#look I’m exhausted and doubting my abilities as a creator

[jeskerthefool]

Vizille drawings 2/????

[astoldbytaryn]

Random Saturday Morning Thoughts..

I can’t be good at something that I never start.

But the truth is that, I get tired of starting things. I get tired of starting things, because I have to stop them when I realize I don’t like it as much as I thought I would. In other words, it didn’t give me the dopamine that I had anticipated. Or there isn’t enough time, or enough money. You know, all of the normal excuses.

When I stop things that I decide are going to be my THING, I look like a quitter.

How do you explain to someone outside of your brain that you aren’t quitting. You are a creator, and that media is not giving you what you wanted? I find that explanation virtually impossible. Once those conversations begin; the self-doubt creeps in, and I start to convince myself that I have fake passion, it surely was fleeting, I have no idea who I am, what I like, and why would I have even thought that I would be good at something else.he was portrayed as a mad man, and that is how I feel most of the time, and even get called crazy most of the time, but I know that I am not on his level.

That’s the thing though…I am good at all of these new ventures that I try. Hell, even great. They just don’t spark joy…

And trust me, I know how self absorbed that sounds.

I really wish that I could have a conversation with Pablo Picasso in the afterlife, because I want to know what the heck he would be thinking now in regards to his creations. He was portrayed as such a mad man, and that is how I feel most of the time, and even get called crazy most of the time, but I know that I am not on his level. I wonder if he knew how great he would be considered after his death?

I am also aware that multi passion is a thing. I learned that recently. I think that I always knew that, but I was looking for validation that it is okay to know that, or something. Then we get into the hard part of being multi-passionate. There is not enough time in the day, nor money in my bank account for all of the things that I love to do. I know that is the real problem in my brain. I have so many things that I love, and that bring me joy. I want to live in a state of joy alllllllll the time, because I finally came out of survival mode & challenging emotions are…well, challenging.

Those of us that live so long in survival mode, and then fight to get out and try to stay out deserve some sort of medal. I just have to figure out how to share my passions now that I am out of survival mode. The real fight now is being able to stay outside of survival mode, which I know maintenance is the true hard part. I know that I am passionate, I’m just multipassionate. There are so many things that I love doing and bring me hoy,m but I dont have enough time in the day for all of them, and i think that is the real problem here. I don’t know how to make the money that I need to make and PLAY. But maybe that is the thing. I show people how it is possible to be silly, fun, free, passionate, and get down to business. Why can;t we show both sides of ourselves and still be taken seriously? Why is our ability to do a job based on the things that we like to do in our free time. Our job is what allows us to have the funds to do what we like to do in our free time, so why is it that we keep it private? Is it because we are so fragile that we cant handle what other people think about us?

I think that is why some people (myself included) never stop talking sometimes. It’s like, if we dont give others time to talk, then they won’t have time to point out all of the things that we perceive we are doing wrong, but dont know how to improve and definitely dont want to ask.

Phew, being someone with a mind that goes 84723987 miles per hour is EXHAUSTING.

That’s all.

Random I know.

[theycallmequeenie]

Not Strong enough to let go

Gabriel x Reader One Shot

Note: Gif not mine. Credit to the original creator/ owner which I believe is @astralgabriel but I may be incorrect. Kinda AU, established Gabriel x Reader romantic relationship. Established Reader x Winchester friendship. Set in season 13. Cannon level violence. Word count is at roughly 2140.

 Master List

Y/N had known the Winchesters for a couple of years now and through them she had been introduce to Gabriel. The pair had hit it off from the start and were now inseparable. Y/N before joining the Winchesters had studied theology which seemingly gave her an edge on dealing with some of the things the hunter’s life had to deal with and gave her and Gabriel something to talk about and bond over in a sense. She would always take down meticulous notes anytime Gabriel would finally open up about his family or his time in heaven.

Gabriel found some joy in talking with Y/N about the past. This was something that never happened with him before, He was at ease around her and he noted to himself that for him wasn’t a usual thing for him ever. This feeling of easiness and comfort was enjoyable to him which helped him decide that hanging around the bunker wasn’t such a terrible idea. Staying would in turn move his relationship with Y/N along, which was something he truly desired for the first time since he was with Kali and would give him a chance to get to know his nephew, by Lucifer, Jack. Something he thought was a nifty bonus.

Y/N was in the bunker’s library reading something to help the Winchester brothers find a way to reopen the portal to the ‘Apocalypse World’ so that they could save their mom. She was trying to find even hint of an idea of how to help. As she was sitting with her back to the rest of the bunker sort of in her own little world, Gabe decided to check on her and in return he startled her and luckily was able to catch the flying book that was previously in her hands.

Gabe sheepishly chuckled, “Sorry Sweetheart, I didn’t mean to scare ya.” He lowered himself just enough to wrap his arms around Y/N’s shoulders as she sat in the chair trying to calm her racing heartrate. “Since we have the place to ourselves, I thought maybe me and my Special Girl could maybe get some alone time together, what do ya say Babes?”  He waggled his eyebrows as he spoke but frowned when he saw her shake her head no.

She sighed as she shook her head in response to his offer. She knew that frustrated him to no end and she felt terrible about it. For a few weeks now that had been the same answer to his same question. She was focused on the task that was given to her and she would slave over the lore books to the point of exhaustion. She would stumble to their shared room nap for a few hours and do it all over again. She knew it was worrying Gabe, but she also knew it had to be done. The longer it took to find answers the more of a chance that they weren’t going to find Mary alive and well. “I’m sorry Gabe but if I don’t do this research who will? We still need answers and the boys are off in a hunt…”

Gabe stopped her before she could continue annoyed and slightly angered. He was really feeling rejected by her in that aspect lately and had finally had enough. He did his best to reign in as much of his anger at the situation as he could but some of it seeped through into his words and his tone. “I don’t know, maybe the two whose mother is trapped over there?! They are using you as their research bitch, Y/N! Can’t you see that?” His whiskey colored eyes blazed with all his pent-up emotion. “Or are you using their research as an excuse because you don’t want me anymore?” He almost whispered, the thought of the woman that he was so in love with had possible fallen out of love with him crushed him to the core.

Seeing the pain in his eyes broke her heart. “Gabe. That is so far from the truth and you should know that. Hell, you are basically all I think about. All you ever need to do is read my mind if you feel any doubt about my feelings for you.” She stood and placed her forehead to his and focused all her energy on making him feel her love she held for him. She wanted it to wrap around him like his wings would often wrap around her in the times she needed comforted. “I know we have been up to our necks in it lately and I’m sorry I’ve been neglecting you, but Gabe, I am to the point that I feel guilty for needing sleep because it takes time away from possibly finding what we need to get her home. I’m sorry…” Her voice cracked at her last two words and she walked away from the archangel, leaving him essentially speechless.

He watched as Y/N stormed off toward their room and jumped slightly as he heard the door slam shut. “Okay, how is this my fault?!” He exclaimed, as he stomped back to their room to try and talk to her. “C’mon, Sugar. Talk to me.” He spoke as he opened the door expecting to see her curled up on their bed but instead, he saw her quickly packing her go bag. He frowned deeply. “You’re leaving…” It was meant as a question but came out as more of a statement almost feeling rejected again.

Looking up from what she was doing she shook her head no once again. “No, Feathers. We are leaving. Sam called they need our help. Dean got hurt and is on the shelf. He needs a couple extra sets of hands. Hunters work is never finished, Handsome.” She frowned seemingly a little disappointed. As she walked by him, she put her hand on his forearm. “Looks like Willy Wonka and cuddling will have to wait, again.”

Gabriel was pleasantly surprised at her words and thought, ‘Hey at least she was considering more than just napping in here for three hours and running back to that Dad damn library again.’ He smiled and followed Y/N out to her car. “Alright. Let’s go gank this sucker so we can get back here and get our snuggle on.”

The two drove the few hours to meet up with Sam and the injured Dean and listened to Sam filled them in on what happened and what they were hunting. Seems they underestimated a nest of vampires and one of them had gotten the drop on Dean which resulted in a concussion and him having to sit the rest of the hunt out. So, they sat and planed it all out and waiting for night to come.

As it started getting dark Y/N, Sam, and Gabriel piled into the Impala and headed toward the nest’s location Y/N and Gabriel were in the back seat together leaving Sam in the front by himself to drive. Gabriel insisted that she sat with him. They held onto each other’s hands the entire drive there. He knew Y/N still had some doubts about her hunting abilities and was doing his best to help her psych herself up for the battle that lay ahead of the three of them.

Sam put the impala in park and cleared his throat to let the two know they were there. Y/N got out of the back seat first and met Sam at the trunk where he handed her a machete and made sure she was ready for the coming battle. With a nod and a glance over her shoulder to make sure Gabriel was right behind her they made their way into the nest and started fighting.

Sam had managed to kill two vampires so far and Y/N managed to get one but was tussling with another that happened to be three times the size of her.  Sam went to help her when one jumped on his back and Gabriel was fighting another vampire leaving Y/N to fend off the large vampire by herself. She was losing the fight. The Vampire had managed to get several solid hits in on her and knocking her machete out of her grasp. The vampire that was fighting her pinned her to the wall with one hand forcing a terrified squeak out of her throat and picking up the blade in his other hand. Gabriel looked up in time to watch the monster shove the machete into Y/N’s abdomen. He saw her eyes go wide from the shock of being run through with her own blade.

Gabriel smites the vampire he was fighting and yells to Sam, who had just finished beheading the vampire that he was fighting with. Sam yells “No!” Gabriel snaps his fingers and the vampire that stabbed Y/N disintegrates on the spot. Before Sam knows it, Gabe is next to Y/N cradling her trying to heal her, but it wasn’t working for some reason which was only adding to Gabriel’s panic.

“No no no no… You gotta stay with me, Love. Please don’t leave me, Sugar.” There were tears in his voice as he kept trying to heal Y/N but to no avail. He couldn’t figure out why, he had never not been able to heal her before. He sent up a silent prayer to his father asking him for help, but he knew it was all for naught. As he cradled his dying love to him, he did his best to contain his emotions, but his eyes were betraying him. He started murmuring to her softly in Enochian because he knew it would bring her comfort.

Y/N whimpered softly against him fighting back a cough, “Gabe. It’s okay. It’ll be okay.” She had to pause to take a few ragged breaths before continuing, “Gabriel, I need to tell you this before…”

Y/N had to pause again but this time Gabriel tried to shush her, “Baby save your strength, okay? You don’t need to tell me anything. I’m going to get you beck to the motel room and we are going to get you patched up and everything is going to be just peaches and cream.” He looked to Sam and nodded silently telling him that he would see him back at the motel and disappeared whit Y/N.

Gabriel arrived with a dying Y/N in his arms about the same time Sam got back to the motel. Sam somehow made land speed records to be there. Dean jumped up despite the concussion. Gabe laid Y/N down on the bed that wasn’t occupied though he stayed close to her. He tried in vain to heal her would again. Though he knew deep down it wasn’t going to work.

As Sam started to explain to his brother what transpired, Gabriel felt Y/n weakly clutch his hand to get his attention. She knew her time was drawing close and she could see the reaper in the corner of the room waiting for her. She mustered her last bit of energy to speak to Gabriel.

“Gabriel…” She gasped for air, “You need to hear this.” She paused again feeling weaker and weaker by the second. “I love you, Feathers.” As she forced the words out, she heard the Reaper speak in a gentle voice to her telling her it was her time to go. Y/N reluctantly went with the Reaper that had come to collect her, as she crossed to the other side her body went limp in Gabriel’s arms.

Gabriel felt her leave him and let out a pained scream the likes of which the Winchesters never heard. Sam and Dean simply watched as the archangel before them mourn the loss of his love in awe. Gabriel wept openly over the loss of Y/N as he held her now lifeless body to him.

Sam and Dean let him have an hour with Y/N’s body before they suggested moving on with the process of her passing and getting her Hunter’s Funeral in the works.  Which Gabriel didn’t react positively to, but they knew that was going to be the case. It took them some time to talk Gabe into going through the proper motions, but it was done and it about broke Gabriel to say goodbye to her in that final way. Sam told Gabe that they had found a spell to open the portal to get their mom back. Gabe gave them a bitter laugh but said he was in. He figured that would be an easy way out of his pain that wouldn’t offend his father. He was going with the boys to Apocalypse World with no plan in coming back…

The End

[moondrop04]

RWBY VOLUME 8 EPISODE 7 SPECULATION AFTERMATH!!!

SPOILERS!!!

SPOILERS!!!

SPOILERS!!!

Hello Hello Hello!!! XD Another Week........and the last episode of RWBY before the hiatus is out!!!! Sorry I am late AGAIN (busy with work) but let’s dive right in and see what I got RIGHT and what I Definetly got WRONG from my Speculation post!!

-Sigh.........I got everything wrong in my speculation post 😑.......ya know....stuff like this can make someone wonder what is even the point of writing. Like.....you can write whateeeeever you think is going to happen, from theories you have thought about for months or speculations you made after an episode airs....only to find out NONE of them becomes true. Revelations like this can make just about anyone bitter.......angry even, towards the creators who make the things you love just because they didn’t do the things you wanted to happen.....to what “I” wanted to happen. You know what I have to say about that.......I Don’t Give A S*** I Was Wrong, I STILL LOVE RWBY!!! 😤 I can make a million theories and speculations that could be right or wrong but at the end of the day RWBY is still one of the rare few series that can make my imagination go WILD!!! 😆.....(not like that you perverted F***s 🤨) So what I am trying to say is that I was HORRIBLY WRONG AGAIN, but I STILL LOVED THE EPISODE!!!! Here my thoughts about it.......

-(Salem) Ok......i’ll be honest....I was really disappointed with Salem’s small involvement in the episode 😔. I was really hoping we could finally see how she fights on her own but I have to understand that there is more within the plot that needs to be shown then my selfish desire of seeing Salem kicking some ass 😓. The only positive thing I can take away from this small scene is that it confirmed what I always thought.....that Salem is the kind of woman dramatic enough to cause about a catastrophe and play about as if it were her own Orchestra lol XD. Oh! And tremendous work from CRWBY with the set up of the battlefield between the Grimm and Ironwood’s forces. I was amazed by the incredible number of character models that was placed within the episode to showcase the large scale of the battle between two great forces and I can’t wait to see how much more CRWBY could do in the future battles!

-(Oscar/Ozpin & Hazel) I more or less thought that this would be the direction that Ozpin would take to try and reason with Hazel (revealing Salem’s curse origins) but I didn’t expect for Oscar to reveal jinn’s name to him to get him to listen 🤔. Now while I do understand that this may prove beneficial for Oscar and Hazel’s future trust with one another, I still feel like it may not be the right time for Hazel to switch sides just yet story wise. I think Hazel will still be under Salem’s command by the end of the season but there’s no doubt that Oscar will make Hazel begin to question Salem’s plans and agenda for gathering the relics.

-(Emerald, Mercury & Tyrian) Hmmm I have been thinking about it and I also think it would be a good idea if Emerald would be the one to ask the last question to Jinn, considering that the two share a connection with the tale of Aladdin. The question now is......what will be her question 🤔? I am honestly quite surprised that Mercury and Tyrian are going to Vacuo this early in the volume. From Salem’s standpoint it would make sense to send her followers to the next relic, given that she is nearly about to obtain her second relic within the next few hours. I am a bit disappointed that they are leaving though, especially Tyrian, because i was hoping that there would be a conclusion with his and qrow’s fight in Atlas, given what happened with Clover last volume. I kind of want to hope that they will turn around and return to Atlas near the end of the volume due to Vacuo forces heading it’s way towards Atlas and that they would need to warn Salem, but so far we don’t know if Ruby’s message could convince headmaster Theodore to deploy his huntsmen to fight Salem so we’ll just have to wait and see.

-(May Marigold) Clap...Clap...Clap...👏👏👏 that Scene was......GOOD!!! I am glad for the Trans community to be givin more representation for themselves and I hope the trend will continue on in the future in other prominent series and tv shows.

-(Weiss & Whitely) Ok......as much as this scene between the two siblings warmed my heart, I’m gonna have to play devils advocate and say that I still don’t fully trust Whitley just yet. While this may look like a good direction for Whitley’s character, we still have a long way to go between the whole Schnee family to fully see where Whitley wants to do going forward in his life. So for now I’ll trust that he is doing this “kindness” for Weiss and her friends because he wants to help, but I’ll keep an open mind on what he does in the future. Also BEST DAD KLEIN IS BACK!!!! WOOHOO!!! 😆😆😆

-(Ren & The Ace-Ops) Oh Ren.......while I’m glad to see you evolve your semblance and realize your current “faults” for your character arc this volume.....I can’t help but feel terrible for you for this revelation 😥. With Ren’s new Ability he can now see a person’s current feelings and emotions as if they were different colored petals. With this new found power he was quick to realize the inner turmoil of each member of the Ace-Ops and the storm of emotions within Winter Schnee. But I, as an audience member, was also quick to realize that Ren’s new ability could serve another purpose, specifically for the Shipping fandom.....if Ren is now able to see the feelings of anyone he has his vision set upon, he could easily tell who has feelings of “love” for one another!? For example: if he were see Yang talking with or about Blake for any reason, he would be able to see petals of “love” swirling around her and determine Yang has feelings for Blake. And not just them.....but he could foresee what could potentially be future canon ships down the road for other characters as well!!! Now as well you and I know the shipping fandom can be kind of........crazy🤪, and with this sudden realization Lie Ren has just became the Shipping Community’s messiah of canon ships 😭. Good luck Ren!!! You’ll need it!!! Lol

-(Penny) Alright as heart wrenching that this cliffhanger was....I can’t help but feel that it was too “plot convenient” for Penny to just land exactly where Ruby and her group were hiding out after her downfall from Amity in episode 5 🤨. Maybe before she shut downed she could have tried to alter the course of her landing to land near Ruby’s last coordinates but I have some doubts for that theory 🤔. I don’t know it just felt weird to me lol but despite that this does present an interesting situation because we know Cinder, The Hound and Neo were sent to retrieve Watts to find Penny’s location. So could this mean the long awaited confrontation between Ruby and Cinder is about play out? 😮 I guess we’ll see.....

Overall, despite my personal grievances, the episode was excellent XD and now I am left with the realization that I will have to wait several weeks for the next episode to air......ain’t that a B**** 😑

Quick note: I’m sorry this took so long to post but I have been busy with my 12 hour shift job and it has left me exhausted 🥵. Hope everyone has a merry Christmas and a happy new year!!! 🥳.........plz let it be a good year.....

[zelgadis55]

Chapters: 20/? Fandom: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Characters: Michelangelo (TMNT), Mikey, Dogpound, Chris Bradford, Hamato Yoshi | Splinter, Leonardo (TMNT), Leo, Donatello (TMNT), Donnie, Raphael (TMNT), Raph, April O'Neil (TMNT) Additional Tags: Mikey is captured, Bradford wants revenge, and Shredder allows it, pet trope, Abuse, Rape/Non-con Elements, Violence, not graphic, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Hurt Michelangelo (TMNT), Michelangelo (TMNT)-centric, Turtles, TMNT, Mind Manipulation, Cruelty Summary:

Bradford has always blamed Michelangelo for his misfortunes and especially for his mutation so when he manages to capture the young ninja, he's going to make sure he knows exactly what it's like. 2k12 AU.

Warning: Warnings for physical and mental torture in this story abound, as well as for implied and highly disturbing situations. Trigger warnings may apply for some chapters. There will not, however, be gruesome details. Some things are best left up to the imagination.

              How Much is that Turtle in the Window                                                     ch 20

Mikey yawned himself awake, feeling warm in a way that had nothing to do with the unpleasant stuffiness of the shipping container and looked up sharply to see what had disturbed him. To his surprise, it was to see Raphael slipping in through the door and closing it gently behind him. Mikey quickly closed his eyes again, snuggling deeper into Leonardo's protective hold as he pretended not to have been woken by his hotheaded brother's return.

Light footsteps made their way towards him, stopping seemingly directly in front. Mikey opened his eyes the tiniest of cracks to see emerald green feet just inches away.

"Hey," Raph said gruffly, "I know you're awake, Mikey. There's no way you didn't notice me coming in"

"He's exhausted, Raph," Donnie spoke up grimly from nearby, "It's been a very rough few days on top of an extremely rough number of months."

"Yeah, I get that, Don but I saw him looking at me when I closed the door."

An exhausted and slightly exasperated sigh sounded from across the room. "Do you have any idea how much you hurt him yesterday?"

"... Yeah... I get it..." Raph muttered unhappily. "And I didn't mean it like that."

"Don't tell it to me, tell it to Mikey," Donnie retorted testily.

"I'd love to but I want to be sure he's paying attention to me first because I'm not sure I have it in me to apologise more than once." Now it was Raph who sighed. "Not that I'd blame him if he doesn't want to hear it. Probably hates me after the horrible things I said and accused him of."

"You know, a year ago, I would have said Mikey didn't have the ability to hate," Donnie stated matter-of-factly, "though now, I'm not so sure..."

"Not helping, Don," Raph replied grumpily.

"I wasn't trying to help but my point is, I very much doubt he hates you."

"That's true, he's more scared that you hate him and will reject him," Leo murmured quietly.

Ugh great! Why'd Leo have to go tell Raph that? He already felt vulnerable enough!

"And unfortunately, I wasn't quite able to convince him otherwise when we talked earlier."

"He actually spoke?" Raph asked, his voice suddenly full of hope.

"Not in words, no," Leo admitted, his voice vibrating soothingly through his body and into Mikey's where he snuggled against his brother., "but it was pretty obvious what he wanted to say if you paid attention."

Raph sighed miserably and Mikey heard him drop to the ground in front of him with a small clunk. He peeked momentarily through slits in his eyelids again to see his brother staring at him with a guilty look on his face and his heart ached for him to open his eyes and reach out to Raph. Unfortunately, his head, on the other hand, screamed at him to keep away because Raphael would only reject him all over again.

"I'm not going anywhere until you open your eyes and listen to me, little brother," Raph said after a minute, his voice sounding hoarse and choked with emotion.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24382507/chapters/72303180  or  https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13593827/20/How-Much-is-that-Turtle-in-the-Window 

[talpup]

Light In the Darkness:69

Summary: Yami Sukehiro just wanted to join the Magic Knights and make his mentor proud.  He knew there would be trails.  He knew trouble would come his way.  Knew he would be faced with discrimination for being a foreigner and a peasant.  What he didn’t know.  Didn’t expect.  Was that literal Chaos would come his way.  That he and his mentor’s sister would be at the center of world ending trouble.  Or that he would fall in love with his mentor’s sister and face more than discrimination; but the jealously of Nozel Silva who loved the same woman he did.

Please remember this fic is rated mature and has warnings of violence, abuse, sexual tension, eventual sexual behavior, and other possible triggers.  For a full list of story tags please check the fics AO3 (link to that at the top of my tumblrs homepage).

NOTES: No one mentioned any need for markers to avoid the assault scene with the intention of sexual assault and rape.  So that made it easy to format to html for ao3.

***Also I'm seriously considering participating in No Content November.  While I have some super amazing regular and occasional commenters for this fic, it's really disheartening to see yet another fellow writer friend give up posting for lack of feedback.  Yes we write for ourselves.  And I'm sure that friend won't stop writing.  But we post to interact with readers and fellow manga/anime fans.  Just because the content the you read is free doesn't mean it didn't cost the author time and effort to write it.  We're not machines.  We have lives and feelings.

Readers pay for content with enthusiasm, feedback, questions, a simple thank you, or smash of the keyboard.  PLEASE interact with your content creators!  You have no idea what hearing from you means to us.

Anyway, I have a couple more weeks to decide though I'm leaning to yes.  Not just to support my fellow writer friends, but because the feedback on some of my BNHA fics is less than 1% hits to comments and I'm seriously considering a full stop on posting those.  Not only will this break give me a chance to decide if I want to continue or stop posting my BNHA stuff but it will also give me a chance to get further ahead on writing this fic as I really do like the large buffer I have between the chapter I'm posting and what I have finished.***

Chapter 69

Teris paused and looked in the direction that Jax, Gendry, and Quince had set off in at first light.  The three had continued to travel with them two days after Jamie and his team had splintered off.  They had entered the Diamond Kingdom a week ago. And by Zara’s reckoning they were three to four days out from Morris’ seat of power. Teris just hoped that the Wizard King was right.  That their getting there was really going to end this mess. Otherwise it was going to get ugly fast.

Though they had a hard go.  Setting a pace each day that left them exhausted and dreading the morning. Teris knew they were the lucky ones, with thus far the much easier task.  She worried about Yami, Julius, and her friends.  She worried about all the Magic Knights.  Nozel, she, and the rest were so close to achieving their goal.  If they failed now all the others efforts to the southeast and southwest would be for not.  No doubt there were horrible injuries, if not a few deaths by now.  Teris shook her head.  No.  She couldn’t allow herself to think on such things.  Not here and now.  She’d go mad with it all, wondering how Yami, Julius, and the others she held dear were doing.

At least Teris knew Yami was still alive.  She turned back to the southeast.  Even from such a great distance she could clearly sense his mana. It was as if in place of them being able to trust letting their mana feed off each others they had been left with the ability sense the others mana no matter the distance.  It was probably because their mana was so turbulent that she could sense his from so afar.

While Teris had mourned the lost of their ability to boost each others mana; preferring it over this ability to sense Yami’s mana no matter the distance. She now found herself grateful for it. She may not know exactly what state Yami was in.  But she knew he was alive. That she would see him again.  And be able to hold him and feel his arms around her.

Reaching the point Teris had descended to, Nozel came beside her.  Wordlessly, he held out a water skin.

Teris shook her head.

“Drink. You need to stay hydrated.”  Nozel told.

Teris wasn’t sure it was an order; but she pretended it was and took the skin.  She drank deeply, not having realized how thirsty she was. Cold as the nights were.  The days were baking and brutal.  It was late September.  How was it still so hot?

Satisfied by Teris’ drinking, Nozel nodded slightly and surveyed the landscape below.  “Zara’s map showed a creek on the other side of that hill.”

“If I never see another rocky hill again I’d be happy.”  Teris muttered.

Nozel smirked, dryly.  “You and me both.  This would be so much quicker and easier if we could use our magic.”

Teris looked at him hopefully.  “Can we?  Please!”

Nozel shook his head.

“You’re the Captain.”  She argued.

Nozel huffed.  That had been the first playful comment she had made toward him since the incident with Jamie on the cliff.

“Even Captain's have orders to obey.”  Nozel reminded.

“Fine.” Teris sighed, handing him back the water skin.

From the corner of her eye Teris watched Nozel take a drink without first cleaning the spigot as he did when forced to share with anyone else.  So he still liked her, she thought sadly.  She had hoped all that would have changed after the dreadful encounter with the kiss.  Or after he had seen how well Yami and she got on after having been together for nearly ten months.  Teris blinked at that, realizing just how long Yami and she had been together.

“You alright?”  Nozel asked, seeing her expression change.

Teris blinked again, shooing away her thoughts.  “Yeah.  Fine.”

“You sure?”  Nozel pressed.

The acting Captain glanced at her unbuttoned blouse, faint scarring still visible on the flat of her chest.  He didn’t doubt that Teris was at full strength.  They wouldn’t have allowed her be out here if she wasn’t.  Nevertheless, Nozel couldn’t help but worry about her.  Concerned over the quick pace he was having them travel.  He wondered about Teris’ thoughts and emotional state too.  Being back in the field after what she had been through on the Summer Solstice.

Teris tapped down her annoyance at his obvious concern and gave him an overly sweet smile. “Yes, Captain.  I’m sure.”

Nozel looked her over realizing he had once again pressed the boundaries of proper Captaincy and strayed into being a friend and Intended.  His lips twitched, angry at his failing.

His tempter bled into his words as he said, more harshly then intended. “Then get going.  We still have a long way to travel before we reach the proposed camp.”

Teris did as he said, wondering what would happen if it got too dark before they reached the predetermined locations.  Without Jax or Jamie it would completely be on Nozel to decide.  Knowing Nozel, he’d likely make them press on unless the way, weather, or lack of celestial light made progress too treacherous.

They reached the bottom of the hill, Fuegoleon and Zara waiting between the one they had just descended and the one yet to be climbed.

“What’s the hold up?”  Nozel asked, stepping beside his Vice Captain.

“I swore I saw something.”  Fuegoleon said, eyes searching the barren landscape.

Nozel knew better than to suggest an animal.  Fuegoleon could at times be overly cautious; but he wouldn’t delay their progress if he didn’t feel real concern.

“Where’s Randall?”  Teris asked, her eyes and Nozel’s joining Fuegoleon’s and Zara’s in looking for sign of movement.

“I sent him to scout on ahead.”  Fuegoleon answered.

“Using his air magic?”  Nozel questioned.

Fuegoleon nodded and apologized.  “Sorry Captain.  I know we were instructed not--”

“No.” Nozel cut off his Vice Captain’s words.  “If you saw something. It’s best we know quickly and without calling further attention to ourselves stumbling about.”

Fuegoleon relaxed a bit at Nozel understanding.

“Is it possible that these are some of the men you use to run ore with?”  Teris questioned Zara, eyes still searching for color or movement.

Zara shook his head.  “None that I worked with.  It’s the rainy season further north.  Soon after the ground will freeze over.  These are the few months we spent at home.  There were others though.  Those not working--”  He cleared his throat knowing better then to admit that the Clover Kingdom employed people to bring ore from the north through the Diamond Kingdom.  “During this time they switched from smuggling ore to other things.”

“Such as?”  Nozel question.

“Anything profitable really.”  Zara answered.  “Many did that sort of thing all year if they had a gang skilled enough and willing to take the risks it brought.”

“Name a few of these other so called profitable things.”  Nozel commanded, blue eyes narrowing as they surveyed the surrounding hills.  They were in the worst possible location.  Sandwiched between two hillsides with not even a boulder or scrub bush as cover.

Zara shrugged.  “Food.  Magical items.  Labor.”

“People?” Fuegoleon questioned, making sure he understood correctly.

Zara nodded.

Nozel sneered.  “Slave traders.”

Zara blinked thinking he had already warned his Captain and team of this. “Did I not mention--”

“Shut up.”  Nozel commanded Zara, readying his magic as he watched and waited.

Teris glanced from Nozel to Zara and back.  “This isn’t his--”

“Not now.”  Nozel softly barked.

They heard small rocks being disturbed.

“Where’s Randall?”  Fuegoleon asked, more to himself.  He silently cursed. Had he just sent his friend to his death?

Randall appeared at the top of the hill.  Fuegoleon released the breath he’d been holding.

Nozel knew better than to relax.  Something wasn’t right.  That’s when someone else appeared beside Randall.  Tendrils of mercury formed around Nozel, ready to fight.

Fire blossomed from Fuegoleon’s hands.

“I can get to him.”  Teris said, fairly certain she could control her light travel enough not to permanently blind Randall.

Nozel knew what she meant.  Even if light travel didn’t take so much out of her, they still didn’t know the situation well enough.  Even if it was anyone other than Teris, he still wouldn’t have allowed it.

“No.” Nozel told her.

Teris’ hand glowed as she aimed at Randall’s captor.

“Not unless he makes a move or I give the word.”  Nozel told his team.

“Magic Knights.”  Another voice called from behind them.

Nozel cursed.  He and Teris spun around while Fuegoleon and Zara kept watch on Randall and his captor.

“Stand down.  You’re surrounded.  And so heavily out numbered that I almost feel sorry for you.”  The voice said.

Fuegoleon glanced at Nozel.  He didn’t want to give up yet; but would follow his Captain's lead.

Nozel waited, calculating what to do.  He could rain down mercury; but if there were foes on both hills it wouldn’t be a dense shower.  If the man was telling the truth about his numbers, without knowing where they were hiding, Nozel could miss a large portion of them.  Even if the man was lying and Nozel was able to take most of them out; not knowing where they were and the wide dispersion of rain would likely leave many still able to move or attack. His mercury rain was dense and capable of poisoning.  But if injury was only a small open wound it would take time for the effects for poisoning to incapacitate.

“Watch Randall and the one that has him.”  Nozel ordered Fuegoleon. “Teris.  Zara.  Be ready for my word.”

Zara turned his focus back to the hill they had just come down.  Teris switched her aim to the man that had spoken to them.

The man wasn’t standing too far from where Nozel and Teris had stopped and talked.  Nozel remembered a gouge in the rocky hill face not far from that area, big enough to hide six or eight.  He wondered how many such chasms scarred the hill; no longer thinking them natural, but created by these people for this very reason.

