#on her way to save the town and keep two guys from killing each other: a 12 day journey in the town

[zero1qn2]

Saint

[candycandy00]

The Doll House - A Choso x Reader Fanfic Part 1

When your younger sister is tricked into selling herself to the Doll House, you rush there to help her, only to find her being led away by her trainer, Choso. Moved by your desire to save your sister, he convinces the owner to let you take her place.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Read Geto’s Part Here!

Read Toji’s Part Here!

Read Nanami’s Part Here!

Read Sukuna’s Part Here!

Read Gojo’s Part Here!

Note: Please remember that these stories don’t take place at the same time, or even one after the other! Consider each one its own timeline. So if you see Geto and Toji with other dolls, don’t be alarmed lol. I had to do it this way because if I don’t, by the time I get to the last trainer, there won’t be any other trainers left to interact with!

On the outskirts of town, there stands a particular shop called the “Doll House”. Inside its walls you can find a “doll” to match any taste you might have. All your desires will be fulfilled, no matter how depraved. Satisfaction is guaranteed! The dolls are exceptionally high quality, thanks to the skillful trainers who work with them twenty-four hours a day, molding them into perfect toys for your enjoyment.

Each trainer has a specialty that they focus on, and they all take great pride in their work. Their methods differ greatly, their approaches vary, but they all follow one rule: never get attached to a doll. After the training is complete, they hand the dolls over to their new owners, and never see them again. However, just once over the course of their careers, trainers are allowed to pick a doll they’ve personally trained and keep her as their own.

AU! Each trainer will get their own story! This is Choso’s. I’m keeping the tag list from previous parts. If you’d like to be tagged in future parts, let me know! You must be an adult to be tagged! Any feedback whatsoever is adored!

Smut. 18+. Fem Reader. FemDom. Sub Choso. Oral sex. Foot kissing. Divider by @benkeibear!

Your phone won’t stop buzzing. Even with the sound turned off, it’s making a racket in your bag, disturbing the important meeting you’re in. With a sigh, you slip it out to look at the Lock Screen. Your younger sister has sent you several messages. Wondering what kind of trouble she’s gotten herself into this time, you tap the latest message to open all of them. 

“Sis, I need your help! It’s an emergency!!!!”

“Yosaku is in trouble with his dad. He needs money right now or the old man’s gonna kill him!!”

“We’re at the Doll House. Yosaku says he’ll win big at the next race and buy out my contract.”

“Guess I’m a doll now! Why won’t you answer me?! This is important!!!”

“The owner went to find a trainer for me. God, I hope I don’t get the BDSM guy!”

“Sis, I’m scared!!! Yosaku left and I don’t think he’s coming back!”

You clench the phone in your hand so hard, you almost break it. 

“Fucking Yosaku!” you shout, then notice the dozen pairs of eyes that all immediately shift to you. You’re so enraged that you forgot you’re in a meeting. You apologize and excuse yourself, quickly leaving the office building where you work and heading toward the Doll House.

Your sister has been dating the son of a small time Yakuza boss for a little over six months now, and the two bit wannabe gangster has already ruined her life. 

Before meeting Yosaku, your sister was always so sweet and never got into trouble. Despite only being four years older than her, you practically raised her. She’s the only family you have, and as such, you’re fiercely protective of her. 

So when she introduced you to Yosaku, six years her senior, good looking in a “bad boy” sort of way, and with a terrible personality, you knew he was bad news. The fact that they started dating almost immediately after she turned eighteen was a big red flag. It’s like he was waiting for her, like a vulture. 

She started getting into trouble within two weeks of meeting him. She got caught shoplifting items he instructed her to take (and he of course fled the scene when she was spotted). He got mad and ditched her in a dangerous part of town one night. He talked her into gambling away all her money. And a whole list of other things. Each time, you had to go and rescue her.  And each time, you begged her to dump him before he got her into real, serious trouble. 

Now she’s at the Doll House? Unbelievable! How could he convince her to give up ten years of her life for him?! You can only hope you make it there in time to stop the sale. 

When you barge in the front door, past a front desk with a startled receptionist, and into a large circular room, you find your sister. She’s being led away by a pale man with a strange hairstyle, and she looks like a deer in the headlights. 

“Stop!” you scream, rushing forward and ripping your sister’s arm out of the man’s hand. “Don’t touch my sister, you pervert!”

You don’t know a whole lot about the Doll system or the Doll House, but everyone knows the basics. The men here train women to be sex toys, usually with some bizarre fetish. A friend once told you a guy here makes his dolls crawl on the ground like a dog while wearing a butt plug. Unimaginable! 

The man looks at you, seeming confused. “Oh, don’t worry. I’m not anyone suspicious. I’m just her trainer.”

You place yourself in front of your sister, blocking his view of her. “You think I’m gonna let you train her to do depraved… sex stuff? I won’t let you hurt her!”

“I’m not going to hurt her,” he says, looking a little hurt himself that you would suggest such a thing. “My job is to prepare her to be a doll. I’m helping her.”

He seems so honest, but you can’t let yourself be fooled. “I don’t care what your job is. You can’t have my sister! Look at her, she’s just eighteen! She’s practically a baby! She’s still a virgin! You can’t turn her into-“

“Actually, sis, I’m not a virgin,” you hear your sister say behind you, making you wince. You assumed so, but it sucks to have it confirmed. Fucking Yosaku. 

You look at her over your shoulder. “That’s not important right now.” Then you turn back to the man. “Please, don’t take her. She’s the only family I have. She has her whole life ahead of her.”

The trainer’s face softens slightly, as if he feels bad for you. “I’m sorry,” he says, “but she already signed the contract. There’s nothing I can do.”

“But there has to be some way out of this! Her lowlife boyfriend coerced her!”

“What’s going on in here?” a voice asks. 

All of you look over to see a silver haired woman standing just inside the room. She’s holding a silk fan in one hand, the breathless receptionist standing beside her. 

“Who are you?” you ask her. 

She flips a long braid over her shoulder. “I’m the owner of this establishment. And if you’re here to stop a sale, you’re too late. Unless you want to pay some rather punishing fees for breaking the contract.”

You narrow your eyes. “Just how much are these fees?”

The owner snaps her fingers, and the receptionist scurries to grab a pen and paper. The owner writes something on it and the receptionist presents it to you. She wasn’t kidding when she said they were punishing! You’d never be able to pay this back! Even with your pretty good job. Your sister’s credit would be ruined forever. And you’d have to work yourself to the bone and you’d probably still lose everything. 

Your mind races. Think! Think! There has to be a way out of this! An idea pops into your mind. A terrible one, but it’s the only one you have at the moment. 

“What if I take her place?” you ask. 

Your sister steps out from behind you to look you in the face. “Sis, no, this is my-“

“Just be quiet,” you hiss, using the sort of tone you took while caring for her as a child. The “angry mother” tone, she called it. She falls silent. 

The owner looks you up and down. “I don’t know… We’ve never done something like that before.”

You get down on your knees, looking up at the owner with a pleading expression. “Please! My sister is young and naive. She can’t handle life as a doll. But I can! As the older sister, it’s my responsibility to protect her!”

Beside the owner, the trainer’s eyes widen. Then, suddenly, he moves over and gets down to his knees right next to you, bowing his head low. 

“I’m asking as well,” he says to the owner, shocking you. “Out of respect for her wanting to protect her sister, could you let them trade places? The older sister would be more suited to my training anyway.”

The owner looks slightly flustered to be met with such old fashioned, formal pleas. But she sighs and says, “Alright, I’ll go get the paperwork fixed up.”

As she walks away, the trainer stands up, then offers you his hand. Still somewhat in shock, you take it and let him help you up. 

“Thanks,” you tell him. “But why did you help me?”

He gives you a subtle smile. “I understand wanting to protect a younger sibling. I have a little brother I would do anything for.”

Wow, he’s actually pretty cute… for a sex crazed pervert. It just now occurs to you that he’s going to be your trainer now. This cute guy is going to be doing all sorts of depraved things to you! 

Your sister hugs you suddenly, her face wet with tears. “You didn’t have to do that! This was my problem!”

You pull away from her and stroke her hair. “Yes, I did have to do this. Just promise me one thing: that you’ll stay away from Yosaku. He’s dangerous! The next time he gets you into trouble, I won’t be there to help. Don’t make what I’m doing be for nothing.”

Your sister nods. “I promise! I’m all done with him!”

After reading over and signing all the paperwork, you and your sister say your goodbyes. Then you turn to your trainer and say. “Well, I’m all yours.”

He reaches out and gently takes your hand, then leads you down a hallway. He actually seems… sweet? You can’t imagine him doing perverted things to you. But he is a trainer here. Sooner or later, this man is going to have sex with you. You’re not some blushing virgin, but the thought still makes you a little embarrassed. 

Once inside his room, he shuts the door behind the two of you. His room looks surprisingly neat, clean, and comfortable. No crazy props or weird toys hanging on the walls. Thank goodness. 

“Feel free to sit down,” he says, gesturing toward a pair of chairs on either side of a small table. 

You walk over and take a seat, watching him a bit warily. You still don’t know what kind of fetish he specializes in. 

“I’ll tell you about my training,” he says, as if he can read your mind. You sit up straight in the chair to listen as he goes on. “I train women to be Doms. Dominant. I will call you Mistress. My name is Choso but you can call me whatever you like. I will do anything you tell me to. For the next six weeks, I belong to you. Oh, before you ask, I can’t get you out of the contract. That’s up to the owner, not me.”

Wait. What? He’s training you to be a Dom? You’ve heard the term before, but it conjures up an image of a woman in a black leather corset, cracking a whip. You’re supposed to do that stuff with him? 

“So, you’ll do anything I ask?”

He nods. “As long as it doesn’t violate any of the house rules, and is within my power.”

That doesn’t sound so bad. But you’re not naive. You know this is supposed to lead to things of a sexual nature. This is the Doll House after all. But at least you’ll probably get to do things at your own pace. You feel yourself relaxing slightly. 

“Can you get me a cup of coffee?” you ask, curious to see how he responds. 

“Of course, Mistress. How would you like it?”

“Hot. Heavy on the cream, no sugar.”

He gives you a small bow of his head. “Right away, Mistress.”

You watch him leave the room, then exhale deeply. Why does any doll trained by him ever do any of the sex stuff? Why not just make him rub your feet and bring you snacks for six weeks? You suppose that would defeat the purpose of being trained. What was it he called it? Preparing you to be a doll? Whoever your owner ends up being, he’s definitely going to expect some sex stuff. 

But do you have to initiate it? Command Choso to sleep with you? You can’t imagine doing that. 

He walks back in with a steaming cup and reaches it to you as if he’s a butler. You glance up at him, and you think he’d look really good in a butler uniform. 

You noticed it before, but he’s really cute. He’s like a quiet goth guy without the piercings. His hair is styled into two short ponytails, one on either side of his head. It’s not a style you’ve seen before, but it looks good on him. His clothes are a bit baggy, making you curious about what’s under them. 

The coffee is delicious, and Choso watches you drink it silently. After you sit the cup down, he asks, “Is there anything else you’d like me to do?”

You think for a moment. “You’ll do anything? Even if it’s something embarrassing or demeaning?”

“Of course, Mistress.”

You frown. “I don’t know. It seems wrong to force you to do things.”

A gentle smile appears on his face. “If you’re concerned about consent, please don’t worry. I work here voluntarily because I like doing stuff like this. I’m happy to do anything you want. No matter what it is.”

There’s an eagerness in his voice that makes your heart beat fast. You take a deep breath and say, “Kiss my foot!”

You really just want to test whether he’ll actually do anything you say or not, and this seems like a relatively tame command. Actually it’s not sexual at all. 

Or so you think, until Choso gracefully drops to his knees in front of you and, oh so gently, removes your high heeled shoe from your right foot. Then his hands move to your thigh, sliding just under your skirt. You start to yell at him, but then you realize he’s pulling your stocking down, slowly sliding it down your leg and off your foot. 

His eyes lock onto yours as he carefully lifts your foot up in his hand, holding it up close to his face. He licks his lips, then presses them softly to the top of your foot as his hand caresses your ankle. 

Oh wow. Okay, you kind of get how this all turns sexual. Choso on his knees in front of you, so eager to please, is doing things to you. 

He stands back up, the tiniest hint of a grin on his pale face. He knows what he’s doing. He wouldn’t be a very good trainer if he didn’t. “Is there anything else you’d like me to do, Mistress?”

Your heart is racing. You feel your face heating up. Fuck, did he just seduce you with a single kiss to your foot? You cough awkwardly and look away from his pretty face. 

“I’m not sure what else to make you do,” you say, then quickly add, “What would you do if I told you to strip?”

He instantly begins pulling his loose fitting shirt over his head. 

“Wait! I wasn’t serious! I was just messing around!” you yell, but his shirt is already off, dangling from his hand. Your eyes drink in his well defined torso, surprised by how toned he is. A cute face and a hot body? Plus he’s sweet and gentle? Is this guy the total package or what? 

You shake your head. You can’t let yourself fall for him. He’s your trainer. He’s done this same stuff, and much more, with lots of other women. And besides, in six weeks you’ll belong to someone else. You just hope whoever that is has half of Choso’s charm. 

“I’m sorry, Mistress, I thought you wanted me to undress,” he says, pulling his shirt back on. Why does he sound a little disappointed? 

Now you really want to see what he’s packing beneath those baggy pants, but you can’t bring yourself to command him to show you. Not so soon after meeting him anyway. 

“It’s my fault,” you tell him. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

He smiles at you. It’s a very warm expression. “Please don’t worry about it, Mistress. I’m here to please you.”

*************************

Choso watches his new doll as she stands up and looks around the room. This will be her room for the next six weeks, so it’s good for her to familiarize herself with it. 

“Can I go get some of my things from home?” she asks. 

“Yes. You can leave the house so long as you come back by nightfall. That’s one of the house rules. If you go out at night, I have to go with you.”

She looks at her watch. “I guess I’ll just go tomorrow,” she says. “So what do we do for dinner?”

“There’s a dining hall where we all usually eat our meals,” he tells her, then goes on to explain what times meals are served and tells her about the small shared kitchen. He goes over some more house rules and also warns her that the other trainers all have their own styles, so she shouldn’t be surprised to see naked dolls or dolls in strange outfits.

She seems to be taking it all in fairly well. 

For dinner, she opts to stay in his room while he fetches plates, saying she isn’t quite ready to meet everyone else. She also tells him to eat at the small table in his room with her. Some dolls, perhaps angry about being dolls in the first place, order him to sit on the floor and eat. It doesn’t bother Choso, but he does think his new doll seems nice so far. 

“So you have a little brother?” she asks over dinner. 

He looks up from his plate, somewhat surprised. Some dolls ask a few basic questions at first, just to get to know him a little, but this one managed to get straight to his favorite topic. He smiles and says, “Yes. His name is Yuji.”

Her face looks kind, pretty, as she asks, “How old is he?”

“Nine,” he answers. “He’s a very energetic child, but he’s very sweet.”

She’s smiling, perhaps thinking of her sister. “He sounds adorable. Do you get to spend much time with him?”

Choso lowers his eyes to his food. “Not as much as I like. We only share one parent, and both of his have died. He lives with his grandfather now. I visit him as much as I can, and he visits me here occasionally. Oh, don’t worry, he doesn’t understand what I do here.”

They talk for a while longer, Choso eventually getting his phone and showing her pictures of Yuji. And he almost forgets, for a few moments, that she’s a doll and he’s her trainer. For those few moments, they’re just two older siblings smiling and talking. 

When night falls, Choso goes to take a shower. When he steps out, dressed in cozy sweats with his wet hair grazing his shoulders, his doll looks at him strangely. 

“Is something wrong?” he asks her, drying his hair with a towel. 

She blinks then averts her eyes. “No, nothing’s wrong,” she says, looking a little embarrassed before adding, “You look nice with your hair down.”

His doll decides to sleep in her clothes tonight, refusing his offer to wear something of his. And when it’s time to go to bed, he asks, “Where would you like me to sleep, Mistress?”

She wears a puzzled expression. “Uh, the bed?”

“Most dolls tell me not to sleep in the bed with them on the first night. I suppose they’re nervous, me being a stranger to them.”

She shrugs. “It’s your bed. It wouldn’t be right to force you out of it. Just don’t touch me and it’ll be fine.”

He stares at her. “You trust me already?”

She smiles as she climbs into his bed, staying on one side. “I think anyone who loves his little brother as much as you love Yuji can’t be a bad person.”

Choso feels his heart skip a beat, but he keeps his face neutral as he gets into bed, keeping a respectful distance from his doll. 

**********************

Two days later, you find yourself sitting in a chair in Choso’s room. He’s standing nearby, waiting for you to tell him to do something. These past couple of days, you’ve had him give you foot rubs, massage your shoulders, and brush your hair. All things pointedly not sexual. But in every case, Choso has made innocent actions seem incredibly sensual. 

The way his hands touch you, the way his eyes look at you with desire, they make you want to order him to fuck you right now. But you can’t do that. You’ve been trying to think of a way to make the orders you give him more sexy, but it’s difficult for you to just tell a man you barely know to start doing sexy things to you. 

You thought he was supposed to teach you how to be a Dom, but when you said that, he replied with, “It’s much better to just learn by experiencing things. So please tell me what you want me to do.”

Which was no help at all. You’re starting to think Choso isn’t a very good teacher. 

If he would just tell you what he wants, what he’d like for you to order him to do, this would be far less awkward! 

Wait. That might work!

“Choso,” you say, and he seems to perk up a bit at the sound of his name. “If you could pick one thing for me to tell you to do, what would it be?”

He smiles mildly. “I’d love to do anything you tell me to do, Mistress.”

“No. Give me a real, honest answer. This is an order from your Mistress. What would you most want to be ordered to do right now?”

He looks at you for a moment, then his eyes seem to get darker, a very slight pink flush to his cheeks. “What I’d most like to be ordered to do,” he says, keeping eye contact with you, “is to pleasure you with my mouth. To get on my knees in front of you while you spread your legs and stand over me, to taste you, to use my tongue to make you cum, over and over, until your legs give out.”

Oh shit. Are you seriously already wet just from hearing him talk about eating you out? There’s a hunger in his eyes, and you feel heat creeping across your face, your breaths quickening. Just imagining his pretty face buried between your thighs is making you horny as hell. 

“Okay then,” you say, standing up and trying to keep your voice steady, trying to sound confident and in charge even though you feel like you’re about to melt into a puddle of goo, “do it. Pleasure me… with your mouth.”

The way his cute, pale face lights up! He drops to his knees on the spot, and slowly crawls over to you. When he reaches you, he puts his hands on your thighs and carefully slides your skirt down, looking you in the eyes as he does it. 

“Mistress, may I please remove your panties?” he asks. 

You feel like you can barely breathe as you nod and say, “Yes, you may.”

His gentle hands rub upwards, until they reach the top of your lace panties, and then he eases them down your legs, helping you to step out of them once they reach the floor. This leaves you standing in his room, naked from the waist down, while he kneels in front of you. 

“Mistress, can you spread your legs?”

You feel your face burning as you move your feet further apart, giving him an eye full of your dripping pussy. He looks at it, then at your face, then licks his lips as if he’s about to dig into a tasty meal. 

And boy does he dig in! He runs his tongue up your slit, collecting any juices he can, then uses his fingers to open your folds. He takes a moment to look at your most private place, then says, “You’re beautiful, Mistress,” before slowly licking your pussy. His tongue circles your clit, then his lips wrap around it, and you can almost hear him slurping at your wetness. 

You look down at his face, only the top half visible, and his eyes shift up to yours. They’re half lidded, looking at you through his long eyelashes. 

As he makes out with your pussy, licking and kissing it so sweetly, taking his time, your legs begin to tremble. The pleasure is simply too much. You’ve been eaten out before, but never like this, never as if your clit is the most delicious thing on earth. 

“Ahh… Choso… I can’t…”

He pauses and glances up. “Are you alright, Mistress?”

“Y-yes, just… don’t stop, even if I tell you to. Not until I collapse,” you say, feeling slightly delirious. Did you really just say that?

“Of course, Mistress,” he says, then returns to devouring you. 

Your hands move to his head, and you find yourself pulling the ponytails free and letting his hair loose. Then you’re gripping it, hopefully not hard enough to hurt. You hear him utter a quiet moan, and the vibration of his voice against your clit as his lips suckle it gently sends you over the edge. 

You cry out, your hands tightening in his hair, your legs shaking and nearly giving way right then and there. His hands move around to your thighs and ass, holding you steady while his tongue laps up any fluids that leak out. You’re quivering, your clit extra sensitive and swollen after your orgasm, and that’s when his wet tongue glides over it again, pushing the hood even further back. 

“W-wait! Oh God… oh fuck!”

Your body jerks, your legs turning into spaghetti as another orgasm hits you within minutes of the first. Choso’s grip on your body is firm, keeping you from crumbling. His lips and tongue are still working at your clit, moving at a faster pace now, making you shudder and moan. 

“Choso… I can’t stand it… feels too good… I can’t…. I can’t…”

His mouth is relentless, pushing you right back to the edge. You know you must be pulling his hair too hard, but you have to grip something or you’ll fall apart. Then, you feel his teeth lightly scrape over your sensitive, overstimulated bud, and you inhale sharply, nearly choking on the air as you cum for the third time. 

It feels like your body is dissolving as all strength leaves you. Choso catches you in his arms and eases you down to the carpeted floor, cradling you. 

“Are you alright, Mistress?” he asks, his lips glistening with your juices. 

You’re still twitching, clutching his arms as you ride out the aftershocks of the three most intense orgasms of your life. You can’t speak, so you just nod to answer him. 

He holds you until you’re able to stand up with his help, then he helps you clean up before tucking you into bed. 

“I’m going to take a shower,” he says, and you nod as he goes into the bathroom. You didn’t mention it, but when he was holding you on the floor, your upper half in his lap, you felt a rather impressive erection through his loose pants. You thought about doing something about it, but your mind was a little too hazy at that point. Oh well, you’re certain you’ll get plenty of chances to pleasure him as well. 

You never imagined being a doll before all this, and you’re still angry that things turned out this way, but at least you have Choso as your trainer. You don’t know how things will turn out, who will end up owning you, but at least for now, the situation isn’t too bad. So you fall asleep to the sound of the water running in the shower, knowing Choso will be sleeping beside you again tonight.

Tag List:

@suguguro @kaedear @onyxsphynx @poopoobuttsy @butterskyy @collectionofdolls @akaotv @witchbybirth @bloofinntoona @wasurenagusaa @tclbts @tojirin @lucyrocks86 @badbyeyoongi @97britt @aydene @lzaj19 @lyn-lotte @missthatgirl @peachedtv @ladytamayolover @nanam1nx @deegausserr @voids-universe @hinata7346 @maflorex @issracollen @xkittiecatx @ryumurin @emrys3456 @mysecretesc8pe @typicalloser3 @gabriiiiiiii @fvsm4x @tyunhyukamyloves @rottmntrulesall

[termitnik]

what are some common misconceptions about pathologic characters that ur sick of seeing in fandom spaces

anon thank you for blessing me with this wonderful ask this fine day

i'm gonna keep it pretty short for daniil because i don't want this to become a defense post about him and i think i've already said all there is to say but literally can we stop mischaracterizing him to this degree? it's very obvious that daniil does care about the town and the people around him given that he keeps trying to help in any way he can even when he has nothing to personally gain by doing so. and unless you're going for all the 'i'm an asshole' options in his dialogue he's actually polite and even endearing at certain points? especially that considering that during his own route he's pretty much thugging it out on his own, if anything helping the other two playable characters instead of the other way round, but in the haruspex and chageling route he's the one you turn to for help when stuff gets tough. here's a post that includes some of his lines that illustrate this point. also the implication that he's some clueless asshole that doesn't know what he's doing while artemy is The Good Doctor That Saves Everyone TM is a horrible misreading of the story and the framing of the plot. the bachelor's route is specifically a story about a person who finds themselves in such a hostile setting that, despite their best efforts, is unable to find their footing and ultimately fails at everything they try to accomplish. by interpreting this aspect of the game as daniil himself being incompetent you have missed out one of the most major points this game is trying to make.

as for artemy, i partly blame this on the developers themselves and how they handled his p2 characterisation but i dont like how the grittier aspects of his character are ignored in favor of a loving father persona. artemy can be a huge dick in classic, as can all three playable characters and a big part of why i like his and daniils relationship so much is because they're both these cold, reserved, introverted guys but allow themselves to enjoy an easier dynamic between them. i think that aspect of their relationship doesn't really work if you hc artemy as someone who is kind and cheerful from the get go.

in a similar vein i also don't like how perceptions of clara often boil down to silly teenage girl who makes meta jokes when her character is so much more than that. people completely ignore the unflattering aspects of her character, like how self-righteous she really is. i mean she's literally making it up as she goes and yet she feels so confident in herself and her methods that she finds it acceptable to trick the only two doctors into a rivalry (and then sell them out to each other for supplies despite fully believing that they intend to kill each other). also, most of the time she is not as silly and impish as people make her out to be- that's mostly the changeling. in the moments when she is herself, clara is pretty depressed.

i also dont like anna angel slander because, is she a child murderer? yeah. was she also abducted as a child herself and found herself in an extremely difficult position at a very early age? also yeah. iirc correctly shes 18 in the game and the ace of diamonds events happened years prior so basically she was a child herself. not that its wrong to criticize child murder because obviously but the way some people speak about her is insane.

also this is completely hc based and of lesser importance than everything else but i have difficulty getting behind anything remotely kinky when it comes to burakhosky because to me they will always be the kind of couple that read in silence next to each other before falling asleep at the late hour of 10:30 pm.

[2demondogs]

Dutch x Reader. just pure heartbreaking, soul crushing, stomach aching angst you can write where Reader gets killed by Colm , making them yet another lover of Dutch’s fall victim to him.

We never see Dutch have a breakdown, and not a "Oh my God, we need money or else we all die" breakdown, but a "Oh my God, my whole world just got taken away from me and there's nothing I can do to save them" break down (maybe with Hosea but I need this man to UGLY CRY)

Doesn't matter how you get reader in Colms hands. That's completely up to you! They could be kidnapped and killed, caught in a shootout between Dutch and Colm, perhaps a ransom situation gone wrong! I'm just throwing ideas out there, but I'll say it again it up to you!

I love your writing so much, thank you :))

Thank you! This one got the Evil Gears working. You guys never fail to complete my villainous whump urges. I be like "cut his arm off with a boulder" and y'all are like "he will never love again."

Hosea's there and so's some others... it takes a village. Thank you to my platonic husband once again for some ideas because the block on this one was tuff. I'm sorry if the execution is not that good T-T.

Words: 3.7k Tags: canon typical violence, grief/mourning, trigger warning Micah (and I guess the rest of it)

The muscle memory kicks in before his consciousness does: the boom of a rifle — Charles' bolt-action, Dutch knows in his veins, can usually tell each of his men's guns apart by report — and then instantaneous sit up, find his gun, rub his face into some semblance of wakefulness as he storms half-dressed out of the tent, canvas flapping. Chilly midnight air is hitting his skin before the echo of the shot has faded into the treeline surrounding camp.

The stillness wakes him up the rest of the way. At least, the stillness of the woodlands, eerie-quiet as they always fall after fire. For the camp's part, men are stumbling out and tripping over themselves, tents rustling, and the women are getting up, Abigail shushing a too-loud Jack. Susan nearly beats Arthur to meeting his stride, her kerosene lantern roving light over the dying grass on the ground.

Micah is always first, a dark shadow already standing at the perimeter where Charles is looming over two shapes heaped on the ground. He doesn't think that man ever sleeps.

"Charles!" He calls, and the two turn from talking hushedly. "What's goin' on?"

Charles tenses up, and Micah speaks before he does, face clearing as Dutch squints the blurriness from his eyes. "Your, ah," — throwing a hand up at Charles, starting towards Dutch with his hands out to grab his elbows — "You oughta be warned, sir."

His brows furrow. Micah of all people is not one to beat around bushes, let alone with him. It gnaws at him, some, a vague sense of dread. It passes his mind where you are, but you had a habit of staying nights over in town if it got too dark to ride comfortably.

"What the Hell are you talkin' about?" He repeats. He shrugs his hands off, pushes past him, hears his gunbelt clinking as he stumbles a step. "Charles, what—?"

"Ain't no one else," Charles starts, not stepping from where he stands in front of the tree they'd assigned as an unofficial camp outpost. That's odd, too, and he has a feeling the man doesn't believe there's no one else, not with his gun clenched in his hands like that. No one else? "But there was an O'Driscoll with—"

And then Susan's lantern swings once across the start of the brush, throws light against hair and a fallen hat, laying on its crown. His fingers ready at his trigger, eyes hardening. "How did they find us this goddamn time?" Dutch asks the air.

Unlike usual, Charles does not keep talking once he's put his two-cents in the pot. He has that tension about him that he always does when there's something he would prefer not to say aloud, a habit that scratches Dutch raw in the wrong ways. He's about to spout off some aggressive twist to avoid the one in his gut, something about I'm the fucking man, Thomas, why are you not explaining this to me? until Susan steps the few paces ahead of him to meet the tree, and the warm glow of her lantern lands on familiarity.

His finger slips from the trigger, all curling bone-white around the grip instead.

Arthur puts a hand on his shoulder, and he waves at the heap with his gun, throat clicking loud enough he thinks he may have cocked it on accident. When he turns to him instead of the ground, he can't make out his son's face in the shadow cast by his own head, only sees glints off his eyes in the darkness.

