#it’s hard to tell when it started cause I cough a lot normally from the long covid

[raeathnos]

.

[aluciahaz]

God. First off, I adore your writing so much!! Can never get enough tbh.

Secondly, Adam with a mommy kink?? And he doesn't even tell you until he accidentally lets it slip outside of the bedroom during a normal conversation. At first, he tries to deny it or cover it up by saying he totally said a different word, but after a bit of prodding he's putty in your hands and now you most certainly have an issue to deal with later today. Poor baby can berely even focus on his daily tasks with how embarrassed and eager he is.

And don't even get me started on when you actually get him in bed. He's such a brat, but his hard on immediately gives him away. Whisper a few sweet words in his ear, and suddenly, he's mommy's good little boy.

ah TYSM for the compliment!! i try my best🙏 and you're SO REAL abt adam😭

this is a bit ooc and yes i skimmed over his daily tasks because i couldn’t think of anything sorry 😭😭 hope you enjoy though!

what a mess

—adam x gn!reader

—includes : mommy kink, sub!adam, dom!reader, crying

“adam, for fuck’s sake just be normal for once and put your dishes in the sink—“

“c’mon, babes! there’s a lot!”

“there’s only four! god, you were doing so good the past week too! even rinsing your plates! what happened—?”

“mommy plea—,”

“…”

“…”

“say that again?”

“i said—uh, i said MONSTER. cause you’re a heartless fuckin’ monster making me put all these plates away in the sink—”

a start to a new revelation bloomed right in front of you, just like adam’s increasing blush. you laugh in glee, this news bringing so many questions to your mind.

“don’t be coy. c’mon, baby boy. what did you really call me?”

“wh—cough—HUH?” his startled face said it all as he looked at you, dumbfounded. sure, you’ve called him a few names before, but they were more on the line of ‘idiot’ and ‘dumbass’ rather than something endearing like ‘baby boy.’

and he liked it.

it was clear he did. from the way he gulped nervously, to how his eyes dilated like a cat’s, you knew.

you cackle at his dramatic reaction before opening your mouth, about to brush over the topic for your lover’s sanity before something truly miraculous happened.

“…mommy.”

his eyes divert to the floor, clearly nervous about your reaction. he wasn't one to share his more vulnerable side. it took months alone to have him admit that he even had flaws for goodness sake, but this was a big step for him. an act of trust.

and you sure as hell weren’t going to reject it.

“good boy,” you coo, lifting his head up with your hand, a gentle smile on your face. you feel him hesitantly rub his cheek into you palm, looking up at you with a dazed expression of shock. it was evident he didn't expect you to react this way.

when you plant a kiss on his lips, he’s practically melting into your touch. usually, he’d try to dominate every action, fighting for control to support his unhealthy ego, yet this time, he gave it all to you; a blessing.

he moans into your mouth weakly as you push him back into the kitchen counter, making him lean his back over it as you deepen the kiss. you can feel his breath quicken, the increasing warmth from his cheeks, and his desperate hands clawing at your waist.

all signs for you to keep going. an invitation to ravage him and leave him breathless.

but you pull back.

he whines in annoyance, grabbing your shoulder in order to make you come back, but you click your tongue, flicking his hand off you.

“you still have to go shopping, baby. later, i’ll deal with you, alright?”

he groans in frustration, glaring straight at you. but, you stay firm in your decision. he needs to be responsible. knowing that you won’t budge, he sighs, grumbling as he leaves to do his monotonous work.

“so good for me!”

that makes him leave real quick, hurriedly slamming the door behind him. goodness, he was so easy to fluster.

finally, the day passes, and he’s back home, clearly still embarrassed yet excited for what would come next. not to mention, impatient.

“shit, babes! you have no idea how fuckin’ hard it was to shop with you on my mind! couldn’t even focus on my goddamn lunch—mmpfh!”

but you can’t blame him. you are too.

he’s quickly shut up with your lips and pushed down to the bed with a firm hand as you climb on top of him. you remove his clothes hastily, not caring where it lands as you practically manhandle him.

“turn around for me, baby,” you huff out, the both of you gasping for air from your rushed kiss.

he frowns, glaring at you with defiance.

“why the hell would i do that? i wanna see your face when i fuck you,” adam smirks, running his hands up your sides. the fool.

you roll your eyes, raising an eyebrow at him.

“who said you would be the one fucking me?”

his expression was almost comical. his eyes blew up, and his mouth dropped in astonishment at your forwardness. but, with you over his body, pressed flushed against every inch of skin, you could feel he was into it. really into it, in fact.

you chuckle at his reaction before flipping his body around, a surprised grunt leaving his lips before you kiss his nape, trailing your tongue across it.

the shiver up his spine was delightful, and you feel him relax under your body as you continued pressing kisses down his spine like you were following a path. although it was quite a sweet action, it was obvious that adam wasn’t one to wait for the main course.

“c’mon, babes! the fuck is the hold-up?” he gripes, turning his face to the side to scowl at you.

“is that any way to talk to me? i thought you wanted to be good,” you move up until your lips are right beside his ear, your hands slipping underneath his chest, inching higher and higher.

“you were so polite this morning, and so adorable too with your blush covering your face, your eyes unable to meet mine,” your tone is hushed as you speak, and for once, adam is quiet, only focused on listening to you.

with a grin, you feel the buds on his chest as you roam your hands under his torso, and you can’t help but pinch them ever so slightly, eliciting a gasp from the gruff man below you.

“i know you can be good for me, pretty boy,” you kiss the corner of his jawline as you keep teasing his chest, making him shudder and moan from your fingers.

“so why don’t you try again and ask nicely this time, alright?” you say, nipping his ear ever so slightly.

his breath is shaky, and although known to be the most egotistical angel in heaven, his pride crumbles underneath your sweet words, melting his brain like chocolate over a warm fireplace.

“please—please, touch me more,” he manages to say, stumbling over his words as he surrenders himself to you.

“please, who?”

“please… m-mommy—AH! ha—,” he keens as you twist your fingers, making him jolt in both pleasure and pain, digging his face into the pillow.

“good boy!”

the whine that leaves his throat is full of joy, pleased at your praise.

and you never let it up as the night goes on.

“taking me so well, baby boy,” you say, thrusting into him slowly as you let him get used to it. it was the first time he’s done this, yet it was like he’s done it for years considering how his back arches in a crescent-like shape as he pleads for more, his hands and knees staying somewhat strong as he keeps himself up.

“f-fuck, ngh! how are you so—good at th-THIS!” he cries out, gasping like forgot how to breathe as a particularly deep thrust hits that foreign spot inside him, making his knees buckle in response.

“i could ask you the same thing,” you tease, holding him by the hips as you pick him up from his faltering position.

your pace starts to pick up, and he seems to absolutely love it, his eyes closing in bliss as he moans wantonly. how has he not done this sooner? this felt fucking amazing!

so amazing in fact, he didn’t notice how he kept babbling on how it was—

“so good! y-yes, ugh, FUCK! yeah—mommy, keep—going, m-mommy!”

shortly, his head hits the pillow as his arms give up, a loud wail escaping as you keep driving into him, making him feel like his whole world was flipping upside down. his voice was breaking, and the rasp rolling off his tongue was starting to sound a bit painful.

but it was absolutely delightful to see him fall into pieces like this. to deteriorate into a whining, begging mess for you. for him to run his voice dry just to have you to touch him.

“m-mommy! ah! gonna cum, oh fuck—! don’t stop!”he shouts, his glossy eyes opening slowly as he turns his head to the side, panting as he looks up at you.

a mess, really. he was a beautiful, desperate, mess of an angel. so lovely, he was. the thin layer of sweat reflecting the lamp in the room made him truly look heavenly, and the tears that had started to run down his cheeks seemed to make him even more divine.

the state of him was perfect, and you can’t help but take a mental picture of him in your head for later before fucking him relentlessly, your hand making its way to his cock slowly.

“wouldn’t dream of it.”

and only with a few touches, he seems to unravel instantly, a broken scream filling the room as he finishes, his fingers gripping the sheets like his life depends on it.

you let go of his hips, letting him collapse onto the bed as he shudders in brief aftershocks, panting heavily with his hair splayed wildly on the pillows.

you wrap your arms around him, whispering sweet nothings into his ear as he keeps whimpering for your love, your care. he’s just his needy self now, his persona gone, leaving only his affection-craving, tender self in your hands.

“thank…thank you, mommy.”

adam has always been a messy man. and although it was usually quite irritating, you don’t mind cleaning up after him this time…

he still has to do the dishes tomorrow though.

tags : @luciferspetduck @xx-all-purpose-nerd-xx @drlucichen @mvskedxrtist

how the fuck do i forget to add tags to every post

[luxurydumpsterfire]

Hazbin Hotel ships I like!!! 1¡!!¡(In no particular order) (Includes non-canon ships) (This is just for fun and is not meant to offend anyone!) (Okay, I'm going to stfu now).

Let's go!

Radiodust!

These two live in my head rent free,all day,every day,24/7,365.

And most of the time they're kissing.

Anyways.

We know that they both lived in the same decade and have similar tastes in music and cuisine,which is already a great start! I also love the idea of Alastor adoring everything about Angel EXCEPT for the sex. Cause let's be real,Angel needs that. He deserves a complete and total gentleman who would never lay a finger on him; Especially after tolerating abuse from you-know-who, cough,cough,fuckyouValentino,COUGH.

Also,the tropes??? Good old fashioned lover boy x Killer Queen? Mafia x Serial killer? Hello???

10/10, Literally one of my favs.

2. Chaggie!

My babies!

Okay, I admit these two are very cute. Since neither of these two age normally, Charlie's a hellborn and Vaggie's a fallen angel,it means they'll get to grow old together! :)

I love the opposites attract trope and these two are no exception!

I would definitely like for them to get more screen time in the second season 2,since they didn't get much in the first one,but other then that, they're perfect!

3. Nifty x Baxter

(Do these two have a ship name? Idk?)

Baxter hasn't even come on to the show yet but I can already tell these two are going to be Chaos gremlins,in their own,lovable,concerning ways 😌

4. Lucililith

I don't believe for a SECOND these two aren't in love,even if just a little bit.

Yes,yes,yes,I know they're divorced. AND? THEY CAN STILL GET BACK TOGETHER! THEY'RE IN THEIR DIVORCE ERA, GUYS.

I think it's mostly the fanart that got me hooked,lol. And the fact that I would love to have them as my parents, honestly.

5. CasinoBomb

(No photo for this one,sorry 🥲)

I...I don't know,man,@zaebeecee 's posts about them altered my brain chemistry and...I DON'T KNOW WTF HAPPENED,IDK

I just saw one of their posts and the more I thought about it,the more I liked it

Something about them just clicks,you know? It's one of those ships that makes no sense but also a lot of sense.

Also,if you don't know what characters I'm talking about, it's Husk x Cherri bomb.

5. Radiorose

He doesn't mind her touching him 😢

They're so cute,omg 😭

Look at them!!! 💗💗💗

Although I mostly prefer them as besties, I also like the idea of them being together. You can tell he's a lot more comfortable with her then anyone else in the show and I love that ☺️

6. Radiohusk

(Art belongs to @vadoodlevee and it will be taken down if I am asked to).

Ah yes,the two loser old men in love. GIVE THEM TO ME.

They've known each other for years and are sick and tired of each others bs. They know what the other like's and dislike's because they're begrudgingly stuck together. They actually can't stand each other.

I'M SOLD!

And no, I'm not glorifing the slave x master thing. I've shipped these two HARD since the pilot,so calm down.

Alright, let's get more into the crackships/rarepairs. Not counting Casinobomb cause we've actually seen those two interact,lol.

Feel free to give your own personal take on these(as long as they're not hateful)!

7. Caramel Apple!

Apart from me just really liking their ship name,I feel like these two would be a really cute couple. Like,she would take him out to one of her parties when he's feeling down and would comfort him about his relationship with Charlie and Lilith.

I also feel like she would be very polite to Charlie and Vaggie.

And I like the idea of them baking together ❤️

8. Angelic Ballet!

A little hesitant on this one.

So, realistically,these two would probably hate each other. Sera was the one who approved the exterminations,resulting in the death of billions of sinners, which puts Carmila and her daughters in danger. So that's not really a great way to start a relationship...

However, I think in any other circumstances,I think these two would be a nice couple.

They both just want to protect the people they love and are willing to go to extreme measures to do just that. It could be Sera realizing not all sinners are absolute monsters,and some were just people who made mistakes in life. Kinda of like Vaggie realizing the hellborn weren't terrible upon meeting Charlie.

Also, they're both very elegant ladies who need another refined woman to treat them right 😌🏳️‍🌈

[writerofadream]

Fortune favors the Bold ⛓

TDI!Duncan x Juvie Bestfriend! Reader ⛓

Chapter Fifteen: Tip me over (Pour me out)

(This is what I'm reduced too since my netflix ain't working, we'll be back to our regular scheduled programing tmw, so have fun with this new years eve chapter, you both are fifteen)

Two years ago

It was supposed to be a simple job. No different from normal, Duncan would sing, and as people were distracted you'd pickpocket them... and too think it started off so fucking easy.

"Am I blue?" Duncan's raspy voice rang out through the audience quickly causing multiple women too swoon.

His hair was it's natural black, he wore a black dress shirt with a gold chain, and black pants.

You rolled your eyes but got too work your hands flickering through people's pockets with a practiced ease. You had done this too many times, way too many.

"Am I blue? Ain't these tears in these eyes tellin' you?" Duncan's body always swayed when he sang.

His voice had developed a New-Yorker accent which was the place you both had been in the past month.

You flirted easily with a few men (and a couple girls) who seemed to be a bit sober.

Since today was New Years Eve it was like the purge for you both. Cops let robbers do so much shit it was wild you weren't caught.

Duncan and you were currently in a run-down bar a few minutes pass Manhattan which meant it still got quite a few wealthy customers.

Wealthy customers who thought no one could ever pickpocket them.

Clealry, they hadn't met you yet.

"Am I blue? You'll be too, if your schemes like your dreams, done fell through." Duncan's voice was annoyingly good. If you had been focused on him you'd probably notice the way his eyes were directly on you.

"Was a time... I was her only one. Now I am, the sad and lonely one, oh yes I am." he hated how easily you could flirt, he never knew which emotion you had fabricated was real or fake.

He was a good liar, but you were the best.

Your hands stole a woman's pearl necklace even though you weren't even looking at her. It was almost like they had a mine of their own. Duncan had paid the bartender to look away as you did your job.

He saw something glint and your eye as he continued to sing, he saw a man covered in gold.

He had five golden rings, a gold chain around his neck, a wallet that seemed to be bursting with cash.

Duncan saw you struggle with your kleptomania for only a second because it had won. This would be your hardest job yet.

You waited until the man had gotten a few (*cough* a lot *cough*) of drinks in him before you made your move. You began flirting with the man, making him laugh and chuckle.

He patted his leg telling you to sit.

Duncan bit the inside of his cheek so hard blood flooded his mouth. As he finished the song he finally asked "Any requests before we go home for the night gals and guys?" He cheerfully winked at a girl sitting up front.

"Teenager in Love by Madison Beer." A drunk boy hiccuped with his hand held high.

Duncan had to stiffle a smile at the song you adored. "You make me feel like a teenager in love, you make me feel like a teenager in love." He began snapping in beat with the music around him.

He watched as your fingers slipped two of the rings off the man. "You call me baby, your in ripped jeans, and you just pulled up to a love song." Duncan sang as the bar began snapping with him.

He watched as the man's lips forced themselves onto yours and all you could do was smile and giggle forcing the blush onto your face. Duncan had no greater urge then to beat that man to the ground.

Duncan watched as you took one more ring, the wallet which you quickly replaced with a decoy, and the necklace.

"Beat up corvette, smelling of cigarettes." He sang his heart so very glad that you were almost done and you could both head back home.

God, nothing sounded better then curling up on the beat-up couch with you while you watched a movie off his phone.

