#rachie sunset

[frutavel]

A sketch of Luna, referenced off adorkastock's website, because I love him very much <3

[giggly-squiggily]

Hey hey heyyyyyy

Can i request lee oikawa and lers iwa, mattsun, and makki? Fnfjdjs

Heyo! I'm really sorry anon, but I could not for the life of me find a way to fit Mattsun and Maki into this. I honestly can't remember much of anyone in that team besides Iwa and Oikawa these days. I need to rewatch Haikyuu hehe.

Still! I hope you like it! :D

CW: Swearing

Cloud 9 (Taglist):

@myreygn @thatbigbisexual29 @duckymcdoorknob @rachi-roo

The second the door shut, Oikawa was scrambling for freedom.

“Get over here you son of a-” Iwa’s words were cut off by the squeal of terror Oikawa let loose when he was grabbed from behind, arms around his waist as he was yanked back into the couch. “You thought you could pull what you did today and get away with it?”

“Iwa! Iwa wahahhahahhait!”

~~~8 or so hours earlier~~~

Oikawa was bored.

The one day off he finally lets himself have, and Iwa has to go to class! He wouldn’t even skip! 

“I can’t just skip class, Toru. What’s gonna happen when I really do need to skip?”

“You’re gonna go anyway cause you’re too stubborn to acknowledge illness.”

“Watch it…I’ll be home tonight. Just- entertain yourself until then. Take a nap, watch a movie, go on a jog- find something to do.”

Oikawa could really have done any of those things, but they weren’t nearly as fun without Iwa!

‘Come home?’ He texted an hour into the day, knowing how silly he was being but not caring one bit.

‘Later. Class is starting soon- love you, bye.’ Iwa’s text came back.

Oikawa rolled his eyes as he let his phone flop against his chest, groaning dramatically. He texted too much- usually Iwa would humor his back and forth for at least a few seconds. He was starting to learn his ways.

“Class is starting soon my butt.” Oikawa glared at the phone, switching to his socials soon after. Some scrolling here, some liking posts there- he left what he felt was a hilarious comment under Mattsun’s recent sunset photo, but gave up when Mattsun replied with a simple “???”. How tiresome.

He was about to call up Maki to see if he was available when a video came into his feed- one that made him stop and stare.

“Is it recording? Great! Hi, my name is Hinata Shoyo- and this is what I like to call: Tickle me Kageyama!” In the video the redhead turned to his friend, jumping on him and attacking his ribs with reckless abandon. Kageyama practically squawked, flailing in his chair while swearing every bad word he knew at him. Soon though- he was laughing up a storm, pig snorts mixing with endless bouts of laughter.

“Don’t swear so much, Shoyo’s sister might be watching!” He didn’t recognize the voice behind the camera, but he sounded very amused. A taller guy with a close shaved head waved at the camera before jumping in, further driving Kageyama up the wall. “Get ‘em, Tanaka! Hehehe!”

The video ended not long after that, the replay button taunting Oikawa like a flashing light. His body was tingling all over. God I wish that was me…

Panicked, he tossed his phone into the nearest pillow, shaking his head. No, no- don’t start feeling like that right now! Iwa’s not gonna be home for another decade! And even when he did get home…

When he got home…

A new idea came to mind, and Oikawa snickered in glee as he grabbed his phone, pulling up the texts…

~~~4 hours ago~~~

It was agony waiting until Iwa’s first class was over, but he knew his boyfriend wouldn’t be on his phone during class. He waited until he knew class was over before beginning his attack.

The first thing was simple. A picture of a heart, sparkly and pink. Eventually the text said ‘read’ but nothing appeared after. Oikawa could picture Iwa’s confused face as he looked upon the picture.

A moment later, he sent a gif of a shower of hearts, followed by ‘Does this make you think of anything?’

Bubbles. Then: ‘You’re having a heart attack?’

It took everything in Oikawa not to send a rolling eye emoji.

‘I’m thinking of how much I love you~’ He texted, followed by three pink heart emojis. He waited- then.

‘Stop it.’ Iwa wrote.

‘Why?’

‘You know why.”

‘Iwa-chan~’

‘I’m on campus!’

‘And you told me to find something entertaining to do. <3”

‘Find something else.’

‘Can I find the words to say how much I adore you? How hot are you when you take things so seriously and finish what you start? How are you so strong- both physically and mentally? How I love just how in the zone you are when you’re doing something you love?’ It was devious and awful and terrible but Oikawa was kicking his feet like a school girl picturing how red Iwa must be looking right now. He could easily picture the others on campus looking at him wondering: “What’s got him so flustered?”

‘Toru…’

‘Yes, my sweet prince?’

‘Final warning.’ This was it! ‘Stop it or I’ll make you stop.’

Oikawa considered. Then he grinned. ‘Hey- guess what? I love you, Hajime.’ He wrote before sending it to Iwa. He waited, and waited, and waited…

‘You’re done for.’ And that was that.

Oikawa cackled, tossing his phone into the couch as he did a little jig. Laughing like a child, he sent a few heart emojis and a kissy face before turning off his phone, knowing seeing the time would make the anticipation worse.

