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dawninlatin · 4 years ago

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Queen of Peace, chapter 13

A manorian high school AU

Words: 2563

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Summary: Manon Blackbeak is flawless, untouchable. From the outside at least. Her grandmother pushes her to achieve greatness, and she doesn’t let anyone get too close in fear of being hurt. How can anyone love her when not even her parents could?

Dorian Havilliard has always felt safe and confident around his friends. He might not have the greatest of families, but with Aelin and Chaol by his side, nothing can go wrong. That is until he tries keeping his greatest secret from them.

What will happen when Dorian and Manon gets to know one another? Can two lost souls find their way back together?

Oh, the queen of peace

Always does her best to please

But is it any use?

Somebody’s gotta lose

-Florence + The Machine, Queen of Peace

The music roared out of the speakers, and Manon moved her body to the rhythm, letting herself get lost in the upbeat tones. She had done this a dozen times by now, memorized this choreography weeks ago.

But then she turned to the right, and it wasn’t Asterin dancing beside her - as it had always been - it was Sorrel.

It startled her enough that she halted and messed up a few steps. Manon caught up with the others, but she was unable to pour her heart into it like she usually did. Her mind was too busy thinking about Asterin, worrying whether she was okay or not after their grandmother had kicked her out.

Manon had seen her at school a few times in the following weeks, but they hadn’t talked, and she doubted they would. Asterin probably hated her now, after all the horrible things Manon had said to her.

Getting kicked out is the least you deserve after getting yourself knocked up by a boy who will leave at the first sign of some real responsibility. Don’t come crawling to me when you find yourself homeless and heartbroken. You’re off the dance team, by the way.

Manon hadn’t meant what she said, not really, but maybe this was for the better…

Her grandmother had made it very clear that she was not to talk with Asterin anymore, and Asterin avoiding her, hating her, made everything much easier.

Yet, if it made things easier, why did it also make her so sad? The house had been awfully quiet these weeks, so quiet it was near-stifling. Manon hadn’t realized how different, how empty, home would be without Asterin there.

Stop moping around you sad, pathetic fool!

Manon mentally scolded herself, forcing her attention back to the dancing. She couldn’t keep letting this distract her. Asterin was simply an obstacle who no longer stood in the way of her future.

Finishing the rest of the choreography, she ignored the desperate, disappointed voice inside her head that whispered; you’re beginning to sound like her.

When the music faded into nothing and her body stopped moving, Manon put on her usual mask of cold, calculating boredom and turned towards her team. She immediately knew something was up, as they were all looking at her as if they had something to say, but didn’t dare say it.

«What,» Manon said, more an order than a question. If they had all decided to gang up against her, she only wanted to get it over with.

The girls exchanged wary glances, before Sorrel took a step forward and said, «We need Asterin on this choreo.» Manon was surprised when Vesta, who leaned against the wall with her arms crossed, stayed silent for once.

With a sigh, Manon answered Sorrel, «And why the hell do we need Asterin?»

Yet again did they all look at each other, as if this was something they’d discussed behind her back. The icy feeling of betrayal snaked its way up Manon’s spine.

«Because it’s always been the thirteen of us. We’re off-balance without Asterin.» It was Ghislaine who spoke this time.

«You’ve said it yourself,» Briar shot in from the back of the room. «If just one of us is missing, the entire team falls apart!»

It was when Vesta finally opened her mouth that she snapped. «And you slipped up today, Manon. Several times!»

«I have no idea what you’re talking about,» Manon hissed, clenching her fists so hard it hurt. «You have been distracted today, hell, you’ve been distracted, lazy and off-beat all week!»

«Because Asterin-» Vesta begun, but Manon didn’t let her finish.

«I don’t wanna hear another word about Asterin! It was her own stupidity that got her kicked off the team, and if you, all of you, don’t start working a bit harder, I won’t hesitate to replace you with someone else!»

The room was unbearably quiet when she was done talking, and Manon could hear her own heart thundering inside her chest. She had to stay calm, couldn’t let them see her fall apart, even if that was what she felt like doing right now. She was losing control, she was-

«I can talk to Asterin today if-»

«GET OUT!»

Manon’s blood was boiling at the audacity of Vesta. Why couldn’t they understand that Asterin, with her carelessness, was jeopardizing everything they had worked towards?

Her grandmother had been clear in her orders: everything had to be perfect, so they had to win nationals, which they couldn’t do when one of the teammates first of all didn’t bother showing up to half of the rehearsals, and second of all, would be heavily pregnant come spring.

When everyone had left, and Manon was alone once more, she didn’t let herself brood over the fight they’d just had, didn’t let herself recognize how awful this made her feel. She simply turned the music back on, and forgot.

She forgot everything she’d promised her grandmother, forgot the math test she’d butchered earlier today, forgot the fact that her whole dance team had probably just quit, forgot that she had no control over anything in her life anymore.

Yet as she kept moving her exhausted body, one thought remained. One of piercing blue eyes and soft lips.

And when she remembered that she had an actual date with him the next day, Manon smiled, despite everything.

«Why are you looking at me like that?»

How am I supposed to not look at you? Dorian wondered. Manon was radiant where she sat with her body leaned back, eyes closed, face tipped towards the sky. She was smiling softly, the autumn sun making her white-blonde hair glow.

Instead of telling her that, Dorian went with: «I’m just wondering what you’re thinking. You went quiet all of a sudden.»

She had. They’d been sitting here for hours now, under the huge oak tree in the park, eating and laughing and talking, but now she was silent, a calm, contemplating aura around her.

Manon hummed in answer, before opening her eyes and twisting towards him. «I’m just…savoring the moment, I guess.» Her mouth quirked to the side, the movement making her nose scrunch, and Dorian had to let out a chuckle.

«Now who’s the cliché?»

She’d been playfully mocking him for his picnic this whole time, even asking him if he was aware that they weren’t in every high school movie ever made. Dorian had begged to differ, telling her that the only reason it was a cliché, was because it worked.

And it did. After a while, Manon had reluctantly agreed that yes, maybe it was a little romantic. The admission had been accompanied by an eye-roll, of course, but what else could you expect?

«What time is it?» Manon asked after a moment.

Dorian scrambled for his phone, finding it half-lodged under the picnic basket. «It’s almost 3pm,» he said, marveling over how much time had passed. He could spend all day like this, just talking about all and nothing with Manon. No matter what they discussed, she surprised him with her answers, whether it be a funny joke or an unusually deep thought, offering a new perspective on things.

«I should head home soon,» she sighed, but Manon made no sign of getting up. Instead she laid down, Dorian joining her. «My grandmother will start to ask questions if I’m late.»

From what he’d gathered, Manon’s grandmother was very strict, especially when it came to boys, and Manon had told her she was studying at the library today. She rarely talked about her family, and whenever they touched on the subject, she quickly started talking about something else. Dorian knew not to ask questions, though. She would open up when and if she was ready, and those moments often came at the most unexpected times.

«I had a lot of fun today, you know. Even if I still think you just googled date ideas and went with the first hit.» Dorian laughed at that, his stomach filling with what could only be described as butterflies.

«Does that mean you would want to do it again?» They were lying on their backs, face to face, and all Dorian could think about was how badly he wanted to kiss her.

It had been weeks since their kiss in the library, but they hadn’t been able to do it again. All they’d gotten was stolen moments in between classes and late-night texts, their busy schedules making sure of that. Until now, that was.

«I would love to,» Manon offered, answering his question. «But next time I decide what we’re doing.»

«Deal,» Dorian grinned, his eyes staying fixed on her lips as she spoke.

Moments passed, the tension between them tangible, and then Manon whispered, «Is it weird that I really wanna kiss you right now?»

That was all it took for Dorian to crash his lips into hers.

The kiss was exploring at first, her lips so soft and so perfect. He’d thought about their moment in the library constantly in the past weeks, but his memory could never do it justice, he knew now. This was the real thing, the real Manon, and she was bewitching. No other word could describe the experience that was kissing her.

Dorian pulled her closer, and Manon placed her hands in his hair. He had to continuously remind himself that they were outside, in the middle of a park, and anyone could walk by at any moment.

Yet he couldn’t stop either. Their mouths had gone from searching to ravenous, both of them trying to get closer to the other. Manon nudged him with her tongue, and he opened up for her, the taste of her exquisite.

His blood heated, skin becoming incredibly tight all of a sudden. He could keep doing this forever.

But they had to pull apart at some point to simply just breathe. And they did.

Manon let her forehead rest against his as they both panted slightly, Dorian reaching up to brush a strand of hair out of her face. «I really should go now,» she murmured against his lips, leaning in to kiss him once more.

It was Dorian who pulled away this time, stroking her cheek. «I’ll see you later then.»

«Yeah,» she sighed, standing up in one smooth movement. The air around Dorian suddenly became unbearably cold.

After Manon had picked up her jacket, ready to leave, she halted for a moment, and said, «I meant it when I said today was fun.»

Then she leaned down to place a swift kiss on his cheek, stood back up and walked away, leaving him alone, all flustered.

Dorian had to wait a moment before he could get up himself, because his pants had just become very tight. His face was burning at the fact, but he forced himself to think of dead puppies and his parents fighting and his gym teacher in those tiny shorts he insisted on wearing.

That last image was particularly horrifying, but it seemed to do the trick. Then, Dorian picked up his phone, only to find fifty new messages from Aelin in their group chat.

Sighing, he began to skim through the thread.

Aelin: Do you guys have plans for today?

Aelin: Rowan is busy

Aelin: And I’m bored

Aelin: Hellooooo

Chaol: I’m guessing I have plans now…

Aelin: I can actually hear how hard you’re sighing right now Chaol

Aelin: We’re seeing a movie today

Chaol: When?

Then there was a lot of planning back and forth, and both Chaol and Aelin trying to reach Dorian. The last message he got was a selfie of his best friends glaring at him, the text reading: Come hang out with us loser.

So Dorian stood, feeling lighter than ever, and began calling Aelin to hear where they were.

Stepping into the narrow hallway of her home, Manon carefully closed the door behind her, trying to stay as quiet as possible in case her grandmother was working.

She hung her coat on the rack and turned her phone on silent. She rarely got any notifications, but that was before Dorian. Now they sent messages back and forth at all hours, most of it silly nonsense.

«Manon, is that you?» her grandmother called from the kitchen. Letting out a shaky breath, Manon made her facial expression that of someone who had studied in a library for hours and definitely hadn’t just made out with a hot boy.

Listen to yourself, you sound like some lovesick girl from those movies you hate so much, Manon mentally yelled, rolling her eyes at how annoying her internal monologue was becoming.

«Yeah, I’m back.» She stopped by the doorway to the kitchen on the way to her room, where her grandmother was sitting by the table, laptop open in front of her.

The woman glanced up at the clock on the wall, before looking back at Manon, her eyes searching. «You stayed at the library for a long time.»

Manon had to fight to stay fully still, to not flinch at her grandmothers words. She couldn’t know, could she? Putting on a fake smile, Manon said, «I just got into a really good workflow, didn’t wanna quit.»

Her breaths were getting faster, and she could feel the panic sneaking up on her.

Just keep it together until you’re alone! She always asks questions like these.

«I’m almost done with the history assignment,» she added to make sure her grandmother bought it. Even if it was all a lie. She hadn’t even started on the history paper.

«Good. I already made dinner, but there are some leftovers in the fridge if you’re hungry.» Her grandmother’s tone was pleasant, almost happy. She had to be in a good mood today, then. The whole thing felt deeply unsettling.

At least she was safe, for now.

«Thanks, but I’m not hungry. I’ll be in my room,» Manon said before turning and hurrying down the hall. Once she’d closed the door, she finally let out the breath of relief she’d benne holding, throwing away all pretense.

She couldn’t keep lying to her grandmother like this…

Not only did it make her feel awful, but the consequences would also be too great. She was putting her whole future at risk when she was acting like this, sneaking around and prioritizing boys over her schoolwork.

Frustrated, she threw herself down on her bed, startling Abraxos who was sleeping on her pillow. Dorian made everything so much more complicated. Agreeing to go out with him had been a mistake. A huge, huge mistake.

Yet she’d felt better today, happier, than she’d had in a long time. She’d even managed to forget the catastrophe that was her dance team, if only for a few hours. And with this light, fluttery feeling, everything seemed more manageable.

For now, she could do this, wanted to do this. The thought of not being with Dorian anymore… It didn’t feel right, and she was actually looking forward to Monday, when she would see him again.

She knew this, they, would have to end one way or another, but she couldn’t let go just yet.

A/N: That break really got longer than I anticipated...

It's been nearly a year now, since I first got the idea for this fic and started writing it, and here I was, believing I could be done with it by summer 2020. In all honesty, it feels like I posted chapter 12, blinked, and then 4 months had passed. But here it is, at least:) We have reached the halfway point, and a little progress is better than none. I'm still not making any promises regarding this fic, other than I will finish it, someday, whether that be in 2 months or 2 years. And to all of you who still read, from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU SO MUCH<3<3 I could not have done it without you!

All the love, Aurora<3

Taglist: @fireheartdreamerstarborn @bookishwitchling @hellasblessed @kit-12 @onfma @ireallyshouldsleeprn @sayosdreams @rowaelinismyotp

I keep a separate taglist for each ship, so let me know if you want to be on any of them!

#dawninlatin QoP #manorian #manorian fic #manorian fanfiction #manorian au #manon x dorian #dorian x manon #manon blackbeak #dorian havilliard #sjm #sarah j maas #throne of glass #tog #throne of glass au

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thr-333 · 4 years ago

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Mismatch- Part 6

Bio Dad Bruce Wayne Month 2020

Sibling bonding at its finest, fighting and breaking rules

First< Previous> Next

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“Maman, Papa, we’re fine,” Marinette holds the phone between them.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come home?” Tom asks through speaker phone.

“No Papa, Nette worked hard for this trip,” Marion insists, they are sitting in the back of Bruce's car with him and Selina in the front.

“We both work-”

“Both want to stay, that's right,” Marion cuts her off, grinning at her glare, “Besides we have things to do here remember ?”

“Ok, but if you change your minds,” Sabine frets, they do have a concert coming up.

“We’ll be on the first flight back,” Marinette agrees, Aunt Selina leans back and she holds up the phone for her.

“Don’t worry Tom, I’ll keep them out of trouble,” She tells her brother.

“You’re the last person I trust to do that,” Tom laughs from the other end of the line.

“Rude,” She glares down at the phone.

“I’m sure you’ll do just fine,” Sabine speaks over her husbands laughter.

“Thank you Sabine, you're my favourite person in Paris,” She winks at the twins, whispering "Right now,"

"Hey!" Tom shouts from the phone.

“Of course,” Sabine chuckles over her husband,“We have to go back to the bakery now,”

“We’ll talk later,” Tom promises, "Have fun,"

“See ya,” Selina sits back upright.

“Bye Papa, Maman,” Marinette moves to hang up

“Also we met Aunt Selina's fiance! Bye!" Marion blurts, everyone in the car freezes.

“WHA-” Marion hangs up.

“Marion! That was…..” Their Aunt shouts before giggling, turning into full blown laughter,“... That was so…”

The twins start laughing as well, making her give up on whatever lecture she was going to launch into.

“Selina, your phones ringing,” Bruce says, as she calms down.

“Yeah, it’s probably going to do that for awhile,” Selina turns it to silent and ignores the call, then turns to Marion,“Don’t ever do that again,”

“Are you planning on getting remarried?” Marion asks cheekily.

“Quite the thing to admit in front of your fiance,” Marinette adds, glancing at Bruce to see he is also smiling slightly. Years with Kagami had trained her to notice those hints of emotion.

“Brats,” She huffs turning back around.

“We love you,” They chorus.

“Brats,” Selina shakes her head fondly just as they approach the gates.

Marinette stares in awe at the large estate. The architecture and gardens immediately had her pulling out her sketch book to jot down ideas. She gets pushed out of the car by Marion and keeps drawing as they walk towards the Manor doors.

"You're home is beautiful," Marinette compliments Bruce.

"Thank you, I think so too," Bruce says as the doors open.

“Welcome home, Master Bruce, Miss Selina,” Alfred stands in the doorway, “And you, Miss Dupain-Cheng and Mr Cheng-Dupain, welcome to Wayne Manor.”

“It’s good to see you again, please, just Marinette's fine,” Marinette puts away her sketchbook.

“Yeah, I'd rather you just call me Marion,” Marion beams at him, before whispering, “Did we even tell you our last names?… witchcraft,”

“Very well, please come this way,” Alfred guides them into the Manor, stopping outside a door, "Master Damian is waiting, I must be off to prepare dinner,"

"Thank you Alfred," Bruce tells the butler as he leaves.

They enter the living room type area. A boy who couldn't even be thirteen yet stands. 'He's so small' Marinette thinks to herself.

"Father," He glares at her and Marion.

“This is my son Damian,” Bruce introduces, “Damian met Marinette and Marion,”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Marinette smiles, holding her hand out.

“Tt” Damian looks away, getting a glare from Bruce before taking her hand, “... Likewise,”

Selinas phone buzzes again. Drawing attention away from the insincere tone.

“I should probably answer them, or they’ll never leave us alone,” Their Aunt sighs taking out her phone, “Bruce come with me, I’m sure they’ll want to meet you,”

“Is this going to be a pleasant conversation?” He asks.

“No its going to be very painful,” Marinette smiles, knowing they were about to have a very long conversation with her over excited Papa. He would probably have planned their wedding by the time they manage to hang up.

“Right,” Bruce says hesitantly, he turns to Damian with a pointed look, “Behave,”

"Tt," is Damian's response as he is left alone with them.

Marion sits down. Marinette follows sitting next to him on one of couches, surprised at how soft it is. Damian sits down on an armchair, picking up a book.

“So, Damian how old are you?" Marinette asks, after a full minute of silence

“12,” He doesn't look up from his book

“... We’re 18, twins if you couldn't tell,” Marion steps in gesturing between them.

“I could,” Damian answers shortly.

“Right... so what are your hobbies?” Marinette tries again.

“... painting,” Damian concedes under her expectant gaze.

“Oh, can we see?” She asks excitedly.

“No,” Damian snaps. She doesn't let that discourage her, she doesn't like showing strangers her designs. Apart from the millions of strangers who see her designs anyway.

“Alright, I get that," Marion shares the sentiment, "What about-Oh my god,”

“What?” Damian finally looks up from his book, scanning the room for the cause of his outburst.

“Kitty!” Marion practically leaps from the couch to get a better look at the cat sauntering across the room.

“Oh no,” Marinette sighs watching her brother melt over the cat.

“That’s Alfred,” Damian tells them eyeing the cat and Marion with mild amusement.

“After Alfred, Alfred your butler?” Marinette tries not to snicker at the name.

“Yes, pennyworth is his namesake,” Damian nods, glare daring Marinette to laugh.

“Can I pet him?!” Marion pleads, with baby-doll eyes that could put Manon to shame.

“You can try, Alfred is very selective about who pets him,” Damian grants, and Marion sits on the ground, inching closer.

“I wouldn’t worry, Mari has a way with cats,” Marinette smirks, thinking back to the time she had to fight an Akuma alone because he was being smothered by cats.

“Come here Alfred,” Marion rubs his hand on the ground, Alfred watching closely.

“Do you have any other pets?” Marinette asks, Damian puts down his book.

“I have Titus, a great dane,” Damian watches as Alfred gives in and pounces on Marion’s hand, “Batcow, self explanatory,”

“Bat-cow mutant?” Marion guesses letting Alfred sniff his hand.

“No,” Damian's irritation shows, “She has patch shaped like the Bat symbol,”

“Oh, that was my second guess,” Alfred lets Marion scratch behind his ear.

“Can we see them?” Marinette excited over meeting Batcow.

“They’ll be around here somewhere, roaming the manor grounds,” Damian responds, non committaly.

“Alfred the Cat, feels weird to call them both Alfred,” Marion muses, Damian looks surprised as the cat climbs into this lap.

“Have you any pets?” Damian asks his first question about them.

“No, we live in a bakery so it would be a health code violation,” Marinette answers sadly. She doubts a box of animal type Kwamis are regulation either but no one has to know about that.

“Al-at? no,” Marion talks to himself, or more likely the cat.

“That’s a shame,” Damian acknowledges monotonously, watching as Alfred the cat starts to purr as Marion scratches his chin.

“We did try to sneak strays in when we were little,” Marinette is unwilling to let the conversation drop.

“Ca-Fred, Cat-Fred!” Marion exclaims, apologising seconds later to the newly dubbed Cat-fred for startling him.

“Try?” Damian sneers.

“The first few times were a disaster, we didn’t get past the front door,” Marinette explains, “Maman and Papa would send them to the shelter straight away,”

“At least they didn’t put them back out on the street,” Damian muses.

“They would never,” Marion responds, in baby talk directed at Cat-fred.

"You don't have to use that ridiculous voice," Damian scolds.

"I know," Marion answers, in the same voice, Damian glowers.

“As we got older we started being able to actually get them inside before being found out,” Marinette distracts him from Marion's taunting.

“One of us would be the distraction and the other snuck in, with a sleeping cat or dog, that one we learnt the hard way,” Marion uses a normal voice, still showering Cat-fred with attention.

“I think that is how I got my reputation for being clumsy,” Marinette sighs, it was always left up to her to distract their parents by knocking something over while Marion snuck in.

“What can I say? Cats love me,” Marion proves his point as Alfred turns over, letting him see his belly.

“I can see that,” Damian seems amused as much as he is surprised.

“At first, they’d find them in a few hours, so we learnt by trial and error,” Marinette continues, relaxing into the couch. "We must have taken in at least a hundred strays,"

“I think the last one we had managed a few months before we go found out,” Marion guesses, they hadn't tried again since the received their miraculous.

For one because they couldn't afford their parents searching their room regularly and coming across the Kwamis. However being the heroes of Paris had also proven effective in getting people to adopt. Usually the first person they asked would immediately agree, if they were suited up.

“So how many more pets have you managed to smuggle in?” Marion stage whispers to Damian, the gap between them being too big to actually whisper, “In a place this big should be easy,”

“I’ve tried… Pennyworth has caught me each time,” Damian admits, looking down at the almost asleep Cat-fred.

“That man is a witch,” Marion declares with certainty.

“What?” Damian seems taken aback.

“He appears out of nowhere and knows too much,” Marion provides what Marinette is sure he considers evidence.

“Hn, that is true,” Damain starts to share his multiple accounts of such behaviour.

The three fall into easy conversation after that listening to and sharing stories.

“I must be going insane,” All their eyes snap to a man standing in the doorway “Demon spawns actually getting along with someone,”

“Todd,” Damian acknowledges coldly.

“Hi,” Marion waves with far more friendliness, “I’m Marion, this is Marinette, your names Todd was it?”

“Jason actually, I lived here and drop by every now and then, mainly when Alfred asks," He explains, sitting on another couch near Marion, "Heard about you had a run in with a villain today,”

“Did you?” Damian asks, the two having avoided it in their conversation so far.

“Yeah, got an earful from Aunt Selina,” Marion laughs nervously.

“Did you get hurt?” Jason looks over Marion, concern written all over his face.

“What? No I’m fine thanks,” Marion smiles, Marinette rolled her eyes she stretches her leg to press to his bruised side, "Ow! Nette!"

"No lying," She shrugs as Marion turns to her. Cat-fred runs at the sudden movement, making Marion pout.

"Rich coming from you," He mutters, turing back to see the look on Jason's face, "My side just a little bruised, doesn't hurt unless someone, oh i don't know, kicks me!"

"I didn't kick you, you drama queen," Marinette sticks her tongue out at him and he copies.

“Did Selina train you?” Damian reverts the conversation.

“A little when we were younger, we still to spar together,” Marinette pretends to go for a kick to his side again, expecting the easy block.

"One of the few instances we're allows to punch each other," Marion jokes, "Although I think I'll hold off for now, you're not above using my injury to your advantage,"

"I'm resourceful," Marinette corrects, "Also, now you're hurt when you're afraid to get you're ass beat?"

"Such crass language, young lady," Jason teases, Marinette pokes her tongue out again.

"I can spar you if Marion is unwilling," Damian offers, Marion grumbles something along the lines of 'I never said that'.

"Right now?" Marinette sizes him up, she could tell he had some training.

"If you want," Damian also starts to size her up.

"Hold up now, you can't do this," Jason steps in, Marinette starts to deflate, "In here, Alfred would stop you, lets go outside,"

She perks up, following Jason, Marion and Damian outside to a clear area of grass. She toes off her shoes and socks, knowing they were steel capped and would cause some serious damage. She also pulls off her scarf, not willing to give him any advantage. Damian keeps his shoes on, clicking his tongue. They start to circle each other, waiting for someone to make a move. Marinette feels the grass beneath her feet, she feels more like Ladybug in a way.

Damian breaks the standoff, lunging at her. Marinette side steps at the last second, reminding herself to tone it down. She tries to make use of the opening by getting behind him, but Damian instantly pivots to keep her in front of him. Marinette takes note he's a lot faster than anticipated and decides to test it. She makes the next move forward throwing a few punches to see how he reacts. Damian easily dodges each one, Marinette realises that she is unprepared to fight someone smaller than her. They did occasionally have to fight Akumatised children but that was with superpowers. She had never actually gone hand to hand with someone smaller.

