#put away their cellphones and turn off all of the lights for one person's sake

[angelicgarnet]

the most unrealistic thing about better call saul is how accommodating everyone is for chuck's psychosomatic illness

[mrsgiovanna]

A series of Firsts - Don Giorno x Fem! Reader

A cute Valentines day scenario with husband Giogio, nsfw-ish toward the end, just something that's been on my mind for a little while. Cut for length🥺💭❤️

Word count: 2318

Everything that could have gone wrong had inevitably gone wrong. It was the first Valentines day that you and your beloved would be spending together as a married couple, so needless to say, you wanted to make it a tiny bit more noteworthy than the usual extravagant outings you’ve grown accustomed to. You knew that things like this weren’t really important, but blamed your sentimental self for wanting to commemorate each “first” event in your first year of wedded life. As luck would have it though, every single one of your plans would be foiled, however, in retrospect, your end goal would actually be achieved.

There was still a chill in the February air, but it was a beautiful sunny day nonetheless. Giorno had already left by the time your sleep had broken, but you had woken up to a beautiful red rose and a small heart shaped chocolate on his pillow with a simple note in his handwriting. You smiled when you read the note, three simple words, but it meant more to you than anything. You lazed about in bed for a while, thinking about all the things you wanted to do today. The villa was quiet, save for the few guards that Giorno would not compromise on, you had given most of his other staff the weekend off, wanting it to just be the two of you. Or so you’d thought…

The spanner foiling this plan, came in the form of some important conference call with an associate from the Speedwagon foundation. Well, calling him an “associate” might be a bit cold, seeing that it was Giorno’s relative, Jotaro Kujo, who wanted to speak to him himself. Giorno knew it must have been something very important for Jotaro to reach out to him of all people given the circumstances and how suspicious he was in the beginning. So off he went, you presumed to his study, to discuss whatever issue was plaguing Jotaro. Deciding it was time to get out of bed, you quickly showered and threw on something comfortable, knowing you were going to put on a knock out outfit later on. No sooner had you stepped out of the master bedroom did you hear a loud bang, and felt something whizzing past you, missing your face by a hair’s breath. Being immediately on guard, you summoned your stand ready to attack the enemy that had infiltrated your home when you heard the familiar whining of Mista’s sex pistols…

“Mistaaaaa, he’s not here, can we go eat now?”

“Well good morning to you too number 5,” you said to the miniscule stand, who started to hide himself in your hair to escape the harassment from number 3.

“Awww has Mista has been starving you guys again? How awful, lets go find you guys something to eat,” you teased, earning an annoyed look from the gunslinger, to which he retorted, “Excuse me, they’re well fed and have nothing to complain about!”

As you both made your way to the kitchen, you asked Mista what brought him to the villa this early in the morning. You were hoping against your better judgment that it wasn’t anything too serious, but by the time Mista was done relaying his report about the unrest in some of the outlying areas, you knew it had to be nipped in the bud before it gained momentum. Wanting to feed the tiny gremlins, but being unsure of what they would eat in the morning, you set up some cured meats, fruits, nuts and some warmed cornetto on a platter.

The delicious smell of warm, buttery pastry had whet your appetite as well, so you decided to warm up more pastries for you and Mista and started making cappuccinos for the both of you. By this point you and Mista had been around each other for long enough and had been through so much together, that the bond felt more familial than anything else.

Setting down the food in front of you and Mista, the facts of his report were still playing on your mind.

“So where is Giorno anyway? I thought he’d taken some time off, which is why I came straight here,” asked Mista as he bit off a piece of his strawberry preserve filled croissant.

“He’s in the middle of an important conference call, he might be a while… what do you think about what’s happening in in the new territories? Do you think we can handle the situation among ourselves?”

Perplexed by your question, Mista thought for a while before answering. “I suppose they aren’t the strongest stand users, between you, Fugo and myself, we should be able to take them out if the need arises… listen, I don’t like where you’re going with this,”

It was all the confirmation you needed as you spoke with determination, “Let’s go then, if we can end this before it has a chance to blow up then we should do it. Call Fugo, I’m sure he’ll be willing to go with us, I’ll text Gio to let him know.” It was the first time you’d taken a bold decision like that without so much as consulting with Giorno… and just like that, you had thrown the second spanner in the works without even knowing it, because what should have taken a couple of hours had ended up taking the better part of the day.

“I wonder…. where could she be… ” mused Giorno as he walked around the villa looking for you. The conference call had taken longer than expected so he sought you out to make it up to you, but you were nowhere to be found. Deciding to call you, he’d come across the text message you’d sent him just before you left. His eyes darkened as he tried to call you.

“Oh hi Gio, are you okay? We’re kinda in the middle of something here,” you answered, trying to sound unfazed despite the ruckus taking place behind you.

“Cara, how can you just rush off into a dangerous situation like this? I’m very upset with you, come back here immediately,”

You felt very guilty when he still addressed you with his usual kindness despite how angry he sounded.

“Gio, I’m so sorry, I’ll explain everything when we get back, it will be over soon I promise,” you say, trying to placate both his temper and your own feelings.

“You guys have an hour to come back, failing which, I’ll have to come there myself. Honestly, you’re lucky I love you as much as I do, amore…” with that Giorno ended the call and went back to his study, hoping that you guys would be okay.

Upon arriving at Giorno’s study, you found him to be the picture of serenity, quietly working at his desk with some soft music playing in the background. He was relieved to see that you three delinquents were okay, most of all, you- his wife, who unfortunately was the biggest troublemaker of the lot, however he didn’t let that relief show on his face…

Just as Mista was about to speak, Giorno raised his hand to silence him,

“Did everything work out as expected in your marvelous misadventure?”

“you could say so… the job is done”

“is anyone hurt?”

“no, everyone’s alright,”

“then go home, it’s been a long day,” sensing everyone’s surprise, Giorno explained himself further.

“I trust you all, I want to make that clear… but for God’s sake, at least 1 person needs to be the voice of reason, nonetheless, I’m glad everything worked out for the best, just think before wildly rushing out next time,”

Mista and Fugo left the office leaving you alone with Giorno. You waited to hear the little electronic beep that the door made when it locked before you gently lowered yourself into Giorno’s strong arms, settling down comfortably in his lap.

“I’m sorry for upsetting you tesoro… you have so much to do, I just wanted to share some of the burden with you,”

“I know bella, I’m sorry too, I didn’t mean to snap at you earlier, I was just worried, I’d like to keep you away from these things as much as possible,”

“I can hold my own, you know,”

“I know bella, but you shouldn’t have to,” replied Giorno, lazily weaving his fingers through your hair. He drew your head closer for a kiss, starting off gentle, growing ever more passionate until you both stopped yourselves.

“Come amore mio, there isn’t a lot of time left, you have to get ready for our date, remember?”

Reluctantly, you got off his lap and left him with a feather light kiss to his temple.

After a long while of titivating with your look, you made your way back to Giorno’s study, finding him dreamily admiring the final seconds of the winter sunset. The fading golden light made his hair shine like spun gold and drew out the various jeweled specks of his eyes. He turns towards you, and his expression changes entirely, as if time itself had stood still.

“What do you think?” you ask, doing a little twirl and ending off in a pose, you giggle at your gesture.

“Sei cosi bella, you’re absolutely breathtaking amore mio,” Giorno says as he extends his arm to you, “are you ready to go?”

You smile sweetly and link your arm through his, just as you’re about to leave, the electricity cuts out.

No matter, you both wait patiently, expecting the generator to kick in at any moment, but nothing happens. Giorno’s study is more akin to a bunker, an impenetrable fortress built with the intention of keeping you both safe if the need ever arose. Grabbing his cellphone, Giorno calls one of the guards and asks him to check out the problem, as you are effectively stuck until you can get electricity back into the mechanism of the door.

You tinkered around the draws and cupboards, and managed to find all the aromatherapy candles and burners you got your husband to help him relax, you would have been annoyed that they were buried away if you weren’t as relieved as you were. It was quickly getting dark, and without the twinkling lights of the skyline, the room was becoming evermore difficult to navigate. After lighting up a considerable amount of the candles, you had to admit that the atmosphere was quite romantic.

“Well, they’ve found the problem, but can’t say how long it will take to fix, I could always try to use GE to break us out,”

“Break us out and do what my love? It looks like whole city is out, we’re probably in the safest place there is, come on, relax, we’ll just wait it out,” you reply as you pull him over to the couch. “see, this is nice right?” you say as you take your usual spot in his arms.

“Of course cara, I’m sorry, you’ve been patient with me recently, I know I’ve been very busy, so I just wanted to spoil you a bit,” Giorno’s voice was so gentle as he spoke, his fingers tracing circles onto your arm.

You were relieved as you felt him relax under your embrace, “for what it’s worth, happy Valentines day tesoro, I know things didn’t go according to anyone’s plan, but I’m still happy right here,” you utter, burying your face into the crook of Giorno’s neck.

“Happy Valentine’s day Amore mio, at least we’ll never forget this, and besides we have the rest of our lives to make up for it.”

The temperature started to drop the later it got, so Giorno decided to make use of his fireplace to make sure you didn’t get too cold, your slinky little evening dress offered little protection from the cold, not that he was complaining, it just meant that you would snuggle up closer to him. A yearning stirred in him when he looked back at you, bundled up in his large coat on the couch, you just looked so beautiful, the candlelight danced about in your eyes and your smile was the purest he’d ever seen.

“Are you okay bella? The room should warm up in a few moments. Ah, I know what would speed up the process… I recently acquired a very impressive bottle of wine…” mused Giorno as he found the bottle of Screaming Eagle Cabernet.

“Gio, isn’t that an insanely expensive bottle?”

“I’d hope so, it’s the 1992 vintage, imagine, we were just kids when this was made” he quipped, genuinely excited to crack open the extravagant alcohol.

“I thought you’d save something like that for a huge milestone like the birth of our first child or something of that magnitude. I just know how pricey it is,”

“Ah the birth of our child… conception of our child, it’s all the same”

Perplexed you asked, “caro, what are you saying?”

“What I’m saying bella, is that we’re freezing, the night is young and all we have for entertainment is each other’s wonderful company, whatever happens from here on out is up to the gods of fate, salute,”

And with a clink of your glasses and a gaze into each other’s eyes, you both took a sip of the wine. There was something irresistible about the way Giorno’s eyes glinted in the soft lighting. With a confident smirk, he drew you in for a passionate kiss, giving his hands permission to explore your beautiful body, drawing out those pretty sounds and lustful expressions that only he had the privilege of observing. Giorno was an intuitive lover, and you completely surrendered yourself to him. You both spent the rest of the night reveling in each other’s beauty and affection.

With arms and legs intertwined lovingly, breathing even and peaceful, you both slept blissfully unaware of the plans the mischievous gods of fate had in store for you.

[elphiej]

Be My Light: Chapter 1 Shadows from Our Past

*Pairing: Yoonig X Reader

*Genre: Mafia, angst, eventual smut, slow burn

*Warnings: Language, violence, gun fight, mentions of abuse, mention for drugs. 

Author’s note: Hi everyone, here is chapter one. My editor and I had some conversations about the length; they wanted to shorten it and I wanted to leave it in tact for the sake of the flow. Let me know if the length is too long or not. Also, there are a bunch of easter eggs (bangtan lyrics, iconic outfits, ect. as we continue) let me know what you find. And, of course, thank you for reading and let me know what you liked. 

Tag list: @lalalalaloo-blog​, @bangtan-sonyeonddaeng​, @barbikatherine​, @mrsfortune1306​

The sun had just begun to fill the windows of the Lotus Apartment when you stepped out of your unit, coffee tumbler in one hand and bag slung over one shoulder , ready for a gruelingly long shift at Central Mercy Hospital. You let your eyes scan the corridor for any signs of life; no one else in their right mind would be up this early, yet anxiety had you checking the halls before you felt secure enough to fully exit your apartment. Taking out your keys, you pull your door shut and lock the two deadbolts that had become necessary in your mind.

And not just because of the active gang activity in this part of the city.

It had been close to three months since you had come to Central. And over four since you had left your miserable excuse of a ‘boyfriend’; The lying, abusive snake that was Daniel.  Just thinking about him made your stomach churn. Your time in Central, alone in your apartment, helped you reflect on your relationship and how toxic it had been. At first, it was nice. He had been your friend. He had been supportive and kind. Then, he was your roommate, taking care of you and being your security in uncertain times. Then, he became your boyfriend. It was nice and normal, something you thought you’d never have. He was protective, at least that’s how you saw it at the time. Looking back now, it was controlling and manipulative. He would say things that you thought were sweet, but now you understood they were horrible things. He said he wanted an obedient, good girl; he’d tower over you and make you feel so small. And for some reason, you believed him. You stayed like that for too long. After you had taken a job, trying to help support the two of you, his behavior got worse. He started to drink, and his abuse became more physical. Afterwards, he’d always say how sorry he was, how much he cared about you, or how he only drank because he was worried about you. Somehow it was always your fault. He wanted you to quit your job at a small medical clinic near his secluded home, but it was your only escape. To make it worse, you found out he had been sleeping with another woman. And still, you stayed with him, because he had fucked your head up so bad that you thought you needed him. The final straw that snapped some sense into you was when you confronted him about the other woman. He had come home from drinking with her and went crazy when you said you were leaving. He screamed, threw you around the apartment, hit you. Then he trapped you against a wall and started choking you. Had you not been able to grab hold of a bottle he had left on an end table and hit him just right, you may not have made it this far.                                

You left that night with just your backpack full of clothes and the few personal belongings that you had with you, your cellphone, and the money in Daniel’s wallet. And you ran all through the night. You didn’t have a plan or destination but you just had to get as far away from him as you could. A small voice under all the doubt and fear that he had piled on you, cheered and drove you to keep going.  You didn’t stop moving until you found a bus stop in the middle of nowhere. The driver had told you it was headed to Central, and something in that name seemed familiar to you. It drew you there like a siren’s call. Central was so large, it felt like it could have classified as a country. It was the perfect place to disappear. As the bus pulled into its terminal, that familiar feeling came back in as you gazed about the large buildings. But you chalked that up to remembering that you and your father moved around a lot.

It was one of the few memories you had like that.

Over the last few months, you had questioned why Daniel had changed so much. He had been the first face you remember seeing after the accident. And he had been the one to break the news to you. There had been a terrible accident, a horrendous car crash. You had been in the passenger seat when the car had broadsided by a drunk driver, sending the car rolling into a ditch. You had survived but your injuries were so severe that you had to be placed in a medical coma, and the trauma had affected your memory. When you woke up, you could remember very little of your past; You remembered that you had studied to be a nurse and recently graduated, that your father had been your only family, and that he had been a high ranking police officer. Daniel’s face was something that you sort of remembered as well, and you figured that was why you clung to him like an anchor. But everything else was wrapped in a dense fog, shattered like pieces of glass that couldn’t be put together. Daniel had, also, broken the news to you that your father hadn’t survived the accident. He stayed close to you for over a year, helping you through therapies, reminding you to take your anxiety medications, and wiping away the tears. He was perfect. But then, it changed. And any time you tried to talk to him about it, he would brush you off or say that he was stressed out, but that he loved you and just let him do what he needed.

What was funny was that in the months since leaving him, a piece of a memory had resurfaced. It was of your father and how he didn’t seem to like Daniel all that much. You could only think of what your father would have said when he saw what his daughter had become. You did remember how he had taught you to be strong and tough, to stand up against the bullies. He would be disappointed now. You rubbed your neck where he had choked you, smelling his alcohol pungent breath as he said so many nasty things to you.

But you got out and for that, anyone should be proud.

Shaking your head from the bad memories, you shoved your keys back into your bag and down the dimly lit hall towards the elevator. You felt a tad silly looking over your shoulder, thinking one day he was gonna show up at your door and drag you back to that unsafe mind set, but you had learned from the support group you had been to that it was normal. Thankfully, you were about to have a long shift to distract you from all those feelings. The intensive care unit had been short staffed, and with the increase in gang activity, everyone was working extra hard.  Central Mercy was the most active hospital in all of Central; the others were less willing to help gang members or those targeted for fear of retaliation. But once they came through the ER doors, it didn’t matter what they were. If they needed help, you would help. Even villains need help, and maybe your help can change them, your father’s voice had echoed from somewhere in the foggy parts of your mind. Also, Central Mercy was the main hospital dealing with the current outbreaks of drug overdoses due to a strange street drug known as U4-1A, a highly addictive and deadly substance that had been making its way through the city. Mercy was more equipped for trying to save the overdoses that kept popping up. You had only seen a few of those cases, but the doctors who had been on the front of those, had described it as a mix of “ecstasy, meth, and cocaine all rolled into one deadly substance”. You shook your head. You didn’t understand why people would do that to themselves. But, then again, who would stay with a person who abused you for so long? As you stepped into the small elevator, you really needed a distraction from all these bad thoughts and your best friend, Amber, should be on her way into work by now. You decided to try and text her.  

Bless that girl, she had been a big part in getting you back into a functioning human being. When you had stepped off the bus in Central, you were overwhelmed by everything. You were scared, tired, and had nowhere to go. You had felt so lonely. You ended up falling asleep on a bench just outside the station. That is where Amber had found you. She felt sorry for you and took you to get some food. Once she had heard your story, though, she brought you back to her loft to help you. She had said she was in your position once, but never explained what she had gone through, and wanted to help turn you around. She had got you into therapy, got you to open up, helped you find a job in her department at Mercy, and found the woman you were sure you had been on track to be before the accident had set you back.

You hit the lobby button on the elevator, then reached in your work bag for your phone as the door shut. You felt your umbrella, wallet, extra shirt, and even your lunch, but not the phone. You prayed that you didn’t leave your phone in the apartment in your sleep deprived haze. It wouldn’t be the first time this week that it had happened. Your anti-anxiety medicine had finally run out, even after you spaced them out over the last few weeks. And your mind had refused to shut off and you had been plagued by nightmares all night. Finally, your fingers had brushed against the plastic case of your phone. You let out a sigh of relief. However, when you pulled it out of your bag, you wished you hadn’t. It had been the phone that Daniel had given you, and the one that Amber had been trying to get you to throw away for months. You remembered having a panic attack when she had taken it from you. It had been one of the only things you could call yours. She had returned it to you after messing with the setting. Amber didn’t want to take any chances of him tracking the phone, not that you thought he could think of that, and told you not to respond to him. He had sent a few messages in the first few days; he said he was sorry and how much he loved you, but you did as Amber had asked. There was a small part of you that wanted to reach out, in secret. Thankfully, the logical part of your brain kept you silent. Amber wanted to block his number for good, but you left it as it was. She had given you a new phone not long after so you wouldn’t be tempted. And you hadn’t turned the old phone on since then. It had been stuffed in a bottom drawer, only reappearing now when you had rushed to grab an extra thick undershirt and stuffed it into the bag without realizing it.

The elevator came to a halt and opened to the empty lobby. You knew there wasn’t much time to decide what to do. You needed a phone- a curse of modern society to not be able to go a day without it. If you decided to go back up to retrieve your real phone, you still had to find it from where it had fallen in the chaos of this morning. And by then, you would miss your bus and be late to work. Technically, this was a working phone. You hit the power button; if it turned on, you would just get on with your day. That was your decision. It sprung to life, still with a good amount of power despite how long it had been in that drawer. The home screen had a picture of you and Daniel. It made you cringe at the sight of those smiling faces. But it worked and that would have to work. Amber may not be too happy to see it, but you’d rather deal with her then your supervisor. Plus, you really had no desire to talk or see Daniel.

Though, that small, needy part in the back of your mind was still wondering if he had still reached out to contact you.

You got your answer as you stepped out onto the chilly, lamp lit sidewalk. Your inbox was full of text messages and voicemails. He must have sent two or three a day since you had run away. You couldn’t bring yourself to hear his voice. But, as you head down the sidewalk to your bus stop, you decided to read through a few of them.

-Y/N, I’m sorry. Please call me.

-I know you’re mad. You have every right to. I’m weak and dumb.

-Please, just let me know you’re ok.

-Honey, I love you. I’ll never drink again.  I never meant to hurt you.

-Please let me know you see these.

-You mean so much to me. I’ll do better. I need you.

-Honey, that girl meant nothing. I can’t live with what I did to you.

-Please call me. Yell at me, hit me. Do anything you want, just come back.

His last message came only two days ago.

-Honey, you must be out of your medicine. Please, just let me give that to you. I won’t bother you anymore. We don’t need to get back together. Whatever you want to do, we can do it. Just let me bring it to you. You need it and I care about you. Please, Y/N, I’m sorry. Please, let’s just talk.

               Wow, you thought, he seems really upset. That small part surged forward again, pushing you to respond since he seemed so sincere. But you shook your head. Amber had brought you to a counseling center she volunteered at where a survivors of domestic violence group met. And based on what they had talked about, and his history, you knew it was best to move on. Though, you were basically out of medicine. You didn’t know the name of it, nor had the prescription for it. Daniel had always taken care of it. There was a doctor at Mercy whom you were close with, Henry Na, who had offered to investigate it for you. So, you had given him the last generic, round, white pill. He had offered to prescribe you a basic anxiety medication to help you while he did some research. He had been a big help, just like Amber to getting you to the state of normalcy you had achieved. Hopefully, he had found something for you. You would wait to see what he had to say before making that decision. Or you could talk to Amber and she would slam the stamp of “HELL NO” on that whole thought.

               Not wanting to continue this train of thought, you sent a quick text to your friend to say you were on your way to the bus, then locked your phone and stuck it in the pocket of your scrubs. You were determined to make the most out of this day. Even after a terrible night, you were going to be with your best friend, seeing some of your favorite patients, and being away from your troubles. You just needed to get to the bus stop and out of the chill of the early morning. You pulled your jacket close to your body and quickened your pace. Living at the far end of town, while cheap, had its disadvantages. There was much gang activity in the outskirts, the bus stops were sparse, and all the main shops were a long way away. At least, for the moment. Ahead, you could see the outline of the new shopping center the government had decided to build in hopes to revitalize this part of the city. And while you were excited that you wouldn’t have to go far to get essentials, you hoped it wouldn’t raise your rent anymore. Your bus stop was just beyond the construction. You hoped that today would prove to be just as exciting as the prospects of the new shopping center.

               Little did you know, in the dim light of the dawn, just how exciting your life was about to become.

~*****************~

               If the outside wasn’t foreboding enough, the inside made up for it. It was dark with only a few work lights scattered around the large, open space. There were tall, arching pillars and small openings along the sides that were meant for food stalls, and a large, empty fountain in the center of the concrete floor. Loose wires hung from the unfinished light fixtures, while high scaffoldings and boxed materials were randomly spaced about. A cold breeze swept through the open doorways, sending dust and debris swirling about Bangtan’s feet as they took echoing steps towards the elevator at the end of the floor. Above them, there were large cut outs in the floor so patrons would peer down at those below, all in interesting and modern designs. Once it was finished, it would be very fancy and high-end, the complete juxtaposition to the traditional and family owned buildings around it. It didn’t belong there.

               Just like we don’t belong here, Suga thought as his eyes wondered about the dim area. Jimin was beside him, the sparse lights glittering off the studded shoulders of his leather bomber jacket. His face was sharp and serious, his eyes constantly moving behind his rose-colored glasses. And Jungkook was trailing behind, dragging the poorly trained spy with him. The bound and blindfolded kid had fought against the maknae’s grip as soon as they entered the construction zone, screaming unintelligently against the gag. It took a good smack on the back of the head and a threat of “knock it off before I knock you out” before he stilled and allowed Jungkook to lead him around. He, even, made an annoyed promise that he would not let him stumble or fall until they turned him over to his team.

               V’s voice rang through the earpiece Suga wore, telling him where to go. The elevator would take them to the top floor, opening to a reception area. And beyond that was the event hall where Choi and his group of assholes were waiting for them. V didn’t see anyone on any other floors, which meant that their passage should be safe. Just as a normal drop should be. But Suga knew that it wasn’t going to be normal. With each step, the uneasy feeling grew. With the confirmation of the General’s presence, old feelings from the past made Suga even more on edge. But he hid it from his younger members. He figured this was a trap; he and RM had talked every conclusion out. They just needed to get in and out as fast as possible. V had set some helpful distractions up if they needed a quick getaway. But all Suga was focused on was dealing with Choi and keeping his dongsaengs safe. He took out his cell and texted a quick update to the leader.

               “This place is huge! I didn’t realize it when V and I came here before. Let’s make sure we come back when it’s finished. Something this fancy looking is bound to have a Gucci store,” Jimin said, trying to ease the mood a bit. He brushed a bit of dust from his white Gucci shirt to highlight his point.

               “I feel between the two of you, you have enough Gucci in your closets to open your own store,” Jungkook replied, though he had his own collection of name brands to rival theirs.

               Suga gave little response as they reached the elevator. RM had texted him back, saying what they already knew; Get in, get out, and be safe. The leader had added ‘try not to antagonize him too much, hyung’. Suga had a gift of speech, known to the others as his ‘Tongue Technology’. He could talk circles arounds even the most versed debaters, and knew exactly what to say to break someone down. If he had ever decided to pursue a career in music, all of Bangtan was sure he’d be a master at diss tracks. When Jin had captured the spy, Suga barely warmed up before the kid broke from fear. And while he knew he should do as his leader asked, Yoongi knew that if Choi opened his mouth, he’d find it extremely hard not to challenge him. As all four crowded into the elevator, he slipped his phone back into the pocket of his red coat and hit the top floor button. Jimin had started cracking his fingers and stretching out his limbs just in case he needed to be ready. Jungkook seemed to be bouncing on his heels with anticipation. A black face mask was resting under his chin. Suga reached over and pulled it up over the young maknae’s nose. He reached up, after, and fixed his black hat to hide most of his face. Jungkook was the only one of their members who Choi hadn’t seen face to face, making him the safest when he walked around barefaced. The boy had been quite young when he had joined them, and each meeting before the Generals had disappeared, Jungkook’s identity had been hidden. And Suga meant to keep it that way. Jungkook smiled at the action and nodded a ‘thanks’ to his hyung.

               “Just stay behind us until the trade is made. Block the door. And keep your face hidden. We don’t need Choi knowing who you are, got it?”

               Jungkook nodded again, tucking some of his hair behind his ear.

               The elevator came to a halt as it reached the seventh floor and the doors slid open. It opened to a finished reception hall with an ornate, marble desk at the end near the large, double doors. Compared to the rest of the building, this was practically finished. The floor had a mirror finish, there was a small chandelier above the desk, and the walls were painted with a dark contrast to the white marbled floors. As they stepped off the elevator, a strange crackle sounded through the piece in Suga’s ear. With each step, it got louder. He could see the small red light from the CC camera that V had placed under the edge of the desk. He knew V had been monitoring them, as well as the Royals, and he tapped the earpiece to signal V something was off. He could hear the young man under the roar of the static typing away at his keyboard, letting out a few curses. The roar got louder and louder the closer they got to the doors.

               “Hyung-…. Sug-…. Can you…” static “Wait they…. With them! Plea-…” static “Get-,” then a piercing noise overtook everything, and Suga ripped the earpiece from his ear. From what little he heard from V, and the tone he was using, whatever he was trying to say wasn’t good. Jimin and Jungkook looked at him, questioningly. It was clear that something wrong was just beyond those doors. But they were already too far to turn around. The Royals must have heard the elevator’s chime and their footsteps as they came up to the door. If they fled now, it would only be worse later. Suga gave a reassuring nod to his dongsaengs and turned towards the door. Jimin took his position beside him, a hand on his hip to give off the air of sass that his gang persona was known for. Jungkook pulled the spy close to him as he positioned himself behind them, eyes glowing with strength and determination.

               And then, Suga kicked the double doors wide open.

               The solid oak doors slammed against the inner walls of the large room with a big bang. Just as the lobby, it was practically finished, save for the large crates of fancy décor, some unfinished lights, some high work platforms, and a good polishing. The floor was the same marble and dark finished wall combination as the lobby, with large Roman pillars that gave the room a grand and expensive feel. There were high windows that lined one side of the room, showcasing a large section of downtown as it was bathed in the warm light of the dawn. Further into the space, two high metal scaffoldings had been constructed, high enough for someone to walk under and for painters to reach the vaulted ceiling in order to finish the commissioned watercolor piece; one was just beyond the double doors while the other was against the opposite wall at the far end of the room near the emergency exit. In the center of the room, surrounded by work lights, appeared to be a diamond shaped dance floor. There was a worktable there.

