#platonic firey melody

[fangirlwriting-stories]

Prove It

Summary: Noise could just learn to fight again using the side of his body that has visibility.  But that's too easy.

…

For the first couple weeks, Noise gets their ass handed to them a lot.  Their side is often bruised, or their back, or in worst-case scenarios, their face.

So he practices more.  That’s the only option, obviously.  He will not allow himself to have a handicap.  Not one he can’t overcome, at least.  He will not give the Bard King the satisfaction.

So he practices, and practices, and practices.  He improves his skills, and balance, he learns how to hold his head so he can see as much as possible, and when he can’t, he learns how to judge where things will be based on what he hears.

It takes several months, but eventually, Noise is better at fighting on their blind side than they are on their good side.  And something in their chest finally relaxes at the thought.  It’s like saying, “See?  I can do it.  You didn’t hurt me that badly, and if you did, I beat it.”

In fact, there are times it seems to be an advantage, because people tend to underestimate him when they see him holding a sword on the same side he has an eyepatch.  He can kick their ass and surprise them while doing it, which is better than just kicking their asses in the first place.  It should be obvious to everyone that he’s perfectly capable, he’s just proved it.

For some reason, though, they can’t get rid of the annoying voice in the back of their head that keeps demanding they do more.  That they have further to go.  It sounds suspiciously like the voices that hiss in their ear as they pass them in the hallway “you didn't earn that chair.”

There’s another voice, too, one that instead of demanding more, demands he rest.  That one sounds suspiciously like Youngblood, probably because Youngblood was the one that would always tell him to rest.

He’d have ridiculous amounts of work as first chair too, but he’d still make time to show up in Noise’s doorway, scoop them up from their desk, and carry them over to their bed.

“You’re going to burn yourself out,” he’d say, giving them a look.  “Or hurt yourself.  And then you can tell me who’s gonna take care of your ass while you recover, cause it’s not gonna be me.”

It was always him.

But Noise can’t afford to slow down now.  He can’t take one more person saying that he didn’t earn that chair.  If no one can see how hard and how long he’s worked for this (without even getting it at first, for that matter), then he has to force them to see it.  He just has to prove to everyone else what he already knows, that he’s more capable of this than Youngblood ever was.  It doesn’t matter how exhausted he is.  Lack of sleep comes with the job description.  It’s not like he’s finding it easy to sleep lately anyway.  Tonight he’s been trying and failing for the past hour.

Noise rolls over in bed and wraps their tail around their burned arm.

See, Youngblood?  You didn’t hurt me that badly.  I’m fine.  Even the Bard King deciding to partially blind me can’t stop me from landing back on my feet.  I’m fine, I’m thriving.  You’re going to regret leaving once you see how amazing I’m doing without you.

Noise turns and buries his head in his pillow.

You are going to regret leaving, right?

[pkmacabre-shadow]

I'm debating if I want to kick Melody out of the Captain N AU I made it I want to reboot it. Mainly because of the fact that I want to recreate my old OC from my MMXD days (Samuel Clef) into a character in my fanfic series. They share some similarities, too.

Similarities:

-Both lost a parent (Melody lost a dad, Sam lost a mom)

-Is friends with Chester and Wren

-Gamers

-Megaman Fans

-Experience with Computers

-Both of European descent

-Gunners

-Trains with Pit and Megaman, but on different terms

Differences:

-Samuel is of Greek descent (from his mom), Melody is of Swedish-Dutch descent

-Their Birthdays are different (obvs) but they’re a year and 3-4 months apart

-Sam is 18, older than Melody who is 16-17 years old

-Sam is a super Megaman fan compared to Melody who knew the game franchise since middle school (Sam knows it since childhood)

-Due to his friendship with Chester since childhood, he and his buddy has a ton of gaming experience and knows who most of the characters were. Hence why he has some better experience with his weapon compared to Melody.

-Their sexualities are different: Sam is AroAce (Aromantic Asexual), Melody is likely Polysexual

-Personality Wise: Melody is more firey, erratic, energetic, and intelligent; Samuel is calm, extroverted, pessimistic, and intelligent.

-If their relationships with Pit and Dark Pit were, they’d be a sibling relationship but Dark Pit has a slight crush on Melody (as seen on parts of chapters 9 and 10 of Adventures in Smash) before it becomes platonic and more sibling like as time goes on

-Melody wears gold and green goggles and has braided hair; she cuts them off at her lowest point. Sam still keeps his slightly wild hair; no accessories.

-Different abilities

-Different attire

-Sam has heterochromia: One is olive-green, the other is a chocolate brown. Melody's eyes is the normal green eyes.

-If they get upgraded, they would get a mii gunner uniform after saving someone from a robot master (I went with Mars from the Megaman gameboy games for instance). Melody would save her mom, Marion, from Mars (also calling her Mama in the process), gets beaten after defeating Mars, Marion caressing her, and then transforms. Sam would get knocked out after defending Protoman. Protoman and the N team would get him to Light's lab before he gets upgraded.

-Melody would get a sibling bond with Axl ever since she met him when she was a kid.