Taking this into consideration she adjusts to a style she uses more when sparring Marion. They're both about the same size and he's fast so she can rarely use his weight against him like she usually would. Marinette stops trying to get behind Damian, instead planning to send him to the ground, knowing she had the size advantage. Damian seemingly notices this change and adjusts his defences.

'how well is he trained?' Marinette asks herself. Damian tries to goad her into attacking, throwing out punches. Marinette doesn't rise to the bait, dodging and blocking. Marinette dances around their sparring area, testing Damian's stamina while waiting for an opening. She sees her chance and is about to move into counter attack.

"Damian!" They both pause looking toward the manor to see Bruce and Selina.

"Marinette! what do you think you're doing?" Aunt Selina storms towards them.

"Uh... bonding?" She laughs nervously.

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celestialtitania · 4 years ago

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The Letter

Thank you to @nothingwillsuffice for betaing! Written for MWG's April Event. Can also read on AO3.

Alya stared at her two friends in disbelief. They had gone from having limited contact to practically snuggling with each other in front of the whole class!

"I know you two finally started dating but how are you so affectionate already?" She demanded to know, waiting for her best friend to immediately spill the details.

"Isn't this how all couples interact when they love each other?" Adrien asked innocently.

Marinette leaned slightly away from Adrien, so she could whisper in Alya's ear without being overheard. "He gets his romance from anime. Don't tell him anything!"

Adrien Agreste, the famous supermodel, was into anime? Alya raised a disbelieving brow at Marinette who nodded at her in all seriousness. Adrien rested his head on Marinette's shoulder just then and Alya had to control herself from whipping out her phone and snapping a picture.

"Hey, dude and dudette," Nino greeted them as he walked in, fist-bumping Adrien and tossing an arm around Alya. "Hi, babe," he greeted her with a smile. Then he took a double take as Adrien went from resting on Marinette to full-on snuggling into her.

"What are you, a cat? Keep climbing like that and Marinette will be too tired to do anything," Nino shook his head at them.

"It's fine," Marinette waved Nino off as Adrien pouted and snuggled further. "Marinette's warm and if I let go, I'll miss her too much!" Adrien whined in protest. Marinette simply patted his head with her free hand as Alya gaped in disbelief.

"I always knew this day would come but this is too soon. Even for them," Nino lamented and Alya turned to her boyfriend in confusion.

Nino dramatically looked up at the ceiling and shook his head before turning to her. "It's time we face it, babe. We're no longer the romantic ones of the group," Nino said mournfully. Alya's jaw dropped in indignation.

"Nino! Of course, we're the romantic ones. We're very romantic!"

Nino simply gazed at Marinette and Adrien in response. Alya sighed in resignation. "Okay, fine. No one can be as romantic as these two, but we're still plenty romantic."

"These two have me thinking we're not romantic at all."

"Okay, that's so not true," Marinette disentangled herself from Adrien to lean forward. "You two are my favourite couple." Beside her, Adrien nodded solemnly in agreement.

Nino gave them a grin as he played with his hat. "Yeah, you're right. We're an awesome couple." He gave Alya a quick kiss on the cheek as Marinette slid out of his seat. Alya smiled at Nino as she headed towards her own seat but what he had said was starting to get to her. An uncomfortable feeling grew in her stomach and she turned to Marinette, who was watching her carefully.

"Girl, I need you to tell me the truth. Are Nino and I really not that romantic of a couple?"

Marinette sighed. "You two got akumatized for playing "Super Penguino" on a class trip and we all know you weren't playing a video game. You two are very romantic and so clearly in love."

"But what if Nino doesn't think that's true anymore?" Alya whispered, anxiously picking at her nails.

Marinette frowned. "If he thinks you two aren't being as romantic as you used to be, why don't you just do something extra romantic for him?"

Alya tilted her head, thinking it over. That was an intriguing idea. "Like what?" She asked, a little lost for ideas.

Marinette hummed thoughtfully. "Oh! You're an amazing writer, especially when it comes to the facts."

"That's true. Any journalist worth her salt has to be a good writer," Alya pointed out before pausing as she took in the smirk on Marinette's face.

"Why don't you write Nino a love letter?" Marinette whispered excitedly.

Alya blinked having expected something unnecessarily big and complicated. "A love letter?"

"Old-school romance, I think it's the sweetest thing ever. Getting that love letter would just make your heart flutter, especially when it's from someone you love more than anything." Marinette confirmed, sighing dreamily at the idea of receiving a love letter.

Alya quirked an eyebrow at her. "And how exactly do you know this?"

Marinette smiled. "Maman was telling me stories about how Papa courted her, yesterday."

Alya couldn't help but gush at that herself. That must have been so sweet. She paused, replaying the emotions that had just overcome her as Marinette looked at her triumphantly.

"So, you doing it?" Marinette asked innocently, though she couldn't quite hide her smile.

Alya simply rolled her eyes at her best friend. "Nobody likes a gloater," she said, turning to pay attention to Mlle. Bustier's lesson even as Marinette quietly squealed in anticipation.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Alya held up her freshly written letter and squinted at it. Marinette sighed at her from where she was lying on Alya's bed.

"This is like the tenth time you've rewritten it!" Marinette protested when Alya turned around to give her an annoyed look.

"I have to make sure it's perfect!" Alya smiled, her competitive nature coming to life. "He'll regret thinking we're not romantic, if it's the last thing I do!"

"Okay, tone it down over there with the possible supervillain origin story," Marinette laughed. "Alya, Nino loves you. He'll see how romantic it is no matter what you write, okay?"

Alya pursed her lips. "Maybe if I just change one more thing," she mused, reaching for the eraser. Marinette caught her arm before she could get to it and gave her a hard glare.

"No. No more editing," Marinette commanded. Alya looked up at her pleadingly but Marinette was not swayed in the slightest. "Put it in the envelope, Alya." Grudgingly, Alya folded the letter and put it inside the rose-scented pale pink envelope they had specifically picked out.

"Now, seal the envelope," Marinette handed Alya the glue stick, dashing Alya's hopes that she could just take the letter out again later. But Alya didn't argue, knowing Marinette was right to force her into it.

"It's done. It's official now," Alya groaned, resting her head on her desk. Marinette giggled at her. "Not quite, you still have to give it to Nino."

Alya's eyes widened. "Like hand the letter to him? In front of everyone?"

"That'd be so bold and romantic," Marinette gushed.

"Are you sure you haven't started getting your romance tips from anime too?" Alya asked dryly.

Much to Alya's surprise, Marinette blushed. "I had to! Adrien would keep flirting with me anime style and I wanted to know the best ways to catch him off guard."

Alya stared at her best friend. "Never tell me anything about how you and Adrien flirt, got it?" She ordered, inwardly shivering at whatever would cause Marinette to blush so furiously. Marinette opened her mouth to protest but Alya waved her finger at her. "Never," she repeated.

This time it was Marinette's turn to pout at her but Alya also did not give in. After a few moments of an intense staring contest, Marinette gave in with a huff. Satisfied, Alya turned back around to consider her letter.

"Why don't we mail it to Nino instead?" Alya asked hopefully.

"What if his parents or Chris find it and open it before Nino sees it? That would ruin the romance aspect," Marinette pointed out.

"Well do you have a better idea? Because I am not walking up to him and giving it to him at school. That is way too much pressure."

Marinette gave her a mischievous look. "What happened to the fearless journalist who doesn't back down from the truth?"

"She's on vacation," Alya deadpanned making Marinette laugh.

Marinette picked up the letter, her eyes moving around the room. Then she blinked, a slow smile appearing on her face. "I have a plan," she informed Alya.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"For some reason, I feel like you came up with this plan just so you wouldn't have to babysit by yourself," Alya commented as they watched Manon play with Marinette's handmade dolls, as they sat on the park bench.

"Would I do that?" Marinette asked, curled up on the bench. Her eyes kept drooping and she let out a gigantic yawn.

"Based on how tired you are, you most definitely would. Girl, are you not getting enough sleep? You didn't use to be this sleepy." Behind all of Alya's teasing, she was worried for her friend.

"I'm okay, I just get behind on school and whatnot. You know what they say about vicious cycles," Marinette shrugged. "Come on, let's go over the plan one more time."

Alya nodded determinedly, as she pulled out the written she had so carefully written. "Nino will like it, right?" She asked her best friend, a small niggle of doubt making her hesitant.

Marinette beamed at her. "He'll love it," she confirmed. Then she sat up looking more attentive than she had been in hours. "He's here!" She whisper-squealed as she pointed in a general direction. Alya followed her finger to where Nino and Adrien had sat down. Clearly, neither boy had noticed the girls.

"Manon!" Marinette called out to the little girl, who looked up curiously at the sound of her name. When Marinette gestured for her to come over, she quickly abandoned the dolls and ran to sit on Marinette's lap. Manon had turned expectantly towards Alya.

"Is it story time?" Manon asked innocently.

Alya shook her head. "Not yet. Do you see that blond boy, the one you took pictures with once Ladybug got rid of all the ice?"

Manon's eyes lit up in recognition and she nodded eagerly. "Well, can you give this letter to the boy sitting next to him?" Alya held out the letter for Manon, who was frowning. "If you do, I'll tell you all the stories you want."

"Deal!" Manon exclaimed happily, quickly grabbing the letter from Alya and heading towards the two boys. Marinette and Alya watched with bated breath as Manon went to go talk to the boys. Soon enough, Manon was running back to them.

"There! Now a story!" The little girl demanded, plopping herself into Alya's lap. Alya wanted to keep watching the boys but a deal was a deal. Marinette only laughed as Alya began to spin tales of unicorns battling robots.

She'd gotten all the way up to the climax when Marinette interrupted her, by tapping on her shoulder. Adrien and Nino had come up to them. Nino was frowning while Adrien looked extremely uncomfortable.

Marinette winked at Alya before getting up to give Adrien a hug. He hugged her back but not as tightly or lovingly as he always did. Instead, his arms came up hesitantly while his gaze remained trained on Alya. Meanwhile, Nino refused to look at her.

Exasperated, Alya turned to Marinette hoping she would have some idea of what was going on. But Marinette looked just as puzzled as Alya felt.

"Adrien? Is something wrong?" Marinette asked, gently laying a hand on Adrien's cheek which caused him to flinch. A look of surprise and hurt crossed Marinette's face as she took a step back from him.

"Nino? What's happening?" Alya frowned, as she put Manon down to stand next to him. Her boyfriend simply fiddled with his hat, like he always did when he was upset with one arm crossed across his chest defensively. Adrien gave Marinette a regretful look before taking in a deep breath.

"Alya," Adrien said, his voice was hard and unforgiving. "Why would you give this to me?"

Alya looked at Marinette instinctively. She hadn't given anything to Adrien. That was when Adrien reached into his pocket and pulled out a pink envelope. A very familiar pink envelope.

"Why do you have that?" Alya asked as she threw a hurt glance towards Nino. Even if he hated the letter, her boyfriend could have had the decency to keep it to himself rather than pass it on to his best friend.

Then she registered what Adrien had said. "W-what do you mean, give it to you?"

In the corner of her eye, Alya could see Marinette slapping her hand to her forehead before crouching to speak with Manon.

"Manon said it was for me," Adrien defended. "And it has your name on it!"

"You said to give it to the blond boy!" Manon piped up, helpfully.

"No, we said to give it to the boy next to him," Marinette corrected, a relieved smile on her face. "You weren't listening, were you?"

"What?" Nino stuttered, his arms falling down as his eyes met hers. Marinette rolled her eyes.

"Obviously, the letter was for you, Nino. Why on earth would it be for Adrien?"

Adrien and Nino gaped as Marinette scolded Manon for being so excited about a story she ended up not doing her job properly. "Only responsible little girls get stories!" She finished making Manon nod sadly.

"Sorry for making a mess," She apologized before running to hug Marinette's leg for some comfort.

Adrien was visibly relieved as he handed the letter over to Nino before going to Marinette. Alya shook her head at both Manon and Adrien before turning her gaze back towards her sheepish boyfriend.

"Hey, Alya, I just–," Alya didn't let him finish, swatting him on the arm. He yelped before rubbing it to soothe the pain.

"How dare you?" Alya hissed. "I pour all my time and effort into making you the most amazing and romantic letter possible and you think I would send it to Adrien?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Alya saw Adrien open his mouth to protest but Marinette elbowed him in the gut before he could say anything.

Nino wrung his hands together. "I didn't really know what to think, I just...it was your name on the letter and Manon insisted it was for Adrien, and I…"

They turned towards Manon, who gave a little shrug. Alya supposed she should let it go, Manon was only five years old, making her younger than even Alya's twin sisters. And they would have made the mistake much worse than just giving it to Nino's best friend.

Nino's lack of trust on the other hand…Sensing she was about to yell at him again, Nino took her hand in his. "You know I love you, babe. The idea of losing you hurt me too much." He gave her a soft, pleading look.

Alya raised an eyebrow and Nino sighed. "I panicked and acted like a complete idiot. Please forgive me?"

Alya rolled her eyes before pulling Nino into a hug. She could feel her boyfriend grin against her before he pulled back just enough to kiss her. When he pulled away, Alya couldn't help the wave of disappointment that had washed over her.

"Nino? Read the letter," Marinette advised. Then she turned to Alya. "You know, all the movies say that couples that go through misunderstandings like this are the most romantic. But I guess that's just my opinion."

Alya's bestie scooped Manon into her arms before dragging Adrien away. Alya sent Marinette a grateful look before turning back to her boyfriend.

"It smells nice," he said lamely.

"Wow, so nice of you to notice," Alya snarked. He seemed to wilt under her gaze as he carefully opened the letter and began to read. Alya was rather gratified to see the myriad of emotions crossing Nino's face as his eyes misted up.

"I love you too, Alya. I love you so much, babe. I'm so sorry I'm such an idiot." Nino said, at last, his hands trembling as he gripped the letter.

Alya rolled her eyes once again. "And we're an extremely romantic couple, I was completely in the wrong," Nino added.

A smirk crossed Alya's face, making her shrug. "I suppose I can forgive you, just this once," Alya mused out loud making Nino laugh. Before she could react, he pulled her into a kiss and Alya decided there were more important things to care about.

23 notes · View notes

haymaker-mva · 4 years ago

Text

A different choice, a different chance

Part 1/2: Desperada

So I've fucking given up on my “mental health break.” No sleep for the wicked!

This fic’s pretty much, “What if Marinette picked Luka for the snake miraculous first, and what would happen if that led to her realizing that what she was pretty much a stalker?”

Enjoy the fic that my brain spawned and would not let me leave alone!

1 - 2

“W-wow…” Alya stuttered in surprise. “It never hit me that the plans we did messed with others… It just seemed so harmless at the time…”

“That’s the same thought I had. It seemed like just being a schoolgirl with a crush, but I really have gone too far, haven’t I?”

Ladybug looked between Adrien Agreste and Luka Couffine. She had one snake miraculous, and two guys to choose from. After casting her luck charm, Ladybug had gone to get backup, telling Adrien and Luka to go hide. She set up Luka’s guitar with the pigeons and escaped. She quickly retrieved the snake miraculous from Master Fu, and went on her way. As she flew back through the city, Ladybug’s mind drifted.

For some strange reason that seemed specifically like a crush, Mainette had chosen Adrien to play with Jagged instead of Luka, who was much more suited for the job. The guilt ate at Marinette, but Ladybug had to get her head in the game.

Ladybug slid into the sewers again, and began calling out to Luka and Adrien. She had to make sure they were safe, and perhaps give one of them the miraculous she currently held if her instincts were leading her the right way.

She heard Luka answer her, and she made her way towards his voice and quickly found them in a normal tunnel. Adrien and Luka were both there, though they seemed quite a bit worried.

Now back to where we were. Ladybug looked between Adrien and Luka. Her heart ached for her to choose Adrien, but her instincts pulled her towards Luka. She was so close to giving Adrien the snake… but then the guilt from Marinette’s earlier mistake smacked her in the brain. Ladybug shook her head to clear her thoughts, and grabbed Adrien’s wrist.

“Luka, go hide around that corner. I have to hide Adrien somewhere else, I’ll be back to make sure you’re safe.”

Adrien ran through the sewers with Luka, just trying to get away from the akuma. Every time Adrien tried to lag behind or get lost around a corner, Luka would find him and make sure they weren’t separated. It was nice to have a friend that cared so much, but Adrien needed to become Chat Noir, and Luka was making it ten times harder!

After Kwami knows how long of this, Ladybug found them again thanks to Luka’s loud voice. Adrien could tell what this was; Ladybug went to get backup. He knew his partner. A tiny war waged in his head. On one hand, being chosen by Ladybug would be great. But on the other hand, Adrien was Chat Noir, and being chosen would not be so great.

So when Ladybug pulled him aside, his heart both sank and soared. His Lady truste him outside of the mask too…! But he needed to be Chat Noir…

Ladybug pulled them into a locker room, and paused to catch her breath. She opened a locker, and motioned for him to get inside.

What?

Ladybug wasn’t choosing him? So what was she doing? Noticing the confusion on Adrien’s face, Ladybug elaborated.

“I needed to spit you two up to make it harder for Desperada to get you both in one go. I also need to find that dang cat, and find some backup,” Ladybug griped. She collected herself and let out a breath. “Anyway, go hide and only come out when you see the ladybugs.” Ladybug waved and ran out of the locker room, shutting the door behind her and leaving Adrien conflicted.

Was it good or bad that Ladybug didn’t give his alter ego another miraculous?

Soon the fight was over and the miraculous ladybug was cast, and everything was back to normal. Well, not exactly. Seeds of doubt had been planted in Marinette’s head…

As Marinette sat on her bed after the fight, she replayed a lot of scenes in her head. All of them about Adrien. All the times she messed something up, hurt someone, or sacrificed something because of him,in one way or another. There were too many times. Heck, it happened just that day with Luka and playing with Jagged!

Marinette’s mind flashed back to the day that Manon got akumatized into Puppeteer the second time. Adrien had specifically mentioned loving another girl, as well as indirectly and almost actually rejecting her.

All of a sudden, she felt stupid.

He never loved her, and she didn’t want to hurt yet another person, especially him, trying to obtain Adrien’s affections. Marinette frowned sadly. She really had hurt so many people. Granted, she always apologized and fixed things. Take Kagami for example! They got orange juice together pretty much every week. But that didn’t change the fact that she had still hurt people with her stalkerish schemes.

And looking at her wall, she followed the thought that she had also crossed over into stalker territory. Not just her wall, Marinette had even stolen his phone at one point! Gotten his bodyguard in trouble! Invaded his room as Ladybug, and took full advantage of his trust in her. She wasn’t even properly friends with him; she could barely speak a word in his presence!

Marinette facepalmed. How could she ever have dreamed of dating a guy that she couldn’t talk to? She remembered something her mother told her a long time ago, when she had started liking guys.

“Remember, Marinette. Don’t choose the better guy, choose the guy that makes you the better girl. Never go for the one that brings the worst out in you. It’ll only lead to disaster if you can’t control yourself.”

Marinette had never really taken that advice into consideration, because of her short list of crushes. But now it was all she could think of. Why did she even like Adrien? She could barely recall. She told herself it was his personality, the kindness he displayed, the trust he had in others… But that was just his naivety, wasn’t it? She liked him because he was afraid of losing his friends by being anything but polite. Adrien only went after her so that she wouldn’t hate him. Their class was small, of course he wouldn’t want to have any enemies.

Marinette slapped her cheeks. She wouldn’t think bad of Adrien. Even if he was her crush, and she was a bad one herself, he was still her friend.

I think I need to call Alya.

“I think I’ve gone too far with Adrien.�� Was the first words that rushed out of her mouth. Cringing at the implication, she rephrased. “As in, my crush has gone too far.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Where is this coming from?” Alya responded.

“I chose Adrien today. To play guitar. Over Luka, who is literally in a popular band, and would you look at that! Plays a guitar.” Marinette deadpanned, sitting down in her desk chair. “I’ve also conspired with Chloe to ruin Kagami’s dress, stolen his phone, gotten his bodyguard in trouble with a police officer, literally have his schedule mapped out and memorized, and my walls are covered in his face. And that’s just to start.” The words tumbled out of her, and though she knew it was bad, seeing it all out on the table was unsettling. Knowing she had done all that.

She really was a stalker at this point.

“W-wow…” Alya stuttered in surprise. “It never hit me that the plans we did messed with others… It just seemed so harmless at the time…”

“That’s the same thought I had. It seemed like just being a schoolgirl with a crush, but I really have gone too far, haven’t I?” Marinette said, placing the phone in front of her computer, which was displaying Adrien’s face.

She put her face in her hands, elbows resting on the desk.

“I think we’ve all gone too far.” Alya stated, surprising Marinette. “My job as your bestie is to even you out and tell you when it’s time to calm down. But I didn’t even notice.”

“Nonono, Alya it’s not your fault I went crazy.” Marinette told her best friend. It really wasn’t any of her friends' fault. “Let’s move past that though. What now?”

“Huh?”

“What do I do now? I can’t let this keep happening. Something needs to change.”

“Maybe tone down your advances? Get rid of the schedule? This doesn’t mean you have to give up, it just tells us that we need to rethink our strategy” Alya suggested.

“I… I think I have to move on.”

“What?! Why?” Alya exclaimed. Marinette could imagine her face, Alya’s eyes wide and her glasses slightly slipping.

“Face it Al’s, I can’t even talk to him. He loves another girl, and that girl is most likely Kagami. And she and him are possibly dating. I’m still friends with her, I can’t ruin their relationship.” Marinette sighed, her mind conjuring up Kagami and hers’ orange juice meetups. Marinette couldn’t do that to someone she considered a friend. A rival in love would be okay, but Kagami had clearly won over Adrien. So, Marinette had to move on.

“I… It’s just strange to think about you not being in love with Adrien.” Alya puzzled.

“Honestly, I understand the feeling.” Marinette took a deep breath and leaned back in her chair. She snapped forward, “But we’re gonna have to get used to it!” She declared, standing up and bringing her arms up determinately.

From that point forward, she really did.

1 - 2

104 notes · View notes

rhysand-vs-fenrys · 4 years ago

Note

Here is a challenge for you, tell the Untamed story using Maas characters to convince me to watch it or read the book!

As with the ACOTAR as TGCF answer, please just take the character names for their personalities and ignore any ships. Had to get kinda weird with this one.

Also, spoilers and I will tell the story in a linear way. Also-Also I’m summarizing the show not the novel (there are differences). Also-Also-Also, I need to use the clan names at one point so... yeah. It was necessary.

theswordrepresentshispenis

OK HERE WE GO!

Wuxian: Dorian || Wangji: Rowan || Jiang Cheng: Aedion || Jiang Yanli: Evalin || Jiang Fengmian: Ren || Madam Yu: Maeve || Nie Huaisang: Lysandra ||Nie Mingjue: Manon || Jin Zixuan: Fenrys || Jin Guangyao: Connall || Lan Xichen: Yrene || Wen Ning: Chaol || Wen Qing: Nehemia || Wen Yuan: Evangeline || Sizhui: Elide

In the ancient past there was once an evil clan leader who massacred millions of people, soaking an amulet in the blood of countless innocents. Their bodies piled so high around him that they formed mountains of corpses and stained the land in the resentment, grief, and hatred of so many lives cut short.

This land became known as the Burial Mounds, and was further cursed as powerful warriors sent to pacify the hatred of the land were devoured by it.

The clan leader’s amulet allowed him to wage a bloody war against anyone who did not bow to him, until all of the clans rose as one and killed him (causing great loss of life). Knowing the amulet was too powerful now to be destroyed for good, they split it into four pieces, hiding them at the four corners of the world under powerful wards and spells.

The Stygian Metal became legend, and then even the legends were forgotten. The Burial Mounds remained a cursed land, and as time passed those piles of corpses turned into actual mountains, and a clan rose to surround the Burial Mounds and contain their power.

But this clan was made up of the remnants of the one led by that evil leader of the past, and they have slowly been subjugating others once more. This is the Wen Clan, led by Wen-Cain.

Far to the south lies the peaceful Lotus Pier Clan, home to young Clan Leader Ren. Ren falls in love with a beautiful woman. She is kind, warm, and a powerful warrior in her own right. Ren is overcome with his desire for her, but he is already married. Still, he makes advances towards the woman, but she has fallen in love with Ren’s right hand man and best friend. The two elope.

Ren is enraged, and he banishes them both from his lands. Ren’s wife Maeve has already given him one child, the lovely and warm Evalin. Ren’s desire for the other woman taught Maeve to hate her husband bitterly, and he will spend the rest of his life trying to fix his marriage.

The servant and the warrior maiden quickly have a child, little Dorian. But when Dorian is still a small child the two are killed fighting a monster. Dorian had been left safe in town, but the world is cruel to an orphan lost and alone.

Word of their death reaches Ren, but he hears nothing of their child. No matter how much it enrages Maeve- who has now given Ren a son of his own- Ren vows to scour the world in search of young Dorian.

A couple years pass, and as Ren searches a small city he sees Dorian. The spitting image of his parents, there is absolutely no doubt this is the boy he’s been searching for. Dorian has lived on the streets, fighting wild dogs for his food, and yet as Ren watches he merely takes a moldy bun from a trash bin and sits down with a bright smile on his face to enjoy his food.