               And sitting at the table was Choi. He stood out against the sea of black suited goons with his silver fur coat. Choi always had an air of intensity about him, especially when he caught you in a stare down. He was like a cobra; smooth, unpredictable, and ready to strike without warning. When Suga had first met the General, he had overseen the breaking in of the new “recruits”. And the look he gave was enough to warn the kids to beware his wrath. Choi leaned forward on his elbows; his tented, gloved fingers pressed against his lips. His crazed eyes tracked Bangtan as they sauntered into the room, stopping just before the first scaffolding so to keep some distance between the two rivals. The one holding his spy stopped behind the other two. He tsked in disappointment.

               “Nice of you boys to show up,” he greeted in his deep, gravel voice. “I appreciate that you agreed to come to our location. Times have been tough for my troops, and this makes them feel more at ease.”

               “Safe it, Choi,” Suga said, his tone even but methodical, “I don’t need you to put on this little act of yours. You’re not doing this for your guys. At least own up to the fact that you don’t want to follow the Accords.”

               Choi made an amused noise. “Ah, Agust, I have missed that lip of yours.”

               Out of the corner of Jimin’s eyes, he watched as Suga slid into Agust, a second persona Yoongi had developed in the early years before Bangtan. Suga was cold and intimidating, methodical and quiet. Agust was the opposite. He was more aggressive, ready to set the world ablaze; where Suga was the bulletproof vest, Agust was the machine gun and ready to pop off at whoever provoked him. While Suga liked to take his time, his second persona didn’t want to. The shift was subtle, but Jimin had seen the wicked smile appear across his lips as he cocked his head to the side, spilling his platinum blond hair across his eyes. Agust seemed to vibrate with mischievous energy. Jimin hadn’t seen this side of his hyung in an exceptionally long time; only people from Bangtan’s past knew of Agust or he hadn’t been pushed that far to bring out the wildcard. However, he knew Choi had a way of bringing the worst out in them. This would be interesting.

               “Oh, I missed you too, Choi. But don’t worry, my aim is much better now. Can we just do this shit? I have better things to do and you are not one of them.”

               The amused look on Choi’s face slipped. “Such disrespect for your sunbaenim. This is why I requested your leader. He seems to have taken my lessons better than you.”

               “Sorry,” Agust pouted, bringing up his hands in a mocked apology, “but my leader has better things to do than play with a flea infested bitch like you. Wait, that was an insult to dogs.”

               Jungkook was happy he had a mask on to hide his grin; he always enjoyed when Yoongi-hyung fell into Agust; it didn’t happen much these days unless he was extremely angry or overly stressed. So, this was a treat to see Agust tearing into Choi like he knew his hyung had always wanted to do when he was younger.

               Agust continued, his eyes glowing with annoyance. “Seriously, can we move this along? We have your little spy here, all safe and sound. We even fed him, which is more than you could do. Let’s do this exchange before I get more annoyed. It’s past my Maknae’s bedtime and he’s gonna be cranky later.”

               Jimin couldn’t hold back his laugh at that point. That drew Choi’s attention. A gleam appeared in Choi’s eyes that, even from that distance, Jimin didn’t like.

               “Now I wasn’t expecting to see you, Sweet One. It’s been a while since we last met. How have you been doing? Had your fix recently?”

               Jimin only glared behind his glasses, his hands clenched in a fist. He took a deep breath and tried to block him out.

               Choi stood up and moved to the front of the table. “What, nothing to say? I missed that voice of yours. So sweet and addictive. You know, sometimes I can still hear your sweet moans and gasps echoing through my memories. Begging and pleading, so needy and desperate. Makes me wish I had taken a chance with you when I had the opportunity. I can see you’re shaking from here. I have what you need, baby. I can help you feel all better. You just need to come over and ask for it. I can take good care of that itch of yours. I’d love to hear how loud your moans can get now.”

               Jimin felt something in him snap. He went to rush him, fist cocked back, ready to shut the bastard up. Suga threw out an arm in front of him before he could take a step. The look he gave Jimin told him to let him handle Choi. RM had asked Suga not to cause too much trouble. And since Agust had already made an appearance, he couldn’t risk Jimin starting something. Even if Choi deserved whatever Jimin had planned to do for bringing up such a dark part of their past. Suga’s reassuring hand gave Jimin a slight push behind him, which the younger man begrudgingly allowed.

               “Seems like you’ve become the responsible one, Agust. Perhaps you’ve gone soft on me, despite the bite. Fine, we should get down to business. But first thing is first; lets make sure that you followed the rules I sent to your leader. No weapons were to be brought with you. Chen, Yao,” he called over his shoulder, “search them.”

               The two suits stepped away from the pack and crossed over to Bangtan. Suga nodded to Jimin, who made his way to stand next to Jungkook in order to keep the spy between them as they were searched. The guards started with Jungkook, then Jimin. They searched Suga last. Both guards ran their hands through clothes, dipping into each pocket. So, of course, they found the small pocketknife Yoongi had slipped into the inner pocket of his red coat. Chen fixed the smaller male with a look, which was received with a nonchalant shrug. Chen was not amused by the gesture and grabbed him by his blond hair, yanking his head back. Agust grabbed hold of Chen’s wrist, twisting it as hard as he could before spitting in the thug’s face. Yao rose his fist to punch him, only to be stopped by Jimin, who had appeared next to him. Agust was intimidating on his own, but the look that Jimin transfixed on them was enough to send a message. Both suits backed away from the two before things got any worse.

               “Agust,” Choi remarked as his guards returned to their space, “how disappointing. Do you see, boys? They have no respect for us. They bring a weapon to a tradeoff. And when scolded for breaking the rules, he acts like a wild animal. They don’t even have the decency to dress professionally. Instead of business attire, we are presented with ripped jeans, flashy and cheap clothes-,”

               “Hey, I wore designer labels to this,” Jimin interrupted.

               “And the one in the back,” Choi continued, “look at how they teach their Maknae. Black cargo pants, hoodie, and wearing a mask and hat. Like he’s going to a club instead of meeting with his betters. Take that off and let me get a better look at you, boy! The least you can do is give me a proper greeting.”

               “Leave my Maknae alone.” Agust took a few steps forward, stepping into the primary focus. “He’s protecting himself from all the bullshit you keep spitting. You don’t need to see him for us to do this. Stop stalling. Where’s your goods? We took good care of your little rat. Now put up or shut up.”

               “You keep demonstrating how low you can be, Agust. Do you think you’ll become as successful as us acting like a classless thug?”

               Agust shrugged, tapping his long finger against his cheek. “I’m not sure about the secret to success. But I think I know the secret to failure and being an idiot. And that is to keep babbling like you. I’m really starting to lose my patients with you. Show me the fucking trade, else I’m leaving with your spy and I’ll do whatever I want to with him.”

               Choi nodded to one of his suits. They pulled out a suitcase and opened it. It was full of cash and ammunition boxes. “Satisfied with that, Agust? It’s way more than his life is worth. But recruitment has been slow recently. However, before we trade, I need an apology.”  

               “For what, your appearance? You need to take that up with your parents,” Agust sneered, causing Jimin and Jungkook to start chuckle.

               Choi slammed the case shut. “I’m over your bad attitude! You have disrespected me enough today. You show me respect, or I will demonstrate how I used to deal with you.” Choi reached around and brandished his ornate cane, smacking it against his hand. “You remember what I used to do to you. Now, apologize to me!”

               “Alright, I’m sorry. Don’t get angry. Your mom will be upset if you lose your only asset- your health,” Agust mocked with a small bow, causing Jimin and Jungkook to laugh. The shocked expression from some of the suits added fuel to the fire.

               Choi’s face took on a red shade. “Enough,” he screamed, his voice shattering against the empty walls, “You may appear brave and bold, but I know what you hide behind that smile, son!”

               Agust took another step forward, unafraid by his little outburst. “If I’m the sun,” he said, pointing out the windows at the rising light, “then you are the moon; as I rise, you go down. Though, I’m sure I’m going to be more disappointed in your tongue technology than your cohorts are with mine.” The roar of laughter from behind him only increased and sent Choi further into a rage. He lunged at Agust and swung his cane.

               Suga’s hands were almost as fast as his tongue; he grabbed hold of the cane before it could strike him. He pulled his face close to the General’s, his eyes cold and serious.

               “I am not that scared little boy you locked in the dark. I will show you that I’m the king here. I’m the boss. And you will end up just like your vile, worthless Maknae.”

               “You’ve gotten strong in my absence,” the taller man remarked as he tried to pull away from Suga’s grip. The younger held tight for a second before giving him a hard shove back towards his team. Choi took a grounding breath and ran a gloved hand through his frosted hair. “Remember Agust, our Maknae acted on his own. Against his boss’s plan. And you got your revenge on him for that. He damned himself, not his hyungs.  Don’t keep using that to fuel your hate.”

               “I have plenty without that.” Suga turned and walked back to his team. “I’m done playing with you. Slide that case over here. We’ll leave your man here as we exit out the door. And we will call this done.”

               Choi shot a dark glare at the blond’s back, before waving a dismissive hand at him, accepting that he wasn’t going to get anything he wanted from the younger man. He gave a nod to the suit holding the case, who slid the case across the floor. Jimin stopped it with his foot before picking it up. He thought it felt lighter than he expected it to, but the want to leave outweighed his curiosity; he was still pissed about what Choi had said to him. He turned his back to the room and made after Yoongi.

               Suddenly, Choi’s soft laughter filled the room. Yoongi remembered that laughter; the General had used it when he knew something they did not. Bangtan’s Second in command looked over his shoulder to see that Choi had a small remote in his hand. With a press, the double doors swung shut automatically. Panic rose within Bangtan. They were trapped! Jimin opened the case in his hands and discovered it was full of fake bills and empty ammunition boxes. Everything was a set up. Choi must have figured that they would have a surveillance too, and made it so he couldn’t communicate with V once they got to the meeting spot. Yoongi hoped that he hadn’t thought about a camera hidden within the room. Since V had been trying to tell him something before their communication was severed, he must have eyes in the room, at least enough to know he needed to get to them fast. Jungkook tightened his hold upon the spy, as if it was their only protection. He shot Suga a look. The elder shifted his eyes between both of his comrades, deep, stormy eyes narrowed in defensive thought. He had thought of this; he had many plans unraveling in his mind. Now, it was all a matter of finding the best one in order to get them out of there. The only unknown factor was Choi. Suga motioned for the two to keep calm as he turned back to the General.

               “Honestly, Agust, did you really believe it would be that simple? That I would let you come in, disrespect me and my troops, and walk out of here like you’re the one in charge? After all that you and your little boy scout brigade has done. I was hoping to send a little message when I scratched up that smiling fool of yours. And yet, your leader couldn’t grasp that and sent you right into my hands. It should had been obvious that you weren’t going to get out without a struggle. There is no Hallowed ground here. You are in my territory with a member of mine that, for what anyone would see, you have kidnapped. Therefore, I can have my fun without any fear from the Accords and their rules.”

               Jimin growled, “Since when do you care about the Accords? You already drew us here under false pretenses.”

               “They’re not entirely false. As I said, you have my recruit,” Choi remarked, his voice in a mocked tone of concern. “He was given such an easy task. And he couldn’t even do that correctly. It would see that some more training is in order.”

               Jungkook felt the kid in his grasp cringe and bury himself deeper into his hold. It was painfully clear that the kid had no choice in this life, much like most of members in the room. And from the stories he had heard from his hyungs, Jungkook was sure this kid had been treated much better in their care than anything in the Royals clutches. It wasn’t up to the Maknae, but he wondered if it was too late to try and take the kid with them.

               “As you know,” Choi continued, “recruitment has been difficult on me. And all the rookies have little to no talent when it comes to the finer arts of the trade. They would benefit from some more one on one training. How do you think we can achieve this?”

               “Well, when Ji just up and leaves like the coward he is and leaves his most useless General in charge, seems like a daunting task for you. Might as well just give up and disband,” Suga said in his methodical tone, causing Choi and the Suits to actively flinch at the mention of their leader’s real name said so offhandedly.

               “Don’t you dare say his name! I will make you regret that. And you’ll be the example for my new recruits. Like I said, my boys don’t do well with their basic training back at the compound. They need some ‘on the job’ training, some action in the field. And what better place then here. Since we are not on Hallowed Ground, we can let them play a little rough. What a splendid opportunity for all of us; they get to have a real experience and you get a few broken bones to send a message to anyone who thinks that they are above the Royals in the food chain. Do me a favor, Bangtan, and don’t give up to fast.”

               With that last smirk, Choi settled himself back against the table and snapped his fingers. Four of the Suits smirked and started to cross the room towards Bangtan. Jimin looked over at Suga. The steely member gave a sharp nod and Jimin pushed some of his honey locks out of his hair with a dark glint in his eyes. He heard Suga tell the youngest to ‘stay put’ as he set off at the advancing Suits. Out of Bangtan, Jimin was known as one of their best fighters. He had studied many different styles and always perfected his craft; from judo and taekwondo to kendo and target shooting, he was regarded amongst most gangs in Central as the most skilled. Jimin was, also, a well-versed dancer, having studied since he was a child. And that control and flexibility of his body only aided him when he decided to show off just why he was well known. As he was still seething with anger from Choi’s words, he decided to take out that frustration on whoever came near him. Jimin took off like a bullet and launched himself up to grab a high bar on the bottom side of the scaffolding. Using his momentum, he swung himself up towards the closest Suit, catching the young man off guard as Jimin wrapped his toned legs around the taller man’s neck. Before the Suit could recover from the surprise, Jimin let go of the bar and arched back into a backbend. Using his lower body strength, he pulled the victim over and down the ground with a loud thud. The shock knocked the air from the Suit and Jimin sent a sharp punch to the throat, to keep him down.

               A yell from another Suit brought Jimin’s eyes up. He got up and tackled the second. The new opponent was sturdier on his feet than the first, easily keeping himself upright and throwing Jimin back. Jimin recovered quickly; he ran to one of the supportive, vertical legs of the scaffolding, grasping hold and using it to spin himself back to the Suit, his heels colliding with the goon’s chest. The Suit stumbled back, chest heaving. Jimin didn’t give him much chance to recover; he was instantly back in his range, throwing punches and sweeping kicks towards the taller man. Being as flexible as he was, Jimin had no issues dodging and sliding under the Suit’s attempt at a comeback. While the bastard was strong and aggressive, he lacked speed and foresight. And Jimin had much of that. They had been backed further along the scaffolding towards it’s beginning, moving rhythmically around the bars and legs. The Suit had managed to grab Jimin by the collar of his studded jacket as he tried to get behind him and threw him face first into the ladder that lead to the top of the scaffolding. He clung to bar for a moment, feeling his lip start to bleed and his head ringing from the sudden impact. He could hear the asshole let out a laugh before charging at him. Just as the Suit was able to connect his jab to the back of Jimin’s head, the smaller blond side stepped him, and let the Suit’s hand make a cracking impact with the metal bars. Jimin got behind him and wrapped his arm around the man’s neck, squeezing as hard as he could. The other man thrashed against his grip, but his windpipe was being crushed. The Suit slipped onto his knees as his vision started to dot. And Jimin took the opportunity to release the Suit’s throat and use his knee to hit him in the nose. Blood spattered over the dark denim as the Suit screamed in pain. He was silenced when Jimin elbowed him in the back of the head. After the man fell unconscious, Jimin ran his hands through his hair and adjusted the rose-colored glasses that had managed to stay on his face.    

               While Suga wasn’t as graceful as Jimin when it came to fighting, he was able to hold his own with the rest of them. He was scrappier, more calculative in his actions. The remaining two Suits had come at him at the same time. And just like Jimin, he used his height to his advantage, easily dodging under the sweeping arms of the two. The closest Suit had backed Suga up against one of the Roman pillars with his advancing punches, his back flushed against the cold stone. The bastard set an upper cut, which Suga caught and turned back upon its owner. He looked over the goon’s shoulder to see the second had a picked up a crowbar. Oh, fantastic.  The second Suit raised the bar and brought it down in a hard motion, only to hit his own comrade when Suga grabbed the first one and used him as a shield. The goon swung again and Yoongi moved behind the pillar just as it made contact, sending dust flying into the air. When he came back around, he caught hold of the bar with both hands and struggled to push back against the brute’s strength. The first one had recovered from the hit and caught him from behind, locking his arms around the thin gang member’s body. Suga threw his head back and knocked against the Suit but his grip only tightened. He struggled hard as the second guy advanced on him again. Thinking fast, he brought his legs up and kicked the second Suit hard in the chest, sending him to the ground. He thrashed harder against the taller man behind him. He was swung around until Suga saw the white pillar in front of him. He ran up high enough on the pillar and kicked back with all his strength, sending him and the Suit to the marble floor. The arms around his chest loosened enough to slip one out of the hold and use a reverse elbow strike to the goon’s face, hard enough to send him to the very edge of consciousness. Suga scrambled up to his feet as the second Suit barreled at him; he moved just enough to grab ahold of the Suit’s jacket and propel him into the pillar. Suga grabbed hold of the Suit’s shaved head and slammed it as hard as he could into the pillar as many times as it took until the guy slumped down, blood decorating the white stone. Taking a deep breath, he turned back towards the General, smirked before giving the Suit at his feet a good kick to the stomach.

               “That all you got, you son of a bitch?” Agust was out of breath, but still had enough snark in his voice to fill the room. “You couldn’t teach them how to fight their way out of a paper bag. I didn’t even need to bring out my tank over there,” he pointed at Jungkook, who smiled behind his mask and gave a little wave. “What were they supposed to do again? Teach me a lesson? Make me into the example to what happens when your fragile self-worth is questioned. If that’s how you teach your boys to fight, you should change your profession because your ability to make yourself look like an idiot is extraordinary. Your title should be ‘Moron Extraordinaire’ instead of ‘Washed-up Mafia Kingpin’. What you want to throw at me, now? Clearly, we can take you. And when I get out of here, you can guarantee that it’s going to be open season on you. I don’t care if your punk ass leader decides to show his fucking face. I’ll gladly spit in it and let him know how this little ‘bapsae’ took his place.”

               Choi looked down at the Suits, most of whom were still unconscious at Bangtan’s feet. His eyes flicked up to meet Suga’s cold stare. He gave a deep sigh and shrugged the fur coat from his shoulders.

               “Oh Agust, I really do wish one of my men had the foresight to break your jaw. That way I wouldn’t have to hear you anymore. I’m growing tired of this game. I would have hoped you would’ve gone down easier. It would have boosted the moral of the boys instead of their medical bill. Guess we are going to have to do this the old fashion way.”

               Choi reached behind his suit jacket and brandished a chrome revolver. Behind him, the rest of his guys pulled out theirs and pointed them at Bangtan. Jungkook’s doe eyes seemed to get bigger as he took in the site before him. Jimin looked concerned as well, but tried to keep it internalized so not to feed their egos; his eyes were darting across the room, looking for places to shield himself should shoots be fired. Suga refused to break eye contact with Choi. The older General gave at laugh at the fronted courage. He cocked the gun and raised it eye level.

               “I have wanted to do this for a long time. When I was away, I had dreams of shooting you right between those cold eyes and wiping that fucking smile off that face. I remember when my brothers and I brought you under our wing; we had high hopes for you if we could break you. But you are just as stubborn as the rest of your ragtag crew. I hope your efforts were worth it in your mind.”

               Choi’s finger moved towards the trigger. And Suga didn’t move, just stared him down. Before Choi could pull it, a loud gun shot rang out in the space! And a bullet hit Choi’s weapon and sent it ricocheting across the marble floor. Choi spun around, looking for the source of the shot. Suga let out a breath he didn’t realize he had held. Jimin rushed to his side, eyes searching for an explanation, as if Yoongi had some how done something. But the second-in-command was just as shocked; his eyes darted about the room, just as the Royals were making a commotion looking for the phantom gun.

               A deep chuckle filled the space, bouncing off the shadowed walls that made it seem like it was coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. “Stop going on about ‘effort’ and more ‘effort’,” the deep voice commanded. “It’s makes my skin crawl when you say things like that.”

               Drawn by the voice, Suga finally caught a glimpse of a black leather jacket and red pants perched atop the second scaffolding behind the Royals on the opposite wall. V was squatted on top of the platforms, gazing down upon the scene like a gargoyle, one elbow resting against his knee. The other arm was stretched out with his emerald green gun held tight in his grasp. Suga was half impressed that V had hit his intended target; the other half was annoyed he had taken that chance.

               “About time you decided to show your face,” Suga remarked. “What, did you take the scenic route?”

               “Sorry Suga-hyung,” V responded, his voice like black velvet. “They scrambled my signal so I couldn’t contact you. Not even on your phone. And, of course, I had the guys at the cars to deal with. By the way,” he moved his steely eyes to Choi, “your henchmen weren’t a fan of my ‘Vante’ mark on your tacky car. So I left them giftwrapped in the trunk. They didn’t play nice so they’re a bit bruised. Hope that’s ok.”

               V brought his hand up to flash his signature ‘V’ sign and winked at Choi. The General just stared back at him, his gaze disbelieving and furious. Then, he turned to his Suits.

               “Unbelievable,” he said, the hand V had shot the gun out of balling into a shaky fist, “the empire I helped create is being spit upon. And its members are just letting this bunch of misfits walk all over them. This isn’t even all of them! You are supposed to be the most feared, strong, aggressive men of the Mafia families. But you let a pretty boy, a shadow, a whore, and a foul-mouthed baepsae fuck you over time and time again?! I should just shoot you all myself for being so useless! Do you know what’s going to happen if you continue to let the Royal’s name drag in the filth of these fuckers?! I will make sure every single one of you begs for death before I’m finished! Is that what you want? Or are you going to do something about it?!”

               “Whoa, watch that temper, Big Boss,” V said, while smacking on a piece of gum. “Your face is turning a bright shade of red. It’s clashing with your suit. Not a good look for someone of your age.”

               Choi had had enough; he gave a sharp order to Chen who whipped out his revolver from a hidden hoister. He raised it at rapid speed and took aim at V. But while Chen was fast, someone was faster. A loud shot sounded from behind them, and the bullet cut across the captain’s arm. His arm spasmed at the contact and dropped his gun before he could even move to the trigger. Choi whirled around, eyes wild and enraged. Behind Suga and Jimin, both of whom were wearing a smug smile, was the shadow who Choi had dismissed, still holding their hostage in front of him. Jungkook had his arm balanced against the hostage’s shoulder, with his metallic purple handgun on full display. Even with his face hidden behind a mask, all could tell he had a triumphant grin spread across his lips.

               Choi grabbed his captain by the arms, uncaring of the bleeding wound his hands covered. “I told you to search them for weapons! Can you not do one thing I ask?!

               “I did, Boss! I swear,” Chen cried as Choi fingers dug further into his gunshot wound.

               It was Suga’s turn to let out a bemused noise, letting his head loll to one side. His hands came to rest on his hips, and he clicked his tongue in a disappointed fashion. “Oh Choi, you think you’re the smartest person in the room. You think you’re the only one with secrets. See, we’re not as naïve as you like to believe. We have the genius leader after all. We planned for every eventuality you could think of. You’re not as slick as you boost yourself up to be. But we played our part well to make you believe that, didn’t we? Since your boys lack the brains to think of creative methods beyond your orders, I’ll let you in on my little secret. Your boys did search us – they didn’t check your little rat.”

               As quick as he brandished his own piece, Jungkook pulled Jimin’s and Suga’s weapon from under the rat’s oversized sweatshirt and tossed it to them. Jimin’s was a polished gold, while Suga’s was a studded black gun. Both caught their respective piece as if they had rehearsed the moment. Now, they had four barrels pointed at the Royals. Bangtan was outgunned, but they were widely known for their accuracy and body count. That reputation alone was enough to worry the newer Suits. Suga’s cold stare drilled into the General as he held is gun steady.

               “Even after all your shit, Choi, I’ll let you decide how we do this; either let us walk out like nothing happened or we start shooting. You’re already down a few men,” Suga said, motioning to the four men still on the ground from their earlier rumble, either still unconscious or too scared to sit up. “Do you really want to risk losing more? After all this, I can’t guarantee that we won’t hit anything vital like with Chen there. So what’s it gonna be, Jackass?”

               Choi stared at the younger man; his face was blank and unreadable. Suga wondered if he was going to have to repeat himself, or if they could use that silence to back away before anything happened. But then, a crazed look appeared in the General’s eyes and a wicked smirk cracked his face. He gave a shrug of his broad shoulders before taking a step back behind his Suits.

               Then, he snapped his fingers.

               The Royals opened fire with an onslaught of bullets. Bangtan scattered behind whatever cover was closest. Jungkook pulled his hostage behind a large crate and shoved him to the ground, ordering the kid to  ‘stay down and don’t move if you want to live to see adulthood’; he had protected the kid so far, he wasn’t gonna let him get shot for a stupid reason. The poor kid was too scared to do anything but shake and do as he was ordered. Jungkook leaned around the box and fired a few shots to try and cover for V. The gray-haired boy was running across the scaffolding, yelling out ‘one shot- two shots’ as he fired down into the Suits. He vaulted from edge of the platform and scampered behind one of the pillars where Jimin had shielded himself with. The smaller Bangtan member was an impressive shot and was managing to keep the Suits from advancing upon him. Suga was across from them, behind another pillar. From his position, it was difficult to get a clear shot at anyone and he was pinned down behind it. There was a crate a few feet from him that would give him a better vantage point to lay out the Royals. It would be a bonus if he would break down the human shield Choi had surrounded himself with, and stain that blue suit of his. Running away from the pillar into the sea of smoke and ammunition, he rapid-fired at the Suits, hearing at least one of the Suits call that he had been hit. Jimin and V were moving to a new cover, alternating cover shots over each other’s shoulders. Suga knew they needed to get out of there; no matter how good of a shot they were, they would run of bullets before the Royals would. He needed a plan, and fast. He looked behind him at the door Choi had rigged; there was a red light from the mechanical device that had shot and locked the door. The lobby had some decorative things that they could use to bar the door once he could destroy the mechanism. There were the emergency stairs just behind the Royals that they could use if they could keep their distance. Or both to split up the group.

               Behind him, Jungkook had slid a new round of ammunition into his gun that V had slid to him. He had moved from the very back of the room closer to the rest of his team. One of the Suits came running at him from along the side of the room. He easily showed him why they referred to him as Bangtan’s tank; he blocked the Suit’s punch before pistol whipping him, sending two strong jabs at his gut, and a final uppercut that sent the suit falling backward and his gun flying from his hand. Jungkook easily caught it in his empty hand and sent double the shots at the rest of the Royals. He ducked behind another set of boxes and looked to Suga.

               Three more Suits had been hit and were scrambling for cover. Those still shooting had changed weapons and released a new spray of bullets that pinned Bangtan where they were. Choi stood in the middle of it, almost as if he were a statue, with a confident grin still on his lips. He gave an order for the Suits to advance. Suga knew they needed to get out now. He rose up and fired, hitting two Suits and bringing them down. He gave a signal to Jungkook to come to him. The Maknae rushed over, both guns firing and keeping the Royals ducking for cover. Suga looked over his shoulder at the other two and called out. He gave a pointed look to the door and V followed his gaze. They had all worked together long enough to not need much to understand what the other needed to say. V looked back and nodded, knowing Suga meant for them to leave that way on his signal. Jungkook laid down some cover as the blond turned from the battle and fired four shots at the mechanism, destroying it. He turned back to see Choi look stunned at his actions, before ordering his men on.

               Suga grabbed Jungkook and leaned close. “Get to the back stairs. I’ll cover you and be right behind you.” He looked behind and called out to Jimin and V, “Get to the car! If we’re not there, just drive. We’ll meet up at the safe zone!”

