#moonstone shards

[cursed-cuckoo-wasp]

Also here is Teacher Callistemon! The Moonstone Winglet's meeting cave teacher.

[as-thoughts]

I just realized that Karla’s “I’m with stupid” outfit from Thunderbolts where she makes it so the arrow is always pointing at Clint (throughout the entire issue) is also….purple and blue.

this woman. her mind

[badlydrawnhouseki]

Hey. Hey Labradorite. Guess what. Guess who broke into the archive. Ehe ¬‿¬

- your favorite pebble eater, Rie

GETTTHE FUCK OUT OF MY ARCHIVE

[felidthing-fr]

massive W for lorwolf letting me fully transition my wolves

[bogcreacher]

meemaw y peepaw

Shard is a scholar and a quintessential nerd - he’s very much a shut-in, most know him as ‘the Queen’s husband’ rather than the king 

Their ears droop because they’re old and the cartilage in their ears has degraded 

They have three children - Amethyst, Quartz and Moonstone 

Aurora is the oldest of all the currently living queens (youngest to oldest it goes Mire, Jaguarundi, Sage, Rorqual, Amber, Veld, Aurora) 

Aurora is trans :)

[comfortless]

All That You Don’t Want

PAIRING: witch!fem!reader x apprentice!König

CONTENT: 18+! MINORS DO NOT INTERACT. oneshot. obvious au— so not canon-compliant!, questionable morality, mutual pining, animal death (it’s still alive! but not!), minor character death, power imbalance? technically teacher/student, forced proximity, smut; unprotected piv, creampie, cunnilingus, cockwarming.

NOTES: title from this song! (i will never stop titling my König fics after The Twilight Sad lyrics sorry) i have never written smut in my life i apologize if this is rough!! cover: Robert Bresson, 1951 wc: 7.7k

You never wanted an apprentice, never had the need for some bright-eyed whelp shadowing you for their own benefit. The kingdom had enough competition as far as your craft went— green magic, potion brewing and enchantments, why in the world would you risk teaching someone your secrets only for them to outdo you at every turn? Those with the propensity for magic weren’t treated human, anyway. You saw the looks, uneasy and disgusted, unless of course they had need of you.

The Guild keeps your protected, scrawl your praises in every fresh sheet of parchment passed about, brings in new clients for you to keep yourself afloat without you ever having to leave your little cottage in the forest just beyond the towering walls of the kingdom. So, when you receive the damned letter, how can you refuse?

Green magic couldn’t protect you from the King’s headsman, nor could it keep you hidden away from the constant threat of bandits and other malevolent forces, but the lines in the small letter detailing your new apprentice’s abilities are enough to make you swallow back some of that displeasure.

“… proficient in offensive magics…” and “… formerly in service to the King as a worthy candidate for knighting…” even “… a skilled huntsman…” all tell you that whoever this enigmatic pup is, he would have no qualms hissing at and chasing off a few rogues if they dared step too close to your territory. You picture some ruggedly handsome and charming gentleman arriving at your door with a sword of the finest steel hanging from his side and you loathe the way that your heart seems to flutter with excitement at the prospect.

A fortnight after the letter arrived at your doorstep, you realize that fantasy is often far sweeter than the reality.

You’re busying yourself sorting out a towering shelf with haphazardly placed vials, some labeled and others… well, if you had to guess based on the color of the fluid inside, you should probably toss lest you accidentally poison the next poor woman that comes by simply wanting something to charm the cute farmhand while her piece of shit husband, far too old for her, is off on another brothel visit. You may not be equipped to defend yourself in battle, but you know very well how to make nightshade and wolf’s bane taste like milk and honey.

It’s when you turn with your arms burdened by a heap of unlabeled, possibly poisonous concoctions that you see a figure just outside your window— tall, face shrouded with a blackened veil with only two holes cut out for his moonstone eyes. You curse the way the sight makes you nearly jump out of your skin, dropping everything you were holding onto the wooden floor, brightly colored fluid and glass shards staining a nearby rug you had spent an entire month painstakingly hooking yourself. The specter just tilts his head at you before inviting himself inside. Why bother pretending to be civilized when you look like that, anyhow?

You crouch to collect the shards of glass and wipe away the mixture of maybe-poisons as he enters, not sparing him a glance even as his footfalls lead him to stand uncomfortably close. Perhaps if the entire ordeal hadn’t pissed you off you would have the sense to be afraid, consider the fact that this titan of a man could have been a thief, but something tells you that this is the bright-eyed whelp you had anticipated. The man doesn’t even bother to greet you, let alone kick his muddy boots off at the door, he just hovers over you with his face tilted downward as you scrub up the mess you tell yourself he had caused.

“Leave it to The Guild to send me a dolt,” you mutter below your breath, barely audible as you move to deposit bits of broken glass into a wastebasket at the corner of the room.

“Ja?” The man huffs amusedly.

“Ja?” You question.

“Yes.”

You give him a look, one that suggests you’re in no mood for whatever this is and he seems to stiffen. Any mirth in those haunted eyes of his is quickly snuffed out, replaced with his gaze darting from perusing your backside to the corner of the room, then back up to your face.

He introduces himself as ‘König’. No surname, no title. Though, you supposed in his language, his name was a title in itself. Perhaps your disappointment is more notable than you realize, because the man seems almost nervous around you as you introduce yourself in turn. His fingers curl into his palms in repetition at his sides, and it’s impossible to tell by the small glimpse of his face whether or not he wants to strangle you or bury himself instead.

You rise to your feet, feeling acutely defeated as you lead him around the home, showing him to each room before stopping at the door to his own and crossing your arms over your chest.

“You’ll stay here,” you say quietly, avoiding his eyes as he lowers himself to look at you, thanking you graciously as his hand lingers a bit too long on your shoulder. You gently reach to pry it off, only to feel him grip at your fingers running his thumb over each knuckle before finally drawing away.

You watch from the doorway as he inspects the room. A bed a size two small for a man such as himself sits in the middle, a desk cluttered with spare vials of ink and a few quills made of swan feather, and a towering bookshelf filled with books on simple magic that you haven’t bothered to touch since you were a girl. He seems pleased, despite how very little effort was made for him. As much as you wish otherwise, you almost feel the sting of guilt when you watch him seat himself on the small bed and his eyes light up as he looks to you.

It didn’t take much perception to see the world hadn’t treated this brute too kindly.

He hunts your dinner, bringing home several rabbits that he took his time to skin and prepare for cooking in the yard. Even more, he roasts them over a fire he stoked up for you in a display of gratitude. You watch him from the fogged window as he seats himself by the fluttering flames, watching the meat with a focus that speaks volumes about his own discipline.

“Have you lived on the land for long, König?,” you ask him when the two of you are seated at the table, wiping away the remnants of your meal from your lips with a small handkerchief.

He’s only rucked up his hood enough to eat, the scars lining his jaw run deep, the skin pasty there. He looked far too pale to even be a living thing at all, but his thin lips pull into a grin at your question. “You can tell?” He asks with a slight tilt of his head, the tone of his voice suggesting sarcasm. “Perceptive little witch.”

You furrow your brow at him, surprised by his sudden arrogance. You would have sooner expected the man to tear a hole through you than meet your little question with a cocky response if his twitchy behavior was anything to go by. But… his voice sends a shiver down your spine, the amused lilt mixed with his accent, some natural charm that makes areas of you ache that haven’t been touched in years.

“A man must know to feed himself, ja?”

“Well, I don’t hunt.”

He huffs out a laugh at that, raising a hand to readjust his hood, pulling it back down over his face. König is not pretty, far from it from what you could see, but you almost find yourself downtrodden that he’s hiding himself again when you were only just starting to find yourself curious.

“I will teach you,” he suggests as he clears your table, depositing both your dishes and his own into the washbasin at the far corner of the kitchen. He’s helping, and your eyes merely track him dumbfounded.

“You don’t have to, König— I, um. I’m supposed to be teaching you, remember?” You’re trying to sound authoritative, like a proper mentor but it’s fruitless, really. How long had it been since a man was this close to you, living out in the forest? You had clients, sure, but in your craft you came to know about their proclivities, their ailments, and any interest you may have had died with their innumerable requests.

The Guild had set you up, surely, you decide as your eyes wander over to the man washing your dishes, the man who had prepared your dinner, who had stared openly at your ass. The man who smelled of dew and timber and fire smoke. The man with the most beautiful, tired eyes you had ever met.

You can see the muscles of his back through his tunic, tightly bundled up from where he’s drawn his sleeves to his bicep to wash up the remnants of dinner, mind almost numbing from the sight alone. It felt like some divine torture, to be sent something you adamantly did not want only for that very same thing to make your pulse quicken and throat dry.

“I want to teach you,” he tries again.

You feel sinful for the place your mind goes then. Do the ladies in the kingdom often allow monsters to bed them? Is his size comparable to the stature?

“Okay.” Your voice was tight, barely a whisper.

He finishes up his cleaning and turns to look at you as he wrings his hands over the washbasin, his eyes narrowed and crinkled at the corners. Grinning again like a wolf knowing he’s got his claws in you.

— — —

You go over the standard protocol when dealing with customers seeking remedies with König as you hear the approaching horse whinnying out in the yard. Simple, standard. Most people had a wariness for those who were touched by magic, understandably so. It’s human nature to fear what isn’t fully understood. With König’s imposing height and the veil over his face, you needed him to be extra careful in these situations. He doesn’t seem to take offense at your fretting, merely smiles beneath the veil as you speak and all is settled and well by the time your client wraps lightly at the door.

You swing the door open with a polite smile, hands clasped at the lap of your dress. The smile is maintained even as you catch sight of his face, scars from a horrific burn covering over half of it, his right eye filmed over and sightless in its socket. He wasn’t here to charm a lady or conceal his face with glamours, only for a balm to alleviate the lingering, phantom pains that stretched from his scalp down to his neck. A decent man, and a damned good blacksmith from what you had heard. He was one of your favorites.

König observes from the corner of the room, leaned against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest without a word as you fetch the jar of balm for the client, accept his coin and send him back on his way.

“Oh.. I don’t know how he got that nasty burn but it’s hard to look at isn’t it?”

König gives you a look, something unsaid hinted at just beyond the surface of his icy eyes, and you realize it’s a little too late to pull your words back.

— — —

Days seem to pass by with an awkward tension in the air. It’s not because of his tutelage under you, either, because he’s doing surprisingly well with his studies. Potion crafting is a tricky, fickle sort of thing. One mistake and an entire batch is ruined and the gods only knew when you would stumble upon what was required whilst foraging again. König is careful, attentive as he follows your instruction. He studies diligently, spending his free time reading through his books, often out in the foyer and if not for how skilled he was, you would assume it was all for show. Wishful thinking, a vicious yearning settling in between your breasts that wants for him to try and impress you, to court you.

It’s tense because you’ve found you can’t keep the man out of your head. In the late hour when the house has fallen silent, you could often hear his desperate grunts through the thin slats of wood separating your own room from his. You’ve imagined the sight of him fisting his cock, biting down onto his scarred lip as he whines through his release more times than you would ever confess. The gods themselves couldn’t pry the admittance from your lips that you wait up sometimes to hear him with your own hand between your thighs.

And König had this look about him now, more confident as he walks about. His hands don’t twitch as much when the two of you speak.

It’s the seventh morning as you’re preparing tea for the both of you that he enters the cottage entirely nude (apart from the hood; he seems insistent about keeping it almost entirely on in your presence). His body drips with river water, looking more like the skillfully carved statues that took residence in the castle courtyard than any man at all. You can’t help your staring, and he seems unperturbed by it as he slips behind you to set some freshly plucked milkweed on the wooden countertop. So focused on the cords of tight muscle layering his body, the obscene thing swaying between his legs, you hadn’t even noticed he had bothered to collect an ingredient you so desperately needed.

A man such as he should be seated on a throne, worshipped by a harem of pretty ladies, all pawing at his lap. Yet— he merely had you, ogling him as openly as he seemed to do to you.

“For the elixir,” he hums, sounding amused as he tilts his head to look you over as he had a striking amount of times already.

“Yeah.” You try to subtly clear your throat, cursing yourself for the way your reaction prompts his eyes to dart to the swell of your breasts beneath your dress. “Thanks.”

“You look pretty today.” He’s making everything worse. Turning your quiet life around and filling you with some horrid feeling you’ve avoided for years out here in near-isolation. “You look pretty everyday,” he corrects himself before you can speak. The obscene pillar between his legs seems to grow at the sight of you, and if you were not certain before, you know assuredly now that something has cursed you.

A good, knowing witch would tell him that his compliments were inappropriate, unwarranted. She would tell him to not walk around with his cock on full display and send him off to practice mundane spells as punishment. You are not a good, knowing witch at all if the warmth on your face is anything to go by.

“How was the river?” You ask instead, graciously retrieving a towel from the cupboard to hand to him. Despite how orderly you tried to keep things here, it’s not the water he’s dripping all over the hardwood that has your mind spinning.

“Gut.” He says words in his native tongue, often, and you’ve already grown accustomed to deciphering them. They sound prettier on his tongue than your own. He accepts the towel and merely draping it over his broad shoulders. “Come with me next time,” he offers, all but innocently.

God damnit.

“I made tea.” You’re trying to avoid his undressing stare, busying yourself with the tea kettle. The scent of mint seems to calm you as you pour the tea into your own mug, careful not to spill it out onto the counter with your trembling hands.

“I like you.” Blunt as always, you wonder if he even has any sort of control on the things he says.

God damnit all.

“I like you too, König. You’re a good apprentice,” you respond, your nerves alight with something that you can’t quite place; a twig on the verge of snapping under its weight.

He laughs soft, and graciously gives you a reprieve from well… that as he steps out of the room to finally dress himself.

Later that evening as the elixir is fully prepared and the client arrives to pick it up, you realize that König is no where in sight. It’s not uncommon; the man certainly lacked his social graces, but he hadn’t seemed to mind the shopfront side of what you do before until you had spoken so carelessly. The client is a nervous little thing, a girl not yet a woman, anxious and shaky as she takes the vial from you with an abundance of thanks. It’s no wonder why she had requested such a thing meant to put a patch over her anxieties and communicate better now. You steal only a spoonful from the cauldron as you empty it, praying that it silences the buzzing of nerves and the fluttering in your heart as you bed down for the night.

— — —

You wake to a door slamming shut in the dead of night, followed by the quieted hiss of what you believe to be a curse in a language that is not your own. It immediately sends you on high alert, thinking back to the threat of bandits and enchanted wildlife or whatever else. Jolted from your bed by the kick of adrenaline, you tiptoe down the stairs to see that… nothing is out of place. The den is as homey as always, every vial and potion bottle in its place on the shelves. The only thing that appeared to be missing at all was a book on your shelf. You knew that book, too. It was a favorite of many of your customers, the ones with weathered skin or features that were not the golden standard of delicate, royal beauty. A book on glamours was not something that would be stolen away by any thief in the night, seeing as it wouldn’t be of much help at all without a dedicated practitioner.