Before he can take a bite, Ren gives Dorian a hot, fresh bun and brings him home to Lotus Pier.

Dorian is brought in as the adopted brother of Evalin and Aedion, but rumors will always persist that Dorian is Ren’s own bastard. The source of many of these rumors is Maeve, who hates the boy with a flaming passion. Maeve punishes Dorian, demeans him, belittles him, and hates her husband even more for allowing Dorian to hold the same esteemed place as Aedion.

No matter how hard Aedion tries, he is never good enough for Ren. Dorian, meanwhile, is praised endlessly and becomes a powerful and popular hero. Dorian is a natural talent, quickly and easily mastering anything he puts his mind to.

Aedion and Dorian consider themselves brothers, and Evalin their beloved sister who puts herself between her mother’s hateful ways and the other members of the family. Evalin has been engaged since infancy to Fenrys, who disregards and often demeans her as being ugly or stupid.

Aedion and Dorian’s favorite past time is beating up Fenrys.

One day, Ren sends all three of his children to study in a special class at the Cloud Recesses- the seat of the Lan clan. The clan is led by Yrene, an endlessly warm and kind lady who acts as the peacemaker among all of the sects (but especially the Five Great Families- among which are counted Ren’s family).

These classes in monster hunting are considered the most desired and exclusive of classes, taught by Yrene’s uncle. Any clan leader worth their throne attended in their own youth, except for Wen-Cairn, who refuses to acknowledge someone from another family being better in any way.

Dorian is excited to go (which is minorly scandalous for the son of some servant), but very quickly pisses off Yrene’s beloved younger brother. Rowan is a young hero equal in renown to Dorian, yet he is friendless, joyless, and obeys the Lan clan’s 3,000 rules strictly.

Yrene and Evalin both realize very quickly that when two boys fight it means they like each other, and they will spend the rest of the story relentlessly pushing this ship.

Also attending the lessons are Fenrys (tool), and Lysandra. Lysandra is the half-sister of Manon Blackbeak, considered the toughest warrior in the world. Manon may or may not be having sex with Yrene, it’s left up to the reader to decide that one. Anyways, Lysandra is the shame of her clan- which prides itself on brute strength and blood lust. Unlike Manon, Lysandra loves the arts and music, and refuses to ever carry a sword at all.

Accompanying Lysandra is Manon’s favorite servant, Connall. Fenrys’ father is a bit of a slut, and Connall is Fenrys’ bastard half-brother. Fenrys ignores his existence. Still, everyone whispers about Connall. He’d tried to approach Fenrys’ father to be legitimized and was thrown out of the palace bloody.

Connall is Lysandra’s best friend and confidant, but Yrene has also fallen in love with Connall. Despite the scandalous nature of his birth (son of a prostitute), Yrene sees the good in Connall, and even just seeing him in a room warms her heart.

Also sent to spy on the lessons are Chaol and Nehemia, members of the cruel and evil Wen clan (along with Cairn’s son Cain).

Dorian and Rowan soon stumble across the legend of that ancient clan leader and the Stygian metal he’d created. Wen-Cairn has found one of the four pieces, and he realizes a second must be located somewhere in Cloud Recesses. Dorian and Rowan find an ancient and hidden cave within which is Mab, an ancient leader of the Lan clan. Mab found the Stygian metal, but she thought she could purify it. Instead, it has slowly consumed her very life essence. Mab’s existence has been torturously prolonged, but for centuries on end she hasn’t been able to leave the cave, lest the Stygian iron’s power be released and call to the other pieces.

Dorian and Rowan take the iron and vow to keep it safe.

Eventually the classes end, but by now Dorian and Rowan have formed a deep mutual respect (though Dorian still annoys Rowan to death). Rowan is keeping the Stygian metal, but he wants to use it to find other pieces to keep the remaining three from the hands of Cairn.

As for Chaol and Nehemia- Chaol has become utterly devoted to Dorian. He respects him, and Dorian is one of the very few who are kind to Chaol. Nehemia doesn’t have any loyalty to her family, only to Chaol, and she low-key dislikes Dorian because she knows Chaol might be in danger for his friendship to the young hero.

Also, Aedion has fallen in love with Nehemia.

While Evalin and Aedion return to Lotus Pier after classes, Dorian slips away and chases after Rowan. He wants to accompany him on his adventures. They soon stumble across Lysandra as well.

The three follow the Stygian iron’s call to the mountain home of another clan and find only corpses. The Wen sent an assassin ahead of them who slaughtered the clan. Lysandra calls for help from Connall, who brings them to Manon’s stronghold.

While they are there discussing what to do next, the Wen Clan attacks Cloud Recesses. Yrene vanishes, and most of the disciples are slaughtered. Rowan rushes back and is captured.

Dorian returns to Lotus Pier, unaware of what has happened. A letter arrives, telling every Clan Leader to send their heirs and most powerful disciples to study in the Wen Capitol- obviously asking them to become hostages.

Aedion and Dorian are eager to go, rather than see anything befall Ren as punishment for not obeying. At the Wen Capitol, they see Rowan, who has been taken prisoner and tortured somewhat. He’s also lost the piece of Stygian metal to Cairn.

Dorian expertly pisses of Cain (remember, Cairn’s son), and as punishment is locked in a cage with a massive (minivan-sized) dog overnight. Because of his history fighting dogs on the streets as a child and often being mauled, Dorian has an extreme and uncontrollable fear of dogs.

As Dorian is screaming, young Chaol appears and manages to use Nehemia’s medicines (btw Nehemia is a doctor too) to knock the dog out for the night. He is willing to risk being beaten and tortured by Cain for helping Dorian because Dorian is kind to him.

Not long after, Dorian, Rowan, Aedion, Fenrys, Nehemia, Cain, and Lysandra are all sent to hunt a monster. It is obvious this is nothing more than an excuse to make Cain look good by killing a legendary beast as well as give them cover to execute many if not all the hostages and innocently claim their deaths as “tragic accidents”.

But there is a hiccup- the monster they were sent to hunt turns out to be the Tortoise of Slaughter (don’t laugh). This huge creature has been hidden in a deep cave for eons, and was once the pet of that evil emperor who made the Stygian metal.

Cain runs away, dragging Nehemia behind him, and uses boulders to seal the cave and trap Dorian, Rowan, Aedion, Fenrys, and Lysandra inside to die. Aedion manages to find a passage and lead Fenrys and Lysandra out, but when Dorian and Rowan go to follow the passage is sealed. Dorian was injured by Cain(’s girlfriend but we have enough characters already) and Rowan has a broken leg that Cain left untreated as a torture. His leg is also severely wounded by the Tortoise.

Dorian and Rowan work together to defeat this eons-old ancient beast, which begins with Dorian climbing beneath the shell of the beast (think house-sized carnivore turtle).

But beneath the shell of the turtle are the corpses of many it destroyed. And stabbed into its flesh is a black blade that roils with smoke.

See, when the Stygian metal was created, millions of lives were sacrificed. Their rage and hatred and power went into the metal-

-but their fear went into the sword.

Dorian grabs the hilt of that cursed blade and draws it in a moment of panic, and in his mind he hears the screams of terror as millions died.

Dorian and Rowan manage to kill the tortoise, but as blood touches the blade the screams in Dorian’s mind only grow louder, and he blacks out for several days. When he wakes he is outside the cave, his arms wrapped around the cursed blade, and Fenrys and Aedion have returned with soldiers to rescue them. Rowan is nowhere to be seen, having already headed back to Cloud Recesses to try and find his missing sister Yrene.

Aedion and Dorian run back to Lotus Pier as fast as they can to warn their families that Wen-Cairn has slaughtered one clan (the Lan) and is attacking again. The Wen clan starts a systematic antihalation of the clans, aided by the two pieces of Stygian metal they now have.

Maeve hates Dorian, and says if anything bad happens it must be his fault. She whips him repeatedly, but then Wen Cain shows up. Cain says Dorian has insulted him (by surviving) and insists Maeve punish him. She whips Dorian, but that isn’t enough. Wen Cain wants Dorian’s sword arm cut off.

Maeve might hate this boy who surpasses her son Aedion in everything, but she does have a line. She refuses to mutilate Dorian, and instead beats back Cain and drags Dorian, Evalin, and Aedion away. She puts the three on a ship and uses her whip to tie them together. It is magical and recognizes only her as its master so long as she lives. So she tells it to bind her children- tells Dorian he’s the reason everyone will die- and runs back to fight.

Ren, Maeve, and every soul left within Lotus Pier will be slaughtered by Cain and his men.

When she dies, the bonds snap. Dorian and Aedion hide Evalin in a safe place and return to try and save Ren and Maeve. They are too late. Evalin falls ill in her grief. When Dorian risks venturing out to find medicine for Evalin, Aedion follows.

He sees Dorian is about to be discovered by Wen soldiers. Knowing he has always been the lesser warrior and hero, he silently bids Dorian to protect Evalin and draws the Wen guard’s focus.

All Dorian knows is that the guards vanished, but when he returns to Evalin he finds out Aedion has gone. Dorian knows Aedion must be going after Cain.

Dorian is driven mad in grief. He slips back to Lotus Pier, and takes hostage Chaol, who was dragged along with Cain.

Chaol is a good boy though. He has Dorian wait by the boats and brings back not only Aedion, but the bodies of Ren and Maeve so that they can be given proper burials. He drugged everyone there, knowing it would put his own life in danger.

Chaol brings Dorian, Aedion, and Evalin to Nehemia’s home base. She heals Evalin, but finds out that something horrible happened to Aedion. Heroes take in power through killing monsters and also studying various techniques. This power fills a golden core inside of them and allows them to use magic and live centuries longer.

But Aedion’s is gone. It was destroyed by Cain’s minion, making him nothing more than a normal human. A disgrace among their kind. There is no way to heal him, and Aedion sinks into a horrific depression. If they cannot fix what happened to him, he will kill himself by refusing to eat or drink anything.

Dorian finds a solution, but it is a horrible one. He drugs Evalin and gives her to a hero he respects and trusts, telling him to bring her to Fenrys. Fenrys’ family is one of the absolute most powerful, so he must be able to protect her. The hero swears on his honor to deliver her safely (and does, he too is a good cookie).

Dorian tells Aedion that the immortal who trained Dorian’s mother- a legendary god-like figure- can be found on a sacred mountain. He takes Aedion there, and tells Aedion that he must be blindfolded and climb the mountain, and then the immortal will heal him.

Aedion has no idea that the immortal who greets him is only Nehemia. Nehemia and Chaol are following Dorian’s orders. When Dorian arrives, they rip the golden core out of him and put it inside Aedion.

It is like being skinned alive, as Dorian cannot even be unconscious during the two-day procedure. This will render Dorian mortal, and the pain nearly drives him mad.

But he makes all swear on pain of death that no one will tell Aedion what happened. Dorian will make sure Aedion and Evalin are alright, then quietly go off to die.

While Dorian waits for Aedion to wake, he is captured by Cain.

Cain is sick to death of this thorn in his side, so he beats Dorian half to death (not realizing Dorian’s golden core is gone) and has him flown high over the Burial Mounds nearby (yes they can fly). From a height, he has Dorian thrown into that evil and cursed land.

But beating Dorian woke something hidden in his pocket- the hilt of that cursed sword he found in the Tortoise cave (and no, it never ever tells you what happened to the blade, he only has the hilt).

The hilt wakes and screams out, and as Dorian is falling he is surrounded by screaming black mist. The mist slows his descent. Dorian lands in a black and terrifying place where even the ground itself is nothing more than ash on top of bones. A mountain range made up of corpses filled with unfathomable evil.

And in the heart of it is a single piece of the Stygian metal. One of the missing pieces, that the sword hilt reached out to.

The sword controls the Stygian metal somewhat, as the souls trapped inside were killed by the blade. With both, Dorian is able to survive the Burial Mounds. Hidden deep at its heart, forgotten by all outside, he finds the palace of the evil emperor who created the Stygian metal. And inside- a guide on how to control the souls of the damned.

These lands are so full of evil and hatred that even the plants are cursed. Dorian cuts himself a flute from a piece of black bamboo. Using that ancient emperor’s guide- mixed with the magics of Rowan’s family that he saw used in Cloud Recesses- Dorian learns to control the souls of the dead with that flute.

---

Three months later

---

Aedion and Rowan have united in their hunt for Dorian. Yrene was found alive and well- she was saved by someone she will not name and brought safely to Manon. From there she was able to regain control of Cloud Recesses and Rowan helped push out the Wen.

Fenrys, who has been taking care of Evalin for the past three months and has started to fall in love with her, has also been leading armies.

Rallied by Manon, Aedion, Rowan, Yrene, and Fenrys, the Wen clan are routed. Aedion and Rowan are hunting relentlessly for Dorian. They find out Cain threw his body into the Burial Mounds and he is dead, but they refuse to believe it.

When Aedion and Rowan attack Cain’s base, they find Nehemia in a cell. She has been caged ever since she helped Dorian and Aedion, and has no idea where Chaol is.

Oh, and everyone in the fort (save Nehemia) is dead. The fort is surrounded by talismans to ward off ghosts and spirits, but someone has made a tiny extra line on the talismen which instead reverses them, making them ATTRACT evil. Someone also drove Cain’s girlfriend to scar her own face and hang herself in insanity.

Aedion and Rowan begin pursuing Cain, finding more and more corpses along the roads. Someone powerful and evil is hunting their prey, but they have no idea who it might be.

The two finally catch up to Cain and spy on him through a loose tile in the roof of an abandoned inn. But the Cain inside is not the naughty, arrogant man they both knew. He is a broken and terrified little man. Cain’s spirit is broken, and he screams at even the sound of the wind.

Then a blast of power flows through the inn and the sound of a flute is heard.

And Dorian steps into the room.

Aedion and Rowan watch as Dorian summons a demon to attack Cain. He has been killing him slowly over days, coming at night to have his creatures claw at Cain and drive him mad with fear (also the dude with Cain is the one who destroyed Aedion’s golden core).

Aedion and Rowan jump down and help Dorian kill the other dude, and leave Cain on the floor as they are reunited.

But something is wrong- Dorian is cold to Rowan, antagonistic even. Dorian dismisses Aedion, and when he is gone Dorian and Aedion torture Cain to death.

Dorian is reunited with Evalin, but something is desperately wrong. His coldness and arrogance is apparent to everyone, but he won’t talk about what happened or where he has been. He sometimes freezes, shakes, and erupts in black smoke as he struggles to control himself. Blood drips from his mouth, and he will not draw his sword like he used to. He only clutches his black flute. When Evalin tries to touch it, the flute attacks her, sending a spear of black that hurts her hand.

Still, Evalin won’t allow anyone to bully Dorian. He is obviously traumatized, and she wants to heal him gently. Rowan wants to help Dorian, but Dorian only pushes him away more and more. Unknown to anyone else, Dorian is terrified Rowan will find out he is missing his golden core and reveal to Aedion what happened.

He knows Aedion would feel incredible grief if he knew Dorian was killing himself to save his brother.

With Dorian, the campaign at last begins to succeed against the Wen. He fights beside all of their friends, while Evalin remains with the war band as a nurse. One day, Dorian catches Fenrys publicly humiliating Evalin.

For weeks, Evalin secretly prepared Fenrys’ food (as a way to thank him for caring for her when Aedion was hunting for Dorian). But the servant who delivered the food to Fenrys said SHE made it. Fenrys caught Evalin giving the food to the servant and decided Evalin was trying to steal it away to make herself look good in his eyes.

So he is humiliating her in front of everyone while Evalin stumbles and cries and tries to explain in a mumble. Dorian is enraged. His power blasts from him, knocking others down, and he punches Fenrys. His skin begins to roil with black power and it takes Rowan and another friend to hold him back from killing Fenrys. Dorian demands Fenrys stay away from his sister forever.

Ultimately, the war comes to its peak as the Wen are forced back to their city and the clans are ready to fight and destroy Cairn. The key to defeating Cairn lies in none other than Connall himself, who has been missing for a long time.

Connall was the one who saved Yrene, and Connall entered the Wen clan as a spy after a fight with Manon saw him booted from her clan. Connall might not be the angel he pretends to be though- and only Manon suspects he might be evil after all.

Dorian unleashes his greatest weapon in the final battle-- the Stygian Tiger Seal. Made up of a piece of Stygian Metal bound with the hilt of that sword from before, he can boost his own power tremendously and pull all Stygian metal under his sway. Thanks to Dorian’s tool, the Stygian metal the Wen have is completely destroyed. Not just broken apart- obliterated.

But the cost to Dorian is extreme. He vomits blood, collapses, and Connall appears to kill Cairn as Rowan catches Dorian’s body. Dorian is in a coma for several days. Evalin watches over him, with Rowan coming to sit by his side until he finally awakens.

The hatred of Dorian seems to have been broken somewhat. Rowan begs Dorian to come back with him to Cloud Recesses and hide from the world. To live in peace while they keep trying to heal whatever Dorian’s new black magic is doing to him.

Dorian has no interest, but he swears to Rowan he will be a good man and not use evil or demonic power any more.

Fenrys’ father suddenly decides to swoop in and claim the glory. He manipulates the room and tries to publicly force Fenrys and Evalin to marry, but Dorian and Aedion stand up to him against it considering the problems between Evalin and Fenrys.

Everyone goes back to their own homes to rebuild the destroyed clans, with a promise to come back together in a few months for a hunt. A sort of fun way for cultivators to blow off steam and return to a sense of normalcy. Dorian, Aedion, and Evalin return with the few survivors of their clan to wash away the blood, bury the dead, and begin rebuilding Lotus Pier.

Aedion- who has always had a vicious inferiority complex- is now clan leader, and Dorian is his right hand.

But there is a darkness inside Dorian that he cannot get rid of. He can barely sleep, he hears the whispers of the dead day and night as his control over the power he created begins to break, and he’s become an alcoholic to cope with the fear and horror inside his soul.

Yrene comes to visit, claiming she is there to speak to Aedion. In reality, Rowan has sent her to beg Dorian to move to Cloud Recesses and be cured of the curse of his powers. Yrene invites Dorian willingly. He rudely turns her down and Yrene essentially tells him that he needs to avoid Rowan, lest Dorian drag her brother down with him.

The relationship between Dorian and Aedion becomes increasingly strained. Aedion knows something is wrong with Dorian, that he’s on edge and hurt, but Dorian won’t talk and Aedion is more worried about rebuilding his clan.

Fenrys arrives one day to shyly invite Evalin (and her brothers) to the hunt. He is awkward and apologetic for what happened during the War- the whole public humiliation thing.

Ever since they were kids, Evalin loved Fenrys quietly. But he would always torment and torture her- insulting her loudly to anyone who would listen. Evalin still loves him, but she doesn’t want to be hurt anymore, so she avoids him.

Still, they accept the invitation.

Obedient to Yrene’s previous order, Dorian avoids Rowan. Still, Rowan seeks him out.

They wander the forest together, talking. It seems like Dorian might finally be willing to let Rowan try to heal him.

But then they chance across Fenrys... and Evalin.

All Dorian sees is that Evalin looks distressed and unhappy and he attacks Fenrys. In reality, Fenrys was trying to confess to Evalin that he’d grown to love her and was apologizing for being a dick.

Everyone converges on their location quickly, and Dorian is insulted by Fenrys’ cousin, called nothing more than the son of some servant.

Evalin- always kind and warm and gentle- explodes. She reams the cousin (Fenrys gets a bit of an awkward boner) and Dorian is left nearly crying in rage. Still, he manages to contain his power.

Evalin is walking with Fenrys’ mother- under Dorian’s distant guard. Fenrys’ mother was Maeve’s best friend, and she too hates Dorian. She tells Evalin that she needs to throw Dorian aside and stop treating him as a brother, because people will whisper that Dorian and Evalin are having sex. Not only is this disgusting- Dorian and Evalin consider one another siblings- it sounds like a threat. Like Fenrys’ mother will start these rumors as a way to force Evalin to Fenrys’ side.

Dorian is angry and ashamed that he could be used to hurt his sister’s reputation, and he runs off. In the city he finds Nehemia, a beggar starving and alone.

Dorian finds out that the clans have begun a genocide against anyone who followed the Wen Clan, no matter that most of them only did so because they were enslaved in the first place. Nehemia escaped, but Chaol was taken by them and she’s desperate to find him again.

Dorian blasts into a banquet and uses his power to force Fenrys’ family to tell him where Chaol is being kept- in a forced labor camp. Despite being told to stand down by Aedion, Dorian attacks the camp with Nehemia.

Inside, Dorian finds a massive field filled with the corpses of innocent civilians. Farmers whose only crime was living in Wen territory. They were experimented on, as Fenrys’ father is desperate to create a weapon to rival the Stygian Tiger Seal Dorian holds.

And in the middle of that field, impaled, is Chaol.

Dorian loses his mind. Chaol was the kind child who helped him time and again, but he was beaten and impaled, experimented on by Fenrys’ clan (at some point I should point out that Fenrys had zero knowledge of this).

Dorian kills most of the guards, and unleashes his power to fill Chaol with hateful energy, reanimating his corpse in order to let that kill those who murdered him. A sort of revenge for the dead boy.

But Dorian realizes he cannot seem to control Chaol. Nehemia screams at Dorian that Chaol wasn’t actually dead. He was still barely breathing, within minutes of actually dying. What Dorian did to Chaol locks his soul inside his body, turning him into a sentient corpse. Filling him with resentful souls of the dead magnified his power and is devouring his soul.

Rowan comes to stop Dorian from attacking the camp- too late. He tries to block Dorian’s path, to stop him from freeing the prisoners. He begs Dorian to stand down, to just obey the will of the other clans.

Dorian would rather die than stand aside and allow genocide to pass unchallenged.

Dorian tells Rowan he’s willing to fight him to the death. He knows he won’t win- no matter Dorian’s power he doesn’t have that golden core, and cannot be as strong in an honest fight. But dying at Rowan’s hands- that wouldn’t be so bad. He respects and trusts Rowan, if Rowan killed him it wouldn’t hurt as much as if others did.

Rowan stands aside and lets Dorian pass. Dorian leaves with Chaol, Nehemia, and any surviving farmers from the prison camp. Included in their group is Evangeline, a loving and warm toddler left an orphan. Evaneline is sort of Chaol and Nehemia’s cousin.

Dorian takes the group into the Burial Mounds. He can use his power over that terrifying land to keep the Wen survivors safe, and the evil power of the lands will keep out any others.

Knowing he put his brother in a hard spot with the other clans, Dorian allows Aedion to enter the Burial Mounds, to see that they are just going to live peacefully as farmers inside. Chaol, a terrifying new monster, is kept unconscious and is heavily warded against his own power. Dorian is trying to lure Chaol’s soul back to the surface, to reawaken the man before a hateful spirit takes his body and turns him into a feral zombie.

Aedion tells Dorian that for the sake of peace, he needs to draw his sword and slaughter the Wen. Aedion even offers to help- they’ll kill every last person. Evangeline included, just to save Dorian’s reputation.

Dorian rebuffs him in disgust, and Nehemia- who Aedion once loved- is also disgusted by what he’s become. Dorian tells Aedion to tell the world that Dorian defected violently, and breaks Aedion’s arm (Aedion runs him through with a sword and nearly kills him- the blow would have been healed easily if Dorian had a golden core but Aedion doesn’t know he has none).

After a while, when visiting the nearby village looking for groceries, Dorian and Evangeline find Rowan. He’s come to the Burial Mounds looking for Dorian.

Rowan hates that he stood against Dorian that day. He wants to know that Dorian is alright. Needs to know if he’s okay. Rowan falls for the charms of Evangeline too, buying her toys to play with and carrying her around as he wanders with Dorian.

As they dine together, one of Dorian’s charms burns in his hand- a warning that something is wrong at the Burial Mounds. Dorian, Rowan, and Evangline rush back and find the resentful souls attacking. Dorian was gone too long- he needs to stay there constantly to pacify the souls and maintain the peace to keep it safe for the Wen.

The disruption has riled Chaol, who is attacking as a vicious Feral Zombie. Rowan helps Dorian subdue him, and under Rowan’s calming power, Chaol is able to break past the other resentful souls inhabiting his body and regain consciousness.

He is now The Ghost General, an unbeatable force, but still very much a boy who just wants to do his big brother (Dorian) proud. Chaol is another Good Cookie. He is frequently playing with Evangeline, who calls him “uncle” rather than “cousin”.

Dorian tells Rowan that he’s fine, that nothing bad will ever happen, and he isn’t worried about the other clans. With reservations, Rowan leaves.

A few months later, while Dorian is again in town buying groceries (this time with Chaol), he looks up to find Aedion standing across from him. Aedion brings Dorian to a secluded inn with a high wall and a black-cloaked figure inside.

The figure turns around and removes their cloak, revealing Evalin in the colors of Fenrys’ clan. Fenrys has been kind and warm to Evalin, and even spoke up for Dorian a few times when his father wanted Dorian hunted. For this- and for his continued efforts to make up for the mean things he’s said in the past- Evalin let herself fall in love with Fenrys.

