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watchmegetobsessed · 4 years ago

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The Hottest Avenger - Bucky Barnes

a/n: im warning you, i will probably not stop for a while with the bucky fics so... brace yourselves lol! also i wrote this before ep 5 came out so its placed in that time

pairing: Bucky X Reader

warnings: TFATWS spoiler, some violence? nothing extreme

word count: 1.8k

summary: Being locked together with Sam and Bucky brings the worst out of you, picking on each other constantly. Following an arguement Bucky accidentally calls you his girlfriend in front of Sam when your relationship was supposed to be a secret.

masterlist

“Did you fucking eat the last dumpling?” you accuse Sam, holding up the empty takeout box where you thought were one more dumpling, one you’ve saved for yourself, but now it’s gone as Sam is eyeing you with his mouth full.

“Thought it was mine,” he mumbles, his words barely understandable from all the food in his mouth.

Taking a deep breath you’re trying not to jump at his throat right then and there. You’ve been locked up together all damn day in the trashy apartment across the street from the building where’s Zemo supposed to be hiding. Sharon had a tip about a possible place where he might be found, but you’ve been waiting to no avail for now. You’ve been growing stressed and impatient. You lost track of Karli and her people and now you can’t seem to find Zemo either. If it wasn’t for the Dora Milaje, you wouldn’t bother to be so after the asshole, but Bucky said if Ayo finds him first, he is dead and every useful information he holds goes to the grave with him so now you are forced to look for him. One failed mission has been following the other these days, that incompetent dickhead John is on the loose too after murdering that man in front of civilians and you feel like control has slipped out of your grip a long time ago. Now you’re stuck with Sam and Bucky in this crappy place, waiting by the window, watching out for Zemo and on top of everything… Sam ate your last dumpling.

Just when you’re about to snap at him, you feel a strong grip on your shoulder. You don’t have to look up to know it’s Bucky right behind you, but not just because he is the only other person in the room beside you and Sam, but also because you know his touch probably more than anyone. Only that most of the times it’s not your shoulder he is gripping…

It’s been going on for a long time between the two of you. Started with just some innocent flirting and you never thought it would grow into something more significant, but it did. And now you are officially in a relationship with none other than the Winter Soldier, only that no one else knows about it and you plan to keep it that way. You don’t need the teasing and jokes and the Avengers are known to be dicks sometimes, especially Sam.

Glancing up your eyes meet Bucky’s blue irises and he sends you a look that says “just let it go”, and though every fiber in you wants to whoop Sam’s ass, you let it slip.

“Don’t tell me you’re gonna get mad about a dumpling,” Sam chuckles as he chews on the food that you should be enjoying right now.

“I can get mad about whatever I want to,” you growl back, growing quite irritated of him at this point.

“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed,” he huffs under his breath, clearly not as bothered as he should be. Before you could do any harm in him, you leave your spot by the window, needing a breather from… well, from him.

“Hey, it’s still your turn!” he calls after you.

“I need a break,” you growl back.

“Get your ass back here, we agreed to switch every two hours!”

“Sam! I’m walking out because I’m way too tempted to punch you in the face right now!” you snap at him, losing your patience. He rises from his seat with a hard expression, not quite a fan of the way you just talked to him, but you couldn’t care less.

“You think you could actually throw one? Because last time we fought you couldn’t really get a hold of me,” he narrows his eyes at you, coming to stand tall in front of you, trying to intimidate you with how much taller and stronger he might be, but you both know you’re a better fighter.

“It’s easy to talk with your fancy tech stuff. Why don’t we see who wins in a simple battle?” you challenge him with faked boredom.

“Guys, stop. We should be looking out for Zemo, not tearing each other apart,” Bucky tries to end the staring contest, sticking his metal arm between the two of you in case any of you decides to launch at the other one.

“Then tell her to stop bitching!” Sam nods in your way.

“I’m not bitching, I’m just fed up with your bullshit!” you spat back at him, leaning closer, your chest coming in contact with Bucky’s extended arm.

“Don’t talk to her like that, Sam,” Bucky warns him, but Sam snorts dryly.

“Don’t tell me you are taking her side, she is throwing a fit for a fucking dumpling!”

“I’m not taking sides, just trying to settle this stupid disagreement here,” he defends himself and you roll your eyes.

“You can’t tell me she is not overreacting it, Buck!” Sam laughs in disbelief, taking a step back, dropping the act that he wants to fight you. He probably knows he would come out as a ridiculous loser. “This is fucking insane, I’m not in the mood to deal with your shit, Y/N,” he shakes his head.

“Hey!” Bucky snaps at him. “Don’t talk to my girlfriend like that, okay?!”

“I’m just—wait, what?!” Sam’s eyes widen and you freeze too.

Your dumbass boyfriend didn’t just out the two of you, did he? What else is about to come?! Sam’s shock turns into a cocky grin as his eyes shift between you and Bucky.

“You guys… you guys are fucking?” he asks with a delightful laugh and you close your eyes sighing, already tired of his shit.

“That’s not—We’re not fucking, I mean… It’s not like that,” Bucky stutters, but it’s just making it worse. He looks at you with terror in his eyes, but you are way too drained to deal with it the right way.

“Yes, we are fucking! And we are in a mature adult relationship! Get yourself over it!” you bark at Sam before turning around and walking out.

You faintly hear the two men talk inside, but you don’t make out the words. You don’t go too far, sitting on the steps leading up to the third floor. Soon enough you hear the door of the apartment open with a creak and a moment later Bucky shows up in your sight. He sits beside you, remaining silent for a little before speaking up.

“Sorry for running my mouth,” he mumbles, his head hanging low.

“It’s… fine,” you breathe out. Bucky fidgets with his fingers and you know he wants to touch you in any kind of way as a reassurance that it really is fine. You don’t want to hold a grudge, it was an accident, you’re just a little bummed it’s not gonna be just the two of you anymore. Reaching out you take his hand, the real one that’s flesh and meat and you lace your fingers together as he peeks at you, still reserved and hesitant.

“Is it really fine or are you just bottling it up?”

“It really is fine,” you chuckle softly and leaning closer you kiss his scruffy cheek. “The only reason I wanted to keep it a secret is because you know how vickery the guys can get. I just didn’t want them to pick on us.”

“They do it because they are just jealous,” he smirks playfully, his shoulder bumping against yours.

“Yeah? Of what?” A soft chuckle slips through your lips.

“That I scored the hottest Avenger,” he replies smugly and you can’t help but laugh with your head snapping back.

“I didn’t know you were fucking Thor!” you retort and immediately see his smirk vanish from his lips as he stares back at you, not enjoying your joke as much as you are.

“Thor? Really? Not this shit again, Y/N,” he narrows his eyes at you. Back when you were just skirting around each other, you loved pulling his leg, joking about how much you are into the hottest Avenger, aka Thor. He never appreciated it, usually earned you a tight-lipped smile before he mumbled “Tarzan’s got nothing on me” before walking away, leaving you laughing like a hyena.

“Come on, you know I’m more into super soldiers,” you grin, leaning closer as he pepper his sharp jawline with more small kisses.

“You know, it’s not the best thing to say to your boyfriend when there are now about eight more super soldiers running around,” he huffs.

“But none of them has a metal arm,” you point out, finally making him laugh.

“So that’s your kink? A vibranium arm?” he asks with faked shock and you curl your arms around his bicep, resting your chin on his shoulder.

“How haven’t you realized yet?” you chuckle. Bucky turns his head until his lips can capture yours in a sweet, lighthearted kiss that makes you forget about everything that’s been clouding over your mind these past days. All the failures, the mistakes and chaos fades into nothing, because you have him and he has you.

Walking back into the apartment Sam stares back at you, neither of you entirely sure how to act after what just happened. He then grabs his phone from the dusty table before holding it up.

“I could order some extra dumplings,” he offers and you crack a smile shaking your head. This was his peace offering, both of you knows he won’t straight up apologize for the way he talked, but this is already more than what you were expecting from him. Bucky must have had a few words with him before joining you outside.

“It’s all good.”

The three of you get back to work, taking your previous spots, returning to the task on hand as silence falls on the room once again. You catch Sam glancing at you and the Bucky and you can tell he is about to make a snarky comment on your relationship. And just as he is about to open his big mouth, Bucky moves to silence him, but you’re faster. With a simple move you throw Sam to the ground, keeping him down with your hand wrapped around his neck.

“Don’t even think about teasing, understood?” you hiss at him as he gasps for air, his hands wrapping around your wrist as he tries to fight you off, but you hold him a second longer to emphasize the importance of your words. Then you finally let go of him and he coughs for air, fixing him up from the floor as you simply walk back to your spot by the window.

“Hottest Avenger, huh?” he breathes out, revealing that he heard what you talked about out on the stairs. “More like the Avenger with the most anger issues…”

You just grin, glancing over at your boyfriend who is now standing with his arms crossed over his chest, not even bothered by his friend’s struggles on the floor as he smirks back at you, nodding proudly as if he was saying: “That’s my girl.”

Thank you for reading, please like and reblog if you enjoyed it!

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fandomlit · 3 years ago

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neutral, chap. 4 (dream smp x reader)

series summary (in game!au) when an exiled tommy finally rebels against a manipulative dream, he finds safety in neutral territory, a place owned and guarded by you. staying in your safe haven opens up the younger one’s eyes to your way of life, while also revealing your deeper past before neutral; a past that involved a war for your love.

chapter summary after waking from a taunting nightmare, tommy expels some late night energy on some wandering mobs. you give him another lesson about taking care of himself, even when working hard, and tommy asks if you’ll teach him archery, which, of course, doesn’t go without entertainment.

warnings nightmares, mob killing

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gif cred belongs to @halcyoncraft

he was running again. he didn’t know where or from what, but his legs carried him far and strongly, weaving him through trees and grass and other obstacles along the way. he didn’t know how in danger he was, but he wasn’t going to stop and find out.

then he tripped.

when he flipped onto his back, it was that goddamn mask staring down at him, the lips just under it laughing, “you’re so weak, tommy! did you do anything while you were in neutral?” then his axe came down and tommy braced himself for the pain and release of death.

he woke up instead.

sweating under his covers, tommy sucked in a harsh breath as he sat up. he threw the soft cotton off of him, running a warm hand down his face. it was just a dream; he was safe in neutral.

looking out of the window next to him, he saw the moon still high in the sky, casting a cool light into his bedroom. dream’s words rang through his head like a bell, and he rubbed at his temples with a sigh. was he actually getting weak? was relaxing such a bad thing? at the very least, some part of him must have thought so to conjure a nightmare like that..

with another sigh, tommy lifted himself out of bed and flipped open the ender chest. he drew out his sword before heading to the main floor of the house.

when he reached the bottom of the stairs, a voice called out to him, “tommy?” his heart nearly stopped for a moment, before peeking into the kitchen and realizing it was just y/n. she sat in candlelight, writing in a small journal with a slice of half-eaten pumpkin pie next to her. “are you alright?”

“yeah,” he breathed, his voice still heavy with sleep. “just gonna go kill some mobs.”

she nodded. she looked tired, and a part of tommy felt bad knowing that she was most definitely going to wait for him to return. “okay. have at it, kid.”

he nodded, turning to leave the kitchen. before he did so, he pursed his lips and looked over his shoulder to y/n. “you should go to bed.”

she gave him a smile, scribbling something down in the small journal. “i will, tommy. just gotta finish this up..” his natural curiosity was drawn to the small book, and he almost asked y/n what she was writing. but then dream’s voice rang through his mind again, and tommy silently headed for the doors of the house.

the night air was refreshing on his warm skin, cool and still as the moon illuminated the frontal beauty of neutral territory. he took a deep, calming breath of that crisp air before focusing on the task at hand: proving to himself that dream was wrong. that dream is always wrong.

after about twenty zombies, ten spiders, countless creepers, and a few endermen, tommy finally felt the burn in his arms become nearly too much to bear. he panted as he struck down one last spider, turning and finally deciding to return back to the comfort of y/n’s home.

he sheathed his sword when he finally entered the house, going straight to the kitchen to see that y/n was still awake and writing in her small journal.

“ready to go to bed?” he asked gruffly.

she looked up slowly before nodding, placing her quill down and capping her ink. “any trouble out there?”

“no,” he spoke, shaking his head. “wrote everything you needed to?” y/n blew out her candle and went to join the boy in the doorway to the kitchen.

“as much as i could, anyway,” she shrugged, smiling lazily as they began to walk toward the stairs. “what was your nightmare about?”

tommy was slightly startled, but a little too tired to react drastically to y/n’s deduction. “how’d you know i had a nightmare?”

“i’ve had them before,” she said simply. “and it seemed natural that you’d expel some energy onto mobs after such a thing.”

“you’re smart,” tommy credited.

“thank you,” y/n yawned.

they continued to climb the stairs in silence as tommy considered his words. “i was being hunted by dream again, but this time you weren’t there to save me. he called me weak and killed me.”

“so you wanted to prove to yourself that despite allowing yourself peace, you didn’t have to sacrifice your strength to get there,” y/n summed.

the boy half-smiled. she was spot on, as always. “exactly,” tommy breathed.

y/n was silent for a moment as she thought. they stopped at the hallway to tommy’s room and it then occurred to tommy’s tired mind that her room was downstairs; she was walking with him because she cared about him.

“honestly, tommy, if this is a real concern for you, then there is no harm in taking time out of your day to work out and train,” y/n spoke. “but the most important thing is to recognize when enough is enough, and when enough becomes too much. you’ve allowed yourself peace and care for the last two weeks, and achieving such a state doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice fighting or training; it just means that you need to be more aware and in tune with yourself as you’re doing it.” tommy nodded.

“don’t overwork yourself, is the summary here,” she said, picking a cobweb off of his shirt. “let yourself do the things you want, but make sure it’s not wearing you down. that’s taking care of yourself.”

“alright,” tommy spoke quietly. “thank you, y/n.”

“of course, kid,” she smiled. “get some sleep, alright? if you have another nightmare you’re free to bother me.” tommy nodded again. “good night, tommy.”

“good night, y/n,” he yawned as she turned to head down to her room. he made sure he heard her door shut before finally heading to his own room.

...

“can you teach me archery?” tommy questioned the next morning at breakfast. it was a question that had bugged him since y/n had first revealed her skills just a few days prior, and since he was going to start training, he figured that might be a good place to start.

“sure,” she chuckled as she scooped some more fruit onto his nearly half-eaten plate of french toast.

“why the laugh?” he questioned through a mouthful of berries.

she shrugged to herself. “your curiosity is showing.”

“i’ve been wondering about it since you took out the mob,” tommy admitted. “if i want to get stronger.. i think this is a good way to.”

“perfecting a skill is the perfect way to get stronger,” y/n voiced. “of course i’ll teach you, kid.” she smiled and he turned back to his breakfast with his own grin. “finish up your food and meet me in the basement; we gotta get you a bow first.”

tommy hadn’t been in the basement of the house yet. he opened the heavy, dusty trapdoor and assumed y/n didn’t go down their often either. he slid down the ladder easily and was immediately hit with heat.

y/n had a welding station upstairs in her shop area, but the basement had a more broad and intense version of that area. several anvils, all cracked and rusted and adorned with different materials were scattered in a sort of pattern amongst the space, a fire burning high in a fireplace at the far side of the room. seeing no sign of y/n, tommy moved to the room to his left.

the next room held a large nether portal, as well as a small farm for netherwart. the dark room felt empty to him, and he had to remind himself that he was in fact in y/n’s house still. he remembered she had said that she didn’t like going to the nether.

“i’m in here, tommy!” she called out. he took another left into a small storage room, where y/n was rustling through a chest. “how tall are you, kid?”

“6’1”,” he answered.

y/n smiled. “you’re a lot taller than i’ll ever be.” she took out a pretty oak bow, slightly scratched and obviously old. “you’ll have to use this for now, until i can make you one that’s your size.” he took the bow from her hands, shrugging.

“it’s fine.”

“good,” she hummed, still shuffling through the chest as tommy took the time to look around the small room.

“what’re the dispensers for?” tommy asked, staring at the wall that held the three stone tools.

“im nothing if not prepared, tommy,” y/n spoke as she took out a quiver and began to fill it with arrows for him. “in case of emergency, those dispensers will set off flares to let others know that im in trouble or that neutral is in danger.”

tommy nodded, still looking at the obviously unused dispensers. “smart.”

“i hope so,” she sighed, handing him the quiver of arrows. he strapped it around himself as she continued, “let’s just hope i never have to use them, yeah?”

“yeah,” he chuckled. she gave him a smile, hoisting her bow higher in her grip.

“you ready to shoot some things?”

...

“relax your shoulders,” y/n reminded. tommy did so, his fingers still white with effort against the taut string of the bow. “don’t pull so hard, tommy. you’re shaking.” he sighed as he let the string and arrow go limp, lowering his bow as y/n approached him closer.

it was his second day of archery training, and he was still missing nearly every target. y/n was a calm and collected teacher, offering him advice that was pointed directly for him and reassured him that there was no rush in the learning process. but after missing fifteen or so shots in a row, tommy was getting frustrated.

and it didn’t help with sapnap and george staring at him through the kitchen windows.

“doin’ great, kid,” sapnap encouraged weakly, taking a drink of the lemonade y/n had lovingly prepared for the boys. just watching the older man sip made tommy’s mouth dry, but he was determined to make five shots in a row before taking a break.

tommy glared at the man before turning his gaze back to his mentor. “ignore him, tommy,” y/n spoke gently. “nick couldn’t hit a target if it was three paces away.”

“that’s a lie!”

“im kidding,” y/n laughed, placing a hand on tommy’s shoulder and turning him away from the distraction that was sapnap. “but seriously, there’s almost always going to be someone watching when you shoot. the more you can tune them out, the better. just focus on your aim--and make sure your grip is looser. you’re gonna snap that string in no time otherwise.”

“loose grip, focus on aim,” tommy breathed and she patted his shoulder as he turned back to the target ahead of him. he hoisted the bow up slowly and pulled the string back just enough that it wasn’t fully taut. he made sure his aim was a little higher than his target, and released the whizzing arrow. the arrow pierced just outside of the center ring.

“perfect,” y/n smiled. “now, do it again.” and he did, taking another deep breath and allowing himself to focus in on the feel of the rough wood on his fingertips, and the tight string he was pulling. the arrow hit just beside his last. she nodded encouragingly. “keep going.”

tommy could feel his heart start to thump in his chest from the excitement of his accurate aim. he took another calming breath and watched as the arrow lodged closer to the center.

“great aim,” she complimented and he grinned as he pulled another one back, trying to contain his shaking as he aimed. the arrow shot lower than his previous, but on the target nonetheless. “still a good shot. one more?”

“yeah,” tommy nodded, licking his dry lips as he retrieved another arrow from his quiver. heart still thumping with utter excitement and pride at y/n complimentary words, he quickly released the arrow and his smile dropped as the arrow lodged into the ground before the target.

“hey, that’s fine!” y/n assured as tommy groaned and dropped his head. “four in a row is an amazing improvement, tommy. you should take a break and reward yourself.”

tommy sighed, looking to the shameful arrow. “yeah. alright.” he dropped the bow to the ground along with his quiver. he looked to his slightly splintered fingers. “im gonna go.. wash up.”

“alright,” y/n smiled as tommy scampered away. she entered into the open kitchen, smiling at her guests. “you boys doing alright?”

they nodded. “when did you take up parenting, y/n?” george giggled. she rolled her eyes as she went to pour her and tommy their own glasses of lemonade. “no, seriously! you care for that kid a lot, it-it’s not a bad thing!”

she sighed, leaning against her counter as she sipped at her lemonade. “i know you two haven’t always agreed with him in the past, but i think tommy’s a good kid. i like his ethic, and i think he has a lot of potential. but that being said..” she shook her head. “he’s so young.” the boys nodded. “he’s been thrown into such a life of chaos and destruction, and im not saying he’s at all innocent, but.. i think it’s good for him to learn that there’s more to this world than just war and enemies. there’s...”

“neutral,” sapnap finished for her. she let out a laugh.

“yeah, neutral,” she agreed, tapping her fingers against her cold glass. “but, yeah, if teaching him peace and self care is motherly of me..” she shrugged. “then i guess im alright with being a parent.”

“that’s sweet,” sapnap nodded. “i hate it.” the three of them laughed, y/n laying a light slap on the man’s arm before tommy’s voice called out to her.

“y/n! can i have some help?”

“im coming!” she called back, setting down her glass of lemonade.

“go help your poor son,” george teased, resting his head in his hand as he gazed at y/n amusedly. she rolled her eyes.

“behave, you two,” she laughed before leaving the kitchen.

there was a moment of silence before george spoke, “i do think it’s quite sweet how y/n’s taken tommy in. i think it’s good for both of them.”

“you say that now,” sapnap sighed, leaning back in his chair. “but just wait until tommy’s back to feeling 100% and y/n’s going around saying “pog” all the time.”

