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kiame-sama · 1 month ago

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Humans Are Extinct (Yandere!TWST x Fem!Reader) pt 8

(My laptop decided to keep working so I took advantage of the moment, here is Ortho. Yes, his left hand is covered because I hate how it turned out and I suck at drawing hands, used his typical pose in the game. I also hyper fixated on this chapter, hence why I got it done so fast. Don't expect me to be so prompt in the future on chapters.)

Warnings; yandere, yandere relationship, yandere temper, yandere behavior, romantic and platonic yanderes, multiple yanderes, monster men, fem reader, use of some Japanese words (nii-san), violence, blood, injury, fire, hysterical strength, magic, use of the title of King, weapon use and conversations, Selkie, Cervitaur, Shinigami, Faun, Satyr, Kelpie, Water Nymph, Magic Mirror, Unicorn,

~~~~~~~~

You sat in your potions class on the unusually high stool, Grim was seated next to you on his own stool and clearly not paying attention. Professor Divus was talking about the basics of potion-making and the importance it held to many in Twisted Wonderland. Honestly, you were just happy it was a class you could actually participate in.

It was as the lecture continued that you noticed something more than a little unusual. You had been sitting at the only empty cauldron since you showed up a little late to class due to having no idea where the class was. Though you asked Silver to show you to your classes- having learned from the prior day that you absolutely could not navigate the school just yet- he still got the lot of you lost in the twisting halls.

Luckily for you, Divus was quick to forgive your late arrival and simply told you to sit wherever there was an open seat. Naturally, you didn't want to sit among the other students that clearly took an interest in you, choosing instead to sit alone with Grim closer to the back of the class. Only, you two weren't alone anymore.

At some point during the lecture being given, someone had quietly moved seats and now sat across from you at the same large cauldron. They were unlike any other student you had met at the school, which certainly said something.

Sitting before you was what appeared to be a youthful boy with blue flaming hair. His skin was a pale white that almost looked grey and his eyes were a bright gold that shined in the gentle light of the potions classroom. He didn't seem to be entirely organic, as the black wings that jutted from his shoulders had exposed metal pieces in a shining white, blue lights between the feathers told you that the wings were almost entirely mechanical. In fact, a lot of this student seemed to be mechanical in some regard.

Covering the bottom half of his face was a full-mouth Oxygen mask that had several tubes running into it, feeding oxygen in and likely removing any carbon dioxide he exhaled. The tubes ran down the sides of his face and towards his back into the mechanical wings where the faint whir of machinery likely pumped breathable air into his mask. You could see that his right arm was fully mechanical and made of that same white metal, the joints covered in a skin-like black material that was clearly built to stretch and move with the arm. Though he didn't seem to be fully mechanical, there were clear augmentations to two of his limbs that indicated a good part of the limbs were added on after the fact. Over his eyes was a screen-like visor that scrolled several things you were unable to read as they scrolled by.

He seemed to be shorter than the others you had seen in the school and he wasn't obviously any of the species you had met prior. You would have assumed he was a Harpy due to the wings and metallic feathers, but feathers weren't present anywhere else on his body and he didn't have the same bird-like behavior Vil had presented you with. If you didn't know any better, you would even begin to believe they were a child-

"Hi. I'm Ortho Shroud. Nice to meet you, (Y/n)."

The voice that came from the unusual creature near you startled you somewhat. Stunned to hear what sounded like a pre-teen boy greet you quietly. He was clearly trying to avoid drawing attention from Divus and you were curious enough about this boy you didn't mind ignoring class for a bit to talk to him.

"Right, Nii-san said Humans like to introduce themselves before you use their names. Sorry, I'm just so excited to meet you. I've always wanted to meet a Human."

You slowly blinked at the student, now fully believing that he was a little boy and most certainly did not fit in among the older students. Maybe you were wrong as you first thought Lilia was younger than the other students as well before you learned he was a father.

"Nice to meet you too, Ortho. Um... Did you just want to say 'hi' or did you need something from me?"

"Need something? Nope. I just wanted to get to know you since Nii-san and I are going to be the ones guarding you next week."

This made a lot more sense now. Every class you had attended, very few students seemed to actually want to talk to you and instead wanted to gawk at you or whisper about you. The few students who did have the courage to talk to you were the few you already knew, but unfortunately Ace and Deuce were not in the same potions class. Naturally this boy had to be a Housewarden or Vice-Housewarden like Malleus and Lilia or someone close to them like Silver and Sebek.

"Okay. I'm not sure if class is the best time to have that talk though."

"Oh, it's fine. I'm very good at multitasking, so I'm listening to you and to class right now. The potion we're making today is super simple, so I can teach you how to make it. It's just a regular sleep potion."

He really wasn't giving you much of a choice but you figured it was because he was genuinely wanting to talk to you. Much like kids tended to do, he was trying to get you to talk to him and interact with him by being a little pushy even though he didn't need to be.

"Sure, let's talk."

This made the boy perk up and almost seem to rock in his seat excitedly. There was a kind of infectious happiness to him that was truly quite endearing despite his unusual appearance.

"Okay, so first off- because you probably can't tell- I'm a Shinigami. I do have several cybernetic parts but they're being upgraded and improved all the time by my Nii-san. He's a Shinigami too, and he won't ever say it, but he is really excited to meet you and won't stop talking about you-"

A sudden error message flashed on the screen visor he wore and he seemed to pout in response to this. The moment he noticed your confused look he returned his attention to you, pointing at his visor with a smile.

"That's just Nii-san. He's getting all embarrassed that I'm telling you these things. He made this for me, you know? This visor, my leg, my arm, and my wings. He's really smart and makes such cool stuff. I was hoping, since you're a Human, maybe you could come to Ignihyde sometime? I'm sure he'd like to hear about you and things where you come from. Maybe we could even play some videogames while we're there? I don't get to play games with others all that often since Idi-nii doesn't have anyone over, but he and I play games together. Maybe we could all play?"

You found yourself agreeing to the boy's request, as odd as it was and wondering just what the boy hoped of you. Clearly he was happy to talk to you and he must have been keen to make friends with you despite knowing so little about you. May as well make nice with those who would be guarding you seeing as you technically didn't get any say regardless in the situation.

~•§•~

Lunch finally rolled around and you were excited to sit with some familiar faces as you made your way into the cafeteria. Ortho had spent the entire morning with you and the two of you talked about almost everything, from what videogames they had in Twisted Wonderland to what species was the most abundant. The morning was generally a great crash-course kind of day to understand just what kind of world you found yourself in.

You were able to ask questions without feeling belittled by the cybernetic boy and he was happy to answer anything you asked him. He even showed you how to use the phone Crowley had gifted you that morning. It was similar to a smartphone from your world, but oddly different and Ortho explained that many devices ran off of magic or had some kind of magic element to them. Your phone was different from others because it didn't require magic to work like most phones did. Apaprently all of Ortho's cybernetic limbs were also a kind of technomancy that incorporated Ortho's own magic to keep running. You were actually vaguely excited to meet his older brother as it was clear he was the exact kind of guy you had been hoping to meet. Thanks to Ortho, you had a list on your phone of all the technology you were accustomed to but didn't have in Twisted Wonderland. Part of you hoped this Idia would be able to make half of the items you requested and if he thought they were useful, maybe he could patent them and use them but just give you the prototypes to keep. That heated blanket seemed even closer now.

Still, it was nice to have a break. Even if Ortho was a cheerful young man- and you learned he was only thirteen years old- it was still exhausting to chat with the social boy all the time. A smile pulled at your lips as you saw Ace and Deuce sitting together, Grim running ahead to dig in the various foods the boys had brought. Looking over their selection, you were glad you made yourself a sandwich that morning.

"Hey, Human."

"Hello again, (Y/n), how were your classes?"

You sat down across from the Goats, watching them shovel food into their mouths much in the way Goats of your world so happily snacked on everything in reach.

"It was alright. I met someone new today and he was happy to tell me a lot of what I just wouldn't know about Twisted Wonderland."

"Who was that?"

"Ortho Shroud. Perky kid, half cyberaugmented half Shinigami, a real treat to talk to."

Ace snorted as if what you said was hillarious, rolling his eyes and chowing down on a cellery stick. You vaguely wondered if the two species- Faun and Satyr- mainly only ate vegtables or if they still ate meat if presented with it. Deuce certainly seemed interested in your sandwich but was not bold enough to ask about it.

It was while you were enjoying your time with the Goats and feeding little pieces of sandwich to Grim that you took note of something. Everyone had some kind of weapon on them at all times. You really hadn't noticed it before because it was just so commonplace but as you looked you noticed there were varying kinds of weapons, but at least one on every student.

"Wait, so why does everyone have a weapon on them? I thought fighting wasn't allowed on school grounds."

You asked the Satyr that was currently stuffing his face as you eyed the varying weapons each student seemed to carry on their person. Some had bows and arrows, like the Drider Rook. Some had swords affixed to their hips, like Sebek and Silver. Some had little daggers, like the cackling Gnoll Ruggie. The only thing that seemed consistent on the many different instruments of war were the large singular jewel attached to the main body of the tools. The jewel seemed to vary among seven colors but all seemed unique to the wielder as well either in shape or location of the jewel.

"Mmph?"

Ace mumbled past his food, trying to answer your question but almost spitting the food at you. You were less worried about the veggie scraps he ate and simply used your hand to shield your sandwich from any potentially spat out food.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, Ace."

The sudden voice of Trey had you looking up at the large centaur that smiled patiently at you, only the slightest of glares highlighting his face as he glanced at Ace. Ace quickly tried to swallow down the food, starting to choke as Deuce leaped to his frenemy's rescue with a frim swat between the shoulder blades. Even as Ace panted and tried to take a breath, you simply turned back to the Kelpie who patiently waited for your attention to return to him.

"Since Ace is busy dying right now, Trey, why does everyone have some kind of weapon on them?"

"Those are our Magestone weapons. Magestones are used by the magically talented to channel their magic through and keep track of their blot levels."

"Blot levels?"

"Yes, blot is a byproduct of magic. For every use of magic, blot forms and accumulates in the body. Blot is mostly harmless in small amounts and can be removed through proper rest and nutrition. In high amounts, it can lead to overblotting which turns the affected effectively feral. Though we claim to be evolved beyond our base instincts, we still all have them and are subject to them on a daily basis. Overblot exaggerates those instincts and forces them to become the primary decision makers. A mage that goes feral could easily kill others or themselves. Hence why we use magestones to help avoid blot accumulation."

You were surprised to hear all this, seeing the large claymore hanging from Trey's hip even as he spoke in a relaxed tone to you. It certainly explained the large jewels that each weapon seemed to have, but it didn't really explain the actual weapons.

"Okay, so why not put the magestones on pens or something easier to carry around? Why weapons?"

"Well, you've encountered at least one creature in the woods around campus, right? They are animals that have been corrupted by blot and some are even students or townsfolk who were overcome and unable to break free of their feral instincts. They've since lost themselves to the madness and now stalk their previous homes. Sometimes we need to go into the woods for herbs, or to get to the nearby towns for supplies. Sometimes those beasts come out of the woods seeking an end to their torment. Either way, it is better to have a weapon on you that you can channel magic through than to have nothing to defend yourself with."

"Really? Are those things everywhere?"

"Everywhere life and magic exist. Those beasts are why Humans struggled so much until they befriended several magic using species. Where Humans are assumed to be immune to blot due to being magicless, they are still susceptible to the creatures turned feral by blot. The Unicorns were first to start safeguarding Humans from Ferals in earnest, if I am recalling properly, then the Fae, then the rest of the world mostly followed. Honestly, you Humans impress me to even be able to survive without magic and all those Ferals running around."

You almost ducked your head in embarrassment at the warm tone Trey used when talking about Humans. Though it was somewhat patronizing, you still figured that the Kelpie meant it affectionately as he seemed to be more knowledgeable when it came to Humans. Most others didn't seem to have the same interest in the history and just took an interest in you, so it was nice to hear about what exactly Humans of Twisted Wonderland were like.

"Can a Feral be brought back to their senses? Like, if someone here became Feral from overblot, could they be brought back or is it like Rabies and they just have to be put down?"

"I'm not certain what these 'Rabies' are, but yes, if caught in time and incapacitated- or forced to rest- someone can recover from turning Feral. If they are Feral for too long they are consumed by their blot and become living nightmares. Just because others can recover doesn't mean turning Feral doesn't leave any marks. Much of the time it is a rather destructive event and usually the best way to tell how far gone someone is, is by their appearance. The more beastly they look, the harder it will be to get them back. Even if they do return from being Feral, they will have lasting scars."

"Okay..."

"Did you have anymore questions about it?"

"Nope. That makes sense... I mean, some things I don't really get because I don't really know how magic works here, but it makes enough sense for now."

"Glad to be of assistance. I actually came over here to invite you to today's unbirthday party. We often get together and have our own celebration on a day none of the Heartslabuyl students have a birthday. Riddle made it very clear he would like you to attend today's party."

"Can I bring Cater?"

Trey slightly grimaced at this, remembering how angry Riddle had been as he quite literally threw the Water Nymph out of the dorms. Though it would be best to leave Cater out of any Unbirthday parties in the near future, even Trey missed his fellow water creature. It wasn't quite the same to swim the lake without the loud redhead riding along his back or pulling his tail fins.

"... I wouldn't suggest it, but I would rather Cater be allowed back in Heartslabuyl. Maybe Riddle will listen to you if you ask him."

"Okay, I'll bring Cater with me to Heartslabuyl today for the unbrithday party. He can show me how to get there."

"We will see you there, (Y/n). Not to worry, Ace and Deuce will be in attendance as well."

~•§•~

"You sure Trey said it was a good idea? Riddle was steaming mad yesterday and I don't think he'll be too quick to forgive me.."

"He said it was fine and that Riddle would probably listen to me if I asked him to let you back in Heartslabuyl."

"I guess. Looks like they got only some of the roses painted, in any case."

You glanced at the collared Water Nymph curiously, wondering why he would comment something so odd. Maybe it was just a common practice in Twisted Wonderland to actually paint roses. Cater smiled at you as he noticed your queer expression, continuing to walk with you to what he called the Hall of Mirrors. Grim had gone ahead with Ace and Deuce after classes ended, but you made sure to double back to Ramshackle for Cater.

"It's a rule the Queen of Hearts made. She's one of The Great Seven and is who the Heartslabuyl dorm is modled after."

"Who are The Great Seven?"

"Well... That's more a question for Trein and not me, but the Queen of Hearts was a magicless Unicorn that ruled the Queendom of Roses. She came up with all sorts of rules that still don't really make sense to me but Riddle follows them as closely as he follows the Law. Apaprently she was big into Humans because she had over fifty rules related to Humans and how to take care of them."

You hummed at this, noticing you entered what looked like the room you first woke up in with all the floating coffins. The coffins were up near the ceiling now which left seven mirrors surrounding the main central mirror. Naturally Cater instinctively turned straight to the Heartslabuyl mirror but you were more curious about the large mirror sitting in the center of the room. Something about it compelled you to approach, wondering what made this mirror different from the others.

Immediately you noticed that you couldn't see your reflection in the mirror and instead only a dark world greeted you. As you stopped to stand in front of it a sudden green flame was reflected in the mirror, making you take a few steps back in surprise at the sudden movement. From the flames emerged a face that looked like a mask, eyeless and wearing an expression of seriousness as it revealed itself to you.

"Woah! The mirror never does that for anyone except the Headmage! Look at you being all special, (Y/n)."

You remembered trying to argue with the mirror when it said you could not return to your home, ignoring your questions and refusing to answer you after that first request. Now it seemed the mirror was ready to talk and maybe you could get some answers from it.

"What questions do you approach me with now? Even if return to your home was possible, I could not tell you how. I do not hold the answers you seek, but should you still wish to question me, I will speak."

"Why are you talking to me now, but refused to talk to me before?"

"I know much, but not everything and it is rare a question is asked that I cannot answer in a way that is correct. Yet, many a year has passed since a Human has spoken to me and I am obliged to answer thy questions. I could attempt to spin a favorable answer to the unkown, but you don't want those answers, I suspect. The path you walk now is one that is true, it needs not any corrections."

"Have you spoken with Humans in the past?"

"In an event that is now lost to time, a little Human spoke with me and she was charmed by the way I rhyme."

"Fair enough. Mirror, I don't have any magic, do I?"

"You already know the answer yet insist to hear it from another voice. There is no magic within you and it is not a matter of opinion or choice."

You nodded, looking at the frowning face in the green flames for a moment longer. There were plenty of things you could still ask but something told you it was best to leave the miror alone for the time being. If you thought of actual questions to ask and not the nonsensical questions you wanted to ask, you could always talk to the mirror again.

"Thank you for talking to me. I was worried you might hate me."

"I could never hate a Human for in all my years, a Human has never been hateful to me. In my vast knowledge and memory, all I feel is happy when it is a Human I get to see. Were it possible, I would be of greater use to you. Untill we speak once more, adieu."

You somewhat smiled, stepping away from the mirror and back to Cater who was still staring. The face was gone now and you wondered if it had only shown up to talk to you, disappearing once the conversation was over.

"Huh. Guess there is a lot more to you than meets the eye. Anyways, we're gonna be late to the unbirthday party if we don't go soon."

"Right, so how do we do this?"

"You've already used Diasomnia's mirror, so it should be the same when you use Heartslabuyl's mirror. Just... Don't be too surprised if you hear Riddle yelling. He will probably be driving himself mad trying to make everything perfect. He always does."

You both approached the mirror labeled for Heartslabuyl, walking into the shiny surface that seemed to ripple in response. When your vision cleared you were interested to see a large dorm building made of red and white brick. Surrounding it on all sides were rose bushes that seemed to have several red roses sitting proudly on the surface. The playing card motif was apparent in the presence of the suits all somewhere tucked into the architecture of the buildings but it was clear Hearts were preferred due the shape of the rosebushes and most arches were some kind of heart.

It was during your admiration of the rather lovely garden that a familiar voice called out a greeting. The greeting made Cater quickly move to hide behind you again, as if he intended to use you as a shield. Trotting over to greet you was both Riddle and Trey. They looked rather different from their school uniforms and instead seemed to be wearing a similar style clothing to what you would expect from the aesthetics of the dorm. Sitting atop Riddle's head near his golden horn was a golden crown that must have relied on some kind of magic to keep it affixed as it sat crooked on his tresses.

"(Y/n), I'm thrilled you could be in attendance for today's party. Your seat of honor is ready in accordance with the Queen's rules and-"

Riddle's pleasant smile immediately fell as he took note of the Nymph hiding behind you, his once bright mood now soured by the uninvited presence.

"What are you doing back here, Cater? Did I not make myself clear that you were never to set foot here again? And you are with (Y/n), no less! If you were not already collared I would-"

"Riddle?"

The Unicorn's voice caught in his throat as you directly said his name. You hadn't actually called him by name to his face before and something about the sweet tone you had rendered the Unicorn near mute. He was quick to try and respond to you, his voice somewhat cracking from stress as if he were talking to you for the first time despite having spoken with you before.

"Ye-yes?"

"I know you're mad with Cater, but I am asking you to let him back in Heartslabuyl. Sure, he messed up. He's flawed. But hey, who can truly say they aren't?"

"But, because of him-"

"I now need to be guarded and protected so I am not poached by others who would rather see me dead. Yeah, I'm mad about it too. I would like to be able to just be in my dorm and not have to be protected just to live. But if Cater didn't do it, someone else would have. Does that mean I completely forgive him? Absolutely not. Still, to force him out of his home and away from his friends, surely even you can see how cruel that is."

"I-" Riddle looked back at Cater and then back at you, struggling to find the words before he let out a long sigh, "fine. He is going to stay collared until he truly grasps the consequences of his actions, but he is no longer banned from Heartslabyul. Cater, I hope you thank (Y/n) for sticking up for you, especially because you don't deserve it."

"I thanked her a bunch when she let me stay in Ramschackle and cooked some dinner and even breakfast for me-"

"Just say 'Yes, Housewarden Riddle' and hurry along. There are still roses to paint red and without your magic you'll have to work quickly to get them all done."

Cater quickly shut his mouth, running off to do as he had been told by the lovely Unicorn whose smile quickly returned as the Nymph left view. It was odd to you to see how quickly the Unicorn's temper shifted, but you considered yourself lucky that you had managed to talk him into letting Cater come back. One less mouth in Ramshackle to feed and one less person to wake you up before the crack of dawn wanting breakfast.

"Now that unpleasantness is out of the way, shall we?"

He extended an arm out to you, smiling when you reached out and let him lead you to the gardens. It seemed to be almost fully decorated for a party as the rather long table was set for everyone with many different pastries. You were stunned to see the baked goods strewn across the table and Trey chuckled upon seeing your surprised expression.

"The Queendom of Roses is known for many Human foods and have carried on the traditional meals the Queen of Hearts loved. Baked goods are very popular and my family even owns a bakery."

"Do you cook much beyond baking?"

"I'm afraid I'm not that good, but I'd love to learn if you're willing to teach me."

"We can make it an exchange. Teach me how to make some of your pastries and I'll teach you how to cook some meals."

"It's a deal."

Riddle almost seemed irritated at how you were chatting with Trey, but he was content he got to keep you close as you admired the decorated garden. The unpainted roses near the front were just another frustration for Riddle, but at least the garden where the party was being held looked alright. He certainly put his freshmen to work given Cater was usually the one to paint the roses given his Unique Magic.

"Here, let me show you to your seat. I will warn you, there is a mouse asleep in the tea pot and she is not supposed to be woken up, so if you would like some tea, ask me and I will get you some."

"A mouse?"

"Yes, and if she wakes up we need to put jelly on her nose. She has been fussy recently, so it may prove to be difficut."

"Alright," you chuckled softly, "I will make sure not to wake her. Where do all these rules come from?"

"I forget you're not from here sometimes. The Queen of Hearts made many rules and as the dorm modeled after her, it is our duty to uphold her rules. Such as the rule of leaving a seat at the head of the table for a Human. Even after they went extinct, it is still a rule I upheld for every unbirthday party. Now, that seat is yours."

He led you to the head of the table and even pulled the chair on the left side out for you, almost seeming excited at the prospect of your attendance at the party. As you sat down he pranced around to the other side, smiling as he took his place at the head of the table. You could see not too far from you, Ace was holding a fussing Grim while Deuce attempted to feed the semi-stressed cat-beast a piece of tart.

"Now we can get the party underway."

"Thank you for inviting me, Riddle, it's nice to enjoy food I don't have to make."

"Such a shame. I understand there is a need for food being cooked before you can eat it safely, just another rule others can't seem to follow. That's why you will be staying in Heartslabuyl from now on. That way you can enjoy all our unbirthday parties and be kept safe with me."

"But," you started, feeling rather confused by the Unicorn's declaration, "the Headmage and Ortho both said Ignihyde will be guarding me next-"

"They can't take care of you the way you need to be!"

Riddle's sudden outburst made everyone go quiet, staring at the Unicorn in unease as it was clear his temper was rising. He didn't seem to realize the others were looking now as he stomped one hoof, angrily crossing his arms almost like a pouting child. It was odd to see the Unicorn behave in such a way, as Trey had even told you Riddle was almost twice his age.

"Riddle-"

"Enough! You will be staying here where you can be treated properly in accordance to the Queen's rules, end of discussion. If I have to take your head to make you see how much safer you are here, I will."

The direct threat was an unexpected one but it made Trey realize just how close the Unicorn was to snapping. He was already on edge due to Cater being brought back into the fold without his permission so the light pushback from the treasured Human was just pressing his temper further.

"Riddle, enough. You can't force her to stay-"

"Even you, Trey? Are all of you against me now? It doesn't matter, I will protect this one human, with or without your help."

"Riddle, you've gone too far now. You need to stop or be stopped-"

"SHUT YOUR TRAITOROUS MOUTH! NONE OF YOU UNDERSTAND ONLY I CAN DO WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE TO PROTECT MY KING OF HEARTS!"

A sudden burst of magic from Riddle kicked up what almost looked like smoke that quickly coated the entire garden. You struggled to see through the haze as you covered your mouth to not breathe in the dark cloud.

As the dust settled and you could finally look up again, seeing a beast standing before you.

His eyes were no longer the lovely pale blue they had been, now overtaken by red rage. His white fur was coated in what seemed to be ink that flowed down from his face and up from his once-golden hooves. The gold upon his body had all turned a corrupted inky black and his very face seemed to have been torn at the corners of his mouth to accommodate the fangs that now gleamed and jutted past his lips.

Fire began to lick around the garden, sweeping up the rose bushes and crackling dangerously as ash slowly coated the ground. Everything seemed to change in the blink of an eye as the vicious creature stood before you, blinded by anger and fueled by hate. Perched against his shoulder was a large two-handed axe that looked as if someone took a metal heart and pieced through the handle to make a viciously sharp instrument.

"What's happening?"

You called out to the other students as you tried to go to their aid only to be forced back into your chair, vines sprouting up to grab your arms and hold you to the seat. The vines were far too tight and far too sturdy for you to do much else besides try and struggle against them. They did not yield to your desperate attempts at freedom.

"He's overblotted and gone feral! All Heartslabuyl students, get back to safety-"

"OFF WITH YOUR HEADS!"

A sudden burst of magic from the Unicorn left several students clutching at their necks, the large metal collars securing themselves and remaining unmoving despite their struggles. If that wasn't bad enough already, Riddle began to charge, axe raised above his head as if he intended to cleave the others in half. His target was obvious as Trey tried to quickly pull the vines off of you and free you from the chair.

"GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF OF MY KING!"

Trey had no choice but to abandon his endeavor and retreat as Riddle's axe narrowly missed the flank of the Kelpie. The table that had been in front of you suffered the brunt force of the Unicorn's crushing hooves and the sharp side of the axe, splitting in half from the force. Your vine restraints only tightened as the chair you had been sitting on dragged you towards the now panting and raging Unicorn.

Trey, Ace, Deuce, and Cater drew their weapons, the magestones on the handles and grips of the instruments gleaming in anticipation. The resident Queen of Hearts had gone feral with rage and would die if he wasn't returned to his senses soon. Not only that, but the last Human in Twisted Wonderland was being held prisoner by the enraged and rampaging Unicorn. They had little choice but to fight back.

Even little Grim, who was clearly frightened of Riddle stood on guard, ready to do what he could to save you and maybe even the Unicorn from what he had become.

You refused to be little more than a damsel to be rescued, pulling and staining against your binds even as they likely bruised your soft flesh. Trey wielded a large claymore that held his magestone in the pommel and clashed with the Unicorn, magic sparking around them. Even though Cater has been collared, he still attempted to use his spear to draw the Unicorn's attention, trying to give his dormmate an opening against the Unicorn.

It quickly became clear to you that their weapons just weren't doing anything against the Unicorn and couldn't even cut his hide as he used the broad side of the axe to shove the two students he had called his friends. You momentarily thought that maybe Riddle didn't want to hurt them as he used the sides of his weapon to push them, but that notion quickly disappeared when he tried to cleave the Kelpie in two. Each slice of the axe was blocked by the claymore as the two continued their dance in battle, almost matching one another step for step.

A dance of monsters as both fought the other fiercely.

It wasn't until Riddle managed to catch Trey's side as the Kelpie reared, throwing the larger centaur back and into the dark waters of the lake. The Kelpie did not resurface immediately as a deep red spread from where he hit the water. Riddle almost seemed to be proud of this feat as he turned away from the lake, leaving Cater to dive in after his friend. Instead, Riddle turned his gaze towards Grim and the Goats.