All he had to do now was wait.

~~~Present time~~~

“You know- if you really want me to tickle you, you could have just asked.” Iwa growled in his ear, sitting on the back of his hips as he creeped his fingers up Oikawa’s shirt, scratching along warm skin. “No need to fluster me in front of my freaking adviser!”

“Whihihihiihihy whehehehre you on the phoohoohohone with yohoohohur advihihihisor? Aheahhahhahaha, Iehehehhehhewa!” Oikawa giggled out, pressing his arms against his sides as he tried to block him out. It didn’t work.

“He came up to me during your little game, shitty-kawa! I had to make up some dumb excuse that I doubt he believed!” He moved his fingers higher up, wiggling them along his ribs. “Let’s see- I think it’s only fair I make you as red as you made me today.”

“Iihihiihihiwa, aheahhahahhahhahahaha! Pffft- gehahahahahhaha, pleahhahhahahhase!” Oikawa cried, kicking his feet against the cushions. “It tiihihihiihihihckles!”

“No way, does it really?” Iwa asked, tapping along his upper ribs, just before his armpits. “Anything you want to say?”

“Mhmhmmhmmhmhhehehehehehe! HEheheheehehehehehehehe!” Oikawa willed the giggles down, daring a look back at Iwa’s face. “Dohohohoho your wohohohorst!”

Iwa tsked. Then he dug his hands into Oikawa’s armpits.

“AHHEHAHHAHHAH!” The setter squealed, thrashing about beneath him as he laughed himself hoarse. “OHOHOHOOHKAY OOHOOHHOKAY I’M SAHAHHHAHARRY! IIHIHIHIHM SHAAHHAHAHRRY!”

“Promise?” Iwa asked.

“PRHOOHOHOHOOHMISE!”

“Hm….okay.” The tickles came to an end, leaving Oikawa gasping for breath with his head pressed into the cushions. Iwa hummed before swatting him gently, climbing off his back and scooping him up. In a matter of minutes, they were cuddling on the couch. “You’re a shit.”

“Yohohoohu love me.” Oikawa pointed out, giggling when his side was poked.

“Shush.”

“Nope.” Oikawa looked up at him, eyes kind. “And I’m not sorry for what I said! I mean every word.” Iwa tried to glare, but his face grew rosey and the undeniable love in his eyes glinted. “Though I suppose texting you during school wasn’t wise.”

“No, it wasn’t. But…I don’t mind.” Iwa mumbled, silencing Oikawa with a kiss. “But if you do that again, next time I’m not having mercy.”

“We’ll see.”

Thanks for reading!

[strebcrarchivess]

𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄 ( 𝟓 ) 𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐖𝐀𝐘𝐒 𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐑𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐓𝐎 𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐄 .

Idol (yoasobi)

Weaknesses and whatnot are not to be found. Carrying the morning star within. Showing any weakness is no good, no good! Don't let them see anything that they don't want to know.

Loveit (Pinocchiop)

Is it okay if I trust you? My eyes swollen and red, I'm sickened by fake love again and again. I can’t say valiantly and with pride that “I’m glad I was born”. But I want to tell you how I feel. I love it, is it okay if I trust you? I love it, do I want to stay as a weak rabbit for the rest of my life?

Dear you-Hope

Yes, even though there may not be much time left in this small world of ours. I want to protect you so for right now hold me in your arms. And I'll even defy my very own fate to help you and everything. I won't stray from my path because for you I would do anything.

Ghost City Tokyo (yoasobi ft rachie)

So used to only losing sight of the things I wanted. I find again I’m reaching for something I’d forgotten. The memories come flooding back to me, and I can’t help but burst into tears. This city really is sick. Almost as if I could be blinded by it.

Mary's fictional world

What all went wrong? I can’t figure it out. I noticed then your eyes shut so tightly. The sunset burned in my mind, so many tears that I went blind. All I could was stand and watch as all my dreams faded away. Hey you know I would really like to be with you today! If I could I would stay by your side forever anyway. So I swear I’ll keep finding you for all eternity, and then I’ll sit beside you please look at the sky with me! I’ll never give up that future for as long as I can dream.

[pilldent-san]

C- City of Ashes by Jhariah

L- Labyrinth by Miracle Musical

O- Of matches and Rust by Vane Lily

R- Red wine by Follies and Vices

O- Overthrone by TheLongestSoloEver

X- Sad by XXXXentacion 😈😈😈😈( I don’t like this song it’s just an X artist so here)

C- Catatonic by Alanna Lyles and Riff Kitten

A-Anything can go by CG5 (TADC‼️❤️)

S- Skyfall by Adele

S- Sunsets (Resilience) by Jhariah

E- Eros and Apollo by Studio killers

R- Reverse by Jhariah

O- Odo by Rachie

L- Let’s get Loud by Jennifer Lopez

E- Epoch (The Living Tombstone remix) by Savlonic

Wowzers that’s diverse

ofc anyone who wants to join can

Pick a song for each letter of your URL, and then tag that many people!

Tagged by @shrimpmajordomo

@gayafsatan @the-lastcall @captastra @gingernut1314 @ahummingbirdwitch @rorywritesjunk @socially-awkward-skeleton @toads-treasures @cassieuncaged @skarphedinn

G-get off (you can eat a dick) by kittie

A- are we still friends? By Tyler, the creator

L-liar by built to spill

A- Alex by teen suicide

X- x gon give it to ya by dmx

Y- younger than you by whirr

C-California girls by The Beach Boys

U- uuu by Steve Lacy

N- never lose me byFlo milli

T- the tears of a clown by Smokey Robinson

[cyro-starfire]

WOAH I KEEP POSTING SO MUHC SJJDFJSBDKS

Anyways say hi to Rachie everybody!!!

[theaverewrites]

Yokai and Yaksha - Playlist & Note

𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙩

i'll die anyway. - girl in red

✧.* I reach for me, but I'm not there

It's so lonely, but who cares

It's fine, it's okay

I'll die anyway

Juliet - Cavetown

✧.* Sometimes I act like I know

But I'm really just a kid

With two corks in his eyes

And a bully in his head

Exhale - Laureli Amadeus

✧.* Show yourself to me someday

I will be speechless

But for now let me

Lay it all down

As It Was - Harry Styles

✧.* In this world, it's just us

You know it's not the same as it was

In this world, it's just us

You know it's not the same as it was

Million Years Ago - Adele

✧.* I know I'm not the only one

Who regrets the things they've done

Sometimes I just feel it's only me

Who can't stand the reflection that they see

Cat And Mouse - Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

✧.* Am I supposed to be happy?

With all I ever wanted, it comes with a price.

Am I supposed to be happy?

With all I ever wanted, it comes with a price.

Hole In The Heart - Rachie

✧.* That’s why a hole had opened up where my heart is

Pounding, my heartbeat tried to fill up the nothing

But when i tried to say it loud, the words that left my mouth

Were nothing more than excuses

Hawk In The Night - Madds Buckley

✧.* Sharpen your talons and fight

Claw at the world as it claws out your eyes

We raised you right

Hawk in the night

Overfly - Amalee

✧.* Hands up high

Raise them high

And cast your worries to the sky

If you can't stand, then take my hand

Recently, - Liana Flores

✧.* But recently

Everyone says they are seeing less of me

I could do better if I had energy

Be like I used to be

Old Friend - Mitski

✧.* You'll meet me at Blue Diner

I'll take coffee and talk about nothing, baby

At Blue Diner,

I'll take anything you want to give me, baby

Should've Been Me - Mitski

✧.* Cause, I haven't given you what you need

You wanted me but couldn't reach me

So you went into your memory

Relive all the ways you still want me

listen before i go - Billie Eilish

✧.* If you need me

Wanna see me

Better hurry

'Cause I'm leaving soon

brutal - Olivia Rodrigo

✧.* All I did was try my best,

this the kind of thanks I get?

Unrelentless upset

They say these are the golden years

Crossing Fields - Amalee

✧.* I know your strength is what I lack

You've got my back and now that I've got yours

I have you to thank for lighting up the dark

Because you're here with me, our dreams will soar free forever

Meteor Shower - Cavetown

✧.* Missing pieces of my skull

I'll sew on patches of my own soul

There's nothing you or I can do so let the stars fall

'Cause from up here the sky's my thoughts and we're all so small

A Burning Hill - Mitski

✧.* And I am the fire and I am the forest

And I am a witness watching it

I stand in a valley watching it

And you are not there at all

Fourth of July - Sufjan Stevens

✧.* Did you get enough love, my little dove

Why do you cry?

And I'm sorry I left, but it was for the best

Though it never felt right

Line Without a Hook - Ricky Montgomery

✧.* Baby, I am a wreck when I'm without you

I need you here to stay

I broke all my bones that day I found you

Crying at the lake

Cloud 9 - Beach Bunny

✧.* But when he loves me I feel like I'm floating

When he calls me pretty I feel like somebody

Even when we fade eventually to nothing

You will always be my favorite form of loving

rises the moon - Liana Flores

✧.* Oh-oh, close your weary eyes

I promise you that soon the autumn comes

To darken fading summer skies

Breathe, breathe, breathe

Thought Crime - Rachie

✧.* The birds cry out their song in the sunset!

The empty ache I feel starts to sing a swan song too

And yet you linger still in the shadows, standing on your toes, sky a flaming red hue

Slipping off my tongue was my goodbye to you

1. Constructive criticism is okay as long as it is legitimate feedback and not just hate.

2. There are a lot of musical references in this story, particularly in reference to the songs listed in the earlier chapter.

3. Please refrain from overly sexual comments.

4. The Xiao that I write is more akin to his Chinese portrayal than his English one. In other words, he's going to be more apathetic than angry.

5. The reader is based on a Japanese mythological creature. It's not a completely accurate representation, as they're only based on that creature, but quite a few of their characteristics have been adapted.

6. The reader is referred to using they/them pronouns, but may present as mostly feminine.

7. This takes place in the canon universe, and thus has canon level violence.

8. This story has topics that are not suitable for everyone, such as themes of grief and trauma, abandonment, and minor s/a. If any of these topics make you uncomfortable, I suggest you click away now.

9. This story will be posted on wattpad (@-AEONSTYX), Ao3 (@aeonstyx), and tumblr (@theaverewrites). Any and all updates about this story and others will be posted on wattpad, so I suggest you follow me there to keep up with changes.

10. Genshin Impact is owned by Hoyoverse. Please support the official release, and enjoy this fan-made story.

[bmsunra]

BMS Red Thirst Chapter 0

Prologue

The examiner stared at his eyes as Kil fixed his eyes a the blood in the bowl. It sat inside a glass box that sat on a table, and Kil was made to sit on the chair five metres from it.

Kil knew the proctor was looking for any abnormal alteration in his eyes, nose, and lips. Any sign that showed he want to consume the human blood, the examiner would fail him the test and mark him leech on the Arinyr Card.

But Kil knew the bald headed, pumpkin belly middle aged man would get nothing from him. He felt no craving nor the thirst. If anything he thought he was repelled by the sight of the human blood.

The examiner waved a hand, and his assistant, a slim young girl, walked over, threw a creamy shroud over the glass box, cutting the sight of the blood.

“Turn right,” the examiner said, who was sitting behind the table, playing with a pen.

Kil’s brown Arinyr Card was on the table in front of him.

Any unwanted suggestion Kil gave him, he would punch a seal and sign the second slot of the card as ‘leech’. The next day, BLC officials from Kuve would come and take him to the Asyl of the leech.

Kil swivelled right.

In the same distance as the glass box was a bulky monitor ontop a similar iron table. Currently its display was black, but Kil knew what was coming for he had taken this test before when he was only twelve.

The display flickered and something gory replaced the blackness; A man dying, his gut was opened by some ragged blade, its entails was spilled out over chest and the asphalt.

Kil flinced.

“Eyes on the screen,” the examiner said.

The next video was more grisly. It looked as if it was caught on hidden camera. A little girl of not more than twelve was sawing her wrist a razor, blood spurting all over as she did. Kil had to endure five more similar videos, which he went throug with peeled eyes. He had to. One of them had nothing do with sharp razor or entails, but just a young boy feeding blood by his mother from a glass bowl. The boy drank it as if were milk. Kil knew he would take some days forgetting it.

He found himself wondering how his twelve years old self manage to forget all these.

By the time the monitor went black again, Kil’s stomach had been twisted to uncountable knots. This was what the examiner wanted. He wanted to see how he react. Kil only reacted like a normal human would.