               V and Jimin nodded and took off towards the double doors, Jimin kicking them wide open before V turned and slammed them shut behind them. Choi yelled out for a few men to follow them. Three of the men who had lost in their hand-to-hand battle with Bangtan, jumped up from their positions on the floor and ran towards the closed doors. They pushed against it but it was wedged closed. The blond smiled, knowing V had thought of the same things he had about securing the door to help give them time to get away. It held just long enough for the two to escape the lobby. Suga gave Jungkook a shove and the young man took off around the outskirts of the room towards the emergency door in the back of the room. Shots continued to whiz by him as he ducked and weaved between pillars and boxes, having a few close calls as he neared the back end of the room. Suga trailed behind him, pausing at each cover to fire back at the Royals. He managed to bring down two more of the Royals before he ran out of bullets. Jungkook finished the clip in the stolen gun and threw it, hard, at an advancing Suit, nailing him in the side of the head. Chen, still bleeding from his arm but determined to win favor from Choi again, had seen where Jungkook and Suga were heading and stood in front of the door. Jungkook ran at the captain and got locked in a hand-to-hand fight. Chen was one of the few present to offer a challenge to the Maknae, even injured. Chen grabbed one of Jungkook’s fists, as he went in for a cross jab, and twisted the young man’s arm behind him. Jungkook twisted, trying to get his arm free, but Chen held tight. So, he shoved them both backwards until the captain’s back slammed against the wall, throwing his head back to crack against the taller man. Chen let go, and the two were back to exchanging punches, jabs, and dodges.

               Suga was almost to Jungkook when, from the corner of his eyes, he saw Choi moving towards one of his new recruits, one who was a terrible shot. The General snatched his gun from the Suit’s hand and rose it. And it was aimed at Jungkook in a fatal angle. The Maknae was trapped with Chen and couldn’t see what Choi had planned. Suga cursed and ran. Everything happened too fast.

               Jungkook had landed a sharp punch to Chen’s face, causing the captain to stumble back stunned.

               Choi fired the weapon with a clear target.

               Jungkook noticed Choi, as Suga shoved him out of the way.

[giorno-plays-piano]

Come play with me

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Warnings: yandere, obsession, home invasion, allusion to stalking and non-con.

Words: 1987.

Summary: Having to deal with Bucky Barnes, a talented head engineer who you have to convince cooperating with your boss, you suddenly discover his psychopathic tendencies. Worse, he has taken an eerie interest in you.

_______________________

“Listen, dear, I know what he asks for seems like something very inappropriate, but, in fact, the guy just likes you and-”

“No, Mr. Simons, he doesn’t just like me.” You snapped, bringing the cellphone closer your face. “This madman asked me to be at his disposal any time he wants. Please, don’t try to convince me it’s okay because this is madness.”

“I know, I know, he sounds like a psycho, but he’s not. Mr. Barnes is just... difficult. He needs to work on his communicational skills, he admitted it himself during our meeting today.” Your boss - or rather your ex-boss - was almost pleading you to listen to him, but you had enough of this nonsense. Nothing could change your mind after yesterday’s humiliating encounter with James Buchanan Barnes, the head engineer of HYDRA Corp.

“Sir, I have already submitted the resignation form. I perfectly understand the position you are in, but I’m not going to become a toy of this psychopatic man-child.” You answered firmly, looking at your lovely blue clock on the wall and knowing it was too late for any work calls. “Goodbye, Mr. Simons. Have a nice evening.”

Before he tried saying anything else to make you change your decision, you had turned your phone off and put it on your desk, sighing. You could never imagined one day you would face a situation like that.

Yes, when your boss got a promotion, you were truly happy for him. It also meant that you, his secretary, would now get a different type of tasks since you worked more like his personal assistant rather than someone who simply answered the phone calls and built his schedule. A raise was also quite nice. What you didn’t expect was having issues with Bucky, the genius the whole corporation knew about. He was that very same man HYDRA owed its success to as his innovative approach made the company widely known in the whole world for its - his - active protection systems. Barnes was now working on the brand new weapon system control, but he had never submitted sufficient reports, and, apparently, the previous executive left exactly because of Bucky and his wild temperament.

Despite the fact that he was a legendary figure, you had never met him or dealt with him directly. And since now Barnes became your boss’ pain, he became yours, too.

First, it was impossible to set a meeting with him directly. Mr. Simons wanted to take care of this issue himself and emailed Bucky multiple times, but always got the same dry answer that Barnes is too busy. Of course, he never answered any calls - until it was you calling him. Oddly, he was eager to talk to you. It took you just two calls to organize an online meeting for your boss, and, finally, yesterday you got to see the mysterious genius with your own eyes.

He was nothing like you expected. He wasn’t some skinny geek wearing glasses on his long nose, but a beefy man, his shoulders twice wider than your boss’. Barnes had dirty disheveled hair and a three-days beard, but, aside from that, he looked more like a star athlete rather than a nerdy engineer. He dressed in a pretty weird fashion, wearing tight t-shirts, leather pants, chains and heavy studded boots, but criticizing his style wasn’t a part of your job. You needed the reports he refused to submit and get him to attend the meetings.

Of course, he blamed everything on too many bureaucratic procedures and lack of time for anything but his new project. Even while speaking to the two of you he was pacing back and force in his laboratory, fetching this and that, fiddling with something that looked like a futuristic gun from one of Scott Ridley’s movies, his table full of screws and nails, markers, dirty papers, and metal parts of something you couldn’t recognize. Now you could see the true technological genius everyone was talking about.

However, you weren’t satisfied with the lack of information he was willing to give about his project. Barnes had a ridiculous amount of privileges, able to order whatever supplies he needed without anyone’s approval and working in a total secrecy, but HYDRA’s board of directors was growing tired of his reticence and temper tantrums Barnes was throwing every time someone tried to uncover his secrets. The career of your boss was at stake, and you needed Bucky to cooperate. You doubted the company would be willing to get rid of its most valuable employee, but the board of directors could easily limit his access to many of his beloved projects and make his life much more difficult.

Discussing the endless possibilities of what could happen if Barnes still refused to cooperate, you realized he wasn’t worried even the slightest bit. But he agreed to submit the reports if 1) he would get the team of engineers he picked by himself to help him with his project, regardless of whether they are involved with other things 2) he would get you “at his disposal any time he wanted”. Of course, at first you thought it was some kind of weird joke. Who in a right state of mind would ask for anything like this? You tried to laugh it off along with your boss, who was as shocked as you.

Then you figured out Barnes was dead serious. He wanted you.

Of course, you weren’t having it. Maybe your boss career was at stake, but it was his business, not yours. If the only thing he could offer you was being Barnes’ toy for the sake of the corporation, you would prefer to leave your place and find a position somewhere else.

How could he even suggest submitting to that psycho? Who did he think you were? A doll? A disposable Barbie or something? Even thinking of that was making you furious.

Sighing, you dropped your phone on the table and went to the kitchen to have a glass of wine. Despite the fact that you had already submitted the resignation form, you still needed to keep working before Mr. Simons would find a new secretary. It meant you would hear him pleading you to stay every day, and it wasn’t going to be nice. This damn Barnes made your life insufferable with just a couple of sentences.

Of course, you weren’t going to keep calling Bucky or trying to talk to some sense into him. Fuck that. Barnes was totally mad, and you weren’t having more of his bullshit.

Suddenly, the lights went out, and you stilled, growing in frustration. What the hell? You had to carefully put an empty glass back on the counter and move to your room again to take the phone. Glancing out of the window, you saw that it was just your apartment while others had light in them. Oh, perfect.

“Why do I pay for all this new technology that never works?” You growled in frustration, rooting around to find your phone.

“That’s a good question. To be honest, I wouldn’t.”

You froze. Somebody was in your room. Turning around quickly, you had finally found your phone and touched the screen - the subtle blue glowing lit Barnes’ gloomy face, and for a few seconds he narrowed his eyes as your phone blinded him.

Fuck.

“What are you doing here?” You whispered in terror, stepping away from him and visibly shaking. God, how did he get through the security system? You had just installed a pretty expensive one, made by...

By HYDRA Corp.

“You see, your security system has so many drawbacks I hacked it even without a proper preparation. You have to consider switching to something more solid.” He said calmly as he made a step towards you. In the darkness of the room he looked even more intimidating with his long dark hair hanging on his eyes, his huge figure looming over you as you ended up being pressed to the wall. “You know, since you were so enthusiastic in the beginning, I expected you to act... more professional.”

You didn’t know what to say. You were trapped between the wall and Barnes’ body as you stared into his face, terrified to the core. What was he doing here? Did he break into your home just because you refused him? Was he damn insane?

Oh yes. Yes, Barnes was.

“You know, we can have so much fun together if you just leave your pathetic boss and come play with me.” He tilted his head to the side, letting his disheveled hair fall on his broad shoulder and taking away the phone from your hand. “You’re a smart girl, aren’t you? I know how much you’re doing while Simons pretends it’s all him. Aren’t you tired of it?”

Well, it was true. Your boss had finally offered you a promotion after you would take care of Barnes issue, so you didn’t complain, waiting for your chance. It was all over now.

“And what do you suggest?” You asked, knowing you needed to somehow get away from this psycho and run to the door.

“Take care of me instead of him.”

You clenched your teeth as Barnes got closer, almost touching the tip of your nose with his, his icy blue eyes fixated on you. You felt the strong smell of cigarettes coming from him and winced from this unwanted intimacy. Barnes was too close to let you get away.

“What do you mean? I don’t think you need a secretary.” You played innocent, not looking him into eyes and staring at something on your right. Now your eyes almost adjusted to the darkness surrounding you.

“I can get you a better position, baby. A project manager, huh? You will ensure me and my team do things right.” His hot breath was burning your skin as Bucky nuzzled against your cheek, making you squirm. “You’ll be the one overseeing the development of a new system, and I get to have you close all the time. Besides, your paycheck gonna be way bigger. Isn’t it nice?”

“I don’t think I have sufficient skills for this job.” You mumbled meekly, squeezing your eyes shut when he put his hand on your shoulder gently. “The Corporation won’t allow me to take this position.”

There was a smug grin on his face. “Oh dear, you’re perfect for the job, I know it. And don’t you worry about the Board of Directors, I can be quite... persuasive.” As he smiled at you, you were ready to cry in front of him, so frightened and almost hysterical.

“What do you want from me, Barnes?” You pleaded in distress, tired and scared of the game he was playing with you.

He took your arm in his and made you move to the bed, forcing you to sit down while he hovered over you, brushing his long hair out of his face and tucking one of his locks behind the ear. Then Barnes cupped your chin with his hand, making you look directly at him.

“Come play with me, baby.” He cooed gently at you, wiping away a tear running down your cheek. “I want you close. Come to me. Talk to me. Have fun with me. I’m not asking much, am I?”

“We’ve only met yesterday. Why-”

You heard him chuckling and got silent immediately. You didn’t like that creepy smile on his face. Why did he look like you were wrong? You knew for sure you didn’t meet him before - who could possibly forget someone like Bucky Barnes - but his smile was telling you that he knew you from somewhere before your yesterday’s encounter. Where else could he meet you? You had no idea.

“It’s alright, dear. You’ll have enough time to know me better.” Barnes whispered, rubbing your chin with his thumb and closing the distance between the two of you. “We’re gonna have lots of fun together.”

______________

Tags: @finleyjayne​ @alexakeyloveloki​   ​@helenaeisenhower​ @villanellevi​ @hurricanerin​ ​@void-hoechlin​ @abyssaint​ @heeeyitskay​ @chris-evans-indian-fanfic​ @navegandoaciegas​ @rosalynshields​ @brattycherubwrites​ @sllooney​ @angrythingstarlight​ @iheartsebastianstan​ @soleil-dor​ @iheartsebastianstan​

[spilled-some-blood]

Would you write a hoffman thing where the reader helps him escape the bathroom at the end of VII and they nurse him back to health🥺❤️

THE AMOUNT OF WHOLESOME

You knew what your boyfriend was doing, you knew what a terrible man he had become and that he was a killer, but you stayed by his side, even helped him at some points. Mark was your everything, even though you felt like sometimes he would give up your life to save his own, you still loved him. You couldn’t help but see the good in him, sure he had his dark side but there was a side of him that you only saw, the side of him that was loving and smiled, held you close to him in the morning, just made you feel like you were on cloud nine. 

Something tonight though felt wrong. You were sitting in your usual spot in bed with the pillows behind you propped up so you could sit comfortably while drinking your wine and reading, waiting for Mark to come home. You knew that Mark was a wanted man, he had planned to move both of you out of town soon and be on the run, sure it wasn’t how you expected your life to be with Mark but you’d do anything for him.

As your wine glass turned empty, you went to fill it again but the bottle was also empty. You checked the time seeing it almost be four in the morning and still no Mark. You looked at the muted tv that hung on the wall in front of your and Mark’s bed and grabbed the remote turning on the volume seeing Jill Kramer’s face come on the news.

“Over the past two hours, it seems our entire city has been shaken to its core,” the news reporter said, you closed your book putting it on the nightstand and focused all your attention on the screen, “in addition to the nine police employees killed tonight, Jill Tuck, the wife of serial killer John Kramer has been found dead.” Your hand went to your mouth in shock and turned off the tv, not even bothering with the rest. You knew this had to have been the work of Mark, who else would actually try to kill Jill and get away with it?

You quickly dialed Mark’s number praying for an answer but when the line went dead, you definitely knew something was wrong. You bothered to change into something different than just a t-shirt and shorts and knelt down to the box under your bed. You quickly did the combination and opened the box looking at Mark’s extra gun, the first gun that was supposed to be in the box was already gone. Mark had taught you how to shoot a gun just in case anyone tried to threaten you because of him so you knew what you were doing.

Reaching your car, you drove down the road as fast as you could without breaking any laws and having police pull you over and notice who you are. When you had reached the warehouse, you slammed on the brakes and didn’t even bother to turn off the car before you ran up the stairs to the warehouse, careful of any traps that had been left behind.

You were rushing to find Mark, not knowing if he was even alive or not. You hissed feeling something cut your leg and feeling the blood run down your leg but you ignored the pain and called Mark’s name. 

You screamed when someone wrapped their arms around you and tried to stab a needle into your neck but you kicked them in the groin sending them to the ground and grabbed the needle out of their hands. You knelt down by the person wearing a pig mask noticing a cane beside them as you grabbed it and snapped it in two.

“I expected better from you Lawrence, I called you my friend,” you sighed looking at Lawrence pulling off the pig mask, “tell Alison I say hi.” You then took the needle and stabbed Lawrence in the neck sending the doctor unconscious and kept moving to find Mark. 

You were walking around the warehouse, calling Mark’s name when you heard your name being said from a room near you. 

“Mark?” you asked looking at a steel wall-door that you heard your name come from. You looked at the door looking for a way in but it seemed that the handle was gone, “Mark, listen to me please, it’s me. I’m gonna get you out of here but you need to work with me.”

“Y/N just leave, change your name and live a normal life, I’m already fucked,” Mark said from the other side of the door as you tried to find a way to open the door, “I’m sorry, I never should have brought you into this life.”

“Stop saying that, I’m getting you out of here,” you said looking at the door still trying to find a way in when you noticed a hand saw left outside the door and started to use it to pry open the door actually getting somewhere.

You pulled the door open when you had it open enough and ran over to Mark. You noticed the deceased and rotted body of Adam beside Mark and started to try and open the chain around Mark’s foot.

“Just saw it off, I’ll live,” Mark said looking at you and the saw still in your hand.

You laughed placing your hand on Mark’s stitched up cheek, “let’s save that for a last resort, you’re already torn up enough.” Realizing that there wasn’t anything for you to use to pick the lock on the chains, you looked at Mark with a sad expression, “I’ll be right back, you just stay right here.” You could only pray that Lawrence was still asleep.

“Be careful,” Mark said as you smiled, kissing him quickly telling him you would.

When you finally reached Lawrence’s body, he was still asleep thankfully as you reached into his pant’s pocket looking for the key to the chains. There had to have been a key somewhere, how else would Lawrence lock the lock on the chains? You turned the doctor onto his stomach and checked his back pocket pulling out something metal and noticed it was a key.

“Gotcha,” you smiled running back to where Mark was waiting for you and showed him the key.

“Y/N, your leg,” you had completely forgot the state your leg had been in before Mark had pointed it out. You looked down and saw all the dried blood on your jeans and the giant gash in your leg. 

“I’ll be fine,” you said going over to Mark’s chains and shoving the key into the lock and turning it.

-----

When Mark had woken up, he was blinded by the bright light of the room, he tried to grasp at anything he could when he felt a hand intertwined with his own. Once his eyes adjusted to the light, Mark tried to sit up the best he could without pain when he noticed Y/N asleep next to him on a chair, her head resting on the pillow they were sharing and her hand holding his.

There was something special about you to Mark, something he didn’t want to lose, he wasn’t sure what he would do if you had been killed. He wanted your relationship to last with him, maybe even get married one day. He didn’t even know why you bothered to risk your life to save him from his bathroom tomb, but seeing you break into the bathroom was like he had seen a guardian angel come to save him. But there’s one thing he can understand best, he can’t see you again, he has to put an end to your relationship. He didn’t want you to become the next Jill Tuck, being interrogated and threatened everyday, being followed by journalists, getting her life ruined by a man. He’s not that selfish. 

Slowly and unexpectedly carefully for a man his size, Mark slips out of the bed and freezes when you start mumbling something in your sleep. When he makes sure you didn’t wake up, he walks to his clothes and dresses up, out of the more comfortable clothes you had dressed him in. He knows you’re the type of person to go searching for him so he takes out his cellphone, opens the back of it and pulls out the card, putting it on the table. This will be explanatory on itself, at least that’s what Mark thinks.

He went to the door and put on his shoes then his coat and lingers for a moment. He tries to stop himself, but he can’t. So he just returns to the bedroom, leans and presses a soft kiss on your hair.

“Goodbye.” He whispers, then straightens his back, turns and leaves closing the door behind him.

As he walks to the underground parking lot to his car, Mark feels angry and empty at the same time. Yet he knows this is for the best. The best way to keep you safe.

Mark is unlocking his car door when he feels arms wrap around him and turns around to face you staring up at him with tears in your eyes, “you were just gonna leave?!” Mark tried to push you away and get in his car but you pushed him away from the car and got in front of the car door, “I’m not letting you just leave and give this up.”

Mark turned away from you, it hurt him to see you crying and just wanted to take you into his arms and apologize but he couldn’t let himself break.

“Mark I care about you for fucks sake!” you yelled trying to knock some sense into Mark but he wouldn’t bother listening to you, “and you’re gonna be so fucking selfish to just leave? I save your life and this is how I’m repaid, you leaving me with a broken heart as if I mean nothing to you.”

“Why did you come for me?” Mark asked, his hand on the door handle as if he was contemplating if he was actually going to leave or not, “you should have left me there, let me rot in that bathroom. But you risked your life for me, you risked people knowing of our relationship to get me.”

“It seems I’ve shown my hand, hm?” you mused. “You’re quite right… I should have done all of that.” Your intense gaze seemed to burn through Mark. “But on this particular occasion, what I wanted wasn’t what was most logical.”

“What are you saying, Y/N?” Mark murmured, his hand leaving the handle and turning to face you.

You brought a hand to cup Mark’s face, almost tenderly.

“I’m saying that dear Lawrence was wrong. And so was everyone else, including you. All of you think that you can’t feel… that you can’t love.” You drew out the word ‘love’ in a sing-song tone, grinning. Then your expression turned serious again. “Lawrence was right about one thing, though. Everyone has a weakness. And it just so happens… you’re mine.”

Mark looked at you.

“I would burn down this entire town for you. I would risk so much. And don’t ever forget that.”

 “I won’t,” Mark whispered breathlessly.

[red-writing-on-asylum-walls]

Like Everyone Who Was Dragged There First (Again)

A rewrite of the original fic. I’m...not sure if this one is actually better? Or just longer. I think I cleared some things up and filled in some plot holes buutttt idk. Lemme know what you guys think.

Warnings for: torture, blood, violence, child endangerment, strangulation, implied child abuse, implied past torture, force feeding, implied psychotic break, this is not how mental health works

xxxxxxxxxx

“Heya, Jake. Long time, no see.”

The bowl slipped out of Jake’s numb fingers and clattered to the floor, spilling popcorn all over the carpet. The air felt frigid and thick, the world slippery against the cold clamminess of his skin. His lungs didn’t seem to want to work right, he couldn’t breathe, his brain short circuiting as it desperately tried to reconcile what it was seeing.

Aaron Pierly was sitting casually on the couch next to Milo. There was a ratty backpack on the floor between his feet and an all to familiar smirk on his face.

Jake was already on the brink of panic, thoughts tumbling over one another as Milo stared at him in confusion. Dan wasn’t home. Jake’s cellphone was upstairs and out of reach. Aaron was sitting too close to Milo. Dan wasn’t home and he wouldn’t be for several hours. Dan wasn’t home and they were in very real danger.

“Aaron.” His voice was tight, squeezed out of his throat in a reluctant gasp of stale air. It tasted like old, dusty fears being pulled from the attic of his mind.

“Dad?” Said Milo and Aaron’s eyes flickered with something wicked and gleeful.

“Wwhhhaattt? This is your kid? Aw, Jake, how could you be so cruel? Why didn’t you tell your own brother that you had a son?” Aaron’s voice was teasing, could almost have been friendly if not for the sour, mocking edge to it. And the look in his eyes that said something else entirely.

“I have an uncle?” Milo perked up excitedly and Jake wanted to scream and pull him away from the monster he sat next to.

“You didn’t even tell your kid about me? Ouch, big brother, that hurts my feelings.” The words were acid as Aaron hissed them through the grin in his teeth. His arm coiled around Milo’s shoulder, a python trapping its prey, his fingers curling into the soft fabric of the shark hoodie, “How about we talk in the kitchen? Make another bowl of popcorn. See what kind of fun we can have.”

It was not a suggestion.

Aaron pulled Milo off the couch, arm still around his shoulders, pinning the boy to his side as he steered them past Jake and back into the kitchen. Jake had to follow them. Dan wasn’t here so Jake was going to do everything he could to protect Milo, no matter what it took. He forced himself to follow and tried to keep the fear off his face, for Milo’s sake, tried not to wince when Aaron pressed his hand into Milo’s shoulder and forced him to sit down in a kitchen chair. Jake stood in the doorway, trying to take steady breaths, his palms sweating and his heart thudding. Aaron was humming tunelessly as he lifted the backpack up and set it on the table.

“I brought some of our old toys we used to play with together,” The devil in his brother’s skin said cheerily, “For nostalgia, ya know.” The zipper on the backpack sounded like cracking bones in the heavy quiet of the house, “Remember this stuff?” Aaron turned the bag over and dumped its contents onto the table.

A scream swelled in Jake’s throat and then wouldn’t come out. He forgot how to breathe, choking on icy panic as he tripped backwards and nearly fell out of the kitchen. The world felt muffled, drowned by a roaring in his ears and the painful thudding of his own heart pounding fists against the prison bars of his ribcage. The edges of his vision went dark and fuzzy, static clinging to his mind, old blood in his nose, long healed aches flaring deep in his bones. All he could see were the old instruments of torture spilling across the kitchen table, so bright and vivid and full of memories he wished he didn’t have.

“Dad?” Milo’s voice from somewhere far away, miles away and underwater, a thread in the maze of panic leading him to the exit, “Jake? Dad? W-what’s going on? Dad!?”

A chair scrape on the tile floor.

A thud.

“You stay in your seat, brat. Unless you want to play too…”

“Don’t touch him!” Jake didn’t remember moving but as the world snapped back into clear focus, he found he had put himself between Milo and Aaron. His hand was gripping Aaron’s wrist in a shaking grip, having wrenched it off of Milo’s shoulder.

Aaron looked far too pleased, “I won’t touch him if you play with me, Jake. I’ve missed out time together. It’s no fun without around.” There was such darkness in his voice, such loathing, that Jake pulled his hand away from Aaron as if he could feel it burning through his skin.

“I…” Jake choked. Aaron was much too close, filling his vision, blotting out the light.

Aaron grinned, showed his nicotine stained teeth. And, faster than Jake could react, Aaron snatched up Jake’s wrist and bent his arm back. Jake cried out as his shoulder was pulled harshly, trying to twist away, but Aaron just followed the movement, using it to steer Jake over to the table and pushing him down. Jake scrambled, gasping in fear and pain, as he was bent over the tabletop, one arm behind his back and the other pinned beneath his chest. Jake could feel his own pressing against his arm.

“Dad!” Milo’s desperately scared voice, that sound of the chair against the floor again.

“I said stay in your seat!” Aaron barked, the first time he’d raised his voice, cracking it against the walls of the kitchen. Jake heard Milo thump back into the chair, the squeak of felt pads on shiny tile.

“Now Jake,” Fingers fisted in Jake’s blond hair, yanked hair head back at a painfully sharp angle to expose the curve of his neck and making Jake let out a small, choked cry. Aaron forced Jake to look at Milo sitting petrified in his seat, making their eyes meet, their terror an echo chamber between them. Then Aaron shoved Jake’s face back into the table, grinding it against the polished wood for a moment before releasing his hair, “We’re going to have a nice little chat. And your kid is going to sit there and watch while we go on a nice little stroll down memory lane. And I can remind you about what a piece of utter shit you are.”

“Aaron, p-please…” Jake whimpered, “Milo…h-he doesn’t need to see…”

“Oh, I think he does,” Aaron hissed back, “Someone’s got to show him how the world works and you’re too much of a pussy to do it. So let’s start with the basics. Family,” Aaron said matter-of-factly, “Will always ruin your life. Because people are selfish and stupid and older brothers are the worst! Right Jake?”

Jake knew better than to answer.

But he still made a frightened little noise when a pair of scissors flashed in front of his face. He felt the blades snag on the shoulder of his button up, the snip-click of them slicing into the fabric making him shudder. Aaron cut the sleeve off and then wrenched Jake’s arm out straight, making Jake wince, gritting his teeth. The side of scissors ghost over old and faded scars, raising goosebumps as they went, until their sharp tip pressed against some of the ropey tissue that had never healed quite right in the crook of Jake’s elbow.

“It was right here, I think,” Aaron said in a sickly sweet voice, leaning over Jake and crushing him against the table, “You didn’t want to share that stupid CD player. So I had to teach you a lesson in manners. It was a knife, right? I wasn’t very good with that at first. Wasn’t good about not leaving marks…”

Jake watched the horror dawning on Milo’s face, wished with all his damaged hear that Milo had never seen this part of his life, would have given anything to be alone in the house when Aaron had found him. Now Milo was going to have what innocence he had left shattered while Aaron inevitably did the same with Jake’s fragile sanity.

“A-Aaron, just—just let him…he doesn’t need to be h-here…” Jake tried to plead again, only to choke when Aaron pressed a hand down hard on the back of Jake’s neck.

“He’s staying, Jake,” His brother snarled, “And if either of you scream or try to call for help, first I’ll break your legs. And then I’ll show your fucking mouth shut.”

Milo’s mouth opened—to protest or curse or spew whatever teenage rebellion was still on fire inside him. Jake caught his eye and silently pleaded for him to stay silent, to just go along with it, please Milo, please don’t do anything. Milo searched Jake’s face, then shut his mouth, chewing on his lower lip as he eased back into the chair. Jake swallowed the sigh of relief that wanted to escape him, felt his neck flex against Aaron’s hand, and prayed that whatever happened, it would only leave Jake with more scars and Milo unblemished.

He was jarred from his prayers when he was dragged backwards off the table and thrown into a nearby dining chair. Jake looked up in time to see Aaron uncoiling a faded rope from the pile of tools on the table. He caught Jake’s frightened stare and sneered, snapping it taunt and making Jake flinch.

“Here’s the deal, Jacob,” Aaron growled, walking over to Milo who shrank away from him, “We’re going to play for a while, and your kid’s going to watch so he can learn exactly what kind of dumb, disobedient, horrible, lying person you are. Then I’m going to pack up my stuff and leave and you’re not going to tell anyone what happened because you know you deserve it.”

