#it may increase by a chapter or two we'll see | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

unattainablesillygoose · 1 year ago

Text

I, I Found Light

Harry x Hermione, only they developed a relationship in year 6 when Ron and Ginny started dating other people.

Chapter Summary: Ron, Lavender, and the others lock Harry and Hermione in a storage closet. Maybe they confess, maybe they don't.

Warning: There's some kissing, some borderline steamy dialogue but nothing too graphic I think? Also may trigger some claustrophobic folks. Fun fact; I am in fact claustrophobic but just because it wasn't uncomfortable for me doesn't mean that's the case for everybody, so I thought I'd mention it. (P.s. I can do smut if yall want that in the next part 👀)

●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●

Lavender was so close to ignoring Ron.

But Ron was convinced that given enough time, they'd come together on their own. She wasn't so convinced.

"I'm gonna lock them in a closet." Lavender blurted out quietly, so only Ron and Neville could hear her.

Both boys looked up from their chess game to see that she was watching Harry and Hermione, who were sitting a little too close to be considered friendly, doing their homework together on the sofa.

"Lav..." Ron trailed off.

"I know! But look!" She said indignantly, pointing at the two. "They're literally the only ones unaware that they're practically dating already."

"She does have a point." Seamus chimed in from where he was watching over Neville's shoulder, crouching over him as they sat huddled in a corner of the common room on the floor.

"Why aren't we setting them up again?" Dean asked from beside Seamus.

"Because this is something they need to sort out for themselves." Ron said.

"You're just worried they'll kill you if they find out you were the one to set them up, especially if they find out that you knew they liked each other and didn't say anything." Neville said, contemplating his next move.

"Great, thanks, Nev. You're a lot of help." Ron deadpanned.

Neville just gave him a thumbs up without looking up from the board.

"I'm going to burst, Ron. I literally can't take their longing glances anymore." Lavender said dramatically.

Padma, who was quietly reading beside Lavender up to this point, piped up, "Locking them in a closet might work."

"I like that idea." Seamus snickered.

"You just want to lock someone in a closet." Ron accused with a glare.

"Perhaps." He retorted playfully.

"Ron, I'm either locking them in a closet or setting them up for Slughorn's Christmas party." Lavender stated stubbornly.

Ron sighed heavily. "Fine. We'll figure out how to trap them in a broom cupboard or something."

Lavender squealed excitedly, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

