#seriously the whole castle shook and there was a minor panic

[iturbide]

psst now that you have both grims how do you think the two big doomsday dragons differ, if at all? is one a bit more affectionate, or more vocal? or are they just like identical twins?

I’m still so happy that I have them both I love them so much and I’m so happy that I finally have them together ;v; 

But you know that is a really good question.  Much like the two Grimas are different in how they act, the giant dragons they’re bonded with are equally unique in spite of their outward similarities.  Some points of contrast include…

M!Grima’s doomsday dragon is far more likely to stick close to the castle, periscoping to search for threats rather than roaming afield to hunt them down.  It allows him to react immediately to a summons from Kiran (or just if someone comes up to see him, whether it’s the Summoner or one of the dragon babies sneaking off), plus it lets him find the Summoner around the castle when they’re about.  F!Grima’s apocalypse dragon, meanwhile, is just as fiercely protective but expends the energy in an entirely different way, ranging quite far to root out potential dangers to Askr.  It makes her an extremely effective defender since she can either handle threats where she finds them or report back through her vessel regarding what she’s seeing, allowing for additional time to deploy counter-measures; she has also been known to take some of the little dragons out flying with her on occasion, since those parental instincts are not limited to M!Grima. 

M!Grima’s dragon tends to be the more vocal and outwardly affectionate of the two with Kiran, crooning and nuzzling and burying them in soft feathers when they’re not feeling at their best.  F!Grima’s dragon isn’t quite so demonstrative, though she is equally fond of the Summoner, and is more prone to leaning into affection given to her like pets and scritches.  When Kiran’s not feeling well, though, she will settle close and make a low rumbling sound like a purr deep in her chest, though, something soothing in spite of how scary it should be. 

They are both equally prone to spying on goings-on in the Askran castle, but while M!Grima is more likely to send his vessel in to deal with trouble as it brews, F!Grima has no qualms about trying to settle things herself without her vessel’s help.  M!Grima might not be exactly discreet, but he is at least realistic about what he can and can’t get done; F!Grima has shaken the entire castle in a threat display over something she saw through the windows.  While Kiran has managed to talk her out of bringing the whole building down on their heads, she will still growl when she sees things she dislikes. 

[mango7889]

The sun was setting on Canterlot, concluding another day at the castle medical office for Nurse redheart. That being said, medical is never to be unstaffed. Redheart had just finished packing up her days supplies and cleaning her work station.she then headed over to check on Aurora, seeing as she would be leaving the clinic in her hooves, and she was still finishing her training.

Aurora was getting her station organized when she heard Redheart start to talk from almost directly behind her.The loud voice made her jump. “I hope you’re ready to take over for the night Aurora. I’ve been training you for the past 8 months, so you should be more than ready. I don’t expect much to be going on, but be prepared for things like guards with sprains or scraps or any other minor injury that Glacial insists on rushing them in here with.”

After quickly composing herself, Aurora spent most of that nodding diligently, adding “yes ma’ams” here and there. She was taking it all in expecting her to go into another one of her rants But she stopped short and simply gave her the keys for medical. Aurora stood up straighter. “I won’t let you down ms.Redheart. When you get here in the morning it’ll be just how you left it, I promise!”

Nurse Redheart squinted her eyes. “Riiight, I’ll be holding you to that you know. I hope you still remember what happened last time you left a mess for me in the morning.” Aurora visibly shivered at the thought.

As Aurora shook her head she noticed Nurse Redheart was already heading for the door. “Good night ms. Redheart! I’ll see you in the morning.” Redheart waved to her as she left the office. With the office now in her hooves and having nothing else to do, Aurora sat back in her chair and pulled out her book, and started reading.

Night passed as uneventfully as Aurora thought it would. She was enjoying it though, sitting back reading while casually taking bites of the cake her sister Eclair made for her shift.

Nice and calm.

The door to medical slammed open as two guards barged in with somepony on a stretcher, bandages wrapped around their face. From the pained moans he was making it sounded pretty bad. Aurora’s eyes shot wide as she jumped out of her skin for the second time tonight. She quickly ran over to her station and waved them over. The guards set the wounded bat on the table. “He’s hurt pretty bad doc. I wasn’t allowed to know what had happened on orders from director Brass Tax. All I know is it’s pretty bad damage to his eye. We were told to leave him with medical and report back.”

Aurora’s mind was going a mile a minute as she tried to process what she was being told. The guards started to walk towards the door when Aurora came back to reality. “W-wait you’re just leaving him with me!?” all she got was a yes ma’am before the door closed behind them. “Oh dammit why tonight while Redheart is out? Oh we’ll just leave you this seriously wounded guy with no explanation of what caused it! It’s fine you’ll figure it out’.”

As Aurora was pacing in circles panicking, the bat pony spoke up. “Miss I don’t suppose you have any painkillers. Not to rush you or anything but this does hurt pretty bad.”

