut off his stare to run a hand through his hair and shake his head. "And what would you want out of me in return?"

"Nothing you are unwilling to give," said the Ancient One. "You can continue your studies as you wish. Go on to become a doctor."

"How did you know—" He paused, cutting himself off, then shook his head. "You know what, never mind. Go on." 

She offered her smile again. "All it would require is some of your time to discover the extent of your powers and to learn ways in which you can best control them. Consider it an extracurricular activity, if you would like."

"And what do you get out of it?" he asked.

"The knowledge that those with unusual powers remain hidden from those who would exploit them," is what she answers, but in truth, it was so much more. Still, it was not yet time to tell him that; he was too young. Too green.

Stephen looked down and crossed his arms as he considered her words. His expression was stone, but she knew what he was going to answer. If there was one thing predictable about Stephen Strange, it was his curiosity and his hunger for knowledge. It was his ambition to be the best at whatever he set his mind to, and a new ability suddenly within his hands was one meant to be conquered for him.

He then nodded jerkily, just once. "Okay. Sure. When do we start?"

The Ancient One smiled and stood. "How about now?" She opened a portal to one of her private rooms in Kamar-Taj, where she was rarely disturbed. It would not do to show him everything of the compound immediately, but it would come in due time.

He hesitated. "I need to be home for dinner at six."

"That is quite doable," she answered, and waited.

A couple seconds of hesitation passed, and then Stephen Strange lifted his chin and walked directly into the portal to Kamar-Taj, over two decades earlier than expected. The Ancient One followed him and closed the gateway behind her, leaving behind the quiet creek to flow under the bright green leaves on a sunny Nebraskan summer day.

— — — — — 

The big happy moment for me in writing this fic was that the town I chose for Stephen to grow up in and alluded to in another story is pretty close to this lake, so that worked out great. The most disappointing discovery, on the other hand, was that the Google Maps car only got like, the major roads in Nebraska. That does not include annnyyyyy of the roads near the Lewis and Clark State Recreation Area. And their promotional video didn't help in determining the details I wanted.

But then *the best thing* happened and on the camp's location on Google Maps, some beautiful, beautiful person took a photo of the entrance of the campgrounds, which was the exact detail I needed. So I dedicate this fic to Denis F. and their photo. (We're gonna pretend that the road and sign's 100% been like that since at least 1995). As much as I'd like to make an excuse to go to a lakeside attraction for boating fun, I'm sadly not a millionaire and cannot throw away thousands for the sake of fic accuracy. Alas. Once I win the lottery, though, 100% will commit to this. (Also, it's January and freaking freezing in Nebraska right now.)

FYI, Donna was not surfing, but wakeboarding. I just doubt that the Ancient One has bothered to learn all the new sports that popped up in the latter half of the 20th century - especially as one as young as wakeboarding was in 1995.

Hopefully the emotional roller coaster in the last bit worked. I've had conversations that just went all over the place like that before—crazy emotional subject to another crazy subject that just shook you to the point that the emotional subject was put on the back burner for processing—so hopefully people can relate.

[ghoste-catte]

okay so I've been a big fan of your work for like almsot three years now and you kinda inspired me to want to start my own gaara fanfic. I am absolutley in love with your characterisation of him (especially in sleep talk with me) and wondered if you maybe could give me some tips? because my story would also take place in the sweet inbetween after the chunin exams and before he becomes kazekage. (and to write him in this time frame is so so hard. damn you barely excitent canon content.)

OMG anon?? That’s such a nice thing to say!! I’m so thrilled that you’re inspired to write your own stuff! I hope you’ll drop me a link to it when it’s finished!! I’m sure it’ll be amazing!! I love that time period for Gaara. 

To be honest, I don’t feel like I’m super qualified to give writing “advice” (I say, preparing to give advice), because I’m really just an amateur doing this for fun. But that being said, there’s a couple things that I think are fun or interesting or compelling to explore with Gaara during that timeskip period between OG Naruto and Shippuden ... (Caveat here that these are just my opinions and there’s no one right way to explore this character, and that there’s plenty of interpretations that are worthwhile and fantastic and honestly better than mine!) 