“Your bravery will get you and your people killed.  Killing you will mean me and mine don’t get paid.  Those who serve the Beast must always be paid.”  The man said, referring to himself in the third person.

“Then let us continue on our way.  We’d rather die than surrender to the likes of you.”  Nozel said.

Beast gave a humored smile.  “The likes of me?  Now you’ve gone and hurt my feelings Magic Knight.  You don’t even know me.  Fine.”  He sighed.  “I’ll show you what you’re up against.  Just how futile fighting is.  Half of you stand.”

Nozel’s eyes widened at the force before him.  Even if the man was blustering and this was all of his force; it was still a good sixty to seventy people.

“Stand down.”  Nozel told the others.

Facing thirty plus on the hill Randall was on, Fuegoleon did as his Captain told.  Zara followed suit.

“We can take them.”  Teris said.

Fuegoleon glanced at her, angry that she was once again challenging their Captain.  That’s when he saw the numbers on the hill Nozel, she, and Zara were facing.

“Stand down, Teris.”  Fuegoleon told.

His voice made her turn.  Seeing the numbers on her cousins side, Teris lowered her hand, the glow of light fading.

“That’s so unfair it’s not even funny.”  Teris ground out in complaint about the near hundred scattered about on the two hills.

“We’ll get out of this.”  Nozel swore to them, softly.  “We just have to survive to be able to do so.”  He turned back to Beast and called. “Well?”

“All your people.” Beast said.

Nozel’s brow furrowed.  His eyes darted over to Teris, Fuegoleon, and Zara making sure they all had obeyed his command.  He glanced back at Randall who still stood captive at the top of the hill.

“This is all my people.”  Nozel said.

The Beast pointed.  “Don’t lie to me!  You think having them travel hidden and separate will keep them safe?”

“There is no one else.”  Nozel told, wondering what kind of game the man was playing at.  Maybe he had some kind of vendetta against Magic Knights and simply wanted a reason to kill them?  But why then give them the option of standing down?

Thirty meters away an Invisibility Mage muttered.  “This isn’t good.”

The Gravity Mage with her suggested.  “Make Teris invisible and I’ll make her float up out of harms way.  She’s the one that matters. We can just let the others die.”

“We’re tasked to protect her.  What you’re suggesting would put her in danger.”  The Invisibility Mage whispered back, harshly.

“In more danger than she’s already in?”  The Gravity Mage retorted.

“No one’s attacking right now.  If we do as you suggest they will be. Can you guarantee that she won’t get hit in the crossfire and killed?”  The Invisibility Mage questioned

“This is a mess.”  The Gravity Mage rumbled.

“I told you not to hover so close, Daryin.”

“So this is my fault?”  Daryin asked.

“In a way, yes.  If we hadn’t followed so close they might not know we were here.”

“But Teris would still be captured, Gwen.”

“But we’d still be free to watch over and protect her, unnoticed and unchallenged.  I’m making us visible.”

“What! Gwen!  No!”

All eyes turned to the two newly appeared mages.

“That’s better.”  Beast smiled.

Beast, along with several others, jumped; his Air Mage depositing them safely before the Magic Knights.  Others lept and landed around their other two prey.

Beast grabbed Nozel by the throat and lifted him up.  “You’ll pay for lying to me, Magic Knight.”

Teris made for him.  “Stop it!”

Fuegoleon reached to stop her; but was too slow.  Beast released Nozel, who crumpled to the ground coughing and sucking in lungfuls of air.  Beast grabbed Teris by the arm, pulling her to him.

Teris knew she wasn’t strong enough to pull away.  Instead she allowed her feet to follow the direction she was yanked, using the added momentum.  Her knee rose and smashed Beasts in the groin with all the power she could physically muster.  Only her knee hit something hard and solid that made her jerk and wince in pain.

Teris wobbled on her still good leg, held up by her arm by Beast.

With a huff, Beast smirked down at her.  “Think you’re the first wild one to try such a thing?  I learned long ago to protect my favorite weapon against women such as you.”  He leered over her, getting in her face.  “In fact I may just use that weapon on you later.  Take a sample to better know the worth of what I’m selling.”

“Leave her alone!”  Nozel pushed to his feet, only to be kicked back down by one of Beast’s men.

Fuegoleon and Zara stepped toward Beast, only to be halted when the man standing over Nozel kicked him for every step they took.

Teris spat at the Beast.  “I’d kill myself before I let you near me. You think you’re the worst I’ve faced?”

Beast hooted.  “You are a feisty one! Aren’t you!  I like that!” He got back in her face.  “I may just keep you and break you myself.”

With great effort Fuegoleon kept his temper.  Seeking to inform and divert the mans attention away from Teris, he said.  “They’re not with us.”

Beast looked over at him.  He pushed Teris roughly away and stepped toward Fuegoleon.

Nozel barely caught Teris before her head hit a gagged rock.

“What’s that?”  Beast asked.

Fuegoleon looked up at Beast refusing to be intimated.  The name, though not creative, suited the man.  Beast had to be nearly seven feet tall. He was built like a mountain, his muscles seeming to have muscles.  Though Fuegoleon had seen a number of men who were bigger than Tobin Giantsbane and Yami Sukehiro, he had never seen a person that made the two Black Bulls seem small.  Till now.

“I said, they are not with us.”  Fuegoleon repeated, wondering who the two were and how long they had been secretly following them.  His first thought upon seeing them was that they were Magic Warriors or some sort of spy's working for the Diamond Kingdom.  But that didn’t seem right.  “If you look, you’ll see they’re not wearing Magic Knights cloaks.  I know you think they were traveling hidden and separate to keep them safe.  But, we didn’t know they were there.”

Beast looked back between the two groups and laughed.  “And here I thought the Clover Kingdoms Magic Knights were suppose to be elite mages.  You got caught in our trap and were being followed by those two and didn’t see any of it coming!”

Beast roared with amusement, his people following suit.  Their mocking laughter echoed off the hills.  Teris looked spitefully up at them. If only she could control her magic well enough to incinerate them all without turning her comrades to ash.  She had done it at the Battle at the Border and on three other occasions; but that had been before the Summer Solstice.  Before her mana had been churned into a raging, never ending whirlwind that she had to keep tightly harnessed at all times.  It left her feeling angry and ashamed that she couldn’t protect her squad members and friends, and get them out of this.

“Don’t feel so down on yourself Magic Knights.  I can’t speak for your stalkers over there, but us...  No one, no matter how good, would’ve seen the trap we laid.”  Beast said.  “We’ve got this gig down. Still, we’ve never once caught us a group Magic Knights.  There’s going to be a bidding war for the lot of you.  Get ready for the best payday you’ve ever seen boys and girls!”

The surrounding gang of mages cheered.

Nozel gripped Teris’ arm as he surveyed the surrounding enemy.  He was Captain.  This was on him.  Anything that happened to them was his doing.

“You don’t do anything unless I say.”  He whispered to Teris.

Teris’ eyes turned to him.  “What if--”

“That’s an order.”  Nozel rasped, harshly.

After the attention Teris had already drawn to herself, Nozel wasn’t about to let her attempt something that would further these people’s attention and aggression toward her.  As much as the thought angered and disgusted him, Teris was in the most danger here.  Men like this didn’t respect a ladies honor.  Their Leader had already threatened as much.

Nozel would never allow such a thing to happen.  He was sure Fuegoleon, Randall, and Zara felt the same.  They’d fight to the death before they’d let something like that happen to Teris.  Just the thought that someone had dared to threaten her with such a thing filled him with such rage that his hands clenched.

“Nozel.” Teris winced.

He looked at her then followed her gaze.  His bruised throat throbbed even more as he struggled to swallow a swell of new emotions.  He quickly opened his hand, releasing her arm to find a red print marring her skin where he had held her.  “I’m--”

“Button up.”  Fuegoleon whispered, lips barely moving as Beast stepped over to survey the two that had been following them.

Fuegoleon trusted Randall and Zara enough to not look at his cousin in such a way.  But men like this, even if Teris was covered up completely, would still stare and desire.

With slightly trembling hands, Teris did has her cousin instructed.  The scars on her chest were still slightly visible under certain light but hiding them didn’t when faced with the heat of day.  She would've taken off the thin over blouse, leaving her in just a tank top, if it hadn’t provided some sort of protection from the sun.

“We won’t let anything happen to you.”  Zara promised her.

Staring at the two that had been following the Magic Knights, one of the gang members asked.  “Are you sure you believe they aren’t with them? Could be that they’re nobility and the Magic Knights are protecting them.”

“Look at them.”  Beast gestured to the two.  “Even if they weren’t dressed like that, they don’t have the right look about them.”

“The right look?”  The gang member questioned.

“Their hands.  Their eyes.”  Beast made his way back to the Magic Knights and pointed at Nozel and Fuegoleon.  “I reckon those two are nobility.  The girl has the right glare and attitude too.  If it wasn’t for her hands, I’d have guessed she was high class as well.  But there’s no way a fine noble lady would have hands like those.”

Teris scowled, fighting the urge to look at her hands.  What was wrong with them?  So it had been almost a year since Mistress had forced a manicure on her.  But were her nails really that bad and different from Fuegoleon and Nozel’s?

Beast looked her over.  He didn’t know what he had said to garner such a hate filled look from her,  likely just continuing to exist was enough.  The girl certainly had the hateful, haughty eyes and bearing of a noble.  Maybe she had been one once or her house was near its end.  Or maybe she had picked up the behaviors of the two noblemen she traveled with.  Maybe one, or both of them, were grooming her as their courtesan.  No.  That didn’t sound right.  If either of these two men had such designs on her, they’d make sure she was taken care of and looked the part.  No man, even a prissy noble, liked their hands to be prettier than their woman's.  Though there did seem to be a curious dynamic between the girl and two nobles.

No matter, Beast thought.  If he were interested in a persons life story he would be doing something different.  He looked up to where his man was holding the other Magic Knight.  “Do it!”

The Magic Knights in front of him turned in time to seen their comrade fall to the ground.  Before they could react Beast’s people knocked them out as was.  He looked over at the other two that had been following the Magic Knights.  “Anything more you want to say before we put you go to sleep too?”

“Our Master will not stand for this!”  Daryin yelled, unwilling to be hushed by his companion.  “You’ve made a grave mistake!”

Beast laughed, his people following suit.  “And who is your Master?  Tell me of his fearsome accomplishments.”

“He is Death himself.”  Daryin said, lifting his chin proudly

Beast stopped at that.  There was only one man he knew that was referred to in such a way.

“Pip.” Beast called to his second in command.

Pip stepped forward, her long hair tangling in the wind as she came beside him.  “Boss?”

Beast nodded to two of his people, silently ordering them to knock out the tag-alongs.

The two Agents of Chaos crumpled to the ground.

Beast lifted his hand, giving his gang the signal to wrap it up and move out.  A few others came down to help pick up and take away their haul.

“See that the Magic Knights and those two are put in different cell blocks.  Then put the word out with our contacts.  Let it be known we have a man and woman claiming to belong to the Agents of Chaos.  Say that they were following a team of Magic Knights.  And that we will wait three days before putting them on the market just in case the Master of Chaos has an interest or wishes to claim any of them.”

“Sure thing, Boss.”  Pip nodded.

Beast looked around at his people.  Raising his voice so the gang could hear, he ordered.  “No one harms the men or touches either of the women.  They may not be ours to toy with just yet.”  He heard some of his men grumble and complain, and told.  “Either way, you can be sure we’ll get paid a pretty sum for them.”

He wondered what two Agents of Chaos were doing following a squad of Magic Knights.  That was if they had been telling the truth.  But if they knew of the Master of Chaos, then they would know he was not someone to be mentioned so casually, even in the hope of freedom. There were far worse things than being sold into indentured servitude if caught misusing the Master of Chaos’ name.  And pretending to be in league with him when not would see those worse things come to pass.

69.2

It had been four days since Mereoleona let Yami back on the front lines of the battlefield.  Still, the Crimson Lions Captain had continued to watch him closely.  Yami could feel the Vermilion’s eyes on him as he fought, making sure that he stayed in line.

The fearsome Lioness could watch him all she liked, Yami thought.  He had learned his lesson and learned it well.  He was not someone who sat back and cared for returning fighters.  He didn’t have the temperament or emotional aptitude for it.  Because of that he had made a whole host of new enemies among his fellow Magic Knights; having thrown them water skins from afar which had smacked them in the face, or simply told them to get their own damned refreshment. His eyes had never left the battlefield the entire time he had been back there.  Those two long, seemingly endless days of not fighting alongside his fellows had killed him.

Returning from the front line, Yami collapsed under the shade of a tree, accepting the water skin that was handed to him.

Sitting a few paces away, Mereoleona commented.  “You’re doing well out there.  Never stepped out of line once.”

Yami said nothing.  Though still on the lookout for the Smoke Mage Lotus Whomalt, he had stopped actively searching for him.  He sighed, grateful that Teris’ cousin had let him back out to fight.  He wasn’t about to ruin it by speaking up.  Just give him a hour or two of rest and he’d be ready to go out there again.

The Crimson Lions Captain got to her feet.  She had to report to Commander Greywright.  “Rest up.  We go again in four hours.”

“War is stupid.”  Yami grumbled.

Mereoleona looked down at him.  “Don’t tell me you were one of those idiots that thought it glorious.” “No.”  Yami said.  He might not be the smartest person around; but only a fool would think war was glorious.  “Still, I didn’t think it was like this.”

“It’s not.”  Mereoleona confessed.  “Not really.  Remember.  We’re only fighting as a distraction.  If this were a real war without trying for peace, it’d be different.  Though no less stupid. Battles are fun and may have meaning.  Wars.”  She shook her head and sighed.  “They’re nothing but foolish endeavors no matter how noble the cause.”

Yami made a face of disgust.  The reason for this particular war was certainly foolish and far from noble.

“Get some rest.  That’s an order.”  Mereoleona told him, walking off.

Yami wasn’t the best at following orders; but currently that was a command he had no trouble obeying.  He laid back on the dusty, packed earth.  Stretching out, he closed his eyes.  As usual when he had a moment of peace to himself, his thoughts drifted to Teris.

His sense of her mana told him she was alive.  But that didn’t mean she was safe.  Then again she was traveling with two men who loved and adored her nearly as much as he did.  He trusted Nozel and Fuegoleon. Knew the two men were highly capable.  Between Teris herself, Nozel, and Fuegoleon; Yami was confidant that no harm would come to her.

Yami recalled his birthday before the Crimson Lion and Silver Eagle arrived.  He hadn’t meant to take things so far that morning.  But could anyone blame him?  He could still hardly believe Teris’ boldness.  Referring to herself as his gift.  Not that he hadn’t liked it.  He had liked it a bit too much as the resulting outcome had proved.  What he had liked even more was that Teris felt comfortable and free enough with him to show such a side of herself. Yami growled, his thoughts sending his blood south.

Eyes closed, hands laced behind his head, Yami drowsily told his growing erection.  “I’ll beat you later.  Just let me rest.  And, no. I’m not talking to you.”  He told, sensing Bronn’s presence.

“Didn’t think you were.”  Bronn said, sitting a couple meters away with a tired grunt.  “I think every man here is telling their spear pretty much the same.  Why do you think so many little ones are born nine or so months after peace is made?  Not that you’ll be doing any of that.  You got yourself a fine bred lady and will have to wait. Won’t you?  That’s if she’s good on her word and doesn’t end up wedding that royal brat like she’s told.”

Yami opened an eye and looked at the Vice Captain.

“I could introduce you to some clean lass’ who know how to keep quiet about their dealings.”  Bronn offered.  “Black Sheep need never know.  I’ll even pay for your first go.  Consider it thanks for saving my ass out there this morning.”

The offer was so ludicrous it didn’t even bare response.  Yami closed his eye.

“Come on, kid.”  Bronn urged, sitting forward.  “If it all works out with Black Sheep the way you’re hoping, you’re gonna need some sort of experience.  I’ve been in the baths when you’re there. That thing you’re packing will do more than scare the girl. It’ll--”

Yami’s eyes flashed open.  He sat up, hand on the hilt of his katana.

Bronn held up his hands.  “Got it!  Got it!  No talk of sex talk where Black Sheep’s involved.  Geesh, you really do got a temper.  Don’t you.”

Yami slowly released the blades hilt.  Laying back down, he grumbled.  “I liked it better when you hated me.”

“Don’t get me wrong, Boy.  I still hate your troublesome, disrespectful ass. I certainly still think you’re making a big mistake pursuing that girl.  Whether she’s willing to give it all up or not.  Royals are nothing but trouble.  Black Sheep even more so.  Look at the mess you’re in with these zealots and the folk hired to kill you.”

Yami didn’t respond.  He didn’t care one lick what Bronn thought.  He only wished he hadn’t stepped in to help the Vice Captain, and instead left him to die.  Then Bronn wouldn’t be here bothering him, trying to figure out a way to repay him.  It didn’t matter that supporting and defending each other was what Magic Knights did. This was the two of them.  Yami had saved Bronn’s life; and Bronn couldn’t go on feeling he owed Yami his life.  The debt had to be paid.

Annoyed, Yami gritted his teeth.  “You want to thank me.  Go.  Away.”

Bronn looked at him out of the corner of his eye.  Was the young man that stupid?  That’s not how this sort of thing worked.  Yami had put himself at risk to help and save him.  In order to clear the debt, Bronn would either have to do the same or provide a service of great cost.  The woman he had in mind to service Yami was certainly that. Most of her clients were nobles, with a few wealthy merchants here and there.  Before Gilly, he had occasionally visited her.  The woman, looking for a good dirty romp without weak men or creepy kinks, use to call upon and take him without fee.  It had certainly been a boost to his ego.

“What’s with that face?”  Yami asked.

Bronn turned to the younger man, mind clearing of lewd memories.  “What’s that?”

“You look proud.  Almost—happy.  It’s creepy.  Stop it.”

Bronn picked up a small rock and threw it at him.  “Shut up!  I’m happy a lot.”

“When? I’ve never seen you happy.”  Yami quipped

“That’s because you’re around and you piss me off.”  Bronn said, throwing another rock.

The two started when rock passed through Yami.

“What are you doing.”  Bronn demanded.  He got to his feet knowing it wasn’t Yami.

Yami stood as well, hand instinctively gripping the hilt of his katana. “It’s not me.”

“Shut up and step through the portal.”  Bronn snapped, recognizing a different form of transportation magic.

Yami growled but did as he was told.  Bronn spun around, looking across the camp to where he had sent him.  He cursed seeing that it hadn’t work.  Yami was still fading.

Yami appearing in front of him, Bran blinked in surprise eyes clearing. The bees he was controlling to listen in on the enemies plans released from his hold.  “Yami!  What are you--”  His head pulled back, brows furrowing.  “You look weird.  What’s the matter?”

Yami looked down at his hands.  He could see through them now.  Despite that, he could still feel himself.  He was still able to grip his blade.  Bran stood, the both of them seeming to have the same idea. The two reached out trying to grasp the others arm.  Bran’s hand passed through Yami’s forearm.  Yami’s hand doing the same with Bran’s.

Yami continued to fade.  At this rate it wouldn’t be much longer before he completely disappeared.

“Captain Heath!”  Bran yelled, worry taking over his voice.

Bronn stepped through a portal with someone in tow.  He slapped Bran’s head.  “Quit screaming.  That singing fool can’t do anything about this.”  He said of the Purple Orcas Captain.

Yami stepped back when the woman that had arrived with Bronn stepped into his space.

“Let her do her thing!  She’s scenting you.”  Bronn snapped at Yami.

Yami frowned, but stayed put.  He looked down at the woman as she stuck her face into his chest taking long, deep breaths through her nose. Though he couldn’t physically feel her face passing through his chest; it was still a weird feeling.

“Hurry it up, lass.”  Bronn urged.

The transport was nearly complete.  Yami nothing more than a faint ghost.

“Done!” The woman declared.

Bronn felt a wave of relief wash over him.  As Yami disappeared, he swore. “We’ll find you.”

“Where is he!  What was that?”  Bran exclaimed.

Bronn frowned.  “Dimensional travel.  Only a few types of magic can even track it.  Lucky for us, such travel couldn’t have taken him far. We’ll have you look from the sky, and Etta here try to sniff him out.  But first, go inform Greywright and Mereoleona what’s happened.  Tell them we’ll need someone capable of busting their way in once we find him.”

Bran stepped to the Black Bulls Vice Captain.  “I want--”

Bronn grabbed Bran by the shirt collar.  “I don’t give a damn what you want, boy!  Now get!”  He shoved Bran in the direction of the Magic Knights Commanders tent.

Heath arrived, having hear Bran's call.  “I know you’re his Vice Captain but--”

“Not now, Bard!”  Bronn snapped.  “They got the Lord of Destruction. Again.”

Heath straightened at that.  “Who?  Surely not the Agents of Chaos again.”

“I don’t know who.  Muscle Head has all sorts after him.”  Bronn said, snidely.

The Captain noted Bronn’s weakened mana.  “At least let me help you out.  Restore you before you go.”

“Fine. Sing us one of your little shanty's and make us feel better.” Bronn allowed.

He might’ve made light of Heath’s magic; but the Purple Orcas Captain was a powerful mage.  And though he’d never say it, Bronn was exceedingly grateful for the mans efforts.  By the end of the short song, Bronn was refreshed, his mana levels back to full.

Looking to Etta, Bronn urged.  “Let’s go lass.  I got a debt to cross off.”

69.3

“Teris. Teris.  Wake up.”

Teris opened her eyes and found herself in an all too frightening familiar situation.  She really had to stop waking up in cells.  If she could just quit being captured all together that would be great.

She touched the base of her skull, wincing at the painful bump that was there.  Blinking, she looked up.  A small smile of relief crossed her face at the sight of Fuegoleon, Nozel, Zara, and Randall.

She looked around, taking in the iron bars.  “You guys okay?”

“That’s what I was about to ask you.”  Nozel said, watching her for sign of injury.

“Got the mana of all headaches.  But I’m good.”  Teris said, sitting up against the bars that adjoined with the boys cell.

She didn’t feel at all reassured that she was being kept in a separate cell from them; and she could see from their expressions and the way they kept on watching the door that they didn’t either.  Teris laid a hand over the belt buckle Yami had given her.  Grateful as she was for it, she hoped she wouldn’t need to use the blade hidden within.

“Has anyone been in?  Said anything?”  Teris asked.

“Zara woke first.  He says it’s been quiet.”  Fuegoleon told.

“Where are the other two?  The cloaked ones that were following us.” Teris wondered.

“That was strange.”  Randall commented.  Though he hadn’t heard much from his captured position at the top of hill, seeing those other two had surprised him.

After Randall woke, Fuegoleon had relayed everything that had been said while he let Nozel think.  Though Fuegoleon would never admit it, he knew Nozel had the better strategic mind.

Fuegoleon and Nozel looked at each other, both wondering the same thing.  The Vermillion turned back to his cousin, Teris’ expression telling him she thought the same.  That the Agents of Chaos or some other interested group had been following them.

Fuegoleon gritted his teeth.  He wondered how long the two tag-alongs had been with them.  If he had failed to notice danger stalking them, how could he hope to protect his cousin and fellows from harm?

The door opened and a man entered.

Fuegoleon fought the urge to make his way closer to Teris’ cell, knowing such an act would only draw further attention to her.

“Magic Knights.”  The man said, setting down a tray of food in front of the men's cell.  He eyed them.  “Not so magical in a mana blocked hold are you?  Beast is taking his time.  Waiting to give first bid of you all to a particularly scary customer.  I almost feel sorry for you if he’s the one who buys you lot.  He’s a real nasty fellow. Slice you all up for parts and throw away the rest he will.”

Teris felt the blood drain from her face.  Is this where Alowishus Spade got the mages for his sick corpse magic?  But what about the two that had been following them?  Were they not Agents of Chaos?  If not, then who were they?  And where were they now?

The man smiled.  “Sorry.  You boys will have to split the meal among the four of you.  I only have two hands.”  He moved and bent in front of Teris’ cell, setting a bowl of gruel on the floor.  “Maybe you’ll be nice enough to share your portion with them.  Are you a nice girl that likes to share?”  He looked her over, licking his lips.  “Want to share with me?  I’ll see you get all the best cuts if you treat me real nice like.”

Teris’ hand drifted back to her belt buckle.  Though she still had her grimoire, it would do her little good in a mana blocked cell.

The man looked back at the door he had come through.  The Magic Knights tensed, none of them liking the feel of this.  Almost as one, Nozel, Fuegoleon, Zara, and Randall reached through the bars when the jailer unlocked Teris’ cell.  They started yelling, both to threaten the man and attract attention of any other guard that could stop this.

Teris pressed back against the shared bars of the guys cell.  The man reached for her.  He managed to grab her leg and tried to pull her away from the adjoining cell.  Teris kicked out with her other leg, knocking him in the jaw.  She pulled her leg back and tucked it under her, squeezing as close to the bars as she could.  If they could make enough noise.  Get someone else to enter, see what was going on, and put a stop to it.

She held onto the bars with one hand, the other free and clasping the hidden weapon within her buckle.  She was tempted to pull the blade out now.  Wanted to threaten the man with it.  But such a thing wouldn’t work.  If anything he’d bring in the weapon he had left outside the cell with the keys.

No. Teris had wait and do exactly as Yami had taught her.  She had to leave the little knife hidden until the moment she had to use it.

The man laughed and tried to grab her leg again.  The reach of her comrades outstretched arms kept him at bay.

Nozel’s hand gripped over Teris’ in effort to secure her hold on the cells bar.  He could see the wild fear in her eyes, which only grew when the man once again managed to grab a hold of her ankle.

Though it had cost the man a good patch of hair and some scraps and bruises, he laughed, not feeling any of it.  Getting a better grip on Teris, he pulled.  Fuegoleon, Randall, and Zara now moved to assist Nozel in holding Teris fast.

The man was able to grip her around the waist now.  He gave one last rough jerk.  The others hold broke.  Teris was slammed against the bars on the opposite side of the cell.  If that hadn’t stunned her, the man adding his weight into the mix as he followed and rammed into her did.

The breath was knocked out of her.  One side of her face screamed, throbbing in pain along area it had met one of the bars.  Teris’ shoulder was grabbed.  Before she could catch her breath, she was spun around.  The other side of her face echoed in pain as she was back handed.  Spots blurred her vision.  It was a struggle to stay calm and remember what Yami had taught her.

The man thought he had won.  He thought that she was some Magic Knight unaccustomed to fighting with anything but magic.  But he was wrong. His arrogance was her strength.  Teris waited a second after he let his guard down.  His lecherous smile sickened as he looked her over.

Teris’ hand once again drifted to her belt buckle.

The mans smile grew.  “You’re one those, huh?  Likes to put up a fight but is all cooperative af--”

His words turned into a cry of alarm and pain as Teris charged him, driving the three inch blade into one of the key areas Yami had instructed her to.  Again and again she hit, the blade puncturing and slicing with every punch she gave to his groin.  Even when she had him against the opposite bars and Nozel was there to wrap an arm around the mans throat, Teris still didn’t stop.

As soon as the man had ripped Teris away, Nozel had taken a step back, frantically searching for weak points in the cells wall.  They couldn’t rely on anyone hearing them and coming it.  And what was to say that whoever came would put an end to this anyway?  The person could just as easily help Teris’ attacker.

Judging where the weakest point was, Nozel had instructed the others and they began pounding themselves against it.  He was pretty sure Fuegoleon had dislocated his shoulder as he had switched sides; but that didn’t matter now.  Together they had loosened the connection point and begun to bend a bar up.

When Nozel saw Teris charge, not stopping till the man was within his reach; he was there to wrap a forearm around the mans neck, gripping his wrist with his other hand.  Blind with rage, Nozel wasn’t going to stop squeezing till he choked the mans life out of him.

The others had managed to lift bend bar enough for the smallest of them to get through.

“Zara! The keys.”  Fuegoleon ordered as the Purple Orca crawled through into Teris’ cell.

But all seemed to stop when Teris fell back crying and bloody.

“Teris!” Zara rushed to her.

Teris pulled away when he neared.

Zara held up his hands.  He glanced at the man.  Seeing him dead, Zara soothed.  “Teris.  It’s okay.  It’s just me.  He’s gone. Dead.  It’s over.  Are—are you okay?”  He felt stupid for asking such a thing.  Of course she wasn’t okay.  “Are you injured?”

Teris touched her face, trying to take stock.

“This blood?”  Zara asked, gently.

At that she shook her head.  She looked down at the small knife she had instinctively slipped back into the belt buckle just the way Yami had taught her.  “It’s—it’s not mine.”

The four male Magic Knights relaxed at that.

“The keys.”  Fuegoleon commanded, again.

This time Zara listened.  As soon as the cell was open, Fuegoleon was through the door and in Teris’ cell.  He scooped her up to her feet with his good arm, the other still dislocated and pinned to his side.

“I got you.  I got you.”  Fuegoleon breathed, hugging her tight.  He looked over her shoulder to Nozel who still held the man in a choke hold.

It was then that Fuegoleon saw what Zara had somehow missed.  The torn fabric and bloodied mess all around the mans groin.  He held Teris tighter, wondering where she had gotten a weapon.  Off her attacker maybe?

Randall placed a hand on his Captain's shoulder.  “He’s dead, sir.  We should get out of here.”

Nozel gave a nod.  Still, he found it difficult to let go of the hold. Slowly, he forced his hand open, releasing his wrist.  The man slumped to the floor.  Pulling his arm back from between the bars, Nozel looked down at the man.

“Sir?” Randall pressed.

With a blink, Nozel forced his mind to focus.  He looked at Fuegoleon, silently inquiring about Teris.  Not that it really mattered.  They had to get out of here whether she was good to move of not.  He saw his friend whisper something to her.

Teris nodded.  She grabbed the Crimson Lions arm, and quickly and efficiently popped his shoulder back into place.

Fuegoleon gritted.  A guttural groan escaped from clenched teeth.

Nozel huffed, realizing what Fuegoleon had asked as a barometer to see if Teris was alright.

Stepping out of the cell, the acting Captain ordered.  “Let’s go.”

69.4

Before Yami managed to cloak his blade in darkness someone grabbed him from behind.  Big mistake, he thought.  Gripping the persons arm with his left hand, Yami threw them over his shoulder.  He twisted the arm till he felt it slide out of place.

The figure below grunted in pain.  Yami lowered his katana to the mans neck.  It was then that Yami saw his attackers face.

Yami halted, though didn’t lift his blade.  “Cin?”

“Yami!” Cin looked up.  He held up the hand of his good arm, staying the gang around them.  “What the hell, man!”

Yami blew a strand of hair out of his eye.  Teris was right.  He really did need a haircut.

Yami took in the surrounding gang.  “Was about to ask you the same.  We good?”

“Yeah. Yeah, we’re good.”  Cin winced, sitting up.  “Stand down everyone.”

Seeing the gangs magical attacks that had been ready strike disperse, Yami relaxed a bit.

Cin looked up at him.  “You mind?”

Yami sheathed his katana.  Holding his hand out to the mans good arm, Yami pulled him up.  As he did so he gripped and popped Cin’s shoulder back into place.

“Son of a--”  Cin shouted.  Some of his people laughed while others looked ready to attack again.  “Damn it!  Your touch is still as gentle as a hammer.”

“Thought I’d gotten better.”  Yami mumbled, mildly chagrined.  Though he hadn’t had as much practice putting joints back into place as he use to.

Cin huffed.  “What are you doing here?”

“What do you mean?  Wasn’t it one of yours that brought me.  I certainly didn’t come willingly.”

“Sorry about that.”  Cin apologized.

Yami looked about at the surrounding mages.  “So you’re running a gang?”

“You could say that, I guess.”  Cin admitted, carefully.  “What about you?  Never thought I’d see you on a battlefield fighting for the Clover Kingdom.”  He looked Yami over.  “A Magic Knight.  When did that happen?”

Yami shrugged.  “Few years back.”

“So, who is she?  Was she worth it?”  Cin asked.

The slight tension that have never left Yami, grew.  “What?”

“The girl who’s father hired us to kill you.”  Cin said, assuming their employer was some girls father.

“Who’s that?”  Yami asked, hoping for a name.  Though he had no doubt who had sent them.

Cin chuckled.  “What?  There’s more than one girl?”

“No. But her father’s dead.  So.”  Yami lifted a shoulder, staring at his old friend.

Cin shook his head.  “I remember when you didn’t have interest or time for girls.  Said they were nothing but trouble and a distraction.”

“Well, she certainly is that.”  Yami admitted.

“Hence why you’re keeping women to the one.”  Cin smirked.