Now, they are to be married. Dorian and Aedion had always sworn as children that they would make sure their beloved big sister had the perfect wedding and looked like a princess. It was important to Evalin that Dorian therefore see her in her wedding dress, though it is too dangerous for him to attend the ceremony. She wants to eat with him as family, to help Dorian and Aedion bury their resentment.

Evalin also asks Dorian to pick a name for the son she will one day have with Fenrys. Dorian is touched- and then Evalin reveals it was Aedion who suggested giving Dorian the chance to name his nephew (Everyone has two names, so this would be his Formal Name used as a sign of respect). Dorian picks a name.

Evalin also gives food to Chaol, showing she is unafraid of this boy who had saved her in the past as well. She is kind and warm to Chaol, and he is devoted to her in a second.

Evalin and Aedion offer Dorian a way to return home, but he won’t abandon this new family. The Burial Mounds seem to be healing something inside Dorian that was broken. His control is improving, he is happy again, and filled with purpose.

But after Dorian returns, leaving Evalin and Aedion behind... Nehemia can see how upset he is. How much he regrets missing his sister’s wedding and how much it breaks his heart to be away from all his friends. He won’t leave their clan, he wants to protect and care for them, but it is still hard on him.

A year passes. Dorian becomes a father to Evangeline, and all the Wen love him dearly. While getting groceries in town, Nehemia picks up a letter that was left in a special location. The letter is from Rowan to Dorian- the first communication since he visited so long ago.

Evalin has been working on Fenrys, Fenrys on his family, and Rowan on everyone else (with minimum help from Aedion).

Evalin has given birth to a baby boy. Fenrys and Rowan together have managed to convince everyone to allow Dorian to attend the party to celebrate this wonderful moment. It is the first step to healing the rift and allowing not only Dorian to return to the world, but also the Wen he’s hidden away with. Everyone can be safe and happy again.

Dorian prepares a gift for the baby and leaves the Burial Mounds with Chaol. He wants to show everyone that Chaol is a warm and kind person, not to be feared. Chaol can be proof that his people are no threat, and everything can be set right again.

But unknown to anyone, Connall has been working mischief. He’s cursed Fenrys’ cousin, but in whispers framed Dorian as the one who did it (Btw, since Connall ended the war and landed the killing blow on Cairn, he was recognized by Fenrys’ father and became a member of the family).

Fenrys hears his cousin left with an army. He reassures Evalin that everything will be fine and hurries to stop his cousin, protect Dorian, and make sure this peace they are working towards will last. It’s his baby gift to Evalin to heal her family.

But Connall has also taught himself Dorian’s unique magic.

Dorian unleashes Chaol to stop the army Fenrys’ cousin sent to attack. Fenrys arrives and is talking everyone down when Connall- hidden in the shadows- uses a flute to steal control of Chaol while Dorian is distracted.

Chaol kills Fenrys, seemingly at Dorian’s orders.

Dorian is dragged back to the Burial Mounds by Chaol once he regains control of his own mind. Dorian is screaming in grief and rage. His sister’s husband- the man she loves and the father of her child- is dead at Chaol’s hands. Dorian doesn’t know what to do, he is driven mad in grief.

Nehemia realizes what happened. That it wasn’t Dorian’s fault, and not Chaol’s fault. People keep dying or being hurt because of her clan, and Dorian is willing to go to his own death protecting them. She doesn’t know about Connall, she thinks simply that it’s time to recognize that Chaol is no longer human. Before he can hurt anyone else, she needs to let Chaol go.

Nehemia drugs Dorian, paralyzing him. The Wen have a meeting, and Nehemia tells Dorian that they’ve all decided what to do to repay his love and care for them over the past year. She thanks him, and before Dorian can break through the paralysis she sedates him heavily.

Nehemia, Chaol, and the rest of the Wen go to Fenrys’ clan and turn themselves over.

Dorian wakes alone. He runs to Fenrys’ clan seat and finds his sister cradling her baby and crying over her husband’s coffin. He is chased away by guards before he can speak to her, but she shouts out for him.

Dorian loses control of his power entirely, it wraps around him and screams at him. He’s lost everything and hurt the people he loves. Everything is his fault- he was the one who lost control and killed Fenrys, he was the one who swore to Rowan so long ago that he was able to contain everything and no harm would come from his power.

Dorian knows the various clans are meeting again- all the way back where it all started. The Wen capitol, where they are gathering to prepare to hunt him down and kill him. When Dorian arrives, he sees the bodies of the Wen strung up over the gates. Despite them being innocent of any crimes- even of what happened to Fenrys, they were all slaughtered.

As for Nehemia and Chaol- they were burned alive, on display in front of everyone. Even Aedion did nothing to save her.

The loss and grief and rage drive Dorian well and truly insane. They all called him a villain for daring to stand against genocide, and in the end he destroyed everyone he loved. Even the Wen are now dead because of him- even Evangeline, that happy and lovely toddler that he considered his child.

Dorian unleashes his magic against the other clans assembled. Manon and Yrene as well- everyone is his enemy now. He doesn’t allow his spirits to attack Aedion or his clan, but other than that he invites the slaughter. They said he was evil, so he will die an evil death.

Rowan arrives late. He battles Dorian, but refuses to try and kill him as Dorian wants. He only says that there is something Dorian doesn’t know.

But then a second flute sounds. Connall (ok it’s not Connall but one of his minions who does all the flute playing but we’re condensing them all under Connall) wrestling control of Dorian and making things a hundred times worse.

As Dorian loses control (and everyone thinks he’s doing this on purpose) he hears his name screamed from the battlefield.

Evalin, who followed after him (leaving her son behind don’t worry). Evalin is struck by one of the spirits Dorian has lost control of and falls. Aedion and Dorian both reach her, and Aedion holds her up. She is grievously injured, but may be healed. Dorian kneels in front of her and begs forgiveness.

As Evalin cups his face and is about to tell him that she knows it wasn’t his fault she sees something behind him and shoves Dorian out of the way of a soldier’s blade. The strike that was meant to kill him kills her instead.

Dorian erupts.

He kills the man who killed Evalin, and rises above all the other soldiers. Their hatred for him is rooted in their desire to have his weapon from the original battle, the Stygian Tiger Seal. So Dorian will give it to them. He throws it into the crowd and laughs as these “righteous” warriors start slaughtering one another to have it. Even allies will kill each other just to be the one to hold the Stygian Tiger Seal.

As they kill each other, Dorian readies to play his final prank:: He will throw himself off the cliff. The power of the seal is tied to his life force. When he dies, it will turn to ash in their hands and those other clans will have killed for nothing.

Dorian throws himself from the cliff but he is caught by Rowan. As he is telling Rowan to let him die and be at peace, Aedion arrives.

Aedion pulls out his sword to kill Dorian, but he won’t look at his brother when he strikes. He closes his eyes, and his blade instead becomes wedged in a rock. Dorian realizes that if Aedion rips his blade free, he will slice off Rowan’s arm on accident.

Not willing to have any other sins to his name, Dorian rips his hand from Aedion’s just in time and falls to his death.

In his last moments before he hits the rocks below the cliff, Dorian closes his eyes and smiles, finally at peace.

---

The survivors of the slaughter will insist Dorian killed everyone there. Even those who killed each other fighting over the seal are added to Dorian’s body count. Fenrys’ father, without an heir, makes Connall the new Clan heir. Fenrys’ father dies shortly after, and Connall takes control.

Connall doesn’t want much to do with Evalin’s son, so he is largely raised (and spoiled to become a hateful, rotten, arrogant man) by Aedion.

Manon loses control of her power, goes insane, and her veins begin to burst. Lysandra tries to go to her but is held back by Connall to “protect her”. Manon tries to attack her, then disappears.

In reality she is captured by Connall, cut into pieces, and her body hidden in sections across the world. Despite Manon only formally being missing, Lysandra knows she is dead and is made Clan Leader (you just don’t survive publicly bursting veins, even if there is no body they know she’s dead).

Lysandra seems to accept her new role and looks like she’s failing at it. She’s kind of a weak idiot, like everyone always knew her to be.

In secret, Lysandra finds the spirit of Manon’s blade (something powerful weapons have) and realizes that Manon was murdered. Lysandra pieces together that it was Connall who killed Manon, then realizes it was Connall who also killed Fenrys’ father, Fenrys, Evalin, and many others.

During this time Connall also marries and has a child. But Connall realizes that his wife- unknown even to her- was another child of Fenrys’ father, making her his sister. Their child is born with incest-baby-mental-troubles. Realizing this, Connall kills his own child. Lysandra also learns of this.

Aedion and Rowan refuse to believe that Dorian is truly dead as no body was found (the body was found by Lysandra during the battle itself- Manon was at the fight but Lysandra was standing by and saw Dorian jump. She took his body, realized he wasn’t dead, and keeps him in a medically induced coma (sort of, this is all up for interpretation and is not addressed)).

Aedion is hunting down Dorian to kill him, fueled by his own rage and hatred after Evalin’s death.

After the battle, Rowan is detained by his own clan for standing at Dorian’s side and always trying to protect him. He is whipped 300 times, leaving his body heavily scarred, and is confined to live in the woods on the mountains for three years. Left to fend for himself and survive on his own.

Once he is free Rowan becomes a hero in the world. He throws himself at chaos, both hoping to find Dorian there saving people and also trying to atone for the incredible guilt and grief he feels towards Dorian for not standing by his side sooner.

---

Sixteen years after Dorian’s death, Lysandra is ready to take her vengeance against Connall. She teams up with yet ANOTHER bastard son of Fenrys’ father (if you haven’t figured it out, he was a womanizer and rapist), this one driven insane and dumped back at home.

They enact a curse Dorian had theorized of before he died, in which one person’s body is consumed to heal another with extreme injuries. Dorian’s body is smuggled into this man’s house and he uses the curse to resurrect Dorian, with an order that Dorian “kill him for me” (meaning Connall but he never says).

Lysandra will remain in the shadows, with no one knowing she exists. Still, she unleashes the hate and rage filled blade spirit of Manon’s sword. At the home during this time is Elide and her friends. Elide is the strongest and most beloved disciple of Rowan. His adopted daughter, in fact.

Elide is as warm and loving and kind as Evalin once was. She immediately warms to Dorian, who is pretending to be the madman who died to resurrect him, and is kind to him. Dorian helps Elide survive long enough for Rowan to show up.

Rowan realizes what the spirit is in the blade- that of the missing clan leader. In the commotion, Dorian slips away.

Dorian runs into them again not long after- and Aedion and Evalin’s son are both there too. They think Dorian is just a random crazy man (he wears a mask) and attack him. Dorian is helped by Rowan, who is there with Elide, but he quickly runs away.

A monster appears, and Dorian is forced to cut a quick flute and play to try and save everyone from being killed. Elide feels this song is familiar somehow, but cannot place it. Dorian feels a resentful spirit nearby and weaponizes it. The monster is killed, and Dorian is shocked to find Chaol standing in front of him with black eyes. Chaol is not sentient anymore, but he vanishes before Dorian can figure out what happened.

Dorian playing the flute and summoning Chaol made everyone immediately suspicious that he is, in fact, Dorian. He pretends to be the madman, and is backed by Elide and her friends. He helped them before, after all.

Just as Dorian is trying to flee, he is caught by Rowan.

Using his power to summon Chaol hurt Dorian, and he collapses in Rowan’s arms.

Rowan brings Dorian back to Cloud Recesses, removes his mask, and leaves him to sleep and recover on his own bed. Rowan will not say how relieved he is to see Dorian again, but he is forever gentle and kind to Dorian now. Rowan had realized before Dorian died that he’d fallen in love with his friend, and he has been devoured by grief for the past 16 years.

Rowan and Dorian team up and quickly start to unravel the truth of what happened so long ago- that it was Connall who killed Fenrys and Evalin, and that Manon was later killed by him too.

They realize that Connall has found a single remaining piece of Stygian iron, and is trying to recreate the Stygian seal that Dorian destroyed when he died. Dorian and Rowan work together to expose Connall to all, systematically destroying his dark forces hidden in the shadows.

Yrene refuses to believe her beloved Connall is evil, and is taken hostage because of it. Dorian grows closer and closer to Evalin’s son, the nephew he never got a chance to get to know. With Dorian as a friend, Evalin’s son becomes less arrogant, and even makes friends with Elide. Evalin’s son has been friendless, and now with friends he becomes a better man.

Dorian likes Elide- this child Rowan raised. Still, Elide reminds him of poor little Evangeline, who was murdered with her family. Dorian begins to see flashes of Evangeline’s spirit, and they make him endlessly sad.

Eventually Connall is exposed. He takes Aedion, Dorian, Rowan, and Elide, Chaol, and Yrene hostage. Yrene loved Connall, and is horrified she was duped. Aedion finally screams at Dorian, airing all the hatred he kept buried in his heart for so long.

Chaol revealed to Aedion the truth of what happened- that Dorian turned to black magic because he gave his core to save Aedion’s life. Aedion’s real wrath towards Dorian was that Dorian abandoned him for the Wen. Right or wrong- Aedion was a scared new Clan Leader, a man who never thought he was good enough suddenly had all this responsibility. He needed Dorian by his side, and admits he both hates and loves Dorian.

Collapsing in tears, Aedion says he doesn’t need Dorian’s apologies... and begs his forgiveness. The rift between the brothers is healed, though they cannot go back to the way they were before. Still, there is the peace Evalin would have wanted.

Lysandra appears and unleashes Manon’s blade again (while looking innocent, she never reveals it is her). The blade quickly loses control though and accidentally attacks Evalin’s son. Chaol grabs the blade with his bare hands, willing to die to protect Evalin’s son and Aedion.

By now they know Chaol didn’t willingly kill Fenrys, but the act of trying to save Evalin’s son earns him Aedion and Evalin’s son’s forgiveness.

Aedion also reveals that while he never found Dorian’s body, he did find something else. He throws to Dorian his flute- the one he crafted sixteen years ago. Aedion has kept it secretly hidden all these years, unable to give up his own hated hope that he would be reunited with his brother one day.

Dorian captures Connall, but that isn’t good enough for Lysandra. She pretends Connall is about to attack her, forcing Yrene to murder Connall. The man she loved. It is now that Connall realizes Lysandra orchestrated everything, though Lysandra claims he is lying.

Yrene will never forgive Lysandra for making her kill Connall. Lysandra will never forgive Yrene for trusting Connall, leading to Manon’s death. No matter how many times Manon told Yrene Connall was dangerous.

Dorian is finally- FINALLY- at peace. It is Dorian who realizes Lysandra was the one standing in the shadows all this time, and that Lysandra did it all to avenge not just Manon, but Dorian as well. Her friend she never lost faith in all those years ago.

Now that the danger is passed, Chaol and Elide come to see Rowan and Dorian. At this time they reveal what really happened in the past--- when Chaol, Nehemia, and their people went off to their deaths they never took Evangeline with them. They left her with Dorian, hoping that having his beloved daughter to protect and raise would help stop Dorian from trying to take revenge for their deaths.

But when Dorian woke he launched himself out of the Burial Mounds and never saw Evangeline sleeping twenty feet away, where she’d crawled behind a rock.

After Dorian left the Burial Mounds to find Evalyn, Rowan arrived and found Evangeline alone. At this point some days had passed and she’d grown ill eating unsafe foods (as a toddler she’d eat ANYTHING, even if it was dangerous).

Rowan took Evangeline to Cloud Recesses to be healed, costing him valuable time. That was why he arrived late to the massacre Dorian was waging. What he had tried to tell Dorian at the battle when he said something had changed-- that there was now something for Dorian to live for.

Evangeline’s memories were destroyed by the fever and Rowan raised her as his daughter Elide. When Elide heard Dorian play his flute to stop the monster when they first met, it jarred her memories and she started to remember her past. Chaol knew her on sight to be his lost cousin.

Chaol and Elide go off to return to the Burial Mounds and build a memorial to their lost family members. Dorian and Rowan return to Cloud Recesses and choose to live there forever (in the novel they are married at this point).

And as a final gift- because of the curse used to heal Dorian, he was granted a golden core as well. Not in the show but mentioned by the author, Dorian will manage to regain all the power he once had an more, until he and Rowan reach the absolute peak of their warrior kind and ascend as immortal heroes.

The two will watch over the world as husband and husband for thousands of years, in love and at peace, with Dorian never abandoning his dark power but using that darkness to bring light to the world.

Goddamn that was a long one.

#Anonymous #the untamed #throne of glass #my writing #jfc that one was hard #ask

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lovingmyselfcore · 4 years ago

Text

this is me trying in 3 acts

This is the longest fic I’ve ever written and published! This has been huge in my brain and now that it’s done I’m really proud of it :)

Act 1 is Asterin after her baby. Act 2 is Morrigan in Hewn City. Act 3 is both in mismatched scenes as they heal etc.

And shoutout to @the-love-yourself-journal who I very randomly updated on wordcounts and everything when I’ve been writing this

Act I; Asterin Blackbeak

I've been having a hard time adjusting

I had the shiniest wheels, now they're rusting

"You slept with a human man, you whore," She spat, "And you couldn't even give birth correctly."

"What?" The world around Asterin was hazy, and all she could feel was the relief of having her child out of her, but also fear for that same reason.

"You are pathetic,"

"What happened to my baby?"

"He was dead once he was born." A small witch Asterin didn't know murmured to her. Asterin felt her heart shatter.

"No, no, it cannot be true," She could barely get her words out, she choked over her sobs and words, like the pieces of her heart had lodged in her lungs.

If it was even possible, the world went even darker and hazier.

All she remembered after that was the smell of burning flesh and the Matron Blackbeak spitting insults at her, "Whore, filthy, broken, worthless,

Unclean.”

I didn't know if you'd care if I came back

I have a lot of regrets about that

"Asterin," Manon was staring at her with narrowed eyes. "Where did your mind go? I need you sharp."

Asterin apologized, trying her hardest to act like nothing was wrong. They all fell for it, and in a way, she hated them for it. She wanted to scream.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The Thirteen were camped out in a mountain on a mission from Manon's grandmother. They had to rise before dawn, so the other witches had retired early. Asterin, however, laid awake, thoughts and nightmares plaguing all her attempts at rest.

Nobody knew.

Nobody knew but Asterin and the Matron. Since what happened that witch that had broken the news was nowhere to be found. The Matron had probably disposed of the loose end.

Asterin pushed herself into an upright sitting position, looking around at the other witches, all asleep.

She had to be careful, they were trained to wake at a disturbance that could be antagonistic, so she had to maneuver carefully, taking her broom with her.

Pulled the car off the road to the lookout

Could've followed my fears all the way down

She wasn't sure how long she flew, but it wasn't very long.

She tossed her broom to the side and jogged up to the cliffside, falling to her knees.

Only a single tear escaped.

She looked over the side. It was quite a distance, meaning if she fell, it would likely be the end for Asterin Blackbeak.

At the bottom, she saw a figure walk out of the woods. Her shoulders tightened until she saw her hunter walking towards her cliff. He cradled a child carefully in his arms. They stopped directly under her. She couldn't hear him, but somehow she knew what he was saying.

"Come on, please. We miss you. We need you."

She leaned over the edge even farther, but she paused.

"Asterin!" She turned to find the source of the yell and saw Manon pushing her way through the crowd. Manon threw her arms around Asterin and buried her face in her neck. "Your grandmother?" Asterin asked softly, patting her cousin's back.

She felt Manon nod and led the girl into a sitting position on the floor.

She sniffed, smelling alcohol.

"So that's why you're being so physically affectionate," Asterin mumbled to herself, running her hands through Manon's hair.

When Manon's breathing deepened, Asterin lifted her into a nearby cot, knowing that Manon would tell her what happened with her grandmother if she wanted to.

~~~

“Hey, Asterin,” Faline and Fallon were both grinning at her, teeth sharp. Asterin was immediately on edge. The Demon Twins never smiled unless they were about to cause extreme bloodshed.

“Yes?” She asked carefully, never taking her eyes off of them. She had no idea what they were doing and what they had planned.

“Come with us,” Faline said, her voice like a silk noose.

“Why?”

“We noticed you’ve been off lately,” Fallon said, resting her hands on her hips where she knew knives were concealed.

“Have some fun with us!” Faline was at her shoulder now, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

Fallon was at her other shoulder, “We’re going to take our brooms and some knives,” She produced one, twirling it expertly in her hands before flipping it, handing it hilt-first to Asterin.

“And attack some people!” Faline finished with what sounded like a disturbing giggle.

Asterin took the knife warily and took a deep breath looking at both of them.

This was what they knew, she realized, they didn’t know what was wrong but

this was their way to fix it and she felt a piece of her heart warm.

“Why not?” Asterin conceded.

The twins had glee in their eyes that Asterin knew would never come out in any form of honest laughter, but she was okay with that. She loved these demonic weirdos.

~~~~~~~~~

Ghislaine was sitting in a small corner of the room. The fireplace was crackling next to her and she sat on the floor like it was a throne. Her back was straight, her feet tucked under her as she balanced a book precariously on her lap while she took a sip from a mug.

“Is that tea?” Asterin asked, knowing full well it wasn’t.

Ghislaine just grinned, her lips too red to be simple paint.

“Who’s?” She asked, keeping an eye on Ghislaine’s book - which looked ready to tumble into the fire.

Ghislaine shrugged, “I did not ask his name.”

Asterin nodded and the pair lapsed into silence. Ghislaine was just about to continue reading when Asterin broke the stillness.

“This is going to sound,” She hesitated. “Childish, perhaps. But, will you read me a story?”

Ghislaine stared at her, only showing a single flash of surprise. “Why?”

“It’s too quiet,” Asterin mumbled, gesturing to the window. The night was still and quiet, the hum of insects and birds had ended hours ago. Normally, Asterin fell asleep next to her window, comforted by the sounds of a never-ending storm, but not tonight. “I can’t fall asleep.”

Ghislaine was silent for long enough for a flush of humiliation to spread across Asterin’s cheeks, but finally, she gestured to the small cot in the corner of her room.

Asterin laid down wearily, but already her mind had begun settling.

Ghislaine gently brushed her hair back in an uncommon motherly gesture.

She curled up on the floor by Asterin and started reading her book. It was nothing Asterin understood but she had soon been soothed enough that her eyes grew too heavy to ignore.

Somehow, she knew Ghislaine would never share what happened that night unless Asterin allowed it.

Never.

~~~~~

Vesta was the witch Asterin was closest to, aside from Manon. They loved to wreak havoc together.

She would always match Asterin’s energy. If Asterin was quieter, more tired then they wouldn’t go out for as long as they normally would, if Vesta requested they go out at all.

If Asterin was ever hesitant, Vesta would never force her to do anything or question why she was hesitant.

On the other end of the spectrum, if Asterin was aggressive. If she wanted blood instead of harmless pranks on the coven, Vesta would oblige her and they would hunt down any man hurting anyone. And then they would rip him apart.

She wouldn’t question when Asterin flinched at the sight of a mother and her child, and then that would lead to a particularly bloody evening for them.

~~~~

Briar and Edda never talked to her but on days they suspected she wasn’t well they wouldn’t leap out at her in the way they would with everyone else. The two of them, witches who took their pleasure in scaring the others, would back off

Asterin if they observed her and felt that they should.

They would distract the others while Asterin snuck off to fly and cool down, or when Asterin’s breathing became irregular and she needed the attention taken away from her.

They’d never mention when she woke suddenly in the night and escaped through the shadows when they were on watch.

They never brought it up, and she loved them all the more for it.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Imogen and Linnea were never as close with Asterin but, same as the others they never questioned her on her weird behavior. They would often back her up in her constant struggle against Matron Blackbeak.

If they were at an encampment and either of them were on watch they would allow Asterin to take off into the night on her broom.

None of them would question her if they assumed it would make her uncomfortable. They helped her if they could, all of them.

She didn’t deserve their loyalty. Their love.

She didn’t deserve them.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Those women don't even know what your grandmother's done to you," She

heard her hunter's voice in her head again.

She looked down at them and let out a dry sob, "I'm sorry my loves but I'll join you eventually. Manon and the thirteen need me now."

She could almost see her hunter’s face. His broken expression, his mouth tight as if to stop himself from asking her one final time to join them. If it was really him, which Asterin doubted. She knew he understood. He didn’t like it.

But he understood she had to leave. She would see them again, someday.

Her voice was heavy and she was just tempted to leap off the cliff and not give it a second thought, but her coven's faces just kept appearing in front of her.

