#see. Vivi has never done anything wrong in their life | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

lovingmyselfcore · 4 years ago

Text

Chapter III; You Ever Just Shoot Yourself? No? Me either...

Is this even good?? Not feeling very confident about this, it always seems better in my head

“Jude! How are you feeling?” Lilliver’s voice was way too loud for so early in the morning.

I’d just arrived, after a lovely morning filled with throwing up, Vivi’s barely contained laughter and voicemails from Madoc yelling at me to show up at work.

I threw myself down next to Garett on the couch and glared at her, “This is your fault.” I pointed a finger at her and glared.

Van snorted, “You’re the one who decided to get that drunk. We had nothing to do with that.”

“She invited me out, ergo, she is to blame.”

“That makes sense,” Garett said sarcastically and I turned my glare on him, a jolt of satisfaction running through me when he actually edged away with his hands raised in defense.

“So,” Van started, his eyes gleaming with laughter, “Baby Greenbriar was the one who brought you home, huh?”

I rolled my eyes, “Yeah, Cardan drove me home.”

“Anything you want to share with the class?” I didn’t like his tone at all.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“You said that you two despise each other?” Lilliver reminded me, sitting down on my other side.

“We do.” I said with a snarl, “I wouldn’t be all that broken up about it if I never have to see him again.”

None of them responded and I felt like I had to justify myself. “I didn’t ask for him to drive me home.”

Garrett opened his mouth but was interrupted when Lilliver’s phone rang.

“It’s Dain.” She said, hurrying to answer it.

Garrett, Van, and I all went stiff, watching her face as she answered. Despite her sitting right next to me I couldn’t hear Dain, only her occasional yes, or no sirs.

When she hung up she met Van’s eyes before looking at Garett, avoiding me entirely. “He wants her in it.”

Van leaned forward, brows furrowed. “She’s so new.”

“I know.”

“How much does he want us to tell her?” Garrett asked.

The three of them were acting like I wasn’t there and, honestly, it was pissing me off.

I moved to ask what exactly it was when Lilliver spoke again, “We’re not telling her anything. He is.”

~~~

“Is anybody going to tell me what the hell is happening?”

I felt like I’d been asking that question for hours, despite Dain’s call only being 10 minutes ago. It didn't help that none of them were answering me.

Their silence was making me nervous, what was it I was about to be 'in'? The Greenbriar's were a family of narcissistic, rich air-heads but here were Garrett, Van, and Lilliver acting like I was about to find out they needed a new hitwoman, it was unsettling.

I was still sitting on the couch, at Garrett and Lilliver's insistence. They'd left to accompany Dain from the Greenbriar mansion to where we were meeting to talk. Van and I were the only two left in the trailer, and he was pacing the length of the tiny room. He looked worried.

As I opened my mouth to question this entire situation again he halted, turning to face me and raising a hand to quiet me.

"Look, Jude," Van said finally, taking pity on me. "I know you think the Greenbriar's are all shallow and mindless, but there is so much you don't know about them." I felt annoyance shoot through me, he was acting like I was some stupid child. "How they got so much power and money. How so unlike the personas they display on the show are from the calculating creatures underneath. They got their power, Jude." He held out a hand to help me up. I didn't take it.

He moved towards the door and before he opened it he spoke so quietly I strained to hear him.

"You're about to learn what they do to keep it."

The room suddenly became twenty degrees cooler.

~~~~

Van and I arrived before Dain and the others did.

It was a small house, only a few miles from the trailers and hidden behind a small forest. I wondered what was taking them so long to get here as Van swung the door open.

My first thought was how weird this was. A three-room house. The main room, the one we were currently in, a table with chairs, a singular bookcase filled with bins and containers, and no real signs of life aside from the barren kitchen tucked in a corner. The next room was curtained off. The third room was a tiny bathroom.

Van closed the door behind me and sat heavily in one of the chairs. He looked at me when I made no movement and gestured to the chair next to him.

"Sit." A dry laugh, "Stay awhile."

"Van," I said quietly, my voice still echoing in the room. "What is this place."

He sighed, "The 'war room'." The what? "We have all our meetings with Dain here."

"Why not just at the trailers? Or the mansion? Or literally anywhere else?"

He met my eyes, voice so serious it startled me. "Anybody could be listening there."

What. The. Fuck. This is insanity. Van was acting like these were secrets worth more than my life. Like the Greenbriar's were harboring some kind of dark and even deadly secret.

The door opened and Van stood up, bowing his head as Dain entered.

“Sir,” Van said, motioning to an empty chair. Dain sat, his eyes never leaving me.

His gaze made me feel gross like it was coating my skin in a layer of filth I couldn't get rid of.

Lilliver and Garrett sat down, Lilliver shooting me an encouraging look, Garrett not looking at me at all.

"I heard you're a clever liar, Jude."

I raised my eyebrows, meeting his probing gaze, "Am I?"

"You're good at fighting?"

"Why don't you find out?"

Lilliver, Van, and Garrett all looked at me, their eyes open wide.

Dain's voice got dangerously low, "Don't talk to me like that. It won't end well for you. I promise."

Van's hand wrapped around my upper arm, forcing me to break Dain's gaze.

"What do you about them?" Dain asked, gesturing to the three of them.

I didn't know what to say. His tone told me that whatever I said would not be the right answer. That I wasn't going to impress him.

"I don't know exactly what they do for you," I ceded. I hated giving him that but it seemed like the only right answer.

"What they do for me?" He leaned forward, towards me. "They do whatever I tell them to. You do whatever I tell you to, isn't that right."

I stiffened, "I don't know what you're talking about."

He grinned, "It's not that hard to understand. You do whatever I want, whenever I want. And you never question me. Understood?"

I didn't respond and he lunged across the table, grabbing my arm and squeezing tight enough to bruise. "If you repeat anything that is said in this room, to anybody, ever-" He trailed off, tightening his grip.

I nodded, it was the only thing I could do. I was sure I could fight him, but from the way Dain had been acting with the others, I doubted they would fight on my side.

He released my arm, leaning back, reclining in the chair in a way that reminded me too much of Cardan.

"I need you to do something for me. But first, I suppose you need to know some background."

Lilliver looked to Dain, once he nodded she spoke, "We do anything to help Dain. With anything."

"Our main objective is to allow him to keep his power within the family," Van said.

"There are a lot of things happening within my family that are not within the public eye," Dain said, eyes scrutinizing every move I made in my seat. "My father is sick." I raised my eyebrows, Eldred hadn't seemed sick every time I'd seen him. Granted, it was only on the show, I haven't seen him in person in a long time.

"Which means the Greenbriar's are all out for each other." Garrett said, "We are fighting to be sure Dain comes out on top of that fight."

I furrowed my eyebrows and held my hands up, "What do you gain in you 'come out on top'?"

"My family has their fingers in a lot of different pies," Dain said, "A lot of power in a lot of different communities. A lot of connections, and a lot of dirty money." He raised his eyebrows like he knew I understood what exactly he meant.

"From what?" I asked, not sure I wanted to know.

Dain shrugged casually, "Blackmail, the occasional 'disappearance', drugs and the like."

I froze. I'd assumed as much but I still didn't like the sound of 'occasional disappearance'. “No,” I said, standing. “No, I’m out. This is insane.” I gestured to them, “You are all insane and I’m leaving. Find someone else to do your dirty work.” I spat at Dain. “If you even need one. You’ve got three people who for some reason are wrapped around your finger.”

I walked towards the door when an arm shot out and stopped me. I whirled, attempting to knock Garrett’s feet out from under him. He lept back bringing an arm up to deflect my punch. We fought for what must have been only a minute before Van and Lilliver helped him wrangle me.

My struggle was futile, they had me pinned.

Dain strode forward, unaffected as ever. He stuck two fingers under my chin pulling my head up. He scanned my face before purring, “Feisty,”

I resisted the urge to spit at him. With Lilliver, Garrett and Van undoubtedly all armed and definitely willing to take me down if Dain even raised a finger, that wouldn’t end well for me.

“Do you care about your family, Jude?” He asked. “What are their names again?”

He dropped my chin and went to sit back down. They forced me back into my chair before Garrett and Lilliver sat down themselves, Van was at my back, ready to tackle me if so much as blinked wrong in Dain’s direction.

He held up his hands as if he had counted to ten, “Madoc and Oriana.” He put two fingers down. “Vivienne and her girlfriend. Heather right?” Two more fingers. How did he know- “Your weaker other half, Taryn, of course.” Another finger. Cue a low growl at me. “And that adorable little brother of yours. Oak. Imagine what I could have done to them if you decide to tell anybody what happened here. Imagine it, Jude.” I saw red, shooting forward in my seat.

I wasn’t fast enough, Van reached out and caught me, tugging me forcefully back against the chair. I struggled against him until a click. It was quiet, but there was no mistaking it.

I leaned back a little more and my suspicions were confirmed. This absolute motherfucker had pulled a gun on me.