[its-always-the-witching-hour]

Chapter 6 of Apocalyptic AU - Sanders Sides

Word count - 1057

Pairings - Just platonic stuff, with maybe some Anxeit

Warnings - (spoilers) blood, zombies, crying

Characters -  Virgil Tempest, Roman Regalis, Logan Thesis, Patton Chastity, Remus Regalis, Devan Reilly

Previous chapter - Next chapter

-----

“Remus?” Roman crept forwards uncertainly. “Remus, this isn’t funny. Quit playing around. Come on, get up!” He knelt down next to his twin’s body and gently shook his shoulders, then tried again, harder, when he got no response. Roman’s shoulders suddenly stiffened, and he stood up, facing Virgil. “You… you caused this. If you hadn’t run away, my little brother would still be alive!”

Virgil backed up, panic building fast as Roman stormed towards him, a murderous look on his face. Patton and Logan stepped in his way, making a small wall between Roman and Virgil.

“Kiddo, you know that Anxiety had no control over what happened to Remus. He tried his best to help them.”

“Yes, Patton is correct. Roman, in times of distress or pain, people often look for something or someone to blame. Try and direct your anger to the zombies instead of Anxiety.”

Roman took a deep, shuddering breath, then started to cry. Tears rolled down his face as he sank to the ground. “Y-your right. I’m sorry, Anxiety. It’s just…” He trailed off, looking towards the body of his brother, then turned back again, as though he couldn’t bare to see it. Patton crouched next to Roman and wrapped his arms around him, rocking him gently back and forth as Roman cried into his shoulder. Logan crouched next to Devan and pressed his fingers to his bloodied neck. Virgil crouched next to him, willing to help his friend any way he could.

“He has a pulse.” Logan sat back up triumphantly.

“So he’s alive!” Virgil gently shook Devan by his shoulders, and was rewarded with a small groan. Logan, who had moved over to Remus glanced up at the noise.

“Is he responding? Excellent. Remus also has a pulse, but he is far more injured than your other friend.”

“Roman, did you hear that? Remus is alive!” Patton whispered softly. Roman stopped crying almost immediately, and looked up hopefully.

“R-really?” He broke free from Patton’s embrace and crawled over to Remus. Logan showed Roman how to feel for his pulse, then held his hand just below Remus’s nose so he could feel his faint breathing. Roman began to cry again, but this time it was with relief. He sat next to his brother and stroked his hair, then stopped. “Logan? Is there anyway we can help them?” Patton reached into his bag, bringing out a wad of bandages and some plasters.

“I always come prepared.”

“Thanks Pat, you’re a life saver, literally.”

They all spent the next hour cleaning up the various wounds on Devan and Remus, then bandaging them up. Remus had a particularly large gash on the side of his head, and one of Devan’s legs was badly sprained. Patton attempted to pour some water into both of their mouths, and to their delight, both Remus and Devan managed to swallow some. Nightfall had arrived by the time they had finished, and Logan managed to create a small fire with a few timbers from the collapsing roof. Patton and Logan had placed their bags under Devan’s and Remus’s heads, and Virgil had found a couple of cans of soup that had fallen unnoticed behind a shelf. They were taking turns passing the cans around to eat, when a small cough interrupted them. Devan was sitting up awkwardly, a small smile on his face as he took in his surroundings.

“Are you going to offer me something to eat?”

“Devan!” Virgil practically launched himself at Devan, who grunted at the sudden weight.

“Careful! I’m still injured, you know,” he complained, but didn’t push Virgil away, instead wrapping his arms around the now sobbing emo. “Come on Virge, you got some introductions to make.” Devan smiled at the other three people sitting around the fire, food forgotten.

Virgil didn’t leave Devan during introducing his friends, preferring to sit next to him and make sure he was eating something. Devan was relieved that Virgil was okay and had found more survivors, and happy that Remus was still alive.

“Wait, are you telling me that your name is Virgil?” Roman looked incredulously at Virgil, who shifted uncomfortably.

“Yeah, sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, but I didn’t know if I could trust you at first.”

“That is perfectly fine, Virgil, we understand completely, don’t we?” Patton nudged Roman in the ribs who grumbled in agreement.

“What exactly happened to you and Remus, if you don’t mind me asking.” Logan voiced the question everyone was thinking.

Devan sighed, “I knew one of you would ask. And it’s probably best that I tell you as well.” He shifted, wincing slightly as the movement jolted his injured leg, then began his story.

“I lost sight of Virgil when I went to get Remus, as I was quickly surrounded by zombies. I had no idea where either of you were, and I only had a board I had picked up from the ground to use to fend the zombies off. Then Remus came to my rescue, as you could say, using his bat to fend off the zombies so we could try and escape. Both of us managed to make it to the middle of the store, where we could stand on the shelves to be out of their reach. Remus noticed that the counter area was free of zombies, so we made the choice to try and jump to it. He made it over there fine, but the shelf I was standing on collapsed as I was trying to jump, so when I landed my ankle rolled to the side, and I felt it nearly break. The pain was so intense that I could barely see, but from what I remember, Remus stood in front of me to ward off the zombies. I must have passed out just after that, because I can’t remember anything else.”

Patton smothered a yawn, his eyes drooping. Logan, noticing the exhaustion of his friends, covered the fire with dirt from the floor, putting it out. “I suggest we should all get some rest, then tomorrow we should try and find a safe house to stay at.” He took off his broken glasses that he still insisted on wearing, and carefully put them next to him.

“Goodnight everyone, and hopefully by tomorrow night, we will be in a much more secure place.”