So, with heavy limbs and tears streaking down her face, she left her hunter and child once again.

~~~~~~~~~

And maybe I don't quite know what to say

But I'm here in your doorway

She jumped off her broom before her feet touched the ground, it was already dawn and she saw the thirteen spread out across the mountain, but not too far, apparently searching for her.

Vesta saw her first, relief apparent on her face, and she called out to the others.

Asterin clapped Vesta's hand and pulled each other close until they were touching foreheads. The rest of the thirteen did this with Asterin too, aside from Manon, who was standing with her arms crossed in front of her chest.

"Where were you." Her voice was gruff.

Asterin bowed her head, "I apologize,"

Although it wasn't an explanation Manon apparently thought it was good enough because she surged forward, pulling Asterin into an uncommon hug.

"Whatever you did, I hope you're okay now," Manon whispered.

I just wanted you to know

That this is me trying

Asterin's heart was still fractured, but she hoped that slowly she could heal, maybe not completely. Never completely. But enough.

Asterin pulled away, slinging one arm across Manon's shoulder, the other over Vesta. The others followed suit.

"We are the Thirteen, from now until the Darkness claims us," Asterin said, the echoes of the others not far behind.

She'd lost a family. But she wouldn't forget the one she still had.

I just wanted you to know

That this is me trying

Act II; Morrigan

They told me all of my cages were mental

"I just want you to be happy, sweetheart!"

"No! No, you don't! You want me to get married and have children and never do anything other than care for my kids! I want to be someone!"

"You have so much potential!"

"Yes, I do. I could be a legendary warrior, I could live my life the way I want to. But all you want is for me to rear children."

“I know you know that I am more powerful than anybody in this family.” Mor snarled at her mother. “I know it.”

Her mother raised her chin, her eyes going hard. A stark contrast to the previous desperate passion.

“You’re still a virgin. And you’re so powerful. It’s going to be very valuable for this family when your father and I find you a powerful suitor.”

Mor went silent, her mouth slightly gaped. “No. No. NO!”

Her mother didn’t flinch, in fact, she rolled her eyes. “Sit down, Morrigan. This is your duty.” When Mor didn’t sit her mother put her hands on her shoulders, digging her nails in enough to draw blood, and forced her to sit at the vanity.

Her mother grabbed her brush and roughly pulled through Mor’s hair. “You will make us proud, Morrigan. You will not be a disgrace.”

So I got wasted like all my potential

Mor knew she needed to get out but she couldn't. She couldn't and she hated it. She hated herself. She hated her father. She hated her mother. She hated the damn Court of Nightmares.

She curled into herself on her bed, fighting tears. They all wanted so much from her. So much that she couldn't give them. She couldn't wear the dresses she wanted, lest she tempts any of the men that aren't her husband.

Her breath came out in short gasps. She needed to be numb. She couldn’t do this alone.

She hunched over and let herself become smoke and shadow.

There was a party going on in the main room, everyone was drunk or high or otherwise distracted.

Mor allowed herself a small smile as she swiped a bottle of some of the strongest liquor she knew her father had. She winnowed back to her room and allowed herself a one-woman party, stripping down to her underwear. Destroying everything she could get away with, slamming her fists into the mirror. Tearing apart the dresses her mother forced her to wear. Throwing things against the wall hard enough they broke.

Needless to say, she downed the bottle quickly.

And my words shoot to kill when I'm mad

I have a lot of regrets about that

“It’s your seventeenth birthday,” Her mother said, brushing her hair into an intricate style. Her mother wasn’t looking at her but Mor was staring at her in the mirror. “Is there anything you want to do to celebrate?”

“No.” She said, her voice stiff and shoulders tense.

Her mother sighed and a flash of pain crossed her face before setting down the brush.

“Well. I’ll see you for dinner then.”

Mor nodded.

The night of her seventeenth birthday was the same as her other nights.

Sneak a bottle, strip down, destroy everything possible. Nothing different, the same mind-numbing act that made her believe, for only a short time, that she had some kind of control over life.

Only when she would wake up, would she remember she didn’t.

A few days later she jolted awake in her bed, sharp pains in her lower abdomen. She launched herself off the bed to see a small puddle of blood where she’d been laying.

A single trickle of blood made its way out from beneath her nightgown and down her leg, hitting the floor with deafening clarity.

“Oh, mother save me,” She whispered.

Suddenly the mountain seemed to shake, Mor lunged for her bed, gripping the frame as terrible convulsions wracked through her body. The world flashed white then went still as if nothing had happened, but Mor knew the truth.

Her true power had been awakened with such intensity the mountain shook.

The realization of what this all meant washed over her like cold water, dispiriting the excitement of holding such intense power.

“Oh, cauldron.” Tears streaked across her face. “I’ve bled.”

She sunk to her knees and buried her face in her hands. “I can get pregnant.”

I was so ahead of the curve, the curve became a sphere

Fell behind all my classmates and I ended up here

She stared at her hands. They were starting to tremble. She could see the tips of her fingers shaking.

“Eris Vanserra, he’s the oldest son of the Autumn Court. He’s going to be a wonderful investment for this family. Just like you will be for him.”

The rest of her fingers.

“You’re so powerful, Morrigan. And you are pure. You will be the perfect wife. Especially if before we hand you over that attitude of yours is fixed.”

Her palms and wrists.

“How long?” She heard herself ask. She was seated at the table, her food uneaten in front of her. Her hands rested in her lap. Modest as ever dress.

Hair styled exactly like her mother always styled it.

It started as a normal dinner until her father had told her they’d found a man with the highest price to offer for her.

It had been done. She’d been sold.

“Soon, Morrigan, soon.”

She couldn’t look at him. She couldn’t. Mother above.

Eris Vanserra!

Mother above.

Her breathing came out in choked gasps, her chest was tight.

“With a few extra lessons,” Her mother said, imperious to her plight. “I can make into the perfect wife.”

“Do you know how many kids the lady of autumn had?” Mor asked softly. Her parents didn’t respond. Good. It was rhetorical. “Too many.”

“Too many,” She whispered to herself, rocking back and forth in her stiff, stone chair.

“You’re always so concerned about the children.” Her father spat. “It’s an honor to bear a High Lord’s child.”

“He might not even become High Lord.” Mor spat back.

Her father shoved away from the table and strode over to where she was. She braced herself seconds before his hand collided with her cheek.

He didn’t say anything else to her, just stood there, breathing heavily.

“Start those extra lessons immediately.” He snarled at her mother.

“Of course,” She said quietly.

Mor looked back at her hands.

Pourin' out my heart to a stranger

But I didn't pour the whiskey

“Mor?” Her cousin knocked on her bedroom door.

She threw it open and leaped into her arms. He gripped the doorframe to not fall over, wrapping his arms around her.

“Are you ready to go?” He asked softly.

She made an affirmative noise. She pulled away just enough to grab a bag with all she needed while they were in the mountains.

He wrapped an arm around her again and winnowed to the mountains.

“Thank you,” She whispered to the smoke. She didn’t think he would hear her but his arm tightened around her.

~~~

“Cass, Mor,”

Mor looked up at her cousin, her aunt, and Azriel next to him.

“It’s time for us to leave. Watch her, alright?” Rhys said to Cass, his face full of mock-seriousness.

Her aunt wrapped her arms around her and Mor felt herself melt. Rhys’ mom had always been more of a mother to Mor than her own was.

“You be careful.” Her aunt pulled away and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

The full meaning of that statement wasn’t lost on Mor.

“I’m trying my best,” She murmured back. Her aunt brought her in for another hug.

“I know, sweetheart. I know. You’re so strong. Keep fighting, okay? Always keep fighting.”

Rhys hugged her next and kissed the top of her head. “See you later, oh cousin of mine.” Mor laughed.

Azriel didn’t hug her, but he nodded in her direction and she smiled back. “All three of you come back alive, okay?”

When they were gone, Cass sat back down. “So,”

Mor sat next to him and raised her eyebrows. “What do you do for fun around here?”

A few hours later they were both sprawled haphazardly on the couch. He’d suggested they drink but she’d turned him down. Somewhere in her mind she already knew where this was going to end.

Mor was ranting to him about her problems with Eris, her father, her mother, and the entire court. And, in response, he was talking to her about what had happened to him to lead him to Az and Rhys.

When they had lapsed into silence a thought came up with Mor and she didn’t think it through before she spoke. “What if there was a way for me to escape being married to Eris?”

Cassian looked at her, intrigued.

“The only thing he wants-they want-that I have control over is my virginity.”

Understanding started to dawn in his eyes, “Morrigan, I’m not sure if-”

“Please, Cassian. Please.” Her voice was desperate now.

He looked at her. “You are just going to find someone else if I say no, aren’t you.”

She didn’t respond and he sighed.

“Well?” She asked finally.

“Come here.” He responded and she smiled, moving across the couch until she was on his lap.

He took her face in his hands, keeping her a distance from his face. “You’re completely sure about this.”

“Neither of us are drunk, Cassian. I’m completely clear-headed.”

That was all she needed to say.

I just wanted you to know

“Do you know what this is going to do, Cassian? Did you even think before jumping into my cousin’s pants?”

“It was completely consensual on both sides.” He said carefully.

“So? This is going to destroy her! This decision will cause much political scandal!”

“That’s all you care about? She is being forced into many things she doesn’t want to do, and all you care about is your political chess game.”

Rhys snarled a warning. “I am trying my damned best to help her. I love her.”

“You’ve sure got a bad way of showing it.”

Then all talking stopped and when Mor finally pushed her way out her cousin and Cass were fighting in the snow.

“Guys!” She called but she might as well have been yelling at a brick wall.

They didn’t stop.

For days, they didn’t stop.

They were at ends for so long, Az bouncing between them occasionally in arguments but mostly just looking tired.

“Please,” She whispered. They both looked up at her. “You two are brothers. Come on, I don’t want this to be the reason you two never speak again. Besides, what I do,” She glared at Rhys, “Is none of your business.”

They stared at each other. Rhys was the first to offer an olive branch. Cass grudgingly took it.

They talked animatedly for hours, working out why Rhys was so wound up about this, and very quickly began acting like they hadn’t been fighting at all.

Mor breathed a laugh as she watched them from her perch in the makeshift kitchen. They were brothers, and she was very glad she hadn’t caused the end to that. She knew her cousin needed him and from what she could tell, Cassian needed him just as much, if not more.

Later that evening the four of them (Mor, Cass, Az, and Rhys) were sitting in a circle on the floor, drinking and talking and laughing but a shadow hung over them all, putting a damper on the conversation. Mor had to go back to the Hewn City soon, and none of them were looking forward to it.

~~~~

Later, Mor was sitting on her bed in the cabin, fighting sleep. Falling asleep meant the new day would dawn sooner. Which meant she would have to leave. She was staring out the window, the reflection of the moonlight on the mountains should have taken her breath away but it was dampened by the sight of the tents which held the other Illyrian warriors camped out at this camp.

A gentle knock on her door startled her and she looked over at it with hesitance before remembering it couldn’t be her father.

“Come in,” She called.

Rhys pushed her door open and stared at her. She stared, unflinchingly, right back. He seemed awkward and uncomfortable in the doorway.

“I’m sorry.” He said finally

She didn’t respond but gestured him in.

He sat stiffly on her bed. “I know what you do isn’t my business. I know that. I do.”

She nodded her acknowledgment.

“I worry about you, Mor.” His voice was edging desperately. He wanted her to understand. “I love you and I don’t want to see you hurt.”

“Do you think Cassian will hurt me?”

He hesitated then shook his head, “Cass wouldn’t do that, I know that too. But everyone else might.” He whispered.

“I know, Rhys. But I can’t. I can’t get married and bear children to a man I don’t love. I can’t do that. That’s not who I am!” Her voice was rising above the necessary levels.

“I understand,” He murmured, tucking her into his side. “I do.”

“I love you too,” She whispered finally.

“You are too powerful and beautiful and smart to be contained. I will do anything I can to help you. I promise.”

She started crying and wrapped her arms tighter around him.

“I promise.”

That this is me trying

Mor and Eris were standing in the woods in the Autumn Court. She had her arms crossed over her chest, her braid whipping around behind her wildly.

Somehow Eris had found out about what Mor had done with Cassian, she had a feeling her cousin had reluctantly let it get around.

“I can’t.” Eris shook his head, backing away from her, “You’ve been ruined.”

Mor fought to keep her face impassive, and if she showed emotion she was miserable but her heartbeat quickened. She was so close. So close to her freedom.

“You’ve been sullied by a bastard-born lesser faerie.” Eris snarled, spitting into the dirt. “We can’t be married.”

Mor watched him carefully, she had no idea what he was going to do.

He shook his head, almost like he couldn’t believe it. “Why?”

Mor knew he wasn’t asking because he cared about their marriage, he only wanted to know why Cassian. Why an Illyrian. Honestly? She had no idea.

She stayed silent, raising her chin.

He rolled his eyes, “Right. Well. I break the union.”

And then he just walked away. He didn’t make sure she got home. Not like she wanted him to watch her winnow away but it was rude anyway.

She made a vulgar gesture at his back before leaving, grinning to herself.

He’d reacted so much better than she thought he would, then he could have reacted.

I just wanted you to know

Her mother hadn’t come to her rooms that morning, it was a serving girl who had helped her dress and was now braiding her hair. She’d known this servant for a long time. She’d grown up in the court, near Morrigan, and had been sent to assist her on many occasions. They weren’t close, necessarily but Mor felt she could talk to the girl.

Today her nimble fingers weaved through her blonde curls, her hands were steady, a stark contrast to her face which was bleached white. Her eyes were tracing the room as if she was scared something-or someone- would jump out and attack her.

“Should I be afraid?” Her voice broke the brittle silence.

The girl- Aine- didn’t stop her braiding but her lips moved though no sound came out.

“I’m not sure,” She said finally, “But I am scared for you, mistress.”

Mor’s fingers twitched, it wasn’t a great answer.

She finished with a small flourish and Mor stood. She looked herself over in the mirror, Aine fiddling with her hands behind her. Mor took a deep breath and rolled her shoulders back, raising her chin. She had done this. She had saved herself from marriage and was now going to be facing consequences.

But she had freed herself from the terrorizing grip of Eris Vanserra.

Now she had her father to deal with.

~~~~~~

“Good luck, Mistress.” Aine’s voice echoed as Mor exited her room with a sinking feeling she wouldn’t be back.

When she entered the throne room, her mother and father were both waiting for her.

Her mother’s face was something she’d never seen from her before. It was more than the disappointment she had on her face when she found her only daughter hungover or sneaking out of the kitchen at night. It was a bone-chilling disappointment. The kind of disappointment that lingered for longer than an hour. She wasn’t disheveled, her mother had most likely never been disheveled a day in her life- but her shoulders were heavy, her eyes rimmed with dark circles and her fingers twitched from their place resting in her lap.

Her father, however, was more than disappointed. He was angry. His eyes were dark with a rage that chilled the room. He wasn’t sitting like her mother was, he was standing, hands clenched at his sides, feet planted into the ground as if he was seconds away from breaking into a run or spontaneously bursting into flames. Or both.

Morrigan froze in the doorway and they both looked her up and down, both of their gazes filled with something that definitely wasn’t good.

“You’ve disappointed us.” Her mother’s voice was calm. No, calm wasn’t the word to describe it. It was careful. Calculatingly undisturbed. Mor often forgot that her mother was Hewn City thorough-bred, she was manipulative. She was dangerous. “Are you sorry?”

“No,” Mor said after a pregnant silence. “No, I’m not sorry for wanting to live my own life.”

Keir laughed but it was filled with that same anger.

Her mother stood up, resting a hand on Keir’s arm briefly before walking over to Mor. She met her eyes but didn’t reach for her.

“Mom?” She asked, fighting to stop her voice from shaking.

She reached up and caressed Mor’s face before dropping it. Then she brought it back up so suddenly Mor didn’t have time to react as her mother’s hand met her cheek. Her head snapped sideways in response. “Mom,” Her voice was a whisper of agony.

Her mom shook her head in disgust. “You are not my daughter. Not since you whored yourself out to someone so lesser.” She stepped away from Mor, “You couldn’t have even done it with another high fae. You’re disgusting.”

“Mom.”

“How dare you. How dare you! My only daughter, disgracing herself and me and especially your father in the process. You’re so powerful, you could have had powerful sons.”

That spurred her into words, “I could have had powerful sons? Not that I could use my power, just pass it on to my sons.”

“Yes.”

“The fact that you see nothing wrong with that,” Mor said meeting her eyes again, “Is so wrong. I’m so sorry for you.”

Her mother made to slap her again but Mor was expecting it this time, catching her wrist.

Her mother yanked her hand away from her and walked back to Keir, she murmured, “Do what you will.” Then turned and left, not looking at her on her way out.

Keir walked across the room to her, taking her shoulders in a tight grip, “My wife doesn’t have the stomach to watch what I have to do to you.”

A curl of fear, “And what’s that?”

“I have to teach you a lesson.” His lip curled upwards in excitement that made Mor’s stomach churn. Stepping away and motioning for her to be restrained allowed for multiple of his best warriors to enter. She was good, but there were too many. She did land a few blows of her own but her power was untrained and wild so she had to rely on her physical capabilities alone. She thought she was winning, that she was going to make it out of this with only a few cuts and bruises when one surprised her. Her legs were swept out from under her, followed by a swift kick to the ribs

“And then,” He lifted one shoulder casually as his only child was restrained in a standing position. She wasn’t against a wall, allowing him to circle her, “If you survive what I must do to you, then you become Autumn’s problem.”

One of the warriors handed him a knife, and her hell began.

She prayed to the Cauldron for her to blackout, to not feel the pain her own father was inflicting, to not hear her own screams echoing, her own blood dripping onto the marble floor.

The Cauldron, apparently, wasn’t on her side.

That this is me trying

She wanted death. She hadn’t ever wished for death like she did right now. Part of her knew she was free now and celebrated that. However, the rational part of her. The part that currently felt the blood leaving every possible place in her body, knew that she wasn’t going to be ‘free’ for very long.

She shifted, almost imperceptibly, and felt the nails in her womb shift. She pressed her lips together to contain the pained groan that attempted to escape.

She dug her nails into the soft earth and scratched futilely. She didn’t know what she wanted to happen, her legs were numb so unless she could gather enough upper body strength there was no moving from this spot.

Her father hadn’t even had the gall to take her and dump her himself. He’d had some of his most trusted soldiers leave her at the border to the Autumn Court. As soon as they’d left and her heightened senses stopped being able to pick them up she’d allowed herself a single scream.

It had torn through her with enough force to make her entire body shake. She didn’t know if she was screaming from the blinding agony she was currently in or how quickly everyone she’d ever known turned on her with an undeniable eagerness that hurt to think about.

The damp earth around her fingers was all she could think about as her mind faded in and out of consciousness. The earth seemed to be getting damper and with a horrified whimper she knew why.

Her head, her neck, her upper arms. The cuts and injuries her father had inflicted on her. They were open. That seemed so obvious in hindsight. The soil wasn’t damp from the rain. Her blood was soaking into the ground, and fast.

Another whimper escaped her lips as she dug her hands in harder, attempting to pull herself somewhere.

She yanked herself along, the sounds of her shattered broken bones shifting made bile rise to her tongue. She couldn’t see, the pain so horrible it was not even registering in her mind but it was registering everywhere else.

She pulled and pulled, inching carefully along the grass, slick with what should be running through her veins.

The birds, undisturbed, chirping above her. What she would give to be up there with them, no worries, just a simple purpose, and a simpler life.

The tears running down her face made knowing the difference between what part of her was slick with blood and what part of her was slick with tears difficult.

“Morrigan.”

Hearing her own name, knowing she wasn’t alone here to die any longer made her cry out. But, when her brain finally recognized the voice, her smile died before it began.

Eris Vanserra crouched over her, running a slender finger down her torso, beginning at her neck until he reached the note. She saw him pause and read it.

He scoffed and rolled his eyes, lips curling in distaste. “My problem?” He ran a hand through her bloody hair with enough mock-tenderness to make her shiver. “No.” He pulled his hand away, wiping it on seemingly the only patch of grass not wet with her blood.

When he stood up and walked away there was a single moment where he looked back at her, something like regret shining in his eyes and in the tightness of his lips. However, since the world started fading not a minute after, she chalked that up to her imagination.

At least I’m trying

She thought she was dead when she was picked up. She was numb all over, not feeling pain and unable to move any part of her. With more desperation and strength than she’d ever used she forced her eyes to open. She blinked quickly at the flash of light that sent shocks through her body.

“You’re free. You’re free.”

Azriel.

He seemed to recognize she couldn’t speak and cradled her closer, taking care to not bump the nails still embedded in her stomach.

“You’re out, Mor. We’re going home.”

You’re free.

Act III; The Finale

And it's hard to be at a party

When I feel like an open wound

Her cousin tried to fight her battle with her. Azriel, Cassian, and even Amren did the same. They all worked relentlessly to help her heal. She knew she had to fight her battles on her own. It was working, albeit slowly.

The group of them were stumbling down the streets during a calm night. The moonlight stretched through and reflected off the beautiful and colorful streets and buildings of Velaris. The gentle sound of the Sidra flowing sent calming waves through Mor.

The liquor in her stomach warmed her body which still confused her mind.

She’d been drinking at Rita’s with her cousin and the others this evening. In the beginning, she’d drank with them to not bring down the mood. She knew she wasn’t entirely fun to be around, not anymore or yet. But now she felt free if she didn’t stop to think much. Speaking of thinking, she was still able to do too much of it still. Rhys had an arm around her shoulder and she moved just enough to pluck the half-full bottle out of Amren’s hand. She felt Az’s eyes on her as she took a heavy swig out of the bottle and shuddered.

She flashed a small smile at him and he quickly looked away.

She took another drink before Cassian snatched it.

She didn’t know what they were talking about but she could tell she was responding. Her dress, red, low-cut, caught on her heels and the cobblestones and she flew forward. Rhys let out a startled laugh as he caught her and righted her.

She flinched then giggled drunkenly.

Amren reached over and tugged lightly on the strap of Mor’s dress. Mor thought she was going to scold her. To say she should’ve not worn such a slutty dress, she couldn’t have gotten that drunk. Stumbling was a sign of weakness. She was weak. All Amren said though was, “We need to smooth out this road, right Rhysand?”

Rhys laughed, “I’ll do my best.”

“Or you could just chop the bottom half of all your dresses off,” Cassian’s voice was slurred.

“Nope,” Az said simply.

Amren nodded her agreement, “The long dresses look amazing on her. She’s gotta keep them.” She grinned, all teeth.

Mor smiled up at the sky, the moon shining off her eyes and blonde hair like she was some kind of goddess.

She’d found her family.

A single tear whispered its way down her face and she wiped it quickly before the other noticed.

She loved these weirdo misfits, but despite that, she heard her mother whisper in the back of her mind. You may love them but they won’t stick around very long, you know that. You’ll disgrace yourself even more.

She reached for the bottle again.

It's hard to be anywhere these days

When all I want is you

When she was flying she was free. Flying with her coven, or flying alone, it didn’t matter. She was free.

The mountains were beautiful in the soft light of the dawn. She twisted through the snow-covered peaks. She was high above where anybody could see her and there, the young light warm on her face and the mountains at her sides she reached up and took her hair out of the braid she’d hurriedly threw it in not even an hour earlier.

Her hair whipped around her face, her movements throwing soft snow up from the peaks into her hair and face.

The contrasting temperatures and feelings were enough to clear her mind, she took a breath, deep enough to rattle her chest, and focused on the sensations. The ice and snow prickling her skin, and making her hair damp. The sun taking its daily trek through the sky and illuminating the snow with colors of orange and yellow and red. It was so early that even the bravest birds were asleep, and no lions or similar creatures were up this high. The silence was loud, filling her head with a warm buzzing sensation. She gripped the wood handle of her broom tightly attempting to focus solely on the feel of the wood beneath her calloused hands.

She failed miserably to say the least.

She leaned forward, bringing herself and her broom closer to the snow. She leaned down, running her hand through the smooth blanket, undisturbed by animals and humanoids alike.

It was so simple up here, so calm against the raging war constantly happening below. She wondered what it would be like to live a life like that.

If you’d stayed with him, you would know.

Him. Her hunter.

You would have raised your child, and he would have lived a life like this. Your reality wouldn’t be a constant power struggle between the witches and everyone else. Your reality wouldn’t be a permanent scar reminding you of your failure. Your reality wouldn’t be fighting to survive your own mind. Your reality wouldn't be so filled with people, yet so alone.

She allowed herself to slip off her broom into the welcoming pillow below her.

She lay still, listening to the silence of the dawn around her, and closed her eyes.

She was letting herself breathe, if only for a moment.

You're a flashback in a film reel

On the one screen in my town

The blade was a part of her, an extension of her pain. Her beliefs. In some ways, it was her. Following through on her desires, on her desperation. She had to help the humans. That was the only thought running through her brain. Slash, dodge, flip, stab, parry, disarm, kill.

She was a mindless machine, not allowing herself a flicker of doubt as she ended the lives of her own people. No. These weren’t her people. The only thing she had in common with them was being the same species.

The blades, the one in her hand and the ones strapped along her Illyrian armor, once gleamed gold in the dying light, now shone with blood. Fae blood.

She felt a warm liquid trickle down her face and wiped absent-mindedly with her upper arm.

Her senses were confused with the havoc around her but she focused, sending her mind through the throngs of people, fae and human alike. After moments of careful concentration, she found them.

Rhysand. Cassian. Azriel.

They were okay.

But she was about to not be.

She sensed the Spring Court foot soldier lunging just in time. She spun, winnowing for just long enough to appear behind him, snapping his neck.

She spared a glance around her seeing the bodies littered all over the field.

The blood ran like a river and her brain flashed to another moment where blood ran over soil.

She lifted a hand to her stomach absently.

Her ears twitched as she heard it. Screaming, human screaming.

She blindly called out to an Illyrian she passed by and paused only to see him nod in response. She took off, flying through the people, the soaring arrows and the sharp blades. It was one of them. One of the people on their side.

