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hufflautia · 4 years ago

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The Queen and the Dragon

Hi everyone! Finally, the glorious fic that some of you have been waiting for is finally here. I am so excited for you all to read this, and I hope you enjoy <3

Summary: All was peaceful in Endiac until tragedy had befallen the king. Now it’s up to his daughter, Princess Hufflepuff, to reign the kingdom. One might think that this would be easy for her. After all, the noble family of Endiac was beloved by all, so there should be no reason for anyone to go against her rule… right? WRONG BRUV! THIS IS A FANFIC WRITTEN BY ME, SO YOU KNOW THINGS ARE ABOUT TO GET SPICY!! Neighboring kingdoms who have sexist beliefs declare war upon Endiac, and the fairies come up with an idea that will prove Hufflepuff to be capable of leading her people—and it involves killing a dragon. However, when Hufflepuff encounters the supposedly fearsome beast, it is so much farther from what she expected.

Once upon a time, there was a lovely princess named Hufflepuff who lived with her family in a glorious castle on the top of the hill that overlooked the entire kingdom. Her father, King Aeneas, ruled over the subjects of Endiac, a lush land that stretched for miles and was full of magical creatures. Everyone loved the royal family and lived in harmony with the neighboring kingdoms. Even the creatures that resided outside of Endiac respected the king—even the trolls, who usually sought to wreak havoc. The subjects especially loved Princess Hufflepuff, who was as kind as a fairy and as beautiful as a unicorn. Everyone lived happily under the reign of King Aeneas and his family.

All was peaceful in Endiac until King Aeneas fell terribly ill. Everyone grew anxious for his recovery, especially Princess Hufflepuff. Kneeling next to her father on his bedside, Hufflepuff called to the fairies and cried, “Please help my father get better. The kingdom will surely collapse without him!” However, the fairies did not know of any cure for the king’s strange illness. All the magical herbs they had given to him did nothing to help his condition.

But Hufflepuff refused to give up. Knowing that fairies were prophets, she took the fastest horse from the stables and rode to a faraway fortress, where the wisest fairy supposedly inhabited.

It was said that Helia, the fairy of Coltherstone, was so well-known for her accurate predictions that many people flocked to the stronghold, begging her to prophesize their future. Being the generous fairy that she was, she helped and helped and helped. In return, they did… nothing. But that was ok with her. She didn’t expect them to shower her with gifts or jewels in return for her prophecies. After all, she was one of the most powerful fairies to exist, so she didn’t need anything from them. If they were happy, that was good enough for her.

One day, when Helia was traveling to another realm, she got caught in a raging snowstorm. The relentless hail that poured down damaged her wings, leaving her helpless and unable to fly, the usual transportation that fairies used. The numbing cold prevented her from using magic, so she decided to look for help. She came across a village, one that she knew well, for the villagers constantly visited her in hopes of getting a glimpse of their future. Of course, she always abided. Surely, that meant they would come to her aid, right? It was only fair that they lent a helping hand in her time of need.

Helia stumbled to the first house that she could reach and knocked. There was no answer. Were they not home? She decided to try another house. Perhaps they were available. Yet again, there was no response. Where did the villagers go? Perhaps they got caught in the snowstorm as well and were trying to make it home.

I’ll search for them later, she thought to herself as she walked to the next house. Though I’m sure not everyone is missing. She knocked on the door of house after house, the rapping of her knuckles against the wood ringing out like echoes in the emptiness of the village. Her attempts were to no avail—the doors remained closed, shutting her out.

She frowned, confusion etched in her face as she looked around. Was everyone truly missing? She decided to start her search and find any survivors who were lost in the howling storm. Right before she left through the entrance of the village, something caught her eye. In the top window of the first house she encountered was a silhouette of a man, the glow of the light behind him contrasting with his figure. A villager, at last! Her spirit rising, she held up a hand and waved, hoping to catch his attention. She was sure he could see her; the man seemed to be looking right at her. However, she watched as he reached up to close the blinds, leaving her alone once again.

Helia’s heart sank. Why wouldn’t he help her? Shaking her head in confusion, she walked to the house. “Hello,” she called out. “Anyone there?”

When there was no response, she knocked harder this time. “I know someone’s in there, I saw you in the window!” She stared at the door, feeling dejected. “Didn’t you see me?”

She decided to leave after waiting for a while and trudged down the steps. Suddenly, she noticed something in the window of the neighbor’s house. Walking closer, she squinted through the falling snow, and her eyes could make out the dim glow of a lantern within the house. What was going on?

Helia turned her attention to another house and hoped that her arising suspicion was wrong. Straining to hear past the howling wind, she could make out the sound of faint chatter. She ran to the door and tapped on the wood, her knocks becoming more insistent. “Please open the door,” she shouted over the storm. “My wings are broken and it’s too cold for me to use magic.” The villagers ignored her.

“It’s me, Helia!” Tears brimmed along the edge of her eyes and blurred her vision. “Remember me? I granted prophecies for all of you!”

They continued to laugh with one another.

“Please, I need help, I need…” She trailed off, choking on the sobs that heaved from her chest. Overcome with emotion, she leaned her forehead against the door with her hands pressed to the side. Realization dawned on her as she listened to the vague chatter within the walls of the house. People were home. They just didn’t want to help her. The pain that bloomed in her chest grew more intense as she walked to the entrance.

Before she left the village, bitterness overtook her and a curse erupted from her broken heart, spreading to all the realms. It was the last thing anyone heard from Helia before she disappeared, never to be seen again. “I will prophesize for you no longer,” the curse roared. “My door will remain closed to everyone but those who mean well. Those with hearts that are pure and true will find me in their time of need.” Everyone who did not meet those expectations would see that phrase embedded into the door of her fortress. It was a reminder of what happened, of how no one helped her that day. Even when they knocked and knocked and knocked—just as she did on that fateful night—the door would remain locked.

Hufflepuff’s mother read this story to her so that she always remembered to be kind to others. Helia was thought to be a myth, seeing as how the last time that anyone ever heard from Helia was thousands of years ago. Many people believed that the story of Helia was a tale to read to children at bedtime so that they learned the lesson of lending help to others in their time of need. However, there were whispers that she was real, that she was re-emerging into society again, granting wishes to those who deserved it. On the other hand, none of this was confirmed.

Regardless of whether or not the rumors were true, Hufflepuff’s father was dying—and that was most definitely real. She couldn’t give up on finding something that would save him. With her fingers crossed, Hufflepuff hoped that Helia would grant a prophecy that predicted the state of her father’s wellbeing. When she arrived at Coltherstone, she dismounted the horse and grabbed the bag strapped to the side before making her way to the fortress.

“Hello Helia,” she called out gingerly, standing near the entrance. “My name is Hufflepuff, the princess of Endiac. You probably haven’t heard of me, but I’ve heard of you.” She took a pause and swallowed with difficulty before continuing. “And I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for what happened to you. That wasn’t right of the villagers to ignore you like that, especially because you always helped them.”

“And I know I can’t change the horrors that you faced that night, nor will I ever truly understand the depths of your sorrow.” Hufflepuff drew closer until she stood in front of the famed door that supposedly had Helia’s last words known to humankind etched into the wood. “But I brought this,” she said before taking something out of a bag. It was a coat fit for a fairy to wear. Not just any coat—it was the fluffiest coat that she could find, one that would generate enough warmth to stave off the freezing cold. “It’s what I would’ve given you if you knocked on my door that night.”

A puff of air blew softly from her nose as she brushed her fingers against the wool. It was a bit ridiculous giving a coat to a fairy that probably had no use for it. Hell, she was offering a coat to a fairy who may not even be real! She shook the negative thoughts from her head; she had a purpose in coming here... although she wasn’t really sure what that exact purpose was. Granted, she knew it was to get a glimpse of her father’s fate. However, another part of her had always wanted to do this. Whenever she heard the tale of Helia, her thoughts never centered around the fairy’s powerful ability to predict the future accurately. Instead, they drifted to how Helia must’ve felt that night, cold and alone, abandoned by the people who she cared about the most. It was always at the top of her bucket list to bring this coat to her, not as an offering in exchange for a prophecy, but as a token of empathy and compassion.

Pulling herself out of the thoughts swirling around in her head, Hufflepuff delicately placed the coat at the front of the doorstep and gave a small nod of appreciation. “Thank you for your time,” she said, feeling a tinge of embarrassment. It felt a bit silly to talk as if she was speaking to the fairy herself. Nevertheless, Hufflepuff couldn’t help but feel a twinge of excitement now that she was actually here, at the famed fortress in which Helia supposedly resided. A childish grin stretched across her face, she stepped closer to the door and examined it. She thought back to the myth and reached out to touch the wood. Funny. People who visited Coltherstone usually said that Helia’s infamous words were engraved into the timber. However, she didn’t see anything. It just looked like any other door.

She shrugged. A feeling of disappointment settled on her chest as she began walking back to her horse, thinking about the story. Maybe it really was a myth.

“On the contrary, dear,” a voice called out. “How can it be a myth when I’m right here?”

Hufflepuff spun towards the sound of the voice, her eyes widening once they landed on the figure. Helia, the very person who she had been hoping to see, stood before her in all her glory—well, she wouldn’t really call it standing. It was more like hovering in the air. Her wings, which seemed to be filamentous and transparent, fluttered like confetti. As they danced in an airborne way, the breeze took on a floral fragrance, one to send the mind into a heady stupor, the kind enjoyed on late summer afternoons. Her hair was wild and as brown as the earthy soil under them, with small horns that adorned either side of her head. She was already wearing the coat that was gifted to her, a twinkle in her eye as she gazed warmly at the girl in front of her.

“Helia,” Hufflepuff gaped. “You’re here and you—you’re real and you’re wearing the coat—”

The fairy giggled, the vibrant sound bringing a sense of peace to her troubles. The gentle sound could make the lamplight more golden and the fires burn warmer. “Yes, my sweet child. Thank you very much for the gift.”

She barely managed to nod in response, still gawking at her.

Helia hummed a small laugh before walking around the side of the fortress, gesturing for her to follow. The gate that usually prevented visitors from trespassing disappeared, so she was able to pass through. She couldn’t help but feel intimidated by the fairy that floated alongside her. After all, she was one of the most powerful beings to ever exist; almost every child heard of her at some point. She moved as if she were only made of water, flowing more than she walked. Hufflepuff was startled when she turned her attention to her once again.

“You’re the first human to give me something,” she admitted. “For your goodwill, I shall grant you a prophecy.” She took a pause to smile widely at her. “You would’ve gotten a prophecy either way, Princess Hufflepuff. Your heart is pure and true, and for that, I will help you.”

Hufflepuff let out a breath of relief. Perhaps she could save her father after all! “Thank you kindly, Helia.”

They encountered a makeshift wall of hanging leaves, and the fairy parted the flowers aside so that she could walk through. A beautiful garden came into view. The bonsai trees lined the perfect lawn in their wooden boxes. In the center was a pond as large as a small lake with flowering lily pads and a wooden bridge that crossed the middle so one could look down at the koi carp. The flower beds were a riot of lively colors, splashes of red and gold thrown in the field of blossoms. She was awe-struck once more.

“Come,” Helia said, making her way towards an area to sit and chat. “We have much to discuss.”

Hufflepuff followed her to a bench that resided in the middle of the garden. The rosy cedar browns were married to the iron that curved into the great arms and grew into ever-blooming flowers to rest on. She didn’t take the time to appreciate its beauty; there was a pressing matter to attend to—her father’s fate.

“Ah, yes. It seems that your father, King Aeneas, is quite ill at this time.”

Her head snapped up to stare at the fairy in surprise. She was about to ask how she knew her father’s name but decided not to after seeing the knowing look on her face. Fairies had a way of looking right into one’s soul as if it were an open book for the reading.

“So what of it,” she asked frantically, swallowing with difficulty. “What’s gonna happen?”

“You will rule over Endiac much sooner than you think.”

It was as if time stopped for Hufflepuff. “What are you saying,” she whispered, dread creeping into her chest.

Helia placed a hand on her shoulder, but the soothing touch did nothing to calm the storms that raged in her heart. “There is nothing you can do to save your father.”

“No,” she gasped, standing up abruptly. “I won’t give up, I mustn't!”

“Fate will take its course regardless of what you do.” A somber expression splayed onto her face. “By the time the sun sets, your father will be gone.”

Hufflepuff suddenly collapsed onto the bench, a grimace contorted on her face as she tried to will the tears away. Despite her efforts, they began falling freely from her eyes. Helia rubbed her back sympathetically and plucked a tissue from thin air, offering it to her.

“I can sense the love you have for your father, so I understand why his death troubles you greatly,” she said. “But I also sense another worry.”

Hufflepuff didn’t respond for a while. All that could be heard was the occasional sniffles along with the rustling of leaves. Finally, she spoke. “I can’t be the queen of Endiac,” she whispered. “I can’t rule the kingdom, not without my father’s help.”

“On the contrary, you needn’t the help of a man to be a powerful ruler,” she said pointedly. “You will be one of the most well-known queens of your time.”

A sliver of hope arose in Hufflepuff. Would she really?

“However, you will face numerous hardships and go on a quest before you can begin your ascend as one of the greatest queens to exist. Your journey will be a very difficult one, and what you find in the end is not what you expect.”

She thought about the fairy’s words, curiosity as well as concern swirling in her head. She still felt uncertain, for she was afraid to rule. Did she really have what it takes to be a queen?

Helia squeezed her hand reassuringly. “It’s all going to be ok in the end.”

Hufflepuff drew in a shaky breath. She really hoped so. “Thank you for your help, Helia, I won’t forget what you said.” She got up. “But I must take my leave now. My father doesn’t have much time left, and I’d like to spend as much time with him as possible.”

The fairy nodded and walked her to the entrance. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty.” She curtseyed. “I wish you the best of luck.”

Hufflepuff gave her a small smile before making her way to the horse.

With a heavy heart, she prepared for the long journey ahead. By nightfall, the subjects were devastated to hear that King Aeneas had passed away.

Hufflepuff knelt on the carpet, her cheek lying against the pillow that rested on her father’s empty bed. She clutched the cloth and could feel the fluff of goose feathers, but the soft material did nothing to calm the waves of grief that clashed within.

It smelled as if he were sitting right beside her, for his scent still lingered on the sheets. Inhaling deeply, she tried to imprint the earthy smell of cool rain into her memory. If she closed her eyes, she could pretend that he was sitting right beside her, that he was fine and all was well. This was comforting to some extent, but she knew the peace would not last. Her father was gone.

A tear peeked from the corner of her eye and rolled down her cheek until it finally came to a rest at the end of her jaw. More tears began streaming down her face as she thought of his last words to her.

Someone called out her name. Startled, she stood up abruptly and turned towards the voice, relaxing when she realized that it was only her mother, who held her arms out for a hug. With a sad smile, she walked into her embrace. “I miss him,” she whispered, her breath catching in her throat.

“Me too.” She stroked her hair and held her daughter tightly. A heavy silence drifted upon them as they reminisced on all the great memories they had together.

After a while, her mother pulled away and clasped their hands together. “Come, child,” she said before leading them towards the balcony.

She pushed open the double-leaved doors and stepped into the sunlight, taking in the light breeze. “Heavy hearts and heavy minds are not what Endiac needs right now.” Hufflepuff rested her hands on the railing as she looked over the kingdom. Her kingdom. Her mom finally turned to her with a reassuring smile.

“They need a queen.”

When Hufflepuff was crowned Queen, chaos reigned in the once-beloved kingdom. Immediately after neighboring kingdoms received word that King Aeneas died, they declared war on Endiac and vowed to overthrow the Queen because “a woman couldn’t possibly lead a kingdom”. Shocked, she couldn’t believe that the kingdoms would turn on her like this—even Bellesea, a kingdom that always aided Endiac during their time of need, joined in on the aggression.

The nervous council members urged Hufflepuff to marry the king of Staerdale, the only kingdom that remained at peace with Endiac. This alliance would put a stop to their troubles because the armies of Staerdale were powerful and could protect them from anyone who sought to harm the nobles. However, Hufflepuff refused to make the offer.

“My father always told me to marry for love,” she muttered, staring out the window and gazing upon her subjects. “And I know for a fact that I would not love the prince.”

A councilman walked to her side and fiddled with his fingers nervously. “But Your Majesty, you didn’t even meet him yet. For all we know, he may be a very handsome and courageous man!”

Hufflepuff sighed, looking into the distance. “My disinterest in him has nothing to do with his personality.”

The councilman looked at her, confused. Before he could ask her to elaborate, the fairies stepped in and asked her to follow them, for they had just thought of an idea that would save them all.

When they were finally alone, the purple fairy poofed a scroll into Hufflepuff’s hand. “You need to show them that you’re strong enough to lead the kingdom,” the fairy said as Hufflepuff unraveled the paper. On it was a drawing of a fearful dragon that lived not too far from Endiac. “There’s a dragon that rests on the top of a tower 20 yards away from the Farleigh mountains. It is supposedly so fearsome that no one dares to go near it.”

Hufflepuff scrunched her nose at the fairy and looked back at the sketch, looking at the intricate details of the dragon’s scales. For some reason, she wasn’t as scared as she thought she would be. Instead, she was intrigued. “So why are you telling me this?”

“You must kill the dragon to show everyone that you’re strong enough to lead your people!”

Hufflepuff started to object—even though dragons were supposedly the most frightening creatures of them all, she would never intentionally harm one, no matter how fearsome it appeared to be—but the pink fairy sprinkled special dust around her, transforming Hufflepuff into an ambitious knight.

Brainwashed, she suddenly straightened her back and smiled brightly at the fairy, who handed her a bag stuffed with items that would be useful in one’s journey.

“You’re absolutely right,” Hufflepuff exclaimed. “I must defeat this dragon and prove that I can lead the kingdom!” With that, she marched out of the room and towards her destination.

The yellow fairy, who had been silently watching, finally spoke up. “Princess Hufflepuff wouldn’t dare hurting a fly, much less a dragon.”

The other fairies looked at each other knowingly. “We know,” one of them said. “Hufflepuff will meet her fate soon enough.”

When the dust finally wore off, Hufflepuff blinked blearily and looked around in confusion. “Where am I,” she muttered to herself, taking notice of the tower in front of her. She walked closer and examined the moss growing on the aged cobblestone. Suddenly feeling a puff of hot air that came from above, she looked up, only to meet the eyes of a dragon who perched at the top of the tower.

Dark green eyes sat within the creature's skull, several tiny horns lining the top of its head. The dragon had silver-like skin, four mighty limbs to carry its body and allow the creature to stand arrogantly and imposing. Each limb had 3 digits, each of which ended in claws that seemed to be made of diamond. Gigantic wings were bladed in structure, and its long tail ended in a seemingly fluffy tip and was covered in the same massive scales as its body. Its neck craned to observe Hufflepuff from afar, a sliver of interest behind its stone-cold stare.

Curiously enough, Hufflepuff didn’t seem to be running away in terror as one might have expected. Instead, she cocked her head to the side and said something that shocked the dragon. “Do you need help getting down,” she asked carefully.

The dragon stared into her brown eyes, trying to see if this was a trick. It realized that she was being genuine, and suddenly bowed its head in despair.

“Please.”

Surprised that the dragon was able to talk, a smile graced Hufflepuff’s features. “You can speak,” she remarked as she pulled at the drawstrings of her bag to open it.

The dragon let out sparks of fire from its snout as it sighed. “Only when there are people nearby, which is quite rare. Even then, the people who do approach me usually want to kill me, so there’s not much time for talking.”

Hufflepuff nodded sympathetically as she searched through the items. The curious creature tilted its head to the side. “So why haven’t you tried to kill me?”

She paused to look back up at the dragon. “I would never harm another being,” she declared. “Other than that, you seemed to be somewhat stuck up there so I wanted to help you down.” She continued rummaging through the bag. “Plus, you hadn’t eaten me yet, so I took it as a sign that you’re not necessarily looking to cause chaos.”

The creature laughed, its chuckle ringing like bells. “I used to always cause chaos when I was…” It trailed off as if it were thinking back to another time. Though intrigued, she decided not to press on the matter after feeling a slight sense of sadness surrounding the subject.

Finally, Hufflepuff found what she was looking for—a wand. When the dragon saw what she was holding, it hissed, its wings flailing around as it moved back in a panic.

“Get that thing away from me,” the dragon growled, its claws clutching at the pinnacles that sprouted from the tower. A dark shade of red glowed in its blazing eyes and sparks of fire flew from its snout.

Taken aback by the sudden display of anger, Hufflepuff held out her hands in an attempt to calm the dragon. “I’m not gonna hurt you,” she assured, her tone soothing and kind. “I’m just gonna cast a spell to bring you down.”

The dragon settled down but eyed Hufflepuff wearily as she raised the wand again. She advised the creature to stay still before casting the spell, gradually lifting it away from the tower and onto the ground.

A blinding glow suddenly appeared around the dragon at the exact moment it touched the floor. Magic swirled all around the creature until it was engulfed by a shimmer of some unknown force. Hufflepuff winced and shielded her eyes from the brightness before taking another peek once the light dissipated. A human girl laid where the dragon had once stood. She was sprawled on the floor in shiny armor, her eyes closed as if she was taking a nap.

Hufflepuff stared at the girl, who seemed to be the same age as her, and cautiously inched forward. The girl suddenly stirred awake and made an incoherent noise, a sound of a yawn mixed in with a groan. She opened an eye, her eyebrows furrowed as her vision adjusted to her surroundings—more specifically, her sight focused on the human limbs that seemed to be attached to her own body.

Suddenly, the girl sat up in an instant and brought her hands up to her face in disbelief, laughing with glee when she registered something. “I don’t believe it,” she murmured, examining stands of her own hair as if they were strings of gold. “I’m back to normal!”

“Pardon me—”

Before Hufflepuff could finish her sentence, the girl yelped in surprise and scrambled to stand up, her arms raised in a defensive stance. She let out a sigh of relief and lowered her hands once she saw Hufflepuff, noticing the royal seal on her cloak.

“Forgive me, Your Majesty. I forgot that I was not alone,” the girl said sheepishly, flashing a bright smile before bowing. “Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Slytherin Wildhorn, at your service.”

“So let me get this straight,” Hufflepuff murmured as they walked along the edge of a forest. “You were cursed by a witch who turned you into a dragon?”

Slytherin nodded, gazing into the distance as she thought back to a memory buried deep within the wide expanse of the past. “Yes, my lady—”

“You can call me Hufflepuff.”

Slytherin glanced over at Hufflepuff, whose heartbeat quickened under her gaze. I’ll never get used to looking at her eyes, she thought to herself, staring into Slytherin’s strikingly green orbs before turning her attention elsewhere—or at least trying to.

“Yes, Hufflepuff,” she said with a smile before continuing on. “A witch cursed me because I was a vain knight whose big ego would never allow me to accept help from others. One day, I was supposed to bring other knights with me to stop an invasion of a village. I decided not to because I thought I would be able to handle it on my own.”

Slytherin was overcome with sorrow as she thought back to what happened as a result of her decision. “Only a few of the villagers survived,” she said quietly, a tear sliding down her cheek. “To this day, it is one of my biggest regrets in life.”

Hufflepuff reached into her bag and brought out a handkerchief, silently offering it to her. She nodded in appreciation and took it, wiping the tears from her eyes before they could spill over.

“Miraculously, I survived,” Slytherin continued. “One of the remaining villagers was a witch, and she was not happy about this, especially because her entire family was...” She trailed off, getting sucked back into her self-deprecating thoughts until she snapped back to reality when she felt something. Looking down, she realized that Hufflepuff was holding her hand, her gentle grasp quelling her anguish.

“You don’t have to finish,” she said, her thumb rubbing over her skin in a comforting gesture. “I know this must be causing you a lot of pain.”

Hufflepuff released her hand, and Slytherin found herself missing the warmth of her touch. Bringing her attention back to the conversation, she shook her head. “I feel a sense of duty to finish the story.” Her gaze was far away and distant as if her mind was elsewhere. “In doing so, I’d be honoring the lives of the people who died on account of what I decided. It would do me no good if I were to try burying that memory away.”

Hufflepuff nodded understandably. “You’re very courageous for doing such a thing.”

“You’re too kind,” she replied with a sad smile. “The witch certainly wouldn’t think so. In the aftermath of the massacre, she was resentful about my decision to refuse the help of the other knights, so she used her wand to turn me into a dragon, placing me on a high tower with no way of escaping.”

“But you had wings,” Hufflepuff remarked. “Why couldn’t you just fly away?”

Slytherin looked at her sheepishly. “I’ve had a fear of heights ever since my older brothers thought it would be a good idea to put 6-year old me into a catapult so that I could say hi to the birds in the sky,” she recounted. “I’ll never forget the expression of this one goose that I had passed. It looked quite surprised to see a little girl flying through the air and screaming her head off.”

Hufflepuff hummed a laugh, a puff of breath escaping from her nose as her lips curved up into a grin.

A smile of her own appeared on Slytherin’s face as she silently hoped that this would be the first of many moments in which she could make Hufflepuff laugh.

“In truth, I still would’ve been stuck on the top of that tower if it weren’t for you,” Slytherin said. “The witch said I would need the assistance of a human to get down. Given that she transformed me into a fearsome beast that many humans wouldn’t dare to go near, she knew that I was doomed to remain stuck on that tower forever.”

“But I wasn’t. I guess the curse was finally lifted when I accepted someone’s help.” Slytherin paused for a moment, gazing warmly at Hufflepuff. “And it’s all thanks to you and your benevolence. I would’ve stayed as a dragon if you hadn’t come to my aid.” She bowed and pressed a kiss against her hand. “For that, I am forever in your debt.”

With reddened cheeks, Hufflepuff beamed at her before curtsying. Her smile faltered as she thought about what would happen in the future—more specifically, whether Slytherin would be in her future. After all, she was human again. Who knows where she would want to go or do with her newfound freedom?

Slytherin frowned. “Something wrong?”

Realizing that she had been watching her, Hufflepuff tried to cover up the sadness that melded into her heart. “Where will you go after this,” she asked and swallowed with difficulty before asking the next question. “Do you plan on going back to your kingdom?”

Slytherin kept quiet as she thought about the question. “My family is dead so there is no point in returning,” she finally said, a hollow sadness in her eyes. “It was a part of the witch’s curse. While she mourned the loss of her family, I was stuck on that tower for hundreds of years, forced to watch from afar as my family slowly died from old age.” She let out a humorless laugh, a pained grimace on her face. “It would’ve been better if the witch had just killed me, but of course, she wasn’t that merciful. She wanted me to suffer what she was going through.” Her eyes became stone-cold as she recomposed herself, brushing the tears away with the palm of her hand. “I guess I deserved it.”

Hufflepuff stopped walking and reached out for Slytherin to still her movements, her hand resting on her arm. “What’s done is done. The best thing for you to do is move on from the past because it would do you no good to beat yourself up about that decision. The fact that you’re owning up to your mistakes is very valiant of you.” She stepped closer, concern etched into her eyes. “If you need forgiveness, I’ll give that to you. You’re forgiven, okay?”

Slytherin thought about it, relaxing when she realized that Hufflepuff was completely right. Her chest expanded as the guilt lifted off, and for the first time in a long time, she felt free.

Finding comfort in the eyes that resembled the rich soils of the earth, Slytherin couldn’t look away from her. “Thank you, Hufflepuff.” The corners of her mouth lifted into a grateful smile before she continued their journey. “I’m not sure where I’ll go after this,” she said wistfully. Her mind went all over the place. The forest? That would be too dangerous, seeing as how there were plenty of dangerous people who roamed throughout the woods, looking for an easy target. The mountains? It would be freezing, and she would probably get frostbite on her fingers if she were to spend a few hours in the frigid summits. Maybe a cave would be a safe place to camp. However, she was sure that she would wake up with a sore back after spending a night on the hard ground.

“Come to Endiac,” Hufflepuff suddenly proffered, saying it much quicker than she would’ve liked, but she hardly cared, gazing at her companion hopefully.

Slytherin raised an eyebrow as she thought about it. “Would the nobles of that kingdom allow me to stay?”

The corner of her eyes crinkled as she smiled. “You’re talking to the queen right now,” Hufflepuff beamed. “And I’m pretty sure she’s already approved of you.”

Slytherin’s jaw practically dropped before she remembered her manners, taking a low bow. “Thank you again,” she said with a wide smile. “I am truly grateful to have been graced with your presence—and it has nothing to do with your royal status. I just…” She paused, staring at her with an unreadable expression. “I just see you.”

A smile of her own stretched onto her face. Before Hufflepuff could respond, there was a rustle nearby. They both turned their attention to the woods and became more alert when they heard a twig snap.

Three men suddenly emerged from the depths of the forest, malicious smiles plastered on their faces. Hufflepuff took notice of the symbols that were embedded on their armor; they were the royal seals of the Goulrich kingdom, who was the first to declare war on Endiac. “Queen Hufflepuff,” one of them sneered. “It appears that we have found you at last.” They advanced closer, clutching their swords. “Our king would like us to give you his regards.” He frowned and turned to one of the other men. “Francis, what was it that he said?”

The other man snickered before answering. “I believe he ordered us to kill you,” Francis leered. “Did I get that right, Millborne?”

“I believe you did,” the first man replied. His mouth curled up into a mocking frown as if he was expressing sympathy. “No hard feelings, Your Majesty. Surely you understand why we can not disobey his orders.”

The third man sighed, checking out his reflection on the metal of his blade. “Boys, let’s not toy with her any longer.” He shifted his attention to Hufflepuff, his eyes cold and menacing. “Just get this over with.”

“You don’t have to do this,” she said, backing away. “Can’t we just live in peace like we used to?”

The men exploded in laughter. “We lived in peace when the king was in charge,” Millborne snarled. “You are merely a girl who is unfit to rule a kingdom.”

Anger rose in Hufflepuff’s chest as they went on, spouting nonsense about how she simply didn’t have the same strength and courage as a man. She wanted nothing more than to prove them wrong, but she knew with one glance at their looming figures that she would not be able to overpower all of them.