You gave the man a kiss on the cheek, saying a goodbye and as you stood up he noticed your body shift and your eyes widened.

Duncan watched as you picked up a drink from a passing waiter and said the words that made his heart stop.

"Happy New Years, sweetheart." You giggled but he knew those words. The code words for 'GUN ON ME'

"Oh come on, beautiful can't you stay?" Duncan whined pausing the song. The bar atendees whined as well. They wanted more of the music, and you. "Dance and sing." One girl cheered.

The entire bar roared for you to join Duncan up there. 'Man behind me' you mouthed and Duncan realized that the man you had been flirting with had a gun trained on you by someone in the bar.

Duncan motioned for you to come up to the stage. You stepped up giggling even though your stomach was in knots.

Duncan told the band to continue playing as he resumed singing, only you to accompany him this time.

"Time keeps on slipping." Duncan twirled you outwards and then back into his arms, he knew what he had to do, keep you constantly moving so the gun couldn't get a clear shot.

"You make me feel like a teenager in love, you make me feel like I'll be forever young." You sang and he thought it was beautiful, you weren't even the best singer.

But your voice had this crisp-clear quality that he adored.

He dipped you backwards kissing your neck causing the bar to whoop.

Duncan continued singing as you lead the dance, trying to find the gun. Finally you saw it, a flash the muzzle again as it tried to focus on you. The owner was in a red silk coat, he had brownish hair, and had a mustache, better yet he was standing under a clock.

"Talk of the town, you bought me a gown, told me you swoop in once the clock struck-twelve." You had changed the words to get Duncan's attention. His eyes found the clock, and then the man.

"I had a dream, you weren't so mean, but I kinda like it when you get angry." Duncan winked and he knew that you knew that he meant those words.

You blushed as he secretly handed you a miniscule blow dart he kept on him for emergencies.

As you waltzed together you tossed the tiny blowdart into your mouth and as he twirled you out you blew hard, hitting your target with ease.

----

You stumbled out the bar laughing your heads off.

"Okay so you've had ten guns pointed on you this month and I've had eight, this makes it the ninth one. Damn it you are still in the lead, Tarun." You grumbled rubbing a hand tiredly down your face causing Duncan to laugh.

"Always will be, baby." He twirled you around like a princess.

You were his princess.

"But seriously, scorpion, you okay? That man was being touchy in a way I know you aren't exactly used too." Duncan put an arm around your shoulders squeezing you tight.

"God, I hate being a fake-whore." You said dramatically. "Who said it was fake." Duncan teased ruffling your curled up hair. "It took me five hours to get my hair like this, hands off, tiger." You grumbled trying to fix it back up.

You were wearing a dark green cocktail dress and your hair was curled.

"Also, I'm only a whore for you." You whispered in his ear causing him to turn a different shade of pink, and you ran ahead laughing you ass off as he chased you.

Damn, you loved holidays with that idiot.

Because he was your idiot <3

---

Bonus! Texts between you and Duncan from his POV:

11 years old:

Me: Tell me I'm pretty!

Bunny<3: You're pretty annoying, that's what you are.

12 years old:

Me: Stay foxy.

Trauma bud 🤩: Die lonely.

Thirteen years old

motherless idiot <3: Bro your my bestfriend, I love you but, what the h-e-double FUCK drugs are you taking.

Me I love you too :)

Fourteen years old:

Me: Is something burning?

scorpion ♥️: Just my hatred for you.

Me: 1. this is why your mom died, 2. the toaster is literally on fire get an extingwishur

scorpion ♥️: spell it right first

Me: suck my DICK

Fifteen years old:

scorpion ♥️: I actually have a black belt.

Me: In what, karate?

scorpion ♥️: No, from Gucci-

Me: sorry i dont speak rich bitch

scorpion ♥️: this is why your father beats you

Sixteen years old:

scorpion ♥️: You're right.

Me: .... is the world ending, am i dying, who's DYING?

Sixteen years old

scorpion ♥️: I’m going to take you out 

Me: alr its a date

scorpion ♥️: I meant that as a threat i am litearally going to fucking stab you

Me: See you in twenty wear your good dress

Seventeen years old

My girl <3: You often use humor to deflect trauma 

Me: Thank you 

My girl <3: I didn't say that was a good thing 

Me: What I'm hearing is, you think I'm funny

My girl <3: uhhhhhhhh i didnt say they were good jokes baby

----

Another bonus: text when you were sixteen from your POV

Tiger 💚: Some dumb ass to fight a squid at the aquarium today- humans fuckin dissapoint me wtf

Me: Well, maybe the squid was being a dick. and in unrelated news i got ink on your blanket mb

[clowningaroundmars]

previously:

Here, the Doctor leaps over to the side, narrowly avoiding a fist to the jaw and swinging 42’s still unconscious body into the air… letting him tumble over the ledge.

"Catch!" He announces brazenly.

42 falls down, down, down.

Gwen watches in horror.

here we are you guys!!! the final chapter! are you guys ready? :)

don't worry, i won't play with your guys' hearts for too long! well. i mean

oh yeah, and remember that death tw on chapter 1? well yeah. no gory details ofc but just mind the warning

anyways, enjoy! :D it's the final stretch

<< part 4 of 4

Doc Ock cackles gleefully as he watches 42’s body tumble into the air and down onto the concrete parking lot several stories below.

With one last burst of rage-filled strength, Gwen football-tackles him over the ledge while his guard is down, sending all three of them sailing through the cool night air.

Doc Ock clearly doesn’t expect this, if his screaming was anything to go by.

But Gwen wasn’t concerned at all with his idiotic cries, she was a woman on a mission and by god if she wasn’t going to complete it!

If she failed two of her friends and directly lead to both of their demises, then what the hell was she wearing the mask for?

No, this ends now.

She quickly grabs Doc Ock by the back of his neck and grips onto another one of his tentacles as they fall through the air, ripping it straight out of the node on his spinal cord with all of her might.

“N-no-- don’t!! AAAAAAAAAUGHH!!”

The Doctor’s soul-wrenching yowl of pain might’ve made Gwen feel a little bad… under normal circumstances. But at the moment, her every bit of focus was pointed towards Miles-42 like a compass pointing True North, and she wasn’t letting him out of her sight now.

Making split-second calculations, she kicked the Doctor’s body off of her and used the tentacle’s technological properties as a last-ditch effort to hook herself onto a nearby streetlamp, swinging her entire body’s weight with a loud grunt of effort.

She intercepted Miles’ flailing body in mid-air and succeeded in grabbing a hold of him, swinging down onto the ground safely and falling onto the concrete. She crashed onto her knees and rolled over a few times, clutching 42's head protectively all the way down.

The Doctor… didn’t make it.

With a sickening crunch and splatter, he was a disgusting mess of red, wet garbage on the concrete. His tentacles weren't long enough to reach back up to ledge of the building and his slower reflexes caused him to miss the streetlamp entirely.

His remaining tentacles laid next to him just as limp and as dead as he was.

Well, shit. That was gonna be a nasty surprise for the paramedics to find later on, huh.

Gwen sighed with relief as she laid her head back down and took a minute to catch her breath.

What a day. She wanted this to be completely over now, but… she knew that despite this small moment of relief, she wasn’t quite out of the woods yet. Literally.

But also…

“Miles,” she grunts with effort, every muscle in her body crying out as she pushes herself off of her elbows to sit up.

Miles-42 is laid across her lap now and showing zero signs of waking up anytime soon. Gwen’s heart started kicking into overdrive again, and she held him in her hands…

Just like you held Peter… after killing him, an evil little voice sneered at her from the back of her mind.

“Peter? Peter, oh god. What did you do?!” Gwen sobbed, excavating her beloved friend from the rubble of her school’s gymnasium.

He wasn’t gonna make it… oh god, he really wasn’t going to make it. The poor boy could barely open his eyes, and his bloody, beaten face was something that was going to haunt her in her nightmares forever.

It was etched into the back of her mind, the back of her damn eyelids, especially when to her delight-- or horror, it was hard to tell in the moment-- he managed to crack open his swollen eyes and look directly into hers.

“Gw-- Gwen…” he coughed, weakly.

Gwen continued to cry. “No no no no no, no, no! What did you do!? Why?!” She pleaded, wanting any answer, anything to hold onto.

“I… I wanted to be special. Like you,” he managed, even weaker than before.

Gwen knew it. She could feel the thready pulse of his heartbeat growing weaker and weaker with every passing second, and time was running out.

But she still held on.

“… Peter?” She sucked in a breath.

“Peter?”

“Peter?!”

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

“Miles?!”

Gwen sobbed once more, clutching yet another beloved friend in her arms, in a position eerily similar to that fateful night. “Miles!”

All of the feelings she felt the night that her best friend had died came crashing back down and flooding into her chest like a tsunami.

She sniffled angrily, ripping her mask off of her face and working to pry Miles’ mask off of his own face, too.

... Damn it! What the hell was this stupid thing made out of?!

She didn’t want to break his tech, as complicated and extremely well-made as it was. She knew it was valuable and expensive to make, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

She needed to see if he was still possibly alive, if he could give her a sign or something, and she wasn’t going to be able to do it with this stupid mask in the way!

She didn’t trust her shaking hands to be able to read his pulse in this state… she needed to see his face.

After a couple of minutes of careful jabbing and prying, Gwen was finally frustrated enough to just slide Miles right off of her lap and pry the whole thing off of his face with one firm pull.

She managed to do so without injuring him even more, and immediately got to checking the color of his lips in the low lighting of the near-empty parking lot. She fussed over him, sniffling and wiping her tears all the while.

It seemed like his bleeding stopped for now at least, but that was without even knowing how much he had lost in the first place.

“Miles… Miles?! Please,” she begged as she held him in her arms once more. “Answer me, please! Let me know you’re still alive, anything! Wiggle your eyebrows or…” she sniffled, “I… I don’t know but god, please, anything!”

What the hell did Doc Ock even do to this kid anyways?

She examined his face once more through the tears in her eyes and noticed a new injury that looked relatively fresh, still bleeding somewhere from his temple.

Maybe he knocked Miles out for a longer time in his mad dash to the roof… and if that was true… he really, really could be dead.

Miles-42 wasn’t a superpowered being like the rest of the Spider Band, he was a regular kid with cool gadgets and intense at-home training, but a regular kid nonetheless. Gwen could recover from a hard head injury herself just fine, all she would have to do is just sleep the pain off.

But Miles…

Miserably, Gwen sunk down even lower to the ground and sobbed her eyes out, tears wetting her face and staining the spray-painted Prowler logo on Miles’ shirt.

She stays like this, clutching onto the limp body of someone she would’ve been happy to call her friend-- especially after all they’ve been through today-- and now he won’t even live to see the fruits of his labor.

Fuck.

Gwen’s wandering thoughts takes her over to his uncle Aaron’s face, how he was going to react to the news of his nephew’s untimely and unfortunate death.

Gwen thought about Rio and… well, she cried even harder.

But she didn’t get to finish because… Miles then stirred a bit, his breathing speeding up a bit before he laid his head back and sighed softly.

Gwen stopped crying. She was shocked, staring back into his blank face with wide, teary eyes.

… Was it her imagination, then? Did she want Miles to be alive so badly that she convinced herself that he moved a bit while she wept?

No. No, she’s got to suck it up, stop letting her emotions get the best of her and give it a real try this time.

Steadying her breathing and wiping the snot from her nose, she brushes her hair back from her face and turns Miles’ face towards a nearby streetlamp that casts down a cold, white light onto the scene.

With gentle fingers, she lifts up one of his eyelids, then his other eyelid, and then finally bends down to listen to his chest as closely as she can.

She hears a heartbeat, though not so loudly underneath all of the gear he wears, but a heartbeat nonetheless.

Miles really stirs this time, groaning and sucking in a breath as he slowly comes back online.

Gwen laughs wetly, wiping more of her tears and boogers and sadness away, only tears of joy left brimming in her eyes.

“Miles! Oh my god, you’re alive… you’re alive! You made it!” She announces gleefully, giving him a happy little squeeze.

“Ow,” Miles answers hoarsely, squinting in the harsh, cold light of the streetlamp overhead and coughing a bit.

“S-sorry, sorry. I’m just. Well, y’know pretty excited that you’re alive. I thought that you were actually dead for a minute there, bud! You really gave me a scare!” She laughs and sniffles.

Miles finally cracks an eye open long enough to exhale a bit and lay his head back down.

“Uhhh… who are you again?” He mumbles, and Gwen’s heart sinks.

Oh no.

“What? Uh, i-it’s me, Gwen! Y’know, the girl who you’ve been fighting to escape this horrible building with this whole night? Oh no… is your head injury that bad?” She frets.

Miles then cracks a smile, not quite being able to laugh but getting pretty damn close to doing so.

“Gwendy, relax. I know who you are. Joke,” he explained, and it earned him another head bump from being promptly dropped right back onto the hard ground.

“Ow,” he complained.

“You are a dick,” Gwen replied, folding her arms over her chest. She didn’t stop smiling through her tears, though.

“Were you crying over me? Oh my god, you were totally crying,” Miles says with a smile, not making any movements to get up at all.

Gwen unfolds her aching legs from underneath her and stands up on her knees. “Shut up. Stop talking. You’ve sustained a critical brain injury and you need to not make stupid decisions before we get you out of here, alright?”

Miles chuckles quietly. “Mmnyeah, true. Lemme keep my mouth shut.”

He wasn’t slurring his speech or confusing her for another person, so that was a good sign.

He wasn’t moving any of his limbs, though. So… that was possibly a bad sign.

“Can you, uh,” Gwen starts, glancing all around her as she fully stands up, “can you walk? Or sit up? I can carry you, but I need to know that you’re not paralyzed from the neck down first. I don’t wanna risk any more injuries, y’know?”

Miles wiggles his feet and flexes his hands inside of his gauntlets for a bit before laying back down and sighing again.

“Yeah, I can move my limbs. I don’t think anything’s broken… except for this massive fuckin’ migraine I got goin’ on right now. Just, uhm. Just gimme a minute.”

Gwen continues looking over her shoulder. The blades of a chopper are vibrating through the air several miles away but it’s gaining speed quickly, and steadily getting closer.

“Okay, you might wanna hurry up on that, because we’ve got company coming and we still need to get the hell out of here,”

Miles blinks on the ground for a few more seconds, gears very obviously turning in his head as he does.

After a few seconds, he says, “okay. Help me up, then. Slowly,”

It takes them several more minutes of pained grunting and a slow ascent up to get Miles standing again, but once they’re both steady on their feet, they get a move on.

Gwen has one of his arms over her shoulder, steadying him and carrying some of his weight.

“Wait,” Miles says suddenly, just as they’re rounding a corner of the building where several guards and scientists are still milling around. There are a few big white buses parked close by, most likely hired to transport the personnel away from the facility. Some are already sat inside.

Gwen ducks back around the corner and takes a peek at the scene before turning her attention back to her friend.

“Shit, you’re right. There’s a lot of people out there, most likely waiting for Octavius or something. We’ve gotta find a way too book it out of here undetected, though…”

“Mh, yep,” Miles grunts, sucking in air through his teeth for a second. “Ow, sorry. My head’s killin’ me… which kinda sucks, ‘cause my escape plan was to just hot-wire a car and hightail it outta here.”

Gwen laughed incredulously. “Oh my god. That was your grand escape plan this whole time?” She shakes her head. “In every single universe… Miles Morales is the exact same dork I always hate to love,”

“Psshhyeah right, hate to love. You’re not foolin’ me,” Miles smirks at her exasperated expression.

Gwen rolls her eyes and instructs Miles to lean against the wall and stay put while she goes to search for a viable vehicle they could steal.

“Cool. Good luck. I definitely won’t die,” Miles informs her, which just makes her roll her eyes again before bounding away.

Time for some espionage, Gwen thinks to herself as she skirts the outer edges of the parking lot and tries to avoid being seen by the several other armed personnel still waiting around to receive confirmation that they can now depart.