"And how exactly do you plan on doing that?" Parvati asked.

~~~

"What do you need me to go with you for?" Harry asked Ron, confused.

"I told you, I need help grabbing stuff from the storage closet." Ron responded.

"For practice?" Harry asked, suspecting an ulterior motive.

He just hoped it wasn't a prank. It took him nearly two weeks to wash that sticky goop from his school robes last time. He'd had to enlist Hermione's help, much to his chagrin and her amusement.

Ron just nodded his head with a hum.

Harry glared suspiciously but didn't press him further.

"But why are we going to the quidditch field?" Hermione asked.

"Ginny needed help with something." Lavender answered simply.

"But why didn't she ask Harry and Ron? They actually play the sport." Hermione questioned further, her curiosity beating her trepidation.

"I don't think it had something to do with quidditch itself. Plus, I think she'd already asked them." She said.

Hermione hummed. She suspected there was something else but didn't think she'd get any answers from Lavender.

They continued their trek across the field quietly.

Once they came to the quidditch storage locker, Hermione's confusion increased.

"What-" Hermione tried to ask, but Lavender spoke over her.

"Just gotta grab something real quick, would you mind?" She asked, gesturing to the closet.

"Sure," Hermione said slowly, approaching the closet, "What am I grabbing?" She asked, turning around to see that Lavender had shut her in.

"What the- Lavender!" Hermione yelled.

Just a moment later, Harry was shoved in, and the door was shut again.

"Hermione?" He asked.

"Is this a prank?" Hermione asked at the same time.

"Probably." Harry grumbled.

Hermione felt very flustered. The storage closet wasn't very big, and with the extra brooms and trunks of balls, it felt even smaller.

Her and Harry had to stand fairly close, which wouldn't normally fluster her, they've been closer after all, but it was dark and warm, and she hoped she wasn't blushing too hard.

"Nope, not a prank." Ron said.

"Ronald!" Hermione exclaimed, irked.

"It's very stuffy in here." Harry said, crossing his arms.

"So take off your sweaters." Ginny said flatly.

"Ginny?!" Harry asked, shocked that she'd actually helped her brother with something like this.

"Ginerva, I swear-" Hermione huffed.

"Ooh, she used your full name!"

"Seamus?! Who else is out there?" Harry asked.

"Hi." Neville said.

"Luna's here too." Ginny said.

"Why?" Hermione and Harry asked.

"Aw, they're already finishing each other's sentences." Seamus teased.

"I don't think they're gonna tell us." Hermione huffed. "God, it really is hot in here." She said, pulling at the collar of her shirt.

Harry nodded.

"Hey, we're gonna leave you two here for a bit, let us know if you end up confessing. Ciao!" Ginny yelled.

"Confessing?" Hermione mumbled to herself as she put her ear to the door.

She gasped indignantly.

"What?" Harry asked, pressing his ear to the door next to her.

"They're actually leaving!" She said.

Harry was about to complain right along with her until he noticed how close their faces were, so instead, he pulled back.

"Unbelievable." He'd said, hoping his face wasn't as red as it felt.

"Where could they be going?" She asked.

"Lunch?" He asked.

"I think there's still an hour until then." She shook her head.

Harry checked his watch, "Actually, that's probably exactly where they're going."

Hermione grabbed his hand to look for herself, but Harry wasn't thinking about that. All he could think about was how close she was and how small her hand felt in his.

She must've noticed, and she dropped his hand, "Sorry." She muttered shyly.

"I-it's fine." He mumbled. Fine? God, you sounded so dumb. He thought to himself.

Hermione tried taking her sweater off, but her elbow knocked into the door with a thud, and when she moved over in surprise, she almost tripped over a trunk.

"Ow!"

Harry caught her arm before she could fall into the broomsticks and pulled her up.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, just didn't realize just how close I was to the door." She said.

For a few more minutes, they tried maneuvering around the tiny enclosed space, unable to move without elbowing or bumping into each other.

Hermione huffed. "If they were gonna lock us somewhere, they could've chosen a bigger cupboard. I can't even take off my own sweater."

Harry was about to offer to help her, but his mind immediately went somewhere it shouldn't have, especially about someone who is strictly his friend, his best friend at that.

Hermione tried once more in vain, elbowing the wall this time as she tried to pull her arms out of the sleeves. "Ouch!" She whispered harshly, mostly to herself.

But still, knowing that she was uncomfortable and too warm, he pushed aside those thoughts.

"Do you want me to help you?" He asked.

Hermione felt her heart palpitate uncomfortably fast, her face warming at the thought of Harry taking her sweater off. It was an innocent (more or less) offer, and she knew this, but her mind still betrayed her with inappropriate thoughts about her best friend taking more than just her sweater off.

But she didn't want him to think she was uncomfortable with the offer. Actually, she was more than okay. But he didn't exactly need to know that.

"I'd appreciate that, Harry." She sighed.

He took a small step toward her and gripped the hem of her sweater. "Arms up." He whispered.

She nodded and complied.

He pulled the wool garment from her, careful not to accidentally graze her body. He didn't think she'd like that. (She would, but he didn't know that.)

Once it was off, Hermione sighed, relieved. "Thank you, that's much better."

He nodded because he didn't trust his voice and sat her sweater on the trunk next to them.

"What about you? Aren't you hot?" She asked.

"Yeah, but that's okay." He assured her.

"Let me help you." She offered.

He nodded.

She pulled at the bottom of his sweater, her fingers brushing against his abdomen. Since he's nearly a whole head taller than her, he pulled his arms out of the sleeves himself once they were past his elbows.

He set it next to hers on the trunk.

"That is a lot better." He agreed.

He rolled up his sleeves, too preoccupied to notice her loosening her tie and unbuttoning the top few buttons, revealing her decolatage and the tops of her breasts. She'd also rolled up her sleeves a bit, too.

She leaned her head back against the wall and shut her eyes, not noticing Harry staring at the way her folded arms pushed up her breasts, showing her cleavage. He was glad her eyes were closed because his face was aflame.

He also noted how her skirt seemed shorter on her long legs, something he hadn't noticed before. He could see more of her thighs than before, between her shorter skirt and her socks as well. She used to wear thigh-highs, and they disappeared under the hem of her skirts, but the ones she had on stopped below her knees.

He noticed she was wearing different shoes, too. Hermione didn't usually wear heels, most often opting for flat mary-janes, but these ones had a heel. They were slimmer than her other shoes, daintier.

He shook his head and mirrored her stance, leaning back against the opposite wall from her and closing his eyes. He tried to push the image of her chest from his mind, but alas, it was at the forefront.

She heard his head thump against the wall and opened her eyes. He had his fingers tucked inside his pockets, his forearms on display, and she could see the veins on his hands and arms. He, too, had loosened his tie and undid the top couple buttons, and she could see how his neck flexed.

Stop it. That's something so silly to be turned on by. She mentally scolded herself.

But she couldn't stop thinking about kissing up his neck and how it would feel to have his hands on her body. How his arms would flex as he pulled her closer. How his lips would feel on hers. How he might taste. She wondered how he would touch her. If he'd be rough or gentle. She'd be perfectly fine with either, but knowing him, it'd probably be the latter.

Her eyes unfocused as something Lavender said popped into her head.

"Do you see the way he looks at you? He definitely likes you back."

She wanted so desperately for that to be true. But she couldn't handle his rejection if he didn't feel the same way. Their friendship means too much to her to jeopardize it over some silly crush.

At some point, he felt her eyes on him, and he looked over at her to see her deep in thought.

Without thinking, he brushed a strand of hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear.

She broke out of her thoughts and looked up at him. His fingers lingered on her cheek a moment too long to be considered friendly. She noticed the way he looked at her just then. Saw how his pupils were dilated, so much so that she almost couldn't see the vibrant green of his eyes.

He went to pull away, flustered, but before he could, she reached her hand up and held his hand there by his wrist.

He looked, really looked at her, and saw how her own eyes were blown wide. He didn't see any sign of uncomfortability. In fact, she was entirely at ease. Surprising, since she wasn't fond of enclosed spaces.

She reached her other hand up tentatively, holding the side of his neck as her thumb brushed his jaw.

She stepped closer to him.

He was slouched slightly, enough that her face was just about level to his. His legs spread just enough for her to stand in between.

She was so close now. He threaded his fingers through her curls, holding the base of her head. Once she was sure he wouldn't pull away, she brought her hand that previously held his wrist up to grip his shirt.

He hadn't noticed until then that he unconsciously brought his other hand to her waist when she stepped closer.

"Why haven't you kissed me yet?" Hermione whispered, her brown eyes boring into his.

He didn't need to be told twice, moving his hand on her waist to her lower back to pull her closer, using his other hand that held her neck to pull her into a kiss.

Hermione was surprised that line worked, still not entirely sure that he felt the same. But the way he held her and pulled her closer should have been evidence enough.

All either of them could think about was the other's lips on theirs.

Harry's hand slipped from her curls to her hip, pulling her flush against him.

Hermione whimpered, clutching the collar of his shirt in her hands and deepening the kiss.

They didn't pull away until they absolutely had to. Harry leaned his forehead against hers, his eyes still closed. He still wasn't entirely sure this wasn't a dream.

She kissed him again, not as gently as he'd kissed her. He felt her convey her need through the kiss, and he ground his hips against hers, eliciting a gasp which he used to push his tongue into her mouth.

She moaned, digging her nails into his chest, pulling a groan from him.

When she pulled away for air, he kissed down her jaw to her neck.

She let out a breathy moan, "Harry." she whispered.

A pleasant feeling, almost tingly, ran down his spine upon hearing his name fall from her lips in such a way, and he wanted to hear it again.

"Harry," she said again, pulling his lips from her neck to look at him.

"You have no idea how long I've been wanting to do that." He muttered.

She smiled, nuzzling her nose against his. "Now, you can."

"As much as I've enjoyed our time in this cupboard, I don't want to give them the satisfaction of knowing their plan worked." He said mischievously.

She smirked. "Well, they should be coming back in..." She grabbed his hand to look at the time, "About 10 minutes. Enough time to put ourselves back together before they come let us out."

"One more." He said before pulling her into another kiss.

She smiled and kissed him back.

"How long until one of them blurts out that we like each other." She teased.

He smirked. "I don't think they'll make it past Christmas."

"Hmm," she hummed, "I think once they get back from Christmas break and see that "nothing" happened, even though I plan on staying at school, then they'll tell us."

"Oh? Since when did you decide not to go home?" He asked.

"Since now. That way, we'll have some alone time." She smiles.

He smirked and wiggled his eyebrows at her playfully.

She playfully rolled her eyes and smacked his chest lightly. "Help me put my jumper back on."

He hummed. "I'm kind of enjoying the view."

"I never said we weren't going to pick up where we left off later."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you all so much for all the love on the previous parts, it means the world to me.

There will be more coming out, but as of right now, I'm in the middle of moving houses, so I might not have a whole lot of time to write.

Make sure to leave a comment, like, or reblog!

Xoxo 🫶❤️

@flowerhowellsworld @dr-doo

#harry potter #hermione granger #harry potter and hermione granger #harry x hermione #im a harmione shipper at my core #harmione fic #harmione #i love them #writers on tumblr

40 notes · View notes

chihoshisai · 7 months ago

Text

Days of Dash ch3

Goth Family (Zoro, Perona, Mihawk) and Straw Hats (Luffy, Nami, Usopp)

Ch1, Ch2

cw : romance dawn trio shenanigans, face slap, arguing, illness, more straw hats to come // wc : 1,862K as a PREVIEW, the full chapter is 3,157 words you can read directly on ao3 or find the link at the end of the preview for the full chapter // kinda sucks that there's no brown for usopp

Recruiting Friends : A Pathological Liar

“Let's make our way to the cafeteria then!” Luffy grinned, remembering the reason behind their outing while the notes of the first bell rang above his words like a deliberate sabotage. Zoro too, having been swept up in the recruitment of their new member, almost forgot.

“What? No, there's no time for that,” Nami began, exiting their place under the stairs, “we have to get back to class before the second bell rings or we'll be in trouble.”

“What,” Luffy whined, following her alongside Zoro, “but I'm hungry!”

“How can you be hungry when it's still so early!” Nami roared in his ears, walking next to the two.

It was true that not enough time had passed to trigger one’s hunger, the weight of Zoro’s undigested meal pressuring his stomach in a bearable way. “Did you not eat breakfast this morning Luffy?” he asked, concerned.

“I did, in fact I ate eggs, ham, bread, pancakes,” Luffy began, numbering each dish on his fingers and harvesting the laugh of Zoro, along with the bewildered expression of Nami.

“Then how are you still hungry?!” She boomed in his ears.

Still grinning, Zoro's affinity towards his new companions increased, as the warm sensation of enjoying himself swelled inside his heart. “I'll give you some of my snacks to eat when we're back.”

“Really, what sorts of snacks?” Luffy rejoiced, raising his arms in triumph before turning an excited face towards Zoro, and causing Nami to shake her head with a sigh.

“You'll choose when we get there,” he simply answered, further smiling at the thought of helping his friend out.

---

With the start of the curriculum, discovering the general outline like the beginning of a new book, class mostly consisted of reviewing previously learned concepts and testing the student’s knowledge simultaneously. Zoro, having no interest in academic matters, going as far as deleting whatever information he struggled to bring forth during tests once they were over, considered it a waste of time seeing that he could have been training instead.

Now sitting at the back of the class, feeling the dull of time passing, he glanced towards his newly acquired connections — Nami sat upright, taking note of any additional information that may prove useful, and Luffy seemed oddly engrossed in his notebook, his hand fervently moving along the pages with his signature smile. Consequently, upon a stretch of his neck Zoro witnessed the meat looking shower of doodles that perpetuated to fill Luffy’s notebook with every move of his wrist. Zoro wasn’t sure what to expect, but certainly it was not this — Luffy was in a world of his own. With that thought dancing in his mind, almost bringing forth a smile on his face, the poor feature was forced to recoil at the murmur of Nami’s voice.

“What are you looking at?” She arched an eyebrow at him, hiding her notes with her slender arm.

Taking notice that his neck was still stretched thanks to her, Zoro simply returned a bored look while distancing himself from her desk. “Nothing, I just wanted to see what Luffy was up to,” he mumbled with a shrug. And as his words caused Nami to glance towards the said straw hat student, Zoro silently grinned as he saw the exasperation rain down on her features, making Nami aware that responsibility towards their grade would fall on her shoulders.

The rest of the class consisted of a mixture of focused students, attentive but easily distracted ones but all failing to capture Zoro’s attention, as he thought of them like similar looking plants, while his eyes lowered to his empty notebook before turning to the translucent color of the window, ignoring his self reflection to gaze at the faraway school ground that glowed under the soft gold of the sun.

His first day had been going well, far better than he had expected and with the right company, the glimmer of hope made him consider that maybe he wouldn’t be labeled as a problem child with anger management this time around. Chuckles and contentment had found their way into his heart and behavior ever since his meeting with Luffy, making for the right aspiration towards change. Plus the school seemed to host far worse concerning cases than him, so there was that too.

With his head in the clouds along with the speech of the teacher sounding like nothing but the buzz of a bee, Zoro found his peace disturbed by the ringing voice of a classmate.

“Me, the Great Usopp, will gladly answer the question,” a long nosed student confidently stated with a hand raised. Seeing from his peripheral vision that Usopp had managed to capture the attention of Luffy, Zoro momentarily parted from the window to watch with expectation the way in which the right answer would be delivered.

“It’s no big deal since I’ve got an IQ of 300,” Usopp boasted, following the praise he received from the teacher, while remaining steadfast in his gloat as some of the class erupted in a muffled laughter at his unreasonable fact.

“300? Surely there’s no way,” Nami silently pointed out under her breath, her eyes fixated on Usopp with a dubious expression. Right, his claim might have sounded akin to a lie, but it was enough to incite a chuckle out of Luffy, whom Zoro saw due to Nami’s comment.

“300? That’s amazing!” Luffy intensely exclaimed, sharing his innocent opinion around him.

“It’s not true!” Nami quickly told him in a scolding manner.

Curving his lips in disappointment, Luffy disheartenedly lowered his voice in response. “What? It’s not?”

With the fuzz of the class continuing still, Zoro took the opportunity to chime in on the conversation, “how could you believe such a thing?” he asked him, intrigued at his thought process.

“I just thought it was true,” the straw hat earnestly answered, before the shush of the teacher slithered throughout the class to bring back the respectful academic atmosphere.

Zoro exchanged a last look accompanied by a grin with his seat neighbors before bringing his attention back to the window that greeted him with its unchanging scenery and so until the ring of the bell, like a pandemonium that would stir anyone from their occupation, came announcing the second break.

“Usopp!!” A loud Luffy yelled, rising from his chair.

“What’s with you?!” The surprised voice of Nami came asking, resulting in a synchronized startle from Zoro who felt his mood irk at her sudden uprise.

Upon hearing his name, the person in question turned to see the frown of a scary looking green haired student, a cunning yet almost certainly double faced expression of a tangerine colored one and the clueless, carefree look of the other. “I must’ve heard the wrong name,” Usopp loudly muttered, visibly intimidated by the strong atmosphere as he rigidly stood from his chair and to disappear behind the front door.

“Why would you call someone’s name like that?!” Nami scolded, a hand latching a slap along Luffy’s shoulder.

Slightly losing balance, Luffy gave her an apologetic look, “he seems like a funny guy so I wanted to ask him to join our friend group,” he whined.

“Then just walk up to him and talk to him like a normal person,” Nami angrily roared in his ear, making Luffy feel small. “You’re only scaring him by yelling like that!”

Her words certainly weren’t wrong, but upon putting himself in Usopp’s shoes, Zoro thought of it as nothing too alarming. “Well that’s one way to do it,” he shrugged.

“Don't encourage him,” the fury directed itself at him, causing another flinch to occur in Zoro at the sight of her inflamed eyes and the fist that threatened to rain down on him. If her blows were strong enough to deal damage on Luffy, Zoro dreaded the feel of her punch, as he remained silent after a slight grunt.

Which proved to calm her enough as she sighed, a hand to her forehead. “Let’s try to ask him again alright Luffy?” she turned to face him, only to be faced with an empty seat and a backdoor that stood aghast.

Grinning, Zoro stood from his seat, “seems like he got a head start,” he glanced towards the seat, before making his way towards the sea of hallways, a discouraged Nami following in his track.

---

Walking amidst the bright veil casted by the sun on the corridor, the chatter and laughter of other students filling the air with a sense of youth, Zoro and Nami quickly paced util noticing the peaking red lining of Luffy’s straw hat and who seemed meters away from interrupting the conversation of Usopp.

Leaping with unforeseen speed, Nami extended her arm to grab the loose back collar of Luffy, “didn’t you hear what I said earlier?! Don’t scare him off,” she hushed in his ear while dragging him away, having avoided a disaster.

To the silent Zoro who stood watching the scolding, he thought that he along with her dubious demeanor might’ve scared Usopp more than the straw hat did, but he preferred to keep that comment to himself, unwilling to attract her temper to him and instead crossed his arm.

“But—” Luffy began, his arms limping by his side while his once loose necktie itched at his neck, courtesy of the pulling.

“Plus look, he’s clearly talking to someone,” Nami pointed out, interrupting and pushing the attention of her listeners towards the conversing Usopp, who stood with his back turned at them, his conversation carrying to their ears.