Dain grinned, “So, Jude. Tell me. What are you going to do? It doesn’t seem to me like you have very many options.”

~~~~~~

"The biggest threat to Dain is Balekin." Van had sat down, leaving me alone in my seat. Dain had instructed him to leave it on the table and he’d done so. Resting his hand on top of it. Right in my line of sight, where I couldn’t forget about it. Not like I’d forget even if he put it away.

Lilliver was talking now as if what had just happened was just a fever dream. They were explaining to me more what was happening. Not like it was really helping.

His lip curled in distaste, "Elowyn is my father's not-so-secret favorite as I'm sure you know." I nodded. "But she doesn't want it. None of my sisters do, for their own individual reasons. But, Balekin wants it."

They didn't even mention Cardan.

This was insane. There was no way they did what my wild imagination was acting like they do. I'm being dramatic. This isn’t really happening.

"Prove yourself," Dain said suddenly.

The intensity in his tone startled me, "What?"

"You know things now. But I want you to prove you aren't going to run to any of my family and tattle." He stood up and walked around the table until he was towering directly above me. "Would you kill for me, Jude?" His voice was soft.

I didn't answer. How the hell was I supposed to answer. Well, I knew what he wanted me to say.

"I don't think there's anyone for her to kill right now, sir." Lilliver's was an angel. A perfect angel trying to save me from whatever was going to happen if she hadn't. Dain and I both looked at her.

He sighed, very dramatically, and Jude was reminded again that he was Cardan's brother.

"I suppose you're right." Suddenly he held his hand out. “Give me that gun.”

"Sir?" He asked. Van and Lilliver looked just as confused but he didn't respond.

Garrett pulled a gun out of his pocket and I edged away as Dain flicked the safety off.

He motioned for me to take it, "Shoot yourself."

"What?" Van asked. Lilliver made a distressed choking noise.

I evaluated him and the situation. The soft sunlight filtering in through the small window above the kitchen, reflecting off Dain's golden hair. He was haloed, almost like an angel. An angel with his own cadre of spies against his own family, who have undoubtedly done unspeakable things for him. An angel holding out a gun and instructing me to shoot myself with a bored expression.

I stood up, he was taller than me but I stretched until I could almost meet him. He wasn't kidding. He wanted me to shoot myself, and I had a sinking feeling that was the least of what was going to happen to me. What I was going to do.

I took the gun, bouncing it in my hand, getting a feel for it. "Where?"

His eyes flashed with what, if I didn't know better, might have been admiration. “Your arm will be fine.”

I held the gun up, pointing it at my opposite arm. What. The. Fuck. Was I doing? This is insanity, that was all I could think about, it was running through my brain on loop.

Then I squeezed.

The shot echoed, bouncing around like a scream in a canyon. I don’t know if I screamed, I don’t know how they reacted initially. I do know, however, that to this day, in a small cabin tucked away from everyone there’s a bloodstain on the floor, right under a thick oak table. A girl died there. A girl whose biggest concern was fighting her adopted father about having to be in the same room as her high school nemesis. A girl that wasn’t going to come back.

Lilliver was holding a cloth against my arm, muttering something to herself. I refused to blackout. That would be showing too much weakness.

We were on the floor of the cabin. They were crouched over me. I had no idea where Dain had gone, and even though I should, I didn’t really care.

“You’ll be fine, Jude. I know how to take care of a gunshot wound.” Despite what had happened today, I didn’t fight her. I didn’t trust her. But I didn’t fight her.

“You did good. You did good.” Garrett’s voice was almost indistinguishable from the rush in my head.

My ears were filled with water that was soaking into my brain. It was going to come bubbling out of my mouth, my nose. I was going to drown within my own body.

Van’s hand wrapped around mine. “Welcome to the Shadows.”

Tag List (Let me know if you want to be in it!):

@ladyofbloodandroses @foreverscreaming @cultofvamps

#jurdan #protect you au #chapter 3 #protect you chapter 3 #jurdan au #dark #jude x cardan

32 notes · View notes

thatbrownb1tch · 3 years ago

Note

I have a post TWK prompt Jude meets her mother’s wealthy parents and they try to set her up for an arranged marriage, And Cardan rescues her

Edit:

I definitely did not base everything off of Gilmore Girls.

“We have grandparents?” Anger fumed through me while Taryn stood in shock. “And you chose to keep this a secret for how long?”

“Jude, I didn’t tell you for many reasons but now that you seem to be, well nearing the end of your peak you must get some family if you’re not willing to settle down,” Madoc leaned back into his chair.

“What do you mean settle down? What? I’d marry some random monster like Locke? I’d rather die than ever marry anyone that I don’t care about,” I spoke the truth right now. Something I rarely did with Madoc.

“Taryn?” He moved off of me trying to figure out what his other daughter was feeling. It took a lot to get me to agree to meet with Madoc but it was even more difficult to get me to be in here with Taryn. I’m only doing it in case they try to kill Cardan or something but right now it doesn’t look like it.

“Where do they live?” Taryn finally spoke.

“Right outside Elfhame, in a large house by the country. They have many connections and you can easily go back and forth in case you’d like to form a connection which I’d rather you not do,” For someone so against us meeting them he’s telling us an awful lot about it. “Look, if you guys want you can see them, but you don’t need to, I was just doing my job,” He stood and began to make his way out of the room.

“You’re a little too late,” I called after him.

“At least he told us,” It’s typical of Taryn to do that. Agree with the one who caused us the most pain. This is exactly why she’s known as the optimist and why I’m the pessimist.

“Wow! It’s so great that he finally told us! Madoc is such a good person because he told us about our only biological family still alive that can possibly help up a decade after he kidnapped us!” Sarcasm erupted, it’s something I try not to do with her but right now she was really getting on my nerves.

“Jude,” She began, “I’m sorry. I understand why you’re so angry but please, let’s go see them.”

I narrowed my eyes, “you can go see them. But I’m not ruining their lives on top of what they already went through.”

“Excuse me?” Was she really this stupid?

“Don’t be so naive. They obviously had to go through the death of their daughter after she ran away. What do you think they went through after mom came here? And then after like 30 years we show up at their doorstep claiming to be their daughter’s kids? They probably haven’t even gotten over her death. Maybe you didn’t love our parents like me but I still mourn them,” I knew the last part wasn’t needed but sometimes she really made me feel like that. Taryn moved on so much faster. Vivi remembered them very vividly and had a good reason because of that but I never did. They just said I was being difficult for no reason when I was forced to live among monsters after I saw my own mother and father die by the hands of the man who’s been taking care of me.

“You really think that? I hope you know that I grieve them just like you and Vivi do. The only difference is I can hide it better unlike you two. Jude, deal with it. You’re not the only one with traumatic events who’s empathetic towards other people who lost their family. Don’t you think it’d make them feel better to know that they still have a piece of mom left?” How could she be so optimistic? If I was in their place I’d wish to forget everything, I’d wish to die in peace knowing that no one else would need to go through the pain I felt. Maybe something was just wrong with me.

“Fine, I’ll go but if everything goes wrong don’t blame me.”

She smiled sweetly, “Thank you.”

Vivi drove us to mom’s parent’s house. Well, technically our grandparents but I’m not sure if it’s okay to call them that yet. Vivi had called them earlier and made sure they knew we were coming, she said they’re sweet.

“Alright, we’re here,” Vivi didn’t leave the car, she didn’t follow us to the doorstep. She was related to them yet she didn’t come with us.

“Are you not coming?” I asked.

“Why? You guys deserve an actual family, I don’t want to see any more. They’ll just ruin my life again,” Every word she spoke made me feel more normal. I didn’t want more people to interfere when I was doing what I wanted. I was so close to getting a higher place on court.

“Alright then, Jude we better get going,” Taryn pushed us away from the car before I changed my mind. The house was gigantic, it was like a mansion, much bigger than a regular family-sized house. It was like Locke’s estate but more homely. It had a beautiful garden with a large driveway. It was in an ‘u’ shape. The house looked newer than the estates in Elfhame but it was still very grand and kept well for its age. I heard that most houses get very old here and start to crack but this one was taken care of.

“I don’t want to go,” I stated flatly as we reached the front doors. The door has a gold knob with a glass window but there were designs on it to keep people from outside to look inside. It was like a privacy barrier but it worked very well because I didn’t see the owners my grandparents walk up to the door and open it. I jumped a little, I wasn’t expecting that but Taryn was very ready with her gigantic smile.

“Hello girls!” The woman grinned widely while looking between the two of us. It was as if she was picking apart everything in our face and bodies, but we were identical so I’m not sure why her head went back and forth.

“Come in, please,” The man pushed his wife away a little and welcomed us inside. He was tall, and wore spectacles. They had a thin metal frame and were small for his face. They were circle shaped and he wore them a little done on his nose, it definitely made him look old. The woman had a short blackish Gray shirt and she wore a red pantsuit.

“Thank you,” Taryn was the first to speak between us and I could tell this was how most of the trip would end up going. They’d ask a question and Taryn would answer, and I’d just nod along. And like usual, I was completely right, an hour in and somehow the only thing I said was “thank you”. The man had introduced himself as Richard and the woman had said her name was Emily. They seemed like lovely people who wanted to get to know their grandchildren but we were all definitely uncomfortable and I was definitely a huge reason behind it.

“So, Jude, how are you?” Emily said it directly to me so Taryn couldn’t answer for me.

“I’m fine, how are you?” I would’ve used her name but I wasn’t sure if she’d like that.

“I’m great, so what are you two doing? School? I assume you’re around 17?”

“Uh, well I did go to school,” I started not sure how to explain to her that my foster father killed the prince during his coronation which made him a traitor and then the person who I thought cared about me actually loved my sister. Then, I made my enemy the king so that my little brother wouldn’t need to be on the throne and so that my foster father wouldn’t be given any power and now I’m the high king’s seneschal.

“We did but we graduated,” Taryn interrupts us so that I wouldn’t say anything stupid. That’s a great way to put it.

“That’s nice, so are you guys going to college?” Richard asked.

“Yes, well not exactly but we have jobs,” Another lie. Taryn is really going all out today with the lies.

“Is college even a thing there?” Emily looked at me.

“Where?” I wasn’t sure if they knew about Faerie but I couldn’t risk it.

“That place, the one which stole our daughter from us, the one which caused her death,” Emily said in such a sweet voice you wouldn’t be able to feel her rage unless you were looking directly at her eyes.

“Yes, we live there. College isn’t a thing and honestly the only thing we can do is either become a knight, a member of the court, or just get married,” I explained.

“So where are you two on the list? I’ve heard that girls get married around your age and we have a couple of boys that we’d love to set you two up with. They can also get you to very high places on the list, almost near the top with the king,” Richard jumped in.

“Well, you can’t help Taryn, she’s already found a place,” I felt their eyes on me and I had to get it off.

“Oh! Are you-?” Emily began.

“I’m betrothed,” Taryn finished with a glare that was shot in my direction.

“That’s great! Is he a good man? Will you be protected? Do you truly love him?” A ton of questions spilled out of Emily and all I could see in her face was grief. She missed mom and all of her questions gave away her intentions. She wanted to make sure we were safe, she wanted to make sure we weren’t going to make the same mistakes. I don’t think they’re that bad anymore. They’re trying to save me from Faerie. Something that only one other person has done and that’s Vivi.

“Yes, I really do. He makes me feel like I’m flying,” She gushed.

“Well that’s great, but please be careful, think it over before you say ‘I do’,” Richard looked at her sternly.

“I will, I promise,” Taryn said looking down at her hand where a small gold ring laid on her ring finger.

“What about you dear?” Emily’s attention turned back to me. Now, I really don’t have anymore saves.

“I’m not planning on marrying anyone there,” I heard a snort come from Taryn but moved on. I could tell she was thinking about my relationship with Cardan which was very simple. “I have a place in the court, I’m not sure for how long I can secure it but I’m happy with where I am,” I didn’t want to give too much away.

“Really? Are you a knight?” Richard leaned forward interested, to know how I got a place without a mans

“No,” I laughed, it was my dream but I was definitely not a knight and I’m not sure if I could be trusted to be a knight anymore. Cardan would choose me to be a part of his personal guard just to annoy me and I’d probably end up going to the tower of forgetting to kill him. “I’m actually connected to the high King,” I wasn’t sure how much I could say but my wording was really bad and I could tell the second they left my mouth. Richard looked surprised while Emily looked disgusted for a split second. She covered it up but it was there. “Oh! No, not like that! I am definitely not connected to him like that! I’m just his seneschal,” I scramble to get the words out.

“Oh, that’s a lot better,” Richard recovers a lot faster than Emily. “Alright, well it is time for me to get back to work but Emily, you’ll be here with the girls?”

“Yes, don’t worry I’ll still be here and if you guys do decide to leave, please do think of coming here,” Emily does seem very sweet and honestly it’d be a lot better to live here than in the tiny apartment with Vivi and Heather, oh and of course Oak.

“Yes, don’t worry if I ever do plan on leaving I know where I’m going,” I grinned hoping they know that I’m trying to accept them. Taryn doesn’t say a word, it’s obvious she doesn’t like them. You couldn’t tell at first but now she’s not being as friendly. Maybe because of the way they talked about her marriage but I’d say the exact same thing if we were still on better terms but now we barely even acknowledge each other.

“Now, Jude, I really do think we could set you up with someone. We could at least throw you a coming out party! Oh, please Jude! It was my favorite thing to do with your mother! Please?” She seemed so excited and I know I should’ve said no but what’s the worst that could happen? I’d just say I’m better off with no one and they of all people should understand that.

“Okay, I’ll do it.”

“What?” Taryn asked, not expecting that.

“Great! Alright I’ll get started on it and you two should sleep here for the night, tomorrow evening you will have the best party ever!” Emily stood up excitedly as a maid came in to show us to our rooms.

“Actually I have to go home. Locke is expecting me,” Taryn escaped, leaving me alone. Right before I was planning on going to sleep a short lady walked inside. She had a straight cut that went up to her chin and she had black cat-eye glasses on.

“Hello, stand up straight please,” There was a hint of Russian in her accent. She walked up to me and began to measure me. My waist, my hips, my bust, she measured every curve on my body. “That’ll be all, a dress will be ready for you tomorrow,”

“Thanks,” I didn’t understand exactly what happened but I think I have a dress now. It was a sleepless night, thoughts filled my head but it wasn’t the worst night of sleep due to the bed I had. I don’t even have anything to compare it to. Somehow I didn’t think about Cardan once throughout the trip. I was afraid of leaving for a day like this, I told him I may be out for up to a couple of days since I kind of wanted to stay with Vivi and Oak for a day but I didn’t realize that I would like Emily and Richard so much that I’d be okay with spending a night.

The party started out great, over time the garden was filled with men who all fought to get to know me. I didn’t enjoy the fact that I was actually missing Cardan right now. Usually right now he’d say something to give me something to overthink, laugh, or mostly panic about but right now I was stuck with a bunch of boys who all wanted my hand. As if they really expected me to choose and on top of it, Emily was very keen on me choosing. She had told me she had about 5 batches so I can have a party each night of the week. It wasn’t that I didn’t like her or anything but, I just could not deal with a room filled with rich people like this. I know I’m supposed to be happy that there’s a room full of people ready to marry me at any second but right now all I wanted to do was run all the way back to the palace. To bicker with Cardan and fight with Madoc at council meetings. I finally found an empty area , a couch in the corner of the garden, somehow no one was to be found. I sat as politely as I could incase anyone was watching but I ended up leaning back and closing my eyes trying to process every person who’s introduced themself. Within minutes later I felt a thud next to me on the couch, I tried my best not to groan and turned my head. I attempted to have a sweet smile but I’m pretty sure it was a glare from the moment I looked over.

“Why the face?” The boy had a sly grin on his face as my eyes widened.

“Cardan!” I hissed. “What are you doing here?” How did he even know about this party?

“Taryn told Locke and Locke told me about it,” He replied coolly while he took a bite

out of something he was holding.

“Who’s at the throne? Oh my god, is it Madoc? He’s going to kill everyone,” I started to panic thinking about what was happening in Elfhame with Cardan and I back here.

“Don’t worry Lo-“

I cut him off, “Locke! You put Locke in charge? He’s going to kill everyone and lock us out!” I almost stood up with even more panic spread throughout me. At least Madoc was logical, Locke thinks everything is a stupid game.

“Locke called for the court of shadows and now they’re doing whatever it is that you do,” Cardan finished.

I took a deep breath, “Oh thank God.”

“So, what did you do to get a party for yourself? I doubt you’re actually planning on choosing someone,” I could tell he didn’t like the idea of me marrying someone just for the sake of it.

“After Locke, I don’t think I’ll ever rush into love at all,” I forgot who I was talking to for a second, I let my guard down stupidly. I could tell Cardan didn’t like the fact that I said Locke but he let me continue before I stopped talking, “I’m just doing this because they miss my mother and Em- she pleaded. How could I refuse a stupid party that caused her more excitement than to know that she had a piece of her daughter left.”

He smirked, “Well, I know something that’d cause her even more excitement.”

“What?” I could already tell this would end with a dirty joke.

“Oh, don’t be like that. I was just going to say that if you chose me, you could pretend you’d live with me for a while,” His idea was great except for the fact that she’d freak out to know that I planned on running away with a boy that she doesn’t even know.

“I think she’d have a heart attack.”

He snorted, “Well, we won’t know until we do it.”

“Cardan!” I gasped.

“Also, who’s ‘she’?” I realized I never actually explained to him who my grandparents were.

“The woman who gave birth to my mom.”

“So ‘he’ is the dad who caused his wife pleasure and pain so that your mother would come out of ‘she’?” He could make even the stupidest things sexual.

“Yes Cardan, please talk about the way that my mom was conceived. Please, I’d love to know more,” sarcasm filled my voice.

“I’d love to but ‘she’, is coming down here’,” my heart stopped for a second. Was she going to recognize him? He did glamour himself so hopefully she wouldn’t, and she probably didn’t know how the new king looked anyway.

“I see you’ve made a friend,” Emily winked at me.

“Yes, I did, but I think it’s time w-“ I stop myself quickly, “I go back home.” I smile as naturally as I can but I can tell it looks too artificial.

“Yes, well I’d like to get to know him a bit before you go,” Emily looks at him. “Have we met before?” She’s catching on.

“I’m not sure, maybe you knew my father?” Cardan played along but maybe he wasn’t. He sounded serious, was he actually asking my mortal grandmother whether or not she knew the old high king?

“Where’s Richard?” I blurted, hoping that she doesn’t figure out who Cardan is.

“Yes, I’m not sure where he is, but Jude. If you ever do feel comfortable, I’d love for you to call me your grandmother. And the same goes for Richard,” This was it. The conversation I least wanted to have and on top of it we were doing it in front of the boy I hate.

“Well, I hope you wouldn’t be calling him grandmother,” His laugh echoed through my body.

“Oh Yes! My wording was not that great,” Emily began to laugh. I’m surprised she didn’t snap at him but again, I think I’m just one who has no filter when it comes to Cardan.

“Emily, dear. Oh, hello. Jude, did you find someone interesting?” Richard inquired as he walked up to the trio.

“Yes, I did, now I really must get going,” I just wanted to leave and Cardan was not helping at all. I glared at him hoping he’d catch the hint.

“Well, it was great meeting you two but, I too must get going and well, I would just love to give Jude a ride back to her house,” Cardan stood up.

“Jude, will have to go her own way,” Emily interrupted. I wasn’t sure whether or not these people knew I was from Faerie.

“Yes, I hope I can see you another time,” I knew if I didn’t go with him I’d be stuck here for at least another day. My eyes burned hoping he’d come up with something else, anything else.

“I don’t think you understand, I know of Jude’s home very well and am offering to take her with me. I’d love to see where she live as I live there too,” Cardan said again. His voice was commanding, just like how it is when he’s in the court.

“Y-yes, of course, you may definitely take her with you,” Richard stammered. He was definitely afraid but I’m not sure what he was afraid of. I looked over and Cardan looked like his normal glamoured self. Emily stood there, as if she was struck by lightning.

“Emily, you’ll walk them out?” Richard looked over to his frozen wife.

“Yes,” She began to walk next to me while Cardan was a step in front of me. Once we reached the front door I began to say goodbye. I hugged her first, I kissed her lightly on her cheek as I saw everyone else do. She did the same to me but lingered a little longer. She whispered into my ear, “You could’ve just said no. You did not need to drag him here to save yourself. The next time you come here, I expect you to leave him there.” Her words were stern and I could tell she wasn’t joking around. She was right, I could’ve just said no but I did not bring him here. He came himself but there was no point in arguing. I wasn’t sure if she knew he was king but I could tell they knew he wasn’t mortal.

“Good bye,” Emily said quietly as we began to step outside the door, “and farewell, your majesty.” The last part made me freeze for a second. Cardan kept moving but he grabbed my arm quickly. Emily definitely saw it, she knew she was right.

“What did you do?” I asked once we were out of sigh.

“Nothing, just unglamored myself for

a second so they saw my crown,” Cardan shrugged as we continued to move.

“You did what?” I froze.

“Well, what did you want me to do?” He grabbed my arm again and forced me to start walking again.

“Anything other than that!” I couldn’t believe him.

“Hey, you needed rescuing so I rescued you.” He brought me to the horse he came here on.

“Thank you,” I said as I threw myself over it.

“You’re welcome, just make sure the next time you plan on getting married,” I turned my head to look at him as he talked, “Make sure it’s to me.” And with that, we started. I didn’t say a word on the the ride back not sure whether or not he was joking. But even if he wasn’t, it didn’t matter because that’s not my priority. We reached Elfhame by dawn and I made a decision. That was the first and last time I’d ever go back to their house.

#jurdan #jude and cardan fanfic #cardan greenbriar #the queen of nothing #jude duarte #the wicked king #the cruel prince #jurdan fanfic

12 notes · View notes

nemesis-is-my-middle-name · 4 years ago

Text

Amethyst and Emerald Eyes

Arthur's used to his friends dragging him to creepy places. Doesn't mean he likes it, but he's learned how to handle it.

The cave Vivi's found this time is... something else, though. There's no evidence of previous human occupation – it's untouched, and yet something with it is wrong. Everything is stained purple, even the mist drifting from the entrance, and the rock face towers above them like a yawning mouth. It feels dangerous, like something is warning them to leave.

None of the others notice it. Vivi bounces out excitedly, Mystery close at her heels. Kay strolls up to the entrance unfazed, his flashlight clicking idly on and off.

“What are you waiting for?” he calls after a moment, not even turning around.

“I- I don’t… there’s s-s-something… wrong with this place.”

“Oh, don’t start that again. Do you want to be here, or not?” He starts walking again.

Arthur can’t just leave them alone, what if someone gets hurt? But… his skin itches as he drags himself closer to the cave, scars aching and growing tense. He doesn’t want to be here, he wants to leave–

–but everyone else is going inside, and he can’t leave without them.

He forces himself to keep moving.

---

Lewis is pulled from his slumber by the feeling of an unfamiliar presence in the cave. The gemstones around him flare to life as he wakes, their glow turning the rock above him to pink-tinted stars.

He sighs, and rises through the cavern, drifting towards the intruders. He just has to get them to leave, and then he can go back to sleep.

On the lower path are two – people? A twenty-something girl and her dog, it seems at first glance, but… the dog burns with raw power when he gets close, and the girl is blue and cold, driving him back seemingly without noticing. He shivers and floats away, turning his attention to the other points of life he senses.

There’s two on the upper path as well – young men, a little older than he was when… he shakes his head to dispel the sudden, uncomfortable familiarity. They’re both carrying flashlights. One’s tinged in shades of green, strolling ahead, perfectly calm, and the other, done in gold… Lewis can already feel the fear radiating off him, if it wasn’t obvious from the way he’s hunched in on himself with a white-knuckle grip on the flashlight. He’s almost stopped in the crossroads, the other walking off without him.

“If you want to leave, hurry up so we can get this over with,” says the first one. His voice is as relaxed as the rest of him, but there’s a dangerous undercurrent to it.

As soon as Lewis brushes near him, he can feel his thoughts. It takes a moment to process, and then he's sickened to his core.

Sucker has no idea what's coming, the mind whispers, he's gonna walk right into it. Goddamn I can't wait, I'm finally gonna be rid of this leech. If only he'd just hurry up, you'd think he'd want to get this over with, just a little closer you scrawny bastard so I can grab you by that stupid hair and kick you into those rocks-

He tears himself away from the thoughts in a panic. This visitor to his cave – he's planning a murder. He has to stop this.

First, he thinks to possess the would-be killer. To do what, he isn’t exactly sure – just stop them, whatever comes after, he’ll figure out as he goes. So he gathers all his power, a swirling, glowing purple smoke, and reaches out.

…only to find the murderer’s mind impenetrable. Like smooth glass against his nonexistent hand, any attempt he makes to get through into this person’s head falls against an unmoving barrier. He's too strong - dammit, why did this have to be the person he finally fails against? Why now?

The gold one approaches closer behind them, finally finding his footing, and prompting a renewed urgency in Lewis.

“’s fucking fr-freezing in here,” he comments, oblivious to the looming danger.

“Really? I’m not cold at all,” Green responds with hardly a glance over his shoulder.

“Of course you’re not cold,” Lewis hisses, “you’re surrounded by a fire spirit.”

Gold jumps, attention snapping to the vague area Lewis is currently occupying. “Th- d-did you hear that?”

Did he... hear him? How?

He’s a medium, Lewis realizes suddenly, the fact clicking into place. No wonder he’s afraid – he knows they’re not alone here. Green, clearly, has no such ability and no such concerns, and has defaulted to flat-out ignoring his companion as he presses on.

He ought to pay more attention. Frustration slips in alongside worry as he thinks about it further. He wanders into dangerous, likely-haunted places, disregards the person who might actually warn him about the danger, and then has the- the audacity to call him a leech?

Gold is approaching panic now, with the wide-eyed stare of a trapped animal, but he keeps following Green anyway. He wants nothing more than to help him, to at least stop what’s coming, most of all he doesn’t want to watch this-

-an idea forms as he drifts, aimless and despondent, after the two visitors. He may not have been able to reach Green, but maybe there’s something else he can do. But- what if something goes wrong-

But then he realizes they’ve reached the end of the road. The cliff opens out before them. It’s now or never.

As he was expecting, it’s almost unnervingly easy to slip into Gold’s mind. All he has to do is visualize himself reaching down and taking his hand, and any defenses he has cave instantly and allow him inside. For a moment, Gold locks up, registering something wrong in his head – and then Lewis takes over and the body relaxes again.

I'm sorry about the intrusion, but I’m not going to hurt you. I’m here to help, he whispers to Gold, feeling his panic build with his sudden loss of control.

All he gets in return is a frantic no no no please don’t please don’t hurt me, and he realizes he won’t be able to reassure him, not like this. He's already too afraid of him.

“Hey, c’mere,” says Green, lifting his head from where he’s looking over the cavern. “You can see Vi from here.”

They draw closer to Green, eventually settling behind him with not a foot between them. Lewis debates, for a moment, what to do; he’s still not quite sure, when he speaks.

“I know what you’re going to do.”

A slight, almost imperceptible jerky tilt of the head, Green just barely resisting snapping it around to stare at him. He hears his mouth open with a soft click, but it’s another beat before he speaks. “…what?”

He hadn’t realized how strange talking through a mouth would be, and the unfamiliarity adds to his nerves. “I… I can’t allow it.”

Green scoffs at that, standing up again and turning around to face them, speaking as he does. “And what are you going to do about it? Go run and cry to Vivi, so you can make yourself look even worse for her? You're certainly not going to do anything by yourself. I mean-" A light, sarcastic laugh. "You probably don't even want to. So why not just save us both the trouble?"

And then he shifts his weight, and it’s barely the beginning of a movement but it’s still all too easy for Lewis to predict what comes next.

Gold is stronger than he was expecting, and Green isn’t ready for the blow. And overconfidence had him standing too close to the edge, and the single step he takes back in response is one step too many. All of a sudden, he’s falling.

Lewis is all too familiar with this drop, but he still nearly forgets what’s coming next. The crunch of bone and muscle tearing apart echoes through the cave, followed by a scream – coming not from the dead man, he realizes, but someone else. The other person he’d seen on the lower path.

He takes a couple steps back from the ledge – away from that gruesome sight. He’s starting to regret this decision, to second-guess himself – but the only alternative he can see is Gold dying, and he… he can still feel Gold, innocent and frightened, alongside him in this mind. There’s no way Green deserves to live over him. Not someone who’d murder – from the looks of things, someone who considered him a friend.

I can go now. He tries to reach out to the soul. I'm sorry again about the intrusion, I just couldn't watch him kill you.

The response he gets makes him flinch - a wave of terror that would have been a wail if they were physical, wordless and honest panic. Does he still not understand?

A sound from behind makes him spin around. It’s coupled with a flash of power that makes him take a step back. He recognizes the dog, but… it’s not a dog anymore. It’s massive, and the way it’s standing is obviously hostile.

He holds up his hands. “Hold on, I’m not- I’m trying to help-“

“Silence, monster!” it snarls, stepping forward. “Not one more word! I already know what you are.”

“Wait-“

The distance between them is closed in an instant. A weight slams down on his – Gold’s – chest, and he feels something snap under the force, closely followed by sharp stabs when claws bite into flesh. The sensation is familiar, and he’s not sure if it’s that or the sheer force that keeps him from breathing.

Teeth bite into the arm he’d first reached through, and he isn’t sure if it’s him or Gold that’s screaming.

All at once he’s yanked out of the body, and his spectral form flickers, mingling with the blood in the air. He reins in his fire before it can do any damage, staring in horror at the scene before him. This – he didn’t want this – why – who are these people?

A shout echoes from behind the monster, echoing and unintelligible, and it starts and looks back. Suddenly it’s gone, replaced with the small dog from before.

Lewis is torn between running and staying – his instincts are screaming at him to get away from that thing – but Gold’s rapidly losing blood, and if he dies here too, it’ll be his fault, and… and then he’s just caused two deaths.

Then the blue girl from before appears. The dog doesn’t say anything, just stays close and watches silently. It takes her a moment to process – and then she’s moving, pulling off a scarf and working to bandage the wound.

He isn’t sure even that will be enough. He can feel Gold’s life fading, and his bright colors are dimming to near-grey.

He didn’t want this. He spares another glance to the not-dog, who seems too preoccupied with reassuring Blue to notice him now – reassuring her and not the person he’s very nearly killed. Blue, at least, doesn’t seem to know what happened. She’s reacting as if some outside force has caused all of this.

Then they’re leaving the cave, and he’s expecting to be left drifting there. But something pulls him along after them, staying just a few feet from Gold.

He stays tethered to that dimming golden light as they speed away from his decades-long home in the cave.

#mystery skulls animated #MysteryMarch2021 #the nemesis speaks #swift writes

27 notes · View notes

thewickedkings · 4 years ago

Text

Between the Two of Us ~ Chapter 5

Masterlist || Previous Chapter || Next Chapter

Summary: Jurdan High school AU. Rivals Jude and Cardan are forced to partner up for a history project, and drama ensues. Filled with banter, pranks, an unhealthy amount of pining, and Jude being clueless as usual.

Trigger Warnings: I don’t think there’s anything so far, but please let me know if there’s anything I missed!

Jude went through her shift at work in a distracted haze. Locke had texted her this morning that he would pick her up at 6:30 and to dress casually. The reality of her situation set in. She was going on a date. With a boy.

“Jude, are you okay? You look… tense,” the Bomb said as walked past Jude to the blender.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She paused, hesitating. The Bomb had noticed Locke was into her. “Okay, so I might have a date tonight. With the guy that came in last week.”

The Bomb’s face lit up. “Wow, he moved faster than I expected. Do you like him?”

Jude’s face scrunched up. “I mean… I think. He’s cute.” When the Bomb made a face, she added, “and nice!”

“Okay… so what’s wrong?”

Jude had no idea how to express everything that was bothering her, so she just said, “I have no idea what to wear.”

The Bomb smiled. “That, I can help you with.”

~~~

A couple hours later, after they had finished up their shift, Jude was watching as the Bomb sifted through the clothes in her closet. It was slightly disconcerting to see her coworker in her bedroom, but Jude found that she didn’t mind.

“These pants are so cute!” The Bomb exclaimed. “You are going to look so good in these.” She tossed them at Jude. “Try these with a black tank top. Oooh, and this belt. How have you never worn any of these clothes before?”

Jude laughed and walked into the bathroom. “I never had you to style my outfits for me, that’s why.”

When she returned from the bathroom, the Bomb gave her an approving look. The tan plaid pants loosely fitted her legs and cutoff around her ankles. They were cinched at the waist by a black belt, with her black tank top tucked in. When Jude looked in the mirror, she was surprised to find she liked how it looked on her.

“How do you like it?” The Bomb asked.

“I think… I think I really like it,” Jude replied, a hesitant smile pulling at her lips. She rubbed her arms self-consciously. “But maybe with a jacket on top.”

The Bomb grinned. “Yeah, I was thinking you could wear this black jean jacket on top. What shoes though?”

Jude dug to the back of her closet and pulled out her doc martens. She’d barely worn them, usually opting for the comfort of her converse, but she had a feeling they would work with her outfit.

“Yes, perfect. Those. You are going to knock that boy off his feet.”

A strange feeling enveloped Jude. She’d always imagined that Taryn would be there freaking out with her on her first date, but when Jude had tried to bring it up to her, Taryn had just mumbled a “cool.” They’d always been close, especially after the death of their parents, sticking together through everything that had changed in their lives after. But recently, Jude felt a distance growing between them that had never been there before, and she had no idea why. Even Vivi had her own life in college, and she only visited on the weekends.

