#lays awake at night thinking about wizards and their relation to one another | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

klaumiel · 4 years ago

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You are all I’ve got,Austin.//Chapter 10: Mother Karma

I felt a sharp pain before landing on the ground. My neck was bleeding, Bennie’s knife was so close to my skin that even though I managed to release myself from him, he still cut me.

At first, I thought it was just a small scratch, so my eyes landed on Austin who’s fists continuously crushed Bennie’s face. Austin’s face was terrifying full of hate and fury; he completely lost control of himself. A small part of me was scared of him in this form, was this Austin from the past? Is that who he was? He talked about this so many times, how he had to fight with himself, how horrible he felt every time he had. to hurt someone.

I called his name a few times, but he didn’t listen just kept throwing punches one after another, like in the trans. For a moment I thought he would kill Bennie, there was no way he could survive this. Everything was happening so fast, but at the same time felt like forever.

Suddenly I saw Bennie reaching for his knife, that was not far from his arm when I was about to get up, I felt a metallic taste in my mouth, and in a split of a second I started to choke, I couldn’t catch my breath. I pressed my hand on my neck, desperately trying to stop the bleeding.

Austin looked at me; his eyes were filled with tears; I tried to warn him, but I couldn’t make a sound until it was too late. Bennie thrust his knife right into Austin’s chest; I was too weak to get up, too weak to scream or even cry. I felt hopeless, watching him collapsing on the ground hurt more than anything. I heard him yelling my name, but I couldn’t do anything. I watched my boyfriend bleed, and there was nothing I could do.

I saw two guys taking Bennie, dragging him away, he yelled to finish us off, but police sirens stopped them from it, I saw them running away before everything went dark.

----

I woke up hearing familiar voices. I opened my eyes and saw my Dad’s face, smiling. Everything felt like a dream, faded.

‘Maya, sweetie’ I heard him say.

I looked around I was laying on the hospital bed, surrounded by familiar faces, Shaun, and Dad. I tried to move my head, but sharp pain followed, and then everything came back to me.

‘Where am I?’ I asked, barely making a sound, I cleared my throat and tried again, this time more successfully ‘Where am I?’ I knew exactly where I was, but I needed that confirmation. I needed to know if I’m awake or this is just a dream.

‘Sweetie, you are in the hospital. Thank god you are awake, we were losing our minds… Don’t force yourself … Shaun, go to get the doctor.’ My Dad said, holding my hand.

‘Where is Austin?’ I shifted nervously looking around. I had no idea if he was even alive. I passed away right after Bennie’s escape, and he was badly wounded’ Please tell me he is OK… Dad, where is he ?’ I panicked, my eyes filled with tears by the thought that he didn’t make it. Please don’t tell me he is dead!

‘Shh... Hey!... calm down. He is here, few rooms away.’ He said, trying to calm me down, but his face was serious, I knew that look. That wasn’t very reassuring.

‘How is he? Is he awake?’

‘I don’t know the details; your Mum spends a lot of time with him. She told me he is fine, but doctors can’t say much until he is awake. You were a bit luckier than him’ He said, stroking my cheek. I knew he isn’t telling me the whole truth.

‘How long we’ve been here?’

‘Six days’ He said ‘ but that doesn't matter, you are OK, and that’s all it matters.’

‘What about Bennie? Please tell me they found him, he couldn’t go far.’

‘No sweetie, they didn’t fund him. Police are looking for him; he seemed to vanish.’

‘What you mean, vanish!? In a puff of smoke!? He is a person, not a wizard! I saw the police arriving when he was escaping Dad!... he couldn't go far. He needed medical assistance, did they checked hospitals? What about his old house?’ I felt anger build inside me. ‘ How did he even managed to escape the prison!?’

‘One of the guards helped him for a reasonable sum of money, and few others were covering his ass…they will find him, Maya. Stop worrying now; they know what they are doing.’

I doubt that very much.

At that moment, I saw a doctor coming into the room with a nurse. Alex was a young and handsome doctor; he looked after me after my accident. Also, we had a history of short but very steamy romance back from the Uni times. After my accident, we met a few times for how they called it – Netflix and chill, but after a few dates, we called it a day as our relations were strictly physical. We decided to be friends, and while we were single friends with benefits. Last time we saw each other was a few months ago just before I met Austin.

‘And who we have here? Maya Clark decided to wake up finally. You do like to keep us waiting, huh?’ He smiled coming closer; the nurse started to remove the bandages from my neck. ‘ We did our best to stitch you up nicely, wasn’t a deep cut, but very messy. It was mostly superficial, but there was small damage to the carotid artery and jugular vein, where the substantial bleeding came from. You will be fine. You will be able to go back home in a few days.’ He said, looking at the cut, he brushed his fingers on my neck shooting me a glance, I knew he still had hots for me, unfortunately for him, from my side, there was none left ‘Is starting to heal nicely.’ He smiled, touching my neck for a little bit too long.

‘And what is Austin’s situation? Will he be alright? … but Alex, be honest, please’ I looked him in the eyes.

‘Well, that’s a bit more complicated. Austin’s wound was deep, causing severe internal damage. The knife missed the heart but didn’t spare the lungs; we managed to patch him up, but the internal bleeding did more damage than we thought. So far he is functioning well, but we need to wait for him to wake up to have a full diagnose… I am optimistic; he is very strong.’ He said, rubbing my arm reassuringly.

‘What you mean by more damage?’

‘So far, all his organs are functioning correctly, and we are monitoring it, but I will be honest with you Maya, the possibility of coma is strong. The fact that he didn’t wake up yet points to it, but we are giving him another few days to be sure’ Alex said

‘Coma!?... No, no… I need to see him now!’ I said starting to get up but suddenly felt dizzy and fell back on the bed.

‘Easy there … Not yet, you should be resting. We will have you checked today, and we will see tomorrow, I will keep you updated on him, I promise’ He said with a smile, helping me lay down.

‘Alex please, I need to see him now... do you want me to beg?’ I said. He knew that if he didn’t help me, I would go one way or another.

‘Ok…I will have a nurse to take you there in few. I need to check on him anyway so I can keep an eye on you as well’ He smiled

‘Thank you Alex’ I said

‘It will sound bad, but I didn’t want to see you here again so soon. You two were very lucky; few more minutes could’ve been too late.’ he said and walked off the room.

My mum stormed into the room, wearing sweat pants and hoody, she looked so tired, her hair was messy, no make-up. She smiled when she saw me.

‘Maya, sweetie’ she cried and wrapped her arms around me ‘ you give us a proper scare’ she said, kissing my forehead ’how are you feeling, love?’

‘I’m good Mum, my neck is a little bit sore, but Alex said it would heal well’ I smiled

‘You have no idea how we were all worried about you two. Shaun called us when we were at the airport, waiting for our flight to Paris. He said you would be fine, but Austin… ‘ she stopped and looked at me, her face was full of worry.

‘Mum?’

‘You should go to him, Alex said that he could hear everything, maybe if he will hear you he will get better.’ she said ‘I’m sure he is sick of hearing my voice’ she laughed.

‘Maya...’ Alex’s head pop through the door ‘ Ready?’ he asked.

I nodded, the nurse brought the wheelchair and helped me sit, a few moments later, we entered the room.

‘I will leave you here for a moment; I just need to check on him.’ He said. Austin’s chest was wrapped in bandages; I was so glad to see him in one piece.

‘He’s heartbeat is slow, that’s not a good sign.’ I heard Alex whispering to the nurse; he saw me staring and turned away and said something to her; she walked off the room.

‘Alex… should I be worried?’ I asked.

‘No Maya, everything is ok’ he give me a reassuring smile.

I turned to Austin, grabbed his hand gently in both of my hands ‘My mum told me that he could hear us? Is that correct?’ I asked.

He nodded, I pushed myself up from the chair and brought my face close to his, I kissed his temple still holding his hand ‘Austin… honey… I’m here’ I whispered to his ear ‘ don’t you dare to leave me, you hear me? I need you to wake up.’ I heard the cardiac monitor beeping faster. I turned my head to Alex and smiled; he smiled back.

I’ve put my hand on Austin’s chest gently rubbing his skin ‘Come back to me.’ I whispered.

‘Whatever you are doing is working’ Alex said, stopping the nurse from injecting some medication to Austin‘ Rose, I don’t think we will need that, for now.’ he smiled.

‘Can you move me to this room?’ I asked, looking at Alex.

‘If that will make you rest, I will have that arranged … you are still weak, and I know how annoyingly stubborn you are, if I don’t agree to that I will never see you in your bed resting, but I trust you know what you are doing’ he said.

‘Thank you, Alex.’

‘Before I leave, there was a guy, he came here a few times asking to visit, but we didn’t let him in. I asked your parents, but they didn’t know him, Skylar Quinn? Sounds familiar? black hair, blue eyes, looks pretty young.’

‘Yes, he is a friend’ I smiled ‘ I will text him and tell him to come over.’

‘Great, I will pass that to the reception.’

The same night my bed has been moved to Austin’s room next to him. I knew that me being close to him will help in his recovery. My parents finally went home to get some rest

I texted Skylar letting him know we are okay and that I need to talk to him urgently.

I needed Skylar’s help; I knew that police wouldn’t find Bennie and I had to do it myself, for our own sake, so we could finally have some peace.

This had to end, Bennie being around had to end. After that event something in me broke, I felt pure hate and rage every time I thought of Bennie. It wasn’t just about what happened that night; it had more to do with Austin’s mother, his face when Bennie mentioned her was so full of pain and sadness, I knew deep down that this bastard had something to do with it, and I had to know what exactly happened.

I decided to relax and buried my mind into the Outlander, checking every now and then on Austin. The room was utterly silent; I could hear only beeping of the machines. I was deep into my book when I heard a quiet gasp, I turned my head and put my book down, Austin’s eyes were openly looking right at me.

‘Baby’ he said quietly. I jumped off my bed and sat next to him, grabbing his hand. I smiled wildly; I was so happy to see him awake.

‘Careful, love.’ I said when he started to move around, trying to get up. ‘Don’t move; I will call the doctor.’ I said, pressing the button on the side of the bed and smiled, I turned my head back to him and rubbed his face with my hand.

‘I’m so happy to see you alive Maya’ he said quietly ‘I thought I’d lost you.’ His voice was soft and warm.

‘I’m stronger than you think’ I smiled, happy tears falling down my face ‘But we are both fine, and that’s what matters now.’ He moved my hand from his cheek to his lips and kissed.

‘I love you so much baby, I felt like the world shattered in a million pieces when I saw you there.’ I saw a single tear falling on his cheek.

‘I love you too. And I’m fine.’ I smiled

‘Did they catch Bennie?’ he asked.

I tried to keep my face straight, but he knew, he could read me right through.

‘Austin…let’s see what the doctor says first and then I will tell you ok? You are too weak yet; you should rest.’ I said, knowing that wasn’t convincing at all.

‘Maya… please, tell me. I need to know.’

I took a deep breath ‘He escaped…but police are looking for him, they are close’ I said trying to calm him down.

He didn’t say anything, but I saw the anger in his eyes, the same anger I saw that night.

‘Welcome back’ Alex smiled ‘Is good to see you finally with us…Maya could you give us a minute, Alex asked smiling touching my hand, the way he definitely shouldn’t I pulled it away quickly. What the hell was that about?!

I kissed Austin gently on the lips, grabbed my phone and walked out the room.

I called my parents to tell them that he woke up. Mum wanted to come over right away, but I told her that he needs to rest, after all, it was the middle of the night.

I sat in the corridor deep in my thoughts, completely lost the feeling of time. Something was bothering me; something I had in my head ever since I woke up. Austin’s face, when Bennie mentioned his mother, did he really watched her die? Is this his last memory of her? And what Bennie had to do with it? I knew she died when he was only a kid and that he didn’t remember her for a long time, but what exactly happened? All those questions in my head, I needed to know the whole story, soon. I needed to decide on what to do. Next, I couldn’t just let it go. I found Bennie before, I could find him again.

I felt tapping on my shoulder; I looked up, it was Alex. He sat next to me and smiled.

‘Everything is on order; he is like newborn, we will need to keep an eye on him for at least one more week to make sure everything is healing nicely, but I don’t see any complications. Everything is absolutely fine Maya.’

‘You have no idea how glad I am to hear that, thank you.’ I smiled and hugged him.

‘Couple of days.’ he said, getting up.

I went back to the room, Austin was sitting on the bed, smiling.

‘They unplugged me.’ he laughed and extended his arm to me ‘Come here you.’

He wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me close; he pressed his head on my chest. I kissed the top his head burring my fingers in his hair. He held me tight, rubbing my back. He looked up and pulled my chin gently to him, I cupped his face and kissed him deeply; everything around stopped to exist; it was just us. The kiss was different from any others, stronger, more intimate, but not in a sexual way. There was something different, like a magical dose of happiness spreading through my whole body. Austin pulled away looked in my eyes.

‘I’m sorry baby’ he said.

‘What for?’ I was a bit confused.

‘I failed you … I promised I wouldn’t let anything bad happen to you, I should’ve reacted sooner… but the feeling of him having full control… the fear of losing you completely took control over me.’

‘Austin, stop it! Don’t even go there … there was nothing you could do, we are alive. That’s the most important; you didn’t fail me, you are still here, you didn’t give up.’ I said, rubbing his face.

‘I should've protected you better.’ he looked down.

I pulled his face up ‘You protected me the best you could… for god sake, you nearly died, Austin, how can you talk about failure? You would’ve failed me if you died… leaving me alone … that would’ve been a failure. Because guess what smart ass, I would die without you, do you understand?!’ I said with a serious face. How can he even think like this?

‘Bennie is going to pay for this, for everything he did. I will make him pay for this.’ He said with anger. I felt like it was time for him to tell me what I needed to know before he does anything stupid and irrational. Like what I planned to do? Such a hypocrite Maya!

We laid together on his bed wrapped in each other, enjoying the silence. I decided it is time to start “that” conversation.

‘I had so many dreams in the last few days. I didn’t know if I am alive or dead, but the dreams were so real, none of them made any sense. Did you dream about anything?’ I asked, tracing his chest gently with my finger.

‘I did, about many things. Mostly about you, all of our happy moments, about prison and my childhood, but there was one thing that kept repeating.’ He said but didn’t continue; he looked into the distance, his face was sad and full of pain.

‘What was it? I asked, looking at him.

‘My mother, she was wearing the same clothes when I last saw her, she stood in the middle of our old garden, smiling, she kept repeating my name and my pop’s name like she was calling us, then I heard a gunshot, and she was gone. It was a brief moment, but for some reason, I felt weird like happy to see her but also scared, the same way when she died the same type of fear. ’ He said, still looking at the distance. I grabbed his hand; he turned his head towards me and looked at me. ‘ What is wrong? Tell me, I can feel you want to tell me something, but you are holding back.’

‘Well, I dreamt about many things as well, but mostly Bennie, his voice that night, when he spoke about your mother. Just the pieces of the whole situation with his voice, what he said and how he said it. Also your face at that moment, honey, what happened to her? You never told me…, and I have this horrible feeling that Bennie had something to do with this.’

He once again looked away, for a moment didn’t say anything. I let him take his time; I knew he wanted to tell me. After a couple of minutes, he took a deep breath and held my hand tighter, still looking away.

‘I was eight years old when that happened. Bennie was already a teenager; he was old enough to be involved in the business with pop. He was always jealous of me because pop treated me better; after all, I was younger and less problematic. His mother was a drug addict; she died when he was no more than two. Pop decided to move on and met my mother; she was an average person, a nurse, with a golden heart and face like an angel. Pop told me that it was difficult for her to get into his lifestyle, but everything changed when I was born. She raised Bennie like his own son, at least she tried. She treated us equally no matter which one of us was at fault she punished us equally, but he hated her for some reason, and he hated me more than anything. He made my life difficult every chance he got; Pop didn’t have time to discipline him he wasn’t home very often, so we were left with mum, I know she loved him, she was a good person, she never hated anyone… She always said that nobody is perfect, but everyone can be fixed …One day she went to chop shop to talk to pop, but she saw something that she shouldn’t, few guys from the other gang tried to rob my Pop’s shop, she saw their faces but managed to escape home, not for long. A few days later we were home, waiting for Pop to come back when they showed up, I don’t remember in detail what happened but… they questioned her first and even though she said she wouldn’t say a word to anyone about what she saw, they slit her throat in front of my eyes, only because she saw them, she had no idea who they were and what they were doing there. Only years later, I’ve learned that Bennie was the one who told them who she was, he also told them that she worked with pop, which was a lie…they killed her because of him, Maya, he hated her and found the way to get rid of her, and hurt me in one go, after everything, she’s done for him …’Austin’s eyes filled with tears, which he quickly tried to wipe. He turned his had to me and looked at me ‘ He took everything from me, exactly the way he always said he would. Mum, Pop, my freedom, and he tried to take you.’ He rubbed my cheek with his thumb wiping my tears.

My heart dropped, the pain I saw in his eyes was heartbreaking.

‘I’m so sorry, baby; I can’t even begin to imagine how you felt, and how you feel right now. But know this… You have me, and I love you. That will never change.’ I said, pulling myself up and wrapping my arms around his neck.

‘You are all I’ve got, Maya. All I care about.’ He said, burying his face in my neck, I felt him crying, he tried to hide it, but I squeezed him tight and rubbed his back; he relaxed and finally let it go, the hate, the rage, the pain everything built through the years. Hear him cry broke my heart; I knew that I was the first and the last person to hear this story from him.

I realised that I never hated anyone as much I hated Bennie, I never wished anyone death before, but at this moment I wanted him to die in pain, with whole this pain that Austin felt.

We talked for hours, he told me about his mother's good memories, all the happy things he remembered.

I didn’t sleep for the rest of the night; I was busy planning my next move.

‘There you are lovebirds… I walked past this room at least three times’ I heard a familiar voice in the room, I was so deep into my thoughts that I didn’t hear anyone entering, I’ve put my book down and saw Skylar hanging his jacket on the chair.

‘Skylar!’ I got out of bed and hugged him. ’So good to see you’ I smiled.

‘How are you doing you, bastard? You gave me a proper scare; I thought for a moment that you were gone, but ambulance came just in time.’ he said, looking at Austin.

‘I’m tougher than I look. ’Austin smiled.

‘How come you were there?’ I asked.

‘I followed Bennie’s thugs; I arrived seconds after they escaped with him.’ I saw Austin’s jaw clench.

‘Let’s go to get coffee; Alex said you couldn’t stress.’ I said, rubbed Austin’s arm and whispered in his ear ‘I will be back to you in just a moment, I love you.’ I kissed him, stroking his hair gently.

‘Bring me coffee, ok?’ He smiled.

‘I will be back soon, mate, ladies first.’ Skylar laughed

I took Skylar to the cafeteria; we sat far from others. I didn’t want anyone to overhear what had to tell him. We ordered coffee, and I cut to the point.

‘I have a plan… but not a word about this to Austin ok?’ Skylar raised his brow and leaned closer. I knew he would be interested. ’Will you help me?’ I asked

‘I will’ he smiled

‘I need to find Bennie; the police is useless’ I said, he rolled his eyes laughing.

‘Yeah, no shit Sherlock … you are lucky because I know exactly where he is’ he smiled and sat back in his chair sipping his coffee.

‘How come?’ I asked, surprised.

‘I told you before; I followed one of his thugs. Right after the ambulance took you two, I went after them. My friend Seth hacked this idiot’s phone and installed a tracker; he never leaves Bennie’s side so wherever he is, Bennie is close’ He said showing me the app on his phone with Bennie’s location.

‘Can this information be wiped? Can anyone find out that this guy’s phone is tracked?’ I asked he looked at me trying to figure out what am I talking about.

‘Well yes, once Seth disables the tracker, there will be no sign of it… Maya, why do you need to know this? What the fuck are you planning?’

‘Do you trust him?’

‘Yes, we helped each other a few times; he is a great hacker. He hacks everything and does what he wants with it.’ He had no idea how valuable that information was for me.

‘Great, we will need him… I need you to keep tracking Bennie. I will be out of the hospital in two days. I need you to be ready the same evening.’ I said

‘Maya, what the fuck are you planning? And why I have a feeling this is something crazy?’

‘We are going to pay Bennie a visit … and finish it once and for all.’ I said, making sure nobody is listening.

‘Elaborate … I don’t think I understand this correctly, what you mean by the ‘’finish it’’?’ Skylar looked a bit worried.

‘Bennie won’t stop hunting us, even if he goes back to prison, he won’t stop. He has people working for him, but they are loyal because he pays them. Austin told me all about the whole gang business; everything will stop once Bennie is gone, and I want to make this happen. Also, there is something else, but I don’t want to talk about this right now.’

‘You are going to turn him in?’ He knew exactly what I mean, but he tried to make sure we are talking about the same thing.

‘No’ I said looking Skylar in the eyes, he understood ‘ How many thugs are with him?’

‘Two, he keeps a low profile …Maya this is crazy you know that right?’

‘I know, but that’s the only way. I need Austin to have some peace… Skylar I nearly lost him, and that’s not the first time. Bennie is responsible for so much pain in his life; he killed his father, was the main reason for this mother’s death, and tried to kill me. If this is not a good reason to finish him, I don’t know what is. If I don’t do it, Austin will, and I can’t allow it, that’s why I need to you stay quiet, don’t tell him anything until it is done.’ I said in a quiet voice.

‘Are you sure about this? I am not the best bodyguard, you know?’ He laughed

‘Darling, my father is a first rank Capitan, me and Shaun had self-defence classes since we were toddlers, with a good plan this will be easy. Plus Shaun will be there as well you just need to make sure that your friend Seth takes care of all the cameras around the area for at least two hours.’

‘You have it all planned out … you cheeky...’ he laughed

‘You underestimated me, Skylar Quinn.’ I laughed back

‘You know that Austin will be furious when he finds out, we are talking about real shit here, Maya. One mistake and we are all going to jail.’

‘So we need to make sure we don’t make any mistakes.’ I said confidently ‘ Skylar. I nearly died there. I have to take that chance; Bennie doesn't deserve to breathe the same air as we are. So, are you in or not?’

‘Yes, I’m in.’ he said ‘ I will sort everything out with Seth and come back to you as soon as I have the full confirmation, let’s just hope Bennie will stay in place for two days’ Skylar said looking at his phone.

We went back to the room; Skylar stayed for a bit longer, talking to Austin.

I knew that deep inside; he was excited about our little plan. He was a man of adrenaline and risk after all.

Two days later, I was released home in the morning. Skylar already confirmed that his friend Seth is waiting for our signal.

‘Is Shaun coming to pick you up?’ Austin asked, sitting on the bed, watching me gather all my stuff.

‘Yes, he is already waiting in the car.’ I said, sitting next to him. ‘I will come tomorrow, pop into Cinnaholic and grab you something, huh? What do you fancy?.’ I asked.

‘Oh you know how much I love the Caramel Apple Pie, you can get the Cookie Monster as well… shit you give me a taste now, baby. I might need to pop into the cafe to satisfy my needs.’ He laughed ‘But remember, don’t forget the fork this time.’

I rolled my eyes ‘ You mean the fork you never use?.’ I said

‘Ha. Ha… it’s for you silly, I am a trained professional I don’t need a fork. ‘He said, smiling.

‘Right, trained professional, maybe you should make videos and post it online, maybe you will get them for free if you get enough followers, and you will have some hot chicks thirsting and watching your face getting covered in icing.’ I laughed.

‘Maybe I should, you convince me with the hot chicks.’ He smiled, I pushed him when he started to laugh ‘You should see your face.’ he cracked laughing

‘Not funny Austin Russo, not funny at all.’ I said

‘Baby, you know that the only hot chick I care about is you.’ He said, pulled me to him, wrapping his arms around me. ‘What’s wrong? You seem concerned about something … talk to me.’ Shit, did he noticed? Poker face Maya, focus, he can’t suspect anything.

‘No, I’m fine, just the thought of sleeping alone tonight makes me sad.’ I said the first thing that came to my mind, hoping he will believe it.

‘Alex said they are waiting for some results and I will be good to go. Hopefully, not too long.’ He smiled and kissed me; my phone kept ringing when we kissed.

‘I should go, Shaun is getting impatient. I love you, boo.’ I said talking my bag and placed a small kiss on his lips.

‘I love you too … don’t forget the fork.’ He laughed when I walked out.

I sat in Shaun’s car; my mind was already focused on one task.

‘Do you have everything?’ I asked

‘Yes, I can’t believe you kept all this Luke’s stuff…We don’t have much time to get ready. I will ask you one last time Maya… are you hundred per cent sure you want to do this? There as so many ways this could go wrong.’ Shaun said, squeezing the steering wheel.

‘Shaun, we have everything planned, we just need to focus and stick to the plan.’ I said, trying to sound confident, but the more I thought about this, the less optimistic I was.

‘Are you sure those drugs are still good? It’s been a while.’

‘Yes, I checked. This shit never expires.’

‘Ok, I trust you sister. If this is what you want, I will support you, but I think you should warn Austin, just if anything gets tits up.’

‘Everything will be fine, I don’t want to worry him, plus he would never agree to this.’

We arrived home; I took a shower to clear my mind. I’ve put the most suitable clothes: skinny black jeans, a black shirt and camp boots. I’ve put my hair in the high ponytail. I zipped my leather jacket and looked in the mirror, taking a deep breath and correcting my leather gloves. I checked my pockets and boots for the hidden knives and opened walked to my spare room.

In the corner of the room right behind some of my paintings was a small chest of drawers, my hands were shaking, I didn’t open this drawer since Luke died, all his stuff was there, but I was after only one thing. I moved aside neatly folded shirts and grabbed the gun; we had only three bullets, enough to finish the job.

My heart pounded in my chest. I looked at the gun, remembering when Luke brought it home, together with the drugs, that he never managed to use and I never dared to get rid of, the gun was stolen, Luke stole it from some drug dealer long time ago. Police won’t link it to us, that was the plan, use it for a good cause. I stuck it in my belt behind my jacket and walked downstairs where Shaun was waiting for me.

‘Should I go now?’ he asked

‘Yes, I will call Skylar and go to get him. I will meet you there.’ I said, hugging him.

‘Good luck to all of us … I hope we will come out from this in one piece.’ He hugged my tight.

‘We will.’ I said and kissed his cheek.

I called Skylar; the stress started to kick off. I was restless walking from one side of the room to another.

‘You ready?’ I asked when he picked up.