Seeing a frail looking girl, her skin almost resembling snow despite the glow of the sun, Zoro came to the conclusion she must’ve been from another class as he didn’t recognize her. Not that he paid any attention to his own classmates since having already formed connections. But seeing how the girl kept glancing towards what seemed to be her classroom, almost eager to return with her mood growing bittersweet by the second, Zoro came to deduce as much.

“Kaya, you really shouldn’t be here,” Usopp pleaded, hesitantly extending caring hands towards her. “Can’t you see that Klahadoll is evil in letting you come here?”

She drifted, avoiding the upcoming touch with a shaking head. “How can you speak of him like so, Usopp. He does not wish me harm,” she swayed upon speaking, making the four who had their eyes on her to flinch in worry — Usopp grasping her by the arms in a gentle way towards steadiness.

Releasing what he held upon feeling the feeble attempt at wrestling away, Usopp further tried to beseech his reasoning. “Kaya, listen to me, I’m telling the truth this time, Klahadoll will be the death of you!”

Visibly losing her temper, the hand that found its way grazing the cheek of Usopp with a stout piercing sound, made all who stood nearby halt in shock, their mouth gaping. “Klahadoll has always protected me,” she stubbornly protested, her hand hovering in the air, while the stunned expression of Usopp lowered towards the ground, a cheek red from the aftermath. “I’ve always liked listening to your stories, regardless of their credibility, but now you’ve taken it too far.”

Find out what happened between Kaya and Usopp on ao3!

5 notes · View notes

jadeile-writes · 10 months ago

Text

Fanfic Progress Update 161

So, Hazbin Hotel was effing NOICE :D Didn't inspire me to write so far, but we'll see how this brainrot progresses. Currently I'm at the stage where I watch the musical parts 15 million times a day, the next stage is usually reading fanfics written by others, and the next one is writing if I fail to find what I'm looking for or just feel like it. Again, we'll see. On other news, stay tuned for the last sneak-peek for A Sign that you're important at the bottom of this post!

Current WIPs:

A Sign that you're important

Fandom: Sonic the Hedgehog, movieverse

Summary: One month upon his assigment as Doctor Robotnik's assitant, Agent Stone is told to learn sign language. He doesn't know why, and isn't suicidal enough to ask, so he simply rolls with it. Turns out, it's not just a whimsy of the eccentric doctor, even though that doesn't stop the doctor from utilizing it like one.

Progress: Chapter 5 was posted on 18th of January. The last chapter will be posted on 25th of January aka the next Thursday. Chapter 6 is a bit over halfway written, so cutting it a little close here, but I'll get it done in time. The biggest problem will be the chapter title tbh. I have a placeholder title (the old title for chapter 5 actually), but it's not perfect, so I'll need to brainstorm at some point, which is hopefully not on Thursday right as I'm posting it XD;

-----

Labor with a side of lattes (formerly known as "Life at the laboratory". Now the title isn't as boring and also vibes properly with the title of next part of the series)

Fandom: Sonic the Hedgehog, movieverse

Summary:

"Wanted: a yesman who is capable of operating an espresso machine, has at least a higher IQ than your average amoeba, and is willing to put work before having a personal life, or indeed a life, period. The extra in your pathetic paycheck is good, but the strain in your psyche will make up for the positives. Forfeit your basic human rights and apply today if this sounds like you."

Maybe it said something about Agent Stone - and probably not good things - that the poster in the cafeteria's pin board piqued his interest more than any of his official assignments had for a good long while.

Dr. Robotnik, huh?

Progress: This one will be part one of a two-parter longfic, the first part probably... 10-ish chapters? It's a bit hard to estimate at this point, so the number is subject to change - will probably end up being increased tbh. My weekly writing hour (as in, a specific hour when I sit down and write, no excuses [other than not being home]) is devoted to this fic.

I have the first five chapters done. Chapter 6 is 1/3 written.

I also have two halfway written chapters that don't yet know their exact placement within the fic (they're scenes that will be slotted in to wherever they feel natural, once the fic is ready for them.)

-----

Other WIPs I’m not currently working on but intend to get back to Someday™:

PoE Drabbles (Pillars of Eternity)

DC Drabbles (Justice League)

Diaphanous Relations (Forgotten Realms, R.A. Salvatore’s books)

Rolling with it (Zelda: BotW)

Hah, our afterlife is the most hilarious bushwa, dearest! (Hazbin Hotel)

-----

That’s it for the WIPs! Here’s the promised sneak-peek into A Sign that you're important (Note: the text may end up slightly different in the fic itself due to more editing happening before publishing). Enjoy!

Maybe it would have been better if he had never been able to talk with Knuckles. He could have just dropped the renegade red rascal at the hedgehog’s home to do whatever it was he had assumed Knuckles wanted – he had assumed punching, ripping some quills, and moving on, if he had had to hazard a guess when he had been unable to hear – and been none the wiser about the Master Emerald. He could have been content about the hedgehog getting some much deserved use as a punching bag and moved on with his own plans. Getting to Stone, kissing him silly, freshening up, eating actual food, getting a good night’s sleep in an actual bed (preferably with Stone in it), getting acquaintanced with the cafe lab, and making plans for further actions in the morning. Plans that likely would have involved checking up on the hedgehog to see if there was anything left to salvage in the wreck for science, and whether further revenge was necessary. Getting to his secret lab. Considering negotiations for his re-employment with the government – he had done nothing wrong, he had been acting on their orders to find out what had caused the blackout and he had been given the leave to deal with it in any way he deemed necessary.

-----

That’s it this time. See you next Saturday!

Links:

My AO3 My FFnet My Ko-fi Radiohusk Discord Server

#fanfic progress update

3 notes · View notes

liannaflower · 2 years ago

Note

Hey, I love your fics on AO3 so much! I was wondering what your 3 favourite fics that you've written are? 💙

My favourite fics of mine🧡

heeeey🧡

thank youu, you're making me blush and it's still early for that😊🤭

but huh this is a tough question, although I frequently think about it (and now I'm gonna list all my fics because I just can't pick😂)

Punishment:

Okay, this one is easy and I think obvious? The only multi-chaptered fic I finished (as far as I can remember) but most definitely the first of those. I think it's also my highest wordcount for a fic yet, but it will be surely surpassed once I finish other wips.

It has smut, which is my fave to both write and read, duh, a bit of dramatics with slight angst, and a lot of taboo. It's sinful and I just love it. Although I wish continuing it with its sequel would be as easy as this fic was.

It's also my favourite ship at the moment, duh. And my first non-Perpollo and also my first Perseidon content. The change from Perpollo was slow but much needed! (As you can see I almost never write Perpollo now, mostly only in Percy/gods stories, I just don't like it that much anymore, although it used to be my fave...)

2. Reference letters for NRU:

This is also an easy pick, I just LOVE the idea behind it, as much as I hate the idea behind the books that will come out, hence why I changed it to be more enjoyable because smut just always helps😂🥰

Not finished, yet, but I remember the Zeus chapter was sooo much fun, and quite possibly a record in my chapter/smut wordcount. I'm soo looking forward to continuing it. Hopefully, we'll see the end soon. If I had to guess this will be the second finished multi-chaptered fic of mine.

Now, this is where things get messy. I kept thinking about my fics, and while I've written some one-shots that I absolutely adore (khm, Tale of Tails, or I'm feeding on denial, fooled by my own betrayal and Happy Father's Day!) I simply cannot place them as third, because mostly once one-shots are done, they're almost never actively in my mind afterwards. Although I do enjoy frequently re-reading these works, and up to this day I wouldn't change a thing in them, so that's love.

But because I wanna put multi-chaptered works here I have two candidates for the third place:

like the lazy ocean hugs the shore

and

No Point In Running From Your Fate

These are both very recent fics, with not-so-recent ideas behind them. I think I had these since May in my ideas doc. 😅

But only one can be third so...

3. No Point In Running From Your Fate:

Although the other is more catching for me, as for the story and angsty feelings, that's a bigger project for sure. Therefore harder to write. Also, this one is less of a slow-burn, which I both love and hate. Mostly hate to write lol.

It will have smut very soon, and it's a much different idea than any of my others, since it's A/B/O, with my own personal system for it. I'm aware the A/B/O dynamic in it is a bit ridiculous perhaps, but I didn't wanna write the conventional one.

Honorable mentions for the list are Sunflower and The Days Of Our Love, my first stories to post on AO3. (let's pretend I never wrote anything prior to those) And while I love TDOOL (the new edition) for its structure (the increase-decrease change in wordcounts of present-past ratio) I love Sunflower for its end... which you don't know yet. But I cried a lot over it... lmao. However I'm stuck with them for multiple reasons, one, I don't enjoy Perpollo anymore, two, Sunflower is at a place where it's hard to continue, due to its themes, and how much self-reflection is in it.

However, I'm looking forward to finishing more of my recent stories too. I really enjoy Pasiphae's Curse (it will have its variations, in like 4 versions) Substitute Boyfriend and Gentlemen's Club too.

Well, that was a lot of fics listed 😂😂

But why would someone write if they don't love their stories?

Anyways, now I'm curious what were your faves?

#my fics #Perseidon #perpollo #this was tough to answer #but good for reflection #thank youu #🧡🧡🧡

2 notes · View notes

ramuneempiremtl · 7 months ago

Text

Slave-kun’s Happy Life in Another World: Chapter 33

There was the sound of Shuza putting down his pen.

"Yeah, I guess this report is okay. Thanks, Daine… Daine?"

"What's wrong? You seem absent-minded."

"…………"

Daine threw himself onto the couch as usual, but he had a slightly troubled expression on his face.

"I saw something crazy."

"Huh? What did you see? Whose?"

"The kid."

"Is something wrong with Owl?"

Daine hesitated on how to explain what he had "seen."

It was a future that they themselves hadn't considered.

He had "seen" the image of that grand prediction racing through Owl's mind.

Or perhaps, he had been "shown" it.

"He… he predicted what that old man is planning…"

"Really? He predicted his intentions? He's quite clever, isn't he?"

"No, it's not like that at all."

Daine sat up and repositioned himself.

"…The hole left by the Cattle Trading Company is huge. An entity that will fill that void will definitely appear. And that 'newly emerging trading company' is likely the old man's main target."

"What do you mean?"

"So, they crushed Cattle and replaced it?"

"That's right. If we were to meet this old man again, he would be standing next to the head of the trading company that started business in place of Cattle in this city… That's the kid's prediction."

"Wow, so does that mean 'powder' will spread in this city again?"

"It's not just that."

This city, Sansa, is the gateway of trade.

If they were to gain control of Sansa through a new trading company, they could extend their influence to the two southern countries and even the capital of this country.

Gradually and steadily manipulating several countries from behind the scenes, they may even obtain control over the world.

The path to world domination.

That was Owl's "prediction," or rather delusion.

It was a terrifyingly ambitious and unreasonable plan, but it didn't seem impossible. Sansa City had already been greatly affected. Their reach had even extended to the branch manager of the Adventurer's Association.

It might already be happening.

"The kid thought that they intentionally refined the 'powder' to have addictive properties. It also served as a means to raise funds and increase pawns. It was an added bonus that weakened national power."

"…………"

"'Powder' is just the trigger. Every city has its secrets. If you can control them, it's as good as having everything. Isn't that right, Aki?"

"That's true. Those in the back alleys are easily manipulated."

Everyone fell silent at Aki's words, who was originally a street urchin.

In this short amount of time, did he really predict all of that? With that round and fluffy reddish-brown head?

Even though he couldn't even read, everyone wondered what was going on in his head.

"Did Owl really think about all of that?"

"Even if I thought about it, would you believe me?"

"Ha… I thought he was shocked by the butler's story."

"He was shocked. But afterwards, his thoughts took a leap in an outrageous direction. He kept repeating to himself, 'This is just a delusion.'"

"But to think it would extend to political influence. Even though he didn't receive any education."

"It's quite an insightful perspective, like those 'shadows of the king.'"

"Even the mighty nation of Cynthia has fallen."

By bringing up a famous tale, Nove implicitly pointed out that "there is nothing impossible in this world."

A sigh escaped from someone's lips without anyone noticing.

"I hope he'll talk to me someday."

"I agree."

There is a world that we don't know.

And surely, that grumpy-faced boy knows it.

This time, we touched a small part of it.

However, there is nothing more we can do about this matter. If we submit a report, this special request will be fulfilled.

We'll just go back to our usual adventurer life.

Smoothly, Aki took out a bottle of alcohol.

"Drink and forget."

"Alright, I'll do that."

"Wait! You can't forget!"

"At least, I want the lord or the 'envoy' to be careful in selecting a new company to join."

"If that's the case, there's a good person. Look, at the appraisal office…"

"It's 150 years old? Where did you get this thing, Aki?"

"I won't tell you. Just drink it."

"Tch, I'll let it slide because of the deliciousness of your snacks."

"Give me some too!"

It would be only a little while before the two who got out of the bath were surprised by the enthusiastic feast that had started as a distraction.

[From the next time, it will be from the protagonist's perspective.]

#slave-kun

0 notes

askthechronoverse · 1 year ago

Text

Chapter Fourteen: The Day The Fox Came to The Door

Last Chapter •||• Next Chapter

The fox worked tirelessly to try and reverse engineer a gem just enough to make a weakened decoy. The decoy Puppycorn ate had resurfaced, but it was half digested and completely discharged of whatever energy it had by then. This gem was now sitting on the workbench beside her, nestled between her notebook and a graduated cylinder. She was occasionally joined by Rex while she worked, like she was now. The man sat on a wooden bench next to her, a bit battered from a tough training session with Hawkodile.

"Please pass me the jar of red liquid. I think we're getting close to a breakthrough!" She couldn't help but let a self satisfied smile appear on her face. Her assistant passed the jar and closed his dark eyes for a second. "I know this will seem rude, but I'm glad you're available at the late hours of the night. Science, especially planet saving science, shouldn't sleep!" Rex yawned.

"Hm? Yeah. Glad my insomnia helps the greater good."

"I will look into a better way to help you sleep once we finish our work and the Unikingdom is back to a time of peace. Sleep is important for your body to function." The fox spoke while she worked.

"I've functioned for a long time without sleep, Doc. Don't stop working on the stuff ya had going before on my behalf." His tone of voice was uncharacteristically gentle. He looked away from the fox.

"RJ, that's what a friend does. I get the impression you needed the reminder from your vocal patterns and mannerisms." She poured what she had been working on into a makeshift mold made out of something not unlike children's molding clay. "I believe we're ready. Let's let this concoction set and we'll test it with Hawkodile. We know his strength and can mark any increases."

"Yeah. Got it. Just call me… when ya do the test." Rex stretched his arms, yawing in mid sentence.

"I encourage you to rest in the meanwhile. I won't lie to you: I do worry about your capacity to provide aid to us in your current state."

"Tell the recurring nightmares that." He slid off of the stool.

"I know this may not be something you want to hear, but I would suggest therapy of some kind when this is over." Doctor Fox hopped off of the chair she was sitting on. "Nightmares can occur because of -"

"You sound like my ex, Doc." He muttered quietly before heading out of the workshop before the fox could utter a reply.

The fox stayed in the makeshift lab for a little longer. She wandered the room, looking at blueprints for the Rexcelsior which had the location of the time drive shockingly absent. She soon found a half built motorcycle hidden under a tarp. It was clearly built for speed, a sleek machine made of found parts. She did remember he had a parts list on the chalkboard that now sat in the living room that was used to compile what they needed for an attack plan. She wanted to help, but she didn't know how he even got as far as he did. A lot of the parts were random, like he couldn't find the exact part and used the next best thing. This may be a glimpse into the thought process of a Master Builder, something she had only heard about from Unikitty. She was admiring the bike when Richard floated into the room. He held a rolled up piece of paper in front of him, the pressure from his invisible hands threatening to rip it in two.

"Doctor Fox. I'm sorry to interrupt you. There is something you should see." He put down a newspaper from Frowntown. There was a mysterious ailment going around that was causing people to evacuate the city for other parts of the galaxy. It came on suddenly and the origin could not be found.

"That's not good. They may be trying to get people off of the planet to make way for their demolition." She shook her head slowly. "We need to stop this. If we can keep people in their homes, that will slow things down. We should ask R-" She stopped herself. No. There was no need for the violence asking the Master Breaker for help would eventually bring. She could solve this with her mind alone. "How is the ailment spread? I'll need a sample right away."

"The article claims it may be in the water supply, but you can't go over there. If anyone here does, it would be risky." Richard cautioned, fear clearly in his voice.

"I'll send a robot." She called a robot from her lab and asked them to bring her a water sample. "This may take a while. I need to ask someone something." She shuffled into Rex's room, where he was haphazardly sleeping on his bed with a pair of headphones on his head. She looked at his sprawled out body for a moment, then pushed him off of the bed. The human surfaced from the floor, headphones now half off of his head.

"You rang, Doc?"

"May I finish building your motorcycle? I may have a need for it soon." She frowned a little at the messy state the man was in. Maybe she shouldn't have pushed him.

"I guess? As long as you promise to wake me up like a normal person next time." He didn't wait for a reply from the scientist and curled back up in his bed. She nodded and shuffled back to the unfinished motorcycle.

"I'm sure he'd let me make improvements to his design." She grabbed some tools and got to work. By the time her robot brought the sample, the motorcycle was finished. It was a beautiful vehicle at this point, made even more aerodynamic by her changes. It looked like it even had a nitro booster installed to it. She didn't have time to detail it; she would leave that up to him later. The fox took the sample from the robot and got to work analyzing it. She soon finished the analysis and gasped. "This ailment is evolved using the power of the gems! This must be the work of a Doom Lord!" She looked at the bike. Should she ask for help? No. She shouldn't. Rex needed to sleep and the others could be at risk if she didn't do something about this. After getting a hazmat suit on, the fox hopped on the bike and sped off to Frowntown.

She soon found herself in an abandoned downtown Frowntown. There were signs up all over telling people that they were under a water boil advisory. The place was already sad enough normally, but with everything shuttered up, it was downright creepy. She slowed the bike to look around for some sign of a Doom Lord. She had to remember the ones she saw before. Who would she be looking for? The memory came to her as she saw him.

A being in a plague doctor outfit stood by a window, checking for signs of life. His movement was birdlike as he checked something off of a clipboard. He muttered softly, almost like a coo, about the results of his plague. Around his neck was a green heart shaped gem. Was this one of the real gems? Doctor Fox decided that she would worry about that later. She followed the plague doctor down the road, watching him check off names. Eventually, the dark doctor stopped at Master Frown's apartment. The young Doom Lord answered the door.

"You doing a thing, Plague?" The birdlike creature bobbed his head. "Cool. Cool. Cool of you to avoid our place."

"I came to warn you to stay away from Princess Unikitty and her friends. Doom will make them an example of her power in due time and an example of what will happen to those who resist and reject her." The voice that came from the being was bone chilling, the right amount of high-pitched and grumbling to make Dr Fox's tail fur stand up on end. Plague checked something off on his clipboard. "Please leave the planet at the earliest convenience." The being moved on as Frown closed the door. Doctor Fox gasped. Doom had plans to make an example of them. But how? Could that be how Rex loses his life in Captain's timeline? Does he try to protect them from something? Either way, she couldn't allow that to happen.

She continued to follow Plague until the bird stopped at the water supply that was shared by the Unikingdom and Frowntown. She steeled her nerves. Now was the time for action, not thinking.