Slytherin, who had been quiet during the entire time, was silently analyzing the men. Judging from their fighting stance and the way they gripped the handle of their weapons, she could tell that they were amateurs. “This’ll be fun,” she declared, amused when the men finally turned their attention to her. Confusion clouded their expression before morphing into something more hostile. She brandished her sword and stepped in front of Hufflepuff. “Run,” she demanded, staring down the men.

Hufflepuff tried to object, but she insisted. “Just go, I’ll catch up!”

Taking one last fleeting look at Slytherin, she started running in the opposite direction.

Slytherin looked behind her shoulder for a brief moment, relief filling her chest as she watched Hufflepuff escape. Her attention was brought back to the situation when she heard the men chuckle. “Something funny,” she asked, narrowing her eyes when they began circling her.

“This situation is quite funny to us,” Francis remarked.

Slytherin raised an eyebrow and laughed humorlessly as she kept two of them in her line of vision. “Please enlighten me as to why.”

“A little girl in a knight’s armor is amusing, no?” The man behind her suddenly swung his sword in an arc, intending to cut her back.

However, Slytherin had anticipated this and stopped the attack easily, their sword colliding with her own. His blade shivered under the brutality of her compelling strength, and she pushed against him, slashing her weapon upwards so that they were no longer entangled with one another. Wasting no time, she thrust her sword forward, aiming for his face. The sharp tip slipped past the man’s guard and he jerked his head back, a gash marking his cheek. He reached to touch the wound and drew his hand back, his eyes widening at the sight of blood smeared all over his fingers.

Slytherin smirked at his surprised expression, her eyes gleaming with anticipation.

“No,” she proclaimed. “Woman.”

Hufflepuff was resting in a grassy field, taking a well-deserved break. She had been running for a while and only decided to stop once she was sure that she was safe. However, she couldn’t say the same for Slytherin. Her heart ached as she thought about the girl who she had just met but felt drawn to, an invisible string of fate bringing them together.

I can’t just sit here and think about Slytherin, she thought. That’d do nothing but make me worry. She started rummaging through her bag for the wand; maybe the fairies would see the flare that she would send into the air and come to her aid. Her hand brushed against something cold and narrow, and she brought it out in hopes that it was what she was looking for. Instead of a wand, it was a paring knife. She frowned. Why would the fairies put this in her bag? Knives like this were usually used for cutting fruits and vegetables. Perhaps they did it by mistake.

Though it was probable that the paring knife would be of no use to her, she didn’t toss it back into the bag. Her mind drifted to the moment before she left Slytherin, who had hidden a dagger up her sleeve. There was no question about it—she knew how to fight. Hufflepuff could tell just by hearing the confidence that she carried in her voice when she said, “This’ll be easy.” Hufflepuff could sense her powerful aura just by glancing at the stance that she had maintained, her eyes steely and concentrated on the men before her. Just thinking about it all sent unexpected warmth rushing to her cheeks, and she quickly brushed her thoughts aside before sneaking the paring knife into her sleeve. It fit perfectly within her garment—it wasn’t big enough to the point where someone would immediately notice it, nor was it small enough to slip out. She shrugged to herself as she continued searching through her bag. It wouldn’t hurt to have a secret weapon close to her in case anything happened.

Finally, she found what she was looking for. The wand, at last! She pointed it at the sky, ready to cast the spell.

“You thought you could escape from us?”

Hufflepuff dropped the wand and turned around abruptly, her lungs filled with dread when her eyes landed on the men from before. Though a feeling of pride swelled in her chest when she noticed the multiple cuts and bruises that littered their faces, it quickly deflated when she noticed the slack figure that was slumped over Millborne’s shoulder. He sneered at Hufflepuff before tossing the body onto the ground. Her heart tightened in horror when she realized that it was Slytherin, who appeared to be slightly dazed with a cut on her lip. “Hufflepuff,” she croaked weakly.

One of the men walked forward and rested his boot against Slytherin’s back. “I have to admit, your little knight is quite good at fighting. Too bad she got carried away and let her ego get the best of her.” He knelt down and pressed his knee against her, smirking as she resisted. “But this wasn’t the first time that happened... was it, Slytherin Wildhorn?”

He chuckled lowly when she froze. “I knew I recognized you from somewhere. The disgraced knight who disappeared from her kingdom, never to be seen again. Though I’m not sure how you’re still alive after all these years, the king will be intrigued when I present your head to him.” He paused and turned his attention back to Hufflepuff, who was staring at Slytherin with worry. “Along with the unfortunate news that the queen of Endiac is dead.”

Though Slytherin was too tired to fight back, there was unmistakable anger that blazed in her eyes. Her expression softened when she looked at Hufflepuff. “Run,” she mouthed.

A part of Hufflepuff wanted nothing more than to start running through the fields as fast as her legs could move. However, she stood her ground. No, she thought as she met Slytherin’s gaze. I’m not leaving you again. She reached for the dagger strapped to the side of her bag as Francis approached her, his lips curled in amusement when he noticed the weapon that she clutched with a shaky hand.

“Do you even know how to use that,” he leered. “I’m sure the only thing they taught you to do in that castle of yours was to sit still and look pretty.”

Her face remained neutral as she sized him up, taking note of the sword in his hand. “We’ll see about that.”

Francis chuckled. “We will indeed.” He suddenly lunged at her, brandishing his weapon and swinging it in an arc. She easily dodged and kicked him back with the heel of her foot. The powerful impact made him stumble a little, but it also made him angry. He advanced forwards, extending his front leg while propelling with the heel of his other foot, his sword aimed for her stomach. She collided his blade with the edge of her dagger and maneuvered both of their weapons in a circular motion so that the tip of his sword pointed away from her. Without delay, she surged forward and grabbed the wrist that was holding the handle of the sword, bringing it over her shoulder with her body positioned so that she was facing away from him, her back against his side. With his arm bent against her shoulder, he was trapped against her will. As a result, he could do nothing but watch as she drew a gash in his hand with her dagger.

Hufflepuff finally released him and he stumbled back, hissing in pain as he clutched his sword arm. Her eyes cold and hard, she watched him with her weapon raised, blood dripping down the steel. “It seems I know how to use this well enough,” she said pointedly.

His ego damaged, Francis growled in frustration and started slashing his sword relentlessly. He took the offense position as Hufflepuff was forced to go into defense, stopping the severe blow of his blade with her own. When her limbs began tiring, she didn’t have the strength to block his attack and chose to sidestep instead. The edge of his sword grazed her face and left a cut on her chin. Shocked, she didn’t have enough time to react when he struck her with his hand, a resounding slap emanating into the air as she collapsed onto her knees. Gingerly touching the red mark that bloomed on her cheek, she knew that it would be a matter of time before she didn’t have enough strength to fight back. She would have to end this soon—once and for all.

Still slumped on the ground, Hufflepuff saw an opportunity to get behind him; his legs were positioned far apart from each other, which left a wide-enough gap for her to crawl. She quickly did so and kicked his back before he could turn around. When he did, his eyes were alight with anger, his grip tightening around the handle of his sword.

Francis made a move to strike her but she managed to trap his wrist between her left arm and elbow. Seeing this as another chance to cut his side, she reached out to attack his exposed chest with her dagger. However, he had expected this and stopped the attack with his free hand by pressing the flat blade against her wrist, pinning it against her initial target. Wrapping his fingers around the handle of her dagger, he twisted it to a certain angle so that she was forced to let go. The strength of his pressure caused her weapon to fly out of her grasp, landing a few feet away from them.

He swung at her but she dodged the attack by moving in a counterclockwise direction as she swiftly ducked underneath the arm that she had originally trapped. When his arm was released from her grasp, he lashed out again in a similar manner, his blade cutting through the air. She jerked backward and suddenly slung the paring knife that was hidden in her sleeve. It cut the side of his shoulder and drew blood, beads of crimson red glistening on his skin.

“I found it helpful to have a few tricks up my sleeve,” Hufflepuff japed. Francis looked from his shoulder back to her, rage mixed with shock pooling in his sullen eyes. “I learn from the best.”

She glanced over at Slytherin, who was awe-struck by it all. Joy was clearly prominent in her expression and she smiled widely, taking pride in the fact that Hufflepuff used the same trick that she had done beforehand.

Her heart skipping a beat, Hufflepuff couldn’t help but be distracted, which allowed Francis to seize the moment. He kicked his foot behind her feet, causing her to buckle down and fall onto her back.

“The best should’ve taught you not to be distracted during a fight,” he sneered. “But unfortunately, we are out of time.” As he stalked closer, taking his time so that he could relinquish in the fear of her soon-to-be demise, she took her surroundings into account and noticed a bunch of rocks scattered on the dirt. Pretending to scoot away in terror, she moved closer to the pile.

Hufflepuff managed to grab two rocks and conceal them behind her back before he closed in on her. Raising his sword to deliver a full force overhead attack, he looked at her smugly. “Long live the king,” he declared. Before he could carry out the final motion, she flung the rocks at him as hard as she could and successfully hit him straight in the eye.

When he stumbled back in agony, she quickly scrambled back up and began racing through the field as fast as possible, running towards the direction in which she saw her dagger fly off. However, something suddenly collided with her legs and she fell face-first onto the ground. She looked down at the rope that bound her feet together and frantically tugged against the tight cord, but it wouldn’t budge.

Francis stalked towards her with a cold grin. “I think I’m going to keep this,” he said, toying with the wand that she had dropped. “It has proven to be quite useful.”

He pulled Hufflepuff up and began dragging her. She resisted and tried twisting away from his tight grasp, digging her nails into his hands. He merely struck her with the back of his hand, leaving a red welt on her cheek. Her ears ringing, she didn’t realize where he was bringing her until they neared a cliff that overlooked the ocean.

Even if she knew how to swim, there was no way that she would survive the journey down; the cliff was miles above the water— it would essentially feel like hitting the pavement if she were to fall from this height. Bile suddenly rose in her throat and she tried grounding her feet into the dirt but it barely stopped Francis from yanking her forward. Standing at the very edge of the cliff, he spun her around so that she was facing the other men, who had brought Slytherin along for the show. She was kneeling on the ground, the sharp edge of a sword pressed against her throat as she watched, her eyes blurry with tears as they concentrated on Hufflepuff.

“Any last words, Your Majesty?”

Hufflepuff spat at his feet and looked at him briefly with disgust. “None for you,” she muttered disdainfully, softening her gaze when she switched her attention back to Slytherin.

There was so much she wanted to say. I really like your eyes. I wanna hear more stories about your adventures with your crazy brothers. Your hands are really soft and warm. I admire your courage. You’re unlike any other. You were a bit intimidating as a dragon and you’re still intimidating as a human—but I love it. I’m really glad I met you. I just wish we had more time. Before she could express a single one of these thoughts that buzzed through her head, Francis pushed her off the cliff.

It felt like everything was happening in slow motion. Slytherin watched in horror as Hufflepuff tilted backward, her feet scraping off the edge of the cliff. “No!” she screamed, for she was losing the girl whom she had only known for a couple of hours but felt as though she knew her for a lifetime. Meeting her was fate, but becoming her friend was a choice, one that she would pick over and over again if she had the chance. In a world of injustice, where cruelty was the cause and friendship the antidote, a person that she had never met before lent a helping hand when no one else would. In the few hours in which she had known this girl, she felt like she was finally living. Now she wouldn’t get to experience a beautiful friendship that might’ve melded into something greater. She’d never know what could’ve been.

And it’s all because of them, Slytherin thought bitterly, turning her attention to the men surrounding her.

“You’re not worth the trouble of dragging all the way back to the kingdom,” one of them said, drawing out his sword. “I’m sure our king will be just as pleased if we brought him your head.”

A torrent of rage rose within and her chest heaved with anguish. “You'll pay for this,” she hissed as she glared at him. Her fury drowned out everything—she couldn’t hear their continuous taunts, she couldn’t hear the waves crashing against the side of the cliff, she couldn’t hear anything except her ideas for revenge. Though her anger was great, an inner voice that seemed to come out of nowhere pierced through the thick canvas of venomous hatred, its voice calm and soothing. It reminded her of what really mattered, and the torrent of wrath turned into something calmer. She made sure not to let her anger consume her because she had more important things to attend to.

Slytherin wouldn’t let her friend fall to her death, not if she could help it—and if she couldn’t save Hufflepuff in time… well, let’s just say that it wouldn’t end well for Francis and his companions. A tinge of red clouded her vision, and for some reason, the men before her started getting smaller and smaller. She hardly paid any attention to them, for she had only one person in mind.

In the far distance, Hufflepuff heard a sudden commotion but didn’t even have the chance to worry about what had happened, because her entire world was shifting before her: flashes of the wide expanse of the blue sky mixed in with quick glimpses of the side of the cliff became all that she could see. She tumbled through the air with her arms flailing around uselessly, her fingers trying to grasp at anything stable as she screamed, falling, falling, falling.

Having no concept of time whatsoever, she braced herself for the impact, her heartbeat racing quicker than it had ever raced before. Squeezing her eyes shut, she prepared for her final demise. She flinched when her back hit the soft but firm surface and—wait... what? She was supposed to splatter against the water like it was pavement; this was definitely not what she expected it to feel like. She peeked out of one eye, trying to gain a sense of her surroundings, and saw a palace of clouds. An ethereal world made of fluff painted across an expansive sky.

Hufflepuff wasn’t falling. She was flying.

She sat up and almost cried out in happiness when she realized that she was on the back of Slytherin, who had transformed back into a dragon. “Slytherin,” she exclaimed in surprise. “You’re okay!”

“I couldn’t die,” Slytherin joked as she flew back to the land. “Not when the Queen was in trouble.”

Even though she had almost died, it was a euphoric feeling to soar through the sky and see the ocean in all its glory. The waves came in as a deep aquamarine, turning golden as the sun shone brightly, its warm rays painting Hufflepuff’s cheek with a tinge of red. The sea breathed, the surface rising and falling with rhythmic ease, and she felt at peace, something she had not felt for a while, not until she laid her eyes on a certain someone who changed her life in a heartbeat.

When Slytherin finally landed safely onto the ground, Hufflepuff slid down and was about to thank her when the men who seemed shell shocked from watching the woman before them turn into a fearsome dragon recovered from their surprise.

“Dragon or not, we will never stop,” Millborne shouted. “Not until Endiac is ours-”

Slytherin let out a big huff of annoyance, the sudden gust of air flinging all of the men over the cliff, their screams disappearing when they finally met their fate. “Could you repeat that,” she called out to them. “I think you got cut off!”

Hufflepuff ran and peered over the edge. There was nothing to see except the choppy waves, their foam crests becoming chaotic lace over the blue. She heard a sudden thud behind her and turned around. Seeing that Slytherin had transformed back into a human again, she quickly rushed to her side. “Slytherin,” she gasped, cradling her cheek. “Are you alright?”

Slytherin smiled weakly and rested her hand over Hufflepuff’s. “I’m fine,” she assured. “I’m just glad you’re ok.”

“And I, you.” She frowned as she thought back to what had happened a few moments ago. “I didn’t know you could turn back into a dragon.”

Confusion etched into Slytherin’s face as she looked down at her own body. “I didn’t know either. I just remember seeing you fall and something overcame me. Next thing I knew, I jumped over the cliff to go after you.”

Hufflepuff furrowed her eyebrows and asked, “But how were you able to fly if you didn’t know how to use your wings?”

“It felt like a natural instinct. All I could think about was saving you, and I didn’t stop to wonder about how I would get to you.” Slytherin’s eyes flickered down to her lips and she unconsciously shifted closer. “I just knew that I had to.”

Hufflepuff’s heartbeat quickened as she gazed into her strikingly green orbs. She had never been this close to her before, but now that she was, she could see every intricate detail. Her eyes were the hue of the new spring growth, bright and soft all at once. It was the kind of earthy green that revives the grass after a cruel, unforgiving winter. Within those irises were interwoven shades of the forest canopy that hid the chaotic nature behind. Never before have eyes held such danger and beauty all at once. She had a wildfire within her: reckless, untamed, yet undeniably captivating.

“Have I ever told you that I really like your eyes,” Hufflepuff blurted out. Slytherin let out a laugh, which sounded like music to her ears.

Before she could reply, she caught sight of a bag in the distance. It seemed like the satchel that Francis had been carrying around.

Noticing that her attention was elsewhere, Hufflepuff turned around to see what she was looking at and frowned. “What is that?”

Slytherin walked towards the sack and examined the belongings. When her hand brushed against parchment, she pulled out the paper and unfolded it. Her brows slanted as she read the contents.

“What does it say,” Hufflepuff asked, walking towards her. “Is something wrong?”

She wordlessly handed over the letter to Hufflepuff, who quickly scanned the paper. Her voice was tight as she read out loud the last paragraph. “After the job is done, meet me before the sun rises. Don’t disappoint me, Francis. I didn’t threaten all the kingdoms with war just for my plan to fail.” She let her arm fall to the side, the parchment slightly crushed in her tight grip. “Signed, King Renaud.”

She shook her head in disbelief. “So it was that bastard’s fault,” she said quietly.

“He’ll pay for this,” Slytherin said firmly. “And we’ll make sure of it.”

Hufflepuff stuffed the letter back into the bag and slung it over her shoulder. “Let’s pay a visit to the Goulrich king.” She turned to look at her companion hopefully. “Do you think you can turn into a dragon again?”

Slytherin smiled, a glint of red flashing in her eyes as she felt a torrent of power rising in her chest. The curse of the witch remained within her, but she was no longer trapped. She was finally free, and the ability to turn into a dragon when she wanted to was an added bonus.

“For you, Hufflepuff, I’d do anything.”

King Renaud paced around his solar chamber, impatiently waiting for any news from his personal guards. He rested his hands against the base of the window and gazed upon Goulrich Kingdom. Though the world was still cast in sleepy shadows, it was starting to wake up with a musical silence, the soul hearing the melody that the ears could not. A new day had come, new possibilities, a fresh page yet to be written.

It was most definitely a glorious day for Renaud. Soon, it will be announced to the world that Queen Hufflepuff was tragically assassinated by unknown brutes, he thought with glee. But where are those blasted guards? They should be here by now!

As if on cue, someone knocked on the door and gingerly entered. He turned his attention to a servant, who was fiddling with his fingers nervously.

“Your majesty, some people are here to speak with you—”

“Yes, I know,” Renaud interrupted. “Bring my guards in.”

The servant looked at him, confused. “My king, they are—”

“I will not repeat myself, boy!”

He shrunk back in fear and nodded frantically before scurrying away. Renaud let out an exasperated sigh as he closed his eyes and rubbed his temple. I’ll hire better staff once I get access to Endiac’s resources.

He heard a creak of wood and snapped his attention back to the door, ready to scold the guards for being late. However, the words died in his throat when he saw who was at the door.

“Queen Hufflepuff,” he exclaimed with a sardonic smile, taking notice of the woman who stood alongside her. “What a delightful surprise.”

She didn’t respond and merely walked into the room, her eyes trained on him.

“How did you get past my security?”

“I told them that we would be discussing the possibility of a treaty. They won’t be interrupting us anytime soon.” She stared at him with a stone-cold expression. “As for the guards that you sent to assassinate me…” She paused, relishing his expectant expression. “They’re dead.”

Slightly baffled but impressed, Renaud raked his eyes over her dirty appearance. With dirt smeared across her garments, she wore a scowl with a burning animosity that was developing in her fiery orbs—and he could tell that he was likely the root cause of the problem. He switched his attention to the other woman. The way her eyes squinted as she glared at him reminded him of a pit viper's slit-like pupils.

He cleared his throat and turned to Hufflepuff. “You look nice.”

Her nostrils flared with indignation. “Don’t try to flatter me,” she snapped. “I know what you did.”

He raised his eyebrows in mock confusion. “I have no idea what you mean.”

Hufflepuff scoffed. “Y’know,” she began as she walked closer, “I always wondered why the other kingdoms turned against me so quickly after my father died. Everyone declared war on Endiac all at once with the same exact reason—that I am unfit to rule because I am a woman.” She shook her head slowly. “It just didn’t make sense, especially because they’ve always known that I would be Queen someday and they never, not once, expressed anger or discomfort over that fact.”

“Perhaps they have finally come to their senses,” Renaud suggested with a smirk.

“Perhaps not.” She drew out a letter from the bag and held it up for him to see. “Proof,” she declared. “That forced the other kingdoms to turn against me by threatening them with war so that you could take Endiac for yourself.”

Renaud let out a chuckle and licked his lips. “So now you know,” he said.

“Of course I know,” she glowered. “And I hardly think treason is a laughing matter. When the other kingdoms hear that you were behind the attempted assassination of the rightful queen of Endiac, they will have your head for this.”

“Not when they’re following my orders—”

“Your threats will be of no use to you now! Who do you think they will side with? The man who threatened to kill them if they didn’t comply, or the queen of the kingdom that has remained at peace with their nations for years?”

Renaud’s face blanched.

A humorless smile spread onto her face. “So now you understand.” She stored the paper in the bag. “Your control over the nine kingdoms has crumbled to dust, King Renaud, and your reign will end soon enough.”

“But if the others didn’t know what I did, if they didn’t have the dear queen of Endiac to inform them of my...plans,” he said slowly, his eyes focused on the bag. “Then all will remain as it is.”

He suddenly brandished a weapon from his belt.

“I guess I have to do it myself when I want a job done.” He smiled cruelly when she wielded a sword of her own and chuckled in amusement at Slytherin, who gripped the handle of her blade but held back from intervening just yet—she knew her friend would be able to manage this. “It was a pleasure to meet both of your acquaintances, but I’m afraid our time is up.”

In an instant, Hufflepuff and Renaud were against each other, their weapons clashing. She positioned her right hand at the top end of the grip and the other hand at the bottom, which allowed for a wider range of arm movements with the sword. Thinking back to the quick lesson that Slytherin had given her before they arrived, she kept her elbows bent and close to her body as she counter-attacked.

However, she was at a disadvantage, for he was more skilled in sword fighting than her. Known for extensively training his powerful army for war, Renaud attacked as if it were as easy as breathing, and Hufflepuff wasn’t prepared for the immediate retaliation after he parried her attack. The handle of his sword collided with her jaw, and she stumbled back with a hiss through gritted teeth.

Renaud used her moment of distraction to snatch the bag away. He suddenly drew in a sharp breath and let go of the satchel, which slid across the room. Gripping the side of his arm, he looked at the blood that seeped through his sleeve. His head snapped up at Slytherin, who stared at him with enough malice to cause fear to seize his lungs. She was holding a sword, the edge of the blade lined with crimson red.

She glanced at Hufflepuff, who had recovered from the blow. They gave a quick nod to one another, a mutual understanding blooming between them.

He whipped out a second sword from his belt and eyed both of them. “This’ll be interesting,” he sneered before resuming the fight. He kept track of the simultaneous attacks, parrying the thrust of one sword while lunging at the other opponent.

Slytherin performed a brief feint at his face by lifting her arms and sword above her head to invite him to attack. Interpreting this as a perfect opportunity to jab at her stomach, he fell right into her trap. She quickly blocked the move with her weapon and successfully forced him to drop the sword by twisting his wrist whilst lifting her foot towards his groin. She pushed her heel against his body to push him off balance and slashed her sword at him to complete the attack. However, he caught the full force of the blow with his other weapon and pushed against her with his body weight.

Losing balance, she crashed into the unlit fireplace behind her. A statue wobbled from the mantle and hit her head. She slumped onto the ground with her eyes closed, motionless.

Hufflepuff gasped and turned her attention to Slytherin. Distracted, she didn’t counter Renaud’s blow of his fist. Her head snapped back from the impact and she stumbled away with blood trickling from her busted lip.

“You will die just like your father,” he said smugly, advancing toward her.

She glared at him. “I thought you liked him.”

“Liked? More like tolerated. Then again, his reign was boring me. He was too kind and moral,” he sighed in exasperation. “Too virtuous to heed my request for resources to expand my armories. It was time for things to change.”

Realization dawned on her, and she pointed the tip of her sword at him with a shaky inhale. “Did you have something to do with his death?”

He didn’t respond and merely smiled slyly. Angry, she slashed her sword at him and he parried. With their weapons pressed against each other, she glared at him with burning eyes.

“Answer me,” she demanded.

Renaud pushed against the collision of swords but she stood her ground as she looked at him expectantly.

“Yes,” he finally said.

The air from her lungs seemed to escape.

“And it merely took a slip of a homemade potion into his drink to do it.”

Her breathing was labored and ragged as tears began to brim at the corners of her eyes. Renaud sneered. “You see? Women are too emotional to lead.”

“You will regret what you did to him,” she whispered hoarsely.

The battle commenced once again. Hufflepuff fought with more aggression this time; she wanted to avenge her father and make sure that she made it out alive so that she could keep the kingdom from falling into the wrong hands. Besides that, she had people worth fighting for. Her citizens, of course, but also Slytherin. She prayed to any deity out there who was possibly listening that her friend was still alive and well.

She could only hope for the best as she fought her opponent for her nation, for her people, for Slytherin.

Renaud directed a cut towards her right leg, but she parried the attack by dropping her sword downwards and bracing with enough space to absorb the impact of the blow. She suddenly swung her weapon upwards in a flash, her blade striking his cheek. A gash drew from his jawline to the small area underneath his left eye. Blood dribbled onto the floor but he didn’t pay it any attention as he advanced towards her angrily. Knowing that he would retaliate aggressively, she tricked him by making it seem as if she was going to lunge for his arm but moved in a semi-circle arc to attack a different area.

However, he blocked the blow by turning his wrist so that it faced outward and swept the attack aside. She ducked when he swung his sword at her head, but he had anticipated this and kneed her straight in the face. She felt the oxygen knock out of her lungs when she hit the floor, blood gushing from her nose. Blinded with flashing colorful spots, she squeezed her eyes shut as a crushing pain pounded on the side of her head. She tried to will the sting to go away, but the world seemed to fall away, and all she could concentrate on was the ache rooted deep in her head. Her eyesight blurring, everything became fuzzy; then she saw nothing at all.

Renaud walked closer and raised his sword above her sprawled figure. He aimed for her stomach and brought his weapon down, but the blade clashed with another. He looked at the culprit and huffed a humorless laugh when his eyes landed on Slytherin, who had gotten up just in time to stop the attack.

“I thought you dead,” he mused, withdrawing his sword.

“You were sorely mistaken.”

Slytherin opened her body at a 45-degree angle, her left foot ahead of her right. With the position allowing her a firm base of support to attack from, she began slashing her sword at him relentlessly, the blade cutting through the air with an unrivaled speed from all the adrenaline that coursed through her body. When he thrust his weapon at the exposed opening of her inner arm, she wisely parried the attack with the forte of her sword. She whipped out the hidden knife within her sleeve and pressed the sharp edge against his fingers so that he released his weapon. Kicking his stomach with enough force to topple him over, she left him defenseless with his back against the floor, no weapon in hand.

“I promised Hufflepuff that you would pay for all the pain you’ve caused,” she said lowly. “And I intend to keep that promise.”

Scooting away from her as she walked closer, Renaud suddenly felt something behind him. The bag.

He grabbed it and was about to snatch the paper out to tear it apart when he caught sight of something that had fallen out. Before Slytherin could take another step, he pointed the wand at her.

“Drop the sword.”

Hufflepuff squirmed against the floor and pressed the palm of her hand against her forehead as she tried to make sense of what was happening. Her consciousness floated through an empty space filled with a thick static. Throughout the inky space, her heartbeat pounded loudly and echoed in her ears, alongside fading voices.

Slytherin, she thought groggily. Is that Slytherin?

She opened her eyes, blinking several times to clear her blurry vision. With difficulty, she propped herself up and caught sight of Slytherin, who seemed to be bound by thick cords.

“I knew I remembered you from somewhere. You’re the famed dame who disappeared after her tragic loss in Mortham Village. I have to say, you are an exceptional fighter.” Renaud placed the letter onto his desk before walking closer to her.

“But no one ever said anything about your beauty,” he drawled, reaching out to brush the underside of her chin with the tips of his crooked fingers. She defiantly turned her head out of his grasp and pulled against the restraints, but they didn’t budge. She gave him a withering look when he chuckled at her struggles. “It would be a shame to kill you. Won’t you consider joining me? You can be my queen, and we can rule Goulrich together.”

She spat at his face. “You can go to hell,” she seethed through gritted teeth.

The corners of his mouth rose almost imperceptibly as he wiped at his cheek. “You have a fiery temper, I’ll give you that.”

Before he could say anything else, he abruptly crumbled to the floor. Slytherin instinctively jerked away but let out a sigh of relief when she saw Hufflepuff standing in front of his body with a crowbar. “Where’d you get that,” she exclaimed.

Hufflepuff ran to her and began cutting through the rope. “Doesn’t matter,” she exhaled. “I’m just glad he didn’t turn around.”

Slytherin beamed at her but suddenly focused on something behind her. “Hufflepuff, look out!” However, she didn’t have enough time to heed the warning.

Renaud, who had recovered, grabbed Hufflepuff by the arm and flung her onto the ground. “You never quit, do you?” He pulled her up by the collar and whipped her around, his chest against her back.

His arm closed in a vise-like grip around her neck. “When will you learn that you’re just a pathetic little princess,” he snarled. She thrashed against him and dug her nails into his skin, but his grip was unyielding. Her lungs began to burn from lack of air, and dark spots danced across her vision as she became more and more frantic. She reached back to claw at his face but he merely tightened his hold, and her breathing momentarily stopped. The ache in her chest grew worse by the moment as she writhed under his grasp, small ragged breaths escaping her throat. Slowly the world started to spin, to fade, as each sound grew dull.

Maybe Renaud was right. Maybe she was never destined to be the queen that Endiac needed. She had failed her nation. She had failed Slytherin, who was probably going to suffer a similar fate.

Oh, if only she had more time. With her eyes closed in defeat, a tear slid down her cheek.