His comment snapped Aurora out of her panic. “I’m so sorry! I’ll get started right away!” Grabbing a nearby by bottle of painkillers, she shook out two pills and grabbed a little paper cup and filled it with water.

Aurora gave him the medication and pulled over her tray of tools and supplies. “ That should help ease the pain while I get started working on your injury.” He took the meds as Aurora cutaway the bandages to see the injury for herself. Getting through the layers of bandage she started to see the part where blood was soaking through. Most of it was around his left eye area, primarily on the eye itself. Once the last of the bandage was carefully removed she was able to take stock of the damage. It was bad. He had a deep gash in an upwards direction that started just beneath his eye and crossed over the eye itself, ending just above the eye. He also had a cut on his cheek that would probably scar but it was the least of her worries. Without even needing to take a closer look she knew his eye would never work again. The cut was incredibly deep, and she could make out parts of the eye that had been completely destroyed.

The work she had to do could not be done while he was awake, that was for sure. “Sir I’m going to need to put you under for this. It’s going to be a while and I can’t have you moving an inch.”

He nodded as best he could. “Got it. The names Nox by the way, and I’m assuming it’s pretty bad?”

As stoic as he was trying to act, Aurora could tell he was feeling nervous and worried. She grabbed the small mask that was hooked up to a canister and placed it over his muzzle. “Don’t worry Nox, I’m sure you’ll be fine. Now just try to relax and let the anesthetic do its job.”

Nox tried to say something along the lines of ‘I trust you’ll do fine, what Aurora actually heard was “Ib truffulduu fiii” before he passed out completely. With Nox fully sedated now she was able to start her work on repairing all the damage to his eye. As her work continued she found that, while the eye was a lost cause, the damage didn’t go any deeper than the eye. The socket was fairly intact with only some light superficial damage. The cut above and below the eye would scar for sure but it would also heal up rather quickly. The cheek cut was a little deep but didn’t pierce it so the mouth was safe. Once the area was clear she stitched up his cheek as for his eye, she had to sterilize it since it was just one big open wound. Once the eye was sterilized and sealed, Aurora put a large patch bandage over it with some antibiotics to keep the area free from infections.

Her work was done at this point, nothing left to do but watch over him and change out his bandage when needed. She only wished she knew him other than just his name. Aurora would usually try and contact friends and family at this point but Aurora figured she’d just have to ask him when he came too.

A little over 2 hours had passed when Nox finally woke up again. Aurora heard the sharp inhale come from him as the painkiller was wearing off. Aurora quickly hopped over to Nox to check on him as she reached him she also got another dose of painkillers and some water in case he needed it.

Nox rolled over to lay down on his stomach rather than on his back. He reached up to rub his eye reflexively when Aurora quickly swatted his hoof away. He looked at her as she blushed and rubbed the back of her neck. “Heh, s-sorry about that, just habit. Um…please don’t rub your eye, I don’t want the stitching to come free. Oh and don’t move your face muscles too much. And don’t lay on your face… Just try not to do much with your face at all really.”

Nox laughs a bit before giving her a much more somber look. “I wanna know though, how bad was it. You mentioning that it’s stitched probably means I won’t be seeing out of this eye again right?”

Aurora sighed. “The eye was completely gone. No matter what I could have tried it was never going to heal. Luckily the wound wasn’t as bad as it could have been.”

She paused for a moment before asking the question that’s been eating away at her for the whole process. “I have to ask…What exactly happened? I mean it’s not every day sompony comes in here with a real injury and your’s was really bad.”

Nox giving his neck a rub tried to look anywhere that wasn’t Aurora. “Honestly I can’t actually say. That information is kinda lock and key if you know what i mean. The best I can give you is that I was asking the wrong questions in the right places and not covering my tracks very well.”

Aurora’s eyes lit up a bit. “Oooo, that sounds so cloak and dagger! Are you a spy or…a… Right can’t tell me. Regardless try and be more careful, Nox. If whoever did this was able to do the damage they did they probably could have killed you.”

Despite the pain in his eye Nox tried to ease Aurora’s worry. He gave her his honest attempt at a genuine smile. “It’s not as bad as it looks”

Aurora was trying to prep his replacement bandage she looked over at him with a knowing and worried look. “I’m not sure you’re a good judge of that right now.” She finished readying the bandage and slowly removed his current one. She was happy to see that her work was holding and there was no sign of additional bleeding or infection. With his bandage replaced she figured now was time to ask about friends and family to contact.

Aurora put away the supplies she was using and grabbed a quill with paper. “So Nox, I need to fill out who to contact, friends, family, that sort of thing.”

Nox smiled but Aurora could feel his slight dis-interest in the subject. “Well most of my friends probably already know, or will know pretty soon. As for family, I have a sister named lavender. She’s probably at home so you can send a runner to my address. Don’t bother filling out the space for parents, Mom’s dead and I have no interest in seeing my waste of space father again.”