Yami didn’t answer.  Let Cin fill in the blanks however he liked.  Good as it was to see him, Yami didn’t know him anymore.  It had been years since they had last seen each other.  Years since Yami had left the tunneled home that housed a pack of fellow boys who had followed him after he had kicked each of their asses.

A couple of those boys had even doubled up in fights against him.  Cin and Damon had been two of those.  It still hadn’t made a difference.  Yami had laid them out like the rest.  Before he knew it he had a gang answering to him.  Nice as it had been.  He hadn’t wanted it.  Hadn’t asked or demanded any of them follow him. Rather he had done his best to shoo them off.  But they had still followed.  Feeling lost and without purpose, Yami had gotten restless and wandered off one day, never to return.

He had met Julius soon after; and from there his life was changed.  Yami had occasionally wondered what had happened to his pack of friends, but never enough to go back and look for them.

“What happened to you?”  Cin asked.  “One day you were just—gone. You get pinched or something?”

“Or something.”  Yami answered.

Cin glowered.  This was the Yami he remember.  Quiet.  Distant.  Hard to read and difficult to work with.  Which was why he was so surprised to see Yami was a Magic Knight.  Following orders wasn’t Yami’s style.

Yami looked around, wondering if there were any other familiar faces. “The others?  Damon?”

“We all kind of went our own way after you disappeared.  Damon, Rigel, and I stuck together for a while.  Rigel left a couple months back. Got a girl pregnant and wanted to do right by her.”

“And Damon?”  Yami asked, remembering that he and Cin had been inseparable.

“Dead.” Cin answered.

Yami’s lip twitched.  “Damn.”

“Yeah.” Cin said.  He didn’t want to go into further detail.  Yami didn’t deserve it.

“So how much did Nathyn Silva pay you?”  Yami asked.

Cin looked up, knowing without a doubt he had never mentioned a name. Mainly because he didn’t know the name himself.

Working through a broker, Cin never met his clients.  It worked better for all involved that way.  A letter detailing the target, along with half the fee, came in.  He and his gang did the job, and the second half of the pay came in after.  It worked for him.  While he had his ways of figuring out who hired him; he had rarely had a mind to know or need to figure it out.  Nobody had ever tried to stiff him, so he never had reason to put in the effort of learning a clients name.

“I didn’t mention no Silva.”  Cin said.  “I wasn’t even sure I guessed right about it being about a girl.  I just figured it wasn’t a gambling debt.  You were too good at games to wrack up a sum someone was willing to kill you over.”

Yami massaged the tension out of his neck.  “So you’re really not going to tell me, even though I know.”

“Not that I’d tell you if I knew myself.  But I really don’t know.” Cin said.  He looked his long time friend over.  “Sounds like you do though.”

Yami sighed.  “Yeah.  Not that it’ll do me a lot of good.”  He watched Cin a moment.  “How do you want to handle this?”

Cin raised a questioning brow.  “What do you mean?”

Yami looked around at the others still surrounding him.  “Well, you were paid to take me out.”

Cin shook his head.  “Ain’t happening.”

“Come on.”  Yami bolstered.  “You got what?  Fifteen.  Twenty.  At your command.”

Cin shook his head again.  “I saw you on the battlefield from afar.  I had my concerns then.  But a job’s a job.  Now that I know it’s you.  No way.”

“A job’s a job.”  Yami echoed, tempting.

“I thought we left on good terms.  Despite your sudden disappearance.” Cin said.  His anger over Yami leaving without word creeping into his voice.

“We did.”  Yami agreed.

“Then why do you wanna kick my ass?”  Cin questioned.

Yami shrugged.  “For old times sake I guess.”

Cin smirked crookedly and shook his head.  Same old Yami, he thought. “I’ll have you know that I’ve gotten better.  Stronger.”

Yami mirrored the crooked smile.  “So have I.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.”  Cin chuckled.

Yami finally, fully relaxed.  His sense of Cin’s Ki told him the man meant what he said.  His long ago friend had no interest in trying to collect his pay by finishing the job.

“So, what are you going to do?”  Yami asked.  “You may not know who hired you, but I’m near positive.  Nathyn Silva isn’t someone you want to cross.”

Ignoring the difficult question, Cin looked Yami over.  Despite all the past hurt and anger, it really was good to see him again.  “You should be asking yourself the same.  If it really is that royal bastard calling for your head, you’re in trouble, Yami.  Folk like that don’t like to be thwarted and have all the money in the world to hire more gangs.”

“I know.  This is his second attempt that I’m aware of.”  Yami told.

Cin blinked at that.  “What the hell did you do?”

Yami smirked and shook his head.  “You’d call me a fool if I told you.”

“I’ll call you a fool anyway.”  Cin remarked.  The two stared at each other a moment before Cin offered.  “Come with us.  With me.  Leave this war and the Magic Knights.”

“And run under you?”  Yami asked.

Cin shrugged.  “Could be worse.  You could die out there fighting a soon forgotten war for a prideful, child-like King who will never be grateful and doesn’t even know your name.  Or get caught unawares by the next hired gang sent to kill you.”

Or get pulled into a crazy zealots sick ceremony, Yami thought. “Tempting.  But I can’t.”

“That doesn’t sound like you.  The Yami Sukehiro I knew did whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted.  If he wanted to leave this mess and join me, he would do so without a backwards glance.”

“I would have at that.”  Yami agreed.  “But there’s things you don’t know and would never understand.  Things I barely understand.”

“It’s that girl.  Isn’t it?”  Cin guessed.

“Mostly.” Yami admitted.

“Then we’ll go get her.”

“Now that does sound tempting.”  Yami said.  He wondered if Teris could sense him while he was in this dimensional sphere.  If she couldn’t, he had little doubt that she was going as crazy as he had during the Battle at the Border.  He had to get out of here so she could sense his mana and know he was alright.  He gestured to the surrounding space.  “Can we--”

Understanding, Cin commanded.  “Oliva.”

They were returned to normal space.  Yami looked about.  They were on some barren hilltop overlooking the battlefield that was more than ten kilometers away.  Yami hoped that it was enough.  That Teris would sense him and be alright.

“You won’t come.  Will you?”  Cin said, watching him.

Yami shook his head.  Though it really was a tempting offer, he didn’t feel the least bit torn by saying no.  For the first time since waking up in this strange land, he had a life here in the Clover Kingdom.  And it consisted of more than just Teris.  It didn’t matter that Teris would never go for the life Cin was offering.  Yami didn’t want it either.  He was, dare he say, happy with the life he had made as a Black Bull in the Magic Knights.  And he would be even happier once Bronn was gone, and he and Teris were made co-Vice Captains.

Cin sighed.  “I knew you wouldn’t.  You wouldn’t be out there fighting if you didn’t want to be there.”

“Oh, I rather be almost anywhere than on that battlefield.”  Yami said.

“I meant as a Magic Knight.  In this life you’ve made yourself.”

Yami thought of Teris, Julius, and the Black Bulls.  “You’re right there.”

Cin shook his head and sighed.  “I suppose I’ll just have to let you pay the royal bastard back.  And also pay me and mine the second half we’re due.”

Yami had been afraid of that.  Still, he understood.  “Gotta keep them loyal.”

Cin nodded.

“Do me a favor.”

Cin huffed.  “You mean other then let you buy your life and live?”

“Oh, you’re letting me live now?”

“Shut up!  What do you want?”

Yami grinned, imagining the scene and sight of Lord Silva’s face.  “Let me return the funds.”

“You?” Cin questioned.  “You’re not even positive it’s him.”

“It’s him.”  Yami said.  The only way he could be more certain was if the Silva came forward and confessed.

Cin shook his head.  “Guess you haven’t changed as much as I was beginning to think.  Fine.  You agree to pay us the second half we would’ve received for the job.  And I’ll let you pay the Silva back the first half.  But if you’re wrong you’re paying whoever did hire us his portion back too.”

That sounded reasonable.  Yami held out his hand.

“Crazy bastard.”  Cin muttered, shaking on the deal.

“So how much do I owe you?”  Yami asked.

Cin shook his head.  “Now he asks.”  He muttered.  To Yami, he answered.  “Ten thousand yules.”

“Ten thousand!”  Yami repeated.  He didn’t know whether to be insulted, or upset that this would take all of his savings.

“Twenty thousand yules for your life.  Not a bad payday if it wasn’t you and so much work.”  Cin told.

“Maybe the next gang will demand more.”  Yami complained.

“You really think you’re worth that much?”  Cin questioned, humorously.

“I would've kill you and yours easy.”  Yami told.

“Really? And I suppose that’s what happened to the group before.”  Cin joked.

Yami nodded.  “Exactly.”

“What?” Cin questioned, in disbelief.

“Dead. All of them.”  Yami told, not saying that there had been other Magic Knights backing him up.

Cin blinked.  “All of them you say?”

“All twenty.”  Yami affirmed.

Cin gave a low whistle.  “I’ll spread word of that.  Maybe it’ll make other groups think twice before accepting the job if Silva or anyone else thinks to try again.”

“Don’t. They might demand more pay.  But they’ll still come.  Only they’ll have a better idea what their walking into.  With all that’s going on right now, I’d rather not have to try all that hard fending off gangs of assassins.”

“You mean there’s worse than people being hired to kill you?”  Cin asked, not all that surprised.

“It’s a long story that you don’t care about hearing and I’d rather not get into.”  Yami said.

“Fine.” Cin held out his hand.

Yami clasped his friends hand, firmly.

“Just get that money back to our hire as quick as you can.  Me and mine can wait a bit for our second half.  Let you finish up here before bugging you.”  Cin grinned at him.  “It’ll give us a chance to see each other again.  Maybe have a drink or two and talk about old times.”

“And if I’m wrong?”  Yami asked, not showing how much the thought of meeting Cin again disturbed him.  At least once his old friend got the second half of his pay, they would hopefully have no cause to ever see each other again.

Cin raised an eyebrow.  “Thought you said you were positive.”

“Just in case.  How do I get a hold of you to find and pay the correct person back?”

Cin eyed Yami’s Magic Knights cloak.  “We’ll just get a hold of you all the sooner.”

“That’s comforting.”  Yami muttered.

“Don’t worry.  Once we’re done, I won’t be paying you an friendly visits.”

“Those aren’t the type of visit I’m worried about.”  Yami said, even though he wanted nothing more to do with his old friend.

Cin chuckled.  “Then don’t be wrong.  And don’t go pissing anyone else off.”

Yami huffed.  “No promises there.  Seems all I gotta do is breathe for that to happen.”

“You’re the one who wants to stick around.”  Cin looked at his friend, smiling fondly at the memories seeing Yami brought.  “Hope she’s worth it.”

Yami fought a smile at the thought of Teris.  “She is.  She’s worth it all, and more.”

69.5

Beast entered the cell block where the Magic Knights had been held.

“Want us to pursue them?”  Pip asked, by his side.

Beast took in at the mangled cell and corpse, piecing together what had happened.  “No.  They’ve done what was ordered.”

Pip looked up at the towering man.  “Boss?”

“Word came quickly from Death.  We’ll get paid later.”

“But if he wants them...”

“He wanted them released and unharmed.”  Beast said.  He looked down at the dead man in disgust, hoping the girl got away undamaged.  He didn’t know what the Master of Chaos wanted with the Magic Knights; but he didn’t want to experience the mans wrath if they had been injured.  Turning away Beast ordered.  “Have this mess cleaned up. Take that filth out to the pens for the Saber Cats.  They haven’t had a decent meal in a while.”

“Sure thing, Boss.”

“Oh, and put the word out.  We’ll be hosting a gaming battle tomorrow.”

“Boss?”

Beast turned back.  “The two Agents of Chaos.  I was instructed to make their demise as drawn out and painful as possible.  It never goes well when you’ve displeased Death.”

69.6

Once they were free of the compound, Nozel had created an eagle of mercury large enough to carry them all.  He flew at top speed, unconcerned about lasting the day or keeping up his energy for the next.  All he cared about was getting Teris and his team as far away as quickly as possible.  Even so, he had flown in the direction of the Diamond Kingdoms capital.  Despite all that had happened, they still had a mission.  Nozel had flown until he didn’t think his could take it anymore, and then flew some more.

“Captain. Can we stop by that stream and let her get cleaned up?”  Randall asked, from behind him.

Nozel looked back at his squad for the first time since they had taken flight.  His eyes lowered to Teris.  She was covered in dried blood. Though apparently none of it was hers.

Nozel swallowed, struggling to control his emotions.  He noted that though Fuegoleon didn’t hold her, the Crimson Lion hovered protectively over her.

With a nod, Nozel directed the shining silver eagle toward a more sheltered area of the stream.  They had left the dry, rocky landscape behind for a more green, though far from lush, area.  This growth may have afforded them a bit more cover; but it was still bare enough that he felt safe from possible lurking enemies.

The sun was already dipping below the horizon when Nozel had the eagle land.  He looked over his squad and declared.  “We’ll camp here for the night.  Zara, set your traps.  Make them capable of catching small mammals.  We lost our rations along with our packs.”  He gave Teris a small, tentative smile.  “Looks like you’ll get to cook after all if you want.”

When Teris didn’t even register hearing him, Nozel’s forced smile fell.  She had had a scare.  They all had.  Seeing her attacked like that…  Nozel had never felt so helpless and furious.  He would have killed himself trying to get to her.  It had taken everything he had to pull himself back and think clearly when his instinct had been to rage and go mad, frothing uselessly from his cell.

Fuegoleon gripped his Captain’s shoulder, trying to comfort him.  He hoped Nozel didn’t take Teris’ silence personally.  Teris hadn’t spoken since they had taken to the air.  At least she had slept a good portion of the flight.  Though she had woken up with a start, calling Yami’s name.  There had been a moment after her waking where it appeared as if her fright would bubble over; but she had quickly calmed, taking in a shuddering breath as if relieved.

“Randall.” Nozel called, taking a step rather than shake Fuegoleon’s hand off his shoulder.  He didn’t want to be comforted.  He didn’t deserve it.  He had failed his team.

Randall straightened.  “Captain?”

Nozel hated the mans use of the title.  He hadn’t earned it in the first place.  And with all that had happened, he had proved just how unworthy he currently was of holding the rank, even as an acting one.

“Gather some wood and build a pit to roast whatever’s caught.  Then see if you can find a stone sharp enough to skin and cut.”  Nozel looked back at Teris, wondering if she still had whatever blade she had taken off the man.  But he didn’t want to bring it up by asking her.

Nozel watched Zara and Randall moved away to do as they were ordered. Turning back, he looked at Teris, once again fighting a swell of raging emotions.

“Teris.” Nozel said, gently.  When she still appeared dazed and distant, he turned to Fuegoleon.  “Why don’t you two get washed up.  I’ll keep watch.”

Fuegoleon nodded.

The two men looked at Teris, waiting for her to move or show any signed she had heard.  When she just stood there Fuegoleon looked back at Nozel, the two sharing a look of concern.

“Stop it!”  Teris snapped, suddenly coming to life.  “Quit looking at each other worrying about me.  I’m fine.”  She spun around and marched to the stream.

“She’s not fine.”  Fuegoleon told his Captain, softly.

“At least she’s talking again.”  Nozel said, relieved at that.

He had never witnessed it, but Nozel had heard that occasionally people who went through traumatic events had left them changed.  Sometimes all but dead to the world.  Without any type of healer, they would have had a real problem if Teris had suffered something like that. As important as their mission was, Nozel didn’t think he would have been able to go on if Teris had stayed lost in herself.  The thought of returning to face his father’s and the Kings displeasure sent a shiver down his spine.  But none of that bore thinking.  Teris would be fine.  She was strong.  Teris had already been through and survived so much.  He was certain that she would survive this too.

Nozel watched Teris make her way to the stream, Fuegoleon in her wake. Sure she would likely have some underlying issues for a while.  He would too.  But a selfish part of him hoped that this would bring them closer together.  Not that he would take advantage of anything the horrible scare may bring about.  But if some good could come from it, at least there would be that.  Not that any good, no matter how great, that came from this would make it worth Teris experiencing the scare she had.

Teris dipped trembling hands into stream.  Collecting a fistful of course dirt, she scrubbed away the blood.  At first the motions were slow and gentle but then they sped, growing rough.

Tears began to fall.  She brought up her hands, covering her face.

Fuegoleon watched her from a short distance.  He usually knew what to do to best comfort people.  It was a gift he had.  But in this instance, when his cousin needed him most, he was at a loss.  He didn’t know what to do.  Likely because she didn’t know what she wanted.  He decided to go with his own need and hoped it helped without driving her further away.

Moving to her, Fuegoleon knelt on the hard, rocky bank.  Ignoring the muddy damp that instantly wet his pants, he pulled her into a hug.  Teris cried into her cousins chest.  Stroking her hair, Fuegoleon wondered distantly if that was her trembling or him.  Never in his life had he felt so helpless.  Never in his life had he wanted someone dead so badly that he would have bashed their skull in if given half a chance.

The thought frightened him.  The desire to commit such violence.  Even now Fuegoleon wanted to kill the man over and over again, his mind playing over the ways in which he would do so.

Fuegoleon sniffed back his own tears; his fear, anger, and gratitude that the worst of what could have happened hadn’t.  Overwhelmed, he burrowed his face in her head and let the tears fall.

After a time, Teris ceased crying.  “Leon?  Are you wiping your tears on my hair?”

Fuegoleon lifted his head, stroking her moistened locks.  “It’s good for hair.”

Teris laughed at that.  “So that’s how your hair is always prettier than mine.  You cry into it.”

“I usually use the tears of my enemies.”  Fuegoleon played, amazed at how resilient she was.

Looking up at him, Teris soothed.  “It’s alright.”

“That’s my line.  No taking my lines.”  Fuegoleon chastised, lightly.

Teris pulled from him, her small smile falling as she grew serious.  “Scary as that was, I’ve faced worst fears.”

“You shouldn’t have to.”  Fuegoleon told.  He tucked a lock of her hair behind an ear, wondering how her saying such a thing was suppose to make him feel better.

“It’s just--”  Teris swallowed.  Try as she might to push the memory away, she could still feel the slick warmth of the man’s blood. Could still smell the metallic scent that had invaded her nostrils. “I’ve never killed anyone.  Not like that.  Not so close and physical.  Not with my own hands.”  She blinked back tears, hating the sign of weakness.

Though Fuegoleon knew better, he said.  “I’m pretty sure it was Nozel that killed him.  Broke his neck.”  He hoped lie was believable. He doubted Nozel would like taking credit that wasn’t his.  But given the reasoning, he was sure the acting Captain would allow it.

Teris looked up at him.  “Really?”

She should be ashamed at how much better that made her feel.  It didn’t matter who had killed the man.  Even a no good, sick, fiendish person like that didn’t deserve to die without trial.  A life was a life. And as a Magic Knight it was her job to protect and uphold the Clover Kingdoms law; not meet out judgment.  At least that’s the way it was suppose to be.  Sadly they didn’t live in a perfect world where things were the way they were suppose to be.

In her short time as a Magic Knight, she had seen so much death. Delivered so much of it herself.  Teris had known that being a Magic Knight was a dangerous job and there would be death.  But she had never imagined it to be at this scale.  She tried to think of how much more Julius had seen during his many years of service.  How much more she would see over the years, and stopped.  Unwilling and unable to imagine.

“Really.” Fuegoleon told her.

“Am I horrible for being relieved at that?”  Teris asked.

“No. Not in the least.”  Fuegoleon assured.

Teris shook her head, lowering her gaze.  “Poor Nozel.”

Fuegoleon looked at her, amazed.  Even after all Teris had been through, she was thinking of and sympathizing with others.

“I’m pretty sure he’s not all that upset about it.”  Fuegoleon remarked, thinking Nozel wouldn’t have been if this fiction had been reality.  “I think he’s more upset about us getting captured in the first place.”

Teris lifted her head.  “This wasn’t his fault.  None of us realized what we were walking into.  Or that we were being followed.”  She stopped and thought about the other two.

Not only had they not been in the cell block with them; but they hadn’t been in any of the other cell blocks they had passed.  A part of her felt silly for wondering if they were Agents of Chaos.  What would they be doing all the way out here just following?

“Try telling him that.”  Fuegoleon said.  “If I were leading this team I’d be feeling the same.  And so would you.”

“I suppose.”  Teris said, wondering what they could do to make Nozel feel better about his role as Captain.

“Come on.  We can’t take forever.”  Fuegoleon took his cloak off.  “You should wash your clothes as best you can.”  He untied the sash around his waist and removed the blue over coat, holding them out to her.  “You can wear this while you wash and dry yours.”

Thank you to those who have left hearts.  And a special THANK YOU to those who have recently left comments or re-blogged. They really mean a lot.

Next chapter snippet:

Alowishus glared.  He could end King Morris’ life here and now but that would only cause further war and problems as the Diamond Kingdom would be thrown into chaos.  Funny how all his life he had been trying to wake Chaos so he could bring about death and destruction and yet here he was trying to prevent such things from happening.

[writing-for-amusement]

How Long?

Summary: You were a weapons expert and creator for Kingsmen and you’d been working yourself to the bone since the Golden Circle was disbanded. Eggsy Unwin, your close friend and crush that you refused to acknowledge, notices that you’re exhausted. You dismiss his offer to help you relax, but after he tucks you into bed after you fell asleep in your workshop, some feelings come out that you weren’t expecting.

A/N: Alright, mthfckers, I finished it! With all the stuff in my brain, I finally managed to get it all out on the page! I hope you like it, and this is my first time posting smut, so PLEASE tell me what you think of it!

Warnings: some angst, insecurity, canon divergence from Kingsmen: The Golden Circle, some alcohol, Eggsy being a bit of a dick for awhile, SMUT (do NOT read if you’re under 18), oral (m and f receiving), unprotected sex (wrap it b4 you tap it), vaginal sex, lots of kissing and fluff, dirty talk, swearing

Word Count: 6730

Permanent Taglist: @pparkerwrites​, @jordyns-library​, @natblidaclexa​, @peterseuphoria​, @lesbian-x-blackwidow​, @beccaboo929​, @softrdj​, @icecoldban​

“What’s a gorgeous girl like you doing in a place like this?” a familiar voice rang in your ear. You rolled your eyes as you turned around to be met with hazel green eyes.

“Working, Eggsy,” you shot back with a raised brow.

“C’mon, love, no need to be so coarse,” he smirked at you.

“Yeah, there is, because I know you’re just here to bug me instead of letting me actually get some work done,” you scoffed with another eyeroll.

You designed and created weapons/armor for the Kingsmen, and ever since the merger with the Statesmen, your work was now even more worldwide than before. Designing and creating weapons ran in your family; your family had been doing this exact job for the Kingsmen since the organization was founded.

You loved creating something from nothing, and then figuring out how to incorporate it into the style and espionage of the Kingsmen. It stimulated your brain perfectly, combining both creative and technical techniques. Testing the weapons was quite entertaining as well.

It was true what they said about loving your job and never working a day in your life, or at least it was true for you.

Eggsy, though, was the one part of your job that made you dread going to work on occasion. He loved to bug you with annoying and needless questions.

It hadn’t always been like this, though. When Eggsy first became a Kingsman, you were still in your “apprenticeship” with your family and several master craftsmen. Your post was already guaranteed with the secret organization, but due to a minor accident from your youth, your actual apprenticeship started a year late.

Of course, you’d been creating things since before you could speak in full-fledged sentences, but the rules had to be followed.

So, Eggsy had been a Kingsman for six months when you finally arrived to begin your actual job. He’d already used a few of your weapons and had no idea what your job was supposed to be when Merlin introduced you.

“So, uh, who are you? Too lovely to be a Kingsman, ain’t ya?” he’d asked you.

Your ears burned but you kept your cool. You’d always been better with technology than people. “I’m Y/N,” you introduced yourself. “I create the weapons.”

“Oh really?” he asked with a smirk. You nodded. “Well, quite a talented lovely thing, aren’t ya? I’m surprised, though, ‘cause I thought that our current guy, Greg, was too young to retire or whateva.”

“That’s my uncle,” you said. “He’s 68, Mr. Unwin. He doesn’t look it, but he is.”

“So, why’d you get the job?” he then asked with narrowed eyes.

“Their family has been designing and creating our weapons since the organization began, Eggsy,” Merlin stepped in. “They are incredibly talented with technology and creativity. Y/N is especially talented; probably the most talented yet.”

“Oh, Merlin, you exaggerate,” you laughed, bumping his shoulder slightly. “Always been one for dramatics, of course.”

“Well, I look forward to usin’ your creations, Y/N,” Eggsy said with a grin. “You goin’ to the bar for the agent party?”

“Yeah,” you said with a small sigh, “I have to.”

“Oh, it won’t be that bad, Y/N!” Merlin reassured you.

“Not a fan of parties, eh?” Eggsy asked rhetorically. “Stick with me, love, and you’ll be fine. I’ll see you at the party tomorrow,” he winked as he strode away.

At the party, you were surprised to see Eggsy flirting with you. You flirted back to the best of your abilities, though most of it was you looking away sheepishly and trying to keep your heartrate down.

It continued like that for several weeks and a handful of parties. You got close to Eggsy, at least as friends, and he continued to flirt with you. His winks would make your heart skip happily, and his pet names made your soul soar. You’d never been around anyone quite like Eggsy.

One day, though, it all went crashing down.

Eggsy invited you and Merlin out to a club to unwind after a particularly tense mission. You always worked backup for Merlin during missions that would be difficult. That one had everyone on the edge of their seats and hoping everything would work out smoothly.

At the club, Eggsy handed you your favorite drink with a wink, then went off to find the friends he’d invited. Merlin was off talking to a handsome man, but Eggsy promised that he’d be right back to “give you all his attention.” And you believed him, because he had never given you a reason to doubt him.

You waited patiently for Eggsy to return, sipping slowly on your drink as you blended into the crowd like you always did. As you waited, you’d typed a few ideas for more tech on your phone. When you heard Eggsy’s bright laugh, you turned with hope in your eyes.

The hope quickly died.

Eggsy was wrapped around an incredibly leggy, thin woman, mouthing at her neck as she ran her hands through his hair. The man straightened as they reached the bar, ordering a few drinks. It was then that you saw his friends had followed behind him. You decided to watch for a few more minutes before you’d make your exit.

After the woman shouted about going to the bathroom, Eggsy’s friend Jamal began to shout as well. You were glad you’d worn your “secret ears” that allowed you to listen to conversations that were far away. They also allowed you to filter out noises and hone in on the conversation you wanted; these were a new prototype and you had known tonight would be a good opportunity to test them more.

“Eggsy,” Jamal began, “what about that one girl you’ve been workin’ with? Thought you had a thing for her, with how you talk about her.”

“Ya mean Y/N?” Eggsy waved the man off as he downed a shot. “She’s not the type for some fun, ya know? Realized tha’ when I saw her earlier, covered in oil from a project.”

The men laughed as your eyes misted over with tears.

Eggsy had only been nice and had flirted with you because he wanted some “fun,” not because he saw you as a friend or potential girlfriend.

You’d left the club immediately after that, refusing to cry as you made your way home. To your happiness, you didn’t cry about the deception at all. You had been deceived before, so your recovery from this one was short.

Eggsy continued to be nice to you at work, but you stopped attempting to flirt back. Instead, you would do your best to keep all conversations professional, to a spine-straightening point. Eventually, he stopped attempting to flirt so much, and you allowed a few nonprofessional conversations until you both became genuine friends.

Still, sometimes you’d think about his deception and your heart would ache. And sometimes, well, you really were infatuated with him. As much as you hated it and tried to push it away, you had a crush on the handsome, sweet agent.

Even though you were friends now, with your crush always pushed away, sometimes you really couldn’t handle him in your space. It was certainly one of those days.

“Why, Y/N, I would never distract you from your work, certainly not on purpose!” Eggsy said dramatically.

With another roll of your eyes, you picked up your blowtorch. You lowered your goggles down over your eyes again and began to solder the metal carefully.

“Y/N,” Eggsy repeated your name. When you didn’t answer, he repeated your name until you couldn’t take it anymore.

You whirled around with your blowtorch still on, glaring at him through your tinted goggles. “What?” you growled menacingly.

Eggsy flinched in surprise, not used to seeing you look so threatening. “I, uh, I was wondering if you’d go over some things from the previous mission with me?”

You narrowed your eyes and he quickly waved his tablet at you. Ever since the majority of the organization had been lost due to the Golden Circle, you were taking on many more responsibilities. Merlin, now in a wheelchair, was focused on recruiting new agents with Harry, who had adopted the pseudonym Lancelot, allowing Eggsy to remain Galahad.

“Fine,” you sighed heavily, “just let me finish this prototype. Okay? And don’t bug me or I’ll melt those lips right off your face.”

“Right,” Eggsy seemed to believe your threat, turning away and allowing you to finish what you were doing.

You were trying to develop working legs for Merlin, but he didn’t want any like Gazelle’s, or the kind of prosthesis Charlie had for his arm. Merlin wanted legs that were sophisticated and functional as actual legs, not weapons. He refused to go back out into the field, no matter the circumstance, stating that he was much too old now. You knew that it was total garbage, but you couldn’t blame him. And, well, he really did love to be working behind the scenes; it was what he was best at.

“Okay,” you announced as you pushed your goggles onto your forehead and pulled off your gloves. You removed your apron and tossed it on the table before crossing over to Eggsy. The man gave you a small smile, noticing your overall tense posture.

“When was the last time you got laid, Y/N?” he asked you suddenly.

You looked at him sharply in shock. “Excuse me?”

“When did you last get some, Y/N?” he chuckled. “Like, when was the last time you orgasmed? Or had someone rock your world?”

You rolled your eyes again and calmed your heartrate as you snatched the tablet from his hands. As you scanned the electronic paperwork, you could feel Eggsy’s eyes burning into the side of your face.

“I’ll take your silence as you saying that it’s been awhile,” he smirked at you.

“It’s none of your business,” you snapped, shoving the tablet back at him. “Your paperwork looks fine; everything looks in order. I signed it. Now let me get back to these damn legs, alright?”

You put your goggles back on as you sat down, making them focus on the wiring you had in front of you, making sure to turn off the tint of the goggles. You grasped your tweezers in steady hands as you got back to work.

“You know, Y/N,” Eggsy’s smooth voice interrupted your journey to your working zone, “I could help out with that orgasm problem ya have.” He was leaning on your table and looking down at you with unreadable green eyes.

You scowled at him. “Nice offer, Eggsy,” you drawled, “but I’m fine. Now please leave, I really do need to focus on this work.”

Eggsy stared at you for a few more moments before nodding. “Alright, love, sorry for disrupting ya. Make sure ya get some rest tonight, okay? You need it.”

“I will, Eggsy,” you said as genuinely as you could.

The agent smiled at you tenderly and pressed a kiss to your forehead like he often did when you were stressed. As soon as he left, the door closing behind him, you let your head fall into your hands.

You really were tired. You’d been putting in way too many hours, but no one knew about it, and your skills were needed. No one knew that you were staying well into the night in your workshop, sometimes even sleeping on a cot in the corner. Not even Merlin or Harry knew, being much too busy with waves of recruits.

You yanked your goggles down around your neck and rubbed your tired eyes. After a mental debate about whether or not to think about Eggsy and his stupid offer, you heaved a deep sigh. He had been right, of course, but he didn’t need the ego boost of knowing that for sure. You’d never been a horny person, not really. Sure, sex was nice, but it wasn’t like you needed it or craved it, not the way Eggsy seemed to.

After a few moments of irritated thoughts running through your head, you pulled your goggles back up and got back to work.

 You were woken up by the feeling of being in the air. As you opened drowsy eyes, you saw Eggsy above you and looking forward stoically.

“Eggsy?” you mumbled while you rubbed the blurriness from your eyes. “What’s goin’ on? What time is it?”

“It’s two a.m., Y/N,” he sighed as he looked down at you. “I had a feeling that you weren’t going to go home tonight, so I came to check on ya. Lo and behold, I find you asleep on your desk, goggles still on and still holding those tweezers.” He chuckled at the memory. “So, I figured I’d take you to an actual bed so you could get some actual sleep.”

“How are we moving?” you asked as a yawn graced your face.

“Uh, I’m carryin’ you, love,” he raised a brow at you.

“Huh? How? I weigh so much more than you.”

“You’re not as heavy as you think,” he rolled his eyes. “Besides, I’m an agent, I work out all the time. But really, you’re not as heavy as you seem to think.”

You huffed but found yourself too sleepy to argue. The sleepiness was taking over as you nuzzled into Eggsy’s chest, drifting back into a light slumber.