Aaron approached Milo with the rope and Milo kicked out at him instinctively. But Aaron just sidestepped it and swung the bundle of rope hard against Milo’s face, knocking him to the side. Milo was too dazed to struggle as Aaron wrapped the rope tight around Milo’s chest and the back of the chair, pinning the teenager’s arms to his sides. His movement were deft and practiced, an efficiency created from repeated use of the skill. The rope pinned Milo’s ankles to the legs of the chair and made a complicated series of loops beneath and behind. Milo flinched as the rope draped against his neck and rubbed against his bare skin, tugging against his windpipe as Aaron tied it off behind him. He stepped back to admire his handiwork, grinning nastily when Milo turned fearful but angry eyes on him,

“Haha, look at that. Still a rebellious little shit, huh? Yyeeaahhh, Jakey used to fight back too until I figured out this knot. See, the real beauty of this thing is, the more you struggle, the tighter it pulls. So, if you move around and try to wriggle free then…” Aaron reached around behind Milo and jerked on one of the lines woven into the binding. The rope around Milo’s throat instantly tightened, pressing hard into his neck and cutting his air supply down to the barest wheeze of breath. Milo’s eyes bulged and Aaron laughed as the teenager bucked in instinctual panic. Of course, it was just as Aaron had said—the more Milo struggled, the tighter the noose became.

“Aaron, stop it! You’re here for me! Let him go! Just stop!” Jake was out of his chair, shoving brother out of the way as he fumbled with the knots constructing Milo’s bonds. His fingers slipped off of them, confused by Aaron’s complicated work, and he turned his attention instead to the teenager gagging helplessly in the chair. He cupped Milo’s face in his shaking hands, hushing him, voice hitching as he tried to help,

“Milo, you need to stop struggling. I—I know it’s hard but you need to just—Milo, listen, please listen to me, okay, you need to sit still and don’t move.” He brushed the pads of his thumbs across freckled cheeks, wiping away hot tears, smiling thinly as Milo’s breathing came back under control and his struggling ceased, “That’s it, okay, just—just deep breaths, all right, little shark. It’ll be okay. Just don’t move anymore, okay? Milo? N-no matter what you see, no matter wh-what happens, don’t move. I’ll be fine, I promise, just don’t—“

Aaron yanked Jake away by a fistful of his hair, throwing him to the floor with a growl, “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Jake. Get back in your fucking chair.”

Jake scrambled across the floor, barely dodging the kick Aaron had aimed at him as he crawled onto he kitchen chair. Aaron followed after him, sneering, pulling a roll of extension cord off the table and knocking several other tools to the floor as he did so. Jake couldn’t stop the whimper that slipped out of him as he pressed himself against the back of the chair, desperate to get away but too worried about what would happen to Milo if he ran. His chest rose and fell with sharp, panicked breaths that scraped his dry throat, his heart was beginning to ache as it thudded harder and faster than it had in a long time. His head spun with an ice cold terror he hadn’t experience since he was a child.

Aaron towered over him, the grin on his face nasty and eager, “Sshhhh, big brother, deep breaths. Wouldn’t want you passing out just yet. We haven’t even gotten started…”

The extension cord wrapped around Jake like an old friend, pinching his skin in familiar places and alarmingly tight across his chest. Aaron heaved on the cord, yanking Jake’s legs off the floor by his ankles and forcing him to bend his knees so that his heels were almost touching the seat of the chair. It made his thighs shake, muscles spasming uncomfortably tight as Aaron finished his work. It seemed he’d learned some new tricks over the years. Jake shivered to think who he might have used as a practice dummy.

“Let’s have a conversation,” Aaron said in the same tone of voice one might have used to discuss the weather. He crossed back to the table and sorted through the objects until he found what he was looking for. When he turned back to face Jake, he was holding an old, wooden baseball bat, tiny and child sized, scraped and scratched from years of use.

“Do you wanna know,” Aaron spun the little bat in one hand as he approached, his grin twisted with rage, “What the house was like after you left? Do you know what happened you weren’t around anymore? Do you know how angry mom was?”

Jake cringed back in the chair, pure terror written in every shaking line of his body, “Aaron, n-no, I didn’t mean—I didn’t think she would—you were—she wouldn’t—“

“But she did!” The bat arced through the air and smashed into the side of Jake’s face, jerking his head violently to the side and smashing the inside of his cheek against his teeth. Iron welled into his mouth and he swallowed it back with a grimace. Aaron brought the baseball bat around again and cracked it into Jake’s head, splitting open the skin of his temple. Blood bubbled from the head wound and slid freely down his already swelling cheek as he blinked dazedly, trying to refocus. Aaron didn’t let him; he swung again and struck Jake hard in the stomach, knocking the wind out of his brother. Jake doubled over with a wet wheeze, drool and blood smearing across his lap from his gasping mouth as he struggled for breath. But Aaron brought another heavy blow down on Jake’s shoulder with a loud, crunching pop. Jake thrashed in the chair, a strangled, gasping scream of pain rattling up his throat, eyes wide and face pale. His shoulder was lumpy and awkward, numb and throbbing and awful—probably dislocated.

“Mom was so pissed when you left,” Aaron snarled, looming over his brother as Jake choked on a sob, breath gasping as he fought for breath, tried to sort through the pain chewing him up from the inside out, “She was so angry. I’d never seen her so mad. And then you didn’t even have the decency to leave us a number? An address!? So fucking disrespectful, Jacob!” Aaron swung again, hit Jake hard in the stomach with the bat. Jake wretched and coughed, spitting up an acrid mixture of stomach acid, blood, and coffee. Aaron dropped the baseball bat with a sneer of disgust, backing away as Jake choked and gagged,

“Pathetic. She raised us. Put a roof over our heads. Gave us food and clothes. And you spat on that. Ran away and didn’t even tell your little brother where you were going!”

Jake looked up, tears and blood and bile still oozing down his face, dropping with the sweat from his chin, staining his shirt and jeans. His breathing was labored and he trembled violently. But his eyes were hard and resolute.

He would not be broken.

That only seemed to stoke the fires of Aaron’s temper.

He spun away to untangle another tool from his collection, shoving things around as he tried to find what he wanted.

Chest heaving, blood and sick and sweat and tears smeared across his front, Jake looked up through hazy eyes and met Milo’s gaze.

The kid was mortified.

Milo’s eyes were wide, bloodshot whites surrounding watery irises. His face was so pale it made his freckles stand out like bullet wounds, his body shaking against the rope binding him to the chair. His throat was already scraped red from the noose dangling threateningly around it. Milo had never witnessed brutality like this before, not outside of television where he was fully aware of how fake it was. Jake wanted to apologize, but his voice was gone, lost under years of conditioned silence because he knew a single word from him would only make things worse.

Aaron turning towards him again made Jake look away. It killed him to do it but the longer he kept Aaron’s attention, the safer Milo would be.

“So scrawny,” Aaron muttered through gritted teeth, wearing something that was akin to a grimace of triumph, “Bet you’re not eating right, huh big brother? You never did. I should be a better sibling…should help you with that.” Jake shook his head and Aaron’s eyes narrowed, “Open your mouth.”

Jake’s throat clicked as he swallowed dryly, clenching his jaw when he caught sight of the plastic tubing and funnel rigged together in Aaron’s hands. The funnel was attached at one end of the tube and the other end was patched awkwardly into some kind of series of straps. Jake could guess what it was for and it was enough to make his stomach turn.

“Open. Your. Mouth.” Aaron’s voice was a stinging lance that made Jake flinch. But, trembling and avoiding his brother’s eye, Jake’s lips parted and he slowly opened his mouth.

Not fast enough for Aaron.

A fist coiled into Jake’s hair, yanking his head back and baring his throat. Jake let out a cry of surprise and pain that was quickly muffled by the foul plastic tubing being wedged into his jaw, pressing against his tongue and shoved almost to the back of his mouth, making him gag. He shook his head, trying to dislodge it, trying to pull away. Aaron snarled and swore, fighting back and shoving Jake against the chair to connect the straps holding the tube in place. Jake let out a muffled scream into the tube, glaring at Aaron as he brother stepped back, pushing greasy black hair from his face with a satisfied smirk.

“Like it? I made it myself,” Aaron patted the side of Jake’s face and Jake cringed away, “Now let’s see what I can feed my poor, starving brother…” Aaron shuffled away to start pulling open cabinets and drawers, inspecting the food in the kitchen, humming and muttering to himself.

Jake struggled, trying to free his uninjured arm, wriggling it against the extension cord even when it pinched and rubbed his skin raw. He glanced up at Milo, trying to apologize, trying to reassure, trying to be there for Milo even though nothing good would ever come of this. Milo was sniffling and crying, trying to keep it in, trying to be strong when he shouldn’t have to be. Jake ached to think of the scars this would leave.

He’d never wanted to be the reason for Milo to cry.

“Oooohh, this’ll work!” Aaron stepped back from the fridge, kicking the door closed with a gleeful little chuckle. He held a jug of milk and a couple of cans of Milo’s favorite energy drinks, all of which he dumped on the table while he scrounged around for something to mix them all in. Jake whimpered and Aaron laughed, dropping a bowl and a container of chicken stock beside the milk and drinks, “Don’t worry, Jakey, let your little brother take care of dinner for you!”

Aaron whistled as he poured both energy drinks into the bowl and then mixed in the milk and chicken stock. The concoction smelled atrocious and looked worse; a pale, hazy snot green that looked slightly greasy. Jake shook his head frantically as Aaron approached with the bowl, trying to dislodge the tube from his mouth, thrashing with all his might against the restraints. Behind Aaron, he could see Milo’s chest heaving, eyes wide and horrified, helpless.

“Bottom’s up, Jake!” Aaron sing-songed. He picked up the funnel and slowly started tipping his horrid mixture in, watching it sluice down the tube into Jake’s mouth.

The second it touched his tongue, Jake wretched, dry heaving and trying to spit it up. But Aaron just kept pouring it and he either had to choke or swallow it down. It felt slick in his throat, burning and disgusting, sitting in his stomach like a lead weight, the aftertaste as caustic as the stuff itself. Another horrible laugh came from Aaron as he dropped the empty bowl and wrenched the straps from Jake’s head, jerking him forward, strings of saliva clinging to the tube as it fell out of Jake’s mouth. Jake coughed, gagged, coughed again, eyes watering, stomach churning, wishing desperately he could throw up. But, god, if he did, Aaron might try to feed him something worse.

“And for dessert…” He heard Aaron say from the end of a long tunnel. He raised his head, watching through blurry eyes as his younger brother picked up a knife from the pile on the table. Aaron slid it from its sheath, inspected it in the light, and grinned at Jake.

Jake just stared at him, wheezing with every shallow inhale, sagging in his bonds.

Aaron scoffed, “Yeah, you’re right…I don’t think I’ve tenderized the meat enough.” He put the knife back into its sheath and grabbed a thick metal pipe instead, rusted and slightly bent out of shape but still dangerous enough to do its job. He hefted it in his hand as he approached Jake.

“STOP IT!”

The voice was like a lance that made the room freeze.

Jake held absolutely still, heart pounding painfully hard in his chest, palms sweating, praying he had only imagined the shout.

“Stop it!” Milo repeated to Aaron’s hunched back and Jake wished he wouldn’t, “Stop hurting my dad! He never did anything to you! So stop it!”

Ice settled in Jake’s chest as Aaron turned to face the teenager. Jake frantically shook his head behind Aaron’s back, trying to tell Milo to just be quiet, to just let this happen because it was inevitable, it had to happen, it was his place in the universe to let it happen. Jake would always run, Aaron would always find him, and Jake would always be punished for being the bad son. No one else needed to be involved, no one else needed to be hurt. If Milo would just stay quiet then things would go back to normal, they would be okay. Jake would eventually walk off the bruises and cuts and the memories would fade into nightmares and be forgotten for what they really were and Milo wouldn’t have anything to worry about. Jake didn’t care how many scars he had to carry if it meant that Milo would never have to experience any at all.

“I told you to BE! QUIET!” Aaron stomped across the room, rearing back with the pipe as he neared Milo.

Milo jerked back, forgetting his predicament and tightening the noose on his own neck. He gagged, his cries choked by the rope cutting off his air supply, feet scrabbling to try and back away from the man approaching him. Jake’s fear escalated to a point where it felt like his heart was tearing itself into pieces. And he would let it, he would gladly let his heart explode if it meant Milo would be spared.

Years of conditioning wrenched his mind in twenty different direction, his eyes burning and his throat closing as he struggled to speak. If he said something he could get Aaron’s attention away from Milo. But if he spoke, then Aaron would make things worse, he always made things worse if Jake said anything, even if it was just a wordless cry of pain, Aaron wouldn’t stand for it. Jake swallowed hard, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to force his voice out despite the way it made his mouth taste like ash and made his tongue feel heavy with fear.

But before he could make a sound, someone else spoke up.

“Milo? Were you eating dinner? I tried texting but y—“

Cody stood frozen in the threshold to the kitchen, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open as he processed what he was seeing.

For a long minute, there was silence as everyone stared at each other.

Then Jake pushed the words out past the vice in his chest, “CODY! RUN!!”

Cody bolted and Aaron launched himself after the teenager with a scream of rage.

He took a swipe with the pipe and managed to bash it into the side of Cody’s legs, tangling them and sending them both crashing to the floor. Aaron grabbed onto Cody’s ankle and tried to pull him closer but Cody kicked out with his free leg, the heel of his sneaker smashing into Aaron’s face with a crunch of snapping cartilage. Aaron howled in a combination of rage and pain, letting go of Cody in order to clutch at his face. Cody backed away, fumbling his phone out of his pocket, his fingers shaking on the touch screen as he dialed for help.

“H-hello! Th-there’s a man—he tied up my friend—he—he’s trying to hurt me—!”

The sound that came out of Aaron’s mouth was one of inhuman fury. His face was smeared in blood from his broken nose, madness glowing in his eyes as he heaved himself off the floor. A red handprint plastered over the white kitchen tile, the pipe scraping like a furious banshee as he dragged it up beside him. Cody screamed, bolting in the other direction, running around to put the table between himself and Aaron.

Jake was trying to wriggle free of his restraints again, pulling and pressing his good arm as much as he could, ignoring the way the extension cord bit into his sides and made his legs ache. He managed to wrestle his hand free and he twisted, frantically feeling for where he knew the knot was and picking at it, fingers bruised and numb and sore as he tried to undo the rubber cord.

Cody was playing chicken around the dining room table with Aaron. Dodging one way when Aaron went the other. Aaron was getting furious, banging his pipe on the table whenever Cody tried to snag a weapon of his own or got too close. Milo was shouting, shaking in his chair, desperate to wriggle free but knowing what moving would cost him. It was a stalemate; Cody couldn’t get past Aaron but Aaron couldn’t pin Cody, nor could Aaron get Milo to shut up without taking his attention off of Cody.

What Aaron had forgotten, it seemed, was that Jake was very used to escaping from Aaron. He knew all of Aaron’s little tricks.

The knot in the extension cord came loose and then, free. Jake rattled back and forth in the chair, wrenching his dislocated arm, kicking numb legs that didn’t want to cooperate, clawing his way out of the clinging cord. He saw Aaron glance back at him and then do a double take when he realized Jake was freeing himself. He screamed in rage and threw himself at Jake instead, swinging wildly with the pipe. Jake screamed, throwing himself backwards and tipping the entire chair over so he slammed into the floor. The pipe connected with his shin in a savage blow that shattered inside him, drawing out another scream of pain. But his other foot swung up and kicked Aaron’s hand, knocking the pipe free and sending it clattering across the floor.

Aaron was blinded by rage, launching himself at Jake with his bare hands. Jake skittered out of the chair and out of the way just in time, gasping as Aaron went head over heels over the seat of the chair and crashed into the cabinets.

“GET MILO OUT!” Jake shouted to Cody, trying to scramble to his feet, trying to reach for something on the table, anything to give him an advantage against Aaron, “GO! JUST GO! I’LL—“

His voice cut off as hands closed tight around his throat, thumbs pressing into his windpipe, fingers digging into the back of his neck. A heavy body pinned him to the floor, the back of his head knocking against the tile, spine grinding into the grout.

“You’ll what, Jake,” Aaron hissed, spitting blood and rage as he leered over his brother, strangling him with all his strength, ignoring Jake’s weak kicks and flailing hand, “Fight me? Me? You can’t stop me! You never could! You couldn’t stop me when we were kids! You couldn’t stop mom from hurting us! Instead you ran away! You ran away and there was no one to stop her from hurting me! This is your fault! This is all your fucking fault!”

“GET THE FUCK OFF OF MY DAD!”

A whirlwind of red and blue collided with Aaron, knocking him over, and Jake gasped as air rushed back into his straining lungs. He tried to yell at Milo, tried to tell him to run, but he could only cough, clutching at his chest, trying to breathe. The pain beneath his ribs was an inferno of burning acid, flaring in stuttering bursts, his limbs weak and shaky and refusing to obey him.

He heard Aaron scream in rage and pain and then the distinct thud of a fist hitting flesh.

Cody’s voice shouting, “Leave him alone!” And then another collision, more shouting and scrambling.

Distantly, Jake thought he heard the front door opening.

Or maybe he was just hoping that someone was coming to save them.

Shaking and wheezing, eyes fuzzing in and out of focus, chest flaring with agony that drowned everything else out, Jake heaved himself onto his side. He could barely make out the blurry, writhing shape that was Cody and Milo wrestling with Aaron.

Two teenage boys could not fight a full grown man.

“S-sto—stop��“ Jake tried to call to them but his throat didn’t work right and it hurt to breathe.

Someone screamed in pain. It did not sound like Aaron.

Anger and a fierce protectiveness flared to life in Jake, momentarily surging over the pain and exhaustion trying to drag him down. He hauled himself to his feet, lurching over to where Aaron was trying to pin down Cody, Milo on Aaron’s back, pulling at that greasy hair and trying to beat him with fists that seemed too tiny and ineffective. Fury like Jake hadn’t felt since his younger days had him drawing back his leg and kicking Aaron square in the ribs.

Aaron dropped back from Cody with a grunt, spilling Milo from his shoulders, and before he could recover, Jake kicked him again. Then he fell atop Aaron and beat his fist into his younger bother as hard as he could. Someone was shouting, screaming a hoarse voice to stay away from his family. There was red, hot and sticky on Jake’s fist, scratches on his arms.

Someone was pulling at him, dragging him off of Aaron, jostling his broken leg and making him cry out.

He didn’t know where Cody and Milo were.

There were strangers in the house.

Voices were overwhelming him.

His chest was on fire and his lungs weren’t working.

Jake fell unconscious.

———

He woke up in a hospital.

Because of course he did.

Everything ached, a dull throb through his entire body, an even wave of dull pain washing over him with everything shallow breath he took. Jake decided it wasn’t worth the energy to try and stay awake, and so he passed out again.

———

He woke up.

The room was dark. The steady beat of the heart monitor a familiar drone in the background. Someone’s soft breathing came from his bedside.

He was safe.

He fell asleep.

———

He woke up.

Someone’s hand was on his, big and warm and a little calloused.

It took a hundred years for Jake to turn his head and a hundred more for his tired eyes to focus.

Dan was slumped in a chair next to the hospital bed, looking pale and exhausted, his hand lightly resting over Jake’s. He looked like he’d been sitting there for decades.

Jake tried to say something but all that came out was a little gasp of air.

Dan’s head jerked up and their eyes met. Jake tried to smile but his face felt sore. Tears welled up in Dan’s eyes and he clutched at Jake’s hand with both of his, turning towards the door to shout something that was too muffled and far away for Jake to focus on.

He fell asleep.

———

He woke up.

The scent of flowers, a little dry, very faint against the chemicals of the hospital.

No hand on his this time.

The scratch of a pen on paper.

Jake pried his eyes open enough to look around.

A nurse was copying down the information from the monitors hooked to him. She glanced at him and jumped when she saw he was awake.

Suddenly there were doctors and nurses everywhere, shining lights in his eyes, asking him questions he struggled to answer with a tongue made a sandpaper and a throat as dry as the desert.

At some point, it was just too much.

He fell asleep.

———

He woke up.

Something warm was pressed against his side.

It didn’t take as long for him to move this time, though his head still felt like a bowling ball packed with concrete while he did it.

A familiar mop of messy red hair and a soft hoodie.

Milo had tucked himself under Jake’s arm and was curled against him, asleep with his head on Jake’s chest, one hand lightly fisted in Jake’s hospital gown and his brow scrunched up in his sleep. Jake watched him dazedly for a moment and then, very slowly, moved a hand to brush it through Milo’s hair, gently and softly petting his head. The crease between Milo’s eyebrows eased, smoothed out, and he seemed to relax a little, snuggling closer to Jake’s side. Jake winced a little at the pressure, but smiled thinly at the warmth.

At least he knew Milo was okay.

Milo was safe.

Milo was alive.

Jake fell asleep.

———

He woke up far more coherent than he had been before.

When Jake looked around, he saw the slightly wilted flowers in the vase on his bedside table surrounded by a handful of get well soon cards and a well loved shark plush watching over him. With a tremendous effort, he reached out and slid the shark plushie off the table and onto the bed, dragging it closer so he could pet its soft fur.

It was one of Milo’s favorites.

The door opened.

Jake barely had time to register that it was Dan who had come in before Dan was across the room, cupping Jake’s face in his hands and crying.

“You idiot!” Dan babbled, holding Jake like fragile china but still holding him as close as he dared, “You’re so stupid, Jake! You could have died! You idiot! Stupid!”

Jake weakly patted Dan, murmuring quiet reassurances no louder than a whisper, tears on his own face that he didn’t bother hiding. Dan was warm, comforting, strong, familiar. Dan was family. He smoothed Jake’s hair back, sniffing and checking him over, muttering about how happy he was that Jake was okay, that Jake was alive.

“Wh’ happen’d…?” Jake managed to ask. His throat still felt raw and his chest was sore, but it was a fair sight better than it had been.

Dan mellowed at the question, easing down into a chair and holding onto Jake’s hand. Jake’s other hand was still awkwardly stroking the soft shark plush.

“Dom…Dom said he heard police sirens,” Dan said quietly, staring at Jake’s thin and pale fingers against his own broad, dark ones, “Came out to see what was happening. He saw the cars at the other end of the street, coming towards him. Then he heard screaming from inside the house. So he came running in and—“ Dan swallowed hard, squeezing Jake’s hand, “And you were punching Aaron in the face, screaming at him not to touch the kids. You were really beat up, Jake. But it took Dom and three other police officers to pull you off of Aaron. And the second they did, you passed out and threw up. In…in that order…”

Jake grimaced; he could only imagine what that must have looked like, “A-are the kids…?”

“Milo and Cody are both okay,” Dan assured him with a sad smile that said there would probably be plenty of therapy bills in their future, “No permanent damage, just a lot of bruising. Milo wouldn’t stop talking about how cool you looked…”

Jake chuckled, coughed a little, and sagged back against the bed with a tired sigh. He stared at the ceiling for a long time before whispering,

“And Aaron?”

Silence. Jake turned his head enough to look at Dan. There was an expression on Dan’s face like he wasn’t sure about the contents of a questionable container of food found at the back of a fridge. Jake frowned.

“Dan…what h-happened to Aaron?”

“Um…” Dan cupped Jake’s hand in both of his, looked like he was working up the courage to say something, “They, um. They think he—it looks like he had some kind of—of psychotic break. He—your mom is…gone. Then he came looking for you. He’s committed now. I don’t think he’s ever going to…get out…” His look was one of sympathy and pity and apologies he didn’t owe, “Jake, I…I’m really sorry…”

Jake turned away to look at the ceiling again and tried to figure out how he felt.

Aaron had killed their mother.

Aaron was probably going to kill him.

Aaron might have tried to kill Milo.

It felt like too much to deal with all at once. Jake closed his eyes and let out a heavy, wheezing sigh,

“When can I go home?”

He felt Dan’s smile rather than saw it, “Not for a few days yet, buddy. Want me to see if Milo can come by? You’ve been asleep every time he’s visited. Bet he’d like to see you.”

Jake thought about the little spitfire of energy that was Milo, the wide smile, the eager spark. The terror in his eyes. The rope biting into his neck. The righteous anger in his voice.

“Yeah,” He said, looking at the little shark beneath his hand, “I want to tell him thank you.”

[bnhayyy]

The Call (6)

Chapter Title: Heartache

Wordcount: 2.8k

Fic Tag: Click

Ao3 Link: Click

Chapter Summary: Mikasa tells Annie about her past.

Notes: Alright! So this chapter is a little on the short side. The next two chapters will be as well, having originally been one super long chapter that I cut into three for the sake of themes and pacing. But on the bright side, yesterday I posted a Yumihisu one-shot that takes place between the second and third scene of chapter three, so be sure to check that out if you haven't seen it already. Once again, thank you to Celadon for betaing this chapter! And if you’re enjoying this fic, please consider joining my writing discord or buying me a ko-fi! You know, ko-fi. The thing that exists so monetized tumblr doesn't have to.

The week following the visit to the club passed by in a blur. Annie watched as Mikasa doubled down on trying to hunt Ymir, only for none of her efforts to bear fruit. For good reason. The whole time Mikasa hunted, Annie carefully walked the line of looking helpful while contributing nothing. 

Her faked efforts and need to preserve the scapegoat for as long as possible canceled out Mikasa's genuine zeal.

Or maybe Ymir was just better at this than they were. The results were the same either way. It looked like they weren't going to see Ymir again until she was ready to be seen.

Krista had proven herself to be both a help and a hindrance.

Annie hadn't seen the girl since that night at the club. Art was the only class she shared with her, but a little snooping had revealed that she hadn't been to any of her other classes either. Apparently, she had been calling in sick. Although they had been able to find the apartment building she lived in, they hadn't been able to get her exact address, and Mikasa wasn't quite ready to break into every single apartment in her quest to find Ymir.

Or confirm that Krista was still alive.

Annie noticed that Mikasa's anxiety had subtly grown with every day that they didn't see Krista… just not enough to make her break the law. For her part, Annie didn't press the matter. Seeming too willing to break into someone's apartment could set off all kinds of alarms. Besides, it was good that Krista was making herself scarce. If she had decided to stick around and give Mikasa ideas about Ymir's innocence, Annie really might have had to act.

That didn't mean that she was in the clear. Even if she was staying away for the time being, the fact remained that Krista Lenz was an unknown factor in a carefully calculated equation. Ymir too, for all that her little group had been using her presence to their favor so far. They had the potential to throw everything off balance if they decided to get involved. For that reason, they had decided to crack down on as much as they could.

Getting phone taps set up was a risky, tedious, and nerve-wracking process. However, by the end of the week, the phone in Smith's office, Smith's landline, Smith's cellphone, Mikasa's phone, and even Jean, Connie, Sasha, and Armin's phones were all bugged. Annie still had to find an opportunity to get Smith's friend's phones, but she planned on taking care of it soon.

Annie didn't know what to make of those two. An overly energetic watcher and a grouchy little demon hunter, the meeting Smith called to introduce them to everyone had been dominated by the former rambling while the latter glared at anyone who dared to look at him for more than three seconds. She didn't understand how Smith would mesh with personalities like theirs. Yet watching them for a little while had made it clear that the three of them were close. Genuinely close, not like the act that she, Reiner, and Bertolt put on.

Or the lie that she was building with Mikasa.

***

Annie: Patrolling tonight?

Mikasa: Of course

Mikasa: I'll be at your place at 7

***

It was 7:15 when Mikasa arrived. Annie may not claim to know her well, but she had gotten to know the last slayer well enough over the past few weeks to know that being late was unusual for her. She raised an eyebrow when she opened the door for her, allowing it to ask her unspoken question.

"Armin was over," Mikasa said as she stepped inside.

"I see," Annie said, closing the door. "You seem... close."

No. That wasn't right. One of the first things she had learned about Mikasa was that she wasn't truly close to anyone, Armin included. Annie leaned against the door as she reconsidered her phrasing. "You seem like you could be close," she settled on.

Mikasa stiffened. She turned to face Annie, but instead of making eye contact with her, she looked down at the bag that held her slaying supplies. "Yeah," she said, voice soft, but too vague to make out any specific emotion. She clutched her bag to her chest, probably unthinkingly. If she knew that she was holding onto it like a comfort and a shield, god knew that she probably wouldn't let herself. "If things were different, we probably could be."