So, the first and biggest thing I had to keep drilling into my own head as I was writing Sleeptalk was how staggeringly YOUNG all the characters are pre-Shippuden. Gaara is, like, twelve or thirteen at the chuunin exams and he becomes Kazekage around age fifteen. I don’t know if you remember being fifteen, but I was barely qualified to work my little part-time job at that age! Hell, I’m shocked they let me drive a car (with a learner’s permit, but still). So picturing someone making the decisions he did at that age, even in the context of the militaristic, child-soldier-normalizing context of Naruto is ... a lot. 

The biggest thing I think with Gaara--as an adult or as a teenager--is keeping in mind how strongly his trauma shaped him. What Gaara goes through between the end of the chuunin exams and his first appearance in Shippuden is basically an (unrealistically) accelerated trauma recovery. From age 6 to age 12, he basically has no personal connections, no affection, no mentorship or anything other than what appears to be basic “wrangling”. The Naruto wiki says that his dad is the one who trained him in ninjutsu, but it’s hard to picture him being particularly tractable after Yashamaru’s death, so I imagine those trainings were short-lived and probably fairly brutal. After all, it’s said Rasa’s magnet release was the only thing that could control Gaara if he let Shukaku take over. If anything, Rasa’s training methods are probably a lot closer to the Hyuugas’ than to, say, the Akimichi. So I think in addition to the onscreen traumas (the early loss of his mother, his overall rejection by Suna, the forcible termination of his relationship with his siblings, the assassination attempts, and of course Yashamaru’s betrayal), we probably also are looking at someone who was abused in addition to being neglected. Healing from trauma is a lot of work, and it has missteps and backslides in addition to forward progress, so there’s a lot of potential for development of his character there. Thinking about what his healing journey was like, what his setbacks might have been, and how he handled those. And what his major milestones were, too. What were his big signs of progress? His red letter days?

There’s actually a lot we don’t know about Gaara’s childhood between when Yashamaru died and the Konoha Crush, and there’s a lot of room to play in that space and explore possibilities. For example, who took care of his basic caregiving needs? Who made sure he had clothes and food? What did he eat? What were the major events of those six years? Did he ever try to reach out to Temari or Kankuro? To his dad? To Baki? What was the context of the additional assassination attempts? Did he play, and if so, what sort of games might he have played? We know, for example, that he has some artistic talent with the sand--was that something he ever explored? What did he do at night, since he couldn’t sleep? How was he kept awake, and by what or whom? There’s a lot of potential to explore additional, non-canon events that might have been formative. And how did any of that change after the chuunin exams, when he decided he wanted to be seen as more than a weapon? What sorts of things did he have to learn?

We know a very bare minimum about the Suna Council and the politics and culture of Suna, too, and I think there’s a lot of potential interest there. How would the Council have approached Gaara’s announcement of his intention to become Kage, when there were two older (and more emotionally stable) candidates from the same lineage? We know from the light novels that there is still backstabbing and subterfuge and that Gaara’s appointment is controversial even when he’s an adult, so I think there’s a lot of opportunity for political intrigue in the years between part 1 and Shippuden, if that’s your thing. 

One of the biggest and most important things that I think was sorely neglected by canon was Gaara’s relationship with his siblings. There’s so much growth that needed to happen there, and Temari and Kankuro were probably still pretty scared of him at first! There’s so much potential for them to grow together as people and to form a new family unit, and exploring how they went from being wary of him (and potentially needing to be prepared to kill him if he got out of control) to a loving sibling relationship! There are a lot of firsts that could be explored there--when did he first acknowledge Kankuro as his older brother, for example? Who was the first to try to give him a hug, and did he (or the sand) allow it?