The BLC should come up with a less grim method to filter out leech. Maybe a blood taste or by studing a tissue of something. People with the thirst must surely have different biochemistry than normal human.

The examiner leaned over his Arinyr Card and scribbled pass in the second slot, stamped the BLC seal and signed over it. The pretty assitant ushered him outside.

Kil was sure she wink at him at the door way.

Jiyu and Jie were waiting outside. Kil sat down next to Jiyu. Jie turned twelve this year, so she was taking the test as well. She shivered visibly. Her big sister, Jiyu was tying to calm her down. “It’s gonna be alright.”

Jiyu was fourteen. She had to wait for her fifteen for her second Arinyr test.

There were around dozen kids in the waiting room. All of them had either their mother or father or both with them to quell theri anxiety. Kil, Jiyu and Jie had only themselves.

“I heard the new examiner is creepy?” Jiyu asked in a low voice. On hearing her sister question, Jie shirvelled and displayed fear in her eyes.

To Kil’s eyes the examiner wasn’t scary. If anything he was funny looking, with the melon belly and the bald and the bushy moustache.

“I don’t know about that but he got a super hot assistan,.” Kil said, which earned him a stern look from Jiyu.

Jie seemed she didn’t heard his respose, staring at the floor and shaking uncontrollable.

“You have a girlfriend remember?” Jiyu said pointing at herself, a slender silver bracelet glinted around her tiny dainty wrist.

“I do,” Kil shrugged.

“Jie Tsuyo,” the pretty assitant annouced.

Jie got to her feet.

“Be strong, sister,” Jiyu said.

Jie made her way inside without a word.

Kil remembered drenched in sweat from nervouseness on his frist test. His father there that day to comfort him though.

The pretty assitant came out again and headed for the washroom, but not without flashing a smile at three boys in the waiting room. Kil included. But Jiyu hadn’t noticed that he wasn’t alone. Like the rest of the boys who received the smile, Kil grinned dreamily. That earned him a elbow from his girlfriend.

“Ouch.” Kil let out little too loud.

Few turned their heads, but linger their gaze not more than two seconds. They had their own worries. If their child failed the test they would them. Kil heard not many return from the Asyl in Rachi, and he never knew or see anyone who came back in his life. He also heard they came back crazy. So naturally, none like the idea of room in the eerie building in the east Island of Akerin.

The kids were truly frightened too. Specially the twelve years. At least they had a parent. Kil’s was pretty carefree about the test, and Kil knew he had nothing to worry, so he told him to rest at home. Jie’s parents had a reason too; they forgot.

“You scare for Jie?” Kil asked Jiyu.

Jiyu’s scowling vanished, replaced by a face of worried.

“I’m scare a little bit,” she said. “They won’t take away a twevel years old girl, will they? They should seperate a child from their parents how irresponsible they are.”

Kil fully knew BLC take leech of any age, as young as seven, to the Asyl for correction, to get rid of the thirst. He also knew he shouldn’t share this information with Jiyu right now. He put an arm around her, and drew her closer.

“I’m sure Jie is strong.”

Ten minutes later Jie came out, which meant she passed lest they woud’ve taken her through the back door and kept her locked in a room.

Jiyu dashed to her little sister and hugged her. But was more scared than ever. She shivered harder as she hugged her sister back. She was teary.

Kil did’t understand how people are easily frighten.

“Let’s get away from this creepy place,” Jiyu said. “You hungry Jie?”

Jie bobbed her head. She still looked nervous.

Kil peddled the bike hard and drove away fast from the Senggu’s clinic where they set up Arinyr test centre for the year. Jie clung to her sister from behind on a seperate bike. They raced to the nearest foodstall. They bought currywursts. Kil didn’t have money, so Jiyu paid for three of them. She sometime worked at the town’s market when needed money. She accept whatever work was available.

They parked their bikes beside the road, flopped down on the grasses, ate their food and watched the sunset. A grass field spread in front of them. Five kids were flying kites in the windy sky. It was late summer, and the heat had abated heralding autumn. The sun was bright red and lonely, casting its last light on the green field and the mountain ranges. It’s Kil’s favorite part of the day.

“I hate this,” Jiyu said, holding out the food in front of her.

“Then why did you order it?” Kil asked.

“I only did because you two did. I don’t want to be left out.”

Jie munched her food in silence. Her eyes in the distance, as if her mind was somewhere else.

“Nobody forced you.” Kil said.

Jie finished her food, and ran into the field toward the kid. She asked one of the kid to allow her fly the kite. Once she hold the strong she looked happy for the first time of the day.

“In the city,” Jiyu said after a while, “I heard they have the greatest food. And one can easily find work.”

“I heard the cities are dangerous, specially in the capital,” Kil said. “Plus I thought you want to become a writer. Why are you so interest in working part time?”

“My part-time money bought this,” she shook her food in front of Kil. Kil bit a moutful at his. “It’s also the reason why I need to leave this Senggu,” Jiyu said. “In city I could easily find a mentor, and work to pay for the mentor.”

“Leave then,” Kil said. “My father and me are staying here for a while. Father loves Senggu, so do I.”

“Yes, it’s a good town for farmer and florist and the likes.” she said. “But not for someone like me with dreams. My parents were born in Senggu, so did their parents. I don’t want to end my life here. You won’t understand anyway. You don’t have a dream. You and your father came here to rot and perish.”

“Father said, we never have home before we settled here,” Kil said. “He always said how lucky we were that his friend gave us a place we could call home.”

“You are at your destination. I’m at my beggining. You’ve left your cage, I’m still in mine.”

“Leave Senggu then,” Kil said again.

“I CAN’T,” Jiyu said. “I can’t leave Jie with my parents. Father came drunk yesterday and fought with mother. We hid in the closet again.”

Jiyu sniffed. There was silence for a while.

“And I can’t leave you too,” Jiyu said after composing herself. “You are my boyfriend now, aren’t you. You promised to my maiden promise.”

Jiyu held her silver braclet in front of him. Kil remembered she made him promise to stay with her forever one year ago when she got her maiden bracelet when she turned thirteen.

“Let say I’ve a dream,” Kil said. “What if I left town in persue for it. What will do you do then?”

“I’ll come with you. We promise to stay together. That’s what we will do, right.”

“Right.”

The sun had set, the twilight had settled. Jie was flying kite in the field. A kid, probably the owner of the kid, was tugging at her skirt. But she wouldn’t let go of the thread reel.

“Let’s fly kite,” Kil said to Jiyu.

“No. It’s getting dark. Let’s go home.”

But Kil had already started running down toward the field. Jiyu was calling his name behind him.

“Come,” he yelled back, “let’s see who fly hi…”

Kil stumbled on a hard stone and tumbled forward headfirst. He dove headlong to the field filled with pebbles and gravels, and slid for a whole metre before he stopped. He flipped over, saw the blue sky. He saw two kites in his vision. His forehead hurt. He reached it with his hand. “Ouch!” he jerked it back as the pain double when touch. Little blood came on the tips of his fingers.

“Kil brother,” Kil heard Jie’s voice. And a loud laugher of Jiyu’s voice.

Jie’s head appeared in his vision, looking down at him.

“You okay?”

Kil sat up on the damp and rough surface. Somehow his bad luch had brough him to a grass free, but stony area. Jiyu was few metres away. She doubled over and guffawed. Kil started to snickered to at his own folly. Three kite runners who had seen him diving were cackling too, pointing there hands at him.

The only one who truly worried about him was Jie. But Jiyu also stopped laughing when she saw the blood trickling down his face. The sisters pulled him up, and they came home.

On the way, Jiyu bought a bottle of water, and cleaned the injury, and his face.

“Take a stick as soon as you get home,” Jiyu said. “Don’t worry there won’t be any scar. It’s minor.”

Kil wasn’t worried much. They drove merrily as before back home. It was almost completely dark when they reached their gate.

“See you tomorrow, Killian brother,” Jie said. Jiyu simply smiled a goodbye of the day.

The two sisters went through their wooden fence gate. Next to Tsuyo’s gate was Kil’s iron fence gate. He pushed his bike inside, and parked the bike in the shed near the gate. He saw shadow of his father through the semi-transperant glass of the greenhouse. He must be watering his flowers. He went in the house quickly to look at a mirror.

A thin red line one-and-half inch, started from the corner of his forhead and slanted toward his left eyebrow. He must’ve grazed sharp edge of a stone. The blood had dried up. It was a minor cut, nevertheless it would leave a scar if he didn’t take a healing serum within twent-four hour. From the cupboard, he took out the small metallic box in which they kept their serums. He set it down the round eating table and flopped himself down on a chair.

He picked out the syringe first, and started looking for vial that content pale yellow fluid. But all he found was tiny empty glass vial.

“We’ve ran out of serum a week ago.”

Father came in limply, supporting by a walking stick. His father was in his sixties, but he looked much older, with all his hair gone white, and the walking stick to help his impaired leg.

Father limped over, squinted his eyes at his son’s temple, studying the shallow cut.

“Hmm,” he said, displaying little concern. “I’ll get one or two tomorrow morning. Does it hurt? Sleep on painkiller.”

Kil had a reason not to believe his father’s word. And he would need a healing serum in twelve-hour if he wish to avoid scar.

The healing serum or SOMA serum could heal any wounds and injuries, given one inject it everyday until it completely heal. It also healed faster than normal human healing speed. It could even grow a severed limb if the person could afford a vial everyday for at least ten months. And the best thing about SOMA is that the wound wouldn’t leave any scars.

“You’ll get it tomorrow morning!,” he couldn’t hide the frustration in his voice. “Where woud you get money to buy it?”

Kill pulled his left sleeve to his elbow, revealing seven old scars in his forearm. It marred his rather smooth skin, “Remember when you made the same promise?” Kil said.

In Akerin, in the era of SOMA serum, the beggars and urchins had visible scars. And those who were so poor that they couldn’t buy a vials of healing serum. A scars on his brow was tantamount to saying, ‘I’m poor. I’m poor.’ Kil could hide the scars on his arm, even if he had to wear long sleeve everytime. But he couldn’t walk into school campus with one on the brow.

“I have some flowers I could see,” father said.

“Your stupid flower couldn’t fetch five-hundred ged let alone hundred ged for a nice meal.”

His father knew he was right.

“I’ll get a vial, I promise,” father said. “Let me put this bandage over it for now.”

He let him.

Kil knew the predicament his father was in. He had jobs before the accident that crippled his left leg. But he couldn’t help but mad at him.

“How’s the test?” father asked cleaning the cut the skin around it.

“Nothing.”

“Jie’s?” father asked again, putting the adhesive bandage over the cut.

Father didn’t asked about Jiyu last year when she gave her test. But he was always fond of little Jie. Kil found himself wishing his father like Jiyu as much as he like Jie. Then he immediately realized how childish the thought was.

“Nothing,” Kil said.

“Let’s eat dinner.” father said. “I’ve prepared your favorite …”

“I’m not hungry,” Kil said, still mad at his father. “I’m off to bed.”

Kil left his poor father alone and came to his room.

👾👽👼👻👺👹💣✌😈💩😷👀💀

On the bed

Kil found himself recalling Jiyu’s desire to live in the city. If he were in the city, he could find a part job. Money of a week work might be enough to buy a vial of serum.

Father dressed his bruises and scar once again, and put on adhesive bandage over it, and medicine to the bruised and cuts.

At dinner there was silence. A simple dinner of rice, and vegetable stew.

After dinner, when he was in his room, father came to give him a the painkiller. He gulped it down with a glass of water. Then he lay on the bed. But he couldn’t rest.

He had enough trouble trying to hide the scars on his hand. They only person who wasn’t disgusted by it was his mother, but she wasn’t with him now. Only the homeless and beggars in the streeth had scars in Akerin.

