#she was just a scared teenager who wanted to save her son and go back home with her brother!!!

[beautifulwillfulldead]

[ID: Fanart of A Song of Ice and Fire. A stone statue of Lyanna Stark is bathed in light, looking upwards with blue winter roses clutched in her hands, with some petals falling to the ground. She also has a flower crown of winter roses. She is covered with a veil, and is wearing a shawl, gold medallion, earrings, and her hair is loose and down to below her chest. Next to the statue, the living Lyanna sits with her legs pressed to her chest, in darkness at the base of the statue, wearing a white nightdress covered in blood. She is wearing little blue earrings, and has a facial tattoo that is a line that runs from the middle of her bottom lip to her chin. She is looking sadly at the viewer.

At the top of the drawing is a gold square with large text that reads 'There is nothing luminous about this'. The first letter is framed in a red rectangle with a little dragon flying around it. Another drawing is below the text, showing a tower bathed in light from the sun. The text and the drawing are both framed in winter flowers. End ID]

leda 1, 2, 3

[kamaluhkhan]

GET HIM BACK! (or: the 7 reasons you wanted revenge on luke castellan)

read part one — THE GRUDGE (or: the 7 things luke castellan hated about you)

pairing: luke castellan x nemesis!reader (afab, she/her pronouns)

summary: you were very angry and possibly still in love with luke castellan. kill him or kiss him — you still weren't sure what he deserved.

warnings/disclaimers: spoilers for season 1 of pjo + lots of book references. reader + luke are around 21 for most of this. rough? smut (p in v, oral f+m receiving, biting, scratching, slight choking, etc...) 18 + MDNI ! injuries + blood + violence. reader and others drink alcohol + smoke. lots of angst!!! luke + reader have matching tattoos. twilight + other pop culture references. reader kinda gives 'hell is a teenage girl in her 20s' vibes. maybe slightly toxic dynamic between reader + luke but we love complicated relationships ♡

author's note: thank u so much for all the love on part one!! i got a bit carried away with this one oops, but i hope y'all enjoy it :)

♪: "get him back" by olivia rodrigo

(i. he had a savior complex) 

if you were less consumed by anger, you might have noticed the sound of his footsteps following closely behind you. 

no one was supposed to go into the forest alone, but you were 17 and reckless and not at all concerned about breaking the rules, especially if it meant proving clarisse larue wrong.  

you ventured into the woods, farther than you'd ever been before, with nothing except your knife and a chest full of determination to prove that you were strong and brave just like any other demigod, regardless of if you had a cabin or not. 

you were younger then, less disillusioned, and more willing to buy into those fantasies of power and glory, spoon-fed to demigods as truth. one that you hoped to cross off that afternoon: being worthy of attention if you could sink your blade into the next monster that dared to cross your path.

everyone would see that you’re not just some little, powerless girl with no reason to be at camp. 

and, sure, there was a small but not insignificant part of you that hoped your mother was watching, that she’d finally notice how much of a hero you could be.

you could have died that afternoon. you put up a decent fight, but soon enough you found yourself fallen to the forest floor: blade down, broken arm, bleeding out. a manticore inches away from sending you to the underworld. 

you weren’t angry anymore, the adrenaline had left your body. you just were a scared child, silently praying to deities you hoped wouldn’t look away like they always do. 

i’m sorry, mom. i couldn’t do it. 

you closed your eyes, waited for your fate, and just when you thought all hope was lost — 

the sound of a sword ripping through flesh, an injured growl, and then nothing but your ragged breathing. 

your eyelids fluttered open.

it wasn't your mother, or any of the other gods, who jumped in to save your life.

standing in the middle of the clearing, gripping his sword, was luke castellan. 

he tucked annabeth’s invisibility cap into his back pocket and brought you to the infirmary.

"she's okay, though?" luke asked. he was watching you carefully, ashes from the manticore dusting his orange camp shirt. his arms were crossed, and it seemed that he managed to defeat the monster relatively unscathed.

lee fletcher, son of apollo, nodded as he set your injury. 

"nothing more than a broken arm and minor concussion. make sure your girl gets lots of rest, okay? no more monster hunting. probably has to sit out capture the flag tomorrow, too.”

you ignored the churning in your stomach when lee assumed you were luke’s girl. luke didn’t bother correcting him. 

lee left to get you some ambrosia to speed the healing process, leaving you and luke alone in the room. 

“you know, i’m not a damsel in distress you have to follow around, waiting to save. i’m not your girl.” 

“seriously?” he raised an eyebrow, but his cheeks became slightly flushed. “you would be dead if it wasn’t for me. i heard what happened with clarisse, but gods — you didn’t have to go and get yourself killed to prove something.” 

he was right, of course. part of you wanted to argue with him for always having to be the hero, but the fight lingering in your throat wasn’t enough to act on. you just sighed and looked away, feeling too impulsive and powerless and exhausted down to your bones. 

you felt the bed dip beside you, and then a hand on your shoulder. it was warmer than usual, but the calloused skin still felt familiar on yours.

“they’re not worth it, okay? that’s what you’re always telling me.”

luke’s voice was lower than before, a touch of bitterness laced through.

“yeah, well you never believe it,” you replied, voice hollow. “so why should i?” 

clarisse entered the infirmary before he could answer. luke was instantly on his feet, blocking you from her view, hand on the hilt of his sword.

“what are you doing here?” he practically growled. 

“i heard what happened,” clarisse explained, looking past luke to catch your eye. you waved at her with your newly applied cast. “i’m sorry about what i said earlier, if that had anything to do with it.”

at that point, you were still trying to figure out where you stood with clarisse. she had arrived at camp just before the new year. you’d been so used to new campers being younger than you, and it was nice to have someone the same age to be friends with. 

it wasn’t until the start of march, around two weeks ago, that ares had claimed her. ever since, there had been a newfound animosity between you, leading up to your explosive argument earlier that day. part of you had a feeling she was just trying to fit in with her siblings. it was a subtle thread woven throughout the camp, especially with the ares kids: this hierarchy of power according to the gods, with you on the lower end because your mother was only a minor goddess. 

needless to say, it wasn’t anything you hadn’t heard before; it was just that the words pierced through your thick skin when coming from a friend. 

but the very fact that she came to visit you, that she apologized and seemed to regret that you’d gotten hurt, healed you more than the ambrosia lee was just coming back to give you. 

“thanks, clarisse,” you said after a mouthful of ambrosia. 

even with an established truce, luke didn’t move away from you. in fact, he puffed his chest out a bit more. 

“if you say anything like that to her again, i swear to all the gods —”

“i just said sorry, castellan,” clarisse scoffed. “now get out of the way so i can sign her cast.” 

clarisse attempted to move closer, but luke stayed planted where he was.

“you are not getting anywhere close to her,” luke warned. 

“easy, tiger.” you got up to put your hand on his arm, but luke jerked away from your touch. your fingers brushed against his skin however, and even that brief moment was enough to shock you with its temperature. you tried again, this time bringing a hand to his neck, and he let out a hiss upon contact. his pulse seemed quicker than normal.

“are you feeling okay?”

“i’m just fine,” he huffed, and stormed out of the infirmary.

a few days later, you were training with clarisse, when silena beauregard ran into the arena and interrupted you.