‘Yes, waiting for you. I will let Seth know to go ahead; he is waiting for my call.’ He said

‘Great, I will be at your house in fifteen minutes… Skylar … thank you.’ I said

‘You will thank me once is over, now get your ass in here, we have a job to do.’ He said, and hang up. I looked out the window it was already dark. Its time.

I picked up the bike keys from the counter, checked my phone one last time and wrote a message to Austin, before leaving my phone on the table. I knew he would call me later at night, better for him to think I’m sleeping.

‘’I love you, see you tomorrow boo.’’

I didn’t know if using Austin’s bike is a wise idea, but that was a better way to escape quickly, than using my mini Cooper, that takes ages to build up the speed.

Fifteen minutes later, I was in front of Skylar’s door; he walked out as soon as he saw me, put on his helmet and wrapped his arms around my waist.

‘Ready?’ I asked

‘Yes, go.’ He said

The place was around forty minutes outside town, all the way there I had only one thing in my head, everything that Austin told me about Bennie, how hateful and horrible person he is, how much pain he caused him and others. Everything he told me the night before only gave me straight and motivation.

We arrived at the place; it was a field with nothing else than farm buildings. We stopped around a hundred meters from the place Bennie was staying, in the middle of a little forest. Seth made sure that all the street cameras are disabled around the area for the next hour.

Shaun was already there waiting, making sure everything is in place, Skylar went first to explore the area and check the situation inside the house, he knew what he was doing.

Five minutes later he came back ‘ Is looking good, only two guys and Bennie, they are all in the middle room… Shaun and I can go there from the back, and you go by the front door. Bennie is sitting in the middle, and the others are walking around the room, we will need to get them from two sides. Maya, you stand by the front door and wait until we get the other two, the front door seems unlocked. Also, they are full of buzz, which makes it easier.’ He said, checking his pocket for the syringe. ‘Got it.’ He smiled.

‘Ok, let’s go then…remember in the neck, and all of it.’ I said

They both nodded. I walked quietly to the front of what looked like an old farmhouse; I could hear Bennie talking. I looked through the gap in the window for a sign of Skylar or Shaun.

Bennie was sitting on the chair, with his legs on the table and bottle in his hand. His face was in the rag order, black eyes, cut lip, bruises all over, seeing him like this gave me joy, I knew that after today more would join to add some more bruises to his collection. Two other guys were walking around the back of the room, one of them was pretty big and packed; with a stupid look on his face, he didn’t look very smart. The other was average, skinny but tall, and both seemed pretty buzzed, I hoped that Skylar would go after the smaller guy, my heart dropped when I saw his face behind the gorilla-like looking guy. Fuck sake, Skylar!

On the other side, Shaun was getting ready to go after the other guy; they give me a sign and both of them at the same time walked behind them striking them on the back of the head.

‘What the fuck!’ Bennie jumped from the chair and reached for his gun.

It was time for me, I opened the door, pointing the gun towards Bennie.

‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you.’ I said, walking inside; my heart was pounding in my chest, I barely managed to keep my hands from shaking.

‘You bitch! I should’ve fucking finish you when I had a chance!’ He shouted, turning towards me a bit shaky.

‘You should've.’ I said, still pointing the gun at him; I saw Skylar injecting the drugs to the other two. Shaun grabbed Bennie from behind and pressed a knife to his throat. ‘You will pay for everything; this is my promise to you… you took everything from Austin, everything he loved the most, now I will take everything from you. You will remember my face until you kiss the ground.’ I said, approaching him. I pressed the gun to his head, looking him right in the eyes, I could feel Shaun and Skylar staring at me. I felt like pulling the trigger right at that moment, the desire to blow his head off was so strong that I didn’t know if it was the adrenaline or hate that made me feel like this, but I knew I had to control it. Stick to the fucking plan, Maya!

‘Come on, do it.’ Bennie laughed ‘ That will make you one of us. Just what Austin needs, a chick who can kill.’

I took a step back, still pointing the gun at him, my eyes not leaving his. I couldn’t read him; he showed zero remorse or fear; I could only see evil.

‘I didn’t say I’m going to kill you; I’m not a murderer like you. I only said I would make you pay for everything you’ve done. Someone else will do the dirty work for me.’ I said and pointed the gun at one of his thugs, lying on the ground unconscious, pulled the trigger, and shot him on the shoulder, I moved to the other and did the same.

‘What the fuck are you doing you stupid whore!’ Bennie shouted and tried to move, but Shaun held him tight.

‘I am sure that your gang members will be pleased to find out that their boss shot two of his mates. Mostly the ones in prison, where you will wake up tomorrow morning. I’m sure they will welcome you with open arms.’ I finally saw a flinch of fear in his eyes; he didn’t saw it coming. ‘You messed with the wrong girl, Bennie. I love your brother more than anything in this world, and I would do anything for him, you tried to destroy his life for years, but I will destroy yours with a blink of an eye.’ I looked at Skylar and nodded, he stuck the syringe into his neck, I saw Bennie’s eyes getting heavy, he mumbled something before landing on the ground.

‘Come on we have to hurry up, we don’t have much time.’ Shaun said and starter to move things around.

I placed the gun in Bennie’s hand, making sure his fingerprints are on it.

‘Are you sure they won’t remember anything?’ Skylar asked

‘I am sure they will wake up like after the heavy partying, they won’t remember a damn thing.’ I said, looking at Bennie. Skylar and Shaun were on their way out.

I stared at Bennie, the whole feeling from before still dominating my mind. I picked up a chair and smashed it on Bennie’s head with all the force I had, pieces of the broken chair flew around the room ‘Maya for god sake, what the fuck are you doing, we are done here, we need to go!’ Shaun grabbed my arm, pulling me out.

‘Motherfucker! I hope you die in pain!’ I shouted.

The whole adrenaline in me started to sink when I walked out the door.

‘Let’s get the fuck out of here; I messaged Seth to call the cops.’ Skylar said, sitting on the bike behind me.‘ I hope you have something strong to drink at home because I fucking need it.’ He said.

We drove back to my house, and spend the rest of the night in silence, drinking.

It was done, the whole plan worked. Now the most challenging part was ahead … tell Austin.

#Austin #Austin Russo #austin russo fanfic #lovelink austin #lovelink #lovelink game #lovelink fanfic #skylar #skylarquinn #bennie

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lil-meow-meow-goes-rawr · 5 years ago

Text

Trouble Brews

⚔︎ Pairing: Jungkook x OC

⚔︎ Genre: Medieval Fantasy, Knight!Jungkook, Knight!Hoseok, Wizard!Yoongi, King!Namjoon, Prince!Taehyung, Prince!Jimin, Brothers!Yoonjin

⚔︎ Warnings: mentions of abusive relationships, forced marriages, mentions of minor character death

⚔︎ Rating: 13+

⚔︎ Synopsis: Prince Jimin and the king’s ward, Emelyn, decide to take it into their own hands to find out if the legends are true, and if they are, return the knight to the kingdom.

⚔︎ Masterlist

“Legend speaks of a fearless knight.”

“Nelly, not again.” I groaned, propelling myself up onto the counter.

Nelly ignored my plea and continued on as if I weren’t there. “An invincible being who once protected the kingdom single-handedly against an entire army.”

“You know that’s not possible right? It is physically impossible for any one man to defeat an entire army.”

“It tells a tale of bravery and honor. A knight so strong he could move mountains, sent to protect us from the terror of the moon dragon. Before the reign of King Namjoon began, before peace was formed between the nations, the moon dragon reigned over them all. Terrorizing the kingdoms with a ruthless vengeance. Vengeance for the extinction of its own kind. A vendetta which only the Phantom Knight could stop.”

I rolled my eyes. “Must we do this now?”

“It is by the bravery and skill of the Phantom Knight alone that our kingdom remains standing to this day.”

“Alright, now you just sound ridiculous.”

“Though it was not often the knight would bleed, as no one could ever touch him, those who claim to have seen him hit say his blood runs golden. One touch from the golden blood and you are granted eternal youth. So, you see, our kingdom may never need worry, for if you look to the horizon, you may see a magnificent man atop a mighty steed, patrolling the lands and keeping watch. For to this day, the knight protects the kingdom under the reign of King Namjoon and Prince Jimin. If either were to be cut from the thrown and another took their place, the knight’s protection would cease, leaving us to fend for ourselves against the enemy’s attacks. He will only serve the royal family. There will never be anyone else he will serve. Perhaps this is why others are so keen on taking the throne. For without the knight’s protection, the kingdom would fall prey to those who wish to take it.”

I rolled my eyes at the eccentric woman. Nelly was an excellent cook, yet she had a flare for the dramatics. “You know as well as I do this phantom knight does not exist.” Nimble fingers snatched an apple from the basket in Nelly’s arms as she passed by. “It is King Namjoon’s brilliant mind and Prince Jimin’s unrivaled battle strategies that keep us safe.”

Nelly regarded me solemnly, as if she pitied me. “The King’s ward would believe such lies.”

“Excuse me?”

“I mean no disrespect, Milady,” she stammered, “of course we have the brightest King in all the kingdoms.”

I took a bite of the apple, crunching on it loudly as I thought over her words. “It’s not because I’m the King’s ward that I do not believe in this knight of yours. It has more to do with the fact that I’ve done my own research on the subject. There are many tales surrounding his name, and yet he doesn’t seem to have a name to speak of. No one has ever seen him, and it is physically impossible for anyone’s blood to be golden.” I dropped the hard facts on her with no remorse. Nelly may have been my best friend, but she lacked the common sense of most every other individual.

Nelly’s head shook sadly as she clicked her tongue at me. “You kids and the need for proof of everything.” She waved her mixing spoon in my direction. “Isn’t it enough that he protects us? Whoever this knight is, he has done his job well. I can’t bear to think what would happen if he were to cease his watchful eye.”

“Knight or no knight, as long as our kingdom is protected, I am happy.”

“Spoken like a true royal.” Nelly chuckled softly, her feet lightly padding against the stone floor as she busied herself with dinner. “Should the kingdom ever need it, you would make a wonderful leader. I dare say you love the people of this kingdom as much as our dear Prince Jimin.”

A soft smile painted itself across my lips. Jimin was the reason I loved this kingdom so dearly. For it was he who showed me just how wonderful it truly was. I could still remember the day he took me down into the villages, disguised as bakers, armed with cart loads of Nelly’s baked goods. He had introduced me to the people, showed me the beauty of the land. From that moment on, I had vowed to myself that I would do everything in my power to protect this land and all the people in it.

The moon rose to claim the sky as the sun slowly sank away, allowing millions of stars to blanket the now dark expanse. The castle was still. There were not many who remained awake. The king had sent most of the servants off to their quarters for the evening.

I sat across from Jimin, watching as he poked at his food, occasionally glancing up to catch my gaze. Namjoon sat at the head of the table, his plate of food completely untouched as his fingers slowly massaged his head and a frown darkened his features. Something was bothering him, though it seemed he wasn’t quite ready to share.

A loud silence filled the room for most of the meal until Jimin finally spoke, “Is it true what they say? Prince Taehyung is coming here?” Excitement brimmed at the edge of his words. It was no secret the two were best friends, despite coming from neighboring kingdoms who had a tendency to fight more often than speak.

Namjoon shifted uneasily in his chair, his frown deepening slightly. “It is true.”

Jimin beamed. “Is his presence a call of duty or has he simply missed me so terribly he couldn’t stay away any longer?”

I rolled my eyes at him, plucking another grape off the vine on my plate.

Namjoon’s eyes drifted over to me for a moment with a clear shine of uncertainty. “The Prince is coming to discuss relations on his father’s behalf.”

“Excellent!” Jimin beamed. “Without the old sot, we may be able to come to an agreement this year.”

I bit my tongue and quickly raised my goblet to my lips in an attempt to hide the grin.

Namjoon shot Jimin a sharp glare. “Watch your tongue, boy. We will not disrespect King Merek in such a way, simply because he is not here.”

Jimin lowered his head and had the decency to look ashamed. “I apologize my Lord, but isn’t it true? It is because of him that our kingdoms have been at odds with each other for so long. Without him here to dictate how this exchange happens, we may be able to come to an agreement.”

Namjoon nodded thoughtfully. “This is what I am hoping for.”

I eyed the king warily. There was something he wasn’t telling us. This wasn’t simply an ordinary meeting between kingdoms. Another motive lay hidden beneath his actions.

Jimin was the first to speak on this, having come to the same conclusion as I had. “This is wonderful news, yet there is something you’re not telling us.”

Namjoon cringed at his accusation but didn’t deny it.

“What is it? You know you can confide in us. Nothing you say will leave this room.” I said, urging him to finally speak the whole truth.

“I prefer not to speak of it at the dinner table.”

Jimin rolled his eyes. “Codswallop. It is only the three of us here tonight. You can speak your mind.” He unceremoniously leaned across the table, resting his chin on his folded hands. “Best to inform us now, rather than have us discover the true nature of this visit later.”

“I hate when you speak sense.” Namjoon grumbled. “Very well then, I suppose it would do good to tell you both now.”

I swallowed hard, suddenly growing anxious. I didn’t like the way his eyes kept trailing over to me, remorse clouding them.

“Taehyung is coming because,” Namjoon took a deep breath, as if to raise his own courage before continuing, “we may have found an exchange that will settle all bad blood between our kingdoms.”

Jimin sat up a little straighter at his words. “This is wonderful news, is it not? You told me only last month about your doubts of ever finding peace with the Kim line.”

“Perhaps.”

“Perhaps?” Jimin gaped at him. “Are you sure you’re not ill, my King? This should be a time for celebration, and yet you look as though you are about to face the executioner.”

I watched the king expectantly as I raised my goblet once more. “Care to share with the rest of us?”

“Taehyung is coming to discuss your marriage arrangements.”

I choked, spewing my drink across the table.

“Ugh,” Jimin groaned, wiping my spit off his face.

I turned to the King. “He’s coming to arrange our WHAT?”

“Calm down, Emelyn.”

I stood dramatically, knocking over my goblet in the process and sending the contents trailing across the wooden table. “I will not calm down! You promised me there would never be any marriages. You promised, when I came under your care that I would not have to endure another forced engagement.” Tears threatened to spill but I angrily blinked them away.

“Why would you go behind her back in such a way?” Jimin asked, jumping in to defend me. “This very kingdom is built upon trust. The very trust which you have broken today.”

Namjoon ignored the Prince’s accusations, his attention kept strictly on me. “Will you not do this? Will you refuse to help your kingdom?”

I choked on my words as I tried to form a reasonable reply. I wasn’t even a member of the royal family. Not truly. It was true I would do anything to protect the kingdom, but this?

“I can’t, Namjoon.” I said, dropping all formality. In that moment, I was speaking to him as an equal. As a brother. Not as my King. “Not after what happened last time.”

Jimin quietly padded around the table and draped himself over my shoulders in a comforting hug. I leaned into him, welcoming the embrace. My mind now reeled with all the memories I had tried so hard to bury. Memories of him. Memories of that night.

“Emelyn, listen to me,” Namjoon said softly. It was clear he had been prepared for this conversation. He knew what my reaction would be, and he had been ready for it. “Taehyung is nothing like Borin. Of that I can promise.”

“Even I can testify to that,” Jimin said, “yet I still think it unfair to subject Emelyn to such a fate. Wasn’t her last betrothal painful enough?”

Namjoon ignored him and instead leaned over further in an attempt to meet my eyes, which I reluctantly allowed. “We were all fools for even striving toward an alliance with that king. The fact that they attempted to infiltrate this kingdom through you was unforgivable. It is the reason that castle no longer stands.” Namjoon sat back, his arms flying through the air slightly. “Why, even the phantom knight stepped up to defend you.”

I scoffed. “The phantom knight. There is no such thing and you all know it! If everyone here weren’t so obsessed with an imaginary figure, then perhaps they’d be able to have a bit of curtesy for the people around them.” Shaking Jimin off me, I stormed from the room, leaving the two men gaping after me.

I refused to speak to Namjoon after that. He had made the decision to allow Taehyung’s visit to proceed as planned, despite both Jimin’s and my own protests. Jimin loved Taehyung. They were the closest friends I had ever had the pleasure of knowing, and yet he remained on my side, never once wavering. For that, I was eternally grateful.

“Perhaps it would not be quite as bad as you think,” Nelly said

My hands froze, hovering over the potatoes I had been chopping. “Nelly!”

She held her hands up to try and calm me, though the knife in her hand was more unsettling than reassuring. “Perhaps it’s a bit bold of me to say, but I believe Prince Taehyung would make a fine match for you.”

“That is far too bold.” I resumed my chopping, a bit more aggressively than before.

“He’s a fine man. Prince Jimin’s best friend. The three of you are together all the time. Surely it wouldn’t be so terrible to be his wife?”

“You don’t get it. I can’t take another husband. Not again.”

Nelly’s hand came to rest on my shoulder, her eyes soft and reassuring. “I’m not telling you to agree. I’m only saying that you should consider the King’s words with an open heart. If it truly is best for the kingdom, there are far worse men you could end up with.”

I hated that her words made sense. I hated that I couldn’t conjure up an opposing reason to her statement. I hated that I began thinking, she may be right.

Kim Taehyung, Prince to our neighboring kingdom and Jimin’s best friend. We had been friends for as long as I could remember. Ever since the day he and Jimin went out riding despite their fathers having just broken any connections between their kingdoms. I had tagged along without anyone realizing. Jimin and Taehyung had been far better riders than I was and though I had tried to follow their path, my reckless actions nearly got me killed. If the boys had not been there, I would have died that day. Since then, there had been nothing that could tear us apart. Until now.

Tae had hardly looked at me since his arrival. Things between us had never been so awkward. Jimin tried to relieve the tension but to no avail. Eventually, Taehyung and I found ourselves sitting together on the stone bench in the gardens, Jimin having left us for a moment to fetch a few snacks. Whether food would be the magic cure for this awkward situation or not, I wasn’t sure, yet it was worth a try.

My eyes remained glued to the purple flowers that grew by my feet as Tae shifted nervously in his seat. My mind, although racing with unwanted thoughts, seemed to be moving in slow motion. I was having a hard time processing everything. It still didn’t seem real. Taehyung, one of my best friends since I had been six was sitting beside me, not as a friend but as my potential betrothed.

“Emelyn?” Taehyung broke the silence, though I failed to hear him the first few times he said my name.

“Hmm?” I slowly blinked up at him, attempting to refocus my jumbled thoughts.

He watched me for a moment, waves of uncertainty wafting off him. I couldn’t help but feel guilty for that. “I talked with Jimin earlier,” he started slowly, as if to gauge my reaction, “I think I understand why you don’t want this.”

“Tae -”

“No, Emelyn, it’s alright. I get it, and I am not going to force you into anything.” He kept an unwavering eye contact that made me feel a bit uneasy yet was, at the same time, reassuring. “I only ask that you don’t dismiss the idea immediately. Allow yourself some time to think about it. I promise, if you were to accept, I would not dare to treat you wrongly.”

“I know, Tae,” my voice shook slightly but I refused to look away, “I know.”

He took my hand in his and gently began rubbing circles across my skin. “You would make a wonderful queen. I know you love the people of my kingdom just as much as you do your own.” He smiled softly, his eyes dropping down to our enclosed hands, “I’ve always liked you, Emelyn. If you’re willing, I really do think we could make a good team.”

My mouth hung open at his sudden confession. Perhaps I had been too preoccupied with beating them in everything we did, but I had never known he had feelings for me. My guilt doubled. If I were to deny him now, would I be hurting him?

I decided to answer with a pitiful attempt at humor, “Was that your weak attempt at a proposal?”

He smiled sheepishly and slid his hand out of mine. “Perhaps,” he brought his eyes up apprehensively, “was it horrible?”

I laughed lightly. “It could have used some work.”

Just then, Jimin returned with some fruit and a few of Nelly’s freshly baked rolls. He happily squeezed himself in-between us with a bright smile. “I brought the snacks.”

Taehyung stole a roll from the basket and took a large bite, filling his cheeks with the soft bread, ignoring Jimin’s cry of protest. “I was thinking we should go riding today.”

“Where too?” Jimin questioned.

“Same place we used to. The creek that separates the two kingdoms.”

Before either of us could respond, Namjoon appeared in the garden. “Taehyung, Emelyn, may I see you both for a moment?”

Jimin gave me an encouraging glance as we all slowly got to our feet. Tae offered me a reassuring smile, reinforcing his previous words to me, before following Namjoon back into the castle.

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath. This was it. This was the moment in which my fate was decided. I wasn’t sure I was ready for it, or if I ever would be. For a moment I contemplated running away, disappearing into the crowded streets and avoiding it altogether, but I knew I couldn’t do that.

Jimin’s hand came to rest on my shoulder and he gave it a reassuring squeeze. “It will be alright. Just know, no one can force you into this. If they try, I’ll beat them until they’re unable to stand on their own sorry feet.”

A tight-lipped smile was the only response I could muster. With one last shaky breath I followed the others out of the garden.

Jimin found me back inside the gardens later that evening. My eyes were bloodshot and puffy from crying. My head pounded as if the knights had been using it for practice. Nothing had gone according to plan. As if there had ever been a plan to begin with. Everything had been so rushed. I hadn’t had time to truly understand what was happening. All I knew was that my future had been at stake and I made the regretful mistake of only thinking of myself.

“Hey,” he greeted, “care if I join you?”

I sniffed and motioned for him to have a seat next to me while unceremoniously using the sleeve of my dress to wipe my eyes and nose. Jimin didn’t seem to care, or even notice as he plopped down next to me.

Flinging his arm across my shoulders, he pulled me into him. “I heard Tae’s father showed himself halfway through.”

“Mhmm,”

Jimin sighed. “I love Taehyung, but his father is one person I can hardly stand to be near.”

“Jimin,” I said, my voice barely audible, “I think I’ve made a mistake.”

He didn’t say anything at first. I could feel him shift beside me, drawing a bit closer to offer some comfort, but he didn’t push me to say anything.

“It’s King Merek,” I blurted, “he came in unannounced and demanded I return with them to their palace.” The words spilled out of my mouth in a jumbled mess. “I panicked, Jimin. I told him I refused his offer for marriage and that I wouldn’t be going with them. Taehyung stood behind me, but King Merek was furious. He and Namjoon got into an argument and now King Merek has left with a warning that he will be sending his knights to invade. I’ve ruined everything, Jimin. I’ve ruined everything and all because I was too scared to become someone’s wife.”

Jimin took me in his arms and carefully held my trembling body. Still, he didn’t say anything. I was grateful to him for that. He didn’t offer me false reassurance, nor did he sit and blame me for what had happened, even when I knew I would have deserved it. Instead, he whispered calmly to me as we rocked back and forth on the bench together. The words he spoke were of the people. He spoke of the beauty the land held and the kindness of the villagers. He reminded me of everything in the kingdom that had captured my heart. All the days we would slip out of the castle to spend time amongst our people.

“The kingdom still stands despite the mistakes of all those who have ruled before King Namjoon. We are nothing more than human, Emelyn. Mistakes are going to be made. What’s important is how we work to fix those mistakes. Namjoon has amassed the largest and strongest army of any of the kingdoms. King Merek may try to take this land, but he will never succeed. Besides,” he grinned and poked my cheek, “we’ve got the phantom knight on our side.”

I rolled my eyes as I sat up, slipping out of Jimin’s hold. “The phantom knight does not exist. You know that as well as I do.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Have you ever seen him?”

He shook his head and tapped the side of my head. “No one ever has. Remember?”

“Well there you are,” I said, “there is no proof of his existence. How can someone exist if no one has ever seen them?”

“Ah,” Jimin countered with a grin, “but if no one’s ever seen him, who’s to say he doesn’t exist?”

He stood then, leaving me dumbfounded as he strode out of the garden.

The next few nights, I hardly slept. I laid awake, staring at my ceiling and waiting for the sound that would alert the kingdom to King Merek’s invasion. Namjoon had reassured me several times that I had done nothing wrong, and yet the feeling of guilt continued to plague me. Perhaps if I were to ride out and tell them I was willing to accept their offer, there would be no fighting. Perhaps if I did everything I could to make this right, fewer people would suffer.

With a sigh, I pushed myself out of bed. I would be getting no sleep tonight. Grabbing the blanket off the bed, I wrapped it around my shoulders and padded over to the door. Creaking it open slightly, I saw one of Namjoon’s most trusted knights standing guard just outside. The guards around the castle had doubled since Merek’s announcement. Namjoon wasn’t taking any chances.

The guard, whom I recognized as Hoseok, caught me out of the corner of his eye and his lip twitched up into a small grin. “Young girls should not be out of bed this late at night.” He spoke to no one in particular, though I knew his words were directed at me.

“This young girl is not much younger than you,” I said, “she also holds superiority over you.”

Hoseok chuckled. “Not tonight, Milady. Our King has given me strict orders to keep you in your room.” His smile dropped and his tone became far more serious as he said, “With the impending threats against the kingdom, it is not safe for you to be roaming the castle at night.”

Stepping out of the room, I groaned in frustration as I slid down the wall next to him. “I fear I’ve made a mistake. It is my doings that have put the entire kingdom in the line of danger.”

Hoseok shook his head. “It is no one’s fault but King Merek’s. He is well known for his short temper. Even if the marriage had taken place, he would have found something to anger him. That man has been after this kingdom for as long as anyone can remember.”

“So, I just gave him the excuse he needed to attack,” I hugged my knees to my chest and pulled the blanket tighter around myself, “wonderful.”

“Do not blame yourself, Milady. We will win over his army. Of that I have no doubt.” His signature grin returned. “Besides, we have something King Merek can only dream of.”

I shot him a glare. “If you say the phantom knight, I swear I’ll rip you of your status right here and now.”

His brows shot up in surprise. “What has you so against this knight?”

“He doesn’t exist!” I shot back. “He’s a myth! A legend! Just as his counterpart, the moon dragon, is. Neither exist and yet everyone is so determined to rely on these legends to save us. If we are to keep this kingdom, people must return to their senses.”

Hoseok frowned, his stance tensing a bit. “The moon dragon exists as well. Of that I am certain.”

“It is just like the knight, no one has ever seen it. What makes it so real?”

“I’ve seen the dragon.” Hoseok’s voice was low.

I watched apprehensively as he crouched down next to me and rolled his sleeve up past his elbow. My breath hitched when I caught sight of it. The long white scar traveled from his elbow down to his wrist and was nearly the width of his entire arm.