It only really settles in for you that your apprentice snatched it away when you take a peek out of the window and your eyes settle on a darkened corner of the garden. Tall sprigs of lavender sprung up from the earth there, and an even taller man sat, legs crossed with your book in his lap beneath the milky glow of the moon.

König looks… agitated. Even from this distance, the glass and wall and several meters of organized plant life separating you, you can see his hands shaking as he ghosts his calloused fingertips over the pages. His shoulders tense and a fiery look in his eye. He reads the incantations aloud with proper annunciation, forced through his thick accent. Repeats them, several times over. Not a thing changes.

But you leave him be, return to bed, because despite him being your responsibility, his private matters are still his own. As much as you would like to snatch the book from his hands and confess through tears that he haunts your dreaming just as he is now, you can’t bring yourself to do so.

When the book is in its place the following morning with König still in his bed, you read over the pages heavily scented by lavender. The ones that tell you how he sees himself in truth without a single word from his own being. Too tall, too ugly, too ruined.

It’s not enough to say your heart breaks. You feel it shatter somewhere in your chest, little pieces crumbling down into the darkest pit of your middle. Perhaps he’s only doing this due to your careless words about your client the other day, perhaps he wants to be seen as something beautiful for once.

The day is spent with a heavy weariness in your eyes. König picks up some slack for you as you fester in a sadness that should not even be your own; prepares something meaty for you both to eat, incorrectly sweeps some dust from the wooden floors that you know you’ll have to properly clean later on, and even tends to the garden. He’s good with the plants, gentle as he plucks berries from their stems and cuts away only what was required with a sharp dagger.

While you’ve thrown yourself over a cushioned chair, König kneels before you to speak. He’s just finished telling you some gory tale about when he squired for Ser… something, a name you don’t even care to remember. It was a rare occurrence for him to open up, you’ve come to realize that. Maybe it was simply too soon for him, but then again, he seemed to have no qualms allowing you to hear his desperate howling at night or walk about after a bath with his cock fully erect in your line of sight. If words were too much then what the hell was all of that?

“How come you didn’t become a knight, König?” you ask him, your tone sounding a bit more dead than intended. It wasn’t that you weren’t interested in his stories, you were simply still coming to terms with one of his likely innumerable secrets. “The Guild said you were a good candidate, so why?”

You ask your questions, his eyes light up. He’s not used to this, it seems, and the fact that you want to know him at all makes him giddy. His fingers drum against his thighs, eyes creasing at the corners as he smiles beneath that veil and you wonder… wonder how the world could be cruel to someone like this at all when all that you want to do is bundle up with him beneath your thick quilts and kiss him in places only lovers would.

He doesn’t respond to your question, though. Another secret for some other time, you supposed. Instead, he asks his own, “Why are you so alone?”

König speaks freely, you knew that well enough but the words that escape his lips cause you to freeze all the same. His tone is neutral, not accusatory or mocking, but there’s something— something there you can’t properly uproot.

“I’m not lonely.” A little white lie couldn’t be too terrible, yet the thought of betraying your companion in even such a small way, hurting him like you assumed so many others had before is just unthinkable. “I am sometimes, but I like living here,” you correct.

“But you are alone,” he insists.

“I am not. You’re here.”

Your words are like a charm, really, and any rationale König may have had immediately dissipates when you speak them. He climbs over you, the chair creaking under your combined weight as he looks down at you with this hope-filled expression that tugs every one of your heartstrings at once. “Let me kiss you.”

His shallow breathing flutters his veil, the hunger in his eyes more than apparent, and you’ve the sense that a mere kiss would not suffice, turning into a long night with an impossible soreness between your thighs come morning.

You shake your head and he backs off immediately, returning to sit on the floor before you instead with a simple, “Okay.”

The room falls silent for a moment. You wanted to. You’ve been longing to. And yet the opportunity had gone and went; for any normal, sane person your rejection would have been enough. Weeks spent in his company should have taught you that König was a far cry from normal. The man treats you like you’re a doll, not a seasoned witch. Takes to hiding away from any company you may have and spends his nights outside in the dark wishing and failing to change what he was.

“If I tell you why I am not a knight will you kiss me?,” he tries again as you shift to sit upright in your seat.

“What? König, no… that’s not how—”

“I will court you,” he interjects quickly, rising to his feet to stare down at you. The man was practically buzzing with excitement, and you wonder if he intends to bolt out of the house right then to bring back ample gifts of flowers and fine silks just for a chance to mash his mouth against your own.

“You’re not here to court me,” you huff with a pinched brow. Stop making this harder! Why must you always make this harder?!

“I think about you at night.”

The giant professes his affections by telling you that he’s fucking his fist to the thought of you with all the simplicity of idle talk. Somehow, that seemed less alarming than the fact that you don’t even seem horrified. Words fail you when you desperately need them most, merely gaping up at him so dumbly you must have actually belayed interest, because he continues.

“In the river too.”

“König… that’s inappropriate,” you manage to find your voice then. You know that you’re a plaster saint, too, because the thought of bathing where he spreads his seed sends a swell of warmth from your tummy to the aching blossom between your legs.

“Ja, it is… why do you tease me? The way you look…” He trails off with a shake of his head, his blue eyes narrowing in confusion. He was trembling as though afraid, so violently you almost fear he’ll come crashing over you like an ocean wave. You would catch him, drown in salt water and foam, a curtain of sharp teeth and darkness.

He fidgets as he waits for an answer that never comes. What could you say? Admit that the way he feels is a mirror of yourself, that the two of you are only seconds from diving into a pool that you could never resurface from.

But just like before, König retreats up the shadowy staircase, up to his room. Another reprieve, another stone weighing heavy in the recesses of your mind.

— — —

Secrets are stupid, evil things you decide.

You’re staring into the glazed eyes of a dead buck as it stands before you on it’s hind legs. It’s head hangs limply from its broken neck, mouth gaping with each fragile intake of breath. It’s bloated belly leaks it’s own entrails as it takes a shaky step towards you, trying desperately to kick at you with the stiff limbs tucked against its chest.

“I don’t know how to make it go away,” König pants at your side, and despite his shallow, rapid breathing there’s this calm look in his eyes. This has happened before. This has happened before and to a far worse extent than a deer.

It makes sense, now, why something as trivial as casting a glamour simply didn’t work for König. The man was touched by something darker, something the King’s men would happily cut his head from his shoulders for. Necromancy was immoral and frankly, horrifying. Seeing it now, it was really no wonder why this sort of magic would send one directly to the headsman.

The deer huffs a breath, too long and ragged. It’s not used to breathing any more, after all. König steps between you two, his dagger raised. “Just… close your eyes.”

It’s over as quickly as it’s manifested and König does well at shielding you from the aftermath, your face pressed to his chest as he pulls you into his arms and walks you back home. What was meant to be a simple practicing session, resulted in chaos, and you’ve no words to give to fill the silence hanging over the two of you as he finally deposits you by the door.

You stand on shaking legs, a million questions swimming through your mind, but even as you part your lips to speak not a single sound comes out.

He looks exasperated when he finally remedies the quiet. “You��re afraid of me.” It’s not a question, only a resounding fact.

“No,” you lie immediately with a firm shake of your head.

“I will go.” König’s eyes are tired, always tired. He’s already slinking back towards the door when you reach for him, almost clawing at the length of his sleeve in your own desperation. If you were cursed this man was, tenfold, and you couldn’t bear the thought of sending him back out into a world that had hurt him so. One that would assuredly end his torment should this ever happen again. You don’t know whether you’re being merciful or selfish anymore; the definitions all a blur. You only know that the thought of König leaving your side feels like the ache of a thorn embedded in your heart.

“König, please— We can figure something out, we’ll make sure this doesn’t happen again,” you huff as you bury your face against his shoulder. He’s both tense and trembling beneath your warmth. “I just need time to think.”

He cocks his head, a resounding twinkle of mirth breaking through the listlessness in his eyes. “Why?”

König isn’t dull-witted. He knows the words you never have a chance to speak. No one’s ever held fast to his side like this; no one has ever truly wanted him.

You know that the second he pushes his veil up and presses his mouth to yours. It’s clumsy, the force he uses, as if he’s trying to headbutt you instead of give you his affection, but you reciprocate in turn. You breathe shakily against him when you finally bring yourself to part your lips and he immediately begins to languidly lap into your mouth, drawing his arms around you; one finding the base of your neck as the other settles on your lower back, his fingers digging into your velvet dress, bunching up the fabric enough to reveal the meat of your ass.

You both moan as though you’re already having sex, caught up in a tangle of limbs he tastes your mouth as though it were sweet wine; his tongue flicks against your own before pulling back, lapping at your lip, pushing back in in some steady repetition that makes your knees weaker. Your hands find the hem of his tunic, slipping beneath it to feel a wall of muscle layered over his abdomen and he groans into the kiss with such fervor you would think he’s already come. He tears the cloth off the second you thumb over his nipple and drops to his knees clutching at your thighs.

“I need to taste you.” He sounds so desperate, looks so pitiful as though he’ll cry if you don’t allow him to fuck you with his tongue. You’re too far gone to give him anything more than a nod, and he all-too-readily lifts the skirt of your dress, hooks his finger around the seat of your panties and buries his face between your thighs. The first sweeps of his tongue are almost punishing; he wastes no time plowing the muscle into your cunt, writhing and grinding it against your velvety walls. The sound is already obscene, but then he begins to moan.

He sounds even more desperate than those nights in his lonely room, somehow, as he paws at his own erection straining against his trousers and drives into your pussy at a feverish pace. When he finally moves to take your clit between his lips, you grasp at the top of his head to keep yourself upright, moaning so loudly you’re certain that the entire kingdom could hear. He hums, amused at this, places his hands on your ass and pushes your hips for you to grind against his tongue.

When he jerks your panties aside again to rub circles against your asshole, the tautly pulled coil inside of you finally snaps. You curl over him as you mewl, cradling his head as his tongue pushes against your labia and your slit to lap up every bit of your essence. He releases his grip on your ass as you tremble, strokes himself freely below you as he pants against your pulsing cunt. Graciously, he gives you a moment to recover before he’s rising to his feet, tearing off your ruined panties and lifting you in his arms just enough to rub his leaking tip against you, you give him a strangled cry of his name when his length brushes against your swollen clit.

“Let me fuck you,” he rasps, his eyes wide and pupils blown as you squirm in his arms. “Bitte. Please. Let me fuck you.”

“Yes— Please, please fuck me König,” you whine as your arms curl over his shoulders. He doesn’t hesitate when he lies you back against your rug and pushes your knees up to your chest. His fingers flex against your flesh at the sight of your pussy still twitching from aftershocks, soaked down to your ass and pleading to be filled by him. He drops a hand to spread your lips, groaning deeply from his chest as he watches in awe as the tip of his thick cock sinks into you.

You hadn’t realized just how dirty König was until you see that look in his eye, pulling his head out only to repeatedly push into you with a choked whine of sheer bliss. You hadn’t realized how filthy you were until you find yourself tucking your arms beneath your knees to keep yourself in position so he can grope at the flesh of your ass as he does it.

“So— fuck— so schön,” he mutters as he continues to tease you like this. It’s almost hell the way he still hadn’t filled you entirely when you ache to have that long, ugly pillar buried so far it’s bruising your very womb, and it’s almost heaven the way you squeeze against him with each shallow thrust, your pussy desperate to devour his weapon of flesh.

“König…” You’re breathing his name as though it were a prayer, and as though a gift from the heavens his calloused thumb begins to rub over your clit the moment he finally sinks himself into you. There’s resistance, your cunt wasn’t meant to take a cock so large, you’re certain, but he bottoms out after what feels like an eternity, parts your knees with one hand to see your face as he gasps. You take him all, enveloping him in a vise grip and he hissed something in his native tongue, a string of words you can only imagine are praise because the way he’s looking at you now is as if he’s found a goddess all for himself.

“I’m going to fill you,” he declares as he lowers himself atop you, his weight almost crushing. “I’m going to… feels so…” His words fall short as he begins to move, groping at one of your tits as his other hand remains over your mound, flicking your clit. König’s fingers trace against your nipple before pinching it just hard enough to draw a choked mewl from you as your back arches. “Ja, liebling… you need it..”

His pace picks up, thumb deftly rolling over your clit until you spasm around his cock. It’s savage, the fervor he puts into fucking into you, grinding the tip of his cock against your cervix until you cry out, only to draw back enough to bully against your g-spot until you shiver. Your orgasm hits you so unexpectedly and so hard your bite down on your lip enough to draw blood. König licks at your mouth as your sex pulses around him, groaning in tandem with your pretty cries.

He trails small kisses along your throat before biting down as his own climax hits. He alternates between spitting out words that sound like pure venom and moans that make him sound weak as he gives you one more thrust. His cock twitches so violently inside of you as he presses against your cervix your mind entirely blanks. You can’t tell if it’s his semen or your own slick spilling past his cock, painting your thighs when it all ends. You hang limply against him as he carries you over to the chair, keeping you plugged as he pulls you into his lap.

He fully unclothes you as he peppers your face and neck in sweet, open-mouthed kisses, pets you from the crown of your skull down to your back, brings a hand around your waist to pull you close as his other squeezes and squishes at your breasts. König’s gaze is adoring as your eyes meet his, he’s looking at you with a love you’ve never even known, the warmth of summer somehow still present in those eyes like glaciers.

“Will you stay?,” you force yourself to ask as if the answer isn’t already clear, his cock’s still buried in you and the man seemed utterly in love after merely having a sweaty, adrenaline addled session.

König presses his face into your hair, nuzzling at you as he kisses your temple. “You want me to stay?” He sounds bewildered, so fucking broken that he’s confused by the prospect anyone would even want him around, even if he just gave her the best fuck she’s ever had, even if she’s been staring at him adoringly since he found his way to her door.

“Of course I want you to stay!”

“Then… Ja, I will.”

It’s a declaration of love, in a sense.

König drops his hands to your hips as he kisses you again. The desperation has been strangled, buried someplace in your core. It’s sweet now when his kisses become sloppy and overwhelming. He shifts below you as he maneuvers your hips to grind against him, his length already hardening within you again. He noses at your jaw and pressed kisses to your cheeks when you take a moment to breathe. You curl your arms around him and bury your face into the crook of his neck as your ride him, the both of you moaning soft and panting against sweaty flesh. He finishes inside of you once more just as you lift his veil and kiss along his scars.