“it’s luke,” she coughed, out of breath. “he’s in the infirmary—”

you sprinted towards the big house before silena could finish her sentence. 

when you reached the infirmary, luke was being held back by lee and a few others, screaming that he needed to go find you or you’d die. he was holding his sword, and campers wrestled to remove it from his grip. the sleeve of his shirt lifted up slightly, and that was when you noticed it: a gash across his bicep, shallow, but turning a sickly green. the rest of his skin was flushed, his eyes frantically searching for someone — you — and he was breathing heavily between sentences.

it turned out that he’d gone the entire week with the wound festering. one of the manticore’s spikes must have grazed luke, and he hadn’t thought much of it because he was so focused on making sure you were okay. 

manticore poison could fuck with someone’s mind if not treated right away. worse: it could be fatal. 

despite your heart beating out of your chest and the chaos you walked into, you kept your voice gentle, but firm.

“luke.”

for a moment, everything stood still. luke froze, and the campers took the opportunity to get a better hold on him.

he blinked at you and shook his head. “no. no. you’re not her. i heard her screaming from the forest and - and she’s in trouble. i need to —”

“it’s me, tiger,” you assured him. 

you approached him carefully and, despite some whispers of warning, you gestured at everyone to let go of him completely. they might have had a point, because as soon as they did, the tip of his sword was dangerously close to your chin. 

“you’re not her,” he insisted. “you’re just some monster trying to trick me.”

you stood in front of him then, and slowly raised your arm to show him your cast. a few people had signed it — beckendorf, chris, clarisse, silena. luke had signed his name too, of course, along with a poor attempt at a cartoon tiger that made you all laugh. 

“see? it’s me. i’m okay.”

there were a few moments when you held your breath, feeling the celestial bronze dig into your skin a bit more. and then:

“it’s…you. you’re….okay?” 

luke’s speech was slightly slurred. he dropped his sword like it suddenly weighed a thousand pounds; it nicked you on its way down. you didn’t care though, because luke almost fell to the ground, too. 

you gripped his wrist to steady him. 

“you’re probably not okay, though,” you explained, well aware of the urgency of the situation. his pulse felt weaker by the second, his skin burning against yours. 

“i’m….i’m fine. i just need to — she’s gonna die if i don’t —”

“i’m right here. i’m here because you already saved me, remember? you saved me, but you got hurt.”

 he shook his head slowly, and his eyes started to flutter close. 

“no, i’m okay,” he breathed, his voice smaller than you’d ever heard it. “i need to make sure y/n is okay. she needs me….” 

you swallowed the lump in your throat, seeing him start to fade away right in front of you. 

you refused to lose hope. 

no — you wouldn’t watch luke castellan die.

“i’m here, luke.” you gripped his wrist even tighter to remind him.

“but —” 

“just rest for a minute, ” you insisted, guiding him towards a bed. “for me, okay?” 

as soon as you managed to get luke onto the bed and, more importantly, calm, everyone else sprung back into action. 

chiron was away for the week, so will solace — one of the younger apollo campers, but probably the best healer at camp — used some healing magic, while lee misted luke with cold water to cool him down and another kid dripped some nectar onto his wound.

luke hissed when the liquid seeped into his skin and reached out for you. you felt like the flesh might melt right off your bones, but you let him squeeze your hand for as long as he needed. somebody came around to put a bandage on your chin, too.

you'd always resented the gods, but that was the first time you'd really lost your faith in them. watching luke fight for his life even after saving yours, other demigods joining the battle, and you thinking: this is the life you cursed us with. you imagined the gods, with power to twist fate in their favor, simply enjoying a feast on mount olympus, hermes sipping nectar and not even aware that another one of his children is dying. you supposed your mother wasn’t any better either. her neglect felt like revenge for something you didn’t even know you had done.

after a while, the skin around luke’s wound lost its greenish hue. you released a deep breath when both lee and will declared that luke seemed to be on the mend — he just needed to get some rest, and, best case scenario, the poison should have run its course by morning.

you didn’t ask about the worst case scenario.

you estimated it was around 2 am when you heard luke’s voice again.

“cold,” was all he said through shivering teeth. 

you wordlessly grabbed as many blankets as you could, and tucked them around luke. you waited a few minutes to see if it helped.

“so - so cold,” he shivered again. you reached out to check luke’s pulse, and all you could find was the faintest heartbeat. his skin looked pale in the moonlight and now felt ice cold despite his high fever earlier. 

no one else was in the infirmary then. you were wracking your brain to remember what you had learned in demigod survival class about hypothermia. something about warm drinks? you ran to the kitchen and made him a cup of hot chocolate — with cinnamon, just how he liked it. 

you whispered his name once you were back at his bedside. his eyelids fluttered open. you tried coaxing him to take the drink, but he wouldn’t even hold the mug. you didn’t think twice about climbing into bed next to him, gently sitting him upright against the headboard so that you could offer him tiny sips. you noticed then that he was still only wearing a tank top, so you took off your sweatshirt — which happened to be one of luke’s — and slid it on him. 

when the hot chocolate was done, luke sighed. some of the color returned to his face, and his teeth stopped chattering. 

“thanks, karma.”

you just hummed in response, setting the mug down on the nightstand beside you and twisting underneath the blankets. luke settled back down next to you. he brushed his thumb over the band-aid on your chin. 

“what happened? did clarisse —”

“easy, tiger. it’s nothing — just a little scratch,” you replied. 

you spared him from the whole truth. sure, there was a moment earlier when you didn’t know whether or not luke would hurt you. it was only a split second, because that wasn’t your luke. he shouldn’t have had to live with the guilt of something he did by accident, as a result of a poisoned mind.

“anyways, i should be thanking you. you’re the one who almost died saving my life. you were hanging by a thread just a few seconds ago. it seems like you’re not completely out of the woods yet.”

“well, i guess the fates are still deciding what to do with me.” he cracked a smile. 

it was a bit morbid, given what you’d been through the past 12 hours, and the fact that the manticore venom clearly hadn’t left his body completely. the possibility of his death had not completely disappeared, though you supposed that, as demigods, the risk always remained higher. 

fuck the gods. they weren’t your protectors. they weren’t your family. 

the campers who put their whole heart into healing you and luke, the boy who risked his life for you — they were your family. 

you took luke’s humor as a good sign. the luke castellan you knew — confident banter, radiant grin, heart of gold — was coming back to you. 

the luke castellan you would not allow die, even if you could still feel the cool bronze of his blade linger on your chin. 

(ii. he had an ego)

according to annabeth chase, it was statistically improbable for a demigod to reach drinking age. something always kills them first - a monster, a blade, a fatal flaw. the likelihood of survival only gets exponentially lower with each passing year.

she repeated that information to luke on the morning of his 21st birthday.

“thanks for the cheerful birthday wishes, sis.” 

annabeth shrugged and hugged him before walking back to the athena table to finish breakfast. 

"you hear that, tiger?” you pointed a syrupy fork at luke. “you are literally saying fuck you to fate, just by being alive." 

"that’s the way i like it," luke quipped, and stole a blueberry from your plate. 

"hey man, happy birthday." chris patted luke’s shoulder on his way to sit across from you and luke. "so, i just talked to chiron and he agreed to let us go out tonight." 

you smiled between bites of your pancakes, reaching over to offer chris a triumphant fist bump.