Annie frowned. So that was the problem, the mindset that she and Reiner had been working so hard to cure her of. (Just in time to snatch her life away from her.) "You keep him at a distance because you're the slayer," she surmised.

"No," Mikasa said, causing Annie to blink in surprise. "It's because of..."

Mikasa hesitated. At least, that was what Annie thought was happening at first. As the seconds dragged on, she saw that whatever she was thinking about seemed to be actively causing her pain.

Annie frowned and stepped away from the door. She wanted to know about Mikasa, but not if it forced the other girl to dredge up painful thoughts. Annie was already going to be enough of a shadow on her existence. If it eased her suffering a little, she was okay with the other slayer dying a mystery. "Hey," she said, "you don't have to-"

"No," Mikasa cut her off. "You deserve to know this." A shadow of resolve fell over her expression as she spoke. She clearly wasn't happy about whatever she was going to say, but that wasn't going to stop her from saying it.

Annie felt something warm flicker in her chest. Maybe it was respect. Maybe it was admiration. Whatever it was, it was helpless to change the course of events. She still acknowledged it, because there was something to be said for someone who was willing to face things that they knew would hurt them. 

This feeling was probably the closest that Annie would ever come to self-sacrifice, the selfish, cowardly person that she was. But she could still allow herself to look at that light.

For as long as it was allowed to burn.

"Do you want to talk in my room?" Annie asked. If Mikasa really was about to spill her guts, then a degree of privacy was the least she could offer her. It was the only thing she could offer her.

Mikasa swallowed heavily and nodded. "Yes please."

Annie nodded and turned to lead her down the hall. The room at the very end was hers. It was small - all of their rooms were. Their organization had paid for them to rent a small house so that they didn't have to take the additional risk that would have been killing someone and occupying theirs, but they hadn't been willing to spring for anything extravagant. At least it wasn't hard to make people believe that a trio of college students could afford to rent it.

If Mikasa had any thoughts on how sparsely decorated the room was, she didn't voice them. Annie lead her over to the bed, where she sat down on one end while Annie took the other. There they sat, Annie trying not to stare too intensely at the other slayer as she waited for her to start. For her part, Mikasa was clearly trying to gather herself. She stared distantly up at the ceiling as she ran through whatever thoughts might be racing through her mind.

Finally, Mikasa shifted her gaze to Annie. "I met Armin through his best friend," she said. "A boy named Eren Yaeger."

Annie frowned. Barely anything had been said, yet she already got the sense that it was more complicated than that. The look on Mikasa's face made it impossible for her not to. 

"There was a home invasion when I was fourteen," Mikasa continued. Her voice was gaining a distant quality, like she was trying not to get caught up in the memory. Based on what she was saying, Annie was all but certain that really was the case. "My parents were killed and I was abducted. Eren ran into us when they were forcing me into the car."

Mikasa paused. Her attempt to distance herself from her emotions must not have been working, because something in her gaze fractured.

Suddenly, Annie had a horrible feeling about how this story ended for Eren. 

"Eren saved me," Mikasa managed. "He killed two of my abductors, and when the third arrived, he gave me the strength to kill him myself."

Mikasa had killed someone? A human being? Annie tried to keep her surprise from showing too readily. She must have failed, because Mikasa paused, fresh hesitation written across her features. 

Annie gave a tiny nod. "It was understandable, given the circumstances."

"That's…" Mikasa faltered. "Eren said that they didn't count as human beings."

"I suppose he might be right." Of course, by that logic, she probably didn't either. 

Mikasa nodded. Whether she was agreeing with Annie or simply recalibrating herself, she did not know. The slayer pulled herself together and continued before she had a chance to make a definitive guess either way.

"After that, it looked like things might be... Eren wrapped his scarf around me and said I could come home with him." Mikasa's expression was blank in a way that could only be forced. However, something in her eyes said that she was struggling to breathe. "That was when the vampire showed up. I didn't know that I was the slayer yet or understand what that meant. But I think he knew, somehow, and wanted to kill me before I could become a problem. It was me he was after. But he was harder to fight than a human, and I was scared, and Eren... he wouldn't let him take me without a fight."

For half a second, Mikasa zoned off, her gaze focusing on some point over Annie's shoulder. She snapped back to herself before Annie could figure out if she should say something. It made her wonder if she didn't want any interruptions.

No. It was more likely that she just wanted to be done with this story as soon as possible.

Annie understood the feeling.

"The vampire knocked both of us unconscious," Mikasa continued. "He must have taken the car keys off one of the dead men's corpses, because when we woke up, we were in the trunk. We tried to get out, but it was no use.

"He took us out by a cliff looking over the sea. He went for me first. Eren didn't like that. I tried to fight the vampire off and told Eren to run, but I couldn't... It wasn't..."

Mikasa started blinking as she fell silent. Annie would have been horrified to see the normally stoic slayer struggling to hold back tears if she weren't surprised that she hadn't started crying sooner.

"You were fourteen," Annie whispered. "You didn't have any training or know what you were dealing with."

Even fourteen-year-olds with years of training and who knew what they were dealing with would have a hard time against a vampire. How much had she struggled against Bertolt and Reiner when she was that age? She had been one of the best human cadets in the organization and Bertolt was far too prone to trying to go easy on her, but it was still hard. It might have been easier if she had already been called back then, but even that wouldn't have been enough to make up for the fear and ignorance if she hadn't been aware of the supernatural.

It seemed that Mikasa didn't see it that way. She shook her head and murmured, "I still had the strength of the slayer."

"Raw strength isn't everything," Annie insisted.

"Maybe not," Mikasa said. "But it should have been enough.

Her gaze drifted back to that spot over Annie's shoulder for a moment. Annie couldn't begin to try to gauge the look in her eyes, especially since it was only visible for a short moment. Her eyes switched to something far more shuttered and closed off in an instant.

"I was thrown over the cliff and into the ocean," Mikasa continued. "I thought I was going to die. And for a moment, I did."

The slayer's eyes closed as she remembered the moment, and Annie was foolishly tempted to do the same, just to acknowledge the event that allowed her to come into being.

Even if Annie herself had only become a slayer two years after Mikasa's death. She wondered, did Mikasa realize that some poor, unknown, short-lived slayer had come between them? She must have. Annie had already said that she was called in 2016 back at the meeting. The lost slayer was probably going to be one of those things that no one talked about, for those who realized that she'd even existed.

Just like Eren Yaeger.

Mikasa opened her eyes. "The cliff was by a park," she said. "Someone must have heard the commotion, because emergency services arrived and resuscitated me. But it was too late for Eren.

"Armin and I met at his funeral."

Annie felt her mouth go dry. What could she possibly say to that?

Perhaps it was a good thing that Mikasa wasn't done talking yet.

"There were holes in my story. Most of the adults brushed it off as trauma, but not him. He asked what really happened, and I was still weak and scared. I told him everything, and he... he offered to help me. I said no, but I did reach out to tell him when I killed my first vampire, because it was... it was the one that killed Eren.

"I thought that would be it for us, but he kept reaching out. Kept trying... to be my friend." Mikasa paused, the fragile expression of someone caught between hope and longing fluttering across her face before she remembered to shut it down. "And I want to. He's... Armin is good. But that's exactly why I can't let him get close. Erwin may have had a point about him knowing how to defend himself from the Supernatural, but I want him to stay as far away from this as possible. And..."

You can't see him without thinking about Eren, Annie thought.

She understood. That was exactly how she had felt about Porco in the months after Marcel died. That was how she felt when she looked at the vampires she'd been abandoned with for a while after Porco and Pieck disappeared. Armin may have been a good person, but he had also been Eren's best friend, whereas it sounded like Mikasa hadn't even known him for a day. If being around Armin was painful for Mikasa, then she could only imagine how it felt for him.

How difficult must it be to build a genuine friendship around a barrier like that?

Impossible, if you weren't even willing to try.

"...It's complicated," Mikasa finished.

"Sounds like it," Annie murmured. "But... it also sounds lonely."

This, she also understood. That understanding did not make her any less of a vile thing. It did not stop her from taking advantage of a moment of vulnerability and loneliness to draw the other slayer closer to her. Closer to her eventual doom.

"It is," Mikasa admitted. Her words were slow and measured, holding all the weight of an unbelievable, life-changing confession. "But it's... less with you around, I think."

Annie's heart did a funny thing as it tried to stop and speed up at the same time. "Is it?" she asked. The dryness in her mouth was back. She wanted to move closer to Mikasa, even though there were a million reasons why she shouldn't.

"Yeah," Mikasa said. "It's... it's nice having someone around who understands what it's like to be the slayer." Her lips twitched into a small, bittersweet, but genuine smile. Annie's eyes lingered on them. "I'm glad that I met you, Annie."

Annie swallowed heavily. "Me too," she lied. In that moment, she wished that she had never met Mikasa Ackerman. She wished that she'd never even heard of her, that she and her companions had continued with their lives utterly unaware of her existence.

She wished that she didn't have to kill her.

She wished that she didn't want to kiss her so much.

Annie shifted back, only then realizing just how close she had gotten to the other slayer, and stood up. "It's getting late," she said. "We should get patrolling, if you're still interested."

Mikasa nodded, snapping out of whatever trance had fallen between the two of them. "I am," she said.

And that was that.

Or so Annie told herself. Because although she wanted to believe that it was a fluke, that she had caught herself and would be able to continue walking her predetermined path, unwavering and unstoppable...

...In her heart of hearts, she could not deny the tension, that there was tension between them for the rest of the night.

She couldn't quite convince herself that it was gone come morning.

[jj-lynn21]

Clowning around

Warnings: humor, creepiness, fear, smut, angst, possible multiple personality disorder, A Halloween fanfic for all my Pennylovers out there. The Clownfuckers that miss their Bob Gray. Girls missing their Daddywise. This might not be a straight up Pennywise story, but you know how Bill gets when he puts on that persona. You know what you are in for.

Tags: @a-mess-of-fandoms @hausofobsession @amandalynngraves @josielikesskarsgards @dragsraksllib @grandpa-sweaters​ @bskarsgardlove92​ @super-pink-a-palouza​ @draggolblackthorn​ @loomiz​ @theskarsgardcult​ @sunshineandskarsgards​ 

Thank you for the moodboard @flowers-in-your-hayr​

“Bill you were the scariest clown I ever saw in a movie. Thank you for speaking to me via skype today.” The reporter said wrapping up the sixth interview in row for your boyfriend. All of them still praising his work as the clown. Bill loved people didn’t hate it, but he would rather be praised for any of his current roles over Pennywise.

“Thank you.” He smiled hoping no one mistook the smile for a remnant of the clown.

It wasn’t that he did not love the character and appreciate all the love from the fans. Hell, he was ready to jump right back into the skin of Bob Gray if Steven King wrote a prequel and Andy Muschietti was on board to direct again. But he did not want to chase a seventy-year-old adult Losers Club at sixty-years-olds. At lease at this point in his career.  

You did not blame him either. You were so proud of all the projects Bill did over the last year or two that were starting to be released. He was such a workaholic because he loved the work, but he still made time for you. He would often fly you wherever he was working. He did not work most weekends but sometimes it made more sense staying in a hotel or apartment near filming instead of coming home.  

“Hey, sweetheart.” His voice was horse from talking for so many hours. “Thanks for the tea and Vaniljhjärta. I think I am finally done.” He pulled you onto his lap. 

You learned to make his favorite pastry, Vaniljhjärta, from a Swedish cookbook that you had to translate as you learned the recipe. It was time consuming but worth it the way Bill light up getting a little taste of home.  

“You’re welcome.” You kissed his cheek softly. “No need to talk for a while. I put honey in the tea to sooth your throat and Jokk Tranbär Apple & Kanel on top just the way you like it. “

He sipped the tea. Then nodded his approval. After taking a bite of the heart shaped pastry he licked his lips and devoured in in a few more bites. Then his cellphone rang ruining the delicious quiet moment between you. When you started to get up, he shook his head no. You were happy to stay in place.

“Hey, how’s life, man.” Landon Liboiron called Bill at least once a month. They talked about acting, future goals and what was going on in their lives in general. He was the only guy Bill felt like he could talk to freely outside his family. “I don’t usually ask you for shit, but I’m involved in this project for charity I would love you to help with. If you don’t want to that’s fine. All the proceeds will go to a local children’s hospital. I think a few of those kids will be there.”

“My schedule is packed during the week, Landon.” Bill was hesitant to get involved with yet another project when he was working on Clark, which he was also producing. “You know I would do just about anything to help you out.”

“Hi, Landon.” You interceded.  

“What’s up buttercup?” He laughed.

You giggled.

“It would be one Saturday October 1.” Landon added about the event.

“All right.” Bill thought about it. “I might be able to make one night. What do you need me to do, sign autographs or something?”

“Nothing that boring.” Landon assured. “I am one of the sponsors of a haunted carnival and I would like Pennywise to attend if that is something he would want? Terrorize some guests throughout the area and the Fun House. But no hurting anyone. Is that understood?”

A strange look came over Bill’s face. One you had seen before but not for an awfully long time. He stood. You slid off his lap right to the floor landing on your bum. That was not like your Bill at all. Then you heard it, IT’s voice.  

“I could play your game.” Pennywise cooed. “I love chase games. Carnival with children. And lots pop pop popcorn.” He giggled. “Don’t forget the red balloons.”

“Yes, I can get all of that for you.” Landon was nervous about what he just brought up in his friend. If he had opened some weird Pandora's Box. “I will email the specifics and see you Saturday.”

“Yes, yes. Saturday will be a fun day to play.” Pennywise snickered like a child.  

Landon hung-up first a little creeped out at the exchange. Pennywise looked over at you still on the floor looking at him in awe.  

“Shall we start playing now...” His voice went from high pitch to deep and gravely. “my little one.”

You swallowed hard as he stalked towards you. His mannerisms changing as he came closer. The Clown was out to play, and you did not know how or when you would get your sweet man back.

He knelt as you crab crawled away from him. He was laughing at your fear. Whether you were pretending for the sake of the game or feared this side of your man only you knew. But your heart was beating fast as his smiling Pennywise face got with within an inch of yours.

“Boo.” He cackled demonically. “You better run, little one.”

You got up quickly and darted one way then the other trying to find a place to hide. But you knew you could never truly hide from him. He was quick once he got up and began to hunt you.  

“I’ve missed you.” He came around the corner. “I’ve craved you.”  

You could see him but hoped he did not see you.  

“I’m going to find you.”  

You closed your eyes tightly and put your hand over your mouth. For some reason this seemed the best strategy. If you could not see him. If he could not hear you breathing maybe...”

“I’m going to eat you up.” Pennywise growled.

You could feel his breath on your face. You let go of your mouth. Then opened your eyes. He was drooling. His eyes floating in their sockets. You let out a blood curdling scream as he pulled you out of the hiding place and tossed you over his shoulder.

“Get ready to float.” Pennywise mused as he carried you into his layer.  

He tossed you onto the bed. Tearing at your cloths Pennywise shredded them quickly. He dipped his head between your thighs to eat you out with delight. He made little high-pitched noises as he did so. And you were wet, all turned on by the chase. “Daddywise, please.” you moaned as he teased your pussy.  

He was sucking at your clit until your writhed. Then darted his tongue over your slit to lick up all your juices. He worked you to the edge multiple times as you begged him to let you float in the glorious high of ecstasy you needed.

“You are such a fucking bastard, Daddywise.” Your core ached for release. “You know I need it.”  You whined.  

He looked up at you tilting his head from left to right. Your juices glistening on his lips. He laughed. “Time to float.”

Pennywise dove back down working you up again. This time he made you float so high you never wanted to come down from your blissful orgasm. You laid there panting after as he disappeared into the bathroom.  

Bill came back into the bed with just his boxer briefs on. He pulled you into his chest kissing your temple softly. “Nightmares are back, baby. Can we just fuck them away?”

Your thighs were still trembling but you nodded yes. He grabbed a condom from the nightstand, inched his underwear down and put it on before making love to you. He was slow and passionate hitting you exactly right. It did not take long for him to build your pleasure up once again and tip you over the edge with him coming soon after.

Bill was so gentle and loving but you knew you had not seen the last of Pennywise. He had to put the suit back on in two days. That would make the nightmare even crazier.  

Bill had a 6 a.m. call time the next morning. He was gone by the time you woke. You were sitting up to stretch when you saw it. A note right on your nightstand. You picked it up.

         It was fun playing with you last night, little one.

        You will find me at the carnival.

        Unless I find you first.  

You crumbled up the paper. Heart beating with excitement and fear. When you got out of bed you pulled the top dresser drawer open to search for the lighter Bill kept there. He tried not to smoke consistently but he kept it around. You burned the note.  

You put on one of Bill’s sweaters before making your way to the kitchen. The coffee was still warming in the pot. You made a cup and went into the living room with your cellphone in hand. You checked through your email before flipping through channels on the television. Every channel was playing some version or chapter of IT.You flipped off the TV.

It really creeped you out until you realized that it was the day before Halloween. Of course, several channels were playing one of the best horror movies of all time. You tried to laugh away the chilling sensation down your spine. But you still decided to read instead of turning the television back on.

Bill video called you around lunchtime just as you got out of the shower. A towel wrapped around your body when you answered.  

“I guess I caught you right out of the shower.” He grinned.

“I guess you did.” You giggled. “How is your Day going?”

“It’s fucked.” He griped. “It is like people think their weekend time off has already started. Everyone but me. The director is on a rampage pissing and moaning. We are going to try to shoot two more scenes before we lose the natural light of the sun. I might make it home before midnight. Sorry, I didn’t call you to complain. I just wanted to hear your sweet voice and see how beautiful you look.”

“I’m glad you called.” You tried to think of things to say without mentioning the note. That would not put him in a good head space for his current job. Plus, you rather keep Pennywise away until the carnival. “Thank you for keeping the coffee warming for me. I was snuggling in your burnt orange sweater most of the day just reading.”

“What are you reading, Älskade?” He licked his lips. He knew how much you loved when he called you the Swedish pet name for beloved.

You whimpered a little before answering. “Angry God, All Saints High Book 3.”

“How about you show me what happened in the book when I get home tonight?” He winked. “I know that is one of those steamy ones you enjoy reading and acting out.”

“I think I have a particular passage we could have fun with.” You smirked.

“Hey Bill, we are ready to start.”  

“I have to go.” He sighed. “Make sure you eat today. Love you>”

“Love..”

He had to disconnect to head back to work. You eat as he reminded you. Then went back to reading your book imagining Bill doing all the good things you were reading. You put the book down when it became too much. You took a few deep breaths. You can wait for Bill to get home.  

You clean the house. Then watch a non-clown related scary movie. You wake from dozing off during a third movie in the franchise you were watcching. It is already after midnight. You head to bed in one of Bill’s t-shirts and nothing else. You figure he had to work later than he expected.  

Bill is completely exhausted when he finally makes it home. He takes a quick shower before sliding into bed next to you his head lays on your chest. His arm flopped over your waist. You sighed deeply still mostly asleep turning to hold him.

“You all right, baby?” You mumbled.

“mm” was the only sound he made before you both fell asleep.

You both slept in Saturday Oct 31st. When you finally woke Bill was mostly quiet, other than some pleasantries. He gave you a few small kisses through the afternoon. He made a delicious brunch that would sustain you into the evening. Treats later at the carnival would be enough. The carnival neither of you mentioned.

You were cuddling on the couch when he realized the time. “I have to get it.”

“Get what.” You were not sure for a second what he meant. Then a small bit of panic rolls over your face.

“The costume is in the back of our closet.” He got up. “I can’t believe they gave me that thing. I guess in times like this I am glad. Remember how much I love you at the end of the night.”

“I know.” You try to smile. “I love you too.”

He gets the outfit and everything that makes Pennywise, Pennywise from the back of the closet. You shiver as you hear Pennywise laughter. He comes out from the bedroom with everything in a garment bag and makeup case.  

He is silent as you follow him out to the black SUV. He drives holding your hand. Both of you seem a little nervous.  

“Are you going to help with his Make-up?” Bill finally broke the silence.

“I could.” you bite your lip.

“You should.” Bill brings your hand up to kiss your pulse point.  

You turn on the radio. Both of you sing along to your favorite songs. It is bad singing, but it breaks the tension until you pull into the destination.  

It is late after when you get to the carnival. White, orange, and red lights brighten the scene as dusk slowly starts to descend. Landon is waiting as you walk up to the entrance.  

“Hey, man thanks for doing this.” He started to walk and talk. “I have a private tent set up over here for you to get ready. Do you need any help or snacks?”

“I am helping him.” You smiled uneasily.

“Great.” Landon nodded and smiled.

Bill’s bottom lip stuck out as he smiled wide or no not Bill. The performance was already starting. “Cotton candy.” He sounded giddy. And two red balloons. One for me and one for my sweet girl. Would you like a red balloon too silly boy?” He sounded a bit menacing as he asked the last question.  

“Um I should save them for the kids.” He started backing out of the tent slow. “You cool?” He looked to you.

You just nodded. When Landon left, it was just you and Bob Grey. Bob Grey stripped to get fully into his Pennywise character. You helped him put on the costume. Landon brought the balloons and cotton candy while you were doing the Pennywise make-up.

“Looks great.” Landon swallowed hard a little terrified of the clown. “The Fun House is on the other side of the carnival so just walk or stalk through and do your thing.”

Pennywise looked at him and giggled. “What do you think, little one?” He was speaking to you yet still staring at Landon. His voices deepening to a gravel tone “He’ll float too. At the end of the He’ll float too.”

Landon jetted, hoping this was still a good idea. He thought it might be the worst idea he ever had. But it was too late to call Pennywise off now. He was going to be let loose on the carnival within a few hours.  

You had perfected helping him into the outfit, wig and putting Pennywise’s clown face on him. It still took a good four hours to get him ready. His white gloved hands creeping over your body as he giggled and growled did not help. Eventually you were. Done.  

He handed you a balloon and the cotton candy. “Time to play hide and seek. Go on and try to hide from Pennywise. Go on and play.” He giggled. I will find you soon enough.”

You made a b-line for the exit. You knew exactly what he wanted from you. And there was no where you could really hide. You just hoped he did not scare the children to much.

Pennywise stalked into the night with a red balloon in hand. As the guests start to see him, they have a few different reactions. Some drop whatever snack is in their hand and back away slowing. That is when Pennywise walks towards them.  

“Is it play time friends?” He cackled at a group that looked like they were unsure how real this all was. They ran from his view. After they got far enough away, they laughed at the fear the moment built in their chests.

When he caught some girls ogle him. Their boyfriends trying to be tough as shit. He slunk closer right behind one of the boys blabbing about how Pennywise could never scare him. He would protect the girlsl.

“I won’t let some pussy actor in a costume frighten...”  

He stopped as Pennywise’s breath was felt on his neck. The others just stared behind the blowhard at the massive scary clown.  

“Um Trevor maybe you should run.” His girl Beth suggested.  

“Yes, Trevor.” Pennywise drooled on his shoulder. “Run!”

The group bolted to the other side of the carnival. Trevor quickly untucked his shirt to hide the pee spot on his chinos.  

Pennywise gets over to some children with their parents waiting to get on a merry-go-round. As the gate opens for the ride the children pull the hands of the adults to go quickly. All but one little boy with his Mother can get on this time around. The child’s eyes were huge round saucers as Pennywise smiled at him.

He knelt to the child. “You want a balloon little boy?”  

A roaming photographer was snapping pictures capturing the moment as Pennywise attempted to hand the boy a balloon. He shook his head no, burying his face in his Mother’s side.  

Pennywise whined pouting. “Please, be my friend. No one will be my friend. I’m just a silly clown trying to make you smile and you won’t even look at me.” He looked up at the boy’s Mother who seemed to be memorized by his stare. “Maybe, your Mommy will be my friend?”

The kid shakes his head an emphatic no and his Mother giggled. “There is nothing wrong with this talented man dressed as a creepy clown, Joshua. Now turn around to get your picture taken.” She took the balloon Pennywise offered.  

Pennywise was giddy with laughter. He put his arm around the shaking boy who smiled fearfully. He was not sure if he was more scared of the clown or what his Mother would do to him if he did not listen to her.  

Pennywise got up to fully standing over the child’s Mother. “Now it is time to float.” He started showing his razor-sharp teeth.  

Just then the gate opened for them to get on the ride. Joshua pulled his Mother away from what looked to him a dangerous situation. Part of her was a little frightened for a moment but mostly she about creamed her pants with excitement.  

Pennywise left the kiddie area to stalk his favorite prey. The woman that helped him break though to this world once again. He was careful in the night air. Quiet as he could be other than a jingle from time to time, he hoped you would hear and know he was coming for you.

You walked around the carnival enjoying your cotton candy. Always having an ear open for him. You watched from afar as he scared the piss out of the jock. Him and his friends ran right passed you. You snickered. You saw him scare the younger ones near the merry-go-round. Then saw the lust in one Mother’s eyes and smirked.

There were a lot of shadow places to hide as you made your way to the fun house. You did not think he could see you even though you could hear a jingle. You were constantly spinning to look around you when you heard a noise. Then it was only a few feet of open space to get to the Fun House.

Pennywise was lurking. He enjoyed the chase. He loved the way you looked so panicky. The way you looked over your shoulder straight at him. But you never saw him in the shadows. 

The carnival was winding down. People were streaming out. You thought if you timed things exactly right you could hide in the stream of people to get in the Fun House. Lights were being dimmed or shut off as you made your break from behind the tilt-a-whirl, though the crowd, and right into the beast’s mouth. You heard screaming as you looked around to find your way through.

Pennywise came bounding out of the darkness with a snarl. Everyone who were walking slowly towards the exit picked up the pace. They screamed as he walked after them. He was always just steps behind. Some were laughing by the time they got to their vehicles. Others were holding their chests from their hearts beating so fast. A few little kids were crying. All agreed it was the best haunted carnival where a werewolf or Pennywise could be around the next corner.  

You kicked through the giant beach balls easily. Then dodged some blowup clowns in a room full of them. You were trying to find your way out of a pitch-black room you had to feel your way around when Pennywise entered the Fun House.

He popped the beach balls as he made his way across the room. He punched every blow up clown. A few came back up to smack him back. You heard him scream, “You fucking fake clowns are no match for Pennywise.” He growled. “I’m going to find you, little one.”  

He was going into the darkroom as you made it out. You saw the light from him entering. He saw where you exited. The next room was a mirror maze.  

“Fuck.”

You started to try to navigate your way. Then you heard him. The laughter of your clown from all directions. It was only seconds after that you saw him everywhere just smiling wickedly at you. There was nowhere to go but hopeful making it to the exit before him.

You felt around the glass to the next section. Pennywise giggled as he disappeared from your sight. You turned to right and then to the left and found way through behind you. His cackle echoed and when you thought you were almost free you slammed into a mirror almost knocking yourself out.

When you opened your eyes, his face was right up against the glass in front of you. He looked quite silly with his cute little nose squished against the window like he was looking a glorious Christmas display on the other side, or a delicious meal being prepared just for him. As he licked his lips you realized it was the latter to him.  

Then he did the thing. That thing that made you gasp aloud as you watched IT Chapter two. He licked the glass like it was wet ass pussy and he knew that sight would make your legs weak. And this was no artificial dog tongue. This was the real thing. You knew what he could do to you with it too.  

You pressed your thighs together. A whimper escaped your lips. He laughed. “Daddywise is going to make you float, little one. If not, tonight I will find you.”

How could he be so damn hot, funny, and scary as Hell? You made it to the slide twisting down to the ground. You were not sure Pennywise could even fit. It would be a tight queeze if he could. As soon as you hobbled a few stepped you heard the howl. You whirled your head around and you screamed.

Landon laughed his ass off. “A little jumpy, are we?” He had fury werewolf hands on and some fur around his face. Teeth of a wolf completed his makeshift costume,

You smacked his chest. “Not funny. I have been hiding from Pennywise all night and he is fucking nuts.”

He chuckled again. “Well, it is time to wrap up these childish games. Everyone else left. We are going to clean up in the morning. It is time to go home.”

“You are going to float, little one.” Pennywise yelled from the top of the slide.