After a little bit, a few ambulance trucks pull up with flashing red lights and the paramedics jump out, which actually gives her some relief. The professionals were on the job now, everything was taken care of; they also served as a perfect distraction from what she was doing…

Which was looping around the entire building’s perimeter and seeing which car was left unattended and unlocked.

She really didn’t want to have to break any windows, especially because she needed to keep as quiet as possible since she still needed to go back and fetch Miles… but if all options were exhausted…

Bingo!

She eventually came across a parked Ford F-250 near a line of trees located just behind all of the ambulances and the commotion. It was unlocked (haha, sucker!) and was perfectly empty, ready for the taking.

Gwen couldn’t believe that despite failure after failure plaguing her on this day, her luck finally turned around at the last minute… what a relief!

Overhead, the chopper finally reached its destination, drowning out every sound around them with its spinning blades as it slowly lowered itself down onto the helipad located at the top of the building. Leaves were whipped violently into the air, trees swayed and shook with the force of the winds.

Gwen rejoiced again at the added distraction that would surely help with her sweet escape.

The helicopter crew wouldn't find much waiting for them up there, save for the unconscious bodies of several brutally-beaten henchmen, of course.

She fetched her friend who was now sitting with his knees tucked up under his chin against the wall, and together they limped their way back to the truck and climbed in.

Once inside, they successfully hot-wired it using Miles’ gadgets. Then Miles went to climb out of the driver’s seat.

“Uhh wait, huh. Where’re you going?” Gwen asks from the passenger seat.

“Oh, didn’t I tell you? You’re driving. Hop in.” Miles groans as he lowers himself from the high-as-hell cab, clutching at his side.

Gwen titters nervously. “Ohhh, no, no I’m not! I don’t even have my license yet, I can’t drive!”

Miles takes his sweet time painstakingly climbing into the back seat of the truck. He shirks his pack off, throws it onto the floor of the cab, and stretches himself out over the seats to lay down.

“Yep, I don’t have my license either, girl, you don’t see me chickening out when I’m picked to be the getaway driver!” He remarks, once comfortable.

Gwen huffs in annoyance, leaping over to the driver’s side and locking all of the doors once she makes sure they’re shut tight.

“Dude, forreal! I have no clue how to operate a truck like this! The gear shift isn’t even in the right place,” she complains.

Miles cracks one eye open. “Please tell me your dimension doesn’t have y’all driving on the left side of the road…”

Gwen huffs again. “No, I'm not British, Miles. I meant… this looks pretty high-tech for me and… what do all of these buttons even do? …Is this a touch screen?”

“Gwen, seriously, I get that this is a brand new experience for you but listen: there are like, no laws in this dimension. Literally not even kidding. Just pull up the GPS on that touch screen, punch in my address and we can get going. Left pedal’s gas, right pedal’s the brakes.”

She hesitated, but... there was no arguing with that! Who was Gwen to make decisions in a dimension she wasn’t even a part of, really? If Miles told her that his dimension ignored all traffic laws, well… then, when in Rome, right?

And besides, who else was getting them both to safety if not her? She needed to suck it up before they were noticed by any personnel sweeping the area, or before any cops showed up.

She took a deep breath and steeled herself.

“Well,” Gwen said nervously, both hands on the wheel and her eyes directly on the road in front of her, “bon voyage, then! Let’s pray I don’t get the both of us killed,”

“Vamos con dios,” Miles mumbled, an arm draped over his eyes. He quickly lost consciousness once again.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

About half an hour into their drive (which-- aside from terrible braking every now and then-- was admittedly pretty smooth, all things considered), Gwen pulls over to a greasy 24-hour fast food place that seemed to serve all of the shittiest, unhealthiest food ever invented under the sun.

She woke Miles up and asked him what his order would be, borrowed his jacket to cover up her unique costume’s design, and ducked inside.

She was surprised to see Miles up and sitting in the truck bed when she returned with their food, legs swinging like he hadn’t just gotten injured helping her fight a menacing four-armed madman not even an hour and a half ago.

He looked the worse for wear, braids frizzed out as they hung right over his shoulders like they usually did, but he was more alert now than he had been before. He looked fine, given the circumstances.

They sat side-by-side, gazing up at what scarce stars there were out in the early morning sky, the edges of the horizon peeking a slight blush of pink through the trees.

Gwen scarfed down her triple bacon burger and inhaled her large fries, only stopping every once in a while to take a sip of her extra-large milkshake.

A mildly amused Miles enjoyed his own fries and meatball sub in companionable silence.

“Feelin’ better?” Gwen asks, still munching on the last bit of her burger, which has now thoroughly stained the lap of her costume with grease.

Miles laughs, wrapping up the second half of his sandwich for later. “Yeah, a quick nap and a good meal helps a lot,”

Gwen hums in thought. “You were out for… a while. Like, back at the parking lot. I was getting real worried there, actually,” she admits.

Miles glances at her, studying her face for a second. “… How long? I mean, you were crying, so I guess it was a while,”

Gwen rolls her eyes. “Can you stop bringing the crying back up again? I just… I got scared, okay? You didn’t tell me what your grand escape plan was before you… uh, passed out, so I mean...”

Miles is skeptical. “Uh huh, the escape plan. That’s what you were worried about that whole time, right?” He ribbed her a bit, intending for it to come off light-heartedly.

The tense silence that fell in that moment made him a bit nervous, though.

Gwen looked… upset.

He backpedaled. “Uhhh, I mean. Yeah, yeah, the escape plan! The escape plan... woulda been a real shame if I croaked back there before telling you what it was. Of course.” He clears his throat awkwardly.

Gwen offers him a small smile and starts clearing the wrappings and the trash around her folded legs.

“I… uh. I don’t think I’ve ever told anyone this before. Well, not all of the details but. I don’t really do the whole friend thing anymore because of… I mean, I lost a friend before. And you’re Miles and-- I mean, not my Miles but the other Miles is-- was my friend, and I think we’re cool now, but when I saw you falling I just…”

Gwen sighs. “Sorry. I’m rambling. This is awkward.”

Miles leans back against the side of the truck bed, positioned in the same way that they were sitting back when they were having a bit of a heart-to-heart in the vents of Octavius’ compound. Funny how little moments like this seemed so serendipitous like that.

He studied her face again in the yellowing lights of the restaurant’s signs, thinking for a bit.

“Miles… the other Miles kind of told me some stuff. Not too many details, sure, but. Yeah,” he offered, trying to signal to her that he was down for a chat, no matter how depressing the topic got.

Not very many people in his world got to understand him on a deeper level, not even his own girlfriend. It was nice sitting next to someone who dealt with just as much trauma as him, if not more. It was... an opportunity for connection. Why not take it?

Gwen looked up at him. “Oh, you two talk about me?”

“Yeah, you’re all we talk about, your highness,” he laughs, then sobers up again. “Nah. I mean, y’know like, we talk about everybody. And he likes you, you know. So, yeah... sometimes you get brought up.”

Gwen sighs, leaning her head back against the truck bed and looking up at the stars above. “He shouldn’t, honestly. I think he can find someone from his dimension that… that’s gonna actually appreciate him, you know?” She looks back down into Miles’ eyes. “Not a self-deprecating thing, by the way. Don’t worry,”

Miles holds his hands up with an easy smile. “Not worrying,”

“Well good!” Gwen smirks. Then she shrugs. "I'm not sure it'd work out between us. That's all."

“... So about that back there… I took a look in the side mirror and uh,” he gestures to his shirt, the Prowler insignia now slightly messed up and blurred in some spots thanks to Gwen’s salty tears. "Yeah."

Gwen looks away, ashamed. “Yeah,” is all she says.

“Was your friend… a good friend?” Miles prodded a bit, trying to seem nonchalant about it.

Gwen saw right through it, even when she was purposefully avoiding looking at him. “Yeah. He was. My best friend,”

“Damn,” Miles replies. “I reminded you of him that much?”

Gwen laughs bitterly. “Don’t flatter yourself. I mean… I thought of you as my friend, which… y’know, you are, until we get to go our separate ways and forget all of this even happened. And I uh… I don’t like seeing friends get hurt. That’s all.”

Miles bobbed his head slowly, digesting this bit of information and taking a sip of his own milkshake.

"He, uhm." Gwen swallowed. "He died in my arms."

It was all she could say.

Miles winced because he understood. He really, really did.

After a few moments of silence, he cleared his throat. “Listen. I, uh. I wouldn’t mind calling you a friend after all of this, if you don’t mind. Like, even after we go home,” He strategically avoided eye contact with her. "We been through too much tonight to call each other strangers, right?"

Gwen smiled at him again. It was a sad smile. “Why don’t you have any friends, by the way? You seem cool. Well. When you’re not in work mode, that is.”

Miles chuckled. “Wow. Do I seem that lonely?”

Gwen shrugs. “The other Miles also tells me some things… sometimes. You just happen to come up every now and then, that’s all,” she manages as playfully as possible. She throws him a wink over her shoulder.

Miles' upper lip quirked up. “That little traitor. I’m giving him a wedgie the next time I see ‘im.”

Gwen barks out a laugh. “Good luck! He’s ten times stronger than you and he can go invisible,”

“Yep,” Miles nods to himself. “You definitely still have a crush on him.”

Gwen throws a fry at him and then they decide to finally dump their trash and continue their journey back into the city before the sun really started waking up and blinding poor Gwen, who was already learning how to drive on the fly and probably didn’t need the relentless sun rays beaming directly into her eyes while she was still at it.

They rode the rest of the way in much better spirits.

They drive past Newark, New Jersey and before Gwen knows it, they’re driving through Manhattan and reaching the Brooklyn Bridge.

“Okay okay, okay, okay okay okayokayokay,” she mutters to herself, hands firmly gripping the steering wheel and leaving slight indentations in the material. “I got this, I got this,”

Miles is now seated in the passenger seat, seatbelt firmly clicked in place. He’s leaned forward, ready to stop Gwen at any moment and pull the emergency brakes.

“Yeah, yeah, you got this, you got this! Don’t be intimidated by all the other cars around you, this ain’t our truck, remember? Everyone else is gonna be doing whatever the hell they wanna do, but don’t do anything stupid on the bridge, right? Otherwise, just keep your foot hovering over the brakes, like I told you before. Let this truck coast,”

Gwen tries her best to internalize all of his rapid-fire advice and not accidentally find herself flooring the gas by accident at the same time. She’s pretty sure her finger marks are going to be sunk into the polyurethane foam and possibly even the metal underneath forever.

She didn’t know who in the world owned this truck, but whoever he was, he was going to be real pissed off when he discovered it in the future.

Which, actually, speaking of…

“Sooo, how uh… where are we going to put this truck once we’re done with it? Should we… pull over soon, leave it in a parking lot somewhere and take the train the rest of the way?”

Miles chuckled. “Leave it? You kiddin’? This truck is basically brand new, pristine. We’re taking this straight to my uncle’s chop shop, we’re gonna take this stuff apart, sell a part here and there, keep the rest for our own gear.”

Gwen gave him a cursory glance. “Uh, your uncle has an auto shop? Huh. Dunno why that surprises me.”

“It’s not a legit business, that’s why. He only runs it as a front. We use it mostly to bring in abandoned cars, use the metals, wires and glass for our gear, other weapons we make to sell. Sometimes Aaron fixes other people’s cars and bikes for some money, though… and bribes.”

Gwen chuckles a bit. “Sounds about right. But I guess I don’t blame you guys. Gotta do what you can to… survive… right?”

She trails off as they get closer to Brooklyn's residential areas and see a rampant spike in crimes. Gwen’s Spider Sense goes off as she sees crime after crime being committed in the brand new hours of the dawn, when the sky hasn’t even finished lightening up to a nice baby blue yet.

“… I see that you guys, uhm… these New Yorkers here in this dimension are a��� lively bunch, huh?” Gwen comments distractedly as she drives past someone actively committing grand theft auto.

“Yyyyep,” Miles sighs. “Home, sweet home.”

“You ever wonder what it’s like to live anywhere else in the world sometimes?”

“Only everyday. But us Morales never run from anything. So,” Miles shrugs.

Gwen gives him a fond look.

"Sure do wish I could stop some of these people, though-- wait. Is that man mugging that other guy over there?" She cranes her neck over the wheel to get a better look.

Miles grabs the wheel to keep them from veering into a line of parked cars. "How about we just keep driving, okay? Eyes on the road, girl."

Gwen laughs sheepishly. "Right! Sorry. Spiderwoman instincts."

"Yeah, trust me, I get it." Miles replies flatly. "Don't get distracted. This crime's ours to fight, not yours. Just get us home, like, alive please?"

After finally rolling up to Aaron’s garage at five in the morning, bright and early, Miles lowers himself down from the cab once again and limps over to ring the doorbell.

He presses it in a series of patterns that Gwen only vaguely recognizes before the metal garage door eventually starts rumbling open, revealing a slightly disheveled Aaron still in his PJs, but with a fly coat on as per usual, and some nice-looking Timbs. He was casually leaning against a vintage Cadillac.

He held a mug of coffee in one hand that read “WORLD’S WORST UNCLE” in bold lettering on one side.

Gwen bit her lip to keep from laughing.

“About damn time,” Aaron grumbles, scratching at his beard and pushing off of the Cadillac. “What took y’all so long?”

Miles only gives him a cursory glance before going around the front of the truck to help Gwen down from the cab and dive into the backseat to retrieve his stuff.

Aaron raises an eyebrow at her.

“Uh, hello… sir. I’m Gwen!” She responds, mostly to dispel the awkwardness that hung in the air.

Aaron eyes the truck as he paces casually towards the two teens, gaze occasionally flicking down to the purple jacket that Gwen still sported... that very clearly belonged to his nephew.

"What, uh," Aaron starts, "what... happened to you two?"

"Ah, you know. High risk life-threatening mission, the usual!" Gwen quips on auto-pilot. Her mouth moves faster than her brain does sometimes.

Miles followed Aaron’s gaze and quickly stepped in front of her, holding his pack out for him to take.

“I got it,” he informed Aaron. “All of it.”

Aaron made a noise of approval, taking the pack and examining it.

It still had a few cobwebs dangling off of it. He hummed in thought, eyeing his nephew once more.

“Sooo, we’re gonna go upstairs now, cool? I gotta clean this super awful and deep wound I got from… uh, saving Gwen here. Yeah, she was gonna be sushi if I didn’t jump in front of her. It was Doc Ock, by the way,” Miles continued, as they both made their way into the garage and towards the door in the back. “Doc Ock, that we killed, too. By the way. Mostly me, of course. But, y’know. No need to thank me or anything!”

Aaron laughs and shakes his head. "I'm tellin' Rio, kid. I am! I'm snitchin', I don't care."

"What!" Miles exclaims indignantly. "About what?!"

Aaron's shoulders are shaking. "I'm tellin' her you got another girl around now,"

Gwen laughed loudly, grabbing Miles by the back of his shirt and yanking him towards the back exit door.

“I do not! Do not call her! Bye!” Miles called out before stumbling into the landing that lead up to the elevator of his uncle’s building.

Miles apologized about his uncle in the elevator ride up, and when he opened the door to Aaron's spacious apartment, he kicked his shoes off and sighed with relief.

“Make yourself at home, by the way… mi casa es su casa, and all that,” he says nonchalantly as he peels his shirt off of his body, shedding gear on the floor all the way to the couch.

Gwen only stands by the door, jacket in hand, fiddling nervously with the material.

“I should… I should go.” She finally says after a moment of hesitation. Guilt weighed heavily on her shoulders. “I shouldn’t stick around if I really don’t need to--”

“Why, ‘cause of Spider Society rules?” Miles scoffs, pulling a first aid kit from under the couch and inspecting his wound. “Am I still bleeding on the side of my face, by the way?”