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actualbird · 3 years ago

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Waking up to a new fic was an absolute delight and reading through it only made everything better.

Man I really feel Ria with the long weeks. And the extra long weekend because that's a brutal series of minor inconveniences. Did she ever manage to open the jar?

Absolutely love the reference to the latest chapter dfhigojg bashing reinforced plexiglass has nothing on not being able to open a jar. At least the exercise will help Ria in whatever new life threatening situation she ends up in.

WHY DOES DAVIS SAYING GET SHREDDED MAKE ME LAUGH

Artem listening to My Heart Will Go On dtidtid I adore this.

Artem's Wordle noooo. It's such a frustrating feeling that one's. Not valid it's not a shame-inducing thing but slightly more understandable!

I absolutely adore the shift from romance to Artem tripping over a crack in the pavement. The natural conclusion to seeing nothing but your crush.

The music swelled right when Ria caught him too I just realised dgidit

He's made worse excuses than "for charity"? Now I'm curious about those other excuses.

It's the all caps respectful in Artem's search that gets me the most.

You know what I can understand Marius' reaction. That was hot and I'll be unpacking why I think that too.

Teach Davis about creativity :(

WIKIHOW????? ARTEM PLEASE

Oh my god she knocked Luke out. What workouts is she doing I need those too. Absolutely adore Luke's reaction too xfuxu

Vyn using his universe-assigned accidents to his advantage is something I'm adopting as canon now.

RIA HOLY SHIT THE BRIDAL CARRY

Cgkcjg nice jab at Artem there Vyn.

I adore Davis and his stalker tendencies. Also he's right that the four boys are extremely entertaining to watch.

Excellent fic again!!!! Absolutely love the premise and all the boys swooning over a buff Ria. Thank you for writing this! I'm sorry if this seems a little messy cgidgk I'm not quite fully awake yet.

🌌

waaaaa gmorning, milkyway!! thanks for reading "baby, you're the man, but i got the power" OwO

pls dont apologize for anything omg, im HONORED u read this fic not 100% awake, kinda like a morning newspaper but theres no information about the world's events, just convoluted swooning over strength

ria's long week was honestly me projecting how ive been feeling lately kJBKJSDKJFSD!! sometimes weeks are just Like That :( tho unlike her, my weeks Like That never made me decide to start working out, LMAO.

SHE DOES EVENTUALLY OPEN THE JAR! in my mind, i assume that she took a frustration nap after the whole ordeal and when she woke up she had more strength to open it but she already committed to Operation Get Shredded

artem's wordle shame is also me projecting //SOBS. i havent done wordle in a while but it was my dream to have 3rd Row as my highest solves, but im not as smart as artem so my current standing is this

MY SHAME IS IMMEASURABLE

a knockout isnt too hard to do! a strong enough right hook to the jaw or temple is enough to jostle a person’s brain into temporary sleepytown. actually, most well placed blunt force trauma hits can result in a knockout (take it from me who had balance issues growing up and bashed my head EVERYWHERE at school for a few years. i basically lived in the clinic, i was always getting temporary sleepytown)

usually, knockout punches actually just knockout a person for a few seconds, which is what happened to luke, and it’s super common in like, UFC MMA fights which i used to watch a lot as a kid. it’s this split second unconsciousness that leaves the opponent unguarded for a much stronger punch that can knockout for a much longer time. the head is just That Fragile and thats why guarding it is the most important thing to do in any kind of martial arts

but luke did not do that because hes a dumb dumb who underestimated ria and being completely unguarded and not braced for impact? SLEEPYTOWN, BOIIII!!!

vyn got THE MOST shoujo anime romance scene in this fic, the lucky bastard!!!!!!!

thank u sm for the lovely ask, milkyway <3 im rlly glad u enjoyed the fic :D

#milkyway!anon #asks #ive gotten knocked out by bonking my head in places but never w a punch. but ive only gotten punched in the face once #i feel like i should get punched in the face some more for writing ref purposes #commints

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atomic-taco-muffin · 3 years ago

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The Lost Princess Chapter 41

Warnings: it’s obvious from the other chapters

Rating: SFW

A Dark Corridor opened and the two girls pushed you out of it. You landed on the ground and looked at them. They walked out of the Corridor and looked at you with scary faces.

“W-who are you?” you asked.

“I thought that you knew already. I guess we have to explain everything. My name is Yui and this is my twin sister, Roxy. We are the daughters of Xemnas, the leader of Organization XIII. We’re also Spirits like you,” Yui said. You quickly stood up and looked at them.

“I remember now! I’m supposed to show the true meanings of a Spirit,” you said.

“You? A pathetic weakling such as yourself? That’s too funny!” Roxy said.

“I’m not a weakling! I’m strong! And I’ll show you just how strong I am! ODILE!” You held your dagger up and Odile was summoned.

“Heh. We’ll see about that. Ready, sister?” Yui said.

“Ready,” Roxy said. The two of them held their hands together and raised their guns in the air.

“SAPPHITE, WE SUMMON YOU!” they yelled. Flames surrounded the two girls and two wolves were summoned. You looked at the wolves and got scared. There’s no way you could defeat those.

“Now then, let’s have some Spirit competition then!” Roxy said. You held onto your dagger and the three of you attacked.

The trio had arrived in the Land Of Dragons away from a village that was burning. A hawk flew through the air. A single man stood in the midst. The hawk landed on his shoulder and he smiled. A soldier watched from a bamboo grove.

“See that, Mulan? It's Shan-Yu, leader of the Hun army! C'mon, girl. This is your big chance!” Mushu said. The shadow of a large dragon surrounded by red smoke on a large rock was talking with the soldier.

“I can see it now: ‘Fa Mulan whups public enemy number one!’ You gonna be famous! I'm talkin' A-list!” Mushu said.

“Mushu, I'm not sure... I haven't even joined the army yet. I have to take my father's place to preserve the Fa family honor. I just hope I don't get discovered,” Mulan said.

“Whatever. You just scared---admit it.”

“Aren't you?” The dragon placed a hand on his forehead. Sora, Donald, and Goofy were walking though the grove, when Goofy spotted their conversation and stopped. They saw the shadow and became suspicious.

“A Heartless?” Donald asked.

“Let's get the jump on 'im!” Sora said. Sora and Donald ran ahead.

“Gawrsh, maybe we better look before we leap,” Goofy said. Mulan gasped as they ran in. Mushu jumped from behind the rock into Mulan's arms. He was definitely not a large dragon.

“Is that Mushu?” Goofy asked. Mushu popped out from behind Mulan.

“That's right, I know you heard of me! I'm little, lethal, and legendary! Now y'all scram before I get my dragon dander up!” he said.

“Hey, Mushu! We missed you!” Sora said.

“Yeah, well you better HOPE I miss YOU, or else you're---you're...Sora! Donald! Goofy!”

“Do you know them?” Mulan asked. Mushu hopped onto the ground.

“Know them? Man, we used to kick all kinds of bad guy butt together! Yeah, you know, I helped these guys out of a lot of tight spots. 'Cause I'm a mighty dragon! Right?” he said as he leaned against Sora's leg. Mulan was hesitant to show herself. Sora moved his leg and Mushu fell over.

“Something like that. And...you are?” Sora said.

“I'm Mulan. Um, no, I-I mean...” Mulan quickly lowered her voice.

“Ping!” she said.

“Mulan Ping?” Donald asked.

“Just...Ping. I am Ping, son of Fa Zhou.”

“You know Mushu?” Sora asked.

“Mushu's one of my family's guardians.”

“We didn't know we were borrowin' somebody as important as a family guardian,” Goofy said. Mushu popped up.

“Yeah, that's right!” he said as he scurried back onto Ping’s shoulders.

“And that puts you three up to your eyeballs in debt to Ping here,” he said. Ping smiled awkwardly.

“Well, guess what, kiddies? It's payback time!” Mushu said.

“Mushu...” Mulan said to him.

“Ah, they don't mind. Ain't that right?”

“Hmm, sounds fair,” Sora said.

“See, Ping here was just on his way to join the Imperial army.” Mushu switched shoulders.

“We gotta go find the other recruits over at the training camp,” he said.

“Would you join us? It'll be easier to fit in if I'm with guys, like you,” Ping said.

“What do you mean, ‘fit in’?” Sora asked.

“Well, um, uh, don't---don't worry about that,” Mushu said.

“You're pretendin' to be a boy, aren't ya?” Goofy asked. Sora and Donald jumped in surprise.

“You're a...girl?” Sora asked.

“You didn't notice?” Mulan asked sheepishly.

“Uh-uh,” Donald said.

“Not me,” Sora said.

“I think it's working,” Mulan said to Mushu.

“I don't know---those two would fall for anything,” Mushu said.

“I'm right here!” Sora said.

“Hey!” Donald said. The five of them soon walked into the encampment.

“Remember, girl---manly!” Mushu said. Ping straighten up and did a very awkward strut into the camp. Sora joined a line of soldiers before being pushed from his spot by Yao.

“'Bout time we got some grub,” Yao said.

“Hey, no cutting!” Sora said.

“Get out!” Donald said. Yao punched Sora in the face. Donald mumbled something and pounced on Yao.

“Back off!” Yao said. Him and Donald exchanged punches.

“Uh-oh!” Goofy said. Ling and Chien-Po came along.

“Hey, a space in line!” Ling said. He ended up pushing Yao farther from the line. Chien-Po accidentally knocked Ling and Yao away from the line.

“I wonder what they're serving for lunch today,” Chien-Po said. Yao soon got Donald off him.

“Knuckle sandwiches!” Yao said as he punched Ling.

“That does it!” Sora said. Donald knocked Ling down and started jumping on his back. Sora tried to grab Yao, but Yao knocked Sora's hands away. Chien-Po, Goofy, and Ping just stood there not really knowing what to do.

“I’m hope you’re faring better than we are now, (Y/N),” Goofy said to himself.

“Please!” Mulan said. They all stopped fighting and turned to look at Mulan.

“Please!” Ling said.

“What a girl!” Yao said.

“Uh...knock it off!” Ping said.

“Knock what off?”

“You punched me!” Sora said.

“Cutting in line!” Donald said.

“What a shrimp!” Ling said.

“Who you callin' a shrimp, panda lips? I'm a bona fide guardian dragon!” Mushu said, popping out from Ping’s armour. Ping shoved Mushu back inside.

“L-let's just get back in line, okay?” Ping asked.

“Whose side are you on? I just got slugged!” Sora said.

“Want some more?” Yao asked.

“Soldiers! Get back in line!” Shang said.

“The Captain!” Ling said. They all quickly regained the line formation. Donald peeked out for a second, then straightened back up. The captain walked down the line staring at each of them. After he left, Sora made a fist, glaring at Yao, before Shadow Heartless appeared. Sora readied his Keyblade.

“What are they?” Mulan asked.

“Heartless!” Sora said.

“Oh yeah?” Ling asked. Him, Yao, and Chien-Po readied their fists.

“Ping, I hope you're ready!” Sora said. They successfully got rid of the Heartless and the captain spoke to them.

“You three. What are your names?” Shang said.

“Sora.”

“Donald.”

“Goofy.”

“You're welcome in my troop. Your battle skills are encouraging,” Shang said.

“I am the son of Fa Zhou---” Ping said.

“You should return home,” Shang interrupted Ping.

“B-but... That would dishonor my family!”

“You'd rather dishonor my troops?”

“Don't make me---!” Ping said, trying to be tough.

“If Ping trains hard and does his best, he'll get stronger in no time,” Sora said.

“Hmm...” Shang said.

“Just give us an assignment! We'll show you how well we can work together.”

“So...you want to be tested? Our orders are to ambush Shan-Yu's army on their way here. They should be coming through the mountain pass.”

“We'll smash them!” Donald said.

“I doubt that. You four will be the advance party. Scout out the mountain for my troops.”

“That's it? No problem. Right?” Sora said.

“R-right,” Ping said.

“I'll brief you on the details later. Return when you're ready to depart. Remember, the smallest mission may have the greatest purpose. Stay alert!” Shang said.

“Sir!” Sora, Donald, Goofy, & Ping said.

~Le Time Skip~

Sora and the others were able to defeat the Heartless at all of the checkpoints. They went back to the encampment to talk to Shang.

“You've done a passable job. But stay alert! This is just the beginning. Shan-Yu has invaded our country. We must stop him at all costs. A mob is heading for the Checkpoint. Stop them while keeping an eye out for strange enemies!” Shang said. Sora and the others defeated the Heartless in the encampment.

“Hmm, not bad. Now brace yourself for the rest of your assignments. Our objective is to defeat Shan-Yu. Do not fail your mission. It seems the enemy has invaded the camp. Defeat every enemy you encounter!” Shang said. Sora and the others took care of some more Heartless that appeared in the encampment.

“Yes, that's exactly what I need from you. Now, you still have some tasks to do. Stay sharp. You did well,” Shang said.

“I knew it!” Sora said.

“Captain...” Ping said.

“I suppose you've made a little progress...” Shang said to Ping.

“Not a little---a lot!” Donald said.

“No. You're right, Captain. Please give me one more assignment. This time I'll show you what I'm truly made of!” Ping said.

“I'll give you one more chance. See me when you're ready to depart. Remember, this may be a test, but it's still an important mission. Be alert!” Shang said.

“Sir!” Sora, Donald, Goofy, & Ping said. They all readied themselves.

“Your mission is to secure the path over the summit so our company can pass. I've authorized you to be let through to the summit. Don't let me down!” Shang said. As the group enters the Mountain Trail, a hawk flew overhead. They fought their way to a village.

“Hey, you ain't half bad,” Yao said.

“A man among men!” Ling said.

“Thanks!” Ping said. Ling, Yao, and Chien-Po left. Ping looked down.

“But the Captain...” he said.

“Captain!” Sora said. Shang arrived with two foot soldiers.

“Ping sure did great!” Goofy said.

“You bet he did!” Donald said.

“Hmm...Fine. I'll let you join my troops... But I'm still not convinced you have what it takes to be a worthy soldier,” Shang said.

“Why not!?” Sora asked.

“It's all right, Sora. I'll find a way to show him what I'm made of. Just give me a chance,” Ping said.

“That's the spirit, Ping,” Shang said.

“Sir!” Shang and the two foot soldiers continued into the summit.

“Good going, Ping!” Ling said.

“Thanks!” Ping said. They entered a small village near the summit.

“Okay, girl! Here's your chance! I just saw this real shady guy. And I know it's Shan-Yu,” Mushu said.

“Shan-Yu!?” Ping asked.

“That's the Hun leader! We've got to tell the Captain!” Sora said.

“Right!”

“Waaaait wait-wait-wait WAIT! Everybody use their heads a sec. Now, why are we here? To make the Captain see Mulan's---I mean, Ping's talents and bring honor to her family,” Mushu said. Sora, Donald, and Goofy nodded.

“So, let's go find out where Shan-Yu is, by ourselves. Then, if we're lucky, we can fry him up good! Though just tracking the guy down should earn us our stars... Captain Musclehead will have to notice my girl!” Mushu said.

“Okay. Let's go,” Ping said.

“We'll help out,” Sora said.

“Now we're cookin'! Shan-Yu is in a cave outside the village!” Mushu said. They entered the Village Cave and found a small shrine.

“Dead end,” Sora said.

“There's nobody here...” Donald said.

“You're crazy. Check again!” Mushu said.

“Oh, well...” Donald started to leave.

“Wait for me, Donald!” Goofy said. Goofy followed Donald out of the cave.

“Hey, wait up!” Sora said. Suddenly, there was a strange shaking.

“Huh?” Ping asked.

“What? What is it?” Mushu asked. A barrier formed at the entrance blocking Donald and Goofy out.

“Sora!” Donald said.

“Ping!” Goofy said. Shan-Yu laughed and secretly left the cave. Several Heartless appeared in the room, leaving Sora and Ping to take care of them.

“Nice fighting, Ping! You were amazing,” Sora said. The barrier vanished.

“You okay?” Goofy said.

“Yeah, thanks to Ping,” Sora said.

“C'mon! Time to report to the Captain!” Mushu said.

“But Shan-Yu wasn't here,” Ping said.

“Please! That Hun is old news! We're gonna tell the Captain how thousands of Heartless stormed the cave, and Ping took out almost every one of 'em!” Mushu said. They returned to the Village, which had been reduced to smoking ashes. They found Shang among the rubble clutching his side.

“Captain!” Ping said. Shang tried to stand, leaning against a blackened wall.

“Don't overdo it, Captain!” Sora said.

“It’s just a scratch,” Shang groaned. He collapsed to the ground slightly.

“Captain, the enemy! Where did they go?” Ping said.

“They went toward the summit...” Shang groaned.

“We'll stop them!”

“It kinda is our fault,” Goofy said.

“Right,” Ping said.

“You mean MY fault,” Mushu said.

“Uh-uh!” Donald said.

“Shan-Yu and the Heartless did this, not us! Captain, if you track down the villagers, we'll handle this,” Sora said. They looked toward the summit.

“Let's go,” Sora said. The group ran through the Ridge to the Summit. The hawk flew over them to landed on Shan-Yu's shoulder at the top of the summit. Hundreds of Heartless hovered over the edge of the cliff. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Ping got ready to fight. The hawk flew off Shan-Yu's shoulder as he cleaved the air with his sword.

“Attack!” he yelled. The Heartless charged down the mountain toward the group. Sora tried to fight them off until Shan-Yu sped down the mountain with the group behind him. The hawk flew overhead as Yao, Chien-Po, and Ling entered the summit with a fire cannon.

“Stand back!” Yao said.

“We'll handle this!” Ling said. Yao placed the fire cannon on the snow and aimed it at Shan-Yu. Mulan sew how that's not going to help completely and butted Yao out of the way.

“Sorry!” Ping said. Ping grabbed the fire cannon and ran higher up the mountain. She aimed it at the peak above.

“Oh, a flint, flint, I need so---huh...” She looked at Mushu.

“Me, hey, whoa! Whoa! Wait a second! Ah!” Mushu said. Ping grabbed Mushu and stretched him so his fire breath lit the fire cannon. Mushu ended up on the head of the cannon as it exploded, shooting him off to the mountaintop.

“You're going the wrong way!” he yelled. The cannon hit the mountain, causing an immense avalanche.

“Yes!” Ping said.

“Captain?” Sora asked. Shang entered with two foot soldiers. Ping looked from Shang to the avalanche, then back at Shang. She ran to the captain.

“Look out!” she said. The snow raced down the summit, plowing over the Heartless and Shan-Yu, heading straight for Sora and the others. Mulan ran to Shang and grabbed him by the hand, pulling him around the rock corner away from the pummeling snow.

“Run for it!” Yao said. Sora and the rest of the troops quickly made a run for it around the rock formation as the snow fell off the edge of the summit. Shang and Ping caught their breath.

“Thanks, Ping,” Shang said.

“It...was nothing,” Ping said. They stood up.

“I should never have doubted you. From now on, you have my trust,” Shang said.

“Thank you, Captain,” Ping said. Mushu popped out of the snow.

“First she uses me as a lighter, then she turns me into a cannon ball. The head ancestor's gonna hear about this. You know, that's it! I give up! I can't take this no more. C'mon, Mulan. Let's quit this charade and go home, girl,” he said.

“Mushu!” Mulan said.

“Huh?” Mushu saw that Shang was right there and clasped his hands over his mouth.

“Mulan? A woman? It can't be!” Shang said. Mulan said nothing. Sora, Donald, and Goofy ran up to them.

“Ping! Captain!” Sora said.

“Oh boy, you're okay!” Goofy said.

“You all knew, didn't you? You knew Ping was really a woman in disguise,” Shang said. Sora, Donald, and Goofy were at a loss for words.

“I can't believe you lied to me. The punishment for high treason and dishonoring the Army...is death. Get out of my sight...now. You're all dismissed,” Shang said.

“But Captain...” Sora said.

“My debt is repaid.” Shang walked back toward the Ridge.

“The Emperor is waiting! Move out!” he said. The troops left the summit. Mulan sighed. Mushu hopped onto her shoulder.

“Mulan... I blew it,” he said. Mulan changed out of her armor.

“Thank you, everyone. Sorry I got you in trouble,” she said.

“It's no big deal. So Ping... I mean, uh, Mulan...what're you gonna do now?” Sora said.

“Go back home.”

“You know, your daddy's gonna be steamed as a chicken dumpling,” Mushu said. Mulan sighed again. Sora took Donald and Goofy into his arms.

“Relax, we'll take our share of the blame,” he said.

“Thanks. You're all wonderful friends,” Mulan said. They walked back to the Ridge. The hawk flew overhead to the Summit, where Shan-Yu burst out of the snow and roared in anger. It rang throughout the mountain. The Heartless appeared behind him and the hawk landed on his shoulder. Sora and Mulan saw them.

“Shan-Yu!” Mulan said.

“He's alive!” Sora said.

“He's heading for the Imperial City! We've got to warn Shang!” They raced to the city, where the troops had just entered the palace walls.

