#she seen at least three dead people. Two of which died in front of her. Intentionally. And her best friend was just revealed to be a serial

[cherryskyies]

Forgive me, Love me.

Just a little something from the full fic I am working on.. sometimes I forget how much I love twilight. Everyone's consenting adults in this. Reader is in her second year of college.

Warnings: Alcohol, unspecified age gap (reader is 19), fem reader

Summary: In which you're Bella's best friend and in a very complicated romance with a vampire much older than you.

masterlist || navigation || ao3

You don’t even know how you ended up on the front steps of someone’s house party, knees drawn up, mascara smudged, waiting for something you aren’t sure will come. You’re sure it had something to do with Jacob, who you haven’t seen in an hour now — he dragged you here and disappeared, likely upstairs with that girl from his stats class.

Your phone is dead, shoes off and lost somewhere – at least they were cheap, you think. Bella’s text back was the last notification you received before your phone died twenty minutes ago, ‘I called someone, don’t be mad’ she wrote, making your stomach flip with anxiety. 

It would take an hour to get home on foot, likely two with how drunk you are and your lack of shoes, but the longer you sat the more you debated it until headlights cut through the trees, an all too familiar silver Volvo coming up the drive. “Oh,” you say aloud, making a mental note to curse Bella out for sending him of all people. 

Carlisle Cullen stepped out like he’d materialized from a dream you’d been avoiding. Black coat, dark sweater, jaw tighter than you'd ever seen it. It is the first time in three weeks that you have seen each other and he’s angry — ‘maybe if I just go back inside he’ll forget what he came here for,’ you think, drunk mind fighting logic. The wooden step creaks under you as you stand, the movement feeling awfully quick for how slow it must’ve looked. 

Unfortunately for you, Carlisle is much faster, already standing at the bottom of the steps, stopped in front of you. “Don’t,” he says, tone strict as if he knows your plan. “Get in the car.” you both stand in a tense silence, him waiting and you debating — you can’t outrun him, but you could deny him. As you go to speak, Carlisle shakes his head, features irritated. “No, get in the car, (y/n).”

You should’ve known it was a losing game to argue with him, he’s always been two steps ahead where you're concerned. “Okay,” you agree, taking an unsteady step towards him; his hands are ready to catch you, but thankfully you make it to the car unscathed with wet feet from the grass. He opens the door for you, helping you inside and buckling you in. 

When he slides into the driver’s seat, the car is silent. His hands are white knuckle gripping the wheel and his jaw is tense. You peek at him from the corner of your eye every few minutes, waiting — hoping he’ll say something. 

He won’t even look at you, but when he finally speaks its soft and gentle tone betrays his facial expression. “Three weeks,” he starts, voice quiet. “That’s how long I’ve gone without seeing you.” and you nod, biting back a sarcastic response. ‘No shit, captain obvious,’ you think, but you’d never verbalize that, especially now. “And this is what I come back to?” he adds, voice low and taking on a sharp edge. “You, drunk. Dressed like this. Sitting outside someone’s house like you don’t even know what could happen to you?”

You shrink back into the leather seat, not used to this side of him. “Bella called you. Not me. I asked her for a ride.” you say as if that makes the situation any better. “She wouldn’t have been mad if you said no.”

“She was drunk too,” he snapped, though his voice never rose. “I don’t care what Bella thinks either — your safety is my responsibility, how could I leave you, knowing you’re like this?” he asks, but it’s more of a statement than a real question. 

You swallowed, throat dry. “I didn’t know she would—”

“Of course you didn’t.” His tone was clipped as he cut you off and you flinch slightly. “You weren’t thinking.” His head tilts to the side as if he said the most obvious thing in the world. His jaw is still tense, but his fingers have relaxed their grip.

“You haven’t answered my texts,” you murmur, wanting to change the topic to take the spotlight off your drunken antics. “Left me on open even,” you add, a slight smile ghosting your lips. “That’s crazy, you know?” It’s moments like these when your young age slips through, vocabulary less sophisticated than his own. 

His head turned to you slowly. Eyes cold, golden, and unreadable. Your attempt to lighten the mood was lost on him. 

“No,” he says. “I haven’t.”

His face scrunches in deep thought as he weighs the pros and cons of his next move before ultimately caving — the car slows to a stop, pulling over on the side of the road. He looks at you again, pausing before he speaks. “Do you think it’s easy?” he asks, voice just above a whisper. “Staying away from you?”

You shiver at the sudden proximity, eyes darting to his lips for a split second before reaching his eyes. “Carlisle…” you mutter, suddenly shy as you look down to your lap. 

“Three weeks,” he repeats, cold hand grabbing your chin firmly, guiding your face back to him and forcing eye contact. “And this is how it goes? You in a dress that barely covers you and liquor on your breath?”

You don’t answer. You can’t.

His hand releases your chin, finding its way to your bare thigh in a gentle touch. You freeze, not daring to look away or move, focusing on his scent instead; cedar wood, pine trees, and a hint of sterile hospital. 

“I’m angry,” he says softly, fingers sliding up just slightly. “But not because I had to pick you up.” he clarifies, not wanting you to think of yourself as a burden. “I’m angry because you’ve put yourself in a risky situation and then tried to deny me.” 

Your heart pounds in your chest, mind swirling with confusion at the situation. “I didn’t know you still cared,” you whisper, looking away in embarrassment.

He scoffs, just barely as he sits back into his seat. “You think me not seeing you for three weeks means I stopped?” He asks, hand squeezing your thigh just enough to make you tense. You nod slowly and he runs his free hand through his hair. ”Silly girl, I couldn’t stop if I wanted to,” he says. “And that's the problem.” 

His eyes meet yours once again and he takes his hand off your thigh to brush a stray piece of hair out of your face. “You don’t even understand what you’re doing,” he muttered. “Sitting there, all soft and drunk. Looking at me like you want me to fix it.”

‘Yes, please fix it — fix me,’ you think, eyes flicking down to his lips. “You know you want to,” you tell him, voice a soft whisper, nearly a plea. Your mind is a mess, thinking of all the ways he could have you if he wanted to, but Carlisle is a man of restraint; even when it’s cracking. 

He leans in, face inches from your own. “Of course I do,” he says. “But I shouldn’t have to clean up your mess just to hold you again,” he adds, referring to your drunk decisions you forgot about — the whole reason you’re even in this situation to begin with. 

You look down, ashamed. “I’m sorry,” you say honestly, his hand finding its way back to your thigh, his thumb moving in a circular pattern — it’s soothing, forgiveness. 

A few moments pass, the silence comforting. “But I will,” he finally says, offering you a small smile as your eyes dart up to him. Your heart flutters and he begins to drive again, keeping his hand on your thigh the whole time. “I’ll take you home,” he says, much quieter now. “Put you to bed. Make sure you’re safe because no one else is going to.” and he’s right, no one will ever care for you like Carlisle. 

[alexdelray1]

Mizu x Fem Reader dating headcanons.

WARNINGS: Mentions of grape! Strong language! Mentions of death and etc. My first language isn't English.

Hope you'll like it ;)

First things first, you met Mizu when you went to the blacksmith for a new sword with your father, who is a samurai. The blacksmith turned out to have an apprentice, a boy your age who you started to like. The boy didn't talk much and while the blacksmith and your father were talking, you tried to start a conversation with him, which didn't really work.

And that's how your first meeting was like.

Your second one was when your father died in a fight and you wanted to return the sword without getting the money back becouse you didn't have any other male relatives who would be able to use the sword.

When you reached the blacksmith and wanted to return the sword he told you to keep it at least as a reminder of your father. There you saw Mizu who was in his teens like you. He was training outside. This weirded you out. Why does the blacksmith's assistant trains like a samurai?

You asked him and the only thing he said was:

"It's not really your business, curious."

Your third meeting was when one night some bad men were robbing and killing people from your village.

One of them got into your house when you were sleeping.

You opened your eyes and saw this man in front of you with a disgusting smirk. You knew what he wanted to do.

You killed the man with your father's sword that was under your futon. When you got out of the house you saw a lot of dead bodies. Not only of the people from your village but also the murders were dead. Then next to you a man who was proprably hiding next to your door, started forcing you to go with him by kicking and hitting you.

You closed your eyes and then the man's hand that held you, you don't know why but fell. You opened your eyes and saw a man with straw hat that hidden his face. He was holding a sword with blood on it. You looked down and saw the man's dead body. You looked at the strange man again.

"Who are you?" I asked him.

"We haven't seen each other in a while, curious."

HC:

Mizu then took you with him and confessed that he's actually a woman. Which suprised you.

She didn't want to leave you somewhere and let you get sold and raped or just raped so she asked you if you want to seek revenge with her.

You accepted the offer but also promised to train so you won't be such an easy target for enemies.

Mizu at first wasn't very open to you at first but with time she started to really like your company. You being a woman proprably had to do something with it.

She started to have feelings for you and wanted to confess them to you in the hot springs while you two were naked which was in her mind 'romantic' and 'good moment'

But then a man named Ringo stopped the whole conversation by appearing and changing the mood.

When Ringo joined you two Mizu started to get little bit more annoyed becouse she was jealous. You and Ringo had very nice conversations while she was too nervous to even join in.

One time when Ringo had some things to do alone, she took you to some old temple and confessed. You ofc said that you love her two.

Let's just say that you two quickly blessed the temple.

When you three met Taigen he quickly assumed that you two are a 'normal straight couple'. When you and Taigen got a moment alone he asked you.

"Aren't you scared that you're going to get pregnant while this mission or whatever Mizu is doing? Everyone heard you two and I don't think you two pull out."

"Let's just say that me and Mizu have our own way of not having kids."

Hope you guys liked it :)

[coolcattime]

capsize is kinda like kaede if you think about it a lil

Okay, okay.

So you are so goddamn right for this take, to the point that I'm gonna discuss this on two fronts.

Spoilers for V3 and also Mianite I guess

Though before I go into this. I just want to make something clear for things I will be saying later about V3 will be saying later: V3 is the only one of the main three Danganronpa games where I don't dislike any of the students. I really like the cast as a whole and the worse I feel about any of them is neutral.

Now going into Kaede and Capsize.

They are both trying to take a place in the story that isn't theirs

Kaede begins V3 by literally saying that she is the protagonist of the story. This is a funny little fourth wall break, a nod to the ‘true nature’ of V3, and not fucking true.

The protagonist of V3 is Shuichi. As we the players learn when control switches to him during trial one because Kaede is the blackened of the trial.

And, I think if we were somehow able to watch Mianite from Capsize's POV, I think we'd get a really similar vibe.

Capsize believes herself the person that is meant to save Ianite. She gets to the champions and is confronted by Jordan.

Now Jordan is not Shuichi because (as I'm going to go into later) Shuichi is one of few people who is consistently nice to Kaede and Jordan is not that to Capsize, in fact he's the damn opposite. But he does fit the role of basically taking over her mission and role posthumously and being the one to tell her story.

So like yeah, first part of this take: Capsize got those Kaede vibes because she is essentially the false protagonist of her main mission in life.

Now for my second point where you really got the brainworms going:

Posthumous legacy when the other characters misremember them

Now once again beginning with the obvious character: posthumously Capsize gets remembered as basically Jordan's girlfriend. Her own people are all either dead or disappear from the plot (read every pirate but Capsize in s1), so her story is exclusively told by either Jordan who tells his own not true version of their relationship or characters that never met her like Martha and Mot.

The most obvious way that Kaede is misportrayed post death starts before she actually died and it is the manipulation of Rantaro's death and Kaede's crime by--

AGAIN SERIOUSLY V3 SPOILERS UNDER HERE LIKE STUFF FROM THE LAST CASE AND CONCLUSION OF THE GAME (and let's be honest with how some DR fans don't know what V3 actually stands for I know some of you haven't seen 3-6)

Tsumugi, the Mastermind. Tsumugi is the real killer of Rantaro. And she frames the crime on Kaede and executes her for it.

Now: let me make it very clear. Kaede did fully intend to kill someone. She set up a trap and sprang it with the full intent to kill. However, she failed at this, her shot put ball missing and Tsumugi actually being the one to make the final blow.

Tsumugi takes away all evidence that she committed the murder and that Kaede's plan failed. Kaede is executed, Mugi lives until the end of Chapter Six.

Tsumugi initially taints Kaede's legacy to portray her as a murderer, then later literally tries to start pinning the mastermind role on her as well briefly (by noting that Kaede has a twin, just like Junko, in the final investigation).

But that is kinda par for the course because Mugi is the villain. Like the spends the game manipulating the cast.

But everyone else also kinda remembers Kaede. Because she's kinda portrayed as this guiding light, optimistic Makoto like figure, but basically no one likes Kaede in the first chapter of V3.

Honestly, that might be like a double take of a description, but while Kaede is this upbeat, positive, and optimistic - at least in my eyes one of her main character traits is being heavily bullied.

In her first introduction as the Ultimate Pianist, she says that everyone calls her Piano Freak. Which I think is meant to be a write off joke about how she's that(™) into piano, but it feels like a particularly mean way of putting it.

And then, at two different points in Chapter One, basically the whole cast jump on her and start laying into her. Like the only two I know for sure are never mean to Kaede are Shuichi (who never speaks up to defend her) and Kaito (who no one in the cast respects the opinion of at this point in the story).

(To note, it has been a while since I have played V3 so I cannot for the life of me remember if Tenko and Gonta are ever mean to Kaede. I think they also aren't but I don't want to speed through V3 to check)

There are two quite long scenes of everyone telling Kaede that she is in the wrong. And I mean that Maki literally says that she believes this is Kaede's fault in one of the scenes.

After one of the two scenes, Kaede retreats to her room, cries, and then doesn't know why she's crying. And idk, I know this is inference but it really does read to me that Kaede has been shit on so much throughout her life that she doesn't understand why she's actually upset that everyone is yelling at her.

But suddenly by the end of Chapter One, everyone loves Kaede. They want to stop Kaede from dying.

Unlike Jordan with Capsize, I don't blame Shuichi for the way that he portrays Kaede posthumously. He did really only see the optimistic side of her and she was to him the guiding light that got him to be more optimistic. And frankly he was literally willing to kill himself and fourteen others just to not have to admit that she killed someone (also Claire de Lune still makes me cry and look I just do really love Shuichi's arc), but I do definitely give the side eye to the rest of the cast.

(Genuinely: I really wish that Kokichi's poor Tenko bit towards Himiko had been done about Kaede to the rest of the cast. But I do understand that it was maybe a bit early in the game for that and I wouldn't want to take it away from trial three either)

But to get back to the point, Capsize and Kaede both suffer posthumously from being portrayed as people that they were with relationships that they didn't have.

Had I realised earlier that Capsize has Kaede coding, she honestly might've become the protagonist of my Danganronpa AU. Heck, she might've gotten the Shuichi treatment with Red as a decoy protag. But now I've planned the au with Sonja as a protagonist (though one of my three OC Danganronpa AUs does have Katherine - my OC based on Capsize - as the protagonist with mega Kaede vibes so many I just need to write more of that).

Thank you so much for this ask for just letting me get some brainworms out.

[kennyomegasweave]

My live thoughts on The Sign Special Episode

Let's go!

IS MY BABY DEAD IN THE FIRST GODDAMN TWO MINUTES AND THE HOT CAPTAIN TOO??? Oh wait, it’s one of Tharn's dreams that hasn't come true yet.

I'm dying at Tharn waking up from a terrible dream where three of his homies are dead/hella fucked up, and Phaya's just like "what about some dick to start the day?" I know he's stayed on that man every day since he came back.  FUCKING RIGHT UP ON THE DOOR??? NASTY ASS. I love that for Tharn. I love that for Phaya. I love that for me. 

OH A FINE ASS WOMAN CAPTAIN HAS SHOWN UP ACCUSING THE FINE ASS MAN CAPTAIN OF STEALING HER CASE They have ~tension~ are they exes? Cause damn the fine ass Captain is reading her down. No matter what happens, I am choosing to believe they're exes cause like this feels ~personal~ 

Aww there's a cute little baby here. And everyone is just watching her cry and talking about her like she's not right in front of them. Can someone act like they've seen a child before? Damn. lol Oh fuck my boy is gonna talk to her, and I love him, but I know he’s about to make it worse. Well I guess Thongthai ain't getting a baby anytime soon cause Khem just made this little girl cry. lol At least Mayris hugged the baby. But I am crying at the fact that the room was obviously full of Team No Kids cause they had no idea what to do with a crying kid. 

Yai being all "aww don't be worried about me, I got people looking out for me" is, in fact, making me worried. lol Not Phaya getting jealous of Yai. That is his brother!

Khem and Thongthai coming up with the gossip! I love one messy ass couple. That's how you know they've been together too long cause they're just here for the mess. Not Tharn and Phaya going in on gender inequality and KhemThongthai standing there like ...well we just wanted to gossip but now we feel bad. 😬😬😬

As always, I'm crying that Khem and Thongthai are not only allowed to work together, but on the same team. Khem is just touching him all the time and calling him baby. That's not professional in the office, not at all. And they've been like that for 14 years, I know this in my spirit. At least Phaya and Tharn handle their shit better. lol

Okay. Phaya. Tharn is telling you how sad he was when all his people died and he mentioned his asshole bestie and you're just trying to fuck away your jealously. Phaya please. Also, there is a traumatized baby girl in the next room? Let's not. And okay. I get what Phaya means, and I absolutely hated how stupid Tharn was about Chalothon, but that man was in his life for like two decades. He's gonna come up and it's really not that cute for Phaya to be mad about it. 

Phaya is really out here trying to get his dick wet while this traumatized little girl is locked in an unfamiliar house with unfamiliar people. Not the time bro. lol

PLEASE DON'T POINT GUNS AT THE CHILD. Thank you Tharn for having sense. So far it seems like Tharn and Mayris are the only two people who have ever been around a child before. Which is wild cause Phaya has a baby sister that I thought was significantly younger than him. 

Okay that was a good move to bring the cat in. Cats make everything better. One point to Phaya.  Aww this little baby. She's only speaking English. So she's even more out of her element. 

Phaya was just watching Tharn with that baby and def wants that man to have his babies now.

Aww poor sweet baby girl. She doesn't want to sleep alone. If y'all don't get in that bed and sleep with her.

GET HIM THARN YOU CAN BE THE DAD AND HE'S THE MOM Oh Phaya pulled the uno reverse and said "that's cool, I can be the mom and you can be the dad." And honestly yeah. Phaya would have Tharn's babies if he could, I believe that. He just wants Tharn with a baby now however possible. JELLYFISH NICKNAME MENTIONED YES

I appreciate Phaya's garuda brother being like "I did help you but you caused these problems, so you have to deal with them the most." A beautiful representation of an older/younger sibling relationship.

Phaya's phone be ringing for eight years. It should have gone to voicemail by then.

Oh the hot lady Captain is in a leather jacket. My god. I'm so gay.

I do love how Phaya earlier was like THARN IT'S JUST A DREAM and now Tharn is like "your dream MIGHT be important but let's just WAIT." Like these two men aren't reincarnated gods and Tharn didn't spend a whole year in the naga world. 

NOT YAI AND KHEM. KHEM WHY WOULD YOU EVER SAY YOU WERE A SWIMMER. Like I know he is but like. Baby. Why would they have sent Khem for this mission? That is my baby but he is not bright. Like. What the fuck was this plan. Also they're talking all kinds of shit about the plan knowing the building has cameras? Like. I'm sorry my stomach is IN KNOTS.

This is WAY TOO TENSE for me okay. Why on god's green earth did they send the dumbest two in to do recon??? I assume it's cause they're the strongest but like. I don't like this. Not at all. They’re dumb! And not good actors! They're gonna get caught out!

(But damn at least I get to see Gap's body. Cause that man is fine as fuck and fit as hell.)

NO WHAT DID THAT MAN GET ON HIS PHONE. Like okay I'm not scared for Phaya, Tharn, and Deeni cause they're not gonna kill a baby. But my babies Khem and Yai, however, those are grown ass men so you know. I don't want to dance, I'm scared to death.

HE JUST TURNED OFF THE LIVE FEED. Oh my fuck. They know they're cops. I am fighting for my fucking life.