Aurora felt a little bad from the sting on the way he said ‘father’. “Got it. I’ll send for your sister right away. For now please just try and get some rest.

Things had finally calmed down again. Aurora was now sitting back next to Nox reading her book while he got some much needed rest. Two chapters into her book and Nox sound asleep at this point, things were good.

The door to medical slammed open once again. Aurora jumping out of her chair in a panic and only managing to end up sprawling on the floor. Nox meanwhile jumped to his hooves in a defensive stance. When Aurora looked up she saw a young, wide-eyed, lavender coloured mare standing in the door looking frantic. When she spotted Nox, she let out a gasp before sprinting over and taking him in a seemingly bone crushing hug.

The lavender mare let go of Nox but still kept him in her hooves. “Sweet stars! Are you alright!? What happened!? Who did this!? Are you going to be able to see again!? How long have you been here!? Do..”

Before she could go on Nox gently put his hoof over her muzzle. “Calm down, Lavender. It’s alright! I’m fine thanks to Aurora over there.” Aurora still reeling at the situation, just raised a hoof and waved.

Nox gave a calm smile and continued. “There was a complication with work. Sadly that’s all I can say, and it’s for your own safety. But all you need to know is I’m fine now and it’ll be okay. I’ll be honest, I won’t be seeing out of this eye again. But before you say anything, I knew the dangers of this job before I jumped into it.”

Lavender let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “I know you’re okay and that you knew the risk. It’s just..just.” She once again threw her forelegs around Nox but in a much softer hug. Tears started to stream down her face as she cried into his shoulder.

Aurora finally got up went walked over to close the door, giving the two a bit more privacy. She also decided it was best just to go sit back at her desk on the other side of the medical office and read to give those two some time together.

A little while later and Lavender finally let go. Watery eyes looked up at Nox. “Please never scare me like that again. You’re the only family I have left, and I don’t know what I’d do if ever you didn’t come home.”

Nox was softly petting her mane. “Sis you know I can’t promise that…But I can promise to try my very best to make sure that never happens. Remember, if anything like that ever happens to me, Glacial’s already said she’d look after you in a heartbeat.

Lavender clearly didn’t like the idea, but she grit her teeth and nodded. She let go of Nox and walked over to Aurora. “Thank you for taking care of my brother, Aurora. I really appreciate what you did.”

Aurora giggled a little at Lavender’s timid thanks. “No problem sweetie, it’s why I’m here. If you’d like, he’s free to head out with you. Just make sure to keep him balanced until he gets used to only using one eye.”

Aurora then looked over at Nox. “And you, remember to check on your eye in the morning and look for any signs of infection. Also if you start feeling any pain, remember to take your medication. For any other problems, you’re welcome to come right back.” Now dropping her more serious tone in favour of a softer one, she continued. “And please try and take care of yourself out there.”

A swift nod and thanks from Nox and the two of them headed out, leaving Aurora once again in a silent and calm medical office. And a rather messy one now that she looked at it, probably should have been cleaning in the down time.

Aurora was just about to start cleaning when for the third time in that night, or rather unfortunately dawn now, The door swung open. Once again startling the hell out of Aurora as Nurse Redheart flew into the room.

Her eyes scanned the room and then immediately landed on the now prone Aurora. “What in tartarus happened last night!? I hear that an intelligence operative is wounded severely and in your care, the office looks like a disaster, you didn’t feel the need to contact me about something so drastic, AND you’re just laying on the floor!”

Aurora gave a sheepish grin with a look of terror on her face. “U-uh…I can explain everything?” With Nox healed, for the most part, and Aurora getting reamed out by Redheart, things were back to normal once again.

[imnotcameraready]

If Villains Baked Cookies — Chapter 3

A/N: it’s been a Fuckin While, welcome back to this!!! 

Word Count: 3295

Warnings: Sympathetic Deceit y’all, curses, cursing, minor character death (not anyone significant to the storyline), suggested abuse, suggested trauma, swords, knives, panic and panic attack — if i forgot any pls let me know!!!

Pairings: im realizing that this is platonic Moceit and then platonic Analogince, with like. light versions of platonic DLAMP given that they’re a famILY

Characters: Deceit, Patton, Virgil, Logan, Roman, Thomas, AND EMILE PICANI :^) and Percy the Printer™

read on AO3!

Prologue — Chapter 1 — Chapter 2

@rebelrewriter

enjoy!

Sir Virgil Malory wasn’t exactly a knight, per se. He never liked the shining armor and giant swords, both of which would clang together in an incredibly distracting way. No, Virgil prefered the shadows, the quiet, soft leather shoes and a few small daggers hidden in his coat.

He was forced to undergo the knight training, though, as the youngest of four brothers who had all grown to be high ranking knights. His father, before he died, expected all of them to carry on his own legacy of being one of the King’s war advisors.

When he was sixteen, just before the last year of his knightly training, he was pulled aside by one of the King’s aides. Of course, his heart was beating in his neck, he was sweating buckets, what had he done to make the King mad? Why did he need an audience with the King? And the aide didn’t tell him anything until they got to the small war-planning room.