Someone knocked on the door.

Hufflepuff’s eyes flew open and she took a sharp gasp of air, clutching her throat. She looked around frantically; where were Renaud and Slytherin? Her eyebrows scrunched up in confusion when she realized that her entire surroundings had changed. She was...home? Before she could figure out how this was possible, someone interrupted her thoughts.

“Father?”

She turned towards the sound of the voice and saw a girl poking her head through the crevice of the door; the strange part was that she looked exactly like her.

How could this be, she thought as she shook her head in disbelief. What’s going on?

“Come in, my dear child.”

Her heart dropped when she heard that voice. She knew that voice. She slowly turned around, and what she saw made her jaw drop, though a part of her already knew.

Her father laid on his bed, the corners of his eyes crinkled into the familiar smile wrinkles etched in his face.

Hufflepuff drew in a shaky breath and could barely do anything but stare in shock at him. Now, this was getting a little too much for her. First, she saw an exact replica of herself who was standing a few feet away from her; now she was looking at her dad, who was supposed to be dead but was currently laying before her, rested and well. Well, she wouldn’t actually describe him like that. He looked tired and quite pale.

Wait a minute…

Before she could connect the dots, she heard the door creak open. She turned around and saw the other Hufflepuff running towards her. She stumbled back and braced for impact when the girl seemed as if she was going to collide with her. The last thing that she expected was for the clone to run right through her.

Hufflepuff gasped and clutched her body. What in the world was going on?

Am I a ghost, she wondered, dread starting to creep up her neck. Is this the afterlife?

She turned back to the other Hufflepuff, who was now kneeling by the bedside.

“I’m sorry I was gone so long,” the girl said quietly, clutching her father’s hand. “I went to visit a fairy for…”

She paused but he spoke before she could say anything. “Was it to wish for a pet unicorn?”

The tense environment evaporated as a goofy smile spread across his face, which, in turn, made her smile as well. She exhaled a laugh and shook her head with a grin.

“Wait,” the original Hufflepuff whispered. “I remember this…” An ache settled uncomfortably in her chest. This was the last time she spoke with her father.

Maybe I really am dead, she thought glumly, waving a hand through the girl. Her fingers went straight through, leaving small wisps of cloudiness in its wake. With a sigh, she sat on the other side of the bed and gazed upon her father. I might as well enjoy this memory.

The smile on past-Hufflepuff’s face disappeared and was replaced with a vacant expression, her eyes fixated on the distance as if her mind were elsewhere.

As if he could sense her grief, he squeezed her hand and brought her attention back to him. “Thank you for trying to find a cure,” he said. “But I fear that this can not be solved.”

Past-Hufflepuff clenched her jaw as she willed the tears away. Though she wanted nothing more than to start bawling in tears, she wanted to stay strong for him.

He sighed wistfully. “If only I could be there to see your reaction at the lantern light festival.” It was a tradition in Endiac for the citizens to hold festivals and celebrate to express their gratitude for the king or queen. “It’s a marvelous sight, and I know you will enjoy it.”

He suddenly coughed, his entire body jolting as the sickness racked through his chest. After a while, it calmed down and he laid against the pillow, exhausted.

She shook her head in sorrow. “I…” Her words caught in her throat and she let her head drop. “Please don’t leave me,” she said in a broken whisper, tears welling up in her eyes. “I need you, Endiac needs you.”

He pulled her into a hug as she wept. She rested her cheek against his shoulder, trying to remember his warmth, his light, his presence.

“On the contrary, dear, they have you,” he consoled. “I wish I wasn’t leaving like this, especially when I still have much to teach you. But you shall learn them on your own in due time. I know that you will be a wonderful queen—and don’t think otherwise.” He pulled her back so that she looked at him. “I have faith in you, Hufflepuff. You will be a kind and benevolent ruler, but you will also be stoic and stern. Keep your chin up, my child.” He smiled reassuringly and leaned forward to press a kiss against her forehead.

“You were always destined to be Queen.”

Hufflepuff was abruptly pulled away from the flashback. She opened her eyes and felt the familiar pressure against her collarbone. She was back to where she was before—stuck in a chokehold.

She thought about what Renaud had said to her: “When will you learn that you’re just a pathetic little princess?”

With a fresh boost of empowerment from the memory, she tore off the padding that covered his arm and dug her nails into his skin with newfound energy. The pain was enough for him to loosen his grip, and she took a grateful gasp of air.

“You’re wrong,” she wheezed before elbowing him in the gut. He made an oomph! sound and doubled over, clutching his stomach. “I’m a queen.”

She picked up Slytherin’s dagger from the floor and ambled closer, kicking away the weapon that laid beside him before he could reach for it. He frantically stood up and snatched the knife that was strapped to the side of his tunic.

When he raised his hand to strike, she sidestepped and blocked her arm with his, their limbs forming an ‘X’. She pushed her arm over and under his in a full circular motion. In doing so, she trapped his arm against his collarbone, the edge of her weapon pressed against his neck. Her unrelenting stare was fixated on his every struggle, the pressure of the blade on his skin threatening to cut into his flesh at any moment.

It wasn’t the dagger that made Renaud freeze.

It flowed deeper than blood and higher than breath, engraved in her bones and carved on her lungs. The power that Hufflepuff was radiating made it seem as if the entire world was holding its breath, waiting to see what she did next. This was a queen, wholly and truly—and a queen who has had enough.

“Now be done with all this deceitful nonsense,” she ordered sharply. “You will sign a treaty and swear on an oath that no harm will ever come to Endiac from your kingdom ever again. It is time to unite our nations once and for all.”

“And if I refuse to sign?”

“Then you shall see my less merciful side.”

“You wouldn’t hurt a fly.” he sneered. “Let alone kill a man.”

“Perhaps not.” She spun them around so that they faced Slytherin, who had released herself from the bounds by using the knife that she had left behind. “But she probably would.”

Hufflepuff knocked the knife out of his hand and shoved him forwards. He fell to the floor. “Shall we find out?”

When Slytherin walked towards him with sharp eyes that seared straight into his skull, he scrambled back and raised his hands in defeat. “Alright,” he relented. “You have my word.”

“Call for a conference with the other kingdoms,” Slytherin instructed. “We will all gather in Endiac tomorrow to discuss what has come of this day.”

His brows knitted in a frown. The other rulers would likely force him off the throne if they found out what he had done. Perhaps he could form a plan to stall the meeting before it was too late. However, one look at Slytherin, who was staring at him darkly, and he put those thoughts to rest immediately.

“I’ll get right to it, Your Majesties.”

Renaud rushed to his desk to craft a new accord that would bring the promise of peaceful beginnings between Endiac and Goulrich.

Hufflepuff glanced at her companion with a warm smile and touched her arm, leading her towards the table. “Come,” she said. “Let’s consider what we shall write in the treaty with him.”

Slytherin faltered. “I’m not sure if I’m qualified to discuss such important matters…”

“You have every right to be involved in this discussion as I have,” she assured. “And I know that you will have some wonderful ideas that will help our kingdom.”

The subtle upward quirk of her mouth replaced the hesitant expression. Our. A blush spread across her cheeks, and she cleared her throat before nodding. She stepped to the side and bent forward with a dramatic gesture. “After you.”

Hufflepuff hummed softly, a sparkle in her eyes. “Thank you,” she curtsied.

A few hours later, they walked through the front doors and stepped outside, the newly-made treaty resting safely in Hufflepuff’s bag. The world had finally awoken, the rays of light shining down like intricately woven threads of gold. It was exceptionally beautiful today. Glorious shades of orange and red seeped over the horizon as if they were poured from molten lava.

The sun’s rays came as nature's easel, giving brilliant color to what was hidden under the passing starlit night. The bright beauty cast flying hippogriffs into dark shadows against the sky. Their wings beat, hugging the air as they drifted on unseen thermals. They captured Slytherin’s eye for a few moments, keeping her spun into some sort of daydream. She felt someone looking at her and glanced to the side, her broad smile widening when she met Hufflepuff’s gaze. It was peaceful to just exist for once and not have to worry about the next enemy to fight. They stood side by side, just living and breathing with no goal other than to just be.

They could get used to this: being happy, being together, being happy and together. And they would—because they had all the time in the world.

“Right then,” Slytherin said with glowing eyes. “Where shall we go now?”

Hufflepuff smiled and looked into the distance.

“Home.”

The council members were going over ideas on how to reunite the kingdoms. They wondered where the Queen was, for she left the castle yesterday and had not been seen since. Suddenly, the light streaming from the window disappeared, leaving the room in complete darkness for a brief moment.

They looked at each other in confusion before their attention turned to the sudden cheering that could be heard from outside.

“What in the heavens is that,” one of them asked, walking to the window. Her face suddenly paled and one of the other council members questioned her before going to see what the commotion was about. He stared, slack-jawed.

A dragon was perched on the main courtyard of the kingdom with a surrounding crowd. “Alert the guards,” the councilman shouted frantically. “There’s a dragon out there and it must be killed!” He pressed his face against the window, his eyes widening in fear once again as he stared at the fearsome creature. “It’s gonna eat all the citizens!”

“There’s no need to get hysterical,” the fairies called out, entering the room with smiles on their faces. The purple fairy gestured to the councilman to take another look. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion before squinting at the dragon once again. Perched on the back of the dragon was Queen Hufflepuff, who didn’t look the least bit terrified of the creature. His jaw dropped again.

The purple fairy stifled a laugh before clasping her hands together. “Come along now, we must greet our Queen. It’s time to rejoice at her return, yes?”

The councilman looked at her in bewilderment. “But the threat of war is still upon us, we can not celebrate until—”

A messenger suddenly burst into the room. “Forgive my intrusion,” the girl said firmly. “But I have urgent news from King Renaud.”

His face paled and he wrung his hands in worry. “Oh, he has probably sent word that his troops are coming or—or his army is going to invade the castle any moment now!”

“Actually, the king has requested a conference with all the kingdoms, including Endiac, to discuss matters of peace.”

The councilman’s jaw dropped for the third time that day.

Soon after, the dragon became the protector of Endiac, occasionally appearing when there was trouble. Despite the fact that the creature was on their side, it was difficult for everyone to warm up to the beast at first.

One day, a villager trudged to a nearby creek with a wash bin. When she arrived, she nearly screamed and covered her mouth in shock. The basket dropped, clothes spilling out onto the dirt. A child stood before the dragon that she had heard about but never seen before. Their sizes were drastically different, for the massive creature loomed over the small boy. His hand was raised, his soft flesh inches away from its snout.

The woman was about to run back to the village and call for help, but what happened next stopped her in her tracks. Instead of chomping down on the boy’s hand as she had expected, the dragon slowly leaned into his touch.

A toothy grin spreading across his face, the pleasantly surprised boy smoothed his fingers across the small bumps that were scattered across its face. His tiny hands looked sweet and comical against the vast surface of smooth scales.

“Draugin,” the boy exclaimed in delight. “Draugin!!”

She noticed something and edged closer. Was the ‘draugin’…smiling? “What in the heavens,” she whispered in wonder.

The creature suddenly swerved its head and looked right at her. It immediately backed away from the boy and took flight, its wings creating a torrent of wind as it flew towards the castle. She stared at the fading dot of the dragon for a moment before checking in on the boy, who was unscathed.

The woman spread the word of what she saw that day. At first, no one believed her. However, a man from another village encountered something similar when he was exploring the forest and saw the dragon shooting sparks of fire into the air next to a girl who clapped and cooed at the pretty display—and another villager did too, and so did another one, and another one, and so on. Soon, everyone realized that the supposedly fearsome beast wasn’t so bad after all. The citizens of Endiac had come to treat the dragon as its own.

Besides that, there weren’t any disputes of opposition to Queen Hufflepuff’s place on the throne. For one, no one wanted to be met with a fiery death by the hand, or should I say claw, of the dragon, who seemed awfully protective of her. Second, nobody desired to overthrow the queen, for she was considered one of the greatest rulers of her time.

Hufflepuff commanded rooms and people alike with simple words. She carried her gentleness as an asset and not a burden, but didn’t shy from firmness. It was as if she were always destined to be Queen.

A woman by the name of Slytherin was appointed as Hufflepuff’s second-in-command. Everyone loved her, for she was quite charming and knew how to engage someone in a fun conversation. She visited the villagers and explored their markets when she had the chance. The footpaths were often crowded with stalls selling sacks of nuts and dried fruit, or meat roasting on roasting skewers. Rich and unfamiliar scents cut through the air, so heavy she could taste them in her mouth. She always drifted to the sweets section, her eyes gleaming at the array of desserts that ranged from treacle tarts to cauldron cakes. Not only that, but she examined their inventions and creations, expressing her fascination whenever she saw something new or interesting.

“So,” Slytherin pondered, engrossed in a painting. “These are two pretty best friends?”

“No, Your Grace, there can never be two pretty best friends,” a citizen explained, pointing at a figure in the portrait. “One of them has got to be ugly.”

Hufflepuff and Slytherin were leaning against the railing of the balcony that overlooked the kingdom. Night had fallen, but their surroundings were lit with festivities to celebrate the rule of their benevolent queen.

Hufflepuff gazed upon floating orbs of gold that danced and twirled in the air. Lanterns were illuminated like stars across the inky black sky. Those on the water merged with the reflections of those in the heavens, creating an unearthly experience. Her father was right. This was a marvelous sight indeed.

Slytherin watched as some of the villagers play around with magic. She smiled pleasantly when green sparks flew from the tips of their wands. Feeling a pair of eyes on her, she turned to the side, capturing Hufflepuff’s warm gaze with her own. “Is something wrong, my sweet,” she asked softly, clasping their hands together.

Hufflepuff merely shook her head and wrapped her arms around her waist. “Nothing at all, love. It’s just…”

She let out a hum of amusement before pressing their foreheads together. “A queen and a dragon. Who would’ve thought,” she said softly, smiling like the sun, and Slytherin felt as if she fell just as hard as she had years earlier.

Her gaze softened as she thought about the day she met Hufflepuff, the moment when green met brown, the instant when their worlds collided. Her heart swelled with affection as she thanked her lucky stars that she met her wife on that fateful day.

She leaned in for a kiss and the world fell away. It was slow and soft, comforting in ways that words would never be. She finally pulled away and brushed her nose against Hufflepuff’s.

Slytherin rested her hand below her ear, their breaths mingling as her thumb caressed her cheek.

“Even fate picks its favorites sometimes.”

MASTERLIST (ง ͠° ͟ل͜ ͡°)ง << (sometimes links don’t work for some reason; if you can’t see it, just go to my profile. there, you shall find my masterlist, which is the pinned post.)

Let me know how you felt about the fic! I welcome your glorious keysmashes, incoherent thoughts, screeches of happiness, or a simple “oh my gucci gumdrops.” comment--basically anything! I ALSO APPRECIATE THOSE LUSCIOUS REBLOGS!

PARTIALLY BASED ON THIS LITTLE SNIPPET <<

here is link in case the clickable link is not working:

https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/8kvv8t/wp_nobody_dared_go_near_the_tower_as_a_fearsome/

AUTHOR’S NOTE: ***Includes deleted scenes, memes, analysis of scenes, updates on blog/life, and all kinds of fun stuff***

(this story was originally supposed to be posted on Thanksgiving but then I didn’t finish, so I will just leave what I had originally written for the author’s note on Thanksgiving. basically the text outside the parenthesis is what i wrote for thanksgiving, which was a month ago. however, I will still write more.)

HI!! Hoped you love that because I love all of you dearly. OK HERE WE GO W THE LONG AUTHORS NOTE;it is a little disorganized and you will get whiplash from how fast i change topics:

First of all, today is thanksgiving (bruh not anymore -current jessica) but fuck that tbh. At first i was excited about this holiday because my family celebrates and its a chance for me to give thanks to special people. this day is supposed to give “warm” and “happy” feelings; in truth, colonists are bitches, Christopher Columbus is a very terrible person who commited mass genoicides, so this is a shitty holiday because colonists created it to mask all the destruction that they caused. Despite this god forsaken day, i would like to give my thanks to you all for being spectacular and amazing, because i hit 600 followers a while ago; does anyone remember that? Its kinda embarrassing how i was like “yall know what that means” and then i proceeded to not post a fanfic until weeks later (hi everyone, this is the current jessica and i am here to laugh at myself because the past me did NOT know that i would be posting this a MONTH LATER). Nevertheless im here now so hi! :D did anyone think i wasnt gonna post a fanfic for november? Granted, it was definitely much later than i would have normally posted; usually i post the monthly fanfic at the beginning of the year, but i was busy with school and college stuff.

it is likely that i will not be posting a fanfic for december because thats the most important month in terms of college stuff. If i get it done early, i will write bc i am essentially free from all the college stuff, and by then, i will explode with happiness and have time to write!

lmaoaoao this is me whenever someone is like, when are you gonna finish part 2 of cheater or update the slytherpuff series?

(hello this is the current jessica again and i have another meme that represents my sporadic writing style:

me on thanksgiving: hi everyone haha im posting the fanfic in 10 min!!!

me on new year’s eve: hey.....how y’all doin.... (if you get that reference, i love you)

ok bye continue reading what the past me said. actually u know what, lets talk some smack about her, i secretly despise her, lmk how u feel about the past jessica like omg girl just shut up--LMAO IM KIDDING)

This fanfic used to be a fairytale that I wrote for english class last year. I changed the names and the ending. It is quite different now! the old ending is funny and weird because we were supposed to hint at a larger lesson in life, and i chose “dont judge a book by its cover”. i guess that does apply to the changed story now because huff didn't think that sly was as scary as her appearance made her out to be.

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ok hi AGAIN this is current jessica. the past me said that if anyone wants to see the original fairytale, comment and lmk and i shall post it as a reblog to this post. however i decided to just include it right here, right now:

“Once upon a time, there was a lovely princess named Liesel who lived with her family in a glorious castle on the top of the hill that overlooked the entire kingdom. Her father, King Aeneas, ruled over the subjects of Endiac, a lush land that stretched for miles and was full of magical creatures. Everyone loved the royal family and lived in harmony with the neighboring kingdoms. The subjects especially loved Princess Liesel, who was as generous as a fairy and as beautiful as a unicorn. Everyone lived happily under the reign of King Aeneas and his family.

All was peaceful in Endiac until King Aeneas fell terribly ill. Everyone grew anxious for his recovery, especially Princess Liesel. Kneeling next to her father on his bedside, Liesel called to the fairies and cried, “Please help my father get better. The kingdom will surely collapse without him!” However, the fairies did not know of any cure for the king’s strange illness. All the magical herbs they had given to him did nothing to help his condition. By nightfall, the subjects were devastated to hear that King Aeneas had passed away.

When Liesel was crowned Queen, chaos reigned the once beloved kingdom. Immediately after neighboring kingdoms received word that King Aeneas died, they declared war on Endiac and vowed to overthrow the Queen because a girl couldn’t possibly lead a kingdom. Liesel quickly called the fairies and asked them what she should do.

The purple fairy exclaimed, “You need to show them that you’re strong enough to lead the kingdom!” and poofed a scroll into Liesel’s hand. “There’s a dragon that lives near Endiac. It is supposedly so fearsome that no one dares to go near it!”

Liesel looked at the fairy in fear and shook her head. “And what am I supposed to do with that delightful piece of information?”

“You must defeat the dragon to show the kingdom that you’re strong enough to lead the people!”

Liesel was about to object but the pink fairy sprinkled courage dust around her, transforming Liesel into a brave knight.

“You’re absolutely right! I must defeat this dragon and prove that I can lead my kingdom!” Liesel exclaimed, marching out of the room and towards her destiny. When Liesel finally got to the dragon’s nest, the courage dust wore off and she looked around in confusion.

“Where am I?” she asked. Liesel slowly looked up, only to find two enormous green eyes staring back. She thought that she was gonna become the dragon’s meal for sure, but something surprising happened.

The dragon suddenly smiled and said, “Hello, how do you do? You’re the first visitor I’ve ever had! I get quite lonely sometimes.”

Liesel stopped cowering in fear. “You’re not gonna eat me,” she asked.

The dragon said in bewilderment, “Of course not, I’m a vegan!”

Liesel shook her head in disbelief and exclaimed, “But you’re the fearsome dragon that everyone talks about!”

The dragon exploded with booming laughter. “Yes, some dragons tell me I can be quite intimidating. But you shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover! It’s quite rude.”

Liesel apologized and had a long talk with the dragon about everything that’s been going on. The dragon happened to have a very good solution that would help both of them.

A little girl was playing with her toys when a big shadow flew over the kingdom. She looked up in surprise to see Queen Liesel riding the fearsome dragon that she’s always heard about.

Soon after, the dragon became the protector of Endiac and was lonely no longer. In fact, the dragon had a lot of fun giving the subjects a ride around the kingdom. As for Queen Liesel, no one dared to question her ability to rule the kingdom of Endiac. After all, anyone who was able to befriend a “fearsome” dragon was able to lead a kingdom.”

OK YEA THATS IT! i feel like maybe i was always destined to be a writer of some sort because when i was writing the original story that u just read (above), i wrote above the max pages that i was supposed to write for english class and i was desperate to write even more, so i emailed the teacher and was like CAN I DO SINGLE SPACE so that it frees up more space and i could write more and she said, “i think you know the answer to that” and i was like :( bc it meant i had to do doublespace. i am glad i went back to the story and changed it to what it is now. its kinda funny how it went from 3 pages double-spaced to about sixty pages on the google docs (which included the author’s note so the story that u are reading now is probably around 40 to 50 pages, which is still a lot).

anyways back to the original author’s note:

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“Aeneas” sounds like anus and i laughed about it yesterday bc im weird

There were plenty of small things that didnt make much sense when you read the story for the first time. However, after you reread it, you pick up on stuff- like how slytherin reacted when she saw hufflepuff’s wand. you will realize later on that it was because of the witch who welded a similar-looking wand, which is explained later on. I remember reading this post that said that the best written works are the ones in which there are small hints and things to decipher. After you reread it, you pick up on the small clues, which makes it so much better because youre like oh damn why didnt i catch that before? I tried doing that- i started to continue writing it a few days ago; yesterday i stayed up until 1 am writing it but i bullshitted the ending bc i was very tired; i spent most of today changing the ending, then going back to the middle, changing and adding stuff, then rereading everything and editing anything that felt odd or needed something more of. i made sure to maneuver most of their conversation into answering questions that the reader had: why didnt sly use her wings to get off the bridge, how is sly a dragon, etc.

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HELLO IT IS THE CURRENT JESSICA ONCE AGAIN! basically, i would like to add on to past jessica’s point above on how i went back and added more stuff. the reason why it took so long for me to write this and post it is because i added a lot more scenes, such as the part in which you meet Helia and read her backstory. that did not exist at all. there was no helia. however, i added it to emphasize on the idea of “fate” and how her father died and hufflepuff was destined to be queen now and meet slytherin.

i also included the part with king renaud. he did not exist at all when i was ready to post for thanksgiving. however i decided to add that because the readers are left confused--theres a plot hole that must be filled! after all, the goulrich king sent his guards after hufflepuff to kill her. when i was looking over the fanfic weeks ago, i was like UH HELLO WTF DOES SHE DO ABOUT IT??? so i added that and i hated it. well i didnt hate it, but it was quite tedious to write. i have never known so much about swordfighting than i do now lamdihsdmsfi like oh my gosh i rlly did the most. i read articles and watched videos on people fighting with swords, daggers, etc.

anyways, i knew that i would have to write a lot for the fight scene between hufflepuff and renaud. it had to be more compared to that with the guards, bc this is the KING. the fight will be more intense. huff will struggle more, etc. i got stuck on that part and was agitated because its just hard trying to learn all the different moves and write about it and try to engage the reader while doing all of that bc i didnt wanna drone on and on about them fighting, like “she smacked him. he blocked and stabbed her arm.” i wanted to be like OO SHE DID THIS BUT HE DID THAT AND THEN SHE SAID SOMETHING COOL AND HE RETORTED WITH SOMETHING ELSE, ETC.

other scenes that i added were the flashback with the dad and when hufflepuff asks slytherin to stay in endiac. in the fic that was going to be posted on thanskgiving, there was none of that. instead, as you saw near the end, it indicated that slytherin was staying at endiac, but there was NO DISCUSSION OF IT. DO U SEE THE PLOTHOLE?! i sure did. there were many scattered throughout the story. not only that, but sometimes more is better. for instance, i also added the scene in which the citizens start liking the dragon. i wanted to show how glorious and fun slytherin is.

i also added the part where hufflepuff chooses to stay and fight francis after slytherin told her to run when they caught her at the grassyfield place. in the original, hufflepuff just runs. AND I DID NOT LIKE THAT! i was like bruh why did i do that, i should change it so that hufflepuff stays bc before she was feeling guilty and now sly is telling her to run AGAIN and she just... does??!?!? so i decided to write even more and make her fight someone, who led to more research and more time used in writing, hence the delay. its kinda funny tho like

sly: run hufflepuff!

huff: ok

sly: WAIT COME BACK I DIDNT MEAN IT--

hahaahdhahah ok anyways it was funny in the scene where it said, “slytherin was hufflepuff’s second-in-command”. u know those stories in the faraway past in which there were two women who lived together and never married and shared a bed and people were like, “awww they were best friends!”; yea that reminds me of “she was her second-in-command” like hahahdsj yea sure ok

also if u reread the story, u will notice some connections, like how huff’s dad said “u were destined to be queen” and now that huff is ruling over the kingdom, it said that she was a wonderful queen and it was as if she were always destined to be queen. also there is a connection between the scenes in which renaud was choking hufflepuff and the story said “oh if only she had more time” as in “shes gonna die soon, she will never know what it was like to spend time w sly or just live life” but after the battle was over and everything was good again, the story implied “and they would--because they had all the time in the world”. ISNT THAT SO SWEET!!! i also loveeee the ending, because throughout the fic, it emphasized the idea of fate and the line “even fate picks its favorites” is very heartwarming.

finally lets discuss slytherin at the end of the story. i guess some people might be wondering, arent the people of endiac confused when they saw slytherin? shes famous and is technically supposed to be dead bc she was from a while ago (i didnt add a specific time thing, like i didnt say “oh she lived hundreds of years ago” because i dont care, its up to the reader or whatever, i just felt like it was unnecessary to include). anyways yea ppl might be confused, because renaud and his guards did recognize slytherin, so whats gonna happen with that? well there was no implication that hufflepuff recognized slytherin immediately or knew of her past, so lets just say that slytherin lived in a faraway kingdom to the point where people in endiac never really heard of her famous knighthood shenanigans, as in its not very widespread like people in endiac arent making a huge deal out of it. besides that, lets think of Endiac as the “Hufflepuff of Kingdoms” if that makes sense. king aeneas was known to be amazing and generous and kind, and so is hufflepuff, and overall everyone loves them, which connects to how people feel about hufflepuffs. thus, when people realize that it is slytherin wildhorn who is with them, they wont judge her or be like WHAT IN THE WORLD WTF, theyll be chill and be like cool! or ok nice to meet u gorl!

anyways thats all for now. toodles from current jessica and back to past j

_______

Also YESSS MY FIRST LGBT+ FANFIC!!!! I fucking loved writing this, it was so glorious and lovely. The reason why im suddenly mentioning this is because i gave a hint on hufflepuff’s sexuality when the councilman was like hey marry the prince and she was like NAH

Hufflepuff when she saw slytherin:

It was just a tad bit difficult to use “she/her” pronouns for both of them because i had to decipher who was saying what. an example of how it was difficult is “she put her hand over hers” and stuff like that. Hopefully you werent too confused in some moments, i rlly tried my best to make it flow well. however i dont wanna sound like im complaining, there is absolutely nothing wrong w that and this will certainly not be the only LGBT+ story i write. Gosh i kept writing straight couple fanfics and i felt iffy about it bc representation and diversity in writing is important to me.

also FUCK YES LETS ALL STAN THE FAIRIES!!! i tried to hint that they knew all along what was gonna happen. i showed my sister the fanfic before posting it and when she read the ominous moment when the fairy was like “hufflepuff will meet her fate soon enough”, she was like are the fairies gonna be evil?... and i didnt answer and looked at her like

and she was like ok yea the fairies are probably gonna be evil

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hi its me again. im gonna start the section for bonus scenes bc i am sure that many of you are excited for that. also the past me did not intend on having a section for that, but since i deleted some scenes, i will do that now:

“Many subjects gathered around a mural for Hufflepuff and bestowed gifts before her statue, thankful to be under her benevolent reign. As more people came to give thanks to their queen, someone questioned her marital status. “I dont think she ever married,” a man spoke up.

“That’s a shame,” another subject sighed, looking up at the statue. “She’s quite beautiful. I don’t understand why a king hasn’t asked for her hand in marriage.”

Little did they know that the queen had indeed found true love, her heart in the hands of a courageous being with strikingly green eyes that glowed with warmth and affection for a special someone.”

I decided to delete this at the end because lets not make the citizens ignorant and heteronormative.................. it just wasnt necessary and didnt feel right so i deleted.

Slytherin scrunched her nose as she recalled the event. “I thought I had successfully defeated all of them, but I turned my back too soon.” She bitterly shook her head at the mistake. “I should’ve just killed them where they stood.”

Hufflepuff squeezed her hand gently and assured her that she was proud of her regardless of that. “If it weren’t for you, I’d be dead right now.” She frowned as she thought back to what had happened a few moments ago. “I didn’t know you could turn back into a dragon.”

I deleted this, which was originally supposed to be the part when sly saves huff from falling. after the rescue, she originally said this but i deleted it bc it doesnt flow well. basically when they land safely on the ground, huff asks “what happened before, how did they capture you after i left?” and that is slytherins reply. at first i had written that to indicate what happened bc readers are like, “wait what i thought sly was a badass, how did they defeat her?” but then i deleted it. imagine if you just fell from a cliff and ur friend rescued you and immediately youre like “sooooo about that thing from before..” instead of asking “DUDE HOW DID U TURN INTO A DRAGON?!?!” thus, i changed it so that huff was like wait bruv how are u a dragon?