"You... you take care of this, Arthur," Dutch is saying, feels a hand on his elbow, curling into the inner of it to hold him back, and brushes Micah off once more. Micah, or someone else— the fingers were thinner, but his ears are starting to ring. His throat feels clogged, sticky.

"Dutch," a voice says, and he isn't sure who it is through the roar of blood.

Sanguine is seeping into the ground that Susan's lantern reveals, sliding over the dirt from a gaping hole in the skull of an O'Driscoll. Always goes for the instant kill, Charles does. Green bandana, green vest, dressed like a big green clown by his standards — an imitation of uniform, all of them wannabe munton-shunting clowns wear green, munton-shunter wannabes is all those men are at the end of the day: swine united under one God, hollow be His name — and flailed onto the dirt by the rifle blow. Not from this close, no, he'd be gone from the shoulders up, which means the bastard had almost made it past the perimeter, unnoticed. Dutch can't find it in himself to tear Charles a new asshole for that.

You lay there, too. Unbleeding, but shot all the same.

"Dutch," comes again. He listens this time, because it's Hosea's sleep-ridden nasal and his cool fingers on his burning wrist, pulling him away as his mind grows louder. "Let Arthur handle this."

And he listens to the words this time, because it's Hosea.

He won't think of why Charles is good at fashioning these wooden crosses. Perhaps it's selfish to think that, and to neglect most anything besides the blackness eating at himself— but you are gone.

If he were a different sort of crier, maybe he'd turn to him now and tell Hosea he's lucky to have lived through two. That Arthur and John are, too, and especially Susan— but you are gone, and Dutch only finds one thing funny, in the sour way men laugh over spilled blood and ashes and misfires.

It's own his negligence that must've led to this. Letting you do as you wished, wanting you to be happy instead of entirely safe. If he had only listened to that little voice in his head, surely, you would have come back from town alive and well and pressing some little jewelry piece you'd stolen into his hands like some of promise, the way you always did.

But no, that's not right. The regret is talking now that something has happened, trying to paint over the simple fact that Dutch trusted you enough there were no nagging inclinations when you went out on your lonesome. He wouldn't have liked you this much if there weren't that ability to hold your own, how you offered him some semblance of safety in every regard that he hasn't felt in a long, long while. Give and take.

There is, too, the wish that he had been with you in your last moments. If he were, they wouldn't have been your last; but even if things went the way things always do — which is the end, eventually — he would've liked to have been there, holding you, the way lovers die.

Susan did her best to clean you off and freshen you up. Charles' crosses, and her mortuary sciences. They're both skills that shouldn't be held. Dutch kneeled by your side and gripped the stiffened hand as if the warmth of his skin could've made the flesh tender and rosy once more.

The work is done by the time the sun reveals itself over the treeline. A patch of clearing near camp holds you now, in the grave Charles and Arthur have dug. The two strongest, as reluctant as he was to ask anything of them knowing they were his first choices for scouting a new campsite. He was reluctant to even consider the fact that as soon as you were buried, he might have only a few minutes with that sorry, scored cross that now claims to be you.

Dutch wasn't sure what to do with himself when the work began, and he isn't sure what he spent the hours since midnight doing now that they've passed. He doesn't think he's moved from the spot he stepped into, and Hosea's arm linked through his is so burning hot in the crook of his elbow that he believes maybe he hasn't even breathed.

A respectable distance, in front of the boys. Arthur offers him the last shovel's-worth of dirt, and it means something that Dutch will probably soon regret shaking his head to. His brain skitters at the hard casing of his skull when he does, eyes backed up and stinging. That pain started sometime while he knelt beside you, which seems so long ago now.

Once Charles and Arthur leave, he crumbles onto Hosea, and it all feels very far away. Enclosed in it, locked outside of it; his nostrils burn as if he's snorted capsaicin, mucus coming to his throat without any tears.

"I know, Dutch," Hosea says, voice so weary that Dutch feels his fingers grow stiff and numb with it.

Here he is, and there goes his knees, Hosea stepping back once under his weight but holding him up, in the end, arms tight around his ribs. He realizes it hurts because he's talking, that Hosea has spoken in response to him.

"I should've—" He's starting, but now that he's listening to himself he does not know what he was going to say, and grows frustrated enough that he only groans, inhales a mouthful of the half-dirty collar of Hosea's fur-lined coat.

Here he is, and how he has forgotten what the shards of a broken heart feel like stabbing into a man's lungs.

Dutch has crumbled two sets of tobacco leaves in his fingers, blinking the sun out of his eyes where it crawls up and beneath the overhang of shading the folding chair beside his tent. He sighs sharply, hanging his hands and head between his knees. At this rate, he'll crush every last leaf in his rolling tin and still be out the soothe of nicotine.

Months have passed, but still he struggles to grasp himself again. The idea that you were gone for a job was a lie so clear to him by the end of that first week, Dutch could no longer fool himself on why his cot didn't smell like you anymore. He packed your things alongside his own, but they stay in the crates they were placed into — not stuffed, not like his possessions were — since the gang moved from Blackwater, to Colter, to here.

God, you're all the way back there.

Why did life not cross the border with us? He wonders, at times. He then remembers that it's little use to think that way, before he continues to do it.

There was no use toting a — as impersonal as it sounds, he has no other words for it — corpse around. If he could have, he would've buried you where he believed they might stay for a while. That place hasn't come to him yet, either, as quiet as the overlook seems to be, and so who knows how long he would've been playing that sick game. A proper graveyard was out of the question, if it even could've been done; the only usefulness in such a burial is a relatively sure landmarker by which to find you. Dutch has never been one to go back to the past.

But it's you. He did not go to his mother's grave, and he wouldn't go to hers now. You're more than the past, though. He wishes he could have buried you somewhere beautiful, at least; he wants to go back and sit with you. He doesn't think you will ever be so little as the past.

Dutch doesn't realize he's been mumbling these things to himself until Arthur's voice breaks through the drone of his own, rumbling murmurs and brings them to light amongst the ambiance of camp that he had tuned out.

"You okay, Dutch?" Familiar, gritty like his own voice. Lighter, and concerned.

Dutch looks up at him and sighs, seeing the draw of his brow. His hand raises to gesture before he can think of what he should say— what he even can say, or if there's anything that needs saying to begin with. Finally, the struggle exhausts his mind too much to do anything beyond summarizing his thoughts.

"How many more people I love?" He muses, flicks his wrist and lets it fall back to limply resting on his knee. The sentence cracks and falls between them, Arthur shifting on his feet uncomfortably.

Everyone has been uncomfortable around him, as of late, and that's getting on Dutch's nerves more than it is depressing him. He supposes it does its fair share of that, too. He believes that he does a fine job of swallowing himself and giving them what they need: a leader, strong and shiny and well-groomed, who knows what he's doing, what they're all doing. A man to be proud of, and to make proud.

A man who feels very unlike the way Dutch feels behind that blank expression he lets them paint something better onto in their heads.

Arthur is nodding, looking both ways as if clearing the camp of witnesses before he lays a hand on his shoulder. Lord, Dutch remembers when his hands weren't so meaty and rough. Near dainty, spindly fingers on some teenaged mutt that could barely lift an arm long enough to wave, hands that always seemed too-cold and clammy. That— now, that is the past.

"I know, man," he starts, and says something else he does not hear. All he can think of is when Arthur used to call him Dad, every now and then. "—have to move on," he's saying.

Dutch assumes what needs brushed past, and he has never been a man to agree with the truth, so he asks of Arthur the least he can imagine asking of him. "I know, son," he interjects, gently moves his hand from his shoulder to raise. Arthur steps back, sighs. "Can you...?" Dutch aches, he does; aches for something here that he cannot put a name to, unsure what would soothe any part of him that's currently stirring. He doesn't find the answer as his eyes search the collar of his red workshirt, the treeline past his shoulder where the horses are grazing on the sloping ground. "I need to be alone. Please."

Arthur's jaw clicks as he moves it, then nods and steps away. He pauses before he obeys.

"I..." — that pregnant, lingering thing comes between them again, keeping Arthur's chin raised as he hesitates — "Sure, Dutch," he says, and leaves him to picking up the larger crumbs of tobacco that fell to the ground.

Bitter brown and orange scattered through green grass and patches of raw dirt. In the soil, he figures out that, foolishly, he wanted to be embraced.

Not much more can be done about you. Not now.

It's been burning his skin, this need to be held. It's less than that, Dutch thinks, maybe just a desire for a vague thing like the right kind of comfort.

What can fill a hole this vast?

What can mend a man?

"What's wrong?" Hosea asks, and it's the only what Dutch knows the answer to.

He must know, too. In the lantern light inside Dutch's tent, his face is sliding away from even into one akin to the expression men turn on kicked dogs. They've grating on one another since abandoning the Overlook, and it's been too long since he's seen that much warmth in his eyes.

If only the kinship didn't come from something so terrible. Dutch hasn't pulled him aside this late into the evening since Annabelle's death sent him to nightmares. How strange it feels to taste her name in his thoughts again. Slowly, you've come to stand beside her, to be dead just like her. Nor with as much haste, with hands that shook so hard gripping Hosea's shoulder that he followed without a question.

"I just," — wringing his hands, pacing around the sprawling bear rug thrown over the ground, seems so gaudy now, all of it seems gaudy — "I don't know what to do with myself."

"Ah, Dutch," Hosea says, voice soft. His face grows hot with the sting of oncoming tears. "I know."

His hands are shaking before the words have fully left his mouth. It comes to him that he hasn't cried in the months since you've passed, and suddenly the wave of it hits him at once. He didn't cry for Annabelle until a year had gone by and Arthur had asked, unknowing, if he'd felt the same way with her as he was feeling with that Linton girl.

He had, was the worst part.

He had felt it with you, too. That youthfulness, the carelessness, let them all know; the way his eyes would soften and give him away before he could ever hope to hide it; the burning of loneliness without you, your hand on his arms or how right your skin felt under his palms; how he liked the way you laughed and smiled, so much that it left him bristling with an energy he didn't know how to waste. Dutch was always bad at hiding himself away, in anger or love. His breath never steadied, 'round you. Nothing was even, nothing was ever as clean-cut as he wished it to be. He realizes he's thinking as if he is dead, and stops himself.

It's almost more than you, now. The weight of it takes him to his knees, all the while ashamed in the back of his mind of what he's come to. Hosea follows. Grunting when his knee joint pops, but follows instantly all the same. For some reason, Dutch's face scrunches up harder at that, and he lets it happen when arms link around his shoulders. He remembers the cold of the air the morning you were buried, and lets out a whinging, broken noise.

Time lapses fast and slow. He's unsure how long he spends crying, or how pitiful it must sound. He's unsure when the last time he even cried was. There's not much to mourn in a life spent living amongst the dead, not really— and not much else warrants tears, not out of a man like him.

They come hard, and then dry up enough his head throbs with the strain to find more with which to release himself. His heart races alongside, pounding hard in his wrists where they are both pressed between their stomachs, fingers clenching and unclenching, rings making divets in the webbing that ache. Nose pressed to the breast pocket of Hosea's shirt, gasping breath in between sobs, Dutch comes to a semblance of his senses, to consciousness. It's still difficult to think through the migraine threatening to take out his vision entirely when he attempts to crack his eyelids. It's almost like a first hangover.

Whiskey would do me much better than bawling, he hears himself pondering.

There's nothing more to think of, not about that evening nor the ride you took. There's nothing he has not thought of on the matters of what those groveling weasels may have done to you before they took your life, and there's nothing he has ever doubted on what information they tried to extort from you.

It was personal, it was. No point would have been had in ratting Dutch out to the law, no safety in sending one of his sniffling newsies to the cops only for that one to be extorted and take everyone down with them. Nothing is fair in love nor war, and this feud has always been made of both.

Your death was a chess piece to Colm. If he really meant it, really wanted Dutch to do anything but get pissed off and show his soft belly while struggling to retaliate— Colm would have brought himself and his best men, and he would have dumped your body before him. Personally, like a real bastard. At least, this is the fantasy Dutch imagines in a world where revenge is feasible, and smart.

There's nothing he hasn't done for you in this world besides cry, and if he doesn't stop this heaving, he'll suffocate. His temple is scorching, burns worse when he tries to pull his head away and he cringes, fumbling for his handkerchief to get rid of the mucus sticking his nose to Hosea in thick strands.

"God, I'm sorry, this is— I'm disgusting," he groans, throat clogged. He's on the brink of tears again just from using his voice. It's thick, and he squeezes his eyes shut trying to fix the mess he's sobbed onto him.

Hosea's hand smooths over his shoulder blade. "No, you're grievin'," he says. "You're lovin'."

Curse him and how— how open he is in being kind. Dutch's feverish forehead falls onto his shoulder, but at least these new tears well up right into the handkerchief instead of all over the already soaked patch on his friend's shirt.

Friend. Brother, really. Hosea must be a brother to hold him this quietly as his organs try to squeeze out his body, to give him this thing he never could have asked for in a silence so much more tolerable than lies of how things will be better soon and reminders that men do not show their pulse points like this.

He is getting old, and Dutch doesn't know what he will do. He thinks the last piece of his soul will die with the man.

His mind thrashes so violently inside his head, he thinks it may come out in bloody chunks as he blows his nose. The skin is screaming and raw by the time he can wrangle a bit of air through his nostrils again. Once hot and writhing, he feels his body going numb, painfully empty. His fingers lock up where they cling to each other at Hosea's chest, and it grows hard to breathe; he slumps against him, rakes in air until his stomach feels connected to himself again, and lets out a shuddering sigh that sinks his shoulders back towards the ground.

Wherever he had been, it was very far away. Maybe it was closer to you.

"When does it stop?" Dutch asks, moving to lay his mouth hard against Hosea's collarbone through the shoulder-seam of his shirt. It's sharp and he leans hard enough to feel as though the bone is grinding on his teeth.

He opens his eyes, though it feels more like prying with the drying tears on his lashes, and— looks at the tent, he supposes, but doesn't see much. A crate of your things stares back at him.

Hosea sighs. "It doesn't," he says, pats his shoulder once. "You'll hurt until you join them."

Dutch hates that he's right.

[bluegalaxygirl]

Full Moon (Zosan X reader) P5

Plot: While out taking photo's Sanji and reader get attacked by a strange creature. While the crew decide to hunt it down to save the village Sanji starts acting strange.

Warning: Violence, blood, bad language, injuries,

Sanji X Zoro X Reader, poly relationship, established relationship, Reader is GN. Reader is the photographer of the crew always carrying around a camera they made (Polaroid) that doesn't include a snail.

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4

Making it back to the village with the full moon still high in the sky you look around from the tree line. No one is around but you keep looking a little longer in case you missed something. You wanted to make sure no villagers were around, trying to keep Sanji safe. Luffy kept walking though strolling out of the forest with a slight whistle making you sign and give up walking out behind him, Zoro following with Sanji keeping low between you two and Franky bringing up the rear. Making your way through the village you keep looking around Sanji nudging your hand a little to get to calm down but you didn't want to make any chances. It wasn't long until you all made it to the town center, rounding the corner you met with Nami, Usopp and Brook sitting around with a mob of men on the ground passed out. "Oooh, i'm in trouble" you whisper to yourself as Zoro and Sanji look at you confused. As if the navigator could hear you from a mile away, Nami's head shoots up your eyes locking with hers as she stands pointing at you with an angry look "I'm going to kill you" she yelled making Sanji growl and you giggle patting him on the head "It's ok, she's just mad i left her to deal with this mess" you explain walking over to the angry navigator, your boys following you while Luffy runs over to Usopp asking what happened. Nami walked up to you and bonked you on the head with her fist "You start a fight and then run off?" she asks as you rub your head "Sorry but i knew you could handle it, i mean your the strongest girl i know... don't tell Robin" you wink causing the girl to sigh and bring you in for a hug "I still hate you" she pouts before noticing the wolf behind you. She gulps and pulls away form you "is that?" she asks not really wanting to finish her sentence "Yes that's sanji. We killed the main werewolf, but he's still like this" you sign looking down at your wolf boyfriend.

Usopp soon notices after telling Luffy everything and sneaks over hiding behind you as he looks over your shoulder at the wolf. Sanji notices and looks up at sniper only for him to fully hide behind you earning a slap on the back from Luffy "Its just sanji" the captain laughs while the sniper rubs his back form the pain. "Yohohoho, look at you." Brook walks over laughing bending down to the wolf. "Guy's" Choppers voice yells out as he runs over to your group with Robin strolling behind him skidding to a stop next to Nami spotting the large wolf. The doctor tried to hide behind nami but ends up doing it the other way around, none of you correct him though just hold in your laughter as Sanji and Chopper stare at each other. Sanji huffs out startling Chopper whose eyes widen more "SANJI?" he yells out before you and Zoro can stop him, Sanji shakes his head stepping back a bit but managing to control himself. Noticing his voice hurt Sanji, Chopper covers his mouth and whispers a sorry. "Chopper did you find anything?" you ask making the doctor look up at you and nod with a smile "Yea i did. With the help Robin i think i found a way to cure this." he says holding up a bottle with some strange blue and purple liquid. "Lets get you back to the ship and give you this" Chopper smiles beckoning Sanji to follow. The others nod and walk after the doctor but large wolf only moves when you and Zoro wanting to be close with you two.

With the sunny setting out to sea almost everyone went to bed while you and Zoro waited in chairs inside the med bay as the large wolf lays in the bed finally asleep after taking the medication. You had given the bottle you found to Chopper who was studying it and taking samples at his desk behind you two. Zoro leaned back in his chair holding your hand and rubbing your knuckles with his thumb as you curl up in the chair next to him a blanket over your lap watching the wolf sleep. You both worried that it wouldn't work and Zoro couldn't take his eyes off the window, The full moon still in the sky. After a short while you notice a faint blue light that seems to peel away the wolves fur, face and skin. "Zoro" you call squeezing the mans hand making him look at the bed watching the wolf disappears in a light blue and dark purple haze leaving your Sanji behind. Sanji groans a little and opens his eyes making you smile seeing their back to normal. As he sits up and runs a hand through his messy hair you can't help but get up and hold him close Zoro smiling and pulling the cook in close. Chopper smiles form the side happy his concoction worked watching You and Zoro holding the cook tight. "I'm glad your back" you cried a little into Sanji's bare shoulder as Zoro places his hand on Sanji's cheek pulling him in for a kiss. Sanji gladly leaned into it one arm around you both holding you close to him. Placing your hand on his bare chest you realized he was naked except for the blanket that laid over his lap and hips. "Urm, Chopper could you get Sanji some clothes please" you ask the doctor who nods jumping out of his chair and leaving the room.

Sanji pulls away form the kiss feeling a little breathless as you pull away to grab the blanket you were using and wrap it around the cooks shoulders. "I'm glad to be back, i never want to be like that again" he smiles pulling you in closer "You remember it all?" you ask stopping him form kissing you so he can answer your question. "Yea i do and i'm so sorry for the way i acted, i could hear, see and smell everything, it was so... overwhelming and everything but raw meat made me feel sick" he signed running his hand through your hair "Yea i'm sorry about that." Zoro sighs running his hand through Sanji's messy hair as the cook turning to face him "You attacked us because i slammed the door open" Sanji laughed a little at that and shook his head "It's ok you didn't know. After i turned and had time to adjust things got better but i still had that hunger" looking down at his lap his eyes saddened. You lean up and wrap your arms around his neck holding him close to you "You have nothing to be ashamed of, you protected us" at your words Sanji seemed to lighten up a bit making you pull away, so he can place his lips on yours. His soft lips moved against yours feeling the warmth and love he was giving you and you gladly gave that back running your hand into his hair to stroke it.

Chopper walks in and places the clothes down on one of the chairs seeing you and Sanji kissing. he apologizes quickly before grabbing a book and leaves the room, Zoro thanking the reindeer before turning back to you two. Pulling away Sanji places his forehead against yours, Your eyes meeting his beautiful grey eyes, they seemed to sadden a bit and it made you concerned "What's wrong?" you ask Zoro looking over the cook to see if something was hurting him "That guy really wanted you dead, he wanted me to do it" Closing his eyes he moved his head into your shoulder "What?" Zoro asks running a hand up and down the cooks back. "In the forest. When he talked by head felt fuzzy and i almost...For a second i" with a sigh you make him pull away form your neck looking at his teary eyes as you cupped his face "You didn't though. Even when i hurt you, you didn't hurt me" your words seem to sink in making the cook smile a bit as he leans down to kiss your cheek "You're amazing you know" you replay leaning into him "You did everything you could to stop that wolf from hurting us. You could have died" you scold him a little but you can't be mad at him, he did save your life. "I didn't need saving" Zoro answer both of you turning to him as he scratched the back of his head "But.. i did appreciate the help" he continues holding you both close again and kissing the cook on he head.

Everyone in the crew slept in late, it being lunch by the time everyone was up, you took it upon yourself to make lunch as Sanji sat at the table next to Zoro making sure the cook rested and ate. The cook was desperate for a cigarette when he woke up this morning getting a little cranky but he seems a lot better now after his second cigarette. It was loud with Luffy, Usopp and Franky talking about the werewolf but you managed to focus on Robin's voice as she talked to the group around her. The book Franky gave her had a lot on the situation form last night, and she happily explained it to the rest of the group. Sanji and Chopper seeming to be paying more attention than the others. "To become something more than human, a perfect combination of mankind and predator could create a god like being. Im guessing that's what he wanted" The black haired woman flips through the book while sipping on a cup of tea "A werewolf is something along those lines but it's too animal like and unpredictable, it seems he tried to modify it using witch craft and science" Robin stops on a page before looking up at chopper "is that why Sanji looked so different?" the doctor asks looking down at the book "It seems so but the werewolf part was still there, Silver and heat were still a weakness." As she explained you walked over with two plates in hand setting one down at Luffy's end who almost grabbed all the food on the plate while the others tried to grab what they could. The second plate went down the other end setting it in the middle of the Robin's group. "Is that all he wanted? To be god like, a bit of a lonely existence" catching the group's attention they look up at you, Zoro pulling his chair back and patting his lap for you to sit.

Sitting on the mans lap and taking Sanji's hand over the table Robin smiles and nods. "What about the whole manipulation thing.. Its like he was trying to control me" Sanji sighs squeezing your hand while taking a bite of food watching as Robin flicks through the book again soon landing on another page and pushing it over to you three. "Its more of a wolf thing than it is a werewolf thing. The pack Alpha tells the others what to do, mix that with witch craft and you have a strong ability but it doesn't work on other Alpha's especially when there's... Mates involved" You can't help but smile and giggle a little at that as Zoro laughs out gaining Sanji's attention "What's so funny?" The cook glares at you two putting out his cigarette out before Zoro's arm goes around the cook and pulls him closer "Its not funny, its just.... Your just a horny dog" Zoro laughs harder as Sanji punches him in the arm "I am not" The cook yells causing some of the others to laugh too. Sanji's face goes red but you place your hands on his cheeks "We love you all the same" with a small laugh you place your lips on his giving him a quick kiss as the laughing dies down. Zoro leans his head into the cooks neck "We love you" he whispers so only the Sanji can hear who sighs with a small smile leaning in as the swords man places a kiss on the man's neck.

The rest of the day you and Zoro made sure Sanji rested. The others helped out if Sanji needed anything and Chopper checked up on him through the day. As it got closer to night and the full moon started to show you got a little nervous, even though Choppers medication worked you feared it would only be temporary. Luffy wanted to throw a party on the deck to celebrate so you all joined, Nami and Usopp helping you make food and drinks while Zoro kept Sanji out the way, the poor man didn't like being away form the kitchen for too long but you two wouldn't let him until tomorrow. Walking out the kitchen you looked up at the bright full moon, your worries fading away since Sanji hadn't been showing any signs. Handing out drinks to the others you finally made your way over to Zoro and Sanji who where sitting out of the way, the cook nuzzled up to the swords man watching the crew sing and dance. "Hay babe, finally joining us?" Zoro asks seeing you walking over with three drinks in your hands "Yep, Nami said she'll take over" sitting down next to Zoro you hand him a big mug of Sake and cup of tea to Sanji. "Thank you love, i'm sorry your doing all this" smiling at the cook you shake your head "Its fine, i want you to rest today. i'm not as good as you but i don't think i'm half bad" mentally patting yourself on the back you hear your cook laugh a little "Half bad? My love, you did amazing" leaning over Sanji places his lips on yours pulling away to place his head back on Zoro's shoulder. "You always get my Sake's temperature just right" the swords man leans down kissing your neck making you giggle before he moves to your lips, wrapping your arm around his bicep you pull away and lay you head on his shoulder watching the crew.

The rest of the night was filled with laughing, talking, singing and dancing, slowly but surly as the night went on the others started heading to bed. Sanji had fallen asleep on Zoro's shoulder at some point but you both deiced to stay up a bit longer before heading to bed. Once Luffy left for bed you and Zoro deiced to head to bed as well. Usopp was good enough to clean up sending you three a wave as Zoro carried a sleeping Sanji to bed with you in following. You couldn't help but look at Sanji as he slept, he's handsome when he's awake but looks so cute when he's sleep. You open the door to your shared bedroom letting Zoro in before closing the door, as your went to change into some pj's the swords man placed Sanji in bed taking off the mans shoes before covering him up and getting changed himself. Neither one of you wanted to wake him, knowing he needed all the rest he could get plus who could wake such a sleeping beauty. Pulling your top down you feel a pear of hands grab your waist pulling you into a broad chest "I love you baby" Zoro whispers from behind you, turning him his grip you wrap your arms around his neck and give him a smile "I love you too, Hun" leaning up he gladly leans down so your lips meet giving each other a long kiss before he picks you up and carries you to bed. Placing you down he gets in next to you and pulls the blanket over you two spooning you and letting his hand go around you to touch sanji. Facing Sanji you place your head close to his and close your eyes, feeling his steady breath on your face and Zoro's chest move behind you as he breaths.

[bitterspoons]

Chapter One: "Family Reunion"

The Crystal Spirit Series Masterlist

Pairing: Zuko x Fem!OC

Summary: In which two spirits try their luck at love in the middle of a hundred year war.

Warnings: none for this chapter?

chapter one/ chapter two coming soon

This was the closest thing to a family reunion she was gonna get—she had one chance. 

She kneaded the bread gently, pretending she wasn’t interested. “Oh, he’s been captured? That’s a shame.” She said nonchalantly. 

The baker shook his head in agreement. “Truly, I thought the Avatar could save us but I suppose people in this town have lost hope for a reason.” 

The baker folded some fruits into a small basket. “Are you sure this is all you want? You’ve truly been such a help.”

It was a quaint little town she was visiting. Bushels of leafy green plants laced themselves around buildings and covered rooftops

. Run down signs with letters peeling off yellowed and scratchy wood that practically beckoned splinters painted a rustic and abandoned appearance to the town. 

Since the war, it wasn’t uncommon to come across villages with similar aesthetics. 

Smiling, she took the fruit basket from him—waist chains swishing around, the crystals chiming.  “This is more than enough, thank you.” She gave a little bow. “Out of curiosity, have you heard who the Avatar was captured by?”

The bakerman shrugged. “I’ve heard rumors about Yuyan archers but beyond that, I’ve heard nothing.” 

“Yuyan archers huh…” She shrugged and subconsciously touched her tile necklace. “If that’s the case, he’s surely a goner.” 

“Surely.” The bakerman repeated, opening the front door for her. “Thank you, truly. The entire town thanks you for your assistance.” 

“It was my pleasure.” 

“Hey, what’s your name anyways?” The bakerman turned to ask but with a swish of her crystal jewelry, she was gone. 

The baker shook his head, smiling. “So that’s the crystal spirit…” 

Her eyes narrowed as she swiftly left the town, basket of fruit in hand as she ran. “Yuyan archers…” She mumbled, over and over again. 

“How does it feel to be the last airbender left?” Admiral Zhao taunted. A hurt expression fell over the Avatar’s face. “Don’t worry, you won’t be killed like they were.” 

Two faces watched from the rafters, unaware of each other’s presence. One masked in black and white, while the other in blue. 

“You see, if you die then you’ll just be reincarnated, and the Fire Nation will have to start it’s search for the Avatar all over again.” Zhao explained. “So I’ll keep you alive.” 

He turned his back to the avatar. “But just barely.” 

The Avatar sent a gust of air his way, knocking the Admiral to the floor. “Blow all the wind you want.” Zhao hissed, annoyed. “Your situation is futile.” 

“And nobody is coming to rescue you.” Admiral Zhao slammed the door on his way out. 

A figure dropped from the ceiling, a split mask covered her face. “Hi there, I’m here to rescue you!” 

She shrieked as unthawed frogs started jumping out of the Avatar’s pockets. “Ew! Gross!” 

“Hey!” The Avatar complained. “Go back to being frozen!” He demanded the frogs to no avail. After a quick beat of silence, the Avatar spoke up again. “Wait, who are you?” 

Suddenly the door to the chamber opened, a figure masked in blue entered with two swords. 

“Well that was my dramatic entrance ruined.” She huffed, lifting her hands up—ready to fight the unwanted visitor. 

The blue masked figure raised his swords before throwing them—cutting the Avatar loose from his shackles. 

She rolled her eyes, unimpressed as she unlocked the remaining cuffs with a key. “That was unnecessarily dramatic.” 

“Thank you,” The Avatar smiled. “Who are you guys?” 

The two masked figures seemed to be in a stare off, trying to decipher each other's intentions before the girl stuck out her hand. 

“Nice to meet you, stranger.” She shook his hand. “Thanks for stealing my thunder.” 

If she could see his eyes, they were probably rolling as he sighed. In a gruff voice that she doubted was real he asked “Do you have a plan out of here?” 