Jude swallowed, sorting out her thoughts. “I- thanks. For helping me. I’m not the best at this stuff.” She gestured vaguely at the clothes littered on her bed.

The Bomb beamed, sitting down on the edge of Jude’s bed. “It’s no problem. I love messing around with clothes. And my love life has been pretty boring recently, so it’s fun to do this with you.”

“I feel like I saw some sparks between you and a certain someone on Wednesday.” Jude had been introduced to the Roach and the Ghost during her previous shift, and she had sensed some weird sort of connection between the Bomb and the Roach, something a little more than friends.

“Me and the Roach are just really good friends,” The Bomb said, averting her gaze.

“I never said anything about the Roach.”

The Bomb groaned, pushing back a strand of frizzy white hair from her face. “Is it that obvious?”

“I mean, I noticed.”

“Point taken.” The Bomb huffed out a laugh, and then flopped back onto Jude’s bed so she was lying down. “I’ve had a huge crush on him since high school. We’d both transferred to our school in the middle of high school, and so we were both kind of the awkward outcasts and we became friends. I’ve been stupidly pining over him ever since.”

Jude’s eyes widened. “Wow.”

“Yeah, I know. But enough about my hopeless love life. Today, you’re going onto a date. You have to text me with updates.”

Jude nodded and then the Bomb helped her do her makeup. By the time Jude was ready, a knot of anxiety had formed in her chest.

“It’s fine if it’s not perfect,” said the Bomb reassuringly as Jude led her to the door. “Just let yourself have fun and enjoy it.”

“Okay. I can do that… I think. I’ll text you after. Hopefully with good news.”

The Bomb laughed and walked to her car. “I’ll see you at work!”

Jude smiled. Even if this night ended terribly, at least she could say she’d made a friend out of it.

~~~

Jude shut the door behind her and dropped against it, sighing happily. She, Jude Duarte, had gone on a date, and it had gone well. Really well.

Locke had picked her up exactly on time and driven her to a cute burger place. At first, the conversation was a little stilted. He’d asked her about her project with Cardan, and she might have nervously blabbered to fill the awkward silence.

But eventually, Jude had let herself relax and the conversation came more naturally. They moved on to other topics, talking about everything from college plans and parents. In the middle of their conversation, he had reached out and clasped onto her hand. Jude had flushed, but he had kept talking like he hadn’t done anything.

Throughout the whole date, he was charming and sweet. And he looked really good in his white collared shirt. And then after, when he’d walked her back to her door, Locke had kissed her. Just a brief brush of lips, but it was nice.

Jude floated up the stairs to her room, lips tingling from the memory, and bumped into Taryn. She stepped back in surprise. “Oh, hey.”

Taryn’s eyes took in Jude’s outfit, expression unreadable. “He dropped you off?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Right.”

Annoyance sparked inside Jude. “My date was nice, thanks for asking.” When Taryn didn’t respond, Jude grit her teeth in frustration. “What’s up with you? Why are you being all weird?”

Taryn scoffed. “Nothing. Maybe I just don’t want to hear about how perfect your date was.”

“Fine. Okay. Forget I said anything.” Jude marched into her room, shutting the door behind her. She didn’t even know why they were fighting. Frustration pricked at her, and her good mood disappeared just as quickly as it had come.

~~~

The next morning, Jude got ready with a renewed determination not to let anyone ruin her day. Not Taryn, and definitely not Cardan, who had invited himself over by text to work on their project. Jude hadn’t even bothered objecting, knowing it was useless.

After texting the Bomb about her date and receiving an excited frenzy of messages back, she peeled off her face mask and turned on her favorite playlist as she ate her breakfast.

When the doorbell rang a few minutes later, Jude put her plate in the dishwasher and washed her hands before going to open the door. Jude exhaled and mentally prepared herself, peeking through the peephole on the door.

But nothing in the world could have prepared her for what she saw next: Cardan Greenbriar, standing outside her front door, bouquet of red roses in hand.

A/N: The next chapter is definitely going to be interesting hehe. I was too lazy to edit anymore so I figured I’d just post. Hope you like it!! :)

Tagging: (Bolded tags didn’t work. I don’t know why, it might be your settings or just tumblr acting up, but I’ll tag you in the comments for now! If I forgot to tag you our messed something up, just send me an ask and I’ll fix it as soon as I can!)

@jurdan7 @cardan-greenbriar-tcp @amoosewithflannelforfur @aneuwin @mercrutiodidntdieforthis @hizqueen4life @mi-mavencalories @simonelovesff @b00kworm @nope-has-lied @andromeddea @aesthetics-11 @queen-of-glass @runnybabbit9 @afexiss @the-keen-queen @yesimtheslytherinwitch @fizziefaerie @abigneignenn @storiesandschemes @aelin-queen-of-terrasen @words-of-the-wise @thedazzlingheights @magicalbookwyvern @kittkatandbooboo @queen-of-no1 @iminsanenotobsessed @dorkzrul @snusbandxknifewife @aknymph @clouds-and-peonies @thefolkofthefic @snorting-up-pizza @fandomfanatic987 @fandom-will-be-the-death-of-me @cardanslittletail @curlyredqueen06 @losssssstttttt

#between the two of us #chapter 5 #wow i actually wrote something #tfota #the folk of the air #jurdan #jurdan fic #jurdan fanfic #jude duarte #cardan greenbriar #the cruel prince #the wicked king #the queen of nothing

143 notes · View notes

pi-cat000 · 4 years ago

Text

MSA time travel idea (part 39)

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Vivi POV, 8, 9, 10, Lewis POV, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, Lance POV 18, 19, Lewis POV 2, 21 , 22, Vivi POV 2, 24, 25 Lewis POV 3, Mystery POV , Vivi POV 3, 29, Lewis POV 4, 31, ViVi POV 4 , 33, 34, Lewis POV 5, Mystery POV 2, Lewis POV 6, Vivi POV 5

Part 40: here

...

LEWIS POV

Lewis comes to welcome the dark interludes which provide a brief reprieve from the parade of fake-Arthur-memories. The cold, empty silence is preferable to the increasingly dour scenes depicting the day-to-day struggles of fake-Arthur and fake-Vivi as they fail at dealing with fake-Lewis’s death. Not that either of them know about his death. Arthur doesn’t remember the cliff or the body snatcher, thinking fake-Lewis is alive and lost somewhere. Vivi doesn’t remember him at all. He’s been erased completely from her mind, leaving her confused and Arthur distraught. Lewis has no idea how long he’s spent watching them struggle. The scenes come and go at varying lengths and changing levels of detail. He must have lived through several weeks’ worth of fake-memories now. Months of Arthur’s life flit by, broken up into chunks.

...

A conversation with Vivi, trying and failing to convince her that the other-Lewis had existed at all.

“Lewis…you know, Lewis. Please remember.”

“I’m sorry, I blanked out for a second there…what were you saying?”

“Nothing. It’s nothing…”

“Oh shit…I was...how long was I out for this time?”

“An hour...You were gone for an hour.”

“I’m sorry Arthur.”

“Don’t worry about it. Was my fault…Mentioned something I shouldn’t have.”

Fights with Lance when the older man attempts to intervene and stop Arthur’s increasingly destructive behaviour.

“This behaviour isn’t healthy.”

“What am I supposed to do!”

“Maybe, stop and actually think about this…”

“Lewis is out there somewhere, and you want me to just give up!”

Hours spend online and in police stations trying to convince people to look for the other-Lewis.

“Kid. You’re friend is listed as missing. We have alerts out in the neighbouring states and so far there’s been no word. Search parties, caving experts, were combing those old mine shafts for six days after you came in. There was nothing there.”

“Something happened there...something bad...if you would just...”

“The cave is just a regular cave. Those old mines are old mines. Nothing weird or spooky about them, just very easy to get lost in. There’s nothing more to be done so go home, eat a hot meal, get some sleep. If your friend shows up you’ll be one of the first to know. ”

...

It’s like watching a highlight real, only nothing about these memories is a highlight. He’s almost sure the fake-memories are selected and purposefully skewed towards negative experiences. Surely, even if this were real-it’s not real, it can’t be real-Arthur’s life wouldn’t be this bad without Lewis there.

When the darkness falls away, transitioning into another memory, Lewis wants to yell out in frustration.

…

Lewis’s eyes open of their own accord and he’s looking out at the world, experiencing life from his friend’s perspective.

…

This memory starts with Arthur staring as a door handle, hesitating to pull it open. Lewis recognises it of course, he’s seen this door serval times, scattered in amongst the most recent lot of fake-memories. It’s the door to Vivi and Arthur’s apartment in Milton, faded green in colour and rusted around the hinges.

Arthur lets out a long breath which tranistions into a yawn, fiddling around with a set of keys with his one, good arm. Lewis tries not to worry when his friend drops the keys to the ground, hand slightly shakier than usual. Arthur probably hasn’t been sleeping properly. Not-sleeping is a running theme for this fake-memory-Arthur.

When the door does finally swing open, it is to reveal an irate Vivi. She is blocking the flat’s narrow entryway, her hands on her hips, expression creased into a scowl.

“In what universe does ‘I’ll be back early’ mean 11:30 pm?”

Arthur winces. Lewis can’t see his expression but his friend is probably grimacing. Most memories that feature both Vivi and Arthur involved an argument of some sort. Another form of torture for him no doubt. Seeing them struggle to come to terms with his disappearance was always a painful viewing experience. Lewis braces himself for some sort of emotionally charged argument, wishing he had the power to intervein. These fake-memories are some of the hardest to sit through.

“A lot of the guys in the lab work late hours.”

Vivi looks unimpressed, “And I suppose they’re all recovering from a recent amputation as well are they?”

“It’s been four months …It’s healed plenty.”

Lewis feels the echo sensation of pain as Arthur drops his bag to the floor, freeing up his remaining arm. Arthur lying to Vivi about his wellbeing is another common theme in these fake-memories. Vivi knows it too, Lewis can already see the tension in her shoulders.

“I’m fine,” Arthur tries to reassure, skirting around Vivi, avoiding eye contact. “The prototype for the new arm is almost done, we’re just waiting on the guys in programming to double-check some of the coding….”

“This new arm isn’t going to be worth much if you’re too exhausted to do anything with it.” Vivi interrupts angrily, following Arthur as he slinks past the small kitchen towards bedrooms at the back of the apartment.

Lewis feels her grabs the back of Arthur’s shirts, pulling the other up short.

“I said I’m fin….wait.”

Vivi drags Arthur to the narrow kitchen bench just big enough to fit two bar-chairs, ignoring his objections.

“Sit.” She orders, stopping over to the frig, pulling out a bowl and thrusting it into the microwave. The hum of the microwave makes the following quiet twice as uncomfortable. Even Lewis feels it.

Arthur clears his throat to speak and is cut off when the microwave lets off a loud ping.

Vivi all but slams the streaming bowl down in front of Arthur.

“You really don’t have to…” Arthur tries.

“Oh yeah? What did you eat for dinner?”

Silence.

“Lunch?”

“…”

“Because I only know you ate breakfast because I was there for it.”

More silence hangs between them.

“Eat.” She instructs and glares until Arthur picks up the spoon. Lewis can feel Arthur shift in awkward discomfort as he starts eating. After living through so many of these fake-memories, Lewis is becoming an Arthur body language expert.

“How was work?” Arthur breaks the silence, glancing at Vivi. She is sitting with her arms crossed, still upset, still annoyed. Lewis can read the worry fuelling her frustration clear as day.

Her expression clears as she deliberately puts the issue of Arthur arriving late to one side, “Work was good. Duet is a real character but they’re nice and super knowledgeable when it comes to the occult and other supernatural stuff. They’re helping me research memory-related curses and whatnot. The first person, apart from you, who doesn’t think I’m crazy. So that’s a plus.”

“When my arm is fixed, we can hit the road and follow up on any leads you hear,” Arthur murmurs between mouthfuls and Lewis wishes he could face-palm because that is the exact wrong thing to say. Not for the first time, Lewis longs to be physically present so he can smooth over the sudden tension which spikes in the room. “Or we could go before that…I mean…I don’t really need two arms.”

“It’s not urgent or anything,” Vivi responds with the forced cheer of someone holding back on speaking their mind. “I bleary notice that the memories are gone most days. Your arm is more important.”

“Don’t say that,” Arthur stops eating to frown.

“Don’t say what? That I’m fine postponing the search for my memories for however long it takes you to get better?”

“That’s not…what I mean is that your memories are important.”

Vivi’s expression hardens, becoming terse, “Not more important than your health.”

Arthur tenses.

“My missing memories can wait,” She insists. “I’ve been doing fine without them. Especially now we live here and not in Tempo. I haven’t had a blackout since we moved.”

“It’s not just that…” Arthur retorts, frustrated.

“Then what.” Vivi snaps, almost yelling now, “Do you hear yourself speak? ‘I don’t really need two arms,’…are you kidding me! What could possibly be more important than your health.”

“You know I can’t tell you.”

Vivi lets out a long, frustrated breath, standing. “You promised, when we moved closer to the hospital labs, you promised that you’d make an effort to actually look after yourself.”

Arthur doesn’t respond as Vivi continues. “When your arm is finished. When you look like an actual person and not a zombie. When we don’t have to have this conversation every day. Then we’ll go searching.”

The bar stool squeaks on the floor as Vivi pushes it back, “I’m going to bed. I’ve got work early tomorrow. You should sleep as well…when you’ve finished.”

A long silence stretches between his two friends, all the heat gone from the argument. Lewis can’t see Vivi anymore, Arthur’s vision is now fixed on his spoon which is resting on the lip of the bowl.

“I would tell you everything…if I could…” Arthur doesn’t look up. His voice is strained.

Vivi pauses in the doorway. “I know.” She sounds tired. Lewis’s heart aches. “That doesn’t change anything.”

Arthur flinches.

A sigh and Vivi adds, “I better not find you awake in an hour because I’m going to set my alarm to check.”

“What?” Arthur finally looks up. “You can’t do that.”

“I can and will.”

“…but you just said you have work in the morning.”

“If you’re not gonna sleep then I’m not gonna sleep.”

“But….”

“Just the way it’s gotta be apparently,” Vivi finishes, strolling out of the room, leaving Arthur- and, through him, Lewis- to stare after her.

Arthur slumps, “God…damnit…” rubbing his eyes. There’s no anger to the word.

No matter how many times he’s seen Arthur and Vivi argue in the weeks and months following his counterpart’s death, it never got any easier. They were both too stubborn for their own good. Arthur’s got a quiet, methodical stubbornness about him while Vivi is loud and abrasive. Mix that with emotional stress and an obvious concern for one another and the result was a whole load of tension. Lewis knows Arthur has low self-esteem and tendency to beat himself up and blame himself for stuff that definitely wasn’t his fault, but he’s never seen him this bad. It never seemed like that big a deal when both him and Vivi had been around to help. Vivi too, he’s never see her so stressed and angry at seemingly everything. Or maybe Lewis doesn’t know Vivi or Arthur as well as he thought he did.

There is movement in the corner of the room and Lewis notices Mystery for the first time. The not-a-dog had been lying in the corner.

“What.”

Mystery just cocks his head to the side.

“I know you can understand me,” Arthur mutters, shifting with discomfort. Mystery doesn’t speak or do much of anything, trotting out of the room after Vivi. Not too surprising. Another trend in these illusions was that Mystery tended to just sit and watch.

Sometimes, Lewis wonders if he just imagined the whole ‘giant fox’ thing. His memories for the car park confrontation are fuzzy, he’d been in a lot of pain at the time and probably suffering a bit of blood loss. He’s lived through so many of these memories that the real would seams so far away. Then he remembers those shinning teeth biting into him, and very real physical pain. That was real.

The real world was still out there.

None of these memories were real. He had almost forgotten.

“I’m not crazy,” Arthur murmurs, eyeing the dog uneasily before turning back to finish what’s left in his bowl. Lewis can’t read Arthur’s thoughts, but he suspects that his friend might be having similar doubts about Mystery’s true identity as well.

“I’ll find you, Lewis…”

For a second, Lewis thinks Arthur is addressing him directly before remembering that that’s impossible. This fake-memory-Arthur is addressing the ghost of a best friend he doesn’t know is dead. Lewis is only a passenger, watching life through Arthur’s eyes, invisible and stranded.

“I’ll find you …no matter what it takes. I’ll find you. And everything will go back to normal…”

…

The memory fades, darkening and Lewis is once again back in the dark.

...

“DAMNIT!”

He slams both fists into the ground, watching the darkness ripple under the impact. His yell doesn’t echo, swallowed by the nothing.

“Damnit…DAMNIT…DAMN IT ALL!”

Feelings of frustration and anger smother his hurt and sorrow. He growls, smashing his fist into the ground again. If this were the real world, he’d have to worry about bruising his knuckles or breaking his fingers. The void offers little in the way of resistance.

“I GET IT, ALL RIGHT! They’re miserable…they’re struggling…I get the point!”

Nothing responds to his shouting. He’s alone. He shouts again, screaming into the void. He’s stopped questioning the motive behind what he was seeing long ago. They were illusions masquerading as his friend’s memories. Designed to hurt him as much as you can hurt a person without touching them.

“Just stop already!” He rages. Nothing responds.

Fury, white-hot, is better than the creeping sadness threatening to drown him. Sure, being angry about things had never worked well for him in the past. He’d been a very angry child and it was only thanks to his adopted patents and then Vivi and Arthur that he’d put the unpleasant emotion behind him.

None of that mattered here. Here, in the dark, the anger is his only defence against the green bastard’s torture.

Lewis regrets not punching the asshole when he had the chance. He wishes he’d done a lot of things differently. Lewis continues yelling right up until the dark once again fades into another memory.

NOTE: Resurrecting this fic in anticipation for a possible new video maybe? One can only dream. Sorry if it reads slightly different, i’m a bit rusty.

Part 40: here

#MSA #mystery skulls animated #arthur kingsmen #Lewis pepper #angst #despression #interpersonal conflict #coarse language #HEAVY ANGST #lewis has a bad time #getting stuck watching anther person's memories? is there even a tag for this?#fanfic

69 notes · View notes

breadthecat · 4 years ago

Text

All of MY kindergarten AUs

Here is a thorough list of all of my kindergarten aus. I tried to order them in a mix of most popular and most detailed. As gamer is sorta popular, however it’s not as fleshed out as some of my other aus. Many of the aus on the top have a lot more to them. Also, please don’t copy them, I put a lot of time into these (It’s chill if it’s a similar concept but don’t just rip entire specific details straight from my aus).

Watch, I probably still forgot some. There’s 17 in all.

—

Teen Punk - an au where Felix and Lily go through a punk phase in high school, at the surface level. The au spans much further then that, however, even post college years. Lily remembers the resets, which really fucks up her life and perspective of everything, the root of her hatred of Nugget and Protag. Ted and Felix actually get along because they grow out of that phase in late elementary school/early middle school. It’s the token Lily x Felix au, and it’s co-created by @randomguygoesviral . That being said, it’s a lot angstier then it first seems :)

Teen Punk Spin-off - an alternate universe where the high school functions similarly to the Kindergarten game. Meaning the protag has a route where he kills Lily and Felix. He kills Lily by tricking her into a room with toxic gas. After lily dies, Felix rushes in an refuses to leave her, eventually succumbing to the gas as well. Despite that brief description, it’s a really hard route to complete and doesn’t feel very rewarding when you do.

Void Lily - Lily remembers the resets, which wasn’t supposed to happen in her universe. This causes her world to collapse and traps her into a white abyss, the void. She slowly grows distant from her other lily counterparts, seeing herself as a separate entity. She uses a wide verity of names, eventually adopting the name Vivi. She discovers how to communicate and eventually hop worlds(aus). Due to her time in the void, she appears around 12 years old but is closer to 20. She was the first and original void based/“omnipresent” au in the fandom.

(Putting the rest under a read more)

Gamer - Billy, Monty, and Cindy are gamers and are dating. Billy is a fairly popular YouTube gamer known for being soft, a good singing voice, and having bright pink hair. Monty and Cindy eventually get roped in. Lily and Billy are on very bad terms. As implied, it takes place during high school years. Outside of crackships, the plot involves games leaking into reality and getting fun abilities from it. I’ve managed to only barely work on the plot

Affinity - if you have a near death experience but aren’t afraid, there is a chance you can develop a super power. This is what happens to Felix, Ted, Lily, and Billy (and maybe some others). Felix and Ted manage to keep these newfound powers hidden for years before their parents find out and disown them, trying to turn them in for study. They get taken in by Danner (Dadner). Unfortunately they don’t escape forever :)

Worst Heir - (TW SUICIDE) Felix grows up feeling like he’s truly a monster and never has done anything good in his life, and decides to “amend” that. Felix doesn’t pass on as expected, having to watch how devastated Ted is. Also some ghost shenanigans.

Soulless - Everyone is supposed to have a soul, a driving force that keeps them going. Without it, you lack empathy, motivation, and warmth, and can eventually result in death. Around the events of Kindergarten 2, the small flicker of a soul Felix had goes out. This is the cause of his cold nature, and leads to him slowly become ill and almost dying. Ted catches on that something is genuinely wrong but is only able to convince his parents when Felix is on the brink of death.