Taglist

@pastelbootybomb @firey-alex @phoenixdoesstuff @aimasup @yesicanbelieveitsnotbutter @dierotenixe @astraheart04 @lovelilijazunde @feralratt @elementalshadowwitch @sanderssidesocfanstuff @oofmood @holliberries @authorized-trash @decentsanders @cass-withsass @amintyworld @sanderssidesweirdo @its-logan-appreciation-day @contemplativespectrum  @cattail-breeze  @notkolaidoscop @xsoftangelx @mtgsaske @the-melody-of-eliza @awesomefanderhufflepotato

[fangirlwriting-stories]

First Impressions, Or Something Close To

Summary: Roman isn't quite sure what to think when he meets Noise.  He does know he doesn't like that he calls Youngblood heartless.

...

Roman isn’t sure how to feel about the fact that this tiefling has the voice he remembers from the cave.  His first instinct is to have somewhat better expectations.  After all, what happened with the fake version of his dad might be what he’s scared of, but when he’s not actively scared and emotional, Roman can recognize that it’s closer to fear than reality.  Hopefully the same can be said for who Youngblood saw— or heard, more accurately, since this is the first chance Roman has had to put a face to the voice he remembers.

He looks them up and down, and finds a confident looking, smirking tiefling with crown-shaped horns and a purple cloak, and holding a really cool looking stick— wait, is that a sword?

“Look at the stick in his hand!” Roman says, turning to Youngblood.

“I know, it’s pretty cool, I know, just don’t say that out loud,” Youngblood says, looking away.

“Wait wait wait, but they know you,” Roman says, turning slightly to the figure and then back to Youngblood with confusion.

“Yeah, just… yeah,” Youngblood says, looking down and seeming very uncomfortable.

“He said friend,” Roman probes.  Then a thought suddenly stikes him.  “Should I be jealous?”

“I would not consider this person a friend, right now,” Youngblood says, though Roman can still hear the hesitance in his words.  “Maybe once before.  Not now.”

“Okay,” Roman says, feeling hesitant himself.  Before he can consider it for too much longer, however, the figure comes over and stops in front of them.

“What a sight it is to see you here after all this time,” he says, smiling at Youngblood for just a brief second before immediately glaring instead.  “You think you can disappear for a year, and just waltz back in here like nothing happened?  I mean truly Youngblood, leaving without a word.  You really were heartless.”  They sneer at Youngblood while putting one hand over their heart and another on their forehead.

Okay, so Roman’s going to need everyone to slow down for a second.

Maybe that instinct about having better expectations was wrong, because this person is sounding awfully similar to the voice Roman remembers from the cave.  The voice that made Youngblood scared and upset, and Roman is not a fan of his friend being scared and upset.

But the voice in the cave had said that Youngblood had caused pain, that he was only capable of pain and destruction.  Which is definitely not true, obviously, but that voice was also saying things they’re afraid of, wasn’t it?  Why would Youngblood care about this person’s opinion of him if he says he doesn’t care about him or consider him a friend?

Well, Youngblood is fairly decent at hiding his emotions.  Maybe that’s what’s going on here?  Maybe he does still care about this person but doesn’t want to say it.

Okay, so Roman doesn’t know a ton about what’s happening right now, but he does know one thing that he’s pretty sure both Youngblood and this new figure could benefit from hearing.

“Sorry, there might be some sort of misunderstanding here,” Roman says, directing it at the figure, but making sure Youngblood can hear him too.  “Because the Youngblood that I’ve been traveling with has been far from heartless, okay?”

The figure turns their gaze to him, so Roman keeps talking, hoping something is getting through to him.

“So I don’t know what may be the beef between the two of you,” he says.  “But if we could just talk about this, maybe come to some sort of common resolution?”

“You two have been,” the tiefling laughs a little, “traveling together?”

“Yeah, I mean, things change,” Youngblood says, still sounding hesitant, but also a little more confident, which is progress.

“A lot has changed actually,” the tiefling cuts him off.

“Yeah,” Youngblood mutters.

The tiefling takes a step back and twirls his cloak around.  “You see, I was promoted to my rightful place as first chair the moment you left.  No longer tailing behind you.  And unlike you, I took my orders from our glorious Bard King seriously.  So I’m here, helping this noisy town solve some petty crimes.  Honestly it’s easy work.  I don’t know why you ever made a fuss.”

“It’s not what I wanted to do,” Youngblood says, narrowing his eyes.  “And I’m glad you feel good about the fact that you only got appointed to that position because I left.”

“Woah,” Roman says, looking between the two of them.  “Wait, what is all this fighting over a chair?  That’s ridiculous.”  Are they saying they let a chair get in between what was clearly a very important relationship to them before?  Okay, Roman knows Youngblood can be kind of iffy about commitment, but he didn’t think it was this bad.

“Did you need backup so bad you went and got your own color guard?” the tiefling asks.  They laugh, sounding amused at the concept, like that’s some kind of huge insult.

“First of all,” Youngblood says instantly, stepping forward.  “Slow your roll, okay?  Yes, he might be green—”

“Yeah, well—”

“—and this might be his first time in a casino, and he may have just learned how to yield a sword, and he may have just learned what music and harmonies are—”

“Okay, you know, I think they get the point,” Roman says, cutting Youngblood off.

