#just them looking at eachother from across the map had me like

[tflora04]

Hello traffic life community

[princessbrunette]

stepbro!johnb knew it was wrong. god, he knew it was demented, and sick — but he couldn’t stop. he was pent up.

things had been kind of a mess lately, and despite popular believe, no — finding and hunting treasure was not all sunshine and rainbows. it was a lot of dead ends, a lot of waste bins filled with screwed up paper covered in ideas and plots that were going nowhere. sometimes you had a piece of paper, a pen, a map and a dream — and that was it.

john b could have sworn he saw you scribbling away during a plotting session in this specific pink paperback journal. it looked like any other notebook you’d use to jot down everyone’s ideas. you weren’t too good at the whole treasure hunting thing yourself but you were eager and had the right spirit so the pogues could often rely on you to scribble down anything important they might say during these sessions in which they’d bounce off eachother. this was why john b picked the book up and opened it in the first place.

once he started reading, even past realising that this was infact your diary — he just couldn’t stop.

“oh, uh…” he coughs awkwardly to an empty house when he flips it open and finds his own name in pink glitter pen, hearts and swirls galore. you hadn’t exactly been subtle about your attractions towards your older step brother— never missing an opportunity to bat your lashes up at him, touch his chest whilst you’re talking to him, even find a way to sit on his leg when there was just no other room — but for the most part he assumed you were just teasing in your own cruel way. passing the time, so to speak. he wasn’t expecting this.

his eyes continue to flit from word to word, each more graphic than the last until he’s stumbling across full descriptions, day to day on what you’d do to him, moreso what you’d let him do to you.

‘john b was so frustrated today. he needs me, i know he does. he has that look in his eye! that super frustrated one that looks all tired and irritated and unlike himself. he’s usually so warm and comforting but today he looked like he was gonna snap. i thought he might finally march over and bend me over… a girl can dream i guess :( when i finallyyyyy got some alone time i spent it grinding against my pillow, wanting him to come in and catch me. i wonder if he heard the bed moving… if he hears me moaning… i don’t wanna be a virgin anymore, need john b to come and break me in :( ♡’

the more he reads, the harder he gets against his shorts— sighing out his nose, blinking in discomfort as he adjusts himself. he looks around, knowing you were at the beach with kiara but still feeling paranoid. it’s one thing to have such dirty thoughts about your step-brother, but atleast they were private. john b gets caught reading them? he’s the bad guy.

he tells himself it’s not you doing this to him. it was simply his anatomy betraying him. he couldn’t help how his body reacts.

he feels dirty when the tip of his cock grazes the pages, now sat on the edge of your bed like he could jump up at any minute given the sound of the front door closing. he’s turned the page, landing on a particular fantasy that had his hand moving and cock leaking before he could dare to question the morality of it all.

‘john b looked so good today :( i love when he bosses me around all big brother like ♡ he doesn’t even realise he’s doing it, it’s like second nature for him to look after me. wanted to sit between his legs and make out with his dick :( i bet it’s so pretty and i know it’s big cos sometimes he doesn’t wear boxers under his pants and i see it swinging it around. wanna suckle on it whilst he tells me im a good girl like he did that one time when i was sad. his voice just gets me so wet, can’t stop humping everything n rubbing my clit whenever he leaves the room. i’m like an animal and im not even ashamed anymore. i need him :(’

the brunette groans as he squeezes his eyes shut, fisting and twisting the way he imagines your smaller hand to�� inexperienced yet with a feverish hunger to please and a vast knowledge of sex which he could only imagine was learnt through word of mouth and porn. god, the thought of his sweet little step sister sprawled on her back, legs splayed open — pawing at her glossy cunt as she scrolls to find the perfect porn video. it was enough to send john b mad.

he wondered if you tried to find pornstars that looked like him, or if you just used your imagination for that part. john b liked to think himself a humble man, but in the throes of his passion he couldn’t help but accept the warm embrace of the ego trip the thought gave him.

“oh fuck, so wrong — so fucking wrong—” he strains, feeling that burning hot twisting in his stomach as that familiar feeling overcomes him. he clearly hadn’t thought this through, before when he opens his eyes once more — he’s covered your delicately decorated page containing your fantasies with his white hot sticky syrup. “ohhhh god. oh no.” he hums, eyes widening slightly.

yet there was no time to act— for as soon as he’d realised, he could hear the jangling of your keys and your familiar giggles as you lead your new-ish friend into the chateau, probably moments away from singing out his name, wondering if he’s home. he slams the book shut and he’s sure it oozes from the edges of the page— stuffs it back beneath the pile of clothes on your chair where he found it and makes quick work of tucking his deflating cock back into his pants.

john b fears he might be in big trouble.

[lunajay33]

My Man💋

Summary: Ever since the quarry there was tension between you and Daryl, but when you get to the farm you can’t hold yourself back anymore

Warning: 18+

•Masterlist•

Song Rec: Flesh by Simon Curtis

You were working around the farm trying to help out anywhere you could when you saw Daryl across the way looking at maps, the sun gleaming of his tanned skin you couldn’t stop starring

“Sweetie you’re drooling” Maggie said from beside you snap you out of your oogling, you turned looking at her feeling the embarrassment spread up your face

“Oh come on Maggie you know I can’t help it, just……..look at him for gods sake” you said biting your lip as you looked back at him, his muscles so big you’d do anything to be wrapped around them

“Girl you got it bad, you need to do something about it”

“Like what? We’ve had this tension since the quarry how do I even bring it up”

“Come with me darling” she giggled as she dragged you inside

“Maggie what are you doing?” You asked as she rummaged through her drawers

“This, this is how you bring it up” she smiled as she held up the skimpiest black lingerie set

“Oh Maggie I don’t know about that what if he turns me away”

“Sweetie if you show up in this with all this pent up tension you’ve been talking about you’re gonna be a goddess to him, come ooooooon do it”

“Ugh fine” you grabbed the thin material and went back to your tent pulling them on them putting back on your shorts and tank top

Going on with regular chores throughout the day until you saw Daryl emerge from the tree line heading to his camp further out

“This is your time girl, go get him” Maggie said nudging you forward its like she was a hawk around you today

You sucked up all the courage you could holding onto all that tension since the first time you both laid eyes on eachother, the way he was sweeter on you than others, the way you’d both glance at eachother and how he’d give you extra meat from his hunts, the brief touches on your lower back and thigh

Strutting through the field with all the confidence you got, he became clearer and clearer the closer you got until you were at his camp seeing him sat in his chair sharpening his knife

“Hey” you said catching his attention

“Hey, whatcha doin here?”

“Wanted to come by, see how everything went” you said stepping closer

“Went alright, found something out there fer ya though” he grumbled digging into his pocket chucking over something you were quick to catch

Opening your hands to see a silver necklace with a little bow hanging from it

“Daryl! I love it thank you so much, reminds me of you”

“No trouble”

This was the moment

“Well I got a surprise for you too” you said a little lower, more sultry

“Oh really?” He smirked giving you his full attention, you lifted you shirt above your head throwing it aside

“Come on Daryl I can’t handle all these side glances and brief touching, I need you” you whined desperate, he stood up from his chair grabbing my hips roughly as he looked down at me with squinted eyes

“Yer fer real bout this?”

“I’m all yours Dixon” that triggered him giving him all the consent he needed dragging you into his tent and pushing you to the make shift bed on the floor as he quickly stripped all his clothes off only leaving him in his boxers

“Fuck I’ve wanted ya fer so long” he groaned as he caged you down with his arms, starting to suck on your neck slowly trailing down to the hem of the bra, his hand busy with unbuttoning your shorts

“Daryl please, I need you now” you whined feeling like your lower stomach was on fire

“I got ya baby” he ripped your shorts and thong down throwing them to the side, then taking off his boxers

He grabbed your knees and spread them wide looking at your pussy as if it was art to him

“So wet fer me baby, ya shoulda made a move earlier”

“Come on Daryl just fuck me, take out all that tension on me” you said digging your nails into his shoulders hearing a growl from him

He gripped his dick rubbing it up and down your slit nudging harder against your clit sending chills up your spine

“Damn I could get use to ya under me” you reached behind and undid your bra so you could feel him all over

He lined his tip up slowly pushing in until you felt it pop, feeling him stretch you slowly until he was fully sheathed inside

“Daryl you’re so big, fuck so deep” you gasped as he gave a little shove deeper

As you adjusted he bent down licking and sucking on your tits feeling it down in your clit, gripping his hair as you couldn’t contain your moans

“I’m ready Daryl, give it to me”

He leaned back as he lifted your hips up so you were at an angle, gripping your hips so tight it was bound to leave bruises

He pulled out just until it was his tip just to shove hard all the way back in make you see stars, he kept going and going hearing his feral grunts the angel he had you at had him hitting that spot over and over, screaming his name desperate to cum

“DARYL FUCK!”

“Fuck yer so tight, love this pussy”

“I’m gonna cum!” You screamed feeling that knot build up

“Cum baby I’m right there”

Simultaneously you both finished feeling his cum coat all over inside as he slumped back on his heels still deep inside

“Fuck were doing that a lot more baby”

“That was a lot better than what I imagined”

“Dirty girl thinkin bout me like that”

“You didn’t make it easy”

“Well I’m yers now sunshine, ya can ride me whenever ya want” he said making you laugh as he slowly pulled out as he watch his cum drip out

“We ain’t done fer the night baby, get ready” he said diving his head between your legs

This man was going to be the death of you

Lmk how yall liked this

[cranberryjuice-posts]

ARLT GIRL I HAVE A REQUEST FOR CLARISEE‼️

OK SO CAN YOU DO LIKE A ATHENA!DAUGHTER!READER WHERE MOST PEOPLE ASSUME THE ENTIRE ATHENA CABIN IS JS BORING ITS ALL NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC AND BOOKS

AND THEN WHEN THE READER AND CLARISSE JS LIKE KINDA STUMBLE APON EACHOTHER, CLARISSE JS ASSUMES THE READER IS VERY FUCKING BORIJG BECAUSE THEYRE A CHILD OF ATHENA

AND RHE READER TRIES TO KIND OF CONVICE HER THAT SHE ISNT BORING AND ALL

(and pls a lil make out im begging you😔)

(also i love your work stay strong girl‼️🔥)

RAHHHH‼️‼️‼️

Let’s give this thing a try

Pairings - Clarisse La Rue x Fem! daughter of Athena! Reader

Pt 1 — pt 2

The big house was quiet. Quiet was something you had to fight for, being a demigod your life was always chaotic and well noisy— so when you wanted to actually spend some time reading you would make arrangements to spend time in the big houses libary.

That’s how you now found yourself sitting in the library’s floor with multiple astrology books open around you and a note book filled to the brim with your findings

You heard the door open behind you, you looked back and saw clarisse standing in the door way with a few books in hand. Confused you raised an eyebrow studying the beautiful girls collected face. “What’s with the books?” You asked.

At first she didn’t respond, only setting them down on a chair. “Chiron asked me to leave some books here.” Her tone flat and uninterested, in the pile however you noticed a book about the stars that you had been searching for for hours.

You practically ran across the room grabbing the book like it was going to disappear. You looked down smiling at the cover— your excitement was innerupted as clarisse scoffed.

“I swear only Athena kids get off on this shit.” She rolled her eyes while turning to leave.

“Excuse me?” You spoke harshly.

Clarisse let out an irritated sigh. “What?— did I stutter I said Athena kids are the only people I know who can actually enjoy crap like this” she gestured her head towards the mess you had made earlier. “All you guys are the same boring blueprint of your mom”

“I’m not boring” you let out a scoff like laugh. Setting the book down on a table you crossed your arms not wanting to stand down from where you were.

Clarisse raised an eyebrow, it was clear she didn’t believe you. “Know what fine” you walked towards her. “Come here tomorrow midnight and I’ll show you that I’m not boring”

“And why would I do that?”

“Because I can get you out of whatever trouble your in with Chiron”

There was silence for a moment until clarisse rolled her eyes once more, threatening you to make it worth her time before actually leaving

———

You laid face down in your bed with Annabeth standing near by. You screamed into your pillow fustrated “and who does she think she is! I’m not boring she’s suc—“ you continued to complain until annabeth stopped you

“And Why do You Care what she thinks?” Annabeth sighed while sketching on a map of the forest, making plans for the upcoming capture the flag game.

You kept quiet.. annabeth turned in her seat looking over at you, her sharp grey eyes analyzed you until you knew the secret was you. You groaned in you pillow while annabeth sighed. “Her?! Really.. y/n there’s so many better options here but her your really gonna go with her?” She scolded you.

“Look, It’s.. fuck ok she’s really pretty and her being a bitch is attractive sue me” you rolled over in your bed embarrassed. Annabeth shook her head in disapproval. “Besides your not so innocent I see how you look at the son of Poseidon, uh Percy right? Yeah how does mom feel again about you fraternizing with the man she hates son”

She threw a pillow at your head in response. You just held the soft fabric close wondering how the hell you were gonna survive clarisse, you didn’t even like her that much

…

..

You did like her that much.. fuck

———

You sat in the big house looking out the wall length window admiring the stars. You had a telescope set up propped outside the window with a few books opened around you. Annabeth so graciously and forced helped you set up a cosy scene with some blankets and pillows.

You wore a cute form fitting black jumper dress with a light blue camp sweater underneath and a white ribbion in the back of your half pulled up hair. But this wasn’t a date. You had to constantly remind yourself that you were just proving you weren’t boring.

In mid thought you heard the libary door open, stepping in clarisse wearing some red plaid pj pants and her normal orange camp shirt. You felt your voice get stuck in your throat.

Clearing your throat you patted beside you. “Common”

“This looks boring I’m going back to my cabin”

“Dude”

Clarisse rolled her eyes and sat down— only there because you could get her out of cleaning the big house which you found out was because she may or may not of broke a kids jaw.

There was uncomfortable silence, it clear she was just trying to psyc you out so you would call quits but being the stuborn girl you were you refused.