“Hide.” You told Landon as you darted around the ticket booth.

“I got this.” He smirked. “I think I had a similar dance like this with him before. If he can ever get out of that slide.”

Pennywise could be heard scooting and grumbling as he shimmied down the twisty slide made for children and average sized adults. He ended up falling out of the bottle head first.  

Landon growled. Pennywise sneered when he made it to his feet. “Oh, what big eyes you have puppy. But not as big as mine.”

The werewolf kept snarling as Pennywise came closer.

“And what a nose.” He giggled. “I could chomp it right off. And those teeth almost as sharp as mine.” He showed off his sharp mouth full of razors. “Where is the girl and I might let you go.”

“I will save the girl from the liked you.” The werewolf challenge throwing his body towards the clown. “Your game here is over.”

Pennywise pinned the werewolf to the ticket booth. You were right on the other side. Your eyes peeking through a window watching to make sure things were not going too far. It seemed to you they were starting to.  

“My tasty girl wants me, not a scruffy creature like...”  

The werewolf squirmed. “Enough already Bill. I get it. Pennywise vs. The werewolf, Pennywise wins.”

“Always,” Pennywise giggled. “I am Pennywise the Dancing Clown. The eater of worlds. I easily can eat you.” He opened his mouth starting to freak Landon out a bit.

“Fuck, man.”

“Pennywise.” You came out from your hiding place. “Put the werewolf down.”

Pennywise looked at you, tilting his head like he was confused. “Playtime?”

“No, playtime is over.” You were firm with him.

He dropped Landon. “Play more. We were having fun. Pennywise have more fun with little one.” He pouted like a child.

“No, it is time to sleep.” you tried to demand.

“No, no, no.” He stomped. “One more game, please?” Pennywise begged you.

Landon did not know what to make of how his large friend was acting.

“All right.” You caved to his demand. “One more game. How about you chase me back to the dressing tent. Then you are done.”

“Yes.”  

You started running. Pennywise walked his huge steps after you. Landon went to take his costume off in the tent right beside the one you and Bill were going to. Pennywise let you get to the opening of the tent before he swooped you up.

He sat in the make-chair. Your legs wrapped around him and the chair. You Both giggled as you opened the large pack of make-up remover towelettes and adhesive remover pads.  

He booped your nose. “Pennywise loves playing with you, little one.”

“I like playing with you too.” You kissed him. “But the time for games are over. We are both a little tired. Time to go to sleep, Pennywise.”

He pouts. But that changes as you take out his teeth. His face relaxes as you remove the make-up. The adhesive remover helps to take the wig off.  

“Bill, I will take this stuff to the car.” You climb off his lap and start packing it all up as he slides off the costume and hangs it neatly in the garment bag. “You should go talk to Landon before we leave.

Bill takes a deep breath. “Yeah, I hope this event made plenty of money for the children’s hospital.”

“I think it did.” you walk out with the stuff.

Bill and Landon meet up right outside the tent.  

“Was it everything you hoped it would be?” Bill asked.

“And more than I could have ever imagined.” Landon offered him a cigarette. “So, you on board for next year.”

Bill lit the cigarette when Landon held a lighter up. “Sure thing.”

“ shee-it .” They said in unison and laughed.  

[moeruhoshi]

Juvia groaned, holding back her tears as she nursed her ankle, huddling against the rocks she slid down for some semblance of warmth.

She looked up into the dark night that shrouded her in mystery, hiding her from anyone that had the chance of seeing where she was.

She winced, holding the wound on her head, too dizzy to collect herself. It hurt to yell and she didn't want to strain herself in fear of passing out.

It was dumb of her to walk off in the middle of the night by herself, especially when Lucy had offered to go with her. But she wanted to find the scarf that Gray had dropped...the one she worked so hard to handmake for him.

She overheard him talking to his friends laughing about how he tossed it behind him and left it in the snow.

Juvia felt a bit foolish for going back to get it, but she made it herself. She learned how to knit herself and it took months to finally get it right. If Gray didn't want it then she could at least get it back for herself, is what she thought.

But she just had to go and fall down the side of a hill with no luck of finding where he'd let it go.

The cold began to nip harshly at her cheeks and nose, burning and burrowing their way into her skin. Juvia cringed as she looked at the bright light of her cellphone screen. She frowned and turned off the screen after seeing that she had no signal, not even holding it up would help her.

She wiped away the bit of blood ready to fall into her eye, leaning her head to rest against a rock.

"Just don't...just don't fall asleep,"

"Juvia! For christ's sake, Juvia! Where the hel–heck did you go?!"

There was the light of a flashlight bursting through the trees above her, frantically moving around as whoever tried their best to look for her.

Their voice was deep, one that began to fade with each passing moment, but she began to recognize it somewhat.

"Gray-sama!"

The pounding in her head began to be too much for her, her injuries forcibly putting her to sleep.

When Juvia woke up again, her body was being carefully cradled, her head leaning softly against a warm chest.

She mumbled incoherently, cozying up to the person who held her.

"Juvia? You up?" She blinked and stared upwards, surprised by the mop of pink hair that met her gaze.

"...Natsu-san?"

"I know ya wanted ice princess to find you, but that no good piece of...well, you know that I don't like to swear in front of you. Luce told woke me up and said you were gone too long so I came to find ya."

"Is he...what did he say?"

"You're hurt to hell and you're still worried about what that ass–idiot's up to? He didn't even bother getting out of bed. He figured you were fine, a real crackpot he is."

His voice began to fade again, forgetting that she was still injured. Natsu continued to talk which helped her a bit, keeping her from dozing off completely. She couldn't make out what he was saying but felt comforted all the same. Natsu was always there for her when she needed him most, in those times that Gray seemed to let her down the most.

She swore he was still talking to her when she began to come to again, his voice not far off, as though he was still carrying her out of the woods.

"N-Natsu-san...?" Her voice was strained and dry, her hand limply reaching out for his when she didn't feel his arms around her.

"It's me, actually," She tiredly turned her head to face Gajeel, his eyebrows knit together as he gingerly took hold of her hand.

"Gajeel-kun," She smiled softly as he still sported a twisted face.

"The others were here to see you earlier, but they couldn't stop crying...the nurse made 'em leave. Didn't want your fever getting worse,"

"Oh...I didn't notice it," She laughed a bit, coughing and choking from the lack of water.

"Sit up a bit," He instructed, holding her back steady as he tipped a cup against her lips.

"They're not too worried, are they?" Juvia asked, her voice barely above a whisper as she spoke.

"Salamander brought you in with a bloody gash on your head, whaddya think? Bunny girl's beating herself up for not going out with you and Shrimp can't even leave their room. Erza and Cana were tryna keep them calm, but you know them, watching someone cry always makes them cry. The rest of the school doesn't even want to leave the hotel with you sick like this. We're staying here until you can leave, no one wants you to go home on your own."

"And Gray-sama? Did...he come to visit me?" She asked, knowing the answer before Gajeel could even speak. His lips tightened and he stood from his chair, curling his fist as he threw her a pained glare. 

"That fucking bastard...I swear he doesn't deserve you at all! He just ran out of the place, woke up this morning looking happy as hell, and then he just fucking ran off when we told him,"

"Juvia's sure... Juvia's sure Gray-sama...Gray-sama will..." She began to cough, the fever reclaiming her with its delirious haze, trapping her in a swollen headache of a fog.

She came in and out of these blips, her head injury failing to let her keep proper consciousness. Lucy and Levy and the rest of the girls came in with swollen eyes and hoarse voices. Natsu cried angry tears by her side, holding her limp hand between his. 

There was no telling how long she'd been asleep, for a few days she assumed at times. But not once when she opened her eyes, was Gray there beside her. Which made her think that maybe it hadn't been that long, maybe just a day or two. She really didn't know what she was expecting from him at times. 

She still really wanted to see him, for him to hold her hand like the others did. Her eyes never stayed open long enough for her to ask where he was or how he was feeling. 

Her fever broke at some point, just suddenly she felt right as rain. She still had to bandage her head, and her ankle was still swollen, three days having passed.

The nurse recommended she stay in bed for a couple more days, just to regain her health since she couldn't stomach anything with her persistent fever. 

Once she woke up, that first day with a clear head, she wasn't allowed any visitors. Just to give her a bit of clarity and to keep her health steady.

It was a bit lonely, especially since she just woke up and was dying to let her friends know that she was okay. 

Juvia was all napped out, staying awake until the sun fell and the moon rose, flashing its light into her bedroom window. 

The door suddenly squeaked open as she began to doze off some time past midnight, surprised by the person who walked in. With that silly scarf wrapped around his neck. 

"Hey,"

"Hey," 

Juvia could say definitively that Gray often spoke with his eyes before he ever did with his words. And always with her, the way he looked at her just told her what he was going to say. 

"Where has Gray-sama been? Juvia was waiting," She said, a bit of anger in her voice as he took a seat beside her. 

"Looking for the scarf," He said, looking away from her as he rested his elbows on his knees. "It was up in a tree, you never would've found it like that,"

"But...but that isn't the point." Gray cleared his throat, his lips twisting as he tried to force out his next sentence. "You could've died out there...all alone and I would've been the damn reason,"

"Juvia doesn't think that's a very good apology," She stifled a laugh, used to his emotional glares that masked what he was feeling underneath. 

"Don't! Just––Juvia, come on, over this of all things!" He said as he tugged on the scarf. "It's just a fucking piece of––!"

"It means a lot more to me and you know that!" She shouted, wincing as her head wound stung a bit. 

"D-Don't yell!" He said quickly, his attitude changing as he worried over her health. "I'm sorry, I'm not saying any of this right at all..."

"Sometimes Juvia gets tired of how much of an idiot Gray-sama can be," She sighed as he settled back into the chair. "Natsu-san was there for me, he always is,"

"Uh-huh," He pursed his lips, frowning at her words. "If I woulda known you were in trouble...well I never thought you'd just go out in the middle of the...I just always think you're going to be okay, okay? I don't worry about you, I always think you're going to be okay, no matter what happens,"

Juvia smiled a bit as he huffed, his hand wiping roughly over his face. 

"I'm sorry," He groaned, their eyes meeting again in a pained lock. "I'm so sorry, Juvia. I wish I knew you were out there. I should'nt've tossed your gift like that...I should have come to see you sooner, I'm the worst,"

"Juvia's no worse for the wear," She shrugged, blushing a bit as he took hold of her hand. 

“I’ll worry about you from now on, alright? So don’t do anything dumb like this again without telling me,”

“As long as Gray-sama is a little more honest with Juvia, yeah?”

“Yeah...I promise...”

[wc-ff]

X.

There wasn't much to be done in a situation like this. What could you do?

Sage was almost sure she'd have to plead for her job back after having two detectives come in to take her to the station and interrogate her, leaving them with one less staff member for the day. They were already short and had called her in on her day off. She could always use the extra money so she agreed to work.

She knew they would come asking for her eventually but she didn't expect for it to be this soon and it showed in her demeanor. She couldn't stop moving around and fidgeting with her fingers as she sat all alone in the dull colored room. The room was cool but she still felt hot as she waited for them to come back in. Sage was also beginning to taste blood from the excessive amount of gnawing she was doing to the insides of her cheeks.

Her eyes couldn't do anything but dart around the room as she sat there. They had nothing else to focus on. She looked like a train wreck but was trying her best to seem as cool as a cucumber.

The detectives abruptly entered the room with stone cold glares on their faces. They weren't exactly looking at Sage though, and it made her a little nervous because she couldn't keep her eyes off of them.

Agents Morris and Steele sat down almost simultaneously, Morris releasing a slow sigh as Steele sat the case file on the table and opened it up. She sat a few pictures of the twins' dead disfigured bodies out in front of the platinum haired woman and Sage instantly winced. Her eyes quickly averted back up to the detectives. She could have kept the close up of the girls out of her imagination forever but now it was permanently etched there.

Still, no one said anything. She didn't know what they wanted her to say to those photos.

Sandra was getting tired of looking at this spec of dirt who she already felt most likely did the crime. She was just ready to put this woman behind bars so the case would be over with. At that point, there were no other leading suspects. "Do you know these two young ladies?" Her voice came out firm and slightly echoed throughout the plain room.

The only color on the walls was a dull gray that contrasted with the darkness of the double-sided windows the detectives were using to watch Sage before they entered themselves. The table and chairs they were sitting on were also metal and cold to the touch. The interrogation room was cool in general and wasn't quite designed to make people feel comfortable.

"No, I don't." Sage answered without so much as a second glance towards the disturbing pictures that were still laid out in front of her.

"That's Kaniya Holt," Sandra spoke as she pointed at one of the disfigured bodies, "and this right here is Malaysia Holt. Mayor Holt's twin daughters and only children. Well they were at least." She added, her eyes narrowing as she glared at Sage with her lips cut into a scowl.

Ronald felt like it was then his turn to speak up. He knew how worked up his partner could get and if this was a good cop bad cop scenario, she would most definitely be the bad cop. "And your phone?" He pulled the evidence bag containing her phone seemingly out of nowhere and placed it on the table. "Was found at the scene of the crime."

"And I saw you running away from the crime scene the next day when we were gathering evidence. Perhaps coming back for a certain cellphone you dropped while you were running away after you finished murdering those two girls." Agent Steele added, her voice stern like a mother scolding her child.

"What—no! I can explain that."

Sage barely even got to plea before Sandra cut in again. "Well you're gonna have to because surveillance cameras showed you running away from the crime scene around the estimated time of death. And after doing a little research... you have a motive better than anyone to hurt Malaysia and Kaniya."

The platinum haired woman's eyebrows instantly furrowed together. "What are you talking about motive? I just said that I don't know them." Her tone came out a bit more harsh now as she got defensive. She hated having to reiterate herself, it didn't matter who it was to.

Sandra only smirked and flipped through a few pages that rested in the manila folder sitting in front of her before laying out an article about Shamar's car accident from a couple of years ago. The headline read: Man Left in Critical Condition After Brutal Collision on Intersection.

Sage's face turned up in disgust and she pushed the article away, no longer wanting to read it. The way the title alone sounded as if there was no empathy involved when coming up with it was enough to turn her off completely. "What does this have to do with them?"

"Kaniya Holt was behind the wheel of the vehicle that hit your father and her sister was in the passenger seat. They both came out seemingly unscathed." Steele responded as if the woman was slow for even asking her the question. She knew exactly what the detective was talking about, Sandra was sure of it.

Sage stared at her for a while, unable to form any words to reply with as her eyes unwillingly swelled up with fresh salty tears. They were the reason that her father could never hug his family again? Why wouldn't anyone have told her that? "N-no, you're lying. I would have heard about it, the news would have reported about it."

"C'mon now. They're the mayors daughters and Kaniya didn't even have her driver's permit so the drivers of the other vehicle were kept under wraps and you're angry about that... aren't you?" Agent Morris' Italian accent was in full effect as questioned her, studying her behavior.

"Of course I am. My dad almost died! That girl should have been in jail, not protected. And y'all knew about this and just did nothing about it? You say your duty is to protect and serve but only when it's convenient, huh?" In all honesty with the news she had just received, Sage had completely forgotten what she was being interrogated about and was just livid as hell now. They did nothing to help her family when it was their job to do so. It made her realize how corrupt the world really was and how close to home it could hit.

"You're angry we didn't do something about it so you took it upon yourself to get justice for your dad. It's only human to feel that way and all but you have to own up to what you did now and sign a confession. These girl's families deserved justice too." Ronald continued, trying his best to sound as soothing as possible so he wouldn't upset her anymore than he knew she already was.

Sage immediately sucked her teeth. "For the last time, I don't know those fucking girls and fuck their families!" She stood up from her seat as the detectives just sat back and watched her point a harsh finger at them. "Neither them or you gave a fuck about my family when it came down to it. But that doesn't mean that I killed those girls."

"So who did then?"

The light caramel toned woman's words got caught in her throat as she tried to think of a response. She gulped hard as she sat down and began trying to explain everything that had happened that night. The date, why she was walking through that area in the first place, and what she saw and heard coming from that abandoned house that night. She hated reliving that moment but knew she had to for the sake of her freedom.

Sandra and Ronald looked at each other before looking back over at their suspect. "So you mean to tell me a 'black figure' beat them to death?" Agent Steele looked Sage dead in the eyes as if she was completely bored by the story she had just told her. It was unconvincing to say the least. She had the strongest motive and was literally in the area at the time of death. Sandra knew for certain that they had their man, they just needed to get this damn confession out of her and she was making it hard.

"I don't know how else to describe it. The person was dressed in black from head to toe, I couldn't see any skin."

"How convenient." Sandra gave her a sarcastic toothless grin, not moved by her story in the slightest.

Suddenly the door busted open and in walked Sage's mother followed by her attorney. "Sage, you don't have to say anything else."

It was sort of already too late. She had already said everything that she needed to say, she just didn't know where to go from there. The detectives didn't seem like they believed her at all.

Steele immediately rolled her eyes and closed up the case file, already knowing exactly where this was going and it annoyed her. She wasn't finished with the suspect, she knew she could break her down if she just had a bit more time with her. Everything lined up and pointed to her as the murderer but it was all circumstantial evidence. Neither her prints nor DNA were found in the actual house or on the persons of the deceased so they needed that confession from her to be able to make the arrest. Sandra was itching to slap some cuffs on her and finally close the case.

"If it's ok with you all, I'd like to take my daughter home now. You interrupted her life enough today." Sanai spoke in the voice she used when she was trying to sound as professional as possible.

Sandra scowled at the both of them but said nothing as she and Ronald watched them walk out of the door.

*******

Ronald sat in his office, typing away on his keyboard. His partner assumed he was doing the work to find more evidence on their case like she was, but instead he was chatting with a woman he had met on a dating app a few days ago.

She was average looking to him but she was of actual Italian descent and had a body that most women her age didn't have anymore so he felt like they could make something work. Thus far, she had been cool and funny. She had jet black hair that she had cut in a blunt bob that reached her shoulders, pale skin that had a few beauty marks scattered here and there, and thick fluffy eyebrows that arched perfectly over her dark brown eyes. She was a seven at the very least and since she exercised frequently, her body was nice and fit.

Ronald could only imagine how much stamina she'd have in bed. She seemed like she was down to find out too. They had planned to meet up that weekend at a bar for the first time and have a few drinks. He was ready to put that entire Chantell situation behind him now.

She had been texting him nonstop since the night before and apologizing about making him feel like she was playing with him but he could honestly care less. He said what he had to say already and wasn't going to spend anymore energy on it. He was too old to be playing games or going back and forth with anyone so he wasn't going to.

He already had his next few options lined up and while Chantell was one of the best looking ones, she wasn't the only one and that was something he felt he needed to make clear to her.

A light knock sounded off on his door which instantly caused his eyebrows to come together in confusion. Usually, Sandra would just barge right in without so much as a warning first so he was sure that it had to be someone else. "Come in." He called out, his eyes trained on the wooden office door.

As if he had thought her up himself, Chantell sashayed through the door and closed it shut behind her. Her bronzed skin was radiating and the lip gloss that coated her lips made them look extra kissable. An all black strapless sundress hugged her curves perfectly and she wore a pair of black furry Ugg slides on her feet to match, showcasing her freshly polished toes. Her hair was slicked back into a low curly puff with two stray curls hanging at her sideburns and framing her gorgeous face that was dressed in light makeup. Her natural beauty never failed to amaze Ronald. She looked good without even trying.

Still, he couldn't let her off the hook that quick. He wasn't about to allow her to hypnotize him. "What are you doin' in my office? I'm at work and my partner works right next door so if you think you're about to come bring drama into my workplace 'cause I ain't been answering you then you got another thing comin'." He seemed to say all in one breath while Chantell just inched closer to him.

She inwardly rolled her eyes about his nagging before he even knew what she was actually there for. She rounded the corner of his desk and approached him seductively causing him to roll back in his chair a bit, unsure of what her next move would be since the last thing he did was smack her food out of her hands and left her standing on her front porch.

Chantell reached out and lightly caressed his face, slowly making her way down to her knees. Within seconds, the detective's belt buckle was undone and his pants were unzipped. Ronald kept his arms at his sides but kept his eyes on her as she kept eye contact with him with each new movement she made.

Her soft plump lips wrapped themselves around the tip of his member, immediately causing it to begin to harden in her small hands. The middle aged man's eyes rolled to the back of his head as her tongue traced circles along the skin of his dick which had now grown stiff. She kept her eyes trained on him, knowing how it made men crazy when they looked in her eyes while her mouth was full of their manhood.

She was glad he wasn't an unattractive older guy because it would have made everything ten times harder. She knew she needed to get back into his good graces, especially after speaking about the surveillance video he was going to show her the night before. He couldn't leave her hanging like that.

One of Ronald's hands rested on the back of her head as she began bobbing it up and down, an audible grunt escaping his mouth which made her smirk to herself. She wasn't even giving her best effort and she still had him right where she wanted him.

Her spit slowly oozed down his shaft while she picked up her pace, deep throating the entirety of his length with no hands as loud gargling sounds filled his office. She continued to orally pleasure him, allowing herself to get sloppy and nasty with it until he released in her mouth, a long barely audible groan coming from his own since he was sure Sandra was still closed up in her office beside his.

Chantell gathered all of his nut and the tip of her tongue and traced small circles on his tip with it before sucking it back off and swallowing it whole, a smirk forming on her face as Ronald widened his eyes at her. She stuck her tongue out to show him that she hadn't missed a single drop of it.

He had never had a woman swallow his kids like that with no problem before. He couldn't do anything but watch her astonished. His ex-wife, Marjory, could and would never. She always said his semen was too salty to keep in her mouth and would spit it back onto him. He should have known she'd think that though because she barely seasoned her food.

"I'm sorry for what I said." She mumbled as she planted a light kiss on his skin of his shaft, batting her long mink eyelashes as she looked up at him. "Forgive me?"

Ronald couldn't even form any words so he just nodded his head instead which instantly made Chantell smile at him before standing to her feet. "Call me when you get off. Don't wanna get you into any issues with your partner." She added, along with a seductive wink before making her way back out of his office with a grin, twisting her ass with each step she took.

She had him right back where she wanted him.

*******

Loud and hurried knocks sounded off on Sergio's front door as if it were the police ready to break it down at any second. He smacked his lips and instinctively pulled his strap out from underneath his mattress before heading over to find out who the hell was banging on his door like that.

He looked through the peephole and immediately furrowed his eyebrows when he saw his sister's face staring back at him. They hadn't had any type of contact with each other since the day he went over there and Sanai slapped him. Sage hadn't texted him either so he wasn't sure what she was here for but he unlocked the door and swung it open anyway.

Sage instantly barged in, pushing Sergio with all her strength and causing him to stumble back a few feet, twisting his face up as he glared at her like she had lost her mind. He wasn't sure what she was mad about now but he didn't have the time or patience for her shenanigans at the moment. "Fuck is wrong with you?"

"What the fuck is wrong with me? What the fuck is wrong with you!" She pushed him again and this time he forcefully grabbed her wrists, snatching them away from him. "You're the one that told me to watch the news so you knew who those girls were!"

Once he realized what she was rambling on about, his faced straightened out into a more bored expression. He was just telling her to let her know, he didn't think it would be a problem. "And?"

"And when you and daddy got into that accident, they were the ones driving the car that hit you. You didn't think that was something I should know?" Her face was a reddish tint and her blood was boiling at this point. Her family kept so many big things from her all the time when all she did was help them and she was beginning to get really tired of it.

Sergio slightly rolled his eyes at her dramatics. She was always overreacting to things that weren't that big of a deal and then blew up the same way she was doing now. "Why would you need to know that? You wasn't in the car. You wasn't even in the state. You wasn't around when it happened so it's irrelevant." He shrugged.

Sage only glared at him for a split second before she swung but her little brother's reflexes were a bit quicker than hers and he swiftly dodged out of the way in time before grabbing both of her arms and spinning her so that her back was to him as he pinned her hands by her sides. "Aye, stop fuckin' hitting me!"

"They think I killed them because dad got hurt and they didn't get in trouble for the accident. You should have fucking told me that when you found out it was them!" Tears were coming to her eyes because she was so pissed she couldn't take her anger out on him. He was stronger than her and had an advantage.

"I don't like talking about that shit Sage, you know that." Sergio retorted right before his sister abruptly stomped on his foot causing him to involuntarily let go of her as he howled in pain. He was barefoot and only wearing slides so he felt all of the creases from the bottom of her shoe sink into his toes.

Sage quickly tried to gain an advantage over him with the time she had bought herself but was again pinned down ten seconds later. Now they were both angry and their tempers were no match for each other. "You wouldn't understand Sage."

"No, I don't understand because you don't tell me shit and I barely see you because you moved out and never come around except when you feel like it. Mom was right, you're selfish!"

Sergio smacked his teeth. "Man, fuck you and fuck mom. Both of y'all bitches can go choke on a dick. Y'all not the ones that gotta walk around everyday feeling like it's your fault your family's fucked up now. We used to be close and now we always fighting and I'm the one that gotta carry that burden, not y'all."

"Gio, what the fuck are you even talking about? How could it be your fault when dad was protecting you from those girl's reckless driving? And they said they found you only with a few cuts and a broken arm in the passenger seat which was a miracle considering they hit that side."

Sage couldn't even see her brother's face because her back was turned to him but if she could, she'd know that he was silently shedding a few tears. He hated to be reminded of that night but it seemed like no matter what he did, even years later it would never stop. "They weren't the ones in the wrong that night, Sage. Kaniya just didn't have her permit but her light was green."

"So their light was green. That still doesn't make everything your fault, you weren't even driving—"

"I was driving, Sage!" He snapped causing the entire house to fall into an eerie silence. Sage began to put all the pieces of the puzzle together, realizing why her brother barely liked to come around or why he rarely saw his father in the hospital unless Shamar was asleep.

He felt guilty for being the reason their dad was the way he was and he beat himself up everyday for ruining his family with just one dumb mistake he wished he could take back. Everything was starting to make sense to her. The drugs, the isolation, the constant state of anger Sergio always seemed to be in. She couldn't even say it wasn't his fault because it was. He had only just turned fifteen when it happened so she was sure he didn't have his license and he still ran a red light.

"So why'd they say they found you in the passenger seat?"

Sergio released her arms and walked away from her, running his hands over his face as he began pacing the ground. He had lived with his secret for two years and hadn't told a soul. He wanted to keep it that way because he didn't want her to look at him any differently but something in him had to let her know. "They did find me there... I knew I would never be able to get my license if I was the one responsible for the accident so I switched me and dad around before the cops could show up and when they did, I acted like I had passed out from the impact so they wouldn't suspect anything. And dad never told them nothing either."

"So you moved daddy to the driver's seat? What if he was..." She trailed off, not even wanting to think of the possibility of her father passing away. Him getting hurt was enough heartbreak for her. "You really would have just let him take the fall like that?"

Sergio didn't look at her nor did he answer verbally but that told her everything she needed to know. She shook her head as she looked at her brother, barely being able to recognize the chirpy teenager she had left in charge of helping out their parents when she first went off to college.

With tears clouding her vision, she slowly began backing out of her brother's house before turning on her heel and running out the door.

[smilingleoo]

Seokjin Drabble- he slaps you during an argument

Request: Can I request Jin angst where he has a huge argument with Y/N and he accidentally slaps her because of anger? Thanks. :)

Warnings: angst, violence and swearing.

Author´s Note: Hello yet again :) How´s quarantine going? Feel free to talk to me if you are having any emotional problem (goes for all readers), It´s good to help each other!!! As regards my masterlist, I´ve had some problem with it but I´ll try to update it soon...