It took less than a sweeping smack from the axe to send both Goat men sprawling to the ground. Despite Ace's best efforts, the Unicorn kicked away his Xiphos and rendered the Satyr unable to retaliate. Deuce grabbed Ace, pulling him back before the inky hooves of the Unicorn could dig into the latter's skull. As they both moved into the bushes to escape Riddle's wrath, it left little Grim exposed and at the mercy of the Unicorn.

You looked down at your binds and tried even more desperately to free yourself of them, terrified the Unicorn would kill your sweet little friend.

"You," his voice was dripped in venom as he spoke, the headsman's axe resting against the Unicorn's shoulder, "you are the worst of them all."

You looked up to see Riddle was standing over an all too familiar shaking and terrified figure, the gray fur was ruffled and standing out even as the soft creature tried to ball himself up. Grim was horrified and didn't realize that these fancy students could be taken over by feral instincts the way the beasts of the woods could be.

"You cuddle in her arms and turn her against me with your vile words! Acting as if you have any right to her, to call her 'your Hooman' and insult my King of Hearts so callously. You will be first to truly lose your head for this!"

As the axe raised and the Unicorn reared back, you found yourself freed. It didn't really matter to you if you freed yourself or if you had been freed, all that mattered was getting to Grim. Things both moved too fast and too slow for your brain to take genuine note of the things around you as your legs pushed you forward to your goal. The axe began to fall and your mind went blank with white hot rage.

"GRIM!"

Stunned silence fell over the winding garden as the frightened and confused students stared upon the horrific scene. Your arm hung limply at your side, blood slowly dripping down the soft skin and marring the grass with a deep crimson. No one could speak as they stared at the beast made flesh.

The beast before you had been thrown back from simple and pure hysteria fueled rage. Even as he struggled to get back up, you could see he had the wind knocked out of him from the force and strength of your blow. Struggling to breathe and winded from your rage, he almost seemed angry before he truly looked at what stood before him. Even as he struggled to stand, his eyes filled with a mixture of sorrow, regret, and confusion. No magic had touched him.

You felt nothing but slowly fading rage as you stared at the rampaging Unicorn that had so happily tried to cut down your closest friend since you woke up in his nightmare realm. Even as the axe sliced into your non-dominant forearm and pressed against bone, you refused to look away from the now shocked inky abomination. The fangs riddling the maw of this monster parted and that same distorted voice spoke, now laced with pain.

"You weren't supposed to- I didn't mean to..!"

Held in your dominant hand was the soft and still shaking body of your confidant and companion as he confusedly wondered if he had died. His bright blue eyes daring to peak up towards his savior but fear still gripped his heart. Holding him so securely was the Human he loved being around and joking with, but the expression she now wore was one of unbridled fury even with the large axe embedded in her soft flesh.

You slowly fell to your knees in the grass, arms covered in bruises from your previous bindings and eyes filled with firey hate. No one even saw you move, let alone make it across the garden to where you were now. They had all been so focused on Riddle that they were caught off guard by the sudden display of strength from who they assumed to be the weakest among them.

Humans were weak, fragile, and above all else in need of protection, right? So why did they all feel so genuinely afraid at that moment?

"Why did you-?"

Taking advantage of Riddle's momentary return of consciousness, Trey was quick to launch an attack at the distraught Unicorn from the lake he pulled himself out of. It hit him square between the eyes causing a cascading reaction of golden magic to erupt from the Unicorn's horn. The light was near blinding but you ducked down, using your non-mangled arm and body to shield your little friend.

Your world went dark.

#kiame-sama #yandere #x reader #yandere x reader #reader insert #tw yandere #yandere twst #twst monster au #Humans Are Extinct TWST AU

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aplaceforyourhearttorest · 10 months ago

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Unwind Me ⋅☆⋅ Kirk Hammett (18+)

The brazen sounds of cheers and drunken laughter ring out and dance their way backstage in the naturally dimming light, the joyous sounds causing you to grin to yourself and shake your head in amusement as you push a speaker even further down the now packed and narrow hallway. A man with a slightly sick looking grimace etched on his face stumbles his way out of a nearby dressing room and right towards you, and you quickly jump out of the way, your right shoulder bumping into and against an array of sharp boxes behind you amid your haste. He makes it to the bathroom just in time and you sigh in relief, before hunching forward and pressing your weight back onto the heavy machinery in front of you, willing yourself to ignore the pulsating ache emanating from the soon-to-be bruised skin underneath your itchy and sweat-clad crew shirt.

You twist your wrist and momentarily close your eyes in gratitude as you feel an elastic roll itself down your clothed forearm and rest upon your kickstarting and erratic pulse point, feeling eager to tie your hair up once you finish up the task of getting the rest of the equipment together and cased out. The earlier crew did their best within their scheduled time slot, but even they couldn't finish up the job in that time. Guitars and other smaller instruments leisured haphazardly against everything from coolers and stairwells, and to the edge of the stage the boys had just recently performed on, and you force your eyes to reopen as you tiredly make your way over to the towering and newly organized rows of the Marshall and Hiwatt speakers, near to the end of the hall.

Squatting down to untangle and release the secured latch of the strap encircled around the equipment you just carted over, you slowly raise your head as you finally come to acknowledge a familiar set of shoes paused and waiting only a few feet away from you in your peripheral vision.

A frenzied and fast travelling flush makes its way up to your cheekbones and down your neck before you even attempt to make eye contact with the man standing to the side of you, and you let out a shaky exhale as wide brown eyes peer back down at you in earnest once you do.

"Kirk," you breathe, your eyes glancing over with mild interest as they take in the clenching of his fingers around his flimsy cup after you say his name in greeting. You finish up removing the safety strap and stand before you could allow yourself to put too much thought into his reaction, hurriedly pushing it to the back of your mind as you try to hide your blush in the slightly frizzy curtaining of your hair. "Enjoying the new year so far?" you try to casually ask him, hoping you don't sound as nearly affected as you feel from just by having him nearby.

The lead guitarist nods absentmindedly as his eyes rake themselves over your fatigued figure, his plush and full lips lifting up to relax in a soft smile as he leans forward to rest his drink on the nearest ledge closest to him. "Let me." He offers kindly, already moving forward and gently guiding you back with a hand on your hip before you could even verbalize a protest. Your already unstable breath stutters in your chest as the rough patches of his palm blazes heat against your dampened flesh, the added weight of his large hand making the reddened hue of your cheeks darken even more.

Kirk's thumb spreads out to caress the indented skin of the beginning of your hipbone, before leaving entirely as he goes to lift the piece of equipment on top of the set with ease. You quietly watch as he casually walks over and places the speaker on top of another, before returning over to your side to grasp onto an amp. You go to reach down to secure a zip tie around its long cord to try and be helpful, before stopping midway and letting out a strained cry as the skin around your bruising shoulder painfully constricts and stretches. Kirk's eyes widen at the sound, and a multitude of other pairs zero in to stare at you as you clench yours shut. Your uninjured shoulder jumps up as a hand encases itself around it, before relaxing as the coolness of a familiar ring grazes against the bare part of your lower neck.

"Are you alright, babe? You didn't hurt yourself, did you?" Kirk asks you quietly, the hand on you guiding you to stand behind him for a bit more privacy and a few more steps away from the tipsy bystanders. You go to shake your head and falsely reassure him that you're fine, before opening up your eyes and looking into his worried ones. You instead nod in defeat and lightly rest some of your weight on him, your left hand coming up to gesture toward your right shoulder.

"I thought some guy was going to spew on me and the cart, so I rushed to the side and jabbed myself on a few sharp boxes." Kirk lets out a soft sound of sympathy, his usually rough and quick hands delicately rubbing small circles in your tense skin and muscles to hopefully help you relax. "Will you let me take you to one of the backrooms and get you some ice? Maybe check you out a little bit better?"

"But the equipment," You start before trailing off weakly, peering up into his eyes with furrowed and pinched brows. Your resolve quickly titters off into little to nothing as he continues to dote on you and caress your skin, his intense gaze on you keeping you feeling warm. "You've already been here and on the clock for over twelve hours; the rest of your coworkers are either already at their hotel or with the other guys getting shitfaced, and we've still got another two days before we have to get everything cleared out and back on the road." Kirk tilts your chin up and holds you in place as he takes another step forward and closer to you, your chests almost pressed together and becoming one.

"How about you focus on yourself for once and let someone take care of you. Let me take care of you." His tone of voice being soft yet leaving no room for any further resistance or questioning, as his fingertip lightly taps itself on the cleft of your chin. The tips of your scuffed up shoes brush against his as you subconsciously and unknowingly lean forward in his soft grip, your eyelids feeling heavier and weighed down as his comforting scent wafts over to you through the close proximity. Kirk raises an eyebrow after a few heavy moments of you not answering him, a pleased grin painting itself on his handsome features as you quietly agree and allow him to slide his hand down your arm and gently tug you forward.

Alcohol-laden murmurs and hushed whispers advance themselves down the chilled hallway and into the open and overpopulated area, but neither one of you seem to care as the two of you slowly become well acquainted with the feeling of each other's hands as you descend away. And as Kirk flicks on a light switch and makes his way over to the mini fridge attached to the back wall of the room and silently beckons you over, the clock hits one.

⭒

You let out a faint sigh of relief as you feel Kirk press a towel filled with crushed up ice against the slightly swollen and puffy skin of your shoulder, the strap of your bra sliding down as you lean back into the cold compress and his stable hold. The musician sitting almost flushed against your back, watches with rapt attention as the white lace dances itself down your goosebump ridden extremity and stops to rest in the curved divot of your inner elbow.

"Thank you for taking care of me and making sure I was alright. I probably would have just ended up trying to ignore the pain and getting as much as I could get done within the last two hours of my shift." You allow a small smile to grace your face as you hear him grunt out a sound of displeasure at your words, a shiver running through your upper half as a droplet of the melting ice runs its way down the side of your back. An audible gasp tears through you as you feel the sensation of Kirk's calloused fingertip swipe it away, before continuously making its way down to the base of your spine.

"You're still so tense," Kirk murmurs, his free hand pressing its thumb and index fingers into the dimples adorning the skin of your bottom back. He pauses and halts his movements as a saddened thought invades its way into his mind. "You aren't uncomfortable with me, are you?"

You immediately shake your head no, an unsettling twinge basing itself in your gut as your nonverbal attempt of reassurance doesn't get a response or reaction back from him. As carefully as you can without creating any more physical discomfort for yourself, you twist around to face him. Kirk's hands raise to stop you from moving once he sets the towel off to the side, but you gently brush his hands down to rest in his lap.

"You don't make me uncomfortable," You try to comfort him, the small smile on your face sliding off as you take in the wary and cautious look on his. You anxiously bring your hands together on your leg and wring them together, before muttering out your next words. "You make me nervous." Kirk's facial expression softens as he watches you avert your eyes and look elsewhere, unable to stop himself from reaching out to set his hands on top of yours.

"Talk to me, baby. I can't help you out if you won't let me know what's going on or bothering you." You nod uneasily, untensing your hands so he can entangle his fingers in yours and place them on the small space in between you.

"You don't make me uncomfortable, Kirk. You make me nervous. Every time you reach out to me and ask if I need help, I get all nervous as hell and make a damn fool out of myself. I don't think I've dropped so many amp boxes in my entire life, compared to the handful I have here with you guy in this past year," You playfully try to tug your hands away from his, the flush reappearing on your cheeks as his kisses the back of one of yours in a silent apology. "You haven't done anything wrong. The complete opposite, actually."

Your eyes snap back to his as he entirely lets go of your hands and carefully rearranges your legs to wrap them around him, your jean clad calves now pressed firmly against the back of his middle and the leg of the cushioned furniture, as he tugs you toward him. You rest your hands on his chest and lightly clutch onto the worn-out fabric as his hands find purchase on your waist.

"And what if I felt the same way about you?" He asks, his eyes filling with mirth as he watches yours widen in surprise, his glancing down to your now gaping lips as you part them in shock. "What if I told you that I've broken more guitar string that I should have been allowed to get away with, because I was too busy looking at you? Watching you run around and help everybody, exhausting yourself every single day on this tour and wanting to reach out and help you unwind? What if I told you that I set up this entire New Years after party, so that I could finally find enough courage to come over and tell you about how I felt myself?"

You let out a disbelieving huff of laughter, the shaking of your head causing your hair to cling to the sides of your face. "There's no way."

"Oh yeah, because the boys would never be alright with me inviting the roadies, or anyone else they happen to find attractive enough along to hang back with them and drink some alcohol after a concert." You stop laughing at that, your hands unclenching the fabric of his shirt and instead reaching up to rest against his shoulders, as he looks down at you with conviction.

"I've been gone for you for the past few months, and the only reason why I haven't had enough guts to say anything sooner is because you're so kind with everyone, and I wasn't able to tell if it was any different with me." His slightly shaking hands come up to grasp onto your chin once again, this time tugging you forward to rest your forehead against his.

"You are the most beautiful, hardworking, kind and patient woman I've ever met, and you knock me straight on my ass with just a single look, every single time and with no effort." You blink back tears and send him a tremor of a nervous smile, your heart beating insurmountably fast in your chest.

"And you are the most handsome, hardworking, down to earth, kickass lead guitarist I have ever had the honor of working with." Kirk lets out a shuttered bout of laughter as you lightly brush your lips against his, his grip on your chin losing strength and wavering as you whisper against him.

"Unwind me, then."

⭒

A giggle filters itself out from in between your kiss swollen lips as your legs are raised and placed onto Kirk's lap, you semi helpfully lifting your lower half from underneath you as he tugs down on the seemingly skintight fabric.

"Why in the absolute fucking world are your pants so tight for?" He huffs out, faux annoyance painted on his features before his expression smooths out and turns into an affectionate smile, the sound of your joy causing his heart to feel like it's beating out of his chest. The man in front of you lets out a cheer once he's able to tug them down and off from around your ankles, and your laughter settles into a gasp as his lips begin to trail up your bare legs.

Stubble roughly etches its own temporary indentation into your skin as he sucks and bites marks into your trembling limbs, and you can feel his grin widen against you the closer he gets to your clothed and wet sex. Heat pillows in your groin and a whine builds up in your throat as he stops to create another hickey on your inner thigh, this time only a few inches away from where you truly wanted him to be, his hands holding your stomach down in place as you squirm impatiently.

"Please, I need you." Kirk's eyes close in euphoria at the unsteady tone in your voice, his head raising and mouth removing itself from your purpling skin to dart up towards your pussy, his tongue peeking out to tease you through the cotton. Groaning as your slick pearls out through the fabric and envelops his tastebuds, Kirk lolls his appendage out to run it along your clothed folds, his spit darkening the fabric and causing it to cling to your swollen and pulsating folds.

"Fuck, if I could take a picture of you, I would." He whispers out, his eyes transfixed on the way you push against his hold in desperation, before he mercifully pulls your underwear down and immediately laps at your soaked clit. The cry that you weep lashes itself around the room and bleeds its way underneath the paper-thin door, and you buck against his dripping mouth as one of his hands reach down to bundle up the undergarment and shove it into his back pocket for safe keeping.

Kirk twists his tongue inside of your folds in a figure 8, causing your eyes to roll back in your head and your ankles to cross themselves behind his head, the action silently pleading for him not to pull back or tease. You let out a damn near scream once a single digit is thrusted its way inside of you and easily finds your spongelike spot, your eyes stinging from the dual sensation, it almost feeling like overstimulation even though you haven't orgasmed yet.

Your hand releases itself from around the pillow he carefully placed behind you to protect your injured shoulder, it easily finding purchase in his curly and wild locks as his tongue enters your entrance alongside his finger, his nose nudging against your clit and giving you the perfect amount of friction. Kirk harshly moans out against you as you tangle your fingers in his mane and yank, a second finger sliding inside of you and roughly nudging against your g-spot with relentless revenge. The combination of his tongue and two fingers inside of you and his moans reverberating over your sensitive sex brings you to your first climax, your legs clamping their way around his head and forcing him to stay in place as his mouth and hand continue to pleasure you without stopping.

You sob out his name and writhe in place as he continues to go down on you, only slowing down and licking you clean once he looks up to see large tear stains matting themselves on your cheeks.

"Want you." You brokenly whisper, your legs slowly unwinding from around him and allowing him to lean back. A fresh wave of slick pulses out of you as you take in his drunken expression, your cum covering his chin and jaw and nearly dripping down his neck. You carefully sit up before tugging his shirt over his head and bringing him up to your level, your tongue darting out to taste yourself on his sweat covered skin. Kirk pants out against you before lightly wrapping a hand around your throat to tug you into an opened mouth and messy kiss. You moan into him as the taste of your musk finds its way to you as he licks and teases you, and he grunts as your hand slides down to his covered bulge, your fingers pulsing around his generous length in a teasing manner.

"Baby, please don't." He pleads, squeezing his eyes shut as his balls tighten and raise, heat rushing to his groin and causing his dick to jerk in your grip. You lick your lips in hunger as you feel him pulsate against you, before slightly raising your hand and beginning to unbutton his jeans.

"You don't have to." He tries to assure you, although his hips buck upward to help you yank his jeans and briefs down all at once. "Want to feel you inside of me." You murmur out against his lips, drinking in his whimpers as you reach down to gather some of your wetness to use it as a lubricant to slide your hand down his red and angry shaft.

"Yeah? You can have whatever you'd like, baby. Use me." He moans as you gently push him back to lie down on the couch beneath the two of you, his hands coming up to steady you as you shuffle on top of him and get into a comfortable squatting position.

You gasp loudly as you feel the tip of his dick nudge and twitch against your still oversensitive clit as you ready yourself, and you both let out resounding and punched out sighs of relief as you slowly lower yourself onto his accommodating and girthy length.

"Happy New Years, baby." Kirk shakily jokes from beneath you, before gripping onto your hips to guide you up and down his weeping cock, your soaked and clenching walls welcoming him in every single time.

Happy New Years, indeed.

#metallica #kirk hammett #kirk hammett x reader #kirk hammett smut #metallica smut #metallica imagines #metallica x reader #james hetfield #jason newsted #lars ulrich

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legacygirlingreen · 9 months ago

Text

Part VI Chapter 5: The Repository I // Sebastian Sallow x Reader

A/N: Hi guys! I am finally back with my main story (I know it's been so long!) I have been dreading this since I HATE writing action but it's finally here. The repository! I hope you all enjoy, especially with my strays from canon... I did not edit this because I was too eager to get it out to you all. in the following days ill come back and edit... Anywho much love to those who continue to support me as always. @strawberrypinky my bestie. Anyone who wants to be added to the tag list I am going to try and start please let me know. I also love hearing your ideas so if you have any sound out. <3

Screenshot by @dvinaamesca

Audio for this chapter found HERE & HERE

As always this is Sebastian x y/n but there's almost NO usage of that so if you'd rather insert your MC or OC feel free to do so, just know it is female pronouns!

Masterlist for the other chapters is HERE

Word count: 9.3k

Warnings: violence, mentions of fighting, you know what the repository is about, BRIEF allusions and mentions of kidnapping / almost sexual assault

“Ready whenever you are Weasley.” Sebastian said, looking to the Gryffindor boy who stood towards the back of the great hall with Lucan, both of them holding vials of a mysterious liquid. If either of them wanted to risk their own safety with a Garreth original concoction to help him and the others escape, he wasn’t going to dare question it.

Carefully slipping behind a group of 3rd years at the hufflepuff table, being consoled by the flying instructor, Sebastian made his way to the side door of the great hall, leading out into the quartyard and the outside of the hufflepuff common rooms. As he came to stand by the others, he looked back to the Gryffindors they intended to leave behind, giving them a nod as he turned his attention back to the group.

“We won’t have long to slip out of here once they cause a diversion so we will all need to get working on breaking the charms on the door the second weasley causes a commotion. Natty, you’re the best with charms, mind taking charge?” he asked her as the girl nodded.

“Everyone is aware of where they are to report as soon as we get out of here? We will have to move quickly since they likely already shut down the floo network.” Sebastian whispered, seeing Mr. Moon inching closer and closer to them.

“Of course Sebastian. And we all plan to stay in groups of two so that no one is left alone.” Amit responded, ready to head with Samantha to the Ravenclaw tower to retrieve his notes on the goblins drills to identify points of weakness on their machinery.

Sebastian felt a weight drop in his stomach, as if the adrenaline finally was about to kick into gear. He was ready. He only hoped that he would be able to lead their classmates into battle carefully and safely. He understood the risk they were all taking, and appreciated their willingness to help.

Suddenly a loud bang filled the great hall. Everyone turned their heads to see bright fireworks going off near the entrance as the professors all rushed to discover the cause for commotion. Shrieks and laughter filled the room as Garreth and Lucan were both at the center of the disruption.

“Now!” Sebastian said as Natty attempted to remove the charms placed on the side exit. Just as they were getting somewhere, a figure came up directly behind Sebastian.

“Ah Mr. Sallow… attempting to make a hasty exit are we?” Mr. Moon spoke as he turned around.

“I -” Sebastian thought their plan was done for, knowing that more than likely the man would prevent them from leaving. He watched with surprise as a look of mischief crossed the man’s eyes and he sent a small charm towards the door, allowing it to crack open.

“Go. I’ll cover for you all.” he said with a wink, casting a large disillusionment charm over the entire group, and turning back around with a whistle.

“Now’s our chance, let’s go” Sebastian whispered as they all made their way out of the great hall.

Once the doors slid shut and locked back into place, the illusion was dropped, each of them coming back into view once more. The group picked up the pace, rushing around past the yawning gargoyle as they all rushed to the quad to re enter the school’s halls to disperse wherever they needed. Once inside, Natty, Leander, Everret and Imelda took off towards the library annex and the front of the school. Samantha and Amit rushed towards the ravenclaw tower above them, as Sebastian and Poppy followed, ready to head towards the Astronomy Wing from the bridge near the ravenclaw common room. As the group dispersed, the castle’s shaking continued to grow more and more intense.

As the group rounded the stairs that lead to the ravenclaw common room, Poppy called out to the two students by saying “We will have the others pick you up from the rooftop!” before her and Sebastian rushed down some of the stairs leading towards the Defense against the Dark art’s tower.

Sebastian was surprised seeing how much faster than him the small girl moved, considering how much shorter her legs were than his own, but he didn’t question it. They had the most ground to cover, and needed to find her knapsack in the room of requirement, as well as Highwing and possibly Calico before they headed off. Sebastian knew the hippogriffs were fiercely loyal to the girl, and having them in the fight would prove handy in tracking her location.

Soon the pair found themselves out of breath and in front of the room’s appearing doors. Sebastian hardly waited, as he pushed his way inside, rushing towards the vivarium she kept the creatures in when a small voice called out behind him.

“Mr. Sallow! Ms. Sweeting!” turning around Sebastian saw Deek looking frightened at their hasty entrance.

“Deek, I’m glad to see you’re alright.” Sebastian said, frantically looking for the old leather bag she stored in the room.

“Deek heard what happened to our friend and he sent the phoenix to help. Was he able to locate the camp Ms. Sweeting?” Deek asked, walking towards a small shelf, pulling a chair to sit directly under it, before climbing up onto it.

Poppy only nodded, using this time to catch her breath as she avoided looking at sebastian.

“Good. Those poachers are always up to no good. I am glad our friend is alright.” Deek reached up, retrieving the leather bag Sebastian was looking for easily before handing it off to him”

“Deek went ahead and already put Highwing inside. I figured it might come in handy having them if she came to the room. You’ll take them to her for him right? Deek is so honored to serve such a kind witch like her.” he said, nervously fidgeting as he handed Sebastian the bag.

“I promise we will Deek, thank you for your help.” With a snap of his fingers, the house elf left them standing there in the dimly lit room.

“Ready?” He asked the hufflepuff girl, noticing the way she was staring at something above one of the planting stations on the wall. Just as Sebastian was turning back to the hall leading to the door she let out a loud wail, collapsing to the ground faster than he could react as she folded in on herself.

By the time he made it to her shaking frame, Poppy was tucked into fetal position, rocking back and forth as she struggled to breathe, all the while tears rained down her face. Somewhere between the loud cries and struggled to breathe he could hear her attempting to speak but couldn’t tell what she was saying.

“Hey, shhh Poppy…” he cut himself off before reprimanding the girl on the poor timing of her outburst as he saw a moving portrait of his witch and the girl along the wall.

“I , I…” she started to say as he tried his best to figure out what was upsetting the girl.

“Hey Sweets , you gotta breathe alright? Not doing anyone any good by hyperventilating and I really hate to leave you behind but if you’re not well enough to fight-“

“No!” She shouted, startling him. In her brown eyes Sebastian could see a look reminiscent of a cornered animal, so he leaned back slightly, giving her some space.

“I -“ Poppy spoke looking at his outstretched hand in the gap between them where he’d paused it before she continued crying. “I’m so sorry” the hufflepuff girl wailed as she covered her face with shaky hands.

Finally taking the risk he leaned forward enough to put a hand on her shoulder as he felt the tremors wracking her body as she cried. If he left her, he was concerned she’d join them later and alone, so he needed to calm her and do so quickly.

“Poppy,” he said with a sigh as she continued crying into her palms. She refused to look at him so once again he repeated her name much more firmly this time. “Poppy.”

The girl paused, sniffling before removing her hands as he looked at her blotchy cheeks and he sighed as he removed his hand from her shoulder.

“It’s not your fault Poppy, I don’t blam-“

“It is my fault! If I hadn’t asked her to accompany me then she wouldn’t have gotten hurt!” The girl said before once again dissolving into tears.

“Rookwood could’ve gotten to her any time, it’s not your fault… she’s had a lot of dangerous people after her for a while now. It was only a matter of time before-“ Sebastian tried his best to reason with the girl, and while he found the words heavy upon his tongue, deep down he knew their truth. He couldn’t blame Poppy for what happened. Perhaps a much younger version of himself would. It would be an easy scapegoat for what happened since the hufflepuff girl had indeed abandoned his love, but his resolve in loving the girl in question caused him to see this wasn’t Poppy’s fault. She was only doing as she was asked from the little bits and pieces he had heard. He just simply wanted to know more…

“Poppy what happened?” He asked her gently after a prolonged period of silence overtook the space and she sucked in a deep breath before telling him everything.

How they had flown over the area, arrived near Feldcroft and found a camp. What they overheard and how his love slipped into the camp in secret and found the journal off rookwoods desk, before all hell broke loose. How she begged the girl to get Anne to safety. How as she left all she heard was the ashwinders using crucio. What happened with Solomon on feldcroft and how she had refrained from telling Anne the truth. How she had come back to the school and retrieved the potions master, enlisting the help of the centaurs to free her. The horrid state his love had been found in - battered, bruised and bare.

Poppy shivered as she explained watching the girl hobble out of the camp wearing essentially only Professor Sharp's overcoat before Rookwood emerged. How she killed him in anger and frustration but did so by repelling his own usage of the killing curse before collapsing and having to be carried back by the professor.

She told him about the fight in the hospital ward between his love and Solomon as his uncles sins had been revealed. How the staff watched in horror as she repeatedly punched the man over and over again until she bloodied his nose and busted his lip, all the while having the injuries from her imprisonment still visible. As the school had started shaking they left the hospital ward the same time poppy had been ushered out with Garreth Weasley who had come back by having heard the girl was back safe after helping by finding his aunt to inform her.

Sebastian gladly accepted her fast and nervous explanation of the events he’d only been allowed brief snippets of until now. Taking a deep breath as she finally seemed to have stopped crying, Sebastian reached a hand out to her shoulder to comfort her in a way that wouldn’t be inappropriate.