“nice work, rodriguez.” 

"we're going out tonight?"

you pressed your knee to luke's under the table. 

"of course we are," you hummed. "we have a lot to celebrate." 

so, you, luke, chris, and a few of your friends — beckendorf, silena, and clarisse — went into the city to celebrate. one of luke's favorite bands was playing, and you had managed to snag a few tickets. you'd all entered a bar confidently that night, the fake ids you were at once so giddy and paranoid about no longer needed. 

there were few times when you could all just kick back and have fun, without having to worry about the responsibilities of being senior counselors. that night, you were all itching for a taste of freedom. or, at least, some alcohol. 

"happy birthday to the one and only luke castellan: a hero by any other name!" 

everyone raised their shot glasses, echoed beckendorf's words, and threw back their drinks. 

the night became louder, more vibrant. yet, even as you laughed and drank and danced with your friends, there was a heaviness lingering in your chest.

for most demigods, birthdays were bittersweet. each one served as a reminder of time running out because of exactly what annabeth said that morning. most half-bloods don’t even live past their teens, let alone the age of 20. you had the blood of gods flowing in your veins, and your lives were influenced by sinister, divine forces from ancient times. you were the new generation of heroes, protagonists of those greek tragedies that made mortals weep.

there was no guarantee that this would last forever, but all of your friends —  the people you loved — had beat the odds. 

so, who would blame you for getting a little sentimental? 

beckendorf and chris had wandered off to play pool, in hopes of winning some bets and free drinks. clarisse was flirting with some girl who caught her eye, and silena went to grab some water after having danced for a bit. you and luke were still in the crowd, swaying to the music. for one glorious moment, you were just a group of twenty-one year olds enjoying a carefree night out. 

under the flashing lights, you stole a glimpse at luke. he wore a simple white tank top and ripped jeans, paired with a leather jacket and some rings he borrowed from you so he could, in his words, look more punk-rock. his curls were messy, his skin glittering with a thin sheen of sweat. the chain he layered with his usual camp necklace caught the multicolored light and highlighted the sharp angles of his collarbones. 

whatever aesthetic he was going for, luke looked good. based on various eyes following him throughout the room, you assumed others thought the same as well. it made you just a little bit furious, feeling that he wasn't only yours to admire. 

“you good?” luke’s voice cut through the noise, but he had to lean in close.  

his fingers brushed against the section of waist exposed by your cropped top. you’d gotten so warm that you had to tie your flannel around your waist, but luke’s touch sent a shiver through your body. it made you somewhat dizzy, feeling the cold metal of those rings on your skin. even moreso, when you realized how much you wanted to kiss your best friend, sink your teeth into his smirk and taste the mint chapstick and tequila on his lips. 

to be fair, you and luke had crossed that line before, and you were in the fields of asphodel ever since. 

not quite friendship, not quite romance. something deeper, more volatile and electric. 

you didn’t want to make things blurrier than they already were, though. whatever you acted on that night could have just been dismissed the next morning as a drunken mistake.

so, you just nodded at him and turned back towards the band as though you were never thinking about anything more than the music. 

after a few more songs, luke commanded your attention once more.

“hey, didn’t you once say you wanted to start a band?”

“what do i look like, a child of apollo?” you joked, but luke raised an eyebrow at you, clearly wanting a serious answer.

it was slightly alarming, how well he knew you; through your childhood dreams and down to your core. 

“in another life,” you conceded. “maybe.”

“in another life,” luke echoed. he leaned in close again. “you’d be a pretty hot drummer, and i’d be front row at every show.”

your lips could have touched if you moved your head just an inch, but he pulled away before you did. he was giving you that classic son-of-hermes smirk, the one that made everyone swoon. 

the thing was, you were sure that luke knew the effect he had on people. you had seen him continuously bask in the praise of chiron and other campers, always preening for the crowd's attention, as if he had to do anything more than smile. everyone loved luke — he was handsome, charismatic, strong.

and, yeah, you weren’t immune. your fatal flaw: not loyalty, or anger, or recklessness, but luke castellan’s charm.

you had to keep yourself grounded. it would be a bad idea to cross that line again on his birthday, right? 

luke licked his lips as you kept staring at him. you could tell he was waiting for you to do something. 

maybe it was the alcohol coursing through your veins or the rhythm of the music vibrating through your bones, but you started thinking — fuck it. 

before you could act on that impulse, some person with bright red hair stepped between you and luke. she introduced herself, telling luke she saw him from across the room, and she'd been watching him all night, and would he by any chance want to dance with her?

luke seemed flattered, interested even. he flashed her the very same smile he had just given you, which left a bitter taste in your mouth. you excused yourself before you had to hear them flirt even more. 

you walked over to silena at the bar. she had a half-empty glass of ice water melting in front of her, her attention somewhere else. you sat down beside her and followed her gaze to what — who — she was looking at. 

“if confessing feelings to someone is hard for aphrodite’s daughter, then there’s really no hope for the rest of us,” you tell her.

silena whipped her head towards you. her cheeks were flushed a light pink. 

“i - i don’t have feelings for clarisse.”

“lena, please. we all know. well, except maybe clarisse.”

“what?” she blinked at you, eyeshadow shimmering in the light.

“yeah,” you said with a small laugh. the irony of it all: the head counselor of cabin 10  denying that she was in love with someone. “we talk about it all the time.”

“well,” silena huffed, cheeks now a bright red. “i guess i should tell you that the rest of us talk about you and luke.” 

you reached over to grab her water, your throat suddenly dry. 

“what about us?” you asked after finishing the drink in one long sip. 

“about how you obviously both have feelings for each other. half the camp already thinks you’re dating.”

you started to crunch on whatever ice was still frozen. 

“well, we aren’t.” 

that reality hurt more than the sharp pain piercing your brain from ingesting too much cold, too fast. you couldn’t even spot luke in the crowd — he and the redhead had probably gone off to some private corner. 

“people think love’s a joke,” silena sighed. “but they don’t realize how much power it can have over a person. it can make people —”

“cowards?” you suggested.

silena nodded solemnly. “cowards.”

neither of you said anything for a while, two love-sick half-bloods slumped over a sticky bar counter.

suddenly, silena sat up straight. she tied her black hair up into a ponytail. perfect, of course, along with her makeup. you were sure you had sweat off the glitter she had applied to your cheeks earlier. 

“i am not a coward.” 

without another word, silena got up and glided towards clarisse, and you were left with an empty stool next to you. 

part of you was proud of her for following her heart. the other part couldn’t stop picturing someone else’s tongue down luke’s throat. 

“can i get a ginger-ale, please?” you asked no one in particular, hoping that the bartender heard your request for something to ease your nausea. 

“you sure you don’t want anything stronger?” 

someone slid onto the barstool next to you. he looked around your age, wearing a navy and red rugby shirt. he had what looked like a pretty expensive watch on his wrist, and he was already leaning in way too close for a stranger. 

“i’m fine,” you deadpanned.

“oh, come sweetheart, it’s on me.” 

you scoffed at the nickname and shook your head.

the guy next to you didn’t care. he snapped to get the bartender’s attention. “two vodka tonics, please. that’s your drink, right? i’m usually pretty good at guessing.”