Finally, I do really want to emphasize the mental health component of Gaara’s journey. Canon leans really heavily on the fact that he has a literal demon sealed inside him and that he’s protected by his mother’s spirit through magic sand, but a lot of his reactions and ways of handling things are really just that of a traumatized child, with or without the additional magic component. If you took a kid Gaara’s age and put them through traumatic events on the scale of what he went through--with or without magical ninja skills--you would likely see similar reactions. The only difference is that Gaara has access to fundamentally unlimited power. (And I think learning that, too--that he can’t just kill or hurt people to get what he wants--would be a huge part of his development and learning process.) So I personally don’t really care for interpretations of his development that lean too heavily on the ‘literal demon voices in his head’ and ‘actual conversing with ghosts/spirits’ interpretations, though they’re perfectly valid ones given what canon portrays. I much prefer an interpretation where a lot of Gaara’s symptoms--and they are symptoms!--are actually things that are going on with him emotionally and internally rather than being literal magic events that are happening. For example, I like to think his discomfort with the full moon has a lot more to do with negative emotions associated with the memory of Yashamaru’s betrayal than a literal issue with Shukaku thirsting for blood.  

Anyway, I’ve rambled on forever, but if you have other questions please feel free to pop back up! And I hope you’ll link me to your story when it’s done--I’d love to read it!!

[suitofvibraniumarmor]

** Writing Challenge **

I know, I know, my next one isn’t quite wrapped up yet, buttttt this idea came to me when my cousin and I were taking a walk down a ridiculous part of Memory Lane and I got excited. I’m guessing this has been done before at some point -- that’s not stopping me from presenting to you: 

I love fluff. And I wanna see more of it! 

Below the cut you will find some prompts that, in the context of Twilight, are absolutely cringe-worthy. My challenge to you is to take that prompt and make it something we can love. 

Disclaimer: I’m not Twilight-shaming ANYONE. I literally sat and watched all of Eclipse and now want to watch both Breaking Dawns. It’s more about sentiment, and the occasional girly giggle for me, but ... yeah. No judgement here, friends. 

Guidelines, prompts, and tags are below the cut! (Yes, I copied and tweaked from my last writing challenge. I’m being efficient, thank you! :P )

Please read all of the information carefully!

Rules, Guidelines, Important Dates:

Sign-Ups start when this post is live and will go through to December 30, 2020. I will accept two people for each prompt, one prompt per author.

Please send your sign-ups to my ask box so they’re easier to keep track of. I will answer them privately so I’m not flooding anyone’s dash!

In your ask, please include your preferred prompt and a backup option, as well as your pairing (so I don’t take the same pairing for the same prompt). Also, please let me know if you’ll be posting from a URL other than one you’re asking from.

To be included in the challenge masterlist, please post your fic (or the first part, if it’s a series) by Decemeber 31, 2020.

Please include an author’s note tagging me and mentioning the challenge in your fic post; include #BetterThanTwilightWC in the first five tags. If the tag doesn’t work, you may DM the link to me, also. If you decide to write a series, please tag me in the masterlist.

Please give me up to 48 hours to read your fic before checking if I have seen it. If I have not liked it after 48 hours, please DO check. (You know, since we’re all aware of how unreliable tumblr is. And how unreliable my mind can be. Yikes.)

The challenge masterlist will be posted between January 1 and January 4, 2020.

There are no word count limits, but please use the Keep Reading feature if your story goes beyond 500 words. Additionally, if your fic goes beyond 5000 words, please consider splitting it into multiple parts. This is not a requirement, only something to think about.

Yes, this is a FLUFF challenge, so you MUST have fluff as your main genre. You’re more than welcome to include other genres, but you MUST have a happy and/or hopeful ending.

You’re welcome to think outside of the box! Just because I’m talking Twilight and love stories, doesn’t mean there has to be romance! Give me  amazing friendships or strong family bonds or self-love. Or romance! Whatever you’d like. 