-------

------

“Jin we can´t keep having this conversation”-you sighed.”You shouldn´t be taking that many pills through one day, it´s not healthy”

“Are you my doctor now?”-he answered. He was shirtless on your shared bed, going through his cellphones as the light of the silver moon shone over his bruises and bandages-” The last time I checked you were my girlfriend/boyfriend”

By now, you didn´t understand if he was being funny or he was mocking you. Seokjin was not aggressive nor sarcastic. In fact, he was the most comprehensive and sweet man you had ever met. Of course, he could be sassy whenever he felt like it but all those time were with an entertaining purpose, not to hurt anyone. However, lately, he had been a little bit too impulsive-” That's why I have every damn right to be looking after you”

“ I´m a grown-ass man, Y/N”-he hissed. He had pushed his torso upwards, propping his bodyweight on his elbows. His glare burnt with exhaustion as it pierced your whole body with strength. You felt like trembling, quivering legs begging you to drop yourself to the floor, but you stood tall, not even daring to give him the satisfaction-” You don´t act like one, Seokjin. Actually, if you are indeed a responsible adult, you would understand the risks you may suffer if you keep asking your body things it can´t simply do”

“ Are you telling me I´m useless?”-he huffed and you rolled your eyes. Was he serious?

“ Oh, don´t put words in my mouth that I didn´t even say!”-you snapped. He bit his bottom lip as if knowing you were right but if he was regretting his statement he didn´t act on it. By now, you had marched towards the bed and had sat down In front of your boyfriend. He was fully incorporated now, legs crossed over each other like a small kid. Your eyes roamed his now tensed muscles and tired body posture. You were just worried, you weren´t trying to be an obsessive bitch. You loved Kim Seokjin and you wouldn´t know what to do if something serious actually happened to him because of his hardworking self.

“ Look, Y/N, I don´t need a babysitter”-he murmured-” I just need you to leave my career out of our relationship. You don´t have to worry about that”

“ But that´s what you love doing the most. When I accepted being your partner, I fell in love with you; everything you´re passionate about and even your faults. So don´t push me away now”-you whispered extending your arm to caress his cheek. He leaned into your soothing touch yet his rage made him pull away, swerving his head from your tender skin. He appeared to be having a mental debate on whether to explain everything to you or to just yell at you. He grinned, frowned and blinked repeatedly so as not to cry. His palms began to shake and you discretely started backing away. You trusted him but this person was not your boyfriend.

“ I don´t need your fucking pity”-he laughed-” Everyone is always saying I´m the less talented, the worst dancer, the most overrated among the members. They all pity me because I´m the eldest and I can´t do what Jungkook does or that I try to show myself in order for anyone to notice my poor self-”

“-Nobody says that, Jin. I always read ARMYs comments and tweets, they love you and are so thankful that you´re part of-”

“-YOU ARE NOT FUCKING ME, Y/n”-he screamed as he crawled towards you. His face was near you and his hand was grabbing your wrist with abnormal strength. His eyes held mortifying rage, staring at your frightened orbs. A small sob accompanied your laboured breaths, sensing how your demeanour made him even angrier but not at you, at his own self. He was driving himself mad-” You don´t understand what´s comparing yourself to others. What being an idol brings about. Look at me for God´s Sake! I´m a mess!”

“We can solve this together, Seokjin”-you chocked out. His nose flared and you pushed your fear away to blurt out-” Just let me help you”

“Help me?”-he asked sardonically-” You´re fucking useless. You think you can help everyone and turn them into some perfect shit of sorts. Let me break it down for you, that´s not even possible”

“ You´re not being coherent, Seokjin”-you mumbled-” This is not like you!” “ What makes you think you know me?”-his grip on your wrist tightened unpleasantly as he stretched his neck from side to side. His actions were anxious and ragged, warning you about future dangers. Yet you needed to at least try.

“ I know you because I love you and you love me. You let me into your heart and allowed me to see how amazing you´re...”

“Shut up”-he whispered.

“Jin”

“SHUT UP!”

Slap

Your vision wasn´t fast enough to catch his hand approaching your face. Your skin was still not really perceiving the burning and pain of his aggression. Just the sound of the sudden contact echoed in your ears as you stared motionless at Seokjin. His anger vanished abruptly and some glistening tears began pouring down his cheekbones. His frozen lips turned bone-white as his expression morphed to one of utter disbelief-” Y/N I-I´m...”

For once, you didn´t wait for him to finish. Instead, you stood up and left the room while Seokjin yelled his regret from the bedroom. You paced through your apartment gathering different items into a backpack, tears blurring your vision as you attempted to snatch some pain-relieving pills from the tiny basket in the bathroom. As you pushed everything into your improvised luggage, a small medication box slipped to the floor. You picked it up and unintentionally read the side effects.

You scanned the brief paragraphs, words like impulsivity, aggressiveness and lose of control sticking harmfully in your mind. You knew something was off, Seokjin wasn´t like that. The pills he took were causing that tornado of emotions inside his soul.

Not knowing what to do, you wrote down a little message for him to read when he had calmed down and left the apartment. You decided to ask Yoongi if you could stay in the dorms since you had no relatives in Korea and he was the closest friend you had. As soon as he opened the door, his eyes widened as he examined your red swollen cheek and purpling skin-” What happened?”

“Yoongi I need you to tell me what the fuck is happening to Seokjin”

[sicparvismorrigan]

Crisis of Faith

The will of God brings a young and impressionable Trinity soldier to the attention of Commander Konstantin.

Tomb Raider/Rise of the Tomb Raider/Konstantin

Viewpoint: 3rd person female Trinity soldier OC

Warnings: blood, descriptions of violence, PTSD, religious fanaticism, stigmata

Word count: ~2.5k [complete]

A short fic I wrote because I wanted to play with Konstantin’s heavily religious side.

Read on Ao3

Death.

Ailish sat up on her cot, freezing cold. She was drenched in sweat and panting heavily. It was pitch black in the gulag and she tried to slow her breathing so she wouldn’t wake her comrades. She listened carefully, there was snoring coming from all directions. Nobody had heard her, not yet.

She was safe. She was surrounded by big men with weapons, nothing could hurt her here. All the prisoners were securely locked up. Ailish reached down and felt the comforting cool steel of her own pistol in its holster.

She breathed in deep and counted 1...2...3... before breathing out again. Her pulse was still racing and she could feel her heart trying to leap out of her ribcage.

Safe. I’m safe.

It had been nearly two years since Yamatai and Ailish still had nightmares. She knew exactly what it was: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. She had heard the guys talk, knew some of them struggled too. She had seen a few get discharged because of it. She’d spent a long time trying to convince herself she was fine. But in fact, she really wasn’t.

She needed air. Ailish quietly got out of her cot and shrugged on a few more layers before making sure her pistol was strapped to her body, just in case. She tiptoed past the guys by the light from her torch, and made her way out to the old guardhouse that was their temporary mess area. She just wanted some space to calm down.

Empty, thank God. The embers of the fire were enough to keep the warmth going. She pulled up a chair and settled in to watch the glow.

She kept replaying the last moments of her nightmare over and over in her head, despite trying her best to push it away. They were in that god-awful pit again, suffocating from the fumes. She checked ahead and yelled Clear! back to her second, Charlie. As he moved past her she heard something big land on the rock of the cavern floor behind them. Charlie swung back around and screamed at her to get down as a God-awful roar filled the cave, rattling her bones. He raised his gun to fire and Ailish shrieked at him stopitsgonnablow-

bang bang

 

BOOM

A flash of white light, then darkness. Waking up in terror once again from the memories that haunted her every night. At least she was alive, she had made it out. Charlie hadn’t, she couldn’t save him. She still blamed herself. The guys had tried to convince her again and again it was an accident, but she should have been there. In her dreams, she’d seen Charlie die a hundred times over, each more horrible than the last.

She had never been so close to quitting as she had after Yamatai. She had composed her resignation letter in her head on the helicopter ride back to civilization, but had never written it. Something told her it wasn’t time yet. She’d spent just over three years working with Trinity at that point and never questioned her beliefs before the clean-up mission to that hellhole. By all accounts it was even worse during the Nishimura expedition. She shuddered, it didn’t bear thinking about, how anyone could survive there for any length of time she’d never know. So many bodies. And in some places, the smell, it was unholy.

It didn’t help her sleep at night, but at least she had got a promotion out of it. The salary was great, which was a major reason for her staying put. Ailish was trying to help her parents put her younger sister through Yale, and every cent counted. Her mom and dad had just been grateful, and thankfully hadn’t yet asked where the money had come from. She didn’t want to have to lie. They’d hit the roof if they ever found out. As far as they were concerned, she was still working as a paralegal in Chicago. God, she missed her sister. She hadn’t seen her in months, and now Ailish was off-grid in Siberia. Freezing cold, snowy, desolate Siberia.

She was startled out of her thoughts by a voice outside. A deep voice, American accent. It sounded a lot like the Commander. She really hoped he wouldn’t come into the guardhouse. He was intimidating, and she’d never been in a room alone with him before. He sounded like he was talking on the phone.

“...and what did the doctor say?”

...

“Okay...Ana, are you smoking?”

...

“Yeah, I know, but-“

...

“Listen, she’s on the move. She may even already be in Siberia. I need you back here.”

...

“Got it, see you soon.”

 

Who was Ana? Was it his wife, girlfriend, daughter? Who was the other ‘she’ he was talking about?

Ailish heard footsteps coming up to the door and the latch lifting. Oh boy, here we go. I wasn’t eavesdropping, Commander, I swear.

He stopped dead when she saw her at the table. Obviously not expecting anyone else to be awake at this hour. He slid the cellphone he was carrying into a pocket and nodded at her before closing the door behind him. “Sergeant.”

“Evening-“ Ailish checked her watch. “Ah, morning, Commander. Sorry, sir. I’ll get out of your way.” She slid her chair back to leave.

“Stay. You were here first.” Ailish sat back down immediately, wide-eyed. “What are you doing up so late?”

“I couldn’t sleep, sir.” Not strictly true but she didn’t want to feel like a little schoolkid telling her superior she had a bad dream.

“Likewise.” He pulled up the chair opposite her and sat down with a sigh.

Something was bothering him, he seemed fidgety. Ailish didn’t really know what to do so she started twiddling her thumbs and rambling to fill the silence. “Gee, the weather’s really turned these past few days, huh? Ha ha...kind of makes me wish we were back in Syria. Although it was almost too hot-“

He cut her off. “Moscovitch, isn’t it?”

“Yes, sir.”

“We’re not on duty, you don’t have to call me sir.”

“Uh- yes. Okay, si- eh...Command- uhmm...”

“Konstantin is fine.”

“Okay.” It felt weird. Ailish wasn’t even sure if that was his first or last name. “You can call me Ailish. It’s slightly less of a mouthful than Moscovitch.”

“Don’t hear that name very often.”

“Yeah, it’s a weird one...my parents have always had this fascination with Ireland. It means ‘noble and kind’ or something like that...I dunno...”

He looked at her for a long moment. Ailish opened her mouth to speak again when a wolf howled up in the mountains. She grabbed for her pistol and her other hand tightened on the edge of the table until her knuckles turned white.

Konstantin saw her reaction and frowned. “Relax, it’s just a wolf, they don’t come down here-“

“Yeah, I know.” She started hyperventilating and bit her lip hard to fight back the tears. For God’s sake, don’t cry in front of the Commander. She hated hearing the wolves at night. Rationally, she knew they were miles away, but the sound still caused her pain.

For a moment she was back on Yamatai, wedged in a rocky crevice listening to the snarling as they hunted for her. The smell of rain, tree sap and decay all around. Her hands shaking as she pointed her rifle at the opening, just waiting for jaws and teeth to emerge around the corner and grab at her.

“Oh, shit.” This was going to be a bad episode. She’d had panic attacks increasingly often and could spot the signs of one approaching. Fortunately they usually hit when she was alone or could sneak away, but now she had no such luxury. Ailish knew this one had her beat.

Konstantin’s mouth tightened. “Language.”

She had time to blurt out “Terribly sorry sir!” before she slid off the chair onto the floor and crawled under the table.

The tears were now pouring out and rolling down her cheeks. What an embarrassment. She’d fought so hard to prove she was equal to the guys, and now she was being a silly little girl.

She felt the Commander’s boot gently tapping her back. “Mos- Ailish? Are you okay?”

“I will be, in a minute.” She panted.

Through the panic she heard the other chair scraping backwards. To her surprise Konstantin crouched and got down to her level under the table, facing her. Was he supposed to do that?

“You’ve normally got it together, Moscovitch.” Oh no, back on a last name basis. She’d definitely messed up. “Want to tell me what’s going on?”

Ailish shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut. “Just need a sec.”

The only sounds in the room were her panting and the low crackle of logs in the burner. She felt his gloved hand on her shoulder.

He quietly spoke. “Listen, I read the Yamatai report.” It was strange, how calming his voice was.

Ailish looked up, misty-eyed. “Yeah?”

He nodded. “I didn’t know they’d be sending a woman.”

“I’m just as capable-“

“Quiet. I’m saying it’s impressive you completed the mission, and even led part of the way, that place sounded like a nightmare.”

“It was.” Charlie, I should have saved you.

“And I am sorry you lost Corporal Collins. I know you were close.”

“Yeah...” she sniffed loudly. Her heart still hurt, so much. “He was like a brother. Charlie would have done anything for me. And I would have done the same for him.”

His eyes softened. “I know what that’s like.”

It meant a lot to Ailish, getting commiserations from a Trinity leader. Normally, you could forget about that sort of thing. Rourke had co-ordinated the Yamatai mission and hadn’t said a word to her when he had met them back on the mainland for debriefing. Dominguez had been silent too, though he had been one of those who had approved her promotion. They could be a heartless, insensitive bunch sometimes.

But she hadn’t expected the Commander to have a soft side. He actually reminded her of Charlie. Konstantin had a scarred-up face but there were similarities for sure. Blonde hair, blue eyes, they walked with the same purpose. He wasn’t bad-looking actually, as long as the light was dim.

Ailish eventually rallied and crawled back into her chair, still breathing quickly. Konstantin sat down too, regarding her with something akin to concern.

“Tell me the real reason you’re here by yourself in the middle of the night.”

She swallowed hard. “I...I have nightmares still.”

He shook his head. “I think you should talk to someone about this. If you’re serious about staying with Trinity. It would be a shame to bail out now that you’re a Sergeant.”

“I’m fine.” Ailish mumbled.

“You’re really not. I know someone who might be able to help, a doctor.”

“No, honestly...” Please no doctors, they might kick her out. She needed the money for Ellen’s tuition, she had to stay.

“I trust her, she’s with Trinity. Her name’s Wilkens. If I order you to see her you can’t say no.”

“Then I suppose it’s settled.” Great, just great.

“Indeed.”

He suddenly pulled his gloves off and took her hand in his. Ailish fought not to pull back out of his grasp. Was this really appropriate? Her free hand was reaching for her pistol when she realised he was just checking her pulse.

“Much better. Almost back to normal.”

She managed a small smile. “Thank you Commander.”

Ailish realised her hand felt strange under his, like a bug was crawling on her. She glanced down and started. “Your...uh, your hand is bleeding.”

Fresh blood was running down between her fingers onto the table. It was creepy as hell, she tried not to shiver. She’d been a bit squeamish about blood since she’d seen a literal underground river of it in Japan.

He didn’t react, just looked straight into her eyes. Ailish didn’t know what he expected her to do. She could still feel it trickling down her skin. Was he not alarmed that his hand had just started pouring blood? She was becoming visibly uncomfortable when he finally answered her.

“They’re old wounds. It happens sometimes.” He held up his other hand, palm facing towards her. “See?” That one was also dripping crimson.

Ailish almost gagged. Ugh, now she knew why he wore gloves all the time, even in the heat of Syria. What was the name for those wounds? Stigmata, or something like that. A sign of divine favour, apparently.

The urge to ask how he got them was overwhelming. Actually, she better not, it was maybe a touchy subject. The Commander could be...violent. She’d seen what he could do when he was pissed off. She had the fleeting thought that maybe he would hurt her, or worse, if the mood took him. Everyone else was asleep, who would know?

He spoke, jolting her back to reality. “Did you pray on Yamatai, Ailish?”

She nodded, not breaking the eye contact. “Yes sir, for my life, almost constantly.”

“And you truly believe in what we are trying to accomplish?”

“Yes sir.”

“Hmmm...”

There was a long pause, he seemed to be having an internal conversation she wasn’t privy to. Finally he nodded. “Keep your faith, Ailish. You have already been tested, and you’re still here. I believe you are destined for something greater, like myself.”

“Sir?”

He smiled at her, but it was cold and calculating, he reminded her of a shark. His eyes were suddenly dark and empty. 

“The name Ailish is Celtic, yes. But did you know it has a different meaning in Hebrew?”

“You know Hebrew?” She asked in surprise. He ignored her.

“Your name means consecrated to God.”

She wasn’t sure she liked his train of thought. Ailish knew he was one of the more devout members of Trinity, but she didn’t know how deep it ran.

“I’m sorry, Commander, I’m not sure what you’re getting at...”

“I want to keep a closer eye on you, Sergeant. You report directly to me now, do you understand?”

“Yes sir.” She nodded, albeit reluctantly.

“And let me talk to Wilkens. We’ll help you, don’t skip out on Trinity yet.” He finally let go of her bloodstained hand. Ailish could smell it, metallic.

Konstantin stood up, pulling his gloves on. “I have a feeling we’re going to need you for something important.”

Ailish was dumbfounded, what had she agreed to? She didn’t like not knowing, but the Commander wasn’t a man you just said no to.

As he opened the door with a blast of cold air Konstantin turned back, giving her that empty smile again. “Get some sleep, Sergeant. That’s an order.”

“O...kay.” The door clicked shut, and he was gone.

Ailish glanced down at the mess on her hand. She felt like she’d been marked in some way.

Stigmata.

What did he mean?

Consecrated to God. What was it that Konstantin, or some other higher power had planned for her?

What was her purpose?

***

Thank you for reading!

~ Anyone who has read Behind Trinity Lines will recognise the character of Dr. Joanna Wilkens, I couldn’t not include her somehow! She is awesome and I love her. All credit to @BrittanyTheScrivener on Ao3 for Jo’s character. Her work is brilliant, if you haven’t read it I highly suggest you do

~ Sergeant Ailish Moscovitch, her family and Corporal Charlie Collins are my characters, all other characters mentioned are property of the Tomb Raider creative team and I take no ownership of them

~ I feel I should mention that nothing in this work is intended to cause offence or be blasphemous in any way. I myself am not religious at all but I am respectful of those who choose to be and anything I’ve written is only exploring character traits already displayed in the Tomb Raider video games

~ I have no current plans to update this with more chapters, it was intended to be a one-shot. I just really wanted to play with Konstantin’s heavily religious side. But if there is interest I might continue the story...what exactly does Konstantin have planned for Ailish? Where does she fit in with the events in Rise of the Tomb Raider? What will Ana think of her? What would happen if Ailish and Lara ever crossed paths? This could get interesting...

[diyunho]

The Joker x Reader - “Trapped”

Almost one year ago, someone tried to kill The Joker in a speeding car and Y/N pushed him out of the way, getting hit instead. With a fractured skull and broken bones, she was out of business for 6 months; when she finally recovered, The Queen of Gotham wasn’t the same anymore. Trapped inside her own mind and exhibiting severe cognitive impairment, Y/N’s life switched upside down without any hope of ever returning to normal.

Part 2     Part 3     Part 4     Part 5

“Do you think she’s faking it?” Santos whispers and his boss Jericho replies under his breath.

“Nope, not faking it. Y/N’s been like that since she recovered from the accident 5 months ago.”

The mobster and the newbie bodyguard watch you in silence while you cuddle with your yellow teddy bear: from time to time you kiss its forehead and then squeeze him tightly in your arms again.

“I heard rumors,” Santos addresses the gossip. “Is it true she’s like that because of Mister Joker?”

“Kind of,” Jericho mumbles. “Someone tried to kill him in a speeding car and Y/N pushed him out of the way; she got hit instead. Full impact, you know? Broken bones and fractured skull plus an inoperable hematoma that presses on her frontal lobe. She was out of business for 6 months and when she finally recovered… Well, you can see the result; major cognitive impairment. Not herself anymore…”

“You sure are informed boss,” Santos chuckles. “Weird a man like Mister Joker chose to allow this situation for so many months: 6 months for her to recover then 5 extra ones of this behavior… He’s not tolerant person.”

Jericho lifts his shoulders up, indifferent to the henchman’s insinuations.

“How do you think sex is?” Santos winks and a crabby voice freezes the words on his lips.

“Challenging,” J growls, displeased at the speculation on his private life.

The two mobsters turn in their chair and he passes by in a hurry, taking a sit by you on the small couch situated in the middle of the warehouse.

“I’m done inspecting the cargo, looks good. My crew is putting the money together for the payment; should be done shortly.”

Alarm chimes on his cellphone and he detaches a tiny pouch out of his suit’s pocket, getting your attention too.

“Hey Pumpkin, you have to take your meds.”

“Hm?...” the confused Y/N stares at him as she bounces the teddy bear on her knees.

“Here, take this,” J offers 3 capsules with a bottle of water and you have difficulty understanding the request. Yet he’s not annoyed and helps you regardless of having an audience: The Joker plainly doesn’t give a damn.

“Perhaps if you give her a lollipop she’ll be receptive; might improve sex also,” Santos snorts, ignoring Jericho’s instant warning:

“Watch your mouth!”

The offender is not worried though: he believes that being his boss’s protégé grants him immunity regarding his own carelessness.

“It might,” The King’s sinister grin creeps up on the red lips. “Thanks for the advice, I’ll try it.”

“She loves that teddy bear, huh?” Santos implies and surprisingly enough J explains why:

“I got it for her on our first date. We were walking downtown late at night, Y/N saw it displayed in a window at a toy store and loved it. So I shattered the glass, took it and both ran away since I triggered the alarm. I had this feeling that pretending to be sweet would get me laid.”

“Did it work?” the goon pressures for a confession, laughing at The Joker’s honest answer:

“No.”

“Sir!!” Panda yells from across the huge room. “Can we get you for a sec?”

“Excuse me,” he sneers and leaves the group while Jericho preaches to the bodyguard:

“Are you completely stupid?! Don’t say stuff like this in front of him!!”

“You’re one of his main business partners and he won’t risk initiating trouble. My opinion is that Y/N and Mister Joker are playing games, totally pretending about her condition. Let me try a puny experiment and find out if I’m correct.”

“What are you doing?!” the puzzled Jericho inquires as Santos gets up from his chair and sneaks by the sofa.

“I never had the pleasure of meeting Y/N, but if the information circulating around is accurate about her she will shred me to pieces if I do this.”  

He inspects the surroundings for a moment: not a soul nearby and the unexpected slap landing on your cheek makes you jump.

“Anybody home?” Santos bends over to analyze your reaction.

“Cut it out!” Jericho raises his voice, uneasy about his bodyguard’s deed.

“Mister Joker!!” Frost shouts from beyond a few creates he’s sorting out while keeping an eye on you.

Only idiots would have the impression J doesn’t have a system in place appointed to ensure your safety; obviously Santos is one of them.

“Boss!” Jonny reports to The Joker emerging from the back room. “Santos slapped Y/N!”

“I didn’t!” the latest defends his conduct, worried to notice your furious boyfriend stomping towards him.

“Let’s not be hasty,” Jericho attempts to fix this major mess-up yet The Clown Prince of Crime removes his gun from the holster, shooting Santos in the head: he knows Frost wouldn’t lie, thus he doesn’t need a justification for murder.

“Jesus, Mister Joker! You didn’t have to do that!” Jericho reprimands although he should zip it.

“You let him disrespect me on my territory?!” The Joker yanks at your hand. “Let’s go, Pumpkin!”

“I had no clue he’ll do it, ok?”

“If you can’t control your men, then give up leadership!” J drags you after him as you struggle to catch up. “The deal is off!” he screams and Jericho is unhappy about the outcome.

“What do you mean the deal is off??! We’ve been planning this for weeks!”

“Take your merchandize, disappear and I’ll enjoy my money, is that clear enough for you?!” the crazy green haired individual slams the gate, guiding you to the car in the parking lot. “Why are you such a pushover?” he angrily scolds. “I’m so tired of this crap!” J shoves Y/N in the passenger’s sit, aggravated to the point of blaming her for ruining his profitable transaction.

************* “That was such a good deal and I blew it! It’s all your fault!” he accelerates while you seek to make sense of everything thrown your way: when memories, concepts and sounds are melted in a brain lacking the affluence of logic, forming simple sentences physically hurts.

“You made me lose my temper!” The Joker lashes out since he’s aware his decision to cancel the arrangement with Jericho wasn’t the best. “You can’t defend yourself and you barely articulate elementary words! I miss having conversations with you, Y/N! Can your mind comprehend this?! You used to be funny, sassy and witty! You’re accountable for what happened, you dumb woman! I wouldn’t have done the same for you, I hope you know that!!!!”

You close your eyes, concentrating very hard on his remarks: something about wit, sass and… and…

It’s too much so you cover your ears, which prompts him to completely have a meltdown.

“Get out of the car!” he hits the breaks, leaning over to open the door on your side. “Get out I said!” he screams and forces you out against your will: you start crying, incapable of discerning what he wants and it makes you increasingly anxious. “Go be useless on your own!” he closes the door and takes off, abandoning Y/N without money or any other means in the industrial area outside Gotham City.

J continues to drive for another 15 minutes before halting at Southampton railway crossroads: the barriers are blocking the path and the red light keeps blinking, a sign the train is approaching. Not a lot to do besides waiting so he deeply exhales, still fuming at today’s events.

The Joker huffs at the sight of your teddy bear resting in between the seats; you probably dropped it when he nicely asked you to flee the vehicle.

Why are you attached to this boring stuffed animal to begin with? I mean, each time it requires washing you won’t budge from the laundry room until it’s returned to you. After the accident you carry it everywhere so maybe you wonder where it’s at…

J taps the steering wheel, pissed this idea randomly popped to bother him.

Nothing to be concerned about, he ditched you in the industrial area… that’s been closed for the last four years… the factories are empty, no people there… except creeps… searching for easy prey… like you…

“Fuck!” he abruptly backs out and the skid marks on the gravel certainly indicate he’s in no rush at all.

In less than 15 minutes he sees you limping on the right side of the road and slowly pulls over, waiting for you to get to the car. However, there’s a small fact The Joker didn’t anticipate: Y/N disregards the car plus its driver and keeps walking.

“Great…” he sighs. Stepping on his pride isn’t common practice for him, yet he grabs the yellow toy, sprints out of the SUV and follows the upset Queen. “Hey Pumpkin! Hey!!”  

You immediately turn around and stutter, frustrated:

“Y-you left me!!”

J is stunned to hear what he considers a whole tirade coming out of you; he’s positive it took a lot of effort.

“Umm…you forgot your teddy,” he extends his arms and you snatch it, hugging the plush bear to your chest. “I don’t understand what’s so important about a cheap…”

“Hm?” you frown, interrupting.

“The toy I got for you,” J repeats. “Why do you like it?” he simplifies the phrase so you can better process its meaning.

“Reminds…”, you strain really hard to organize your thoughts, “Reminds me… when you liked me… when I was… when I was  smart…” and you wipe your tears, upset. “Now… now I’m stupid…”

The Joker doesn’t know what to say and him not having a reply it’s a rare occurrence.

“You’re not stupid,” he mutters and because you won’t quit sobbing the question arises: “Hey Y/N, who’s my girl?”

What is he talking about…? A girl?...What girl?...

You spin to check your surrounding and J lectures, exasperated.

“For God’s sake, Princess. I’m talking about you: you’re my girl!”

“Hm?”

“Let’s put the neurons in your beautiful brain to rest, shall we? I think they’re oversaturated,” The Clown Prince of Crime decides, pleased to see he distracted you and you’re not crying anymore. “Are you hungry?”

You appear lost and he hints:

“You want food? We can get pizza, wings, possibly ice-cream from our favorite place. OK?”

“Pizza?” your face lights up and so does his without him realizing.

“A-ha. You love your peperoni, true?”

Oh boy, thank heavens the trick worked and you’re in the car again without any additional energy from his part; you didn’t caught on to it and it’s perfect. I guess your situation has a few perks.

“Hey Y/N, you know what else I miss?” The Joker cruises up the street, sulking. “Our fights! I swear I do! I lived for that shit! When you told me you hated me and I wanted to end you,” he snickers at the recollection. “If you hated me so much why did you save me?”

“No hate…” you smile and he’s truly amazed you kept up with his rambling. “Love…” you playfully touch his shoulder with the teddy bear’s paw.