She furrowed her eyebrows. “I barely had a plan to get in here.” 

The blue mask sighed again, before leading them out through the door to the chamber. 

Piles of Fire Nation soldiers littered the floors along with frogs. 

The monochromed girl shrugged. “That’s certainly one way to get in.” She suddenly grabbed the Avatar’s hands. “Ew—no— stop that—“ She scolded as the Avatar tried grabbing the frogs. 

“My friend’s need to suck on those frogs!” He called as they dragged him to an exit. 

They crawled underneath floorboards, peeking out from loose ones. 

The blue masked rescuer boosted the Avatar up to a rope—probably how he got in. 

When the Avatar tried climbing it—sirens started ringing from inside the facility. “The Avatar has escaped!” Someone yelled. “Close all the gates immediately!” 

The trio started running, the Avatar taking a lead. The Avatar blasted people out of the way of the closing gate and made a run for it. 

The blue and black masked individuals also bolted towards it but had slight issues with the soldiers. 

“Ugh!” The girl said disgustedly as they shoved spears in her face. She rolled her eyes and started breaking their weapons with her hands. 

The blue spirit also got held up by the soldiers, slashing around to stop the spears. 

The Avatar looked back at his saviors, making the split second decision to run back and help them. 

The three battled their way across until they got up to a rooftop. The Avatar clutched onto a broken spear and started twirling it—becoming a human helicopter for the other two. 

Spears came flying in their direction, the two at the bottom tried their best to kick and dodge them but they soon came tumbling down. 

She tucked and rolled to the ground as they fell—quickly catching the falling boys and helping them back on their feet. 

The three began their battle again—fighting off the hundreds of soldiers that came after them. 

She took them down with the flick of her wrist—soldiers falling to the floor in seizures or passing out. 

The Avatar flung people off their pedestals as they tried to climb up onto the rooftop they fell off of. He grabbed their bamboo ladders and handed them to the blue spirit. 

“Take this!” The three start maneuvering them together—creating the world’s largest pair of stilts. 

A fire begins to build at the end of their last stilt set by one of the soldiers. The girl attempted to snuff them out but they were soon forced to leap off from their makeshift stilts. 

But it was all in vain as they slid down the wall once more, still stuck in the base. 

The Blue Spirit took his swords and threatened them at the surrounding soldiers as the Avatar created a circle of wind around them—snuffing out the flames the soldiers were throwing at them. 

“Hold your fire!” Admiral Zhao demanded. “The Avatar must be captured alive!” He announced. 

Her head perked up with an idea, she stuck out her hand and the Blue Spirit tossed her his swords instantly. 

She quickly gripped the swords and laced them around the Avatar’s throat, staring Zhao in the eyes through her mask. 

Zhao stared back, gritting his teeth. “Open. The Gate.” He commanded. 

“Admiral—what are you doing?” 

“Let them out,” Zhao repeated. “Now!” 

The gates behind them opened and the girl inched backwards, holding the swords to the Avatar’s throat. The Blue Spirit helped guide her backwards. 

The trio slowly backed away, and the Blue and Crystal Spirits traded places after the girl promptly tripped over a rock—speedily switching roles and continuing to hold the Avatar at knife point. 

A sleek arrow pierced through the air with a small THUNK—the Blue Spirit was out cold. 

 He fell back, his head slamming against the floor and his swords drawn. 

A horn sounded back where the Soldier Base was and the girl panicked. 

She lifted up her arms and clouds of dust engulfed the area in front of them—creating a thick cover for them to hide under. 

The Avatar carefully lifted up the mask of the Blue Spirit—a gasp startled the girl as the Avatar raced back. 

“What’s wrong?” She hissed, grabbing the pass out Spirit and hurling him over her shoulder. 

“That's—he’s—” The Avatar stammered before quickly seeing the immense amount of soldiers coming right at them and the Avatar helped her carry the Blue Spirit. 

They ran into the forest before ducking behind a corner. “I think air travel seems a bit more efficient, yeah?” She said, creating a spinning ball of air and jumping on it. 

“You’re an airbender?” The Avatar had wide eyes as he created his own air ball.

“I’m Satori! It’s a pleasure to meet you, Avatar.” She smiled as they raced into the depths of the forest. 

The two airbenders waited in the forest until —who Satori discovered was the banished Prince of the Fire nation—woke up. 

“Aren’t you precious?” She squealed as she crouched down near a baby turtleduck. “Where’s your mama?” 

The two airbenders ran around the forest for an hour, searching for the turtle duck's mother with no luck. 

“Well…” Satori cradled the baby turtleduck. “I guess I’m your mama now, I guess I should give you a name huh?” 

Satori used her airbending to lift a cherry blossom, placing it on the turtleduck’s shell. “Your name is Sakura now, we’ll be best friends.” She told the little critter. “Satori and Sakura, the unstoppable duo…”

“I still can’t believe you’re an airbender!” The Avatar—or rather Aang said. “How did you survive the—”

“The genocide?” Satori asked, weaving a small purse out of leaves. “My family left the temples years before the fire nation invaded, it’s just luck that we were never caught or killed by nature.” She shrugged. 

“Why did you leave the temples, it was so peaceful there!” Aang replied. 

Collecting some small berries, she put the little turtleduck in the leafy purse. “My family has always had a lust for travel. We never stay in one place for too long.” 

“Are all your family airbenders?” Aang asked curiously. 

She smiled, shrugging again. “I wouldn’t know, I haven’t seen any of them in a long while. We all go our separate ways.” 

“That must be lonely.” 

“Hopefully not for much longer.” Satori gave him a cheeky smile. “I think we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other.” 

Aang brightened. “You can come with me to meet my friends!” 

“All in good time, I have things to take care of first.” Satori pet her new turtleduck. 

“Like what?”

“I saw a burned village on my way to rescue you, I want to help them first.” Satori grabbed a few extra leaves and tucked them in her bag. 

“I can help—”

“Your friends are sick Aang, you should help them first. I promise I can find you.” Satori took off one of her many bracelets. 

“How can you be so sure?” He asked, worried. 

Satori handed him the bracelet. “I’m the Crystal Spirit, I’m amazing and it’s honestly not that difficult—both me and scar-boy over there found you pretty easily.” 

Aang put the bracelet on. “I’m gonna wait until he wakes up, see you again Satori.” 

“See you soon, Avatar Aang!” Satori gave a wave but when Aang blinked, she was gone—just the chimes of her jewelry remained, lingering in the air. 

A/N: New Series! How are we liking it? Next chapter either comes out tomorrow or several months from now idk

[thebiggestfuckgiven]

Ectoberweek 25: Will-o’-Wisps

Rating: T

Warnings: mentions of death, of being buried alive, descriptions of gore, brief mention of vivisection, true crime-esque horror, and general spooky vibes

A/N: I really wanted to do a lil something for the spooky month and what better to write than something for the fandom i’ve been sickeningly hyperfixated on for the past four months. Actual prompt had a two-sentence prompt as well, and i went with both <3

- 💜 -

October 2004

The things everybody tells you about small towns- everyone knows each other, ni things big happens, every day is a slow day, and the biggest local teen hotspots are the walmart parking lot or the big chain pharmacy/corner store —are true. The thing that everyone knows about small towns except for the majority of the people living in said town is that their minds are as small as the local post office.

This is especially true of the teens of Casper High in Amity Park, Illinois.

Sam’s black combat boots stomped against the warm pavement as she ran for the next block. Her breathing was ragged, coming out in harsh puffs of air in the autumn cold. She had gotten an SOS text message from Tucker seconds before the last bell rung.

Normally, she didn’t take the Foley kid very serious. They didn’t know each other that well and they barely hung out save for the couple of school projects they’ve worked on together and those rare lunch hour occasions where he’d sit at her table uninvited. Usually to avoid Dash, Kwan and the rest of their jock entourage.

She stumbled to a stop at a crossroads borderline wheezing. Running was so not her forte. Maybe it was cruel of her, but Same fully intended to ignore his SOS. That is, until she saw Tweedledumb (Dash) and Tweedledumber (Kwan) shove a screaming Tucker into their run-down jeep and speed off.

Hence, why Same was ruining her sickly goth pallor by chasing after them.

She glanced to her left just in time to see the run-down jeep screech to a halt. Christ, the stabbing in her sides was killing her. Sue her for walking. The jeep wasn’t going anywhere anymore. She stumbled a few steps, feet burning, as she held a hand to her sides like that would help her.

Dash jumped out from the passenger side, Kwan following shortly after, from the driver’s side. They opened the back doors on each side, where Tucker was. They cornered him. Dash reached in and was soon pulling Tucker out by his feet. Sam could hear his scream now.

“C’mon, guys, please just leave me alone! Let me go, Dash!”

The Wonder Jocks laughed in response. Kwan slammed his door shut, confident that Dash had Tucker handled now that he was out of the car. Kwan rushed to the sidewalk to roughly grab Tucker’s free arm.

“Guys, this isn’t funny!”

Sam was halfway down the street now and she dreaded the idea of having to run again to keep those two muscle-headed idiots from beating the crap out of the geek that for some reason imprinted on her. Ugh, caring for people was overrated anyways. She could still walk away. Save herself the hassle. No one care about her in this stupid town anyways. So, why should she care?

She slowed to a stop. Her feet ached.

Dash and Kwan were dragging Tucker towards the street corner, which just confused Sam, amidst her inner turmoil. Why even drag Tucker all the way out to his own neighborhood? His house was literally a street away, and there wasn’t even a bare-bones playground here. So what—

“No, no! Don’t put me in there, Dash, Kwan, please! Just let me go, guys, it’s not funny!”

Sam felt a sharp chill run down her spine. Something heavy dropped in the pit of her stomach at the sudden realization of where, exactly, they were.

“Shit.”

She broke off into a sprint as fast as she could.

Shithsitshitshit.

Another thing about small towns is that they all have a well-kept secret. A dark past, usually. Sam found that she thrives on such darkness; on those unwanted and discarded things. As it turned out, Amity Park had a surprising amount of those. She made it her personal business to grow intimate with her town’s buried gutter.

The things she learned were both shocking and, for all her boasting, a little horrifying. Things that would be permanently burned into her retinas. Unseeable and unforgettable. So, she scolded herself for not realizing sooner where they were dragging Tucker to. She would’ve run a little faster, cared a little more, if she had.

She zoomed past the jeep and turned the corner so sharply she nearly fell flat on her face.

Tucker wasn’t screaming anymore, but there were tears streaming down his face as he stared in terror at the behemoth of a house towering over them.

In all its abandoned, festering glory: the infamous Fenton House. Even in bright daylight, the house was obscured in awkward elongated shadows, made worse by the house’s freaky, Frankenstein-esque structure. As if imitating a child’s building blocks tower, there were partial structures jutting out of the house’s main body. They creaked in the cold wind, threatening to snap off and crush any trespassers. At the very top, there was a round dome of sorts with something resembling letters across it. They were black with rot now. Unreadable.

Sam wasn’t a fearful person, but she was a believer. The Fenton House was more than haunted. She’s read enough testimonies to not take it lightly. People have gone missing in that house. Hell, they’ve been found dead in there. She may not be friendly with Tucker, but that didn’t mean she was about to leave him to a tragic fate.

Body running on a sudden burst of adrenaline, she grabbed the nearest thing she could find (a sizable stick) and marched towards the two jocks.

“Hey!”

All three of the boys turned to look at her. She stood two steps below them, resolutely ignoring the way the house seemed to want to swallow them whole. Tucker’s terrified face shifted into one of pure relief. A new wave of tears was visibly threatening to spill over.

“Sam,” he croaked.

Dash barked out a laugh.

“Samantha Manson? What the hell are you doing here?”

“Hey, wanna help us lock this dweeb in the Fenton House?” Kwan smiled brightly, pointing at Tucker.

Sam scowled. People always confused her apathy for cruelty. She hated it.

“It’s Sam, and like hell I do. Drop the nerd, assholes, or else,” she said, pitching her voice lower in an attempt to sound intimidating.

Maybe she should’ve spent her time running thinking up a plan instead of hating on Tucker for making her run in the first place. She clutched the stick in her hand tightly.

Kwan scoffed.

“No way. I just said we’re gonna lock him in the house.”

“Yeah! We wanna know what happens when you put a techno dweeb with murder ghosts,” Dash said, smiling cruelly at a Tucker.

“He short-circuits. It’s not impressive. Let him go.”

Dash must’ve realized, finally, that Sam was being serious. He narrowed his eyes at her, the stick in her hand, and smiled.

“Or what? You’re gonna hit us with the creep stick? Ha. Last I checked, Sam, girls don’t have the balls to pull that off, so why don’t you get lost and forget you were ever here,” Dash said before adding to Kwan, “And Paulina says I’m not a gentleman.”

It was Sam’s turn to smile. She went up a step as she spoke.

“Like any girl would let you get that close, Dash. Besides, I promise mine are bigger than yours. Here, I’ll prove it.”

Before he even had time to blink, Sam jabbed the stick hard into Dash’s crotch. A gentlemanly oof broke past his lips and he let go of Tucker’s arm to clutch at his wounded pride.

“Augh, bitch.”

Kwan also let go of Tucker to check on his friend. Sam didn’t waste a second and grabbed Tucker’s hand.

“Run.”

They bolted down the stairs, Tucker nearly slamming into her from the sudden force.

“Sam, I didn’t think— I mean— shit, thank you. I thought- Ah!”

“Shit. Let me go, jackass!”

They had barely cleared the Fenton House’s shadow when a large, thick arm slammed into Sam and Tucker’s bellies as Kwan— just Kwan —grabbed them by the waist and lifted them up.

Note-to-self: never piss off a linebacker.

Sam knew Dahs and Kwan were big for their age, being football players and all, but jesus fuck this was insane.

She kicked and punched for her freedom, but either rage was a hell of a pain nullifier or her punches were child’s play.

Crap, and she dropped the stick when he grabbed them. Just her luck.

“You better let us go right now, Kwan!”

“Or what?”

He was effortlessly taking them up the stairs and— oh that’s the door.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, they— they can’t actually lock us in. There’s no key. We-we can just leave,” Tucker whispered, panicked.

“You don’t know much about the Fenton House, do you?”

Sam’s voice was small. She felt small.

They were about to be locked in a horror house.

Dash opened the door. Sam didn’t even see him get there.

“Sayonara, losers. Have fun in the Fenton House.”

The world tilted and blurred for a split second, Sam’s stomach lurching at the weightless sensation, before she and Tucker landed hard on the linoleum floor. Pain shot up her elbow and hip. Beside her, Tucker groaned.

“If you even make it the whole night! Ha!”

Bam!

Tucker scrambled up at once, but as soon as his hand touched the doorknob a sound like a lock sliding into place echoed throughout the empty house.

“Wha…”

Sam waited with bated breath. Then—

A low droning sound buzzed across the floor, seeping through Sam’s hands in an odd pins-and-needles sensation. Red emergency lights flickers throughout the house, bathing everything in muddy crimson, and the droning sound was replaced by the most horrifying screech of twenty-year-old rusted metal scraping against itself.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Thick sheets of metal began dropping over every conceivable entry. Including the windows and, of course, the door. Sam pulled Tucker back by the collar of his shirt just in time to keep his hand attached.

Tucker yelped, clutching his hand close.

“What the fuck—”

Warbled, distorted speech boomed from somewhere in the house, the voice and the words long ruined by time. It was like someone was trying to speak underwater. The message was only a few seconds long, but it was disgustingly haunting. Sam knew exactly what it said.

Ghost attack imminent. Fenton Security measure Christmas Ham activated.

If she remembered correctly, the measure lasted six hours. But the last time it was activated (that anyone knows of) was five years ago. Who knew how much the technology had deteriorated at this point. They could be here for a whole day.

Sam broke from her thoughts to glance at a hyperventilating Tucker. She couldn’t blame him. The Fenton House was creepy enough on the outside. Inside? With flickering red lights? Sam was making an active effort not to throw up from the fear writhing in her intestines.

The shadows kept moving in the corner of her eyes, she swore she kept seeing a green glow (but she couldn’t tell where from), and it was freezing cold. Colder than it was outside, which should be impossible, but it was the Fenton House. Impossible was inconsequential.

Sam shuddered. They had to find a way out.

“Tucker—”

“Sam- ohmygodSam- this is- I mean what the fuck was that? We’re literally trapped here. In a tomb with linoleum floors. Shit, and you’re trapped, too, cuz of me. I shouldn’t have sent you that text. Fuck it I shouldn’t have flunked Dash’s essay. Now we’re gonna die here and—”

“Tucker!”

Sam grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking him lightly. Their eyes met, both wide with incessant panic.

“Calm down,” she spoke slowly. Tucker gulped and nodded shakily.

“Okay, okay, yeah.”

“Breathe. You’re good with computers and stuff, right?”

Tucker scoffed, but more in a self-deprecative way rather than an offended one.

“Sure am. It’s what gets me in trouble, isn’t it?”

Sam shook him again.

“Forget that. We need good with computers. The Fentons were notorious for their unorthodox advancements in technology. Supposedly had patents on really futuristic shit. Most of it buried, obviously. But they were good enough that their security system still activates nearly twenty years after their departure.”

Ridiculously good, she thought bitterly.

There was a moment of weighted silence as they looked around the house. The lights, the rusted yet intact panels over the windows. It was eerily quiet. She stepped a bit closer to Tucker, who thankfully didn’t say anything about it.

“Yeah, alright, okay,” he muttered to himself before clearing his throat. “The-there should be, uh, a circuit breaker somewhere. We could cut off the power—”

“Won’t work,” Sam stated, eyes furtively glancing around them. She had the weirdest sensation they were being watched. “The town cut the power away from the Fenton House ages ago. It runs on some kind of external power source, but nobody knows what.”

Sam kinda hoped they didn’t get to find out.

“Shit. Man, what the fuck. Who the fuck were these people?”

Sam let out a manic sort of laugh. The hysteria was boiling up in her like toxic chemicals.

“Do you want the short answer or the long one?”

“I have a feeling we’re gonna be here a while. Long answer?”

A pause.

“We should find a way out.”

“Yeah.”

Neither of them moved an inch. They stood in the middle of the living room. A trashed one at that. Although, looking closely from where they were, the whole house looked trashed. Wasn’t the place SWATted?

She spotted a flash of green in the hallway, right there in the corner of her eye, and snapped her head towards it with a small gasp. There was nothing there.

“Hey,” Tucker said softly. “Let’s check out the windows for loose panels or something and you can tell me about the Fentons’ own loose panels.”

Her mouth went dry, but she nodded.

“Sounds good, yeah. So, uh, what do you know about the Fentons?”

Tucker shrugged and went towards the first window, by the door. Sam followed closely by. He didn’t mention it.

“What everyone else knows. Mad scientists who went so crazy after their son’s disappearance that they tried to summon him from the afterlife. They got so obsessed that they never left the house and just, died here, waiting for their son to come back. Pretty sad.”

That window was a bust. So was the next, as well as the door. They ventured into the hallway. There were a few square and rectangle imprints on the walls, but only one hanging frame left. With a picture. Hands shaking, Sam reached up and snagged the picture from where it was, careful not to cut herself on what was left of the glass.

It was a family picture. A wall of a man stood at the back with a practiced, dashing smile. To his left and a little below him was a woman with short, bright red hair. They were both in brightly colored hazmat suits, goggles hanging around their necks.

In front of them were two teens. A girl with bright red hair as well, but styled much longer. Next to her was a boy, younger and slightly shorter than her, with black hair. They were all smiling wide and bright, except for the boy. His was more hesitant, not quite reaching his eyes.

Sam pointed at the young girl.

“Did you know the Fentons had a daughter, too?”

Tucker’s eyebrows went up slightly.

“No… Something tells me I won’t like why.”

“You won’t. Um, kitchen?”

Sam saw another green flash and was anxious to get away from it. They bee-lined to the kitchen, and Tucker checked the windows there.

“So… There’s a few things you got right. The Fentons—” Sam pointed at the two adults in the picture “—were renowned scientists. They did some impressive breakthroughs. Like the kind they still teach in universities, but with a disclaimer attached. The more they went into their work, though, the more obsessed they got…” she trailed off in a whisper, tensing.

The house was creaking.

Tucker stopped in his tracks, too, eyes wide but lips pressed tightly together.

Nothing happened. The house stopped creaking.

Tucker let out a slow breath, eyeing the cabinets.

“Think there’s anything edible left around?”

She glared at him sharply.

“If you open any fridge or cabinet doors, I’m leaving you here alone. This place is bad enough, we don’t need to add rats or rotted food to the list.”

Tucker pouted but conceded.

“Fine, I’ll just starve. Keep telling me about the creepy doctors and their stupid creepy house while we check upstairs.”

Sam sighed in temporary relief. She didn’t think she could handle seeing a fridge full of maggots. Even if it has been almost twenty years.

They continued up the stairs, carefully, and Sam went on with the Fenton tragedy.

“The Fentons started growing obsessed with other dimensions. Specifically… the afterlife, and its inhabitants.”

“Like… ghosts?”

Sam nodded.

“Exactly like. They became convinced they could create a doorway into the afterlife, at the cost of their reputation. They got ostracized by the academic community once they started referring to themselves as ‘ecto-scientists’.”

“Yeah, who wouldn’t. Bunch’a wackos,” Tucker muttered as they ventured into an organized room with cool colors. Light blue walls, light green bed sheets coated in blankets of dust, so the only reason Sam knew they were light green was because she’s seen pictures of what the room looked like twenty years ago. She ignored the uneven pattern of small dark spots on the wall.

It was the girl’s room. Jasmine Fenton’s.

Tucker went straight for the window, but Sam hung back near the entrance.

“They didn’t actually open a doorway, right?”

His voice broker her out of her thoughts. She blinked.

“Hm? Oh, uh, allegedly, yeah.”

This house probably sat on an open portal. There probably was an infestation of something murderous in it. Sam shook the thought away. She’ll drive herself crazy worrying about that.

“Supposedly,” she continued. “The doorway was one of their patents. They had the science backing it up and everything. But they… There were rumors, around the time the supposedly opened the doorway, that there was an accident in the house involving their youngest. Daniel Fenton.”

Tucker frowned at the blocked window. A bust. They made their way to the next room. A queen bed bare of any bedsheets, and a large chest of drawers with an equally large mirror attached to it. The Fentons’ room. It had an extra window.

“What happened to Daniel?”

Sam shuddered, goosebumps breaking out across her arms. The room got colder, so much colder than it had been. A soft crackling sound broke out, like frost taking over with a vengeance. She opened her mouth to speak but her breath got stuck in her throat.

She closed her mouth. Breathe. Another flash of green, this one brighter than the others. Breathe. It was so cold, her teeth started chattering.

“T-t-t-tucker—”

“Y-ye-yeah, I’m-m ignoring it,” he said simply, tugging at the panels.

Fuck, how can he ignore this. Sam was so uncomfortable, consumed by such a sudden unease, she wanted to claw off her skin. She tried to ignore it anyways.

“Daniel— jesus I’m freezing —he was out of school a couple of days after neighbors heard a scream. That same night, the power went out in the whole town, except for the Fenton House.”

The freezing cold seeped away, leaving behind a frost pattern that didn’t melt on the mirror despite the warming room. Sam blew out a breath, sending out a silent thanks.

She frowned, unsure why she did that.

“A lot of people theorize,” she went in, rubbing the remaining cold in her fingertips away. “That one of two things happened that night. One, a backfired experiment drove the Fentons all the way crazy to the point that they started experimenting on both their kids, thinking they were ghosts.”

“Wait, both of—”

“Two, Daniel died because of said backfired experiment and his parents somehow managed to either bring him or his ghost back.”

None of the windows opened. They started for the next room.

“That’s… actually insane. And what do you mean, both their kids?” Tucker stopped for a moment, meeting Sam’s eyes.

“Did something happen to their daughter, too?”

Sam pressed her lips into a thin line. That’s the part rarely anyone knew about the Fenton horrors. Daniel wasn’t their only kid. He certainly wasn’t their only victim.

“I’ll get there,” she replied instead, looking away. “It only gets worse.”

“Christ,” he muttered.

They walked onwards.

“A couple of weeks after that, Daniel disappeared. But in those weeks, the Fentons became obsessive, borderline manic, with ghosts. Their nature, their morality. How to trap them, contain them… kill them.”

They were nearing then end of the hallway, where the last room was.

Tucker shuddered, sporting his own goosebumps.

“I don’t like the way you said that.”

Sam grimaced, sticking close to him once more.

“Yeah, it’s pretty bad. What’s worse, the Fentons called off the search party after just one night. They claimed they didn’t want false hope, they just wanted to lay their son to rest. They buried an empty casket, and Daniel hadn’t even been missing three full days.”

Her voice was hollow.

“Shit. They…”

“Killed their own son because they were convinced he was a ghost? Most likely,” she said bitterly. As far as true crime went, Amity Park’s dark secret was the worst she’s ever read.

Neither said a word. For one long minute, intentionally or not, they remained quiet, mulling over the terror a kid must feel when they realize their own parents saw them as something to be killed. And to think, they were standing in the house where it happened. Where two parents killed their son. Allegedly.

And their daughter…

As if reading her mind, Tucker quietly asked, “What about the girl? It gets worse doesn’t it?”

Sam swallowed, her mouth dry and throat sore.

“They—” she sighed. “After their son ‘becoming a ghost’, they got paranoid. Extremely so. If one of their kids was a ghost… They couldn’t stand the idea of having an imposter in their own home. There were reports of screams two nights after the funeral. Like, really awful screaming that went on for nearly an hour, I think. Authorities broke into the house after multiple calls to find the Fentons in the basement and their daughter on a table just… cut open. She died before the paramedics could get to her.”

Again, neither said another word. Sam wished she’d run faster. Hit Dash harder. This house was tainted in blood and betrayal.

Tucker clutched at his chest and Sam realized his breathing was short and sparse. Crap.

“Tucker—”

“I fucking,” he gasped, trying to catch his breath. “Hate that we’re here. We’re trapped in like they were, but they— Fuck, they were kids. Their kids. Who does that.”

“Tucker, breathe,” Sam insisted lowly, placing a hand on his shoulder.

He nodded, but only got a few gasps of air.

“I’ve been t-trying to hold it together but I just can’t— what if we can’t find a way out. What if we die here.”

“We’re not gonna die here,” she stated fiercely despite being unsure of it herself. “If the windows are a no go then we’ll just find a way to deactivate the security system, okay? We’ll be fine.”

Tucker nodded again, quiet.

It took another few minutes until he finally got his breathing under control. Sam squeezed his arm comfortingly, giving him a small smile. They’ll make it.

He returned the smile without a word and turned to the last room. They had windows to check.

She suspected it was Daniel’s room. It was the only one they hadn’t seen yet. Tucker tried to turn the knob but it didn’t budge. She frowned. Weird… thinking about it, all the other rooms had been wide open.

“Rusted?”

Tucker shook his head, shaking off another involuntary shudder. Sam suppressed her own. It was getting colder again. Tucker tried again to open it. No dice. The knob wasn’t budging. He let go of it, hissing through his teeth as he rubbed his hands together.

“The metal is freezing. It, uh, must be something with the heating.”

Sam gave it a try and immediately drew her hand back. Freezing was an understatement. A second longer and she would’ve gotten the world’s worst case of freezer burn.

“Tucker, I don’t think we’re allowed to go in this room,” she whispered, hugging herself to keep warm.

He gave her a look like she was crazy.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“That’s Daniel Fenton’s room. All the other rooms were open but this one—”

“—is locked.”

“No. Look at the handle. There’s literal frost on it. There was frost on the mirror in the other room, too. I think—”

“If you say ghost.”

Sam glared at him.

“After everything I told you. Scratch that, haven’t you been feeling all the weird stuff in this house? The creaking, the frankly extreme cold spots, the fucking creepy green light!”

Tucker’s eyes went wide at that, mouth dropping open.

“I-I didn’t think you could see them. But that— that doesn’t mean—”

The house gave a violent creak, causing the floor to rumble threateningly. The temperature dropped drastically, covering the entire hallway in a light frost.

Sam’s teeth immediately started chattering from the cold.

“This is too much,” Tucker whispers, that underlying panic settling back in.

Impossibly, finally finally finally, they both saw the green flash at the other end of the hallway, flickering desperately before disappearing.

“Tuck,” Sam let out, mesmerized, overtaken by the overwhelming urge to follow that light. An itch she had to scratch, to claw at until it broke open. “He’s here.”

She didn’t know how she knew that, but she’s never spoken truer words. This she knew with absolute certainty.

“Sam.”

He was struggling not to fall for the light, but he couldn’t ignore this forever. Sam thought he’d be an idiot to do so.

She moved forward without another word. Shortly, she heard Tucker follow after.

When they reached the stairs, another flash of light burst to life at the landing, flickering that desperate staccato.

They continued to quietly follow the light wherever it appeared. It led them down the hallway of missing picture frames. Sam clutched the picture in her pocket. They reached a closed door. It was colder in this area, but the door knob was warm. It opened easily to reveal stairs to a basement showered in white fluorescent lights.

They went down the stairs with no hesitation, following that green light that was growing more and more desperate with each step they took. At the bottom, they were greeted by an empty expanse of white floor.

There were various metal tables, but all devoid of any machines or materials that one would expect in a lab. Because no doubt that’s what this basement was. There were discarded cords and metal scraps scattered across the room. But most notably, there was a large, round arch-like structure at the center of the furthermost wall. It was huge, its top scraping the basement ceiling. It had an indent, with two metal panels that interlocked in the center. As if it were a… door.

