#maybe I’m just old man yelling at the sky but

[latinorry]

serious question, why can’t teen actors and actors in their early 20s act anymore

[halcyone-of-the-sea]

Ahhhh I've been waiting for your requests to open, I've been following you since your first Price fic and never had an idea to request until like 2 weeks ago 😫 so, I've been thinking, what about being in a relationship with Keegan but getting separated when ODIN hits the earth and not meeting again until about 5 years later? 👀 Love your writing, hope you have a great day 🩵 :)

For The Weak And Weary

PAIRING: Keegan P. Russ x F!Reader

SYNOPSIS: When ODIN struck you had thought he had died, sky alight with fire. It had taken years to accept it, much less live with it. But after Dallas falls, would you get a glimpse of your Lover's phantom again?

WORDCOUNT: 6.2k

WARNINGS: Angst, depressive thoughts, PTSD insinuations, gore, wounds, blood, death, canon-typical violence, (1) suggestive joke, alcohol, hallucinations, fluffy reunion, tears, verbal arguments, etc.

A/N: Just because I'm a sucker for sticking to the game timeline I made it ten years, lol. Enjoy, Anon! Very fun prompt.

*I do not give others permission to translate and/or re-publish my works on this or any other platform*

You could never make sense of what Keegan went through in 2005 during Operation Sand Viper. It would be pointless to try and wrap your head around it from what little you knew. All that mattered was that when he came back on leave, something in his eyes was…damaged. Hell, he’d only been sixteen—the both of you had known each other since you were kids, you knew when something was wrong.

And this was entirely new to you.

He smiled less and snapped more; got spooked when you dropped something in his family's kitchen like a grenade had gone off. Maybe, you reasoned, he thought one actually had. 

But through it all, you could still see how much he cared about you. When you were old enough you’d both moved into a nice place in the suburbs and started a relationship—a life shared between the two of you. 

You knew he loved you from the way he’d grip you close at night and breathe into your scalp. How when you were sick from the take-out dinner he’d brought home, Keegan would hold back your hair and rub circles into your spine as you threw up. He never shied away from telling you how beautiful you were; prided himself on it. Keegan loved to show you off.

But there were times back then when you wondered if the same Keegan that had been so fulfilled to join Ghosts had died, and, in fact, a phantom was instead puppeting his skin. He was so quiet now.

If you’d known that the world was going to end on July 10th, 2017, you’d have never let him walk out that door angry. You would have grabbed his hand and pressed your lips to his, whispered affirmations into his flesh and sobbed at the cruelty of it all.

“I can’t keep pretending that you’re okay!” You yell, tears in your eyes, at the man standing tense in the kitchen doorway. Blank blue eyes stare lifelessly. “Keegan—this is killing you.” 

It was early morning by then, and the neighborhood was quiet. The house that the both of you had moved into years ago was littered with the remnants of a happy home. Pictures on the walls, dishes in the sink, and freshly baked bread on the counter. All you’d tried to do was give Keegan a hug, slipping your hands around his waist when you’d entered. 

He’d balked back, jerking to the side and nearly elbowed you in the gut before he saw your wide eyes and stopped himself. The way he’d looked at you…how could eyes be so dead?

“You need to talk to someone,” you put your foot down, shaking your head. “I-I don’t know a therapist or…or someone who can get you proper help because I can’t keep acting like I can live like this.” 

Every mission, every time he went away, it always got worse. 

Keegan’s eyes get sharp, hands at his sides clenching. He speaks in a low growl. “I don’t need to talk to a shrink, alright? I’m fine, you just startled me.”

“Bullshit,” your mouth hisses, glaring. “You thought you were back in ‘05.”

The man points at you, strong jaw clenching, “Don’t.”

“Keegan,” you plead, “please, I love you! I don’t care about this, I just want you to be alright. To be able to live your life—”

“What you want is to try and change me!” The black-haired man barks. Your eyes blink in shock. Keegan rarely yelled. “I already told you I was fine, why don’t you get off my back all the time?” His eyes flash, pupils going to slits as his hands shake at his sides. Why did he look scared? Your breath stills, lips slightly open, with tears dripping to the tile. “Fuck, it’s like I can’t come home without you pesterin’ me ‘bout something!” 

A stiff silence falls.

“Kee—” He snaps a hand to his mouth and rubs at his stubble, suddenly unable to look at you.

“...Forget it.” It’s low and shaky how he says it, eyes wide, before he darts into the foyer and slips into his boots. You listen to the sounds of panicked shuffling before the man wrenches open the front door and slams it shut behind him. One of the picture frames falls and hits the ground with a shattering of glass.

You flinch and tense, taking down a terse breath and sniffling tightly. Trying to get your lungs to work properly, your feet take you over to the picture as they feel weak and uneven; a stuttering mess of steps before you bend down. Your fingers bleed as they shift the glass away, taking out the image of you and Keegan on your hike through the mountains. 

Smiling faces mock you, and you break at the bright and open affection Keegan wears as he looks down at you—eyebrows curved up and smirk like a knife to the chest. 

You loved him so much it hurt to breathe when he was away. 

He had needed time, you knew, but what you didn’t know was that time wouldn’t be available. Around noon the world had opened into a ball of fire and death. 27 million dead. Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Houston, and Miami…all gone…at least, that was what everyone in Dallas was telling you. 

When Keegan had been away taking a walk to calm himself, you’d been home alone. The earth caved, the ground shook; houses burst like balloons. By the time you’d crawled from the rubble of your home, all you had was the picture and the clothes on your back. People were screaming—you were screaming. But you knew that you couldn’t stay here if you wanted to survive. 

And then you’d made it to Dallas by sheer luck and the few tricks Keegan had taught you; had thought that he had died in that first strike by the Federation. You carried that guilt and self-hatred for not holding your tongue for a few more hours. 

So much could have been different in these ten years. Better. You never got over him for even a second. 

But the reality was that you couldn’t think about all of that now, because if you didn’t focus on holding your breath you would be dead in the next three seconds. 

Your hand is anchored to the body of your sniper rifle, finger hovering over the trigger as you hide behind the outcropping of rubble in the decimated cityscape; the air is hot and humid despite the weight of the night. It sticks to your skin in a sheen of violent sweat. Yet it’s still not as potent as the blood. 

Teeth gritted, you hold back whimpers as Federation soldiers stalk the grounds, scores of them—legions. An entire army that had breached the walls and executed everyone insight, soldiers, civilians, if it once moved it didn’t anymore. The burning in your shoulder was agonizing, head smashing itself back to the rubble in an attempt to stifle your own ragged need to scream into the night as layers had peeled back to allow a bullet to pass through. 

In the ten years you’d been here, you’d taken up the mantle of quite the sharpshooter; pulling on Keegan’s lessons when he was on leave and wanted to bring you to the firing range. You had even picked a rifle similar to the one back in your destroyed home—held in a plastic case and treated like royalty by your long-deceased lover. It wasn’t the same, but the jet-black Lynx made you steady like the picture in your breast pocket did. 

A reminder of what was lost and why you had picked the knock-off up in the first place.

Footsteps get closer as the sweep of a flashlight cards above your skull, if possible you go even more still, lips pulled in and heart rampaging. There were barked orders and yelling, but no more screaming. 

How long had you been unconscious after taking that shot to the shoulder? Fear was breeding with horror—was…was everyone dead?

Spanish is loudly called not five feet away, and the flashlight leaves as your breath does. You let off a quiet gasp and suck down air greedily. Eyes flashing from one shadow to another, you look for any opportunity to slip away from the city. In the wind, you could smell fire, and taste it on your tongue as you licked your lips. 

All around you can see the limp shadows of bodies and the apartments, large skyscrapers were on fire deep in their frames. The city was entirely lost.

How the federation got into the walls you would never know, though there was concern about the enemy soldiers rounding up civilians outside the walls and executing them. Maybe one cracked before the bullet entered their skull.

You bite hard into your lip to force back your pain. Trying to shoot a rifle would be useless at this point, you might as well have lost the limb. Slinging the gun’s strap over your head, you look back and forth along your visible perimeter, checking for hostiles as you unsheathe your combat knife and cradle your limp arm to your chest. 

If only Keegan could see you now.

Rounds of gunfire make the air burn with urgency, and you take the time to peek out behind as sweat makes a trail down your dirty face, dripping off of your chin as you breathe like a wheezing dog. Your wound needed tending, and you had the med pack on your vest with the supplies, but you can’t do it here.

Where’s safe? If Dallas has fallen…is there anywhere that’s still standing? A location hits your brain as your gaze darts from one abandoned street to another. You take a deep breath and whine as you force your legs to stand and move quickly, feet shifting as quietly as you’re able to make them. 

“Fort Santa Monica.” Now a stronghold, you’d heard US soldiers here talking about the large presence of military power out in California—numbers so great they rivaled those that had lived in Dallas. 

You stumble over a spasming body and slam your uninjured shoulder into the bulk of the building’s wall, groaning loudly like a wounded boar. 

“Fuck!” If you made it out of the city, that would be where you would have to go; to warn them of what was coming. The Federation had found a way inside the Dallas wall, and that meant if they had enough tenacity, they could do it to them too. 

Everything would be done if another city fell.  

Holding your knife tighter, you push off the wall and grit your teeth harder, mind running on that edge of hysteria and forced calm. It’s in these moments where you have to pull on old memories to keep you going—even if they end up hurting more than the open wounds you carry. 

Keegan had his bad moments, but you always got through them together. Years and years of knowing each other inside and out; memorizing bodies and thoughts like they were second nature. He would want you to keep fighting, tell you to get your ass in gear and go…and you would never let him down. 

You owed him that much even if some days you wanted more than anything to join him. 

Blade in hand, you hear muttered speech from up the alleyway and pause, feet splayed but still swaying as you come to a slow stop. Your ears ring at garbled sentences, foreign words spilling into one another. 

Panting, you listen closely, limbs vibrating. More gunfire echoes over the air, screams and death that get ingrained into your head like a brand into sizzling flesh. Skyscrapers burned and buildings fell with great earthquake booms. Everything is under a sheen of distance.

Get out of the city. Get to Fort Santa Monica.

“Kill who I have to,” you slur out, itching at your neck as you leave a trail of blood behind you. A single pair of footsteps walk quickly forward near your corner and you hold your breath, bringing up your knife as pain pounds in your arm. 

Deep blue eyes sit in the back of your mind, counting you down as they always did.

Keep your arm steady for me, Doll, a phantom tells you. Breathe...

When the first shadow of a Fed soldier graces your eyes, you strike. 

—

It’s roughly nineteen days from Dallas to Santa Monica, and that was if you kept up at a steady walking pace. If the crude sling you’d fashioned from bandages found in your med pack was any indicator, it would be double that. 

On the first day, you had hiked half-dead over the destroyed landscape of what remained of the USA, licking your wounds and counting your losses. You’d had your pick of abandoned houses, taking a red brick one just because it looked nice and you were about to pass out from blood loss. The only reason you’d made it this far was that the bullet had thankfully passed right through you, making sure that if you moved too suddenly no more damage was being done internally. You packed it with a sterile rag.

Sitting in the home, pictures gathering dust on the fireplace mantle, you tipped back a bottle of whisky you’d found in one of the bedrooms, grimacing at the sting. It was better to be drunk for what you were about to do. 

Heating up your combat knife in the fire you had started in the hearth, you watched the metal grow an eye-flinching white as you stared off into nothingness. 

“You remember when you showed me that scar, Keegan?” You always talked to him. Others had given you shit for it, but they knew the purpose. If you didn’t talk to someone, even a ghost, you would give up. 

The guilt was eating you alive, and it would overtake you eventually. Hadn’t in ten years, but it would…you knew it, everyone did. 

Keegan was everything, and nothing looked the same when you lost him.

“The one on your thigh?” Pulling the knife back, you turn to the leaking flesh of your shoulder, gushing blood as black desecrates the sides of your eyes. You’d taken off your vest and shirt. If you tried hard enough you could imagine Keegan standing in the corner, watching. Always watching. “You said you had to dig a bullet out and cauterize the wound—when I asked you said you barely felt it over all the adrenaline.”

The ghost tilts its head, eyes sad and lips pulling taunt. Your lungs take in a shaky inhale and your hand quivers; only you feel how your eyes burn with unshed tears. 

“I never thought about it before,” right as you growl and shove the knife into your skin, you bark out in fear, “But I think you were fucking lying!” 

On day two, you knew you had to avoid the remains of Fort Worth, so you decided to increase your distance and cut that landmark out entirely—too many remnants of Federation. They were everywhere now, and you needed to keep low; get out of Texas. You scavenged properties and took stock. 

Four magazines for your Lynx, a pouch with five protein bars, one bottle of water attached to your belt, and your knife. Normally you’d have a pistol at your thigh, but you’d used it up in the firefight back home. When you’d woken back up, it had been gone.

And, of course, you had the picture. You kissed Keegan’s face and placed it back in your breast pocket, caressing the material softly before clearing your throat and addressing the obvious. 

With what you had getting to California was a pipe dream. 

You’d been on the radio all day, clicking through channels and pleading for anyone alive to reach out. Nothing. Static. 

I’m the only one left. The thought was intoxicating, pounding in your skull like your hangover. Everyone is dead. 

While you had become somewhat of a loner in the last ten years, especially with the few months you’d been by yourself in the beginning, Dallas had given you a chance to build bonds again. Ten years, and in an instant it was all wiped out. 

It rang a devastating bell.

Somehow, you had cheated death where so many others had failed—not only in Texas, but back with ODIN too. You had survived, but somehow Keegan hadn’t. 

Keegan, the one who never spoke about ‘05 and jerked awake from nightmares years later because of it. Keegan, who wanted nothing more than to stay at your side when he was home and keep you on his chest when watching movies. Keegan, the love of your life.

The only love of your life. 

“I really wish you were here,” you mutter, grimacing as your arm gets jostled as you stumble over a piece of rusted metal in the empty street. “Who gave you the right to go away before me, huh? We were supposed to grow old together, Russ. You promised me that.” 

Garbage gets blown over the road when a hot breeze shifts the air, bringing the scent of dirt and the noise of rustling trees. Nature has reclaimed the towns and suburbs—great patches of ivy and long grass that rise to your hips. But the silence was a curse.

The only thing keeping you going is the thought of delivering your warning to Santa Monica, from there…

Your lips thinned. What even was there left? How many times could you go from one place to another, starting over with stories of your past and having to brush the pitying looks off as you fake a smile? 

Shaking your head, you recall memories from the better days as the light gets low in the sky. 

“You’re doin’ too much, Sweet Thing,” Keegan mutters, and you turn from the stove top with a bright smile to face him. 

He had just gotten out of the shower, towel ruffling through his dark hair as he stands in the kitchen entrance and watches you cook for him. The shirt hangs off of his wide shoulders, and gray sweatpants are loose over his formed hips—his strong brow line raises in a casual expression. 

“Oh, don’t act like you don’t like it,” you tease, hearing his low chuckles as you turn back to your pan. “You look good, y’know.” 

“Oh, yeah?” Keegan grunts, smirking, and his feet pad over to you, tossing the towel to the counter as his presence looms over your back. Large hands grab onto your hips and a nose burrows into your hair; inhaling deeply before gradually melting to the curve of your spine. 

You smile and hum, pushing back so you can rest on his chest. A chin sets itself on your head, deep massaging fingers making you pur as they bunch your sleep shorts.

It was late—nearly two in the morning. Keegan had only gotten home a short while ago, but sleep wasn’t going to stop you from spoiling him. A wine bottle was on the island counter, two glasses, and the food was nearly done from what you could scrounge up on short notice.

“...Good to be back,” the man grumbles into you, kissing your head and slowly sweeping his arms around your waist as you sighed softly at the contact. 

Your face gains heat. 

“Well, I’d sure hope so, or else this would be awkward.” You huff to hide the bright smile in your voice. But like a moth to flame, you hear, as well as feel, Keegan chuckle against your spine. His grip squeezes you for a moment. 

“How was it when I was away?” He asks as you move around the contents in the pan, nose brushing your neck as his lips travel to kiss behind your ear. He breathes against the flesh as his low rasp makes you shiver. “Any trouble?”

“Negative, Sergeant,” you raise a brow and smirk over your shoulder at him, seeing his blues spark as he gazes hard into your eyes. A faint twitch to his lips is what you get before his hand captures your cheek; anchoring your face as he descends to connect his mouth to yours.

He sighs into it, arm still around your waist—tight as if you were a pillow. 

“Keep talkin’ like that and we won’t have to wait long for dessert, will we?” 

Days three through seven were uneventful beyond the constant agony of your arm and tired legs, but on day eight amid a waterless walk in the sweltering heat was when the hallucinations began. 

Keegan walks beside you, his footsteps mirroring your own as sweat pools down your forehead and drips off your nose. He doesn’t speak, doesn’t look at you—he just walks, looking exactly like he did the day he died. 

At first, you’d flinched back and blinked wildly at the sight, panting, but then he’d disappeared and your heart had shattered. It worried you with what you were seeing, but it was also a strange comfort to be able to ramble to…something, even if it wasn’t real. Hungry and with a dry tongue, you were on the verge of calling it quits.

So on day eleven, without a wild animal in sight to give you a proper food source and all the water having to be purified, you started talking to him while licking the inside wrapper of your last protein bar. 

“But I never understood why you hated sleeping in shirts,” you licked your lips to get the remnants of granola off of your flesh, pushing away the greasy sheen from your cheeks. Your arm was burning up—every heartbeat was felt as it moved the skin around red and infected flesh up and down. Puss was leaking out from the crude stitches you had made of embroidery thread from that first house you’d found. 

“And you always kept the room freezing.” Continuing, you drop the wrapper to the ground and then take the meat of your fingers and get what little flavor you can off of them, grunting through realization. “That was a ploy to have me use you for heat, wasn’t it? Jesus.” 

The man in the corner of your vision smirks, tilting his head and chuckling from where he leans against a tree trunk. 

“Yeah, that’s right. Knew it.” Glaring at nothing, you stand from your overturned stump and nearly fall right back over, stomach yelling at you as your vision swirls. 

You dig a hand into your hair and grip at the strands, pulling and groaning. “...God.” 

Keegan comes over and stands above you, your eyes staring down at his feet as you get light-headed. You focus on his shoelaces, counting the Xs and taking down shaky breaths. When you blink like a cat with dirt on its face, the shoes are gone entirely and you stand back up to your full height.

“...Keegan?” You ask after a moment, the words disappearing into the trees, but no one’s around. 

Your sight goes to your wound and your jaw tightens, moments of clarity slipping in as a knife would into your consciousness before the curtain settles once more. 

You bend over and vomit what little nutrients you had, spending day twelve sleeping through a fit of nightmares and fever-induced delirium.

Nothing about the remainder of the time you can recall to memory—bits and pieces always flash through on long nights, but they’re only walking montages. Dragging feet, looking at your hand as if it was a foreign object as you turned it back and forth; everything in a sheen of sickness. Days and days and days. Little food. Less water. 

More than one-thousand miles.

But somehow, the Wall peels out in front of you as you crash through the foliage, your body giving out and collapsing down a large decline. Bouncing and getting jostled by rocks, you come to a stop without the strength to get back up, staring blankly ahead as your head connects with concrete. Your mouth is open in broken inhales, pain not even registering. 

Shouts echo, the pound of rapid feet. 

Green eyes meet yours, a youthful face with a beanie and stubble. He’s saying something to you, glancing over your gear and your obvious near-death situation—his hand jostles the side of your face. But your eyes shift behind him gradually, attention falling to someone more important. 

Before you finally let yourself rest, you stare at the smiling face of your steadfast phantom.

—

The doctors and nurses at Fort Santa Monica were nice, if a bit secretive about the entire operation. Seeing as you weren’t an official soldier, no dog tags or patches—no name in the database—everyone was a bit hesitant to tell you anything. 

Until you said you were from Dallas, of course. 

But no one was eager to rush you in your state, even if the information was dire. You had been hooked up to an IV and bedridden for a week straight; talking to nothing on account of the dehydration and electrolyte imbalances. Some days you spend unconscious. 

But what really pissed you off when you got back into it, was the fact that they had taken your Lynx and your gear—your picture.

You’d almost grappled onto the first nurse you’d seen when you’d woken without it. It was a beacon, your prized possession of damaged corners and taped tears. Water damage that may or may not have been from sobbing fits in the first five years. 

In fact, that was the entire reason you had snuck out so late in the first place. 

Stalking down the hallway in the white shirt and camo pants that had been given to you on the fifth morning you had woken up here, you pad along with no shoes, only plain gray socks. You limp with bandaged flesh all along your healing shoulder and your feet. 

The doctor had explained that you’d entirely skinned the bottoms and your heels were a mess of blisters and open wounds. 

“Take my property,” you grumble under your breath, shuffling along and rubbing at the back of your neck. “What gives them the right?” 

You weren’t going to stop until you found it. 

Reading the name tags on the walls, you silently wonder where they would have taken your stuff as you slip out of the medical ward, listening to the buzzing of the lights and frowning. As you’re limping along the next hallway, a man suddenly turns the corner on nearly silent feet. 

“Woah!” You halt immediately, heart jumping in your chest. A hand catches your shoulder before you run headlong into him. 

Green eyes lock with your own, wide and blinking quickly. Brows furrow and you’re quickly looked over before a slow, teasing remark enters the air, you listen with a growing heat on your neck.

“Y’know, I could have sworn you were supposed to be in bed, Ma’am. I miss something here?” The man who had found you. 

“Wouldn’t know,” you say blandly, blinking up at him and taking a careful step back. This brunette had a casual air to him—still in his gear despite the time. He folds his arms and tilts his head at you, smirking. “If you’ll excuse me.” 

You begin to walk forward, slipping past him and hoping you won’t get snitched on. Except it seems you’ll be having a shadow, as not a few seconds later a smooth chuckle meets your ears and the man walks beside you. 

“I think I’ll be taggin’ along if you don’t mind. Security and all.” He turns to face you, sticking out his opposite hand. “Hesh.”

“That supposed to be some kind of nickname, Kid?” You raise a stiff brow but participate in the handshake nonetheless. His grip is firm but not hard. 

Hesh blinks at you, eyes swimming with amusement before he shrugs in a boyish way and shakes his head with a laugh. “Hell, you remind me of someone, Ma’am.” A moment passes in silence as you study the area. The man huffs, “Where exactly are we off to?” 

“Wonderland,” your lips grumble, tired and wanting to sleep but not until you find your picture. Hesh sighs but you can still hear the hilarity inside of it. 

“Alright then…don’t know if you’re going to be finding a shrinking potion anytime soon, though. We’re in low stock.”

“Very funny,” your eyes send a dry look, but you relent when he prods you with his eyes, taking a corner. “I’m looking for my vest.” Hesh blinks at you in curiosity, letting you elaborate as you motion to your upper shoulder. “My pouch has some of my personal belongings. I don’t like being away from it.” 

“Oh,” the brunette nods a few times, his beanie jerking along. “Yeah, that’s no problem.” A hand is waved and you stare in confusion as he pivots. “C’mon, I’ll get you there.” 

Your eyes burn into his back before you immediately speed after. 

“Why so eager to help?” Hesh smirks at your question. 

“As I see it, if you went over nineteen days of hard hiking just to get to us, you should at least be able to keep your stuff on you, Ma’am.” Your lips flicker in a smile. 

“You’d be the first.” You tell him your name and miss the slight emotion it provokes in his eyes, head lightly pulling to the side but ultimately saying nothing. Hesh shrugs with a grunt, leading you to a meeting room on the opposite side of the building. 

Yelling is on the other side.

“Elias, how long has this been kept from me?!” The voice makes your head perk, evoking something inside of your chest. Hesh seems taken aback too, holding up a hand to you for momentary silence—not that you had to be told. 

“Keegan, I can’t have that happen. She needs to recover and you being there could jeopardize that. We need what she knows about Dallas.” Your body stills to a near-frozen state, and it’s comedic how your entire face falls to a blank slate. Wait a second.

…Keegan?

“She belongs with me—I thought she fucking died and she’s been here for who knows how long?! Why wasn’t I informed?” Rampaging feet suddenly sound off, going to the door at break-neck speed.

“Son, that’s not a good idea. This is what I was worried would happen if you found out.”

“I didn’t exactly ask, did I? As far as I’m concerned, nothing else matters besides getting back to my Girl,” the bark is ferocious and violent, more of an animal’s than a man’s. “Now where the hell did you put her before I tear this damn fort apart and—” You shove at the door before Hesh can grab you, throwing it open and letting it hit the opposite wall with a great boom of wood. 

Your wild eyes instantaneously lock into sharp blues, pulse pounding in your ears. It’s like all the air is taken from your lungs in a great punch. 

Oh, he’s so similar to how you remembered him to be ten years ago. 

Keegan stands only a few feet away, turned in your direction with his eyes so wide and small you might faint. There’s black face paint in his sockets, making the cerulean all the more bright and shocking to the senses. He’s still tall, still built, if only a bit more rugged than when ODIN struck—there are lines on his forehead and his scars are more faded. Small differences in the way he holds himself like the difference between a rabbit and a hare. Keegan’s black locks are shorter now, but still…his.

Lips part in silent shock, an entire halt of your nervous system. 

The entire universe holds its tongue as you two stare at each other; walls and rooms blur into a mess of matter and reality—this couldn’t be real. 

Keegan’s feet shift for a moment as if to steady himself as his fingers twitch. In his hand, he holds your picture, his body covered in gear and weapons. He blinks as you tell yourself he’s a phantom, simply that same ghost come back to haunt you as tears sting the backs of your eyes. But then he speaks, and it’s the same voice you had slowly lost the ability to remember in year three. 

“...Sweetheart?”

His ghost never spoke. His ghost could not imitate the phonics of his speech or the rhythm of his throat. His ghost could not make you recall the memories you’d long since boxed up.

You jerk forward just as he does, bodies colliding into a feral grip of flesh and fabric, hands latching and faces burying. Sobs rip from you as Keegan’s shaky breath echoes right next to your ear—his chest hitching and arms snatching your waist and lifting you up as easily as he always had. He holds you up without any thought of putting you down, legging your legs dangle as Elias slowly exits the room and corrals a highly confused Hesh with him.

The door shuts, but neither of you notices. 

“Keegan—” Your voice is high with emotion, hardly believing what you're seeing—what you’re touching. “Oh, my God.” 

He had been alive all this time? Ten whole years and you’d thought he was dead. But by the way he was barely letting you breathe from in his iron clutch, you imagined Keegan had thought the same about you. It was…incomprehensible. 

“Shh,” he whispers, his shushes cracking and flinching between broken gasps of your name. “Shh.” He sets you down on the floor only to have his firm hands travel to your cheeks, turning your head to each side in a desperate need to understand if you were really there.

Keegan’s eyes are wet, but no tears let themselves fall quite yet. 

“I’m so sorry!” You hiccup and the man kisses your cheeks—your browline and nose. Every piece of you he can as you both stay so intimate you might melt into one another. “I thought you were gone, I-I should have stayed and looked for you, I didn’t—”

“You’re alive?” Keegan’s hands rub across your body, gripping and tugging you closer and closer. “My Girl’s alive?” 

His tears drip to your face as he hovers above you, and you both shake with the weight of years. 

“Me?” Your chuckle through sobs—you want to scream and wail at the same time. Blue eyes flutter and ragged breaths puff on your forehead. “What about you, you asshole?” 

Keegan shakes his head, and you stare deeply into him, hands coming up to cup his cheeks as he sags forward. He had stubble now, spreading out to grate your flesh. 

The man forces a weak huff. 

“Christ,” is all he mutters before he presses his lips to yours in a kiss so unyielding you expect to have your air stolen. Ten years to feel him kissing you again—to feel his warm flesh under your hands and his heart rampage into you. 

You’d do it all over if it still amounted to this.

Your body shivers and you reciprocate with just as much fervor; this emotion of relief is so overwhelming and all-consuming that it makes your head light. You suck down quick breaths between the sensation of your lips meeting, Keegan doing the same. 

Unconsciousness was better than letting him leave again, your lover sharing that sentiment as chests slid against one another. Soft hair slips through your fingers as you grip Keegan’s hair, cascading through locks as he groans into your lips and tries to hide his tears from you. 

He pulls away and immensely shoves his head into your neck. 

“You’re here,” he whispers quickly. A hand quivers at the back of your head as your tears wet his gear. “You’re right here. You came back to me, didn’t you, Doll?” 

You cry, “I’m here, Keegan.” The man sobs when he hears you say his name, his knees giving out as you both fall to the floor and not letting the other move beyond the caress of skin and lips.