“But,” Youngblood says, thankfully.  “He is my…” Youngblood takes a breath, “friend.”

Roman gasps.  “Aww!”

“And um, he has my back more than you do, so.”

“Yeah!” Roman says, mostly to add emphasis to Youngblood’s point.  He’s not sure whether that’s actually true or not.  Then again, this person did call Youngblood heartless, so Roman’s not that inclined to think highly of them anymore.

The figure looks taken aback for a moment, and Roman doesn’t know what to make of that, but before he can even begin to think about it, the figure speaks again.

“Where are my manners?” he says, back into being a confident and smug presence.  “Though you may have already heard of me, my name is Noise.  Ranking first chair of the Bard King’s righteous marching band.”

Noise puts a hand on their hip and leans forward with a snicker, their tail flicking in excitement.  “Something’s off here.  You’ve changed,” they say to Youngblood.  The next second, they lean forward and grab Youngblood by the collar, pulling him down towards them.

“You’re getting weak,” he laughs.

“Uh no, no one is weak,” Youngblood says, though Roman will admit he’s curious as to why he’s letting Noise grab him like that, and also why he hasn’t moved away yet.

“Yeah, this is like the strongest dude I’ve ever met,” he says anyway.

“Thank you,” Youngblood says.

“I mean, besides my daddy,” Roman adds.  Because obviously.

“I appreciate it?” Youngblood says, though it sounds more like a question this time.

“You know, ever since you left,” Noise says, finally stepping back.  “I’ve heard nothing but ‘you didn’t earn that chair.’”

For a second, he looks almost despairing, and Roman feels a little thrown off guard.

A second later, however, they glare up at Youngblood again.  “I challenge you to a battle of the bards,” he says.  “Right here, right now.  Let’s finally put to rest which of us is more deserving of first chair.”

Roman turns to Youngblood.  He’s not sure how he feels about fighting Noise, especially when he still feels so unsure where both of them really stand with each other, what happened and whether or not it can be fixed, but if Youngblood needs him, of course he’ll have his back.

“You know what, sure,” Youngblood says, waving his hand dismissively.  “Why not.  I don’t even want the chair.  Fuck the chair.  But you know what, I will do it to prove a point.”

Okay, not the greatest attitude to have about going into a fight with a former friend, but Roman will roll with it.  Maybe they can still try talking later.  For now, Roman might also want to kick some butt a little bit.  They did call Youngblood heartless, after all.  And no one calls Roman’s friend heartless.

So, as he sees Noise dives into the battle, Roman pulls out his sword and gets ready to do the same.

[fangirlwriting-stories]

Denied Reconciliation

Summary: Youngblood is reunited with someone he knows at a casino in Fantabulous Neon.

...

Roman has never seen a place quite like Fantabulous Neon.  The electricity stuff is amazing, and there’s so much fine dining and so many things to see, and to top it all off, they won a boatload of money at a casino!  Roman is prepared to spend the rest of the night celebrating the victory with Youngblood, but just as he’s about to suggest they go play a million other games and definitely increase this money they’ve earned, he hears a voice from the other side of the room.

Roman and Youngblood both turn to see a figure approaching from the steps.  The light glaring off all around them makes it a little hard to make out the figure at first, but finally, the figure walks over towards them and stops in front of the two of them.

“Ah, shit,” Youngblood mutters.

“Youngblood, who’s this?” Roman asks.

“I thought I recognized you, Youngblood,” the person says before Youngblood can answer.  “Do you really think you can just abandon your post and get no consequences for it?”

“Look,” Youngblood says.  “I understand it probably messed some things up—”

“Messed some things up?” the figure says, raising an eyebrow.

“Flow,” Youngblood says, sounding a little like he was appealing to this person.  “We’ve never had any issues before, right?  You can just forget you saw me and Roman, can’t you?”

The figure, Flow apparently, does not seem amused.  “No, Youngblood, I can’t do that,” she says.  “You have to know there are orders out to look for you.”

“Orders?  Youngblood, what’s she talking about?” Roman asks.

“And you have a friend named Roman?  Are you just asking to get arrested?”

“I didn’t say we were friends—”

“What’s wrong with my name?”

“You’re going to have to come with me,” Flow says, and snaps her fingers.

Suddenly, two guards are approaching them from behind Flow, and Roman backs up into Youngblood.

“Uh, Youngblood?”

“It’s okay, there’s only two of them, we can take them,” Youngblood says.

But then Flow suddenly pulls out a baton and twirls it in the air, so fast it almost seems to become a hoop, and before Roman can ask Youngblood if this is some kind of standard bard weapon, a much smaller figure runs down the ramp Flow came originally from and jumps through the hoop.  Then a second later, standing right behind the two approaching guards is a massive dog, growling and baring her teeth.

“…Okay maybe we should do what they say for a little bit,” Youngblood says.

The guards are on them in the next second, and since Youngblood doesn’t fight, Roman doesn’t either, though he’s still not very comfortable with all this.

They’re led back through the casino with their arms behind their back, and Roman looks at Youngblood, still a little astounded he gave up so easily.  But then a second later, Youngblood looks at Roman meaningfully.

Roman blinks.

Youngblood raises an eyebrow and mouths “Three,” and Roman gets the picture.  He nods.

Youngblood looks ahead of them towards the door of the casino, then back at Roman and mouths “Two.”