Chosen Ones - each of the kg characters are drawn to a different magic stone that gives them a special power. The pull of the stone is unbreakable, even to the extent that Carla and Monty inadvertently rob a museum for theirs.

Evil Clone - during Billy’s capture, the principle makes a clone of Billy in order to thwart the protagonist. There’s also made clones of the slime trio, however they are imperfect.

Pkm Blessing - a Pokémon au where legendary Pokémon have the ability to gift a trainer with the ability to understand Pokémon, but they can only choose one. Felix is chosen by Mew. Ted also sorta kinda joins the evil group, whoops

Linked - Agnes gives Ted and Felix a telepathic link to eachother to force them to get along. It works, but also brings a lot of pain.

The Remembrance - everyone suddenly remembers all the past routes and takes it very very poorly. Ted repeatedly pummels Felix to death, Cindy and Monty harassed and kill the Janitor, lily and Billy do not take kindly to the monstermon ending. The slime trio and the hall monitors hide away from the chaos

Split - Felix gets separated from his family at a train station and gets horribly lost. Jerome and his mom take him in. Felix developed pretty severe abandonment issues. kindergarten 2 doesn’t happen. Felix really likes the story of the ugly duckling

Fairytale - all the characters are mythical creatures or based in a fairytale setting. All of them know eachother in some way. Lily, due to her “unladylike” attitude, is cursed by a witch and put into a sleeping beauty esc sleep. Due to a magical link with her twin, Billy also risks falling into a permanent sleep too any time he rests. This au actually has an ask blog that never finished its story, but I posted the entire story line there.

Angel of Death - The monstermon ending backfires and gives lily demonic powers to use for evil.

Spoiled - Felix gives lily lots of gifts and spoils her. Rich kid stuff, but wholesome

Deity - lily and Billy are nature deities. Felix accidentally gets Lily’s attention, and if he’s not careful, she would straight up murder someone for him.

#kindergarten #kindergarten 2 #kindergarten lily #kindergarten Felix #kindergarten game #kindergarten au

24 notes · View notes

highqueenjude · 4 years ago

Text

1k follower appreciation fic!!

i just want to say how thankful i am to each and every one of you. it honestly amazes me that you all?? enjoy my content?? so in thanks, i whipped up a mini one-shot to show my appreciation :)

~takes place directly after htkoelths ends~

Cardan and Jude make their way back to Vivi’s apartment as the sun makes its ascent in the sky. They have just finished sending word to their retainers requesting Aslog to be moved, and Cardan is not sure if he’s relieved or upset by the turn of events. He and Aslog had never truly been friends, but it still feels wrong to imprison her after . . . everything.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Jude raises a brow.

“I think so.” Cardan glances aside at her. “What are we to do now?”

Jude is thoughtful for a moment, and then, almost shyly, she says, “I was thinking we could visit my father. Before we return to Elfhame.”

This comes as a surprise to Cardan for two reasons: Jude has never once been shy—she is blunt and bold and the word shy isn’t even in his vocabulary to describe her. As for the other, he is surprised because she had said we. Realistically, he knows that they are married, and that they have been for some time now, but he is still so unused to this feeling of being wanted, especially by Jude.

“You want me to come with you?” he affirms, slightly uncertain.

She gives him an odd look before glancing off to the side. “I don’t know if I want to go alone.”

And since it is not in her nature to admit that she is scared or frightened or unsure, Cardan knows that she does not want to go alone because she’s hesitant to see her foster-father after so long. Cardan is to be the buffer between them.

“I would be delighted,” is what he ends up saying because reminding her that he is her loyal servant who would kiss the tips of her boots if she asked might be a tad redundant; he does remind her often, after all. “When do you wish to leave?”

Jude sets down her sword, which he had grudgingly handed back to her.

What did you think you would accomplish with this? she had snickered.

All heroes have swords, he had responded, not minding one bit that she was laughing at his expense, so long as she was laughing.

“In a little while, but for now we should dress your wound.”

“Oh, this? It’s nothing for a hero.”

“I think I preferred you as a snake, when you couldn’t talk.” She leads him to the bathroom and commands him to sit on the closed seat of what the mortals call a “toilet.” She digs through the cabinets of the vanity for a moment, and resurfaces with a roll of white bandages, a cloth, a pair of scissors, and a small bottle with clear liquid inside. “Take off your shirt.”

Cardan simply raises a brow. “In here? Wouldn’t you prefer somewhere more . . . cozy?”

Jude lightly smacks his uninjured shoulder with a roll of her eyes. “Just do it.”

He complies without fuss, as he is apt to do when she asks something of him. His hoodie goes first, and then his shirt, and then it is just him sitting awkwardly while Jude inspects his wound with a frown.

“There are still a few iron fragments lodged in the cut. I’ll have to get those out first.” She goes back to the vanity and opens one of the drawers, withdrawing a pair of tweezers. Turning back to him, she says, “This might sting.”

“It could be no worse than your withering glare—” Cardan is abruptly cut off when she pokes him with the tweezers.

“Oops,” she says, not sounding the least bit apologetic.

Silence descends around them, and Jude continues to work, gaze focused and hand precise. Through the discomfort, Cardan studies her. So much has led up to this point, to this very moment. He is not sure if he deserves it, but he knows that he would do everything all over again—including fulfilling his prophecy and becoming a snake—if it meant that this would be the outcome.

“What’s that look for?” she asks him, and he realizes he has been staring. Refusing to look away or laugh off his nerves, Cardan says instead, “Is it wrong to admire my wife?”

Jude snorts. “I wouldn’t say my appearance garners admiration right now.”

Her hair is unkempt and her clothes are torn—the aftermath of running through briars to get to her foolish husband. But it makes no difference; her presence is captivating, thrilling, debilitating. It is odd to be reminded yet again that she does not see herself as everyone else does: a queen.

“Is it so hard to believe that you are beautiful, all of the time?” A light pink dusts her cheeks, and it is such a lovely sight that he finds he must be the cause of more of it. “You, Jude Duarte, the High Queen of Elfhame and love of my immortal life, are indeed a sight of admiration. It is a wonder you bestowed your favor on me when you could have had anyone else.”

He will admit that he still cannot quite believe his good fortune, and wonders daily how such luck befell him. He is rewarded with the desired effect; her blush deepens. Jude turns away, having finished removing all of the iron pieces from his shoulder, and busies herself by wetting the cloth with the clear, bottled liquid. When she turns back to him she huffs and says, “I am not sure if I’ll ever get used to you saying those things.”

Their eyes meet, and Cardan says, “I hope that one day you will.”

Jude bites her lip and he traces the movement with his eyes. “Now I kind of feel bad for what I’m about to do.”

“What—”

He is cut off by a hiss as she presses the wet cloth to his wound. It is true that his Jude does not have the best bedside manner, but sometimes he forgets and must be reminded in the worst ways.

“Sorry,” she laments, this time sounding genuine in her apology. She brushes the cloth over his wound, wiping away the dried blood and disinfecting the area. “Once we get back to Elfhame, we will have someone do this properly,” she promises.

Cardan does not tell her that he would be loath to have anyone else this close to him, anyone who is not her. After the area is cleaned to her satisfaction, she trades the cloth for the bandages and begins wrapping them around his shoulder, a feat that requires her to lean in close to him. Her breath buffets against his ear and her cold hands brush against his skin.

“Jude,” he whispers.

She does not look at him, only raises a brow as she focuses on wrapping the bandage. “Hm?”

“Jude,” he repeats, this time lower.

She relents, and glances at him—only to quickly refocus on her work. “What?” she asks, even though she already knows what he is going to say. So he does not say it, and instead, elects to lean forward to press a kiss to her right shoulder. “Cardan.” She sounds a little exasperated. “If you keep distracting me, this will never get done.”

It takes a great deal of willpower for Cardan to lean back once more. “As you wish.”

Jude frowns, but her gaze softens and she says, “I’m not saying no, but I am saying not right at this moment.”

“I do wish this moment would go faster, then.”

Jude rolls her eyes in a loving manner and wraps the bandage around twice more before snipping the excess with the scissors. Something glints in her eyes as she glances back at him, and, setting down the bandage roll, she moves to stand between his legs and tilts his jaw up with the scissor blades. “I have a sense of deja vu.” She grins mischievously.

Cardan’s smile matches her own, and he leans forward, the dull blade pushing against his throat. “Funny how we find ourselves in these situations.” A beat. “Not that I’m complaining.”

Jude leans down, their lips inches away. Cardan waits for her to close the distance, as she had the first time they found themselves in a similar position. Just as she is about to press their lips together, the door bursts open.

“I knew it,” a self-satisfied voice says from the doorway.

Jude whips the scissors from under Cardan’s chin and points them menacingly at the intruder, and Cardan is not so sure she won’t use them. When Jude realizes who it is, she releases a frustrated groan. “Vivi, we’re busy.”

“I can see that.”

“No, not like—”

“You don’t have to explain anything to me.” Vivi gives her a knowing look. “Just finish up; Heather is almost done making breakfast.” With that, Vivi leaves, shutting the door behind her.

Jude sighs through her nose and none-too-gently sets the scissors back on the vanity counter.

Cardan would have laughed if he hadn’t thought doing so would make matters worse. “Come, my darling Jude, let us indulge them with our presence.”

“But—”

Cardan stands and slips back into his shirt. “I promise that I will not forget where we left off,” he placates, “but the sooner we return to Elfhame, the sooner we can resume. In private.”

Jude seems mollified with this and relents, following him out of the bathroom. Oak is on the couch when they return, and Vivi is helping Heather carry paper plates over to the living area.

“How did the hunt go?” Heather asks them when they are all seated around the coffee table with plates in hand.

Cardan inspects the thin, floppy bread covered in amber liquid and takes a hesitant bite. He is getting more used to mortal food as the days go on, and finds each new food more interesting than the last.

“Cardan decided he was going to get himself killed today,” Jude says wryly, throwing a smug look in Cardan’s direction.

“So that’s what took you so long; you were patching him up,” Heather realizes.

Vivi snorts. “That’s not what it looked like to me.”

Jude kicks her sister’s leg with her own—a difficult feat, considering they are both sitting on the ground.

“What?” Vivi laughs, though she quickly sobers. “But other than that, you two are okay, right?”

“Okay as one can be when a witch vows revenge on you for one of your father’s misdeeds,” Cardan responds with a flourish of his coffee mug, and takes a long draught of the dark and bitter liquid.

Oak has already finished eating and is watching a cartoon play out on the television. Two characters—a boy and a girl—stand in what looks to be a cave. The boy has a scar on the side of his face, and the girl reaches up to cup it with her hand. The scene reminds Cardan of the stories Aslog had told him, of the one he had given her in return. And just when it looks like something might happen between the two, they are interrupted, and Cardan finds he relates to this mortal show more than he could have thought.

“Jude and I are going to pay a visit to Madoc before we depart for Elfhame,” he says, focusing back on the present conversation.

Oak’s gaze snaps to his. “You’re going to see mom and dad?”

Cardan nods, and Oak turns his attention to Vivi. “Can I go? Please, Vivi?” And then, in a small voice, “I miss mom.”

“No.” Vivi’s tone leaves no room for discussion, but once she sees Oak’s pleading face, her gaze softens a fraction. “I would feel better if you did not see them quite yet.”

“But—”

“Oak,” Vivi says. “This trip is for Jude. You can see them some other time.”

Cardan suspects that Vivi simply is not yet ready to give up Oak’s relative safety. He knows that she still harbors a deep hatred for her father, and is reluctant to let her younger brother out of her sight. He doesn’t blame her; he does not trust Madoc, either.

“We will take you with us next time, okay?” Jude placates.

Oak frowns, but nods nonetheless. The conversation quickly turns to a new coffee shop that had opened up the week prior, much to Heather’s excitement. She talks about how they should all try it out, but Cardan cannot help but frown down at his pancakes, or so they are called. He remembers keenly what it is like to miss one’s parents, and he does not wish that feeling on Oak.

But Vivi is right—this is for Jude. Even so, he must remind himself that Oak is the center of attention in Vivi’s household; he is loved and cared for, more than Cardan ever was. Surely, Oak will be fine if he does not see his parents for another week or two. The thought mullifies him enough to refocus on the present.

. . .

It is not until later, when Cardan and Jude are walking to Madoc’s mansion in lieu of ragwort steeds—a necessity, Jude says, because they would attract unwanted attention—that he asks her why she wants to visit her foster-father. Jude takes a moment to piece her thoughts together.

“I suppose I want to know if he hates me,” she says finally.

He is not sure what to say to that, so he takes her hand instead. She glances up at him, and in her eyes he sees so many things, so many impossible yet wonderful things. He sees their time at the palace academy together, sees how they hated each other. He sees the moment that she began to hate him less, and the ones that followed, the ones that made them grow closer and closer and closer until they are here. He sees himself in her eyes, and he wonders what she sees in his.

He knows that they will get through his together, and she seems to realize it, too. She squeezes his hand, and faces the path ahead as they walk up the drive to the estate.

Madoc’s abode is a symbol of the High Queen’s generosity. It resembles his estate in Faerie, with expansive grounds that lead into the forest. There is a thin veil of magic surrounding the place, glamoured to hide every inhuman aspect. However, not even magic can hide the otherworldly nature in the grounds.

Jude hesitates before the front door. Her eyes dart to Cardan’s, then to the side, then back the way they had come as if she is deliberating leaving. Cardan frowns, and takes her hand in his. She jumps at the contact, having been lost in her own thoughts, as startled eyes find his own once more.

“You will be fine,” Cardan says softly, making sure that she holds his gaze. “He can’t hurt you.”

Jude leans forward, until her forehead is pressed against his chest. “Yes,” she says, “he can.”

He realizes then, that even now, when Jude has risen above Madoc in rank and power, she still seeks Madoc’s approval. She still wishes that he would bestow a kind word on her, wishes he would tell her how proud he is. And try as Cardan might to provide that for her, the only person she wants adulation from is the one man she believes will never forgive her.

As Cardan is about to speak, the door to Madoc’s estate opens to reveal a faerie servant without either of them having knocked. It is no shock to him that Madoc would have known they were there already; though he may never wield another weapon, he still has a legion of spies at his disposal.

Cardan looks to Jude, whose eyes are still on his face, and conveys everything he wants to say.

We can go back, he offers silently. It is your choice. It is always your choice.

Jude seems to understand his unspoken words, for she simply nods her head once, twice. Rolls her shoulders back, straightens her spine. She will not break nor will she bend, not in front of her foster-father. And then, without preamble, she walks through the threshold and into Madoc’s abode.

Cardan dutifully follows his wife as the servant—a faerie with iridescent wings and beady black eyes—leads the way through the long and narrow entrance hall to the back of the house, where they exit through a side door and out into the gardens. Rose bushes line the estate, while different types of flowers are interspersed throughout. It is nowhere near the grandiose gardens of the palace, but it is charming in its own right.

The servant doesn’t spare them a glance, and heads back the way they had come, leaving Jude and Cardan alone in the gardens, surrounded by bushes of honeysuckle and hydrangeas. The sweet aroma of the flowers fills the air as Cardan peers through the towering arches of vines and walls of flowers in search of Madoc.

However, instead of the former Grand General, he spies his wife, first. Not a ways off, Oriana instructs servants on which flowers to cut from a bush of pink roses. Her countenance, while usually grim, is content. Though Cardan would never make the mistake of assuming that Oriana is happy in the mortal world—and away from Oak, for that matter—he does believe that the distance from the political intrigue of the Court has done her good. She appears enlivened, and more at ease than he has ever known her to be.

Madoc, however, is a different situation entirely. The former general stands beyond the gardens toward the edge of his lands, facing the deep wood with his back to them. Perhaps he is picturing his escape or return to Faerie, perhaps he misses his home so much it hurts. But Cardan cannot find it in himself to care, not when this man waged war against him and his wife and his people.

This is for Jude, he reminds himself. This visit is supposed to give her closure.

Jude turns to him, mouth in a determined line. Cardan reaches up and smoothes out a crease on her brow with a finger. “Do you want me to accompany you?”

She deliberates for a moment, but finally replies, “No. I will see him alone first.”

Cardan nods and presses a chaste kiss to her lips. He will support her no matter what. Though he cannot say he isn’t relieved she wants her space with Madoc; if Cardan had indeed gone with her to confront the man, then he is sure that it would not be a pleasant scenario. Despite the fact that Madoc came into his home and challenged his rule in front of his people, Cardan is more upset by the former general’s treatment of Jude.

Despite Madoc challenging Cardan’s rule—and therefore her rule—his wife had spent weeks following her foster-father’s banishment as a bundle of nerves. Though she made a valiant attempt to hide it, Cardan had seen right through her façade. Though he might be a traitor, Jude still cares for the man more than she would ever admit aloud.

With a parting glance, Jude picks her way through the winding gardens, steering clear of Oriana. Cardan has no doubt that both Madoc and Oriana know of their arrival, but neither make the first move. It is only when Jude has reached her foster father, does he turn around.

Madoc dips his head slightly to his daughter, the only acknowledgement he will give to her authority. Cardan can sense Jude’s nerves from here, and watches as she opens her mouth to speak. When nothing comes out, she closes it, and turns her face away. Madoc hesitates, his body tensing up, before slowly and painfully reaching up to brush his knuckles along her cheek.

Cardan suddenly feels as if he is looking in on a private moment between a daughter and her father, and instead, makes his way over to Oriana. The woman looks up at him as he approaches, and sweeps into a deep bow. The servants follow suit before quickly flitting away.

“What brings you to the mortal realm?” Oriana asks, albeit with a small amount of distaste.

Cardan merely shrugs. “Business.” It is one way to put it, anyway. But he can tell that is not what Oriana is asking. He sighs. Squints at the pair in the distance. Says, “Closure.”

Oriana nods in understanding. “I see.” She shifts her stance and, after a moment, asks, “How is he?”

He knows who she is referring to. “Oak seems to be adapting to this realm quite well. He says he has many friends from school.”

Which was more than Cardan ever had while he was attending the palace academy. The closest thing he had had to friends was a pack of gentry children who partook in violence to amuse themselves. They had cared more about power and Cardan’s access to it than they cared about him. Not one person had ever preferred him over his title, but Jude had been the first to look past that and truly see him. And while she might have hated him at first, she had become his wife and queen despite it.

Cardan glances at the pair standing out in the field again. At one time, he had been envious of Jude; after all, she had a father who loved her and her sisters, while Cardan had been forced to sleep in the stables and grovel for attention. Now, however, he is only thankful that Jude had grown up with a life that was better than his had been.

Oriana gives a noncommittal hum. “Does he miss me?”

“Yes,” Cardan says, thinking of how Oak had pleaded to come with them. “He misses you very much.”

A sad smile breaks out over her face, and she turns to watch Madoc and Jude in the distance. They are silent for another moment, until she speaks once more.

“May I speak freely?” she asks tentatively.

Cardan nods, once.

Oriana purses her lips before saying, “I did not believe you would be good for her, at first.”

Cardan gives an undignified snort. Not even he believes he is good enough for his Jude, so it comes as no surprise to him to find out he is not the only one.

“But now . . .” Oriana trials off, searching for words. Madoc and Jude are conversing in the distance, and Jude does not seem as tense as she was a few moments ago. “Now, however, I believe that you two are a perfect match. A balance.”

Cardan meets Oriana’s eyes and blinks at the sincerity in them. “You do?”

She nods. “I see the way she looks at you.” A small smile graces her lips. “Once upon a time, I did not think she would ever find a love match. She is much too. . . .”

“Exhilarating, ferocious, terrifying?” Cardan fills in, his eyes on Jude as she begins to walk with Madoc toward them. He can feel Oriana assessing him, but he does not turn.

“Yes,” she replies after a moment, giving him an odd look. “But it seems I was mistaken. It seems as though you two balance each other out.”

“Yes, it would appear so.”

Cardan is about to make his way toward Jude to meet her halfway, when Oriana stops him.

“Your majesty,” she starts, and only continues when Cardan turns to face her. “I have a request.”

He nods for her to go on, though she hesitates. She swallows, glances off to the side. When she returns her gaze to him, she says very softly, “Could you request Vivienne to give some thought into letting me see Oak?”

Cardan frowns. “I am not sure if Vivi is ready for that.” At Oriana’s downcast expression, he adds, “But I will see what can be done.”

She glances back up at him with a grateful smile. “Thank you,” she says, bowing low. When she rises, her gaze goes past him.

Cardan turns and comes face to face with Madoc. The former Grand General is wearing a white t-shirt and jeans and if this visit was not so important to Jude, Cardan would have laughed out of the sheer absurdity of it. Madoc’s green countenance is focused on him, and Cardan has just enough sense to feel slightly uncomfortable. Perhaps Madoc is willing to die in order to get his revenge, if it means he can kill Cardan.

Just when Cardan opens his mouth to diffuse the tension, Jude says, “Madoc has invited us to stay for dinner.”

Cardan blinks. Surely the former general’s pride is wounded by their sheer presence?

But it appears that Madoc wants to make amends. At least, that is what Jude whispers to him as they stroll the gardens together. Madoc and Oriana are preparing for the meal inside, giving Jude and Cardan time to talk things over.

“I thought he would be angry,” Jude says, brows furrowed in confusion, “but he told me that he could not fault me for my bravery.” She smiles, then, remembering their conversation. “He told me that he should have expected this—I am his daughter, after all.”