With JUST the King in it.

“Sounds terrible, being locked in a room with a royal,” Roman interrupted, feet kicked up onto the table.

Virgil shot him a glare. “It is pretty terrible when I’m locked in a room with you,” he stuck his tongue out at Roman, who made a sound crossed between a squeak and a gasp in indignation.

“Virgil? Keep going?” Thomas asked, wrapping his own cape around himself as well.

“Fuck, uh, yeah.”

“No more interruptions, Roman,” Logan raised an eyebrow and cast a side glance at him, “And get your feet off of the table. Patton would be furious.”

Deceit rolled his eyes while Roman grumbled quietly, sitting up proper. “Like Patton’s capable of being furious,” he joked, voice soft.

Thomas still didn’t like how his tongue flicked when he spoke.

Virgil cleared his throat, and Roman’s grumbling quieted.

The King had called Virgil into the room not to reprimand him, but to extend an offer. His army had enough knights who fought with swords. He needed more who could fight in the shadows. Who could sneak into an enemy’s tent and slit their throats quietly.

Yeah, it was a weird gig. Seemed to go against all of the knights’ mantra of honor and dealing with things in battle, but the King was serious. He talked a lot about how not everything could be settled out in the open and how not everything could be known to the public. I didn’t like it at all but….I wasn’t really cut out to be a knight, anyway. I said yes.

Training was, well….similar? I don’t know how much y’all wanna hear.

“Just, like….I dunno. Whatever you see fit?” Thomas asked.

He had started slowly slipping off his armor, but kept his dagger and sword strapped to his person. His choice to keep his weapons didn’t escape Deceit’s gaze, he kept noticing the god’s eyes following him. Thomas really, really didn’t like him.

Virgil just watched Thomas a little harder. He seemed to want to retaliate, but a nudge from Roman distracted him. “No more third person?” he cocked an eyebrow, leaning across both of his arms and the table, grinning cheekily up at him.

“Eh, that wasn’t gonna last anyway,” Virgil rolled his eyes with a huff, “I’m not a storyteller.”

I’m gonna skip training. But basically, uh, I learned how to throw knives, make poisons, climb walls, you name it.

My brothers knew I had a special job, but they didn’t know what it was. We lived in the same house, nearby the castle, which was technically my eldest brother’s house since his family lived there. They always asked what I was doing and what the King wanted from me but I never told. The King’d said that….anyone I told would be killed.

My brothers sucked, but I didn’t want them dead.

I was knighted when I was seventeen, and then I started getting sent out on jobs. Never with anyone, never during the day. The royal family always claimed I was a war messenger. That appeased my brothers for the most part, but the oldest one….Percival. Percy. Percy never really trusted that description. He never went after me, though, but I could always see that he just didn’t accept that.

When Patton was first being challenged by the King, I was almost sent, actually. There were only a few of us war messengers, all assassins, and I’d just returned from another job. Because I was fresh home, the King sent someone else. I didn’t know his name or anything but I remember how scared we all were when he didn’t come back.

The King sent someone else to poison Patton’s crops, and they came back. Succeeded.

News traveled fast, though, that the. Well. He was called a murderer then, and everyone was saying that the murderer’d run. Fled into the hills. And everyone was calling for the King to send a party against him.

The pressure went on for only about a year before the King caved. He said he sent a single knight against the murderer to best him in combat. The King sent me. He told me it didn’t matter how I did it, but that I just needed….he wanted me to bring Patton’s dead body back.

Virgil now looked down at the table, brow furrowed, angry at the memory. Thomas glanced up at Logan and Roman, noticing that they seemed surprised. Thomas hadn’t been asked to bring the body back, either. It might have been a custom that died with time.

Even Deceit was looking at his own lap, humming quietly along with the wind chime.

It was a tense, uncomfortable silence.

“Whew!” Thomas’ head snapped up at the sound of the side door opening. Patton walked in, wiping his hands on a towel. “Left was really milkin’ it today!”

Only Deceit chuckled. Virgil lowered his head onto the table, the hood of his cloak falling over his head. Logan groaned.

Patton seemed confused at what he’d walked into. He looked around at them all and opened his arms. “What’s wrong, kiddos? I hope that pun didn’t moove you!”

“We’re just, um….” Thomas looked up at Logan — he seemed to be the task manager.

Logan met his eyes and sighed. Despite only being here for a few hours, Thomas was already getting the hang of being here. Truth be told, he’d already made up his mind. Of course he was staying. But he didn’t want to be just stagnant. Not after all that he’d heard about the king.

“We are listening to Virgil explain how he arrived here. Are you….aware, of why he came?”

Patton grimaced as soon as Logan said “explain.” He stepped to Virgil’s side and gently rubbed his back. “Yeah, I remember when Virge arrived! He, uh….well, he was real determined!” he smiled, a little too cheerily for the topic, “But Deceit wasn’t havin’ any of that.”