"HEY! STOP!" This was all she could think to shout. The plague doctor slowly turned to face the fox. He tilted his head.

"Doctor Fox, I presume?" The voice unnerved the little fox, but she got off of the motorcycle and walked in front of it. "Come to provide the town of Frowntown with some of your experimental medicine?"

"I'm here to stop you from destroying our planet!" The fox walked in front of the bike. "You're the one playing with people's lives!"

"For the record, dear Doctor, the plague I spread is tied to me for the present moment. Once someone leaves the planet, they are no longer harmed. The point is to make people leave. To have people on the planet when we demolish would be irresponsible and a PR nightmare." The plague doctor glanced down at the water. "That should not matter, but Doom has plans for you and your friends that will make her look better by comparison. We really must thank you, Doctor. This plan wouldn't be as perfect without your involvement." The plague doctor grinned a sickening grin.

"We aren't going to let you guys get away with any of this!" Doctor Fox paced to the other side of the motorcycle, but went no closer. "It doesn't matter much what your plan is!"

"But you are. Our plan is perfect. We will succeed because we have accounted for everything you and your friends can conceive. You and your friends can do nothing but marvel at our plan when it's complete. Marvel and grieve." Plague's guttural voice made Doctor Fox's ears go back. "I offer you this information, Doctor, because my work is done. I was put in charge of making the people of Frowntown vacate and this work is done." He tapped his clipboard.

"There is always time to reverse our fortunes! We can still beat you and the other Doom Lords!" Doctor Fox took a breath and walked closer to the bird like creature. She grabbed at the gem, which he didn't seem to resist. It was soon in both of her paws.

"Again, Doctor. My task is complete. The time where you can claim this planet as your home is drawing to a close. I give you the opportunity to say goodbye. You should thank me." The bird slid off into the shadows. Doctor Fox folded her arms. That was… too easy. Master Plague sure was confident in his boss's plan. That didn't matter to her right now. She was sure there were people who were still sick. After mixing some chemicals she brought with her, she threw the vial as far as she could into the water supply. This should purify the water. She got on the borrowed bike and headed back to Rex's cabin. She needed answers that only one person could provide that she had access to.

The person in question was in the study, where he always was. He was reading what appeared to be a history book with a notebook next to it with detailed notes.

"Good evening, Doc." The older Puppycorn put the book down. "Something you wanna discuss?"

"Yes. You come from a timeline where Master Doom successfully enacted her plan, correct? What was the general public's opinion of her?" Doctor Fox pulled a notebook of her own out of her lab coat.

"The opposite of… our mutual friend, if I'm being honest. Everyone hated him but thought Doom…" A growl came from his throat. "was the one who saved us by taking him out. They knew to leave her alone, though." He turned to the book and another growl escaped his throat. "Here. I'll show you." He pushed the book so Doctor Fox could see it. "I still gotta do homework after this ends, you know?" Doctor Fox leaned in to look at the page Captain flipped to.

After the Battle for Syspocalypstar, the person responsible for starting Armommageddeon eventually resurfaced on the Unikingdom, a planet in the Systar System. Little information survived about his plans on the small planet, but he was ultimately defeated and killed by a syndicate based on the planet already known as the Doom Lords. The skirmish caused the planet to be destroyed, displacing the people of that planet. Most of them moved to Syspocalypstar, including the royal family.

"Interesting." Doctor Fox's eyebrows furrowed as she got to the end of the page. She was sure there was more, but Captain already closed the book. "I may have an explanation for all this, but I have a feeling you know it."

"I'll tell you what I told my kid self: history is told by the winner. Especially when the loser can't answer for himself." He put his head on the desk. "His plans. Ridiculous."

#the newspaper isn't antiquated •||• written works

0 notes

faytelumos · 1 year ago

Text

Thanks for the tag! :D

Let's see.

1) For Book 1, I haven't really figured out the lesson yet. I'm at risk of making the lesson something I don't want it to be, like 'love doesn't last under pressure' or 'no matter how close you are to someone, adversity will win' but I want it to be something good. Something about how love could have weathered this storm. Something about how communication was what everyone needed.

Book 2 is much darker. "Nobody survives this life alive." Life is traumatizing. You've never met a single person who wasn't already or didn't become traumatized by something. Life is so damned mean. And that's why we need each other.

2) A lot of my inspiration for both countries is from real life. When I have a issue, I turn to each country's primary Earth culture to figure out how they'd handle it, then account for the extra details that Earth doesn't share with my world. However, Book 2's country is much more fantastical, and so I can only turn to real life for so many answers.

3) Hhamath's goal is to maintain the status quo. When that fails, he falls back onto his strange, half-religious faith, and tries to reason his way out of the problem and solve it in order to regain normalcy.

Shryth is trying to protect her family and loved ones. She doesn't really believe that anything fantastic is happening, and when her lie blows up in her face, she is thrown deeply off-balance.

Both of these characters have negative arcs. Hhamath is able to see almost right away that his actions did not help him, and he regrets everything that happened. Shryth goes from being passively optimistic and social to being guarded and reclusive. Both stories are about how fear is the enemy of peace, and while Hhamath gives us an inside perspective, Shryth ends up feeling like she's watching it happen.

4) I have no idea how many chapter I'll have for these books. Both stories are in rough draft state and I haven't decided on my personal taste for chapter structure. Probably 20-30, but truly, I have no clue.

5) This story is original content. I may or may not put it up on Patreon in later stages; we'll see. I plan on self publishing.

6) Hahaha, I started writing this story over twelve years ago. Before that, I had been writing for maybe two or three years. I think I started writing because my mom was a writer. I've never read much of her stuff (she's handed me things to look over and get my opinion on, though), but knowing that she was writing might have been the big trigger for me.

7) My biggest piece of advice is still "write for yourself." The notes won't bring you any kind of true happiness. Write what makes you stick your face against the glass like a sicko. Those with like minds will find you easier that way.

Also, I follow a TON of writeblrs. So, so many. If you want to increase your exposure to writeblrs, @kjscottwrites is a really good one to follow because she also boosts a lot of writeblrs, writeblr intros, and WIP intros. She's awesome like that.

Writers of Tumblr, I have an ask game for you all!

Please reblog and answer these questions, maybe tag others too! My asks are also open for them.

What is the main lesson of your story (e.g. kindness, diversity, anti-war), and why did you choose it?

What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding (like real-life cultures, animals, famous media, websites, etc.)?

What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness, help readers grow as a person?

How many chapters is your story going to have?

Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it?

When and why did you start writing?

Do you have any words of engagement for fellow writers of Writeblr? What other writers of Tumblr do you follow?

#writeblr community #writing #ask game #tag game #thanks for the tag!#it actually kind of helped me to be able to talk about this story aloud #oc: Hhamath #oc: Shryth

677 notes · View notes

dean-winchester-is-a-warrior · 3 years ago

Text

Green is My Favorite Color Ch. 12

Series Summary: Dean has been her hero from childhood, can she ever get him to be more?

Pairings: Dean x OFC

Warnings: Angst - so much angst, grief, talk of major character death, smut, p in v, some fingering, slightly rough sex, unprotected sex, Dean being an asshole (kind of), fluff.

Word Count: 7,506 (sorry for another long chapter!)

Chapter Summary: How will Dean cope with Sammy gone? How can Julie try to heal him?

A/N: The twelfth chapter in a longer series. As I’m writing, the story is stretching out a little and I’m thinking it’s going to be at least 20 chapters. Sorry! 😬 It’s what I’ll call cannon adjacent. It will follow the general storylines through the seasons, but I’m creating my own offshoots. 😊

Series Master List || Dean Master List || Main Master List || Tag Lists

3 Months Later May 2010

Julie pressed the ice pack to her shoulder, hoping to take away the worst of the ache. She and Annie had been exorcising a demon when his buddy had shown up ready to fight. The two women had managed to take down both demons, wrangling the second one into the devil's trap as well, and exorcising them both.

But not before demon #2 had landed a hard blow to Julie's shoulder; he'd been aiming for her head and she dodged at the right moment, but he still clipped her shoulder.

So now, hours later, she was sitting back at the motel, trying to recover while Annie had gone off to help another hunter friend Julie didn't know.

Everything was in chaos right now. There was so much demon activity that the network of hunters across the Midwest couldn't keep up with it.

Something about the upcoming battle of Armageddon seem to have them all excited and riled. That thought brought back the memory of her phone call with Sam two days before, when he told her the plan.

"What? Sam, that can't possibly be the only option!" Julie had said, completely horrified and blown away by what Sam was telling her.

"It is the only option. We can't kill him. So, the only thing we can do is try and get him back in the cage, and..." He paused for a moment but when he spoke again, his voice was full of conviction. "...and I'm the only one who can try to get control of him, and toss him back in."

"Besides," he said, his voice getting quieter. "I let him out, I've gotta put him back in."

Julie had tried to argue his point, but she couldn't come up with any possible alternative if they wanted Lucifer safely caged away again.

She talked with Sam another twenty minutes, with her trying to find solutions that didn't exist and Sam just trying to tell her goodbye. Finally they ended the call.

"Bye, Julie. You take care of my brother, okay? He's gonna be stubborn as hell, but I guess you already know that. But just promise me you won't give up on him too quickly."

Julie wiped away the tears Sam couldn't see, but the quaver in her voice gave them away anyway.

"I'll do whatever he'll let me do, Sam. I promise. But please don't say goodbye like we'll never see each other again." A sob broke through and she tried to squelch it.

"I refuse to say goodbye to you, Sam Winchester. I'll only say, see you later." She pushed down another sob. "So, I'll see you later."

She could almost see Sam's gentle smile as he answered. "I'll see ya, Julie."

After she got off the phone with Sam, she tried to reach Dean a couple of times, but wasn't surprised when he didn't answer. Stubborn, just like Sam said.

So, instead she reached out to Bobby.

"I want to come help, Bobby! I'm new, but I'm a good fighter and I feel like Armageddon is kind of an all hands on deck situation!"

"Sure, it is. That's why I need you and Annie here in Detroit, putting out fires around the city. I've contacted almost a dozen other hunters that I know around the country and warned them to be on the lookout for increased demon activity, and maybe even trouble from the angels. We need you guys to keep the world safe, while we try to keep it spinnin'."

Julie knew he was right, someone had to look out for the regular people and families while chaos reigned. But she couldn't help wanting to be there with them all. She also could help feeling that Bobby was happy to have an excuse to keep her far away from the devil at ground zero.

So, she and Annie, and a handful of other hunters that Julie was meeting for the first time, did the best they could to keep everything running and save as many people as possible.

There was some distrust from the other hunters about working with Julie, since they didn't know her or her capabilities. But Annie vouched for her and Julie felt happy that she'd been able to hold her own with the more experienced hunters.

One of the men, a sweet, slightly odd guy named Garth, gave her his card and told her he'd be happy to work with her again and to call him any time she needed a hand. She tucked it away in her back pack, happy to have made an ally.

Now, she sat alone in the motel room, watching the news reporting flash floods, and shooting stars, freak storms and and earthquakes. She had to give the anchors credit for staying calm while they reported the end of the world.

She washed down a couple painkillers and hoped they did a better job at relieving the ache in her shoulder than the rapidly warming ice pack.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door, quiet and tentative. The world being what it was, she picked up her shotgun as she went to the door to look out the peephole.

When she saw who was on the other side, she wrenched the door open as she rested her shotgun against the wall.

"Dean." she breathed out as she looked at him, tall and solid and seemingly in one piece.

But then she caught his gaze, and his eyes, dear god, his eyes were just bottomless pools of pain and hurt.

Julie looked behind him where Baby sat parked and empty.

"Bobby?" she asked.

Dean's mouth twitched in a parody of a smile. "He's good. He's...he went back to his place, he figured there'd be lots of hunters looking for help, so he's manning the hub."

Julie nodded, relief flooding her while trepidation and heartbreak still sat heavy in her stomach.

"Sam?" she asked, her voice nearly silent.

Another ghost of a smile graced his lips and his jaw clenched. "He...he got him. He..." his breaths were becoming shallow. "He won. He's.." He swallowed convulsively for a minute, and Julie knew he was trying to swallow down the pain and grief.

"He's gone."

Julie put her fingertips against her mouth. "Dean." she whispered before she wrapped her arms tightly around his waist praying he would allow it.

He hesitated a minute before he pulled her as close to him as he could and more or less fell on her shoulder.

He buried his face in her neck and in her hair that was loose around her shoulders. He leaned on her heavily, as though he was having trouble standing under his own power, and Julie struggled to keep from buckling under him.

But she stood strong, desperate to be there where he needed her to be. She was determined not to start crying, trying to keep her emotions in check so he wouldn't feel he needed to comfort her.

It was a hope that became impossible as she felt his massive frame begin to shake and broken, guttural sounds start to issue from him. It took her a second to realize he was crying; raw, harsh, choked tears that sounded as though his body didn't remember how to do it. When she heard his broken, bleeding grief, she couldn't keep her own tears from falling.

But she stood in the doorway with him, running her hands up and down his back and reaching up to try and run her fingers through his hair, placing kisses wherever she could reach which was mostly his shoulder and the side of his neck.

After a few minutes had passed Dean pulled himself off of her, silent now and staring at the ground.

"I'm sorry." He said, obviously embarrassed.

"Don't you dare be sorry." Julie said as she led him out of the doorway so she could finally close the door. "You have nothing to be sorry for."

She led him over to the little loveseat that sat under the window and pushed him gently onto it. His movements seemed disjointed and confused as though he couldn't quite remember how he'd got there.

Julie moved off and put some coffee on, hoping that a good strong cup of coffee might help Dean get rid of some of the fogginess he seemed to be moving in. She knew he'd probably prefer a stiff drink, but she had nothing there, not even a beer.

Probably best that he doesn't start drinking anyway, Julie thought, coffee is better.

As the coffee started to drip into the pot, she watched Dean and tried hard not to start crying all over again. He sat in the exact position she'd pushed him into, not moving a muscle, just staring at the ground. His face was a blank mask, expressionless now that his wracking sobs had ended.

As soon as there was a cupful of coffee in the pot, she pulled it out, the still brewing coffee dripping and hissing against the hot plate, as she filled one of the white china cups on the counter.

She brought it over to Dean and sat down beside him on the couch. When he didn't seem to notice her, she pressed the cup into his hand and he startled, looking as though she'd woken him up from a deep sleep.

"Coffee." She said with what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "It's good and strong."

Dean looked down at the cup, his brow furrowed. Julie reached out her hand to run it down his cheek, but as soon as her fingers touched his skin, he jumped back as though she'd burned him, managing to actually burn himself when the scalding hot coffee spilled over his hand.

"Oh God, Dean. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."

Dean cut her off. "What am I doing here?"

For a second Julie was worried he was suffering some kind of memory loss from trauma, but it soon became obvious, as he set the cup down and wiped his burned hand on his green jacket, that the question had been a rhetorical one.

He stood up and seemed at a loss for a moment, until Julie stood up too. Then he looked at her and scowled, shaking his head again.

"I shouldn't be here." He mumbled as he turned toward the door.

Julie leapt after him, pushing under his arm as he reached for the door so that she blocked the door handle. He pulled up short and glared at her.

"Dean, just wait, talk to me."

But he shook his head. "No, I don't have time to talk. I don't know why I came here. Move."

"What do you mean, you don't have time to talk, where are you going?"

"Just get out of my way!" he bellowed at her.

When Julie remained where she was, he growled out a sound of frustration. "For once Julie - just one fucking time - can you just leave me alone and do what I ask!"

Julie knew he was angry and in pain, and like a wounded animal he was lashing out, but his words still slashed her open, drawing blood.

"Dean..." she tried again.

"Move!"

Blinking rapidly to keep her tears at bay she stepped aside and freed the door handle. Dean looked surprised for a minute and didn't move immediately. But then he pulled the door open and stormed through it, leaving it open behind him.

Julie waited to hear the sound of the Impala roaring to life, but it never came. Finally she walked around the still open door and looked outside.

Dean was there still, on the little stoop that led to the motel door, and as Julie watched, he slowly slumped onto the third step up as though he'd been deflated. He dropped his head into his hands, pushing them through his short hair so that they cupped the back of his head and his elbows rested against his knees.

Remembering her promise to Sam, Julie took her chances and walked down the steps to stand on the ground in front of him.

He lifted his head to look at her and his eyes were filled with tears.

"They're hurting him." His voice was barely audible but hearing the words, Julie felt pain squeeze her heart.

"They're...he's not just...it's gonna be even worse for him, he's locked up with Lucifer." He swallowed hard again. "My baby brother is being tortured by the devil, Jules, and I don't..." He broke off and closed his eyes tight, tears leaking out from under his long lashes.

He dug the heels of his hands into his eyes and when he pulled them away from his face, he'd successfully pushed the tears away.

"I just keep thinking that I can't just sit here. I can't just sit here and let you soothe me and comfort me while Sammy is being..."

"Dean, that's ridiculous." Julie scolded, cutting him off, but keeping her voice gentle. "Do you think that someone caring for you means you don't care about what's happening to Sam? That if you find any kind of comfort, you're somehow making things worse for Sam?"

Dean didn't answer, simply dropping his head and allowing his hands to dangle between his knees. Julie walked closer to him and tilted his chin so he was looking up at her.

"Sam told me to take care of you, Dean. And I intend to keep my promise. So the first thing you're going to do is come inside and drink that cup of coffee while I pack up. Then you and I are going to get into that black beauty over there and go home to Bobby's."

She risked it and ran her hand down Dean's cheek again. This time he leaned into it, turning his head and kissing her palm. He looked up at her, his green eyes still filled with such pain, but also remorse now.

"I'm sorry, Jules."

Julie shook her head. "I know." She grabbed his other cheek with her other hand and bent forward slowly to place a gentle kiss on his lips.

"Come on, let's go home."

The next week was one of the most exhausting Julie had ever experienced. When they got back to Bobby's, Dean said he was just really tired and wanted to go to bed.

Julie brought him to her room and basically tucked him into her bed. She was glad she'd exchanged her old twin bed for a double when she'd come back after college. Dean never would have fit in that tiny thing.

That first night Dean seemed to sleep like the dead, straight through for thirteen hours, but then for the rest of the week, he never slept for more than two hours together.

For the first two days Bobby and Julie barely saw him. He just laid in Julie's room for hours. She would go in to check on him, and he'd either be lying in bed, or sitting up on the side of it, staring at nothing.

She'd tried to get him to come out for meals, but he kept refusing, so she'd started to bring him in food trays, but he'd barely touched any of that either.