He bathed you in the river, carrying you down to the rocky shore as though you were a treasure, his hand stroking through your hair as the water laps over your bodies. It’s not enough to simply hold you, either, because one bath becomes two after he’s bent you over a stump and licked you to completion again before rutting into you like an animal.

Nights are no longer spent with a wall between, he takes to your bed without question, ensures you’re comfortable and warm as he holds you through the night. There’s a sort of desperation in you both, two outsiders that have finally found sanctuary in one another.

“I love you.” Followed by: “I love you.”

You’re not entirely sure who says it first.

— — —

“A deer?”

There’s a man in your home that you don’t recognize, looking you over as though you were well-bred cattle rather than a human being at all. Says he’s concerned about a potential necromancer after something foul slipped its way past the castle walls and paraded itself through an annual ball, sullying a few too-expensive and uncomfortably layered dresses and goring a man with its antlers.

König was seated in front of him, rigid with a forced calm you had never seen on him before, hands clasped and unmoving. You know he’s nervous anyway, his shallow breathing speaks volumes for what the veil keeps from you. You round the table to bring them both tea, trying your best to play the part of indifference as the two men speak.

König had said he didn’t know how to make it go away, and of course he didn’t, because how do you kill something that’s already died? Neither of you would have anticipated it finding its way there of all places, and in retrospect, you’re not even certain that the thought came to mind at all, you had lost yourselves in one another the moment you arrived home. Seeing as you both were the only magic-touched folks roving these woods, it was obvious why The Guild had sent this creep to question you.

“Yes. A large buck, it was,” the man continues, winking at you as he takes a sip of the warm liquid in the mug. You wished you had poisoned it, ridding the world of a man that made your skin crawl like this surely wouldn’t be too sinful. Looking to König, you realize that there’s no need for poisons, because the look in his eyes suggests that before this interrogation is over your rug will have a more stubborn stain than spilled potions and come.

“We use green magic,” you chime in flatly, giving König a moment to quiet his fury as the man turns his attention back to you. “Maybe a traveler slipped into the kingdom, it has nothing to do with König and myself. Why are you here?”

If he hadn’t already told you a thousand times earlier that morning when he took you in the garden, laid you down in a bed of blue and purple wildflowers, König would have told you he loved you right then. You were true, protecting him and risking your own head as well.

“That’s the thing,” the man begins with a laugh entirely devoid of amusement. “Your apprentice here was under similar scrutiny while he was in service to the king. A dead man brought back to life…” he waves his hand as he speaks, staring up at the ceiling as though he’s recounting poetry instead of listing the reasoning why he wanted to have your lover decapitated. “… killed ten good knights. We never suspected him at the time, but all of this…” He shrugs his shoulders and raises his brow, looking somehow even more insufferable than before.

You cross the room to gather the letter signed off by The Guild, detailing your apprentice’s arrival and thrust it into the man’s face. “He would have never passed any sort of eligibility exam if that were the case, and you sent him here.”

The man takes the letter with a click of his tongue before he laughs again. “We didn’t,” he says as he taps the signature at the bottom, hardly a signature at all, only a messy scrawl, the guild master’s name even spelled incorrectly.

König didn’t meet your gaze when you looked to him then.

You made a promise to him you would figure this all out, and you would. You just needed to buy some time, slip some wolfsbane into his tea—

“On behalf of The Guild, I do apologize for the trouble this monster has caused…”

There is no time.

“I’ll be sure that he and his rotting pets are disposed of prop—“

You’re clutching at the dagger König had left on the side table without even thinking it over, fingers curled so tightly around the grip, your knuckles felt alight. The man’s voice is silenced the moment he notices as he takes a wary step away from you. It’s not, really, that you could ever even see yourself taking a life, you never have, but the thought of losing König over a horrible chance in the stars that some uncaring god cursed him with makes bile crawl up the back of your throat and white hot fury course through your veins with all the subtlety of a stampede.

It wasn’t his fault.

König places himself between the two of you and curls his arm around you protectively. If lying for him hadn’t already resigned you to the same fate, drawing the dagger assuredly had. He gently pries the dagger from your hand and tucks your face against his chest, just as he had before when he tried to correct the accidental gift of life he had bestowed to the deer, only this time… you feel the pull of his muscles, you hear sounds of the dagger meeting it’s mark as he cuts through the interrogator’s tender flesh. It takes mere seconds for you to know his blade has struck true, the dying man eliciting a weak gurgling cry from his torn throat as König drops the dagger to the floor with a clatter and strokes your hair.

He makes you stand outside while he cleans up his mess.

A sane woman would run, she would count her losses and look back on her time spent with this unhinged man with criticism. You find that you are not a sane woman when you realize the tears falling freely down your cheeks are not of fear or anger at your own situation, but at the knowledge that he’s suffered being shunned on his own for so long; that he’s killed without remorse because this is what it takes for someone like him to survive at all.

When he finally returns from burying the body and scrubbing the blood from your floor, you readily embrace him and he nuzzles into your hair.

“Es tut mir leid,” he huffs out against you, pulling you so close to him you think, pray, he’ll never let go. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay.” It’s not and you both know it, but you reassure him with your words and soft kisses to his cheeks as he wipes away your tears. “We can not stay here.”

We. Us. Together.

Something breaks in him at your words, and he shuts his eyes tightly to fight back the tears like claws at his eyes.

“So, tell me where we’ll go.”

He tells you of a place he read about in a book, somewhere across the sea and past a stretch of hills where the accidents he may cause won’t have him looked upon like a monster, where you can love one another in comfort, a place he’s dreamed about since he was a boy and found out just what he was when he reanimated his mother’s beloved cat. He tells you of his father’s cruelty, that a cat’s claws aren’t the only thing that’s left him riddled with scar tissue.

He tells you everything as you pack your things and begin a long walk to a shoddy harbor by the sea, his hand in your own as your board the ship to a new home, a new beginning.

[pinkydee10]

I just thought of the perfect nicknames for Minecraft Sun and Moon;

Sunblock and Moonstone

And for a bonus, we can call Eclipse; Shard

That is all

[n01r-kn1ght]

What’s this? Sketches for another AU sans? Don’t mind if I do

Sketches of @aka-indulgence chaotic Moon God sans

Post-Capture

Designs were inspired by @zenubi-scribbles version of Moon God sans and Astel from Elden Ring

I like to think when he was wreaking havoc, his powers became too strong and unstable that shards of moonstone burst out of his skeleton and pieces of debris became permanently embedded into him

Pre-Capture

Played around with some over the top designs for sans back in his heyday

This is Astel if anyone is curious

[bananafire11]

What’s your favorite Piece of art you’ve ever made and why

(😺Genuinely curious)

It is impossible for me to narrow it down to one drawing so i've picked a few out. Old art warning

ARTISTIC NUDITY AHEAD.

^ even now im rlly proud of this one. This is over a year old, but i think the simpleness of the piece makes it very impactful

^ my first full piece on my new ipad(Which isnt new anymore but it was then)! This was my first time using a reliable pen and a device that wasnt laggy as all hell

^ still rlly proud of the posing on this one as well as all the smokey effects. This was my gateway to using tools more. Can u tell what my fav color is /silly

^ this one was a very out of the blue decision to try a background. Its not amazing but i remember being sooo proud of the glass shards and the characters themselves

^ my first artfight attack for last year!!! This was for my awesome friend @visarray because i wouldn't be here if it weren't for her. She was and still is a big inspiration for me, so ofc i had to hit her hardest (it's tradition /silly)

^ this was me going CRAZY with the watercolor brush. I also had fun with all the colors, a more monochromatic piece. Oh, and it's Daryl. I don't draw him much anymore :[

^ mooore painting! Im very happy with the glossy sheen on this one, and i was also testing out new brushes. This is my oc, Moonstone. I need to revisit her

^ its the boooy. I had a lot of fun with the background on this one, as well as the coloring in general. Played with filters a lot

^ first time trying artistic nudity! The pose and overall anatomy is something im still very proud of, as well as the colors and background. It itches my brain and was a fuck ton of fun to draw. Character belongs to Demonieux on instagram

^ and last but not least, this one. I saw the idea on twitter and ran with it, im rlly happy with the rendering and pose as well as the doodles in the background

[berryjammer7]

Why So Blue?

Alright, Baby Varian writes about a lot science stuff in my Crescent Moon TTS comic (exemplified on this page and the next: https://berryjammer7.tumblr.com/post/637645850521272320/crescent-moon-pg-01 ), so now I am going to extrapolate excessively about it to provide you all with even more needless details--specifically about the science of blue! (This will be a long one and a lot of text, so grab some tea or something)

Firstly, let’s talk about what most fans know about Varian’s blue hair streak. The blue streak does exist. He’s had it since he was a baby as seen in a photo from the show, and the color eyedropper tool in my art app tells me that is blue (NOT green, you colorblind fools). Then there’s the whole theory that Varian’s dad Quirin absorbed some of the moonstone while working with the brotherhood after it exploded a little bit (as one does). Then he passed that on to Varian. All of which is well and good.

But let’s talk about the SCIENCE!

Ironically, this is not the first time I’ve dealt with blue hair [insert artist backstory]. Before TTS even came out, I created an OC I named Blueberry (my user-name-sake) who also has blue hair:

(Don’t judge the anatomy, I was a baby artist)

Blue, as it turns out, is actually very rare in nature, and this sci-show youtube video https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9cdoPD51bng provides a pretty good summary of why that is (and how pigments work in general).

So while I had long since determined Blueberry had a plant based pigment that made his hair blue (anthocyanin), Varian clearly had some sort of mineral based pigment from the moonstone. I’m guessing he only ever had enough passed on from his dad to turn his hair slightly blue (until he snatched the moon shard in my comic, that is).

But I’m going to take this one step further. Varian’s hair is black, and if you’ve ever tried to dye dark hair, you’ll know that it is hard for any color to stand out without bleaching it first. And that’s where Poliosis comes in.

If Varian has a single strand of hair that produces no melanin, then the blue pigment can show more clearly. I find this to be a really cool option because I actually have poliosis (or something similar.)

(Kinda like reverse Rapunzel, amiright? My blonde streak is somewhere on the back of my head though, so not as cool.) This is also called a Mallen streak, but because that term is more modern coming from a book series set in the 19th century, using it in the comic is a bit anachronistic. The condition has been associated with witchcraft for a long time though, which seems fitting for someone dealing with the magic of the moonstone (whether he ‘works with magic’ or no.)

So yeah! That’s it! Seriously, go watch that sci-show episode, blue is SO COOL! I do wanna add a disclaimer though—if I am wrong on any of this science stuff let’s just all pretend it’s due to the limits of scientific knowledge at the time the comic is set rather than my own fallibility.😅 Maybe people already know all this stuff, but I just never see it talked about!

+++++

Bonus, this Wikipedia link for Al-Jazari: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ismail_al-Jazari Guys, this fellow is credited with making all sorts of automata (!?!), as well as the first flushing toilet—he deserves your respect!

[someonesomewheredown]

Moon^2 is fun and all but what's stopping us from including the Moonstone as well. Sure it was shattered during Greystripe's Vow but it doesn't mean that the remaining shards aren't still there. Why not have Moonpaw go out to the old territories to bring some of the shards back so we can have Moon^3

[cursed-cuckoo-wasp]

Here's some WIPs, apologies again for the lack of original art. I'm in a pretty bad depressive/C-PTSD episode because of the time of the year so it's hard to get out of bed, let alone complete art pieces. So colouring bases is the only way I've managed to get character references out recently.

[arsene-inc]

GilaRPGs and the Novaverse : Getting the setting out of the game line

Or What is a game line really ?

Getting out of the game line to develop a setting. What does it mean ? Well there's no better start than an exemple so let's check what Spencer Campbell or GilaRPGs is doing.

Actually no, a better start is defining the terms. Curse you leftovers from uni. So what is a game line ? In the TTRPG scene, it is usually thought as all the games that shares a Name, or all the books that share the same setting AND system. We all know the D&D line even if we sometimes wish we didn't. But there's other lines : Pathfinder, Nephilim, Knight, Vampire the Mascarade, etc...

Multiple editions ? Supplements ? That's a line, don't cross it.

But if games with the same setting and the same system are of the same line, what about game with the same setting but different systems ?

A New Challenger appears : Spencer Campbell, one of my fav. His name is often reason enough for me to buy.

(translation for a future video on my french ttrpg channel)

I could talk about the evolution of LUMEN toward a diceless,healthless system, how every other games influence this transition. I'll leave you waiting on this one.

In short, one of his big games is Nova, inspired by Warframe, Destiny and the likes. To summarize : Sun exploded. Nobody knows why. Sun shards implanted on the planet. Now the night won't leave me alone.

A Measly lot of years later, the power of these shards can be harnessed, Humanity can continue. Sparks are invented, mecha-armour to explore the Dusk and defend settlements from their many ennemies. Cause we weren't alone when the sun exploded.

Well I said invented but some Sparks...... One of them was inspired by Satan and the only thing we know about it is thus : The Sky went red and it appeard out of the Dusk. Great. No reason to worry at all. It's not like you can't make a horseman of the Apocalypse party with some other Sparks... (something my player actually did, these edgy mfers) The setting is very succint, it's a small book. But it's the Start of the Novaverse.

No, we can also find Luna and Nest in the same setting. Interesting detail : they focus on two of the enemies' factions found in Nova. And none of them have the same system. Well that may be a little exaggeration. Dusk also exists with a similar system and on the Sparks side.

Before writing about them, I will note that supplements for Nova exist. Nova Dusk Denizen. Zine sized, each zine on a singular faction with more lore, more enemies, more tactics for the GM.

So Dusk is the first new game of this Novaverse. The first to use the LUMEN 2.0, now diceless and based on ressources. For me, it's a debate if Lumen and Lumen 2.0 can be considered the same system. More importantly, this is not a supplement. This is a full game. A modular game (another discussion for the future). Nova's focus was on combat, action. Dusk is not. It is exploration. The monsters usually die in 1 hit. Clearly two distinct experiences.

Then Spencer crowdfunded and published Luna. Another change. Here we play a Nova enemy faction : The Lunar Cult. Their goal : infiltrate a city and convert its sun shard for holy moonstone. This is not the type of adventures Lumen is built for. So the game uses the Resistance system, from Spire and Heart, a more adapted system.

This rpg also does something I appreciate more and more : One type of story only, we know what we want and we will play it in a fewshot campaign, 5 sessions max.

To go back to the original question, I ask of you : Same lore, same setting, but is it the same line ? It is a different experience and a different system after all.

Last May, GilaRPGs crowdfunded Nest. Back to Lumen 2.0, still an enemy faction : the Corvus Dominion, an avian alien race. And again, a game for fewshots. Since nothing has been published about it yet,I can't tell you more.

Same setting, sorta same system, but another game.