Just as they’re about to be led through the doors, he yells, “One!”

Roman crouches down, and uses his arm and back muscles to flip the guard over him and onto the ground.

“Ha!” Roman calls happily.  “Looks like farm work is good for something after all!  I’m never doubting my Daddy again!”

“That’s great Roman, but right now we have to go,” Youngblood says from where he’s dispersed of his own guard.

Roman glances over his shoulder and sees the dog and Flow quickly approaching.  “Oh, right, yes!”

Youngblood grabs his hand and pulls them out of the casino.  They make it a couple steps before the massive dog leaps overhead, and lands across from them, Flow on its back.

“Good girl, Cymbal,” she says, patting the dog’s head before turning back to Roman and Youngblood.  “Now you two are coming with me.”

“Oh, bring it on,” Youngblood says, dropping into a fighting stance.

“Yeah, let’s go!” Roman calls, bringing up his fists.

Flow just sighs, however, seeming exhausted with the situation.  “Honestly, Youngblood, haven’t you caused enough damage?  You can’t just run off like that and expect to not cause some problems for yourself.  That’s not even mentioning the problems you’ve caused for others.”

“What others?” Youngblood snaps, glaring at Flow.

But to Roman’s surprise, and Youngblood’s too it seems, Flow stops.  “You… you don’t know?”

Youngblood’s eyes narrow further in suspicion.  “Know what?”

Flow crosses her arms, seeming, suddenly, almost sympathetic.  “Youngblood,” she says.  “Noise was appointed to first chair after you left.”

“Good for them,” Youngblood snaps.  “Why should I care?  I didn’t even want the chair.  I thought that was pretty clear when I left.”

Flow narrows her eyes.  “Youngblood, he’s dead.”

Youngblood doesn’t move.  “That’s not funny, Flow.”

“I’m not joking.  They were appointed to first chair, but the Bard King never particularly liked them very much.  Noise didn’t last very long.  They tried to leave to find you, and the Bard King didn’t like that.”

Roman gives Flow a confused look.  “Are you trying to say someone died over a chair?” he asks.  “That’s ridiculous.”  He turns to look at Youngblood.  “Youngblood, that’s ridiculous, right?”

But Youngblood looks like he’s going to be sick.

“Youngblood?”

Flow snaps her fingers, and suddenly two sets of guards grab Youngblood’s hands, and two sets of guards grab Roman’s, and when Roman immediately tries to throw them both off, one of them spreads his feet out so he can’t get enough movement.

“Put them out back,” Flow says, turning back to Cymbal and patting her on the head.  “I’ll take them back to the college when I’m done here.”

“Hey, let go of me,” Roman snaps.  He tries fighting against the guards again, but he doesn’t make nearly as much progress as before.

“Youngblood, a little help here?” he calls, but when he looks over at Youngblood, he just finds him staring down at the ground and walking where the guard moves him without any argument.

“Youngblood?” Roman asks, seriously concerned now.

He doesn’t get a chance to ask, however, before they’re both taken towards a large carriage of sorts, and the back doors are thrown open.  Before Roman can protest, they’re shoved inside, and the doors are slammed shut and locked behind them.

Roman tries banging on the door a couple times, to no success.  Finally, he huffs, and turns around to look for Youngblood.

He finds his friend sitting against the back wall, head buried in his knees.

“Youngblood?” Roman asks, crawling forward in concern.  “Youngblood, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Youngblood says, but it’s muffled by his legs and also clearly a lie.

Roman turns to sit next to him.  “Who’s Noise?”

“No one,” Youngblood says, pulling his head up just long enough to glare at Roman, looking serious enough to mean it.  “Just—” he buries his head in his knees again.  “Just leave me alone, Roman.”

Roman sits there for a minute, at a loss.  He hears movement from outside, and scoots over so he’s sitting more in front of Youngblood.  Whatever’s going on, his friend seems to need him right now, and Roman’s not going to abandon him.  He’ll figure the rest out later.

[fangirlwriting-stories]

Injuries and Idiocy

Summary: Noise is perfectly capable of taking care of himself.  Besides, it's just a little stomach wound.  It's not that bad.

...

Well, Noise isn’t going to say that was very fun.

The monster had been big, and there had been several times Noise wasn’t sure they were all going to make it.  They don’t even manage to kill it in the end, just knock it unconscious and run for their lives.

But they do all make it away, and minus a nasty stomach wound Noise is going to have to deal with pretty quickly, they do so without being hurt.

As soon as they’re sure they’re safe, all three of them take a minute to breathe.

Roman is the first to laugh.  “Let’s do that again.”

“No,” Youngblood says in exasperation, at the same time Noise groans “No,” and clutches his stomach.

“Noise?” Roman asks, seeming to notice that.  “Wait, are you hurt?”

“It got me in the stomach a little bit,” Noise admits, waving Roman off.  “I’ll be okay.  I’d just like to get to a place I can treat it.”

“Are you sure?” Youngblood asks, looking concerned at them.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” Noise says, hoping how badly he wants to get going so he can treat himself doesn’t come across.  “Really I just want to find a place to rest.”

“Well we can both agree on that,” Roman says, as he stands up and stretches.  “I have no idea where the closest town is, do either of you have any ideas?”