“I missed you,” Keegan gasps, “so much. Don’t you understand? I was nothing without you. You took it all from me, everything. Every damn thing.” 

You press kisses to his neck and racing pulse, healing him inside and out without even realizing it; it was only fair, he was doing the same back to you. 

The picture lays long forgotten on the floor.

“Never let me go,” your voice forces out, as he rocks you back and forth like a child. “Never again, Keegan. Please, I love you too much to go through that again.”

“Never,” he immediately promises, pulling back and kissing your lips again—neither can stop themselves from this. Blues eyes blink quickly, cataloging your face and every little blemish he’d have to relearn and study; to find the story behind. Keegan had never been happier. He felt like he might break from it. “Over my dead body, I’m never lettin’ you out of my sight. You’re stuck with me.”

You laugh genuinely for the first time in ten years and say you’d like nothing better as he pulls you back in and plants his mouth to yours in reverent worship. His arms trapping you to him as yours do just the same.

Not to leave again anytime soon. 

TAGS:

@luuvbuzz, @emerald-valkyrie, @anna-banana27, @blueoorchid, @cryingnotcrying, @writeforfandoms, @homicidal-slvt, @jade-jax, @frazie99, @elmoees, @littlemisstrouble, @alpineswinter, @phoenixhalliwell, @idocarealot, @lavalleon, @facelessmemories, @h-leigh, @20forty9, @glitter-anon-asks, @emily-who-killed-a-man, @neelehksttr, @aeneanc, @escapefromrealitysm, @i-d-1-0-t, @pparcxysm, @hawkscanendme, @caramlizedtomatos, @konigsleftkidney, @sanfransolomitatm, @maelstrom007, @jemandderkeinenusernamenfindet, @pheobees, @glitterypirateduck, @uselsshuman, @fan-of-encouragement, @halfmoth-halfman, @ghostlythunderbird, @I-inkage, @pukbadger, @kopatych11, @0nceinabluem00n, @cocrorapop, @knightofsexyness, @abnormalgeil, @smallseastone, @jacegons, @330bpm-whiplash, @simon-rileys-housewife, @4-atsu, @tiredmetalenthusiast

[missberrycake]

Absolutely outraged to learn that the little headcanon I dreamt up in bed this morning doesn’t work timeline-wise but screw it, I’m doing it anyway.

When Eddie was small, his mom always used to sing him Rainbow Connection from The Muppet Movie. They’d watched it together over at Uncle Wayne’s trailer when it first came out on VHS and Eddie had been entranced. He’d parked himself right up in front of the small TV, his eyes glued to this little frog playing the banjo.

His mom noticed, of course, and made it theirs. Their song for when his dad was away and they could dance in the kitchen without being yelled at. For when Eddie was sick in bed, or couldn’t sleep, or had woken up with a nightmare. For when he came home from school with grazed palms and tears in his eyes.

“Who said that every wish, would be heard and answered?” his mom sang to him, brushing away Eddie’s tears the day she told him that she was very poorly. That she had to go into hospital, just for a little while, for the doctors to fix her up.

Eddie had asked for the song to be played at her funeral, in his small voice, tugging at his dad’s shirt sleeve. He’d said no, of course. He’d never understood either of them.

But later that night, when everyone had left and his dad was asleep, Uncle Wayne led Eddie out into the backyard and picked up his old guitar. He’d smiled at Eddie as the familiar chords rang out in the night sky and Eddie’s voice trembled when he started to sing, “Why are there so many, songs about rainbows?”

Uncle Wayne’s voice soon joined his, strong and sure. “And what’s on the other side?”

Eddie smiled. Maybe it could be their song, too.

So, years later, when Eddie was shuffling around Steve’s vast kitchen, trying to find where the hell the Harringtons kept their mugs, he found himself humming along to the familiar tune with a happy heart.

“Oho, I see we’ve got another Tammy Thompson fan on our hands here,” came Steve’s voice as he and Robin sidled in and leant against the countertop.

Robin snorted. “Someday we’ll find it,” she sang, her words taking on a pitchy, mocking quality.

Steve joined in, squeaky and off-tune, “The rainbow connection.”

They were grinning at each other as they carried on. “The lovers, the dreamers -”

“Stop,” Eddie yelled, red-faced, his heart beating wildly as he clutched the empty mug in his hand. “Stop it.”

They did, with matching looks of confusion. Clearing spotting the way Eddie was breathing too hard, eyes too glassy, Steve shifted. “Shit, sorry Eddie. We didn’t mean anything.”

And it was bullshit because Eddie knew that. How could they know about that song, about his mom and Uncle Wayne and everything it meant? They couldn’t, but now Eddie had made it weird. Made it awkward. But he was still too worked up, he couldn’t explain.

“S'okay,” he said. “I guess I just don’t feel well. Might go home.”

He didn’t let either of them get another word in before he fled the house.

The next day, Eddie was disturbed from his still-embarrased wallowing by a gentle knock on his bedroom door. It was Uncle Wayne, with a soft look on his face.

“The Harrington boy’s here,” he said. “Came to apologise. Called last night, you know. We talked for a bit.”

He disappeared and moments later a contrite-looking Steve shuffled in.

Eddie pushed himself up against his headboard.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “It was just a joke Robin and I have. I would never -” He cut himself off and sat down on the end of the bed, a little sheepishly. “I got you this.”

Steve pulled his hand out from behind his back to reveal a tiny Kermit the Frog toy, complete with a small, squishy banjo.

Eddie’s chest clenched. He reached out for the toy and smiled wide at Steve.

When the other man dragged him into a hug, Eddie let himself fall into it.

Maybe it wasn’t going to be a song for him and Steve, but it could definitely be the start of something sweet.

[Yeah, I'm scouring the archives and trying to salvage as many headcanons as I can from my old deleted account, but let's just pretend this is brand new content.]

[coco-loco-nut]

Down Bad

pairing: carlos sainz x reader

summary: a heartbreak like no other

a/n: it’s super short, sorry

masterlist ttpd masterlist

________

You should've known better. Really. You aren't the kind of girl that a hot, 29-year-old, Spanish Formula One driver would like. Of course, you are beautiful, but apparently not enough for him. His attention was fleeting, leaving you just another one of his conquests in a long string of girls like you.

You met Carlos while interning in Madrid during the Winter. At the time you didn't realize he was love-bombing you, only to drop you cold once your internship ended a month later and you went home, practically shipped away by him. For a moment you knew, or thought you knew, extraordinary love, but it wasn't real. Was anything real anymore?

“Sweetheart, you need to stop moping,” your mom says from the doorway of your bedroom. “You know I love you, but if I didn’t know you better, I’d think you are a moody teenager,” you know your mom means well, but the last bit struck hard.

“Fine, I’m going for a run,” you groan, rolling out of bed. She leaves your room, seemingly appeased. It doesn’t take you long to get dressed, lace up your trainers, and play your angsty playlist through your headphones.

You take the path you know by heart, the one you take when you need to be away from people. When you are sufficiently alone, you let it all out.

Crying and running may not be the wisest idea, but it’s cathartic to you. You stop when you get to the meadow and lay down, staring at the cloudy sky. As the music plays, you yell the lines that hit too close to home. I might just die, it would make no difference. Fuck you if I can’t have us.

Fuck. You need to get over him. Everything just feels so hollow now, like you were stripped of everything you are and ever were. You just want to talk to your friends about it, but you know them. They will call you nuts, saying that it never really happened, that Carlos Sainz would never date you.

So instead, you lay in this field, thinking about when you were heaven struck. You might just not get up, stay down while you are down bad for someone who doesn’t even care about your existence anymore.

Maybe you were abducted by an alien to another, then returned back to this spot. That could explain it. Explain why you are feeling the angst of a scorned teenage girl, when you have more emotional maturity than that. You are 22 after all.

It’s how you imagine it feels like to lose the touch of a twin flame. I guess being love bombed then abandoned would do that to you.

The more you think about it, the more the alien analogy seems to fit. It’s like he beamed down from a ship, did a hostile takeover on your heart, the alien encounters closer and closed as each day passed. And you let them happen, willingly.

It started with a hello, then coffee, then a stroll, then a lunch, then a drive, then a dinner, then a night spent together, two, three, four, it spiraled. He did everything he could to worm his way into your heart, only for him to say it’s over.

Maybe you will take the ship, go to some planet and find an alien who can understand all of it. How dare he do everything he could to make you fall in love, only to leave you stranded. How is that romantic? You were in love, and fuck him if you can’t have him because of his actions.

You stare at the sky, music pumping through your headphones, willing the sky to part and reveal the alien spaceship that will beam you up to it in a cloud of dust and take you away.

Minutes pass until you realize your efforts are worthless, you mentally wave goodbye to the ship that carries him (and his pet names and his perfect dates) with it. Shedding a few tears on your run home, you start rebuilding yourself with each step. The hurt and pain slowly being chipped away.

No man with EVER make you feel this down bad again.

[gottalovetumbler]

Wrong Car

Real quick Drabble I thought of yesterday. Hope y'all enjoy!

Info: Fem!Reader, Cussing, aggression on road, talks of shooting someone.

.・゜✧﹒☁﹒✧゜・．

It was supposed to be a simple mission, in & out. All Ghost had to do was get into the target's car, stay quiet while he drove to the base of the enemy’s operations, and put a bullet between his eyes once it’s all said and done. 

The first red flag should have been that the target's car was already in the parking lot even though he wasn’t scheduled to be there for another 2 hours. But nope the anger they felt for the scumbags who decided to set up in the middle of a civilian town clouded their judgment. So after a quick perimeter check to be sure it wasn’t a trap, Ghost wedged open the door and got settled in the back of the mid size suv.

The second red flag is that nobody, not Price with the kink in his back or Soap who was starving, called the mission when the sky began to turn dark, hours after they first arrived. If there’s one thing the 141 aren’t, it’s quitters. 

The third and honestly biggest red flag should have been the fact that no 30 year old enemy rat would have stuffed animals in his car. Nor would he have some dinky ass trinkets in-front of his gauges behind his steering wheel. *Course the low life doesn’t have a car of his own. Must his sisters or girlfriends.* 

But against all these glaring red flags and his own instincts, Ghost slowly drifts into a semi-sleep seeing as he’ll probably be cramped in this trunk for a while longer and the rest of the 141 are out getting food at the nearest drive-through. He stayed awake enough to defend himself if need be but restful enough to make time slip by quickly. The loud yank of the handle opening the driver's door makes his eyes shoot open but other then that, he doesn’t move. *It’s finally go time, hopefully the base is close cause I am tired of wait-ohhhhh shit*

It’s like Ghost is blinded by the light of the red flags now, everything becoming glaringly obvious. You, a naïve little bird no taller than 5 '8 climbs into the driver's seat without so much as a glance to the trunk. Why would you? It’s not like you have any targets on your back and the doors were locked. So without a care in the world you throw on your music, far too loud in Ghosts opinion and shift into drive. 

While Ghost was previously cursing the cramped space in the back he managed to wedge himself into, he quickly became thankful for it as you took off like the devil himself was chasing you. Taking corners way too fast and racing people at every stoplight, you're not driving recklessly (the ‘races’ cap out at speed limit, the winner being whoever got to it first) you just drive…. well….. roughly. If it wasn’t apparent to the man in the trunk by the way you handle your car, it made itself known when you cussed out a car for taking forever to get up to speed.

‘For fucks sakes!’ You scream. ‘I own the same damn car as you fuck-face and I’m able to find the pedal and push it, so surely you can too!’

You never flip anyone off though or swerve around slow cars. You know that’s it’s never that serious it’s just that sometimes it’s fun to scream. 

After watching, amused, as a pretty thing like you yells at an innocent old man taking a right hand turn at 5 mph, Ghost finally snaps back into his body. He’s in the back of an innocent civilian's car, dressed fully in black, with a skull printed balaclava and strapped with a military grade pistol. *Maybe she’ll park in her driveway and I can just slip out without her noticing* 

That hope quickly gets crushed though as the 5 minute drive turn to 10 minutes then 15 minutes and it continues to grow longer.  Now slightly panicked, something stabbing into his rib makes itself known and when Ghost pulls it out he realizes he forgot to leave his phone with the rest of the team. *Oh shit the team!* 

They were still out getting food when you drove off, not knowing which direction you both went or that they had gotten the wrong car. So with a quick swipe to turn down the brightness and a quick glance to the front, making sure you were still too into your music to notice anything, he shoots Gaz a quick text. 