You saw a shine in the corner of you eye making your face light up. “Look” you smiled. Clarisse groaned as she moved over and looked into the telescope. “It’s a meteor shower”

“I’ve been studying the stars for years but recently I’ve noticed a shift in some of the stars usual locations, see a meteor shower happens when the Earth passes through the trail of debris left by a comet or asteroid, As a comet gets closer to the sun, some of its icy surface boils off, releasing lots of particles of dust and rock—“

You had to stop yourself from continuing, proving you weren’t boring didn’t include you yapping about stars. The shower ended quickly and which was normal for a small storm like that one. While clarisse continued to look at the sky however You put a hand on the tool.

“Right here” you shifted it, you showed her the Aries constellation. “There’s Aries, and that red circle underneath it is mars” shifting the telescope some more you continued to talk “and there is the great square of Pegasus”

It was still quite the only round being the creaking from the telescope. You pulled away fiddling with your hands. “I—“

“It’s cool” clarisse mumbled “i guess” she looked over at you from where she was laying. Your cheeks flushed from the sudden compliment. “I still think your boring though spending all your time reading in here, but this” she titled her head more toward the window “this is all right”

You rolled your eyes. “I’m not boring”

“Mmhm” she sat up stretching as she did.

The two just sat there looking at eachother. You now taking the chance to really admire the girls features with the only source of light being the moon. “Your hair.. I like it, the way you style it and keep your curls in such good condition… it’s pretty”

“You can touch them if you want” her offer took you back, but you didn’t deny her. You reached out and touch her soft hair wrapping a curl around your finger. “Your hair smells like fruit punch” you giggled.

“Thanks?” She laughed softly, her hand now tracing gentle circles on your thigh. You could tell she liked the jumper dress on you, making your heart beat faster.

You leaned closer to clarisse nervous you read the situation wrong. Your lips were close just barley brushing against eachother.

You felt your heart start to race, you’ve kissed girls before but something about clarisse made you nervous, nervous like you wanted to run away but excited like you needed more.

Clarisses hand trailed up your body and found its way to your waist, she gently pulled you forward finally kissing you. The kiss was short repeating a few times adding a sense of hesitation.

You felt clarisses Hands squeeze you lightly as you both looked into each others eyes. Your left arm was now around the girls shoulder with your other hand keeping you up for balance.

You moved you hand to her hair before leading her in for a more passionate kiss. It was immature and inexperienced but needy. Clarisse Bit You bottom lip making you moan allowing her to move her tongue into the mix, you moved while kissing her to sit on the girls waist.

You both fell now with clarisse laying on her back and you pinning her down, both panting while looking deeply into each others eyes. You kissed her again with a sense of urgency.

Whines and soft moans filled the air as you kissed. Clarisses hands finding themselves under your tight jumper dress resting on the sides of your thighs while you had your hands held the girls face.

Pulling away you hid you face in the crook of clarisses neck allowing her to shift positions around now with her on top, trailing kisses down your cheek jaw and neck.

She pulled back panting. “How far are we going” her eyes meeting yours.

“Only.. only this” You whispered, clarisse nodded before kissing your neck again while softly nipping leaving dark hickeys.

——

The following morning you had to hear a long lecture from annabeth about the marks on your neck and the new found relationship between you and the daughter of ares

Annabeth - shes a terrible Person

Y/n - now it’s suddenly a crime for a woman to have a personality?

—

Go look at this persons post about Palestine and aid links

[cal-flakes]

can u do a story where the reader has a sleepover w sarah and it starts to storm so she goes over to rafes room 🙆🏼‍♀️

of course my love <3

╰┈➤ comforted by rafe

warnings: just fluff.

summary: y/n’s fear of thunder kicks in one night at her bestfriends house.

the rumbling of the clouds above tannyhill jolted y/n awake suddenly. perspiration apparent on her face. sighing, she turned to face sarah, who was fast asleep, starfished next to her.

she sat up, groaning lightly at the ache in her neck, she must’ve fallen asleep in an awkward position. a flash of bright light lit up the room for a second, lightning zipping across kildare in the night.

y/n hated thunderstorms, she could never sleep through them. to others it was irrational, but to her the fear was very real.

a hoarse whimper escaped her as a loud bang met her ears, the dryness of her throat making itself known. another angry roar erupted, causing her waterline to brim with tears.

y/n slipped out from under the sheets and left the room, careful not to make any noise. over the years of being bestfriends with sarah cameron, she’d memorised tannyhill pretty well. her and sarah had once drawn a map of the squeaky floorboards in an attempt to sneak out a few years ago.

putting her knowledge to use, she padded through the house tactically, tears streaming.

jumping at ever clap of thunder, she squinted through her tears, relying solely on the flashes of lightning for vision.

she switched on the kitchen lights once she reached the door way. a shaky breath forced its way out of her lungs before she let out a few quiet sobs.

she couldn’t find anything to ground her when thunderstorms hit the outerbanks, not anymore anyways. before her brother moved away, she used to tiptoe across the hall to his room, where he’d sit up with her for hours until the sky calmed down.

her hands shook as she filled her glass in the sink, fumbling with the tap. y/n took a small sip, sighing before scurrying over to the couch in the private living room.

she sat there for a few minutes, stuck in her thoughts when the patio door handle turned eerily slow. her heart raced, coming up with the worst scenarios she could think of. stuck in place, she watched as her bestfriends brother snook inside, unaware of her presence.

turning around from the now closed door, he jumped at the sight of her. sniffling, his eyes widened. “what are you doing here?” he whispered, cautious of waking his father. also sniffling, y/n wiped the tears away from her cheeks.

“i stayed over with sarah.” she muttered, hand gesturing to the room above them. y/n took the chance to observe her friends brother, spotting similar tear marks on his cheeks, his nose red.

unbeknownst to her, he had the same idea. “are you crying?” he asked carefully, tip toeing towards the couch she was curled up on. her already pink cheeks flushed a brighter shade, humiliation now coursing through her.

“thunderstorms, they always get me. you?” self-deprecating laughter filled the room as she nodded towards him, hands still shaky.

lifting his arm up to scratch the back of his head nervously, rafe began to stutter, struggling to explain why he was also crying.

y/n, empathising with his unwillingness to tell, patted the spot next to her, noticing as his face twisted into confusion.

“you look like you need a hug, it just so happens that i do to..” she joked, hoping to lighten the mood. he eyed her suspiciously, battling with his thoughts before giving in, knowing she was right.

he sat down next to her, throwing his arm up, allowing her to shuffle under it. y/n rest her head upon his chest, closing her eyes, revelling in the comfort.

the pair sat in silence for a while, rafe taking it upon himself to stroke her arm whenever she jumped in fright. after a little longer, both y/n’s and rafe’s eyes had fluttered shut, falling into a deep sleep as they curled further and further into eachother.

y/n opened her eyes with a yawn, the sun gleamed through the patio doors, heating her cheeks. quickly taking in her surroundings, she adjusted her head, eyes landing on rafe’s closed one’s.

for a minute, she allowed herself to admire him, a smile tugging at her lips as she took in his features. this might have been the first time she’d ever seen him so peaceful, she thought to herself.

“rafe, rafe!” she spoke in a hushed tone, prodding his shoulder lightly.

after a moment, he stirred awake, looking at his little sisters friend in shock. blowing some air out of his nose, he chuckled slightly, as did she.

“let’s not tell anyone about this” she giggled, thinking about how truly peaceful her sleep had been. nodding in agreement, rafe sat up, smiling at her sheepishly.

and that, was the start of a strange, mutually beneficial relationship with her bestfriends brother.

[kishibe-kisser]

Types of kisses (w/ Baizhu, Childe, Dainsleif, Thoma)

Something entirely self-serving because I'm having a funky mental health day.

Tags: Kissing, touches, slight hair pulling, neck kisses

mentions of nsfw/ more suggestive

Baizhu: Gentle kisses. Maneuvering around eachother at the pharmacy, only pausing for him to plant a soft kiss on your forehead. His hand finds the back of your neck, pulling you into him so he can kiss your face gently. It's a small, silent 'I love you' in the middle of a busy day. His gentle eyes looking at you from across the room beckoning you for another silent 'i love you'.

Slow and passionate kisses. The moment you two have an actual moment to yourselves, his hands are holding your face and making sure he has your full attention before kissing you. His lips soft and gentle against yours, you can even slightly taste some herbs on his tongue. His hands always move to your hair, toying with the tresses and tugging on them gently. If time permits it, he'll tug your top down to expose your shoulder and kiss down the skin to leave marks for only him to find.

Childe/Tartaglia: Playful kisses. He's the type to cover your eyes and have you guess who's behind you. It's always him and you know that but you like to play along and sometimes for shits and giggles you answer with someone else's name. When he shakes his head disapprovingly, he'll peck your lips sweetly. Other than that, he likes peppering your face in kisses as he tickles you and makes you laugh. Your laughter is his favorite thing in the whole world, so on a day to day basis he just keeps the affection light and sweet.

Playful kisses don't just stay wholesome, chasing you to the bedroom with laugh before pinning you to the wall. He likes making things a game up until he catches you. His smile turns slightly sinister before kissing you deeply, thigh wedging between your legs as he pulls your hair to expose your neck.

Dainsleif: Goodbye kisses. When you're out and about, it'll be a miracle if he pulls you to the side for a kiss. It's incredibly rare. With all he's been through, the worst fear in his life is losing more people he loves. So when you are about to go your seperate ways for whatever, he pulls you to the side and looks you in your eyes. His hands holding your face and stroking the skin before telling you to be safe and kissing your forehead/lips/cheek. He also likes to remind you that if you need him, he'll be right there.

Feverish kisses. When he needs you, he absolutely needs you. Kissing you like his life force depends on it. Walking you backwards and pressing you into the nearest surface. Every emotion he has is put into kissing you, savouring you. His hands map out your body to make sure he never forgets a single curve or bump.

Thoma: Sneaky kisses. Thoma loves to steal a kiss while he's working, pulling you to the side behind a corner to kiss your lips quickly and then get back to work. The kisses leave him giddy the rest of the day and the more he manages to steal from you, the more he can't stop smiling. He thinks it's just so fun to do almost like it's a game to see if you can kiss without getting caught.

Gentle kisses. In contrast to how he is around others. When it's just the two of you, he treats you like glass. Not kissing you too roughly to show you how much he cherishes you. He smiles alot inbetween kisses, pausing to look at you only to smile even more. He kisses down your body with the same energy, taking time to make sure you feel cherished.

A/N: Just wanted to write something for me! Will work on the new requests I received now, I had a busy week.

[paigelts05]

The Final Containment of William Afton [FNAF, Renegade AU]

https://www.deviantart.com/paigelts05/art/The-Final-Containment-of-William-Afton-FNAF-1019973107

Renegade File Server Location: https://archiveofourown.org/works/52491037/chapters/135909397

Published: Feb 11 2024

William Afton is being contained. Permanently.

The truth behind how William was finally contained and kept out of Faz Ent's hands is a story that Fazbear Entertainment frequently dramatises and frequency paints in a fantasy light, but such tales have little effect on either the public opinion, or the individuals involved.

The reality was down to earth and hectic, but Cassie, Cassey, Ness, and Sylvia make a great team.

Cassey and Ness's forced William into the game in order to weaken him, causing him to hide within Princess Quest 4 and get captured by the red king. Cassie and Sylvia solved riddles to find the collectables that the mimic was hiding from them in order to access the arcade and pick up William from the red king in order to take him to Ness in this weakened state. Then, Ness was finally prepared to take on the duty of keeping William Afton contained, acting as a human prison.

And even though Ness and Cassie didn't see eachother in person that day, they knew the other was just as happy as they were to have William contained.

=°•.🌹 Story 🌹.•°=

°°•°°•°°•°°•°°•°°•🌹•°°•°°•°°•°°•°°•°°

Desmond and Cassie had moved all the way across the country to live with Sylvia 'officer Vanessa' Blake in order to escape Fazbear Entertainment.

When a cardboard box that bore Faz Ent insignia arrived in the mail, Desmond felt nauseous; since his daughter's hospital stay after the Ruins incident revealed a chip in the back of her neck, he had known that when Cassie's sleeper side had told him many times that 'they will always find me, no matter where I go' meant that she had known from the start that Faz Ent had some kind of tracker implanted into her before she came into his care, but he never thought they'd actually use it.

As Cassie and Sylvia carefully opened the box, they found a VR headset, a game box, and a note addressed to Desmond.

After seeing the contents, yet before he read the note, he froze in a terrified daze; this was the VR equipment from his old apartment; the exact things that Faz Ent had sent him before: the VR headset, the external casing cracked from him lobbing it across the room, the controllers, hand prints visible where he had held them in a vice grip, and VR training game, that cursed game that had forced him to hand Cassie that mask.

He wanted to run away, he wanted to throw up, he wanted to go somewhere his former employer would never find him. He passed out.

Sylvia had been briefed on his experience with that VR training simulator prior to her discharge from the hospital, as Desmond being used to make the map bot function was a major part of the investigation into what Faz Ent had been doing in the ruins of the megaplex, so she wasn't surprised that he'd pass out at seeing the game again. She had also helped him move out, so she was aware that he had purposefully left all this behind at his old place, aiming for the police to pick it up.

Instead, someone at Faz Ent had sent it to his new home.

After making sure that Desmond was just out cold and nothing more serious, Sylvia and Cassie read the note.

U LN BIR AYEW QGI QUKK EWLS RGUA VYR UR UA VEUWD LBS BIB-CURLK.

RGUA FLNW UA RGW JWT RI GUA WRWEBLK XIBRLUBNWBR.

KWE RGW BWQ OEUBXWAA RLJW RGW XEIQB.

"This looks like a scrambled mess," Sylvia sighed as she looked at the mish-mash of letters on the paper.

Cassie shook her head. "It's encoded with using the keyboard letter to the left of the actual letter. Easy to decode once you know it, but enough to throw someone through a loop. I'll read it." Cassie cleared her throat before continuing, "I am not sure who will read this but it is brief and non-vital. This game is the key to his eternal containment. Let the new princess take the crown."

