#it WAS weird that all of a sudden defeating enemies took longer

[greypetrel]

"Fighting in the dark is not good for your eyes, Venhan!"

I am finishing my Radha playthrough finally and nothing. I thought Solas dropped the damn torch while fighting, I noticed late he in fact did not.

Caring for his companion not to lose eyesight fighting in the moonlight, what a caring Dread Wolf.

[reminisce05-20]

Dazai - The Book - Double Black

Dazai couldn't remember being a child, one of elementary age. He had only started to remember when he was around 14, which was when he first met Mori.

Sometimes, he wondered if he should be searching for answers, of who his parents could've been or where he came from, but he had easily moved on. Perhaps too easily, but he had no regrets. After all, the past didn't define him. He could write his own story from the present.

Only after words started to be written on his pale skin did he start to wonder who he really was.

Long sleeves could suffice, but just in case, Dazai wrapped bandages around his arms. Then his torso. Then up to his neck and finally his eye to give the air of an injury. The words hadn't spread quite that much, but it made his stomach crawl whenever he saw the squiggly lines all over his body. It was simply a precaution in case more words suddenly appeared.

Dazai soon met Chuuya, who was loud and angry and short, which made it even funnier when Dazai riled him up. Chuuya insisted that he was still young and growing. For the first time, Dazai wanted to laugh at the words he had seen yesterday on his elbow. Chuuya will never grow.

Although the words brought occasional joy, when he was 18, he saw words on the back of his left arm that said, Sakunosuke Oda will die. Sakunosuke couldn't die. His ability allowed him to see things moments before they actually happened, and Sakunosuke wasn't dumb. He would be fine.

He never had allowed the words on his arms and body to ever affect him. Words, in general, had never affected him since Dazai believed actions could speak much more.

"Be on the side that saves people. If both sides are the same, then choose to become a good person. Save the weak, protect the orphaned. You might not see a great difference between right and wrong, but... saving others is something just a bit wonderful."

For once, he took the words to heart.

Once, long ago when he was still young, not in the Detective Agency nor even the Mafia, Dazai had written something on his arm, something that tattooed itself to his arm for just a second before it burned away with terrible pain.

Dazai experimented. His ability, "No Longer Human", obviously canceled out abilities with no exception. The words were things to happen, things that were happening, and things that had happened. The timing for when the events actually took place differed, from as small as a minute to as long as a year. Dazai couldn't change events that were going to happen or create an entirely new one. It was probably a strange mix of the words and his ability.

Dazai had considered going to the President to inform him of the words. He was fairly sure that everyone else in the agency believed the bandages to be a fashion choice, excluding Ranpo and the President. He walked in front of the office door for a few minutes, pacing, before walking back to his desk. Perhaps the talk could be moved to another time.

The words were often too ugly to be shown to others.

Dazai was good at planning things, which made it entirely his fault that he hadn't prepared ahead for this.

A few days ago words had appeared on his collarbone, ones that said, "Chuuya will unleash Arahabaki once more. Secrets will be revealed." If Chuuya was going to showcase his powers, Dazai would no doubt be sent along unless Chuuya had managed to somehow subdue his powers effectively. Sure enough, he was sent to settle a dispute that would benefit both the Mafia and the Agency. It was always nice, seeing the top of Chuuya's hat, showing that he had indeed not grown a single bit.

He had misinterpreted the "secrets" on his arm. Dazai had expected it to be Chuuya's secrets, of how he stayed so short all the time.

In Arahabaki form, Chuuya had never attacked Dazai, at least not to kill. He had to have some semblance of control to not kill the only person that could bring him back, even if Chuuya hated him. But this time, right after defeating the enemy, Chuuya turned on him in an instant, giving Dazai no time to nullify his ability.

It would have been fine. Dazai only took a few hard hits before he tapped Chuuya on the head, nullifying his ability. They both staggered for a moment before Dazai laughed.

"Well, that was awfully close wasn't it, Chuuya?"

Chuuya huffed, angry but too tired to anything about it.

"Only if you had touched me a little earlier maybe you - hey what's that on your arm?"

Dazai froze before he looked at his left arm, bandages slightly unraveled, revealing the inky text on his arm.

"Some tattoo shit? Or maybe weird scars..."

Chuuya took a step forward while Dazai hurriedly rebandaged his arm with a hopefully winning grin.

"How observant of you."

Chuuya scowled for a second before staring at Dazai.

"Seriously, was it just some weirdo tattoo? Show me what you have written there."

Dazai made a mental note to seriously work out and train with Kunikida. Then again, it probably wouldn't bring him near Chuuya's level for a long time. Even after using Arahabaki, Chuuya stomped forward, grabbing his arm and unwrapping the bandage with unreasonable strength and speed. His control must have actually been getting better. Or maybe they had just defeated the enemy faster today.

"What the - what the heck is this Dazai?"

He didn't have the strength to stand properly, staggering a little bit while unsuccessfully trying to get out of Chuuya's iron grip.

"An occult tattoo I got when I was 14. It says 'fuck off Chuuya'."

"It literally says 'Sakunosuke Oda will die'. I've heard of that name before... who was that again?"

Out of all the sentences Chuuya could have seen, it had to be that one. Why not the one about Atsushi dropping his ice cream, or maybe the one about Chuuya's height? They could have laughed over that.

"This actually happened didn't it Dazai? Like, a few years ago?"

At this point, Dazai simply didn't care enough to wrench his wrist away from Chuuya. He had wanted to tell someone about this for so long. Chuuya and he didn't have the best relationship, but they could certainly trust each other. After all, they had been partners, right?

"It tells me things that are going to happen. Well, at the time of course. This already happened a while ago."

Chuuya simply stared, unsure of what to believe.

"I tried changing history once. It hurt really bad, I think it's got something to do with my goddamn ability, I hate seeing the words every day and having to bandage them - "

"Um... Dazai, calm down."

He hadn't realized he was breathing so heavily. His chest felt like it was burning.

It felt like it was burning just like when he was young - why was it like this when he hadn't written anything down on his skin?

"Dazai, what's going on?"

Dazai turned away from Chuuya before throwing his jacket off, then his vest, then his shirt to reveal the mass of bandages covering every inch of his skin.

"What the fuck Dazai, stop stripping in front of me - "

Dazai for once ignored Chuuya instead of sending back an angry retort. He unwrapped the bandages, not caring if Chuuya saw the words or not since the pain was burning as if he was dying and he wanted it to just stop. Stop stop stop.

The bandages were off to show the mass of writing on his back and arms and stomach and even up to his neck. Chuuya's breathing became softer, more confused and curious.

Chuuya will never grow.

Dazai will trip and fall on the doormat before meeting Akutagawa for the first time.

Sakunosuke Oda will die.

Atsushi will drop the ice cream Dazai bought for him and will be horrified.

More evil will soon come in Yokohama.

Chuuya will unleash Arahabaki once more. Secrets will be revealed.

Chuuya simply stared, dumbfounded, trying to read everything written on Dazai's back. Dazai on the other hand, looked down at the center of his chest to see just a few words.

Yokohama's Page - By Osamu Dazai.

The words were a gleaming gold, burning his skin before suddenly cooling into the familiar black, only a small golden border on the edges of each letter. Chuuya had now walked in front of him, kneeling, reading the words that had just appeared.

"So. You're some special shit."

Dazai let out a flat laugh. Indeed he was.

"It says 'More evil will soon come in Yokohama'. Right, Dazai?"

Dazai nodded blindly. He couldn't remember that one, but maybe it was because it was on his back. It was hard to read from a mirror.

"You should tell your agency this. Have you told them?"

Dazai's silence was the same as a confirmation. Chuuya mumbled something about how he always had to make his life worse, although Dazai knew that it was halfhearted.

After Dazai put on every single one of his bandages, thoroughly covering every inch of skin along with his other clothes, Chuuya and he walked in silence for a little. Usually, they would've been arguing all the way back, making the silence feel even worse.

"Oy. Dazai."

Chuuya growled when Dazai didn't make any move to answer before sighing and backing down. Dazai blinked, seeing that for the first time, Chuuya had backed down from an argument.

"We were partners before. Are we still partners?"

Dazai smiled.

"If we're partners, I'll be annoying you all day! I think that'd be pretty nice ~ "

"Well fuck you too!"

It was nice, feeling the usual annoyance flowing through Chuuya, the same remarks they always passed forth to each other.

"So you're saying we are partners, Dazai."

Dazai's eyes narrowed. What was with Chuuya being overly... nice all of a sudden? Being so calm?

Chuuya, catching Dazai's eyes screeched again before kicking over a trash can.

"I'm saying I can help you with this goddamn book shit! Words! Partners! The fuck is wrong with you?"

Dazai stared as Chuuya knocked over a few more trash cans while screaming about how utterly dumb Dazai could be for someone that was supposed to be so smart, so crafty, and so manipulative.

The familiar tickle of more words caused Dazai to flinch, hand moving toward his neck where the words seemed to be. Chuuya, who was done with his little fit, stopped for a second before walking over, no doubt intrigued. Dazai tugged the bandages down a little bit while Chuuya read the words out loud.

"Fyodor Dostoevsky is looking for another part of the book in Yokohama."

Dazai's eyes widened when he heard the name, and Chuuya no doubt understood that this man was someone dangerous if they could elicit such a reaction from Dazai. They looked at each other, understanding passing through their eyes.

"Well, I guess we're partners again Chuuya!"

"Only because I fucking have to!"

Dazai supposed that he would also have to tell the Agency about this. And as more people knew, the news would inevitably spread to the Mafia too. He only had to make sure that Fyodor didn't receive the information, and that was if Fyodor didn't already know about him.

"Fucking Dazai."

Chuuya grabbed Dazai's hair and pulled, forcing Dazai to yelp while batting Chuuya's hands away.

"We're going to crush this bastard Fyodor."

Dazai laughed at the sheer amount of determination in Chuuya's name, laughing like he never had ever before.

Indeed, Double Black would crush the enemy like they always did.

___________________________

Kind of an abrupt end, but you get the idea :>

[alice-angel12x]

Leech Twins X Gem! Reader

It was another slow and cold winter in the Coral sea, as the icebergs slowly blocked out the sunlight from the surface. Yet lately many Icebergs have been falling apart lately, they would suddenly collapse and reveal the sun's rays from above.  Azul and the twins would wonder why that's been happening lately. Out of the many years, they lived there this was not a normal occurrence during the winter season.

"I don't mind it, finally we get some sunlight down here in the winter," (child)Floyd sighed.

"It fine I guess, but I don't like the banging noises it makes when they start falling apart. Plus it makes it dangerous to swim near the surface when that happens,"(child) Azul groaned.

Suddenly the iceberg above started to screech and whine as two large icebergs scrapped against each other. The three covered their ears as the sound became unbearable when suddenly that was a loud bang above the surface. Large chunks of ice fell into the water as it revealed an opening to the surface, letting in the sunlight from above.

"Ahh, warm sunlight,"(Child) Floyd smiled.

"What is that?" (Child)Jade asked as he pointed to a sinking figure.

"Probably just some unfortunate human, but I don't think humans are supposed to sink that fast. Jade, Floyd catch them," (Child)Azul said simply.

Jade and Floyd shrugged and same to catch the figure, which was surprisingly heavier than they expected. The twins managed to softly land the figure on the soft sand, and when they stepped to examine the figure they gasped at the sight. The figure had a lovely face, but what was off was the large cracks that ran down her face, and her hair didn't look like anything they've seen. It gave off a beautiful shimmer of Aquamarine.

"Nee, Jade this person is so shiny,"(Child) Floyd smiled as he hugged the figure, " But not so squishy, they're solid as a rock,"

"Careful, you might shatter them,"(child) Jade said with a smile.

"Jade, Floyd what is it?" (Child)Azul asked as he swam as quickly as he could.

He looked over the figure and gasped at the large cracks on her face. Thankfully Azul was able to fix it with coral sap, making the figure look good as new. Suddenly it began to stir as its eyes slowly fluttered open. Revealing beautiful ocean blue eyes she stared blankly at the three faces.

"W-who are you?" The girl asked nervesly, " Where am I?"

The poor girl had lost her memory, and couldn't recall who or what she is or even where she even came from. So Azul simply gave the girl a name, Y/n, but Floyd would nickname Y/n as Aqua or Aquamarine at times. 

Y/n was a freak of nature to the twins, she wasn't soft and completely made out of precious stones, from her hair down to her feet. She didn't require food to keep her going, or even air for that matter. She just required sunlight or light from glowing jellyfish.

"Nee, Aqua-chan try this, it's Takoyaki. It's delicious,"(Child) Floyd smiled as he shoved food in Y/n's face.

"O-oh, no thank you, Floyd," Y/n smiled as she feeds it back to Floyd. He happily chomped down with a smile.

"You never eat, are you sure are okay?" (Child) Jade asked.

"As long as I have light, I should be fine," Y/n smiled as she patted Jade's head.

Floyd and Jade smiled as they hugged her arms. Y/n was nothing Like Floyd or Jade had seen before, so they like to drag her around everywhere they went. As they glided through the water Y/n quickly followed behind as she ran across the sandy ocean floor. 

"I don't see why I'm needed to go to school with you," Y/n said as the twins pulled on her arms.

"Cause school is so boring, We want you to be by outside," Floyd said as he pulled at Y/n.

"Plus it will be interesting to see how our classmates react," Jade laughed.

The powder that covered Y/n's arms, legs, and face soon washed off revealing her gem surface underneath, but as time went on Floyde and Jade grew. Once small children that were half of Y/n size grew to be taller or longer than her. The twins and Azul grew to be handsome young men, but Y/n seemed to be forever frozen in time and remained the same. 

-----------

As Time went on as the twins and Azul started to prepare for the expected arrival of the black carriage. Y/n's mind began to wonder, as she began to wander near the town edge of the Coral Sea, but the Twins don't let her wander too far from them.

"Nene, Aqua-chan what are you doing all the way out here?" Floyd asked as he hugged her from behind.

"Yes, home is the other way. You wander off again," Jade smiled.

"Oh, I'm sorry, but shouldn't you two be making your way back to shore soon?" Y/n asked the twin.

"Huh? You're not going to see us off?" Jade asked with a pained expression.

"You want me to come to see you off?" Y/n asked.

"Of course, you have to be there," Floyd said as he nuzzled Y/n's neck.

Jade picked Y/n up bridle style as they swam to a nearby shore, where Azul was waiting for them. Y/n staring up at the blue sky with wide eyes, this was the first time she saw the sky and sun in 9 years. She slowly wiggled out of Jade's grasps and took her first steps on land in what felt like forever. The microscopic organisms inside her gem body started to make more energy than it has before, she had never felt more awake in so long.

"Nee, Aqua-chan slow down," Floyd whined as Y/n turned to see Floyd and jade slowly crawling up the beach.

As they tried to stand on their new legs, Y/n chuckled and quickly tried to help the two stand. Yet the three once merpeople simply clung to the gem girl for support. So for the first few days, was full of Y/n helping them walk on their own, and watching them fall over many times, but they soon got the hang of things. 

-----------

The time arrived when the carriage arrived, and Y/n though this was where they would part ways. Nope, Jade and Floyd managed to drag her into the carriage with them and bring her to the school, claiming she was the twins Familiar. Surprisingly the headmaster was okay with this, seeing that there was a couple of other students who had similar "Familiars". As the twins and Azul sat with the other students Y/n looked around the room to see other people like her. Near the Scarabia dorm students stood a girl with diamond hair, by a red-headed Heartslabyul student stood a girl with ruby hair, a Pomefiore man had a girl with Ametrine hair standing next to him, a girl with obsidian hair was holding a tablet that the Ignihyde dorm leader spoke through. Savanaclaw had a girl with long hair made of bort. Heck, the Headmaster seemed to have an assistant with Rutile hair.

Y/n simply stared in awe at the many varieties of gem people in the room. When the ceremony finished everyone funneled out of the room, as Y/n walked she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to see it was the diamond girl from the other dorm. The two chatted away when they had to part ways into the dorm. The Octavinelle Dorm reminded Y/n a lot of the Coral Sea, and the sense of sleepiness came over her at the sudden lack of bright sunlight.

"Nee, Aqua-chan who was that other girl you were talking to?" Floyd asked as he hugged Y/n from behind.

"That was Dia, and she told me that rutile plans to put us to work and we will be helping around the school," Y/n explained.

"So you won't be staying by our side then?" Jade frowned slightly.

"Awww, that sucks, I was hoping to have Aqua-chan by our side the entire time," Floyd whined as he rested his chin on her shoulder.

_______

So while Azul and the twins studied in the classrooms, Rutile leads the gems outside to help around the school. From wiping down the windows to mowing the grass in the fields. One day during P.E while the 2nd and 1st-year students ran laps the Gem girls were on the side slicing grass with some obsidian blad and while Vargus had to step out of a few minutes. As the students rested, Y/n noticed something odd in the sky.

"Riddle, what is that?" Ruby asked.

"I don't know, Ruby," Riddle said as the rest of the students stopped to look as well.

As everyone watched in awe as the sounds of instruments could be heard. The black cover vanished revealing something odd.

"It's so pretty," Obsidian awed.

"I don't know, something is off about it," Idia whispered.

"What even is that?" Vil wondered.

Y/n stared up in wonder when memories flashed in her mind as fear started t wash over her. The figures in the sky drew their bows and readied their spears and tossed them down on the gem humans below. A spear sliced through Ruby's neck like butter, time slowed as everyone watched Ruby's head and body fall to the ground. Everyone screamed in panic as more arrows and spears rained from the sky.

"We don't have our pens!" Leona growled.

"Everyone back to the school !" Jamil shouted as everyone tried to run.

But when they tried to run spears and arrows cut them off. Y/n turned back to see Riddle trying to carry Ruby's body with him.

"Riddle!" Trey gasped as he hurried Riddle and let ruby's pieces behind.

Y/n looked down at her blade and back up at the attackers in the sky, suddenly her body acted on its own as she ran towards the cloud.

"Y/N!" Jade and Foyd gasped.

"What is she doing?!" Azul gasped.

As Arrows and spears rain down she deflected them with a swing of her sword and tossed some of them back at the enemy. suddenly weird golden lines that ended with hooks and gem spheres. They quickly extended down and wrapped around a fellow gem Ametrine, and quickly dragged her closer to the cloud.

"Ametrine!" Vil cried out.

Ametrine dug her heels into the ground to stop herself, the moment she struggled and pulled. The pins in the gem spheres were pulled out and exploded. When the smoke cleared, Ametrine was blown to pieces. Everyone watched in horror as a few figures from the cloud climbed down to collect the shattered gem pieces. Dia quickly acted and sliced through the enemy. Bort and Y/n jumped up to the vessel and began to slice away at the enemy, who poof away once defeated. 

Y/n ran to the tall enter figure and sliced it in half with ease, but more grenade hooks shot out from the bottom half of the figure. Before they could wrap around Bort, Y/n quickly pushed them out of the way and grabbed at the rope. She hopped down from the vessel and pulled at the rope above the pinned hooks. Dia quickly helped Y/n pull as they ripped the center figure off the vessel, causing the who thing to poof out of the air, but not before a pin was pulled causing the grenades to explode.

"Aqua-Chan!" Floyd called out.

Vargus and Rutile ran out to see the shaken students and shattered and Damaged gem figures.

-----------

"Y/n, Y/n please open your eyes," Said a familiar voice.

"Aqua-chan," Said another voice.

Y/n's eye's opened slowly as her vision slowly came to her. Staring down at her were a pair of 2 mismatched eyes staring down at her.

"Floyd...Jade?" Y/n groaned as she slowly sat up.

But was tackled back down in a bear hug from the twins.

"Your back!" Floyd smiled.

"What happened to.. outside?" Y/n asked.

"Rutile came and put you and everyone back together, while Vargus took the human students back to the school. You were asleep for a week. You managed to defeat the strange enemy from the sky," Jade explained.

"What were you thinking, running towards danger like that. That was stupid Aqua-chan," Floyd pouted.

"As long as I can be put back together, I cannot die-,"

"They wanted to take you away from us," Jade said as he pulled Y/n close to him.

"They were going to steal you from us. Your our treasure, no one else's," Floyd said as the twins sandwiched the girl in a hug.

[makerofmadness]

Kirby: The Great Super Kirby Clash Fight! Chapter ☆2: The Dream Kingdom’s in Danger!

Suddenly, the bell sound stopped.

At the same time, the light returned. Kirby blinked a couple times.

“Oh, that was weird! Wonder what just happened. Are you ok, Waddle Dee?...”

However, Waddle Dee wasn’t there. He was nowhere to be found.

Kirby was standing in an unfamiliar plaza.

Lovely cobble paving below his feet. A salty small was mixed into the fresh breeze. Unsurprisingly, a deep blue ocean was spread out before his eyes.

“An… an ocean?!...”

Kirby was dumbfounded.

Kirby should’ve been with Waddle Dee, walking up the local hill. There shouldn’t have been an ocean.

“How… where am I?...”

Then, just as he mumbled that…

“SWORD!”

A loud voice was heard, and someone jumped at Kirby.

“Wha-?!”

For a second, Kirby stood ready to fight, thinking he was being attacked by someone.

However, the person clinging onto Kirby and smiling wasn’t an enemy.

His face was identical to Kirby’s. However, his body was a fresh blue, like the sky. He was wearing a nice hat and glasses.

Kirby, surprised, shouted:

“Doctor?! Is that really you?!”

“That’s right, Sword. I didn’t think you’d come!”

Kirby was flabbergasted, but then was overcome with happiness and hugged Doctor close.

“That must mean I’m in the Dream Kingdom! But how? How did I just come here all of a sudden?”