“There’s one a couple hours that way,” Noise says, pointing in the direction of the sunset.  They can already imagine how exhausted they’ll be after having to walk all the way there and then treat a bad stomach wound before they can sleep, but there’s not much they can do about it.

“Alright,” Youngblood says, sounding just as exhausted by the idea.  He pushes himself off of the tree he’s leaning against and pulls his bag over his shoulder.  “Well, we’re not gaining light.”

“Yeah, we probably should get going,” Roman says, picking up his own bag.  “I don’t want to be out here too long after dark, especially when that thing wakes up again.”

Noise looks down at his own bag, braces himself, and picks it up.  Immediately the wound in his stomach protests.  He tells it to shut up.

They’re all still pretty exhausted, so it’s slower going as they start towards the town.  Noise is trying very hard not to focus on their stomach, but it’s not very happy with them.  It wants to rest and get cleaned and wrapped in tight bandages, and all Noise can offer is putting a weak amount of pressure on it with their hand as they walk.

He isn’t sure if he can make it all the way to the town.  Unfortunately, he also isn’t sure what other options he has.

Roman and Youngblood seem to mostly recover before long, and start talking and joking up in front of Noise, but he’s finding it increasingly difficult to focus on anything the two of them are saying.

This makes it a bit of a problem when Roman turns around with a grin and says “Am I right, Noise?”

Youngblood turns around with a look of exasperation, meaning Roman was probably making fun of him.

Noise blinks.  “What?”

Youngblood’s look of exasperation turns very quickly into concern.  “Noise, what’s wrong,” he says, stepping forward.

“Nothing, I’m fine,” Noise says, trying to blink off the fuzziness that is suddenly invading the world around them.

“Noise?” Roman says, stepping forward too and sounding very worried.

“I—” Noise says.

“Noise, your stomach,” Roman says, sounding scared all of a sudden, and Noise looks down to see a patch of red growing underneath his hand.

“Oh,” Noise says, taking their hand off and finding it bright red.

Noise looks up at Youngblood and Roman, who are both staring at them in horror.

“I think I need to sit down for a minute,” Noise says.  And then he starts tipping forward.

“Noise!” someone screams, and the last thing Noise feels before blacking out is a pair of arms catching them.

…

Noise wakes up on a soft surface to hushed voices and the overwhelming desire to go back to sleep.

Unfortunately, before he can do that the pain in his stomach returns full force and he groans, curling into a ball.

“Noise?” comes a familiar voice, and a second later someone is brushing their bangs back on their forehead.

Noise forces his eye open to see Youngblood hovering over him, showing a surprising amount of obvious worry.  They seem to be inside, as Noise can see a ceiling behind Youngblood, and the thing he’s laying on feels like a bed.

“Wh’ happen’d?” Noise mumbles, trying to move.

“Hey, no no, don’t sit up,” comes another familiar voice, and Noise looks over to their right to see Roman sitting on their other side.  “You’re hurt, Noise.”

Noise blinks a couple times.  “What, you mean the monster?” he asks.

“Yes, the monster,” Youngblood snaps, crossing his arms.  He still looks more worried than angry, though.  “What were you thinking, you idiot?  Why didn’t you tell us you were hurt that badly?”

Noise gives him a confused look.  “Wasn’t that bad.”

“Wasn’t that— Noise, you collapsed.”

Noise rolls their eye.  “I’ve been through worse than that,” they say, and then they yawn.  “Mm, I’m sleepy.  I’m gonna go back to bed.”

“Wait, Noise—”

…

Noise feels a little more lucid when he wakes up the second time, though unfortunately that means the pain is worse.  He starts to curl around his stomach again, only to this time be met with resistance.

Noise blinks their eye open to see Youngblood laying on the bed next to them.  As Noise moves, however, Youngblood shifts too, and suddenly Noise finds himself looking right into Youngblood’s open eyes from less than a foot away.

“You feeling better?” Youngblood asks.

Noise thinks back, trying to locate the memory of what happened.

Oh fuck, he really did pass out in front of them didn’t he?  How embarrassing.

They look away slightly as their cheeks heat up, and nod.

“Good,” Youngblood says.  He sits up and glares down at Noise, who shrinks back.

“Now maybe you can tell me what the hell you were thinking.”

Noise winces.  “Where’s Roman?”

“Out getting food.  You don’t get a good cop.  What the fuck was that, Noise?”

“It was just a scratch,” Noise grumbles, looking away.

“You collapsed.”

Noise winces again.  “Sorry.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?  Noise, we were worried sick.  What if you’d died, moron?”

Noise scoffs.  “I’m not going to die from a little monster scratch.  I’ve been through worse than that alone.”

There’s a long pause, to the point that eventually Noise looks over again to find Youngblood rubbing at the bridge of his nose.

“…What?” he asks hesitantly.

“Okay,” Youngblood says, turning to face Noise again.  “I’m not going to lie and say I don’t get that.  I was on my own for a long time too.  But here’s the thing.  Then I met Roman.  And after that, if I got hurt, I let him help.  And I helped him if he got hurt.  That’s the kind of thing you do when you’re traveling with other people, Noise.”

Noise scowls.  “I don’t need your help.”

“Needing help isn’t a bad thing, idiot.  I know you know that.  We helped each other all the time when we were at the Bard College together.”