“Sam… is that—”

“Tucker, look.”

The little flash of green stopped by a blue button on the wall. It flickered swiftly, faster than any of the other times before it went out entirely.

They stayed there, standing, for a moment.

“Are we… are we about to find a dead kid’s twenty-year-old decayed corpse?”

Sam nodded shakily, not believing it either.

“I think so.”

They still didn’t move. God, it was so cold. She couldn’t feel her fingertips.

“What if something happens to us?”

“The thought crossed my mind.”

Two dead people found in the house during its abandonment. Three missing.

“And?”

She looked back at him, a soft smile edging its way onto her face.

“He deserves to rest. Doesn’t he?”

Tucker glanced between the blue button and the closed, arch-like door. Determination set into his features. He nodded.

They went towards the button. Tucker settled his hand over it first, Sam placing her hand over his. Their eyes met.

“This had to have been the world’s worst nap.”

Sam snorted and pressed his hand onto the button. The technology down here must be in better conditions because the effect was instantaneous. Concrete scraped against concrete as a rectangular hole opened up in the center of the lab.

From where they were, they could see it. A homemade metal casket that weirdly resembled more of an iron maiden. They found him. Daniel Fenton. He could finally, truly rest.

That’s when the pounding began.

Sam and Tucker turned to each other in horror. She felt a visceral tug in her gut she nearly threw up then and there. Instead she ran to the metal casket, dropping to the ground halfway there so she slid across the floor. The pounding grew louder, and it was definitely coming from inside. Tucker was frozen stuck by the button.

It only gets worse.

A faint sound, behind all the pounding. Sam leaned closer, listening. Her stomach dropped. Her head snapped towards Tucker, eyes a desperate frenzy.

“He’s crying. He- He’s still- o-oh my g- Tucker, help me get him out!”

This broke him out of his horrified stupor and he kneeled on the ground next to her. His hands were shaking.

“What do we do? What do we do?”

“Fuck, idunnoidunno- uh, grab, shit, shit, go to the other side. Maybe we can lift the lid.”

Stumbling, trembling, Tucker did as he was told and crawled to the other side. But he saw what was on the lid. Fuck.

“There’s a lick. Sam, it’s locked.”

She looked back up at him on the verge of tears.

“What! No, no it can’t be- it—”

“Just, hold on. I’m gonna go back upstairs. Maybe there’s something we can use. I’ll be back, I promise.”

She got the feeling he wasn’t really talking to her. The pounding quieted down but there was a muffled sound. A strained whimper.

“Shit,” Tucker whispered before running out and up the stairs.

Sam sniffled and laid a hand in on the biting cold metal of the casket.

“We’re gonna get you out,” she whispered, wiping at the tears streaming uncontrollably down her face. “I don’t really understand how this is even possible, but we’re not gonna leave you here.”

There wasn’t a response. Not a whimper or a knock. She was gripped by the fear that maybe they were too late. Twenty years buried and they were five minutes too late.

Tucker came stomping down the stairs, taking two at a time. She looked up to see he had an honest-to-god metal bat in his hands. Fully intact and not rusted at all. His hat was askew and his eyes seemed wild.

“He- he helped me find it. Nearly ran all over the house,” he said, panting heavily.

“Hurry up and break it,” she begged, not bothering to disguise the desperation in her voice.

Without another word, Tucker aimed the thicker end of the bat downwards and plunged it against the lock.

It broke apart with a resound clang.

“Help me with—”

But Sam was already crossing to where he was. Kneeling, side by side, they gripped the edges of the casket and lifted. A cloud of freezing cold air puffed up, obscuring their vision for a few seconds. They couldn’t see if they really did save a boy’s life, or if it was just his corpse playing tricks on them. But they heard heavy breathing coming from rattling lungs and not from either of them.

They’d both been holding their breaths.

The cloud dispersed. In front of them lay a young boy with matted white hair, brilliant green eyes drowning in tears and a grotesque muzzle caked from within with old and fresh blood. Metal clinked against metal. His wrists were chained to the casket. His knees scraped and bloodied from banging on the lid.

Tucker immediately removed the muzzle, which thankfully wasn’t locked. Sam’s heart broke. Shattered. The boy’s cheeks were caked, blanketed, with that same mixture of blood, his lips horribly scarred.

He sobbed, screwing his eyes shut against the bright lights.

“Thank you,” he rasped. His voice scraped against his throat.

Tucker and Sam held his hand. They cried with him.

“You’re safe with us.”

He always would be.

[shipcestuous]

Barbecue and Blood (Father/Son) (submission)

That recent ask about a slasher movie that had siblings who were a couple reminded me when I found this slasher themed story in 2014 on wattpad that had a photoshopped cover of two hot shirtless men holding each other with a shadowed figure holding a knife nearby with the title Barbecue and Blood written by Ethan Myers. I can’t seem to find the story anymore or the writer, which has bugged me forever.

It had sudden incest in the story which surprised me. 

So like, a man wearing a lamb mask who’s a criminal charged for rape and cannibalism escapes prison, after an earthquake destroys it, targets a small town. They introduce a group of friends that fit every horror character archetype. However, they pull a twist, the obvious final girl and her love interest die first with barbed wire from the killer. And were just left with the party boy, popular girl, ditzy blond girl, funny boy, goth girl and a hot male jock.

The jock ends up getting focused on. We find out he’s gay and he lives with his bi DILF father who he is close with, his mother will not be in the picture anymore and they got a divorce that will be finalized in winter (she was actually killed in the opening with her new lover via spear gun lol)

The part in the story that made me snort because it was so mean spirited is that the jock has go to a farm to pick up a crate of vegetables and bottled milk the owner of the farm gifted to his father for helping him with something.

And we find out he used to hang out with the owners cute flannel shirt son until he went into sports. They get talking again, happy to see each other, the guy clearly has a crush on the jock. This is his obvious love interest that will save him, am I right? Nope. Then shockingly, the flannel shirt guy gets brutally murdered by the killer with a tree cutting machine. And forgotten after that lol. Poor dude.

Then there’s insane part that had me laughing, where there’s a barbecue parade (I never heard such a thing lol) and the killer somehow makes giant food signs loose and fall over shocking, splitting, and crushing people to death. The father and jock are there and there’s like a stampede. The jock almost gets hit by a food van, but his father jumps on him, pulling them both out of the way and into the ground, where the father is on top of the jock, and they look closely at each other. 

The rest of the friend group get picked off by the killer. (They threw a party at a slaughterhouse and died. LOL. What were they expecting). The party boy, popular girl, ditzy blonde girl, funny boy and goth girl are all cut to pieces with a chainsaw by the killer when they were all together telling the origins of the killer and their bodies were placed on meat hooks. The jock who didn’t want to come to the party is attacked and chased by the killer at a barbecue restaurant, but he escapes.

The jock and his father decide to get away from the madness and stay a vacation house in the woods. The killings in town stop for a while and the police seem to have a suspect. The jock and his father start spending more time together and get close. It just looked normal father son bonding time at first. Until one night the jock joins the father in shower and they make out. There’s not much drama about it. The jock and his father realize they both are in love with each other and want to be together, but they have to keep it a secret. Meanwhile, another couple are killed with arrows by the killer at the lake near the vacation house. The killer then breaks into the house and kidnaps the jock.

It becomes days when the cops can’t find his son and the father decides to look for him by himself. After some digging, the father finds a torn shirt at a crime scene with a logo on it that connects it to an abandoned meat factory in the woods and finds the jock alive, but tied up with other people. The killer has a giant grill filled with many cooking body parts and talks about how it will be a great feast in history. The other captives are killed, but before he can kill the jock, the father shows up, getting into a violent fight with the killer. This gives the jock time to grab a dropped knife and cut himself free.

The giant grill begins smoking and catching fire. The killer stabs his father and leaves him bleeding to attack the jock and choke him with a chain, but the jock stabs him many times with meat fork. The father instantly gets back up and shoves the killer into the flaming grill and he burns to death. The fire starts spreading until it reaches gas tanks and the father and jock leave as the factory explodes.

The story ended with them sleeping together and deciding they are going to move away next summer. 

I’m not really a fan of slasher horror movie styled stories, but I thought it was interesting to make an incest couple as the survivors in one with a happy ending. 

-

I’m amazed someone wrote and published a story like this, and the incest plot wasn’t part of the description of the premise. I find that hilarious. 

[fukingyolo13]

Sink or Swim

This is my first fanfic and I thought this would be a fun one. (BTW Jesse is female in this so I will be using she/her pronouns)

Warning: Angst, fluff, and some inappropriate language

After defeating the wither storm, Jesse's gang finally got some down time and able to grieve. Jesse still felt guilty of Reuben's death, so she decided to go to the forest and pick flowers for a little tribute to him and Ellegaard.

While in the forest Jesse found a couple of poppies, and a dandelion which she was debating on wither or not to give to Lukas. She started to have a crush on the boy when her and Axel got back from Boom Town with Magnes. Saving from a creeper when we were walking to the base. He even rebuilt the entrance with Olivia.

While picking the last few poppies in the area it started to rain. Jesse thought it would be a good idea to get back home to build the tribute. When she got back Beacontown she noticed that Lukas and Aiden were talking and having drinks at this small bar. Jesse made a mental note to try and build up the courage later to talk to him and give him the flower.

Finishing up with the tribute, Jesse tried to encourage herself to go talk to Lukas. He was so nice and saved her a few times while in their adventure together so it could be very easy to talk to him. Peking outside it was still raining, but she did get a small glimpse of a blonde-haired boy, which made her grin. Slowly heading towards where she saw Lukas and Aiden in the bar, but she stopped when she heard what they were saying.

"Dude, don't get me wrong and all but you are really planning on stay with those losers after one adventure with them." Aiden seemed confused and upset by hearing from the tone of his voice, but he looked like he was about to burst out laughing instead. "Because you don't think their leader is strong enough physically and mentally?"

"Hey, I just want to keep them safe. I don't want them thinking their big shoots and getting hurt". He said almost like he was trying to explain himself. Which Jesse understood what he was saying, but it what was said next that made her heart sink. "I love her and all, but Jesse is too weak to be the New Order of the Stone's leader."

Right after those words left his mouth, he regrated it all. Seeing the sadness on her face felt like a punch in the gut to him. He didn't know how much she heard but he knew that she heard the last thing he said.

Jesse booked it out of there and ran as fast as she could. Hearing both Lukas and Aiden call for her, she didn't care, her pride and confidence was shattered when she saw the look of pity on Lukas's face when he saw her. She ran all the way into the treasure room and just cried.

The funny thing was that Petra finally even convinced her that Lukas should go on some adventures with them soon. Axel who didn't really like the guy when we just know him as one of the Ocelots. When they got to at least know each other more he actually started to find him enjoyable to be around. Olivia even liked how smart he was.

It was hard though because she never thought she was strong enough too. She hated herself for not being able to save Reuben and Ellegaard. It killed her when the people of the town started to call her a hero, but she just felt like a failure. It was already hard enough to put on a fake smile and say that she was fine, but it hurt even more that the person she had a crush on felt the same about her.

She sat in the treasure room silently crying when she started to hear yelling from the other side of the closed door.

"What the hell do you mean you're not going to let us in?" Not voice was odiously Lukas, but she couldn't tell who the other two were. Jesse stood up quickly started to look for a place to hide in case he does get in.

"Like I said blonde, I'm not letting you in because you made her cry. If you can't get that through your thick skull you might need to get that checked out." Ivor laughed at him like he had no brain cells. "And Petra are you really thinking that he has the right to see her after what he did?"

Ivor was protecting her was the only thing she was thinking about. WHY? It didn't make sense to Jesse that he would do this just for no reason. Maybe it was because he wanted her to trust him more, or for her to get him some powerful treasure after this. Just possibly he could just be doing this because they're friends, That's the one she is hoping for.

While sitting there hearing all their bickering Jesse just to go home and sleep. She got up and walked towards the door so tired from all the crying and opened it to see the three all have swords out almost about to fight. Jesse just didn't care anymore and walked past all of them to go outside. All three of them looked flabbergasted and ran after her.

"Hey, are you ok, we can all talk about what happen at the bar Lukas didn't mean a word that he said, right Lukas." Petra and Lukas got Infront of her before she could get outside.

"No Petra I'm not ok, but I rather drawn before talking about what happened at the bar. Any way he shouldn't have said it if he didn't mean it." Jesse said focusing her gaze outside.

"See I told you she wouldn't want to talk to him. So, stop trying to make them talk if she doesn't want to hear from him." Ivor said run down the stairs behind us. When he final got by Jesse's side he noticed how sad she really looked. "Hey, I don't think it would be a good idea to go in the rain today. How about you come with me and look at how amazing the library is?"

"I was hoping I would build a house finally, but I guess you're right." Jesse said already started going back up the stairs.

"Hey wait, you dropped this at the bar when you ran off." Lukas grabbed her hand and gave back the dandelion that she wanted to give to him. Looking at it now a couple of the petals were missing, and the steam was leaning to the side, it started to look frail which was what she felt.

"It was for you." Jesse whispered and placed gently back in his hand. She noticed that he still had that pity look on his face which made her so frustrated. She pulled her arm out of Lukas's grasp and followed Ivor.

Petra and Lukas didn't follow them up the stairs which made Jesse relief. She didn't want to talk to Lukas already, but hearing Petra defend him made her hate the situation even more.

Getting in a small corner of the library Jesse pulled out the book 'Habits of Endermen' by Soren. trying to imagine what it was like for Soren to write the book and what experiences he had to go through. Jesse missed Soren and reading his books made her remember the small moments she had with him.

"So, what happened at the bar?" Ivor asked curiously.

"He was being a jerk and talking about me to Aiden."

"Kid there has to be a reason what he said made you upset enough to hide in the treasure room of all places."

"Ok fine he said that I'm too weak to be the leader of the New Order of the Stone. That I wasn't physically and mentally strong enough for it." She shouted. After finally yelling out the feelings it still hurt, nothing changed. Out of nowhere she was embraced in a hug by Ivor.

"You are enough don't listen to stupid boys for their approval. You're stronger than them because you are the one that almost died so many times and still survived. You could have thrown your friends all away and just take all the glory and fame, but you were stronger and told the truth that the original Order of the Stone couldn't do."

She started to feel better about herself but still feel not enough for everyone around. She thought it might be better if they started some small talk about things that might make them both laugh.

"Ok if Petra is Gabrial, Olivia is Ellegaard, and Axel is Magnes does that make me you or Soren." Jesse giggled trying to lighten the mood.

"You are definitely Soren" he laughed. "You both worry a lot about people's opinions on things and especially about yourselves. You both need plans things ahead so everyone and thing is alright, but you both have a major fear of loss."

"Wait is that you saying that Lukas and you are similar?"

"I guess so, but don't you dare tell him I don't want him having a big ego."

Hearing knocking on the door they both adsum it was Lukas or Petra again.

"I should probably go get that, and thanks Ivor cheering me up." Jesse walks up towards the door dreading the conversation that she is going to have. When she opened it, she saw the back of Lukas. She never noticed until now how ripped and tattered Ocelot jacket is until then.

"You might want to get a new jacket soon; it looks like it's falling apart a little bit" Jesse informed. Lukas turned quick at her words she could tell that he was nervous as well now. She also noticed a burse that was forming on his cheek.

"I'm sorry in the bar I didn't mean you weren't strong I-"

"Then what did you mean by it because the way you were talking in there it made it seem that you knew what you were talking about." Jesse interrupted. She even started pouting trying to show how upset he really made her.

"I meant that I wanted to protect you and keep you safe because after the Wither Strom you were the leader and you almost died. Do you know how that would feel knowing that if I was there, I could have at least tried to save you?"

"Yes, Lukas I do know what it feels like because I lived through it." Jesse stormed off to the left trying to find a way to hide from Lukas without having to go back in the rain.

"I'm sorry Jesse I-"

"You know you say that a lot." She said in his face.

"I feel it a lot." When he said that it made her rethink this argument. She didn't want to hurt him she was just so annoyed that he felt like that was an okay way to describe her.

The two them just stood there staring back at each other. Jesse reached out for his hand and before she could grab it Lukas grabbed her face and kissed her.

[satohqbanana]

Dragonmage Pact

Drakenveyond AU times. Please enjoy this outline/summary/zero draft/whatever you call it.

I should probably write out some lore-related stuff next, if only to explain more of what exactly is going on here. It's actually more Aveyond than Drakengard; all I borrowed from DOD are lore and themes. (Also, I'm sorry that there are no evil flowers here that wishes to take over the world with flower power. I tried going that route once - I even had character designs in mind - but I just didn't like the ideas coming out of it. Fortunately, though, there's less fratricide.)

Summary: The world's most compassionate nymph incarnate and the world's most selfish noble enter a pact to save themselves from certain death, when an army of tireless, undead soldiers besiege it. Now bound as a duo of a large talking dragon and a nonverbal mage, Rhen and Lars navigate through their new self/ves, regroup with the other nymph incarnates and their guardians, and find a way to safely undo the pact. (And maybe save the world along the way as well.)

Warnings: Deaths; lots of deaths. Like major character deaths. Because there are deaths, there are also some killings. The nature of people's relationships are also mostly vague. Also this is way too long.

Edit: Added titles to parts to help any poor soul navigate this huge thing.

...

Part 1: The Curse of the Pact

A man named Ahriman is known to be the most powerful sorcerer of the land. While his actual abilities are limited to mind control, revival magic, and energy blasts, he is quite cunning. He protects himself by hypnotizing priests to defend him and hide his presence, and he manufactures an army by revitalizing the bodies of fallen warriors and using mind control to make them hack away endlessly.

He has once tried to take over the world before, and after a grand war with the Chief Goddess and her nymph daughters, has been sealed into a deep sleep. However, a prince who wanted power for his own reawakens him. After slaying the foolish prince and enslaving the boy's army, Ahriman's first target is the Kingdom of Thais. Rhen, the incarnation of a nymph who resides there as some saint figure, manages to escape the invasion.

While hiding in a nearby town, her foes catch up and seriously injure her. Fortunately, she finds Lars, a young traveling mage on the verge of death himself. To extend their lives, they hesitantly form a pact by merging their then-fractured souls. A pact is a magical contract that gives life and power to those who are willing to give up their most precious possessions. In this pact, it takes Rhen's identity and transforms her into a dragon, and it takes the main source of Lars' power, his speech.

Their relationship starts off rocky; neither one is willing to cooperate. As pact partners, they always hear each other's thoughts in their heads, and what wounds one gets, the other feels.

One of their first arguments goes like this: Rhen wants Lars to carry her now-useless possessions, one of which is a sword; he thinks they're uncool and she can carry them by herself once he gets them strapped across her body. She insults him by telling him he's basically an ordinary guy with no abilities, which forces him to carry the sword if only to look cool and powerful.

Their next major point of contention involves the treatment of their foes, majority of which happen to be brainwashed mortals. As the incarnate of the nymph of compassion, Rhen pities them; as a nobleman who thinks of himself first, Lars does not. They argue on the methods of dealing with these foes, on whether simply disabling them will keep them down long enough, on whether killing them is merciful or not, on whether a foe should simply disintegrate or deserved to be tortured with wounds before dying.

However, because Lars is unable to communicate efficiently and use stronger magic, and Rhen's current appearance frightens a lot of people which also affects her communication, the two realize they need each other. They form a truce that will take effect until they find a way to safely undo their pact and unbind their lives - because they have things to do and places to be, and they cannot afford to be tied down to each other until the end of time.

Part 2: The Incarnates and Their Guardians

Lars lets Rhen take him along to the other nymph incarnates, as they may know of a way to unbind the pact or so. Hence, they travel to the Land of the Mysten Far, where an older nymph incarnate, Talia, resides. To Rhen's relief, Talia is still alive and recognizes her from her aura. Talia informs her that one of the other nymph incarnates have fallen, so they must gather the rest before Ahriman's forces destroy them all. Hence, Talia and her guardian Devin joins them.

On the way to the next nymph incarnate, Talia learns that Rhen's guardian isn't Lars, but a healer named Dameon. Rhen confesses she hasn't seen Dameon since the fall of Thais, where they got separated. She cannot detect where he is and thinks he has been killed. Talia criticizes Rhen for forming a pact with a mortal to extend her life instead of reincarnating, for pacts are the double-edged blades of the desperate. Rhen however deems the pact a necessity for now, as haphazardly breaking it will kill her needlessly.

Meanwhile, Devin attempts to teach Lars swordfighting as an extra layer of defense, but fails terribly due to the lack of verbal communication. So, Devin helps him get books on magic in hopes of learning more spells that do not require speech.

Talia and Devin also notice that, while Rhen and Lars more or less accept each other as their pact partner, the two still have much room for improvement with regards to their new selves. Rhen is still clumsy with her dragon form, and Lars still struggles with non-verbal spells. Rhen assures Talia that this situation is only temporary and thus they would not require mastering their new selves. Talia doubts as there is no wide-known way to unbind a pact, but lets it be, since the two would simply end up frustrated.

The group arrives at the Kingdom of Harburg. There they find the next nymph incarnate, Mel, and her new guardian, Spook. Rhen and Lars temporarily part ways with their growing team to seek knowledge on pacts and magic based on Spook's lead, but find their journey to be a diversion when it drags on and Lars cannot sense potent magic in the area.

The two rush back to Mel - right on time. Talia had been drugged and lays unconscious, while due to thwarting an assassination attempt on Mel, Devin pays with his life. Spook reveals himself to be an excellent mercenary hired by Ahriman.

Rhen and Lars struggle in their battle against Spook. Spook has a form of power from both Mel and Ahriman. Several times Rhen has to defend Lars, but fails to counterattack. Several times, Lars tries to attack Spook, but is easily overpowered. Eventually, after much challenge, the pair manage to strike Spook down, but he rises, bloody and still full of life. As he lunges for an attack, Mel stabs him from behind, announcing that the incarnate chooses her guardian, and she chooses him to stop being hers.

Talia awakens and mourns for Devin. Meanwhile, both Rhen and Lars are mortified at their weakness and their reliance on the pact. Rhen, having been a swordsmistress herself prior to the pact, decides to mentor Lars in some form swordsmanship. Lars, as a master of magic theory, decides to help Rhen master her abilities as a dragon. Together, they discover that her sword can be a conduit for non-spoken magic, and that Rhen can now use the power of song, amplified by her bigger draconic lungs.

Meanwhile, Ahriman's forces grow ever bigger and stronger. He knows where Rhen and her team hides, for he uses her connection with her guardian, Dameon, to find her. Dameon is one of his priests now, having been corrupted by his desire to protect Rhen. Ahriman keeps him busy by preparing the ritual ground for the rebirth of the world in the Temple of Rebirth.

Part 3: Partners' Bonds

Back to the nymph incarnates, Mel informs the team that she had "lent" her former guardian, Edward, to a fellow incarnate, Stella, and suggests they visit her next. However, Talia prevents them from doing so just yet, as they do not have guardians strong enough to help them defend themselves, even with Rhen and Lars' pact or newfound skills. The powerlessness stings both Rhen and Lars with much humiliation and frustration.

They find Talia's words true enough during an ambush. Fortunately, a banished paladin and his vampress pact partner finds and rescues them: Galahad and Te'ijal. Though reluctant, the nymph incarnates employ the two to chaperone them. Galahad immediately takes to the task, while Te'ijal only agrees to add spice to her life.

As they travel together, the group learns of the duo's past. Galahad was loyal to a fault; he once served the corrupt King of Sedona, and in the greedy king's conquests, Galahad almost died. Te'ijal found him in this state, and since she had nothing better to do, she formed a pact with him. Their pact turned Galahad's right arm to stone and took Te'ijal's immortality, but thanks to it, Te'ijal has lightning speed and stealthy, silent movements, while Galahad has super strength that extends to the sword he uses. When Galahad went back to his King, he was dubbed a monster and therefore banished. Te'ijal on the other hand cannot live as a vampire would normally do, so she decided to make her days as fun and exciting as possible by persistently buzzing around Galahad. Galahad has survived thus far thanks to the blessed armor he wears, which automatically moves him out of the way from perceived oncoming threats.

The duo also learn of the nymph incarnates' agenda in full. Many centuries ago, in a grand war against Ahriman and his daevas, the destructive forces almost ripped apart the multiple realms of Aia. To keep the realms stable, the Chief Goddess of the World used herself and her daughter nymphs as Holy Seals. However, the power to keep the Holy Seals intact robbed them of immortality, so the seven goddesses must now reincarnate every few decades. The incarnation process is quick, but Ahriman aims to kill all seven incarnates within months to end the cycle, destroy Aia, and create a new world with him as the Chief God. The nymph incarnates now aim to gather their kin to unite their powers and use it to seal Ahriman and heal the world.

In silence, Lars supposes that this plan would also rob the incarnates of their lives and ultimately do as Ahriman plans. Rhen hears his thoughts and replies that if the incarnates are going down, then so is Ahriman. They agree it is not wise to keep the pact until such a time, and they must make haste.

The group soon reach the Kingdom of Naylith, which is currently being besieged by Ahriman's forces. They wade through the battle and successfully find Stella and Edward deep under the Naylithian caverns. While wounded, the pair are not in grave danger.

As the group recuperates from the weary fighting, Rhen and Lars find an old library and uncover different ancient scriptures that speak of sword magic, song magic, and dragon magic. With Lars being a fast reader and Rhen being quick to process magic, they take advantage of their shared mindspace to absorb the knowledge. Neither would admit it, but one or both of them at the time thought, 'Are pacts really so bad?'

Meanwhile, Galahad watches the other nymph incarnates. He thinks they are too young to be going through such a tragic fate. Stella appreciates the care, Mel finds that patronizing, and Talia laughs and calmly explains that their souls are older than anyone else's; it's their bodies and personalities that changes with every incarnation. Te'ijal then tells the three that Galahad doesn't 100% believe in magic and may not even fully believe that they are the highest-level deities only second to the Chief Goddess.

Before any argument can ensue, Edward suggests they leave immediately before the enemy can find them. Talia agrees with this and gets Te'ijal to retrieve Rhen and Lars from the library.

As the group leaves, Ahriman's forces follow them, so they split: Rhen and Lars will distract them, while Mel, Stella, Edward, Talia, Galahad, and Te'ijal make their escape. Rhen and Lars with their newfound powers decimate their pursuers - and immediately regret not taking any of their other companions with them.

Meanwhile, the other group struggle with the new addition to Ahriman's army: cyclopses manufactured from alchemizing people into one being. The fact renders Stella distraught and Mel has to calm her down. Talia, Edward, Galahad, and Te'ijal deal with the cyclopses. As the group triumphs, a weakened cyclops makes a final attempt to fight and takes Edward with it.

The two teams reunite. With the loss of Edward, Galahad offers himself as a guardian to the incarnates, but Talia says he shouldn't enter another contract with his pact intact. The guardian contract, like the pact, relies on binding lives together, so that the guardian may use a weaker form of the nymph's power. However, the guardian gets to live as long as their nymph incarnate lives in order to serve her sufficiently. As such, the nymph incarnates are sensitive creatures who assigns only those close to their hearts as their guardians, for the guardians are granted eternal life and youth, until they are killed in battle. As thus, the guardian contract is not something to make too light of, nor something that any stranger could be offered with.

Rhen and Lars briefly entertain the thought of having a guardian contract instead of a pact - then the guardian contract with the pact. Neither like it - Rhen does not think Lars can sufficiently aid her that way, while Lars dislikes the idea of having to actually serve somebody with his life.

Part 4: Conflicted Souls

Their next destination is the Kingdom of Sedona. As a banished paladin, Galahad stays behind. Something's off: the supposed nymph incarnate there, Lydia, is flaunting off her power at a time when incarnates needed to hide. She also has amassed a battalion of guardians. Furthermore, they do not sense the aura of a nymph from within her. The incarnates decide she is a fake and they ought to expose her, but where would the real one be?

They find the real nymph incarnate hiding in one of Sedona's provincial towns, Dirkon: Ingrid. She has her guardian, Boyle, with her. As the other older incarnate aside from Talia, she advises the rest to ignore the fake and proceed with their task, as the last nymph has been recently reincarnated and must be protected in her frailness. To boot, the goddess incarnate is being attacked in the Elven Vale. But the younger incarnates are stubborn about exposing Lydia.

Hence the group decides to split: Mel, Stella, and Te'ijal to confront Lydia and expose the fraud; Talia, Ingrid, and Boyle to find the new nymph; and Rhen, Lars, and Galahad to rendezvous with the goddess incarnate. They would later meet up in the Vale.

As the latter two teams leave, they are ambushed by Ahriman's forces. Lars finds their presence suspicious and wonders if, upon the death of the guardian, the contract expires. Rhen first considers dissolving the guardianship, but eventually decides against it. Even if he has betrayed her, Dameon is still important to her. So, the pact partners decide to sit down and meditate. Eventually, Rhen divines where Dameon is, and it's in the Temple of Rebirth, where he is trying to revive armies for Ahriman.

Devastated at the discovery, she falls into deep silence. She has no idea what she now feels for Dameon, and whether she wants him now to kill him to keep her memories of him "pure", to make him suffer for his betrayal, or to forgive him, if that will make him stay by her side again. Without her to verbally communicate for them, Lars tries to aggressively sign and gesture their way into being understood, a task made more challenging with Rhen's thoughts dominating his own. Galahad is confused. They're all frustrated.

Meanwhile, Mel, Stella, and Te'ijal observe the situation in Sedona. Despite the fraud, Lydia's "guardians" do have powers of their own. Hence, Mel uses her and Stella's status as incarnates to openly request a meeting with Lydia, which Lydia agrees to.