“That’s the power of the bell.”

Doctor finally let go of Kirby and raised his hand.

What he pointed at was a bell hanging from a support.

A beautiful, shiny, gold-colored bell.

“That bell called you back to the village.”

“Bell… Ohhh, so that’s where that ringing sound was coming from…”

Doctor smiled sweetly.

“Yeah, the sound of that bell summons heroes. Surprising, isn’t it? I’ll explain in detail.”

Doctor’s quick way of talking was fitting for his name.

Kirby, remembering those days of big adventures from the past, felt nostalgic.

The Dream Kingdom…

A strange world with a name so similar to Dream Land, where Kirby lived, yet was very different from it.

Long ago, while reading a book at the library, Kirby had somehow ended up in this world. Here lived three people identical to Kirby outside of the colors of their bodies. Together, the Kirbys formed Team Kirby, and fought the ruffians causing the villagers so much harm.

Team Kirby was a team of four. Each of them took names relating to the roles they played and the weapons they used. Blue Kirby, the team healer, was “Doctor,” Yellow was “Hammer,” Green was “Beam.” and the one who came from Dream Land, Pink Kirby, who fought with a sword, was “Sword.”

Once all the enemies had been defeated, Team Kirby was no longer needed. However, even though the team was now disbanded, their friendship was never-ending. Feeling this way, the four changed their team’s name to Team Kirby Z.

Z, a letter of finality. The strength of the bond between the four was put into that one letter.

Even after he went back to Dream Land, Kirby had never forgotten about his friends.

However, he thought he’d never see them again, but…

“After Team Kirby Z split up, we all went our separate ways.”

The two sat by each other on the plaza bench as Doctor explained.

“After you were gone, Hammer and Beam left that village- known as the Castle Village. They said they were going to train. I was the only one left in the Castle Village, because I wanted to devote myself to my research there.”

“What research?” Kirby asked. Doctor’s eyes sparkled from behind his glasses.

“I’m glad you asked! I’m developing a meal that can be eaten immediately just by adding hot water!”

“Just by adding hot water? Is it like instant noodles or something?”

“Not quite. Just by adding hot water, you can have hamburgers and steak, manjuu with meat filling and sandwiches and chocolate parfait, anything!”

“Really?! Doctor, you’re really researching something that awesome?!”

“Well, I still haven’t finished developing-”

“What about fried pudding?! Like, is fried pudding an option?!”

“Friend pudding, huh? That may take a while-”

“Please make it as good as possible! I’ll be cheering for you! Give it your all!”

“Alright, I’ll do my best!”

“And chirashizushi and fried shrimp. And deep-fried chicken and hiyashi chuuka!”

“Okie dokie! Ooh, and what about katsudon and spaghetti and cream anmitsu and, and, and-!”

Doctor was almost drooling when, suddenly, he came to his senses.

“N-No, now is not the time for that. We’ve gotten waaaaaay off topic. Jeez, Sword, you really are a glutton…”

Blaming Kirby, Doctor cleared his throat.

“Anyways, I was spending my days wrapped up in my research. However, one day, bad things started happening.”

“Bad things?”

“Just as before. Troublemakers loitering outside the village, running amok, attacking people. And to make matters worse, monsters we’ve never seen before have shown up.”

Doctor had a serious look on his face.

“Travelers keep being attacked. And that’s not all. The monsters have been attacking the Castle Village too. They’ve just been destroying the place.”

“What?!...”

“And so, without any other options, the residents moved here to this village. This is the Port Village. As you can see, it’s a sunny village that overlooks the sea. Currently it’s still peaceful over here, but…”

Doctor’s face grew darker.

“At this rate, sooner or later, this village is gonna get attacked too. So, I thought that maybe I could get the team back together. However, I had no idea where you and Hammer and Beam were. While trying to think of a solution, I remembered a legend I had heard while going around the kingdom.”

“A legend?...”

“Yeah. It’s about that bell.”

Doctor looked up at the golden bell.

“It’s known as the Adventurer Bell. It’s a treasure that was brought to the kingdom so long ago, no one knows who created it.”

“Hmm…”

“There’s a strange legend surrounding the bell. The legend says that, when trouble strikes the Dream Kingdom, the Adventurer Bell can summon heroes from other worlds…” Doctor said in a dignified voice, and looked at Kirby, “I believed the legend, so I tried to ring the bell. However, the bell was very old and rusted, and it didn’t make a sound.”

“Huh? But…”

The bell hanging from the support was shining in such a dazzling way. Kirby couldn’t believe it had been rusted.

“Did you clean up the bell, Doctor?” Kirby asked. “Wow, you did a really good job!”

“Not exactly.”

Doctor shook his head.

“I polished the bell like my life depended on it. But, no matter what I tried, the bell just wouldn’t look any better. Although I tried to ring it, it didn’t make a sound. I got so tired, I honestly started praying to the bell.”

Doctor closed his eyes and put his hands together.

“The way things are, the Dream Kingdom’s gonna fall to ruin. Please, somehow, help us…’ I prayed and prayed, just hoping for something to happen. When I got tired and ran out of strength, suddenly, by some miracle, the bell started to shine.”

Doctor opened his eyes.

“It was such a strange thing, I couldn’t believe it! The once-rusted bell gave off such a dazzling light, it shone like new! And then it started to ring by itself, even without me touching it! The bell’s sound got louder and louder, it could be heard throughout the whole village! I was shocked, absolutely speechless, I couldn’t look away from the bell! And so…”

Doctor gripped Kirby’s hand tightly.

“That’s how you got there! What a surprise, huh?”

Doctor took a better look at Kirby’s face.

“But there’s just one thing that seems off about it. The legend states that the Adventurer Bell calls ‘heroes from other worlds.’ How did it call you then?”

Kirby was startled.

Doctor didn’t know that Kirby came from another world, known as “Dream Land.”

When they had adventured before, Kirby pretended that he was just a traveler because he thought it’d be too hard to explain that he came from Dream Land, not the Dream Kingdom.

And so, Doctor was convinced that Kirby was a resident of the Dream Kingdom.

“Weird… I thought that heroes from another world meant heroes from a world different from the Dream Kingdom-”

“I-I don’t really understand.”

Kirby hastily changed the subject.

“I mean, I don’t see any heroes from other worlds around here, do you?? S-So it just happened to call me from another village!!”

“Really? That’s a bit weird, but…”

Doctor pondered it over, but, suddenly, he laughed as if pulling himself together.

“Oh well! To tell the truth, I was kinda anxious when I thought a hero like that was gonna show up. Maybe they wouldn’t even understand our language over here. I’m glad you came instead!”

“I’m happy to see you too, Doctor.”

The two looked each other in the eyes and nodded their heads with a stiff look.

Obviously, they were happy to see each other again, but now was not the time to celebrate.

The first thing they had to do was…

“Get rid of the monsters,” the two said in unison.

“I had thought that bringing Team Kirby Z back together would be impossible. But you came back, so there’s still hope.”

Kirby nodded.

“That’s right. Let’s go find Beam and Hammer!”

“Yeah! But for now, the two of us just have to try our best.”

“Alrighty then! Let’s go!”

The two ran off alongside each other.

~

“Ever since the destruction of Castle Village, a ton of the people living there decided to move to Port Village,” Doctor said once they left the plaza, “the people you know should be here too. For example-”

Doctor was about to finish when Kirby cut him off by shouting:

“Waddle Dee?? Guardian of the Gem Apples??”

“Yeah, duh.”

Doctor laughed.

“He lives in this village too. Look, there he is!”

Up ahead, sparkling, shining red fruit could be seen.

The fruits were growing on the branches of a dense tree.

Very gem-like fruits.

Crucial to transactions in the Dream Kingdom, Gem Apples.

Kirby ran over to him.

“Heeey!! Heeeeeeey!!! Waddle Dee!”

Once he was in earshot, the guardian sitting at the base of the Gem Apple tree quickly turned to look.

A Waddle Dee wearing a bandana on his head.

When Kirby had first visited this world, the two had become the best of friends.

“Kirby?!”

Bandana Waddle Dee’s eyes widened and he spread his arms out wide.

Kirby enthusiastically jumped into his arms.

“Heya, Waddle Dee! Great to see you again!”

“Kirby… How…?”

“I was summoned by the power of the bell. I’m here to take down those monsters causing trouble around here!”

“Kirby…”

Bandana Waddle Dee quickly wiped away the overflowing tears and laughed.

“It’s really you. I never thought I’d see you again!”

“Yeah, me too. I’m so happy to see you again!”

The two held hands with great joy.

“I know you guys are really happy to see each other,” Doctor said to them, “but could you please hold it off until later? Sword, first things first, we’ve gotta get you some gear.”

“Wait… oh yeah, gear!”

“Exactly. Magolor’s setting up shop in Port Village too.”

When they looked behind, a sign for the Shoppe could be seen.

When Kirby and co. approached, the shopkeeper, who seemed to be taking his time with tending to his store, looked up.

Magolor had once been a formidable enemy who caused much trouble for Kirby. However, that was only the case in Dream Land. The Magolor of this world, proprietor of the Shoppe, opened a business selling weapons and armor.

“Hello, Magolor. Long time no see!” Kirby called out. Magolor had a twinkle in his eye.

“Pink Kirby! How’s it going? Weren’t you traveling?”

“Doctor called me back. We’re gonna take down those monsters together.”

“Really? You’re gonna take them down? Oh, I know you can do it, buddy!”

Magolor clapped.

“Those monsters have been scaring away potential customers, and that’s been giving me a lot of trouble! C’mon, dude, hurry up and take them down!”

“But I wanna buy some gear to fight with. Got any recommendations?”

“Of course!”

Magolor took out a massive catalog and showed it to Kirby.

“So, Pink Kirby, you fought with a sword, right? How about the Crimson Blade then? Ooh, the Blazure Sword looks cool. Oh, I also recommend the Landion, it really packs a punch!”

The weapons Magolor kept introducing all seemed strong. They were all weapons worthy of a hero.

Kirby, nervous, carefully looked through the catalog.

“So cool! I really like the White-Hawk Sword. The Wonder Sword is cool too, so’s the Shark Saw…”

“Just as I thought, you have excellent taste! The White-Hawk Sword and Helm Set is eighty Gem Apples, the Wonder Set is ninety Gem Apples, and the Shark Saw is one hundred and twenty Gem Apples! It’s a bargain!”

“...huh? Gem Apples…?”

Kirby remembered.

In this world, if you wanted to shop, eat, or stay at the inn, you needed Gem Apples.

Gem Apples were harvested every few hours, then evenly divided among the villagers. Kirby, having only just come to the village, of course, didn’t even have one.

“We can harvest the Gem Apples in eight hours,” Bandana Waddle Dee said apologetically, “but I can only give two per person…”

“Yeah…”

Kirby sighed.

Even though he wanted to get rid of the monsters right away, he couldn’t buy anything right now.

It seemed he’d have to wait a very long amount of time to get the gear he wanted.

“I’ll give you my Gem Apples…” Doctor said, “or at least, I would, but I don’t have enough right now either, ‘cause I ate all of- uh, no, that’s not what I did! I-I spent them on, uh, research stuff! I spent them all as research funds!”

Doctor pushed up his glasses, which had started to slide down.

Kirby felt dejected.

“What am I gonna do? I can’t fight without gear…”

“Yeah, buying the really expensive gear is impossible this early. Let’s just go with whatever’s practical for now.”

“You’re right. Well then, show us the cheapest stuff you’ve got.”

“Cheap? Hmph.”

Magolor’s attitude changed to be much colder.

“If that’s what you want, then how about the Knight Set? I’ll put it at a discount, just for you, so only twelve Gem Apples-”

“Magolor!!”

Magolor’s words were cut off by a shout from Bandana Waddle Dee.

He, usually quite friendly and cheerful, was uncharacteristically loud.

“Don’t you dare scam Kirby like that! The Knight Set should only cost eight Gem Apples!”

“Huh? Really?”

Kirby stared in shock. Magolor, greatly flustered, covered his face with his hands.

“Oh, ohhh, that’s right! How could I be so careless as to make such a huge mistake! Ohhhhhhhh… what do I do… I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry, Pink Kirby!”

“Oh, it’s ok, I really don't mind! We all make mistakes from time to time.”

“Oh, thanks a bunch, dude! You’re too kind!”

Bandana Waddle Dee glared at Magolor with suspicion, but Magolor pulled out an abacus with feigned ignorance and used it to calculate.

“Yes, that is the correct price. The set of the Knight Sword and Knight Helm costs eight Gem Apples.”

“If that’s it, then we can buy it.”

Doctor pulled some Gem Apples out from his wallet and put them down on the counter. Magolor took out the sword and helm from inside the store. They were very basic gear. Compared to the more expensive gear in the catalog, they were really nothing special. It was a little better than fighting with one’s bare hands… by a very, very small margin.

Kirby was disappointed. However, Doctor tried to encourage him:

“C’mon, this is only the beginning. If we continue adventuring, we’ll get a ton of Gem Apples, and then we’ll be able to buy cooler gear. I promise.”

“...yeah, you’re right.”

Then, Magolor interjected.

“In this humble establishment of mine, you can find anything your heart could possibly desire! If you ever start wanting to upgrade your sets, you can always come here!”

“....yeah. Thanks, Magolor.”

Kirby, with Knight Helm on head and Knight Sword in hand, left Magolor’s shop.

~

Bandana Waddle Dee went back to work.

Kirby and Doctor headed for Chef Kawasaki’s tavern.

“The tavern at the Castle Village was attacked by monsters,” Doctor said, “it was left in shambles. Chef Kawasaki seemed to really resent them. He started another tavern in this village too!”

“Great! Chef Kawasaki’s cooking always gets me energized!”

“Exactly. Good food is where heroes get their power from.”

Doctor opened the tavern door.

The tune of a piano could be heard in the dim tavern. It seemed to have a much more high-class feel than the old one. However, Chef Kawasaki, who was making a milkshake behind the counter, hadn’t changed one bit.

“Welcome-”

Chef Kawasaki, who had called out to the entering duo, suddenly stopped what he was doing.

“Pink Kirby?! No way, you’re back?!?!”

“That’s right! I was summoned by the power of the bell. Me and Doctor are gonna get rid of the monsters together.”

“Holy cow!!”

Chef Kawasaki tossed away the milkshake he had been making and jumped out from the counter.

“I never thought I’d see you again!” he shouted happily, taking Kirby by the hands and hopping. “Have you been doing well?”

“Yeah, duh!”

Kirby did a somersault.

“I’m so happy,” Chef Kawasaki said with a smile, “does this mean Team Kirby Z’s finally getting back together??”

“Well, right now it’s just the two of us.”

“I see. You’re gonna need to find Beam and Hammer quick. Anyways, sit down, sit down. You’ve gotta celebrate this reunion. And obviously, a fancy establishment like this is perfect for that! Order anything you like!”

“Really?!”

Kirby’s eyes lit up.

“Well then, I want omurice and beef stew, and pancakes for dessert! And, and-!”

“First, I’d like katsudon! After that, rice and curry, meat and potato stew, croquette, and pizza! And, and-!”

The customer sitting at the end of the counter suddenly let out a small chuckle.

“Noisy as ever. This isn’t a cafeteria, it’s a tavern. Before you satisfy your appetites, why don’t you order a fancy drink?”

“...huh?”

Kirby shifted his attention to the customer hiding in the darkness.

“That voice! Meta Knight, is that you??”

“Hmph… Don’t speak in such a foolish loud voice. It’s a place for having fun while acting like an adult.”

However, Kirby didn’t care. He jumped at Meta Knight.

“Wowie, it’s been three days! Has the Halberd been fixed? Captain Vul kept saying the engine broke because I sang a song, but is he wrong? It’s not my fault the Halberd crashed-”

Meta Knight gave Kirby, who was clinging to him, a puzzled look.

“...what are you talking about? Three days, you said? I could’ve sworn the last time I saw you was very, very long ago…”

“...oh!”

Kirby covered his mouth.

Kirby hadn’t been careful. This Meta Knight was the Meta Knight of the Dream Kingdom, not the Meta Knight Kirby had seen just three days ago.

“Oh, uh-umm- oh yeah, my mistake! Uhh, the guy I saw three days ago was someone from another village, uhhhh- another swordsman, named, uhhhhh, Matcha Knight! Yeah! That’s it!”

“...who in the world is that?”

“Ummm, well, uhhh- ooh, what’re you drinking? Oh, hot chocolate! Looks really tasty-”

“It’s an adult drink!” Meta Knight said with an arrogant voice and hid his cup with his cape. “Now, didn’t you say you two are going to get rid of the monsters?”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m here to do!”

“Be careful. They’re much stronger than the ruffians that attacked before.”

Doctor nodded.

“I think that, even in all this chaos, there’s gotta be someone behind this.”

“Someone behind this?...”

“Yes. The monsters shouldn’t just start rampaging for no reason. Just like last time, there’s gotta be someone making them attack people… or at least that’s my theory.”

Kirby thought back to the fights from last time.

“Last time, it was the work of Taranza after he got corrupted by the mirror. Who could be doing it this time though?...”

“I still don’t know. So, we’re gonna have to look into this.”

“If you’re going to investigate,” Meta Knight said, “you should head to the Dunes region first.”

“Dunes?” Doctor asked. “Will we find any clues there?”

“Lately, it’s been taking quite a lot of damage. Apparently, an armor-clad monster known as Ignite Edge has started running amok there. You should take that monster down first.”

“Alrighty then, got it.”

Doctor and Kirby nodded their heads.

Chef Kawasaki carried a mountain of food over to where they were.

“Here you go, omurice and beef stew, plus katsudon and rice and curry.”

Doctor and Kirby looked enchanted by the good that had been brought to their table.

“Wooooaaahhhh… looks yummy!”

“Smells good! Time to chow down!”

“I’ll make more, so don’t hold back-”

Chef Kawasaki was about to finish when the two jumped at the feast.

“Mmmmmmmmm! Tasty! Knew it, Chef Kawasaki’s food is the best there is!”

“Our power is growing! Pops, seconds please, seconds please!”

“You’re going through those quickly…” Chef Kawasaki said, overwhelmed at the duo’s appetite, “u-um… maybe slow down a little so my business doesn’t collapse…”

Doctor stuffed his face with the katsudon.

“Energy recovered! Yeah, Sword, let's do that.”

“Okie dokie, Doctor!”

Kirby nodded his head while stuffing his face with omurice.

The duo ate up their food and then spoke together:

“Let’s go!”

“Though there’s still just two of us…”

The two raised their fists and shouted:

“WE’RE TEAM KIRBY Z… HALFWAY BACK TOGETHER!!!”

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[lovelivingmydreams]

What is a happy ending?

So someone (looks sternly at @rondoel) thought giving me insight in a certain OC of theirs and making me feel things is an okay thing to do. That I won't proceed to write a heartbreaking epilogue to my two part Virgil king story. This one not as long. But still. Enjoy:

What is a happy ending?

"Why happily ever after?" King wondered aloud as He studied their latest piece of art.

No one had ever answered that question for Him. Not in a meaningful way at least. And it never truly stopped bothering Him.

"Your majesty?" Anxiety asked carefully. Probably not sure if he had been meant to hear. King wasn't so sure Himself.

Oh well. He might as well finish the thought. Something interesting might come from it.

"Happily ever after. It's so... boring. Why does everyone like it so much?" He had wondered so often...

Anxiety shrugged. "Princey loved that crap. He hated it when I called out the flaws, though he could be just as bad with plot holes.

It's not realistic at all and... well boring is one word for it." His tone and face could almost be mistaken for dismissive, but King could swear He spotted fondness in the upturn of Anxiety's mouth and a slight wistfulness in the shine of his eyes.

King however was more interested in this more nuanced perspective on the story trope. Answers at last?

Anxiety noticed his king desired for him to elaborate and immediately started fidgeting as he tried to find the words to express his thoughts sufficiently.

"I suppose... everyone thinks that's what they want?" His nerves turn the sentence into a question. "When they are little it's an easy goal. You find the one who'll make you whole, or defeat the villain, or both. And then nothing ever bothers you again.

It's not how life works though... and growing up... I think everyone still has a part of them that wants to hold on to things being that... simple..." Anxiety trailed off and looked up at king curiously. His face strangely focused as if he was looking for an answer himself.

"Simple?" King urged wanting to hear more. Anxiety was so close to making sense. So close to bringing about that wonderful feeling when curiosity was sated. A story complete at last.

"Um... yeah... I mean even I feel a little... I don’t know... it feels right?

When you do the right thing, even when it's hard and you get the stuff you want anyway. And when people who hurt you don’t win. You want the world to work like that. If not for you then at least for the servant girl, who just wanted a night off, or the waitress who just wanted to buy her father's dream restaurant. Hard work, kindness, patience... they should be rewarded right?" Anxiety explained. Sounding frustrated. "And..." he let out a resigned sigh before straightening up and continued more decidedly. "Since the world doesn't work that way... why not escape somewhere where it does?" It was passionate. Perhaps in defense of Roman's favorite thing in the world. Then that fight and righteous defiance fell away in favor of a nostalgic fondness. "Thomas did it all the time growing up," Anxiety sighed before returning his attention to the painting that had prompted the question. A Father's Day movie night.

Hugs and snacks and movies with happily ever afters galore. All of Morality's favorite things.

King had to admit it had... stung to discover that Morality had taken up the role He'd given him even after he betrayed everything that title stood for.

Had he ever felt even the slightest bit conflicted when hearing Roman calling him 'Padre'?

Or was it supposed to be fine, since he thought Roman was the only half of Him who felt attached to him that way?