“dude, i said i’m fine,” you repeated through clenched teeth.

the bartender set two drinks in front of you and rugby shirt pointed towards them.

“well, i already got you a drink, so you at least owe me a conversation.” he slid the drink closer to you.

"i don't owe you anything." 

"oh, come on," rugby shirt cooed. "i don't bite." he slipped his hand underneath your skirt, nails scratching along the skin of your upper thigh, through your fishnets.

you growled at the contact and stood up abruptly, more than a little coincidentally knocked the glass over. the liquid splashed onto him. his flirtatious grin melted right off his face.

“jesus christ —you bitch,” he spat. “this is what i get for trying to be nice?”

“that’s what you get for trying to grope me,” you snapped. “but i could do a lot worse if you’re in the mood.”

his face was a pissed-off shade of red, his mouth formulating a response when —

you felt luke’s arm wrap around your waist, pulling you close to him. you side-eyed him, and ignored the hickey blooming at the base of his neck.

“is there a problem here?” luke’s voice was firm, steady. 

it seemed like all the fight left rugby shirt’s body, and he put his hands up in surrender. 

“oh, sorry dude. i didn’t realize she was taken.”

you rolled your eyes. figured that this guy would only back off if there was a jealous boyfriend in the mix. 

“it’s fine, i’m sure it’s just a misunderstanding.”

“that’s for sure,” the guy continued. “your girl practically bit my head off for being nice and buying her a drink.”

your fingers tightened into a fist.

“that is not —”

“look, i gotta apologize on her behalf.”

“luke, what are you —”

“let me handle this, baby,” he hummed. “trust me, she’s normally a good girl. she just gets….harder to control after one too many drinks.” 

“i am this close to throwing my next drink at you,” you insisted. 

you weren't naive. you knew luke was putting on an act, but you weren't sure why he felt the need to appease this jerk and put you down in the process. 

you hated the way he was acting now — arrogant, condescending, borderline sexist. you wanted to storm off, you really did, but that would mean having to tear yourself away from luke, and.... you didn't hate the firm hold he had on you. 

he chuckled and raised an eyebrow at the guy knowingly, like they were the closest friends. 

“see what i mean?”

“that’s quite the firecracker you got there,” the guy complimented, as though you were a prize luke had won. “those are the ones you gotta keep on a tight leash, though.”

oh, your patience was wearing thin. if luke didn't take care of this guy soon….

“don’t i know it.” luke laughed when you barred your teeth at him. “look, we all came here to have a good time. why don’t you go join your friends again, and i’ll send over some drinks.”

rugby shirt looked at luke, then nodded. 

“alright. thanks, man. and sorry again for the….confusion.” 

luke extended a hand, and the guy shook it.

"no hard feelings. i'll be sure to keep her on a tighter leash, though."

rugby shirt walked away, laughing. you were just about ready to bite luke's head off.

you shoved luke away from you. your whole body felt like it was on fire. 

“luke castellan, i don’t care if it’s your birthday, if you ever talk to me like that again, i swear to all the gods —” you faltered when luke’s lips curled into a smirk. 

that smug, gorgeous, self-important smirk.

“what?” 

“i’m just waiting until you’re done chewing me out,” he said, clearly a bit amused. “you done?”

you hesitated, narrowing your eyes at him. “for now, i guess.”

“good, because we have about 2 minutes before our misogynistic frat buddy over there notices that something’s missing.”

he lifted his hand to show off the real prize of the night. 

“you did all of that….. to steal the guy’s watch?”

“well, duh. he was being a jerk and i’m the prince of thieves, karma. gotta use my powers for good.” 

luke winked at you as you stared at him in awe. 

“we really should go though. the others are waiting for us outside.” 

you jutted your chin towards the bruise on his neck.

"what about the redhead?"

luke flushed, adjusted his collar to hide the hickey. "i kinda lost interest when she said i was hot for an asian guy."

"oh." you ignored the triumph in your gut. "sounds like a jerk, too." 

"whatever." luke shrugged. "hard to find the good ones, right?" 

luke turned towards the exit.

"wait.” you tugged him back, and luke looked confused for a split second. “you're one of the good ones, luke castellan. did i ever tell you how incredibly happy i am that you were born?" 

luke grinned. "you could stand to say it more often."

his smile was infectious. you liked this side of luke: protective, mischievous, a bit of a trouble-maker. 

it made you want to kiss him all over again.

(iii. he lied without flinching)

you couldn’t find luke anywhere. 

he wasn’t at the climbing wall, or the arena, or the forge. luke seemed to have a knack at vanishing when you needed him most.

when you finally found him, he was outside the big house, in what seemed to be a somewhat heated conversation with chris and a new camper, ethan nakamura. 

ethan nakamura, son of nemesis. you were shocked when your mother’s symbol — swords crossed underneath a set of scales — appeared over his head after two weeks of staying at the hermes cabin. 

you were still getting used to having a younger half-brother. 

“hey,” you greeted the trio, slightly out of breath from running all over camp. as soon as you joined them, a silence fell over the group. “i was looking for you everywhere, tiger. what’s going on here?”

“actually, we were just —”

“nakamura,” luke spoke ethan’s name like a warning. 

“i’m just saying, maybe we should consider —”

luke cut ethan off this time with a sharp glance. 

“i already said no. end of discussion.”

“whatever you say, boss,” ethan grumbled.

the trio was silent again, and you eyed each of them suspiciously.

“okay, seriously. what’s —”

“we’ll talk more about this later, guys,” luke interrupted. his tone was commanding. ethan and chris dispersed. 

once they were gone, you furrowed your brows at luke, not sure what they would be talking about that could make him speak so harshly. 

“what was that about?” you asked for the third time.

“nothing important.” luke gave you a smile that seemed to stretch a bit thin. “you said you were looking for me everywhere. wanna go makeout in the hermes cabin? i’m pretty sure it’ll be empty this time of day.”

you shook your head, no matter how tempting the offer. the scene you walked into made you so uneasy that you completely forgot there was something important you needed to tell luke.

“percy and annabeth just iris-messaged me,” you explained. 

“oh,” he quirked an eyebrow at you. “is their quest going alright?”

you repeated everything the kids had told you: medusa, the chimera, ares. clarisse maybe being the lightning thief. luke had to sit down on the stairs leading to the big house when you spoke that last part. you understood why — clarisse was your friend. 

sitting down next to him, you sighed.

“you don’t think….you don’t think it could be true, do you?” 

clarisse was hot-headed, sure, maybe a bit impulsive, but a war between the gods? that didn’t seem her style. 

you hoped luke would assure you, but instead he said:

luke ran a hand through his hair. “it would make sense.”

“what?”

he leaned in close, voice low.

“clarisse was there with us during our field trip to olympus in december. the gods are arrogant enough to leave their stuff in the throne room, and there’s not really any security. she could have easily snuck in when everyone was sleeping. clarisse….” luke let out a heavy breath. “clarisse is the lightning thief.”

“no. no. she wouldn’t —”

“it makes sense, karma,” luke insisted. he placed a hand on your knee. “clarisse is angry at the gods.”

“we all are,” you pointed out.

“well, sure, but her dad is ares. how else do you get the god of war’s attention if not starting a war?”

you took a second to process luke’s reasoning. maybe he did have a point. it was just that sharp pain in your chest keeping you from believing it. 