“---Shang!” Mulan said. Shang stopped.

“Shan-Yu is alive! He's headed this way!” Mulan said.

“And why should I believe you this time?” Shang asked.

“But...she's telling you the truth!” Sora said. Donald spotted the hawk flying high above the palace. Shang looked around onto several of the towers as Shan-Yu stood triumphantly upon one. He jumped down to get closer to a way in the palace.

“Guard the palace! Do not let the enemy get anywhere near the Emperor!” Shang said. Yao, Ling, and Chien-Po charged the palace, but the other soldiers remain where they were.

“That's an order!” Shang said. The soldiers stopped in their tracks and changed into Heartless. Shang was speechless. Sora and Mulan took action.

“Captain! We'll secure the courtyard, and you can save the Emperor!” Sora said. Shang stayed where he was.

“That’s an order!” Donald said. Shang nodded and raced to the main palace building. The Heartless surrounded the remaining group. They quickly decimated the Heartless.

“The Emperor's in danger!” Mulan said.

“No time to lose!” Sora said. They ran across Imperial Square to the Palace Gate, where Shan-Yu stood with his sword to the Emperor.

“Now you'll bow to me!” Shan-Yu said. Shan-Yu looked to Mulan, who looked worried. Shang jumped down in the middle of them and knocked Shan-Yu away. Shang helped the Emperor into the Palace and Chien-Po and Ling quickly closed the gate. Shan-Yu got back up as Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Mulan guarded the gate, stopping Shan-Yu in his tracks.

“It ends now!” Mulan said.

“Right now!” Sora said. The hawk landed on Shan-Yu's shoulder as he glowed with dark energy, laughing evilly. After the grueling fight, Shan-Yu clutched his side and fell over, losing the grip on his sword. Mushu jumped around happily.

“Now that's what I call burning some hunny-bun! Aw, yeah! Mulan's the best! Mulan's the best! No, wait a minute---I'm the best! Mushu's the best! Mushu's the best!” he said. Sora and company stood in reverence to the Emperor, who walked out with Shang, a stern look on his face. There were a hundred of people now in Imperial Square.

“I've heard a great deal about you, Fa Mulan,” the Emperor said. Mulan bowed to the Emperor.

“You stole your father's armor, ran away from home, impersonated an Imperial soldier. You deceived your commanding officer, shamed the entire Chinese army, and dishonored your family name,” the Emperor said.

“We get the picture...” Sora said, impatiently.

“You're a young woman. And in the end...” the Emperor said. Donald looked hopeless.

“...you have saved us all,” the Emperor said. The Emperor bowed to Mulan. She looked up and was completely speechless. The crowd in the square cheered. Sora, Donald, and Goofy congratulated Mulan.

“Your Excellency!” Mulan said.

“Captain Li?” the Emperor asked. Shang took Shan-Yu's sword and handed it to Mulan.

“Take this, so the world will know what it is you have done for China,” the Emperor said.

“Thank you,” Mulan said as she bowed again.

“Mulan,” Shang said.

“Yes?” she asked.

“Sora.”

“Sir!”

“Donald.”

“Wak!”

“Goofy.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Thank you.” Shang bowed slightly.

“‘Thank you’? Is that all there is to say, Captain? If you wish to win the heart of Fa Mulan, China's bravest woman, you'll have to be a bit more eloquent than that!” the Emperor said. Shang was surprised. The Emperor laughed, as does Mulan.

“Can I get an autograph?” Sora asked Mulan.

“Thanks for everything, Sora,” she said.

“Now they GOTTA let me go back to bein' a guardian! They GOTTA!” Mushu said.

“But Mushu, I thought you already WERE a family guardian!” Goofy said.

“What? Oh, no, no---don't even worry about that, that's just real technical. Just for us guardians.”

“You tricked us!” Sora said.

“No, no no no, see I did---I just, uh...” Mushu turned to run away.

“You know, I just didn't wanna bog y'all down with all the Guardian-ese. See, it's very complex, a lot of fine print. You wouldn't understand,” he said. Shan-Yu's sword started to glow and Sora stopped chasing Mushu.

“Huh?” Sora asked. Sora got out the Keyblade and opened another gate.

“Okay!” Donald said.

“Guess it's about time to be movin' on,” Goofy said.

“You shall be missed,” the Emperor said.

“Is it okay if we come back to visit?” Sora asked.

“Of course!” Mulan said.

“We will look forward to your return,” Shang said.

“You two play nice,” Sora said.

“Whoa... Watch it, soldier!” Mulan blushed as Sora waved goodbye. They turned to look at each other. Mulan giggled. Mushu popped up onto her shoulder and laughed.

“Goodbye, Sora, Donald, Goofy!” Mulan said. Sora, Donald, and Goofy walked down the steps of the Imperial Palace and left the Land of Dragons.

“Don’t worry, (Y/N). We’re coming,” Sora said.

to be continued...

#kingdom hearts #kingdomhearts #kingdom hearts imagine #kingdom hearts x reader #kingdom+hearts+x+reader #kingdom+hearts+imagines #kingdomhearts x reader #kingdomhearts imagines #kingdomhearts+x+reader #kingdomhearts+imagines

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lindzem · 4 years ago

Text

THE SUGAR WITCH

"Frost, did you hear me?"

Jack jerked from his own thoughts and looked at his teacher, Miss Bellamy pointing at her board.

"Y-Yes ma'am. Sorry I--"

"Then would you please come up and solve the arithmatic problem."

Jack swallowed, but forced a smile.

"Yes, certainly."

He stood from his desk and walked up to the board. He knew his equations well enough, but his mind was too worried about other things. Much too worried. He took the chalk and wrote an answer.

"That's wrong, Frost. The answer is 35. Go sit back down and get your head out of the clouds."

Jack shuffled back to his desk and sunk down in his chair. He couldn't wait for the school day to be over.

Finally Miss Bellamy released them and Jack was the first one to sprint out of the building. He ran as fast he could through the town amd to the farm he called home. It wasn't much. It was quaint and cozy, with good crops and some small animals. However, when he heard a commotion from the barn, his eyes widened with panic.

"Augh--! What in heavens name-!?"

Jack rushed to the barn, dropping his school satchel and yanking open the doors. He saw his caretaker, North laying on his back in the pig pen cursing in a different language. Jack leapt over and helped him stand.

"North, what are you doing out of bed?! I said I'd take care of the chores when I got home!"

North groaned and stood, cracking his back a little.

"Oh, Jack, did not know you would be home so soon."

"I come home about the same time everyday--"

"Baghk--Nevermind. I am not going to lay in bed all day when there is work to be done--Buuaghuagh-!"

The older man hacked and sputtered some dry hard coughs. Jack clenched his jaw, the deep worry all over his face.

"Please, you need to rest."

North pushed Jack away a bit.

"Nonsense, I am fine! I have never felt stronger, see?"

The bearded man strolls over and attempts to grab an axe out of a tree stump, but it won't budge. Jack knew North was strong as an Ox when healthy, but this time he knew he had caught a terrible cold that was getting worse.

"North..."

"Just one second!"

"North please can we just--"

"Hold on, almost got it--"

"NORTH!!!"

The older man stopped and slowly turned back to the young teenager, whose chest was heaving and tears were streaming down his cheeks. North's expression immediately softened and he went over and hugged Jack lovingly.

"Alright, my boy. Alright....I am sorry. Please do not cry. I will be better soon enough."

Jack sniffled and smiled a little. They both went back inside the house.

The next day, Jack awoke to find North in a cold sweat, wheezing and hacking. A deep fear struck through Jack's heart. He grabbed his cloak and rushed to the doctor's house in town. He knocked on the door, practically banging until it opened and he saw Dr. Higgins standing there. He looked a bit annoyed to see Jack again, but also a bit sad.

"Dr. Higgins, please, I need you to come take another look at North right away--"

"Hold your horses, Jack. Have you been giving him the tonic I prescribed?"

"Yes, every day twice a day, just like you said--!"

"Then there isn't anymore I can do for him."

"Please, I beg you, it will just take a minute--"

"Jack, no. Im sorry. I have other patients. I do truly hope North recovers and you have my deepest sympathies. Good day, Frost."

Jack steps aside and watches in shock as Dr. Higgins moves past and leaves. He stands there for a few minutes looking heartbroken amd hopeless. Until another boy he knew from school named Terry spots him. He jogs across the street to meet him.

"Jack! Hey, Jack! What are you doing?"

Jack turns his face away, not wanting Terry to see him crying.

"Nothing...I was just leaving."

Terry watches Jack start to walk away, but catches up to his side.

"It's about North, isn't it..."

Jack sniffled and didn't respond. Terry piped up a little.

"Hey, I'm not suppossed to really say anything but...there's been a rumor going around lately at school."

"I don't have time for stupid pranks, Terry--"

"It's about a witch."

Jack pauses and eyes him.

"A witch?...Are you kidding me?"

"They say that if you bring her a bag of sugar and a name of a person, she'll curse your enemies. So we call her the Sugar Witch."

"And she...can do magic?"

"Well, yeah, Johnathan swears that he brought her two bags of sugar and asked her to put a curse on Riley for bullying him. The next day Riley was tripping everywhere he went! Everyone saw it! But you have to do it at night, they say. Head south until you find the giant burned tree stump and place your offering there."

Jack laughed and wiped his tears away.

"Thank you, Terry! Thank you! I won't forget this!"

Jack sprinted off as fast as his legs could carry him to the store. He used all of his allowance to purchase 5 bags of sugar. He stuffed them in his satchel and raced off back home to the farm. He checked in on North to find the man sleeping deeply. With a hopeful smile, the boy snatched a lantern and ran back outside off into the forest as the sun started to go down.

Jack went south and finally found the burned giant tree stump. It was quickly becoming dark and the forest was dangerous at night to get lost in.

He gently took out the bags of sugar and set them down neatly onto the stump next to his lantern. A breeze kicked up and the wind moaned all around eeriely. Jack shivered and looked around at the the encroaching shadows.

"This is lunacy...why did I do this?"

He cleared his throat and yelled.

"OH GREAT, UH...SUGAR WITCH! HEED MY PLEA AND SEE MY OFFERINGS OF--!!!"

Suddenly a voice rang sharply back close by.

"No need to yell! Heavens above, boy!"

Jack stood there frozen as he watched a tall slender woman with grey skin and short black hair step out from behind a tree just across the way. Her eyes, golden like the crowns of kings, seemed to glow and watch him in the darkness. Jack was terrified that he had angered her! He braced for an attack of some sort to punish him for his insolence. Until she just yawned loudly and stretched. She strolled lazily over and looked at the bags of sugar. She raised a brow and laughed.

"My goodness, you've brought so much. I can bake up a storm with all this sweet crystal goodness~!"

Jack slowly lowered his guard to see that she was inspecting all the bags rather nonchalantly. Her dress was as black as her hair and he spotted the slit v neck down her chest low to eccentuate her breasts.

He blushed and yanked his gaze away, never having seen any woman dress so boldly.

"I-I have brought you your sugar, now I would like to ask for your help..."

He spoke softer, fearful that she might curse him if he said or did anything she didnt like.

The woman nodded and sat down on the stump, crossing her legs and inspecting her long nails.

"Alright kid, make this snappy. Whaddaya want in return? Want me to put a curse on someone? Turn their hair gray? Put worms in their food? Make someone trip a lot? I got all kinds of curses, just name it."

Jack bit his lip nervously.

"I...I don't want to curse anyone. I came to request your magic to help my father. He's very ill and he's not getting better..."

The witch jerked up and stared straight at Jsck ith the most perplexed look. He had caught her offguard.

"You...want my *help*?"

Jack couldn't stop his desperation from showing through. He dove and knelt at her feet and bowed his head, clinging to her dress while he sobbed.

"Please, I'm begging you! You're my last hope...!"

The witch's eyes widened in shock at this boy before her. A terrified child with nowhere else to turn. She sighed and groaned in annoyance, letting her empathy get the better of her.

"Ok, fine, just stop getting your snot all over my dress! Ughh...This is gonna be a doozy..."

#rotg #riseoftheguardians #pitch black #rise of the guardians #rotg pitch black #jackfrost #genderbent pitch black #female pitch black #witch au #rotg jack frost #blackice

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sweater-daddiesdumbdork · 5 years ago

Text

Nightmare

Warnings- Non Con situation, involved around Y/N dealing with aftermath of Survival. Sensitive subject. Personally I just felt like Y/N trauma needed to be told.

Im hesitant to add tags, but I will, can choose to read or not.

Word Count- 2413

Would it ever end?

You laid there limp as the beast of a man rutted into you, his breath hot and sour washing over your face and you could imagine it tangling in your hair, never to escape the feel of it huffing from him. His hands pawing at you, rough bruising grasps and sharp stings to constantly bring you back to attention on him, not even giving you the freedom to loose yourself in your mind. “Your such a good fuck” He grunted out, the face looming above you greedily taking it all in. Dirty, you felt ruined at this point and no longer tried to fight it. Oh you did at first, but there sheer size and overall health made them stronger, and knowing that they had nothing to fear, there viciousness in what they could do was unbound. In hours they broke you all over, you knew your nose and possibly cheek bone was busted, marks covering your body, and mentally, well that shattered last. After they told you how Curtis was basically alone and they been toying with him.

"You really think hes coming back Doll, dontcha?" He leaned in close to your face, trying to catch your lips as you turn your head away.

"Awww Sid, this little cunt here dont know no better. We be keeping tabs on you tail enders. Easy to pay for information back here." Your gut sank, cause people were desperate enough, it would be easy.

"He ain't getting there darling." His fingers grabbed your chin to make you look at him, drive his point home. "He will be dragged back here and bullet between his eyes. Way it always been. Now, you gonna be my sweet lil hunny, or we gotta keep breaking you in?"

Someone end it please.

Finally he got off you, his hand planting against your chest to leverage, his weight made all the air rush out and make you gasp "awww I knew you liked that baby by all those little noises" he laughed and twisted your hip enough to spank your ass "best youve ever had, I can tell." Tucking himself away, he left you alone and for a moment your just quiet, but the shock wears off and a sob breaks, making you roll to your side and pull up your legs, your body racked with pain. Fuck you needed it to end.

Laying in the middle of the aisle, you prayed one of the survivors of the most recent massacre got the children away, they unfortunately had to witness the execution style killings, you didnt want this atop of it. Moments later you felt a pair of hands grasp your coat and you flinch.

"Y/N, ssh its just Sara." The woman crooned and you tipped your head to look at her.

"Hide, get out of sight or else... " it was a dangerous time to be a survivor.

"I will, I cant leave you here for when they come back, your bunk isn't far. Out of sight, out of mind right?" She pushed on you to get you to move, and unsteadily you pull yourself up. It wasnt that far. And if this was gonna be it, you might as well be where you were happiest. Together you shuffled down the aisle. Looking up, the climb seemed so much longer then usual and Sara glanced up to what you were looking at. "What about Edgars bunk?"

"No, I can make it.... I want to be home." Your voice had a hint of a plea, and she nodded.

"Okay, brace your foot there and I will help push you up."

After a few moments, you rolled into yours, and hearing someone clamping up the aisle, Sara disappeared from sight. Please keep going, please keep going.... You got lucky, they didn't stop.

Laying in the bunk, you roll to your back to look up, it was familiar. You could feel yourself slightly loosening, letting the pain creep in slowly. First it was the physical, your fingers lightly probing your face and wincing at even the slightest touch. Your fingers came back sticky, blood. You thought it had dried but the cut must have reopened.

Touches flowed down your body and you sobbed, trying to muffle with your sleeve over your face. What were you going to do? You didnt want to tell Curtis. Fuck, Curtis, was he even still alive? If he wasn't, it would end you. Your brother was taken, your parents executed... Curtis was whom you had left.

In this moment you couldnt help but be mad he wasn't here, scared that he might not come back, and shock settling in due to the past 6 hours? 12 hours? You had no idea how long its been anymore.You lost track when they lined up the car with the people to be executed, one by one they crumbled. You had seen it before once, but all that followed. Tears started blurring your vision and you twisted to your side, tucking your legs in against your stomach, small, fetal, can you disappear if you try hard enough?

Lifting your gaze, one of Curtis coats was nearby and you reached to grasp it. Dragging it over yourself, you tuck yourself tighter, able to hide yourself under it entirely.

It was familiar, the scent enclosed you, the slight scratchy wool rough against your cheek, you didn't care about the pain. Rubbing your face in it, feeling it dry your tears. The weight of it, almost like Curtis was right there.

Hand splaying against your stomach "I got you baby, it was just a nightmare." Warmth against your back and the feeling of his beard scratching lightly against your neck, whispering to you. "Can you tell me Babygirl?"

The silence stretched out the seconds. You wanted to, but your words were lost. He didnt push yet, kissing your shoulder. His fingers sought out your skin underneath, rubbing gently along your hip, then along your ribs. It was gentle and calming, you finally loosened enough to speak.

"Same as always, going through the cars to find Matt. But can never find him. I cant ever find him." Twisting to face him, he tugs you in against him, hiding your face against his chest, his arms tightened instinctively around you. "The worst is I just don't know. If hes dead, then hes gone." Your voice cracks, guilt seeping in your tone, muffled in his shirt. "But what if Matt's alive Curtis? And he is waiting for me. All this time waiting..." Drifting off, he leans back slightly and looks down at you, right now you look so small in his arms.

"Y/N, babygirl you did all you could that day. Wilford plays god for now and takes what he wants. But it won't always be that way. Matt won't hold it against you that your trapped here"

Silent you listen and nod against his chest, he turned and laid on his back, letting you get comfortable again, you knew he was right. There really wasnt anything more to be done that day.

You smiled slightly at the memory, albiet sad it still was one you fell back on. It blossomed an ache of familiarity in your chest, always taking care of someone he was.

You were currently trying to wash dirty rags for the sick bay your parents managed, a few bunks set aside for when people shouldnt be in the general population. Wringing the rags out, you couldnt help but hear a little girl somewhere in the shadows sniffling. Before you could go find her to see if she was okay, Curtis had heard her as well. You simply watched, this was the first time you have seen him interact with the children since what had happened in the beginning, normally he tried to avoid them, as well as there parents urging there children to stay away from well everyone.

“Hey, why you crying?” He moved to slide down onto the floor, sitting next to the little girl, holding something in her lap.

“My dolly broke, and I cant fix her.” She held up a barbie doll that had seen better days. Its hair was matted, scuffed and the normal tan looking doll was almost black. She was a well loved toy though, so few and far between, it was probably one of the few still existing on the last car. Curtis reached for the doll and the arm that had popped off.

“Well now lets see what we can do.” He studied it a moment, his brows coming together in concentration, and the little girl shuffled in closer, watching his hands work on the arm just as closely as he was, her tears catching just enough light to sparkle as the remainder got caught in her lashes, all but forgotten now. Suddenly there was a triumphant grin, and a squeal of happiness from the girl as she sprang up, holding out her hands to retrieve her doll joyfully.

“You did it! You fixed her!” She lunged to hug him and ran off, calling a name you didnt catch. Curtis just watched her dissapear. You step out from where you had been watching, hands to hips, grinning.

“Well arnt you a hero.”

Catching him by surprise, a bit of pink rising to his face and he pushed up off the floor, scowling a bit. “It was nothing”

“Uh huh, tell that to her.”

He gave a shrug and tried to change the subject. You let him, but you certainly werent going to forget it.

Sighing to yourself, you stretch your legs out a bit, wincing at the stiffness and aches settling in your thighs. It had grown quiet in the car, sometimes a broken sob broke from somewhere, and you covered your ears for now to block it out.

It was one of those rare times they held a meeting outside of Gilliams section, McGregor laying out his idea of getting out of the last car. You were hiding in one of the bunks, just watching the men and women hash out there ideas, your father planning on going to help with the wounded along the way “We will bring up the back, my wife and I so just leave them there. We can have survivors patched up and brought back.”

“We will set you up a team for that, now we need people who can follow me in the charge, just know...” The man looked around the group. “This will be the worst casualties. They out weapon us on every level. All we have is surprise.”

There were mummers of concerns and volunteers, and much to your worry and not so much surprise, you heard Curtis voice ring out. “Let me in the front, Im one of the strongest you got”

Leave it to him to be ready to sacrifice himself.

Later you caught up with him, tugging on his coat. “Curtis, you dont have to do that, go with McGregor. You can help us with the injured.” Maybe your fear was making you ask the impossible, cause his glance at you told you what you already knew. There was no way he would be staying behind.

“I have to Y/N, theres already not many who can and if we have a shot at getting out of this car, we have to take it. Regardless of the casualties.” He simply stated. His next words still hurt thinking about them. “Besides, I have alot to make up for, this is the least I can do.”