Had it truly never occurred to him that while he took in the confused Roman, he left behind a disoriented and heartbroken Remus who didn't understand why daddy was ignoring him.

What had he done wrong?

Why did he never get bedtime stories or hugs from dad? Why was he shoved away, scolded, ignored?

Why was he not allowed to play in the imagination with his brother?

The last thought had plagued both halves for years.

Even Roman who had stopped admitting to it to please Morality felt conflicted during story times and hugs to this day.

Telling Thomas that he didn't want anything to do with his brother had hurt more than the bump on his head...

But all of that was in the past. They were gone and their unresolved issues were a waste of His time. He had berated, tormented, Anxiety over this. He would not fall victim to such sentimentalities Himself.

"I see... escapism then?" He muttered, trying to get back on topic and not to show the... somewhat emotional turn His thoughts had taken.

Like His halves, His 'Padre' was gone. He probably never existed in the first place.

And Morality would pay for that betrayal and the way he abandoned Remus and how he made Roman fight to earn his love, only to abandon him as well. His suffering had only just begun.

Not because it still mattered. But... any excuse to justify and fuel His wrath even a little bit more was good enough for Him.

He'd probably avenge slights against his minister simply to feign kinship and watch the traitors squirm under his rule just a bit more. Not that he needed a reason to do anything. But justified rage was so much more satisfying to set loose. Because the targets would feel, deep down, they brought this upon themselves.

"Yeah... there's enough crappy stuff going on in the world right? Thomas... wants to use his talents to make people smile. And while that's cheesy, it's also... well it's him," Anxiety shrugged. King hummed in agreement as He framed the picture and put it away. He'd barely paid attention honestly. The answer was satisfactory. But there was a new question on His mind. As He mused over His minister's attachments to His enemies and how to sever them He recalled something intriguing about his recent behavior.

Anxiety had been pulling away from Morality. Why? What had caused a crack in 'the bestest most dynamicest duoest duo'?

And was this something he could use to forge an allegiance. Or to hurt Morality as deeply as He'd been hurt. Or, ideally, both?

King smirked to Himself as He laid a gentle hand on Anxiety's shoulder. He asked about a drawing of the young side and Thomas. He was pleased to note that His minister no longer shrank away every time He moved in his general direction. He might not be comfortable with His touch yet, but he was getting used to it. Something that would surely get to the others who still tiptoed around Anxiety's boundaries.

Maybe, at some point, he could be made to truly see things His way. To see the traitors for the villains they were. Just the thought of the chaos that this realization would unleash... It would be magnificent.

Morality had forgotten something important about 'happily ever after's.

Bad guys don’t get them. And the victor is always the hero.

It was only right that King reminded him of the shadow side of his favourite ending.

By making him live it.

Virgil knew that it was a bad thing that he found himself enjoying talking about his memories to the king and watching them turn into pretty cool paintings.

He was Anxiety, this was definitely a crisis. He can't relax now, not around the reason of said crisis... but if he doesn't relax a little his thoughts might do something really bad. And if he doesn't do whatever the king wants, then the king might do something bad.

So he had to balance on this weird edge of anxious, but cool with it.

The others were counting on him. To stay safe, to keep it together, to keep King distracted, to find a way to get him to lay off a little...

"Worthless." And... the thing is back.

"Dude, seriously, not now!" He snapped at his... shadow.

King just looked on intrigued. Great. Now the shadow had King's attention.

"Failure," it hissed. Right... King is not his biggest problem right now.

So far the shadow had only been mildly annoying even quiet for the most part. But clearly anxious thoughts made it remember it could be a pain in the behind. And worst thing is it got to Virgil even more because it laid out his true fears for King to see and use against him.

"You... you are just... you're just a thought. You can't hurt me." Virgil insisted.

Thomas could deal with his irrational fits. Surely he could manage this thing, right?

"Monsssster," the shadow hissed. No he didn't think that anymore!

"Guardian!" Virgil bit back. Patton said so, Logan said so, Roman said so, Thomas said so... why cant he just believe them?

He found himself struggling to breath again. The thoughts... they were real now... what if they could hurt him...? Can he die? What would happen to Thomas?

"Begone!" Virgil snapped out of his near attack at the sudden outburst from King.

What...?

He looked up just in time to see a flash of metal and shadow's dissolving figure.

"It'll reform later," King muttered as he sheeted his sword.

"It became too bothersome. You should not let your creations have power over you young one. You are their master, don't forget that," he instructed calmly, not looking at him.

Did he just...?

"Return to your business now, I find that I am in need of a break," he then declared as he walked away, still not looking back.

"But..." he came to a halt. "Should you wish to finish our gallery... I might be willing to indulge your presence later."

Virgil didn't quiet know what to do, so he bowed, just in case the king could see it somehow. "Y-yes my king. Thank you," he stammered hurriedly.

When he looked up, the king was gone.

And Virgil ran. He needed to find Lo and Pat before the shadows returned.

His thoughts were a confused mess... he hadn't imagined that right?

King had really stepped in to save him instead of letting Virgil's punishment, gift, curse, whatever run its course...

And then he left it up to Virgil to decide if and when they'd finish up.

There was probably some messed up reason behind it... but still.

Virgil wasn't stupid though. Even if saving him had been a purely noble impulse, King hadn't undone his 'gift' to make sure it wouldn't happen again. Telling him to put his foot down with 'his own creations' didn't really count.

King still messed up real bad and would have to do something pretty impressive to make up for all of that.

And Virgil was pretty sure that it wasn't just his pessimism talking when he thought that the king was no where close to wanting to make nice with any of them.

Or not for the right reasons anyway.

He shook his head. He can worry about all that later. Right now he has to find the others. Before King runs into one of them.

Virgil's trip down memory lane might've been deemed 'entertaining' or whatever, but he hadn't be around for whatever had happened to make the king be out for blood in the first place.

He didn't want to find out what King's idea of 'having fun' was when it came to Pat, Lo or even Janus. Whatever they did, it was still his duty to protect Thomas. Physically, socially, mentally and emotionally. Whether he wanted him to or not.

And not even King was going to stop him from fulfilling his purpose.

@antiredhuman you wanted to be tagged if I wrote more for this au so here you go! Hope you like it!

[dershloop]

Best Friend

“It’s kinda sad really,” Jay said quietly, sighing and looking down at his hands, picking at the dry skin that cursed his knuckles.

“It’s not, Jay. Don’t be so hard on yourself, everyone has a crush on someone,” Kai said, putting a hand on his friend’s shoulder reassuringly.

“Not everyone has a crush on their best friend though,” Jay retorted, his shoulders sagging further, dragging his posture down with it. He closed his eyes and thought for a moment. Just a moment. Imagining what it would be like to actually be held by him, to hold his hand, to smell his cologne, but not just from afar. To smell it right off of his skin. To see him put it on every morning. The cologne he’d bought him. It was weird and borderline creepy, but it was true. He was clear as day in love with Cole.

“You’d be surprised,” Kai muttered, thinking about similar conversations he’d had with Cole, both regarding Jay recently, and Zane in the past.

“You got Zane to go on a date with you though. At least then he liked you back. Me and Cole have been best friends for years now, there’s no way he’d want to be any more than that,” Jay sighed, “I may as well accept it; I am destined to die alone.”

“Ok that’s a bit extreme Sparky, take a breath,” Kai said, his eyes widening at the sudden escalation, “and you really would be surprised,” He said under his breath.

“What?” Jay said, creasing his brow and looking at Kai.

“What?”

“You said something.”

“Yeah to stop being so melodramatic.”

“No after that.”

“I didn’t.” Jay rolled his eyes and looked away, continuing to brood over unrequited love. Kai, however, had a plan.

He wasn’t sure how much longer he could take it, seeing 2 of his best friends moping about assumably unrequited love; so Kai was going to be their cupid. The cupid that was probably going to be kicked in the balls for doing what he was about to do, but a cupid all the same. They’d thank him later. Hopefully.

“It’s been fun and all listening to you cry about Cole for half an hour Jay,” Kai said, standing up and stretching, “But! I have a life outside of your love life or lack thereof so I gotta go. Remember, just before I do go though,” Kai said, just before he opened the door, “Stop assuming things,” He finished, before leaving Jay with a wink and an empty room.

Jay sighed and flopped back onto his bed, staring up at his ceiling. It was an obsession, but not with a movie franchise. If you’re obsessed with a movie franchise or a TV show, people call you a dork and move on. When you’re obsessed with a person, however, people’s attitudes change a little, to say the least. It was taking over his entire being; He couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep. In reality, he was coming down with something. A sickness that was deadlier than a gun. He had caught a big old case of love and he hated it. 

However, the detrimental thing about most illnesses; you catch them off of someone else.

Kai smiled to himself, walking to the living room where Cole was sat playing some new game he’d gotten himself. What he’d done to deserve a new video game? Truth be told, Kai didn’t know, but he figured it was probably something menial, such as not eating all the cake they had.

“What’re you smiling at?” Cole said, throwing his controller onto the couch next to him in frustration as some small enemy killed him.

“Oh nothing, my dear Coley,” Kai said, picking up the controller and moving it away from Cole, sitting down next to him with the smug grin still plastered on his face.

“Quit it.”

“No.”

“Short-ass i swear I’ll put your phone on top of the refrigerator again if you don’t tell me,” Cole said, reaching over him and snagging his controller back, continuing to play the game.

“Fine, fine I’ll tell you if you’re gonna be like that,” Kai said pouting, “It’s just that a little birdy was telling me all his earthly desires and guess who was on the list?”

“A little… what the hell are you talking about?” Cole said, sparing a quick glance over at his friend who was smirking exceptionally wide.

“You could say, a little blue Jay was telling me his earthly desires. More like pouring his heart out. Jeez, he really does wear his heart on his sleeve,” Kai said, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms. He was going to make Cole beg him for this answer or he was going to figure it out himself.

“Blue what? I- wait you were talking to Jay? Did he say anything about me?” Cole said, falling off the edge of the world in his game accidentally as all his concentration relating to it evaporated, throwing his controller on the floor and turning to face Kai.

“Not more than a lot.”

“In what way? Was it like ‘he’s a good bro’ or something else?”

“Ah well. You see Coley, I’m under a vow of silence. My lips are sealed,” He said, making the motion of zipping his lips with his hand, locking them and throwing away the key.

“Dude. Stop.”

“No, no Cole I can’t! He told me in confidence, I don’t want to betray his trust.”

“Kai Smith I swear to God I’ll throw you to the never realm if you don’t tell me and you know I could if I wanted to.”

“You wouldn’t and couldn’t.”

“I would and could, you’re a twink and weight like 120 pounds when wet. I could throw you into next week with enough will power so spill the beans.”

“Alright alright, I’ll spill,” Kai said, holding his hands up in mock defeat as if he wasn’t already going to tell him eventually, “He’s totally into you dude.”

“You aren’t fucking with me?” Cole said, his eyes widening and his jaw dropping as a small blush crept into his cheeks and tips of his ears.

“Nah man, I wouldn’t do that,” Kai said shrugging innocently.

“Knowing you, you totally would,” Cole said, creasing his brow suspiciously.

“Nah bro I’d never. That’s a low blow, even for me but I’m being totally serious.”

“Pinky promise?” Cole said, feeling the butterflies in his stomach begin to reemerge and take over his entire being.

“Pinky promise. Now go talk to him, he’s convinced himself he’s gonna die alone so I don’t know if he should be left alone for too long.” Cole just laughed and jumped up, tripping over his controller and stumbling a little as he dashed towards the stairs, practically running up them on all fours. He stood at Jay’s door and composed himself, taking a deep breath and raising his hand to knock.

“Come in!” Jay’s voice rang from the other side of the door. Cole took another breath, the butterflies in his stomach making their way into his bloodstream, causing every part of him to tingle and tense in anticipation.

“It’s now or never Cole,” He muttered, wrapping his hand around the doorknob and twisting it, walking into Jay’s room.

“Oh, hey Cole,” Jay said with a small smile as he sat up on his bed, “What’s up?”

“Oh, nothing. Nothing much new anyway. What’s up with you?”

“Oh, nothing. Nothing important anyway,” Jay said with a chuckle, putting his phone down and swinging his legs over the edge of his bed and looking Cole up and down nervously, “Is there something you needed?”

“Huh? Oh! No no, it’s just- I just- Kai was telling me something and I kinda wanted to talk to you about it,” Cole said, his muscles further tensing as he fiddled with his hands, refusing to look Jay in the eyes. He knew if he looked up, Jay would see how red his face had gone. All the confidence he’ had downstiars with Kai was evaporated, he didn’t know what to say. How do you tell someone your friend told them their in love with you and you feel the same? Even further, how do you tell that to your best friend?

“What- What did Kai tell you?” Jay said nervously, his stomach doing a flip and nearly sending the contents of it back out onto his bedroom floor.

“I- well- here’s the thing he told me you- He said you… liked me,” Cole said, squeezing his eyes shut, afraid of what was coming next. He knew he needed to look up at Jay; if he didn’t, he knew he’d construe his actions negatively. Lifting his head up slowly, Jay was sat staring at him dumbfounded, his face a bright shade of pink. He looked like he was about to cry, throw up or both.

“I- well you know how Kai is, talks out his ass a lot so-” Jay said quickly, rubbing the stray tears out of his eyes. He couldn’t believe he’d told him. Kai had told Cole so now he was stood there, in his room, looking insanely uncomfortable and ready to tell him he didn’t want to be friends anymore. Jay could feel his lunch tossing around, threatening to make a reappearance. He couldn’t even feel mad, he just wanted to throw up and cry.

“That’s the thing, I uh- he promised me he was telling the truth,” Cole said, trying his best to smile, albeit nervously at Jay in an attempt to further tell him he wasn’t mad, though it didn’t seem to be working, so he quickly added, “and I- I won’t lie because we’re best friends and have been for years but like if it is true I- I wouldn’t be upset I’d actually be very- quite- pretty happy.” Cole looked down again and squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to hide from his impending doom.

“Wait… Seriously?” Jay said, a fresh batch of tears, happy ones this time, swelled in his eyes.

“Yeah…” Cole said slowly, sucking his bottom lip into his mouth and biting into it until it began to bleed.

“Well in that case… Kai wasn’t lying,” Jay said, standing up and walking towards Cole slowly. Cole looked up and saw Jay moving towards him. He took in a deep breath and smiled, his own eyes pricking with tears. Jay looked in Cole’s eyes and wrapped his hands around his waist, resting his head against his chest.

Cole’s breath hitched, he panicked and lifted his arms slightly, before taking a deep breath and placing his arms over his shoulders and wresting his head on top of Jay’s. He looked up at him. Their faces were very close.

“Jay walker would you like to be my boyfriend?” Cole whispered. His breath was cool and fresh, with an after scent of coffee and what he assumed was chocolate. 

“Cole Brookstone I’d be delighted to be your boyfriend,” Jay said with a smile.

“Would- would you mind if I kissed you?” Cole said, not wanting to overstep any boundaries already.

“Come here you softy,” Jay said, pushing his lips against Cole’s hard and fast. Cole jumped and his eyes shot open in surprise before he slowly sunk into the kiss and moved his hand up to Jay’s face and holding it gently as if it were some priceless artefact. Which it was. To him.

Kai sat smiling smugly to himself. He’d heard the majority of their conversation, he figured as cupid he deserved to know what happened, so not long after Cole had raced upstairs, he’d snuck after and positioned himself near the top step, low enough that no one could see him. Eventually, when he’d realised where the conversation was going and that they seemed to be handling it… decently at best, he made his way back downstairs and had positioned himself back on the couch, smugly grinning at the idea that he’d just made two love birds realise they were into each other. Nice.

“What’re you smiling about?” Zane said cautiously, sitting next to Kai on the couch and taking his hand subconsciously.

“I! Just got Cole and Jay to confess to each other!” Kai said proudly, smiling at Zane as if he’d just cured world hunger. Zane chuckled and rolled his eyes.

“Someone had to say something eventually. I don’t think I’ve ever seen two people pinning so hard and so obviously but neither of them notice. It’s crazy to think it didn’t happen sooner.”

“You do realise I tried dropping so many hints to you that I liked you right? But you were too boneheaded to pick up on any of those hints,” Kai said, raising his eyebrows with a laugh.

“In my defense you are also incredibly boneheaded, and those ‘hints’ you’re talking about could have been construed in anyway so stop it,” Zane said, looking over at Kai.

“Good thing you’re moronsexal,” Kai said softly, moving his face closer to Zane’s.

“It’s a good thing I am, I don’t know how I’d deal with you otherwise,” Zane said softly back, lifting a hand to Kai’s cheek and cupping it softly, pressing their lips together, closing his eyes.

All is right in the world, Kai thought as he kissed Zane, their bodies getting closer, any kind of distance between them was too much. To make it even better, he knew full well Cole and Jay were probably doing the exact same thing in Jay’s room.

[yzkhr]

take me laser tagging and then push me into a corner and kiss me. then shoot me and walk away.

-

Today was almost the perfect definition of a relaxing day for Tokyo University's criminology student Kudo Shinichi. The weather was nice, with some of the sun's warm rays making it's way through the gaps of their window in the living room. The place was quiet, free of any random advices from his father and constant doting of his mother.

With him laying comfortably on the soft couch with his hand holding his favorite mystery novel and a cup of steaming hot coffee on the near table, today was just a nice day to chill.

Not until his girlfriend came in ruined it all.

Stomping her feet rather aggressively, Mouri Ran made her way towards her boyfriend whose obvious comfort in his position made her already bad mood turn worse.

He felt her presence but decided to pay no heed to it, not wanting to peel his eyes of the most exciting part. However, ignoring her was proven impossible as she literally flopped her body down on top of him, startling his composure.

"Ran" he reprimanded. However, looking at her innocent—still with a hint of annoynce—face, Shinichi decided to just let her be. Besides, having Ran close to him was never a bad thing.

Then she just had to insert her head in the crook of his neck, making his previous calm heartbeat faster. He tried to focus on the book, but the warm inhaling and exhaling on his neck wasn't making it any easier.

But, the last straw of his ability to be comprehensive was gone when Ran started kissing the side of his neck lightly.

Feeling his entire body slightly tremor, he tried to say something—anything— but his thoughts were cut off when she slightly sucked a sensitive spot. He couldn't help but let out a grunt.

The so called precious book in Shinichi's hand was now gone, as he was grabbing on to something more important. Feeling his hands around her waist, Kudo Shinichi's little tease finally spoke.

"Shinichi?" she asked, deliberately whispering into his ear.

"Hmm?"

He tried to gather his thoughts but they were all blocked out by pleasure.

"You love me right?"

It was a weird question, seeing how utterly submissive he is right now to her but he answered nonetheless, although with half of a mind.

"yah."

"You'll do anything for me?"

On any normal day, he would have been frightened at such a question but today wasn't a normal day. Specially if his girlfriend is already slightly nibbling at his left ear.

"yah.."

"Then, you'll go laser tagging with me?"

At this point, his mind was already somewhere else. Without even thinking about it as he's focusing on her kisses and nibbles instead of words, Shinichi instinctively answered.

"yahh.."

One second she was on top of him—making him lose his focus and ability to understand a thing except for the fact that she was kissing him—the next Ran was already on her way to her room, skipping lightly.

After a few milliseconds, Shinichi's brain catches up, finally getting the purpose of Ran's unusual and sudden actions a while ago. He hastily stood up and started making his way towards her and knocked three desperate times.

"Ran!" he protested, not wanting to leave his safe haven(that was completely destroyed) but Ran only answered in a muffled voice through the walls of their room.

"You said yes!" she even spoke in a sing-song manner which implied that she was already almost done dressing up and backing out would be unacceptable.

Kudo Shinichi ruffled his hair in frustration, the events just a few minutes earlier repeating in his head.

"She got me." he whispered, defeated.

-

It was a good thing joypolis was not far away from their house so they can get in the laser tag place easier and get out of there faster as well.

As they got into the vest room after the short briefing of the game, Shinichi was still very contemplative if wasting time at a game of laser tag more worth it than finishing his mystery novel back at home but seeing Ran's bright smile as she's wearing her vest similar to a child definitely made Shinichi lean on laser tagging.

As everyone—except Shinichi— get ready to enter the gaming arena, Ran pulled him out of his inner thoughts by slightly elbowing him at the side.

"Why do you look so bored Shinichi? Come on, it'll be fun." she chided, as if forgetting she dragged him out of the house.

"Sorry but my definition of fun today would be finishing my mystery book at home."

His girlfriend only raised an eyebrow and grinned at his remark.

"But that's boring. Laser tagging is so much more fun!"

He gave up, knowing clearly their definition of fun differ too much from one another.

But, maybe Ran could be right. Maybe Laser Tagging could be entertaining and not boring. Not to brag or anything but, Shinichi was pretty sure he can beat everyone with his eyes closed so he just hoped the game wouldn't be over in just a few minutes.

-

He lied. They were losing.

It wasn't even because his team was bad, it was because the other group were just a lot stronger. What frustrated him even more was the fact that it was only a single person that made the other team stronger. Of course, it was none other than his karate champion girlfriend.

Half of him was proud, this being the proof of her speed and good reflexes but the other half was annoyed, knowing he was losing and he can't do anything about it.

It was almost impossible to caught a Mouri Ran off guard. Before they can even get close to her, she would already feel their presence and turn around to shoot them. They also can't go face to face. There was nothing left except to--

Well, Shinichi was pretty sure he was going to get his ass kicked if wouldn't work, but it was worth the try.

-

Ran was confident. They were winning by a landslide. It was fairly easy compared to her battles with Kasumi-senpai. Her enemies were quick to spot and with her quick reflexes, she can shoot them in no time. She was sure that nothing would get in the way of their team to win.