When Eggsy gently lowered you onto your bed in the residential area of headquarters, you woke up again. Your sleepy mind registered the man taking off your shoes and socks, then tucking you in. He even went so far as to plug in your phone for you.

You reached out and tugged on his pinky as he looked around the room. His green eyes looked down at you and you smiled at him sleepily. “Thanks, Eggsy,” you mumbled, “you’re a good person. Even if,” you paused to yawn, “you annoy me on purpose.”

Eggsy chuckled and ruffled your hair. As you drifted off to sleep, your mind barely registered the man kissing your forehead and whispering, “I love you, Y/N.”

 You woke up with a start, not quite realizing where you were. As you looked around and saw familiar furnishings, you knew you were in your room at headquarters. You rarely used the room, though, even though you often slept at headquarters.

A light snore drew your eyes to the corner of the room, where Eggsy was sleeping on the recliner. His hat was over his eyes and his shoes were next to the chair.

You ran your hand over your face and over the top of your head, managing to smooth it down a bit. After checking the time and realizing you’d slept a full eight hours, you swung your legs over the side of the beg and crossed to Eggsy.

“Eggsy,” you gently shook his shoulder. “Eggsy,” you sang gently, a tender smile on your lips. “C’mon, Unwin, time to wake up.”

The man grumbled and you snatched the hat from its spot over his eyes. “Ugh, bright!” he complained, throwing his arm over his face. “Y/N,” he whined.

“C’mon, Eggsy, you gotta wake up,” you chuckled. “It’s like 10:30 in the morning.”

He was suddenly scrambling to sit up properly, his eyes wide. The panicked green looked at you and calmed ever so slightly, but then he demanded, “What day is it?”

“Um, Saturday?” you answered hesitantly. After a quick check of your phone, you nodded and repeated, “Saturday.”

Eggsy let out a deep sigh of relief and leaned back into the recliner. “Thank goodness,” he breathed. “You have no idea how happy I am to not be hungover on a Saturday… though I guess I have you to thank for that.”

“Hey, I didn’t ask you to come check on me,” you muttered bitterly.

“I wanted to,” Eggsy informed you with a tone that said it should be obvious. “I was worried about you, Y/N. You really have been stressed lately. I should’ve noticed sooner. Hell, I didn’t even see that cot you’ve been sleeping on in the workshop until last night.”

“Oh, I have?” you asked innocently as you pulled a clean shirt out of the closet.

“You’ve been so incredibly tense, Y/N,” Eggsy stated.

“I guess you’re right,” you shrugged as you bent to look through your pile of old leggings at the bottom of your closet. You wanted to get out of the ones you were in.

Eggsy was right behind you as you straightened. His eyes were dark with an unreadable expression, and it made you shiver in a surprisingly delicious way.

“You know, I was serious when I said I could help you relax, Y/N,” he nearly purred in a low voice. “I could help you, if you let me.”

You felt arousal and indignation rise in your chest and you found yourself whirling around to poke him in the chest in anger. “You don’t know what I need,” you nearly hissed. “And I know you weren’t serious. Now please, step aside so I can shower.”

Eggsy looked hurt and didn’t move from his spot. “How would you know if I’m serious or not? I am, by the way, but why would you think I’m not?”

You sighed and felt the anger ebb towards the same accepting sadness that you’d felt ever since that night in the club. Still, you rustled up enough frustration to sneer, “Because I’m not the type for ‘some fun,’ Eggsy.” You pushed past his broad form and started towards the bathroom with your clothes.

Eggsy’s rough but warm and gentle hand grabbed your wrist to pull you to a stop. “Y/N, what are you talking about?” he asked with genuine confusion.

Your previously buried emotions burst out of their graves with a vengeance and your eyes began to mist with long-retired tears. “I heard you that night, Eggsy. After the Norway mission, at the club, I heard you say that you knew I wasn’t the type for ‘some fun.’ You almost literally said that I wasn’t worth spending time with because I’m not a thin, leggy, properly proportioned thing. So, that is how I know you’re not serious. I’m not your type, Eggsy. I get it. I just hate,” you angrily wiped at a steamy tear that escaped, “that you pretended to be nice to me because you wanted to see if I was worth the effort.”

You yanked your wrist from his grasp and let your clothes fall to the floor as you angrily wiped at the tears that were performing a prison break. Huffing incoherent curses at yourself, you whirled around from Eggsy and rubbed at your face.

“Stupid fucking emotions, fucking face, stupid fucking eyes and chemicals, stupid motherfucking Y/N,” you viciously spat to yourself under your breath.

“The Norway… but that was nearly two years ago, Y/N!”

“I am aware,” you hissed back.

“And… that’s why you became so distant after that.”

You crossed your arms over your chest and tried to shrink into yourself. “It’s whatever, Eggsy. I know the truth and I’ve accepted it.”

“But you didn’t hear the rest of that conversation,” Eggsy said gently, taking one of the hands that was scrubbing at your face angrily.

“It doesn’t matter, Eggsy,” you tried to tug your hand away, but he held fast.

Eggsy pulled you to the bed and sat you both down on the edge of it. He laced your hands together and you didn’t know what to do.

“That night,” he began quietly, “I decided that you weren’t made for fun, Y/N. You were made for the long haul, to be wooed and swept off your feet, to be loved for who you are. You aren’t made to be tossed aside or ignored after one night. And after you disappeared that night, well, I realized that I wanted to be the one to woo you.”

“What?” you stuttered.

He ran his thumb over your knuckles. “I like you, Y/N. In fact, I think I love you, I’m in love with you. I was hoping to start seriously flirting with you, wooing you, after that night at the club. But you were shut off. It was night and day; the sweet, shy, adorable Y/N was now barely acknowledging me. It broke my heart, but I decided that being friends would be enough for me. Of course, I just fell more and more in love with you every day, but there was nothing I could do. I want you to be happy.”

You swallowed nervously. “Eggsy, I’m not… I’m not that great. And, I mean, look at me, and then look at you…” You sighed. “You won’t like what’s underneath these clothes.”

Eggsy tilted your head towards him. You were surprised when he pressed your foreheads together and rubbed his thumb on your cheekbone. “Darling, I already love you. Why would you being naked make me love you less? Just the thought of it,” he inhaled sharply, “the thought of it gets me all sorts of bothered, love. But I need to know what you feel, too, sweetheart.”

“I,” you tried to calm the beating of your heart, “I think… I think that I feel the same.”

“Yeah?” he asked gently, the brightest smile on his face.

“Yeah,” you echoed. “I… I really, really like you, Eggsy. Maybe, maybe even love. I just don’t… I never thought… I never thought you could love me too, so I’ve never let… let myself admit the feelings. I actually don’t know if I’ll be able to really… accept that you are in love with… me.”

“Can I show you, love? Please, let me show you, how much I love you, and how much I want you, for you. It’ll be okay. Please, trust me.”

“I do trust you,” you stated.

“Good,” he smirked, and you saw a bit of that other side of him that you had always seen before. That softness, though, that gleam, was still there. You let yourself start to believe, or understand, that maybe, maybe, it was actual love in his eyes.

“May I?” Eggsy inquired with such gentleness. “Please, love.”

“Are you sure?” You fiddled with the edge of your shirt, “It’s really not… the best.”

“I’m positive, love. Please,” he pleaded softly.

“Okay,” you breathed, nodding for emphasis.

Eggsy beamed at you before kissing your forehead. He started to pepper kisses all over your face, finally stopping at your lips, where you really wanted him.

After hovering for what felt like too long, Eggsy pressed his soft lips to yours. At that moment, you felt your entire body relax against him. His large hand slid down from your face and rested on your waist. When your body tensed at that, he gently nipped your lip. He smiled against your lips as you hummed in response.

Your nerves were tingling and sparked as Eggsy’s tongue brushed the seam of your lips. Eggsy pulled you closer and nearly growled into your mouth when it opened for him.

You let out a small yelp of surprise as Eggsy pulled you into his lap so you could straddle him. His pupils were blown with lust and adoration as you pulled back, your hands on his shoulders and resting most of your weight on your knees. Large hands gripped your hips tightly and you did your best to relax.

Eggsy rubbed his nose against yours, tilting your head and pressing a sweeter kiss to your lips. He squeezed your hips gently and nipped your lip again.

“C’mon, love,” he murmured as he pulled your lip with his teeth, “you’re not gonna break me, darling. Just relax.”

You let out a shaky breath, still stiffer than you wanted to be. Suddenly, you were letting out another yelp as Eggsy pulled your hips towards him. Now, you were firmly seated on his lap, yours faces mere breaths away from each other, and your arms now around his neck. His eyes were sparkling, and his body felt absolutely delicious against you.

“That’s my girl,” he murmured as he cupped your cheek. “I’ve always wanted to feel you like this, darling. So bloody beautiful.”

Your blood heated and you looked down shyly. “Me too,” you admitted quietly.

“Do I get to make you feel good, love?” he asked you, brushing his lips against yours.

“Are you sure?” you whispered one last time.

Eggsy let out a growl and pulled your hips down against him. You could feel his hardness against you, and you let out a small squeak. He dragged your hips back and forth slowly, his breathing ragged, and you couldn’t help the moan that left your mouth as your eyes squeezed shut. You started to move on your own, delighting in his small whimpers.

Eggsy felt so good underneath you, his hard cock straining against his pants. When your head tilted back, he leaned forward and began to press wet kisses to your neck. He lightly grazed his teeth across your pulse point and your breath hitched.

Another growl left Eggsy and the next thing you knew, you were on your back. Eggsy smirked down at you as he straddled your waist, his eyes dark with hunger.

As he leaned down to nuzzle your neck, you heard him chuckle. “So sensitive, aren’t you darling?” he breathed against your throat as he began to roll his hips against you. “It’s been awhile since you’ve been touched like this, hasn’t it?” His hand traced up and down from under your breasts and to your waist. “Does it feel nice, love? Hm?”

You nodded, only to hear him huff in amusement.

“Mm, doesn’t work that way, love,” Eggsy whispered in your ear. “I need to hear you. I want to hear your voice, your whimpers and moans. I want to hear everything that I do to you. Do you think you can manage that, darling?”

“Yes,” you murmured.

“Good,” he kissed behind your ear.

Eggsy stopped straddling you and instead pushed your knees apart. He settled against you comfortably, a hum in his throat. Holding himself up on one arm, Eggsy breezed his hand back up your side. He palmed your breast and you couldn’t hold back the sigh that left your throat. Eggsy essentially purred as he felt your soft body.

The simple sensation of feeling his hands on your body, his body putting weight on yours, was making you feel incredibly comfortable. When he squeezed your breast again and you bit your lip, he let out a growl.

Both hands traced down your body, to the bottom of your shirt. Eggsy slowed down slightly as you tensed a bit; instead of pushing your shirt up, he slid his hands under it, gently petting your skin, and pressed kisses to your stomach.

Eggsy kissed a ticklish spot and you let out a giggle. You felt him smirk against you and his nimble fingers, still under your shirt, began to tickle you. Letting out a squeal of laughter, you squirmed under him to try and escape his fingers. Your hands pushed against him as you pleaded for him to stop tickling you.

Your hands were pinned to the bed and Eggsy’s eyes burned up at you from his spot between your thighs.

“What do you want, darling?” he whispered.

“You,” you sighed dreamily.

Your eyes locked on Eggsy’s as he took the bottom of your shirt with his teeth. He chuckled as you squirmed a bit, moving up your body and bringing your shirt with him. You giggled as his breath puffed against your skin. He stopped right at the bottom of your bra.

“You are terribly delectable,” he murmured as he pressed a kiss to your sternum.

“You could do well to go faster, you know,” you murmured back, putting your hands on his shoulders. “I don’t mind.”

“I want to take my time with you, love,” Eggsy replied. “But if you’re getting impatient, well, all you have to do is ask. Unless you’re too proud.”

You huffed with amusement, only for it to be cut off as Eggsy pressed a kiss to your covered nipple. He chuckled against your skin and bit your nipple gently.

“C’mon, you just gotta say it,” he said into your skin before laving his tongue over your still-covered-but-now-peaked nipple. His other hand came up and pinched your other nipple between his fingers. Your breath hitched and Eggsy chuckled again.

“C’mon,” you nearly whined, “Eggsy, you don’t have to tease. Don’t you want me?”

His eyes flashed almost dangerously. “Of course, darling. But I also want to watch you squirm and beg. Though, I suppose,” he paused as he pulled your bra down and revealed your breasts, “we’ll have plenty of time for that.”

With that, Eggsy essentially attacked your nipple, sucking it into his mouth with a vigor you had never thought you’d get to experience. His eyes sparkled up at you, still blown with lust, as his other hand continued to pull and squeeze your other one.

When Eggsy bit your nipple, you gasped, clutching his shoulders tightly. You felt his smile as he removed his lips, tugging your bud with his teeth before letting go. He sucked a hickey into your soft skin before kissing up to your collarbone. Eggsy seemed to enjoy creating hickeys as much as you enjoyed receiving them, since he was littering you with dark red and purple marks.

He made his way to your other nipple, squeezing your breast in his hand and flicking his tongue across it. You whimpered and he growled into your skin. After another moment, you felt his hand dance down your side and grip your thigh.

At his gentle urging, you wrapped your leg around his waist. When he pulled your nipple slowly again, you scratched at his shoulders and pulled him up to your mouth. You caught his bottom lip in your teeth and sucked, delighting in his gasp of delight.

“Little minx,” he grinned into your lips.

“Shush,” you breathed back, crashing your lips back to his.

The hand that was on your thigh moved to pull down your leggings. He scrambled to get them off before ripping your legs apart again. His body slid down yours and his green eyes sparkled up at you from between your thighs.

You breathed in shakily as he ran gentle fingers over your clothed pussy. You nearly let out a yelp when he pressed his lips to the top of your labia. Eggsy seemed to breathe in deeply, another growl deep in his throat, and tongued up your panties.

“You smell divine, love,” he growled into you, “I wonder if your juices taste as amazing. Good thing I’m already here.”

Before you could say anything, Eggsy legitimately ripped your panties. He tossed the scraps to the side and pulled your labia apart. He hummed in happiness and arousal as you dripped for him, muttering something that you couldn’t hear.

Then, his tongue licked at your opening.

You wrapped your thighs around his head, delighting in his hum of approval, and ran your hands through his hair. Eggsy moved his tongue to your clit, flicking it gently then harder as you moaned in approval.

His wonderful fingers gently probed your opening as his delicious lips wrapped around your clit and sucked.

“Fuck, Eggsy,” you sighed.

“That’s right, baby, talk to me,” he paused his sucking to say to you.

You nodded, breathing out a curse word or two as he plunged two fingers inside of you. Eggsy pressed into the roof of your pussy, massaging your walls. He started to move his fingers faster and soon, with a come-hither motion, he found your g-spot.

“Shit, Eggsy, fuck, right there,” you whined, pulling on his hair.

Eggsy hummed around your clit as he finger-fucked your dripping pussy. You squeezed your thighs around his head, and he did something—you couldn’t tell what—but he did something with his fingers and his mouth, making you come around his fingers with a harsh cry of his name and a growl ripped from your throat.

“Fuck, darling,” he breathed as he stroked you down from your high.

“Eggsy,” you managed to get out.

“Look at that beautiful pussy, darling,” he said in a reverent and breathy voice. “That gorgeous pussy dripping wet all for me. I was right when I said you tasted amazing.”

Your breathing hitched as he wrapped his lips around his fingers and licked your juices from them. To top it off, he’d stared you down as he did.

“Eggsy, I need you,” you pleaded, holding your hands out for him.

“Oh, my needy girl,” he purred, taking your hands in his.

With a wicked grin, you pulled yourself up and quickly pinned him to the bed. Those beautiful and loving green eyes regarded you with surprise and an intense arousal as you slid down his body, keeping one hand threaded with his.

“My turn,” you smirked, slipping your hands under his shirt. Eggsy purred and folded his arms behind his head to stare down at you. It made you feel a bit nervous, but as you felt Eggsy’s hard cock under your body, you realized how much power you had under your fingertips. You were ready for some fun.

You pushed Eggsy’s shirt up and pressed chaste kisses to his abs. Moving down, you tugged a bit on his pants, revealing his hipbones. With a smirk up at him, you kissed his hipbone before nipping it. As his breath hitched, you sucked a deep hickey into his hip.

“You’re already going to be the death of me, Y/N,” Eggsy sighed.

With a light chuckle, you pulled his pants down more and continued to nip and kiss his skin. Eggsy lifted his legs a little, whining to just take the pants off already. You gave in to his pleas; as you slid the pants off, he threw his shirt over his head and laid back again.

His cock was straining against his boxer-briefs and you could see a small wet patch forming on the gray cloth. Your mouth nearly watered and you palmed him before giving him a squeeze. Eggsy hissed and you saw his jaw clench.

With another smirk sent his way, you mouthed the outline of his cock and rubbed your hands on his thighs. You felt the heat from his cock and decided to just go for it.

You were as full of surprises as Eggsy could be.

Pulling his boxers down, Eggsy’s rather lovely cock sprang up, the tip essentially weeping for attention. Weeping for your attention.

Licking your lips, you gripped the base and heard Eggsy’s inhalation. You stroked him gently, lightly, before you surprised him again by wrapping your lips around his tip.

“Shit,” he moaned, moving one hand to run it through your hair. “Fuck, baby,” he purred as you sucked his tip.

You hummed in the back of your throat as you swirled your tongue around his head, pressing right under it. With one hand, you cupped his balls and delighted in his moan. You hollowed your cheeks and tried to relax as you lowered your mouth farther down.

Eggsy gripped your hair in a tight hand and moaned, making you hum again. Bobbing your head up and down hollowing your cheeks, you glanced up at him and felt your body shiver at his heavy-lidded gaze.

You took all of him in your mouth and hummed, dragging your tongue along him. A moan tore from Eggsy’s throat and suddenly he was tugging you off his cock.

“Darling, that mouth is dangerous,” he growled as he pulled you to his chest.

“Didn’t you know?” you breathed against him.

Eggsy let out another growl and lightly smacked your ass before pulling your other leg across his waist. You held back a small moan and saw his eyes gleam at that reaction.

He was obviously ignoring that until later, though, as he crashed his lips into yours and squeezed your hips. You rubbed your dripping slit along his cock, both of you moaning in response. Your hips bucked slightly as his pressed against your clit.

Eggsy raised your hips and used one hand to guide his cock to your opening. You moaned with your head tilted back and grasped his shoulders.

“That’s right, baby, take me nice and slow. You feel so good, baby, so wet for me,” Eggsy leaned towards you, whispering in your ear sensually.

You lowered yourself onto his cock, the moan erupting from your mouth. Eggsy groaned out a curse and various praises as you seated yourself on him fully. Your breathing was uneven as you arched, and Eggsy ran his hands up and down your sides.

“Breathe, love, breathe,” he murmured to you. “That’s it, love, fuck, you feel so good squeezing my cock, baby. So good and you haven’t moved yet, fuck.”

You smiled a bit and gave an experimental swirl of your hips.

Eggsy nearly yelled your name.

With a devious grin, you began to move up and down on his cock, swirling your hips as you did. He was reaching places that hadn’t been touched in too long; one hand squeezed your hip while the other moved to squeeze and palm your breasts.

“Fuck,” you moaned as he took your nipple in his mouth. He nipped and tugged on it, making your hips buck on his cock violently.

“That’s it, baby, doing so good. What do you want, darling, hm? What do you need?”

You panted and sat fully on him again, moaning in the back of your throat. Squeezing your muscles, you circled your hips without moving up. Eggsy began to kiss your neck and whispered the same question in your ear.

“Fuck, Eggsy,” you whimpered in his ear as he arched into you, making you feel fuller than you thought possible, “fuck, you feel so good.”

“That’s right, baby, you’re making me feel bloody amazing. C’mon, baby, tell me what you need. I know you need more. Tell me,” he growled as he started to fuck into you.

“Fuck, Eggsy!” his thumb began to rub your clit and you leaned your head on his shoulder. “Eggsy, please, fuck, just, fuck me, make me come, please!”

His growl made you shiver as he flipped you over, pounding into you hard and fast. Eggsy rubbed your clit furiously, his moans mixing with yours. You dug your nails into his shoulders, and he leant to bite your neck. You were getting so, so close; he made you feel better than anyone ever had.

“Fuck, darling, you make me want to come so bad,” he mumbled into your neck.

“Please, Eggsy, please,” you babbled breathlessly. “Please, you feel so good, wanna feel you come, wanna come with you.”

“That’s right, baby,” he whispered as he moved to kiss you deeply. “Fuck, darling. So fucking close, Y/N, you feel so good.”

“Eggsy,” you whined into his mouth. “Please.”

“Come for me, Y/N, let’s come together, c’mon,” he pleaded into your mouth.

Eggsy bit your lip and sheathed his pulsing cock fully into you, sending you over that coveted edge with a pinch to your clit.

“Eggsy!” you called out as your vision went white, clutching him close to your body. He followed you while your muscles clenched around him like they would never relax. His groan of your name into your mouth made you feel warm and fuzzy inside, in a different way that the orgasm made you feel.

Eggsy pulled out as you both calmed your breathing, but he let his body lay on you with his face tucked into your neck. You chuckled breathlessly and ran your hands up and down his back, delighting in his purr of comfort. His skin was smooth and soft, his toned muscles relaxed from the orgasm.

“Fuck, I love you so much,” Eggsy murmured into your skin.

“I love you too,” you admitted gently.

On slightly shaky arms, Eggsy pushed up to look at you with adoration in his eyes. “I’ve wanted to hear you say that for so long, Y/N.”

“How long?” you asked teasingly.

“Longer than you could imagine. But I’d wait again.”

“For how long?”

“However long it takes, darling,” he told you as he pressed a sweet, loving kiss to your lips. “However long it takes.”

[bard-of-worlds]

The Beginning in Kalos CH1

"We must tell the master we've found them!"  A voice cried as two figures in black robes ran down a hallway lit by torches. The one is the lead was older than the other, with a look of fierce concentration as he carried a printout.  At last we found them, after all those years of nothing and finally, we found them!  The older man thought as he ran a look of fanatic pride on his face.

 “Old man wait, let’s think this through if you’re wrong…”  The younger one trailed as the one leading the way stopped and spun to face him.  Old fool!  He’s going to get us both killed at this rate!  The chance that he’s right is so small that I don’t want to tell the master and have him kills us, him for being wrong and me for not stopping him!  The younger thought before stopping as the older man turned to glare at him.

 “I was here when the young lord was born.  I saw her face as she held him to our master.  I was here when we were attacked by those bastards and the queen and the young master disappeared, when that whore interrupted the lady’s teleport and stole them from their rightful place.  I KNOW their faces!  This is them!” He snarled as the younger back away in fear.

 “Fine, on your head is it if you’re wrong.”  He said he put his hands up to calm his older comrade down.

 "To think this happened because of one single report." The younger man mused to himself as they rounded a corner and rushed down the hallway.

 "And for what reason have you two fools decided to bother our lord?" A sensual voice purred as a pale woman dressed in a red dress that showed off her hourglass figure, twin slits on her dress exposing long white stocking clad legs and high heels who intercepted them.  Her lips were painted a blood red, a bang of her blond hair covering her left eye while the rest of it stops at the small of her back. Her right eye blazed red in the gloom, the crimson eye shadow on her eyelids enhance her glare.  On her ears were pure black diamonds; while around her neck was a Keystone on a black metal rose. While a pitch black Tyranitar stood by her right, a Houndoom with a crown with red stones on it and a collar with a black stone in it stood to her left; both had a sneer on their faces as they faced down the two men.

 "We've found the young master and his mother Lady Camilla.  We literally found them while seeing if the current champion would be a problem in the future."  The Elder said with emotions and a hint of madness in his eyes.

 “So you think you found them this time old one?” Camilla said softly with a hint of exasperation in her voice as her two Pokémon trading looks with each other.  They had thought they had found those they lost before, always one thing would lead to a disappointments and failure before, but both hoped that their trainer’s sister had been found with her son.

 “May I die the death of traitors and fools if I’m wrong about this, but by the Creator this is them!” The elder cried with a look of madness about him.  Camilla looked at him and turned towards the younger man who looked at her with an apologetic look and an expression that said he didn’t believe what his comrade had found.

 “If you’re wrong I might send you to the hospital for a mental reevaluation, but let’s see your proof first before I do anything.”  Camilla said with a sigh and a look was shared with her Tyranitar as she rolled her eyes, she and her team had dealt with many fanatics both within their forces and without, but if this fool was wrong and bothered their master, he might be killed, especially since it was so close to the anniversary of the Invasion.

 With a deranged smile on his face he showed her the printout, a boy with a Pikachu on his shoulder, a Mr. Mime and a brown haired woman walking out of a restaurant.  When Camilla saw the face of the woman her face lost what color she had.  That’s Delia… that has to be her, after so long we found them!  She thought as she got control of her emotions and turning her head she gestured to her Tyranitar to open the doors behind her, before she led the two of them and her Pokémon through the doors.

 They entered into a touch lite throne room, paintings in lining the walls of a two teenagers, a man and woman together the man dressed in formal suit, the face of the woman was covered by shadows but the painting showed her wearing a dress which complimented her figure, on her shoulder was a white Zubat and a Poochyena sat next to the man, a grin on its face.  At the end of the throne room a man in a fine suit sat upon the throne, his face in shadows with a Mightyena curled up next to the him with its eyes closed while a white Crobat was hanging above an empty throne next to the man

 "Why have you disturbed my rest?" A voice echoed from the throne, the dark type opened its eyes to glare at the party as they dropped to their knees before its master.

 "We might have finally found your family my lord." Camilla said, her voice caring not a trace of her emotions.  As soon as she finished speaking a wave of force seemed to press down upon them as the man's eyes focused all his attention upon the figures before him.

 "You have found my son and my queen?" The voice spoke slowly with a hint of anger and rage if they were lying to him.  Camilla glared at the two behind her and older one moved forward and began to speak.

 "My lord; awhile back while checking the results of the previous Kanto Tournaments I discovered an… incident accrued during one of them, one of the trainers had been kidnapped and barely made it to his match, sadly he lost the match because his Pokémon were exhausted before the battle could even begin.  Wanting to find out if THEY were involved I took it upon myself to look into both trainers bios, the victor’s was nothing out of the ordinary, nothing that led to any of them, so I put his opponent on a low priority and only received the report a few days later, an average trainer at his first league tournament but checking his legal history, I saw something that concerned me. He came into being a few months after the attack; his place of birth was recorded as unknown in all the record the agents I sent could find.  Thinking that he was one of the enemy’s agents who took a dive for some reason, I sent agents to find out more about him.  My lord, what he has done, his accomplishments were such that I thought to mark him as either a possible recruit or a massive threat to your goals, but that changed when I discovered he and his mother had a part in the mass Unown incident in Johto. I was finally able to track down footage of the event and finally saw his face, both his and his mothers’. Final research leaves no doubt in my mind; they are your missing family.  Please m’lord, you must only see their faces…" The man reached out holding the printout and the Crobat swooped down, grabbed the picture and dropped it into the hands of the man on the throne who looked at it and the pressure disappeared, releasing the people before the throne.

 "And what name has my beloved answered to these long years?" The figure said as he stood up and walked toward the doors the Crobat gliding to rest on his shoulder as the Mightyena walked behind him as his masters followers hurried after them.

 "Ketchum, my lord, your Queen and son have live under the name Ketchum.  And the impact he has made without his abilities is… remarkable is the only word that could be used.  He rode and saved the Beast of the Sea, he saved the Master of the Sky and this was only what we could find proof of.  It is amazing that one person could have such an impact on the world without more people knowing." The older man said as he hurried to match his lords’ stride.

 "Not to mention the number of hearts he charmed." The younger one muttered under his breath not noticing that his master had stopped and turned and looked at him until he heard the Mightyena’s growl at him.

 "How many young ladies are after my son?" His master enquired as the two Pokémon he was with glared at the fool for his comment.  The young fool began to sweet as he saw the looks the Elder and Lady Camilla and her Pokémon were sending him he knew he had to tread carefully, what he didn’t need was for his superiors to be too mad at him.

 "Many my lord. From Kanto to Sinnoh your child has charmed and drawn to him the love of many maidens though from what the report says, and he even has a modest fan club.  Through he seems to not notice what they feel for him."  He trailed off as he saw his master's expression start to darken and his eyes to grow hard.

 "Camilla, at your discretion you are to redirect any assets in Kanto to my beloveds current residence.  They are to send back a detailed report on her daily activities, her Pokémon and her health.  Find where my son is and send Lilith to follow him."  Their mastered command as he resumed his walk, prompting the three beings to share a look between themselves before following him.

 "Lilith my lord? Out of all the people in your command, you wish to send my apprentice?  Her age alone; not to mention her lack of experience off our land..."  Camilla trailed off as she followed along behind him when the Mightyena looked at her over its shoulder.

 "She is to scan my son to see if he anything beyond his natural abilities as my son were taken from him.  She is to be sent because her team will let her play whatever role she will need to interact with him.  She is to be sent because she is young, loyal and your best student in recent years. And have a Mystic meet the assets before they move to my love’s town; I want to know everything so I may regain those who were taking from me. Camilla, call the other Elites to the castle, all fast reaction squads are on standby for deployment as needed, all patrols are to be doubled for the foreseeable future." He ordered as he walked onto a balcony and the Mightyena came to a halt at the doors while the Crobat landed on the railings before him.

 "By your will and command, Lord Dracula!"  His followers uttered as they left to carry out his orders.  Camellia stayed behind for a few seconds, not moving until her master spoke.

“Is there something you need to say Camellia?”  He asked as he looked at the moon.

 “My lord….Vlad.  This doesn’t make sense, why would they let her go without someone watching her, why let Ashura travel, why take him in the first place?”  Camellia asked as Vlad gripped the railing.

 “All things that went through my mind, nothing that I can think of is good.”  Vlad said.  Camellia sighed and nodded her head.

 “Could the intelligence we’ve gotten over the years be truth, they are divided?”  Camellia asked as Vlad sighed.  If that is true then what plan are those two a part of to let them move about, what are they after?  He thought as he looked at the moon.

 “Look into that, but for now just do what I ordered, if you find out anything….well you know what to do.” Vlad said prompting Camellia to bow and walk away; leaving him with his Crobat who cooed at him.  Smiling at it Vlad rubbed its head, causing it to smile at its trainer before Vlad looked up at the moon overhead.

 "My beloved, soon after so long, you and our son will be with me again, and then they will know the rage of the old, the wraith of those it sought to destroy and condemn to oblivion.  My son I swear" He uttered as he looked down upon both Pokémon and humanoids battling or training in his courtyard, his army readying for war.

  Where could that girl be, I have to find her soon.  Still it was lucky that I already had a few people in Kanto near Pallet, within hours we’ll know what to do about the Prince. Camila thought as she walked out the castle, a clock around her to guard her from the cold.  Lilith had not been in the chambers her student/apprenticeship status gave her, given that she hadn’t gone on a Quest or an expedition for a new Pokémon or a competition earlier in the day, so she was probably with her friends.  The children of Aura might be powerful but when they wanted to play, they were quite excessive about it.  Swiftly moving through the town she noticed a few fliers for a party at a restaurant, a celebration in honor of the Founding Day, knowing Lilith she would have been dragged there by that cousin of hers to find someone.  At the edge of the street that led to the restaurant she stopped for a minute, memories flowing before her eyes.

 “Come on Cammy, Mrs. Lunaras said she’d finally teach us how to get that spice mix right today!”

“Delia, didn’t you say you’d drag your brother instead of me next time Mrs. Luaras has a new class!?”

“I WAS!  BUT THAT LITTLE BRAT FINISHED HIS SHOCKER SEAL!”

“SO I WAS YOUR SECOND CHOICE?!?”  A brown haired female teenage in a black shirt and tights pulled a blond girl with a scowl on her face in the same outfit down the street.

 A smile formed on her face as the memories faded.  That had led to the events where the two of them had gotten their partner’s eggs, showing that once again D had started a chain of events that ended with an adventure and danger, their teenage years together in a nutshell.  But if not for those adventures, she wouldn’t be who she was and D wouldn’t have fallen in love with him.

 “Don’t worry D, you’ll be home soon.”  Camilla said as a blood tear dropped down her face as she walked into the restaurant. Letting her eyes scan the crowded room, she finally noticed a table in the corner, a Lycanroc Midnight form with sunglass on, Lilith’s cousin’s partner.  Time to breakup this party, time to give her student her marching orders, take her to the gate to the plane she had ordered ready when she left the castle, time to take a chance.