On the third morning she went in to check on him, and he hadn't eaten any of the breakfast she'd brought him two hours before. He was sitting on the side of the bed this time and he looked up at her as she entered. Julie wanted to cry.

His eyes had dark purple shadows under them, his eyelids red-rimmed and painful looking. His cheeks were covered in thick scruff and his hair was completely disheveled from sleeping on it and no doubt constantly running his fingers through it.

He still wore the same black t-shirt and jeans he'd worn for the last three days, his leather jacket and flannel tossed in the corner on the floor.

"Hey." Julie said as she sat down beside him on the bed. "It's a really beautiful day out. Bobby has a part he needs for his car and I wondered if you wanted to take a ride with me in Baby to go get it." She nudged his shoulder gently. "Great day to hit the highway."

As soon as she said it, she wanted to take it back. Dean's eyes closed tight and she knew he was thinking about all the hours of open road he'd travelled with Sam. She knew just how special Baby was to both of them. She never should have suggested it.

Before she could say anything else, Dean just shook his head and laid down on the pillow. "Not today, Jules. I'm too tired."

Julie nodded and stood up. She reached out a hand and pushed it through his hair like she would a sick child. She felt Dean pull away a little and she dropped her hand.

"Okay, no problem." Julie said. "Maybe tomorrow." She hated the false note of positivity she put in her voice. It was so forced. She took the untouched, cold food away and closed the door behind her.

Later that evening, Julie went in with a dinner tray. His lunch tray showed only two bites taken out of the turkey sandwich she'd made him. But somehow beside him on the bedside table, was an almost empty bottle of whiskey that she had definitely not brought in.

She didn't bother wondering how the stealthy hunter had managed to sneak in and out of the bedroom without either Bobby or herself noticing.

Magic.

She picked it up and looked at him laying on his back staring up at the ceiling.

"Where did this come from?"

Dean turned bloodshot eyes in her direction. "Bobby's liquor cabinet. Where else?" His voice was nothing but gravel and grit and there was a slight slur to his words.

"Dean. It's probably not a great idea for you to get drunk right now."

He scowled at her. "Well, it's a good thing it's not up to you, because I think this is a perfect time to be drunk."

He sat up and grabbed the bottle out of her hand, opening it and taking another large swig.

Julie threw up her hands, exasperated. "You've barely eaten anything in three days, no wonder you're drunk off half a bottle of whiskey." Julie exchanged trays, setting the dinner tray where the lunch tray had been.

"Look, I made you a burger, extra onions." She tried to pull the bottle out of his hand, but he yanked it back, a few drops sloshing out of the open top.

"Jesus, Jules!! I'm not fucking hungry. Just stop trying to force feed me like I'm some kind of invalid." Dean shouted at her.

"Then stop acting like one!" Julie shouted back. She took a deep breath as he glared at her. "You have to move, Dean. You have to eat something, have a shower, get dressed in other clothes. I'm not saying you have to do that all at once. But pick one thing and do it."

Dean picked up the burger and took a bite of it, washing it down with another pull of whiskey. He set the burger back on the plate. "There, I ate something. Now fuck off."

He glared up at her and Julie spun away from him before she either burst into tears or smacked him across the face.

Later that night, Julie was sleeping on the couch as she had been since Dean took over her room, since he clearly didn't want her company. She woke up with a start, hearing Dean give a shout of fear.

She ran to the room and opened the door to see him sitting up on the side of the bed, breathing hard. When he looked up at her, all his previous wrath was gone and there was only fear and heartbreak.

He shook his head. "Sorry." he whispered. "Just a dream."

"I'm gonna be right back." Julie ran quickly out of the room and came back half a minute later with a quart of ice cream and two spoons.

She sat down beside him, leaving plenty of room between them, and handed him a spoon.

"One night, about thirteen years ago," Julie's voice was a whisper. "I woke up so scared and so lost. I didn't know what the next day would bring and I didn't know how I would keep moving forward."

She took a deep breath and took the lid off the ice cream and scooped some up on her spoon.

"Then this floppy-haired guy showed up in my doorway and scared the crap out of me."

Dean huffed out a sound that came close to being a laugh. Julie took it as encouragement.

"But then," she continued. "he brought me into the kitchen and tried to convince me that mint chocolate chip was the best flavor of ice cream."

She held out the tub of green ice cream towards him and he scooped up a spoonful of the minty, chocolatey dessert, closing his eyes as it hit his tongue. He pulled out the spoon and smiled slightly.

"It is still the best." He stated.

Julie shook her head. "No, you're still wrong. Rocky Road for life." Dean finally looked at her and there was a wider, sad smile on his face.

Julie took her own spoonful of ice cream and ate it before she continued. "But it didn't matter what flavor the ice cream was because the guy worked his magic; he made me feel safe and protected. Like everything was going to be okay."

Julie set down the ice cream and got close to him, picking up his hand and rubbing the back of it.

"Now all I wanna do is make that guy feel the same way. Help him feel safe and protected, as though whatever tough things happen tomorrow, he'll be able to handle it and I wanna remind him that he's not alone, I'll be right there to help him."

Dean closed his eyes and dropped his forehead to hers. "Jules, I'm so sorry. I know I'm being an asshole, I keep yelling at you, but you're not..." he sighed deeply. "I'm sorry."

Julie nodded. "I know. I know it's not me your mad at. And when you need to yell, tell me, I'll yell with you. We can go stand out in the yard and scream till our throats hurt." Dean let out a breathy chuckle.

Julie stood up and grabbed the ice cream. "Here, I'll go get you an actual bowl of this, so the rest of it doesn't melt."

As she moved away, Dean snagged her wrist. "No don't go. Just let it melt. Stay here with me."

Julie was about to scoff at him and say he could wait less than two minutes until she put the ice cream away.

But then she saw something in his expression, something that reminded her that asking her to stay, admitting he needed her with him, was incredibly hard for him, and she worried that making light of it at all would make him pull back into himself.

So, she just nodded and set the ice cream on the plate with the burger where it would melt into liquid. Dean laid down and pulled her down beside him so she was lying on her back. He laid mostly on his stomach, wrapping his arms around her and laying his head against her breast.

His body felt tense against her so she began to run one hand through his hair while the other hand rubbed up and down his back as far as she could reach.

Slowly, minute by minute, she began to feel him relax against her. She started to hum something soft that she vaguely remembered her mother singing to her when she'd put her to bed. She was sure she was remembering it wrong, but her voice was soft and slow and soothing and she could feel it working as the muscles in his back loosened and his breathing evened out into the cadence of sleep.

Eventually, she could feel her own eyelids getting heavy and her last thought was to hope that when the sun rose, it wouldn't burn away all the tranquility and peace they'd found in the night.

The next few days seemed better.

The next morning, Dean woke up beside her and kissed her cheek before he got up out of bed. A few minutes later she heard the shower start.

He came into the kitchen about twenty minutes later, his hair still damp, dressed in new black jeans and a blue denim shirt. He was so handsome, Julie felt her mouth run dry. She felt bad for lusting after him while he was still so vulnerable and hurting, but she couldn't help it, he was just so beautiful all the time.

He poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down at the table with them, eating a few pieces of bacon and some toast.

There was an awkward kind of joviality between them, as though all of them were trying to pretend things were okay now. But it was a brittle kind of happiness and after about an hour Dean looked exhausted.

He stood up and kissed Julie on the head. "I'm just gonna lay down for a bit."

"Sure." Julie said, wanting to add that she knew how much effort it had taken him to do everything he did that morning, and how proud she was of him for his strength, and that she knew how badly he was still hurting every second, and that she didn't expect him to be okay over night and he shouldn't expect it either, and that she loved him no matter what, always and forever.

But since she knew that would be way too much for Dean to take in, she settled for reaching out and squeezing his hand as he walked away.

The next couple days Dean continued to get up in the mornings and eat with them. He was still eating very little, especially for Dean, but he was consuming food and that was all Julie could ask. He worked on some kind of chore in the mornings, working on Baby or a different car in Bobby's yard, or fixing things around the house.

Julie knew how much he loved to work with his hands, and how good he was at taking things apart, finding the problem and putting everything back together again. She hoped that these simple tasks were helping him to feel some kind of sense of control at a time, when he must be feeling powerless.

He was still barely sleeping, and when he did, his sleep was plagued with nightmares that he never talked about. Without either of them discussing it, Julie had stopped sleeping on the couch and now slept beside him every night.

One night, just over a week after he'd lost Sam, Julie woke up again to Dean moaning and jerking in his sleep. Every other night this had happened, Julie just shook him awake and then let him squeeze her too hard as his heart stopped racing and his breathing returned to normal.

This time, however, she couldn't get him to wake. His face was twisted in an expression of torment and she shook him harder.

"No! No!" Dean was almost whispering. "Please, please stop!"

It was the first time he'd said actual words instead of just moaning or breathing roughly.

Julie felt tears burn the back of her throat as she tried again to shake him awake.

"Dean! Honey, wake up!" she called over and over. Finally after nearly two minutes of trying, she shook him and he jumped up, pushing her away from him, as he tried to take in where he was.

The look of confusion and abject horror on his face made Julie have to swallow over and over so that she wouldn't give in to the tears that were threatening to overflow.

She held up her hands. "It's okay, Dean. You're home, with me. Here. At Bobby's." She caught his eye and tried to nod reassuringly. "Remember?" she asked.

She saw the moment reality overtook the remnants of the dream and his shoulders slumped forward. He just stared down at his hands in his lap.

Dean and Julie were facing each other on the bed and Julie tried to catch his gaze again to see how he was recovering, but he just kept staring at his hands, palms up in his lap.

His voice was muffled with sleep and sadness when he spoke. "It was me...I was...Sam was on my table...on the rack in front of me and I was.." He trailed off and Julie saw tears fall into his open palms.

"I was cutting into him, slicing...and...I was screaming in my head to stop, trying to make myself see that it was Sammy...and he was..."

Dean choked slightly, trying to force the tears down. "He was begging me to stop, he was..." Dean let his face fall into his hands, covering it completely. "He was screaming...so loudly..."

Julie couldn't take anymore, she couldn't hear him describe such a horrifying dream any longer. She climbed into his lap and wrapped her arms as far as they would go around him with his arms still clutched around his head.

Desperate to do anything that would take away those images Julie just clung to him, at a loss of how to fix it.

Suddenly Dean grabbed her by the upper arms and pushed her away from him only to grab her face and pull her to him for a deep, wild kiss.

Julie could taste both their tears on their lips as she opened her mouth and felt Dean's tongue sweep in and ravage her mouth. He pushed her onto her back and moved his kiss, still open-mouthed and urgent, down her neck.

"Please." Dean said, his voice desperate and pleading. "God, please Jules. Just, I need you. Please, let me..." he trailed off, not giving her specifics of what he wanted her to let him do. But it didn't matter, because she would have done anything if it meant giving him a moment of peace.

"Yes." She said simply. "Yes."

And with her permission, Dean began to move his mouth down her body, frantically running his hands up and down her skin, as though he wanted to touch all of her all at once.

"Fuck, Jules..." he pushed her tank top up and took hold of her bare breast underneath, squeezing and kneading it almost painfully. He laved his tongue across her nipple before moving further down her body.

He slipped his hand into her pajama shorts and groaned when he found her with no panties, and completely soaking wet for him already.

"Jules, I need you so much." He was breathing harshly in her ear as his teeth tugged at her earlobe and Julie let out a small gasp. "I just need your...life...and your light...the...you're so beautiful, I just need it. Please? God, please Jules." He mumbled incoherently.

Dean quickly pulled off her shorts and pulled down his jeans and seconds later Julie felt his cock pushing through her slick folds. She moaned at the feeling.

Finally, he thrust into her and Julie bit hard on her lip to stop from crying out. He rammed into her hard and fast and Julie pressed her fingernails into his shoulders.

Dean reached down and rubbed three fingers hard against the bundle of nerves that were screaming out for his touch and Julie reared up against him.

As he pounded into her, she could feel herself about to climax and knew he was close too by how erratic his movements had become. As he continued to move against her, his mouth was on her pulse point, sucking hard. As he let go of her bruised flesh, he panted into her ear.

"Fuck Jules, please make the dark go away."

"Yes!" Julie moaned back to him, not able to say anything more as she felt her walls squeezing around him as he thrust one final time, groaning harshly into the crook of her neck, pulling slightly on her hair while his body was rigid over her, shudders coursing through him.

Finally, he rolled off of her and lay still, panting to catch his breath. In much the same condition Julie pulled the blanket up over her rapidly cooling skin.

She heard Dean's breathing steady and even out and thought he was falling asleep. She felt her own heavy eyelids falling and her tired muscles welcomed the velvety comfort of sleep.

But she was startled awake not long after as she heard the bedroom door open and saw Dean walking out. Assuming he was going to the bathroom, it wasn't until she heard the front door open that she sat up and quickly grabbed her pajama shorts off the floor.

She barely got them on in time to run out of the bedroom and out of the front door as Dean turned over the Impala's engine. She ran up to the driver's door.

"Dean what are you doing?" she asked, banging on the window a little frantically, completely at a loss for what was going on and why he was leaving in the middle of the night. She stepped away from the car as he revved the engine, not wanting her bare toes to be run over by the black beast.

But then as he started pulling away she panicked completely and ran out in front of the car forcing Dean to slam on the brakes.

Dean slammed the car into park and pushed open his door. He stood half in and half out of the car.

"What the fuck are you doing?" he yelled at her over the engine's idling rumble. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

Julie marched up to his door. "What the fuck are you doing, Dean Winchester?" she yelled back. "Are you insane? You just...I mean we just..." she couldn't find the words without getting them caught in her throat.

She settled on saying, "We were just together like that...and then you just take off into the night, without even a goodbye?" She pushed on the car door, just barely moving him. "What are you thinking?"

Dean's face was harsh. "I'm an asshole and a bastard so I was thinking that I should remove myself from your life. And I was thinking I could do that by going to find a way to get Sammy out. I figured I'd offer a trade." His words were rushed and rambling.

"You know, I mean Cas isn't answering any of my prayers about trying to get Sam out, so maybe there's a demon or two that will want to help, for a price of course, so I figured I'd offer myself up, get Sam out and get me the fuck out of your life."

He slammed the car door closed and walked away, yelling back. "Two birds with one stone, you know?!"

Julie just shook her head. "No, I don't know. I have no idea what's going on in your head right now and it's scaring the crap out of me. And let's also talk about how stupid you'd have to be to try and make more deals with demons!" Julie ended on a roar.

Dean cut across the end of her sentence. "It's not crazy when there are no other options!"

Dean was standing in the middle of the yard, yelling and waving his hands while Julie still stood by Baby and shook her head, completely at a loss.

It was that moment that Bobby came outside. "You two are gonna bring the law down on us if you don't stop all your screamin'. What's goin' on?" He asked, seeming to ignore the fact that he was yelling too.

Dean threw up his hands. "Nothing, Bobby. I'm leaving, just tell your crazy kid to move out of the way so I don't run her over."

But Bobby didn't like the sound of any of that, and he moved quickly to intercept Dean just before he reached the driver's side door.

"Now, calm down, son and tell me what's happening."

But Dean just tried to barrel through and when Bobby wouldn't back down and tried to hold Dean back, the younger man cocked his fist and smashed it into Bobby's mouth.

"Dean!" Julie shouted as she ran forward and crouched down beside Bobby. She looked up at Dean, full of confusion and anger.

Dean seemed momentarily shocked into stillness by Bobby on the ground nursing a split lip and Julie staring up at him, furious and hurt.

But then he just spun away and got into the Impala.

Julie helped Bobby sit up a bit more, as the Impala's tires spun and gravel shot out from underneath. Julie watched heartbroken as it sped away, but then it stopped just outside the "Singer Autos" gates.

The car sat there a minute, before Bobby pushed her toward it. "Go see him. Check on him."

"What? No. I need to help you."

Bobby scoffed and stood up. "It's a split lip, kid. I've had worse."

They both watched the car sit on the other side of the gates a moment before Bobby nodded toward the car and it's driver.

"Go on, darlin'. He needs you."

"He clearly doesn't or he wouldn't have tried to run away right after we..." Julie caught herself too late and looked at Bobby with very flushed cheeks. "I mean..."

Bobby cut her off with a grimace. "I know what you mean, just please stop talking to me about it and go talk to that idjit about it."

Julie reluctantly walked closer to the Impala, thinking with every step that it was going to just drive away.

But it didn't and she reached the driver's side door and looked through the window to see Dean slumped over the steering wheel. Julie banged hard on the window and found some petty satisfaction when he jumped at the sound.

He stared at her through the glass for a moment before he rolled down his window.

Pulling forth all the compassion and patience she possibly could, she spoke calmly. "Dean, for the love of god, shut the car off and come inside."

After a second, Dean cut the rumble of the engine, but made no move to go inside.

"Dean..." Julie began, feeling the patience already wearing thin.

"Can you come here instead?" Dean asked with a nod to the passenger seat.

Julie nodded and walked around to climb into Baby's warm, leathery interior. Silence reigned for quite a while and Julie just let it, trying to give them both time to recover, although since she had no idea what exactly had set Dean off, she couldn't possibly say what would help him calm down.

But time and silence seemed to do the trick because after a while Dean turned to face her with a deeply serious expression.

"Jules, I'm so sorry. I will never be able to tell you how sorry I am for what I did."

Julie shrugged. "Bobby's the one who should hear that apology. It was his lip you broke open."

Dean scowled and shook his head. "I'm not talking about what I did to Bobby, I'm talking about what I did to you."

Julie rolled her eyes and pursed her lips. "Well, it wasn't exactly a good time, but it's hardly the first time you yelled at me, and I was doing a fair amount of yelling back. And I did stupidly jump in front of the car, so it was hardly your fault that you almost hit me."

But before Julie was even halfway through her response Dean was looking at her like she was crazy. "That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about..." he paused and turned his head to look out the windshield. His voice was a whisper when he continued. "I'm talking about the fact that I used you."

Julie saw his jaw clench as he continued. "I used you...used your body as an outlet for my pain, my darkness...I...I'm so sorry."

Julie didn't mean to, she wasn't expecting to, but she just burst out laughing. Dean swung his head back around to face her, confusion furrowing his brow.

Julie tried to tamp down the laughter, but the whole idea was so ludicrous.

She laid one hand on his arm and used the other hand to cover her grin. "I'm sorry, Dean, I don't mean to laugh, but...you used me?" She shook her head. "Dean if you think for one second that I would have allowed you to 'use me' if I didn't want it, boy, you must have forgotten that I learned how to flip you on your ass well over a year ago."

Her expression was challenging him to disagree with her. When he didn't she eased into a smile. "Look, I wanted you as much as you seemed to want me."

Dean shook his head. "I know that, I mean I have no delusions that I ever would or ever could force you into anything. But that's kind of my point. I used your feelings, your desire, your sympathy, I used them to try and..." he stopped and ran a hand through his hair.