“Sorry,” Deceit grumbled, “It was fun.”

Virgil sat up. “Sorry,” he mumbled, wiping his face, “I’ll keep going.”

“Don’t wipe too hard, you’ll smudge your angsty make up,” Roman retorted, voice lacking the bite it’d had earlier, “You don’t have to continue if you don’t want to.”

Virgil looked up at him and they seemed to share a moment. Patton kept rubbing Virgil’s back, also watching Roman, then Logan. Scanning around, making sure his children were okay, Thomas reckoned. He was a little surprised when Patton’s eyes landed on him, too. He gave Patton a tiny smile, which Patton returned thrice as large.

“Well, this is a good time to, uh, air out the dirty laundry. I’m gonna cut up the brownies while you kiddos talk?” Patton patted Virgil’s shoulder one last time before walking around the table, towards the kitchen area.

Thomas watched him and Deceit share a look, too, though it was a little different from the other. He couldn’t tell how. Was it an increase in tension? Determination? Seriousness?

It must have communicated something, because Deceit rolled his eyes away and glared at Virgil’s back. “I cannot pick up the story, Virgil, if you would like,” he offered.

Virgil shook his head and faced Deceit. “No, nah, it’s….it’s okay. It’s way in the past anyway! And, ‘sides, I kicked Roman’s ass harder,” the last part was punctuated with Virgil pointing to Roman with his thumb over his shoulder.

Roman, however, snorted. “The only thing you kicked, Angst-fest, was the dirt after our glorious battle!”

“You started crying over your ripped cape, but go off,” Deceit said, checking his fingernails and digging the dirt out from under them.

“You little—”

“Shut it! Alright, so…..”

The whole chosen one thing wasn’t big back then, but everyone kinda knew about me being sent off. I didn’t say bye to my family or anything, either. Those assholes didn’t care.

“Virgil! No swearing!”

“Jeez, sorry Patt.”

The King set me up with everything, rations and money and weapons and all that jazz. It only took about a week to ride here, too, since it was the first time and none of the opportunists’d settled into where they are now.

Like, you know. Logan talked about having to fight a sphinx, when he first came. I’m sure you had to fight some things like that too. Creatures and peddlers and thieves set themselves up along the path, see if they can kill the Chosen One and loot their body. Or they just wanna swindle you out of money and goods.

None of that was there when I went. It was real easy, until I got to the mountain.

I ran into Patton first, while he was building the barn, actually. With like, his hands. I didn’t think he was the warlock but, well, did any of us? I asked what he was doing all the way out here, he said he lived here. He’d just moved. He was kinda jumpy, but like, that’s valid. He asked why I was here and I told him….I told him I was here to meet a warlock. Lied, and said I was here to discuss a truce with the King.

Patton flipped out. Super excited and all.

Here, Virgil gestured to Patton. “I dunno, do you wanna….pick up the story?”

Patton shot him a small smile and brought a plate of brownies to the table. As soon as he set it down, Roman grabbed one and began nibbling on it. Logan thanked him and took one as well, and then Virgil, who was still staring at Patton.

He leaned on the counter besides Deceit, who wrapped an arm around Patton’s shoulders. He took a deep breath.

“I thought it’d be the end of being chased around. Maybe I’d get to farm and-and go back down to the town. I missed having neighbors. But, like….at that point, it’d been a year. A little over a year of working with Deceit’s magic. And, since it’s tied to preservation and honesty, I could….I could hear you lying. It’s weird, but I could hear it, but I wanted to believe it so badly,” Patton shrugged.

“That means it wasn’t a dumbass idea,” Deceit grumbled.

Patton laughed behind a hand. It seemed no one was going to mention that Deceit had sworn. Logan raised a hand, but Virgil grabbed it and lowered it slowly, all waiting for Patton to continue. It only took a few moments before his hand dropped, arms crossed in front of his chest.

“Yeah, um. That wasn’t my brightest, I’ll admit,” Patton’s voice was airier, “I let Virgil in. We sat in the kitchen. We….I think I was just rambling at you.”

“You were telling me about the chickens you were raising,” Virgil added, eyes flickering towards Deceit.

“And I didn’t interrupt. You had a knife in your sleeve,” Deceit met Virgil’s gaze.

Virgil looked down at the table and nodded. “Deceit, uh….we had a fight.”

All was quiet, Virgil staring at the table and fidgeting with his sleeves, but Deceit leaned off of the counter behind himself. “Do you not want me to show it?” he offered, sincerity clear in his voice.

Virgil stood up, head snapping up to Deceit. “Don’t,” he leaned forward on the table, nostrils flaring, knuckles tight on the table’s edge.

Roman stood up, too, and — where the fuck did he get that sword? He stuck a sword between the two of them, holding up his off hand towards Virgil’s chest.