Okay so this crack team is just gonna go in three deep? God this team really just has no brain cells, it should be the hot lady Captain leading cause Captain Akk just like. Doesn't have the best plans. You gotta bring more than THREE dudes against a tio in that shirt. Cause now everybody is disarmed and captured. 

HE'S MAKING KHEM AND YAI FIGHT TO THE DEATH??? IN FRONT OF HIS MAN??? OR THREATENING TO KILL THE OTHERS OH MY GOD HE JUST SHOT THONGTHAI IN THE LEG. Khem is def gonna have to fight now and like. NOT KHEM HITTING YAI AND SAYING SORRY. AND YAI TRYING TO BE LIKE KHEM DON'T WAIT STOP. Yai baby. He has to. It's Thongthai. That's his baby. 

Captain Akk is standing there stuck and restrained looking dumb. Like yeah baby maybe you shouldn’t have a damn married couple of like 14 years on your team? Especially when it was already shown that they can't really be objective about each other. (See: Khem getting shot and Thongthai useless for the last battle)

Okay now we're at the start. Those three aren't dead but Yai and Khem are still captured. But damn these three are all beat. So Khem had to see his man get shot AND beat? Guys. Thongthai can't be rational about this. I'm glad he called Phaya out about that. Captain Akk still sitting there like "maybe I shouldn't have picked a married couple for my team."

Okay Captain Akk. Baby. Let Captain Achara help. I don't know what your beef with her is. But it's not noble babe.

I'm sorry not Thongthai standing there beaten with a shot leg. He really wouldn't be much help here. But I get why he's there. He NEEDS to not only see his man, but get him back himself.

Oh yes god. Is she gonna switch the flash drives? MY QUEEN.

Phaya's garuda brother FTW!

I'm sorry. Yai got his ass beat like ten hours ago and is now hand to hand fighting. Yes Khem! Kiss your man and then go kick some ass!

Is this man and his turtleneck a tiger man (never 4get)??? Why is he growling? Phaya, please. It's time for your garuda powers to activate babe. Get those wings boo.

Yes! He has his wings! Or his brother's wings, I don't know which. But still. Wings baby! Wings!

YES QUEEN SHOOT HIM MULTIPLE TIMES SHOOT HIS CORPSE I WON'T TELL 

Of course Yai is calling Sand. I love that.

Aww, Deeni hugging and saying goodbye to Tharn and Phaya. 

I don’t like kid fic, but in my HEART, I know these two adopt a baby at some point. I know in my SPIRIT.

Did Singh just call Mayris a box bitch? That’s why he’s the single pringle cause my girl was looking fine as hell in that swimsuit.

(GAP'S DICK IN THESE SWIM TRUNKS. I eagerly await that gifset.)

WHY IS THARN IN A BANANA HAMMOCK???

This Avengers Assemble ass ending shot. It's so cheesy. I love it so much.

And on that note, we are done. I had a very good time during this episode. Did the plot make any sense? Not really. But it didn’t really in the show either so I mean. I got everyone looking great and everyone happy and in love and shit at the end. I got Thongthai losing his shit over Khem and, to me, that was worth my $16. I also got a hot ass lady captain running around in a leather jacket. I won.

[howlingday]

CHIBI Arkos Angels

Jaune sat quietly as the clock ticked behind him. It ticked for every minute of every hour of every day since the dawn of times. In front of him sat his boss, who glanced over paper after paper of Jaune's recent mission on Remnant.

"So..." Jaune stiffened as he was spoken to. "You goofed up."

"Uh, I wouldn't say that-"

"Jaune, there are hundreds, if not thousands of people dead. The Grimm are running more rampant than before. Hell, even your partner died!" Those were pretty bad. "If you didn't goof up, then what do you call all that?!"

"...Growing pains?"

"Jaune..." There it was. The disappointed 'Jaune' he'd been getting since the dawn of everything everywhere all at once. Just once, he wished someone would cut him some slack.

Was Jaune perfect? No, of course not, no matter how much people told him. Well, how much he thought people told him, or spoke of him when he wasn't around. ...Okay, he wasn't perfect, but he was still wasn't all knowing or all seeing. That was the boss behind the desk.

"Come on, DAD-"

"It's not 'Dad,' okay?" Jaune pursed his lips. "You either call me boss, or sir, or, what I prefer, the Definitive Almighty of the Divine."

"Well, isn't it people's job to die?"

"Jaune, people don't get paid to die down there, so what makes you think we'd get paid up here for that, if at all?" Before Jaune could argue, the door clicked open. "There you are, Pyrrha."

"Hello, again~!"

"H-Hey, Pyrrha."

"Hello, Jaune."

"Everything squared away on your end?"

"Almost." Pyrrha said, sitting down next to her partner. "They said it should take at least another season before I can go back into the field."

"We're not police, Pyrrha." DAD said. "Our job is to make sure nothing too out of place happens in our jurisdiction. Unfortunately for Jaune, we're not as lax as the people in charge of Earth are. Have you seen the stuff they're allowed to get away with there?"

"So where does that leave us?"

"You are fine. Perfect as always. Jaune, on the other hand..." Jaune gulped. "This is your last warning. Either you do your job right, or you're getting reassigned somewhere else. Somewhere that is more willing put up with your shenanigans and 'good ideas'."

Jaune winced at that. Again, Jaune wasn't perfect, but he thought his ideas were good at the time.

He cut animal violence down by half! Sure, it led to creation and following racially charged persecution of the newly dubbed 'Faunus' people. Sadly, Jaune went too far on that one and Remnant was stuck with them, just like when the Brother of Darkness screwed up and made the Grimm to spit his brother. Seriously, how was he supposed to know the Faunus would band together and form the terrorist organization that led to his other mistake, which DAD continuously referred to as "The Volume Three Finale" for some strange reason.

Or the time he let Salem rise to power. She seemed like a nice girl, and hey, if one of the Brothers refused to help her, why not try the other? He was always the nicer guy of the two, even if he did ask for something or another in return. Like Jaune's cheese-fries. Always Jaune's cheese-fries. When he was later confronted by the Brother of Light, he offered the idea to keep resurrecting her dead lover over the centuries. True love conquers all, right?

Then there was the-

"ARC!" Jaune jumped in his seat at the sudden, booming voice. "This will be your last chance. Pyrrha will join you later, but for now, your job is to not screw up and keep the people of Remnant of alive this time." DAD gave Jaune a file. Opening it, he glanced between DAD and the assignment details in his hands.

"Calmly Help Inhabitants Become Illustrious." said the words on the page.

"Chibi?" Jaune asked.

"IT'S NOT-" DAD stopped. "Fine. It's Chibi. Call it whatever you want, but DON'T screw this up! You're on thin ice, Jaune!"

"Da- Er, sir? The mortality rate is so low, it's almost cartoonish."

"Exactly." DAD said. "Enjoy your new, wacky comedy assignment, Arkos."

[hexaonic]

ok buckle up longform essay on SatoSugu incoming

this thing was written for a friend in google docs and it is six. pages. long

the brainrot is real and it is driving me insane so HERE WE GO

In any interpretation of the relationship between Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru – lovers, close friends, brothers, etc. – the dynamic and story between them is (at least to me) incredibly tragic.

You have Gojo, who’s the Honored One - born into one of the three most powerful clans with two rare and frankly op techniques that render him a god amongst men and the Strongest sorcerer in jujutsu society - The strongest is untouchable, too high up for anyone else to reach, destined to be lonely at the top and exploited by the rulers of this society as a trump card, a weapon, for the rest of his life

Until he’s not.

Enter Geto - a sorcerer born from non-sorcerers, with the ability to manipulate curses. But his cursed technique is painful, and requires him to swallow the curses he exorcises in order to absorb them; he himself describes the taste as a “rag used to wipe shit and vomit”. If Gojo is a star or the sun he is the earth, closer to the curses they purge from the world than probably anyone else - after all, he ingests them. I’ve seen fics where they describe the curses affecting his mental state, eating him up from the inside and shouting at him in his head - but that’s not canon, and it just makes me sad, so I put it in cause I’m talking about the tragedy anyway. Geto is strong - cracked at martial arts and skillful with his cursed technique, and together he and Gojo are the strongest.

The two strongest sorcerers are tasked with delivering Riko, the star plasma vessel, to Tengen. They grow attached and are very aware that Riko is scared of the merger and wants to stay longer on the earth with her friends and her beloved maid and them, and they indulge her as long as they can before she goes. But they bring her to the school and she dies anyway, by the hands of the urban legend that is Toji Fushiguro - and Gojo, for the first time in his life, comes close to death. Geto, who has never once seen Gojo weak, is in reasonable shock and horror when Toji kills Riko right in front of him, then pronounces his untouchable best friend dead. He fights and is defeated, but not killed, and Toji leaves. Gojo survives with RCT and his new unlocked Hollow Purple, and kills Toji - but when he finds Riko and Suguru steps into the room, he is in a bit of a hollow mental state (which is understandable - riko is dead, he just made what is probably his first kill in his life, and the people who are at least indirectly responsible are clapping and celebrating her fucking death) and asks Suguru if he should kill them. Suguru says no - that there would be no meaning to it, and that meaning is everything - especially to sorcerers. And Satoru follows, because Geto is the moral compass for both of them.

It must be understood that Suguru is a moral person, but in a careful and objective way - he seems to organize things into neat boxes of “right” and “wrong”, “meaningful” and “meaningless”, and holds a strong sense of justice and responsibility that keeps him in the sorcery race even when he has to swallow vomit-curses and watch people die around him. But it grates on him, a lot, and the grieving and vomit and the ignorance of the non-sorcerers he is supposed to be saving, those he once believed were sorcerers’ responsibility to protect against curses, builds up on his psyche like a mold or an infection and keeps growing. When Yuki talks to Geto after the death of Haibara, she plants the idea in his head that yes, cursed energy does come from almost exclusively non-sorcerers and yes, eradicating cursed energy is possible in multiple ways, and yes, eradicating all non-sorcerers is technically a feasible solution, he struggles with that. A lot. At this point he is already spiraling really badly and questioning everything about his morality and his moral compass and his entire life purpose, and takes this idea to heart.

Meanwhile, his near-death and his power evolving during his final fight shook Gojo to his core and pushed him to be stronger no matter the cost. He got good at using his Limitless cursed technique at all times, being able to control it and its branch techniques with great efficiency so that he could never be caught off guard again. He gets sent on more missions, as he truly becomes the strongest - but in this process, he unknowingly begins to leave Geto behind. Gojo works best alone, when nobody is there to become collateral damage for him, and the authorities in charge send him on solo mission after solo mission. He is too blinded by his own pursuit of strength and his perception of Geto - the morally righteous one, his keeper, his compass, his best friend - to see his counterpart dying a little bit more with every passing day he is left to rot in his own mind. 

Geto sees this disconnect between him and Gojo and it adds another straw to his very quickly growing spiral haystack, and at some point it has to snap. And it does - he is sent on a solo mission to a rural village, where they have locked two sorcerer girls in a cage and blame them for the things happening to their town. Even after Geto exorcises and swallows the curse that was causing the problems in the first place, the village people blame the girls for their powers. It enrages him, and probably makes him think of Haibara and Gojo and the culmination of all the things non-sorcerers do to sorcerers in the name of ignorance, of hunting and eradicating anything that is “other” or “alien”, of the man who nearly killed him and his best friend and called himself a monkey. How the deaths of his friends have all been undeserved, caused by something they could not control or even foresee, how sorcery is all just a race to the bloody, unjustified, meaningless end. Something in Geto snaps, and he massacres the entire town and takes the girls under his wing with his new conviction: that he hates monkeys, and they deserve to die.

Gojo and Geto have their kfc breakup. Gojo is genuinely shocked that the one person who always caught up with him, and was always there by his side when nobody else ever really could be, turned around and committed mass murder when Gojo didn’t even know Geto was suffering, and Geto takes this as Gojo’s ignorance, too: that while he was here spiraling and rotting to the point that he snapped, Gojo was the strongest. Untouchable. Exalted by all and therefore not knowing, or caring, what it would feel like to doubt his own morality or fear the inevitable death of everyone around him in the brutal world of curses and sorcerers. Geto believes that the life of a sorcerer has no meaning - that the endless race of kill or be killed from adolescence to an early grave is a dead end, a pointless suicide mission, generation after generation of lemmings culled by the sorrows of the weak - by the ones they swear to protect. (Some stories spin it a slightly different way, where Geto and Gojo are in love - and seeing Gojo work himself to the bone to be a living weapon all his life, seeing his one and only isolated like this, kills him more than the thought of being hated for freeing him. They theorize that this is the main conviction that drives him to go through with the plan to kill all non-sorcerers.) 

So he leaves, and is branded as a curse user to all of jujutsu society. He is to be killed on sight. But Gojo is the one to confront him, and when he raises his hand to kill his best friend he can’t do it. (“Kill me,” Geto says as he walks away. “There’d be meaning in that, too.”)

The Honored One and the Cursed. The Heavens and the Earth, the Righteous and the Damned. One blessed with innate kindness, and snap moral judgment - one cursed with an infinite moral dilemma, relegated to careful deliberation and action to carry out justice. One with a cursed technique that could be compared to ascension, unlimited power and enhanced perception and untouchable beauty, so high up he is unreachable as heaven itself - one with a cursed technique that could be described as bottom-feeding, damning, so low compared to the veritable God he walks beside that it seems the curses he swallows and the pain he carries could sink him into the earth all the way down to hell.

Yin and Yang, two halves of a whole that circle each other, but never really touch. 

Gojo’s Infinity ensures that. 

In their separation they both adopt children - Geto the girls he saved from the village, Gojo the kids he saved from the clan that had produced and rejected Toji. Geto becomes a cult leader, amassing curses and money and followers by tolerating “monkeys” and healing their “ailments” and swallowing their curses. Gojo becomes a teacher, swearing that as long as he is there nobody will be alone again. (Shoko was there - has always been there - but that is a different tragedy altogether.)

They meet again in JJK 0. Geto declares war on all of jujutsu society, the Night Parade of a Thousand Demons (I think), and Gojo fights alongside the school. Yuuta and his own tragedy, Rika - his lost childhood love whom he accidentally cursed to remain on this earth and torment him, letting nobody close to her lover - face off against Geto at Jujutsu tech. When Yuuta accepts all of Rika and she fully manifests her power, the strongest curse Geto has ever seen, he begins to fight in earnest. (I’ve heard theories that maybe Geto is so unwilling to accept that Yuuta and Rika are truly in love during that fight because that would mean that him leaving everyone he cared about, and the one he truly loved, in order to save them from a life of suffering was completely unnecessary, and he could have had love and a purpose - he could have had Gojo -without all the pain he caused himself and Gojo and everyone who’d cared about him back.)

Yuuta defeats him. Satoru and Suguru are left alone after everyone has left, one painfully mortal and one painfully untouchable. Destined to fight each other. One cursed to die, one cursed to live. No matter the dynamic that was between them, their last words are a tender moment and a testament to the affection and care they still hold for each other, even after their ideals and their lives have strayed so far from each other in adulthood. Gojo kills Geto, but does not have the heart to dispose of his best friend’s body - which is what relegates Geto to the role of puppet, used to carry out Kanjaku’s agenda. In a way Gojo really did curse him, in the end.

Breaking the fourth wall, there are little elements outside the story that make it so painful as well.

Gege Akutami, the mangaka who created this whole universe and its characters and their dynamics (I look up to him, kinda, for the pain he makes me feel) has given details in author’s notes and interviews that make SatoSugu all the more painful. For starters, he agreed with the producer’s(?) statement, which describes Geto as Gojo’s “first and last warm spring of youth” which,, ow; and then he makes it so Geto’s priestly cult man robes are a design that literally have part of Gojo’s name in it (I can’t find the actual name but it’s in there) and in one author’s note or filler issue of the jump he gives us songs that remind him of each character and one of Gojo’s is about heartbreak and love and LITERALLY WORD FOR WORD could describe the dynamic between the two.

BUT THAT’S NOT ALL!!

The anime, in season 2, opens with Ao no Sumika and ends with Akari - I think the opening and ending are meant to be Gojo’s perspective and Geto’s, respectively. The lyrics line up - the opening is fun and lively and bright but still foreshadows pain and heartbreak in the lyrics and certain frames of the sequence, and the ending is vaguely melancholy in lyrics, melody, and color; it’s even raining, and half the time Geto appears on the screen he is doused in shadow. In the opening the singer literally reflects on how the brightness/loudness of being with this person drowned out their silence (which cmon that’s satosugu for certain), and ruminates on the unsaid “will we meet again?” between singer and subject. (which AGAIN, SATOSUGU) And one of my favorite ever sequences in that ending sequence is a pair of scenes that show first Gojo, his eyes following a black beta fish with spiky, damaged fins and tail; and then Geto, his eyes downcast, looking away from a white beta fish that is whole and healthy, almost glowing. It’s my favorite way their dynamic is symbolized in the anime and the most painful - just these two frames themselves are enough to foreshadow their entire story. Gojo cares about Geto, and follows him - he wants him to come back. He wants him to be by his side again, for them to be the strongest again. But he doesn’t even notice Geto’s departure until the fish is already on its way off the screen. The fins on the black beta fish are damaged because Geto is sick, because Geto is spiraling, because beta fish whose fins are damaged and sickly like that are typically not far off from dying. Geto looks away from the healthy white beta fish - he turns his back on love. He thinks it’s pointless, and accepts like a martyr that to save Gojo from his fate at the hands of this world he will have to hurt him by destroying it, and likely dying because of it. What’s more - two male beta fish can’t be in the same tank together. They’ll fight to the death until only the strongest is left.