 A girl with red and white streaks in her black hair in a modest black dress with purple lipstick and eye shadow leaned back and pushed out her breasts and smiled at a male survivor who walked away with a blush on his face as her a red humanoid wolf like Pokémon giggled.  It had red fur on its body with the section of its face which was white with a mane of fur over its back and shoulders sweeping forward to form a crescent moon over its face with two claw shaped rocks pocking out of the mane just below its shoulders on both sides of its body.  Next to them a figure in a concealing cloak just shook their head.

 “Felicity, do you have to flirt with every waiter here?”  The figure asked as Felicity smirked at them as the Lycanroc grinned and chuckled.

 “What can I say cousin, if ya got it work it!  And besides, not everyone have boys throwing themselves at them.”  Felicity said only for the cloaked figure to laugh darkly as they shook their head.

 “If you know anyway to take him for yourself please, but I know you won’t like it to long.”  The figure said as Camellia walked towards them from behind them.  Felicity put a finger on her cheek and thought for a few seconds before she nodded at her cousin.

 “You know you might be right.  Want to think up a way to get someone else onto his radar?”  Felicity asked before Camellia cleared her throat.

 “That conversation can happen at a later date girls; I need to talk to my apprentice.”  Camellia cut in causing all three people and Pokémon to turn and saw her, a smile on Felicity’s face as they saw Camellia.

 “Teacher, what’s wrong?” The figure asked as Camellia sat down at the table.

 “Yeah Milady, what’s up? It’s Founding Day, what’s the worst that you could need my cuzz for?” Felicity asked as Camellia handed a letter and to the cloaked figure.

 “You need to head to the airport now; you can get what you need there if you need anything at all. Once you’re there and ready Flight 003 will take you where you need to go, the details are in the envelope, only open it once you’re airborne.”  Camellia said as Felicity whistled as the cloaked figure got up.  

 “This is that important teacher that the mission needs this level of secrecy?”  The figure asked as Camellia nodded her head.

 “If she needs back up or someone to send a message I’m it, got it Lady Camellia?”  Felicity said as Camellia turned and sighed before nodding. “Great!  Good luck cousin, hope I’ll see you when you come back!” Felicity said as the cloaked got up and hugged her before moving through the restaurant towards the street.

 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 Ash opened his eyes and tried to remember where he was.  He stood up looked around, wondering where he was and how he had gotten there.  He seemed to be in a castle of some kind, and it was night, the moon was shining through a window to his right. The last thing he remembered was going towards his home; he had just gotten back from Unova and could see his mom in the distance.  He moved his arm and went still, what the hell was he wearing!?  He had on a black suit and pants, his sword, shield and Pokeballs were missing and he couldn’t see Pikachu and anywhere around him.  He saw a light in the distance and walked towards it.  Well here I go again, knocked out and lost with no weapon and none of my team, I wonder what the story behind this is. And of course there’s a light for me to go to, a trap but I so love to break them and make those idiots that try to hold me down curse their life choices. At least I might learn where I am and hopeful where my Pokémon are.  He thought as he started walking until he reached the open door the light came from and walked through onto the right side of the top of a two sided grand staircase at the end of an entrance hall with statues of knights in full armor holding shields and upright spears.  Ash walked down the stairs when suddenly he stopped when he reach the landing, he wasn’t alone.  He noticed a shadow falling out of the door on the top left side of the stairs and wondered if this person was who had brought him where ever he was.

 “All right, who’s there? I might not have my weapon or partner, but I won’t go down easy!”  He called out to the figure casting the shadow.  He was met with a laugh that sounded feminine, had an edge that made him feel warm, strange and sounded familiar. Where have I heard this voice, wait that’s! Ash thought as he went still and realized just from who he had heard that a laugh like that before.

 “Misty, Misty is that you?!” Ash cried as he ran up the stairs towards the shadow, only to see it disappear.  He ran through the doorway and notices a door closing farther down the hallway.  How had she run that fast, I know she was in good shape but when did she get that fast.  Ash thought as he approached the doorway he had seen.  He opened the door and walked into a colossal library that took up three levels.  He looked at the book cases and saw the section he had entered near was titled ‘Legends of The World’.  He walked towards the books and ran a hand over the titles, marveling at the collection he was before.  Looking around he saw rows of books from every subject from History to Zoology. Looking through the ‘Legends’ section he saw everything from books on ancient cities lost to time to folklore from varies regions.

“This is amazing, texts from every region, all grouped by subject matter.  This is just….Wow, just wow.  The size of this collection, this is just amazing, the number of books and subjects.  Man, May would love this.”  Ash marveled as he looked around.  Ever since she hatched Manaphy, she’s been looking into this stuff whenever we hit a Center, and she took on quite a few quests to get access to tomes like this, I wonder just how many you’d have to do just to learn about half of this.  Ash thought as he walked towards a railing next to a spiral staircase.  A book was on a table near a chair that was and he looked at it and noticed that Dr. Eve had written it, its title was ‘A Discovered History of Pokémopolis’. I remember that, the first time I fought something that wasn’t alive.  Wished it was the last through.

 “You know I loved Dr. Eve’s tome on Pokémopolis, it was amazing and she had left a dedication to a ‘Trainer with a Pikachu who saved my life’, that wouldn’t have been you was it Ash?” A voice purred from below made him stop cold, she sounded different but that was May, why was she here too?!

 “May? May what the hell are you doing here?!”  Ash called as he ran down the stairs, a melodies laugh was his only replay until he noticed a shadow passing through a doorway deeper into the castle.  He paused before moving after the shadow, his thoughts racing as he stood there.  May’s here too?!  And what was wrong with her voice, it sounded different then the last time I heard from her. And the way she said my name, I  I liked how she said it, what’s wrong with me? Ash shook his head and moved towards the door and followed after his friend, hoping to find out what was happening here.

 Ash left the library and entered a hallway that had a single doorway at the opposite end.  He walked through the darkened corridor and stopped at the doorway, he looked around, trying to find any other way to go then the one he had been led down, seeing nowhere else he could go, he opened the door and entered the room beyond.

 He came into what looks like a design studio of some kind; manikins of both humans and Pokémon were all around with a half-finished dress on a Buneary manikin and a black dress on a human manikin. He saw the dress showed off the top of the manikin’s breasts and had a slit on the right side from the thigh to the bottom.  Ash walked to the human manikin and compared the shade of the dress with what he was wearing, frowning as he saw the shade matched. What does this mean; is there a connection to these cloths and why I’m here? Is this like that time in Kanto when May was kidnapped by that scumbag? But why was I left in that hallway alone?  It would make more sense if it was a dungeon or a jail of some kind and a recording for the scum to gloat.  So what is this?

 “You know Ash, since I met my sister and we talked about our interests and skills, the two of us decided to work together and make a brand. And how do you feel about us wearing our designs for the ceremony?”  A feminine voice from the right caused Ash to turn sharply and move straight towards where the voice had come, hoping he would catch his friend this time.

 “Dawn!  Dawn where are you!?  And what ceremony?!”  Ash screamed as he charged through the door the voice had come from.  This time it’s Dawn!  Who do I run into next, Iris?!  And what sister?!  She’s an only child!  Ash’s thoughts ran around in circles as he looked about for any signs of where she had gone he turned and saw a door was open farther down from where he was.  He looked around the hallway, noticing closed door ways and an opened door that led into an Olympic size swimming pool with a waterfall feeding into the pool with a staircase leading to the top of the falls. Ash looked around and started to get confused.  Okay Ash, think this through,  So far you ‘found’ May in library that she would love, a design studio for fashion for Pokémon and humans where you heard Dawn and nearby you find a pool that Misty would love.  What is this place, a dream home for my friends?  Ash said as he walked along the pools edge, looking for anything that would give him a clue where to search next.  He looked at the pool and noticed a trail of water leading towards a door and nodded, he would follow the water for now.  

 He followed the water through the door and down a hallway, stopping at a staircase.  He looked around and with a sigh he walked up the stairs thinking he was ready for anything.  The room he came into had a small space with a training dummy, a TV in front of a large couch and a glass door to a balcony which bathed the room in moonlight.  Books on tactics, Pokémon, history and law were on a bookcase while a small table with six chairs with a few plates with food on them and glasses full of a red liquid. When Ash moved into the room an incredible aroma assaulted his noise, sniffing he tracked to the glasses and walked to the table where he robotically picked up one of the glasses.  As he drank what was in the glass an incredible sweet flavor assaulted his tongue as he drank the liquid, Ash shock as the liquid hit his stomach. He dropped the cup which shattered on the floor and put his hands on the table and closed his eyes as a wave of contentment and heat rushed through his body, old aches he had lived with for years disappearing as his body shock.  After about a minute his body stopped shaking and he opened his eyes as he panted and tried to center himself.

 “What the hell was that; I feel incredible, I don’t know if I’ve ever felt so good before….wait, when were the lights turned on.  They’re not.” Ash said as he looked around noticing that there wasn’t a source of light but suddenly he able to see as if the sun was out at noon.  He suddenly noticed scents that led into the next room, for some reason the scents made him think of his friends.  A cold watery scent that screamed Misty, a hot scent that made images of books and knowledge that seemed to be May, a scent of sweet and fabric that made him think of Dawn and two more scents that he couldn’t quite place.   He followed them with his noise and looked at a door to the next room.   He walked towards the door quietly and was just about to enter it when a feminine hand grabbed him and pulled him into the room and he crashed against a female body, Ash tried to react but before he could open his eyes he heard a voice.

 “We were wondering when you’d get here Ash.”   A seductive yet familiar sounding voice said as arms encircled him.  

 “May?”  He asked as he tried to look towards the voice and was shocked when someone kissed him, a tongue being forced into his mouth.  Ash pushed himself back and felt two pairs of arms grab his arms, blushing he felt two girls breasts pressed against his arms.

 “Oh sister don’t keep Ash all to yourself sister, don’t forget to share.”  Ash heard a seductive voice next to him speak as someone seemed to rub their face against his.  Ash pushed back against the person holding him and opened his eyes, staring at what he saw.  May and Dawn stood there both wearing a red and blue set of lacy bra and panties, both had crimson lipstick on and were looking at him with a look of hunger in their eyes that caused him to feel light headed as he felt his body react to what he was seeing.

 “Like what you see Ash?” Dawn purred seductively as she and May moved towards him as he tried to get away.

 “Dawn, May what are you two wearing?”  Ash asked before he stared and felt a flash of heat as a May and Dawn giggled with a musical tone to it.

 “Oh Ash, what matters is that we’ve finally been honest about how we feel about you and each other.” May said with a sensual purr to her voice as she speed her pace and moved to his side causing Ash to move to the right away from her as May and Dawn moved towards him with seductive grins on their faces.

 Ash walked backwards and bumped into someone else who hugged him from behind.  before he could react he heard giggles from the figure behind him, giggles that sounded like….!

 “Don’t scare our Ash off so soon, our other sisters aren’t here yet.”  Misty said as Ash turned and she locked their lips together and forced her tongue into his mouth.  Ash pushed her off him and looked at her face, noticing her lips were painted a deep crimson and she looked at him with eyes that were filled with…desire? “Misty, where are we, what is this, what are you all doing?”  Ash demanded, only for Misty to laugh, a laugh that caused a strange feeling of….desire to shoot through him as May and Dawn joined in.

 “Why would it matter where we are?”  May asked with a seductive purr to her voice from Misty’s right side.

 “What this is it’s the fact that all of us have stopped lying to ourselves.”  Dawn purred from Misty’s left side.

 “What we are doing Ash, is being honest in the fact that all of us love you.”  Misty declared as May and Dawn nodded as all three looked at him with a look of hunger in their eyes

 “But where are we, this place what is it!”  Ash demanded as he swallowed as he felt his heart beat faster as he listened to what they were saying.

 “Don’t question it Ash, just enjoy the fact that we’re here and that we love you.”  Misty murmured seductively before she kissed him on the lips before darting back as she moved one of her hands around his chest as she moved her head closer to his.  “If you’ve ever felt anything for us, any feeling of love at all, then please kiss me my beloved.”

 Ash’s eyes went wide at Misty’s declaration.  This can’t be real, it can’t.  but if it is then….! He thought before he closed his eyes pressed his body against Misty and kissed her back with force causing her to moan before she pulled away from him, her arms moving to hold the back of his neck, and he saw that Misty had on a ruby lacy bra and panties like May and Dawn. He was transfixed so much that he stared at her as May and Dawn came to his sides and hugged him, both of them planting kisses on his checks.  Ash let himself be led towards a bed and Misty pushed him onto it as the girls climbed after him.   As Dawn and May kissed him Misty looked towards the door Ash had been pulled through and smiled.

 “Ahhhh sisters, there you are.”  Misty’s words caused Ash to look towards the door, only able to see a flash of white and honey colored hair all he could see before his vision darkened  and the room faded out.

  “GAHH!!” Ash Ketchum cried as he woke from a…dream that he forgot as soon as his eyes opened but he remembered a feeling of…love and pleasure?  He had been having dreams he couldn’t remember for a while now, they had started after the……Incident at the Tree of Beginnings when he had used his Aura. He had been feeling differently for a while now, he seemed to be able to think faster, and the headaches he had when he concentrated and tried to remember things he had tried to learn about seemed to be a lot easier to handle since then and he was begging to…notice the figures of his female acquaintances, sometimes he would dream of them in variances of Dawn’s outfit at the Wallace Coup still haunted some of his dreams.  And whenever one of those dreams did happen…  

 Don’t tell me.  Ash thought as he winced. He went still for a few seconds before he looked down his bed and saw the stains on it and sighed, so it had been one of those dreams, better clean it up, he was leaving for Kalos today anyway and putting his bedding away would help his mother, anything he could do to help around here was good as far as he was concurred.

 “Pika?”  His partner asked sleepily as Ash gathered up his blankets from where he slept on a pillow on the floor, after the second time Pikachu had fallen off the bed when they had returned to Pallet he had started to sleep on the ground.  

 “Just doing some light housework before we leave buddy, its’ still early so you can go back to sleep for another hour if you want.  I’ll make sure you’re up for breakfast when it’s ready.” Ash reassured his Pokémon as he left his room.  As he walked thought his house he tried to remember what he had dreamed about, he stopped abruptly when the last part of it flashed through his mind and he blushed and walked on.

 “Like that would ever happen, like they would even have feelings for me with how childish I’ve acted.” Ash thought as he walked towards the laundry room.

 After he put his laundry in the wash he walked down a hallway and stopped before the kitchen, putting his hand next to a picture of him and his mom at his first day of school. For years it had just been the two of them, but he wondered about his father, but he never found the answer. He remember what he knew of his mothers’ past, they had stumbled into Pallet with nothing but the clothes on her back and him in a carrier a few months old, barely past when he needed mother’s milk. People had decided after nothing had been found nearby that the they had been attacked by a frenzied Psychic type and her memories were shredded beyond the point of recovery, she had barely remembered their first names let alone where they had come from, and when no missing person or wreckage had been found anywhere nearby it was assumed that the frenzied Pokémon had hit them with a teleport as she tried to get them away from it after it had taken her memories. Thankfully old man Port had taken them in and they had discovered that she was a great cook, taking over the restaurant after he retired, and under her management it became one of the best in the region, restaurant chains trying for years to either get her to work or train their chiefs to her level or to steal her secrets.

 Dad, where in the world are you, where do mom and I come from?  He thought to himself as a tear went down his face.  His mother’s memory problem had been a plague on their lives for years; the pain it caused her was something he hated with all his being. Sure she acted happy and upbeat most of the time, but whenever one of Pallet’s little traditions came around, she had such a look of hurt and regret that she had such a void of her own. They had tried to regain her memories by sessions with Psychics, both human and Pokémon, even Sabrina of the Saffron Gym had tried to help her as a favor for the help Ash had giving her, but to her complete surprise she had no luck unraveling a single memory.  Sabrina had been apologetic about her failure, wondering as she left if a rabid Pokémon hadn’t attack them do to the way the mindscape had felt to her.  Ash had been worried about that, so he had delayed his journey through the Unova region for a few days to spend them ‘training and studying’ when he had really done a quite circle of Pallet, using some tricks Jackie, a Pokémon Ranger he had befriended had showed him after the mess with Manaphy to see if anyone had been observing the town and his mom, he found nothing so he decided to head out again after telling Mr. Mime to be vigilant, but had been sidetracked with an Emergency Quest for trainers by the local police.  He wondered sometime what had happened to them, what kind of life he could have been leading if his father was around, if his mother had her memories, if they were where she had started to make a life with his father. With a sigh he moves on, a bit further down the hall he saw the lights were on in the kitchen, she was probably awake then.

 “Getting an early start Ash?” his mother smiled at him when he walked into the room and got the plates they would need down as she finished up, her job as the owner of Pallet House showing in her cooking.

 “Eh, yeah I guess I’m a bit anxious to meet Alexa at the airport.”  Ash said as he blushed as he set the table.  I don’t want to tell mom anything about the dreams I’ve been having, the talk she gave me before I left the first time was nightmare inducing enough on its own, and then there’s what she says about the girls! I don’t need to give her any ammo to tease me!  Ash thought as he looked anyway but at his mother.   He saw Mr. Mime leave in the direction of his room with a nod to him, signaling that he was going for Pikachu, giving him a few minutes alone with his mother.

 “Anything new happening at Pallet House mom?   Any new hires or spies?”  He enquired as she brought the food to the table and sat down across from him.

 “Well Joan went on vacation about a week ago so she should be back in a few days from the Orange Islands, I asked her to stop by the farm there we get our oranges from to look over a few things and deliver some paperwork, much cheaper and more reliable than having to hire someone to do it.  We took on a new girl an about your age named Albia, I think she wants to learn how to ‘cook from the best’ but she’s been edgy and skittish, she might be running from someone so I’m a bit worried.  There is a new pretty boy whose been coming to the restaurant every day I’m on server duty for the last three weeks, I think he’s from Hoenn given his accent, maybe either trying to seduce me or spy, I haven’t decided if I act like he’s having any luck or act completely oblivious about it.”  Delia giggled as she winked at Ash who sighed in exasperation at how his mother dealt with those people.

 “And the last guy who tried to seduce you, has he gotten out of that Mental Institution yet? “ Ash asked with a smirk on his face as memories played behind his eyes.

 “Poor Benny, who knew those Beedrills love onions so much, and that someone put onion extract into that shampoo and for his car to break down right next to the colony and wake them all up, that poor, poor man.  But then maybe he shouldn’t have insulted the son of his employer.” Delia laughed as Ash joined her before putting some food in Pikachu’s dish as Mr. Mime led him in as they started their meal and put the local news on.

 A few hours after the meal ended Ash finished his laundry, got his belongs together, grabbed his bag and walked toward the door with a confident walk.  Each League he had challenged he had gotten farther than the one before.  But then as long as he trained his team and kept his trust in them, they would always give it their best together.

 His mother was waiting for him at the door, a proud smile on her face.  Even though it had just been the two of them for years and yes, it had been hard, but they had created lives they could be proud of.  Her son was such a good and loyal young man, always helping people even if he just met them.  And he was so brave, jumping into danger to help people or Pokémon in need; he was just like his father when…  As soon as that thought hit her she slumped against the wall as a terrible migraine hit her as her hands wrapped around her head.

 “MOM!”

 “PIKA PIKA!”  Ash and Pikachu both cried as they ran for her. Ash grabbed her and led to a chair as Mr. Mime got a glass of water and her medicine; she gulped it down and moaned as she clutched her head.

 “My book, I need my book.” She whimpered as she rubbed her forehead.  Ash spared a look with Pikachu before he went to her room and returned with a journal that the local doctor had suggested she kept to write down what she could remember from her episodes, a way to keep hope.  Opening to a page mark ‘V Husband’ she wrote down “brave and helps others“. She looked the book over after she had finished writing and rubbed ‘V Husband’.  A single letter and still no idea of where he was, not a single thought about where she had come from beyond the words “Sea of”, “Moon’s Shadow” and “Time of Love”.   But she didn’t keep those words in this book, awhile back she discovered that the book she wrote in didn’t have the invisible ink drawing she had doodled on the back.  She had had gotten a few different invisible pens and over the years made marks on the back cover when no one was around, not even Mimmy or Ash knew about it, something that she felt was for the best for a reason she couldn’t explain or even think about without a triggering one of her bad attack.

 “You know mom, I could stay a few days, and I could call Alexa and tell her I couldn’t make it. It wouldn’t affect my journey that much to hit it alone without an introduction to her sister.  The airlines would let me change my flight to a latter one without too much trouble.”  Ash began before his mother shook her head,

 “Ash, no.  I’ve dealt with attacks while you were gone before and Ginny is due back later today, I’ll be fine, I’m not on schedule for cooking or waitressing for a few days, I will be fine and Mimey will call Ginny and the Professor if anything happens.”   Delia said as she smiled at her son, he always tried to take such care of her.

 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 At the edge of Pallet town in the trees a Weavile wearing a belt finished placing a long range camera pointing toward the Ketchum’s house.  With a smirk on its face it finished tying it to the tree so it would have an unobstructed view of the front and path, everyone who came to visit would be seen and logged.  The Weavile quickly climbed down the tree and knocked on the wood, signaling a nearby waiting Luxray and Zoroark wearing a collar around its neck with a camera on it that pointed in the direction of its head.  Nodding to the Zoroark the Luxray took off into the shadows of the forests, dashing through the shade of the trees as the Zoroark formed an illusion around itself as it moved toward the road, heading down wind, ready to shadow Ash when he left. With a grin on its face the Weavile climbed back up to the tree, stopping when it reached a waiting Noctowl and a Haunter that were watching the house, the Weavil flashed them a smirk that was answered by a nod from the Noctowl and a chuckle from the Haunter before the Weavile climbed into a hollow in the tree where it closed its eyes to rest and wait for the signal for the next stage of the operation.  

 The Luxray ran through the shadows, dodging the local Pokémon until it reached a cabin at the edge of the wood where a man was sitting at a table, waiting for it.  It stopped next to him; he had black hair and was wearing black slacks, a grey shirt with a camera around his neck. With a grin on his face, the man reached down and rubbed the Luxray under its chin before he reached for a laptop and checked the feed from the camera.

 “Camera 1 is operational, we’ll know where the prince is going soon and once we have eyes and ears inside in a few days we’ll have the beginnings of a report for the boss thanks to this plan; you two have a nice lunch and bring me something nice.”  He said as two women left the house behind him.

 “Yeah ‘bro’, keep your shirt on, we’ll bring you back something, maybe some pasta?”  The speaker was a woman with black hair in a ponytail that reached the small of her back, she wore a white tank top and black slacks with black flats on her feet, and she gave off an air of observation, like she knew everything about everything around her.

 “See you later ‘daddy’.” A woman said with a sensual purr to her voice as she followed the first woman.  She wore a tight strapless blue dress that went to her knees that complimented her figure and wore dark blue high heeled boots.  She had on red lipstick and purple eye shadow above her blue eyes.  She had an air of sophistication that seemed to be at odds with the woodlands, looking like she would be more at home an upper class ball.

 “Shouldn’t you change before you call me that young lady?” The man said dryly as he looked at her, causing her to look down and give a small laugh as she sweet dropped. She snapped her right fingers and a black sphere covered her, when it faded a young girl under ten in a red dress that reached her knees with red boots stood in her place.

 “Can I have spaghetti for lunch ‘Aunty Rachel’?”  The false girl asked with a scratchy voice as she grabbed the ‘older’ woman hand and they walked to Pallet Town’s ‘downtown’.

 “Well you have been a good girl lately for ‘daddy Tom’, Saph.”  Rachel said with a laugh as she walked with a smirk on her face.  

RWS Tom talking to Zor, seeing Ash leave and order to follow and

Tom watched them go and sighed

  “Goodbye Mom, take care of yourself and please, go easy today.”

 “Good luck Ash, don’t take to many risks! Well off we go Mimmey.”

 Two voices echoed over the empty road and the hidden Zoroark smiled as it created an illusion of a shiny Pidgey landing on the roof of the house before it followed Ash.  Within the forest the Noctowl saw the ‘Pidgey” land and gave a cry, which caused the Haunter to turn invisible and fly toward the house and the Weaviel to get out of the hollow.  As the Noctowl took off, the Weavile jumped off the branch and grabbed the Flying-Type’s legs as the Owl Pokémon glided to the house as the Haunter reached the building and slipped inside.  As the Noctowl started to hover out of sight of the road the Haunter appeared through the wall of the house and signaled to the chimney as the insertion point for the next stage of the operation.  The Noctowl flew above it and dropped the Weavile onto the roof before it nodded to its partner, signaled it to keep watch and climbed down into the house. With the Haunters help it was simple to set up audio recorders far enough in the vents that they wouldn’t be seen and to slip hidden cameras in the kitchen, the living room and outside her bedroom, no need to get the boss mad about what was being recorded after all. Its job done, the Sharp Claw Pokémon climbed back up the chimney with the Haunter following, when they reached the roof the Weavile smirked at its flying partner, the job was done and went perfectly, time to get out and back to their base.

  Zoroark paused when Ash stopped just beyond the hill, just far enough that they could no longer see Ash’s home over the horizon.  Looking around to make sure no one was watching him he put two of his fingers into his mouth and made a sharp whistling sound that echoed off the trees. Zoroark was wondering when a sudden wind storm buffeted the area!  Zoroak hunkered down and watched as a powerful looking large Pidgeot landed and Ash reached out and rubbed its throat as it purred.

 “Hey girl, how’s the flock? Those bullies leaving you alone or have you had to throw that Fearow out of the air a few more times?”  Ash asked as Pikachu grinned at its teammate.

 “Pidgeot geot!” Pidgeot cried with a look of superiority as it looked down at its trainer, none of them noticing Zoroak watching from the tall grass.

 “You’ve been handling it, great!  Listen I know I usually stop in to check on you before I hit a new region but this time there’s more.  The news said a hurricane was forming and it might come up the coast.  Viridian is shielded by the mountains but Professor Oak’s will have all his barns open for the wild Pokémon as usual so I thought I should warn you first.  Anyhow, how’s the watch been, nothing happening to my mom I should know about but she won’t tell me?”  Ash asked as the Pidgeot shook its head and looked at its trainer.  Ash hummed as he looked down and tried to think about everything.

 “Good I guess.  Then it’s the same as always, make sure that Mom and Mr. Mime don’t notice the lookouts you have watching the house and only intervene if you have too.  Stay alive and keep flying and I’ll tell you all about how the region goes and the next time a tournament is near Pallet I’ll use you guys and we blow them away.” Ash promised as Pidgeot screeched in agreement before it took off.  Ash watched it go and smiled before walking off, neither noticine the Zoroark following them. The as it moved quietly through the grass, the Zoroark pressed a button on its collar to transmit the data back to its trainer, its target was more then he appeared, this might be fun after all.  Ash had been moving at a modest pace but it was easy to keep up and stay out of sight as long as it stayed downwind.  All it had to do was stay close enough to get a look at where Ash went and get away without anyone noticing, with its skills it was so easy.  When Ash reached the airport a copy of the man at the cabin stepped in after him quietly.  Following Ash through the building, it noted that he was heading for the long distance travel section, was he going to Alola or Univa?  It stopped when it saw Ash walk up to a woman in a chair by a door to the tarmac, and slowly move closer to eavesdrop on them.

 “I was starting to worry you wouldn’t make it on time Ash.”  The woman said as she smiled at him as a yellow lizard Pokémon looked on from a chair next to her.  

 “Alexa, hi.  Sorry I’m a bit late; I had to take care of something that happened at home.”  Ash said as he rubbed the back of his head with a small smile on his face.

 “Well they had a little trouble here earlier, so boarding was delayed, so we’re not in trouble.” Alexa said as she grabbed a camera bag that was next to her.

 “Trouble?”  Ash inquired as he looked around, as the Zoroark paid more attention to the surroundings, both of them noticed the signs of a Pokémon battle or attack.

 “What happened here?” Ash wondered out loud as he looked around, seeing cuts in the walls, holes in the ground and a few windows were broken open.

 “They called themselves Team Gaia and…” Alexa started before Ash groaned and face palmed

 “Not those idiots again! I thought that we had been taken care of them already!”  Ash said as he rubbed his face.

 “Let me guess, they attacked the planes because the noise is damaging to Pokémon?  The airport’s on the burial grounds of a nomadic Pokémon group or something equally as stupid.”  Ash moaned as Alexa looked at him in surprise at what he was saying.

 “I’m guessing that you’ve met them before?”  Alexa deadpanned as Ash sank into a chair and held his face.

 “The number of Quests I’ve done in Pallet and Viridian that were the fault of those idiots is mind boggling.  Eco-warriors; the Noble defenders of Pokémon?  Ha, more like brain-dead fools who just want to be noticed!   They caused so much trouble that about a year ago the local police chief finally had enough of them, gathered all the local trainers and set a bounty on them!   I was part of the team called in and I helped the local Jenny on a raid on one of their ‘churches’, their leader started to monolog but Pikachu just shocked ‘em and knocked them out.   For all their passion they were surprisingly easy to beat, I almost felt I had to pay Jenny for the Quest, not the other way around when everything was done.”  Ash said as the call for boarding sounded over the speakers in the hallway.

 “How about you tell me everything you know about them, I know a paper back home that would kill for an article like this. It’s one whose main following are law enforcement, so letting people know about them might be a good thing.” Alexa said as the two of them walked toward the airplane through the doors.

 “Just call me Unknown Trained in the article and I would love to, I don’t want any of those fools to attack mom’s restaurant in retaliation to what I know about them.”  

“Wait, your mom runs Pallet House?” Ash and Alexa conversed as they boarded the plane, never notice the ‘person’ who had been listening to their conversation.

The ‘man’ following Ash noted the plane’s company and number and slipped back out the front doors, slipped into the tall and within minutes a Zoroark, leaping into the trees, using the forest’s shadows and its illusions to mask its travel as it went to the cabin its trained had rented with her comrades.

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 Back at the cabin Tom’s mouth was opened, staring at the screen in shock as he tried to get what he had just witnessed out of his head.   This kid, he’s got a pack of wild Pokémon to protect his mother.  I…. don’t know just how he got em but man do I have to give him props for that! He thought as he looked over the record from the camera feed from Zoroark and just shook his head as he tried to process what he just saw.

 “I mean I’ve heard stories about the boss’s grandfather making alliances with wild packs, but this? I can’t even begin to understand how.” Tom said to himself as he shook himself to try and get his mind off what he had seen.  He looked at the other cameras he had his team set up and sighed as he saw that so far nothing more then what he had seen over the last day was on them.  So that explains the powerful Pidgy flock, still if he raised that Pidgeot to be that powerful then I can see why he’s a War Potential, somebody that strong has to be investigated so that we don’t have any troubles from him.  He thought as he leaned back.  “And to think I thought that nice cushy job in Saffron would be how I would spend the next few months.”

 He got up when he heard the sounds of his Pokemon returning and smiled.  “Give me a minutes gents, after all that work you did I think I’ll give you all a good meal.  I really, really, hope the girls bring me back something.”  He muttered as he walked towards the door to let them in, mentally going over the supplies of Pokémon food that they had.

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 “This is delicious! You guys are so getting a 5 star rating from me.”  The ‘young girl’ said with a grin as she ate the food before her.  She and her aunt had entered the restaurant and after being led to a booth the waitress had asked if they were new comers to the area, since it was their first visit to the restaurant.  They stuck to the cover story they had created; their party was a brother and sister with the brother’s daughter.  He was a Pokémon Photographer and she was a writer, they were in the area to get some pictures of the local wild Pokémon for a book she was writing about the affect small towns have on wild Pokémon populations.  Since it was the height of summer they decided to take his daughter with them, his wife might stop by from her job in Viridian City now and again for a date with her husband while they were in Pallet for the next month or two, depending on how lucky they were with the photos and her observations.  After that the waitress had made small talk while she took their orders and left Rachel and Seph alone to let them watch the restaurant as they masked it with small talk about their ‘time apart’. The food was the important thing, the combination of spices used tasted like a home cooked meal in the Homeland, either their target was who Lady Camilla hoped or this was the biggest coincidence she had even tasted.  After a while a woman with brown hair in a pink top with a purple long skirt trailed by a Mr. Mime walked in to greetings from both the staff and customers, their primary target had arrived.

 “Afternoon Delia, you’re a bit later than normal and you’re a bit pale, you okay boss?”  The greater asked as the two walked in.

 “Everything is fine Amanda, I just saw Ash off but I had another of my attacks before he left.” Delia admitted with a weak smile.