“I received this when I was merely six years of age. That was well before Namjoon became king. Before the phantom knight came to our aid. In those days, the moon dragon terrorized the kingdom nearly every night. That was the night my parents were killed. They were both slaughtered by the moon dragon.” Yanking his sleeve back down, Hoseok gave me a hard look. “I know you’ve chosen to believe that these things do not exist, but for the rest of us, they’re very real.” He stood then, his expression cold and blank, returning to his persona as nothing more than my guard. No longer a friend but a protector.

I hugged my knees closer to my chest as I thought over his words. Jimin had always been so adamant that the knight existed as well. Perhaps there really was some truth to the legends. I had never heard of Hoseok’s past before, though I knew he was one of Namjoon’s most trusted knights. Hoseok had seen us through many battles before. I also knew he had no family to speak of apart from those of us in the castle. Hearing him tell his story now, I saw him in a new light. He wasn’t simply the brave knight with the lame jokes. He was a hero in his own right.

“Milady!” Hoseok’s frantic voice pulled me from my jumbled thoughts, back into the present.

I peered up at him, a question on my lips when I heard it. The sound I had been dreading for the past few days. The sound I knew had been inevitable and yet I hoped would never sound.

The warning bells.

We were under attack.

Hoseok pulled me to my feet and shoved me back inside my room. “Stay there,” he ordered, “do not leave for any reason. Someone will be posted outside your door shortly.” Without another word, he slammed the door shut in my face, locking me inside.

I sat at my window, watching as the knights scrambled about, attempting to prepare themselves before King Merek’s army arrived. I hated sitting idly by. I should be down there, helping. I had trained with Jimin and Taehyung when they were younger. I could wield a sword as well as any man, so why must I be trapped here? Useless?

My fingers tapped nervously against the scabbard on my waist. I had changed into a simple gown and had strapped my scabbard around my waist, ready to leap into action should the need arise. Should it seem that our men were losing any ground at any time, I would join the fray. Whether the phantom knight existed or not was no longer relevant.

I watched begrudgingly as the knights collectively drew into formation and rode off to meet the enemy. Amongst the knights, I spotted the King and Hoseok together, leading the rest of the men. I hadn’t seen Jimin, but I supposed I could have merely missed him among the hundreds of other faces.

A knock at the door caused me to nearly fall off my chair in surprise. “Come in.” I called, quickly pulling myself back together.

My personal maid, Alyse, poked her head around the door and flashed me a quick smile. “I do believe everything is all prepared for you, Milady.”

I gave a curt nod in understanding while rushing to the bed to retrieve my boots from beneath it. My grin grew as I finished lacing them up. Alyse waited for me, just outside the room, my cloak in her arms.

“Thank you,” I said, gratefully taking it from her.

“The King won’t much like this at all.” She warned as I passed.

“King Merek has a large army. Despite what Namjoon thinks, they’re going to need every abled body they have.”

Alyse hurried to keep instep with me. “Are you sure this is wise, Milady?” “Wise or not, it must be done.”

I yelped in surprise when Jimin stepped around the corner, a knowing look on his face. He bowed his head toward Alyse and quietly dismissed her, thanking her for assisting me. His attention returned to me as soon as she was out of sight. “I know what you’re doing.”

I played dumb, adjusting the scabbard on my waist a bit to avoid looking him in the eye. “I’m not sure what you mean? I am not doing anything.”

“You’re meant to be in your room, for your own safety. A knight was assigned as your guard.”

I shrugged slightly, resuming my trek to the armory. “He never made it.” Jimin grabbed my arm to keep me from leaving. “Drop the act, Emelyn. We know where you’re going and what you’re doing?”

“We?”

Taehyung stepped around the corner, a sheepish smile on his lips. Both men were dressed for battle, clad in chainmail and each armed with their own swords. The extra sword Taehyung carried did not go unnoticed either.

I groaned and spun to face Jimin. “I’m not going back to my room. You can’t force me to either. Merek’s army is large, you’re going to need all the help you can get, and I am just as capable of welding a sword as any man.”

“Good,” Taehyung chirped, keeping Jimin from saying anything, “because we need you to come with us.”

“What?”

Jimin shot Taehyung a dirty look. “I still don’t know why we’re bringing you, but Tae insists.”

The taller boy shrugged unapologetically. Reaching out, Taehyung offered me the extra sword he’d been carrying.

I accepted it with an air of caution. “Where are you two going?”

Jimin’s brows dipped down into a deep frown. “King Merek’s army has grown drastically. Our own men are outnumbered, two to one.”

I gasped and nearly dropped the sword I’d been given. It wasn’t possible. Our army had always been larger than his. How had he managed to grow his army so large without our knowledge? Our kingdom had some of the bravest and most well-trained knights in the country, yet even they couldn’t defeat an army that large. Not on their own.

“It’s bad. The fighting has only just begun and we’re already losing our ground. We’ll never survive the attack at this rate.”

My heart sunk. This had to be a sick joke. We couldn’t lose this battle.

“We think we might have a solution though.” Taehyung quickly jumped in, having caught on to my distress. “We’re going after the Phantom Knight.”

My head shot up as I looked between the both of them in disbelief. “You’re what?”

“He hasn’t shown. Too many lives are being lost and it won’t be long before Merek’s army takes our own. We need to do something.” Taehyung said.

“Of course, he hasn’t shown!” I said in exasperation. “He. Isn’t. Real.”

Taehyung shook his head in shame. “When you told me, she might not want to go because she didn’t believe, for a while I honestly believed you were joking.”

Jimin sighed. “I know you don’t believe he exists, but we’re going. With or without you. We aren’t forcing you to join us, but we are offering. The choice is yours.”

It didn’t take much thought. I may not have believed the knight existed, but I was willing to do anything to save my kingdom. “Let’s go find ourselves a knight in shining armor.”

“Do either of you even know where we’re going?” I asked, urging my horse up a bit in order to ride between them. “It seems as though we’ve been riding in circles.”

“Ask Taehyung. He’s the one with the map.” Jimin said, somewhat breathlessly from the hard ride.

I turned to Taehyung in surprise. “There’s a map to this knight’s location?”

“Well, no. Not really,” Taehyung frowned as he looked between the map and the dark expanse of fields before us, “more like rumors. Places marked down of where people claim to have seen him. Putting them all together, we can sort of guess where he might reside, but no one is certain.”

“And no one’s ever gone looking for him?” I questioned, my head shooting back and forth between the boys.

“A few have, but no one’s ever been able to find him.” Taehyung said.

“I wonder why.”

“He’s a phantom knight for a reason,” Jimin said, “if he wanted to be found, he’d come live down in the villages with everyone else.”

“Or,” I looked at each of them pointedly, “he simply doesn’t exist.”

“If I’d known you were going to be so cynical the entire journey, I wouldn’t have offered to take you along.” Jimin grumbled.

I rolled my eyes. “You need me. Admit it.”

Jimin sputtered but Taehyung merely shrugged indifferently. “You’ve been training with us since we were kids. The three of us work well as a team. It seemed smart to take you along. There’s safety in numbers, but there is even more safety in numbers who work well together.”

“Seems logical to me,” I pushed my horse a little closer to Jimin’s and nudged his arm with my own, “what’s got you so ruffled.”

“He didn’t want you along.” Taehyung answered for him.

“Why?”

Jimin groaned. “Because you’re my little sister. If anything were to happen to you, I would never forgive myself.”

“I am not technically your sister.” I pointed out.

“You may as well be. My job is to protect you.”

“I don’t need protecting.”

“You’re not getting it!” Jimin shouted, yanking his horse to a halt and facing me with wild eyes. “Out here, we’re not protected. If the knight never showed himself at the battle raging just outside the castle, he definitely won’t be here to protect us. If anything were to happen, if the moon dragon were to appear-”

“It won’t.” I quickly stopped him. “The dragon won’t appear.”

“Uhm, you may want to rethink that promise a bit.” Taehyung said, his voice small.

“Not now, Tae.”

“No really, you may want to just want to rethink that statement.”

“Look, I get it, there’s no proof the thing doesn’t exist, but that doesn’t mean it’s all just stories either. How are we to know if these things really exist? What if we’re just riding around in circles for nothing while our knights continue to die in battle?”

Jimin threw his head back with a groan. “The phantom knight is our only hope of survival. Can you at least pretend to care for a moment?”

“Guys?”

I scoffed. “I do care! Why else would I be out here arguing with you when I could be on the front lines helping to fight?”

“Guys.”

Jimin motioned in the direction of the castle. “Please, go fight. Perhaps you can talk them all to death as you try to convince everyone that the knight doesn’t exist.”

“Guys!”

I turned to him in annoyance. “What?”

He only raised a shaking hand to point at the sky behind me.

I rolled my eyes and shoved his hand down. “Now is not the time, Tae.”

He shook his head, his eyes wide with fear. “Turn around.”

With a sigh, I did as he said and instantly, my breath caught in my throat. What looked to be a giant black bird was flying directly toward us – that is if a blackbird had the wingspan of the entire knights’ training grounds.

Jimin nearly fell off his horse. “Th-that’s a – that’s a d-d-”

“Dragon.” Taehyung breathed.

I couldn’t believe it. I’d heard of dragons before, yet I had never seen one in person. They had nearly gone extinct over the past decade.

Jimin cursed and I smacked the back of his head for it. We may be under attack from a dragon, but that didn’t leave cause for foul language. Namjoon was constantly reprimanding him for his dirty mouth.

“Let’s not panic, shall we?” I said, attempting to keep my horse from bolting out from under me. “I’m sure he can hear the sounds of the battle and that’s what is drawing him out. We’re just three people. He’s not going to come for us.” My brows slowly sank into a frown as my words sank in. I’d said it to try and ease the boy’s anxiety, yet it had only managed to raise my own. What if I was right? What if it flew right past us and went straight for the battle? Our army was already losing ground. If a dragon were to join the fray, they wouldn’t survive.

Despite telling the others to stay calm, fear began controlling my actions, unfiltered fear for our knights and our kingdom. I urged my horse forward, toward the approaching dragon. Jimin and Taehyung shouted after me, but I hardly heard them over the pounding of my own blood in my ears. My horse trembled under me as we raced forward, having put blind faith in my actions. Any other horse would have fought against me, but we’d been a team since she’d first had a saddle placed on her back. We trusted each other completely. In that moment, I truly questioned why. I didn’t even trust myself. Yet she did.

The dragon didn’t even seem to notice my presence as we approached. I had to change that. I had to get the beast’s attention on me and away from the raging battle. How? How was I meant to draw its attention away from something much larger and more enticing than I was?

Taehyung was the first to catch on. He rode up beside me at a full gallop, winking at me before veering off the right and shouting at the top of his lungs. The dragon cocked its head but didn’t sway its course. Taehyung had the right idea, but it wasn’t enough.

“Jimin!” I shouted, swiveling around to find him still standing several feet away. His face scrunched up as he fought against himself for a few moments before pushing his horse into a gallop. He rode off to my left, joining Taehyung in his shouting match. With a small grin, I joined them.

Our three voices combined were enough to catch the beast’s attention. It screeched and circled above us a few times, its eyes surveying our tiny forms. I shouted for the others to scatter as the beast landed with a bound, its front claw barely missing Taehyung.

“Hey, you large, scaly beast!” Jimin shouted, bringing his horse around to face the dragon head on. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“The only ones allowed to terrorize our kingdom are the three of us!” I shouted. Taehyung laughed. “We do that plenty. There’s no need for your giant scaly butt to get involved.”

The dragon eyed each of us individually, as if it truly understood our words and was weighing its options. It eyed each of us individually, before its eyes came to rest on me. My breath hitched in my throat. This wasn’t merely some dumb beast. Simply looking into its eyes showed it was likely more intelligent than I was. The large, dark eyes were surprisingly soft and held such a huge contrast to what I had been made to believe. There was nothing reptilian about them. In fact, they appeared almost human. The steam emanating out the creature’s nostrils, along with the large teeth that seemed to be permanently bared, gave the impression it was there for no other reason than to cause destruction and death. But its eyes - its eyes told a different story entirely.

The large eyes blinked, breaking the spell I seemed to have been placed under a moment ago. Taehyung’s frantic shouting broke through the haze around my mind as I was brought back to reality. Jimin’s eyes were wide and frantic as he raced toward the creature, his sword raised above his head. I didn’t realize what he was doing until it was too late. With a cry of pain, the dragon swiped at Jimin who had managed to cut through his armor, sending the Prince flying off his horse and back several feet. What I assumed to be blood dripped from the wound on the creature’s snout, a dull golden color.

The dragon shot its head back in my direction. It looked to the horizon where the sun was beginning to rise and then regarded me once more before spreading its wings and shooting off from the ground. I thought perhaps we were home free as the dragon turned back toward the direction it had come. Though I should have known we would not walk away from a dragon encounter so easily.

I turned to Jimin with a sigh of relief. “See? I told you we would be alright.” Turning my attention back to the dragon, I watched as it circled above us. “Perhaps we should follow it? If the moon dragon is real, then perhaps there is some truth to the knight’s legend after all.”

Jimin shook his head. “There is no way I would let you ride after a dragon.”

At his words, the dragon’s head shot in our direction, locking its eyes on the three of us once more. As if taking Jimin’s words as a challenge, the dragon folded its wings and dove. Everything seemed to slow in that moment. Jimin screamed and leapt off his horse to tackle me to the ground. Taehyung unsheathed his sword and brought it up to counter the dragon, but it merely bounced off the hard scales. At the same time, I urged my horse forward, yet we were no match for the dragon’s speed. Before I knew what was happening, I was being lifted into the sky. A scream escaped my lips and I clung to the talons for dear life as we continued to ascend. Below me, Taehyung raced forward in an attempt to reach me in time, yet it was of no use. His horse was nowhere near as fast as the dragon and within seconds, he was completely out of sight.

#jungkook #jeon jungguk #medieval!jungkook au #bts jungkook au #jungkook au #bts #bts au #bts au fanfic #bts fanfic #bts fic #bts fanfiction #bangtan sonyeondan #king namjoon #prince jimin #jungkook x oc #dragon hybrid

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lorem-text · 5 years ago

Text

Good evening, Night Owls.

It’s another quiet night at the office, and with tonight’s show cancelled and Loki asleep, it’s quieter than ever.

So, to keep you company on this dark, seemingly endless night, I have another story for you.

This time, it’s the story of a stag and a crumbling manor.

When I was in primary school, my mother and I would move around often. Not for financial or work-related reasons; she just liked to travel, and my young curious self was eager to go along. It was during my fifth year that we moved to a small town just a few hours away from Oxford. I don’t recall the name, as we didn’t end up staying long, but to this day I’ve never seen a more beautiful forest than the one that surrounded it.

It was also where I met my very first best friend; a girl by the name Martha.

She was new it town as well, having just moved there with her parents from York. Our parents became friends first, and then...we did too.

Every day we would walk to school and back together, and on the way we’d pass this old crumbling manor right on the edge of the woods. It looked ancient; a large part of the roof had given way to the deterioration caused by the passing years, the walls had been taken over by vines and flowers, there were holes on the floor trhough which a few trees had grown, and right in the middle of the lower floor, an old chandelier lay in pieces on the main stairway, the bits of glass scattered around catching and reflecting the sun’s rays to create tiny, colourfu rainbows. In the eyes of our parents and teachers, the manor was dangerous, and they had advised us repeatedly not to go near it. But to us? To us, it looked magical...

Still, neither of us wanted to get grounded so we did as we were told and kept clear of the manor and the surrounding woods on our way to and from school.

That lasted all the way to summer and into the first days of June, until one day...something remarkable happened.

It had been a perfectly normal day up to that point; we had woken up, walked to school, just managed to stay awake for the seven long hours in the punishing summer heat and were on our way back, when something caught out eyes. There, inside the old mannor, walking down the steps the main stairway was a pure white stag with piercing blue eyes, only a shade lighter than Martha’s.

It was the most exciting thing we’d seen in our short lives, as it slowly made its way down the stairs and across the ground floor, coming closer and closer until it finally reached us.

We froze. Terrified that we’d scare it away or worse, anger it, neither of us made a single move or took a single breath until ever so gently, as if trying not to frighten us, it nudged Martha’s cheek with its snout. Very carefully, Martha moved her hand to its head until it leaned into it, letting her pet it. Then, it left, but the next day, when we returned to the manor, there it was again, and that time it looked like it had been waiting for us.

And that was that. Every day after school, Martha and I would rush to the manor where the stag would be waiting by the old stairway, and every day the stag would stay longer and longer until eventually we would spend our entire afternoons there, making it back home just before curfew, telling our parents we had been playing at the main square and lost track of time. When summer vacation started, we would go to the manor earlier and stay there for hours at a time, some times simply petting the stag and others playing pretend at being knights and wizards on a mission for the pale lord of the forest.

Those were happy, carefree days, filled with fun and games and constant laughter... But days such as those rarely last.

It was the day of the summer solistice. The town was holding a celebration and our parents had volunteered to help with preperations, so Martha and I took the chance to sneak to the manor early in the morning, knowing we wouldn’t be missed. Once again, the stag was already there, as if it had known we would be coming. That day, I was the lord of the manor; the evil wizard Kandarah, and Martha was the Queen of Roses; a warrior queen who had vowed to defeat me and free the townspeople from my reign of tyrany. We ran around the crumbling halls of the manor, Martha chasing me with a stick she had for a sword. She had won the last two times and this time I was determined to defeat the queen of roses and claim her magic sword for myself...so I ran up the stairway to the second floor.

That was the first time either of us had gone up there.

The floor was crumbled in places with holes leading to the main hall bellow, and there was a single corridor, its decorated with a faded dark red tapestry. Martha said it reminded her of roses. It made me think of something else entirely. We should’ve headed back, down the stairs and back home; it was nearly time for lunch anyway and neither of us wanted to be late...but something drew us further down that red corridor to the far end where we found an old wooden door, its rusted hinges threatening to fall off the rotted wood. It was locked tight. There seemed to be no other way to get through and into the room beyond, and we were about to head back, when the stag suddenly appeared behind us. Its snow white fur stood out against the red walls, its cold blue eyes stared at us challengingly, and in its mouth it held a key. It was silver and small, engraved with carvings of vines...and it seemed to be a perfect fit for the locked door.

Something felt off. How had the stag found the key? Why had it given it to us? Why did the walls suddenly seem smaller and darker than before? Before I could ask anything, however, Martha had snatched the key from the stag and was already unlocking the door, pushing it open with all her strength.

The room inside was dark, save for a single ray of sunlight that snuck in trhough a chipped part of the roof. The windows were barred and heavy drapes hang over them, and the room itself was empty...save for a single marble pedestal right in the middle and atop of it, a thin cloth, draped over what looked like a canvas.

We moved closer, draw in again by the mysterious force that had led us to that room, and the wooden floor creaked beneath us with every step. Then we reached the pedestal and Martha looked at me, eyes blazing with determination. Together, we grabbed the cloth, counted to three...and pulled it away to reveal what was underneath.

It was the painting of a white stag with cold blue eyes looking forward with a dark forest spread out behind it.

I heard a noise and snapped my head back only to find that the stag had followed us into the room and was now right behind us, staring at the painting, and the painted stag stared back. It felt like looking at a mirror...only Martha and I weren’t in it.

Suddenly, the was a loud snaping sound as the rotted wooden floow gave way underneath Martha. Quickly, I reached for her, trying to grab her arm, to save her- but I wasn’t fast enough, and Martha fell into the darkness bellow.

Horrified, I ran to find my mother. By the time I reached the square, I had tripped three times, tearing my clothes in the process, and I couldn’t stop crying, and when I found my mother, I ran into her arms and told her what had happened between desperate cries and sobs. I told her about the manor and the white stag, about the stairway and the red corridor and thewooden door, until finally I told her about the painting...and Martha’s fall. Al the while, she shushed me and told me to calm down because I was drawing too much attention. I remember I asked her how I was supposed to calm down knowing that my bets friend had died and it was all my fault, but she just held me and took me further in the square, amidst the crowd of people that had gathered to celebrate the solistice. I didn’t know where she was taking me, but I was too tired and scared and numb to protest so I followed her until we reached the centre of the square, where Martha’s parents sat by the fountain making flower crowns. “See?”, my mother said, “Nothing to worry about. Everything’s alright.” I didn’t, couldn’t understand how everything was alright after what I had told her so I ran towards Martha’s parents to...I’m still not sure what, but I froze dead in my tracks. There, between the smiling couple with flower crowns on their heads, was Martha, weaving a flower crown and smiling just as brightly. It was her, safe and sound and without a scratch on her...but her eyes were a shade lighter than they were before.

I turned and ran. I didn’t stop when my teacher waved at me from her house, or when Mister Greene shouted ‘good evening’ from the window of his corner bookshop. I didn’t even stop when I reached my house, but only after I had ran to my bed and hid under the covers, weeping to myself quietly.

I didn’t go out the next day, or the day after, scared of what would happen if I saw my best friend again, but eventually my mother convinced me to go for a visit, saying that Martha had missed me and was worried she had done something wrong. So I did, and it was as if nothing had changed. Neither of us mentioned the stag or the manor, and we played wizards and knights and ate spaghetti and meatballs for lunch like so many times before, but Martha was...calmer than before Gone was the spark of rebellion and the fiery determination, having given way to knowing smiles and a wisdom in her eyes that seemed too old to belong to her.

Even so, June soon came to an end, and my mother and I left for our annual vacation to Skiathos. We only went back to the town for a few days in autumn to gather our belongings, as my mother thought Oxford would make for a nice change of scenery, but I didn’t see Martha during those days, and I haven’t heard from her since.

To this day, I’m still not sure what happened in that manor, but Martha was never really the same after that...and somewhere, burrowed deep in my heart, there is a part of me calling out, whispering that it wasn’t Martha at all...

Eliot Wilde, journalist and writer for Night Owl and host of Night Owl FM

#vtm rp #Eliot Wilde #warning: long read #(impulse writing basically and it's 5 in the morning now so i'll check for any mistakes tomorrow)#(enjoy my sudden one-shot streak!)#(Also casually changing the image bc indecisiveness eyy)

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darkobsidianquill · 5 years ago

Text

Harry Potter and the Descent into Darkness.

Chapter Five

Christmas morning arrived and Harry lay in bed for about a half hour, sunk into his mindscape and spending as much of the morning as he thought he could get away with, with his dark companion.

It was destined to be interrupted though, and Harry found himself being 'shaken awake' by an enthusiastic Ron, shouting about presents and breakfast.

Hermione was still giving Ron the cold shoulder in response to his latest display of insensitive idiocy, and Ron only made it worse by persisting that Hermione had to be lying about having a date.

Hermione, and the rest of the girls of Gryffindor disappeared around 4pm so that they could go get ready for the dance. Harry thought it was ridiculous that it could possibly take anyone four hours to get dressed and cleaned up – especially considering that they had the aid of magic, and that really could only speed things up – but he wasn't an idiot, and opted to keep his incredulity to himself.

Ron wasn't nearly so smart, and ended up on the receiving end of several girls' scowls.

–

At seven, Harry made his way to the dorm room and got into his dress robes. The 'traditional' set of robes that Mrs. Weasley had sent Ron were absolutely hideous and it took every last ounce of will power on Harry's behalf not to burst out in in pearls of laughter at how utterly idiotic the ginger looked in them.

Harry begged off early, both because he was running out of the strength necessary not to laugh at Ron, but also because he needed to go wait for Fleur.

Harry made his way towards the entrance hall and waited for Fleur where they had agreed upon. She didn't keep him waiting too long, and for that, he was grateful.

Harry complimented her on her dress and hair, and the two made easy small talk. Mostly they bantered, and she seemed to find him sufficiently entertaining. McGonagall gathered up all of the champions and pulled them into the side-room, just off the great hall where first years waited before they were sorted at the start of term.

When Viktor Krum entered the room with Hermione on his arm Harry grinned widely at her. She looked sufficiently gleeful. She blushed and ducked her head when she spotted him grinning at her. Cedric came in with the Ravenclaw seeker, Cho Chang on his arm.

Finally McGonagall came back and lead them all into the Great Hall. They made a procession down the center of the gathered crowd and onto the dance floor. Harry caught sight of a furious looking Ron as Hermione walked past him with Krum. Harry grimaced as a small sense of dread settled in the pit of his stomach. He knew that look. It was the look that meant Ron was going to do something monumentally stupid before the end of the night.

Harry sighed and simply hoped he wouldn't be there whenever the ginger did whatever stupid thing he was going to end up doing.

Harry led Fleur onto the dance floor, placed his hand easily on her waist and in her hand, and led her in the traditional waltz that was expected of them for the start of the ball.

A minute into the dance, the rest of the students and professors joined in and the ball had officially begun.

"You just keep surprising me 'arry." Fleur said with a little smirk.

"Oh?"

"Yes. You are a surprisingly good dancer."

"Why thank you, but it's only because your beautiful presence at my side has inspired me to do my best."

She laughed. "I doubt that."

Harry looked at her curiously and tilted his head to the side a bit in mild confusion.

She gave him a knowing little smirk before diverting the conversation onto another topic. They stayed on the dance floor for two more dances before Harry finally decided to try slipping into her mind. He knew it would be easier to find information in her memories of the the task if she was actively thinking about it, but he didn't want to bring up the tournament in their conversation.

He couldn't actually ask her, and even mentioning the second task would surely make her realize he was fishing for information. So instead he distracted her with aimless banter on the school's pathetically limited elective classes. Fleur took up the conversation eagerly and boasted proudly on the multitude of subjects offered at Beauxbatons that Hogwarts did not.

While she talked Harry began digging through her mind, searching for anything in relation to the egg or the task. It was taking longer than he had hoped, and he was finding it hard to stay attentive to their conversation while simultaneously searching her mind.

He was just about to give up and wait till later to try again when he finally stumbled across a memory of a rather... er – naked Fleur, getting into a bath with the egg. She pulled the egg under the water and ducked her head down with it.

She opened the egg and instead of the ear piercing screeching, she was graced with singing voices.

Harry wanted to smack himself in the face.

But still – how the hell would he have ever thought to pull the blasted thing under water to listen to it?

He listened to a bit of the clue, and connected it to some mental images she had of the black lake. It was enough. He knew how to get to the clue on his own now and he could focus on that later. Now, he had to focus on his date.