If only she didn't get so cocky.

Ran was about to turn around a corner to try and find her targets when a cold hand yanked her to the opposite direction instead.

Having no time to react, she found herself being pushed into a close corner, her back making contact to the frigid wall. Since it was dark, with only a few placed neon lights in their area, she couldn't see the culprit. The stranger's hands were now on both side of her shoulders, successful at pining her. Despite the situation, she did take note how gentle they were, making sure that she didn't get hurt from the push.

Finally finding her voice and composure, Ran attempted to scold whoever the person was only to lost them again, this time, through a kiss.

For a second, she didn't know how to react. Involuntarily, her clenched fist was on their way to her kisser's face, only for Ran to stop it halfway, tasting a familiar minty taste from her mouth.

'Shinichi' Ran immediately thought.

Still having a little bit of her sanity left, she tried to break away—weakly, being distracted at how nice the kissing was—but to absolutely no avail.

In fact, he only leaned in harder, pushing his tongue inside her mouth, this time, making her totally blank.

The rational part of her was practically screaming, telling her how wrong and embarrassing the scene was but all the irrational part wanted was to pull him even closer and deepen the kiss more than ever. So she did.

Ran wrapped her armed left hand and empty right hand around her boyfriend, coaxing him closer.

At that moment, all that mattered was his lips on hers and their body making contact with each other as they push and pull.

When Ran wanted to go laser tagging, she meant it with every sense of the word. But perhaps, stuff like this would happened and it wouldn't be so bad. In fact, she might even prefer it than shooting beams at light vests.

Not being contented with just her lips, Shinichi went for her neck, and sucked it lightly, the same spot she did his earlier that day.

She definitely preferred this.

-

This wasn't the plan.

He was just suppposed to kiss her lightly and distract her for a short period of time so why is he still there, pining her against the wall, desperately kissing each other like there's no tomorrow?

An eternity pass but neither one wanted to pull away. He should've been running out of ari by now. But for him, kissing Ran had never been so tiring. In fact, Shinichi could do it all day if he was permitted to. The odd sweet taste that only she have—not that he kissed any other girl before— he wanted to name it.

The two of them completely forgot about the ongoing game, with them playing a more exciting and pleasurable game on their own.

Fortunately—or unfortunately—a tiny bit of Shinichi came back to it's senses by hearing a faint shooting sound, bringing him to his current task at hand.

Knowing that if he stayed longer kissing her, he'd just be sucked in again so he move to her neck, sucking it, with both the intent of distracting her and something else.

Seeing Ran completely dazed, he slowly held his gun up to her stomach while still kissing her, albeit less aggressive for fear he'll lose himself and never stop.(which doesn't sound so bad.)

With one last smack, he pulled the trigger.

-

The loud sound effect of a shooting beam broke Ran out her trance with her slightly nodding her head off. She was breathing hard, still trying to catch air from the activity.

Seconds passed as the post-kiss effect was finally gone, that's only when she noticed one of her lights were off. The previous sound of a shooting beam came back to her.

She looked up to see Shinichi grinning, slightly waving his gun off. In that moment, everything clicked.

Ran's face warped from the state confusion to anger almost instantly. Shinichi took that as a sign to get away.

"Shinichi!" Before she could even begin to run after him, he was already gone. Advantage of a spccer player with strong legs.

Having the kissing scene played out in her mind, she sighed with mixed in feelings in them.

"He got me."

-

I'm new to writing kissing scenes so please bear with me :))

[tears-and-lilies]

Chapter 11 – respect

Managed to finish this chapter on my Birthday!

Some context: Glorien was brought to Berta and her colleagues again. Now he’s in the bathroom next to the dorm room.

Tag: @whumpfigure; @just-a-whumping-racoon-with-wifi; @green-eyed-whumpster; @liliability

CW: whump of minor (17 y/o), creepy whumper, physical abuse, restraints, forced to kneel, dehumanizing language

***

Glorien could cry. His hands – shaking – reached out to grab the sides of the standing mirror in the bathroom. Berta and her colleagues had done their best to decorate him. He had liked the golden bracelets they had slid all the way up to his upper arms and similar bracelets around his ankles. It made him feel as if he was wearing at least a little more. The make-up felt weird, the paint and powder sticky on his face. No matter how long he stared at the face in the mirror adorned with red and yellow, he never got used to it. This wasn’t his face. And this certainly wasn’t his hair. His hair was black.

He touched the locks for what must be the twentieth time. His heart sank once again as his fingertips brushed over the familiar texture. No. It couldn’t be. Why was it red?

He tried to remember what the make-up artists had said. He did recall one of them going through his hair, praising the black waves. Everything made Glorien so dazed. He had been overwhelmed by their carefulness and the way they painted his face, he hadn’t really been listening to what they were saying. He didn’t care.

He cared now. Surely they wouldn’t keep his hair this way? He looked ridiculous! Nervously he looked around the bathroom. Maybe he could find something to wash the dye off with? What had they put in his hair anyway? He grabbed a rag and started scrubbing his scalp. The colour wouldn’t give. He stared into the mirror once more, defeated. Tears were welling up in his eyes and he blinked. He knew he was overreacting. This shouldn’t get to him as much as it did.

But it did. Of course it did. In the span of a few months, he had lost a brother and his father, he had lost his friends, his home. They had taken everything from him, deciding whether he was worth keeping alive, where he should sleep, when he should eat. And now they decided what he should look like as well. Suddenly, he could no longer stand the mirror. The image it showed felt too wrong, as if the sleek surface stopped showing reality. An unsettling feeling crept up to him, making a shiver go up his spine. Glorien suppressed the urge to look over his shoulder. He rushed out of the bathroom.

Two steps into the dorm room, he froze. Lady Triban was standing there, in the middle of the room, between the two rows of beds. She clasped her hands together and smiled.

‘Oh, look at you! That yellow paint under your eyes goes so well with the red eyeshadow!’ She stepped closer.

‘But I thought we specifically requested brown hair? They must have made a mistake there.’ She reached to tuck a lock behind his ear. Glorien flinched and instinctively took a step back.

‘Oh well. They can fix that later. Maybe dye the tips a golden yellow, to go with the paint? What do you think, dancer?’

He looked at her, warily. What did she want from him? She had spoken at the execution, and if he could believe Jespen, she had convinced the Emperor to keep him alive. But why? He barely knew anything about her, except the things everyone knew. She was wealthy. She owned a bank and a fort in the east. Some people say she killed her stepbrother, but that was a rumour spread by her enemies.

And she married Loui. But even though his father and Loui had been friends, Glorien had never met Triban. He took a deep breath.

‘What do you want from me? Why do you care?’

‘If you want to be a dancer, you have to look the part, don’t you think? I only want to help you.’ She lifted her chin, looking down at him with fierce eyes.

‘I don’t want to be a dancer’, Glorien hissed.

‘You’d rather be dead, then?’

He pressed his lips together. She knew what he meant. He didn’t want to play this game.

Triban tutted. ‘You really don’t deserve my help. But I can’t let you die from your own pride.’ She shook her head. ‘We should crush it. Let me give you a few rules to work with.’

As she took a step forward, he took another step back.

‘Firstly, you should be grateful. We spared your life, when you deserved to die. Therefore, your life is worth nothing.’

Glorien took another step back, hitting his back against the closed bathroom door. He was tired of hearing that. He knew she was wrong.

‘I am the son of a noble-’

‘Secondly,’ Triban interrupted, ‘you are what we tell you to be. You owe us your life, and you should spend every second of it paying us back. We were even so kind to give you a place to sleep and eat, when we had no reason to. You can show us how grateful you are by obeying us.’

Glorien snorted. You took everything away from me.

‘And lastly, whenever you are in the same room as a member of the Imperial family, you’re supposed to kneel. That should be basic knowledge.’ She crossed her arms and waited.

He wasn’t going to give in. If he couldn’t run, he could at least fight. He looked up and said: ‘Like I said, I am the son of a noble. You took everything away from me. I won’t kneel for you.’

Triban chuckled. ‘You seemed so frail yesterday. Only a day and suddenly you think you’re of any significance. We’ve been too kind to you.’

She turned towards the double doors and called for the guard to bring ropes.

***

The guard forced Glorien to his knees, in front of his bed. Before he could struggle, his hands were grabbed and bound together in front of him. The guard wound rope around his ankles too, tying them tightly together and fastening the rope around one of the legs of the bed.

Triban walked around the bed and stopped in front of Glorien. She cleared her throat. He refused to look up at her, keeping his eyes locked on her blue dress instead.

The guard kicked his side and he gasped for air.

‘If looking up is so difficult for you, why don’t you try to get up?’, Triban asked sweetly. ‘Go ahead. Get up.’

Glorien sighed and lifted his head. Another kick landed in his side and he caught his balance before falling.

‘I said. Get. Up.’ Triban’s tone had shifted.

He tried to get onto his feet, but the rope was bound to shortly to the leg of the bed. No matter how he twisted his legs, his ankles were kept in place.

The next kick caught him off guard and he fell on his side. He groaned as he shuffled to sit up again.

‘Poor dancer. It’s sad how you struggle to obey even the simplest order’, Triban said. There was noticeable enjoyment in her firm voice.

‘You even lack the respect to thank me.’

Glorien flinched and looked up when he felt a hand going through his hair. Triban took back her hand and smiled.

‘Well? I’m trying to help you to be obedient. What do you say?’

The silence that followed was interrupted by another kick. Now she grabbed his hair firmly and held his head up. Tears welled up in his eyes from the sudden stinging pain.

‘What do you say, dancer?’

He swallowed. ‘Thank… thank you.’

Triban pulled harder. ‘Where are your manners? I thought you said you were a noble boy?’

Glorien pushed his eyes closed from the pain. He whispered: ‘Thank you, ma’am.’ He let out his breath as his head was dropped.

‘So stubborn. I hope you’ve learned some respect by the time practice starts.’ She walked away, the guard following her. Suddenly, she halted.

‘I think it starts in less than an hour, right?’, she asked the guard. He nodded.

‘If he’s still learning how to kneel when dance practice has ended, I think a very bad punishment will follow.’ She opened the door and said loudly to the guard: ‘Oh well, we’re not going to stop him from learning, are we? He can go to his practice whenever he feels ready.’

A loud slam sounded when she shut the door. Glorien’s heart beat faster. He turned at started picking at the knots that tied his ankles together. He didn’t want to know what they would do to him if he didn’t show up to their damned dance practice.

***

His hands were shaking. His sides hurt from being turned so he could untie the rope at his feet. It seemed impossible to do. The rope around his wrists wasn’t helping his case either.

A lot of time must have passed. Had the practice already started? He had been sitting here for quite a long time. He almost jumped as he heard the doors open. The other dancers walked in. They were looking at him, not sure what to do.

Glorien decided to ignore them and turned his attention back to the rope. Tears fell down his cheeks as he kept struggling.

‘Hey.’

He looked up. A girl – Aurora, he remembered – was standing in front of him. She was frowning. Glorien blushed and made himself small.

‘I’m.. I-’, he squeaked.

Aurora crouched down. Her hands moved gracefully, untying the knots around his ankles with ease. When she was done, she moved on to the rope around his wrists.

Glorien wanted to thank her, but she looked coldly at him, as if he was a burden. Or at least, that’s what he could make of it. It was impossible for him to read her expression. Instead, he rose to his feet and ran out of the dorm room while drying his eyes with the back of his hand. In his haste, he almost bumped into the guard. The man snorted.

‘So you’re finally done?’

[stellarcat52]

Timeless blue chapter 9

Krel was half helping Stuart make sure the wormhole would be ready, half altering his serrator. With his own compatibility with magic, he assumed he would be able to work it into tech as well. It was mostly to stop his own anxiety from causing him to portal up to the Order’s ship to help Douxie. They had been gone for an hour, the trolls and Toby were well past just pacing and were about ready to make a move themselves. Nari had become the source of reason.

All they had to do is wait until everyone came back, then sneak to the mothership and wormhole to Akiridion-5 where hopefully the order cannot find Nari. Of course they hadn’t explained this part of the plan to Douxie or Merlin yet, inspiration struck Krel while wondering how long it would be until he could bring Douxie there. Nobody needed to know that part.

So time passed, his serrator now buzzed with magic whenever he willed it to and Stuart was trying to fix the blank parents without Krel’s guidance. Very little was stopping him from running out there to find Douxie. Toby’s entertaining Nari was definitely not helping his self control. Douxie trusted him to stay there, protect Nari, and be safe, so he didn’t leave. He did however go to here Zoe was helping a customer, using a recharged human transformation.

Then, the explosion happened.

It was instantly clear, the plan had failed. Douxie’s magic lit up the sky brighter than anything Krel had seen before, the light still fading into the distance once Toby and Nari made it outside.

Krel opened a portal, disappearing and closing it before anyone could follow him.

It took a few too many tries to find Douxie, and it was beyond over when he did make it.

His closest portal closed just as Douxie had spoken “we’re on our own.”

Merlin was gone and Krel and Douxie both felt that feeling of regret, only while Douxie felt it was his place to continue where Merlin left off, Krel could only focus on what could have happened had Krel come with them.

Krel pauses, but still goes to Douxie, still human out of habit of not changing. “I’m so sorry.” Krel couldn’t find reason to cry with Douxie, but the pain of losing a loved one, a father, is something he knew just as well.

The held a memorial, at the remains of Camelot. Krel stood beside Douxie, now Akiridion and forever hesitant to try and comfort Douxie through touch. Steve tried to help, not really doing much.

Not like Krel could speak, he didn’t know how to help at all in this situation. He wasn’t close with Merlin, mostly ever thinking of the old man as Douxie’s mentor and nothing else.

When it was all done, Douxie’s words on Merlin, talk of what needs to be done, Krel and Douxie finally got a chance to talk.

“Aren’t you going to go with them?” Krel had avoided Claire’s portals, but Douxie had never expected that Krel would want to join them on this.

“Not unless I’m sure you’re okay.” Krel reached for Douxie’s hands, holding tight so the wizard couldn’t leave until he finally spoke what he felt needed to be heard. “Losing your family is not easy, for anyone. I know he wasn’t blood but you two were closer than that, It’s been months for me and Aja to be over our parents and I don’t think either of us are. Will you be okay if I stay here?”

It takes Douxie a moment to match Krel’s gaze. “I have Archie, and I’ve survived with Merlin before. I’ll be okay.” He assured Krel with a soft smile that wasn’t entirely forced.

Krel doesn’t stop being worried and showing it, but he nods and let’s go. Before entering a portal of his own back to hex tech he speaks. “I promise I’ll be there, so come back so I don’t have to worry.”

“I promise I will. I love you, and I’ll be worrying about you too.”

That made Krel smile, “I love you too, so don’t die on me, Master Wizard.”

———

Back at Hex tech, Krel took a few portal trips to get the teleport to Akiridion 5 set up there and bring the blank’s heads back to fix their programming.

“Was he like this before?” Claire kept looking up at the pacing Akiridion, the programming screen forgotten at times,

Toby, who had been filled in on what had happened alongside the others, was helping her look up things that might help via tablets Krel had borrowed earlier. “He didn’t have the robot head, but still no. He’s a lot more active this time.”

“Yeah! Go Krel trying to get stronger!” Steve cheered, he had been talking with Nari for a while, cheering her up especially after what happened to Merlin.

“He’s not trying to get stronger, Steve, he’s nervous. I know nervous pacing.” Claire corrected.

“Yeah I’m kinda surprised you’re not.”

“I’ve got something to do this time, Toby, something that could help. I’m not dropping this to walk around aimlessly.” Still, Claire did seem bothered by the fact that the alien prince who had defeated a godlike figure, was nervous about all this.

“What was Merlin’s death like? I didn’t make it in time.” Krel broke the slip moment of silence that might have grown in length.

“It was just so sudden, he had been attacked but I honestly didn’t think he would die from it. Guess I was wrong.”

“I mean. We saw the guy turn to ashes and it’s still weird that he’s dead.”

“Yeah, It’s hard to believe he’s just gone.”

With the three similar responses, Nari spoke up despite her quiet nature. “I can sense spirits, small and great. I felt Merlin’s leave this plane.”

“Nari,” eyes go to Claire as she approaches the demigod, “if you can feel all souls, what about Jim?”

Nari nods, saying she shall try and steps away from the group. As a moment passes, green roots extend from where she is standing and travel across the world, looking for the trollhunter. As the roots travel, they glow and infect Krel, but instead of turning him green they brighten a small fraction of magic he had already accepted. The sliver of Nari’s magic from when she revived Morgana and Krel absorbed her power.

After Nari confirmed Jim was no longer of this realm, Claire decided to check another realm, traveling to the shadow realm intending to find Jim’s soul on her own.

Krel had no intention of following her.

Claire returned with a frantic, apparently good, Morgana in tow, who unintentionally brought their enemies.

[mamabearcatfanfics]

I wrote The Safest Place just over a year ago, in May 2019. It was inspired by the beautiful artwork below by @liquidashesart​ which was shared with her permission. She is currently writing the amazing doujinshi The Last Days.

"Kagome. Kagome! C'mon, open your eyes for me."

Kagome scrunched her eyes tightly, wincing at the noise. The muffled roaring in her ears was starting to ease, with words discernible in amongst the static. Her head was pounding. What was going on? She tried opening one eye and whimpered at the sudden flash of pain the light caused. Obviously, that was a bad idea at the moment. She tried to work out where she was with her other senses.

She was cradled in warmth; her back was supported and there was the weight of what seemed to be a warm hand on her hip. Her legs were tucked up, but it didn't feel like she was resting on the ground. Something soft was tickling her face. Was it hair? She could hear a long drawn out sniff, and then more words, although they still sounded strange and echoey, like they were coming from far away.

"Inuyasha?", she whispered hesitantly, keeping her eyelids still firmly closed.

"Who else would it be? Kagome, next time I tell you to stay back, I want you to listen, okay?" The tone was gruff, but also held more than a hint of worry.

Without opening her eyes, Kagome stretched out her hand. She felt the rough texture of short fur under her fingertips, then the silkiness of a long length of hair. She stroked her fingers downwards gently, delighting in the feel of something familiar as she got her bearings. Warm arms tugged her a little closer, and she sighed and let her body go limp. She was perfectly safe. Being in Inuyasha's arms was the safest place in the world.

Slowly, she opened one eye, and then the other, blinking slowly, trying to focus on the concerned gaze of the amber eyes only inches away from hers. "What happened?" she asked groggily.

"Shit, you don't remember? Did you hit your head when you fell?"

She felt the warm arm that cradled her back shift upwards, clawed fingers gently combing through her hair and examining the back of her skull for lumps.

"I fell? I don't remember. I have a headache and my ears are ringing a little." Cautiously, Kagome tried to sit up, realising with a small blush that she was sitting in Inuyasha's lap, her legs tucked in snugly against his thigh.

"Easy does it. Don't rush it." Inuyasha's arm tightened around her shoulders as she sat up and looked around. Obviously, they'd been in some sort of battle. The tree line was decimated, and the earth in front of them was rucked and folded, bearing the unmistakable scar of Inuyasha's signature kaze no kizu attack. There was no sign of their opponent, so Inuyasha must have defeated them. That didn't explain why she'd been down for the count though.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome questioned.

"It was a Karasu-Tengu. He was disguised as a yamabushi and had his scent covered with strong incense, so I didn't recognise what he was at first", muttered Inuyasha. "I should have though – no human has a nose that big." Kagome could feel the tenseness in his arms; obviously something about the battle had upset him greatly. She gazed at him in concern.

His eyes flicked away from hers. "He got hold of you before I could get a good hit in. And then I couldn't attack him for fear of hurting you."

"Oh."

His eyes swung back to hers angrily. "Yeah. 'Oh', is a bit of an understatement wench! I told you to stay back. I had it sorted! Just a little bit longer, and I would have had everything under control. But you had to step in!"

Kagome's eyebrows lowered in puzzlement. "Why would I…?" A thought suddenly occurred to her, and her eyes raked over Inuyasha's form, her hands following. Sure enough, his suikan was soaked with blood around his shoulders, the scarlet evidence hidden by the vibrant colouring of his fire rat. She looked back at him angrily. "Had it handled, huh?" She gestured towards his shoulders. "This doesn't look like you were handling things Inuyasha! I obviously 'stepped in' because I thought you needed help!"

Grumpily muttering under her breath, she looked around for her backpack, and located it not too far away. Ignoring the still pulsing headache, she crawled out of Inuyasha's lap and dragged the backpack towards her, rummaging until she found the first aid kit.

"I'm fine Kagome", Inuyasha harrumphed, bottom lip thrust out with an impressive scowl on his face. Kagome just rolled her eyes as she opened the well-stocked kit.

"Alright, take it off", she said, gesturing to his suikan, the bottle of antiseptic and cotton balls already in her hands.

Inuyasha's ears flicked in obvious irritation at her request. He crossed his arms, doing a very good impression of a petulant toddler. "Don't wanna."

Kagome heaved out a heavy sigh, closing her eyes. "Inuyasha, please. I have a horrible headache and a weird taste in my mouth. I'm tired, beyond tired actually, I'm exhausted. I just want to do this and go have a nap somewhere."

"Fine", he growled, loosening the tie on his suikan and kosode and shrugging them off his shoulders. "I'm only doing this to make you feel better. I don't need you to fix me." He stayed seated but shifted around so his back was to Kagome.

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard it all before. Let's just clean you up and get it over and done with, okay?"