Gwen sighs. “No. And, no. You’ve stopped bleeding a while ago. Look…” she dumps his jacket onto the back of a computer chair and looks down at her watch. “This little adventure was very fun and all… but you got hurt because of me, and I should--”

She stops when she sees Miles’ wound. It looked nothing like she’d ever seen before on a person... and she’s seen her fair share of wounds.

The gaping… thing that Miles was inflicted with didn’t look like any wound she’d even experienced before.

It was green, still had a slight glow to it from the weird snake-like marks winding out from the center. The dried blood scabbing over didn’t bother her at all, she knew how ugly a stab wound could look most days, but the green glow…

It looked a lot like the glowing green circuits back in that power box that she destroyed at Octavius’ compound…

She gasped.

Miles looked up from his inspection and they locked eyes.

“Uhhh,” his pupils bounce around for a bit, trying to think of something to say. “It’s… it’s not as bad as it looks?”

Gwen winces and then swiftly turns around, immediately punching in her own dimension into the watchface. “I’d love to stick around… but I gotta go. Don’t die on me, okay?” She tells him, speaking quickly.

Miles is caught by surprise, but eventually concedes. He places a hand over his wound and nods in her direction. “Uhm. Yeah, cool. Will do. You uh, you take it easy, too. Yeah?”

Gwen only offers him a sad smile in return and her own watercolor-bright portal is immediately opened. Then, she’s stepping through it like she’s being chased down.

After the portal closes, everything that was in the vicinity settles down after floating in the air a bit.

Miles is left alone blinking in the place it used to be, unsure as to why Gwen just dipped on him like that out of nowhere.

He looks back down to his wound, only maybe slightly infected, but still very sure that the poison most likely worked itself through his body by now. Especially after that meatball sub and the fries...

Maybe seeing poisoned wounds upset her or something, he figured, shrugging and going back into the open kit laid next to him.

He starts cleaning his wound with isopropyl alcohol, wincing every now and then when the chemical stung a little harder as he peeled away dried blood.

It isn’t until after he’s done that he remembers their conversation about her best friend, back in the truck at the fast food joint.

He shuts the kit closed, tucks it back underneath the couch, and picks his phone up off of the counter where he usually leaves it before heading out to dangerous missions.

He selects and copies Gwen’s number from the Spider Band groupchat that he never sends messages in, opens a new message box, and sends only one text.

Thanks, btw. For everything.

[ballofweirdsunshine]

Red Tainted Glass.

Megumi Fushiguro x F!Reader

Warning: cursing, blood.

~TRIGGER WARNING~

word count: 848 (kinda short)

tried to make as accurate as possible🤭 this is my first fic✨

THIS WAS A DRAFT AND IT DIDNT SAVE HALF OF IT SO I HAD TO REWRITE😭

Summary: While finishing up a mission, your technique takes a large toll on you, making you cough up glass and blood at least 3 times a day. Now, you have to mask your distress from your friends, boyfriend, and just people in general.

Pilot : Hiding.

Shit.

Thats what you felt like.

Utter shit.

How were you gonna tell everyone, especially your own boyfriend?

Things are hard and complicated.

As you walked back onto campus, you felt the infamous sharp pain in your neck arrive once again.

You felt the sudden urge to cough.

Yet, you fought it back.

You can’t bear anyone knowing about your problems.

You continued to walk around campus to locate back to your dorm.

…

You soon find yourself on your bed, staring at the wall in thought.

It wasn’t like you were actually thinking about anything, you just needed to recenter.

Snapping back to reality, you find the urge to see what your peers are up to now.

The sun was setting so they couldn’t be doing a lot during this time.

Getting up from your bed, you suddenly drop to the ground almost immediately.

Your throat aches as you feel the iron taste of crimson blood touch your tongue.

You clench your eyelids tightly before coughing violently.

“How the fuck do I find myself in situations like this?” You thought while dribbles of blood and chunks of glass come piling out of your throat.

Tears threaten to spill from your eyes while you feel your body start to tremble and shake rather quickly.

You try to fight back the drops of salty tears before it spills out of your weary eyes.

You feel a stop to the aching pain in your throat, as you let out a shaky sigh of relief.

You sit up and off of your trembling knees while you decide to quickly clean up your bloody mess before someone checks out all of your coughing commotion.

…

“What the hell am I gonna do? Even if I do decide to tell someone, who?!” You ask yourself, pacing around the room nervously.

”Maki? No, she’d just stress me out more by urging me to tell everyone. Panda? Nah, he’d accidentally tell someone off the bat.”

“Ugh! Deciding is hard.” You whine, dramatically plopping yourself on your bed.

“What is causing this..?” You mutter under your breath, staring at the floor hopelessly.

——————-

“Hey, has anyone seen y/n? Gojo-sensei said that she had gotten back from her mission a couple hours ago.” Yuji asked, walking into the room, rubbing the back of his neck while quickly scanning the room.

“You worried?” Megumi said, not looking up from his book to acknowledge his pink haired friend.

“A lil. She still owes me that dango and I was really looking forward to it!” The pinkette whined dramatically.

“She probably needed a break from you two bozos.” A orange haired girl retorted, pointing at Megumi and Yuji.

“Hey! I’m not a bozo!” Yuji shouted, feeling offended by the sudden negative comment.

“But if you wanna check on her, I’m not stopping you. If anything, she’s most likely sleeping.” She spoke as she lifted up her forearms in defense.

“Sleeping? She’s scary when cranky! You check on her, Fushiguro!” Yuji shrieked, obviously afraid of you when woken up.

“Just don’t wake her up.” Megumi replied dryly, still not even shooting a single glance up from his book.

“I’ll wake her up for sure! Not only because she’s scary. You’re her boyfriend so if anyone could get her to open her door, it’s you.” Yuji shuddered, ignoring his sea urchin haired friend’s suggestions.

“Fine.” Megumi sighed defeatedly, setting down his book and walking towards the dormitories.

While walking, the faint smell of blood lingered in the air.

It wasn’t enough for a human with normal smell to detect but it was still there.

Megumi arrived at your dorm, raising his arm to knock but stopping himself from doing so.

He felt nervous.

He didn’t feel nervous often.

He really didn’t.

Why was he nervous now?

He pushed his confusing thoughts away for later and pulled himself to knock.

“Y/n?” He called out.

No answer.

“Huh, that’s weird.” Megumi thought. “She normally answers the first time..”

He knocked again.

No answer.

Ok, now he was getting worried.

He softly placed his palm on the door handle, slowly wrapping his fingers around the handle.

He opened the door to see the lights completely out, making the room almost impossible to navigate.

Your body wrapped in blankets, back facing Megumi and breathing slowly with slightly unkept strands of h/c colored hair visible.

“She’s asleep, that’s all.” Megumi thought to himself, closing the door and letting out a soft exhale of breath he was unintentionally holding.

“So, is she in there?”

Megumi jumped at the sudden question from his pink haired peer.

“Yeah, she’s just sleeping.” He responds, turning to Yuji as he quickly regained his calm composure.

“Got it.” Yuji answered, shifting his gaze elsewhere.

“Come to mention it, y/n has been a bit more secretive lately..” He said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“You’re at least right about that.” Megumi responded dryly.

“Maybe we should ask Kugisaki about it! She’s a girl.” Yuji suggested, lighting up at his sudden idea.

“No, I don’t think we should bother her.”

“If ya say so.”

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

Thanks for reading! I might make this a series but I don’t know yet. Depends on how much attention this post gets! Bye!

-Sayori <3

[it-one-line-at-a-time]

ALSO hi sorry you're the only one that knows what im talking about when i rant about It

i think its really a thing that bevs fear is different. its not wearwolves or mummys its blood

and while that doesn't feel a lot different shes a girl right at the age of having a period for the first time

HAVING YOUR FIRST PERIOD IS FULCONG SCARY

coufh cpugh bev and carrie are literally both stephen king characters whos main arc is being scared of having a period?? he does this intentionally?? cough

they nod to this in the movie when the boys go into the store to get stuff to help ben and shes buying tampons and unsure of what to do. she hides the tampons to cause shes embarrassed

AND HER DAD i could go on for hourssssssss her dad literally says "are you not my little girl anymore?" LIKE whatttttttttt the fuck. and no one but her and the boys can see the blood. while yeah this is because the adults dont see it but do we know WHY the adults dont see it? ITS BECAUSE THIS ENTIRE STORY IS LITERALLY ABOUT KIDS WHO ARE AFRAID. AFRAID OF PEOPLE BRUSHING THEIR FEARS ASIDE AND AFRAID OF BECOMING SOMEONE WHO DOES THAT.

HER FEAR IS FUCKING GROWING UP AND THE MAIN VILLAIN AGAINST HER IS A CLOWN THAT ONLY KILLS PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT GROWN UP AND IM SUPPOSED TO BE NORMAL ABOUT THAT

i love bev she needs a hug and a warm blanket and raspberry leaf tea and a good movie and to be loved

Don't you dare be sorry! I'm having the time of my life answering these things, I swear to God.

I think Bev's fear of blood has sooo many layers. It's more explicitly stated in the book, just because it's easier in terms of description of internal monologues, but the film does definitely, as you say, give a few nods. There's obviously the scene in the shop where she is struggling to pick out tampons (honestly same, girl, I hate sanitary shopping more than I can say), which shows how new to this she is, and then she hides it behind her back from the boys, because she's scared and embarrassed to let it be known that she's growing up.

Of course she's also scared of her dad, and fucking fair enough?? The man is awful. During the scene in the book after she's met and dealt with Mrs. Kersh and Pennywise approaches her in the guise of her father and says some shit that genuinely made me nearly cry both times I read it, it's confirmed that she was scared shitless of her father, and what he might do to her. Touched upon in the movie when she first stands up to him - in a scene that had me in a stressed-out, terrified chokehold when I watched it for the first time - this fear is definitely only enhanced when she starts her period, which is why she froze in fear when he first came across the tampons. Because in her eyes, she's now being forced to grow up at the speed of light, and her dad hits her with the "Tell me you're still my little girl", so she's forced between wanting to grow up and out of his reach, and wanting to stay a kid so she doesn't have to face the hellhole of adulthood.

Long story short, she should NOT EVER have been put through that shit, nor should anyone. Like, even the idea of being afraid of growing up whilst simultaneously having to in order to escape your predatory-ass father is so fucking awful and I'd never even thought about it too hard before this, so I appreciate this ask for making me consider how fucking awful it must've been for her.

Anyway Bev is my gorgeous girl who I would rather die for than have her suffer yay <3

[starsnores]

For extra juicy drama it could be that the reason they broke up was because Karkat was losing his shit and going off on Gamzee and tearing him down like he does with everyone and instead of just taking it like normal Gamzee fought back causing them to end things then and there. Karkat moved out and didn’t hear from Gamzee until he gets a call from a Rehabilitation Center saying that Gamzee Makara listed him as his primary contact and that Karkat needs to come get him because he’s ready to get discharged. He picks up Gamzee and they have a very awkward conversation as Karkat tries to figure out what happened. Turns out not even a week after they ended things Gamzee overdosed, but Kurloz was there and was able to call 911 and get him the care he needed. They forced him to go to rehab and thats why he dropped off the face of the earth for a couple months. Gamzee doesn’t explicitly say that it was Karkat’s fault, but he doesn’t say that it wasn’t either. Gamzee is snappier now, a little bit more bitter and a little bit more irritable. Mostly he doesn’t just take Karkat’s shit like he used to. Alternatively Karkat can’t bring himself to give Gamzee as much shit because he 100% blames himself for everything.

I feel like Karkat wouldn’t even tell Dave that Gamzee is also his ex because that’s not how he sees Gamzee. He’s more than an ex, he’s his best friend and that’s what matters to Karkat (not to mention that he isn’t over him to begin with *cough*) I feel like Gamzee dangles the idea in front of Dave, making comments that seem a bit too intimate for a childhood best friend to know but Karkat insists he’s overthinking things. They’re just friends.

I keep going back and forth on how Dave actually finds out, but I feel like Gamzee just casually dropping it could be fun. “Oh yall are going to the botanical garden? The one we went to for our first date Karkat?”. Maybe it’s Sollux who tells him, “Are you talking about the Game Cube? The one with the ICP and Hollywood Undead stickers on it? Surprised Karkat kept that, when they broke up he threw a lot of Gamzee’s shit out.” Or it’s Rose who plants the seed, making comments about how it’s really weird that Gamzee still has a bunch of Karkat’s clothes at his apartment, especially because theres no way that Gamzee could wear them.

oh nice. very soap opera-y, i like that a lot. Gamzee is a bit of a fuck up, even when he's on his best behavior. unambitious and self destructive and when he starts arguing back it just pisses karkat off more because /he's in the right/. And the longer things go without him hearing anything from him, no texts with a sad little clown face, the more anxious and sick he gets but he tries so hard to ignore it and live life like normal.

[sugar-omi]

Incoming ramble I wanna hear you’re thoughts on this cause it’s been on my brain for a little bit and it’s got me in my feels

K so I forget if it’s in the step 3 prologue or in the Drive moment but either way when on the topic of Cove leaving for Nevada every now and again and choosing how your MC feels about it there’s the option to choose that it makes you sad and nervous specifically because the little 8 year old in you (who remember was probably HORRENDOUSLY lonely) was scared that Cove was gonna leave and never come back

Now that option alone already gets to me (cause I relate to it hard cough cough) but just imagine the MC actually confessing to Cove about that fear!! Obviously the MC doesn’t want to make Cove stop going cause yknow he’s literally going to see his own mom but MC also can’t deny that there’s that sad lonely little kid inside their head who just doesn’t want to be left alone again so they’re kinda just stuck in the dilemma. But soon enough after feeling well enough to admit it they finally tell Cove about it and get to actually work it out!!!

It just- AUGH ITS GOT ME EMOTIONAL MAN I CANT-

cove would actually feel so relieved omg bc it makes him sad too and he misses you, ofc ik he says that no matter what but I think he also worries abt leaving n nevering coming back

very traumatized from the move after his mom n dad divorced n he tried to run away bc he missed krya, yk 😟

reassures you that he'll always come back, and that if that did happen he'd prbly try to run away to see you LOL

would offer to take you with him!!! if you're dating ofc you need to work it out w his mom a bit more than necessary but she wouldn't mind if you stayed over or came to hang out w them

I imagine krya spends a Lotta time at work anyway since she can't be on leave the entire time he visits, so she'd be relieved that he has someone to keep him conpany

he talks abt you so much anyway, it's like you're basically there w them already

if you can't or don't want to go with him, he'd video call you sm more

sends lots of pictures n texts and voice messages

tells you basically everything abt his day and sends gm and gn texts

NO VOICE MESSAGES

omg...

coves sleepy, raspy voice saying "good morning" (

sounds like this, would even call you sunshine like sonny did!!!😭😭

I'm falling apart

mmm if he's gone a long time he'd prbly even come see you, or meet you half way

which is stressful bc he has a long drive but he would bc he's crazy abt you

omg gives you a shirt of his.