"I wanted to hide all the dark things that are swimming around in my head every day, all the time since Sammy's been gone, I wanted to bury them in you. And that's awful."

"No." Julie said slowly, as though trying to explain something to a small child. "It's not awful, it's beautiful." Dean's expression turned completely disbelieving.

"Really." Julie reiterated. "I think it's amazing and wonderful if I can help you find even a few minutes of beauty or light, or whatever you find in me. Even if it's only for the span of a climax." She said, her cheeks getting pink. "I'll give you any amount of peace I can, any way I can give it."

She grinned cheekily. "If it just so happens to also make my eyes roll back in my head and have me screaming in ecstasy, well, even better."

Dean finally lost his frowning seriousness and a slight smile showed through.

Julie shook her head. "Is that why you were leaving?"

Dean shrugged. "It was half of it." He glanced at her. "Two birds with one stone, remember." He ran a hand down his face. "The other half was feeling incredibly guilty that Sam is still suffering while I'm...finding peace and light." He finished, with a tight smile.

Julie sighed. "I told you, you suffering doesn't help Sam in any way."

Dean nodded, "I know. I also know that if I go into another demon deal Sam would be so incredibly disappointed." He waved a hand at their position just beyond the gates. "Which is why I'm stopped here, completely at a loss as to my next step."

Julie decided on boldness and crawled into his lap and straddled his thighs. She placed a gentle kiss on his lips and pushed her hands through his incredibly soft hair trying to tame it.

"Your next step is to come back in the house, apologize to Bobby," she gave him a scowl at that, "and then get a few more hours of sleep. So that when we wake up we can start researching properly about how to get Sam out."

Dean seemed surprised. "You're not going to tell me that this was Sam's decision and he knew the consequences, and that it's too dangerous to try and get him out."

Julie shrugged. "All of those things are true, but if you don't care about them, I don't care about them. We will find a way to bring Sam home. I promise."

She leaned forward for another gentle kiss, but Dean grabbed both her cheeks in his hands and held her in place so he could lick up into her mouth and pull on her tongue with his lips, moaning softly into her mouth.

When he pulled back they were both breathing heavy, so harshly in fact that Julie almost missed Dean's next whispered words.

"God, I love you."

Julie sucked in a breath. "What?" she asked quietly, afraid he'd try to retract the statement.

But he just smiled softly. "So much, Jules. So much."

His next kiss was much more gentle, but also drawn out, turning into neck kisses and collarbone kisses before a thumping on the roof made them jump apart.

"I'm glad to see you two made up, but how about you pull yourselves away from each other's mouths and come back inside and tell me what the hell is goin' on."

With that Bobby wandered back toward the house and Dean smiled gently at Julie, slightly abashed.

"Do you think he knows we slept together in your childhood bedroom?"

Julie nodded. "Yeah, he definitely does - I kind of accidentally told him." She grimaced playfully. "Sorry!"

Dean shrugged and smiled. "Well, it's okay. He owes me a punch in the mouth anyway."

Chapter 13

#dean winchester angst #dean winchester smut #dean winchester fluff #dean winchester fanfiction #dean winchester series #dean winchester fanfic #spn fanfiction #spn fanfic #dean winchester x ofc

109 notes · View notes

randomshyperson · 3 years ago

Text

The Scarlet Witch Prophecy - Chapter 20 - Agatha's Memories (Part Two)

My official gif maker @abimess, thank you.

Summary: As the youngest daughter of Howard Stark, you have ordinary expectations for your years at Hogwarts. Little do you know what adventures await you when your destiny is intertwined with the legendary Scarlet Witch.

Warnings: +16. Adaptation of the Harry Potter Saga, Magical Thematic, Prophecies, Mentions of Violence, Torture and dark magic, Language (swearing and minor/major offenses), manipulation of will, Underage kissing, insinuation of smut with minors, Smut (overage), descriptions of death, aggression, obscurity, angst, fluffy, soulmates analogies.

Series Masterlist || Read on AO3 || All Works Masterlist

Chapter 20 - Part XX - Agatha's Memories (Part Two)

You don’t sleep for long, there is a sound of something breaking that makes you blink confusedly as you move on your bed.

Then you realize that it is the wood up your head that is moving, along with a red magic that you know very well.

You look forward, only to find Wanda with an impassive look on her face as she merges the bed into one.

“I’m sleeping with you from now on.” She says simply as she finishes, and you lay back on the mattress, not sure of what to say about that.

You hold your breath as you hear her taking off her shoes, changing to her pajamas next, staring on the roof of the tent as she does it.

She pulls the blanket to lie down, and then is mimicking your position.

"Would...would it be okay if I hugged you?" she asks after a moment, and you feel your heart race.

"I'd like that." You mumble clumsily, turning to the opposite side.

And it takes half a second for Wanda to wrap her arms around your waist, burying her face in your shoulders, inhaling your perfume and making you blush heavily.

Your legs entwine from underneath the comforter, and you feel more secure than you ever have before.

"I'm sorry." She murmurs against your skin. You think she is talking about what happened with the horcrux, and you just nod softly, but she repeats the apology against your ear, intertwining her hands in front of your belly, and you realize she is talking about everything.

"I love you." She confesses next, and you feel your eyes fill with tears.

The hug gets tighter, and you sink your face into the pillow, allowing yourself to cry.

And Wanda doesn't let go, even when you sob, and it takes a while, but you finally fall asleep. And when you do, she stays.

//-//-//-//

You woke up first. And you don’t wanna get up. Not when you have Wanda wrapped around you like this, your face buried her neck, as you both turned around during the night, and now your legs are completely entwined, and you are practically lying on top of her.

And all you do is sink even deeper against her body, sighing against her skin. She smells so good.

"-morning." She whispers hoarsely, still with her eyes closed, her hands around your body moving slowly against your back down and up, and you just murmur into her skin wishing you could stay in that moment forever.

"We should get up." Wanda says after a moment in silence, not seeming to really wish to do so.

"No, thank you." You retort and your voice comes out muffled against her neck, the vibration making her laugh.

"We need to darling, I think we have some lessons. "She says and you mumble softly, the curiosity to pursue the story Agatha was telling is enough to make you pull away.

But when you are about to let go of Wanda, she pulls on your forearm, and you look at her with confusion, but she moves forward and kisses you firmly.

It's slow, and soft. It makes you sigh, so you kiss her back, sinking right back onto the bed as her hands wrap around your hair to deepen the kiss.

When her tongue asks for passage, you see stars, melting under her touch. Wanda smiles against your lips, pulling you by the shoulders to lie on top of her.

But before you can do so, the sound of footsteps catches your attention, along with a soft hiss, and you grumble before pulling away.

Throwing your face back into the pillow, you try to calm your breathing and rapid heartbeat as Agatha strolls through the tent, until she comes to your room.

"Are the sleeping beauties going to get up, or should I bring coffee in bed?" She teases with her arms crossed as Wanda hides her smile as she notices your state. "You two know this isn't a honeymoon trip, right?"

"Stop being so bitter, Agatha." Wanda complains as she sits up. "We'll be right there."

"And a good day to us, ladies." The older witch retorts before leaving.

Wanda laughs softly, turning her attention back to you as you scramble up on the bed to sit down as well.

"How are you?" she asks, intertwining your hands on top of the mattress, and you let your gaze roam over her face, biting your lips against the urge to kiss her again.

"Fine." You murmur half hoarsely, from sleep or lust, Wanda will never know. "And you?"

"Better." She says with a nod, and you feel your heart race. Better with you here.

Wanda squeezes your hand before letting go, and she stands up, looking at you one last time before walking off toward the bathroom.

You sigh as you throw yourself back against the mattress, trying to push away the feeling of her tongue against yours and focus on the fact that you were even closer to completing your mission with one less horcrux to destroy.

//-//-//-//

“Where are we now?” You asked as you observed the surroundings. It’s the entrance of an old garage, in the corner of a city. But the real Agatha ignores your question as she guides you two inside, further into the memory.

Your dad, just a teen boy, maybe eighteen, is inside, working on a large machine, it seems that he was really a muggle mechanic, since there were cars all around, dismantled or not.

"Stark." It is Agatha from the memories who says, and startles your father slightly, who almost drops the screwdriver. But when he looks up, he smiles.

"Professor Harkness!" He says getting up, and wiping the grease on his apron quickly before greeting her. "You really did it!"

"I told you I would come." She says, and you are surprised at the affectionate way she looks at your father, "Look at you, Howard, you're so grown up."

Your father laughs, bowing his head softly. "Thank you, professor."

"I only say that because I've known you since you were a child." She humorously clarifies. "And now you are even growing a mustache. Tell me, do muggle girls like that sort of thing?"

Your father laughs with flushed cheeks, and Agatha follows him. Before they can say anything, there are voices and the sound of footsteps approaching, and soon, two people enter.

Wanda chokes softly next to you. "Mama."

You also recognized Magda, because you have seen pictures before. She had the same appearance as in the photos, and you were saddened by this, because she must have died not so long after this memory.

Erik stood beside her, wearing muggles like the woman next to him.

"Professor Harkness, you made it!" He greets politely, hurrying to shake the witch's hand as she smiles. "It's so good to see you again! This is Magda, my wife."

"It's a pleasure, dear."

The memory speeds up, you want to fight Agatha for cutting off Wanda's moment of seeing her mother properly, but the way Wanda strokes her thumb against your hand makes you give up saying anything.

The scene settles down in what you think is the apartment at the top of the garage where they were, all around a table, drinking beers.

"You guys know why I came all this way, don't you?" Agatha says, and seems to have just had a short pause in the conversation, as if everyone had been laughing before and suddenly got quiet. And the tension only increases with her comment.

Her father sighs, nodding. "There is no daily prophet here, but I have met some travelers. They are talking about a war, Agatha." He says worriedly. "But I want to hear it from you. Do you really think that could happen?"

Agatha gives a humorless laugh. "It's already happening." She says, placing her beer on the table, and straightening her posture. "The minister of magic waited too long. And now, this group, these so-called death walkers, or whatever ridiculous name they are thinking of trying, are everywhere. In the ministry, in the diagonal alley, in the Order."

Your father looks really upset, but you notice how uncomfortable Erik looks.

"And do you really think that's what they're after, Agatha?" He asks. "War. Do you think that's what the walkers are after?"

The teacher raises her eyebrow slightly. "What else could it be, besides chaos and complete destruction of our society, Erik?"

His former teacher is unaffected by the snickering, he just gives a half-hearted laugh. " Well, freedom of course." He says, clearing his throat softly. "See, that time we've been here. New York is fascinating. Things are bad for muggles it's true, but for the rest of us, damn. The wizards are doing just fine. They have so much magic here, so much freedom to study what they want. The ministry encourages the discovery of new areas, gives financial support to researchers!"

Agatha crosses her legs, listening to Erik's speech carefully.

When he realizes that he may be defending Mephisto's group too much, he pauses, straightening up. "I'm just trying to say that maybe a change in the British government is exactly what our society needs to evolve, Agatha."

"You know, when Fury told me he wanted to recruit you boys to the order, I told him that children don't fight wars." She declares and you see the boys widen their eyes. "You two know that Katherine is dead, right? That Nick took over leadership of the order in his mother's place, and the first names he wanted were yours."

Your father nods, as does Erik.

"Well, I didn't agree." She says. "I said I knew other wizards, more experienced, more trustworthy. Wizards who didn't flee their homeland to live the American dream."

"That's not-" Your father begins but the look in Agatha's eyes makes him shut up.

"Nick insisted that I come here." She continues. "He said that you have kept in touch by correspondence, and that you continue to have the same, what was the word, moral inclination. But now I wonder if he was really right about that."

"I didn't mean to say that the walkers are right!" Erik exclaims defensively, looking embarrassed, but Agatha just smiles.

"Don't worry, honey." She says as she leans in. "I think that kind of moral difference is exactly what makes this whole conflict interesting."

"That's sadistic of you, Agatha." Howard comments seriously. "We're talking about a war."

"Don't be hypocritical now, Howey." She retorts with a wicked smile. "You think I don't know who the travelers you've been talking to are? Say, the magical trafficking laws are simpler in America, aren't they?"

Your father locks his jaw, but keeps his face up.

"I did what I needed to do to survive here." He says simply, and Agatha laughs.

"Of course you did." She says. "So did we all. And now we have a potential battle ahead of us, something that could change the course of wizarding life for future generations. Tell me, do you intend to stand here fixing machines and pretending that your friends are not dying for your freedom? And I thought you were tired of this kind of attitude, golden boy."

Your father stands up, enraged. But he says nothing, and swallows his pride. He gives Erik one last look before leaving the room.

Agatha sighs softly, turning her attention back to Erik, who has his fists clenched in his lap.

"You know very well that the situation is not so simple." He says and Agatha smiles.

"And you know it's him don't you?" She retorts and Erik clenches his jaw.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"I think you know very well, Erik." Agatha insists. "When I fired him, he didn't stay in England. He came to America with his favorite student."

"Keep your voice down." Erik quickly retorts, looking back a moment before leaning forward. "It's not what you think."

"But I don't think anything." She says. "I'm exactly giving you the chance to explain yourself, before I draw my own conclusions."

Erik takes a deep breath, and turns to Magda, squeezing her hands.

"Honey, can you give us a minute?" He asks, and Wanda's mother looks like she's going to say no, before nodding.

She walks off in the same direction as her father, and then Erik and Agatha are alone.

"Professor Faustus has asked me for support, Agatha." He says. "He was out of a job, and with his name tainted with rumors that no one has proven. And he never treated us badly, so I helped him."

"You kept this from Howard? I thought you were best friends." Agatha teases but Erik laughs humorlessly.

"Of course not." He says. "Who do you think paid for the tickets?"

"Interesting." She says. "Why tickets?"

"Because he was being investigated for the dark magic rumors." Erik says. "The ministry put a blocker on him. Any magic he tried to do would go straight to the minister's notes. And well, he needed Howey's help to remove the device from behind his neck."

"While he was hiding, I imagine he told you about his wonderful ideas."

"No, Agatha." He says. "Faustus just looked tired. And he felt betrayed, mostly by you. But in general, he complained, and studied. Howey and I would work all day, and he would stay in his room, among the magic books, unable to conjure anything, not even a light spell. I've never seen him so frustrated."

"I'd feel sorry for him, if that wasn't his fault." Agatha murmurs and Erik sighs in agreement.

"A few months after we arrived, Howey got it." Erik recounts. "Tivan gave him the materials he needed, and he freed Faustus from the blocking device in his skin. He thanked us, said he'd write, and then disappeared. We never heard from him again, but the letters from Fury started coming in the next months."

"Did Howard suspect?"

"No." Erik says squirming uncomfortably in his chair. "Howard trusted him, mostly because of the way he stood up for him in school. About supporting him to study mechanics, even if no one else would. But I knew I had to be smart after what happened with Raven."

"He tried to recruit you?"

Erik sighs. "No, Agatha. But he will."

"I know." She says. "That's why I came."

" I should have guessed that you don't make friendly visits, even to your best students."

Agatha laughs softly, leaning her arm on the carpet. "You think just because you can conjure a patronus you're my best student, Erik? I helped establish the order of merlin. You are not even remotely the most talented wizard I have taught."

"You are hurting my feelings." The man jokes, making the other woman smile.

"How will this work then, Erik?" She asks. "Are you going to accept Fury's offer? Or will you follow your heart?"

The man smiles, standing up. "That just concerns me, and my wife, don't you think?"

"Actually, no." Agatha retorts without sounding angry as Erik moves to collect the beer bottles and put them in the trash. "In fact, I think you even need to leave her."

Erik laughs in confusion. "Excuse me?"

"A muggle, Erik." She says as if it's obvious. "You're going to drag her into a war? That's cruel."

"Magda is stronger than you imagine."

"I'm sure she is." The witch says getting up as well. "But that is until she is hit by the first spell."

“Agatha, please.”

“Muggles can't handle magic like we can, Erik." She insists seriously. "You know that. A simple stupefy could kill her."

"I love her." He says turning away. "And I'm not going to England without her. If she decides to stay, then I will too."

"That's disappointing." Agatha comments, but Erik doesn't flinch, crossing his arms. The witch sighs. "Then do me a favor. Howard, at least he, needs to go. We can't afford to lose allies."

"I'll talk to him." Erik assures. "But you know that with all that his father has done, he doesn't want to go back to London anytime soon."

"This is so much bigger than a family feud." Agatha retorts. "Tell him that, and he'll feel guilty enough to accept it."

"Your mind games are wicked, professor." Erik says before nodding in agreement, leaving.

Agatha sighs, getting pensive.

Just then Magda walks back into the room.

"Miss Harkness?"

"Hello, dear."

"I just came to ask if you're going already? Erik looked upset, but I can walk you to the door. It's good manners."

The memory shakes until they are outside, and Magda leads her to the same place she should have appeared before.

"Please, before you go, may I ask you something?"

"Of course, sweetie."

Magda hesitates, but takes a deep breath and says. "If Erik stays, what are the chances of this war reaching us?"

Agatha looks at the woman for a moment. "I don't think there is a way to escape what is happening in England, Magda. And if we lose, it's not just the witches who will suffer the consequences."

Magda nods in understanding, then steps forward. "Tell me how I can help you."

"He wouldn't approve, but I can't watch everything fall apart around us. Tell me how I can help."

Agatha smiles, touching Magda's shoulder. You hold your breath, as does Wanda, who also notices the magic in the witch's fingertips, and the purple color in her eyes.

"Leave him, dear." She says. "But it needs to be natural, okay? As best as I can, he must not suspect it was my idea. Erik would never put you in danger, but he wouldn't leave you alone either. So you need to end it all."

Magda has tears in her eyes, but she just nods mechanically. And the memory becomes blurred.

Wanda is tense beside her, and you are silent.

"That doesn't make sense." You mutter. "Carol told me that Magda was in Sokovia, and that-"

"She's not my mother, is she?" Wanda cuts you off, looking at the floor. The real Agatha sighs, as you look at the two in confusion.

"How could you tell?" She asks.

"I don't have her eyes."

It was a funny detail about the few pictures of Magda that Erik had in the Maximoff house. All the pictures were old, because they were from muggles. And they were never sharp enough in detail, just good enough for you to be able to recognize the woman in the recollection.

Agatha laughs softly. "Is that all Erik told you about your mother? That you had her eyes?"

Wanda squeezes your hand, and with the other she wipes her cheek.

"Just show me the truth at once, Agatha."

"As you wish."

//-//-//

You stumble gently as you get used to the dirt floor that has stabilized at your feet.

"Are you okay?" You whisper to Wanda, but she just nods, smiling weakly before looking back at the memory forming in your eyes.

You were startled by the bright lights in the sky, recognizing them immediately as wandering spells.

Someone just fought here, and it was no small fight.

"Agatha!" Erik shouted, approaching quickly, coming from the corner as if he had been hiding until now, and the teacher had emerged.

Wanda also held her breath as she noticed the large cut on his forehead, the blood dripping down his face.

"T-They've surrounded us..." He says breathlessly, his wand in fists as he stumbles to get closer. "We narrowly won and-"

"Calm down boy." Agatha says as she holds his shoulders, working quickly to heal his wounds. "Where are the others?"