He almost gone to sleep when the sound of fighting came from the neighbour. Jiyu’s father and mother. It’s late. She must be unable to sleep as well. Her parents fought all the time. If it wasn’t night she would come to Kil’s house, and his father would keep the two sisters company until the fight was over.

Kil distracted the screaming and shouting with his own thought. Father had no money to buy serum, even though he said he would. Father only sold two to three flower pot a day, which wasn’t enough even for food. He didn’t have saving. This could like before.

There was a way though. Kil knew a way to get money instantly. If he go out, he could buy the serum early morning tomorrow.

He could bleed.

Selling blood was illegal in Akerin. It had been for many years.

One could sell to a govt. Medical fecily, but they didn’t pay much. But selling to blood dealer pay thrice the money. Kil knew the dealer of Senggu.

In Akerin, selling blood to a leech was the second most hated sin, the first one was being a leech and drinking blood. Since the bood dealer were selling the blood the collected to the leech, almost exclusively the citizen loathed them, and the police would without delay shove them into prison, if caught.

Near midnight, the fighting from Jiyu’s house had died.

At was near midnight, Kil put on his shoes and jacket and jumped out of the window, careful not to wake up father when he land. Not long after he waking down the street toward the town market. It was just a ten minutes walk. Most of the shops had been closed, and an eeri quietness had settled the area. Sounds of night insects had replaced the clamour and din of the crowd that was normal in the morning and day.

Blood dealing was ban in all over Akerin. The one in Senggu was ran by a nameless man, he can only be summoned from the bar. Kil, underage, so he went to the backdoor. As he heard the rumour, he told the big man there he wanted the blood dealer.

I’m looking for Sinner’s Door,

Not long after he was led through a dark corridor inside the building. The guard left him in a small room. Kil took a chair. The room strangely smelt of strong perfume. The dealer came after five minutes. He asked his name.

“Killian Vidar,” he said.

The man seemed taken aback by his name. But it was brief. Then explain the amount of blood Kil had to bleed, and the price, and how long it would take. Kil was more than happy to learn that for 500 grams of blood he could buy two vials. Which would be enough in his case.

The dealer was about to take him away from the room, when another man showed up. The man was tall and thin, had long red hair under a leather hat. He wore a long coat that matched the color of his hat.

“I’m here.”

The dealer stole a glance at Kil before he answer, “And your promise.”

The stranger reached into his coat and pulled out a thick envelope. It was easy to guess the money inside. The dealer took it, told Kil to wait for a while and led the stranger out of the room. Kil was certain he man was here to buy blood. That meants he was a leech. It’s scary to remind the leech who drink human blood and human look the same. There was no way to distinguish the two by merely obsering or looking. They coould be anyone in the Senggu. Kil wodnered how many leech were there in the town, secretly buying blood from the dealer to drink at dinner, like a premium wine.

The dealer came back alone after a while, asked Kil to follow and he did.

Kil followed him down another the dim corridor. Red bulbs lit from the ceiling, and it smelt the same perfume in the small room. This corridor had doors on the side, Some of them were opened ajar, Kil peeked inside as he passed them. He saw people on strechable couch with tube in the arm pumping blood. Bleeding. There were at least four chair in each room and six such rooms in this corridor. They turned right and headed down another similiar corridor. This one had single bleeder in a single smaller bleeding room. More private. Toward the end he passed a room inwhjich he saw the man from earlier with the hat. His back was on him blocking the view of the bleeder.

The dealer asked Kil to enter the room at the end. Kil almost enter in when heard it ...

“I know what you want of me. I’ll never become one of you.” It came from the room the man in hat was in and Kil didn’t had to see the speaker. He knew instantly.

Father. Kil tracked back and peered inside the room.

There he was, stretching on the chair, tube in his arm, blood ranning from his system into a plastic package under the chair. His walking stick propped up against it.

“I’ll get it from your dead body if I have to,” the man in hat said to his father.

His father cursed.

“Father.” The word escaped from Kil.

The man in hat turned.

Father was obviously shocked to see him here. His eyes went wide, glancing between him and the man in hat. It took a long moment until he spoke. “What are you doing here?”

“Father,” Kil’s voice came in low and with trace of sadness that grew inside him on realising his father was selling his own blood to buy serum for him, for the scar he got trying to fly a stupid kite.

The dealer came up behind him, grabbed his arm, and tried to drag him away. “We are sorry Mr. …”

The man in hat waved his hand, “Hold on,” he said, studied Kil. “Son?”

“I didn’t know.” said the dealer.

“Father why are you here?” Kil asked his father.

“You shouldn’t be here. Run.”

A knife appeared in the hand of the man in hat, silencing Kil and his father. He gestured to the dealer, and Kil was grabbe from behind, immobolised him.

“Don’t touch my son,” his father’s weak voice said.

The man in hat proceed anyway. “Let see if you’ve have the same thing as you old pop.” Then he reacched out and grabed Kil’s scarred left arm.

Kil tried to wriggel free, but the man too strong for a boy of fifteen.

Then the man slice Kil’s palm. Blood started to creep out of the cut. Pain shot though his hand. Kil cried out in pain. Then man in hat brough his hand to his mouth and suck the blood of his palm.

The man swalllowed. Grimaced, and spat to the side. Disgusted by the taste of it. He shool his head in disappointemnet. “Take his away,” he said to the dealer, and stood and turned toward his fatherm his knife gleamed in front of his father’s face. His father was frightened, Kil could tell.

The dealer grabbed Kil by the shoulders and started pulling him away from the room.

The man in hat was going to kill his father for his blood, Kil thought. His heart start to pung heavily agaisnt his chest, audibly. Line of sweat ran down from his temple to his face, and he could feel his whole body stated to perspire.

“FATHER,” Kil screamed. “DON’T KIL MY FATHER.”

“He won’t,” said the dealer from behind.

The man in hat turned back around. “Shut him up,” tha man in hat commanded the dealer.

“DON’T KIL HIM,” Kil yelled, trying to free from the dealer’s grab.

Father looked Kil in his eyes, “Find your mother,” he said.

The man in hat took a step toward Kil, and backhanded him hard in his face. It was so powerful, instantly knock Kil out.

When Kil opened his eyes, the man in hat wasn’t in the room, nor the blood dealer. His father was still in the chair, but he wasn’t moving. Not moving at all. His throat was sliced open, blood from the opening drenched his entire bodice. His skin was ghastly, almost as white as paper. They had drained his blood.

Kil pushed himself up, his right cheek hurt like hell.

His father’s eyes had been closed. How considerate of the killer. The man in hat. Kil looked at his soulless father, laying there like a baby, unaware of the rage burning inside his son. He cried holding his dead father. He cried, gritted his teeth, clenched his fist and vowed.

Nine months later, Kil slit the throat of his first leech victim.

Three months later from his first victim, he stabbed the 30th leech to death.

Eight months later from his 30th kill, he gored the guts out of the 60th leech.

Soon every leeches in Akerin heard his name. Kill rejoiced hearing his reputation. Yet he wasn’t done. Until he avenged his father.

Jie saw his blood, and drew her in. she looked away. Missing handkerchief, piece whic Jiyu gave it tomm him.

His father wasn’t happy either. He had his own scars, multiple, in his chest, thigh, forarms and back, that he got from working in multiple jobs. He did his best, Kil knew.

He got that when he was five playing with a harvesting machine. His hand stuck in it for half an hour. Father didn’t have the money to buy serum, so he left it to his own natural healing which did a fine job healing completely in three months, but the the scars remained.

[nyr-nra]

Red Thirst : CH00

The examiner studied Kil as he was made to stare at the blood in the glass bowl. The bowl was inside a glass box, and three metres from the chair.

Kil knew the examiner was looking for any abnormal alteration in his eyes, nose, and lips. Any sign that showed he wanted to consume the human blood, the examiner would fail him the test and mark him leech on the Arinyr Card.

But Kil knew the bald headed, pumpkin belly middle aged man would get nothing from him. He felt no craving nor the thirst. If anything, he thought he was repelled by the sight of the human blood.

The examiner waved a hand, and his assistant, a slim young girl, walked over, threw a creamy shroud over the glass box, cutting the sight of the blood.

“Turn right,” the examiner said, who was sitting behind the table, playing with a pen.

Kil’s brown Arinyr Card was on the table in front of him.

Any unwanted suggestion Kil gave him, he would punch a seal and sign the second slot of the card as ‘leech’. The next day, BLC officials from Kuve would come and take him to the asylum of the leeches in Rachi.

Kil swivelled on the chair to his right.

In the same distance as the glass box was a bulky monitor on top of a similar iron table. Currently its display was black, but Kil knew what was coming for he had taken this test before when he was only twelve.

The display flickered and something gory replaced the blackness; A man dying, his gut was opened by some ragged blade, its entails were spilled out over his chest and the asphalt.

Kil flinced.

“Eyes on the screen,” the examiner said.

The next video was more grisly. It looked as if it was caught on hidden camera. A little girl of not more than twelve was sawing her wrist a razor, blood spurting all over as she did. Kil had to endure five more similar videos, which he went through with peeled eyes. He had to. One of them had nothing to do with a sharp razor or entails, but a mother feeding blood to her young boy from a glass bowl. The boy drank it as if it were milk. Kil knew he would take some days forgetting it. 

He found himself wondering how his twelve years old self managed to forget all these.

By the time the monitor went black again, Kil’s stomach had been twisted to uncountable knots. This was what the examiner wanted. He wanted to see how he would react. Kil only reacted like a normal human would. 

The BLC should come up with a less grim method to filter out leeches. Maybe a blood taste or by studying a tissue or something. People with the thirst must surely have different biochemistry than normal humans.

The examiner leaned over Kil’s Arinyr Card and scribbled the word ‘pass’ on the second slot, stamped the BLC seal and signed over it. The pretty assistant ushered him outside.

Kil was sure she winked at him in the doorway.

Jiyu and Jie were waiting outside. Kil sat down next to Jiyu. Jie turned twelve this year, so she was taking the test as well. She shivered visibly. Her big sister, Jiyu, was trying to calm her down. “It’s gonna be alright.”

Jiyu was thirteen. She had to wait for her fourteen for her second Arinyr test.

There were around a dozen kids in the waiting room. All of them had either their mother or father or both with them to quell theri anxiety. Kil, Jiyu and Jie had only themselves.

“I heard the new examiner is creepy?” Jiyu asked in a low voice. On hearing her sister question, Jie shrivelled and displayed fear in her eyes.

To Kil’s eyes the examiner wasn’t scary. If anything he was funny looking, with the melon belly and the bald and the bushy moustache.

“I don’t know about that but he got a super hot assistant,'' Kil said, which earned him a stern look from Jiyu.

Jie seemed like she hadn't heard his response, staring at the floor and shaking uncontrollably.

“You have a girlfriend, remember?” Jiyu said pointing at herself, a slender silver bracelet glinted around her tiny dainty wrist.

“I do,” Kil shrugged.

“Jie Tsuyo,” the girl assistant announced.

Jie got to her feet. And made her way..

“Be strong, sister,” Jiyu said.. 

Jie stopped at the door, turned and looked at them. Kil and Jiyu smiled a smile of assurance. Jie smiled back, nervously, and disappeared into the testing room.

Kil remembered drenched in sweat from nervousness on his first test. His father was there that day to comfort him though.