BUYS MATCHING SHIRTS

omg and asks you what you're wearing every day until you say that shirt n he wears it like "omg!!! what a coincidence!!!!" babe we know u did it on purpose PLEASE

sends you flowers

n by send you flowers I mean asks his dad to pick up some flowers and deliver them to you

sends his dad money too but cliff would prbly pay for them once or twice bc he thinks this is so chge n send the money back to cove so cove is like "dad!!!" n just makes an order on his card bc his dad is so stubborn😭😭

cliff is actually in love w your guys relationship he's so happy,,, pls

I should write some hc's on how cliff feels abt you guys dating bc my man's is so happy!!!! pls. OK anyway

OMG YOU VIDEO CALL N EAT TOGETHER

will ask what you're eating n have the same thing if he can

OMG HE PICKS UP ONE TIME AND HE'S RUNNING ACROSS THE STREET N HES LIKE "WAIT DONT EAT YET I GOTTA PICK UP THE FOOD"

n you can just see his chin, the sky and then it's like kinda black n then for some reason u can see the floor and then he's like "sorry" and he starts running back to his car AGAIN

and so he delicately places the phone down n is panting n just goes, "sorry. I'm ready now" *throws his head back* "omg gimme a minute... man. climbing thru your window really came in handy"

KISSES THE SCREEN

big "mmmmwaahhh!!!"

or tiny "mweh", no in between

falling asleep on the phone too

WOULD TUCK THE PHONE IN.. OMG STOP IT

he's totally normal abt you I swear

[aropride]

oh my god . okay i havent complained abt it in a while but since december 2021 when i got covid for the first* time (*you’ll see) ive been getting dizzy/lightheaded a lot, have random coughing fits, am even more sensitive to heat (i cant breathe in hot cars Like i start choking which was already a thing bc asthma but its worse now), and have frequently almost passed out after walking around for too long or just after standing up. (idk how many times ive actually passed out bc i cant remember really but its happened at least once). at first i chalked it up to Being Out Of Exercize and then i was like wait this isnt normal. and i wasnt eating well at the time and brushed it off as that but it continued even after i started eating somewhat better (altho it was a little less bad)

anyway eventually i was like yeah i probably have long covid or smth (also have pots symptoms guessing caused by covid) but i dont have a doctor (& dont know how to get one & dont have money & dont have transportation) so i havent been officially tested for anything

but the one thing that kept me from being like yes this is definitely bc of covid is in my senior year of highschool (started in sept 2020) (a year i have very few memories from so hard to compare symptoms) i remembered always being super out of breath + dizzy + lightheaded after walking up the stairs to my classes on the second floor. like id have to stand there for a second and breathe n shit and my friend was like “thats not good u should tell ur doctor” . but yeah i was like well maybe its just asthma and im exaggerating and its always been like this

WELL. i just remembered. in february 2020 i had this really awful cold. oone of the worst id ever had. coughing my fucking lungs up, couldnt breathe well, everytthing tasted weird. it lasted abt 2 weeks. You can see where this is goingg. i literally remember my mom saying like “wouldnt it be fucked up if tbat awful cold u had a couple months ago was covid” during like may2020.

and EARLY 2020 IS WHEN MY SYMPTOMS STARTED. and they got worse for a couple months and then stayed the same and i guess i got used to it UNTIL. i got covid in dec2021.

(ID: the “newsflash asshole” meme but the guy speaking has been edited over with a stick figure wearing a mask with wide eyes. the caption reads “newsflash asshole! it’s been long covid the entire goddamn time!” end ID)

[aajjks]

Bunny!Koo

and you don't go after him. when you hear him slam the door and lock it you somehow feel at ease because you finally have some space away from jungkook. while he's crying and screaming in his room, you take it upon yourself to install some locks in your home.

all knives, forks, spoons, and anything that would cause any harm are now locked up.

everything with a sharp end is either rounded or its been replaced.

you plug in all of your outlets.

anything with chemicals in it is locked away too.

you pretty much have gotten your home to be child-proof ever since the knife incident.

as the days go by, you still feed jungkook and since he locked himself in there he can, of course, unlock it. you both don't really speak to one another but jungkook is still wondering when you'll come in and coddle him like you used to. he thought returning the same energy you dish out at him would make you talk to him faster but it doesn't. nothing really changes and when he sees what you've done to the place he's not sure how to feel.

sure you treat him like a child but he wasn't expecting locks on nearly everything. instead of him making his own meals, you prepare them already in the fridge, often leaving notes to tell him what you cooked for him.

he is, however, happy you're still caring for him.

you still feed him and give him his necessities but what he wants, more like needs, is your affection. he thought you would be the one to break first but the truth is he's already broken. he's starting to feel awful and the more you neglect him, the worse he feels about everything.

he just wants things to return to normal and for once, he really feels bad for what he's done. sometimes his love blinds him and tends to do a lot of things impulsively.

so if it's an honest apology you want, it's an honest apology you'll get.

right now, you're cooking dinner and it smells amazing. you have your earphones in your ears and you're wearing a plain matching pajama set yet you look so pretty to him right now. you look refreshed while he looks like he hasn't gotten a wink of sleep.

jungkook shyly reaches out for you and before his hands can reach your shoulder, you take one of your earplugs out and turn your attention to your bunny hybrid. "dinner is almost ready. i can bring it to your room" you say plainly.

but, jungkook tells you he wants to say something to you and you're sure he's going to have his little tantrum.

he's gonna break into tears and victimize himself, right?

right?

~🫧

“Noona.” He calls you out, you hmm looking at him and his sighs.

Inhaling and exhaling. “I need to tell you something.” He has to be really careful with his words. “I-I miss you.” He can’t cry right now, no.

You’ll think he’s guilt tripping you.

He’s really not, he’s just really pathetic because he easily cries, and he’s an attention whore, for you and when your attention is not on him? He goes crazy.

“A-And..” he coughs, you are not reacting at all. Wow you are really hard headed.

“I’m sorry oh my God. You don’t h-have to forgive me now.. I know it’s really hard to, I-I hurt you. I blackmailed you… I’m so sorry you have no idea of how ashamed I am.” He can’t help but start to cry.

He misses you so much.

“Noonaaaa… p-please love me again?” He gets down on his knees once again, but he hugs your thighs. “‘S okay if you-you want to da-date oh God I feel so sick just saying it but you can d-date yoongi if you want to…”

“I just don’t want to loose you.”

[ginza-division]

Eiji's Thoughts on Kobe Division

Ren Nakashima

"Ah, the legendary Vox! My children are big fans of him, and sometimes play his songs all throughout the day. I often have to tell them to turn the volume down at night when Maiya and I are trying to sleep. Did you know Sigma Inc. actually sponsored one of his concerts once? It did great things for our appearance and revenue, but really, it was cause the guy is one of the most followed people on PROFILE. He's not in the top 10, but he is somewhere in the top 50, so there's that. I've spoken to him on occasion, and despite how he acts on stage, he's a relatively laid-back guy, which I have no issue with."

Max Soukoku

At Max's photo, the color seems to drain from Eiji's face. "...I don't know much about this child, and I'd like to keep it that way. He has a PROFILE set up, but he rarely uses it. I think he's only made one or two posts throughout the entire time he's had one, so, as stated, I don't know much about him. And I am not at all sad about it. I've heard disturbing rumors about this kid and how he is affiliated with "The Commission". If so, I don't want him anywhere near me. That is one headache and complication I'd like to avoid having anywhere around me or my family."

Kaiji Sano

"And last but not least, the legendary Jinx, himself! ...Or, is it 'herself?' ...Well anyway! This guy, like Vox, is one of the most followed people on PROFILE. Surprisingly, he has more followers than Vox! It's only a few thousand, but still! I thought people liked music more than modeling. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that he dresses up as anime characters, or as the opposite sex? I mean, I won't claim to be an expert on the fashion or music industry, but don't those two normally go hand-in-hand with each other? I mean, I know a lot of models who have tried their hand at singing, and vice-versa. It usually works out well, but not always. I mean, I know not just anyone can be a model or a musician. It takes hours of hard work, dedication, and..."

"...Crap, I did it again. I went off on another tangent. Sorry about that." Eiji coughs into his hand. "Anyway, like I was saying, Jinx is one of the popular PROFILEs we've had on the site. He posts a lot of pictures of himself there. Some are more liked than others. Akeno is a very big fan of him. He's started trying to dress in more female clothing. Maiya thinks it's just a phase he'll grow out of. Me, I'm not so sure. But regardless of whether he does or not, I'll still love him."

Lovesick

"When Vox told me he, Jinx, and... another member were joining the D.R.B., I was surprised. He never specified the reason, but claimed that he was "going to meet his dream". I don't know exactly what that means or anything, but... I wish him and his team all the best."

[adiaryofabrokensoul]

TW for asphyxiation and talk of death, specifically with an infant.

So, I almost died when I was 18 months old. I was with my mom, my aunt, and my sister in a grocery store and we had gotten to the checkout when I asked for a candy. My mom gave me a Werther's caramel, and normally I would just lick the candy a couple times and give it back. This time, however, I shoved the entire candy in my mouth and it went down my throat and I started choking. My mom tried hitting my back to get me to cough it up, but that never worked. From what she tells me, my face turned blue and I began to foam at the mouth. I can't find anything online about choking causing you to foam at the mouth, though. The next part, I'm not sure if I actually remember or if it was incepted into my memories.. I remember my mom holding me with my head over her shoulder where I could see my aunt and sister. My sister looked terrified. My aunt turned my sister around and held her head close to her so she wouldn't look and see me die.

Eventually, after an announcement was made asking if someone knew infant Heimlich, a woman came out of nowhere through the crowd that had gathered around to watch my life end. Everyone was so horrified, but no one tried to lend a hand. No one tried anything, until this woman.

She laid me down on the checkout baggage area and did the Heimlich on me and saved me. And while my mom grabbed me and held me, happy that I was still alive, the woman disappeared. No one knew who she was. My sister likes to call her my guardian angel. I don't believe in angels. (tbf, she doesn't either. I think she just likes to sound cool or special).

I have a deformed epiglottis. An epiglottis is the little flap in your throat that closes off your windpipe so food and liquids don't enter your lungs. Mine doesn't always close completely. I choke a lot, whether it be on food, drinks, saliva, or just air. And every time I choke, you can see the panic in my mom. You can see the panic in me. I feel like I'm going to die. My mom is worried I'm going to die. We were both fucked up from that experience.

I was taught that any time I am choking, I should hold my arms above my head. I don't know what it does, but I still do it. Or I start hitting my chest really hard.

That's the story of the first time I almost died.

[fandomzwriterk]

Smoke and Mirrors

Pairings: Tomas Vrbada/Smoke x OC

Warnings: slight gore + Amnesiac!OC + religious trauma (?) + characters dying + hinted innuendos later on + Kuai & Bi Han trying to be good brothers + Liu Kang as a dad figure (?) + Tomas just being his sweet lovable self + Bi Han being kind of a dick + Kuai Liang having no clue what it’s like to have a sister + confused “brother” Kuai Liang (?) + Raiden, Kung Lao, Johnny, and Kenshi being simps (mostly Raiden)+ Angel’s new family

PT: 9/?

A/N: oh look K isn’t dead! I’ve been busy rip me cause of College (I’m under the arts program I’m not saying what though) Anyways I have been busy so enjoy! Who’s excited for DLC in a couple of weeks?!

Also this chapter is inspired by the song “What a Man Gotta Do” by the Jonas Brothers (oh yeah… we’re going there)

“You can’t tell us what? That you’re a-“

“Tomas shut your mouth and let the man speak.”

Tomas shut his mouth closed after Kuai snapped at him. Normally this never even happened, Tomas never ran his mouth and Kuai never snapped at either him or Bi Han.

“Fine. Go on.” Tomas grumbled

Yuriel looked sad, his wings drooping down and his eyes no longer held the light they had seen earlier when he saw Angel. There was something he was hiding from them, and it looked like it was something very bad.

“I know you don’t trust me, you never-“

Yuriel coughed, quickly smacking his chest to wake himself up and get more air in.

“You’d never understand is what I meant to say. What I’m doing is keeping Azriel and Michael safe, just like I always have been and always will be. Azriel means a lot to me, she’s the only family, aside from Michael, that I have left. We lost a lot too, so don’t think I don’t understand what it’s like to lose something you love.”

Yuriel’s amber eyes flicked back to Tomas, looking back into the other man’s eyes with a glare that showed a lot of anger he was holding back.

“Azriel is safer with you and as much I want to have her here with us, it’s best for her if she doesn’t stay here. Besides, she’s happier with you two than me. She needs to stay with you Tomas, please make sure she’s safe. I’m begging you… and I never have begged in my lifetime.”

Both brothers looked at each other, Tomas looking back at Yuriel with empathy. Tomas had no right to judge Angel’s past trauma that she didn’t remember, and he no right to speak to Yuriel in such a bad way. But as much as he wanted to keep the siblings together… he knew whatever Yuriel was saying was the absolute truth and Tomas had no reason to not trust him.

“Alright. I’ll do my best to keep her safe Yuriel. I can’t promise that she’ll not want to come back… but I’ll do whatever I can as her friend to save her.”

Yuriel had a curious glance, seeming to think long and hard to himself like he’d heard this all before.

“Thank you. And Kuai…”

Kuai turned his attention from Tomas to the other man a few feet away from him, standing between him and his brother.

“I’m sorry our first meeting turned out like this. I truly did not mean to start off on the wrong foot with you and Tomas.”

Some time later…

“Hey Angel I’ve got a question… I hope this isn’t too personal for you.” Johnny spoke out of nowhere

Angel sat on a marble bench thinking to herself as everyone was readying themselves to head back home. Johnny, however, was all too interested in the girl with wings that he had to know everything.

“What is it Johnny?”

Johnny pulled out his phone, Kenshi and Kung Lao walking up behind him. He pointed it right at Angel, as if capturing a moment he’d like to keep to himself to laugh at.

“So… there’s this rumor-“

“More like question.” Kung Lao interrupted

“Guys come on let her rest she’s had a long day.” Kenshi added

“Quiet Kenshi I’m filming important information. After all it’s not like I’m gonna see another angel walking around like it’s a totally normal thing for angels to come down from heaven.”

“You talk too much.” The man with the blade replied

“And I still technically own Sento. So keep talking if you don’t want it back.”

Angel lost focus as the two began to bicker, so Angel got up and started walking away as Johnny lost interest and started talking to Kenshi. Kung Lao slid away to find Raiden amongst the group.

“I think I need to-“

Angel collided with somebody’s chest, taking a step back as the thick smoke around her almost made her stop breathing. Lo and behold, it was Tomas who had just smoked his way back to the group.

“Oh! Hey Angel I was about to come look for you.”

Angel coughed, waving the smoke away from her face as her vision cleared. Tomas was standing there, Kuai Liang landing down next to him as if he’d jumped all the way here.

“Oh good because I was looking for you too.”

“Uh… why? I mean I thought you wanted time with family?”

Angel started to move a little away from the group, still waiting for Liu Kang to show up. Tomas followed as they made a small conversation away from prying eyes and ears.

“It was… fun, I think, but it just didn’t feel right. It felt like something was missing.”

“Missing? Is it your memories?”

Angel shrugged, slowly they had been coming back to her but it was only about Yuriel and Michael, trying to remember something from the past that could wake up her mind.

“I’m sure you’ll figure out what that is one day.”

Angel looked from the ground and looked on at the rest of the Earthrealm champions as she focused her mind on the one person in front of her. Tomas was her safe space, someone she felt safe and protected by. Someone she trusted. Angel put her trust in him now… knowing he’d always do right by her even if it meant death.

“Hey Tomas.”

“Yeah?”

She backed up, ushering for Tomas to follow as they went to a secluded part of the bridge hidden behind a few bushes and tiny knee high marble walls. Angel stopped, spinning 180 to face Tomas as they both came to a stop.

“Can I trust you with something?”

“Whatever it is you know I’ll always be there to help you and be your friend.”

Angel brought her hands up, slowly snaking them behind her neck as she touched the simple knot behind her head. Tomas grabbed the one he could see, holding it tight as he looked her up and down. His grip was like steel, but there was a sense of gentleness to his actions.

“What are you doing?”

“Something I know I’ll regret not doing.”

Tomas let her hand go, moving them to go behind her head as well, just barely touching the knot in her hands as well.

“Let me.”

His voice was calm, slightly shaky like this moment was the last time he’d ever even lay a finger on her. His fingers made quick work of the knot, feeling the fabric going limp in his hands as he saw the top of her eyebrows peek up from under the blindfold. As he pulled the fabric down, Angel’s eyes remained closed, her face fully uncovered and open for Tomas to see. Her face expression, despite her eyes being closed, showed hesitation. She was hesitant to reveal this last part of herself… and she couldn’t remember why.

“You don’t have to do this Angel.”

“But I want to.”

“Okay. Take your time, I’ll be here waiting for you.”