She lashed out frantically, dropping her sword and thrusting her hands through his chest. All the way through.

She looked down at the humans. Two of them, a father hunched over his daughter, as if protecting her.

She pulled him off of her, he was limp. Dead before she got there. The girl though, she looked to be about sixteen, her breaths coming out in short gasps, silent tears running down her face. The scratches and blood covering her proved she’d fought back.

Mor knew she had to get back to the battlefield but she kneeled anyway, pulling the girl closely against her. She gradually stopped shaking and pulled away. Looking Mor in the eye. She was afraid, but still, she looked at her unflinching. She’d just seen the barest example of what Mor could do but regardless she spoke. Her voice was hoarse, “You’re beautiful.” She ran her hands along Mor’s cheekbones carefully.

“I’m going to get you home,” Mor told her.

“I think I’m going to draw you.” She whispered.

Mor smiled, “Thank you, I appreciate that.”

The girl smiled brokenly, taking Mor’s face in her hands and pulling her close.

“Don’t stop fighting. You are a warrior princess.”

Mor smiled again, “So are you.”

The girl looked at her for a beat longer, as if checking her message got through. Finally, she broke away, tearing off into the woods.

As Mor sprinted the other direction, towards the battlefield she hoped that girl would live long enough to draw her.

Spoiler alert: She didn’t. Later, Mor found her. Her heart ripped clean out of her chest. Not even a mile from her father’s body.

And I just wanted you to know

That this is me trying (maybe I don't quite know what to say)

One day Rhys came home, his shoulders heavy, burdened by his new responsibility. Mor took a single look at him and knew. His mother and sister were dead. And he was now the High Lord of the Night Court.

She wrapped her arms around him and he fought so hard to not melt but it was only shortly after that he did, silent tears soaking through the sleeve of her dress.

Not long after she was named Rhysand’s third in command. She was third in command to the Night Court.

Sometimes, when the days got bad, she would run her hands all over her skin, where her father had cut her, where he nailed the note into her stomach. She felt unworthy, dirty. She was a slut, a whore, a monster. But then. Then she would remember a simple fact.

She outranked her father.

So she distracted and busied herself, focusing solely on her duties when she was required to go to Hewn City, not facing her father unless absolutely necessary. Her family fought hard with her and she finally worked up the courage to wear her favorite dresses when visiting Hewn City.

She’d always been scared to do it but when she finally did the look on her father's face and seeing her family get defensive on her behalf made it worth it. No, scratch that. Seeing herself stand up to him, knowing there was nothing he could do to hurt her? Worth more than every insult he spewed at her that night.

~~~~

Asterin had bad days. This was an undeniable fact, something she couldn’t outrun no matter how much she tried.

There were days where she would be incapacitated from the pain, doubled over at the idea and memories of her child, her hunter. She would trace her finger over the word engraved over her damaged womb and repeat it to herself.

“Unclean. Unclean. Unclean.”

But then she would hear her name being called. So she would pull her shirt down and go meet the thirteen for whatever adventure they were headed on.

She would take every possible opportunity to stand up to Matron Blackbeak, despite the consequences from Manon.

She would look that old bitch dead in the eyes as she did whatever it was. Asterin would make sure she understood. She understood that this wasn’t completely about whatever trivial offense she’d committed. This was about the pain the matron had put her through. Had put what had to be countless witches before her (and possibly after) through.

She would curse, spit, even attempted a slap once or twice but it never made her feel powerful, or strong because it never stuck. The Matron was still in complete control, and Manon wouldn’t fight back against the Matron, never anything to upset the scales at least.

I just wanted you to know

She was healed. Not completely, she doubted she would ever be rid of the lingering trauma lovingly gifted to her by Hewn City. By her father, more specifically. But every time she put on one of her favorite dresses, she didn’t hear her mother’s voice in the back of her head.

She partied at Rita’s without inhibition, drinking as much as she wanted, spending her nights with whoever she wanted. She had control over her magic, she could fight (and she could fight really well, ask Cassian), and she loved herself. Meals were always filled with laughter and witty banter, something that before Velaris she’d never known. She had hit her peak in life, she had never been happier.

Mor fastened the jewelry to her pointed ears, smiling at herself in the mirror.

“Mor!” Cassian’s voice carried up the stairs. “Hurry up, I’m hungry!”

“Poor baby!” She called back.

“Stop taking your sweet time and get your ass down here!”

“Don’t talk about a lady’s ass, you heathen.” That was Amren. Mor couldn’t stop her very unladylike snort.

She heard vague crashing noises and then Rhys’ voice called, “Mor, you know I’m all for spending time on appearances but please before the entire Night Court gets destroyed because Cassian pissed Amren off.”

She couldn’t see them but from the noises, she could assume Rhys had Cassian by the arms and Azriel had placed himself in front of Amren, both of them fighting to stop the carnage.

She ran her fingers through her hair before backing away from her vanity and sauntering out of her bedroom.

She was right, her family was in a stand-off in the sitting room.

“Come on, you uncontrollable monsters.” She pushed her way to the front of them, met with grumbles from Cassian and Rhysand.

After dinner they were walking the streets of Velaris, stumbling along the bank of the Sidra.

“Morrigan?” A small voice asked. They all turned to see a girl, who must have been only five, standing there. She looked nervous as all hell and clutched between grubby hands was a white rose. She held it out to Mor who crouched to be eye-level with the girl.

“This is for you,” She whispered, her voice barely audible above the rush of the Sidra.

Mor’s heart warmed and she took the rose, and with painstaking care, she tucked it into her hair, “Thank you, sweetheart. What’s your name?”

“Beline,” She tucked her hands behind her, face red from the attention Mor was giving her. “I want to be like you when I grow up.”

“I have a feeling that you’re going to be better, Beline.”

A woman’s voice called Beline’s name. “Is that your mother?”

Beline nodded.

“Well, I guess you’d better run home, honey. Thank you very much for the flower, I’ll treasure it forever.” She swore, a hand over her heart.

Beline went crimson and giggled before racing off in the direction of her mother’s voice.

Mor did keep that flower, she dried it out and pressed it between the pages of her favorite novel that was always on her dresser. She was glad she had a reminder of that evening. The last peaceful and happy evening she would have for fifty years because it was very shortly after that everything went to hell.

~~~~~

Asterin grinned at Vesta, teeth sharp and bloody. Vesta grinned right back. She heard other coven members cackle behind her, and Asterin knew their grins were just as bloody.

Asterin threw her arms out with a laugh, her nails were caked with blood and dirt and who knows what else.

The Thirteen were standing in a field, ankle-deep in remains. A trickle of blood made its way down Asterin’s cheek.

Manon was picking her way through the piles of bodies toward her.

“Gods, that was fun!” Vesta exclaimed.

Asterin spun to see the other members of the coven. Thea and Kaya were shoulder to shoulder, talking in low tones, they weren’t grinning or cackling like the others but their eyes were shining.

Ghislaine was shoving her way through the bodies and looking distastefully at the blood covering her clothes.

Faline and Fallon were crouched over a few fresher bodies and when they looked up at Asterin, their chins and teeth were coated in blood, their grins were maniacal.

Imogen was wiping the blood from her face, Linnea was picking what looked like skin from her teeth, and Briar and Edda were kicking and prodding the bodies, making sure they were dead.

Manon finally reached Asterin’s side and threw an arm over her shoulder. She licked her lips, surveying the bloody field. “This was fun, but you know we have a lot of concerns back home. My grandmother’s pissed at us for something.”

Asterin looked at her and sighed, “Yeah. But come on, Manon. Live a little! Enjoy this!” She swept her arms out wildly.

Finally, a grin broke across her face, “We did good.”

“Hell yeah, we did!”

The two of them were standing at the top of the hill together, washed in moonlight and blood, watching the coven below them.

“This one’s still alive!” Briar shrieked.

“Live a little, Manon,” Asterin repeated. Manon grinned at her then shoved away and sprinted down the hill.

That this is me trying

Mor opened the library door with her hip, holding two mugs tightly in her hands.

Feyre Archeron was sitting in an armchair that seemed to be swallowing her whole. She had her arms crossed over her stomach and ribs, hunched over painfully.

Mor made her steps louder to not completely scare the girl who looked like at the slightest disturbance she would disappear.

Feyre didn’t move at Mor’s entrance but her ears twitched and her nose flared slightly.

She felt herself smile and catch her breath, Feyre wasn’t afraid of her. She knew it was Mor and she hadn’t gotten defensive at her entrance. That was all she and Rhys wanted. They wanted her to know she could trust them.

She lowered herself into the chair next to Feyre, setting one of the mugs on the coffee table in front of her. Only after Mor had relaxed into the chair and taken a sip did Feyre straighten, just slightly, and reached with shaky, emaciated hands for the mug.

They sat in comfortable silence, snowflakes fluttering outside the window in the dark, watching the fireplace crackle and spark with life. The only light in the room.

She was determined to help this girl, even if it killed her.

~~~

Asterin hung back, watching Elide Lochan carefully.

The girl held a laundry basket against her hip, keeping her weight off her bad ankle with a skill that came with years of practice. That idea sent a jolt of protective anger through Asterin. If he didn’t get what was coming to him soon, Asterin was going to give it to him.

Elide was talking in low tones to another servant girl. After they resolved the conversation Elide smiled kindly to the girl and walked off to take her basket where it needed to be.

She was about to walk up the stairs when something made her stiffen and turn. She scanned the corridor until her eyes landed on Asterin, who was half-hidden behind a column.

Elide visibly relaxed and smiled. The look in her eyes was so uncommon to be directed at an Ironteeth witch that Asterin’s breath caught.

She was so relaxed with them, she knew she was safe with them and that was what caused a smile to bloom across her face.

Surprise flashed in little Elide’s eyes and they stood there, watching each other until, “Elide! I need that dirty laundry!”

Elide called up the stairs, “Of course, I’m coming!”

Elide nodded at Asterin, still smiling, and walked up the stairs out of sight.

It was a small moment in time, fleeting compared to the centuries Asterin had lived through and insignificant when compared to what was going to happen, but that moment stuck with her.

She was going to protect that girl, even if it killed her.

At least I’m trying

13 notes · View notes

tsuki-chibi · 5 years ago

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Passionfruit (November) Day 1: Spots

Read it on AO3: Passionfruit

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It was a Friday night, which meant Marinette should’ve been baby-sitting for Madame Chamack. But Madame Chamack’s boyfriend had dumped her last week, which left Marinette coincidentally free on the night her parents had a big catering order.

There was something wrong with the world, Marinette tiredly reflected, when the only thing a thirteen-year-old girl had to do for fun on a Friday night was help her parents out at a party that she hadn’t even been invited to.

“I’m so glad you’re here to help, Marinette. Papa and I were worried about whether we’d have enough hands,” Sabine said, beaming at her daughter.

“Yeah... great,” Marinette mumbled, looking at the uniform in her hands.

“Go change! We’re leaving soon,” Sabine instructed.

Marinette sighed heavily and slumped back upstairs to her room. It wasn’t that she minded helping, but she’d been looking forward to the money she would’ve made tonight from baby-sitting Manon. She couldn’t move on with her newest design until she could buy more fabric. She eyed her naked dressform sadly and sighed again.

“Marinette! Hurry!” Sabine shouted.

“I’m hurrying!” Marinette yelled back, quickly stripping out of her jeans and sweatshirt. In the mirror, she caught a brief glimpse of the black words scrawled over the skin above her heart.

It’s okay, passionfruit is my favorite.

Those were the first words her soulmate was going to say to her. Marinette frowned, not for the first time, and wondered how that conversation was going to come around. Most people had something simple, like “good morning” or “thank you”. Like, her maman had “good evening” and her papa had “isn’t it?”, both of which made sense for relative strangers.

Her maman had described that initial moment of the bond clicking into place as magical. All that was needed was for two people to say each other’s words; it was like a permanent contract, a soul contract if you will, that meant you’d found your other half. Your reward was an eternal companion and their voice in your head, with your voice in theirs. Telepathy, in other words.

Like most teenagers, Marinette alternately thought that sounded cool or creepy depending on the day. She really hoped her soulmate was someone her age, and not some old weirdo. People like Rose and Juleka, who had found each other when they were six years ols, were so lucky.

“Marinette!” Sabine’s voice sounded both closer and more annoyed.

“Coming!” Marinette yanked a slightly cleaner of jeans on, pulled on the pink uniform top, and topped it off with a white apron. Then she ran to the door and pulled it up.

Sabine stood at the bottom of the stairs, hands on her hips, frowning.

“Sorry,” Marinette said, clattering down the steps so fast she tripped. She squealed, but Sabine caught her before she could fall very far and righted her.

“Honestly, what are we going to do with you?” Sabine asked, shaking her head. She straightened out Marinette’s apron.

“I was fixing my hair!” Marinette said.

“Uh huh. Get downstairs. Your papa needs your help loading the truck,” Sabine said.

“Right. Going.” A little more carefully, Marinette hurried down to the bakery. Her papa was whistling as he loaded the back with boxes of fragrant goodies. When her stomach growled as she walked in, he winked and snuck her a macaron.

“Gonna be a good one, Mari. Maybe with this, Mama and I will be able to buy you a copy of Ultimate Mecha Strike II,” he said.

“Really?!” Marinette beamed and gulped the macaron down in four quick bites. Suddenly more motivated to help, she grabbed a box and set it in the back of the truck.

Before long, the truck was packed and Sabine joined them. The truck was quiet on the way to the party. Or at least, it was outwardly quiet. Marinette could tell by the way they were acting that her parents were conversing by way of telepathy. Even after so many years, they still forgot themselves sometimes and didn’t speak out loud. It was romantic, but also kind of lonely.

Not that she’d ever tell them that, of course. Having an open connection with your soulmate was an excellent sign. All the magazines said that a one way or two way block was a sure sign of a relationship in trouble. So, isolating or not, she was happy her parents were still so much in love.

“Okay, Marinette?” Sabine said as they pulled up in front of Le Grand Paris.

“What?” Marinette said.

“I said - oh, sorry.” Sabine blew out a frustrated exhale. “Papa will unload the truck. I’m going to be in the kitchen stocking the dessert tables. Once they’re out, I want you walking around keeping an eye on what needs to be restocked.”

“Should I have a tray with food?” Marinette asked, envisioning herself gracefully slipping between the party attendees.

“No!” Her parents exclaimed together.

Marinette pouted. “Fine.” Honestly, that was fair. She was too much of a klutz for that.

Plus... Marinette eyed the hotel warily. That was the other part of why she wasn’t thrilled to help today. Chloé Bourgeois was undoubtedly going to be at the party, and Chloé never missed an opportunity to make fun of Marinette in some way. If she was really lucky, maybe she’d be able to avoid Chloé...

But Marinette doubted it. Her luck sucked.

She helped her maman carry a few things into the kitchen. The party was already in full swing. Marinette hung back in the shadows, admiring all of the fancy, beautiful clothing that she could see. She couldn’t help gasping when she spotted a few celebrities, including Jagged Stone.

Her excitement soured a little when she also spotted Chloé, strutting around the floor arm-in-arm with a blond boy who looked vaguely familiar. Marinette narrowed her eyes as the boy laughed at something Chloé had said. She couldn’t place where she’d seen him before, but any friend of Chloé’s was no friend of hers.

The kitchen doors opened and the two dessert tables, ladened high with her parent’s work, were rolled out. Marinette puffed up as people murmured with appreciation. She waited until the initial rush was over, then wandered over to see what needed to be refilled. The macarons were pretty much gone, and so were the chocolate chip cookies.

She headed back into the kitchen and carefully picked up another platter of macarons. There was no sign of her maman - she was probably helping Tom with the last of the boxes - but Marinette didn’t want to wait. Sabine always said that an empty platter was a sign of hungry customers.

With the upmost care, Marinette backed out of the kitchen. She slowly walked towards the dessert table, squeaking when a couple of people who weren’t paying attention nearly walked into her. She dodged just in time to avoid dumping the whole platter onto the woman’s very fancy dress, but a couple macarons dislodged and went flying.

“Oh noooo,” Marinette breathed, feeling like she was watching a slow motion train wreck. Her horrified gaze followed the path of the wayward macarons until they splattered against the shirt and tie of the boy who’d been walking around with Chloé.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

“Marinette! This is utterly ridiculous! What is the matter with you?!” Chloé shouted.

Mortified - friend of Chloé’s or not, the boy was still a client - Marinette set the platter down, grabbed a napkin, and rushed over. She only felt worse once she got a close-up view of the spots and stains now covering the boy’s white shirt and silky green tie. The shirt, which she guessed was cotton, could be washed. The tie? Not so much.

“Oh my god I’m so sorry I ruined your tie!” she blurted out, already mentally calculating how much money was in her bank and how much a replacement tie would cost.

“It’s okay, passionfruit is my favorite,” the boy said easily.

Marinette froze as the words - her words - sank in, accompanied by an unmistakable burning sensation on her chest. She slowly looked up into the boy’s shocked green eyes. She wouldn’t have described it as magical, but there was a definite click-and-pull sensation that took her breath away, and something warm bloomed at the back of her mind.

And then, a thought that definitely wasn’t hers popped into her head.

‘Oh my god.’

“Oh my god,” Marinette gasped out loud again.

“Oh my god, you have got to be kidding me,” Chloé snapped, throwing her arms in the air. “Dupain-Cheng, Adrikins?! Really? I thought you had taste!”

“Shut up, Chloé,” the boy said, not looking away from Marinette. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Marinette breathed, still in shock. “I’m - I’m madly clumsy. Sorry.”

He smiled and gently grasped her hand to shake it. “Hi, Madly Clumsy. I’m Adrien.”

#passionfruit #adrien agreste #marinette dupain-cheng #chloe bourgeois #chloe redemption #soulmate au #soulmates #telepathy #pre canon #miraculous ladybug

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macaronsforchat · 4 years ago

Text

Ladynoir July Day 7 - Interviews

@ladynoirjuly2020

read on ao3!

‘Prime Queen’s’ interview, but Ladybug and Chat Noir are secretly dating.

Ladybug landed hard, wobbling but seating herself on the couch, fixing her hair and putting on her best smile.

“I thought you decided to stand me up, m'lady,” Chat Noir smiled, and she turned to look at him, her anxiety dying down a little just at the sight of him. It had felt like years since she’d seen him last, but in reality she knew it had only been a few days, if that.

“And let the audience down? Never,” she smiled, gesturing with her hand and turning back to the host sitting across from her. “I'm sorry I'm so late, Nadja.” Mrs. Chamack looked stunned, but then she seemed to be listening for something anxiously, Ladybug’s eyes shifting to her earpiece.

Ladybug herself was pretty nervous about the interview. People wanted to know so much about her and her partner, but there was almost nothing personal they could tell them. She had a sinking feeling that Nadja would pry, but Ladybug wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt.

She was also anxious about leaving Manon alone with Alya, but she tried to put that out of her mind.

As Mrs. Chamack introduced herself and the show, the two heroes waved to the camera.

“Thanks so much for accepting this exclusive live interview,” Nadja said enthusiastically, and Ladybug smiled, ready to respond.

“Well, thank you Nadja. We're honored to be here,” she said truthfully, hearing Chat Noir sit up beside her.

“And hello to all my fans,” he said in a silky voice, blowing a kiss. Ladybug didn’t have to look at him to know that he’d winked, and she kept her giggles in, rolling her eyes briefly. She could tell that he’d said that particular line just for her, thinking back to him raving about all his ‘fans’ the other night because he’d known she would laugh.

“I'm sure thousands have tuned in to watch you tonight,” Nadja smiled, and Ladybug smirked, letting out a breathy laugh.

“Don't encourage him Nadja, or the cat won't stop purring all night,” she said, glancing over at Chat and seeing him shoot her a warm look.

“Don't listen to her. Bugaboo's just a spot jealous,” he retorted playfully, gesturing and smiling at Nadja. When he looked back to her, probably expecting her to play along, she felt her stomach clench, her eyes widening at him.

“Hey, I thought we agreed on no more Bugaboo calling,” she said lightly, trying not to alert anyone else that she was feeling panicked. Chat blinked at her, and she tried her best to communicate her thoughts through her eyes.

“Right,” he laughed, dropping his hand back into his lap. “My bad.” Ladybug let out a relieved sigh, both of them turning back to Nadja in hopes of changing the subject. The host was staring down at some sort of watch, and Ladybug worried at her bottom lip.

Ever since they’d started dating, they’d agreed that they needed to keep it a secret. There were a million reasons why, and although she wanted to be able to kiss her boyfriend whenever she wanted, she wanted to keep him safe too.

It was easy to slip into routine and tease each other, but it was important that there and then they did leave any room for suspicion. She’d mentioned it to Chat when she’d seen him last, but that had felt like so long, and she guessed that he was just as happy to see her as she was to see him. A gentle nudge in the right direction was sure to keep everything in check.

Nadja laughed somewhat nervously, trying to smile fully.

“It's obvious you two are very close,” she commented, and Ladybug tensed once more, subconsciously reaching up and rubbing the back of her head. She let out a short laugh, thinking of how to diffuse that statement but not coming up with anything adequate before Nadja continued.

“People know you, but they don't really know you. We see you saving Paris, but we don't know anything else about you,” she spoke, and Ladybug felt the muscles in her shoulders tighten, pressing her closed fists into her thighs. Where was she going with this?

“Well we do have to keep a few secrets, including our identities of course,” she said quickly, trying out a smile and hoping it didn’t look too forced. Nadja glanced back down at her watch, and Ladybug furrowed her eyebrows.

“Absolutely,” Nadja laughed nervously, glancing away. Ladybug could hear something coming from the host’s earpiece. Knots were beginning to form in her stomach. Something didn’t feel right.

“Uh, Ladybug, Chat Noir, um, so a lot of fans think of you as a couple of superheroes. But also, and I quote, unquote, as a couple. Period,” she said, becoming more confident as she spoke. Ladybug jumped in surprise.

“What?” she asked incredulously, hearing Chat Noir make a choking noise beside her. That was exactly what she didn’t want to hear.

“Can you confirm that you're dating, here, tonight?” Nadja grinned, making Ladybug feel like the air in the room was trying to asphyxiate her. Chat Noir had sat up from leaning back against the couch, and although she hadn’t looked at him, she could feel his eyes on her. She fumbled for words for a second.

“I'm very sorry Nadja, but we're superheroes. We're not here to answer such personal questions,” she spoke sternly, feeling heat rising into her cheeks from anger and embarrassment. It felt like the whole studio had been turned upside down in a matter of seconds.

“She’s right,” Chat said next to her, and she turned to him briefly, giving him a small smile. She was thankful that at least he was on her side.

“We're here to assure all Parisians that they're safe and that it's only a matter of time before we defeat Hawkmoth, that's all,” Ladybug reaffirmed, trying to calm herself and not let her emotions show through. Nadja pursed her lips, and more buzzing came from her earpiece. Ladybug scrunched up her nose a little, guessing that what she’d said hadn’t gotten through to their host.

“Fine. How do you explain these photographs then?” Nadja asked, swiping once on her tablet. The screen next to them lit up with a nightmare, a photo of her saving Chat Noir from Dark Cupid’s curse.

Ladybug felt her stomach drop as Chat’s jaw dropped, his ears sticking straight up.

“What? When did that happen?” he asked in disbelief, and Ladybug gasped, realizing that she still hadn’t told him about that.

“I was saving you, not kissing you!” she blurted out, trying to rush a conversation that she should have had with him months ago.

Nadja grinned, swiping on her tablet again and making Ladybug feel like the room was spinning. More and more photos appeared on the screen. Him carrying her when she sprained her ankle, her tackling him out of the way and landing just wrong, them blushing when their hands got a little too close. She was horrified, but she felt a little relief knowing that none of the pictures held any real weight. They were always careful to hide before they kissed each other senseless or pulled each other in for a much-needed hug. If any photos like that got out, it would be all over for them.

But Ladybug was still livid.

Standing up quickly, she drew Nadja’s attention away from the photos. She’d just said something about being in love, but Ladybug’s heart was pounding in her ears much too loudly for her to really hear.

“These are just a bunch of photos taken out of context! We're only doing our job,” she spoke tensely, feeling an intense urge to run away from the whole situation. “We save the city together every day, we're not a couple!” Chat Noir was silent behind her, and she hoped it was because he was still in shock.

“Why won’t you tell the truth?” Nadja asked, standing to meet Ladybug and making her feel even more like she needed to bolt. She couldn’t ignore the desperation in Nadja’s voice either.

“But it is the truth, Nadja,” she said, her nails digging into her palms as she clenched her fists. Nadja glanced out behind the cameras, her eyebrows furrowing together.

“C'mon, the audience awaits your answer,” she said almost tauntingly, like it was all some game. Ladybug felt like she could burst with all the anger bubbling up inside of her, holding back a growl.

“This interview is so over,” she said between gritted teeth, turning and locking a hand around Chat’s upper arm. He was hesitant at first, but then he stood up, her hand falling as she realized she wouldn’t have to drag him along.

“Hey! Wait you two, the show is not over yet. Your fans will be disappointed if they don't get an answer,” Nadja said as Ladybug practically stomped off the small stage, Chat trailing after her. She wanted to say a million things to Mrs. Chamack, but she composed herself, taking a deep breath and turning back towards the cameras that had swiveled to watch them leave.

“If they’re our true fans, they’ll understand,” she said, pulling the door open and leaving through it.

“The lady’s right,” she heard Chat say, his voice sounding darker than usual. He caught up to her as she pushed open the window at the end of the hallway, using her yo-yo to swing out and into the city. She raced across the rooftops for a few minutes, hearing Chat following a little ways behind her. Once her boiling blood simmered down a little, she stopped, taking a deep breath as she landed. They’d ended up near the edge of the city on top of an apartment building. There were no lights, just the dim glow of the moon.

“Hey, are you okay?” Chat asked, walking towards her. She sighed, turning to look at him and walking forward, meeting him halfway in a tight hug.

“That was awful,” she spoke against his chest, feeling his head come to rest on top of hers. His arms reached around and held her tight.

“She was willing to do anything to make sure her show would be a success,” he sighed, rubbing the area between her shoulder blades gently. She breathed in his scent for a little longer, and then pulled away.

“Thanks for having my back,” she smiled lightly, seeing his bright eyes soften down at her.

“Always, m’lady,” he purred, and she smiled wider, reaching up and pushing some of the hair from his eyes.

“I missed you, kitty,” she told him, her heart beginning to race for a different reason when he leaned into her touch, not taking his eyes off of her.

“You can read my mind too? Wow, you must be the most amazing girl ever,” he teased, his hands moving to her sides as he tickled her playfully. She laughed, the stress that was emanating from her just minutes ago floating away with the breeze. It was always so easy when she was with him.

Ladybug grabbed his hands, admiring his cheeky smile.

“Think anyone is watching us?” she wondered, glancing around briefly. He blinked at her, tilting his head a little.

“Probably not out here. Why?” he asked, and she smiled, blushing a little.

“Because…” she breathed gently, standing on her tiptoes and placing a quick kiss to his lips. He smiled widely as she pulled away, wrapping his arms around her before she could fall back onto her heels. He leaned down, kissing her once more and making her cheeks light up bright pink.

Their lips moved in sync, and the fact that they’d both missed each other badly was evident. She pulled away first, their breath mingling as they pressed their foreheads together. She blinked at him, seeing a strange look on his face.

“Hey, speaking of kisses…” he said, searching her eyes for a moment before she realized what he was asking about and let out a giggle. He waited for her to stop laughing, but she just leaned against his shoulder, her laughter continuing in lieu of an explanation.

“I’m genuinely confused!” he whined, and she laughed harder, leaning up to press a gentle kiss to his cheek. He gave her a cute pout, not helping her to stop laughing.

Even though Ladybug would look back on the interview with a frown, the way he’d held her afterwards was only one example of how he would always be on her team.