On instinct, Thomas stood as well, drawing his own sword and holding it out to mimic Roman. “Woah, woah, calm down, everyone. If that’s—if that’s where the story ends, then that’s fine, right?” Thomas glanced up at Roman for support, who nodded, then at Logan.

Logan….didn’t move. He was just watching Patton, who was standing behind Deceit, seemingly stricken. Thomas watched, too, as Patton blinked a little. He moved slow, like how one would when approaching a scared animal.

“....Dee. Don’t do it,” Patton grabbed Deceit’s arm, tugging him back a little.

Deceit didn’t break eye contact with Virgil. Just watched him quietly, the second eyelid over his snake eye blinking slowly. Virgil was matching his glare and seemed only a few seconds away from ripping Roman’s arm away from himself.

Yet he broke first, looking down and away. The room’s tension dropped, Roman spinning around and sheathing his sword. He held Virgil’s shoulders carefully and asked if he was okay. Patton pulled Deceit backwards into his arms, holding him tight and asking the same. Thomas himself just….watched. Slowly sank back into his seat, leaned backwards. Logan patted his arm and Thomas turned up towards him.

“I hope you can excuse the tension,” Logan’s voice was quiet, probably hoping to not be heard by the others, “They have a lot of history.”

“They. Deceit and Virgil, I’m guessing?” Thomas whispered back.

Logan nodded, fixing his glasses as he glanced back up at Deceit. “Deceit is fairly tame, for a forgotten deity, but he is incredibly protective of Patton. Given that Virgil was assigned to kill him, Deceit….well. I don’t know much of the story myself, but I do know that Virgil was defeated in hand to hand combat. Multiple times. They get along fair enough now but I assume those memories are still difficult to sit with.”

They both looked up at the sound of Roman tugging Virgil toward the door. Thomas couldn’t see much of Virgil, wrapped beneath his thick patchwork cloak, but the one hand he could see was gripping Roman’s white tunic tight enough to turn his hand just as white. A murderer. It was still a little hard to process, this teenager was supposed to be a hardened murderer. Roman held the door open with his foot and carefully ushered Virgil out. He caught Logan and Thomas’ eye as he hurried out and mouthed “We’ll be back,” before letting the door close behind himself.

Now, Logan and Thomas directed their attention to Deceit and Patton. They’d shifted, Deceit sitting on the counter, Patton holding his hands tight.

“He’s very human, all things considered,” Logan murmured just loud enough for Thomas to hear, “If you’d like….I can show you to your room for the night.”

Thomas looked at him. Logan was watching him as well, blue eyes piercing behind those glasses.

He reminded Thomas so much of the librarian, Emile, but with a different level of power. When Thomas had been chosen he went to Emile, only to be held in the tightest hug he’d ever felt. There were rumors in their village, there are always rumors, that Emile had the Gift of Sight and that he’d been able to see what happened to his brother. The same piercing eyes, the same knowing gaze. They held Thomas in his spot so well that he almost forgot he wasn’t standing in the library’s foyer, about to ask Mr. Picani if he’d ever climbed a mountain.

“....I….”

“I know you’ve made your decision, Thomas. Regardless of your desire to announce it or not, there are still a few hours until dinner and you may find it best to rest,” Logan’s face folded into a small fond smile, “Besides, Patton has been arranging your room for the past decade.”

They’d been expecting him. Of course they had, if the Chosen One was a generational tradition lasting over the past hundreds of years.

The thought made Thomas’ blood boil. He’d trained for years to protect Tomasphere but the more he learned about the royal family….

He hoped Logan couldn’t see his anger. Thomas smiled back, more unsure. “Um. Yeah, sure,” he followed Logan as he rose and tucked in his chair.

“Patton,” Patton turned to look over his shoulder at Logan and Thomas, “I’m going to take Thomas to his room. Roman and Virgil are outside.”

“Wait,” Deceit’s hand — Thomas’ fists balled tightly as he saw that there were claws, claws on his scaled left arm, just like the claws that gripped his throat only a few days ago — pulled Patton’s shoulder to the side, “I can tell Virgil totally wants to finish the story, so I shouldn’t step in. Thomas’ isn’t staying, ergo the story shouldn’t be finished.”

Logan frowned at him, opening his mouth to interrupt, then closing his mouth as he tried to decipher the circle speak. Thomas watched him, deferring in a moment of fear, but Logan only shook his head. “I don’t think that will be necessary—”

“Virgil didn’t get his ass handed to him so bad, and it definitely took less than a week for him to fully recover,” Deceit rubbed the back of his neck, “It….I’m completely proud.”

“Dee, it’s okay.”

“I didn’t break his spine. He—Patton, sunlight, he—Patton.”

Deceit’s eyes flicked toward Thomas, whose fists clenched even firmer, and then down to the table. His shaking shoulders were hunched just enough for Patton to pull him back to his chest and for him to rest his head in the crook of Patton’s neck. “Now, Dee, you were different. That was a few centuries ago, and you were different. Things’re better now,” he rubbed the deity’s back, running a hand through his dark brown hair, “Things’re better.”