The pretty assistant came out again and headed for the washroom, but not without flashing a smile at four boys in the waiting room. Kil included. But Jiyu hadn’t noticed that he wasn’t alone. Like the rest of the boys who received the smile, Kil grinned dreamily. That earned him an elbow from his girlfriend.

“Ouch.” Kil let out a little too loud.

Few turned their heads, but their gaze lingered not more than two seconds. They had their own worries. If their child failed the test they would take them away to the asylum in Rachi. Kil heard not many return from the forsaken place. He also heard they go crazy there after being forced to endure the thirst for so long. So naturally, none like the idea of bunk in the eerie building in the east Island of Akerin.

The kids were truly frightened too. Especially the twelve years olds. At least they had a parent. Kil’s father was uncaring about the test, and Kil also knew he had nothing to worry about, so he told his father to rest at home. Jie’s parents had a different reason; they forgot.

“You scared?” Kil asked Jiyu.

Jiyu’s scowling vanished, replaced by a face of worry.

“I’m a little bit scared,” she said. “They won’t take away a twelve years old girl, will they? They shouldn’t separate a child from their parents.”

Kil fully knew BLC took leeches of any age, as young as seven for correction, to get rid of the thirst. He also knew enough not to scare Jiyu more by sharing it right now. He put an arm around her, and drew her closer.

“I’m sure Jie is strong.”

Ten minutes later Jie came out, which meant she passed the test lest they would have taken her through the backdoor and locked her in a secluded room. 

Jiyu dashed to her little sister and hugged her. But Jie still looked terrified. She shivered harder as she hugged her sister back. She was teary as well.

Kil didn't understand how people are easily frightened.

“Let’s get away from this creepy place,” Jiyu said. “You hungry Jie?”

Jie bobbed her head timidly.

Kil peddled the bike hard and drove away fast from the Senggu’s clinic where they set up Arinyr test centre for the year. Jie clung to her sister from behind on a seperate bike. They raced to the nearest food stall. They bought currywurst. Kil didn’t have money, so Jiyu paid for three of them. She always helped her mother in the market, so her mother gave her pocket money from time to time. 

They parked their bikes beside the road, flopped down on the grasses, ate their food and watched the sunset. A grass field spread in front of them. Five kids were flying kites in the windy sky. It was late summer, and the heat had abated heralding autumn. The sun was bright red and lonely, casting its last light on the green field and the mountain ranges. It’s Kil’s favorite part of the day. 

“I hate this,” Jiyu said, holding out the food in front of her.

“Then why did you order it?” Kil asked.

“I only ordered it because you two did. I don’t want to be left out.”

Jie munched her food in silence. Her eyes in the distance, as if her mind was somewhere else.

“Nobody forced you.” Kil said.

Jie finished her food, and ran into the field toward the kid. She asked one of the kids to allow her to fly the kite. Once she held the thread she looked happy for the first time of the day.

“In the city,” Jiyu said after a while, “I heard they have the greatest food. And one can easily find work.” 

“I heard the cities are dangerous, especially in the capital,” Kil said. “ I thought you wanted to become a writer, plus you’re only thirteen. You can’t find work..”

“ I’m not talking about now. Maybe when I’m fifteen. I can’t find work then. My dream to become a writer is also the reason why I need to leave Senggu. In Kuve I could study creative writing and work part time to pay for it.”

“Leave then,” Kil said. “My father and I are staying here for a while. Father loves Senggu, so do I.”

“Yes, it’s a good town for farmers and florists and the like.” she said. “But not for someone like me with dreams. My parents were born in Senggu, so did their parents. I don’t want to end my life here. You won’t understand anyway. You don’t have a dream. You and your father came here to rot and perish.” 

“Father said we never had a home before we settled here,” Kil said. “He always said how lucky we were that his friend gave us a place we could call home.”

“You are at your destination. I’m still at my starting point. You’ve left your cage, I’m still in mine.”

“Leave then,” Kil said again.

“I CAN’T,” Jiyu said. “I can’t leave Jie with my parents. Father came drunk yesterday and fought with mother. We hid in the closet again.” 

Jiyu sniffed. There was silence for a while. 

“And I can’t leave you too,” Jiyu said after composing herself. “You are my boyfriend now, aren’t you. You promised, remember?” Jiyu held her silver bracelet in front of him.

Jiyu’s mother was a n’ra woman. According to their culture girls get a bracelet called a maiden bracelet at the age of twelve. Jiyu said, back in the days it marked the legal age for a girl to be allowed to court boys. Or it indicated the girl was ready to receive a proposal. Jiyu ran to him the day she got it and she asked him to kiss her on the lips.

It was their first.

They also promise to always stay together.

“Let's say I’ve a dream,” Kil said. “What if I left town to pursue it. What will you do then?”

“I’ll come with you. We promise to stay together. That’s what we will do, right.”

“Right.”

The sun had set, the twilight had settled. In the field, Jie was flying the kite. A kid, probably the owner of the kid, was tugging at her skirt. But she wouldn’t let go of the thread reel. Some girls had also come out and were now capering in the field.

“Let’s fly,” Kil said to Jiyu.

“No. It’s getting dark. Let’s go home.”

But Kil had already started running down toward the field. Jiyu was calling his name behind him. 

“Come,” he yelled back, “let’s see who flies hi…”

Kil stumbled on a hard stone and tumbled forward headfirst. He dove headlong to the field filled with pebbles and gravels, and slid for a whole metre before he stopped. He flipped over, saw the blue sky. He saw two kites in his vision. His forehead hurt. He reached it with his hand. “Ouch!” he jerked it back as the pain doubled when touched. Little blood came on the tips of his fingers.

“Kil brother,” Kil heard Jie’s voice. And a loud laugh of Jiyu’s voice.

Jie’s head appeared in his vision, looking down at him.

“You okay?” 

Kil sat up on the damp and rough surface. Somehow his bad luck had brought him to a grass free, but stony area. Jiyu was a few metres away. She doubled over and guffawed. Kil started to snicker at his own folly. Three kite runners who had seen him diving were cackling too, pointing hands at him. 

The only one who truly worried about him was Jie. But Jiyu also stopped laughing when she saw the blood trickling down his face. The sisters pulled him up, and they came home.

On the way, Jiyu bought a bottle of water, and cleaned the injury, and his face.

“Take a stick as soon as you get home,” Jiyu said. “Don’t worry there won’t be any scar. It’s minor.”

Kil wasn’t worried much. They drove merrily as before back home. It was almost completely dark when they reached their gate.

“See you tomorrow, Killian brother,” Jie said. Jiyu simply smiled a goodbye of the day.

 The two sisters went through their wooden fence gate. Next to Tsuyo’s gate was Kil’s iron fence gate. He pushed his bike inside, and parked the bike in the shed near the gate. He saw the shadow of his father through the semi-transparent glass of the greenhouse. He must be watering his flowers. He went into the house quickly to look at a mirror.

A thin red line one-and-half inch, started from the corner of his forehead and slanted toward his left eyebrow. He must’ve grazed the sharp edge of a stone. The blood had dried up. It was a minor cut, nevertheless it would leave a scar if he didn’t take a healing serum within twelve hour. From the cupboard, he took out the small metallic box in which they kept their serums. He set it down the round eating table and flopped himself down on a chair.

He picked out the syringe first, and started looking for serum vials. But there were only empty vials.

“We ran out of serum a week ago,” father said from the door.

Father came in limply, supported by a walking stick. His father was in his sixties, but he looked much older, with all his hair gone white, and the walking stick to help his impaired leg. 

Father limped over, squinted his eyes at his son’s temple, studying the shallow cut.

“Hmm,” he said, displaying little concern. “I’ll get one or two tomorrow morning. Does it hurt? You could use my painkillers.”

Kil had a reason not to believe his father’s word. And he would need a healing serum in twelve-hour if he wishes to avoid a scar on his forehead.

The healing serum or SOMA serum could heal any wounds and injuries, given one inject it everyday until it completely heals. It also healed faster than normal human healing speed. It could even grow a severed limb if the person could afford a vial everyday for at least ten months. And the best thing about SOMA is that the wound wouldn’t leave any scars.

“You’ll get it tomorrow morning!,” he couldn’t hide the frustration in his voice. “Where would you get money to buy it?”

Kill pulled his left sleeve to his elbow, revealing seven old scars in his forearm. It marred his rather smooth skin, “Remember when you made the same promise?” Kil said. 

In Akerin, in the era of SOMA serum, the beggars, the urchins and those who were so poor that they couldn’t afford a vial of healing serum had visible scars. A scar on his brow was tantamount to announcing, ‘I’m poor. I’m poor.’ Kil could hide the scars on his arm, even if he had to wear long sleeves every season. But he couldn’t walk into the school campus with one on the brow however small and short it was.

“I have some flower plants I could sell early tomorrow,” father said.

“Your stupid flowers couldn’t fetch five-hundred ged let alone hundred ged for a nice meal.”

His father knew he was right.

“I’ll get a vial, I promise,” father said. “Let me put this bandage over it for now.”

Kil let him, fuming. The bandage might be useful for now.

“How’s the test?” Father asked, cleaning the scar with spirit and the skin around it.

“Nothing.”

“Jie’s?” father asked again, putting the adhesive bandage over the cut.

Father didn’t ask about Jiyu last year when she gave her test. But he was always fond of little Jie. Kil found himself wishing his father liked Jiyu as much as he liked Jie. Then he immediately realized how childish the thought was.

“Nothing,” Kil said.

“Let’s eat dinner.” father said. “I’ve prepared your favorite …”

“I’m not hungry,” Kil said, still mad at his father. “I’m off to bed.”

Kil left his poor father alone and came to his room.

Lying on the bed, Kil could hear the sound of an argument coming from Jiyu’s house. They must be having dinner. Her parents always fought while eating. Kil wondered how could Jiyu and Jie eat in the yellings and cursings. Or they might be skipping dinner and lying on the bed like him now.

After a while, father knocked on his door and called his name. Kil pretended to sleep and didn’t say anything. “I’ll keep the painkillers in the kitchen, if you want them,” father said. “Good night.”

The scars on his left arm had been a constant object of frequent ridicule from his classmates. He had to wear long sleeves even in summer to avoid them. Kil was mad his father for not being a competent father. He couldn’t wait to be fifteen. Then he would find a job. He would take whatever works that pay.

Kil found himself recalling Jiyu’s desire to live in the city. We could live together in Kuve, Kil thought. Kuve must be expensive to live, plus he had to wait until Jiyu turned fifteen. That’s two years.

What about father? He could do it all by himself. He pretty much was alone all the time.

Jiyu’s parents' fighting became louder. Kil wished it would intensify. Then Jiyu and Jie would come here, and they could spend the night together.

But the argument died after about half an hour.

Kil sat upright. A sudden idea came. His friend Mik who worked at the gas station told him about it.

He could bleed.

No matter what the government did to wring out leeches from the crowd, they still managed to avoid their claws. They would rather live like a rat rather than sharing a cell with two others in the asyl. But they needed to drink blood to quench their thirst, lest the throes would kill them. Mik mentioned a travelling blood dealer who came a few days ago, and now currently put up in the Butchers’ Alley. He said he had to sell his blood to pay for his father’s hospital fee. He even shared the secret passcode to get to the dealer. Kil could sell his blood tonight and easily buy a vial of serum tomorrow morning.

How many units of packed cells could a boy bleed? How much could he get for one unit?

It didn’t matter, the dealer might know.