The King of Gotham is speechless again; he avoids glaring in your direction and he’s relieved you don’t have enough transparency to notice how flustered he is.

“Pumpkin…” J grumbles in a low tone. “Do you believe that after that blood clot in your brain is reabsorbed, you’ll be more like your old self? The doctors said it won’t make a difference, but what the hell do they know?! Please say yes, even if it’s a lie. Hey Pumpkin,” he reiterates since you emotionlessly gaze at the landscape outside. “Say yes.”

“Hm?”

“SAY: YES,” The Joker persists.

“Yes?”

“Good girl,” he smirks and hastens towards the city. “You want ice-cream first?” the inquiry continues, yet J is used to monologues regardless. “Are you gonna let me have a bite? Can you predict what else I would like a bite of?” he leans over and whispers in your ear.

“Hm?...” the disoriented Y/N crinkles her nose.

“Dammit!” The Clown Prince of Crime exclaims. “You’re supposed to mention it’s indecent and then agree to it, Y/N!”

What does he want now?... something about  a bite?

You reach over and take his hand, sinking your teeth in the laughing mouth tattoo.

J snorts and then starts cracking up with all his heart, the awkward noises making you giggle.

”What am I going to do with you, Princess?” he shakes his head, amused nevertheless at your interpretation.

The Queen doesn’t answer, very captivated by The Joker’s silver grin; one could estimate it makes her happy although she can’t pinpoint the reason why. Y/N snuggles with the teddy bear that the madman stole for her on their first date hoping he’ll get laid, already delighted about their upcoming lunch.

The woman may not be the same person she was before the accident, but at least one detail is unchanged: she’s still The Joker’s Pumpkin.    

 Also read: MASTERLIST

You can also follow me on Wattpad and Ao3 under the same blog name: DiYunho.

[chalcid]

8: Reemai of the Brambles (Disappear)

I glanced at the rain outside the window, and then at the TV.

"Meteorologists are saying that we are entering the rainy season early this year," The person on TV said "But not everyone is feeling gloomy about this turn of events. A nine-year-old Water Elementalist from the center of the island just figured out how to make your own water umbrella-"

I turned off the TV.  "Come on, why won't you let me outside?"

"It's raining, Merika," Mom sighed.

"Yes," I said, gesturing at the window "It's raining. Why am I not outside? Outside is where all the puddles are. I should be splashing in them! I should be finding cool rocks and things washed up on the beach."

"I don't want to get out the shoe dryer..."

"The weather people say that the rainy season is starting, Mom. And I'm out of indoor things to do and this house is suffocating me," I sighed.

"I don't want you walking around in the rain for no reason, Merika."

"I just gave you, like, five."

"Merika..."

"Fine," I snapped "You want reason? You want me to wander with purpose? I'll give it to you."

I whirled my coat dramatically and stormed up to my room.

It was the best room in the house if I did say so myself. Technically, it was the attic, but it had all of my stuff, therefore it was a room. The back wall was actually a large triangular window, covered with an old table cloth because Uncle Decimus couldn't figure out how to set up curtains or blinds for it.

I flung myself on my bed dramatically and whipped out my phone. What sorts of trouble could I get up to today, and who could join me.

I called Trite first, but he didn't pick up his phone. Next, I tried Poseikion

"Hey, what are you guys up to," I asked "Anyone down for an adventure?"

"Trite's baked almost half the recipes in his new cookbook today alone," Poseikion reported. "And Pacifinos hasn't left their room at all today. So I'm just going to assume that their answer would be no."

"And you?"

"I'd love to, but I'm ultra grounded until I turn in those four math assignments I missed, so I can't," he paused. "Actually, I'm not even supposed to be talking to you, so I gotta run."

"Understandable, good luck," I said just before he hung up.

It was a long shot, but maybe Edonia would like to hang out.

She cleared her throat. "Hello, Merika."

"Heyyy," I said, "Wanna go on an adventure?"

"Uh..." she paused. "Anything specific in mind?"

"We could grab snacks," I suggested, "Or check out the library if you want."

"Those are remarkably un-Merika activities."

"To be completely honest," I told her "I just want to be outside, but my mom won't let me without a specific task in mind. We could also hunt for lost treasure or go looking for pretty shells or break into a building if you want to, but I figured those weren't really your thing."

"Thanks, how thoughtful of you," Edonia said "But-"

One of her sisters yelled "Oh, come on, Eddy, you're always cooped up in that tower bedroom of yours. How about you do something that's not practicing ancient evil magics or getting into heated debates about dead people."

A chorus of people yelled in response "The violin isn't evil, you're just jealous you don't have the magic."

"Okay, fine. Meet me at Bramble Woods, there are supposed to be some really old ruins over there."

"Like, human-age old?"

"No,  just from the first failed colonization attempt."

"Oh. Cool, cool, meet you there."

I hung up and raced downstairs.

"Okay, Mom," I shouted as I pulled my raincoat over my other coat "I've found a purpose to wander for, now. I'd say I'll be back before dinner time, but we both know I'm not even going to try. Bye Mom, love ya!"

Kev ran up to me "Where are you going?"

"Bramble Woods," I informed her.

"But that's really far," she protested.

"Yeah," Lawrence said, popping his head out from behind the couch back. "Like eighty million miles away."

"Not that far," I said.

"Four and a half miles," Kev said "I think?"

"Sounds about right to me."

"You're just going to walk that far all alone?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm coming with you," she said stubbornly.

"Kev, you don't even have a raincoat."

She responded by opening the closet and putting on one of dad's raincoats, and despite the fact she was practically swimming in the coat, she still pulled off the look far better than he did.

"Are you really sure," I said "I'll be fine, but you're more of an indoor person."

"A good sister wouldn't let her sister go that far alone," Kev said stubbornly.

Damn, these kids were really committed to the whole sibling idea. I couldn't help but feel bad.

"Are you sure," I repeated "Because I'm going to meet up with a friend and then we're going to walk in the woods. And then we'll have to walk home. That's a lot of walking."

"I'm sure," Kev said.

"Fine, but if you tire yourself out, I cannot give you a piggyback ride," I said.

I was sure to go slower than normal for Kev's sake. It took us forever to get there, but we made it eventually, soaked.

"Hey, Merika," Edonia said. She was holding a black umbrella. "Who's this?"

"This is Kev," I said. "She's..." I trailed off. I couldn't say 'stepsister'. I wasn't emotionally ready for that. "She's Kev," I concluded stupidly "She insisted on coming with me, so don't, y'know, freak out that I dragged a child through the rain for four miles."

"That far," Edonia commented, surprised.

"Four and a half," Kev mumbled.

"Wow. I thought one of your many parents would drive you here."

"Could everyone stop with the parent jokes?" I sighed.

"May I stand underneath your umbrella, please, miss" Kev asked Edonia.

"Sure thing, muffin," Edonia said, making room for Kev. Absently, she helped roll up Kev's sleeves. "Why didn't you bring one?"

"Umbrellas are for the weak," I declared.

Edonia rolled her eyes at me.

"Right" I cleared my throat "Let's see some cool ruins, eh?

The first half an hour or so went by fairly uneventfully. The woods, as woods do, got darker and weirder the further we went in. Kev and Edonia talked about the books they were reading, and Edonia had several recommendations for her.

A two-headed deer runs past us. Edonia put her hand over Kev's mouth to stop her from screaming.

I, on the other hand,  possessed no fear or common sense. I raised my cellphone and took a picture.

Edonia's sharp intake of breath told me that was very bad.

The deer sniffed the air and screamed with both mouths, pursuing other prey or maybe declaring war. Who knows.

We all breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"Merika, they eat people," Edonia hissed "And they're very sensitive to light. You better thank your lucky charms that that phone wasn't on flash because otherwise, we'd all be dead. That's why the first colony packed up and left, by the way. Because seventeen people were eaten."

"Did those things used to be all over the island," Kev asked fearfully.

"Not all over the island. They had much more territory to themselves, but they mostly just lived here. I never thought I'd actually get to see a Calandra Deer myself," Edonia said.

"Any other weird creatures we might run into?" I asked.

Edonia scrunched her eyebrows together "I'm a little too panicked to remember."

We glanced at Kev.

"Do you want us to head home?" I asked her

"I'm fine," she said, but there was a slight quiver in the voice.

"I mean, we don't know where the ruins are, and it's really creepy here," I said"No judgment if you want to go home?"

"I do, but I want to finish this," Kev said.

"Understandable, let me know the second you change your mind," I said.

We plodded along the old trail, not daring to speak.  A person-shaped shadow darted along beside us, just off the trails. Two crows flew off.

I was beginning to doubt everything I've been ever taught about the way the world works. This place was haunted, more haunted than most places with actual ghosts. I've been in shipwrecks, and there are plenty of skeletons and the meanest, saltiest ghosts you can imagine, but none of those put the fear of the universe into me like here.

Nobody believes or speaks of the Wild Magic anymore. I think I picked up a library book about it once but I couldn't actually finish it. At the time, it was because the author who had written it believed in it so deeply that I couldn't stop laughing, but now I believed.

Some things just don't fit into the way the world works.

"So," Kev said "What's in these ruins?"

"Well, it's the remnants of the first attempt to colonize on Ilcodeux," Edonia said animatedly "Or, Wildeeria, as people called it back then. People don't like talking about that one. A hundred and fifty years before Ilcodeux was even a notion, a group of settlers, led by Erina Wild, founded Wilderia and built the town near a lake in the middle of the forest-"

"-so we're looking for a lake?"

"Yes! Anyways, the colony was built here due to the large quantities of an unusual wood, instrument-grade stuff. This place used to be worth a fortune-"

Then I tripped on an especially large root and I fell right off the trails. My face was buried in red grass that smelled like bacon. I peeled myself off the ground and glanced directly into the face of the most terrifying shadowy monster person I have ever seen.

Credit to me, I didn't scream, but I did stare at the person in a way of shock and horror that no doubt made them sad.

They were actually made of shadow, except for three glittering scarlet eyes, two on the right, one on the left.

"Wait," they said, "I know you from somewhere."

They dragged a shadowy claw underneath my chin. "You're that girl Thordis has a soft spot for, right?"

"I don't remember you," I squeaked bravely.

"Ah, yes, you wouldn't. Not when I was like this."

They snapped and with a swirl of magic, they looked like a normal person. Their hair, I noted, was the same color as their eyes were in their other form.

I tried to drag the name from the depths of my memory "Reemun? No, wait, Reemal?"

They sighed "Reemai."

"Oh, sorry," I said nervously "You're in her band, though? How can you play guitar when you're..." I trailed off "Not an Instrumentalist."

"Wild Magic, darling," Reemai wiggled their fingers "It can disguise itself as other things very easily."

"Oh," I said "That's nice."

"But nevermind that," Reemai said "What are you doing in these woods?"

"Searching for ruins," I said. "With my friend and... ah screw it, it doesn't matter. Please just put me back now."

"Okay, if that's what you want," Reemai said, "Or I could take you to the ruins."

"Can't you just direct me to them," I asked? "I really need to get back to my geeks, and we already encountered a Calandra Deer so I'm a little on edge."

"Of course, of course," Reemai said soothingly "On one condition-"

"-my soul is not up for grabs-"

"-You buy me a coffee. And I get to choose when and where."

"Deal," I said reluctantly.

"Very well. Follow the swords to get to the ruins."

"What," I asked, but Reemai snapped their fingers and suddenly, the world was a swirl of black and red.

"Follow the swords," a chorus of things in the dark whispered, "Follow the swords."

[susiequaz12]

Fish- 16: Marooned

Oh my gosh, I’m back! It’s back. And about time. I had a surgery right towards the end of May, I’ve been preparing to move, a lot’s been going on and I found I wasn’t able to write for a bit. Even though it’s almost July, it didn’t feel right to leave this unfinished. So here’s part 16 of @amonthofwhumps May challenge. Imma still add the tags for my own sake. And Imma probably post multiple parts together but I wanted to get this one posted at least. So last we left off:

“ Using every single ounce of strength that he head left, he swung himself backwards, before lurching forwards. He groaned out with the force it put on his stomach.

It wasn’t until about the fourth or fifth try that the chain snapped behind him, and he tumbled into the open waters below.”

So here we go again!

CW: Uhhh, not much. Some blood, dehydration and sickness stuff.

- - -

There was sand.

And there was warmth.

It was fresh on his face, with a slight breeze tousling his hair. His arms and shoulders felt heavy, but he didn’t move.

He wiggled a toe, followed by a finger. 

Muddled voices clouded his ears, but he couldn’t make out a word they were saying. He felt vibrations in his throat, followed by raging pain, as a soft groan came out of his mouth.

“Guys… I think- he’s awake.”

“Is he?”

The boy groaned again, followed by a few more gasps and some more muddled speaking, until he felt bright lights coming into his eyes, and he cracked them open.

“He’s awake!”

“Oh my gosh he’s alive- that’s what the heck guys…”

The first thing Fish registered when he opened his eyes was the massive amounts of sunlight that bore into his skull. The second thing was the group of what looked to be younger teenagers peering over him. His brow furrowed as he tried to make out their faces, but everything was kind of a blur. He tried to pull himself to a sitting position, using his hands to push himself up.

“Woah, woah guys, give him space. Hold up.”

The boy’s hand went up to his face, rubbing the light out of his eyes until they adjusted to the brightness. He heaved out a series of coughs that left his lungs burning, and spat out some saltwater. Once he could see clearly he noticed about four people crowded around him. Two girls, two boys. None of them could have been any older than sixteen. He looked down and finally realized that his hands were no longer tied behind him, ankles no longer bound, and the lengths of chain were removed. He glanced to the side and saw it all in a heap, lying in the sand. A shaky hand carefully went up to his neck, where the cold metal of the giant fishhook was still residing. He sighed, followed by another series of coughs.

Almost immediately after, he was bombarded with a series of questions. 

“How’d you get here?”

“Where’d you come from?” 

“Are you okay, what-”

Fish cut them off with one word that he coughed out in a shaky breath.

“Ph-Phone.” 

“What?” 

“Do you have a phone?” He repeated.

One of the older looking boys turned to the younger one. “Hey, give him your phone.” The boy looked as in protest when one of the girls turned and handed him her phone, unlocking it for him.

Fish barely mumbled a thank you as his hands fumbled with the cellphone, searching through the apps to find the keypad to dial her number. It’s a good thing he had it memorized. There were four numbers he had memorized. His dad’s office, hers, his own, and their friend’s. Hers was the most important right now, as his dad probably wouldn’t be of any help.

The kids scattered away to give him space and he stumbled to his feet as he struggled to dial the numbers. He walked until he was a good distance away, staggering and limping on heavy legs and swollen ankles. It took a few tries before he entered the digits correctly, his hands fat and heavy, fingers shaking.

“Hello?” 

Oh it was so good to hear her voice.

“Who is this? Hello?” 

It took him a few seconds to register that he needed to say something before she spoke again. “I swear if this is a telemarketer…” 

“Ali-”

She paused, the phone going silent. The boy found an outcropping of rocks, by which the water was casually lapping at. He crashed to the ground, leaning against them. 

“Ali it’s-”

“Justin?” 

He nearly cried. It’d felt like ages since someone had called him by his name, treated him like a person. “Ali, I- I’m”

“Justin, oh my goodness thank God, what happened?” Her voice tried to remain calm but he could tell she was frightened, he’d heard that tone of voice far too many times. “Justin, it’s been nearly a week since you called, I know you’re on vacation, but a whole week, are you okay, what happened?- I-”

He cut her off before she could ramble anymore.

“Ali- I, there was, I fell asleep, and then there was this boat, and poachers, and they were going to find out and I couldn’t so they, they-” He tried to catch his breath but his mind was racing, he needed to explain before he couldn’t, needed to get home. “They tried to- there was, there was rope, and chains, and they- and fishhooks, and- and- and I tried, because they couldn’t find out Ali, I don’t know what would happen, but I fell, and I washed up here- and they’re gonna come find me, and I-”

He was cut off by a fit off coughs that racked through his body. When he was done he couldn’t breathe. The taste of saltwater and bile caught in his mouth.

“Oh my gosh, are you okay? What happened, Justin, you’re not making any sense- oh gosh, I-”

“I’m, I’m okay, I think. I will be? They can’t come find me again. They won’t let me go, they, they’ll” His eyes darted about, frantic, landing on the short piece of rope that was still attached to the fishhook around his neck. “Oh crap.” 

“What is it? Justin what is it?”

“It’s the, the-”

“The what? Justin, what is it.” 

“The fishook.-”

One hand held the phone while the other gripped the large hook, that was still stuck around his throat. His breathing got faster as he felt the parts where it dug into his skin, the caked blood and tenderness of his neck. 

“A- A fishhook?” She stated. “Justin, oh my gosh you need help. Where are you? Justin-”

His hand shook as he gripped the fishhook tighter, trying to see if it would budge. He needed it off. As soon as possible. He couldn’t breathe. He could barely think, his mind was racing so fast. 

“Justin where are you?” She stated again.

He glanced around with tired eyes. Aside from the anxious kids watching him from a distance, there was nothing but sand, water and sky, as far as the eye could see.

“I- I don’t know.”  

[ongaku-ato-kakikomi]

since we've taken a look into the future with proposals, how about we turn back the clock a bit and take a look at how each of the main cast met their s/o for the first time.

(A/N): Here you go! I hope you’ll like these

Miranda Vanderbilt:

Miranda was walking around the school’s hallways (followed by her serfs like usual) and welcoming her classmates, the mermaid also discussing party arrangements with her servants. It’s when she was telling them about which color to choose for the tablecloths that she spotted you looking around with a clueless expression, holding on for your books on dear life. She never saw you around before, and she knew about every single one of her classmates, so she was intrigued.

“Hello, fellow classmate.” Her voice made you jump up in fear, and she found your scared eyes looking back at her rather cute. “You seem lost. Are you perhaps new here?”

“U-um…” You gave out a shaky smile, letting out a long breath. “Yes… yes, I am new and I am lost.”

“Poor thing. And no one offered you help?”

“No, they… they quite did the opposite actually.”

A smile broke out of her lips as she tilted her head at you. “What’s your name?”

“I’m… I’m (Y/N).” You giggled awkwardly. “And… you are?”

“My name is Miranda Vanderbilt, princess of the Ocean.” She felt proud when she saw the amazement creeping up in your face, your mouth not able to say any words. “And I, as the generous soul I have, will help you find your way around here.”

Your eyes brightened up in gratefulness. “You would? That is so kind of you! Thank you so much.”

“Ha! No need, I’m simply doing my duties as a princess.” You gave her a sweet smile, not having other words to thank her properly, and she turned around one of her serfs with a serious expression. “You! Escort (Y/N) to all of her classes this week, will you?”

“Yes, ma’am!” You frowned in confusion while the bluefish floated closer to you so he could stick to your side for the whole day. “First I’m gonna need to see your schedule.”

You reluctantly handed him over your schedule, your unsure eyes looking back at Miranda for an explanation.

“Alright! Off you go!” She made a small movement with her hand to dismiss you before she turned around, the rest of her serfs following her. “So, as I was saying-”

She didn’t know, but her actions caused you to think about her all day.

Damien LaVey:

A hand had slammed on the locker right next to your face.

“You’re (Y/Full/N)?”

The dark sharp voice made you look up from your cellphone, a small grin breaking out of your lips when you saw none other than the prince of hell himself. He didn’t seem as furious as he usually seemed that day, his eyes telling you that he might be looking for something.

“What can I do for you, Damien?”

He didn’t seem to be phased by the fact that you knew his name.

“Valerie told me I needed to come to see you for the special stuff.” A large smirk stretched out unto his cheeks. “Said you could get anything from anyone at any time.”

“That’s true.” You tilted your head at him, eying his expression carefully. “But I don’t work for free.”

“I got you covered.” He put his arm away from the locker to get out some monster money from his pocket. “Will that cover it?”

“Hm…” You snatched the money away from his hand, starting to count. “Maybe… what are you looking for?”

“Something called the Devil’s key. It has belonged to my family for centuries, and it has been stolen a few weeks ago.”

“Someone stole the Devil’s key right in Hell?” You playfully quirk an eyebrow at him. “And you don’t know who did it?”

He lost his smile, glaring at you. “Will you do the job or not?”

“With pleasure.” You put the money inside one of your jacket’s pocket, grabbing something in your other pocket and throwing it at him. “Here.”

He caught it right when you started to leave, the demon looking into his hands only to have his eyes widen in shock at the key.

“You-Hey!” You couldn’t help but smile wider at his screams behind you, still walking away from him. “You stole that!”

“And you paid me to get it back-” You slightly turned your head back to send him a smirk. “Nice doing business with you.”

Damien had never been so pissed at something before…

… but then again, he never admired someone as much either.

Scott Howl:

You were doing your shift at the convenience store, as usual, waiting behind the counter for new clients when you noticed your shoelaces were no longer tied up… So you bent down to tie them up, and then you heard the little bell signaling the arrival of a new client.

“Um… hello?”

“Hi, just one second!” You stood up as soon as you could with a your ‘welcome to the store, dear customer’ smile, but you soon lost it and instead opened your eyes wide when you saw him. “Scott!”

“Woah, you know me?” His grin stretched out when you said his name, his eyes also sparkling in joy. “I didn’t know I was so popular!”

You couldn’t help but gave out a small chuckle, his sweet behavior instantly relaxing you.

“You’re the rising football star of our school, it’s pretty normal that I know you.”

“You’re at my school?” You yelped in surprise when his face was suddenly a few inches away from yours, his eyes analyzing your face precisely. “I’ve never seen you before… what’s your name?”

“Hum…” You blushed in embarrassment. “My name’s (Y/N)…”

“Awesome! My name’s Scott-Wait.” He got out of your personal space with a frown on his face, then he giggled. “Sorry, you already knew that.”

He is so freaking adorable.

“A little reminder is always great.” Your words seemed to make him feel better, and he crossed his arms over the counter while you two talked. “What can I do for you today, Scott?”

“Oh, right!” He looked behind you to eye the slushy machines, his tail starting to move in excitement. “I would like a slushy please… a red one!”

“Coming right up!” You chuckled when you turned around, finding the werewolf athlete rather cute with his reactions, and so you grabbed a cup and filled it up with the red slush before giving it to him. “Here you go, a free slushy.”

His eyes went wide in surprise, then he grinned in pure happiness. “Free slushy?”

“Yeah, you’re a nice person, Scott.” Your smile turned to a sweet one as you tilted your head at him. “Take it as a gift from me-”

You got cut off by his arms wrapping around you and trapping you into a tight hug despite the counter between your two.

“Thank you!” You took in a large breath as soon as he freed you, the boy chuckling and giving the top of your head a little tap for comfort. “You’re a nice person too, (Y/N).”

He left the convenience store that day with a light heart, also giving you some hopes for the future.

Liam de Lioncourt:

That night, Liam went to the cinema so he could watch a new author movie that just came out, only to get his ticket, he had to get stuck in a giant line full of people wanting to watch the last big film he already knew would pretty much be like all the ones before. But he stayed there, for the sake of the movie he wanted to enjoy, and instead kept grumbling under his breath while mentally insulting all those people.

“You’re Liam, right?” He blinked a few times before turning his eyes to you, your head tilting at him with a smile. “You’re not here to watch Moonlight, are you?”

“Of course not.”

He thought you would be offended by his harsh tone, but instead of talking back harshly, your lips stretched out, and you gave out a chuckle.

“That’s what I thought. You’re more of a film author kind of guy.”

“Excuse me-” He frowned in confusion. “-am I supposed to know who you are?”

You had snorted. “I didn’t expect you to. My name’s (Y/N). We go to the same school.”

He had eyed you carefully, still quite distant. “I suppose you are here to watch Moonlight.”

“Nope. I’m here to see Memories of Dawn.” You had looked behind him to see how long the line was, slightly grimacing at the sight. “Might have chosen the wrong night, though.”

“You-” His eyes went wide at your answer, then he had shaken his head to take control back on his thoughts. “I mean, why do you want to see that movie?”

“I like movies with a psychological point of view and visual metaphors.” Your eyes went back to his, your smile coming back to your lips. “It’s more interesting than the cliches everyone like.”

He blinked, then smiled. “Exactly.”

“But-” You looked behind him, really not liking the line. “I think I’m gonna come back another day. I’m not very patient.”

You started to walk away, giving him a wave. “Wait-”

“Tell me if it’s worth it, okay?”

You left before he could say anything else, and couldn’t help but smile in admiration.

He might have found someone who could understand him right there.

Polly Geist:

Polly spotted you sitting in a dark corner of a party, slowly sipping a cup of alcohol while trying to make yourself as small as possible. She instantly knew this was one of your first times doing this, and she could tell you weren’t really having a good.

So she decided to change that.

“Hey, boo!” You had jumped up in fear upon her arrival next to you, almost chucking on your drink. “Oops! Sorry about that.”

“Um-it’s fine.” You managed to stop coughing, giving out a small smile. “Just wasn’t expecting someone to talk to me.”

Her grin stretched out when she saw how happy you seemed. “What’s your name, gorgeous?”

Oh, she loved how your cheeks suddenly warmed up.

“A-ah… (Y/N)…?”

“(Y/N)?” She snorted. “You’re not sure?”

“No, I-” You stopped yourself, taking a breath in before smiling. “My name is (Y/N)… and you?”

“I’m Polly.” She winked at you before taking your drink from your hands, taking a sip from it. “And you, my friend, are going to have the greatest night of your life.”

You gave out an awkward chuckle. “Haven’t really had a great night now up till now, honestly.”

“That’s because I wasn’t here.” She gave your drink back, her eyes sparkling strangely. “Now everything’s gonna change.”

“Really, huh?” You had approached your face to hers, taking her by surprise. “Can you promise that?”

“Honey-” Her grin had stretched out onto her cheeks. “-I never face down a challenge.”

You opened your mouth to say something when your cellphone vibrated, and you picked it up to see that you had received an urgent text person from somebody close to you.

“Well, I’m gonna have to decline.” You stood up, her expression turning to a pouty one. “I’m needed somewhere else.”

“Awn, come on!” She followed from behind, kind of impressed of how easy you managed to make your way through the crowd. “We haven’t even started.”

You looked back at her with a huge grin.

“Next time, okay?” You’re the one who gave her a wink this time. “I promise you’ll have the greatest night of your life.”

She hoped you were serious, because she really wanted to take you up on that offer.

Vera Oberlin:

Vera had her eyes on a very ancient necklace for a while, one that was said to be very powerful, and she needed it for a ritual of some sort. One thing, it was almost impossible to find. But since she never gives up, she managed to find its location in less time than anyone else, using other minions to spare her life along the way.

But when she found the black box in that temple, she couldn’t help but smile with pride, already feeling the power running through her veins…

… then she opened it and lost her smile when she saw that it was empty.

“Looking for this?”

She looked back to see you standing against an old pillar, also holding the famous necklace between your fingers while smirking at her. She glared at you, throwing the box on the ground in frustration, and she walked over to you slowly.

“Give it to me.”

“Ooh, easy there, Vera.” You had put the necklace in your back pocket, still smiling. “I’m not your enemy.”

She almost snarled at you, her snakes on her head starting to hissing. “Who are you?”

“I’m (Y/N).” You tilted your head at her, not at all threatened by her. “You know, I-”

“Give me the necklace-”

“-got a really great offer for this necklace.” You chuckled, putting your hands in your jacket’s pocket. “But if you give me a better offer…”

She sighed, more than frustrated now. “What do you want?”

“Nothing much…” You had shrugged, your smile still present on your lips. “Just a date.”

She seemed shocked. “… what?”

“Surprise? You shouldn’t be. You’re a pretty woman.”

“Why would I go out with you?”

“Because it’s a very good deal.” You had closed the distance by walking over to her, still standing away enough for her snakes to not attack you. “I mean, a date for the most powerful necklace in the world? That’s a steal, isn’t it?”

“Fine. I’ll do it.”

“Great!” You took out the necklace and gave it to her without any trouble, giving her a wink right after. “We’ll talk about the details at school tomorrow.”

She chuckled as soon as you left, secretly impressed by your confidence.

She didn’t know the necklace gave you the courage to ask her out.