~~~~~

oooooh i liked writing this one! i love doing what if’s and retellings! let me know what you all thought :D

thank you so much for your support!!

#ladynoirjuly2020 #ladynoirjuly #ladynoir july #ladynoir #ladybug #chat noir #prime queen #what if #secret dating #miraculous ladybug #ml fic #my writing #interviews

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eagle-raider · 4 years ago

Text

Mon Roi

AN: this is an original fiction I wrote some time ago. Not related to my current WIP, this is just the tale of a woman trapped in a relationship with a narcissistic man. It’s... kind of dark? I guess.

Dazzled.

It didn’t start right away. It never does.

Nineteen, naïve and in love.

Isis is floating on cloud nine, humming along to the music as she cleans the counter. If she plays it right, she might get off a little earlier, which means she can drop by her apartment to have a quick shower before meeting with Thomas.

“Ew, gross!” Kowalski's voice sounds from the kitchen. His head pops up next to the threshold. “Someone didn’t throw the food in the bin before putting the plates to wash,” he grimaces in disgust. “Just had a hand full of a gooey, wet cheesecake.”

Isis looks at him and snorts. “Wear gloves next time.”

He sticks his tongue out, disappears into the kitchen before coming back a second later to give her a long, suspicious look. There’s a grin on his lips. “He’s coming back, isn’t he?”

She can’t’ help it, she is beaming. “Already here. I let him sleep it off,” jet-lag is a bitch, they all knew it.

“So caring,” Kowalski coos. He pauses for a while, observing her frantic cleaning and shakes his head. “Leave, I’ll take care of this.”

Isis stops with the cloth halfway in the air. “It’s okay…”

“Leave, I’m telling you,” he makes wide gestures with his hand. “You’re… vibrating all over the place. It’s distracting. Just go. I will deal with it.”

“You sure?” man, he really was the best.

“Yeesss,” he draws the word out, catching her with a grunt when she jumps in his arms.

“Thank you, love you. Love you. Love you,” she says, dropping a kiss on his cheeks at each sentence.

Isis jumps off Kowalski, dashing to the lockers, as she throws her apron away.

“Hey, don’t forget we’re practicing for the chamber thing tomorrow,” he calls when she is already halfway outside. Isis hums and he gives her a look. “Tomorrow morning. You know how she gets. Don’t want to have her up my ass again.”

She grins despite herself. “I thought you liked having things up y—”

“Don’t,” his hand rises up to stop her. “Finish this sentence, or I swear to God you’ll be sleeping in the streets.”

Isis shrugs it off. He stares again and she sighs. “Yes, dad. I will be there.”

“Nine. Sharp.”

Nine on a Sunday, such heresy. “Yeesss. Nine, sharp,” she makes a sign that says scout’s honor, for good measure.

Satisfied, Kowalski nods. “I will get you breakfast.”

She smiles. He knows her all too well; bribe her with freshly baked pains au chocolat and croissants and Isis would follow to the Moon and back.

She leaves, the bell tingling her departure like a warning.

Isis remembered, she really did, asked Thomas to please let her set the alarm at seven thirty (eight at the latest), because she had a rehearsal and it's very important, but his kisses are distracting, and he keeps grabbing her hand in his. The alarm ends up forgotten.

She wakes up at ten twenty to the smell of pancakes and coffee.

When she barges in for practice, Kowalski’s silence weights on her like a ton of bricks.

The bag of cold croissants sits at her place, idle.

Taking control

Little things. Small things. Not so innocuous things.

He is upset and she doesn’t know why. He is upset and she can’t figure it out. “What’s wrong?”

Thomas is glaring at the TV, scratching his cheek slowly. “Nothing,” he says in a breath.

Something.

Isis isn’t a quitter, he was deflecting, she knows. She would get to the bottom of it. “Something is obviously wrong, you look upset,” she lets it hang for a second. “Is it something I did?”

A deeper sigh, another pregnant pause, full of accusations.

It’s definitely something you did.

He turns his head, looks at her, to the side, and back at her again. Thinking. Then: “You kind of made fun of me earlier. I didn’t like it, is all,” even voice, stating facts.

“Oh.”

Dinner, with Chloé, Kowalski and a few other friends. They were celebrating the end of a particularly long and excruciating music project. Laughs, beers, greasy food and nothing but the burble of the Seine as background noise. Perfect. Or so she thought.

Isis frowns. She did poke fun at him, it’s true. Gently, always gentle. Called him a walking American cliché at some point, but she doesn’t remember when exactly. “Okay,” she smiles, a bit awkward, a bit sheepish. It was her fault. “I’m sorry,” she says, index and middle fingers raised in solemnity. “Won’t happen again, Scout’s honor.”

He smiles. Such a lovely smile. She likes it. She lives for it.

When Chloé starts to look at him funny, she tells her to knock it off.

Nineteen, naïve and in love.

Closing in on her

Twenty, losing her identity.

Isis had practically moved in at this point. It’s closer to her work, he says. There’s plenty of space, he says. She’s ecstatic. She still sees Chloé and Kowalski at the conservatory (when Thomas is not monopolizing her attention) or at work. It’s not the same, she knows, and they know. Kowalski gets this look sometimes, like he wants to say something, but he keeps his mouth shut and sighs instead, with a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. Chloé is less accommodating. They argue (they never did), she hints at things and Isis doesn’t like how she makes it sound.

Like she’s giving up a part of herself. All of it, Chloé says, in her eyes there’s a mix of frustration and worry (“How can you be so blind?”)

Isis is okay. (“What the hell is your problem, Chlo?”)

She’s not a puppet.

Not a puppet.

Not his puppet.

…

The months blur together.

He frowns and her heart is racing again. Isis does a mental check-list of everything, out of habit, just in case. Nothing is out of place, she didn’t forget anything. Everything is fine. Then, why is he frowning at her?

Thomas approaches her. He relishes in her doubts. Control. His fingers running through her hair slowly. “You should put it up, it would look nicer. Or just straighten it from time to time,” he’s smiling.

Just a suggestion. An option.

Later, when she does it, his eyes twinkle and he smiles again. He is lovely like that. When he takes her to bed that night, he tells her how beautiful he thinks she looks. He takes locks of hair in his fist, twirls them around with his fingers, looks at her like she is the most beautiful canvas in the world.

After that, there are… other things. Clothes, shoes, makeup. Exactly the way he wants, exactly as he asks. Never imposing anything, always suggesting. And that smile, that smile!

Isis forgets herself for that smile, because that’s how she loves. It’s full on, or nothing at all, there’s no in-between.

“We made it!” she barges in his—their place one day. “We’re going on tour!” she almost shouts, all crazy energy and vibrating with joy. His glare is fleeting, but it’s there. Isis hunches over herself and apologizes with a sheepish smile.

He grins, opening his arms wide for her to jump into them. And she does exactly that.

…

Obeying him because that’s what she was good at. Like a good puppet.

“Did you pick up the scores for Friday’s rehearsal?”

It was Monday. They still had time.

Of course, she didn’t. They both knew it. “I’ll go tomorrow.”

A sigh, a look. A teacher scolding a difficult pupil. “You always put things back to the following day.”

No, she wanted to say. No, she wanted to scream. Didn’t he see everything she had done already? Didn’t he notice? The hair, the clothes and the makeup? Wasn’t it good enough?

Wasn’t she good enough?

...

The first time his eyes stray to Manon, she doesn’t notice. Doesn’t think much of it the second time. The third, she wants to call him out, but he looks back and his eyes say don’t you dare.

Isis keeps her mouth shut. Like a puppet.

Crumbling

Isis is going crazy. She’s up, she’s down, she’s sideways with stress eating at her brain. The new conductor of Paris’s Philarmonie just fired half of his orchestra. No question asked, pack your bags and get out. Rumor has it he was out for blood.

Rumor has it he might consider handpicking a few of them. Isis wants to believe it, but she doesn’t let hope cloud her judgement. She knew they had struck big with the tour months ago, knew he had noticed them. This could be the chance of a lifetime.

“You’re distracted,” Isis flinches. His voice is grating (it never was before).

It’s like he is trying to drill her down when he stares at her like that.

“Something on your mind?” Thomas prompts.

What are you hiding is what she hears. There’s a lump in her throat, and it crawls down all the way to her stomach, it knots, and knots until she feels like she can’t breathe.

I need to breathe.

But he’s chocking her with his words, with his eyes looking at her like that, he’s smoldering her with his presence. And. She. Can. Not. Breathe.

Her hand is flat on his chest, pushing him away a little. She wants to take it back but he grabs it, keeps it in trapped under his own. Keeps (forces) her with him. Isis can’t fight, she doesn’t have it in her anymore.

She spills the beans. The conductor, the orchestra, the maybes. Everything.

Thomas frowns, then smiles. Big. Bigger than she's ever seen. It’s beautiful.

(It’s terrifying).

“That’s wonderful,” he says.

His arms slither around her frame, she searches and searches but there is no comfort in his hug. It’s a cage. A cage she doesn’t have the strength to escape anymore, so she lets it happen, smiles when he pulls back to kiss her. His lips taste bitter on hers, like ash.

He doesn’t smoke.

...

Thomas visits her at work one day, puffing his chest, proud and parading like a peacock. She feels the dread, feels the lump growing and knotting and hurting. Her hands start shaking, she knows, he doesn’t have to say it. She knows.

“The conductor wants us to audition,” and he looks so happy. “That’s great, right?” his hand comes to caress her cheek, travels, his fingers curl around her neck and stay there for a bit. “We’ll be together, can you imagine? Us in the same orchestra?”

Isis can, and she doesn’t want to. It’s her thing. It’s always been hers. It’s hers. Hers. If he gets in, it won’t become theirs, but his. His. Like her.

She barely has the strength to nod, her voice is meek when she says, “Great.”

Kowalski is watching the whole scene. Thomas is scrutinizing her face like a hawk. “You don’t seem happy?”

Why can’t you be happy for us?

Isis blinks, she is at a loss. “I—I am. I j—just—just… I’m…” the stuttering is all over the place because she can’t breathe. Thomas takes up all the air in the room.

“She’s tired, dude,” Kowalski’s low baritone wraps around her like a safety net. He comes next to her, all grins and shiny chocolate eyes. “We all are, look at us,” his hand is pointing at the rest of the staff. They are more sluggish than usual. “Let her be, you guys will celebrate tonight.”

It’s her out. Isis takes it. Kowalski’s grabs her hand under the counter, she doesn’t let go. Thomas looks at them, back and forth, back and forth. His hand is still on her neck and he is still smiling.

“I’m sorry, you’re busy,” he lets go, leans in to kiss her cheek again.

(it burns).

“I’ll see you tonight,” she says, barely a whisper.

When he finally leaves and Kowalski looks at her, she blinks. Her eyes are shining but the tears don’t fall.

“You don’t have to stay with him,” is all he says.

(His eyes speak volumes. A thousand words).

“I know.”

She knows. She just can’t.

...

When it happens, it’s not really a surprise. Isis is hunched on the cold toilet seat, frowning at that little white rod like it was going to change its mind if she glared at it long enough. Her eyes blur and Chloé is pacing like a tigress trapped in a cage.

“Isis,” she growls, then blinks. Softer: “You can’t stay in there forever.”

There’s only silence on the other side. Isis blinks and blinks because she can’t bring herself to cry. It’s too much.

It’s not that she never thought about it. She did; but not like that, not right now.

Not with him, her mind supplies. She tunes it out.

Not with him.

The thought buzzes around in her head when she finally opens the door. Chloé is there, her face creased with worry. She takes Isis in a hug, wraps around her like a blanket and lets her shake. She doesn’t say anything, they already spoke. Isis knows. Isis knows.

(She’s not sobbing.)

It’s a virus, replicating within herself, feeding off her cells.

…

It takes her three weeks to tell the news to Thomas. She tries to convince herself that it’s not out of fear, she just wanted to make sure. Use other sticks, other brands, blood tests and what not. They all come back positive, the nurse announcing her pregnancy with a finality akin to a death sentence.

(It’s not the same, she knows it’s not. It just feels that way.)

Isis doesn’t want to keep it. Kowalski doesn’t say a word and just nods, Chloé keeps her arm wrapped around her shoulders. Their support is a given.

She won’t keep it.

(He will want to keep it.)

(Trap her.)

(Deeper.)

Isis doesn’t make a sound when she comes in the apartment that night. She is exhausted, bloodshot eyes and sticky cheeks. Silent tears to give her the courage to face him.

Chloé is waiting at the(ir) apartment. She wanted to come, but Isis didn’t let her. She had to do this alone. It was between them.

She breathes, her hunched body expending, growing taller as she inhales.

There’s a grunt. Faint. Female.

She frowns, takes a step forward and blinks when it comes back.

A bit louder. Muffled.

Her heart is beating, beating, beating.

Beat. Moan. Beat. Grunt. Beat. Thud.

It’s not what she thinks.

(It’s exactly what she thinks.)

Leave. Now is your out. Leave. LEAVE.

Isis doesn’t turn back.

...

Her mother’s eyes are still bleary with sleep. Worried. Isis hasn’t said a word. It’s been hours and she hasn’t said a word. She’s staring a hole in her mug of disgustingly lukewarm chocolate.

Beat. Moan. Beat. Grunt. Beat. Thud.

It’s all she hears, like a broken record.

Beat. Moan. Beat. Grunt. Beat. Thud.

Her brain is always on, and so she surprises herself trying to turn this into a song. A sick melody of quivers.

Heartbreak in D minor.

#original fiction #we went dark didn't we #oof #guys i'm sorry #writing #my writing

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katieurah · 5 years ago

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Screening Hearts - Part 3

So, I figured on 3 or 4 parts to this originally. Now, it’s maybe 5? Who knows. These two just keep being ridiculous, so I keep writing. We’ll see and cross our fingers I can make this hot mess into something.

Also, I apologize for the number of times “check” appears in this one. Quarantine has me making lists of all the things, so I think Elide must make all the lists, too.

Let me know if you want tagged!

...................................................

Elide very carefully swiped her marker over the dry erase calendar above her desk. This is what it feels like to have finally lost it, she thought as she perfected the month and dates in the little black squares. She’d spent all last night rearranging her home office space, expanding the area to house more notebooks, a new-to-this-space jar of pens (which all work after extensively scribble-testing them), her laptop along with the desktop setup that was already there, a wall space for sticky notes, the newly mounted HD webcam, and her favorite chair. Check that off the list.

She was going stir-crazy.

It was bound to happen eventually, right? Her small apartment in a suburb of Orynth was 20 minutes from the office in a downtown business district of the city. Which she hadn’t been to in a week. She hadn’t been outside of her suburb for 5 days. She hadn’t been out of the apartment for 3. Stupid mayor. Stupid politicians. Stupid city limit rules. Stupid apartment in the crap-side of town.

Elide would feel so much better if her boss would actually contact her and give her feedback. She’d feel so much better if she were actually working with her team and not just video conferencing. She’d feel so much better if she could go blow off steam at her favorite pub. She’d feel so much better if Lorcan wasn’t the only consistent contact she’d had.

Aelin and Rowan had Elspeth and were on an extended holiday they’d planned before the merger and were now stuck due to travel restrictions. A cabin in the Staghorn mountains seemed great until you were stuck with limited internet.

Lysandra and Aedion were all the way in Rifthold where he was stationed and she was in between jobs. There were only so many video calls they could do.

Manon and The Thirteen were coordinating relief efforts in the Wastes where travel restrictions hit hardest. Dorian, of course, was there, up Manon’s butt and around the corner. She got sassy when she was stressed and anxious. And maybe a little immature, too.

She’d been organizing and creating checklists for almost two days. She kept going through her mental list of her people, adding Yrene and Chaol, Fenrys and Connall, Gavriel, Vaughn...Check, Check, Check. More people she’d had contact with, but no one to talk to. At least she knew where they were. Another thing to check off the list.

Elide hung the calendar up above her work area and booted her computer system up. She wanted to triple check that it all would work seamlessly whether she added her laptop in or not.

“Cable there...check… settings….check...audio detect...check…check, chickity-check…. check yo self before you wreck yo self….Chickity-check yo self before you wreck yo self….Yeah, come on and check yo self before you wreck yo self!”

Head bobbing and hands scratching imaginary DJ setups while she waited, Elide was so lost in her thoughts that when the video chat tones went off and startled her, she tipped over in her chair as she reached over to answer the call without thinking.

“Uh, Elide? You okay?”

Shit! Of course, she actually would have answered the dadgummed thing. As she fell over. On a chat with Lorcan. …

Lorcan watched with amusement as Elide closed her eyes and took a deep breath, righting herself in her seat and glaring at him.

“What do you want, Salvaterre?”

He struggled to keep his face straight, biting the inside of his cheek before answering. He honestly had no real reason for video calling her on Sunday evening. They weren’t even supposed to talk until after lunch tomorrow, but he found himself making up excuses anyway.

“I was just testing a new set up and wanted to make sure everything worked right. Just lucky I guess that you were available to be my guinea pig,” he teased. She regarded him suspiciously, like she didn’t quite believe his story.

“Well, you tried it. So, bye,” she quipped and began to reach to end the chat. She still looked flustered. She probably didn’t want to admit she’d been doing the same thing to her system and that’s why she could answer. And that he’d seen her wipe out at the beginning of the call.

“Hold on there, sweetheart. I have to make sure the audio is calibrated just right and that we don’t get dropped.” He adopted an arrogant tone, knowing it’d irk her and keep her on longer.

“Don’t call me that,” she hissed.

He chuckled, reading her face just fine over the screen, noting her little tells of irritation, how her nostrils flared when he got under her skin.

“First,” she continued, gritting her teeth, “you can run diagnostics with the system, you don’t need me. Second, you’re a morning guy. Why are you on here at 6 on Sunday night? Heck, we could even be doing this tomorrow before we dive in.”

“Oh, come on, El. You know as well as I do that testing systems works better with another person. And what else is there to do since we’re all kind of stuck? Perranth officially cut off travel on Friday until the tox results come back on that dinner.”

“I know… it’ll be another week before we know if we can even go back to the office,” she whined. Then she looked caught off guard “Wait… you’re in Perranth? I thought you’d be in Doranelle at headquarters?”

Damn. She didn’t know he was back in the country, then. “Rowan wanted some security updates done at the branch office here, so I stopped off on my way to the summit. Then the shit hit the fan, so I’m here until they ease up.”

“Oh. Well, that stinks...Wait, if you’re only in for that, are you seriously set up in a hotel right now?”

“Gods, no! That’d be the worst. I’m at the cottage,” he replied, referring to the second home Rowan and Aelin had purchased. Since everyone traveled so much, Rowan had set up an office for the security firm in that house. It was also a frequent place for layover flights, pit stops, and long weekends, making it a nice retreat while he was stuck.

“You didn’t seriously pack your coffee, the grinder, and the whole system with you…” She said, staring at him flatly.

“Damn straight. I wouldn’t be able to live on that cheap single-serve crap Aelin keeps here. Must be why she’s always so bitchy…”

“Hey! That’s my sister-cousin you’re talking about! And I doubt it’s the coffee’s fault...” Elide jumped to defend Aelin, even while chuckling and agreeing. She knew A could be a real piece of work.

Lorcan smiled, eager to keep up their banter. He was relaxing and it felt nice to be back to how they were. “El, I-”

“Well, it’s late and I’ve gotta get a few more things done before tomorrow. Bye, Salvaterre.” Elide rushed as though trying to stop him from speaking any more and ended the chat abruptly.

Lorcan stared at the screen, trying to catch up. He hadn’t even said anything. Had he? Even she was laughing at his rather mild jab at Aelin. Sure, A got on his nerves sometimes and their history wasn’t always good, but she was family.

He dropped his head back, rubbing his face with his hands. He let out a frustrated growl before stalking to the kitchen. Maybe there was some whisky somewhere. ....

Elide slumped over the desk, banging her head as she whined. She had to stop. Their banter was nice. She wouldn’t admit to craving it yet, though. She wasn’t so stir-crazy to go that deep into navel gazing… yet anyways. She needed distance. She had to remember that Lorcan was a self-absorbed, arrogant, dill hole. She had to remind herself of that. She brought back memories of That Night to reinforce those thoughts as her heart tried to betray her again.

She’d been upset and angry at another jerk who’d tried to get in her pants and wasn’t mature enough to handle no. Sure, he’d been a fun date and was attractive, but she just didn’t feel that urge with him yet. So she said no, he’d ghosted for a week, and then sent a text saying he thought they should see other people.

Aelin had handed her a glass of wine and cheered her up a bit, making her laugh over horror stories from past dates. Dating was hard. Elide was a catch. Guys were dumb. Then they started talking about Lorcan. “El… have you thought maybe you and Lor should try it?”

Elide had stared open-mouthed, trying to formulate a response coherent enough. Was she that obvious? She thought she hid her feelings pretty well, but… And Aelin recommending it?

“Come on, E, you two are great together. And I know you. I’ve seen you staring at him several times. Just, think about it? And that you’ve got options. This loser isn’t worth any more tears.”

“True,” Elide had agreed. “Maybe I’ll ask Lorcan for coffee or something later. But tonight I just want to finish this wine and snuggle Ellie.”

Just then, Lorcan walked in and ruined it all.

Right. He ruined it. No going back.

Elide left her mental checklist behind in favor of repeating bad things about Lorcan to herself. Even as she pointedly ignored the realization that talking to him helped she felt more grounded than she had earlier. She also ignored the realization that she’d probably fall asleep convincing herself that his laugh earlier was grating and not the best sound she’d ever heard.

.................................................................................

@nalgenewhore

#and they were zoomates #elide lochan #lorcan salvaterre #elorcan #elide x lorcan #tog au #modern au

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dawninlatin · 5 years ago

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Queen of Peace, chapter 3

A manorian high school au

Words: 2161

Warings: Mentions of psychological abuse

AO3 Link: Click here

Summary: Manon Blackbeak is flawless, untouchable. From the outside at least. Her grandmother pushes her to achieve greatness, and she doesn't let anyone get too close in fear of being hurt. How can anyone love her when not even her parents could?

What will happen when Dorian and Manon gets to know one another? Can two lost souls find their way back together?

Mother, make me

Make me a song so sweet

Heaven trembles, falling at my feet

-Florence + The Machine, Mother

«Is that drool I see on your chin?»

Dorian chuckled as Aelin gave Chaol a deadly glare for his comment. They were sitting at the bleachers, watching the football field where Aelin’s boyfriend currently were busy doing push-ups.

She had suggested sitting at the bleachers to study, had said that the fresh air was good for their brains. How convenient that we chose to study outside at the same time as Rowan Whitethorn’s football practice, Dorian thought.