The confrontation turns into a battle of philosophies. Lydia claims that ordinary people need hope at a time of war and destruction, and she wishes to be that beam of hope. Mel accuses her of wanting to fulfill that role so that she could take advantage of the people's desperation and claim power, riches, and fame. As the two argue, Stella notices the peculiar necklace Lydia is wearing. Te'ijal acknowledges the jewelry as a soul pendant - one that binds people's souls to the bearer - hence Lydia is indeed controlling all her "guardians".

Heartbroken at this piece of information, Stella attempts to snatch the pendant from Lydia. Lydia puts up a struggle and calls her "guardians" to intervene. Mel and Stella hurry to fight Lydia alone, leaving Te'ijal to find creative ways to hold off the fake guardians. Lydia casts a strong spell, but Stella pushes Mel away to receive the attack in her place.

Angered, Mel relentlessly attacks Lydia. In the scuffle, the pendant slips away from their fingers and lands next to Stella. Stella manages to toss it out the window and smashes it to pieces. Lydia's control over the fake guardians vanishes, and she finds herself subjected to the mob's fury. However, the rest of Sedona gets thrown into massive hysteria and civil unrest at the loss of their "incarnate". Te'ijal immediately whisks the two incarnates away.

Meanwhile, Dameon grows weary of waiting in the Temple of Rebirth and working for Ahriman. Ahriman assures him that Rhen will soon come to see him, so he should prepare to welcome her. Dameon knows that dissolving a pact will require the contractees to give up yet another part of themselves, but he knows that the Egg of Resurrection, a relic within the temple, will help Rhen dissolve the pact without giving up her life.

At the Vale, the nymphs' group reunite. Talia, Ingrid, and Boyle brings along the last incarnate, Myst, who they found wandering by herself along a seashore. Talia gets everyone up to date with Te'ijal and Galahad's help, but Rhen stays quiet.

The group are met with a resistance force - at their head the guardian of the goddess incarnate, Ean. The resistance immediately serves the incarnates with food and bed. Stella's condition is serious, but she is unafraid to die now that the incarnates are all together again.

As the group enjoys a warm, hearty meal after long days of hiding and getting by on the road, the goddess incarnate makes herself known. She is a young girl named Iya, which concerns Galahad. Iya informs them that she had always dreamed of the events that now occur, but not many believe her, for the land itself was dying and the people's faith has decreased rapidly over the years. She foresees none of the current incarnates would continue the cycle - they were the last iteration in their lifetime. The power of the goddess has waned. At this, the incarnates fear - sans Myst, who is yet to understand her role, and Rhen, who is still deep in thought about Dameon.

Since Lars' head is filled with Rhen's endless questions and self-blame, he has been forced to simply follow the others' lead. Through this experience, Lars supposes that the pact had prioritized his voice over Dameon's, the way Rhen's thoughts sometimes drowns out his own, which is why Rhen hadn't been able to contact him. He takes the opportunity one morning, once they awoke, to ask Rhen if her connection with Dameon went down after they made their pact. Rhen confirms this, temporarily shifts blame on Lars, then apologizes to him and blames herself again.

The group's respite ends as the resistance informs them of the arrival of Ahriman's army. The nymphs and their allies deploy into the battleground to push the enemy away.

As the others prepare for what might be the last stand of all that is good in the world, Iya informs Rhen and Lars about the Temple of Rebirth and the Egg of Resurrection. The temple's powers does not only revive what has been slain or manufacture homunculi from parts that once lived. It also helps someone rebirth themself like a phoenix. Though Iya is unsure what will happen to their pact, the Egg will help Rhen regaining her nymph form and Lars his speech. That goads the pact partners into action and revitalizes Rhen once more.

As they leave, Lars hesitates. His thoughts are strong enough to make Rhen stop in her tracks as well. As Rhen asks Iya for permission to desert their post in the battlefield, Iya notes that the two of them seem so in-sync, like they have merged into one being. Nonetheless, despite the direness of the situation, Iya allows the two to head to the temple.

However, as Galahad assists the resistance, Te'ijal accuses him of curiosity towards Rhen, Lars, their pact, and their business in the Temple of Rebirth. At Te'ijal's insistence, Galahad decides to tell Iya and the other incarnates he will follow Rhen and Lars to assure their safe return. Though Talia, Mel, Stella, and Ingrid are unsure about this, Iya assures the group that this is for the best as well. Te'ijal whisks Galahad away to quickly catch up with Rhen and Lars.

The resistance reports to Iya that the enemy is surrounding them. The incarnates then stay in a magic room that would harness their energy, which then Ean and Boyle as guardians could use against Ahriman's forces and keep them away. Through Ean, Iya summons great divine beasts to aid the resistance. Until Rhen, Lars, Galahad, and Te'ijal return, all they could do is stand their ground.

With the power of the incarnates, the resistance manages to push back Ahriman's forces. Their victory and celebrations are short-lived. The battle continues; supplies dwindle and spirits dissipate. Ahriman's army is neverending. The walls to their fort are beginning to crumble under the enemy's onslaught.

Then the sky turns red. Iya's summons go down. Cyclopses tear through the Vale's fort. Wyverns cast hail storms. Massive armies of undead, tireless soldiers march through. The incarnates are forced to take arms and face the enemy on their own. Iya begins to pray that, whatever Rhen and Lars and Galahad and Te'ijal are doing, they can somehow make their way to Ahriman and take him down.

Part 5: The Seal of the World's Fate

At the Temple of Rebirth, Rhen and Lars go their separate ways - for the first time since they formed their pact.

Rhen eventually finds Dameon, but she can only stay still as he greets her and leads her around the temple. She is surprised that he still recognizes her as herself, when it is the incarnate who chooses her guardian, and Dameon confesses that he knows because he is her guardian. He fails to mention that he knows because he has used his guardian connection with her to identify where she is and has heard reports of a purple dragon among the other nymph incarnates.

Meanwhile, Lars finds the Egg of Resurrection. Through his mental link with Rhen, he sees that Dameon is leading her there, anyway. So Lars awaits with baited breath, not knowing whether to fight Dameon or welcome him as an ally.

However, Ahriman's presence shocks him. The evil sorcerer plans to use the Egg of Resurrection to become a god, and while Lars could care less about the old man's plans, he and Rhen need it to dissolve their pact and live separate lives once again.

Ahriman attempts to discourage Lars from pursuing the Egg of Resurrection, which only activates every 500 years or so. Ahriman uses his magic to subdue Lars and taunts the boy about his powerlessness, his reliance on the pact, and his plans to return to a life that will not be there for him. Lars cannot deny it: he is powerless without his speech, without Rhen, and that he gains only his independence and nothing more if he separates from her.

As Dameon leads Rhen through the temple, she weakens as she feels like being ripped apart. She realizes that the other incarnates are falling one by one, and the toll of the Holy Seal weighs heavily on her. She begs Dameon to take her to her sisters, but he instead convinces her to pursue the Egg of Resurrection, as she can locate their new incarnations later. She tries to explain Iya's prophecy of the last incarnate iterations, but she fails. With no other choice, she could only crawl behind him, plagued once again with self-doubt and self-blame.

Dameon then arrives at the Egg with Rhen in tow. Rhen is not in a good spot; the shared emotional turmoil between herself and Lars is too much. Lars too has almost succumbed to Ahriman's taunts. They thrash about on the temple grounds trying to ground themselves and fight invasive thoughts.

The sight worries Dameon, but Ahriman tells him to prepare the Egg of Resurrection. Ahriman has planned to use Dameon all along to simply activate the relic, and when the Egg is ready, Ahriman intends to swiftly kill everyone before using it for himself.

Fortunately, Galahad and Te'ijal arrive. Ahriman engages them in battle. The two understand they are no match for Ahriman's power, but they need to keep his attention divided. First, Te'ijal threatens to disrupt the activation of the Egg of Resurrection, and as Ahriman turns around to face her, Galahad attempts to land a hit. Next, Te'ijal gets the genius idea to make a show of trying to kill Rhen. That distracts Dameon, which annoys Ahriman, but Ahriman understands that to fully prepare the Egg, he needs Dameon's powers. Ahriman has no choice but to try to protect Rhen, Lars, Dameon, and the Egg - which proves difficult, when the Egg is a huge spheroid on one side of the hall, and Rhen in her current form is a huge dragon on the other side.

As the chaos ensues, Rhen manages to crawl over to Lars. Their thoughts never seem to settle down, and at one point the self-blame has began to bounce off each other. They also recall Iya's words - they must be becoming into one being, the final curse of the pact. The mental images horrify them as their own visions begin to divide, perhaps merge into one, in which they could see themselves from each other's eye.

Now, their thoughts begin to echo. Or perhaps, one of them is echoing the other's thoughts. They can no longer tell. Is this why the pact is a deadly contract? But didn't they grow stronger in different ways through the pact? What about the things they lost through the pact? The things they gained through the pact? The pact had much to offer, but much to take! The pact is too much to bear on one's soul!

At the thought of their souls, they realize one thing - their souls have already merged. Their thoughts get in a messy feedback loop because they are only one entity in the first place.They are reliant on the pact because they are already one being, in two separate bodies and two separate consciousnesses. The same way a single person fails to accomplish anything when they make two opposing decisions at once, these two cannot do much on their own when they fail to agree.

The single entity they are commands their bodies to get back up. Fortunately for Lars, Ahriman has become too busy trying to swat away Te'ijal and Galahad. Fortunately for Rhen, Dameon has finished preparing the relic. The entity demands that its soul be taken to the Egg. And so, Lars and Rhen summon their merged soul and walk towards the Egg, phase through its shell, and merge with it.

Meanwhile, Ahriman fumes at being played around with by Te'ijal and Galahad. He cannot let himself be outwitted by a mortal man whose lifeline had only extended through the pact, or a vampire who takes him too lightly. First, he tricks Galahad into harming Te'ijal, resulting in Galahad's sword stabbing her. Te'ijal falls from the immense pain, as does Galahad who is mentally linked with her. Then, Ahriman takes Galahad by the head, preparing to behead him - the quickest way to counter the effects of the blessed armor, which does not cover his head.

Suddenly, immense power pulsates throughout the temple. Ahriman shrieks - his plan has failed. His gambit with Dameon has come to bite him back.

The Egg of Resurrection cracks open, the first time since its previous 500-year-or-so slumber. A bright light engulfs the temple. When light dissipates, two pairs of wings unfurl in the air: one white and scaly and the other black and feathery. From the Egg rises Rhen, now in her nymph incarnate form, scales covering parts of her, and Lars, with horns on the sides of his head and feathers on areas matching Rhen's scale placements.

Lars can now speak, and his first words are expletives towards both Ahriman and Dameon. Though initially delighted, Dameon agonizes when he realizes the pact had not been dissolved, but rather strengthened. He pleads for Rhen to reconsider her choices, that giving up the pact will not be lethal for her, but she ignores his words. Instead, she takes him by his clothes. Lars assists Galahad and Te'ijal to their feet, and the group fly to a higher area of the temple, away from Ahriman's wrath.

Ahriman, humiliated, tries to do something, anything with the cracked Egg. There is no power from within it, so he resorts to using his own accumulated power to transform himself. To do this, he harnesses back all the magic he used to power all his army. He would later gain the power to be a god, after he kills Rhen.

Back in the Vale, the remaining resistance members are dumbfounded to find their enemies disintegrate into the air. They do not know what to make of it, but they are at least safer for a longer while. They recoup and survey the casualties. Ean finds Iya having been slain while trying to protect Myst, who too has perished. Boyle has died alongside Ingrid. Mel and Stella are lifeless next to each other. At last, he finds Talia, who is barely alive.

She tells him to gather the incarnates' bodies around her. She knows Rhen still lives, so Talia will use her remaining life to transfer the incarnates' now-dormant essences and powers to Rhen (and Lars). Ean does as he is told, and after completing the short ritual, Talia passes away.

The resistance mourns. The incarnates are gone. Their fate is still bleak. What will happen now?

When they exit the temple, the pact pairs are aghast at the discovery of a red sky. The ground rumbles, and they find Ahriman having transformed himself into a huge black beast with multiple limbs and no eyes, covered in all sorts of forbidden runes. He cannot move from his spot, but still he oozes with power. Rhen scolds Dameon for this mess, and as she does so, feels the surge of incarnate power within her.

Lars interprets Iya's prophecy as having come true. With the incarnates becoming one with Rhen, they now have acquired a goddess's power, or perhaps even greater. They would now be able to defeat Ahriman. Rhen decides that being merciful will not do anything here, so she swears to go all out on the battle. Hungry for violence and eager to get back at Ahriman, Lars agrees to this.

Ahriman summons hoards of unearthly creatures to aid him. Rhen reminds Dameon that it is the incarnate who chooses her guardian and not the other way around. She then uses the fraction of her power in him to summon Iya's divine beasts, now healed through the combined incarnate essences, and incites them to battle with Ahriman's new legion. Galahad and Te'ijal are to protect Dameon with what they can, as he acts as proxy commander to the divine beasts.

Rhen and Lars then fly to Ahriman, who creates more creatures to try and stop them. However, their magic has been amplified, so the pair easily defeats his new minions. They find, however, that Rhen's nymph magic and Lars' verbal spells do not work against Ahriman's new form. Rhen also sees that his magic is sufficiently countering theirs, so Lars suggests using the power of song instead.

The song they possess sounds like a harrowing banshee cry, with metallic bell-like tingles and sonorous cries reverberating alongside the noise. Back on ground, Dameon, Galahad, and Te'ijal cover their ears, disturbed by the haunting, broken melody that repeated over and over. The song magic casts destructive power onto Ahriman, and since he cannot move, he can only helplessly absorb this power that he does not know how to counter. Soon, his aura falters. His large body cracks into a hundred pieces and crumbles into black ashes.

The red sky brightens into a blue hue, and the sun is high up the clouds. In the unsure silence, Rhen feels the weight of the Holy Seal. She now shares the burden with Lars, but they still count for one entity. And, while they are safe right now, the one entity they are makes them a big target. If one of them perishes, this will also undo the Holy Seal. Rhen then thinks that with the goddess' power now in them, she could safely fragment their identity as one being into many different pieces they can scatter around the world. Lars isn't too fond of the idea, but agrees that there isn't any better choice.

Galahad wants to volunteer for the role (again), but Te'ijal beats him to saying it out loud. She expresses that she and Galahad wish to take a bigger role, no that their charges are gone and one with Rhen. Besides, her body having been stabbed by his sword is no longer as useful as before.

Though parts of the Temple of Rebirth is in shambes, some of its relics stay intact. Rhen makes Dameon draw power from the relics and do the ritual to transfer the seal onto Galahad and Te'ijal's shared soul - revealed to have not been completely merged like Rhen's and Lars' - then separate the shared soul into a thousand or so stable self-contained fragments, and spread these fragments across the world.

With no other way to show their gratitude for the companionship throughout their journey, Rhen and Lars share hugs and promises with Galahad and Te'ijal as they begin to vanish. Dameon completes the ritual and the starlight-like fragments scatter throughout the world. They all watch until the last glimmer of light disappears into the distance, before deciding to head back to the Vale, reunite with what is left of the resistance, and figure out what to do next.

But for now, the world is safe once more.

(Notes here for clarifications.)

[endlynshortstories]

The Harwell's Secret

  In the town of Ecley, a ship, The Halwell, had been docked for the last 30 years. No matter how hard people tried. The wheel didn't turn, the anchor could not be wound up no matter how many men pulled, and the sails stayed up as if they had been glued in place.

  Most assumed it was cursed because its history was a dark one. It had been owned by a fearful pirate crew. For thirteen years, the crew sailed unopposed until that fateful day. The crew attempted to board an abandoned boat when they found it was simply bait to catch them. They ran as fast as they could but had made a wrong move, and with their backs to a mountain and three Navy ships bearing down on them, they knew they had been cornered.

  At first, they had been captured, left in the brig of their ship as the Navy sailed the ship to the closest port town. They tried to break out a few times, but the ones who did were killed. With only half the crew left, they decided not to die anywhere but on their ship. With one final battle, on the night the ship had been docked in Ecley, they were all killed. All of them refused to give up till either their enemies were dead, or they were.

  Since they couldn't move the ship, The Navy left it docked, offering the town a small amount to take up the dock, which the city happily accepted. It was only supposed to last for a few weeks, but then the original owner appeared.

  He had proof that the pirates had stolen the Halwell from him, and so he took over the dock fees paying to keep it in place for all this time. But not anymore. The owner had run out of money to pay for it, so the town was planning to scrap it tomorrow.

  But Salcaro couldn't let that happen. It was beat up and run down, but he still thought it was beautiful. He had talked to the owner and had raised the money over time, enough to buy the ship for himself. He didn't know what to do with it, but he couldn't let it die.

  There were only a few problems left with the ship; His promise to the old owner, "If you manage to set sail…", he didn't know how to care for her, and he was the only member of his crew. The last two issues would take care of themselves.

~*~*~*~

  Even from Salcaro's untrained eye it was obvious there was a lot of work that needed to be done. He had spent most of his money buying the Halwell but had some leftovers for some supplies. He decided to work on the ship’s deck first. He was only a beginner, so if he made a mistake there it wouldn't cause her problems while sailing.

  He bought what he thought was most important and carried them to the ship himself. Since the Halwell still couldn't sail, Salcaro was lucky the docks let him work there with no problem.

  While he was cutting the wood to replace a hole he saw on the deck, someone walked up to him.

  “Captain... Captain... Captain…" he was too busy sawing to notice her at first, "Shipowner...Shipowner…” After a while, he thought she was trying to get someone else's attention, "Hey You!” she banged on the box between them.

  He looked up suddenly when she did that, putting the saw down before standing up and brushing himself off “sorry, how may I help you?”

  She gave him a bright smile, “could you do me a favor and sell me your ship for half price?”

  His eyes went wide, “no way.“

  She pouted at him for a moment. “I don't have that much money. Do you think you can manage with only 1/4 off?” she looked at him up through her lashes, fluttering them slightly.

  He took a step away from her. “I think you misunderstood. I can't sell this ship. Like at all,” he shook his head rapidly.

  “Come on, big guy. Little old me needs this.”

  He crossed his arms. “I'm sorry I spent all my life savings on this ship." She opened her mouth to say something but he cut her off "It's too beautiful to part with.” when she just stared at him, he felt a bit bad for his tone, "sorry."

  The two just watched each other for a moment before she nodded and sat on the box she had originally hit “that works even better. So what are we going to do with her Captain?”

  He sighed, looking up at the ship. “I haven't thought about it yet... Wait, we?” 

  She smiled at him brightly, “I was just thinking since it's just the two of us, maybe merchants? I'm great at sales.” she gave him a wink.

  He quickly waved his arms out in front of himself. She was going too fast for him, “wait, stop, weren't you just trying to buy it from me?”

  She nodded her head, “that was because I thought you were some rando who bought her for a quick buck. Not that you cared about her too.” she looked up at the ship, “she might be beautiful to you, but she is important to me.”

  “We need to sail away from here,” he said, looking through an eyeglass made of cardboard.

  “And where are we sailing to?” the girl said with a laugh, quickly moving the wheel a little to the left. The two always snuck out at night once a week, imagining they were pirates sailing the sea.

  “They’re catching up to us.” he said, looking at her with a big smile.

  “Then pull down the sails, we need them more open to go faster,” she said, pointing at them. He nodded his head and ran to the deck pulling on the rope, both imagining as if the sails were being unfurled. After that, he ran back up and looked behind her. 

  “We did it.” he laughed before turning around and pulling her into a hug. She sighed and leaned against him.

  “Oh,” His remark seemed to bring her out of whatever daydream she was having.

  She turned to smile at him again, “I have some very important moments on the Halwell with a very important person.”

  He frowned “wait, she's been blocked from the public for years."

  She laughed, “you can't tell me you never snuck on her to imagine you were sailing her.”

  “No!” that made her laugh harder.

  “Well anyway, I’m Chesura. It will be good to work with you.” she held out her hand to him.

  He sighed and accepted her handshake, “I’m Salcaro. Let’s work well together.”

~*~*~

  With Chesura’s money, they hired some carpenters to repair the big damage in the hull. They had the carpenters focus on getting her sailing. It took them two weeks, and while there was still slight damage to it, they were now ready to sail.

  Salcaro had just been walking back home from watching over the carpenters to make sure they didn't mess up when someone stepped his way and pointed at him. "Hey, you!" 

  Salcaro blinked at them. At least this one had been more forward about getting his attention, unlike Chesura. "Yes?" Salcaro might not be the most observant but he couldn’t mistake this one.

  "When you set sail I want to be on that ship." The person said with an upright and proper position. Even though he was facing Salcaro, his eyes were looking at the sea.

  He slammed the door as he walked into the house. The slam brought his parents to the main room, "why are my classes set up like that?" He shouted.

  "It was the best classes we could find."

  "Why did you pick them. I was excited to pick my own."

  His dad crossed his arms "we knew you would pick the wrong ones."

  "You can't choose my life for me."

  "It's for the best," his mother said with a sigh, "we want to set you for life."

  "Set me for life! With how rich you two are, I could take my money and leave with no financial problems."

  "And what would you do?"

  That made him falter, "well...I…"

  "Oh are you thinking of following that stupid dream of yours" his mother shook her head "no one makes money from writing. You'll be better off if you listen to what we say."

  "But-"

  "But nothing." His father interrupted. "You're too young to know what you truly want. Once you finish your classes, you can give that writing" the last word coming out as a sound of disgust "and see how worthless it is. But we don't want you wasting this precious time to set up your life."

  He couldn't fight against his parents no matter how much he wanted to. "You promise."

  His father blinked at him, "what?"

  "You promise once I finish my classes, I can go off and try being a writer, and you two won't complain."

  His parents chuckled "fine. At least then you'll have a proper job when that dream fails."

  "Fine" Salcaro's words made the man flinch. He looked back at Salcaro, his posture easing a little. Salcaro needed more crew than just him and Chesura anyways. "So, what ship work can you do?"

  "You expect me to work?" he crossed his arms and managed to stand even a little bit straighter.

  Salcaro frowned, "of course. We have so few people on the ship we would need it."

  "Not happening. I'm much too important to work. You're lucky I'm willing to pay my way onto the ship."

  Salcaro’s frown grew. They did need that money as Chesura’s was running low with all the work the ship needed. The two weren't sure they could buy the rest of the supplies. "If that is the case, why don't you just pay to go on a passenger ship?"

  He waved Salcaro's suggestion away "I've been on those before. They have planned routes they must take. It doesn't allow you to see the world."

  Salcaro sighed, "I can't make this decision on my own. Meet me tomorrow in front of the ship to talk to Chesura."

  The man nodded and walked off without saying another word.

  The morning came faster than Salcaro wanted, but he got up bright and early to spend another day watching the ship get repaired. He was the first one there like always, but he didn't mind, he liked the silence.

  Eventually, Chesura ran up to him, and he explained the situation to her. "So he wants freedom?"

  Salcaro nods "that seems to be his reason for choosing us rather than passenger ships."

  Chesura frowned "he would be a pain to watch over, but we kind of need that money."

  "That's what I thought." He said, looking back at the town to see if anyone was coming yet. He was eager to have the Halwell fixed as soon as possible.

  "Would you be okay with him joining us?"

  Salcaro thought about it for a moment, "we were planning to make a short trip to test her after the repairs. We could bring him along for that and then just leave him behind if we can't stand him."

  Chesura laughed "Oh, that's a good idea. Alright, when he gets here, let me do the talking. Need to get as much money as possible out of him."

  Salcaro sighed but nodded. Slightly worried about what person he had accepted as his first mate.

  It wasn't until midday when the man eventually arrived, introducing himself as Bolirin. Salcaro introduced him to Chesura, who was more than happy to have a long conversation with him. Salcaro could see all her flirting from where he sat. And with the amount Bolirin agreed on, he knew it had worked.

~*~*~*~

  With the money from Bolirin, they were able to get a bunch of supplies to sell at their destination as well as enough food for all three of them for their planned short trip. It wasn't going to be long, only a few days since they wanted to make sure it could sail before planning anything longer.

  They were walking up to her as they talked, "we bought everything, but we don't even know if it can sail." Salcaro muttered.

  "The carpenters told us it would," Chesura said.

  "No, I mean. When she was first docked here after…" she nodded, he didn't really need to say it. "Nothing moved. Not the wheel, the sails, or the anchor."

  Chesura frowned, "well, some things changed."

  "Why do you say that?"

  "The wheel moved when I used to play on the ship. We never went further than turning it, but if that moves, maybe everything else will?"

  Salcaro sighed "I guess." As the two walked by the ship's bow Chesura noticed someone replacing a few pieces of wood close to the top of the hull. They had fashioned a seat out of another piece of wood and seemed to be humming to themselves.

  Chesura watched them for a moment longer before commenting, "did one of the carpenters come back to do more work?"

  “no?”

  “Then who is that?” she pointed to the person they just passed and Salcaro frowned before walking back over.

  Salcaro had to shout to get heard over the sound of the hammering “who are you!”

  The person jumped and almost hit their finger before turning to see the two and smiling. “Oh hey, cap." They waved at the pair. "Sorry it's so early I was just so excited.” They smiled brightly.

  “What? Who are you?” he crossed his arms, having to glare up at them.

  “Oh, sorry, I'm Danoy”

  “And what do you think you're doing?”

  “fixing the ship, I know the others did most of the work, but you can't just leave these holes.” both just watched them swing for a moment “look, Captain, I can't let you work on this masterpiece. You might wreck it.”

  They heard the door slam as their father entered the house. They watched from their room as their dad sat at the kitchen table and put his head in his hands. 

  "Daddy?" They shouted as they jumped off their bed and ran over to him.

  Their dad gave them a tired smile as he held his arms out for Danoy to run into. "How was today?"

  "It was good. I had a lot of fun. How about yours? Was yours a lot of fun?"

  Their father sighed and hugged them tighter, "it's much better now that I got this great hug."

  Danoy giggled before pulling away "what happened?"

  Their father stood up and moved to the kitchen window. From it, you could see the dock, he pointed to the Halwell. "You see that ship."

  "Yep"

  "It's slowly getting destroyed, and no one seems to care. I've been asking the dock owners to let me care for it but just keep getting turned away."

  "You'll fix it," Danoy said, bouncing in his arms.

  Their father smiled, "if I won't maybe, you will someday."

  Danoy's smile only grew, "we'll work on it together."

  “and you're a master?” Salcaro's shout seemed to bring Danoy back to reality.

  They looked at their hammer that was old and worn, “well no…" the grip on their hammer tightened, "but I have more knowledge than you.”

  “But I can't pay you,” Salcaro muttered.

  “A little bit of a bummer but that's fine, just take me with you. I can't let this be destroyed.” they patted the Halwell lightly, avoiding the hole they had been fixing.

  Figuring he couldn't really argue, Salcaro nodded his head. Danoy smiled before turning back to their work, going back to humming almost right away.

  “That is the third person to love the ship. I wonder if they're more,” Chesura said as they headed to the ramp onto the ship. Today they had to load their supplies on since it was delivered early in the morning.

  “Obviously, you aren't the only ones to grow up with that ship sitting pretty at the dock.” They both turned to see a man walking out between the boxes with a clipboard in hand.

  “Who are you?” Salcaro muttered, not even surprised another person was there.

  “Maromu. I assume Danoy asked to come along with you?” both nodded. “I thought so. I have arranged for extra food to arrive later today. Paid for by me, looking over what you bought previously, it should be enough for whatever journey you are planning."

  “and who are you?”

  "The name is Maromu. I already said that.”

  "...and do you also love that ship?” Chesura asked, looking him over quickly.

  “ No matter where Danoy goes, so do I.”

  When Maromu left the building with his certificate, Danoy was waiting for him with a smile. "You did it." Immediately Danoy pulled him into a hug.

  Maromu sighed and sank into it, making sure not to crush the certificate. "Wouldn't have without your support."

  Danoy laughed, "what are you talking about? It's all thanks to that big brain." They kissed him on the top of the head, and Maromu laughed.

  After enjoying the hug for a bit, the two broke apart before heading to a spot Danoy had prepared for a celebration picnic.

  The two were eating and enjoying the sunset when Danoy spoke up again. "So where are you planning to go?"

  Maromu looked at them, "what are you talking about?"

  Danoy sighed and leaned back, "well, your skills would be wasted if you stay here."

  "So that means I need to leave town?"

  Danoy turned to smile at Maromu, "the world needs you."

  "Don't you love me anymore?"

  Danoy's eyes went wide, "of course, I still love you. Why would you ask that?"

  Maromu nodded, "so then I won't be going anywhere."

  Danoy's eyes went wide, "what!"

  "I'm going to stay with you."

  "Why?" Danoy looked down at the dock where the Halwell was, "I can't even leave because of my promise to my father. Why tie yourself down to me."

  Maromu leaned over and grabbed Danoy's hand, "because I love you." He gave them a smile.

  Salcaro frowned, "you'll leave town because Danoy decided to sail with us?" Maromu loosened his grip on his clipboard where he had been looking.

  Maromu looked at him carefully, "I loved them enough to stay. Leaving isn't any harder. I don't want to be away from them." He had a small smile as they looked off to where Danoy was working before looking back at Salcaro.

  Salcaro looked over at Chesura who was frowning "alright. We'll go plan out where stuff is going to go okay?"

  Maromu nodded and went back to his clipboard while Salcaro led Chesura into the ship. "You okay?"

  Chesura sighed, "I'll be fine. He left a few years ago now. And hey, I might see him while we travel." She gave a smile, but he could tell it didn't reach her eyes.

  "Why did he leave?"