And there it was, that guilt he carried with him. It ate at all the good he ever did, and not even if you screamed it at him, would he ever forgive himself. Youve caught him, when he didnt think anyone was paying him any mind look at any of you like he didnt deserve you all, You, Tonya, Edgar, Gilliam.... That he was a man who it would all be taken away at any moment, cause of his past. “Curtis it was so long ago, no one blames you for it, hell we all would be guilty.”

“It wasnt that long ago Y/N” And that was it, he was done talking.

Dropping your hands from your hands, you listen and there it is, thump thump thump, echoing footsteps seeking the bunks. It would only be a matter of time before they came to yours. You scootch over by the wall, keeping the jacket over yourself and fisting it in your hands, unwilling to loosen your grip on it.

It was so dark, you couldnt see him over you, but you could feel him. Every brush of his hand gentle as they brought you back down, his lips covering your neck with a groan before he sank over you, smothering you for the moment, and made you feel protected, safe, cherished. You loved the feeling of his weight pinning you in place, and if he wanted to stay like that, You would have happily done so. But all to soon he shifted to the side, not wanting to hurt you being pinned underneath and you roll in against him, not wanting to loose that contact.

When you moved back against him, his hand moved into your hair, tangling his fingers in the strands, he always loved the softness, the feeling of it. Claimed it was the softest thing he had felt in years and would run his fingers through it till long after youve fallen asleep.

“I love you Y/N”

“I love you to Curtis” Kissing his neck as you press in close and a smile is pressed to his jawline, you two had just started really saying it and it still gave you the flutters hearing it.

The footsteps stop and you can hear your curtain being ripped from where it was hanging. Seconds, it was all you had left before Curtis coat was ripped off from your shaking body, no matter how tight your grip was. “Ahhh, there you are! was wondering where you done crawled off to.” There was no where else to go, and a hand twisted in your hair, dragging you to fall out of your bunk, landing on your back with a wink knocking thump, leaving you gasping to try and breath again. No! your mind screams, but again your left without a way to escape.

All you can do is fall back into your memories as much as possible.

@jtargaryen18 @curtisbbq

@what-is-your-plan-today

#curtis everett x reader #curtis everett #snowpiercer #trauma

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notquitejiraiya · 6 years ago

Text

Chess [17] - {ShikaTema AU}

Despite all odds, and thinking I wouldn’t have got inspired to do it, here is Chapter17; brought to you on New Years Day as I planned :)

I dedicate this (which I never do) to the badass people who I’ve only spoken to a little bit, but have been so damn kind about my work and are just great people.

Enjoy :)

[Read / Comment on AO3 Here]

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Nothing could quite compare to how Temari felt in this exact moment, nor could she relate any experience in her life to the underlying fear that had resonated since Saturday night; that ever-present pang of hurt that clung to her chest and send shivers down her spine.

Gaara, as expected, had been as helpful as he could be. When she got home, after the false smiles and tired eyes played well in front of Kankuro, she made a beeline for his room, and found him sat in bed, reading as he waited. There he had sat, looking at her with a gaze that was equal parts exhausted and excited, but it took only one proper look at her for his arms to open up. And, obviously, she ran to him.

All she’d done was explained. The evening had been pleasant, despite the fact that he was late, and very much despite the fact that he wasn’t willing to give her up as a therapist. She was not going to be any use to him anymore—she must’ve told Gaara that a hundred times over, but nothing seemed to make him speak. As always, her little brother sat and listened intently, holding her close until she eventually calmed down and fell asleep in his arms. When she’d woken up he was on the floor with a blanket and a pillow, his red hair spread messy, and she couldn’t help smiling. He was definitely her big brother at heart.

Both Sunday and Monday had been days of false smiles and hiding, reading every file but his in an attempt to recollect her thoughts and not be useless, but every road felt like it lead back to him. Every phrase that fell from a patient’s mouth felt inferior, and, while on the Monday she had her first patient who was ready to stop coming to see her, she felt no fulfilment.

She thought knowing him had been making her happy, but now she felt almost nothing at all.

But that whole time had been leading up to this moment. For two days she’d been waiting to hear that door click, torturing herself by reading his file over today’s lunchtime, and trying her absolute best to keep up with everything people said to her. Without a doubt, though, she had never felt more on edge in her life, and she stared at the doorknob, just waiting for it to turn.

As the metal glinted as it moved, Temari wanted nothing more than to hide away behind her desk or disappear away, never to return. Instead she braced herself, took a deep breath, and desperately searched for a positive in the situation.

Three-fifty-four, she noted the time. He’s early for once.

“Hi,” she mumbled, forcing a smile.

“Hi. Sorry.”

“Come sit down,” she instructed, adjusting her position on her chair. “Are you, um, doing alright today?”

All Shikamaru could do in response was nod, rubbing his neck nervously as he stepped closer. “Well, this is awkward.”

“It’s not!” she lied. “So have you had any problems since Friday?”

It was his turn to lie, shaking his head.

“Really? None?”

And again. “No.”

“How’re your family?”

Suddenly there was a smile on his face, and she could feel herself getting riled up; confused by it’s appearance. “You’ve got no idea how to talk to me now, have you?”

Temari gulped, her palms sweating. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“This is horrible,” he chuckled, shaking his head. “It feels like we’ve never even met before.”

“That’s what I was going for. You were the one who said forget about everything, Shikamaru. I’m forgetting it.”

“I didn’t mean forget how to be a normal human being.” Shikamaru sighed, sitting back into the sofa and biting his lip as his eyes looked everywhere but at hers. “I meant go back to before what happened—I meant be yourself, Tem.”

“Temari,” she argued, correcting him. “And that’s difficult, given that I knew this would happen and yet you just had to come back.”

“Tem—”

“And now I can’t help you.”

The spark that was fighting to stay alive in his eyes suddenly went out, and his arms folded across his chest, sloppy like a ragdoll. His gaze flew towards the window, and like a statue he was at once immovable.

Temari felt a lump in he throat. “Shall I grab the board?”

He didn’t move.

“Okay then, shall I just go fuck myself?”

She thought she saw that slight smile wriggle its way back onto his lips, but when she blinked it was gone. “Why don’t you just ask me about Asuma?” he mumbled. “You were on a fucking roll on Friday until I stopped you.”

“Your teacher?” She frowned. “Is there more for you to say about him? You already covered a lot of it then.”

He laughed, humourlessly. “Forget it then, jeez.” She could see his eyeballs flickering side to side, lulling closer to closing as he watched the clouds. “It’s as if you’ve forgotten your job.”

The recurring desire to punch him was crawling back to her, stronger than it ever had. “My job, Shikamaru is to help you understand yourself, and to make you feel better. And, to be really honest with you, right now I have no idea how to do that whatsoever.”

“Brilliant.”

“Will you just shut up?” she shouted, burying her face in her palms.

Shikamaru could see just from the whiting of her knuckles out of the corner of his eyes how uncomfortable she was, and the sharpness of her voice wasn’t something he was used to. Why had he at any point thought that this was going to be different from this? Did any sane part of him really think that she wouldn’t be mad at him in some way, shape or form? Of course he didn’t, so why was he so surprised that she was upset, infuriated. She almost looked broken, and the same insane part of him that was so riddled with hopeful denial wanted nothing more than to mend her somehow.

But, then again, she was Temari—from what she’d told him she was the strongest person she knew. Surely some stupid skinny asshole hadn’t shattered that person to a nervous wreck. She wasn’t like him; or, at the very least, he didn’t want to think that she felt at all like he did right now.

“Temari, I’m sorry, I—”

“I don’t want you to apologise to me. I don’t want you to even mention it.” Her eyes, bloodshot and angry stood in agreement, but Shikamaru couldn’t help thinking they didn’t give the whole picture.

He leant forward in his seat, hands locked together between his knees. His gaze turned solely on her, desperately trying not to waver and determined to not look away again. “I’m sorry I came back.”

“I just cannot believe I called you selfless, Shikamaru. You’ve come back here purely for yourself, like you don’t realise how genuinely hard this is for me to continue with!”

“We went on one date…”

“Which was one too many, Shikamaru! I—” She stopped herself abruptly, lowering her voice to a whisper. “I almost fucking kissed you!”

He gulped, eyes falling to the floor.

“I’m sorry. Did you actually want to talk about Asuma?”

“If you want me to. If it helps me get better then sure,” he mumbled, nodding.

“That’s so important to you, isn’t it? Getting better.” Her voice was almost bitter, but she masked it well with her soft smile. “That overrides everything.”

Shikamaru’s shoulders drooped. “I mean, obviously it’s important to me, but I wouldn’t say it ‘overrides everything’.”

“So, if you were to have the chance to do something that would make you genuinely happy but it would stop you getting better, you’d do it?”

He raised his head again, shaking his head with the most surprising smile yet. “I know exactly what you’re saying. My IQ is through the roof remember.”

“I never said anything about—”

“But I know that’s you’re saying. I know what can make me better, and I will do it. When I’m better I can do the things I want to do…”

It was Temari’s turn to feel her stomach fill with guilt. Despite the anger that rushed through her body, and the insane temperature at which her blood was boiling, for reasons she couldn’t quite pin down, she suddenly felt herself go cold at the sight of his smile. Not calm—no she was definitely still infuriated with him—but genuinely chilled. So many times she had looked at him and seen nothing but his usual melancholic veil of false calm, having no idea what was really happening under than dark hair and what was really inside his heart. Never had she known exactly what he was going to say; she just wasn’t able to pin him down like that.

Until now, because, strangely, he could feel it herself. So many things at once, rushing around; always taking blame and never placing it for so many unforgotten mistakes and could-have been moments, trapped in a loop of hostility towards himself that made his fingers tap anxiously…she could see it all. And, despite all her instincts as a therapist, she couldn’t bear to watch anymore.

“Most of them, anyway,” he added finally, one corner of his mouth raising, as if to convince her he was okay, really.

It didn’t work.

“I’m sorry. I never should’ve agreed to go out with you.”

Shikamaru shook his head, a deep frown carved into his expression. “Stop it. You have nothing to apologise for.”

“But, I—”

“You’re only trying to help me,” he acknowledged. “It’s my fault that I’m back here, and it’s my fault that I’ve painted myself with an extra layer of pain every hour since Saturday, and I’ve kept adding to it; checking my phone, almost calling you, almost calling here yesterday. I know its entirely my own fault, and yet I can’t shake it off.” He let out a huge sigh, squeezing his eyes shut as his head shook, trying to displace his thoughts. “I just can’t fix it.”

As she watched him haul himself to his feet, zipping up his hoodie blind, Temari felt her boots violently hit the ground and soon she, too, was on her feet, making a beeline for him. When she’s turned the corner of her desk, her hips swaying rapidly as she sped walked, she reached out to grab his arm, but his eyes flew open, and he stepped back, crossing them across his chest.

“Don’t.”

“Shikamaru—”

“Don’t, it’s fine,” he whispered, trying to stop himself listening to his own words. “I won’t come back.”

Temari was too frozen by far too many emotions to move a muscle, and so she watched hopelessly as the young man paced towards the door—faster than she’d ever seen him walk—lingering with his fingers on the door handle. She thought, maybe, that he’d look up. Or maybe he’d turn and give her one final smile—one last hurrah.

Silently he nodded once, and twisted the knob, leaving as silently as he’d entered. It took seconds for Temari to collapse on the sofa he’d just been sat on, perturbed by the warmth of spot he’d just been in, and pull her phone from her pocket. Quickly, swallowing all of her emotions and whatever pride she had left, she dialled her most called number and listened to the beeps of it ringing, and ringing, and ringing…

“Gaara,” she said to the answerphone, not caring whether he listened now or in three hours, just desperate to speak to someone or something. “Please say you’re going to the pub quiz tonight with trenchcoat-guy. I really want to come—hell I’ll even pay for your drinks, just let me come. Please!” She was aware how painful her begging was, so after a long, deep breath, she uttered the real truth, “I just really need a bloody drink.”

Outside, at the bus stop in the pouring rain, a young man put his phone to his ear and uttered very similar words. “Choji,” he sighed down the phone, “please tell me you can meet me tonight?”

“Man, I’ll be at work from six onwards, but Ino’s probably free if—”

“I’ll come. I need you, man.” He did, and his friend’s vague company would be better than loneliness tonight. He couldn’t do it tonight.

~~~

Temari knew that every other Tuesday her youngest brother would come to the pub, drink with his friends, and play some quiz she’d never considered taking part in. What she didn’t know was that said brother was really, really good at it. And, while that inevitably made her feel a bit stupid and a little more downtrodden given the day she’d already had, it definitely had it perks. Perks which consisted of a lot of free drinks for winning each round.

The clock had barely struck ten and she was convinced at this point that she’d drunk a bucket’s worth of cocktails. Never had she considered herself a cocktail person—she had always been a ‘beer-out-of-the-can’ kind of girl, with the odd gin-and-tonic of someone else could be bothered to make her one. So, unsurprisingly, the pitchers of cocktails their quiz team had one, and she had drunk, had gone straight to her head.

Temari could hold her alcohol with the big guns—she could out-drink Kankuro any day—but this was dangerous. These drinks tasted like fruit juice, and they just kept on coming. She was smart, and underneath the fuzziness and slurring, she was perfectly aware that this was not going well.

And, for once, she didn’t give a shit.

Shikamaru, on the other hand, did.

He’d spotted her the second she walked in, hiding expertly underneath his scarf so she didn’t notice him, and ever since he had been sat, hidden behind a pillar, hoping that she’d never leave her seat—never see him. She had as much right to be here as him, and yet he knew if she saw him she would get up and leave. Or, at least, she would’ve.

He hadn’t join in with the quiz, although Choji had violently urged him that he should, telling him he could get crisps or juice instead of the drinks they gave to winners if he just asked.

“Look,” he said as Shikamaru peered over at the blonde drinking some fantasy-coloured drink through a draw, “you can join in anytime. You’ll ace it if you do!”

“Choji,” he argued, “I didn’t come to play a game and eat crisps. I came to be with my mate and not be alone. If I’m going to feel sad anywhere, I may as well feel sad in a room full of noisy strangers.”

His friend had to stop himself reaching across the bar to hug him. “I’m sorry I have to work, man.”

“It’s fine. Just get me a drink.”

“Orange juice again?”

“No.” Shikamaru shook his head, biting on his lip. “Give me whiskey. Double.”

Choji’s eyes widened, and his forehead creased into a worried frown. “Man, I really don’t think you want to—”

“Choji…”

“The most you’ve drunk since you were eighteen is half a pint of weak-ass beer,” he winced, “and we all know you don’t enjoy drinking.”

Shikamaru fished out a five pound note and held it out to him. “God, you’re a pain. Keep the change, now come on.”

“Shikamaru, you don’t want this. You’ll hate me tomorrow.”

“I said double, Choji.”

The blank stare he sent his friend’s way was enough to make Choji feel as if he’d lost a war, and he could feel the pit of his stomach growing emptier as he looked into the bleak abyss of Shikamaru’s eyes. He was going to ask what had happened but now, as he unwillingly lifted the transparent bottle and measured the liquor as required, he didn’t have the nerve. Something about the lifeless urgency in the voice of his best friend made him feel broken, and after he thought it was all getting better, too.

He snatched the money and put the glass before Shikamaru. “If it weren’t for the fact that my manager is really specific with the ‘refusal of service’ rule, you would not be getting this. You’re an idiot.”

“Love you, too,” sighed Shikamaru, swirling the glass around.

“I thought you wanted to get better Shikamaru,” growled Choji, shaking his head, “but then you do this and just let yourself regress. I swear to God if it’s that girl—”

“It’s not her.” He knocked back the drink, squeezing his eyes shut. “Man, I forgot how shit that tastes.”

Choji only had to take one look at his blank slate of a face to know what was happening. “You’re going to bloody order another one, aren’t you?”

“And I thought you quit your day job as a psychic.”

The sarcasm didn’t even begin to amuse Choji, who shook his head and failed to find words. Only after he’d been called to help someone, minutes of staring at his expectant looking friend later, that he managed to speak. “Fine. But I’m not playing any part in it; ask someone else.”

Shikamaru frowned. “Choji, come on.”

“No,” his friend called back as he walked to the other end of the bar. “I can’t do it.”

After only a couple of minutes of longingly waiting for Choji to come back and throw in the towel, Shikamaru could feel himself falling into that familiar feeling of glee. Unfortunately, he knew it wasn’t real—sadly for his wallet one double wasn’t enough to fool him into genuinely feeling happy—hence the need for another. It had been so long since he’d allowed himself to do this. On occasions he’d always have one half and it would last him the whole night, and it would make him feel like he fitted in.

But this was no occasion; this was a desperate avoidance tactic, and he knew it. She was over there—the one person he simultaneously wanted to stare at the whole night and never wanted to see again—and he was painfully aware of it. He didn’t want to be aware of it.

He’d been to enough sessions with enough asshole therapists to know what he was doing, and he didn’t care—he didn’t care at all. There she’d been, suggesting to him that he was really only devoted to getting better, not feeling happy, and now he just wanted to scream, “Look at me!” until she took it back; until she took him back and rewired him as promise, fixed him as promised…

Of course, he didn’t do that. He couldn’t be bothered to do that. Instead he waved down the smiley brunette girl behind the bar and got himself the same again, and necked it instantly, forcing a smile at her afterwards when ordering another.

But the longer he sat there, the smaller he felt. It was like when he first did this, years ago, and it wasn’t washing over him the way he expected, the way he craved. Suddenly the bar stool he perched on felt to high, and his neck felt too cold, so he threw on his coat and hopped down, drinking that last whiskey and rubbing his eyes. He couldn’t leave without saying goodbye to Choji, and he couldn’t go home or else his mother would yell at him for drinking after so long of holding back.

Choji was right, no matter how much he’d deny it out loud. This was all because of her, that troublesome woman. Through nobody’s fault but his own he’d built her up as this fantasy saviour; the beautiful woman who cared about him no matter what, in a way he’d never even imagined before. And as much as he’d laugh off the ridicule from his friends about his many lonesome years, he really had never thought of anyone like that. Before this—this bizarre, impossible to pin feeling—he’d never wanted to spend time with someone just for the sake of it, and he’d never wanted to listen to someone talk about nothing like he did her.

“This is it, isn’t it?” he mumbled, so quiet he could barely hear himself. “She’s got me.”

He couldn’t leave, but he could hide from her until she left, and from Choji until the whiskey ran it’s course. And where could he hide in this pub that she was guaranteed not to go? Well, there was only one place that came to mind.

However, in his slightly drunken state as he shuffled towards his destination, the first thing Shikamaru had managed to forget that Temari still had eyes, no matter how blurry their vision was, and obviously she spotted him immediately. Stumbling to her feet, she told Gaara she was just nipping to the bathroom, and took her bag with her, slung haphazardly across her shoulder.

The second thing he forgot was that she definitely had the nerve to follow him into the men’s bathroom, and that he definitely wasn’t safe from her in there.

So, when she edged open the bathroom door, as subtly as a drunk woman can, and found him smoking next to a half opened window, she fumbled for the latch at the top of the door, locking it quickly. “You don’t drink my ass.”

Numbed, Shikamaru turned slowly, frowning in surprised. “T-Temari? What’re you—”

“You didn’t actually want to go out with me, did you?” She slurred her words into what almost sounded like three long words, and immediately Shikamaru realised he wasn’t nearly as drunk as thought he was; or as he wanted to be.

“What are you talking about?” he sighed, exasperated.

“That’s why you didn’t make any effort to impress me. You didn’t want to did you?”

Shikamaru couldn’t help but feel a pang of sadness, tapping his cigarette out of the window and letting the ash fly into the wind. “Of course I wanted to,” he insisted. “I’m just useless, Tem.”

She blinked expectantly at him, shaking her head constantly. “Bullshit.”

“Temari…”

“Temari, what?” she laughed, clearly unamused as she waved her arms about dramatically. “Temari, I’m sorry I’m a miserable git. Temari, I’m sorry I lied to you. Temari, I’m sorry I made you fancy me.”

He rubbed his eyes with one hand and took a drag with the other, strategically blowing the smoke through the window. Nothing was coming to mind to respond to her—nobody had ever silenced him in the way she did, cornered him like she did, terrified him like she did.

And he almost craved it.

Trying his best to smile, he squished the butt of his cigarette on the windowsill and left it there, turning to look at her. She looked all the more beautiful tonight, but something deep within the dark depths of the subconscious he loathed so much was telling him that was due to the alcohol in both their systems, and the rosy cheeks hers had graced her with.

With all her could muster, Shikamaru leant against the wall next to the window, hands in the pocket of his coat, before he finally opened his mouth to tell the brutal truth, “Temari, I’m sorry I couldn’t bare the idea of not seeing you again.”

Yeah, right, he mused inside his mind. As if she’s going to remember that tomorrow.

Suddenly, unexpected to him, Temari dropped her bag and advanced on him, walking in jagged lines—intense zig-zags—and he could feel his knees begin the shake. “What the hell are you doing, Tem?”

“You didn’t get it, did you?” she asked, pulling one hand from his pocket and placing it on her waist.

Gulping, Shikamaru tried his best to remove it and stay calm, but every time he almost escaped her loosening grip she grabbed his hand tighter. In the end he just kept it there, and stared into her gorgeous teal eyes with the most passive desperation. “What?”

She wrapped her arms around his neck, her lips centimetres away from his. “Why I asked you to stop seeing me as a patient.”

When she bit her lip, despite all his attempts, Shikamaru felt his knees quiver more and more. “I, um,” he mumbled, voice managing to remain steady despite his body’s weakness. “I think I need to go find your brother, and—”

“No, please don’t,” begged Temari, her nose brushing against his so delicately.

There was no denying that he wanted to hold her, and he wanted to kiss her, just as she was clearly attempting. He couldn’t lie to himself and say he hadn’t had a sleepless night wondering what the hell would’ve happened if the other night this had happened instead of their sad reality. But he didn’t want it like this.

He could only just smell the floral notes of her perfume, over the alcohol that plagued the air, and while she smelt of sweet tropical juice rather than anything evenly mildly bad, he couldn’t change the truth: they were drunk, and he didn’t want it to happen this way.

“Temari,” he whispered. “Tem, are you paying attention?”

She hummed softly, her forehead flush against his now.

“We can’t do this, love.”

A soft moan fell from her lips, and the hairs on the back his neck stood on end. “Why not?” she whined.

“Because we’ll regret it,” he sighed, himself a little upset by the fact.

“I-I won’t,” insisted Temari, stubborn as ever.

“You will,” Shikamaru corrected, smiling slightly as he pushed her away. “Can I borrow your phone?”

She frowned and held onto his shoulders for support as she stumbled backwards. “Why?”

“I just want to let your brother know you’re okay.”

It took a long time of him standing with his hand out expectantly, but eventually Temari caved with a smirk and handed him her phone. While she wasn’t quite sure why she couldn’t have just done that, she didn’t question him. Probably because in that exact moment, she wasn’t quite sure about anything.

“There,” he mumbled, biting his lip as he handed it back. “I told him you’re getting some air and will probably make your own way home.”

“He won’t be fine with that.”

Buzz.

She looked down at her phone and the text message that appeared on the screen.

Gaara: Fine. See you later :)

“Okay, maybe he will,” groaned Temari, “but where the hell are we going?”

Shikamaru shrugged, hands in pockets as he watched, amused, as she tried to slot her phone into her bag. “I can take you home?”

“And risk Kankuro punching you?” she cackled laughing.

“Then that’s a no.”

“Take me home with you.”

He almost choked on his own spit. “What?”

“Please,” she whined. “Take me home with you.”

“No!”

“Why?”

“Because you’ll wake up in the night and punch me.” He could hear himself, and the melodrama he was spouting, but he still didn’t sound worried, as such.

“Then where?”

Shikamaru bit down on his lip and accepted the arm she slung around his shoulders. “I have an idea.”