– –

The band switched to a popular wizarding band called the Weird Sisters. The first fast dance was a little awkward for Harry since he'd never actually danced like that before, but he managed to catch on quickly enough. Fundamentally, all that was required was some confidence and the ability to relax and not worry about what anyone else thought. As long as he didn't give a damn about other people judging him, he wasn't afraid to just cut loose and enjoy the music and the rhythm.

By the forth song that the band performed, he was completely losing himself to the dancing and having the time of his life. Fleur laughed and twirled and danced and Harry was pleased to say that she looked to be legitimately enjoying herself.

A few more songs passed before the two of them sat down at one of the tables, giddy and giggly from exertion and dancing. Hermione and Krum joined them at the table a moment later. Hermione was flushed and smiling brightly, clearly she was enjoying herself too. Krum and Harry both stood from the table and left to go get their dates punch and biscuits. Once their task was completed they made their way back to the table and Harry saw Ron sitting alone at another table against the wall, scowling angrily at the whole room in general, and at Krum, more specifically. The distinct lack of Parvati told Harry that Ron had probably already done at least one obnoxiously stupid thing.

Harry rolled his eyes and walked directly back to Fleur, dedicating himself to steering clear of his angry dorm mate for the rest of the night.

The four of them sat and kept up a simple conversation for a short while. Krum seemed to have a twitch, but then Harry noticed that the Bulgarian was just swatting at a beetle that kept flying around their table.

Harry raised his hand subtly and focused his magic on the desire to ward off the insect. He covered his mouth with his other hand, and turned his head to the side, as if he were covering a cough and hissed §away!§ while keeping his eyes trained on the beetle and twitching his fingers.

The small black insect was instantly sent flying far away and Harry smirked. It was a stupid simple piece of magic, but he'd not only done it without any wand, but he'd also done it without anyone the wiser.

After chatting through another song, Harry felt he'd sufficiently found his second wind and asked Fleur if she was interested in returning to the dance floor. She smiled widely and nodded her head, eagerly allowing Harry to lead her away from the table.

Fleur was a fantastic dancer, Harry decided. Some of her movements got a bit on the risque side in some of the songs, but Harry just laughed and played along. She was clearly amused and the pair of them both seemed to enjoy the watchful eyes locked on them several times through the coarse of the night.

The crowd was beginning to thin, and Harry realized that there was only about thirty minutes left until the ball was officially over. Harry and Fleur were leaving the dance floor in a fit of giggles after a particularly risque set of dance moves made Professor Vector snort punch out her nose in shock.

Their antics had also caused several of the boys dancing in their vicinity to trip over their own feet and fall down, taking their dance partners with them.

They had finally decided that they were causing too much of a scene and willing vacated the dance floor in search of more punch.

Harry came back to Fleur's side after grabbing a couple cups of punch. She was still slightly breathless and recovering from her giggles.

"Oh 'arry, you are far too much fun," she said, covering her mouth with the back of her hand as she finally calmed her chuckles.

"I try, I try," he said with a mock bow before taking a sip of his drink.

Harry was about to open his mouth to say something else when his attention was suddenly drawn to a familiar angry voice. Harry turned towards the sound just in time to see an obviously distressed Hermione standing opposite an indignant looking Ron. Her hands were balled into fists, and her eyes were alight with barely restrained fury.

She growled out angrily, but Harry couldn't make out any of the words. The next thing he knew, Hermione picked up a cup of punch and tossed it into Ron's face before angrily stomping off towards the exit.

Harry blinked and then slowly turned back to Fleur, barely restraining the amusement in his expression.

"What do you sink dat was about?" Fleur said with wide curious eyes as she continued to look over Harry's shoulder to the now soaking wet and pink Ron.

Harry shook his head and sighed. "Ron is an idiot. He probably said something appropriately idiotic."

"Isn't he one of your friends?"

Harry snorted, but quickly shifted his expression. "Er... I suppose. Or we used to be, but we've kind of grown apart a bit. I think the biggest problem is I grew up a bit since last year, and he... well, he hasn't."

"Ah. Should you go check on your friend 'ermione?"

"She's probably run off somewhere to have a good cry. I probably wouldn't even be able to help her even if I could find her."

Harry led Fleur back onto the floor only one more time that night, for the final song of the night. Finally, the band pack up and left, and all of the students began to disperse.

Harry walked with Fleur back towards the wing where the Beauxbatons students were being housed during their stay.

"I had a truly wonderful tonight, 'arry. Thank you for inviting me," Fleur said with a smile and a twinkle in her eye as they came to a stop beside a deserved alcove a brief distance from where they would have to part ways.

Harry grinned and shrugged. "I had fun too. Thank you for accepting my invitation."

Fleur smiled and gave Harry a rather piercing look for a long silent moment. Harry felt an odd tingling sensation float through him for a moment. It was a foreign sort of magic he wasn't familiar with and he narrowed his eyes and looked at her speculatively.

"What are you doing?" he asked when his curiosity got too powerful to ignore.

Fleur ducked her head, but her grin was obvious. "Just testing a theory. Tell me something 'arry. You're gay, aren't you?"

Harry's eyes widened and he blinked at her in surprise. "Er..." he began but snapped his mouth shut. He scrutinized her for a moment before he chuckled and shrugged. "Yeah. How'd you figure that?"

He giggled and rolled her eyes. "I am Veela, 'arry."

"You say that like it's supposed to mean something to me."

"I hit you with a very strong wave of my aura and you didn't even bat an eyelash. It meant that you either had no interest at all in women, or you hadn't yet hit puberty, and I can plainly see that you have done the later."

Harry chuckled and shrugged again. "It doesn't bother you, does it? That I asked you to the ball even though.."

"Of course not. I already suspected, even before tonight."

At this Harry rose his eyebrows questioningly.

"The way you were able to approach me with such ease. Both before zee first task, and then again when you asked me to zee ball. You showed none of the usual reactions to my aura."

"Ah, I see," Harry said nodding his head. "And it really doesn't bother you?"

She laughed at this. "Bother me? Of course not. You were funny and witty and able to hold a conversation. It was far better an evening that I had anticipated it being when we were first told of zee ball."

Harry ducked his head and smiled broadly. "Well, I'm glad you had fun."

Fleur grinned and gave him a simple little nod. She leaned forward then, and Harry's eyes widened in mild surprise as she pressed her lips on his cheek. She pulled back and that mischievous twinkle was in her eye.

"Goodnight, 'arry. Good luck with the second task."

Harry grinned and pushed down the mild blush that had managed to bloom on his cheeks. "Good luck to you too," he said once he'd regained his composure. "Goodnight."

Fleur turned and left the alcove only to disappear through a doorway a moment later.

Harry watched her leave and sighed. He was exhausted, but it had been fun. Much more fun than he had ever expected.

He pushed himself off the wall he'd started to lean against and turned in the opposite direction. A little bug buzzed around his head and he shooed at it with his hand absently before jogging towards the grand staircase, and back up to Gryffindor Tower.

– – –

He swirled the shot glass of brandy in his small spindly fingers. His first Christmas in a body in more than a decade.

He snickered at his own thoughts. It was ridiculous for him to have such sentimental thoughts. Besides, his current vessel only barely qualified as a body, although his control over his magic was gradually improving.

He had spent the day with only Nagini as company. But she made surprisingly good company, so that wasn't exactly a bad thing. He certainly preferred spending the day with her than spending it in the company of Wormtail. Now that was a decidedly pathetic prospect. Spending the holidays with Wormtail.He could practically feel the bile try to rise in his throat at the mere thought.

He sighed and set the small glass down on the table beside the dwarfing armchair he currently resided in. Next to it lay the book he'd been reading. It was an old text. One that Barty had managed to find for him. It was on the theory of ancient blood magic. The subject intrigued him. He theorized that dear Lily Potter had been playing around in darker magics than anyone else had suspected her capable of.

He was finally beginning to form a theory as to how the Potter brat had managed to survive that night and why his body had been so utterly obliterated. He hated not knowing. Any knowledge that escaped him frustrated him beyond words and filled him with the most intense desire to discover it's every secret.

Aside from the fury he felt at being deprived of the much needed time to complete his work, being trapped in that horrific half-life had been most maddening in how mind numbingly boring it had been. Utterly unable to do anything, least of all, study the nature of magic or improve his skills. His perception of the passage of time had been warped. Years had passed in such a fast, hazy blur, that he hadn't had to suffer the boredom for nearly as much time as had actually passed.

But at the same time, it had taken so long for him to regain a modicum of power and begin to regain his awareness of the world around him that thirteen whole years had passed since he was last in power. Thirteen years. He had so much work to do. So much ground to recover.

So much to do, and yet here he sat, unable to do anything.

Frustrating didn't even begin to cover it.

He pushed himself up into a sitting position and scooted his undersized body to the edge of the chair before hopping down into and standing position. He felt like a bloody house elf in this damned body.

Shriveled and disgusting. He yearned for the beautiful masculinity of his former form and wondered if he'd be able to fully recover it. Chances were high that he would once again be physically distorted by the powerful magics he was using to restore himself. That was unfortunate, but certainly not unexpected. It was more important that he regain a fully functional body and return to his tasks than any sense of vanity he may have still possessed. He could not wait for a better option to come alone, so he would have to make due with what he could.

He could think of several ways to power his resurrection spell that would achieve more ideal results, but the chances of any of those circumstances coming to pass were basically non-existent. So unfathomable were they, that they were not even worth the time to consider them.

He walked across the study, past Nagini who was curled up and sleeping by the fireplace, and to one of the bookshelves. He reached for a book of Shakespeare's plays, and took it back to his seat. He grumbled bitterly to himself that he had to bother walking to get the book instead of being able to simply summon it. But he needed to reserve his magical strength for when it actually mattered.

He returned to his seat with an annoying amount of discomfort and opened the book to King Lear. He always felt that it and Julius Caesar were particularly poignant to his situation. He snickered to think of how his followers would react to him reading muggle literature. Such mindless blind sheep.

Of course he didn't know if that were the case anymore. How many of his followers would have remained faithful to him over the passage of so many years? Would he have to start over from scratch? The thought was entirely disconcerting.

And frustrating. So many frustrations.

He sighed, trying to just let it go... for now. He need only wait and he would be able to begin his efforts. He relaxed back into the chair and began to read.

– – –

KING LEAR

Dost thou call me fool, boy?

Fool

All thy other titles thou hast given away;

That thou wast born with.

Harry blinked open his eyes and felt utterly disoriented. He sat up, shaking his head slightly as a minor bout of dizziness echoed through his head. He looked around his bed and onto his small night table, trying to find his book. He must have fallen asleep reading it...

Harry paused and frowned. He hadn't been reading. He'd come to bed after the ball and practically collapsed into the bed from exhaustion. But he had been reading... it was Shakespeare. Harry had never actually read any Shakespeare before. He always found the words too confusing and hard to make sense of. It was too hard for him to follow it, but he hadn't had the problem last night. He'd actually gotten quite engrossed in it.

But he hadn't gotten to finish it. He'd...

Harry hadn't been reading the book; Voldemort was. He'd had another... vision. Or whatever they were. He'd been in the Dark Lord's mind again.

Harry's frown deepened slightly, and he sighed heavily. He reached up and ran his fingers through his messy morning-hair. His palm brushed over his scar and his eyes involuntarily fell closed and a shudder shot through him. His lips parted and a shuddering breath escaped from between them. Hesitantly, he let his fingers brush lightly across his scar. Just once, then twice. He traced the lightening bolt shape with his index finger lightly, and then with more pressure. Warm zaps of power coursed through him and he got lost in the sensations and the instinctive act for several minutes before he finally realized what he was doing.

Harry's eyes snapped open and he pulled his hand away and looked at it with mild horror.

What was wrong with him?

–

Harry was quiet and distant from his friends for the rest of the day. Hermione was clearly still angry with Ron, and Ron was angry right back. Since they were each giving each other the silent treatment, Harry didn't have any trouble avoiding conversation.

He was distracted and... confused.

An hour after lunch he found himself entering the school library and looking around with a lost, confused expression.

"Do you need help with something, Mr. Potter?" Madam Pince asked as she came up to him.

"I... do... does the school have a copy of any of Shakespeare's plays?"

She looked confused for an instant, and then the expression was replaced with surprise. "I'm sorry Mr. Potter, but I'm afraid that we don't."

Harry frowned, feeling legitimately disappointed and wondered if there were any owl-order places he could buy a muggle book from or if he would have to wait until summer when he was abandoned back in the muggle world.

"Oh, well... thanks anyway," he said with a sigh as he turned away and left the library.

His companion had remained silent for the majority of the day, but Harry could still feel his presence in the back of his mind. The presence served to remind him that he wasn't alone, and it was a calming reassurance.

He wandered the halls of the castle for a while, just trying to clear his head. Finally he resigned himself to focusing on some more pressing needs and went back up to Gryffindor Tower to prepare his things for taking his first dose of the accelerant potion that night.

He set his his invisibility cloak, the Marauder's Map, and his satchel with the first dose of the accelerant potion, as well as one dose of each of the other two potions, since he'd need to take them the next morning when he got up, and he figured he'd may as well just have them on hand. His bag also had a change of clothes that he could change in to.

Getting his things ready hadn't taken nearly enough time though and he sighed in frustration and impatience.

He made his way down to the common room, where he found Ron sitting at one of the tables with Dean and Seamus, playing exploding snap. They were being obnoxiously loud and Harry sneered disdainfully at the small gathering.

"Harry?"

Harry spun around and quickly masked his expression as he came face to face with Hermione.

"Are you alright?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm fine," Harry said, giving her what he hoped was a convincing smile.

"Are you sure? You've seemed rather distant today."

"Yeah, 'Mione. I'm fine. Really."

She smiled at him and nodded her head. She began to make her way past him when an idea made itself known in Harry's mind.

"Hey, Hermione?"

"Yes, Harry?"

"I know this may be a long shot, but do you have many muggle books in your collections?"

"Of course."

Harry blinked and was stunned by the power of the hope that bloomed in his chest. Why was it so damned important to him to get that book? He pushed the thought aside and pressed on.

"Do you have any Shakespeare?"

Hermione's eyes lit up and she smiled. "Oh yes. I have his complete works!"

"Seriously? Can I barrow it!" Harry asked excitedly.

To say that Hermione looked shocked, was an understatement. "O-of course! But why?"

"I just... I wanted to read a couple of his plays."

"Which ones?"

"Uh, King Lear and Julius Caesar?"

Hermione nodded her head thoughtfully and made a humming noise in her throat. "Those are both really good. Two of his tragedies."

"Yeah. Do you... er, do you think I could borrow it now?"

"Oh! Of course. I'll be right back," Hermione said with a smile and raced back up the stairs towards the girls' dorm. She was gone for nearly five minutes and Harry felt himself begin to fidget impatiently. Finally she came back down the stairs, clutching a thick book and smiling.

She reached the bottom and handed the book over to a very eager-looking Harry. He took it and looked at it almost reverently. It wasn't an expression Hermione was accustomed to seeing on Harry's face when looking at a book. Looking at a broom, maybe – but a book?

"You've really changed a lot this year, Harry," Hermione said thoughtfully.

Harry looked up at her suddenly and frowned. "What do you mean?" he asked in a rather guarded tone.

"Well... I never really see you playing chess or exploding snap with the others. You don't go flying with Ron or get excited by their debates on Quidditch, and it seems like you're reading a lot more."

Harry shrugged dismissively and turned away from her as he began to make his way over to one of the chairs.

"I don't see it as a bad thing," he said quietly as she followed.

"No..." she said slowly. "It's not. Actually, I'd say you've matured a lot. You're... I guess you see more confident with people. I'm really impressed with how much more seriously you've been taking your studies."

"My priorities changed. I've also learned to see Hogwarts for what it really is."

Hermione waited, expecting him to elaborate, but he didn't, so she prodded. "What do you mean?"

"Well... I think I used to just see it as... well, first and foremost, as an escape from the Dursley's. But secondly it was just school. You come here and you get assignments, and you take tests and you turn in your homework. You know – just school."

"But you don't see it as that anymore?" Hermione asked with a bit of confusion in her tone.

"No. It's not about grades or tests or homework. It's about learning. About gaining knowledge. It's about an opportunity to become better. To become stronger. By not taking it seriously, I was wasting a huge opportunity."

He looked up and saw Hermione looked at him with a mixture of awe, and joy. "Harry! I'm so proud of you!"

Harry ducked his head and barely managed to keep from scowling. Instead his expression became a vague frown.

"Yeah, well... I just... I realized that I was an idiot. I followed behind Ron because it was easier, but also because I thought it was more important to keep my friend than getting O's. If I started doing really good in my studies, I knew I'd alienate him. You know? If we were both doing really well, he'd get all pissy."

Hermione scowled and stuck her nose into the air. "Yes, well, he's an idiot." she spat rather harshly.

Harry laughed. Really laughed.

Hermione startled and looked at him oddly. Harry finally managed to calm himself a minute later. "Sorry, 'Mione. Erm... yeah. Ron is an idiot. But that's part of what made me realize that I was being an idiot too, because I was using him as a role model. I was imitating his behavior, and for all the wrong reasons. So I stopped."

"Well I'm proud of you, Harry," she said, giving him a proud smile.

"Er... yeah. Thanks."

Harry finally managed to escape her scrutiny and settled into the chair to read the book. He got lost in it, and was jolted out of his focus by Hermione tapping him on his shoulder and telling him it was time for dinner.

He kept the book with him and read it all through dinner, earning him a bewildered look from Ron. He spent the evening doing the same and was most of the way through Julius Caesar when Ron said he was going to head off to bed soon.

"Oh, hey! Ron?" Harry called out as the ginger began to climb the stairs. He paused and turned back, questioningly.

"I need to work on my potion tomorrow and I'm going to be getting up really early for it. I'll probably be gone before you even wake up, and I'll be down in the dungeons till a while after lunch."

"Ugh, seriously? Blimey, mate! You're working too hard! All this reading and potion brewing. You need to relax some more. You should join us for some exploding snap tomorrow afternoon."

"Yeah... I'll think about it Ron," Harry said with a fake smile.

"You coming up to bed?"

"Yeah, I should," Harry said with a resigned sigh as he closed the book and stood to his feet.

He followed Ron up the stairs and went through the motions of preparing for bed. The rest of his dorm mates were already in bed and asleep, judging by their snoring. Ron climbed into his bed and lowered his hangings. Harry did the same and sat in his bed for about twenty minutes until he was sure that Ron had fallen asleep too.

He slipped out of his bed, pulling the hangings closed and applied a non-verbal sticking charm to them. He pulled on his invisibility cloak, grabbed his bag and the map and silently slipped from the room.

–

Ten minutes later, Harry was walking into Slytherin's study in the Chamber of Secrets. He laid out his supplies on a short table to the side of the chaise lounge and pulled off his robes, leaving him in soft cotton pajama pants and a t-shirt.

He eyed the thick silvery potion warily. He knew this wasn't going to be pleasant. He also knew there wasn't anything he could do about it. He had set his mind to doing this, and he wasn't going to go back now.

He settled himself down onto the chaise and held the potion bottle in front of him. He swallowed the lump in his throat and opened the bottle. He dumped the contents into his mouth as quickly as the slow thick fluid would allow and swallowed it before his nerves could kick in too strongly.

It tasted... cold. It was almost minty. He was surprised by the fact that it didn't taste disgusting, but any thoughts about it's flavor left him the instant the burning began.

His back arched and then his body curled into a tight fetal ball as the waves of pain began to course through him. He screamed out in shock of how intense the agony was, and how quickly it had hit him. He wondered for a moment if he had made some horrible mistake, but knew from the warnings in the book that it was supposed to feel like this. He'd been warned. He couldn't claim ignorance.

He clenched his teeth and keened out terrible whimpering noises as his hands came up and fisted into his hair, pulling it and clawing at his scalp.

Merlin, he was an idiot! How could he possibly endure this for twelve hours? And then do it again once a week for two bloody months!

Harry felt the tears beginning to stream down his cheeks and his whole body was twitching and convulsing with the mind shattering spasms of pain. He feared that the pain would drive him mad before morning, if it kept up like this.

Harry...

Harry continued to writhe and moan.

Harry... come to me. Escape... into your mind...

...escape the pain... here... with me.

Harry just barely managed to process the words through the fog of burning fire. He tried to calm his breathing, but quickly gave it up as a bad job. Instead he let his practiced instincts guide him, and sunk deep into his mind.

He gasped in relief as all of the pain suddenly left him and he was left standing in the center of his mottled gray mindscape. The black silhouette of his companion was standing there with a nervous tension to the set of his shoulders.

Are you well, Harry?

Harry sighed and nodded his head as he made several quick long strides forward. As he approached his companion opened his arms wide, in a welcoming gesture, and wrapped them around Harry, warmly, as the younger wizard finally reached him.

The feeling of completeness filled him as he wrapped his arms around his companion's waist in return and he breathed a sigh of relief.

– –

Harry 'woke' the next morning feeling sore and utterly exhausted. He had stayed 'conscious' in his mindscape the entire twelve hours. Falling asleep meant risking returning his aware mind to his body, and instantly being woken by the searing pain. So he had remained, safely locked away within his own mind. Safe from the pain.

He stood from the chaise on weak, wobbly limbs. His throat felt dry and horse and he suspected it was from screaming all night long. He shakily made his way across the office to a large standing mirror that rest to one side of the room. Harry hissed out a cleaning spell and waved his hand over it, blowing away fifty years worth of dust and cobwebs and then looked at himself.

At first he didn't see much. He reached down to the hem of his t-shirt and pulled it up over his head in a slow, jerky motion.

His skin was scattered with faded yellow and green bruises, looking to be weeks old, even though they weren't. The book had said that they would be gone by the end of the day she he was pretty confident that no one would get the chance to see them.

Looking bast that, Harry could see a notable difference in his body mass already and he grinned. He couldn't see his ribs any more, although he still looked fairly scrawny. He twisted and tried to examine his back. The vertebrae of his back used to be shockingly obvious, but they no longer were. His forearms didn't look nearly as thin anymore either.

Despite the bruising, in general, his skin looked better. Healthier, and it had a better color to it. Not so pale or sickly. His face looked filled out slightly more – his cheeks and eye sockets weren't so sunken anymore; but he hoped the change was subtle enough no one would question it.

In general, the changes were small, but it was progress. And he knew it was better if the changes were slow or else more people would notice them and question him.

Harry walked back over to the chaise and picked his wand up from the table beside it. He cast a few cleansing charms over himself, but knew he would need an actual shower, and soon. He had sweat like mad during his ordeal and he felt decidedly icky. He cast a cleansing charm on the chaise as well and was suddenly grateful that he hadn't lost his bowels during everything. He was almost surprised that he hadn't.

He grimaced. That definitely wasn't something he wanted to deal with.

Ew.

He changed into the clean robes he'd brought with him and took his morning dose of the nutrition and muscle restructuring potions before packing up his things and leaving the chamber.

– –

The following day Harry asked Hermione if she had any idea where he might take a bath. She looked at him funny and asked him why he wanted to take a bath and why a shower wasn't sufficient.

Harry explained that the egg needed to be opened under water to retrieve the next part of the clue, and she seemed to accept this explanation without pressing for more. She informed him that it was her understanding that the prefect bathrooms had actual baths, and he could always ask permission to use one of them.

He heeded her advice and sought out McGonagall right after dinner. She clearly knew about the egg because she wasn't the least bit surprised that he was requesting access to the bath, and gave him the password to the Gryffindor's prefect bathroom.

He collected the egg from his trunk, and grabbed some toiletries and a change of clothes and made his way there.

Ten minutes later and Harry was standing, starkers, at the side of an enormous bubble-filled bathtub, with the golden egg in hand. He slipped down into the glorious warmth and melted into the scented water surrounded by magical bubbles. He allowed himself to just soak in it for a few long moments before he finally sighed and sat up. He set his glasses aside, took a deep breath, and dunked himself under the water.

He unlatched the egg and let it open. The sound of singing voices reverberated through the water instantly.

"Come seek us where our voices sound,

We cannot sing above the ground,

And while you're searching, ponder this;

We've taken what you'll sorely miss,

An hour long you'll have to look,

And recover what we took,

But past an hour - the prospect's black,

Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."

Harry rose back out of the water, sucking in another deep breath and frowning slightly as he mulled over the words in his head. He took another deep breath and went under to listen again.

A few more times and he was positive he had the whole thing memorized. He set the now-closed egg onto the floor beside the tub and relaxed back into the water.

Come seek us where our voices sound, we cannot sing above the ground.

So underwater. Mermaids can't sing above water. In fact, now that he thought about it, he had read in a magical creatures book that mermaid language sounded like nasty screeching to people, above water. He shook his head and sighed, annoyed that none of this stuff occurred to him before. There were mermaids in the black lake, right?

An hour long you'll have to look

That was probably the biggest complication, right there. So he had to be able to stay under water for a whole hour, and he had to find something while doing it. So not just being able to breath underwater, but also being able to swim and navigate. He would need to be able to see better so that he could actually find the whatever-it-was – and it wasn't called the black lake for nothing. It was deep, and it was dark.

So; underwater breathing. Some sort of swimming aid. Something to aid his sight...

And they were going to take something from him.

Something that you'll sorely miss.

What could they take? His invisibility cloak? That would certainly be difficult to find. Especially under water. He sure as hell hoped that, that wouldn't be the case. There wasn't too much that they could take from him that he would 'sorely miss'. The cloak, the map, and his wand. Everything else could be easily replaced.

So aside from the other things he needed to look up, it would probably also be useful to research some different kinds of tracking spells that he could use under water.

With that decided, Harry took advantage of his remaining time in the bath and relaxed until all of the bubbles had disappeared.

#Harry Potter #Tom Riddle #Dark!Harry #Tomarry #Harry Potter and the descent into Darkness..

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andy-loves-corgis · 6 years ago

Text

The Eyes, Laugh and Lies of Anneliss York - Part 1 (Lily)

Hey guys, I know this is mainly a Choices blog, but my lazy ass doesn’t want to create another blog so you’ll get some Harry Potter fanfics too!

Book: Harry Potter - Marauders Era

Pairings: James x Lily, Sirius x OC, Remus x OC

Notes: So, this fic is from 2015, when I just wrote for HP fandom, and @drakewalkerrosenberg wanted to see a little of my HP fics, so here it is.

It’s basic centered on my OC Anneliss York, her life will be told through the eyes of her friends and lovers now that she’s dead. Each chapter will be someone’s POV, and they will complement each other. Tell me if you want to be tagged.