Kil jumped off the bed with new hope, but little excitement. He paused. 

Selling blood for leeches was one of the cardinal sins. He would be a sinner. It’s a crime under Bureau of Leech Control’s book. But the BLC wouldn’t know. He hadn’t known Mik was a sinner until he revealed it himself.

No one would know. 

It was near midnight when Kil finally made a decision. He put on his jacket and walked down the stairs barefoot, careful not to wake up his father. He closed the door slowly, and put on his shoes.

Minutes later he was pedaling fast toward the market in the eerily dead night. He reached the town’s market in ten minutes. It was eerily quiet in the market, but bulbs from the poles illuminated almost every corner. Kil winded his way through stalls the vendors left. If someone was still awake and looking out the window from a tall building nearby, they might assume Kil was a thief. 

 He parked his bike at the mouth of Butchers’ Alley. A single red bulb flickered above a metal door that stood beside a butcher shop. Kil took a deep breath and knocked.

Nothing.

He knocked again.

Nothing.

“Hello?”

Nothing.

The passcode!

“I’m looking for White ... Tiger,” Kil said, his voice shaking.

Is white tiger real!

A soft clang from the other side, and the door opened a fraction. A gaunt face appeared in the crack.

He stared down at Kil, as if waiting for something else.

“Mik sent me here,” Kil said.

“Come on in.”

The man wore a shabby light blue suit, and was almost twice as tall as Kil. Kil stared up and down at the man, and he seemed to have out of proportion legs. He didn’t look Akerinian. Must be a foreigner.

The long-legs closed the door behind him and led Kil down a dim stairs.

The place stank of meat and blood. Kil wasn’t sure if it was because he was in the butcher house or the blood dealer had collected so much blood that the place smelt of it.

“You’re lucky, the man leaves tonight.” long-legs said, as they walked down the stairs.

They stopped at a thick metal door. Even though Kil stood three steps above the stairs, the man looked down at him.

“After tonight, you never talk about this. Understand.” It was an order.

Kil bobbed his head. It was understandable. To assist another sinner made him a sinner too. And sinners were always scared.

The man knocked three times. Few seconds later the door opened, and the blood dealer appeared. 

The dealer’s hair was white, his eyebrows and goatee were white too. It was dim inside the room, but Kil could see the man’s clean shirt and waistcoat. The sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. He looked smart for a sinner.

“I’m not done with the old man,” the white hair man said.

“I can wait,” Kil said.

“What’s your name kid?” the white hair man said.

“Killian. Killian Vidar.”

The white hair man seemed taken aback by his name. He squinted his eyes and looked at him. Kil regretted telling his family name. The blood dealer tried to close the door behind him, but not before Kil saw the old man he was talking about.

“FATHER!”

Kil pushed the door guard and the dealer aside and rushed into the room. His father’s lips were taped, and he was tied to a chair. Multiple needles with blood tubes jabbed into his arms and neck. The blood tube connected to blood packages which were collected in a small portable fridge at his foot.

They were draining his father. His skin was pale from losing too much blood. And he looked extremely weak. His weary eyes searched for his son.

He mumbled something, but the tape was muffling him.

“Father, what are you doing here,” Kil said, trying untie the rope from behind.

His father looked worried, and he was trying to say something. Kil pulled the tape. 

“You shouldn’t … be … here,” father managed the words with great effort.

The tall man grabbed Kil from behind, and the dealer shut the door loud. Kil tried to shake free. Even though the man looked weak he was freakishly strong.

“Hold him,” the dealer said. “If we are lucky, he might be just like his father.”

Tha lanky man pinned him down now.

“Let me go... Let me gooo.”

The man pressed his knee harder, and with one hand he pushed Kil’s face to the dirty floor. With his other hand he stretched out Kil’s right hand, and held it firm.

“Don’t touch my kid,” Kil’s father yelled.

The blood dealer knelt down beside them. A blade glinted in his hand. Before Kil could say anything, the dealer jabbed the tip of the blade to his palm and dragged it across the palm.

Kil resisted the pain. It was nothing.

The dealer picked up his hand, and sucked blood from his palm.

“You dirty leech,” Kil said.

The dealer spat.

“What a disappointment,” the dealer said and turned away.

“Help help,” Kil began to shout. “Somebody help.”

They didn’t even try to stop him. Then he realised why. They were in the basement. There was no window or ventilators. No one would hear them. It looked like they made the room for the purpose of bleeding.

Fucking sinners.

“Please leave my son alone,” Kil’s father said.

“Powder him and put him in the butcher’s room.” the dealer said to the lanky man.

“Jirin Vidar, I want to make a …”

“Why did you abduct my father?” Kil said.

“We didn’t,” said the lanky man, pulling him up. “He came by himself. Just like you.”

The realisation hit him. His father came here to sell blood, so that he could buy healing serum with the money. His father had resolved to walk the path of sinners just so his son could avoid a tiny scar. So that Kil could go to school without shame. Now the sinners were going to drain him dry.

“LET HIM GO,” Kil screamed.

Long-legs let go of him, and kicked him on his back. Kil flew and hit the wall. It hurt, but his mind was about his father. The white hair blood dealer was now muttering just for him.

He pushed himself up. Long-legs came up to him, and blew a some white power to his face. It stunk his eyes, and within seconds started to see blurs. Then he fell on the floor.

He drifted into sleep, his eyes met his father. The eyes of a poor man who had been working so hard for his son. 

When Kil came to consciousness, he found himself in a pool of blood. The blood dealer was gone, long-legs wasn’t there. Kil couldn’t tell how long he had been out. The door to the room was opened, natural light from the room upstairs came through it.

Kil turned his head, and his heart sank.

His father was still in the chair. He still had the tape over his mouth, but he was free from the rope. The needles and the blood tube and the packed cells were gone along with the mini fridge. The blood Kil had been sleeping came from his father’s throat which had been open from ear to ear. His whole body was drenched in his own blood.

Kil held his dead father in his arms, and he screamed.

“FATHER.”

And the feeling he felt was a mixture of agony and pure hatred toward all the leeches in the world.

[jennyellie]

Red Riding Hood AU

[Chapter 6: Confrontation]

The late afternoon sun lowered down until the white moon started to rise in the late night sky.

Lance in the meantime, returned to the village to get some rest after a long day work.

But as he passed the entrance, the atmosphere wasn't right. Something seemed...missing.

The townspeople were mostly still awake seeming like they were waiting for him, and at the front of the crowd, was the kid's mother who was so close to crying.

"Ma'am? What's wrong?" asked Lance.

Few seconds later, the woman asked.

"...Have you seen Walter?"

"Wait..He's not..here? I thought I..."

Lance was slowly becoming scared.

He was sure he put Walter back to the right path and would be home now.

"He was supposed to be home by nightfall! I asked all villagers who were returning and none of them saw him..!! He always used to return at sunset.."

said the mother who slowly starting to break down.

To calm her down, he bent down and tightly held her hands.

"Don't you worry, ma'am. I promise I will find your son whatever it takes. Stay safe here with the others and I will go and check his grandmother's house."

"She lives in a house with a red roof just before you get to the other village. Next to it is a large oak tree." said the child's mother.

"Thank you. I will bring back your son as soon as possible."

Then he ran to his house, took out the strongest rifle, packed some bullets and took a dagger just in case.

As he exited the village, he turned back one last time at the people and started to run into the pitch dark woods.

Relying on the moonlight, he rushed through the forest and the fields as fast as he could.

He hoped the kid to be safe.

He didn't want anything worse to happen after 'that day'.

.

.

.

After dashing for a while, he could see the red-roofed house with a large oak tree far ahead.

To be sure, he called them if they were safe.

"Ma'am? Walter, are you there? It's me, Lance!"

There was no answer.

So he slowly went inside and drew all the curtains to let the moonlight in and started to search the house.

The house was strangely too clean for an invaded one.

Looking around the kitchen, he lit the candle and saw a familiar yellow basket on the table next to a vase full of flowers.

The kid was still here.

Becoming uneasy, he crept inside deeper and went to the final destination.

Inside the bedroom was a bed with other few furnitures.

"Ma'am? Are you in there?...Kid?"

He went closer and closer to the bed calling the two.

As he drew the drapes, there was a low growl heard and suddenly the monster sprinted out, so close to catching the hunter.

Lance after barely dodging the claw, quickly pulled out his rifle and aimed at it.

"WHAT THE-?! What in the hell is that thing?"

"...You don't remember me, don't you Sterling?" said the monster slowly approaching to Lance.

The hunter quickly observed the strange looking 'animal' that looks like a human but with furry ears and a tail. It looked very close to...a wolf. As his sight went down to the stomach, he saw something was moving inside.

At that short moment, the wolf attacked and caught him by the neck to make the hunter drop the rifle.

"What are you? Some kind of...were..wolf??"

asked Lance while being choked.

"Still no clue? Well then, I'll give you a little hint...It all started with a fire." said the wolf.

Just as Lance heard the word 'fire', everything was coming together.

The ears, the tail and the burnt arm...He found out it was one of the pack which attacked their village years ago.

Lance looked back at the creature with shock.

As the wolf saw the realization on the man's face, it smirked.

"Ah...you remember. I mean I also never forgot that day.

You were one fearless huntsman.

You led your crew to protect the village, never stopped fighting until the end, and had this flaming weapon that just left the whole forest, ONE. BY. ONE.

said the wolf in a sarcastic tone.

Then he rolled up one of his sleeves, revealing the burnt, distorted arm with the severely melt down skin.

After hearing the creature's words, the man slowly started to believe that the thing he is seeing right now was one from the pack.

"I don't know what happened to you, but I have words for you too, dirty fur bag.

It's not my fault!!

Because of you almost all of our villagers have lost their only children and my comrades are DEAD!!!

It is my sworn duty to keep our town safe ever since.

If you and your pack haven't came down in the first place, none of this would have happened!

You deserved that burn!!"

shouted Lance.

The wolf after hearing those words, tightened his claw harder around his neck as he slowly walked to the kitchen table.

It's voice started to crumble down like its emotions.

"My pack were the only family I ever had, Sterling.

I was one of them since I was a pup.

In case you didn't know, some of them...were not even fully grown up yet.

Was it fun to have all the glory by crushing us?

Was it happy to get what you always wanted?

WAS IT??!!!"

At this point, Lance's vision was getting bloody red and blurry.

Just as he thought this was the end, he

suddenly dragged the wolf down with his weight and made the table knock down.

As he saw the wine bottle roll out from the basket, he caught it and smashed against the creature's head with full force.

The bottle shattered into pieces and the dark liquid was dripping down to the floor like blood.

The wolf fell down on the floor with a big thud.

I felt bad for the both of them since they had understandable reasons...

But to be honest, I actually was slightly on Lance's side.

In case anyone who thinks Killian is dead, don't worry. He's not dead, just fainted.

(And probably a concussion too...)

@xxstar-bluesxx @rachi-roo @thesmoothpudding @ohziland @honeypandonze

[controlledflame-archive]