Thus what is a line ? How do you conceive it ? A base game and supplements ? Including the various editions of its base game ?

It's not like I can't use these games for Nova. Here we have two problems for the sparks to solve. How about multitable ? Between Nest and Nova ? Between Dusk and Nova ? The players of one game reacting to the actions from the other game and vice verse ? Wouldn't that be an interesting experience ? Wouldn't you want to try ?

Plus, the novaverse is not Spencer's only setting like this. He also has Obron, starting with Rune, his solo game inspired by Elden Ring and Dark Souls, where we play an Engraved. Then comes Reap, also solo in Obron, same system, but this time, you're a necromancer.

Since the game designer opens his game to 3rd party content (another reason to love him), someone had the great and terrific idea of a Realm that works for both games. Both characters are there at the same time. On the Rune side, you fight the Necromancer. On the Reap side, you fight the Engraved.

Now we leave the Rune system to go back to Lumen 2.0 again, with a group, for Thorn, also happening in Obron. And that's all I will say about it, the game is not completed yet.

I love this concept, especially with smaller games. While not zine sized, Spencer's game usually count around 50 pages.

We can focus our game on one type of story, of adventure in a particular setting, with an apropos system. Then make another game in this setting but for another story, another system adapted to this story. No more breaking your brain to try and make a size fit all system.

Generally, with a game it's the system that gets out of the line. We create an SRD for other creators. (Don't be afraid to use SRDs , they're here for you) It's rarer to take a setting and make a new different game in it.

Imagine the possibilities : Multitables with different games, reacting to each other, especially if they have opposed goals. There are players who love a setting but hate the system, the types of adventures the base book proposes. Now they can find a game for them in this setting.

 It is (or is it ?) a new direction for ttrpgs. The world of darkness games may profess to happen in the same world, but I always found them too separated. It is something I think about when creating my own games. What would happen if I take this and change the system ? We can find similar ideas in other games.

Starfinder and Pathfinder share the same setting, the same system, bur with different scopes, in different genres.

Spire and Heart : same setting, same system, different stories. Knight and Parias share the same setting too, for the system, it is the same base, but one is heroic horror, the other is survival of the outcasts. The french author Vivien Féasson also does something similar with Perdus sous la pluie. 3 games in the same setting but one is an horror experience, one is exploration and settlement building, and the last is Life in the biggest citadel.

Let's see what sort of discussions this causes...

Wait a minute ! Isn't Obron the name he gave to the planet in the Novaverse game Dusk ? What is happening ? What secrets are you hiding Spencer !?

[fantasies-fairytales-n-fics]

Thranduil and Josie Pt. 161- Cat Scratch Fever

Summary: A black cat crosses Josie's path bringing more bad luck to the Dorwinion castle. Narcisse is off kilter. Charles and Francis unite but not in agreement over their mother. Mary feels deep guilt of her knowledge. Francis gets under Josie's skin. She and Lola speak more about Narcisse's past. A cut won't heal. Bash has a scary story to tell. Josie panics over a possible resurrection.

*Chapter Warnings* language, angst, censored gif, sexual references, murder mentions

Chapter characters: Josie, Narcisse, Charles, Francis, Mary, Lola, Bash

Chapter word count: 8,447

Stories Stories Stories Masterlist

When you got to Stephane's chambers, all was quiet after you knocked well over three times and called to him. Odd it seemed, considering the guard had told you Narcisse said it was urgent, so now you became concerned.

"Stephane?!" you loudly called to him one more time and wriggled the locked door handle.

Suddenly, you saw a shadow moving rapidly pacing about under the door and heard Stephane's charcoal gray magical Maine Coon cat Merlin, crying and clawing at the door. The crying swiftly then turned into a low emitted growl as if something were frightening him.

"Merlin sweety? What's wrong?" you asked as you bent down and placed your fingers under the door so you could scratch his chin, but he wanted no part of it. Instead, he began to hiss.

Something was wrong. Merlin was no "pussy" per se. In fact, he was quite the bad ass like all cats believed they were, so the scaredy cat persona was completely out of character for the long locked beauty of a beast.

"Alright honey. I'm coming in." you warned and gave the door handle an electric zap with a single twirl of your finger.

The latch made a loud click and then you cautiously pushed the creaking door open.

"MROWWW!!!" Merlin screeched and sped out of the room so fast, you almost tripped over him.

The room was dimly lit with all the curtains closed and on the sofa laid a sprawled out sleeping Stephane with one hand clutching an empty goblet over his stomach and the other hand grazing the floor with dried blood all over it.

Gasping, you quickly made your way to him, finding yourself crunching over a broken and bloodied shards of a mirror upon the floor. Kneeling down beside him, your widened eyes studied his chest to make sure he was breathing, which he was but it had a low raspy sound to it that reminded you of a....tiger's growl?? and he reeked of whiskey. Believing he was just snoring and intoxicated, you studied him over some more, especially his injured hand as you gently picked it up by his wrist so that you wouldn't shock him.

Angling his hand about to assess it, you noticed his gold ring, the one he always fidgeted with when he was anxious or lying. You had never paid much attention to the details of the ring before but now you could see it bore two gemstones, side by side as one piece that reminded you of the yin and yang symbol, for one stone was a black onyx and the other was a white moonstone. You knew that yin was of darkness and yang was of light. Could that be what the ring symbolized?

Moving your eyes on to his knuckles, they were all tore up so it was apparent that he had punched the mirror, but why was the question? Your hunch was the combination of the booze and his anger at you stemming from Haldir's spontaneous lip lock that he witnessed and possibly even something to do with Catherine's eldest son making an unannounced arrival that Stephane had clearly been upset about.

In that moment, Stephane had been dreaming. It was the day you first came to Dorwinion and he found you his red clover field searching for Haldir's gifted dreamcatcher you had dropped in the colossal cluster. At least he thought it was you as he viewed your long wavy scarlet strands from behind. Upon the woman's turning around, he found himself uttering the same words of shock that exited his lips that day and it wasn't the only shock he got.

"It is....you."

"Here kitty kitty kitty. Miss me? I've sure missed you. It's time to wake up once again, just as I had awoken the beast once before." Caroline cackled, forming her wicked grin and then clutched his hand, sending a burning jolt of juice through him, much like the one you and he experienced that day when your hands touched.

Feeling bad about his hand, you softly laid your hand over his wounds to heal him and in doing so, the electric current that you and he shared when your hands touched, shot right through both of you, startling him awake. But it wasn't Narcisse that you awakened.

Towering over your cowered body as you laid upon the floor in sheer terror, was a snarling and salivating beastly black panther with razor fangs as white as pearls and eyes that burned of the sun...and gusting from his roaring lungs was a fiery breath not of peppermint, but of black pepper.

"AHHH CHOOO!" you uncontrollably sneezed, spraying out a mist of sparkling silver water droplets into the ferocious feline's face.

He roared in pain and swung his paws in a frenzy at his eyes, giving you enough time to run and hide behind Stephane's liquor bar to try and rationally think of what to do, for this colossal cat was Narcisse and you didn't want to hurt him with your magic if you didn't have to, although it seemed you accidentally already had.

You were planted in a panic against the wooden bar, holding as still as you could as your frantic eyes scoured the darkness for movement and your ears searched for sound. Surely the beast would find you by sniffing you out, especially now that you noticed the palm of your hand had been scratched by the creature's claws and was bleeding. What in the hell was happening?? You knew nothing of his shapeshifting power. How the fuck did Narcisse transform into a giant fucking black cat before your very eyes and WHY?????

Your shallow breaths ceased as you heard grunting and groaning and then all went quiet again. As you prepared to counter attack in the least harmful way possible, you were grabbed by the arm and swiftly pulled to your feet by a sweating Stephane.

"Are you alright Jo???" he panted, steadying himself on the bar as you gaped at him in a frightful confusion.

"I...I...uh...umm...yes. I..think I should be asking YOU that??"

Narcisse glanced around, seemingly disoriented. "I...I don't feel so well."

He began to lean and fall, but you caught him and assisted him back to the sofa.

"What...what did you do to me??" he groaned and plopped onto his back, rubbing his eyes similarly to how the elephantine ebony cat had done.

"I...I don't..know?? I..I didn't mean to do anything. Lie still. I'll get you a wet rag soaked in healing water."

You cleaned your hand in the water which seemed to have ceased the bleeding, then quickly came back and sat beside him, forcing his rebelling hands away by his wrists in order not to shock him again and then laid the cool cloth over his inflamed eyes.

Narcisse made a frown as he licked his lips. "Silverbane. I can taste it. You sprayed me with fucking silverbane."

"W..what? I..how? and...I thought you were immune to poison??"

"Well apparently I am not to yours which you seem to have as a built in defense mechanism. I really wish you'd get your magical shit together Jo." he blindly griped with gritted teeth as he held the rag firmly over his eyes.

"But...even I can be hurt by Silverbane?? So how do I...oh wait..." you gasped. "It's just like Garrett. He can be hurt by fire, but yet he has fire power inside of him....and at Lestat's...I....I almost forgot....I had somehow conjured up Silverbane from thin air and blew it at my mother when she had almost depleted all of Garrett's blood."

"And yet once again, we are back to the vicious vampire." Stephane snarled as he snapped the rag to the floor with a huff and sat up.

He was somewhat right, you supposed. There you were, referencing Garrett after what you could describe as a cruel and vicious vision he sent you only moments earlier in your chambers. Even so, what you recalled was all still very relevant which would never matter to Stephane.

"You speak to me about being vicious after I just watched you turn into a very large vicious cat???? No wonder Merlin hightailed his ass out of here. Even he was afraid....and...so were you, for my safety. I can only assume that this is what was so urgent? What the hell is going on Stephane???"

"What's going on is that I'm a bit incapacitated at the moment which you seemed to have forgotten." he defensively deflected in which you immediately pointed out.

"Stop deflecting. Here. Let me heal you and...."

"No! Do not touch me Jo. A bath in the healing waters will do just fine." Narcisse barked as he abruptly scooted away from your extended hand.

"Ok, then at least let me help you."

"I'm perfectly capable of taking a bath...alone. Don't you have some place better to be? Like say...Mirkwood?"

Narcisse rose and headed for his bar to pour another drink, for his nerves were now unbearable after what had happened.

You flung to your feet and followed him. "YOU asked me to come here to your room...and now you want me to leave...and...for good?? What, kicking Haldir out wasn't pleasurable enough for you??? You want me to travel with my child when Harker is stalking all of us???" you reeled with stinging wet eyes.

Stephane's eyes refrained from yours as he knocked his drink back and poured another. Of course he didn't want you to go but his pride wasn't about to let you know that.

"Oh it was quite pleasurable to send the Lorien sprite packing. You have Legolas now since I see I now have more unwanted guests in my castle. He will keep you and Leean safe on your travels."

Narcisse turned without so much of a glance at you and walked to the other side of the sitting room with you once again following.

"You heartless son of a bitch! Have you forgotten why I am even here???! I need that book to stop Jareth!!"

An angry tear jetted down your cheek as you sharply blinked from Stephane's aggressive advance into your face.

"Heartless??!!!!! After ALL I have done for you and your company! All of the kindness I have offered you that I have never given to anyone else! Sleeping in my bed right after I confessed I was in love with you and I even pathetically allowed myself to shed tears at your feet over the fear of losing you. You also allowed me to love that little girl. YOU are the one who has forgotten! ALL you care about are the elves and that fucking vampire. You played me well Josephine. Beat me at my own past games of using someone for pleasures of the flesh. I can see I was right when I had once told you that you were a worthy opponent because no other has ever possessed the ability to make me feel less than I was and I can see no possible means of recovery from it. But I guess I have no one to blame except myself for letting my defenses down and letting you in, allowing you to see me bare in more ways than just my skin. Do you remember when I told you that?? That if you and I were to dive into those waters, that is what you would see? But the thing is...you don't see me! And you never will. I will never make that mistake again. I opened my heart to you. I told you things I would never tell a single soul. I threw you the grandest of birthday parties to make you feel better and because you hadn't had one since you were a child. I risked my life and men for you! I have even saved you from yourself! And for what?? To watch you kiss both Haldir and Garrett. Maybe, instead of standing here tearing my own self worth to shreds, I need to realize that I am not less just because I was much more than your inexperienced little hands could handle."

"Please...please stop Stephane. This was never about who you are. I know I hurt you and I am so very sorry, but I swear I never used you. I genuinely care for you, ALL of you and appreciate all you have done for me and Leann, or I would already be running after what I had just witnessed. I don't want to lose you too. Why can't we just please sit down and talk about this...really talk and listen and stop trying to hurt each other?? Let me try to fix this."

Narcisse knew that he had already scraped the bottom of the barrel with all he had just said and now he knew he must go even lower. You just weren't safe with him anymore.

"Because I have come to see it is no longer worth it. You...are not worth it and never were. It IS very much about who I am. It's about who everyone is because no one is your precious King or even Garrett, for they are all you speak of. No one else is good enough for you. I will not let you have me without the madness that makes me. If our demons cannot dance, neither can we." he growled with cold eyes and walked away again.

This time you did not follow, but stood there with a gaping mouth as many tears now fell.

Pouring himself more of the liquid courage to help him proceed in ripping both of your hearts out some more in order to push you away, Stephane drank it down, hesitating to turn and face you, for he could feel your tears and to see it would break him, so he remained a coward and faced the bar, then reluctantly began to continue on about Catherine.

"I called you here to inform you in person about Catherine so you wouldn't be blindsided by her release. Is that what a heartless person would do?"

"Catherine's....re...lease??" you stammered. "Wh...why on earth would you do such a thing????"

"I do believe that is none of your business. My castle, my rules and it's about time people start respecting that. I told you what you needed to know, now what you need to do is pack up your daughter and go back home with Legolas after this night."

"Are...are you insane??? Not only is Harker out there but so are Jareth's orcs! They attacked Legolas and Aragorn and almost killed the man who is travelling with them!"

"Insane? I have been called much worse, although I am sure many would be inclined to agree with you. Now, you can take your opinion and run along. I have a much needed bath awaiting before entertaining the enemies."

Narcisse gulped down the last of his bottle, then grabbed a robe and stormed out of the room, leaving you not only reeling at his lack of giving a shit but also wondering where he was even going since his bath was right there in his chambers, so once again, you followed him.

The room you entered consisted of a sizeable stone pool surrounded by dim candlelight and the air scented of floral fragrance, for upon the opaque water floated multiple flower petals. Pink roses if you were to guess.

Stephane stared at you with a scowl and undressed right before your stunned eyes, then scoffed when you promptly turned away upon the removal of his leather pants.

"As if you have never viewed my cock before. Why are you still here??" he griped as he yanked his ring off, then threw that and his robe to the floor.