Gojo and Geto are tragic because it’s so clear that Gege wrote them as a duo, two halves of a whole, two sides of a coin. They are foils as much as they are literally meant for each other in any way that phrase can be interpreted, and yet they are destined to fall apart in the end. One is destined to kill the other, then live with the grief that comes from it. The strongest is fated to survive at the cost of the other, stranded on a pedestal that is covered in blood. They are kids, thrust into an endless cycle of death and pain and suffering and gore because it is their responsibility to protect the people that cannot help themselves, and when the two strongest children are met with the horror of it all one breaks and drops out, and one continues the race and runs faster because he’s not allowed to drop out. The one still running eventually must kill the other to keep running. The best tragedies are those where the characters could have very easily done something to prevent the tragedy from happening or stop it as it unfolds – but because of who they are, and their inevitable choices because of who they are, it doesn’t make sense for them to do so. It makes sense that someone so morally compromised like Geto would snap at the realization that the deaths of his friends will keep happening. It makes sense that once the idea was planted in his head and he was shown the multitude of ways in which non-sorcerers were ignorant of the suffering sorcerers went through to protect them, he snapped at the sight of child sorcerers being relegated to a fate they didn’t deserve. It makes sense that Gojo would let Geto free out of love, even if it led to his demise anyway. It makes sense that he was so shocked at his friend’s actions and curse-user status, because he was buried in his own set of societal pressures and took his friend for granted. It all makes sense, and yet they’re all doomed. Every last person in JJK is doomed. Geto’s children died trying to free his corpse from the monster (man) that stole it. Both of Gojo’s children house(d) ancient sorcerers, and will both probably die fighting in bodies they cannot control. Yuji, the main character, is surrounded by the deaths of everyone he cares for, and the foreshadowing of his own inevitable end. Gojo is the Prince in his tower, is forced to watch, untouchable, trapped, as the knight on a dragon is shot down, plummets to the earth below - and becomes the enemy against his own will. Sometimes it makes me so sad I am close to tears. (and sometimes i read fics that make me cry more, because how in the hell are people that good at writing grief and angst and tragedy and where can I learn to do the same)

If the manga ends happily I’ll be surprised, because right now it seems a tragic but meaningful ending is in the works and I’m scared

[wizisbored]

I can imagine after the wall goes down that nimona and Ballistor would be interested in visiting places, and one of the places they visit is where they run into Lydia, and Nimona can see an unsummoned Beetlejuice and is probably excited to meet someone special or weird like her. Ballistor has some reservations about it, but he'd warm up to him, once he was summoned and he could see him and Lydia explained some things.

if theyre gonna be leaving the kingdom for au purposes, im tempted to say fuck it go all the way and have them fully leave leave. nimona, ballister and ambrosius. they tried to swing it for a while, stuck around for maybe as long as a few years after it all went down, but it just wasnt working out. it's absolutely impossible for any of them to live a normal life, nimona especially - most people hail her as a hero, which is stressful in its own right, but there's also a not-insignificant number who still want 'gloreths monster' dead, and they know who she is now.

so the three of them skip town, and end up in a small town in rural conneticut. they dont plan on hiding nimona's abilities forever, but decide to lay low for a period to scope out the towns general level of weirdness-acceptance first. so they move in under the guise of a young gay couple who have gaurdianship of a teenager for unspecified reasons, and own various pets that are never seen in the same place at the same time.

it's been a while since the events of beetlejuice the musical, and beej is kinda hovering around the deetzs. lydia hasnt resummoned him and he hasnt asked her to. yet. theyre back on friendly terms, though im not sure about him and the rest of the family.

the two groups meet when charles decides to invite the new neighbours over for dinner. nimona is calling herself seventeen so she's supposedly a year or two older than lydia, and lydia thinks shes cool as shit. even though lydia isnt young enough to really trigger nimonas discomfort with small children she isnt used to interacting with kids and it takes her a bit to warm up, but lydia isnt the best at socialising with people (supposedly) her age either so they kinda fumble through it together. turns out theyve got a fair bit in common and by the end of the evening theyre getting along pretty well. goth/punk solidarity.

nimona cant neccesarily see ghosts, but she can sense them. beetlejuice isnt around for the dinner but she is far more aware of the maitlands' presence than ballister or ambrosius. she has no idea what it is, and doesnt bring it up until they're back home afterwards.

so nimona and lydia keep hanging out. a few times beetlejuice tags along, and nimona can feel him lingering around, and it feels the way a dog trying to bite a fly out of the air looks, if that makes sense. nimona stays human-shaped around lydia but there is something distinctly off about her, to lydia. maybe on some level she can sense what nimona is, but ill have to figure that out after ive considered how the magic/supernatural lore of the two medias is going to mix. she also thinks theres something odd about the various 'pets' nimona's family owns. theyre all some variation of reddish-brown, chestnut, ginger, or tan with no exception. the dog looks at least half wolf. her own cat, percy, hates theirs. she sees ballister riding a horse bareback around the edge of town sometimes, and it always feels like the horse is avoiding eye contact. and she has never seen nimona interact with any of them, or even be in the same room.

nimona finds out about the ghosts before lydia finds out about her, but it happens in quick sucession. eventually lydia is confident enough that she could ask nimona if she believes in life after death and she'd answer honestly. so she asks, and nimona - as someone who died and then got better - says yes quite confidently. so lydia pretty much spills everything, and nimona's reaction to hearing about beetlejuice is 'oh thank FUCK i can stop pretending to be human in front of you'

[transzodiacdogmom]

My drawing tablet is on the fritz right as I was writing for my comic which is my passion project, so I don't want to forget what I was writing so I just wrote it all here. it's missing context cause it's taken from late in the story of my comic/manga series. Feel free to ignore this, read it or whatever. I'm not good at actually writing, writing. I'm much more visual and whatnot, which is why I'm trying to make it a manga, but again, I didn't want my work to go to waste so I just wrote it here. No one will read it anyways. Been going through a lot the past few days and haven't slept in two days but it's whatever, y'know. Also a good person told me once I need to try and put my stuff out into the world, so that's me doing that, even though no one cares and whatnot and I'm just a speck in the vastness of tumblr.

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"4,383 Days." She spoke, her voice calm as her face was lit by a nearby street-light, emitting a humming noise, barely heard with the sound of cars passing by.

"What?" He asked, looking confused at her.

"4,383 Days. That's Thirteen-years." She added, looking at the one that was beside her, who still was very confused by what she meant. "Yeah, I have no idea what you're going on about." He responded.

These two were unalike from one another, aside from the sole-fact that they lost something dear to them, something they'd never be able to get back regardless how hard they tried, but with their own opposite views on their situations. Memories are the core part of Life, most say they define people, their past and future alike, but the woman here, she thought differently.

A Sheep, stood at 5ft 12in at height, dressed in a purple jacket with a barrage of odd lettering and symbols on it. Over the sleeves lined with question-marks slithering down to the cuffs, and a few stitches. At the waist of the jacket, the same symbols repeated across, almost in a dancing manner, each symbol inverse of the other. It was unlike any jacket anyone has ever seen before, really. She had made it herself, to be in align with her goals, her convictions. Across her wool of hair on her head lie a headband with one more question-mark ontop of it, coated in a pink coloring, catching the eyes of anyone that passed by. It had to be made in a specific way to accommodate for her owns as well. Her eyes crimson, circles underneath. They were almost sunken, as if something lied beneath them, something dead that died quite some time ago. She was likely almost in her early twenties.

Across her, lied a wolf, standing himself at 5'10, shorter than the person he found himself with. His hair dark red, like embers of a fire, and his eyes blue like the sea that stretched out across the beaches of where he woke up, and had started his new life. He donned a jacket, colored with a violent violet, and black t-shirt underneath, with a abstract structure on the front, one that if looked at too long would make your head dizzy and spin. He had a more simplistic taste in his fashion than the other, though at least they both wore just any run-of-the-mill jeans. He couldn't be sure how old he was, as for he couldn't remember his own birthday...He couldn't remember anything, but was likely still around Seven-teen years of age.

Neya, the woman Sheep, stood there, hands in her pockets as she gazed out into the city lights, a field of color that spread darkness thin the deeper and closer those lights became. "Thirteen-Years. Wouldn't you say that's a long time?" She had asked him, head turning, her eyes began to pierce into his own, a clash it felt like. As if putting two magnets next to each other, doing their best to push away.

The boy shrugged his shoulders, crossing his arms and leaned against a wall behind him. It be clear to anyone that he was met with his own reservations about Neya. "Yeah, I guess so. It's a decade and three years. I don't understand what this has to do with anything though." He answered, his voice a little higher than most for his age, with a feminine touch to it as well, and as gentle as ever.

She chuckled a little, closing her eyes and smiling softly. "If you and I were friends for that long, what would you think?" Her eyes opened again, and that clashing from earlier returned.

The boy didn't speak a word, and it was difficult to tell if he was humoring her question or ignoring it, but soon his voice would break through a brief silence with his own answer. "Well, For starters." He began. "I don't think we'd ever be 'Friends' so-to-speak. But, if by some miracle, we were, and it was for that long? I'd say that it was likely meant to be?...I guess? I don't know." His shoulders shrugged once more.

"Humor me some more, Itsuki. Do you think we'd ever fall apart?"

Once more, the boy, now known as Itsuki, had to think some more, though was a bit confused and shocked by her adding to her question. It wasn't something he thought about, losing people, friends, though now that he was. The thought terrified him. "For thirteen-years, I hope we wouldn't. I mean..." He paused, almost as if he was choking on his own voice for a moment, unable to get his words out, till he finally did. "That's a long time to be friends that...I feel like after that mark...You'd...We'd...Be more than friends?..." He finished, only to then realize what he said, getting defensive quickly as his face began to glow bright red with blush. "Not in a romantic sense. But, at that point you'd practically be family with whoever your friends with."

All Neya could do was laugh at how strung up he got on his words for a moment, clearly not feeling anything in regards to that 'more than friends.' comment he mentioned.

Itsuki shook his head, clearing his head of those thoughts, feeling embarrassed he misspoke, though hoped the Sheep didn't misconstrue what he was saying. "Why are you asking this, exactly?"

Her laughing ceased, almost immediately after he had spoke, a sudden shift in gears in her mind. To Itsuki, seeing someone shift so...Easily, and quickly, it was a little creepy.

"You'd be more than friends. I agree. You'd be family at that point. Many years of friendship like that, consistent? You and whoever friend this would be, you'd face everything together. You'd see each others flaws and no matter what, you'd love one another, wouldn't you? Despite everything?"

A look of confusion was formed on the wolf's face. It was always a riddle, or a weird way of phrasing words together. Neya was always acting unlike anyone else he'd ever met. She was unpredictable, with her words, actions, and thoughts. Luckily, she was also someone who kept to her word, and she had only asked him here to talk to one another, so while Itsuki did get a bit defensive, standing straight from that wall he was leaning on prior, and arms at his sides now, he knew nothing would likely happen...but still, she was unpredictable.

He breathed in, then exhaled sharply. "You could call it family," Itsuki began. "Though something like that, I feel, would go past beyond labels..."

That was something Neya didn't think of, that this kind of thing couldn't be labelled, making her smile more, possibly in part to hearing Itsuki say something smart for once. She didn't think him dumb or anything, but Neya did have a bit of a superiority complex over everyone else.

Suddenly, Neya walked over and trapped Itsuki against the wall, arms extended out, trapping him between them as that crimson mixed with his blue. It, to no ones surprise, startled him, even gasping from fear, though he tried to remain calm. This was just to talk.

"It goes beyond labels. It's stronger than anything else in the world, right? To those two people?...Now what happens if you took it away? All those years, thrown away over one mistake, what happens then?" Suddenly she got this crazed look in her eyes, and a sinister smile formed at him, as if she was in some way enjoying this, like it was fun for her to think about these things.

He gulped, sweat already beginning to trickle down his forehead. "I...I don't know." He answered. He honestly didn't, he's never been in that situation before, and he couldn't even imagine being in it.

Neya pushed her face closer to his, her hair almost tickling at his ears. "Imagine if you and Ri-Et go on, you're friends till you're thiry-something, then over one mistake, he tells you he moved on from you. How would you feel?" Bringing Ri-Et into the equation was something that really unsettled Itsuki. He was his best friend, he was the one who found him after he woke up on that beach that day. When he didn't know anything, he didn't know anyone. Ri-Et was there. He even gave Itsuki his name, when he couldn't remember it. Gave him a home, everything. Ri-Et was integral to Itsuki, and he to Ri-Et.

"I...Would you shut up? I don't want to even think about that--" Itsuki was interrupted, Neya grabbing at his neck now and holding hem there, that look of enjoyment on her face turning to one of displeasure and disappointment, seemingly not liking Itsuki's response.

"How. Would. You. Feel?" She reiterated those four words, slowly, piercing Itsuki's eyes with her own, wanting a direct answer this time, and not some defensive comment telling her to shut up or whatever. Neya was someone you didn't want to tell shut up to, and yet Itsuki would always oppose her, as she was his foil.

He gulped again, this time it was harder feeling those fingers gripping his throat, tightly, squeezing, but not necessarily choking him; He could still breathe, but not easily. "I...I'd be broken without...him," Itsuki said. "I don't think I could live...without him. He's always been around for me. But he'd...he'd never...He'd never leave."

"But what if he did? What if he said that the found others that impacted him more than you ever did? That his love for you was gone. What then? Kill yourself? Respect his wishes? What would you do? What would you do, Itsuki?."

He struggled in her grasp, trying to break free but Neya was stronger than most. He wasn't even scared of what Neya was doing, Itsuki knew he'd likely be safe from her no matter what she did given his ability, the one he couldn't control. The thing that scared him, however, was what she was saying.

The thought of losing someone he loved closely. Leaving him, moving on from him. The idea that someone he cares for, could just vanish in a instant, as if they were never there in the first place.

It terrified him. Enough so tears were beginning to form at his eyes.

"Your loved ones always will leave you. The people you want to stay connected with will leave you. And over what? A mistake they made that they beg they could fix?" Where was this coming from? It was beginning to sound like this was more personal to Neya, than just a random nightly thought whilst staring at the stars in the sky. "No second chances? Just immediately gone. You'd be replaced. You. People bring certain qualities to themselves that makes them unique? What drivel." Neya finally loosened up, stepping back from Itsuki with her head hung over, looking at her feet and the ground below her. "You can be replaced, no matter what. Even after thirteen-years. But I guess it just makes sense, right?"

Another question, as Itsuki began to rub where she had held him earlier, catching his breath while also not trying to cry at the thought of losing his best friend. "The hell are you talking about, Neya?"

She looked at him again, another wicked smile on her face. "Thirteen is the unluckiest number. I just knew this perfect couple, once, had been friends for that long, and one made one simple mistake and the other...cut it off. You think I'm evil, Itsuki?"

Well, yes, he thought as much. She was known for mashing screwdrivers into people's skulls, she was evil especially with what she wanted for the whole world. But he was curious, she was challenging his thoughts and preconceived notions about her, something she did often, but, each time Itsuki was curious to hear what she thought was true evil, if she wasn't herself.

"I'm not evil. Say what you will about me, and how I view memories and whatnot, but true evil...Are those kind of people. The people who will destroy a unique enough bond that was strong for thirteen-years, and moving on without a care of the fallout for the other. The couple I mentioned? After the one who cut ties left, the other was distraught, broken. She was so hurt that she was lost for the rest of her life, which wasn't at all long. She never made it to thirty." Neya explained all of this to Itsuki, in a fashion he'd not heard before. As much as Itsuki wishes Neya would leave his life, she always kept by him so he was beginning to know her quite well, and knew how she talked, and acted but here?...This was different. Neya's voice sounded angrier than it ever had before, that she was physically upset by this couple that she saw, her body even shaking and her fists instinctively clenching, teeth gritting and grinding against each other. "This poor girl who truly loved someone, who wanted to change, being left to rot by someone because they found someone else. Saying the relationship was damaged and unfixable...Not even considering the thought of trying to start a different one with her, not even giving her the chance to try and change. That's true evil. Poor girl ended her life, hairdryer in the bathtub, really sad. Do you think the other went to her funeral?" She asked, turning her head to Itsuki, her face just as angry as her voice.

Itsuki didn't say a word.

"They didn't even know. How could they? They cut all communication. Over one simple mistake..." Neya sighed, trying to calm herself down. "Looking into every other dimension I could. Every one I could find that was exactly like this one, both of them lived. Together. Giving her a second chance saved her, saved their relationship. But that's...only in other dimensions. And not the Prime one." Neya began walking towards the road, cars still whirring past, oblivious to the two civilians. "I'm sorry I said those things about you and your idiot friend Ri-Et, but this whole thing has been bothering me and I needed an outsiders perspective on it. Itsuki, if you manage to somehow thwart my plans entirely, and get to live a nice life with your daffy-pals." Well that was one word to describe them. "Promise me that you'll hold on to them. See past their flaws, give them the chances to change, force them if you have to. Otherwise, you'll be just as evil as the other. Which is more evil than you think that I am." Neya never thought what she was doing was evil, she never believed herself to be evil, she always thought she was doing the best thing for the world...but she had a real messed up away of doing it.

Suddenly, without warning, Neya jumped right into traffic, causing Itsuki's heart to sink as a car came right in time to impact with her, and yet, Neya wasn't there in the blink of an eye.

The car swerved, causing a pile up, drivers hopping out their windows, yelling obscenities at each other. She likely dived into another dimension, Neya couldn't help but be dramatic with it all.

And then, there was only Itsuki, left by himself on the sidewalk, left with the thoughts that Neya gave him. The thoughts of Friendship, abandonment, and how just not giving the chance to someone to fix things could make everything worse. His heart sank as he thought about, imagining himself in that position. His connections to his friends were the most important thing to him, and he'd never want to lose them...but what if he couldn't hold on? What if he lost them? Ri-Et, Lilac, and Dayta...These people that he loved and called his own family even, even if one of them disappeared...Itsuki would be lost just as the girl Neya told him about.

Thirteen-Years. Feelings can't fade after that long. It's impossible. Right?...What was one to do? How could they fix that?...It was easy to become so lost by one simple mishap.

[words-of-originality]

Arillia was packing her bags when the world ended. She'd been bursting with excitement as she'd left college that morning, nearly stumbling as she hurried back to her dorm. Thanks to a lot of late nights and little sleep, she'd managed to get herself exempted from finals, so to celebrate, she was hopping on a plane that night to surprise her family with an early arrival. 

But then everything had gone wrong. Planes had crashed, power had failed, people had died. And now here she is: nothing but a backpack slung over her shoulder as she treks the three hundred miles that it'll take to get her to her family. 

She hasn't contemplated what will happen if she gets there and they're gone - or worse. She won't allow herself to contemplate it. Not when she has two hundred and fifty more miles to go. 

She glances up to the sky, frowning as dark clouds move further over the sun. She supposes she should be happy for a respite from the sun's rays, but night is already approaching; she doesn't need rain on top of it.

At least let it wait until I have a roof over my head, she prays to whoever's still listening. The answering rumble of thunder isn't very reassuring. 

She takes a slow, deep breath before hunching her shoulders against the approaching storm and takes a turn down another street in the neighborhood she’d decided to cut through. She’d learned pretty fast that the main roads and highways were not going to be her friend, some still full of cars trying to get out of cities while others were crammed bumper to bumper with crumpled and burning remnants of cars, swarmed by the dead and the others. The ones who had died, but hadn’t. 

The suburban areas weren’t always that much better. By now, Arillia had learned that her level of safety was hit or miss, but she’d quickly figured out how to avoid the ones still stumbling around, ready to attack whatever got too close or drew too much attention. 

So far, she hadn’t seen anything except for a few escaped pets running through this neighborhood. The poor things were so skittish, some whining, some growling, some begging for attention, some looking like they would bite your hand off if you even thought about getting closer. It’s a good thing Arillia isn’t much of an animal lover, but even still, the sight tugs at her heartstrings. Just more creatures whose world has been turned upside, wondering what’s happened to their families. She can’t help but wonder the same. Did their owners simply abandon their animals without a second thought? Or were they…

She shakes away the thought as she passes yet another cat crouched pitifully under a rocking chair on the front porch of a house whose front door had an empty hole surrounded by shards of glass rather than a window. A burst of sharp lightning is quickly followed by another rumble of thunder that seems to shake the earth beneath her feet, startling both her and the cat into movement once more. 

“Shit,” she hisses as she feels the first spatters of raindrops touch her skin. She really can’t afford to end up soaking wet. 

She looks around at each surrounding house until she catches sight of one with a window slightly ajar. When she runs over, the door is shut securely which gives her hope that nothing has been able to wander in. It’ll at least be good for a night. 

She moves over to the open window and reaches out to push it up just enough for her to climb through. The squeal of the frame moving makes her wince, her gaze darting around to make sure the sound didn’t alert anything to her presence, but she quickly climbs and pulls the window back down before she can think too much about it. 

She turns and presses her back to the wall, letting herself slide down to the floor just as the sky breaks open and a downpour begins. She lets her head fall back against the wall, her eyes falling closed as she takes a deep breath. At least she has a dry place to wait out the storm.

 @solivaggant

[dyns33]

Fucking fate - ending 1

Vaas x soulmate Y/N 

I had two ending in mind, so this is Y/N’s ending 

Everything had happened very quickly.

One day Vaas was the king of Rook Island, or at least the part that Hoyt let him control. The next day Carlos was leading Y/N quickly away from camp because Snow White was attacking and it was too dangerous to stay here.

Vaas' order.

Vaas, whose death was announced a few hours later throughout the island.

This news came as a shock to Y/N. She had imagined that people felt something when their soulmate died. A vibe. The breaking heart. Anything. But no, a pirate had given the news, which had echoed in the cave where the small group was hiding, and panic had gripped everyone.

Always calm and loyal, Carlos stayed close to her, awkwardly patting her on the back. Then, when the others had been too busy wondering what they were going to do, not paying attention to them, he had led her to the square, asking Benny to follow him.

Of all the pirates, Carlos and Benny respected their boss the most. Even dead, they weren't going to stop.

They went to a small port that the Rakyats had not taken yet, where a boat was waiting for them.

     "Well, you go in with her and take her to the embassy of her nearest country. Then, you do what you want." Carlos announced with a straight face.

     "But... And you ?!"

     "Relax, princessa. I'm staying here, trying to kill Snow White and regain control of the camps. You're leaving. You're going to live your life somewhere else, safe. That's what the boss would have wanted. Benny, you don't leave her until you're sure she's safe."

     "Of course not. I remember the time she met a tiger. The boss broke my nose and three ribs. I'll follow her like her shadow."

     "Good. Go, now !"

This was the last time Y/N saw Carlos, and Rook Island.

As promised, Benny stayed with her until she found herself in front of an office surrounded by soldiers, bureaucrats and doctors, who asked her many questions, checked on her and called her relatives to tell them that she was alive.