“we don’t know anything for sure,” you decided. “and until we do….we don’t tell anyone. especially chiron.”

luke squeezed your knee, gave you a reassuring smile. 

“sounds like a plan.” he moved in closer and whispered: “now, how about we sneak away, and i do that thing with my tongue that makes you squirm?” 

you felt something tighten in your lower abdomen. you and luke were still in the sneaking-around-camp stage of your relationship; you both got a thrill from it.

at the time, you figured luke was just offering you a much needed distraction.

he kissed just below your ear to sweeten the deal — and how were you supposed to resist?

you didn’t even question how luke knew when the bolt was stolen, let alone how he seemed to have the theft already planned out perfectly.

(iv. he hid behind a pretty face and perfect teeth)

 it had been a little over a week since people around camp — including percy, annabeth, and grover, who had gotten back from their quest — found out about you and luke, together. apparently your friends had a bet going, meaning that everyone other than silena was less than thrilled about your announcement. they warmed up to the idea since then.

it still felt a little bit surreal calling luke castellan your boyfriend. 

luke often played the role of the perfect demigod, the one everyone should strive to be. he paid extra attention to new campers and made them feel welcomed. he did his chores on time, stepped in if more hands were needed for kitchen patrol, and spent hours going through reports for chiron. he taught sword-fighting and encouraged younger campers to keep practicing. he did participate in the occasional prank, that mischievous child of hermes streak impossible not to indulge in, but it only made everyone adore him even more. because luke was responsible, but not boring. he was incredibly skilled and driven, but also gracious. he was sensible and charismatic. 

you watched that luke — camp half-blood’s golden boy, the hero everyone either wanted to be, befriend, or date — and you were in awe. mostly, you wondered how he managed to bury the anger and resentment you knew was churning inside him, the same anger and resentment you sometimes let slip through. 

no, you were not as careful as golden boy luke, who showed no malice towards the olympians. to chiron, to everyone else, luke castellan respected the gods, honored them in everything he did, and taught others to do the same. 

that was not the luke who sucked a bruise onto your neck while suggesting something even you might consider blasphemous. 

“we can’t just - uh,” you had to catch your breath when luke slipped his thumb underneath the band of your sports bra. “we’d get in trouble, tiger.”

you felt him chuckle against your skin.

“since when do you care about that?” 

“since the king of the gods would probably strike us with lightning, or turn us into some horrible monsters, or curse us if we were caught fucking in his cabin." 

"that’s only if we get caught." 

luke gave you that flirtatious smile, the one he now reserved only for you.

it was that smile that led to luke settling between your legs, fucking you with his tongue and fingers, his other hand digging into your thigh to keep you from writhing too much. 

zeus’ cabin was, of course, empty, since his only known child was turned into a pine tree. you and luke had tucked yourselves into the one corner where the giant statue of the god couldn’t see you, setting a sleeping bag down on the cold marble floor and your discarded clothes scattered throughout. the dome-shaped ceiling was decorated with an enchanted mosaic sky that seemed to move. the only sounds that echoed throughout the room were moans as your orgasm washed over you.

"you're so, so pretty," he mumbled, wet lips brushing the skin of your inner thigh. he stayed where he was, awfully concerned with lapping up everything.

you whined his name when you found him taking too long, already a bit sensitive and wanting him inside you.

it might have been your conscious, but you swore you could hear a storm brewing, the threat of thunder and lightning looming.  the mosaic sprouted some clouds, growing darker by the second as if a countdown to your doom.

luke, on the other hand, was acting like you had all the time in the world, and then some.

he paused after his name tumbled from your lips again, and you tugged his hair. he propped his chin on your stomach to get a better look of you. luke was gorgeous, with his mess of black curls, deep brown eyes a little more dangerous than usual, smirk shining with your cum.

"yes, sweetheart?"

“get up here and kiss me,” you groaned. 

once again, luke took his sweet time. his mouth left a trail along your thighs and your hips, your stomach and ribs. it felt like he was worshiping every inch of your skin, scarred and uneven and tattooed as it was. luke took extra care in appreciating the sword engraved on your sternum, the tattoo that matched the one he had on his collarbone.

“hi,” luke whispered once he was face to face with you. 

“hey, tiger,” you matched the softness of his voice, contrasting the harshness that followed when luke crashed his lips into yours. you could taste yourself on his tongue, and once he sucked all the air from your lungs, you had to pull away. 

you informed him: “there’s a condom in my back pocket.”

“always prepared,” he noted with a smile, reaching over to get it.

you kissed luke again as he entered you, your nails scraping down his back. when he pulled away to look at you, you couldn’t meet his gaze. instead, you were mesmerized by the sharp contours of his body and the healed wounds that lingered, every scar that you knew by heart like they were your own. you had a favorite, too — the faint cut on his hip from when he, thalia, and annabeth were on the run and they had to jump a fence.

if luke hadn’t been thrusting into you, you would have bent down to kiss it. 

“eyes up here, beautiful.” 

when you complied, luke smiled and ran his thumb along your jaw.

“good girl,” he praised. “you okay if i go harder?”

you settled for kissing the scar on his cheekbone.

“yes,” you finally answered.  "please."

luke brought his hand down to wrap your leg around his hip before he started moving faster. your head fell back against the marble floor, but you didn’t care about the impact. you just focused on how good it felt to have luke inside you, his strong hand on your hip, his warm breath on your skin. 

after feeling you tighten around him, luke let go a bit more. he dropped his head between your neck and shoulder, his curls brushing against you. as he reached his peak, luke bit your shoulder, hard,  to keep himself from groaning too loudly. you could have sworn that you heard thunder at that exact moment. in fact, it seemed to shake the entire cabin.

luke seemed to catch the threat that time, too. 

there was no room for pillow talk as the two of you rushed to get dressed and get out of there before the king of the gods lost his patience and struck you with lightning, turned you into some horrible monsters, or cursed you. maybe all three, maybe something worse.

you slipped on your underwear and pants, but couldn’t find the top half of your outfit. 

“do you see my shirt there?”

luke had just pulled on his boxers when he turned and passed the item to you. you weren’t sure why he paused for a second while doing it. then, he whispered:

“shit.” luke’s eyes were glued to your shoulder, where his teeth had broken skin. his cheeks flushed a bright red. whether it was shame or embarrassment, you didn’t know; but you were slightly taken aback. “i’m, i’m sorry, i — i didn’t mean to hurt you. i never want to —”

you placed your hands on his cheeks. 

“hey.” you whispered at him softly, and it was enough for him to stop rambling. you could tell he felt guilty, though, since he refused to meet your gaze.

“luke, baby, look at me.”

when he finally did, your heart ached. 

it wasn’t like you hadn’t done similar to luke. you’d never broken skin, sure, but luke seemed to enjoy — really enjoy — whenever you used your teeth in the heat of the moment. you just assumed he knew you wouldn’t mind the same.

but, one bite, and luke was almost reduced to tears, all because he was afraid of hurting you. 

“it’s fine, okay? i’m fine.”

luke didn’t seem convinced, his brows furrowed with concern. you kissed the crease on his forehead and reassured him once more that you were fine. 