The Yin and Yang gemstone clanked it's way to your feet. Keeping your back to the very nude Narcisse, you snatched it up.

"Oh stop with the infantile theatrics for once. You know why I'm here. You don't get to drop a bomb on me like that about Catherine and just walk away. I demand to know why you would set her free!!"

You trembled as you could feel him creeping up behind you. It wasn't because you feared him but because of how intimidated you were by his bare form. Not only had you laid your eyes upon the splendid sight of sculpted beauty a few times before, but you had also laid your body on it as well, so why were you so damn nervous??

"YOU will demand nothing of me." he snarled into your ear as he reached around you and swiftly snatched the ring right back out of your hand, but not fast enough to avoid the electrifying current. Gasping in unison with you, Narcisse quickly made his way into the vat of sparkling liquid and sat down to conceal his waxing wood, for the shock had greatly aroused him.

Slowly, you turned to face him once you heard the slosh of his descent beneath the water.

"Well then, I guess Catherine being on the loose is the lesser of two evils with what else has been released!"

"Alright, I'll bite. What do you mean?" he firmly asked while sitting stiffer than the stiffness below him.

"It's what I have been trying to tell you and why I need to find Ashmole. Jareth has done it. He has risen the dead, just like that psychic woman told me at my party or...I should say, like Peter told me in that vision I saw of him and now...he will come for me! I cannot leave here Stephane! Or you would be handing me right to him."

"And just how is it that you know this?"

"How do you not?? You know he has the three page spell to do it, no thanks to my mind altered father and just before I came to you today, I...I had another vision. It was...it was the vampire Kate. I saw her, with a head and all and...with Garrett. My visions are just like my dreams, both of the present and future and they are increasing and if I saw Kate, then many more are out there somewhere, waiting for something, something that I fear will change our lives forever. I fear a war is coming for the winter solstice. An army of the dead. I feel it. Even Legolas senses something sinister in the air."

Narcisse's bright blues gaped at the water in realization that your words were true. Jareth was the reason Rahl had resurrected and in that moment, he saw his denounced dark half reflecting back at him in the ripples, clawing at his soul to fully emerge from the grave...a box bound by 7 iron chains buried deep inside of Stephane's mind where he had cast him out to, but he could feel the chains breaking, one by one as if it were the rapture.

"Ahhh, I see now. That is what has your panties all in a bunch. Once again, it is because of Garrett. You're jealous."

"W...what??? What the hell is wrong with you??!! THAT is all you can speak of after what I just told you?? Not to mention AGAIN that you are releasing Catherine and having some party tonight as if Harker and the dead are not upon us! Oh, and there's the fact that you shapeshifted into a wild cat larger than Blaze! Seriously, what is happening? WHO are you and what have you done with Stephane???"

Stephane's expression was sullen and his gaze soulless, much like the soulless orbs of the animal that preyed upon you moments earlier. A soulless animal he once told you he was not and his words were as icy and cold as his dilated blues.

"The man you speak of no longer exists."

As you stood frozen by his words, he rose from the water. It was a shimmering sight that you now could not remove your eyes from no matter how hard you tried, almost as if magic were being used upon you, breaching your shield.

Narcisse slowly approached you in a most tantalizing manner, the water dripping and glistening over every inch of his masculine form as if he had been slathered in baby oil as his cock gave you it's undivided and full attention.

"I'm a monster. Refume by unfortunate events and given breath by necessity."

You took a staggering step back, unable to breathe. Unable to break the animal magnetism radiating between your bodies until his pupils glowed of the sun once more, followed by a low emitted growl that vibrated through his adam's apple.

Gasping, you stumbled back and found yourself racing out the door and down the hall, constantly glancing behind you, expecting to once again see the melanistic monster with paws measuring the size of both your hands combined, charging after you, but instead, you ran smack dab into Charles as you turned the corner.

"My lady?!! You...you look a fright." the young warlock exclaimed as his arms clutched tightly around your waist.

"I..." you panted and swung your head around to see an empty quiet hall behind you. "I...oh gosh. Well now I am just embarrassed." you softly said as you released Charles while a handful of people he had been speaking with, all stared at you.

"I was just...in a hurry...that's all. I apologize for my clumsiness." you explained, glancing behind you once more.

"Are you sure that is all it is? It would seem as if you believed something were...chasing you?"

His eyes were concerned and confused and you had to wonder if Charles knew of his father's "condition", but you certainly were not going to ask in front of the all the eyes still upon you.

"Oh no, no. I just need to go refresh for this evening's gathering, so I...I will just be on my way now. I'll see you then."

You awkwardly smiled and quickly resumed your path but once you came to the end of the hall, Francis and Mary rounded the corner. As the King and Queen of Lake Town passed you, Francis had slowed his pace to lock his baby blues with yours once again. He also offered you a slight head bow and a subtle smile, then continued on his way to call out to his half brother Charles.

Out of curiosity, you stood by the exit to watch as Charles turned with a sizeable smile.

"Francis." he raved and gave a hand swaying bow to the golden haired King.

Francis skipped the formal greeting altogether and went straight to embrace his little brother as Mary kept her distance and watched as well.

You knew nothing really about Francis but from what you could see, he truly cared for Charles and vice versa.

The two stood and conversed, but not loud enough for you to hear, so after a moment, you turned to leave, only to be startled by Mary.

"Oh..my!" you halted and gasped as your hand planted onto your chest.

"Oh dear, my apologies. Forgive me. I did not mean to frighten you. I am Mary. And you are Queen Josephine of Mirkwood?"

"Y..yes...I.."

"I am sorry we did not have the chance to meet when you and your King were in Lake Town. My King and I were away on business. Luckily I suppose, considering the dragon's destruction. I would like to thank you for your aid in ridding of the foul creature and I...I offer you my...condolences over King Thranduil."

"Thank you." you simply and softly replied as your eyes fell.

Her eyes fell too as she fidgeted with her clasped fingers that laid upon the beaded bodice of her golden gown, that from the waist down, looked as if a thousand ducks had been plucked to assemble it. The girl was most likely no older than you with long waves of dark chocolate hair coordinating with her coffee hues and in them was a pool of true sorrow. Mary knew of the breath that Thranduil still took and may have been aiding her own King in Narcisse's blackmailing, but she was far from content with it. She did it only for the happiness of Francis so his mother could be free, even when she herself knew what Catherine was, for the two always clashed. No one was good enough for Catherine's son, whom Mary deeply loved. And because of that love, she couldn't even imagine what you must be going through.

"A...penny for your thoughts?" you asked the suddenly distant girl who you just realized probably did not even know what a penny was. "Oh...sorry. It's just...modern day currency where I'm from."

Mary's rosy lipped smile grew wide as she giggled. "Oh, I know what it is. My late father-in-law was the greediest man in all of middle earth. He traveled far and wide and had quite the colossal collection of riches, even pennies, which he had mounds of."

Well, that explained to you why Peter ended up there in his search for you and bought the emerald pendant from the abhorrent Alfrid just before Thranduil had captured him. If anyone was a greedy bastard, it was piggish Peter.

"I just...I feel terrible for what you have been through. Word travels far." she continued, then smiled again. "I'll take my penny now."

"Well." you smiled back. "If I come across one again, I will give it to you."

"That would be nice. I know they are not worth much, but to be gifted one from a beautiful Queen would be quite the treasure. It is nice to meet you Josephine. I hope we will see more of each other. I better tend to my husband. He and Charles seem to be in a disagreement of sorts."

You smiled and turned to see and hear the two young men quarreling and you knew exactly what it pertained to. Catherine being released, for Charles was greatly opposed to it and it was quite apparent that Charles had the better head upon his youthful shoulders when it came to her true colors.

"Just ask Josie! She'll tell you!" Charles shouted and motioned for you to come over.

"I do not need to hear her side, for it is not her decision." Francis firmly stated.

"And it is yours?? This is not your castle. It is my father's!"

"And he has agreed to free her. She is our mother Charles. She will not be treated like an animal! Why on earth would you side with the man who destroyed our family??"

Charles scoffed at his brother and quickly turned to you, where you stood hiding slightly behind Mary.

"Is this true?? Did my father agree to release her???" he asked in desperation.

"I...Charles...I'm..sorry. He...has and.."

"Unbelievable!" he snapped and spun back to Francis. "She coerced our sister into using black magic to kill a King vampire, which could have brought a war to our lands that we would surely lose and she also forced her into helping to poison a Lorien elf! And now our sister faces being banished from here with a newborn child!"

"Claude is a grown woman and made her own choices. She was not forced. She will be better off away from here anyways and to return with me to Lake Town, our home Charles! Where you should be as well."

"THIS is my home. I will go nowhere with you, nor will my sister!! You're as mad as our mother! I am going to go have words with my father!"

Charles stormed past you, but you grasped his arm. "Charles, no! I...umm, Narcisse...he's...he's in a bad way at the moment and I would not advise a confrontation. Trust me...please." you pleaded with worried but stern eyes which Charles seemed to understand.

He stiffened up straight and sighed as he lifted his chin to glare at Francis.

"I don't know what you have done to my father, but know this. This is far from over...brother."

Your heart was racing as Charles marched off, for you were praying he would heed your warning about Narcisse. Charles may have been merely 19 years old, but he was hot headed and certainly no push over, just like his father.

Francis turned to you with a smile, showing no sign of shame or regret over the dispute. It was as if it had not even happened.

"My lady. We have not been properly introduced. I am King Francis of Lake Town and I am honored to be in the presence of such beauty."

The audacious blonde bowed down, then took your hand and kissed it right on front of Mary, making you feel terribly awkward and bad for her.

You gently and politely as possible, slipped your hand out of his and forced a smile, when really, all you wanted to do was slap him.

"I...I am Josephine."

"Oh I know exactly who you are. A queen as well. It is such a shame to hear about your King. I suppose now I will have to confer with Legolas for our trades. Or maybe...I shall speak with you instead? I would greatly prefer that. Maybe over some dinner and wine?"

The words going through your mind at that moment were far from queen like. The nerve of this jackass...oh god, Josie, calm down. Breathe. You glanced at Mary, who remained silent with her head hung low, fidgeting again with her hands.

"It is King Legolas and he would be the one to speak business with is usually not discussed over dinner and wine."

The look in his blue eyes told you he was turned on by the way you shut him down.

"We can always skip the business then and just enjoy each other's company. In the meantime, I'll let you ponder on that. Mary...come. I must go see my mother now."

Francis walked off, not even waiting for Mary, so you quickly stopped her.

"I...I am so sorry for that. Please know, I..I would never..."

She softly smiled and took your hand. "It is alright. You are not his first conquest and certainly will not be his last. I..I must go."

As you watched her catch up to Francis, you wondered the same thing that Charles had asked...how did he get Narcisse to free Catherine? Off you then went as well, for you needed to speak to Lola about Stephane's past once more.

Lola was rocking Leean's cradle and singing softly to her when you arrived and you noticed her tears before she quickly turned away to wipe them.

"Lola?? Is everything alright?"

"Oh yes." she proclaimed as she turned with a smile. "Don't mind me. I was just thinking of my mother after we had spoke of her earlier. She used to sing to me and Leean really likes it. Even more so when you do it."

"I am so sorry Lola. I never meant to upset you. I...I miss my mother too. Well, the one I used to know as a child wearing rose colored glasses. Lola, I don't mean to change the subject but...when we spoke of Narcisse earlier, you said there was a time when he was different? Could you elaborate a little more on that because...something is very wrong with him. It's like....it's like there are two of him."

"Yes, that is kind of how he was from what my mother told me. Not kind at all and he dressed much differently. Robes and such, mostly of a scarlet red. Longer hair, dark as coal and his scent was different as well...kind of like..."

"Pepper??" you abruptly interrupted.

"Y...yes? I believe so."

You paced about for a moment in deep thought, fidgeting with your own hand, for it was itching something awful, then you stopped to look at her.

"You're certain it was Narcisse and not a...twin? I know you said before that you did not believe him to have any other brother but Bash, but you were just a child. It's just that... he told me something once that is not adding up now."

"I suppose I cannot be certain. I never saw or knew the Narcisse my mother described and he..."

"He what?" you asked when Lola had paused in thought.

"Well, he...he went by some other name too, I...suppose there could be a twin? If so, he surely never speaks of him. There's only one other person that would most likely know. His brother...Bash."

"Was the name...Lord Rahl??"

"I...yes. Yes, that sounds right. I think it was?"

That is where you would head next, to Bash, for now you were worried that if there was an evil dark twin like Stephane had told you there was, was he the one you had just encountered?? Had he done something with the real Narcisse and taken his place?? Because Lola confirmed the scent of pepper and that is exactly what you smelled. Although Stephane told you that he killed Rahl, it was certainly possible he was brought back by Jareth. OR...were Narcisse and Rahl the same entity? Holy shit.

"Lola..I...I have to go. I..I will see you and Leean tonight for the dinner party and I want you both to stay at Legolas' side. I will find him and send him back here to get you."

As you turned to go refresh, Lola gasped.

"Josie?? Your hand...it's bleeding!"

You also gasped as your eyes gaped at the blood trickling down your fingers.

"Owww, god." you groaned as you quickly squeezed a cloth into your fist, then sat down, for you suddenly felt dizzy and overheated.

"What happened?" Lola asked as she promptly brought you a pitcher of healing water, then sat beside you to help clean the wound.

Not wanting to tell her the whole story just yet until you spoke to Bash, you decided to fib...just a little.

"I..uh...broke a mirror earlier and...cut my hand when I was cleaning it up."

Lola pried open your clenched fist and removed the cloth.

"Oh my. Josie, that's pretty deep and looks...possibly infected."

It did. The gash was slightly blackened around the edges and it burned, and strangely, even more so when Lola patted it with the water soaked cloth.

"Mmmmph." you flinched. "I'm sure it will be fine after I soak it for awhile."

"Maybe you should have the healers look at it? You...you seem a bit pale."

If only Thranduil were here, you thought as tears stung your eyes. He would heal you right up with one touch of his soft magical hand.

"I'm alright. The sight of blood has always made me feel queasy."

The dizziness seemed to have passed, so you took the pitcher into the wash room and filled the sink basin, then held your breath as you submersed your hand. Five seconds was all you could withstand before you had to abruptly withdraw.

"Jesus!" you cringed and then noticed a sizzling effect on the cut of both sight and sound.

"It's like it's fucking holy water. I should be asking YOU Narcisse or whomever you are, what YOU did to me??" you complained under your breath while you angrily wrapped and secured a clean dry cloth around your hand.

"Lola, if Leggy comes back while I'm gone, tell him I went to speak to Bash and that I will be back soon. We can all go to the dinner together. Keep this door locked until then. it is to only be opened for myself or Legolas. If Narcisse happens to show up, you tell him, through the door, that I am not here and that Leean is sleeping so he'll go away."