Kagome drew in a sharp intake of breath at the sight of the deep slashes across the meaty flesh of Inuyasha's shoulders; one very close to his neck. The tengu had obviously possessed a sword and had been doing its best to behead his hanyou opponent. A human with these injuries would have already bled out, but Kagome could see the deep wounds already knitting back together. It was true that he really didn't need her to help doctor his wounds, but it always made her feel better.

She tipped antiseptic onto the cotton wool, and began dabbing at the deep cuts, cleaning away the already drying blood. She apologised softly as Inuyasha hissed at the burn of the antiseptic.

"Why you gotta use that stuff anyway wench? It stings and it reeks! Just use water!"

"We've had this discussion before Inuyasha."

"Yeah, well, I didn't have problems with no 'germs' before you showed up Kagome", he muttered, but stayed still as she carefully cleaned his injuries and then taped bandages over the wounds. As soon as she was finished, he pushed his arms back through the voluminous sleeves and shrugged his fire rat back in position.

Kagome reached for her water bottle and took a few sips, trying to get rid of the weird taste in her mouth. Rummaging in the first aid kit again, she found some paracetamol and gulped them down with a grimace, hoping it would kick in quickly and banish the headache that was starting to make her feel a little nauseous. After packing up the first aid kit and shoving it back into her backpack, she sat back down facing Inuyasha and examining his expression carefully.

"So Inuyasha, are you going to tell me what happened?" Inuyasha's whole demeanour after this fight had her worried. Usually after defeating an enemy he was cocky, bragging about how he could take anyone on, but something was off. He kept glancing at her anxiously, sitting closer than he usually would. She yawned widely, feeling herself practically drooping with exhaustion.

"C'mere", said Inuyasha softly. He pulled her back into the position she'd been in when she came to, cradled in his lap. His solicitous manner was making her feel more uneasy by the minute. Something had happened that had really worried him. Why couldn't she remember?

"The Tengu", began Inuyasha, "he didn't just grab you. He possessed you". He swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing nervously in his throat, his usual gruff tone soft. "I couldn't do a damn thing – had to stand there and watch you try and fight him off somehow. And then you just… there was a light, like a barrier, and you fell. Your body was jerking and moving on the ground and I thought…" He pulled her tightly against him again. "Somehow you pushed him out, fought off the possession. And then I took care of him." He paused, looking down at her anxiously again. "It took you a while to wake up.

Kagome blinked in surprise. She had no memory of those events, but they must have happened. Inuyasha wouldn't lie to her and was clearly spooked by what sounded like her body having some sort of seizure while she'd fought off the possession of the tengu. She would have to ask Kaede about it when they returned to the village. It did explain why she felt so exhausted and the weird taste in the back of her mouth. She probably should feel more upset about it than she did, but right now, she was more concerned about Inuyasha.

She ran her fingers through the silver forelocks framing his face. "I'm okay now though", she smiled. "No harm done. Thank you for always looking after me so well Inuyasha." The worried expression was still on his face, the amber eyes roving over her, as if looking for any injuries he might have previously missed. She reached up to stroke his cheek gently. "Hey, dog boy. I'm okay, really."

For one moment he leaned the weight of his head into her hand, nuzzling his cheek against her palm slightly, then pulled back, heat flushing his cheeks. "Keh, I wasn't worried. You're too stubborn to get really hurt by some weak ass tengu like that."

Her smile widened. "Definitely." She couldn't stifle the yawn that overtook her, and her body slumped in the safety of Inuyasha's arms. "Do you think it would be okay if we just rested here for a little while? Not for long, I know we've got to get back, but I think I just need a short nap."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes dramatically, and then sighed as if he were granting her a huge favour. "Fine, we can do that." He shuffled backwards a little, so his back rested up against a fallen tree trunk, and gathered her more securely into his arms. Kagome's head nodded forwards, too heavy with exhaustion to be propped up any longer, and her eyes drifted closed. She felt Inuyasha's nose nuzzle into her hair, and smiled sleepily at his final comment as she drifted off. He always had to have the last word.

"Don't be pulling that shit on me again, Kagome, ya hear? I mean it. You made a promise to stay by my side, remember? And I'm gonna make sure you keep it."

[ashtheshortstack]

make them learn - ch 2

Rating: T Ship: Adrinette (sorta) Chapter 2/3: tired of pretending

Tags: Princess Justice AU, Akumatized Marinette, Bullying, One-Sided Reveal, Angst, Hurt/Comfort

Read on Ao3

Previous Chapter/Next Chapter 

Adrien laid on his bed, arm shielding his eyes from the light of day shining in from the large windows. Guilt swirled inside of him. There was a heavy feeling tugging at his heart that hadn’t left him since he saw Marinette run off in tears. That wasn’t fair. Lila was way off base after this incident. 

Besides, it wasn’t fair to him either. If Marinette really had feelings for him, and the blinding evidence displayed in front of him clearly confirmed that fact, then she deserved to tell him herself. That wasn’t Lila’s, or Hawkmoth’s for that matter, right to tell him. He didn’t blame her for fleeing the scene. But, he longed for a text back. For her to answer him. To meet him. 

He had to admit… he was confused. Adrien’s emotions were entirely jumbled in his mind. Suddenly, nothing seemed true. The feelings he had long believed were no longer believable. Ladybug… he had always loved her. Been madly head over heels for her for so long. He vowed to wait for her, even if she liked someone else. But then Kagami came along, and while Adrien thought she was beautiful and great company… and he enjoyed having her as a friend, there was still a nagging feeling that it wasn’t right. That Kagami wasn’t who he was supposed to be with. 

If he were honest with himself, Kagami felt more like a crush rather than love. The strong feelings he had for Ladybug were beyond anything he felt for anyone. He was attracted to Kagami, but was he really? Was there attachment there? Did he really love her? No, he didn’t. And Kagami was a good person. She didn’t deserve to be his second choice or his replacement for Ladybug. Someone else out there was much better for her than him. 

So, where did that leave Marinette?

Finding out she liked him… it made him happy. But why? Why was he so happy that Marinette had feelings for him? 

Marinette was beautiful and talented… A bit clumsy at times, he had to admit. She sputtered her words around him, but maybe that was just because she had a crush on him. Which would actually make sense. It had nothing to do with her not liking him, but instead, actually loving him. Did Marinette see more of him than he realized? Had he really been that oblivious to the feelings of someone he considered to be a best friend?

Oh… She had been around him and Kagami a lot. He couldn’t imagine what that felt like for her. Sure, finding out that Ladybug liked another boy had stung, but he never saw her with this other guy. But Marinette was with them. Friends with both of them… Saw he and Kagami flirt and laugh and bond over their strict parents. And he never noticed. He never noticed the pain she was in watching them be together. Besides, Adrien just assumed that Marinette liked Luka. But maybe… it was the same way he felt for Kagami. It was a crush, but she had stronger feelings for someone else. For him.  

But he didn’t know how he felt about her. If he really did love Ladybug as much as he thought, he couldn’t choose Marinette over his lady either. He’d be hurting Marinette too if he tried to pursue anything… wouldn’t he?

“Hey.” 

Adrien moved his arm, looking up at his kwami who floated over him. “Plagg?” 

“Are you okay, Adrien?” 

Sighing, he sat up. He grabbed a pillow, hugging it to his chest. “I don’t know.” 

Plagg’s antennas hung low as he shot his chosen a defeated look. “Do--Do you like Marinette?” 

“I don’t know… Maybe?” he said with a shrug. 

“What do you like about her?” 

Adrien laughed at that. “What’s not to like about her? She’s clever and smart. Beautiful and amazing. Marinette’s the nicest person I know, Plagg. That’s why I just--I don’t want to hurt her.” 

Plagg nodded before he seemed to mull something over. “Uh, so, Ladybug was acting weird today, huh?” 

Blinking, Adrien gave his kwami a confused look. Why the sudden change in topic? Why was Plagg acting so… weird? He was usually able to hold rather consistent conversations with his kwami (most involving cheese, of course), but now it seemed like Plagg wasn’t sure what conversation he wanted to have. Adrien was going to develop emotional whiplash from the topic jumping. 

“Ladybug? What about her?” 

“She defeated the akuma before you even had a chance to transform.” 

He shrugged. “Y-Yeah, but I still broke the inflicted object.” 

“You did.” 

But Plagg was right. Ladybug screamed at Lila after all was said and done. It seemed like she was going to hurt her if he hadn’t brought his lady back to reality. Adrien knew that Ladybug didn’t like Lila. She must’ve found out from Marinette what happened, and it set his partner off. Her sense of justice was rather stubborn. 

Still, it was odd for Ladybug to get so upset that she nearly hurt someone. His lady didn’t like Chloe either, but she never threatened her. Maybe there was more of a connection between Marinette and Ladybug than he realized?

“Sugar Cube!?” 

Yanked from his thoughts, he looked up at his kwami with surprise before viewing Plagg’s line of sight. With a gasp, Adrien shot to his feet when he saw the tiny red kwami phase through his window. As he got closer, he realized Tikki held the earrings in tow. 

“Tikki? What’s going on?” 

The kwami was in bad shape. Tikki looked so heartbroken and defeated. “Ladybug has been akumatized.” 

Adrien felt his jaw fall slack, stunned that his lady had fallen victim to their enemy. “W-What!? What happened?” 

“She…” the kwami trailed off. “She told me to bring the miraculous to you. She said that you could transform and save her.” 

“Isn’t it dangerous? What if she leads him to Master Fu?” 

Tikki sighed. “I asked the same, but Master Fu has been changing locations since Hawkmoth found out his identity. There’s no way for Ladybug to know where he is.” 

With a nod, he took the earrings from the kwami. He slipped the ring from his finger before stuffing it in his pocket. Adrien glanced up at Plagg. “You’ll be okay if I transform with Tikki, right?” 

“As long as you give me cheese.” 

Adrien laughed at that. “You got it.” 

As he snapped the earrings in his ears, he idly wandered his gaze to the clearly upset kwami before him. “Hey, Tikki,” she looked up. “I can do this. I’ll save my lady, okay? I just--I need to know what happened.” 

“She was humiliated at school today. In front of the boy she likes.” 

Suddenly, the gears matched in his head. A clear picture Adrien didn’t even know he was searching for became apparent in his head. Not only had he allowed his lady to get akumatized, but his best friend as well. His best friend that he hadn’t even realized he had feelings for. A best friend that he’d fallen for twice. 

“Oh, Marinette…” he sighed, burying his face in his hands. “I should’ve gone to talk to her. I was so worried about my own feelings. Trying to call and text her wasn’t enough. I should’ve found her. Been there for her.” 

“You wouldn’t have known what to say,” Plagg pointed out. “You would’ve rejected her, and I’m sure that wouldn’t have helped.” 

“But I--” 

“It’s okay,” Tikki said. “She’ll be okay. However, you can’t tell her who you are. Or that you know who she is. Master Fu would take your miraculous. But I know you’re supposed to be Ladybug’s partner. Her Chat Noir. She can’t do this without you, Adrien.” 

He nodded. The kwamis were both right. His feelings for Ladybug--for Marinette --were the last thing to worry about. He’d tell her someday. He’d tell her after they defeated Hawkmoth. Now that he knew, he could at least stop hurting her. He could… well… they couldn’t date . But he could tease her. He could be closer to her. 

Adrien wasn’t going to let her down easy or reject her like he thought he’d have to. He’d just… tell her not now. 

“Tikki, spots on!”

[ghost-chance]

In honor of Neil Elwood Peart,  9/12/1952  -  1/7/2020

The reports are not a hoax. Neil Peart has died...brain cancer. The music world won't be the same without him. More than that, I owe this man my life...literally, as in, if not for him, I would be dead. In his memory, I’ve decided to share this story.

This story is personal and it’shard to tell, but it’s entirely true. Back when I was an angsty teen dealing with angsty teen problems (and, tbh, a lot of problems most people are lucky to not face until adulthood) Rush’s music was the soundtrack I lived my life to. (Yes, I’m somewhat dating myself here.) As silly as it sounds as an adult, I practically idolized Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart; I lived my life in accordance to the lessons in their music and their stories and looked up to them as role models of a sort. I exercised to Marathon and By-Tor and the Snow Dog. I read to Rivendell and Tom Sawyer. I powered through homework with YYZ and The Gangster of Boats trilogy, and brooded about bullies to Subdivisions and Scars. At a time in my life when just existing was painful, Rush’s complex, thought-provoking, and sometimes amusing music proved to me that the people in my world weren’t all shallow, cruel, and dull. Teenagers, after all, tend to get stuck in their own little world and forget that life exists beyond that which they experience day-by-day.

A death in the family and a sudden and traumatizing spilled secret was the last straw - the depression I was fighting was only getting worse without support, and every day, certain classmates encouraged me to just end it. Most were malicious - “Everyone hates you, just die already,” was a common one which unfortunately is still spoken generations later. Other culprits were friends just tired of seeing me hurting; they thought a ‘failed’ suicide attempt would make a difference. “Maybe if you got hurt, the bullies would back off,” they suggested. “Maybe you have to take drastic measures before someone will help you!” 

Me? I was just tired...I was tired of hurting, of being afraid, and breaking down only to be told that my feelings weren’t valid and I was ‘embarrassing my family.’ Support or lack of it really can make or break a person when they’re falling apart. Now, it makes me cringe to admit that I was ready to give up before I had a chance to really begin; at the time, it felt like the only option. Age certainly brings things into perspective. 

One night, at my absolute limit, I was compiling goodbye notes to my friends and simultaneously forming a list of pros and cons for various methods while listening to a ‘new’ borrowed Rush album. I didn’t care whether or not I survived to see if there were improvements in the bullying; I was tired of trying. I was searching my calendar for days to try and searching my health textbook for advice on how to achieve a painless death. That night was the turning point, and that album was Presto.

Even after how many years have passed, I still remember the first time I heard those distinct, somber, skin-tingling bass notes at the beginning of the song. Even after all these years, I remember hearing the first lines and feeling as if they were written just for me, or rather, for someone just like me. Someone understood...someone else knew what I was going through and they were talking about it! I paused in my planning, turned up the volume, and listened...and I thought...and my stomach fell down to my feet when I realized what I was hearing.

“No hero in your tragedy.  No daring in your escape.  No salute for your surrender,  nothing noble in your fate.

Christ! What have you done?!”

“What have you done?!” Not please don’t. Not don’t be ridiculous, you don’t even know hurt yet. Not if that’s what it takes, that’s what it takes. This was a punch in the gut and a horrified demand for answers all in one. It wasn’t a hug, it was a bitch-slap and a demand for answers. Suddenly, and finally, it hit me all at once that what I was planning was permanent and would have repercussions far beyond my tiny world. I suddenly connected how I felt about my grandfather’s suicide with how he might feel about mine if the roles were reversed. I felt sick. What had I almost done?!

It was, as sickening as it sounds, the first time I’d heard someone outright condemn suicide as an option. Times were different then, and most people reacted to discussion of depression and suicide by going silent then awkwardly changing the subject. Those who didn’t ‘change the channel’ begged and pleaded instead. “Please hold on a little longer - just a little longer! It’ll get better, just wait and see!” It never got better, so I eventually stopped listening. Some people, like a certain male relative who-shall-not-be-named, considered suicide to be ‘a matter of choice,’ and ‘not anything to judge as right or wrong.’ His reaction to my grandfather’s suicide was “He lived his life the way he chose; this was his choice, we had nothing to do with it.” This particular relative never tried to dissuade me or offer support when I needed it most. He never once asked “What would your parents think?” He never asked “How do you know things won’t get better if you keep trying?” Instead, he rolled his eyes and walked away, saying “I don’t have time for this shit.” Yes, he’s always been a wonderful role model. We don’t really talk anymore.

I’m not going to say everything changed over night because of a song. I’m not saying no one was ever around to support me, or that no one ever tried to talk me into holding on just a little longer every time I felt like I couldn’t hold on for another second. I won’t say I never stumbled again, or that I never had second thoughts. The Pass didn’t ‘fix’ my depression, nor did it ‘fix’ me - it was, however, the turning point and the slap-in-the-face I needed. The people who wrote the music I lived by condemned suicide, and knowing that, I felt horrified that I ever considered it an option. Again, teenager logic can be a little weird to say the least.

It took time for me to really get my depression under control. Lifestyle changes, counseling, medication, meditation, new friends, and support from my family were some of the most effective methods I found. Every time I felt ready to give up, I played music that reminded me to keep trying. The Pass reminded me giving up is not an option - Emotion Detector reminded me that people can be assholes but it’s worth it to be myself despite the assholes in life - Mission reminded me that what I was dealing with was, in a roundabout way, helping me grow - when I felt like giving up - Bravado encouraged me that everything would work out in the end - The Enemy Within made me angry with myself and reminded me to never give up. There are too many songs that helped me to even begin to name half of them. 

Some years later, I was fortunate enough to have a chance to see Rush in concert during one of their final tours. The concert was everything I expected and lots more I never expected, and it’s one of my favorite memories. The stench of marijuana, cigarettes, sweaty bodies, and stale beer filled the stands around me and burned my lungs. The crowd cheered so loudly my ears rang for hours afterward. Someone on our charter bus tripped over a car on the way back from concessions, sprayed beer everywhere, and laughed it off with “At least it’s Rush!” Another woman, drunk beyond reason, yanked her panties off and flung them at the stage, then promptly passed out; at the time, I rather envied her opportunity to fling lingerie at Geddy Lee without being arrested. After the concert, a couple of people had to be bodily dragged back to the bus and laid across the seats because they were black-out drunk. I bought a tee-shirt for enough to feed a college student for a week and left with a migraine that lasted three days. It was, to say the least, a lifetime of stories and jokes all in one night. 

Craziness aside, the concert was an event like none I’d ever thought to experience. As the music played and the fans screamed, I stood in the crowd feeling both separate from the world and part of something great all at once. At the end of every song, I thought to myself, “This...this is why I’m still alive. This is what I would have missed out on.” With the beginning of every song, my heart soared, my skin prickled with elation, and I became more and more certain I had no regrets. I was beyond considering suicide an option before then, but that concert was the final bit of evidence; turning around and trying again was, without a doubt, the right decision. I knew I was meant to be more than yet another victim of depression.

Today, I’m alive despite many accidents and disasters which could have easily led to a different result. I still get swamped with intermittent depression, and I still spend somedays wondering why I even bother trying. Depression, unfortunately, is just part of who I am; it’s written into my genetics as deeply as my hair and eye color, and it isn’t going to go away permanently. I’ve made my peace with that. Despite the permanency of that struggle, I have defeated the part of me that previously wanted to give up and ‘go away’ when I'm at my worst. I haven’t considered suicide an option since I was bitch-slapped by The Pass; I refuse to ever consider it an option again, no matter how far I may fall. 

There are so many things that had to go right in order for my view to change. If Neil Peart hadn’t joined Rush, “The Pass” wouldn’t have been written. If it had been on any album before Presto, I would have heard it before from my many other albums and grown tired of it. If I hadn’t borrowed the album and chosen to play it just that night at just that moment, I wouldn’t have gotten the musical slap in the face I needed so badly...and, no exaggeration here, I would be dead. Nothing else had been able to change my mind; I honestly suspect nothing else could have changed my mind. 

I was a suicidal teenager when I first heard "The Pass," which was a condemnation of the glorification of suicidal teenagers. That song accomplished what nothing else had been able to, and I owe my continued existence to it and its writers. I still get lost in the darkness sometimes, but as the song goes, I've learned to steer by the stars. No matter how hard it can be sometimes, I’d rather walk the razor’s edge than let my depression win.

I'll pour you a dram this evening, Mr. Peart, in memory and appreciation. Thank you for my life; I’ll never forget yours.

[mamabearcat]

The Safest Place

So, I’m a Patreon of the amazing @liquidashesart and she shared a lovely piece of InuKag fan art which showed Inuyasha cradling Kagome in his arms. I know I have a heap of other fics to be getting on with, but I couldn’t help write a little something for it. 

*Updated to add the original artwork of @liquidashesart that inspired the one-shot, provided with her permission. Thank you so much! Now everyone gets to see how beautiful it is! And I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I’m constantly inspired by all the artwork on The Last Days doujinshi, which you can find out about here on her Tumblr or here on her website. And here’s a link to the Patreon page for LiquidAshes 

"Kagome. Kagome! C'mon, open your eyes for me."

Kagome scrunched her eyes tightly, wincing at the noise. The muffled roaring in her ears was starting to ease, with words discernible in amongst the static. Her head was pounding. What was going on? She tried opening one eye and whimpered at the sudden flash of pain the light caused. Obviously, that was a bad idea at the moment. She tried to work out where she was with her other senses.

She was cradled in warmth; her back was supported and there was the weight of what seemed to be a warm hand on her hip. Her legs were tucked up, but it didn't feel like she was resting on the ground. Something soft was tickling her face. Was it hair? She could hear a long drawn out sniff, and then more words, although they still sounded strange and echoey, like they were coming from far away.

"Inuyasha?", she whispered hesitantly, keeping her eyelids still firmly closed.

"Who else would it be? Kagome, next time I tell you to stay back, I want you to listen, okay?" The tone was gruff, but also held more than a hint of worry.

Without opening her eyes, Kagome stretched out her hand. She felt the rough texture of short fur under her fingertips, then the silkiness of a long length of hair. She stroked her fingers downwards gently, delighting in the feel of something familiar as she got her bearings. Warm arms tugged her a little closer, and she sighed and let her body go limp. She was perfectly safe. Being in Inuyasha's arms was the safest place in the world.

Slowly, she opened one eye, and then the other, blinking slowly, trying to focus on the concerned gaze of the amber eyes only inches away from hers. "What happened?" she asked groggily.