“Poppy it’s not your fault. You were doing as she asked of you… and in doing so you helped my sister. You also went back to help her. I don’t blame you, in fact…” he trailed off as the girl looked up to him from where he knelt next to her on the floor as he spoke. “I should be thanking you. You helped save Anne, my sister is getting the help she needs because of you. You saved her life by going back. That means the world…” he told her as he felt a surge of gratitude.

“But-“

“We don’t have much time, and she needs us. How about we hash this out later okay? Just please know, I don’t blame you. And I’m thankful to you for helping Anne. We are all really fortunate to have you as a friend…” he confirmed as he offered his hand out to pick her up off the floor. Looking around the room he noticed an assortment of cloaks, glasses and items she had discovered exploring with protective charms.

Looking at the loom in the corner he saw something much more his size than her own. As he picked it up, underneath was a page that had descriptions of what beast items had been used alongside ones she intended to acquire eventually to add. At the top she saw his name with “ancient magic keeper”. Unsure what it all meant, and realizing the depth of the danger they were marching into, he decided to make the executive decision to take it now, knowing if she was still alive a part of her would be relieved to see him safe.

“Poppy, grab some stuff out of the chest she has of items from the tombs we’ve explored. They have protections on them. Most of them are ridiculous but… every little thing we can do to help out is important. We can take some with us for the others as well” he explained before hauling off into the other room where he knew she kept a dressing screen and stripping off his dirty clothes from completing the keeper trial pulling on the cloth and leather suit she’d weaved for him. He was always impressed with her ability to recognize the needs of others so thoroughly and realize them into perfect gifts. Shaking his head he rejoined poppy as she had finally sifted through the more useful items such as cloaks and scarfs, holding them as he emerged.

“She’s been working on that for a long time.” Poppy explained and he nodded.

“I can imagine… It's really detailed. I can feel the magic protecting it” he said while dropping his normal cloak to the floor while helping her grab items for the others in his hand not holding the leather bag. He’d come back for his uniform later, right now they needed to hurry.

“Let’s go meet up with the others atop the astronomy tower, come on” he said as they left the room and headed off quickly.

Just as they made it to the top observation deck a flash of blue round the side of the stone tower.

“Did someone call for a lift?” Everett asked as Imelda flew next to him. Sebastian saw Natty on the back of the broom already behind Everett and when he asked who he was meant to be joining, Leander awkwardly climbed higher into view as he clung to his broom for dear life. Poppy began to climb over the railing, hopping behind Imelda without much word.

Just as he went to ask about the extra broom Amit showed up with Samantha riding next to him, along with a face he hadn’t expected.

“Larson?” Sebastian asked at seeing the Ravenclaw in their class who rarely spoke up. Amit offered an explanation for why they were there, not waiting at their common room’s roof, as well why the blond was now suddenly with them.

“We got to our common room and when I got to my room I found Andrew had been left behind. When the professors ushered everyone out they forgot to check the roof somehow and Andrew got locked out. He was just making his way out to find out what happened when Samantha and I arrived. He offered his broom along with our Quidditch captains that he, uh… borrowed…” Amit explained as Sebastian looked to the only open spots to hop on.

Before he could even ask Andrew to spare him from having to sit with Leander, Samantha explained their quick rational, ruining his plan of riding with the Ravenclaw not the Gryffindor : “Andrew has offered to go to Hogsmeade and find Officer Singer and get help” Dale spoke and he sighed. It was a smart addition to their plan and he nodded to the young man.

“Sallow stop stalling and just get on with Preset. It won’t kill you.” Imelda called out with an annoyed eye roll and he rationalized that while his housemate was correct, it didn’t mean he had to enjoy it.

“Alright. Thanks Larson. Prewett, make room” Sebastian grunted out, levitating the items he carried over to Poppy’s outstretched arms before climbing over the rails, reaching towards the ginger as he jumped, landing on the back of the broom unceremoniously.

“Do me a favor and don’t fall off” the boy said and he huffed in reply.

“Prewett please don’t get us killed on this thing” he said as he reached around behind himself to grab the broom for stabilization instead of the boy near him.

“I wasn’t planning on it, Sallow” Leander said with an eyeroll.

“How much further?” Solomon grumbled out as they made their way down the steps into the repository. Opening the door she saw a long walkway leading to another door with the ruin she’d grown so acclimated to seeing at this point.

“A problem Solomon?” she hissed out as she felt each step burn her lungs further from the anguish delt during her captivity. Unfortunately fate was forcing her from one bad situation into another and although she wishes she’d been granted the simple chance to see Sebastian - possibly say goodbye if things went south - Fig’s confirmation he was safe meant the world.

Glancing over her shoulder to see her Lover’s guardian walking alongside professor Sharp as Fig made his way leading the pack, she waited for his response. His eye roll is almost invisible due to the forming black eye. It reminded her of the way her knuckles had fallen against the man’s face and she simply huffed in response and turned back, attempting to prepare for what was to come.

“The others should be joining us shortly” Eleazar informed the group and she nodded, relieved to know that the other professors would soon be assisting and that for once she wouldn’t be dealing with the keeper business on her own.

As they made it to the end of the walkway and pushed open the final door the ground beneath them shook violently, nearly sending everyone to their knees as a large drill became visible off in the distance. She had seen drills like this once before, off with Amit in a mine when Lodgok was still alive. Lodgok. She tried not to grimace as she was reminded of her goblin friend who had died to help wizard kind defend themselves against his brother.

“Damn. The Goblins” Fig announced as the others regained their balance.

“I wonder if Ranrok is with them?” she pondered, looking for a safe way down now that the cavern was beginning to collapse onto itself.

“One way to find out. Over here.” Fig called from the right and she saw a winding path leading down, following behind him as the professor and Solomon picked up the pace to join.

Rushing ahead she tugged at the leather harness she’d snagged on her way down to the map chamber, hoping it would do its best to protect her for the fight ahead. The material scratched the newly developing scars in a way that was uncomfortable, however she’d have to ignore that for the time being.

As they rounded out to flat ground she saw movement ahead, along with some goblins standing next to one of the drills.

“Quickly. We’ve got company ahead” she rushed, leaving the men behind as she charged in without pondering the consequences. So often when dealing with this threat she snuck around, using the disillusionment charm Sebastian had taught her. On missions to keeper trials, seeing Lodgok, with Sebastian chasing Isadora’s memories - each time she usually resorted to sneaking around and only using violence when necessary. However today, watching these goblins wielding such dark magic, attacking a school to which she’d found a home, she was seeing red. They would pay for what they had done with blood.

She had leveled several goblins using ancient magic in a fit of rage without even realizing it, that was until Fig placed a palm against her shoulder, indicating that the path was now clear and she nodded, following after him, leaving Solomon Sallow stunned for a moment. In his mind, he’d always viewed the girl as innocent. She so sweetly regarded his niece and acted nothing but a love-smitten girl to his nephew, yet watching her effortlessly reduce a horde of goblins in her bath to nothing but a pile of ash, he shuddered at what she was truly capable of.

He was worried what would happen when she finally unleashed the full extent of her anger upon him for what he’d done to Sebastian.

“What in Merlin’s name was that? What kind of dark magic are you wielding?” he asked in fear as the other professors shrugged, having seen the girl wield this magic before.

“That is what happens to those who choose to harm others…” she hissed as his blood ran cold. Solomon actually stepped back, fearful as he watched her eyes darken and the grip on her wand tighten. The scar running from the top of her eyebrow, coming down to her right nostril only adding to the illusion that his girl he’d allowed in his home was truly dangerous.

“Now is not the time” Professor Sharp told her firmly, breaking the trance she had fixed upon Solomon and she huffed, turning to face the path ahead once more.

Aesop Sharp used a modified version of the blasting charm, knocking the large goblin made drill out of their path as everyone continued ahead.

The blood thrumming behind her ears had drowned out the loud sounds of stones falling, drills piercing the school’s sanctity and the shouts from both the goblins and her allies. In the midst of the rubble, smoke, water’s spray and ash she hardly could focus on the task at hand. Her mind being plagued by a sole thought: Sebastian Sallow.

Fighting to keep him safe.

Fighting to end this goblin threat so his home would be free.

Fighting to seek justice for Anne.

Fighting to get back to him and the life she wished to build.

Rushing ahead, Professor Fig led them all into a crouch underneath a rock blocking majority of the path. As they came to the other side safely, the wall to the left exploded, a large armored troll barreling through as another erupted on the opposing wall.

As terrifying as the sight would have been to some, all it did was trigger her memory. Suddenly she was back in Hogsmeade, that first day she had spent at Hogwarts. Professor Weasley had granted her the choice in who would accompany her, and the boy whom she’d met in the common room, as well as defeated in a duel never straying from her mind.

Their playful banter as they walked, and how he had slipped off while she got her wand, leaving a slight longing to see his chocolate iris as she was handed the elegant dogwood she’d grown accustomed to carrying. As soon as she found him again in the square, they were quickly faced with a troll, similar to the one swinging its club at her now.

She tried not to become distracted as she fought it, occasionally hearing spells muttered by the professors and Solomon as they all attempted to fight off the trolls and emerging goblins. Yet, she truly couldn’t help but see the way Sebastian had pushed himself between her and the danger, ready to protect her.

The mind was such a wild thing, as she could almost feel his arm wrapping itself around her waist protectively as he pulled her to the side as that troll had barreled near her. Except this time when she blinked she saw it was not Sebastian at all. This time, it had been the much larger frame of Aesop Sharp as his eyes sternly looked to her for confirmation she was alright before he turned to continue the onslaught of spells.

Soon the four of them reduced the enemies ahead to the ground, as it seemingly became aware that the path ahead was veiled. As she rounded a small outsticking section of the rock, a bluish glow of ancient magic allerted her.

“This is the way forward,” she said, as the men looked perplexed at the normal stone wall. It wasn’t until she pushed a bright blue beam of magic towards it, did ice like shards spray around them, and a path was revealed.

They all entered the darkened cave as suddenly four wands illuminated with the hushed combined voices speaking Lumos. While dust reigned down on them from the moment above she once again was reminded of how not long ago in a similar mine her and Sebastian had whispered the spell to get past some devil’s snare on their way to seek answers about Isadora.

Finally coming out of the darkened section of cave she dropped her wand, rushing ahead and leaving the men behind. Adrenaline flooded her veins and she’d be damned if she wasted the universe’s way of keeping her safe by creating the sense of urgency around dispelling this Goblin threat. Reaching this level of goblins, she realized they had been under the school a while in this portion. Small wooden structures and supplies had been moved in, and there were many more enemies here.

“Such Arrogance” a goblin close to her called out and she couldn’t help the frustrated grunt that escaped her as she lifted him into the air, using Accio to haul him through the space as she knocked him to the ground.

As one came close to professor Fig’s back she recalled one of the spells that had become her favorite: Confringo.

The way Sebastian had pressed his chest into her back the day he’d shown her the undercroft, instructing her through the spell’s movement before stepping back and allowing her to ignite the chandeliers. She’d never forget the way he smiled so brightly she saw his white teeth, noting the way their slightly large shape was both slightly awkward but so incredibly endearing.

As the goblin ahead was sent back in a fiery blast that erupted from the end of her wand, she was brought back to reality. She wasn’t in the undercroft with Sebastian. And it would do her good to remember so as she faced this threat. But trying to retrain one’s mind to forgo a love so grand, so deep that it was as if he was ingrained in her very soul, even in the face of danger, was no easy task.

Solomon sent the last of the goblins in their path to the ground with a spell she hadn’t truly heard, not that she cared. Looking around, once again she saw a wisp of magic, signaling the others as she shattered it and pressed forward. As they emerged this time on the other side of the cave, they came to a large open section.

The path leading to a drop off was narrow, and in the process of rushing forward she nearly fell down, only being stopped by Solomon’s quick reaction of grabbing her arm, hoisting her back. She didn’t have a chance to react to it as her eye’s suddenly focused on what lay ahead.

A whole army of goblins, several large armored trolls and even some spiders lay in their path to the repository. Bloody Hell.

“Merlin be with us” Fig whispered as she suddenly felt the resolve which had carried her thus far beginning to crumble. She had dealt with much, but the vast majority of those times there had been a fraction of enemies in her path. This was simply the sort of battles detailed by muggle epic’s and she wondered how she was expected to traverse this alive to even be able to defend the ancient magic store.

“I-” she muttered, backing away from the ledge in fear as the men turned towards her, knowing that they didn’t have a choice. Fig knew that at the end of the day they’d need to get her across this battle zone, even if they did so carrying her. She was the only one who could open the repository to protect it.

Suddenly all she wished for was to be back in Sebastian’s arms the way she had a few days prior. When he saw her and Poppy off. When he held her so tightly, afraid to let go. Had he known the dangers ahead? Was it the universe trying to grant him a precious goodbye with her? Was she destined to die down in this cave without the opportunity to see him once more?

“Hey -” she was so worried she hadn’t noticed the way the concerned former Auror had knelt down near her until Professor Sharp’s eye’s scanned her face. He had seen her apprehension a mile away. While the girl had done so well, he knew at some point she’d start to allow the situation to wilt her strength. Removing the only helpful potion he had on him at the time, he thrust the focus draught into her hands, removing the cork, and forcing her to down its contents.

Her hyperventilating temporarily stopped and she nodded, ready to push on, but the pit was only growing harsher in her stomach. As they stepped towards the walkway to the right suddenly the loud sound of people apperating filled the air.

Looking to the left, the four already battle worn individuals saw their backup in the form of the other professors. Relief flooded her veins as she adjusted the grip on her wand. At least they would all have people protecting them from above as they ran through this battle.

“The Goblins have somehow evaded the school’s defensive charms” she heard professor Ronen call out to the others as their group made their way down to where they could be seen by their assistance.

“Lead them this way, we will make quick work of them!” she heard Natty’s mother shout as the professors began firing at the goblins ahead, clearing a path as they made their way down.

“The others are clearing a path for us, let’s hurry” Professor Fig shouted as they all rushed forward, taking advantage of the empty battlefield.

Coming across a small land bridge made of stone she saw Hecat standing atop an embankment, clearing the grounds for them as she shouted a thankful remark at the DADA instructor. “Couldn’t have had better timing Professor Hecat” she remarked playfully, knowing that under similar circumstances Sebastian often resorted to humor in order to calm himself. She found the strategy to be helpful as the older woman smiled down at her while knocking down a goblin and saying, “I couldn’t allow the school’s best duelist to face this alone now could I? Who else would be around to win at that illicit school club without you around?” the woman teased her back, knowing that the girl was attempting humor in this frightening situation to ground herself.

“Thank you professor” Fig called out, signaling the lagging Sharp and Solomon to catch up.

“You wouldn’t dare Sharp” Solomon grumbled as they caught up.

“Don’t tempt me Sallow” the former Auror’s bickered as they continued firing curses.

“Now is not the time for this” she reminded them, despite the burning desire to see whatever pain Sharp was intended to inflict upon her love’s guardian.

This battle would not be easy but they could not resort to fighting each other at this moment. Just as the area ahead looked clear, the largest troll she’d seen to date came barreling ahead.

“Especially not when we just got company….” she signed, raising her wand ready to fight alongside the others.

With the lead of Imelda, the group of students finally set down at the base of the goblin-created cave. Inside Sebastian could hear shouting and spells being cast.

Sebastian had asked to set down the brooms in order to pass out the gear he and Poppy retrieved from the Room of Requirement as he eagerly removed himself from behind Leander.

Taking the leather bag from Poppy, he used magic to remove both Highwing and Calico, the two hippogriffs the girls had rescued from its contents. He would be damned if he let Pruitt fly him into battle. The boy was utterly dreadful on a broom.

“Woah, easy now highwing” he found himself attempting to settle the hippogriff before turning to Poppy. From what he knew of the girl he knew she likely would be more comfortable with a beast.

“Poppy, would you like to take-” he started to say as the hufflepuff girl quickly cut in, rushing towards the darker creature to gently stroke it’s feathers.

“Oh yes!” she spoke as she turned towards Calico and continued praising him saying, “Oh what a handsome hippogriff you are indeed!” Despite the mortal danger looming, Sebastian still found it within him to chuckle at her childlike wonder regarding the creature.

“Any last minute advice?” Natty asked as they readied themselves.

“These are ridiculous” Leander mentioned holding up a pair of glasses that had a single eye of newt.

“Then don’t take them. I figured you prefer as much protection on that ugly mug of a fac-” he started as Poppy shoved past him, reaching for Calico.

“Sebastian, focus” Natty told him and he grunted.

“I haven’t exactly thought this far ahead. I usually just march in-” he started as the ginger grumbled, having pushed a pair of quidditch goggles onto his face reluctantly while wrapping the most hideous patchwork cloak known to man over his shoulders.

“I don’t love the thought of going in unprepared Sallow. That’ll get us killed. So unless you have a plan, perhaps this wasn’t a great idea” Leander said.

“Actually…. I have a plan…” Amit spoke out, disrupting the argument as everyone turned to him.

“Go ahead Amit” Sebastian said, ready to simply get in there and help.

“Well since you and Poppy have those… beasts… why don’t you both focus on finding y/n… as for the rest of us, we will make sure we are paired up. One person focuses on flying and keeping a safe distance while the other casts spells, uses potions or the plants we collected. The goblins, from what I've seen, have such a short range on the magic they can conjure, so if we fly above them we should be safe…” he explained as Sebastian nodded.

“Sounds good enough to me. Poppy and I can take up the rear-”

“I want to stay near the front with Imelda,” she said quickly.

“Fine. But once I leave to find her, you will need to pull up the rear Poppy” he explained, hoping up on the back of Highwing. Luckily he’d spent enough time around the creature that it allowed him with ease.

Poppy only nodded, looking at Imelda nervously, as the Slytherin gave the hufflepuff girl a nod of encouragement while she climbed on the back of Calico.

“Last chance to turn back” he warned the others and when no one left he simply encouraged the creature she loved to lift off, flying into the cavern and hoping by some miracle he got down there before too much death and destruction was dished out.

Pushing the beast to hasten Sebastian tried his best to focus so he could get to her safely.

“Come on Highwing… let’s go get our girl” he whispered into her feathers as the animal seemingly responded accordingly to his words.

“Bombarda!” Sharp yelled at the troll, sending it flying backwards as the last of the trolls in their way was defeated. However, as the beast fell down, it knocked into a giant stone structure on its way over the cliff to their right.

As the girl looked up all she saw was that large rock coming down to crush her and before she could react, she witnessed magic halting it midair. Suddenly the rock was lifted into a makeshift bridge connecting to the repository. As she turned around Professor Weasley smiled and held it there for her as she rushed forward. Behind her Fig and Sharp were dispelling the few goblins around them as Solomon pushed past her to the repository.

Following behind him, she hoped the others would soon follow and that someone would prevent the goblins hot on her trail from harming her as she ran quickly across the unstable structure. Just as she got close enough to see Solomon’s face, she saw it fall as Matilda was struck, dropping the land bridge as she reached out to the man. Solomon reached forward, grabbing her arms just in time and pulling her to solid ground as the rock fell, the goblins attop falling to the depths below with it.

“Thank you-” she said and the man nodded looking down. It was impossible not to see Sebastian in his eyes, as they shared so many of the same features, but the darkened eyes with gold flecks being their main similarity.

“Fig!” she shouted and the man turned briefly to see her trapped on the other side with Solomon. Seeing that there was no longer a way across, he quickly retrieved the wand, tossing it to her as she used magic to catch it.

“Go! Defend the repository! We shall find another way around to help you when we can!” Fig shouted before returning to fight the goblins alongside the other professors.

“But” she began to protest but Fig shook his head, shouting “Go!” before resuming his fight with the other professors and the goblins.

“Well, I guess we are on our own” she said dejectedly, not wanting Solomon to be her only line of defense. She couldn’t trust him if he would endanger his own wards, but given the circumstances she didn’t have a choice.

“About what happened-” he tried to speak and she merely held up her palm to stop him.

“Some other time.” she said, encouraging him to follow as she pushed ahead, finding the opening to the repository guarded by two large pensive guards. At first they remained still, but she knew soon they would lift their weapons and likely attack them both.

“Where are we?” Solomon huffed out, ignoring the splendor of the cavern. Oh how she wished Fig was here. She’d been on this journey all year, and it was finally leading here. To be with someone who didn’t understand the momentous moment this was - someone she truly wanted to harm given the circumstances - felt sickening in a way.

Sighing, she responded, “The final repository”. Despite wishing she was far away from Solomon Sallow, she still had wonder and intrigue in her tone.

In the time she’d known Sebastian’s uncle, she’d always wondered truly how bad the man could be. Given the revelations she’d had in the past twenty four hours, combined with the things Sebastian had told her, it shouldn't have been such a shock. The man frequently spoke down on his deceased brother. He treated Anne as if she was some wounded pet to look after, and not a young woman deserving of basic respect. He tormented his nephew from the day that boy stepped foot in Feldcroft, stripping him of a physical identifier and means to which the late Alice Sallow had shared with her son. Yet, the venom to which laced itself in the man's voice finally gave the girl a glimpse into what it really must’ve been like for Sebastian to grow up with this man - this dreadful, horrible, evil man - as a guardian. “You say that like it’s supposed to mean something girl”.

“It means something to me” she returned, hoping that he would just shut his mouth and deal with the situation on hand but the man continued to plague her by asking, “What does it mean?”

“It’s a long explanation that we certainly don’t have time for,” she grumbled, stepping forward. Finally close enough to trigger the guards from their sleep, they came to life, lifting their swords with a loud and ominous sound. Trying to warn the man, who seemingly had become distracted by the room itself she called, “Mr. Sallow” in order to alert him.

“What?” he responded in annoyance so once again she called his name. Finally sensing the danger he turned to her in anger, shouting “What sort of dark magic is this?” Solomon raised his wand ready to strike. She simply pushed his arm down, hoping he wouldn’t engage the guardians.

“Uncle Solomon, please!” She resorted to calling him by the name which her love used, hoping to appeal to the man's better nature, to no avail.

“Stand back!” the man shouted, pushing her to the side as she grew annoyed. Once again she called his name in warning and he kept going, shouting “What are these things?!” as the guards stalked closer.

“They are guardians!” she spoke, hoping her knowledge would convince the man to listen to her warnings but he continued to ready his wand to strike.

“Guardians of what?” In the man's voice she sensed his fear, but his stubbornness - a trait it seemed followed all the Sallow’s - was stronger.

Finally annoyed with his inability to listen she told him, “Stop! You cannot fight them!” Deep down she knew that these guards were only taken down by ancient magic, and only partially slowed by ordinary magic.

“The hell I can’t! I was an Auror!” he called back, nearing a spell as she desperately pulled his arm, the man shoving her off aggressively.

“You are going to get yourself killed!” she told him but he still refused to listen to her.

As if it all made sense the man turned to her angrily shouting, “But Sebastian will kill me regardless if you die!”

Sebastian. Wait Sebastian! She quickly drew the wand that he had collected for Fig on her behalf from Olivander, holding it out to the guardians shouting “STOP”. Suddenly the guards halted, turning their swords inward as they allowed them to pass without attacking.

“But - how?” he stuttered as he watched the young girl wallace ahead without fear between the now paralyzed statues.

“I told you. There’s an explanation for this. For all of this” she told the man. Turning her head she saw him contemplating as she informed him, “come along” as finally Solomon began to trail behind her once more.

“What in Merlin’s name is that-” Solomon asked her as he got the first glance at the magic ahead. She could sense it's dark energy even from this far away.

“It’s the magic I wield, ancient magic, but it's been corrupted by negative emotions and pain by a former wielder of the same magic. The house atop the hill where Anne was cursed… she lived there many years ago… Rookwood thought the magic was his birthright given his descendant Charles was also a keeper of this magic” she admitted to the man.

“Thats- that’s what the goblins have been wielding isnt it?” he asked and she nodded.

“It’s up to us to defend it” she told him with a sigh. She watched the older man’s eyes soften for a moment as he looked at her.

“You’ve been doing this? The whole time? You are hardly of age and you are the sole thing holding wizard kind’s fate in your hands?” he asked her, his words void of anger.

“Yes,” she told him honestly.

“How much of this has Sebastian gotten himself involved in?” Solomon asked.

“Enough to help me get answers but he’s never been close to this amount of danger. I don’t want him near this. This magic is what almost killed me once. Likely will be what kills me in the end…” she said quietly as she looked on at it.

They didn’t speak for a moment as the weight of what she spoke hung in the air. She knew deep down that at the end of this long journey either Ranrok would kill her and take the magic, or she would have to kill the goblin to prevent a full uprising.

“I had no idea Sebastian had gotten himself involved with something this complex. I am honestly surprised he hasn’t tried to prevent you from getting involved in danger given how much he has grown to care for you” the man spoke and she shook her head.

“He only wished to help. He knew he couldn’t stop me. He knows this is too important to let childish whims prevent me from my legacy…” she said sadly, thankful he had supported her so well given the obsessive nature to which he initially had when she met him surrounding Anne’s curse. Over the year, his mind had cleared, his resolve and maturity finally seeing the light of day at the encouragement she provided.

“But he loves you, so much so that-” Solomon was interrupted by a voice she had only heard a few times, and it made her blood run cold.

“The arrogance of wizard kind. Goblins built this repository, it belongs to us.”

When Sebastian and the others finally made it to the base of the opening created by the drills all he saw was utter chaos.

Smoke, ash, debris, fallen goblins, fallen trolls, rubble and smashed wood all lay along the ground. As they flew overhead he tried to find the bulk of the firefight, tightening his thighs along the hippogriffs back as it sped ahead. Soon he flew above professor Garlic and Onai surrounded by Goblins as he yelled to the others.

“Look down there! Professor Garlic needs help!” the ginger shouted as he continued to look down on the platform with worry.

“Hold on a second, wait-” Sebastian tried to warn the boy that keeping the distance was the safer option. Having seen Leander in crossed wands he truly did worry the boy was going to get himself killed.

“Unlikely Sallow!” he said, veering off from the group as Sebastian’s eyes grew large.

“Leander! What are you doing? We had a plan!” he shouted over the noise, hoping the boy would listen to reason but the gryffindor only flew lower to the ground.

“To hell with the plan, this place is a madhouse. Just keep going!” He informed them all before he sped ahead, dismounting without a second thought and dropping next to the herbology professor. Sebastian watched in shock as the boy very bravely opened his robe pockets and began to toss several cabbages out, preventing the goblins from advancing.

“Mr. Prewett!” Maribel shouted upon seeing the cabbages chase after the few remaining goblins

“Thought you could use a hand professor!” he said, before reaching in and grabbing a venomous tentacular and throwing it to the ground as it began attacking the closest goblin nearby as Leander continued proving his point by saying “nasty little buggers aren’t they!”

“Wonderful thinking I suppose. Magical plants can be deadly after all” the herbology professor said. Well so much for their plan. Sebastian reasoned as he watched the only ounce of Gryffindor bravery Leander Prewett ever displayed as he tossed a venous tentacular at their professor who simply smiled and began using the plants to protect themselves.

“Well that plan lasted about a few seconds” came a voice beside him as Sebastian turned his head seeing Everette Cloptan with Natty still riding behind him. He could see the look in the Gryffindor’s eyes and knew that she too would likely disembark, and when Natty spoke it only confirmed what he figured.

“Everett set me down there with my mother” was all she spoke as the broom dropped low, and Natty hopped off to join her mother as Everret nodded, flying off to keep an eye out above.

“Natty! What are you doing here?” her mother asked sternly.