 “What attacks?”  A female teen with brown hair in a bun dressed in a grey shirt skirt combo asked with a frown on her face as she carried a serving tray under her arm as she walked away from the outdoor tables.

 “Remember the ‘medical’ problem we told you to watch out for with Delia, Albia?”  Amanda said as she scowled.

 “Problems our boss knows she could stay home and rest, we can handle this place without her here.”  She continued as she looked at Delia with a scowl, Delia only laughed and smiled with her eyes closed as the others scowled at her.

 “Amanda is making a bigger deal out of it then it is.  Every so often I get migraines, they’re not too bad and I only get them once every few months.  Oh, Ginny said she would stop by when she returns to the town, let her by when she comes in.  Mimmy we made it so please head back home.”  Delia said as she moved into the kitchen the girl following after her. The Mr. Mime shoot a sharp look at Amanda and left the building, no one notice that Saph’s eyes had flashed a solid black when Delia had entered, or that her grip on the table had tightened after and that she shoot a worried look at her ‘aunt’.  

 “Aunty didn’t you promise to bring back something for daddy?”  Saph said as Rachel nodded at her.  

 “Yeah, and since tonight’s super is basically leftovers back at the house, how about we grab a few appetizers to make it nicer.”  Rachel said as she smiled at her ‘niece’ who smiled back.  The two of them didn’t notice the guarded looks Albia sent them before she went into the kitchen, the same look she had been giving them since they had come into the restaurant.

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  Tom smiled as a Zoroark walked through the open door; with it back everyone deployed had accomplished their mission.  With a smirk on its face letters formed before it, the information of the flight Ash had boarded.

 “Okay, lets’ see where the ‘prince’ is going? Johto? Nay, he could have walked there or taken a bus. Unova then, its gotta be.”  Tom muttered as he checked the airport’s webpage for the destination.  When he found it, he jolted in his seat before he started too sweet.  The girls are so gonna not like this, I just know it.  He thought as he looked at his screen. Of all places it had to be that region.  With a click and a few minutes to type up a report; he sent the information back home, the jet waiting would get the operative to the target’s destination ahead of him, but it had to be one of the “New Worlds”.  Getting up he started to feed the pokemon, giving them a few treats for a job well done to get him mind off the data he had found.

Tom had just finished feeding the Pokémon and was checking the feed from the remote cameras when Rachel walked in holding a bag with Saph who returned to her older form and started to stalk around as her hands seemed to squeeze something in the air.

 “I can’t believe it! No self-respecting student of Aura casting would ever create something so, so….so wrong!” Sapphire ranted as she walked back and forth. Rachel shared a look with Tom, seeing the worry she had reflected back at her as he shrugged.

 “SAPPHIRE!  You will control yourself and tell us what you saw.” Rachel said as she grabbed Sapphire’s arm to stop her.  Sapphire looked back at the others looking around her and sighed, trying to get her emotions back under control before she started to explain.

 “There are aura seals on her, from what I saw they are holding back her memories, if they hold back specific memories assorted either by word or years I couldn’t say, but they were only starting to break recently, the records show lady Delia was a power Caster so her abilities are probably fighting back against them, however the seals wouldn’t have lasted a month on a beginner, yet alone all these years! I can’t understand how they’re still active!  I thought it was a drug that was affecting her, but seals like this?” Sapphire ranted as she sat down. Tom was worried, this seemed. A beep turned their attention to Tom’s laptop, with a clicks Tom had the camera in question on the screen to reveal a woman walking up to the Mr. Mime sweeping the front step.

 “Woah, woah, who the hell are you lady?!”  Tom cut in form where he was checked his laptop, noticing a figure walking toward the Ketchum residence.

 “We got somebody coming into the Queen’s house, female, she’s commanding the Mime, tall, and she’s got auburn hair.”  Tom said as the three of them and their Pokémon crowded around the laptop to watch the camera feed.  The Mime Pokémon let in a woman in traveler’s cloths with auburn hair in a ponytail with a scar under her right eye walked to a small table and picked up a journal.

 “That’s her! She was the bitch who attacked the Queen all those years ago during the Invasion! That scar on her check was from Lady Camilla’s whip when the tart escaped!”  Sapphire spat as they saw the woman page through the journal, and upon finding the newest entry give a small chuckle.

 “Those seals have to be strengthened to last so long?  It has to be done by a caster, right?  This bitch is a caster, right?” Tom said in a flat voice as the party watched the woman take out her own book and make a few notes before putting the journal back from where she picked it up before she left, walking into Pallet.  Oh man oh man, if I’m right then this is what their using to control the Queen, but the prince wouldn’t have any of her training so maybe something to hold back his heritage….but Aura can activate easier in people born of those who can use it so something to hold it back, but how?  He thought as he tried to think of the why and came up empty.

 “Yes.  Did you send off the report about where the prince is going?”  Sapphire answered just as flatly as they watched the woman give commands to the Mime pokemon.  That that woman was here and in their target’s house and the seals on her had eliminated all doubt in her mind about who they were.

 “He’s heading to Kalos.” Tom said softly before both of the women starred at him before they exploded.

 “KALOS!!!   Out of all the places, he’s going where one of the THEM has a position of power?!”  Sapphire spat out as she grabbed her head.

 “It has to be the one place we don’t have roaming forces!” Rachel said with a scowl on her face as she glared at Tom who chuckled.

 “Yeah but our prince is something else, he’s got one of his Pokémon watching over his mom, a pretty powerful Flying type from what I saw.”  Tom said as he called up an image of Ash together with his Pidgeot as the girls looked at the laptop’s screen.  Rachel and Sapphire only looked at the video before she chuckled.

 “Wild Pokémon to watch over her, I’m betting they are who we think they are from this alone.  So we stay until we get any more orders or if someone attacks us, right?”  Sapphire asked as the others nodded and she walked away, a swing in her steps. “Great, I’ve got first shower then!”

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 Albia sighed as she finished delivering the last of her orders for her tables.  Her first weak was over and today was payday, her Pokémon had helped her by scrounging in the forests outside of town to feed itself but some real food was just what the Zapdos ordered for them both.  Ever since she had been chased out of her home in Johto she had been chased, she had only planned to stay and do some Trainer Quests in this town as a cover, to find a Pokémon to train to carry her over the seas, a Lapras, a Pidgey, a Spearow even a Magikarp would eventually give her something to help her escape, in the meantime this place was just what the doctor ordered.  The Quest to work at Pallet House was from what she had overheard during her shift, was one that was available in bulk in the busy summer months, but sometimes it led to a permanent job being offered.   And Miss Ketchum hadn’t looked at her story too hard, then again what her coworkers had told her about her boss’s past, than maybe she was waiting until she built trust between them to ask about it?  But there was something about her, an echo of safety, someone who would fight the whole the world alone for her loved ones.

 If she had truly thrown off them off, then maybe she could make a new life for herself, at least for a little while.  But there was those two who were here earlier, the younger girl felt like that old woman who had given her the necklace she wore under her shirt.  She had told her that her powers were the result of being born able to tap into her Aura and having an active Element, whatever that was, they hadn’t had long to talk.  The old woman and her team had fished her and her Pokémon out of that river and during a meal an hour later the people hunting her had found them, the woman had thrown a necklace at her, told her it would hide her and not to trust the League.  When the two of them had gotten away she had examined it and discovered a golden stone within a locket, but she could feel something different when she wore it.  As she was debating going to the League after all in Viridian City, she had seen Karen of the Kanto Elite 4 talking with some of her pursers, she had run so fast in the other direction she hadn’t even stopped before she had reached Pallet Town.

 And this entire town was perfect; no long standing feuds between gangs, no Quests to beat back raiding Pokémon beyond the basics in a wilderness town. It was different then her old city, but different was what she needed. The feelings that those people gave off wasn’t what that child from earlier felt like, so maybe she was safe, but that girl.  If the girl was like her, then maybe she should talk to the child’s father, but only after she had an exit strategy ready.  If she was in a position to help someone hid away from those bastards, so much the better, the way they treated their Pokémon, their ‘holy duty’, all of it was just wrong.

 Suddenly she went dead still, there coming toward the restaurant; there was one of THEM, she could feel it, that other sense that had caused them to hunt her, the feel those among of one of those of them who had abilities like hers was walking toward the door.  She went quite as a mouse as a woman with black hair in in a traveler’s clock over her cloths with a scar under her right eye walked past Amanda into the restaurant heading toward the kitchen.

 “Hi Amanda, Delia’s in her office, right?  I came into Pallet near her house and Mimey flagged me down, so after a good game of ‘Guess that Problem’, he was able to ‘tell’ me what happened earlier, so I rushed over here as fast as I could.”  The woman said with a smile on her face as she walked through the doorway and past Amanda, not noticing the look Amanda had on her face as she passed her.  Not noticing the shell shocked look Albia had on her face when she walked in.

 Amanda merely looked at her as she walked through the restaurant, a look in her eyes that held back emotions were being held back by force of will.  Albia went white as her eyes widened, one THEM was in Pallet, and she was friends with Miss Delia?!?  Did that mean Delia’s attacks had more to them than people thought?  

 “Maybe Pallet isn’t as perfect I thought it was.” Albia muttered under her breath as she walked over to Amanda for her paycheck, problems aside; she and her partner need some real food.   But this is the best what for me to live to see a tomorrow. She thought as she went back towards the kitchen for another plat of food.

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Well this is it, chapter end.  I hope you all enjoyed my first chapter on my project.  Read and review please, I so want to know what you think of it please. And after each chapter I will drop a few explanations for Original Content that exists in this branch timeline. On another note chapter 2 is almost done, I just have to finish one scene before and look over it to make sure it’s right, I’m think a weak after this so read, review and leave me some comments, hope to see you people in a weak

 Founding Day: Holiday that celebrates the discovery and first settlement of what will be called Homeland by its inhabitants, usually in a two day party where the region parties hard,

 Emergency Quest:  Protocol used by police in Kanto region that calls on all nearby Trainers in emergency situations.  Considered last resort option in the face of total failure

 Trainer Quests:  Small part time jobs usual lasting a day or a short amount of time.  Way to allow Trainers to make money on their journey. Payout is based on Star Level, based on difficulty, time to complete and Pokémon involved, their levels, the number involved.  EXAMP Star 1 Rattata raiding farms: Mob 1-5/LV 1-5 Payout $10 per Pokémon defeated; surcharge X2 for stronger Pokémon

 Team Gaia:  A gang who use Normal and Grass types mainly.  Primarily they were active around the Pallet Town - Viridian City area. Believed to be idiots who just want to be heard after defeat by local police with assistance of Trainers in area returned one year later as attack on the Viridian/ Pallet Airport has shown that a new force is rising that uses this as their name.

 Aura Caster:  Person who uses Aura Energy to cast ‘spells’.  Multiple Disciplines exist, only difference being how Aura is channeled for effect

 Sealing: Discipline of Aura channeling to create a ‘seal’ on a medium that when fed Aura Energy can cause near unlimited effects based on shape and medium used, multiple seals can be combined, combined seal needs increased Aura energy to activate based on seals combined

[darkmindsotome]

Risque Rouge pt7

Tagging: @umbralaperture​ @otome-smut-queen @silver-fox-of-azuchi @tsundere-mitsuhide @jennacat84

General warnings for the whole fic: Angst, some fluff, Mental health issues, emotional things, trauma, blood, death and possible triggers. Please read responsibly. 

Darkmindsotome Masterlist

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Chapter 7

Once on the main road, it seemed luck had been in their favour as it didn’t take them long at all to locate a coach. Clouds of fresh smoke filled the morning air briefly before vanishing, the gloved hand holding the cigarette paused in its path back to their mouth as they noticed the two figures approaching.

The driver gave a questioning look at the young woman being carried as the blanket from around her fell slightly revealing her state of dress. Paying very little attention to the puzzled look from the other man Comte gave a nod to the driver who returned the gesture automatically.

It was hardly a new thing to pick up a wealthy man in this area but it was not common for them to be openly carrying such cargo. The driver became lost in thought wondering what the story there was. A noble becoming entangled with a poor unfortunate again was an old and familiar tale, but why were they carrying around the creature like a precious treasure? Why was she dressed in such soiled clothing?  

Comte easily supported the girl in one arm as he opened the carriage door, paying great attention to place her inside as delicately as he would handle a flower. He arranged the blanket on her once more before giving her a little nod and smile, then turned to address the driver. After giving their destination Comte covered the palm of the driver’s hand with far more coin than required and like magic, all was forgotten.

Evie could probably count the number of times she had been in a carriage heading into the city on her two hands. On the rare occasion where she had been sent to the city proper, she couldn’t help but feel a rush of excitement and imagined herself as being part of the fanciful illustrations from one of her children’s books. This was not one of those journeys though. There was no nervous anticipation that fuelled her imagination into conjuring up childish fantasies.

She wasn’t actually certain of what she felt right now. Everything felt like she was moving in slow motion while the world around her continued normally. All she could seem to do was sit where she had been placed like a doll on a shelf.

Casting her eyes around the new space she noted, that apart from a change in some of the colour choices, this carriage seemed to be exactly like the others she had been in. Two benches, both well-padded and covered in worn fabric, sat facing each other on opposite sides of the vehicle. The small windows on either side gave a clear view so the passengers could watch the world passing by as the horses pulled it along the roads. Evie pulled the edges of the blanket tighter around herself realising just how cold she was after being left alone. It turns out that a carriage first thing in the morning wasn’t the warmest of places to be.

Comte secured the door after stepping inside to join her and adjusted the small curtains over the windows so the bright light of the new day was a little less direct. Evie watched as he brushed down the length of his coat, smoothing it beneath himself as he took a seat opposite her for the journey. Moments later the whole structure gave an initial lurch before falling into a more relaxed rhythm as it found its natural momentum.

Tiredness started to make her sleepy, her eyelids began to slowly blink as she looked at the light filtering through the windows. The way a shadow fell for a split second as they passed by trees or buildings, the change in the sound of the wheels as they went over different surfaces.

Leaning to one side she braced herself against the support of the carriage wall. Her mind felt a little foggy and the gentle rocking of the transportation lulled her further into that moment between sleep and reality. Exhaustion hit her like a wave breaking on a cliff, each rock of the carriage serving to give it more authority over her consciousness. If she had been alone, she doubted she would have been able to sleep, the memories of what had happened plagued her conscience and pushed the limit of her sanity.

She stole a glance at the man who saved her. He had appeared out of nowhere and entered her life like it was the most natural thing in the world. He seemed to hold this power that convinced her without words to trust in his ability to help. It was a feeling of security she never knew existed and now doubted if she could live without. As she silently wondered if she was even a worthy candidate for such attention her eyelids finally drifted shut.

Comte rested his elbow on the armrest and balanced his chin on his hand as he gazed out of the window in the same way his new companion was. His mind was wandering back to events of last night as well. Replaying the facts as he knew them while attempting to narrow down the list of unanswered questions.

A pure blood vampire raised by humans, with no knowledge of what she really was. Someone who was willing to keep her in a weakened state by providing tainted Blanc. Thanks to that visit to Will he knew the obsession and eventual attack was fuelled by a kind of madness after being turned.

It was a sad and all too familiar tale of a sired vampire lacking in care and nurtured attention from its master. That being said, not all plunge so deeply into madness and have their bloodlust manifest so closely to their creators. What he didn’t know was if she had been the only target for the tainted Blanc and if the doctor had been working alone.

From his frequent visits he had gleaned enough information to know she had been found wandering the streets by the owner. That the kind-hearted man took pity on the child and decided to look after her as if she were his own flesh and blood. A rare and beautiful random act of kindness that never failed to surprise Comte and remind him of just how fascinating humans could be.

Why though was a pure blood child wandering in the streets of Montmartre? What was the reason for her amnesia that had left a rather specific hole in her knowledge of herself?

The bustling streets of Paris gradually fell away to quieter areas before the buildings became replaced by trees. Aware of how close they were to the turn off to his mansion he pulled himself free of his musings. He returned his attention to Evie with the intent of explaining the residents she was about to meet.

His golden eyes widened for a moment at the display of complete trust and innocence across from him where the princess was fast asleep. Her body had tilted so her shoulder was leaning on the side of the carriage as was her head. She was swaying gently with the movements as they continued to follow the road.

Reaching over to adjust the blanket on her he brushed a few stray locks of black hair from her face and settled back down into his own seat again with a faint sigh. Whatever was to be said and needed to be known could wait. For the remainder of the journey, he forgot entirely about the outside world and sat in silence watching the young woman as she slept.

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A hand rocked her shoulder as a soft voice called her out of slumber. With bleary eyes she looked at Comte, a smile coming naturally to her as she gave a small protesting stretch. It was a blissful moment between sleep and reality but she quickly remembered where she was and began to correct her position. As she sat up the blanket slipped completely from her and was caught effortlessly on her behalf and replaced gently around her.

“Careful ma Cherie.” He smiled and after checking she was decent, he turned the handle to open the carriage door. The partly hidden sun from before flooded her in bright light causing her to squint like a small animal emerging from a long winter.

The driver had already stepped down from his seat and was standing by the side of their transport waiting to help with the carriage door. She watched through half-shut eyes as Comte's broad back blocked the sun as he exited the coach first. Comte turned back after taking a second to glance at his home and waited for her to place her foot on the single step before taking her hand and guiding her to his side in one easy motion. It seemed to be such a well-rehearsed and practised move that Evie found herself making unconscious eye contact with him before turning her head away quickly in embarrassment at the way her pulse had quickened.

Her eyes found perfectly manicured, well-maintained gardens. Smooth lawns, meticulously shaped topiary and blended to perfection mature flower beds. Her awe had her breath catching in her throat. Beyond the garden limits stood tall and imposing trees that felt like a natural shield isolating this space from the outside world.

She followed the tree line back to the gravel paths and the impossibly huge building. Comte had called this a mansion but it felt too large when standing close to it for it to be anything other than a castle. Her eyes met Comte’s again the look on his face showed he was amused watching her floundering at his side.

“Welcome to my home.” Comte gestured at the building regaining his gentlemanly mask.

“Monsieur le Comte!” A man with grey hair called out from the far corner of the building. Dressed in a smart white shirt with pinned tie, a black suit with tails that had grey accents on the lapels and a grey waistcoat he was quite the sight as he advanced.

“I’m sorry Sebastian I meant to return sooner.” Comte greeted the man rushing to them with a very apologetic look on his face as if he was expecting to be scolded. He then tipped the carriage driver who gave a clumsy bow before returning to the driver’s seat and leaving.

“Not at all Monsieur. I am sorry, I was preparing your morning tea after serving breakfast to the guests and failed to notice the carriage in time.” Sebastian looked away from his master and gave a curious look at the young woman wrapped in a blanket before correcting himself and bowing. “Pardon Mademoiselle.”

“Ah yes, introductions.” Comte bent over like he was about to share a secret with the young woman at his side. He made sure to angle himself just so as he spoke in a soft low voice, secretly enjoying watching Sebastian’s quizzical looks. “Sebastian is my butler. He helps run the mansion and tend to my guests.” Straightening and speaking louder he continued. “Sebastian this is the young lady I was telling you about before, her initial visit to this house has been rather expedited.”

“As I can see. My lady, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Monsieur le Comte has indeed told me a great many things about you but has once more omitted your name. How should you like to be addressed?” Sebastian patiently waited for an answer to his inquiry.

He had a rather expressionless face that was difficult to read. There was also something about his strange accent and the systematic way he approached the situation that made him seem rather different. The way he was looking at her made her feel a bit like a bug trapped under glass or a student with a very strict teacher. Without being able to put her finger on the reason for thinking along those lines she instead shuffled a little trying to forget she was wrapped in a blanket and wearing a nightgown covered in blood.

“Well, My Lady is a bit much… I usually just get called something more familiar like Evie.” After contemplating her answer, she found she almost regretted her timid reply.

“If that is how you would like to be called Mademoiselle, I would have no problem but it might not be very appropriate in certain situations for a member of staff to be so familiar with a guest of their master.” She noticed an almost imperceptible shift as Sebastian’s smoke-grey eyes took on a flint-like edge.

Sebastian’s response was patient and sounded kind but there was a clear hidden message of propriety that he was obviously reluctant to let go. He was clearly accustomed to maintaining a composed appearance but there was no doubt left in her mind that he was a strict taskmaster compared to his Master who seemed to be more relaxed. She could understand why Comte had looked the way he did on their arrival and found herself wondering if he was in the habit of being lectured by his manservant as if he were a child.

“Now, now. You do have a point, Sebastian. However, I will remind you that whilst you are my butler, I also consider you to be a friend as well.” Comte sensed the unease in her and spoke up to cut the tension. The way he conducted himself and the ease with which he seemed to come to her aid had her feeling a little pathetic but eternally grateful. Sebastian’s strict words still hung in the air but his body language did shift to show he was aware of his chastisement. Evie found herself smiling at the idea that she was right. Where Sebastian was strict and tactically abrupt, Comte was soft but commanding. “I also didn’t omit anything I too lack knowledge on the matter of the young lady’s name.”

The smile on her face faltered under the enquiring gaze of both men as they both waited for her to reveal her identity. She didn’t remember anything before going to live at the performing house and that had included her name.

Uncle had decided that because he had found her somewhere near a church that she should have a good name. Why he had chosen to go with a name that sounded like it should come with family crest attached to it she had no idea.

“Genevieve…” The name was so unfamiliar on even her tongue she almost winced when she used it.

Of all the names that could have been gifted to such a charming young lady, he had not expected to discover one that felt so fitting. Genevieve. Comte felt himself rolling the name around silently in his own mind growing more certain that he would find it difficult to address her as anything but her given name.

“Such a pretty name.” Comte commented so softly she almost missed it. Evie looked up at him feeling unworthy of attention from such an elegant man. His eyes almost seemed like molten gold that gave her a warm feeling in her chest even as she struggled to organise her own thoughts and emotions.

“You could forget it really. I mean I’ve hardly ever used it.” She was nervous and it only served to make her more adorable.

The poised and elegant woman he had shared tea within the performing house was missing. A bird outside of its cage struggling with the idea of a larger world and finding its place in it. It triggered that ungentlemanly desire he had felt on their departure from the performing house. She was so expressive when flustered it made a little tease all the more entertaining.

“I’m afraid that simply would not be possible Mademoiselle it is my duty to remember all details no matter how trivial they may be when caring for the guests of the mansion.” Sebastian lightly shook his head firmly refusing to do such a thing as forget her name now he knew what it was.

Up till now she shamefully had forgotten he was standing there. He was rather good it seemed at becoming little more than a background to a scene. She stood there wondering if she should have been admiring of Sebastian’s dedication to his profession or offended that he should appear to refer to her name as a trivial matter.

She looked up at the large building again the old stone and the large heavy doors. Its many windows catching the light of the sun like jewels in a crown. From the streets with nothing, to a performing house and now this. She felt incredibly small and completely out of place.

“Well then. Shall we go, Princess?” Comte’s voice was a gentle request that had her body moving on his command. He moved his hand to the small of her back gently guiding her towards the entrance at his side.

“From My Lady back to Princess? I’m going to get a head rush from tumbling through class systems.” Realising what she had just said her eyes went wide and she clamped her hand over her mouth, almost letting the blanket slip from her shoulders. She scrambled to recover her grip on the edge of her fabric covering looking mortified by her own faux pas. “Ah! Oh no, I’m sorry. Forget I just said that.”

While she blushed feeling rather stupid, her comment had been so quick it had taken him by surprise and Comte’s gentlemanly mask he had thought positioned securely on his return to his home failed. Laughter rumbled from deep inside him and rolled out over his lips as sensuous and pleasant on the ear as any music.

It caused Sebastian to look a little closer at his Master. The way his eyes crinkled with pure joy, his eyes falling adoringly on the young lady by his side. In all the time he had had the pleasure of serving le Comte, Sebastian had never seen the man so opening affected by a female companion. What’s more, it appeared the man himself was oblivious to it all which intrigued the butler all the more.

“I have a feeling you will fit in here perfectly Mademoiselle.” Sebastian commented as he entered the mansion behind them. His hand twitched near a pocket on his jacket for a moment before he mentally forced it back to his side.

---

[mxrcayong]

masterlist.

previous | next 

chapter thirteen

No matter how bright the sun was outside or how stunning the island was – the thoughts of being on a break from the city officially has left their minds. The room they were in represented their frenzy state of mind. What once was a meeting room was a makeshift war room; an endless number of blueprints, photos, maps were thrown around the room. The files were only connected through different colored strings, seemingly tossed together in a coherent manner that probably only made sense to Sukiara and Johnny at this point. Generally speaking, the room looks like something that can be found in the museums dedicated to the 100-year-war.

Tari’s head started to feel heavy – a ringing echoing throughout her mind. All thoughts kept interrupting each other, as if they were fighting for attention in her own brain. Not only is her life in danger, but her family and her friends as well. They managed to put me on a suspect list, she thought, if they can’t find me – will they attack the ones I care about? Tari looked around the room. Her heart warmed, knowing those closest to her are here – away from the government. But then, she thought of the people who weren’t.

Will Hendery be safe? How about her bosses? Or Lucas? Is anyone she interacted with safe?

She risked all of their lives. She should’ve stayed in the island, stayed isolated for however long she had to before she died. Maybe they were right, Tari let her head fall onto the table as she thought of the White Lotus’s idea that the Avatar has to be separated from their family. How did they come up with that? Tari isn’t sure, especially as she has been the first Avatar under this rule. The one subject of information Tari is banned to learn about is the Order of the White Lotus itself.

I should’ve known to stay on the island. In hindsight, Tari realizes that for the government – especially nowadays with the population databases – can easily hunt down the Avatar. For one, when they found out that she was the Avatar, there was a news announcement of the Avatar being found in a Northern Water Tribe community. So, the government just had to filter their searches for people initially from the Northern Water Tribe. From there, they just had to filter birth year as well. The birthday of the Avatar is obvious – the same day Avatar Aang passed away, letting the Avatar spirit find its next host. Even her friends joked when they first met that Tari was ‘the Avatar’ because of her birthday, but stopped once they noticed how uncomfortable she was. Luckily for Tari’s safety, the population database she had to fill out to move in only required her birth year.

Tari practically slammed her head against the table. However, no one turned their head (at least not obviously) - everyone too busy trying to even comprehend the information being thrown at them. Johnny, of course, turned his head momentarily to look at Tari as soon as the sound of her head hitting the table resounded throughout the room. Yuta, on the other hand, placed his hand on her knee – an attempt to calm her down.

She regrets wishing for a normal life, she regrets going to Sooman. If she could go back in time, she’d do anything to protect her friends from her. Even if it meant never meeting them.

Lifting her head up, now opening up her view from just the mahogany table below her – she noticed each of them masqueraded their brave faces. Tari knew they were all tired – probably exhausted out of their own minds. If it weren’t for her, she could be sleeping or napping or just being happy. I brought them into this. If she never met them, if she never cursed them with her acquaintance or this information – they could be safe.

Her gaze particularly landed on Jisung, whose eyes were shut and his head resting on his hands. He’s too young for this, Tari scolded herself. In fact, Tari saw her younger self in him. Jisung was thrown into a world he could barely expect to be thrown into; he had no choice. Tari could’ve avoided bringing him into this – brought him back home to the city, but he insisted on coming. Jisung was only 18. He’d be a high school graduate soon. He should be studying for exams by now.

“To conclude, it seems that the event they’re hosting – a mandatory event for all benders, which they will ensure everyone is there through the population databases – will be an event to take away everyone’s bending abilities.” Sukiara summarized. “It seems like the order of events will be an attendance check, retrieving personalized bands where their attendance will be double checked, and then they will meet Amon in the back room.”

Yuta scoffed. “Are you seriously telling me they’re trying to remove every bender’s ability all in one night?” Incredulously, he continued to critique the plan as if he was talking to the creators himself.  

Sonan stood up, walking towards Sukiara who stood in front of the board – analyzing it for what felt like the millionth time. “I mean, this is just my assumption but, I think they’ll probably go off on the people who seem to be more high risk. So…this list.” She pointed to the snapshot of the ‘suspected Avatar’ list and “…and people with these marks by their name.” She gesticulated towards the list of benders or suspected benders and pointed at the exclamation marks next to some the names. “These are people who worked at the gyms, right? Or are seen as ‘masters’?” Sonan turned to Doyoung, reciting off the few names on the available snapshot with the exclamation point next to them. He nodded. “Well, then Doyoung is high risk too.”

Tari could hardly open her mouth. Her thoughts couldn’t be formed into words. She forgot what her voice sounded like. “But none of us are particularly safe, except for Johnny or Sonan I guess.” She sighed, her voice unfamiliar to her and croaking with anxiety. “But every bender is in danger. Look, they made that band-thing. It’s called ‘eleagero’. If I’m remembering correctly, agero is Latin for remove and ele could be element.”

Sonan furrowed her brows. “Is that even possible?” She was insanely doubtful, her eyes reflecting what Tari could believe was all the disbelief in the world. “Like, that’s surely not possible. Unless you’re the Avatar, right?”

“Avatar Aang has used energy bending to remove Fire Lord Ozai’s fire bending, yes.” Sukiara answered for Tari. Even in stressful situations, she still sounded poise and unfaltered. “But there is no information about the material in this. They may have found something that we aren’t aware of.”

“Aren’t the White Lotus aware of everything?” Ah, spiteful Kilari is back. Throughout the last few hours, Kilari has been remaining silent or in hushed tones with Johnny. Ever since Johnny’s arrival, she has refused to talk to anyone directly but him. The way she poke seemed to be as if she was spitting the words out, disgusted by the very idea of the society. Sukiara shook her head solemnly. “Then what’s the point of this stupid society? Lie to people? Betray people? Act superior?”

Johnny interrupted, trying to diffuse her flames. “Getting to keep your bending or not, no matter what - it’s likely Tari’s the least safe out of all of us.” Johnny jumped to his feet, pushing the chair he was sitting in behind him out of frustration. “They’ll probably go after the Avatar suspects first. We don’t know how many of them they already ‘nullified’.” As he said ‘nullifed’, it sounded like he had to gulp down something particularly bitter. “Tari will be one of the first targets, for sure.” Despite Johnny refusing to make eye contact with Tari or address her personally, his concern was evident – from his reddened face, his suddenly improved posture, his blown-out eyes. Tari felt some hope return to her – he still cares about her.

Kilari groaned at the mention of Tari’s name yet again. “Seriously, Johnny?” She yelled, following his lead and standing up out of frustration – her chair pushed so far back it crashed into the wall. “Tari’s the Avatar.” She mocked, her voice dripping with venom, removing any hope Tari had gained back about her relationship being intact. “She’s the most powerful out of all of them. Oh, but don’t forget – the Avatar can also bend the truth and lie to her friends.” Tari’s heart hurt; every word leaving her friend’s mouth felt like an attack, felt like arrows hitting her. It hurt more than her knowing she’ll be in danger.

And like that, Kilari stormed out the room.

Sonan was the first to speak up, evident that she was feeling sorry for Kilari’s behaviour. “I’ll go talk to her.” She made her way to the door.

Johnny shook his head insistently, stopping her right in front of the door. “I’ll do it.” He smiled softly – the first smile of his Tari has seen since he arrived, even if it was full of pity.

Tari jumped to her feet. “Johnny, wait, she’s angry.” She warned, “We all know she’s impulsive. She burnt me accidentally once for touching her baking materials. She may burn you-.”

“You mean you did to me?” Johnny snapped back. Tari quickly looked down; noticing the burn mark fading. Good. “Tari, I get it.” His voice wasn’t comforting or understanding like usual but felt like a cold, sharp edge. His voice wasn’t the blanket she could normally use to wrap herself in. His voice wasn’t home or the same voice that would help her sleep by talking in a soothing tone. It was like a cold metal slate found in morgues. “You’re all powerful. You’re the most powerful person among both worlds. But that’s exactly why I’m the most powerful now.” He approached her, his arm flying to the air as if he was about to slap her. Tari never felt more fear in her life. She flinched away.

Johnny’s heart dropped. She thought I was going to hit her? But he pushed it aside. “I can walk freely without worrying about my life. Not that, but I’m stronger than you think. I do not need bending to be strong.” He approached the door once more, his hand wrapping around the handle. Tari stood still; trying to process his tone. He turned around one more time. “I trusted you. And maybe I shouldn’t have as it’s clear you didn’t trust me. But please…” His eyes went wide, as if a deer stuck in headlights. “Trust me. This. Once.”

“Johnny,” Tari muttered as Johnny was halfway throughout the door. He paused momentarily. “I’m sorry.”