Some metaphorical gears turned in Sylvia's head as she processed the words as well as some rabbit shaped graffiti-like markings painted on the plastic cover of game box, so an addition made by the sender and not a part of th official print, and her eyes lit up. "I know this is going to scare the shit out of your dad, but I think you need to play the game. I think that Cassey T and my sister need you for something."

Cassie now bore the confused expression. "For what?"

"Remember what Des told us about that game. What is in it. We have reason to suspect that William will take refuge in here, hence these markings as a warning." Sylvia picked up the game box as she spoke and pointed to the rabbit graffiti.

"Yeah, the mimic is also in there. It's the thing that forced my dad to pilot the mask bot to hand me the mask," Cassie replied, "That training sim is the space that that weird short exec guy used to stick GGY, Clone William, and Mimic1 in the code blender so it wouldn't be found out until he downloaded it onto that endo I destroyed. Why would William hide in the same space as something trying so hard to copy and kill him."

"As I said, he's not actually in there yet," Sylvia replied, "I said he will be forced into there."

"Forced in?" Cassie inquired.

"He managed to possess my sister and her dad's ghost has been keeping him in, but she told me she has a plan." Sylvia grinned, "She'd get help from an insider to anonymously mail us what we need, and once the plan is in action, he will be forced to take refuge in there."

"And that insider is me."

A voice that didn't belong to Cassie or Sylvia spoke up, and the duo turned around to see Desmond standing and speaking in a voice that sounded wrong for him.

"I am Alistair. You may already be aware of me from my involvement in the VR environment. I could have shipped this in a blank box, but I needed my brother unconscious to fill you in on the details, as having any kind of paper trail from here on in will stop this plan from working."

"And this plan is…?" Sylvia inquired.

"Take the memories from the hand of the disembodied. Use them as the bait. Take up the mantle and lure the wizard into the witch's trap." Alistair spoke slowly and calmly, as if reciting a story.

"Cryptic," Sylvia grumbled, "Can you tell us anything else?"

"The hand may take up the wand and robes of the destroyed, but it is not wise enough to use it yet," Alistair replied, adding a final piece of information to her story, "it would be dangerous to say any more."

"Got it." Cassie said as she begun to set up the VR equipment.

"I get the gist; take what bad entity 2 has nicked to bait bad entity 1, and we can worry about the fallout later." Sylvia nodded as she begun to help Cassie.

By the time Cassie and Sylvia had set up the VR environment, Alistair had silently left and let Desmond wake back up.

"What's going on?" Desmond wearily mumbled as he pulled himself to his feet.

"We're on a mission," Sylvia answered, "Your sister filled us in on the details."

"That explains the pain…" Desmond grumbled as he rubbed the back of his neck, trying to soothe a phantom pain. "I'll assume that's why the box was used - so she didn't have to fight me."

Sylvia flinched at how Desmond described the whole possession thing. "… Are you OK?"

Desmond nodded. "Alistair and I don't always get along, but she needed to convey a message I guess, and by the looks of it, an important one."

Cassie nodded as she held the VR headset above her head.

"Time to grab some memories and lure an evil wizard to his death."

Once in the training simulator, Cassie knew that she'd get very little further direction from Cassey and Ness, and no further instruction from Alistair. She also knew that Sylvia was about as much in the loop as she herself was, so she'd have to rely on herself to find these 'memories' that if her interpretation of the mission was correct, the mimic would be hoarding.

If it was Mimic1, Clone William, GGY, or a mix of the three was yet to be discovered, but she knew that with the exception of the GGY component, it would likely see her as a traitor. Her managing to 'kill' clone William back in the VR environment before she could rendezvous with the other Gregory Getters branded her a traitor in his eyes. Her managing to destroy the endo the mimic had been downloaded onto in the real world during the Ruins incident branded her a traitor in Mimic1's eyes. Two thirds of it were likely against her, so she had two choices: appeal to the possible third segment, or the better options.

Allegiance against a common enemy.

With the mimic relegated back to code, and likely a disembodied hand if the mission briefing was being literal, William had gone from being the lesser threat of the two to being the greater threat of the two. With how her sleeper side had managed to drive the mimic back in a bare-fisted brawl back during the Ruins incident, she knew that it knew that she was a capable fighter who is skilled way beyond her years. She could claim a mercenary motive for her actions. Whether it'd beleive such bold-faced bullshit was another question, but she hoped it wouldn't come to that.

She hoped it'd see her as being indistinguishable from any other player. The other better option, and probably the best.

As she loaded into the lobby, she felt as if words were being injected directly into her mind, words that linked back to what Alistair had told her. It felt like someone was giving Sleeper further instruction on what to do, and in turn, Civ instinctively felt as if she knew what to do as well.

She needed to find a way to play Princess Quest 4. That is where Ness would be waiting for her to deliver William to her.

The note in the box had been to tell Cassie that she had to be the one to play the game, likely because of the message Ness wanted to send would only be able to reach someone like her, and Alistair had to deliver the extra details so she would have the preconceived notions necessary to fully understand the even more cryptic message that Ness sent.

Cassie received the message loud and clear.

She was ready to create the key and do all that was needed to let Ness enact her plan.

"He should be in there…. ETA NOW!" Cassie heard Sylvia yell. She was loud enough to get through the headset, and that's all she needed to hear.

It looked like the game was officially afoot.

She followed many cryptic hints for hours and hours, taking each doll from the disembodied hand that lurked, and after collecting the final doll from Fazerblast 3, a minigame that she was sure was the embodiment of the mimic's own want to eliminate William, if only to take the man's place in the world, she claimed her prize and returned to the main hub where she found the purple Faz-token that had now spawned in.

She knew exactly what to do with it.

After taking it from where it floated, she made her way over to the Princess Quest 4 arcade machine and inserted the coin that it needed to begin.

Taking a deep breath, she begun her part of this journey of leading the princess through the castle, making use of a teleport ability that felt very similar to typical VR movement mechanics.

As she played, she had some time to think: Princess Quest was not a Faz Ent IP. It was solely a Silver Parasol IP. One they released as an app and an arcade machine. It was a monument, a record, and an escape key. The fact a Princess Quest game was in this at all was a sign that Cassey T, Jeremy B, Ness, and Sylvia had managed to scheme their way into getting in on the development of this game.

Ness and Cassey were waiting somewhere on the other side of this game, ready to strike.

Heading deeper and deeper into the castle within the arcade, she noticed something odd.

"That looks like the room I'm in!" She heard herself exclaim as she saw a figure hunched over an arcade machine on the screen.

As she looked up, she saw that the room around her was dark. Looking around more, she saw the princess. An 8-bit sprite, as she expected, but it felt odd, but also as if it was meant to be.

On instinct, she directed the princess towards her and pressed the only interact key she knew of: the attack key.

Everything went white, but she felt nothing from it, and when everything cleared, she was in a place she didn't think the game expected her to be. It was dark, and the only distinguishing feature was the checkerboard floor lit by a golden glow coming from somewhere in front of her. In front of her stood Cassey Tapper, holding the glowing golden sword. Meanwhile, she also saw Cassidy hovering slightly behind the programmer.

Cassie looked around, and finally saw the ghost that had been possessing her hovering nearby as well.

"You must be Charlie," she said.

Charlie just nodded and pointed back towards Cassey.

Cassie nodded back and looked back towards the programmer who was possessed by the one William should not have killed.

"It's going to be up to you; you're going to be able to pick up where we left off." Cassey knelt down and held the sword out in front of her as she spoke, resting the point on the tile.

Cassie instinctively grabbed the hilt, and Cassey placed her hands over the girl's. She noticed that her hands actually looked like her hands, and her arms looked like her arms. It didn't feel like she was in a VR game anymore, but that her soul was somewhere else, temporarily in some kind of secret meeting place. Cassie turned her attention back to the sword; she had never welded such heavy weaponry before, only using knives and at most a machete. A sword, albeit virtual, was new, and even with Cassey holding it steady, it still felt as if it was going to topple, but she didn't panic. She smiled as the golden glow illuminated herself and the room she was in.

Cassey gave one last smile as she let go of the sword, letting Cassie be it's sole bearer, before she stood up and walked into the darkness.

Cassie knew that this was all the help that Cassey and Cassidy were able to provide; William knew them too well. But Cassie? The last time they met was on terms neutral to the both of them; the old man would not suspect a thing.

The screen went white again, and when that too faded, she was back in front of the arcade machine. The princess stood unarmed next to her. The sword was on the arcade's screen, and the words "take it" were below.

As she took the sword, she knew that it was for certain that her encounter with Cassey had not been in this VR world, but had been elsewhere, merely facilitated by the VR equipment. It was most likely that it had been a temporary digital consciousness transfer so that they could meet in secret and Cassey could pass her part of the torch onto her.

And now she was back in VR.

Cassie knew that once this was all said and done, Cassey, Jeremy, and most importantly Ness would have thier hands full with the finer details of William's containment. Whilst Sylvia was a part of that team, she also had the most experience dealing with the components of the mimic, having been involved in the Ruins incident. It was clear that Sylvia would be the bridge that kept the containment of William and the pursuit of erasing the mimic connected, and that from everything that has happened so far, Cassie could tell that Sylvia already knew her role. Why else would everyone at Faz Ent fearfully refer to her with all sorts of words that in some way meant 'Knight'.

The cavalier, the woman-at-arms, the duellist, the chevalier, the knight; all refering to this woman.

They also called her 'Don Quixote', though Cassie felt as if she and whatever exec had called Sylvia 'Don Quixote' and had called Luis 'Sancho' hadn't read the same book that she had. Faz Ent probably hoped that Sylvia's knights quest was simply the insane endeavour of a woman already driven to delusion, but Cassie had watched everything from the shadows, and despite Sylvia seeing a fantastical fantasy form of the world half the time - a condition Sylvia believes was caused the the remnant her bosses had sneakily injected into her system - she had managed to stay grounded enough in reality thanks to her friends and her drive to protect them.

And with Cassie taking up the mantle of the princess of light, she too would now need a knight at her side, as even if the Princess's Quest appeared to be the adventure of a single girl on the surface - a single player game - the player had always been there as a guide, as the knight.

This sword felt lighter than the one Cassey had passed her. She knew what she had to do.

She maneuvered through the game around her; the training sim that had become Princess Quest 4 was her battlefield as she slew foe after foe, fighting towards the core of the castle within this game.

First, she found a key. It opened the door she found herself next to, and through it, was a pit, similar to the one the princess had decended on the arcade machine.

She decended through the pit herself, slaying any monsters she met along the way. Once at the bottom, she found herself in a long corridor. The beasts were an afterthought as she made her way down the red carpet that lead out into what was both a courtyard and graveyard; the only place in this castle that was outdoors.

The puzzle was easy to solve; a simple case of lighting the torches in an incrementing numerical order. But she followed a different pattern and unlocked a secret basement underneath the courtyard. The chest held a familiar mask.

Whilst her dad had his father's retro Bonnie mask, the familiarity felt more visceral.

Sleeper must be the one familiar with this mask.

The door at the far end of the courtyard opened anyway.

The door lead to a grand corridor, devoid of monsters.

At the end, she met the red king. She traded her Vanny mask for the plush toy that William had hidden himself within. He had been holding William prisoner in this plushie form since he had fled here to escape the hand that lurked. It seems as if even though the mimic had been reduced to a hand, the destructive potential William saw within it terrified even him.

Then a door opened. To the elevator of the rental service warehouse. The ride didn't last long, as the walls came down and she saw that she was now inside a claw machine.

She knew this was her destination.

She saw Vanny outside, giant, yet to Cassie, not imposing.

She was finally face to face with Ness.

All that was left to do, was simple.

She handed the plush doll that William was trapped within over to the moon, who delievred it to Ness.

Whilst William had freed himself from his plush prison and had resumed his Glitchtrap form, it wasn't long lived as Ness crushed him in her hands.

Ness then looked over at Cassie and waved as she dipped into the darkness. She could tell that on the other end of whatever system was connecting them, that Ness was smiling.

Cassie waved back at her aunt, and she couldn't help but smile.

They had all done it.

Ness had captured and contained William.

Everything was on her terms now.

And as Cassie removed her headset and dealt with her eye strain and minor disorientation, she couldn't wait to see how this would all play out.

°°•°°•°°•°°•°°•°°•🌹•°°•°°•°°•°°•°°•°°

[sarahfeliciam]

The Ultimatum Ch 12

The next morning, Emeline yawned quietly as she opened her eyes to the sunlight. It took her a second to register that she was still on the floor with a pillow and blanket she didn’t remember. She sat up and Sirius bounded into the room. 

“Morning, sleepyhead.”

“Morning, Sirius.” She mumbled tiredly. 

“I never did understand the science behind it, you know. Why when you sleep well, you’re less inclined to want to wake up. Happens to me everytime.”

“Huh. Enlightening.” 

“Goodmorning, darling.” 

Emeline smiled as he entered the room when she stood. He planted a kiss on the top of her head as she threw the blanket she’d been sleeping with at Sirius.

“I’m sensing there’s a team here and I’m not on it anymore.” Sirius sulked jokingly with a roll of his eyes. 

“You are. You’re just the underdog.” She snorted at her own joke which garnered a hearty laugh from Remus and drove Sirius’ point home.

“I’ll let it slide considering our morning subject material.”

He quirked an eyebrow at them for explanation and Remus clasped his hands together nervously, just like he had at their first meeting.

“And that subject would be?” She ventured. 

Sirius motioned to the small dining table offset from the kitchen and offered her a smile. “Shall we?”

She shot her dad a questioning glance but he was already following Sirius to sit. She trailed behind them and took a seat across from them. They looked between eachother before Remus began. 

“Emeline, Sirius and I have been talking. There’s something I believe to be in your best interest, especially in light of last night’s discussion.”

“I’m sorry you had to hea-“

“-no.” Remus held up a hand to stop her. “I’m glad I heard it, however, despite your nightmares you don’t have me convinced that you wouldn’t attempt to investigate your… theory any further.”

“Theory?! You don’t thi-“

“-Em, as true as it may be, you are not to test its bounds. I know the moment you speak of. And the hard truth is,” he breathed deeply and leaned back in his chair, sadness crossing his face. “The truth is that without guarantee of knowing you, I would never be comfortable allowing you to attempt what you did ever again.” 