“Helping my friend” Natty responded without backing down as she quickly uncorked a potion she’d stolen from Sharp’s classroom and downing its contents. Sebastian watched as lightning finished off the rest of the enemies and he circled around once more.

“This is too dangerous for you here” the professor spoke as she continued using charm work.

“That is for me to decide. I will not stand by and let others die on my behalf this time” he heard the girl speak as he grew sullen. His love had told him once that Natty’s father died protecting them in Africa.

“We shall discuss this later” he heard professor Onai speak as he flew ahead once more. He lingered nearby, worried about one of his more close friends from their year but when Everett returned with news he decided that Natty was more than capable of handling herself.

“I'll scout ahead. Imelda you up for a bit of friendly competition?” he asked and Sebastian admired the boy's ability to look past the danger and still see the fun in the situation. It made him wonder why he hadn’t spent more time with Clopton during his time at Hogwarts beyond the occasion of shared detentions. If they made it out alive, perhaps he should make the effort to befriend the boy.

“As if you could ever dream of being as fast as me clopton… lets go” his housemate shouted as the two rushed off on their brooms, racing ahead.

“Natty, I am going to go ahead if you are alright here” he told her, as the girl looked up to his hovering hippogriff mount.

“We’ve got this covered, go find out friend” she spoke with a nod as Leander also commented “we can cover the entrance, don’t worry about us Sallow” so he decided to take his leave before flying off further into the cavern.

Soon he stumbled upon Amit and Samantha flying near professors Ronen and Hecat. Swooping down he sent a large spider near Professor Hecat flying with “confringo” as he hovered near her. The older woman scolded him despite her smile by saying “Mr. Sallow when I recommended honing your dueling skills this is not what I meant”.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll serve the detentions later- Diffindo!” he paused mid sentence to slice through a goblin approaching highwing before once again turning towards the professors.

“Where are the others?” he asked as the woman’s eyes widened in shock. Suffice to say none of the professor’s had anticipated students to join the battle, but their assistance seemed to be welcome as they helped disrupt the battle enough for the professors to get the upper hand.

“She went with Fig, they are ahead with Weasley and Sharp” Ronen commented, pointing to a large area where he could see Eleazar off in the distance.

“Thank you professor-” he began to say before losing his train of thought at the witnessing of the two ravenclaws circling around them on a broom. Samantha was shrieking as she repeatedly fired “accio” at goblins to hoist them into the air and then dropping the spell as they fell from the great height. The sight almost made him laugh at how she clung to Amit and didn’t pay attention to the goblins as they fell to their deaths from her actions.

“Amit, don't fly too close to them!” she scolded the boy who seemingly only nodded before coming in closer to where they all were.

“Hello there professors, I presume you could use a hand” he spoke calmly to the group as Samantha continued looking around them frantically.

“Don’t mention it Mr. Sallow. Mrs. Dale that’s a very unique use of the spell I taught you in class, but I suppose an effective one” Ronen spoke as he geared up to leave once more, knowing that they likely had things covered in this area of the battle. Just as he was about to take off Hecat stopped him.

“Mr. Sallow. Don’t forget that sometimes surprising an opponent is more effective than burning them to a crisp” she commented as he turned to face her.

It reminded him of the first day he met his love. During that class Hecat taught them a simple levitation charm and his girl had bested him in a duel in front of their class. To this day its still the only one he’d ever lost.

“Levioso. I know. I’ll be going now if you… and that unique use of accio has things covered here” he told the woman who simply smiled and said, “clever indeed. We shall watch your back. Go find her”. The woman gave him a reassuring glance before resuming the battle and with that he was off once more.

Rushing ahead, he abandoned them as Imelda flew in with Everrett hot on her tails to start assisting the professors.

“Sebastian!” Poppy shouted, catching up with him as they headed towards the main firefight.

“Ronen said they were just ahead, come on” he shouted, abandoning the hufflepuff as he chased off in the direction he hoped she would be.

When he arrived Fig, Weasley and Sharp were circled by a massive amount of goblins and he was thankful Highwing seemingly took charge, smashing into a large pile of them without warning and he rolled off the hippogriffs back in time for the beast to start absolutely ripping them to shreds. Using “diffindo” he landed with an abrupt start and jumped to the ground next to the professors.

“Mr. Sallow! What in Godric’s name are you doing here?” the man asked him in shock upon seeing the boy, whom he left petrified in the hall outside his class.

“Ronen said she was with you. Where is she?” he asked out of breath.

“We got-” Fig stopped to temporarily fire off a spell at the several closing in goblins, finally reducing the field to nothing as he turned to face the young man, “separated…” he said.

Seeing a goblin with his back turned, Sebastian decided to heed Hecat’s suggestion as he used the levitation spell and turned towards Fig once more. “I see all the professors here. Tell me she’s not alone” he started to panic at the thought.

“She’s not alone. She’s with your uncle” Aesop said as he immediately begun to panic. “But, that’s - and he-” he stuttered as the ground beneath their feet violently wrecked, throwing them all to the stone below. He heard Poppy and the others begin screaming as the earth around them shook so intensely and stones fell. He used non verbal magic to attempt to shield himself, but some of the rocks pushed through and he yelled, as his arm felt the full impact of falling debris.

As soon as it began, the shaking stopped and the dust settled. “Is everyone alright” he heard Professor Sharp ask and he shook his head some, attempting to lessen the throbbing in his shoulder.

He vaguely heard Imelda telling the man everyone seemed alright as he finally stood to his feet and brushed himself off, his palms collecting blood from his shoulder as he did so.

“We need to find a way across” Fig spoke to the group and he agreed wholeheartedly with the man.

“I’ll go ahead” Sebastian said as he limped towards Highwing, hoping he could get there faster on the back of the creature.

“But Sebastian… you’re hurt…” Poppy spoke out with a gasp and he shook his head.

“I’m fine, I have to get-” he was cut off but a noise he never wanted to hear again in his life. A sound so wretched and disheartening that it made his chest hurt. It made the blood in his veins grow icey as his head swiveled in the direction it had come from.

A loud, feminine scream was heard across the cliff separating the ruin door to the repository and where he stood.

He knew that scream. It was her.

To be continued…

#hogwarts legacy #sebastian sallow #sebastian sallow x you #sebastian sallow x reader #sebastian sallow/reader #sebastian sallow x slytherin!reader #fluff #hogwarts legacy fandom #anne sallow #ominis gaunt #aesop sharp #solomon sallow #hogwartslegacy #leander prewett

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thelampisaflashlight · 3 months ago

Text

A Lack of Engagement Pt. 8: Save The Date

[Previous Part: Here. The final installment in the ALOE series. I am first and foremost a delighter in chaos. This is what happens when you let me write while ill.] Below the cut.

While the groundskeeper drags the lake closest to the docks for any signs of the giant dick that started this whole mess, Rain and Dew spend their afternoon digging holes and carefully planting the blueberry bushes Bea had entrusted to them.

It's a tedious job, especially since neither of them knows how best to approach the situation; Whether it's better to dig all the holes first, or simply dig them one at a time, but either way the task is distracting enough for the two of them to spend most of it working in near silence.

Rain digs the holes and Dew sets the plants into the ground, carefully covering the roots, his nails slowly becoming encrusted in soil.

They wind up making a loose circle, spacing the bushes out with room to grow, and by the time they finish and take a moment to stand back and admire their hard work, Bea's approaching them once more.

"Hm, good job." she nods approvingly, placing her hands on her hips, "I appreciate the help."

Rain smiles, then looks past the woman towards the docks, "How did the search go...?"

Bea scratches her fingers through the short hair on top of her head, glancing back over at the water herself.

"Well, there's definitely something in the water over there," she says, "but that's the thing; There's a LOT of things in the water by the docks."

She gestures for them to follow her, and they all find themselves standing on the edge of the dock, staring out over the water.

"The water here is relatively clear, so you can see the bottom pretty easily." she explains, "I didn't have to search long to find an abnormality, but..."

She points to several odd shapes in the silt below, "It's kind of a mess down there."

Rain frowns, the groundskeeper is right, there's all kind of debris in the water by the docks, and none of it really looks like what they're searching for.

"You said the statue you were looking for was made of metal, so I thought I could just sink a magnet on a line and see what it stuck to, but, then again, there's so much garbage down there... and I think y'all said the blasted thing was made of bronze, yeah?" She asks, and the pair nods, "Yeah, see, you can't use a magnet to find bronze, because the shit's not magnetic, well, not unless it has nickel mixed in-"

Bea cuts her rambling short and shakes her head.

"Anyway, point is, short of diving in there and having a look around, I can't really go in there and shift things around much more. Taking a net to the lighter debris is one thing, but I can't be hauling up anything heavy and potentially waterlogged manually." she sighs, "Personally, I'd have the Creature From The Black Lagoon over there-" she gestures loosely at Rain, "-take a dive and see if anything fits the bill."

"We appreciate the help either way, Bea." Rain says, "Sorry to take up so much of your time."

Bea shrugs, "Ehn, it's whatever. Besides, if I had known earlier how messy this area was, I'd have probably come out here sooner and organized a group to help sort out all of this..."

She places her hands on her hips.

"I'm going to talk to Copia about getting some machinery in so we can remove some of the larger bits from the water, but it'll probably take a while for that to happen, so..."

Rain hums.

"We'll figure something out in the meantime, go have your fun with Mountain already." he does a light shooing motion, "Just shout if he actually tries to kill you."

"Aw, so kind of you to think I'd have the time to scream if he really wanted me dead." Bea places a hand on her chest, "But yeah, I better get going, or he'll be upset... I did promise I'd let him make dinner afterwards..."

As Bea leaves with a bit of a skip to her step, Dew can't help but turn to look at Rain and mouth a simple, "What the fuck?"

"So a plan B is in order." Rain announces after surfacing for the fifth time, "I've found two car fenders, a large rock that looks like a penis, but was definitely a rock, and, like, three shopping carts at this point."

Dew kicks his feet in the water, "We have to order a giant purple dildo and send it to Limbo via express shipping?"

Rain pulls himself up onto the dock, "We have to order a giant purple dildo and send it to Limbo via express shipping."

"Man..." Dew flops backwards, sighing, "I was kind of hoping we'd find the dick, I kind of wanted to see that ridiculous thing again..."

"I mean, yeah, it was pretty funny to look at." Rain agrees, laying down next to him, "...Dew?"

"Yeah, Rainy?"

"Why do you think that dick showed up here in the first place?" he asks, turning his head to face Dew, who is already looking at him when he glances over, "Like, the sudden rumors, it just appearing and disappearing and all of that... It just feels... odd, you know?"

"Mn." the other ghoul thinks for a moment, "Well, strange things happen here all the time, it's just the nature of things, I suppose... I don't want to dismiss it's... oddness, but, I guess I've bore witness to a lot of weird shit over the years so this didn't really register high on the list."

"But it is weird, right?" Rain wonders aloud, "Touching that statue, winding up in that other... dimension? World? Whatever that was... and then traveling to Limbo, getting out of there so easily because we could bargain with the Toll Man... Hell, even Bea being willing to help us search the lake... it all feels too convenient to be real."

Dew reaches over and trails his fingers down Rain's side making him twitch slightly before letting out a yelp as Dew pinches his sensitive skin.

"Ow! Hey-"

"Well, we can rule out the idea that this isn't real or a dream." he chirps innocently, "But I get what you mean. It's like someone is guiding us somehow, and I'm not entirely sure how to feel about that."

"Who do you think it is?" Rain asks, "Guiding us?"

"Honestly? It could be anyone." Dew says, sitting up again, "You said you heard the rumors about the dick from eavesdropping on the siblings, right?"

Rain nods.

"Well, the siblings all study the arcane arts, at least the ones living here in the abbey do. It wouldn't be hard for a couple of them to concoct some weird multi-dimensional, teleporting penis... no matter how fucking weird that sounds now that I'm saying it." he turns to look at the abbey in the distance, "Point is, whoever made it probably just wanted to test out the statue on some poor saps curious enough the try it out... Or ministry actually shelled out cash for a giant metal dick statue, but that doesn't feel like a Copia purchase to be honest."

"Definitely more of Terzo purchase," Rain chimes in, "or Ome-"

"Omega!" Dew gasps, "Why didn't I think to ask him before??"

"Huh?"

"Omega manages the arts department! It's... kind of a holdover position from when Terzo was still around and they'd do 'still life nights' that were just an excuse to fuck each other covered in paint, but he's basically in charge of deciding what pieces go on display and which ones get vetoed or shipped elsewhere for viewing." Dew explains, "He'd know if the dick is still in the collection if it's not in the lake!"

"...Can we go back to the having sex covered in paint part?"

"Rainy."

"What?" Rain pouts, "I'm a connoisseur of the arts myself... Also was that one of the instances where you and them..."

He brings two of his fingers together, then, after some thought, tries the same motion but with three instead.

"...I will admit that Terzo did occasionally school me on my... brushstrokes."

Rain whistles and Dew kicks him in the side lightly.

"C'mon, ya perv, let's go see Omega."

"...A giant metal dick?" Omega's mouth hangs open as he processes what Dew has said, "No... I don't think we have one of those. We do have a rather large, um, Georgia O'Keefe style statue that has a similar story to it, but it involved rubbing the clit and some people had a bit of a hard time finding the right spot to-Anyway. No, no large metal dicks."

"Aw, fiddlesticks." Dew snaps his fingers, "...Any idea where we can find the pussy statue by any chance?"

Omega eyes him wearily.

"No dice, huh?"

The older ghoul nods.

"Circling back," Omega says, waving his hand about dismissively, "you said you two held hands in front of this dick statue, rubbed it, wound up in another universe where you were married, then traveled through Limbo, came back here, had the groundskeeper -who is currently getting railed by Mountain, a detail I didn't need to know- search the lake and came up empty... which lead you to here, am I correct?"

Rain and Dew nod.

"Yeah, that's basically everything."

Omega leans back in his office chair, bringing his hands up in a prayerlike gesture.

"Boys, have you been eating out of Lucifer's cabbage patch...?"

"Lucifer's... Are you asking if we're high??" Dew balks, "Omega, it's a Monday! I'd at least wait until Tuesday-"

"Professionally, no..."

Rain clears his throat, "We're being serious, Omega. We experienced something really weird, and now we're kind of... It lead to some... emotions. So we just... we want to confirm that it, ya know, actually happened, and also we kind of sort of promised a ten foot tall demon in Limbo that we'd send him back something he could ride, and the giant metal dick that started all of this seemed like the obvious choice."

"Ten foot tall demon in Limbo..." Omega looks between Rain and Dew, "...Dewcifer Maurice Drop, if you're telling the truth, did you-"

"Fuck the Toll Man again? No, not this time."

Rain throws his hands in the air, "He knows about that, but you never told me-"

Omega holds up his hand, "As a medical professional and a man of science, I needed to know how-"

Dew slaps his hands down on the desk.

"He can shrink down!"

"OHHHH!"

As the sun finally begins to dip below the horizon, Dew, still reeling from their conversation with Omega, lets out a sigh as he and Rain fall onto the couch in the ghouls' common room.

"Well... we're back at square one." he says, letting his body sag into the cushions, "...Can you get me my laptop?"

"Gonna order the dildo for the Toll Man?" Rain asks, "You sure you don't want to wait and see if the metal dick doesn't show up somewhere?"

"Nah, let's just... We're the only people that seem to know that thing exists. I'm tired, and I have a giftcard that expires soon, so... Two birds, one stone. Laptop, please." he shrugs, "Oh, and my reading glasses!"

"Aye, aye, Captain." Rain salutes him and Dew rolls his eyes, smiling softly as the other walks away.

As soon as Rain returns, Dew opens up his laptop and clicks on a pinned link below his search bar.

"...You just have this site on quick access?" Rain's eyes grow wide as he takes in a barrage of colorful sex toys in some... unconventional shapes and sizes, "On your unlocked laptop no less?"

"If anyone opens my laptop without my permission and the worst they see is a bunch of penises than I think it's fine." Dew says, pushing up his reading glasses as he scrolls through their options, "This isn't even my main computer... Anyway, let me know if you see anything you want."

"...You're gonna buy me a dildo?"

"Or a vibe or one of those stroker things, whatever your perverted heart desires, I'm feeling strangely generous."

After a bit of searching, and spending way too long customizing not one, but two absurdly large sex toys, Dew carefully inputs the details on the gift card and confirms his purchases...

...Just in time for Swiss to walk in dragging a certain metal dick in what is effectively the ghouls' front door.

"You guys will NOT believe what I found-"

Rain and Dew exchanges looks.

"MOTHERFUCKER!"

#lamp writes #shitghosting #nameless ghouls #dewdrop ghoul #rain ghoul #ghost band #the band ghost #ghost bc #raindrop #rain/dewdrop #a lack of engagement #ghost band oc #swiss ghoul

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silver-pieces · 2 years ago

Text

prisoners

Pairing: Cassian Andor x fem!reader

Word Count: Almost 8.7k

Synopsis: You never expected to find your soulmate here.

Warnings: 18+, minors DNI, smut (unprotected p in v sex, slight breeding kink), physical pain & trauma, depression, nightmares, prison, prison labour, open sea & dark water

A/N: For the prompt ‘Nightmare/Soulmark’ in Andor Bingo, created by @sw-andor This fic features major spoilers for Andor S1. Keef = Cassian. Divider by the amazing @firefly-graphics.

“What’s she doin’ ‘ere?”

“I think that’s obvious.”

“Yeah but, she’s a woman.”

“What do they care? Man, woman, we’re all just slaves - ”

“Oi! Table five.” Kino barks from behind you. He stalks over, meeting everyone’s eyes with a glare. “Is there a problem?”

“Yeh’ve given us a woman,” the redhead says. “No offence, love, but why are you here? Shouldn’t you be with the other birds?”

“Shut it,” Kino growls. “It doesn’t matter why she’s here. She is. Now stop wasting my time and get back to work. Unless you want to get fried.”

Your feet shift nervously at the memory. Hot, electric pain. Everyone else stiffens too, a shared sense of dread filling the sterile air.

He takes you by the shoulders and pushes you towards one of the men. “Keef.”

A man with dark hair and even darker eyes looks up at the sound of his name, his gaze falling on you as he pauses mid-crank.

Your lips part, and your gaze lingers on the sight of his sleeves rolled up, his arms tensing with each push so hard, that, in any other circumstance, you might find it appealing.

“Show her the ropes.” Kino lowers his voice to a menacing growl. “And make sure she understands what’s at stake.”

The man gives him a subtle nod.

“You’re down four now, boys,” Kino says, his gaze shifting to you, “... and girl. No more distractions. Let’s get this done!”

They get back to work - a synchronised effort that you struggle to follow, only adding to the chaos happening around you. There are lasers and cranks and drills and pieces of machinery that they have to manually fit together. And the sounds are overwhelming - hardened voices overlapping with the whirring and clanking of the machines.

“I’m Jemboc,” the older one next to Keef says. “This is Ham, Xaul, Melshi, and Taga.” He goes around the table, pointing at each one.

You say your name in return, but it comes out feeble, your throat still not working properly. Xaul, the redhead, pins you with a look. Melshi mutters something to himself, shaking his head.

“Here,” Keef grunts to get your attention, beckoning you to his side. There's a lilt to his voice that pleases your ears. “Watch what I do closely. You have to pull your weight around here, or we all get fried, you understand?”

You manage to nod.

He removes the crank from the machinery and sets it aside, his hands moving deftly from one task to the next. You’re drawn to his hands, the display of skill and strength sending heat down your spine. His brows are lowered, his gaze focused.

Each part requires something different - to pull, crank, lift, reach, press, load. It's heavy labour, but he proves himself more than capable.

"It's easy once you get into the swing of things," Jemboc's voice taking you out of your trance as he steps beside you.

"Right.” You’re not sure you want to get into the swing of things.

The older man frowns at you, but there's a kindness in his eyes.

"Are you getting it?" Keef growls to you as he lifts his hands and backs away from the table.

You nod.

He draws near and ducks his head down, a patient look in his eyes. "Any questions, you can just ask me."

Your heart flutters. Heat rises to your face, though you're not sure why. "Thanks."

With a nod, he turns back to the table and starts loading alongside the others, letting you stand by his side and watch.

No more words are exchanged apart from the occasional barked order from the others - push!, lift!, and hands away!

They get more frantic as time passes. Kino calls something out and your table groans in response.

You realise that they're falling behind.

Get back to work. Unless you want to get fried. Shit. There is no way you're taking that punishment again if you can help it.

Stomach in knots, you step up beside Keef. "I've seen enough, let me help."

He eyes you, a muscle feathering in his jaw, before handing you the crank. As your hand closes around it, he mutters, "Be careful."

A shiver runs down your spine. His voice is low and smooth and it does something to your body that momentarily distracts you from this hell.

Hesitantly, you take the crank from his grip and fasten it to the piece of machinery.

"Table five, your productivity levels are unacceptable. Proceed to the centre of the room and remain on program."

The soles of your feet tingle with each step on the floor. Your head is spinning, heart pounding, mouth drier than a desert.

The others at your table stand with you in the centre of the floor. For a second, you allow yourself a glance over at Keef.

He’s staring straight forward, a dead look in his eyes, but the tiniest shuddering expanse of his chest betrays his fear.

You close your eyes and wait.

No no no no no no no no no -

It slices through your body and your muscles seize with pain. A cry escapes your lips. Your knee hits the floor painfully hard as your legs give way, and the cries of the others violates your ears, inescapable.

It's over in seconds, but it feels like hours.

Your lungs draw ragged breaths. Tears leak from your eyes, and you wipe them away before anyone sees.

Stand. The others are already getting up - you need to follow, quickly, before they decide to punish you again. But your legs are too weak.

A familiar outstretched hand enters your vision.

Your gaze trails up the veins in his forearm, to the sleeves bunched up over his biceps. "Come on," Keef urges softly. "You have to get up."

With all your willpower, you reach up and grab him by the forearm, his hand closing around the inner side of your forearm, bracing you there to help you up.

"Ah!" you hiss, pulling away as a sudden burning sensation flares where his hand touches you.

“Shit!” He grits out, exchanging a confused look with you, and then looks down at his own arm, where you touched him.

Your breath halts as you see it - the symbol burned into your skin, on the inner side of your upper forearm. It’s a simple slashing of lines, but the meaning it carries is far more significant - a soulmark.

He’s staring at the same symbol on his own skin in stunned silence.

“Keef,” you breathe.

Then the deep warped voice of the prison interrupts.

“Prisoners on program. Proceed to your quarters.”

He takes one frantic look at you, and then turns his head forward, following the prison directive and raising his hands behind his head on program. The sleeve, you noticed, he pulls down to hide the mark.

You quickly do the same, assuming the position, even though every fibre of your being is flooded with shock.

As you file through the doors with the others, you can barely hear anything over the pounding of your own ears. Your mind struggles to make sense of what just happened, let alone process everything else that’s happened to you in the last twenty-four hours.

Keef falls in line behind you.

Instantly, you feel his eyes on you, the heat prickling at the back of your neck.

The line of prisoners shuffles along through a long corridor, passing the night shift, stopping and starting up again until you're at your quarters.

"Jemboc, give her the orientation," Kino directs the older man, before leaving you behind to deal with another group of men.

Jemboc turns to you. "Come on, I'll show you your cell."

As he takes you down through the hallway, you see Keef emerge out of the corner of your eye, and when he reaches his own cell, so do you. Directly opposite from each other.

Your eyes meet.

Stars. Finding a soulmate is rare, practically unheard of for most. But he’s here, and the mark is burned into your flesh, still throbbing with fresh pain as you run your fingers over it.

Jemboc starts explaining what the lights on the floor mean, but you can’t seem to take your eyes off of Keef, raking your gaze over his tense form, brown hair mussed and grown out, dark eyes you could lose yourself in, even as you listen to Jemboc listing all the various rules.

“You understand?” Jemboc asks you.

Not really. “Yes,” you reply with a nod, dragging your eyes away.

“What are you in for, anyway?”

“Loitering.” You’ve grown numb to the anger.

“I see.” Jemboc pats you on the shoulder. “You’ll be okay, sister. We all will be, soon.”

“Hey!” The bark of another prisoner cuts him off.

It’s Xaul, pushing past the others, stalking towards you with a deadly glare.

You take a step back on instinct, and Jemboc folds his arms defensively, but it’s Keef who gets in his way.

With a growl, he pushes off the wall, getting in Xaul’s face before he can reach you. “What’s your problem, huh?” he growls. “You’re scaring her.”

Xaul growls, jabs his finger in your direction, and shifts his glare to Jemboc. “Not her.”

They exchange unreadable glances.

Jemboc scowls and takes him by the shoulder, leading him out of earshot from you. The two of them begin talking in low, urgent tones, Xaul shooting you another glare.

Your hands curl into fists at your side.

Hesitantly, Keef turns to you, his head ducked low in sincerity. “Are you okay?” he asks, his voice coming out softer than you’ve heard before.

“No,” you say, even as warmth fills you at the concern in his devastatingly brown eyes. Stars, but the sight of him pleases you. “I think we need to talk.”

“Agreed,” he nods, holding his forearm with his other hand, his eyes briefly glancing down, “but we don’t have the time or the privacy in here.”

You draw nearer. “How long is left on your sentence?”

“No,” he shakes his head, “That doesn’t matter anymore.”

“I don’t understand.”

His eyes dart to Xaul and Jemboc. “I wish I could tell you. I - ” he cuts himself off as the floor lights start flashing.

In seconds, the hall clears as the rest of the inmates scramble to get into their cells. Keef pushes you towards yours. “Go.”

With his push, you step up into your cell before the lights can turn red. What was it Jemboc said? Seven seconds when the lights start flashing, then they turn red. And if you’re caught in the red light, you die.

On instinct, you turn back around to see Keef again.

Your soulmate.

He stands in his cell across from you, an unreadable expression on his face, his mouth in a grim line, as the lights begin to dim.

The floor lights turn red a second later.

There is no way to get to him now, and no way of talking across the hall without everyone in the surrounding cells hearing you. That’s not an option.

He lingers at the edge of his cell, and so do you, for a time, struggling with this new feeling inside you - this urge, compelling you towards him. Even if you don’t know him yet, you want to.

So you’re paralysed in silence; staring at each other across several feet of deadly flooring.

The murmurs of the other inmates eventually peter out, and as the snoring starts to rise, you feel your eyes growing heavy.

You curse beneath your breath.

Keef must hear it, because he raises his chin and nods in understanding, retreating from the edge of his cell and into darkness.

Grimly, you turn away from him, towards your bunk.

They're everywhere. They're watching you. They know what you've done. You're going to be punished -

You wake up in a cold sweat, gasping for air.

"Hey, hey, breathe." Keef's hushed voice carries across the cell.

Your eyes dart around until you see him, a broad mass in the shadows, sitting on the edge of his bunk across the way.

The soft sound of the other men snoring in their cells settles over the silence.

"It was just a nightmare," he whispers across the corridor. "I'm right here."

You blink back tears, and push yourself up by your elbows. “Did I wake you?”

“No,” he shakes his head. “I couldn’t sleep.”

You run your hand down over your face. There’s been a lot of that lately.

A few shifts in, you found yourself staring at the ceiling of your cell counting the seconds going by, running your fingers over the soulmark on your arm, unable to stop thinking about him.