She also loved spinning tales when they all gathered around the campfire, and told them about adventures concerning dragons and creatures alike. Some of the neighboring kingdoms thought her to be unusual, but they didn’t dare to mock her. No one wanted to mess with her after watching her train some soldiers in the courtyard.

i deleted this scene in which it discusses what slytherin’s life is like now (i.e. the part in which she talks to the villagers and visits them and tries new stuff. ALSO WAIT HOLD UP CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE TWO PRETTY BEST FRIENDS THING BC I HAVE NEVER LAUGHED SO HARD IN THE ENTIRE LIFE WHEN I THOUGHT OF THAT. HEY G UR PROBABLY READING THIS RN AND U KNOW IM REFERRING TO U BC SOMETIMES I CALL U G, THIS IS THE PART THAT I TOLD U ABOUT, I TOLD U THAT U WOULD UNDERSTAND IMMEDIATELY THAT IT WAS THE JOKE I TOLD U VIA INSTA LMAOAO!! the idea sprung to me in the morning and every time i thought about it, i just started cackling, like full on.) ok anways yea i just deleted the scene bc it was unnecessary and i felt like ending it off with the joke was fine and funny

ok thats all the deleted scenes.

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NOW ITS TIME FOR ANALYSIS:

“Slytherin had a pleasant smile as she watched some of her subjects play around with magic, green swirls sparkling from the tips of their wands.” This is an indication that she is ok with her past now.

“If you need forgiveness, I’ll give that to you. You’re forgiven, okay?” Does anyone watch The 100? If so, this is a bellarke reference!

“The forest? That would be too dangerous, seeing as how there were plenty of dangerous people who roamed throughout the woods, looking for an easy target.” This was hint of what was about to happen in regards to the bad men who wanted to kill huff, being that they emerged from the forest.

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hi its me again, i am including more analysis for the new scenes that i implemented after the past authors note:

“With a heavy heart, she prepared for the long journey ahead.” This is not just a reference to the horse ride back to the castle, but for the actual journey concerning hufflepuff’s growth as a person and queen and confidence

“Is something wrong, my sweet,” she asked softly, clasping their hands together.” it is lovely to see how slytherin addresses hufflepuff compared to then and now, from Your Majesty to My Sweet. AINT THAT CUTEEE:))

__________

This is an image that represents how i imagined the cliff looked like:

Fyi, while i was editing stuff, i went back to the middle and added some dialogue for hufflepuff so that she sounds like a really good friend and a great person who kept comforting sly when she was sad about her past. It shows that theyre compatible for each other! Its also a classic slytherpuff dynamic in which sly is a badass who will fight anyone to the death if they harm hufflepuff. Also can we just appreciate slytherin whos a total badass??? The “woman” part was fucking POWERFUL!! I loved writing her, shes one of my favorite characters bc shes a fucking badass like YES SHE DID THAT!!!!

Me while i was writing slytherin fighting the bad guys:

Hufflepuff when Slytherin said “This’ll be fun” before she fought the men:

slytherin watching hufflepuff fight renaud and say “im a queen”:

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me again with new meme:

Renaud staring at slytherin and hufflepuff flirt with each other in that scene when she bowed and was like AFTER U while hes trying to write the treaty:

lowkey i just wanted to write,

“no you go ahead” “no u go, ur a queen” “no u should go, ur a wonderful soldier” “no i insist” “no *i* insist” “ok bitch can u shut the fuck up and just go-”

______

i asked my sister what she thought about this sentence: ““But this wasn’t the first time that happened, was it, Slytherin Wildhorn?” (original version before changed) and I felt iffy about it because there seemed to be too many commas, and I asked if it were grammatically correct. She changed it to ““But this wasn’t the first time that happened... was it, Slytherin Wildhorn?” and i legit started screaming and i said OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO and she said OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO and our voices synced up and it was just so chaotic and funny

This is for all of you for 600!! Thank you very much, i definitely have more than 600 now because its been a while since i hit that mark but i still wanna say thanks very very much!! Love you muchooooo<3

Ok, onto stuff that ISNT related to this fanfic: For the original slytherpuff series, I took out most of the smut and moved it to another big series. its weird to have the smut in the original series, because it would take place during their 7th year- huff and sly would be 18, which is still eh. Its unrealistic and very typical in american movies and the media. It sets up very unrealistic expectations, and some people feel bad when they havent had their first kiss yet when theyre in college, and i do NOT wanna promote that image in my fanfiction. I always felt iffy about it because they would technically be like seniors in high school, and not everyone has sex during that time, and that is often forced onto people through the media in movies, like OO IM HAVING SEX!! IM 17 AND IM HAVING SEX, WBU BITCH?? Bruh um no thank you. I felt SO much better when i moved it to the other series, bc in that series, theyre gonna be 18+

As implied in the previous paragraph, I made a new series that I had for a while but never really expanded the plot very much. i added a ton of details (from 4 to 18 pages in a span of 2 days- my creative juices reserved for writing were overspilling because i usually use those brain cells to write in the beginning of a month, but since i didnt, i just suddenly started writing a lot). in this series, huff and sly will be older like 19 or 20. I am so excited to write it, i probably wont write it for a long time bc i want to finish the first series first and idk when that will be bc its quite long

It will actually have a plot like a series of events. meanwhile the current series- after a certain point- will be fluff and not necessarily contribute to the plot bc theres theoretically no plot. thats how it resonates w the title “Slytherin x hufflepuff relationship” because its just about their relationship. there is no genuine plot except for their journey to relationship. After they actually get together, it will just be lots of fluff and rare indication of smut at all- it reminds me of headcannons or oneshots but i will not do that bc it is nice to know tht the fluff happened to this huff and sly couple specifically! The fluff is in terms of meeting parents, baking, rainy day, stuff like that

For the new series, u will be on your tippy toes, every chapter has a reason. meanwhile, current will be fun and sweet.

I think i have said this before but im saying it again: IM NOT CHANGING NAMES FOR CURRENT SERIES, I DONT LIKE ORIGINAL CHARACTERS AT ALL!! People know who huff and sly are, readers can replace the names with other characters or put themselves into the situation

To conclude, I love you all very very much. Be sure to comment how you felt about this and reblog are very very appreciated. Thank you and see you laterrrrrrrr<3!!!!

_____

OK HI FINALLY THAT IS ALL I WROTE FOR THE THANKSGIVING AUTHORS NOTE. whenever i did “_______” that meant that i was adding something new, as you could probably tell bc i reminded you every 5 seconds. whenever i had something new that related to the previous author’s note, like the meme section or analysis section, i did the line thing so that i could add to it. ok anywayssss i have MORE stuff to add.

i am donezo with college stuff, literally done with ALL of it. i thought this day would never come but i am here now and it is january and i am absolutely free and ecstatic!! that means i will start preparing to write chapter 4 of the ICONIC slytherpuff series :D and get started on other works as well.

however, i would like to address something important. i am going to copy and paste something that i put in that long google docs where i had written this fic and had the author’s note and everything. i pasted this a while ago (i wrote it a day after thanksgiving i think) from a chat with a friend bc i wanted to let yall see it (its like a life update mixed with a writing update thing):

“yesterday i stayed up until 4 am to do the tag list and it took me 4 hrs to do because i was trying to erase the people who wasn’t active or weren’t liking my fanfics because i usually put every follower on the tag list and it’s like 650 ppl but less than 250 liking the fanfics and it takes a lot of time to press each individual tag to choose who it is so i tried to do that but it was very annoying like i was using this website and it was not gucci for instance i put in all the names of the followers along w the names of ppl who liked every fanfic and it also included their name itself like mine is Jessica with that loki symbol urs is about george weasley i think so it was just messy and i had finally got it all to work when i combined two websites and used both of them but it was so frijcin annoying like at around 2 i thought i got an accurate list of ppl who were active but then i realized that some ppl weren’t on there like u or this other girl who likes many of the fanfics so i knew it was wrong but basically yea i stayed up late to do that stuff and then i was working on it this morning and i thought i would be posting it but then i thought of two new scenes and my mom wanted us to walk around the park but i said wait bc i wanted to finish and we ended up not going bc i took a nap at around 4 or soemthing bc i guess i was tired i felt very bad for delaying my family’s trip for the sake of the fanfic and i find myself always doing that like not going to eat dinner or hanging w my sister bc i need to write Anyways, when i woke up after staying up until 4 am, i talked to my sister and said that there was an imbalance of reblogs and likes and i’ve seen lots of posts talking about the importance of reblogs and when i was doing all of that yesterday like making the tag list, i noticed a constant number of reblogs among the fanfics it was usually around 20 while the likes were in the 200s and i was telling my sis about that and i was upset bc reblogs are important and it’s the least that ppl could do bc i’m writing all of that stuff and reblogs help push up the algorithm. however she said that at the end of the day, the reblogs will remain constant because i can’t force anyone to reblog. they’ll only reblog if they rlly like it and they don’t care enough to reblog and that hurt but she was right; she said she understands because she’s in a publishing company rn and so she understands why ppl wouldn’t reblog bc in publishing, they choose which books will become available to the public which is kinda like how ppl choose to reblog what they want to anways she told me “it sounds like ur always doing stuff for them. it’s always them then them, never you. YOU stayed up until 4 am to do the tag list, they didn’t ask for that, but u did. you’re the one doing all this stuff and it’s always for them, not for u. this is UR writing, so u should just do it for urself bc if u only write for them, then it’s just no good because you need to love writing to be able to keep doing it” and she was absolutely right. if i keep thinking about what other people think and what other ppl need instead of thinking of myself, it would not be good. i should be allowing myself to rest and actually enjoy writing instead of forcing myself to so i was thinking about all of that before i took the nap and by that time i was just exhausted because i spent most of the day working on the fanfic and i was like wow jessica ur spending ANOTHER day on this?? and i had been working on this fight scene with swords and i was doing the most, like watching videos of ppl fighting, reading articles about techniques, etc. i just got sad bc i was like there u go again, not caring about urself and just putting all ur energy into making other people happy while ignoring ur own needs and so i closed the computer and laid down and i cried a little because i was like no one even cares about you so why are u putting so much effort into making them happy?? and then i thought about getting back up and letting you and giselle know that i’m probably gonna post the fanfic tomorrow but then i felt rlly anxious because i wanted to say “sorry!! posting it tomorrow” and i got angry at myself because i was doing it again, it was as if i owe it to everyone that i must post the fanfic. i realized i don’t need to be apologetic or explain myself because i’m still gonna be posting the fanfic, but i’m gonna do it on my own time so that i’m not forcing myself to get things done and so i talked to my sister again after i woke up and i said that i read this post once about how writing fan fiction shouldn’t only be about the likes and reblogs bc if i’m doing everything for everyone else, then i’m probably not enjoying it because i’m just doing it for them, not myself. i realized that i should write because i love writing itself so i decided that i’m gonna write whenever i went and go at a good pace for myself instead of making monthly fanfics, though i’m sure i will still post monthly because every month i get a burst of energy to write and also fuxk that dumbass tag list i’m not gonna do it again only tagging the people who actually asked so this i will learn to love writing more so that i can continue writing in the future”

i have changed greatly and i am different from how i was in november. i know this because i remembered that on thanksgiving, i was primarily focused on writing the fic instead of spending time with family. on christmas (a few days ago), i had wanted to finish writing by that time to post for the holiday but i realized i would not be able to post it in time. instead of working on the fic on christmas to get it done, i decided to put it aside and be with my family and friends--and i am very glad and proud of myself for doing that! as a person who is very empathic and is always very wrapped up with giving and receiving love from others, i find myself putting others before myself, which is not healthy. i am learning to take a step back and see the bigger picture: this is my blog, and for a while it felt like it was controlling me but in reality i was just forcing myself to do stuff that i didnt wanna do but i did it for the sake of other people. this is demonstrated in my desire to write during holidays so that readers will be happy instead of just relaxing and doing stuff that i actually wanna be doing like being w my fam. dont get me wrong, i do like writing! however, these tendencies to just write and write and write get extreme sometimes. but on christmas, i had a very wonderful time and have learned a lot about myself and loving myself and putting my own wellbeing first and just being chill with tumblr and this blog.

i am done with college stuff, which means that i have less stress and worries. originally, i planned to use this time to write and produce works and go on a binge in which i just keep writing. however, i have decided that i am just gonna connect with my inner soul and being, and write when i want to. i usually post fanfics monthlybecause thats just how i work, so perhaps that will stay the same bc thats just how it is, OR maybe ill write even quicker and post more frequently. maybe ill just come and go. the moral of the story is that im doing me and im focusing on myself and thinking about what i want instead of trying to appease people all the time. in other words, i write when i want to!

also, as some of you know, i am no longer doing incorrect quotes, which made up majority of my blog. basically i realized a couple of days ago that most of my followers probably come from the incorrect quotes. i got followers every day from those because they are easy and quick to produce, which helps me gain a big following. i decided to stop doing those posts all together bc i just want my blog to be one thing only, not fanfics AND incorrect quotes. the fact that the majority of people came to my blog for the incorrect quotes means that my fanfic attention has an indirect relationship to the incorrect quotes, so theres more attention going to those posts instead of the stories. if i just post fanfics from now on, i get less follower notifications everyday but thats ok bc when i just start posting fanfics, i will get a steady stream of followers from that and more people will be here for the fanfics instead of the incorrect quotes. i remember when i tagged 500 ppl for one of my stories and less than 200 interacted. i shouldnt have done that bc most of them were probably there for the incorrect quotes and some are bots or inactive, ofc. the tag list that i have now was generated from websites so theyre compiled of people who have interacted with ym stories at least twice so that i know theyre constant readers.

OH WAIT ACTUALLY YES LETS TALK ABOUT YOU GUYS!

happy new years, first of all! its 12:53 am rn but im not that tired. that terrible night (mentioned in those texts that i sent to my friend that u read from above), when i was trying to make a better taglist instead of just tagging all my followers, i noticed a repetition of some people’s usernames, which means that they interact a lot with my fanfics and i would like to give shout-outs and stuff.

wait, before i do, i also wanna add a THANK YOU<3 to all those people who tagged me in those “happy new year, tag people who made 2020 gucci for u.” even tho i dont respond to those sometimes, i want you all to know that i see them!!! I DO! and i wanna say thank you so very much, it means a lot to me and i appreciate you sosososos much! theres a person who tagged me recently, i forgot their username but it started with “winter” and i think their pfp was a orange fox? so if ur reading this rn and think this is u, it probably is and i wanna say thank u and i love u and ur lovely!!!! OH WAIT HI OK I SAW THE USERNAME, ITS @writtenfoxscreams , THANK U!!!

ok, back to the thanks, here we go:

@luciferswife16 i love our mutual love for loki and i love ur asks, ur a very kind and amazing person and i like ur energy and ur so very wonderful and amazing

@walkinganomaly i like u, ur nice and sweet and lvoely and i wanna hug u

@mossy-axolotl AAAAAAA DUDE i searched up ur username but forgot it so i legit scrolled through all my posts to find an ask u sent to see ur username and i finally found it and i did all that bc i will never forget ur first ask in which u were sosososoo nice and i rlly didnt expect it bc no one was sending asks for a while and you were a sudden burst of fresh energy and I LOVE YOU DUDE.

@eatacrackerandstop goodness gracious giselle i could type up a whole ass paragraph about you. you are one of my closest, if not one of the two top tippity top closest online friends ever and i legit can NOT express enough appreciation for you. thank you for being u, u are such an amazing person and u would probably drown in all my love and hearts. i am thankful for the smallest things, like how when you tag me in those ask challenge post thingies, you write my username first and thats legit so small and maybe im a little crazy for noticing that. its a small detail, yet i am so grateful and crying over that???? im not actually crying, but i would give u a big big BIG hug if i could <3 LOVE U LOTS! (inside joke hafudnsajdc do u get it gorl) oh wait also imma just mention, i would’ve put ur username first in my list of “THANK YOU”s but i was looking at my tag list and going through all the names from top to bottom so thats why i did not talk about u first and its kinda mean how i was liek THANK U FOR PUTTING ME FIRST but i ddint do the same for u. when i was writing stuff for mossy, i was like hmm why am i feeling a swell of appreciation, how about i direct the full force of it on GISELLE and it fired up and i was like hohoohohoho oh my gosh lemme write a BOOK about her and my happiness for our lovely friendship ok ok this is getting long ok bye

@nevilletheplantboi girl u already know i love u dude we became close SO fast and i am not surprised because we are queens and we know this. since it is ur birthday coming up, i will not write as much of a paragraph as i want to rn bc i am saving all that love and energy into another time (aka writing a page for ur birthday lmaoaoa) ok just know i adore u gorl

@autumnleaves hi, i wanted to say thank u for congratulating me on my college post thing, i didnt forget it but didnt reply bc i was doing stuff and i forgot to reply but i remembered now and THABNK TOU I LOVE U THAT WAS SO NICE!!

@trashpannda @x-whatsupdoc-x @another-witch @justanxiousme THANK U FOR UR SUPPORT, I NOTICED U FREQUENTLY DURING MY CREATION OF THE NEW TAG LIST AND I FUCKING LOVE U GUYS OH MY FRICKIN GOD

@pond-waterr yess omg ur a big one! when i failed at creating a tag list and knew that it was a faulty one bc there were some people who i KNEW interacted a lot with my fanfics but their usernames didnt appear on the list, U WERE ONE OF THEM!! I LOVE YOU!!! THANK YOU :D

@qixnsriess ur amazing, thank u very very much, ur special and i hope u have a great day

ok there are definitely more people who have interacted me, and i apologize if i did not mention u. just know that on that day when i was making the tag list, i repeatedly saw ur username and thought in my cloud of sleepy despair bc i worked on it until 4 am and was practically breaking down bc i was frustrated and didnt understand how to make a good taglist, “gosh i love them, i am very appreciative”. LOVE U!

this is goodbye for now!! let me know what you thought of the story, i soak in the feedback like its juice. that doesnt even make sense. its 1:15 am. i have stuff to do like update my masterlist. TOODELEOODOE

134 notes · View notes

imagines4thefandoms · 4 years ago

Text

Eternity Pt 2 (Kol Mikaelson X reader)

Requested: yes from Wattpad

This will no be accurate according to the show so bare with me.

Y/n’s POV

“Kol” you whispered.

You quickly looked over your shoulder but the only person there was your best friend (bff/n). She gave you small smile and then went back to taking notes. You could have sworn that you felt something. The entire class you just stared blankly at the powerpoint. You didn’t even notice the class was over til (bff/n) shoved you a little as she was leaving the classroom.

“Y/n are you ok” Bf/n asked.

“What,” you asked coming back to reality. “Yeah” you answered grabbing you bag and running out of the room.

“Your crazy y/n. Just go for a walk to clear your head,” you told yourself.

The plan was to walk around campus until your next class. The scenery was going to calm you down, just link it did after your turned. But you didn’t really focus on the scenery.

Flashback

You woke up and everything hurt. Your head. Your teeth. Your eyes. But weirdly enough not your stomach or legs or face. Not where that man hurt you. You opened your eye but the light was way too bright.

“Its ok,” a strange voice said.

The light became less annoying and you took in your surroundings. But it wasn’t a hospital. You quickly sat up of tried to make yourself small. There were two men in the room with you.

“Please im sorry. I won’t run,” you pleaded with those men.

“Hey your safe. I promise that man will never hurt you again,” the man in a suit said.

“Technically no one will now,” the other one said.

There was this pain in your stomach. It was like hunger but much worse. There was a bag on the table next to the bed you woke up on and it smelled amazing. The younger of the two men grabbed the bag and sat on the bed.

“Drink this and you will feel better,” he said holding out the bag.

The urge to take it was strong but you were weary of the men. You turned your head away and just hoped the hunger would go away like it has before. The other placed his hand on the younger and they both left the room.

“She needs to feed,” you heard the younger say.

“That young girl just went through something horrific Kol. Give her time,” the older man say.

“Elijah, and if she doesn’t are we supposed to let her die,” the younger man now known as Kol asked.

“She might not want to become one of use. It's her choice. One that neither of us will make for her,” Elijah responded as he walked away.

Everything hurt. But this pain was worse than you ever felt. This pain couldn’t be pushed down and ignored. Something in you knew that whatever was in that bag would make the pain go away. You went to grab it off the nightstand but it wasn’t there. Kol must have taken it. Maybe that was best. right. If I drank that I would become one of them according to Elijah but what were they? British?

You curled into a ball and just cried. This pain has to go away right. Kol said I could die. Would that be a good thing. Or should I drink whatever is in that bag. What's so bad about becoming British? There was this loud tapping on wood. You shot up and looked around the room but saw nothing. The tapping continued. You got out of bed and saw nothing but a lone ant in the far corner. Yep you were going crazy. You were walking back to the bed when there was a thunderous knock on the door. Your tried to cover your ears to lessen the sound but it didn’t work. Kol walked in.

“What's wrong with me. What did you do,” you asked backing into the corner and curling into a ball.

“Shh you are okay,” Kol said stepping towards you.

“No stay away. You said I'm going to die.”

“Only if you don’t drink this,” Kol replied hold out the bag.

“What if I don’t want to be British. Huh. You ever think of that,” yelled.

“What,” Kol laughed.

“I heard what the other man said. If I drink that i'll become like you.”

“A vampire darling. You will become a vampire. Not British and were are not British. Technically we are Norwegian,” kol replied with a small smile.

“There is no such thing as vampires.”

“You teeth hurt, and your eyes and head. Everything it too bright and too loud. You’re hungry. Hungrier than you have ever been,” kol stated.

“How…,”

“You are transitioning between vampire and human. You don’t have to turn if you don’t want to. But you died back on the farm. That man shot you. If you don’t drink this you will die,”

“Im dead?”

“Undead technically.”

You looked at Kol like he was crazy. A Vampire is one thing but you’re not dead. You would remember dying right. Kol took another step forward and you noticed his face change. His eyes got all veiny and his teeth got pointy.

“Holy shit,” you exclaimed standing up. “How.”

“My mother turned us after my younger brother died,”

“And how am I…,”

“My brother and I found you. You were seriously hurt so my brother fed you his blood to heal you. I killed the man who hurt you but he shot you. You died with vampire blood in your system so now you’re becoming a vampire,” Kol explained.

“Will it hurt,”

“No. Your pain will stop and you will be strong and faster and no one will hurt you again,” he explained stepping closer. “Drink this and you will be a vampire.

“Kol enough,” Elijah said walking into the room. “This is her choice.”

“If it will take my pain away i’ll drink blood. So what’s in that bag,” you asked stepping towards the brother.

“Human blood,” Elijah responded.

“Ew what,” you exclaimed taking a small step back.

“Drinking human blood with complete the transformation,” kol explained.

“But it smells so good,” you said with a gross expression.

Kol laughed a little and looked over at Elijah. “Are you sure you want this,” Elijah asked.

“I think so. Nothing can hurt me besides, wooden stake, holy water, a cross, the sun and garlic. No garlic bread will suck. Wait I don’t want to hurt people.”

“Holy water, a cross and garlic are all myth. The sun won’t be a problem with a daylight ring and you don’t have to hurt people if you don’t want to,” Elijah explained.

“Ok, I think I want this,” you said stepping forward and taking the blood from Kol.

You ripped the bag open and took a small sip. You expected it to taste awful but it was the most delicious thing you ever consumed. After drinking the whole bag you returned the bag to Kol and wiped and blood that was on your face away. Kol was right. The pain was gone. You felt strong. You felt free. You felt safe.

You were so entranced by the memory of your transformation that you walked longer and further than you planned. A text message from your lab partner brought you back to reality and you realized that you were late to class and that you walked 5 miles.

Shit I lost track of time. -y/n

Don’t worry ill tell the teach that you are sick. I'll send you the notes after class- (random name)

Thanks sorry- y/n

End flashback

You started to walk back to your room when you saw a couple chasing each other in the park across the street. They looked happy. The guy grabbed his boyfriend and they both fell down. They laid there together and watched the clouds pass.

You hated how happy they were. You hated how they had each other when your person was gone.

Flashback

“Y/n come here,” Kol called from down stairs.

You kinda stayed with the Mikaelson’s after you turned. And they were right. You didn’t have to hurt anyone. But you kind of became a thief. Once a week Kol helps you steal from a blood bank so you don’t have to hurt a person, but only if there is lots of blood.

“What Kol,” you asked walking towards him.

Kol grabbed your hand and pulled you out of the house. You tried to plant yourself but he was older and therefore a lot stronger.

“Kol I don’t want to,” you whined trying to break free of his grasp.

“You have been inside all week, and its (fave weather) outside,” Kol explained turning to you.

“Fine,” you respond.

You go back upstairs to dress accordingly and then go out with Kol. The two of you walk around town til you guys reach the park and sit in the gazebo located in the center. Kol has become your best friend, your person. Without kol you wouldn’t be alive today and you loved him.

“Are you alright darling,” he asked sitting next to you.

“I’m perfect,” you responding watching the weather.

“Yes you are,” Kol mumbled watching you.

You got up and exited the gazebo to fully enjoy the weather. Kol sat protected watching you close your eyes, look up and spin around enjoying this beautiful day. You didn’t know kol walked over to you til his hands where on your hips causing you to stop spinning. You laughed as you fixed your hair and looking into his brown eyes. You stopped laughing when he grabbed your face. Before you could question what he was doing Kol pressed his lips against yours.

He broke the kiss and looked at you. “God you’re gorgeous.”

“I know.”

Kol laughed and then pressed his lips against yours again, but this time you wrapped your arms around him and deepened it. Something happened and the two of you fell to the ground. Laughter erupted from the both of you. Kol was on top of you and he just rested his forehead.

You pushed him off of you and the two of you just laid in the middle of the park holding hands. It was the best day ever.

End flashback

Kol’s POV

How. I’ve been dead for two months and now I was able to feel her. More importantly she could feel me. My sweet Y/n. I wanted to go follow her but there was something calling me. I don’t know what it was but I just needed to follow it. The thing calling me lead me back to my brothers. I walked into a house and saw Elijah sitting in the library reading. I explored the house and saw Klaus in his drawing room. Rebekah was with Marcel and there was a strange pregnant woman in the kitchen. I was going to try to call out to Klaus but there was something calling me upstairs. There was a door at the end of the hallway that glowed. I walked towards the door but before I could open it, someone else opening it.

“There you are. I have been looking for you,” a young brunette said.

Y/n’s POV

I reached my dorm room and I was going to take a nap. Naps solve all problems. But I needed answers. Did I really feel my Kol or am I going crazy. Maybe cursed or hexed. The only person who would know was Elijah. So I grabbed my keys and decided it was time to head to New Orleans.

Flashback

“Where are we going,” you asked Kol messing with the blind fold he placed over your eyes.

“You really don’t like surprised do you,” he asked slapping your hand.

“Well the last time I was blindfolded and taken to a surprise I died in a barn,” you responded with a deadpan tone.

You could tell by the air how much Kol did not appreciate your joke. He was never really a fan of your dark humor. You placed a hand on his knee to let him know you were ok. He grabbed your hand and placed a kiss on it.

“Your humor needs work,” he said.

“No you just need time to get it,” you responded.

“Well either way we have all of eternity.”

The car stopped and Kol quickly got out and opened your door. He removed your blindfold and a beautiful cabin stood before you. The cabin sat on a lake and was surrounded by woods. Kol grabbed your hand and brought you inside.

“Kol what is this place,” you asked running your hand over the beautiful furniture.

“I bought this place years ago as a safe haven from my family. I come here when ever Niklaus is in a shabby mood,” he said wrapping his arms around you. “I thought that my beautiful girlfriend could use a vacation.”

“So you brought me to your don’t dagger me cabin,” you asked turning your head to look at the love of your life.

“Yes I brought you to my don’t dagger me cabin,” he laughed. “And now it’s our don’t dagger me cabin.”

“How romantic,” you joked turning completely around to hold him.

The entire trip was perfect. Just you and Kol doing everything you love. But the best night there was the third night. Kol had driven into town to grab stuff to make dinner. Kol promised to make your favorite meal. While Kol was out you decided to relax by the lake and soak up the sun. You stayed there til Kol came back. He placed a kiss on your temple to let you know he was back. You got up and returned the favor. He started to walk back to the cabin so you ran and jumped on his back.

“To lazy to walk darling,” he asked holding your legs so you don’t fall.

“Yes I am babe,” you responded placing a kiss on his cheek.

He shook is head in laughter and carried you inside. Once be brought you into the kitchen he sat you down on the counter. Kol turned and stood in between your legs. Your arms were around his neck and the two of you just stayed like this staring into each others eyes.

“So what’s the plan old man,” you asked after a couple minutes.

“Dinner, desert, then sex,” he replied.

“Sounds delicious.”

You sat on the kitchen counter and just watched Kol cook (favorite meal). While he was cooking you grabbed the phone that was on the counter next to you, which so happened to be his, and turned on music. Every so often Kol would bring you a spoon to taste the food.

“Delicious,” you judged.

After twenty more minutes, Kol was done cooking. He set up the table with candles and rose petals and went to the bedroom and put on a suit. He pulled out the chair for you and you just stared at him. You looked at Kol in his suit and you in a tank top and shorts.

“Seriously babe,” you exclaimed point to the romantic scene then to your outfit.

“You look gorgeous,” he said walking over to you.

“I know i’m just underdressed,” you ran upstairs and changed into a simple (f/c) dress.

You return downstairs and give Kol a little twirl. “Better.”

He looked at your dress and then laughed at your fuzzy polka dot socks. “Stunning,” he replied grabbing your hand and bringing you to the table.

The (favorite meal) was perfect. Kol was perfect. Everything was perfect. Kol took a sip of wine then grabbed your hand. He looked a littler nervous which confused you so you gave him a little smile in hopes to calm him down.

“Y/n you are the most beautiful person I have ever laid eyes on and I have been alive for over a century. These moments with you have made me feel more alive than when I was actually alive,” he stated to say. “And I meant is when I said that we will be together for all eternity. But there is one thing we need to fix for our eternity to begin.”