———————————————

(000)000-0000

-Where are you? (14 mins ago) -Have you gotten to the base already?  (12 mins ago) -Hello???  (12 mins ago) -Price is worried you got shot  (8 mins ago) -Send me something so I know you’re still breathing. (5 mins ago)

~~~~~NOW~~~~~

-*We fucked up* -What happened? -*Wrong car* -*Civilian girl, hasn’t seen me yet but we’re about 20 minutes North West from where we started and we’re still driving* -*She keeps hit the damn corners like she wants us to do a somersault down a hill* -Shit. We’ve got your gps pinned and we’re going to follow you once we catch up. Hopefully we can get you out once she goes to bed. -*Not many cars on the road. Don’t follow too close or she may get paranoid.* -Copy

———————————————

Now all he has to do is sit, wait and pray you don't look backwards.

୨୧・・・・୨♡୧・・・・୨୧

[annymation]

The Kingdom of Wishes- A “Wish” Rewrite

Chapter 11- Into The Eye Of A Storm

Chapter 10

The rain was falling down, and thunder could be heard humbling over Rosas.

Aster struggled to free himself from the king's chains that are coming from his staff, but to no avail.

The king just looked down on the star as he held him close to his face, so he began to speak casually:

"So, "Aster" was it? Hehehe I gotta say though, naming yourself just "Star" in Greek? Maybe not your... "Brightest" moment, hum? AH! HA HA HA" The king laughs at his own pun. He completely moved on from the bad mood he was in earlier "OH- I'm on a ROLL today!"

Aster ignores the bad joke as he keeps trying to use his magic to free himself. But their powers aren't responding to him, he's not able to shrink, nor glow brighter, nor unlock the chains, nothing. All he can do is fly and even that feels weaker.

"UGH- Why can't I-"

"Feel your power?" The king finishes their sentence "Dark magic: versatile, easy to use, but somehow oh sooo unappreciated. But I'm sure your magic isn't anything to sneeze at neither, right?" He grabs Aster's face with one hand and makes the star look at him "Care to share a little bit of it? Promise I'll give it back." He says with a very obviously faux gentle tone.

"Yeah right, if you take away my magic you're gonna KILL me!" Aster looks at him furiously.

"Oh you know that? Aw shucks, really thought I could trick ya... But then again" His grin widens "I think you'll come to find that you don't have a choice in the matter"

Asha is still on the top of the building, even though Aster begged her to run.

“LET GO OF HIM!”

Magnifico ignores her like she’s not even there. He’s floating about 2 meters away from where she’s standing.

He’s focused on analyzing the star closely while holding his face “Hmm and what a fascinating form you’ve chosen, it’s like you’re her little hero in cape and everything? How sweet.” He says in a mocking way while pinching his cheek “Though you surely look a lot more… Childlike than I expected, say, how old are you?”

Aster is still fighting but he doesn’t see why not answer the question “Eighteen.”

“18 what, boy? 18 hundred? 18 thousand? Be specific.” The king says nonchalantly.

Aster kinda stops struggling for a second and just gives the king a confused glance “… Well, if you want specifics, I’m 17, but I’m turning 18 in like 2 weeks from now so-”

“Wa-wait you’re serious?” The king interrupts him, staring at him in disbelief. The star nods… Magnifico quickly turns his attention to the girl below them and yells at her in frustration “ASHA! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? MILLIONS OF STARS IN THE SKY AND YOU WISHED UPON A WEAK LITTLE RUNT?! THIS THING IS A BABY” He says while shaking Aster side to side by the chains on his wrists like a rag doll, making the star a bit dizzy.

(A reminder that this man can switch from threatening to comedic at any second and I love it. Like he’s complaining to her like she just got him the wrong pizza toppings.)

“IF THEY’RE NOT WHAT YOU WERE LOOKING FOR THEN LET THEM GO!” Asha exclaims at him, her face is filled with rage.

Magnifico calms down and looks back to the star in his hands like he’s pondering his next move “Hmmmmm… Nah.” He shrugs with a smile “Beggars can’t be choosers I suppose. Besides, this just means he’s too weak to fight back. Isn’t that right, little one?” The king asks with a wicked grin while looking deep into the star’s eyes.

That comment made Aster frown a little.

Even though it’s raining, a few people start gathering bellow where they are to see what’s going on.

Magnifico smiles widely at that. He speaks quietly so just Aster can hear:

“Ooooh looks like we have an audience. Do me a kindness and try to look as defeated and pathetic as you can, okay? I could really use the positive image right now.” Aster has a sad face “Perfect! you’re a natural.” He says like Aster and him are about to perform a scene together in a play.

Asha is looking side to side trying to think on what to do… She notices something on the floor.

The king walks on the air to get few feet down, so his people can better hear him.

(Now let me explain how exactly Magnifico’s flying works, he’s not floating around like Aster does, he’s much more “standing” while underneath his feet there’s a green light, like he just created the steps of a stair. If you watched Onward you know what I mean, it’s exactly like this)

(So I guess Onward reference, huh, who would’ve thought, a Pixar reference at last, took me long enough.)

“REJOICE MY PEOPLE!” the king exclaims ecstatic “Our little “Wish stealing star” issues have been resolved much earlier than expected!” That got a reaction from Aster, his face became furious once again “Like I said, you can always count on me t-“

Aster screamed on the king’s face “THE ONLY WISH STEALER HERE IS YOU! YOU LYING SNA- HMmH!” The king used his magic to keep the boy’s mouth shut.

“Oh-ho and it’s FEISTY TOO! Heheh- GOOD! I was worried this would be way too easy-“

🪕B L A M🎶

“OUCH! AAAH!”

The crowd gasps.

Something just hit the king’s head and made him lose focus on the flying spell. He falls on the floor.

… Asha just threw her Saba’s mandolin on Magnifico’s face, she’s standing on top of the building breathing deeply, relieved that it was a perfect shot.

Aster is free from the chains.

The star doesn’t skip a beat and flies to Asha immediately, holding her in his arms bridal style.

“Hold on tight!” Aster says.

The two fly off in the rain.

We cut to King Magnifico laying face first on the floor.

He didn’t fall from too high up but it was still quite painful.

The crowd is all around him, worried for their king.

Queen Amable rushes to where he is, with some guards pushing the people aside to let her pass.

“DARLING!! OH MY- ANYTHING HURT??” The queen asks genuinely worried, as she sits on her knees next to him.

“… Just my pride.” His voice is muffled, because his face is still laying on the floor. He begins to stand up as he asks “Ugh- quick, how’s my face?” He asks his wife while touching his own face to feel if there’s any injuries.

“As handsome as always, mi rey” The queen coos, caressing his cheek lovingly.

His eyes light up as his excitement returns to him at full force.

“THEN NO HARM DONE!” He exclaims, smiling like a mad man, he’s high on the adrenaline of the hunt.

He stands up quickly to go catch those teens.

“A little bump in the road, sure! But no need for panic everyone!” The king announces to the people around “Just remain in doors and stay calm, things may get a little... Messy hehehe" He chuckles, thinking of all the forbidden and deadly spells he'll finally have an excuse to use.

He uses his staff to run upwards on thin air, he just can't wait to kill those two teens but-

He feels something pulling his cape.

He looks down.

... Amaya is holding his cape, looking at him worriedly... As in, ACTUALLY worried.

He looks at her puzzled, but his eyes for the first time show a gleam of humanity as he looks down on the love of his life.

"... Just... Be careful." She says, glancing at the storm above them.

... Magnus gives her a comforting smile as he removes his cape, it'll be easier to fly without it weighting him down.

He hands the cape to her, whispering softly "I'll be back before you know it."

...

And up he goes.

Amaya is holding his cape tightly...

She has a bad feeling about this.

...

Okay, so now you guys might think Asha and Aster successfully skedaddled from the king's grasp because he took too long on the ground, right?

Well I'm sorry to say but you thought wrong. Here's what was happening with our heroes while this was taking place.

Aster is flying with Asha in his arms, they're going back to the forest, his cape leaves a trail of light.

He sounds quite traumatized as he says:

"HOW DID THAT CREEP MANAGE TO DECEIVE A WHOLE KINGDOM FOR YEARS?? HE'S SCARIER THAN A VAMPIRE STAR!"

(Vampire stars: stars that sucks the outer layers of material from a companion star, stripping their "bitten" victim down to a mere stellar core.

This is a real thing, and now I'm adding to the lore of wishing stars that there are these evil vampire stars that suck away other wishing star's powers... We have fun here.)

"Welcome to Rosas," (🎶Come on, come this way- sorry) "Where everyone just sees what they want to see." Asha says with a saddened expression. She's looking down on her kingdom as they fly away.

She looks at the castle in the distance...

"Wait... Aster, we gotta go to the castle!" Asha tells him determined

The star stops flying abruptly.

"UUUH Why???" Aster asks her in shock, this is kinda deja vu to that other time she suggested they should run to the castle.

"You can un-curse wishes!" She exclaimed "You un-cursed my wish! We can save A LOT of people if we go in there and you use your magic on as many as you can!"

Now usually Aster would be more than happy to do just that... But he's still a bit shaken by the whole encounter with the king, he's afraid he might catch up to them.

"Asha... I'm not sure we-"

"We can do this, he flies way slower than you, if we hurry we can get there before him." She looks into Aster's eyes, she's full of hope that they can at least save some of her people.

Aster can see her light shining brighter.

"... Then we better hurry." He gives her a trusting smile.

He turns around, flying towards the castle as fast as possible.

As they're reaching the castle, there's indeed no sign of Magnifico.

They get near the window of the wishes room.

"See? Told you we could do it." Asha says with a smile

"Yeah... I guess I am a lot faster than him." He says while flying to get through the window "Now let's do this quick before- OUCH!" Aster hits something when he tries to get in...

There's a green forcefield that manifested on the open window when Aster tries getting through it.

"What th-" Aster tries to hit it to get his hand through but the magic seems to be as strong as concrete, he groans in frustration.

Asha’s smile immediately fell into a scowl.

“oooOOOH SERIOUSLY?!” Asha screams.

“Why, yes. I do take the safety of my people’s wishes very seriously.”

… Take a wild guess on who’s standing behind them with a smug grin…

As soon as Aster hears the king’s voice he JUMPS and flies to the roof of the tower.

He’s holding Asha tightly as he KICKS the roof with his two feet to push himself away from the castle, thus flying away even faster.

Magnifico simply smiles as he uses his staff to once again summons a green hand.

The hand moves quickly through the rain.

Aster is flying as fast as he can but-

The hand catches him.

Asha falls from his arms.

She screams as she falls down.

“NO!” Aster yells in desperation.

Magnifico is now right next to him, smiling maliciously.

“Ah the stars look so pretty when they fall, don’t they?”

Aster’s legs are still free, so he KICKS the staff from Magnifico’s hand, making the king lose focus on the spell.

Aster is freed and flies down almost at the speed of light

It’s a shame the moment was so quick, maybe Aster would’ve noticed Magnifico almost stopped floating when the staff left his hand for a second…

“… That was close…” Magnifico said under his breath

Aster catches Asha in his arms.

“YOU OKAY??” He asks terrified.

“NOPE” She says shaken to her core. Holding him tightly.

Aster weights their options in his head… If they go to to the forest the king is just gonna follow them, he won’t give up on getting his power…

His power.

That’s what the king wants, not Asha.

…

He’s gonna have to break Rule number 1 again.

“Asha, listen.” The Star calls her attention, sounding more serious than ever “We gonna have to split up again, but I PROMISE I’ll come back before you know it.”

Asha looks at him confused.

“What?”

His animation looks more sketchy, like it’s unfinished.

“I’ll send you to the forest, very deep into it, so he can’t find you, I’ll just keep him busy for a-“

“NO! You can’t fight him off! You gotta stay AWAY from him.” She’s holding him by the cape.

“I know, but it’s the only way I can keep you safe.”

He lets her go from his arms, making her float with his magic.

“ASTER WAIT!”

“I’ll know where to find you… I’m sorry.”

He stops flying away.

And makes his star dust cary her, flying away deep into the forest.

Asha is looking back at him in the verge of tears.

All Aster can do is sigh.

…

Alright.

Time to fight a sorcerer king.

That happens to be right behind him, again.

“You know there are wolves in those woods, right?” Magnifico asks sarcastically as he floats like he's laying down on thin air.

Aster turn around quickly and uses his star dust to make several swords.

He throws them at the king and-

*Poof*

They just disappear into glittery smoke when they touch him.

“PFFT AHAHAHAHAAH STOP IT- I didn’t sign up for a tickle fight! Hahah” Magnifico holds his sides as he laughs

Aster is stunned.

“W-what? How did y-“

The king casted another spell to capture Aster, but this time the star dodges it.

Aster flies upwards.

The king follows with a wicked smile.

Aster doesn't understand, why didn’t that work?... Maybe the king was just expecting it and shielded himself? Yeah. That’s gotta be it.

He tries again, this time trying to do what the king did to him before, creating chains made of star dust to tie him down.

When the chains reach Magnifico, he just dust them off his body with his hand like it’s nothing.

… Aster is pretty peeved to say the least. His animation seems more sketchy and rough.

“HOW IS THIS FAIR? Your dark magic thing makes my powers useless!” Aster exclaims while he flies away from the king.

“Ha! You think THIS is because of my magic?! Boy, come on, I know you’re young, but don’t tell me I actually know more about your kind than YOU do!”

Aster keeps flying away, but he looks back at the king as he asks “What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“Let me "enlighten you", little one.”

He charges up a lightning spell.

“Your magic is made out of… JOY!

⚡️

Aster manages to dodge the lightning.

“GOODNESS!”

⚡️

Aster barely managed to escape the second one

“AND LIGHT!”

⚡️

“AGH!”

Aster didn’t dodge this last one. Their chest has a hole in it now…

That didn’t feel like that time Valentino jumped through him, this actually hurts... A lot.

Magnifico takes the opportunity to capture him again, this time tying him up with a snake made out of green magic.

Aster doesn’t have time to react before he’s wrapped in the snake’s grip.

There's the sound of thunder near them.

Magnifico approaches him slowly, now that the boy is held still in one place.

“And those things- Well, they can’t really hurt anyone, now can they? Heh heh” Magnifico is now flying right next to the star “So... I’m afraid there's little you can do to defend yourself, or anyone else.” He makes a little pout as if to fake pity.

… Aster never knew his magic couldn’t hurt others… Then again, hurting others was never something that crossed his mind before he met this man.

“… If it’s only made of good things then… Why do you want it so bad?” Aster asks

Magnifico’s eyes light up with the question.

“Oooh because it just needs to be wielded by the RIGHT person, my boy. Yes, in you, this magic is very limited because your heart is pure… But in me and my beloved queen however… We’ll be able to do ANYTHING.” He leans in closer to look at the star straight in the eyes as he adds “And that includes hurting the petulant little brat that wished upon you~”

Aster feels a chill run down his whole body. He couldn’t let that happen.

He tried to struggle out of the snake's grip.

Magnifico is amused by the star's determination.

“Heh heh stubborn just like her, aren’t you?”

“YEAH! SHE IS STUBBORN, AND YOU KNOW WHAT?! EVEN IF YOU DO STEAL MY POWER, YOU CAN’T STOP HER, SHES GONNA INSPIRE EVERYONE IN THAT KINGDOM TO RISE UP AGAINST YOU!” Aster exclaims with no doubt that Asha can do it, even without his help.

“Now what are you blabbering about insp- … Wait” Magnifico looks at nothing as he starts connecting the dots “Don’t tell me- That little performance you two were doing at the plaza…” a smile starts creeping in his face, and he starts trying to hold in a laugh “was -pffff- waS THAT AN ATTEMPT TO- HAHAH TO “INSPIRE” THOSE PEASANTS?!” The king has a maniacal smile.

… Aster doesn’t respond, he just avoids eye contact.

“*GASP* IT WAS! WASN’T IT?! OH- HAHAHAHAH” He lets out an evil laugh that echoes through the storm.

Aster tries not paying attention to what Magnifico says.

He tries looking at anything else, the rain, the lightning strikes in the distance, the king's staff...

Wait.

“OH- oh that’s hahha! That’s too good! OH and let me guess, that was YOUR idea, wasn’t it?!”

Aster already muted Magnifico's voice in his head, he looks closely to the staff... It seems to be made of...

Copper.

Aster hears another thunder.

The boy has a realization… This man is not smart.

Said man holds the star’s face, so he looks at him in the eyes.

“And here I was expecting that the girl got some WISE and MIGHTY guide from the sky! But NOPE! All she got was YOU, a naive little boy that doesn't know ANYTHING about how the world works!" The king has a deranged grin ear to ear as his grip on the boy's face tightens.

"Did you actually think that SINGING and DANCING would change ANYTHING?! Honestly, how much of a FOOL are you?!"

...

The star's face crescents into... A smile.

And the king hear's something that he REALLY didn't expect to hear from the boy.

"...pffft hihihi hi hi he- hehe heeh he heh ahah aahha aha ha HAHAH HAHAHAHA HAHAHA AHAAAHHAHAAHHAHHAHA"

The star boy is just laughing… It’s a youthful and free spirited laugh.

Magnifico's evil glee is replaced by bewilderment. He blinks a few times as the boy keeps laughing in his face.

... Did he just break this kid?... Already? After just knowing him for less than an hour?... Well, that sure is a new record for the king.

Magnifico looks frustrated as he asks "What's so funny?"

Aster calms down, and simply looks at the king with a playful smile as he explains

"Hehe oh nothing it's just that- heh heh yeah, I may be a fool but..." Aster's smile turns into cheeky smirk, and there's a gleam of mischief in his eyes as he says confidently:

"At least I'm not the IDIOT that brought a stick made of copper... Into the eye of a storm."

Magnifico's eyes widens.

And at the same time that realization hits him... Something else hits him too.

And all he has time to say is:

"Oh no-"

(hahahaAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAAH aaaah… I waited 11 chapters to write this by the way.)

The king’s staff is hit by a lightning bolt, sending shockwaves through his body.

A painful scream echos above the Kingdom of Rosas.

“MAGNUS!!!”

The queen exclaimed in horror.

... Just as she feared... He got carried away.

Needless to say, Aster’s body is freed from the king’s grasp. The boy watches as the man plummets along with the rain drops.

Aster isn’t smiling anymore, even he is shaken by what just happened, even though he saw it coming.

But he has no time to dwell on this now, he has a friend to find in the forest. So off he goes, leaving a trail of star dust behind him, like a shooting star.

…

But we’ll be focusing on Asha and Aster’s reencounter in the next chapter.

Now. Let’s focus our attention on what’s happening down in Rosas.

…

We see the bare foots of the queen running franticly through the dampened streets of her kingdom, she left her high heels behind her.

She's lifting her long skirt up so she can run faster.

Her hair is soaked and messy... Her crown falls on the ground.

She doesn't care, the crown doesn't matter, nothing matters. All that matters to her is finding him.

She’s desperate. An emotion never yet displayed by the relentless queen before.

The guards are trying to keep up with her, as well as other citizens.

She sees people gathered in a circle, the queen pushes through them violently to find what they’re all looking at.

“OUT OF MY WAY!” She yells, her voice is a high pitched screech full of anguish.

The people quickly let her through as they realize who she is.

Amaya finally gets through the people to find…

King Magnifico is laying face first on the floor. Just like before.

“MAGNUS!" The queen runs to his body and hugs it.

He must have used a protection spell, right? He just want to make the star look worse in the eyes of their people, right? Yes, that has to be it.

She tries to take some deep breaths while holding him.

"I-I'm here my love... You may rise now"

No response.

"... Mi vida?... This isn't funny... I know you used a spell to shield yourself... Didn't you?"

She's still not facing him, his face is still laying down on the floor.

A guard approaches from behind her

"... Your highness, we must take the king to the doctor at once-"

"NO- NO HE- he's alright, he-he's just being dramatic, like always ah haha right, my love?"

She starts turning his body so she can see his face.

"Co-come on Magnus, you wouldn't want to keep our people-" She sees his face, a few people in the crowd gasp "... Waiting"

There's a scar.

The king's left eye has a huge scar.

Amaya caresses his face.

...

She hesitates as she places a hand on his chest...

She can't feel a heart beat.

His cold heart stopped.

The king is dead.

...

Final Thoughts

.

.

.

OOOOH I'M KIDDING HAHAHA- this isn't the end of the chapter yet :)

But it could be the ending though, right?

I mean, the villain died, Aster even gave a cheeky smile and a final line the likes of "And everything that comes with it" from Alladin.

In a Disney movie, you defeat the villain and the story can wrap up, right?

What more there is to it?

... Well, this rewrite is meant to feel like a proper Disney 100th anniversary movie, so this ain't your typical Disney movie.

And King Magnifico is supposed to the 100th anniversary Disney villain, so he ain't your typical Disney villain.

No... He has something that no other villain in the Disney pantheon had.

He has love.

And what is love?

Love is, and always will be, the most powerful thing on earth. That's what Disney taught us for 100 years.

So... What happens when the villains have love?

This is what I think happens:

...

Queen Amable’s eyes widen as it becomes undeniably clear… Magnus is dead.

... The rain now is dying down, becoming a drizzle...

She hears the sound of her people mourning for their king, crying and lamenting the tragedy.

...No...

She would not mourn. To mourn would be to accept that he's gone. And she knows him well enough to know that's not what he'd want. No.

She would never give up on him.

All this time she was worried about what these people would think of them, and now here they are, pathetically crying and moaning... They are weak...

She and her beloved don't need them. They never did. All they need is one another. It no longer mattered to her what they thought of her. It no longer mattered if they became afraid of her. It no longer mattered if they didn't love her anymore.

HIS love is all the love she needs.

And so, in this moment. She didn't care in the slightest about showing aaaaall these people... Why in the past they weren't kidding when they called her, well...

A witch.

Amaya suddenly get's up. Surprising the people around with how quickly she did so.

She RIPS the second layer of her long dress, revealing that inside there were many hidden pockets, each one with a small flask of colorful potions that she caries around for emergencies... Such as this.

The crowd gasps in surprise, they all stare at the queen in confusion.

She takes two of the flasks and begins mixing them, her face is cold and focused:

"Phoenix ashes mixed with two drops of scarab beetle juice" The queen says to herself under her breath.

She takes another flask from her skirt

"Newt saliva to heal the heart" She empties the flask and throws it on the ground, breaking it.

Another guard tries to talk to her:

"Uh- umm your majesty what are y-"

"Silence." She tells him, her tone is as sharp as a dagger.

She proceeds to name another ingredient.

"A tear of grief." She says as she takes one tear from her eye, and it really is one single tear.

She stops for a moment as if to remember the next ingredient... She remembers.

Her face turns to the confused citizens and shouts:

"I NEED A CHILD WITH LONG HAIR! NOW!" Her voice echoes, almost louder than the thunder from the storm.

The people are startled, their queen is usually so quiet and gentle, seeing her like this is like seeing a whole different person.

"QUICKLY! I DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME BEFORE THE SOUL COMPLETELY LEAVES HIS CORPSE!" She yells at them furiously.

"He-here!" A woman emerges from the crowd holding her daughter, a little girl with long blonde hair and green eyes.

(Because you bet I'll fit in a Tangled reference in this serious and tense scene)

The queen walks quickly to the girl and plucks a strand of hair, which the girl responds with a little "Ow!"

Amaya measures the hair strand with her fingers

"... This will give him about 10 years... Good enough." She says to herself as she puts the hair inside the flask.

A puff of smoke comes out from the flask... The potion is ready.

... It won't be long now.

She walks to her beloved husband, holding the potion in her hands.

She sits next to him... She pets his hair as she looks at his lifeless but still gorgeous face, scar and all. She looks at him with a wistful smile and...

She drinks the potion.

The crowd looks in shock.

Amaya coughs a few times, by the looks of it the potion tasted terrible... But it would be worth it.

She looks back to her king and says in a whisper

"And now, the most important step... True love's kiss."

She kisses him.

The people in the crowd look hopeful, everyone has read in fairytales what a true love's kiss is.

... But Amaya's magic isn't the same as the magic of a fairy... Oh no no no. When it comes to dark magic, you can't simply gain something for free... All dark magic does is take. And it does take something away from Amaya... Something she values a lot.

As she kisses their king, the people start to notice something is happening to their queen...

Her hair get's whiter, with a prominent white hair streak growing from her roots and embracing her whole braided hair.

(Because you bet I'll ALSO reference Anna's hair, from Frozen!)

Not only that, but her hands and face become more wrinkled.

... The queen is aging rapidly.

The people look horrified, worried they might get their king back but lose their queen

(And let me tell ya folks, that would be a TERRIBLE thing to happen because then our boy King Mag would straight up kill everyone in Rosas and then himself... Again.)

But the queen suddenly stops the kiss, she lifts her head up taking deep breaths, exhausted after giving away 10 years of her life to her love...

She looks 60 years old now.

... The king is still motionless...

...

The crowd is staring in anticipation.

...

Magnifico's eye's are shot open.

"*GAAAAAASP* *COUGH* COUGH*"

He sit's up quickly as he coughs while gasping for air.

"Shhhhh there there darling, just take some deep breaths now" The queen coos gently, her previous cold hearted demeanor vanished in an instant, and she's once again the kind and loving queen they all know her to be.

The crowd cheers and applauds the queen for successfully bringing the king back to life.

And said king is... Very lost on what on earth just happened, as he places a hand on his head and his eyes are closed, he seems to be in a lot of pain.

"UGhhh... My head-"

"Does it hurt? I can make something to help with that... Healing your face however, may prove to be more of a challenge." The queen says while petting his back.

The king's eyes widen at the comment, he quickly turns to look at his wife for the first time since he came back to life

"What's that about my fa- *gasp*" He get's startled when he sees HER face.

His queen is changed... She's smiling at him, which show even more all her new wrinkles... The white hair streak is very noticeable on her crown-less messy and soaked wet hair.

Magnifico stares at her incredulous... He starts connecting the dots in his head, as he also remembers what happened to him...

"... Amaya... What did you do?" He says as he places a hand on her cheek gently. His eyes are full of worry.

The queen stops smiling... She instinctively tries covering her face with her hands.

Magnus immediately holds her hands, as he looks her deep in the eyes and reassures her "You are... And ALWAYS will be the fairest queen of all, and no curse in this world or any other can change that for me." He says with certainty.

... Even though it's raining, by the queen's expression it's clear that she teared up with that comment.

The king wraps his arms around her gently, like she could turn into dust at any moment.

"... I'm so sorry that I failed you... This never EVER should've happened... But I swear to you, my love" His voice goes cold "I will not fail you... Ever again."

... He would not let himself get carried away again...

That girl is going to pay.

And that star will be theirs.

King Magnifico realizes they're still being watched... They'll continue this tender moment later. Now, he better make the most of the situation, after all, him being literally MURDERED by the star boy certainly helps his side of the narrative.

The king tries to get up but his legs are still feeling a bit numb, his body is still getting used to the fact that it's up and running again. Two guards help him stand up. And they also hand him his magic staff that was laying next to him

Magnifico is now standing up with his wife holding him tightly.

He takes a deep breath to start one of those long and inspiring speeches of his:

"People of Rosas... It seems even I underestimated just how vicious the enemy we're facing really is... The fallen star thought he could kill the heart of this kingdom, but as you can all see, this HEART is still beating! And it shall remain like this for many years to come!" The king says proudly.

The people cheer in unison. Some saying "Long live the king".

... Probably not the best time for Amaya to tell him she could only give him more 10 years soooo he's not getting past 65.

"Rosas shall never fall! For we are the kingdom of HOPE! And NO force in this world can stop-"

"*COUGH COUGH* Aah"

The king's speech is cut short, as the queen starts coughing and her legs go weak.

"Woah woah Amaya?" Magnifico looks worried as he holds her closer to him, stopping her from falling.

The people gasp in surprise

The king holds her close to him and whispers "Heh heh no need for theatrics my love, th-they're already on our side" Magnifico says, hoping the queen is just being dramatic to gain even more sympathy from them.

"... It's not pretending" She whispers to him "I feel... Weak."

(If this was a movie, the whole internal dialogue that will happen now, as well as Amaya's internal dialogue that happened earlier, would be just their expressions changing from worried to serious in a few seconds, and just by their expressions and the music the audience would be able to tell that this is a "Oh, they snapped" moment)

...

Only in that moment Magnus really starts to process what just happened.

He... DIED.

Just like that... He could've left her... Alone... Forever.

And why did he die?... Because he wanted to impress these people. He wanted to make a big spectacle about capturing that star. They made him weaker.

Not only that, but their love and loyalty was flimsy. It took only ONE GIRL speaking in front of a crowd for some people to start questioning him... Clearly, he and his queen are doing this all wrong.

All this time, pretending and deceiving to gain the love of these people, so they'd trust him with their wishes... But the situation changed. Once he harness that star's power, they'll have no use for these people anymore, will they?

So why be loved... When they can be feared?

It's not like he needs their love anyway.

HER love is all the love he needs.

And so, in this moment. He didn't care in the slightest about showing aaaaall these people... Why he wasn't chosen to be the heir to the throne.

...

The king's face morphs from worried to stoic, as he caresses his wife's hair gently.

The people are looking at him, expecting him to continue the speech.

But instead, Magnifico addresses one specific guard that is standing next to some others

"Captain O'Danohue." The king's voice is emotionless, he's still looking down to his wife while talking to the soldier.

The captain steps forward.

"Yes sire." The captain is a tall and large man with a beard and ginger hair just like Simon's

"Where did that star and that girl go?" Magnifico is still not making eye contact with the man

"They were seen flying to the forest, your majesty."

"Good, good. Send all your men to search for them immediately."

"Right away, your majesty. Do not worry, we'll-"

"And if they're not found til tomorrow night your men will burn that whole forest down." The king added, still talking monotonously.

That gets a few surprised looks from the people around them

The captain of the royal guard is taken aback by this "... Pardon me sire but I think I misun-"

The king finally takes his eyes off his wife to look at the captain with a bored expression "They can't hide in a forest if there's no forest, now can they?" He says like it's just common sense

The captain is perplexed "But- But what about the people that live there? There are houses in the woods."

"They have till tomorrow night to leave then." The king said simply "But of course, if that sounds too hard for you I can burn it down myself." Magnifico shrugs.

The people look shocked... The island's forest has been considered sacred for generations.

The king adds

"Oh, and speaking of "leaving", have your men also burn and destroy all the boats at the docks... No one get's in or out this kingdom until we find that star, was I clear?" He says while looking at the people around him this time.

Simon's father is speechless for a moment... The king seems to have lost his mind, but that's understandable, right? He died a few minutes ago.

The soldier tries to snap him out of it:

"My liege, with all due respect, I don't think-"

"Due respect?" Magnifico interrupts him once again, this time with a hint of anger creeping in his voice "I think you misunderstand captain. You all OWE ME all the respect you can possibly give, not only as your KING, but also as the one who MADE YOU who you are." He doesn't even raise his voice much, those words echo in the hearts of all the citizens that had their wishes granted "I didn't grant your wish of becoming my knight for you to THINK, O'Danohue, I did it for you to OBEY... Was I clear?" The king asks again.

The captain goes stiff.

He bows down to the king as he says "Crystal clear, your majesty."

... A sinister smile finally returns to the king's now scared face.

"There you go, that's a lot easier, isn't it?" The king says condescendingly.

That felt good... He should've done this a long time ago.

He looks down to his queen that he has been holding in his arms this whole time, she's looking up to him, also smiling wickedly.