You’ve memorised his form and features with almost no effort - the cut of his jawline, occasionally peppered with stubble if he hasn’t shaved, being your latest obsession.

And you can feel when he looks at you, too. Devouring glances out of the corner of your eye that set your cheeks aflame.

It’s like your body is on high alert at all times. Working alongside him throughout the day, barely able to exchange a few words without anyone overhearing, passing by each other, brushing past each other so close your skin hair raises, but not touching, never touching, just savouring the few small moments in his presence and then trying to go to sleep every night knowing he is a only few feet away from you.

But it’s worse, somehow, when you do manage to turn your brain off. That’s when the nightmares come.

It’s relentless and repetitive; nothing but the Empire and memories of pain, torturing you through your sleep.

Keef’s been developing shadows beneath his eyes as well. You wish you could talk to him about it, but he doesn’t seem to want anyone else to know about your soulmarks, and shit, neither do you. It's hard enough to even admit to yourself, let alone have the others staring at you, judging you more than they already do for being the only woman here.

And if the prison ever found out, they could take you away from each other. Your gut clenches at the thought.

Fuck. Trying to drag your emotions out of the gutter before you break is becoming harder everyday. The weight on your shoulders is crushing you, and you can’t see any light at the end of this tunnel.

“I don’t know how much longer I can do this,” you confess, wrapping your arms around yourself.

He stands, coming to the edge of his cell in the low, red lighting. “Don’t say that,” he whispers. “Don’t let them break you.”

You fiddle with your mattress. Don’t let them break you? They already are, and it isn’t your choice.

“Listen to me,” he says, raising his voice to a low growl.

You look up at him, drawing in a shaky breath.

“You had a nightmare, but you woke up from it.” The urgency in his baritone voice calls to you, and you stand, approaching the edge of your cell as he continues. “That’s all this place is. It’s a nightmare. You don’t realise it while you’re inside, but you’re in control. All you have to do is wake up.”

“What are you saying?”

He meets your gaze, an intense, unreadable look in his eyes. “I'm saying, hold on. Just a little while longer. Can you do that?”

“Yes,” you breathe, before you realise what you’re saying. You blink and look away from him, frowning. “I can.”

His words paint a picture in your mind, one of you, years from now, out of here. On some beach planet or forest town, enjoying the sun on your face. This place, a distant memory in the back of your mind.

Just a nightmare.

A slight smile finds its way onto your face at the thought. You meet Keef’s gaze again, the fierceness in his eyes amplified by the red of the floor, and nod in gratitude.

“I’ll try.”

His shoulders relax slightly, and he nods. “That’s all we can do.”

You sleep.

There’s a warmth in you when you wake, a buzz from the memory of last night. That was the longest conversation you’ve had yet, and even if you couldn’t talk openly, it still felt real.

When you first open your eyes, you’re drawn to his cell on instinct, drinking in the sight of him every chance you can get.

But it’s like he hasn’t moved all night. He’s leaning one shoulder against the wall at the edge of his cell, arms still folded, and he’s staring at you, his dark brows furrowed, the slight stubble peppering his clenched jaw telling you he hasn’t shaved since yesterday. Movement draws your gaze to his arm, where his knuckles shift back and forth, running over that small mark on his arm.

Heat slowly rises to your face.

The floor is still red. The others are awake too, the few you can see from your cell having breakfast or pacing around their small cell. The slight murmur of muted voices blending together.

“Did you sleep?” you ask him.

He gives the subtlest shake of his head.

Your heart sinks.

It’s not just being around him that you can’t bear, it’s also seeing him suffer and not being able to help. You have to keep holding back these strange, rising urges to comfort him. It doesn’t help that he has those big, soulful brown eyes that could melt you down into the cracks of the floor.

You’re not in love, but he matters to you more with each passing day, and that feeling is killing you.

Damn, you thought you’d grown numb to everything, but suddenly the despair is back with a vengeance, and you have to look away to blink back sudden tears.

“Hey,” he calls to you. “You okay?”

Shaking your head, you blow out a breath and chant in your head, don’t break, don’t let them get to you.

He curses, and then he’s pushing of the wall to pace his cell. His shoulders tense with each breath.

You draw near the edge of your cell, watching him try to walk out the tension in his body, your heart caught between desire and despair.

It’s a vicious cycle of suffering between the two of you.

Then the floor lights shift from red to white.

“On program!” Kino calls out.

Prisoners load out of their cells, slowly getting into their line with murmurs and sluggishness.

Keef is already on the floor when you tentatively step down, enduring that moment before your feet touch the metal with your heart in your throat every time. White lights means it’s safe, but -

He approaches you suddenly, closing his hand around the nape of your neck, tipping his forehead against yours. Warm electricity floods through your veins and over your skin at his touch.

“Keef,” you stutter out, shocked at his public display, even as you sink further into his touch. The sounds of shock and angry voices from the men around you start kicking off, but you ignore them.

“Please,” he breathes, his forehead pressed firmly against yours, his face inches away, “it’s killing me. I know you’re scared - I know. What can I do?”

You shake your head. “I - ”

“What the fuck are you two doing?”

Kino.

You pull him off you and step away.

He shudders at your touch, and you realise with a jolt that you took his arm right at the soulmark. For a brief moment, he cradles his arm, before Kino approaches and the two of you join the others in line.

“Hm?” The man raises his eyebrow at the both of you. “Don’t make me repeat myself.”

“It was nothing,” Keef responds. “Just making sure she’s okay.”

Kino glances at you, an unreadable look on his face. “Are you?”

“I’m fine,” you say, but even you can hear the shakiness in your own voice.

He blinks, searching your gaze. Then he grabs Keef by the arm and leans in to whisper something in his ear.

As Keef listens, he sets his eyes on you, before giving Kino a firm nod.

Apparently satisfied, the older man steps away and raises his voice to the rest of the men.

“Time to face another day. Everyone, move.”

As you begin walking forward, you turn your head to whisper back to him, “what was that?”

“Don’t worry,” Keef whispers. “He’s on our side.”

The tension is high at table five.

“I don’t think they should be next to each other today,” says Taga, eyes darting nervously between the two of you.

“Why?” Keef growls.

“Does he really have to say why?” Xaul interrupts. “You like her.”

“It could be a distraction,” Ham mutters.

“No.” Keef glares. “She stays by my side. Kino’s orders.”

“Oh, ‘Kino’s orders’? Fuck that. We don’t want to get fried 'cuz of you,” Xaul growls.

Keef turns his ire on Xaul. "And when was the last time that happened? If memory serves, not since she started here, under my guidance."

A mutter goes around the table.

"Table five, get moving," Kino warns as he passes by.

"Let's get this done," Keef growls, and that's the end of the discussion.

The next days feel different, and the same.

You try to hold on, like you promised him, but the nightmares and the sleepless nights are getting worse.

You touched each other for the second time ever, felt the warmth of his hands on you, breathed the same air, the memory of seeing the depths of darkness in his brown eyes up close is carved into your mind, and now the yearning inside of you has developed; a deep ache in your bones.

The others can sense something more is up between you. You feel their eyes follow you; but you can't bring yourself to care whether they notice the way he always rushes to your aid, or the soft exchanges of words, or the way the two of you never move too far apart. You can't fight this growing need to be around him. You're soulmates. Whatever that means.

"Doctor! We need the doctor!"

Your ears prick at the commotion at table two. Everyone keeps working, but out of the corner of your eye you watch as Kino goes over to investigate.

"Is it another panic attack?"

You push down on the drill.

"...he's not breathin'"

You lift it up and inspect the results.

"Shit. I’ll call the doctor."

Your table begins to lift the cog off the table to load it on the rack. You step away, watching them move. Out of the corner of your eye, you see the man keeled over on the floor.

A little bit of your soul cracks.

Keef returns to your side, and it’s brief, but his arm brushes against yours.

He doesn’t even need to say anything - you meet his brown-eyed gaze and all the hurt in your lungs evaporates.

“Unit Five-Two-D on program.”

He flicks his gaze up to the entrance, a gleam in his eyes.

You put your hands behind your head and turn to face them as the doctor is lowered onto the floor.

The man is dead.

There’s a strange anticipation in the air, like the way the air gets dry before a storm hits.

You watch them carry the man away in a bodybag. You catch Xaul and Jemboc exchanging a look. You catch the way Kino nods subtly to Keef as he walks past.

Everyone goes silently to their quarters - not even a whisper.

“Fall out!” Kino yells.

You turn to Keef. “What is going on?”

He pulls you aside, leaning in with his voice down low. “Do you trust me?”

“Why?”

“Tomorrow, whatever Kino says, I want you to follow immediately. No hesitation. You understand?”

“What - ”

“I can’t explain. I wish I could, but - ” His eyes catch on someone over your shoulder, and his mouth closes in a grim line.

You glance back and see Xaul, watching from a distance, arms folded, jaw tense. He’s never seemed to trust you, and you don’t blame him, but the way he watches you at all times is hard to get comfortable with.

“I don’t understand,” you turn back to your soulmate and search his eyes, “but... I trust you.”

An unreadable expression flashes in his eyes, and then everything is swept away as he takes you by the waist, cups your chin, and sweeps you into a gentle kiss.

For a nanosecond you freeze, before the rush of adrenaline fills your veins and you melt against his lips. The soulmark pulses on your arm, and the most amazing feeling overtakes you, of drifting high up in the clouds and watching the sun rise. You pull him closer, threading your fingers through his hair. The bristle of his five-o’clock shadow makes itself known with each movement, desire pooling in your core as you move your body against his. He feels so real, solid and alive, and it’s breathtaking.

The sounds of the world around you only vaguely registers in your head. Men, shouting at you.

Fuck them. Nothing else matters. You’re in the arms of your soulmate and you never want to leave again.

Then one voice, Kino’s, pierces through your haze. “Oi! The floor!”

Your eyes fly open as Keef breaks off the kiss and pushes you towards your cell with a growl.

You barely have time to react. Between the flashing lights, you lunge for the safe zone, leaping up into it seconds before the place is bathed in red.

“Fuck!”

You turn around.

He stands in his cell across from you, panting, his hair mussed from your attention. His eyes are wild, staring at you like he’s waiting for you to drop dead.

The instinct to reassure him overwhelms you. “I’m okay,” you say, stepping away from the edge. “I made it.”

He closes his eyes, running a palm over his mouth, and his shoulders rise and fall with a deep, shuddering breath.

You look down at your soulmark. That heightened feeling is fading, fast, each second you’re not back in his arms. A vision enters your head, of you, throwing yourself across the hall, even though you know that ends in death.

“You two lovebirds have a death wish?” Kino yells from his cell.

Shit.

“I told you they were distracting each other.”

“Gonna get us killed.”

Murmurs ripple down the hall. Heads, poking out of their cells.

Keef shakes his head, eyes swimming with anger. His voice is low, but you still hear it above the din. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have taken that risk.”

His words should fill you with regret, but a part of you, a small, stubborn part, thinks that maybe it was worth it anyway, just to touch him again, to feel his arms around you, the dominance of his kiss.

You close your eyes, a hand going to your mouth on instinct, fingertips trailing where he had his mouth on yours.

“Enough!”

Kino’s bark gets everyone’s attention instantly. The chatter dies down.

You open your eyes, and Keef is staring at you, a hungry look in his eyes. Heat rises to your face.

“Everyone knows what the plan is. Yes?”

Mumbles of men in agreement echo through the hall. You tilt your head, trying to discern any information you can, but pick up nothing. Nothing except that Keef looking towards Kino’s cell with fire in his eyes - tense, almost like hope, but darker.

Anger.

“Good. Now’s the time to rest. Tomorrow, we fight.”

A chill runs down your spine.

He’s shirtless in the morning.

Instantly pushing yourself up, your gaze locked on his chest, his stomach v, his arms, you catch his attention with the sudden movement.

He snaps his gaze to yours, pausing mid-stretch. His arm pulled across his chest, braced against his other arm to stretch his shoulder, the ropes of his biceps on full display for you.

“Hi,” you say.

Your swear his mouth curves just slightly, a twitch in his face, and he nods at you.

“Hi.”

All the blood in your body has left your brain. You continue to stare at him like an idiot while he does some basic stretches, before the lights flick to white, and Kino yells his daily on program! while Keef slides his shirt back on.

You fall in line in front of him.

He stands closer to you than normal, pressing his up front against you, his breath fanning against the back of your head as he leans in. His lilting voice sounds lowly in your ear, a lilting, baritone sound. “Remember what I said?”

Your eyes flutter shut at the sensation. “F-Follow Kino,” you manage to stutter out.

He hums in approval. “Good girl.”

Your thighs clench together.

He’s getting more bold in front of the others, more playful, and you can’t help but feel excited and nervous by the shift. Why has he stopped hiding?

The line starts moving forward, and you follow the person in front of you to the showers as normal, trying to focus on anything but what he just said.

He thinks there’s a chance you could both escape, you think, and then immediately regret that line of thinking. But it’s too late. That future you imagined - the one that he planted in your mind with his words, shifts, and suddenly he’s there beside you in each vision, relaxing, laughing, grinning like an idiot.

Fuck.

The shift begins, the men exchanging knowing glances that have anticipation and dread growing in your belly. You know what this is by now, you’ve put the pieces together despite their weird reluctance in telling you.

This escape plan is really happening.

The new prisoner arrives shortly after your shift begins, and when Keef returns from the bathroom soaking wet, you barely have time to react before shit hits the fan.

Obeying Kino’s orders, you watch as together the other prisoners hijack the lift and short out the entire system - no more hot floor.

As he reaches the top, Keef turns back to pin you with a wild, furious look in his eyes that fills you with fire. He jerks his head for you to follow him.

So you do.

You climb. You run. You follow.

A guard catches you and tries to pull you away, but Keef is there in a flash of red and the smell of burning flesh, grabbing you by the hand and telling you to run as the man slumps to the ground.

The loading platform ends in a sheer drop to the sea. Your stomach drops as you pull back, glancing around as others begin to jump.

This is insane.

“I can’t swim!”

You barely hear Kino say it over the sound of the wind and the other prisoners, but then he says it again, and there is no doubt.

You step up beside him. “Me neither.”

Keef stares at you in shock.

And then he’s gone.

One of the men drags him off the edge by accident, and a shriek escapes you. “No!” but you can only watch as he disappears from sight.

A second goes by, then two. More men rush past.

There's nothing but the sound of blood pumping in your ears. No matter which way you think about it, if you follow, you're dead. There's no way you can swim that far, and if Keef tries to help you, he'll probably just die with you.

You fall to your knees.

Others race past you still, flinging themselves off the edge one by one. Kino stands by your side, watching them with an empty gaze.

“What do we do now?” you ask, and find yourself subconsciously cradling your arm, the soulmark on it beginning to throb painfully. Follow Kino, he said, but you’re not sure Kino has any moves left. There’s none you can see; no way to survive.

Maybe you should just jump anyway and let fate decide.

“Nothing.” Kino looks down at the gun in his hand. “We’re going out, one way or another.”

You nod and take in a deep breath of salty ocean air. “Agreed.”

He says nothing.

“Ah!” Your soulmark throbs again, and you grip your arm, hissing through your teeth. “Fuck off!”

“Sorry?” Kino growls.

"It’s uh,” you pull back your sleeve to him, “my soulmark.”

He blinks. “Damn. Keef?”

“Yeah.”

“That explains you two then.” He nods, casting his gaze out to sea. “I... I have a family.”

You peer up at him.

“I just wanted to see them again.” He looks down at the gun in his hands again.

“At least you know you tried,” you offer. “Sometimes...” Keef’s words ring true, pouring from your lips even as you hear the memory of his words spoken in your mind. “...that’s all we can do.”

The two of you linger in silence. Below you, the forms of men swimming away from the prison spread out, reaching towards the horizon. The soulmark on your arm is aching something fierce now, calling you to the edge. But it’s the realisation that Keef must be feeling this pain too, that hurts even more.

You hope he is trying anyway, down there, despite the pain.

He’s probably thinking the same thing about you.

Damn.

You stand. “Give me the gun.”

Kino hands it to you without even looking, his eyes remaining fixed on the horizon.

You turn around, facing the inside of the prison, and point the gun at one of the panels of the wall. The sound of the blast almost deafens you.

The panels sizzle where the blast hit, but as you approach, you can see them peeling away from each other at the seam. Without hesitation, you wedge the barrel of the gun in the hole, and with all your strength, try to peel the panel off the wall.

“What are you doing?” Kino growls.

You glance back at him with a half-cocked shrug.

“Finding something that floats.”

Wet.

Cassian’s fingers close around sand. His lungs are on fire, exacerbated by the stinging salt he inhales with each breath. Everything hurts.

A shadow relieves him from the sun. He looks up and for a moment, it’s you, the beautiful image of you reaching down for him tilting this world on its axis. Then he blinks, and Melshi comes into focus.

“We need to disappear,” he’s saying, scanning their surroundings.

Cassian tries to push himself up, but there’s a terrible ache emanating from his soulmark. It was easy to ignore in the sea - everything hurt. But now it spreads through his body, an urging like no other to wade back out into the dark waves - to go back for you.

He wants to punch the man who tackled him off the edge. Whoever it was. But as soon as he hit the water, swimming was the only way to survive.

“Did ya hear me? Keef?”

With a grunt, Cassian sits up and brushes off his hands, wincing when his arm throbs with the movement. “Did anyone else make it?”

Melshi squints. “If they did, they didn’t follow us.”

Yeah, that’s what he thought. Even if, by some miracle, you did make it, you could be miles apart, with no way of finding each other.

It would be enough to know that you survived, but he’s never been that lucky. No. He thinks of you, of your tentatively hopeful expressions that get him through the day, that beautifully trusting look in your eyes right before he kissed you, and has to tilt his head back to prevent his eyes from watering.

His soulmate. Dead.

He thought that maybe, just maybe, there was a chance he could save you.

“Keef.” Melshi stoops down beside him. “We have to move.”

“What do you know about soulmarks?” he murmurs.

Melshi sighs. “You’re dehydrated, mate. C’mon.” He goes to lift him up.

“No - no!” Cassian resists, pushing Melshi away and scrambling to his feet. He shoves back his sleeve and bares his soulmark. “I need to know! I need to...” He cuts himself off with a grimace as pain pulses through the mark.

Melshi stares at the mark, wide-eyed. “No shit. The girl?”

Cassian can only nod. “She doesn’t even know - my real name.” He chokes the words out past tears. “I thought I could save her. But she’s... she’s probably dead by now.” It feels like he’s separated from his body, like someone else is saying these things.

“Wouldn’t you know?”

Cassian stills. “What do you mean?”

Melshi hesitates.

“What do you mean?!” He grips at his hair, heart thudding in his chest so hard it might burst. “How would I know?!”

“I don’t know! It was just a story, back home - people said the marks are like homing beacons. So if she’s dead, your mark would... stop working.” He cringes, muttering, “it sounds stupid when I say it like that.”

Cassian looks down at it the throbbing, aching mark. He focuses on it, and - there - the throbbing pulls towards the sea.

He looks out at the waves. “She’s alive.”

His legs carry him forward, back into the sea. The sound of Melshi yelling behind him is a distant worry over the beating of his own heart, the very blood in his veins burning to get to you.

Then arms close around him, pulling him back. “You’re insane!”

He snarls and shoves Melshi back. “Get off me!”

“You’ll die!”

“I have to go back!”

Melshi lets him go. “Okay okay, just - just think about this! You’re no use to her dead.”

“You don’t get it. You don’t understand. If she’s alive - ”

“If she’s still alive, she’ll need more than just one man swimming out to rescue her!” His gaze darts down. “Is it getting better or worse?”

“What?”

He points to Cassian’s soulmark. “It’s painful, right? Is it getting worse?”

Cassian looks down at it. “It’s been about the same for a while now.” Fucking painful, but, “...maybe a little less than before. I don’t know!”

Melshi nods. “So she could be getting closer.”

“If that is how it works.” Instinct - the mark - tells him it does, but the panic in his chest won’t go away. He needs to see you. “So what do I do then? Wait around for her to find me? She can’t swim, so how - ”

“I don’t care!” Melshi interrupts. "But if you don’t return to shore with me, I will knock you unconscious and drag you back.” There’s a deadly serious look in the man’s eyes.

The ache within him isn’t going away. He’s not sure how much more he can take. But Melshi is right - it would be a death wish to swim back.

The prison is a blip on the horizon. Could you have really made it, somehow?

Melshi eyes him aggressively, waiting for him to make a move.

Cassian raises an eyebrow. “You really care about me that much?”

“You’ve been a bloody pain in my arse, but you were instrumental in our escape, so I figure I owe ya.”

With a nod, he looks back towards land, skimming his fingers over the waist-high water. “We wait here then.”

“They’ll be sending ships looking for us.”

“I won’t go any farther inland.”

Melshi shakes his head. “Fine.” With a splash, he begins wading toward the shore. “Then we’d better find some shelter for the night.”

It’s midnight. Probably, anyway. Cassian has no sense of time here, except that it's been dark for a while.

He sits with his face tilted up to the stars. The sea breeze is a cool rush of air, swaying the tree above and rustling his hair across his face.

He needs a haircut again.

The mark on his arm has steadied to a slow, aching pulse every few seconds, nothing more than the sensation of a mending bruise.

Melshi is right - he can feel it in his veins that you're getting close.

So he's waiting.

Sleep will not come to him tonight. Like you, it eludes him, and in its place, the unnatural sense that something is missing.

It's subtle, at first. A crashing of waves that don't fit the slow, steady beat he's been listening to all night.

Then, the sound of voices out there. A man's, deep and grating, and yours.

He'd recognise it anywhere.

He peers around the tree, out towards the sea, and sees a shape floating on the water.

“Melshi.” He hisses his companion’s name, getting up. “Melshi! It's them.”

“Huh,” Melshi starts, half awake.

“It’s them. I’m going to get her.”

He groans, shifting his arms up to cover his face. “They’re actually here? Wha’ are the chances? How?”

“I don’t know.” Breathless, Cassian turns toward the sea, towards the place his soulmark has been calling him towards all night. “But I’m going to find out. Come on.”

He runs to the water.

Sand sprays beneath his feet, then water splashes, and then he’s wading, then swimming, towards it. The shape blotting out the stars on the horizon morphs into two silhouettes sitting on some kind of raft. They’re slowly paddling their way towards the shore.

Cassian wants to weep with joy when he hears their voices - first Kino, then you.

“Is that - ”

“Keef? Keef!” you cry out, your voice hoarse.

His palm collides with the raft - a smooth white panel, and there you are, sitting on one side with a salt-streaked, wind-struck, beautiful face, staring down at him in wonder.

“Well shit,” Kino croaks, glancing at you. “You were right.”

Your hand rests over your soulmark as you stare down at Cassian.

Stars. There is so much he wants to say, but none of it seems like enough for this moment. He doesn’t want to take his eyes off you - he can’t.

But as the waves gently rise and fall, Kino clears his throat pointedly. “Much as I love being surrounded by water...”

“Right, right.” Cassian grabs hold of the panel. “I’ll take you to shore.”

The soft strokes of the sea abuts his efforts as he pulls the raft behind him, until the sea floor shallows out and he can put his feet beneath him.

“You should be good now. You can stand,” he says, instantly returning to your side of the raft. “Melshi’s with me, on the shore.”

Kino nods, sliding off the edge. “We should bury the panel.”

“Agreed.”

You hesitantly dip your legs in the water, and Cassian places his hands on your waist ready to help you down. “I’ve got you.”

In the darkness he can barely see your face, but he could swear there’s a heat reflected in your eyes.

It feels good, coming to you aid on instinct. Putting his hands on you.

As he holds you steady, you gently slip off the edge of the raft and collide against him with an oof as you land.

Despite his exhaustion, his shaft hardens. To go from be denied his soulmate for so long, to this...

“Here,” he says, roughly pushing the panel towards Kino, his eyes never leaving your face. “Go see Melshi. We’ll catch up.”

The man grunts something, and begins to wade to shore with the panel, and then he’s forgotten as Cassian is drawn back to you on instinct.

His arms tighten around your waist, and he opens his mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. He’s struck.

You cup his face, gaze flitting between his eyes and his mouth, your breaths mingling, and then suddenly he’s pressing his mouth against yours.

You let out a cute little gasp against him, and his chest flutters, as you yield to him.

Yes. He burns with the rightness of this moment, and yet braces you against him as he deepens the kiss, like he’s afraid you’re going to slip away. He doesn’t quite believe you’re real yet.

Your fingers dig into his hair, and he likes it, the way you pull him into you with the same hunger and desperation he’s feeling.

“Cassian,” he breathes suddenly, pulling back for a moment, his forehead pressed against yours. “My real name is Cassian.”

“Cassian,” you repeat, and then your mouth curves into a smile - a fucking smile.

He almost groans. His soulmark pulses warmly against you. “You’re alive.”

“Yes,” you breathe, nodding against him.

“You’re my soulmate.”

You nod again, clinging tight to him. “Yes.”

A low, reverent chuckle escapes him, and you let out a light giggle in response; together relishing in the intimacy of this moment.

And then you cant your hips, and his laugh turns into a groan, a new kind of bliss making itself known in the hardening of his length beneath his pants. He thinks he’s never seen anything as beautiful as the look in your eyes. Full of passion - a beautiful, twisting flame, but also, understanding. You barely know each other, and yet it’s like your souls know each other intimately; bound together by something greater than either of you can fathom.

With a swift motion, he sweeps your legs out from underneath you and hitches your thighs around his waist so you're floating in the water, anchored in place by him alone.

You press yourself into him, arching your back and leaning forward to brush your lips against his.

He kisses you with all the fervour and unfulfilled need building inside him. His hands come around your ass and dig in, tugging your crotch against him so you can feel his hardness.

Another heady, submissive gasp escapes you against his mouth, and when your legs open further to let him settle against you, he's done for.

“I know you’re probably tired,” he murmurs, “and we should probably get to shore, but I...”

You're nodding before he even finishes the sentence, making his heart soar with the needy look in your eyes. “Yes,” you breathe. “Yes, yes, please, Cassian, please.”

With a breathless laugh, he drops your thighs and takes you by the waistband of your pants instead.

Together, you work to pull it off of you. It’s awkward, messy, not how he imagined this going, but it doesn’t matter. The mood is playful as you struggle to pull your pants off beneath the water - you, bracing yourself on his shoulders, and him, trying to pull it off your legs and getting splashed in the process.

But then suddenly you’re fully naked from the waist down, and your laughter quietens as you draw close to each other again.

He can’t see your naked lower half beneath the dark water, but he can feel when you wrap your legs around him again.

Slowly, he places his hand on your bare thigh, treating the moment with all the reverence of a ritual, his soulmark tingling in anticipation and sending a shudder through his body.

With his other hand, he cups your face, searching your gaze.

“I’m clean.”

“Same.”

“Birth control?”

Something like pain flickers in your eyes, and you shake your head. “Not since... before.”

“Right. Of course.”

He hesitates.

The two of you just escaped prison, and if he’s learnt anything, this is not the kind of galaxy he wants to risk bringing a child into. He’s not even sure if he’ll survive tomorrow.

“What do you want to do then?”