“I don’t know, Patt,” Deceit’s voice was muffled but held a distinct change in tone.

Thomas wanted to watch, something in him wanted to bear witness to this honest side of Deceit. He hadn’t been sure about Deceit’s sincerity since he’d met him, certain that there were backward statement and some very obvious lies, but, well, Thomas couldn’t exactly tell. The sentiment of his sorrow, though, and the tone. The tone of his voice. Was he being honest?

But Logan’s hand gripped his arm and tugged.

“Thomas. Let’s go,” his voice was firm, and Thomas couldn’t help but obey.

He followed Logan out of the kitchen and left Patton to calm the upset god. He followed Logan into a smaller room, furnished with a fully-made bed, a small desk, a wardrobe, and a candlestick in a lantern already glowing. It seemed quaint, like moving into a new room, but Thomas could already tell that it was meant to be “home.” He dropped his satchel onto the desk and looked up. There were stars drawn onto the ceiling in golden ink, an “R+L” in the corner paying homage to the artists.

If Logan expected some sort of reaction, he was sorely disappointed. Once he saw the bed, Thomas knew he was done for, as the weight of how much he’d gone through during the day finally crashed onto his shoulders. He took a few steps toward the bed, collapsed onto it and, within mere seconds, was asleep.

[scripts4dreamers]

Fear of a name

For the lovely @ly--canthrope 

AN: Cedric and his Gryffindor!girlfriend deal with the aftermath of the Triwizard Tournament together, but nothing is the same as it was. Can their love survive? Characters: Cedric Diggory, Hermione Granger, Professor McGonagall  Pairings: Cedric x reader  Spoiler(s): None  Warning(s): Mentions of death, shock, minor PTSD  Prompt: “Hey sweetie! I was wondering if I could request a cedric x reader request where he lives (I bloody wish) and when he and harry come back to the stands through the port key (though volde is still back), the reader as his gf comes running down and hugs him and all, and they are like clinging to one another because he had a brush with death. But since his meeting with volde, it's kinda shook him/numb so maybe have some fluff where the reader and him are just cuddling with the reader comforting(1/2) Because he just had a traumatic experience (volde and also the triwizard cup). Basically I need fluff for my poor baby and lots of clinging to one another. Thank you!”

 ------------------ 

 The first thing Cedric remembers from that night is the trumpets; the second, is the sound of triumphant screaming from the crowds that were seated in the stands. He remembers the weight of the cup in his left hand and the pounding of his heart in his chest moment before he saw Harry Potter collapse, and the reality of the situation hit him like a freight train. 

 “He’s back,” Cedric whispered, too low for anyone to hear, “he’s back.” 

 Sound faded away to nothing as he remembered the high pitched cackle of the dark lord and the flashes of emerald green death magic that had missed him by a fraction of a hair. Harry’s cries sounded like they were coming from far away, like something out of a dream or a nightmare as Cedric started to walk. He didn’t know where he was going, just that he needed to get away. He remembers how his throat had begun to close, how the world had rocked and swayed beneath his feet like a boat bobbing on the waves, and the overwhelming fear that flooded through his veins. Cedric felt something in him shift as the wizarding world exploded before his eyes. 

 Voldemort was back, nothing would ever be alright again. 

 He felt, more than heard, someone running towards him, his name falling from their lips like a prayer. Arms wrapped around his neck, stabilising him like a life raft, or an anchor in an endless sea. He felt some of his old strength come back and he pulled you close, breathing in your sweet, familiar scent as his knees buckled and you both collapsed onto the cold grass. 

 “He’s back,” Cedric cried into your shoulder, “he’s back Y/N, he’s really back.” 

“Shh, it’s okay, you’re safe now.” You promised the shaking boy, “You’re safe now. Everything’s going to be okay.” 

 Cedric shook his head, pulling you closer as tears streamed freely down his cheeks, “No, you don’t understand. He Who Must Not Be Named is back, he’s seen my face, he knows who I am. He’s gonna come after me Y/N, he said so himself.” 

Your heart stopped and the blood in your veins turned to ice as you listened to your boyfriend’s confession, wincing as you realised how terrified he really was. 

“Voldemort Shmoldemort,” You joked, trying to keep your boyfriend from spiralling even further into panic, “Overrated in my opinion. Him and his band of Not-So-Merry Men were taken down by an infant so, in the larger scheme of things, can he really be that scary?” 

 Cedric chuckled weakly through his tears, but lifted his head out from your shoulder and smiled. You wiped his face lovingly and pressed a soft kiss to his forehead. You were the only person he had ever been totally vulnerable with, who he’d let see under his layer and layers of stoicism and who had loved him regardless. 

 You caught Professor McGonagall’s eye as she motioned towards the castle with her head and you suddenly remembered how very in public you both were right now. You nodded and gave the older woman a weak smile, which she returned as she resumed her job of keeping the spectators seated while Dumbledore and Professor Moody tended to Harry Potter. 