~~~

“No.”

“But Choji,” he pleaded, this time taking the role of the whining one, “neither of us can go home.”

Choji shook his head. “I’m not giving you whiskey and letting you bang your therapist in the same night. I already feel like a shit friend as it is.”

“I’ve sabotaged myself here, man,” insisted Shikamaru. “And I promise we won’t do that. I just want to make sure she has somewhere to sleep, man.”

“She has a house!”

“Where she’ll talk about me and then everyone will feel even more shit than already.” He raised his eyebrows. “Man, I didn’t ask for her to follow me into the bathroom.”

Surprised, Choji’s mouth fell open. “She didn’t?”

“Yeah, she’s smashed.”

“She needs to go home.”

Shikamaru nodded, sighing.

“You’re still drunk, aren’t you?”

“Only with the words, man. Brain is doing fine.”

Choji raised his eyebrows and smiled at his friend, pulling him in for a hug, which Shikamaru begrudgingly accepted. “If you hug me back you can have the keys to my flat?”

The thinner man hugged tighter than he ever had.

“They’re in my coat out back. Use that door.”

Shikamaru smirked. He had a true friend in this guy, and he found out as much more every single day.

~~~

Temari sighed, throwing her spoon into the plastic bowl Shikamaru had given her and fell back into the couch. “I can’t believe we’re literally above a fish and chip shop and you didn’t let me buy any.”

“You shouted at the guy that you would ‘kiss in return for fish’.”

“Damn right I did,” she laughed.

Shikamaru chuckled. “And I thought I was the asshole.”

“You definitely are.”

“Tem, I just cooked you pasta at, like, twelve-a.m.”

“You’re right,” nodded Temari. “You’re a saint.”

He looked over at her and smiled, almost sadly. Choji’s flat was very small, a room with a bed and a wardrobe, and another with a small kitchen and a couch, but Temari had made herself right at home. He couldn’t help but admire how she did that. Not taking into account the fact that she was drunk out of her mind, he also couldn’t believed the way she was slowly sinking towards him, arms wrapping around him.

“You’re wonderful, Maru.”

His eyebrows raised. “Maru. New one.”

Temari looked up, hurt. “You don’t like it.”

“I don’t care,” he mumbled. “You go ahead.”

“Thank you,” she whispered, tracing patterns on his chest through his shirt. “You’re really wonderful.”

“You said.” If you couldn’t see inside his head, you’d have thought he was fed up of hearing that brilliant sentence. “You should go to sleep, Tem,” he added, changing the subject.

“I was stupid to make you feel so small. I made you feel like shit, didn’t I?”

“You didn’t,” he lied, letting her position his arms to hold her. “Just get some rest.”

“You’re wonderful, you know?”

Shikamaru smiled, the most real and fulfilling smile he’d had in a long time. “So are you, Tem. So are you…”

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smileykeijser · 6 years ago

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Hey, I'm having a bit of a rough night. Do you happen to have some piece of writing you could share? About anything, really, I just need to read something good

hello lovely, I’m sorry you’re having such a rough night, here’s some sort of finished elippo smut that’s been in my drafts for a while (it’s unfinished but can definitely be read, there is a tie off point).

Elia’s hot breath wafted over Filippo’s ear, gravelly voice breaking the spell they were both so taken with, “I need you now.”

Elia could hear the shaky breath Filippo let out, right into Elia’s ear, thrumming with desire, and at the very highest pitch, so faint Elia could barely hear it, a whimper, something needy and delicious that bled across Elia’s tongue and coated his tongue with lust, thick and heady he could lap it up with ease.

“Eli,” and god, if Elia thought he had had a difficult task a minute earlier holding himself back from ravishing the beautiful boy in the middle of an alley in thick air that was steadily growing darker, the temptation only grew stronger with his own name perched on the boy’s tongue.

“We’re going to go home, you’re going to strip down to nothing but your tattoos, and I’m going to fuck you senseless baby,” and at that, Filippo let out and ungodly sound, guttural and overdrawn, just like the ones he breathed out when Elia was hot and hard inside him. “And I’m going to turn your ass nice and pink, just the way I like it.”

“Please,” Filippo whimpered, desperate fingers clinging to Elia’s shirt, cock growing hard against Elia’s thigh, “please.”

“Let’s go,” Elia initiated the separation, withdrawing from the embrace with reluctance weighing his limbs down, taking in the shuddering frame of his boyfriend as they clasped hands and walked — no tumbled — down the alleyway.

They expertly wound their way through short-cuts that halved their journey, and soon they were at the door, Elia’s fingers tiptoeing under Filippo’s shirt, pressing heated points into his skin, causing the boy to fumble with his keys, cursing Elia’s inability to keep his hands to himself under his breath.

With the door closed behind them, Elia wasted no precious seconds delaying the inevitable, not when he could, with a few steps, press the boy to the wall, and map Filippo’s body with his own. So he did, pushing through the thick, lust rich air to press their legs together, to feel the outline of Filippo’s hard cock against his own, to puncture the tension with his lips on the boy’s skin.

He flirted kisses down Filippo’s neck, pale skin warm beneath his lips. The way he was rewarded with feather light brushes of breath from his boyfriend encouraged him to go gentle, to kiss the tender patches to elicit the most expressive sounds from the boy and lick swooping paths up the column of his throat. However, the way Filippo’s fingers were digging into Elia’s waist, sharp, bordering on painful, urged Elia to nip, to bite at the skin, to suck purpling marks into the flesh that would bring Filippo arching up towards him, leaving him desperate and needy.

It seemed Filippo appreciated his taking the second path, as the moment Elia bit the juncture of his neck the boy practically whimpered in his ear, tugging at Elia’s hips in urgency, trying to grind their cocks together, even though they were still confined to fabric chambers. The feeling of Filippo’s hot cock through his jeans was nearly too much for him, he reigned himself back lest he spin the boy around with rough hands and tug Filippo’s pants down to launch an attack against his asshole. Lust flared within his core, hot and sparking desire through his entire being, revealing a demanding side to him, to the part of him that craved the boy more than anything, and from his lips, without his own consent spoke sharply.

“No.” Licking a circle around the newest of the bites, darkening with every second, his hands found Filippo’s hips, forcing the two apart.

“Fuck,” the word trembled on Filippo’s lips, finally falling, as Elia’s eyes took in his. Filippo’s eyes were always dark, it was, in Elia’s opinion, one of the most compelling features the boy posessed. Whether they were the only dark thing in a morning ringed with sunlight or he fell into them like the night sky around them, Elia could never tear his own eyes from them. That time was no exception, in fact, the pupils were threatening to swallow the iris, and with the already hazy look about him, Elia couldn’t help the guttural grumble that he released.

Elia remembered the way Filippo had shivered at his commands back in the alley, how he had done nothing but shudder in his arms, and then Elia spoke. His voice sounded barely his own, sharper around the edges, deeper, commanding.

“Get on your knees,” and for a moment, just a moment he wondered if he had broken the spell. If suddenly the dulled edges of reality would sharpen and Elia would let his tone even out again and they would work each other through their orgasms with lazy hands tugging at cocks and lips pressed together with no urgency. He would’ve taken any route to orgasm with the man he loved, but when Filippo sucked in a burst of breath and blinked out a cluster of fluttering eyelashes before lowering himself down, eyes clinging to Elia’s like a lifeline, Elia felt his insides become molten.

Elia thought the sight of Filippo, the boldest, most confident person who was normally so rich with comebacks, kneeling before him at his express order, was possibly the most gorgeous thing he’d ever seen. Filippo’s eyes were wide as saucers from the angle, and an almost giddy smile was curved upon the boy’s sinfully pierced lips. He made Elia’s mouth water, and with a dominance that had only recently revealed itself within him, Elia reached down and roughly combed his fingers through Filippo’s colourless locks. The move was sharp enough to tug on the boy’s head, and Filippo’s head tipped back easily, as if he hadn’t been resisting the motion at all, happily bearing his throat with unabashed enjoyment.

“Now,” Elia spoke, fingers still nestled in the boy’s hair, which was even more mussed than it had already been from their night out. At the sound of Elia’s voice, Filippo’s plush pink tongue darted out, swiping across his lower lip, as if he was lapping up the situation as much as could, savouring the taste of Elia’s demanding voice and demeanor. “You’re going to take my cock out and put your pretty mouth to good use.”

Elia shuddered as Filippo snapped to in an instant, fingers zipping down his fly with expert ease, as if he had been patiently waiting for Elia’s say so to jump to action. Filippo’s hands worked swiftly to shove Elia’s pants down around his ankles, never breaking the heady eye contact they were holding, and with one last artful flick of his wrist, Filippo tugged Elia’s cock from his boxers. Instantly, despite the forced break of eye contact, Filippo took the head of Elia’s cock neatly between his beautiful, slick lips and sucked, roping a litany of praise from Elia.

“That’s it baby,” Elia panted out, pressing his palms against the wall to brace himself as he pressed forward, watching with awed eyes as his cock slipped even further into Filippo’s mouth without fault, Filippo just clung to Elia’s thigh with one hand, using the other to tease Elia’s balls.

“Fuck yeah, Filo, you take my cock so well,” Elia mumbled as Filippo’s tongue worked its wicked way around his length, rough compared to the slick heat of the rest of his mouth, and incredibly addicting. “I could do this all day baby, just push into your gorgeous mouth, it’s like it was made for my cock.”

Elia’s ramblings were spurred on by the whines Filippo let out when Elia spoke, the wavering, shaky, high pitched frequencies that rumbled along Elia’s shaft and sent tremors through his being.

Elia was no stranger to the suction and heat, the expert that Filippo’s blowjobs were, but he was alight with the power, the control he felt, his hand tight in Filippo’s hair, choosing just how fast the strokes were, or how luxuriously lazy they could turn, all from his hand, his touch. And when he felt himself near to falling, hitting the craved high like a ton of bricks, he had the control to stop.

Even though he could think of little better than the look of Filippo’s cock stretched lips swallowing him down, and the pink tongue he could feel rubbing circles under the head of his cock reaching out to lick up the excess come, or having to suck his own fingers into his mouth to get the come off, he imagined his cock, shades darker than Filippo, sliding in and out of his tight hole, constricting as Filippo crashed into his orgasm, had him practically seeing stars.

Elia forced himself to tug his hand backward and pull Filippo’s lush mouth from his cock. Filippo made no attempt to lick up the spit that dribbled down his chin, a concession for his come, Elia thought. Though Filippo’s eyes had not left Elia since he ceased having his cock down his throat, Elia tipped the boy’s head back even more, looking deeply into his eyes, dark as ever and pliable under his touch.

Seconds, taut and hefty passed, and finally, Elia spoke.

“Look at you,” Elia pulled an extra tug at the boy’s hair, nudging a satisfying ‘ngh’ from his throat, “totally wrecked.”

Peripherally Elia spotted a movement, Filippo’s hand drifting toward his own crotch, where his cock was, no doubt, excruciatingly hard and trapped in the agonizing and unrelenting pressure of his jeans. Elia easily could have let it slip and let the boy palm himself on his own term, but no, tonight was his, and so he nudged the boy’s foot away with his own, and under the touch, Filippo’s eyes gleamed.

“As soon as I let you go, you’re going to have a minute to strip down and present yourself for me on the bed.”

With Elia loosening his grip on the boy’s hair, Filippo nodded slightly. “And one more thing, “Elia added, “don’t you put a finger on your cock.”

#dom/sub tones #elippo #skamit #skam italia #elia santini #filippo sava

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owakoblack-portspa · 6 years ago

Text

A Dream of Bethlehem

Fandom: Hetalia: Axis Powers

Pairings: Knights Hospitaller x Knights Templar; Prussia x South Italy

Characters: Teutonic Knights/Prussia (Gilbert), Knights Templar (Chris), Knights Hospitaller (Giovanni), Kingdom of Sicily/South Italy (Lovino)

It is not a very good day to go to Acre, not a very good day at all, people warn little Gilbert. The deeper you go into the city, the more dangerous it becomes, people say. But I am a knight, I am not afraid, Gilbert braces himself. He has seen blood flowing like a river, he has seen corpses piling up a mountain, but he has never seen a hell like this, right in the heart of the capital of the Holy Land. In the streets of Acre, where Christians fight Christians, where brothers kill brothers, homicide and fratricide become natural, even though themselves are not natural at all--it is not a holy land, it is a wild world inhabited by evils. To Gilbert’s utter disgust, after the fall of the Genoese flag, advance the crimson Hospitaller banner and a group of knights in black uniforms into the burning street. ‘Wait, can’t you spare the citizens’ houses?’ Gilbert stands in front of the charging army, but he is unwilling to draw up his sword. ‘And can’t you see the Venetians are our enemies? Step aside, child!’ a tall Hospitaller waves his naked sword towards the little albino. A heavy sound of two clashing swords--a white knight shields Gilbert from the gigantic man, and a string of blood instantly spills onto the red petit cross embroidered on the chest. Even though his left palm is pierced by the sword, and an ugly, bloody hole appears as his enemy’s sword is swiftly and cruelly drawn away, the knight does not show any sign of fear, and quite on the contrary, his angelic face still keeps on smiling. ‘Brother Chris!’ ‘Christien!’

Two boys cry out at the same time. As Gilbert is lying on the ground and Chris is standing in front of him to protect, Giovanni appears just in time, his handsome face furious and sweaty. ‘Stop! The little one is the Teutonic Knights! Our ward!’ Giovanni shouts angrily to the tall Hospitaller. The anonymous Hospitaller sheathes his sword immediately, despite Giovanni the teenager looks much younger than him. ‘I’m sorry, Your Eminence,’ the Hospitaller now looks pallid and trembles like a leaf, ‘I didn’t mean to hurt His Eminence the Order of the Temple, but...’ ‘It’s nothing.’ Chris waves his injured palm impatiently to everyone, smiling as usual, ‘I love playing the role of a martyr. I am so glad that I protected little Gil, in spite of the fact that YOU are his guardian, Gio.’ Giovanni can tell the satire in Chris’ words, but he is not going to argue with a wounded person--after all, his another profession is doctor. ‘Let me see your wound, Christien.’ Giovanni’s voice becomes softer, but firm. ‘I’ve told you it’s nothing.’ Chris’ face becomes paler as he draws his sword in a position of defence, his flaming purple eyes threatening, ‘If you dare to touch me, I’ll revenge myself on you now!’ Giovanni stops short, staring at the blond with sudden coldness, ‘I won’t if I can.’ Then he turns to Gilbert, and raises up the little boy, ‘Are you alright, Gilbert? I’ve promised the Kingdom of Sicily to take care of you. I hope you’re not hurt.’ ‘Don’t treat me like a child!’ Gilbert’s reddened eyes make him look more like a rabbit, and he jumps high to protest. Giovanni does not take his protest seriously. He simply holds up Gilbert’s clenching hand, and retreats with his army, without casting another look at Chris, who remains standing in silence .

‘Brother Gio, can’t you treat Brother Chris a little better? He has saved me! And of all things, why do you two fight each other? You both are christian military orders!’ At the Hospitaller headquarters, Gilbert enquires. ‘The Knights Templar are stronger than us. If we don’t fight to protect ourselves, we’ll be destroyed by them.’ Giovanni replies calmly. ‘Why do the Knights Templar want to destroy you? Brother Chris in fact is very kind-hearted. Even though he knows I am on your side, he teaches me combat skills...hoops!’ Gilbert just realises that he has leaked the secret between Chris and himself. ‘Gilbert, you know I’m not happy to hear this. I hope you won’t betray me as you’ve developed a good relationship with my archrival.’

It has been a week since Chris was injured, and since that day, Gilbert has been bringing medicine to the Templar castle on Giovanni’s command as a punishment of his ‘betrayal’. What Giovanni requires Gilbert to keep in mind, is that Gilbert must not let Chris know who is actually prescribing medications. However, in the end, Gilbert cannot help telling the truth to Chris, ‘Brother Chris, I really hope you can stop fighting with Brother Gio. You see, he regrets what he’s done to you, and sends...’ ‘I hope Gio is not behind this, otherwise I will not accept medicine from you any more.’ Chris interrupts quickly. ‘Why do you hate Brother Gio so much, Brother Chris?’ ‘I hate him for not sending me medicine, and I will hate him more if he asks you to send me medicine. In sum, I just hate him.’ Chris strokes his bandaged left palm with tender passion, but Gilbert is too young to observe this detail or understand these words.

After this street fight, the two gangs seem to have ceased fire for a while, not only because one of their leaders is injured, but also because the festive spirit is approaching. In the Cathedral of Acre, people busy themselves with the preparation of the biggest event of the year--Christmas. The interior of the church is semi-decorated, and still more flowers and plants are coming. ‘Gilbert, have you understood the ceremony process that I’ve just told you?’ Giovanni bends down to speak in the ear of the absent-minded little knight. Both of them stand beside the alter. Gilbert jumps, and finally turns his attention from revery to the taller knight, ‘Sorry, what did you just say?’ ‘Could you tell me why you can’t take your eyes off the audience seats in the church? Are you expecting someone?’ Giovanni frowns. ‘Brother Gio, do you know if Frater will visit Acre for Christmas?’ Gilbert asks carefully. ‘Yes, the Kingdom of Sicily told so me in a letter. And he will attend the Christmas mass as well.’ On hearing the news, Gilbert reacts dramatically: firstly his jaw drops, then his grin broadens, and finally he raises his hands high up in the air, ‘Hallelujah! What a good tiding!’ ‘Calm down yourself, Gilbert! Shouting is forbidden in the church. And if you don’t want Sicily to be disappointed with you, you have to work hard in preparation, understood? It’s your first time to celebrate Christmas, there’re many things for you to learn.’ ‘I know, I know! I’ll work hard for Frater, and on Christmas I’m going to pay my homage to Frater, and then I’ll become a real knight! I’m so awesome! Everything’s going to be perfect! Kesesese!’ Gilbert laughs happily. ‘Don’t be too proud, Gilbert. You have to work hard to achieve your goal. Remember: no pain, no gain.’ ‘But there’s someone lazier than me! Even though Brother Chris’ wound is getting much better, he never comes to the rehearsal, and he’s going to sing in the choir!’ ‘Christien’s done the mass many times so he doesn’t need much rehearsing, and in fact, I don’t think he wants to see me.’ Giovanni looks at the choir practicing singing in a corner of the church, which is consisted of young boys in white dresses. The most beautiful one is missing, just as he has expected.

The Cathedral of Acre has already been enunciated with devout Christians hours before the bells announce the approach of Christmas and the beginning of the Christmas Midnight Mass. The interior of the cathedral is full of the festive spirit, decorated with myriads of flowers, draperies, hangings, ribbons, and candles, making this spacious sacred place shine with all colours of the solar spectrum. Now the congregation is holding its breath to hear the steps of the approaching holy moment, that is to say, waiting for the mass procession enter into the nave. After the bells strike twelve times, silence remains as if time stood still, so everybody turns their head to the church entrance to look for the priests and professed knights. After several seconds pass, finally, to everyone’s relief, the door opens, and a group of people in surplice solemnly walk in. At the head of them is little Gilbert with silver hair and red-pupiled eyes, swinging from side to side a golden, smoking censer in his hands. The little albino holds his chin high and looks straight ahead, so even the distant audience can tell from his rigid movements and his slightly reddened physiognomy that he is at the moment very nervous. Many in the congregation do know that for this new-born German military order, it must be his first time to perform holy services in such a big event, and accordingly they understand his nervousness and cross their fingers to pray for his success in the debut. Among the understanding, kind-hearted people, is Lovino, the Kingdom of Sicily, who comes all the way from Palermo for this special occasion, and who now sticks his little brown head out from the crowd into the aisle covered with red carpets, which makes him so distinct that even Gilbert’s sweat-filmed eyes cannot prevent the little knight from noticing this great kingdom from afar. Consequently, Gilbert starts short, as if petrified, but Lovino is no malicious Medusa--quite on the contrary, he is the most amiable personage here, so he tries to unlock the magic spell by waving his little hand and smiling sweetly to his little knight, to salute, and to encourage him. However, for Gilbert, this is more like an ignition before an explosion than a mere encouragement, for in response, stuffed of energy, he sets himself off high in the air like a rocket, the censer in his hands swinging like a mad turning wheel, spilling hot incense everywhere. All at once a commotion is caused--people sitting nearby the aisle stand up to run, only to find that within such a dense crowd running is almost impossible, thus some panic is caused as well. At this critical moment, Giovanni, who walks beside the bishop in the middle of the procession, dashes out to catch the censer which now is flying out of Gilbert’s hands, and fortunately, after the catch, he is agile enough to regain his balance in time, and stands upright with the golden censer safely contained in his hands. He makes some effort to restrain himself from panting heavily, and immediately resumes his solemn, imperturbable look to hide his shock of this unexpected episode. Realising what has just happened, Gilbert becomes the most panicked person in the cathedral. He dare not look at Lovino’s face to see his disappointment, so he looks down onto the floor, feeling too shameful for himself to move. Seeing this, Giovanni pats Gilbert’s shoulder from behind to urge him to proceed, otherwise the procession would be blocked even though Gilbert is short and tiny. Accordingly Gilbert moves on, and from now on, he becomes half absent-minded for his sense of guilt, head drooping. Despite this, the following process goes on smoothly, the episode is soon forgotten, the audience watch the performance of the servers quietly, listen to the priests’ sermons attentively, and respond by saying ‘amen’ when their heart is quite touched. However, Gilbert’s tribulations are not yet finished. As a novice, he is to give a speech in front of the holy altar, in the face of the public. It is a narration of the nativity, which should have been already familiar to any christian, so before the mass, Gilbert was so confident that he did not bring the script with him. Now, it is high time for Gilbert’s speech, and for the sake of the sense of guilt he is still sweating heavily as if he had just been fished out from the sea: ‘It was...it was in the year of four before Christ, before Christ was born. (A pause.) On the day when Christ was born, Mary found no place to lie down herself and give birth to her child, so she just...she just lied down on the floor, (some hiss from the audience) and she saw stars shining bright in the sky. Oh, I forget to say, (laugh from the audience) there was an angel coming from the sky to tell her that the child is the savior of mankind. So back to the night when Jesus was born, there were three magicians...(somebody hoots)’ Finally Gilbert’s frustrated voice seems to fade away, and people can hardly hear what the little knight is saying, and neither can they see his mouth moving, for he persists in hanging his head down. Lovino, who sits in the front row for the prerogatives possessed by such a great kingdom like him, clasps his hands all the time to pray for Gilbert, and he even dare not bat his big, radiant eyes lest they would distract his knight, but it seems all his prayers are in vain. Giovanni, who stands righteously and solemnly among the priests and servers, is as anxious as Lovino from the bottom of his heart. ‘Can anyone please do something?’ he asked without producing a sound.