That was the last time she saw Benny. Before letting her into the embassy, he had wished her good luck, telling her that he was going back to Rook. He couldn't leave his hermanos like a coward.

Her family and friends were all very happy to find her. They took her in their arms, kissed her and repeated to her that they had missed her very much, crying.

Y/N cried too, realizing that she hadn't thought of them at all during the time she had spent on Rook, focused on Vaas, her soulmate, who was dead. She hadn't had time to mourn him before, in shock.

She didn't tell anyone about him. For ten years, everyone around her thought that she had been captured by pirates who had treated her well, that she had managed to escape, and that she could now resume a normal life, with the hope of meet her soulmate one day.

It was torture.

Every night she dreamed of the times they had spent together. Of the last time she had seen him.

     "Fucking Jason is coming, nena. He's crazy, worse than me. I don't want... As soon as the alarm goes off, you go with Carlos, okay ? You go with Carlos and you stay with him until let me come to get you."

     "Why don't you come with me ?" she asked, as if at that moment she knew very well that he wouldn't come back.

     "I have to face him. It's crazy, I must be as crazy as him, I've killed him four times and he's still here. We won't be safe until he's completely dead. I have no choice, mi corazon. But don't be afraid, I won't let anyone hurt you."

He had kissed her forehead and he had hurt her forever by losing his stupid fight. He could have just come with her, they would have left this cursed island and they would have been happy.

Unable to lead a normal life after what she had been through, Y/N traveled extensively. She didn't go back to Rook, there was nothing for her there, and besides she avoided most of the islands, but she couldn't stay in one place for too long.

That was how she found herself near the border of Yara.

It was out of the question to go to Yara of course, too dangerous. It was totally a coincidence that Y/N happened to be in this bar near the beach.

 A coincidence, if it was a place frequented by the smugglers. A coincidence, if that day, two of them were right next to her at the counter, speaking Spanish.

Coincidence, or fate.

The voice of one of the men sounded familiar. Turning her head, she saw his back, but she could see his Mohawk, his scars, and the tennis ball with a face sticking out of his pocket.

His colleague noticed her watching them, waving at the man, who turned his green eyes in her direction. They stared at each other for an eternity.

He had aged. Normal, after ten years. He looked tired, even more tired than when she had met him. Maybe darker too, less crazy, even if the tennis ball showed he wasn't in his right mind.

     "... Vaas ?" she managed to say, not trusting her voice, nor her eyes.

As on the island, everything happened very quickly. One moment her soulmate was dead, the other Vaas lifted her off the ground, spinning her around the bar, not listening to her cries of panic, before kissing her again and again.

     "Nena ! Y/N, mi Y/N ! You're alive ? Are you really here ?! Pedro, she's really here ?!"

     "I don't know who's this girl, but yes, she's here." sighed his colleague. "We shouldn't attract attention, remember ?"

     "Shit, shut the fuck up, that's my mate and I thought she was dead. Fucking Carlos, he wasn't in the cave anymore when I managed to drag myself in. No trace of you left ! Then I found his body. That asshole got killed by the Rakyats. I was sure... Oh, mi amor ! You're alive ! The world was so bland without you ! I feel like to be reborn !"

     "You really can't do this anywhere else ?" the other smuggler begged, as everyone in the bar looked at them.

They walked to the beach, Vaas refusing to let go of her hand, as if she would disappear if he didn't touch her. He had often had visions of her, he wasn't sure it wasn't a dream.

     "Carlos and Benny sent me away from the island when they found out... Everyone thought you were dead." Y/N whispered, letting him rub his head against her neck like a big cat.

     "I thought I was dead too, but Brody's not good with a knife. I almost died, but it wasn't the first time I got stabbed. Did they really make you leave ? Shit, I should have buried Carlos instead of spitting on him. I was pissed. He could have left a note to tell me !"

     "You were dead."

     "Still !" Vaas said indignantly, finally calming down a bit, resting his head on her shoulder. "It was hard, nena. I lost everything that day. My island, my men, and you. I wanted to kill Jason, but my sister was faster. It was over. I thought about jumping off a cliff, but it wasn't a nice ending. I thought you wouldn't be happy. So I left. I wanted to visit your hometown, but I couldn't. Hurt too much. Shit, hermosa, you're here ! You're really here ! Hey... No, don't cry, querida, don't cry."

Y/N didn't listen to him, hugging him while sobbing. It was hard to know if it was joy, stress, or a bit of both.

Like when they were on the island, the first few nights when she cried a lot, Vaas massaged her back, kissing her neck and repeating reassuring words, singing a lullaby in Spanish, until she calmed down. 

     "Are you... Are you staying with me this time ?" she asked shyly.

     "Of course. You're coming to Yara ? I have a small house near a lake. I built it myself. It's quiet, not far from the village and the sea. Little Vaas and I go there often."

     "Little Vaas ?"

     "Yes, I'll introduce him to you. I've told him a lot about you, he'll be happy to meet you. And I'm Vaas the nice smuggler, I help people. Well, I still sell drugs and drugs. weapons, and I transport humans, but because they ask me to, I don't sell them ! No more piracy, I'm clean. Almost."

     "... And if I don't want to go to Yara ?"

They had this discussion about Rook Island. Vaas refused to leave, he loved his kingdom too much. Now they were very far away, they had changed. He looked at her intensely, before nodding, cupping her face in his hands with a very serious expression.

      “We'll go where you want, mi reina."

     "Well... I want to see your house. And meet little Vaas."

     "Nena, if this is a dream, please don't let me wake up."

He then pressed his forehead against hers, before kissing her and pressing his head against his chest again, to listen to her heart, with the sound of the waves in the background, and Y/N also hoped that she was not not dreaming.

She imagined them in Vaas' cabin, which was probably not very well built, with little Vaas, who must have been a dog or a tiger. Heaven.

     "Well, that's cute, but we're going to be late !" shouted the other smuggler who was standing near the bar, to give them some privacy.

     "Pedro is boring." said a small voice. "He's not as cool as Carlos."

     "That's right, little Vaas." replied Vaas, resuming his normal voice. "Too bad he died, he was nice and he protected my nena. It's not fair."

     "... The tennis ball in your pocket is little Vaas, right ? You don't have a tiger." "You want a tiger, nena ?"

     "No. I want to go home." she whispered, even though she had already been there since he had jumped on her in front of everyone.

[natequarter]

can you tell us more about your ocs?

sure! in chronological order:

diuset, a celtic leader who died of unclear natural causes. died long before the roman invasion of britain. more or less the first ghost to stay around, but unfortunately she simply does not vibe with robin. haunts button house for at least a thousand years, probably closer to fifteen hundred. moves on in the twelfth century, having seen three separate invasions of britain and having kind of moved on from watching her people disappear by this point. she does learn old english, but she's not the best at speaking it. middle-aged, and dressed in quite a lot of layers for a ghost, because it was fucking cold when she died. pale, light eyes, very red hair.

lucius, the very unfortunate ghost of a young roman soldier. held down and drowned in the lake at button house over roman-celtic disputes. roughly fourth century ad. doesn't haunt for very long, and quickly moves on.

leofstan, an early anglo-saxon peasant - about the sixth century ad. pagan - he died before england converted to christianity, and has a mix of anglo-saxon and celtic family. fourteen years old, and typically annoying - loud, brash, and rude, but a good friend of robin's. how exactly he died is unclear, but it probably has something to do with the cane and the limp. moves on in the mid-1400s, walking into the lake, never to be seen again. he likes to make fun of rich people. ashy blonde, and predictably skinny.

godric, a later anglo-saxon blacksmith - mid-tenth century. had a family and kids before some bitchass carpenter shoved him into an anvil. took damage to the brain stem, stopped being able to breathe, and promptly died. wishes everyone would just calm down a bit, which they don't, or at least be nicer to each other, another thing they do not do. has a thing for robin, more so than the various ghosts who have a thing with robin. one of about two ghosts who is genuinely a nice, pleasant person, and does not have some glaring personality flaw which ruins everything. physically muscular, with blonde curls (because blonde people exist, which i frequently forget). married with kids at the point of death. sucked off at some point before the 1500s.

william, a norman would-be crusader who died in 1096 of tuberculosis. obsessed with holy war - somewhat like a crusading version of the captain - except, well, a massive failure on the soldier front, on account of being incredibly dead. died a slow and agonising death of tuberculosis - despite being surrounded by murder victims, he had one of the worst deaths out of any of the ghosts. cheery, with a painfully optimistic streak, and an unhealthy habit of idolising military figures - even long after his death, as with richard the lionheart. in his mid-thirties; tall, and very unkempt. still has his sword (adhémar) on him, as he died with it, and, especially when he's very stressed/angry/excited, he can interact with the world of the living through it... which frequently causes havoc. sucked off shortly after humphrey died, in the early 1590s. afflicted with a terrible cough all throughout his afterlife.

geoffrey and matilda, the owners of button house during the anarchy and early reign of henry ii. geoffrey died after falling off his horse and then being trampled by it (very gory, very ouch), and matilda died of hypothermia after he failed to arrive home. she spends the entire afterlife freezing cold. they're married, and unlike most of the canon ghosts' marriages, they do actually love each other. geoffrey moves on in the fourteenth century, matilda in the early 1600s. geoffrey has short hair and a short beard, and matilda has braided brown hair. robin makes fun of geoffrey's death constantly, because he is, quite frankly, a bit useless, but he's very fond of both of them.

elizabeth, a late medieval noblewoman who died in july, in 1485. the arrival of a messenger with the sweating sickness infected her household, and she succumbed shortly after. most of the ghosts were conscious when they died; because she died in her sleep, it took a while for the other ghosts to even convince her that she had died. in her early twenties, with dark brown eyes and very dark curly hair. afflicted, much like william, with symptoms of the disease that killed her - easily tired, often dizzy or feverish (someday matilda might stop using her as a radiator). at least she doesn't cough up blood, though. they very gradually warm to each other. one of the few people to actually look out for humphrey - not that there's anyone much else to do when he first dies. robin dislikes her, on account of typical aristocratic uptightness, and her being a bit frosty towards him when she first died, because the older early/high medieval ghosts are by that point a pretty tight-knit group, to the exclusion of others. holds a grudge against humphrey's grandfather, who takes over the house a while after her death, and tries to haunt him. it does not work.

clarence, a victorian gardener, and servant to george button. poor fucker. in his thirties when a teenaged george dared him to go ice skating... you can probably guess how this ends. ice broke, clarence drowned, rip. died of shock and the cold as much as the whole water in his lungs thing. just wants to chill, but did not get that wish in the way he intended. being soaking wet is a miserable way to spend the afterlife... which is probably why he doesn't haunt long, moving on shortly after fanny dies. presumably he didn't like the taste he got of fanny. good but brief mates with robin; not really dead long enough to form close connections with anyone in particular, but it would be nice if thomas stopped trying so hard to bond with him.

[stranger-marauders]

shattered

twenty-seven: the aftermath

chapter summary: Kate and Steve do their best to help the town of Hawkins after the devastating attack upon the town.

chapter warnings: language, major character death (i'm sorry), canon-typical violence, canon-typical everything, cliffhanger (i'm so sorry)

word count: 4.2k

series masterlist | masterlist

MOST EVERYONE WAS leaving Hawkins at least for the time being, and Kate couldn't blame them.

Even less than forty-eight hours after the gates had opened across town, black smoke still billowed all over Hawkins. The government had already come in, telling everyone that it was an earthquake: a seven-point-four magnitude one, just to sell it home. As of right now, the official death toll was twenty-two, even though Kate knew it was twenty-three, and that wasn't even counting the people that hadn't been found yet.

Eddie Munson had died that night, too. The bats had gotten inside of the trailer, and Eddie had sacrificed himself so they wouldn't get through the gate so that they wouldn't attack Dustin. He had saved his life, and by that extension, Steve's, Kate's, Robin's, and Nancy's, too. Eddie Munson had died a hero, and they were the only ones who would ever know.

Kate didn't know exactly how to feel about that. Not even an hour before he'd died, they'd been joking around on the Winnebago, even though things were serious. She didn't like to think that Eddie had died for nothing, so she tried not to think about it that way. If Eddie wouldn't have sacrificed himself, they wouldn't even have had a chance at killing Vecna, and they wouldn't waste the second life they'd been given by him. 

Kate wouldn't waste that opportunity.

Hundreds of people were injured now, filling every Roane County hospital there was. People were still missing, presumably swallowed by the massive cracks that now almost section Hawkins into quadrants. They had already said that the number of people dead was going to get bigger, the statistics even worse. This tragedy somehow made the Starcourt Mall nightmare look like child's play. So far, Kate had been exactly right in what she'd seen: mass mayhem and destruction had torn Hawkins to pieces, now for the entire town to see.

No one was safe anymore.

Currently, Steve, Kate, Robin, Dustin, and Nancy were sorting through boxes to take to the high school, loading Steve's car up with things to take. The city had canceled school for time being and repurposed it as a shelter until further notice for people who had lost their homes.

"Hey, Nance!" Karen, Nancy's mom, said, walking to her with a box of toys. "I found some more of your old stuff in the attic."

Nancy took one look inside the box, gasping at one of the stuffed animals inside. "Mr. Rabbit."

"It's okay if you wanna save him, you know."

She put the stuffed animal back inside the box, taking it in her hands. "No, he'll be more loved in a new home."

As the kids continued loading the car, Karen took a step closer to them. "Someone order a pizza?"

"Pizza?" Dustin asked.

Everyone turned to look at the pizza van at the end of the driveway, which honked at them before parking. From inside the van stepped Jonathan, Will, Mike, Argyle, and Eleven, who all should have been in California.

Kate couldn't believe it. There all of them were standing in front of them, completely unharmed. Of course, Joyce wasn't there, but she could only assume she was still on her business trip or something. They were here. Even Argyle had somehow found himself wrapped up in all of this. The only thing she cared about, though, was the girl with a shaved head in front of her.

Kate immediately ran to her sister, taking her tight in her grasp. "Holy shit, Ellie, I thought something terrible happened to you."

"I am okay," she said, letting her older sister squeeze her tight. "I'm sorry you didn't get to come to California."

She stifled a laugh, tears swelling in her eyes. "You're sorry? Jesus Christ, you didn't do anything." Kate ran her hand over the back of her freshly shaved head. "What the hell'd they do to you?"

"Papa," she said softly. It almost seemed as if Kate were more upset about her hair right now than she was.

"I'm going to kill that son of a bitch—"

"He's... already dead," El said, taking her sister into a hug. "But thank you. I... I missed you."

Kate squeezed her tighter, finally letting out a sigh of relief. "You're never leaving my sight again, dammit, you hear me?"

"What about school?" El asked, tilting her head.

She shook her head as they walked toward Steve's car. "That is the only exception. Got it?"

El nodded in response. Whenever she went to go hug Dustin and catch up with him, Kate leaned up against the trunk of Steve's car.

Steve moved to stand beside her, wrapping an arm around her back and putting his hand on her waist. "I have never seen you mom out on her so hard."

Kate scoffed. "You are not allowed to say anything about 'mom-ing out' on people. Ever. Also, I was 'older-sistering' out. There's a difference."

He stifled a laugh, readjusting his hand on her waist. "You don't have to come with us if you wanna stay with her. I get it."

She shook her head. "No, I... I'm still coming. El, she's... she's gonna wanna see her, you know? I–I don't think I can do it again right now. Not when we just got back."

"Okay, yeah, that's fine," Steve said, nodding his head, pulling her in tighter to him. "That's... I get it. You don't have to. We can go together tonight if you want, okay?"

Kate nodded, turning to face him again. "Okay."

Max had died the night that the gates had opened across Hawkins, too. Her heart had stopped for about a minute before it started again, as Lucas had told them, giving her the faintest ounce of life before the ambulance came. The doctors had said it was a miracle that she was even alive. Her limbs had been snapped, and her eyes had started bleeding, but somehow, Max hadn't died yet. She had now only been reduced to a coma, unsure of when or if she would ever wake up again.

Kate had given Lucas some book recommendations so he could read Max something while she was in her coma. It broke her heart that he had sat at Max's beside every waking moment since she'd been admitted, waiting for her just in case she did wake up. Lucas didn't want to leave her alone, and for that, she was grateful.

Whenever Kate had first heard the news, she'd blamed herself for letting them go alone. She'd known that one of them should have stayed with Max, Lucas, and Erica just in case something happened. Maybe one of them should've stayed with Dustin and Eddie, too. Maybe if she had been the one to do it, they wouldn't have lost Eddie, wouldn't have lost Max. Now, though, Kate knew that it wasn't her fault. It wasn't any of their fault. They were strong, but the Upside Down had been stronger. Vecna had been stronger.

Once the kids, Argyle, Jonathan, and Nancy had left to go to the hospital to visit Lucas, Max, and Erica, the remaining group had gone to the high school, bringing in their boxes of supplies. Steve and Kate had already agreed to go with Robin and Dustin for a couple of hours to help volunteer, then meet everyone else at the old cabin later in the day.

It had been Robin's idea to help out at the high school. She figured since she, Steve, and Kate had gotten away with manageable damage (things that Kate had been able to fix in what she called L'Hôpital de la Kate whenever they'd gotten back to his house that night), they could at least come and help out where it was needed. Dustin, even though he had messed up his leg, still wanted to come with them to help. How could they turn him away?

As they walked through the school's gym, it had been somewhat overwhelming. They had set up all types of donation centers, as well as a medical area and a living area with cots and such for those who lost their homes. They all tried not to let their eyes wander too far, mostly because they didn't know how much they would find.

Whenever they got to the donation desk, Robin had been the one to greet the lady first. "Hi, uh, so these are blankets and sheets. And some... some clothes and... and some kids' toys."

"Wow. It's already so organized," the woman said, looking at the box Robin had carried inside. "We appreciate that. Do you want a tax receipt for it?"

"Um..." Robin looked at Steve and Kate for help—they were definitely the adults in this situation. Whenever they both shook their heads, she continued. "No. I don't think that we need one. Thank you, though." Robin looked behind her. "But... is there anything else that we can do to help?"

Steve and Kate had been brought to another table with clothes on it, being put in charge of sorting things that came from boxes.

"And then we sort by age," a woman named Maude told them, bringing them to the table. "We've got infants, girls, boys, men, women—Oh, if anything is in too bad shape, we really don't want that. Other than that, if you guys have any questions, I'll just be down there."

"Thank you," Steve said, nodding once at her as she walked away. "All right, ready?"

"Yeah," Kate said, moving a box to sit in between them so they could start sorting clothes.

Even though she was busy sorting, she, for the first time seemingly in days, had time to think.

She and Steve had still yet to talk about the conversation that they'd had in the Upside Down. Realistically, there hadn't been any time for a follow-up conversation yet. Of course, that hadn't stopped the hand-holding, the arms around her shoulder, the sneaky kisses that always seemed to end too quickly. At this point, Kate almost thought that they didn't even need to talk about it. She had made a stupid, stupid mistake to break things off with him, and he felt the same way. Kate, however, knew that in order for things to work between them, she had to actually communicate her thoughts to him, even if she felt like they were obvious.

"Hey," she finally said, trying to grab his attention. Whenever he looked at her, folding a men's sweater over his shoulder, she scrunched her face for half a second. "So, we're... we're good, right?"

"Oh, yeah," he said, nodding as he put another kid's sweatshirt in its correct place. "Yeah, I hope so."

"So you don't, uh... I mean, you're sure you don't care about the long-distance or anything?"

"If that's what's holding you back, I will move to New York right now, okay?"

She chuckled. "No, no, that's not what I meant, I just mean... I mean, I'm just asking if you, uh... you know, if you—"

"You're asking if I wanna get back together with you?" Steve asked, watching her as she hid herself in folding kids' clothes.

She hesitated, taking a deep breath. "Yes."

He nodded, smiling slightly. "Yeah. I'd love that."

"You would?"

"Yeah."

She smiled as she continued to fold some more clothes, looking out across to Robin, who was currently making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with Vickie. Not only that, but Vickie was smiling. Maybe Robin had a chance, too. "Hey, look."

Steve smiled, stifling a laugh. "Knew it. Absolutely no one pauses Fast Times there on accident, okay? Literally no one."