 “if anything, consider it payback for the hickey i left that took a week to fade away.”

luke smiled softly at that, and you knew he was coming back to you. 

“you know, annabeth suggested that i go to the infirmary because of how it looked. i had to tell her i got it during sparring practice.”

“it wasn’t that bad,” you laughed, and so did luke. 

thunder rumbled throughout the cabin once more, and you swore the clouds were growing darker by the second. 

you were about to finish getting dressed when he grabbed your waist.

“look, if i’m ever too rough whenever we’re —”

“sparring?” 

“sure,” he smiled, thumbs rubbing circles on your bare skin. “whenever we’re sparring, just promise that you’ll let me know.”

“of course,” you hummed. “only if you do the same.”

“of course,” he echoed, and he pecked your lips. “i think it’s hot, you know? when you feel like you can let go. when you mark me. i like everyone knowing that i’m yours.”

you bit back a smile, feeling your cheeks grow warm.

“well, i think it’s hot when you mark me, too. especially when you bite me,” you admitted. 

“don’t tell me you’re still into the whole vampire thing,” he teased.

“oh, please. you were as obsessed with it as the rest of us. don’t you remember?”

as if either of you could forget marathoning entire seasons of buffy the vampire slayer on dvds rented from the nearest video store. you'd watch episode after episode with your friends, the six of you squeezing onto the small couch in the big house, sharing one bowl of popcorn and endless cups of coffee to stay awake.

you shivered out of the memory when he brought his fingers up to trace the bite mark he had left on you.

zeus could have sent more thunder. he could have created a whole godsdamned storm, but you wouldn’t have cared.

luke was so close that you had nothing better to do than to close the distance between you.

luke got bolder as the kiss became more heated — he sank his teeth into your bottom lip, his tongue sweeping over the crimson liquid that emerged, the tang of copper invading your mouth.

“easy there, angel,” you referenced, and felt him smirk against your lips before moving to nip at your neck. 

you trailed your hand down the front of his exposed stomach, outlining the contours and curves. with the moonlight reflecting in, accompanied by the crackle of lightning, it almost looked like luke’s skin was glittering.

“you’re so beautiful," you cooed, nails scraping against the tight muscles of his lower abdomen. "how'd i get so lucky, huh?"

“you won’t.” 

“i'm the lucky one." a shadow passed over luke's face, and you swore you felt his grip tightening on your hips. “i never want to hurt you,” he finished the sentence you had interrupted earlier.

at the time, you didn’t think he was even capable of such a thing. 

for better or for worse, that was the night you realized something.

you liked golden boy luke. or, at the very least, you tolerated him.

the rule-breaking, sin-committing, blood-sucking luke?

he was the one you were irrevocably in love with. 

except your life wasn't some neatly written, scripted coming-of-age story about fictional vampires and slayers. 

it had monsters, too. you just didn't realize who they were until it was too late. 

(v. he made you look so naive)  

there was blood on your hands, but you weren’t sure who it belonged to.

yours or luke’s — it was a toss-up that made you more than a little nauseous. 

luke had stolen the lightning bolt. luke had tried to frame percy and start a war between the gods. luke had begged you to join kronos’ army with him. you almost killed him because of it until you realized that he left percy to die. 

you summarized everything to chiron and mr. d once you had made sure that percy was getting help in the infirmary. the scorpion poison was still putting up a fight, but percy was strong. annabeth was there with him.

dread simmered in the pit of your stomach just thinking about having to tell her everything, too — to see the look in her eyes when she hears just how much her big brother betrayed her.

“and you have no idea where mr. castellan could have gone?” chiron’s voice was stern, moreso than usual. 

you shook your head, not particularly paying attention. you could still feel blood seeping from the blademark luke had left. 

“that’s awfully convenient,” mr.d scoffed.

you narrowed your eyes at him. 

“what’s that supposed to mean?” 

“i’ve heard around camp that you and this luke were quite…. close,” mr. d said, pointing his can of diet coke at you accusingly. 

a wave of anger surged through you. it had been building in your gut ever since luke revealed his betrayal, and you didn’t care if it was a god who was on the receiving end of your wrath. 

“seriously? i saved percy and told you everything, and you’re here suggesting what? that i’m somehow a traitor, too?”  

“seems like the plot of a pretty twisted love story.”

your lips curled into a snarl, and you were about to pounce until chiron dismissed you.

you were in a trance for the rest of the day. chris was gone, too. ethan didn’t seem surprised. silena sobbed, clarisse comforted her, beckendorf cursed luke’s name. other campers kept asking about where their favorite counselor had gone, until they started growing weary of you.

because if golden boy luke was evil, what were the odds that his hot-headed, impertinent girlfriend was, too?

luke left you there, looking like an absolute fool for believing in him, trusting him, loving him.

you couldn’t unsee his blood on your hands. you might as well have been lady macbeth, desperately scrubbing out stains that would never leave.

vi. he was a vice you could never shake

calling all riot grrrls and punk rockers — this show is for YOU!!! come see the SIRENS OF NEW YORK perform THIS friday at joan’s bar ;)

the flyer was an obnoxiously vibrant shade of red and plastered throughout the neighborhood, and it did a good job. one of queens’ best dive bars was packed with people waiting to see the band perform: stella yamada on guitar, mohini banjaree on bass, sally mcknight on vocals — and you on drums. 

it was nice and still a bit new, this relatively normal existence with relatively normal people.

you couldn’t cut off the demigod side of your life completely. there was still a war brewing, and you were in regular enough contact with camp. 

but, you’d been away for a few years, trying to live the life of a non-halfblood in their early 20s. you had an apartment, a cat and a nice enough roommate. you were in school and working as a bartender to pay for rent and tuition. you had friends who, for lack of a better term, were normal. people who worried about paying off student loans and finding their passion in life, whether it be law school or feminist prose or angry girl music of the indie-rock persuasion. people who spent their time in classrooms or tattoo parlors or their friends’ bathrooms at 2am while bleaching their hair after a bad breakup. 

sometimes though, usually late at night when you couldn’t sleep, you had to admit to yourself that you missed your old life. 

you missed home. you missed playing capture the flag and training in the arena and having breakfast in the dining pavilion. you missed your friends, the ones you’d grown up with. 

you missed —

no. you tried not to let your mind wander towards him, or the consequences of what he did. you both drew blood the afternoon he confessed his sins to you, but he was the one who twisted the knife. he was the reason you couldn’t stand your life as a half-blood anymore. 

you just tried to focus on the mortal, mundane things that now composed your everyday life, like the stage you would be performing on in 30 seconds. 

before every show, your bandmates went through different degrees of anxiety. you didn’t get stage fright like them. they called you fearless, but the reality was that you had just gone up against much worse. 

and yet, that night, you almost froze mid-set, just as you started a cover of the joan jett’s “you don’t know what you’ve got.”

ironically, luke had gotten you a cd of this album for your 15th birthday. 

i was caught so unaware, when you made other plans.

think of the devil, and he shall appear.

it couldn’t have been him there, though. last time you heard of him, luke was growing kronos' army somewhere on the west coast.  

you pushed through, even though your concentration was shaken. 

i can’t stand to hear your name

you had to shake off the feeling of him watching you. 

it was just that — a bad feeling, right?

 you missed another beat, and mo turned around to give a concerned yet frustrated frown. joan had hinted that there might have been an agent in the audience, and you couldn’t afford to mess up. 

oh baby, you really blew it.

the song ended, and your blood ran cold.

it had to be a trick of the light, seeing luke in the crowd, but just the thought of being in the same space again made it impossible to be up on that stage, so exposed. 

as the band was getting ready for the next song, you slipped away, out the back door and into the alley for some fresh air. with shaky hands, you brought a cigarette between your lips and pulled out your lighter. it was a terrible habit, you knew.

those were always the ones hardest to quit and you needed a vice to keep you grounded. 

so there you found yourself, shivering in your black tank top, just cropped enough that the fishnets you wore underneath red leather pants were slightly visible. the bricks were cool against your back and you exhaled into the soft evening twilight when you realized it hadn’t been a trick of the light. 