When Dorian and Chaol kept mocking Aelin for the way she was staring, she turned back to them, a smirk playing on her lips. Anyone who knew Aelin also knew that smirk meant you should run.

«It’s not my fault you lot don’t know how to appreciate the gift that is the male body,» she countered. Chaol groaned before shifting his focus back to his books.

Don’t be so sure about that, a voice inside Dorian said after hearing Aelin’s words, the ever-present unease in his stomach growing. He knew he should just tell them, that this would be the perfect moment.

Hey, guys, there’s something I wanna tell you..

It was just words. There was nothing to be afraid of. He just had to open his mouth and speak.

But Dorian couldn’t. Every time he tried, he felt his throat tighten, the words stuck.

He looked at his friends again. Aelin was laughing at something Chaol had said. Dorian hadn’t even registered that his friend had said something. Just say it, you coward.

It won’t make a difference. They’ll love and accept and support you no matter what.

Repeating the words inside himself over and over again, he tried to speak, tried to tell them the truth, yet over and over again, he failed.

Dorian felt tears prick behind his eyes, getting more and more frustrated over the fact that he couldn’t just say it.

He was sick of it all. Sick of keeping secrets, sick of pretending, sick of feeling like he was watching his friends from behind a wall. He couldn’t sit here anymore.

«I have to go to the bathroom, see you later,» Dorian mumbled, abruptly standing. He gathered his things and walked away, not hearing what Aelin was calling after him.

He rushed past the students crowding the hallway, past the bathrooms. He just needed space, to clear his head, to think, to just fucking breathe for a moment.

Dorian swore he felt a pang of relief as he saw the wide double doors leading into the library.

The library was surprisingly empty, which meant his favourite spot would be empty too. Not many knew about the little alcove hidden at the very back, behind a shelf of some old novels that no one ever touched.

It had become Dorian’s haven over the three years he had attended high school. This was the place he went if he wanted to get lost in a book, or when he needed a break, or the times he just needed to sit and think.

All thoughts from earlier disappeared as he reached the alcove and saw what was in front of him. As he spotted a white-haired ponytail. Because there - in his spot - sat Manon Blackbeak, her head in her hands, her breath hitching and her whole body shaking.

As soon as the bell rang, Manon ran out of the classroom. She just needed to get away, needed to think, to breathe. Her head hurt, her vision was blurry and damn it, she just needed to breathe.

Ignoring the students coming out of their classrooms, she headed towards the library. The only place she could think of that would be empty and quiet.

Her feet were heavy, but she forced them to move. She needed to get away, to be alone.

Once inside the library - which was fairly unoccupied - she went all the way to the back, where she found an alcove. The light was dim and it was cold and exactly what she needed right now.

Manon let her back hit the wall, before she sank down, her head falling into her hands.

While focusing on her breathing, she tried not to think about the red B at the very top of the test she had hastily shoved down in her backpack.

She knew it was only a test, that this would hardly matter when it came to her final grade, but her grandmother would not accept it.

You’re a disappointment, an embarrassment to this family. Do you think you will get anywhere in life with grades like this? I always knew you would turn out just like your mother. Weak and pathetic and-

Her breathing grew heavy again, coming out in short pants. She tried to calm herself again, tried to block out her grandmother’s voice echoing in her head. She kept breathing, in, out, in, out.

Manon felt her pounding heart calm a little, the ringing in her ears stopping, her shaking body shaking a little less.

A sudden noise made her lift her head. She flinched slightly as she saw a boy standing in front of her, a worried look on his face. How long had he been standing there? Why hadn’t she noticed him approaching?

She recognized him as Dorian Havilliard. He was in her English class, and he always had his nose stuck in a book.

Now he was looking at her like she was some wounded animal. She couldn’t stand the look of worry and pity on his face, so she schooled her features into that cold, unapproachable expression she was used to wearing.

«Are you okay?» Dorian kept staring at her, kept searching her face for any indicator that she was definitely not okay.

«It’s none of your business,» she mumbled. Manon knew she should have stood up and walked away, but she wasn’t sure if her legs could carry her right now.

But Dorian kept standing there, looking at her.

«Leave me alone…»

He didn’t budge, just stood there.

Do not let anyone see you as weak. Ever.

«You’re in my English class, right? Manon?» He still had that concerned look on his face, and she couldn’t help but feel a little small under his gaze. She refused to meet his eyes. What did he care if she was okay or not?

So Manon did the only thing she could. She rolled her eyes and hissed: «I told you to leave me alone, can’t you take the hint? Besides don’t you have a book to get back to or something?»

As her words hit, he finally shifted his gaze away from her. Dorian looked down on his shoes, before he stepped over to the wall opposite of her and sat down.

Manon felt herself boiling with anger. Couldn’t he just leave? She didn’t need anyone’s pity, and the last thing she wanted was to talk about what had caused her panic earlier.

Dorian opened his mouth to speak again, but she stood up, gathered her belongings and walked out the door before she could hear what it was.

She heard him call after her - but like she did with everything else - she blocked it out.

Dorian couldn’t stop thinking about earlier today. About Manon, and whatever the hell she was going through when he found her. She might have claimed the opposite, but she was definitely not okay.

It was late, and he couldn’t sleep, so he had tried finding her on various social media so he could send her a message. He needed to tell her that he didn’t mean to bother her earlier, but if she needed to talk about it, he was there. He doubted she would reply, but it would make him feel better.

The mission quickly deemed itself impossible though. He couldn’t find her anywhere. He had tried writing her name in different ways, had found her cousin and looked at all the people she followed, but Manon wasn’t one of them.

Who are you? he wondered to himself.

His interaction with Manon had almost made him forget about what happened earlier with Aelin and Chaol. One day, he thought. One day he was gonna be brave enough to tell them.

Downstairs, he could hear his parents fight. The other reason to why he couldn’t sleep. They had been yelling at each other for a good twenty minutes now, and he doubted it would end soon.

Dorian closed his eyes, once again attempting to sleep. School was going to be hell tomorrow if he didn’t get enough rest. He almost managed to drift off to sleep, when his door creaked open and his little brother peeked inside.

Hollin was almost 7, and Dorian had to admit he was an annoying child. His brother was incredibly spoiled and was known for throwing tantrums if he didn’t get his way.

But as the little boy carefully stepped into his room, a scared look in his eyes and his teddy bear clutched in one hand, Dorian didn’t have the heart to throw him out.

«I couldn’t sleep,» he said quietly, sounding as if he was about to cry.

Dorian sighed, before making some space. «You can sleep here if you want.»

Hollin rushed over to him and climbed into the bed. Dorian put the covers around his brother before laying down himself.

The room was pitch dark, and they were both silent, the only sound to be heard was the sound of their parents still fighting.

Dorian thought Hollin had fallen asleep already at how quiet he was, but suddenly he whispered: «Do you think they are going to get divorced?»

His chest tightened at hearing his brother’s words. He had never really thought about how much the boy noticed. How much he saw and heard. How much did he actually understand?

«No, Hollin, I don’t think they are getting a divorce,» he said to comfort his brother, even though what he wanted to say was: I hope they get a divorce.

«Thank you for letting me sleep here,» Hollin said back to him while yawning.

«Goodnight Hollin,» Dorian said, listening to his brother’s breath become slow and even.

Manon was standing in the middle of the floor at the empty dance studio. It was late at night, but she didn’t care. She needed to be alone for a little while. Needed to get it all out.

This afternoon had been a disaster. She had come home from school, and her grandmother had immediately asked how the test went. Manon had only reached into her backpack and handed her the piece of paper.

She swore her grandmother’s eyes had gone dark as she saw the B. The woman had begun asking questions about whether she had studied enough, if she had paid attention in class, demanding to know what had made her distracted enough to fail.

«How could you fail at something so simple as math? If you keep this up you are going to end up like your mother. Do you not have any respect for yourself? You disappoint me Manon. You can do better than this. I will only accept the best from you. Do you understand?»

Manon had only stood there, staring at the floor, too ashamed to meet her eyes.

«DO YOU UNDERSTAND?»

She had actually flinched when her grandmother had screamed. Her entire body had stiffened, so all she could do was reply a weak «yes, grandmother, I will do better.»

The woman had stormed into her study then, slamming the door behind her. Asterin was nowhere to be seen.

Manon sometimes felt herself get jealous over how little their grandmother demanded of her cousin. She didn’t have to study day and night to get straight A’s or make sure she was always the best. She did what she wanted as long as she didn’t get in their grandmother’s way.

Knowing that Asterin had it much easier simply because their grandmother didn’t care made it all a little better.

She is a lost cause, she had said once.

And Manon knew the discipline would pay off one day. She would get into a good college, get out of this town, and be someone.

Her grandmother’s lecture kept repeating itself inside her head.

Do you not have any respect for yourself?

She walked over to the speakers and turned on the music. If she didn’t work harder, she would become a failure.

You disappoint me.

She knew that she should stay home and study, should focus on her grades…

If you keep this up you are going to end up like your mother.

Her grandmother had been so angry…

So disappointed…

I will only accept the best from you.

Manon decided she didn’t want to think about it anymore. Instead, she started moving her body to the rhythm, letting herself get lost in the music.

A/N: Once again, thank you so much for reading!

Please leave a comment to let me know what you think<3

Peace&Love -Dawninlatin

#throne of glass #sarah j maas #manon blackbeak #dorian havilliard #manon x dorian #manorian #manorian fanfiction #throne of glass fanfiction #dawninlatin QoP

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tev-the-random · 5 years ago

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A Miraculous Sorting

(I’m writing this under the Christmas tree’s lights, because they take a lot less power than my room’s actual lights, and if I’m going to throw an all-nighter today, I want the electricity bill to be as cheap as possible.)

You know something I really love? Pulling a Sorting Hat at random times. You’ll see me making a sandwich and rambling to myself as to why Rivaille Ackerman is a Hufflepuff. You’ll see me doing the dishes and quietly wondering why Mabel Pines is a Gryffindor. You’ll see me taking a shower and just arguing with myself about whether Ciel Phantomhive is a Ravenclaw or a Slytherin.

The fact is: I love Harry Potter with all my soul and I’ll take any opportunity I get to sort random characters into Hogwarts Houses.

So I thought to myself: hey, why not make a post about it? Mixing my most recent Thing-I-Won’t-Shut-Up-About-For-a-Few-Monthstm (Miraculous Ladybug) and my unexplainable need to analyse characters and put them in Hogwarts? Sounds cool to me. And that’s why you’re reading this. Also, I’m bored.

Anyway, let’s get to it!

Warning: be aware of Spoilers! If you haven’t finished Season 3, I’m afraid you’ll find a buzzling nest of spoilers here, so do be careful!

Warning 2: Sorting is a very sensitive thing and can be interpreted in many ways. This is how I interpret it. Feel free to disagree, I’d love to discuss different opinions!

Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug – Ravenclaw

This was an easy one. Despite her clumsiness and social awkwardness – which make her look a lot more air-headed than she actually is –, Marinette is a perfect match for Ravenclaw!

First of all, we’ve been signed over and over again in the show to how she’s quick-witted, resourceful and strategic, and has got incredible problem-solving skills – even if she’s terrible at managing her time. Practically every episode shows us how quick she is to come up with plans to defeat the villains and how she always makes most of what she has – the Lucky Charm may be the most ridiculous object in the world, she’ll always manage to make a use of it.

Not only as Ladybug, but also in her normal daily life, Marinette seems to be able to strategize and negotiate very well. Take as a few examples: how she manages to hide with Adrien using various strategies (Gorizilla); how she talks to Roland and convinces him to come visit Tom in his birthday (Bakerix); how she hides and runs away with Kagami and Adrien using various diversions (Heart Hunter/Loveater); how she pulls her – in my opinion – most brilliant and convoluted plan to retrieve Tikki and Plagg and keep her identity hidden (Kwami Buster). I mean, we get distracted by her silly shenanigans every now and again, but this girl has some pretty smart moves!

She also operates the team work most of the time, directing when and where to use her fellow heroes’ powers. Not to mention she’s the one to choose who gets to have which miraculous, and she mostly seems to get it right – in this house, we do not talk about the stupidity that went down with Aspik, thank you very much.

Furthermore, Marinette is just plain intelligent. She jammed the Wi-Fi signal using a microwave in Lady WiFi; she engineered her own diary-protection device in Darkblade; she made a home-made projector in The Mime; she neutralizes evil perfume with a chemical explosion in Princess Fragrance; she makes a freaking propeller in Glaciator. She was also mentioned in Ladybug (this name doesn’t get confusing at all) to always get good grades.

As the series goes, Ladybug gets to become a much wiser person. She seems to learn from most of the problems the akumatized victims go through, as well as from her own mistakes – let aside all the Adrien stuff. Yeah.

Last but not least, Marinette is exceptionally creative. I don’t think I need to exemplify this, do I? I mean… If you haven’t noticed how artistically inclined she is and how she is constantly praised for her creativity as a designer and as a superhero – again, think of the Lucky Charms –, I doubt we’re watching the same show.

Not necessarily a Ravenclaw trait, but I’ll add it as a bonus: Marinette handles so many responsibilities at the same time, what a multitasker! She is an independent fashion designer, she does small fashion services – as seen in The Mime, for example –, she is a designer for both Kitty Section and (apparently) Jagged Stone, she babysits Manon and Chris, she helps her parents at the bakery, she studies – again, it’s said that she has good grades, so even if she spends a lot of time saving Paris, she also doesn’t lay off at school –, she makes time to keep her friendships together and she has all her responsibilities as Ladybug, and now as a Guardian. This is all some new level of bullshit a 15 year old human being shouldn’t have to deal with. I’m seriously amazed it took her three full seasons to have a breakdown.

Adrien Agreste/Chat Noir – Hufflepuff

Ok, this was a bit more difficult. I was seriously torn between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, but, after some deep thinking, I believe Hufflepuff is where Adrien belongs!

Firstly, we’ve seen numerous times how inclusive Adrien is. He was, since day one, willing to give everybody a chance at friendship. This Nino boy I literally just met? My best friend. This Ladybug girl who fell from the sky out of nowhere? I’ll trust her with my life. This girl who hates me because of Chloé? I’ll give her my umbrella and she’s just a friend – Goddamnit Adrien. This Kagami girl I just fenced with and who almost killed me? Friend material right there.

What makes Adrien’s inclusiveness most clear to me, however, is Lila. Despite everything she does, despite all her constant lying, despite her getting people he loves in trouble, he’s still willing to be her friend. We see in episodes like Chameleon, Oni-chan and Ladybug that he’s always willing to give Lila a second chance, to help her out when she needs it, to extend her the hand of friendship and to let her learn with it, because even if he knows she is a jerk, he still wants include her. Is that a bit of a stupid move at this point? Yes, it is. But we appreciate your try, Adrien.

Another Hufflepuff trait that this boy has is patience. I mean, he lives with Gabriel Agreste, the cold critical father who shows affection – or any presence, really – only once every few months; he lives with Plagg, the demanding, pestering kwami who’s determined to not give two craps about doing his job; he’s childhood friends with Chloé “the arrogant and annoying and other things I can’t say out loud” Bourgeois; he’s trying to keep good terms with Felix, who’s competing for “most despicable brat of the year”; and he’s “friends” with Lila. All of this can only be handled by an enormously patient person.

Despite that, Adrien is still somewhat just and fair. This can be seen in Despair Bear, as he says he’ll stop being friends with Chloé if she doesn’t start acting nicer. He also claims he won’t be friends with Lila anymore if she doesn’t get Marinette out of the trouble she caused. It’s also important to note episodes like Riposte, where Adrien’s determined to get a rematch with Kagami due to his believe that her loss was not fair.

The thing that defines Adrien the most and that made me decide for Hufflepuff in the end, however, is his loyalty. Despite everything to ever come his way, he’s extremely loyal.

Firstly, he’s loyal to Chloé, his childhood friend and, for the longest time, his only friend. We can see in the second part of the Origins episode that he won’t tell on Chloé’s behaviour because he “can’t throw her under the bus”. He instantly goes back to being her friend after the events of Despair Bear and seems to be the only one to get sad for her almost leaving Paris in Malediktator.

The person Chat’s the most loyal to is undoubtedly Ladybug. We can see it in multiple instances, as he sacrifices himself in order to protect her in several episodes, stays by her side no matter what and, despite his own desire to know who Ladybug is, doesn’t actually actively try to find her identity (Chat Blanc aside) because that’s what she decided. Even if Chat Noir is constantly portrayed as her mere sidekick and gets the least attention of the duo, he doesn’t show jealousy. He trusts her.

I’ll refrain from making the “Hufflepuffs are particularly good finders” joke.

Alya Césaire/Rena Rouge – Gryffindor

Oh dear… I feel like this one almost reached a Hatstall! It was so hard! Her extreme curiosity and fascination with the world around her made me think of her as a Ravenclaw, while her ambition to get the best information for her blog and connection to the Fox Miraculous – the fox being an animal strongly connected to cunningness – seriously made me think about putting her in Slytherin. But again, after deep thinking, I do think Alya fits incredibly well in Gryffindor!

Let’s start with the fact that Alya is an icon of bravery. She is daring and determined to the point where she is reckless. She is always ready to jump right into action, no matter how dangerous the situation is. If she can either get interesting footage and information or be of any help at all, she will be there, often putting herself in danger in the process. She rarely ever gets intimidated, nonetheless, showing that she has very strong nerve. This can be seen throughout various episodes, ever since Stoneheart and all the way to Feast!

It’s safe to say that Alya has also got a sense of nobility, in a certain way. As seen in episodes like Stormy Weather, Sapotis, and Timetagger, this girl’s got a way with kids and is always willing to protect them. Rena Rouge also shows willingness to help save Paris no matter what, as seen in Sapotis and Syren, for example.

I don’t know if this can be considered nobility as well, but I’ll just leave it here that Alya “Wingwoman” Césaire is a very determined best friend and will do about anything to set Marinette with the boy she loves. I can’t even exemplify this, because this happens way too clearly in almost every episode, folks.

Well… Say what, I’m still confused about this. Alya confuses me. Does anyone have any comment to help me out with this one, please?

Nino Lahiffe/Carapace – Hufflepuff

Ok, I won’t lie: part of this decision is because Nino’s just got too much of that bro vibe for me to imagine him anywhere else. But hear me up, I’ll tell you why he is an amazing Hufflepuff!

First of all, Nino’s absolutely loyal. He’s loyal to Alya; always willing to protect her with his life – that’s how he got his miraculous, after all! –, but they still act as very good partners, friends and couple, and he recognizes she is strong on her own, too. He’s ready to help her out with her “wingmanning” – I’ll exemplify with Puppeteer 2.0 – and with her Ladybug investigations – as seen in Lady WiFi. They even parkour together in Miraculer! (Sorry, I just need more DJ-WiFi in my life)

He’s also loyal to Adrien. We’ve seen it in several episodes: how he wants to make his friend happy and let him be free from his very strict household – good examples would be The Bubbler and Party Crasher –, showing that he is fair to his friend. It’s also important to mention episodes like Simon Says where, after the akuma attack happens, Nino’s first instinct is be to make sure Adrien is alright.

Nino’s also shown himself to be quite loyal to Ladybug, as he never faltered to follow her instructions, even after he gets the Turtle Miraculous.

His friendship with Adrien and Alya overall shows he’s also very inclusive. I mean, Adrien is friends with Chloé, the most hated girl of all school, but Nino just straight up offers to be his new best friend anyway. And although Alya keeps dragging him around to her messes, as soon as they start to talk and notice they have a lot in common, he falls in love with her (Animan).

Nino is a hard worker as well. He is seen DJ-ing almost every party that showed up so far, and he showed himself as extremely dedicated to his movie project in Horrificator.

As a generally laid back guy, Nino can be seen as someone very patient. It is quite difficult to tick him off, therefore it’s rare to see him mad or lashing out at someone. One might say he’s too relaxed at times…

Kagami Tsurugi/Ryuko – Slytherin

Ok, first of all: I love Kagami. And I love Slytherin. So if anyone wants to shit on any of them, you’ll have to go through me first! Wands ready, buddy, I’m a duellist and I’m ready to fight!

Kagami was another difficult one, but mostly because we rarely get to see anything from her personality, given how stoic and reserved she is at the beginning – besides, she’s a newer side character, so obviously she didn’t get to have that much screen time yet. But with what little we’re given, I’ve managed to figure she’d do nicely in Slytherin!

Let’s start pointing out how ambitious Kagami is: during her first appearance in Riposte, she is determined to get to enter the most prestigious fencing school in Paris, and doesn’t even falter upon the challenge of defeating their most talented student; while episodes like Oni-chan show that she’s ambitious to get Adrien (and finish Lila, but that’s all of us). Her acts as Ryuko also goes to show this, as she’s clearly not willing to back down and is always willing to fight and win.

However, she is not unfair, as seen again in Riposte, as she accepts her loss to Adrien was fair – it wasn’t, really –, even if it meant not getting what she wanted.

Although Kagami doesn’t seem to be entirely selfish, she’s one to look after herself (the two are easily mistaken, hence this is seen as a Slytherin “bad trait”). We see it in Desperada, when she ditches fencing class to be able go out with Adrien; in Ikari Gozen, when she disobeys her mother in order to finally make friends; in Loveater, when she comments she doesn’t want to hurt Marinette, but would not give up on Adrien either.

Ikari Gozen also shows that Kagami is level-headed, a natural leader, and rather cunning, given not only her strategies to deceive her mother in order to play the friendship game, but also her behaviour during the game and as Ryuko. This episode, along with Riposte and Frozer, for example, demonstrates that she strives to be the best at what she does.

We see it in Animaetro how she doesn’t let herself be intimidated.

Kagami is decided, as seen in Frozer, Desperada and Loveater. She doesn’t hesitate.

Luka Couffaine/Viperion – Hufflepuff

Oh, you thought I was going to finish this without sorting my snake boy?

Easy one. Very easy. Once you put aside the thought of Snake = Slytherin and Blue = Ravenclaw, it gets quite visible how Luka is the perfect Hufflepuff!

First of: he’s an extremely just person. One of the main themes of the episode Silencer is how he demands justice for his band and friends.

Luka has also shown himself to be immeasurably selfless. This is seen in basically all of the episodes he has an appearance on, but I’ll name Captain Hardrock (he gives his guitar pick to Marinette upon seeing that she likes it + stays behind to help her escape The Liberty), Desperada (he puts himself in harm’s way to help Ladybug and Adrien escape + he lets Adrien borrow his guitar without a flinch), Felix (literally everything he says in this episode), Miracle Queen (he sacrifices himself to the evil wasps) and Loveater (the scene where he drops his bicycle and his beloved guitar to comfort Marinette is some symbolic selfless beautiful shit and I’m about to cry).

In the same theme, he is notably kind. He’s never a hostile person – safe for Silencer, but that was a special occasion – and always seems to greet everyone with a smile and – when he finds them – kind words. I’ll exemplify using Adrien: despite knowing pretty well that Marinette is in love with the model boy, Luka was never once bitter towards him, treats him like any other friend (watch Desperada, Frozer and even Chat Blanc. Watch closely) and even states that he’ll be happy for them if they end up together (Felix).

I’ll also mention how supportive of a brother he is (Reflekdoll is our main example, though I need more Couffaine Siblings’ interaction, please) and how he gives Marinette a bicycle ride to the Grand Paris Hotel (Loveater) to help her; he didn’t need to do that at all.

We can see that what he wants the most is for Marinette to be happy, even if it’s not with him. He’s there to support the people he loves no matter what and respects their wants and needs. Take some notes, Chat Noir (ok, kidding. I love you, Chat. But do take notes).

Luka is the definition of patience. I mean… Let’s talk about Desperada, where, right after he confessed his heart to Marinette, she just ignores him and straight out treats him like trash to favour Adrien (I’m not blaming Mari, tho; I know she’s a confused little bean and didn’t mean any harm). What does he do? He shrugs it off with a smile and keeps his cool unfaltering. Furthermore, he never seems to expect anything from Marinette after that declaration.

Plus, when he’s chosen to receive the Snake Miraculous, one of the things he does best is to watch patiently for the opponent’s moves to know the best strategy to take.

Plus plus, he lives in a houseboat with Juleka, the Anxious Horror Loving Sister, and Anarka, the Chaotic Havoc Mum. I love the Couffaines, but living in The Liberty must be a nightmare sometimes.

Another point to take in consideration would be how Luka is a hard-worker. Despite him being pretty chill and laid-back, we often see Luka composing and/or practicing for Kitty Section. Not only that, but we also see in Loveater he has a job as a delivery boy through Paris. On a bicycle.

To wrap this up, I’ll say that Luka is pretty empathic. Just take his whole “reading people and translating them/their feelings into a song” thing we see in Captain Hardrock, Frozer and Loveater. I rest my case.

Phew, we’re done!

You headcanon these in different houses? I’d love to discuss it!

#Harry Potter #Hogwarts #Hogwarts Houses #Sorting #Sorting Hat #Ravenclaw #Hufflepuff #Gryffindor #Slytherin #Miraculous Ladybug #Ladybug #Chat Noir #Alya #Nino #Kagami #Luka #Marinette #Adrien #Character Analysis

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