***

Lily Evans

The house was cold, my husband’s family manor used to be full of joy, but now it was empty. His father died first, his mother couldn’t bear to live without him,passing right after, and now she was gone too.

Anneliss was dead.

I just couldn't stare at her portrait anymore, she was my best friend, the one who lived my ups and downs, who was with me every bloody time that I needed. She couldn't be just gone, a person like her cannot die! Life was beaming out of her fingertips at anytime. It hurt so much to remember the times that I've spent with her, mainly due to the fact that her gorgeous 7-month-old daughter is right here, smiling on my lap, playing with my son. Looking one more time to her smile, I can’t help but chant the words we’d always said to each other, even though she’s not saying it back. Never again.

“I love you like a sister, Liss"

November 11th, 1972

I was sitting at the far corner of the library studying potions, Severus was serving a detention due to Potter bullying instincts and couldn't be there with me. I had already written two parchments of our potions essay (even though the professor had said it could be only one and a half) and was checking the information when I felt someone's stare on me, when I looked at my side I saw a girl not much taller than me, with long brown hair with the sides pinned with bright red hair clips, eyes that I couldn't figure out if they were blue or green and some freckles spread on her face. I knew her, she was Anneliss York, Gryffindor; same year as mine. Somehow she was related to Potter and the talk was that she was the adoptive daughter of our Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher, Professor Dumbledore. She was a bit of a loner.

"Hi" she started shyly "Could you lend me the potions book when you're finished? There is no other available and I haven't started my essay yet. Besides, I really suck at this subject"

"Sure" I answered awkwardly "Humm... Do you want some help?" her face lit and she nodded.

That day she would become my best friend.

February 8th, 1974

"Why can't you go with me to Hogsmeade?" I ranted looking for my brown jacket in my drawers, the brunette on the bed beside me sighed.

"Lily, I've already told you, I'm going out with Sirius". She didn’t even bother to look at me.

I was dazed by her answer "I thought you got over your crush on that neanderthal", she sighed once again.

"And I did, he and James made a bet, fifty chocolate frogs on who would take a girl to a date and kiss her by the end of the day, he promised me half of the prize and I said yes".

"Wait. That's why that toerag you call cousin was screaming in the halls 'Evans, go out with me'?" I stopped my search for a second, really irritated.

"Probably" She said carelessly scraping the dirt out of her nails.

I had finally found my jacket and looked judgingly to her "You sold yourself short, and you're going to lose a perfect day with me and Sev", she snorted putting a red Every Flavor bean on her mouth, muffling the sound of her next words.

"Yeah, like I would go out with the couple".

"We're not a couple!" why everyone thought we were? She raised her brow and said:

"Sure" she said going in the bathroon's direction "I'll pretend he's not drooling over you every bloody minute, now if you excuse me I have to get ready for my first kiss and lots of chocolate frogs later on. I'm really a lucky girl".

I laughed at her remarks, she was really a girl of attitude.

June 21st, 1976

Mudblood

I couldn't believe he had said it, he could not have said it! He was my best friend, long before Hogwarts, when magic was just a silly daydream of mine. He said that word, that piercing word that would haunt me forever in the wizard world. It doesn't matter that he came to apologise, why would I be different from every other muggle-born that he called that? I was beyond second chances with him and that hurt me more than I could imagine. I was crying my eyes out in the dorm, so immersed on my own self-pity that I didn't hear her coming.

She sat on the edge of my bed and hugged me, I started sobbing "Why does my blood matter so much?" my body was shaking uncontrollably.

"Shhh" I heard her next to my ear, her hand was caressing my disheveled hair and I started to hear her voice filling my head. "It doesn't mean anything to those who really matter" She laid me on my bed and I heard her melodic whispers.

"Don't lose it all,

in the blur of the stars.

Seeing is deceiving,

dreaming is believing,

it's okay not be okay.

Sometimes is hard,

to follow your heart,

but tears don't mean you're losing,

everybody's bruising.

Just be truth to who you are."

And she lulled me to sleep, so I could wake up a new person. I would be a better friend to her, that was always there for me whenever I needed.

January 10th, 1977

The night was silent, the ones who couldn't find a place near the fireplaces went to sleep early because the cold outside was as imposing as the dark figure that was slowly starting a war on the wizard world, I was wide awake in my bed, thinking that I would be an adult ‪in 20 days‬, a mudblood adult, who could be killed at any moment.

"Lily, are you awake?" I heard Liss calling me, and the apprehensive tone she used worried me.

"Yes" I answered, but silence met me on the other side, I knew she had not fallen asleep so she was probably thinking about what she was going to say, "spill it" I almost ordered, the other girls in the room were sound asleep (Mary was too soundly for my taste).

"IsleptwithSiriusontheholidays" she said so fast that at first I couldn't understand, I guess it was the shock, because when I could figure what she said I choked on my breath.

"You did what? Merlin, Liss, haven't you dumped Edlor Thomas because he was only thinking about sleeping with you? How could you sleep with your bloody best friend?! That's crazy Liss, how did it started? Are you two dating now? Does Potter know? He's gonna kill him..."

"Lily, calm down please" she whispered pleading "It just happened, it's your fault actually, no one wanted to go with us to Tenerife! It happened, it was nice, we're still best friends, nothing has changed... I guess" I tried to calm my breath, but Liss' confession was making me uncomfortable about keeping my own secret .

"I kissed Potter yesterday, under a mistletoe" I confessed in a small voice.

"YOU WHAT?"

I couldn't even answer, since her exclamation had awaken all of the girls in the dorm, but I got the feeling that I wouldn't hear the end of it on the next day.

September 2nd, 1977

"Liss, wake up! It's first day of school, our last first day. I need to run or I'll have a heart attack" I was shaking a peaceful sleeping girl who started mumbling really pissed when awake, but started to dress up anyway. It was our tradition, actually it was my tradition. I would wake her up at dawn and make her jog with me on our first day of school, and she would be grumpy and snarl at my comments. That's just how we were.

"So, how are you?" I asked when we stopped by the Herbology greenhouses."Is Remus talking to you again? I couldn't find him yesterday at the banquet" she looked at the grass, she had been like this for two weeks now.

"No, no word since he broke up with me" she answered in a small voice.

"I think he's right you know, if you're battling feelings for Sirius you should just let them out, I think he likes you too. Of course you made a mess by dating Remus, but if he's giving you the chance to be happy, take it"

Her stare was lethal and I could study those eyes which sometimes seemed green and other seemed blue, she was really pissed.

"Well, Lily, I think it would be just polite of you to know your heart like you know mine. James won't chase you forever you know" that said she just started jogging ahead of me.

Touché.

October 13th, 1977

We were laying on the gardens, it was past the school curfew but we sneaked out anyway, it was our last year and I could afford some rule-breaking (I could cover it anyway by being a Head Girl). James Potter, the new Head Boy, had kissed me this afternoon, the Gryffindor lost the first game of the season to Ravenclaw and James was frustrated, I felt really bad for him. I was studying near the windows of the Common Room and saw him marching towards me, still in his quidditch uniform full of mud and sweat with a determined look on his face, we had become friends over the past few months and I never saw him like that. It was fast, he didn't even stop in front of me, just put both hands on the sides of my face and kissed me. 'You are going out with me next weekend' he said to my blushy face and I would have kissed him again if it wasn't for all the students around.

"Liss?" I asked the girl by my side, who turned her face from the sky to look at me. "I'm in love with James Potter"

And she would take my hand, smile at me and say "I'm glad you finally noticed it"

September 17th, 1978

"HE PROPOSED!" I screamed entering her flat as she jumped frightened in fear with her hand on her wand, those were dark times and for a flick of a second I forgot that.

"OH MERLIN'S ARSE!" she exclaimed after the information sank in "You are going to be married! I'm so so so happy for you" she was hugging me tight, I could feel her happiness and that made me feel alive, she was the sister that my own could never be.

"Will you be my maid of honor?" I asked drying the tears that I didn't even knew I was shedding. "If you didn't ask I would possibly slice your throat!" she said smiling fully.

"How about you and Sirius? When are you two tying the knot?" she started to laugh openly.

"Can you imagine Sirius Black getting married? He surely prefers to mess around in my kitchen and complain about the amount of drawers that he has here"

January 3rd, 1979

"I feel like we have to be afraid all the time" Liss told me while we were having tea at my place, I had to agree with her, those were dark times, but I knew something that she didn't.

"Let's do something stupid for once!" I said with a mischievous smile, I was becoming more and more like my husband, "Let's go to some shop, you buy me a dress and I buy you one, and we aparate in some beach and just pretend we don't have any worries! Just for today, please?” she laughed like I was crazy but went on anyway. We stopped by a muggle store that I loved, spent half an hour looking for the dress, actually she did, I already knew what to buy to her.

"Oh Lil, white? You know that when I use white it seems like my freckles multiply" she said when we were back to her flat and she tried her treat, I snorted, she looked amazing on the long strapless dress.

"You don't even have a hand full of freckles, don't let Sirius comments get to you. Besides the deal was: I would choose you a dress and you would do the same to me, now cheer up. It's time for the beach"

I was so excited to see her face, we stepped on the warm sand and we both smiled, she had her back to the sea and I was trying not to focus on what was behind her. "Here" I said taking a sparkly little head piece of my purse and putting in her hair "Something borrowed... hum, the dress is new"

"What's going on, Lil?" when she turned her eyes grew wide, as she took it all in her mouth opened and closed a couple of times. There was a small tent decorated with flowers, a strange man behind an altar and Sirius Black wearing a white tunic on the right side, while James was wearing a black one on the other.

"You need something blue" and I conjured a bouquet of blue spring star flowers "As for something old, you would have to go for our friendship".

"Oh, Lil" there were tears in her eyes, I felt honored to take her to the altar, so she could be forever happy, like I was.

November 15th, 1979

We were surrounded by Death Eaters, they were large in numbers than us and I was truly scared for the first time, Sirius was on another mission and Liss was at home feeling frightened all the time, the pregnancy taking its toll on her, I emitted the help signal to the Order's members, we needed back up, but I could never think that she would come, that she would risk herself and her baby for us. But she came, she came because I called, she came because we are her family and she wouldn't let anyone harm us, that's why when she was attacked and started bleeding near a dumpster I felt my heart sink.

"We will take you to a safe place, Liss" I assured her while James and I headed to the hospital "Everything will be alright"

But it wouldn't. I had to gather courage to enter her room in St Mungus, and when she looked into my eyes she knew, and that broke me.

"No" she said in a small voice, "no, no, no. no. NOOO!" she started screaming in her bed, she grabbed the sheets in her fists and cried. "My baby, not my dear baby! No, Lily!” she sobbed and collapsed on the bed when nothing more could hold her awake. And I was there the whole night when Sirius didn't appear, I held her hand because her pain was my pain.

January 14th, 1980

"I'm leaving the house by the end of the week" she said behind her tea mug, her eyes ,always so bright, were dead "It's been long since we stopped looking at each other's face. I think it's just better"

I couldn't meet her gaze any longer, my lie filling the space between us, I felt sorry for her, it was so unfair to have it all and see someone you love so much lose everything, she finished her tea and stood up "I will write you to tell where you can find me. Oh... by the way, this is for you" she said taking a little package out of her purse, when I opened my breath was caught in my throat, it was a comforter with little broomsticks on it. How did she know?

"You will be a wonderful mother, Lil" she said opening a genuine smile and I could see a flick of light in her eyes.

June 21st, 1980

We were laid on her backyard, feeling the grass on our backs, just like we used to do at school, our swollen bellies side by side, I was so happy for us, for how her life was back on tracks. We spent an awful lot of time together making plans for our babies, how they would be intelligent, and brave and would be best friends like all of us, and her light laugh would fill up the warm air, her eyes would light up and she would say:

"I love you like a sister, Lil"

Tagging: @ehkw1989 (Hey girl!)

#not choices #harry potter #harry potter fanfiction #fanfiction #marauders #james potter #sirius black #lily evans #anneliss york

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breakfastatwonhos · 7 years ago

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HP!au fic rec

a/n: these are most likely gonna be updated when we find more fics

A Little? A Lot. by vtaetaem

Min Yoongi and Kim Taehyung are caught breaking some rules they shouldn’t be and their solution isn’t exactly...the best.

The fic in which Kim Taehyung, the current king of Wizarding Korea, finds himself in a rather sticky situation that leaves him enjoying the smile of a certain Slytherin a little too much.

95z And the Horrifically Attractive Hufflepuff Head Boy by sheepishfiction

Taehyung is an unregistered Animagus and Jimin is not that bad at Charms. Jungkook spends an excessive amount of time in the first stall of the second floor boy’s toilet. But none of these things matter, because holy shit, Kim Seokjin.

the curious case of the wolf in the nighttime by gacrux

Jeongguk doesn't know Taehyung, but he's about to. (AKA the HP AU that got away from me).

Boys With Magic Series by Yoongied586

description to be made...

Bet you didn’t know by quartzspirit

Taehyung is a ho for bacon and doesn't notice that something is off. Jungkook reacts too slow. Money is exchanged, pictures are taken and Min Yoongi laughs enough for one year. An ordinary day at Hogwarts, Jungkook thinks.

Spells of Seven Series by SilverAndGreen

Seven students of Hogwarts meet each other through a mystery that takes place in the castle, after which they become best friends. Life seems to continue on as normal, but they don't know that one carries a secret with him; a secret that eventually leads them into something grave outside the walls of their beloved school.

time follows you (and fades) by thebestofme

hp!au - how half-veela!jimin and yoongi fall in love in the Slytherin common room.

(or, two sides of one story: Jimin worries about the effects of his Allure and hides his veela nature; Yoongi loves Jiminie but is too confused by mixed signals to act on it).

Mandrake by sleepychoi

Alternatively titled: Heart's True Intentions

Yoongi and Seokjin, like most of the older couples at Hogwarts, had learned to find little secluded spots to call their own despite the crowded school. Yoongi was also pretty sure that being friends with people like Taehyung and Hoseok made it extra hard for them to find privacy.

Luckily, they had claimed a little corner of one of the greenhouses as their own. They bloomed there just like the flowers did.

Amortentia by Tosun

Jimin didn't think his love potion would actually work.

say the magic words series by heytaetae

description to be written

Shift Spectrum by mintyyoongiJPEG & yoonminaufest

“He keeps screwing up the potion, I can’t work when I have to babysit him constantly to make sure he’s not gonna blow us up!”

“Can you two just– you know what. Yoongi, go switch with Taehyung. You and Jimin are partners for the rest of the year.”

The silence that fell over the classroom could best be described as stunned. All motion in the room stopped as Yoongi felt the tips of his ears heat up and there was that tingle in his scalp again.

All I Want (Is To Get a Little Bit Closer To You) by Lunabunni

The first time Taehyung set his eyes on Jungkook during his second year at Hogwarts, he knew there was something different about him.

night follows you (as it flows) by thebestofme

hp!au - somehow, jeongguk finds himself raising a baby dragon with taehyung. amidst rumors of being the death eaters’ son sorted into the wrong house, he finds hope.

You Smell Like Home by officialkth

Taehyung shows up to class late on the day they're brewing Amortentia, and wonders aloud why everyone is wearing Jeongguk's cologne.

" “My god, Jeongguk, did you lend your cologne to everyone or did you take a shower in it this morning?” Taehyung looks around the room, failing to notice everyone staring at him with open mouths, and takes another deep breath. “Bloody hell, it’s coming from everywhere.”

“Um…We’re brewing Amortentia today, Tae.” "

Blood, Sweat, and Magic by elibanana

This was not how his sixth year was supposed to end. Yoongi was supposed to walk through those double doors to the Great Hall, step up to Seokjin and confess. He was supposed to grab Seokjin’s hand, in front of Namjoon and Byulyi and all the Gryffindors, in front of Seunghoon and Jimin and all the Slytherins, in front of the whole school and profess his feelings. He was supposed to tip his head up, lean in and wait for Seokjin to close the few centimeters of space between them, because he would, of course he would, Yoongi was sure of it. He was supposed to end this year with a boyfriend in the form of one Seokjin Kim, one of Hogwarts’ most talented students and future legendary auror. They were supposed to end up together.

alternatively: a bunch of unexpected turn of events happen to Yoongi in his sixth year in Hogwarts, and he's not sure if he can handle any of it.

rated T for Yoongi swearing a lot.

Bangtan and the Venom of Asmodeus by Honey0613

Seven Korean exchange students have come to Hogwarts. Some are friends ... some are enemies. They have battles and drama, learning how to fight and love. What they don't know is that one of them has a bit of a dark history ...

fantastic beast and where to find them by Throne

Fantastic Beasts with Taehyung as Newt and Yoongi as Tina. Hoseok as Jacob and Jimin as Queenie for comic relief.

Puppy Therapy by gbyesummer (shouldshy)

Curled up next to the gutter is a brown dog, fur matted down from the rain, shivering with its eyes closed. It's managed to at least keep its head dry, tucked beneath the metal spout releasing water into the streets, but it looks cold and tired and something in Yoongi's chest clenches.

The dog barely reacts when he picks it up and strokes the dry, curly fur on his head, just lets out a little huff and a whine. It’s bigger than it looked from a distance, a poodle or some kind of poodle mixed breed, and he was correct in guessing it didn’t have a collar. If it were awake it might be able to sit on one of his arms and lean against his chest. As it is, weak and shaking, he has to carry it with both his arms. He tucks its body beneath his cloak—not a great solution with how soaked it is, but at least it’ll be protected from the wind—and hugs it to his chest.

Brewing Feelings 101 series by feels_train

bangtan hogwarts au featuring dumb boys getting dumber because of feelings.

There's Magic in All of Us (Yet You Enchant Me More Than Anyone) by sobi_baby

Whoever said Slytherins and Hufflepuffs couldn't be friends; Yoongi and Hoseok clearly never got the memo.

You're Stronger Than You Seem by Peque

There's a new program at Hogwarts to bring seven kids from South Korea to build stronger relations with Asia

Min Yoongi is one of the lucky few.

Animagus by notoverthatbityet

The bond formed between the seven young wizards while attending Mahoutokoro, their ancient magical school, is a powerful one, but things are more complicated in adulthood. The past has a way of catching up with you.

and one musn't tell lies by tteokie

Yoongi wants to fly so bad he's ready to break the rules for that. Jung Hoseok is the worst collateral damage possible. (Stop lying).

The Room of Unrequited Love by dyegu

When the new Hufflepuff prefect, Park Jimin, takes an undue interest in Slytherin fourth-year Jeon Jungkook, the younger boy starts wondering if any magic can compare to the uncomfortable bubbly feeling in his heart.

Of Quaffles, Bludgers, and Snitches by lost_things

The International Collegiate Quidditch Tournament is a pretty big deal, and becoming the team captain at Hogwarts is something of a coup but it wasn't something Hoseok expected.

His team?

A Slytherin Keeper with a nasty reputation and a powerful return.

Two Ravenclaw Chasers; one a Third Year hothead and the other his clumsy best friend.

A shy Gryffindor Beater who doesn't live up to the stereotype.

A Seventh Year Gryffindor Chaser who's been relegated to second string because of his Prefect duties.

An insomniac of a Hufflepuff Beater who has more than a knack.

And himself, one of the best Seekers since Harry Potter himself.

He's not quite sure what's going to happen, but he sure hopes for the best.

(Alternatively, Bangtan re-imagined as an inter-house Quidditch team. A story about a modern Hogwarts, their developing friendships and teamwork, and a lot of broom physics.

And Chair cat.)

petrificus totalus by stardots

Seokmin really likes Jaehyun and he also really needs better friends

Hexed (By Your Smile) by sevencts

Little did Jisoo know, he’d phased his way through more than one set of walls.

Audere est Facere by TheJuniorRoyals

Wonwoo was so excited to get his Hogwarts letter on his birthday, until he didn't. Insert Junhui, who will make Wonwoo feel less bad about being non-magic.

Felix Felicis & the Perks of Misconception by TheJuniorRoyals

Ravenclaw Lee Jihoon brews up a batch of Liquid Luck so he can confess to his long term crush, Gryffindor's Kim Mingyu.

live a little by symmetrophobic

a prompt fill for 7fics, asking for markson hp au with jackson as the quidditch captain and mark his much beloved forbidden fruit

Just Lay Back by soft_sweethearts

Baths are supposed to be relaxing. Too bad that word is not in Park Jinyoung's vocabulary.

The Sweets Issue by Aredhel_Alcarin

You may think, as far as Hogwarts history goes, that Gryffindor VS Slytherin quidditch matches are the most intense and extreme ones.

And, well—it’s not that they aren’t intense and extreme. But the point is, despite all that, their matches have nothing to do against Ravenclaw VS Slytherin ones, at least since Park Jinyoung got to be Ravenclaw’s captain.

Late for Lunch by sleepychoi

Yugyeom’s hobby was catching golden snitches, but he managed to catch Bambam’s heart instead.

Soft As A Cloud, Gentle As A Spring Breeze by orphan_account

Im Jaebum is the infamous playboy at Hogwarts. As Gryffindor's Quidditch Captain, and Head Boy, he enters his sixth year with everybody who's anybody wanting to either kiss him or kill him.

It seems like it will be a rather boring year, until Jaebum runs off at the mouth about his sexual prowess and gets caught up in a bet with Park Jinyoung, Slytherin's head boy.

Now Jaebum has to seduce and take to bed anyone of Jinyoung's choice before the school year is up. And what will Jaebum do when he finds himself accidentally falling for his doe-eyed victim?

Choi Youngjae was nobody. He didn't have any friends, any family, any anything. He wasted away his life hidden inside of the library, studying 24/7, until suddenly his life was tipped upside down by a handsome boy with honey-gold hair and a smirk that made Youngjae's palms sweat.

What's going to happen with the two polar opposites? Will they fall for each other? Or will the truth come out and destroy everything?

Chocolate Frogs and Hazy Dreams by yonamjoon

Jinyoung is tired. He's tired of the two loud troublemakers behind him in Charms class. He's tired of his mother pestering him with owls every day about their Christmas plans.

But most of all, he's tired because his mind won't stop racing and ticking and moving. But wizards don't really focus on mental health do they? Not when they're supposed to be smart and cunning and wise. Not when their mind is supposed to be their greatest weapon.

So Jinyoung is tired. And Mark isn't helping.

I Want to Keep You By My Side by kiwiootori

Bambam has always known that she's a girl. Yugyeom has always believed her.

look at me for a sec (don't be too awkward) by turbrolence (shortiest)

in which a bludger shatters jinyoung's shoulder and jaebum ends up volunteering to feed him breakfast.

when i was a young boy by chanyeolanda

Gryffindors and Slytherins Do Not get along, every one knows this. It's bit unfortunate for Jinyoung and Jaebum, childhood friends sorted into the two rival houses.

Jaebum might not handle it very well.

(Alternately: Jaebum makes overdramatic generalisations and probably writes angsty early teen poetry.)

The Line That Separates Us by Tsubame_go

When Jinyoung turns eleven he can't wait to join his best friend Jaebum at Hogwarts. He isn't expecting something as trivial as being sorted into a different house to divide them.

too shy to become your sun by unfairtanktops

sometimes, mark thinks, it's just easier to stay quiet.

(or, the one where jackson is oblivious and everyone is magic)

Bad Behavior by itsonlytime

The year is 1995 and Jackson Wang's popular and well known by the whole Hogwarts, he knows that. Everybody knows that. Leader of his team and probably the best damn quidditch player, out of all four houses. He's just fucking good at it. It's his sixth year and the final exams before the holidays are coming up like a proper snow storm; still he needs to concentrate on having the best game, losing is not an option. Confidence, indeed, was one of his best traits. The thing is: no one expected the damage that a stubborn, rude Slytherin boy could to do him. Someone playing his head like a freaking Golden Snitch wasn't exactly a plan for perfecting his skills.

Quacks like a Slytherin by ichigotabetai

The whole pureblood vs mudblood thing ? It always simmers under the surface. Blood purity might be a thing that's not openly talked about but it's very much alive and well. Baekhyun being completely and wholly muggleborn has always been a target. Now in his sixth year, he gives as good as he gets, insults easily rolling off his tongue because you have to defend yourself even if you think it's stupid and a waste of time. He can now insult a Slytherin pureblood in his sleep, has engaged with verbal wars with almost half of them. It's sort of a thing a Gryffindor does.

But there are some Slytherins who think even engaging in verbal war is beneath them. Park Chanyeol is one of them. For someone so hung up on status and image, he sure has a nice smile which is unfair. Because otherwise, Chanyeol is everything he resents.

make me speechless by misteami

baekhyun was absolutely smitten.

Do Kyungsoo and the Mudblood Muddle by picaselle

Kyungsoo has enough problems as it is. The last thing he wants to do is get involved in a high profile DMLE case, especially when it involves spending time with Chanyeol.

The Best of Friends by oxygenlove

Kyungsoo is a muggleborn Slytherin. Jongin is his pureblood best friend.

Artificial Love Potion by shineebean

Potions class is all fun and games until Kyungsoo’s Amortentia forces him to face the truth.

Sweeter than Victory by Demedicis

It only takes a little bit of Kim Junmyeon, Gryffindor's star keeper, for Do Kyungsoo to lose his cool. Similarly, it only takes a little bit of firewhisky for the seeker to let go of his inhibitions.

Sugar Quill by whenineternal

Yixing is an enigma, a live paradox with his cute smiles and little hands and high voice and his sexy tongue and the provocative way he sucks on the candy and sways his hips when Yifan's looking.

Muggle the Way (To Your Heart) by Changdeol

When among Muggles, do as the Muggles do. And Sehun is determined to, even if he has no idea what that actually entails.

We Need To Test These Suckers Out by indigomini

Kyungsoo works in the Department of Performance Enhancing Magic Research for the Ministry of Magic. He has to test a swimming enhancement spell today, but his test subject is distracting as hell.

lost (but not found) by junxouji

Sehun casts a love spell on the unsuspecting Ravenclaw but he does not expect it to backfire.

You Can Never Tame Me by yagakat

Chanyeol is a flaming idiot and the worst dragon tamer Kris has ever seen.

make up shake up break up by aprilboys

Jongin should've thought a lot more about who he said his fake boyfriend is when he rejected for the umpth time Chanyeol confessing his undying love for him in public, especially since his significant other is no other than his best friend Taemin.

Beware Of The Cat by naomi24

Jongdae is a vicious cat who only wants real food. Minseok likes to remind wizards that owls are the real You-Know-Who. Jongdae simply wants his first love back. And Yixing? Well, he’s just the protagonist.