‘--Long time ago in Bethlehem So the Holy Bible say Mary’s boy child, Jesus Christ Was born on Christmas day.’

Suddenly, people hear someone singing. At first, people think it is the ringing sound of a crystal stream, for it is so limpid, so pure; and then, when they realise that it is from above, they take it as the voice of an angel, for it is so beautiful and so unearthly, like a beam of light piercing through thick clouds to warm the earth, to fill everyone’s heart with bliss. While the confused audience are looking about themselves, only Giovanni immediately finds out whence the voice is from--he has heard this voice on every Christmas, and yet he still can hardly believe it--as soon as he hears the singing, he raises his head and looks up to the carved balcony facing the altar where he is standing by, and sure enough, he sees a thin, pale figure stand out of the choir boys, beneath the enormous silver organ. It is Chris who is singing. He is clad in white, laced surplice, his pale countenance becomes more tender in the radiance from the white texture, and his soft, curly blond hair makes him shine like a midnight sun. He is not yet grown up, his delicate human form hardly tells his gender, and therefore he looks more beautiful than any man or woman, and so clinks his sweet, heavenly singing voice. Here he stands, so pure he looks, so angelically he sings, even Giovanni has to admit that on this particular occasion, if Chris were not the messenger from God, he cannot tell who this sweet creature could be. ‘It’s the Knights Templar!’ a little girl cries out happily, and her mother quickly quiets her. Even Gilbert looks up from the floor to the balcony gratefully as if he has found his savior, so continues Chris:

‘While shepherds watched their flocks by night Them see a bright new shining star Them hear a choir sing The music seemed to come from afar.

Now, Joseph and his wife, Mary Come to Bethlehem that night Them find no place to born she child Not a single room was in sight.

By and by, they find a little nook In a stable all forlorn And in a manger cold and dark Mary’s little Boy was born.’

The choir boys standing behind Chris, who are also sweet-looking, though not as beautiful as he, begin to sing harmoniously, and all the people in the cathedral sing along:

‘Hark, now hear the angels sing A new king born today And man will live forevermore Because of Christmas day.’

Now everyone rejoices again, because they take part in such a beautiful choir led by an angel, and has never felt so close to God before.

In many aspects, the midnight mass is as successful as last year, so afterwards everybody goes home happily. However, in a dark corner of the sacristy, Gilbert is found sobbing quietly. Because others are gone, only Giovanni and Chris see him. Chris bends down over Gilbert, beaming innocently as ever, and says cheerfully, ‘Gil, don’t cry, it’s Christmas!’ ‘I’m so stupid, I know nothing of Christmas! I’m not fit for being a knight!’ Gilbert tries to conceal his tearful face by burying it between his crouching knees. Even though Giovanni was unhappy for Gilbert’s failures of performance at tonight’s mass, which he believes are the results of Gilbert’s arrogance and ignorance of his persuasion, his benign heart is touched by the little one’s sadness and frustration, so he attempts to comfort Gilbert: ‘To err is human. If you learn from experience, you’ll be forgiven.’ Nevertheless, Giovanni’s austere tone makes Gilbert feel more miserable, ‘Forgiven? Will I be forgiven by Frater? Perhaps I can’t never become his knight!’ ‘Gio, you frightened little Gil!’ Chris criticises his big rival, and continues to console Gilbert by an even more tender voice, ‘come on, Gil, I’ll show you something. I’m sure you’ll learn Christmas by heart. Don’t worry.’ He winks, stands up, and leads Gilbert to the courtyard of the cathedral. Giovanni does not trust Chris, so he follows them into the cool midnight air. Standing under the purple starry sky, Chris brings out from his pocket a plain stone cup. ‘I’m going to use this to bring us to the night when our Lord Jesus Christ was born. You can come with us if you want, Gio.’ ‘Wait, is this...the Holy Grail?’ Giovanni is astonished. ‘Exactly.’ Chris replies matter-of-factly. ‘I didn’t know you possess it.’ Giovanni says darkly, and quickly makes the sign of the cross. In secret, he feels his stomach aching--how come his rival obtains the most sacred relic in the christian world? ‘You don’t have to know everything,’ smiles Chris. It happens very fast. After a flash of blinding light, the three knights are altogether brought to another time and place. The time is still night, but the environment is changed into a dry, rocky wild land. ‘Look! There’s the bright shining star!’ Chris points to the enormous brilliant star hanging in the eastern sky. ‘What does this mean?’ Gilbert is bewildered by this strange environment. ‘Gilbert, how many times have I told you to read the Bible more carefully?’ Giovanni’s austere look makes Gilbert wince. ‘Relax, Gio. It’s the Holy Night, let’s behold the miracle!’ Chris leads the group to walk in the direction of the bright star. After a while, they see a manger at the top of a hill. ‘Is it...?’ Gilbert is shushed abruptly by Giovanni. The three of them carefully approach the manger on tiptoe. The manger basks in the bright shining star right above, so they can see the scene clearly: Mary has just now given birth to baby Jesus, who is sleeping comfortably in his mother’s arms, and Joseph stands by them, watching the baby with great interest and affection. Noticing people approaching, Mary is alert, but as soon as she sees these people are three good-looking young boys in some kind of cassocks, she smiles and gestures them to come closer. ‘Our Lord Jesus, we’ve come to worship you.’ Both Giovanni and Chris kneel down before the little baby who opens his beautiful eyes to look upon them curiously. After realising who the baby is, Gilbert imitates his brothers to fall on kneels, not without clumsiness. Seeing this, Mary smiles affectionately to the timid little knight, and says, ‘thank you for visiting us in such a bleak winter night. Don’t be anxious, little knight, baby Jesus is very happy to see you.’ Gilbert looks up to see Mary’s smiling face, and sees a mother in her, a mother he has never had, or met, in his life. Suddenly, the albino bursts into tears, ‘oh Mother, Mother!’ Mary pats Gilbert’s silver head, speaks to him in a voice so gentle as if singing a lullaby, ‘little child, you have such beautiful hair. Don’t cry, you’ll be loved.’ It is Gilbert’s first time to be praised by someone for his hair--being an albino, he has been jeered and teased all his life. It is not necessary to describe how happy Gilbert is in seeing the Holy Virgin, and he lays his head upon her knees. Meanwhile, Giovanni finds Chris’ pale face full of tears too. Before the little Lord, the beautiful knight clasps his hands tightly while on his knees--he looks so pious, so humble that he makes this moment divine. Unconsciously, Giovanni wears a smile on his face-- O Silent Night! O Holy Night!

On the next morning, Gilbert is woken up by a familiar voice: ‘Gil, wake up! Are you alright?’ When he opens his eyes, he sees Lovino shaking his shoulder anxiously. Thus he sits up abruptly, ‘Frater! Why are you here?’ ‘Dear Gil! I was worried about you so I came to the morning mass early to see if you’re alright, but I didn’t know you slept in the courtyard over night!’ Lovino exclaims, ‘it is not good! You’ll catch cold!’ His puffing face is on the brink of tears. It is Gilbert’s turn to feel worried too, for his heart will break if he sees Lovino cry. ‘Dear Frater, I’m totally fine, so please don’t cry!’ he holds Lovino’s little hand, faking a smile to comfort him, ‘I spent a whole night with Brother Gio and Brother Chris to worship little Lord Jesus in Bethlehem, you have to know how happy I am! Please don’t worry about me!’ ‘Really?’ Lovino’s watery emerald eyes look into Gilbert’s rubies, and he sees truthfulness in them, ‘good, then. But where are Gio and Chris?’ Both of them look around. Beside the wall of the cathedral, they see Giovanni and Chris lying down there, holding each other’s body closely as if to keep warm and sleep more comfortably. Hearing noises, the two sleepy knights are awakened--it is not difficult to imagine the surprised look on their faces. However, instead of letting out a shriek or kicking each other away, in peace, they exchange morning greetings: ‘Morning, Gio.’ Chris smiles like an angel waking up from his sweetest dream. ‘Good morning, Christien.’ Giovanni blushes. He will never admit that it is Chris’ crystal purple eyes that make his heart beat fast, and he feels a little reluctant to let Chris’ warm body leave his arms when both of them get back to their feet. ‘Christien, wait!’ ‘What?’ Chris quickly turns back to face Giovanni, his huge eyes sparkling. ‘I want to apologise for the wound in your palm. I should have stopped my people hurting you.’ Giovanni smites his handsome brow. ‘It’s not your fault,’ Chris smiles mildly, ‘and I want to thank you for healing me.’ ‘You know the medicine was sent by me?’ ‘Of course, do you forget how long we’ve known each other? And as I’m your archrival, who do you think could know you better than me?’ Smiling mysteriously, Chris briskly wheels around. Without knowing why, Giovanni suddenly feels a special attachment to his rival and comrade, so he instinctively follows Chris’ white robe, which is billowing in the wind like an angel’s enormous wings. Later on, in the Christmas morning mass, people are surprised to see the two long-term rivals stand side by side in the procession, and even exchange friendly looks at intervals during the liturgy. ‘It happens once a year that the two great military orders make a truce. After all, it’s Christmas, it’s time for peace, for forgiveness, and for love.’ Among the audience, some Venetians whisper quietly, and then they shake hands with their Genoese neighbours. As for Gilbert, this time, he has done much better especially in the narration of the nativity. When the mass is done and the cathedral becomes empty, he cautiously kneels down before Lovino, ‘dear Frater, I want to be your knight, but I’m not yet perfect--could you wait until I’m fit?’ ‘I don’t need you to be perfect. Whenever you feel yourself is ready, I’ll be ready to take you as my knight.’ Lovino blushes. ‘I promise it won’t be too long, Frater.’ Gilbert tenderly kisses Lovino’s hand.

(End)

#hetalia #APH #prussia x south italy #prussia x romano #APH Prussia #aph south italy #aph teutonic knights #aph knights templar #aph knights hospitaller #prumano

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osmw1 · 6 years ago

Text

Poison-Wielding Fugitive Chapter 57

“Urgh… that was intense…”

Celes fell unconscious from having Arleaf’s cooking in her mouth for a mere 20 seconds. Fortunately, we were able to pull it out before she swallowed. Thank goodness that Muu’s hands are so surprisingly stretchy.

“Muu.”

Well, after we got the food out, I crushed the remaining Hamburg steak in my hand. Then, we got Celes to take an antidote and we also healed her, so all in all, she took practically no damage. It might’ve been bad if we were any slower. If not actually dying, she would’ve been laid up for at least two weeks.

“Like I told you, you’d be risking your life tasting my food…” “I apologize… but Cohgray, how in the world do are you able to eat all of it…?” “It’s a quirk of mine. Some people call me the Poison-Eater.” “… I have heard of that name before, but to think that person is you, Sir Cohgray. You truly are astonishing. By the way, what exactly was that?” “It’s my cooking. I was born with a unique skill which causes all of my cooking to become some sort of poison.” “I—I see… so, that was why you weren’t cooking.” “Right…” “Forgive me for being so tactless…”

Celes apologizes before standing up. It’s not like I eat Arleaf’s food because I like her for her cooking or anything. I mean, she is cute, and I do like her. But there’s a whole slew of different reason why I get her to cook for me. It’s a little embarrassing though.

‘Leave the misconception be.’

I’m super worried about that, but it’s not like I can explain the truth to her either.

“Feel free to take your time, okay?” “No, I would like to avoid staying any longer. We mustn’t dally. Let us go.”

Celes then gallantly strides forwards and into the mineshaft. Along the way, she equipped her gas mask. Honestly, I’m kinda uneasy about whether she’s really fine or not, but I guess we can’t help but follow her… With that, we headed deeper into the gallery.

I wondered if it’d be tight inside, but the tunnel stretches five meters across. There’s more than enough room to move around. We walked in only a little bit… but it kinda feels like we’ve entered a dungeon.

“We shall be going deep inside. Brace yourselves. The shape of this dungeon shifts every so often, thus maps are not all that useful. Be careful.” “Understood.”

It’s a space warping–type dungeon, eh? Like the swamp dungeon, it’s rather well-lit in here, but not blindingly so. The path ahead is long… the shaft seems to stretch on forever.

“There may be toxic gas in the air, so be aware.” “Alright. I’ve got some Ranger-like skills, so I’ll take the lead.” “It would be better for me to… but if you wish to, Cohgray, go ahead. Do your best to be careful.” “Gotcha.”

I’m up front, following behind me are Celes, Muu, and Arleaf. Veno senses the monsters for me and I point them out. Celes and Arleaf quickly attacks them with Muu and I assisting. The monsters we encounter are much like the ones on the mountain, but in different colors. We encountered all sorts of monsters; from Wistaria Rocks and Bordeaux Rock Golems to little golems like Cyclamen Pink Iron, Plum Bronze Golem, and Ash Grey Silvermen. And since I’ve got both Celes and Arleaf killing them for me, it’s hard to get a feel for how strong these monsters are.

‘It would not be too difficult for thee. We are still at the beginning, aye?’

When there are pockets of toxic gas, Veno shows me how to detour around them or how to vent it out before advancing forward. The gas smells rather floral, hey?

‘It is a little questionable to relate poison with flowers, but so far, things are going well. Thou seemst to have become used to this already.’

I guess so. Not to mention, I’m getting a whole lot of experience from this. Every time a monster is defeated, I see my levels tick up. Freakin’ sweet. Praise be to power leveling.

It’s going swimmingly, almost as if it’s easier than the swamp dungeon. Veno’s Mapping really helps too. The dungeon doesn’t change its shape too often, so it’s actually quite useful. Suddenly, we encountered a bunch of rock-type monsters a lot more frequently.

We’ve got Silver White Lance Mithrilmen and Shadow Blue Hammer Magic Silvermen.

… talk about a long name.

‘Thou needn’t worry about their colors; simply regard them as Mithrilmen and Magic Silvermen.’

Oh, you’ve got a point. Anyway, their equipment seems to be a part of their bodies. Not only is the experience is good, but the ores in their bodies are what we’re here for.

“Hmpf! Is that all you’ve got?!”

As Celes sweeps wide with her sword, the monsters swing their weapons. The clash makes a shrill noise.

“Aqua Shot!”

Arleaf said it’s dangerous to use fire in a mineshaft, so she switched to attacking with water magic. It’s pretty dang strong, so even if she doesn’t kill them outright, her magic still helps obstruct the enemies’ movement.

“Muuuuu!”

Muu puts up a good fight with its axe, but nowhere near the level of the two ladies.

“Swing your hip out more!” “Muu!”

Muu’s attacks get stronger with pointers from Celes. And me? Well, I’ve got a crossbow lent to me by Wayne and it does a good job too. But it’s kinda plain and it doesn’t really kill. I could let out a poisonous mist, but I’ll likely hit Celes and Arleaf with it too. The only other poison that would be good would be my new Mollifying Poison, I guess. They’re rocks, so they’re bound to be hard. I get the feeling that Paralysis Poison wouldn’t do a heck of a lot on them.

‘It is not the case that it is ineffective, but unfortunately, thy poison is more akin to living creatures. Thou must increase your poison vocabulary.’

Then what’s a good poison on these rock-types?

‘There are silencing-type poisons which lowers defense. Silencing refers to the obstruction of their magical abilities, reducing the amount of mana in their system. It would be fairly effective against these monsters. Of course, anything to lower their hardness would be another option. Other than that, perhaps something to induce confusion would be good. However, it would not work unless the poison gets circulated in their systems.’

That’s hard to picture in my head. I mean, for an ex-software engineer from modern Japan like me, I’m basically told to imagine a whole new concept.

‘Nay, they are but stones and ores after all. That means they have a body. If you inject poison into their bodies, then it would circulate in their system.’

What about monsters without a physical body then? Like spirits or something?

‘Then mists would be effective against them, much like the same reason why holy water is effective.’

Hmm… there’s a myriad of different ways to use poison, huh?

“Wha—?!”

Celes squats down low in preparation of something. What the heck is happening? Then suddenly… the walls deep inside get wider and wider. What? Is the shaft shapeshifting right before my eyes? As the thought crosses my mind, something draws closer with a loud ka-thunk, ka-thunk. They sound like the footsteps of something heavy.

“Seems like we’re lucky today.”

Celes flashes a fearless grin and readies her sword. For some reason though, I don’t think there’s anybody that would agree with her statement…

contents: /ch001/ /ch002/ /ch003/ /ch004/ /ch005/ /ch006/ /ch007/ /ch008/ /ch009/ /ch010/ /ch011/ /ch012/ /ch013/ /ch014/ /ch015/ /ch016/ /ch017/ /ch018/ /ch019/ /ch020/ /ch021/ /ch022/ /ch023/ /ch024/ /ch025/ /ch026/ /ch027/ /ch028/ /ch029/ /ch030/ /ch031/ /ch032/ /ch033/ /ch034/ /ch035/ /ch036/ /ch037/ /ch038/ /ch039/ /ch040/ /ch041/ /ch042/ /ch043/ /ch044/ /ch045/ /ch046/ /ch047/ /ch048/ /ch049/ /ch050/ /ch051/ /ch052/ /ch053/ /ch054/ /ch055/ /ch056/ /ch057/ /next/

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felix-loves-albert-and-ralb-blog · 6 years ago

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killing in angsty fanfiction you say! amazing! well you said you were lookin through the ralbert tag so idk kill Al he’s my fav as you probably know—fizz

oh yay he’s my fav too and i love killing him

warnings: death, violence, claustrophobia, swearing, blood, sort of self harm and suicide?

paring: ralbert

canon era

albert’s pov

To put it shortly, the Refuge sucks. It’s a never ending shithole of torture, both physical and emotional.

I’m here with Race, so it’s nice seeing him when neither of us are being beaten to a pulp in the basement, but it only makes it worse when one of us is.

I know he can hear every scream that escapes my lips, but the pain is just too much to handle.

And the worst part is, all of it is meaningless to Snyder.

I know he’s only soaking me to get to Race, it’s pretty obvious.

I try to be as annoying as I can, just so I can feel like I actually deserve the punishment, but Snyder sees right through that. Strangely, that’s when he ignores me.

I wish I weren’t a tool.

Just something that can be used to Snyder’s advantage.

Not even a person, an object, something as inanimate as his belt or switchblade.

“Y’know Spider, I was thinkin’ for a moment there that ya actually cared about me.” I comment in a break between hits.

“Interesting.” Snyder muses. “Because I think you know that I give exactly zero shits about you.”

“Yeah, ya wanna hurt Racer by hurtin’ me, blah blah blah. You do realize it’s not workin’ though, right? He knows I can take a beating.”

“That’s why I have a new strategy.” Snyder sneers.

I frown, wondering what he’s talking about. Whatever it is, it can’t be good.

I’ve heard of some of Snyder’s other punishments, dealt with them even, but it sounds like he has something new in mind.

And then the door at the top of the basement stairs opens and I know I’m in deep shit.

Race is fighting against the guards holding him, but to no avail. He’s already so weak from lack of food and his injuries.