  Chesura leaned against the wall, "His talents would be wasted here. Just...he didn't take me."

  "I'm sorry," Salcaro muttered, touching her shoulder lightly.

  Chesura gave him a small smile, but it was better than the one before. "What are you sorry about? You didn't do anything." Her smile grew even bigger. "If we do meet him, I just have to make him beg for forgiveness for leaving me." Salcaro sighed. For the guys' sake, he hoped they wouldn't meet up.

~*~*~

  It was finally the day before they would take their first voyage. The last thing they needed to do was clean the rooms of the old crew. No one was looking forward to it, having avoided them as much as possible with the repairs. They had demanded the carpenters leave those walls alone, as well as not to enter those rooms.

  Salcaro was there first, like always. He sat on a box looking at the Halwell, waiting for the others to arrive. They had agreed to do this together.

  “I see you got your crew together.” Salcaro looked over his shoulder to see Alraslo standing there, leaning on his cane. 

  “Yeah,” Salcaro said slowly, standing up from the box and turning fully towards him. He knew what was coming but didn’t want to hear it.

  “And you're going out on your first voyage tomorrow?”

  “Yeah,” Salcaro shook his head. Maybe he could convey his feelings without saying them.

  “And you remember your promise when I let you buy the ship?”

  That made him pause, he didn’t really want to answer that one, “yeah.”

  Alrasio glared at him, “What was it?” 

  “When we set sail, you want to come along but…” Salcaro tried, but Alraslo interrupted him with a laugh.

  “Don't want the old guy to spoil the fun? Don't worry, you'll barely notice me.”

  “No that isn't it-”

  “If you're going back on your deal-” Alraslo took a step forward, the clack of his cane sounding extra loud.

  He took a step back, almost falling off the dock, “it's too dangerous.”

  “I've been on the seas before, lad, unlike your crew. If anyone knows the dangers, it's me” he said with a frown.

  “I know, but if you died because of me-”

  “Do any of you know how to navigate?” 

  Salcaro frowned, "I learn some-"

  "Enough for a small voyage for sure, but what about once you take longer ones? Once you're fully out on the ocean, you can't just follow coastlines."

  "Well...I can learn."

  "From who?" Alraslo watched him carefully. When Salcaro said nothing he nodded. “I thought so. I have sailed with a few tough Crews. You need me if you don't want to die.”

  Salcaro sighed. Alraslo had him there. He only had one chance left, "only if the crew agrees."

  "What?"

  "I can't accept you if the crew doesn't agree."

  Alraslo took a step forward "you going back on your word?"

  Salcaro wanted to step back, but doing so would send him into the water. "I made that deal thinking it would just be me and some hired people. Now that I have people that chose to be on the crew they get to choose who they sail with." Salcaro bit his lip. Alraslo might be old, but that didn't mean he was weak. The two stared at each other for a while before Alraslo sighed. 

  "Fine, if your crew doesn't agree, I'll figure out a way to change our deal." Alraslo muttered. Salcaro sighed and went back to pacing in front of the ramp to the ship, trying to figure out how he would explain it to the crew.

  Chesura was the first to arrive that morning. She practically skipped up to Salcaro, "here first as always." She said with a smile before noticing Alraslo, "who are you?"

  Before Salcaro could say anything Alraslo spoke up "I'm the ship’s navigator" he said with his head held high.

  "If the crew agrees," Salcaro said quickly. He didn't want Chesura to think she didn't have a choice. Chesura shrugged before moving to sit on the end of the dock, eager for the others to arrive. Salcaro went back to his pacing.

  Danoy and Maromu arrived together walking up to the three holding hands. However, Danoy was pulling Maromu, who had a small smile. That smile fell when he noticed Alraslo, "who's that?" He waved at Alraslo with his free hand.

  "The ship's navigator," Alraslo and Chesura said together, Chesura not even bothering to turn towards them.

  "Only if the crew is okay with him." Salcaro muttered. Maromu looked at him, then to Danoy, who was staring at the ship.

  Maromu rolled his eyes and pulled Danoy out of the way as they waited for their last crew member. Whispering to them to fill them in on what they probably didn’t hear.

  When Bolirin arrived, he looked among the crew members he had already met, having met Maromu and Danoy when he came to check when they were leaving, when his eyes landed on the only one he didn't know. "Who-"

  "The ship's navigator" everyone but Salcaro and Alraslo interrupted him. Alraslo smirked at Salcaro. who didn't even bother repeating himself. Everyone had decided it seemed.

  With the crew all assembled, they made their way onto the boat and to the section that held the rooms. The boat had obviously been specially made as there wasn't a captain's quarters. Instead, there were a bunch of rooms all the same size. Each door had a different letter carved into it. 

  Before anyone could move, Alraslo walked over the door with an N on it, entering without another word and closing the door. "Why does he get to pick first?" Bolirin muttered.

  "Because he used to own this ship. If he didn't sell it to Salcaro, none of us would be here." Chesura said, looking at the doors. "Looks like the pirates labeled them. Want to follow that?"

  "I doubt there is an accountant," Maromu muttered.

  "And it might be too far from mine," Danoy said, squeezing Maromu's hand tighter.

  "I don't have a job," Bolirin said, looking along the rooms.

  Chesura sighed. She pushed Salcaro to the door marked with a C which was the first room on the left, and to the right of the room Alraslo entered. She then stood in front of the door with an F which was the first one on the right side. "We'll take these two. You three pick wherever you feel fits best."

  Bolirin went off to pick the one next to Chesura, this door marked with an M, but Danoy raised his free hand, "what if one room isn't big enough? Could I take a wall down between the two of them?" 

  Chesura looked over to Salcaro, who shrugged, "as long as it doesn't affect the ship, it should be fine." Danoy nodded and moved to pick the room to the left of the one Alraslo entered, marked with an Ca, with Maromu picking the one next to it, marked with a Ch. However, they all knew the two wouldn't have separate rooms for long.

  Salcaro entered his new room and looked around. The room was musty and covered in dust, but there were still things left by the previous captain. He looked around the room and found a small chest hidden in one of the corners. He wiped it off carefully before opening it to see it was half empty. With the same amount of care, he took everything that belonged to the past Captain and placed it into the chest. Once he was done, he closed it again and put it back where he found it, placing a cloth over it.

  Once that was done, he was more willing to go through and throw out everything else. While the furniture like the bed frame and desk could stay, everything else was gone. They had enough leftover from Bolirin's money to pay for a new mattress for everyone, and that would be done later today.

  With the rooms now picked and set up, their plans to set sail on their small voyage were all ready. They met again the next morning and started sailing.

  It wasn't easy with all of them new to their new jobs, but they slowly were figuring it out. Since Maromu had nothing to do while sailing, he agreed to be the crew chef and spent the first day cleaning the kitchen area. They also found a job for Bolirin when Danoy was sitting on some boxes on the deck holding a cloth to a cut in their arm.

  Bolirin walked up to them with a frown, "what did you do?" He had spent a lot of time looking around the full ship their first day, and this was the first time most of them had seen him above deck that day.

  Danoy smiled at him. "Oh, I just cut myself while removing wood from our room. Don't worry about it, it will be fine…" he removed the cloth to see the wound was still bleeding and replaced it "...soon."

  Bolirin's frown only deepened "wait here."

  "I wasn't planni-" but before Danoy could even finish, Bolirin was walking away, heading to the room area. He was only gone for a little while, but when he came back, he had a bag. "What is-"

  "Let me see it." Danoy nodded and held out their arm for Bolirin to look at the wound. Bolirin pulled out supplies from his bag and started to clean it. Once he was done, he wrapped it before packing his bag away. 

  Chesura came over to watch Bolirin while he worked. Once he was done, she pointed to the bag "why do you have that?"

  Bolirin frowned, "my parents forced me to learn medicine." He looked at the bag "despite wanting to, it seems I brought it with me."

  Chesura smiled brightly, "that's it. You can be the ship's medic."

  Bolirin crossed his arms "why would I need to work? I paid to be on this ship."

  Chesura nodded "yes, that was for a one-way trip to our destination." 

  "One way? The amount I spent could have paid for ten people on a passenger ship."

  Chesura frowned, "well, of course ours was more expensive. We have to protect you, and this is a historical ship." She rubbed the railing for a moment before turning with a smile, "but if you become the ship's medic, you don't have to pay anymore." Bolirin was silent and she fluttered her eyelashes at him "please?" Bolirin blushed but nodded slowly. Chesura cheered, Danoy joining in even though they didn't know fully what was going on.

  The first trip was slow going but went smoothly. The crew was small, but then so was the ship, and when it got really hard for them to handle, Chesura could convince Bolirin to help out.

  The few holes that needed to be fixed were found by Bolirin's wandering Danoy taking care of them right away. When they weren't fixing the ship, they spent their time in the kitchen bothering Maromu to try and get little tastes before they all ate. To make up for it, Maromu made them do part of the cleaning.

  They got to the new town and sold their stuff right away. Chesura had a strong handle on sales, and with Maromu keeping track of their numbers, they were able to make a little extra when supplies were low. They planned out their next trip and bought the supplies. The profit was split between the entire crew. Bolirin hadn't been expecting to get money as well but was happily surprised to receive some.

~*~*~*~

  Salcaro laid down for the night. The long voyage had been going well so far. Everyone was getting along and slowly learning how to do their jobs. And the ship was still going strong, all the repairs holding out even as they got into the deep ocean.

  They had been sailing for a week so far and had no other ships or land in sight. They had anchored the ship, and most of them were sleeping besides Alraslo, who had announced he would keep watch. No amount of arguing from the crew could dissuade him.

  It seemed like only a moment of closing his eyes before Salcaro felt a cold hand wrap around his arm and fling him from the bed. He crashed into the wall with a cry of pain, when he opened his eyes he saw a ghost standing over his bed. 

  The ghost was strong-looking but had tattered clothes. The thing that stood out most to Salcaro was that it wore a big hat. In all of his research, the only one allowed to wear one on the ship was the captain.

  The captain floated towards him with a glare. "What?" Was all Salcaro could get out before the captain grabbed the back of his shirt and started to drag him from the room.

  Once they made it onto the deck, he was thrown into a pile of the others as ghosts surrounded them on all sides. "Salcaro!" Chesura shouted as he tried to orientate himself.

  Thanks to the full moon, it was very bright. All the ghosts seemed to shine because of it. He looked to see most of his crew now behind him. He noticed a girl he didn't recognize in the group but was more relieved to see Alraslo wasn't there. Salcaro was slightly glad that whatever was going to happen to them, Alraslo would be safe from it.

  "Why are you on my ship?" The Captain asked, floating a little above the ring of ghosts looking down at the group with a glare.

  The fear Salcaro felt surrounded as his crew was, made him forget for a moment why they were even there, "I...I bought this ship. So it's mine."

  The captain's glare seemed to get even sharper, "you didn't buy it from me." The captain started to float towards the wheel of the ship "now what to do with you all?" 

  Salcaro heard the sound of the anchor being raised and watched as the captain turned the wheel sharply left. Salcaro’s eyes went wide "wait!" He said, reaching out with his hand. It passed through the ghost standing in front of him, and he was surprised by the sudden cold.

  Captain turned to him "you dare to-"

  But Salcaro cut him off "if you go that way the ship will crash."

  "What?"

  "There are some rocks that are just under the water. We avoided them today. You probably hate us, but I can't let you kill this ship. It's too beautiful."

  The captain was silent but Salcaro breathed a sigh of relief when he turned the wheel all the way to the right. There hadn't been any hidden rocks that way. Though he gasped when the captain spoke again, "you may live. The others die."

  "No!" Before Salcaro could do anything, the ghost in front of him grabbed his stretched-out arm and threw him towards the rooms. He turned to face the group but could do nothing as he watched his crew separated. 

  Chesura had now taken the position he was in, placing herself in front of the crew with her arms outstretched. It didn't do much good for her when two ghosts just grabbed both her arms, practically lifting her off her feet with how tall they were compared to her, to pull her towards the side of the deck. 

  The unknown girl stood to the left of the group. When the ghost was heading towards her, she curled into herself, covering her head with her hands. One ghost grabbed both her arms to drag her to the side, she planted her feet, but the ghost just pulled her harder. 

  Danoy and Maromu we're to the right, holding onto each other tightly, two ghosts walking towards them. A ghost grabbed each of them and tried to pull them apart. Slowly they were pulled from each other but kept hold of each other's hand. The ghost eventually gave up and just pushed Maromu into Danoy, sending them both into the railing. Danoy hugged Maromu close once again, putting his head into their chest. The two ghosts stepped closer to them.

  As each person was pulled from the group, Bolirin moved back, allowing a wall of three ghosts to separate him from the others. He kept walking backward until his back hit the mass. He looked up at it as if surprised it was there before quickly grabbing one of the ropes tied to it. The three ghosts that had walked up to him reached out for him.

  Somehow in all of the confusion, the clacking of Alraslo's cane was louder than anything for Salcaro. Salcaro's attention was pulled from the crew when he realized the clacking was getting louder and from behind him. He turned to tell him to get out of here, but it died on his lips when he saw Alraslo. 

  He was slowly walking down the hall, his jaw set, the feeling of bloodlust rolling off of him. Salcaro didn't know what would happen when he reached the deck but didn't want to be around for it. He scooted back, but once he felt cold he stopped knowing a ghost was behind him.

  As soon as he stepped onto the deck though, everything seemed to go quiet. The ghosts all turned to look at Alraslo and seemed to freeze. He looked around the deck, slowly giving each ghost a once over with a glare. He noticed the ship was sailing and turned to the wheel, his mouth open to say something. When he saw the captain was the one steering, another word seemed to ripe out of him. "Kanibon?"

  In all of his research about the pirates that owned this ship 30 years ago, Salcaro never found a single name, descriptions of what they looked like and habits they had were easy. There had been a few journals printed a few years after their death. But even in those, every single name had been scratched out. Salcaro had assumed it was to erase them from history. But with how Kanibon flinched, it was obvious that was his own.

  Kanibon let go of the wheel and floated down in front of Alraslo, looking him over. Alraslo seemed to stand a bit straighter under the watchful eye. "Alraslo? You survived."

  Alraslo nodded quickly, “thanks to your sacrifice.” he quickly glared at Kanibon, “not that I wanted to be pushed off the boat when you all were captured,” he muttered.

  Kanibon shook his head then frowned at him, “you should have lived a happy and long life then.” 

  Alraslo sighed and moved to the edge of the deck. Where he went, ghosts parted, “I did. I spent years watching over her,” he said as he rubbed the railing. “as I worked on the dock helping soldiers and sailors alike.” 

  “Then why are you here?” Kanibon muttered.

  Alraslo was silent for a moment looking out over the ocean, “after floating for a while I washed up in a small town. While healing up from almost drowning, I heard about what happened to all of you and the ship. Right then, I decided if she sailed again, I would be on her. I got to town and forged papers to claim you stole her from me. Got a job so I could keep her docked safely.”

  “But you sold her?” Kanibon said.

  Alraslo nodded, “I was being fired and heard them talking about scraping her to pay off my debts.” he chuckled before turning to look Salcaro in the eyes. “You have the same look as Kanibon did when you looked at the Halwell," He looked at the railing again. "Until you came along, I didn't know what to do. I couldn't let her be scrapped, but I couldn't care for her myself either."

  Kanibon nodded his head "yes, that one I approved of."

  Alraslo chuckled before looking at the rest of the group still held by the ghosts. No one had moved since the two started talking. When his eyes landed on the unknown girl, he smiled. As he walked over to her, the ghosts parted once again. When he was in front of her, he looked at the ghost holding her and she was let go. Alraslo patted her head, her shaking subsided a little.

  He turned back to everyone. When he did she hid behind him grabbing onto his shirt tightly. He looked Kanibon in the eyes.  "Could you approve them for me? They may not be up to your level, but they're good kids and are willing to learn."

  Kanibon watched him for a moment before nodding, he looked among the ghost and crew. “If Alraslo gives his approval, then we can't argue." With that, all the crew were let go, Chesura stumbling when she landed. "Since our work is done we'll leave."

   "Wait!" everyone turned to look at Salcaro. He shifted for a moment before taking a breath, "can you come out often?"

  Kanibon pointed to the moon overhead. "We have more power when the moon is full. Which is why we attacked you tonight. We can't touch people besides when the full moon is out but can touch objects and interact with them every night but the new moon." Kanibon looked around to see his ghost crew moving to their favorite spots and the Salcaro’s crew watching them carefully "why?"

  "I was hoping you all could teach us. We're all new at this, as Alraslo said."

  "What!" If anyone hadn't been watching, Chesura's shout would have drawn their attention. "They tried to kill us and you want them to teach us."

  Salcaro patted her shoulder lightly, "They know more than us. Any help wouldn't be a bad thing."

  Before Chesura could reply, Kanibon spoke up " and why haven't you let Alraslo teach you?" 

  "They won't let me, Captain. They think I should relax while we're on the ship, and I hate it. How am I supposed to relax when I see them making beginner mistakes?"

  Salcaro turned towards him, "I just don't want you to overwork yourself."

  Alraslo shook his head "teaching a bunch of newbies ain't going to overwork me," he waved to the girl who was still hiding behind him, "I've been teaching this one just fine."

  Salcaro frowned "I've been wondering who that was."

  Alraslo smiled "yeah, I found her in my room the day we cleaned the rooms out."

  "what!" This time Chesura shout was directed at Alraslo.

  Alraslo sighed as he stepped onto the ship, the familiar sway under his feet was something he could never forget. Once the group got to the rooms, he moved quickly, he wouldn't let someone else take the room given to him by Kanibon. He heard them talking behind him but ignored it as he closed the door.

  Once he was inside, he sighed once again. His eyes swept the room only to find a girl standing in the darker part of the room. He frowned. "Who are you?"

  "I-i'm sorry." She muttered.

  When she didn't say anymore, Alraslo took a step closer to her. She took one back. "What are you doing here?"

  "I...I thought this room would be safe to hide in. I hadn't heard they had a navigator, so I didn't think anyone would pick this room."

  "The rest of the crew didn't know about me till this morning." He wanted to move closer to her but knew she would only move more into the corner. He instead decided to sit on the bed. "We aren't leaving until tomorrow."

  She nodded her head quickly, "I know. But I didn't know when tomorrow. So I felt sneaking on today would be my safest bet." She fidgeted for a moment "i-i can sneak off tonight. The rest of the crew won't even know I was here." She looked down at her feet.

  Alraslo frowned "why did you sneak on anyways?" When she didn't say anything, he got up and moved closer to her. She tried to move back but bumped into the wall and started to shake. Once he was in striking distance, his grip on his cane tightened. He could see the bruise that was forming on her cheek as well as the black eye that had been hidden by the darkness of the corner. He didn't know who had done that to her but assumed there was more.

  She closed her eyes tight when he stood right in front of her and flinched when he placed his hand on her head. When all he did was rub it, she looked up at him carefully. "I don't know who you're running from, but I'll help you get away."

  "Really?" She whispered.

  He nodded, "it will be easier for you to hide on the ship with us working together anyways." She watched him for a moment before tears streamed down her cheeks, and she pulled him into a tight hug. He rubbed her back as she let out all the tears she had.

  Kanibon nodded his head, "ah, a stowaway like you."

  Alraslo chuckled, "that's why I convinced her to stay after the short trip. If I just wanted to get her away from whatever, I would have set her up in the town we were just at." He looked back at her to see she wasn't shaking anymore "you should come out and introduce yourself."

  She moved from behind him but kept a hold on his arm. "I'm Saycalin. I've been learning how to navigate and deal with the sails." She looked at Alraslo quickly, then back at the group "I'm sorry I stowed away on your ship."

   Maromu frowned "but we haven't been low on food even though we've been feeding an extra mouth," since he was making the food, he knew exactly how much they used.

  Alraslo shook his head "I've just been giving her half my food. That's why I have been eating in my room."

  "then you should have just told me about her instead of going hungry!" Maromu shouted. Danoy pulled him into a hug, and Maromu sighed, "do we even have enough food for her on this trip?" He muttered.

  Alraslo nodded "oh yeah, I bought double of what you suggested. I was trying to figure out some way to tell you all, but I was waiting till we were fully on the sea since you all didn't seem like you were the type to kill stowaways."

  Everyone frowned at the notion, and Saycalin shifted, "sorry for the trouble." She brought her hand up to bite at her thumb.

  Salcaro shook his head, "we needed more hands to help sail anyways."

~*~

  With the ghost pirates now teaching the merchant crew, they learned how to run the Halwell faster than ever. It was weird for the crew at first. They would be tying a rope down when suddenly a whispered “not like that.” would come from nowhere. The whispered voice would then inform them how to tie it right. 

  Most of the crew couldn't always tell which ghost they were talking to but knew where specific ghosts spent their time. Like Kanibon who stayed near the wheel, and Cholaven, the pirates' lookout. She never left the crow's nest, not even on the night they had first attacked.

  The exceptions to this were Alraslo, who had known them long enough to recognize their voice even as a whisper. The other was Bolirin. After they met the ghosts, he took whatever chance he could to talk to them since he didn't work unless people were hurt, which gave him a lot of chances.

  He spent the days talking to them and writing down their stories or information they wanted him to. His room had a slowly growing pile of filled books. When he wasn't talking to them he found any secrets the pirates told him about and showed them to the crew.

  Saycalin was slowly getting used to the crew too. The first few days, she spend any time not around Alraslo in the crow's nest. Which is how the crew found out about Cholaven. The two seemed to hit it off thanks to similar situations. Saycalin informed the crew that after Bolirin wrote down Cholaven's story, she had demanded only Saycalin was allowed up there. The crew, seeing the after-effects of whatever she had left behind, agreed.

  After a few weeks, she stopped cowering every time they yelled or flinching when they raised their hand. She was still doing it every once in a while, but it got less and less with time. The crew assumed it was the time away from them and in the company of Cholaven that helped the most.

  After the one attack, most of the trip was uneventful. They even made more money than they were expecting. Some bought supplies, like Bolirin bought more empty books, or Saycalin who bought a wide-brimmed hat to keep herself from getting burned.

  The rest of the crew saved their money having most of what they needed though they all pooled their money together to get better food to cook. Maromu complained at first, but when Chesura offered to help, he agreed.

  They spent a week in town slowly selling off their stock and trying to figure out what to buy to sell at their next destination. Salcaro and Chesura entered a jewelry store to see if there was anything worth it when they heard a gasp. They turned to the man standing at the counter, and Chesura frowned.

  "Chesura, is that you? What are you doing out of Ecley?"

  Salcaro looked him over. He didn't look that impressive. Chesura looked up to the roof as if counting something. Since she wasn't going to say anything Salcaro spoke up instead. "Do you know her?"

  "Do I know her? Of course I do. I'm Lugarow."

  That name meant nothing to Salcaro. Chesura didn't talk much about her past. She turned to look at Lugarow with a big smile. "I'm sorry it's been so long I forgot who you were till you said your name."

  He frowned, "how could you forget? We were childhood friends." That made it click for Salcaro who this was. He took a step back not wanting to get in her way.

  "Yes, but it's been so long." She leaned on the counter he was standing behind. "Actually mentioning our childhood, I'm sailing on the Halwell you know?"

  "Yeah right."

  "No, it's the truth. Isn't it captain?"

  Salcaro blinked, being suddenly brought into the conversation. "Yep, I bought it from the old owner."

  Lugarow seemed to straighten at that. "Prove it."

  Chesura frowned and looked over at Salcaro, "can I bring him on the ship? Once he sees it, he'll know it's the real thing."

  Salcaro shrugged, "I don't see why not."

  "Great," she turned to look back at Lugarow, "come by tonight, okay? We're busy till then." He nodded and the two left the building.

  "What are you planning?"

  Chesura gave him a smile but it didn't reassure him, "what do you mean?"

  "No one but us is going to be on the ship tonight." They took shifts to keep the ship safe, the rest slept at an inn.

  "Don't worry about it. Also don't come back to the ship right after dinner okay?"

  Salcaro sighed as he nodded his head watching as Chesura ran off with a wave heading in the direction of the docks.

~*~*~

  Lugarow stood in front of the ramp leading up to the Halwell. He couldn't believe it was really here, that it was really sailing. "Chesura?" He called out.

  "In here," a soft voice said from the ship. He could tell it was a women's voice but nothing else.

  "Chesura? Is that you?" He started to walk up the ramp and onto the Halwell. Since he had been allowed by the captain he wasn't worried about getting into trouble. When his feet reached the deck, he was only met by silence.

  He looked around, and old memories of playing with Chesura came back to him. He gave a small smile as he looked down the hall or rooms, remembering hide and seek they used to play, even if there were only two of them.

  He started to walk towards them when the wheel creaking drew his attention. Instead, he walked over to it and looked out at the boat in front of him, a little lost in his memories.

  He grabbed the wheel lightly and was about to turn it when a voice spoke up, "what are you doing on my ship." He looked to his right to say something but the words never came as he saw Kanibon floating there glaring at him.

  "I….I….I have permission." He said but let go of the wheel, taking a step away from Kanibon. 

  Kanibon followed, "and when did I give permission?"

  "The captain….the captain gave me permission." He said quickly, doing his best to slowly move back down to the deck. But with every step he took, Kanibon floated closer.

  "I'm the captain." He growled. Once he hit the deck Lugarow moved a bit quicker to try and get off the ship. He took a moment to look in front of him only to find another imposing ghost blocking the ramp.

  "I must have got the wrong ship." He said, backing away from the new ghost. He moved closer to the rooms knowing there were places he might be able to hide. "If you want I can leave now if you would ju-"

  Kanibon interrupts him with a laugh, "no one leaves once they step aboard." Now two ghosts were heading towards him. He took a step back when suddenly a bunch of hands grabbed him from behind. He gasped and tried to pull away, but they held tight.

  Suddenly he heard someone running up the ramp. Once she stepped on deck, he could breathe a sigh of relief as Chesura stood there breathing hard. "Chesura, save me." He shouted, drawing her attention to him and the ghosts' attention to her. 

  She glared at him, "why did you walk on the ship without me."

  He frowned, was this really the time "you said you would prove it."

  "I would have, but we need to ask before letting anyone on." She waved at the ghosts between them.

  Kanibon stood between them, "so you were the one that broke the rule." It was a statement, not a question.

  "No. He di-"

  Kanibon interrupted her, "you know the rules. Either you let us have him or give yourself up for him."

  "What but-"

  "Chesura, please." She looked at him for a moment, then back to Kanibon who took a step closer. 

  With a quick shake of her head and a quiet, "I'm sorry." She ran down the ramp again, leaving him to the cold hands that gripped him.

  He watched her retreating back with mouth open before he was suddenly pulled back farther and farther down the hall, farther and farther from the light. He fought against the cold hands that grabbed him when suddenly he was free. He ran down the hall and almost fully crashed into the mass, thinking it would take longer than ever to reach it. He looked to his right to see the city and his freedom and ran, not even bothering to look around as he moved. His feet hit the solid ground, and he only ran faster, trying to get away from that haunted ship as fast as he could.

  Chesura burst out laughing as she watched Lugarow run from the dock. With how he was acting, she doubted he even knew she was standing right there with Salcaro.

  Salcaro frowned up at the ship, "how did you convince them to do that?"

  "These guys love scaring people. Plus, they get a new story to tell Alraslo." She said between her laughter. She was laughing so hard her stomach was starting to hurt.

  He looked down at her as they started to die down, "Feel better?" 

  She sighed as she wiped a tear from her eye. "I felt better a while ago. This was just a bonus."

  "Oh?"

  She nodded as they walked up the ramp, "I realized that it wasn't him that made those moments so wonderful. But the offer of freedom the Halwell had. He just got that freedom before me." She said with a shrug.

  Salcaro nodded, "but now you have even more freedom than him."

  She chuckled, "yeah I win in the end" she pumped her fists into the air and Salcaro laughed. The two walked up the ramp to the cheers of the pirates.

~*~*~

  They left that town behind with rumors that their ship was haunted. Since it didn't affect sales and was true, they didn't bother correcting it. Though Chesura did her best to avoid Lugarow the rest of the time they were in town. But with him avoiding the docks, it was easy enough.

  They had set sail easily with all that they had learned. They had sailed for a few days when they were met with trouble.

  Saycalin was the first one to alert them that a ship was coming towards them. Salcaro ordered the Halwell to be stopped since it still looked like a pirate ship, and he didn't want to cause a problem. 

  The ship came closer and closer until the people were able to come aboard, having both ships side by side. The people that came across were not fellow merchants, sailors, or officers but pirates.

  The crew were surrounded pretty quickly; the only one escaping capture was Salcaro, who was still hidden in the crow's nest. "Not a bad catch today. A bunch of newbies we can take their ship and supplies from." Salcaro wanted to speak up, but with the swords pointed at his crew he couldn't bring himself to.

  "Now, you'll be getting off my ship." The pirate growled as he moved the sword closer to Salcaro who stood his ground. He couldn't just let the ship be taken.

  "This is my ship, not yours." Kanibon's voice floated around them. 

  The head pirate looked around "who's there?" Before anyone could say anything, the cannons on the Halwell went off, blasting holes into the pirate ship. Head pirate looked at his crew "I thought you collected all of them "

  "They did." The head pirate looked up to see Kanibon floating above him. Kanibon was more see-through than at night but still visible thanks to tonight being a full moon.

  "What!" The head pirate brought his sword up to stab into Kanibon who just looked at it. 

  "You can't affect me, but I can still affect you." Kanibon said as he swung at the pirate's arm. 

  The pirate cried out as he dropped the sword. "What did you do to me!" He glared at Kanibon as he clutched his arm.