Angel breathed in, feeling cold air fill her lungs as her eyes dared to open. Slowly, she opened them… fully seeing every color around her… and finally seeing Tomas in a way she hadn’t seen before. The world was more vibrant than what she had seen before, and every single shade of color stood out to her.

“Your eyes… they’re so… pretty.”

Tomas’ kept staring into her eyes, feeling a sense of safety and calm as the colors of blue and purple flashed in her eyes. The color was a deep dark blue, almost purple as well, a color he hadn’t seen before. Her eyes were peaceful to look at, a sense of calm washing over Tomas as he felt himself fully relax and just stare at Angel.

“You like my eyes?”

“I’ve never seen eyes like those before.”

Angel abruptly closed her eyes, sealing them shut as the back of her mind told her too. Why? Angel didn’t know.

“Wait! I want to see them again.”

Angel opened her eyes slowly again, Tomas’ overwhelming comforting energy made her full accept his request.

“I want to see those eyes more…”

“Angel! Tomas!”

Both Angel and Tomas jumped, quickly making Angel put back on the fabric as both Raiden and Kung Lao appeared behind Tomas.

“Lord Liu Kang says we’re free to go.”

“Thank you Raiden. We’ll be right there.”

Raiden and Kung Lao looked at each other, hearing the waver in Angel’s normally calm voice.

“You okay there Angel?” Kung Lao asked

“I’m fine. You just startled me that’s all.”

Both men left, watching over their shoulders as Tomas stood by Angel’s side. There was something that they needed to ask him but they decided it could wait.

“Let’s go home.”

Much later…

Angel decided it was too hard to sleep, so she stood up and started to walk out of her room as she pulled over a soft and warm robe over her, feeling the fabric run over her wings, sending a chill up her spine. The home was quiet, seeing Kuai Liang’s room dark as the night, Tomas’ the same.

“I think a walk will clear my head.”

Silently, Angel tiptoed down the hall, stopping as she reached the giant sliding doors a few yards down the hall. She reached out, feeling the hardwood on her fingertips.

“Don’t. Don’t do it.”

Angel turned, seeing nobody behind her as the voice echoed around her. Perhaps it was just paranoia. She reached out once more, opening the door a few inches, sliding between the small gap and onto the stone walkway. It was quiet, the sounds of water dripping onto stones and the crickets of the night were enough to put an ordinary person to sleep. Angel, however, was far from ordinary, so perhaps that is why sleep evaded her.

“The night is comforting. It’s almost as if I could have had a memory to do with this.”

The wind kissed Angel’s face, her long white hair blowing in the wind as the night was silent, seeing the glimpse of the moon over the pond that was at Angel’s feet, lighting up the dark water with a circle of light as if it could’ve been the sun. Angel could see the reflection of her eyes in the cold dark water, the purple-blue mix standing out amongst a sea of darkness. Her eyes… she hated them, but she didn’t know why she hated them. She just did, feeling like nothing good to come of her ever seeing her own eyes again.

“You know staring isn’t going to help you with your problems.” A cold voice spoke cutting off her thoughts

Angel turned to look behind her, and there stood the one person she hoped she didn’t have to run into. Bi Han stood there, his arms crossed and his eyes cold like ice daggers piercing through Angel’s very being. He stayed there, standing in the darkness as Angel took a step back out of worry. Was this when Bi Han would strike? Make it seem like it was an accident if she died right then and there?

“Don’t look at me with those disgusting eyes. Whatever you are, I will find out and I will make sure you don’t return back here to the Lin Kuei. You’re not fit to be one of us. You’re not even fit to be my brother’s love. I don’t know what he sees in you.”

“Love? I don’t know the meaning. And who are you to tell me I’m the problem here?”

Bi Han lunged, ice surrounding his right hand like a blade. He went for Angel’s shoulder, making Angel lean to the side and deflect with her own spear. Bi Han struck once more, his ice colliding with her spear in an effort to push the other back. They were equally strong, pushing back and forth on each other so the other could fall back.

“Damn you! Damn you for being a traitor to the Lin Kuei!” He said kicking Angel right in her chest making her stumble back

Another clash of blades could be heard over the silence of the night. Bi Han was strong, much stronger than Angel even at her best.

“Me? Look who’s trying to kill me!” Angel shouted swinging for Bi Han’s legs

Both blades met, the sound echoing throughout the compound as everyone lay asleep.

“If you’re so strong then, come hit me!”

Angel leaned back, the blade of ice just cutting the air above her face. She would’ve been killed that way. Bi Han was truly not holding back.

“Get off of her!” Someone yelled

A blur of grey flashed across Angel’s vision, Bi Han getting tackled to the ground as Tomas held him down.

“What the fuck are you doing brother?!” Kuai yelled as he ran up to the other two men

Bi Han flipped Tomas off of him and into the side of a building, turning his attention back to Angel. Kuai ran to Angel’s defense as Tomas struggled to get up from being thrown. Bi Han threw him hard, and he was partially dazed.

“Get out of my way brother.” Bi Han growled

“The hell I will!”

Kuai lunged back at Bi Han, weapon ablaze as both brothers came to striking each other with their own weapons. Tomas wasn’t far behind, appearing next to Angel as both his older brothers engaged in a fight.

“Angel come on!”

Both ran, however ice walls appeared in front of both of them, stopping them in their tracks. Bi Han had Kuai in chokehold, his back pressed into the ground and his weapon tossed aside.

“Angel get out of here! Run!”

Tomas rolled and head-but Bi Han’s shoulder, taking his older brother down to the ground with him. Kuai jumped in as both Tomas and Bi Han engaged in a fight on the ground. Blood stained the rocky ground, dirt covering Angel’s hands as she looked down at herself. Her eyes caught onto Tomas, who tried to get Bi Han off of Kuai. Both of his older brothers were engaged in a fight, and Tomas needed to break them up.

“Do it… you know what to do.”

Angel felt something snap inside her brain, like it connected a missing dot inside her head. She sprinted, feeling great energy push her forward as she collided with Bi Han and flew into a brick wall. Obviously, Bi Han wasn’t ready and was winded as Angel took him down.

“You-“

Angel had him pinned down, a blade of light in her hand above his head as her eyes lit of some sort of purple-pink mist. Angel went for the stab, only to be held back by Tomas while Kuai helped up Bi Han, who seemed to forget about what fight he had just started. Angel was held in with Tomas’ arms going from her back and locking her arms with his own.

“⊬⍜⎍ ⍙⟟⌰⌰ ⌿⟒⍀⟟⌇⊑ ⍙⟟⏁⊑ ⏁⊑⟒ ⍀⟒⌇⏁ ⍜⎎ ⏁⊑⟒ ⊑⟒⍀⟒⏁⟟☊'⌇!”

Tomas dropped Angel, backing up as the language he didn’t understand fell from her lips. Even Bi Han and Kuai Liang stopped their own fight to look at her. All three brothers backed up a few small steps.

“⎅⍜ ⊬⍜⎍ ⎎⟒⟒⌰ ⏁⊑⟒⟟⍀ ⊑⟒⌇⟟⏁⏃⏁⟟⍜⋏?”

Angel flew at Bi Han, grabbing his gi and flipping him over her head and into the ground. As Bi Han lay there a little stunned, Angel turned her attention to Kuai Liang.

“Fuck!”

Angel swept his legs, her hand pressing him down into the ground with such force she might as well have the strength of Liu Kang himself. Kuai swiped his weapon at her, missing completely as she jumped back and almost hitting Tomas.

“Do something brother!”

Tomas jumped in front as Angel began to charge Kuai Liang’s body on the ground. As her spear came closer to his chest, Tomas swiped the blade away with his karumbit hit the tip of the blade and sending its aim for the air next to him. One fast half-step and he had Angel on the ground in seconds. Angel fought back, trying to swing as Tomas held down one wrist.

“Come on Angel! I know you’re in there!”

Inside Angel’s mind… everything was a blur and the world seemed slow. Her body moved on its own, like she wasn’t in full control, but she could see what she was doing.

“Tomas! No!” She shouted to herself

Kuai Liang and Bi Han started their own fight while Tomas clung to Angel and pinned her down on the ground. Tomas was strong, a lot stronger than Angel even in this state.

“Stay down Angel.”

Angel could see falcon like claws on the tips of her fingers, what monster has she become?

“Stop this!”

As if in suddenly in control, Angel froze under Tomas’ grip, struggling no more. Her vision was like smoke, seeing just his eyes through the haze. Those eyes, those eyes she’s come to see and know so much about. His grayish eyes blinked with hers, seeing the smoke clear from her eyes. She looked confused, worried about what she did.

“Oh thank the Elder Gods you’re okay.”

Kuai Liang and Bi Han stopped their fight, now standing next to each other with angry glares and wounds all over each other. Tomas was no better, but at least he had been in the full center of that fight.

“Come on let’s get you patched up and cleaned.”

Tomas lifted Angel up and put her over his shoulder, immediately running to one of the training rooms not too far away and placing her on the stairs inside. He seemed amazed at her brute strength and capability to withstand an attack from Bi Han not just once, but twice.

“I think we need to talk.” A voice spoke breaking the silence

A/N: hey everyone. It’s been awhile hasn’t it? I have some shitty things going on in my personal life that I need to step back and spend time with my family, mainly a furry one. If you wanna know, DM and I’ll explain (I can’t talk about everything) but please know I will try my best to start writing more, I haven’t lost all inspiration yet. But I want to say thank you, thank you for waiting patiently and I hope I’ll be back fully very soon… I just need some time away with people I love and care about

[i-call-me-clarence]

Hey so I was wondering if anyone on here had similar stomach problems to what I have currently. It’s not a stomach flu (it’s been progressively getting worse since an incident I’ll explain under the cut) but it has gotten A LOT worse lately. So if you have gastrointestinal problems I would really appreciate if you’d read under the cut and tell me if anything sounds familiar. And before people go off, I know this does not replace a doctors visit. I’m extremely poor (no job ((thanks business partner for kicking me out of the BHR biz because you fucking lost the plot)) and am relying on family and friends just to survive at this point) so a doctors visit is possibly even a year away.

TRIGGER WARNINGS: Forced Starvation, the effects of starvation, gastrointestinal issues, mentions of vomit

Anyways here’s what’s going on:

Okay so backstory. I was forcibly starved seven years ago which over three months caused me to go from 160 to 100 pounds. The last month I had no food at all, just water and Gatorade. When I was finally able to escape the situation and ya know, eat again, I found it to be extremely painful. My dad was an army medic so fed me liquids at first and then mashed potatoes and fruits and some weird bar thing he’d put in water that would make it like a very think porridge thing I can’t remember what it was called. Even the Gatorade hurt. Badly.

I had access to weed and it helped immensely with my stomach issues ((wasn’t throwing up, little to no pain)). But then my situation changed and I could no longer afford it. The past two years I’ve had very little to no weed at all. I noticed almost immediately that my stomach problems were back with a vengeance. Things got progressively worse until one day I drank some vodka (I know, bad idea with stomach problems but I was very desperate and it did numb my stomach and in that moment it’s literally all I cared about)). And then before bed I took two baby aspirin ((I know I know bad idea again)). I woke up about six hours after taking the aspirin and threw up, which was normally how I wake up I doubt it had much to do with the vodka. But when I looked at what I’d thrown up, I saw the aspirin tablets. Completely undisolved after six hours in my stomach which had vodka in it. They were not coated in anything I could easily crush them into dust. I put aspirin into vodka as an experiment and it dissolved quickly. Put it in water and same thing. I still have no idea wtf if happening in my stomach.

After that incident I noticed all my throw up tasted exactly like when it was still food. I don’t think I’m digesting really anything and it’s taking up to eight or ten hours for my stomach to empty into my intestines. Things started to get worse, I threw up after almost every meal. And I started gagging whenever I coughed too. Like even clearing my throat makes me almost puke now. This has NEVER happened before and also when I brush my teeth this doesn’t happen at all.

Last December I had the worst pain I’d ever had after I ate a meal. It felt like a ball of razor blades in my stomach and my stomach felt hard as a rock if you put your hand over it. I was delirious with pain and just screaming and crying.

I started drinking pickle juice ((like a lot)) with every meal and that seemed to help up to February, when I started throwing up food that tasted like when I ate it again, no matter how much pickle juice I drank. So I switched to mainly ensures and soups. I was doing okayish, still in pain, but it wasn’t as bad. Then the weight loss really got out of control.

So I had gained some weight due to the weed so I was at about 165. Cutting out weed due to expense put me down to 160. No big deal. From February to today (April 6th) I have lost 30 pounds. Most of it in March. I came to my parents house two weeks ago. After the first week of my dad basically force feeding me tons of food I had gained five pounds. This was only possible because I started chewing benedryl before eating so my stomach was numb. I’m eating the same amount of food now, but am back to 130 and I have no idea why. I haven’t thrown up recently (since starting the benedryl trick in late March). Why tf am I still losing weight??? Also for reference I’m 5’10 so 130 makes me look like a skeleton (I hate everyone who keeps telling me how good I look, you can see all my ribs and my torso looks like a normal torso that got flattened). I’m weak all the time, my fibromyalgia is ten times worse. I’m just suffering so much rn and can’t go to a doc about it. Anyone have any ideas or similar experiences?

[reddogf13]

Outlast 2: Deliverance CH 13

Also on A03

Status: Incomplete

Rated: M - Dead Dove Do Not Eat This takes place in the Outlast 2 universe after all.

Read from beginning: CH: 1 Death

Previous chap: CH: 12 Wyrd

Next chap: CH: 14 Seraph

__________________

~Ch: 13 Blight~

Winter came and went, the snow had stopped falling to reveal fresh growth in the forest. The fields full of newly sprouted crops covered the land with green. Blake was eased when he saw it developing so well. Knowing he wouldn't need to buy more cans. His only stress of late was that Val had gone missing around late February. Staying gone until late march before popping up again. He shrugged it off as her checking in at home. Having stayed mainly in Temple Gate at this point for a few months. She's practically moved in, why doesn't she move everyone else? They don't want to? Assuming that was the reason without being able to directly ask. He still didn't want John to be aware that Val was discovered.

Not long after her return, John came forward with a request from Val. “People are getting sick again. We need more medicine and some pain killers.”

“Painkillers? What do they have?”

“We think it's what they had before. Nasty cough, hard breathing, the cold never lets up in the mines.”

“Why the pain killers though?”

“... Val didn't say.” Shifting his shoulders.

“Didn't say or wont tell me?”

“Won't, but I know it's very important.”

“You know it won't help any sickness, right? If someone actually broke a leg they need a doctor.”

“I know, it's for something else. I promise it's very important.”

“Okay.” He sighed. “I'll give one bottle, that's it, unless she tells me what it's for.”

“Thank you, that's all we'll need.”

Blake passed on the bottles. Expecting after a week to hear about the Voltaire's recovery from their ills. John however was missing with Mathew speaking for him instead at the meeting. “Dads sick.” The look Blake shot him had him reaffirm. “He's actually really sick. He's been coughing his lungs out and his necks really swollen. Was too tired to get out of bed this morning.”

Doesn't look like a lie. And so, he dismissed it.

It started off small, easily dismissed by everyone. A day later, A few coughing were thought to have colds. At worst a case of the flu and needed bed rest. A few stayed home from work to rest with others staying to care for family members. A few, became a lot the next day. Many were staying home either sick or caring for others. Waving it off as the flu couldn't be done anymore. People were turning anxious, paranoid of its cause. Many turned their eyes to the freshly integrated healed. Blake felt the tension in groups drifting apart. The healed and the townies before gathered only with themselves to whisper about the other half. Blake called another meeting in almost an emergency fashion. Trying to avoid a panic if he mentioned an outbreak was happening. Afraid to find out what it could be.

John still hadn't returned and others were missing. Confirmed by Mathew. “Liam had trouble this morning and three of Marta's guard. They were all moved for better care.”

Being one of the first ill, Blake had to know. “Your father seen any improvement?”