Disapparitions by trashdemon

Luhan’s a washed-up accountant returning to London. Minseok is homeless. Two lonely people, with no destinations but too many memories, find each other on the Knight Bus.

*edited 8/18/17

#kpop fic recs #hp!au #bts fic rec #will be updated as we find more!#bts #seventeen #svt #pledis svt #seventeen fic fec #got7 #got7 fic rec #exo #exo ot12 #exo fic rec #bangtan sonyeondan #some have smut some do #admin sonnet

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blue-collects-things · 7 years ago

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A List of Some Random Harry Potter Headcanons

The Boy Who Lived

Warnings: mentions of panic attacks and anxiety, mild swearing (shocking, I know), excessive puns

Requested: No

Author’s Note: The first part of my url is “multifandom” which means more than one fandom. And I love the IT fandom a lot, but I want to branch out and do more than just that. So, remember to make your requests from other fandoms too! I’ll get a more comprehensive list of the fandoms I’m in/what I ship sometime in the next 2 weeks.

Really good chef because of all the times his aunt made him cook as a kid

Speaking of, Petunia really does love her nephew and they write to each other all the time (owls are sort of a regular at Privet Drive now)

He and Ginny have a running joke about how many times Rita Skeeter have tried to make them headline material

*sees Ginny opening The Daily Prophet* “Who am I cheating on you with this time, Ginny?”

“This time, it’s Draco.”

“He’ll have a field day with that. And you?”

“I’m secretly very unhappy and have crashed many a date of yours’.”

“Damn it, Ginevra, let me have my affair in peace!”

He teaches James Sirius to ride a broom before he can walk

Every time he broke his glasses as a child, he had to tape them together so as not to hear Uncle Vernon’s speech about how expensive he was and how he should be grateful for all the money he was supplying. At Hogwarts, he learns to fix them with magic and change the prescription when his eyes inevitably get worse.

When he got to school, he was so skinny that the teachers (read: Minerva) were scared to send him back home because they thought he was malnourished.

After the Ron-Lavender incident, Hermione and Harry have platonic cuddle sessions to help assuage their stress and the habit carries into adulthood.

He loses his glasses literally all the time

“Can someone find my glasses?”

“Did you check the table beside you, dad?”

“How about your pocket, father?”

“Are they on your head again, papa?”

“Yes, that’s where they were. Thank you!”

Lily Luna totally calls Harry papa while James goes for father and Albus goes for dad

Harry and Draco were put on the same Auror team and had to learn to respect each other (though they do it grudgingly)

“You’ve lost your touch, Potter. I had to swoop in and save your arse again.”

“We wouldn’t have been in that position in the first place if your dumb ego hadn’t put us there, Malfoy.”

*long pause* “Good job today.”

“You, too.”

Harry is bisexual af.

He had equal crushes on Cho and Cedric during his fourth year.

Fleur totally knew (because she is too) and was Harry’s confidante.

When he found out that they were dating each other, he was crushed.

Fleur and Harry snuck out the next day and talked about all the cute boys and girls in Hogsmeade.

Luna and Harry go dancing every once in a while to have fun and just chat because they are still incredibly good friends

Once, Harry got such a bad headache that he broke down and cried for an hour because he thought his scar was hurting again. Albus finds him curled up in the bathroom and just sits there with him, knowing from first hand experience that the best way to deal with an anxiety attack is to find something steady to focus on.

On particularly bad nights when the PTSD is hard to handle, he and Ginny will stay awake with one another and play wizard chess silently, pretending that all the nightmares in their heads are just that: in their heads and didn’t actually happen to people they love.

Harry most certainly did not loose his ability to speak Parseltongue. He buys a snake and talks to it all the time. One day, he sees little James talk to the snake, a mix of English and hissing, and Harry nearly starts to cry.

“Are you okay, love?”

*tight high-pitched voice* “I’m fine. I’m all good.”

Harry and Hermione team up to trick people about muggle objects and sayings

“So, a ‘computer’ is for washing up?”

“Yes, absolutely, Ron.”

“And does every muggle have an uncle named Bob?”

Harry and Ron tell stories to their kids all the time about their “glory days” and their wives give them equally long-suffering sighs

Every Halloween, Harry gets up really early and Apparates to Godric’s Hollow and lays flowers on his parents graves and talks to them, telling them about their grandchildren and daughter-in-law and his godson. The rest of the day, he throws himself into teaching his kids all about muggle Halloween traditions and dressing them up, giving them candy, taking them trick-or-treating, and watching scary movies with them, but Ginny knows he’s hurting. At night, Ginny opens her arms and Harry lays in them, thinking of the lives his parents could have had and listening to his wife’s heartbeat until he falls asleep.

Teddy practically lives with the Potters. He’s got his own room, a toothbrush, and some clothes. Harry tells him stories about his father and shows him pictures of when their parents went to Hogwarts together.

Whenever someone takes pictures of Harry, he can’t help but think of little Colin Creevey, hiding behind his camera. For a moment he’s sad, Colin was a friend and fellow Gryffindor, but then he smiles, remembering that picture-taking Colin would’ve wanted him to.

Harry grows a bit of a beard at one point. Whenever he goes out, he gets catcalls and wolf whistles from women of all ages and some men, too.

The first time Ron saw it, however, he was less than impressed.

“Why’ve you got that badger on your face, mate? You’re a bloody lion, for Merlin’s sake.”

Dudley’s daughter is without a doubt magical and when it’s time to send her to school, Harry gets asked for help.

Dudley: “What in the bloody hell is this?”

Harry: “It’s a book.”

Dudley: “Why did it try to bite me?!”   *on the phone*

Daughter: “I got into Raveclaw, daddy!”

Dudley: “That’s great, sweetheart!” to harry “What’s a Ravenclaw?”

Harry: “It’s the intelligence house.”

Dudley: “That’s my girl. Be smarter than all the other Robinpaws.”

Sometimes, when his kids are asleep, Harry will go into their rooms and watch them. He tells them how much he does them and that he’ll always protect them, no matter what, even though they can’t hear him.

One time, James (a teenager) wakes up while his dad is talking and is so touched that he starts crying.

Lily really, really wants a dog and Harry can’t say no to her puppy face, so they get a big black lab and give her the task of naming it.

“Now, this is his name, sweetie. Make it something good.”

“He looks kind of like a Peter to me.”

*Harry drops a dish in the kitchen*

Ginny makes as many patronus-related puns as she can with Harry. It’s a little harder the other way around.

“Good morning, deer.”

“How did you sleep… hoof-y.”

“Nice try. I still a-doe-r you.”

*Harry rolls his eyes*

“What’s the matter? Thinking of leaving me and going stag?”

*Ginny laughs manically while Harry bangs his head off the counter*

~ ~ ~

Thank you for reading this! I loved writing it and want to do more multifandom stuff. Have a request? Submit one here. See my masterlist here.

#harry potter #ron weasley #hermione granger #draco malfoy #hp #hinny #romione

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jaeminlore · 7 years ago

Text

Girlfriend // Kim Doyoung

- Pt 1

the prompt: can you preeeeeeetty please write more on hufflepuff doyoung because your golden snitch scenario was so cute and I loved it! aka: you’re worried Doyoung doesn’t really like you anymore, and he finally makes it clear that he does.

words: 1641

category: angst + fluff

author note: a lil hogsmeade scenario for one of my favorite hufflepuff babies <3

- destinee

“I love the sunshine!” Doyoung said happily, pulling you out of the courtyard, towards the rest of the students.

It was the last Hogsmeade trip before the end of the year, and everyone was rearing to get stashes of sweets and snacks that would help them survive the horrible event that are NEWTs and OWLs.

You weren’t one of those students, since you were a sixth year. Mostly, you were just loading up on regular exams for your NEWT-level classes. The unfortunate ones, like Doyoung, were studying for their NEWTs, which would play a huge part in whatever wizarding career they wished to go into, if any.

Doyoung had been working hard and getting some early studying in all year, despite what he told you about his friends helping him out. He was actually a lot more worried than he had originally let on. His biggest dream was to become a healer, and if that meant behind an ace at nearly all of the hard classes, so be it.

You found out just how hard he worked rather quickly after the two of you started going out. Dates with Doyoung usually consisted of a studying session. Study session is putting it lightly, as Doyoung was the only one ever doing the studying. Yes, occasionally, you’d pull out some homework and get to crackin’, but more than not you were just there for moral support.

Doyoung appreciated your efforts and definitely didn’t take them for granted. All that time you could’ve slept or practiced your quidditch for upcoming trials, you spent with him instead. For hours on end, you would sit beside him as he poured over his textbooks, occasionally leaving to go to the kitchen and bring him back some brain food.

The two of you had easily gotten closer, since your whole confessional kiss in the kitchens. The next week, Doyoung asked you out on a date and you accepted. Since then, however, that’s all they’ve been: dates.

Doyoung still hadn’t asked you to be his girlfriend, and many nights you lay awake, wondering if his feelings for you had run out. Sure, you considered study sessions dates, but did he? In terms of real, go-out-and-get-to-know-each-other dates, the two of you had about three or four. The fourth one might not have counted since Ten was also there. Also, it was just a trip to the owlery so it’s not like it was planned as a date or anything.

You really were losing it.

Perhaps Doyoung was all about the chase. After running after you for four years and getting you, he decided the chase was worth much more than the prize. Not that you were a prize to be one, but that analogy was the only one that you could think of in the moment.

Maybe Doyoung thought you would be more interesting. You, a Slytherin whose mind was always on quidditch, must’ve bored him. He probably thought you were a lot cooler than that. More of a complex being. You really weren’t, though, and Doyoung must’ve seen it.

These were the only things you could think of, at least. For the past few months you had dropped numerous hints to him, hoping he would pick up on at least one of them. You hoped he would just ask you to be his girlfriend. It didn’t have to be an extravagant gesture of any kind. To you, for someone to say that they liked you enough to be with you exclusively, was extravagant enough.

Today marked your fourth or fifth date, as you were still hung up on the whole owlery thing. After being cooped up in the library for so long, Doyoung was desperate for some sunshine. You weren’t, having no real love for the incoming heat of the late spring as it molded into a wet and humid summer. You dwelled in dark, cool places, as they kept you comfortable and un-sweaty.

Doyoung asked if you could come with him to Hogsmeade. He planned to go into Honeydukes, since his favorite thing to do while studying was to suck on a lollipop. He had run out about a month ago, and it was getting frustrating for him. You agreed willingly, hoping to get some answers that weren’t related to Potions class. You were hoping Doyoung would be honest with you, or at least give you a hint as to whether or not he still liked you. That would put a lot of stress and concern behind you, and you could move on.

“Why do you like summer so much?” You sniffed. “It only activates my allergies, and it’s getting too warm.”

Doyoung only smiled at you, choosing to pull you closer to his side as the two of you walked. His fingers were intertwined with yours, which bargained the question once again: what were you to him? Or the bigger question: why hadn’t he kissed you again?

Were you that resistible? Usually, girls were called irresistible, and their lovers would long for the next moment they could kiss their girl and assure her of their undying love. Sure, that may only be in muggle romance novels, but it applied in this situation. Didn’t it?

Perhaps it was insecurity that made you want Doyoung to tell you. Just one little sentence that told you how he felt. After all, he was leaving soon. The ending of Doyoung’s last quidditch game had been the beginning of your relationship with him. You had only been together for a few months. Still, he didn’t have but one or two months left before he graduated Hogwarts for good. Why couldn’t he just say, “Y/n, I like you,” and then kiss you like he had that night?

You felt a squeeze on your hand, pulling you back to reality. “Hmm?” you asked, not quite snapping out of all your worries.

“Are you okay?” Doyoung asked, concerned. “You’re acting weird.”

“I’m not,” you argued.

“Yeah, you are,” he said. “Donghyuck just walked by asking how you felt about the current standing of the Quidditch World Cup, and you completely ignored him.”

“Really? It’s just been a rough morning, I guess?” You laughed with a shake of your head, hoping he wouldn’t dwell on the subject for too long.

Doyoung let go of your hand and wrapped his arm around your shoulder as he steered you into the Three Broomsticks. The two of you sat in one of the back booths, side by side after ordering some chilled butterbeers.

Doyoung sipped on his quietly, his thumb rubbing the back of your hand as he held it in his lap. “What could be bothering my beautiful girlfriend?” he asked softly.

You whipped your head towards him so quickly you felt it might fall off. “What? Girlfriend?”

Doyoung’s ears took on a red hue as he answered, “Isn’t that what it’s called?”

“It is!” you replied quickly, nearly startling him, “I just didn’t know I was your girlfriend.”

“You didn’t?” Doyoung scratched the back of his neck, “Oh, you see, I just assumed after that kiss that we had become boyfriend and girlfriend, you know? Didn’t we confess that night?”

Now it was time for your face to turn pink. The two of you looked like tomatoes in that booth, and no amount of chilled butterbeer could cool the two of you down. “We did, but I was beginning to think you had become disinterested in me. I’m not intriguing, and I thought that once you find that out you might leave. I mean, come on, the only things I like are quidditch and sarcasm.”

“And me,” Doyoung added.

“And you,” you confirmed. “Aren’t I boring?”

Doyoung let out a bark of laughter at your question, using his free hand to cover his open mouth. His bright eyes shined towards you, “You’re not boring. Heck, if anyone in this relationship is boring, it’s me. What do I do all day besides study and go to class?”

You shrugged. “I don’t know, but you’re working hard for a great goal. You’re going to be a healer!”

Doyoung reached out and cupped your face. “What about you, huh? You’re going to be one of the greatest quidditch players anyone has seen in a long time. How cool will it be when I get to tell people that my girlfriend is a famous quidditch player, while you have to tell everyone your dating a healer.”

You smiled, your gaze unknowingly dropping to his lips. “I guess we both have our insecurities, huh?”

“As long as we’re honest with each other, and talk about them, then we’ll be fine.”

“Can I talk about another insecurity?” you asked, your eyes trained on his lips.

“What is it?” Doyoung began to remove his hands, but you grabbed his wrists to stop his movements.

“Why haven’t you kissed me since that night?” you asked quietly.

“Oh.” Doyoung averted his eyes, “Well, funny story, that was kind of my first kiss? It was really nice and I’m afraid I’ll ruin it by kissing you again and it turning out badly.”

You bit your lip to keep from giggling at your shy boyfriend. “I promise it will be just as good as the first one.”

“If you say so,” Doyoung said, trusting you. With that, he leaned in and hesitantly pecked your lips. With your encouraging smile against his lips, he pulled your face closer and pressed his lips against yours with more pressure than usual. This time, he tasted like butterbeer, and it filled your entire body with warmth.

You broke the kiss with another smile, your heart feeling light after everything that had happened. “Was I right? Was it as good as the first one?”

Doyoung shook his head, “It was so much better.”

~the end~

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melorsomething · 7 years ago

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Crystal Clear | Chapter 6 | Energy

<- Previous Chapter | Next Chapter ->

After a brief and mostly unsuccessful trip to Laura’s tower—once again, the necromancer was nowhere to be found, so Moira simply left a note to thank her—Moira returned to Angela’s room, only to nearly run into the back of Headmaster Ambrose. She reeled back, catching herself on the door frame. The headmaster did not notice, or rather he did not react, to Moira’s presence.

“As you can understand, the circumstances put us in quite a predicament, Miss Seahaven—”

Seahaven?!

“—and I have decided the best course of action is to send you to those who may have an idea of what we’re dealing with. Arrangements have been made for travel this evening.”

Before Angela could reply, Moira burst out, “This evening? This evening? Are you insane?”

“Moira—” Angela tried to interrupt.

“She almost died!” Moira continued.

“Another wizard did die, Miss..?” The headmaster raised his eyebrows in silent inquisition.

Moira swallowed her words and spit out a bitter, “Moonpyre, sir.”

“The people are afraid. They are outraged. This is as much for Miss Seahaven’s safety as it is for theirs.”

“You can’t just—”

“Moira,” the scratchy voice of Angela came once again, sounding as tired as before. Moira blinked twice, fully registering Angela’s awake presence for the first time. “It’s okay. I’ll go where he wants.”

“You can’t do this!” Moira cried, striding to her friend’s side. “You have to give her… a trial! Or something… you can’t just…”

“Moira, don’t,” Angela said, reaching out and resting a hand on her arm. Moira looked down at her in shock. “It’s okay,” Angela reassured her. “I’ll be okay.”

“But...” Moira began. No, you won’t be. Not without me. She turned to the headmaster again. “Is she just going to be alone?”

“Not at all. She will be with the monks deep in the Cave of Solitude. They take in troubled wizards and help to restore their minds. They have done it before with wizards of her background.”

“What do you mean by ‘her background’? I—whatever. Her mind is fine. It doesn’t need restoring. She didn’t do this on purpose. She isn’t dangerous.”

“It is precisely the fact that she did not intend for the death to happen that makes her so dangerous. The accidental use of so much power coupled with her Celestian background is a recipe for disaster if not handled properly. She could kill again without meaning to. The monks will help her master her emotions and mind.”

“She can master it here.”

“Moira—”

“She will not pose a danger to anyone in the Cave of Solitude. The monks are well-equipped. It is the better decision.”

“Do I get a—”

“No, keeping her here is the better decision because she’ll be with people she knows and trusts.”

“Miss Moonpyre, this is hardly a matter of your—”

“Hey!” a broken yell interjected. Everyone in the room turned to Angela, who had shifted to her knees and was waving her arms. “Since this is about me, could I maybe get a word in?”

No one spoke.

Angela turned to Moira. “Moi, I know it’s hard, but it’s fine. I’ll go. I’m not needed here, and maybe he’s right. What if I do that again? What if I do that to you?” Turning to the headmaster, she added. “This evening? Do I get to bring anything?”

“A Wizard City guard will escort you first to your castle and then to the World Tree.”

“Thank you.”

After the headmaster had left and Moira had shut the door behind him, she spun to face Angela and exclaimed, “What in the name of the Spiral are you thinking? You don’t deserve this! Why aren’t you fighting this? The Ange I know would.”

Angela had sunk back into the bed, her back hunched with the effort of keeping herself up after her outburst. She looked up and replied calmly, “Sometimes in life, you have to accept responsibility for your actions.”

“And you choose now to start doing that?” Moira’s tone was annoyed but her heart was hurting, torn between wanting to reach out for her friend and wanting to stay angry.

“Hey, watch it. I am leaving tonight, after all.”

“You don’t have to. I could hide you at my castle,” Moira suggested halfheartedly.

Angela let out a weak laugh. “I don’t think I could handle living in your castle forever, which is approximately how long it’d take to train myself without the monks’ help.”

“Ange, you don’t have to learn to control yourself; there’s nothing wrong with you! It was a freak accident, and freak accidents don’t happen more than once.”

“Moira, when did you become the one to defy authority? I’ll be fine. You’ll be fine. We will all be fine. I’m going: end of story.”

Defeated by the girl’s weak appearance and soft tone, Moira didn’t protest. Granted, she didn’t agree, either. Instead, she silently sat down next to Angela and wrapped an arm around her, pulling her in for a half-hug. “I could come with you.”

“Moi, as much as I love you, please shut up.”

Moira laughed, shaking her head as she squeezed the girl tighter. “You know I’ll never do that.”

Contrary to Moira’s words, the pair sat in silence for a while, their breathing falling in sync. After a long time, Angela spoke.

“Moi?”

“Hmm?”

“I know I said I’d be fine, but… what if I’m not? What if Ambrose was right about my Celestian background being an added risk? What if I’m turning out like them?”

Moira didn’t speak, her mind flitting back to all the things she’d learned about Celestia ever since her family had taken Angela in. She certainly hadn’t been the first person to fall from the sky, and Moira had a feeling she wasn’t the most recent, either. The thing that had made Angela so special was that she was, for the most part, normal.

Moira had forced her parents to take her to the library day after day to retrieve the latest news on anything Celestia related. It was how she had first gotten to know Mr. Argleston. Each time they shuffled in, Moira clinging shyly to her father’s cape, he would smile at her and crack a joke, even though she never replied. In retrospect, he probably hadn’t ever figured that the newspapers were for her and not her parents.

She remembered reading about the wizards who had crashed down, mysteriously falling from skies all over the Spiral. She remembered asking Angela about it, the already silent girl seeming to fall even more silent when she brought up the lost world. And she remembered reading about the fallen wizards and their broken minds. All of them, no matter where they ended up, could not shed any light on the situation. Some were simply silent, refusing to utter even the slightest clue as to their identity or story. Others were driven mad, with no one able to make heads or tails of their ramblings. Others still were catatonic, completely unresponsive to the world, even after their physical wounds were long since healed.

Moira remembered being afraid that Angela would fall into the first category. After all, for weeks they had only been able to refer to her as ‘kid’, ‘kiddo’, ‘honey’, or whatever other comforting pet name they could think of. Finally, long after Moira had stopped asking her about Celestia, the small girl had uttered her name late at night in the room they shared.

“Angela.” The girl said, her green eyes shining in the light of the desk lantern.

Moira turned from her bed to stare at her, startled by the voice from the other side of the nearly dark room. “What?” she breathed.

“My name is Angela. You don’t have to call me ‘pal’ anymore.”

Eyes still wide and mind reeling, Moira couldn’t think of anything to do but amend her earlier statement. “Good night, Angela,” she said.

“Good night, Moira.”

Of all of Moira’s memories of Angela, that was the strongest. The joy and relief her heart felt as she realized this girl wasn’t broken like the others was unrivaled at any point in her life. Or, it had been, in the past. If asked to choose now, Moira wasn’t sure which moment she’d name as the winner: that night, or when she met Angela’s eyes after waking up from Laura’s spell. She pondered on it for a moment, but ultimately decided it was a choice she’d never have to make, anyways.

Pulling herself back to the present, she realized Angela was still looking at her, expecting an answer. “I think things will work out,” she said, acutely aware that she only half-believed it, herself.

Angela smiled slightly. “I wish you could go tell your earlier self that. You yelled at Ambrose. How does that feel now?”

Moira groaned. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to look him in the eye again. Don’t get me wrong: I stand by everything I said, but I can’t believe I yelled at the headmaster. Easily top ten mortifying moments.”

Quiet laughter from both girls filled the room.

“Hey Moi?” Angela asked again.

“Yeah?”

“I’m going to miss you.”

“You know I’m coming with you, right?”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“Moira, no.”

“Angela, yes. You can’t stop me. Even if I get stopped from going with you tonight, I’ll just make my way to Mooshu some other time. I’ll come find you, whether you like it or not.”

It was Angela’s turn to groan. “Moira,” she whined, drawing out the second syllable. “I don’t need you around all the time.”

“Yeah,” Moira replied, giving Angela’s shoulder another squeeze, “but I need you.”

Angela let out another weak chuckle, but it wasn’t long before the room fell silent once more. After a few moments, Moira said quietly, “I really do need you, Ange.”

But the theurgist was already asleep, snoring quietly. Moira smiled down at her, maneuvered the girl so she was laying down, and joined her in slumber.

That evening, after several teary breakdowns (mostly by Moira) and one yelling session (by Moira’s parents, given that she had forgotten to inform them of the situation until it was too late for them to make their way back to say goodbye to Angela), the two girls headed into the World Tree, Angela flanked by guards and Moira trailing as close as they would let her.

“Moira, I already said goodbye,” Angela called back, her voice still quiet and weak. “No offense, but what are you doing here?”

“I told you: I’m coming with you. I don’t care if I have to become a monk or whatever. I am coming with you.”

Angela protested once again, but Moira had already made up her mind, and she slipped a hand into her pocket, feeling for a small slip of paper. Grace had destroyed the written spell, but not the pronunciation guide Laura had written out. If Angela was going to continue getting weaker, Moira would do the spell for as long as she had to.

Once inside the tree, Moira chattered to Angela about nothing in particular, but trailed off as she realized the theurgist was no longer listening to her. In fact, she was no longer listening to anyone. As a guard lectured Angela on her journey, Angela stood silent, gazing intently at a spot in the bark wall.

“You will be greeted in the Jade Palace by a monk from their order, who will then lead you to—Hey!” The guard interrupted himself as Angela ducked around him, scampering over to the wall.

“Get back here!” another guard yelled, adding in a whisper to the others, “Seize her.”

“No!” Angela said, holding out her hand while she stayed pressed against the wall. “No, it’s okay. I’m not running. There’s something… something here… I can’t quite… Moira? Moira, can you feel it?”

Casting a cautious glance at the guards, Moira moved closer. “Ange,” she said with a nervous chuckle, “what are you on about? What kind of plan is this?”

“It’s not a plan,” she snapped back. “Don’t you feel it? The disturbance?” The look in her eyes was frantic and frazzled, and Moira took a step back.

“No, I don’t. Just calm down; it’s okay to be scared.”

“I am not joking. I am not crazy. There is something here—it’s a—it’s some force or something—that wasn’t here before.”

“The guards can report it to the headmaster; it’ll be fine. Don’t anger the people who are holding your only supplies.” Moira was suddenly aware of all the other wizards in the chamber staring at them, and wanted nothing more than to tell them all to mind their own business.

Suddenly, Angela reached out and snatched Moira’s hand into her own, pressing it against the bark. She closed her eyes and asked again, in a gentler voice, “Can’t you feel it?”

As the last syllable left Angela’s tongue, Moira gasped as she felt a strange energy run through her. She tugged at her arm, but her hand was locked firmly in Angela’s grip, which certainly did not match in strength to the gaunt girl it belonged to.

“What,” she breathed, “is that?”

“You want to know, too, don’t you? Are you really content just reporting this to Ambrose?”

Opening her mouth to speak, Moira found herself breathless, and simply gaped like a fish. Gasping for air, she tried again. “Please, let me go.”

Angela dropped Moira’s hand instantly, a look of surprise written across her face. “Are you okay? What’s wrong, Moi?”

“That energy,” she said, pausing for breath. “It feels like death. How are you not reacting to it?”

“No, no, no, that doesn’t feel like death; it feels like life. Death doesn’t have energy; you can’t feel it. But this wall is brimming with the energy of life. Too much life. But why?”

She pulled back from the wall, grabbing Moira’s wand. Moira tried to reach for it, but Angela was already touching the tip to the wall, her eyes glowing with magic.

And all at once, the room filled with a high ringing, causing everyone to cover their ears. When they looked back at the wall, a crack had formed in the bark. Before anyone else could react, Angela was already reaching out. As soon as her fingertips brushed against the edge of the crack, she disappeared. For a moment, everything was silent. The humming stopped, the air seemed to still, and everyone in the room stood frozen. Then, just as suddenly as before, the room exploded with white light, and, when it cleared, there was no longer a crack in the wall.