“Fix what needs to be fixed,” you asked looking at your dress.

“Not the way you look darling. Just your name,” he said getting down on one knee.

Kol grabbed a little black box from his pocket and opened it to reveal a beautiful diamond ring. You jumped out of your chair and fell on top of Kol.

“Is that a no,” he asked jokingly.

“Shut up. Yes. Fix my name it’s awful.”

“Nothing about you is awful, besides your humor. But y/n Mikaelson has a nice ring to it,” he said moving the hair from your face.

The two of you sat up and he slid the ring on your finger. Marrying the man in front of you is a dream come true.

END FLASHBACK

You were playing with your ring which was hanging around your neck the whole ride home. Two months without your soulmate really felt like two centuries. And you knew going back home was going to bring up memories and pain but you needed answers. Why now?

As soon as you entered city limits, you saw Kol at every corner. You saw where you and kol first kissed. Where you had your first date, first fight, first make up. You passed your first apartment together.

You finally pulled up to the Mikaelson house and you just stood at the front door at the house where you met Kol. Maybe you didn’t want the answers; you went to go back to your car but stopped. Kol would tell you to be brave. So you opened the front door and walked inside.

There was some chatter coming from the library so you guessed Klaus and Elijah were fighting again. You decided to wait in the kitchen til Klaus was less “stabby” as Kol would put it. After grabbing some blood from the fridge you went to the library and lightly knocked on the door.

“Elijah I need some help,” you said slightly opening the door. “Im pretty sure I’m losing my mind or that i’m cursed.”

You walked in and saw Rebekah, Klaus, and Elijah looking at the fire place. You could kind of see that they were staring a Devina. Elijah turned to face you and you saw him.

“Hello Darling,” Kol said walking towards you.

“Kol,” you asked taking a step forwards.

“God, you are even more gorgeous than before.”

“I know,” you cried as you ran into his arms.

He picked you up and spun you around. Kol put you down and firmly pressed his lips against yours. After taking a break for air, you turned to everyone and just smiled.

“How,” you simply asked.

“I found a spell,” Davina replied.

“Thank you D,” you thanked hugging Kol.

She gave you a small smile and you turned back to the love of your life. He was back. You were in his arms again. He looked at you with the biggest smile and then to the ring around your neck.

“I believe this is in the wrong place,” he said taking the necklace off of you.

He placed the ring back on your finger and placed a kiss on your hand.

“I also believe that there was something we needed to fix,” you replied with a smile.

#kol mikaelson imagine #kol mikaelson #kol mikaelson x reader #the vampire diares imagine #the original imagine

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kookie-doughs · 4 years ago

Text

Y/N L/N AND THE HALFBLOODS

Percy Jackson X Reader -Y/N L/N met Percy Jackson and everything was now ruined.

CHAPTER 4: THE DAY I LOST EVERYTHING

We have to loose them Loose who? He'll take them. Who? We can't save them now. But I want to save them. "Y/N! Focus on running!" My dad yelled who was right behind us. I stopped in the middle of my tracks everyone turned to me. D/N was barking loudly, as if telling me to move. Everyone was telling me to move "I will save you don't worry." I said looking at my parents. "What---" As on cue lightning struck them. They aren't gone They aren't gone We will save them someday We will save them Now run My heart felt empty. I knew I was supposed to be sad, but I wasn't. It was like someone was directing me what I should do. Finally getting in on the car they all looked at me worried D/N nuzzled to my lap, Percy and Grover looked at me emphatically. Mrs Jackson was driving but occasionally glancing at the mirror. We tore through the night along dark country roads. Wind slammed against the Camaro. Rain lashed the windshield. Every time there was a flash of lightning, I looked at Percy sitting next to me and I wondered why I chose to be with him and not feel the weight of loosing my parents. I pulled D/N closer and hugged him. I didn't know what to do. Percy then broke the silence, "So, you and my mom... know each other?" Graver's eyes flitted to the rear view mirror, though there were no cars behind us. "Not exactly," he said. "I mean, we've never met in person. But she knew I was watching you." "Watching me?" "Keeping tabs on you. Making sure you were okay. But I wasn't faking being your friend," he added hastily. "I am your friend." "Urn ... what are you, exactly?" "That doesn't matter right now." "It doesn't matter? From the waist down, my best friend is a donkey—" Grover let out a sharp, throaty "Blaa-ha-ha!" and cried, "Goat!" "What?" "I'm a goat from the waist down." "You just said it didn't matter." "Blaa-ha-ha! There are satyrs who would trample you under hoof for such an insult!" "Whoa. Wait. Satyrs. You mean like ... Mr. Brunner's myths?" "Were those old ladies at the fruit stand a myth, Percy? Was Mrs. Dodds a myth?" "So you admit there was a Mrs. Dodds!" "Of course." "Then why—" "The less you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract," Grover said, like that should be perfectly obvious. "We put Mist over the humans' eyes. We hoped you'd think the Kindly One was a hallucination. But it was no good. You started to realize who you are. And not to mention there turns out to be two of you which is worse than what I thought!" "Who I—wait a minute, what do you mean?" The weird bellowing noise rose up again somewhere behind us, closer than before. Whatever was chasing us was still on our trail. "Percy," my mom said, "there's too much to explain and not enough time. We have to get you to safety. You and Y/N." "Safety from what? Who's after me?" "Oh, nobody much," Grover said, obviously still miffed about the donkey comment. "Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions." "Grover!" "Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?" Don't worry. They won't hurt us. Have you thought of who you want to be your parent? We have plenty of options, I'd prefer if it was either Zeus or Hades but I wouldn't mind to be Ares's or Hephaestus's. I guess Athena isn't so bad as well. Who was your Father and mother's favorite? I want my mom and dad... to remain the same... Don't change them. As you wish. We have to leave soon. The moment you go get in the borders, we will loose connection. Who are we? I lied, we're not you. We're only messengers. We don't know when you'll contact yourself. But it's not anytime soon for sure. Only half of the prophecy has been fulfilled after all. But... you came and... told me to stay with Percy. Maybe you did try to make a connection. I only came to ask who you want parent to be. "Y/N!" "Huh?" "Do you know who your parent is? Do you know what's going on?" "What?" "You were talking about Greek gods..." Percy said. "I-I... was?" I asked looking at D/N as if he'd know the answer. "Where are we going?" Percy asked. "The summer camp I told you about." Percy mother's voice was tight. "The place your father wanted to send you." "The place you didn't want me to go." "Please, dear," his mother begged. "This is hard enough. Try to understand. You're in danger." "Because some old ladies cut yarn." "Those weren't old ladies," Grover said. "Those were the Fates. Do you know what it means—the fact they appeared in front of you? They only do that when you're about to ... when someone's about to die." "Whoa. You said 'you.'" "No I didn't. I said 'someone.'" "You meant 'you.' As in me." "I meant you, like 'someone.' Not you, you." "Boys!" Mrs Jackson said. She pulled the wheel hard to the right, and I got a glimpse of a figure she'd swerved to avoid—a dark fluttering shape now lost behind us in the storm. "What was that?" I asked. "We're almost there," Percy's mother said, ignoring my question. "Another mile. Please. Please. Please." I didn't know where there was, but I found myself anxious to arrive. I gripped Percy's hand as he leaned forward. Outside, nothing but rain and darkness—the kind of empty countryside you get way out on the tip of Long Island. There was a blinding flash, a jaw-rattling boom!, and our car exploded. I remember feeling weightless, like I was being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time. I don't know how but I wasn't hurt... or didn't know until I saw D/N had grown... bigger. Big enough to hide someone. He had cushioned my fall. "I'm okay boy, thanks." He shrunk and barked. He had a confused look as well as I did. "Percy!" I heard someone shouted. "I'm okay..." I tried to check on Percy. "You sure?" "Yeah..." He replied. The car hadn't really exploded. We'd swerved into a ditch. Our driver's-side doors were wedged in the mud. The roof had cracked open like an eggshell and rain was pouring in. Lightning. That was the only explanation. We'd been blasted right off the road. Next to Percy in the backseat was a big motionless lump. "Grover!" He was slumped over, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. Percy shook his furry hip. Then he groaned "Food," and Percy sighed in relief. "Percy," his mother called, "we have to ..." Her voice faltered. I looked back. In a flash of lightning, through the mud-spattered rear windshield, I saw a figure lumbering toward us on the shoulder of the road. The sight of it made my skin crawl. It was a dark silhouette of a huge guy, like a football player. He seemed to be holding a blanket over his head. His top half was bulky and fuzzy. His upraised hands made it look like he had horns. I swallowed hard. "Who is—" "Percy, Y/N," his mother said, deadly serious. "Get out of the car." Mrs Jackson threw herself against the driver's-side door. It was jammed shut in the mud. I tried mine. Stuck too. I looked up desperately at the hole in the roof. It might've been an exit, but the edges were sizzling and smoking. D/N must've read the situation and jumped out through the roof. "D/N!" He started digging on the mud occasionally barking. "There! Climb out the passenger's side!" Percy's mother told us. "Y/.N, Percy—you two have to run. Do you see that big tree?" "What?" Another flash of lightning, and through the smoking hole in the roof I saw the tree she meant: a huge, White House Christmas tree-sized pine at the crest of the nearest hill. "That's the property line," Percy's mom said. "Get over that hill and you'll see a big farmhouse down in the valley. Run and don't look back. Yell for help. Don't stop until you reach the door." "Mom, you're coming too." Her face was pale, her eyes as sad as when she looked at the ocean. "No!" Percy shouted. "You are coming with me and Y/N. Help me carry Grover." "Food!" Grover moaned, a little louder. The man with the blanket on his head kept coming toward us, making his grunting, snorting noises. As he got closer, I realized he couldn't be holding a blanket over his head, because his hands—huge meaty hands—were swinging at his sides. There was no blanket. Meaning the bulky, fuzzy mass that was too big to be his head ... was his head. And the points that looked like horns ... "He doesn't want us," my mother told me. "He wants you. Besides, I can't cross the property line." "But..." "We don't have time, Percy. Go. Please." Percy helped me climbed across Grover and I pushed the door open into the rain. "We're all going together. Come on, Mrs Jackson." "I told you—" "Mom! We are not leaving you. Help me with Grover." He didn't wait for her answer. I scrambled outside, Percy was dragging Grover from the car. Together, with Mrs Jackson they draped Grover's arms over our shoulders and started stumbling uphill through wet waist-high grass. I followed carrying D/N in my arms. Glancing back, I got my first clear look at the monster. He was seven feet tall, easy, his arms and legs like something from the cover of Muscle Man magazine—bulging biceps and triceps and a bunch of other 'ceps, all stuffed like baseballs under vein-webbed skin. He wore no clothes except underwear—I mean, bright white Fruit of the Looms—which would've looked funny, except that the top half of his body was so scary. Coarse brown hair started at about his belly button and got thicker as it reached his shoulders. His neck was a mass of muscle and fur leading up to his enormous head, which had a snout as long as my arm, snotty nostrils with a gleaming brass ring, cruel black eyes, and horns—enormous black-and-white horns with points you just couldn't get from an electric sharpener. I recognized the monster, all right. He had been in one of the first stories my parents talked about. But he couldn't be real. I blinked the rain out of my eyes. "That's—" "Pasiphae's son," Percy's mother said. "I wish I'd known how badly they want to kill you." "But he's the Min—" "Don't say his name," she warned. "Names have power." The pine tree was still way too far—a hundred yards uphill at least. I glanced behind me again. The bull-man hunched over our car, looking in the windows—or not looking, exactly. More like snuffling, nuzzling. I wasn't sure why he bothered, since we were only about fifty feet away. "Food?" Grover moaned. "Shhh," Percy told him. "Mom, what's he doing? Doesn't he see us?" "His sight and hearing are terrible," she said. "He goes by smell. But he'll figure out where we are soon enough." As if on cue, the bull-man bellowed in rage. He picked up Gabe's Camaro by the torn roof, the chassis creaking and groaning. He raised the car over his head and threw it down the road. It slammed into the wet asphalt and skidded in a shower of sparks for about half a mile before coming to a stop. The gas tank exploded. "Percy, Y/N," his mom said. "When he sees us, he'll charge. Wait until the last second, then jump out of the way— directly sideways. He can't change directions very well once he's charging. Do you understand?" "How do you know all this?" "I've been worried about an attack for a long time. I should have expected this. I was selfish, keeping you near me. I'm not like (Father's Name) or (Mother's Name), I can't hide you for good." "Keeping me near you? Hide me? But—" Another bellow of rage, and the bull-man started tromping uphill. He'd smelled us. The pine tree was only a few more yards, but the hill was getting steeper and slicker. I could tell the Jackson's were having a hard time with Grover. The bull-man closed in. Another few seconds and he'd be on top of us. Mrs Jackson must've been exhausted, but she shouldered Grover. "Go, Percy! Y/N! Separate! Remember what I said." I didn't want to split up, but I had the feeling she was right—it was our only chance. I sprinted to the left, Percy went the other way, we turned, and saw the creature bearing down on Percy. His black eyes glowed with hate. He reeked like rotten meat. He lowered his head and charged, those razor-sharp horns aimed straight at his chest. The fear in my stomach made me want to bolt, and help Percy but I knew that wouldn't work. So I held my ground, and at the last moment, he jumped to the side. The bull-man stormed past like a freight train, then bellowed with frustration and turned, but not toward Percy this time, toward Mrs Jackson, who was setting Grover down in the grass. Thankfully its like they never saw me. We'd reached the crest of the hill. Down the other side I could see a valley, just as Percy's mother had said, and the lights of a farmhouse glowing yellow through the rain. But that was half a mile away. We'd never make it. The bull-man grunted, pawing the ground. He kept eyeing Mrs Jackson, who was now retreating slowly downhill, back toward the road, trying to lead the monster away from Grover. "Run, Percy! Y/N" she told me. "I can't go any farther. Run!" But Percy just stood there, frozen in fear, as the monster charged her. She tried to sidestep, as she'd told me to do, but the monster had learned his lesson. His hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck as she tried to get away. He lifted her as she struggled, kicking and pummeling the air. "Mom!" I ran towards Percy to try and hold him back. She caught my eyes, managed to choke out one last word: "Go!" Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around Mrs Jackson's neck, D/N ran to bite the Minotaur's arm but they both dissolved before our eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form, as if they were a holographic projection. A blinding flash, and they was simply ... gone. Both Mrs Jackson and D/N... "No!" The bull-man bore down on Grover, who lay helpless in the grass. The monster hunched over, snuffling him, as if he were about to lift Grover up and make him dissolve too. Percy stripped off his red rain jacket. "Hey!" I screamed, waving the jacket, running to one side of the monster. "Hey, stupid! Ground beef!" "Percy what are you doing?!" He shot a glance at me, "Trust me?" "Yes?" "Bad choice." "Raaaarrrrr!" The monster turned toward us, shaking his meaty fists. "I hagve an idea—a stupid idea, but better than no idea at all." He pushed my back to the big pine tree and waved his red jacket in front of the bull-man, "I'm thinking we jump out of the way at the last moment." But it didn't happen like that. The bull-man charged too fast, his arms out to grab me whichever way we tried to dodge. Time slowed down. My legs tensed. I couldn't jump sideways, only thought running in my mind was Percy's safety. Taking his hand which seemed to surprise him, I leaped straight up carrying his weight lighter than I had thought, kicking off from the creature's head, using it as a springboard, turning in midair, and landing on his neck with Percy in front of me. How did I do that? I didn't have time to figure it out. A millisecond later, the monster's head slammed into the tree and the impact nearly knocked my teeth out. The bull-man staggered around, trying to shake us. I locked my arms around Percy while he went for the horn, to keep us from being thrown. Thunder and lightning were still going strong. The rain was in my eyes. The smell of rotten meat burned my nostrils. The monster shook himself around and bucked like a rodeo bull. He should have just backed up into the tree and smashed me flat, but I was starting to realize that this thing had only one gear: forward. Meanwhile, Grover started groaning in the grass. I wanted to yell at him to shut up, but the way I was getting tossed around, if I opened my mouth I'd bite my own tongue off. "Food!" Grover moaned. The bull-man wheeled toward him, pawed the ground again, and got ready to charge. Percy had hit my shoulder with his head and pulled at the horn. Easing up to a more comfortable position to hold on, I got both hands around one horn and we pulled backward with all our might. The monster tensed, gave a surprised grunt, then—snap! The bull-man screamed and flung me through the air. I landed flat on my back in the grass. My head smacked against a rock. When I sat up, my vision was blurry. Percy was on the other side, with the horn in his hand. The monster charged. Percy rolled to one side and came up kneeling. As the monster barreled past, he drove the broken horn straight into his side, right up under his furry rib cage. The bull-man roared in agony. He flailed, clawing at his chest, then began to disintegrate—not like my mother, in a flash of golden light, but like crumbling sand, blown away in chunks by the wind, the same way Mrs. Dodds had burst apart. The monster was gone. The rain had stopped. The storm still rumbled, but only in the distance. I smelled like livestock and my knees were shaking. My head felt like it was splitting open. I was weak and scared and trembling with grief I'd just lost everyone. I wanted to lie down and cry, but there was Grover and Percy, needing my help. "Percy..." He looked at me weakly and took my hand. "Let's get out of here..." His voice was hoarse. This is where I say goodbye... Don't leave. I need you most now. I am always with you. And you have successfully brought yourself to another world. We will talk once you leave camp. I'm scared. You have Percy Jackson. Hold onto him. And you shall meet another hero. Save Percy. Save Luke. Save all of them. And you won't ever be scared again. Looking down at our linked hand I nodded. Stay with him. Save them all. You've hidden well, but its time for you to show who you are. I will declare who your parent is. I hope they claim us. Okay. We managed to haul him up and stagger down into the valley, toward the lights of the farmhouse. I was crying and so was Percy, calling for his mother, so I held on to him—I wasn't going to let him go. "I'll be here... I won't leave you..." Successfully reaching the top, I could see eyes on us. Percy had lost his consciousness. I was tasked to carry the weight of these two. Seeing two people approach us, I didn't have time to process who, I cried, "Help them. Please." Before collapsing on a wooden porch, looking up at a ceiling fan circling above me, moths flying around a yellow light, and the stern faces of a familiar-looking bearded man and a pretty girl, her blond hair curled like a princess's. They both looked down at me, and the girl said, "It's one of them. They must be." "Silence, Annabeth," the man said. "The girl's still conscious. Bring them inside." "Percy..."

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Taglist?

@gayer-than-the-gayest-gay @the-natureofme @booknerd-3000

#Percy Jackson #Percy Jackson X Reader #Percy Jackson X Y/N #luke castellan #Luke castellan x reader #Y/N L/N #Y/N L/N and the halfbloods #Book 1 #Chapter 4 #Lightning thief

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pomegranates-and-blood · 4 years ago

Text

νοσταλγία (Chapter 4)

(Gif credit to @iceandabyss)

νοσταλγία Masterlist

Pairing: Ivar/Reader (eventual)

Summary: This is a retelling/romantization of the Greek myth of Persephone’s abduction with Ivar as Hades and you as Persephone. The Reader character is a Byzantine woman, follower of the Greek Pantheon/Religion, and a devoted follower of Persephone. This takes place after 5A, but the universe of this is a little changed in relation with the series, of course. Thank you for giving it a chance, hope you enjoy!

Word Count: 3.5k

Warnings: The usual :)

A/N: Hi! I decided to post a second chapter this week so we can finally kick-start the plot, and tho I can’t promise double chapters every week yet, the Saturday chapters are a certainty, and let’s call the Tuesday ones a bonus :) Anyhow, would love to know what you think of this so far, and thank you so much for reading!

Taglist: @youbloodymadgenius

You awaken in the middle of the night as Sieghild barges into the room you sleep in, and without warning her arm, muscled and inked, locks around your waist and she drags you out of the building and towards a small tunnel that leads you both past the walls and near the woods.

She keeps dragging you, ignoring your threats and the kicks you deliver without much strength to them. The way she moves between the trees with such certainty, the way her steps are measured and fast as they step over the frozen ground never ceases to amaze you.

She throws your body with surprising strength against a nearby tree on the first clearing she finds, making you dizzy as your head hits the trunk.

“Ah! W-What are you doing!?” You grunt, but Sieghild doesn’t answer, green eyes set on her task as she brushes your hair away from your face and cups your head in her hands.

“Quiet. There’s worlds past our own.” She advises, and with quickened breaths you rake your eyes over the suffocating trees around you and, in the distance but somehow close enough, you see the faint lights of the Varangian encampment.

Your eyes return to your mother, and before your lips can form the words, the questions, you remember.

“There’s worlds past our own,” Aamir says, dark eyes, black eyes, set on the fire. “And there’s worlds in between.”

You steal a quick glance to the shieldmaiden, but she keeps her gaze ahead, even if the small quirk of her lip tells you she notices your stare of confusion and mirth.

“In between.” You repeat, and the man turns wise eyes to you. The confusion, the scorn, fade within you into curiosity, into that same madness that made you cross the Aegean on an old fishing boat.

“Between the dead and the living,” He explains without hesitation, “Between this life and the next.”

“They sound lonely.” Someone quips, but the man smiles, shaking his head slightly.

“They are filled with opportunity. Life or death, past or future,” His almost black eyes set on you, and your breath catches in your throat, “nostalgia or hope.”

And in her green eyes you see the choice shining. The question, the test, the goodbye and the welcome home.

“I’m staying with the Greeks.” You whisper, feeling as if you have sealed your own fate without knowing what the Gods have in store for you. Feeling as if Sieghild does know, but cannot tell you.

Looking down at you, she smiles through the pain of loss and the tiredness of war.

She looks firmly into your eyes and whispers, “And so it is fated you do so.”

“I can’t help but feel both our Gods have looked away, mother.”

But she shakes her head, the twin braids on each side of her head flowing with the movement. Her gaze is electric, and there could be a sad smile playing at her lips.

“I have asked Freyja for guidance, for help, ever since we arrived in Scandinavia. She has answered, but not in the way your Mistress would.”

Sieghild leans forward and presses a kiss on your forehead. You have a feeling she is saying goodbye in more ways than one, and tears clog at your throat.

“What are you saying?”

She ignores your question, expression determined and fierce, “I hope I have grasped the meaning behind the Seer’s words, my child. I hope so with all I am.”

Nothing makes sense, and there’s…there’s tendrils of a voice you cannot quite catch of a meaning you cannot quite understand, and you are suddenly a child again, listening to the strange woman speak in tongues you feel are familiar and yet foreign; you cannot…you cannot…nothing makes sense.

“What seer?”

But she shakes her head, “It doesn’t matter anymore,” She presses her forehead to yours, and your eyes fall closed, “I will not be here come morning, minn dóttir.”

A small part of you feared this would happen, feared that when Sieghild could taste back the spirit of her people, could hear again the war drums of the Vikings; she would choose to stay with them.

And you cannot blame her. If you found yourself surrounded by foreign customes and foreign people, even if you loved some of those people, even if you had grown to know and follow those strange customs...if you were to find yourself back in Greece, you are certain no love and no familiarity could keep you from those lands that made both your blood and your spirit.

Sieghild brings you into a one-armed embrace, and you feel her chin over your head. Still, a small sob leaves your lips, both at the caving feeling of being left alone and at the pain that lacers her voice. You lost Narses, Galla and the rest of your people are dead because of you, and now you will lose her too.

She is all you have had, since you were a child. Since you have memory, her matted red hair, her comforting green eyes, her brutishly gentle nature, her inked skin; they have been your home, your family.

Sieghild finally pulls back from the somewhat embrace, and even if it feels like ages it is only a few fleeting moments where you meet her gaze and look back at her with tears in your eyes and shaking in fear, a child all over again.

Her fingers trace your cheek with motherly affection, “Make the ground where you are defeated become the realm where you will conquer, child.”

“Sieghild?”

She traces a symbol in your hand with her own fingers, you think a rune, but you only have eyes for her face, her motherly smile, her kind eyes, her marked skin.

“Survive. Until spring comes.”

She darts for the woods, leaving you weak and worn against the tree trunk. Bringing your knees up against your chest, feeling the taint of blood of your own and those not still on your hands even after you have rubbed them raw, you hide your face in your arms and let the cries leave your chest.

Sieghild is long gone, Narses is dead, your people are nothing but corpses on some faraway field, the city is afar. There’s no one to see you, no one to hear you.

And if no one hears you cry, you can pretend you were brave.

_____

“We have reached our agreement, and in time I will pay that debt,” Stithulf comments as you approach. If he notices the inquisitive glare you send his way as to why he is telling you this, he ignores it. “However, we also arranged for a payment in exchange for that Viking warlord accepting the possibility of negotiations, and I have to pay it now.”

“What is it?” You whisper, brow furrowed.

The scarred Christian motions with one hand, and before you can react there’s two soldiers at your sides, holding onto your upper arms and with ease holding you immobile. Stithulf approaches, taking advantage of your stunned body that cannot seem to react quick enough, and he sets heavy and burning shackles at your wrists.

“What are you doing?” You hiss at the black-haired Saxon, but he only raises his face high. “You cannot-…”

The sound of the chains moving as they exchange hands hurts your ears, like the shrill screams of a Priestess being burnt to death.

You remember rough and violent hands wrapped around your wrists, your arms, your throat; keeping you defenseless, keeping you from fighting back. You remember tight rope burning your wrists as you were tied and dragged to the pole where you would be set alight.

You have been beaten, you have been defeated, exiled, humiliated, betrayed.

But you never had chains put on you. Chains are…are for prisoners, chains are for slaves, chains are meant for people without freedom. You have killed and died for your freedom, you cannot…you cannot lose it now.

Narses, Galla, so many others are dead. Your home is no more. Sieghild has left you behind.

You cannot lose your freedom; it is the only thing you have left.

You look down into trembling hands and bite down a scream of your own.

Chains.

You have lost it already.

The soldiers at your flanks force you to move towards wherever the Saxon is walking, and the chains make you obey their command.

“You forced my hand, Greek,” He promises, pretending that regret pours out of his lips, “You were part of the price asked, and I had no reasons for wanting to keep you.”

But you still shake your head, tugging frantically at chains that follow your movements and chase after your wrists like hungry snakes. And you cannot get out, you cannot get free, you cannot…you cannot…

“Wh-…no, you can’t do this. Why…why!?” You cry out, not caring how your voice trembles and breaks. The chains are heavy, and so is your breath, “Release me, I am not yours to give away!”

The Saxon moves quickly, a thunder of rage and underserving authority, and the backhand across your face is painful but expected. Leave it to a man like him to hit you when you are bound.

Stithulf forces you to straighten yourself from the hit by grabbing painfully onto your jaw and turning furious eyes to him.

“I will not have you challenge me in front of those Vikings. You will keep your mouth closed for once.” The Saxon grits out, his grip on your jaw brutish and hurting.

You grit your teeth, but still bite out, “With a Christian keeping me chained, there’s not much I can say or do, Stithulf. You know this.”

Your body almost braces for another hit, but Stithulf only laughs to himself. Laughs, and you cannot help but open your eyes to find him, head bowed, eyes closed, chuckling like you have amused him, like you are an old friend joking with him.

“Oh, how I will miss you, Greek.”

You lick the cut his hit gave your lip, and return your eyes ahead as they warriors make you start walking. They lead you to the docks, and you catch sight of other slaves being boarded into the Varangian ships.

You are the only one in chains, though, and the burn of humiliation hurts as much as that of defeat.

Beady eyes you know well catch sight of you, and Leofric, one of Stithulf’s trusted men, one of the pigs responsible for Narses’ sacrifice, for the slaughter of your people; approaches you with a sleazy smile on his weathered face.

“Witch.” He greets, his voice dripping with arrogance and satisfaction. You don’t answer, but he does replace one of the soldiers at your side, his hand on your upper arm disgusting and invasive.

Two Varangian men wait for you and Stithulf to approach, one of them the King, standing tall and proud as he looks over you.

It shouldn’t sting like betrayal that he wants to make a slave out of you, it truly shouldn’t. But…it does, because you are foolish, you always have been. You truly thought he was honest when he talked with you, you truly thought he saw an equal and not a witch to pride himself in conquering.

But no, what was it Sieghild told you when she spoke of Rorik and what happened before the Varangians took Kiev?

“Never trust a man to choose you over anything, much less a man in power to choose you over the illusion of holding onto such power.”

“She is a pagan witch, but she has noble blood,” Leofric states without prompting, ignoring your glare. You feel the eyes of the Varangian on you, but you keep your enraged focus on the man that lists off qualities like you are a mare being sold for breeding. “The Greeks call her Queen, and she is worth quite a lot to more than one Kingdom in the Mediterranean.

Leofric’s hand finds your throat, and your entire body coils as your lips part and a bubble of panic starts on your chest.

“And a good lay, even.” He sneers by your ear, giddy with the power he now holds. Narses is dead, and Stithulf has no use for you; your protections in this land are long gone, and he believes he can do as he wishes with you.

Better men have tried.

Stithulf steals a glance to you, an almost challenge for you to speak up written in his eyes. You keep your gaze on his and let your lips curve into the beginning of a smile, because even if you know it is a lie you feel anything but the desire to squirm out of your own skin, you will be dead before giving it away.

His eyes narrow slightly, but he says nothing as he passes on the chains to the Varangians like who offers the leash of a dog, and at the reminder of the chains binding you, the pressure in your lungs is almost the same as that of those first weeks after you survived the pyre those Christians built.

It is only then, with more than iron chains in his hand, that Ivar the Boneless takes his pales eyes to meet your own.

He smiles, terrifyingly and hungrily, and a shiver runs down your spine. Your mocking smile drops as dread settles over your very bones, but you refuse to lower your gaze.

The tug he gives to your chains to bring you closer is as humiliating as before, but you have to follow the commands of the shackles in your wrists, and you stumble a few steps until you stand by him.

“Priestess.” He greets lowly, and your nose furrows.