“you look like buffy the vampire slayer.”

you rolled your eyes, because of course luke would do that. you were on opposite sides of an impending war between gods and titans, a world-ending conflict that luke directly enabled, and he led with a light-hearted comment like you were still the best of friends. 

as if you hadn’t been on the receiving ends of each other’s blades ever since luke revealed himself to be a traitor. 

“give me one reason why i shouldn’t kill you right now. ”

“because i’m alone.”

“you could still be here to kill me,” you reasoned. “or at least try.”  

after everything, you wouldn’t put it past him. you known him to do a lot worse, all to people he claimed to, in a past life, care about. 

luke tried again. 

“because you always liked a fair fight. i came alone and unarmed.” 

you scoffed, dropped your half-finished cigarette to the ground, and snuffed it out with the toe of your chunky patent boot before walking over to stand in front of luke. he put his hands up in surrender as you approached him. 

“if you’re not here to fight, then why are you here?” you demanded, fingers brushing against the switchblade in your pocket. you always kept a celestial bronze weapon on you in case you came across any monsters in the city. you looked at the one in front of you, and wished you had brought a bigger knife.

“i just….i wanted — needed to see you.”

your eyes grazed luke carefully.

he looked rough. deep shadows under his eyes, hair disheveled and partially matted down, shirt wrinkled like he’d been on the run for days. his hands caked with blood and dirt, his face, too. a nasty bruise on his elbow, and what looked like another one disappearing beneath the collar of his shirt. 

you bit down the urge to care. you had to remind yourself that luke was dangerous, cruel, and heartless. you couldn’t stand to look at him for one more second, at least not without biting his head off, or at the very least the cut on his lip. 

“no. you don’t get to just —”

the door slammed open, echoed throughout the alley. stella poked her head out, guitar still strapped to her shoulder. from inside, you could hear the crowd cheering.

“jesus christ, y/n! where have you been?” 

“sorry, stel. i needed a smoke break and then i ran into a — ” your voice caught on the word friend. “luke.”

his name left a poisonous taste in your mouth, and you swallowed its bitterness. 

she saw luke then, who gave her that charming smile of his you hadn’t seen in forever. he extended a hand towards her, but stella just scowled at him and turned back to you.

“are you coming to finish the show?” stella demanded. 

“i need to deal with this,” you told her. “i’m sor—”

stella huffed and slithered back inside before you could finish apologizing. 

 “great,” you laughed cynically. “now one of my best friends is pissed at me, and i might get kicked out of the band. my luck just gets worse every time you force yourself back into my life, castellan.”

you weren’t quite sure how to make of the way he looked at you — maybe apologetic, possibly desperately, definitely some sort of disguise. 

“i know….i fucked up, karma.”

you glared at the use of his old nickname for you, feeling a shudder run down your spine.

“yeah, you fucked up. and now everyone, the whole world, is suffering the consequences. me, annabeth, your mom —”

“please,” luke begged once more, voice shaking now. “if you ever loved me —”

“don’t.” you barked. “if you ever loved me, you’d accept that the next time we see each other, it’ll be fighting on a battlefield. until one of us is on the ground, bleeding out, or never again.”

luke stared at you. you glared back at him. 

“sorry i’m late, lukey. did i miss much?” a sickly sweet voice cut through the tension. 

you turned and saw a cheerleader. she looked relatively normal, but the mismatched legs — one bronze, another furry — along with the red eyes and fangs gave her away. 

“you said you were alone,” you pointed out, tilting your head towards the monster. “looks like you brought company.”

“i didn’t,” luke insisted. “kelli’s been hunting me down.”

kelli pouted. “i thought we were playing hide and seek. but it’s over now — i win. please don’t be mad, baby.”

baby. you could have laughed. 

“i guess you moved on, castellan.” you meant your words to come across as mocking, so you hoped luke couldn’t sense the resentment behind them.

kelli giggled, and you thought your ears might bleed. 

“he sure did,” she cooed and moved closer to luke, running a long red fingernail down his chest. he pushed her away abruptly, and kelli pouted once more. “we miss you, luke. i miss you. please come back home with me.”

“that’s not my home.”

out of everything luke had said, those were the words that got through to you. you glanced at him once more — his hands curled into fists, jaw clenched, and eyes locked on yours, panicking and pleading at the same time. 

you had to give in to those pleading, panicked brown eyes. 

luke didn’t have any weapons on him. all you had was a tiny pocket knife and some combat skills you’d been maintaining through kickboxing classes with your roommate, but you were willing to put them to good use.

you stepped in front of luke. 

“listen — kelli, was it?” the empousa growled at you. “call me sentimental, but i can’t let you take him.”

kelli gave you a snarl, and you whipped out your switchblade. admittedly, it looked a little pathetic compared to her deadly fangs and sharp claws. 

“aw, cute!” she mocked, and then pushed you backwards. 

you expected to tumble into luke, but he had disappeared. seemed like you did make the wrong choice, to trust luke again. 

again — the worst, most sinister habits were the hardest ones to break. 

it briefly crossed your mind to chase him down after this for leading you into a trap. for now, you had a shapeshifting cheerleader to take care of. 

you managed to side-step kelli’s next attack, and sliced across her arm in the process. she shrieked. her hair bursted into flames, as if your day could get any worse. you tried to get another jab in, but kelli managed to be quicker this time. she punched you in the jaw, then kicked you, hard, with a hoofed foot, causing a dull crack to your ribcage upon impact. the kick sent you spinning towards the brick wall; it stopped you from falling, but knocked the air out of your lungs. you spat, your mouth thick with the taste of blood. your ears were ringing, and you couldn’t locate your knife. 

you were definitely out of practice. 

“kelli!” 

you both turned your attention towards luke, standing at the entrance of the alley with his sword in hand.

“luke!” kelli said like he was her long lost lover. she batted her eyelashes at him, the murderous grin she had given you melting away to something more enticing. “you came to help me finish her off.”

luke tilted his head. “not exactly.”

luke threw the sword towards you. despite a split second of surprise, you caught it; made a sharp diagonal cut. before kelli knew it, she was reduced to nothing but dust.

you dropped luke’s sword and fell to the pavement, adrenaline coursed through your veins from the first near-death experience you’d had in months. even with your body bruised and broken, fighting was a thrill like no other. 

luke came to kneel in front of you, sneakers crunching over the ashes of his ex-girlfriend.

“you said you were unarmed.” your voice sounded muffled. you spat out another mouthful of blood.