They're on the same page, they won't pretend to be something they're not anymore.

That girl thought that truth would set these people free? Oh... They're more trapped than ever.

They both turn to look at their frightened and confused subjects.

The king’s glares at them as he says "... I believe it’s quite obvious what will happen to anyone who dares helping the traitor and the star" The green gem on the king's staff starts glowing "Right?"

The crowd all shakes their heads "Yes" quickly, as they know this is a threat.

The gem slowly stops glowing.

"Wonderful, that will be all then." He lifts the staff upward to hit it on the ground "And remember, Rosas... Just keep wishing." He has a subtle smile, this phrase is what he always says at the end of Wish ceremonies.

He hits the floor, creating a huge cloud of green smoke that engulfs him and Amaya, they teleport to the palace.

(I was gonna write Magnifico's reaction to his new scar... Buuuut I think I'll keep that off screen, I think you guys can imagine how he felt about it.)

...

The people of Rosas are at a loss.

Some think the king just went insane and it's all thanks to that star.

Other's think that he's right to take desperate measures to handle this threat.

And a few are now starting to realize that maybe they've been lied to this whole time and the king has always been a bad person.

No one is quite sure what to think of this.

...

Except for a certain group of teens... And a goat.

Who went inside to get cover from the rain just before the king went after Aster... So they didn't see the whole ordeal that just happened.

But they have seen enough to know exactly what side they're choosing to be on... Knowing what they know now.

...

Note that I didn't say how many teens are in that group.

Chapter 12

Final Thoughts

(for real this time)

... So ummmm... That was a lot, wasn't it? hahaha

I swear next chapter will be all about Asha and Aster and there will be WHOLESOME VIBES... After some sad vibes first.

Yeah, they gotta have a little heart to heart BUT it'll be more chill than THIS whole thing that just happened. In fact, from this point forward things should get a little bit more calm... For a while.

But now speaking on this chapter-

LETS GOOOOOOOOOOO CHARACTER DESING CHANGE!!!!

THE BROTHER KILLER HAS A SCAR!

THE WITCH LOOKS OLD!

REFERENCES ALL AROUND!!!

I usually don't say this, but ummm if I see fanart of King Magnifico with a scar on his left eye and Queen Amable looking older with a white hair streak it would be so awesome, it would be so cool... Just saying I would go insane, even more than I already am.

And the way I came up with this plot point weeks ago literally is the funniest thing, here's how my thought process went:

I want the confrontation in chapter 10 to feel tense... I'll say it's a cloudy day... Clouds bring rain... And rain brings a storm... And storms brings lightning... And lightning kills Disney villains... I'll kill Magnifico because he had it too good for too long. He needs to take an L. His actions have consequences.

SO THE NARRATIVE ESCALATED FROM:

"IT'S A CLOUDY DAY" TO "THE KING DIED."

LMAO

But seriously though, THIS is a big turning point for the villains.

Initially, they just wanted Aster's power for the sake of wanting it, because it would be fun to have it... Now? Now it's a NEED.

It's a need because they need immortality, Magnifico had a taste of his own mortality, and Amaya is older and weaker, they NEED to have that magic so they can live together forever. Have their happily EVER after, so to speak.

To me that feels more unique and compelling than just "We want power... Even though we already got it."

And speaking of Aster CAREFUL BOY! YOUR PETER PAN SIDE IS SHOWING!!! That laugh Aster let out is supposed to feel like a Peter Pan laugh by the way.

Yeah writing Aster and Magnifico's dynamic was SO MUCH FUN like wooooow you guys have no idea. It's Captain Hook and Peter Pan, it's Alladin and Jafar, it's Hercules and Hades, I wanna fit in all those vibes!!!

But let's address the elephant in the room... So true love's kiss, huh?

I just think it would be HILARIOUS if Disney not only gave us a villain couple for the first time ever... BUT ALSO USED THEM TO PROVE THE POINT THAT TRUE LOVE IS POWERFUL AS HECK.

I mean, they've shown us that

Over

And over

AND OVER

So I think having this classic trope happen, BUT TWIST IT in your 100th anniversary movie, would be pretty neat ya know? like, I think, you guys tell me, I don't know 🤷‍♀️

Anyway, this chapter was LOOOONG and full of emotions, mostly tense ones, but things are gonna chill a bit with Asha and Aster on the next one, I promise!

As always

Thank You For Reading!

[ornii]

Saw your Cate Dunlap fic and loved it! Can you do another one pls 🙇🏽‍♀️

My Favorite Second Best

Real short one don’t worry

“Mr Summers, Focus.”

Professor Brink was in your ear, chastising your ability and trying to make you lose focus, all sort of the training. The class was outside for their Training for their powers. Maybe it was Brinks idea to keep everyone’s eyes on you, made staying calm and lot harder.

The hard stone discs were launched and you looked to the sky, you tore off your glasses and let the beams loose, like an arc of light your beam shattered though all the launched discs. You put your glasses back on and look at brink, who was writing something down.

“Good work, still can’t focus your beams though..” he etched down, the backhanded compliment. You bit your tongue to speak and simply walked back to the group. Luke was up next and effortlessly slung fireballs are the targets, a much better time than Mr Summers. It was obvious the favoritism that Brinks was showing to Luke and while you two had a solid relationship, Binks was the single iota that kept it from perfect. You simply put your hands in your pockets and walked off as class ended, Cate followed trying to keep up with you. You already got to the hallway to your dorm before Cate got you.

“(Y/n)? (Y/n)? Holy shit slow down!” She yelled and you halted, fuming. You turned to face Cate who gave you a sad look. “Cmon, it’s not his fault.”

“I know it’s not his fault, I’m not mad at Luke.” You replied and attempted to keep walking, Cate caught up to you and grabbed your hand, for a moment you expected her powers to activate but you felt warm leather. Her gloves wrapped around your hand in a desperate attempt to hold onto you. Cates grip was oddly tight.

“My sweet Cate.. what have you done?..” You thought, and you looked at her once more, though the Purple haze of your glasses you saw the desperation in her eyes.

“What?” You responded defeated, Cate pulled you in closer. “Is being number one that important?” She said, and much of who you are relied on that question. Jean and Scott summers, your parents wanted a super abled child like them ever since they got together in their old Hero Group. Unfortunately it seems that Compound V isn’t fully hereditary. So they did only what they though thought was best. Compound V. Cate could see it weighed a lot on you, the expectations, the pain, the.. accidents, your eyes flaring purple and with a single blast you almost caved in a man’s skull with sheer force alone.

“Hey… look at me.” Cate could hear your thoughts, self destructive, self hating. “That isn’t you, you don’t have to be any of that, they.. shot you up full of some drug to make a wonder child.” She took her glove off, but didn’t touch you. She brushed her body against yours to listen to your heartbeat.

“You can be great, you don’t need to be number one.” She whispered, your arms instinctively hug her body and you closed your eyes, feeling her presence and care. “I’m sorry Cate, I.. I just can’t, I want to be number one..” you whispered back, and a look of sadness was on her face.

“I’m sorry too…” and she touched your hand, like a fog filled your head you couldn’t remember the last few seconds, why were you mad? I guess it didn’t matter, you needed to talk to Lucas about the next party anyway. Cate hugged you and looked into your glasses “It’s okay… it’s okay to be number two.” She said, “Shit jokes are above you.” You replied and gently kissed her forehead, earring a giggle from cate, and an uneasy smile for her.

“Yeah… that’s what I meant.”

[sanjisboyfie]

๑ keep safe : navarone - g8 (31)

one piece x male reader

『 prev 』

in their speedy getaway, conis and her father were acting as their guides to the proper exit from the sky islands.

“everyone! we can see it now! if you look forward that is cloud end!”

a bunch of the crew members ran forward to the head of the ship, ooh-ing and aah-ing at the gate that was approaching. it looked like a grand castle, a rainbow right behind it and a very obvious sign saying that it was in fact cloud end.

“i wanna come back here again,” [name] announced, his chest puffed out, “it’ll be so fun to take the trip up!”

“that’s to say if we even can,” nami gave him a swift reality check, shrugging her shoulders, “it was hard enough to find the current, who know-”

“no negativity!” [name] cried out, putting his hand in the air to silence her, “who knows? maybe that old man with the monkeys will lend us a hand again,”

“who knows is right, i guess,” nami said, smiling softly when she looked to the side and saw conis, pagaya, and suu running alongside a fluffy clouded lane to keep up with merry. “at least we’ll get to see them again if we do end up coming back!”

“ah, that’s right!” [name] ran to the side of the railing and rapidly waved his arms, “suu! next time i visit, you better introduce me to more sky foxes! i wish i could take you with me!”

conis laughed at his childish remarks that reminded her of the first time they met. suu jumped into her arms, using his long nose to create sounds of excitement to reach [name]’s ears.

“well then, everyone, i’m sorry! we’ll say goodbye here!” pagaya shouted as he ran along.

“take care, everyone!” conis added.

“thanks for seeing us off!”

“take care of yourself, conis-chan!!”

“remember our promise, suu!”

very quickly, the crew scattered across deck to prepare for their departure. unfurling the sails and standing on alert, they were all prepared for their ride down.

“it’s like a rollercoaster!!” [name] shouted as he held onto the railing of the fast cloudy lane they were riding, “it’s a shame that it ends-”

he cut himself off and rubbed his eyes. he blinked a couple of times and squinted to really focus. and then when he realized his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him, it was already too late.

the cloudy road that they were gliding on was just to set them off to prepare for their journey downward. because in a second’s notice, the cloudy road disappeared beneath merry and they began free falling.

“you gotta be shitting me!!” [name] shouted, his eyes practically popping out of his socket at the sudden drop. the rest of the crew was in the same conditions they were shocked at the sudden free fall.

but just as quick as it started, everything was seemingly back to normal. after face planting back onto the wooden floor boards of merry, the crew was able to see that an inflated octopus had caught them. and as they were gliding through the air, the familiar ringing of the golden bell could be heard throughout the skies.

hearing it from so far away made [name] somber up and realize that they really had left sky island for good, this time. he smiled softly, looking up at the white sky and relishing in the chimes of the bell.

as the sun began to set, [name] slumped on the railing of the ship, using zoro as his pillow as he got a fulfilling sleep for himself. zoro was napping first, so he didn’t notice that [name] was using him for such reasons, so [name] dodged an earful of a lecture with that.

and just as he happily sleeping, there seemed to be a ruckus happening on board. when he blinked open his eyes from their previous sleepy state, he heard sanji yelling and the rest of the crew looking over the side of the railing.

“what’s going on?” he asked in a groggy tone, making zoro slap him on the head and force him to stand upright by his collar.

“what’s going on is that we’re going to die,” zoro growled in an annoyed tone, shoving [name] forward and making him see what they were witnessing.

“huh, guys the octopus is smaller,” he said, pointing to their method of transport, “you guys didn’t think of doing anything about it?”

usopp quickly moved to hug nami’s waist and arms to prevent her from attacking the tall man.

“shut the hell up, you absent-minded idiot! we’re seriously going to die if we don’t do something about it soon!”

“don’t worry, i’ll save merry!” usopp bravely shouted, equipping himself with some sort of suction shoes with his rope belt (the usopp aah-aahhh-ah) and jumping off the side of the ship.

sanji and luffy crashed back onto the deck and everyone was watching to see what usopp had in store. at this point, merry was falling faster and faster with each passing second.

for a moment, their rapid descent was paused. usopp had done something that saved the ship, but it only lasted for a couple of seconds. because soon after, the octopus shrunk down to its original size and they were falling at an even faster rate than they were before.

“shit, there’s nothing we can do now,” [name] grunted, looking at the blue sea that they were getting steadily closer to, “everyone, grab onto something, and hold on tight!”

instinctively, chopper, usopp, and nami threw themselves onto [name] and held onto his torso. he chuckled, wrapping his arms around them and holding onto them as tight as possible. bracing for impact, he was able to keep them as safe as possible and steady on deck. their crash onto the sea floor was harsh, but he was prepared and unbothered when they did hit the waves.

“at least we made it down here without dying,” luffy said with pure relief and happiness on his face. he thanked the miniature octopus that landed on top of his face with a smile and the rest of the crew couldn’t help but agree.

at least none of them were dead.

but their relief was shortlived since blaring lights were turned towards merry, from all directions. [name] shielded his eyes at the feeling of all the lights blaring down at them and tried getting his vision to adjust as fast as possible.

bells starting going off too, sounding like an emergency signal, and [name] was now standing upright with his shoulders square and stiff. then he finally saw it, the emblem of blue that was flying from a flag not too far away.

“shit,” he cursed, grabbing his sword that had landed a couple of feet away and ripping up some floorboards, and throwing it under and hastily putting the wood back on top, “of all places,”

“what? what’s happening?” nami asked, swiping her wet hair to the side and shielding her face from the bright lights with her hand, “why are you freaking out so much?”

“because, we landed right in the middle of-”

“resistance is futile! we have you completely surrounded!!”

the crew all stilled and looked out to see a bunch of soldiers standing all around them. they seemed to be in the position of holding rifles in their arms, prepared to shoot at the given command. and that’s when it finally clicked what [name] was referring to.

“in the middle of a fucking marine base.” he finished, slouching as he realized that resistance could truly be futile.

“come on, guys, let’s go,” he said, nudging their shoulders and forcing them to pay attention, “i’ll create a diversion and then we can escape,”

“and leave merry here! in the hands of these marines?!” usopp cried out, immediately going to say no.

“we aren’t going to leave her here, we just need to run off for now-”

“running away? i never thought your style was to run with your tail in between your legs when times got rough, [name],” zoro teased, a smirk on his face as he rested his hand on the hilt of his sword.

“it’s not idiot marimo, i just know when to use my head!” [name] whisper yelled, “you wanna go and fight all those trigger happy marines, don’t be my fucking guest because i won’t let you, idiot!”

[name] ran inside, got some bandages from chopper’s medical bay and hastily wrapped them around his face.

“i’ll create a diversion, everyone split up and run. they won’t do anything to merry, she’s just a ship with no one on it. if anything, they’ll just keep her right where she landed. but we — wanted pirates, have to beat it,”

“hey, [name], why do we have to run?”

“i’m not answering anymore questions!”

“he’s unfortunately right, escaping and splitting up is the best option for survival,” sanji added in, “also the smartest choice…”

“thanks, sanji!” [name] grinned, glad to hear someone finally agree with him. “i’ll create a diversion, everyone jump ship and we can swim to shore from here,”

“what if you can’t swim?!” chopper asked, wildly waving his hand in the air.

“pair up with someone that can or i’ll throw you,” [name] easily answered. “now, there’s no time to waste,”

without waiting another second, [name] clenched his fists and ran to the side of the ship. the others immediately jumped off, thinking that he was kicking them off, but in reality he was just trying to get closer to the water.

“fucking marines,” [name] scowled under his breath, clenching his fist and watching as the waters became even more rough. he grinned devilishly, licking his lips as he felt sweat drip down his forehead. “i hope you all drown,”

with a swift tug of his arm, the water beneath merry kicked up and formed a tremendous wave. the marines all looked at the sudden formation of water with shock and fear, especially those that were stationed rather close to the ship. and they all panicked and ran away when they saw that it was sweeping towards them. even those that were on high ground weren’t safe as the wave grew to be at a tsunami level height.

the commanded wave chased the perimeter of the shore line and as far as it could go up, reaching any and all marines that it could before dying down.

and when the marines were finally able to focus back in on the ship, they saw that it was completely deserted and there was no one on board.

the strawhats all split up from jumping off board.

nami, luffy, sanji, chopper, zoro, and [name] were all stranded on their own whilst robin and usopp stuck together. they were all scattered on different areas of the shoreline, some further inside of the marine base than others, but ultimately: on their own.

pirates stranded in a marine base.

[name] could almost laugh. he took off the sopping wet bandages off from his face, wringing them out along with his shirt. he sat down on the rock, stretching and spreading his legs out as he was deep in thought.

he ran a finger over his wet hair, wincing at the uncomfortable feeling.

“i can’t go in there all wet,” he sighed in annoyance, laying his shirt and bandages out onto some nearby rocks to dry. “best to wait it out until i’m all dry then,” he said in a sing song voice, happy to take another nap.

he laid down onto the stone path with his hands resting behind his head and ankles crossed over the other. he bathed in the moonlight, thinking of his plan of action. well, obviously, he had to murder every single marine he came across.

just kidding! not unless they find out who he is, then maybe he might have to.

he woke up from his nap at the break of dawn and became keenly aware of where he was. he put his shirt back on then went to wrap his face with the now dried bandages that were laid out the night before.

“i wonder where everyone else is,” he hummed in thought, easily infiltrating one of the nearby doors, “what role should i play? maybe i could be a pathetic little buss boy? or should i instead be an asshole vice admiral visiting from another base? hehe, i like the sound of that one the most. that way i’d get my fill in bullying these assholes,”

just as he finished speaking, a singular marine had walked around the corner and into his chest. they were several inches shorter than him, making him crane his neck down to peer down at them.

“hah?”

“AGH!! a ghost!!”

before the marine could run away from fear, [name] went and caught him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him back. holding him like a stray puppy, he smirked at the look of fear on the marine’s face.

“i can tell, you’re nothing but a newbie,” he taunted, “you got that scared look on your face, your knees are practically shaking. aw, you poor thing~”

“ghost!!!” the marine cried out once more, making [name] grin in happiness.

“yes, that’s right, i’m a ghost. i’m here to haunt you for all your wrongdoings!” [name] continued on, playing on the “joke” the same joke that was scaring the poor marine shitless, “now take me to the kitchen — i’m hungry!”

the marine blinked a couple of times before nodding. good thing that this marine was a scared piece of shit since [name] was able to scare him so easily. he smirked at the way his legs were shaking and he was practically trying to collapse in himself. all that just by a couple of words and the bandages wrapped around his face.

“are we on the grand line?” [name] asked, squeezing the marine’s shoulder to knock him out of his daydream.

“y-yes…”

“what’s your name?” [name] asked, curiously leaning down and closely inspecting his features. he was a young kid, probably only a little bit older than luffy, and had freckles decorating his face. his hair was light brown and a bit on the shorter side, or at least that’s what it looked like underneath the cap he was wearing.

“i-i’m rengen, but everyone on, or all of my comrades call me ren…”

“like a nickname?” [name] asked, loosening the grip he had on the man’s shoulder and letting him walk freely.

“i guess…?”

“that’s cute, i like it,” [name] said, “i also like your freckles, they remind me of someone,”

“oh, that’s nice…” rengen said with an unsure look on his face, unsure whether or not to be flattered or not from the comment. not to mention, the fact that it’s coming from someone so scary looking.

maybe underneath the man’s bandages, he was more friendly looking. at least that’s what rengen would tell himself to ease his own fear. with the bandages on, he sure looks scary…

“what happened to your face?” rengen asked suddenly before turning completely red, “i’m sorry if that sounded rude, b-but it’s just very…”

“scary?” [name] teased, purposely getting close to the man’s face to scare him even further. and it worked seeing as he backed away with sweat streaming down his forehead.

“that’s not what i meant!!”

“i got burned,” [name] lied, looking ahead and backing off from the marine. “you know, if you plan on being a marine, you gotta grow some balls in facing things that are scary,”

“i know,” rengen sighed, looking ashamed in himself. and [name] wondered if it were normal for people to be so affected by a stranger’s words.

“i was just joking, i’m sure you have balls of steel, man,” [name] said, clapping his hand roughly on the marine’s back to “comfort” him. it did anything, but, and only made the marine more anxious.

“i’m sorry, sir, but what exactly is your ranking? you’re not wearing a uniform…” internally the marine was sweating bullets due to how scared he was. the person he was talking to could possibly be one of the strawhats, the crew led by the deadly captain straw hat luffy.

or worse, it could be the crewmate worth even more than the captain: the cursed orphan [name]. the idea sent shivers down his spine. stories of that pirate had been whispered across many different naval stations and he had only heard horror stories of the marines that have fought [name] and survived — which were very rare.

encountering someone with a bounty that high made rengen almost pass out in fear.

“i’m actually apart of a secret unit, ren,” [name] said casually, crossing his arms over his chest, “the commander is supposed to announce my presence tonight, but i thought that i’d scope out the base myself to see how everything is holding up. let’s just say, i report under vice admiral garp himself and have been sent here to question your commander,”

“question commander jonathan? what did he do that required investigation?” [name] supposes the name drop of the marine hero garp was enough to clear any suspicion.

“that’s classified information, ren,” [name] said, putting his finger to ren’s lips and pressing softly against them, “now, no more questions — show me the kitchen,”

”right away, sir,”

“i like how obedient you are, you’re definitely gonna make a great do- soldier, a great soldier,” [name] cut himself off before he naturally insulted the man, smiling sheepishly underneath his bandages at his slip up.

“thank you, sir, i appreciate your input and will remember it moving forward,” rengen echoed like a machine, but the shy and bashful look on his face showed just how sentimental he felt.

[name] genuinely smiled underneath his disguise, finding the look on rengen’s face endearing and adorable. it reminded him of chopper, a little bit. whenever he complimented the doctor, he would immediately blush and then spout some insult. but instead for rengen, it wasn’t insults and just an automated, flustered response.

and rengen was good company for now. the marine was so new to his position and was an easy push over. he would definitely be good to get some information out of.

as far as [name] was concerned, all he had to do was fake it till he made it. if he acted with authority and with a brash attitude, then there was no way that the soldiers would defy him. he hummed in thought, thinking back on some memories to remind himself on how to accurately act.

“you got a cigarette?”

“uh, no, why?”

“i just thought it’d be funny to smoke now is all,” [name] grinned, shrugging his shoulders in thought, “wouldn’t it make me look cooler anyway? unless, i of course, clumsily got half of my clothes set on fire,”

“uh-”

“forget it,” [name] pouted, waving his hand in the air.

“sir, this is the kitchen,” rengen announced, pointing towards a door before hastily stopping [name] from entering, “the thing is, jessica-san doesn’t let anyone enter the kitchen unless it is a specific feeding time. the batches go in a hundred at a time and no one is allowed inside in between that time…so you have to wait, sir,”

[name] put his hand under his chin in thought, humming at the new information. it’d be smarter to wait until mass amounts of soldiers entered the dining hall so that he wouldn’t seem suspicious, but he really was hungry…

“ren!! didn’t you hear?! there’s going to be a cooking competition!! come on, if we go inside now we may be the lucky ones fed!”

“a cooking competition?!” [name] repeated, stars in his eyes. “let’s go, men!”

“hold on-!”

[name] didn’t let rengen finish his sentence as he tugged him along with ease and barged into the kitchen with no remorse.

“sir-”

“food!!!” [name] cheered, but his words were drowned out with a bunch of other people shouting for food as well. he could perfectly blend in here! “man, i miss sanji’s cooking…” he pouted, pushing his way to the front so he got a front row “seat” to the mass amounts of food that was being prepped and served.

”jessica-san’s cooking is just the best, though!” a soldier beside him moaned, hearts in his eyes that made [name] think of the lovesick cook.

“i know someone’s cooking who is definitely better,” [name] smirked, but his expression was hidden underneath the bandages.

“no way!! if you were a true marine of the G8 base, you’d appreciate jessica-san’s cooking the most!”

“like hell i do, sanji’s cooking is the best!!”

“order for 100 soldiers done and ready to be eaten!!”

[name] turned to the table that had a multitude of plates with steaks and vegetables on top of them, free for them to eat and take. [name] swiftly unraveled the lower part of his bandages, allowing his salivating mouth to break free and eat to his heart’s content.

“yummy!!” he cried out into the air, eager to see what the other chef was cooking. he finished about 20 plates, making some of the marines curse him under their breath, but he could care less.

he was just eagerly looking around to see who was behind the stove and cooking their next meal. unfortunately, even with his height as an advantage, he wasn’t able to see exactly who. they were wearing a chef’s hat, but their back was turned to him.

to not focus too much on his still empty and hungry stomach, he just looked at the table and waited for the plates to magically appear before him. finally, after what felt like hours (it was a couple of minutes), plates full of meatballs and vegetables were placed in front of him and the rest of the marines eagerly awaiting.

the moment the food hit his tongue, he looked up in glee. a fond smile was on his face as he locked eyes with sanji, who’s eyes widened in surprise to see [name] hunched over the table and eating almost all the servings of the food he prepared. the rich flavored and meticulous crafted food was only possible by the hands of sanji. that’s how [name] knew he was the one who made the food.

“i knew it was your cooking,” was all [name] said before smiling so wide that his eyes turned into crescent moons. and he finished thirty plates, making the marines almost throw their cutlery at him in fury. then he turned to the marine he was bickering with earlier, smirking down at them, “see, i told you i knew someone who was the best chef in the entrire world!”

“eat shit! you finished all the food before i could even try, asshole!”

“blehhh!” [name] said, sticking his tongue out at the individual and turning away. when he turned back around to give compliments to the chef, who he was going to pretend he didn’t recognize, his face was met with the sight of a mug being shoved in front of him. “huh?”

“a cup of coffee, to quench your thirst,” sanji said, smoothly blowing out smoke and nonchalantly looking away. he was pretending as if it wasn’t a big deal, to not alert anyone of suspicious activity.

“i love chefs who know just exactly what’s missing in my meals,” [name] said, boasting his role perfectly to their small audience, “i should bring you back to my headquarters base where i’d make use of your full potential,”

sanji rolled his eyes at [name]’s grandiose words, not impressed at all. he only shoved the mug into his hands and walked away, back to jessica to hear her observations of his cooking methods. as he stood before her, his eye trailed back over to [name], before blinking at the sight of an empty spot where he once stood.

‘that idiot is gonna get himself caught,’ sanji thought to himself, shaking his head at [name]’s behavior, ‘and honestly, what a shit disguise,’

a grinning and pleased [name] ran out of the kitchen with his face re-bandaged, “now that my stomachs full, time to get things done around here!”

“s-sir!! where are you going?!”

skidding to a halt, [name] whipped his whole body around and his face contorted into shock to see rengen was following him. running after him, even.

“oi, newbie, don’t come following me — i’ve got important business to attend to,” important business, meaning finding the rest of his crew and merry and then escaping.

rengen took a deep breath before bowing deeply, “it would be an honor to see such a high ranking individual such as yourself in your element of expertise, sir! please allow me to shadow you until you meet with commander jonathan!!”

[name] blinked at the request, wondering if this was any bit normal. marines never acted this way, from his memory. all the bases and headquarters he has been in — they’ve only ever acted in their dirty, scheming ways. like all marine dogs did.

rengen was so new to this lifestyle he hadn’t yet developed that behavior. it made [name] grin in pleasure, “have you ever thought of becoming a pirate?”

rengen flinched at the question before his face turned red, “no way! i hate pirates, they’re the scum of the earth and the marines have a responsibility to purge them off the face of the world!!”

“i share the same sentiment!” [name] lied with a laugh, finding his resolve and strong hatred interesting. he nodded in “agreement,” and added on, “good, that was a test to make sure you’ve got what it takes to shadow me,”

rengen breathed a sigh of relief, running a hand over his face in stress, “sir, please don’t test me so suddenly, you scared me,”

“there we go again with you getting scared,” [name] teased, turning around and walking back in the direction he was originally going in.

“you’re right, sir! i’ll be more mindful!” rengen said, taking mental notes as he ran along [name]’s side.

“and also remember this — in the world we work in, fish is the best source of protein to exist!”

“yes, sir!!” rengen echoed, an unreasonably determined look on his face as he shouted in agreement.

“and that it’s only possible to work when you have a full stomach, working on an empty stomach is out of the question. how do you think you’ll be able to purge the pirate scum off the face of the earth? on an empty stomach?!”

“no, sir!”

“good, ren, you’re a fast learner!”

“i’m happy my notes are to your liking, sir!”

“and quit calling me sir!!”

“but…i don’t know your name-”

”who said you had the right to know a high ranking commander’s name?!” [name] was really enjoying this role, it felt like just a big joke. too bad rengen thought it was all very serious and almost buckled in the knees at the feeling of being yelled at by his superior.

“i’m sorry, sir!”

“no sir!”

“then, your name?”

“no name!!”

“understood!”

“good!!!”

[name] dragged rengen around the base, eagerly turning every corner in hopes of finding at least one of his other crewmates. through his journey he kept feeding rengen completely wrong information, for fun, and also just to see if rengen was taking him seriously.

his search was cut short when there was a sudden alarm sounding off throughout the entire base. rengen flinched at the loud sound and hid behind [name]’s figure and nervously looked around.

“that means all the soldiers have to be with their units! that must mean they finally caught the strawhats!” rengen shouted, looking at [name] with newfound hope, “please look out for my performance in unit 88, i plan to capture those pirates and make commander proud!”

[name] almost wanted to coo at how naive the poor marine was. if only he knew he was conversing with a strawhat the entire time. instead, he just gave him a thumbs up and a confident, “you can do it, rennie! i believe in you, capture those pirates and make fools of them! maybe i can bring a good word to admiral sengoku and he will promote you!”

rengen blsuhed, waving his hand shyly in the air, “if that were to ever happen, i’d be very happy to serve under you! that’d be an amazing promotion — i’d get to learn from you directly when you work on the field,”

[name] smiled softly, nodding his head, “definitely!”

poor rengen…truly if only he knew.

“now make me proud and catch that cursed orphan piece of shit! i know you have it in you, ren!”

“i will try my best!” he shouted, with low confidence but nothing but determination painted on his face.

and the two parted ways, making [name] eager to find the rest of his crew and get the hell out of there. he began humming in thought, wondering where his crew might be running to. logically, they’d be going to merry, so he would just do his best in getting to the docks in time.

he could only hope someone was watching over luffy and zoro. the dumbass gets distracted too easily and zoro was shit at directions. he ran through the halls of the base, skidding to a stop when he passed by a grand room full of books.

“oh, i bet robin would love those!” [name] grinned, going inside and looking around, “should i steal some for her?”

“what do you think you’re doing?! state your name and purpose?!”

a hoard of marines, who were probably answering the emergency call, came from around the corner and were pointing their weapons at him.

“[name], stealing some books,” he answered easily, tilting his head to the side as he stared at their guns. “think fast,” he ordered, giving them about three seconds to react.