“Viking,” You hiss back, because of course you wouldn’t keep your mouth shut. You lift your hands bound by heavy metal between you, “I spent too long a Christian’s attack dog, I refuse to die a Varangian’s prisoner.”

He chuckles, cruel and every bit the King you tried not seeing him as. Ivar the Boneless.

“You think you have a choice.” He mocks with a disgustingly fake smile on his lips.

You still lean closer, “You better than any man here knows what I have done to keep myself from being a prisoner.”

It staggers you how easy it is to bring a strange softness to his gaze, so much so that you believe him to be fooling you for a moment before he speaks.

“I don’t want to make a prisoner out of you.” He promises without hesitation, without shame. And your anger returns, pushing back the curiosity, the foolish hope, the weakness.

“Then why am I chained?”

“Was there any other way to get you to do as I say?” The King replies easily, the mocking smile once again on his lips.

Regardless, he loosens his hold on the humiliating leash, and your eyes are drawn to his hand. You catch sight of the now dirtied and bloodied bandage around the hand he injured yesterday, and are reminded of the knife you saw him pull out of some secret sheath in his armor.

And if the same guile that made Narses lay an army at your feet is the same that tries keeping Ivar the Boneless from reacting when you put chained hands over his armored chest, no one can blame you.

Women are taught to play these games. The more binds they put on you, the more tricks you learn.

“But you didn’t try any other way,” You argue quietly, looking into his eyes, and even if your closeness, your caress, are lies, your next words are not, “I thought I could trust you.”

The King does not react, body almost frozen but still challenging and calculating as he gazes down at you. His chest rises and falls under your hand and you take a breath and lean even closer.

It would be easy, you ponder, grabbing the knife and attempting on his life, futile attempt as it would be. You could cut your own throat, they couldn’t stop you, and you wouldn’t have to live to see the day a Varangian makes you his slave.

But that would be too easy. Hushed teachings of strength and composure travel from your memories, your mother’s voice and Sieghild’s mixing together in a choir.

You muster a quick prayer of protection and strength in your mind before you go through with your stupid, stupid, stupid idea.

Gritting your teeth and trying to ignore the tremble of your hand as it finds purchase in your target, you wrap careful fingers around the knife you saw sheathed at his ribs, grabbing a hold of it.

You can see in the barely-there widening of the Viking’s eyes, on the sharp breath and the tension coiled around his shoulders that he knows what weapon you hold in your hand now.

He doesn’t move, the only change you notice along with his breath is the slight adjusting of his grip on the crutch. Your eyes dart to his hand and back up into his own, and a challenge shines in them, a curiosity and something else, something darker and stranger that you cannot help but find alluring.

He is challenging you to put that knife to use.

I did promise that while a Christian held me in chains I wouldn’t act.

You turn around with a small smile, feral as it is, on your lips. The chains stop you from doing any real damage, but a deep enough gash runs down Stithulf’s face, and that is enough for you, even if it means your death. The wound over the Saxon’s eye pours blood, and you allow yourself a laugh.

“I will crawl out of the Underworld if I have to, but I will find you again. And I will send you to Lord Hades bearing the mark of my sacrifice. Let the dead know who you have wronged, let the Furies torment you until I have my chance to.” You snarl in Greek, eyes set firmly, manically even, on the commander.

A mark of blood, a vow to the Gods. You know you will kill him, and as you look into his eye you think he knows it too, even if he didn’t understand a word you said.

The chains yank again, painful against your sore wrists, and you comply. Dropping the knife to the ground in front of the Varangians, you try quietening the deafening beat of your own heart in your ears.

Stithulf keeps his good eye on you, enraged but oddly enough not surprised. Maybe you were wrong, he wasn’t stupid enough to believe Narses’ words about your meekness and your obedience.

The sudden tension not much unlike the stillness before the beast pounds takes over the dock as the warriors, their attention drawn in by the commotion, wait with baited breath for the next action. Both Saxons and Vikings stand in waiting for any movement.

The man with the blondish braid that was standing behind a few steps is the first one to break the silence, walking towards you with ease and bending down to pick up the knife.

He just…laughs.

The man just laughs, and it is in startled silence that you are tugged back by your chains to the King’s side. The man’s warm eyes travel between you, still in chains, and the now bloodied Saxon holding a hand over his eye.

“Almost lost an eye to a chained Christian woman,” The man says, looking at Stithulf with a smile on his young face, “That will be a story to tell.”

The Viking looks back at the Saxon leader with knowing clear eyes, expecting the strike back, expecting the fight. He delights, you realize, in taunting the Christian with the retribution he cannot have.

Whatever argument they were bound to have, or whatever vindication Stithulf was to set upon you, is quickly tampered by the humiliation. Good.

You could swear the man that spoke out, as he turns around, looks into your eyes with something akin to understanding for a moment.

Clearing your throat and past the fear and pain, you croak, however broken your attempts at speaking past the knot in your throat may be,

“N-Not…not a Christian. Never.”

The man regards you in silence for a moment or so, before finally acquiescing with a nod.

“I noticed,” He says with a smile, and looking for a moment at the man that holds your chains, the Varangian that spoke to save your hide leans closer, but you do not feel threatened, “I’m Hvitserk.”

You smile, the first genuine one you felt in so long, but you still don’t reply with your own name. He notices, but says nothing as you are led to the boats.

“Sons of Ragnar,” Stithulf speaks out, stopping both the King and Prince on their tracks. “Be certain I’ll kill you.”

“I’m certain you’ll try.” Hvitserk replies with a mock flourish, turning his back to the Saxons.

The Varangians board their ship, and you have no choice to follow, a vindicated sort of defeat guiding your movements.

_____

Hi, thank you for reading! I would love to know what you think of this chapter, and the story so far in general! Finally we reach the abduction part of the abduction myth lol

Thank you so much for your support, it means a lot to know people are reading and (hopefully) enjoying what I write! You’re the best!

#ivar the boneless x reader #ivar the boneless imagine #ivar the boneless #ivar x reader #vikings #vikings imagine #νοσταλγία masterlist #νοσταλγία

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tokugou · 3 years ago

Note

do you have your favourite tdbk fanfics? (share pls i'm out of things to readdd) ♡

Finn!!! I gonna try my best to share something and hope you gonna like at least one of them. Also I didn't have time to read anything for a past month (?) so I am not very up to date with new ones.

okokok I need to share this one first because it was written for me (well i requested it but it still counts!!)

the right kind of home by @dabibones

“comfort food”

I will start with on-going I really liked so far (I need to catch up with them too)

love lies bleeding by twopinchesofcinnamon - the best setting I could ever ask for - Zombie Apocalypse AU

“We could. Y’know,” Red-eyes sucks his teeth hard, as if his own words physically pain him. “Compromise.” Shouto lets himself slip down the railing until he’s propped against it. “What do you propose?” “Easy,” he zeroes in, contemplating, and Shouto can’t quite decipher him anymore. “Split the food and go our separate ways. We never need to speak again. Deal?” Shouto tips his chin up at the clouds. He blows out a breath, counting to seven. “Can I get two thirds?” Or: a loner, a wanderer, and flowers that glow in the dark.

20:04 by redonthemoon - it is finished already but I still didn't finish it

He’s now lying on his floor, naked, listening on repeat to the same song trying to come up with an idea of what he is supposed to do. He has watched all the movies that are out there about the topic. He has even taken the car and drove as far as he could. He has even taken a plane to another country and landed there but the second the clock hit midnight, he woke up on his bed, alarm pounding and the same date: Friday, October 28th. He can’t do it anymore. He can’t repeat the same day over and over.

let's ignore my 200 tabs opened on my phone - to read later - cos I am lazy, so I went through my bookmarks to pick the ones I think are good (and not embarassing to share) - under read more because yeah there is a few

better late than never

Bakugou and todoroki get hit by a body swap quirk, and physical contact seems to be the only answer to their predicament

My Hero Love Story

After the two of them are spotted at a Valentine's Day hero convention while on a mission, Shouto gets the brilliant (and extremely bad) idea to pretend he and Bakugou are there on a date together. It's brilliant because it's the perfect cover story. It's bad because he's desperately in love with Bakugou, and Bakugou has no idea.

Whatever It Takes

That one where Bakugou agrees to pretend to date Todoroki just to piss off Endeavor, and ends up falling in love instead.

Bam Went My Heart

Bakugou Katsuki is 100% not on a date with Todoroki Shouto

A fishy deal

Bakugou Katsuki, a rebel spy, attends an auction and leaves with more than just intel.

better than myth

Amidst domestic disasters, the infernal water bill and the armchair in the shower, there was a comfortable rapport between them. Bakugou was falling disgustingly in love with it.

The Energy Between Us Blossoms Colors In My Heart

Todoroki Shouto has always been a bit curious about his punk roommate with red hair tips, but he never had the opportunity to get to know him better. That's until they get assigned as partners for their university projects.

Teenage Rebellion

Shouto dye his hair

Can I Get A Name For Your Order?

Coffee Shop AU

i like you so much (what do i do?)

Katsuki is really good at what he does, except when Shouto's there. another coffee shop au

i wanna ruin our friendship

Todoroki and Bakugou make out, become friends, and fall in love, all in that order.

You Set My Soul Alight

When enrolling into college, Shouto thought he’ll be freed from under his father’s thumb, but that’s not true. Never was true. Even here his father is controlling his life. To be more specific, his dating life out of all things. After witnessing his roommate, Bakugou, arguing on the phone with his mother about significant others, Shouto gets an idea. They form a compromise. Shouto is tired of his father orchestrating dates for him and Bakugou wants his mother to leave him alone. Nothing could go wrong.

Sweeter than Victory

In which Katsuki sets out to slay a chimera, ends up hunting down an elusive, mystical flower, and encounters a nymph known for being beautiful and unattainable. He really needs to have a damn talk with the Fates. Or Aphrodite. Because seriously, what kind of bullshit quest is this?

Sorry (Not Sorry) For The Distraction

Bakugou Katsuki may have made a mistake. Not that he'd call it that, of course, but he probably should've thought more about what he chose to wear when he allowed Todoroki into his home to work on their shared case.

He just hadn't exactly anticipated that Todoroki would notice his piercings. Or more importantly, not shut the fuck up about them.

hope you think of me high, hope you think of me highly

Shotgunning

Raising the Steaks

Inasa serves dishes, Bakugou serves food, Camie serves customers and Shouto serves looks.

threadache

Todoroki asks Bakugou to make his outfit for the Met Gala - nothing is what it seams.

love you sideways

Katsuki is the undisputed King of the arcade until some asshole comes in and starts beating all his high scores.

Synergy

Katsuki, a top pro gamer, encounters a worthy and very irritating rival—who may also be about to become his teammate.

Bloom

In recent years, it's been assumed that the appearance of soul bonds has disappeared. Katsuki, a cocky pro hero, and Shouto, the barista at Katsuki's favorite coffee shop, are about to discover that's not quite true.

Upon My Back

the soulmate au where every time your soulmate cries a flower tattoo appears on your skin

Vampirism wasn't in the roommate contract

“You’re a vampire?!” “And you’re a werewolf. You don’t see me complaining even though-“ Todoroki’s nose scrunched, and Bakugou could feel the vein in his head about to pop. “If you say I smell, I’m going to kick you out right now, dead blood.”

The best kept secrets aren't secrets at all

In which, Todoroki dates the edgy chemical engineering student who keeps stealing his friends parking spaces and is only just learning how to get along with others.

i want you (to want me)

invisibilia (or voyeur, of the unwilling kind)

Hagakure Tooru is invisible, and that is sometimes a lot more trouble than it's worth.

Just One Bite

This particular fuckup begins when he saves a cat from a demon in a sketchy alley.

How To Lose A Costume Contest But Still Win At Life

Bakugou Katsuki was determined to win a costume competition with the most realistic werewolf costume he could feasibly put together.

Without Hesitation

The first time Bakugou told Todoroki he was in love with him, he thought he’d die.

did i say a few? i overdid it I AM SORRY but i do hope you gonna like/read a few of these, I liked them. Also thank you so so so much for the ask! It made me so happy no one ever ask about my favorite things it was such a nice thing to do!

#chloe.mailbox #fi-nn #mutsy!#that took longer than i expected orz #also i probably missed the good ones #but i hope you can find something nice for you here #otp: fire meet gasoline #dont forget to talk to me about my babies!!#anything!!#hcs or ideas #talk my babies to me

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hansolmates · 4 years ago

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jjk; angel’s trumpet [04]

summary; one second, your life is flashing before your eyes and the next, you’re transported into a world exactly like your own. but the jungkook you meet in this world isn’t a renowned singer or your former almost-lover, in fact he has no clue who you are and why you know him so well. as you work to find your way home lost and confused, you conclude that you’re either dead or in the middle of the most wicked drug trip of your life. pairing; idol!jk x reader (f), alternatively film producer!jk x reader genre/warnings; fluff, angst, supernatural, idol!au, non-idol!au, alternate universes, themes of fate, language, alcohol consumption, mentions of smut in future chapters w.c; 5k a/n; lot of angst in this one!! if your heart aches i urge u to do what i do and hug some stuffies (my current fav stuffie is my bt21baby cooky) i hope u enjoy more of w1!jk, ty for all the love pls share and like if you enjoy!

[03] [04] [05] -> masterpost

W1.

Jungkook is strongly advised not to visit you.

Jungkook has been strongly advised over the past two weeks not to visit you, despite the fact that visitors have been allowed since two days ago considering the fact that you are confirmed comatose.

A coma. You’re in a coma. It’s weird how much the notion echoes in Jungkook’s thoughts, constantly nudging the back of his mind like a petulant child wanting an out. He’s never met anyone who’s been in a coma before, the condition only reserved for late night melodramas and medical movies.

And in all of those shows, the person bedridden until further notice always looks like a wreck. He feels like ripping his heart out at the thought of you with tubes and liquids going in and out of your body, face ashen and devoid of any thought other than pain. He needed to see you, to support you even if you didn’t know.

After days of persistence and Namjoon’s inability to say no to Jungkook, Namjoon agreed to let Jungkook swing by the hospital after his solo recordings. He couldn’t get there fast enough, knowing Namjoon is already there and probably taking care of you.

He takes slow steps to your room, as if trudging through a sea of molasses. Careful to not let his combat boots strike the linoleum, he catches the tail end of a conversation. Your room is large enough for two patients, but so far you’re the only one checked in. There are three other people in your room, concealed by a thin curtain revealing them as shadows. Jungkook lingers behind, staring intently at the shadow of your figure laying in bed.

“How inhiberated was your friend the night of the incident?” Jungkook’s presuming it’s your nurse, going over protocol.

The second voice is Sehlyung, the bubbly coordinator who immediately befriended you the week you got hired. Her voice is no longer chipper, but strained and weak, as if she’s been crying for days.

“I don’t know exactly how much,” she sniffs, “but it was a lot. She had a rough day, I—I just wanted to help her forget a little,” her soft cries reverberate throughout the white-walled room. “I should’ve, I should’ve helped her upstairs. I knew how messed up she was and I left her alone!”

Jungkook’s fists clench beneath his hoodie, familiar moisture creeping into his eyes.

Sehlyung’s words felt like a jab to his form, already aching at the wounds in his own heart. It isn’t the answer the nurse wants, but it seems like the poor woman has been holding in a lot of pent up stress. Namjoon’s trying to placate her, and Jungkook can see the way he’s patting your friend’s shoulder in a gesture of comfort. “No one’s blaming you, so please don’t blame yourself,” Namjoon’s words are like a balm to the proverbial wound, “Nurse, is it possible to project how long it’ll take until she wakes up?”

“Hard to say,” your nurse replies, and has the decency to sound sad, “it could be weeks, or even months. Judging by her high amount of brain activity however, she’s predicted to awake with very minimal brain damage.”

Brain damage?

“Eventually her insurance will run out however, the longer we need to sustain her will depend on how much her cosigner—”

“Money will not be an issue,” Namjoon cuts in smoothly, almost sounding insulted that the nurse would even bring up such a thing. “We can’t put a price on our precious friend’s life.”

As much as Namjoon’s words alleviated Jungkook’s initial anxieties, the question still stands. Will you come out of this the same person you left? How long will that take, weeks, months, years? He’s extensively Googled before this, reading way too many WebMD articles that he probably shouldn’t have, effectively skewing his perception on the matter.

He fiddles with his hands in the kangaroo pocket of his sweater, clammy from the heat. You’re suffering, and just like Sehlyung, he’s trying very hard not to blame himself.

•━━━━━━»•»💮💮💮«•«━━•••

W2.

Angel’s Trumpet Scientific Name: Brugmansia Order and Family: Polimonailes and Solanaceae Summary: A higher order of nightshade, the Angel’s Trumpet is a show-stopping pendulous flower that hangs like bells. In myth, they were prized as chimes holding magical properties. In modern use, Angel's Trumpets have occasionally been used to create recreational drugs, but the risk of overdose is so high that these uses often have deadly consequences.

So you’re either dead or in the middle of the most wicked drug trip of your life.

You push away from your MacBook, rolling over to your bed to mull. It’s near two in the morning, and you’ve channeled both your love for Buzzfeed Unsolved and your poster making skills in order to construct The Timeline.

Using your somewhat solid memory from the past two weeks and Hoseok’s own timeline from his daycare shift, you spent the entire night plotting as to why you’re in W2 and how you can leave.

Your plan of action is minimal, definitively so because there are no leads other than Sehlyung’s wine dealer, and Jungkook.

Something must’ve been in the angel’s wine, something dangerous. You remember the sky flickering that night, wondering if you were hallucinating or very drunk. Scientifically speaking however, if you really are under the influence of this flower, the hallucinogens should’ve left your body by now.

Unless it’s magic that brought you to this world. As absurd as it is, the notion of magic gets easier and easier to cite as the days go on.

And if it is some form of magic, something tells you that Jungkook has something to do with it. But why?

One: Jungkook’s birth flower, you muse. You think back to how vivid the ink appeared on Jungkook’s skin, how precious the design meant to him. It made you think back to your Jungkook, who couldn’t stop fidgeting as he was so excited to get some serious ink done when visiting a friend in Jeju island. How bright his face glowed after it healed and how proud he was to show it off.

Two: The last thing Jungkook said to you. How coincidental must it be for him to specifically cite your relationship could work in “another world”?

You’re definitely overheating your brain at this point, and you trudge yourself out of bed to make something to eat. If you were going to spiral, you were going to spiral with a full stomach.

The pot as the water starts to boil, crackling and bubbling angrily because you are impatient and cranked up the heat to high. An open ramen block sits on the counter, ready to be softened. Suddenly, the door unclicks and you point your fork at the door. Panic fills you, wondering who could be visiting at this hour.

“Home sweet home!” Taehyung cries, swinging the door open so hard that it reverbs and hits him in the forehead. However he is unfettered, flashing you a toothy smile as he dumps his luggage at his feet. “Care to open another ramen packet for me, roomie?”

You lower your fork, remembering that Taehyung’s due to come back sometime this week. “Welcome back,” you exhale, forcing a smile as you watch Taehyung arrange his mess in a corner, “did you have a good trip?”

“Yeah, Busan’s nice,” he replies easily, dumping his body on the couch. He looks the same, shaggy brown-black hair and mischievous chocolate eyes. He still has an affinity for earth tones and long coats that make his shoulders look good. Despite the fact that you always expect that their counterparts will look alike, it baffles you how easy it is to forget you’re not in your world. “What about you? Why’re up so late?”

“My thesis was bugging me,” you lie easily, “I’m gonna work on it in the library tomorrow.”

“Ah, is that why you’ve been ignoring Jimin’s texts?”

You stop swirling the noodles in your pot, looking up from your spot at the counter. “He told you?”

Truth be told, you haven’t been exactly comfortable conversing with Jimin. You feel a little bad if your alternate self had a thing for the young man, but you know in your heart you definitely did not hold any romantic or sexual attraction towards him.

“Duh. You’ve hurt his heart.”

You scoff, dividing the pale yellow noodles and soup between two bowls. “Jimin’s a big baby, that’s why.”

“C’mon, you love that big baby,” Taehyung jests, “have lunch with us tomorrow during his break,” his eyes are glued to the bowls in your hands, as you carefully walk over to place them on the coffee table. Like an eager puppy, he scrambles off the couch and onto the floor, joining you in your meal.

You bite back a sigh, stuffing your face with hot noodles to give yourself some time. It still grossed you out that you supposedly hooked up with Jimin on the regular, but at the possibility that you were potentially messing up your alternate universes’ life still held you back for telling Jimin to kindly stop sending dick pics.

“If you pick me up from the library tomorrow I’ll come,” you concede, “just don’t make it weird, okay? I’ve had a hard week.”

“Done,” and that became that.

Taehyung and you cite the silence as being exhausted from today’s events, and you two quickly scarfed down your meal and headed off to bed. Another day gone, and another day longer it takes for you to return to your world.

•━━━━━━»•»💮💮💮«•«━━•••

“Your life’s totally an anime movie,”

As much as you love Hoseok’s support, the fact that he’s so excited is a little unnerving.

“You’re like an alien! Or Phil of the Future who’s trying to get back to his timeline!”

“Hoseok…”

“Right, right. Sorry. But think about it,” he jabs a finger in your notebook, citing the pastel pink sticky note where it’s crossed out. “If you fall in love with W2 Jungkook like W1 Jungkook implied, it’ll fulfill your prophecy and you can go back home! And then when you go back home, W1 Jungkook will realize he was being a pussy and then grovel at your knees for forgiveness and—”

“Please stop,” your head is throbbing. The fact that you’re talking about two Jungkooks is terrifying, because it was hard enough for you to handle one Jungkook on their own. “Even so, what’s to say that Jungkook and I really aren’t meant to be? It’s not like W1 Jungkook was wrong. He has a busy life and I know a romantic relationship could add extra stress on him.”

A little part of you felt good to tell another person about your struggles between Jungkook and yours’ unnamed relationship. Of course, you had to catch yourself sometimes when you delve a little too much. Hoseok after all, doesn’t know either Jungkook. You also forget yourself, often muttering a variant of “shut up Hobi you absolute Fruit Loop” when Hoseok gets too giddy. The Hoesok next to you is still just as new of a friend, not this co-worker you’ve spent the better half of two years with.

But back to his theory, while there was no symbolic chime that signaled the start, it grew into a slow, easy love, at least for you. As your and Jungkook’s feelings grew, the more your panic bubbled to the surface. Was it a risk you were both willing to take? Evidently not, from the way Jungkook had slammed the door in your face.

Another reason why you’re hesitant to test the falling in love theory—it’s too easy to fall in love with Jungkook all over again. It scares you. Without his music career in the way, what’s stopping you?

Hoseok squeezes your hand at the way you stare so intently into your timeline, sending you a tender smile, “Don’t think so hard. Even so, a little date won’t hurt, right?” he whispers, picking up his things, “text me if anything happens. My kids are coming soon.”

You give him a halfhearted wave, leaving him to his shift at the daycare. You were so engrossed with the influx of information yesterday that you failed to ask Jungkook for his phone number. This meant that you had to do some intense social media stalking in order to find him. If he’s anything like W1 Jungkook, you’re going to have a hard time finding any updates from him.

“Excuse me? Professor?”

Tilting your head from your notepad, you notice an undergrad had replaced the seat that Hoseok previously occupied. She’s a pretty thing, with long raven black hair and almond shaped eyes. You suddenly feel very ratty and underdressed as a professor, the leggings and oversized sweater with a questionable stain really giving off baked-potato vibes.

“Do… yeon?” you say, remembering her from an email thread you sent a while ago.

She beams, “Yeah! I’m so glad I found you. I know Professor Kim said he’d be absorbing your classes since you’re on leave, but I really need help with my final draft. Professor Kim tried to help me and…”

“Let me guess,” you smirk, “his thoughts were way too convoluted and you need me to get straight to the point.”

Doyeon snaps her fingers, “Exactly!”

While apprehensive with medical knowledge, you can still find confidence in your essay grading skills. You spend the next half hour looking over Doyeon’s paper, pointing out how things she could improve on or articles she could cite. Soon enough, Doyeon texted two other members for her study group, saying that it’s a once-in-a-semester-offer to get some time with you.

And you’re baffled at how easy it is to fall into this professor role. It makes you believe that if you really wanted to, being a professor would also be a perfect job for you. The students are buzzing around your table, excitedly whispering how happy they are to work with you after so long, and that they miss the way you teach your lectures. For two blissful hours, you forget your circumstance and keep your focus entirely on your students.

A loud, obnoxious cough breaks you and your students out of their work bubble. Taehyung is tapping his Valentino loafers impatiently, holding a very large back of what seemed to be you and Jimin’s lunch.

“Sorry kiddos,” Taehyung sing songs, already stuffing your work stuff in your bag, “she promised to go out and have lunch with mature adults.”

“We’re literally like, a couple years younger than you,” Chan scrunches his face, sending you a pleading look.

“Sorry Chan, I did say I was going to have lunch,” you concede, “but please email me if you have any more questions. Otherwise, you’re right on track!”

You wave at the thankful students happily, and Taehyung literally has to drag you out by the arm and shove him into his Uber before you could relent.

“Damn girl,” Taehyung chuckles, relieved to finally get you out of the library, “you didn’t hear me the first three times I was calling you. Chan looked like he was about to rip my head off!”

You shrug lightly, “What can I say, the time really flew with them.”

•━━━━━━»•»💮💮💮«•«━━•••

What a coincidence, you’re in the same place he is, again. More specifically, his new workplace.

How is it possible that you have so many handsome friends? Jungkook is baffled by the way Park Jimin and the dark-haired friend feed you fries like you’re their precious daughter. In response, you scrunch up your nose and push them off, instead deciding to shove five fries in your mouth all at once.

As much as he wanted to ask you out since you admired his tattoos yesterday, he can’t find it in him to go up and interrupt your lunch. Besides, he has work and he doesn’t want to complicate things if Jimin finds out he was the one responsible for nearly running you over the other day.

If he walks fast enough, he can avoid any awkward interaction and make it to his office so he can give the day’s full report—

“Jungkook! Get your cute butt over here and meet my friends!”

Crap.

Trying not to glare daggers at his new co-worker, he places a thin smile on his face as he moves to your table in the corner of the cafeteria. He lets Jimin give the whole spiel on how he hired him, and Jungkook decides to hover awkwardly while the rest of you are sitting. The sun filters its way through the windows and bleeds brightly onto your body, making his throat dry and constrict in awe. Your expression is definitely more positive since that time at the library, and he wonders what he has to do to reach that level of contentment you’re sporting.

“Guys, this is Jungkook. I just hired him last week. He’s like my son.”

“Ewh,” the dark haired guy upturns his nose. “But hi, I’m Taehyung.”

While Jimin goes into detail about how amazing he found his work, he can’t help but notice the fond smile that melts upon your face as you listen intently to Jimin. Jungkook wants to archive that expression on your face and save it to memory, the way you look so pretty with your chin nestled in your hand, turning your head slightly to gaze at him with a look of what—pride? Affection?

“You sound like quite the artist,” you muse, “I would love to see some of your work if Jimin says it’s that good.”

He rubs his head bashfully, clutching the camera hanging on his chest like an anchor. “Oh no, I’m just starting out,” he replies shyly, although he would be lying if he said he didn’t crave the attention you were bestowing on him.

“He’s actually going out to Dongdaemun to get some stuff done for his portfolio,” Jimin pipes up, “hopefully get some good content for the commercial he’s filming.”

“Oh, do you mind if I tag along?” you ask, picking at a hangnail, “I’ve always been so curious about the producing process.”

Jungkook’s eyes dart between Jimin and his friend, noticing the telepathic conversation they’re exchanging between you two. Jungkook’s palms start to sweat, not because Jimin definitely wants to probe, but because you made the first move. You pay no mind to the boys, nonchalantly pushing in your chair as you practically float to Jungkook’s side.

“Wait,” Taehyung recovers first, “you know him?”

You agree with a vague wave of your hand, “we work in the same area.”

Jungkook knows for a fact that’s not true, as you only started appearing in his life when he almost knocked you out. But Jungkook can only nod like a bobblehead, not wanting to get into the nitty-gritty.

“I promise to stay out of your way,” you say, “but don’t feel pressured if you don’t want me to go at all!”

“No no, I want you to come!” and Jungkook raises his voice a little too high to be deemed mannerly, and he watches you step back a bit at the sudden intrusion. His face is on fire, especially when there’s a little smirk grazing your lips.

“Well if you want me, you’ll have me.” you flirt, gesturing for him to take the lead.

Jimin and Taehyung’s faces have fallen flat. There’s a stray bit of limp lettuce hanging sadly from Jimin’s lip as he watches Jungkook escort you out of the building. Meanwhile, Jungkook is swallowing the biggest smile on his face. He’s going to spend the rest of the day with you. He doesn’t know if he’s going to get a decent shot in because you’re a definite distraction, but it’s totally worth it if he can get to know you a little better.

You mention that you haven’t walked around Seoul in a while. Jungkook wants to ask more about it, but as open as you display yourself, there’s definitely something guarding you. Jungkook wants to chalk it up behind the whole fiasco of mistaking him for someone else the other day, so he doesn’t want to step on those eggshells again.

But Jungkook is here to work. So he tells you to walk on and lead the way to Dongdaemun while he gets ample footage of the city.

He’s taking pictures of you along the way, but he decides to leave that part out. He likes the way your long red dress swishes in the breeze, the tail end of the fabric brushing against his legs whenever he gets too close.

You stop in front of a pet store, face glowing as you point to their aquarium tank. “Look!” you cry, tugging his sleeve over as if you’re long lost friends, “it’s my boi Nemo!”

He cracks up at your joke, as you excitedly shout to Jungkook that “you found your son!” and it spurs him on to continue his peals of laughter. The joke isn’t that funny but it’s humorous enough coming from you and the smile on your face is enough for him to return one equally as big.

“C’mon,” his fingers brush over the bare skin of your forearm, sending sparks straight to his heart, “it’s getting dark. Just keep swimming.”