You're welcome to change pronouns in the prompt as necessary! Heck, I tweaked a few of ‘em so they’re not Twilight-specific.

For personal reasons, I do not read and will not accept into the challenge (which means I will not reblog or add to the masterlist) stories that include: non-con/dub-con, underage sex, adult-child romantic/sexual relationships, spouse-bashing, child abuse – I could go on, but I think you get the idea. If you’re not sure about something, I’m always happy to answer questions!

Bring on the ships, OC’s, reader pairings – I’m trying to be more open-minded as of late, but I can’t promise that I will read everything. Again, for personal reasons. But I will reblog everything! 

Characters and RPFs from Marvel/MCU are both welcome. 

If you need an extension or need to drop out, please know that I am extremely flexible when it comes to that deadline/due date. In the words of Captain Barbosa, “It’s really more of a guideline.” Just shoot me an ask or a message and we’ll work something out, no worries! 

Prompts: 

1. “I have always loved you, and I will always love you.”  2. “The clouds I can handle. But I can’t fight with an eclipse.”  3. “I know what you are.”  4. “You held out your hand and I took it without stopping to make sense of what I was doing.” 5. “You have a connection with her that I’ll never understand.” 6. “I’m glad she has you.” 7. “It will be like I never existed. I promise.” 8. “I knew who I wanted to be. I wanted to help people. Brings me happiness.” 9. “That will take a while to get used to.” “We have a while.” 10. “What if I’m not the hero? What if I’m the bad guy?” 11. “I’d rather hear your theories.” 12. (sarcastically) “Super. That makes me really happy.” 13. “You’re like my own personal brand of heroin.” 14. “Maybe I shouldn’t be dating such an old man. It’s gross. I should be thoroughly repulsed.” 15. “It’s an extraordinary thing to meet someone who you can bare your soul to and they’ll accept you for what you are.” 16. “I’ve been waiting for what seems like a very long time to get beyond what I am.” 17. “I feel like I can finally begin.” 18. “He’s totally gorgeous, obviously. But apparently nobody here is good enough for him.” 19. “He did say I couldn’t step inside the door. I came in through the window.” 20. “I know things. Like how to hunt somebody to the ends of the earth. And I know how to use a gun.” 21. “Now I’m afraid.” “Good.” 22. “I’m not afraid of you. I’m only afraid of losing you.” 23.  “About three things I was absolutely positive ...” 24. “You’re so stubborn.” 25. “Do you know how worried I’ve been?” 26. “I can’t even think about someone hurting you.” 27. “The only thing that can hurt me is you, and I don’t have anything else to be afraid of.” 28. “Don’t antagonize her. She’s the strongest one in the house.” 29. “All right. That’s enough experimenting for one day.” 30. “It never made sense for you to love me.” 31. “I wish there had been someone to vote no for me.” 32. “It’s just a little baby.” 33. “How strongly are you opposed to grand theft auto?” 34. “I’m not missing another fight!” 35. “No one can hide like me.” 36. “If I asked you to stay in the car, would you?” 37. “I have one condition, if you want me to do it myself.” 38. “I had an adrenaline rush. It’s very common. You can Google it.” 39. “How did you get in here?” “The window.” 40. “I love a happy ending. They are so rare.” 41. “You should put your seatbelt on.” 42. “Can you talk about something else? Distract me so I won’t turn around.” 43. “I can’t live in a world where you don’t exist.” 