Nicknames: Reo mainly, but also Noel Zodiac: Taurus Height: 5′1″ Song stuck in my head: Illusion and Dream - Poets of the Fall Number of followers: 94 holy fuck guys I made this blog on a whim I didn’t expect this-- Amount of sleep: Last night, probably 7 hours? Lucky number: 18 Favourite song:  Uchiage Hanabi - English Cover by Rachie and Will Stetson Favourite instrument: Piano or violin, neither of which I know how to play sadly Dream job: Author Aesthetic: Autumn leaves, forests in general, sunsets, freshly fallen snow on a full moon night, old bookstores with warm lighting, rain falling down a window Favourite author(s): Ransom Riggs and Brandon Sanderson are my absolute favorites Favourite animal noises: Beeping little meows and loud content purring (and more off topic, cheetah noises and husky puppy noises) Random: My first pokemon game was Pokemon Emerald and I would say that is my favorite game ever, but I don’t have a single active rp blog in relation to it. In fact I’m actually horribly unfamiliar with gen 2 things but I have blogs for three characters living in Johto :D;;;.

Tagged: @truthsm thank you!

Tagging: @birds-multimuse @skvllbug @ketzerhund @itsraiyninmuses​ @pulseofthestars @wanderlust-songbird​ @spikemuthtoothfairy​ @mutemystical​ and anyone else who’d like to do this!

[sastielcreationschallenge]

🎅 Merry Christmas @ladylilithprime​​ 🎁

Reach For The Dead

(spoilers for season 15, references to canon character death)

Sam sits sheltered at twenty-two beneath an oak gnarled by its storied existence, leafing through a well-worn LSAT prep book that shows its stress in the split of its spine. Mid-October is pleasant in Palo Alto, just above sixty at the onset of the sun’s descent, quarter to six on a Saturday.

Long latticework of shadows cast from the satellite’s superstructure obscure the dark impression of tattered wings as Castiel arrives, a wavelength carried on cosmic wind from fifteen years in a future that will never now belong to this particular Sam Winchester. He stands in silhouette, his trenchcoat just shy of touching the trunk, branches unfolding in fractals behind him, twigs seeking out space with gradual growth like pinfeathers.

“Sam,” he says, so as not to startle him.

Sam looks up, his hair falling away from his face as he tilts his head back, hands braced on the book braced on his crossed legs. “I’ve been staring at this for too long.”

“You have, but you’re not imagining me.” The golden glow of sunset halos his head, disrupted by the presence of the oak transverse, and Cas kneels down into the darkness to encircle Sam within what’s left of his wings. The joggers and hikers have largely cleared out, and anyone witnessing the faint radiance gracing the crown of Sam’s skull could easily dismiss the effect as a trick of the light, just as much as the traces of the near-ultrasonic noise could plausibly emanate from the Dish. “Be not afraid.”

He laughs, then, a bright moment that almost hurts to hear within its larger context, of which he’ll never be aware if the events stay stable. “Are you an angel?” Sam surmises, shutting the study guide at last, with one smooth motion from both hands, simultaneously. “Only an angel would say something like that, that specifically. Halloween came early, huh?”

“The Halloween you were to have will not come to pass. Not anymore.”

“I was supposed to go to a party, but sure, if you say so.” He rests the book on the grassy hill, relaxes into the soothing wisps of celestial energy that ease the discomfort of what he doesn’t yet recognize as the early outreach of extra-sensory perception germinating somewhere between gods and grey matter, spanning the gap of Cartesian dualism as it takes up a taproot in his brainstem. “I shouldn’t be surprised that I nodded off out here, honestly. It’s been a while since I’ve had a lucid dream. Too much stress with this courseload.”

“It may comfort you to think this is a dream, but I assure you it's real.” Castiel is careful not to touch him, maintaining the canopy of his remaining feathers high enough to become a bulwark against interlopers but not to barricade Sam’s option to exit. “And you’re correct. I am an angel.”

Sam extends his fingertips upward to reach for a rachis, manifested as translucent and half-formed but not hollow, not here. He stops himself before his skin can make contact with the vane, and folds his fingers back in towards his palm, a loose fist with no propensity for a violent outlet. The words fall from his mouth as his hand falls to his side. “I knew, somehow.”

Castiel studies Sam’s neck from behind, where his hair is too short to cover the spot just behind his jaw, where in another lifetime Gadreel’s grace nearly took Sam’s life with it as Cas withdrew it from the strained arch of his throat. He stops, as he did then, and waits.

“I knew angels were watching over me.” He rests his hand on the book cover, a scant distance away from the patch of pink-purple flowers he’s been admiring as much as he’s been avoiding injuring himself on their spines. They’re milk thistle, holy thistle, Mary’s thistle, and they’re considered invasive; Sam wants to consider them for their potential to help more than hurt, for the vibrant color they’ve brought into view, if he just uses caution around them. “I wanted to believe it.”

“I can confirm there are angels in your outfield,” Cas says, and then adds with a faint change of tone Sam can’t quite place, “and even home base.”

There’s a pause before Sam catches himself smiling at the voice of a being whose face he’s barely seen. “Is that a joke?”

“Somewhat. The pop culture reference shouldn’t diminish the validity of the statement.” He settles back on his heels, lets his focus linger on Sam’s fingertips tapping the study guide, and finds relief in his hand staying within the realm of human law.

Sam looks back over his shoulder before anyone can condemn him for doing so, with no interest in throwing salt over it nor finding himself pillared in place. “What would be a joke, then?”

It’s been fifteen of the longest years of his angelic life, but seeing Sam’s face without the exhaustion of enduring hell held within his eyes makes Castiel feel far older, wearier, more committed than ever.

He returns the smile. “An angel and a demon walk into a bar exam.”

Sam pats the prep book, then twists his body sufficiently to relieve the awkward angle of his cervical vertebrae. “Hope they studied.”

“An angel and a demon walk onto the BART,” Castiel tries again, as he positions his knees in parallel, to the side, to allow Sam additional space to be seated. “The joke is the absurdity of the scenario. Public transit would not often be necessary if teleportation was available.”

“It’s just BART,” Sam corrects him. “Without the definite article.”

“Ah.”

“I don’t want to be a jerk, but why did you come to me?” He rotates himself completely, takes in the trenchcoat and the tired eyes, all of this a bit too earthbound to parse as supernatural, if not for the glimmer of plumage hovering above him at reduced opacity. “I’m guessing it wasn’t to try out a standup routine.”

“If anyone would have that honor, it would’ve been Uriel.” Castiel’s tone leaves it unclear whether this too is a joke. “You’re correct again, however. Unfortunately, I’m with you as a messenger of destruction.”

Sam’s expression moves through myriad reactions, but he settles upon academic inquiry. “The destruction of what?”

“Just destruction.” He rests his hands on his own knees, palms up, open and inviting but eschewing any expectations. “Without the definite article.”

There’s hardly hesitation before Sam places his hands over Castiel’s, palms touching before sliding his fingers back to curl down as Cas curls up, loosely interlocked. He chews his lip and looks back up, afraid but steadied by his faith. “Well, I promise not to shoot you.”

Castiel lets out a short huff of voluntary breath, his mind’s eye envisioning the sense memory of rock salt’s accidental impact upon this human body from a recent eternity ago. The gentle weight of Sam’s hands on his somehow hurts far more. “That’s courteous.”

“I try to be. Least I can do.” There’s a half-chuckle, a quick exhale, downplaying himself in the habitual way he does. He nods and sets his jaw. “Whatever you have to tell me, I’m listening.”

But Sam—the cumulative, collective Greater Sam Winchester—has vastly exceeded what anyone in heaven or earth or otherwise could ever ask of him, and that’s the exact issue.

“Ours is a story of entropy,” Castiel begins, soldier turned storyteller, eternally grasping for the right way to imbue human language with meaning too broad to be contained within mark making and glottal stops. “Things fall apart. I'm trying to set a few of them back in place, ideally outside of the chessboard.”

“What can I do to help?” Sam asks, and his face falls within seconds of Castiel’s.

“I know you want to help, but you need to opt out. Just this once.” Castiel straightens his back, sore from keeping his wings aloft through scar tissue, where crucial components were seared-off both six years ago and eight years from now. He closes his eyes, squeezes Sam’s hands tightly, and captures the emotional momentum to deliver news that can be considered ‘good’ only in its prevention. He opens his eyes before speaking. “I’m here because you’re a very powerful vessel.”

Sam feels Castiel’s fingernails pressing into his palms, unaware that the keratin hasn’t formed normally since he abandoned Pontiac, Illinois in what was and what should never be a specific timeline unfurling in 2009. “A vessel for what?”

There’s no way around it, no sugar to coat it; there’s no use for fructose from Eden, anyway. “A vessel for Lucifer.”

Sam jolts, but doesn’t let go. “You’re shitting me.”

Castiel shakes his head, and would let go if Sam wanted it. “I shit you not.”

“You’re right, this isn’t a dream,” he laughs, stifled, darker than the response before his recovery had been disrupted. “This is a nightmare.”

“It doesn’t have to be. It can stop here.” Cas allows intensity into his intonation. “We— you can stop it here.”

Sam looks away, and Castiel can see his mandible at work beneath his muscle, beneath his epidermis. He takes in the sight of him, tendons and tissue, occipital lobe and organelles, the microbes comprising the mechanical workings of Sam Winchester. And at the base of it all, beating through him like a time bomb: a payload of demon blood, present past any duration typically allotted to individual erythrocytes.

“Sam, you can stop this right now.” He repeats it, more quietly; there’s no call for cacophony. There’s a method to it, to repurpose the phrasing, and he treads forward with care, quoting before segueing into sentences of his own construction. “God did this to you, Sam. Just because he created us doesn't mean he can toy with us, like playthings. You can give yourself justice for what horrors would’ve come to pass, peace of mind knowing they’ll remain in the realm of what if.”

Cas can see the process of respiration, of alveoli at work within his lungs. Cortisol makes itself known elsewhere, and his metatarsals flex along with his phalanges within his Chucks. He wants to give Sam new shoes in which to walk away from this, to reject the namesake once and for all.

Maybe Red Wings, to flee permanently from ever setting foot within Detroit.

“So you’re warning me about Lucifer, but also about God?” Sam scoffs, clicks his tongue, the sounds of organic data processing. The scope is staggering. “If everything’s corrupt, who am I supposed to rely on?”

“Yourself.” Castiel brushes the pad of his right thumb over Sam’s knuckle on his left pinky finger, then repeats it on the other side to balance out their personal microcosm. “Jess. You have a good heart; Azazel can’t change that.”

At last Sam looks back to his face, furrows his brow as he struggles to place the name. “What should I do?”

Castiel floods his own pupils with starlight, backlit by grace, blue-white and burning in a localized binary system, bright as Eta Carinae, this energy departing heaven’s altar. He holds Sam’s hands softly; he speaks firmly.

“Never say yes to an angel.”

Sam’s pupils constrict, and he inhales to calm himself, O2 binding to hemoglobin while Castiel watches the movement of molecules. He doesn’t pull back.

“Then how can I say yes to you?” he asks, catching the caveat, well suited for pre-law. “How can I trust your guidance?”

“You can’t.” Cas lets the light fade from his eyes, and with the sun’s descent behind the radio telescope, it will take Sam’s vision a while to readjust. “You have to trust yourself.”

“But—”

A hand comes to rest upon his left shoulder, sinister only by way of technicality, and he doesn’t have to look up for long. There’s no cause for concern, surreal as it may be, and Sam knows in an instant, implicitly, that the weight of this conversation will swiftly be augmented further by its gravity.

Sam Winchester kneels beside himself, seated across from an angel of no lord whatsoever, and wills reassurance into the touch of his fingertips over cloth over structure not yet tethered to the fabric of space-time, not so literally nor literarily. His own chest aches, his shoulder eaten, escharotic, collapsed into the singularity of a human event horizon, well aware there’s no viable escape.