The door closed behind him.

It wasn’t hard to find Kilari. Johnny just had to follow the track of some burnt grass, some freaked out White Lotus members, and the distant sounds of angry grunts. “Woah there, dragon.” He almost neighed, seeing the environment around them filling with smoke as Kilari burnt yet another unsuspecting bush.

Once Kilari had calmed down, the only noise filling their ears were Kilari’s heavy pants and the crunch of leaves Johnny had walked on to approach her. Her distraught eyes met Johnny’s and as soon as they did, she fell onto her knees sobbing.

Johnny ran over to her, his arms wrapping around Kilari tightly. He lifted her up, carrying her bridal style with ease. “C’mon, let’s go somewhere cleaner.” She buried her face into his shoulder, continuing to cry.

He has only been on this island for a while. But he was lucky that he had a good memory, or else he wouldn’t have remembered the small tour Sukiara gave them within the first hour of arriving. Johnny transported Kilari out of the forest and to the viewing point in the village, walking past confused society members.

At the viewing point, Johnny placed Kilari on the bench that overlooked the strong waves. The breeze ruffled her hair and blew away her tears, although they kept coming. Johnny has never seen Kilari cry, and obviously – they weren’t the closest out the group. Despite that, Kilari always put upon this unbothered and uncaring persona. When Johnny first met her, he swore that Kilari was someone who wouldn’t care about anything. Getting to know her didn’t prove much otherwise. The only exception was Kilari cared a great deal about her friends and about making the most out of life.

“I trusted her.” Kilari choked out through heavy sobs. “She knew everything about me. And was I not a good enough friend? Did she not trust me?” Johnny didn’t know what to say. How could he? He’s feeling the same emotions. He rubbed his hand against her back, trying to comfort her as they stare off at the sea – seeing a faint outline of the Avatar Aang statue and the skyscrapers of Sooman City. Her sniffling became prominent. “Johnny?” She croaked, on the verge of breaking.

“Hm?” Johnny hummed, trying to repress his own emotions.

“Did we really know her?”

Johnny sighed. A silence settled between them as Johnny thought.

I knew her, for sure. He thought, I knew who she is in the present. I may not have known her past, but does the past define her as much as her present? Johnny knew Tari’s favorite coffee order, her favorite alcohol drink, and her favorite color. He knew what would make her flinch or make her feel safe. He knew how to comfort her when she’s sad and lonely. If he walks past a store and something catches his eye, he’s pretty sure he’ll know if Tari will like it. Johnny can list the things that make Tari’s eyes twinkle and what makes them go wide.

But Johnny doesn’t know about her past. He never heard much about her parents, who she had mentioned she didn’t grow up with. He never heard anything about Sukiara or her travels around the nations. She only heard the vaguest truths about her past. But could he still say he knows her?

“As much as I’m inclined to say no right now,” Johnny let out a shallow breath, “We do know her.”  He smiled softly. “I’m feeling really betrayed right now too. Tari was one of the few people I can go to constantly about anything… Honestly, I feel like I failed her.” He wiped the few stray tears away. “But her past isn’t who she is. Everyone changes, everyone will. I guess we know people as we grow with them.” He pushed back his head, trying to make sense of his own words. “Okay, I’m not sure what I’m saying but Tari being the Avatar? Tari’s past?” He prompted, trying to convince himself what he’s telling her. “That isn’t all there is to her.”

Kilari sighed. “But���would it be a big part of her? She can’t grow out of it.”

“You can’t grow out of your family being fire sages, can you?” He questioned, making Kilari shake her head. “But if someone knows everything about you now and don’t know about your relationship to the fire sages, would you consider them to know you?” Asking this theoretical question, he hopes to gain an insight.

Johnny – he had nothing he was ashamed of growing up. He had amazing parents who he loved with all his heart, especially his mom, and grew up like everyone else. Yes, he felt compelled to constantly improve himself and he had a short period where he was jealous of benders, but that’s like cringing at old photos of yourself. That Johnny helped make him the Johnny he is today. Without that period in his life, he wouldn’t be who he was today. He wasn’t ashamed of it.

However, Kilari grew up with something she was ashamed with. The only reason he knew about her being a ‘supposed to be’ Fire Sage was because Tari mentioned it to him the first time he met Kilari. But then again, Tari said Kilari only told them within the year of knowing her and it was only because she doesn’t actively talk about it.

She sighed. “I guess you’re right.” She pouted, the wind blowing off the last of her tears. “I guess I just feel so…mad and betrayed and…lost. I thought I knew everything about her.”

Johnny let out a low chuckle, “Me too. But hey, it’s nice to know our feelings are validated.” He teased, nudging her to try and lift their spirits.

Kilari sniffled and chuckled, “Yeah…Can we stay mad at her for a little longer? I don’t think I want to get up from here or see her yet.”

Johnny let out his first hearty laugh in the last few hours – days, even. “Only for today…because her life is pretty much in danger in a bit.”

At least now, Johnny and Kilari have let out their feelings. It wasn’t going to overflow within them. They’d only feel this anger and betrayal openly until the sun sets.

But then their priority goes to the safety of their best friend.  

request anything for future parts / penny for your thoughts here

[rainsonata]

Into the Night

Fandom/Pairing: Elsword; TTrAT Rating: K Word Count: 1,442

Summary: Time Tracer spends another sleepless night with his ambitions set straight, but Arc Tracer disagrees. He can take care of himself, really!  

AO3 Link

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Author Note: FIC FOR BUN, FIC FOR BUN, FIC FOR BUN, FIC FOR-

HERE YOU GO, @mymastermine. HERE ARE TRACER BABIES BECAUSE THEY’RE CUTE AND WE NEED MOAR OF THEM. Thank you for the fic exchange, I am always happy to accept them u w u.

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“You’re still up?” Arc peered into the living room.

Arc walked around with a white shirt depicting a pink cat and a pair of lavender boxers. A white fringe flopped over one side of his face as the tracer walked in to find Time occupying the loveseat in the living room.

Time sat curled up on a couch and rested his elbow over the coffee table. After scraping enough money from missions and other miscellaneous jobs around town, he and his counterparts were able to afford a small house, merging and converting two rooms into labs. The living room served as a home station for the three of them to meet at the end of the day, although Time had been spending less time there as the days dragged on and the experiments became longer. There were tests he wanted to run before taking the first leap to see if the years of research have finally paid off.

The time traveler raised his shoulders and cried in response to a pair of cold hands pressed against the nape of his neck. Time stretched his arms to untangle Arc’s arms away with blurry eyes, his face all pink and flustered. Arc pouted and crossed his arms with a small huff.

“How come when Psych does it, it’s fine?” Arc feigned sadness, “but when I do it, you pull back and act like my arms are jellyfish?”

“Psych will hug even if I tell him not to,” Time said.   

“But I can’t do it?” Arc sighed and pulled out Dynamo to show the digital display reading 2:41 AM. “Anyway, it’s late. You should sleep.”  

“That’s cute coming out of you,” Time snorted. “When did you become meticulous about sleep?”

He saw the strange places Arc had fallen asleep in, including the one time he fell asleep in the cabinet where they kept their rice. The scientist woke up in a daze, confused as to why Time made him get off so they could prepare dinner. Psych was less discreet and howled with laughter until Arc stomped his foot. It was like living with children, Time chuckled at the fond memory and smiled.  

“At least change your clothes,” Arc mumbled.

Time didn’t reply.

The time traveler sat slouched over, tucking his head in with one eye peeking past his white bangs. Time clutched his fingers around his pen as he dabbled into his journal with tired eyes. The heavy bags in his eyes were threatening to shut down as he forced themselves open with little success. He squeezed his eyes shut as he fought to squeeze out the numbers he needed for the last set of equations.

His mind spiraled down a twisted staircase of exhaustion, numbers falling past him as he closed his eyes. The codes he found in the burnt libraries in Feita, it wasn’t enough. All of them were utter trash and unworthy of being glossed over when Allegro directed him to the half-collapsed buildings buried deep in the valleys occupied by demons. Their faded pages flaked into dust as the smallest touch. The luckier ones contained codes once used in the Nasod War before the others were discovered and lit up in fear of being used to advance the Nasod race. Stupid, really. Nasods and their creators always had files backed up containing vital data and resources.  

It became uncomfortably warm where Time stood. Heat rose from where Time stood, a maze of bookcases enclaved in glass in a feeble attempt to protect them from destruction. Flames burst from behind him, eating away the pages and pages flown out, all of them depicting the same numbers and symbols in a desperate furry to be completed. Ink blotched out from the books’ contents and spilled over Time. Black ink pooled around the time traveler as he laid on the floor with his eyes staring back up to see a starry sky, unable to move.  

Glass broke from the side window. Shards went flying in his direction and crushed into millions of smaller pieces on the floor. There was the sound of a man chuckling darkly against the thin walls of the ruined building echoed around him. The shape of a man in a lab coat shifted his glasses up in a silhouette through the opaque window.  

Time crawled on his fours to stand up and gasped. A shadowed figure hunched over between the bookcases. Steam emitted from its nostrils hallmarked by electric blue fur standing up like bristles, a demon whispered about by the irrational archeologists and wary soldiers from the Feita camps. Time could only see its lower jaw lined by jagged teeth and the creature standing on hind legs.

“Time?”

He and the demon turned to the sound of his name.

“Time!”

He fluttered his eyes open to a pair of identical eyes clouded with frantic worry. Arc hovered over him and shook him by the shoulders, letting out a stream of ‘Are you ok?’ and ‘Time, I’m here’.

Time sat up to find himself cold in sweat and wrapped by a bundle of blankets. Opposite to him was a pile of blankets and pillows identical to his set up. Huh? He heard Arc’s words, but they seemed so far away. Did Arc stay with him the whole time? His eyes trailed over to the coffee table and the sheets of paper piling on the floor. The ink has dried, but he didn’t finish them…

“You were crying in your sleep,” Arc said. The researcher pressed his hand against Time’s forehead, so cool to the touch compared to the rest of Time’s body. “Was it a nightmare?”

Of course, it was, Time thought with shame. That was Father’s voice from the nightmare, his figure looming over and casting doubt into his ambition to achieve his goals. The nightmares were becoming frequent and there was no end to it. He didn’t tell Arc, of course. He didn’t want to make the other see him as incapable of sleeping through the night, but he knew Arc didn’t like it when he kept secrets from his counterpart.  

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t feel like it,” Arc sighed. Wrapping his arms around Time’s shoulders, he leaned over to kiss the top of the time traveler’s head, moving his lips and pressing them over Time’s sweaty forehead. He looked at Time and smiled, “I can make you tea. That might help you relax.”

“You don’t have to…” Time turned pinker than he already had. 

“It’s okay to take care of yourself,” Arc said with sadness. 

“I know that,” Time mumbled. 

“If you don’t…” Arc broke into a toothy grin, “I’ll paint your nails pastel!”

“If you can catch me,” Time scoffed. 

Arc was forgetting he had the ability to disappear into dimension pockets. Time looked at his alternate for a sign that the other was joking. What kind of petty threat was that? The researcher beamed and pulled out five different colors of nail polish from his oversized cat pockets - where in the name of El did he get those? The researcher snickered when he saw Time’s flabbergasted expression. 

“Psych picked them out for me,” Arc smiled. “He said he’ll help me if you try to run away. I think the pink would look good on you” 

...wonderful. 

Between that or accepting Arc’s worrywart tendencies it was obvious which one to pick. Time looked down but nodded.   

“I guess...” Time sighed, “I’ll have some tea.”

“So considerate of you,” Arc teased. “We’ve known each other for how long?”

“Four months,” Time counted with his fingers.

“Yet it’s like we’ve known each other for our whole lives,” Arc laughed.

Time snorted at the terrible joke. It was clear that Psych’s humor was rubbing off and that Arc was trying to cheer him up from the earnest smiles. They were sincere gestures, one that reminded Time of a simpler time when he was a child. He rubbed the spot where Arc had pressed his lips over, hiding his pinkened face with his long sleeves.

His mind grew alert as he watched Arc over to the kitchen. Time kneeled down to pick up the papers at his feet and frowned. Some of them were littered with drawings of cats and the demon monsters they fought in Feita. Did Arc draw these? Time sighed. His counterpart really was a child, and yet…

Time smiled when Arc returned minutes later with a platter with two identical cups and a tea kettle for the two of them to drink over a discussion about their latest research. He didn’t mind if every nightmare ended with this routine.      

[the-nagakenny-archives]

Dr. Jim Meets Kenny

((OOC: This is from an RP I did a looooong time ago with Dr. Jim’s creator. Enjoy! :D))

Jim couldn’t help but over the data in his head as he traipsed through the jungle scenery, following a district trail in the forest floor. There had been rumours of course, locals recounting tales of a half man half snake, one that would do no harm to his 'victims' other than leaving them rather forgetful and merry once they had been deposited back to civilisation. But then there was one account from a visiting doctor that caught his interest, it told in great detail of one of the tourists he visited with, disappearing and then returning just as the locals had described. 

The patient had come back perfectly healthy and unharmed, yet exhibited drowsiness, a cheerful and relaxed disposition and a dotted memory of what happened to them. The only thing the subject remembered vaguely was encountering a 'friendly guy', one which looked at them in the eyes before they found themselves lost in a sea of rippling colours. 

Jim was more than eager to entertain his mind as he worked in the research camp with counter theories, perhaps this myth was a hallucination linked to the flora they had been gathering to examine, as they had found that some of the samples contained a few different hallucinogens. But why such a specific, recurring vision? There must have been some logical explanation. Yet another thing to keep his busied mind up at night. That was until... he saw it. Or rather, him.

It was by complete and total change, but when Dr. Jim was preparing some of the samples to be placed under the microscope, he saw him. At first he saw something moving through the underbrush, the tail of a large snake, then as he was backing away in fright to give the creature a wide berth, he looked up and saw what exactly that serpent tail was connected to. The initial shock had rendered him silent and still with his breath caught in his throat, which worked to his advantage, as the figure didn't seem to notice him staring. The bloody thing was moving at a considerable rate, so he didn't have the time to absorb the details, but he was certain. He had just witnessed the snake man of the stories slither by, making some very noticeable tracks in the grasses and decaying leaves coating the forest floor.

Was there a chance of catching up? Very unlikely, but what if he did? What if he found the creature exhibiting the ability the witnesses described, or at the very least, demonstrating whatever characteristic that would result such amazing stories? What if he caught just another glimpse to confirm he saw it in the first place? Now, he promised himself he wouldn't wander too far from the camp, and he would not go doddering off unprepared. He double checked and found he had already taken the necessary precautions against the jungle pests, and ever since he's edge-running days he's never even thought of leaving the house without some form of protection. In this case it was his nomad pistol hidden away under his coat, but he'd never even consider harming another person or creature unless in the name of self defence. 

So many questions, the curiosity was intoxicating enough to quell his gripes and fears of being in such a wild and untouched place. However, the heat was becoming exhausting to bare and he'd forgotten how long he'd been walking. Perhaps it was time to start to turn back?

Then suddenly, in no direction he could pinpoint accurately, he heard it.

Jim stopped for a moment, his face lighting up in confusion as he began to look around for the source. Was that humming? Well, that was certainly a development. He doubted it was any of his travel companions, following the trail he had put quite a distance behind him and the camp. That and if he were honest, whether they were engrossed in their work or just... to be frank, acting rather stuffy, he really didn't seem them as the 'whistle while they work' sort of fellows.

"O-Oh my word..." He murmured quietly to himself, not sure whether to be excited or terrified.

Either this humming was an anonymous third or the snake in question. After listening for a moment he noticed the sound was travelling away from him, prompting him to continue following. He out on his best effort to be stealthy, but even living on the fringes of the City could only teach a lemon so much to be like a peach. He would on occasion still not see the odd branch and produce a slight noise while stepping on it or sometimes stumble slightly, producing a not so silent curse from the doctor.

He pushed aside a few leaves, wiggled under a mossy log leaned against a tree and then found himself at a smallish clearing. He took a moment to look around while also producing a handkerchief to lightly tab away some of the perspiration forming on his brow, taking in the sights, sounds and smells as he did so. He could hear the faint rumble of a waterfall or river somewhere close by, the foliage in this place was particularly splendid as a result, not to mention the abundance of fruit. There was still a faint impression of the trail to follow, but it seems to peeter out and disappear.

What now? He wondered.

Meanwhile, resting well out of sight was the snake man in question. Kenny had sensed that there were humans in the jungle nearby, he could pick up their scent quite easily. He couldn't tell if they were dangerous as of yet, however; they smelled completely unlike the usual way tourists did, but also not like poachers or trappers at all. It was not a concerning scent, really, but Kenny had thought it best to maybe keep his distance for a little while before investigating further.

That was until he discovered that one of them was following him. He was pretending not to notice, going along his merry way and even humming to himself. He had also left an obvious trail for this person to follow, luring them a little farther away from where the majority of the humans seemed to be. When the time was right, he would shake things up a little and get an up close and personal with his pursuer. He so liked humans, and it would be nice to make another friend....and possibly snuggle a little as well. 

He had stealthily climbed up one of the trees, effectively eradicating his trail, and began doubling back a little bit through the treetop canopy, ceasing his humming--though he afforded himself a small, satisfied chuckle. He heard the human down below noisily making their way through the underbrush as they followed his trail to its end, and when he peered down he could just make them out: a male human with a tangle of dark wavy hair, wearing a long white coat with some necessary travel gear, looking very harried and uncomfortable too. He grinned to himself, and had climbed his way back down to the ground behind the hapless traveler, creeping his way through the jungle foliage without a sound--at first. When he got close enough, he playfully rustled a few leaves here and there to try to make his presence known, but kept himself hidden.

Jim noticeability tensed with a sharp gasp and spun around, but saw nothing just as Kenny anticipated. Feeling increasingly uncomfortable he backed away from the noise, only to hear another rustle not a few degrees away from where he was backing up.

"Oh Christ, oh no no no...!" He whined, sensing he could have very well lead himself into danger, he agreed with his earlier fears he couldn't help but feel thrust into a mild panic, falling back into the habit of biting the side of his hand to relieve the tension. But instead, he stood, he took a breath and tried to relax for a moment. He currently saw three options at this time: reach for his gun and shoot it off into the air to scare it away, back away from the scene slowly and abandon his quest.. or...

He opened his eyes and began looking about again.".....Hello?" He called quietly, looking for some hint of the subjects presence "I-I'm urm... I-I em... mean. No... harm?" He assured the empty space.

Kenny couldn't help chuckling again. Aw, poor guy was scared out of his shoes. He didn't want to spook him any more than he already was, so he switched tactics. "Oh, really?" Kenny piped up cheerfully from his hiding spot, a few feet away. "I was hoping that." 

Once again the small man visibly shrank at the sound of the voice behind him. His hand gripped the folds of his lab coat tightly, to the point of his knuckles turning a lighter shade, just not as pale as the shade his face was turning.

Kenny’s shaggy red-haired head had poked up out of the bushes somewhat, his brown eyes examining his quarry with innocent curiosity. "You some kind of doctor?" he asked him with a tilt of his head. He thought he recognized the kind of coat he was wearing. He started coming a little closer, slowly revealing the rest of him as he reared up from the ground; a strong, very muscular torso, completely naked, which would only be slightly alarming if he were human. However, in the place of legs, his body became thick, powerful snake coils, which were undulating lazily behind him in S-shapes as he slithered closer.

Jim turned around to see Kenny's approach. Now if the look on his face would be rather worrisome if it wasn't somewhat hilarious behold. Never had a face look so confused at whether it should exhibit silent awe or total abject terror. 

"YEs-??" He croaked, if he weren't clearly in his late 30's he'd sound like a teenager fighting his breaking tone. He cleared his voice and nodded quickly and fiddled with his hands "I-I mean -mean yes! I mean, I am. I MEAN! I-I am, a doctor and I mean yes I mean no harm--!" he sputtered pathetically as he backed up a step, it wasn't so much a case of sensing his fear but rather tasting it.

Well, this guy was kind of adorable. Kenny's eyes sparkled with good humor and just a hint of mischief. "Well, that's good," he remarked. "But you seem a little worked up, doc. I'm not going to hurt you. Try to relax a little, huh?" He chuckled pleasantly. "Here, I can help you." 

"A-Ah, I beg your pardon?" Jim muttered, then glanced down to his feet.

Kenny's tail had began to coil itself around Jim's legs, starting down near his shoes and slowly working its way upwards. Kenny himself loomed close, close enough for Dr. Jim to be almost able to smell his strange but pleasant parfum de snake-man, which consisted of cinnamon-y tree bark, earthy moss, and just a faint hint of masculine natural musk. "Yeah, just relax," Kenny repeated in a softer, slightly more soothing tone of voice.

“GzzZT!!" Jim hissed in fright at the sensation, he would have jumped a good few feet in the air if his boots hadn't been pinned. Trying to pull his leg up only resulted in him losing his balance. "W-Whh!" he wailed, wobbling and waving his arms to try and regain some centre.

"Whoa, careful there!" Kenny said with a grin. "You might fall over!" His coils firmly secured themselves around Dr. Jim's waist. "Really now, you're acting like I want to eat you or something!" he chirped cheerfully. It wasn't an unfounded fear, he supposed; there were a lot of snake-people who did eat humans, and he had the unfortunate pleasure of knowing a couple of them. He sure wished those jerks would stop. It really wasn't doing anything to help his ability to make friends.

Jim panted as he recovered from his near fall, his hands clutching onto the coil loop around his waist, only because there was little else to grab for stability. He noticeably shuddered at the notion of being eaten, looking back up to Kenny as he tried to politely push the coil off of his body.

"Well if that’s the case then y-you wouldn't mind letting go would you?" He queried, visibly distressed. "Be a friend and please let me go??" He gulped, grinning nervously. “Because honestly it’s wonderful you don’t see me as a threat or food but y-you’re getting a bit close for c-comfort--”

"Mmm, sure… in a second," Kenny lilted a bit slyly, his coil moving back into place around Dr. Jim's body. 

That mischievous twinkle was still present in his eyes. His body swayed lazily first to the left and then to the right as he looked Dr. Jim over.

"I just couldn't help but notice you're looking a little haggard, doc. Not getting enough sleep? I can usually tell if that's the case...

At the mention of sleep deprivation, Jim simply sighed and adopted a mildly peeved look. it wasn't the first time someone had taken note of the wear and tear he exhibited as a result of his sleep troubles, nor would it be the last he suspected. He went to speak but found himself interrupted again. “Well I--”

'Cuz I'm an expert on that subject, dontcha know." His tail tip playfully poked him on the nose. "Look at those bags under your eyes." 

The doctor’s face flinched at the poke, pursed his lips and shook his head. "I'm sure you have, if rumours are to believed, however I am fine--” 

Kenny simply tsked under his breath in mock disapproval. "Terrible, juuuuust terrible. Well, luckily, I've got just the thing to fix that."

Jim reflexibly closed his eyes with a sigh and tried to reorganise his thoughts. This was the most awkward situation imaginable. He’d just discovered a new lifeform, one that brought the very foundation of evolution into question, and only a minute in it was already critiquing his weary looks. What could he say to change the subject?

“Look- I'm sorting out my sleep pattern one space at a time, and I don’t see how that’s your business.”

Kenny took the opportunity and leaned forward into Dr. Jim's face, so close their noses almost touched (which wasn't surprising, considering the impressive length of Kenny's proboscis), and looked him straight towards the doctors eyes. A peculiar thing began to happen then; Kenny's eyes, which were a rich, dark brown color, changed suddenly into rippling whirlpools of bright, jaunty colors--orange, yellow, green and blue--that filled his entire eye and flowed in a continuous, hypnotic rhythm.

“Mind you it's not my fault if the creative hour seems to arrive long past--" Jim continued before he opened his eyes, which soon widened with surprise after finding his gaze met with two, beautiful, glowing orbs of spinning colours, only vaguely realising they apart of Kenny's face. "--Middd..... niiiight?......" He uttered, his voice becoming quiet.

Oh god. It was happening. Not only was it happening, he was getting a first hand experience.

".....O-Oh ...oh no....." Jim managed to utter desperately, already feeling drawn in after being taken completely by surprise.

Kenny's lips spread into a slow grin, his swirling eyes widening imperceptibly so that Dr. Jim could get the full span of them. "Oh yes," Kenny purred softly. "Don't be afraid. Juuuuust relax, doc." As his coils continued their way up, curling around Dr. Jim's shoulders, he began to croon in a slight sing-song voice, his eyes pulsing and whirling with a lazy, hypnotizing speed that matched his voice. 

"I just want to help yoooooou doc....with my special remed-eeeee....just face the facts, it's nice to relax....don't you think you can agreeeeee~?" Poor Jim was feeling lost, his eyes tried to follow one pulsing ring of colour, only for it to fade and be replaced with another. What on earth was happening? How was he capable of doing this? And... why was it so hard to look away? He tried but, he simply wouldn't move, he couldn't even blink long enough to stop it. He just stood still allowing the weight of Kenny's coils to secure his shoulders, his face frozen in confused surprise.

He just couldn't help it because it felt oddly ... good, so comforting to stare. It was then that his own eyes started to mirror the same effect. His own dark blue eyes shrank away and started to bloom into the same patterned rings, matching the pace of Kenny's own. 

"...H-how do you... do... this?" He uttered slowly, his efforts not helped by the fact that he secretly enjoyed a lovely singing voice, male or female.

Kenny chuckled softly and continued to sing in his almost lullaby-like lilt. "It's maaaaagic," he crooned, "Snake magic I learned as a laaaaad....it helps people sleep, so restful and deep....the best sleep that you've ever haaaaad~"

Kenny's tail slyly undid the knot in the doctor's tie and let it hang loosely, and then it slipped underneath the folds of his shirt collar, curling comfortably around his neck. All this talk of sleep was making his lids started to bob and flutter, if he were not being held in place he'd be teetering again. Kenny's coils gently squeezed him as their journey up Jim's body slowed. The slight squeeze made Jim’s eyes open fully again, the spirals whirling in his eyes picking up the pace. He quietly grunted at the gentle pressure applied to his body before he sank back down again. It was taking a good long moment for Jim to process what Kenny was implying, his thoughts were slowing and disappearing at a rate he could scarcely keep up with. If at all. The coils around him provided a perfect cradle for his body as it kept slackening and losing all stored tension. The spirals did most of the work but the soft crooning was certainly helping him, making him sigh as his head gently started to tilt to one side.

However a thought did manage to surface in his slurried mind. ".....mmaagic?.... h-hang on...." He mumbled softly, then suppressed a small yawn. "Ooh. Scuz me..." He sighed, his sight drawn effortlessly back up to Kenny and his spiralling eyes, his mouth forming a small smile or contentment... yet also amusement. "Idun thinkso… I-I think..." He whispered, now completely unaware of the fact that he was losing his mind.

"Hmm? What's that?" Kenny said with playful slyness. He cocked his head slightly as though he was trying to listen better. "You think....it's working? Oh, I think so, too. Yessssss, indeed." He chuckled deep in his throat. The tip of Kenny's tail slipped underneath Jim's dark bangs and petted his hair gently. 

The wavering doctor closed his eyes briefly at the sensation of Kenny's tail coiling around his head, his scaly skin was smooth and cool, providing some relief from the humid jungle air he had been contending with all day.

"Gosh, you're kind of a cute fella, doc," he purred, his voice low and cunning. "I like hugging you." 

"Oh, than' youu…” Jim barely replied, his mannerisms compelling him to reply to Kenny's complements. 

"But you should go to sleep now. Close your eyes.....go to sleep." His voice dropped down to a soft, sultry whisper, the colorful vortexes of his eyes dominating Jim's vision. 

A dull moan escaped Jim, Kenny's echoing words had brought him past sleepy and straight into downright sluggish. There was barely any space left between his lids to even see his swirling vision, they were just so heavy. It was as if every sleepless night he ever had was returning to him now, demanding compensation.

His coils gave Jim another comfortably tight squeeze. "Ssssleeeeeep...."

Then after that one last dominating squeeze, and one more whispering word, he was done. He didn't so much as drift off as he did pass out, his eyes slowly rolling back before his whole being slumped down completely in Kenny's coils, his head flopping down as he sank into darkness.

Kenny sighed happily at a job well done, the ripples in his eyes retreating and returning to their normal friendly brown color. For a moment, he contemplated what had just transpired between them; the doctor's questions had sort of gotten the gears turning in his mind. How was he able to do what he could do? He just always assumed it was magic of some kind. He was never really taught by the members of his old clan where his powers came from; they were just something all snake-people had and accepted. The doctor guy's comments, sluggish and somewhat slurred as they were, seemed to doubt this claim, though. Could he know something else about them? 

Kenny was deeply intrigued, but for now he would settle for some cuddles up in the cool, shady canopy with his new friend. With a low chuckle he climbed the nearest tree, carefully taking the coiled Dr. Jim with him, and snuggled up next to him. And Kenny heard no complaints from the doctor. There was not so much as a murmur when he was moved about, neither a moan when he was brought into the canopy shade and subjected to a cuddle. To be out of the warmth and into the shade was actually a great relief, and as soon as the two had settled down for the afternoon, it wasn't long until Kenny's guest began to snore softly, indicating that he was well and truly fast asleep.

[firehedgehog]

Retconned: Chapter Fourteen: Connections

The first thing that they saw was darkness, above the purple lightning arcs of the retcons slithered over the sky.

Where was the building the meting had taken place, he’d aimed for it.

Doubt gnawed at him in this inky void with shattered rubble beneath his boots, maybe he had missed.

“Over there!” Palette cried, pointing a few hundred feet away.

Goth felt relief as he spotter his parent, Error, Ink and Dream.

He pushed back his tears, knowing that everyone else must have been Retconned already.

“Goth,” Geno cried spotting him, grabbing the smaller monster into a hug.

“Escaped the end again brat, try not to do that again,” Error said.

“Who’s this?” Dream asked, eyes sorrowful as Goth knew that Dreams’s Palette was gone.

“This is Shatter,” Goth said.

“Shatter huh?” Palette asked.

“Its the name embedded for your Multiverse codes,” Goth explained.

“That’s cool,” he replied, and it made sense.

“Please don’t do that again Goth,” Geno said unhappily “This is yours,” he said passing him his save lantern.

“Thanks, strangely with the retcons around me I’m not vanishing,” Goth said in relief, feeling the cool touch of the lantern in his hands.

“Why can’t you just stop existing!” a voice screamed in rage.

“Who’s that?” Shatter asked.

“The one causing the Retcons I bet,” Error snarled.

“If I can’t erase you, then I’ll erase you here!” the voice snarled full of wroth.

Darkness surrounded them.

OoOoO

Error came to feeling a noxious migraine, if skeletons had stomachs he would probably have been sick.

They were in a huge room of black stoned walls and floor, the only light a blazier blazing high with purple flames.

Like the retcon lightning.

He was not happy.

How was he suppose to keep the fragging balance, if there was nothing to balance.

There was relief, Goth was still alive somehow beat the odds again.

He hadn’t even known beings from other multiverses could cross over to there own.

If they survived, he would have to add more firewalls in hope to prevent such things again.

Slowly the others came to, getting to there feet.

Geno was somehow still having Goth in his clutches.

“Welcome, to your end,” a voice hissed, the same voice that had screamed earlier.

OoOoO

Reaper was a very unhappy death god.

His multiverse was vanishing as they stood there.

And he had no clue, on how to restore it or his eldest child.

He held his scythe tightly, ready to leap forward and dust whoever this was.

“To think you all escaped your fate,” the voice snarled, Reaper almost didn’t notice Error flinch at the word Fate.

“He feels horrible,” Dream said his bones almost grey, the retcon of his son and twin was too much... Reaper knew the Guardian of Positivity wouldn’t last long. One twin would always follow the other. “Such Rage... such sorrow.” OoOoO

“The end, isn’t it beautiful. Everything wile cease to exist, just like he did,” the voice laughed followed by a raspy cough.

“Show yourself,” Error said, and his voice didn’t glitch for once.

Shatter or one could say Palette wanted to scream, to cry.. to run away.

But he couldn’t, if he ran..

How many other multiverses would just vanish as if they never existed.

He would never forgive himself.

A figure slowly separated itself from the shadows, he summoned his roller.

Tall in ratty dirty robes, then they pulled there hood off there face.

A Skeleton was revealed, there bones were yellowed from lack of care with maddened eye lights,

Chipped, broken and missing in some spot.

In fact, bone rot had set in there body.

They reminded him of the walking dead, from a horror movie he’d accidentally seen once.

There was a shocked gasp, as they realized who thsi monster was.