"Shit, you don't remember? Did you hit your head when you fell?"

She felt the warm arm that cradled her back shift upwards, clawed fingers gently combing through her hair and examining the back of her skull for lumps.

"I fell? I don't remember. I have a headache and my ears are ringing a little." Cautiously, Kagome tried to sit up, realising with a small blush that she was sitting in Inuyasha's lap, her legs tucked in snugly against his thigh.

"Easy does it. Don't rush it." Inuyasha's arm tightened around her shoulders as she sat up and looked around. Obviously, they'd been in some sort of battle. The tree line was decimated, and the earth in front of them was rucked and folded, bearing the unmistakable scar of Inuyasha's signature kaze no kizu attack. There was no sign of their opponent, so Inuyasha must have defeated them. That didn't explain why she'd been down for the count though.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome questioned.

"It was a Karasu-Tengu. He was disguised as a yamabushi and had his scent covered with strong incense, so I didn't recognise what he was at first", muttered Inuyasha. "I should have though – no human has a nose that big." Kagome could feel the tenseness in his arms; obviously something about the battle had upset him greatly. She gazed at him in concern.

His eyes flicked away from hers. "He got hold of you before I could get a good hit in. And then I couldn't attack him for fear of hurting you."

"Oh."

His eyes swung back to hers angrily. "Yeah. 'Oh', is a bit of an understatement wench! I told you to stay back. I had it sorted! Just a little bit longer, and I would have had everything under control. But you had to step in!"

Kagome's eyebrows lowered in puzzlement. "Why would I…?" A thought suddenly occurred to her, and her eyes raked over Inuyasha's form, her hands following. Sure enough, his suikan was soaked with blood around his shoulders, the scarlet evidence hidden by the vibrant colouring of his fire rat. She looked back at him angrily. "Had it handled, huh?" She gestured towards his shoulders. "This doesn't look like you were handling things Inuyasha! I obviously 'stepped in' because I thought you needed help!"

Grumpily muttering under her breath, she looked around for her backpack, and located it not too far away. Ignoring the still pulsing headache, she crawled out of Inuyasha's lap and dragged the backpack towards her, rummaging until she found the first aid kit.

"I'm fine Kagome", Inuyasha harrumphed, bottom lip thrust out with an impressive scowl on his face. Kagome just rolled her eyes as she opened the well-stocked kit.

"Alright, take it off", she said, gesturing to his suikan, the bottle of antiseptic and cotton balls already in her hands.

Inuyasha's ears flicked in obvious irritation at her request. He crossed his arms, doing a very good impression of a petulant toddler. "Don't wanna."

Kagome heaved out a heavy sigh, closing her eyes. "Inuyasha, please. I have a horrible headache and a weird taste in my mouth. I'm tired, beyond tired actually, I'm exhausted. I just want to do this and go have a nap somewhere."

"Fine", he growled, loosening the tie on his suikan and hadagi and shrugging them off his shoulders. "I'm only doing this to make you feel better. I don't need you to fix me." He stayed seated but shifted around so his back was to Kagome.

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard it all before. Let's just clean you up and get it over and done with, okay?"

Kagome drew in a sharp intake of breath at the sight of the deep slashes across the meaty flesh of Inuyasha's shoulders; one very close to his neck. The tengu had obviously possessed a sword and had been doing its best to behead his hanyou opponent. A human with these injuries would have already bled out, but Kagome could see the deep wounds already knitting back together. It was true that he really didn't need her to help doctor his wounds, but it always made her feel better.

She tipped antiseptic onto the cotton wool, and began dabbing at the deep cuts, cleaning away the already drying blood. She apologised softly as Inuyasha hissed at the burn of the antiseptic.

"Why you gotta use that stuff anyway wench? It stings and it reeks! Just use water!"

"We've had this discussion before Inuyasha."

"Yeah, well, I didn't have problems with no 'germs' before you showed up Kagome", he muttered, but stayed still as she carefully cleaned his injuries and then taped bandages over the wounds. As soon as she was finished, he pushed his arms back through the voluminous sleeves and shrugged his fire rat back in position.

Kagome reached for her water bottle and took a few sips, trying to get rid of the weird taste in her mouth. Rummaging in the first aid kit again, she found some paracetamol and gulped them down with a grimace, hoping it would kick in quickly and banish the headache that was starting to make her feel a little nauseous. After packing up the first aid kit and shoving it back into her backpack, she sat back down facing Inuyasha and examining his expression carefully.

"So Inuyasha, are you going to tell me what happened?" Inuyasha's whole demeanour after this fight had her worried. Usually after defeating an enemy he was cocky, bragging about how he could take anyone on, but something was off. He kept glancing at her anxiously, sitting closer than he usually would. She yawned widely, feeling herself practically drooping with exhaustion.

"C'mere", said Inuyasha softly. He pulled her back into the position she'd been in when she came to, cradled in his lap. His solicitous manner was making her feel more uneasy by the minute. Something had happened that had really worried him. Why couldn't she remember?

"The Tengu", began Inuyasha, "he didn't just grab you. He possessed you". He swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing nervously in his throat, his usual gruff tone soft. "I couldn't do a damn thing – had to stand there and watch you try and fight him off somehow. And then you just… there was a light, like a barrier, and you fell. Your body was jerking and moving on the ground and I thought…" He pulled her tightly against him again. "Somehow you pushed him out, fought off the possession. And then I took care of him." He paused, looking down at her anxiously again. "It took you a while to wake up.

Kagome blinked in surprise. She had no memory of those events, but they must have happened. Inuyasha wouldn't lie to her and was clearly spooked by what sounded like her body having some sort of seizure while she'd fought off the possession of the tengu. She would have to ask Kaede about it when they returned to the village. It did explain why she felt so exhausted and the weird taste in the back of her mouth. She probably should feel more upset about it than she did, but right now, she was more concerned about Inuyasha.

She ran her fingers through the silver forelocks framing his face. "I'm okay now though", she smiled. "No harm done. Thank you for always looking after me so well Inuyasha." The worried expression was still on his face, the amber eyes roving over her, as if looking for any injuries he might have previously missed. She reached up to stroke his cheek gently. "Hey, dog boy. I'm okay, really."

For one moment he leaned the weight of his head into her hand, nuzzling his cheek against her palm slightly, then pulled back, heat flushing his cheeks. "Keh, I wasn't worried. You're too stubborn to get really hurt by some weak ass tengu like that."

Her smile widened. "Definitely." She couldn't stifle the yawn that overtook her, and her body slumped in the safety of Inuyasha's arms. "Do you think it would be okay if we just rested here for a little while? Not for long, I know we've got to get back, but I think I just need a short nap."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes dramatically, and then sighed as if he were granting her a huge favour. "Fine, we can do that." He shuffled backwards a little, so his back rested up against a fallen tree trunk, and gathered her more securely into his arms. Kagome's head nodded forwards, too heavy with exhaustion to be propped up any longer, and her eyes drifted closed. She felt Inuyasha's nose nuzzle into her hair, and smiled sleepily at his final comment as she drifted off. He always had to have the last word.

"Don't be pulling that shit on me again, Kagome, ya hear? I mean it. You made a promise to stay by my side, remember? And I'm gonna make sure you keep it."

[gingerpeachtae]

Concentric [3]

masterlist

Words: 8.9k

Genres: fantasy!AU, angst, fluff, enemies to lovers, eventual smut (?)

Warnings: blood, decapitation (yikes), violence

Summary: You had been ready for the end of the semester. You had been ready to spend time away from your best friend, Jimin, and finally move on from the feelings you harbored. Yet, after your friend was forced to reveal a secret, you found yourself in a new world that was chock full of magic, war, and wonder. So, here you were, basically thrown into your own fantasy novel, with your best friend on one side, and six male warriors on the other.

A/N: here ya go ya peach heads! pls engoy & I would luv to hear any feedback you have for me! 

“…and then he tried fighting with swords, but he would either completely shatter the blade or the handle would fall off!” Tae was laughing so hard while he told the story that he fell on his side, clutching his stomach.

“Don’t forget the time he threw the knife behind him instead of at the target when I tried to teach him!” Hoseok chimed in.

“I-it’s not-it wasn’t that bad!” The male of subject tried to defend his actions before looking to you with pleading eyes. “I swear! It wasn’t my fault!”

You tried, you really did, to withhold your laughter for his sake. But one look at Tae rolling on the ground and you couldn’t hold back any longer.

Sounding defeated, he proceeded to whisper, “I would pick them up and they’d just break or go flying on their own.”

“Nope, you’re just a god of destruction. Our leader is too strong!” Tae exclaimed.

He had been explaining why Namjoon was the only one who fought with a mace. Apparently, the other members of the kiela refused to let him fight with sharp weapons because of how clumsy he was. There had been quite a few accidents until they finally got the sense to ban him from anything with a pointy end.

You shot Namjoon a comforting look through your giggles, and the emergence of his dimples showed you that he appreciated the gesture.

Then, looking toward the fire in the middle of the group, you asked, “Jin, are you sure you don’t want any help? I can cook fairly well, you know.”

You had finally met the eldest member of the kiela when you began setting up camp, which consisted of picking a designated sleeping spot and getting a fire rolling. When the Saeni you had yet to meet started chopping up what looked like carrots, celery, and some other familiar ingredients, you had approached to introduce yourself and offer your help. It would be an an understatement to say that your offer had been immediately and forcefully turned down.

Now, the black-haired male shook his head as he tossed another ingredient into the pot over the flames. Once he stirred it into the pot he turned his dark brown eyes to you, his hoop piercings shaking slightly from the sudden movement.

“Ya! I already told you, I’m the caretaker of this kiela, okay?” He shook his spoon at you in what you hoped was fake aggravation. “Just because you’re a female doesn’t mean you can steal my position!”

“I don’t know hyung… Y/N really is a good cook. Maybe you should let her help just a little bit.” Jimin said.

Jin’s jaw dropped. “How dare you Chim!? How dare you betray me like this?” He moved to point the spoon at Jimin’s apricot head and threatened, “Don’t make me smack you!”

“Aish! Calm down. I know you take care of all of us, but...”

“What?” Jin crossed his arms, finger tapping against the wooden spoon.

You quickly muttered, “You’re not my dad…

“Ugly ass fuckin’ noodlehead.” Jimin finished with you, laughing and giving you a high five.

Jin blinked twice before sighing, rolling his eyes, and returning to his steaming pot. The rest of the Saeni gave you both confused looks, obviously not knowing what you referenced.

Poor lads. Living in a world without Vine.

“But seriously Papa Jin, if you ever want or need help, let me know. I would love to give you a hand.”

The male just huffed and continued to stir his food.

“For Exia’s sake, you’re all so loud. Some people are trying to rest,” the lump curled on the ground complained.

“That would only be you, Yoongi.” Tae chuckled.

“Don’t be such a grouchy pants,” added Hoseok, but it lacked any real bite.

You watched as his eyes traveled over Yoongi’s form with an emotion that was quite familiar to you.

Interesting.

“Yeah, well Kookie is over your babbling mouths too.”

You shifted to look at the burgundy-haired male, noting that he was sitting stiffly, eyes on the ground. You realized he hadn’t said a word since Namjoon decided to stop for the day, which had been over an hour ago. His pea green eyes shot up and locked with yours. They narrowed before he stood up and walked into the trees, mumbling about how he wasn’t tired and wanted to go for a walk.

“Kookie’s been acting so weird.” Tae stretched his arms over his grey head and adjusted his headband.

Not necessarily wanting to get into Jungkook and his poopy personality right then, you asked to no Saeni in particular, “Who’s Eshea?”

“Exia.” Namjoon corrected you.

“Exia…?” You slowly said back and grinned when his yellow eyes brightened at your proper pronunciation.

Tae jumped into the conversation. “She’s the goddess of battle and strategy! BTS Saeni tend to pray to her more than the other gods.”

“BTS? Other gods? Jimin told me that Illain is named after Illai, but there are more?”

Hoseok groaned at Tae’s comment. “He has some fixation on calling us BTS Saeni because we’re-”

“Battle-Trained Soldiers!” Tae interrupted proudly, clearly pleased with his made-up acronym.

You glanced at Jimin out of the corner of your eye, who just shrugged as he decided to let his brothers handle the explanations.

“Okay, BTS. I can dig it Tae,” you tell him, and he beamed. “So, there’s Illai and Exia… what other gods are there?”

Namjoon took the reins once more. “There are seven ethereal beings. Illai, the mother and life goddess. Her siblings, Exia and Juufa. The latter is the god of harmony and accord. Then, the mother goddess has four children, each taking claim to a season: Ilto is spring, Vebah is summer, Keoth is autumn, and winter is Opitax.”

“Who fathered her kids? Was it her sibling?” You supposed the idea should’ve made you squirm more than it did, but you’d read enough mythology in your life to know that it wasn’t exactly a rare thing for deities to do.

“I…” Namjoon paused, thinking hard before frowning. “I don’t know.”

Hoseok began praising you for finally finding something that his leader didn’t have the answer to.

“I heard she was pregnant when she came to be.” Jin piped up.

Tae proceeded to voice his own opinion. “Nah hyung, it was definitely a self-impregnation.”

“Oh! I think there’s a species of lizard that does that on Earth!” You excitedly claim, looking to Jimin for confirmation.

“Why do you think I would know?” He said, making your face drop into a pout.

“Well, clearly, none of us know the answer. I’m sorry Y/N,” The kiela’s leader spoke up before the conversation could totally go sideways. “But anyways, many Saeni worship a particular god or goddess based on their birth season as well as occupation like in our case.”

You didn’t really know what else to say besides a simple “wow.” You weren’t the religious type, but you were intrigued by the various beliefs around the world. You enjoyed learning about them, so it was amazing to hear about the Saeni’s. Although, you did find it odd that none of them knew who fathered the four seasonal gods. Maybe somebody could bring Maury Povich over to Illain and have him do his paternity test segment with Juufa. You could just imagine his “You are not the father!” declaration to the god. Or maybe it would be “You are the father!” Who knows…

That’s why they need Maury!

You were brought out of your thoughts of bringing the American talk show host on a cross-world adventure when Jin announced that dinner was ready. Excitedly jumping off the ground at the Saeni’s words, you pulled Jimin up by his arm.

Pondering missing information from the Saeni culture would have to wait until food got into your belly.

Laying on the mat rolled out underneath your body, you couldn’t find it in you to close your eyes and drift to sleep. Your mind would not shut off and you kept wiggling around like a worm in the hopes of finding a position that would lull your ass to Snoozeland. It wasn’t working. Flopping to your other side once more, you stared at Jimin sleeping next to you. His plush lips were pursed, and he was expelling soft puffing noises.

You’re not going to get any sleep if you keep staring at his cute face!

You sighed before turning your head away. Cursing yourself for not being able to hit your internal power button, you sat up and ran your hands down your face. You cradled your head in your hands as you listened to the bugs in the dark.

All of the sudden, you perked up when you heard a melodic sound drifting through the forest. It was a beautiful, low-pitched song. Curious as to what animal was making it, you removed the blanket from where it was draped over your legs and rose to go find out. You crept around the Saeni silently, not wanting to wake them, and you paused when you made it to the perimeter of their snoring forms. The next round of pretty sounds came from your left, so you angled your body in that direction and tip-toed away, not noticing the pair of green eyes that followed your movements.

Glancing up at the moonlight filtering through the trees, you smiled to yourself. It was so peaceful here. So quiet yet filled with an orchestra of sounds. It wasn’t the buzzing of electricity, the honking of traffic, or the thumping of music escaping past closed doors. It was only the sounds of nature. Plain and simple and nothing else.

You had been looking for that mystery animal for around seven minutes. You hadn’t heard it in about three, so you halted your feet to listen carefully.

Bugs clicking.

Trees creaking.

Leaves rustling.

And was that it? You heard a faint noise, so you held your breath and leaned your ear forward in hopes of catching the sound again.

“What are you doing?”

You gasped at the unexpected voice behind you. You jerked your head over your shoulder and raised a hand over your heart to steady its rapid pace when you recognized the person who startled you.

“Fucking hell Coco! You scared the shit out of me!”

“What are you doing?” He repeated himself, and you were shocked when you noticed his voice didn’t carry its usually venom.

He almost sounded… nice.

Taken back, it took you a few seconds to respond, “Oh, um. I couldn’t sleep, and I heard this really pretty sound, so I wanted to check out was it was. And now that I say it out loud, I realize that that’s the opening scene from every camping horror movie ever, so that was probably super dumb on my part so-”

“I get it. You can stop rambling now.” The male interrupted you before sighing. “It was the call of a tilqua, they’re nocturnal so you don’t hear them during the day.”

“They’re a type of bird,” he continued after seeing your blank face.

“Oh! Cool! Uh, thanks for telling me.”

It fell to an awkward silence after that. Neither of you saying anything and avoiding looking at each other. You shifted your weight foot to foot as the painful quiet continued for another minute.

Not able to take it any longer, you blurted out, “Why are you being so cordial with me all of the sudden?”

You really should have just kept your damn mouth shut because, almost instantly, his entire demeanor toward you changed. He flinched at your question, as if it awoke him a trance. Then, he narrowed his eyes, any hint of warmth they might’ve had was now gone.

“I’m not being nice to you. I was on watch and saw someone leaving camp. I came to check why.” His voice was void of any emotion.

“I… but you... the sound-”

“It’s your fault,” he talked over you, his tone now carrying anger.

“Wh-what? What’s my fault? I haven’t done anything.”

You saw his hand descend to grip the handle of his dagger. Shit. You’d annoyed him, and you didn’t even know how or why.

“Just go back to camp. Go lay down next to Chim, and go to sleep already,” he said through his teeth, hand squeezing the dagger.

Not wanting to be around such an aggravating person anymore, you found yourself following his demand by promptly marching past him, making sure to bump into him as you did. He growled as your shoulder checked his but didn’t retaliate further.

You couldn’t believe it. The audacity of that male! He was the one who had followed you like some creeper. You let out a quiet scream of frustration as your stomped through the forest back to the camp and did exactly what he told you to do.

You woke up to Jimin gently shaking you and saying that it was time to get your ass up.

You moaned. “Mmmmmm-kay Slim Jim, just give me fi-“

“I swear if you’re about to say five more minutes…”

“-ive more minutes.” You rolled over and tugged the blanket closer to your chin.

You vaguely heard Jimin say something about not being sorry when, out of nowhere, a heavy weight plopped down on top of you, making you grunt from the impact.

“Slim Jim, I will personally shave your head if you don’t get off me!”

“Are you always this grumpy in the morning?” A deep voice that was definitely not Jimin’s murmured in your ear.

Cracking an eye open, you saw that it was Tae who had jumped on you. His handsome face was squished against yours and his long limbs were wrapped around your curled-up body. Seeing your eyes open, he gave you his signature boxy smile, which you returned with no hesitation. You couldn’t bring yourself to be mad at the guy when he looked so damn adorable.

You accepted your defeat. “Alright, alright. I’ll get up, but you gotta get the hell off me first.”

He immediately scrambled up, pulling you vertical with him. He gave you a big hug that lifted you off your feet before setting you down and skipping away to talk with Jungkook. You averted your eyes, not wanting to see the burgundy head’s glare this early in the morning.

You yawned and stretched your entire body. The sun was just beginning to peak out over the horizon and you were glad that you didn’t have a clock to see how hellaciously early it must’ve been. After gathering your belongings and shoving them into your backpack, you walked over to join the rest of the Saeni. Jin handed you what looked like an apple and tasted just as refreshing and sweet.

“Aren’t you going to apple-aud me for making sure you eat the most important meal of the day?”

You swallowed your bite before replying, “This is an apple?”

“Uh, yeah? What else would it be?”

Sorry for not knowing ya’ll had apples over here, damn.

“And what about my joke!? None of you appreciate peak humor! Ugh, you let me down Y/N.”

Before you could compliment his atrociously great dad joke, the Saeni walked away in exaggerated disappointment. At least you hoped it was exaggerated.

Lifting your shoulders in a shrug, you continued munching on the tasty, green fruit as you watched Jimin join Tae and Jungkook’s conversation. You had to admit that if you weren’t aware of who these people were to Jimin, you would have been feeling just a wee bit neglected. Your best friend had been spending more time speaking with the Saeni than with you. Granted, he always checked in with you to make sure you were doing okay, but he hadn’t really talked to you. But, you couldn’t be upset at him. He was probably just taking the time to catch up with everyone since it had been about nine months since seeing them last. Plus, you did sort of invite yourself onto the trip, so you were just happy to be here. You had also been getting to know Tae and Hoseok more, since the two of them walked beside you most of the time. They were both loud and eccentric, but they had kind souls. You really enjoyed talking with them and they loved hearing your stories about Jimin on Earth.

Just as you took the last bite of apple, Namjoon called you over. Tossing the core behind a tree to give a forest animal its own breakfast, you hurried over to the tall male who handed you your two daily petals. Tossing them into your mouth to dissolve, your body momentarily froze as the experience of consuming them together hit you in full force. It was almost overwhelming, but once it passed and your vision cleared, you gave Namjoon a smile and wave before bounding over to Hoseok who was leaning against a tree. Seconds later, Tae joined the two of you, thankfully without a certain coconut-headed asshat.

You had been walking for around three hours. Three hours of stepping around trees, leaping over logs, and being the only damn person making a sound as you stepped over foliage. Three hours before finally giving in and voicing the question you had been dying to ask.

“Do you guy carry around hair dye or does Yoongi color your hair with magic?”

When the Saeni striding next to you gave a look of confusion you expanded your question. “Well, you both have dyed hair so how do you maintain it in the field? Doesn’t it wash out? Or sweat out?