"Further away." Erik replied visuvelmettely exhausted. You could tell he was a little older than the last memory, but he was still young. "Back to the mansion.

"Good, they' ll be safe there." She says as she helps Erik stand properly. "Where's Natalya?"

And Erik chokes, sobbing. You frown in confusion, and Agatha makes a pitying face.

"Oh, Erik."

He cried, shrugging. "She was.... She tried to gain ground. She hit four of them at once. But... But she-"

And he sobbed, and Agatha didn't insist, hugging him.

"I'm sorry, Erik." She whispered.

And the memory trembled until they were back on the mansion's dirt path, almost at the iron driveway, the man visibly calmer, though quite shaken.

"Erik, what about the children?" Agatha asks as she stops walking in front at the gate.

The man looks on the verge of tears again, but only sighs.

"I have no idea, Agatha." He says. "No place is safe in the UK anymore. I can't leave the order to look after them, I don't know what to do."

And Agatha looks at him a moment, before nodding. "I will help you."

You see many flashbacks of memories, Agatha greeting injured order members, then going back to write letters, and checking the news. You think you see flashes of fights too, big duels, before everything stabilizes again.

It's Magda in front of you, and she looks more mature too.

"Years ago, you asked me how I could help you." Agatha spoke behind you, and you startled yourself by jumping to the side, and watching intently as the witch touched Magda's hands. "You saved yourself by leaving him. But you will save his life and the rest of the wizarding world if you accept what I am about to ask of you."

Magda's eyes widened, but she nodded after a moment. Agatha waved her hands, and a cart approached you.

"Run away, Magda." She says. "Their mother had a house, enchanted to protect from invaders on a hill in a small country in Europe." Agatha explains as Magda lets out a surprised exclamation at the babies in the stroller.

"They... are beautiful." She whispers excitedly, touching the children with her fingers, who fall asleep innocently. "What happened, Agatha? Where is Erik?"

"The fight just got bigger, hon." She explains. "Much bigger than we ever expected. Your people are suffering too, but they're saying it's natural disasters."

Magda is shocked, but she speaks again. "Agatha, I am not a witch. I can't protect them."

"That's exactly why you can." Agatha retorts, taking the other woman's hands again. "Go to Sokovia. There are no witch communities there. Hide yourself, hide them. You have no idea how important it is to keep them safe."

"Tell me, then."

Agatha swallows dryly, and looks away from the babies. "It's only a legend, but it could change the fate of this war. The girl, Magda, is a powerful witch. A special kind, like her mother was."

"My god, she's just a child, Agatha."

"That's exactly why she needs to be protected." The witch retorts. " She' s fragile, like a crystal to be stolen. She must not be found, promise me you will protect her."

"I promise." She says nodding, but Agatha sighs, and her eyes turn purple, her grip increases.

"No matter what happens, Magda." She says. "You will protect them, do you understand?"

"Yes."

The memory shakes again, and this time, your father is in front of you, and you hold your breath, shocked to see him so close so suddenly.

“You’re a snake!” He accused angrly, but without any movement, his eyes were serious with his arms crossed.

You turn to realize he was talking to Agatha, in a room that had no windows.

“I was keeping them safe, Howard.” The woman said. “I don’t expect you to understand the feeling of desperation, because you have an armored mansion at your will.”

“You used Erik’s grief to manipulate him into believing in you!” He shouted. “I’m not asking you again, where are his children?”

Agatha laughs softly, looking at your father indignantly.

"Are you listening to yourself, Howey?" she teases. "Erik switched sides, accept that."

"Nat died on our side." He retorts. "She was my friend, my ally. And she trusted us to protect the twins, you had no right to hide them!"

"They are safe!" Agatha retorts, and looks at the man with a warning expression. "And I suggest you stop making such a scandal about it, Howard! You don't want Mephisto to find out about the girl's true nature. We're close enough to defeat already."

"This isn't about that stupid legend-"

"Isn't it?" Agatha interrupts with irony. "Then why only now? It's been weeks since I took them. I know exactly what you want with the twins, Howard. You want to see if it's true, if they really can change the war." She says approaching. "I will clear that up for you then, since you clearly have no knowledge at all on the subject. A scarlet witch is worthless until she reaches maturity. If you try to take the magic from the baby, you'll just get a victim. And I won't allow that to happen."

"I wasn't going to steal the child's magic, Agatha. Who do you think I am?"

"I don't give a damn who you say you are now, Stark." She retorts."Not to you, nor to Erik, who can't make up his mind whose side he's on."

Agatha moves to leave, clearly ending the conversation. But before she leaves, your father calls out to her.

"Why are you so committed to protecting them, Agatha?" He asks.

"Natalya was my family before she was an Auror, Howard."

As Agatha leaves, the memory fades, but you and Wanda are wide-eyed, confused by the latest revision.

And the ground is shaking at your feet, and you are being pulled back into consciousness.

//-/-//-//-//

You awaken last, stretching confusedly away from the tree you had leaned against as you sat on the ground to begin viewing the memories watched with the other women.

Wanda is already getting up, to find Agatha standing peacefully looking at the mountainous landscape ahead.

"So, what are you?" she asks the older witch.

Agatha sighs softly, without looking at Wanda.

"Natalya Maximoff was born in Romania, during the witch revolution in the country." She begins nostalgically, a short smile at the corner of her lips. "I found her shaking like a leaf, less than twelve weeks old inside a box of potatoes."

You are shocked, as is Wanda, but you just listen.

"I think her mother tried to hide her. But she got caught in the middle of it. Romania was in chaos at the time, it was a real bloodbath. "She says. "I was there to fight. The English ministry provided special witches to take on a wizard, known as Kang the Conqueror."

Agatha gives a humorless laugh, sounding upset.

"If you think Faustus is bad, it's because you've never met him." She counters. "He was a master nocramanter. He created an army of the living dead, the inferi. It was the worst fight I've ever been in. But we won, and he was killed. For real this time."

Agatha looked away from the landscape to look at Wanda.

"I bonded with the child, Miss Maximoff." She says. "I could have left her in that box, and gone on my way. But I took her in my arms, and only let her go when she was mature enough for that."

"And then?" Wanda asked with emotion in her voice, looking at Agatha with tears in her eyes.

"I found out that she was a scarlet sorceress, but unlike you, she never completed her forging." The witch says sadly. "She died at the age of 20, a year before she was going to do the spell."

Wanda looks down at her feet, crossing her arms as she absorbs the whole story. Agatha thinks this is a good opportunity to keep talking.

"The war was already over when I found Natalya." She says. "The village where I believe she was born had been destroyed in a shambles. And they put her in the box, while the British aurors were doing the stakeouts. I took her with me, I didn't tell anyone." She recounts. "When she turned eleven, I found out what she was. I taught her everything I could, but I didn't let her go to Hogwarts. I kept her at home, where she wouldn't put the students or herself in danger."

You bite the inside of your cheek, surprised that Agatha was able to hide a daughter. But honestly, it wasn't that shocking.

"When she turned 16, she started rebelling, you know how teenagers are." She says. "She left because she didn't agree with the way I saw the world. And I said I would be waiting for her to come back when she realized that only I could help her."

"But she didn't come back." Wanda completed and Agatha sighed, nodding.

"No, of course not," she says. "She moved to a muggle province, and built a house. And ran away from her fate until her power got too overwhelming."

"Did you look for her?" You ask, and Agatha nods in agreement, turning her gaze to the landscape.

"With the war, I wanted allies." She says. "And I really thought I could get to the house of the daughter I hadn't spoken to in years to ask her to fight for me."

"But she accepted, didn't she?" Wanda says and Agatha sighs.

"On her terms, yes." Answered the woman. "Your mother was a smart girl, Wanda. She made me swear under the best intentions."

And it takes a moment for Wanda to understand what was really being said.

"How?"

Agatha sighs, turning to you again. "I took a perpetual vow to do what was right. What would save lives, what she considered right." She explains. "But contract magic is so encompassing. Especially when you say ambiguous phrases like do the right thing, or stuff like that. That's why I was able to get around the spell so many times. That's why it shaped itself with her death."

"That's why you can't hurt Wanda." You conclude in a sigh.

Agatha nods. "The power of the Scarlet Sorceress has always been tempting. But I would never steal it from Natalya, she was my daughter." She says. "But you were just a student. And I wouldn't mind taking that responsibility out of your hands."

"Not even if I was her daughter?" Wanda asks in a mixture of disgust and indignation, but Agatha only gives a humorless laugh.

"Don't judge me so much." She retorts. "If I didn't care, you wouldn't even be alive. Least of all your girlfriend."

But Wanda steps away, putting herself in front of you.

"You didn't do this because you care." She accuses. "You did it because of the vow. Because you will die if you don't keep your words to her."

"Maybe." She says,shrugging. "But what matters is my actions, not motivations. Actions are all that matter in the end."

"I'm sick of this, Agatha." Wanda retorts indignantly. "You think you can say some philosophical shit and get rid of the things you've done? You manipulated my entire family, and you played with my destiny. I'd rather be alone than around you."

Wanda walks off at a brisk pace, and you follow her, not knowing exactly what to do.

Agatha clenches her jaw, refusing to turn around and apologize.

Wanda begins to pack up very quickly, and you stare wide-eyed as she puts Godric's sword into her purse.

And soon you are outside.

"I told you I wouldn't forgive you if you crossed another line with me." She says. "But I realized that there's nothing more you can do besides all the bad things you've already done."

"If you expect me to apologize for keeping you alive so far, you are deluding yourself." Agatha retorts stubbornly, her arms crossed.

Wanda gives a humorless laugh, her hand interlacing hers. "I don't expect anything from you, Agatha. Even if you think it's the right thing to do, stay away from me. And especially from her."

"As you wish, Miss Maximoff."

You notice the tears in the older witch's eyes before she looks the other way. Wanda turns her face to you next.

“Think of a safe place.” She asks in a whisper, and you nod. It takes a second before everything spins around.

//-//-//-//-//

Tag list> @imapotatao / @aimezvousbrahms/ @ensorcellme/ @helloalycia || @mionemymind / @abimess / @stephanieromanoff / @yourtaletotell / @tomy5girls / @justagaypanicking / @thegayw1tch / @idek-5 // @myperfectlovepoem // @helloalycia // @ENSORCELLME // @AIMEZVOUSBRAHMS // @drpepperobsessed // @sighsam // @olsensnpm // @sxfwap // @table57 // @madamevirgo // @causeitswhatjesuswouldfreakingdo // @emptysince18x // @xastrydx || @yuhloversxx || @ymzki-haruki || @wouldirunofftheworldsomeday || @lostandsearching || @lezzzbehonesthere || @musicinourlips || @chaekhan || @diaryoflife || @nervoustrack || @aquamarinescarlet || @cristin-rjd || @idamaemann || @fortunatelynerdylight || @iliketozoneout || @blackwow34 // @tiny–freak || @spongebobtentacles || @cyberbonesworld ||

#wanda maximoff x reader #wanda maximoff #wanda x yn #wanda x reader #marvel imagines #the scarlet witch x reader #The Scarlet Witch Prophecy

158 notes · View notes

kamikothe1and0nly · 2 years ago

Note

I just planned out a rough sketch of where chapters are going to go and it seems like it's gonna be 32 atm

Not sure if that's gonna spontaneously increase but they're only gonna meet chapter 26 so i'm not sure how much slow they're gonna have in the slowburn and the aromanticism makes me think that even kotlp was too fast so we'll see what happens with that.

It's not all the way put together because idk which events i'm putting into which slots, i just labeled them 1 2 and 3 for invitationals and set up time zones for regionals. And i have no clue what other 3 trial events i'll have at state but it's fine. I'll figure it out. I do need two more alternates also...hrm that's not fun.

Also some of the chapters might be able to condense depending on how much page time i need to explain the events to the readers so that they at least vaguely understand what is happening during competitions

If you'd like, i can send you the tentative outline. There are a lot of scioly tests. So chapter 3 better train me well.

Oh, and just know that i'll update you every single time i finish a chapter just so i can be like 'it may have taken me 84 years but progress is being made'

Also 32 chapters * 2,250 word avg chapter for kotlp = 72 k words by the time this is over. So yeah saying it's gonna take me some time is an understatement and a half. That's half the length of kotlp and based on how long that took, it should only take me around a year to get this done *smiles* (someone send help)

Sorry it took me a while to answer back! School has me in a chock hold.

I will never understand how someone can write that many words. Mad respect. My ADD brain doesn’t has the attention span to write even close to that many words.

And yes! Send me updated!

4 notes · View notes

danwhobrowses · 3 years ago

Text

One Piece - Predicting Bounty Increases Post-Wano

So, with Chapter 1049 potentially being the end of the climactic battle (or maybe not) it's safe to say that the Straw Hats and their allies have done a lot in Wano, certainly enough to warrant new bounties. So in this post I'm gonna predict what several characters' new bounties will be after Wano, including all of the Straw Hat Pirates.

Spoilers for all Wano up to Chapter 1049, I will be referencing these chapters in my reasoning, you have been warned

It is worth noting that this is how I think the World Government will respond, it is not an estimation of what I think their efforts are. In addition I will not be doing 'new' bounties: so Yamato - who the world doesn't know about since they've been in Wano all their life - Momo, and Carrot - who really should've gotten a bounty at Whole Cake Island for taking out a portion of Big Mom's Fleet - will not be included. I will also not be including bounties of characters who could potentially be dead, so no Drake or Izo either (Marco won't either because as an ex-Yonko commander his contribution was expected of his stature).

Non-Straw Hat Bounties

We'll start with the Non-Straw Hats, whose actions will have contributed to the Raid's outcome or acquired information that the WG would deem dangerous.

'Roar of the Sea' Scratchmen Apoo: 350 million -> 400 million Apoo sucks, but the World Government would indeed want to silence him on his intel about CP0's presence in Wano, and with him being an effective spy for Kaido, his bounty is due to increase to make sure he doesn't rap another day.

'Massacre Soldier' Killer: 200 million -> 450 million It may seem like a hefty increase, but Killer's efforts in defeating Hawkins - who had a higher bounty than him - and facing off with Kaido and Big Mom will give him a huge bolster, he's earned it as well. Personally I'd want to put him higher, but seeing as Sanji's bounty only went up to 330 from being revealed a Vinsmoke and leaving Yonko territory alive I do have to temper expectations.

Eustass 'Captain' Kid: 470 million -> 1.5 billion 'Surgeon of Death' Trafalgar D. Water Law: 500 million -> 1.5 billion I might be a little crazy here, but I feel like since both Law and Kid had to combine to defeat Big Mom, they will be given the same bounty amount. Defeating a Yonko is no easy feat either, if Luffy got 1.5 billion from beating 2 Yonko Commanders and leaving Yonko territory alive, I think Law and Kid would be worth just as much for fighting 2 Yonko at once and defeating one of them. It'll bruise both their egos though to be the same, as both will claim to have carried most of the fight, but it will bolster both captains' notoriety.

Other than that I don't think we'll learn of any significant bounty increases. Law and Kid's remaining crew will probably get increases by virtue of their Captains' increase but we won't see it. Caribou might get a bounty increase but it depends on how much his involvement is painted, he wasn't in Onigashima so the WG probably didn't know he was there.

Straw Hat Bounties

Okay...now we get to the meat of it. This is the difficult part at least. I'm gonna go in order of lowest current bounty to highest.

'Cotton Candy Lover' Chopper: 100 -> 500 It hurts me that out of the two ways it could go, I'll have to continue with the gag one. While Drake did view Chopper successfully overcome Queen's Ice Oni and transform into Monster Point, there's the possibility that he's dead or even exiled from the Navy, meaning his intel won't reach the WG. What could reach the WG is Chopper's new tiny 'Baby Gramps' form for a new picture (which could be a new title for him but knowing the WG they'll probably still see him as a 'pet' than a sentient being). He'll only get a small increase by virtue of the crew's increase. But the moment he gets seen transforming his bounty's gonna skyrocket...

'Cat Burglar' Nami: 66 million -> 130 million Nami's bounty was a tough one, because even though she defeated a 400 mil Ulti and stole a Yonko's Homie, the WG didn't see much of it, plus Ulti was very weakened. I'd like Nami to get a new title, since she's not as deft-handed as she was in the past, I've often thought she could be called 'Weather Witch' since Nami's character leans more to her climate-control rather than her pickpocketing. As a result I think her bounty will be doubled and rounded up a bit.

'Soul King' Brook: 83 million -> 142 million Sadly, Brook hasn't done much solo contribution to this raid since his and Franky's entrance. He's helped Robin evade CP0 which means he'll get an increase from being perturbed and probably looking a bit more into him, but it won't be as big multiplication-wise. Despite this I think he'd have more than Nami's given his combat skills, so I went for 142 million - 42 being an unlucky number in Japanese because it sounds like 'to die', ah, but he's already dead.

'Cyborg' Franky: 94 million -> 200 million Sasaki may also have a 400+ mil bounty, and Franky was also seen wiping out a Number and knocking Big Mom over, but I feel that the WG will still undermine Franky's threat level given how they also have an army of powerful cyborgs. Franky will get enough dues to match Usopp's Dressrosa bounty for his contributions, but it'd still be an undervaluation.

'Devil Child' Nico Robin: 130 million -> 150 million The World Government intentionally do Robin a disservice in bounty because if her bounty is too high it'd be harder to get people to come after her. Sadly this is my reasoning here, Robin deserves a massive bounty having beaten 470m Black Maria and being a Revolutionary, but CP0's only interaction with her resulted in her just running away, so she'd have one of the smaller increases. I picked 150 because that's the amount of Chrysanthemum (which are the petals used during her Devil Fruit powers) patterns in the symbol for the Emperor of Japan. I do at least hope they get rid of the 'child' bit of her title though, 'Devil Woman' or 'Demonio' would suit better.

'God' Usopp: 200 million -> 250 million Like Brook and Nami, Usopp's contribution would be deemed minor by extension of the WG, only having spotted him running most of the time. He'd get a small increase of 250 million, which is significant enough to overcome the combined bounties of Dorry and Broggy's 100 mil a piece, just in time for the Elbaf arc.

'Pirate Hunter' Zoro: 320 million -> 1 billion I did toil with this, because part of me wanted to make him match Luffy's current bounty, but I think he wouldn't have the same as Kid and Law's. So I stuck with a nice and clean 1 billion, one that he deserves from defeating King - who has the highest Yonko Commander bounty so far - and scarring Kaido. Following this, I do expect that his title will change to his desired 'King of Hell' title. Being worth a billion will be something Zoro would relish, except for one caveat...

'Black Leg' Sanji: 330 million -> 1 billion They will both hate it, but we will love it. Putting Sanji and Zoro level in bounty is probably the bounty increase I'm most certain of even if it's not 1 billion. Having defeated Queen who is also +1 billion, Sanji's antics pre-raid as O-Soba Mask may play into his bounty, especially if Drake does live to give his intel. Because of this, Sanji may end up with a new but unwanted title of 'Stealth Black', even though he has parted with the Raid Suit. His body modifications however still remain, so although he isn't Stealth Black, he won't be shaking off the Vinsmoke name for a while.

'Knight of the Sea' Jinbe: 438 million -> 523 million Our latest Straw Hat will get a bounty increase from having joined the crew, his victory over Who's Who will also make the WG worry rightfully that the cat man mentioned what led to his CP9 dismissal and thus the importance of the 'Gomu Gomu no Mi', for this reason he'll have a similar level of bounty, albeit lesser because of generic Fishman racism and because the WG aren't as threatened by him. This'll of course put the Monster Trio in a league of their own, but I chose 523 because that's the chapter his silhouette first appeared in.