“Yeah, and then you left,” Noise snaps.  “And no one believed I could do a single damn thing by myself.  I had to prove them wrong, obviously!”

“Says who?  They’re assholes.  Why do you care about their good opinion?”

Noise glares down at the blanket stretched over the both of them.  “Well obviously I didn’t have yours anymore.”

There’s a moment of silence, and then Youngblood sighs.  “Idiot.”

He reaches over and pulls Noise to his side, and Noise glares over at the wall but doesn’t pull away.

“Do you really care that much about what I think about you?” Youngblood murmurs.

Noise rolls his eye.  “No, of course not.  You’re just the only person who ever believed in me, why would that be important to me?”

There’s another moment of quiet, and then Youngblood reaches over and gently moves Noise’s face to look at him again.

“I still believe in you, idiot,” he says.

Noise looks down.

“Hey, I mean it.  You’re perfectly capable, and there’s no one else I’d rather have my back in a fight.  But you don’t have to be capable of everything to be strong.  You definitely don’t have to be capable of walking hours to a town and not speaking up when you’re badly injured.  I don’t want you to be capable of that.  It scares me when you try to be.”

Noise doesn’t say anything.  After a moment, they lean forward into Youngblood’s chest, and Youngblood wraps his arms around them.

“I just,” Noise mumbles.  “I just wanted to be respected.  None of them ever treated me like I mattered.”

“They’re pricks and I’ll kill them all,” Youngblood says, tightening his grip.

Noise laughs wetly.  “Please don’t kill anyone.”

“I won’t really.”

“Yes you would.”

“Okay yes I would, but only if you asked.”

Noise presses his head further against Youngblood’s chest.  After a minute, Youngblood kisses the top of one of his horns.

“Noise?” Youngblood whispers after a second.

“Yeah?” Noise whispers back.

“Don’t do that again please?”

“…okay.”

Youngblood gives a relieved sigh and squeezes them a little tighter, which is when Noise realizes how bad they actually scared him.

“I’m sorry,” he murmurs.

“It’s okay.”

Another second passes, and Noise almost doesn’t want to breathe.  This moment feels fragile, like the slightest thing would shatter it.

So, of course, the next second the door bangs open, and Youngblood and Noise both cry out in surprise and scramble apart.

“I’ve come back with bread!” Roman proclaims loudly.

Youngblood sighs.  “Of course you have bread.”

“Well, yeah, it’s my favorite— Noise!” Roman calls happily, dropping the bread on the other bed across the room and rushing over.  “You’re awake!  Are you okay?  You’re not going to do that again, are you?”

“No, I’m not,” Noise says with a small smile.  “I’ve been too firmly scolded.”

“Good,” Roman says, leaning forward and wrapping his arms tightly around Noise.  Noise melts a little in his grasp.  Roman gives amazing hugs.  It’s the arms, most definitely.

“In that case,” Roman says, pulling back too soon but with a warm smile still on his face.  “We shall feast on Burgundy Red’s!”

“You’re never going to get tired of that place, are you?” Youngblood mumbles as Roman moves over to grab them.

“Of course not!  How could you even suggest such a thing?”

Youngblood sighs, and Noise laughs a little, settling into the warm feeling that’s overtaken the room.

They’ll blame it on the oven-fresh bread.

[its-always-the-witching-hour]

Chapter 5 of Apocalyptic Au - Sanders Sides

Word count - 1422

Pairings - Some platonic stuff, but nothing major

Warnings - (spoilers) panic attacks, zombies, blood, a bit of self doubt

Characters - Virgil Tempest, Roman Regalis, Logan Thesis, Patton Chastity

Previous chapter - Next chapter

“Pat, you are one of the best and sweetest beings in existence, but for the love of all things Disney, could you please hurry up!?”

“Sorry kiddo,” Paton giggled as he stuffed his possessions into a rucksack, “but I’m going as fast as I can.”

“Roman, please do as some people say, and ‘chill’” Logan looked over at the person in question, who was bouncing up and down with unrestraint energy.

“No can do, pocket calculator, I am going to see my brother today, and I literally can’t wait, so can we go already?”

“…and done! Let’s go!” Patton slung the bag over his shoulder and joined the others.

“Yes!” Roman took off, sprinting ahead of the others.

“Does he know where we’re going?” Virgil, who was slightly alarmed at Roman’s eagerness, asked the others, “because I’m pretty sure I came from over there,” he pointed in the opposite direction of where Roman was currently running at top speed, which was slightly faster than the average dog.

“You are correct that you came from over there, Anxiety. I am not entirely sure that Roman knows that either.”

“I’ll go get him.” Patton started to jog after the overly enthusiastic teen, when Virgil grabbed his arm and pulled him gently back.

“Not yet, I – uh, it’s just,” Virgil sighed and looked away, “what if Remus is actually dead, and Roman will think that it’s my fault because I ran away, and it’s actually probably my fault because I left them and Roman will hate me and you guys will hate me and I’ll have no where to go so I will probably die of starvation or get eaten by the zombies, or, or,” he realized he was hyperventilating, and Patton and Logan were looking at him with concern.

“Anxiety, even if the worst did happen, we wouldn’t kick you out. You’re our friend, even if we haven’t known you for very long.” Patton tried to hug Virgil, but he flinched away at the first touch of Patton’s hands. “Please kiddo…”

Virgil started to rake his hands through his hair, pulling at it harshly. “You don’t understand; it ALWAYS ends up like this, with me running away from the things that matter.”