Kate stifled a laugh as she gave him a questionable look, but she decided not to ask any more questions for now, only sorting through clothes for those currently in need.

Steve and Kate left the high school and went to the cabin in the early afternoon.

She didn't know how to feel about going back there. The last time she had come back, it had not been too long after her father died. She, Steve, El, and Joyce had packed up anything that could have been saved, putting it in boxes to sort through later. Back then, all Kate had cared about was getting in and out of there as soon as possible. It hurt far too much to be in the place without him.

Now, though, it almost felt bittersweet being back at the cabin. Everyone had decided to help fix up the place so El could stay there for the time being. Kate didn't exactly know how this plan was supposed to work, particularly because she was supposed to go back to school in two days, but she figured Nancy and Jonathan had already worked something out. Maybe the Byers were coming back to Hawkins—Kate would have liked that outcome a lot more than anything else.

Steve and Kate had been assigned to fixing her own room up, just enough where it was livable. They hadn't had much on their to-do list but to clear out the room of any trash or leaves, board up the broken window, and start repairing the salvageable furniture.

Whenever they walked into the room, Steve closed the door behind them, grabbing Kate by the waist and flipping her around toward him. He put a hand on her jaw, rubbing his thumb across her cheek as he kissed her. He could feel her smile against his lips as she put her arm just below the base of his neck, careful not to touch where his bruises were.

She finally broke away, and he pressed their foreheads together, wrapping his arms around her. "We're not gonna get anything done if you keep doing that."

"I'm sorry," he said softly, pushing her hair behind her ear. "I like kissing you."

She stifled a laugh, her eyebrows furrowing together. "Yeah, well, there will be plenty of opportunities for that, so chill out."

He shrugged. "Fine."

Kate sighed. "This is gonna be so expensive to fix. I mean, the floors need to be redone, all the furniture needs to be replaced, I mean, this is... I'm gonna have to pay for the roof—"

"Hey, hey, hey," Steve said, putting his hands on her arms. "Baby steps, Kathy, baby steps."

She pressed her lips together, sighing again as she started putting salvageable items into a cardboard box. "It's weird, but I kinda missed this place."

"I kinda did, too," Steve said. "This place... it always felt like home more than my place ever has. I missed it."

Kate gave a tight-lipped smile. "I didn't know that."

"I mean, it's not like I ever said anything about it. Besides, I needed an excuse to get you at my house from time to time."

"You're so gross." She stifled a laugh. "Whatever. I don't know, I just... I don't know."

"What?"

She sighed. "I don't want to leave you again."

He shrugged. "You're not leaving me, you're just... going to school. It's like, what, six weeks? You'll be back home before you know it."

"Yeah, I know, I just... I want to be with you." She emphasized the last word, hoping she got her point. He gave her a confused look. "I don't know, maybe next fall, would you... I know we talked about it last year and we couldn't make it work, but..." She stopped, taking a deep breath. "I don't know, would you want to go to New York with me? We could be like... I don't know, act like a real couple for once or something?"

He smiled, his eyes almost seeming to lighten. "Really?"

"Yeah, really."

Steve tried to stop himself from smiling like an idiot. "Yeah, I mean... I mean, yeah, I'd really... I'd really like that."

"Yeah?" she said softly, pressing her lips together. "Until then, you know, maybe... maybe you could live here for a while. That way you wouldn't have to live with your parents anymore."

"Oh yeah, live with your scary sister with superpowers and shit?" he asked sarcastically, chuckling slightly. "Sounds like a great idea."

"Hey, it's something," she replied. "I mean, I'd be back before the summer, right? And besides, they... your parents treat you like absolute shit. Isn't this better than being with them?"

"I don't know, I've kinda... gotten used to it, I guess. My mom's okay."

"No, she's not either," Kate said bitterly, dumping her dustpan out of the broken window. "She lets your dad treat you like that. And you know what? Neither of them have called you a single time to make sure you're okay, and they still haven't come home. They're assholes, and I'm tired of them treating you that way."

He shrugged. "Kathy, I don't... really care anymore." Whenever he saw her pointed facial expression, he put his hands up in surrender, dropping the broom in his hands. "I know it sounds bad, okay, but I... they're not my family anymore. I'm tired of acting like I care about 'em when they don't act like they care about me. We're just civil, that's it."

"So who's your family?" she asked, somewhat worriedly.

He picked the broom back up off the ground, leaning it up against the wall. "You, Robin. The kids, even though they hate me half the time."

Her eyebrows furrowed together. "El doesn't hate you."

"Yeah, well, that's because I'm scared of her."

Kate stifled a laugh. "Does she really scare you that bad?"

"Yes!" Whenever she started laughing loudly, he threw his hands up in response. "All I'm saying is your family is horrifying. All of you."

"Yeah, we're a pretty, uh... frightening bunch, occasionally." Kate flopped back down on her bed, starting to go through some of the things she now had to sort from her desk that had seemed important.

Whenever a car seemed to drive into the driveway, Steve and Kate exchanged glances. "Hey, stay here, okay? I'll go check it out."

She nodded, letting him walk out the door and close it behind him. As she continued to sort through the random knickknacks and items on her bed that she'd left behind, she heard footsteps come through the cabin again—it must've been Steve coming back inside. She looked up whenever she heard the door swing open, only staring whenever she saw who stood in the doorframe.

Whenever she'd seen her father, her eyes instantly brimmed with tears. Not now, please not now. This was the first time that he'd looked different in an episode. He'd lost a lot of weight, and his head had noticeably been shaved, as well as the mustache he'd had when he died, even if he had been wearing a baseball cap to cover it. She squeezed her eyes shut and open again, only to find him still standing there, smiling at her fondly. "Hey, kid."

She shook her head, standing up out of bed as she looked at him. "You're not real."

"I'm here, kid," Hopper said, taking a step deeper into the room.

"Get out of my head."

"Katie, it's me. I promise it's me."

"Tell me something I wouldn't know that you'd know."

"Katie—"

"Please."

He sighed. "I, uh... I know you taught El and Sara both every curse word ever, even though you tried to lie about it. Both times."

Kate racked a sob, taking a deep breath. "Oh my God."

Her father finally walked to stand in front of her, pulling her into a hug as she began to sob more. She couldn't believe this was happening. She didn't know how it was happening, but she didn't care. Right now, she didn't care about anything leading up to this moment: she had her father back.

"How... How are you here?"

"I'll tell you later, kid. It's a hell of a story."

"I didn't forget about you," she said through her sobs. "I did everything you asked, I promise..."

"I know," he said, pulling back to look at her face. "Jesus, kid, I don't think I've ever seen you cry this much."

"Everyone told me you were dead."

"It seemed that way for a while, didn't it?"

"I mean, I just... I never stopped believing you were still here," Kate said, shaking her head. "I could feel it, Dad, I could... I knew you were still alive. Deep down, I knew."

Hopper chuckled softly. "Oh, I know. It's okay."

She nodded through her sobs.

"It's okay. I'm here. I'm here."

Kate couldn't stop sobbing. She still hadn't stopped crying whenever she and her father had gone to tell her sister of his resurrection in her own room. After El had a quite similar reaction, all three Hoppers now sat on Eleven's bed, just enjoying the fact that all three of them were here.

She didn't think she'd ever get this again. Her dad, El, and her all together like this. Kate couldn't have even imagined this in an excellent dream, one of those ones that felt so real that you got déjà vu from it.

Hopper had finally taken his hat off, revealing the shaved head that he now had.

"You look..." Kate stopped to sniffle.

"Not fat?" Hopper asked softly, making both girls chuckle.

"And your hair!" El said, rubbing her hand over his shaved head.

"My hair?" Hopper asked, his eyes swelling with tears. "Look at your hair. Katie's got more than the both of us combined."

Eleven chuckled as he rubbed his hand over her head. Kate couldn't help but smile. And to think she thought that shorter-length haircut she'd given herself a few months back was bad.

"Yeah," Hopper said, shaking his head. "I kinda stole your look, kid."

Kate chuckled, wiping her eyes again. She still couldn't believe he was here. Her father was alive.

She still hadn't been able to conceptualize how this had happened. Joyce had told her that he'd blown up inside of that bunker last July, but now he was standing right in front of her.

"So what d'you think?"

"Badass," Kate said softly, pressing her lips together.

"Bitchin'," El said, chuckling.

"Hm," Hopper said, smiling. Both of his girls had used some of their favorite expressions to describe him, and that was enough for him. He took his two daughters in for a hug, not even caring if he was slightly squishing them.

Kate pulled away whenever she heard talking outside, making El and her father pull away too. El and Kate had been the first two out the door, Hopper following closely behind them. Whenever they laid their eyes on Jonathan and Will hugging Joyce, and Mike, Nancy, and Steve standing next to them, Hopper put a hand on each one of his kids' shoulders. "You aren't the only ones that didn't stop believing."

When Joyce saw both Kate and El, Kate gave a soft smile, and El gave a small wave. They both ran down to hug her, pulling her into a big hug.

"Oh!" Joyce said softly whenever the two girls started crying again, tears swelling in her eyes. Her two girls were safe, too.

El pulled away, making Kate and Joyce do so, too. "I'm happy you went to your... conference."

"Yeah, that was one hell of a conference you went on," Kate said, looking back at her dad again.

"That was quite the experience," Joyce replied before pulling them both into a hug again. She was glad that her two girls were okay.

Hopper took his hat off, tipping it toward the government agent that had driven both Hopper and Joyce to the cabin. He put his hat back on as the agent drove away.

Steve had been the first person to approach Hopper.

"Hey," he said, smiling as he walked up to him.

"Hey, kid."

He took a look at the boy in front of him. He couldn't believe it, but somehow, he looked much more grown up than he had the last time he had seen him. He wasn't a boy anymore. He actually looked like a man, which surprised him more than anything. He thought that it might have been because of the lack of a sailor outfit as a work uniform, but it also could've been by just the way he carried himself, maybe the slight dusting of facial hair that he couldn't decide if he just hadn't shaved in a while or not, which was likely considering the past week they'd had. All of it showed him what he needed to know: Steve had grown up, too.

"You've grown."

"Not really," Steve said, shrugging slightly. "I just... I wanted to tell you that I kept my promise."

Hopper looked over to his oldest daughter, who was currently completely absorbed talking to Joyce and El. He chuckled. "Yeah, kid. You... You did it, somehow. Thank you."

Before Steve could respond, Hopper pulled him in for a hug, making him chuckle slightly. Maybe Kate had been right about Hopper always liking him.

A dark cloud seemed to come over Hawkins, and everyone turned around to look at it. Kate had watched as Will felt his neck—he must've felt something again. They watched as thunder rumbled, and particles began to fall out of the sky, almost like snow.

This, however, wasn't snow.

Kate followed her father as they walked through the woods, making their way to a meadow as Steve, Joyce, Mike, El, Jonathan, and Nancy followed behind them. The meadow in question had always been filled with flowers, but now, half of the field seemed to be dead, graying out almost as the particles flew around. Kate watched in horror as El picked up a decaying flower, one that seemed to begin to wither in her hand.

Out of the four cracks that now split Hawkins, funnels seemed to tunnel down into the earth, lifting into the dark clouds of the sky. Thunder rumbled as red lightning struck among the clouds.

As darkness came into Hawkins, Kate only grabbed Steve's hand for comfort.

Part of what Vecna had shown her was coming to fruition, and she knew the worst was yet to come.

author's note

taglist:

@thatsonezesty13 @cece5298 @thepowerstoner @alovelytardis @coolchick333 @stand-tall-pineapple @littlet-holmes @guichu @cinderellacauseshebroke @blackbirddaredevil23 @mads-weasley @ilovemarauders @pearlstiare @liableperfections @khaylin27 @girlwiththerubyslippers @cyarikaaa

[robininthelabyrinth]

A-Yuan wasn’t the only child among the Wen Remnants, just the youngest.

Children's Day - ao3

Lan Wangji carefully scooped up the boy out of his hiding place, tucked beneath a pile of stones, sick with fever and fast asleep.

It was a good hiding place. If Lan Wangji hadn’t played Inquiry and demanded to know if there were any living beings around in this cursed place of death, he would never have found the small child.

He remembered him – this was little A-Yuan, who Wei Wuxian had taken down into town to play, the one Lan Wangji had bought all those toys for in his confusion, the one who called him rich-gege. Barely more than two years old, having never known anything but war.

He was all that was left, now. There was nothing else left in the battlefield.

No one else left.

Lan Wangji closed his eyes in pain.

I’ll care for him for you, he promised Wei Wuxian’s ghost, wherever it might be now. Now that you cannot.

I’ll take him back to Gusu to raise as my own – wishing you were by my side.

-

-Earlier-

“Sect Leader!” one of his aides cried out when he staggered back into camp. “What – who’s that?”

Jiang Cheng looked down at the girl in his arms. She was – four, maybe? Five? He had no idea.

She looked a bit like Wen Qing.

“I found her hiding in the corner of the battlefield when she made a noise,” he said hoarsely. “The Wen sect remnants…by the time I got there, they were almost all dead already, all her family. She’s – she’s young. It didn’t seem right.”

Wei Wuxian always liked children, he thought vaguely to himself as he looked down at her. It wasn’t so much of a surprise that he would keep one there…in fact, if he thought back to that horrible meeting they’d had that one time he’d come to the Burial Mounds to try to talk to Wei Wuxian, he thought he remembered there being a small child there. This must be her.

She was bigger than he remembered, but that was what happened with small children, wasn’t it?

“Her surname is Wen?”

“No,” Jiang Cheng snapped automatically, and his aide took a step back from his vehemence. “The Wen sect is dead, you understand? All of them. The cultivation world refused to allow them to live, that much is obvious enough. Her surname…”

He looked down at her.

I failed Wei Wuxian, he thought grimly. I won’t fail his legacy.

“Her surname will be Jiang.”

-

-Earlier-

“We found this child hiding in the Demon Subduing Cave,” one of the guards reported, looking nervous. “Lianfeng-zun – what do we do with them?”

Jin Guangyao frowned down at the child, judging the child’s age to be about five or six – maybe seven, considering the likelihood of malnutrition at the Burial Mounds. If they were any younger, he would’ve said that the child ought to just execute them as useless; any older, and he would’ve had no choice but to declare them an enemy combatant, and thereby order them executed.

At this age, though…they were still young enough to be taught to forget their current surname, and to learn new loyalties, and yet old enough to perhaps remember a little of what they had learned, living as they had for a few years with the inventor of demonic cultivation.

Jin Guangyao glanced at the papers in his hands, full of barely legible scribbles, laying out powerful new spells and interesting ideas. They would help Xue Yang with his work – but not as much as a helper would, and naturally they’d just brutally executed all the other ‘helpers’ that might have been available.

Not exactly Jin Guangyao’s personal preference, but he wasn’t the one leading the Jin sect army.

Still, his father, who had been the one leading, had retired to his tent, and now Jin Guangyao was the one with the power, left to be in charge of mopping up. That, in turn, gave him a little more leeway, which meant he could implement his own thoughts, rather than badly thought out instructions.

“Put the child in my tent,” he said, and smiled. “The poor thing must have gotten lost and entered the battlefield – after we arrived. You understand?”

The guard saluted deeply. “Lianfeng-zun is kind and beneficent,” he said, and his expression was worshipful. “I will tell the others that the child is from some distant Jin branch.”

Jin Guangyao hadn’t intended for him to do that, but – well, he couldn’t exactly refute it now, could he, and anyway there were worse things to happen. Everyone would know that he had kindly taken in some orphaned child of war, which would be good for his reputation.

He smiled and nodded, and thought of the future.

-

-Earlier-

“Well, shit,” Nie Mingjue said, staring at the trio of children: nine or ten years old, he thought, maybe a little older, two girls and a boy. They stared back at him, wide-eyed and terrified – they were very clearly trying to sneak off the Burial Mounds down the back way.

Nie Mingjue rubbed his face, glad that he’d insisted on doing the forward scout work before the attack tomorrow morning himself rather than let it go to someone else. He hadn’t wanted to come to this blasted place in the first place, being that he still wasn’t sure exactly what had gone down with Wei Wuxian, who’d been a good man once. But good Nie cultivators had died at Lanling City at Wen Ning’s hands, the Jin sect claiming that that brutal attack was at Wei Wuxian’s instigation, and at the Nightless City at Wei Wuxian’s hands directly, and he didn’t have any evidence to exculpate the man, either; he had no grounds to look the families of those Nie cultivators in the eye and tell them not to pursue vengeance against the man who had slaughtered their brothers and fathers and sons, sisters and mothers and daughters, like they meant nothing.

They deserved vengeance.

Just as he had, for his father.

But at the same time…

“You’re all surnamed Wen, I take it?” he asked, and they slowly nodded. “Dafan Wen?”

Another nod.

“Wrong answer,” he said, making a snap decision. This wasn’t like his father at all, not really; he had wanted to kill Wen Ruohan, who had done the deed himself, while these children clearly hadn’t done anything. “Swear to me here and now that you won’t seek revenge for your sect or family, and you can be surnamed Nie instead.”

They looked at each other.

“Your family didn’t send you to run away because they wanted you to take revenge,” he said. It was a guess, but he could tell from the way their shoulders sagged that he was right. “They wanted you to live. Well?”

They swore.

He took them home.

-

-Earlier-

She tripped and fell flat on her face.

“Hey, girl!”

She looked up, eyes wide with terror – she hadn’t expected to be caught so soon – but the cultivator in front of her didn’t strike her down. He was a young man, just a few years older than her, and he looked nice, kneeling to help her up.

“Are you all right?” he asked. “Did you get lost?”

Lost? From where would she get lost, exactly?

Despite that, she nodded.

“I’m sorry to hear that. Here isn’t a good place, though – we’re going to have a battle tomorrow…can you tell me where you’re from?” He frowned. “Or – can’t you speak?”

An idea suddenly came to mind, and she shook her head, lifting up her hands to mime signs like the ones she’d seen Lady Wen and her brother use sometimes when they needed to talk without disturbing others.

“Doesn’t talk,” he murmured to himself. “Clothing of white, ripped all to ribbons –”

She’d torn out any trace of the red sun. White was a common color, but she was old enough to know that she couldn’t let anyone know she was surnamed Wen.

“Oh, I’ve read about this before! Are you a bird yao that’s cultivated to humanity?”

What?

She’d been thinking of trying to pass as a traumatized war veteran, but she was only fourteen, after all; it wasn’t very believable. Of course, it was a lot more believable that bird yao – who would leap to that conclusion?

“My surname is Ouyang,” the man said, smiling brightly at her. “You should come back with me – I can teach you to speak, and we can give you a name…how about ‘Luo’ as a surname? That has to do with birds. Or we could surname you Bai, instead, since your clothing is white! Or maybe -”

She smiled helplessly at his nonsense. What a silly, cheerful man! Maybe she’d overestimated his age, he couldn’t be more than two or three years older, at most, and his brain was clearly not in the right place, filled up to the brim with romantic stories and adventure tales instead of facts.

It was a nice change, actually.

She accepted his hand as she stood.

Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.

-

-Earlier-

Lan Wangji had returned home and submitted to a dreadful punishment. The elders he had injured on Wei Wuxian’s behalf were either in treatment or recovering.

As for the rest that had been at the Nightless City…

Many were dead.

Lan Qiren landed in the Burial Mounds, lips pressed tightly together.

He knew he was taking a risk in coming here to Wei Wuxian’s lair – no matter what Lan Wangji thought, whatever good points he’d had in the past, the man was now little better than a mad dog. He’d caused the death of three thousand people just the day before, three thousand innocents that hadn’t had anything to do with anything; why would he hesitate to attack his old teacher?

There was already talk of a siege – Jiang Cheng himself had promised to lead it, to wipe off the stain on the Jiang sect’s record, and the Jin sect had been right behind him. Even Nie Mingjue had been dragged in against his will, suborned by his sect members’ need for vengeance. As for the Lan Sect…Lan Xichen had looked so stricken by the thought that Lan Qiren had volunteered for the grim duty, despite Lan Qiren having never been much of a fighter and even less of a general. He intended to take only the smallest possible contingent, and to limit their work as much as possible to cleansing the dead rather than killing those who remained there – that much, at least, he could do for his nephew.