44. “After all the thousand times I’ve told you I love you, how could you let one word break your faith in me?” 45. “Maybe that’s why they kicked me out.” 46. “All of my best nights have happened since I met you.” 47. “You know everybody’s staring?” “Not that guy ... no, he just looked.” 48. “She wishes she was that awesome.” 49. “Does he visit often?” “Yeah, all the time.” 50. “Lie ... Lie better.” 51. “I’m Switzerland.” 52. “That should have been our first kiss.” 53. “Would you like to hear my story? It doesn’t have a happy ending -- but which of ours does?” 54. “Another party?” “It’ll be fun.” “Yeah. That’s what you said last time.” 55. “You are the only one who has ever touched my heart. I will always be yours.” 56. “The way he watches you. It’s like he’s willing to leap in front of you and take a bullet or something.” 57. “Kill me! Not him!” 58. “Stay.” “Give me one good reason.” 59. “Yeah, it’s and off day when I don’t get somebody telling me how edible I smell.” 60. “Damn it! You’ll be the death of me, I swear you will.” 61. “If I could dream at all, it would be about you. And I’m not afraid of it.” 62. “Do I dazzle you?” 63. “I’m tired of trying to stay away from you.” 64. “Bring on the shackles, I’m your prisoner.” 65. “You are my life now.” 66. “And then we continued blissfully into this small, perfect piece of our forever.” 67. “Nobody’s ever loved someone as much as I love you.” 68. “I don’t know what happened.” “You love him.” 69. “All of sudden it’s not gravity holding you to the planet, it’s her. Nothing else matters. You would do anything, be anything for her.” 70. “You really love her?” 71. “I don’t see the whole point of the rest of the world without her.” 72. “Then I found a promising site ... I waited impatiently for it to load, quickly clicked closed each ad that flashed across the screen. Finally, the screen finished -- simple, white background with black text; academic-looking. Two quotes greeted me on the homepage:” 73. “I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.” 74. “I’ll be fighting for her, too, and I’ll be fighting twice as hard as you will.” 75. “It’s always been him.” 76. “You don’t know how long I’ve waited for you.” 77. “They’re coming for her.” “They’re not gonna touch her.” 78. “Doesn’t he own a shirt?” 79. “You know, if it weren’t for the fact that we’re enemies and that you’re also trying to steal away the reason for my existence, I might actually like you.” 80. “You have disappeared. Like everything else.” 81. “The absence of him is everywhere I look.” 82. “I don’t have the strength to stay away from you anymore.” 83. “Your number was up the first time I met you.” 84. “We all like to drive fast.” 85. “It’s too easy to be myself with you.” 86. “I’ve never given much thought to how I’d die, but dying in the place of someone I love seems like a good way to go.” 87. “Don’t tempt me too far. My patience isn’t that perfect.” 88. “His tone questions my sanity, but it only made me more suspicious. It was like a perfect delivered line by a skilled actor.” 89. “What’s he mad about?” 90. “No measure of time with you will ever be enough.” 91. “I promise to love you forever, every single day of forever.” 92. “We’re gonna be great friends!” 93. “If I had my way, I would spend the majority of my time kissing him.” 94. “Until your heart stops beating.” 95. “I touched the cool miracle of his ski, and I was home.” 96. “Forbidden to remember, terrified to forget; it was a hard line to walk.” 97. “This isn’t the time to make hard and fast decisions. This is the time to make mistakes.” 98. “Leave it to you ... you have to start hanging out with the first weirdos you can find.” 99. “I love him much more than I should, and yet still nowhere near enough.” 100. “I refuse to be affected by territorial disputes.”