"Through...the door? Josie...what is going...."

You were out the door and rushing down the hall before she could finish. One way or another, you had to find out the truth because it now seemed that danger not only lurked outside of the castle walls, but still remained inside of them as well.

"Bash!" you loudly whispered against his chamber door as you briskly tapped upon it. "I need to speak to you again. It's urgent."

"It's open." he called to you.

Upon your swift entry, you found Sebastian leaning against the wall by the open balcony doors, looking as if he had seen a ghost. Had he?

"Bash?? Is something wro...."

You froze solid as you came into view of the dead blackbirds scattered about the terrace floor. Slowly, you walked past him with wide eyes to get a better look, praying one of them was not your Freddy, the ridiculous name Garrett had given your crow over his Scooby Doo fetish.

As you visually searched through the feathered carcasses, you soon sighed heavily in relief because they were all too small to be your faithful friend.

"Bash...w..what caused this??"

"Mayhem and death. Birds fall from the sky when evil witches like him are near."

"Him?? Are you speaking of Harker?"

You had only known Bash for merely 2 months, but in that short time, you could tell he was a warlock warrior who feared nothing, not even Harker who had almost killed him...but in that moment, he looked absolutely terrified. And he was, for he had all the answers you sought and although it was a secret to have never escaped his lips, Bash knew this time, he had to tell you and later face the consequences.

"No...my..brother."

"Narcisse...did this?"

"Rahl." he simply stated with a horrified stare into your eyes.

"So....Narcisse does have a twin." you whispered as you clutched your burning hand. "Bash...I...he told me he was dead but...I think this Rahl was one of the many Jareth has conjured back from the dead with that spell and I think he has done something with Stephane!!"

"Twin? There is no twin. My brother Stephane and Rahl are very much one and the same." Bash verified and then glanced at the dead birds. "The only difference is that everything Stephane is, Rahl is the opposite of."

You had to sit down. You knew this was a possibility, but to have it be validated was overwhelming. Stephane had what you would know as...D.I.D. Dissociative Identity Disorder, otherwise known as a split personality or an alter...but who was the true identity? At least now you knew Stephane wasn't being held captive somewhere...or dead.

"So...he...he lied to me..."

"Wouldn't you? Lie about it? It's not something he is proud of, nor did he want it. Rahl has done evil things, like Harker and Jareth. Some he recalls, some he does not and Stephane is ashamed and certainly would not want you of all people to know, in fear of what you would think of him. My brother was never perfect. He had his own bad side when he was crossed. You've seen it. He punishes the evil, but he is not a cold blooded killer like Rahl."

"I...I suppose I understand that, for I was able to talk him out of doing some horrible things and I don't feel I would have succeeded if he did not have goodness in him. I..I'm just trying to process all of this. Referring to one body by two different names. I know it's a real thing, I just have never encountered it."

"Rahl is his second given name, after our father. Our father, who I believed caused the split by making him do despicable things as an adolescent. Stephane wanted to be good...of light. Not dark like our father, but our father expected more from him, being the oldest and he placed a very heavy weight on him to follow in his footsteps and that's exactly what Rahl did."

"He...he told me Rahl had your father killed, by that man Stephane fought and killed in the gambling tournament to the death."

"Yes, but it didn't quite go as planned. That man, Theodore, was his good friend whom he met because of Catherine. He was her husband, King Henry's brother. Rahl tricked Theodore by morphing into Stephane's image and offered him a very large sum of money to kill our father. He was full of greed just like Theo, so he knew he could get him to do it and not have to get his own hands dirty, possibly due to his subconscious, which I think was Stephane trying to fight him. But that quickly changed. Before Theo arrived that night, an argument revealed the our father had killed our mother and despite his blackened heart, Rahl loved our mother, so he killed our father first. Stephane didn't remember it right away. I think the trauma caused the memory lapse and when he did recall the events years later, that's when he set out to kill Theodore and end Rahl himself. As I said, our father did terrible things and made him do the same, but to Stephane, he was still our father whom he did everything to please....and he hated himself for what he had done, although sometimes I wonder if Stephane possibly wanted our father dead too. It would be a lie if I said I did not have similar feelings. I still stood by my brother though, because I knew of the things our father made him do. I tried to help him but I could never get through to him. There was nothing I could do. Rahl was too strong and powerful, even more so than Stephane. I never blamed Stephane for the things he had done. It wasn't his fault. I believed his hand was forced and his mind was ill."

"And he did all this for the crown? Stephane said his father didn't want Rahl to have it."

"He did at one time, but that was before he noticed the new change in him, the good side, the real Stephane, the one before our father's dark influence consumed him at a young age, altering his mind and that's when things went sour. Two others knew about his condition. One being your father Julian who tried to help him. That book you seek, the one Julian has hidden, it has the spell to lock the alter away in his mind and it also has the power to release him. Your father banished Rahl before he hid the book away to keep it out of Jareth's and other evil one's hands....including your mother's....because your mother, Caroline, who was the other with the knowledge of my brother's illness...she's the reason our father was killed."

"Wait...w..wh..what????"

"When Julian took Ashmole from his mother Jadis to undo Jareth's death, Caroline got her hands on it temporarily. When your father unknowingly slept with her twin Carrie, she punished all who knew and kept it from her and that included my brother. She brought the darkness of Rahl out of Stephane to a diabolical head... in a way no one had ever seen and hence, Darken Rahl was born. More wicked than our father could perceive. More wicked than he. Our father believed he would destroy all he had built and he denied him his right to the throne, so Rahl chose to take it, which is why Stephane has never called himself a King. In Rahl's short years of reign, even then he strangely was addressed as Lord Rahl, for again, I believe Stephane was somewhere inside of him, very much aware."

"God...my mother, even dead, still destroys people's lives. I've always known there are many things I don't know about that she's done and I'm sure this is only a fraction of it and...."

It just hit you. Something that you should have realized long before.

"Oh dear god Bash."

He tilted his head and stepped towards you with questioning furrowed brows.

"My lady?"

"My mother! What if Jareth....could he have brought her back as well?? And could she have awoken Rahl again?? She wouldn't need the book, for I am certain she would remember the spell...or...or did Jareth wake him up???"

"I suppose either or both are possible, but I hope for your sake, your mother was not one of the resurrected. I have never met her but her wicked reputation certainly precedes her in all of middle earth."

"Damn it. Why did my father have to go back for those pages?? Harker would never have gotten his hands on them if it weren't for that and my father would not have been converted to darkness. So now, what do we do about all of this without the book?? Because if you know about Rahl, then surely you must know about his animal form, the fucking gigantic jaguar I encountered earlier."

"You saw that?? That means....he is closer to surfacing than I realized."

"I not only saw it, I was scratched and it burns like hell. I tried the healing water, but it intensified the burn." you explained as you held your bandaged and trembling hand out.

Bash tried to hide his growing concern as he took your hand to look it over, but the light tremors in his fingers told on him.

"The water won't help it. It's like adding fuel to the fire. His claws are poisonous and his bite is venomous, both like no other. As I said, Rahl and Stephane are opposites even if they share the same body. Rahl propels poison, Stephane repels it. The Rahl that Stephane created is not the Rahl your mother conjured in the past and the one brought forth now will only be 3 times worse. It's like a pain scale of mild, moderate and severe."

"Third time is definitely not a charm. So what is it going to do to me?? And how do I get rid of it...and is that even possible?? Stephane, he repels poison yes, well, except mine for some reason, possibly because it was not him I cast the silverbane upon??...and his peppermint scent...it heals poison. He healed me from the dark forest and from wolfbane, so can he not heal me??"

"The question is...will he? Unless you can get Stephane to resurface, there is not much time before you will suffer vivid hallucinations and pain, and your powers will be completely useless. You will also be at Rahl's mercy. You will need Delphine, a witch doctor, for she has the only known antidote. She resides near the city. After the party tonight, I will go and try to locate her. She doesn't trust anyone but me."

"Stephane...he...he was still himself...right after he shifted back and realized what happened and what he had done. He was extremely worried for me...but then...his personality quickly began to change and when I last saw him, well...he was definitely not himself."

"The rapid change...It's because of the shift. After the cat appears, he is all Darken Rahl."

"It's my fault. I...I accidentally brought the beast out by shocking him...god...I need Garrett!! He can heal me, I know it. BUT...he is off doing who knows what with his former mate that Jareth revived. Bash, you must be very careful. Her shock is far worse than mine and let's not forget Harker and what he has already done to you. And I know Aragorn, Bard and Gimli went looking for Haldir, but please, if you see him, tell him I'm so sorry and that I miss him."

"I will...Josie...It's not your fault. You couldn't have possibly known. I will find Delphine and I will even be on the lookout for Garrett and the newly remodeled Kate. I will tell him you need him. I do not fear her nor Harker. Stay close to Legolas this evening and I will keep my eye on my brother. You should go now, before he finds you in here again."

After you left, you went back to your room to find a note from Lola on the vanity stating she, Legolas and Leean went to the dining hall to wait for you and that Boromir was anxious to speak with you. You had forgotten all about him and that he had come all the way there to inform you of something quite urgent, almost dying in the process.

You then went to the dresser to find some lace gloves to conceal your hand and as you did so, you caught your reflection in the mirror. Tears instantly formed at the mess you had become. Not on the outside, but the inside. It was a moment when you had felt more alone than you ever had.

You had to turn away, for you feared you would see Garrett again and you didn't need to be reminded, as if you'd ever forget, that he abandoned you and chose to be with a demon summoned from hell. All you had now were Leggy and Lola. All were gone, even Narcisse...even your letter to Thranduil that mysteriously vanished and you really wanted to read it again to feel close to him.

You sat on the bed, lost in the thought of your King, for he is all you truly wanted...and that's when the full blown tears came.

"Thranduil?? My love.." you squeaked. "I...I don't feel you anymore and I'm scared. I'm so scared and I'm lost and...I'm in trouble and I...I just need you...please...somehow, please come back to me...please my King, come ba...."

You loudly gasped and sprung to your feet and your heart paused and dove into your gut when you realized something else. Something horrifying, yet miraculous. Something even you wanted to do once.

Your words then came flooding out of you, choking away your air.

"Oh my god...could Jareth have done it?? Is...Thranduil alive too????"

@redeemer46

[zelphin124]

LCB-3: Chapter 4

Shorter one than the last ones, but important all the same.

Major spoilers for Jekyll's story.

Masterpost

Chapter 3 <---> Chapter 5

~o0o~

Despite Dante’s protests, Maut insisted that someone ought to walk him back to the Limbus Company bus. Othello offered to do so, as he did not wish to take out his sour actions towards Mark just at that moment. Despite the former soldier leaving, the tensions did not ease. 

The group was silent, discounting their heavy footsteps echoing across the abandoned halls. No one said anything for the first couple of hours; it felt like the stairs to the first floor were never-ending. Water droplets fell onto the metal floor, adding to the hollow void of darkness the party was slowly entering into. 

Jekyll’s head started to spin. She slowed, gagging to herself and out of sight. Her head pounded like a drum, and her eyes began to burn. Great… the after-effects of split shards. 

She didn’t hear anything from Hyde, telling her that her opposite was still busy looking into the mirror worlds. She wondered if they would ever find another version of themselves and not useless shadows of dead bodies. 

Her head started to pound further, and she clenched her head, swaying from side to side. Her footsteps became more like stumbles, and she had to lean onto a close wall when the group stopped to stay upright. She clenched her neck, trying to catch her breath. Why did I ever invent such a sensation? 

“Right, this is the first time we are all down here in a Lobotomy Corporation Facility,” Dante ticked as he turned around, the fire on his head being the main light source within the room. “At least, for you new recruits. We should watch out for something that wishes to behead us.” 

“As long as we are visual, we should be fine,” Pen rested the end of his spear on the ground, tapping it and listening to the echoes it caused. 

Dante’s head only lit the rusted technological door behind him. His hand rested on the edge of it, waiting to push it open. The fire above his head lit up a text difficult to read, overrun by rust and moss. Nevertheless, Jekyll could see it said something along the lines of ‘Department.’ But… which one?

“Shall we head inside?” Dante asked the group, his voice weary and wavering. 

It was hard to see, but everyone gave subtle nods. 

The entryway was narrow, causing everyone to form a line. Upon seeing Mark eagerly placing himself in front, Jekyll forced herself to stick to the back of the line. The last thing she wanted was to be around him, especially after the effects had kicked in. Please just be over already… She cried in despair. Stupid… stupid drug… She figured it hurt more than usual because she was in a rush to use it, in fear of Mark’s words. Jekyll also couldn’t recall she was the one to deal with the after-effects, as Hyde was always fronting when it was over. She glanced down at the moonstones on her fingers glowing slightly. She sighed, a tinge of resentment attached to her toward Mark. He just had to force her to switch back and forth as if it wasn’t a big deal. It’s not like he cared about the consequences of it, and Jekyll was the one paying for it. 

More light entered the atmosphere the moment Dante pushed the door open. It took a bit for Jekyll’s eyes to adjust, lest with her head spinning. 

The environment was nothing short of abandoned. Many TVs were scattered across the walls, hanging by a single chord and shattered into pieces. Holographs glitched in and out on the floor, summoning random sparks each time they received a surge of power. Chairs and tables were broken apart and scattered across the room into the corners as if a giant had pushed them away in one swipe. Lights flickered in and out overhead as if someone had tried to use them for the first time in years and they exploded from impact. Human feet could not survive this room without being slashed by the various materials on the floor. 

That was not what Jekyll had her hazy attention upon, however. Jekyll couldn’t take her eyes off the various corpses that littered the room. Some had brown uniforms, their heads cut completely clean from their body and missing. Some reminisced about the demon syndicates they fought earlier, and others were unrecognizable from the green mold covering their bodies, revealing a horrendous stench. Their bodies looked frozen in time as if they were in an undead state. 

Jekyll glanced towards the headless bodies, admiring how clean a cut was made across their necks. Perhaps I should collect some blood for Hyde… Maybe she will thank me and stop bothering me for a bit if I do so. 

To her surprise and to further her dismay, there was an unusual lack of blood on the floor. There wasn’t even any salvageable blood pouring out from the victim’s neck. Jekyll never fancied touching dead bodies like Hyde and decided against any further collection of painting supplies. 

The stench only made her head spin more, anyway. 

Mallo walked across the room with grace, almost gliding over the floors with familiarity. She barely gave any attention to the dead bodies on the floor, giving them a look of disappointment and a dagger stare of patheticness. 

Pen, on the other hand, took great interest in the corpses, studying them carefully. He glanced at the green mold ones before studying the clean cut across the beheaded ones. “Why would a beast do this?” 