Either way, though, no matter his powers, Wei Wuxian would not live out the week.

If Lan Qiren desired vengeance, he need only wait.

And yet, here he was.

Alone, practically unarmed – and here nonetheless.

An old woman came out from the cave and squinted at him.

“It’s over,�� she said sadly. “Isn’t it?”

Lan Qiren looked at her. One of the Wen remnants that Wei Wuxian had surrounded himself with, he assumed; the ones he’d given up his comfortable life for, claiming he was only acting as a righteous man ought. Perhaps he even had thought he was, back then.

Perhaps he really had been, back then.

“Yes,” Lan Qiren said, and cleared his throat. “After what he did at the Nightless City – the verdict is unquestionably death. But the rest of you…there are armies coming, and armies are not known for their leniency, especially not on passerby with the wrong surname. But they’re not here yet. There’s still time to flee – if you go now, you could take on a new surname and find some quiet place to live on.”

Lan Wangji had said they were civilians. Civilian life was to be prioritized above all else.

Lan Qiren was only doing what he must.

Despite his well-meant warnings, however, the old lady shook her head.

“There’s nowhere to go, and we won’t give up our surname,” she said, polite but stubborn to the last. “But thank you for taking the time to come here to tell us.”

“Wangji said that there were children here,” Lan Qiren insisted, ignoring her refusal. “If you won’t flee with them, at least send those that are old enough out on their own, and hide the younger ones. Tell them to forget their surnames – most people won’t rampantly murder children, so there’s a chance they’ll make it through, and live. Can you deny them that, just for pride?”

That gave the old woman pause.

“We’ll do what we can,” she said, and then eyed him. “How good are you at medicine?”

Lan Qiren frowned. “I can’t provide care –”

“She’s already dead. Come help anyway.”

The woman in question was not already dead, but dying – she was in her late teens, seventeen or eighteen at most, and she was in labor. From the glassiness of her eyes, the redness of her cheeks, and the threadiness of her pulse, it was clear that infection had long ago set in. It was not an exaggeration to say she was dead, little better than a corpse.

She was little more than a child.

“I don’t want her to die alone,” the old woman said. “But if you stay with her, I can use the time to try to take care of the rest. You’re not wrong, I suppose – the children, at least, deserve a chance to live on, even if it means leaving our surname behind.”

Lan Qiren looked down at the woman, unconscious already and unlikely to ever wake, and yet still whimpering. “And her child?”

The old woman looked surprised. “Can a child born like this still live?”

Lan Qiren had almost no medical training beyond the most superficial basics that were the necessity for any battlefield or night-hunt, with one sole exception: he had supervised the births of both his nephews by himself with little aid – his brother’s wife hadn’t wanted anyone else to be present, possibly in an attempt to prematurely enter her grave, possibly just out of spite. He had studied very hard in the days leading up to those births, and knew far more on the subject than most men did.

“It’s possible,” he said. “Unlikely, but – possible.”

He hesitated for a long moment.

“I can take the baby,” he finally said. “Pass him off as some war-orphan child of distant Lan cousins, sent to me on account of their deaths. I could raise him, or else give him to my cousin to raise; he’s got a large enough family that no one would question it.”

“Why would you do that?”

Lan Qiren looked at the woman who was dying, little more than a child herself. “Because of the children I can’t help.”

The old woman was quiet for a little while.

“Very well,” she said, and leaned forward to whisper the name the young woman had thought about for her child into his ear. “That works with Lan as a surname, wouldn’t it? That’s not bad.”

“Not bad at all,” Lan Qiren agreed, and rolled up his sleeves, settling down beside the girl. “Not bad at all.”

[the-bau-quinjet]

Plum Cobbler

Steve x Barnes!reader, Bucky x platonic!reader

Summary: What happens when Steve confronts the woman who's been sitting outside the compound every Saturday for a month?

Warnings: mentions parental death, some cursing

Word Count: 6315

a/n: This really took on a mind of its own. I was going to make it a series, but I feel like this is the whole story.

Masterlist

Nervous didn't even begin to describe how you were feeling. Sitting in your car, just outside of the entrance gate to the Avenger's compound was never somewhere you thought you'd be. Not until two months ago, when you found your grandmas old scrapbooks.

Of course, you don't know how to get inside. Honestly, you should have seen this coming. Why would just anyone be able to walk up to their door?

"Who are you?" The sudden question startled you, causing you to jump and hit your head on the roof of your car. You turned to look at the source of the voice, shrinking under her watchful gaze.

The one and only Natasha Romanoff was standing outside your car, glaring at you as if she was ready to drop everything to take you out.

"Oh, um. My name is Y/N L/N. I just wanted to talk to Bucky..." Her glare only grew stronger as you revealed why you were there.

"Barnes doesn't talk to strangers." Before you could explain why, she was gone. You watched her walk into the compound until she wasn't in your view anymore.

"Well, that went horribly." You mumbled to yourself. Now what? Should you just sit there until someone else comes out? Will anyone come out?

-

"So who is she?" Clint asked as soon as Nat got back inside.

"Why is she here?" Sam added on.

"Said her name is Y/N L/N, and she wants to talk to Bucky." Nat rolled her eyes.

"Friday, run a background check on F/N L/N." Tony asked of the AI. "What? You can never be too careful, and people shouldn't know how to get here." He explained given the questioning looks from the rest of the group.

"Y/N L/N, 27, daughter of the deceased Kathleen and Grant L/N. She owns a bookstore in Brooklyn, passed down through her family. No criminal record." Friday responded quickly.

"Sounds normal enough, probably a fan?" Tony suggested, looking around the room.

"A persistent one. She's been here for hours." Steve looked out the window, still seeing your car just outside the gate. "How did she find the entrance?"

Everyone shared similar looks, unsure how a seemingly normal civilian found the gate.

"Excellent question, Capsicle. Friday, got any ideas?" Tony, as usual, turned to the AI for answers.

"Based on GPS data from her car, she drove around upstate New York for eight hours every Saturday for the last 6 weeks until she came across the side road leading to the compound."

"Either she's really good at looking normal, or she's just normal." Nat added on, still slightly suspicious.

"Well, she just left. I guess we're not getting any answers today." Steve said from his position still looking out the window.

-

You came back every Saturday for a month. You didn't know if anything would come of it, but you'd be damned if you didn't try. After your parent's deaths, you thought you had no family left. Finding out you were related to Bucky gave you a lifeline. Something to cling to when you felt alone.

So far, nobody else had come to talk to you. You didn't even know if Bucky knew you were there for him.

The fifth Saturday, you pulled your car up to the gate at 9 am, sticking to your makeshift schedule of waiting outside for the entire day. They had to at least be curious as to why you kept coming back.

Unfortunately for you, the weather upstate today was not the same as the weather in Brooklyn.

Around 10:30, it started to rain. Just a sprinkling, nothing you couldn't handle.

You listened to music, read, ate the lunch you packed, played games on your phone, anything to pass the time. You weren't going to force your way inside, but you were definitely going to show that you were interested.

Typically, you would leave at 5:30. It gave you enough time to drive home and heat up dinner, plus you had to check in on your cat.

Today, however, was a different story. Around 5:15, it started pouring. Sheets of water were coming down around you, completely cutting off any visibility through the windshield.

You figured you'd just wait out the rain, but when it didn't let up by 6, you were getting nervous.

-

"She's still here." Steve walked into the kitchen, announcing his news to the room.

"I'm not surprised. It's not exactly peak driving conditions out there." Sam easily responded, glancing out the window.

"Aren't you the least bit curious as to why?" Steve asked again, pushing the same conversation as always.

Nearly everyone in the room rolled their eyes, sick of repeating the same things.

"Look, we figured if we ignored her, she'd eventually stop. Clearly, that might not be working. If you're so curious, feel free to go ask her." Tony gave in, eager to move on from the discussion of you.

Steve contemplated his choices for all of 2 seconds before grabbing an umbrella and walking down the driveway.

-

You had your head leaned back against the headrest, eyes closed, listening to the rain. Of course you would get stuck here. Why didn't you ever check the weather?

You shrieked when a knock sounded on your passenger side window, not having expected anyone, especially in the rain.

Mr. America himself pointed to the door, gesturing for you to unlock it. You sat up quickly, rushing to hit the unlock button.

He quickly opened the door, shutting his umbrella and lowering himself into the small car.

You were utterly speechless. After your brief encounter with Natasha, you didn't really expect anyone to come talk to you.

Sure, you came back every week, but it was more so to fill the lonely hours you would have normally spent with your parents at the bookstore.

You had other employees to run the shop on Saturdays, allowing you to come here instead.

"Why are you here?" He sounded more curious than anything. Clearly he didn't perceive you as a threat, which was good because you had zero fighting experience.

"To talk to Bucky." Your voice was quiet, unsure how much you should share.

"I know that. Why?" He had fully turned in his seat to look at you, his large frame filling nearly the entire car.

"Well, I found something a few months ago that I thought he should know." You stuttered through your response, mildly intimidated by the man in front of you.

"And that something is?" He questioned further, genuinely curious as to what you want to tell his best friend.

You hesitated, eyes flitting around the car, looking at anything but him. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair before speaking again.

"Look, if you ever want to actually talk to him, you should tell me. Buck's been through hell, he won't just talk to anyone. Especially if he has no reason to."

During your conversation, the rain finally let up. You decided to take that as a sign.

"Can I show you something?" You finally looked him in the eye, nearly forgetting why you were even here at the sight of his bright blue eyes.

"Is it the reason you've been out here every Saturday for over a month?" He joked with you, helping to calm your nerves.

You nodded in response, unsure if you could even speak while still looking into his eyes.

"Then please."

You tore your eyes from his face, throwing the car into reverse and backing out of the spot you've claimed as your own. You turned around, heading back to your apartment in Brooklyn.

"Wha- where are we going?" He's clearly surprised by your actions, but he doesn't seem worried.

"I'm going to show you what I found, and hopefully you'll let me talk to Bucky." You paused for a minute, thinking. "Although, really I guess it should be his choice. Maybe you can just give him a message for me, and if he doesn't want to talk I'll leave you all alone."

The idea of never getting to know Bucky, you're only remaining family, hurts, but it's got to be his decision.

Steve just nods in response, still slightly wary of your reasons for wanting to talk to Bucky.

When you're a few minutes away from your apartment, you decide to give him some context.

"You probably already know a lot about me, but let me explain a few things." He silently nods, encouraging you to continue.

"My parents died three and a half months ago." You immediately felt like crying, but did your best to hold it in. Of course, Steve didn't miss the break in your voice. "It was a car accident. The weather was bad. They lost control of the car. They were both pronounced dead on the scene." You parked the car, turning slightly to look at him.

"They were the only family I've ever had, and the were both just gone." You turned and opened the car door, taking a moment to wipe the tears from your eyes. You gestured for him to follow you, locking the car and heading inside your apartment building.

"We were really close. I spent every Saturday at the bookstore with them." You wiped the tears again as the elevator doors closed.

You didn't chance looking at Steve, knowing you would break down at the look of pity.

"I had to go through the stuff at their house. You know, decide what to bring here, what to put in storage, what to get rid of. I found some old scrapbooks, I think from my great grandma."

You lead him into your apartment, locking the door and immediately heading to the kitchen to feed your cat. After you set down the food, you moved to the couch. You had the scrapbooks on the coffee table, having taken every opportunity to look through them.

"I never knew her. My parents didn't talk about her either, I'm not sure if they knew who she was. Her name was Rebecca." You waited a beat, to see if he would understand. When he remained quiet, you handed him one of the books, open to a page with a picture of Steve, Bucky, and Rebecca. "Rebecca Barnes."

You waited again, letting the information sink in for him. After a few minutes he smiled.

"I remember this day." He looked at you, a wide smile on his face. "It was a few days before Bucky was enrolled. We had a picnic." He continued to reminisce, looking through the other pictures in the scrapbook.

"Maybe it's selfish, maybe he won't want to know me, but when I found out I had more family, I wanted to find him." Again, tears pooled in your eyes. "I, I just don't want to be alone."

Steve's smile faltered as he realized what you've been going through, and how you've been doing it alone.

"Hey, I'm sure he'll want to talk to you." He reached out to place a hand on your arm, trying to comfort you.

"Really?" Your eyes were still watery, but a small smile grew on your face.

"I think so. Bucky was really close with his sister when we were young." This time, Steve's eyes grew watery, memories of his youth playing through his mind.

You couldn't take the sight of him being sad, so you pulled him into a hug. He came willingly, letting you bury your face in his chest. He lowered his head so it was overtop of yours, relishing in the comfort of your hug.

You pulled away a few minutes later, not wanting to overstep, but the feeling of his arms around your waist didn't let you go far.

"Thank you for coming out to my car." You laughed, trying to lighten the mood. His face was so close to yours, you could make out the individual shades of blue in his eyes.

"Thank you for sharing your story with me." He whispered back, not wanting to break the moment.

You're not sure how long you would've stayed like that, but a loud crack of thunder jolted you apart.

"What the-" You mumbled, walking over to the window to look outside. Steve followed close behind you, also curious about the weather.

It was now pouring, lightning and thunder cracking overhead.

"I guess the storm followed us to Brooklyn." He joked, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I guess so." You looked at the clock, taking in the late hour.

Steve must've followed your line of sight, because he spoke up. "It's getting late, I should probably go."

You immediately shook your head, your fear of travelling in bad weather shining through. "I can't let you leave when it's like this. It's not safe. You, um, you can stay here tonight. You can sleep in my room. I'll sleep on the couch." You grew more confident as you kept talking.

"I couldn't impose like that." Steve shook his head, not wanting to make you uncomfortable.

"Steve, it's not safe to travel when it's raining like that. I would never forgive myself if something happened to you." Your voice grew tighter, trying not to flashback to the day your parents died.

Steve seemed to realize why you were so worried about the weather, ultimately deciding to agree to stay so you wouldn't worry about him.

"Okay, okay. I'll stay here, but you sleep in your bed. I'll be fine on the couch." He refused your offer, not wanting to force you to spend a night on the couch.

"First of all, thank you. Second of all, you are sleeping in the bed. You're like two feet taller than me." You exaggerated your height difference, but you were trying to make a point. "You won't even be able to lay down on the couch. I take naps here all the time, it's super comfortable." You argued back, unwilling to allow Captain America himself sleep on your tiny ass couch.

"You know, I should've expected you to be this stubborn. You spent five weeks waiting outside the compound with no contact. Plus you're related to Bucky" He laughed to himself, slightly shaking his head. "Fine, I'll sleep in the bed."

You smiled victoriously, jumping up from the couch. "Yay! Do you need anything? I have spare toothbrushes under the sink, and I can probably find you some clothes to sleep in. There's some snacks in the kitchen if you get hungry. Oh! And Carrot might try to lay in the bed with you, but I'll try to keep her out here." You rambled, trying to make sure he was comfortable.

"Carrot?" He smiled at your rambling, finding it adorable.

"Yes! Carrot is my cat. She's a cuddler, so consider yourself warned." You paused, eyes growing wide. "You're not allergic to cats are you? I think there's probably cat fur all over my room."

He laughed again. "No, I don't think the super soldier serum left any room for allergies." He quipped.

You smacked a hand to your forehead. "Duh! Anyway, do you need anything?" You asked again, trying to calm your beating heart.

"Some clothes would be great, thank you." The way he smiled at you did nothing to soothe your nerves.

"Okay." You breathed out, finally taking a deep breath. "I'll go grab some, the bathroom is right here if you need it." You pointed it out on your way to your room. "I'm just gonna get changed real quick, and then I'll be back with your clothes."

He nodded again, watching as you turned and walked into what must be your room.

You quickly changed into a t-shirt and sleep shorts. It took a few minutes of searching through boxes, but eventually you found an old pair of pajama pants and a t-shirt for Steve to sleep in.

You made your way out of the bedroom, handing him the clothes.

"Here ya go. Like I said, there are extra toothbrushes under the sink in the bathroom, and don't hesitate to grab anything you need from the kitchen."

He eyed the clothes in his hands, wondering where they came from, but not wanting to ask.

Luckily for him, you could tell what he was wondering. "They were my dad's." A sad smile graced your face. "I- I sleep in them sometimes when I really wish I could talk to him."

"Thank you." Steve turned to go to bed, but changed his mind last minute. He set the clothes down on the couch, pulling you into another hug. "You know, I can tell your related to Buck. He always looks out for people too."

You blushed at the compliment, grateful he couldn't see your face. "Thank you, that really means a lot." You stayed like that until Steve pulled back to talk to you again.

"I can take you back to the compound tomorrow, if you want. Maybe introduce you to Bucky."

"Really?! You don't want to talk to him first? Or double check anything I told you?" You were shocked at how willing he was to introduce you to Bucky.

"I trust you. Plus, I think you should be the one to tell him." Steve didn't say it out loud, but he also thought you and Bucky would be good for each other.

Bucky had Steve to connect his past and present, but another person for him to rely on wouldn't hurt. And you clearly were looking for a family connection.

"I would love to. Thank you!" You hugged him again, although quicker this time. You jumped back, excited to collect everything you wanted to show him. "I have to find all the scrapbooks to show him!"

When you turned to start collecting things, Steve put a hand on your shoulder, essentially preventing you from moving.

"Why don't we get everything together in the morning? It's getting late and you should get some sleep." He understood how emotionally and physically draining it could be to relive a loss like yours.

"You're right. I should sleep." You tried to slow your mind down, but the prospect of meeting Bucky tomorrow filled you with a mix of excitement and nerves. You gathered your extra blankets and pillows, setting up a bed for yourself on the couch while he went into the bathroom.

You were snuggled in bed, ready to sleep when he came back out.

"Goodnight, Steve."

His heart contracted at how adorable you looked buried in blankets on the couch, but he did his best to ignore it. He'd only just met you after all.

"Goodnight, Y/N."

-

The next morning Steve woke up at 5, per usual. He didn't want to wake you up though, so, despite his natural tendencies to run 10 miles every Sunday morning, he stayed in bed.

That is, until he heard you shuffling around the apartment.

He poked his head out of the room first, trying to verify that you were indeed awake. When he saw you in the kitchen, he fully emerged intent on helping you with whatever you were doing.

"Good morning, you're an early riser?" His question was completely ignored. Granted you couldn't see him yet, but he didn't know why you would be ignoring him.

He made his way closer to you, tapping you on the shoulder to try and get you to interact with him.

You, in a mixture of surprise and fear, turned and threw an egg at him.

He looked at you in shock, while you stared in horror at what you had just done.

You took headphones out of your ears, explaining why you hadn't heard his question.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry!" You reached toward him with a dish towel, trying to wipe the egg off his (your dad's) shirt. "You just surprised me! I can get you another shirt!"

"It's fine, don't worry-" You ran out of the room anyway, grabbing another shirt of your dad's from the box in your room.

He couldn't help but laugh, oddly relieved that you weren't ignoring him.

When you reentered the kitchen, a shirtless Steve Rogers was washing your dad's shirt in the sink. You froze, taking in the sight of the man before you.

When he turned back around, your eyes took on a mind of their own, soaking in his toned chest and arms. You cleared your throat, shaking yourself out of your stupor to hand him the other shirt.

"Thanks." He smirked, but still blushed slightly before he put it on, ringing out the other shirt before handing it to you. "I didn't want the egg to stick to it since it was your dads, so i rinsed it off..." he trailed off, unsure if it was the right thing to say.

"That's really sweet, thank you. Especially because it was my fault there was even egg on it in the first place." You laughed, trying not to blush with embarrassment.

"Don't worry about it, really. I shouldn't have snuck up on you." He laughed as well, clearing any lingering tension. He took a look around the kitchen, taking in just how much stuff you had out.

"What are you making?" He smiled when you blushed again.

"Oh, I was making plum cobbler... I just, I read online that Bucky likes plums, so I thought I would bring him a cobbler." You blushed again, embarrassed by the admission.

"He does." Steve smiled, completely enamoured with your personality. "Did you want some help?"

"Actually, the cobblers are in the oven already. I was going to make breakfast next, though, so you can help with that." You smiled, noting how easy it was to spend time with him.

"Cobblers? I know Bucky's a super soldier, but one would have been plenty." He joked with you, moving to help scramble some eggs.