“No, he's gotten worse. I had to bring him to the infirmary this morning. Others gaining a cough like him are getting just as bad. Something serious is going around.”

Blake wanted to be sure and followed up with a visit. Shocked to see how bad John was in bed. Wheezing worse than him after running for his life. Neck swollen twice past its normal size. His hacking horribly dry that it pained Blake's own throat. Many others left bedridden were in various lesser stages of John's. Aside from John the others were all younger, around Blake's age. Worried further by Mathew passing on another request from Val. “They need more medicine.”

“Have they gotten any better?”

“Doesn't sound like it from what my dad said.”

John wasn't the first. “... I'll give more, but if it doesn't improve then this is something more serious.”

Mathew hung his head low. “Will we have to force a quarantine?”

“Yes.” Blake's answer scared the boy. Quick to reassure him. “Hopefully not long. We have the doctor who can test for things. Our medicine may not work, but another we don't have, could. Keep an eye on anymore cases like this popping up. Keep a written record of any symptoms you notice. I'll take John into town and hopefully we'll find out things soon and get an order on medicine moving.”

Scrubbing down before leaving he ran to gather up a small team to help transport the poor man to town. Making masks out of tightly wrapped gauze Blake, John, Mathew and Jacob crammed into the truck. The doctor saw them right away with Blake standing nearby in the room. Watching the doctor check John over with a mask and gloves. Looking down the back of John's throat his face scrunched up. “Eesh, a lot of gray at the back.”

“Whats that mean?”

“Dead tissue build up, but I think I know what this is now. Your people caught Diphtheria. A bit surprising since this is usually covered by child vaccines. It's a serious infection that causes nasty breathing problems, swollen neck, dead tissue and eventual buildup of toxins in the body.”

“How do we treat it?”

“Almost easy, you got half of it right now, keep the ill on antibiotics. It won't cure, but long as they keep taking them the spreading stops. For the other half, an actual cure, we'll need to order antitoxin. Figure out how many cases you got, because if they're as bad as he is you'll need multiple doses.”

“How long will it take to deliver?”

“On express delivery? Could take three months.”

“Three months?!”

“Maybe six. Antitoxin isn't really demanded on the market like antibiotics. Ain't too easy sneaking a stash away. Seeing a specific medication like that disappear would throw up alarms to the government. Heh, It's easier to commit tax fraud.”

“Can you put in an order TO the government?!”

“And have those assholes come questioning me at my office? No thanks, I ain't lookin' for a vacation in a cell. They'll wanna see why there's a sudden outbreak here and that'll also lead back to your town.”

“Ugh, what if I spread it around? Government can see for themselves then if people visit other doctors.” Feeling awful for tossing up the idea.

“You wanna spread a plague?!”

“Well, what happens if they don't get the antitoxin?”

“Eeh, they might live after ten days, but they'll suffer a lot of organ damage, brain damage and uh, death.” He sighed. “Guess the idea isn't so bad.” Mumbling to himself the next bit. “Maybe I'll get paid by some relief program for this.” Clapping his hands together. “OKAY! Diphtheria's one of the easiest to spread. Drag him through public and let him hack his lungs out. I suggest around morn parkway, red brick avenue, and sunrise drive. They're the fancy rich neighborhoods. Those people can afford a rush to the doctors and we'll have an order in, in a few days. Then maybe a day more, or less for arrival. Rich people can't afford to die, they got money to make!”

Uncomfortable, although somewhat appreciative, by the doctors gung-ho attitude to do this. “Uh, yeah, thanks for the suggestion.” Feeling worse as he paraded John around the town all while he hacked and wheezed. Receiving all sorts of glares from the rich people judging them. He kept it up all day before they returned to Temple Gate. Knowing what people had was serious, he made announcements on the fly down the streets. He didn't want people shoving themselves into the hall for a gathering. Meanwhile he had Mathew move ill to the quarantine. Put on immediate treatment of antibiotics along with the medical staff. Meeting up with him when he was sure the town was warned.

“Mathew I need you to go see Val. Tell her what's going on and that it's very important to move the Voltaire to quarantine. They won't last in the mines without regular care. When we get the antitoxin they'll have to stay for regular treatment afterwards until they're cured. This isn't a small case of pneumonia like last time.”

“Move them to quarantine? I don't know if she'll do that. She hates this place!”

“None of us have much of a choice.”

“I'll try, sir.”

Temple Gate was slammed back by the illness spreading over the day. Tensions were rising in the few snippets of conversations he overheard. “We knew this would happen.” “Those scalled are infecting us.” “Our souls are becoming diseased like theirs.” “We need to reject them.” “Who cares what he said.” “They caused this.” “Cast them out.”

Fuck. What do I say? What he had said already was being tossed to the side.

Undermined by someone else catching attention on the streets. “Our prophet cast them out to protect us. None of you listened and look. You're paying the price of disobedience. Pray, pray to him for forgiveness and ask that a sign be given. Have faith that he will answer us to smite those scall-”

“Farlow!” Blake shouted, silencing his street side gathering.

“What do you want?”

“This is just an illness. It wasn't caused by any shit excuse Knoth made to hide his disgusting sexual abuse.”

He scoffed. “What else could it be? You took them back in and we were soon ravaged by disease. Those filthy lepers were cast out for a reason! If we are to save the rest still healthy you must turn to God. Follow his teach-”

“Knoth's words didn't come from God!”

“What do I expect from a fallen angel? Devil, you drag us down lower each day.”

He rolled his eyes. “No, I'm not that. You done?”

“The lord's work is never done. If you don't attend to it, then I will.” He looked to a few on his right. “Are you ready?” A wide set smile on his face that tensed up the others. “Things will only be right when he is gone. You know this.” Hand pointing from them to Blake.

Each man at his side looked to Blake. One reached for something in a side pocket. Blake tensed in knowing it wasn't a pleasant surprise. A choking hold the air held was cut down by a towering shadow's appearance. Farlows men went pale under her glaring eyes. His own smile dropped into a submissive look away. Watching her from out of the corner of his eye.

“Are you smart, or are you dead men?” It was all the warning she had to give.

They separated themselves from Farlow, who stayed to challenge Marta with a silent glare.

“Well?”

“... May God forgive you.” Trotting off out of view.

“Hmph, fool.”

“Thanks.” Blake sighed out the next. “Have any good news?”

She shook her head. “More of the healed are being harassed. Me and the guard have been separating arguers all day.”

He rubbed his head, unsure of what to say.

“Hate to say, but more of my guard is falling to the sickness. By tonight they'll have to enter quarantine, If not sooner.”

“Alright. Stay on patrol as much as you can.” Their meeting kept short to return to their duties.

Blake handed out what meds they could until they were out. Left waiting for when the antitoxin would come in. Mathew came back with more bad news by Val refusing to move her clan into quarantine. Blake let out a chain of curses. Dammit Val, why not?! “Tell her-”

Interrupted by Mathew stating how dead serious Val was on the matter. “They won't be moved anywhere near Temple Gate. No negotiating.”

“Fuck, fine, okay.” Having no choice but to let Val handle her cases. Driving back and forth to the town for the next couple of days. Picking up more supplies of antibiotics with the hopes that the antitoxin would be there as well. The disease spreading rapidly had slammed to a complete stop from the antibiotics. Soon as someone coughed they were sent to quarantine. The healthy remaining were doing their best to run Temple Gate on a skeleton crew.

Blake was repeatedly hit with a barrage of questions. “Can you do something?” “Does God not help his angels?” “Why isn't the medicine helping like before?” “Did the scalled cause this?” “Should we cast them out?” “Are we diseased of the soul?” “How long do the ill have?” “Should we prepare a fire burial?” “When will you reap them?” His answers fell on deaf ears as their faith in him waned. The rest he had no solid answers for. “Shouldn't the Angel of Death know?”

His nightmares were asking the same questions. Lynn sitting on a throne of rocks with her organs stretched from her carved body to tangle with the tree branches. Time flashing between day and night. Her body looked more intact one moment then half rotten the next with flies swarming out her openings. “Have you told them they're dying? Why haven't you started on the coffins?” She smiled unnaturally wide. A mouth of teeth stained by blood letting insects swarm in between. “You prefer to watch don't you? You looked at her body and wanted to see more.” Her voice deepened to another's he didn't want to hear. “I can help. It's natural. Just let me-”

He jolted up from bed to cover his mouth. Ready to vomit if he hadn't swallowed it down. “Ugh, shit.” He breathed out. His skin prickled at the last words repeating in his mind. Remembering them, yet he wasn't sure where from. They came from him, but not during his time at St. Sybil. Further into his thoughts he tensed to not go any deeper. Facing a wall of not only warning, but a physical threat to turn back. Heeding it he focused on what the day may bring. Fresh morning turned sour as soon as he stepped out the hall. Marta was separating a bunch of complainers. Looking as interested as anybody would listening to children argue over something stupid.

Holding back he wanted to hear everything first before interfering. Expecting Marta to solve the issue without him anyway. It was the same old complaints he'd gotten the past few days. Looping over and over it was getting nowhere with Marta. Stepping forward to get in the mix he started up his list of explanations. Reasons falling on deaf ears all the other times he expected the same here. “I'm trying. I've talked to the doctor and we-” A screech of pain caught everyone's attention. Blake ran in the direction and Marta ran ahead before he got far. Finding the source of the sound within a group of men. One held his bloody face, gouged across, with two palms. Another held their own broken nose that bled as much. Three more around them unable to offer much in the way of help.

Marta reached them first. “What happened?”

One of the uninjured answered. “Fuckin' one of the scalled.” Glancing away. “We was mindin' our business when one of 'em crossed us. Started rantin' some gibberish an' we told 'em to go away. Wouldn't let up.”

Blake was listening at first then tuned out the longer their side was explained.

Glances switched between him, Marta and the ground. “We walked away from 'em and they followed us.” Crossing his arms his fingers tapped over one. “We just had enough. Shoved 'em away and they freaked out on us. Almost took Greg's eye an' knocked Dole's nose sideways. Guess they realized the fuck up an' ran off.” Shifting himself in a sway that made Blake sea sick.

Marta had looked away from him toward the ground. A separating set of tracks had her scrunch her face up. Mumbling verses under her breath she faced them. “You see their face?”

“No, they were covered like every other scalled.”

“Mm.” A knowing glance given to Blake. “In all black I assume?”

“Ye-”

Blake interrupted. “This is a bunch of horseshit. You all started this.”

“What, you kiddin' me?! It was those diseased rats that-”

“You can work overtime on the farms and wait until your last to get dinner. That goes for all of you.”

“Fuck off you-” They crowded him and only got back when Marta jabbed them in the chest.

“You want a broken nose like him?” Jabbing him a few times. “Get to the farms and you better be there when I get there.” Sending them off ahead of her to speak alone with Blake.

“You think she started it?” Knowing exactly who it was they had the bad luck of crossing.

“Nay, it was them. This has been happening and it's gettin' worse by the day. Attacking healed just for passin' their homes. Haven't had one of them fight back. Too afraid to is my guess on the assumption poor behavior will get them cast out again.”

“I don't know what I can do to fix this. We need the medicine, but the medicine might not be here in the next few days.”

“Should we separate them?” Clarifying. “Around the hospital?”

“I don't want to do that. What if it becomes the old place part two?”

“Can be temporary 'till the medicine gets here. Otherwise you might need to start using that jail instead of the farms.”

“We might not have a big enough jail.”

“Uh, Angel.” A woman's voice grabbed Blake and Marta's attention. A few healed had come forward off a bigger group lagging back. She was covered in light gray fabrics that didn't entirely cover her. Most her arms showing were covered in white gauze. Exposed fingers scared all over matching the skin he could see of her face. Still tinted a red from the thinner layers of skin starting to grow back after so long. Voice on the raspy side after suffering her illness. “We heard you talking, sorry.” Voice kept quiet to avoid offense.

Blake mimicked her volume to not scare them off. “Yes?”

“We wouldn't mind a closed space of our own. If we stay in charge of it… And we could be armed.”

“How armed? I can't give you crossbows.”

“Nothin' like that. We were hopin' mostly for blades. Easy to carry and easy to hide on us. It'll give us a bite to defend ourselves when we need to.”

“I don't want to arm you and make the fights worse.”

“Don't have much else, with how we are after the disease. Some can't run, others can't fight either, but a blade could at least buy them time for help to reach 'em.”

Marta threw in her two cents. “It's gettin' worse, least give them some chance.”

He hummed. “Alright, pick up what you thinks best. I'll find more to give you… You want to make a space? Is that best? The assumptions about you may never get better.”

“Those that care are already treatin' us fine. As for the rest, we don't care much for what they say. They're the ones who chanted for us to be sent to the rotten quarantine in the first place. If we're armed, they're words won't matter if they try sending us again. As for our new space. This time it'll be us making it to keep others out. A home we can run to, lock up tight, and defend long as we need.”

“Sounds more like a fort than a space.”

“That's the idea.”

“Where are you planning on making it?”

“Where most of us are livin' round the hospital.”

“I don't think I can support blocking off the hospital.”

“We ain't stopping people from coming and going unless we really have to. If it gets that dire there will be bigger issues to see to first.” Mentioning a sort of compromise. “For guarding the stock of medicine we wont stock up on food. If we lock down we'll have to leave eventually then.”

“... Alright. I need to plan this out land wise. Come back later around dinner. I might have something planned we can look over or we can at least discuss it better then.”

“Thank you, Angel.”

“You don't gotta...” About to mention the angel thing, but let it go. “What's your name?”

“Asher.”

“You want to lead on this?”

“The fort build?”

“All of it. The fort, the healed.”

“Like a lord?”

“Sure, wouldn't hurt to have another. Mathews in charge of the hospital, but not the healed really. Someone from the healed should get a voice to speak up at the meetings for them.”

“Would love to, Angel. Never lead anythin' before though.”

“That's fine, you'll match everyone else.” Speaking then to Marta. “After you check on the farms can you check what builders we have that aren't sick.”

“Last I checked we had a small group. Liam always drew up the plans though for these big builds.”

“Ah, a wall cant be too hard to build.”

She gave him a sort of side eye then looked away.

“I'll figure it out,” He huffed. “I'll make something out of rocks and Popsicle sticks first.”

“Mmhm. We still visiting the doctor today?”

“Yes, visit the farms, see builders, then we'll go. Should be afternoon by then.”

Blake spent his few hours running around to count the sick. Ordering the worsening cases to go into quarantine. Breaking up fights throughout the day had made him sore. Checking the farms he stood by Marta watching a group of punished trouble makers. James was able to keep up with all the extra hands on top of the regular turned skeleton crew. Making sure James could handle them without Marta watching, they left for the doctors.

Come on, come on, come on! Fearing the doctor would say no as he entered the office.

The secretary seeing him flashed a big grin. “Ay, your meds finally here. Doctors got a bunch of it set up for ya. He wants you to see him first though.”

“Oh, thank God.” Blake took a deep breath. Rushing back to see the doctor.

“Ah, my favorite patient. I assume you got the good news. I wanted to show you how to administer it before you get it.” Gesturing them to head inside one of the exam rooms.

“Administer it?”

“Yes, these don't come in pill form.” Showing two glass bottles in hand. “This one is the antitoxin and this one is a booster the government gave out.” Pointing to one then the other. Setting the anti toxin down to grab a syringe. Pointing to a certain measurement. “This is how much you need to give for a dosage of the antitoxin. This is very important, depending on the case, One shot per week until they start getting better. That should happen after about three weeks for the worst cases.” Taking a dosage from the booster. Showing where the level stopped in the syringe. “This is for the booster. I suggest getting your doses now.” Gesturing to Blake and Marta. “Left you a case with the antitoxin.”

“Thanks.” Blake got ready to take his shot. And Marta getting hers before hauling the crates carefully back home. Blake showed medical staff the dosages along with proper instruction to not share needles between patients. Going elsewhere to give vaccines to those healthy still. Exhausted by the end of the day he met with Mathew again to go have another talk with Val. “Since these aren't pills, I can't chance them making it safely to the mines. If they break we can't get more like the antibiotics. They have to come to quarantine for treatment.