they just blinked dumbly at him before simply raising their rifles up in the air to shoot.

”please, think faster than that.” he said with a deadpan expression. but before they could fire, he simply moved his arm in a horizontal manner and the entire unit was sent flying to the direction he moved his hand.

they were slammed against the metal walls and all passed out at the brute force.

“what a barbarian you are, [name],” a familiar voice called out, making him turn his head around in relief.

”robin! you already found the library! i was gonna surprise you with some more books,” [name] childishly pouted, his shoulders slouching inward at the realization his surprise was ruined. she chuckled at his expression and disappointment, walking forward and ruffling his hair. he was leaning down a tiny bit, giving her easier access.

“then, to the docks, right? i assume the others are already there,” [name] nodded in agreement with her plan, laughing in glee with the way their path to merry was so clear. he guessed that all the other marines were too occupied with actually catching the others, none of them were on watch in the hallways like before.

“we better hurry or we might miss them!” he called out to her, grabbing her hand and running at full speed. she was able to keep up with ease, laughing behind her hand at his eagerness to escape.

“that’d be terrible — we’d be at the marine’s mercy wouldn’t we?”

“as if i’d let them do anything to us,” he laughed, as if it were a funny joke.

despite the high stress situation, he was still able to so freely laugh. robin liked that about [name], such an innocent trait to have coming from such a supposed terrifying figure.

“come this way, [name], i know a way to make it to the ship quickly,” robin advised, tugging [name] in the direction she was referring to with their still conjoined hands.

“aye, aye!!”

after they made it to the edge of one of the doors, they were able to spot merry sailing on ahead.

“assholes, they were really going to leave without us,”

“well, only one way to stick it to them,” robin chuckled, sprouting a long “vine” of hands to swing them towards merry. he grabbed ahold of her, hugging her figure with all of his strength so he wouldn’t fall.

“robin-chan!!!” the familiar calling from sanji was the first thing they heard, followed by, “shit for brains?! get your filthy hands off of robin-chan, now!!!”

they landed with ease, luffy crashing into [name]’s torso with a carefree smile as nami hugged robin when the older one revealed a map of the fortress that she stole.

just as their escape was going to be near perfect, nami soon realized one thing. they were missing all the gold that they had stolen.

“[name] turn the ship around and get us back into that base, now!!”

“oi,” he slapped the air with a deadpan look on his face, “that’s such a long journey, i can’t do that. if you want me to sink a couple navy ships, sure, but turning merry around and travelling all the way back with waves alone — impossible.”

“how does that make any sense?!”

“it’s something called: limitations to one’s own strength, nami. god, if only you were more considerate of my health,” he sighed in disdain.

“the gold is on the line, idiot! i don’t give a shit about your health right about now!”

“oh, but when i get into a life threatening situation again, then what will you feel?”

“i’m about to put you in a life threatening situation if you don’t listen to me, idiot,” nami threatened, with a calm look on her face as she waved her fist in the air. [name] understood what she was insinuation, zipping his mouth shut to not get her really beating his ass.

the travel back to the marine base all relied on nami’s navigation skills and the current underneath their ship. [name] helped when he could, but he’d have to take frequent breaks to save himself from passing out in fatigue.

finally, the crew was able to come up with a plan that seemed plausible in working. merry was anchored in an unused deck, idea creditted to robin, and trying to come up with a plan for after they got their gold. it was decided that they really weren’t going to leave without it.

“we’ve got to have 80% of the gold go towards my stash though,” nami said, breaking up the discussion of what they were going to spend the gold on. obviously, everyone immediately rejected the idea. so she calmed them down by telling them the truth of what they were really going to use the 80% for.

“repairs for merry?” luffy echoed, eyes wide and blank like a deer caught in headlights.

“yeah, after all, we’ve made so many memories with merry. it’s only right that we fix her up so that she can continue sailing with us!”

[name] grinned, liking the idea. he could tell from the looks on their faces, they were recounting all the good memories they made with and on merry. and he hadn’t been on merry for a super long time, in comparison with the others, but he felt himself smiling as he thought of how important she was to the crew.

a ship that could sail into the sky and come back down wasn’t any ordinary ship. merry was perfect for the strawhats and all their crazy adventures. repairing her only sounded right.

“the going merry’s great repair! i like it!” usopp said, happily throwing his arm around [name]’s shoulder and rocking the two of them back and forth. [name] smiled, cheering to the idea in agreement.

“anything to get her to be brand new, i’m sure she was even more beautiful when you guys first got her,” [name] grinned, “as everyone says — money can indeed fix everything,”

“[name]’s absolutely right,” nami chimed in, beris in her eyes as she thought of what she could spend her portion of the gold on when the time comes.

“here, eat up. they took all of our food, but not the stuff that was in the fridge,” sanji interjected, placing a large plate full of the crew’s personal favorites in front of them. at the sight of a small section of the plate dedicated for [name], he lit up immediately and dug in. suddenly, as he was chewing his food, he felt sanji put a heavy hand on the top of his head. “sorry to tell you this, shit for brains, but they stole all of our coffee beans,”

[name] frowned, cursing the marines in his head and adding that action onto the list of reasons as to why he hated them. but, seeing as what’s done is done, all he could do was sit there and grumble. he also forced sanji to take a seat next to him after he was done catering to the crew. he easily yanked the cigarette that was resting in his mouth out and stomping it out. then he pressed his share of the food against the chef’s lips.

“eat,” he simply commanded, rolling his eyes at the familiar stubborn look on sanji’s face. “eat.” and he didn’t pull away the food until sanji took a hesitant bite, smiling at the sight of the chef eating.

after settling on what they were going to spend their gold on, they had to figure out how they would get the gold back and where it would be hidden. with a simple observation from robin, they were able to deduce where the gold would be (a multi-lock vault that was deep within the fortress) whilst usopp got prepared on how to prevent merry from being stolen again.

he called for the crew’s help in giving merry a makeover, which lasted until the late night. they worked tirelessly, [name] and luffy sometimes goofing around with the buckets of paint. but, at the end of their hard work, it turned out to be a solid plan since she was almost unrecognizable. she now was masked by a bunch of wood and paper to look like a marine warship. but the illusion only lasted from afar.

chopper, who’s fur was covered with some splotches of paint — courtesy of [name] and him playing around, looked amazed at the transformation and eagerly asked when they would set their plan into motion.

usopp broke down the plan of action with ease, but unfortunately did not include either [name] or chopper in it. there were going to be two teams: the gold retrieval team and the waver retrieval team. zoro, usopp, robin, and zoro were in the former whilst nami and sanji were in the latter.

“chopper — someone needs to watch the ship and be on stand by for whichever group comes back first. [name] — you’re too well known amongst the navy, if they really catch sight of you, they might just be too focused on capturing you.” usopp explained, but it only made chopper more disappointed hearing the reason.

“aw, you care about me that much?” [name] teased, batting his lashes at usopp.

“eh, no, it’s more like, if they’re focused on capturing you, they’re focused on capturing us which could turn this whole mission into unsuccessful really fast. at least if you’re not there, they won’t be in a particular rush in killing us on the spot!”

“oi.”

“usopp is partially right, too much attention focused on you could ruin the whole sneaky part of the plan. once we get that gold, we’re gonna be under the spotlight, but until then we need to remain overt,”

“oh, so you’re bringing luffy for an overt mission,” [name] reiterated with an unimpressed look on his face.

“his abilities of being an idiot, and rubber, could prove useful in escaping,” nami said with a wave of her hand.

without arguing more about it for the sake of time, everyone split up and left chopper and [name] on merry on their own.

“i should make some more medicine!” chopper announced, trying to find something to fill his time. “at least i’m not here alone like last time, i’m glad that you’re with me, [name]!”

“i’m glad i’m with you too, chopper,” [name] grinned, “also could you imagine if they ambush us — they’re gonna have to deal with the two of us as the protectors of merry! they’re gonna be so screwed!”

“so screwed!” chopper repeated, an uncanny evil laugh escaping his lips as he proudly stood atop the deck with his hooves on his hips.

“they’ll be put to death on the spot!”

“put to death!” chopper mimicked, holding his arms up in a karate motion as he chopped the air threateningly.

“man, i’m bored already…” [name] sighed, the liveliness of his voice going away almost immediately.

“me too…” chopper joined in, slouching onto [name]’s lap with a dejected look on his face. [name] pet his fur gently, smiling at the youngest strawhat with a fond look in his eyes.

“it’ll be alright, time will pass by faster than you think,” [name] comforted, “until then, how about we play a game?”

“a game? what kind of game?”

“have you ever heard of…chopsticks?!”

when nami and sanji were the first to return, they saw chopper and [name] sitting face to face with one another with a pissed off look on both of their faces.

“i have hooves, how on earth am i supposed to win at this game?!”

“you’re the smart one, you should have come up with a strategy, chopper!!”

“there’s no strategy that would make me win when i’m at a clear disadvantage!”

“well, that’s not my fault then, that’s nature’s fault! don’t blame me!”

“you bastard!”

“raccoon dog!!”

“oi!! what the hell are you two fighting about so loudly?!” nami shouted from her waver, “have the others not come back yet?!”

“no, they haven’t, you two are the first,” [name] replied, walking over to the edge of the ship, throwing a glare over his shoulder at chopper, “and to answer your question from before: chopper is being a sore loser in this game we were playing, can you believe it?”

“hey!!”

“i actually could care less,” nami sighed, waving her hand, “sanji stay with these two, i have a plan in mind, but i need you to stay here.”

“oh, but—”

“no buts, stay here and wait for the others while i do what i need to do!”

“okay, nami-san!!”

sanji jumped on board with nami riding her waver far, far aaway. [name] came running over to him with a devilish look on his face, “wanna play chopsticks?”

when the gold retrieval group came back to merry, usopp quickly informed them of the new plan. nami and luffy went to find the gold themselves, since the vault that they went to investigate came out to be empty. the others of the group were sent back to merry to prepare it for their escape.

upon nami’s request, they were told to set it out to sea and wait for their arrival with the gold. they seemed confident in its location this time, which made the rest of the crew breathe a sigh of relief that their struggles at the marine base might finally be over.

“it was fun to pretend for a while,” [name] sighed, kicking his feeet up against the railing as he laid on his back on deck.

“what do you mean, [name]?” robin asked, “were you perhaps in disguise too?”

a flash of anger could be seen on usopp’s face as he remembered the events that played out between him and robin inside the base.

“a little bit, i tricked a newbie marine into giving me all the information i needed by saying i was some high ranking commander. he was definitely new to the whole thing because he didn’t even question me that much, just answered all my questions like a good little boy,” [name] said, fondly rememvering the nervous wreck that was named renegen. “who knows, maybe i’ll stick it to him one more time before we go,”

“do you just enjoy tormenting innocent people?” robin asked, finding the giddiness of [name]’s behavior interesting.

“no marine is an innocent person,” [name] shrugged, “besides, me and him are bestest of friends, he just doesn’t know it,”

“imagine his shock when he finds out you’re the wanted cursed orphan, though,”

“he probably screamed in anger since he seemed to hate pirates so much,” [name] laughed, imagining the man’s face, “i wish i’d been there to see it,”

“oh, hold on guys! i see them! they’re coming towards us … and they have the gold!!” usopp announced from his bird’s eyes view.

“perfect, let’s get sailing away and merry fixed up then!” [name] said, jumping onto his feet and ready to follow nami’s orders.

the two made it onto merry with little to no problems, safely storing away the gold and the waver before joining the others on deck. nami wasted no time in commanding them to escape, enjoying the way their escape route was plainly laid out for them.

[name] was about to rejoice before he felt that something was terribly wrong. he held onto his stomach, running over to the side of the ship and puking his guts out. chopper, the overly concerned doctor, thought that there was something wrong with the way [name] healed from skypiea, but in reality it was just his body reacting to the water around them.

“nami, there’s something wrong!” he wheezed, holding onto his stomach as he felt like he was going to be sick again, “the currents up ahead…it’s like they’re-” he cut hismelf off with another bout of puking.

nami took his warning seriously, thankfully, and ran ahead to the front of the ship. seeing that the below waters were completely out of control, she looked up in fear.

“we’re about to be stuck in a couple of seconds, goddamit!!” she clutched her hair in worry, “the water is sinking back because it’s about to be low tide too, the bottom of merry is going to encounter some really jagged rocks!”

“what?! what?! what do you mean?!” usopp parroted, looking extremely worried when it came to merry’s condition.

“it means that there are rocks at the bottom of this lake and they’re all about to be exposed since the water is treading back,” [name] replied, standing upright and standing at the front of the ship with nami, “this is really bad. everyone, brace for impact!!!”

they did as told and then merry was sent into an impromptu rollercoaster ride. she shook back and forth, making the crew move with her until she came to an abrupt stop. inspecting the bottom of the ship immediately, they saw hat she was in terrible shape.

“ha, how much gold is it gonna take to fix all that?” [name] said, kicking the broken wooden pieces aside with a sad look on his face, “poor merry, don’t worry girl, we’re gonna get you back to being brand new soon!”

“well, now that we’re stuck here in the enemies perfect line of sight for blowing up, what should be our next plan of action?” usopp, the ever optimistic individual, asked in exasperation.

“i could bring back the tide, but i doubt that’d be helpful with how many holes are the bottom of merry. we’d just sink.” [name] suggested with a frown. nami went over and pinched his earlobe, bringing him down to her height.

“why didn’t you bring back the tide when it was receeding, idiot?”

“do you know how much effort it is to command sea water — nevermind commanding seawater against its natural current of sea water-”

“is that not what you do when you-”

“there’s no point arguing now, let’s just think about how to escape,” robin said, breaking up the two like the responsible individual she is, “especially with all of them watching now. our escape has to be quick and sure or else we’ll really die,”

as robin said that, the lines from the mountain range surrounding them all turned on and pointed at merry. it was obvious all soldiers were on standby for a quick command to blow the ship up, but for some reason the commander was withholding said command.

he announced to the crew that he wouldn’t have any qualms with allowing the rest of the crew to walk away scot-free, save for [name], luffy, and zoro, who had active bounties on their heads.

but, obviously, surrender wasn’t even an option. luffy wouldn’t allow it, zoro would definitely fight against it, and [name] laughed in the face of it.

so the crew retreated inside and began theorizing plans. with the help of usopp’s impact dial, it was possible that they could have an chance of escaping. but when they realized that there was no point in setting it off if they were just going to crash straight back down.

“if only we had that octopus,” they all moaned in disappointment.

“oh, luffy, you told me you hid it in your pants, do you still have it?” [name] asked, looking to his right and at the grinning captain.

“i have it!”

“oh, he says he has it.”

“he has it then.”

“he damn has it.”

“so, he has it.”

“perfect, he has it!”

“he has it?”

“yeah, i have it!”

cue everyone looking at luffy as if he were crazy, but they were quick in realizing that, for as weird as it was for luffy to hold onto it (in his pants of all places-), it was a situation to be thankful for.

“and if we mix the breath dial with the flame dial, we will be able to inflate him and make him fly!”

“so you do have a working brain,” zoro teased, pressing his finger into [name]’s forehead, where it was very swiftly swatted away.

“so, the plan is we use the impact dial to set us up in the air, robin uses her powers to stretch it out to be across the ship and down the underside, then we use the dials to inflate it…the question is, who is going to shoot the impact dial?” usopp asked, looking around with a scared look on his face.

scared since he saw all the looks everyone else was giving him. grins and stars in their eyes as they knew they were going to be unscathed from handling the dial and that usopp was definitely going to be the one pressing it.

“how about you, [name]? wouldn’t you help your poor crewmate out?”

“usopp, have more faith, you can do it!”

with that weak cheer encouraging him, usopp accepted his fate and everyone got in position to prepare their escape. luffy, zoro, sanji, [name], and usopp were all down at the bottom of the ship with the impact dial. nami and robin were on standby with the still deflated octopus. chopper was in the crow’s nest acting as lookout.

and now all that was left was to execute.

with a quick countdown, to prevent usopp from chickening out last second, they pressed the impact dial down onto the bottom of the lake and shot the merry upwards.

[name] took the brunt of everyone’s weight falling onto him, but didn’t think it as anything hard to handle as he easily shoved everyone off of him.

“did it work?!”

”hold on!” nami called back, before she was ordering robin to spread the octopus out with her devil fruit. after that was done, they were able to blow the air and flame dial upward into the octopus as if he were a hot air balloon.

“c’mon, usopp, one more,” [name] grinned, “i know you got it in you!”

“i really don’t!” usopp groaned, clutching his hand in pain.

“we’ll be here to support you, usopp-sama!” zoro egged on, carrying the man’s frail body to the same slot they were positioned at before and preparing for the impact dial to be set off.

“you’ll feast like a king after this, usopp-sama,” sanji added on, smirking as he got ready and braced for impact.

[name] hugged the sniper’s waist, grinning as he rested his chin on his shoulder, “on the count of 3?”

“3 . . . 2 . . . 1 ! impact!!”

and merry was sent soaring once more, the four being sent flying backwards at the impact. they quickly scrambled up onto the deck to see if it worked, cheering in glee when they saw the view of the ocean beneath them.

their plan worked, the gold was back on board and all of the crew came out of the marine base relatively unharmed.

“perfect,” [name] breathed out, looking back at the base with a grin, “suck it, shit marines. i win again!”

“quit your babbling, idiot,” zoro sighed, covering his ear with one hand.

“oh, zoro, did you miss me while we were seperated,” [name] teased, latching himself onto zoro with a pout on his face. “it’s okay to be honest to what your heart is telling you,”

“my heart is telling me to kill you, so fuck off,”

“zoro, you’re playing so hard to get. keep up this attitude and i’ll lose interest~”

“lose interest faster so i can finally get you off of my back, you fucker,”

“what a way with words, zoro, i could just eat you up!”

“oi.”

inside the g8 marine base, a certain recruit clutched a certain wanted poster in his hands with his head hanging low. rengen looked at the face of the poster once more before hiding his blushing red face behind his hand.

“idiot,” he murmured to himself, crumpling the wanted poster up and throwing it to the random corner in his room, “idiot, idiot!”

he threw himself onto his pillow, but it didn’t do much in hiding his crimson red ears that clearly showed that he was still blushing. he himself didn’t know if he was calling himself an idiot or if he was accusing the man on the wanted poster for being an idiot.

either way, [name] — the cursed orphan with a bounty on his head of two-hundred fifty million beri a, new recruit of the strawhat pirates — was the reason he was a blushing, cursing mess.

fortunately, the man himself didn’t know that so his ego didn’t get boosted up even further.

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[adultbabystories]

Doctor’s orders - It Is Done - Part 10

After an hour since Gregory had put Stan to sleep, the man knew he could return to the boy’s nursery. The sound already stopped and it was safe to get in. A small exposure to the sound and lights wasn’t a significant risk, and yet Gregory didn’t want to take any chances with the regression program affecting him. He stood by the door, looking at Stan in his crib, sound asleep. He learned about what these sounds and lights can do to a person. How somehow it tipped men over the edge towards infantilism. Not exactly sure how, but the results were almost a hundred present proof within a few sessions. His boy Stan, he thought, only needed one session. He was in need of an authority figure, he was in need of guidance, he was in need of letting go and just being. So many men need it, but Gregory was happy to give it to Stan.

Stan was dreaming the weirdest dream he had ever dreamed. He walked into a huge office building made of cold gray concrete with cold floor tiles and a high ceiling. 

As he walked to the receptionist, someone yelled “Stan come over here now and send these forms!”. He ran towards the voice while papers emerged in his grip. He got to an old dial landline phone and a voice screamed in his ear “Answer me now! I’m a mad client!” He let go of the forms and picked up the phone, just to hear a busy sound bip.

Hot men and women walked in front of him, smelling good, looking good, and touching each other in a non-appropriate way. He wanted to take part in that, but his feet were stuck on the cold tiles. He couldn’t move, he felt that he wanted to take part, but couldn’t. The lobby became a nightclub, and the men and women started taking off their clothes and having sex in front of him. He tried to move his feet again, but as he looked down, he saw he was naked as they were. Just in front of him people were having sex, but as he looked down again, his dick was soft and small, not paying attention to what was happening.

Waves of emotions had started to hit him. He began tearing up. His eyes were so wet he couldn’t see anything anymore. Once he succeeded in drying them up, he was in a middle of a field, looking up to the night sky. Stars and planets surrounded him from up above, it reminded him of something he saw in the past. Strange sounds echoed into the night, a lullaby maybe, with a voice talking.

“It’s okay to cry.” the voice said.

A figure appeared from the distance, it looked like a giant teddy bear, with a loving and warm facial expression. 

“Are you Stan?” the teddy bear asked.

“I am, yes” Stan sniffled.

“Why are you naked?” the bear looked down at Stan’s soft penis.

“I don’t know” he answered with a worried tone.

“All these horrible people with their horrible demands. I can take that away from you. Would you like that Stan?” the bear asked and spread his arms for a hug.

“Yes Teddy” Stan answered and went in for a hug.

In his dream, Stan opened his eyes to find out he was in a playpen, inside a huge nursery. The smell of baby powder was in the air. He was wearing a thick diaper, a full PJ, and a dangling pacifier clipped on him. Uncle Gregory came by the playpen and kneeled.

“How is my good boy today? Having fun watching his shows?” he raffled Stan’s hair.

A big screen TV was playing some kind of babyish show, which seemed to calm Stan down. Uncle Gregory grabbed the pacifier and stuck it into Stan’s mouth.

“You need it. Now, here’s your best friend Teddy. Put your little head down and take a nap.” he presented a stuffed teddy bear that looked like the same one from before. Stan took the bear into his chest and laid down. He felt so content, so warm, so safe. His uncle was watching over him, his best friend was in his arms, not a single worry. A warm feeling started in his diaper, he peed, but he didn’t care, it felt great. Looking at his fuzzy friend, he rolled over to his stomach, holding his friend with one arm, he felt the need to hump his wet diaper.

Gregory was standing there for twenty minutes. He loved to watch the first hyno night process. Especially the part when the boys start to hump their already-wet diapers. Stan’s diaper came up and down, softly, slowly, in a rhythm. In the dark, Stan made soft cooing and whining sounds while he was humping a bit faster than before. With a final whine, the boy lowered his diaper to the mattress and stopped moving.

He broke Stan, he is now the little boy he needed to be, it is done.

[bigtreefest]

Chapter 7: Help the Bear

From: The Rainmaker Series

Pairing: Mob! Steve x Forensic Scientist! Reader

Summary: “If you ever see me fighting in the forest with a grizzly bear, help the bear, cuz that bitch gon’ need it.” Usually, you’d say this phrase describes you. You’re tough, and your enemies are the bear, but you might be more fragile than it seems. You might have to put aside some of your issues for the night, in favor of helping a friend.

Word count: 6,722

Content/warnings: Swears, punching, anger, deception, mob themes, crying, yelling, broken promises, mood swings, pet and nicknames, nice Bucky???, everyone lowkey walking on eggshells around decks, high stress, kidnapping, a bar fight, mentions of knives, misogyny

Author’s Note: I feel like this is a long awaited climax which lines up with Ch. 10 of YCMBWH and Ch. 3 of Handiwork. Anyway, I’m very excited for you to read it. I’d appreciate your feedback in all forms!

Dividers by @firefly-graphics

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It was early Saturday morning when you stood outside of your apartment building, waiting for Gio to pick you up like you had instructed Steve. He’d sent you several calls and texts since, but you stayed radio silent, until finally, it all stopped. You didn’t have doubt, though, that he’d come through, and you wouldn’t have to drive that distance in your current state. The chance of a crash was far too high. Hm, maybe you should’ve taken Steve’s car then. No, no, you weren’t that mean. You shamed yourself for even having the thought.

The sky was full of nice shades of pink, orange, and purple, the air lacking the humidity that usually came with the rising sun. It was the rainy season, and had been for the last month, but for some reason, the conditions seemed almost drought-like, since Tuesday. How uncharacteristic.

You were pulled from your thoughts by a black SUV pulling up in front of your building, and tried to squint to see who was in the driver’s seat. You had only seen Gio once before, so you assumed it was him by the dark hair you could just barely make out through the tinted window. Good, that meant it wasn’t Steve, even though the vehicle had an eerie resemblance to his. The trunk popped open and you threw your bag in. You weren’t going to be there long, anyway. All you had packed was a change of clothes for the game tonight, pajamas, and clothes for when you left in the morning. Simple as that, and it meant you could wear whatever you wanted right now, which was the comfiest thing you had: sweatpants and your old hoodie, despite the uncharacteristically warm weather.

You closed the trunk and hopped into the back seat, barely having the time to get buckled as the car lurched forward and started on its way out of the city. You looked through the window at the passing buildings as they turned into trees, on the route that was becoming familiar once again.

Bucky grumbled as he tossed and turned in his oversized leather desk chair, arising from the short sleep he had found there after a late night of business dealings designed to be front loaded for him to have this weekend open. He moved to stand, only for his feet to be met by something soft, that was definitely not the hardwood floors, under his loafers.

“Ah, fuck! Steve? What are you doing down there? Why didn’t you fall asleep on the couch, like a normal person?”

Steve groaned, rolling over just enough to look at his best friend above him. “Couch is too comfy. Floor keeps me on edge, just barely asleep. I deserve that. And now I’m up so we can go immediately. You’re welcome, I did this for you and your future wife.”

Bucky rolled his eyes and stepped over the lump of blond and muscle on the floor, creeping towards Sam, who actually was on the couch, while grumbling, “We don’t know if she’s my future wife. We hardly have a label.”

Bucky flicked Sam’s ear for him to rise, met with an, “ow! I’ve been up since you have, boss man!”

Bucky rolled his eyes again, walking over to the closet in the corner of his home office and grabbing his and Steve’s go bags that they had packed the night before.

“Okay, we’ve gotta get there soon. Sam, you still good with holding down the fort here?”

Sam nodded, having sat up fully, unlike Steve, who was still laying on the floor, face down. “Yeah, although, I’m not sure about our buddy over there. Stevie, rise and shine,” he sang out softly.

Steve stood after taking a sharp, deep breath, his eyes red and face puffy just barely, that it looked like allergies from sleeping on the floor. “Okay, I’ll drive my car, and Bucky, you’ve gotta go get Decks.”

Bucky stopped all movement, going still as a statue from where he was double checking the contents of his bag, before turning around slowly. “I’m sorry, what? You want me to go pick up Decks? No. Your girl, you pick her up.”

Steve’s head dropped as Sam let out an audible wince at the whole thing, before explaining, since he knew Steve had very little desire to be verbal right now. “Boss, Decks hasn’t talked to Steve since Tuesday. Steve can’t go pick her up, I think it’ll just make her more mad. And look at him,” he gestured to Steve, hair in a mess and head still pointing towards the floor as he rubbed his eyes, “poor puppy is gonna be broken if he has to see her this early in the morning. She’s gonna eat him alive. At least you’ve got Honey waiting for you on the other side. Steve sure as hell doesn’t.”

The help from Sam had morphed into something a little hurtful, albeit true, but Bucky still huffed. “If Decks doesn’t want to see you, why’d she agree to a ride from us?”

Steve shook his head, finally looking up. “She didn’t. She agreed to a ride from Gio, who’s in Italy currently because you were trying to be a nice boss, or whatever. So you’ve gotta drive her.”

In an instant, Bucky’s features grew soft. He switched from boss mode to friend mode. “Okay, okay. Just…get going so you can start talking strategy with Bee and Peter early. I’ll pick up Decks and meet you there.”

Steve gave a short, grateful nod and grabbed his bag, heading out.

So Bucky found himself driving you like a chauffeur out to the farm as the early morning sun was lighting up the landscape. He was used to being up this early, and he was sure you were, too, but just in case, he’d brought some breakfast.

Once he’d gotten far enough from the city that he knew you wouldn’t try and escape once he revealed himself, he rolled down the partition. He could see you curled up in the corner of the backseat, almost cuddling, clinging to the hoodie you were wearing. It was all too familiar, as Bucky knew Bee had the same one, but the last time he had seen one of them was that time he was at your apartment and Steve had worn it. And that’s when Bucky caught a whiff. Unmistakable with how often he was around it. Steve’s cologne. The corner of his lip upturned slightly. Maybe there was still a chance for the two of you.

You were pulled from your daydream by the sound of the partition lowering, but didn’t move your gaze from the passing scenery. Maybe Gio was going to ask you if you needed a bathroom break in the long drive, or to make sure the air flow and temperature were alright, but you were surprised when you heard the voice in front of you.

It was deep, and a little familiar. “So, uh… you want a croissant?”

It was Bucky. You watched as he fished around in the passenger seat, grabbing a bakery box and handing it back to you, shaking it as a signal when you hadn’t grabbed it after a few seconds. You pulled it into your lap before looking into the rear view mirror and catching his slate eyes, watching you expectantly, yet cautiously, for a response.

You looked at the label on the box. It was a French bakery. One you’d never heard of before, especially not from the list of businesses Steve had rattled off to you when you asked what all he owned. Good.

You spoke up softly, not one much for words so early in the morning. “So’s this place yours?”

Bucky looked between your image in the mirror and the road, trying to figure out what you were referencing. “The bakery? Yeah, one of many places. And one of my favorites. Try the chocolate croissant if you haven’t had breakfast yet. It’s good.”

You nodded, sighing and gingerly opening the lid to be met by one of the best smells probably ever. You carefully pulled out a chocolate croissant and took a bite, holding in a moan at the deliciousness, but Bucky could see the enjoyment on your face, no matter how brief, due to the overwhelming weight of today sitting on your shoulders.

“Told you.”

You simply hummed in response, setting down the pastry and waiting to swallow to speak up.

“So, Bucket. I thought Gio was supposed to pick me up, but it looks like Steve lied again. Why you? Don’t you have better shit to be in charge of?”

Bucky was changing highways, so he kept his eyes on the road. He had half a mind to defend his best friend, but he didn’t want to open up that can of worms when you still had a couple hours of driving left. Plus, he knew it went farther than that, and it wasn’t technically his fight. Touching on your self-deprecation probably wasn’t a good idea, either. He’d leave that to Honeybee, much better versed in seeing you like this, he assumed. But from what he could tell, this seemed far from your normal self-assured, resigned state that he quite appreciated. He opted to comment on the dissection of your sentence that mainly had to do with him. That was probably a good domain to stay within for now. “You don’t have to call me that, y’know.”