“Okay..” she started slowly. “Then, what’s changed to warrant a sit down?”

They glanced at eachother again, Remus’ nerves increasing.

“Dad?”

“Your father thinks it best that you learn how to be an animagus.” Sirius interrupted.

Remus opened his mouth to speak and shut it again. He stared at Emeline quietly, taking in her face. He wasn’t actually sure anymore if she wore her motions loosely or if they were that in tune, but somehow he could easily read her. 

And she was… upset?

“Why?” She asked shakily. 

“I- well, you’d be safe.” He finished lamely, unsure of where the conversation was going.

“I promised you I wouldn’t get involved in a moon again and I don’t lie. Ofcourse I’m curious, but I’m also-“

“-traumatized?” Sirius offered.

“Sure.” She responded with an eye roll.

“Em, nevertheless. This isn’t completely for worry of you trying to get through to me again… it’s for mistakes like that night was.”

“I don’t want to be an animagus.”

“Emeline, just listen.”

She stood quickly. “No. I will not. You have my word and if my word is not good enough, I’m not sure what to tell you. Avoiding costly mistakes is your job and from what I hear, you’ve done it well your entire life. Perhaps you’ve too thrown caution to the wind in the name of concern as of late. It isn’t like you, at all, from what I’ve learned, to leave your potion behind and completely ignore the daylight’s fall. I shouldn’t have to answer for how I responded to an unthinkable position. What’s your answer?”

“Em, I- maybe you’re right.” Remus watched her closely, seeing her attempting to steady her breathing as he’d been teaching her. She stared back at him calmly. “Maybe I have been slightly haphazard. I saw your name on the map heading for Sirius and Peter and- and everything I knew just dissolved. You’re precious to me. I was afraid you’d be hurt and I knew that I could…” he trailed off but Emeline did not break her stare. “I thought I was the best one for the job to protect you.” He finished sadly.

“I think I’m going to go walk myself.” Sirius announced loudly, already in dog form before they could respond. 

Emeline and Remus were left looking at one another, unsure of what to say next, before she broke the silence. 

“You knew or you thought?”

“I’m sorry?”

“You used both sentiments: you knew you were the best one for the job, or you thought you were. Which is it?”

“Well, after everything, I’m not su-“

“-dad, the first thing that comes to your mind.”

“I’m your father. My every instinct is to ensure your safety, Emeline. I would give my life to protect you.”

She breathed in slowly and nodded, reaching out her hand to his. He rested his over hers gingerly and she offered him a warm smile. 

“I’ll do it.”

“You’ll do what?”

“I’ll train to be an animagus, if you feel it’s in my best interest.”

“I do think-“

“-you think or you know?” She asked again. 

Confidence mounted inside of him and he nodded strongly.

“I know this is what you need.”

“I trust you.”

[overgrownlizard0]

This story comes from many years ago, more precisely when I was just starting off as a council member and getting my bearings of brightsmoon. That night I had a long stressful day at the desk, mountains of paperwork all stacked ontop of eachother towering over me; I had decided to take a stroll around the city looking for some form of metal escape for the writing I’ve just endured; I found it.

A small shop filled with more maps and compasses any navigator could ever dare to dream of, the walls spun with clocks as the ticking echoed across the room, sundials, sextants everything you could possibly need for making your way around the land, sea and Skys. A man no older than 70 popped up from behind the paperwork’s looking rather distressed and disheveled, long grey beard, dark purple dress robes outlined with sliver and complete with brown fingerless gloves and comically oversized glasses one square the other lense a triangle. Al metal hand, to be more precise a mechanical rusted metal hand. He introduced himself as ‘Felipe’ spoke to me with such a hurried voice yet so comforting and warm though I couldn’t help but think to myself is this what I looked liked to my fellow council members after I had emerged from the paper mountain?

“Greetings sir, what brings one to the world of wonder and all knowing” he didn’t know me, i was a bit surprised he didn’t I thought I had made myself pretty known around brightsmoon already though I suppose guessing that he didn’t get out to much spending his time in this area it wasn’t surprising he didn’t know of me yet. In a way I kind of enjoyed that, I’m not sure why. We exchanged a few sentences before me asking the question that would open my eyes to the world of storytelling. “What inspired you to go down this career path?”. His eyes looked as though the stars themself had spawned right into them. Hurrying me into the back rooms behind a sun imprinted curtain he lead me into an even smaller room one filled dark colours broken by the white speckle of a star, clothes and telescopes and in the Center laid a circular table with a tiny wooden fox necklace.

Felipe was 23, a cleric pirate. Sailing amongst the Xanthis cost on a voyage traveling from city to city when their ship was viciously attacked by a band of pirates, having no other choice he jumps from top deck into the singular row boat docked on the side of the ship. Or rather tried, a firm hand gripped the back of his coat dragging him back onto the deck. Felipe doesn’t remember much as blood pooled into his eyes but there was slashing and cutting, skin ripping at the hand of the bloodthirsty pirates. Picked up and thrown overboard landing into the rowboat, Felipe using whatever strength remained coursing through his muscles picked up the rowing stick with his left hand and proceeded to switch it rowing on the left side then right, left and right, left and right, until the crimson, merciless water became docile and dark blue once again. Now stranded in the middle of the ocean, no food nor water, no companions, no right hand. The blood loss began to take hold and Felipe flopped onto the wooden floor of the boat staring up at the stars, at least if he was going to die a brutal death he would die watching the thing that that brought him peace.

Vulpecula, his favourite constiliation

[kornstreifs-storys]

Ages of Ruin, A new Dawn, 3

The Blizzard was raging outside. It had caught up with the Group rather quickly. Fortunatly they had stumbled upon an old Human hut. It was in remarkably good shape, considering it was abbandoned for centuries, but maybe some local Pokémon had keept in shape all this time. Similar had happen with some of the cities, so it wasn't impossible.

Kuro had even managed to make a fire and now the group was huddled around the fireplace, while the storm raged around their shelter. Dune had coiled up under her blanket, Flake sleeping beside her. She had only her head outside and was talking with the rest of the group.

Kuro had rolled out a map on the ground and they were studing their path. Kiara pointed to a place on the Map, "Look here is a canyon and near that, there was once a small settlement. Maybe thats were we are, this hut could be a leftover from that village." Kuro studied the point Kiara had indicated. "That is possible, in that case we made a lot more progress than I thought, but it is within range from our last camp."

Dune still had trouble reading maps, so she asked, "Thats good right? It means were getting close." Kuro looked up and shook his head. "No, were still quite the way of. It just means were faster than I anticipated." Dune closed her eyes. This journey had already taken months and the weather was getting worse by the day, Flake seemed to be the most cold resistant out of them, but even he would start feeling the cold soon.

She thought about those dreams she keept having. When they had decided to go on this journey, it had been just three and one from Kuro. But now she was having them every other night, though a lot of them were repeats. Still a bunch of suspicious dreams were not a lot of Information, to risk ones life on.

Kuro seemed to have read her mind, because he came over and cuddled up to her. "Don't worry, I'm sure we'll make it. You said it yourself, these dreams are far to frequent and clear to be just a coincidence." Dune could feel the tension let up, she gave Kuro a quick nuzzle and smiled at him. "Did I ever tell you how much I love you?" she asked.

Kuro smiled back. "Yes, you have. Multiple times already." Dune purred, "Well, maybe I should do it more often." Dune looked up and saw Kiara simle at them from across the room. "You two are so cute sometimes, have you finally decided to start dating?" she asked. Dune looked confused at that remark, but then she remembered. They had never really talked about this had they.

She chuckled a bit, before replying, "We've been a couple for almost two years now. Though I guess since you met us, we didn't show it as much." Kiara looked surprised, "Wait really. So you were already a thing when we first met?" Dune smiled a bit awkwardly, "Is it really that surprising."

Kiara smiled, "Na, it's just like, from how Kuro talked back when you were ... kinda dead..." she paused awkwardly, but then continued anyway. "I just assumed, he hadn't told you his feelings yet. And you never told me, so." Kuro, next to Dune, burried his face in her side. "Well, back then I had other things on my mind." His simle was very sorrowful, as he said that and Dune pressed her cheek against his to comfort him.

Kiara looked a bit sad as well, but Kuro continued. "Well and after she came back, I was a bit distracted by her evolution. So it never came up." Kiara looked at them both. "You know, now that I know you were already a couple back then, I got to ask. Why were you so flustered around each other back then?" Kuro and Dune exchanged a look, then they both answerd. "I just wasn't used to the evolution yet."

Kiara laughed, "Well, ok then. Maybe I shouldn't try to understand romance." Dune chuckled as well and Kuro smiled at least. Then Torrent interjected into the conversation. "We still have a long journey ahead of us. We should go to sleep, hopefuly tomorrow the storm will have passed."

The others looked at eachother, then Dune yawned and Kuro said, "Yeah, we probably should. Though one of us should stay up to make sure the fire doesn't burn out. I'll take the first shift, so you go to sleep." Kiara and Torrent nodded, but Dune had already fallen asleep. As she slowly drifted of she could feel one of these Dreams come up from deep inside.

================================================

Start / previous / next Cover (Ch. 2)

Our heros get a bit of downtime on this page. And we're finally clued in on the relationship between Kuro and Dune. Kiara is quite surprised, but your sneaky author of course already knew.

Well, see you next week and check ou my Deviant Art.

Also a relationship page has been added, so you can keep track of who likes who. (not finished yet)

[mongayakai]

It started as like a free for all stealth attack game, hiding in pods and shooting the other players as they passed and stuff. Took place on this multilayered boat that seemingly either was on a stormy ocean or in a government police parking lot depending on what door you find to exit with. Two players, me and some other guy, started out at the bottom floor attacking each other and having fun, he was hanging out in a pod and shooting when i turned my back, when suddenly there was a new enemy. Two giant alien creatures with turtle shells and the ability to crawl on walls and ceilings if they wanted. We had misunderstood the game. It wasn't to survive eachother, it was just to survive. The room was like a server room with tall cabinet box things in the middle, so as these two aliens did their creepy thing trying to find us, I did my best to dodge and weave their eyeline. The only pod I could use to hide was occupied by the other player who refused to move. One of the aliens could talk and he taunted us, trying to scare us saying he'd find us and knows we're here. The other would slowly trail behind him. Eventually I found a ladder and ditched the other player as I found myself on a second floor. Ran around trying to find another ladder, rushing cause the aliens saw me climb the first one. Found another one and I was on the deck of a big military ship in the middle of a stormy ocean. My options were to jump into the raging waters, or be Caught. I jumped, and the game restarted.

This time, we knew that the first few minutes of the game were prep. There were 3 different kinds of living creatures on the ship, us players, human police sailor guards, and two dogs that, after the few minutes are up, would transform into the monsters. The guards either knew or had no idea what's up with these dogs. It was unclear.

With pods scattered around the map and some context clues, we figured out that us players were some kind of experiment trying to escape, meaning the guards were enemies too.

The dogs came into the starter room with us, and since there were two doors on either side of the room that lead to the same even larger room, we tried to juke them by letting them out via one door and dashing out the opposite one. As we ran we got separated and the dogs transformed. The room we ran through was like this weird warhouse/loading dock that had a bunch of boxes and lettered/numbered garage doors. I ran into some sort of security room that had 2 guards on opposite sides of eachother sitting in desks looking at cameras, across from the door was some sort of closet. My vision slower turned purple in the corners to alert me that the guards haven't noticed me yet but they will any second. Behind me, one of the monsters almost got here, so I ran and hid myself in the closet just as the monster broke through the door, grabbing the guards attention. The guards attempted to restrain it like with zip ties, and the pov changed to the other player. The other player was making a mad dash around that warehouse and opening garage doors as he passed. Saw one in particular marked "8□-M□□" and that it opened to a parking lot outside and had a little sewer drain marked emergency exit evacuation. He kept that in mind, kept running. Ran into a guard and the monster swerved and hid from the guard. Player got momentarily restrained with zipties, hands together and one ankle with the hands to prevent him running away. Commotion was heard in the security room and the guard ran to check, the monster followed after. Player hopped his way to the garage door and into the sewer exit, which was a long tunnel with a light on one end, and waited for me quietly hoping none of the enemies would find him.

Back to my pov, three guards were in this one room trying to ziptie this otherworldly turtle dog monster alien in front of the door way while I hid the closet across from them. The guards looked like they got it and huddled to a side of the room to discuss what they should do. With their backs turned, the monster easily broke out of its restraints and attacked the guards. While it was distracted eating them, I dashed out the door and to the garage door as the other alien followed suit. I think I shut the door behind me and it landed on the creature as I slipped into the sewer exit. I broke the other players ziplocks and we ran to the end of the tunnel that had light and found ourselves crawling out a sidewalk sewer drain on a super long road across from a large forest. We didn't want to go the path that looked like more civilization because if the monsters and guards were fogs and police we prolly weren't safe in a city. So we crossed onto the side with the forest and ran as far as we could, only stopping to rest in the forest deep enough for no passersby to notice.