Jungkook manages to get some good sunset content before the sky turns navy. He’s not a big fan of photographic tourism spots, but Jimin insisted that the big boss wanted a specific style for their company and he needed to get used to making the usual seem unique.

Looking over his shoulder, he sees you swinging your legs on a nearby bench. You’re munching on a bubble waffle, cheeks puffed as you concentrate on the Cheonggyecheon stream, water babbling.

He’s about to ask you if you want him to take a picture of you, because he thinks you would look beautiful with your dress billowing as you hop over the stones, but he notices the sadness in your face as you gaze at the water.

Lowering his camera, he sees the way your chewing slows, as if you don’t feel like putting anymore effort in the action. Your dimmed gaze seems to peer into a different world, as if you could dive right into the water and transport yourself far, far away from here.

Jungkook takes tentative steps, crouching down from your space at the bench so he would have to look up at you. His hand hovers to balance himself on your thigh, but he thinks better of it and decides to hold onto the wood.

“Can I ask you something?”

He doesn’t comment on the strain in your smile, “Sure.”

“Do I remind you of y’know, him? Your Jungkook?”

Your smile increases, and he doesn’t expect it. Shifting over, you pat the space next to him. It’s a tight fit, and your thighs brush his. “Yes and no. It doesn’t hurt or anything, really,” you answer softly, and you reach for his hand, pulling the long sleeves apart to reveal his tiger lily tattoo. He doesn’t believe your excuse for a damn second, but decides better than to speak against you. “He’s still around, even if he isn’t here. I guess I was just thinking about how we could never go out like this.”

He tenses under your ministrations, and you immediately pick up on it like a sixth sense. “I’m not trying to replace him,” you add, and he tries to relax as you trace the petals on his arm, “I’m sorry if you felt that way. But it’s... impossible to compare you to him, really.”

“So, would you be interested in seeing me again?”

“I’d be upset if you weren’t, Kook.” you manage to pout, and you slide your hand down to thread your fingers between his. “Can I take you out on a date?”

“Only if I can take you out on one after.”

And it’s easy for the both of you to forget your circumstances, at least for tonight.

•━━━━━━»•»💮💮💮«•«━━•••

Jungkook drops you off at your apartment soon after, and it feels nice to kick off your shoes and place your bare feet on your soft carpet.

Your roommate’s feet are propped up, covered by a fuzzy grapefruit-colored blanket. Taehyung stretches his head from the couch to throw you a teasing smile, “Sooo, how was your night?”

Instead, you point a finger at the flatscreen playing some Korean drama. “Is that Jin?” you balk.

Taehyung cranes his neck to where he paused the drama. The man on the screen is definitely Kim Seokjin, judging from the plush lips and irritatingly symmetrical face. He looks absolutely comical in his Joseon get up and mustache, and you’re not surprised that he made it to the acting industry.

“Kim Seokjin? Yeahhhh,” Taehyung melts, relaxing into the couch, “that man is so fine I just want him to bend me over that little well and—”

You physically gag, causing Taehyung to break into peals of laughter, forgetting about his fruitless celebrity crush. Only you would never forget this interaction, the words currently searing into your memory at the thought of seeing Seokjin and Taehyung in the same room when you manage to return. “So?” he goads, “Jungkook? He looked like a scared bunny when Jimin glared at him.”

“It was… good,” you settle as an answer, reaching over to ruffle Taehyung’s messy bed head. “I like him, Tae.”

“That’s good,” Taehyung nods, “you deserve more happiness in your life.”

“You think so?”

“I know so!” Taehyung jerks up, punching his fist in the air. You giggle at his antics, and he ushers you over to the couch, “good things are coming, y/n. I can feel it.”

You don’t tell him, but you can feel it too. Sharing his blanket you snuggle further into the couch, asking questions about the famous actor Kim Seokjin and his litany of dramas he’s filmed under his belt. Tonight, falling asleep next to Taehyung, you have the best night’s sleep in weeks.

•━━━━━━»•»💮💮💮«•«━━•••

W1.

Jungkook sits in your sickness.

Namjoon says he doesn’t have to, doesn’t need to stay the night. You’ll be fine, your family will come in the morning and care for you. For once, Jungkook tucks his tail and says he wants to, even compromises to bring his work so he doesn’t miss a deadline.

But he can barely get a bar in because he’s too focused on you, your form all-encompassing as he makes sure you’re well-taken care of. Sehlyung dropped off your things from the apartment, carefully packed neatly in a duffle bag you’ve never used.

Soft, lo-fi hip hop plays from his computer speakers as he takes the time to nurture you, care for you. It’s dark outside, the only light emanating from the hallway and a dim desk lamp. He’s done his research, making sure to keep you as clean as you would like to be. He brushes your hair, takes the time to remove the tangles and pin it out of your face. His hands are slightly greasy when he’s done, and his hand falls to your hospital sleeve.

“I wonder how I should wash your hair,” he says aloud, “maybe I can get a small basin or something? It’s not the first time I washed your hair, remember when you sprained your arm after we snuck around in Dongdaemun?” he smiles at your peaceful expression, neutral, “you were such a baby, didn’t feel like shampooing with one hand.”

Talking is also good, too. They say that sometimes the patient can hear and recall conversations family and friends have shared. It’s a little jarring to them, almost like they’re drowning in their heads and unable to bubble up to the surface to reply, but it’s still reassuring to hear familiar voices.

He massages your limbs with lavender scented baby lotion, making sure your body isn’t wasting away and stretches your fingers and toes. You’d have a fit if you didn’t do your whole lotion routine daily, wanting to be soft and huggable at all times of the day. He puts on a pair of pink bunny socks, making sure your feet don’t get too cold in the sterile room.

Running out of things to talk about, he settles for singing along to his playlist, knowing how much you loved to fall asleep to the sound of his voice. He’s tired and he doesn’t feel one-hundred percent, but he hopes you appreciate the sentiment either way.

Weaving through the wires and cords that sustain you he places your hand in his larger one. Jungkook wishes he could care for you everyday like this, treat your body like a temple and wait for you to wake up. Resting his head on the mattress, his soft locks brush against your thigh unkempt as he focuses on tracing words on your palm.

Lavender. Chicken. Netflix.

Your nurse steps in, giving Jungkook a polite wave as she does her nightly rounds. He mumbles a half-hearted greeting in response, immersed in working between the lines on your soft skin as he traces character by character. Your nurse is quick with her work as she checks things off on her iPad and checks the machines that keep them informed. As if she’s intruding on an intimate moment, she types her findings faster.

JK. y/n. Still with you. Sorry. Love.

Your hand twitches in his grasp. It’s minuscule, a brief curl of your fingers. The pad of your thumb barely brushes his knuckle and Jungkook’s reeling. It’s only half a second, but Jungkook cries “whoa!” and sits up straight, startling your nurse, “she’s moving!”

Your nurse smiles sadly at the sparkles of hope in his eyes. “It’s only muscle spasms, Jungkook. It happens sometimes,” and she catches herself before Jungkook’s shoulders deflate and sink into the floor, “but see her eyes?”

He blinks, watching as the nurse gestures to your face. She’s right, your eyes are movie, flickering back and forth. Your lids may not be open, but the movement is there.

“She’s either dreaming or really listening to you, Jungkook,” your nurse murmurs fondly, “make sure you keep her entertained, being in a coma is awfully boring.”

Jungkook thanks her, sending a terse smile as she whisks herself away. He squeezes your hand firmly, wishing you would give him another sign. He feels like he’s chasing you now, reaching out to you, talking to you in hopes you’ll reply. It’s ironic, considering this time he’s not sure if you’ll turn around this time, bounce back as you once were.

Wiping the wetness from his eyes, he tucks you in and scoots his chair closer to your bed. “Wake up soon, yeah? We’re waiting for you,” he whispers, holding your hand next to his head as he tries to fall asleep.

Tonight, he’s dreamless.

#jungkook fic #bts fic #goldenclosetnet #jungkook fluff #jungkook angst #jungkook scenarios #bts scenarios

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so-mordor-itis · 4 years ago

Note

Hello!!! Can I request z for zenitsu? 👀 Would love to read your take on that, if you have time!

I had way too much fun writing this LOL

Time Will Tell

Zenitsu Agatsuma:

Ah, it was that dream again.

The one where you could hear the sharp cries of gulls, smell the lingering salt in the air, and watch as the beautiful blue waters crash against the surface. If you were honest, this was the one place you would rather be than your current home.

This particular dream also carried another detail.

"Ahhh!"

A blond boy. One who appeared to be afraid of the circling gulls. He was in a crouched position, holding his head in his hands, cowering in fear. When a gull even got the slightest bit closer, he would screech. Yelling for it to go away while swatting the air as if there was an insect buzzing near him.

"Shoo! Shoo! Ahh! Why are you bugging me?" He pleaded. It began to make you snicker.

This wasn't the first time you've had this dream. In actuality, this is the third. The first time you couldn’t remember, but you knew where you had been. The second you could almost remember, but some images were fuzzy. Was that when you first started a conversation with the blond? You couldn't recall.

Before you began to approach the screeching lad, you couldn’t help but admire the scenery around you; the green grass below your feet, the change in environment from where the grass cuts to sand. The water so clear you could see kelp swaying in the currents. Truly a dream. No land in the real world could look as crisp as this.

Glancing at the blond, you called to him. "Hey."

He opened one of the eyes he closed shut out of fear. It looked directly at you, clear terror shining in it.

"Oh -- it's you again! Shoo the birds away! It's your dream you can make it happen!"

Wait...what?

You blinked at him. "How do you know this is my dream?"

He tossed you a deadpan stare. "Have you never heard of the--oh forget it!" After scoffing, he began to cower once more. "How come my soulmate has to dream of the ocean? The ocean! It's not even been explored yet and they're dreaming of it! And naturally you're gorgeous but still!"

His ramblings made your head spin, clear confusion began to weave itself on your face. "Soulmate?"

He was...your soulmate…?

He must've heard you, because he let out a growl of frustration. "Yeah, soulmate. You know, the one destined to be with you for eternity. That soulmate."

Well of course you had heard of the myths and legends about soulmates. But for them to actually exist? It felt preposterous.

"Who are you?" The question slipped from your mouth. Genuine curiosity in your voice.

The blond glanced upwards again, your eyes meeting his own brown ones. "Uh...Zenitsu."

"That dream again, hm?" You murmured to yourself, rubbing your eyes in order to drive the lingering sleepiness away. This time, you had learned the boy's name.

***

Rays of sunlight filtered in through the window beside your bed. The sudden brightness disturbed your sleep, causing you to slip your eyes open.

With it still fresh in your mind, you raced towards a paper source. Grabbing a feather and some fresh ink, you scribbled his name on to it.

"Now I won't forget."

If he was truly your soulmate, it would be in poor taste to continually forget his name.

***

The fourth time you have the dream, things are immediately different. While the scenery stayed the same, the boy's actions were something completely new. He was no longer cowering at the gulls flying above, now he was staring at the crystal clear waters.

You couldn’t see his face, but you were curious enough about him to approach. Eventually standing right beside him.

The minute he recognized your presence, he let out a familiar screech--also startling you in the process.

"Wh-what?" Your voice raised in volume. Zenitsu was shaking before he pointed a finger at you.

"Don't suddenly approach people without warning!" He exclaimed, before looking you up and down. Immediately, his attitude took a 180.

"Oh wow, you're even more pretty in person!"

One of your brows raised. "Uh, thanks?"

"I take back what I said last time, this dream is fine!"

"You really have a complex personality, don't you?"

"Well," he said, before lowering down to his knees. "Please marry me!"

"Eh?" You squeaked, surprised by his sudden proposal. "While I may be your soulmate, that is way too sudden!"

"But-"

"No." You held your hips. "Can I at least get to know you first?"

"...I guess so."

***

You awoke once again, the feeling of confusion from the last dream has vanished and suddenly replaced with annoyance.

"Did he seriously propose to me?"

***

The fifth dream was the same as the previous one. Zenitsu was standing in the same place, his back turned to you while he gazed at the waves. This time, your goal was to create a conversation. While it was true you were annoyed with him, your curiosity could not be ignored either.

You were desperate to know more regarding the soulmate situation. Was he truly your soulmate? Or was he simply stating that to get your attention? From his behavior, you merely guessed the latter.

"So," you started, "What's the legend about soulmates you were talking about before?"

Zenitsu sighed. "I think it's something like: 'You meet your soulmate in a dream, and you continuously have this dream until you two meet in person.'"

"I've never heard of that," you shook your head. "How do I know you're not lying to me?"

Zenitsu once again deadpanned, his arms crossed over his chest. "How would you describe this situation then?"

A quizzical look flashed on your features. He was right, there was no other explanation.

"Well, now what do we do?" You shrugged.

"Don't look at me! I'm not an expert!"

"Jeez, stop screeching! You're acting like a bird."

"Ugh. Why can't this be a simple feat?" Zenitsu mumbled, rubbing his temples. "I feel like I'm back in the real world with Tanjiro and Inosuke. Just as chaotic."

"Who?"

"...Nevermind."

If bickering back and forth between one another was how you two first meet...what would the future hold?

You sighed internally.

Only time could really give you that answer.

|Tags:|

@fugufishie , @josuke8 , @vani-ya , @applelovingpsycho , @airanke , @alextakami , @yearning-moon

#kimetsu no yaiba #demon slayer #zenitsu agatsuma #zenitsu x reader #writing #soulmate alphabet

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iliveiloveiwrite · 4 years ago

Note

What are some good book recommendations? I’ll be honest, I’ve never considered myself very much of a reader because I’ve never really found a genre that I’ve fallen in love with. But your taste in books is rather beautiful and makes me want to give it another chance

omg no-one has ever called my taste in books beautiful before, thank you 🥺 This is going to be an extensive list, I apologise in advance! I’ve provided a brief description of each book/series so you can go through and decide whether it would best suit you. The last thing I want to do is inadvertently trigger anyone.

Fantasy/Paranormal Romance

Wicked by Jennifer L. Armentrout - A series of three books following the life of Ivy Morgan. Good fae, evil fae, secret orders and a love interest with dark hair and green eyes. 18+.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas - A series comprising of seven books and one book of novellas. This series follows the assassin Celeana Sardothien as she enters into a competition to become the King’s Champion. This series is violent, and has some distressing scenes as well as scenes of 17+.

Crave by Tracy Wolff - I like to think of this as Twilight if it took place in a boarding school in the middle of Alaska. For those that read Twilight in high school, or have recently read it, this book is a hit of nostalgia you didn't know you needed. It is so entertaining and the love interests are *chefs kiss*.

A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Clair - A series comprising of three books so far. A modern retelling of the famous Hades and Persephone myth. I adore this series. I seriously cannot tell you how much I love this series. The world building to the character development to my love of Hades by the end of it. It’s such a great read, I even waxed lyrical about it in one of my Fred Weasley fics. 18+ (scenes of mature nature).

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness - Like history? Like vampires, witches and demons? This series is for you. A trilogy following the love shared by Diana Bishop, a historian and witch, and Matthew Clairmont, scientist and vampire. This series is for mature readers - it doesn't hold back on violence as well as sex. However, if you choose to read, I promise you, you will enjoy. It is also a series on Sky with a second series being aired in January (in the UK anyway). 18+

Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco - A series of four books following the lives of Audrey-Rose Wadsworth and Thomas Cresswell. Set in Victorian London, the first book follows the Jack the Ripper investigation ending on a cliffhanger not even I saw coming. This does get maturer as you continue the series and there are some gruesome scenes throughout. 16+

From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout - What can I say about this series that I haven’t already cried about? I bought the first book in lockdown and devoured it. I bought the second book about a week after it was published and it has not left my mind since. World building? Astonishing. Character development? Stunning. Handsome love interest? You best believe it. This isn't YA Fantasy; this is NA and it is mature. There are scenes throughout both books that are violent as well as mature. 18+.

Heartless by Marissa Meyer - The origin story of the Queen of Hearts and with no better way to put it... it’s heartbreaking. This book had my heart soaring only for it to be crushed in the best way possible. An incredible read. There are some violent scenes but it’s YA so it’s at a minimum. 15/16+.

The Wicked Deep by Shea Earnshaw - I read this book in one day. I could not put it down, I loved it so much. This books follows three sisters set on a quest for revenge - and how love may be the only thing powerful enough to stop them. 16+.

Historical Fiction

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller - Patroclus, an awkward young prince has been exiled to the kingdom of Pthia where he meets Achilles. Follow them through their coming of age tale through the Battle of Troy. So I adore this book, I love this book. I could talk about it all day long. It’s fantastic - go read it. LGBT+, 17+.

Lovely War by Julia Berry - A multi-layered romance set in the perilous days of World War One and Two, where Gods hold the fates - and hearts - of mortals in their hands. Oh... my... word... this book left me speechless. It left me speechless. I couldn’t not finish in the day that it arrived on my doorstep; it’s prose is poetic, it’s romance is dreamy and I just found myself tearing up at the words on the page. 17+

The Disappearances by Emily Bain Murphy - Every seven years something goes missing from the town of Sterling: people’s reflections, the stars in the sky, the ability to dream. Aila realises her mother may have something to do with such a curse. Again, I read this in a day. I couldn’t put it down. It’s set through WW2 and I just think the plot is genius. 15+.

Prose that makes me want to cry

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern - I read this for the first time back in 2014 and have read it so often since that I have had to buy a second copy so I don’t ruin the pages of my first. I LOVE THIS BOOK. It follows the creation of a circus that only opens from night until dawn and how this circus weaves itself into the lives of its workers/owners. An absolute masterpiece. 16+.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab - This book has been one of my most anticipated releases of 2020, and it has not disappointed. When Addie LaRue makes a pact with the devil, she trades her soul for immortality and the curse of no-one remembering who she ever was. Until one day, somebody does. Every part of this book, I savoured, I made myself read it slowly for the fact that I didn't want to miss a thing. Utterly breathtaking. 18+.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson - Anything by Jackson deserves to be on this list. It drags you in and keeps you there. Why do you think they made a Netflix series of her work? 16+.

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter - This is a collection of short stories that are dark retellings of classic fairytales. It is so utterly fantastic. 18+.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid - Definitely in my top 10 reads of 2020. A former Hollywood starlette tells her life story to a reporter; every seedy detail of her life including that of her seven husbands. I was hooked from the first page. 18+.

18+ (This section can be ignored if this genre of books is not your thing).

A Lesson in Thorns by Sierra Simone - When librarian Poe Markham takes the job at Thornchapel, she has only two aims. One - to stay away from Thornchapel’s owner, Auden Guest. And Two, to find out what happened to her mother twelve years ago. This is a series comprising of three books so far with the fourth published at the end of this week. This series covers a lot of dark themes as well as mature content.

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas - I have only involved this series here for the fact that it does have a lot of smut involved. Not as much as other books, but a lot more than your typical YA. However, these books are gold and so far this year, I’ve read the whole series about six times. I love them, go read them.

A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Clair - I mentioned this series earlier but it does have a lot of smut.

Pestilence by Laura Thalassa - The first in the Four Horsemen series. This has a lot of violence and a lot of smut. However, the overall plot is so interesting as well as badass female characters that bring so much energy to the plot.

The Bargainer series by Laura Thalassa - If you’ve read ACOTAR, then this series is the perfect hangover cure. A love interest to swoon for and a plot to only keep you interested.

Authors I buy every book of

Cassandra Clare

Sarah J. Maas

Jennifer L. Armentrout

Scarlett St. Clair

Deborah Harkness

Kerri Maniscalco

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whimsywispsblog · 4 years ago

Text

RED

A/N: ANGST! ANGSTTTT!

TW: Blood, gore, graphical descriptions of corpses, panic attacks

Chapter 2- Tears

Working with Hudson wasn't as bad as Rei thought it would be. Granted, he's one hell of a moody bastard, but atleast he let her have her peace instead of glaring at her with those predator eyes like Adler's.

"Mr Hudson! Who is Bell?" Hudson looked at Rei and glanced down at the file she was holding, a little spark of discomfort kindled in his eyes.

"He was one of Perseus' agents who we managed to brainwash using the MK-Ultra. He was the most succ-"

"Mk-Ultra?! I thought that was a myth!" Hudson rolled his eyes, irritated at the girl's sudden interruption. She muttered a small 'sorry', biting her lower lip. Gah, I'm an idiot. Control yourself, dammit.

"What happened to him?"

"He had to be killed." Rei's eyebrows knitted in confusion. Her face tilted slightly, in curiosity. Hudson sighed softly and sat up straight, readying himself to indulge in her curiosity.

"He was a loose end. He could turn his back anytime, we never know." Rei looked back at her file. It had a bloody handprint on it. She ran her hand over the handprint. "Who killed him?"

"His handler, Adler." Rei inhaled sharply. So, he is putting my life in the hands of a man who can kill a person mercilessly. Lovely. Rei started fidgeting with her necklace again- too many questions swirled in her mind. Can I trust Adler? What if he thinks of me as a loose end too? Is that why Hudson wanted him with me? He should never know about my fath-

"What's on your mind?" Hudson stared into her dark chocolate brown eyes. He could see several questions sprouting from her head.

"It's just...He doesn't seem like the kind of guy I would like to work with. He just feels too...too closed off. I don't know if I can trust him." Hudson's lips curled into a small smile. He expected this to happen. "Rei. If you're worried about Adler turning his back on you, remember this: Adler is responsible for you during the mission, after that you're under my wing. You won't be working with him as much as you will with me." Rei gave a small wry smile. I am definitely not the first person Hudson has convinced about Adler's trustworthiness and goodwill.

"Anyway, speaking of Adler, he will come in tomorrow. He will brief you more on Bell if you're interested." Her face dropped into a sullen expression. For one whole week, much to her happiness, the scary-looking Mr Shades never crossed paths with her. It was as if he disappeared into thin air. Where he was, what he was doing, she did not care for it- she just didn't want to meet him and she prayed to every single God to make it happen. For once, the Gods did listen to my prayers!

"And a word of advice: Try not to get into his bad books," Chewing her thumbnail unconsciously, Rei bombarded her head with several scenarios. Wait...he advised me. Does that mean- Oh God, I am already a red flag to him. Fuck.

"Okay. Thank you, Mr Hudson." Back to the theatrics again, huh.

"Also, your flight to West Berlin has been scheduled for tomorrow, 3 am. Don't miss it."

3am?! Goddamit Hudson! Rei dramatically banged her head against the table, earning a small chuckle from the older man.

"Is that all we have on her? Nothing more?" Adler asked Sims.

"Nope. That's all we have. She looks pretty innocent to me, Doc. I wouldn't worry about her if I were you." Adler kept skimming through Rei's file for the nth time in the week. He could find nothing about the girl, except whatever Hudson had told him.

"That's exactly what bothers me. It's always the innocent ones." Sims raised an eyebrow at Adler. He wasn't looking at him, he was looking elsewhere. Following his line of sight, Sims finally understood who he was staring at, or more like, glaring at. Rei Ivanov. When he looked closer, it wasn't Rei who was in his line of sight. It was the object that she held onto which Adler threw his fierce glare at.

She was busy playing with her pendant again and in her hands, she held the brown file with the bloody handprint. Bell's file. Stuffing the file into a little owl-shaped bag, the girl left Langely. Adler's eyes trailed after Rei for a bit, till she was out of the man's sight. Sighing deeply he walked back to the office.

"Ah should have got my favourite winter coat." The girl wriggled in her sweater dress uncomfortably.

Back in her home, she immediately rushed towards the kitchen for a cup of hot cocoa. It was a simple yet sophisticated home. Black sofas with pink rugs and fairy lights adorned on the walls. A few pictures of some of the places she had been to during her time as a War Correspondent was neatly arranged on top of the small fireplace that she lit up whenever she felt lonely. Today was one of those days.

Curling on one of the sofas with her favourite cat plushie in one hand and hot cocoa in the other, Rei stared at the fireplace, the fire blazing in its pristine orange. She slowly leaned back, closing her eyes lightly. A lone tear-drop fell off her eye as she slowly started to walk down the memory lane.

Fire.

Screaming.

Fire.

A smell of burnt flesh filled the air. The skin of the burnt victims almost melted away, bones painted with blood-red sticking out of the corpses. Little moths sat on top of the corpses, devouring the flesh. Limbs hanging from a tree or a broken pole, some corpses with a body part missing, others have their intestines splattered out. Suddenly, two bloodied hands engulfed her. Turning around, she saw a man without half a face- his inners sticking out.

Rei gasped for breath as she opened her eyes. She fell off her sofa, her coca spilt on her expensive rug. She couldn't breathe- there was a pain in her chest. Clenching her chest, Rei tried to crawl towards the phone, but she couldn't move. She cried and cried- her tears flowed endlessly from her big doe-like eyes.

"Stop crying. Stop crying." She whispered to herself, slowly focusing on her breathing- her therapist's advice. That did the trick. It took her a good 15 minutes to recover from her sudden breakdown- one she had every night. She looked up at the clock. It was 4 hours to 3 am.

"I should pack, then leave. The maid can clean my rug." She muttered to herself slowly, trying to stand up with the help of the handle of her sofa.

"In short, the flight was shit, I am sleepy and I am starving," Hudson chuckled at Rei's extremely irritates answer. He had agreed to pick up Rei, thankfully, and brought her some food too, a sub with a nice cup of hot cocoa.

"How did you know I love cocoa?" Hudson smirked lightly, his eyes glued to the road.

"I am an agent for a reason, Rei." Rei rolled her eyes at the very vague reply. She continued munching on her sub, hungrily and trying to not make a mess in his car, which was extremely difficult for the poor girl.

After a very boring and painful two hours of travel, including pestering Hudson every five minutes with the question 'Are we there yet?'; the duo finally arrived at the safehouse. It was a big rusty monstrous building. It did have an eerie aura to it. Rei looked around the safehouse- it was just a green barren land.

"Come on in Rei, I want you to meet someone." A wave of social anxiety splashed over Rei as she awkwardly walked into the safehouse. Her nails dug deep into the soft flesh of her thumb and her teeth bit into her inner lips, drawing a little blood from the force.

"This is Helen Park, from MI6. She will be the one who will help you around with cross-referencing any intel we get." MI6! She's British, then? Must be an old acquaintance of the team.

Helen was a beautiful woman. She had a certain light charisma that radiated from her- one that was hard not to ignore. She did seem like a person one would immediately open their hearts out to- maybe because of her friendly and warm aura that was strikingly different from Hudson's and Adler's cold aura. Especially Adler's dark and unfriendly one. Rei shuddered at the thought of her first meeting with Adler lightly, but lucky for her, both the agents never noticed it.

Putting on her famous charming smile, Rei politely introduced herself to her, overemphasising her innocent exterior. Atleast my innocent face should keep me out of trouble. She hoped. And just as she hoped, Park did take in her innocent act. Good job Rei!

"Alright time for work," Hudson shouted out to the women. While Hudson was busy talking to Park about some meeting that should happen later, the evidence board had a picture of an old man in black and white, with a few red strings connecting him to other pictures that caught Rei's eye. Perseus.

"Rei, go to that room, there are a few files there. Try to piece together whatever you can. Park, you know what to do." Rei nodded, walking towards the room that Hudson had pointed out to.

It was a dark and dusty room. Cold too. Rei placed her bag on her table and fished through it. She pulled out a few papers that she had kept in her bag. They were some information about the operational Gulags and another tattered picture.

Thank you Rebecca for pulling those strings.

Rebecca, a close friend of Rei's was one woman who could pull several strings to get any amount of information. She knew quite a lot of people in the CIA- a few of them high up the food chain. She got Rei whatever she could get her hands on about the Gulags. And a small photograph of someone by the name Victor Kuzmin.

Taking the files Hudson had asked her to study, Rei kept them in front, the papers of the Gulag and Victor on her lap. "Okay! Time to start my reading on these. Maybe after my homework, I can casually pick a conversation with Hudson about the Gulag. No, maybe not Hudson." Rei kept trying to break her head over who to approach for the info about any recent survivors from the Gulag, but then there would be a high chance that she would be suspected, not to mention, her last name itself would have definitely raised a lot of eyebrows. Especially Adler's antennas, no doubt.

"Interesting, you're into Gulags." That dark gravelly voice. Adler. How the fuck did I not see him come in! Now he's definitely going to doubt me.

"Nice necklace," He exhaled his smoke, closing the door behind him, walking towards the young girl. The girl prayed and invoked all the Gods- old and new-to help her get out of the situation alive and unharmed.

"Ah yes. They pluck on my imagination- the whole setting of it. Quite poetic too- darkly poetic if someone were to write about, you know, a survivor who's been rotting in there for years, now out of the hellhole ready to-" Rei stopped herself immediately. I should have just stopped with poetic. Now he definitely thinks I'm looking for someone and from the looks of it, he might as well think I'm one of them.

"Mhmm. True." He walked closer to Rei, standing right next to her.

"A few days back a certain someone, a sort of a ghost from my past who I believe was rotting in the Gulag, escaped from there. Intel has it that he's one of Perseus'." He now said, looking at the tattered picture of Victor Kuzmin below the papers of the Gulag. Ah. So it was him who escaped.

Rei kept her expressionless facade on. On the inside, she was breaking and churning in fear and panic. She put on her innocent smile with big eyes. "Ah. How unfortunate. I hope you get him soon." Adler kept his steady glare at the girl, a scowl now forming. Sensing the tension, Rei's first instinct was to leave before she accidentally slipped something else, which will be interpreted as further something else by Adler.

"Uhm. It is late. I should get back to my apartment." She tried to slip away from Adler, but he caught her arm, his fingers deeply dug in her skin. The girl slightly winced in pain, looking up at the older man. "Hudson trusts you, but I don't. If I catch you stepping out of the line again, I will kill you."

The girl now put on her bitter face. When the hell did I step out of the line, asshole?! She couldn't stand his arrogance anymore. "And maybe you should try and keep your nose off my life." Never in a million years did she realise that she would regret the words that fell of her mouth. Fool! He's a fucking spy!