Instead, a gaping hole with blackened edges took its place, seeming to have eaten away at the tree’s bark. Faintly, Moira could hear the screams of the other wizards in the spiral chamber, and while she was aware of how dangerous the hole likely was, she found herself moving closer to it. For a few seconds, she stood perched at the edge, peering out into the blackness. Then, she whispered to herself, “I need her,” and stepped forward.

#crystal clear #crystal clear chapter

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shockcity · 8 years ago

Text

Bagginshield #11 - in battle side by side

Rating: M Summary: for the 30 day OTP challenge. Bilbo and Thorin have wed, were attacked by orcs, kidnapped, and now they’re probably about to die. But both will find out that together they can beat the odds, and that love comes from the oddest of places, and at the most inconvenient of times. AU - Arranged Marriage. This is Part II >>> Go to Part I

Warning: bit of violence here, but nothing too graphic. Bilbo also continues to be a complete badass.

Note: So….sorry this took so long, my professor gave us the deets for our term paper and it’s a monster. Then I got sick and all I did was lay around watching Kitchen Nightmares, and THEN the Defenders trailer dropped and I basically lost my mind and got stuck on the kinkmeme. So yeah. But I’m here and I love you all now have some bagginshield

It has always been the fate of Arnor that the shadow to the east would one day rise and seek to destroy it. In another time and in perhaps another place, Arthedain falls – and events transpire just as one might think; evil comes and so too does good, and they fight beneath a sky that has seen all manner of battles many times before, and will see them many times after. But it does not happen that way, and the world Gandalf must save is this one, and so he sits among the arguing dignitaries of Arnor and prays for patience.

“We obviously have a traitor!” exclaims Mirabella. “And they mean to collect a hefty ransom from us no doubt! Hefty!”

She levels a pointed look at the dwarow. There is no outcry at this accusation, as there would be if anyone but a dwarf were under suspicion. Balin, ever the diplomat, only looks calmly at Mirabella with his tired eyes.

“My lady,” he says slowly. “All we want is our prince and our prince’s husband returned safely to us. Our efforts are wasted pointing fingers at those in this room. It is orcs that took them, and it is orcs we must fight to get them back.”

“Yes! These so-called orcs,” counters one of the King’s advisors. “You claim they are from Moria, and that one of them looked like the defiler. The defiler whom you said was dead!”

“I saw him!” Dís bursts out, pounding her fist on the arm of her chair. “I would know that ugly face anywhere! He took my brother! He killed our grandfather! I know Azog the defiler, and don’t you dare tell me that I do not!”

“Lady Dís, peace,” Gandalf intervenes, placing a calming hand on her shoulder. He hears one of the hobbits scoff, “Lady, he says,” and he glares in their direction.

"I believe Lady Dís,” he tells them. “For I have seen and sensed a stirring in the east. On my journey through the North Downs, I saw with my own eyes a large white orc of the same description as Azog the defiler. It was him, I say, and if you doubt the word of a wizard then say so, though suspect you will not. I said nothing of it, for I was not sure until the dwarrow gave their testimony of the attack, but now there is no doubt in me at all – Azog has returned, and I fear he is not alone.”

The Arthedain King had so far listened silently, but now he sits up and leans toward Gandalf with his brow furrowed in concern. “Do you believe there is any truth in the rumors?”

“What rumors?” asks Mirabella. It is echoed by many of the hobbits, but for Gerontius, who looks knowing.

Gandalf casts them a stern glance, waiting for quiet. “There has been word of large orc packs, traveling across the downs and menacing settlements, and reports of trolls where they should not be. The Wights are also restless. They are more aggressive and have ensnared those unlucky enough to be out after dark.”

He hears one hobbit gulp, and then turns back to meet the King’s eyes. “The shadow stirs. I sense a great evil that has long been dormant, but which now seeks to wake.”

"Sire! Sire!” a soldier runs into the council room, out of breath. “You must come! They have found the dwarf prince!”

The dwarrow shoot to their feet. “Is he alive?” Dwalin growls.

“Aye,” says the soldier. “He’s near-drowned, but he lives.”

More than just dwarrow hover around Thorin’s bed. Hobbits clutter up the infirmary like so many squabbling children, and Strider must wade through them to come to Gandalf’s side.

“What does he need?” he asks the wizard, who is peering at Thorin intently.

“Nothing,” says Gandalf, pulling back. He turns to Strider but glances at the dwarrow too, in order to include them. “He’s mostly exhausted, but he should wake soon. If not naturally than because hobbits have not the sense nor the common courtesy to be quiet in an infirmary!”

Gandalf is easily overheard, and a few of the hobbits look scandalized but thankfully shut up. Thorin mumurs then, face twitching, and Dís moves to his side. She touches his face, whispering in Khuzdul to coax him awake.

He comes to and is disoriented for a few minutes, blinking up at them, but then quickly becomes agitated.

“Where…where?”

Dís puts a restraining hand on his shoulder. “Calm down, brother. You are safe. You’re in Annúminas.”

“Annúminas….”

“Never mind that!” shouts one of Bilbo’s relations. She shoves to the front of the pack and points a gnarled finger in Thorin’s direction. “What have you done with my nephew?!”

The group makes noises of agreement, getting ready to devolve into a proper mob, but Thorin suddenly sits up, his eyes growing wide.

“Bilbo!” he exclaims, and then struggles to get out of bed. He fights with the blankets wrapped around his legs, going so far as to push Dís away when she reaches for him.

“Bilbo was with you?” the hobbits cry.

“They took him,” Thorin pants, shoving at Dwalin now too. “I have to find him. Get out of my way!”

Dís shakes her head, looking frightened. "Thorin, stop this! You cannot get up, you need to rest – ”

“Get off! Bilbo! Bilbo!”

Gandalf sees that the prince is about to become very unruly, and steps forward with his staff raised. He does some wizardry that soothes not only Thorin, but the nervous crowd standing around him as well.

“You cannot go to him now, Thorin,” says Gandalf. “The healer must watch you for a while, to be sure that you are not injured or ill. Be sensible now.”

“Bilbo…” Thorin whispers, squeezing his eyes shut.

“Yes, our hobbit.” The wizard moves back, leaning against his staff pensively. “You say that he has been taken?”

Thorin tries to nod, but this seems to pain him. Dís lays a comforting hand on his forehead. “Nazgûl,” says Thorin, and it is so low and so surprising an answer that Gandalf and Strider are sure that they have misheard. But then he says again, “Nazgûl,” and there can be no mistake.

“Black riders?” Strider looks at Gandalf, horrified. “But whatever can they want Bilbo for?”

Gandalf’s frown is fierce, and it creates new lines on his old face. “I imagine that Master Baggins was collateral damage, of sorts. He is an unfortunate victim caught up in the long war between the shadow and Arnor, and perhaps…perhaps the Pale Orc’s plot for revenge as well.”

Thorin moans despondently, and Dís turns to glare at the wizard. “Don’t say that!” she snaps. “You know how he is.”

Gandalf nods, at once looking regretful. “It is not for you to take the blame, Thorin Oakenshield. We have no time for games such as that. Aragorn? A word.”

They move off to the corner of the room that is unoccupied by hobbits, and begin to murmur secretively. Dís watches them for a moment, frustrated, before scooting closer to her brother. “You frightened me,” she says. “Don’t do it again.”

Thorin shakes his head, his black hair fanning out on his pillow. He is falling asleep. “We must find him, sister,” he tells her with drooping eyes.

“We shall,” she assures him, glancing back at Balin and Dwalin worriedly. “I promise. Rest now, Thorin.”

He nods off, unable to stay awake despite his fear for Bilbo. The dwarrow huddle around him protectively, unsure what has happened, or indeed, what will happen now.

Bilbo wakes to snowfall.

He is bundled up on the back of a horse, staring up at a black sky. Flakes of white swirl gently around him, sticking to his hair and face. The horse snorts, and he hears the sharp clopping sound of hooves on stone.

The Nazgûl.

He manages to turn his head, his neck crying out in pain, and look around him as they make slow progress across what looks like a very narrow bridge with a large, dark chasm beneath it. Around him are the shadowy silhouettes of a mountain range. He can see his breath when he exhales anxiously.

The horse suddenly comes to a stop, and Bilbo tries to look past the hulking black rider to see what is happening. The sound of stone and steel grinding together makes his ears ring, and his heart speeds up when they move forward and through a black metal gate. He catches a glimpse of red eyes peering down at him from the turrets, before he gasps and looks away.

Bilbo wiggles a little as the black rider comes to a halt and then dismounts. Hands grab him and slide him off of the horse, and Bilbo goes tumbling to the ground. The sack is torn off of him. He gets to his knees, prepared to run, but is quickly and efficiently lifted up and dragged until he can get his feet underneath him. He looks at where he is for the first time and gasps.

It’s a fortress; a black curtain of steel that to Bilbo’s eyes seems completely impenetrable. He loses track of all the windows and winding towers, loses track of where the dark night sky begins and where the reaching, clawing spires end. They drag him through an ominous looking portcullis and immediately up the closest stairwell. There are orcs behind him too, hustling him forward, and when Bilbo turns his head for one last look behind, he sees the Nazgûl ride back through the gates. He shivers in terror; worried for who he knows they are after now.

He prays that Thorin made it to the capital.

Up the stairs he is pushed and pulled, herded like a mouse between cats, until finally they stop ascending and the orc clawing his arm opens the door to a cell. Bilbo is shoved in without ceremony.

He lands on his knees, skinning them on the damp and dirty stone. It’s freezing.

“Great,” he sighs, turning to sit cross legged and rub his hands up and down his arms. “Just great.”

Despite his less than stellar circumstances, Bilbo can’t help but worry more for Thorin rather than himself. There was no beating the Nazgûl, though they had certainly put up a brave fight. None of Bilbo’s arrows had aimed true (though he is beginning to realize that that was more the fault of dark magic than anything, for Bilbo sensed that the beasts that the Nazgûl rode were tainted with evil; invincible even to an arrow to the heart) and Thorin had met swords with the riders, but could not unseat them. They rode back and forth, striking at the hobbit and the dwarf as they passed – playing with them.

Bilbo knew what had to be done. He’d apologized to Thorin sincerely, but though sorry he hadn’t hesitated. With one great shove, he’d thrown Thorin off the side of the cliff (not a high drop, thankfully) and then had sprinted away and into the forest. The Nazgûl had followed.

Now Bilbo is their prisoner, locked in a cold cell with no food or water. He is terrified and aching from his ordeal, but finds that that he cannot tear his mind away from his fear for his husband. Fear that he had drowned. That Bilbo had killed him.

He chokes down a sob and draws his knees to his chest, trying hard not to cry. Bilbo knows he must be strong for Thorin and focus on getting out of Carn Dûm. And yet that doesn’t stop him from being absolutely terrified of what the night will bring, and for Thorin, who is dead for all the hobbit knows. Let him be alive, Bilbo prays, curling in on himself. He doesn’t know yet, how much I care for him.

No one answers, but still Bilbo prays.

Though he is exhausted and ill, Thorin does not sleep. He is restless – it has been a full day since Bilbo was taken and his unceasing demands to be let up so that he can search for the hobbit have been ignored. No one is doing anything, and Thorin feels as though he is going mad trying to make them listen.

“The truth of the matter, is that they do not trust us,” Dís confesses to him. She is sat at his bedside, looking pale and tired. “Not now. Not ever. They will not let us join their party.”

“He’s my husband,” Thorin says through gritted teeth. “And I am his. They cannot forbid me to do my duty to him.”

Dís does not respond, though the expression on her face is telling enough. "Gathering an army takes time,“ she reminds him.

"And do we have that time, sister?” he snarls, frustrated. He clenches his fists in his bedsheets, anxiety squirming in the pit of his stomach and angry curses waiting on the tip of his tongue.

Dís puts a hand on his shoulder in comfort, and opens her mouth to reassure him (with false hopes, no doubt) when a hobbit bustles into the infirmary and marches straight for Thorin’s bed. Dís’ hand aborts it’s movement and flies to the hilt of her sword.

“Never mind that,” says the hobbit, waving at Dís. “I’m not here to wallop him, I sort of like the sod.”

“Mrs. Baggins,” Thorin greets. He swallows audibly. “I’m so sorry –”

“Stuff,” she cuts him off. Her auburn curls (so like Bilbo’s) bounce as she puts her hands on her hips, staring at Thorin with narrowed eyes. “I know my son, Master Oakenshield, and he’s as much to blame for this mess as you are.”

Thorin frowns. “Bilbo did nothing wrong! We were attacked – ”

“There, see? Then neither of you are at fault.”

Thorin thinks that he has maybe been tricked.

“But I’m not here to cast stones,” Mrs. Baggins goes on. “I’m here to spring you out of this place so that you can skip all this tedious bureaucracy and save my son sometime in the next age or so.”

Dís mouth twitches. “That all, Mrs. Baggins?”

Bilbo’s mother spares her a smile. Her sharp eyes turn back to Thorin quickly, however. “You’re fond of my son, I think.”

Thorin’s brow furrows. “Of course.”

“Hmph.” She eyes him a moment more before waving a hand. “That will do. Alright, up, get up! I’ve borrowed two horses and some provisions for you down in the stables, only we should probably hurry considering I left Adalgrim on watch. Not my brightest idea, I’ll admit.”

She bustles them out of the infirmary without anymore delay, creeping silently through the halls and leading them through the castle with surprising ease. Thorin sees the same stealth in Bilbo, and so is not too surprised. Dís looks quite impressed though.

They make it down to the stables without incident, and find not only the hobbit named Adalgrim waiting, but Dwalin as well. “Aunt Bella!” the hobbit squeaks. “I’m glad you made it.” He side-eyes Dwalin. “The courtyard is clear.”

“Fantastic. Alright, dwarrow.” She turns to them, watching as Thorin heaves himself into the saddle, still looking a bit wobbly. “Don’t get yourselves killed. Find my son.”

“Aye,” Dwalin says.

Thorin bows his head a bit. “You have my word,” he promises, before turning his horse in the direction of the gates.

With the hobbits watching, they set out in the direction of Angmar, where Bilbo is presumably imprisoned – and where the shadow waits.

Bilbo hears the grating sound of black speech outside of his cell. It has been so long since he has seen another orc besides the one giving him scant amounts of food and water every six hours or so. He has a feeling that his purpose here is about to be explained, and Bilbo cannot tell if he is relieved that the waiting is over, or if he would rather he were left alone to die in his cell. He is anxiously crouched in the corner, dirty and exhausted, when Azog the defiler opens the door.

The pale orc strides in, two underlings shuffling behind him. Their faces are grotesque, rotten and deformed, and Bilbo shies away when he sees them up close.

"Gimbut nazg ta, thrakul dug dûmpat," says one of the orcs in the dark tongue. Bilbo shivers.

"Ska! Snaga krul búbhosh," says the other.

“Sha.” Azog stops them talking and steps forward. “Where is Oakenshield?”

Bilbo gapes a bit. “You…speak Westron?”

Azog sneers, his scarred face twisting upward. He bends down and moves in close to Bilbo. “Where is Oakenshield?”

“No idea,” Bilbo tells him, then clears his throat. “We were separated.”

Azog stares; he examines the hobbit with sharp, cruel eyes. He sniffs Bilbo, as though he were savoring the scent of his favorite meal. Bilbo hunkers down and turns his head away.

“Where does he go? He will come for you, little thing?”

Bilbo holds his breath, trying hard not to show how terrified he really is. “No, he won’t,” Bilbo says. “And I’m not going to tell you anything.”

Azog smiles. “Where?” he asks again.

Bilbo turns and meets the pale orc’s eyes, scowling. “I’m not,” he repeats, slowly. “Telling. you. anything.”

One of the orcs standing by the door curses in black speech, but Azog pays him no mind. He stares at Bilbo intently, eyes never leaving the hobbit’s face. “You will tell me, little thing. Or die.”

Bilbo is not stupid. He knows that Azog could kill him easily; that he could crush Bilbo’s skull with one hand, or tear him in half with both. But the orc is after Thorin – Thorin who is dutiful and strong. Thorin who is endearingly awkward and surprisingly (under that gruff exterior) quite kind. Thorin his friend. Thorin his husband. And Bilbo hates this orc for threatening so good a dwarf.

So he glares defiantly, and says, “bugger off.”

And alright, Bilbo might be a little stupid.

Azog hits him so hard that Bilbo cuts his lip on his teeth. His head spins and his ears are ringing as he’s dragged to his feet.

“Globûrz,” says Azog, shaking him by the scruff of his neck. "Now you will suffer.”

He motions the two orcs forward with a sharp swipe of his hand. Bilbo backs away, but there is nowhere to go; the cold stone wall is behind him, and the doorway is blocked. Azog smirks at the hobbit one more time, before leaving him alone with the orcs.

They make good time crossing the North Downs. Thorin’s body protests the punishing pace, but the idea of stopping is unimaginable and his companions aren’t as winded as he is, anyway. Their concern is not necessary, and he tells them so, and so they continue to Angmar with no pauses but those they make for the horses. The Downs are cold, and the closer they get to the dark fortress, the worse the weather becomes. Soon snow is falling and the roads are slick with ice.

“We cannot take the horses any farther,” Dís tells him. He sighs heavily, his breath visible in the cold evening air.

“Aye,” he agrees, dismounting. He pets the neck of his horse gratefully, before unloading their saddlebags.

“I’ll be the one to ask then,” Dwalin says gruffly. “How are we going to cross that cursed bridge?”

In the distance, Thorin can see the spires of Carn Dûm. The great chasm between the Downs and the fortress has but one path – that of the bridge made entirely of black ice. Thorin has seen it once in the last war, and the difficulty of crossing it is as infamous as is the impossibility of successfully storming its gates. But Thorin has no choice.

“We must find a way,” Thorin tells him, his tone warning Dwalin not to speak of it anymore. He fears that his friend is thinking the likely truth; that attempting to enter Carn Dûm means only death.

They set out once more, this time on foot, and the dark fortress grows bigger as they draw closer.

“We should rest,” Dís says for the third time. They have not stopped since the day before, and all of them are edging on completely exhausted. “Thorin, we must – ”

“Shush,” Dwalin interrupts, pulling both of them behind a snowbank.

Thorin and Dís wisely stay silent, waiting to see what Dwalin had heard. And there – the sound of steady marching as a number of black specks come into view in the small valley below them.

“The wizard was right,” Thorin sighs. “Let is hope he brings an army behind us.”

There are hundreds of orcs camped on the Downs, and so many more within the gates of Angmar besides. Thorin shares a worried, solemn look with Dís.

“We should stop here,” she repeats.

“We need to find another way in, sister.”

“Yes, and running about willy-nilly isn’t the way to do it. Think, Thorin.”

“Every second we waste….”

But Dwalin decides for them both and begins to set up camp. Thorin knows that once Dwalin has made up his mind that there is no moving him, and so he wisely gives in and moves to help. They do not light a fire, and the wet cold seeps through their boots as they crouch in the snow, but they are used to less than ideal conditions and make do.

As night comes they are no closer to finding a way past the army or into the fortress. Frustration rattles Thorin’s nerves and his temper begins to fray. A harsh cough has come upon him, likely from his time in the lake, and Dís eyes him worriedly as they set up a makeshift tent. They double up on their furs and bedrolls before settling down for some sleep. Dwalin takes first watch.

Thorin coughs himself awake not even two hours later, but cannot fall back to sleep. He climbs out of the tent and Dwalin looks up as he approaches.

“Rest, brother,” he says, placing his hand on Dwalin’s shoulder. “I cannot sleep anymore tonight.”

“You’ll kill yourself if you keep on like this,” Dwalin tells him. “And I’m not going to be the one that tells your hobbit if you do. Rather face a Warg.”

Thorin can’t help but smirk. “The Warg might let you live, yes,” he jokes.

“I mean it, Thorin,” Dwalin insists, looking him in the eye. “From what you’ve told me Master Baggins can take care of himself…which means he’ll be doing his best to survive, and so should you.”

Thorin looks away from his friend, nodding reluctantly. “Go to sleep,” he says after a long silence. “I will keep watch.”

Dwalin gives in and disappears into the tent, and Thorin takes his place on top of the snowbank. The night grows colder as the hours pass, and the time for waking Dís comes and goes. He is wide awake, and knows that his companions need to rest more than he does at the moment. Sleep seems an impossible thing with Bilbo in such danger.

Dawn comes quicker than usual, propelled by Thorin’s pensive inattention. He watches the sky lighten above Angmar, never becoming the blue of a clear day, but only a lighter shade of grey. A fog hovers above the fortress.

It is in the eery hour before true sunrise that Thorin sees significant movement down in the orc camps. He moves forward to peer closer, and his eyes widen as he sees among them a giant orc – one familiar, so very familiar to Thorin Oakenshield. Azog is surrounded by his lesser officers and his ferocious white Warg. They speak, Azog seeming to be giving orders, and Thorin imagines that he can hear the growling, tainted speech of Mordor from here.

Azog suddenly mounts his Warg, and Thorin realizes what is happening almost too late. “Wake!” he hisses to Dís and Dwalin, scrambling to the tent and shoving it away. “Wake!”

“What – ?”

“The Defiler!” Thorin shouts. “He is getting away.”

He pauses only to grab his sword before he sprints down the snowbank and toward Azog’s pack as they lumber slowly in the direction of Carn Dûm. He hears Dís call out behind him, and Dwalin cursing, but he cannot stop – he cannot lose sight of the pale orc.

He cannot lose Bilbo.

Dwalin and Dís fall behind, but he presses on without waiting for them, closing in on the pack quickly. Azog does not seem to be in any kind of hurry though, and Thorin creeps around the edge of the forest, intent on ambushing them. But then the pale orc suddenly halts, raising one clawed hand.

“Oakenshield,” growls Azog, and Thorin goes very still. “Foolish, but it is good you are here. Come out.”

The advantage of surprise lost (did he ever have it in the first place?) Thorin sees no other recourse than facing his enemy head on. As he walks into the clearing, the other orcs back away with excited jeers. Azog smirks at Thorin smugly.

“You have come for your little thing,” he says idly, and Thorin’s heart pounds with fear. “He is not here.”

He points his sword at the orc. “You will tell me where he is, and then I will cut your head from your body.”

“You will try.”

“I’ll succeed.”

Thorin stares into those pale eyes, now unafraid (he cannot afford to be frightened when Bilbo needs him, after all). Azog only stands there and smirks, and Thorin feels rage and hatred swirl inside him as the orc dismounts his pet Warg and steps closer.

“I will enjoy carving my name into your skin, Oakenshield,” Azog says as they begin to circle each other. “And into every Durin after – ”

Thorin attacks swiftly and silently, meeting Azog’s mace with a loud clang. The impact vibrates up his arms as he ducks to the side, striking Azog in the arm and drawing first blood. Azog roars in pain, swinging his weapon around and nearly taking Thorin’s head off.

Around him the orcs spit and jeer, and there is no sign of Dwalin or Dís.

The mace comes flying at his left side but Thorin is able to avoid it. He minds his feet as he retreats backward, Azog on the offense now. The orc is incredibly strong, and seems to have few weaknesses. Thorin goes for his ankles and the backs of his knees, but though Azog cries out in agony, he does not fall.

Sweat runs down Thorin’s face as he evades and attacks, steadily hacking away at the orc but never truly making progress. Azog gets in a jarring hit to Thorin’s shoulder with his mace, and he goes down for a second before scrambling back on his feet. Azog grins toothily at his bloodied arm – prowling closer.

Thorin suddenly hears a shout, and then pained gurgling, and glances over just as an orc falls to the ground seeping black blood. He has no time to wonder at it though, as Azog comes for him again, raising his mace and smashing it into the ground where Thorin had once crouched. He rolls to the side and crashes into something, and looks up just in time to see the teeth of the white Warg descend upon him.

A sword drives through its head before it can take a bite.

Thorin moves out of the way quickly as the Warg collapses, and looks up at his timely rescuer.

Bilbo grins down at him cheekily. “Are you always in need of saving?” he says. “Allow me, princess.”

Thorin only gapes as the hobbit turns to Azog and raises his sword in challenge.

Bilbo doesn’t know any black speech, but he does know when someone is arguing. Arguments are hobbit-y pastimes, after all, and this particular one is definitely reminiscent of his aunts disagreeing on who did what when or faunts squabbling over who hit who in the head playing conkers and exactly how hard.

He just can’t believe he’s witnessing it now, is all.

“Are you…are you arguing about who gets to torture me, first?” he asks, bewildered. The orcs pay him no mind as the debate grows more and more heated.

Bilbo gets to his feet, and even then the orcs do not push him down. He inches along the wall dubiously, slowly making his way toward the door, when they finally turn and screech at him. Bilbo lunges away from a swinging scimitar, before kneeing the orc in the crotch. He tears the sword out of the wailing creature’s hand and clobbers him on the head with the hilt, before blocking a swipe to the face. Bilbo parries again and comes in close quarters, using his small stature to avoid another hit and creep in close. He quickly stabs the orc through the gut before backing away and letting it fall to the ground.

Bilbo can’t help but laugh a little as he runs out of the cell and slams the door shut. The lock slides into place with a satisfying clank. He is covered in dirt and breathless as he sets off to find a way out, aware that dodging an entire fortress of orcs is nigh on impossible.

But he must try, because Azog has planted a trap for Thorin, and Bilbo refuses to lose the dwarf he has so come to care for, in so little time.

They fight.

Thorin is on his feet once more, and Bilbo is a whirlwind beside him. Azog has motioned his orcs forward, seemingly had enough of their duel. That is good enough for Thorin, because Bilbo is here now, and Bilbo fights with him. Between them, Azog will not get away.

“It is good to see you,” Thorin says as he cuts an orc in the back. There is a bright smile on his face, and it is so uncharacteristic of him that Bilbo blinks a bit.

“And you. I was worried you were going to walk right into a trap! Good thing you were smart enough not to – oh, wait.”

Thorin laughs, parrying another blow and kicking the orc’s leg out from under him. It’s quick work to kill it once it’s on the ground. Then, suddenly, two things happen at once: Dís and Dwalin come charging into the fray and Azog…turns tail and runs.