“We could die tomorrow.” You shift in his arms, pulling yourself flush against him until his hardness presses firmly between you. “Fuck it.”

He tilts his head, a slight grin curling on his face. Stars, when you say it like that... With a clench of his jaw, he pulls you down slowly and impales you on his hardness.

His head falls back. You’re fucking tight. A raw, incredulous groan rises from his throat.

Your reaction has his head spinning - fingers winding through his grown-out hair and pulling desperately against him. He loves little hiss you make.

“Look at me.”

Your eyes flutter open to meet his gaze and his seed almost spills, only holding himself back with the barest restraint. Must savour this moment. Finally being inside you - his soulmate.

He pulls you in for a hungry kiss. Heat rises between your bodies as you give yourself over to his touch, opening your mouth into his kiss and arching your back for him.

It’s too much. Unable to stop himself, his hands grip you by your thighs and he fully impales you, forcing your tight, inner channel muscles to give way and let his shaft thrust full inside you.

You brace his shoulders and writhe in pleasure. “Oh, Cassian, please, m-move - ”

That’s all he hears before his instincts take over, and he uses all his strength to thrust, desperate to wedge himself so far inside you he’ll never leave.

He plants his feet on the sea floor and braces you against him as you cant your hips for him. Your bodies are working overtime to create that toe-curling friction, thrusting into each other with bruising force, the waves splashing and breaking over your entwined forms.

Your mouths clash in a tangle of heated, desperate kisses that burn him from within. The tension is pulled taut between you, soulmarks thrumming in time with each other as you desperately unite your bodies as one.

He rocks his hips up between your open legs and hits home harder and harder with each slosh of the water. His hands grip you by the back of your shirt, fingers scrambling against the fabric to pull your body down as hard as he can.

Your head lols back in the water, a gasp escaping your throat. “Cassian! Don’t stop don’t stop don’t stop - oh!”

He grunts in approval. His hunger for you grows, seeing you so vulnerable like this for him, desperate to hold out as long as he can to pleasure you. His thrusts grow even more frantic and sloppy - a fast, brutal jerking rhythm of pounding up into your cunt.

“My hope,” he murmurs in Kenari, barely hanging on to his sanity. “Better than anything I’d ever dreamt of.” He drinks in the sight of you, wet and vulnerable and all his, and his hardness gives a heady warning pulse of heat. He groans. “You’re everything. You’re mine.”

You let out a whimper in his arms, and then you’re tensing, your thighs, clenching around him with newfound strength.

“Cassian,” you moan through gritted teeth, “Cassian!”

The first jolt of pleasure wracks through his body without warning. At the realisation that you’re climaxing, he’s had it - he can’t hold back anymore.

He groans in disbelief. His brows draw together, the deep, intense, deliberate jerking of his body against yours faltering as pleasure takes over. A sound comes out of him, a mix between a desperate plea and praise, and then he’s coming inside you.

Fierce, intense waves of heat pulse into your raw, messy, clenching cunt.

His pleasure deepens as you open your legs even farther to receive his spend inside you. With a growl, he pulls you against him and jerks his hips against you once more, finishing himself off.

“Yes,” you moan, leaning forward and pressing your forehead against his. The change in angle shields your face from the starlight, but the sound of your shuddering, desperate pants of breath are clear as day. You’re high on this shared bliss together.

“Don’t want to wake up,” he murmurs against your lips.

“You think I’m a dream?”

He traces up your arm and wraps his hand around the back of your neck. “You’re too good to be real. I’m not that lucky.”

You chuckle. “You are now.”

“We’ll see.”

It isn’t until the next morning, when he opens his eyes to the first rays of sun and you’re still there, asleep in his arms, that he finally allows himself to believe.

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kastlequill · 1 year ago

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ii/v. ‘til my pulse loses time: pulsus bigeminus

pairing: kyle gaz garrick x f!reader word count: 1.4k synopsis: the second time you save gaz tags: whumptober, broken bones, blood and injury, wound tending, hurt/comfort, medic!reader, 4+1, no y/n warnings: war ao3: read here ← prev | next →

II.

The first time you left the base’s vicinity to operate out in the field was under less than ideal circumstances.

You’d been stitching up a deep laceration across the chest of an infantryman when your radio crackled to life. On the other end of the comms, Captain Price had informed you of his squad’s status after a particularly nasty ambush near a series of steep cliffs not too far off from the medbay. While Sergeant McTavish and that lieutenant had managed to avoid the worst of the damage, one Sergeant Garrick was currently still stuck under several large bits of debris. Before the captain tried pulling him free, he wanted medical personnel to be on standby.

So here you were, staring at a pile of rubble, wondering just how far below laid the man out of whom you’d dug a bullet some weeks ago.

“Have you been able to contact him, Captain?” you asked so as to fill the silence with something, anything other than your unrelenting thoughts of paranoia and worst-case scenarios.

Price nodded, his hands grabbing onto the collar of his tactical vest. “Affirmative. We checked in just before you arrived.”

“Put him on the line.”

The captain unclipped a hand-held radio from his waistband and tossed it your way before turning around to convene with his remaining men. You raised the device to the level of your chin, pressed the button on its side, and spoke.

“Sergeant Garrick,” you greeted, tone clinical and matter-of-fact. “Can you hear me?”

A cough sounded through the static. “Nice to hear a familiar voice, Doc.”

You almost snorted at that; familiarity wasn’t exactly the first word you’d use to describe your professional relationship with the guy. The two of you hadn’t exchanged more than a few acknowledging gestures since that day his comrades dragged him into the clinic. In fact, until this very moment, you’d thought he had forgotten all about the interaction, reducing you to a mere vagueness in his pain-hazed memory.

It appeared, however, that the sergeant remembered plenty enough. While he had managed to stay out of trouble—and thus out of your orbit—during this past string of weeks, the pit in your stomach had never quite left.

Your initial premonition had proven correct. Injured again. Through no fault of his own, yes, but establishing fault was hardly important when it came to life and death.

“How are you faring down there? Try and rank your pain on a scale of one to ten.” While you waited for him to respond, you began to set up your equipment, digging for your stethoscope, for bandages and gauze. Once everything was to your satisfaction, a quick wave of your hand brought Captain Price back to the site, ready to excavate the final member of his team.

“Feels like a bloody mountain of rocks just fell on top o’ me, how ‘bout that?”

Damn soldiers. Always difficult, always stubborn. “A number, Gaz.”

“Between a three and a four,” he relented after a few beats of silence. His voice sounded strained despite his efforts to conceal the truth of his current state. “But no rush, yeah? The quiet’s not so bad.”

You handed the radio back to the captain, with whom you shared a look. Freeing Gaz was your highest priority; there’d be no more delays.

Price signaled for McTavish and the one called Ghost to approach the rubble, and, together, the three of them got to digging. Their gloved hands lifted debris, methodically removing boulders and slabs of earth in a way that would minimize the risk of it all toppling down. It was arduous work, but involving heavier machinery might do more harm than good.

Ten minutes into the unburial, they located him. Pinned beneath stone, in an air pocket—alive. McTavish and Ghost relieved the crushing weight, enabling Price to grab Gaz by the arms and drag him towards an open spot of land. There, he tried to sit upright, eager to become of use, but a single stern if I catch you moving before the medic gives the all clear, I’ll make your arse clean latrines for the next month, hear? from his captain had him stilling.

As you knelt closer to the wounded man, those brown eyes swiveled to meet yours, trapping you with their alert intensity. Dirt was speckled across the bridge of his nose, appearing more like a patch of constellations than grime, and a cut crusted with dried blood ran through his left brow. Dust clung to his lashes, exhaustion deep set in his face, and yet he looked. . .

Good. Too good, considering where he’d been for the last hour. Not the most professional observation, sure, but you were only human.

The longer you maintained eye-contact, the more recognizable the reverence in his stare became to you; it wasn’t uncommon for soldiers who’d been separated from their environment, from their very atmosphere, to view the mortal world as heaven itself once they returned. That same sentiment was now infused into his gaze, shining with wonder, like he had just found the answers to his life-long questions, had just stumbled upon eternal paradise.

The kiss of the wind, the hug of the sunlight, the confession of the birdsong. A utopia; Eden.

“Happy to see the sun, Sergeant?”

A flicker of confusion replaced the awe in his expression, but it was gone so quickly you questioned if it’d even been there in the first place. “Right, the sun, yes, that. Bloody ecstatic.”

Gripping his shoulders, you assisted him in moving from a supine to an upright position, your efforts careful and gradual. The amount of buckles and straps and zippers that constituted his tactical vest were unnecessarily complicated, in your opinion, which made freeing it from his body too damn difficult. After a minute of watching you struggle, Gaz took mercy on you; he brushed aside your unsteady hands, swiftly unclasping the vest and pulling it over his head with a wince.

The motion drew your attention to his face. You assessed his clenched jaw, the pronounced frown line between his brows, the strained muscles and bulging veins in his neck—all physical signs that did not particularly bode well.

“I’m going to check if anything’s broken. Is it alright if I feel my way around?” At his nod, you brought your fingers to his sternum. “This may hurt.”

And so began the routine of poking and prodding and pressing. He inhaled sharply when you touched along his midsection, over his ribs, but he waved off your whispered apology, motioning for you to continue your examination. Even through his clothes, you could discern what felt like misaligned bones, which was to be expected.

You leaned slightly away to retrieve your stethoscope then guided its ends into your ears, wanting to listen to his lungs. Carefully untucking his shirt from the waistband of his cargo pants, you slipped your hand beneath the fabric and rested the auscultatory device against the skin of his back.

“Take a deep breath in for me. Hold it. Then slowly, slowly breathe out.”

Ever the soldier, he heeded your directive, his chest filling with oxygen. No crackling noises, and his respirations sounded regular, so you concluded that he had avoided puncturing a lung. Thankfully.

However, that still left the matter of the tenderness you’d felt in his torso as well as the fractures his ribcage had sustained.

“His ribs,” you diagnosed, withdrawing your hand from his heat, hanging the stethoscope around your neck, then rising to your feet to better address the captain. It unnerved you, the height difference between you and every single one of these men, and you thus had no desire to further add onto that preexisting disparity by staying on the ground. “They’re almost certainly broken, but we’ll do an x-ray to confirm. The good news is that the recovery should be quick and easy. He’ll be field-ready in no time at all.”

Price nodded, and the majority of his concern ebbed away, frown lessening. “But?”

“But.” There’d always be a but in this field. No good could come without being joined by the bad; they were a package deal. “The bad news is he’ll have to visit the medbay at least once a week so I can monitor how it’s healing.”

If you had fully turned around to face him then, you would’ve seen the sly grin that now illuminated his features, the glint that entered his eyes. Alas, you did not, and so his following words caught you off-guard, bringing heat to your cheeks.

“Seems we’ve got awfully different definitions of bad news, love.”

tbc.

#kyle gaz garrick x reader #kyle gaz garrick #kyle garrick x reader #kyle garrick #cod gaz #gaz x reader #cod #cod x reader #call of duty #whumptober #my fic #fic: ‘til my pulse loses time

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rex-meshla · 6 days ago

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Shadows of the Force (Captain Rex x fem!Jedi OC)

Prologue

Chapter 1: First Steps Into the Unknown

✧ Stella's POV ✧

Still dazed, I followed the man and his soldiers. Everything felt like a blur, my mind numb as I tried to process the horror of losing my home. As I boarded a shuttle bound for a larger ship, I glanced back one last time, heart heavy. This was goodbye to everything I had known.

I settled into a seat near Anakin, eyes fixed on the stars beyond the small shuttle window. Their distant glow was comforting, a reminder that some things remained unchanged, even when everything else was ripped away.

Soon, the shuttle docked inside a massive hangar bay. My stomach twisted as the reality of the situation set in. I was now inside a spaceship, surrounded by beings from an entirely different galaxy. Anakin gently guided me out of the shuttle and onto the cruiser, giving me a reassuring look as I stepped into a gleaming corridor filled with bustling soldiers.

The inside of the spaceship was unlike anything I could have imagined. Metallic walls hummed with energy, blinking lights and panels filled every surface, and as I passed windowed corridors, I saw distant stars stretching endlessly into the blackness beyond. It felt as if I had stepped into the pages of a science fiction novel, everything too strange to be real.

I trailed closely behind Anakin and the blue-pauldroned soldier, heart pounding as each sight and sound registered. It felt like any moment, I might wake up back in my bed, safe at home. But each metallic clang of footsteps, each murmur of the ship's machinery reminded me that this was no dream. Earth was gone, and I had nowhere else to go.

I passed groups of soldiers dressed in identical white armor. Their helmets, smooth and featureless, concealed any hint of humanity, but I noticed they moved with purpose, like they were pieces of a single, well-oiled machine. I felt myself shrinking under their curious gazes.

Anakin slowed his pace to walk beside me, sensing my disquiet. "Is this all a bit overwhelming?" he asked gently.

I laughed nervously, glancing around the spaceship. "A bit? I feel like I'm in a sci-fi movie. Like all of this can't be real"

He gave me a reassuring smile. "I understand. The first time I left my home planet, I felt the same way. But I promise you, we're here to help. You don't have to go through this alone"

I tried to respond, but my voice choked. The truth I'd been suppressing since I'd seen that first fiery wave destroying everything I knew began to sink in. Alone. I was truly alone. My entire world and all of my loved ones gone forever. I looked away, blinking back tears, feeling a weight press down on my chest.

Sensing my sorrow, Anakin placed a hand on my shoulder, offering silent support as we continued down the corridor.

We eventually reached a large hangar filled with more armored soldiers who glanced over, their faces masked but their attention clearly piqued.

Rex, who had been silent until now, turned and nodded toward a few of the troopers nearby. Removing his helmet to reveal a face lined with compassion, he gave me an encouraging nod.

"I'd like you to meet a few of the men" he said, gesturing for the others to join us. "They're good people. And don't worry—they don't bite."

Four soldiers approached, each removing their helmet as they reached me, revealing faces that, to my astonishment, were nearly identical to the man in the blue pauldron. I blinked in confusion, trying to process this strange reality.

Rex gestured to the troopers gathered around. "These are some of the troopers I work closely with—Echo, Fives, Jesse, and Kix" he said. Each one nodded in turn as he said their name. Despite their similar features, I noticed subtle differences that marked each of them as unique individuals.

Echo, who had a thoughtful expression, was the first to speak. "It's nice to meet you, Stella. Heard you're from somewhere... far."

Fives grinned. "Guess you're even farther from home than we are!"

"Yeah" I managed, trying to steady my voice. "A lot farther"

Kix, who had a softer demeanor, took a step closer. "I'm the medic around here, so if you ever need anything, just let me know" His kindness was evident, and I couldn't help but feel a small sense of relief at having someone who seemed to care.

"Jesse's the one with the tattoo on his head" Rex said with a half-smile, gesturing to Jesse, who sported a distinctive emblem tattooed above his left brow. "And Fives here doesn't mind telling you a hundred times why he's called Fives"

Fives gave a playful shrug. "Just keeping things simple"

I managed a small smile, despite the internal turmoil. Their camaraderie was a reminder of the friends I had on Earth. For a moment, the ache of my loss eased in the warmth of their welcome.

As we walked through the barracks, I heard murmurs and hushed laughter as other clones noticed me. "Look, it's the Earthling!" one called out, a mix of humor and curiosity in his tone.

Rex silenced them with a warning glance. "Hey, leave her alone. She's been through enough"

I tried to laugh it off, but it stung a little. "It's alright, really" I said, forcing a smile. I could't help but feel painfully out of place.

Anakin overheard and offered a comforting nod. "Don't worry, Stella. They mean well. You're just... new. They've never met an Earthling before"

I smiled wryly. "What's an Earthling like me doing in a galaxy like this anyway?"

Anakin shrugged, an amused sparkle in his eye. "The Force works in mysterious ways. Maybe you were meant to be here"

"The Force? What do you mean by that?" I asked, confused.

Anakin gave me a gentle, reassuring smile. "That," he said with a hint of mystery, "is a discussion for another day"

The thought lingered, leaving me both intrigued and slightly uneasy. I decided to let it go for now and allowed myself to believe that there was a reason I was here.

_____________________________________________________________

You can find the next chapters here and my masterlist here x

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jpitha · 1 year ago

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Family Meeting

This is another story from the off-Tumblr writing contest I entered.

Empress Isla walked from the palace grounds to the Memoriam with no guards; only her daughter, Purslane accompanied her. As they walked under the dome topping Imperial Station, Purslane stared up at the blue-green crescent of the planet below.

Isla’s emerald gown shone under the starlight, and the long train of the grown floated a few centimeters off the ground. Purslane wore a simpler version of the same gown. Once, Purslane asked how it floated; the Empress lifted the train and showed her the microcircuitry printed into it, so thin that it could be mistaken for threads. The circuitry led up to a small plug on her hip so that her own body could power the gown. An Empress didn’t need to wait for a breeze to have her clothes be dramatic.

As they approached the steps to the Memoriam, two guards in armored pressure suits bowed and stepped out of the way. Their black suits were polished to a mirror shine; the helmets were darkened such that their features could not be seen. Across the galaxy the faceless warriors of the Empress were known and feared, but here, now, they were a welcome sight.

The Empress nodded at each one as she passed into the Memoriam. Purslane trailed behind and waved at them, her reflection distorted in their helmets. The guard on Purslane’s right waved back slightly while still bowed down.

A respectful time after they had passed into the Memoriam, the doors were shut behind them with a muted boom. Isla walked across the floor, her heels clicking on the polished stone. She reached the base of a dais in the center of the building. Purslane caught up to her mother. This was her very first visit to the Memoriam.

The room was tall and airy. Brightly lit, it had a ceremonial air about it. Purslane looked down through the windows cut into the floor. Inside, she saw hundreds of niches built into the walls below her. At the very bottom was a mass of complex looking machinery.

Isla took a breath and held it. Breathing out through her nose, she turned and looked down at Purslane. “Are you ready, sunshine?”

Purslane looked up at her mother, her face serious. “Will it be scary?”

Isla bent low and locked eyes with her daughter. “It might be. Our grandmothers are in deep hibernation. When they wake, they can be confused. They can be angry. But we are their children. We have a right to ask them questions. Be strong with me and everything will be fine.”

Purslane nodded. “I am strong.”

“That’s my girl.” Isla stood up and faced the dais. She called out, “I will speak to the first Empress.”

The machinery at the bottom of the well came to life. A robotic arm reached into one of the niches at the bottom of the building and removed a white lozenge. With a reverence that was programmed long ago, it lifted the hibernation cabinet until it came out of an iris that opened at the rear of the dais. While the arm brought the cabinet out, a table silently slid up from the dais. The cabinet was laid upon the table, and dozens of cables slid out of the table and connected to the cabinet with a quiet click.

The assembly faced the Empress and her daughter. As it hummed, Purslane noticed a window near the top of the cabinet. Inside was a woman, old but not elderly, with her hair elegantly shorn in whorls and patterns, and a shock of long white hair on the top of her head.

After some time, the cabinet split down the middle, revealing the woman. She wore the same emerald color as the Empress and her Daughter, though hers was a much more practical jumpsuit.

Its work complete, the arm slid back into the depths; the three of them were alone. The woman in the cabinet took a shuddering breath and her eyes fluttered open. “Well?” Her voice came from a speaker built into the cabinet.

Empress Isla swallowed and pushed down her nerves. “Grandmother, I- “

“Why are you talking from a speaker?” Purslane’s voice was loud in the room.

“Purslane!” Nerves forgotten; Isla turned from an Empress back into a mother. “We don’t interrupt.”

“Sorry Mommy, but why isn’t she talking with her mouth?”

Laughter from the speaker. “Child, I have just awakened from deep hibernation. My brain is active, but my body lags. The speaker allows me to speak with you. If your mother has awoken me, then she needs my help. What is your name?”

Purslane looks up at the woman. “My name is Purslane, Empress Grandma. I’m five.”

A chuckle. “Empress Grandma. I like that. I will answer any questions you have Purslane – after I speak with your mother, all right?”

Purslane bobbed a curtsy. “Yes, Empress Grandma. I will wait.”

The first Empress’ eyes flicked to Isla. “You have awakened me in a rush. This is serious. Which one are you?”

“Isla IX, Grandmother.”

“I remember you. Your mother spoke to me. Vivian VII, I recall.”

“Yes, that’s correct Grandmother. I was seven when we met.”

“What do you need, child? Why do you awaken me?”

“The Victory Gate has reactivated.”

“I do not know that name.”

“I apologize. I forgot that it was named after you went into hibernation. Gate 754 has been reactivated.”

The First Empress’ eyes widened. The longer she was awake the more of her body returned to her control. “The Yan’itar. You are sure?”

Empress Isla stood straight and tilted her head. It was difficult to look down on someone who was physically higher than you were, but Isla had been an Empress a long time. “I am the Empress. I am sure. They return.”

The first Empress nodded. “Wake the others.”

Isla blinked. “W-Which others, Grandmother?”

“All of them. Wake the Empresses. We need to convene.”

#writing #sci fi writing #jpitha #humans are space oddities #humans are space capybaras #humans are space australians

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leqclerc · 7 months ago

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omg the is carlos sainz this generation’s nico rosberg questions are so ridiculous! like put some fucking respect to that monaco based youtuber who beat two 7x wdcs in equal machinery. the only similarity they have is having a world champion influential father. thats it.

and no he is not underrated when in the span of 3 races he has gone from a good driver to the next wdc who is going to beat max verstappen 👍

Frrrrrr 😤

Thankfully some people still see sense and called the whole thing out (saw this in a Reddit thread post-Melbourne), chalking the hype up to recency bias (rightfully so.) Admittedly he's been in the right place at the right time both times (in Singapore and Australia) but I mean... passing Max (who was already having issues with his car basically from the get go) and then just. Keeping the lead (while your teammate gets instructed point blank not to even attempt to overtake you) is hardly comparable to keeping a title challenge alive against your generational talent teammate arguably at or nearing the peak of his abilities. Also the things Nico did in 2016 were insane and I honestly haven't seen this level of commitment since. This man didn't renounce cycling, wear ankle stocks, remove stitching on his gloves and refuse to sleep in the same bed as his wife for like eight months for people to be comparing him to Carlos 😭😭😭

I could maybe see where they're coming from if Carlos went to Red Bull (since now suddenly he's their number one candidate apparently) and managed to keep up with Max over the course of a season as teammates, enough to actually realistically challenge for the WDC. But like this? Benefiting from the annual Red Bull Singapore stinker and then Max having race-ending car issues? People have clearly forgotten what actual racing for the lead looks like and it shows😑

I think he's definitely been benefiting from recency bias and also people being jaded after... let's say a season and a half of Red Bull dominance. I still think Australia was a pretty meh race in itself and it's only getting hyped because the result was a non-Max win 🤷🏻‍♀️

How he can be considered "criminally underrated" when some influential pundits/journalists have been rating him more highly than Charles for the past three years and saying he deserves to be Ferrari's lead driver is beyond me. Imo he's one of the few drivers that has consistently been getting their flowers and been vocally backed by numerous influential media figures. Even when he had very anonymous flop periods they were usually glossed over and/or quickly forgotten (early 2022 was magnanimously chalked up to "he's still getting used to the car/he can't perform at this best when his future is uncertain and more recently the back half of 2023, pretty much Japan to Abu Dhabi where he was making a lot of mistakes and generally trailing behind Charles, has been conveniently erased from collective memory now that he's the man of the moment.)

#replies #anonymous #discussions and predictions #i know a lot of this sport's narratives are built on this idea of you're only as good as your last race #but it felt like they were cutting him more slack compared to others even when his 'last race' involved facing the wrong way in the gravel #anyway let's see what this weekend will bring #hoping for a charles win soon at any rate 🤞🏻

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jsdisposal · 1 month ago

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House Demolition Near Me: What You Need to Know Before Hiring Professionals

Introduction

House demolition is often the first step in a major construction or renovation project. Whether you’re planning to rebuild, renovate, or clear out an old structure, finding a reliable service for house demolition near me is essential. The demolition process involves careful planning, adherence to safety regulations, and the use of specialized equipment to ensure that the job is done safely and efficiently.

In this article, we’ll explore what you need to know about house demolition, from the various types of demolition to the factors to consider when hiring a professional demolition service in your area.

What is House Demolition?

House demolition refers to the process of tearing down or dismantling a residential structure, either partially or entirely. There are several reasons why property owners opt for demolition, including the need to make space for a new construction project, eliminating hazardous or unsafe buildings, or getting rid of outdated or structurally compromised homes.

Demolition is not just about knocking down walls. It requires proper assessment, planning, and execution to ensure that the surrounding properties and environment are not affected by the process. Depending on the project, demolition may involve heavy machinery or manual labor, and it must adhere to local laws and environmental guidelines.

Types of House Demolition

When looking for house demolition near me, it’s essential to understand that not all demolition projects are the same. The type of demolition required will depend on factors such as the size of the property, the structure’s condition, and the project’s goals.

1. Total Demolition

As the name suggests, total demolition involves the complete teardown of a house. This is common when the structure is beyond repair or when a property owner wants to build an entirely new home on the land. In this process, the entire house is demolished using heavy equipment like excavators, bulldozers, and wrecking balls.

When to choose total demolition: If your house is structurally unsound or you plan to build a new home from the ground up, total demolition is often the best option.

2. Selective Demolition

Selective demolition involves carefully dismantling specific parts of the house while leaving the rest of the structure intact. This type of demolition is ideal for renovation projects where only certain areas, like walls or interior features, need to be removed while the foundation or main structure remains.

When to choose selective demolition: If you're planning a home renovation and only need to remove a portion of the house, such as an old wing, roof, or interior, selective demolition is the way to go.

3. Deconstruction

Deconstruction is a more environmentally friendly approach to demolition, where the house is dismantled piece by piece to salvage reusable materials like bricks, wood, doors, and windows. This method is more time-consuming but reduces waste and allows for the recycling of building materials.

When to choose deconstruction: If you're eco-conscious and want to minimize the environmental impact of your demolition project, deconstruction is an excellent option.

4. Interior Demolition

Interior demolition focuses on the removal of internal elements like walls, ceilings, flooring, and fixtures, without affecting the exterior of the building. This is commonly done during interior remodeling projects where the layout of the home needs to be altered.

When to choose interior demolition: Ideal for remodeling projects where you want to gut the interior of the house without tearing down the exterior.

Factors to Consider When Hiring House Demolition Services Near You

Choosing the right demolition service is crucial for the success of your project. When searching for house demolition near me, there are several factors to consider to ensure that you hire a professional, reliable, and efficient team.

1. Experience and Expertise

Demolition is a complex process that requires knowledge and experience. Ensure that the company you hire has a proven track record of successfully completing similar demolition projects. Look for reviews, testimonials, and examples of past work to gauge their expertise.

Tip: Ask the demolition contractor how long they’ve been in business and if they specialize in residential demolitions. An experienced company will be familiar with local regulations and safety protocols.

2. Licensing and Insurance

Before hiring a demolition service, check that they have the proper licenses and insurance coverage. Demolition companies should be licensed to operate in your area and should carry liability insurance to cover any accidents or damages that may occur during the project.

Why it’s important: Demolition can be dangerous work, and insurance protects both you and the contractor in case of unforeseen events. Without proper coverage, you could be held liable for damages or injuries.

3. Cost of House Demolition

The cost of house demolition near me can vary widely depending on several factors, including the size of the house, the type of demolition needed, and the complexity of the project. On average, demolition costs range between $4 to $15 per square foot, but it’s essential to get a detailed quote from your contractor that outlines all costs, including permits, labor, equipment, and disposal fees.