Cardan matches her grin and reaches down to hold her hand. “I assume your conversation went well?”

“Better than I could have imagined, actually.” She sighs in relief. “I am glad that he does not hate me.”

“He loves you.”

“Yes, but I also betrayed him and stole his chance at becoming king.” She frowns.

Cardan stops, to which Jude follows suit. “If anything, he most likely respects you more now than he ever has. You have shown him that you were meant for this.”

Jude snorts. “You don’t think he wishes now that he had agreed to let me become a knight back before I get involved with Dain’s spies?”

“You would have made a good knight,” Cardan admits, “but you make an even better queen. I think Madoc can see that.”

“Maybe,” she relents. “Still. It is not like him to be this forgiving. Inviting us to dine with him?” She shakes her head. “I do not know what to think.”

Cardan tucks a stray strand of hair behind her ear and tilts her chin up so that she meets his eyes. “Then stop. Stop thinking.” Her brow furrows, and she opens her mouth to respond, but he does not let her. “Just enjoy this, my darling Jude. Not everything is a revenge scheme. Sometimes, people just do things because they want to.”

Jude nods, and they continue their walk. “If this backfires and he challenges either of us to a duel, it is on you.”

“Hopefully I will not turn into a snake this time,” Cardan says, grinning. Jude shoves him halfheartedly, which only makes his smile widen.

#high queen jude writes #my fic #my fanfic #1k follower celebration #thank you all so much #seriously I can't believe you all like this blog that much??#I'm honored #truly #hopefully you enjoyed my humble offering :)#jurdan #Jude duarte #cardan greenbriar #Jude Duarte x cardan greenbriar #Jude x cardan #madoc #vivi x heather #oak greenbriar

33 notes · View notes

vivithefolle · 4 years ago

Note

Vivi, was the Harry and Ron fight in GoF both neutrally their fault???

Again, I will copy-paste a Quora answer of mine...

Both were in the wrong and both were in the right.

It takes two to argue, and it’s pretty hypocritical of everyone else to claim that Ron “should’ve known better” when even Dumblegoddamndore wasn’t even aware of the fact that the Goblet could get Confunded in the first place!!

How is Ron supposed to figure out that the Goblet has been tinkered with when it’s never happened ever before?

Ron is right to want Harry to be fully truthful with him - even though people are allowed to have secrets, here Ron was visibly distressed by the situation so Harry could’ve come clear about Voldemort’s involvement.

“Listen,” said Harry, “I didn’t put my name in the goblet. Someone else must’ve done it.”

Ron raised his eyebrows.

“What would they do that for?”

“I dunno,” said Harry. He felt it would sound very melodramatic to say, “To kill me.”

*sighs* Harry, people have been planning to kill you for three years now and you’ve always told your friends straightaway. Why is this time different? What makes it melodramatic this time and this time only?

I don’t think that Ron thought Voldemort could be behind Harry’s name finding itself in the Goblet. And I also think that he would have stopped being stubborn eventually - we actually see it, Ron’s attempt at reconciliation, before the first task:

Harry heard a tiny pop! in the fire behind him and knew Sirius had gone. He watched the bottom of the spiral staircase. Who had decided to go for a stroll at one o’clock in the morning, and stopped Sirius from telling him how to get past a dragon?

Well sorry to inform you Harry but it’s called a common room for a reason

It was Ron. Dressed in his maroon paisley pajamas, Ron stopped dead facing Harry across the room, and looked around.

“Who were you talking to?” he said.

Smol ginger bean worrying for his best friend and platonic soulmate in the dead of the night, exhibit A

“What’s that got to do with you?” Harry snarled. “What are you doing down here at this time of night?”

“I just wondered where you –“ Ron broke off, shrugging. “Nothing. I’m going back to bed.”

Melodramatic angsty teenager is Too Offended For Rational Thought, #1

Smol ginger bean worrying for his best friend and platonic soulmate in the dead of the night, exhibit B - attempt at reaching out failed, but is duly noted

“Just thought you’d come nosing around, did you?” Harry shouted. He knew that Ron had no idea what he’d walked in on, he knew he hadn’t done it on purpose, but he didn’t care – at this moment he hated everything about Ron, right down to the several inches of bare ankle showing beneath his pajama trousers.

Melodramatic angsty teenager is Too Offended For Rational Thought, #2 - rare moment of self-awareness, tragically lost to hormones

“Sorry about that,” said Ron, his face reddening with anger. “Should’ve realized you didn’t want to be disturbed. I’ll let you get on with practicing for your next interview in peace.”

Question: How do I de-escalate the drama between my best friend and I?

Answer: Not by doing this

(gotta say though, if Harry’d not been an arse it wouldn’t have happened buuut teenagers and their emotions, yknow)

Harry seized one of the POTTER REALLY STINKS badges off the table and chucked it, as hard as he could, across the room. It hit Ron on the forehead and bounced off.

Man, Harry and Hermione really like throwing stuff at Ron, don’t they? It’s almost as if this whole “Ron is a violent abuser” argument is just projecting the flaws of a character you like better onto a character you dislike because you feel uncomfortable acknowledging the flaws of a character you possibly identify with. Oosh!

“There you go,” Harry said. “Something for you to wear on Tuesday. You might even have a scar now, if you’re lucky… That’s what you want, isn’t it?”

HARRY JAMES POTFUXXER DON’T YOU EVEN FREAKING GO THERE YOU LIL B-

Here is my opinion on the thing: Ron doesn’t envy Harry his LIFE!

Ron KNOWS! Ron knows what Harry’s life is like! Ron’s rescued Harry from the Dursleys, do you think he’s forgotten about the bars on the windows or the dozens locks on the door? Ron knows and that’s NOT what he envies Harry!

What he envies is Harry’s financial security! The knowledge that you have money to rely on! That if anything goes to crap you can afford to stay in a decent room somewhere! The knowledge that you’ll have food to make a meal with! Those are things Ron can’t take for granted because he doesn’t have them!

… Okay I went on a tangent - the point is - Ron doesn’t want to be Harry! He’d like to be famous and celebrated (what little kid hasn’t?), but it’s the financial security he is really envious of.

He strode across the room toward the stairs; he half expected Ron to stop him, he would even have liked Ron to throw a punch at him,

*waggles eyebrows* kinky

but Ron just stood there in his too-small pajamas, and Harry having stormed upstairs, lay awake in bed fuming for a long time afterward and didn’t hear him come up to bed.

Wanna bet that Ron spent that night mentally abusing himself over being an arse to Harry and whether or not he is “worthy” of being Harry’s friend?

Essentially:

Ron is right for wanting Harry to tell him what really happened.

Harry is wrong for expecting Ron to know everything as though Ron was actually present at the scene.

Ron is wrong to not trust Harry when the latter tells him he hasn’t put his name in the goblet - although some skepticism is healthy, here Harry repeated a few times that he hadn’t put his name in, so Ron shouldn’t have doubted it so much.

Harry is right to be miffed at Ron for not believing him - though he could have been a bit more open with the actual reason why his name came out of the goblet.

As an anecdote, that fight has always bugged me because it doesn’t really make sense to have Ron suddenly distrust Harry and I mostly blame it on Rowling needing to show us how Ron is “what Harry’ll miss the most” and what better way to do this than to take away Harry’s Wheezy for a while - but I’ve found an alternative explanation that actually fits in Ron’s characterization as a whole.

This is the year right after Ron discovered that his beloved pet he’d sheltered and slept next to was actually a murderer and a traitor to boot. In real life, that kind of betrayal can absolutely destroy a person’s ability to trust others, and the damage might never fade.

So here’s my explanation: the reveal of Scabbers’ true identity affected Ron more than he let on and it took a stupid argument with Harry for it to come to life, before the argument gets solved and Ron can separate what happened with Scabbers from Harry’s secrecy over the Goblet.

#vivi answers #ask #ron weasley #ron weasley defense squad #ron weasley defence squad #harry potter #hermione granger #harry potter series #hp meta #peter pettigrew #scabbers #harry potter and the goblet of fire #goblet of fire

47 notes · View notes

cartooness · 4 years ago

Text

Mystery March Day 10: Mistake (Her Name?)

Alright my dudes: I know. Tis I, Cartooness, posting a ficlet of sorts. Which I never do lmao.

BUT!

I had ideas OWOWOWOWOWOW

Warning this portrays Mystery in a negative light so if that’s not ya jam, go ahead and skip.

**I START HERE, I’M USING THE READ MORE FOR A DIFFERENT TIME >:3**

SO @nemesis-is-my-middle-name and I were chatting and this is what came out of it XD

In my AU (that’s where my Lavender Grey character comes from lol), since I first made it I thought “omg what if Mystery was like. ‘Afraid’ or just weary of her because of how powerful she is” but now that The Future is out, I’m all “holy fucking shit what if Mystery is almost *jealous* of her because the gang doesn’t want him around her”. They say it’s for her sake (but it’s also for their sake) because they don’t want her to be scared.

He’s both [weary and jealous of Lavender], he’s all “okay. This girl comes LITERALLY out of nowhere and I’m glad they’re giving her a place to stay, she is a child. But this is a very powerful child, one that overwhelmingly outranks me in that field. Why aren’t they afraid of her? Why is it ME that they’re keeping her away from?”

I guess he knows what he’s done in the past was shitty, but he doesn’t know why this random ass kid owns their heart now when he’s the one who was there first. Ya know, like an asshole.

I wanna say that he makes her cry because he just lets all the negativity loose and he’s caught mid rant by ARTHUR.

So. Mystery has basically been fending for himself for a little while, no big deal. Except he can't stop thinking about that damned girl. What has she done for them? How has she won them all over so easily? Only Lewis was the type to be soft for children, but Arthur? VIVI? Being parental figures? The world has gone mad.

He saw them time to time in that mansion of Lewis's, and they all looked so happy without him. Vivi hadn't seemed to be going on missions anymore, which was beyond shocking. Why not, that child is so powerful any threats would back off if they had a single brain cell.

Not to mention Shiromori was now on the girl's side; he spotted her occasionally checking up on her and putting small blooms in her hair, typically while she slept. It made the child look more innocent than she actually was in his eyes. He remembered when he was the one getting flower gifts and such when Shiromori was on his side. And with a protector like her, the child was practically untouchable.

Mystery flirted with the idea of that girl getting hurt and them coming back to him for help. But he didn't let himself ponder too long, that would be cruel. But he couldn't help but think about it.

What *would* happen if harm came her way?

Would they mourn her if such a fate could happen?

Would they come crying back to him?

Or would they blame him for a tragedy he didn't cause. They just *loved* to blame him.

...

He couldn't stop himself anymore. He trotted his way to that stupid little happy home and sniffed out what room belonged to the girl, the unmistakable scent of raw power and flowers filling the air. He peered into her window, in his dog form, and lo and behold she was there. He yanked the window open and sat on her bed, not caring about getting that sickeningly "cute" comforter dirty with his mud covered paws.

"Oh! It's you, Mystery. Can... I help you?" She was a bit puzzled as to what he needed her for, she thought he was fine being on his own.

Actually my dear, you can.

"Oh?-"

Get out of their lives. You don't deserve anything they've given you.

Her pupils shrunk, taken aback from his remark. "Did I do something wrong? I don't-"

Don't play stupid with me, girl. You are the reason I'm not allowed to be with them anymore, that I've been scorned to never return. You just barged your way into their lives, into MY life and took everything I've worked so hard for away. They're so worried about their 'little princess' that they don’t realize how damn DANGEROUS you are!

Don't they feel that power you possess? Aren't they afraid of you?

She looked like he ripped her gut out, her eyes welling with tears, irises ever so slightly tinting blue with sadness.

Don't you DARE cry, he growled, you won't get a drop of pity out of me.

"Mystery”, she started, sniffling as she tried to speak, “please tell me-"

I'M ALREADY TELLING YOU, YOU IDIOT! HOW STUPID CAN YOU BE? YOU RUINED EVERYTHING FOR ME AND YOU’RE ACTING LIKE YOU DESERVE THIS LOVING LITTLE FAMILY? WELL YOU DON'T. *I'M* THE ONE WHO PROTECTED THEM, *I'M* THE ONE WHO KEPT THEM OUT OF HARM'S WAY, THEN YOU SHOW UP AND RIP IT ALL AWAY!!

WHAT ARE YOUR INTENTIONS? WHY DO YOU ACT LIKE YOU'RE HARMLESS? NOBODY WITH POWERS LIKE YOURS STAY IDLE. WHERE DID YOU EVEN COME FROM?! I KNOW YOU'RE NOT HUMAN, SO DON'T TRY AND LIE TO ME. YOU THINK YOU'RE *SO* SPECIAL DON'T YOU?

She was sobbing now, eyes visibly baby blue and tears running down her face.

FOR GOD'S SAKE, SHUT UP WITH ALL THAT CRYING AND-

"Mystery if you don't leave right now I SWEAR I will chop every God forsaken tail of yours off."

Shit.

A-Arthur I-

"Why the fuck are you here? What made you think you were welcome?" His fatherly instinct had kicked in as soon he heard noise from his child’s room and ran over in an instant.

"Lav, baby, go to the bathroom” he started with a kiss to her nose, “so you can go wash your face. I have some business to finish", directing his gaze towards the intruder.

I'm here to open your eyes, Arthur. What has she accomplished while I was gone? What’s been going on with you... five? It seems her army grows every day.

"That is PATHETIC, Mystery."

What is? I'm just stating-

"I don't give a shit about your opinion, you broke into a child's room and you're YELLING AT HER because what, you're fucking....”

He pondered why Mystery was here spreading grief. They did tell him to piss off so that Lav wouldn’t be in danger, and honestly they didn’t need to be so stressed with him in the house all the time either. It’s not a good idea to welcome back a recently possessed kitsune into their home when they were all recovering from the trauma he inflicted. Old and new...

New... is he...

“Are you,,, jealous of her?" he asked, tone on the verge of shock.

Good lord, this boy.

Arthur, I am here because I care and I worry about you, Lewis, and Vivi. And it concerns me that you've thrown all my help away for some MUTT that doesn't belong-

"GET THE FUCK OUT!" Arthur shouted, trembling and trying not to scream so he wouldn’t scare Lav a few doors down.

I will NOT, I'm not done yet-

"YES YOU FUCKING ARE.”

The look of pain and anger was so clear on his face, and Mystery shut his mouth instantly.

"YOU *ARE* DONE BECAUSE YOU JUST RUINED THE VERY MINISCULE CHANCE WE WERE GOING TO GIVE YOU TO PROPERLY MEET HER. YOU’VE MADE ONE TOO MANY MISTAKES."

His voice was cracking, he wasn’t the type to do all... this. Just how much had this girl influenced them?

Arthur, please-

As if on cue, Lavender returned from the bathroom. "Mr. Arthur, am I in trouble?” She asked, big brown eyes looking up at him. “Mystery kept telling me that I did something wrong by being here and it didn't make sense to me."

"What exactly did he tell you, love?" he asked, eyebrows slightly softening just for her.

Oh FUCK. ((A/N: YEAH U DONE FUCKED UP YOU ASS))

She looked almost scared to answer; she was aware the kitsune could be merciless, and didn’t want to be attacked in the mansion Lewis had worked so hard on. Mystery was so angry at her and she didn’t understand why.

"Well... he told me that I ruined his life because I guess I took his place or something. He said I'm dangerous because I'm more powerful than him, and.. he said mean things about me in general.”

Arthur’s metal hand flew up, ready to attack.

“Mr. Arthur! W-what are you doing?-"

And Arthur hit Mystery as hard as he could.

There was an excruciating scream of pain, one that caused Lewis and Vivi to abandon the groceries they were bringing in to see all the commotion.

ARTHUR, YOU BASTARD! WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR?!

"YOU MADE MY CHILD CRY BECAUSE YOU HAD YOUR PETTY FEELINGS HURT? FOR SOMETHING SHE NEVER DID? YOU HAD THE GOD DAMN *BALLS* TO BREAK IN, YELL INSULTS AT A KID, MAKE HER CRY, AND THINK THAT YOU WERE IN THE RIGHT?"

Lewis rushed over, trying to calm his boyfriend down. "Arthur, mi amor, what- MYSTERY?! How did HE get here?!”

S h i t.

Vivi felt her heart drop to her feet at the mention of her ‘dog’s’ name. "WHAT IS HE DOING HERE? I THOUGHT WE KICKED HIM OUT!" she exclaimed, her stomach filling with dread.

Lewis, Vivi, if you just let me EXPLAIN-

Arthur almost made a hole in the wall with the pound of his fist. "So this little FUCKER broke into Lav's room to yell at her because she lives with us and he wasn't invited. I come over to see who's in her room yelling at her, and she's crying uncontrollably while he keeps going at her, spewing a bunch of BULLSHIT, and he thinks he can explain himself and why he's in the right."

"....what?" said Lewis and Vivi, shocked by Mystery's audacity.

Lav started to cry again, thinking she would be punished for this, and Lewis quickly pulled her into his embrace. "Mi florecita preciosa, you did nothing wrong-"

REALLY LEWIS? Mystery growled, feeling patronized, especially as Lewis tightened his grip. SHE'S NOT A BABY-

"Shut your snout right now", snapped Vivi. "Get the fuck out of our house and you BETTER not come back. You have ONE chance to apologize to her and that's it."

Can I come back if I do?

"YOU DON'T DESERVE TO COME BACK" growled Arthur, his flesh hand placed gently on Lav's head and his metal one pointing at Mystery, Lewis glaring so hard it could kill.

Nobody was on his side, and the look on the girl’s face almost made him feel bad.

Almost.

Very well then. I'll be on my way and hope that your ignorance won’t become your downfall.

"Hey Mystery, one more thing", Lewis started. "If you ever come back with bad intentions, we will kill you ourselves. I swear on anything and everything that you will not come here with a DROP of malice towards her. Do I make myself clear? And don’t you dare try and act smart, we are giving you a LOT of mercy when you don't deserve it."

...then I bid farewell. What is her name?

"My name is Lavender Grey."

Thank you. Goodbye, Miss Lavender Grey.

#mystery skulls #mystery skulls animated #cartooness writes sometimes #I HOPE Y'ALL ENJOY OWOWOW #IF U HAVE QUESTIONS MY ASKBOX IS ALWAYS OPEN!!!!!!!!!#mystery #lavender grey #arthur kingsmen #vivi yukino #lewis pepper #shiromori is in here for like 5 seconds

14 notes · View notes

distractedhistotech · 4 years ago

Text

Lewis Joins the Gang (Again)

As usual, Arthur was the first to wake up. He felt like he’d taken too much pain medication before going to bed and…there was something on top of him that was not Vivi or Mystery. It felt smooth and warm. He sat up. “What.” He stared at the pile of purple ghosts covering him, Vivi, and Mystery. On a purple bed. In…a large room. It looked like the entrance room of a mansion.

Wait, wait, wait…He was starting to remember. “Uh, ghost guy, you there?” Arthur started shaking Vivi. “Hey, hey, Vivi. Wake up. Something crazy. And ghosty. And maybe cursy. And I think you’ll need to drive today.” He picked up one of the Deadbeats. “Why are you not scaring me?”

Vivi groaned. “Five more minutes.”

“You are literally covered in ghosts,” Arthur said as he attached his prosthetic.

Vivi almost immediately shot up. “Oh my gosh! They’re so cute!” She started scratching one on the top of its head. “Yes, you are, yes you are.” She paused. “Hey, where are we?”

“Haunted house,” replied Arthur.

Vivi blinked. “Huh. Why don’t I remember that?”

“Ghost guy said…” Arthur paused and looked around. “Actually, where is he?” One of the ghosts popped up holding a pretty blue heart with orange filigree all over it. “Huh. Why does that seem familiar?”

“Hm…” Vivi picked up the heart. “Why is the color-”

Vivi was interrupted when purple fire shot out of the heart and formed a familiar ghost. Well, familiar to Arthur anyway. “Hey, ghost guy.”

Lewis blinked. “Uh, hey.”

“Whoa! You look so cool!” crowed Vivi.

Lewis blushed a little. “R-really?”

“Yeah, the suit, and the skull, and the fire, it’s awesome!” said Vivi. She frowned. “Uh, did you do something to our memories?”

Lewis quickly held his hands up. “Not on purpose! I tried to introduce myself, but whenever I said my name, you passed out and forgot stuff!”

Vivi frowned. “Maybe it’s a safeguard? Knowing someone’s true name can give you power over them…”

“But I really wanted to tell you my name!” protested Lewis.

“And we appreciate that, but given the side effects, you probably shouldn’t,” mused Vivi.

“And-and there was that other thing,” said Lewis. “See?” Lewis put his glamour back on. “This is supposed to be what I looked like when I was alive, and that’s what I see when I look in the mirror, but Artie said that’s not what I look like!”

Both humans winced. “Oof, yeah, that’s not a human face,” agreed Vivi. “Could you…” Lewis dropped the glamour. “Thanks. Okay, that makes less sense. Glamours are specifically for blending in.” Vivi hummed in thought for several moments. “This could take a while to figure out…But we need to get to Techno Con.”

Lewis blinked. “Techno Con?”

“I’ve got a booth there to show off my prosthetics,” explained Arthur. “And I’m hoping to pick up a few new things myself.”