 “Seriously Ced,” you insisted, turning your attention back to the boy in your arms, “as long as we’re together everything is going to be alright. You’ll protect me and I’ll protect you and Dumbledore will protect all of us.” You paused, letting your words sink in, “We beat him once and we’ll do it again I promise, but we need to get you off this field okay? Can you do that for me?” 

 The boy nodded, “You shouldn’t say his name you know,” Cedric reminded you softly as you helped him to his feet. 

 You shrugged, wrapping an arm around his waist to support him as he limped beside you. “Well I was never really one for following rules, you know that.” You replied, keeping your voice light as you death glared anyone who looked as though they were thinking of approaching you and Cedric. 

 The castle was mercifully empty as you guided Cedric through the hallways towards the infirmary. 

 “Come on baby,” you urged as the door swung open, “let’s get you into bed.” 

“You don’t know where my bed is Y/N.” Cedric pointed out sleepily. 

 “True, but since you’re gonna spend the night here with Madame Pomfrey, I don’t think it matters.” 

 “Are you gonna stay with me?” he asked, sounding vulnerable and weak. 

You didn’t answer for a while, waiting for him to guide you to his room before you replied, “You know I can’t. I have to check on my cousin, but I’ll head straight back here once I’ve found her okay?” 

“Promise?” Cedric asked as you tucked him into his bed. “I promise.” 

-----------------

You pushed your way through crowds of students, your eyes scanning for the familiar mane of thick, bushy hair that identified your younger cousin. 

“Hermione!” You called when she came into sight, “Hermione I’m here.” 

 Your cousin looked frantic as she spotted you, her brow creased with worry as she shoved her way to your side. 

“How’s Harry?” You asked instantly, worry knowing at the pit of your stomach. 

“I don’t know!” She huffed, “Moody rushed off with him before Ron and I could get there, he seemed alright though; frightened but alright.” 

Together, you began to walk towards the infirmary, sticking tight to each other’s’ sides and purposely avoiding addressing the bomb that had just been dropped on the wizarding world, “How’s Cedric?” she asked. 

“He’s shaken,” You admitted honestly, “but nothing’s wrong with him physically. I think he just needs some time to process.” 

 Hermione nodded, “He’s going to need you now more than ever.” 

“I was about to say the same thing to you,” you smiled, “those boys you hang around with, they’re going to rely on you even more now, you know that right?” 

She sighed, “What’ve we got ourselves into Y/N?” 

“I have no idea.” You laughed, “But we’ll get through it.” 

“We always do.”

 ----------------------- 

The infirmary was crowded by the time you arrived; filled with teachers and ministry workers all gathered around Harry and Cedric’s beds. The boys were invisible, hidden behind the wall of people, but you pushed through, anxious to make sure that your boyfriend was safe. Cedric’s face lit up when he saw you, instantly sitting up and reaching out to lace his fingers with yours. 

“I’m so sorry that that took so long baby,” you gushed, “the halls were insane.” 

“No, no its fine.” Cedric promised, pulling you down beside him and wrapping his arm around your waist, “I’m just glad you’re here now.” 

 He looked so much better, his hands had stopped shaking and someone had cleaned the cuts and scrapes that littered skin. You felt your body relax and suddenly the enormity of what had happened crashed over you like a tidal wave. Something must have shown on your face, because Cedric pulled you in tighter and buried his face in your hair. You could feel his heart pounding in his chest, and you let the sound bring you back to a place of relative calm.  

You couldn’t believe how close you’d come to loosing Cedric; the thought alone made you light headed with fright. No one had ever known or understood you the way he had, without him, the world would’ve been a very dark place indeed.  

“I love you Ced, you know that, right?” You asked, resting your head on your boyfriend’s chest as he lay back, “You know that you’re my whole world?” 

“Of course,” he replied, “and I love you too, more than anything. The thought of coming back home to you was all that kept me going in that maze sometimes. I just wanted you to be as proud of me as I am of you. Guess that didn’t go so well.” He chuckled sadly. 

You looked up at him, “Proud of you? Of course I’m proud of you, you idiot! You stood up to Lord Voldemort and survived; you made it to the last round of the Triwizard Tournament; you fought for your school and for your life and you won. What on earth have you done that isn’t noble and brave and honourable?” you pointed out, giving Cedric’s hand a tight squeeze, “You’re my hero Cedric Diggory, you always have been and you always will be.” 

He smiled gently, kissing the top of your head and tightening his grip on your waist, “I really do adore you Y/N Y/L/N.” 

You smiled in return and nuzzled closer to him, relishing in the feeling of being together like this. 

“So he's really back then, huh?” You eventually asked, after the people had begun to dissipate. 

“Yup.” 

“What're we going to do?” You asked hopelessly, looking up at your boyfriend. 

Cedric shrugged, “Same thing we always do I guess. Survive.”