Tip: Get quotes from multiple demolition contractors and compare their pricing, but don’t choose based solely on price—consider experience and service quality as well.

4. Permits and Regulations

Demolition projects are subject to local building codes and regulations, and you’ll likely need permits before any work can begin. A professional demolition company should handle this for you, ensuring that all necessary permits are obtained and that the project complies with local zoning laws.

Why it matters: Failure to secure the appropriate permits could result in fines or delays in your project, so it’s critical that your contractor handles this part of the process.

5. Environmental Considerations

House demolition can produce a significant amount of waste, much of which could be harmful to the environment if not handled correctly. Look for a demolition company that prioritizes sustainability by recycling materials or minimizing waste through deconstruction practices.

Tip: Ask the contractor how they handle waste disposal and whether they recycle materials like metal, wood, and concrete to reduce landfill impact.

6. Safety Protocols

Demolition is a high-risk job that involves the use of heavy machinery and potentially hazardous materials like asbestos or lead. The safety of workers and nearby residents should be a top priority for any demolition company. Ensure that your contractor follows strict safety protocols, including securing the site, wearing protective gear, and properly managing hazardous materials.

Tip: Ask the contractor about their safety procedures and how they plan to minimize risks during the demolition process.

Steps Involved in the House Demolition Process

Understanding the steps involved in a demolition project can help you prepare for what’s ahead. Here's a general overview of what to expect:

1. Initial Inspection and Assessment

Before demolition begins, the contractor will conduct an inspection of the property to assess the structure and determine the best demolition method. This is also the time to identify any hazardous materials, such as asbestos, that need to be removed safely.

2. Securing Permits

Once the assessment is complete, the contractor will secure the necessary permits from your local government. This can take anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks, depending on your location.

3. Disconnecting Utilities

Before any demolition work can start, all utilities (gas, water, electricity) must be safely disconnected to prevent accidents during the demolition process.

4. Demolition Process

Depending on the type of demolition, heavy machinery (such as bulldozers or excavators) or manual labor may be used to tear down the structure. The demolition team will work carefully to ensure the surrounding properties and environment are protected.

5. Site Cleanup

Once the house is demolished, the contractor will clean up the debris and haul it away for disposal or recycling. This includes clearing the site of all materials and ensuring that the land is ready for future construction or landscaping.

Conclusion

If you’re planning a major renovation or new construction project, finding a reliable service for house demolition near me is the first critical step. With the right demolition team, you can ensure a smooth, safe, and efficient process, whether you’re tearing down an old structure or preparing for a rebuild. By considering factors like experience, licensing, cost, and safety, you can hire the right professionals to get the job done right.

Be sure to choose a reputable contractor who follows local regulations and prioritizes sustainability, and you’ll be well on your way to a successful demolition project that sets the stage for your future plans.

#dumpster rental #house demolition #dumpsters

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machinerytransfersau · 5 months ago

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somethinglikethatyeah83 · 2 years ago

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US AGAIN: Tenth Doctor

Pairing: Tenth Doctor x Timelord!Fem!OC (Vera)

Warnings: Angst at the beginning but nothing else

Summary: A near ending to the Family Of Blood episodes but with Vera in place of Joan.

Word Count: 1.2K

A/N: I was originally going to write the whole two episodes but that was torture because I cannot handle slow burns even if its not really a 'slow' burn so I ended up just writing this scene because it has such a potential to be cute with Vera and Ten

My hands shook, the necklace removed from where it hung around my neck, now steadily swaying in my hand from the momentum of the shaking. John stood in front of me, holding his pocket watch. Martha had gone upstairs a while ago, leaving John and I to say our goodbyes to each other, even though we hadn’t done anything of the sort.

According to Martha, even in our alien forms we were in love and had a life together – married even. Just the notion of us being married sent a tingle through me, almost unreal.

“We can do this.” I assured him, though I probably needed assuring just as much as he did. “Hold my hand.”

John didn’t hesitate to take my hand in his warm calloused skin that didn’t resemble that of a teacher, but rather someone who dabbled in mechanical work. Someone who liked to fiddle with machinery, taking it apart just to see whether he could put it back together. Maybe that’s who the Doctor was. I couldn’t believe that I had fallen in love with someone that acted like Martha described, but then again, I wasn’t Vera. She had fallen in love with him, not me. I was about to be her, but not just yet.

“We could have had such a life.” John said, his voice quivering, more than I’d ever seen it, tears in his eyes so close to falling that if he blinked, they would settle and splash against the pocket watch. “How are you okay with saying goodbye to this?”

I shook my head. “You heard what Martha said. We’re not going to get out of here alive, we have to change back.”

“But I love you.”

That was when I closed my eyes, unable to deal with the notion of what we could have been. A life flashed before mine, the people and feelings I recognised, but the more I saw, the less it felt like me. John was there through it all. Each unmade memory further, the adoration in eyes when we looked at me grew, which only made my heart ache. When he proposed, the day we got married, the day we had kids, and watching him die peacefully at my side, a full life together that I knew we could never have.

It hurt more than anything else could have on this Earth, but once I opened my eyes and saw him, saw the pocket watch and the necklace, I knew: We didn’t have a choice.

“I love you, too, but we can’t. There isn’t anything we can do, it’s us or the school. Do you really want to be the cause of all those peoples deaths when we won’t really be dying? Elizabeth and John will be gone but the Doctor and Vera will still be there, we’ll still have each other, we’ll still be alive.”

He took a deep breath, now shaking like I was, and still shaking his head, though I knew that he was starting to understand. He knew the stakes, he understood my point, and Martha’s, and most importantly, he knew that he was never really going to have to say goodbye to the girl he had fallen in love with. That they would always have each other.

“Ready?”

But again, he shook his head. “No. Kiss me first.”

A bittersweet laugh fell from my lips which were soon captured against his. One last kiss between Elizabeth and John.

One final moment between us, salty tears in my tongue that would rectify this place. The final time I would know and be around this man I had fallen in love with. A heartfelt goodbye because even though we loved each other as Timelords, I would never see John Smith again. I’d never be Elizabeth again, but part of me was okay with that.

I held his hand as we pulled again, locking with the honey brown that stared down at me. “Ready now?”

He nodded hesitantly. “Yes.” I saw that the tears had fallen.

“Goodbye, John.”

“Goodbye Elizabeth.”

At the same time, I opened the necklace locket and he opened the pocket watch. A gold energy appeared from the objects that were gripped tightly, and the two of us started to inhale it, whatever it was. We didn’t have a choice. Like it was almost calling out to us. It was such an overwhelming feeling, the sudden addition of this new energy source that the human body couldn’t handle it. The aching that came with it slowly dulled to nothing as I blacked out, fainting.

“Vera.” It was a murmur. I could barely hear it but I definitely knew it was there and I definitely recognised the voice.

“Wh’t?”

“You’re waking up now, I need you to sit up.” And without thinking, I did so. My eyes slowly fluttered open to face the Doctor who settled in a hazy blur as my vision took its sweet time to return. He was knelt in front of me, holding my hand, similar to the last memory I have of Elizabeth.

We were still in the kitchen of the small cottage, and I was sitting in a chair, my elbow nestled on the dining table. It was still dark outside which meant I couldn’t have been out for long, and that the Family Of Blood were still out there, looking for the two of us.

I eyed the Doctor again, a grin, made purely of contentedness and adoration, making its way onto my lips. “Hi.”

“Hi.” He returned, with a very similar smile. Suddenly I was pulled towards him into a hug, his arms around my waist, face buried into my neck. “Long time no see.”

“You could say that.” I giggled, arms wrapped around his neck. “God I missed you.”

“Missed you more. Can you remember anything?” He questioned, pulling away and standing up, holding out a hand for me.

“Everything.” I replied, taking his hand and heaving myself up. Unfortunately, I was still heavy on my feet and a little bit dizzy still, so I nearly toppled over, almost. Luckily the Doctor caught me, arms around my waist. “I can’t believe even as humans we found each other. I know we married as soulmates but that just takes it to another level.” I lifted my hands up my hair, pulled the clips out and letting it fall around my shoulders, thankful to not have it always up.

The Doctor watched me as I spoke, with such a small smile that wouldn’t be recognisable as a smile if you didn’t know him.

“What?” I asked, dropping my hands that had been tangled in my hair.

“Nothing.” He shrugged.

“No, something.” I eyed him. “Don’t think I don’t know you. Tell me, what is it?”

He grinned down at me, taking my hands in his and wrapping them around his neck, wrapping his own arms around my waist and pulling me flush against him. My fingers subconsciously raked through the hair at the bottom of his neck, looking up at him. “I love you, that’s all.”

“Aw, how cute.” I laughed, leaning up and pressing a chaste but loving kiss to his lips. “Love you too, now come on, we’ve got to go find Martha and the Family.”

“Lead the way.” And we were off, ready to sort everything out.

#tenth doctor #tenth doctor x reader #tenth doctor x oc #tenth doctor fluff #tenth doctor x reader fluff #ten #david tennant #doctor who #fanfiction #doctor who fanfiction

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literary-illuminati · 1 year ago

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Book Review 19 – All The Names They Used For God by Anjali Sachdeva

This is the second short story collection I’ve read this year, and of the two the only one that was really trying to be a coherent work in its own right and not just a grab bag of smaller pieces. I actually picked it up entirely off of a tumblr post, of all things – there was an excerpt from the story Killer of Kings that really got stuck in my head, and having read it I just needed to see the context and the rest of the work it was from. So, score one for viral word of mouth advertising I guess.

Killer of Kings – about the writing from Paradise Lost, from the perspective of Milton’s politically unreliable angelic muse – is absolutely the best story in the book, but there weren’t really any that struck me as bad. The overall tone is kind of dreaamlike – mythological, or in many cases the kind of story you’d expect to hear on a weird fiction podcast (if a very literary one). High on the uncanny and numinous, on weird situations and the touch of something transcendent, and just on people being put in situations. Low on high action, or really tension or plot at all – the narration usually feels like it’s at a bit of a remove, or if not then like one is observing the inevitable machinery of fate more than anything to really get excited about and caught up in. Dreams or fables, or something in between.

The writing is good enough to generally make the remove work, I think. Beautiful imagery in a lot of places, and very distinct (if occasionally pretty broad) voices for the points of view of all the different stories. Call prose lyrical is essentially just a buzzword at this point, but I think these mostly qualify.

There are nine stories in the book, and aside from the aforementioned fairy tale about regicide and mutinous angels, I’m afraid that I remember absolutely none of their titles. Or, no, that is a lie – the story about a pair of Nigerian girls abducted as brides by Boko Haram who escape after learning how to magically compel and dominate their husbands shares All The Names They Used For God with the whole collection, so I do remember that one. The other stories that really stuck in my head were of an albino homesteader in the Ozarks abandoning the farmhouse to explore and lose herself in the labyrinthine cave system she discovers, the modern day sailor in a dying fishing village becoming enraptured with the mermaid he glimpses as the ship he works gluts itself on the bounty of fishes she has called to feed the shark she’s become fascinated by herself, and the near-future story of identical septuplets created by their geneticist parents who are each struck by accident or disease as they go through adolescence and increasingly haunt their surviving, doomed siblings. (They’re all like that).

So clearly the plots and settings vary pretty wildly, but I do mean it when I say that the book was the most cohesive set of short stories on an artistic or thematic level I’ve read in quite a long time. Every story in the book (I’m pretty sure, at least) has a real sense of some vast and unseen mechanism of the universe brushing up against the mundane world, some intrusion of something grand and overwhelming and uncanny into the protagonist’s life. (It’s the title, after all – ‘God’ in a broad, rather pentheistic sense, but still, the glorious and uncaring clockwork behind the curtain.) And the culmination of each story is the protagonist (not always the point of view, but the character actually driving the plot) in one sense or another succumbing to the unknown, abandoning what they have and take a leap of faith into some transcendent self-destruction.

All to say the collection really works as a whole more than the individual stories do on their own. Which is probably entirely normal for short story collections that aren’t pulled together based on being based on the same property or written by the same author without much curation otherwise, but I really don’t read many of those that are also actually good.

#book review #literature #sff #all the names they used for god #Anjali Sachdeva #short stories

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silverwings22 · 7 months ago

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Song of the Sea: Chapter 30: House Won't Fall

Chapter Warnings: reference to genocide, political corruption, questionable dietary habits, explicit smut Series Warning: explicit smut, alien anatomy (it's a monsterfucker fic, guys), major character injury, grief, canon typical violence, autistic meltdowns, and my terrible attempts at Mando'a

Previous Chapter:

Next Chapter:

Shiani sat at the work table, Echo’s scomp arm opened as she worked on a few adjustments. It had become the ultimate expression of trust from the cyborg, letting her fix his hand for her. When she’d first joined the Batch, he hadn’t been thrilled about her even watching Tech work on it. Now he asked her first, while Tech was in the cockpit.

Omega was sitting on the steps in front of her room, legs crossed and hands open on her knees. “She’s really getting the hang of meditating.”

Shiani nodded, adjusting another servo for him. “She ask you to join her?”

“She did, before I came looking for you. I’ll have to pass on that.”

“Don’t like meditation?” Shiani glanced up at the corporal’s pale face. She worried about him sometimes, even though he’d put on muscle since joining the Batch. She recalled how exhausted he’d seemed when she first saw him though the glass on Kamino, a tired Chainbreaker barely holding himself upright. Now he was every bit the competent warrior she knew he must have been before his torture on Skako Minor. Still, she felt the scars no one could see that lingered deep in his spirit. And that was saying something, considering most of his physical scars were on display.

“I don’t prefer solitude. I had enough of that on Skako. If not for this squad, I might still be there… that’s why I stayed with them. It’s where I fit at the time.” He glanced at her thoughtfully. “You don't much like being alone either.”

“No. Had enough of it in exile.” She agreed. “Baby Mega asks me to meditate with her too, but I don't. Sirens aren't meant for quiet.”

Echo chuckled. “Is that why you fell for Tech? He's the most talkative clone I've ever known.”

Shiani laughed. “One reason out of many.” She closed the port on his arm. “All fixed.”

“Thanks.” He spun the scomp with a critical eye before nodding.

“Echo, how come you never got a prosthetic arm? It's got to be difficult to do things with one hand.”

“It is, but the scomp was too useful to get rid of.” He shrugged. “With all this metal and machinery, I might as well be useful.”

“You can build a scomp into a prosthetic. I could make it pop out of your wrist or fingertip. With those cybernetics, you'd be an ideal candidate for all kinds of delicate instruments.” She pointed out.

“You could do that? Why didn't Tech mention it when I first got here?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Tech is a genius who does best with novelty. He invents new things, or makes plans for possibilities that might never happen.” She scrunched her face at the 100 plans she'd memorized with Omega since she'd joined them. Some sounded interesting… some scared her. “This doesn't need new ways for things, just someone to put things together. That's what I'm good at.”

Echo leaned over curiously. “And how would you put it together, if you were going to do it?”

Shiani pulled out her datapad. “Cybernetic connections here with pressure sensors so you could tell how hard you press. I can't replicate full sensation, but it would be something. Scomp loaded into the wrist, comes out like this so you just bend your hand out of the way. Tactical knife in the back of the hand, combines pretty well with a punch… maybe a place for datastick? Removable, though. You don't need all that stuff crowding up your brain.” She sketched out a rough outline for him.

“... how fast could you make this?” He looked at it, eyes wide.

“Just a couple hours to get a prototype done. It might need tweaks, but we won't know until you use it.” She smiled slyly. “I'd only need a few measurements from you.”

“Measure away. This sounds great.” Echo laid both arms on the table and raised his voice so Tech could hear him from the cockpit. “Tech, you're the dumber half of your marriage.”

“Don’t say that!” Shaini swatted him gently with a tape measure as she started writing down measurements of his real arm.

“Did I do something that displeased you?” Tech called back.

“Echo is being dramatic. I’m aking him a new arm, Tech.” Shiani answered.

There was a pause from the cockpit before Tech had set the autopilot and was coming to look. Echo looked smug as Shiani marked her measurements and Tech looked over her draft. “I like her better than you today, vod.”

“I like Shiani better than you every day. Consider us even.” Tech snipped back, but there was no real venom in it. Everyone knew Tech loved Echo. Tech loved all his siblings… even Crosshair. “This is… very clever, Shiani. I am impressed.” He put a hand on her shoulder as he gave her back her datapad.

Squeeze squeeze squeeze.

She beamed with delight and went to get her toolkit. She loved when he was proud of her.

She was just getting her protective glasses on when the ships comm went off. “We are receiving a transmission from Rex.” Tech called back to Hunter.

“Put him through.” The sergeant ordered, walking up to talk to the captain. Shiani decided to stay out of the way and just listen while she worked on the arm.

“Hey there, boys. Any chance I could borrow your expertise for a mission?”

“What kind of mission?” Hunter sounded a little suspicious, but Shiani wasn't surprised. He was so protective of Omega and cautious of the rest of the squad being in any danger. He was a big brother to the core, with responsibility laid so heavy on his shoulders it might break him if he didn't take care. Luckily, all of the squad members were attentive enough to take the load off him when they could.

“It's just a data extraction, but it's crucial. I can explain more on Coruscant.”

“Coruscant? That's a tall ask.” Hunter said immediately.

Omega, who'd overheard the comm coming in, snuck over to Shiani at the worktable. “What's on Coruscant?”

“The Republic Senate used to be.” Shiani whispered back. “I guess the Empire is there now, where the Republic used to be.”

Omega frowned. “Why would Rex be there?”

The siren glanced over at where she could see Hunter's stiff shoulders. “Rex wanted us to come join him fighting the Empire. He asked on Bracca. Hunter said no, so you could have a good life… but Rex is fighting for all the clones with chips, still slaves to the Empire.”

Omega frowned, inching towards Hunter. “I think we should help.” She said softly. Shiani could only admire how brave that girl was, putting her own safety and well-being on the back burner to save brothers she'd never even met.

Hunter sighed. “... how crucial is this data, Rex?”

“It could be life or death for clones across the galaxy. I can get you a flight path avoiding Imperial security, and a safe landing zone.”

Echo looked eager, especially with Omega on his side. Shiani looked down at the prosthetic components in front of her. A sad, achy feeling arched through her gills as she realized she'd be remote testing this prototype… Echo wanted to fight too much. He wouldn't be leaving Coruscant with them. She'd have to tweak the arm when he came to visit… if he did. Tech was going to be hurt again, losing another brother to the Empire. This time as its enemy, but that would be only cold comfort.

Better work out the bugs on the first try, then.

When the Marauder touched down in a private garage Rex had given them, the captain was waiting for them. Next to him was a pretty blue-skinned woman dressed in pink, who looked like the weight of the galaxy sat on her shoulders.

“Good to see you guys. Senator, this is the squad I was telling you about. Guys, this is Senator Chuchi. She's with us on this.”

The men saluted more as a force of habit than anything else. Shiani held a hand out to the Senator. “Nice to meet you.”

Chuchi looked a little nervously at Shiani’s claws, but shook her hand. “Likewise, and thank you for coming. I'm Riyo”

“Shiani Illumai.” The siren said softly.

“I've seen her take down a grown dianoga.” Rex assured the Pantoran. “She's Tech's girlfriend.”

“Wife now.” Tech said mildly. “While I would enjoy telling the story, you said this was a matter of life and death?”

Rex nodded. “Come inside. There's something I want you to see.”

They slipped into the garage, where a table sat with a body bag on top of it. Shiani balked at the faint scent of death, pushing Omega back slightly. “Dead?”

Rex nodded, unzipping the bag. Instead of an Imperial, they were all presented with a clone's face. “He was an assassin.” Rex explained. “I went to meet a brother named Slip, but the assassin got to him first. He almost got the Senator here, too.”

“This doesn't make any sense.” Echo looked sick. “Why would a clone kill one of our own?”

“Slip knew what really happened on Kamino. I was trying to convince him to testify against Vice-Admiral Rampart in front of the senate. He's pushing his recruitment bill tomorrow.” Chuchi explained. “If it passes, the clones will ask be completely abandoned by the Empire. They're already being phased out, and I fear they'll be decommissioned completely once there is a new army in place.”

“We were there. I could testify.” Echo offered.

Hunter shook his head. “We're deserters, they'll never listen to us.”

“I'm not.” Shiani murmured. “I could testify…”

“You are a princess, so you would have legal standing and your voice would carry weight.” Tech reached for her hand. “But it would reveal the sirens to the rest of the galaxy.”

Her jaw trembled, but she nodded. “But it will save clones. Decommissioned means killed…”

Everyone else looked at her. “... you're a princess?” Omega whispered.

“I’m most proud to be a Batcher. Princess is less important.” Shiani said firmly before looking at Chuchi. “You’ll need more than my word as proof.”

Chuchi nodded. “Slip said that he backed up the logs on Rampart's Venator.”

“It's being retrofitted in an Imperial shipyard here on Coruscant.” Rex confirmed. “If we move quickly, we can get it in front of the senate before the vote.”

“I'll go back to the senate and get as much evidence as I can.” Chuchi nodded. “I'll have to get you clearance, Princess.”

“I can take care of that, for her and Omega.” Tech assured them all. “It would be more practical for Omega to go with Shiani than into a shipyard.”

Hunter nodded. “We'll get into the Venator and copy the data, then get it to you before the vote. Shiani can address the senate, and stall if we need her to.”

Shiani turned and put her face in Tech's chest. “Be careful.” She whispered.

“I will do my best.” He took both her hands in his and held them gently. Squeeze squeeze squeeze. “You will be brilliant in front of the senate. I know you will.”

Shiani nodded, swallowing hard as she tried to get her mind right. “For you.”

Omega was wearing Chuchi's cloak, and Shiani had been changed into a spare outfit the Senator kept in her office. It was a white, loose-sleeved dress with gold accents, blessedly open on the sides to allow for her tentacles, with a gold belt and deep blue cloak. She'd even quickly taken Shiani's ponytail up into a careful bun. “If only we had something to really make you look like a princess.” the Senator murmured as she dabbed a little bit of makeup on Shiani's face. Despite her previous insistence on Ord Mantell that she wasn't suited to cosmetics, a dab of lipstick was nice looking. Shiani didn’t like it, but that may have been the gnawing feeling in her chest that what Chuchi was doing wasn’t trying to make her look royal. It was to make her look tame. To prove to the galaxy that would soon be looking at her that she wasn’t a creature to be feared. In a galaxy full of things like Wookiees and Trandoshans, Hutts and togrutas… she was the unknown who had to be carefully monitored. It didn’t seem fair that she was going to be viewed with suspicion when her biggest crime was the way her mouth was shaped.

“Baby Mega. Hand me my bag?” Shiani murmured. Omega, who'd been kicking her feet in the desk chair, got up and scooped Shiani's gear bag from the floor.

“Why is this so heavy?” Omega blinked.

“My tools. And an arm.” Shiani hoisted the bag from her smaller friend's hands and started digging through it.

“An arm?” Chuchi looked concerned, inching back away from the siren's teeth.

“Metal, Senator. I swore off eating sentient species.” Shiani said calmly.

“Did you used to?” Omega squeaked.

“We'll talk about it later.” Shiani pulled out a package wrapped in a greenish-gold cloth and set the bag back down, pulling out a circlet of coral and polished stone. “Haven't worn this in a long time.” She hadn't even thought about the crown she'd been wearing when she'd fled her home years ago, more concerned with her chains than her station. “How does this look?”

Chuchi smiled as Shiani put it on. “That's more like it. A proper royal…”

Shiani closed her eyes. No, she certainly wasn't. A proper royal siren would be nowhere near the surface, about to reveal her people's existence to the entire galaxy. They'd likely curse her name for generations, but the Empire was going to find them anyway. She felt it in her gills. If she pulled away the curtain and secrecy in front of everyone, her hope was that there were more good than evil people in the galaxy. That people like Chuchi would step up to help the sirens the way she did the clones. “Okay then.”

“Come with me. I'll show you both the Senate Chamber. It can be a little overwhelming the first time, and I don't want you to freeze up.” Chuchi told her. “It's intimidating, even for experienced Senators.” Shiani slipped her bag on her shoulder, hidden under her cloak, and nodded as she followed the Pantoran to the door.

Omega looked up from between Chuchi and Shiani as they stepped out of the office and started down the hall. “What do Senators actually do?”

Chuchi smiled. “We vote in the interest of our people. We're their voice in the senate, and the senate makes laws.”

“It's supposed to.” Shiani murmured. “Not with the Emperor around.”

Chuchi deflated a bit. “That's true…”

“What's the difference between a Senator and a royal?” Omega frowned.

Shiani hesitated for a moment. “Royals lead by their own hearts. Senator follows the hearts of the people.”

Chuchi nodded agreeably. Omega just frowned further. “Which one is better?”

“That depends on the leader.” Chuchi looked up. “Oh no. There's Rampart… let me handle this.”

Both of them nodded and Shiani subtly slipped her circlet off and held it behind her back. Rampart had a smug, arrogant face that she could only mentally describe as punchable. Selfishness rolled off him in waves. “Hello there, Senator. You're here late.” He smiled, but it felt fake.

“Just preparing for the vote tomorrow.” Chuchi nodded, plastering a fake smile on her face. Omega stayed behind Shiani, though her nose scrunched the same way Tech’s did when he was displeased. Shiani put a hand on her shoulder, catching Rampart's attention.

“I don't believe we've met, ma'am. My apologies for not introducing myself immediately. I am Admiral Edmon Rampart.” He lifted her hand and kissed the back of it like he was at a gala instead of a hallway. He didn’t look wary of her, but he did have an almost predatory look in his eyes as he examined her. He didn’t see a siren, just a nicely dressed young woman he thought he could manipulate.

Shiani dipped her head politely, barely opening her mouth to speak. “I am Shiani Illumai, and this young lady is my aide. I am a contemporary of Senator Chuchi. I've asked to observe the vote tomorrow.” She kept her voice as gentle and guileless as she could.

“You're in for a spectacular show then, Miss Illumai. We'll have to sit down and chat sometime. I'm afraid I'm in a bit of a hurry right now, though.” He smiled.

Shiani pulled her fingers from his grip. “Have a nice night, Admiral.”

He nodded and headed down the hallway, Shiani's eyes following him until long after he'd turned the corner. Omega tugged on her arm when she turned around and put her crown back on. “How come you hid that?”

“If he knows I'm royal, he'll ask where I'm from. If he knows I'm from Kamino, he'll know I'm against him.” Shiani said firmly. “It makes us a target. Never let your enemy know what you're planning, Baby Mega. Especially with stakes so high.”

Omega watched her funny, lively friend, slowly seeing Shiani in a new light. There had always been an undercurrent of sadness in Shiani's joy, a viciousness hidden behind her laughter that came out as surely as the blue rings peppering her purple skin when she got angry. But Omega hadn't expected a competent, level headed leader from the girl who'd always said all she wanted was to follow Tech.

Chuchi just nodded and led them into the senate chamber. It was, indeed, an intimidating room full of little hoverpods. There were a few that were occupied, listening to preparation speeches for the next day vote. “Every pod is for a planet’s Senators or groups representative.” Chuchi explained. “Almost every race and planet are represented here, and get a vote.”

“Is there one for the clones?” Omega looked up at the rows and rows of pods.

Chuchi shook her head. “No… a lot of people view the clones as military assets. But that's what I'm working on. I want the clones to have the same rights as every citizen, and someone to look after their best interests.”