“Oh, congratulations,” said Lewis as an idea started to occur to him. “But…Maybe…If it’s a not a problem, I could go with you. Then you’d have plenty of time to figure out what’s wrong.”

Arthur’s mouth fell open in shock and nervousness. Vivi thought a moment. “That’s a tempting offer, but I have some concerns.” She pointed at Arthur. “Firstly, Arthur has to agree.”

Lewis nodded. “Of course.”

“Secondly, how do we know you won’t try to kill us or drain our energy?” pointed out Vivi.

“I could’ve done that while you were sleeping,” pointed out Lewis. He paused. “Not that I would!”

“Hm…” Vivi nodded. “Good point. Secondly, why would you want to come with us? Most ghosts are tethered to a place.”

Lewis winced. “I didn’t want to stay there.”

Vivi winced. “Ah. Sorry.”

“And…I was lonely,” admitted Lewis. “I don’t want to be alone.”

“What about these guys?” asked Arthur, holding up a chirping Deadbeat.

“The Deadbeats are more like cats. I can talk to them, but they don’t give me a response,” explained Lewis. “They are my friends, and they helped me stay sane, but I missed being able to talk to people.” Especially these people.

“Bit of an unusual motive, but I can believe it,” commented Vivi. “But why us, haven’t you run into other people before?”

“I’ve only been dead for a few months.” At least Lewis thought it was months. He hadn’t been able to keep track of time during his trek to civilization. “And I kind of died in the middle of nowhere, and it turns out it can take a while to find a road if you don’t have a map or compass.”

“I think I saw an episode of Mythbusters about that,” commented Arthur.

Vivi nodded. “Okay, you want friends, but if you haven’t been dead that long, wouldn’t it make more sense to return home where your friends and family are? Or are you worried about how they’ll react?” she asked.

“Oh, I actually was on my way home,” said Lewis. “I just ran into you first, and I figured I could hitch a ride with you since I’m from Tempo too.”

“How do you know we’re from Tempo?” asked Arthur.

“You guys are kind of infamous. I wouldn’t be surprised if everyone in town knew who you were,” explained Lewis.

“True, random strangers will walk up to me and ask me tips about ghosts and stuff,” agreed Vivi. “What about you? Any chance we’ve ever met before.”

Lewis perked up. “Yeah! I was a chef at Pepper Paradiso!”

Arthur frowned. “Pepper Paradiso’s a restaurant?” he asked in confusion.

“Yeah, it serves pretty spicy food so you wouldn’t like it,” said Vivi. It was why she’d never taken him there for a date.

“Huh? You’ve both been there plenty of times though,” said Lewis.

“Nah, I can’t stand spicy food,” said Arthur. “If it’s mostly spicy stuff I’d avoid it.”

Oh, this was so much worse than Lewis had thought. “A-And we went to the same high school!”

“Were we in the same grade?” asked Arthur.

“Uh, I was in the grade below you,” said Lewis.

“Then you might be in some of our yearbooks,” reasoned Arthur. “Of course we don’t exactly carry those around.”

“Ugh, yeah, and it’s probably been long enough that you can’t look at it online,” muttered Lewis. “I went to Tome Tomb all the time…Why don’t either of you remember me…” Lewis finished sadly.

“Well, in one’s day-to-day life you don’t remember every single person you run into,” pointed out Arthur.

“I’m seven feet tall though!” shouted Lewis, getting frustrated. “I stood out like a sore thumb!”

“Okay, yeah, that’d be pretty memorable,” agreed Arthur. “You’d think we’d remember someone like that.”

“Hm…You know, I don’t remember anyone talking about a chef at Pepper Paradiso going missing,” mused Vivi. “I wonder if any memories were erased from everyone’s minds.”

The thought was so horrifying that Lewis could just stare at them in horror.

“Whoa, that’s a bit of a big leap!” pointed out Arthur. “I mean it’s weird neither of us have heard about a local giant, but we might just be clueless. Heck, maybe we could call home and ask while we’re traveling.”

“True,” agreed Vivi. “Although even if that’s wrong, I’d like to help this guy. Something really odd is going on with him.”

Arthur bit his lip and studied the nervous looking Lewis. He weighed the pros and cons. He sighed. “If you can’t disguise yourself, you can’t really go out in public. You okay with that?”

“Well, I could turn invisible,” pointed out Lewis, doing so for a moment to prove that was a thing he could do. “If I didn’t let other people know I was around, would that be all right?”

Arthur thought for a moment before sighing. “As long as you let us know where you are, yeah.”

Vivi gave Arthur a startled look, not expecting him to support this. Still, if he was okay with it, she wasn’t gonna give up this opportunity to get a ghost teammate who would maybe help them out on investigations and let her study him a bit. “Okay, so if you and your Deadbeats (Heh, funny name.) agree to behave and stay out of sight, you can travel with us until we got back to Tempo. Deal?”

“When will you be going back to Tempo?” asked Lewis.

“Well, we have like 8 days funds, but depending on if we earn anything we might travel around a bit longer,” explained Arthur.

Lewis was familiar with this traveling plan, so he nodded. “It’s a deal.”

“Great! Now we should probably head out,” said Vivi. “We don’t want to fall too far behind in our plans.”

Lewis nodded. “Sure thing.” He then proceeded to collapse the entire house into fire and absorb it into his anchor. He paused as he saw the other three staring at him in shock. “Uh, did I forget to mention I could do that?”

“Yes,” squeaked Arthur.

“Oops.” Lewis chuckled nervously. “Well, yeah, I can make houses. And other stuff.” He coughed nervously somehow. “So, that’s your van, right? I’ll just go settle into the back.” He zoomed off.

Arthur turned to Vivi. “I feel like we might’ve bitten off more than we can chew.”

Vivi shrugged. “Well, nothing we can do now. Wanna go grab some waffles?”

“Hm…I’d rather just have some yogurt and fruit. Not that hungry,” said Arthur as they walked back to the van.

#Mystery Skulls animated #msa #lewis pepper #vivi yukino #arthur kingsman #mystery the not dog #deadbeats #friendship!#misunderstandings #amnesia #They're coming to all the wrong conclusions

36 notes · View notes

braveskyered · 4 years ago

Text

Knights (Part 19)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18

(Special Thanks once again to @nebulous-rain for providing one of the illustrations. Please check her out if you have the time!)

Do you understand the severity of these terms?

…

…You know what? I don’t think I should repeat myself if you’re just going to ignore me.

Just like in reality, in fiction, anything goes.

Not everything is all lovely sunshine and daisies.

Life is never fair.

Not to you.

Not to me.

And especially not to them.

I wonder how much you’re willing to believe, or even believe in them at all.

After all…

We all make mistakes, don’t we?

And yet one will always never forgive them, no matter the apologies they genuinely give.

Aren’t you the same way?

I look forward to seeing where your journey takes you.

Part 19: Thought I Told Ya Stop Fuckin’ With Me!

- - - - - - -

April XX, 20XX

I don't even know what I'm doing. I'm so scared of what will happen to me, but I couldn't let myself go through this. I don't even know what Vivi was thinking. I can't do it. Not even for her.

I can't stay. I have to get out of here. Get away from the monsters that hurt me. It's nothing more than a prison at this rate.

…

I guess I'm a coward to the very end.

I'm sorry ■■■■■ ■■■■ everyone.

May XX, 20XX

It's been two weeks since I escaped that hell.

Somehow, things are getting better for me. I don't know why, but I managed to find a job at an auto repair shop and even a place for me to stay at the same time in Cantabile, Tennessee. The shop, Four of a Kind Queens, is a family owned business that's run by the grandmother of the Knights family, Vivienne. She's the one that provided me a job and a home. I don't know how to thank her other than to do whatever I can.

The Knights family is interesting in that they're almost all women (other than those that are married with a husband). Almost all of the employees at the shop are women, too. I actually felt a bit out of place as one of the few male employees there. You'd think it'd be the other way around. Thankfully, none of them seemed interested in me so far.

I can only hope that I'll be able to move on from the past without them finding me. I don't want the Knights family to get dragged into my problems any more than they have to.

I'm just happy to have Galaham with me. I don't know what I would've done, or where I would be, without him.

June XX, 20XX

It's been a month since I arrived in Cantabile. It's surprising that I'm still here.

I got a new phone for myself. It's the kind that didn't require me to get a contract since I bought it from an electronics store. I had already disposed of my old smartphone and the SIM on it after I came here. It was rough to let go of it, but at least my photos and other files for my projects are safe.

I just hope that I didn't compromise my safety when I did the switch.

July XX, 20XX

Vivienne told me to stay home for the next few days. All I learned was that something had happened in the city that had police going around crazy. Also, someone's family member had gone missing and was reportedly said to be seen in Cantabile. I didn't dare search my name online. Instead I opted to look up missing persons by state.

...I shouldn't be surprised that I found my name and face as one of those missing in Texas. It said that I had left for a solo vacation and never returned, and that my last known location was somewhere in the mountains of Tennessee. It didn't say anything about which town or city I was last seen in or me being hurt, but I didn't want to take any chances.

I want to let my uncle know I'm okay, but I can't. I'm sorry.

July XX, 20XX

Vivienne called me back into work today. The police had found the person that was reported missing, and there hadn't been any more unusual activity, so it was safe for me to come back.

She told me that it's not unheard of for abusers to report their victims that have escaped from their grasp as missing individuals, pretending to care about their missing "loved ones." Those blind to the truth would fall for the sob stories and find the victims that have truly escaped, and then drag them back to their tormentors and not know the difference.

I was worried that I wouldn't be able to make rent since I couldn't work for the past four days, but Vivienne still paid me as if I did. I’ll find a way to make it up to her someday.

I'm worried about my uncle, but I don't want to get dragged back there. I'm sorry, Uncle.

August XX, 20XX

The Knights, mainly Elaine (who is Vivienne's youngest granddaughter), have been inviting me to various events lately.

Sure, being invited to the little parties and lunch gatherings meant to keep up employee morale is pretty fun, but now the occasion is attending a Robotics convention. From what Elaine had told me, it was just only her and her family going, but for some reason, I was the only employee invited to come along. Maybe the others didn't have any interest?

Elaine said that it was to get me out of the apartment and the shop. It's true that I don't go out much other than to get the essentials, and even then, most of them were brought to me by delivery, but it's mostly because I don't want to expose myself.

I can't let them find me. I don't want to go back.

August XX, 20XX

Elaine and I are dating now, I guess.

I had a good time at the Robotics convention. There were a few moments where I thought I saw someone that would recognize me even though I wore a hat and a different style in clothing and gloves to hide my arm, but thankfully, I was only seeing things. I think as long as I'm with someone I know, I'll be okay.

I say we're dating, but I highly doubt it'll work out between us. I mean, who would want to remain beside someone who has more problems than I care to count? No one in the shop even knows about my arm yet, because I didn't want to get any special/excess attention because of it.

Still, I'm well aware that Elaine has a crush on me (she's not exactly the most subtle about it). I'm not sure what will happen once she loses interest, but I hope we can still be friends at least. Other than Elaine and her family, Galaham is my only real companion right now.

I don't really have much of a choice to stay isolated like I had been, but at least I'm not getting beaten or burned on a near daily basis.

...I wonder if this relationship with Elaine will work out.

August XX, 20XX

Surprisingly, Elaine hasn't broken up with me. I just don't understand. What does she see in me? I'm a disgrace to the people I once knew. I feel like a discarded piece of trash that's left out on the curb, and I know I'm still an absolute wreck from all the nightmares of the night that's forever etched into my subconscious.

I accidentally cut my right arm on a rusty pipe at work. Because I didn't have a medical record to provide, Vivienne had me taken to a hospital to get a tetanus shot as a precaution. Although I never wanted them to know, they learned about my left arm and the rest of my injuries. I never saw someone look so horrified. Not at me, but the fact that I had so many wounds still healing and one that never will. To be on the safe side, Vivienne had me go through a complete physical. Examinations, x-rays, even an MRI had been added into the mix.

Even though we reached a compromise in that no one is to ask how I got these injuries back in Texas, I told Vivienne that I wouldn't be able to pay for all of it. She simply said that the director owed her family a handful of favors. Just how much influence does she and her family have? I don't think she would've helped to this extent if I hadn't been Elaine's boyfriend.

...It still feels weird to say that.

September XX, 20XX

My wounds from the hell I escaped from are slowly healing. I don't think they'll ever truly fade, but at least they're no longer hurting. I still have to cover my neck with scarves or turtlenecks to hide the very last wound I received, but hopefully that will fade over time, too.

The medication that was prescribed to me last month had worked wonders for me. I no longer have to bear with such crippling phantom pain, and the Knights family, including Elaine, have been helping me move on.

Maybe I can truly start over? Maybe I can truly find a place for myself here? I don't know how I'll ever be able to return the favor for the Knights family.

I think I'll invite Elaine to try out that new sandwich shop that recently opened up with me.

October XX, 20XX

Over time, I learned that the Knights family have a side business of sorts. They handle paranormal investigations and even do monster hunting for certain clients. Oddly, only the women of the Knights family do this.

Vivienne had retired from the side business a few years back and runs Four of a Kind Queens after inheriting it from her mother. Her two daughters, Morgan and Caelia, still do the side business occasionally, along with her two granddaughters Elaine and Eleanor. I almost never see Eleanor, since according to Morgan (her mother), she travels with her husband for his job as a contractor of sorts.

Elaine is leaving for one such occasion. She's been hired to investigate an abandoned house since there have been some crazy occurrences here and there. I don't know why, but I couldn't bring myself to stay, so I quickly volunteered to join her. I told her of my past experience as a paranormal investigator and demonstrated my knowledge of it. It was enough to convince her.

I never told the Knights family about the group I used to be a part of. I don't even want to think of the names of who and what I used to know. I was thrown away and cast aside, and I was constantly punished for the things I never wanted to happen.

...I just hope I don't bring Elaine to her death. At the very least, I'll help maintain her equipment and remain in her van. That way if anything went wrong, at least it won't be her getting pushed off. I should probably check ahead of time and make sure there isn't anything that could be used as a weapon to hurt her.

November XX, 20XX

I keep telling myself that I need to stop involving myself with the paranormal. That way I won't get hurt anymore, that way I can't be used to hurt anyone. But I couldn't. I can't.

Elaine made the investigations safe. I actually enjoy going on these trips with her.

She listened to all of my concerns, answered my questions, and even took the time to plan ahead with me on what needs to be done. I would help with the preliminary investigation and preparation, and if it became too dangerous for me, I would stay in the van with the protection wards while she went on ahead. In the rare occasions where it was too much even for her, she would back out and call her family for backup.

I love it when one knows when to fold.

December XX, 20XX

Elaine and I are still dating here and there.

I still don't know what a date really is, but if the occasional walk around the mountain trails or just having a meal together counts as such, then I guess that counts? (Huh. Redundancy.)

The things I learned about Elaine so far is: She's good at cooking, knows how to work with cars, likes reading science fiction and the occasional romance and horror novels. She doesn't care much for movies unless it really interests her, and even then, that's rare. She loves the family cream stew recipe her grandmother makes.

Elaine started to play some video games with me once I saved up enough money to buy a secondhand console during a sale. I often like to do little commentaries whenever I play, and she started to join in as well.

I'm so thankful to have her as a friend.

December 25th, 20XX

Even though I was all but exiled from where I used to live, I still wanted to let my uncle know what I'm fine without anything being traced back to me. Eventually, I came up with a technique that allowed me to do it.

One time I went with Elaine on her trips for the family's side business, I had asked her to buy a stack of notebook paper and some envelopes from an office store while we were out three states over. They were completely covered with wrapping, so there were no worries of her fingerprints getting on them. I made sure to only let myself touch the letters while writing and sending them, so that way there would be no danger for the Knights.

I had written my first letter to my uncle last week. I didn't include much, just that I was fine and that I'm in a much better place, and I asked him in that he doesn't try to look for me. I even went so far as to write it in a way that he would know that I'm not making it up and that I'm actually safe. I won't be able to get a reply from him, and we probably won't be able to see each other again, but hopefully this will put him at ease.

Merry Christmas, Uncle. I'm sorry.

January XX, 20XX

The new year. Hopefully it'll lead to a new me.

I'm gradually making a few friends outside the Knights family, but I mainly just stay home and keep to myself. They've gotten used to it; I think. We sometimes get to play some online games together, so that's cool.

February 14, 20XX

I got to spend some time with Elaine at a place popular for couples before a job. Granted, Elaine was asked to investigate some disappearances that occurred in that area, but I came with her last minute because I wanted to spend more time with her. It's selfish of me to do that, but I want to prove myself as a person for her. Plus, the last few cases I went with her went okay.

…

The fact that the Knights family are so effective at paranormal investigations and monster hunting, it makes sense now.

The Knights family themselves are monsters.

Elaine ■■■■■■■■ those cultists. Sure, she did it to save me, but she still ■■■■■■ ■■■■.

Dating her was a mistake. Everything has been a mistake. Everything about me has been a mistake.

I broke up with her.

March XX, 20XX

I don't know what I'm even doing. I still go to work, but after what happened two weeks ago, I can't look anyone in the eye. I try to avoid them. I know that they can kill me at any given moment. If that were to be the case, I hope they'll at least wait until it's Galahad's time to go, I don't want him to pass after me.

When that incident happened, Elaine begged me not to hate her while crying. After that, she never said anything to me other than when it's time to clock out or the few times her grandmother would buy lunch for the employees. No one in the family told me to leave, but they didn't ask for forgiveness, either.

I fear Elaine, but I can't hate her. What she did was unforgivable, even though she did it to save me. I know I would have died had it not been for her actions, but still. Am I truly worth saving? Enough that someone will kill to do so?

…Real monsters would never save people.

I can't let it be like this. I will talk to her the next time I go to work.

March XX, 20XX

I managed to have a heart-to-heart talk with Elaine. I still couldn't bring myself to forgive her for what she did, but I made sure to thank her for saving my life. There are still many things we need to work through, but at least we seem to be on the right page now.

We've decided to give this dating thing another shot. Not to start over, but to pick up where we left off.

I will accept her, monster and all.

After all, the real monster is me.

June XX, 20XX

I love her. I love Elaine.

I shouldn't love her. I don't have the right to love her. I shouldn't let these feelings be a part of me. It's becoming harder and harder to deny it.

Elaine can easily toss me aside should she so choose. But she didn’t. I just can’t understand.

I still confessed to her. Because I didn’t have a ring to give her, I gave her my star spin. She gave me a pin shaped like the moon. The Knights in the night. Heh.

She returned her feelings.

October XX, 20XX

Elaine proposed to me.

November 11, 20XX

So… I tied the knot with Elaine today.

It feels so unreal. I never thought even once in my life before meeting her that I would ever find love like this. I really don't know how to describe this feeling. I have never felt anything even remotely like this in the past where all I felt was pain.

The ceremony could have been better, though. I wish I didn't have to make Elaine sad when I asked her to keep that one promise for me as one of our vows, but I know this had to be done for everyone's sake, including hers.

Elaine, if you ever read this, I want to say thank you. I love you, and I will do whatever I can to make you happy like you do for me.

...

I love you, too, my star. ☆

- - - - - - -

Red spilled.

Arthur looked down on himself, on his hands, and saw red. Why is the room covered in red? Why are Gwen and Percy covered in red and down on the floor? The clothes of Vivi's son soaked in more crimson. Whose blood is this? He coughed and looked at his hands.

Oh. It's his.

He forced himself to swallow the vomit that threatened to leave his throat. He blinked and saw that the red is now gone. Another hallucination? Definitely not a good sign, but he will have to worry about it later when he took a moment to touch the moon pin on his vest before shifting his focus on the children.

Gwen and Percy, along with Vivi's son Jason, are still standing, looking at him like they're seeing a ghost. The wraith is still floating behind the children, looking like a deer in the headlights. Arthur briefly took note that it's holding something, a blue rectangle of sorts that took one hand for the wraith to hold. A box? Not important.

Arthur knew that he would have to face the wraith again one day. It could have gone in so many ways. In all of those scenarios, it always had the wraith looking angry and vengeful like it always did when it was alone with him.

To think the wraith could hurt him like this.

"Dad…?"

The sound of Percy's voice snapped Arthur out of the fog. It's hard to bear the heat flaring up from his back and neck, difficult to keep the acid bile from bubbling up in his throat, and hard to maintain eye contact with that ghoulish face. It’s not looking angry now, but he knows it’s only a matter of time.

"Gwen, Percy,” Elaine said, “Come over here.”

The three children glanced up at the wraith before the twins subtly nodded to each other, with Gwen quietly gesturing to Jason to follow her as the three left the wraith’s side. The wraith, to its credit, didn’t do anything to follow.

“Arthur, I—"

“Elaine,” Arthur commanded with strain, his fingers barely touching the scar on his neck, “Take the kids with you… and go back to the others. Tell Vivi and Mystery to come here.”

“Are you sure?” Elaine kept her attention to him while keeping the wraith in the corner of her vision, “Isn’t that the one who—”

He nodded. He didn’t want to leave this up for debate. This isn’t her fight, but his. He’ll find a way to fend it off one way or another, and he knows it won’t lift a finger to hurt Vivi.

“Okay,” Elaine nodded back, “But if it tries anything, let me know.”

“There is no need for that.”

Everyone turned to see Niniane with Vivi and Mystery behind her. Arthur had to suppress a shudder as he saw one of Niniane’s hands emit the green-blue aura and point it at the wraith. She looks really mad…!