[strange-and-dynamic]

Dateline: November 2nd 2022

This dream was a variety dream, and not that I haven’t had them before but this one is definitely the most memorable one yet:

• First I was playing some game that looked a roblox game, and in that game I swam for a long time in a really large river until eventually I reached an island that kinda resembled the jungle stages in SA2, and I went up to this big tree stump and it was literally called the ‘millennial tree stump’ and I was sternly told by a disembodied voice through dialogue to respect it, and I then proceeded to do a Hula near the stump to some music that kinda sounded like the fire cave music from earthbound

• After that section of the dream, I walk into what on the outside looks like a computer repair shop, and inside were a few people I knew playing on computers, all of them wearing my old school uniform (the uniform we all had on since well we were all in the same school in the same grade), and the real memorable part of that section was me walking to a side of the ‘shop’ to find a computer to play on and seeing an old best friend, he turned around and we both looked at eachother with shock, we didn’t say a word to eachother and I walked to the other side to find a different computer

• after THAT section I’m then suddenly playing an FPS but like in real life, and I’m running down some large culdisac (HOW DO YOU SPELL IT,,) like street, shooting and killing a bunch of enemies (with honestly horrible coding—) but there was this one monster clown enemy I couldn’t damage and it was just chasing me around the entire time, I can’t remember if it was AFTER I tried hurting it or if it was just chasing me, said monster clown enemy would keep teleporting beside me while I wasn’t looking, I can’t remember if he was shaming me for something or just talking shit at me but he wasn’t actively physically hurting me, just trying to emotionally hurt me I guess 💀💀

• After I kill enough enemies and start running up a hill (still in the culdisac like street), whatever music that was playing in the ‘game’ faded off and suddenly my gun is gone, and I’m just in regular real life, and I have the preset knowledge in my head that I’m going to go see somebody, and I walk through a building reminiscent of the building I lived in when I was a child (but like way prettier and generally non ghetto—) but because bad mapping it wasn’t exact, and I walk through a double door to get to the other building across a walkway you’d see in the outside kinda park part of a hospital building, and at that other building I walk up to a wall of it outside to see my dad, in the same not-old state he was in when I was like 6 and he used to work as a deacon at my nearest church when I lived in the childhood ghetto building mentioned earlier (he had his old church fit, old red tie and black glasses I never see him wear anymore), and we just casually say hi to eachother, not exchanging anymore words maybe besides asking how eachother is doing, and I walk with him into his dentist appointment, because apparently there’s just a dentist office inside an apartment building

So 🤔 in that dream I’m catching a running theme of my past, old friends, peers I used to casually talk to sometimes but never really made friends with, an old best friend I mentioned that is actually still in touch w/ me but we never talk, my childhood building, my dad looking younger

Overall a running theme of the past! I’m wondering if my dreams are being prophetic or have some meaning to them 🤔

[carlgrimm]

carl grimes x top male reader, M/n finds Carl lost and company's Carl on the way back?

carl <33

this isn't going to go along with the plot, so there are gonna be things happening in it that don't make sense with the plot

Getting separated during the apocalypse was not a good thing. Especially not when you're in a new place that you've never been before.

Carl was not having a good day, getting separated opened a door for bad things to happen, and all he had found so far were some bones and a track in the mud that looked like a stick was dragged through it.

Carl was dragged out of his thoughts at the sound of cracking leaves beside him. Nerves on edge, he swung his gun around to point at whoever, or whatever, was there.

"Hey, hey, no im not a freak you don't need to point a gun at me," The guy held his hands up, backing up slightly. "I just came to ask you if you were okay, you've been walking around weirdly for like 10 minutes."

"Put your knife down and leave.", Carl said, tone not too loud to attract any walkers that might be around.

"Easy cowboy, im not here to hurt you, you just look lost, got that distant look, dragging your feet n all." He put the knife down by his foot, but enough away to slightly settle Carl's nerves.

"What I am is none of your business."

"I got a map, I can help you find your people, free of charge." He let out a laugh, body moving along, hands resting on his head.

"Fine, but you do anything else and I'll shoot."

It didn't take long for him to get his map out, as Carl stood, gun still in hand, only answering questions with short sentences, where he last saw the group, how long it had been, what direction. Then they set off.

"My names Y/N by the way cowboy."

"Carl, not cowboy"

It was quiet again for some time, neither of the boys speaking, just sharing glances, looking back at the map, then forward to the dirt paths, repeating until Carl's stomach decided to join in.

"When did you last eat Carl? I've got some snacks you can have."

"Thanks." He didnt know why, but his face heated up as he took the packets from Y/Ns hands.

"So..." Y/N slung his arm around Carl's shoulder as they walked side by side, "Tell me more about yourself, might aswell get to know eachother on the way back."

"Well my favourite colours blue, my hat was my dads that he gave to me after I got shot. I was 12 when this started and our group we put together as we went on."

Y/N gripped Carl's shoulder tighter, his body shaking Carl's aswell, "I was 12 too! But shit, getting shot? You're one lucky motherfucker cowboy, surviving all that."

"Don't call me cowboy." It didn't come out like Carl had wanted it to, the blush spreading across his face betraying him.

"Maybe ill stop when you stop reacting so nicely to it cowboy, but ill be kind and tell you about myself too. I like earthy colours, you know? the browns, greens, its why I chose to be out here. I don't have a group, just myself and my cabin," Y/N sighed, looking up. "Never been shot myself, count it as lucky, don't think I would've survived if I had been, have gotten cuts though, know how to treat them so as long as I have my stuff im alright."

"You remind me of Hershel, he's in our group, he was the one who saved me after I got shot. He was a vet before everything. Chopped off his own leg after he got bit."

Carl knew he was rambling, that he really shouldn't be telling someone he just met things about the group, but when he saw the look on Y/Ns face as talked, just listening, actually interested in what he had to say, he couldn't stop himself, like with the pink that coated his ears.

"I guess I'll take that as a compliment huh? You know its nice having a boy my age to talk to, even if its only for a little. Being by yourself gets lonely, and its quiet."

"Yeah, I'm not alone, but there's nobody around my age for me to talk to. I mainly just talk to Beth, she's a few years older, but she's the closest, she's actually Hershels daughter, same with Maggie, she's dating Glenn, he saved my dad when we thought he was dead."

It was louder now, they didn't know how long they'd been walking for, too distracted by talking, it must've been a bit though, because the trees were further behind them, scarcer than before.

"I've only really joined groups for a little, before they has to move on past my little cabin and camp, im surprised not many people have found it, but I guess that saves me from bad groups."

They were stopped by the sound of talking not too far ahead, multiple voices, definitely older, and by the look on Carl's face it must've been his group.

"I guess these are your people then?" Y/N pat Carl's arm from the side before removing his arm from Carl's shoulders, offering a tight, almost sad, smile.

It hurt Carl, more than it shouldve, they'd only been talking for the journey, yet the thought of leaving Y/N alone again, after all his help, and their conversations, stopped him from running over to his family. "Do you want to come with me?"

"Really?"

"Really."

"Okay."

[wreckofawriter]

better

pairing: regulus black x evans!reader

word count: 3.3k

warnings: swearing, angst, make out scene

request by: @upchurch-funk

summary: being a muggleborn dating Regulus meant you had to keep it a secret. When your older sister finds out she raises fear of heartbreak in both of you

♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~

    You and your sisters had been born jealous. Petunia turned to envy first as the attention that had been solely given to her was split between two other daughters. She had always been bitter towards you and Lily, never forgiving you for interpreting her perfect young life.  She had taken your things, broken your toys and ripped your clothes trying to punish you for being born and turning her from an only child to the eldest.

    Lily was next when she realised she wasn't the only one who could sprout fire from her fingertips. She had accused you of faking your magic for years, doing everything she could to best you even if she never fully understood her powers herself. Luckily she outgrew this jealous fit and by the time you shared a cabin on your way to Hogwarts she was beaming ear to ear. 

    It was you who was last to realise what the burn in your chest really meant. The feeling came heavy like thick rain drops as you watched your sister fall so effortlessly in love. Each time she gave James a quick hug or leaned onto his shoulder your eyes narrowed, fury irrationally rising in your throat. 

    This wasn’t because you wished James was yours instead. In fact you had considered him an idiot since you met him and would have rather drown yourself than date the loud mouth fool. You were instead jealous of the simplicity of their relationship. Envious of how they could be carefree, how they could dream of picket fences and happy futures. You hated that they could still be stupid kids. How they were given the freedom to make out in hallways and sneak into eachothers dorms with their worst consequence being a slap on the wrist and week of detention. Nothing hurt more than watching your sister live a simple life you knew you never could. 

    You stared across the room locking eyes with Regulus for only a brief moment before his darted away. Charms was dreadfully boring, the lecture practically putting you to sleep, you knew you should have been paying attention, but watching the younger Black perform the spell with ease was far more interesting. The flick of his wrist was an addicting, dull look in his eyes far more attractive than it should have been. He had woken up late that morning, his hair messier than usual. You thought it looked adorable, the way a few strands drooped in front of his lashes. He only got cuter as he blew them from his face with a pout. 

    “You have a staring problem.” Levi muttered from beside you. 

    You rolled your eyes, “Do you ever mind your own business?” 

    “Please, you make your thing for Black everyone's business.” He muttered and you kicked him under the desk. 

    Cussing at you he glared, leaning down to massage his bruising shin. 

    You wondered briefly how he would have reacted to the reveal of your relationship with your “hopeless crush” as he liked to call it. The surprise on his face would have been sweet as honey. 

    Regulus was watching you now as you continued to talk to your desk mate, he had never liked the boy, call it jealousy or anger, something bitter always rose in his throat when he saw you with him. Maybe it was because he knew your life would be so much easier if you had loved him instead. 

    “I don’t get what you see in him anyway.” Levi said, looking across at Regulus whose eyes had quickly retreated back to his parchment. 

    You grew brittle at the statement.

    “I mean I know he's attractive but if it's really about looks why not go for his brother?” He grumbled.

    You scoffed, “Please, Sirius is a piece of work.” 

    “And he isn't? I’m surprised he hasn’t called you a slur yet.” 

    Rage bubbled in your stomach, your chest feeling hot, “Shut up.” 

    Levi was either oblivious to the anger set in your tone or unbothered by it “I mean really y/n, you have a crush on a purist? It's sickening.” 

    You screwed your eyes shut in an attempt to stop the hot tears building behind them. You wanted to scream at him, slap him across the face and shout how Regulus would never do such a thing. You wanted to tell him how wrong he was, make him regret ever speaking such cold words.  But instead you looked away, wiping your tears as they came while your boyfriend sat across the room pretending you didn't exist. 

   

    You were used to it, you knew as a muggleborn dating a pureblood from a family like his would never be easy but the words still stung. That night you sobbed into Regulus’s chest as he held you in your usual hidden courtyard. 

    As your tears soaked through his sweater he felt nothing but the cold grip of guilt. He had never meant to fall in love. He had known it was a mistake the second it had happened. Even now he knew he had been wrong and stupid and naive to let himself feel so deeply for someone he could never truly be with. He would never forgive himself for forcing you into the hellish life he lived with a simple confession. He hated himself every day for it, he didn't deserve to indulge in his emotions knowing it would cause you nothing but pain. He didn't deserve you and he had known that from the start. 

    Yet every night you met, kissing under the pale moon until your lips grew numb. Everynight he found himself falling deeper and deeper into you until you filled his dreams and nightmares alike. So he forced you closer to him, knowing he would cause nothing but hurt. And you were so childishly in love you let him. 

    Later as you lay asleep on his chest, legs tangled beneath a blanket he let his own tears go, silent apologies dripping down his cheek as he tightened his grip on your waist. 

    Lily watched you from where she sat at her table, green eyes narrowed as she tried to read your mind across the dining hall. 

    “Something is definitely off.” She mumbled turning to James who stared at her with a  dopey grin. “You haven’t been listening to a word I said have you?” 

    “How can I when you’re so beautiful?” He murmured back and she scoffed, face darkening.

    Sirius gagged, “You guys are disgusting.” 

    “Christ Black, how old are you?” Lily spoke with the roll of her eyes. 

    He scrunched his nose and pretended to mock her silently only earning a sigh from Remus who sat beside him. 

    “Something is wrong with y/n, I can just feel it.” Lily continued content on ignoring Sirius. 

    “Maybe she's dating that Callahan kid.” James offered. “There’s been tons of rumors.”

    Lily scoffed, “Please, she has told me multiple times she has absolutely no interest in him.” 

    “A few months ago you were telling her you had absolutely no interest in James.” Remus offered not to look up from his book.

    Lily sputtered blushing heavily again, “That is completely different.” 

    “Sure it is.” Remus drawled, eyes peering over the cover at her. 

    Lily furrowed her brow, “But why wouldn’t she tell me? I mean I thought we've always been close.” 

    “Maybe it's not that serious.” Sirius shrugged, “Maybe they’re just fuck buddies or something.”

    Lily pulled back in disgust, “Don’t talk about my little sister like that!” she hissed as Remus kicked him under the table.

    “What? She’s almost 17! It's not like she's 12 or something, Godric.” Sirius complained and James threw a spoon at him. 

    “You know if you’re really that curious we could always just check the map.” James said looking over at Lily who was trying to set Sirius on fire with her glare. 

    She considered it for a moment, “Isn’t that kind of..” she paused “intrusive?” 

    He shrugged, “She's your little sister.” 

    The sky was dark that night as you met with Regulus. The moon was new leaving only the blinking stars to light the ground beneath you. 

    You grinned when you saw Regulus leaning against the small statue in the middle of the courtyard. You quickened your pace pulling him into a brief kiss as you met.

    “Hi.” You whispered against his lips and you felt him smile.

    “Hi.” He responded, hands on your waist pulling you closer once again. 

You tasted sweet like the nectar of the gods, soft and tender in his arms. Your hair smelt of pomegranate, your flowery perfume engulfing him. There was nothing more addicting on this world than your lips. 

You both pulled away breathless and grinning stupidly, “Your hair looks so cute like this.” You mumbled running your hands through it and tugging lightly on a curly lock that had fallen down his forehead. 

Regulus practically purred, melting into your touch. He dipped his head low to hide his blush, lips skimming the skin of your neck. 

You giggled as he mumbled a bashful thank you before nipping slightly below your ear. He was always careful to never leave marks that could be seen the following day. You wished he wasn’t. 

You felt his hands on the back of your thighs lifting you off the ground. You wrapped your arms around his neck and buried your nose in his hair as he walked until your back hit the wall of the castle. You scratched your nails lightly against his scalp and Regulus groaned. You gasped at the feeling of his tongue on your jaw as he pressed you further into the stone. Your legs now wrapped around his waist as he left sloppy kisses on your collar bone. 

It was then you heard the shuffle of footsteps. 

“Regulus.” You whispered and he broke away to look up at you, his lips red and glossy , “I heard someone.” 

He slowly lowered you to your feet, “You sure?” 

You nodded and you both stood silently, ears craning for another sign of life among you. After a minute you sighed, “Sorry, I must have been hearing things.” 