“Fuck you! Get offa me!” Race is shouting, glaring at the guards, trying desperately to free himself from their grasp, and he doesn’t seem to have noticed me and Snyder yet.

“How nice of you to join us, Blondie.” Snyder’s voice is so sickly sweet it makes me want to vomit.

Race notices Snyder first, glaring daggers at him, and then he seems to realize that Snyder said “us”. He looks down at me, and I see his face fall.

“Oh God, no. No. Please, Spider, PLEASE!” Race’s voice cracks, and he’s shaking violently.

“I say we have a little fun with Pretty Boy here...” Snyder trails off, and he grabs my chin roughly.

The nausea is stronger now, I want so badly to be back at the Lodging House, safe and warm, not having to worry about anything but selling all of my papers.

“Don’t touch ‘im!” Race shrieks, but Snyder simply ignores him.

I shut my eyes, wanting nothing more than an end to the pain, but my prayer isn’t answered.

I fully recognize the crack of the belt just before it strikes my back, and the fiery pain it brings is all too familiar.

I hunch my shoulders, preparing myself for the next lash, but it never comes.

Instead it’s my arms being forced behind my back, metal cuffs digging into my wrists, and being lifted off the ground by my hair.

It’s being dragged up the stairs and down a hallway.

It’s hearing screams from Race, who I know must be behind me somewhere, it’s my legs dragging along the floor, it’s not daring to open my eyes for even a second because I’m too scared of what I’ll see.

It’s being thrown into a new room, one with a hard floor and the sound of a door being locked.

It’s when I finally open my eyes that I see the nightmare I’ve been thrown into.

It’s a cell.

But it’s not a cell, because it feels more like a fucking cage than anything else.

There are bars surrounding me on all four sides, and the cage itself is so goddamn tiny I can’t even stand up in it.

I can’t stretch my legs, I can’t stretch my arms, I can barely even breathe.

Race is outside the bars, clinging on to them as if for dear life, shaking them in hopes of setting me free, and I can see tears welling up in his eyes.

“It’s okay, Race.” I try to say, but my throat is so dry my words are all cracked and broken.

I realize I’m going to die here.

This is what Snyder wants.

Race and me so close to each other, so close but not able to help one another.

He wants Race to see me wither away slowly, until I’m nothing more than a ghost.

And it’ll work.

“Race.” I choke out.

He presses his face against the bars, leaning in as close as he can.

“I love ya.” I say pressing my face close to Race’s.

Our lips manage to touch the slightest bit, and I savor the moment for as long as I can.

“What are we gonna do?” Race asks, his words almost a sob.

“Don’t look, promise me that.” I say slowly.

“What?”

“Jus’, I’se gonna do somethin’. It’ll be better in the end, I promise. Jus’ promise ya won’t look.” I can barely speak, I can’t believe these might be my last words.

“But-”

“I love you.”

I wait for Race to turn away before I start.

I brace myself, repeating in my head that it’s for the best, that I’m going to die anyway and this will be less painful, and slam my head against the bars.

It hurts like a motherfucker, my headache is getting worse by the second.

I do it again, harder.

I feel warm blood rushing down my face, I must have split my skull.

I throw my head against the bars again, and the last thing I hear is Race’s scream.

wow that took a dark turn

this took forever to write but i’m low-key proud of it

(also i didn't edit this so sorry for any confusions or mistakes)

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rawring-rainbows · 6 years ago

Photo

The Queen’s pajamas

She was woken up by her potential girlfriendand her story is still being worked on if you wanna read the notes and rough draft so far here you are

Our Queen found a living island fixed it up and discovered it travelled different dimensions and worlds

Queen Eclipse her two orbs floating above her shoulders holds back her true (as corny as it sounds).. form

Her body and soul is directly connected to the living island when those little marbles fall she forms into this huge beast lays

behind her castle/Huge body of water (I cant decide) She goes to sleep and also so does the island No one knows for sure

what happends during this time besides her royal higher ups During this time its dark and most of the creatures plants etc seem to be put at rest things are dim dark and calm and

normally people can leave the island but no one can it looks almost as if theres a barrier around it During this time the entire kingdom starts this gigantic festival they play games they eat food they meditate they do

mminor rituals but this most import thing is laying your dominant hand on the royal beast and the other on your heart and

telling her that you believe in her and thank her for all that she's done as well as a what you hope for when the sun comes

up again Her form gets smaller and smaller as time goes on but when she wakes up shes happy and rejuvinated like her people who

canot help be filled with an explosive amount of happieness but so does the entire continent harvests are plentiful and

delicious flowers bloom trees are full of fruit the hopeless have hope the sick are healed all sorts of miracles happen

except one the dead cannot be raised and the wicked use this strange phenomenon for one thing.. To Kill without regret

You finally earned your way to the top of the royal hierarchy to get some sort of answer is to what the Queen does while

she sleeps a tall wise looking creature looks down at you with his hands behind his back an expression and peircing eyes

that gave you this feeling he could read u like a book."What would you do if you were a God?" He gives you no time to

answer "One God of many who takes over a world and play with those puppet strings as you please and make your ideal

world..Would you abandon it? Would you get bored? With endless time and power what do you do with this immortal life?" He

finally answers a question "You become atleast a quarter mortal..Taking on the life among your people but! Is it enough?

NO!!" The sudden outburst startles you but he keeps a calm expression "Do you take a small part of an enormous world and

make it your own? What kind of God would make one's self slightly vulnurable while taking the lives from countless God

Ruling worlds of your very own kind? Is this God planning to make a Utopia for many?......Or To grow strong enough to wage

war and flip that coin calling heads to who will be the ruler of ALL worlds?...And will you be strong enough to live

through to thank the one who ripped off a peice of herself to show you how lucky you are to stand on the grounds of someone

who could erase u from existance with the flick of her wrist..Will you be thankful to the one who allowed you to be a part

of the game that no matter what you do you cannot stop..or will you realize All you can do is attempt to give her the heart

to try her damnest to allow you to survive in an existence where others like herself wont have a smidgen of pity for you?..

"You ever hear the term a captain goes down with their ship?" The Queen asks looking up at the stars. You Nod. "You see

those stars up there?.....They're sunken ships... God's are not made of flesh of blood..They're pure energy and each one of

them swimming around up there looks for...hmm...how do i put this...They look for shelter and they feed on energy and when

a God First manifests they're very fragile..and easily consumed its a battle to live on untill they find theyre set

home..Some are stronger then others and build their hearts in several worlds some have dozens some settle with one" her

eyes darted up with a look of pain on her face. "Some dont make it..Their people they work so hard to grow and have their

planet thrive..either destory eachother or destroy their God..If a God dies in their shell its people could thrive for some

time but then..." she pointed to one of the brightest stars in the sky that was soon shut off like a light. "Theyre used to

fuel the next world" You asked which one is she like. She grinned eared to ear. "Im a special kind...the kind that doesnt

like to be tied down..The kind that's deeply afraid not only to lose my own life but the ones who grew with me and

Thrived!" She took a deep excited breath then sighed. "Though I took a big risk being different from the others..I have no

idea what's in our future..but!..I will work hard enough so that we have a big chance for it to work out in the end..Most

God's abandon their children..Most God's just watch them grow thrive and destroy eachother while sitting back without a

care because they only think about themselves...Me...I want to work together.." She lifted her glass of wine. "If the plan

works smoothly we'll be unstoppable if not well.." She clinked her glass against yours and lifted hers up again. "To an

unexpected future!!"

"When do you feel the most mortal?" You asked the queen who was scratching her chin in thought. "I...How do I put

this...Any sort of pain...emotional,physical,etc I do not feel immidiatly..I feel just enough to settle the situation at

that moment..whether its comfrontation..or a fight i feel about 5 to 25 percent of any sort of negative feeling...untill

later..when theres no one around..when theres no danger my people cant handle..I break down..I cry..my chest hurts..my

heart breaks..I throwup and so on and so fourth...for centuries i would wonder why this happend...then i realized..I use my

immortality as a shield and dont give my mortality a chance to breath..its something ive been trying to work on for a long

time..others who ive told this secret to said they've felt something similiar to that..that its because we hurt for others

and put everything holding us back aside for those including ourselves.. Who are we if we do not protect others while

they're weak as our parents who have provided us with shelter while we were young?.. We're all still young you know...Young

and afraid Unsure of our futures no matter how hard we work for them..Life is tough and brutal as Hell and its nice to have

someone to protect you when you need it most..I dont mind having these moments..Pain isnt so bad when it reminds you that

you're alive.."

God's are very territorial shes nervous Oh my Stars!..Look she's sweating!" You say as you watched her talked to the group

of Gods. "She's fine she's smart but very cautious these are her friends-" You interupt him. "Ticking time bombs you mean!

any one of them can turn around and attempt to kill her or kill someone else-" "She wouldnt allow that! She would rather

lay down her life then allow them to put us in danger..." You look to the side with uncertainty "What is one life to a God

thats rules over many?" You sighed and clutched your chest trying to still your racing heart.

When two Gods fight it's...Ugh! I'm a journalist! Im risking my life on the surface and i dont even know how to explain this!" Adrenaline pumped through your veins you were panicking there was two gargantuan God's standing thousands of feet from you ready to Rip into eachother. "What to do What to do" You say quickly pacing back and fourth Suddenly CRACK BOOM! Heat rushes over you as you fall and eat dirt you look up over the stone you stood behind leaning over and watching it slowly start to disintegrate, but that didnt matter just yet you're writers block was destroyed at this very moment and you had to write this down "Through Mortal eyes this fight looked as if two Colossal flames were trying to engulf eachother-" You start to say but just like that it was almost over the enemy was tossed in your direction as you watched in shock it skid across the ground and stopped 10 feet from you The Goddess who ruled over the ground you stood on seemed to appear on top it then immidiatly looked right into your eyes. "She stared at me..Its like looking into one thousand suns though it doesnt burn.." You say out loud attempting to write it down without looking The monumental beings expression started to change. "Her expression went from pure fury that melted into absolute worry..You look tired.." You said softly it was like talking to an intelligent beast who said nothing but you could tell how it was feeling. The deity suddenly started using her last bit of strength on her enemy pressing her enormous forearm on its throat struggling against her grip. "Stop! Don't worry about me! Fight this guy with a better strategy! You could die!" You braced for impact There was a loud crack and a deafening sound of thunder you soon after looked up. "The Enemy was destroyed in an explosion of pure white..It's snowing diamonds..She's ok..She won....Risking her life for one weak being who stood on her grounds which she ruled....and im in love with her"

#This is bad but eh its fine it was fun #Original Story #OC #original character #furry ocs #goddess oc

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satansluvchild · 3 years ago

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Ch 4- The Great Viper

* wattpad- kenyamars book- Im the antagonist of this story

Artemisia's limb throbbed with each step; the wound on her leg had begun to knit itself closed. She'd walked for roughly two hours in the hot sun, resting her drakon form for the flight she would be forced to take shortly. All of her former plans being ruined by a bandit group rubbed her the wrong way. The drakon is fierce. They shouldn't struggle against humans, not nearly as much as she had. Thinking of the altercation, a lot of things didn't make sense.

While it was usual to run into bandits at the forest entrance or on marked paths people visited for items, this group was deep inside the forest. They also had an experienced mage, one that could cast spells quickly. Yet, something felt wrong; it was almost as they knew Artemisia would travel through the woodlands. She had been traveling slower than usual; when she encountered the group just sitting in the clearing, they made no move to stand when she appeared. When she stepped foot inside the clearing, she felt weakened, as if invisible shackles were tied to her arms and legs. It must've been planned from the beginning to kill her.

But why? Had Anaidid kingdom found out about the scouts?

If so, the situation was worst than thought; she had made the right decision to waste no time. When the kingdom found out she was not executed, they would send reinforcement to finish the job. She walked four more hours before something appeared; an enormous red viper landed on the ground in front of her. This one was bigger than usual and had a black underbelly, which meant it had evolved into a queen viper. Artemisia evaluated the situation. The queen viper was notorious for its poison fangs; if she got caught, she would be paralyzed and eaten alive. Pulling out her sword, she braced herself.

Orpheus walked after Artemisia, cautious not to draw recognition. When Artemisia had walked away before, she had been jolted. She decided to run to her home and gather a few items she knew she'd need and follow Artemisia closely. While Orpheus knew she had gotten far, she could tell which direction she went just by a sense of knowing.

I could walk with her until she stops in a village, then I will learn about this world.

The pain she felt before had disappeared, replaced by excitement and trepidation of the new world. During her time on Earth, Orpheus had been limited to where she could go. For 15 years of her life, she had only known the small town of Dorchester. Now she would be able to explore the world as she pleased.

The snake slithered toward her opening its enormous jaws. Artemisia lunged left and attempted to stab through the snake. Unfortunately, her wound had reopened, beginning to bleed profusely again. This caused the snake to become more aggressive, its attacks quicker. She dodged the oncoming snake again, feinting left then going right. This was bad; she'd already felt weakened from the fight with the bandits, breathing heavily; she tried to stab the eye of the viper in hopes of blinding it but was too slow and ended puncturing higher, enraging the beast.

Orpheus had been strolling, thinking of all the types of food she could try when she heard fighting. Then, sneaking a peek through the bushes, she saw the largest Ruby she'd ever faced. Fighting it was none other than Artemisia, sweating and breathing heavily, swinging her great sword. Looking through the Homemade satchel he'd made from viper and boar skin, he tried to find the cherished item he had brought with him. It was a Dual-edged and razor-sharp sword that he'd stolen off a boar, a reasonably short, broad, smooth blade made of folded steel. The cross-guard contained a decorative bear head on each side, marking the house it previously belonged to. The pommel was a shining aquamarine gem. Several words that looked like spells she couldn't read had been etched onto the blade.

She set her bag down and decided the element of surprise would work in her favor. Looking at the nearest sturdiest-looking tree, she began to climb it. Glancing down, she saw Artemisia stagger to her feet. Then, turning into a Drakon, she roared and began her ferocious attack again. Orpheus was amazed at the scene below. The power between both monsters could probably be felt through the entirety of the forest. Artemisia looked up at Orpheus; she didn't know whether to feel annoyed the girl still followed her or relieved she had not listened.

The snake ran towards her gnashing its fangs; while tiny compared to fully adult drakon, Artemisia was big for her age. Her stature was the reason she could grapple with the giant snake. Glancing back up at Orpheus, she noticed the girl gripping a great sword instead of a stick. This glance caused the snake to gain the upper hand. Constricting Artemisia, it was readying to bite when it died. Orpheus had dropped from the trees, stabbing it in the back of its head. Orpheus was delighted her decision had saved Artemisia just in the time. Beaming, she looked at the dragon. Even in Drakon form, Orpheus could tell Artemisia was annoyed by her not listening. The Drakon began to unravel the snake from itself. Stretching it then became Artemisia again.

With a sullen look Artemisia couldn’t help but feel upset .”You've saved me again; how embarrassing.”

The shame she felt from not once but twice being saved by a mere human made her stomach knot. At only 250 years old, Artemisia was ignorant and had looked upon any being, not Drakon. Now she could see her lapse of judgment. This girl name Orpheus seemed stronger than her, and this caused an epiphany to strike her heart. She would take Orpheus with her and learn how she had become strong so young.

“I have changed my voice; I will allow you to accompany me to my village. Surely they will let you in when they hear that you've saved me twice.”

Orpheus nodded and walked back to gather her satchel. Then, remembering the potion Artemisia gave her, she grasped it and handed it to Artemisia.

“Here for your wounds”

Artemisia looked at the vial, drinking half, and tried to hand it back to Orpheus. Turning to face Orpheus, she was amazed at the display. Orpheus was again huddled, clutching her stomach as if it pained her so. Was she wounded during the battle? Perhaps that's why Artemisia heard her shriek and stumble to the ground during the match. Why did she not drink the drunin? As annoying as the girl was, Artemisia did not want to watch someone who helped her die. Orpheus groaned with agony sweating and saying the exact phrase monotonously.

“not now, no, not now, why now, no, not now”

Worried, Artemisia began to walk towards her when she noticed something strange happening to the trees. They bent towards her and Orpheus; she had never seen something like this before. Terrified, she tried to grab Orpheus and run away. However, when she touched Orpheus, her heart sputtered. An intense feeling of wrongness came from Orpheus; Artemisia felt the instinct to run from her. Was she the one bending the trees? Why? Backing away, she kept her gaze on Orpheus; while she didn't think she'd harm her to be cautious, she drew her sword and waited for a sign of aggressiveness.

Manipulation?

Artemisia tried to think of a reason the once sunny girl was emitting evilness. She was confused about what triggered her. On the last occasion, she was fighting as well.

Maybe fights caused her bloodlust?

Artemisia had witnessed countless drakons get sucked into bloodlust and go on rampages; the only way to snap them out of it was to defeat them; this usually ended in death; drakons were prideful creatures and never willingly yielded.

When the smell of blood hit Orpheus, it made her realize how hungry she'd been. The burning in her head and stomach came back full strength, knocking her to her knees. She had just won Artemisia's trust; why now did she have to become rabid. Usually, Orpheus would go out early in the morning to check her traps. Still, she was interrupted by Artemisia's screech this morning. She never investigated the pitfalls. While she ate less with more time, she could not forgo food too long like a newborn. Peering up, she noticed through her vision blurred with tears the stance artemisia had taken. She stood grimacing with pain and looked for her fallen satchel; turning the bag over, she shook it, emptying the contents onto the dirt floor. Grabbing the reddish-orange fruit, she ate it with savagery, not even taking the time to relish the rare sweetness only known as yio-yio fruit.

Not enough, not enough, not enough ...

Something in her head repeated this; looking at the snake, she dropped the fruit's carcass, grabbed her sword, and marched toward its corpse. Raising the sword, she clumsily dug a hole into the snake. Oblivious of Artemisia watching her chop the snake, her focus solely on the meal in front of her. Dropping the sword, she dug her hands into the corpse and began to eat the animal's lukewarm meat and organs. Blood dyed her hands and face, the already stained and tattered toga taking the worst as the blood dripped down her chin. She could feel the strength returning to her. Sighing with delight, she closed her eyes and bit into the second heart of the Ruby.

Artemisia watched in awe; she didn't know humans could eat meat raw. She watched as Orpheus stuck her hand back into the creature pulling on another bloody organ. The scene in front of her was grisly, but she couldn't tear her eyes away. She was not used to humans; this being one of the first times paying attention to them, she felt like she didn't know a lot about them. Her first mission felt like a big success; she could tell the king many things, like how humans could also eat raw meat. She was also perplexed.

“Human, is today a special day for you?” Asked Artemisia, Orpheus seemed not to hear her question continuing to eat the meat with both hands.

Drakons only ate meat when the day was special to them or their tribe. Artemisia remembered when the tribe won back land from the Ruhu Drakon tribe. She and her family feasted on expensive raw Thornhand meat and danced the entire night away. Or the other reason would be they had no other options of food. To Artemisia, Orpheus looked like a young orphan or laborer.