“No way…” Vivi could be heard whispering, “The seal’s broken?”

‘Seal’? Wait, didn’t her father mention--

“So you’re the one that abused my distant grandson-in-law,” Niniane said as she held it in place with her magic, “I almost couldn’t believe it when I found out that you were still around after nearly eighteen years since your death. Most ghosts typically disappear after a few months,” she narrowed her eyes, “But that’s assuming you had let go of your desire for his death.”

“That’s—” the wraith started before Niniane brought it closer to her face.

“But at the same time, you have been sealed for over seventeen years, so maybe you’ve had plenty of time to… reflect.”

“Niniane, enough,” Arthur said, catching her attention, “This isn’t your fight.”

“Anything that involves my family is my fight, Arthur,” Niniane said simply, “I don’t see why we should leave this one on the loose. I can just easily seal it back to where it was previously, or…”

She let out a cruel smirk just before a dull blue and heart-shaped object flew out of Percy’s grasp and into her own.b

“I can just get rid of it entirely.”

She gave the metal heart a squeeze upon speaking the last word, causing the wraith to wince upon hearing a small crack–.

Arthur managed to hide his shock by swallowing his words. Still, it’s very tempting. Niniane could just easily eliminate the wraith here and now. If she did, then there would be no more burns, no more pain, and-- He glanced in Vivi’s direction and saw how distressed she is. How she looked at wanting to speak up, but unable to defy the one suppressing her. Just like how the wraith had suppressed him in the past. Gwen and Percy look terrified, too.

…This isn’t right.

“Not yet, Niniane,” Arthur said with much effort, “We can’t do that yet.”

Niniane blinked in brief surprise before looking down at Arthur with a glare, “Oh? And why should I delay in destroying this?”

“Because I need answers,” he said, “With what my uncle, the Yukino family, and the Peppers saying that they want all this to end, and why Vivi ‘snapped’ and kept hunting monsters in my name even though she never did anything to this one, or how that ghost managed to earn the kids’ trust, I need to know why.”

Niniane pondered momentarily before shrugging, "I suppose that's an understandable reason. Very well. I will allow you to question them, but I will be watching."

"No, I'll do it," Elaine said as she stepped forward to be beside Arthur, "I need you to watch after Vivian. We can't have her make her way towards us, not to mention that I don't want her to get hurt by that 'dog' again."

Niniane glared at Vivi and Mystery's direction briefly, then nodded, "Very well, Elaine. I will leave this to you. If any of them do go out of line, do whatever you wish," she handed the heart over to her distant granddaughter, "I trust you will make a good decision. And the children?"

"We're staying," Percy said as he and Gwen stood by their father's side, “It may not look like it, but it’s pretty much my fault that we’re in this in the first place.”

Arthur was about to rebuke his son before stopping himself. Like it or not, Percy is responsible for allowing Mr. Yukino to identify him out of an online article by wearing the skull pin and his resemblance to him, and he might be at fault for getting the attention of the Mystery Skulls, too.

But in the end, it’s Arthur’s own fault to allow any of this to happen.

Forget the blame game. Just get this over with. Get the answers I need, and just let this thing die once and for all.

The lives of his three children depend on it.

“I understand. I shall do as you ask,” Niniane straightened herself and shifted her gaze to the wraith and the Mystery Skulls with a narrow glare before walking away, “But like I said earlier, if they were to step out of line, there will be no mercy.”

Arthur watched Niniane leave. A part of him didn’t want her to, but something in his mind is telling him that it was probably for the best that the old woman isn’t involved in this. On a separate note, he could only hope that Morgan is keeping Lance and the Peppers in line, for he didn’t want to get them involved in this, either.

Now, it’s just him, Elaine, the twins, Vivi, her son, Mystery, and now the wraith.

“Jason,” Vivi broke the silence as she kneeled down to her son, “Could you stay with Belle for a while? I need to have a special talk with these people.”

“Do I have to?” Jason asked meekly, “I thought I could play with Gwen and Percy? They’re better than all my classmates.”

“That right?” Vivi gave out an exasperated yet fond smile, “Tell you what, if all goes well, then you can play with them again when we’re done talking.”

Jason looked like he wanted to speak up, but he nodded before giving Gwen and Percy a shy wave. He said something about wanting to talk more about robotics with the twins nodding, then left the living room after looking back a few times.

“Sorry, I didn’t want him involved in this,” Vivi said as she stood back on her feet. She looked at both Arthur and his family, then at the wraith and Mystery before speaking to Arthur, “So… You’re married. With kids.”

Arthur took a moment to make sure that he was between the Mystery Skulls and the twins. It became a comfort when he saw Elaine follow suit and hold his hand like she always did during the nightmares to make sure the wraith wasn’t near the children either. Whatever connection he had with the Mystery Skulls has long been shattered, and he managed to make a new one with the Knights family after meeting Elaine.

“You make it sound like that’s a bad thing,” he said while seeing the wraith slowly fiddle with the blue box in its hands, “Still, my condolences for your husband’s passing. He must have been a great man since your family left a shrine for him.”

Like me, she has also moved on from the past.

“You would’ve liked Harry,” Vivi smiled sadly, “Even though the way we got together was… less than ideal, we were able to love one another regardless. He loved me, and he loved our son.”

Something tells me that I shouldn’t pry further…

“But that’s not what’s important right now,” Vivi started to make a move towards him, only to immediately back off upon seeing his glare, “You know how shortly after you left, this town became cursed? By the demon that ruined everything?”

“You need me to help you break it,” Arthur said, unconvinced with his arms crossed, “You realize that I’m not really inclined to help you after you and Mystery almost killed my children.”

“She what?!” The wraith reeled back before turning to the woman in blue, “Vivi, why would you do that?! What were you even doing all this time that made you go after kids?!”

“They can transform into monsters!” Vivi said loudly, “I didn’t know they were Arthur’s kids!”

“Wait, so if we weren’t Daddy’s kids, you would’ve just gone after us no matter what?” Gwen asked as she glared at Vivi.

“None of this would've happened if you hadn’t attacked us in the first place!” Percy looked down on the fake dog, “We were just minding our own business until you showed up saying we shouldn’t exist!”

“We can only apologize for that. We thought you had done something to Arthur when I picked up his scent from the three of you,” Mystery said to Percy, “If we had seen you as you are now, even we would’ve picked up on the fact that you are his son, or at least someone related to him.”

Seeing his children becoming more involved with the monsters of his past is starting to become too much. Arthur covered his ears and started humming the lullaby quickly to himself to drown out the sound. He didn’t care that the lullaby would hurt him. He didn’t want to hear the madness anymore. No more! Please! No more!

“Arthur, isn’t that my--?”

“Oh, shut up! Don’t think we didn’t forget how that bitch nearly chopped up our sister! You’re lucky that she missed, or I would’ve gone for her throat instead of her hair!” Percy growled as he made the throat slash gesture with his thumb upon saying it, “Unlike necks, hair can grow back.”

“So you would have killed her?!” Mystery bared his teeth upon hearing the thought of Vivi’s safety being threatened, “I’m not sure if that would’ve been a wise choice. If that Gashadokuro hadn’t appeared, I would have made you regret making that move.”

“I’m right here, mutt,” Elaine said slowly as her right arm, the hand holding the heart, became skeletal with a black and purple flame, her left eye also glowing purple as she glared at the fake dog that just realized his mistake, “Care to repeat that in front of their mother?”

There was a long silence.

Or rather. It went blank for Arthur. They’re still talking. Still arguing. He set his arms down.

That’s right.

These three, the Mystery Skulls and a monster, tried to harm his children. The wraith might seem against the idea, but he knew the wraith would take away anything Arthur held dear like it had done in the past just to see him in pain.

Not.

This.

Time.

“ARTHUR!” “What are you--?!” “DAD!” “DADDY?!”

Arthur kicked Mystery away from the kids amidst the screams and glared at the fake dog when he gave him a look of disbelief. He never wanted to hear Vivian cry like she had earlier today ever again.

“Arthur,” Elaine immediately went back to normal and came to his side, “Don’t push yourself.”

Upon seeing it, Arthur snatched the heart from Elaine’s grasp with his left hand. He tried to keep his breathing stable, but it’s getting harder and harder to breathe…

…What is this? Why is it so dark and purple?

…

How long has it been? Days? Weeks? Months? Years? …Centuries? The passage of time has long been lost.

Nothing but regrets, nothing but sorrow, nothing but the memories that used to give him a sick sense of satisfaction that now bring him an even more sickening sense of regret and shame.

It’s what he deserved. He knew that.

He could still sense what is going on outside his prison… somewhat at least. His little helpers, the Dead Beats, that were extensions of himself still wandered over yonder here and there, but even though they’re essentially his eyes and ears, they can only sense so much in their extremely weakened state. He has no idea how long it’s been since he was left here to rot by the old traditional shrine maiden that knew how to use the paper seals and chants that could exorcise even the strongest of demons. At the same time, he didn’t know why she chose to seal him instead of eliminating him entirely.

He is aware that he brought this outcome of ruin upon himself, being sealed with the one that ruined everything. The memories it haunted him with within the darkened green, such as the ones he used to be proud of, only brought anger and disappointment upon itself. Sometimes it would leave him alone, and he made sure to treasure those moments of relief. No moment of peace except for these rare precious moments. Despite this, he couldn’t let his guard down and was always on edge.

The fact that it used him to hurt his parents will… It made him feel violated more than he cared to admit.

He has no doubt that this is all what Arthur went though, as well. He wondered if the mechanic is even still alive.

Every once in a while, he would try to distract himself from the now painful memories by singing his song with his little helpers. Sometimes he would sing it the way it’s supposed to, other times he would sing it more sadly and melancholy.

This time I might just disappear…

He chose to sing it slowly and softly this time. The green hasn’t tried to disturb him for a while.

All of a sudden, he sensed something outside. He couldn’t tell what it was since his little helpers were so weak. He couldn’t see them, but he could feel them. Two… no, three? New presences near his prison’s proximity. He may not be able to do anything from where he is, but he hoped that his little helpers would lead them away to safety.

…They’re not leaving. One can float around. But it’s so small… Unless he is wrong, the floating one is… searching for something? The other two that can walk are trying to pursue the one that floats. What are the Dead Beats doing? They’re trying to get into contact with the three, but something is holding them back. One had enough, and so it used a trapdoor to catch the three by surprise. Why are the Dead Beats trying to bring the three to him? There's nothing he can do.

Oh, the one that can fly took one of the two, while the remaining kept falling.

"--en!"

A young boy's voice. Maybe someone calling out to their partner? He wanted to help, but as long as the seal remains intact, he can't leave, let alone move.

A yelp of pain in a girl's voice. She sounds hurt. Did she fall that badly? Is this the person the other voice he heard just moments earlier call out to? Before he could question it any further, something in his vision changed. It's faint, but light started to crack vertically in front of him. To his surprise, when he tried to reach out, he found that he could move. His fingers came into contact with the side of what felt like a lid. He pulled it to the side as hard as he could.

The lid of his coffin fell off with a loud clatter, and he quickly shut his eyes against the bright light.

Am I… free?

Does this mean that Arthur is here?

"Oh… f-frick…"

He slowly opened his eyes to adjust to the light, which isn't much. When his vision cleared, he saw-- That's not Arthur. It's just a kid, a young girl with dark hair and gray overalls, staring at him with an alarmed expression though her eyes. But the only way for him to be released from his prison based on what the old shrine maiden had said…

“Only those that come after in blood of whose soul you’ve hurt.”

Although he has no idea how, this child is someone that has fit the criteria the shrine maiden had placed. Maybe she knows where Arthur is, or at least what happened to the world outside after he was sealed.

He looked down at himself briefly before shifting his focus to his heart. Still dark in color, and heavily cracked like it had been ever since he realized his mistake too late. How long has it been? What does he even look like now? He thought about looking into his heart, but instead looked up at the child before him.

"You…"

He started as he began to move forward, reaching out for her. Maybe he could lead her back to her two companions and then out of his prison? He tried to speak except he couldn't form the words other than "You."

The way the girl reacted with alarm before running off… felt familiar. He realized that he could move still, so he started to float and moved to follow her. He had to make sure she didn't fall into a trap or worse, encounter the green.

She saw him pursue her. As she continued to run away, she lifted an arm to his direction. He wondered what she was doing before seeing something sparkle in her hands and realized it immediately. She has magic. Why does it feel so cold? He didn't want to hurt her, so he lifted his hand to burn away the ice and nothing else. He tried to speak, but for some reason, he couldn't remember the words he wanted to say. What were they again? He knew how to say his name and one other.

"Arrrrth…"

"No no no no no no no no!" The girl just kept repeating the word, probably more to herself than anything else. She's a lot faster than he thought. How familiar. Maybe he can still warp the place like he used to before he was trapped here?

He knows most of the doors were basically portals that led to other doors meant to confuse people, so when the girl ran into one of the many doors in the hallway, she came out of another door in the same area just a little further down. When she saw him, she briefly looked annoyed, and then kept running in the long hallway and ignored the remaining doors altogether.

He needs to find a way to let her know he means no harm. It took some effort, but soon he was able to conjure a wall to cut off the girl's path to where only two pathways remain. The first path being the way they came, the other being another hall that neither had gotten to yet. Either way, he managed to effectively trap her in a corner.

"You… Arrrrrth…" Why can't he speak properly?! He just wanted to talk to her…

Something must have caught the girl's attention, as she soon went from a guarded stance to one of confusion.

"Are you… trying to say something?"

He looked up at her and nodded.

“You’re not going to hurt me, are you?”

He shook his head.

“Raise your left hand if you understand me.”

He did so.

She looked hesitant before standing up straight, “You’re definitely a wraith. The only way for something like you to exist was if you died a very violent death, and in your last moments, having a very strong desire. In other words, you have unfinished business here, right? Someone murdered you.”

He nodded. When the girl didn’t make a response, he looked down at his heart. Maybe if he shows her the photo inside, she’ll recognize any of the people in it? He allowed his heart to approach the girl for her to look. Just as if she was about to take hold of it--

“GWEN!”

He couldn’t believe his eyes.

“Back off, you skull ghost!”

Standing in front of the girl, shielding her from him is—! He realized that he is shaking, that he is crying, “Arrrrttthhhh… You…”

Arthur looked taken aback, “Wha--? Why are you--”

Before anyone realized it, he held Arthur in his arms in a soft embrace.

“Arthur, it is you!”

There isn’t any green. He didn’t want to let Arthur go, otherwise it would mean that this isn’t real.

He wanted to let Arthur know how sorry he is and that he learned from his mistake. That maybe things will work out. That maybe, just maybe, things could go back to what everything once was. To be a team again. Maybe get Vivi and then ask Arthur that question with her one more time and hope that he accepts it. That maybe, just maybe, Arthur will forgive him.

And maybe, just maybe… He thought more to himself as he gently held Arthur, who remained still with a look of confusion, by the shoulders to look into the gentle blue eyes he always knew--

…

…Wait.

Arthur doesn’t have blue eyes. They’re supposed to be gold like his hair. He’s also supposed to have a patch of dark hair just above his forehead, not white.

Upon closer inspection, he realized that the not-Arthur before him isn’t even an adult, but a child that just reached his teens, just like the girl behind the boy that somehow opened his prison. He took a moment to take in the features of the boy before him. The spiky hair, the way the patch of hair above his forehead looks outside of color, his jawline, his general stature, it’s beyond unmistakable.

It’s not Arthur, but he didn’t doubt this boy is related to him some way.

What sealed it was when he saw a familiar pin on the boy’s vest, one of the Mystery Skulls logo. Unless it’s a replica, only three are supposed to exist, but since it looks so beat up…

Looking at the girl, she doesn’t look like anyone he knew, but he soon found what he was missing. Her eyes were the same gold color as Arthur’s. He then saw her headband with a somewhat beaten blue circle just above her right ear.

“Hey,” the girl asked, her voice shaking, “Do you know this ‘Arthur’s’ last name?”

It took him a moment to answer, “K-King…”

“'Kingsmen'?” the boy suddenly asked, and when he nodded, the two children looked at each other as if realizing something before the boy spoke up again, “Hey, do you remember when you died? Like, the date and year?”

He told them.

“That’s… that’s over seventeen years ago!”

…Seventeen… years?

His heart fell to the floor and cracked.

…

Huh?

Arthur blinked and looked up at the wraith. If what he saw was true…

He gritted his teeth. He won’t accept it. He just can’t.

He glared at the Mystery Skulls while holding on to the heart to the with a tight grip.

“I don’t know what you Skulls have been doing while I was away, and frankly, I don’t even care,” Arthur seethed as he glared at Vivi, “I let you all do whatever you wanted with me because I know that everything was my fault. Your parents said so, as did Lewis’s family, and as did that monster beside you that you kept because of your damn obsession.”

His grip on the wraith’s heart tightened. The wraith winced. Vivi and Mystery looked taken aback.

“I let that monster have its way with me for the six months we stayed with it because it was the only way you would be happy. I had to learn the rules through trial and error so I wouldn’t go through any more of this,” Arthur pulled on the turtleneck of his sweater to reveal the burn mark on his throat briefly before releasing it, “Just so you could stay happy. But no matter what I did to atone, it wasn’t enough. Not for your family, not for the Peppers, and certainly not for that wraith that’s only been kind to you.”

Vivi is trembling. It would have pained Arthur to see it, but he no longer cared. Not after what she nearly did to his son and daughters, to Elaine’s treasured miracles.

He noticed Elaine’s hand wrap itself around his right shoulder and felt relieved, even though he dared not show it. Not in front of the wraith and the fox.

“What… What were the rules?” Vivi asked with a shaky voice.

Arthur rolled his eyes in irritation. Typical for the wraith to stay silent and play dumb around Vivi like it always did.

“I was not to be alone with you for even a moment, let alone speak to you, even if you were the one to reach out. I was not to perform maintenance on my arm. I was to go first on investigations, entering rooms, crossing streets. After all, you wouldn’t want me to push you to your death, too, now would you? I was not to do any more maintenance for the van, let alone drive it anymore. For all you know, I could’ve tampered with it to stage an accident, even though everyone here knows very well that the mechanic in me would never do that. I was to never sleep past a certain time, even on the few nights where I wouldn’t have nightmares and hopefully, finally, get a full night’s rest for once. Or else I would just be forcefully dragged out of bed and get punished. For all anyone knows, I could’ve been plotting something. ‘No rest for the wicked,’ as the saying goes.”

The Mystery Skulls were looking more and more sick as Vivi looked more and more angry at the wraith with tears starting to form in her eyes. Sucks to be them.

He didn’t dare look at his family right now.

“I was not to eat anything unless all three of us were present. And even then, that had some rules. I wasn’t to eat any of my favorite foods, or anything from the Pepper Paradiso, even if you were the one that provided it to me. Although that one will forever stick after not only getting beaten for it, but also getting tampered food that made me sick at least twice, from cookies with the icing switched to paste to that one meal that had arsenic in it. The only reason I didn’t require a hospital visit for that one was no doubt because I somehow developed a tolerance for it.”

Arthur briefly paused as he noticed Elaine’s fingers twitching at what he just said earlier before continuing.

“Or maybe it was something else, I don’t know or even care. Either way, I had to go without food for days at a time until I had to go to work with Lance, and in the few times I couldn’t I had to resort to eating the weeds outside.”

He felt Elaine’s grip on his arm tighten slightly and heard her whisper his name. He knew that this is the first time she would be hearing about everything he went through in painful detail.

He hated it.

“Your parents, mainly your father, blamed me for your amnesia, when in actuality the wraith was the one that did it to you. The Peppers, on the other hand, told me multiple times that I should’ve been the one who died that day. It’s true, though. Their son’s life had more meaning than mine, after all. I mean, who would you save? A man that has many connections and a promising life ahead of him, or a screwed-up mechanic that was thrown away by his parents with more issues than the stars in the sky?”

Anything I did to make up for what I’ve done, all that I tried to do to heal the damage I caused, was never enough.

“Arthur, why didn’t you say anything?!” Vivi is crying now, “Why?!”

Arthur gritted his teeth, “You were finally happy after everything that went wrong because of me when you were with that ghost. How could I take that away from you again?”

Vivi is trembling, “Even so, you should’ve told me. I could have done something!”

“Not like I could,” Arthur said as he tossed the heart behind him and jammed a finger at the wraith while keeping his attention towards Vivi, “You were pretty forgetful ever since the incident.”

There was a long silence.

“Arthur, are you saying what I think you just said?” Elaine finally asked before furiously pointing at the wraith, “You mean to tell me that he’s been controlling Yukino’s memory the entire time!?”

The wraith looked away. Honestly, its unnerved Arthur that it was showing such human and Lewis-like mannerisms.

“It did erase her memory of Lewis dying, and then Lewis in general. So it wouldn’t surprise me if it could do more than that,” Arthur said, “Either way, so long as I ‘behaved,’ she wouldn’t know. The least I could do was make sure that it didn’t tamper with her memory anymore that it did.”

“Lewis, just why would you—!” Vivi shook her head before turning back to Arthur, “Then why didn’t you tell your uncle anything?! He could’ve done something to help you, instead!”

“All he’d do is pump that shotgun and make things worse,” Arthur spat, “We were lucky the last time that happened. I’m not risking a repeat.”