A Papyrus.

The cause of this was a Papyrus.

“You may call me Lich, in the end nothing matters,” The Papyrus rasped.

With that, the survivors leapt forward.

OoOoO

Between on step and another, Goth switched to his Fel version as it was a better fighter for fights like this. His scythe sliced and diced a part of Lich’s robes, he skid back as the monster actually threw retcon lightning at him.

He actually had to toss his lantern to his mother after a bit, needing both hands and Geno could fight easily with one hand. That didn’t make him happy, he needed that to survive so eh hoped that once everything was fixed the lantern would still be in one piece.

Yet...

They were loosing badly...

Lich was too fast, even with the bad condition his body was in.

“Ink for brains!” Error shouted.

“What!” Ink called back from where he was.

“Remember that thing, I told you we’d never ever mention or do again when we did it by accident?” Error said, he was using his strings to stop himself from landing too far away.

“Of Course! It was fun!” Ink said, far more cheerful then he should be.. you know trying to stop the end of there multiverse.

“Lets do it here, this guys outclasses even us,” Error growled.

“Yeah!” Ink said and bounced over somehow avoiding attacks as he did.

‘And this lady and gents, is the creator god’ Goth thought sarcastically with a sigh.

Error summoned his strings, but instead of blue they were devoid of color. Ink smirked and grabbed the strings with his hands.

The world seemed to ring in his head as astral chains of paint seem to burst into the world from where the two concentrated.

Lich didn’t have time to dodge this time, as this was the power of the two gods power combined.

It... was actually kinda pretty.

In seconds Lich was tangled by the astral paint chains, unable to move or attack.

“Lets... hope.. we.. never do that again,” Error gasped out, boned grey from extreme magical exhaustion and Inks Bones were also grey.

“My head hurt,” Ink said.

“Nimrod,” Error said walking slowly towards Lich.

OoOoO

To think it would all end.

His great work.

To erase it all.

Papyrus smiled as he finished making spaghetti, he could hear Sans sleepily getting himself up.

“Morning Papyrus..” Sans yawned.

“Good morning Sans, your ready for another day on the glorious surface!” he said happily.

“For you bro, anything,” Sans said with a true smile.

The day went swimmingly, Sans was active and they both had fun.

This was there happy ending, as Frisk no longer had the ability to reset and Chara had moved on.

Of course...

He forgot...

Happy endings were just for children.

A monster hater struck his more fragile brother, Sans hadn’t even had a chance to dodge.

Papyrus screamed as his brother dust spread like a white puddle on the ground.

To him the world ended.

There would be no more magical resets to bring back the lost.

Sans, his Sans was gone.

The one being that had loved him no matter what, the one being who called him cool and meant it.

He broke.

He left a trail or broken bodies and blood behind, he even killed Frisk when he tried to force there reset ability to return.

There was no return now.

This world didn’t have the right to exist if his brother was gone.

He vanished from the public that hunted him, they wanted him in jail for his deeds.

Ten years later he discovered it.

Retcons.

If Sans couldn’t exist.

Then no one else should either.

“How do we reverse the Retcons,” Ink said unhappily.

“There is no way for you to reverse the many Retcons, the way is lost,’ he laughed seeing there faces.

“There is always a way,” Dream said softly.

“You would have to have data from the multiverse from before the retcons, which doesn’t exist,” Lich laughed, it was a grand joke.

“There has to be a way,” the stupid bug Palette from the last multiverse protested.

OoOoO

Goth was exhausted and sore, and wanted to be anywhere but there.

This... utter moron was the cause of all his woes, but in a strange way the reason this version of himself existed.

“From before...” he said, going utterly still at what said.

“Ha ha ha, none of that data exists now,” Lich laughed.

“I was the very first thing retconned,” Goth whispered, he had known it from the very instant he woke up for real in the anti-void.

“Goth..” Error said in a strange tone of voice.

“Your a bane of existence,” Lich snarled.

“I contain all the codes from before, I never lost anything other then my place in this multiverse,” Goth said, he closed his eyes and felt tears gather,

“Gothy, whatever your thinking don’t,” Shatter begged.

Goth felt a calmness come over him, what was one compared to restoring to the lost.

Geno made a startled sound as Goth suddenly pulled the save lantern from his hand.

“Goth Stop!” Error shouted, but it was too late as Goth shattered the glass of the save lantern the glowing save star in his hands.

“Sorry, thank you,” Goth said with a smile.

The save Star Shattered.

The world exploded into light.

...

...

...

Goth blinked.

Shouldn’t he have stopped existing.

He seemed to be laying down, looking at a golden glowing sky.

“Time to get up sleepy,” a voice said, Goth quickly sat up and gaped.

For as far as one could see were Goths, Goths of every type.

In fact he could feel them, the Goths from his multiverse, from Shatters.. he could fell all of them.

He understood now, what would happen now.

He laughed as a button appeared in front of him.

Smiling he pressed the button, which was ‘Save and Reload.’

OoOoO

Everything was gone, they were floating in an endless sea of light.

“What’s going on?” Geno asked, as the flash of light faded.

“Everything is saving and reloading all the new timelines and those lost for all multiverses effected,” Goth said quietly.

“This will reverse time you realize,” Error said quietly. “You as you won’t exist.”

“This is goodbye... You probably won’t remember this reload. Shatter and Error will probably, but you won’t,” Goth whispered.

“No.. this isn’t right,” Geno cried.

“Retconned, this isn’t goodbye,” Shatter said, Goth.. no Retconned smiled.

“Its never goodbye, just a new hello,” Retconned laughed.

Then faded.

“Goth!” Geno screamed.

The multiverse shattered.

OoOoO

Shatter came to with a gasp, sand under his hands and broken stone.

Tears slipped down his face.

It had worked...

Everything was back.

Then he sobbed.

For he had lost a friend very few would remember.

Slowly he got up, he had time now with the reload winding things back. He had to warn the others of Nightmare Palette.

“Thank you Retconned,” he whispered.

OoOoO

Error ‘woke’ in the anti-void.

“Damn it kid,” he swore as his memories set in.

He knew it was real, not just the memories.

Because in the distance, Goth’s house still stood.

His soul hurt, after all he had just lost the nearest thing he had to his own kid.

[razieltwelve]

Communication (RWBY AU Snippet)

Note: This is set after Dragon-Rider.

X     X     X

The meeting between the representatives from Atlas had gone less than well. Ruby’s father and the other instructors had stood firm. Vale could not afford to lend one of its most important dragon-riders to another kingdom when it was under constant attack from Grimm. 

Weiss had countered by offering some of Atlas’s own dragon-blessed and dragon-riders to make up the shortfall, but Ruby’s father had again refused. Dragon-riders were immensely valuable and far less durable than dragon-blessed. Ruby had spent years training alongside Yang, and she was also familiar with the other dragon-blessed and dragon-riders of Vale. They knew how to protect her, and she knew how to protect them. Could Atlas say the same?

The meeting had eventually ended well into the evening with neither side willing to budge. Weiss seemed adamant that Ruby was Atlas’s best option for dealing with the incredibly swift flying Grimm that had already devastated several of their settlements and injured a number of their dragon-blessed and dragon-riders.

“If we cannot catch the enemy,” Weiss had growled. “Then we have no hope of killing it. In contrast, its superior mobility allows it to observe the deployment of our forces and then attack where we are weakest. By the time we are able to reposition, it is already gone. For centuries, we have relied on the superior mobility of our dragon-blessed to turn the tide. Without that advantage, we cannot protect our settlements. We are not asking for Ruby to be permanently assigned to Atlas, but we are asking that she be assigned to us long enough to deal with this new Grimm.”

Ruby’s father had given Weiss the look. It was something Ruby was very familiar with. After all, he’d given it to her plenty of times. It was the look he’d given her whenever he wanted her to sit down, shut up, and maybe learn something. 

“What Atlas wants,” her father had said. “And what Atlas gets are two very different things. Do you think we’ve forgotten the Battle of Unending Tears? For five days and five nights we fought in the pouring rain against the Grimm. I was there. I remember every moment of it. So many dragon-blessed and dragon-riders fell in that battle that the tears of the survivors became inseparable from the rain. Where was Atlas then? When my wife’s blood stained my scales, and my fire and light all but vanished amidst the hordes of Grimm, where was Atlas?” Ruby’s father had leaned forward, and the temperature in the room had risen, a stark reminder that he was, quite possibly, the most powerful solar dragon in the world. “I’ll tell you where Atlas was. You were hiding behind your walls, cowering amongst your icy mountains, and using our sacrifice to expand your territory.”

To her credit Weiss had not looked away. “Mistakes were made.”

“No. Choices were made, and choices have consequences. You expanded your territory at the cost of my brothers and sisters in arms, and now you find that new territory under siege. Vale and Atlas are allies by necessity, but they are not friends. We paid a price in blood for the new territory you now hold. Do not think we will pay once again to keep it safe.”

“I see.” Weiss had folded her hands together on the table. “Perhaps we should continue this discussion tomorrow?”

“You can ask again,” Ruby’s father had said. “But the answer will still be the same.”

X     X     X

Ruby found herself feeling restless that night, so she decided to go for a walk in the gardens of the academy. They were a place meant for quiet reflection and meditation, skills that were necessary for certain aspects of magic but not always easy to attain. Neither Yang nor Ruby were much good at sitting still, and their attempts to meditate often turned into naps.

She arrived at the gardens to find that she had company.

“Uh… hi.”

Weiss looked up from the book she was reading. A normal person might have struggled to read using moonlight alone, but dragon-blessed had incredibly keen eyesight. “Good evening, Ruby.” She closed her book and patted the bench beside her. “Do you think we could talk?”

“Is this about the meeting?” Ruby asked. “Because, yeah, that could have gone better.”

“It could have,” Weiss agreed. She sighed and gazed up at the broken moon. According to legend the dragons had broken the moon in the ancient days after a great evil had taken refuge there. What exactly that evil had been, none could say, but there were many who believed that the Grimm were the children of that great evil, their arrival a form of revenge on the descendants of those who had destroyed their creator. “But he wasn’t wrong.”

“Huh?” Ruby had expected Weiss to defend Atlas. “You really think so?”

“I love my country,” Weiss said. “And I take great pride in many of its achievements, but your father wasn’t wrong. The Battle of Unending Tears was one of the worst defeats in Vale’s military history, and it could easily have been averted if Atlas had sent aid when the battle began. Instead, while the gathered Grimm hordes assailed Vale, we used their reduced numbers in our territory to expand. It was a calculated risk in that Atlas’s strategists at the time were fairly certain that Vale would eventually prevail, even without our help.”

“That makes them jerks. You know that, right?” Ruby said bluntly. “My mom… she died in that battle.” Her eyes narrowed. “But you would’ve known that already. She was famous, and my dad is famous too.”

“Yes.” Weiss leaned back on the bench. “I knew he would refuse to lend you to us, but I had to ask anyway.” Her gaze shifted to Ruby. “After all, I love my country and it’s people. Even if we deserve the fate we’ve wrought, I must still fight to avert it. If you were in my place, would you do any different?”

“No.” Ruby felt a grin tug at her lips. “You’re not going to try to kidnap me, are you?”

“Good grief, no.” Weiss chuckled. “Assuming I managed to disable you long enough to kidnap you, I doubt I’d get far. You have several wind dragons amongst your ranks here, and while I might outpace them for a time, I would exhaust myself, leaving me easy prey for your father or your sister.” She shook her head. “I am powerful, Ruby, but in close combat against either of them, I wouldn’t last long.”

“No, you wouldn’t.” Ruby cupped her chin in one hand. “So what are you hoping for if you know my father will refuse?”

“Perhaps a few other dragon-riders and dragon-blessed. True, none of them can do what you can, but some of their abilities might prove useful all the same. If nothing else, I had hoped to see how deep the enmity from the Battle of Unending Tears still runs.”

“It’s pretty deep,” Ruby said.

“Yes, it is.” Weiss lifted one hand. “How much do you know about glyphs, Ruby?”

“Not much,” Ruby replied. “There isn’t anyone in Vale who can use them. In fact, your family are really the only ones who can, or so I’ve heard.”

“I’ve yet to encounter anyone who can use them that isn’t related to me,” Weiss said. “Oh, everyone in my family’s main line can use them, but there are a few offshoots that can use them too, albeit not as well.” She flicked her wrist, and a glyph formed in the air above her palm. “Glyphs are fascinating things, Ruby.” She smiled faintly. “How familiar are you with the major forms of magic?”

Ruby gave Weiss a look. “I’m a dragon-rider, Weiss. I know how magic works.”

“Do enlighten me,” Weiss replied. “I’m curious to see how the teaching from Vale align with those of Atlas.”

“There are three basic ways to use magic: with words, with gestures, and with thoughts. Words are the easiest to use, and they can go all the way from elaborate chants to single words. Gestures are the same, ranging from elaborate dances and displays to a mere flick of the wrist. Hardest of all is using magic with thought alone. It’s what sets dragon-blessed and dragon-riders apart. We can cast magic using only our thoughts, albeit only for the domains we specialise in.”

“Yes, that does correspond quite closely to Atlas’s teachings.” Weiss smiled. “In the end, Ruby, magic is all about communication. We want the world to do something for us, and we use words, gestures, or thoughts to communicate those desires. Whether or not the world responds depends on how well we are able to communicate ourselves. Dragon-blessed and dragon-riders have an innate advantage over normal people in that the world seems to have a far easier time understanding us.”

“And where does that leave glyphs?” Ruby asked.

“That’s an interesting question.” Weiss formed another glyph. “A glyph is composed of separate pieces, and each of those pieces is a thought given form.” The glyph above her hand began to rotate slowly. A small sphere of flame flickered to life before growing brighter and hotter. “At the core of this glyph is a thought of fire. Around it are thoughts regarding the shape and temperature of the flame. You see one of the limitations of the mind is that we only able to process so many thoughts at the same time. But imagine you could take some of those thoughts and give them physical form. Provided that form was durable enough, you could then add more thoughts to it. Glyphs are a way of circumventing the limitations of the mind. Neither of us can keep a hundred different thoughts in mind at once, but with a sufficiently complex glyph, I don’t have to. I take five thoughts and put them together, and then I repeat the process again and again until I have my hundred thoughts.”

The glyph in Weiss’s hand vanished, and it was replaced by motes of light that joined together, forming first lines and curves and then the beginnings of a glyph. Ruby watched in fascination as the glyph came together with almost painful slowness. 

“Why are you telling me about this?” Ruby murmured. “It seems kind of like you should be keeping this a secret.”

“Does it?” Weiss shrugged. “Unless you can make glyphs, it’s hardly going to help you. Indeed, the theory of holding multiple thoughts in mind to improve magic use has been around for centuries, but the mind, it seems, has limits as to how many thoughts it can process at once. Training might help, but it says a lot that no one has come close to emulating the effects of even a relatively simple glyph.” Weiss dismissed her glyph. “You know, I wasn’t telling the whole truth earlier. There is something I hope to offer your father in exchange for lending you to us.”

“Oh?”

“I assume you are aware of the Crown of Vale,” Weiss said.

“Yeah.” Ruby nodded. “It was lost when Old Vale fell to the Grimm more than a thousand years ago. The Kings of Vale used to where it. A lot of the old magic the dragons of Vale left behind is tied to it, which is kind of awkward since we don’t have it anymore.”

“We found it.” Weiss’s lips twitched. “And we’ve been studying it for almost a decade.”

“…” Ruby looked at Weiss. “You know… that’s just going to make him madder.”

“That was not a decision I was involved in,” Weiss said. “But the fact is, it has proven impervious to study.”

“So since you can’t do anything with it, you’re going to give it back to try to get him to lend me to you guys?” Ruby made a face. “That kind of makes you seem evil, you know that, right?”

“I am very much aware of how it makes us look.” Weiss took a deep breath. “But I cannot change the decisions of those who came before me. If I can right an old wrong and gain something for my country at the same time, I will.”

“He might actually take that deal,” Ruby said. “I mean… the Crown is supposed to be able to do lots of things in the right hands, and there are still descendants of the old kings still around. If we can get even a handful of the old magics up and running again…” Her eyes narrowed. “But what if he’d agreed to lend me to you guys earlier? Would you have given it back then?”

“Yes,” Weiss said quietly. “I would have.”

For some reason, Ruby believed her. 

Weiss got up. “I will present my offer to your father tomorrow. I hope he takes it.” She took two steps and then turned. “There is one last thing I thought you should know.” She reached into her coat and handed Ruby a letter. “This is from my mother.”

“Your mother?”

“Our mothers used to correspond quite frequently. I do not think it was a coincidence that my parents stopped talking to each other shortly after your mother’s death.” Weiss paused. “Since my father was the one who made the decision to withhold support during the Battle of Unending Tears.”

“Oh.”

Weiss inclined her head. “Good night, Ruby.”

“Uh… good night, Weiss.”

X     X     X

Author’s Notes

Yep. I still have no idea where this is going. Oh well. On the upside, I think I explained some stuff although I’m still making this up as I go along. I should probably introduce Blake at some point too.

You can find me on fanfiction.net, AO3, and Amazon.

[darkredehmption]

#Solo ‘The Night is for Hunting’

#Part1

Mentions @DamagedBrother and @PanwerePredator

****

As the wind tore at my wings, threatening to push me off course, I said yet another string of curses, each of them lost in the turbulence.

Battling the elements forced me to consider the fact that the universe itself was telling me i should never have left the manse, but of the few things I had to my name, my word, my honour, was among the most priceless. As a Hunter, that meant even more. No one wanted to work with a hunter they couldn’t trust, and hunters that couldn’t be trusted didn’t last long.

So I forced my exhausted body to keep fighting, drawing up whatever dregs of strength I had left to keep myself airborne and heading in the right direction. This would’ve been so much easier if I could just dematerialize, but it was one of the few vampiric traits I’d wanted and not received.

Thinking of vampires only distracted me, my thoughts turning to Zsadist like a sunflower turned to follow sunlight. Leaving the male at the shifter’s bedside had twisted at something deep and primal in me, and now it screamed at the fact I’d left; left, when he was already unsteady from nearly losing his friend.

There was no reconciling that part of me, no soothing it as it tore strips off me inside and berated me with cold words. I could only do as I’d promised - help my hunter friend, and return. Keep my promise to return.

By the time I reached the address Ethan had given me I was ready for that biting wind to blow me over. Landing was more of a bracing stumble, my wings trembling as I tried and failed to fold them to my back. When that didn’t work, my primaries trailing in the mud slick grass, I gave up and retracted them completely. Even that Divine effort cost me as I paused, counting to ten as the world tilted then righted itself.

The house was the very last at the bottom end of a street. It’s closest neighbour was boarded over, the signs of looking even more decrepit than I felt. Stepping over the threshold into the yard, I did the usual sweep. A jet fuelled lawn mower wouldn’t have made a dent in the gardens, the grass too high and wild. The pathway itself was cracked and broken, pieces of cement slowly starting to creep away into that sea of swaying yellow brown. One slab looked like it’d been overturned at some point, dirt flecked across the surface. I managed a tired smile as I realized there was probably some sort of magical ward now painted on the other side.

Though I wouldn’t want to perform an exorcism in my front yard, it helped that there weren’t neighbours too close to witness it.

Reaching the front door, I eyed the windows either side, all covered, and then the frame of the door itself. Kernels of salt poked out from under the door, and I knew the inside would be a thorough line. The heavy duty wards against demons didn’t go uncatalogued as I managed to lift my hand and knock.

A voice I didn’t recognise answered.

“State your business!”

An understandable request, but after fighting off a narcissistic vampire to save his human servant’s soul and then flying hours to get here in what could only be categorized as aerial hell, I was less than jovial in my response. Besides, I’d already stepped over the demon ward - if anyone was bothering to pay attention that should’ve been hint enough I was, mostly, human.

“I bring good tidings of the word of the Lord,” I called back, sounding as tired as I felt. “He says he can save your immortal souls if you’ll only open the fucking door and get me a beer.”

Indeed the door cracked open, but the strange face that leered out did not look altogether impressed by my banter. Somehow, I mustered up a grin.

“You some sort of smart ass? Donchu know you got about four rifles pointed at you son?”

I huffed a sigh. “Only four? I’m insulted.” His brows drew together in a frown, so I quickly pushed on. “M’ here for Ethan, buddy. He’s calling in a favour and here I am.”

“You’re a hunter?”

His disbelief and sarcasm was only marginally more endearing than his unfaltering skepticism. Lifting one hand, slowly, I braced it on the frame and leant forward. The rifle nosed its way into the gap, pointed right at my chest.

“Look, Chief of Security, I travelled a long way very quickly to be here for /Ethan/,” I repeated his name with emphasis. “So if you want my help, now’s the time to go get him. Otherwise, he can stick his favour and I’ll head on home.”

It was a lie. I doubted my ability to walk to the end of the street at this point, but I needed this shit to move along faster than it was, and after a beat, the guy playing guard dog seemed to agree with me. Backing away from the door, rifle still trained on me, he allowed me the courtesy of stepping in and shutting out the miserable weather behind me.

He hadn’t been lying about the number of rifles. From where they’d been aimed at me in cracks at the windows they now swivelled to track me inside. I didn’t falter, used to the greeting.

“Ethan!” I called.

There was a thump, then a curse, then the scrabble of footsteps as someone hustled from another room.

“F’fuck’s sake, can’t a man get an hour of rest~” He cut himself off as he rounded the corner to catch sight of me. He whistled long n’ low, a grin splitting his face as he ignored all the weapons to step through the group and take my offered arm in a warriors embrace. “You made it here fast.”

Thumping his back, I gave a nod and eased away. The others, at last, lowered their weapons.

“Flew. Wouldn’t have made it here until tonight if I’d taken the car.”

“We’re still waiting on a few faces,” he admitted, eyeing me. “Maybe it’d do you some good to kip as well. You look like shit man.”

“Feel like it,” I agree. “I left that little problem I spoke to you about and came straight here.”

He looked almost guilty at that, nodding his head.

“Sorry to have called in that favour so fast but... we have a situation here n’ I wanted to deal with it before they got wind of us coming.”

I glanced to the other hunters, all of whom were watching and listening carefully.

“You invite a bevy of hunters to one small town n’ you don’t think they’ll notice?” I asked quietly, arching a brow.

“He still needs to be tested!” Guard dog piped up. The way Ethan’s lips thinned let me know that he wasn’t exactly a fan of the guy either, but endured for the hunt. As we all did. He shot me a look and i simply shrugged, waiting for the flask of holy water to be passed over by GD. I took a swig, but like he didn’t believe I’d swallowed (and trust me, I do) he flicked the container at me to spray a little over my chest. I answered by squirting a stream of it back between my teeth.

Ethan snorted as GD jerked away, cursing and scowling.

“Can I get a real drink now?”

Flashing me a grin, Ethan grabbed one from fuck knew where and tossed it over. Then he gestured at the others.

“Our doorman here is Will. That’s Jack, Sarah and Tyrone.

I spared each of them a glance and a nod, before Ethan looked to them and gestured at me.

“This is Malachi.”

“Well, how did Malachi get here if there’s no car parked outside?” Will groused, keeping a firm grip on his rifle even if it wasn’t pointed at me.

The duffel slung over my shoulder felt like it weighed a ton as I shifted it into a more comfortable position. He had a point though; the only things that arrived without wheels in this world were angels and demons.

“Mal is a special breed of help,” Ethan soothed, before I could open my mouth and come up with some semblance of a half decent lie. “Why don’t y’all go back to keeping watch, eh? I got shit to discuss with Mal.”

I wriggled my fingers in a cute wave, Will bristling even as the other three either gave nods or tried to hide smiles. Following Ethan through the house, I noted the towers of books, most occult, the shell compress and trays of silver bullets, as well as the symbols drawn on every available surface. Floors. Ceiling. Walls.

“What is this place?” I murmured, pinning the spot between Ethan’s shoulders with a look.

He glanced over his shoulder at me, pausing before a bedroom with two cots and gesturing in. I stalked to the cot that seemed the least slept in, and dumped my kit at the end of it. The relief of having it off my shoulder was exquisite as my body begged for me to lie back on that creaky cot and close my eyes.

Instead I sipped from my drink and sat, bracing my elbows on my knees. Ethan sat across from me. By the look of the tangled sheets, the thump I’d heard on my entry had been him falling out of this same cot.

“How’d your shifter problem work out?”

His voice was almost guilty, and I shrugged as I glanced to the boarded up, salt lined window.

“I think it worked. He was still alive when I left.”

“Hey… m’ sorry to call in my marker so fast~”

I held up my hand to silence him, shaking my head.

“If you called it in so fast it must be urgent. N’ my people are looking after the shifter. So… it’s fine.” It wasn’t. “I’m here.” Reluctantly…

Ethan nodded, looking at his hands joined in his lap, then back up at me and managing a rueful smile.

“Your shifter could be the first one to live through the bond that I’ve heard of.”

“He’s not my shifter,” I replied automatically, thinking of Hadrian and taking another sip from my bottle.

Thinking of the panwere had my mind turning to Zsadist, and I thought of the vampire with a sharp pang of longing. What had it been, a few hours? And I already felt like some piece of me was missing.

“What m’ I here for, Ethan?” I continue, arching a brow.

Leaning back on his cot until his back was half slumped against the wall, he took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. The faint light he’d managed to conjure in his eyes, even in such a tired state, faded away.

“Things are moving Mal. Have you heard anything from upstairs?”

I balked at the question, and the fact he’d even bothered to ask. Few knew who and what I was, and even then they tended to know better than to ask if I had any input from the Creator. Shaking my head, I leant back from my braced position, beer forgotten in my hand.

“You know I don’t get office memos, Ethan.”

He made a face, though not at me, as if he resented the fact I was out of the Divine loop.

“There’s a nest of demons here.”

I blinked. “Demons?”

He nodded, finally meeting my gaze again. “At least a dozen or more. It’s as if the local town has become a vessel port. Demons come in and board the ships and sail on into their lives.”

“Cute metaphor,” I muttered. “Then what’s the plan? Exorcism or extermination?”

A calculated look.

“Whatever doesn’t get us killed. I’ve called in a few more markers, and we’re just waiting on them to arrive as well. Then, tonight, we’ll move.”

“Tonight?”

There was incredulity in my voice, and I couldn’t help it. Facing off against a demon horde tonight meant I was still a minimum twenty-four hours from flying back to Zsadist and the Brothers. It felt like forever.

“They meet after dark. And generally when they do, their numbers swell again. We need more bodies to help us but if we wait any longer we’ll be facing a small army,” he explained, raking a hand through his auburn hair and lifting one leg to brace on the cot. “We’ve assessed where, and we have a few plans, but once the rest arrive, we’ll finalize everything. Then we move. Until then?” He arched a brow and looked me over, then tilted his head toward the cot. “You should get some rest. You look like hell.”

Letting out an exasperated noise, I finished my drink and set the bottle beside my cot on the floor. Then I kicked off my boots.

“The dream team out there got this?”

Ethan grinned and nodded, turning and laying back himself to tuck one arm behind his head. I reached for the blanket folded at the end of my bunk and pulled it up and over myself. As I lay back, my exhausted body chirped in gratitude.

“They got this. Get some beauty sleep. Lord knows you need it.”

I flipped him off as I grinned and dropped my head to the pillow. A beat later, I thought of Z, of his golden eyes and the warmth of him at my side in bed.

A beat after that, I passed out.

[homebrewsno1asked4]

2B

And now for something that’s 100% different from my first post… 2B, from Nier Automata!

Class/Subclass

I juggled a few options for 2B's "canon build" - including Kensei Monk and a couple different Ranger subclasses. Ultimately, I went with an Eldritch Knight; not only do the Fighter and Eldritch Knight features feel close to 2B's core abilities, you can flavor the Eldritch Knight’s spells to feel like her pod abilities, or the bullet hell segments.

Suggested Spells (Abjuration and Evocation spells are bolded):

Cantrips

booming blade

encode thoughts

fire bolt

message

sword burst

thunderclap

true strike

Level 1

catapult

chromatic orb

expeditious retreat

feather fall

ice knife

longstrider

magic missile

shield

thunderwave

witch bolt

Level 2

blur

cloud of daggers

flaming sphere

levitate

locate object

magic weapon

scorching ray

shatter

Level 3

counterspell

fireball

flame arrows

fly

haste

lightning bolt

Melf's minute meteors

protection from energy

sending

tiny servant

Level 4

fire shield

locate creature

Otiluke's resilient sphere

wall of fire

Race

Visually, aasimar or high elf could work well for 2B. But from a mechanical standpoint, two races fit 2B the best: Juggernaut Warforged and Revenant.

Heh... Mechanical standpoint? Warforged? Okay, moving on.

Warforged Resilience provides the following benefits:

You have advantage on saving throws against being poisoned, and you have resistance to poison damage.

You are immune to disease.

You don’t need to eat, drink, or breathe.

You don't need to sleep and don't suffer the effects of exhaustion due to lack of rest, and magic can’t put you to sleep.

With the exception of (possible SPOILERS! but I’m assuming you’ve played the game already if you’re reading this post) the logic virus, these fit the abilities of a YoRHa android.

If memory/research serves, YoRHa androids don't really need to sleep. They can, but it's not imperative. Whatever their version of sleep is, I doubt it's too far a cry from the warforged's Sentry's Rest.

Aside from the one scene where she dons riot gear, 2B never wears armor. Bam; Integrated Protection.

2B's far stronger and heavier than she looks, making the Juggernaut's Strength increase and Powerful Build features good fits.

I know warforged are supposed to be more clunky and robot-looking, but you could flavor your 2B warforged to be constructed in the likeness of a cute waifu because reasons. Maybe her creator's a pervert, idk.

I'm aware that revenants are less of a race and more of a template, replacing the subrace.

But

I think the mechanical benefits of the revenant's Relentless Nature match up quite nicely with some of Nier Automata's mechanics.

"If you are below half your hit point maximum at the start of your turn, you regain 1 hit point." The Auto-Heal Chip, maybe?

"If you die, you return to life 24 hours after death. If your body is destroyed, you reform within 1 mile of the place of your death at a spot determined by the DM. If your equipment was also destroyed, you do not regain it." A good fit with how Nier Automata treats death.

"You know the distance and direction between you and any creature involved in your goal, such as a person you seek vengeance against or someone you pledged to defend." Quest radar!

A close runner-up is the grugach, an elf subrace from Unearthed Arcana. The Strength boost makes sense; as does the Grugach Weapon Training, since 2B can use pretty much any weapon.

Suggested Grugach Cantrips: Guidance, Produce Flame, Resistance, Thunderclap

Background

For Background, I think Haunted One from Curse of Strahd might fit best for 2B.

YoRHa already kinda worships mankind as their creator deity. Wouldn't be a far cry to reskin YoRHa as a holy order of sorts.

There's no single moment/mechanic that screams "proficiency in Survival," but I don't imagine that's too weird for her skillset. We at least know she can fish, right?

Exotic Language: the "chaos language" from the Nier series. Reflavor as Abyssal or Primordial or something?

Suggested Characteristics

Personality Trait: I don't talk about the thing that torments me. I'd rather not burden others with my curse.

Ideal: I kill monsters (robots?) to make the world a safer place and to exorcise my own demons.

Bond: A terrible guilt consumes me. I hope that I can find redemption through my actions.

Flaw: I am a purveyor of doom and gloom who lives in a world without hope.

Stats

I suggest prioritizing Dex, followed by Strength or Con. Wisdom could be slightly higher than average. Intelligence can be average; 2B's not dumb, but compared to the booksmarts of other characters like 9S or Pascal, this isn't a defining feature for her. Charisma can be a dumpstat; 2B's as blunt as a bat to the face.

Out of the fighter proficiencies, I'd pick Acrobatics and Athletics. History or Intimidation would work too.

So with Standard Array stats, I came up with:

STR: 13 or 14

DEX: 15

CON: 13 or 14

INT: 10

WIS: 12

CHA: 8

As a Juggernaut Warforged, STR becomes 15 or 16.

As a Grugach, DEX becomes 17 and STR becomes 14 or 15.

(Hmmm... Based on stats alone, I might go with Grugach.)

Suggested Feats

Dual Wielder

Durable

Elven Accuracy (assuming you make her an elf)

Great Weapon Master

Magic Initiate

Mobile

Sharpshooter

Spear Mastery

Spell Sniper

Weapon Master

Feels like Toobs, I’d say! But she’s not all “smack stuff with sword and then throw explodey.” Kinda feels like we’re missing Nier Automata’s flashy flippy combat maneuvers. Well stay tuned, for a 2B-inspired subclass!