Regulus just shook his head grinning lightly, “ ‘s fine babe.” words slurring, intoxicated by your taste. 

Your lips reconnected, his teeth grazing your bottom lip as you began to work on the buttons of his shirt, tugging on his tie to loosen its knot. But there it was again the soft sound of feet, closer this time. 

You both paused Regulus pulling away leaving your skin feeling cold in his absence. 

“Who’s there?” He demanded into the darkness, wand lit. 

There was no response and you grabbed his hand to pull him back to you. Regulus stood his ground so you leaned into him, lips ghosting against his ear. 

“It's probably just a mouse or somethin’.” You murmured hands coming back to undo the remaining buttons of his shirt.

Regulus glanced around once more before looking down at you, “You’re probably right.”  he said before he began to untuck your blouse, hands sliding slowly under it. 

It was that which finally broke Lily, her vision going red. She stepped from beneath the invisibility cloak ignoring James' protests. 

You let out a small yelp as your sister appeared from thin air, Regulus who had his back turned to her immediately drew his wand pushing you lightly behind him. His eyes went wide as he found himself inches from your older sister. It was your turn to pull Regulus behind you. 

“Lily, What in bloody hell are you doing here?” 

When James sheepishly appeared as well you gasped, “What is wrong with you both, are you stalking me?” 

Lily looked stern, her arms crossed, “Why are you with him?” she seethed.

Your eyes narrowed, “None of your fucking buissnes. Now take your dog and leave.” 

Regulus almost didn't believe it was you that was talking. He wasn’t accustomed to the harsh tone you used, your anger hardly ever directed at him. 

“This is most certainly my business!” She spoke shrilly. 

“It is most certainly not. Now get out.” You shouted.

“How can you expect me to leave when you're getting all touchy feely with a purist?” She hissed, grabbing at your wrist to pull you away from the boy behind you.    You slapped her away so hard the sound echoed off the walls, “Call him that again around me and you’ll fucking regret it.” You growled. 

Lily stepped back surprised by your sudden aggression but not backing down, “Please y/n, I’m just calling it as it. The sooner you realise that the better.” 

Regulus felt his throat tighten as he listened, teeth biting into his lip as he had nowhere to look but his feet. 

    You stepped closer to your sister inches from her face, “Leave.” your voice struck heavy. 

    Lily responded just as harshly, “No.” 

    James shifted behind his girlfriend feeling like he was intruding on the fight which was taking place. Sensing his awkwardness you looked back at him with a searing gaze. 

    “Get out Potter, you have no place here.” You spat.

    He was planning on shuffling away when Lily turned back to him angrily, “No James stay.” 

You scoffed as he did as he was told, “Fucking pet.” 

“Don’t speak to him like that.” Lily scolded. 

“You're the one who's calling my boyfriend a purist.” You growled your mouth bitter at the taste of hypocrisy.

“Because he is one!” She bit back. “You really think he actually loves you after being raised how he was? With a mother like his?” 

Regulus felt like he had been slapped, his cheek stinging as the older girl spoke. 

 “Don’t you dare bring up his mother.”  You were shaking with rage by now, your face streaked with angry tears, “And how dare you speak ill of Regulus simply because of his upbringing as if his brother isn't one of your closest friends. How do you think Sirius would feel hearing what you just said?” 

This took Lily back a step, her rage cooling a bit as she realised her mistake, “It’s different,” She tried to recover, “He isn't with his family anymore. Sirius has already broken away from them. He made the choice any good person would.” 

Regulus felt her eyes on him as she spoke. She was no longer interested in her sister and instead focused on him. He felt like he was choking under the pressure of her stare. When he glanced up to meet her gaze he inhaled sharply. He hadn’t seen such hatred in a long time.

Your lashes were thick with tears by now, disgust and fury morphing your face, “Go fuck yourself Lily.” You spat.

She ignored you, gaze locked on Regulus, she had no intention of speaking to you anymore, “You stay away from her.” she demanded, “If you truly love her you stay away from her.”

You shouted lunging forwards and shoving your sister backwards. She stumbled back catching herself. 

It was you who fell, your feet tangling, forcing you to the ground. You hit hard, hands and knees scraping against stones and moss which made up the floor. You couldn’t find it in you to stand up simply letting exhaustion and misery take you where you lay. You shook with sobs, voice cracked and raw. Lily immediately dropped beside you, hands circling your neck as she drew you into a hug. You fought her as you always did but she held on, letting you beat her chest with your fists until you stilled.

Regulus took a step forward but was stopped by your sister whose glare told him everything he needed to know. Tears pricking his own eyes he stumbled past the two of you and disappeared into the darkness of the dungeons. He didn't hear James shout for him over the sound of the ring in his ears. He wasn’t sure where he ended up, somewhere deep in the depths of the sprawling castle, dust coated the staircase he collapsed onto. Only there did he let himself cry, choking sobs rubbing his throat raw as he looked for someone to blame. His mother for forcing him into the terrifying world of dark magic? His brother for abandoning him in his abusive home? Or your sister for pointing out the truth he prayed you would never see? Regulus wished he could pass the blame off to anyone but he wasn’t stupid, he knew he had no one to hate but himself. 

Regulus disappeared entirely for three days. Three days you spent desperately avoiding your sister who seemed just as adamant to talk to you again. You skipped meals opting for hunger instead risking meeting her in the hall. She would show up outside your classes forcing you to scramble out the back way or sprint away like a child running from punishment. 

On the fourth day of your boyfriend's absence you felt yourself beginning to panic. Fear of him never returning, filling your head with irrational thoughts. It wasn’t like you could ask around for him, your relationship needed to remain secret despite the difficulties you were facing. It was then Lily cornered you. 

You stared at the redhead as she blocked your only exit. “Lily, move.” You sighed exhausted by the past few days, sleepless nights not improving your condition. 

She didn't listen, “Y/n we need to talk.” 

"About what?" You scoffed, "I have nothing to say to you.” 

“I just want you to understand why I,” She paused, “Why I said what I did.” 

“I don't care why you said it Lily.” You said, “I don’t care if you think you were protecting me or saving me from some hopeless relationship. I honestly don’t care.” 

Her eyes swelled, “How can you say that? How can you not care? I love you y/n I just want you to be safe.” 

You stared at her, “I just don’t understand why you couldn’t just let me be happy.”

“He’s dangerous.” 

You shook your head, “No, his family is dangerous. His situation is dangerous. He’s not.” 

“Y/n please.” She begged, for what you did not know. 

“Just stay out of my shit Lily.” you mumbled pushing past her and back into the hallway. 

You spent the night where you always had, the small courtyard hidden between two towers of the castle, a statue of a woman draped in vines and flowers at its center. The moon was a small sliver, a dusting of clouds blocking the stars from your view. The shuffle of footsteps brought your eyes from the ground. 

There stood Regulus, his face shining in the pale light. His hands were stuffed in his pockets, nose pointed at the floor as he refused to meet your gaze. 

You stood quickly throwing your hands around his neck. He leaned into your touch burying his head into your shoulder as his hands found your waist. 

You smelled delightful as always, your lips soft against his cheek and hands in his hair. Regulus hadn’t realized he was crying until you began to comfort him. Sweet words whispered into his ear as you only held him tighter. 

“She’s right, you know.” He croaked, lifting his head to look at you. “You shouldn’t be around me.” 

You shook your head feverishly, “You’re wrong Reggy.”

“I don’t deserve you y/n, I don’t deserve to be with you.” He sobbed, “I could never deserve you.” 

“You’re right, love.” You mumbled, smiling through the tears that coated your cheeks, “You deserve so much better.” 

♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~

taglist:@accio-rogers @roslea @k3nz-doodl3 @theseuscmander @sleepingalaska @chloe-geoghegan1 @coldlilheart @suseptiable-bur-siriusexual @the-natureofme @trickylittlewitch @layaa-layaaa @rosieweasleyy @dracosgoodgirl @inglourious-imagines @princess-jules47 @daedreamss @d22malfoys

navi

[florestmoon]

Into the fog Pt 7 (Frank Morrison x Reader)

It’s the calm before the storm (;

Notes: sorry once again for the late update <3 I really enjoy the comments you guys give with the reblogs or the tags, it means a lot to me and I get excited reading them everytime ! Ok let’s go !

Part 6.

For a while, it was nice to pretend everything was okay.

Trials came and went with you trying to push the overwhelming anxiety from taking over. There was always the pressure of making sure you were doing justice by your teammates. Fixing generators and keeping out of sight of any killers that roamed along the maps, stalking and waiting for a chance to shed blood.

It became a little easier to ignore your anxiety with the way you spent between trials.

The Ormond Resort felt like a haven. You felt yourself ease into the comfortably of Frank’s ‘room’, spending most of the time laying on the bed with your head on either his chest or lap. His fingers playing with strands of your hair or simply watching you.

It was easy to trick your mind that you were back home in these tender moments. Imagining the small room as your own. The spray painted walls replaced with your own wallpaper. The doorway leading to the rest of your foster parent’s home instead of the empty resort. In these moments, stuck in the memories of your old life, you would allow yourself to silently cry. Whether you were staining Frank’s jacket or his jeans with your tears, he never questioned it.

Simply, he would hold you tighter against him and stay quiet. The unanswerable question hanging between you two, trying to make its way past the bubble you both created.

Why?

Frank never allowed it to burst the happiness he felt with you with him. He ignored the small glances you gave towards the stains on his jacket or the forgotten mask thrown across the room. He pretended to not notice the small frown tugging on your lips whenever he avoided a question that regarded either your parents, the search for you, or in depth details on how the legion was caught while looking for you.

He didn’t want you to be anymore upset. He wanted to keep you happy with the limited moments you both had between the trials.

And you were. You hadn't felt this good since you first woke up under the entities hands. Being with Frank had been a relief. When you weren’t plagued with your memories, you and Frank would listen to music, talk, and just..be at ease in eachother presence. It was like before.

But his avoidant of your questions only worried you. You couldn’t stop yourseld from tackling the knowledge in your mind that Frank was looking for you when he was brought here. If he hadn’t been searching for you, if you hadn’t gotten lost and captured, would he be here?

Would the legion be suffering the same fate if they never went after you?

It ate you alive. They were stuck being killers and monsters to the survivors you considered your friends, because of you. It was all because of you. You tried to push it all away and focus on the happiness. You had eachother now, that’s all that should matter now right?

But it’s your fault. This has to be all your fault.

The guilt and shame continued to itch under your skin, attempting to break through the surface. It nagged at your mind but you put on a mask that everything was okay.

Because it was okay. Frank told you it was, so you allowed yourself to bury deep under that blanket of reassurance. This sense of security was enough to push any wandering questions to the back of your mind. For a while.

Once you found yourself spawning into a trial and looked in front of you to see Frank from across the hallway of the deteriorating elementary school , mask covering the face you grew to love, the facade started to slowly crumble.

“I'm not going to hurt you.”

The words echoed in your mind as you watched him tilt his head towards you once he caught sight of you, hands that were once twirling the knife freezing as he waited. As if he’s preparing himself for how you will react.

The question of what to do during trials together was another you both avoided.

The mask burned into your vision. The over exaggerated grin mocking you. Blocking you from the person hidden beneath it. This wasn't Frank. The person you were watching wasn’t the same person that held you in his arms back at the resort.

You turned away from him. Ignoring as he did the same , sprinting towards the survivor he noticed first. That's not Frank.

But..

It felt wrong.

The sound of Bill’s scream was cut off by the large claws that penetrated his body. The eering silence that followed had you pause your twisting of one of the knobs in the generator, sending chills up your spine.

Was it wrong?

It was a silent agreement that he would continue to do his duty during the trials, while you did as much as you can. You didn’t purposely sabotage your teammates. You did the gens, saved them from the hooks, and even tried to get his attention at some point when you noticed there was only you and Bill left. But he remained focus on his goal, getting rid of your team one by one.

You hoped to get the gates powered on before he could kill everyone, but as you stared at the half finished generator, you realized you failed.

Your breathing was all you could hear as pulled away from the last generator. It felt like even the crows were choosing to stay still as you waited. Wobbly knees knocking into each other as you stood up from your crouched position, you looked up to see him from down the hallway, face uncovered. Frank.

“Hey, you did great.” Frank enters the classroom, pocketing the mask and knife before locking his gaze on you. He comes to a stop in front one of the desks, leaning back onto it. A small boyish grin greeting you. “Half the time , they can't even get one or two generators done.”

You stared at him for a moment, taking in his features before smiling weakly , “Yeah, well generators tend to spawn in the same places on this map. So it’s easy to memorize where to go”

Frank snorts as he takes in the classroom, “This place is creepy as hell. Hey, have you ever seen that fucker that jumps out on you in that locker room? “

“Yeah,” You wrinkle your nose as you recounted the few times your position was given away by your scream of horror from it. The tension slowly unraveling from you, a result from Frank’s own ignorance of where you both stood. Nothings wrong. “Have you ever heard crying in the bathroom stalls?”

He groans as he nods, “Yeah, i’m pretty sure it’s a kid. . Very classic, a haunted elementary school. Feel bad for the fucker who has to stay here between trials.”

Generator forgotten, you make your way to the desk next to him and sit yourself on top of it. Your shoulders bumping together. “I’m sure he doesn’t mind. He does have a huge cone on his head so a few ghost children are the least of his worries.”

“What..” Frank looks at you bewildered, “a cone? What, like a fucking traffic cone ?”

“No!” You laugh. The image developing in your mind as you try to speak between your giggles, “no no, it’s like.. a triangle?, made out of metal? I don’t know, it's scarier than it sounds. I swear”

“Ah , sounds very scary” He amuses as he glances at you before tilting his head. “and how is he built to be carrying a metal pyramid on his head.”

“He’s pretty big. Muscle wise. He also carries this huge ass sword that’s, like..taller than you.”

“I call bullshit.”