The sound of the shotgun is not something Arthur would want to hear again, that’s for sure. Not to mention that in the present, as much as Lance means well, Arthur knows that his uncle could very easily kill the children by accident should he mistake them for monsters like Vivi had, or worse, getting caught in the crossfire.

…He shuddered and struggled not to picture any of his family having big gaping wounds or being outright headless.

If anything, this just means that he can’t trust anyone from Tempo. No one.

It hurt. More than he cares to admit.

“That thing wanted me gone. That thing wanted me to disappear. But you didn’t, Vivi. You had me stay, and so that wraith had to make do with things like this,” he pointed at his own neck before pulling at his right sleeve to show the faint hand-shaped burn on his forearm, “And left me with more reminders of my inability to do anything more than I care to count! But I accepted it. It is my fault, after all. That demon took hold of me and had me kill Lewis. His blood is on my hands even though I never wanted it to happen!”

Vivi fell on her knees and kept crying. Mystery immediately went to her side to see if he could offer any comfort

Arthur can’t deny that seeing her in such a state is rather unsettling, but he can’t look away from it anymore. Upon seeing some movement, Arthur looked up and saw the wraith starting to lift a hand as if it wanted to comfort Vivi, only to immediately back off upon seeing Arthur’s glare.

“…Arthur.”

Something cracked.

“You have every right to hate me.”

Crack.

Arthur shuddered upon hearing the wraith speak and held on to Elaine for support. He looked around briefly to see if Gwen and Percy were still around, and briefly saw red as he noticed his son cradling the wraith’s heart in his hands.

“No number of apologies will ever make up for what I did to you, but I still want to say that I’m sorry.”

Crack.

What is this feeling of… sorrow(?) welling up in his throat. Arthur didn’t want to maintain eye contact with the wraith. That’s how it gets people off guard.

“Before you and your family destroy me, I just want to know. If you hated me that much when you left…”

Crack.

Arthur gritted his teeth.

“Why did you name your children with the names I suggested?”

Crack. Crack.

He didn’t.

- - - - - - -

“Oh wow! Look at this view, Arthur!”

The Mystery Skulls had decided to take a rest stop in Tennessee from their drive home after roughly five hours of riding. The rest stop also happened to have a scenic overlook where one could enjoy the scenery of the mountains from the interstate. It has a good view, Arthur had to admit as he leaned himself forward against the stone fence.

“Although I hear it can’t compare to what the Cantabile Mountains at the other side of the state have to offer,” Lewis laughed, “Maybe in the future we can go look?”

Arthur hummed in agreement, even though he remained more focused on reading a robotics tech magazine he had managed to obtain from a convention when they passed by a larger city the day before. The pages held some interesting ideas for prosthetics, which was something Arthur had taken an interest in as of late. He made sure to fold the corners of the pages he needed to look into later when he gets home.

Upon hearing the sound of a dog barking, Arthur looked behind him to see Vivi and Mystery running around. Mystery had been rather restless, and Arthur didn’t doubt that the bespectacled dog is more than relieved to have the opportunity to stretch his legs.

Upon seeing Vivi look so happy, something ached in Arthur’s chest. He didn’t know what to call it, but he knew better than to talk to her or Lewis about it.

“I know you’ll find someone who will love you, Arthur. I know it.”

“Yeah, right,” Arthur said as he continued to read the tech magazine in his hands, “You know how to cook while having the strength to do pretty much anything. And with Vivi’s appetite, any family you’d have with her will probably enjoy that to their heart’s content. Me? I’ve got none of that.”

“Well, actually, we still had some things to sort out before Vivi and I go that far,” Lewis said after some silence, “I mean, there’s still some stuff to work out before we can do that.”

Arthur looked up from the tech magazine he was reading and saw Vivi doing something with Mystery from the corner of his eye. He didn’t bother to pay full attention to them before shooting a glance at the man next to him. Way to be redundant, Lewis.

“Ah, sorry, I’m losing track. You see, you know I’m adopted, and I have no idea who or where my birth parents are. Don’t get me wrong, I love Mom and Dad, but sometimes I just wonder…” Lewis trailed off before giving Arthur a fearful look, “Ah, wait, that didn’t…! Crap…”

A dark cloud formed over Arthur’s head, and his mood felt worse than it already is.

Although Arthur never looked back when he went to live with his uncle after the nasty divorce between his parents, it never stopped being a sore subject for him. He didn’t deny that he would occasionally feel envious of the families Lewis and Vivi have, but Lewis just sounded so selfish there. At least he had loving parents at all, blood related or not.

Sure, he has his uncle, but sometimes Arthur wondered just what exactly a complete and loving family felt like. Arthur knows that Uncle Lance would do anything to protect him, but he isn’t exactly the best at showing affection, often displaying a gruffer side more than anything else. Arthur sighed, maybe he’s the selfish one.

“Gwen and Percy.”

“Huh?” Arthur gave Lewis an incredulous look in response to his friend’s comment out of the blue.

“If, ah, you ever have a son and a daughter, we could name them that,” Lewis laughed while leaning against the railing, “Not only would they fit in with your name like in the legends, but they’re great names by themselves, I think.”

Arthur blinked in confusion before turning his head away from Lewis, hoping that the latter wouldn’t see the blush forming on his face, “I-I guess, but you know that in order for me to even do that, I’d have to get together with someone first. And even then, I don’t know if I’d be good enough to be a father.” Let alone be a good enough partner, he mentally added with a heavy heart.

This isn’t helping his mood.

Lewis hummed in thought, “I don’t know about that. You’re actually pretty good with my sisters, and you even helped us with Paprika back when Dad and I had that car accident shortly after she was born. Mom even said that if it hadn’t been for you, she might have gone to the hospital herself from overwork. Since you’re a great babysitter, I’d say you’d make a great dad.”

Well, he can’t… deny that. Somewhat.

“Still, you’d make a better parent than me, though.”

Lewis didn’t respond immediately, which made Arthur wonder if he had said it with more bite than he intended. Having to watch Lewis and Vivi being all lovey-dovey and virtually ignoring him outside some quick glances throughout the entire drive to where they are now didn’t help matters. Sometimes, he wondered if they even wanted him around anymore. It hurts more than he’d like to admit.

Still. Him? A father? Someone’s significant other? That’ll be the day.

As far as Arthur knows, he’s most likely ace or aro or whatever the heck the label is called. He had tried to figure out what exactly it is through online research, but with so many terms that seem to get added every week, combined with the rather toxic influence with people saying on what is acceptable and what is not only to find the whole thing turned around on its head, or what is “something-phobic” based on what his initial assumptions on the two (or more) terms were, Arthur never bothered consulting any of the online communities and gave up entirely. To him, it was just more trouble than it’s worth.

Then again, it’s probably not wise asking online strangers for help on something like this anyway. Especially once he started finding posts that essentially held the basic message of being something akin to “this label is like this with these very certain criteria or fuck you and go die,” and even blogs that are said to be devoted to supporting these labels just can’t seem to agree with one another. Do they accept this? Do they accept that? He could never find a consistent answer.

He had thought about finding a counselor that specializes on the subject, but not only are there not any reliable-looking ones within a reasonable driving distance from Tempo, their hourly rates without proper insurance is way too high for someone like him. It’s not that Kingsmen Mechanics doesn’t provide insurance for their employees, it’s not exactly the best for those with mental needs. Lance would sometimes make an annoyed comment about that.

And then there’s the fact that Texas itself, and maybe a good chunk if not all of the remaining forty-nine states, most likely wouldn’t accept anyone outside of whoever is perceived as "hetero-normal" or whatever people call it.

Why the hell am I wasting my time thinking about this. Arthur growled to himself in frustration while trying to be quiet enough for Lewis to not notice.

After struggling to comprehend it all, it just felt so pointless. But he still wants to know why and figure it out for his own peace of mind.

As far as he knows, his name is Arthur Kingsmen, a twenty-two-year-old car mechanic and Lance’s nephew. To him, that’s all that mattered. He knows that he desires a companionship of his own like how Lewis and Vivi have for one another, but he just can’t feel the desire with any of the people he has met so far. Not to mention seeing those two together… hurt. He didn’t know why.

Maybe something is wrong with him, but he can’t impose on Vivi and Lewis like that.

And as far as Arthur also knows, he will be alone for his entire life once he goes out on his own.

He briefly entertained the idea of meeting someone, falling in love, getting married, and starting a family… but he knows that’s a mere pipe dream.

His heart ached.

…

One last case.

Just one last case, and then he will leave.

And finally go out on his own.

- - - - - - -

“Or… more accurately, why did you name them after Vivi and… after me?”

Gwen Vivi, Percy Lewis, and Vivian Lulu. The first and middle names he had given to his three children in memory of the two people he cared about.

The wall broke.

“How dare you.”

“What?”

“How dare you claim those names,” Arthur’s hands balled up into fists as angry tears leaked from his eyes, “The one who suggested those names is dead. Dead and gone. Buried!”

He glared at the wraith. He won’t fail to keep eye contact this time. He has Elaine with him, she can stop the wraith if need be.

“You can’t have them,” he seethed, “You’re not taking them to be your playthings. I won’t let you hurt them like you hurt me.”

“I would never hurt them! Why would—”

“They’re not just mine, but Elaine’s, too. Unlike me, she has nothing to do with you or any of this. I’m not going to let her get hurt because of me.”

As soon as Arthur said those words, a loud audible crack could be heard. When Arthur looked to see the source of the noise, he saw Percy still holding the heart, now nearly black in color, and open. Annoyed, Arthur took the open locket from his son’s hands and looked inside to see what it was that made the children’s faces so pale.

...

…The thing felt putrid in his hands. Filthy.

“Gwen. Percy,” Arthur said calmly, “Go to your nana. Stay by Vivian’s side. Don’t let her come in here.”

The twins looked at one another nervously.

“Please.”

It was clear that they didn’t want to, but they obeyed. After waiting a moment to make sure the twins were out of sight and hopefully out of hearing range, the fury Arthur felt slowly started to rise. Gwen and Percy, and maybe Jason, shouldn’t have seen what was inside the locket. They are not to be involved over past issues such as this.

Arthur tossed the locket at Vivi and Mystery’s feet in disgust before clutching the moon pin on his vest, “As soon as you asked me that damn question, I couldn't take it anymore. That’s why I left.”

Vivi’s eyes widened, looking torn and shaken as she picked up the locket, “Wait, you mean tha--that was all it took? Just because that we--, that I asked you out on a date?"

“That’s right,” he said as he made the move to hold Elaine’s left hand with his own, knowing that her wedding ring was visible for Vivi and the wraith to see. He then took a moment to glance at the wraith to make sure it wouldn’t get any stupid ideas before choosing to ignore the look of guilt on its face, “Lewis was your boyfriend, not me. I never wanted you projecting on the third wheel when Lewis went missing or died to be more accurate. You belonged to him.”

“Hey, I belong to no one by my own damn self, thank you very much,” Vivi snapped, “No one but I can decide what my relationships are, not some random person I don’t have any memory with anymore!” She sighed with frustration, “Did you seriously think I would flirt with someone I wasn’t interested in?!”

“Playfully, maybe. Since that’s what friends do,” Arthur shrugged as he held Elaine’s hand closer to himself, “It was still wrong, though--”

“I wanted us to be more than friends even before all that, Arthur!”

…Arthur really wished Vivi didn’t just say that.

“Wait, hold on. Let me make sure I got this straight,” Elaine raised her free hand to point a finger at Vivi, “You, Vivi Yukino, wanted to make Arthur your boyfriend even though you were already taken, and you had your memory of Lewis back when you asked Arthur that question?”

“You can have more than one significant other in a relationship,” Vivi explained, “Sure, there was a huge stigma for polyamorous relationships even back then, but we weren’t going to let that get in the way.”

Arthur risked a glance at the wraith. Curiously, it kept its head hung down, not looking at anyone. He really, really didn’t like the way it’s presenting itself right now, looking like a scolded child. Lewis would have that exact same expression in the few times he had been scolded by Vivi for some reason, and that disturbed him more than he cares to admit.

When Arthur thought about the past, he knew what it was that had become so painful for him whenever he saw Lewis and Vivi being together as partners. He wanted to be a part of that circle, but he knew that deep down, it was entirely selfish of him to want such a thing. What made it worse was that he didn’t even realize it was love he was feeling for Vivi and Lewis until he had realized his feelings for Elaine when she won his heart.

Well, even then, it’s too little, too late. Lewis is gone and dating Vivi after learning of the former’s fate would just be an insult to the dead. Plus, he didn’t want Vivi to project Lewis through him. In the end, there is no point in reminiscing the past or wondering about how things would’ve gone had Lewis not died, had the Mystery Skulls not gone into that cave.

What’s done is done.

“Before I died,” Arthur stiffened upon hearing the wraith speak, “Vivi and I had discussed our feelings for one another and for Arthur once we realized it. We even tried giving him hints and even flirted with him at times, but he always seemed to miss them every time. We were beginning to think he was ace/aro at that point.”

It took a lot of willpower on Arthur’s part to keep himself from shuddering. Shut up. Stop talking.

“Um, yeah, as far as I know, Arthur never knew how to flirt,” Elaine said with a somewhat exasperated breath, “I just kept inviting him to weekly dates and tested the waters little by little with his consent until I knew how he clicked. We were friends first, then we started dating casually, then seriously, and then to where we are now.”

Unlike what happed with Vivi and Lewis, Elaine was never subtle about her feelings for me. Even though I never knew how to flirt, even I could pick up the cues she was giving me. She always told me that she liked me, that she cared, and that she wanted me around. She invited me to cafes, to parks, to the mountain ranges, to peaceful places. She acted like my life mattered. Whenever she took a step forward, she would talk to me. She would communicate with me. I would have never confessed to her had she’d not done that.

I stopped bothering with the labels. It’s pointless. All that matters is that I know my name, and I love Elaine. That’s it.

“Eventually, we decided to just outright tell him after we finished exploring the cave,” Vivi averted her eyes with a sad expression, “But you know that never came to pass.”

Upon hearing those words, Arthur’s chest ached with a familiar sensation of doubt and a heavy tightness as he looked at his left arm. The awful feeling of loneliness, conflicted feelings, and a heartbreak that never completely went away. Arthur quietly took a deep breath. He would be lying if he were to admit that he didn’t feel anything for Vivi and Lewis anymore, but most of the desire had faded. He felt nothing for the wraith.

He gave his heart to Elaine. He won’t betray her like that. He won’t let her go through such heartbreak ever again.

“I see,” Elanie sighed as she gave Arthur’s hand a squeeze, letting him know she’s still with him, “Since we’re on the subject, perhaps you can actually answer this question since both your parents and the Peppers didn’t give me the full story. From what they told me; things have ‘gone straight to hell’ when Arthur left your lives.”

Arthur could’ve sworn he saw one of Elaine’s eyes glow when he saw her narrow her gaze at Vivi.

“What happened in Tempo after that?”

Neither Vivi nor the wraith responded. They just looked down in shame. Arthur didn’t see a reason to pity them anymore.

“I guess it’s my turn to explain things.”

Arthur nearly jumped when he heard Mystery speak. Had he seriously forgotten that the kitsune disguised as a dog is still around? Even though he was right beside Vivi the whole time.

“Go on,” Elaine looked down at the dog with contempt, “And do not leave out a single detail. Tell me everything.”

“Very well,” Mystery took a deep breath, “As we’ve said before, it all started when Vivi got the phone call from Lance. None of us knew that Arthur had left for a ‘solo vacation’ after he finished his work here. So when Lance called police to help locate Arthur, he came to our place. That’s when he found all the evidence that clued us in that Arthur had been abused by Lewis ever since we reunited. While Vivi’s memory issues is one thing, I do not have any excuse for not noticing Arthur’s pain. I was too focused on watching out for Vivi’s health as I am bound to her.”

A hitched breath from Vivi caught Arthur’s attention. She looks angry, “After you left, when I found out about what my parents and the Peppers… and Lewis have done to you, I was livid. I told them all that if they had to blame someone, they should’ve blamed me.

“I am the leader of the Mystery Skulls, so the wellbeing of everyone was my responsibility. I failed to do that when we went to that cave. If I hadn’t brought us there, or if I hadn’t brushed off your concerns, or had I not suggested we split up,” Vivi sighed before continuing, “Or had Lewis and I talked with you about our feelings before instead of after that cave, then none of this would have happened to us. The one that caused the series of events that led to Lewis getting killed was me. So it’s my fault, Arthur. Not yours. If anything, I should’ve been the one receiving all that abuse from Lewis and the others instead of you. Not that it makes things any better, of course, but still.”

Don’t say that. Don’t say that Lewis is--

“Continuing from where we left off, Vivi and I were trying to search for you by checking whatever leads we could get. All we knew from the police reports was that you had taken a bus to a route leading out to the east of Tempo, transferred a few times within the span of two days, and then boarded a bus that was reported to have dropped you off somewhere in the mountains of Tennessee,” Mystery said, “We elected to have Lewis stay behind since we couldn’t trust him with your wellbeing, but that became our worst mistake.”

The wraith looked at the blue box in its hand, “The demon that killed me… was still around. It took hold of my father and almost killed Paprika by putting a knife to her throat. If I hadn’t been around, then she would’ve died. Vivi was able to save him by,” the wraith shuddered, “By freezing his hand off, but then the demon took hold of me. My mother got caught in the crossfire when she was taking my father and sisters to safety.”

A chill went up in Arthur’s spine. He knew that experience firsthand. A human falling under possession is one thing, but anything that actually has powers that normal people like him aren’t capable of doing? He glanced at Elaine to see how she’s faring and could only feel somewhat relieved upon seeing that she hasn’t changed her scrutiny of the Mystery Skulls.

Although Arthur shuddered that the wraith just kept talking, he didn’t know if it was from hearing it speak or finally knowing why Mrs. Pepper’s body is so full of burn scars. The burns he received from the wraith were tame in comparison. For him, he could just hide them under his clothes. Mrs. Pepper, not so much.

“Vivi and Mystery were able to expel the demon from me, but then Vivi’s grandmother sealed me within my home.”

“Obaa-san said that the seal could be broken by ‘only those that come after in blood of whose soul you’ve hurt,’” Vivi quotes with her fingers, “Since Arthur was hurt by Lewis, Mystery and I knew that we needed him to break it. But there’s one thing I don’t quite understand, Arthur didn’t go anywhere near where Lewis was, so how was the seal broken?”

Vivi, stop calling that thing Lew—

“…Arthur’s children,” Mystery perked up in realization, “If we take ‘only those that come after in blood’ to mean his descendants, then they easily fill the criteria since they’re descended from his bloodline. I do remember Fuyuko-sama once saying that Arthur is an ‘herbivore,’ so to speak. She may have intended for the conditions of removing the seal to be impossible, as she may have thought that Arthur would never have a child, let alone get together with someone. It makes sense.”

Arthur and Elaine looked at one another briefly, the former feeling very uncomfortable. Neither of them liked the fact that Gwen, Percy, and Vivian have more involvement than they thought.

“Well, either way,” Vivi sighed before crossing her arms, “Since Lewis is here, that means all we need to do now is find the demon that tore us apart and cursed this town, and then we can finally end this nightmare. And then once we take that thing once and for all, we all just… talk. Hopefully patch up things and then just,” she let a hard breath, “I don’t know, go from there.”

Getting rid of that wraith would be a real good start.

“About the demon,” the wraith said, “Before your grandmother sealed me, I managed to take it down with me. It was actually because of it that I… ended up learning of everything it made Arthur do to kill me, and then how it caught up to us before we managed to briefly defeat it.”

There was a silence.

“Wait, what the fuck?” Vivi’s voice is steadily rising in volume, “Mystery and I were looking for that thing ever since Arthur left, and you mean to tell me that it’s been with you the entire time?! That thing was torturing the town for over seventeen years!”

“I didn’t even know it’s been seventeen years until Gwen and Percy told me right after the seal was broken! Do you have any idea how hard it is for me to process that?! They were will filling me in on what I had missed and were just about to get to my sisters until you all came in!” It held up the blue box in it hand, “I held on to this ever since Paprika gave it to me!”

Who gave you the right to call them by their names? Arthur bit his lip in anger. They’re not yours.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait, hold up, hold up,” Elaine let go of Arthur and put herself between Vivi and the wraith before giving the latter a pointed look, “To make sure I have this straight. You had been sealed by Yukino’s grandmother, along with the demon, right?”

“Yes...”

“And my and Arthur’s children had broken that seal, therefore freeing you.”

“That’s… right.”

“So if you’re here, then where’s the demon now?”

Arthur’s blood went cold. He looked behind him before running out of the room.

The kids!

As he ran, his anger could not be contained. As a father, he will do whatever it takes to keep his children safe for their sake, and for Elaine’s.

The wraith is too dangerous to keep around.

- - - - - - -

The hunt is over!

And now you are mine!

Hide in shadows give you safety, baby...

But not this time!

...

You really like to think the contrary, don’t you?

Part 20: Your Enemy???!

#mystery skulls animated #msa fanfic #fanfic #fanfiction #msa arthur #arthur kingsmen #msa #msa knights #elaine knights #gwen knights #percy knights #vivian knights #niniane knights #vivi yukino #msa mystery #msa lewis

24 notes · View notes