Upon hearing the question, Mallo finally gave the corpses some time of her day. “It’s much worse than a beast.” 

Pen mutters something under his breath, turning toward the next corpse. 

“It’s a completely clean cut,” Mallo bent down next to one of the beheaded corpses. She observed it with curiosity, not as to what did the damage… rather who. 

“Hopefully we will be fighting humans, due to the damage,” Lenore commented, investigating the wall for any type of trail or tracks left behind. 

Jekyll laughed to herself. Do you think humans can do this clean of a job? Never in my life have I seen something so perfectly done. Her head spun as fragments of the split-shard drug entered her vision. She paused for a moment, sighing. I sound like Hyde… 

“Wouldn’t count on it,” Mallo confirmed Jekyll’s thoughts. 

Pen glanced up from his observations. “Are distortions humans?” He asked out of the blue. 

“I think… they used to be,” Lenore replied. 

Mallo nodded in agreement. 

“I see,” Pen did not seem shocked by this information. “Good to know.” 

“What one hell of a hole,” Mark scoffed, drawing attention to himself as he rummaged through the pockets of the dead. 

What little remorse you have for life, Mark. Jekyll sighed. 

“The hell? Why is he carrying this?” Mark took his hand out of the beheaded corpse’s pocket, holding out a playing card: two of hearts.

“A card?” Pen asked. 

“I went through his pockets, I mean might as well take what they have, if it’s not useless,” he cursed under his breath. “They are surprisingly clean for being dead, and I found this.” 

Jekyll could only hear the sinners scrummaging through the pockets of the dead as shards covered her vision once more. Ngh… two more, and then it should be over. 

“I found a three of hearts,” Lenore walked over and handed it to Mark, who found another card. 

Mallo didn’t search hard enough to find a card, nor did she care to put effort into it. Her attention seemed to be divided. 

“Four of hearts on this one…” Mark continued, taking an odd form of leadership with this case. “Something tells me that each body might be marked by a card… It’s like the spade syndicate…” 

“I’m sure the spades use spade cards,” Lenore confirmed with a smile.

Mark ignored her. “I don’t expect the life insurance that hired us to have these cards… maybe the lone shark syndicate.” He started to loot the body Mallo didn’t give much effort into. 

There’s a sudden look of horror that captures Mallo’s expression. “Did they keep it here?” Her breath hitched as she muttered. She looked around the room in a type of panic Jekyll had never seen before. 

By the time Jekyll’s vision cleared to see things properly, she couldn’t believe what she saw first. Pen had knelt and grabbed one of the green-mold corpses’ hands. He jumps back in surprise as if something had reached to grab him, startled. “It’s not dead–” he cut himself off, tilting his head to the side. There was an odd pause before he spoke again. “Interesting.”

Mallo made her way up to one of the computers, pressing a few buttons and grunting in frustration when they didn’t work. She turned toward the party in a panic. “Is anyone good at engineering?” 

Jatayu raises his hand among the shaking heads. 

“I need help activating this,” Mallo points toward the computer that seemed to be the least broken. 

Pen stepped forward and assisted Mallo. Jekyll wondered why Jatayu hadn’t after he raised his hand, but she failed to catch his expression as another mirror shard covered her vision. The sensation was one of pure bliss followed by a sharp pain in her head. She clenched her head, taking her monocle off and rubbing her red eye, tears streaming from it. Jekyll’s environment changed around her, and she was face to face with someone she recognized… and someone she knew too well. 

She saw a person akin to her face in a dark navy suit with red markings. She held a large gun and wore her hair down to her shoulders. The red markings spelled the word ‘Limbus Company’ across her vest, and she was staring right back at Jekyll. 

Is that… me? 

“Jekyll? Are you alright?” She could hear Dante calling to her. 

Jekyll couldn’t see Dante, but the moment he started talking, the vision began to fade as reality returned. “Mm… give me a moment–” she tried to keep the vision going, reaching out to the different version of her.

Her efforts were in vain. The different version of herself faded from view, and the final slashing pain from the drug slit Jekyll’s head. She clenched it, shedding silver tears as the drug’s effect finally came to an end. 

Ugh… Jekyll heard Hyde come back into focus. That round was horrible. 

Despite being conflicted upon Hyde’s return, she couldn’t help herself as she checked up on her. You okay? 

The drug isn’t always that bad… Hyde stumbled upon her words as if she was still groggy. I didn’t see anything new, though. 

I saw… me. Jekyll sighed. 

Oh? 

“Finally, something hella useful,” Mark’s scoff cut Jekyll off. She glanced toward him, finding him in the other room looting more bodies. Ahn fell from his hand into his pouch. He continued to loot every single one, pulling out more cards and more ahn. Jekyll watched as he tried to break off one of the demon syndicate corpses’ arms for its weapon, using his pipe to break its shoulder. However, the arm didn’t come off despite his efforts. Frustrated, he kicked it in the face and walked out of sight. 

“What happened to you?” Pen’s trembling voice forced Jekyll’s attention back to him. He grabbed the hand of the corpse again and started talking to it. His face was covered in an uncomfortable emotion, and he closed his eyes. “And what do you want, my friend? Hmm… how can I do that…?” He followed his mutterings by taking his spear and stabbing the corpse in the face. The body limped and crumbled under the wound, dying on the spot as if it wasn’t dead already. Pen opened his eyes as he looked at the corpse. 

Pff, some hallucination he’s going through. Hyde rolled her eyes. 

Jekyll was tired of her commentary. You’re a hallucination. 

Hyde laughed sarcastically. How low of you. 

“I don’t know how I can help you friend,” Pen continued talking to the dead body, letting go of its hand. “Rest well, I will bring you vengence.” 

This child is insane. 

Jekyll couldn’t help but agree with Hyde. 

Patterns of computer noises filled the silence following; Jekyll turned her gaze towards Lenore and Mallo searching through the computer files. Well… more Mallo frantically going from screen to screen and Lenore reading what she could. In fact, she was going through various screens of the computer so quickly and so efficiently that it made Jekyll inclined to believe she had experience within the Lobotomy Corporation facilities. Only an expert can go through information like that… 

Mallo stopped on one screen, reading through it quickly. She stared intensely as her eyes widened in fear. She backed up from the screen, her hands raised in front of her chest as if they were frozen in their typing position. Jekyll could’ve sworn she saw her break a panicked sweat before she stormed over to Dante in a hurry. “Dante, I found something.” 

Dante turned to face her after staring at Jekyll for a long time. “What’s up?” 

“Follow me,” Mallo demanded more than asked Dante before immediately walking over to the computer, expecting Dante to follow. 

And follow he did. His head tilted from curiosity more than concern, and Dante didn’t seem to take into account the stressed state Mallo was thrown into. Nevertheless, he looked at the computer and started to read. 

“I found the culprit,” Mallo continued. “Something tells me you can’t come back from being decapitated, Dante?” 

“I’d… rather not think that would happen to me…” Dante grasped his hands with one another, his ticking slowed as he read. 

“Can you bring us back from it?” Lenore swayed her glaive back and forth, almost in a sense of boredom. 

“I think so,” Dante finished the reading. “This is definitely we should keep our eye out for.” 

“You need to stick behind us,” Mallo suggested. 

“Right… assuming nothing bad happens, it would be best to stick together.” 

Mallo took Dante’s words to heart and started counting the people in the room. She paused, counting everyone again. “Jekyll, Lenore, Jatayu, me, Dante, Pen…” she paused. “Where’s Mark?” 

“Oh whew,” Lenore smiled. “We are not missing anyone important.” 

Mallo was unconvinced. Her hands were trembling with shock. She bolted to the right in a panic, her breath hitched and caught within her lungs. 

Idiot, Hyde sighed. Mark literally went the other way. We watched him go left and rob everyone. 

Oh crap- Jekyll started running after Mallo into the next room before she thought about it. “Mallo!” 

By the time Jekyll called out to Mallo again near the end of the other room, she was out of breath and so was Mallo. The room was the same as the last; it consisted of broken computers, glitched holographics, various corpses, and a horrendous smell from the destruction. The room was yellow and purple, which were odd colors that Jekyll had never seen in a building before. 

To Jekyll’s surprise, Mallo did not have any cigarette in her hand, or any lit nearby. She looked around in a panic, searching for any sign of someone coming through this way. 

Jekyll collected her breaths before she rested a hand on Mallo’s shoulder. “Mallo…” she wheezed, tired from running after her. 

“Idiot’s gonna get himself killed…” Mallo muttered to herself as she turned toward Jekyll.

Jekyll could feel Hyde getting stronger. Huh, so despite the hatred you still care about the moron’s safety… Isn’t that interesting? 

“He’s over here!” Jekyll heard Lenore faintly shout in the other room, where she saw them go. 

“I don’t have time for this, Jekyll!” Mallo snapped, fury blazing in her pupils. “Spit it out!” 

“Uh-uhm, they are over there,” Jekyll stammered, surprised by Mallo’s reaction. “I heard Lenore… Mark went left…” 

She didn’t seem convinced. Mallo glanced towards the door continuing down the hall and back at the way she came. 

Remind her two brain cells that we need to stick with the party, Hyde snapped. 

Oh. “W-W-We should stick with the party, because o-of the decapitating thing… on the loose…” Jekyll sighed, staring into Mallo’s soul. 

There wasn’t another moment in between Jekyll ending the sentence and Mallo grabbing Jekyll by her wrist before sprinting back the way she came. Mallo’s hair brushed in the way of Jekyll’s sight, causing her to stumble and have difficulty finding her footing. However, she was able to keep up with the woman as her grip only tightened on Jekyll’s wrists the moment she even fell an inch behind the speed Mallo ran. 

Hyde was not happy. Jekyll, get out of her grip! She doesn’t need to drag you around like this!

Everything Jekyll was seeing was a blur. It-It’s fine! She knows what’s best right now… I should follow her lead. 

Her ‘lead’ is her walking all over you! You know what happens when you allow this, Hyde hissed. This is the third time you’ve been dragged around today. I’m tired of you just letting it happen. 

A wave of guilt washed over Jekyll as she finally found her footing and kept up with Mallo in an equal sprint. Well, you’re not the one in control. I will decide if I wish to be dragged or not. 

Jekyll was immediately filled with a sense of dread as Hyde spoke. Then I shall kill her like I killed the others that walked over you. 

Mallo and Jekyll ran past Dante with heavy footsteps echoing across the metal floors. They ran across looted bodies and corpses before they burst the door open into another room, where combat had ensued. 

Lenore, Jatayu, Pen, and Mark had taken care of the battle in the majority. Mark was dancing with maracas over a staggered demon syndicate, not having a care in the world in his current ID. 

Jekyll didn’t have time to laugh at how silly Mark looked before Lenore, also in another ID, stabbed the staggered enemy through the face, killing it on the spot. Her glaive had turned into a rapier, and the quick flick of her wrist sliced the man in two from the head down. The pathetic man with blonde hair crumbled to the floor. 

Mallo finally let go of Jekyll’s wrist, to Hyde’s approval. Jekyll brushed her now unkept hair out of her face, almost disappointed that this room was the same as the last. She took her brush and brushed it with her fingers, trying to untangle it from the winds that messed its sharp edges up. 

“Everything okay?” Dante’s ticks started to get louder alongside his footsteps. 

Mallo immediately grabbed the door handle. “Enemies, stay out.” She shut the door in his face. 

Jekyll couldn’t understand what Dante said once the door was closed. 

Pen slammed the edge of his spear on the ground, lighting up the room. The light seemed to linger around Mark and Jatayu, who immediately took action as the light lasted. 

Mark twirled in the air with his maracas and handed countless blows to the living demon syndicate, double-staggering it. His hat only moved an inch despite his quick movements. 

Jatayu didn’t hesitate to run his tanfas through the demon syndicate’s skull, beating it over and over again. Despite the clear signs it was dead, Jatayu continued to beat the corpse until it was nothing more than a pile of rubble. 

As soon as Jekyll had entered combat, it had ended. Mallo stepped out of the doorway and lit a cig, calming her down immediately. However, the smoke and dopamine from the cigarette didn’t ease the daggers that dove into Mark’s soul as she stared at him. 

Mark’s ID faded back to his usual self as he scoffed. “Hell do you need, loser?” 

“You’re an idiot,” Mallo hissed, her fingers pinching the cigarette in fury. “You could’ve gotten yourself killed.” 

“We can’t really die with Dante around, pansy,” Mark mocked. “It doesn’t really matter.” When Mallo’s glare did not let up, somehow Mark took that as a sign to continue blabbering. “I can handle myself,” he rested his pipe on the floor. “I’m not as incompetent as you all.” 

“He has a point,” Pen added. 

Jekyll turned toward Pen, shocked. Is he agreeing with Mark? 

Hyde seemed pleased. The kid has a spine after all. 

Mallo also glanced at Pen in confusion. “Huh? You… you can’t be serious about supporting him,” she glared back at Mark. 

“If we die, Dante brings us back,” Pen explained. 

“It causes our manager pain to bring us back,” Lenore stepped in, also turning back into her base ID. “It’s best and quite strategic if we don’t die.” 

“Unlike you two,” Mallo gestured to Mark and Pen. “I know what’s in here, I know what kind of beasts are kept here. There are some things Dante can not bring you back from, and the situation that we are about to face could be one of them!” 

“That’s a might,” Mark shrugged. “It doesn’t matter, just drop the dang subject and get out of here. These nitwits that we are actually facing are incompetent, and the threat you propose will be too.” 

“You haven’t seen what I seen,” an odd sincerity filled Mallo’s voice as she walked up to Mark. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

“Look, if you got monsters under your bed to talk about, Dante’s over there,” Mark hissed before turning his heel and walking into the next room. 

As Jatayu opened the door to let Dante in, Pen followed Mark into the next room, closing the door behind them. 

“Two enemies have been dispatched, Dante,” Lenore started to report the events. “The others are heading further into the facility…” She paused, heaving a sigh. “I’m not sure why they are going on ahead. It would be best to stay together.” 

“Don’t worry I’m sure you guys can catch up to them,” Dante reassured, adjusting his gloves. “I can’t, but that’s probably for the better.” 

“I don’t understand,” Lenore continued, leaning on her glaive with a forced neutral expression. “We are supposed to protect you, Dante. Yet, they keep wandering away from you, minimizing our chances at that.” 

“I mean…” Dante shrugged. “If they are out there killing the threats, it means the threats can’t get to me.” 

“Our ability to defend you is negated when they dwindle out numbers, lowering our chances,” Lenore didn’t seem to take the situation as lightly as Dante did. However, Dante’s opinions seemed to have formed from experience… 

Experience of being left behind? How cruel. Jekyll frowned, looking at the ground.

Yeah no wonder the other teams got fired, Hyde sighed. They can’t do their job. 