“Hey,” he says, unable to prevent the tremor in his voice, in his wrist. “I know what this must look like, but you’re not hallucinating.”

Sam evaluates this older, derivative self, Sam prime, and releases his left hand’s hold on Castiel’s right, to raise his fingers to reach for his other self, wrist rotated back, his palm landing atop his knuckles. He knows he’s seen things he will never see, wouldn’t want to bear witness to, deviating somewhen after leaving this walking path, and there due to the grace of god goes he.

“Can I trust him?” Sam asks, speaking into his shoulder. “Can I trust you?”

“I trust him,” he says, with gut-wrenching sincerity. “I love him, and he loves me. He loves who I was, which means he loves you.” He laughs, self-conscious. “If we’re going by the transitive property, anyway.”

Sam secures his hold on both of them, and follows the line of questioning to its logical conclusion. “Do you love yourself?”

The other Sam sighs and closes his eyes, just outside of his younger self’s peripheral vision.

Castiel’s wrecked wings descend in tandem to shield them, their humanity up for debate since six months into their shared life; he lowers his right wing all the way to wrap around the older Sam and embrace his back.

“Look, um.” He pauses, determining how to address his prior self. “Sam. We’re hoping to help you close this book before it could ever be opened for you.”

Sam notes that the newest, oldest Sam is kneeling atop the thistle. He scans the skyline, from the Dish to the delineation of the firmament from the Californian faultlines. “So if I’m understanding this right, and I’m being directed to outright reject the divine plan, what does that entail?”

Castiel is alight, bathed in the rays of a cooler sun, backed by a symbolic stand-in for the world tree. “First we would ward you. Then, with your permission, we would wipe your memory of this discussion.”

“If you say yes to me,” says future Sam, his features shrouded by his hair and the shadow of the oak. “I promise you that you’ll wish you couldn’t remember these things. The details you and I wanted to keep close were taken from us, or... or would be, hypothetically. This is the best deal you’re going to get.”

He flinches, hisses in pain from the presence of the abscessed absence, and present-past Sam grips him tight to prevent him from losing his balance. There’s a flutter of wings on the hillside, not near enough to be from Castiel, and the thought is gone before it’s dwelt upon.

“What is it you’re wanting?” younger Sam asks. “Specifically?”

“An intercession.” Sam prime laughs again, and breathes in through his teeth. “For you to wake up with Jess. She loves you. You could’ve been happy with her, if she hadn’t...”

Cas turns his solar gaze to his Sam in commiseration, a mirrored reflection of miserable imagery: of Sam’s baptism of fire, of demon blood on deciduous incisors and ash falling onto his infant forehead; of Mary and Jess immolated for otherworldly entertainment; of Belphegor burnt within Jack’s body.

“Go be with Jess,” Sam again urges himself. “She loves you so much. I still think about her. Hell, I still think about Brady and Luis. They love you, too, and you really don’t want to know what happens to all of them if you turn this down.”

“It’s your choice, Sam,” Castiel reminds him. “That said, he’s not wrong. Of the ways this could play out, not many options lead to an exit from this stage.”

“Okay.” Sam nods to each of them individually and sits up, rolling his shoulders beneath his hand touching his hand, at the spot he and himself intersect. “Yes. Do it. Do... whatever it is you need to, the warding and the memory wipe. I believe you both.”

Sam prime exhales relief, and he nods, too. “Cas.”

“This will burn,” he warns, as he keeps Sam’s hand held in his own, and raises his free one to stack three hands high on his shoulder.

“It’s fine,” Sam assures him, clenching his teeth.

The flash of grace leaves him seeing an afterimage of the tree’s branches ascending to the sky, and he’s sore to his bones where Enochian is emblazoned upon his scapulae, words written into what would be wings if heaven or hell ever had their way.

“You are not taking Sam Winchester,” Castiel insists, eyes closed but still glowing from beneath his eyelids, speaking to someone omnipotent. “I won’t let you.”

Sam gasps, but he’s beside himself, steadying himself, self-assured in a tangible way for once.

“You’re gonna do fine on the LSAT. Don’t worry.” Sam smiles at him, blinking more frequently than before, and it’s impossible to ascertain what’s so amusing or agonizing. “Just sleep enough and eat a good breakfast. You’ve got this.”

“Thank you. I’m... not gonna remember anything about this, huh?”

“You won’t.” Castiel keeps his right hand on his shoulder, on Sam’s hand over Sam’s, and gradually unwinds his fingers on his left hand from Sam’s right. “You’ll think you fell asleep, and there’s an argument to say that you will have done so.”

Sam nods a final time, and feels his future self lean in from the side to kiss the top of his head.

Castiel brings his left hand up to brush his bangs back from his forehead, fingertips delicate on his temple. With his thumb he traces a benediction on his brow, and Sam can tell that Cas is not breathing.

“Skedaddle,” Sam prime says, with a choked strain of humor.

All the earth is blue, and constellations emerge from the cleared cloud coverage. Dusk accelerates into a night sky more quickly than the campus beneath them could account for.

Jack steps down the hill to join them, and points upward, drawing a zigzag motion until several stars shine brighter, ticked upward in intensity as easily as adjusting a monitor.

“That’s Lacerta, the lizard,” he whispers, considerate of Sam asleep on a Stanford Cardinal blanket, sheltered by the oak tree, supported by the redwood. “It’s new. Well, sort of. The name is new, at least.”

Castiel smiles at Jack and moves to stand beside and slightly behind him.

“Hevelius, yeah?” Sam whispers back, smiling too as Jack nods in confirmation. He takes his place behind Jack, at Castiel’s right. “Thought there would’ve been too much light pollution to see it out here.”

With a final glance to his resting self, Sam laces his fingers with Castiel’s, and offers his right hand out to Jack, who reaches back to hold it in the same instant that he catches Castiel’s left hand on the other side.

Jack looks over his shoulders to Cas and Sam, methodically, and elevates their joined hands.

Sam sighs and tilts his head until his skull is resting against Castiel’s.

Cas squeezes Sam’s hand and closes his eyes against Sam’s shoulder.

Jack’s irises ignite into molten ingots, and within a heartbeat, the three of them wink out of their storied existence.

[perfectlyasymmetrical]

16 Questions

I was tagged by @yourantagonist to do this! let’s go!!!

1. Nickname: none really but i have been called rach and rachie before. also ray-ray and on one occasion raquel

2. Zodiac: aquarius

3. Height: 5′8″!

4. Last thing I googled: who naya rivera is 

5. Song stuck in my head: EVERY song. like. at once. its a curse someone help

6. Number of followers: 588!

7. Amount of sleep: nowadays around 8-9 but usually itll be 6-7

8. Lucky number: don’t really have one

9. Dream job: ~*acteur*~

10. Wearing: my favorite shirt ever: a white heathered long sleeve shirt i stole from my brother that says “Jamaica” on it, and plaid pajama pants

11. Favorite song: if we’re going with right now i’d have to say sweet dreams in sea major by miracle musical

12. Favorite instrument: i do love a nice violin

13. Aesthetic: light pinks, yellows, and oranges mixed with a little purple. like a sunset or early morning with clouds in the sky. cool autumn air also.

14. Favorite author: bold of u to assume i can read

15. Favorite animal noise: we used to have these finches at the pet store i used to work at, and they make a delightful little peep sound 

16. Random fact: did u know that crested geckos, one of the most popular pet reptiles, were actually presumed extinct until the mid-90′s when they were rediscovered by a group of german herpetologists studying in New Caledonia! 

if any of u want to do this u can but i want to specifically tag @thechibimoose @thecriminallymundane and @totheawaymobile

[iwillgiveyoumyhappiness]

Info Tag

I was tagged by @bae-minseung ! Thanks, 쌍둥이!

Name: Rachael W. G. or Song Hyunjae, depending on who you’re talking to.

Nickname: Rach, Rachie, Ray, Snell (yes, it’s ‘snell’, not ‘smell’), Cheonsa/천사 (Korean for ‘angel’), Mars, Kopper 

Gender: Female

Star sign: Pisces

Current time: 11:21AM

Favorite musical artist: BTS always holds a spot in my heart

Song stuck in my head: I Don’t Deserve You - Plumb, Satellite - Jung Jinwoo

Last movie I saw: Well, the last show I saw (I watch shows a lot more often than movies) was The Disastrous Life of Saiki-k, but the last movie I watched was probably... Train To Busan, for the second time. Yeah, I think that was the one. 

Last thing I googled: YG Entertainment Groups, ‘cause my mom was wondering which groups were under them (’cause she’s excited about Treasure’s debut) and all I could remember was Blackpink, Winner and Big Bang. I’m so sorry, iKON!!  

Other blogs: I have one, but it’s just a random side-blog that doesn’t have much on it. It was the one I made my Tumblr account on, so unfortunately, whenever I reply to comments on my stories, I always show up as @littletonoemotion, but I swear that’s still me, guys. 😂

Do I get asks: Yup! And gosh am I grateful for them. I survive ‘cause of y’all.

Reason for URL: I hope my writings can make you happy! That’s all that it means. I just wanna give you something to wash away the worries and the frustration, if even for a short period of time.

Following: 0—I’m hella stingy.

Average hours of sleep: 5 or 6

Lucky number: 0

Currently wearing: A black BTS ‘Love Yourself: Her’ tee-shirt and very, very soft gray sweatpants.

Dream trip: Somewhere with amazing sunsets and star-filled nights where I can just feel a lot of peace and hang out with people (or a person) that I care about. A road-trip with my best friend would also be amazing!

Favorite food: I love my mom’s salmon cakes. They’re the best things on this planet, I swear.

Instruments: Piano and singing

Fav song: Saturn - Sleeping At Last + Color - Jung Jinwoo

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Thanks so much for tagging me, @bae-minseung! I had a good time with it. I’d like to tag @shizziebo, and @lostmyshame. Sorry for bothering you guys, but you’re always so fun, and it’s great to learn more about you!

[kibaphro]

21 Questions~

I was tagged by @ivushk thank uuuuu!!!

Rules: answer 21 questions and then tag 21 people who you want to get to know better. heh like i have that many friends

Nickname: My friend calls me Tofu so that’s nice :’)

Zodiac: Aries!

Height: I’m 152cm tall aka tiny (and google says I’m 4′11ft so i hope thats right)

Last movie I saw: I rewatched Thor Ragnarok cause I’m super gay for Hela!!

Last thing I googled: Centimetres to feet for the height question lmao

Favourite musician: Marina!!! And Billie Eilish!!! Amazing artists!!!

Song stuck in my head: cotton candy skies by esthie!

Other blogs: nope, all interests in main bbbbbb

Do I get asks: hahahahhahahahahh no.

Following: 341! 

Amount of sleep: Around 7 hours to 8 hours!

Lucky number: 8! It’s such a lucky number for me~

What I’m wearing: A black shirt with ‘Rebel Mood On’ written on it, deep red pants and black and white socks! can you tell i have no fashion sense yet

Dream job: English Literature Professor at a University!!!

Dream trip: Ireland and Japan!

Play any instruments: nope although I wish I could play the violin :’)

Languages: My mother tongue is Greek! From a young age I learnt English and I still speak it until now! sometimes better than greek I also know Spanish to a pretty good degree I’d say! But right now I’m learning Irish hahahaha it’s not easy.

Favourite songs: oh god this is a difficult question,,,, tbh lately I listen to a lot of songs from musicals so my favorite from those has to be either Carrie from Carrie The Musical or Sincerely, me from Dear Evan Hansen! Otherwise, I really like Circles by Kira & Gumi (Covered by rachie) and Sunset Lover by Petit Biscuit!

Random fact: I’m very flexible! It’s one of the few things I like about myself,,,, I’m the most flexible girl in my dance class so that leaves me to do the obscure moves,,,, weird flex but okay

Describe yourself as aesthetic: moon and stars, loose black clothes, an old book, black moon choker and maybe a sad painting!

I tag:

@forgedinvalhalla

and that’s it i literally have no friends its sad

[cudragos]

#perfect #sunset in the #sea @rachilefkada #cuDragos #best #view (at Rachi Restaurant Exanthia) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cgq4kWmjHUr/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[cyro-starfire]

She's been on my mind all day,,💗

I love her sm,,