“Our hair isn’t dyed Y/N.”

“What? But you have grey hair, Tae! And Hoseok, yours is silver white! You’re not old enough to have grey or white hair!” Your eyes widened as a possibility you hadn’t considered came to you. “Oh my gosh. Are you guys old geezers? Do Saeni age differently than humans?”

Tae snickered at your panicked tone and you went to smack his shoulder, but he easily evaded your hand.

“Okay first off, can you please stop calling me Hoseok? It’s so weird to have someone use my real name.” The male himself asked.

“Uh sure, but you told me that’s your name, so I don’t know what else to call you?” You winced as your foot snapped yet another twig on the forest floor.

“Just call me Hobi, little scorja. Secondly, like Tae said, we don’t dye our hair. None of us do. It’s all natural, baby.”

“All natural my ass. Yoongi has mint-blue hair! That shit at natural, honey.”

At the mention of Yoongi’s name, Hobi’s eyes twitched over to the Saeni and faintly smiled.

Tae then filled in for Hobi since he was distracted. “Yeah, and Chim has orange hair and Namjoon’s got yellow eyes. We’re all born with it, little scorja. Our eye and hair color come from our birth season.

“Hobi, Jin, and I were all born when Opitax had control, so we have winter-esque features, hence the grey and white hair.

Chim and Joonie were during Keoth’s months, so they have autumn coloring.

Kookie has Vebah’s summer tones. And Yoongi is-”

“Ilto. Spring.” Hobi returned to the discussion.

“Hold up.” You raised your hand to emphasize your words. “Jimin had black hair when we were kids though.”

“Oh yeah! I remember when he first showed up, we all though he was an Opitax baby.” Tae laughed while giving Hobi a nudge with his elbow.

“He dyed his hair black to blend in with humans. I’m guessing that vibrant orange is not a normal color for your people, especially kids.”

You looked up to where Jimin was walking with Namjoon and Yoongi, his apricot tresses standing out among the greenery of the forest. Those same tresses that had just showed up at the end of summer one year and never went away. You always inquired how he got his dark roots to never pop up and he would give you a sly smile in return every time. You had thought he was just keeping his superb dyeing technique a secret, but apparently, the only secret was that it was his natural hair.

“And to answer that last part,” Hobi continued, “we age the same as humans do.”

“Well… that’s a relief,” you said as you tilted your head up to catch a patch of sunlight filtering through the leaves.

The conversation died, but it was a comfortable silence. Unlike last night with Jungkook. As the three of you hiked on, Tae would occasionally point out a flower or plant he thought you would find pretty and Hobi would advise you to be more careful when you stumbled over some obstacle. Overall, though, you let the forest do most of the talking. You could slightly hear Namjoon, Yoongi, and your Slim Jim making conversation ahead of you as well as Jin complaining to Jungkook behind you. As you grabbed a hold of a tree trunk to swing yourself around it, a strong gust of wind blew past you, causing your hair to go wild. Blowing the pieces out of your face, you glimpsed Tae’s feather earring swaying in the wind.

“Okay another question, please don’t hate me. Why do you all have ear piercings? They look badass, don’t get me wrong, but couldn’t they be a liability in a fight?”

“How could they be a liability?” Hobi answered your question with a question.

You explained that they could get caught on something or their enemy could yank on them or rip them out if they got close enough.

Both Saeni let out a laugh before Hobi said, “That may be true, but I highly doubt it would happen. Especially our enemies yanking on them.”

“We actually wear them to symbolize what kind of fighter we are!” Tae added as hopped over a fallen log.

“Huh?” You opted to go beneath the fallen tree, briefly pausing to curiously look at what seemed like a black hand print on the bark.

“Feather for archers like me. Metal for swords, daggers, and knives like Hobi, Kookie, and Jin. Dark beads for blunt weapons like Namjoon and his mace, and Yoongi has bone for magic users!”

“That’s what they’re for!? I thought they were just some Saeni fashion statement. Don’t they sort of… give you guys away?”

Hobi snorted as he swatted a branch out of his face. “If the weapons literally strapped to our backs don’t give us away I don’t think our ‘fashion statements’ will be the thing to do so.”

His sassy remark caused you to fake pout. They cooed at you, poking at your cheeks and sides until you giggled at their antics. Pleased they had you back to smiling, they dropped their hands and moved back to a respectful distance.

“That reminds me, I need to give Chim his!” Tae suddenly gasped out.

“Give him his what?”

“His earrings! He’s an archer too, but he leaves his earrings with me when…” He was gone before he finished his sentence, running up to where Jimin was.

You blinked at his rapid departure. For a strict, “battle-trained soldier” he sure was in a world of his own sometimes.

Thankfully, the dagger and knife enthusiast next to you finished for him. “Chim gives them to Tae so that he doesn’t lose them on Earth.”

So Jimin was an archer? Damn, you’d love to see him knock an arrow back, you bet he’d look sexy as heck. You turned your head to ask Hobi how good Jimin was, but you saw that his eyes were focused on where Tae had run up to. Focused on one Saeni up there in particular. Not the first time you had caught him staring at the other male. You had noticed that Hobi’s eyes went to find the other Saeni whenever his there was a pause in conversation. Or he would try to fight back his smile when the other’s name was mentioned. He did it so many times during dinner last night that you were about to smash their faces together and say your godly work was done. But for now…

“Does he know?”

“Hmm?” He replied still staring at the other male.

“Yoongi. Does he know?”

“What!?” He squeaked as he whipped his head to you. He coughed to try to return his voice to its normal pitched. “Ah, I mean what are you talking about?”

You smirked to yourself as you saw his face grow warm, but he obviously wasn’t ready to talk about it. “Never mind. It’s nothing.”

He visibly relaxed at your words. You wished you could help him out somehow, but it wasn’t your place to interfere. Especially given your own shitty situation. Unrequited love was quite the bitch, so you truly hoped that that wasn’t the case for Hobi.

You sent him an understanding smile and the two of you walked on.

Namjoon finally called it for the day when the group came across a wide river. The roar of the white rapids was almost deafening as they churned the water and interrupted the otherwise peaceful landscape.

You, Tae, and Hobi stayed at the designated campsite, watching Papa Jin prepare the evening’s meal, while the rest of the boys went to scout a calmer part of the river to wash off in.

Currently, you and Tae were doing your best to annoy the other Saeni as you tossed small nuts at them. You laughed as Jin shook his knife at you in a threat. Calling his bluff, you simply stuck your tongue out in return.

“Exia give me strength,” the eldest Saeni muttered, turning back to his pot.

“You were already a brat, Tae, but with her… aish. You two are the worst.” Hobi tried his best to sound serious, but the smile tugging at the corner of his lips destroyed any hope he had.

You fell into Tae as your giggles consumed your body, his arms wrapping around you and holding you close. As your lungs calmed down, you heard footsteps approaching.

“Thank Illai you guys found someplace to wash off. I need to get away from these two tyrants.” You saw Jin point to you and your partner in crime.

Ignoring his comment, you turned your head to great the returning Saeni, but your hello died in your throat.

Namjoon, Yoongi, and Jimin were in the process of putting their shirts on and you caught sight of their defined muscles. You slowly closed your mouth and gulped. You’d obviously seen Jimin without a shirt on plenty of times before, but it hit on a whole different level to see him semi-shirtless and wet.

Not to mention that both Yoongi and Namjoon clearly worked out too. It was… a lot of take in. You didn’t think you could withstand any more pure, male hotness, but the gods of Illain must have wanted you to suffer because Jungkook decided right then would be a wonderful time to show up. Completely sans shirt.

All you could do was look at him as he whined to his hyungs about something that was absolutely no concern to you at that moment. Your eyes took in his physique that was muscular but still lean. The strength of his biceps was evident as he waved his arms at the others, causing the muscles to flex. You softly gasped when you noticed that his stomach was so cut that he had a freaking eight pack. Eight! Your eyes trailed lower and… oh my…

His. Fucking. Thighs. Due to the dampness of his skin, the fabric of his pants clung to his legs, effortlessly showcasing the prominent muscles. Every step he took had them bulging and you swear you almost fainted from the sight. You couldn’t tear your eyes away as you squeezed your own thighs together.

H-holy fuck. Coco was freaking ripped.

“Why is she staring at Kookie?” You heard Tae whisper to someone.

Your eyes widened and before you could look away, Jungkook’s head swiveled to you and saw that your eyes were locked on him.

Fucking hell. Why Tae!?

To your utter shock though, was that instead of bitching at you, he blushed and ran to hide behind a tree. As he yeeted himself out of there, you caught sight of a tattoo on his upper, middle back.

“Why’d you say that out loud? You know he gets shy!” Jin lightly smacked the offending Saeni on his arm.

“Hey, the little scorja was practically drooling! We were all thinking it, I just happened to be the one t- Ow!”

You gave him a smack of your own on his leg while your cheeks heated up in embarrassment.

“That’s not nice!” He complained.

“Neither is voicing when someone is checking someone else out, Tae.” Namjoon pointed out as he sat down next to the fire.

Completely humiliated, you hid your face in your hands. Although, you did peek through your fingers to gauge Jimin’s reaction. The boy was folded in half, cracking up as his eyes squished closed.

Stupid cute squishy eyes.

You knew it was hopeless, but a small part of you had wished he’d be just a tiny bit jealous. Clearly, that was not the case.

Attempting to change the mortifying subject, you coughed before saying, “Uh, I didn’t know Coco had a tattoo.”

“What!? That kid has a tattoo!?” Jin shrieked in alarm before catching Yoongi’s “are you serious?” expression. “Oh, you must mean our draeva marks.”

“Drai-Draiva marks?”

“Drae-va.” Jin pronounced slowly for you. “Saeni are all connected to Illain. This connection can sometimes be accessed and converted to magic by certain individuals like Yoongi. Majority, however, only have the standard draeva marks.”

You didn’t notice the smiles from both Jimin’s and Tae’s faces dropping since you were transfixed on Jin’s words. “Each Saeni is born at the same time a tree begins to take root. These trees are called draeva, though they can be any species. At seven years old, we feel the connection emerge in our souls and we feel a pull to that tree.”

As he talked, you noticed Jungkook come out of hiding, thankfully fully clothed this time. He went to sit next to Tae and put his arm around the Saeni’s shoulders as Namjoon started to elaborate on the subject. He said that every Saeni goes on a journey to find their draeva when the connection is established. Once the tree is found, the connection permanently takes root in the Saeni’s soul when they rest their hand on the trunk. The Saeni’s hand print is forever embellished on the bark, and in return, the Saeni gets a mark that replicates the tree’s inner rings. Every seven years, another ring appears, and the mark provides them with heightened senses and reflexes as well as the ability to feel the state of the draeva and surrounding area.

As you absorbed the information, you realized that the mark you saw earlier on the fallen tree must’ve been a Saeni’s hand print. You wondered what happens to the Saeni when their tree collapses like that. And although you were delighted to have learned more about Saeni culture, something jumped to the forefront of your thoughts.

“Slim Jim, you don’t have one.”

He looked down at your comment. “I don’t, um, I haven’t found my draeva.” His eyebrows pulled together, and his voice was shaking slightly. “I probably don’t even have one since I’m not fully Saeni.”

“Shit. Jimin, I’m sorry I didn-”

“You didn’t know, it’s okay.” He sent you a small smile that didn’t reach his eyes as Jin reached over to give his shoulder a squeeze.

Fuck, I lied. Your squishy eyes aren’t stupid. Bring them back.

“For the second night in a row, people are trying to sleep and you’re keeping them awake with all your emotions.” Yoongi grumbled.

The magic user had been quiet throughout the entire ordeal. Until now. You hadn’t even noticed that he’d gone straight to the fire to lay down on the ground. Though you were beginning to recognize that was standard behavior for the mint-haired Saeni. When he did finally speak up, he kept his usual, annoyed tone, but you could tell he was trying to lighten the atmosphere in his own, slightly questionable way. Trying to distract Jimin from his sadness.

Tae shot to his feet, preaching to Yoongi something along the lines of how emotions are what connect people together and yadda yadda yadda. 

You watched as Jimin’s face lifted in amusement and you silently thanked Mr. Sparkle Hands.

Once again, you were having a difficult time finding sleep. Or rather, sleep refused to find you because you’d tried every position and trick you could think of. Expelling the air in your lungs in a fast manner, you rose to your legs and shuffled over to where Tae was on watch.

He gave you a big smile as your approached, but it morphed into a frown. “You know I love talking to you, Y/N, but you should really get some sleep.”

“Trust me, I wish I could, but ya girl’s got insomnia.”

He hummed to express his empathy before grabbing your hand. “Well, if we’re going to talk, let’s walk the perimeter so we don’t wake the others.”

Waffling your fingers with his, the two of you started walking the circumference of the camp, far enough that nobody would hear you, but close enough to keep an eye on the area.

The two of you had been circling the camp for a decent amount of time, discussing absolute nonsense such as why you considered Steak and Shake fries to be on the bottom of the french fry totem pole.

“They’re skinny little shoestring fries! I like my fried potatoes to be girthy, you know. Give me some thick, crinkle cuts instead.”

As you argued in favor of girthy fries to someone who had never had one, Yoongi appeared out of the shadows. His face was not very happy, and you wondered what was wrong.

“Uhhh, hey Yoongi! Do you have insomnia too?”

He stopped and took you in with a judgmental face. “No. Only the small-minded get insomnia.”

“Oh, piss off.”

Disregarding your request, he turned to address Tae next to you.

“Hey! What are you doing? I wake up to take over watch and I don’t even find you at your post!”

Tae rolled his eyes. “Hyung, you know I can still see everything just fine from here, there’s no need t- Shit!”

Yoongi must have seen it a split-second before Tae had because he was the one that knocked you out of the way when the giant, black shadow of a thing came charging out of the dark.

You hit the ground hard with a grunt, scraping your forearm against a rock. Rolling over, you screamed Yoongi’s name as you saw him get tackled by the creature, the blue glow of an almost-finished spell fading as he went down. All you could do was watch in horror as wild jaws snapped at his head and claws raked down his body. Suddenly, an arrow thumped into the thing’s neck, but it only growled and continued ravaging the mint-haired Saeni who struggled, and failed, to push it off.

Hearing Tae curse, you looked in his direction and saw him running at the beast. He held his bow in both hands and defiantly yelled as he swung down. You gaped at you watched the sharp edge of his bow cut straight through the creature’s neck, causing the head to decapitate and the body to sag. The head hit the ground and rolled away from its previous owner until it came to a halt beside you.

You stared at it, blood still pumping out of the severed end in thick spurts. Midnight-colored skin that seemed rough and leather-like stretched across its skull. A thin, purple tongue hung limply out of its mouth, which was filled with rows and rows of teeth that looked like needles. You just stared at the gruesome head until you heard Tae calling Yoongi’s name.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

You wobbled to your feet and stumbled as fast as you could over to the Saeni, doing your best to ignore the headless body as Tae heaved it off Yoongi. You exhaled in relief when you heard Yoongi’s low voice responding to Tae and saw his pink eyes open and alive. Your reprieve was short-lived, however, as you lowered your eyes to Yoongi’s arms and torso.

They were… not in good shape. Deep gashes were twisted all around his arms, pouring out tiny rivers of blood that soaked the ground beneath him. Luckily, he had his main armor on, protecting his vital organs, but the creature had still found an open chink with its claws. You felt a tear run down your cheek as you saw where it had dug into the flesh on his left side. He was breathing weakly and his chest was spasming as Tae moved his hands to press against the wound.

You dropped to your knees and whispered Yoongi’s name, your voice and hands trembling as you took in his damaged body.

There was just so much blood. It was everywhere. Your vision was only red, red, red.

What do I do? What do I do!? Oh god…

“Y/N. Y/N! Y/N!”

You broke out of your crimson-filled trance.

“Y-yes?” Your chin quivered.

“I need you to go back to camp and wake up the others, alright?” You could tell he was trying to speak as calmly as possible to not panic you further. “I need you to bring Hobi back, so he can help me move him. Can you do that for me, little scorja?”

You nodded as confidently as you could before shooting to your feet and sprinting back to camp, the image of Yoongi being mauled and his wrecked body burned into your brain.

Somewhere else, hundreds of miles away from a frantic you, an injured Yoongi, and a shocked kiela, was a male sitting inside of a large tent, which was erected within his own encampment. Most of his face was shrouded in darkness, only the bridge of his nose and peak of his cheekbones were visible in the light of a few burning candles. He looked up from the map spread out before him when someone entered his tent. The wolves beside the male lifted their heads in attention at the intrusion.

“Sir? We’ve gotten word that he is back in Illain.”

The three wolves regarded the subjugate with aggressive eyes, causing him to gulp in fear.

“Anything else?” The shadowed male inquired.

“Their magic user was attacked by a lupinx.” He replied without looking away from the massive canines.

The male leaned back in his chair, a sinister smile creeping onto his face while his eyes twinkled in satisfaction.

“Perfect. Tell them to proceed with the plan.”

You felt horrible as you watched five of the Saeni train the next morning. You hadn’t been able to defend yourself last night, and Yoongi had paid for your weakness. You fisted your hands and dug your nails into your palm.

You couldn’t forget how pale he had been. How odd it was to see such a complexion smeared with bright crimson.

You couldn’t forget the Saeni’s faces, who were already on their feet by the time you’d arrived, when you stammered out what had happened in choppy, broken sentences.

You couldn’t forget the way Hobi’s expression had gone from concerned to utterly terrified in an instant.

Nor the way he’d rushed over to you, eyes unnerved as he grabbed your arm. You had wanted to whimper when he clawed into the sensitive skin around your scraped forearm. He begged you to tell him where Yoongi was, and without even telling him to follow, you had turned and run back to the bloody scene.

You loosened the pressure on your hands, but a throbbing remained where your nails had almost punctured small crescents into the soft skin. You sniffled as you observed Jimin practicing with Tae’s bow while the grey-haired owner critiqued his technique. Following the sounds of ringing metal, you shifted and saw Jungkook and Jin sparing with their swords. And behind them was Hobi, who was throwing his blades at a tree with much more force than was likely necessary. Your eyes burned as you watched them.

Expelling all the air in your lungs, you hung your head. You were so thankful that Yoongi would be okay. He as currently resting back at the camp with Namjoon looking after him.

But what if it had been more serious? What if he had died because you had needed to be protected?

What did you expect when you came to a new world with a bunch of warriors? To just skip by joyously and never be in danger?

You felt pathetic. You were a liability to the entire group. All you did was get in the way. Feeling a lump grow in your throat, you swiveled and walked away from the clashing of swords and thumping of arrows. When you could no longer hear them, you let out a frustrated roar and punched the rough trunk of the nearest tree. Your knuckles scraped against the bark, opening bleeding wounds. You brought your right hand close to your face to inspect the torn skin before shaking it out and punching the tree again and again and again, each hit eliciting an increasingly louder yell from deep inside you. Finally, your legs gave out and you slumped down while cradling your bleeding and splinter-filled hand. You felt exhausted.

“Your form is terrible.”

Raising your gaze from your damaged hand, you saw the last person you wanted to see.

“Excuse me?”

“I’m just saying that your form is completely fucked.”

Why the hell did he have to come berate you on your shitty punching technique. Was there anything you could do around this guy that wouldn’t have him talking down to you? And why was he even here? Shouldn’t he be back with the others?

On a normal day, you would’ve given him a smartass’ response. But this was not a normal day. You felt like crap and this was the cherry on top of your self-depreciation milkshake. Your breathing went from strained to erratic and you felt the wall barely holding yourself together start to crumble. Taking a deep breath and closing your eyes, you tried to shut Jungkook out in a last-ditch effort to keep yourself together.

“Your hand is thrashed because you can’t even throw a punch properly.”

Welp.

“Why!?” You screamed at him. “Why do you hate me!? What did I do to you!?”

You started to cry. You were so overwhelmed. “You said it was my fault, but what was my fault? I’ve never done shit to you!”

Truly crying at this point, your breathing was now stuttered and gasping. You lowered your head to try to hide your vulnerable state. As sobs wracked your body, you wrapped your arms around your torso in a desperate attempt to find comfort.

Not taking pity on you, Jungkook responded in a vicious tone, “You want to know what you did? You’re the reason my kiela is broken.”

“W-what?” You lifted your head to look at him through your tears.

His right hand grasped on to his ruby-hilted dagger and his other was clenched tightly.

“We’re supposed to stay together. We’re not supposed to leave each other, but Jimin does. He always leaves! And why? Because. Of. You. He doesn’t stay because you’re on Earth and he doesn’t want to leave his precious best friend, so he leaves us, his brothers, his family, instead.”

“What-I-Jungkook, I never asked him to do that. I didn’t even know you guys existed.” You defended yourself, but it came out weak.

“My family is never whole because of you. I almost lost my hyung last night because of you. It’s all because of you. Because of a stupid little human.” He spat the words out.

He was breathing heavily as he towered over you. “It’s. All. Your. Fault.”

Your heart ached in pain as what he said fully resonated with you. He was hurting because of you. Because Jimin would rather live on Earth, would rather abandon his kiela for most of the year, partly so that he could keep you in his life. You felt your stomach drop at the thought and you gripped your arms hard, curling into yourself again. You felt so frustrated, so lost, and so… human.

You’ve been hurting his family and you hadn’t even known. The others might not have been so up front about it, but they must have been hurting too. They had to be. A new wave of tears erupted over your cheeks as you considered how much the Saeni must despise you. How much they must be pretending to be fine with you for Jimin’s sake. You continued to sob as your mind shifted to think of how you’d been keeping Jimin away from them. You’d been keeping your best friend and the person you loved away from the most important people in his life.