Tags for possible interest/signal boosting (if you’re so inclined): 

 @captain-s-rogers​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @star-spangled-man-with-a-plan​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @letsgetfuckingsuperwholocked​​​​​​​​​ @hurricanerin​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @horsesandbandsforlife​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @im-not-an-armrest-im-short​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @captain-rogers-beard​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @shynara51​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @sea040561​​​​​​​​​​​​​  @pinknerdpanda​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @xtina2191​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @jackryanplz​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @beakami​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @heartsaved​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @fullprunerebelstatesman​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @blackwidowismyhomegirl​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @the-murder-strut-murdered-me​​​​​​​​​​​​​  @shield-agent78​​​​​​​​​​​​​  @jennmurawski13​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @okay-maybe-i-like-marvel-too​​​​​​​​​​​​​

[msjr0119]

Cordonian Wags

Part 24

In a world full of Professional footballers and their demanding wives- can their football team nicknamed the ‘Cordonian Apples’ succeed? An American female physiotherapist joins the club. Will this cause issues with the footballers wives?

Book: The Royal Romance (A/U plot switch)

*Majority of the characters belong to Pixelberry*

Please do not read if under the age of 18. If you do, you are consenting that you are over this age. If any of the trigger warnings below affect you, please do not continuing reading the chapter! 😊

Warnings: Swearing, mention of cancer, mention of sex, mention of domestic abuse (past tense).

A/N: I feel like this is a filler chapter, and some of you may hate Riley in this 🤷‍♀️. As always there’s drama 🤦🏻‍♀️

Word Count: 2100ish

Tags: @pedudley @kacie-0156 @annekebbphotography @burnsoslow @ladyangel70 @kingliam2019 @bascmve01 @texaskitten30 @i-bloody-love-drake-walker @kimmiedoo5 @nikkis1983 @walker7519 @lodberg @cmestrella @hopefulmoonobject @axwalker @yukinagato2012 @indiacater @seriouslybadchoices @rainbowsinthestorm @cordonianroyalty @desireepow-1986 @choices97

*****

Fuck.

Running out of the bathroom, Riley knew exactly who it was- and she wasn’t going to stop until she confronted the woman.

“What are you doing here?”

“Oh, Riley. I do feel for you. Honestly I do. But I hope that you don’t fight this.”

“Take that back Kiara! What are you doing here anyway?” Drake snapped towards his ex.

“I’m paying my respect to my lover, who was murdered if you’ve forgotten. Both myself and Madeleine are here. Then I saw you run off Drake- I wanted to make sure that you was okay.” Moving closer towards him, she reached her arm out towards him- hoping to comfort him. However he dodged it, instead wrapping his arms around Riley’s waist.

“No, I’m not okay- but that is none of your concern. Don’t tell anyone what you overheard...”

“Drake.. I know how much Riley means to you. But I’m here still. I can heal you.” Fuck she said something similar in my dream.

“I’m still here you know! You never deserved someone like Drake!”

“Maybe not, but people change. As I said, I hope that you don’t fight this. I’m still here- and I’ll always be here. Along with your ex husbands money.. we can have a great future, Drake. Don’t worry I’ll keep your little secret, won’t be long until the press find out though...” Walking away with a smirk, Riley didn’t trust her one bit- Kiara would do anything and everything to ruin their relationship.

And that’s it- full time! Well done to the Apples, what a fantastic match.

“Shall we head up upstairs? I’ll quickly change before they all go to the changing room. I’ll meet you up there.” Riley just nodded, knowing that going upstairs was about to be like entering a battlefield.

*****

Arriving upstairs, there were the usual familiar faces- the other WAGS. Then there was Kiara and Madeleine smirking, as if neither had done anything wrong in the past. They shouldn’t be there. They had no right to be there. They were ex partners. Not part of the ‘team’ anymore. Joining Olivia at the bar, Riley ordered a double whiskey. Ever since her cancer diagnosis she had avoided alcohol- but due to her run in with Kiara prior she needed it for Dutch courage.

“Woah, slow down.. what’s the matter with you?” Olivia asked, looking at her concerned. Ordering another, she really didn’t care what anyone thought anymore.

“Kiara and Madeleine are here. Kiara knows something about me. She’s not going to stop.”

“What does she know? Just ignore them. They’ll soon be booted out of here.”

“It doesn’t matter....”

“I killed your husband for you, if there’s something on your mind you can talk to me...”

“Kiara wants Drake back. That’s all.” Partially lying, she didn’t want to disclose the other reasoning as to why she was upset with Kiara’s presence in the room.

“Well Kiara can go and fuck herself with a baguette. He’s yours, he’s smitten with you. Don’t ever allow that French talking moron to steal him from you.” But one day I’m not going to be here, Riley thought to herself. Feeling familiar arms go around her waist, she was going to cherish every moment with Drake from now on.