  Kanibon shrugged, "I've only numbed it. But you don't want me to hit the other one, or you won't be able to swim back to shore." The head pirate took a step back. "Crew?" Suddenly the deck was filled with ghost pirates. "Throw the intruders off our ship." Salcaro’s crew braced themselves, besides Alraslo, and we're surprised when the ghosts didn't even touch them, going after only the pirates. They might have been becoming friends with them slowly but we're still worried the pirates would change their minds at any moment. Even Bolirin who had been talking to them a lot.

  Salcaro blinked at Kanibon "oh I thought you were going to throw us off too." 

  Kanibon frowned, "why would we do that?" 

  "We don't know if you would change your mind. And take back the ship as yours." He muttered. They had talked about it once or twice on the night of the new moon when they knew the pirates couldn't hear.

  "you're part of the crew," Kanibon said, crossing his arms. "The part that moves the ship anyways"

  Alraslo laughed "aw Kanibon I didn't think you'd come to like them that fast."

  Kanibon didn't say anything while the crew looked at Alraslo "he does?"

  Alraslo nodded, "he only lets people join the crew if he likes you. Otherwise, you're just helping hands." 

  Kanibon turned to Salcaro to change the subject. "You shouldn't have stopped the boat." Now that the pirates had been thrown off, the other ghosts were disappearing again. The crew went back to work, though they could still hear the Halwell's cannons going off.

  Salcaro frowned, "what?"

  "When you see another boat you should just keep moving."

  "But the ship still looks like a pirate ship. I didn't want them to think we were pirates."

  "That would be helpful to you. Other merchant crews would avoid you, and the navy would ask you to stop. Pirates are the only ones to attack other pirates."

  "Oh."  Kanibon nodded knowing his point was made. He looked out over the deck as the Halwell started to sail again with a small smile before disappearing. Salcaro stepped up to the wheel and knew he probably had the same look.

[sirmanmister]

YOURE ON MY EXACT LEVEL YES. I’ve hardly played fo3 but I fell in love with Macaroni so fast I just dove into his backstory and YES. Getting kicked out of Little Lamplight and basically losing their only friends and family and then JUST when they’re not babies anymore they’ve suddenly got a little guy to take care of and they’re clueless because they were raised by kids.

Like imagine them remembering what it was like to grow up without parents and how much that sucked so they didn’t want to put Duncan through that, so they settled down somewhere safe which is why MACCREADY of all people had his own FARM. I don’t think the game actually says much about how Mac was feeling in the past besides guilty but imagine all the potential angst as they doubt themselves because they have NO wild idea how to parent, but they hold onto the dream and encourage each other together, just like they did as kids. I think I remember Mac saying something about Lucy always supporting him and reassuring him so he was probably the most insecure of them and super sore and scared about being a dad, but he has his WIFE who is the only person/thing that feels normal and familiar so he feels he can take on the world.

but then Lucy just DIES and then to make it even worse he has to basically PICK BETWEEN HER AND HIS CHILD!! Like imagine in just a haze of grief after he saved Duncan wondering if his parents had done the same for him but weren’t lucky enough to get away with their lives, or if they simply didn’t feel the same type of love he had coursing through his veins for Duncan and that was why he had been ditched at Little Lamplight as a baby.

Then imagine him contemplating dumping Duncan at Little Lamplight himself because there is NO WAY that man didn’t have that thought cross his mind at least once. figuring he survived so Duncan would probably have a better chance there than with him. He probably didn’t do it in the end (don’t think the kids would let him just use the town as a daycare lmao. In or out) but then imagine all the guilt he would feel for that very thought. THENNN the guilt that would come when Duncan got sick!! Because of course he would blame himself for that too!!

Like the emotional damage after growing up in a colony where all the people you looked up to in life kept leaving (being 16 or dying) but you find a caring hand that helps keep you steady against all the stress of being a MAYOR for a bunch of stupid kids intent on killing themselves, then you get kicked out and you have absolutely zero safety net and you’re forced to do bad things to stay fed while you wait for the one shining thing in the world to join you, then barely getting a year or two of freedom and surviving and being an Adult when suddenly you’ve got your own kid!! And then being a parent is hard but then it’s even harder when your wife dies!!! And then you’re alone and then your kid gets deadly sick!!!!!!! And you have to LEAVE HIM 400 miles away then you get in trouble with debts and mercenaries and you don’t actually have any clue if Med-Tek is legit or not, and ALL THE WHILE dealing with the absolute awfulness of the wasteland. All before your brain is fully matured.

MacCready has got problems up the yahzoo.

And then the parallels between him and the sole survivor is just- 🤌

You both have a kid that is pretty much inaccessible while you try to find some wild, outlandish way to save them, check.

Everything and everyone you called dear is gone, save for your tiny baby son, Check. We don’t know what happened to kids that were Mac’s age in fo3, but that wouldn’t really change the fact that he was basically made homeless when he turned 16 and per the rules he’d basically never be able to visit them again. Plus Mac probably felt pretty alone literally 400 miles away from where he grew up so he probably has a bit of sympathy for the SOLE SURVIVOR.

And like Both feeling guilt about not being able to protect their sons and the double whammy of not being able to protect their wives at the same time either.

And not a parallel but just imagine how MASSIVE MacCready’s abandonment issues are. He was abandoned, then he was forced to abandon his wife to save his son, then he probably felt he was abandoning Duncan too by going to Boston. Just- HHH

I’m absolutely rambling but like you said Macaroni’s backstory just makes so much sense with Lucy and pulling on his childhood, and then after that it’s just so easy to fill up the other gaps with head canons. Like he has so many aspects to analyze. Dead wife, parent guilt, parent abandonment, winging it by himself, being so stingy with caps, giving the sosu the little toy soldier!! There is just so much trauma and things to poke at inside that funky little man!!

Maccready did not need the sadboy deadwife backstory at all but in my mind the idea of his wife being the same lucy from little lamplight is like kind of genius actually. They're both around the same age and got out of lamplight around a simmilar time and the idea of them finding comfort in being the only thing familliar to the other in a huge wasteland thats unkind to everybody is like. DO YOU GET ME. AND THE FACT THAT FROM THE AGES OF 16 (when they left lamplight) TO 22 THEY MANAGED TO SOMEHOW HAVE A KID WHO MANAGED TO GROW OLD ENOUGH TO PLAY IN A BACKYARD BY HIMSELF (im guessing atleast like 2-3 years old i doubt he was unattended but the way maccready says it its like yeah he was just playing one second and suddenly hes randomly sick idk tangent over back to my main point) BEFORE LUCY EVENTUALLY DIES (brutally. Thems the DC for you) AND MACCREADY GOES TO THE COMMONWEALTH WHERE HE'D HAVE TO BE SITUATED FOR ATLEAST A YEAR FOR THE TIMELINE TO MAKE SENSE IS FUCKING INSANE. AND I KNOW ITS JUST BAD BETHESDA PLANNING/WRITING BUT ALSO THEM BEING RAISED IN A COLONY OF STRICTLY CHILDREN BASICALLY AND THEN ACCIDENTALLY HAVING A KID PRETTY MUCH FRESH OUT OF THE CAVES ITS LIKE. IT MAKES SENSE. Dumbasses do not know what sex ed is!!!!! Like everything in maccreadys backstory can literally be explained by the fact that he and his wife were raised in a fucking cave by OTHER CHILDREN and are NOT NORMAL. Maccready is dark and broody because he lived like 40 years worth of emotional trauma in half a decade. Lucy being from lamplight also connects fo4 maccready to fo3 maccready better than if it was just some random girl cuz maccready could be literally any other bastard with a dead wife but if Lucy is also from lamplight then its ALSO AN NPC YOU MEET AND TALK TO AND KNOW IN FO3!!!!!!! Yeah it fucking sucks that they had to resort to the dead wife trope for the 7th time in fallout 4 alone but it really shows just how brutal DC was and gives mac leverage to like connect with the sosu cuz THEY JUST LIKE ME FR LIKE YOU KNOW???????? In reality his backstory is fucking stupid but in my mind i modified it and now it rocks. I want to give lucy depth. I want to make a million stupid headcanons about her from how she was the only person stubborn enough to keep up with maccready to how anxious she was about leaving lamplight before maccready promised they'd go together (you know to help her feel better not because he thinks of her as a friend or likes her or anything b-baka). Todd doesnt understand my vision

[bluesfortheredj]

In another life.

A/N: Spoilers for volume 2 of Stranger Things season 4.

“You can be the hero Steve?” you scoff as the other three walk off into the darkness, leaving you, Eddie, and Dustin to do your bit, “get real.”

Eddie aims a frown at you and you roll your eyes, “you’re already a hero, idiot. You’ve come into this fucked up world to try and save a town that thinks you’re some sort of satanic serial killer. They don’t deserve you doing this for them.”

Dustin looks over at you both and nods, “she’s right,” he shrugs.

You were done with Eddie putting himself down all the time and saying that all he can do is run from anything when he was here, with you, in this hell hole trying to distract some freakish creatures so the others could kill Vecna. Truth was that you were head over heels for the guy, and he seemed to have no idea how you felt. Now that you were practically staring death in the face you were angry at yourself for still not having the guts to tell him your true feelings, and the only way to let out this anger was to direct it at him it seemed.

“I’ll start on the fences,” you announce, getting nothing but silence from Eddie.

“Dude, what was that?” Dustin asks as they collect panels of metal from the nearby trailers.

“What was what?”

“She called you a hero. Hello! She’s totally into you.”

Eddie sneaks a glance over in your direction as he drags a corrugated sheet along the ground, “nah. She’s just being nice.”

“So let me get this straight; we’re literally facing some sort of monster who could kill any one of us at any second, and you’re putting off telling her you love her because…?”

Eddie starts drilling to avoid answering the very apt question Dustin has put forward to him, then sees you’re caught up on a bit of wire fencing.

“I’ll go!” Dustin blurts out before Eddie gets a chance to move.

“Dustin,” he hisses, “Dustin! Don’t you dare!”

He shakes his head from side to side as he continues to fix the defences to the trailer and watches helplessly as Dustin begins to talk to you as he frees your jacket from the jagged edge you were trapped on.

“You were right what you said about Eddie,” he begins as he takes the other end of the fence.

You smile at him, “I know. I shouldn’t have said it so harshly though… or called him an idiot. He’s anything but an idiot.”

“Well he can be…”

“Not as much as I can, I bet.”

“Then maybe you’re just both as bad as each other. Ever thought about it that way?”

“How do you mean?”

He smacks one hand against his forehead and sighs, “come on! I thought I was meant to be the kid here. You two… you’re acting like children!”

His voice gets louder so that Eddie can now hear him, and the two of you look at one another as you and Dustin approach.

“Do I need to spell this out for you both?” Dustin asks, helping you hold the chain link against the side of the trailer so Eddie can secure it, “you’ve got thirty seconds to sort your shit out while I grab that panel, or I’m knocking your heads together when I get back.”

Dustin walks off and Eddie moves closer with the drill, “thirty seconds isn’t a very long time,” he states, “not for what I wanna say anyway.”

“You’d better do a quick summary then, because I don’t fancy having a headache on top of being in this shit hole.”

Eddie chuckles at your comment and briefly lowers the drill as he turns to face you, “so to summarise… I’ve sorta fallen for you, and after we get out of here I’d love to take you out, go see a film or maybe dinner or something?”

A smile tugs at your lips at the way he nervously fiddles with his hair with his free hand, and you nod enthusiastically at his proposition before leaning in and kissing his cheek quickly. His hand falls from his hair and he mutters a “fuck it,” before placing it on your jaw to keep you steady as he swoops in to kiss your lips.

“Finally!” Dustin sighs, breaking you two apart, “you two are such hard work.”

Eddie walks over to him and rubs his head through his hood lovingly, “cheers Henderson. You little cupid.”

“Pfft,” he laughs, shoving Eddie away playfully, “come on, we’ve got work to do.”

You take over drilling duties as the two guys continue to bring in reinforcements, then when it’s finally looking bat proof the three of you grab the essential gear; an amp, and the guitar. Eddie stands centre stage, as it were, plugging in the instrument to the amp and running his fingers along the neck carefully.

“Ready?” he asks, and both you and Dustin nod.

The plectrum appears and he’s playing the riff as if he wrote it himself as he stands there performing in possibly the craziest place he’s ever performed. Dustin keeps an eye on the horizon with the binoculars as you keep an eye on the immediate perimeter all while Eddie plays his heart out right next to you.

“They’re coming,” Dustin announces, turning to Eddie and giving him the signal for thirty seconds.

You can see the hoard of bats flying towards you, and your eyes dart from the incoming threat to the immense performance happening right in front of you.

“Twenty seconds!”

Your heart is racing as you look up at Eddie, completely enthralled by him.

“Ten!”

Suddenly you’re all surrounded and you get into the trailer within seconds, all of you panting with a mix of fear, anxiety, and pure adrenaline.

“That was so cool!” Dustin and Eddie sing in sync, jumping up and down with excitement.

Eddie looks over to you once they’ve calmed down and smiles, “that was pretty fucking awesome,” you agree as the creatures attack the trailer.

You jump forward against Eddie’s side as one particularly enthusiastic creature bangs on the wall next to you, and he puts his arm around you protectively, “it’s okay,” he reassures, kissing your head.

“Guys, they’re on the roof,” Dustin says, looking up at the ceiling anxiously.

The three of you stand there staring up at the vine covered roof, then all of a sudden Dustin notices the vent, just as the first bat bursts its way through. You all grab the spears from the floor and start fighting them off, making sure none of them got in, then Eddie slams one of the dustbin lids up over the hole to block it.

“Any other vents we should be worried about?” Dustin asks.

“Oh shit,” Eddie gasps, running towards the bedroom.

It’s too late as the creatures fly in one after the other in a frenzied attack, and you all run away as Eddie slams the door shut to stall them.

“Go go go!” he shouts as you all head back towards the gate, “go! Now!”

Dustin climbs up the sheets first, then you jump up and land with a thud in the normal world, and the two of you look on as Eddie begins to climb but suddenly stops, looking from you two to the bedroom door and deliberating what he should do.

“Eddie come on!” Dustin shouts.

“Please!” you plead, watching helplessly as he slides back down, “what are you doing?”

He looks up at the two of you with a smile, “I’ll distract them,” he moves the mattress, cuts the sheets, then disappears out of view leaving you and Dustin begging for him to return.

“What’s he doing?!” Dustin cries desperately.

“Nothing without me there,” you state defiantly, grabbing a chair and kicking the mattress to one side, “stay here because he will kill me if anything happens to you.”

“(Y/N), no!”

“Trust me, okay? We’ll need your help getting back through.”

Dustin grabs your arm as you back up for a running jump, “please bring him back.”

“I will,” you promise.

You use the chair for a bump up and grab onto the sides of the gate, determined to pull yourself through to the upside down once more, and you land with a loud bang on the hard floor of the trailer. Dustin looks up, watching as you stand and begin to hobble towards the door as quickly as you can. There’s no sign of Eddie, but you notice the swarm of bats down the street and one of the bikes from before missing, so you grab another and set about following the cloud of darkness that you could only assume was following Eddie. Your feet are peddling like they’d never peddled before until you come across the abandoned bike at the side of the road, and when you look to your left you see Eddie standing in the middle of an onslaught of bats, only a spear and the other dustbin lid for protection.

“Eddie!” you scream, realising just how underprepared you were for this as you look around for some type of weapon.

The bike was the only thing so you pick it up and run into the cloud of creatures that were surrounding him. The two of you had only just got your shit together enough to admit your feelings, so you were hell-bent on this not being the end for either of you, and you run into the swarm bike first, swinging the thing around to create a space for you both in the middle of it all.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Eddie shouts.

“I’m not letting these little shits ruin our date,” you reply.

One of the creatures wraps its way around Eddie’s neck and causes him to fall to the ground as others begin to bite his stomach, but you grab the spear he’d dropped and stab the sucker before chopping it in half so he can unravel himself.

“Come on!” you pant, grabbing his hand and helping him up as he pulls the others off of him.

There’s a trailer nearby that you spot, and drag Eddie along to it, opening the door and pushing him inside first just as the creatures attach themselves to you. There’s a struggle as you slam your back against the door to get them to release their grip while Eddie panics inside, but eventually you get in and hold the door shut with a deep sigh.

“I hate bats!” you shout angrily, locking the door and standing with your back against it.

“That was… uh… woah…” Eddie breathes in amazement.

“Bedroom,” you nod, feeling the creatures attacking the door.

“I mean, I thought you’d at least buy me dinner first,” he smirks.

“Well, we can’t waste any time can we?” you retort with a wink.

Now was definitely not the time for this, but my god if you were going to die you’d die happily knowing that your last words were used to flirt outrageously with Eddie Munson.

“I’ll block the window,” he says as you shut the door and move the desk in front of it, “holy shit, (Y/N), you’re bleeding.”

You turn to face him and point to his t-shirt, “so are you.”

“Yeah, but…” he trails off as your clothes turn to a deep crimson much quicker than he was comfortable with, but the adrenaline was obviously keeping you from feeling any of the pain so far so he quickly stops what he was going to say, “so how are we getting out of this one?”

“I have no idea,” you sigh.

Glass shatters outside of the door and you realise they’ve finally broken their way in, so you get up onto the desk and sit with your back to the door as they pummel the wood while Eddie holds up the mattress from the bed against the window.

“We’ll swap,” Eddie says, knowing you can’t take much more from the bats, “come on, jump down.”

You shake your head from side to side, “I’m good right here.”

“(Y/N), please, swap with me.”

The first creature breaks through to your back and latches on, causing you to cry out.

“(Y/N)!” he calls out in distress.

The second one finds its way through the wood and its teeth clamp down on you, then Eddie moves over as far as he can without dropping the mattress and reaches out for your hand. You extend your arm to him as well and as soon as your hands meet everything seems to stop; the bats drop to the floor and the entire place falls silent.

“What just happened?” you gasp.

“I don’t know…” Eddie says quietly, peeking behind the mattress to see nothing at the window, “they’ve… died?”

Still holding his hand, you get off of the desk and join him at the now clear glass. The two of you stand there staring into the abyss outside; all of the bats now seemingly dead on the ground, and you only let go of one another to move the desk out of the way and carefully open the door.

“Woah,” Eddie says, seeing the carpet of creatures that now greeted you, “lets go before they wake up or some shit.”

He gets a hold of your hand and leads you out of the trailer then back to the gate in his where Dustin still stands there looking through for a sign of anything.

“Eddie!” he screeches, “(Y/N)!”

You both manage to haul yourselves through back to Dustin, but as soon as you stand up the pain hits you like a train and you collapse on the floor in front of the two guys.

“(Y/N)!” they both shout.

The next thing you know you’re waking up to a bright white light, and for a second you think you’ve died until you hear Dustin’s excited voice calling Eddie’s name as you move and wince in pain. Two faces appear either side of your vision, both of them friendly and familiar, and you attempt a smile as you try to sit up.

“Hi,” you croak dryly.

“I’ll get you some water,” Eddie gasps, running out of sight.

“Where am I?”

“Hospital; Eddie carried you here after… everything.”

“Carried?”

“Yeah. A lot has happened since you were out… it’s been two days, but Eddie will explain.”

“He hasn’t been arrested?”

“No,” Dustin smiles triumphantly, “we… we sorted that.”

“How?!”

“One word: Jason,” he smirks.

Eddie appears again with a glass of water and helps you take a sip, “told you you were a hero, didn’t I?” you whisper.

He blushes, knowing Dustin must have told you how you got here, “well I had to make sure that date goes ahead,” he kisses your forehead and you lay back with a smile; the fact that everything calmed when you held hands was no coincidence, this was meant to be.

[queen-of-the-vampires]

Don’t Mess With The Queen

Characters: Klaus Mikaelson x Hybrid!Reader

Word count: ~1.7k

Warnings: none

Request by anonymous: Could u do a imagine where the reader is friends with the mystic falls gang and is a werewolf and finds out that she and klaus r mates?

Summary: People who you want to call your friends are planning on killing the love of your life. It’s your job to show them who’s really the boss.

Author’s Note: This is a female!reader. I did change this request a tad, but I hope you like it! I haven’t written for TVD in a while now, so please bear with me on this. After asking a few people, I have decided to end this on a fluffy note. I did write an angsty alternate ending, but I don’t know if the anon who requested wanted that or not.

No one knows why you’re really here. They all think you’re their friend, so they feel comfortable disclosing their plan right in front of you. You want to be friends with them because they seem like genuinely nice people, but they are so fueled by rage and revenge that they’ll do anything to get it… even plotting against your mate, your sire, the love of your life.

Stefan and Damon have spent their entire life fighting each other and putting their noses in places where it doesn’t belong. Elena and Caroline have always been the people who want to fix others, to make them better even if there is nothing wrong with them. Bonnie is always stuck in the middle of everyone’s problems, putting herself and others in danger for no reason.

“So, what’s the plan here?” Elena asks, taking out the last bit of weapons she has stashed in the Boarding House.

“First thing we need to do is pick a location. When is Klaus most vulnerable?” Stefan asks.

“Yeah, the last time we did that, Elijah betrayed us. That moonrock or whatever was our only chance to get him at his weakest.”

“You were one of Klaus’ bitches. What do you think?” Damon asks and turns to you.

“What?” you ask, pulling back from your own thoughts.

“You spent over two years sired to him before Tyler saved you. You must know things that can help here,” Elena says.

What she says is true. You were sired to Klaus for two years, but not in the way they believe. You were sired to him in the beginning when you were first turned by Klaus’ mother. You were a werewolf that was in the same village as Klaus and his family. You two became fast friends, always leaning on each other whenever his abusive father and your abusive mother decided to make you two their toys.

Everything was going fine until one of your own decided to kill the youngest member of the Mikaelson family. There was a family friend of Esther, Tatia, that she used her blood in a spell that would make them the Original vampires. Klaus wanted you to have the same thing, so without his parents knowing, he gave you some of that wine. You were the first-ever turned hybrid that came from a spell.

You and Klaus have spent every moment together ever since. What the gang of Mystic Falls doesn’t know is just how old you are. They think you were just another hybrid that he made with Elena’s blood, stuck with him against your will. Tyler found your pack in the mountains and proceeded to unsire every single one of Klaus’ hybrids. When Tyler got to you, that’s when you started to catch onto what he was doing.

If Tyler wanted to desperately to save you, then you were going to act like you wanted to be saved. You came to Mystic Falls and befriended the vampires in the town. Now, they all think that you hate Klaus as much as they do when really, you’re just as in love with him as you were when you first met him.

“He really liked hiding out in the woods, though, they’re usually on werewolf territory, so good luck trying to get there. It’s probably why you can never find him. The werewolves will get to you before he does. He hears chatter in the wind and he moves to another pack site.”

“That’s smart,” Caroline comments.

“Yeah, so you’re not going to find him there.”

“Guys, we need to figure out something, or else more people are going to get hurt,” Elena says. Sometimes, you really want to kill her so you don’t have to hear her speak. “Klaus needs to die.”

Hearing them talk about killing the love of your life enrages you a little bit. You could take every single person in here without breaking a sweat, but you don’t turn to violence just yet. You take out your phone to let Klaus know exactly what they’re planning. You’d be a bad girlfriend if you let them attack without warning him.

They’re planning on killing you, my love.

It’s cute if they think they can.

They seem hell-bent on figuring it out.

I’m not afraid of them if that’s what you’re worried about. They can’t hurt me even with their best player.

I’m worried someone is going to get very hurt. What should I tell them?

Tell them where I am. Let them come. If it’s a war they want, I’m only happy to provide.

Are you sure?

I’m always sure, love.

You put your phone away and look at the small group, getting up to join the elite circle.

“I do know where Klaus lives.”

“That would have been nice to know a little earlier, don’t you think?” Damon sneers.

“Damon, don’t,” Stefan butts in. “Where is he?”

“New Orleans. That place is crawling with witches and vampires, but he and his family are stationed there.”

“How do you know this?”

“Because he took me there once. The witches will know once you arrive, but most of them are scared of Klaus anyway that they’ll help you blend in. Everyone from that town knows the Mikaelsons are royalty, but their castle doesn’t have a lot of guards protecting it. If you want to get to him, that’s where you want to do it.”

“How do you know all of this? This seems awfully suspicious for someone who isn’t sired to him anymore.”

“He still thinks I am. He’ll call me every day and ask for something. He figures if he has a hybrid in another state that I can do his dirty work for him elsewhere. You want to get Klaus? That’s how you’re going to do it.”

“She does have a point. Better to take this fight to his turf than ours. He’s more comfortable there,” Stefan points out.

Now that they know a location, it didn’t take long for them to come up with a plan of attack. Of course, you told everything to Klaus as soon as you were on the plane to get to New Orleans. He told you not to worry about a thing because he’ll plan a little something for their arrival.

No one messes with the King and his Queen.

When you land in New Orleans, the gang is eager to carry out their plan of attack. Just like you said, the town is crawling with witches who sense you the minute you landed. Every single witch knows you by heart, so they’re confused why you’re with them and not with Klaus. Your love must have only told them the basic information instead of what was really going on.

“Okay, where is this son of a bitch?” Damon asks.

“The French Quarter is where he likes to hang out. You’ll want to start there. Caroline and Elena will blend in more since they’ve never been here, but you two might stick out like a sore thumb. Just be prepared. If anything, I know these guys so let me do the talking.” You pause right in front of the group and turn to Bonnie. “And Bonnie? These guys know you’re a Bennett witch. Try not to do magic unless absolutely necessary. Klaus has a thing with witches.”

You lead the group into the French Quarter while keeping your head down to avoid conflict. The group follows your lead until you reach the middle of the place you call home.

“Stay here,” you say and leave the group on your own.

You approach the small bar within the Quarter, and lean over the counter a tad, looking at the bartender.

“Is Klaus here?”

“I’m right here,” you hear your lover’s voice. You and the Mystic Falls gang turn to see him standing in one of the many doorways that enter the French Quarter. “I hear you’re looking for me?”

“Where in the world did you hear that?” Damon asks, giving you a side glare. You step away from the group and speed over to Klaus, standing just a tad behind him. He smirks and doesn’t break eye contact with the older brother. “Traitor.”

“It isn’t a betrayal if I was never on your side to begin with,” you state.

“What are you doing? You’re not sired to him anymore,” Stefan tries to appeal to you.

“My sire bond wore off in the tenth century. I’m a lot older than you think I am. I really did want to be your friend, but you’re all so driven by rage and revenge that you can’t leave us alone until we’re fixed to the standards set by you. Next time you plan to kill someone, you should think twice about who you let into your home.”

“We should get going,” Elena whispers.

“Always the level-headed one, Elena. Too bad you can’t,” Klaus grins.

Stefan and Damon try to leave using their vampire speed, but they are blocked by the spell put there from the witches in this town. It’s like a big spell to trap the four vampires and the one witch inside. Caroline steps into the sun and immediately screams in pain, seeking the shade to calm her burning skin.

“My daylight ring isn’t working.”

“Yes, you’re all trapped here. For how long is still yet to be determined. Welcome to the French Quarter ladies and gentlemen,” Klaus chuckles.

“I can’t use my magic,” Bonnie panics.

“The next time you even think about going after Klaus, I won’t be so nice,” you say.

Klaus wraps an arm around your shoulders and pulls you close, whispering something into your ear.

“Pardon us, we have other business to tend to.”

Klaus leads you away from the group, and only when you two are alone, does he turn you so that you’re facing him.

“You can relax, Klaus, no one is going to hurt you. Not as long as I am alive.”

“I can take care of myself, love,” he chuckles.

“Yeah, but isn’t it better when I do it?”

“Tenfold.”

“Always and forever, my love,” you whisper.

You lean in and press your lips to his, showing him just how much you love him.

wanna be tagged? add yourself to this document! if your tag doesn’t work, find out why! (not sure how much i will write for this fandom, but add yourself if you want!)

@essie1876​ @choosemyname​ @cuddlyklaus​ @sotmperrie​ @akshi8278​ @chynarosep101​ @gh0stgurl​ @littlemissslytherinprincess​ @honeybums-blog​ @kendall-michele​ @tdntu0​ @miraclesoflove​ @nasatonie​ @thelazywitchphotographer​

[sciencewithottsnpotts]

Hunting Things

Saving People Part Two:

Criminal Minds x Winchester!fem!reader Crossover!

(Remember if you recognize it, I don’t own it. Takes place during Season 10 of SPN! Hope you like it. This is a blast to write :). One more part to go.)

Word Count: over 2,000 words ✌🏻.

Warnings: uuuh- computer hacking, Winchester shenanigans, and mentions of threats against a teenage character.

Part Two:

You sat at a desk in the precinct, watching the going-ons around you. The girls parents had been called as soon as the police could acknowledge who had walked through their precinct doors. The EMS was next as they made their way around to everyone. While you were used to Castiel healing your wounds instantly, you knew you had to let them touch everything up.

As soon as the FBI agents (you called it) got control of the situation they asked you all where you had come from. You were the only one who could relay accurate info (aka a relative address and description of the Unsub).

You didn't know how to feel though, after everything. While those girls had been afraid and helpless, you would've (probably) killed the guy if you had gotten your hands on him. While their standing around crying, and hugging their families, you sat alone, numb to it all.

Sure, it felt good to help people, but your heart hurt at seeing them. You missed your mom. It had been years since her death, but it still hurt. And your (half) brothers, while amazing, were used to depending on each other, and so tended to leave you out of the loop on most things. A way to keep you safe but also to "encourage" you towards a normal life.

Except you had killed your first monster at 10 years olds, normal was out the window.