That must be it, then! On the other hand, maybe she has gone a long time without food.

That didn't explain the feeling she felt when grasping Orpheus. She knew she felt something dark. The time before that, she also felt a dark aura in Orpheus that quickly dissipated.

Orpheus feel content, she ate more than intended, but her pain finally left. Looking down, she could see she did a number to her dress. Sighing, she turned and looked at the discarded items on the floor. Spotting the Skin flask, she picked it up and began to wash her face and hands. Standing again, she turned to pick up the sword a few feet away. Doing so, she remembered the audience she had and turned to stare in horror at Artemisia, who was gazing at her intently.

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breeeliss · 8 years ago

Text

belated birthday present

@larvesta i know im a little late with this bc im a piece of shit but i appreciate you so much as a friend, an artist, and a content creator for this fandom that i had to whip up something for you really quick, even if it’s not much. i hope you had a wonderful birthday and thank you for being so beautiful and special :)

happy birthday olivia <3

words: 1864

“I want to marry you.”

She said it at 11:37pm, cheek pressed against the kitchen table, eyeliner smudged after a 14 hour work day, and voice slurred from the sleep she’d been without for close to three days. Alya had driven out to her office, coaxed her away from her designs, and laid her out on the back seat of her car, blanketing her with her jacket before driving back to their apartment. The dozen or so other times they’d done this, Alya would always brew her fresh tea over the stove -- with actual tea leaves, not store bought bags -- to help her sleep, only to find her snoring across the couch or at the kitchen table before it was even ready.

Alya was ready to keep the tea warm for herself and carry Marinette back to their bedroom, but Marinette muttered tiredly from her seat at the kitchen table and made Alya stare into the pot of tea, afraid to look behind her.

“...what was that babe?”

Marinette yawned in response and said nothing for a long minute, convincing Alya that it was just something silly mumbled from half-sleep, or something that Alya had misheard. But Marinette merely repeated what she’d said -- stronger this time, as if its repetition was enough to keep her awake past what her body demanded. “I want to marry you.”

Alya swallowed and picked a mug from the cabinet above her. “I don’t understand.”

“You know, weddings,” Marinette explained. “Both of us in white dresses. A room full of relatives we haven’t seen since we were in diapers. Chocolate cake. In a hall or a garden, because I know you don’t like churches. Everything purple and pink.”

There was trepidation making her chest feel tight, but Alya still had enough in her to laugh. “That’s pretty thought out. Not surprising, considering it’s you.”

“I think about it a lot,” Marinette admitted quietly, her nails scratching at one of the cracks in the wood table. “I was thinking about it today. I just wanted you to know.”

Alya poured the tea from the pot into a mug and turned around to see Marinette gazing at her -- eyes tired but focused. She pulled out the chair right next to Marinette and offered her the mug of tea, which Marinette refused. “Do you....” Alya cleared her throat, took a large gulp of tea, and winced when she burned her tongue. “Do you want to do this now?”

“No. I don’t know. Maybe.”

“That’s a clear answer.”

“I’m running on caffeine, fumes, and the grace of God, right now. I don’t have the energy to be eloquent.”

Alya knew that Marinette was picking up on her attempts to dodge a clear answer to her statement, but for some reason was deciding not to draw attention to that bit. Instead, she was staying quiet, watching the steam float up from the rim of Alya’s cup, and waiting for her to say something that wasn’t just a hurried attemptsat deflecting. Marinette overanalyzed where it didn’t matter and jumped on impulse where it did. It was only with Alya that she achieved a masterful balance of when to push and when to let the conversation go slack. It made Alya guiltily scramble for some pithy explanation, despite the fact that Marinette would likely let her go without giving one.

“I didn’t expect you to ever say something like that,” Alya admitted. “At least not this soon.”

Marinette frowned and walked her fingers across the table until her hand was braced gently around Alya’s wrist. “It’s not that soon, is it?”

“We’ve only been dating for five months.”

“But we’ve known each other for five years.”

“We were friends for most of those five years.”

“So?”

Alya sighed out through her nose and bit on her thumb nail. “I’m trying to think of how to explain this...”

Marinette sucked on her bottom lip and started to pull her hand away. “You don’t have to say yes or no. I wasn’t expecting you to.”

She scrambled for Marinette’s hand before it slipped back into her lap, gripping around her four fingers and rubbing her thumb along her bony knuckles. “You deserve a yes or a no,” Alya told her. “And...it’s not like I’m debating between saying yes or saying no.”

“You look like you’re debating something.”

“I am. But it’s not what you think.”

Marinette pulled their intertwined hands closer and pressed a kiss to the nail of Alya’s thumb while she waited. Her eyes were slow to meet her own, but when they did Alya squeezed her hand back tighter. Marinette looked at Alya like there were diamonds in her lashes and words written in her eyes. She was always marveling at something, always trying to find something, and always being enchanted by everything she saw. That’s how Marinette had been looking at her since the day they met, and it was that look that always made Alya’s heart stutter and feel as though it was getting its fill of something too rich to be true.

“Did I ever tell you when I knew I was in love with you?” Marinette shook her head. “It was like a switch. It happened right away, and it was like all these shadowy, blurred things sharpened all at the same time, and I just sat there in front of you feeling like I was seeing you for the first time. It was just short of a year after we met -- when I failed my history exam and stayed home to mope, and you crawled into my bed and held me for hours until you had to go home the next day. Right there in your arms. It hit me.”

“We’ve slept in the same bed plenty of times before that,” Marinette wondered.

“I can’t explain it,” Alya shrugged. “I can just tell you when it appeared. Quick, sudden, and heavy.”

“Heavy?”

Alya snorted. “You know when you fall in love with enough straight girls, you start getting used to the fact that your feelings are always stronger, bigger, and more cumbersome than theirs? I thought the same with you for a really long time. And maybe that was my fault for not telling you the truth sooner, but it always just seemed like I had this huge, awkward thing to carry around that would always be two steps ahead of what you felt for me.”

“What are you saying?”

Alya laid her head down next to Marinette’s until their foreheads were almost touching. “I thought that for close to five years. So I guess...it’s an old habit that’s hard to break.”

Marinette’s other hand came up to brush away the hair from Alya’s temple. “You think I’m not serious...”

“No, it’s not that,” Alya promised. “I don’t think you’re lying or playing a game. I just get surprised when you say things like that. It still feels like I’m two steps ahead of you, so it doesn’t feel real. Like sometimes I’ll see you standing in the kitchen making us breakfast or I’ll wake up to you sleeping right next to me....and I can’t conceive of how I got here.”

Marinette licked her lips and ghosted the tips of her fingers along Alya’s hairline. “So when I say things like ‘marry me’....”

“I think this can’t possibly be real.”

Words were the sort of thing you needed the ability to say and the courage to mean. Otherwise they turned into muted secrets or empty placeholders. It was never a question of whether Marinette was sincere or whether Alya had the ability to say what she felt. It was always a question of whether Alya could bear being comfortable with one feeling more of less intensely than the other -- whether that sort of imbalance was natural or something Alya should continue to feel wary of. She wasn’t sure if all of that was vocalized in the little that Alya told Marinette, and she suddenly felt silly for having such a poor reaction. “Sorry,” she muttered. “I shouldn’t be doing this when you’re so tired.”

They stayed still for so long that Alya feared this was the awkward end to the conversation she wasn’t prepared for them to have. Marinette’s gaze hadn’t faltered at all during that time, and Alya wasn’t sure if that was due to exhaustion or due to some poor reaction to what Alya had shared. She got her answer when Marinette kissed her -- slow, lazy, and too quick for Alya to melt into and enjoy.

“I hear you,” Marinette muttered against her lips. “And I respond to that by saying...I still want to marry you.”

Her lips were leaving small pecks on Alya’s eyelids, cheeks, nose, chin, and lips again. “New storefront has me strapped for cash, so I can’t afford a ring or dresses or a hall right now. But give me a couple of years when everything will be smoothed out, and when my savings will be more than just a long line of zeroes. I’ll want to marry you. I’m going to marry you.”

Alya laughed and felt one hand pulling loose the tight bun on the back of Marinette’s head. “I believe you,” she decided. And she did. Deep down, in her heart of hearts that was so hard to blindly listen to, she believed every word of it.

“Listen,” Marinette explained. “I don’t know if I can fix the feeling that things are uneven between us aside from telling you that it doesn’t matter who felt what first or who feels one way and not the other. I just need you to know one thing. I love you down to my bones -- like you’re too much a part of me to just rip out. I can tell you it’s deep, it’s honest, it’s wonderful, and it keeps my head high and my heart bursting. If you believe anything I say, believe that.”

Alya let out a shaky sigh of relief and pressed a kiss to the middle of Marinette’s forehead. “I love you too,” she whispered. “Down to my bones. It’s the one thing I know how to do without thinking.”

Marinette grinned. “I know things like marriage and weddings are really far away, but I needed to tell you how I feel. And you don’t have to feel the same way right now. I’ll wait. Waiting with you would be a beautiful thing.”

“You won’t have to wait long,” Alya said, a promise and a desire already brewing that she knew wouldn’t need much to flourish. “I know you won’t.”

Marinette’s thumbs were brushing her cheekbones when they kissed again. “I get what you mean,” she said. “When you said that it feels like this isn’t real sometimes. I feel the same way. Like something this nice is just meant to slip through your fingers one day.”

Alya tightened her grip on Marinette’s hand -- tight enough to feel a steady, strong pulse beat in between their hands. “I’m not going anywhere,” she promised. “I couldn’t dream of it.”

#miraculous ladybug #alyanette #alya cesaire #marinette dupain-cheng #alyanette fanfiction #miraculous ladybug fanfiction #my writing #tumblr fic

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gyratingeonian · 8 years ago

Text

JANE: -Guess who's in the kitchen again? It's this gal. She's been occupying much of her time this way; it's largely to burn off anxious energy in waiting for the fated crew to arrive, but also because she just can't stand boring meals day after day.-

JANE: -She isn't baking right now, surprisingly. She's slowly cooking a nice pot roast for dinner, ingredients fresh from one of her many pieces of portable Crocker tech. Her apron reads "Hot Daddy"; an artifact salvaged from somewhere in the pantry.-

JOEY: =She'd been lying upstairs, staring at the ceiling for hours. It was hard being able to sleep soundly without the threat of being discovered for her human qualities, and at times it was hard to believe she had a family again. Mostly everyone all together and all in one place, too. She'd heard some quiet rummaging in the kitchen below until the vapors rose and holy shit, whatever it was smelled delicious. She's sneaking down the stairs like a kid on Christmas Eve, carefully poking her head around the corner.=

JANE: -She doesn't notice Joey immediately; while the food cooks, she's leafing through a business book she found on a shelf and laid out on the counter before closing it back with a sigh. There's not much point in studying business when the business in question is currently being run by an evil alien sea queen, is there?-

JANE: -She scans the room, and then double takes at a pair of eyes around the doorway.- Oh!

JANE: Good... morning? Not really, but I haven't made any breakfast yet. Sorry. I wasn't sure if anyone was up yet.

JOEY: =She finally came out of hiding and stepped the rest of the way down the stairs, smiling in greeting.=

JOEY: nah its fine im not usually up around this time anyway

JOEY: the jet lags been awful =joke=

JANE: The mysterious interdimensional portal-lag, you mean. Hoo. -It's not that funny, but she's trying to make the most of it.- I understand completely.

JANE: Do you like eggs and bacon?

JOEY: =She perked at this=

JOEY: you mean to say

JOEY: you guys actually have that here?

JOEY: =eyes the refrigerator= 8o

JANE: Well... Sort of.

JANE: I conveniently happen to have a very good storage unit on my person.

JANE: -She's already pulling out pans- How do you like your eggs?

JOEY: =when was the last time she had anything that wasn't grubloaf lathered in grubsauce?= JOEY: oh jane you dont have to go through all that trouble—

JOEY: =fusses.=

JOEY: ....

JOEY: sunny side up

JOEY: =she's WEAK=

JANE: -snrrrk- Me, too.

JANE: Don't worry. This is better than sitting around, stewing in potential doom scenarios. -she produces a package of bacon and cuts it open while the pan heats up on the stove-

JANE: And I could use some breakfast, too...

JANE: Shucks. All I've eaten this morning is a bite of leftover cheesecake.

JOEY: that wont do at all! heres to proper sustenance hahaha

JOEY: =she approacheth= it is only right of me to ask if you need help with any of this

JANE: Hmm...

JANE: Actually, I do need help with something. -glances over at her- I've been pretty curious about all this... estranged family business.

JANE: I just never felt like there was a good time to corral you all and ask about it. Actually, the image itself seems pretty rude.

JOEY: oh

JOEY: well... =she leaned back against one of the counters and sighed, laughing a little helplessly as she dragged a hand down one cheek=

JOEY: where to even start?

JANE: Perhaps the beginning?

JANE: As a genuine suggestion, not a sassy remark.

JOEY: =she glanced up at her and soft laughter replaced her expectant expression.=

JOEY: yeah thats always a good place

JOEY: we were little then

JOEY: dad was an explorer so he was gone often

JOEY: our aunt came to stay with us - mom jude tess and me - she had a baby with her

JOEY: bout a year later some people at her work did something that scared her off =she shrugged= and so she left

JOEY: i guess she didnt want us getting caught up in it but it happened anyway =Joey smiled, shaking her head= from that point on we got really good at camping

TESSERACT: =Soft boof as he comes wagging his entire body down the stairs. He smells FOOD.=

JANE: ... -She can sort of guess what that means, but...- Oh hi, doggy. -casually braces herself against a counter-

JANE: No bacon for you yet!

JANE: Um-- So you-- lost your home? Because of... a bad business venture?

JOEY: yeah—

TESSERACT: boof! =Whines up at jane=

JOEY: :O down tess

JOEY: you know better that that

TESSERACT: =WHINES again but lays his head down right on Jane's foot. licks her leg and looks up with those big puppy eyes=

JOEY: we couldnt really go back to it for a while but soon enough they left us alone and we got to go back

JOEY: guess they figured what could a woman her kids and their dog do? not much of a threat, you know

JANE: A... threat?

JANE: This sounds a little more dastardly than I was imagining.

JANE: Was it... you know... them?

JOEY: =she nods=

JOEY: the same people that have taken over skaianet

JOEY: it was our dad and aunts lifes work

JOEY: and they took it out from under them so easily

JOEY: =she ran her hand on the edge of the counter, just feeling the texture there=

JOEY: one day dad never came home

JOEY: i thought for sure because of his connections theyd gotten to him somehow

JOEY: not very long after that mom never came home either(edited)

JUDE: -at some point during the conversation, jude had come up from the basement, but when he heard the topic of discussion, he wound up lingering in the hall just outside the kitchen. hearing their skeletons get dragged out made him anxious, but it was important that jane knew exactly what they were dealing with -- what his whole family had always been dealing with. he runs his hand along the wall, awkwardly stuck in place.-

JOEY: but we claire-leys don't know when to keep our heads down and mouths shut(edited)

JOEY: jude tess and i went off for some daring do and picked up where dad and aunt jo left off

JOEY: it was better for me to think they were dead cause nothing can hurt you when you expect the worst, right? but jude flat out refused to believe that =She shook her head= he was so much stronger than me - bouncy little optimist

JANE: -Jane can't help laughing a little at that description, despite the story itself.- Well... you can sure tell you're related.

JANE: And... if you don't mind me saying so, I'm sure you gave him plenty of push he might not have had alone. -At least, when she met him, he hadn't really been outside in years.- I think it all works out.

JANE: But how did you end up... Elsewhere?(edited)

JOEY: we both had that effect on each other =she glanced down at the counter again= JOEY: it was a whole stack of things but aunt jos research to put it simply JOEY: its what they were after all those years

JOEY: or one of the things at least

JOEY: that research led us to the portal downstairs which in turn led to skaianet finding out jude and i werent so harmless after all

JOEY: =she shrugged her shoulders, but it was more like brushing off the uncomfortable feeling of that distant memory than to indicate something like indifference=

JOEY: they wanted what we knew and if it hadnt been for jude they would have gotten what they wanted(edited)

JANE: ... I have a feeling this tale is nearing its bitter conclusion. -She watches Joey, brows knitting with some concern at the way she seems more uncomfortable the further this story goes.-

JANE: You don't have to tell me all this if you don't want to. My curiosity isn't worth digging up too many bad feelings.(edited)

JUDE: -with an exhale, he finally moves to join them in the kitchen, eyes down cast but he looks up after he gets his hands on a cookie.- ...

JUDE: hello

JUDE: sorry for interrupting...

JUDE: and also for

JUDE: eavesdropping

JANE: !

JANE: Jude.

JANE: I didn't hear you creeping up.

JANE: ... I didn't mean that the way it sounds.

JOEY: =Her back was to the stairs and she turned, a smile lifting as she saw it was her brother. Wow. She has to get used to them being in the same place again.= hey...

JOEY: =she's relieved he was here. The events leading up to everything were easy to say, and of course on Alternia she changed up a few things to suit her trollsona's history. But she'd never gone so far to explain the separation itself other than that it happened. The fear of never seeing her brother again didn't hang heavy over her head and the past didn't hurt quite so much=

JUDE: -catching a glimpse of her smile, he can't help smiling too.- it's alright

JUDE: creeping is probably technically a good way to describe my... general movement

JANE: Well... as long as we're all agreed. :B

JANE: -drapes a paper towel over a plate and starts piling the cooked bacon on it-

JUDE: heh... -cookies and bacon... part of a balanced breakfast. he didn't think this through.-

JUDE: -also sweats because he disrupted the conversation, which makes it his responsibility to initiate it again.- ...

JUDE: so...

JUDE: bacon

JOEY: =she's staring at Jude, and it's obvious she's staring. Her smile is growing by the moment.=

JOEY: yes! and eggs!

JANE: And cookies, apparently. -gives Jude a GAZE.-

JANE: How do you like your eggs?

JUDE: -HOW YOU LIKE YOUR EGGS... FRIED OR FERTILIZED...-

JUDE: sunny side up

JUDE: to match my sunny outlook on life

JOEY: =she just...smiles at him. How can she not?=

JOEY: good answer.

JANE: -SNORTS-

JANE: I'm glad we are all still in agreement, despite serious flaws in your argument. -cracks another egg in the pan-

JANE: How are things going down there?

JUDE: well... none of my other long lost relatives have jumped out so

JUDE: uneventful, mostly

JUDE: which is fine I guess

JUDE: but I'm still anxious for the UU to get here

JUDE: I feel like they should be here by now

JUDE: what if something happened? maybe alternians attacked their ship and their technicians hacked into all their accounts, pouring over records of everyone's speech patterns to perfectly replicate them when they talk to us

JUDE: or maybe... it was never really them to begin with

JUDE: and they knew we were going to contact them

JUDE: and they've lured us here to back us into a corner and now they're waiting for the perfect moment to extract the portal and do away with us once and for all

JOEY: ...

JOEY: jude

JOEY: you know ive always trusted your gut

JOEY: even though those are a whole lot of maybes, maybe we should take precaution

JOEY: is there an easy way of storing the portal if we have to make a quick getaway?

JOEY: plus, if this place is as heavily fortified as it looks, shouldnt there be another way to exit the building than the front and back doors?

JANE: -She swears she's going to find a camera somewhere to stare in, just watch her.-

JANE: Maybe Jamison would have some ideas? Perhaps a rational suggestion or two.

JUDE: I've been able to store it pretty efficiently but

JUDE: maybe I should dismantle it for now

JUDE: if they do show up we can study it with them

JUDE: ... I've mapped out all the escape routes too

JUDE: I mean I found some of James' blueprints of the house but I

JUDE: also physically went around the house looking for exits...

JUDE: but more eyes help... my dad is really good at finding weaknesses in designs so yeah thanks for the suggestion jane

JOEY: theres no harm in taking precautions

JOEY: should we practice drills?

JANE: -SIGHS-

JANE: -slides eggs onto plate-

JOEY: hehehe you never know, jane!

JANE: Well, let's wait until after breakfast for the main course of hubbub. :B

JOEY: good plan!

JOEY: one should never act on an empty stomach :)

#in which how do you like your eggs?#euphobicgeotech #gainfulgumption

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