*****

Bertrand provided a short speech regarding the deaths of Constantine and Xavier. Even though deep down he didn’t want to as he was aware of their true personalities he felt the need to. To prove to the press that the club were fully ‘heartbroken’ about the news. Clearing his throat he quickly changed the subject, the club had some positive news to share.

“Before the chairman passed away, he was in the process of signing two new players to join our club. Since his passing, I completed these contracts with the support of; the head of recruitment, head of performance and analysis as well as the chief scout. I am pleased to announce that the two men who will be joining us will be arriving tomorrow. You may all know one of them, Neville Vancouver....”

“Who’s neville Vancouver?” Riley whispered in Leo’s ear.

“Trust me, you don’t want to know. He thinks he’s better than the rest of us. We played against his team last year, he has some beef with Drake. We don’t know why. He is always determined to break Drakes leg. I think it’s because Drake doesn’t have family who played professional football prior to him.”

“He sounds a snobby arsehole...” Leo high fived her. If his father wasn’t already dead, he potentially would be now. This news would never go down well with the team.

“The second player hasn’t played for Cordonian team before, so it’s a big change for him. I hope that you all make him feel welcome. Riley, you may know him....” Riley’s eyes widened, panic started running through he veins- wondering why she would know him.

“His name is Olivier Berger...”

“Fuck!” Not knowing how loudly that word slipped out, she soon had an audience as Bertrand continued talking about the mans career.

“Fuck?” Drake and Leo questioned her.

“Olivier played alongside Xavier in Manchester....”

“So why is that bad?”

“He’s the reason Xavier ....” Feeling like she couldn’t breathe, flashbacks from her past soon entered her mind.

“He’s one of the reasons that arsehole hurt my sister! Riley helped him recover from an injury and Olivier was forever grateful for her saving his career. That was all. Nothing more but Xavier became jealous.” Without fully elaborating, the gentlemen knew exactly what Lindsey was referring to. The abuse that Riley had received due to Xavier’s jealousy.

“Well it’ll be nice for him to have a friendly face when he arrives.” Drake said in a positive manner. Encouraging her not to worry about it.

“To end this speech, I’d just like to thank you all for putting in so much effort in today’s match. Even with the little disturbance from you Walker. Carry on putting one hundred per cent.....” Bertrand paused his speech as his phone began ringing along with a few notifications. Declining the call he read the notifications- his eyes widened before locking eyes with Riley. Suddenly an echo of gasps surrounded the room.

“Riley?” Bertrand managed to croak out, leading all eyes to land in her direction. Drake could feel Riley’s grip become tighter. Liam and Leo pulled her in for a tight hug, now she knew what was happening. Drake left her side. Not that he wanted to. Storming towards Kiara and Madeleine, they both fluttered their eyelashes towards him.

“Drake I’m so sorry to read about this...” Madeleine expressed in a fake sorrowful tone of voice before smirking.

“How could you do this Kiara?” Kiara pulled him to the side.

“I didn’t. I may have in a way threatened to do it but I would never do that. She’s dying anyway, so I just needed to be patient to win you back.”

“You and I were the only people who knew. So do explain to me how the press know the minute you found out?” Focusing her gaze towards her friend, Madeleine raised her drink into the air whilst winking. This was all the proof Drake needed. Somehow the witch knew. And exposed it. Still not trusting Kiara’s words, he decided to turn his anger towards the blonde. Kiara grabbed his arm, forcing him to face her. Caressing his cheek, she provided him with a soft smile as he tried to force his body away from her. Pulling him closer to her, she placed her lips on to his- keeping a tight grip on him.

“I love you, Drake. I’m always going to be here. I wouldn’t hurt you again.” Drake stood still, in shock that she would pull a stunt like this.

“Riley! Wait!” Pushing Kiara off of him, he saw all of his team mates run after Riley as the door slammed shut.

“Get the fuck out of my life, Kiara!”