"Well, yeah. One is for him, but then I thought the other Avengers might be there and I didn't want to not have enough so I made three."

"You're too cute." The words slipped out before he could even think about what he was saying.

You blushed again, a frequent occurrence it seems when you're with Steve.

You uttered a quick thanks, trying to change the subject. "Do you always get up this early?"

He chuckled again. "Yeah, typically I don't need much sleep. I usually run in the mornings, try to clear my head."

The two of you fell into easy conversation, moving around each other effortlessly to make eggs, sausage, toast, and smoothies for breakfast.

When you finished eating, you collected the scrapbooks Bucky might want to see. You added his mom's wedding ring, the one your mom wore as well, to the box.

"What's that?" Steve pointed to the box, unsure if his assumption was correct.

You pulled out two scrapbooks, pointing to the near identical pictures of Bucky's mom and your mom after having been proposed to.

"My mom always told me her engagement ring was a family heirloom. I think it was his mom's ring too. I thought he might like to have it. As something to remember her by, ya know?"

You got teary eyed again. Thinking about how much he must miss his family combined with how much you miss your own parents was too much to handle.

You finished gathering everything, putting it all in a box to make for easier transportation. You took the cobblers out of the oven, packing them as well.

With a deep breath, you followed Steve back out to your car, ready to talk to Bucky.

-

"Where the hell is Steve?" Bucky nearly stormed into the kitchen.

"Whoa, calm down tinman. What's up?" Sam replied casually, pouring cereal into a bowl.

"Where is Steve? I was supposed to run with him this morning, but he wasn't in his room when I went to find him. I don't even like running this early. I literally only do it because it's what he prefers."

Sam laughed, enjoying anything that annoys Bucky. "Dude, chill. He probably just forgot you were going with him."

Tony walked into the kitchen as well, trying to tune out the whines coming from Bucky, but failing.

"That's what I though, but he's always back by now." Bucky huffed, annoyed with Sam for laughing.

"Who?" Tony asked, now slightly intrigued.

"Steve. I haven't seen him since yesterday." Bucky replied as he angrily ate an apple.

"Really?" Tony sounded mildly concerned, immediately alerting Sam and confusing Bucky.

"You don't think?" Sam asked, ignoring Bucky for the time being.

"I don't know!" Tony looked bewildered. "Friday, where is Capsicle?"

"Captain Rogers left yesterday evening with Y/N L/N." The AI easily replied.

"Who?" Bucky questioned the room, never having learned your name.

"You know the woman who's been sitting outside every Saturday?" Bucky nodded to Sam, unsure why he was bringing it up. "Well, Steve went to ask her why she was here last night."

"Nat told me she was just some fan, wanted to see you all." Bucky furrowed his brow, thinking over the new information on Steve's wearabouts.

"Well, yeah that's what we thought. Look, she said she wanted to talk to you specifically." Sam explained, ignoring the pointed glare from Tony.

"What? Why didn't you tell me?" Bucky rose from his chair, annoyed at everyone now. "Now she's got Steve?"

"Relax, Steve can handle himself. She cleared her background check. We really don't have any reason to believe he's in danger." Tony's words were more to convince himself than anyone else. He's the one who said Cap should go check it out if he was so curious.

"Steve's too trusting. What if it was a trap?" Bucky questioned, glaring daggers at the other two men.

Before they could respond, Friday chimed in with more information.

"Captain Rogers just entered the elevator from the parking garage."

"See, he's fine." Tony glared back at Bucky, secretly relieved that Steve was fine.

Bucky just rolled his eyes before leaving, heading for the elevators to yell at Steve for ditching him this morning.

When the elevator doors opened, however, Steve was not alone.

"Hey, punk, why'd you ditch me- Oh. Who are you?" Bucky eyed you suspiciously, looking between you and Steve.

Before Bucky interrupted, Steve was trying to reassure you that everything would work out. He had a hand on your back, rubbing up and down to soothe your nerves.

His other arm was occupied by the box of scrapbooks, or else he probably would have hugged you again.

You were holding a large sheet pan, three pie dishes sitting on top.

Steve was blushing, a surefire sign Bucky had seen something he wasn't supposed to.

"Oh, um. Hi. My name is Y/N L/N." You froze, not thinking you would have to see him so soon. You could see the family resemblance between him, your great grandma, and your mom.

"The car girl." He nodded, trying to piece together the events of last night.

"Yep, that's me." You laughed nervously, unsure of what he already knew.

"Buck, do me a favor? Let us out of the elevator." Steve eyed him, mildly annoyed with the ambush.

Bucky moved to the side, allowing you and Steve to exit the elevator. You followed Steve down the hall to the kitchen, where you put the cobblers on the counter.

Sam and Tony were still there, eating various foods.

"Well, hello there." Tony greeted when he spotted you, intrigued by the development. He looked at Steve for an explanation.

"Y/N made plum cobbler." Steve said instead, moving his hand back to the small of your back.

Bucky's eyes lit up at the mention of plums, enough to momentarily distract him from Steve's actions.

"Oh, right!" You took a cobbler out of the dish, moving toward Bucky. "This one's for you, because I read that you liked plums." You handed him the dish, quickly moving back to the others. "I also made a peach and an apple for everyone else." You smiled at Tony and Sam, unknowingly leaning slightly into Steve.

"Why does he get a special cobbler?" Sam whined, eagerly reaching for the other dishes.

Suddenly, all eyes were on you. Well, except Sam's who were on the peach cobbler.

"Oh, um, well, I was hoping I could talk to you." You looked at Bucky nervously, unsure of how he would respond.

"Anyone who bakes me a plum cobbler can talk to me, Doll." Natasha chose that exact moment to enter the room.

"Who made plum cobbler?" She looked around the room, eyes narrowing in your direction. "How did you get in here?"

"I brought her." Steve smiled at you before walking over to Natasha. He whispered in her ear, just loud enough for her to hear, but nobody else. "She's not a threat to your relationship, trust me."

Nat nodded her head, trusting Steve, although not for the reasons he thought. She could clearly see the blonde's affinity for you.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Bucky asked between bites of cobbler.

"It's really a private conversation." Steve answered for you, seeing how unsure of yourself you were.

"Then why do you know, punk?" Bucky countered.

"Well, I had to tell someone so I could finally talk to you. Steve's the one who asked." You smiled at Steve again, trying to convey how grateful you were with just a look.

Steve smiled back at you, while everyone in else just shared a knowing look.

Eventually, Steve cleared his throat. "Buck, can you just come with us?"

Bucky nodded, moving to follow Steve while still eating the cobbler. You followed the two of them as well, growing more nervous with each step.

Steve lead you to his room, placing the box of scrapbooks on the bed.

"Do you want me to stay?" Steve looked to you for an answer.

You took a deep breath, in all honestly you would love for him to stay, but you think you should probably just talk to Bucky first.

"No, that's okay. Come back in like, 30 minutes?" You scrunched up your face, unsure if 30 minutes was long enough, but knowing you would need the deadline if you were ever going to explain it all to Bucky.

Steve nodded, squeezing your shoulder as he passed you to leave the room.

"Um," you turned to Bucky, trying to think of where to start. "I don't know what you already know about me, but-"

"Nothing really. Except that you make a delicious plum cobbler." He smiled, helping to ease your nerves. Food really was the way to this man's heart.

"Oh, I guess I'll start where I started when I told Steve." You smiled at the mention of his name, unaware of your own actions. But Bucky noticed.

"My parents died a few months ago." Bucky's eyes went wide, trying to think of what this could have to do with him. "Um, it was a car accident. They both died on the scene." You took a deep breath, trying to push through the sad parts.

"I had to clean out their house, and I found some scrapbooks that lead me to you." You shifted closer to the bed, looking through the scrapbooks you brought.

You pulled out the one with the first picture you showed Steve, opening it and gesturing for Bucky to take it.

He set the cobbler on Steve's nightstand, cautiously reaching for the book. He looked at the picture for a long time before saying anything. And when he did talk, it was a whispered "Becca..."

He ran his fingers over the picture slowly, just staring. A few minutes later, he eagerly flipped the page. He spent a good 10 minutes just looking through all the books you handed him.

"Where did you get these?" He questioned, although not accusingly.

"I found them in my parents house. They were with a bunch of my grandma's stuff that she had from her mom." You wanted to ease him into it.

"So your great grandma..." He trailed off, disbelief clear across his face.

"Was Rebecca Barnes." You finished the sentence for him, nerves clear in your voice.

You weren't sure what to say next, so you waited for him to make the next move.

"So you're my... great-grand niece?" You nodded at his question, still unsure if he was happy with the news. "God, that makes me feel old."

You nearly cackled, surprised by the joke. He smiled when you laughed, glad to have cleared some of the tension.

"Why did you want to find me?" He questioned, the mood turning more serious again.

"Well, I was really close to my parents. They were the only family I had. When I found out you are family too, I just... I knew I needed to at least tell you." You shrugged at the end, unsure if you really answered his question.

"You wanted to tell me so badly that you sat outside the compound every Saturday for five weeks even after being ignored?" He was in shock that anyone would spend that much time and effort just to talk to him. You started panicking immediately.

"I'm so sorry if you didn't want to know! It was selfish of me to force this on you. I can go, if you want. You don't have to talk to me." You started questioning everything. You moved to put the books back in the box when he stopped you.

"Oh, um. I'm sorry, you can keep those. If you want!" Tears were threatening to fall down your cheeks when you remembered the ring. You froze with your hand in the box, not knowing if you'd want to part with it knowing you'd never see Bucky again.

"Y/N..." Something in the way he said your name made you look at him. "I- I'm glad you told me. Really glad. I, uh, I never thought I would have family, well besides Steve. You know what I mean." He ran a hand through his hair, and you noticed the tears in his eyes.

"I don't want you to go. It's just hard for me..." he paused, trying to figure out his emotions. "It's hard to believe that someone would care about me that much."

"Bucky, I don't know you." He frowned at your statement. "But, I would love to get to know you." You smiled at him, trying to be reassuring.

"I'm not so sure you would." His face was hard, staring at the ground.

"Bucky, you aren't a bad person. I mean, sure you've done bad things, but it wasn't your choice. You were forced to do those things. You can't let yourself be defined by them. You're here aren't you?"

"Here?" He questioned.

"Working with the Avengers, I mean. You go on missions to help save people. That's your choice. That's who you are. I would be honored to get to know that person."

You smiled, waiting for him to say something.

"Are you sure?" He still looked unsure.

"God, maybe I get my stubbornness from you." You both laughed at that. "I am 100% sure."

"Wow." He shook his head, still in shock.

A knock sounded on the door before Steve came back in. "Is now a good time?" He asked, still standing in the doorway.

You nodded appreciatively. "Thank you." You pulled him into a hug, needing the emotional support.

"Of course. I'm happy I could help." He rubbed your back, reciprocating the hug. "Did you give him the ring yet?" He asked when you took a step back.

You shook your head, reaching into the box for the last item. "I, um, I thought you might want this." You handed him the box, nerves peaking through again.

He opened it, a soft smile on his face when he recognized it. "My mom's engagement ring."

You smiled, happy that he recognized it. "It was my mom's as well."

The two of you stared a the ring for awhile, reminiscing on time spent with your parents.

Eventually, Bucky picked the cobbler back up, not wanting to let it go to waste.

Steve couldn't help but roll his eyes at his friend. "Wow, jerk. You're just gonna go back to eating."

"Yes, punk. My great-grand niece made me a plum cobbler, and I tend to fully enjoy it."

"Great-grand niece. Ha, that makes you sound so old."

It was fun for you to see the two interacting like this, especially after the emotional hurdles you just ran.

"It's fine, Stevie. Let him enjoy the cobbler." Your face went red, not having meant to use the nickname.

"Yeah Stevie, let me enjoy the cobbler." Bucky couldn't help but poke fun, knowing there was an unspoken attraction between the two of you.

Somehow your face got even redder. Steve just rolled his eyes.

"Fine, eat your cobbler. Only because I had some of the apple one and it was delicious. It would be a shame to waste any."

You smiled at the compliment, embarrassment subsiding a bit. Steve sat down on the bed between you and Bucky, eager to ask his friend about some of the pictures. Steve put his arm around you, squeezing your shoulder as he spoke to Bucky.

You felt your eyes growing heavy, exhausted since your nerves kept you up most of the night. You rested your head on Steve's shoulder, soaking in his warmth as you cuddled closer.

Steve just rubbed your arm like it was the most natural thing in the world. Bucky narrowed his eyes at the interaction, realization dawning on his face.

"Oh my god. My best friend likes my great-grand niece. And she likes him." He said it so matter of fact, the two of you didn't bother denying it. You just smiled, and cuddled closer together.

[violettelueur]

— JUJUTSU KAISEN EPISODE TWENTY || NONSTANDARD

↳ featuring : basically everyone at this point from jujutsu kaisen

↳ warnings : mention of blood + mention of violence + slight mention of suicide + EXTREME grammar issues

↳ form : story

↳ published : 15 april

↳ pronouns : she/her

↳ word count : 3.1k

↳ synopsis : within the jujutsu world, there were three famous clans to be aware of, the Kamo clan, Zenin clan and the Gojo clan. However, unknown to many sorcerers there was one last family that was known to be apart of the three, only for them to disappear after the golden era leading some to speculate that they had died in battle after the sealing of ryomen sukuna, but....

↳ previous episode : black flash

↳ next episode : jujutsu koshien

↳ barista’s notes : let me admit, this episode took so long to plan and so long to type out because i did at least 4 drafts and this was the best out of all of them...sorry for the lack of activity today but enjoy this episode and good luck ╲ʕ·ᴥ·　╲ʔ

BEFORE READING, I NEED YOU TO BE AWARE OF THIS:

1. the whole story belongs to Gege Akutami and the credits go to them and them only.

2. the spell curses used belong to Tite Kubo due to them being the ‘Kidos’ being used on the manga and anime ‘Bleach’ - but none is mentioned in this chapter.

2.5. for the ‘cursed spells’/kidos (bleach) i will link this video here and tell you the time stamp to check out what i am intending to show - remember i add a few twist here and there by adding the katana to link with Y/N’s cursed technique : hopefully this video is slightly better...

Destructive Curse Spell Number Thirty-Three : Sokatsui (6:00-6:07)

Destructive Curse Spell Number Eighty-Eight : Hiryu Gekizoku Shinten Raiho (6:55-7:12)

Domain Expansion : Hanging Evergarden (BLACKPINK DDU-DU-DDU-DU : 2:30-2:42)

3. if you are confused on anything, please don’t hesitate to message me since i know this whole thing is so confusing.

“Mother?” you whispered, as your arms began to gradually become limp causing your polearm to be lowered while you still stared at the woman in front of you with extreme shock residing in your eyes as you both stood at each side of the river.

“Hi there,” your mother replied back with a soft smile on her face while waving her hand to you as if she was just a longtime friend that you haven’t seen in a while when in reality it had been six years since you saw the face that you dearly missed. Yet, for some reason, there was something creepy about the woman standing in front of you right now.

“Is that...really you?” you asked in a stutter trying to make your mind comprehend that the person in front of you was really the person that was announced dead six years ago leading tears to begin welling up in the corner of your eyes which caused your sight to waver slightly.

“Yeah, alive and well in the flesh...I can see that you are also doing well, that’s a nice uniform you’re wearing there,” your mother commented, as her eyes started to travel up and down your body coming to the realisation that you were now wearing a Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College uniform.

“Why?” you then question, ignoring the fact that she was giving an offended look at the clothing you were wearing right now while a plethora of questions began floating around in your mind, trying to understand and process everything that's happening at this current moment in time.

Right now, there was an attack happening right now at your sorcerer school with a veil constructed over the Exchange Event’s location (probably due to the mole telling the intruders where it was going to happen) while currently there was a special-grade curse located at least two kilometres in front of you with Itadori and Todo fighting it with a least three other intruders lurking around due to the faint cursed energies you could sense. However, there was also a minimum of four people being injured, who were Inumaki, Kamo, Fushiguro and Maki with you having no clue about the others due to the tournament that had commenced before the ambush happened and now you were here with the woman, who you thought was dead.

“Recall situations huh? That is the Y/N I know,” your mother mentioned leading you to snap out of your concentrated thoughts to focus back on the other intruder that was now standing with pride written all over her face.

“You didn’t answer the question,” you replied back with a lowered threatening tone, as your arms began to gain back their strength leading you to grip tightly onto the gift the Gojo had given you as if it was something that could give you the comfort you needed right now.

“Which one do you want me to answer dear? Why am I alive? Why did I fake my death? Or why am I attacking Jujutsu Tech right now?” she answered with a smile on her face as if she was mocking you for not already having the answers for yourself.

“ALL OF IT!” you screamed, as the tears began to decline down your face, dripping down on to the earth below you with your shoulders trembling. “Why are you here? Why are you doing this? Why are you on the curses and curse user’s side? WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME FOR SIX YEARS?” you yelled out in agony as if you were now releasing all the pain and suffering that you had bottled up with more tears continuously streaming down your faces as if they were waterfalls at this point.

“Why wouldn’t I leave you?” your mother then queried leading your eyes to widen further in shock after what she had just announced.

‘What…’

“What did you say?” you replied back in a whisper-like tone, as confusion and betrayal began to cloud your thoughts, questioning if you were hearing right on what she had just asked you.

“Why wouldn’t I leave you? You’ve grown stronger without me, I think it was the perfect decision to leave you, in my opinion,” your mother commented with the smile on her face becoming a smug smirk until it suddenly turned upside down into a frown as if something just came up in her mind, “well, that was until you got caught and found by none other than Gojo Satoru,”.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT? WASN’T IT SUPPOSED TO BE A MOTHER’S JOB TO PROTECT THEIR CHILDREN? WASN’T YOU THE ONE THAT TOLD ME THAT?” you cried out in extreme agony leading your voice to become strained. “What happened? What made you come like this mother?” you whimper as the torment of your mother’s word became evident with the expression you were presenting. An expression you never wished to show anyone.

“I WOULD HAVE PROTECTED YOU IF YOU WERE MY REAL DAUGHTER!” your mother yelled back before freezing once her words began to process in her mind, while you were now just standing in front of her with nothing but complete astonishment written on your face leading your once tightened grip to now completely loosen causing the polearm to fall down with a clung once it hit the ground before rolling off to the side, more than an arm’s reach away due to the small gust of wind blowing against you.

“Huh?” you gasp out as the sudden announcement that was violently thrown at you to as more tears descended, which caused the woman in front of you to start laughing once she had now fully finalised what she just exclaimed at you leading her to cover her face with one hand as she threw her head back with her laughter echoing the whole forest - something that the others could hear if they were still in the forest.

“Ah~ I messed up, I wasn’t supposed to tell you that now~” the woman giggled before facing you again with a smug smirk landing on her face once she witnessed your disheartened face that was painted in both betrayal and confusion.

“Ah, damn it~ this is what I get for breaking the seal of the baby that Lady L/N left for the L/N clan to figure out,” the woman began to mutter under her breath. Although, it was somehow still loud enough for you to hear with the fact that your heartbeat seems to cloud all your senses right now.

With your staggered breathing, you began to aggressively wipe the tears off your face while trying to construct the newfound information that the intruder in front of you just declared before placing your hand on the tree trunk behind trying to balance yourself as you didn’t want your legs to give out.

“What’s the point in hiding it anymore, I’m not your mother Y/N,” the intruder announced as if you needed another reminder leading your breathing to stagger once again, as you struggled to get into a regular breathing pattern.

“Might as well tell you now huh? You are not my daughter...but rather the daughter of the last sorcerer of your inherited curse technique a thousand years ago...the same sorcerer that sealed you away for some reason, leading the L/N clan to flee once Sukuna was sealed away by the same woman,” the woman explained before letting out another fit of laughter as if it was stuck in her throat for a long time and it now needed to be coughed out. 

“I am too from the L/N clan, we both are...it’s just...we are not related as you thought we were...but I do wonder how powerful the sealing was? After all...you didn’t age one bit within that sealing crystal,” the woman questioned causing you to turn your head towards her with both distrust and rage within your eyes.

Your body was in pain, mind clouded with uncertainty and heart filled with betrayal. As much as you didn’t want to believe the woman in front of you - you still didn’t, but rather you were indecisive of what to believe - she seemed quite certain to be telling you everything that was nothing but the truth.