'Straw Hat' Luffy: 1.5 billion -> 2 billion If Luffy does defeat Kaido, one could go crazy and expect him to reach Roger and Whitebeard level bounties, however Blackbeard sits on only a 2.24 billion bounty despite being a yonko for 2 years with WB's Devil Fruit and most of his territories. As a result, I've put Luffy in more 'Yonko region' because of how afraid they will be now that he's awakened. Akainu will hate it, but the WG will act to hope that as a Yonko tier they can pull up an army against him, or at the least turn the other Yonko on him, seeing as 'letting it play out' has failed tremendously. Being a proper Fifth Yonko (which will be a secondary title to him) will necessitate the bounty, but like Blackbeard longevity will only cause it to rise to BM and Kaido level.

So there you have it, those are my predictions at least. It may be subject to change depending on how the rest of the arc unfolds of course, but at this very moment this is how I can see it going.

14 notes · View notes

jadeile-writes · 10 months ago

Text

Fanfic Progress Update 160

Hello, I'm Tired, how are you? I hate January and February, the give me bouts of seasonal depression and that ruins my groove. I'll manage tho. Stay tuned for a sneak-peek for A Sign that you're important at the bottom of this post!

Current WIPs:

A Sign that you're important

Fandom: Sonic the Hedgehog, movieverse

Progress: Chapter 4 was posted on 11th of January. The fifth chapter will be posted on 18th of January aka the next Thursday. Chapter 5 is finished and ready to be posted. I'll need to do a chapter 6, cause Robotnik really, really wanted to wallow and be gay for Stone for a full chapter, mostly at the same time too. Unsure if chapter 6 will be full length or basically a half-length epilogue, we'll see.

-----

Life at the laboratory (I'm starting to not like this title, might change it)

Fandom: Sonic the Hedgehog, movieverse

Summary:

Dr. Robotnik, huh?

I have the first five chapters completely written. Chapter 6 has been started.

I also have two halfway written chapters that don't yet know their exact placement within the fic (they're scenes that will be slotted in to wherever they feel natural, once we get Stone settled in.)

-----

Other WIPs I’m not currently working on but intend to get back to Someday™:

PoE Drabbles (Pillars of Eternity)

DC Drabbles (Justice League)

Diaphanous Relations (Forgotten Realms, R.A. Salvatore’s books)

Rolling with it (Zelda: BotW)

Hah, our afterlife is the most hilarious bushwa, dearest! (Hazbin Hotel)

-----

Turned out, even super advanced hearing aids didn’t take well to getting jostled around like maracas at the speed of sound by a hedgehog, getting blasted through an interdimensional portal they hadn’t been tested for, and crashing loudly and violently into Toadstool Tartarus. In fact, the left one went into tinnitus mode and the right one simply shut down completely. It made crawling out of a crashed aircraft much worse than it already would have been by default.

Once he was out and had enough distance to not get blown to smithereens or showered with shrapnel should his aircraft decide to explode, both hearing aids were promptly removed from his sore ears.

“This will put a damper on whatever plan I will begin hatching as soon as I get my bearings”, Doctor Robotnik said to himself, already hating the likely long lasting silence, especially when that included his own voice.

-----

That’s it this time. See you next Saturday!

Links:

My AO3 My FFnet My Ko-fi Radiohusk Discord Server

#fanfic progress update

2 notes · View notes

maplecornia · 3 years ago

Text

chapter 34

𝔞/𝔫: this chapter will be in 3rd person POV

𝔴𝔬𝔯𝔡 𝔠𝔬𝔲𝔫𝔱: 3.45K

𝔰𝔲𝔪𝔪𝔞𝔯𝔶: You watched them from the sidelines ever since you were a young teenage girl. Now you’re grown up, they’ve returned after 2 long years and everything has changed. What happens when you pull back the mask and find the darkness within? What happens when you see that they’re broken?

When was the moment he realized things were broken?

Driving down the dark streets, his hand clenches on the wheel of the car. Memories of past smiles, foreign whispers of love, someone's hand holding his while he couldn't feel more alone...

Maybe he always knew.

Maybe he just didn't want to admit it to himself.

Pausing in front of a stop sign, he looks over as his phone buzzes, a message popping up on the screen. He doesn't bother looking at it, he knows it's not going to say what he wants it to say.

Watching the blinking lights at an empty street, he considers running it. There's nobody else around. No one would even notice. Even if he somehow did get in an accident would it matter? At this point is there anyone left who cares? Once the light changes green, the thoughts disappear as though they had never existed in the first place.

Jimin, you knew this would happen eventually.

You made this game.

"Yen, what's your secret?"

How is she able to smile so brightly? He sees the darkness in her eyes, he sees the way she disappears into herself, he sees the struggle inside her as she fights to be happy every day.

So why? How is she so strong?

Why can't I be that strong?

Jimin thought he would be able to forget everything. He thought it wouldn't matter. All he wanted was someone to be beside him. All he wanted was to not feel alone. He didn't think that having someone beside him, knowing that they didn't love him, knowing that they were using him for everything else but love...

He didn't think it would make him feel cold, almost isolated.

And yet, he still doesn't want to let go.

When his phone buzzes once more, he looks over at the passenger seat, not paying attention to the road. He doesn't notice as he comes across another intersection. He doesn't notice the crosswalk, nor the woman who is crossing. He’s too focused on the name that flashes on his screen. Debating in his strangled min whether or not to answer.

When he reaches her, just a few feet away, may it be fate or destiny he turns away from the phone just in time to see the woman. Adrenaline pumping violently through his body, his eyes widen as she turns, hearing the roar of the engine and the screech of the tires. Instinct taking over his body, Jimin slams his foot on the brake, the car managing to squeal to a stop, just a few inches away from the frozen woman. In the few moments it takes for him to register her face, he's able to discern one thing.

Bright luminescent green eyes.

In the silence that follows, Jimin breathes heavily, looking over his wheel almost hesitantly. He doesn't know if he hit her, all he's aware of is that she can no longer be seen through the windshield. Fear erupting in his nerves in waves, he frantically unbuckles with shaking fingers, opening the door and dashing to the front of the car. The buzzing phone now forgotten.

He pauses for a moment taking in the scene.

The good news is that he didn't hit her.

The bad news is Jimin quite possibly terrorized her beyond reality.

She’s fallen to the ground, bags of groceries scattered around her, her eyes wide and her entire body shaking. Her hands wrap around the gravel on the ground as she shivers, her lips moving as tears start to appear at her eyes, but no sound can be heard. Jimin notices the scratches her knees have endured from the fall, the way dark smudges of pavement have mixed with the tears on her cheeks, and the small drops of blood dripping from her hands so brutally ripping through the pieces of gravel and dirt.

Sighing, he kneels beside her, trying to gather her attention. It proves to be quite difficult considering the way her eyes are locked on the headlights of the car just a few inches away from her. She shivers as she contemplates how she could have died just a few moments ago and finds the thought far too horrifying to comprehend. Fear paralyzing her like a virus, Jimin has to take her by the shoulders to gather her attention.

And there they are again. Brilliant green eyes, golden flecks scattered within her irises. They meet his deep cinnamon ones, a spark reflected between the two of them. A spark only the heavens could have seen.

"Are you okay?"

Once Jimin speaks, in a soft hushed tone, the woman breaks out of her reverie. Her eyes well up in unspoken terror, and she starts to shake even more violently at the sight of someone next to her comforting her.

Why is it when we are at our most vulnerable, we find ourselves breaking when there is someone there to hold us?

Noticing her shivers, he removes his jacket and places it across her shoulders, trying desperately not to falter at the sight of panic in her eyes.

"It's okay, I'm here."

"Yes, I know I'm late but I'll be there soon."

Needless to say, Jimin finally figured out how to answer his phone.

He paces a few feet away from where he left the shivering woman, his heart clenching and unclenching in distress. When did it become such a chore to talk to her? When did he start regretting every moment spent with her?

Half listening to the pressed voice on the other line, he glances at the woman who pulls his coat tighter around her body, her face pale and eyes darting around in frantic panic. At the sight, his heart tightens in pain and he struggles to shove down his guilt.

It doesn't help matters when he hears the words on the other side of the line.

"What?"

As though he were stuck in a lucid dream he tries not to let the disappointment eat at him. It's not a big deal that she ate without him, after all, he was running quite late...

Why does it bother him so much?

Why does the thought make him feel alone?

Oh, I don't know Jimin, maybe it's the fact that she used you.

Again.

Your money, your love, your dedication, your time.

It was all a waste after all.

"No, it's fine. We'll see each other another time."

Jimin clenches his jaw at the sound of a male voice addressing her on the other line. Suspiciously close, dangerously close. Jimin doesn't bother asking who it is. He already knows the real reason. Taking a deep breath, he tries his hardest not to give in to the tears.

God, you're pathetic aren't you?

"Okay. I have to go now, but I'll see you soon."

No, you won't.

"I lo--"

The line cuts off before he can finish his sentence, and Jimin would be lying if he said he wasn't surprised. He holds the phone up for another moment as though waiting for a phantom to whisper the words he so longs to hear. Biting his bottom lip when it's clear they won't come, he pockets his phone and turns back to the woman on the bench.

Would she treat him the same?

If she were in this situation, what would she do?

Jimin knows these are desperate, ridiculous questions to ponder, but he can't help himself. He's too lost, too broken to wonder anything else. Snapping himself out of his thoughts, he walks towards her, settling onto the bench seat beside her. He knows she overheard the conversation, he knows that every time he looked at her she glanced away as though being caught in a trap.

At this moment, however, he finds it very hard to care.

"Was that my fault?"

At the question, Jimin smiles almost bitterly.

"No, it was mine." He leans his head back, sighing as he stares at the dark sky. "I should've expected it."

At the nearly dejected statement, the woman can't help but look at him with concern. She recognizes the look in his eyes. The dark swirling pit of nothing. She's seen it reflected in her own. She hesitates before speaking once more.

"If you need somewhere to be, I'll be fine." Jimin looks her way incredulously, at the glance, she smiles nervously finding it hard to meet his eyes. "I can wait for a bus on my own--"

When she glances back his way, she doesn't expect him to be so close.

His face nearly inches away from hers, she could almost swear that her heart stopped for a fraction of a second from the shock. It's not a normal occurrence to have a nearly perfect man inches away from you.

But then again, what part of this situation is normal in her eyes anyway?

Oh God, all I wanted was to get some groceries.

Jimin stares at her with an unreadable gaze, his piercing eyes staring deep into hers. Perhaps it's an attempt to see into her soul, to find some part of her character reflected within him. There has to be a reason she looks so familiar, some form of explanation for why he feels as though he's known her all his life.

Why is it so comfortable to be around her?

"What is your name?"

The woman looks up at him with wide eyes, the iridescent green nearly blinding Jimin of all reason.

"Jocelynn."

Sliding his hand on the back of the bench as he leans closer to her, she avoids his eyes. Inwardly she prays that he doesn't hear her heartbeat increasing every second he is close to her.

"Jocelynn." At the sound of her name on his tongue, her stomach turns in on itself. Looking back at him she is surprised to find that his gaze has never strayed from hers. "You know that when it's this late, it's not smart to be on your own right?"

His voice is deep and husky, drawn to a near whisper that is hardly distinctive but manages to move every possible emotion present in her heart. Raising an eyebrow, Jocelynn tilts her head slightly.

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"You were alone."

If she expected him to be flustered, she couldn't have been more wrong. Instead, his eyes darken once more and he smiles half to himself.

"Maybe I don't want to be alone."

Another second, maybe Jimin would have leaned further. Another second and maybe he would have placed his lips on hers. Another second and perhaps he would have been able to forget just how empty he was, as long as he was holding another in his arms.

But when he sees the sad conjecture hidden within her eyes, he can't bring himself to use her in that way. For some unknown reason, he finds that he can't hurt her even if it means he'll feel whole.

Coming to his senses, he pulls away. The same space that was between them a few moments ago, opening once more. He leans forward resting his arms on his legs, his hands clenched tightly together, his heart playing games with his mind.

She's just a stranger, someone he met by some strange coincidence of the skies.

And yet, he can't bear to see that look in her eyes.

"You never told me your name."

Jimin turns to Jocelynn, raising an eyebrow incredulously.

"You don't know me?" he murmurs, obviously surprised, and probably wondering if she's lying. Jocelynn in turn rolls her eyes at the assumption that anyone would be oblivious to who he was, and Jimin can't help but feel amused.

"So what if I do? It's polite to introduce yourself to strangers you nearly run over." Jocelynn responds, her eyes glinting mischievously and Jimin can't help it.

He laughs.

Jocelynn smiles at the sight, almost proud that she was able to leech that out of him. After a moment, Jimin turns to her and extends his hand her way.

"My name is Jimin." When she doesn’t take it right away, he raises his eyebrow at her. In turn, she rolls her eyes before intertwining her hand with his and shaking it. Jimin can't help but think that her hand is soft, comforting, almost made to fit with his. Inwardly, he chastises himself for thinking that way.

When will he remember that fate and destiny don't exist?

Hasn't he been taught that enough?

"It's nice to meet you Jimin."

When she says his name, it's almost as though some invisible bind around his heart has been released. He's able to breathe for the first time, he's able to forget everything he's been harboring deep inside. Almost as though a simple utterance of his name on her tongue has set him free.

"I'm sorry I ruined your date." Jocelynn apologizes before pulling away, and Jimin considers scrambling to hold her hand tightly within his own. In order to refrain himself, he scratches the back of his neck as he shakes his head.

"It's not your fault, don't worry." He reassures her, and she bows her head, smiling to herself. Sighing, Jimin looks back up at the stars, finding it fascinating the way they can shine so bright from so far away. "If I'm being honest it was probably ruined before I met you."

"Do you mind saying why?" At the thought of showing her that vulnerable side of himself, he can feel the darkness start to taint the inner corners of his heart.

Why is it so frightening to reveal one's weakness?

Smiling almost bitterly, he avoids her eyes as he answers her.

"Have you ever had a relationship where you know you're being used, but you stay in it because you're afraid of being alone?"

Jocelynn flinches at the description, being reminded of a time way back where she had exactly that. Painful memories she had thought she had since buried ever since he was removed from her life. Moments she thought she had left behind the moment she promised she would move on.

"That's my relationship." Jimin continues, Jocelynn listening quietly beside him. "I mean it started nice enough. The usual honeymoon phase. She was sweet and funny. To top it off she was just drop-dead gorgeous, I thought I hit the gold mine. The luckiest guy in the world."

Though he doesn't look her way and she doesn't make a move to comfort him, somehow her presence beside him makes things easier for him. He doesn't feel as though someone is violating his memories, he doesn't feel as though she were a stranger. On the contrary, he feels as though this were a normal thing, as though he had been confiding in her all his life.

"Until I saw that she was only happy when she was taking from me. She used me for money, sex, love..."

It was all a lie.

Even now, Jimin can't bear to utter the words, instead they hang over his head. Unspoken but the reality hitting him like a grenade.

"Yeah, she was sweet all right. Like poison."

He laughs bitterly, shaking his head at himself. He never knew self-deprecation could hurt this much. Slowly building up each day until he threatens to break.

"I don't even know why I'm telling you this. I don't even know you."

It's strange, he can't even confide in his friends. He doesn't even feel as though he's able to talk to Tae like he used to, why is it so easy for him to talk to Jocelynn? A person whom he met on a chance encounter, someone whom he didn't even know the name of until just a couple of seconds ago. They are little more than strangers, so how is this so easy?

At the question, Jocelynn smiles to herself, remembering something she had heard once before. From a mere child, and yet it was a child who was the first person to teach her she was never truly alone.

"Sometimes it's easier to talk to those you don't know. They don't have room to judge, they don't know what you did wrong or where you messed up. You may never see them again, so what harm is there in talking to them? That way you don't have to deal with the baggage following you around."

Jimin looks at her with surprise and finds that her gaze is far away. Those green eyes that are so calm and serene are now filled with unspoken tears and sparkling gems of pain.

"I'm not going to say some crappy thing like 'why don't you just leave' or 'she's toxic just drop her' because I know how hard that really is." She takes a deep breath to steady her nerves before continuing. "However, I know what it's like to be used and endure pain because you don't want to be alone. So I will say something to help you make up your mind."

When she meets his delicate tawny eyes with her tender green ones, he finds himself struck speechless. She looks at him almost as though she were afraid he'd break. As though he needed a shield to protect him at all costs and she would be willing to be that shield.

Since when was it Jimin who needed protecting?

"You deserve better."

"What?"

Jimin seems shocked, almost baffled at the notion. Jocelynn smiles almost bitterly to herself. Is that what she looked like when she was told the same thing? Was it so hard to believe that someone like her could deserve to be happy?

"No matter what you may tell yourself, you deserve love. You deserve to be loved. No matter what you think you may have done or how scared you are of being alone, you deserve to have someone reciprocate the love you give to them." Jocelynn holds her hands tightly together as she speaks, an attempt to refrain herself from reaching over and taking his within hers. Though she longs to give him some sort of comfort, she has to keep her distance. "From the way you're describing it...this relationship doesn't sound like it's love."

The silence that blossoms between them is one not easily broken. It's a silence filled with unspoken emotions, late realizations, and hard-won ignorance crumbling. When Jimin looks at her, he admires the way her face shines in the moonlight, her hair that tumbles down around her shoulders, the way she exuberates calm serenity that never thought he'd find.

Almost as if she were an angel sent for him.

When the bus pulls up in front of the two of them, Jimin finds that he doesn't want her to be a stranger. He doesn't want her to leave. He wants her to be around him, he wants her to know his burden. And above all...

He doesn't want to hide anymore.

"Just...think about it okay?" Jocelynn stands, sliding the jacket Jimin gave her not but a few moments ago off her shoulders and offering it up to him. "Here."

He sits there for a stunned moment, staring up at her and the jacket. Within his mind, he makes a quick decision, one that he sincerely hopes he doesn't regret.

Standing, he pushes the coat back to her and smiles.

"Keep it." He murmurs as her emerald eyes widen, a soft rosy hue threatening to erupt on her cheeks. Smiling to herself, she nods, holding the jacket close to her chest, before stepping back toward the bus.

"Thank you." She whispers back, turning on her heel and boarding the bus.

Leaving Jimin alone.

As the doors close, and the familiar hiss exuberates from the vehicle as it pulls away, Jimin stands there. He watches Jocelynn walk down the aisle, before settling into a seat beside a window. She presses her cheek against the cool glass before turning back to the jacket she holds in her hands. Jimin sees as she smiles to herself before holding it close to her heart, her face buried deep within the fabric.

He doesn't notice the grin on his face as he witnesses the pink blush on her cheeks, and the wide smile on her face as she pulls away. Her eyes sparkle with a joy he's only seen on TV screens, and in the back of his mind, he wonders if it's possible to keep that smile to himself. He wonders if she'd be willing to stay by him forever.

Then the bus is gone, she's gone, and he's left in the dust of forgotten memories and broken tears.

"No..." He murmurs, a smile playing at the memory of her green eyes.

"Thank you."

note: NEW CHARACTER ALERT!!! This character has a lot of background to do with Yen, which will be revealed later. I really like this chapter and enjoyed writing in a different POV for different characters. I think this is a nice view into Jimin's side of the story and hopefully we can expand on it soon. Anyways! Thank you for reading and I hope you've enjoyed!

chapter 35 here

check the Infinite Stars masterlist for more chapters

check my BTS masterlist for other BTS content

check out my masterlist for other kpop fanfics

25 notes · View notes