And Yoongi…

“Kook! Y/N!”

You hastily rose to your feet and stepped back from Jungkook while you wiped your tears away, hissing as you moved your injured hand. It was a futile effort, though, since you knew there was still evidence in your meek disposition and red, puffy eyes.

“Hey hyung,” Jungkook said without looking away from you, but he stiffened and turned to his brother when he noticed that Tae was panicking. “What’s wrong?”

Gasping for air, he looked at you and Jungkook, obviously taking note of his heaving chest and your red eyes, but he didn’t comment on them.

Instead he said in a stressed, frantic tone, “They got him, Kook! They got Chim!”

You were pacing back and forth in front of Yoongi, who was laying down on his mat. You ran your hands through your hair, the crappy self-wrap job you did on your knuckles catching on the strands. You gripped fistfuls of your hair and yanked at the roots in frustration.

“Y/N. I swear to Exia if you pace in front of one more ti-“

“Yoongi! They’ve been gone for so long! What if something happened? What if they’re hurt?

“Okay, firstly, it’s only been like twenty minutes, so you can calm the fuck down.” He rolled his eyes. “Secondly, as Tae would put it, we’re BTS Saeni. This is literally what we do for a living… so yet again, you can calm the fuck down.”

You stopped in the middle of taking your next step as you considered his statements. Deciding to agree with him, you placed your foot down, but stopped moving around.

“Fine! Fine. But I want it to be known that I hate having to just sit here and wait.”

“You’re not sitting, and you didn’t have to say that. It was already obvious.”

You glared at the Saeni but your eyes softened after taking in his wrapped arms and torso. The bandages didn’t seem to have any blood staining them, so either they were freshly changed or Saeni’s bodies healed extremely fast. You still dropped your head in sorrow at his injured body.

“I-I’m sorry Yoongi. For what happened. It was my fault.”

He scoffed at your words. “It wasn’t your fault, idiot. Stop blaming yourself.”

“I really don’t know whether to take that as an insult or not, and I’m not sure I believe you, but… okay.”

Sitting down on the ground next to him, you thought back to the events that occurred after Tae had shown up.

---

“They got Chim!”

While you asked Tae what he meant, Jungkook had immediately reached out to grab ahold of the other Saeni’s shoulders.

“Where?” His demand was filled with anger, but it was controlled.

Contrary to how he’d been a minute ago.

“Chim saw you leave to follow, uh, Y/N.” He glanced at you. “So, he followed you¸ Kook. That’s the last I saw him.”

He stepped away from Jungkook, causing the latter’s hands to fall off his shoulders. You had never seen the usually aloof Saeni so serious before. It worried you.

“Namjoon came running over a few minutes later saying he saw them dragging Chim away unconscious.”

“You’re telling me that Namjoon saw them… AND DIDN’T DO ANYTHING!?”

You were so goddamn confused at what was going on. All you knew was that someone apparently hurt and kidnapped your Slim Jim.

“Can someone please tell me what in the fuck is going on!?”

Ignoring you, Tae said, “Jungkook, come on, use your coconut head for a minute.”

You would have snickered at his use of your term, but it definitely was not the time or the place to do so.

“He was by himself and he didn’t know how many there were. You know he did the right thing to get us all together to get him back,” Tae continued.

Without another word, the Saeni turned and started running in the direction of camp, Jungkook following without missing a beat. You stared, dumbfounded, for a second before sprinting after them.

Your lungs were burning by the time you caught up with everyone at the camp. Your burst through the trees and abruptly stopped due to the five standing Saeni having their weapons drawn and pointed at you. You blanched and stammered out that it was just you, raising your hands to show you were unarmed for good measure. When they recognized your face, they collectively sighed and lowered their weapons.

“Sorry Y/N. We’re just a little on edge right now,” Namjoon apologized as he returned his mace over his shoulder.

Giving him a timid, but understanding nod, you replied, “Noted. Um, so can someone finally explain to me what happened?”

It was Yoongi, still laying down to recover, who spoke up. “Some very bad people took Chim.”

“Yeah, I got that much, but… but why?”

Hobi filled in. “We have an idea as to why, but we aren’t completely sure.”

So that was absolutely not informative. Thanks.

“Okay? Well, what do we do now? We gotta get him back!”

“You will do nothing, except stay here and look after Yoongi. The rest of us will get him back.” Jin firmly said.

You tried to protest, but one look at Yoongi and your breakdown from earlier came rushing back to you. Taking a deep breath, you slowly nodded your consent as you exhaled. Then, you asked how they were going to get Jimin back.

Surprisingly, it was Jungkook who answered, “Just leave it to us. You do your job by looking after Yoongi and we’ll do ours.”

Again, that wasn’t very informative.

Namjoon backed up his words. “Honestly, it would just waste time explaining it all, so like Kook said, leave it to us. Trust us.”

“Alright,” you hesitantly agreed, “I trust you guys, so just… just please bring him back.”

“We aren’t sure where they took him yet, so we don’t know how long we’ll be gone,” Namjoon informed you as he glanced to Hobi. “Since Yoongi shouldn’t access magic right now, Hobi will cast a glamour over you two in case anyone is still lingering around.”

Hobi can do magic too!?

Seeing your bewildered expression as he came up to you, Hobi sent you a small smile. He raised his hands and they began to glow a blinding white while he muttered under his breath. As the light faded, he stepped back.

“Yoongi and I grew up together,” he explained softly. “I can tell you more about it later, but for now the short version is that he’s taught me a few things about harnessing Illain’s energy. I can’t manipulate it to his extent, but I can do some basic things like this.”

“Well, you better come back to tell me the long version.” You demanded through your shock before turning to the others. “You all better. With Jimin.”

They each gave you some sort of acknowledgement before running off into the trees. You watched their backs disappear one by one behind the foliage, except for one. Instead of leaving with the rest, Tae jogged up to you, gave you a hug, and whispered into your ear, “We’ll be okay, little scorja. And we’ll bring Chim back safe and sound, I promise.”

With that, he turned and sprinted away to catch up to the others.

---

You sighed, praying that Tae would be able to keep that promise. Looking at Yoongi resting underneath the blanket covering him, you had to let out a dry chuckle.

“Well, since you’re hurt, at least you have an actual excuse to lay around now.”

You were lucky he couldn’t use a lot of magic right then, because his face told you that comment might’ve pushed him to use it on you in a not so pleasant way.

“And why do you think I’m tired all the damn time?”

“I thought you were just a natural slug.”

“Partly true, but I’m exhausted from making those petals for you. They’re not big, but they require a lot of fucking energy to make.”

“…Oh.”

“Yeah. ‘Oh.’ So, don’t call me out for wanting to res-”

He didn’t finish his sentence as his entire body perked to attention.

“What?”

He quickly and sternly hushed you, bringing a finger first to his lips, then to his ear. Telling you to listen.

And then you heard it. Or, you should say them. Voices. Ones you didn’t recognize and neither did Yoongi, it seemed.

Briefly, you panicked before remembering that Hobi had put a glamour over the two of you, so you were essentially invisible to the outside eye.

You sent Yoongi a questioning look and he gave you a serious one in return. He opened his mouth to say something, but snapped it closed when the voices grew loud and three armed strangers appeared around a tree.

previous [2] — next [4]

[angryteapot]

In His Eyes

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader, Mentioned - Sam, Bucky, Tony, Natasha, Clint, Bruce, Thor

Summary: Steve falls in love and everything hurts... until it doesn’t. Based off the song Can’t Take My Eyes Off You by Frankie Valli, lyrics bolded in text.  

Warnings: Feels, pining and slight angst, vague mentions of violence. Is Steve’s POV considered a warning? Also there’s no dialogue. 

Word Count: 1580

A/N: I was inspired by this song and it probably wasn’t how the lyrics were intended to be interpreted at all, but hey when inspiration strikes, you don’t question it. Hope y’all enjoy! Or you can come yell at me if you don’t :) 

Steve had a problem. A serious one, if his clamoring heart was anything to go by. He was short of breath, chest constricting as it had before the serum. It shouldn’t have been possible to feel this way. His heart shouldn’t feel like it was being stabbed, right? Yet he knew what this feeling was. It was dying, of a sort; he had only felt it once before… with Peggy.

Those stabbing feelings meant he was sweet on a dame. Not just any dame, of course, but you. The newest Avenger, the most unapproachable person in the compound. You were cold, unfeeling, ruthless and calculating. On the battlefield, at least. How fitting that Steve would catch feelings  on the front lines amidst the violence and gore.

Off the battlefield, you were an enigma, just as stoic yet somehow soft in certain moments. Steve felt warm when you prepared everyone’s coffee just the way they liked it in the morning. He smiled when you handed him the first aid kit after a brutal sparring session with Bucky. He laughed when you put whipped cream on a sleeping Sam and got away with it, because who would ever suspect the quiet antisocial one?

You're just too good to be true

I can't take my eyes off you

You were soft in your oversized sweater and socked feet. You were soft as you quietly calmed Bucky down from a panic attack. You were soft as you patched up Natasha’s wounds after a nasty mission. You were soft when you coaxed Tony out of the lab for a long-overdue meal and nap, and when you chuckled at Bruce’s science joke.  You were soft as you smiled innocently when Thor was mourning the empty pop tart box, or when you handed a tired Clint your freshly brewed mug of coffee because he had drained his own.  You were soft when you burrowed into a mountain of blankets with your popcorn during movie nights. Steve cherished the small moments when he could see this side of you. It made the butterflies worse, but he dealt with it silently.

You'd be like heaven to touch

I wanna hold you so much

Steve nearly passed out the first time you touched him. You had always gone out of your way to not touch anyone’s bare skin. But one morning you were distracted, looking at Clint and laughing as he gulped coffee straight from the pot, not paying attention as you handed Steve his mug. Your fingers grazed his own, and his subconscious reflexes were the sole reason the mug didn’t plummet to the ground. His heart was in overdrive, that brief moment of your warm fingers touching his, fleeting enough to make him want more. Your eyes widened as you snatched your hand away and hurried out of the kitchen. He didn’t see you for the rest of the day.

The closest he got to touching you again was on the sparring mat. But you were always so deliberate in your moves that his hands only ever brushed your clothing before you laid him out flat time and again. The continuous defeats only made his craving to touch you even more intense.

The second time your skin touched his, he nearly did pass out. You had all just come back from a failed mission, and everyone was tightly wound. He was toeing the line as he berated you, he knew, but like an obnoxious schoolboy, he was only looking for a reaction. He didn’t expect what happened next.

He was saying things he didn’t mean, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself, until he talked himself right over the edge of that fragile line. You had whirled around towards him, the surrounding glass vibrating with the sudden force of your movement. He saw the look in your eyes, but was too late to retract his offending statement. Quicker than his enhanced sight could register, you had your hand wrapped around his throat, eyes blazing and mouth twisted in a snarl as you restricted his airflow.

While your hold on his throat was doing a pretty good job of taking his breath, it was your expressive eyes and burning touch that had his vision swimming. You didn’t say a word, but your eyes bore into his with an intensity that he had never seen on anyone, causing him to flinch as though you were yelling. Your bare hand on his throat burned. Not a physical heat, yet the intention behind the violent touch felt as though you were forged from the heat of a hundred dying suns. You released him and stomped off just as he was about to lose consciousness, leaving him to stumble towards the nearest chair and regain his breath (and rationality).

Pardon the way that I stare

There's nothing else to compare

The sight of you leaves me weak

There are no words left to speak

During every mission, in every battle or skirmish, Steve was mesmerized by you and fell a little deeper in love. You were a force to be reckoned with, your grace unrivaled by even Natasha. It wasn’t the raging Hulk that had the enemies turning tail, it was you. You were lethal as you threw knife after knife. You were breathtaking as you emptied your mags into the charging hordes. You were radiant as you cast aside your weapons and flitted your way through the flying fists and kicks, bodies dropping as you danced death.

That was how Steve saw it, anyways. You had no powers (except over him), you weren’t enhanced in any unnatural way. Yet your moves were ethereal, deadly and graceful as you took on enemy after enemy. Bullets and knives flew at you and missed, blood splattered your face, bones shattered in your grasp, agonized screams rang out as you took the life of whoever you were fighting. Steve should have been conflicted, disgusted even, as you laughed and danced your way through the falling bodies. Even Bucky steered clear of you. But not Steve; he was entranced by you, your merciless battle persona, and the softer you that only existed at the compound in quiet moments.

Steve pined after you for weeks, months, years. He had finally formed a friendship with you after what felt like an eternity. You opened up over the years, becoming a solid part of the Avengers family. You laughed more, became more outspoken and, to his delight and detriment, more affectionate with everyone. You had become his best friend, other than Bucky of course, you were his rock in the endless crashing waves of modern times and ever-changing morality.

His feelings grew, no longer able to be contained in his body. His love leaked out in his gaze, he lost control of his body as his arm found its way around your waist or across your shoulder. His strength left him and his legs threatened to give out whenever you hugged him. He lost the ability to function for the better part of a day the first time you kissed his cheek. His face did a weird thing whenever he heard your soft laughter. He had no control over his hands as they filled infinite sketchbooks with your image.

This pining thing was miserable. All the books and movies made it seem romantic, but it was worse than all his illnesses combined. This was death; a slow torture that was aging him and weighing his soul down. He tried to get over you, but he was in too deep. Every time he thought he was done, your sweet smile or electrifying touch would drown him in feelings. He was so tired of not being able to hold you and love you openly as he so desired.

But if you feel like I feel

Please let me know that is real

Steve walked through his door, ready to slip into the sweet oblivion of sleep, when he pulled up short at the sight of his occupied space. You were in his room. On his bed. Slowly flipping through a book, delicately running a finger over the page, smiling softly at whatever was written there. He was mesmerized. Until he realized it was one of his many sketchbooks, all images of you in different settings, different moments when his love for you spilled out through his shaking pencil. Then he was filled with dread.

Until you looked up at him. You eyes were bright, your smile soft as you beckoned him nearer. His hands shook, his vision swam, his breathing turned erratic, his mind screamed at him to run. You reached towards him and everything in him fell silent and still at your soft touch. Your lips slowly met his, and his eyes slipped shut, body shifting to fit perfectly with yours.

One of his hands found your waist, the other drifting from your cheek to cradle the back of your head, fingers gently tangling in your soft hair. The stabbing in his heart stopped, the sun shone brighter, his soul felt lighter. Who ever said this love thing was torture? Certainly not Steve.

I love you baby

~Fin~

Taglist: @mannls

[kc-meets-dc]

One Month After Forever

A short fanfiction in honor of having just one month left until the return of Young Justice. Hope you enjoy :)

Today seemed like any other day in the life of the average Uber driver. You woke up, got in your car, picked people up, dropped them off, and, sure, there wasn’t a lot of money in the gig, but there was something you savored more than anything money could buy you: the stories you’d hear from the people you drove around. But, when you woke up today, you never expected to hear a story like this.

It was around 4:00, or, as you knew it, 16:00. Your dad was an old military officer and he had drilled into your mind all that army time mumbo jumbo. You got an alert on your Uber app that there was a potential passenger for you waiting at the Happy Harbor airport. You immediately hit “accept” just because that had since become a reflex for you. Hey, any passenger’s a good passenger, right? You quickly head that way and soon pull up in front of the airport to pick them up.

The man who got into your car seemed pretty normal. Early 20′s, black hair, blue jacket over a black shirt and jeans. But then you notice the sunglasses he’s wearing. There was something familiar about them, but you couldn’t quite put your finger on it. “Where to?” You ask him.

“Big mountain on the edge of town.” The man replies.

Now that’s odd. Everybody in town knew that the mountain on the edge of town wasn’t there anymore. Of course, this guy was just coming from the airport. Maybe he’s an out-of-towner who just hadn’t heard the news. But, then again, didn’t the mountain’s destruction happen years ago? Surely word of that giant explosion would have made it to this guy by now, no matter where he’s from. Still, the place where the mountain once stood was quite a ways from the airport. That was a huge payout coming for you, and, what’s more, it was a long drive to talk and try and place where you knew this guy from.

You start driving. “So, you from around here, man?” You ask your passenger.

“Um, yeah, sorta.” The man responds. Sort of a strange response. Almost like he was dodging the question.

“Sorta?” You say with a lighthearted chuckle. “What’s that mean?”

The man looks down for a second, almost like he was choosing his next words very carefully. “I never really lived here.” He replies. “Just used to come down here a lot.”

“Oh. Got relatives in town, or something?” You ask.

“Just good friends.” The man replies. You’re not getting much of a conversation out of this guy, so you decide to just stay silent for a little while as you drive.

“Cool sunglasses.” You eventually remark.

“I’m sorry?”

“Just... I like your shades.” You say sheepishly.

“Oh. Thanks.”

More silence. Where have you seen shades like those before? “Hey, uh, did you used to go to school around here?” You eventually work up the nerve to ask.

“No.” The man replied simply.

“You used to work at the Big Belly Burger downtown?”

“No.”

You think for a moment, trying to place where you knew this guy from. “If you don’t mind me asking,” you finally say, “what do you do for work?”

That gets the man’s attention. You can tell that that question made him nervous. Growing up in a military household, your dad taught you a lot about how to read people. He said if you could tell when your enemy was afraid, you could defeat them easier. Pssh. Dads, right?

“I’m, uh, actually taking a break from work right now.” The man says. “I’ll probably give it another month or so before going back.”

“Oh. Okay.” You reply. “You... Excited to be going back so soon?”

The man looks down. You can’t tell what’s going on behind those shades, but you can sense that this fella’s been through a lot. “I guess so.” He eventually replies. “It’s a good job and all. Just... Gets a little hard sometimes. I, uh... I just lost a really good friend.”

You’re starting to get the feeling that this guy is unintentionally sharing more than he should. You know you should probably stop asking him about it, but curiosity’s a powerful thing. “You lost him on the job?” You ask.

“Yeah.” The man says. “We had... An assignment a while back. He was the only one who didn’t make it out.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

The man smiles sadly. “We were the ones who started the job in the first place. Us and two other guys, and a couple girls. We... We did good work together.” The man’s smile vanishes. “I just couldn’t go back to face them after what happened to him.”

The man is starting to get really depressed. Time to try and turn the conversation around. “Tell me about these other friends of yours.”

The man’s smile returns, this one of a slightly happier variety. “There were six of us at the start. Me, Artemis, Megan, Conner, Wally, and Kaldur.”

“Kaldur?” You ask. It’s an odd name, but this man doesn’t seem to realize it. He just keeps talking.

“Yeah, Kaldur.” He says. “He was the one in charge. At first, at least. I took over for him for a while a few years ago. But that was... That was a bad idea.” You don’t bother asking why he thinks that since you assume that will only bum this guy out again. You let him keep talking. “Kaldur was a good leader. Strong, confident, didn’t really say much, but he what he said always meant a lot.”

“Then there was Conner. He had a pretty quick trigger when it came to getting angry, but he’s better about it now. He was strong too, but in a different way. And he and Megan were definitely one of the best couples I’ve ever seen. Megan was sweet, and she always knew how to calm Conner down when he got too worked up. She was sort of like the glue that held us all together. Well, her and her cookies. God, those were good.”

“Then there was Artemis. She was the only one on the team who was really like me. She... She had a rough past, but she never swayed from doing what was right. And she had more heart than anyone I’ve ever met.”

The man didn’t go on to talk about Wally. You guess that he was the one who died. “So... One more month and you’re going to go back?” You ask.

“Yeah.” The man said. “It’s weird. I’m nervous. You know, about whether or not things will be just as good between us as they were all those years ago. But I’m also excited. It’s been so long since the team’s been back together. And I can’t wait to see what we’ll do once we’re back.”

You smile. This man sure seemed to have lived a full life, that’s for sure. You were so engaged in his story that you didn’t even realize for a moment that you had arrived at the mountain. “We’re here.” You say. “Enjoy your time at the smoldering dirt pile.”

Your joke actually makes the man laugh. It’s a laugh that’s still full of life and heart even after all this man has been through. But there was something about it... Something that drew a memory out from deep within your mind.

You weren’t sure how long ago it was. It had been at least five years. You were just a kid growing up in Happy Harbor when, one day, a man in red armor who could somehow create tornadoes came to attack the town. You were cowering in your house throughout the whole attack until, all of a sudden, you heard a childish laugh cut through the air. You looked out your window to see five kids, kids like you, all out there battling the man in the red armor. There was a muscular boy in a Superman T-shirt, a redheaded kid with strange-looking goggles on his head, a boy who at one point dove into the nearby ocean and didn’t resurface for way longer than any normal kid could stay under for, a girl who you could swear had green skin...

And then there was a younger boy, the boy who was laughing. He wore a golden belt around his shoulder and a striking pair of black sunglasses that you were looking at right now on your passenger’s face. He looked at you weird as you pieced together who he was. “You okay?” He asks with a tilt of his head.

You shake yourself back to the present and nod. “Uh, y-yeah.” You stammer.  The man raises an eyebrow suspiciously at you and goes to open the door. “You never told me why you wanted to come here.” You suddenly find yourself saying.

The man smiles. “Just... Coming back to relive some old memories.” And, with that, he gets out of your car and begins hiking up towards what used to be the mountain on the edge of town. The mountain you had heard stories about as a child about how it had once been home to superheroes.

That’s who that man was. A hero. A hero who had been absent for a long time. But, in just one more month, he will be back out there, having adventures, defeating bad guys, and inspiring more people just like you like he once did all those years ago. You knew you were going to watch out for him, to see what he and this team of his did next. You weren’t sure what they would be doing, but, in just one more month, you would be able to see. And you couldn’t wait.