“Really!” You argue back, barely able to contain a smile. “He swings it around like nothing. But he can also hit you from far if he stabs it into the ground, which also makes barb wires appear ? ,” Frank was looking at you as though you grew two heads so you paused and shook your head. “It sounds crazy but that’s not even the worst that Ive seen”

“I just can’t imagine having to carry a huge sword, I already have back problems from carrying all these survivors on my back to those damn hooks. Things would be easier if I could just kill then by hand ” Frank emphasizes by rolling his shoulder, not noticing the way the smile on your face slowly disappeared. The casual mention of your teammates souring the momentarily happiness you felt.

The casualness in him talking about the fate of your teammates, blood that stained his sleeves that you avoided acknowledging, and the mask poking from behind his pocket had you feeling overwhelmed suddenly. The tension in your temple returning as you looked down at your shoes.

“Have you really..gotten use to it? To this?”

“Eh, she definitely gave me some strength to help, which i’m not complaining because hey, who wouldn’t want some extra muscle-”

“No, I mean, killing my teammates.” You mumble, tearing your eyes from your shoes and forcing eye contact. Frank’s eyes, however, shift away from yours as he uncomfortably rubs the back of his neck.

“I just came to accept it, I guess..” He gives you a half assed shrug before continuing. “Not much I can do so, I just do what I gotta do.”

“But what happens if you don’t ? If you don’t sacrifice anyone and everyone escapes through the gate?”

You push yourself off the desk and attempt to stand in front of him but he continues to avoid eye contact. His head turning away followed by his sigh.

“I can’t do that. There’s punishments if I don’t ‘do well’ in a trial.” He explains. “Susie’s the only one that hasn’t been doing good and she always acts weird after but I can’t say much what it does.”

You frown, taking in that information. The idea of a punishment only pushing your guilt further.

“Then maybe you shouldn’t spare me during trials Frank. Maybe..”

“No.” He finally looked at you, his eyes narrowing at your suggestion. “Don’t even continue that thought.”

“If you’re getting punished, maybe it’s not a smart idea to keep letting me escape.” You frowned, watching him carefully. “Y-you can just hook me, let the entity take me-”

“Stop it.” He snaps, pushing himself away from the desk suddenly. You were caught by surprise as you stepped back nearly tripping over your feet. He walked a few feet away from you , sighing as he shook his head. “Just..don’t. I’m not going to do that. Things are fine now, ill sacrifice your teammates and you escape. Got it?”

“It just doesn’t seem fair Frank ,” You walk up to him and gently grab onto his arm. “I escape while my teammates die? They all suffer while I’m here unscathed ? It’s not right.”

“Y/N, I said to stop. I'm not going to do whatever the fuck you think is right. I don’t care about your teammates alright?”

“Frank, how can you say that-”

“and how the fuck can you ask me to sacrafice you?” Frank yells as he rips his arm away from you and turns to you with such force that you take a step back in surprise. “How can you ask that from me?”

“I..I thought it would be best if-”

“No. What’s best is that I make sure you escape every trial with me, and that you’re okay. What’s best is me protecting you.”

“You can’t protect from the others.” You say lowly, trying to keep your tears at bay. Your anger sizzling but you pushed it down, keeping your voice steady. “How will you protect me in other trials Frank? I don’t survive those.”

His expression falls, all the anger vanishing as he absorbs your expression. Suddenly looking like that lost boy you met at the orphanage. Your own frustation disappearing as you watched him struggle with words. “I..don’t know..I just..I can’t.”

The words felt bitter in your mouth. Suddenly regretting for throwing that in his face. He had no part in what you suffered in other trials.

Sniffing, you wipe the few tears that manage to escape before grabbing onto his hand. “I’m sorry.” You whispered, rubbing his knuckles. “I feel guilty for being able to escape while the rest can’t. It feels wrong to me..”

“I can’t hurt you Y/N.” He replied softly, pulling you closer to him by your hand. “You can’t ask me to do that because it won’t happen. You know that..”

“I know.” He takes your cheek into his palm as he looks down at you. Your eyes shutting for a second before opening them again and looking at him. His touch grounding you once again.

“You shouldn’t feel guilty when you’re not doing anything wrong.” He reassures. “Let me take care of everything. Okay?”

“Isn’t it wrong though?” You frown, looking at him. “I don’t deserve this..”

Frank face morphs in confusion as he looks down at your resigned expression, the tears only breaking his heart even more. “What are you talking about? Why do you keep saying that?”

All at once your walls come crumbling down as you began to cry, trying to pull away from his grip on your chin but he holds you in place. “I-it’s my fault isn’t it? All of this.”

“Nothings your fault. What happens to your teammates has nothing to do with you-”

“No. I mean this Frank.” You motion towards him.”You’re here because of me. The rest of the legion is here because of me.” Frank watched as you sniffed and grip onto his wrist. “You guys were made to be this way because of me . You have to kill because of me, and yet you’re letting me escape.

“You should have..you should have just left me in those woods Frank. You should have never looked for me because now you’re here. You could have forgotten about me and moved on and do what we planned.”

Frank’s grip tightened as he shook his head, his own tears breaking surface. “Are you crazy?” He whispers in disbelief. “Move on? I was ready to search those woods for the rest of my life. I was going to search until I found you.”

“Why?”

“Why?? For fuck sake y/n, I felt I lost everything when you were gone. I felt so..lost.”

“But you had your legion. You had Julie..you could have just moved on”

Frank felt his throat threatening to clog up from all the emotion that was threatening to spill out. The confession at the tip of his tongue as he looked down at you, your tearful doe eyes looking up at him. You really had no idea how much you meant to him and it only frustrated him. How much you downplayed your own importance to him.

“They’re not you. I don’t care for them the way I care for you.”

Your eyes widen a bit at that, your bottom lip brought between your teeth as you chewed on it nervously. The small confession becoming clear to you but you kept quiet, allowing a small warmth spread through your body.

“I would do it all over again..” he speaks carefully, “I would trade places with you if I could…I..I would do anything for you. I..”

I love you. He could easily say it, it was right there on his tongue. It would be right to say it. But he felt himself bite it back.

“Just let me take care of you. Okay? No more worrying that pretty head of yours over something that was out of our control, okay?”

You felt yourself pout before nodding. His words calmed you for now. The guilt was still there but with the way he was holding you and looking at you, you told yourself it could be ignored for another time. His confession on your mind.

You smile softly at him before leaning up and placing a kiss on his cheek. His cheeks reddening while you seemed to hesitate to pull away, instead you turned your head and placed a light kiss on his lips.

Frank only froze under your touch. His brain felt like it short circuited from all the emotions that was hitting him at once. You were kissing him. He barely processed what happened before you began to pull away from him.

“Okay.” You sigh as you tried to pull back, “but we should really talk about what to do in these trials-“ Suddenly, he pulled you fast against him as he slammed his lips onto yours. Hands holding your face as he kisses you with such desperation, as thought you were a breath of fresh air after being under water for too long.

And for Frank, you were. His lungs breathed you in as you kissed him back. You didn’t understand how long he waited for a moment like this. Back in Ormond he always had moments where he wanted to push himself to kiss you, to make you know how much he adores you and what you did to him.

And now, as you kiss him back and let him hold you against him, he regrets for not doing this any sooner.

You finally pull away after a while, taking a large breath before breaking out in a smile. Both of your chests heaving as you watched each other, taking the other in while you recovered from the intensity of the kiss.

The light in Frank’s eyes as he looked down at you matched the huge grin that played on his lips. The swelling in your chest growing at the happiness that was so evident on his face. It matched your own. Your hand reaching to intertwine with his.

Maybe you could continue to pretend everything is okay for a bit longer.

—-

The heat in Coldwind Farm was not okay.

Susie finds herself wishing she didn’t just have hoodies in her very small list of clothing that she has access to. The oversized sweater was sticking to her sweat covered skin and made it difficult to concentrate on where to go first.

The long rows of corn blocked her from being able to see anything. Half the time she would be surprised herself if she were to bump into a survivor in the middle of the field, giving them enough time to run off and create distance much to her displeasure.

But she could hear the distance humming of a generator being activated, metal clinking together as she headed towards the sound. That familiar pit in her stomach growing, anxiety tugging at her composure, calling for her to stop, to just head to other direction and wait for all the survivors to finish and leave.

She’s done it so many times before. Allowed her fear to lead her towards the shack or basement, hiding until the survivors escaped the trial. There was a few times a brave survivor would venture into the basement, hopes into grabbing an item from the basement. That was the only event when found herself pulling them off the chest, throwing them into the hook before she lost her nerve.

The painful scream and blood gushing out of the puncture wound made it difficult for her to stomach the scene. She wasn’t made for this.

Hearing the survivors scream and cry for her to give them mercy, it was too much.

Reminiscent of an image of a janitor staring up at her with wide eyes, pleading as he held onto a bleeding neck.

The feeling of the blood never changed. Red and wet, coating her fingers and face while she looked down at her victims. It felt like fire. Burning her from the inside out, slowly engulfing her until she felt numb. It was horrible, she couldn’t handle it.

Yet the voices in her head after a disappointing trial was too much as well. Hissing in her ear and reminding her how pathetic she was. Sharp words cutting into her that not even her own screaming could block it out.

In the end, she felt like she could never win.

The rest of her friends came into mind. They were able to go through the trials like a breeze. Adapting to the gore and unfortunate souls that were trapped in the trial with them. If they were able to do this, why can’t she?

So she took deep breathes as she prepared herself, gripping onto her make shift knife while approaching the oblivious survivor. She could do it. She just needs to swing the knife in one motion, don’t pay mind to the blood.

Just get it over with.

A few more steps.

“Susie!” You gasp as you stood up from the other side of the generator. The wires falling from your between your fingers as you took her in. “Hey, you scared me..”

All the adrenaline drained from the younger teenager. The tensions on shoulders loosening just as her grip on the knife, fingers flexing from the strain. Her breathing slowed down as she walked up to you.

“I’m sorry ! I didn’t realize it was you.” She exclaims, ripping the mask off her head. A grimace greeting you but you only smiled back. Your own posture was loose, relaxed, as you placed your hand over your forehead. Sweat running down the side you temple before you wiped it away.

“It’s fine, I’m just glad it’s you.”

“Really?” She asks, her owlish eyes blinking at you. Surprised at your admission.

“Well yeah, “ you state as though it was obvious, “you’re my friend.”

She stays quiet, mulling over the statement. You were still calling her a friend after all this time. Hope sparked in her as she smiled at you, only replying with a small nod.

“Not the biggest fan of this map,” You exhale before glancing down at her appearance. “Shit Susie, aren’t you dying in that thing?”

“It’s all I have.” She mumbles, eying the bright jacket wrapped around your waist, envying the spaghetti top you had on. If only she was taken when she wasn’t bundled up in layers that protected her from Ormond’s harsh cold weather.

“Let’s get some shade !” You suddenly perk up, looking towards the large farm house in the middle of the field. You took a moment to look at the other side of the map, the sight of your teammates on one generator giving you the sign that you wouldn’t be seen so you grabbed Susie’s wrist and pulled her along.

You both continued into the home, large set stairs greeting you as you walked in. Susie followed you up the stairs and into one of the rooms , with a hole in the middle. You continued to round it and made way to the window that lead to the balcony. Sitting on the still, you turned towards Susie and gave her another small smile.

“Just so I can keep an eye on the others.” You explain.

Susie understood. She knew it was risky for you to be talking to her, like friends, while your teammates were nearby. She couldn’t imagine how the others would feel that you were being buddy buddy with their killer. The thought pulling the corner of her lips down.

“How have you been though Susie ?” You asks, placing your hands between you thighs as you looked up at her frowning. “I know this must be hard.. Frank told me about ..”

The way you looked at her, with such softness and understanding, made her nearly want to just throw herself at you and hug you. It’s been so long since she been looked at that way, spoken to with gentleness. Or even asked that.

The rest of the legion had been so busy with their own trials, she couldn’t bring herself to try to talk about anything with them. She knows everyone lost the same life in Ormond, but it always seemed like she was the only that took it the hardest. She had the most difficult time adapting and it made speaking with them much harder. Joey tried to comfort her, but he didn’t understand.

“It has,” She exhales, coming to sit next to you on the window. The hole giving her access to look down into the first floor and the door. “It’s so hard to get use to. I don’t think I ever can.”

“I understand. I don’t think I can ever get use to dying,” you half heartedly laugh, “It always feel like the first time again.”

“I’m sorry y/n, I know this must be harder for you than me -“

“No.” You waved it off and shake your head. “We’re basically under the same boat, we’re both stuck in the same cycle, all of us are.”

Susie feels tears threatening to spill, “Do you really think that? Even if we are..killers?”

She watches as you bite your lip, seeming to think it over before nodding. “Yeah, we’re all victims here Susie. None of us deserve this.”

Now she remembers why she wanted to talk to you so badly before. You were the only one that may have some sympathy for her, considering the horrible position you were in. You weren’t a killer; instead a survivor that they were meant to hurt, yet, you were here comforting her.

She began to sniff as she wiped her eyes. All her emotions crashing onto each other as she struggles to speak through the tightness in her throat. “I just hate it y/n, I just can’t do this..I don’t know how I can keep doing this.”

You quickly reach out and wrap your arm around her, pulling her closer to your side as she continues to cry.

“Even when I don’t do it, I start to hear things.” She hiccups and rubs at her temple, “this voice yells at me every fucking second if I don’t do well.”

“Voices?” You asks, eyebrows furrowing together. “Is that how it punishes you ? If you don’t kill survivors ?”

Susie nods, “Yes, it’s quiet at first but the more I let trials go on with out killing at least 2 survivors, it gets louder and meaner.”

“What else does it say?” You watched her as she pulled her lip between her teeth.

“It says that’s I-I’m a monster and that I deserve this, to be here and that I’m meant to kill.” She shakes her head, “but I don’t want to be . I didn’t mean to be this way.”

And she didn’t. If she could take back time, she would grabbed Frank’s arm before he could stab the janitor from behind. Try to convince him that it’s not worth it, and they could have just left the money in the register and went home. They would have cleans hands. They wouldn’t be murderers.

Yet she never did. She allowed for Julie to grab her hand and lead her to drive another knife into the man’s body, his last breath felt from the small jitter his body gave out from underneath her hand before stilling.