Bilbo sees him go first and runs off after him, Thorin at his heels. They slip a little in the snow and nearly fall down the snowbank, but manage to keep their feet and sprint after the defiler. Though Thorin and Bilbo are quick, when they break out of the frozen wood they find that their prey has vanished. Bilbo inches toward the edge of the hillside. “So you didn’t come alone,” he comments, turning to smile at Thorin.

Thorin looks where Bilbo points. The orc camp is under attack by the allies of Arthedain, caught unprepared by the army that had thankfully followed Thorin to Angmar. “No,” he agrees, brushing his hand with Bilbo’s. “I suppose I didn’t.”

Azog bursts out of the trees then, his mace coming down and missing Bilbo by a hair. They gasp and tear apart, the hobbit falling to the ground painfully. Thorin charges forward between the orc and Bilbo, blocking the mace from striking them. Furious, Azog presses forward, hitting hard as he pushes them closer to the edge of the hillside.

Bilbo suddenly shouts and stabs his sword into the orc’s back, and Thorin takes the opening and slides underneath his legs, kicking the defiler in the knees and down the hill.

It’s not enough of a drop to kill him, but Azog is winded and does not rise for a few seconds. They are just considering how to make their way down as quickly and as safely as possible when the orc gets to his feet and takes off, limping terribly.

Thorin gives a wordless cry and nearly throws himself off of the hill, but Bilbo stops him with a hand on his arm.

“Wait,” he says, and the hobbit crouches and picks up a good sized rock. He throws it hard in the direction of the fleeing orc.

It hits Azog in the back of neck – felling him.

Thorin turns to his hobbit, his mouth open in surprise, but Bilbo only smiles sheepishly.

“Conkers,” he says with a shrug.

It is an army of Dúnedain, elvish folk, Men, and dwarrow that come to the aid of Arthedain. They manage to push the orcish army back into the shadowlands, clearing the North Downs of their presence for a short time. All of Arnor knows that this is only their first battle, and that Angmar’s rise has not been completely quelled. Not yet, anyway.

Thorin is aware that another war knocks at the door of the kingdom, and that if the dwarrow are to make peace as allies of the Arthedain, they too should be involved. But understandably, Thorin is wary of committing to anything.

Luckily, Bilbo’s return had made them rather accommodating to Thorin, as if to make up for the obvious distress Bilbo’s kidnapping had caused him, and to thank him for saving Bilbo in the end. He relays often that it is the other way around – that it was Bilbo who had saved Thorin – but few believe him.

It is another spot of good news that though Bilbo is bruised and exhausted, he is otherwise unharmed. Regardless, Thorin finds it…difficult, to keep from touching the hobbit to make sure that there were no secret injuries, or just in general to reassure himself that Bilbo is safe.

They….well.

It is different between them now. There is a warmth in Thorin that is both frightening and perfect at the same time. It is a warmth kindled by the presence of the hobbit at his side; at the touch of his fingers through auburn curls and the soft, sweet smile Bilbo gives to him when they meet each other’s eyes.

“You’re stupid,” Dís tells him one night, when she catches him watching Bilbo sleeping in the bedroll beside him. “I’m happy for you, brother.”

Thorin is happy too. Somewhere along this strange journey, he has learned to be just a little selfish, and Bilbo’s safety has become paramount. He finds this both worrisome and exhilarating, for how is he to juggle his duty with his being in love? It is a world-shaking thing, to be in love. It cripples or empowers, and Thorin cannot afford to gamble on which one it will be – not as a prince, a leader, a warrior…

…and a husband.

“When we get home finally,” Bilbo says, riding beside him as they make their way back to Annúminas. “I should like to have a party.”

“A party?” Thorin repeats, already amused.

“Yes. I want to meet everyone. Everyone, Thorin.” He then grows solemn. “I think Gandalf is probably right about all that dramatic shadow business, and dark times are ahead. Our people should be ready.”

Thorin suddenly realizes that Bilbo means the dwarrow of Ered Luin; that Bilbo has decided that Thorin’s responsibility to his people is Bilbo’s responsibility as well. It reminds him of the past – of when his mother and father bore the weight of the crown together. But Thorin had never dreamed that he would have the same chance to rule in such a way. His mother’s death had also nearly broken his father in the end, and Thorin is unsure whether or not the pain of the eventual loss is worth it, especially with the weight of a kingdom on his shoulders.

He looks at Bilbo, who is chattering away about parties and their people, and about finally going home, and he realizes that it is too late – there is no going back now. Thorin will just have to learn to live with being in love.

He’s not too worried though.

Bilbo will be there to teach him.

#30 day otp challenge #bagginshield #hobbit fic #I left this open ended because I might actually add to it #maybe

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askmalal · 3 years ago

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"Thoughts on <author's name>'s writing for Black Library?"

I have to tread carefully here, as I know, or at one time knew, the person OP is referring to, and had to, erm, rephrase this question. This isn't me flexing a big muscle: he's not a super well known writer, but I did know him and called him a friend at one point, so I don't think it'd be appropriate to use his name to address his work specifically. I hope that is acceptable to the OP and anyone interested.

I think I can generally say that GW has, regardless of the setting for the novels in question, had just about the same mixed luck as with any other publisher of fantastic (ie: non mundane) fiction, whether Sci-Fi, or Fantasy, or... whatever certain errm.. other things are supposed to be. People who write this sort of stuff are always a little... different.. all of us. I lay awake trying to get myself to sleep at night naming lists of historical figures and how they died or how to make the official tactical markings for the 11th Legion look different. I paint toy soldiers. I fancy myself an actor. I dress up as things I enjoyed as a kid. And others aren't much different. I think that you sort of -have- to have a certain point of view in order to create this sort of stuff.

That means that you get a of good, and a lot of bad. Sometimes from the same person, and sometimes in the same book. Hell, sometimes in the same chapter. Which is why somebody might, for example, write a terrible 40K novel and yet write a sublimely brilliant Horus Heresy or Fantasy novel.

The specific problem with BL is that it has a relatively limited number of available slots for authors, and that BL does not regularly solicit outside work. Like many British gaming and gaming related companies (and I can speak to this as a game designer/supplement writer), there's a certain "not made here" stigma that comes along with this which only further reduces the pool of writers. BBC, for instance, regularly has fan script and short story submissions for Doctor Who, but nine tenths of these clearly state that only UK residents qualify for anything beyond an honorable mention. The way BL has traditionally done a search for talent is to host a short story submission invitation every few years. Many of these are also region restricted, or constructed in such a way that they limit the pool of writers. There was a challenge several years ago for Sisters of Battle related material, with the potential of an article being published in White Dwarf or Citadel Journal, but the writers had to meet a certain set of criteria, and given the relative lack of available Sororitas fluff and these additional restrictions, it only further reduced the pool of potential talent. Which is their right, and in many cases actually makes a great deal of sense.

As I have often noted here, another significant problem is a lack of story bible, which means that, even once a writer is vetted and given an assignment, she may stray -wildly- off course. Other times, you'll have execs at a company decide that a lot of chatter about a certain writer means that we as fans want to see more work from him, even if that chatter is mostly about how horrible the writing is in the Ultramarines Codex he was recently involved with.

Ego is also a factor. All creative types have an ego. We have to. We're used to rejection, and one doesn't create in a vacuum. One wants to be read, or watched, or listened to...and no matter what some condescending twit tells you, "love of the art" is usually -not- its own reward when you are trying to do it professionally. So, yes, some writers have ego issues. It's inevitable. Doesn't make it okay, but that's the way it is.

Just remember that, even if you develop some sort of quasi-hate for a writer due to ego, she's (or let's be honest he... women are still criminally underrepresented in sci-fi and fantasy writing) likely taken twice as worse from someone else who told her she was worthless, or amounting to nothing, or writing crap. And of course it's only fair that every great writer has the occasional misstep.

Then there are gigantic egotists who make multi-millions on a wizarding franchise with a diverse fandom and use that goodwill to become even more gigantic TERFs.

YMMV.

(Oh, also. Thank you for the question, Little Mortal. I truly enjoy interacting with your species.)

#ask malal #malice #chaos philosophy #creators are people too #even the bastards #except rowling #she's just a horrible waste of carbon

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klaumiel · 4 years ago

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You are all I’ve got, Damien// Chapter 10: Mother Karma

I felt a sharp pain before landing on the ground. My neck was bleeding, Bennie’s knife was so close to my skin that even though I managed to release myself from him, he still cut me.

At first, I thought it was just a small scratch, so my eyes landed on Damien who’s fists continuously crushed Bennie’s face. Damien’s face was terrifying full of hate and fury; he completely lost control of himself. A small part of me was scared of him in this form, was this Damien from the past? Is that who he was? He talked about this so many times, how he had to fight with himself, how horrible he felt every time he hurt someone.

Damien looked at me; his eyes were filled with tears; I tried to warn him, but I couldn’t make a sound until it was too late. Bennie thrust his knife right into Damien’s chest; I was too weak to get up, too weak to scream or even cry. I felt hopeless, watching him collapsing on the ground hurt more than anything. I heard him yelling my name, but I couldn’t do anything. I watched my boyfriend bleed, and there was nothing I could do.

I saw two guys taking Bennie, dragging him away, he yelled to finish us off, but police sirens stopped them from it, I saw them running away before everything went dark.

----

I woke up hearing familiar voices. I opened my eyes and saw my Dad’s face, smiling. Everything felt like a dream, faded.

‘Maya, sweetie’ I heard him say.

I looked around I was laying on the hospital bed, surrounded by familiar faces, Shaun, and Dad. I tried to move my head, but sharp pain followed, and then everything came back to me.

‘Sweetie, you are in the hospital. Thank god you are awake, we were losing our minds… Don’t force yourself … Shaun, go to get the doctor.’ My Dad said, holding my hand.

‘Where is Damien?’ I shifted nervously looking around. I had no idea if he was even alive. I passed away right after Bennie’s escape, and he was badly wounded’ Please tell me he is OK… Dad, where is he ?’ I panicked, my eyes filled with tears by the thought that he didn’t make it. Please don’t tell me he is dead!

‘Shh... Hey!... calm down. He is here, few rooms away.’ He said, trying to calm me down, but his face was serious, I knew that look. That wasn’t very reassuring.

‘How is he? Is he awake?’

‘How long we’ve been here?’

‘Six days’ He said ‘ but that doesn't matter, you are OK, and that’s all it matters.’

‘What about Bennie? Please tell me they found him, he couldn’t go far.’

‘No sweetie, they didn’t fund him. Police are looking for him; he seemed to vanish.’

‘One of the guards helped him for a reasonable sum of money, and few others were covering his ass…they will find him, Maya. Stop worrying now; they know what they are doing.’

I doubt that very much.

‘And what is Damien’s situation? Will he be alright? … but Alex, be honest, please’ I looked him in the eyes.

‘Well, that’s a bit more complicated. Damien’s wound was deep, causing severe internal damage. The knife missed the heart but didn’t spare the lungs; we managed to patch him up, but the internal bleeding did more damage than we thought. So far he is functioning well, but we need to wait for him to wake up to have a full diagnose… I am optimistic; he is very strong.’ He said, rubbing my arm reassuringly.

‘What you mean by more damage?’

‘Coma!?... No, no… I need to see him now!’ I said starting to get up but suddenly felt dizzy and fell back on the bed.

‘Easy there … Not yet, you should be resting. We will have you checked today, and we will see tomorrow, I will keep you updated on him, I promise’ He said with a smile, helping me lay down.

‘Alex please, I need to see him now... do you want me to beg?’ I said. He knew that if he didn’t help me, I would go one way or another.

‘Ok…I will have a nurse to take you there in few. I need to check on him anyway so I can keep an eye on you as well’ He smiled

‘Thank you Alex’ I said

‘It will sound bad, but I didn’t want to see you here again so soon. You two were very lucky; few more minutes could’ve been too late.’ he said and walked off the room.

My mum stormed into the room, wearing sweat pants and hoody, she looked so tired, her hair was messy, no make-up. She smiled when she saw me.

‘Maya, sweetie’ she cried and wrapped her arms around me ‘ you give us a proper scare’ she said, kissing my forehead ’how are you feeling, love?’

‘I’m good Mum, my neck is a little bit sore, but Alex said it would heal well’ I smiled

‘You have no idea how we were all worried about you two. Shaun called us when we were at the airport, waiting for our flight to Paris. He said you would be fine, but Damien … ‘ she stopped and looked at me, her face was full of worry.

‘Mum?’

‘You should go to him, Alex said that he could hear everything, maybe if he will hear you he will get better.’ she said ‘I’m sure he is sick of hearing my voice’ she laughed.

‘Maya...’ Alex’s head pop through the door ‘ Ready?’ he asked.

I nodded, the nurse brought the wheelchair and helped me sit, a few moments later, we entered the room.

‘I will leave you here for a moment; I just need to check on him.’ He said. Damien’s chest was wrapped in bandages; I was so glad to see him in one piece.

‘He’s heartbeat is slow, that’s not a good sign.’ I heard Alex whispering to the nurse; he saw me staring and turned away and said something to her; she walked off the room.

‘Alex… should I be worried?’ I asked.

‘No Maya, everything is ok’ he give me a reassuring smile.

I turned to Damien, grabbed his hand gently in both of my hands ‘My mum told me that he could hear us? Is that correct?’ I asked.

He nodded, I pushed myself up from the chair and brought my face close to his, I kissed his temple still holding his hand ‘Damien… honey… I’m here’ I whispered to his ear ‘ don’t you dare to leave me, you hear me? I need you to wake up.’ I heard the cardiac monitor beeping faster. I turned my head to Alex and smiled; he smiled back.

I’ve put my hand on Damien’s chest gently rubbing his skin ‘Come back to me.’ I whispered.

‘Whatever you are doing is working’ Alex said, stopping the nurse from injecting some medication to Damien ‘ Rose, I don’t think we will need that, for now.’ he smiled.

‘Can you move me to this room?’ I asked, looking at Alex.

‘Thank you, Alex.’

‘Yes, he is a friend’ I smiled ‘ I will text him and tell him to come over.’

‘Great, I will pass that to the reception.’

The same night my bed has been moved to Damien’s room next to him. I knew that me being close to him will help in his recovery. My parents finally went home to get some rest

I texted Skylar letting him know we are okay and that I need to talk to him urgently.

I needed Skylar’s help; I knew that police wouldn’t find Bennie and I had to do it myself, for our own sake, so we could finally have some peace.

This had to end, Bennie being around had to end. After that event something in me broke, I felt pure hate and rage every time I thought of Bennie. It wasn’t just about what happened that night; it had more to do with Damien’s mother, his face when Bennie mentioned her was so full of pain and sadness, I knew deep down that this bastard had something to do with it, and I had to know what exactly happened.

I decided to relax and buried my mind into the Outlander, checking every now and then on Damien. The room was utterly silent; I could hear only beeping of the machines. I was deep into my book when I heard a quiet gasp, I turned my head and put my book down, Damien’s eyes were openly looking right at me.

‘Baby’ he said quietly. I jumped off my bed and sat next to him, grabbing his hand. I smiled wildly; I was so happy to see him awake.

‘I’m so happy to see you alive Maya’ he said quietly ‘I thought I’d lost you.’ His voice was soft and warm.

‘I’m stronger than you think’ I smiled, happy tears falling down my face ‘But we are both fine, and that’s what matters now.’ He moved my hand from his cheek to his lips and kissed.

‘I love you so much baby, I felt like the world shattered in a million pieces when I saw you there.’ I saw a single tear falling on his cheek.

‘I love you too. And I’m fine.’ I smiled

‘Did they catch Bennie?’ he asked.

I tried to keep my face straight, but he knew, he could read me right through.

‘Damien…let’s see what the doctor says first and then I will tell you ok? You are too weak yet; you should rest.’ I said, knowing that wasn’t convincing at all.

‘Maya… please, tell me. I need to know.’

I took a deep breath ‘He escaped…but police are looking for him, they are close’ I said trying to calm him down.

He didn’t say anything, but I saw the anger in his eyes, the same anger I saw that night.

I kissed Damien gently on the lips, grabbed my phone and walked out the room.

I called my parents to tell them that he woke up. Mum wanted to come over right away, but I told her that he needs to rest, after all, it was the middle of the night.

I sat in the corridor deep in my thoughts, completely lost the feeling of time. Something was bothering me; something I had in my head ever since I woke up. Damien’s face, when Bennie mentioned his mother, did he really watched her die? Is this his last memory of her? And what Bennie had to do with it? I knew she died when he was only a kid and that he didn’t remember her for a long time, but what exactly happened? All those questions in my head, I needed to know the whole story, soon. I needed to decide on what to do. Next, I couldn’t just let it go. I found Bennie before, I could find him again.

I felt tapping on my shoulder; I looked up, it was Alex. He sat next to me and smiled.

‘You have no idea how glad I am to hear that, thank you.’ I smiled and hugged him.

‘Couple of days.’ he said, getting up.

I went back to the room, Damien was sitting on the bed, smiling.

‘They unplugged me.’ he laughed and extended his arm to me ‘Come here you.’

‘I’m sorry baby’ he said.

‘What for?’ I was a bit confused.

‘Damien, stop it! Don’t even go there … there was nothing you could do, we are alive. That’s the most important; you didn’t fail me, you are still here, you didn’t give up.’ I said, rubbing his face.

‘I should've protected you better.’ he looked down.

I pulled his face up ‘You protected me the best you could… for god sake, you nearly died, Damien, how can you talk about failure? You would’ve failed me if you died… leaving me alone … that would’ve been a failure. Because guess what smart ass, I would die without you, do you understand?!’ I said with a serious face. How can he even think like this?

We laid together on his bed wrapped in each other, enjoying the silence. I decided it is time to start “that” conversation.

‘What was it? I asked, looking at him.

‘I was eight years old when that happened. Bennie was already a teenager; he was old enough to be involved in the business with pop. He was always jealous of me because pop treated me better; after all, I was younger and less problematic. His mother was a drug addict; she died when he was no more than two. Pop decided to move on and met my mother; she was an average person, a nurse, with a golden heart and face like an angel. Pop told me that it was difficult for her to get into his lifestyle, but everything changed when I was born. She raised Bennie like his own son, at least she tried. She treated us equally no matter which one of us was at fault she punished us equally, but he hated her for some reason, and he hated me more than anything. He made my life difficult every chance he got; Pop didn’t have time to discipline him he wasn’t home very often, so we were left with mum, I know she loved him, she was a good person, she never hated anyone… She always said that nobody is perfect, but everyone can be fixed …One day she went to chop shop to talk to pop, but she saw something that she shouldn’t, few guys from the other gang tried to rob my Pop’s shop, she saw their faces but managed to escape home, not for long. A few days later we were home, waiting for Pop to come back when they showed up, I don’t remember in detail what happened but… they questioned her first and even though she said she wouldn’t say a word to anyone about what she saw, they slit her throat in front of my eyes, only because she saw them, she had no idea who they were and what they were doing there. Only years later, I’ve learned that Bennie was the one who told them who she was, he also told them that she worked with pop, which was a lie…they killed her because of him, Maya, he hated her and found the way to get rid of her, and hurt me in one go, after everything, she’s done for him …’ Damien’s eyes filled with tears, which he quickly tried to wipe. He turned his had to me and looked at me ‘ He took everything from me, exactly the way he always said he would. Mum, Pop, my freedom, and he tried to take you.’ He rubbed my cheek with his thumb wiping my tears.

My heart dropped, the pain I saw in his eyes was heartbreaking.

I realised that I never hated anyone as much I hated Bennie, I never wished anyone death before, but at this moment I wanted him to die in pain, with whole this pain that Damien felt.

We talked for hours, he told me about his mother's good memories, all the happy things he remembered.

I didn’t sleep for the rest of the night; I was busy planning my next move.

‘Skylar!’ I got out of bed and hugged him. ’So good to see you’ I smiled.

‘How are you doing you, bastard? You gave me a proper scare; I thought for a moment that you were gone, but ambulance came just in time.’ he said, looking at Damien.

‘I’m tougher than I look.’ Damien smiled.

‘How come you were there?’ I asked.

‘I followed Bennie’s thugs; I arrived seconds after they escaped with him.’ I saw Damien’s jaw clench.

‘Let’s go to get coffee; Alex said you couldn’t stress.’ I said, rubbed Damien’s arm and whispered in his ear ‘I will be back to you in just a moment, I love you.’ I kissed him, stroking his hair gently.

‘Bring me coffee, ok?’ He smiled.

‘I will be back soon, mate, ladies first.’ Skylar laughed

I took Skylar to the cafeteria; we sat far from others. I didn’t want anyone to overhear what had to tell him. We ordered coffee, and I cut to the point.

‘I have a plan… but not a word about this to Damien ok?’ Skylar raised his brow and leaned closer. I knew he would be interested. ’Will you help me?’ I asked

‘I will’ he smiled

‘I need to find Bennie; the police is useless’ I said, he rolled his eyes laughing.

‘Yeah, no shit Sherlock … you are lucky because I know exactly where he is’ he smiled and sat back in his chair sipping his coffee.

‘How come?’ I asked, surprised.

‘Can this information be wiped? Can anyone find out that this guy’s phone is tracked?’ I asked he looked at me trying to figure out what am I talking about.

‘Well yes, once Seth disables the tracker, there will be no sign of it… Maya, why do you need to know this? What the fuck are you planning?’

‘Do you trust him?’

‘Yes, we helped each other a few times; he is a great hacker. He hacks everything and does what he wants with it.’ He had no idea how valuable that information was for me.

‘Great, we will need him… I need you to keep tracking Bennie. I will be out of the hospital in two days. I need you to be ready the same evening.’ I said

‘Maya, what the fuck are you planning? And why I have a feeling this is something crazy?’

‘We are going to pay Bennie a visit … and finish it once and for all.’ I said, making sure nobody is listening.

‘Elaborate … I don’t think I understand this correctly, what you mean by the ‘’finish it’’?’ Skylar looked a bit worried.

‘Bennie won’t stop hunting us, even if he goes back to prison, he won’t stop. He has people working for him, but they are loyal because he pays them. Damien told me all about the whole gang business; everything will stop once Bennie is gone, and I want to make this happen. Also, there is something else, but I don’t want to talk about this right now.’

‘You are going to turn him in?’ He knew exactly what I mean, but he tried to make sure we are talking about the same thing.

‘No’ I said looking Skylar in the eyes, he understood ‘ How many thugs are with him?’

‘Two, he keeps a low profile …Maya this is crazy you know that right?’

‘I know, but that’s the only way. I need Damien to have some peace… Skylar I nearly lost him, and that’s not the first time. Bennie is responsible for so much pain in his life; he killed his father, was the main reason for this mother’s death, and tried to kill me. If this is not a good reason to finish him, I don’t know what is. If I don’t do it, Damien will, and I can’t allow it, that’s why I need to you stay quiet, don’t tell him anything until it is done.’ I said in a quiet voice.

‘Are you sure about this? I am not the best bodyguard, you know?’ He laughed

‘You have it all planned out … you cheeky...’ he laughed

‘You underestimated me, Skylar Quinn.’ I laughed back

‘You know that Damien will be furious when he finds out, we are talking about real shit here, Maya. One mistake and we are all going to jail.’

We went back to the room; Skylar stayed for a bit longer, talking to Damien.

I knew that deep inside; he was excited about our little plan. He was a man of adrenaline and risk after all.

Two days later, I was released home in the morning. Skylar already confirmed that his friend Seth is waiting for our signal.

‘Is Shaun coming to pick you up?’ Damien asked, sitting on the bed, watching me gather all my stuff.

‘Yes, he is already waiting in the car.’ I said, sitting next to him. ‘I will come tomorrow, pop into Cinnaholic and grab you something, huh? What do you fancy?.’ I asked.

I rolled my eyes ‘ You mean the fork you never use?.’ I said

‘Ha. Ha… it’s for you silly, I am a trained professional I don’t need a fork. ‘He said, smiling.

‘Maybe I should, you convince me with the hot chicks.’ He smiled, I pushed him when he started to laugh ‘You should see your face.’ he cracked laughing

‘Not funny Damien Jones, not funny at all.’ I said

‘No, I’m fine, just the thought of sleeping alone tonight makes me sad.’ I said the first thing that came to my mind, hoping he will believe it.

‘Alex said they are waiting for some results and I will be good to go. Hopefully, not too long.’ He smiled and kissed me; my phone kept ringing when we kissed.

‘I should go, Shaun is getting impatient. I love you, boo.’ I said talking my bag and placed a small kiss on his lips.

‘I love you too … don’t forget the fork.’ He laughed when I walked out.

I sat in Shaun’s car; my mind was already focused on one task.

‘Do you have everything?’ I asked

‘Shaun, we have everything planned, we just need to focus and stick to the plan.’ I said, trying to sound confident, but the more I thought about this, the less optimistic I was.

‘Are you sure those drugs are still good? It’s been a while.’

‘Yes, I checked. This shit never expires.’

‘Ok, I trust you sister. If this is what you want, I will support you, but I think you should warn Damien, just if anything gets tits up.’

‘Everything will be fine, I don’t want to worry him, plus he would never agree to this.’

‘Should I go now?’ he asked

‘Yes, I will call Skylar and go to get him. I will meet you there.’ I said, hugging him.

‘Good luck to all of us … I hope we will come out from this in one piece.’ He hugged my tight.

‘We will.’ I said and kissed his cheek.

I called Skylar; the stress started to kick off. I was restless walking from one side of the room to another.

‘You ready?’ I asked when he picked up.

‘Yes, waiting for you. I will let Seth know to go ahead; he is waiting for my call.’ He said

‘Great, I will be at your house in fifteen minutes… Skylar … thank you.’ I said

‘You will thank me once is over, now get your ass in here, we have a job to do.’ He said, and hang up. I looked out the window it was already dark. Its time.

I picked up the bike keys from the counter, checked my phone one last time and wrote a message to Damien, before leaving my phone on the table. I knew he would call me later at night, better for him to think I’m sleeping.

‘’I love you, see you tomorrow boo.’’

I didn’t know if using Damien’s bike is a wise idea, but that was a better way to escape quickly, than using my mini Cooper, that takes ages to build up the speed.

Fifteen minutes later, I was in front of Skylar’s door; he walked out as soon as he saw me, put on his helmet and wrapped his arms around my waist.

‘Ready?’ I asked

‘Yes, go.’ He said

The place was around forty minutes outside town, all the way there I had only one thing in my head, everything that Damien told me about Bennie, how hateful and horrible person he is, how much pain he caused him and others. Everything he told me the night before only gave me straight and motivation.