Yet, for some reason, you now just felt extremely empty.

“I don’t care,” you muttered under your breath causing your opponent to turn to you with a surprised expression on her face.

“Pardon?” she then asked, in a perplexed tone.

“I..don’t...care anymore...how many of you are there? Four? Five?....Actually, that doesn’t really matter right now huh?” you muttered before taking your hand away from the tree trunk as you processed to turn your body to make it face directly towards the stranger, who now seemed to be worried about what was going to occur.

‘This is going to be quick enough to wipe them out...ah...what a drag...I don’t want to use this…’

Lifting both your arms together, you gently placed your pinky and thumbs together before spreading your other finger, representing what seemed to be like petals on a flower, leading the woman to be more confused about what you were planning to do.

“Domain Expansion,” you announced, causing the intruder in front of you to widen her eyes in shock before lifting her metal tonfas in a complete panic as if they were going to shield her from whatever was going to come towards her.

Just below the ceiling of the veil that was overcasting everyone, there was a sudden construction of a stone square ceiling with pink flowering hanging with their petals downwards leaving a white squared light to shine down towards you, who was now standing on a stone pedestal with empty eyes casting down on the woman in front of you.

“Hanging Evergarden”

You could tell that everyone within the battle right now was confused about what was going on since there was a sudden darkening within the veiled area due to the stone ceiling that you had constructed with your cursed energy. However, they could not have been as more perplexed than the woman was who standing below you, looking fearful of what you had just cast.

“Since you want to play with my heart and the lives of everyone here, I might as well gamble with your life as well as your little friends in the area,” you commented in a deadpan tone, while a few on the pink petals from the flowers above became to fall down gracefully giving the people below an eternally beautiful atmosphere away from the stale yellow coloured view they were in right now.

“By the way, I think you should somehow tell your friends that they shouldn’t let the flower petals touch them in any way…” you announced desolately, as you noticed one of the petals slyly beginning to gently land itself upon your opponent’s shoulder.

“Destructive Curse Spell number thirty-three: Sokatsui,” you chanted, leading to the same flower petal to explode with a torrent of blue cursed energy to which caused you to notice how there were other explosions around the area, noting that the other curses and curse users were also inflicted with the same curse spell.

“Sorry, did I give you the warning too late?” you mockingly asked before looking up to see one of the flowers beginning to slowly fall leading to a small smile appear on your lips. However, it wasn’t one with happiness.

“My domain expansion is barrier less and uses as much space as it can to fill the void that I want it to fill, the flowers are just cursed energy manifested into that shape allowing me to use them at will with any curse spell I cast without suffering the consequences of losing more cursed energy or permanent ones...from what I could remember...there are at least 10,000 flowers with 100 petals each...that means...I can cast up to a million curse spells if I use each petal individually,” you explained as the smoke in front of you began to subside leading to an appearance of a woman with a large gash going from her shoulder to the middle of her stomach with slight burns concealing her whole left arm.

‘Maybe that petal didn’t have as much cursed energy as I thought it did’ you mention internally, as you looked at your opponent in front of you before lifting your arm to lightly grasp on the flower that finally descended within arms reach above you.

“Or...I could use a whole flower with 100 petals to cast a stronger curse spell,” you muttered as you lifted the flower to your face while your fingertips held on to the stem as delicately as possible.

“Pretty right?” you rhetorically asked, as you tilted your head to the side as you began to inspect the flower that you were holding onto right now.

Even with its vast amount of petals, the flower was quite light as the petals were quite small, leading them to be somewhat difficult to detect by your opponent once they had landed on the ground or somewhere upon their body. However, even with the explanation, you had given to your opponent, who was injured to somewhat critical lengths, that wasn’t all you could do with your domain expansion - yet, you weren’t going to hand over that information so easily.

Unexpectedly, there was a sudden change in the colour of lighting causing you to look up to find that the veil was beginning to rapidly deconstruct as the sides began to subside causing your stone ceiling to be the only thing sheiling the entire area, as well as the person who was on top of your stone construction right now.

‘Gojo?’

Steadily, your stone ceiling began to also subside due to you deactivating the structure leading the stone that was starting to gradually crumble from the side to convert themselves into the same petals from the flowers that began to fall down as well leading to a rainfall of the pink flower petals to pour down upon everyone.

Standing above the floral blanket was Gojo, who was floating in the air without his blindfold on, leading you to widen your eyes in surprise since it was one of the first times you had seen them exposed due to the fact you were used to them being covered by his black-tinted glasses.

Suddenly, your white-haired teacher disappeared from your sights leading you to sense his cursed energy from the other side of the area in front of you to which caused you to concentrate on the woman in front of you, who was holding her wound with one hand, which was a futile attempt to halt the bleeding that was dripping down from her large wound.

“I’m retreating! There is no way I am facing both you and Gojo at the same time,” your opponent suddenly announced, causing you to look at her with a deadpan expression painted on your face, as you slowly stepped down from your stone pedestal - which the stone began to crumble while turning into pink petals like your stone ceiling did - with nothing filled within your eyes.

Lifting up the surviving flower in front of the woman (who you used to call your mother), you stare directly into her eyes as a wooden structure begins to enclose around her causing you to come to the conclusion that it was the special-grade curse that was helping her escape.

“Destructive Curse Spell number eighty-eight: Hiryu Gekizoku Shinten Raiho,” you chanted in a whisper, causing the flower to suddenly fire a gigantic beam of blue electrical and cursed energy leading to anything in front of you to create an impact as flames began to engulf the tree on the other side.

However, your eyes unexpectedly notice an immense purple beam rapidly coming towards you leading you to widen your eyes in shock before your body began to relax even in the current situation you were in.

‘Could I block it? Nah, it’s a technique that convergences and divergences...it probably cancels everything like a black hole...that’s quite nonstandard for him...I don’t care anymore...I guess I can go to sleep again....’

On the other hand, before you could even feel the agonising impact of what was coming towards you, there was a sudden feeling of impact pushing you away from the purple hallow, causing you and whatever had pushed you to just marginally avoid the attack leading you to look over the person’s shoulder with broadened eyes as you didn’t expect someone to save you from the blast that you were willingly going to take.

“What were you thinking?!” Someone shouted at you before painfully grabbing your shoulders to make you look at him, only for you to discover that Gojo was right in front of you with a rare terrified look on his face - but all you could give him was an empty look with wide eyes.

“Why?” you whispered, causing Gojo to now look at you with shock as he didn’t understand why you were asking such a type of question.

“WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?” you then screamed painfully as multiple tears began to burst from your eyes as you violently shock your adoptive father, only to finally let your body lose all its strength it somehow maintained as you instantly dropped onto your knee (which the fall was pillowed by the immense amount of petals covering the ground) causing Gojo to come down with you, as he became even more surprised on the sudden tears that were spilling down your face.

“WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY?” you cried with agony coating your voice leading Gojo to peer at you with compassion as he then gently pulled you into a hug, letting your painful scream ring into his ear as he allowed you to let whatever you were holding in escape.

Gojo didn’t know the reason why you were crying, nor did he know how he could comfort you at this very moment in time. As much as he told you to call him your father, he never really had that much of an experience of being one, let alone how to even act like one. All he knew was that you were now suffering and he didn’t know why at all.

“I’m sorry,” Gojo muttered before pulling you back to make you face him leading the sorcerer to find you with bloodshot eyes as well as the known wet stains of the tears that were still flowing down as redness covered your whole face.

Pressing his two fingers in the middle of your forehead, you began to subtle notice how your vision was getting hazier causing your mind to be plagued by confusions before your consciousness was suddenly lost leading your head to land upon Gojo’s shoulder before he proceeded to pick you bridal style before gradually making his way back to Jujutsu Tech.

“It’s going to be okay, just rest now”

© violettelueur 2021 : written and published by violettelueur - do not steal or repost

[emf005]

Knock On Wood

Oliver Wood x Reader

Warnings: The Puns are real, fighting, fluff... (Let me know if I missed anything!)

Please Like and follow and let me know what you think!

What a lovely day to bother the Gryffindor quidditch captain, Oliver Wood. You swung your legs off Fred’s lap and ruffled George’s hair as you went to your dorm.

“Where are you off to?” George asked, tossing the pranking ball at you. You caught it and tossed it right back before it could release the gas from inside that smelt like a dead skunk bathed in vomit, a smell of your own invention you were proud to say.

“I overheard that Ollie was going down to the pitch for some extra practice. Think I need some work on my,” you flipped your hair dramatically. “Chasing.” The two scoffed at your horrible pun, considering you were the best Chaser in all of Hogwarts. Both figuratively and metaphorically. You ran up stairs and grabbed your gloves, threw on your riding boots and grabbed your broom. Everything you owned was pretty worn out, you were muggle born and your family wasn’t exactly the richest. Actually you were poorer than the Weasleys', and there were only four of you!

They looked back up at you as you jumped the last four stairs and walked out of the room to go bug the keeper. You loved bugging Wood. His name was meant for puns. It's just perfect! I mean, Oliver, obviously a good nickname for him was Ollie, which he pretended to hate. And then Wood. There were so many there. And then he was a Keeper. Like, he just made it too easy for you!

“Ollie!” You called happily from the bottom of the pitch. He glanced down and you could hear his eye roll. You flew up and met the Keeper in the air. “What a surprise meeting you up here, hun!” He rolled his eyes and turned his broom around so you wouldn't see the blush on his cheeks from the nickname you had given him. Well, one of the many nicknames you had given him.

“What do you want, Y/L/N. I’m practicing here.” You frowned and leaned forward on your broom.

“Maybe I wanted to practice with you, Ollie. I’m hurt you want me to leave so soon. I got all dressed up just to see you.” He glanced at your attire.

“Honored. You should really get new riding gloves and boots,” he mentioned.

“Yeah, they’re on my list right next to a cyclops.” He rolled his eyes at your sarcasm. “Come on Wood, I bet I can get a few past you,” you grinned, sitting back up on your broom.

“Ha! You wish, Y/L/N!”

“Scared?”

“Never.”

“Then Wood you go get the ball and we can have a go at it!” He groaned at you pun.

“Stop it.

“Stop what? I just told you to go get the ball,” he flew down and started to walk away from you.

“You know what!” You smirked. He showed back up a few minutes later as you were speeding around the pitch. He watched you go in awe at how fast you were flying. How perfect your form was. And how good you looked doing it.

Stop it. He told himself as he called up to you. He tossed up the Quaffle and you zoomed over catching it in one fluid motion, going so fast you nearly knocked him off his feet.

“Lets go, Ollie!” You shouted down to him, tossing it up in the air and catching it. “I gotta beat you by four!” He mounted his broom and flew up to you.

“Why? What's at four.”

“Fred, George, and I have some… business to attend to.”

“Which hallway do I have to avoid this time?” He sighed, making his way to the posts.

“There's no fun in that, Olive oil! You might stop people like you did last time,” you pouted.

“Did you just call me Olive oil?”

“Your name is Oliver, did you not expect me to make an olive pun?”

“I was hoping.”

“I guess you could say you were-”

“Don’t do it.”

“Knocking on Wood.” You smiled.

“I hate you.”

“Nah. You love me,” you blew him a kiss making his cheeks heat.

The game was close the whole time, but you ended up winning by one point. Though, he did not accept his defeat.

“That wasn’t fair!”

“Just because you were too busy laughing at my joke, Ollie, doesn’t mean it wasn’t fair. You always tell me to be more focused. Maybe you should follow your own advice instead of gazing longingly at me,” you joked as the two of you headed to the locker room.

“I don’t gaze longingly,” he rolled his eyes.

“Yeah ya do, mate,” George said, coming over and putting an arm around your shoulders.

“Only at her though,” Fred clarified, doing the same thing on the other side of you. You laughed at the two trouble makers.

“I’m just flawless, he can’t help it. Right, Ollie?” You joked, but he just stalked off to the showers frustrated. You frowned and creased your eyebrows. You didn't take it too far, did you? “Did I say something offensive?”

“No.” they said together, smirks on their faces.

“Hey, Ollie!” You yelled to Oliver, running towards him in your Gryffindor uniform. It was the Slytherin v.s. Gryffindor match today, and you were ready to kick some serpent ass. Oliver just nodded to you and kept walking. You frowned and stopped watching him go. What was that? Fred and George came up behind you.

“What was that about?” George asked. You shook your head and looked after the boy you longed to talk to. It was a well known fact amongst the three of you that you liked him. They had tried to get you to tell him on multiple occasions, but every time you went to say something, a pun just came out because of your nerves.

Harry came over to the three of you and looked past you to see Wood walking away with his shoulders a bit slumped.

“He’s been like that all day.” Harry said, shaking his head. “Don't know what's gotten into him. Maybe throw him a pun or two today, Y/N. Looks like he needs one.” Harry left you three to stare after Wood as he made his way to where the majority of the team was, ready to walk out and begin the game against the Serpents’ house.

Brutal. That was the only way to describe how they played. Well, that was also how your team played. The rivalry between the houses fueling the urge to win. Skill increased, adrenaline flooded through everyone on the pitch. Rooms zoomed through the air, the wind combined with the cheers and boos from the crowd was deafening.

It was brilliant.

Y/N zoomed through the air perfectly, avoiding everyone as she threw the Quaffel into the top goal post. Gryffindor cheered and she smiled, flying her broom around in victory as the Slytherin’s booed her. Y/N watched the Quaffle get tossed around by a few Slytherin’s and zoomed over to them. As it was tossed in the air she intersected it and flew around towards the Slytherin side again, scoring yet another goal. The Slytherins sneered at you and, unbeknownst to you, had a plan up their sleeves.

The Quaffle was tossed to you again and then you were being chased, but this wasn't your normal chase. You had two Slytherin players in front and back and two on your sides.

You swore to yourself as they got closer. Suddenly they all just dispersed. You were far up in the clouds at this point and it was hard to see. You began to speed back down when something hit you in the head, knocking you off your broom.

You fell. You heard screaming, but you didn’t know if it was you or someone else. You felt yourself slow down but you were still going fast, the Quaffle still tightly in your grasp as you hit the ground. Everything went black.

Wood watched the Slytherin team surround you and take you up into the clouds. What were they planning? The team dispersed and flew back into view, but you weren’t anywhere to be seen. Then he saw your figure falling. His heart stopped. Dumbledore cast a spell to slow you down but you were still going too fast.

“Y/N!” him and the twins cried in unison, flying down to meet you on the ground. Your body bounced and you were out cold. The rest of the quidditch game was canceled and everyone made their way out onto the field to see what happened, Madam Hooch in front of them all. The three boys stared down at you unmoving body thinking that the fall killed you. The Slytherin’s walked off the field, not caring anymore. They had won. But that wasn’t the reason Oliver Wood’s blood was boiling. They had hurt you and that was not ok. Ever.

Madam Hooch took you to the hospital wing and Fred and George were about to follow when they noticed Oliver heading towards the Slytherin shower area with his fists clenched. They followed.

“Oi!” The boys clad in green turned around at his voice. “Was that really necessary? She could’ve died!” Marcus Flint scoffed.

“Not our problem.” Wood clenched his jaw.

“It is your problem.”

“Why, pissed off we hurt your mudblood girlfriend? Can’t even buy herself proper riding-” Flint didn't get to finish his statement thanks to Wood’s fist in his face. He stumbled back and Fred and George grabbed Wood’s arms pulling him away form the fight.

“Say that again. I fucking dare you!”

“Wood, shut up mate!” Fred hissed, struggling to pull him away.

“Lets go right now! I’ll fucking take you all down. Right here right now! Lets go!”

“Wood!” George hissed. “No. If you won’t come with us for your own sake, at least do it for her sake.” Wood growled, making the twins lean back. He just growled. They had never seen him get so defensive over something. So protective.

“Yeah! Go running to your mudblood girlfriend, Ollie.” The three froze. The twins dropped Wood’s arms and in three seconds he was on top of the Slytherin’s beating the lot of them to a pulp. They looked at each other and slowly backed away.

Wood could take care of himself. That much had always been clear. But this… This was just horrifying.

You started to stir a bit, everything in your body aching, you head pounding. You felt sticky, but not your normal sweaty sticky. You groaned and opened your eyes. The lights of the infirmary blinded you a bit.

“Y/N?” The twins? Your eyes adjusted and you saw two redheads staring at you from above. It all came back to you and your blood boiled. “How do you feel?”

“Can I please have a knife?”

“First off, no.”

“Second off, why?”

“I am going to stab each and everyone of those Slytherin pricks so they bleed and hurt and beg me for mercy.” You groaned.

“She’s up?” Your head snapped up at Wood’s voice, but you couldn't see him.

“Yeah.”

“But she’s in a killing mood again.” The twins patted your leg, silently telling you they’d be back later. Oliver came and sat by you, you turned your head so you could see him.

“You look good.” you smirked sarcastically.

“Yeah well, you don't look picture perfect either.” You cringed mockingly.

“That hurt Ollie. Almost as much as these broken bones.”

“You're lucky you're not dead.”

“I mean, there's still time for that. So…” you stabbed his shoulder three time with your fist. “Knock on wood.” He let out a laugh and you smiled.

“You laughed.” He looked at you.

“Yeah. Why do you sound so surprised?”

“Because you never laugh. Why do you think I always try? Who knew falling off my broom would get you to laugh.” “Yeah, well. Don’t go doing that again. You gave me quite the scare.” You laughed, cringing at the way you felt your ribs shift. He looked panicked. “What happened? Do I need to get Madam Pomfrey?”

“Relax, Ollie. It was just my ribs shifting. Nothing to over react about. So, what did happen to that pretty face of your? You look like a woodpecker attacked you.”

“You really can’t turn the puns off can you?”

“I just got to get Olive them out.”

“Wow. That's pathetic.”

“You never answered my question. Are you alright?”

“I just had a row with the Slytherin team. They called you a few… unsavory words.”

“Pour mudblood?” You asked without breaking. His eyes widened, surprised to hear you say the slur. You shrugged. “Yeah. They say that a lot.”

“And you’re just fine with that?”

“Well, I mean. No. But, what am I going to do about it? Take on all of Slytherin house?”

“I did.”

“Which was incredibly stupid. Why would you even do that?”

“Because they insulted you!”

“Ollie, why does that matter? I’m no one important!”

“Yes you are!”

“Really? To who?”

“The twins! The team! To me!” You fell silent and he heard what he said. He was about to cover it up.

“I’m important to you?” He swallowed.

“Yeah. Always have been.” He grabbed your hand and squeezed it. “Always will be. Y/N." He started to gain more confidence. "I have been in love with you since our first year when you made a Woody woodpecker joke at my expense. Whoever that is.” You laughed, remembering the cartoon.

“Why didn’t you ever say anything?”

“Because I was scared.”

“I scare the Oliver Wood? That's an accomplishment.”

“I’m trying to confess my feelings here!”

“If you just kiss me, I think I’ll get the hint!”

“Fine!”

“Fine!” He grabbed your face and, as gently as his adrenalin allowed him, brought it to his, putting his lips on yours, finally. You two would have continued to make out if not for a clearing of someone’s throat. Oliver disconnected your lips and looked back to see Madam Pomfrey.

“Miss. Y/L/N needs her rest, Mr. Wood. I am well aware of you two strained and prolonged crushes and am glad to see you two have finally stopped acting like buffoons and gotten to it already. But she has just fallen from an extraordinary height so it is appreciated if you would keep it to a minimum until she is well enough to at least walk.” She turned on her heels and walked out. You started to laugh and Oliver placed a kiss on your cheek.

“When you finally get out of here, I’ll make sure you won’t be able to,” he whispered into your ear. He pulled back with a smirk on his face and you gaped at him.

“Ollie!” You laughed. “Didn’t know you had that side to you.”

“Lots of things you don’t know, love.” he kissed your head. “Get some rest.” You smiled, your eyes already closing.

“M’kay, Ollie.” You were on the verge of sleep when you muttered out a question. “Hey, Ollie?”

“Yes, love?”

“You’ll still kiss me when I wake up, right?” He chuckled.

“I don't think I can stop now.” You smiled, sleepily.

“Good. I don't want you to.” You fell asleep and he watched you for a moment.

“Neither do I.”

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