Shiani looked balefully around the room. “Not so much has changed in three hundred years. Instead of sirens being only tools to long necks, clones are only tools to the Republic. Long necks see Kamino flood. Republic sees itself become the Empire.”

“We can change things, from here in this room.” Chuchi put a hand on her arm.

Shiani wanted to believe it, but she kept looking at the pods and seeing a not- so-different council room under the ocean of her home world, where the royal court accused her of every treason known to her kind before she was banished. Like those sirens, almost every pod in this room would contain someone who thought her marriage was invalid. That the man she loved wasn't a person at all. In this chamber, however, she’d have to prove she was a person too.

She straightened her spine. “We fight. Clones deserve that.”

Chuchi nodded, looking over as a blue and white astromech rolled to her. “... how well can you two keep a secret?”

Omega grinned. “I can.”

Shiani just pushed her shoulders back. “My whole species was declared extinct three hundred years ago. Until today we were the best secret-keepers in the galaxy.”

Chuchi nodded. “Come with me.”

They slipped out into the hallway, and met up with a tall man with dark hair and kind eyes. “Riyo. I didn’t expect you to have company.”

“They’re helping me with the clone aid provisions.” Chuchi explained. “This is Princess Illumai of Kamino and Omega. Shiani, Omega, this is Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan.”

He smiled at the two of them, only slightly surprised by Shiani’s appearance. “You have a vested interest in clone’s rights, Princess?”

“I’m married to a clone.” Shiani said calmly. “We were called to help by Captain Rex, after he saved Senator Chuchi.”

Bail looked at the Pantoran. “Captain Rex is listed as killed in action… and what does she mean ‘saved’?”

“I was almost assassinated while trying to meet with a clone who knew that Rampart was responsible for what happened to Kamino. The assassin killed my contact, but Rex saved me.” Chuchi explained.

“Rampart is resourceful, isn't he?” Bail murmured. “You’re lucky to be alive, Riyo.”

“I know. And I owe my life to a clone, so I have to help them.” Chuchi nodded.

“My husband and his squad are getting proof Rampart ordered the bombardment.” Shiani put her hands together quietly. “And I will testify tomorrow.”

Bail nodded. “Brave of you, miss. There will be doubts, you understand, about you. No one has ever seen any of your species before and there’s no one to confirm your royal status.”

Shiani frowned. “... might not be entirely true. Long necks keep records of what they did… Someone high enough up may have known about us.”

“The Prime Minister of Kamino was arrested.” Chuchi frowned.

“Senator Halle Burtoni, however, was not.” Bail pointed out. “Though her cooperation may not be forthcoming. She was a member of the Defense Finance Committee, until she was removed from office. She had a vested interest in viewing clones as no more than assets.”

“Not surprising for long necks.” Shiani muttered coldly, looking at Chuchi. “I’m going to have to talk to her, aren’t I?”

“It would lend us credibility.” Chuchi sighed. “Come on, we’ll go to my apartment and invite her to meet us.”

Shiani sighed. “I spend my whole life avoiding long necks, just to get stuck inviting one to visit….”

Bail patted her hand lightly. “Follow the money, Princess. It always leaves a trail.”

Shiani stood at the window of Chuchi’s senatorial apartment, looking out at the city lights as the guards waited for Halle Burtoni to arrive. She’d imagined Coruscant a million times, and the romantically soft glow in front of her was not a view to disappoint. Still, she hadn’t imagined she’d be looking at it without Tech…

“You okay, Shiani?” Omega walked over, watching the siren’s claws tapping at the windowsill mindlessly. “You look anxious.”

“I am anxious.” Shiani nodded. “Longnecks are why my people stay at the bottom of the ocean. Why we live in the dark, without starlight… we could have been a part of this Senate hundreds of years ago if we hadn’t been enslaved… I was always told to be scared of them.” She let Omega take her hand, steadying herself. “But all their cities were destroyed. Not just Tipoca. Millions of people were killed. I thought it would feel… Thought I might be happy, but I’m not. Just feels hollow and sad. Nobody deserves that, even longnecks.”

Omega snuggled to her side. “I’m glad you don’t think so.”

“I still don’t think this long neck is going to be much help, though. I don’t trust their honor.” Shiani muttered, running her tongue over her fangs.

Chuchi patted her arm. “We have to try.”

Shiani turned her head as the guards opened the door to reveal an older, shaky-necked Kaminoan female. The long neck had a sneer almost permanently painted into her voice when she looked at Chuchi. “Are the guards really necessary?”

“They are as much for your safety as ours.” Chuchi said firmly. “Please sit, Senator Burtoni.”

Burtoni looked around, eying Omega and looking Shiani up and down with a surprised expression before sitting in a high backed chair and clasping her hands in her lap. “What do you want?”

“I have questions about the Senate funds that were earmarked for cloning operations on Kamino. What was earmarked is less than what was reported as received, prior to the destruction of the cities.”

“Funds were siphoned off for months before the fall of Kamino.” Burtoni said sourly. “I didn’t take you for a fool, Chuchi, but you should know the danger of prying into matters kept secret. Too many people end up dead for sticking their noses where they don’t belong.”

Chuchi glanced at Shiani, who looked unimpressed but was repressing her “I told you so” in favor of a silent disapproval. The Pantoran looked back at her former colleague. “Think of your people who survived. Finding out where that money went could be the start of helping them.”

“My people are gone. What remains scattered around the galaxy, I have no concern for.” Burtoni huffed, shaking her head.

Shiani’s eyes sharpened. “You don’t even care about your own people? No wonder the Empire didn’t hesitate to destroy your cities, if you don’t love your own.”

Burtoni sneered at her. “You aren’t Kaminoan, why would you care?”

Shiani leaned back, opening her hands and letting her tentacles come up and spread around her in a display that made her look both beautiful and dangerous. “My people have temples with your likeness on them. I bet yours did too, before the flood. I’m just as Kaminoan as you, longneck.”

Burtoni’s eyes widened in something akin to both fear and awe. “You’re supposed to be extinct…”

“You thought you drowned a race with gills? Not so smart.” Shiani sneered, dropping her limbs and showing her teeth. “And still, I care more about what happened to Kamino than you. Omega and I saw the Empire destroy Tipoca City from Venator ships, and your people became the ones to drown instead.”

“Why would a child be involved with you?” The way Burtoni said it, Shiani heard the superiority. Three hundred years and a longneck still thought herself superior, even though her people sank to the bottom and died where Shiani’s had survived and rebuilt.

“I’m a clone, and Kamino was my home too. The Empire destroyed it!” Omega pushed forward, eyes wide and furious. “It wasn’t right! There was no reason for it.”

“I knew it was coming. Prime Minister Lama Su was an arrogant pawn, secure in his belief that the clones made Kamino indispensable. That the clones were necessary. They weren’t. None of us are.” Burtoni shook her head, looking back at Shiani. “You should have stayed hidden, siren.”

“And let cowards win? Let bombs drop on my home planet, while the Empire kills innocent clones it has no further use for?” She snapped her teeth together sharply. “I care more about the clones you made than you do. You should be ashamed, Senator. Three peoples come from Kamino; siren, longneck, and clone. When are you going to stand up for any of them?”

“Just tell us who diverted the funds, Burtoni.” Chuchi pleaded. “We can do something about this. We can seek justice.”

“You already know who stole them.” Burtoni shook her head. “Of course it was him. He planned the attack on Kamino meticulously.”

“Testify.” Shiani said quietly. “About the funds, and confirm you know what I am. You have access to Kaminoan history files, yes? You’ve hidden your people’s crimes against mine, but you can tell the truth.”

Burtoni pursed her lips. “You want me to embarrass the legacy of my murdered people? My words won’t even matter without proof against Rampart.”

“Tell the truth about three hundred years ago, and get justice for your people.” Shiani rapped her claws against the arm of Burtoni’s chair, centimeters from the long neck’s arm. “We’ll find proof. You and I give our words to the Senate, as justice for our planet. You help me protect the clones, before the Empire throws them away.” She looked at Omega. “You look at her. Tell me that is not a person, and I’ll show you a liar with a mirror.”

Burtoni glanced at Omega, then Chuchi, who just nodded. “We need proof, and your word. We’re running out of time.”

Shiani stood in the box with Chuchi and Burtoni as the Senate meeting started. Omega was waiting with one of her guards in a skycar at the drop zone, and not having the little girl there was stressing the siren out. Her foot tapped anxiously as she tried not to bounce and swing her limbs like a holo-game idle animation. She was supposed to look dignified.

“Are you ready?” Chuchi murmured as Rampart started talking about no longer delaying the vote. “We’re going to have to start without those logs.”

Shiani nodded. “They’ll be here. Tech never lets me down.” Shiani nodded and tried to settle her breathing..

Burtoni eyed her. “Who is Tech?”

“My husband. And a clone.” Shiani said firmly.

Chuchi turned on her mic to get started, cutting Rampart off. “We cannot trust Admiral Rampart’s assertions that the clone provisions will be addressed. He has given us reason not to trust him.” She moved the pod to the middle of the podium, putting them front and center with their faces appearing on the large holos and every new station in the Republic. Shiani tried not to crumple under the scrutiny of thousands of eyes, suddenly aware of how uncomfortable recognition was after years in solitude. She wanted to fade into obscurity as the exile from the trash pile, but she had to be Princess for this. It had been so long since she’d wielded any authority it felt like learning a new language again.

“What reason is that, Senator?” Rampart eyed Chuchi before looking at Shiani again. “Miss Illumai?”

Shiani narrowed her eyes, swallowing her fear in favor of the taste of righteous fury.. “Halle Burtoni is willing to testify that you diverted funds from Kaminoan cloning programs.”

“Halle Burtoni is a disgraced senator, miss. And those funds were redistributed, though I am not at liberty to discuss classified military operations.”

The little siren didn’t back down. “You started siphoning those credits months before the destruction of Kamino. Because you planned for it, when you ordered three Venator class ships to fire on Tipoca City, and then to destroy every other major city on Kamino!”

Rampart flushed, fists clenching. “Those are heavy accusations, ma’am. Who do you think you are?”

“Princess Shiani Illumai, of Kamino. I was there, at Tipoca City, when the Empire destroyed it.” She turned and faced the rest of the Senate. “Senator Burtoni can also testify to my species existence and persecution on Kamino, which is why we have remained isolationist for as long as we have.”

It sounded good, sounded like something Tech would say. Isolationist sounded like policy and not a race living in fear at the bottom of the sea, revealed by one former exile who was either braver or stupider than the rest of them. One little star sailor standing defiantly in the face of the Tidedreamer’s shadow; the Empire.

Burtoni nodded, and the whispers around the Senate chamber were loud and obvious. Rampart stared at her, looking horrified for a moment as he tried to figure out how to save his own skin. “Your accusations are baseless. I did nothing of the sort.” He finally gasped.

“You lie. I was there.” She repeated, raising her fist in the air and demanding to be acknowledged. “I saw the Imperial ships firing on the city. A city that nearly all the clones and long necks had already been evacuated from. The attack was planned, to lose as few Imperial resources as possible.”

The whispering grew louder. “What proof do you have, besides this woman’s statement?” Someone in another box demanded of Chuchi, who squirmed.

“She has none, because there is none.” Rampart waved his arm. “She’s simply bribed or manipulated this young woman into lying for her. Let’s get on with the vote.”

Another voice in the pods above them rang out. “Senator Chuchi should be removed from the Senate and censured form misconduct! This is an outrage. Investigate the woman with her as well, and Burtoni!”

Chuchi put a hand on Shiani’s arm when she bit back a hiss. “Don’t.” She whispered softly. “Stay calm. They’ll react poorly.”

Shiani nodded, swallowing hard as another voice seconded removing them and tucking her tentacles under the edge of her cloak to hide the blue rings pulsing furiously. Her comm blinked, and she looked up just in time to see little Omega’s blonde head running to Bail Organa. She smiled, eyes brightening, and tapped Chuchi. “Told you Tech wouldn’t let us down. Here comes proof.”

Organa’s box moved to be even with them, handing over a package. “This is your proof!” Chuchi called. “This is the command log from Rampart’s Venator.”

Everyone went dead silent as she played the recording, unmistakably Rampart’s voice ordering the bombardment and snapping at a clone for questioning him. Rampart stood stock still, eyes wide, and looking at Chuchi in sickened shock. Shiani lifted her voice and looked around the Senate. “Believe me now?”

Before anyone could say much, a platform lifted up from beneath them. Shaini looked over the edge as it rose, a nauseated feeling in her gills when she was suddenly facing a man in a black cloak being guarded by his vizier. “Emperor Palpatine.” Chuchi whispered softly to Shiani. “He hasn’t been in session for weeks…”

The siren had been so stalwart in her pursuit of justice this far, wearing Burtoni down and refusing to back off Rampart… but the Emperor scared her. She clutched the edge of the pod railing like it might vanish under her feet, utterly petrified as he ascended above them to address the entire room.

“I commend Senator Chuchi and Princess Illumai for their bravery in the pursuit of truth. Admiral’s cowardly actions in the pursuit of his own selfish goals will not be tolerated, and hold no place in a civilized society.” The Emperor’s voice was gravelly and serpentine, shuddering up the siren’s spine.

Rampart paled. “I was following orders! I was following-” He couldn’t finish before several shock troopers had boarded his pod and were forcing him to bend over the controls so they could cuff him roughly. Shiani winced as he was dragged away, screaming but unintelligible as his mic was cut.

The Emperor looked down at Chuchi’s pod. “I must thank you both for exposing a rogue element in our midst. Rampart will be punished for his treachery, but he did not act alone. It concerns me deeply that the clones under his command followed such orders blindly. That is why the Defense Recruitment Bill must go forward. The atrocities committed upon Kamino are proof that the clones cannot be trusted to identify unlawful orders. We must have a military comprised of citizens. This new era of peace and stability will be heralded by the Imperial stormtrooper!”

Shiani wanted to scream, looking around as the voting began without much further prompting. “...The clones are not to blame.” She whispered to Chuchi desperately. “Clones couldn’t disobey. Inhibitor chips…”

Chuchi patted her arm, looking as desolate as she felt. “We tried, Shiani.”

The siren looked up, watching senators vote one by one. She’d tried… she’d put herself out in front of a galaxy she barely understood. She’d stood up against the shadow. She’d revealed her people’s existence in front of the Emperor himself in a desperate bid to save the clones who meant so much to her…

And it had all been for nothing.

The Batch was already in front of the garage, chatting with Rex, when Chuchi brought Omega and Shiani back. Omega looked deflated, tucked up against the siren’s side, as they came to a stop. “I can’t believe we still lost.” She said softly.

Shiani petted her hair before getting out of the car and offering her a hand. “We tried our best, Baby Mega. We did everything we could.”

Omega nodded and went over to Hunter, scrubbing at her eyes. “What’s the matter?” The sergeant frowned, kneeling next to her.

“We lost the vote.” Omega whispered. “I don’t understand. We did the right thing, we told the truth.”

“And the Emperor twisted it to his advantage.” Hunter did his best to comfort her.

Rex sighed. “Palpatine was a step ahead of us all through the war, and he’s several steps ahead of us now. He used us implicating Rampart to push the stormtrooper program.”

“The fate of the clones is sealed, and he used us to do it.” Echo said regretfully.

Shiani’s eyes hadn’t lifted from the ground, as Chuchi anxiously promised Omega she’d keep fighting to protect the clones. When a pair of boots stopped in front of her, she finally looked up at Tech, who was looking at her with concern in his eyes. “Are you alright, dear?” He murmured.

“It didn’t help.” She breathed. “Clones are still in danger. Maybe in more danger now. Sirens too. I’m sorry.”

“You did the right thing, cyar’ika.” He reached up, cupping her round little face in both hands. “You did everything you possibly could. Do not apologize, you are not to blame.”

She swallowed hard. “I need to give Chuchi back her dress…”

“You can keep it, Princess. It looks nice on you.” Chuchi smiled faintly. “And who knows? I’m going to keep fighting, until the clones have the same rights as everyone else. Maybe we’ll need to fight together in the senate again.”

Shiani nodded faintly, putting her hands over Tech’s on her face. She didn’t feel like she deserved the comfort, right now. “I've got to give Echo something.”

Tech nodded, slowly lowering his hands to let her get to her bag. Omega frowned. “You can give it to him on the ship. What’s the hurry?”

Echo crouched in front of her. “I won’t be going with you, Omega. I’ve decided to stay with Rex, and help the fight here. The other clones need our help more than ever, and I can’t give up on them.”

Omega’s eyes once again watered up, and everyone looked away before her tears undid their resolve and they begged Echo to stay too. “But we’re a squad!”

“I know. But I have to go where I’m needed.” Echo tried his best to keep his face impassive, but he loved this kid so much it was hard. If the rest of the clones hadn’t needed him, he’d have been happy to stay and watch her grow up forever. Duty came first, but damn it was hard.

“But we need you.” She whispered

“It’s not forever, Omega.” Echo murmured. “I’ll be back, but until then you have to keep up with your training. Deal?”

Omega sniffled. “Yes sir…” She threw her arms around him so hard she almost knocked him to the ground, but he managed to stay upright and hug her back tightly.

Shiani walked over, gently scooping Omega up with two of her tentacles and hugging her to her hip. Omega squished tearfully against the siren as she held out a silver cybernetic arm. “Finished this for you, Echo. Keep notes of any issues, and I’ll fix it when you come back?”

Echo blinked at the arm, then nodded, taking off his pauldron and adjusting his sleeve so she could take the scomp off and attach the new arm. She was careful, getting everything hooked up quickly for him and showing him how to use the knife and scomp attachments. “Thanks Shiani… I really appreciate it.”

She nodded. “I’m going to miss you.”

“I’ll miss you too, But I’ll be back.” He tipped her chin up with his new fingers, smiling. “You and Omega look after them for me?”

Shiani nodded. “You look after Rex.”

Echo nodded, and stepped back as the group boarded the Havoc Marauder and gave him a final goodbye. It was bittersweet, but the right thing to do. That seemed to be the theme of the day.

Shiani had been in the fresher for what seemed like hours. Wrecker had fallen asleep in Omega’s room with her, cuddling her while she cuddled Lula. Hunter was out cold in the bunkroom, the stress of the mission and the assault on his senses from Coruscant having taken its toll on him. Tech had been flying, waiting for his favorite copilot to come sit with him.

He’d watched her testimony recording, her face all over the holonet. The danger was great, but her little fist was in the air and her eyes were bright. She must have been frightened, but she’d stood her ground. She’d demanded they listen to her, head held high and dressed for the role she’d been born into. She was always beautiful, but in that moment he’d never seen her shine brighter. So when he’d rewatched the clip a few times and realized the water wasn’t running, he set the autopilot and got up to look for her.

Her bag was laying on the ground by the fresher, her overalls and a few tools slipping out of the top where she’d dropped it. The fresher door was closed, but unlocked, so he stuck his head in. “Shiani?”

The siren was sitting on the floor with her back to the wall, wedged between the sink and shower, with her head on her knees and her skirt puddled around her. Tech was instantly concerned, crouching in front of her. “Shiani? Are you alright?”

She peeked up, and her eyes were watery. Her circlet was clutched tightly in her hands, the coral leaving imprints when she slowly relaxed her fingers. “S-sorry.” She whispered. “I know you hate all the crying…”

“It is alright. What is the matter?” He wiped the tears from her cheeks with his glove. “Come here. That cannot be comfortable.”

Shiani let him gently pull her away from the wall and fold her into his chest. “Sorry.” She repeated. “I let you down. Couldn’t stop the Empire… so many clones are in trouble. Sirens too. Longnecks are dead already… millions of them. Kamino’s oceans are full of blood now.”

Tech rested his chin over her shoulder. “That is no one’s fault but the Empire. You are not a failure.”

He pressed his lips to the top of her head. “Stand up, cyar’ika. Let me show you something.”

Shiani sniffled, but let him pull her to her feet and stand her in front of the mirror. He wiped another tear off her cheek, then gently pulled her shoulders back and took the circlet from her to set it back on her brow. She scrunched her face and looked at him over her shoulder. “I look silly dressed up like this, but Chuchi said I needed to look like a princess.”

He turned her chin back to the mirror. “Look carefully. Standing in front of you is the bravest woman in the galaxy. Someone who overcame generations of traumatic experience and a lifetime of mistreatment.” He gently lifted her chin again and made her look at her reflection. “Someone who dislikes being the center of attention, but who chose to face the Galactic Senate to do the right thing. Who disavowed her people, but still wants to protect them. Who wanted justice for those who wronged her people.” He pressed a kiss against the side of her neck. “And did so beautifully, I might add.”

Shiani closed her eyes, leaning back against him. “I don’t feel brave.”

“You were. I watched your holo several times. I cannot describe how proud of you I am.” His arms slid around her middle, cuddling her the way he knew by now she needed when she was close to melting down.

She sighed, relaxing into his arms slowly. “I knew you’d get the recording.” She finally said. “You had the hard part… I just had to talk.”

“Which you have never done in public before. Public speaking is a common fear.” His thumbs rubbed circles against the cutouts on her hips, where her tentacles came through. His eyes stayed on her face in the mirror, but a smile hovered over his lips. “You genuinely do not believe what you did was extraordinary. I, however, could watch that recording of you for hours.”

She opened her eyes and looked up at him. “Why?”

“You were so serious and impassioned. It was captivating… and very attractive. This dress did not hurt, either.”

Shiani looked down. “You like the dress?”

“I find you attractive in whatever you wear, but I will admit there is something intriguing about seeing a different side of you. I am accustomed to a gentle, curious version who enjoys learning and building things and listens without interrupting. On occasion, I have seen the warrior who approaches any threat with your fangs first to protect what she cares about. And…” He kissed her neck again, softer this time and with a squeeze of her hips to accompany the way his words trailed over her skin. “... sometimes, a playful and enthusiastic lover who is far stronger than she appears. Do you know what I saw when I looked at you today?”

“Hm?” She was leaning back into his chest as he cradled her, squishing her battered soul back into her body with his embrace. Maybe after she took a shower she could convince him to just lay on her and squish her flat until everything inside her stopped feeling like it was full of angry urchins…

“I saw the most beautiful queen in the galaxy.” He moved his hands to her upper arms and slid down, straightening her arms at her side until his hands curled into hers over top of them. “Not a frightened princess but a queen. A leader, fighting with everything she had to save three different races that all came from a planet she hates the idea of returning to but still shows compassion for. Just when I thought I couldn’t be more smitten with that queen, I remembered you were already mine.” He set her hands on the counter lightly, keeping her palms flat on the metal with his own.

Shiani’s smile slid a little wider across her lips. “... You’re flirting with me.”

“Of course I am. I thought it was obvious.” He nuzzled into the side of her neck. “Unless you have any opposition to that?”

“I don’t, but who’s flying the ship, Tech?”

“The autopilot. We are over three standard hours from exiting hyperspace.” He pushed her hands a little further forward, until they met the wall under the mirror and she was bent nearly double at the waist. “That is enough time for me to reduce your anxiety and upset using the endorphins released during orgasm.”

Shiani’s cheeks flushed blue. “Very practical.”

“I have my talents.” He locked the fresher door with a free hand and nudged her feet apart. “I hope the practical aspect of this does not dim your understanding of how I feel about you, cyar’ika.”

Her eyes softened, locked on his in the mirror. “Not at all. Let me take the dress off-”

“I would prefer you to leave it on. As I said, it is not often I get to see this side of you. I intend to enjoy it.” He vanished from her sight when he dropped to his knees behind her, pushing the pretty white fabric of her dress up over the curve of her ass and pulling her underwear down her legs in the same motion. “Step out, please.”

Shiani followed instruction, breathless as he tucked her panties into his pocket and squeezed her cheeks while he admired the view for a moment. Then his mouth was on her, tongue sliding through her folds. Like everything he did, Tech was precise and calculated at this. He knew exactly how to pull her apart, to make her forget all the things she regretted and failed. Nothing mattered the minute Tech put his exceptional mind to loving her.

His hands wrapped around her thighs, keeping her upright when she started shaking and grinding against his face. He only let her go long enough to slip off his gloves before pushing on the small of her back. She dropped to her elbows and stretched to her tiptoes to reach the floor still.

Tech kissed his way up her spine, squeezing every bit of flesh he could find. Thighs, rear, hips, tummy, breasts, until he had her pinned to the counter by his pelvis pressed against her ass and his still-armored chest on her back. “Keep your eyes on the mirror.” He murmured, blowing air across her good ear to make her shiver. “Do not close your eyes. I want you to watch how beautiful you look. There is nothing more satisfying than the look on your face when you come.”

Shiani nodded, eyes dead ahead. Behind her, Tech backed up only long enough to remove his codpiece and unzip, wasting no time. He held her skirt bunched up at her waist as he gripped her left hip and sank into her. Her eyes wanted to roll back, but she forced them open when he started moving, releasing her hip to dip his fingers down between her thighs and stroke her clit with calculated precision.

Her mouth was open, fangs on display as she whimpered and whined his name. Her skin started to shine, slick with sweat, and her blue flush got darker. He'd wanted her to look, and she barely recognized the girl in the mirror. A siren in her crown, moaning Tech's name as his armor left bruises in her flesh… it was the most perverse kind of pretty she'd ever seen, and the most beautiful she'd ever felt in her life.

Tech let go of her skirts and slid the arm under her, fingers splayed over her throat and keeping her head where he wanted while his face pressed next to hers. She couldn't keep her eyes off of him, face red with exertion. She tried to close her mouth, put her fangs away and curl her fingers into fists that hid her claws in case she saw that look she feared across his perfect honey brown eyes.

Tech was too smart not to notice, and ever-so-carefully squeezed the side of her throat. “No. No hiding.” He rumbled into her ear.

He wanted her as she was, and when she realized it her claws dug furrows into the durasteel countertop. She choked out a high, keening note and collapsed, panting and writhing as Tech kept going through her release. When the overstimulation nearly had her sobbing, he moved the hand between her thighs to her chest and hauled her upright.

She was still looking, trembling with his every movement, impaled on his cock and a sweat-soaked, teary, drooling mess. Tech just turned her head and kissed her hard as his thrusts lost rhythm and heat pooled in her belly from his spend. Tech carefully pulled himself off her, setting her on the counter both to let her rest and to have something to lean on when his own legs wobbled.

He couldn't see a thought left in those big eyes of hers besides adoration when she looked at him, taking the crown off her head and setting it on his instead. He could only laugh and kiss her again. “You are a much prettier queen than I am, cyar’ika.” He murmured, cuddling her.

She wrapped her fingers into the shoulder straps of his chest plate and kissed him, stretching a tentacle out to turn on the fresher. Tech made an agreeable hum against her lips and stripped them both. Too spent for much else, they ended up sitting on the sanistream floor with her straddling his hips, half grinding and half washing the day off the other under the hot water.

And if the “standard refractory period” ended and he slipped back into her, rocking up until her head rolled back and he'd coaxed another two orgasms from her before the water started to cool… well, it was time well spent. He'd remember what his siren queen looked like when she let him dry her off and dress her back in her overalls, then pack her crown away and put her dress in the hamper. He’d commit to memory the way she looked before she climbed into his lap back in the pilot’s seat and fell asleep with her hand tangled in his shirtfront and tentacles wrapped around him in four different directions.

And if she ever doubted herself again, so would she.

#explict #original character #clone force 99 #the bad batch #star wars #fanfic #tbb tech #tech smut #monster fucker #song of the sea

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