“Maybe it’s right. I am a monster.”

You tighten your hold onto her shoulder making her face you. “Susie, whatever it says. It’s not true, it’s just trying to push you further into whatever it wants to make out of you. You’re not a monster, none of you are.”

You really think that?

She tries to search for anything in your eyes that would contradict against your statement, but she finds nothing. Only reassurance. It shocked her that despite knowing what they did, you could still sit here and tell her that, and mean it.

Did you really understand that it was simply a in the moment thing? She knows they wouldn’t have killed anyone if they just didn’t get caught in the act. If the janitor didn’t show up, it wouldn’t have happened.

You understood right? You had to with the way you were looking at her, reassuring her despite her being the one with the knife.

Frank was lucky to have someone like you. She thought, a grateful smile replacing hers as she leans her head against your shoulder. Your hand rubbing her other shoulder comfortably.

“Thanks y/n.” She looks down at the knife in her hands. “Ever since that night when we killed the janitor, I just felt like maybe I deserved this. But maybe you’re right.”

She didn’t notice the way your body tensed, your hand that was on her shoulder stilling. She continued to play with the knife. “It was a stupid mistake. I didn’t want him dead, so that must mean something right?”

“What…”

She blinks surprised when you pull away from her suddenly, your body shooting up from your sitting position. All the affection that was once in your eyes now replaced with sharpness, it could cut through her like the knife forgotten in her palm.

“What did you say?”

[theyreonlynoodlesmike]

A Reading: Part 8 (Poly!Lost Boys x Fem!Witch Reader)

<- Previous Chapter Next Chapter ->

Warnings: mentions of death/blood/violence, witchcraft,

Word Count: 2.8k

Another plot chapter babes :)

You'd followed him into the house, shutting the door behind you. There was a weird sense of deja-vu that set over you as you walked through it. You saw books everywhere, plants hanging off the walls, taxidermy lining the shelves, and you thought you even heard the jingle of a bell before the sound of scurrying feet. It reminded you of your own little caravan, except bigger. He led you into a kitchen, and there, sitting at the table reading a book and drinking tea, was an older woman.

If you couldn't tell by the simple sight of her, the fact that the spoon was stirring by itself was a dead giveaway that she was the witch. She looked up from her book, and the spoon stopped. You froze when her eyes landed on you. She felt familiar, but you couldn't place it. You expected something, some sort of burst of energy that your crystal would block. But nothing came. Instead, she smiled and motioned to the chair at her right side. It pulled out by itself, and she said,

"Hello, dear. Sit. I believe we have some things to discuss." And you could already feel your anxiety growing. She had telekinesis, like you did. It wasn't a rare talent in a witch, but it was one that usually gave you an advantage. It seemed, for now, you'd have to surrender the idea of having any advantages over the older woman. The man had taken the chair opposite of you, and you sat down slowly. "Tea?" She asked, and you politely nodded. You watched as the teapot and two cups floated over. One was placed in front of the old man, and one in front of you. The tea was poured into both cups from the same teapot, so the idea of her poisoning you was quickly discarded. A small bowl of sugar, a small pitcher of milk, and two spoons floated over as well. She let you make your tea as you liked, with the old man taking it black. You, keeping your wits about, did the same. You stared between the two of them, before you said,

"Um," You didn't know where to begin. You knew that she knew of you, but you hadn't expected her to expect you. It took you a moment to think about the situation, thinking if anything had been done on purpose. Maybe she just had a vision, you thought. Either way, you thought it was as good of a way to start as any. "How did you know I was coming?" You asked, and she smiled around her cup before she placed it back on the table.

"Figured you were a smart girl." She said, gesturing to the paper in your hands. "Any witch worth her salt knows to check." She finished, and you gave her a small smile. So, she'd called me on purpose, you thought. Interesting. It seems it might've been a test, but you weren't going to ask that much. Instead, your eyes flicked to the man across from you. He didn't seem to be like the pair of you, or to be supernatural at all. While it wasn't forbidden to do magic in front of regular people, it wasn't entirely encouraged. "Oh, this is Mr. Emerson. The grandfather of the boys your vampires are trying to turn." And you couldn't stop yourself from gulping. Oh, this was awkward. Despite that introduction, the man in front of you still seemed warm. The older woman seemed to realize then that she hadn't introduced herself. "Oh, dear, and I'm Mrs. Johnson." She finished, and you stuttered as you gave her your name.

"They're- they're not my vampires. I met them a couple of days ago and-" But she was raising a hand. Silencing you. The second she did, it hit you. Why you thought she felt familiar. You remembered your dream, the night before. The not-dream. The astral projection. The poppets, candles, sigils. Everything. if you hadn't remembered, you would've thought to be irked. You clamped your mouth shut as she said,

"I know, dear. You were just passing through, right? Well, you caught their attention and you- Well, you changed things. Made them a little more complicated." She said, stirring her tea with her hand this time. You could guess how she meant. While witches usually left eachothers territory alone, it wasn't encouraged to hurt one another. Killing another witch? Highly frowned upon. Not only was it bad luck, but witches were a dying race anyways. You expected her to continue, but Mr. Emerson did instead,

"I've been friends with Mrs. Johnson for a very long time. She's helped me with all kinds of hunts." You froze at the words, but Grandpa quickly shook his hands. "Vampire hunts. Retired a few years back." He specified, before continuing. His smile made you relax, and you sipped the tea just after he did. "You see, you happened to come to Santa Carla at a very bad time." Hell, did you already know that. Really, you were starting to think that you should've gone just a town up the map. Grandpa folded his hands, leaning forward. "I'd be able to spot a vampire blind-folded in the dark, so imagine my surprise when my grandson comes home a half." He said, gesturing with one hand. You nodded. You could imagine his distress. "Now, obviously, we can't have him turning. We already know who the head is and we just need to draw him out. Then, we can kill him and everything will be done." He said, holding out his hands and smiling like it was a foolproof plan. With the protection on his grandsons, maybe it was. It explained why the boys hadn't slaughtered them. A couple of teens, a couple of halves, and a retired hunter? Sure, they had the numbers, but it would've been sheer dumb luck if there was no outside interference. You looked between the two of them.

"So, what do you want from me?" You asked. You guessed they wouldn't have brought you here for nothing. And, since they hadn't tried to kill you yet, you thought they were going to ask you to do whatever it was first. Mr. Emerson looked at you, at Mrs. Johnson, and then back as he let out a small laugh. Mrs. Johnson was pressing her lips together, suppressing a smile. 

"Well, plain and simple? We want you to back off. Your protections are leveling out the playing field, so to say, and we can't have that." Mr. Emerson said, and you frowned then. So, they were calling for a cease fire. At least, from you. They noticed your silence, and Mr. Emerson quickly jumped back in to fill it. "Now, we know you really had nothing to do with this. You just got into town, and you probably haven't even met my grandson. They may have employed you, but you're not at fault." He said, waving his hands towards you. "No harm will come to you. From us or them. Mrs. Johnson will make sure of that." You glanced at Mrs. Johnson, and she gave you a nod. They must've guessed that you'd had your hands tied. Originally, you had. "And once the head is dead? Well, you can pack up and be on your way." He finished, and you were silent for another moment. Your eyes left them and went to the cup of tea in front of you.

It was a good offer. A really good offer. Step back and do nothing? And get protection, freedom, and the ability to leave Santa Carla in return? Hell of a good deal. Still, you didn't jump on it like they expected you to. You didn't jump on it like you expected yourself to. You thought of the boys, of their deaths. They'd die just to draw out the head, you thought. It wasn't fair. For all four of them to die just for that. You hadn't seen their deaths, but, looking into the cup, you practically could. It wouldn't be pleasant for any of them. They'd all probably go down kicking and screaming. Screaming for you to come save them. You gulped, looking away from the tea to glance between the two elders.

"No." You said. It was definitive and sounded more sure than you felt. You hadn't known the boys for long, but that didn't mean you wouldn't keep your word. You weren't going to back on what you'd told Dwayne. You remembered the relief you'd seen on his face, the same relief you'd seen on Markos. You remembered Paul's smile, and David's words. Even if he was as cuddly as a cactus at the best of times, he didn't want you dead. You decided to let that mean more than it probably did. 

"Dear, you don't know what you're-" Mrs. Johnson had reached for your hand, laid her warm fingers on top of your own. You pulled your hand back. They felt too warm, like they were going to scorch your skin. You'd grown too used to the feeling of cold flesh. There was a threat edging her voice, but one that made you harden. You were tired. Tired of being scared and of people assuming that you were incapable of protecting yourself. Defending yourself. It was true that you were petrified, that you didn't really know how to get yourself out of this situation. You weren't the boys, you weren't David. Truthfully, you thought it should be him in your place. But it wasn't. That didn't mean you couldn't act like him. Couldn't think like him.

You went over what they'd already told you in the seconds the words left her mouth. Mr. Emerson had said you'd levelled out the playing field. Really, you'd taken away the Emerson's advantage. If either side had a witch, then the outcome was obviously in the boys' favor. Not to mention, she said you'd changed things. You thought about how she'd blocked you from being able to do your readings, from being able to glance into the future. Maybe...

"Kill me and my spells become permanent. That's what a smart witch would do, right?" You interrupted, and tilted your head at Mrs. Johnson. "Making the playing field even, like you said." You gestured to the man across from you. You looked down at your cup. It was easier to be confident when you were looking at your own reflection. You thought of how David talked, how he acted. Like he was one step ahead and like he owned the room. You needed more of a power shift, so you continued. "My friends might not be with me, but if I'm not at the end of the street by sunrise, they go to their sire. Even playing field and five vampires. Sounds like a problem." You paused, sipping your tea. You looked up. Neither of them seemed pleased, and Mrs. Johnson went as far as narrowing her eyes. You didn't know if she could read minds, but, if she did, she'd see that you weren't bluffing. Neither of them spoke. You had them in a corner, and they'd hoped you wouldn't notice. Unfortunately, you had. "Now, I'm not a vampire expert, but I'm guessing the territory situation isn't that different from a witch's. So, best case scenario, this coven dies and...what?" You said, looking between them. Again, you were met with more silence. And it was exhilarating. They looked between eachother. It was clear they hadn't thought that far ahead. They were just trying to keep Michael from turning. "New coven moves in? Big hot spot, Santa Carla. Attracts lots of tourists. Will probably attract a lot of rival covens too." Now, you knew you weren't heeding David's warning. It was clear they were getting tired of your yapping, but you knew, on some level, the boys might've been impressed. Especially David.

"What are you getting at?" Mr. Emerson snipped, and you had to suppress a smirk. You shook your head.

"A retired hunter, a couple of hunter wannabes, and a witch." You held up a finger for each thing you listed off. "The first thing the new covens will do is try to clean house, and you and your family won't last the summer." You said flatly. 

It was true. You'd read it in your ancestors journal. Vampires only respected other vampires, and you were sure there'd be plenty trying to stake a claim on a spot like Santa Carla. Tourists, its crime rate, and general reputation? It was a dream come true. And if they killed the last coven, their names would be on missing posters before the Emerson's could even celebrate. The only thing preventing that was the current coven holding onto the territory.

Grandpa shook his head, letting out a laugh. He shook a finger at you, but Mrs. Johnson didn't seem to think you were funny. She was thinking your words over, trying to find a way to make you wrong. Some of the words your ancestor had written rang in your head. They'd written that, with vampires, it was best to avoid. And, if you couldn't avoid, to appease. All other routes hardly went the way they'd hope. You took another sip of your tea.

"So, what do you suggest?" Mrs. Johnson said. It seemed to pain her to ask the question. You tilted your head before you put the tea down. That was a good question, but there was only one thing you really wanted. 

"Leave the boys alone." You started. It was the only thing you'd promised, and the only thing you really desired. You wanted the boys to live, and you wanted them to live up to their part of the deal. Even if you knew you should head out of Santa Carla the second you weren't needed.

Still, you weren't going to be unfair and you knew you needed to give them something in return. There was only one thing you really could give them.

"And I'll convince them to let you kill Max."

***

That was a feat that was going to be easier said than done. You stood on the street corner, replaying the conversation over and over in your mind. It had gone well all things considered. You'd bought the boys time, and you promised the Emerson's, and Mrs. Johnson, something that they wanted. Kill Max and Michael is human once again. You'd talked about what would happen afterwards, and you'd made it clear that the boys would inherit his territory. They'd avoid them, and vice versa. They had no reason to betray you, as the only good course of action was the one you'd detailed. You let out a breath. So, why were you so nervous?

You tried to empty your mind. Make it so they had to hear it come out of your mouth instead from the unfiltered thoughts inside your head.

"For someone trying not to think, your thoughts are pretty loud." A voice said behind you, and you jumped. You turned, staring into the face of the bleached blonde. His eyes seemed half amused, and you watched as a slight smirk came onto his face before he reached inside his coat. You had placed a hand over your chest, before you let out a breath. You tried your best, but his words didn't give you any hope that you'd succeed. So, you sighed and ran a hand through your hair.

"It went okay. I-I met Grandpa Emerson." You said, and you watched as he blinked in surprise. You were just supposed to meet the witch, but it was clear how they'd manage to employ her to help them then. He cursed under his breath. It was obvious they hadn't realized he was going to be a threat, and you quickly tried to keep his mood up with good news. "I got them to agree to let you live." You said, and David paused at that. A half-scoff left his lips as he lit his cigarette. The flick of his flame, the leather of his gloves. You wondered if he'd have the same effect on you if he wasn't a vampire. You wondered if he'd been just the same when he was human. Still, you could practically see the thoughts in his head. That it wasn't really their decision if they lived or not.

"How's that?" He asked, and you didn't miss his tone. He was half-serious, half playing at arrogance. Still, you answered his question just the same. The words were hard to get out, and you wished it wasn't just David that you had to say them to.

"I said you'd give them Max." You waited with bated breath. You expected a flash of anger, just like the flick of his lighter. Cruel words, icy eyes, and perhaps even the same violence you'd seen the first night. Instead, he blew the smoke out of the corner of his mouth and asked,

"Is that it?"