You took another bite and shrugged. “What am I supposed to call you, then? James?”

“Bucky is fine.”

You let out a dry laugh. “No, that’s weird, what are you, a hick? -wait, actually, no. Forget I said that.”

Definitely not a good idea to make a distasteful joke such as that with where you both were going right now.

You shook your head looking down at the box. “But you still didn’t answer my first question.”

Bucky spun the wheel around the clover leaf and effortlessly merged on the open roads. “Gio’s on vacation in Italy, so you’re stuck with me. But don’t worry, Steve’s already on the road ahead of us.”

Well, he did what you asked, but you left his answer unacknowledged, besides a huff as you set the box aside. So much for trying to tread lightly.

“What? Decks, sweetheart, are you mad at me for bringing up Steve?” You crossed your arms and legs, glaring at Bucky and hoping it would set him on fire, sadly unsuccessfully, through the mirror. It was a good thing you weren’t a witch, anyway, though, because Bee would’ve killed you if it had worked.

“Ugh! What is up with that!? Everyone calling me ‘sweetheart?’ You, Sam, Steve! I’m not some little token helpless woman.”

Bucky opened his mouth defensively to reply, before closing it and furrowing his brows in thought at your full statement. “Wait a second, Steve called you ‘sweetheart?’”

You rolled your eyes yet again, and decided you weren’t done with that croissant quite yet, so you grabbed the box from your side and took another bite, not bothering to swallow this time before talking with your mouth full. “Yeah, like a few times, and then Sam did when he drove me home, and you did just now. What’s the deal?”

Bucky wished you weren’t sitting directly behind him, because he would’ve fully turned to look you in the eyes for this. He didn’t realize how serious it all was between the two of you, but he should’ve, considering how enamored he was, too, with his own girl. Obviously Steve was capable of the same thing.

“Swee- Decks. For Sam and I, that’s just how we were raised. I mean, Steve was raised the same way, but…” He stopped to think for a second so it came out the right way.

“Sure, you’re right, ‘sweetheart’ is a term of endearment for anyone in our community. Any guy will call pretty much any woman that, but not Steve. Ever since we were young, he refused. Said he was saving it. That it deserved to be used for someone really special. Someone with the sweetest heart. At least for him.”

You scoffed and questioningly shook your head. “Bucket, that is not me.”

He shrugged once again. “Maybe. And maybe that’s what you try to show, but to him it is. That’s you. He doesn’t take those things lightly.”

You grumbled, taking the last bite and licking your fingers before Bucky handed you a napkin. “I had it under control.”

He smirked, catching another whiff of Steve’s cologne when your arm reached up towards him. “Sure, ya did. Hey, when’s the last time you washed that hoodie? Surprised you wouldn’t wanna use that old thing as a napkin,” he said in a playful tone, laughter almost emerging from his voice.

Evidently you didn’t want to wash it. You wanted to keep it clean, let it have this scent as long as possible. After you crumbled the napkin, you threw it up towards him in the front seat before pulling your hood up.

Bucky swerved slightly, but not enough to cause concern. “Hey, watch it. I’m in charge of your safety up here. I’ve gotta deliver us both unharmed. It’s paramount.”

You’d just about had enough of this oddly chipper attitude from him. Bucky was very obviously excited to see Bee again and you couldn’t blame him. Their relationship was honest from the start. The small tinge of normalcy you’d had for a second started to wear off again, though, as that weight began to sink back onto your shoulders. You pulled your hoodie strings tight around your face, letting the smell and the comfort fully engulf you, and hoping to catch just a little more sleep before the long day ahead.

“Okay, whatever. Fuck off, Bucket.”

When you pulled up to the farm, you were gently shaken awake by someone who had climbed in the back seat with you so that they didn’t open the door you were leaning against and make you fall out. When your eyes fluttered open, though, you were met with a face you hardly recognized, causing you to spring into action and punch him right in the nose, not that hard, but also not that lightly.

The young man in flannel in front of you clattered into the back of the passenger seat, holding his nose, when you finally recognized him. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! You’re that kid who works for Bucky. Are you okay?”

He nodded, backing away and out the other side of the vehicle, scrambling to get away quickly, not sure if you’d hit him again, just based off association. “Yeah, yeah, all good.”

You could hardly hear him, voice fading as he ran into the house.

You took his words at face value, finally reorienting yourself to where you were now, seeing the green and gold landscapes and red barns outside your window. Right. Bee’s farm. For the bet. With the mob bosses. Gone was your concern as your angry face, or really more of an attempt of a flat affect came back.

You slid across the back seat, empty of the bakery box that was once there, and moved to get out of the door that was left open. When you emerged, you were met with the sight of Bee and Cherry picking through the pastries you had left behind, their nervously smiling faces lit up by the mid morning sun.

“Decks! Good morning! It’s so good to see you.”

Bee gave you a side hug you didn’t return and Cherry gave you a little wave before giving Curtis a little bite of her croissant. Gross.

Curtis thanked her with a kiss on the cheek before coming over to you and giving a bear hug, despite the way you tried to push him off. Eventually, you relented, relaxing in his hold, that of a long-time, good friend. He rubbed his hand against the top of your hood, messing up the hair underneath, before returning to Cherry’s side, grabbing his own pastry out of the box.

A small “hi” was all you could muster up to use to greet the three of them, but it was enough. You pointed over your shoulder to indicate you were going to grab your bag from the trunk, finally pulling the hood off your head and turning around. When you pivoted, though, you were only met with Steve there, your bag over his shoulder like it had been so many times before, his glassy eyes taking you in.

His voice was small and scratchy like you’d never heard it before, like he’d been silent for weeks, as he mustered up a, “Hey, Decks.”

You promptly spun back around and stomped into the farm house and up the steps, passing Bucky on the way to your usual room. When you opened the door, though, you were met with the sight of a young man sitting on your bed, ice against his face and a jolt when he saw you bust in.

“Uh, hi Miss Decks. Can I help you?” You groaned at the weird formality, but were in no mood for something like this to throw you off on such an important day.

“Yeah. You can get out of my room. You’re gonna share the other spare with Steve. No questions, okay?”

He simply nodded, beginning to grab his stuff as you stripped the bed of its sheets. He was actually complying very nicely, so you felt bad for being so assertive with him…and punching him in the face.

“So what’s your name and what’s your job?”

He stopped and looked at you, confusion and fear riddling his face. “I-I’m Peter, miss. I was assigned to stay here to help with shipments and watching over miss Honeybee. I just go wherever they say. Sometimes do tech, sometimes intelligence. Really anything.”

You nodded and hummed, pulling a new set of bedding out of the top of the closet. “So what exactly does that make you, Peter? Fourth in command?”

He cocked his head to the side, zipping up a bag, before helping you put on the new sheets. “I guess I never thought about that, but no. Technically I think I’d be fifth at least.”

You nodded along, grateful for the acquiescence that seemed to run through this organization and his kindness you were evidently not returning. With all the stress, though, you didn’t even really have the time to wonder who was number four. He finished gathering everything in his arms and sprinted out the door, across the hall to Steve’s room, before realizing there were three guest rooms and he might be able to take the last one, depending on where Bucky planned to stay. Out of indecision, he just dropped everything at the end of the hallway and went back downstairs, leaving you to lay over the comforter in contemplation. Peace wasn’t something that would come to you today.

It was early afternoon when Cherry finally came up to find you, not the person you would’ve expected to do so. She knocked on your door with a sweet smile.

“Hey, Decks. I know you’re probably in game mode, but Bee thought it might be a good idea for you to come over to my place. We can pick you out a nice outfit for tonight. Eat something, maybe? It’s my understanding you haven’t had anything since early this morning and apparently, from what I’ve been told, ‘the good stuff’ is waiting for you at my apartment. And it’s no boys allowed for this afternoon. You get to do whatever you need to get in the zone without distraction. How does that sound?”

You groaned before you nodded, launching yourself up out of the bed quickly to a seated position. “Yeah…that’s good. I mean, I already have an outfit, but that’ll be good. Let me just hit the bathroom real quick and I’ll meet you in the driveway, okay?”

She nodded with another soft smile and went back down the steps.

Soon after she was gone and you’d gathered what you needed, not even bothering to consider how your bag had made it to the corner by the doorway of your room, you shuffled over to the bathroom in your socked feet and washed your face. When you were all dry, you looked at your reflection in the mirror. It was you, but it was different. Not unrecognizable, but maybe barely.

Exhaustion laced your features. Dark bags had settled under your eyes from the lack of sleep. You were in a perpetual state of puffiness from all the crying you’d kept to yourself, yet everything just looked…sunken. Like, saggy with sadness. You smiled, trying to boost your mood, make it feel like you weren’t going through hell. Trying to put on a brave face for your friend and her world. Everything this whole week was a lot, and as much as you were trying to ice out the terror, you could feel it seeping through the cracks. One final smile and one final wipe of your nose, and you were ready to go, galloping down the staircase and out to Bee’s truck where she was already waiting for you. You slid up in the seat, squeezing Cherry between the two of you, and went on your way towards town.

When you got to Cherry’s apartment, there were bowls of pasta sitting on her small dining room table that must’ve been for you. Ah yes, that was probably ‘the good stuff’ she was referring to. Cherry immediately went to the kitchen to grab bowls and utensils, handing them to you and Bee, as you took in the scent of the the still-steaming arrangement.

Despite your feelings toward everything Steve lately, the gesture and nostalgia still warmed you. The three of you sat, as you savored every bite in silence, Bee and Cherry holding soft conversation on the side and respecting your wishes until the meal was done and you felt just a little bit better. A little bet fuller in your heart and your stomach.

You didn’t have to worry as Bee and Cherry assured you that they’d clean everything up, directing you towards the bedroom where you’d found something else sitting there, waiting for you to find it. It was a record player, just like the one in your apartment. The one you’d promised Steve you’d play the song on before you’d fallen asleep to that old movie. And next to it was a stack of vinyls, some you recognized as the same as your collection, plus some new ones you’d mentioned you liked before, but never got the chance to acquire. On the stack was a small sticky note that said:

“You got this, Decky. -SR”

You couldn’t help the way a smile crept onto your face at his thoughtfulness. Sure, you were mad at him, but this was far from a cheap gesture. It was just what you needed to fully lock in, and maybe raise your spirits to get through tonight and do this for someone besides yourself. You put on a record, mood brightening by the minute, and began swaying through the room until Cherry and Bee came in to meet you.

Their faces lit up seeing your slightly improved mood, this moment acting like a brief reprieve from a day constantly growing in intensity. The two of them began rifling through the closet, pulling out a bunch of outfits for you to try, and throwing them into a pile on the bed. At least you had your music.

When Cherry’s shift at the bar was set to start, the three of you drove over, you wearing a short, flouncy tennis dress that was far from what you were used to. The clothes you had packed for this evening were just jeans and a tee, but according to your friend, that wasn’t good enough, so here you found yourself in something completely out of character. At least it had shorts underneath.

You were about an hour early for the match, but the bar was already buzzing with patrons. As Cherry went to clock in, you could see the group of guys already sitting in the booth, talking in hushed whispers until you and Bee approached. Bee instantly gravitated towards Bucky’s lap with a kiss, and you were going to sit next to Curtis, but he stood up, passing you with a nod and heading straight for the bar with Cherry. So much for having a buffer.

You were left to sit next to Steve, your already nervous state making you shake and avoid eye contact, whether you wanted to or not. Bucky sat up, saying something about checking with guards and Bee followed him, leaving the two of you alone, sitting too close for how much room the booth had now gained.

You took in a shuddering breath, looking around the crowded room, seeing the pool tables and envisioning the event that was about to go down. You felt so isolated in that moment, before you felt a large, warm hand on your thigh.

“Decks, sweetheart. You there? You alright?” You looked up and to your side at Steve, the seclusion of the tall seats allowing him to be the only one who could see the tears in your eyes. Here you were, all dolled up at the hands of Cherry, about to ruin it, but that was the least of your worries. The pressure was about to crash over you and Steve needed to seal those dam walls before a flood broke out.

“Hey, hey, it’s alright. Why don’t you and me take a second to go into the break room or something? We have the time.”

You simply nodded and scooted out of the booth. Steve grabbed the hat off the top of his head, placing it on yours to hide your distraught face from any possible prying eyes before grabbing your hand and rushing the two of you across the dance floor.

He’d seen most of your range of emotions. He’d seen you playful, he’d seen you focused, he’d seen you happy, he’d never get enough of that, he’d seen you mad, probably more than enough for a lifetime, but he’d never seen you quite like this, with tears threatening to spill over.

Before you knew it, you were on an old couch in a back room you had never seen before, crying into Steve’s chest as he held you closely, hand rubbing your back, and shushing you gently.

“It’s okay. It’s okay. You got this. Hey, look at me. You can do it.”

You pulled your hands up to wipe your eyes as Steve searched the room to find you tissues, dabbing away the wetness as you sniffled.

“Tell me what’s going on, sweetheart. What can I do to help? What’s on your mind?”

You tried to speak, but you were gasping for air. The farthest thing from your mind was anger at him, or the pet name. You just wanted comfort. Steve began demonstrating deep breaths in front of you, helping you to calm down until it worked. He started to blow a cool stream of air towards your face, drying more of the wetness, and rubbing his large, warm hands up your arms, redirecting your focus to the gestures. Finally you were almost fully settled and ready to talk.

“I’m just so…scared. Sure, I’ve dealt with things that were high-stress before, but never with this high of stakes. I didn’t ask to be dragged into all of this, but now the whole mess hinges on me. This entire thing. Legitimate lives are riding on me. That’s a lot.”

Steve nodded along. He got it. This was hard, and it was a lot of pressure, especially since it all came crashing towards you at once. He wished there was something he could do to fix it, to take some of that off of you, but he couldn’t. He felt like he was the reason it was all hitting so hard in the first place. All he could do was try and keep you pumped up, and ready to go for tonight. He knew you had a game face, maybe he could help you put that on so you could beat these pricks once and for all. Maybe that would be enough for him. He knew you were giving him a chance, just for tonight because Bee was mostly what mattered, and he was going to make the most of that opportunity while it lasted.

He ran his hand over your hair, pulling you close one last time and planting a kiss to your hairline before sighing and slapping his hands on his knees to get up.

“Alright, up we go. C’mon.” He held out his hand for you, but all you did was sit there and look at him confused.

“Unfortunately, you don’t have all night, Decky. Stand, or I’m dragging you.”

You must not have moved fast enough, because before you knew it, your floppy body had been pulled to its feet and Steve was slowly manipulating each part. He kicked your one foot back, widening your stance, and bent each arm, curling your fingers into fists. He moved in front of you, holding up his hands, flat and open, just like boxing practice. He bounced between his feet on the ground, shifting back and forth.

“Alright, go for it. Let’s see what you got.” You huffed, landing a weak punch against his palm, and Steve laughed and shook his head. “I don’t think so. Let’s go, Decks. I know you’re better than that. Harder. Get angry.”

And you did, you punched harder, you punched faster, and you were relentless, raging in a rain of fists, jitters long gone and replaced with a fire of fury. Fuck Cole. And fuck Lloyd. And fuck this whole fucked up mess of misogyny that threatened the livelihood of an innocent woman.

Steve grabbed your fists, snapping you out of it as you stood there, chest rising and falling with deep breaths. “There it is. Use that.” He looked at you intently, imploring you to be yourself, the confident, driven, capable woman he knew. You were back, if only for a few hours, but that was all he needed.

You settled yourself with a single breath, hands falling to your sides after you smoothed your dress and grabbed Steve’s hat back off where it had fallen onto the couch when you threw your head at his chest. You stood there with your eyes closed for a second. “Steven, do I still look okay? Bee said I have to look hot to distract these pieces of shit, and I’d hate to know that I’ve got a hair out of place. Please fix it before I go back out there.”

Steve smiled, just a little one he knew you couldn’t see, as he took a walk around you, tugging down the back of your dress and gently combing his fingers through your hair, taking his thumbs to swipe over your cheeks and fix the slight run of makeup from your tears. He gently grabbed the hat out of your tight clutch, playing with the brim. “You, uh…you want my hat? Would that make you feel better? Preserve an air of mystery and make you not have to look directly at the ‘pieces of shit?’”

You revealed a small, soft smile he thought he’d never see again and nodded, opening your eyes as he placed it back on your head, straightening it just so. He smiled just as sweetly when he saw you, actually saw you for the first time in awhile. Then, you weren’t sure what was happening as he squatted down in front of you, closing his eyes just like you had before.

“Okay, now it’s your turn to fix my hair before we go back out there. You messed it up when I gave you my hat.”

You strutted back out into the bar, face stoic, and stride powerful, your skirt flowing from the speed. Steve was a few steps behind you, surveying the area to see Bucky and Bee had returned, chatting with two men by the pool table.

You clocked them as well, not recognizing the two, but seeing one in an oddly crisp brown jacket, common for the area, but usually more beaten up on the folk around here, and the other in a knitted, collared shirt, nose pronounced by the neatly trimmed mustache underneath. Far too fancy for a place like this. These must be the men.

You walked up to Bee’s side, noticing her tight-lipped smile. “Decks, this is Cole, and this is Lloyd. He’ll be playing against you.”

You simply nodded, taking a step back. These men obviously had no desire for handshakes, only giving you a curt nod as well, as Lloyd stepped away, pulling a pool cue out of a case.

You rolled your eyes under the brim of the hat. Of course this rich prick had his own cue. You walked over to where Steve was at the rack of cues on the wall, looking at each and evaluating which one looked the best after years of wear and tear in the old joint. He pulled one down, wordlessly asking if it worked and you nodded, handing him a little block of chalk.

“Will you hold this for me throughout the game? And a glass of water please?” He nodded and headed to the bar, ready to be at your service.

When you returned to the table, negotiations had already been made and Lloyd was starting. That already put him at an advantage, but it would be fine, as long as he couldn’t get all the balls in on the first try.

His break was successful. Sharp, forceful, and precise: something that seemed mimetic of his pristine and obnoxious appearance. With two striped balls in the pockets, he went for the next one, and the next one, of your favorite suit. It was bad enough that you had to play solids, but he was surprisingly doing well. On his attempt for a sixth sink, though, he missed, giving you the chance to step in.

You took a sip of the water in Steve’s hand, rubbing the tip of your cue with the chalk in his other. You took a deep breath, leaning over the table for your first shot. It was the furthest thing from your mind, but Steve, and hell, everyone around, took notice of you bending over for it. Steve’s eyes quickly averted, though, going straight to Lloyd and Cole, as they were shamelessly gawking, doing what you’d said they would, and hopefully losing their if focus because of it. Your jaw ticked. You were angry, and you were focused, and you were fed up, and you were ready to go. There was no way you were going to mess up. You took your shot. Sunk.

That was followed by four more, easy angles, at least for you. You didn’t even look at the two men your were competing against. The only other person you could see in your zone of focus was Steve, if that, mostly because he was holding the materials you needed to win. Anyone else, anything else, was the enemy. Blocked. This was about winning, just like the years of swindling this game had set you up for. Seven hits, seven successes, one left, so you called the pocket. It was intense, and your face was unreadable. You took the shot, not even looking to see it go in, because you knew it would. Instead, your face was turned towards the two out-of-place men, your lips slowly growing smug as small crowd that had gathered around the table erupted in cheers.

You dropped your cue on the table, waltzing up to Lloyd as Bee stood in front of Cole.

You pointed a finger into the expensive fabric on the man in front of you and looked up into his eyes, dark like the deepest, deadest ocean.

“A deal is a deal and you just lost. Now hop off from my friend’s and all the other businesses I hear you’ve been harassing. Aren’t you guys all about your word?”

You were taken aback by the dark chuckle you were met with. “Oh, cupcake, that’s cute. You think I got this far on my word? No way. You may have won this fool’s game, but you all have yet to start mine.”

After gesturing over to Cole, he put his hand over his chest, dramatically gasping in a mocking manner.

“Oh no. Where’d your precious cheese curd go?”

Your head whipped over to the bar where you’d last seen him, but were met with the sight of an empty stool. Curtis was missing.

At this point, you didn’t care about the scene you were about to make, because that crossed a line. Curtis hardly had anything to do with this entire situation and they kidnapped him? Fucking why? Before you could even register what was going on, you lunged for Lloyd, trying to punch and scratch at him, but only hitting air. Something had caught you in the middle of your movement, picking you up, leaving you kicking and clawing at nothing, but you still had your voice. Curtis was innocent, and like a brother to you, and he didn’t deserve whatever this was. So you screamed, flailing in Steve’s arms, you’d know his arms and the smell of his cologne anywhere, but that wasn’t really what you were focused on right now.

“FUCK YOU, LLOYD! FUCK YOU AND THAT UGLY ASS MUSTACHE!! FUCK YOU FOR BREAKING A PROMISE!!!”

Out of the corner of your eye, even as you were backed away, you could see Cole shift and hold his hands up. “I swear. This wasn’t part of the deal. I was just doing what I was told. I didn’t know about any of this.”

You knew how much it sucked to be left out of the loop, but you still didn’t feel sorry. Cole was literally trying to commandeer the farm. He was far from innocent. You wiggled and turned as much as you could in Steve’s tight hold.

“And fuck you, too, Cole!! You ruined chocolate milk for me!”

The last thing you could see before the crowd descended was Bucky delivering a swift blow to Lloyd’s jaw, followed by him grabbing Cole by the collar.

Your attention was pulled to something else, though, by Steve’s hands on either side of your face once he had set you on a bar stool. “Decks, Decks! I need you to look at me.”

His nose was almost to yours. “I need you to watch Cherry. I have to go and check on the guards. See what happened out there and if Curtis is really gone. You need find out what happened in here. Take this.”

He slipped something in your hand that you had no idea how he concealed in the simple button-up denim shirt and jeans he was wearing. “Take out anyone who comes at you that you don’t know.”

You looked down at what was in your grasp: a small throwing knife. Without waiting a second, you snapped into survival mode, jumping behind the bar with Cherry. No one was around the two of you right now, luckily, as a full-on bar brawl had broken out.

You turned your body towards Cherry, but your head was on a swivel watching your surroundings. “So tell me what happened. When did Curtis disappear? Did you see anything?”

She frantically shook her head. “No, a-all I know is that some girl asked me to pour her a drink. She had a bunch of specifications, and when I made it and turned back around, Curtis was gone, and so was she.”

Your eyebrows shot up. “What did she look like?”

“I don’t know? Kinda short, dark hair? Annoyingly fit? Now that I think about it, kinda like the female version of the guy you were playing pool against. That’s not a coincidence, is it?”

You threw your head back. It definitely wasn’t a coincidence. It was probably Lilian.

“Ah, shit.”

Next >

Bonus A/N: The moments between Decks and Steve here were much softer than I’d anticipated them to be, but there are so many different ways to act under stress, and I think it means a lot that she’s not necessarily able to stay in her normal cold manner of upsettedness when there’s so much at stake beyond just her. Things change when others are depending on you.

Taglist: @evie-119 @hawkeyes-queen @ronearoundblindly @thedonswife13

[undertheopensky]

If You Can't Say Anything Nice 1

Whumptober Day 7: Radio Silence

Characters: Legend

Trigger warnings: Anxiety, bullying, struggling to communicate, lil bit of unreliable narrator

Read on Ao3!

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"I don’t know what his problem is, but you shouldn’t let him push you around like that.”

Sky’s response is lost in the roaring in Legend’s ears. His skin feels cold – his face feels hot – his eyes burn painfully dry –

He hadn’t – he wasn’t being mean. He hadn’t even – what had he even said? The buzzing in his head is spreading, drowning everything out. His skin feels like millions of bees are walking over it – or humming just underneath.

I’m sorry, he wants to say. I didn’t mean it.

No one – no one ever listens, though. Scoffs, brushes it off. Tells him off for talking back. For being sarcastic, or for lying. He’s not. He just – doesn’t understand.

If you can’t think of something nice to say, his uncle used to tell him, don’t say anything at all.

He’s trying. He doesn’t – it’s not as if Legend wants to make people angry with him. Working in a team – isn’t something he’s that experienced in, but he’s not against it. He wants to help.

The others call him ‘the veteran’. Sometimes it just makes him feel old, but it means the others recognise he’s seen a lot. Fought a lot of different monsters, dealt with a lot of different problems, found often unconventional solutions (that somehow still involve less fire than whatever Wild is doing at any given moment). It means he notices stuff, and sometimes that stuff is useful.

In the very next fight, Legend is working his way through what feels like a small horde of miniblins when flashes of colour among the overhead kargaroks catch his attention. He bats one of the little monsters away and squints upwards, making sure – yeah, there’s at least one vire in the air.

“Wars,” he calls, since the man is on airborne monster control, “watch out, when you kill those –”

“Yes, thank you, Legend, I think I have it covered,” Warriors snaps.

Legend flinches back from the next burst of fire. Why had he-? He’d just – how was that even-? Then his train of thought is broken by a moblin’s roar and he gratefully lets it fall away. Maybe battle’s not the best time for something he struggles with anyway. Maybe he needs to think it through more.

He lets the moblin push him away from where Warriors is trying to start a forest fire. Then, when it overextends itself thinking he’s too tired to dodge, he steps in close and stabs up into the heart.

The moblin collapses and starts to smoke gently. A bokoblin stops to wave its weapon at him angrily, and Legend takes the opportunity to behead it. Why were Wild’s monsters so weird?

The natural tide of the battle has drawn Wind to the edge of the clearing, where the ground underfoot becomes a minefield of rocks and exposed roots. He wants to warn him, but after Warriors – he’s fine, Wind’s always telling them he doesn’t need their protection. He’s a hero just like them.

Wind finishes off the bokoblin and swings to the next, triumphant. Wind’s like that - big, sweeping movements that look flashy and open to exploitation, while his excellent blade control keeps him well centred.

He’s still used to a flatter battleground, though, and doesn’t always notice shifts in terrain. Wind knocks aside a stab and steps forward to cut the bokoblin in half. The monster goes down with a squeal, but so does Wind, foot caught in a tree root and ankle twisting under his weight.

Quietly, Legend deals with a couple of keese diving in. They’re not difficult – one sword stroke each to cut off a wing takes them down – but if they get an artery, especially when you’re already off balance, they can cause a lot of damage. That’s why he wanted to warn Wars.

Why did he yell at me?

Wind staggers back up without incident. He tests his ankle and winces, but heads off to sneak-attack a lizalfos that’s focused on Twilight with only a slight limp, and Legend gets absorbed in a cat-and-mouse fight with one of Sky’s annoying armoured moblins.

Later, once the fight is over, he approaches Wind.

“Hey, sailor. How’s your ankle?”

Wind flushes. “Fuck. It would be you who saw that.”

Legend rocks from foot to foot. This is already not going well, Wind’s already upset, should he just cut and run-? But next time Wind might be too far away, or there might be more monsters. He has to at least try.

“It was the tree roots giving you problems. A lot of your fighting happens on the deck of a boat or on sand, right? The footing’s different and you’re not used to it.”

Wind makes a face but nods.

“Getting used to obstacles underfoot takes practice. There’s a couple things you can do to regain balance more quickly that don’t work for sand, obviously it’s best not to lose track of where you are in the first place but –”

“Aw, don’t bully him, vet,” Twilight jeers, leaning an unkind elbow on Legend’s head. “Not everyone can be as perfect as you.”

Legend swats him away and storms off, face blazing.

-----

As he scours black blood from the rivets of the Tempered Sword’s guard, Legend listens to the not-argument happening a few feet away.

“Nope, I’m not touching that. Do your own weapons maintenance, Wind.”

“Aww,” Wind whines, “why not? You’re sharpening Twilight’s sword!”

“Because his is blessedly normal,” Four says sternly. “Yours is enchanted to hell and back. I don’t touch magic weapons, not anymore. You never know what they’re gonna do to you.”

Four Sword’s already enough for you, huh?

Legend’s throat locks up before the words can come out.

Would Four be upset if he said that? He’s so proud of his blade and the workmanship that went into it, and he’s right to be; why use something else when the Four Sword suits him so well? But what if he thinks Legend is looking down on him for not trying a different weapon – for not helping Wind – for refusing to touch the Master Sword to Sky’s face –

“You shouldn’t push your chores off on other people, Wind,” Sky chides lightly. “Four’s only helping because Twilight sprained his wrist.”

Four shrugs. “I mean, as soon as we come to a smithy who’s willing to let me rent an anvil, I’ll definitely be fixing up everyone’s armour.”

“That’s different. That’s a valuable skill we appreciate you using to help, not basic weapons maintenance,” says Time. He ruffles Wind’s hair when the boy pouts. “Come along, Wind; I need to do some work on the Biggoron Sword today. Want to see if you can finish first?”

Legend mutely watches them go.

He hadn’t… said anything. No one yelled at him.

If you can’t think of something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.

…is he just… not a nice person?

-----

Legend takes time over the next few days to really watch the people around him interacting.

They talk a lot. It’s a constant back and forth that makes Legend tired just following it, chatter and jokes and stories. Even Time, notoriously reserved, will crack jokes that make everyone stare at him in delighted bewilderment. They’re also touching all the time, little things; Wars tugging playfully at Wind’s hair, Wind throwing himself at Twilight demanding piggyback rides, Sky gently hip-checking Four when the smithy gets stuck in his head.

By contrast, everyone keeps their distance from him. Even Hyrule, who sometimes wanders over eager to ask questions about the time before his own, keeps a careful arms-length away. No one else even gets that close, unless it’s to shove him or pinch his ears.

There’s a difference in how they treat him that he hadn’t noticed before.

Legend’s chest hurts.

They really do just… tolerate him. He’s – he’s a good fighter, and that’s – that’s all.

Maybe that’s - maybe that’s - okay. He can be useful, that way. He can fight all kinds of monsters, and quietly cover their backs. He can still help.