“She doesn't want that. What if we meet at the ration drop off?”

“They got sick first, didn't they? How bad are their cases?”

“As bad as dads.”

“Then they'll need multiple doses over the next four weeks, can they make the multiple journeys back and forth?”

Mathew looked to the floor. “I don't think they can even make one trip.”

“Go tell her to bring them, she has to. I'm willing to help bring them down if that's a problem.”

He sucked in a tense breath, rubbing his head. “Yes, sir.”

The message he got back the next day wasn't anymore cooperative. “She refuses and it's getting hard to talk with her. She wants the medicine delivered and nothing else.”

Goddammit Val! “Tell her, or don't that, that's not happening.” Dropping it there to handle treatment of those listening. Concocting some idea all day about how to handle them. He didn't want to leave them for dead and he'd have to work fast to make sure that didn't happen. A day passed without Blake knowing what to do. Another unhelpful message passed on by Mathew. Who didn't want to repeat what Val said. Giving up on that path he figured the only thing to do was to overstep Val's authority entirely.

He called an emergency meeting of a few select lords. John and Liam were sick and Mathew was purposefully left out due to the topic at hand. “We're going to capture the Voltaire for treatment.”

“With what?” James scoffed. “A quarter of the guard are too ill for that. If they don't want treatment, leave 'em up there.”

“We're going and I'm not arguing on this. Tomorrow we're leaving early morning to the mines, including you James. I don't think they'll be in any condition to fight.”

“What about Val?”

“I'll handle her. Meet here, early morning to suit up and go.” Dismissing everyone. Putting the rest of the plan into motion he talked to Marta on the side. “Seen Val in Temple Gate or has she gone?”

“She's been coming here, then leaving shortly after. Mathews not good at keeping the meetings subtle like John. Meeting her around the farm fields every morning.”

“That could work in our favor... Change of plans, without telling him who, have James snag Val for early morning work after her meeting. She'll be distracted long enough for us to reach the mines before her.”

“She's gonna be pissed when she finds out.”

“I know, maybe by some miracle she'll just agree to go along before then.” Separating from Marta to go normally about their day. Worrying until early next morning when he met up with the guard, short three people. Slipping into one of the hefty armored uniforms he picked up a catcher's loop. Sneaking everyone out of Temple Gate before the sun rose. Rowing a boat across the misted lake he watched Temple Gate fade behind them. Stepping onto the shore across the way to continue on foot. Wheezing already at the start of the mountain slope. Wanting to rush the three hour travel there. A moment taken when they met the mouth of the cave. A darkened opening covered by drooping roots out growing their surrounding dirt. Suddenly feeling ill at his last memory of this place. Escaping with Lynn before her grizzly death. Knowing very well that her dying spot wasn't too far from here. Was her body still strung in the trees? Or long rotten by now to become food for crows? Swallowing, he avoided dwelling on the thought traveling too depressingly deep.

Marta certainly noticed his pale complexion. “You alright?”

“Yeah, come on.” He breathed out. Approaching the cave to peek inside its darkening length. He shined a flashlight into it. Seeing nothing much else but mine walls.

“Want me first?” She offered.

“Yeah, but be careful.” Watching her step in before he did. Turning back to the others for a quick instruction. “Stay close and put a hand on the shoulder of the one in front of you. If you're grabbed from the back, we'll know right away.” Doing as they were told down the deep dark cave. Blake could see his own breath with how cold it was getting. The lack of fire making this place feel like a freezer. Fucking hell. It'd be goddamn warmer to sleep outside. Shivering without extra layers for the cold. Winding down the tunnels with multiple piles of rubble still covered in old blood. Stench of rot clinging to them hinted at the buried tunnels being tombs. Watching Marta navigate through the shrinking tunnels was beginning to worry him. Any smaller and she wouldn't be able to continue crouching low enough.

Marta stopped at a widening area. “Mm.”

“What?”

Looking at him over her shoulder. “No ones here.” Stepping forward to let everyone into the cave clearing. A large, half collapsed, room that was covered by spreading cobwebs.

“Stay close, but look around.” Walking further in their was nothing much else. “Fuck, maybe Mathew made her too paranoid and she moved?”

“Doubt it. They've been gone a long while it looks.” Pointing to the various remains of a camp. Shifting her stick through a pile of ashes where a fire used to be made. Old footprints blown away from the breeze coming down the main shaft. Old bloody bandages disintegrating from age. Bones of small animals left in a web covered pile. Spiders infesting all the crevices they could across the rocks.

“Any idea where they could have moved to?”

“Another cave I'd bet. Problem is the mines went all throughout these mountains with various openings. After that storm though, I don't know how many lasted.” Pointing her staff to a massive pile of rubble at the back.”

“Fuck it, we don't have time for this.”

“You're giving up?”

“No, we're heading back and we're going to follow Val.”

“You want to grab the Voltaire then?”

“Yes.”

“While Val's there?”

Blake froze, being in such a rush he didn't stop to think that he'd have to face Val after following her. “Uh… Maybe not today. We'll follow her then return the next.”

“Maybe we should bring Mathew?” Feeding him an idea. “A diplomat to help keep everyone calm. They'll still try to fight the whole way otherwise.”

“Yeah, yes, let's do that.” Starting their three hour travel back to Temple Gate. The group tired from their stressful mission ending in failure.

“Want a small team to go instead of all of us?” Marta hid a suggestion in a question.

“Yeah.” He nodded.

Marta pointed her staff toward two guards. “You two follow us. Rest of you, go get some sleep to head out early tomorrow.” Walking up until they could see the fields from a distance.

“See her?”

“Mm.” Scanning across the horizon. “Yes.”

“Okay, have James let her go. You get them following. I'm going to talk with Mathew one last time to try convincing Val.”

“Good luck.”

He raced over back to quarantine, where he pulled Mathew aside. Urgently whispering his plea. “You have to convince her. This is the last chance I'm going to offer her.”

“I can't convince her! She refuses anything you or I try to offer. She's started shutting me down before I can get a word out if she doesn't like what she hears.”

“Just give it one more try.”

“I-” He heard his father start hacking from the other room. Rushing away from Blake to his side. “You okay?”

“A bit.” Coughing some more. “Ugh, feel like a slug.”

“After a few more weeks you'll be doing better.”

“Shit, how's everyone else doing?”

“Better with the medicine.”

Blake crushed the small uplift. “Except for the Voltaire. Val refuses to cooperate on getting them treatment. We can’t hike the bottles up there and risk breaking them. She refuses to bring them here and making multiple trips for us or them to be treated is not possible. I'm out of options if Mathew can't convince her this time to cooperate, then they're going to die up there.”

“What?! Wait, Let me go this time. I've dealt with her stubbornness a lot more than my boy.”

Mathew argued against that. “You're too sick to go.”

“It's just talking to Val.” Going into a coughing fit he slowed. “Even if she is a pain.”

“Okay.” Blake agreed. “You have to convince her, John. This is her last chance, and make sure she knows that too. Maybe she'll agree then.”

“Yes sir.”

Fearing the day of the raid he held back. Given the news by the scouting guards where the new Voltaire cave was. Finding that it was actually further south from the new quarantine zone. Still being a six hour journey there and back. When the day after tomorrow came, Marta kept watch for Val and John to meet by the fields. Running to gather the guard and James for a repeat of distracting Val until they returned. Snagged for farming duty before she could slip away after meeting John. Blake went off to get the final message from him. It wasn't good based on his expression.

“So that's it then?” Blake confirmed.

“... Can I try again?” His voice softened to defeat.

“That was it, no more talking, we can't wait any longer. But I won't let them die either. I'm going over Val and you have a choice to make. I know Val's been in Temple Gate. I know where the Voltaire moved to. I will be heading out with the guard to capture them for treatment. Either you wait in jail until me and my group returns or you come with us to act as diplomat.”

“NO!” John panicked. “YOU CAN'T DO THAT! I CAN'T DO THAT!” Suffering an absolute breakdown as a coughing fit took over. “If she finds out, she'll kill us!” He wheezed between fits. “ALL of us! She'll burn this place to the ground! YOU CAN'T!”

Blake was almost startled back. Swallowing down what nerves crept up from his gut. This has to be done. “Those are your choices. If you stay, I'll have to take Mathew. It's going to happen even if the both of you refuse. With one of you however, we hope to keep everyone calm and safe.”

John repeated on the verge of tears. “You can't, you can't, you can't!”

“If I don't they'll all die! Is that better?! Val's forced my hand!”

“Let me talk to her! Let me-”

“NO! I'm not giving you the chance to warn her we're coming. Are you coming with us? Or do I have to jail you to stay quiet and ask Mathew instead?”

Holding back another fit. “No! I'll go, I'll go! Please-” Sniffling away the tears to pull himself together. Wheezing another plea. “Please, this is going to go horribly wrong! Please don't!” Fresh tears collected.

“I'll make sure no one gets hurt.” Assisting John in walking out to the lake where they met the guard.

“You don't understand! You don't understand! You don't-” He mumbled repeatedly as they crossed the lake. Mumbling various other panicked warnings not to continue. Landing on the other side they followed up an overgrown trail toward the new Voltaire home. John mentally breaking down the closer they got. Seeing the new cave entrance, Blake went to John's side for a calming talk. Rubbing one of John's shoulders to help pull him together.

“Vals not here, okay? I made sure she's distracted. I don't want anybody hurt. We're doing this to make sure they get treated and cared for. After you, Marta's going in to make sure everybody's calm. To keep everyone safe on the way back they'll have to be tied. When we finally do get back we're setting them in the jail instead of quarantine. Only because I don't know how they'll react or if Val will try to make them break quarantine. Take some deep breaths and go talk to them. You have a minute to let them know what's going to happen. Any longer and I'll assume they're trying to take a back exit.”

He sniffed and wheezed until he could speak again. “O-okay, just give me a minute.” Rubbing his face before walking up into the cave.

Blake tapped his foot the longer John took. Wind blowing through the trees above, his eyes darted to a few falling pine needles. Mistaken as movement from a person hiding in the tree line. He glanced back to see the town off in the distance across the misty lake. Switching to check on his team standing by. Their attention caught between the cave and on falling needles. Marta was locked onto the mouth of the cave. He ignored the shifting sounds around him to focus on Marta's reaction. If someone approached from anywhere, she would know. It felt like time had stopped on the outside. Facing the entrance he was fidgeting on whether to go in or not. Stiffening when Marta perked at an approach inside the cave.

“Okay.” John stepped from the inside. “Uh- Most will follow, but Ayzel. You've met him before. Don't turn your back on him and I would keep him extra tied.” He warned before stepping out of the way.

“Thank you.” Helping John sit down on a log.

Waiting for Marta to duck into the cave before he followed right behind. Guards walking closely front to back with hands on shoulders. Passing by the start of tunnels that could have an ambush waiting. Passing by they saw all were collapsed like the last mining tunnel. Lacking its distinct smell of death this time. Air turned cold enough to see their breath again. Made worse by the wind blowing in he double checked if their was frost on his arms. Marta slowed toward the middle of the main tunnel. Squeezing by a cluster of annoying roots on the wall. Slowing onward before the tunnel grew wider ahead. Holding out a palm to make Blake stay back. At the end she was jumped by the one warned of. Slashing at her with a broken blade. She slammed the air out of him with a punch to the ribs. Knocking him down with a slam of her cane to his face. Grabbing his neck to pin him down fully.

“Fuck off bitchh!” He spat at her. Slurring words while over pronouncing others past his crooked jaw. “I'll rip out every organ you hhave! Keep your hhead ash a trophy!” Raging against her grip. She held him without much struggle until the rest of the guard swarmed in to tie him. Binding him so much he'd need to be carried the whole way back. “Fucking Temple Gate bastards! Wretched whhore maggots!” Continuing his verbal assault from the ground.

Blake ignored the shouting to study the home of the Voltaire. It was Homey-er then he expected an old mining cave to be. Upside down carts turned into tables with logs for benches. A small carved out area for a fire pit covered by a red metal barrel holding the huge pot he gave. Its surroundings a makeshift kitchen holding the other cooking pots and boxes of rations next to a flat rock covered in old blood for butchering. Beds holding all the sick members were made of twigs, bones and various furs for cover other than the blankets given. Noticing Val's artistry using twigs to assemble small bits of artwork. A goat, made of them, sitting on one of the tables. Birds and a few small dolls made in a similar fashion stuck on the walls. Nothing like the last huge satanic idols she made in the other caves.

The Voltaire themselves appeared as sick as Blake expected them to be. Most laying down or sitting up in bed looking exhausted from hacking all the time. Coughing regularly kept silence from filling the room. Pained by their wheezing of each breath he planned how to hike them down the mountain side. “Take him outside.” Blake ordered for Ayzel, who shouted all sorts of insults. “Okay, to clarify what John had to rush through.” He started toward the remaining. “We're taking you to Temple Gate for treatment of your illness. Regular pills alone can't cure it and you'll need multiple doses depending on how sick you are. When you're cured you can come right back here. Before then, you'll be forced to stay in quarantine there between one to three weeks, depending.” Gesturing for the guard to start gathering people.

Without a fuss they were gathered for their hands to be tied and seated outside before the walk back would begin. Blake walked out with a squeeze by the annoying root cluster. Joining Marta's side who watched over it all. Standing by her side he held himself from fidgeting under all the stares. Judging by how they locked only on him, they knew who he was. Shifting his gaze to keep from staring he watched how his guard worked. Weather any were showing old grudges in their treatment toward the once enemies. None of them were rougher then they needed to be. Standing by in waiting for the next step as things wrapped up. Turning to John fidgeting on a log he tensed up each time someone went in to fetch another. Tensing at each walk out then relaxing. When the guards stopped bringing people out, he still glanced at the cave. Rubbing his face he looked away briefly to let out a long breath fogging the cold air. Blake looked away to the cave. A move that had him see John tense up again. Disturbed their house enough I guess. Raking a hand through his hair he stepped forward to give the final order to leave. Quieted by Marta's staff smacking into his chest.

He looked at her and she whispered. “Two are missing.”

Whispering back. “How do you know?”

“Twenty-seven rations, but only twenty-five.” Cane waved in gesture to the seated.

“Extras? Or...” Thinking the worst.

“Look at him.” Tipping her head to John. Looks shot toward the cave whenever someone so much as walked close to it. “He's hidin' something.” Heading back for the cave followed by Blake.

He gave one glance back to John and saw how wide eyed tense he got. Reaching the room they followed its edges in search of anything they missed. Without anything there Marta took to checking under furniture. Chucking a mine cart to the side created a loud clank.

“Ay!” Stopping her thrashing of the place. “Don't mess up their home! They'll want to return here later.”

She grumbled something then loosely set the mine cart back where it was. Passing to check the next more gingerly, then under the beds.

He mumbled after they scoured the place. “Well, I'm not seeing anything. Let's go.”

Her hum sounded agreeing, but still held suspicion. Hesitant to leave after being asked to. Midway out she looked to the collection of roots. Pausing to study them up and down then looking around down the rest of the tunnel. When Blake looked around with her, he caught on to what she was thinking. Except for this one patch, the tunnel was smoothly rootless. She stepped to the side to knock her cane between the roots. A thunking hollowed sound rumbled out from the knock.

“A door?” He mumbled. Grabbing a bunch of roots to yank free with her. Scraping off a layer of wet clay next to show a slab of wood underneath. “What's behind here?” Feeling around it for a handle of sorts to pull. When he couldn't find anything. “Can you knock it down?” Standing aside as she readied her cane. One bash shoved it free from its frame. Immediately they heard a sound that stilled both their hearts. A baby's cry that was quickly stifled. They looked to one another for reassurance that what they heard was real.

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aaaaaand thats the end of season 1. still working on season 2 so prob no updates for a while. :v/