"You forget who I am Ivanov. I run the show here." His eyes glanced at the red necklace. Grabbing the pendant to his eye level, he looked back at her. "I won't be surprised if you turn out to be one of them. Advice: If you are, don't let me catch you."

Rei scoffed at the man. "And what, you're little threat is supposed to make my knees go all wobbly and make my lips quiver in fear?"

"They are already wobbly, Ivanov." This man's ego...

"Wobbly out of anger! And I would like to be called Rei if you please!" The girl darkly growled at him, earning a sharper glare from the man.

"Fucking brat," Adler muttered, letting the girl go. Once he was gone, she immediately rushed to the washroom nearby, locking it from the inside. Uncontrolled tears rolled down her eyes. Never had she been this intimidated by anyone in her life. And he is the guy I am supposed to work with. Thanks, Hudson.

Outside the safehouse, Adler lit up another cigarette.

"Weaver, I need you to look upon someone for me. Her name's Rei Ivanov. Also, see if you can find someone in the Gulag by the name 'Ivanov'."

"Alright. I will see what I can get, Adler." Adler ended his call. Looking back up at the skies, he tried to mentally chart a connection between Rei and Stitch, but he could make none.

"Who is she and who exactly is she searching for?" Adler ran a hand over his chin, deep in thought.

#russell adler #russell adler x oc #cod black ops cold war #beautiful photos

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scarlet2007 · 4 years ago

Text

The mystery of the myth.

Pairing:- Jimin X Araceli.

Disclaimer:- This is a prompt dedicate to @heejinnien, I hope you enjoy this! This Oneshot is in Araceli P.O.V. If your artwork is used in this edit, please contact me so that I can take it down/ credit you since I found all the images used in this edit from Pinterest.

Genre:- Fluff, mystery, paranormal, high school au, playboy!Jimin.

Warning:- Mention of murders, mention of cannibalism, mental asylum, mention of experiment on humans, paranormal stuff, cursed Jungkook.

Okay, you are not like those girls that goes 'I aM not lIkE tHe oThEr gIrlS' you just hate the popular boys and girls in your high school, why? You don't know, maybe you just hate that they are popular while you are just...you.

It's not like you don't have friends, you do and they are very loyal and nice.

You looked up, startled as the other class start to come to your classroom.

"What's happening?" You asked as you put your backpack on the table that is beside you to save a sit for your best friend.

"Oh? Don't you hear it? From now on, our class and class A-2 will be combined." Your other friend said as she looks at the student filling the classroom.

"Class A-2? Why that class?" You slouched against your seat, you hate that class, it where most of the popular students are from.

"I don't know, ask the teacher girl." Said your friend as she turned her back to you.

"Move your backpack, girl." You looked up to the owner of the voice and made a eye contact with none other than Jimin.

"Why should I?" If he had asked you nicely or even asked you to move your backpack, you may have done that but instead, he chooses to be a jerk and order it as if he owns the school. If he is going to like a jerk then you will act like a bitch too.

The whole class was staring at you both as the tension between both of you grow intense, "Jimin! Why don't you sit with us?! Come here!" Taehyung dragged Jimin behind you as both of you shot each other death glare. He sat behind you and you can still feel his gaze on you. You suddenly stood up as if you are a robot and went out of your class.

"Wait-where are you going, Ara?!" Your friend yelled.

"I am going to see if that idiot is here or not!" Just as you were about to sprint down that hallway that also connects to your class through a window, you bumped into someone. You were about to lose your balance but that guy caught you in time by your waist. You looked at him and he was handsome but you saw him around your school.

You looked shocked at him as he was just as shocked when you heard a whistle, "Look like someone got a boyfriend!" You looked around and then you spot her, your best friend, who was busy clicking photos of you two. Both of you quickly let go of each other.

"Shut up and stop taking photos of us!" You yelled at her as you hit her which she in return hit you back.

"I am so sorry, I didn't saw you there!" You bowed 90° degree, "Oh! No, it's umm fine." You both laughed awkwardly.

Your best friend dragged you to your usual seat. The whole classroom was staring at you as you glared at them.

That guy came inside the classroom and the student of class A-2 start to whisper as they not so subtle look at him. Strange. He went to seat at the last desk, your eyes followed him, something about that guy is off. He suddenly looked up and made straight eye contact with you, you smile at him and he smiled back. The moment between both of you didn't go unnoticed by your best friend and other people in the class. From the corner of your eyes, you can see Jimin rolling his eyes.

"Students-! Oh? Seems like your class got combined with class A-2." Your homeroom teacher chuckled as she know how much your class hate to get combine with other class, especially class A-2.

"Good morning, Miss Kim." Your classmate stood up to do a 90° degree bow to your teacher as a creating while the student of the class A-2 just stare at you all as if you all are doing something strange.

"Don't you guys have some respect to Miss Kim?!" One of your classmates asked loudly, the other slowly start to bow.

Your teacher sighed at their laziness, "Sit down, class!"

"So, look we are having a meeting so you have a free period so do your pending work and be quiet." The teacher informed all of you.

"Oh, and can someone go and get somethings from the storage room? Jimin, Araceli and Jungkook go to the storage area and find these stuff. The list is long so don't hurry that much, Y/N I trust you to not let Jimin wander around." You nodded as you pushed your self out of your seat and took the list from her hand. So his name is Jungkook. All of you start walking out as you signed, "Man, this list is long. And why are there so many random things on this list?" You complained as you were reading the list. Jimin and Jungkook looked over your shoulder as their body towers you, both of them taller than you.

All of you stopped as you arrived at the storeroom, you feel shivers run down your body.

"So, Jimin why don't you go and take the cleaning supplies out of that closet, wait- why is the closet out of the storeroom?" You question as you looked at the closet that was outside the storage room.

"Could you stop complaining about every God damn thing?" Jimin groans in frustration as he went to the closet. You ignored his comment and enter the storeroom, following Jungkook.

"Jungkook, can you go and take the crafting supplies from behind that shelf?" Jungkook nodded, looking uneasy. You start to look for the books that were supposed to be this storeroom. The storeroom used to be a library but they made it into storage after a myth started that this library is haunted, the teacher always chooses you to do this kind of work since you don't believe in this stuff and the fact that you are also the leader of the supernatural club that you created as a joke.

Your body suddenly stands straight as the door of the storeroom slammed shut, must be Jimin pulling some prank on you. You rolled your eyes at his childish behaviour, goosebumps raised on your body as the temperature in the room suddenly dropped.

"Agh-agh." You heard someone groan, not just someone, it was Jungkook! You rushed at the shelf he was supposed to be in since it sounded like he was in pain.

"OH MY GOD! JUNGKOOK!" You rushed to him as he was struggling to breathe on the floor, you grabbed him as you yelled for Jimin.

"Jimin! Jimin, come inside! Something is happening to Jungkook!! JIMIN!" You screamed on top of your lung. You looked at the shelves that were making noise as if they were about to fall. You dragged Jungkook with you, struggling as you do so, to the door so that you can open it. Shit, my phone is inside my locker.

You screamed as the shelves start to fall, you feel a sharp pain in your arm but you ignored it as the door suddenly opens and Jimin pulled you and Jungkook out with a concerned look. All of the shelves collapsed as you breathe heavily.

"Wha-what happened to Jungkook?!" Jimin asked.

"I don't know, we have to take him to the nurse! He can't breathe and I think he is going to having a seizure! JIMIN DO SOMETHING! HE IS GOING TO DIE!" You cried out as Jungkook struggle to breathe. We hear some hurried footsteps coming towards us but we were too busy panicking to notice them, in our panicked state your hand hit Jungkook's chest at full force making him gasps in a breath as he was no longer choking. Please don't do that to someone who is struggling to breathe.

"What is happening he- Oh MY GOD! WHAT HAPPENED?!" It was one of our teachers, Jungkook coughed as you lean against Jimin for some kind of support.

"I don't know, the-they were screaming coming from inside so I-" Jimin sentence was cut short as Jungkook fainted.

"We need to get him to the school nurse!" We all rushed to the school infirmary as Jimin and our P.E. teacher carried Jungkook. Your ear starts to ring as you think you heard something or rather someone, whispering something like 'kill they', maybe your ears are just ringing or it's your imagination.

At the infirmary, Jungkook was getting a checkup to see what happened to him while you and Jimin laid in other beds," Jimin? Did you, perhaps locked the door?" You whispered-asked Jimin as you remembered the door closing.

"What? Why would I do that? I thought you did that!" He whispered back, you can clearly remember the door closing as if someone slammed it shut. You can also remember that you saw a pale hand choking Jungkook, you are confident that what you saw what real and not a hallucination or your imagination.

You were pulled out of your chain of thought as the nurse asked, "Are you injured too, honey?" You looked at her, she was maybe in her mid-30s wearing a lab coat over her normal clothes. You shook your head as she smiled at you gently. "You have a cut on your hand, honey." You looked at your arm and there was a cut on your arm, it was didn't bleed that much but you are just wondering how in the world you didn't notice that? Were you that panicked that you didn't even notice that your arm was got a cut? The nurse gently took your arm and put the rubbing alcohol on it, you hissed in pain. You saw Jimin looking at you with an unreadable expression from the corner of your eyes.

Later that day, you were walking around your neighbourhood thinking about what happened today. You still can't figure what if what you saw what true or it was your imagination. The nurse told you that Jungkook got a panic attack but...what about the fingerprint on his neck? When you looked at him, you can see handprint on his neck. You sighed and rub your face with your hand, "Agh, I should not think about all that stuff right now, I am getting stressed." You keep walking around and eventually, you end up in a park. There was no one in the park at this time, it was not that late but still, it was around 10 pm. You stopped walking as you heard something behind you. You turned around but there was no one there. Strange. You turned back around only to flinch, there was a boy in front of you, wearing all black. You couldn't see his face because of his hoodie, the boy tilts his creepy. You step back as the boy started walking towards you. "Don-Don't come near me!" You fell backwards and throw a rock at him, but instead, it bounced off. There was a shield that was separating you both when the rock collides with it, the impact left a few electronic waves in the invisible shield making it visible. The boy touched the shield. You ran away at full speed towards your apartment while looking behind at that boy who was still looking at the space where you were a moment ago. You ran outside the park but you bumped into someone. "Look where you are goin- Araceli?" You look up at the person you bumped in, "Jimin, who is this?" The girl beside him questioned, his arm was around her waist. The girl was pretty, big rounded eyes, plump lips, a small face with bright red hair that suits her. You breathe heavily as you looked behind you to check if that boy was following you or not, he was not following. Thank God. You glance at Jimin, "I am his classmate, bye!" You quickly said as you were about to run again when Jimin grab your wrist making you look at him. "Are you okay, Araceli? You look as if you just saw a ghost." Jimin concern look almost made you spill out what just happen, almost. "Nothing, I am absolutely fine! Bye!" You ran in the direction of your apartment.

You leaned against the railing of the staircase when you reached your apartment building. Why does everything strange is happening today? What is it? Friday 13th? You sighed at your thoughts. Maybe I am cursed or something? That makes a lot of sense, yeah. You shooked your head to get rid of your thoughts. You begin to walk up the stairs, your phone ringed as 'Mom' showed up on your screen. You picked up the call. "Yes, mom. I am at the stairs, yeah, I am just about to reach-hello? Mom?" You looked at your phone as the call got disconnected. "Huh? What the?" You looked around as the light flickered. A mirror caught your eyes as you walk closer to it, in the reflection you can only see your self, which was normal but there is something about the mirror that is drawing you closer and closer to it as if the mirror is hypnotizing you. You walked towards it until you were in front of it, you keep looking at it as the light keep flickering. The lights went off as the darkness consume you. When the lights came back there was the same boy behind you, you flinched back but the boy grabbed you by your arm. "Wh-who are you?" You asked the boy as you turned around, your heartbeat was so fast that you thought you might get a heart attack. He took off his hoodie revealing his face as he smiled at you sadly, almost as if he was sad by your question.

"You don't remember me, do you?" You shook your head, you are sure you would remember a handsome face like his. He sighed as if it was felt psychically pain from your answer.

"You might not remember me but...we...nevermind. If you ever need my help, just say my name, okay?" His gaze fell on your injured arm. "Give me your arm." You gave him your arm as he touched your injury. You watched him in shock as the bandage fell from your arm, the cut...it was gone! You touched the place where the cut was and there was not even a scar. "What? How?" He smiled at you.

"I have to go. Remember whenever you need me just say my name." He was about to leave when you asked, "But what's your name?" He looked at you with an unreadable expression.

"Mike." With that, he walked down the stair, you followed after him but he disappeared just like he appeared.

"What the hell just happened? Was he a ghost or something?"

That night you were not able to sleep as the events that happened that day keep playing in your mind like a broken cassette player. You were walking like a zombie, looking like a zombie and well, acting like a zombie. You have dark eye bags under your eyes, hair messed up like a birds nest. You rest your head against your desk as the teacher keep teaching whatever she was. Jimin kicked your chair from behind so you lift your chair slightly and put the leg of your chair on his foot. He groaned in pain but then covered it up by coughing when the teacher glanced at him. You are in no mood to be needed with.

"Miss Araceli, this is my class, not your house to sleep in!" The teacher said when her gaze falls on your half-asleep form. You lift your head and the teacher gasp, "Oh my God, what happened to you? Why are you looking like a zombie? G-go back to sleep." You nodded and went back to sleep but Jimin tapped your shoulder lightly, "Araceli, can you please take your chair off my foot, please?" You did it since he was practically begging you. With that, you went back to the dreamland.

-Time skipped to when you are awake-

The teacher was telling all of you to make a big team for the team project which he hasn't told you about what is it. Everyone made a team including you, your team consists of You, your best friend, Taehyung, Jimin- wait, Taehyung and Jimin?!

"Wait! What are you guys doing here?" You asked while pointing at the whole members of BTS.

"Umm, making a team?" Taehyung said, well more like asked.

"With us?" You glared at them, your eye bags, messy hair made you look at a mad person.

"Ara, let them." Your best friend glared at you, "But-" she sighed. "Ara."

"Fine." You pouted but accept your defeat.

"Has everyone made a group?" Everyone said yes.

"Oh? Jungkook? Why are you alone?"

"Oh...um...everyone else made up a team before I even got the chance to ask anyone." You looked at where he was sitting all alone while others have made a group. You feel bad for him.

"Why does everyone always leave him out?" You asked.

"Don't you know? There are rumours that he is cursed, everyone who talked to him gets haunted by a ghost. His friend all stopped talking to him after getting haunted by the ghost." Hoseok explained as all of you listen intensely. "Seriously? What kind of reason is that? Haunted my foot." You rolled your eyes, he can't be cursed, right?

"Does anyone want Jungkook in their team?" The room fell silent as Jungkook look down. Poor guy.

"It's fine, Mr Wang. I can manage on my own." You looked at Jungkook, he was looking down. "No Jungkook, it's a group project." Mr Wang looked at the class in annoyance.

"I will give you an extra 5 marks if you take Jungkook in your team." No answer. You start to feel bad for him so you raise your hand. "Teacher! We can take Jungkook in!" Your best friend and BTS member looked at you as if you are crazy. "Very good, Araceli!"

"Will I still be getting my extra marks?" Mr Wang nodded and motioned Jungkook to join your combined tables.

Silence fall upon your table as everyone looked everywhere except Jungkook. "Hi, I am Araceli but you can call me Ara!" You introduced yourself and urge others to do the same. After the introduction, the table falls in silence once again. You smiled at Jungkook brightly while he gave you a small smile, your friend looked at both of you while smiling creepily, Jimin just glared between you and Jungkook, Hoseok looked terrified, Namjoon and Seokjin we're whispering back and forth while Taehyung was bothering a sleeping Yoongi.

"Class, so now I will tell you all about the project! But first, Araceli can you wake Yoongi up, please?" You nodded and smack Yoongi across the head, his eyes shoot open as he glared at you while you give me a not so innocent smile.

"Thank you, Araceli. Now this project is about chronological events that happen. You can write about whatever you want but it should have evidence that confirms that those events happened. Now the events should at least be a decade old. The deadline for this project would be next month on this exact date. Have fun on this project! Bye, class!" You all bowed as he left. The next period was lunch so the other students quickly left.

"I am hungry, let go eat first before we discuss this project." You went with your best friend to grab your lunch.

When you came back to your classroom, everyone was surrounding your combined tables. You pushed past your classmates and looked at your tables. All the table has a big 'X' mark on them with red paint. You feel shivers run down your spine as you looked at the desk.

"What? What kind of prank is this?" You asked when everyone start looking at Jungkook as if he had done this. "Start cleaning your tables!" You start to clean up your table when a bloody dead crow fell on the table, you gasped and flinched back in shock.

"What the hell?! The windows are close! How does this thing come inside?!" Hoseok yelled in terror. What is happening?

That entire week strange things keep happening to all of you, every topic that your group came up with always end up getting caught on fire. You even have a call, Mike, once because you were so terrified. He gave you some crystals and made you promise to keep at least one with you all the time, you can give others one too if you want but you have to keep one with you at all cost. It even went as far as to get a warning written in ref paint, or what you like to think as red paint. That was the last straw for all of you, you are going to get answers from Jungkook. You all need to know what is going on with all the paranormal stuff with Jungkook. It was around 7 p.m. when all of you decide to man and women up and go to Jungkook's house to get some answers. After fighting all day about who is going to his house to confront him about all the paranormal stuff going around him, you all decide that it's safe if all of you go together so if Jungkook got possessed, you all can at least fight him.

Right now, all of you are in front of Jungkook house, his house looks like your typical house but something about this house is strange, as the aura around the house is very uncomfortable. "Ring the bell." You told Jimin, nudging him. Over the week you and Jimin got a lot closer, he is not that bad. "What? Why me?!" He pushed you to ring the bell. Before you can even protest the door opened, all of you stopped what they were doing and looked at the door. No one was there, Hoseok and Yoongi turned away to go back but you grab their collar, "Don't you dare, if I am going to die here then all of you have to die here as well." You said when you felt a presence behind you so you slowly turned to look at the person behind you. There he was, the one and only Jungkook staring at you darkly. You start shivering under his dark and murderous stare. "Hi..." You squeak in a week voice you as Jungkook keep staring at you. "What are you doing here?" Jungkook glared at all of you as all of them hide behind you. "Haha, ah, we...agh...are here to...umm...group project! Yeah, group project! We are here for the group project!" All of you laughed nervously as you made up an excuse. Jungkook keeps looking at you without any movement in his body, the only movement in his body was that he was blinking. Suddenly someone came behind Jungkook, "Jungkook, what are you doing at the door?" A lady maybe in her early 50s came from behind Jungkook, she smiled at you as you smiled at her awkwardly and the other who was hiding behind your back waved at her. "Are they your friends, Jungkook-ah?" She asked Jungkook nodded his head when she suddenly smacked him across the head. "Ow, what was that for?" He whined as if he was not just murdering from his stares. "For keeping your friends outside for so long and scaring them. Look how they are hiding behind this poor girl." All of you straighten up at that, you cleared your throat as you glared at the others. "Come inside," Jungkook muttered in a low voice. Why does it feel like he is inviting you to dig your own grave?

You went inside first and others followed behind quickly. "Sorry for coming uninvited." You said when you sat on the couch in Jungkook's living room. Jungkook's mom smiled and said it was a no big deal.

"I will go and make some snacks for you guys!" She went into the kitchen before you could even protest.

"Why are you guys here?" Jungkook cold stare made you more than uncomfortable, it made you terrified. Where is your shy and sweet Jungkook?

"Didn't we just told you, we are here for the project! Hahaha..." You laughed nervously.

"At this hour?" Why does he keep questioning us?

"It's was Hoseok's idea!" Hoseok looked at you, terrified.

"Umm...yeah! I thought that...it would be good if we start the pro -project as soon as possible." Hoseok grip Namjoon's hand tightly.

"But why my house?" This feels like an FBI inquiry at this point.

"My mom is out of town so if I let boys in my house my mom would kill me." You lied without missing a beat.

"My house is getting renovated so we can't do it at mine." Your best friend followed.

"I don't even live in my house I live in the dorms and my roommate is very noisy and we don't have much space." I can agree on the noisy part, Yoongi.

"And I am his roommate." Hoseok, what the...?

"I have a dog name Yeontan and he is very dangerous, he bit everyone that comes inside my house." Taehyung, if Jungkook ever saw Yeontan he would kill you for lying.

"My mom wouldn't allow me to let my friends over." Namjoon, your mom even let you throw a party...

"I have a little sister and she would ruin our project." Jin, since when did you get a little sister?

The only one left to lie was Jimin. He looked around the room nervously as if the walls would tell him what to say. "Umm, I have a girl over so my house was never an option." An awkward silence falls upon the room after hearing Jimin's lie.

"Jungkook, why don't you take your friends to your room? Here are the snacks! Oh! And if Jungkook got possess put this cross on his head, he would be fine in seconds." Jungkook's mom pushed the cross on your hand and pushed all of you towards the stairs. Man, Jungkook's mom is strong for her age.

"You guys are here to know if I am cursed or not, right?" Jungkook asked once all of you sat down on his floor. You looked at him shocked but slowly nodded your head.

He sighed and let out an Ouija board.

"This is an Ouija board also known as Spirit board. This is the cause of all the paranormal stuff going around me, I once played this with my friends but things went down when a spirit got summoned, it possessed me and from that day onward that spirit keeps following me everywhere." He explained as everyone listened intensely.

"Does the spirit said anything about why they are haunting you?" Namjoon questioned as he pulled out his laptop from his backpack.

"She said something along with the lines of 'they killed me, I want revenge, don't go near that dark demon.' And things like that. Her name was Kim Shi Ree." Namjoon's face light up when he heard the ghost's name.

"I think I might just know why she is haunting you." Namjoon start typing furiously on his laptop.

"Look! Here an article that says in 2010 a girl name Kim Shi Ree died mysteriously in our school. It says that our school might be cursed because every decade or so students die mysteriously in school. It also says that there is a devil that kill these students every decade. The school keep destroying any records of these murders so people don't find out and they pay a lot of money to the parents of the child to stay quiet." Namjoon read the article and looked up. All of us were horrified by the article.

"What the hell...the spirit might want a proper closure to her case," Jungkook muttered.

"Guys, why don't we make this into our project?" Jimin suggested.

"What? Are you stupid? You want us to make a report about the school covering up murders to our school project? They might just kill us." Yoongi have a point.

"No, there might be a chance that there might be only one person involved in this mess. We can investigate and give our project straight to the police." Jimin explained.

"But where would we begin the investigation?" You asked.

"The library! School library." Hoseok exclaimed.

"But why the library?" Jin asked.

"Well, haven't you saw in horror or investigation movies? They always find clues in the library, so we should try our luck there because of the situation we are in it feel like a movie." All of you nodded at Hoseok explanation.

"So, tomorrow at 9 a.m. in front of school since it's Sunday I think everyone is free?" Your best friend asked as everyone nodded.

"So let's go back to our home, my mom just texted me asking when I am coming home." You said while replying to your mom.

"Wait- Don't you said that your mom is out of town?" Jungkook looked at you confused. Shit.

"I lied, haha" You laughed nervously and ran out of his room.

"Bye, I gotta go! Bye, Mrs Jeon! Your cookies were great! Can I take some of them?" You asked Mrs Jeon once you reached downstairs. Others followed shortly after.

"Sure, dear!" She gave you a whole jar of cookies. "Wow, thank you, Mrs Jeon!" You hugged her and went outside.

"Bye, Mrs Jeon and Jungkook remember to meet us at 9 sharp tomorrow!" You wave at them and start walking off to your house.

That night you called Mike by calling his name, you still don't understand what the heck he is but you know for sure he is not a ghost nor a human. You asked him if he can help you find some clue and he agreed to help you as much as possible.

You stood outside the school building at 9 sharp. "Where is everyone?" You wondered when suddenly someone came behind you and screamed in your ear, "BOO!"

You flinched but didn't scream, you looked behind you and it was none other than Mike. "Seriously? I thought you were a serious guy!" You smacked his head while he laughed.

"Whose that?" There they were, your friends.

"He is my friend, wait did you guys came with each other without me telling me?"

"Well, you left before we made the plan to come together, but Araceli, you can't just tell people about things like this." Namjoon said.

"Well, I know what is happening here for quite a while now," Mike said before introducing himself, "I am Mike, Araceli's friend." He looked down at all of them since he was 6'4cm tall. He towers all of you.

"Let's start the investigation, guys." Your best friend said.

"Wait, you guy seriously think that the school will keep the records of those students out in open? Especially in the library?" Mike questioned when you stopped in front of the library.

"Umm, yeah?" You just now realize how stupid the idea was and from the look of it, it seems that others realize it now as well.

"You naive kids." Mike facepalmed himself on the forehead. "Follow me, I know where the records might be." You all followed behind him like lost puppies. Mike takes you all to the closet outside the storage room. He opened it and did something before a closet inside the closet opened, revealing old books.

"Search them thoroughly. There might be a clue in them." All of you start to read the books one by one in Jungkook's house since his mom doesn't mind all of you in her house.

"Guys! Look, I think I found the record journal." Jin told all of you as you stopped what you were doing and went to where he was sitting.

"Look at these entries." Jin flipped the page where the first entry was.

Entry one. Date:- 12-5-1960.

This is the first time I am writing a journal, I think what happened today need to be on records.

I work in a mental asylum in Central Seoul, South Korea. This asylum is well known in South Korea but there is a dark secret that I found out today. The doctors here kill the lower class patient and fed their body parts to the upper-class patient, there is a basement that is filled with the remainings of those patients, some patients are even alive when the doctors let the upper-class patient eat them. The doctors experiment on the upper-class patient that make them go insane. This place is living hell but what happens today was horrifying. It's been a month since the doctors allow the scientist to experiment on the upper-class patient when one patient went up the ceiling and stayed there for the whole day and that patient even wrote 'It was better in hell' in blood. I will never forget this day, never. This day is going to haunt me in my dreams.

-Mark. (See the photo here)

All of you looked up when Yoongi finished reading the entry. "Our school used to be an asylum." Namjoon slowly let out.

"Look there are other entries too, but they are just photos with names on them, nothing is said."

Date:- 12-5-1970.

Name- Violet Knights.

Date:- 12-5-1980.

Name- Luka Williams.

Date:- 12-5-1990.

Name- Lily, Liana, Licious Potter.

Date:- 12-5-2000.

Name- Sana Kim.

Date:- 12-5-2010.

Name- Shi Ree Kim.

Today:-

Name:- Kim Namjoon, Kim Seokjin, Min Yoongi, Jung Hoseok, Park Jimin, Kim Taehyung, Jeon Jungkook, Araceli, Mike-

"Why does this have our names on it!" You throw the book away when you heard something downstairs. You all ran down stairs.

A man was sitting on Jungkook's couch, Jungkook looked around in a panic when the man started speaking, "Don't worry about your mother, Jungkook, she is outside." Jungkook didn't seem to relax at his word.

"Why are you here, brother?" All of you looked at Mike in shock as he asked what appears to be his brother. "Seems like you finally came out of your hiding spot, Mark." You gasped, this guy can't be Mark...he is so young but if he is Mike's brother and Mike is not human then maybe he is Mark.

"What is going on?" You asked.

"He is my brother Mark, we both are immortal because he sold his soul to the devil and since we were twins I became immortal too. The entry about the asylum was written by him, that asylum was a demonic cult that sacrifices people ever decade to feed the devil who is my brother. I tried to stop him but I can't since I am just immortal but I don't have powers because he was the one who sold his soul not me. I know Araceli because Araceli was the only victim that I protected back when she was a toddler. I wiped her memories because I don't want her to get hurt..." While Mike was distracting Mark and others you quickly grabbed the crystals that Mike gave you and you pass the crystals to Jungkook and motioned him to pass the crystals to other, you remembered Mike's words last night when you asked why he gave you crystals, "These crystals have the blessings of the most powerful witch, but it will only work if a human touch it. In any situation, if you need to protect your self or need to kill an evil do not hesitant, the only thing you need to do is make a circle around the evil and let your heart do its magic. If you have a good intention the magic will work with you but if you have a bad intention the magic will work against you. Remember Ara, only used this when needed because the magic can kill you if your intentions are not good. I trust you, Ara, I know you will only use when needed."

The others quickly understand what you were doing and made a circle using themself, Mark stopped when he realised what was happening and stood up but Mike grabbed him by his neck and they both fall to the ground. Mike took out a dagger made of the same crystal as Mark struggled, all of you grab each other hands and made a circle around them, you start to feel like you doe going to faint as a binding light surrounded all of you, the last thing you saw was Mike stabbing Mark in the head before darkness consumed you.

-One year later-

You sighed as you stop what you were doing, "Jiminie~ Stop bothering me~" You pushed Jimin away from yourself to which he whined, "What are you thinking about?" Jimin asked.

"About that day, what do you think happened to Mike?" Jimin sighed, after that day all of you woke up in your own houses, no one knows what happened after all if you fainted but you all know that you have succeeded because Jungkook is no longer cursed, nobody even remembered the whole cursed thing except you guys. You all found out that the school was not covering the murders, it was Mark who was covering the murders. You and Jimin start dating after two months, all of you graduate high school with good grades, things were going great but still, there was no sign of Mike returning. Others believe that Mike also died when Mark died because both of there soul was connected but you don't want to believe it.

"I don't know, Ara and I-" The doorbell ringed before Jimin can even complete his sentence, "I will go get it." You said and went to the door when you opened it you found no one there but there was a box. You opened the box and it reveals the same crystals that Mike once gave you.

"OH MY GOD! JIMIN LOOK! MIKE IS ALIVE!"

Maybe he is alive or maybe it's someone else trying to make you think he is alive because who knows what lurks in the darkness of your apartment or the alley you pass. Nobody knows and sometimes it better if you don't know something because who knows what the consequences would be of knowing things you are not supposed to know.

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