He keeps to himself after that. In battle he’s as fierce as ever, and freely guards the others when they’re turned away from danger. But he stops trying to reach out, to participate in team tactics. He stops trying to joke with the others, or offer stories he thinks they’d find interesting.

He stops talking.

It’s the best thing for everyone.

So why does it hurt so much?

-----

Sitting by the evening’s campfire, Legend considers getting up and moving closer, maybe adding some more wood. He feels cold, despite the licking flames. Legend’s so engrossed in the decision to move or not move that he completely misses the footsteps approaching from the side.

“Hey, Legend.”

He flinches and looks up. Wide violet meets sky blue, and Sky smiles warm and gentle. “Can I sit with you for a bit?”

I can’t stop you/why would you want to/I’ll only make you upset/don’t refuse/don’t make him mad; his throat closes before he can say anything. Instead he presses his lips together and nods.

When Sky sits, he’s so close Legend can feel the warmth radiating off him. He nearly sways into it; stops himself at the last second. No one likes you, he reminds himself, don’t push your luck.

Sky doesn’t catch his lapse, for which Legend is thankful. The man is instead looking out across the camp with his usual absent smile. It’s like he just came over to… sit there. With him. For no reason.

Slowly, hardly daring to believe it, Legend relaxes. Sky does spend a lot of time just watching the world go by.

This isn’t so bad.

“Hey, Ledge.”

He flinches again.

Sky’s not quite looking at him, still facing the fire. “I noticed you’ve been really quiet lately. It can be hard, sometimes, being in such a big group. I guess I’m just -” he flashes Legend a crooked smile - “wondering if you’re doing okay.”

The lump in his throat burns.

“Legend?” Sky looks so – so concerned, so worried over Legend, when he’s always cranky and mean and can’t say anything right –

The first sob takes him by surprise.

[stampsthemeow]

I EAT PASTA FOR BREAKFAST (rewrite)

This isn't perfect but- (I plan to eventually turn this rewrite to a comic but no promises) (MAYBE WIP ?? MIGHT EDIT SOME THINGS LATER) 5067 words vvvv

I was alone now… But I saw a tall man,

and I wanted to be his friendShe took steps into the woods, reaching her hand out towards the man. “Hello… I’m Lazari” He reached his hand down to hers, holding on tightly, leading her further into the forest. Leading her to an old mansion deep in the woods. “Twilight, are you eating on my couch!” Slender yelled.  Twil shook her head as she wiped blood off from around her mouth. Sniff SniffShouting back and forth was muffled, the smell overtaking Lazari’s head. She leaped out of Slender’s grasp, tackling Twilight. Clawed nails gripping into skin,

Please don’t leave me too. Teeth sinking into flesh, I didn’t mean to.

Lazari was pulled up and away from Twilight, tentacles wrapping around her arms and torso, holding her in the air.

I’m sorry

“What the hell is she!” Twilight yelled, holding onto her wounded arm. “Definitely not human” Slender pulled Lazari into his arms, coddling her. 

“I’m sorry…” Tears streamed down her face.

“Shh… It's okay”

“She bit me! “Consider it punishment for eating on my couch.”  Twil rolled her eyes, “Where’s the first aid kit?” The door swung open while Twilight bandaged up her arm. “And that's when you say your awesome catchphrase, then you go for the ki-” Jeff stopped himself mid sentence, focusing his attention on Lazari peeking over the couch. Lulu waved at Lazari, taking steps closer towards the girl. “Don’t get too close. She bites.” She pulled up her sleeve, revealing the bloody-ed bandages. “Oh? I’m just going to take her on a walk real quick-” Jeff grabbed onto Lazari’s hand, leading her out the door. “Alright we’ll be back soon!” “Slender’s gonna be pissed when they get back.” Twil stated.

Hung by a rope tied upon a high branch, the looming night sky obscuring her features. A red haze filled the area, the ground cracking under every step. Following small footprints left in the dirt. The beast’s claws cutting through the rope. “She’s not here… The footsteps just end in front of the tree” The Rake muttered. The body thudded on the ground. ““̸I̵t̴’̶s̴ ̷f̴u̷n̴n̵y̷.̸ ̷I̷ ̸t̴h̴i̸n̶k̷ ̶I̷ ̸h̸e̴a̵r̶d̶ ̶y̷o̴u̶ ̶s̸a̵y̸ ̵t̶h̴a̶t̵ ̷s̵h̴e̸ ̸i̵s̷n̵’̵t̷ ̵h̴e̵r̴e̵,̸ (It’s funny. I think I heard you say that she isn’t here),” He positioned his clawed foot over the lady’s head. Crunch

“̵I̷ ̵t̶h̷i̸n̶k̴ ̶y̷o̴u̴ ̷m̶e̶a̷n̴ ̵“̷I̸’̴l̴l̵ ̷g̴o̸ ̴g̴e̴t̵ ̶h̴e̶r̴“(I think you mean “I’ll go get her”.)” The Rake repeatedly nodded, scrambling on all fours past Zalgo, towards the vast forest. 

Jeff pushed apart the leaves, letting Lazari look through the bush. “There she is.” “But she doesn’t look mean?” “Oh but she is, don’t let her appearance fool you. She's very mean to me,” Lazari nodded, rustling through the bush, holding her hair by its pink bow to not get it caught in the plant. “Jeff I know that's you-” Jane was mid-way through rolling her eyes from beneath the mask when Lazari bit at her arm, then her neck, then her torso, then anywhere she could get her teeth at. Until she was kicked off and nearly thrown back at Jeff, who was laughing til he cried. He latched onto the sleeve of her shirt and ran off before Jane could follow after. The girl's light pink dress was now soaked in red. “That was great” he said, wiping a tear off of his cheek. “Really?” She said, looking up at Jeff. “Really, you’re the best fucking kid ever,” He picked Lazari up, bringing her up to his shoulder. “We’re off to go see Slendy~ The wonderful Slend- Oh fuck…” Jeff flinched back, Slender stood in front of him, blocking the door. Even without any facial features his face still showed his anger.  He sent out a tendril, picking Lazari up and off of Jeff, bringing her inside the mansion. 

“Lazari, you stay inside, you can go colour. I have something I need to talk to Jeffery about.” “I got some crayons and paper from Sally's room!” Tim said, Lazari cheering at the words. He put the materials on the dark wooden floor beside where Lazari was now sitting. First the red crayon, then the black crayon, the black taking up the majority of the drawing. The others sat untouched. “Can I see your drawing?” Tim asked, the girl quickly held up and presented her work. The horns, the teeth, the claws, the red eyes and tears. It couldn’t be… “That's mommy’s friend!” Tim got up from his spot. “I’ll be right back!” He exited the mansion, Lazari could hear the yelling from outside for a second. “Slender, do you happen to know what’s Lazari’s life, before today, was like?” Slender took his attention away from Jeff. “No, she’s gone quiet when I’ve asked about it,” He replied, fixing his tie, “the max she has said is that her mother hung herself, but nothing more.” “Not even why?” “She mumbled something “Monster” yet wouldn’t say another word about it. Why?” “Well her drawing seemed to be of Zalgo, along with her words “That’s mommy’s friend” while she showed me it” Slender stood there a second, and without saying a word went inside. Approaching Lazari and kneeling down til he was on level with her. “The lady hanging was your mother, right?” Lazari nodded in response. Slender stayed silent until Lazari, slowly, replied further. “She said I was a monster.” Lazari whispered, tears forming in her eyes. “Mommy hated me,” Lazari cried while Jeff stumbled inside.

“We are keeping her, right?” Jeff said, staring at Slender. “I was planning to,” Slender replied, patting Lazari’s head. “Thank.. Thank you Mr. Slendyman,” Lazari quietly said, rubbing the tears off of her cheeks.

Lazari laid in bed, pulling the blanket up to her shoulders, holding onto a stuffed blue bear. No longer in her stained pink dress, now dressed up in soft red PJs. “Hey Lulu?” She sat up looking towards Lulu, who had been brushing her teeth in the shared bathroom. “Hm?”

“Do you mind singing a lullaby?”  Lulu smiled, pulling her hair down from her pigtails while she sat down on the edge of the bed by Lazari. “Do you have any preferences for the lullaby?” she asked, Lazari shaking her head no. “Okay then!” she said, booping Lazari’s unnaturally red freckles on her nose. “Hush little Lazi, don’t say a word~ Lulu’s gonna catch you a mockingbird~ And if that mockingbird won’t sing~ Jeff’s gonna cuff off someone's diamond ring~ And if that diamond ring turns brass~ Slendy’s gonna hand you a looking glass~” Lazari could just barely see Lulu getting up to walk back to her bedroom before drifting to sleep. She slept well, waking up seemingly before anyone else. Lazari wandered down the halls, past everyone’s rooms. Slender had seemingly passed out on the couch, his suit barely undone, the TV was on yet only displayed static. “Here you go Mr. Slendyman,” she said, sitting down her plushie beside slender, giggling quietly to not wake him. The crayons were still out from the night before, yet her drawing was nowhere in sight. But she was too busy creating new ones to care about her missing old one.

One of her and Mr.Slendyman, One of her and Lulu, One of her and Tim, And One of her and Jeff. She even used a pencil to try and make the drawings more detailed than what she could do with her black crayon! She first set her drawing of her and Slendy down on top of him. Next she, as silently as she could, creaked open the door. To “The proxy zone” as she heard Jeff call it. It was like a whole new living room in there, but she went straight towards Tim’s bedroom door. Quietly setting her drawing down on his bedside table before speeding out. She retreated back into the normal area, she went up the stairs, going down the upper hallway to the very end, Jeff's room. She nearly tripped over all the stuff on his floor, but she laid her paper down beside him. Then back downstairs and down the hall to Lulu, setting the paper down on her dresser. 

Footsteps echoed down the hall. “Hey Lazi, what are you doing?” Slender asked, making Lazari jump. “Nothingggg-” “How about you go take a bath then? I can go start the water,” “Okay!” He locked the door on Lulu’s side, and started the water, pouring a little bubble bath solution to the running water. He laid down a light blue dress on the countertop before leaving to let Lazari in.

“Slendyman!” Lazari yelled out, doing a little spin in her new dress. “It looks very nice Lazi.” The door kicked open, Toby nearly tripping when entering. Brian followed behind, pulling up his mask. “Here are the other two proxies. Brian, and Toby.” Slender shifted his words to the two “Did you guys get the papers like I asked?  Brian nodded, presenting the papers to Slender. “Have we met before?” Toby tilted his head at Lazari. “No. You guys haven’t, that's Lazari. Would you two take her outside to play?” 

“We just got back!” “Would you like Toby, by himself, to be outside with an 8 year old. You remember what happened with Sally right?” He sighed, “Yes sir.” Why did he even keep a kid alive anyways? The 3 were visible through the front window, Toby and Lazari much more energetic then Brian was, but he still joined in their play. Slender flipped through the papers, pictures detailing Zalgo, and predictions of what could happen to Lazari. Pages of horrible outcomes, pages of her feasting on flesh of her friends, pages of her losing control of her body, pages of her leading him to them.  Horns, burnt flesh, glowing eyes, rips and tears in the skin. 

“She's so cute!”

“We seeing the same thing here?” Brian chuckled. Lazari was sitting down in the dirt, looking at the stones lining the path, picking up an unnaturally blue rock. “It looks like EJ’s mask!” Toby pulled a marker out of his hoodie’s pocket, scribbling on EJ’s “eyes” and tears. “See! Hey Lazari, you should give it to him. Have you guys met yet?” Lazari looked up at Toby. “Nooo?” Toby peeked inside, noticing EJ sitting on the couch, watching TV. “He's right inside on the couch, go give it to him!” 

You are NOT the fatherClearly he isn’t. The daughter is half white! I should know… I ate her kidney.

Lazari set the rock on the arm rest, poking him to get his attention. EJ paused the TV, looking down at the rock, then at Lazari, giving her a small wave as he picked up the rock. He looked at the scribbled on face, taking off his mask to compare it to the rock. He gave Lazari a smile, displaying his fangs, and a thumbs up.

Jack and Lulu sat in the living room, Lulu talking while Jack listened, the TV played whatever shitty TV show happened to be on. Until Jeff and Ben raced into the living room. “I’m choosing what we are playing!” “You chose last time!” Ben turned on the console set below the TV, playing with the buttons on the side of the TV to change the HDMI. Jeff pushed him out of the way, which led to Ben kicking his leg at Jeff. Tackle,

Punch,

Kick, Slap,

Intelligible yelling,

EJ just flipped through the channels as Slender entered the room, grabbing the two up and separating them. “Stay right there. Don’t move. I don’t need you two breaking another thing in this house.”  Jeff and Ben stood still, kneeling against the wall “Lulu, can you go out and get Lazari, Toby, and Brian? They’ve been out there for a while.”  Lulu left the mansion, no sight of the 3 nearby, she could hear yelling from far out in the woods. She ran towards the noise, which never seemed to get closer, she ran until she was out of breath, leaning up against a tree, the ground cracked. Red spilled out of the ground, she jumped back, attempting to run, but a clawed hand latched onto one of her pigtails. Throwing her against the ground. The Rake scampered behind, nodding its head and spewing out unintelligible words towards Zalgo. “ H̷e̴l̶l̵o̴,̴ ̸L̴u̷c̶i̸n̵e̶.̵ (Hello, Lucine.)” He pushed her bangs out of her face, digging his claws into her sockets. “O̴h̵,̶ ̸d̴o̵n̵’̸t̵ ̸t̶e̷l̷l̶ ̴m̸e̸ ̵y̶o̶u̵ ̴m̵i̶s̵s̵e̷d̶ ̷t̴h̸i̶s̷ ̸f̸a̵c̵e̸,̵ (Oh, don’t tell me you missed this face,)” “Get away! I already am going through the consequences of dealing with you! Isn’t that enough!” “̵I̵t̵'̷s̸ ̵n̴e̷v̴e̵r̴ ̴e̵n̵o̷u̷g̶h̶.. ̵A̴ ̶l̵i̸t̵t̷l̴e̴ ̶b̸i̵r̵d̸i̶e̴ ̴t̶o̶l̸d̴ ̸m̴e̴ ̴y̷o̶u̸ ̶m̸i̸g̷h̵t̸ ̵k̷n̷o̵w̸ ̴w̵h̸e̴r̴e̸ ̶L̷a̴z̵a̸r̷i̸ ̶i̴s̴.̶ ̶N̵o̷w̶ ̷t̶a̶l̵k̶.̸ (It's never enough... A little birdie told me you might know where Lazari is. Now talk.) " She returned with nothing but silence, biting her tongue.  Until he grabbed onto her arm, twisting further then it was meant to waiting for the-

Crack

He laughed at her screams and wails. Too far out for anyone in the mansion to hear, too far out for Slender to be alerted. “I don't know where she is! I don't know!” It wasn’t a lie, yet not the answer he had been looking for. The Rake came closer, getting a better sniff of Lazari from Lulu’s sweater.

“S̴o̷ ̵L̴u̵c̴i̵n̶e̸ ̶h̶o̶w̴ ̵d̶o̵e̸s̵ ̴i̷t̴ ̸f̸e̷e̴l̷ ̴b̵e̵i̸n̵g̵ ̶u̶n̵d̵e̴r̷ ̷h̸i̴s̵ ̶r̶o̶o̷f̶,̵ ̶y̴e̸t̴ ̵h̶i̸d̷i̶n̵g̷ ̶t̵h̶i̸s̸ ̸f̵r̴o̶m̴ ̸h̴i̶m̶.̴ ̶O̴r̷ ̵h̸a̷v̵e̸ ̵y̷o̷u̶ ̸b̸y c̸h̷a̴n̴c̵e̷ ̴t̷o̶l̵d̶ ̴t̵h̸e̶ ̷S̶l̶e̵n̵d̸e̵r̴m̷a̴n̶ ̷a̷b̶o̶u̴t̴ ̴u̸s̸?̷ (So Lucine how does it feel being under his roof, yet hiding this from him. Or have you by chance told the Slenderman about us?)”

“That's odd…” “What?” “Lulu hasn’t returned yet, and didn’t you hear the others enter through the back door too?” “Yeah…” “Ben, cover me, I don’t have a good feeling about this.”  Jeff grabbed a knife off of the table, and left out the door, wandering into the woods. Until he heard the faintest scream in the distance, he followed towards the sound, being quick yet quiet, the screams got louder as red mist filled the trees. Nearly tripping over the cracked ground as he approached, he could see the silhouette of Lulu and… ZalgoHe threw his knife towards the demon’s arm, it sunk into his inhuman flesh, it was barely more than a slight sting, yet it caused Zalgo to release Lulu from his grasp. Jeff used that moment to get in front of Lulu, shielding her from the beast, re-grabbing his knife and holding it out in front of him. “Fuck you Zalgo… I think it's time for you to go to sleep.” “F̵i̶n̷e̷,̶ ̵I̷ ̶g̵i̸v̷e̸ ̶u̶p̵.̷ (Fine, I give up.)” “You think I believe your obvious bullshit? “O̸h̸ ̴o̶f̵ ̶c̵o̵u̷r̸s̵e̵ ̶n̶o̸t̵!̷ ̵I̶t̵'̴s̵ ̵j̵u̴s̶t̴ ̸y̷o̶u̴ ̶h̸a̴v̶e̷ ̷o̵n̵l̵y̷ ̷t̷w̶o̵ ̴o̷p̸t̵i̴o̵n̶s̴,̷ ̴t̵a̴k̷e̵ ̶L̷u̸c̶i̸n̶e̴ ̴i̵n̸s̸i̶d̶e̶,̸ ̴o̴r̵ ̶f̶i̶g̷h̴t̸ ̷m̶e̶.̶ ̶C̷a̸n̶'̸t̶ ̴b̵e̸ ̷i̴n̷ ̷t̸w̷o̶ ̶p̴l̵a̵c̶e̸s̶ ̵a̷t̶ ̴o̴n̷c̷e̶ ̴J̸e̵f̸f̴e̷r̷y̷.̶  (Oh of course not! It's just you have only two options, take Lucine inside, or fight me. Can't be in two places at once Jeffery.)” “What did you just call her?” He lowered his knife. “A̶w̸w̶,̴ ̵i̴t̴ ̴a̵p̷p̵e̶a̶r̵s̷ ̶t̷h̷e̶ ̶i̵n̵s̸a̶n̵e̵ ̶m̶u̵r̶d̶e̵r̵ ̴d̴o̸e̸s̶ ̶h̸a̸v̸e̶ ̸a̸ ̸h̸e̸a̶r̷t̷.̶̶ ̸I̵ ̸c̶a̷n̷’t̴ ̶w̵a̴i̷t̴ ̵t̶o̶ ̵r̵i̴p̴ ̵i̸t̷ ̸o̶u̷t̴.̴ (Aww, it appears the insane murderer does have a heart. I can't wait to rip it out.)”

Lazari sat beside EJ, curled up on the couch, some old movie playing on the TV, fresh popcorn sat between them, Ben stood up, still against the wall, trying to watch as well. Sniff Sniff Do… Do I smell Daddy?

“Why was he attacking you- Why did he call you Lucine- what connections do you have to that demon fucker-” “Jeff, calm down- let Lulu explain-” “My name isn't Lulu!” … “He was after Lazi- but-” Back before Lulu was here she was enrolling mid-year to a new, all girls, private school. They were ruthless, finding every little thing wrong with her appearance, with how she acted, with her home life, they picked out every little detail they could. Reporting every dress code violation to the staff, her shirt untucked, her hair not perfectly brushed, a button undone, missing her tie, a rip of the seams, every little thing. 

Until she had to stay after school for her rule breaking, where little supervision occurred. One trip to the washroom, the quiet sound of snipping scissors, her long beautiful hair, cut down to just a tad below the shoulder. She was blamed for cutting it herself while she was gone, there was no proof of anyone else being sent out to the washroom as she was out, and Lucine couldn’t get a look at the girl’s face, but she knew who it was, just couldn't prove it.

 It only got worse from there. Black and blue bruises began to coat her legs, alongside scratches and scrapes. Her attendance dropped as she started to skip classes, then school in its entirety, detentions stacked on top of eachother from her lack of going. But on the verge of giving up, a blog post caught her attention online. “Summoning spell” “Use with caution” “Will change your life forever”It seemed fake, like how many others that claimed to do the same were, but the comments seemed legit, the ritual was very specific, and it didn’t hurt to try it, right? In the span of a few days she gathered the materials, blood of a goat, wood, oil, a lighter, an old book. Outside, far enough away from any occupied buildings, she set it together. The logs placed together to form his symbol, the book in the center, blood poured across the whole thing, the oil soaking the area, and finally, the flame. She couldn’t believe her eyes, the red mist flowing out from the middle, flooding the area, til she could barely see a couple feet out. The devil himself, clawing his way out of the ground, standing tall in front of Lucine, she nearly jumped back at the sight. “W̴h̴a̸t̴ ̸i̸s̸ ̴i̴t̵ ̵t̸h̸a̴t̷ ̸y̶o̶u̵ ̵w̴a̴n̶t̷? (What is it that you want?)” the beast growled. “I want to see why they treat me like this,” She responded, her voice shaking. His claws reached towards her face, resting just above her eyes, and in that moment, she could see through the main girl's eyes, to see her thoughts. 

 Jealousy, 

all this because Lucine was a bit prettier Not a moment later, she felt a tear, claws digging into her eyes, yanking them out, leaving her with nothing but two bloody sockets. “Due to the… deal… with him, he can locate me in mere seconds,”

“I swear I’ll skin those fuckers alive-” “I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.” “It’s alright… Lucine, we aren’t mad at you.”

Toby sat in front of Jeff’s door, using his cheap pink paint to coat the wood, giggling as he did so. Jack stood not far behind, shaking his head, yet still smiling, at Toby’s prank. Slender passed by. “Jack, you are in charge, I have to go run an errand, watch Lazari.”

“Jackkkk, if you're incharge can you let us have a tea party?” Lazari tugged on the bottom of his hoodie, Toby smiled, got down on his knees and mimicked Lazari.

“Yeah Jack pleaseeee~” EJ shook his head no, stepping back away from the two.

“Hmpf…” Toby got back up, “Say something if nooo to the tea party,” EJ shook his head more, “glaring” at Toby. “I didn’t hear anything, did you Lazi?” “Noooo” “So lets have a tea party, put that fucker Jack in a tutu. He’ll look soo pretty!”

Bottles scattered on every shelf, filled with various colourful liquids, some labeled yet the labels varied from specific to nearly scratched off. Different symbols from different groups painted onto the big circle window brightening the room. “Well look what the cat dragged in! Welcome Mr. Slenderman,” The voice bounced off of walls, making it impossible to know where it came from. The sound of glass clinking filled the room, til Cato stood upon the large box in front of the window. Tail swishing from side to side. 

“Lemme guess, here for little ol Lazari Swann?” “How did you-” “I have my ways!” Cato jumped down, landing on all fours like a cat before promptly getting up. Walking in circles around slender faster than he could turn. “Now have you let the “hunger” take over yet?” “The hunger?” “The hunger, monster form, the zalgo side, the demon form, whatever you would like to call it, it truly doesn't matter,” “No, I have not,” Slender stopped his attempt to face the spinning creature, instead stabilizing his balance before he would have fallen over. “Well how am I meant to help if you don’t even know her power? For all you know she’s just like her mother instead of her father! Or she could be the next Devil in the next couple of weeks! You really should get your details straight before coming to me for answers.” “So are you unable to help me?”

“I could take some educated guesses but no guarantee that I’ll be even in the same ballpark,” Cato responded, making air quotes around “educated guesses”. It jumped up on top of one of its many bookcases, pulling out a book with Zalgo’s symbol carved into the cover, flipping through the pages. “I could also lend you this book,” It reached the book out in front of itself, pulling it back when Slender reached up for it, “but it's gonna cost ya,”

Slender opened the door back to the mansion, returning to yelling from Jeff about the colour pink and a tea party taking place in the living room. EJ stuck in a bright pink tutu, a silver tiara, hair stuck into a ponytail, and his face covered in cheap makeup. Toby had been dressed up in a glittery dress, stacks of bracelets, hair covered in little hair clips, and a pair of fairy wings stuck on his back. Lazari was in the middle of them both with a little crown and wand, hosting the tea party.

“... I will be taking Lazari out, when I come back all this needs to be gone.” He took off her crown, and brought her outside. Don't get hungry Leading her away from the mansion. Don't get hungry Out far into the woods. Don't get hungry She refused to hold his hand.

Don't get hungry Choosing to follow instead. “This is far enough Lazi.”

I don’t want to be a monster

“Let it change you.” Lazari took a step back, tears swelling up. “Lazi, let it take over,” She stopped fighting it, the inhuman flesh started to spread down the side of her face. She fell over, unable to stand upright as it developed downwards

He's going to see , The flesh grew and darked, her hair parted to make room for horns breaking through the skin, claws emerging from the tips of her fingers. 

He’s going to get rid of me, Dull spikes formed down the back of her spine, charred skin started to crack open, leaving open wounds, leading red mist out, letting it fill the air.

He’s going to hate me,

Sharp fangs filled her mouth, the whites of her eyes burning red, her hair shifted to a red. 

Just like mama,

Her clothes ripped from the sharp points of her skin digging through the fabric. She laid there on the ground, unable to move, new sensations from everything that formed overwhelming her brain. Babbling unintelligible nonsense, with quiet “I’m sorry”-s hidden within. Slender got down beside her, pulling her up off of the dead grass, bringing her up to his chest, embracing her in a hug.

“No, I’m sorry Lazi.” She sobbed, her tears soaking his suit, claws tearing into the back, dirt being kicked up by hind legs as she attempted to push herself closer to him. What the hell did I get myself into?

Quiet footsteps surrounded them, out of the corner of Slender’s vision a white blurry figure circled them on fours.

Found her

Snow covered the ground, fresh footsteps breaking up the soft white as more and more went outside to feel the cold. Lazi was passed out on her bed, her hair still red but the rest of her body seemed to be returning to normal. Horns were now less than half the size of yesterday, spikes were now barely felt. Her clawed hands and feet stayed overnight, but they were less sharp. The charred skin remained covering her right eye. Bandages were wrapped around where the cracks were before. It hurt to get up, her body felt weak. She changed into a new outfit, pieces borrowed by others in the mansion, tossing the old one straight to the trash, the holes in it were beyond repair. She felt sick- She felt horrible- She felt- Hungry.She could barely get to the couch before collapsing, she sat at the very end, leaning against the armrest, shaking.  Lulu came into the room, approaching Lazari, leaning over the back of the couch to speak with her. “Hey Lazi, are you Okay-” Lazari leaned over the side further, throwing up black goop all over the mansion’s floor. No… No... No…

No… No... No…Everyone was outside, it felt like forever since the last time it properly snowed. Tim and Brian watched as Toby, Ben, and Jeff threw badly made snowballs at each other

“You are SO about to eat ass jeff-fucker!” Ben shouted “Over Jack’s pussy ass dead body!” Jeff yelled back, both of them lined up their snowballs and- “You put rocks in that snowball!” they both screamed. Insults were shouted by both sides, though they did the same “prank” it was apparently bad that the other did it as well. It got a small chuckle out of Slender. It was nearly noon, and Lazari hadn’t come outside yet, so he went in to check in on her.  “Lazi?” The black goop was spread out all over the living room, Lulu nowhere in sight. He could just barely see Lazari’s red hair from behind the kitchen counter. Right as he took a step towards her the door swung open, Lulu shoving a dead body towards the kitchen. Within just a second Lazari pounced, getting on top of the body and Crunch Teeth sunk into their neck Everything in my head went blank Blood spilled out onto the floor, mixing together with the goop. Before I knew it i was eating Even with seeing this happen what must have been hundreds of times with EJ and Twil- Help me It seemed worse coming from “little ol Lazi” Everything hurts Once she finished feasting, she looked down at the body, at the mess on her, on the body, all over the floor.  She passed out again. Slender wiped as much blood off as he could and brought her back up to her bed. He left her alone the rest of the day, he wouldn’t admit it to her face but he was scared of what she could do. If this happened again and someone couldn't get a body fast enough, would she attack one of us?

As she rested in bed scratches came from the window, making a horrid sound. White long clawed fingers banged against the door until it cracked. It crawled its way through the now broken window, claw marks covering both the outside and inside as The Rake got in. It got up off of all fours, picking Lazari up off her warm bed, carefully making its way back out the window, into the forest, far out from where the mansion could see, towards where Zalgo told him to take her.

 Arms scratched from claws picking her up while sleeping, said wounds spilled out red haze. Skin charred up instinctively as she was brought down to Zalgo’s world. Her hair let completely down, no longer held together with its bow, the bow had been left behind. As things grew she didn’t once wake up, it felt more natural here then her normal skin. She awoke upon a mattress lazily thrown onto the floor in a bare room. She didn’t even notice the burnt skin nor horns on her body at first, she nearly screamed when she did, but was quickly silenced by one of Zalgo’s proxies roaming the halls nearby. Unlike the mansion the walls seemed organic, not built out of wood but instead found like this naturally. She shakily got up and exited the room, non human beings walked down the halls, grim looking lanterns floated within the halls, brightening the area. The hallways were wide, enough room for 10 to 12 people to walk side by side at. It was carpeted with a red patterned rug, filled with different drawings and patterns presenting Zalgo’s power, status, and control. 

As she walked down the halls the other demon-like creatures pushed themselves to the side, providing Lazari more than enough room, she tried to ignore the terrible acts shown on the carpet, instead looking up at the ceiling. It was filled with beautifully detailed carvings, painted with shimmery reds and blacks, it almost looked like it was intestines and organs.

Hungry?

She passed by many creatures of all sizes and shapes, some furred, looking almost dog-like, some humanoid, some were huge beasts triple the size of Lazi, a few looking just as if they were human. Her favorite had to be the skele-dog, she would have pet it if it was any other time. The hall eventually stopped, leading to a huge metal door, the hinges were patterned as his symbol, the door itself appeared to once have engraving throughout the entire thing but the bottom half was scratched till the detail was gone. She pushed her entire body against the door, pushing it open with all her strength, just barely able to open it. The door led to a huge ballroom-looking area, high ceilings with a huge chandelier in the center, and tiled floor. Her clawed feet clicked against the tile, echoing throughout the room. She looked all around the room, looking anywhere but in front, til she hit something.  She took steps back, pressing her hand against her head. She looked up in front-

Daddy?

[newcaptainofsquad9]

The Lady’s Man~Becky Lynch x fem! reader

Pairing: Becky Lynch x reader

Genre: Romance, fluff

  Summary: After spending close time with Becky during your time as tag team duos, she starts to dress differently, something not only the fans pick up on but you along with Becky’s competition for the Smackdown Women’s championship too.

Writer’s Note: First and foremost, I’m sorry about not updating a certain fic yet (The Astrid, Crazy Rich Asians one. I’m still working on it!) or just writing a lot on here in general. Depression has its hooks sunk deep and work has been draining me more than usual but here I am. One of the things that has helped me lots is wrestling, haven’t watched it since I was a young teen and wow, it’s like interacting with an old friend again. One thing that I’ve also noticed is how much the women on the roster are hot and why I liked them so much. The gay awakening was real. Anyway, hope you enjoy my first wrestling fic!

Word Count: 1, 978

You were classy. If you were to partake in feuds or clap-backs, you kept it high-brow and let your skills in the ring do most of the talking. That was part of your character: Lady Y/N, here to bring back beauty and class to the WWE, an exhausting effort to get through with your in ring abilities instead of full on trash talking. That being said, you did have your moments where you popped off on the mic, especially when Damage Ctrl was involved. 

You came face to face with Bayley, Dakota Kai and Iyo Sky tonight; the people of the crowd roaring and chanting, “My Lady” once your music hit and you came strutting toward the ring.

“Aw, here she comes!” Bayley yelled. She pointed off around the crowd and continued to mouth off“Shut up! We’re the top ladies here you heathens.”

“Bayley, all this crying isn’t gonna get you anywhere,” you said. You entered the ring, smiling at the audience, waved and aimed a few kisses at the people, swooning them in the process. “Didn’t Becky and I beat Iyo and Dakota last week and didn’t you lose your championship to Charlotte at the Rumble last week?”

Bayley nodded eagerly, smile plastered on her face. 

“Yeah! Lady yeah! I did y/n! But who’s been a champion at all? Me! Not you! Some lady you are!” Bayley exclaimed while laughing and nodding to her Damage Ctrl sidekicks. “Maybe, if you’re nice to us tonight, I can bring you in the spotlight on my Ding Dong Hello show next week. Well, just you and not your man.”

You cocked up an eyebrow at the mention of “your man”, right when the WWE universe all “oooooed” all at once. It was some sort of joke you weren’t in on, yet you caught yourself with a sly grin and went back in on Bayley. 

“My man? You making up delusions now, huh, Ms. Role-model?” you said. 

Bayley scoffed then let out a snort while turning to Dakota and Iyo. The crowd seemed to react as well, chanting “The Man” over and over. 

Oh. Becky, that was who Bayley was referring to. She called herself the man, didn’t mean she was your “man.” Right? And Bayley is totally wrong, the WWE Universe did have their bright moments but they didn’t dictate who did or didn’t belong to you. Especially Becky Lynch. She was your friend and tag team partner. Period. Nothing more, nothing less. 

“Please, you might be able to fool these idiots!” Bayley yelled. She gestured to the audience before continuing. “But you can’t fool me and the heart eyes she gives you! Have you even seen her new merch?”

Now you knew Bayley made up insults and material on the fly but you really had no idea what she was talking about. Before you could wrap your head around it or throw your own comment back at her, Becky’s music hit, sending the arena along with Damage Ctrl into a frenzy.

“Aww, now look who you’ve spawned!” Bayley groaned. “How dare you idiots speak of The Man!”

The combination of the loud music, the crowd and Bayley’s irritating yells swirled into a cacophony of noise that left you frozen while you watched your fiery headed partner (tag of course) rush out, all smiles and cockiness under her black shades. It’s like what Bayley alluded too, her outfit and merch was different: instead of wearing her flashy, “Bex” shirt underneath her leather jacket, Becky sported a new shirt with blocky letters reading “The Lady’s Man.” 

Your heart skipped a bit at the display; being around Becky was already complex, she just made it twenty times harder. She trotted down to you on your frozen spot in front of the ring, eyes obscured by her shades until she lifted them. 

“You called?” Becky asked. She aimed her words at Bayley and the entire WWE Universe, but it felt as if she was just talking to you. 

Becky stepped closer toward you, rearranged your hair a little before placing the shades on your head. 

“This Ok?” she asked. “Don’t want to mess up your hair, but I just couldn’t resist.” 

Her Irish accent always had an effect on you but how low it was when she whispered, with her gesture of the shades left you flabbergasted longer.

“Hey! Flirt on your own time!” Bayley said. She pointed at Becky, who chuckled. “This is between me and your Lady!”

“Woah, woah, woah! You know Y/N and I are a team, like you and your Ctrl clique,” Becky explained. She brought an arm around your shoulder, patting the spot in an attempt to bring you back from your stump. “The Man always defends her lady. Dare I say, she’s got a better chance at Charlotte for the Smackdown women’s championship than you!” 

Becky’s words got your chest to flare; you nodded along however, smiling a bit too big as words of your own bubbled up from your throat. 