Logan gently took Virgil’s hands, and held them in front of him to prevent him from pulling at his hair.

“Anxiety, look at me.” Virgil slowly raised his head up to meet Logan’s calm gaze. “We are not mad at you, and we will never force you to try and survive on your own. You will always be welcome with us. Now, could you please hug Patton while I go get Roman.”

Virgil nodded mutely, and allowed himself to be pulled into an embrace by Patton, his shoulders shaking as silent tears ran down his face. It seemed like they stood there for eternity, with Patton rubbing soothing circles on Virgil’s back as he sucked in heaving breaths, attempting to get his breathing under control.

“What did I miss?” Roman, who was slightly out of breath stood next to them, watching with a mix of confusion and concern.

“Uh, nothing.” Virgil backed out of the hug, wiping furiously at his eyes. Patton looked slightly disappointed that the hug had ended, but gave Virgil his respective space.

“We were just waiting for you, Roman.” Patton smiled brightly at him, but he still didn’t look convinced.

“Okay? Well, can we go now? This time Anxiety can lead, because he knows where Remus is.”

Virgil, who was still feeling the effects of the panic attack, tried to gather his emotions and put on a calm look. “Sure, if I remember the way, that is.”

“Let’s go!”

 ------

“Where are we?”

“For the last time, I don’t know!”

“Kiddo, try to calm down.”

“No Patton, you don’t understand; Dee and Remus could be in serious trouble right now!”

“Anxiety, it would be highly unlikely that in this short amount of time something as bad as you are thinking of has happened.”

Virgil stopped in his tracks and spun around to face Logan. “Have you forgotten that the last time I saw them we were being chased by zombies!? Or do you just not care?”

“Kiddo, breathe.” Patton placed a hand on Virgil’s arm, “Logan didn’t mean it that way. He was just saying to think of positive outcomes instead of just negative ones.”

“Sorry Logan.”

“It’s okay, Anxiety, I know that you are just worried.”

“That’s an understatement.” Virgil muttered under his breath as they all started walking again.

“Hey, Anxiety, do you recognize any of the buildings around here?” Roman, who had been walking in silent determination up until that point gestured at the houses surrounding them.

“Well, this building style does look kind of familiar, I think I have been around here once.” Virgil tried to remember when he had seen the type of architecture that surrounded him, but the memory eluded him.

“Guys? I don’t think we’re alone…” Patton whispered, causing everyone to freeze.

“Are you sure?” Roman hissed back, “It might have just been a bird.”

“No!” Patton insisted quietly, “I saw human shaped shadows down an ally back there, and I heard something that definitely wasn’t an animal.”

A heavy knot of fear had now formed in Virgil’s stomach, and he was finding it hard to breathe. “Patton? I-I think I’m having a panic attack.” Patton’s head whipped around and locked eyes with Virgil, who was starting to shake violently.

“Roman, could you, carefully, look around to see if anything dangerous is watching us? If there is anything, do not try and fight it. You know how well that ended up last time. Logan, help me get Anxiety out of here to a safer place.”

“Got it.” Roman snuck off with a sheepish expression, which in a different situation would have caused Virgil to actually crack a smile.

Patton stood protectively on one side of Virgil and Logan on the other as they slowly continued their way down the open street, glancing at every area something zombie-sized could potentially hide. They were barely halfway down the road when Roman came sprinting up to them at top speed, his eyes wild with fear and a little excitement.

“Guys! I found a sword!” He brandished it in front of him, causing the others to back away in order to not get stabbed.

“Why was there a random sword lying in the street?” Logan asked, disbelief written all over his face.

“I found it in an ally. There were also a lot of zombies there, which is why I was running, did I mention that?”

“Why didn’t you tell us that first!”

“I thought the sword would be more interesting…”

“Roman, we are literally in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, and you thought that mentioning the fact we were being stalked by some wasn’t interesting!” Virgil yelled, causing Roman to look guilty.

“Now that you mention it-”

“Oh NOW you see the danger we are in! It hadn’t occurred to you before?”

“Please stop fighting! If Roman is right, we need to get out of here fast! You can continue this argument another time if it is that important to you, but right now we need to run!” Patton grabbed Virgil’s arm and started half dragging him down the street, forcing him to run. Logan did the same with Roman, and soon they were running as fast as they could, with a now growing horde of zombies following.

“Over here! Let’s hide in this gas station!” Roman, who had broken free from Logan was gesturing wildly at the others as they ran over to him. Patton and Virgil wove through the aisles towards the middle of the store while Roman and Logan used fallen shelves and bits of timber from the crumbling roof to barricade every entryway to the store.

“I-I recognize this place.” Virgil realized, standing up suddenly, “This is where I hid yesterday with Remus and Devan! They might still be here!”

Roman quickly turned around at the mention of his brother, and jogged over to Virgil. “We should start looking for them immediately!” he grabbed Virgil’s arm in excited hope, who shook him off just as fast.

“… no need.” Logan’s voice, heavy with disappoint and sadness came from the cash register. “I think I may have found them.”

The others rushed over to where Logan was standing. On the floor in front of him were two people, their clothes ripped and covered in blood, but still unmistakably Remus and Devan.

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