Yeah… but–

Jekyll. Hyde rubbed her head in annoyance. If you really think this company can offer you our greatest desire, do not get fired like the former employees. Protect Dante, I guess…

Jekyll flattened her face. Yeah, protect him from you. 

I threatened his life once, take a chill pill. 

You imagined his head on a stick!

Okay, but I’m not actually gonna do that, alright? Hyde laughed at the thought. Our lives are tied to him, anyway. 

But you made it clear…

Look, Hyde shrugged. You gotta assert dominance to make sure people can’t mess with you, and stick to your word. But there’s a beauty in well-painted lies as well. 

You’re sick. 

And you’re the one trying to get rid of me with this contract. 

Jekyll sighed, gripping her paintbrush and leaning on it, glancing toward the ground. It’ll be better for both of us…

Hell yeah, it will, Hyde snapped. You’re incompetent, and a fool. If it weren’t for me, you’d be dead. 

If it weren’t for you, our mother would still be alive. 

Jekyll’s brain was silent before Hyde cursed and shut her mouth. Jekyll immediately regretted her words, but there was nothing she could do about it. 

The truth was always what hurt the most.

“You okay?” Dante walked up to Mallo, the flames on his head sparking endlessly. 

Mallo was lost in thought staring right at Dante, her hand at the edge of her mouth. She shook her head and looked away as he approached. “I’m fine.” 

“You don’t look fine,” Dante pressed. “Something bothering you?” 

“I said I was fine,” Mallo raised her voice, snapping. 

“If you say so,” Dante returned with a gentle tone. “If you do need anything, I got you.” 

Mallo rolled her eyes. “I’ll keep that in mind.” 

Dante did not pick up on the sarcastic tone as he turned toward Jekyll. “How are you, Jekyll?” 

Jekyll glanced up from the floor. Oh crap, think of something to say uh– “Is there… really some stuff you can’t bring us back from?” 

Hyde snapped her attention back to what was going on. What kind of dumb question is that? We’ve already covered this–

“There’s been a few things that are risky, and it’s not impossible…” Dante explained, “It’s not something I would like to test. I-If it helps at all, I haven’t lost a sinner yet to death. I’ve only lost them through contract termination…” 

Sounds like a bunch of boring history I don’t want to hear, Hyde groaned. 

Jekyll fought for control as Hyde steered their body through the next door, closing it behind them. She sighed as her eyes adjusted to the darker room.

Up ahead were some enemies talking with a peculiar purple and black droid, who talked in a robotic high-pitched voice. It was too far away to hear what was said between them, but it was clear the syndicate members were ranked under the robotic presence. 

Mark and Pen were sitting down behind a wall, talking quietly amongst themselves as they observed an object. 

Jekyll sighed, realizing she had walked in where enemies could spot her. She tiptoed over to her comrades, sitting on the other side of Mark. 

“...a second-grade workshop,” Pen finished the sentence. 

“You’re spending so much on this lavish device,” Mark huffed. “Aren’t you afraid of it getting mugged?”

“I’m not worried,” Pen makes himself smaller than he already is. “The unregistered biometric thing handles it… I don’t know, but it does make people think twice.” 

What the hell are they on about? Hyde pressed, wishing to look closer. 

“Are we considered unregistered biometrics to this… thing?” Mark rotates the object in his hands, a soft, observing expression on his face. 

“You can probably hold it for about ten minutes before it starts acting out.” 

Mark shrugged, adjusting his facial composure. “I’m not keen on testing it, seeing how well we are going through this hellhole,” he gestured to the enemies up ahead. 

It’s nice to know that Mark can actually get along with people, Jekyll shrugged to herself. 

Pff, dude could get along with everyone back then, he could sweet talk you to death and everyone would love him, Hyde explained. His trip to prison probably changed that. 

Although Jekyll wished to recall what Hyde was talking about, she was more curious about the object Mark was holding. “What is it?” She asked, making her presence known. 

Mark didn’t seem startled by her suddenly showing up, and he didn’t say anything about it either. He just looked in her direction with a neutral expression, which was more preferable than the usual scowl to Jekyll. 

As Jekyll looked at the object, she saw it was a spherical object. A bunch of pieces orbited it like a solar system, the pieces tied by an invisible force. It glowed light blue and the pieces retracted and reconfigured from the object endlessly.

“It’s a modified A.M.F. matrix, U Corps singularity I believe,” Pen explained, taking the object. “It has an X Corp alloy, too.”

“It's expensive and unordinary in production,” Mark added. “Pen, you should patent this.” 

“It is already patented, I just modified it,” Pen answered, grabbing his spear and standing up. 

Jekyll followed his gaze to see the rest of the party finally walk into the darker room, alerting the enemies within the facility. 

“That drone is something to be cautious of,” Lenore said out loud. “It would be best to try and communicate to it, exchanging information.” 

Jekyll followed Mark as he stood and walked over to rob another corpse he found before changing her path toward the rest of the party. 

“That thing leads to things that can kill us,” Mark objected, glaring at Lenore. “It would be best to destroy it.” 

Mallo glared, which somehow shut him up. 

Lenore didn’t take his opinion into account. She simply walked up to the purple and black drone, ignoring the syndicates beside it. 

The drone stopped its mumbling and turned toward Lenore, its voice squealing in robotic delight. “Ooooh! What brings you all here?” The drone swayed back and forth, scanning everyone in the room. 

“I am here on behalf of the executive manager via Limbus Company,” Lenore started formally. “We were hired to investigate the facility under the law; I am obligated to ask why you are here.” 

“We are here to hunt,” Pen added, tapping his spear on the ground. 

The robot zoomed toward Lenore, getting in her face and leaving no room between them as the purple eye dotted back and forth. It did the same thing with Pen. “You two are not part of the syndicate~,” it said with glee. “Nor is the rest of your party… Enlighten me on your manager.” 

Dante had barely made it through the door, but he took no steps to approach the robot as they continued to chat. 

“I think that goes beyond our expectation and free information exchange,” Lenore snapped the robot’s attention back to her. “You–” 

“Hey,” Mallo resting a hand on Jekyll’s shoulder tore her focus off of what was happening. 

Jekyll sighed in relief and smiled slightly at her. “Hey, are you okay?” 

“Yeah…” Mallo sighed, an odd expression on her face. “You good? I’m sorry I dragged you around so much.” 

…Huh. 

Not now, Jekyll silenced Hyde and observed Mallo’s gloomy expression, which was very uncharacteristic of her. She tried to reassure her. “O-Oh! It’s okay haha,” she laughed nervously. “It’s the third time it’s happened today, I don’t mind… I guess I should get used to it,” she gently nudged Mallo on the shoulder, forcing a smile. 

Mallo nodded in response, pulling out a cig and lighting it for Jekyll. She stood awkwardly before she frowned and walked towards the enemies. 

Jekyll took the cigarette and watched it burn in her hands before inhaling some of it, coughing at the taste. However, it seemed to ease her nerves and not be so anxious about her interaction with Mallo. However, the thought wouldn’t leave her mind. Hyde? 

What do you want? 

Please… Jekyll found herself begging. Please don’t kill Mallo… She’s…

What? Taking advantage of you? 

She’s like mom. 

Hyde stopped, sighing. Jekyll could feel Hyde trying to peer through the other eye, and reluctantly, she took off the monocle to let Hyde have a look. 

How the hell is she like Mom? 

She is looking out for us… Jekyll stared at the cigarette in her hands. She’s making sure we are okay. Tell me, when was the last time someone did that for us? 

People did it for you all the time, idiot. 

But she knows about you, and yet still cares… Jekyll took one last inhale of the cigarette, covering up her left eye once more. Like mom did. 

Jekyll knew Hyde was conflicted; she felt her urge to tear everything apart that came near her, and the regret of her actions prior to Limbus Company. She cursed and threw imaginative things around. Fine! Fine… If she is as kind to me as she is to you, then I shall spare her. 

Jekyll sighed in relief. Thank you. 

I am not guaranteeing anything, Jekyll. 

There was a loud smash; Jekyll whipped her head up to see the aftermath of Jatayu swinging his tanfa across the drone’s head. His face was filled with rage as if the drone had offended him. 

The robot lit up, spinning in circles as it laughed chaotically. “Ohh! A feisty one! I can’t wait to study you all!” It mocked. 

Hey, she laughs like you, Jekyll scoffed. 

Excuse me, my laugh is so much better than that–

Mallo also seemed pissed off, whacking the robot with her stave as if it was a hammer. 

Lenore immediately followed, piercing it right in the eye. 

A strange gas started to pour out from the vent of the robot; it was dark and cold. The black smoke built up inside it, making a slow hissing noise as the sinners continued to attack it. 

I know gases like those… Jekyll’s heart was thrown into a state of panic. Something horrible is about to happen… it’s going to kill us if we stay in here!

Hyde took a moment to observe the situation. Well sh–

Dante! I need to grab Dante! Jekyll ran towards the manager and grabbed his arm, dragging him out of the room. “Out of the way, Dante!” She cried. “Get into the other room!” 

Wha–” Dante resisted in confusion, not understanding what was happening.

This son of a mother– Hyde forced her way to the front, using her strength and techniques to successfully pull Dante out of the room, with Jekyll slamming the door behind her. “Get out of the way, Dante!” Jekyll couldn’t tell if it was her or Hyde speaking. “Get into the other room!” 

The manager seemed to have grasped the severity of the situation and obeyed, running to the edge of the room Jekyll was in. 

The moment Jekyll made sure the door was closed was the moment she heard a loud hissing sound before a minor explosion. Through the cracks of the door and holes in the wall, a black mist surrounded Jekyll, disrupting her sight. Jekyll gasped for air as she glanced around, unable to see anything as the black mist blinded everything in sight. She panicked, removing her monocle to hopefully see better. She could only see two feet in front of her and she felt her sanity drop. 

Jekyll started to feel sick in her chest as she glanced around, unable to keep Hyde from having some control over her anxiety. What is happening? Dante? 

Dante has disappeared from sight. 

Jekyll frantically searched around, turning around in circles. She had lost the manager she was trying to protect. “Dante?!”

[sssapplebottomjeans]

moon au braindump complete with plotholes! i infodumped this to my friend and it's going here too

so there's roughly four levels of power that you get from the sun and moon as a human

1.) no powers- normal human

2.) born with it- rapunzel's healing magic/glowing hair/likely stays healthier by default. varian has remnants of moon magic from the blast in the dark kingdom 25 years ago through quirin being directly shot by it, but because it was so many years after the blast before varian was born, the effects on him are milder (both due to that and also due to the moon being inherently less powerful than the sun) so, the stripe, more resistant to injury and that's why he didn't die during qfad cuz he was walking through that blizzard for way too long to be fine ok i'm rolling with this. and maybe he has insomnia because of it, and in high stress situations his eyes look a little too blue to be natural. strange but definitely not "my hair glows and heals people" type weird.

3.) stolen magic- both moon!cass and rapunzel's hair being indestructible via tbea fall under this category. (rapunzel didn't want this but since she did inflict it on herself i'm counting it in this category.) VARIAN- buckle up people this is gonna be a long one. so flash forward to cassandra's revenge. varian's cage has been brought in and rapunzel and cass are dueling it out. the moonstone cracks, this time varian catches the shard, but in the chaos of battle no one really notices and varian barely realizes what he did until he's headed home. he experiments on it later in secret, trying to harness its power into something akin to what project obsidian was, but it keeps failing and he doesn't know why. turns out- the moon's power (also the sun's too) only works on living organisms so basicallyyyyyyyy it needs a human host. (SIDE NOTE- in this au quirin stays dead in the amber because of that reason- the decay incantation just doesn't work because the amber isn't alive) varian kind of figures this out but he doesn't really want to try it on himself because a.) the rocks haven't exactly been a high point in his life, and b.) the reason he kept this whole project secret in the first place was because he didn't want team corona thinking he was doing nefarious things with it and turning against them cough cough cass and sporting this wouldn't keep it secret whatsoever

i haven't thought the next part out too well but he turns to trying to summon Moon herself somehow for answers because at least he has a lead with this. and i want it to happen at the great tree but i don't really know why. anyway he summons her, how, i don't know

4.) possession- okay so basically varian and moon don't hit it off at all. varian's extremely bitter about the rock situation that yknow. destroyed his home and indirectly led to quirin's death and moon-

(okay so vague incomplete backstory for moon. when edmund literally tried killing her in that same blast 25 years ago because she was deemed corrupted, she survived but it left her critically injured. gods have no known way of dying ad no one knows how to kill them, but they also have no way of healing from injuries, so that wound is still just as fresh as it was 25 years ago and she's in so much pain. the rocks are somewhat akin to blood/tears, and i think the way i'm going with this is that the only way gods CAN die/be born anew is by making contact with another god, aka the rocks chasing rapunzel/sun. so moon's body is trying to destroy itself as, ironically, a survival instinct but her mind isn't aware of it, to her it's just her blood tearing up the earth.) anyway things get heated and varian gets forcibly possessed out of moon's desperation for someone to understand what she's been through, so in the flash of a few seconds varian gets 25 years of unimaginable pain, all of her memories and thoughts, and the full extent of her powers. but being possessed by a literal god is way more dangerous than, say, being possessed by something from our world, like a ghost or small magical artifact (think: ulla) so i'm REALLY not sure how much damage that would do to varian, the human, even for the few seconds that moon's outburst lasted, but i'm guessing some pretty bad burns (think: cass's charred hand) and some level of mental damage. the longer you stayed possessed by a god, the worse it gets, so eventually you would just. die from the strain

this goes for the other levels too, to some extent. like cass's health will get increasingly worse over the months and if rapunzel tries to use too much of the sun's power, she'll start literally burning up cuz- cuz sun. sun hot. (side note: moon HATESSSSS cass for taking her stone, cuz not only does humans having the gods power drain the gods of energy and health too (sun can stand this more because she's inherently more powerful- she can take it but moon CAN'T), but cass stealing it and telling the sun to take a hike disrupts moon's subconscious decision to try and rebirth herself by colliding with sun) (zhan tiri's pissed off by cass's decisions too and she's constantly trying to make her and raps interact for her portal thing yada yada when honestly all cass really wants to do is get away from rapunzel and never look back)

i think it's possible that if moon realized why she was trying to collide with the sun, she COULD possess him and just ram him into rapunzel like a bulldozer, but that would definitely kill him and rapunzel too, so as long as moon stays ignorant, they're both fine-ish. she might could convince him to take the shard for himself for some reason but idkkkkkkkk. would definitely be a lot safer than outright possession but it would not have the same level of power as someone like cassandra, moon would have no reason to make him do this though and i seriously doubt that varian would take it for himself unless out of severe desperation

i think i'm done. if you've made it this far, congrats, have a homemade muffin <3