Your thoughts were disrupted when you felt eyes on you. Zoning back in you watched as one of the female agents, Prentiss you recall her name, walks towards you. "Hey," there's a mixture of sincere kindness and caution in her eyes as she takes in your raw wrists, bruised nose, and large eyes, "Is there anyone you want to call to come pick you up?"

You shrug your shoulders in response. “I’ve got a cell in my car. I’ll call someone when this is all said and done.” You watch as her eyes partially bulge out of her head. You smirk to yourself then seek to calm her down before she decided to lecture you on the legality of driving without a license.

“Relax, Agent. It’s a legal license. I’m an official resident of New Mexico. Besides- I turn 16 next week. Then it’ll be less weird.”

Emily simply nods her head, storing away the info for Garcia to check into later. “Well, we’re rounding up officers now, we’ll get him soon.”

It’s a she goes to walk away that you stop her, calling her name do she turns around.

“Yeah?”

“I’ve been thinking. And I figure if you’re about to go to the lions den, you should at least hear the theories of someone who was just in it.”

She nods her head, taking the chair next to you as you turn to face her. “The guy who kidnapped me and who brought in Katy was a brunette. It was longer, shaggy. But I over heard Alex, and she thinks her guy was blond. And it’s had me thinking. This Unsub of yours is incredibly ritualistic. Every two hours someone’s taken. Every two hours someone’s killed. There’s only an half hour time difference between the newest abduction and the latest death. The order of when those two take place seem unimportant. But it has two be two hours. That barn is at least a 15 minute drive out of town, and I was speeding. This guys can’t afford to speed. He needs to be conspicuous. So what if it’s a partnership. Two highly organized unsubs who take turns on who kills and who kidnaps. I bet if you analyzed the wound patterns on the victims you’d be able to identify two different patterns or methods. I mean, you don’t get away with dropping 53 bodies in such a short period of time without it help!”

Emily froze at your words. “53? We only have the three bodies! We were called in because of the child abductions.”

You look at her, frustration clear in your eyes. “These bastards work with the utmost efficiency and with short timelines. You think they’ve only killed three people?” You watched as the agent tried to process your words.

————————————————

“I need it in writing that I’m not going to get thrown in Juvie if I hack into these data bases for you.” Derek Morgan wasn’t going to lie, he really wanted to laugh at that statement. Mostly because it came from the 15 (“I’ll be 16 next week I’m not that young”) sister of two of the most wanted men of the FBI. And she was helping. Hotch had his suspicions and so had asked for what cases she was talking about for Garcia to look into, but she had only been able to find half of the girl’s (very comprehensive and detailed) list (that she had memorized!), and so to confirm her theory Hotch made the decision to allow her to find them herself (with Garcia’s virtual supervision).

Garcia’s voice pops up over the computer, “Don’t worry hun, if Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner makes a promise, he’ll honor it. A verbal contract is as good as a written one.”

You scrutinize Hotch and the team for a moment before shrugging your shoulders and getting to work.

“Alright Penelope, you had centered your original search around this and the surrounding states, right? Well, we’re about to go across the whole continental US of A.”

“48 states? Really?”

“Trust me, these douchebags are efficient and mobile. Over the last 7 years they’ve literally hit every state. Victimology changes based off populations percentages. For example, 76% of the populace here are people in there early-60s to late-30s. 87% of that populace is a household that has at least one child. 52% of those kids are in middle school and up. So, our Unsubs targeted high schoolers, though- at least one of them had a type as most of us were seniors- me being the youngest at fifteen. In Pennsylvania three years ago there was a spike of homicides in retirement homes. The owners of those locations however, were able to pay mighty sums to keep it on the DL. A total of 10 deaths occurred, all bodies drained of blood. Coroners office placed it as heart attacks though as to not alarm the families. It took place over 3 different jurisdictions too- so that helped keep it out of the eye of the FBI.”

The team all turned from the girl, to each other, to Reid and then back to the girl. The sound of clicking keys filling in the short silence.

“Since when does Reid come in a female option.” Whispered Morgan to JJ. Chuckles come from the surrounding team only for you to give a quick “I heard that” before Aaron shut up his team and motioned for you to continue.

“Over all, in the last five years there’s been 53 deaths, including the most recent occurrences. They don’t strike again after the deaths are completed, but until then, they’re loose canons. More than likely, since they picked their type, they’re going to try to stick to it. However, four years ago, in Indiana, they started killing women in their 30s, got interrupted, and started up again two days later with men in their early 20s. It actually went just like this one, three successes then a disruption. That’s why I made sure to get taken before they could kill the fourth victim. I figured they’d stuck to the pattern. It means we have two days till they kill again.”

“Wait- you purposefully got taken, kiddo? You’re a little young to be playing hero?”

You pause your typing from pulling up the old cases, and turn to face David Rossi. “Aren’t you a little old to be out of retirement?”

“Oh shit.” The snicker from Derek Morgan had you blushing in just a moment.

“Sorry. That was rude.” You turn back to the computer. “Anywho- moving on. Penelope, with all this information I sent to you I would appreciate your assistance in cross referencing every suspect from each case. Remove anyone of color or with any hair color that is not blond or brown. Look for anyone who appears more than once. One of these Unsubs is not nearly as smart as the other, which means he would’ve been focused on at least once. I think it will likely be the brunette one.”

“What brought you to that conclusion?” Dr. Reid prompts.

“He was constantly looking at the clock. Shifty and nervous. He tied Katy’s and my hands thumbs together. It was purposeful. Whoever tied Alex’s, Sam’s, and Tracy’s wasn’t worried they’d escape, but wasn’t careless either. He used a constrictor knot, mine was an adaptive clove hitch. It made it more difficult but not impossible to escape,” you snort, “Obviously.”

“Oh! Oh! I got someone. Ok- Brandon Sikes. 28 years old, he was suspected in three of the cases. And I know what your thinking- 3 out of the 28 cases? Well, once was in Wisconsin, another in Florida, and lastly, was in the Pennsylvania case you mentioned.”

You watched as the image appeared of a 6’ 3” man with soft brown eyes and longer brown hair. You took the time to study him. Like, really study him. The moment right before your grabbed flashes into your mind. You had been careless on purpose.

You had needed to get caught to know what was going on, but it was still kinda scary. You heard him first, but acted oblivious as you walked out of the convenience store and down the side alley where he appeared. You remember his eyes reflecting in the window in front of you.

The team watched you inhale a deep breath, shoulders stiffen, back straighten. You take a moment to yourself before turning to the closest agent, “Yeah.” Your jaw clenched, but then your whole body relax’s. “That’s him.”

The team watches as you click a few more buttons.

“Alright, I just sent everything we have on Brandon and all known affiliates to the printer. Time to go get that son of a bitch.”

———————————

Sitting in a cold bunker, nursing a beer, the last thing Sam expects is for his laptop to go off. A heavy sigh escapes his lips, but he doesn’t acknowledge the sound any further, as his laptop is halfway across the room, and quite frankly- he’s exhausted.

Dean’s taunts and snide remarks were wearing on him. Who knew attempting to cure someone of their demon-ness could be so taxing.

Today’s session was just that much worse though. Before, Dean had just been taunting Sam. Today, though, he threatened their sister.

He threatened Y/N. He had threatened you.

A dark chuckle escapes from Dean as he recovers from his latest injection. Sam stands there, tense, numb, tired, and determined. Every time the recovery period took longer, Sam had hope that his plan was working.

“You Sammy, you’re so…focused. So… diligent.” His necks cracks as he lifts it up to stare into his brother’s soul. (How ironic considering just four years prior he was the one without it.) “You know, you’re where Y/N gets her brains from. Yet how lucky she is to never be just like us.”

Dean smiled with sick delight as he watched his words effect his baby brother.

“Maybe I’ll fix that.” Snapping to attention, Sam glares at his brother. “When I get out of here, and oh oh oh- I will get out of here Sammy. I’m going to find her and I’m going to turn her. Maybe Crowley or one of his minions would like to get his hands on her. Fresh meat.”

Sam shuddered at the memory. It was only a few hours ago, but it still hurt him. The thought of anything happening to you, especially at the hands of your own brother. It scared the ever loving shit out of him, and he’s been stuck in a cage with the devil. Recurrent pinging from his laptop pulled him out of his worries, and reluctantly moves towards the device. What he doesn’t expect is 53 different case files to pull up and a 54th screen to appear with a little emoticon smiley face :) and a message saying “I know I said I’d see you in a week, but it might be two. Gmen sticking to my shoe- but we’re friends now! Peace out brosif”.

A gentle smile comes to Sam’s face before worry furrows his brow. Gmen? As in Feds? You really were a Winchester. How dangerous that is.

——————-

——————-

Ah! Part two!!! Let’s gooooo! Thank you for all of the support and to those who asked to be tagged: you are below! (I hope it works I’ve never been asked to do this before lol)

Tags: @super-sexy-agent-hotchner @supernerdycookietrashblr

[ariana-winchester95]

Welcome to the Jungle

Pairing: Carpet Python Shifter Min Yoongi x Reader

Warnings: 18+, oral (m receiving), fingering, unprotected sex (stay safe out there), snake tail sex, biting, sub!yoongi, aftercare, soft boyfriend Yoongi, Yoongi has a split tongue and two cocks.

A/N: I hope you guys enjoy this, I wrote this because my best friend was complaining about the lack of Snake Hybrids AUs for Yoongi, so I took one for the team. Feedback is very welcome.

It had been a few weeks since I received a call to retrieve a Carpet Python from a backyard across town. Usually, I take reptiles back to the enclosures at the local zoo, but there was something different about this one. He was smaller than a regular-sized adult python. I expected a fight getting near the snake, but it never came, almost like he was too scared to fight. I have observed him over the past few weeks, doing nothing else but eating and sleeping.

One morning, I checked on the snake, but the tank was empty, the lid a-jar. I searched the room but found no trace of the snake. Huffing, I went off looking for the snake; I stopped dead in my tracks once I reached the lounge room, my eyes catching a glimpse of a figure moving in the kitchen.

"Looking for me?" The figure said, back still turned towards me.

Stepping in the kitchen, I let out a small gasp at the sight of him. He wore black sweatpants paired with an oversized t-shirt, but that is not what caught my attention. The visible tail, the same patterning of the snake from the backyard. The intricately patterned scales on the back of his and flowing down his arms.

"Who are you?" I asked, coming to a stop as I heard the man sigh heavily before speaking.

"I guess I have some explaining to do." He spoke, his hands sliding along the sink's edge before taking a deep breath and turning around, facing me, squinting slightly. I raised an eyebrow once I caught his gaze, "My name is Yoongi, and I'm the snake you saved from that backyard."

"How?" I questioned, stepping closer, and as I did, the sunlight hit his eyes, making them appear yellowish-green.

"I was an experiment, deemed a failure. I was created in a facility experimenting on humans to develop mixed DNA species, but something went wrong during their experimentation on me." He explained, his voice sounding distant as he reflected on the memory.

"What happened?" I asked softly.

"The DNA mixed perfectly with mine, but they discovered that I could shift into a snake. They told me that they didn't want a venomous snake in their facility in fear that I would kill anyone that got near me. They said I was too dangerous." Yoongi turned his head, eyes trained on the backyard through the window as he explained further.

"I'm sorry, but they got it wrong. You're a carpet python, correct?" I asked, pausing a moment to let Yoongi nod. "They're non-venomous to humans. So you're not dangerous at all." I continued, leaning against the counter.

"What?" He gasped, his narrow eyes widening, "So if I were to touch you, you would be okay?" Yoongi question softly, stepping closer, so close that I can easily see the colours in his eyes.

"They truly do not know anything of your species," I said, more to myself. "Snakes are only venomous by biting, not touching. So considering you are non-venomous, you'd only have to be careful of your bite. You are harmless to humans."

"How do you know all of this?" Yoongi asked, his lisp showing even more now that he's starting to comfortable.

"I am a herpetologist, an expert in reptiles. That is the reason why I came to retrieve you in the backyard, in your snake form."

"So, if what you are saying is true," Yoongi spoke to himself rather than me. "I can do this."

Before I could ask what he meant, his fingers were lightly touching the top of my hand. Shivers ran through my body, the nerves in my body igniting. My eyes travelled up his arm to his face, watching the expressions cross his features as he applies more pressure to my hand. His eyebrows knitted together in confusion before raising in wonder as he realised that I was telling the truth.

"You were right; I believe you now." He spoke softly, still looking at the spot where his fingers trace across my skin, then he looked up, catching my gaze. "I trust you."

The longer his gaze bore into mine, the more body seemed to tingle, and I can tell he feels it as well. His hand then moved to grasp mine, my hand fitting perfectly in his as if it were his to hold. He uttered a word under his breath; before I had the chance to clarify what he said, he pulled me to him. A breath left my mouth as I collided with his broad chest; I stood frozen, his hand the only thing keeping me upright. I held my breath as I felt his fingers now tracing my cheek lightly, his eyes following their movements in amazement.

"How I've craved to touch someone without fear of killing of them, and here I am, touching you, and you're still standing. I realise now how deprived I've been." He monologued, his thumb tracing over my bottom lip. His body vibrated against mine, something that male snakes do before mating a female to excite her, and it's working. The notion sent a spark flowing through my body, heading south to my core.

Yoongi stared at me a moment longer before he leaned down and captured my lips with his. I closed my eyes after a few seconds of shock, and then, his lips disappeared. He placed his forehead against mine, his hands on my waist, holding me close. Looking up, I found his snake eyes staring at me as I smiled softly.

Yoongi breathed in deeply as his nose reached my hair, nuzzling right in. His nose traced over the skin of my cheek, his breath fanning over my jaw. Then, he lightly moved a hand up from my waist to bury it within my hair.

"You smell of vanilla and citrus—my favourites." He murmured, closing his eyes and breathing in my scent. "No wonder I feel safe here. It all smells like you. My mate."

I barely had any time to process his words before his lips were on mine again, my heart pounding against my rib cage. This kiss was firmer than before, more heated like something snapped in him as he moaned into my mouth. My hands moved on their own accord, trailing up his broad chest to the back of his neck, feeling when I felt scales gracing his skin. Yoongi let out a little moan as I tugged on his hair, causing his hips to roll into mine.

"I need you," Yoongi whispered against my lips. "I can smell you." The hand on my waist tightened upon smelling my arousal.

I pulled away from him with a smirk on my face, contrasting his confusion. I trailed my hand down the length of his arm to grasp his hand. Then, walking backwards, I tugged him to follow me as I lead him to the bedroom.

Entering the bedroom, I took the opportunity to shove the curious snake against the wall. He let out a breath as his back hit the wall, his eyes moving to look directly at me. I rolled my hips into his, just like he did before, and he let out the prettiest of moans.

"You sound so pretty for species so feared." I purred, running my hands up and down his chest as he breathed deeply. "I wonder, what other sounds you can make from the pretty mouth of yours." Yoongi visibly swallowed hard before running his split tongue over his bottom lip as he let his mind wander.

I leaned back and trailed my hands downwards, pushing my hands underneath his t-shirt, his body shuddering when my fingertips came into contact with his skin. I moved fingers ever so lightly over his stomach up to his firm chest and over his nipples. Yoongi hissed when my fingers brushed over the tiny buds; I smirked in satisfaction.

"So sensitive and responsive," I noted as I continued flicking the sensitive buds. Yoongi's head thudded against the wall, his body squirming and little whimpers gracing my ears.

"It hurts." Yoongi hissed out, rolling his hips into mine. I looked down as I felt his big problem press into my thigh.

"Do you need some help, baby?" I teased, running my hands down to the waistband of his sweats, watching as he nodded and squeezing his eyes shut.

I pulled the elastic band slightly and let it snap back against his skin, giggling as his body jumped at the motion, his hands clenching at his sides. Then, slowly, I let my hand slide past the waistband and into his boxers. Yoongi hissed harshly as I lightly touched his cock, rolling his hips into my fingers, chasing the friction he desperately needed.

"Please," Yoongi begged, pulling his bottom lip between his teeth as my hand wrapped around him. I gasped when my fingertips touched something underneath his cock.

"I should have known," I started, reaching my hand further before coming into contact with a second cock, "snakes have two cocks. So here you are with two." I smirked.

Yoongi let out a groan of frustration as I pulled my hand out of his sweatpants. Hooking my fingers in the waistband, I pulled down his sweatpants to his ankles as I kneeled before him. Scales lined the pale skin of his thighs and calves. He let out a moan as his cocks were released into the warm air. I couldn't take my eyes away from the two angry, red cocks in front of me.

I threw Yoongi's sweatpants to the side once he stepped out of them and ran my hands up the length of his legs, brushing over his scales before bracing myself on his thighs, feeling the muscles flex under my touch as I looked up at Yoongi through my lashes. His snake-like eyes looked back at me, running his split tongue over his lips again as I moved my hands closer towards his cocks. Yoongi hissed once I wrapped both hands around a cock each, his tailing winding around one of my wrists as I slowly pumped both at the same pace.

"So pretty," I admired, rubbing my thumbs over the tips, spreading the pre-cum around the heads of his cocks. "I wonder what you taste like."

I barely gave Yoongi time to comprehend my words before leaning forward and pressing my lips to one of his cocks while stroking the other. Relishing in the way that Yoongi groaned and threw his head back with a thud against the wall. Next, I ran my tongue over the underside of his cock, spurred on by hearing Yoongi moan and gasp at the stimulation on both cocks.

"You taste delicious." I praised, realising his cock with a pop and licking my lips.

"God," Yoongi breathed as I drew his cock back into my mouth, lightly sucking. His hands moved to grasp my hair, keeping me in place as he thrusted his hips into my mouth and hand.

I took as much of him as I could before I started to gag. Then, drawing back, I swirled my tongue around the head before repeating the same action and taking him deep into my throat as I moved my hand to massage his balls. Yoongi's legs nearly gave out from the amount of stimulation he was receiving; my hand and mouth still working his cocks, and now my other hand caressing his balls.

"Stop, baby," Yoongi strained, pulling me off of him and uncoiling his tail from my wrist. Finally, I released him with a pop. I then looked up at him with a slight tilt to my head. "I'm going to cum if you keep that up, but I wanna cum in you."

Yoongi moved his hands moved from my hair to my hands. Grasping them, he gently pulled me up to a stood position. He then raised a hand to my face, cupping it as he used his thumb to wipe a bit of drool away, smiling softly.

"Will you let me cum inside you, jagi?" Yoongi asked softly, caressing my cheek with his thumb, smearing my drool over the skin, as I looked up at him in a love-drunk state, nodding slowly.

I let Yoongi lead me over to my bed, stopping to stand next to it. His hands travelled to the hem of my shirt, silently asking to take it off. I placed my hands next to his, grasping the hem before taking it off and flicking it somewhere on the floor. Yoongi seemed to freeze for a moment, his eyes taking in my almost naked appearance. Then, he gently placed his hands on my waist, his barely-there touch causing goosebumps to apparently.

Yoongi slowly traced his fingers over the soft skin of my stomach before lightly running over my lace bra. I shivered as his fingers made contact with the skin of my breasts, as he cupped them over the bra. I made a move to undo my pants, bending down slightly to push down over the curve of my ass and letting them pool at my feet vectored they come to the same fate as my shirt.

"Wow," Yoongi whispered, taking me all in as I stood there in front of him in nothing but my lingerie. "You're more beautiful than I imagined."

A shy smile made its way onto my lips as I looked down in embarrassment, softly chuckling, a soft blush creeping its way onto my cheeks. Then, I felt Yoongi place a finger under my chin, coaxing me to look back up at him. My heart skipped a beat as my eyes caught his gaze, the look of pure love evident within the chocolate orbs.

"You needn't hide from me," he spoke with such sincerity, his thumb running over my bottom lip, "you're stunning."

Yoongi swiftly took off his shirt, discarding it somewhere in the room before settling himself on top of my bed, patting the space next to him. Crawling my way to join him, he pulled me onto his lap once I was within reach. I let out a gasp as his cock pressed into my clothed core, his tail coiling around my thigh. His hands settled on my ass, his fingers squeezing the flesh as he moved my hips forward, making me grind against him. My head fell into his shoulder as I let out an involuntary moan, my hands holding onto his biceps.

"Please," I didn't know what I was asking for, but I knew I need more.

My hips moved on their own accord, chasing the friction I desperately craved. Yoongi's hands travelled up along my spine, stopping at the clasp of my bra. He lightly ran his fingers along the bottom of it before coming back to the middle and undoing the clasp. Then, bringing his hands to my shoulders, he gently pushed me off his shoulders so he could witness my breasts become bare before his eyes.

Yoongi took his time taking the bra off, lightly pulling the straps down my shoulders and then dropping it on the floor next to the bed, his eyes never leaving my breasts as he did so. Cupping his large hands around my breasts, he pushed them together and then let them fall back into place. The motion caused my mouth to fall open, closing my eyes. Yoongi lightly moved his fingers over the mounds, but never touching my nipples, already erect and hard for him.

"Yoongi," I moaned, rolling my hips against his cocks, burying my hands in his hair.

Yoongi leaned forward, connecting our lips in a soft kiss, and at the same time, kneading my breasts, causing me to moan into his mouth. Yoongi trailed his kisses over my cheek and down along my neck, sucking purple blemishes in his wake. I leaned back slightly once Yoongi reached the tops of my breasts, his snake eyes flicking up to mine. My breath caught in my throat, his split tongue moved out past his lips, reaching out and flicking my nipple, his tongue on either side of the erect bud.

"Oh god," I moaned out at the unusual sensation, throwing my head back and pulling his face closer to my breast.

Yoongi took the hint, wrapping his around my nipple, gently sucking as he kneaded the other. His free hand roaming my curves, his hand danced over my stomach on thighs before settling on my ass. My back arched into him as Yoongi flicked his snake tongue against my nipple rapidly, breathy moans left my mouth and filled the air. His hand moved from my ass to lightly trace over my clothed centre.

"I can feel how wet you are, jagi?" Yoongi spoke into the room, moving my panties to the side.

Yoongi ran a finger through my wet folds, collecting my arousal on his fingertip. My eyes followed as he bought his finger to his mouth, openly using his tongue to taste it. The sight sent a shiver down my spine, adding the fire already burning in the pit of my stomach.

"You taste sweet, my dear," he praised, his eyes glinting as he smiled softly.

Yoongi's finger returned to my core, this time running two fingers through my folds. I squeaked when his fingers flicked over my clit, my hands grabbing onto his shoulders as my head fell forward. He rubbed firm circles over my clit and pinched my nipple between his fingers simultaneously, drawing little moans from me, rutting my hips into his hand. His fingers moved towards my entrance, pushing the tip of his in and then bringing it back out. I groaned in frustration as he repeated the action a few more times before finally sinking his index finger inside me.

"You're so tight," Yoongi mused as I became a blubbering mess on top of him, "I'm going to have you stretch you out real good if you're going to take me."

"Yoongi, please," I breathed desperately, looking into his eyes.

Yoongi's hand rose from my breast to my neck as the other kept pumping in and out. He wrapped his hand around my throat, gently squeezing as he added another finger inside me. Curling them towards him, quickly finding my g-spot, he continued to hit it with every thrust of his fingers.

"Yoongi," I whispered, feeling my high about to hit. Instead, Yoongi pulled his fingers out of me, halting my orgasm. I groaned in response.

"Not just yet," Yoongi stated, bring his hand up to my cheek, gently brushing his thumb over my skin. "I have something in mind. Do you trust me?"

Wordlessly, I nodded my head with a small, blissed-out smile. Yoongi, then, shuffled us down further so that he could lay his head against the pillows. He wrapped his arms around my waist, cuddling me to him. His cocks now rubbing between our stomachs.

Yoongi uncoiled his tail from my thigh, his hands holding onto my hips. He softly ran the tip over my skin, causing me to shiver against him, my own hands finding their place on his shoulders. His breath hitched as my movement gave gentle friction against his cocks. Yoongi moved his tail over the curve of my ass. I gasped as I felt the appendage brush against my entrance.

"Easy," he reassured, moving the tip of his tail through my folds, coating the appendage in my wetness.

The tip of his tail returned to my entrance, circling before gently pushing inside as his hands ran up and down my spine. I gasped at the strange feeling, but it felt so good at the same time. He pulled his tail out before pushing it back in, a little deeper this time, causing me to squirm. He whispered sweet nothings as his tail was pushed in deeper, stretching me out, his hand moving up my spine to hold onto the back of my neck.

Yoongi curled the tip, making it hit my g-spot, causing me to let out a moan as my hips started to grind against him. He kept thrusting his extra appendage against that spot, my juices flowing out and onto him. His tail was now stretching me further, my slick aiding to the penetration. He trailed his hand to my chin, pulling my face in front of him and drawing me closer to connect our lips in a feverish kiss.

"I need your cock in me," I whispered against his lips, thrusting my hips to meet the thrusts of his tail.

"Is my tail not enough for you, jagi?" Yoongi teased, holding the side of my face in his large hand and pushing his tail deeper inside me, drawing a strangled moan from the back of my throat. "or are you just that much of a cockslut?"

"Yes," I let out a pathetic moan at the degradation, burying my face in his neck, clenching around his tail.

Yoongi moaned at the sensation, pressing his head further into the pillow, his grip tightening on my hip. He halted my movements, removing his tail from me. I whined at the loss of having him inside me. His hands moved to my shoulders, pushing me up, so I was straddling his hips.

"I want you to ride me," he expressed, running his hands over my thighs.

Showing Yoogni a smirk, I wrapped my hands around his cocks, pumping them slowly. Running both thumbs over the tip of his cocks, smearing the pre-cum leaking from them. I let go of one and brought my hand to his heavy balls, massaging them as Yoongi's hips rose and his body writhed beneath me.

"Please," Yoongi's voice came, his head tossed to the side, hair spread out across the pillow, hands now gripping at the sheets.

I tightened my hold at the base of his cock, causing Yoongi to let out a choked sob. In a matter of minutes, his aura changed. Gone was the confident man speaking what he wanted, now replaced with a needy and desperate sub. I smiled to myself at the realisation.

Rising to my knees, I positioned myself over his cock, teasing myself a little, rubbing the head of his cock through my wet folds, spreading our slick around my entrance. Yoongi opened his mouth to speak but let out a groan instead as I started to sink on his length. My walls clenching around him, drawing him in even more until he was completely buried inside me.

I let myself adjust to his size, and Yoongi tries to catch his breath, his chest dramatically rising and falling with his every breath. We both let out moans of relief as I started to roll my hips against his, bracing my hands on his chest.

"Amazing," Yoongi strained, holding my hips in his big hands, " you are still so tight."

Yoongi's hands guided my hips to rise, his cock barely inside my pussy before I took the liberty to slammed myself back down. The movement caused Yoongi to shout, his fingers digging into my flesh, most likely to cause bruising, but I didn't care.

I lightly ran my hands over his stomach as I returned to a grinding movement, watching the goosebumps rise in my wake. Yoongi's body writhed, letting out whines as I lightly traced a finger over the patterns and ridges of his neglected cock. He hissed as I wrapped my hand around him, pumping him in the rhythm as I bounced on his other cock.

"I'm gonna-" he started, the stimulation now becoming too much for him.

"No, you're not," I spoke sternly, relishing as he cried in frustration as I came to a halt, only clenching my walls around him. "Not yet anyway."

I resumed pumping his cock, this time with both hands, massaging him. His hands gripping the sheets, his back arching off the mattress. I raised my hips, clenching as I did so, before slowly lowering myself back down, repeating a few more times as Yoogni started to let out high pitched mewls.

"You sound so pretty, baby," I praised, pumping his cock with one hand and circling a finger around the tip of his cock with the other, "are you going to cum?"

"Yes," Yoongi vigorously nodded. Pained groans filled the room with each breath he let out. He pushed his feet into the mattress, thrusting up to meet me halfway.

I could feel my high approaching quickly. I braced a hand on Yoongi's chest, keeping a steady pace on his cock with my other hand. The top half of my body started to slump forward, my energy beginning to wear out. Yoongi noticed, moving his hands to my back. He let me fall against him before his hands travelled to my hips, halting my movements. He then used what was left of his energy to pound into me rapidly.

"Yoongi," I moaned, my breath fanning over his ear.

Our moans mingled together, our skin slapping filling the room as our high's quickly came. I moaned Yoongi's name as I clenched and released around him. Feeling me come around him, Yoongi thrusted faster like a mad man. His cocks twitched before he stilled and came with a groan, my name the only word he said before sinking his fangs into the soft skin of my neck. He came inside me, painting my walls white, filling me to the brim. We became still, his cock softening buried in my pussy.

"Are you okay?" Yoongi whispered in my ear, softly stroking my hair as I still tried to slow my breathing. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"I'm fine," I breathed, burying my face in his neck, "I'm perfect."

I pressed a soft kiss to his neck, weakly chuckling as I felt his cocks twitch. Yoongi swatted my ass in a warning.

"Don't," he spoke, using his hands to lift me off him gently, "let me calm down first."

I trembled with the promise of him taking me for a second time today. I rolled to the side, too exhausted to move. I heard Yoongi rise from the bed, walking off somewhere. He returned with a wet cloth in hand, using it to clean me up, stopping when he reached my pussy. I gasped as I felt him press two fingers to me, collecting our mixed juices spilling out of me and pushing the liquid back inside me before wiping over my pussy.

Yoongi discarded the cloth in the bin, then maneuvering me under the sheets before getting under himself. He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me entirely against his body.

"Rest up, jagi," he whispered against my hair as I snuggled against his side, "we have a few more days of this, my mate."

Taglist: @alternateafterthought | @haven-raven012591 | @mitzwinchester