“The Man’s got a valid point though, what do you say, Role-model?” you said. 

Bayley guffawed. 

“Sure! Yeah right, like she would--” Bayley said. She was cut off by the crowd chanting your name over and over, angering her yet again. “Shut up! You idiots don’t know anything! Y/N can’t even compete with Dakota or Iyo, let alone me!”

Becky cocked her head back, as if her fellow horsewoman’s words struck her face on. She turned toward you, mouthing a “can you believe this?” You just rolled your eyes and shook your head. 

“Bayley, keep spouting this nonsense and maybe I’ll have to kick your ass again,” Becky said. She brought you closer, close enough to hook her arm around your waist. “Or! We could take care of Kai and Iyo and they can defend those tag titles for once! Jeez! Those things have been collecting dust!” 

You found yourself smiling more as the heat built up your chest. Becky and you only teamed up due to being a great match against Fire and Desire, along with other amazing women in the division but to suggest you both challenge Damage Ctrl? It was a commitment to what you two could do together, although, it wasn’t as grand as Becky proclaiming herself “your man”, was it the direction Triple H wanted or was it something more?

“No way!” Bayley growled. “I mean, they’re the greatest bunch of the womens division they don’t need to prove a thing!”

Iyo Sky and Dakota nodded, a little too swiftly with conflicting emotions pouring through; you picked up on them immediately.

“You sure Bayley? They seem scared. Let’s ask them, folks! Iyo? Dakota?  Are you afraid to take on Becks and I? Maybe to even put the titles on the line too?”

The WWE Universe erupted in another fit of chants: you made it out to be them calling Damage Ctrl cowards over and over again. Becky chuckled and pulled you close while Iyo and Dakota went over what was going on with Bayley off mic. It looked as if Iyo and Dakota were trying to talk their leader out of it, you felt quite terrible for them and how the crowd began to drown them out with the noise.

“All right! Quiet you idiots!” Bayley shouted. She gestured for the WWE universe to calm down more, leaving mummers among the crowd and stands. “They’ll accept the challenge, next week!”

You didn’t expect them to accept so quick, believing them to think it over throughout the week or maybe go back and forth with Becky on Twitter(usually ending up with you mediating). 

“Yes!” Becky cheered. “We got this, lass.”

You could only nod, lost in the feeling of opportunity: white noise of the crowd and a tingling feeling that warped down your chest toward your belly. A title shot for the first time in your career, with Becky. Becky freaking Lynch. 

The thought kept up its constant ringing in your head, even after you escaped the effervescent noise the WWE universe were known to cause. You managed to reach your personal locker room before a hand grabbed your wrist--the action forced you to tense up, thinking it was Bayley or Damage Ctrl. 

“Whoa, lass, you all right?” Becky said. Concern clean on her face. “Is it OK if we talk?”

You nodded. Becky shut the door behind you, then proceeded to pace the space, back and forth like a blur of orange flame that flicked from one end of a candle to the next. 

“It wasn’t your idea, was it?” you said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. 

Becky froze, attention immediately on you. 

“What?”

You let out a humorless laugh and motioned to her new T-shirt. 

“The Lady’s Man? It was just a new way of introducing our tag team? Making it official, yeah? Or is it a new storyline that I’m not caught up with yet?” you asked. You pressed your fingers together and fidgeting them while continuing. “I-I just want to understand what all that was.”

“Lass--”

“Rebecca, please be honest with me,” you said. The emotion in your voice was sharp and firm.

Becky rushed over to you, taking your face in your hands. 

“Breathe, y/n, I’ll explain, let me just sit you down, OK?” she said. 

She led you to the folded chair you had set up by your cubby, helping you sit prior to her kneeling in front of you. 

“It was my idea, and yeah Triple H and the people wanted to market it, thought it’d be a great thing to lead up to something amazing to do with the Tag titles,” Becky explained. She took your hand as she spoke, rubbing the knuckles and the underside of a few veins. “But under all of the bravado and what The Man means to me, there’s some truth to it. I really want to try and be your lady too. I-I like you, Y/N, I really do.”

The way Becky looked up at you almost made the emotions break from you, tears flooded your eyes, some spilling over to your dismay. 

“Y/N, no, hun, don’t cry I--”

You cut Becky off with a kiss, meeting her halfway as your arms wrapped around her neck. Becky returned the kiss instantly, wrapping her arms around your waist and pulling you flush against her. A mini makeout session just about occurred. You pulled back (a little self conscious that you both were still in the arena aka work) but Becky lifted your chin up tenderly, planting a short yet passionate kiss to your lips once again. 

“I love that desire, lass,” Becky whispered. “Does this mean we’re to be more than tag team champions in the future?”

You nodded. “That and we’ll have a lot more moments outside of Wrestlemania.” 

[temis-de-leon]

The Nemean Lion

Characters: male!MC, Luke (platonic) and an unnamed old man

Summary and Disclaimer

Main Masterlist

C/W: some swearing, descriptions of violence and brief description of murder

A/N: very different from what I normally write, so tell me if I should add something in the c/w.

.

It'll teach you a lesson, his cousin had said.

It's either this or therapy, he had said.

Babysitting or therapy? More like suffering humiliation or showing weakness.

At least he was getting paid.

Although perhaps not enough.

The child, Luke, seemed to hate being with him as much as MC hated being there at all. London was cold and humid, too different from the sunny skies he was used to, and the rich people he worked for were fucking weird. There was no other word for them; plain weird with weird-ass names and a weird-ass taste in clothes. One of them didn't even know how to wear a jacket!

And he knew there were just weird because his family was rich as well and none of them were that fucking awkward. Violent, sure, and entitled to aggressiveness, but the safety of old money allowed them to indulge as much as they wanted.

Except for MC, but he couldn't really be mad about it; Meg did divorce him because she was afraid of him, after all, and it wasn't like he could go to an office, sit on a lounge chair and seriously say “I threatened and screamed at my wife because my stepmother pushed my buttons and provoked me”.

So babysitting it was.

However, if he had to hear “I’m not a child!” one more time, he might just bang his head against a wall until he bled and call it a day. It had been amusing at the beginning, but the bakery, or patisserie, as Luke insisted on calling it, was all the way across town and the kid had done nothing but yap like an eager puppy and then yell at MC with an embarrassed blush whenever he teased him for it.

Besides, the old stone path was treacherous, eroded by the wind, the strides of those who’d walked on it and the endless rains and storms that had conquered Britain since the dawn of times; and both of them had almost tripped and fallen more than once. After the first few times, MC had offered to carry Luke so they could get there faster, but the child had looked at him like he’d just murdered his mother, immediately walking faster to avoid him and prove a point and ultimately falling backwards as a result, which just made him feel even more embarrassed if that was possible. MC did consider placing him on his shoulder and ignoring his complaints, but wouldn’t that look like kidnapping?

He could not risk his chances. Being seen as a short-tempered madman by his whole community was already hard enough.

“Your ass is wet” he snickered, barking a laugh at the grey sky when Luke turned around with cheeks blushing in a scandalized expression.

“My what??”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Your butt is wet”

“I understood you the first time!”

“Okay, damn” muttered MC, which served only to receive another appalled look. Was he babysitting a preteen or an old lady?

Maybe he was a sheltered kid? His tutor, a young father or an older brother, MC wasn’t sure, looked like a youth pastor dressed in a navy uniform, so maybe swearing and behaving inappropriately were non-existent in their house.

“It wasn’t my fault I fell; you know”

“I never blamed you” he said kicking a rock down the street. “But you wouldn’t have fallen if you’d let me carry you…”

Luke interrupted him, balling his fists until his knuckles were white.

“You carry a child! I’m not a child! I can walk perfectly fine. Hmph!”

“You can also fall perfectly fine; nice form back there”

“Shut up!”

He chuckled again, nicer that time, and lightly pushed Luke so he would keep walking forward, but a quick movement on the porch beside them brought his attention.

It was a man, but he couldn’t pinpoint how old he was. Half of his face was covered by a long bushy beard and the insane amount of muscles made him look younger. Not even the fur and leather jacket he wore helped cover his bulky body. His eyes were light brown, almost golden and surrounded by wrinkles and age spots, and when they disappeared behind the window and the front door opened a few seconds later, MC’s first impulse was to grab Luke by the scruff of the neck and place him behind his body. Whatever argument the kid tried to say died under the man’s voice.

His stance was powerful too, not an ounce of weakness emanated from him.

“Shut your fucking mouths, the both of you” he rasped, his voice unsurprisingly deep. MC could feel Luke shrink as if trying to hide from the man, no sound came from him. “You’re talking too damn loud”

“I think those are the voices in your head, man”

A tiny fist punched his back repeatedly, silently urging him to stop talking. Unfortunately for Luke, he almost couldn’t notice the hits.

“We’re just passing by, using the sidewalk like good-behaved civilians” MC said nonchalantly, keeping his hands inside the pockets of his jacket and opening his arms as if showing the deserted street. The man frowned and licked his teeth, looking at him from head to toe, clearly assessing him. “If you have a problem with that, suck it up and cry to whoever gives a shit about you. I know I don’t”

“You…!”

In the span of a second, the stranger crossed the distance between them and looked down with a sneer. He was bigger than him, angrier and more willing to punch, but MC knew he could win the fight if they ever happened to start one. However, Luke was shaking like a leaf and even though the wind had risen and the sky threatened to hide the sun again, MC knew it wasn’t due to the cold.

“Hey, not my fault if you’re lonely” he muttered after swallowing his pride, trying not to chuckle without bothering to hide to curving corner of his lips. “But if you’re into that shit we won’t bother you anymore“

“You’re crossing a line, kid”

That made MC chortle.

He would’ve already struck with a fist by then had it been any other situation, especially when his ego was so sore by his brand new living arrangement.

Although only a few months had passed, his vision still went blind each time he remembered the argument. If only his father had been there when everything happened, the situation would’ve been extremely different, but who knew where he was? Probably getting more random women pregnant. Instead, they had his stepmother, his father’s first and only wife, who had single-handedly stripped MC of his inheritance to give it all to his cowardly cousin, whose solution to resolve the scandal “faster” had been to send MC away.

And now he was babysitting a preteen and dying to fight an old man in the streets of London.

“You were sitting by the window watching children go by; if we’re talking about crossing lines…”

He missed the Mediterranean sun and the burning feeling on his shoulders amid summer; having someone by his side each morning and no worries that could keep him awake at night.

The old man quickly grabbed the collar of his jacket before pulling him towards his alcohol-reeking body. He bore his teeth, hardly visible under the unkempt beard, and sneered when MC smiled with twisted satisfaction.

An almost imperceptible tremble behind him made him retreat in an instant.

“Be bitter on your own” he ended up saying after forcefully peeling himself out of the grasp and taking a few steps back. He grabbed Luke’s bicep in the process to drag him by his side.

The man was fuming with fists clenching in unrestraint rage but thankfully stayed where he was.

“And leave the rest of us out of it”

So they left.

Their bodies, at least. A part of MC wished to stay behind in search of warmth and the smell of copper.

What loneliness did to an angry man…

Silence stayed between them for a long time, even when they finally reached the damn patisserie and stood outside to wait in line. A poster on the window warned a maximum of two people inside the tiny establishment and the old-fashioned doorbell only rang every few long minutes, so it seemed they’d be there for a while. Those around them were chatting, mindlessly commenting on the menu’s options and the impending storm that would eventually ruin their evening’s plans; the distant thundering only proving their point.

“I don’t get it, though” he said trying to ignore his inner turmoil. Luke raised his head to look at him, obviously impatient to go in and order some sweets. “Why did you want to come here? Why not bake whatever they sell? I thought you were good”

“I am good! Even Michael loves…” his voice suddenly stopped and his face contorted in regret.

He’d said something he shouldn’t have, hadn’t he? MC squatted, immediately distracted and interested, and smiled at the kid with morbid curiosity.

Morningstar had introduced him to Luke’s tutor in the morning, mere minutes before shamelessly leaving him under his care and going to who knows where to attend some business. Simeon, a pretty guy if MC had ever seen one, had given the same excuse, but, if he saw correctly, and he knew he did, both had gone in different directions. Had any of them left to go see this Michael?

“Who’s that?” he urged. Unfortunately, despite looking so nervous, Luke wasn’t willing to talk about it.

“No one!” he answered, but he sounded furious at his own response. He opened his mouth again but changed the subject at the end, much to MC’s disappointment. “If you’re that interested, I’m going to buy puff pastry cups; here they bake them with a secret ingredient, so I want to experiment with different fillings at The Angel’s Halo”

“You know you won’t be able to sell them, right?”

“Yes, but I’m okay with that. I like to bake, regardless of any compensation I might receive. As long as my friends enjoy it, then I’m happy!”

And golly gee, wasn’t that a beautiful mindset?

MC tried not to roll his eyes, equally amused and exasperated at the child’s kindness. He had never met anyone so virtuous, let alone a boy that young, and it got him to briefly wonder if there was the slight possibility of having been as innocent as Luke had his family been completely different. On the other side, what if they were doomed to fail from the start? The thought was infuriating and made his muscles tense once again.

“Do I get to have one too?” he muttered, trying to get the sour taste out of his mouth. Imagining a homemade dessert was a decent solution.

“You?” answered Luke with raised brows, surprised by his request. He then frowned and crossed his arms with a dignified expression. “You really think you deserve it? You used some bad words back then”

He chuckled at the reprimand, feigning ignorance with obscene exaggeration.

“Bad words? Which ones?”

“I’m not going to repeat them!”

“Are you gonna give me one of those sweets if I swear I won’t say them again?”

“I… I don’t know! Maybe!”

“Okay, I’ll make sure not to say them in front of you then”

“Wait, no- That’s not fair! And you said you didn’t know which ones I meant anyway!”

A melodic ring interrupted their conversation, finally letting the last customers get out of the store and filling the narrow street with the sweet smell of butter and sugar.

“C’mon, don’t think about it too hard”

“Wait…!” he tried to protest, but MC was pushing him inside the cosy establishment without paying any attention to his words.

The rest of the evening passed faster than he would’ve imagined when he was given his task that morning. Luke, as annoying as his moral compass was most of the time, had a way of keeping the conversation going without being irritating or repetitive, even with their limited topics. He was curious and naïve but also had a fiery determination and the more MC teased him the less offended he acted about it.

In the end, they came back to The Angel’s Halo discussing their favourite flavours and toppings, staying like that for hours. When Simeon returned, quiet and reflective, the night had already claimed the sky and had brought dark clouds and the bite of cold wind with it. After that, it was only a matter of time until it started raining and, before anyone could realise it, the sidewalks were already covered in dirty water.

MC knew the moment he stepped out of the café that he should’ve gone back to Serenity Manor, reported to Morningstar and cleaned off the heavy rain with a shower, but his feet thought otherwise; even when his t-shirt clung uncomfortably and the drenched denim jacket added unnecessary weight to his stride. For some reason, instead of the blankets and the sweaters waiting for him in the guest room he’d been assigned, his memories were swarmed by a vaguely familiar fur and leather jacket.

That old man was stronger than him and more intimidating too, but also bitter and lonely. There could be a million reasons why an elder ended up without a family: opportunities lost to time, death, rejection… Wrongdoings? But MC couldn’t care less. It didn’t even matter. At the end of the day, they were both sides of the very same angry coin, with the difference that only one was wearing a good jacket.

And MC swore on his father’s blood that it would be him.

With a mind clouded by senseless ire, he ignored the clean modern road leading to the manor and went instead through the streets he had walked hours before with Luke. Who knew if MC was alone because no one was there or because those who were had chosen to hide, but the idea of still being respected, even if caused by fear, felt better than he cared to admit. It was flattering.

MC could notice his heart beating faster as the old man’s house appeared in his vision. It reminded him of one time, years ago, when he had gone with his brother and their mother to the zoo and they had all stared at the lions’ enclosure with yearning and excitement; the desire to reach and touch the mane and golden coat strong enough to give him energy for two days and tire his poor mother.

He needed that jacket.

Although some houses nearby had the lights on, no one was there to hear him jump the gate. He crossed the small overgrown garden and stared at the inside of the house through the window glass, just as the old men had looked at Luke and him earlier.

The living room was dark and empty, including furniture and decoration. There was only an armchair placed in a corner next to a worn-out standing floor lamp and a simple table with stacks of paper stuck under a couple of its legs. As far as he could see, the end of the hallway showed no light either.

MC clicked his tongue, ignoring the tendrils of impatience before walking towards the door in a crouch and pushing it softly. It opened with a creak but emitted no sound as it closed and, once he was inside and the dark engulfed him, he quietly locked the deadbolt. Whichever reason the man had for keeping his home open, whether it was his arrogance or no possession of value, wasn’t interesting to MC.

There, in silence, he could only hear his own breathing, the speed of his blood flow, the faint ticking of a clock and the constant humming of an appliance. The lack of snoring in the house did nothing but excite him even further. It did not matter to him what state the old man was in; deep in slumber or wide awake, being caught by surprise would leave him weak and at a disadvantage.

The kitchen was at the end of the corridor, illuminated only by the moonlight through the curtains. It had a backdoor, which MC quickly closed before leaving and going straight to the stairs.

A wide taxidermy collection decorated the halls. The creepy and empty stares of the stuffed animals seemed fixed on him as he stepped over the carpeted floors to make as little noise as possible. There were skulls on the walls too and weapons scattered around, especially hunting knives and machetes. He noticed some were stained and, after little consideration, chose to ignore it.

No family pictures or portraits to make the house more human; just the stench of death. Recollections of past violence.

A messy office, a bathroom reeking of mould and, finally, the bedroom.

The door was ajar, so opening it enough to enter comfortably wasn’t difficult, although It creaked a bit. Thankfully, it was still raining and the noise went unnoticed, so before he could even realise it, MC found himself looming over the old man.

MC saw with surprising indifference that he had taken off the leather jacket to carelessly throw it over a chair for the night. He could grab it, leave and let the situation stay as a petty theft; but what then? Would he ever be able to wear it comfortably out of the privacy of the house?

He looked down again. The old man was sleeping, face up and mouth open, and for a glorious moment, he looked frail.

Without thinking much about it, MC leaned over and grabbed the other end of the pillow with slow movements, careful not to make any noise. He lifted his knee at the same time, placing it over the man’s pelvis and, once his body was somewhat aligned over the laying one, he pushed down as strongly as possible, pressed the pillow against the man’s face and seized his thick neck with an iron grip.

The denim protected him from the scratches, but he would still have bruises the next day. The hits hurt, of course, and it seemed the old man was trying to bite him through the pillow. Unfortunately for him, there was nothing in MC’s bitter mind besides the bone-chilling coldness of the city and the reminder of an empty bed back at Serenity Manor.

The rain was heavier than before if that was possible, but at least he’d leave that awful house with a good jacket.

.

.

Taglist: @ilovecandys2010  @ollieoven @kingofspadesdelusion @whimsybloom @completelyshatteredbrokenmschf

[maybeitsalivescribbles]

TTD - First Meeting 4/4

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 and end

Sequel of this and end. Yeah, it has a title and everything now.

*

Everything was white. And Hero’s memory was fuzzy.

They remembered a warehouse. A very dark warehouse, full of false traps and occupied by a weird Villain. They saw themself visiting the whole building, encountering tools and a sort of workshop, but never finding anyone. Only a disembodied voice yelled in their ears, threatening in a more and more pleading tone to leave them alone. In the end, they complied. It’d felt more of an intrusion than an arrest attempt. The world could bear the robbery of a few food items. They’d left empty-handed.

No, hold on, that had happened a while ago. What was going on now?

They remembered two silver eyes. Supervillain. Oh right, that guy ! He was involved somehow. And then – then -

“Do you really think this was going to be that easy to keep me in ?”

Oh, hell had broken loose then. The cage that had Supervillain trapped was being ripped into shreds. The bars flied like they were made in cardboard. And Hero called Villain from the other side of the room.

“You need to free me now !”

“But -”

“Look, push this button and run ! I’m dealing with this.”

Another bar creaked. Villain smashed the button. Hero rushed to the broken cage. This didn’t look good. Someone had won the superpower lottery here, and it wasn’t them. If Supervillain hit them even once, their bones would shatter like glass. Normally, they would have no chance, but for now Supervillain was still blind. The shadow around their eyes moved with their face, staying where it was despite the man’s desperate efforts. He grabbed the last bar in his hand, handling it like a club, and swung around, yelling at Hero to get to it.

They accepted.

As a low-rank hero, they rarely fought during the job. However, the agency insisted on a mandatory and strict physical training. So Supervillain had super-strength, sure, big deal. He didn’t have the energy beams of Superhero. And when he hurled insults at them, they didn’t have to consider them. So they struck. Chin, solar plexus, ribs. All hits landed, but they didn’t make much of an impact. It was okay. Hero had all the time of the world. It was easy to see that Supervillain never had to fight on the defensive before. Hero was nearly sorry for them, but then they remembered the little old lady from the building who would never finish her tea, and they punched harder. He tried to fight back, of course. Once or twice his fist missed by just an inch, and the shockwaves that came after were not pleasant. You’re not going to scream, said Superhero in their head. I won’t let you. They know where you are if you scream. Hero gritted their teeth, caught the arm that was in their reach, and twisted. Supervillain didn’t made a noise, either. Only his bones cracked when his wrist was broken. He took a step back without skipping a beat, and screamed:

“See, Villain ? This is what they’re going to do to you !”

Hero instinctively looked beyond him. Judging by the round shadow in the corner, Villain hadn’t moved. It was impossible to know their body language or the expression on their face. The dark mist that blindfolded Supervillain slipped, just a little. Hero could see a glimmer of silver eyes.

And then, everything was white.

Hero’s hand gently moved, clenching and clenching their fingers that were satisfyingly still all there. Nothing hurt, their memories were somewhat back, maybe it was time to jump on their feet and panic. So that’s what they did, their widened eyes frantically examining the surroundings. They didn’t recognize anything. They were sitting on the dirt, the sky above their head. Supervillain was nowhere in sight. And Villain…

Hero rushed towards the only person in sight, a thin silhouette in a black gown. They put a hand on a still shoulder, but as they were trying to turn them on the side, Villain turned their head away:

“Halt !”

Surprised, Hero suspended their gesture:

“Why ? You’re hurt ?”

“No. I am...displeased at the idea of someone seeing my face.”

“Why ?”

“It’s been a long time.”

Deciding not to probe any further for the moment, Hero helped putting Villain’s hood back, then sat next to them, avoiding their gaze. Standing up was possible, but for now still ambitious.

“So here we stand, nemesis”, said Villain. “Well... sort of. The moment of final judgment will be upon us soon, but before, tell me one thing.”

“Yes ?”

“Last week, an unknown hand left a bag full of Twinkies in front of my lair. Are you the culprit ?”

Hero chuckled.

“Yeah,” they admitted. “There was a sale.”

“Yet you didn’t try to enter.”

“Nah.”

Villain stayed silent, so Hero took upon themself to keep the conversation going:

“So. Hm. Do you have...any idea about what happened ?”

“I’m afraid so. Such is the curse of having a superior intellect; although the truth is as dark as my soul, I cannot unseen it.”

“Buddy, you’re doing this bit while you can’t stand up.”

“Hmm. I guess he used his power while my shadow came back on his eyes.”

“So you think it turned against him and he disappeared ?”

“Indeed. He won’t be missed.”

“Still…”

Hero looked around them:

“But he had enough time to erase...”

“Don’t say it. It might look like it was a common torture room of doom to you, but it was my torture room of doom.”

“It was where you lived. I’m sorry.”

The phone inside their pocket hadn’t been erased, but that didn’t make a difference. No call had been made. Hero sighed, gently massaged their forehead, then risked to look at Villain. The shadow was back on their face, but they were struggling to stand up.

“Need a hand ?”

A groan answered them. Hero shrugged and helped them standing them on their feet.

“Your abilities are beyond my understanding, nemesis,” said Villain in a sulking voice. “Why didn’t you disappear ? What is your power ?”

“It’s not really a power, actually.”

“You’re being unclear.”

They stumbled. Hero caught their arm:

“Okay. Before my birth, my parents saved a light spirit, so it gave them a blessing. I can’t be hurt by anything that is a direct source of light. Fire, electricity, plasma, whatever. The sun can heal me a little too, but it’s very slow. I suppose Supervillain’s power triggers flashes before working, so it doesn’t work on me.”

“So where comes your strength from ?”

“It’s called working out.”

“Cheating, then. I see.”

“I don’t think I can contact the agency before tomorrow. We’ll have to make do. You will fight if I give you to the police, uh ?”

“Naturally.”

“Yeah, we’re not doing that. I just want to crash on my bed and sleep twelve hours. I have a guest room. Do you want to come to my place?”

“You mean infiltrating your lair ?”

“Just for this night.”

(It wasn’t just for this night)

*

Check the These Two Dorks Masterlist or Tag for more snippets with these characters.

Or back to Hero x Villain Masterlist.

[yangbbokari]

Not So Meant To Be

Pairing: Scaramouche x gn!reader Genre/AU/Trope: Angst(y’all should know this by now), Royalty AU Warnings: Explicit language, yelling, crying, self-harm WC:1k Summary: Prince Scara would forever be your rival. But what if one day, your heart doesn’t think the same? A.N: Birthday fix for my lovely mootie, @simonisferal / @kuni-coded HAPPY BIRTHDAY POOKIE I LOBE YOU (I also know like little to no lore so this fic will probably not include much of it) Song rec: Let You Break My Heart Again - Laufey, Creep - Radiohead

Way long before you could understand the feelings of love, there was a boy. And just as he was a boy to you, you were just another kid to him.

You met that boy on the borderlines. Beat up and barely able to walk. Covered in blood. Someone else’s or even possibly his own. You called your parents over in horror and shock. The three of you quickly returned to your hut with the boy in tow. Each of you took turns at nursing him back into good health.

When he awoke, he didn’t talk much. He was more of a curious little child. His precious little eyes would shine when presented with something new and no matter how many times you told him he didn’t have to, he’d help.

But good things always come to an end. Long before the awakening of the sky and the birds harmonious cries, he up and left your tiny little hut and cast you aside.

All that was left was the tiny doll you made for him and a small little note.

“I’m sorry.”

That morning when you awake and found your second bed empty, you didn’t know what to think. You thought that things were finally beginning to bond but maybe it was all your wishful thinking.

These days you wonder where that boy is. How is he doing? Where has he gone? What has become of him? When will you see him again? Why did he leave? How old is he now? But that’s not what matters.

The enemies are at the borders just like they were all those years ago. Trying to wage another war. They just won’t back down will they?

You lost your parents in the last war. Around the time that the little boy left, your parents were slaughtered for hiding an enemy. But how were you supposed to know that? By now you have risen. From the bottom to the top. A mere commoner into a proud general. The King’s most trusted aid.

His majesty had decided to send you and your troops to negotiate with the opposing side.

But upon your arrival, you were awestruck. You had heard about the beauty of the princess of Inazuma, but the prince was ephemeral. His beauty was unmatched to all you’ve ever seen.

When he began speaking it was like a sweet melody that you’d been yearning for for years. You didn’t even notice that he was waiting for your reply until your right hand man, Cyno, nudged your side.

Your eyes finally left the prince’s lips and your eyes met. “I’m sorry, what was that you said?” You eventually spoke as you cleared your throat.

The prince’s eyebrows grew closer and his frown increased. “Are you even taking me serious at all General (y/l/n)?”

You cleared your throat once more. “Of course I’m taking you seriously. I just got a little… distracted is all.” Your eyes flickered to his lips and back to his eyes again. “Would you care to tell me what you had stated previously again?”

He sighed with a shake of his head and continue his speech. “I said… It is I, Prince Kunikuzushi, and I’d like to have a discussion between us. I’m sure that we can both agree that war is not something that we wish for. So please, let’s discuss matters and call a truce shall we?”

A smirk spread across your face as you looked up to meet his eyes once more. “How about a duel. None of our men have to be involved. Just the two of us. What do you say?”

“Are you trying to cause a war!?” Kunikuzushi glared at you with a deep scowl on his face. How could you ask such a question in matters like these? Were you insane?

Your smirk slowly turned into a full blown smile. “Exactly. We don’t want a war. So why are you on our borderlines anyway. If it weren’t for your kingdom consistently trying to cross boundaries, none of us would be here.”

Kuni’s eyes bore into yours, causing them to burn. “Us!? We’ve tried every way to keep to ourselves and prosper with even our enemies. But no. We simply wanted to use a trade route and your leader — being the little bitch he is-”

“Don’t you talk about our king like that!!!”

“Then how else should I!? He’s consistently calling us burglars and thugs. We want no more than to have the same rights as our allies do. We can barely use a waterway without my people being attacked and terrorized. How would you feel if this were to happen to you?”

You must admit, you were left in shock. You never thought that there’d be another reason why the people of Inazuma kept entering your kingdom. Maybe you had been blindsided after all.

“I understand your worries, sire.” You spoke up “But I must discuss matters with His Majesty. Why don’t you accompany us back to the city. Not with your entire army of course. But you and a small troop shall be fine.”

Suspicion filled his eyes as you talked. “And how do I know you won’t try anything.”

“I swear on my oath of loyalty to His Majesty that me and my troops will bring you no harm.”

Kuni seemed to ease up upon hearing your words. “Alright then, lead the way.” ~~~ After about three days and three nights worth of traveling, you finally arrived outside the capital city. As soon as you entered along with the prince of Inazuma, the townspeople were quick to scatter. they didn’t want to get involved in this war any longer.

You led Prince Kunikuzushi straight up to the castle, throughout the halls, and all the way to the double doors of the discussion hall.

“You Majesty, General (name) has requested an audience.” You can hear the eunuch say loud and clearly.

His Majesty clears his throat before a reply. “You may leave.” The eunuch bows his head and retreats to you, in which he gives you a nod of approval to step in. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ this will be a series and this is only a part of it. I just wanted to get it out and I was too lazy to write😭(we’re gonna pretend ur bday wasn’t like 2 weeks ago😁)