*****

Drake kept calling and texting Riley but there was no answer. From his point of view he knew that she was in shock as the Rhys held her tight. Wishing it was him instead. Wishing that he had stayed comforting her rather than demanding the truth from his ex. Instead Kiara forced a kiss up on his lips, and Madeleine was back with her cunning plans. Causing trouble as she always did.

Arriving home, he hoped that she was there. That hope soon disappeared. Heading straight to her apartment, he had the press following his every move. No luck there either. Trying each of his team mates houses, no one had seen or heard from her.

Riley Brooks the Apples physio, loses her ‘ex’ husband. Now according to an anonymous source there is talk of a cancer scare? Is there trouble in paradise, as Drake Walker has been spotted driving around Cordonia- we assume searching for his girlfriend? More news to follow....

Entering the cabin alone, he was worried for her welfare and state of mind. He kept trying to contract her, losing his mind. He hoped that she would return on her own accord.

Please let me know that you are okay. Please come home. I love you so much x

*****

“He’s gone. You can come out now.”

“Thank you for covering for me.”

“He’s going to be losing his mind! Explain to us everything. Now!”

“Yes, I have cancer. I’m having an operation in a couple of weeks time. I didn’t want to worry anyone...so I didn’t want it to become public knowledge until after the op. Kiara overheard us discuss it. She’s the one that went to the press....” Breaking down in tears, her two friends comforted her as best as they could.

“And then he kissed her...” Barely speaking the words out- she felt as if her world had come crashing down in an instant.

“He wouldn’t kiss her on his own accord. It seemed like it was forced.”

“He’s a man, why couldn’t he push her away? If he loved me, he would have stayed with me. Stayed away from her.”

The two of them looked concerned at each other, Drake was a man who couldn’t defend himself against Kiara’s abuse for years. If a stranger looked at her, she looked innocent and sweet- possibly gave the impression of being the doting girlfriend. But she wasn’t.

“You need to talk to him. Let him know that you’re safe at least.”

“I will do. At some point. I promise. I won’t be a burden for you both.”

*****

Two weeks later, Riley was at hospital preparing for her operation. She had stayed at her friends house, but refused to see Drake. Speaking to him on the phone, the conversations hit a dead end- he had insisted on coming to see her just to make sure that she was okay. However, she refused. Just saying that she will see him after her operation. In those two weeks, he kept himself to himself- whilst trying to hunt Madeleine down. To question her about her actions, to ask what benefitted her from doing this.

Arriving at the hospital, he demanded to know where Riley was- Lindsey had text him confirming that she was having the operation today.

“Mr Walker, you can’t see her just yet. I’ll let her know that you are here when she comes out of recovery.”

“That’s not good enough! Please... I just need to see her. Even if it’s for a minute.” Unlike Leo, he didn’t like to use his money for bribery- but in this situation, anything was worth a try.

“Right this way, Mr Walker.” Following the receptionist, she introduced him to the theatre nurse in charge. Knowing that they were going against hospital policies and procedures- the nurse led Drake into the room.

“What are you doing here?” Wondering why the staff would allow him to enter the room, whilst she laid down having her cannula inserted.

“I told you that I was going to be here every step...I’m going to hold your hand until you fall asleep, and I’m going to be here when you wake up.”

“Ki... Kia.. Kiara...” Seeing the anaesthetic quickly work its magic, he knew he had to be quick with his words.

“She forced that kiss upon me... I love you, Riley. We are going to get through this together- we are soulmates, you came in to my life for a reason. We are going to have a baby once this is over. I’m going to continue to play, to provide for the two of us...Madeleine was the one that went to the press, I assume anyway. Please don’t shut me out. I know that you’re upset, we didn’t plan for it to come out the way it did. But I’m here, always.”

“Dr.. Drake...” Forcing his hand off of hers, she may be half asleep but her brain was still fully functioning for the moment. Forcing her hand back into his, he kissed it softly. Letting it linger there.

“Marry me Riley...”