“half-bloods are walking monster bait. i’d be an idiot if i didn’t have any celestial bronze on me.” 

to emphasize his point, luke tucked your switchblade carefully back into your pocket. he moved his hand to the hem of your shirt. it was your instinct to keep him from lifting it up, and he stopped when he noticed your hesitation.

“i’m just trying to see how bad it is,” he informed. his lips then formed a bemused grin. “besides, i’ve already seen everything.”

“shut up,” but you smiled weakly even if it made your cheek hurt.

the skin where kelli had kicked you was turning an alarming shade of purple. luke tried to touch it, but you let out a sharp breath when pain emanated across your ribcage, and he recoiled. 

“okay, we need to get you —”

“i’m fine,” you groaned. you struggled to stand up, but you urged yourself to walk away. in your mind, the scales were already balanced. 

the moral, logical side of you was in danger of yielding to the wicked desire you always tried to suppress — to be with luke, even once more, just like old times. your quest for vengeance could only be stopped by your hunger for something more, and you needed distance from him before you gave in too much.

“i don’t need your help,” you insisted. “i protected you from kelli, and you gave me the sword that saved my life. we’re even.”

you started to limp away, but luke grabbed your side before you could get too far. you yelped at the contact.

“sorry,” he winced. “just — let me at least get you to a hospital.”

“what do i look like, a rockefeller?” you scoffed, and then grimaced when it felt like a giant was crushing you from the inside out. “i can’t afford that. i have some emergency nectar and ambrosia at my place, anyways.”

“let me at least get you back there, then. please.” he grabbed your hand. “i owe you.”

looking into those deep brown eyes, something in your stomach snapped. 

bad habits were always the hardest to break.

“fine,” you coughed. “but one wrong move, and i swear: i’ll go full vampire slayer and pierce a wooden stake through your heart.”

luke nodded once, lips curling into a smile. “seems fair.”

you groaned as luke wrapped his arms around your waist to keep you steady, his hold terribly familiar as he carried you back home. 

(vii. he loved you — and you weren’t sure if that was a fact or a weapon)

your apartment was only a few blocks away. luke must have gotten stronger, because he was able to carry you up the fire escape to avoid too much attention.

“i’m not sure if my roommate is home,” you whispered as luke set you down on the carpet by your bed. “so we should try and be quiet.”

you told him where you kept the supplies. he snuck away and emerged from the bathroom a minute later with clean hands and a first-aid  kit.

luke knelt down in front of you. 

“can i take your shirt off?” 

you nodded, trying to keep your eyes from fluttering closed. you were so bloodied up, more so than you initially let on, so you let luke do whatever he needed to do. he took off your shirt, assessed your injury and apologized when the pressure from his fingers made you wince. he wiped the blood off your lips and coaxed your mouth open to feed you some ambrosia, offer you a sip of nectar. 

there was no doubt about it: luke was taking care of you.

at first, you imagined your bones stitching themselves back together, and maybe some pieces of your heart, too. 

what were the odds that he was manipulating you, though? certainly not zero.

and then you noticed something when he reached over to place the canteen of nectar back with the kit. he was moving slowly, his breathing shallow and fresh blood seeping through his shirt.

“wait. what happened?”

“nothing,” he winced. luke was always good at hiding his pain.

“luke.”

“it was a few days ago. a hellhound bit me when i was trying to escape from….”

kronos’ army. he didn’t need to say it for either of you to remember. 

wordlessly, you switched your positions, led him to prop himself up on the bed frame while you crouched in front of him. 

“can i take this off?”

luke nodded. 

the first thing you noticed was that his muscles were more defined, yet his body was more beat-up than you'd ever seen it. there was a pretty nasty bruise on his shoulder. your eyes traveled down to the bitemark at his hip, and the haphazard stitching job luke must have done to himself. it looked like it could be infected, and with the activity from today, it was no wonder the wound reopened.

like he had done to you just seconds before, you took care of him.

“so…how are our friends?” he exhaled as you ran a cloth over his skin to clean off some of the blood.

our friends. it didn’t feel right that luke could still call them that. 

“i’m guessing you know what happened to chris….” luke grimaced, and you hoped he felt a little guilty at sending one of his best friends into a madness-inducing labyrinth. “clarisse and lena broke up, and neither of them will tell me why. beck is doing fine, always coming up with stuff in the forges. i guess that’s as good as anyone can be now, inventing new weapons for a war none of us wanted.”

you couldn’t help but add that last part. 

“and the kids?” luke asked as though you were divorce parents and he lost the custody battle. 

you looked up at the gray streak in luke’s own hair, remembering that he had manipulated annabeth and percy to hold the weight of the world, a burden that they couldn’t seem to shake.

it made you more than a little uneasy, luke showing any sense of caring for the people he seemed to leave behind and hurt so easily. you wished he hadn’t been so tender and attentive, like all the fighting and animosity had been a bad dream. 

luke just had to make everything so complicated.

“they’re fine, all things considered.”

you didn’t offer anything more, anything less. 

he was quiet for a moment.

“you seem to be doing alright, though?”

you ignored the question completely that time, focusing on getting the job done. you gave luke some ambrosia and nectar, watched as the infection magically disappeared. the wound didn’t completely heal, and there were many bruises that lingered. you were about to give luke some more when he shook his head. 

"you should save the rest for emergencies," he suggested, chin jutting towards your diminishing supplies. "in case something happens."

"is that a threat, castellan?" you asked, only half-joking. 

"no." luke reached out to touch your face, perhaps a move to reassure you, but then he redirected himself. "besides, i'll be fine. just need to cover it with some gauze." 

"you should take a shower before, then. i'll see what we have to eat." 

you helped him up, and sent luke into the bathroom. you changed into clean clothes before going to look for some food.

the ambrosia and nectar made your body feel more powerful than it had in days, even before getting kicked around by a demon cheerleader. no wonder the gods felt invincible, if that was their diet. meanwhile, all you had in your kitchen was a half-empty box of cinnamon poptarts and packets of instant coffee. 

you could hear your roommate singing from behind her closed door. you were quiet in toasting the breakfast pastries, and then slithered back into your room to look for something that would fit luke.

luke didn't hear you knock, so you just entered and closed the door behind you gently. on the bathroom counter, you set a pair of sweatpants that an ex had left behind, along with an oversized shirt of yours. before you could leave, there was a knock on the door. luke heard this one, and poked his head from behind the shower curtain. you gestured at him that you’d take care of it. he nodded, and closed the curtain again.

"yeah?"

"do you have any tampons in there?" your roommate's voice was muffled through the door.

"yeah," you replied. "i'll be out in a minute."

"do you mind if i just come in now? i'm bleeding out, out here." 

you were about to protest, but the doorknob started to turn, and you panicked. you slipped behind the shower curtain with luke, who looked at you wide-eyed. you placed your hand over his mouth before he could say anything. 

you were lucky earlier, that stella's mind was so preoccupied she didn't notice how beat-up luke was. you didn't want to take another chance. you didn't need your roommate asking questions. 

once the sounds of shuffling through cupboards stopped, and you heard a small thank you followed by the door closing, luke bit your palm.

"ow!" you hissed, pulling away from him.

"she's gone,” luke shrugged. “you don't need to muzzle me anymore.”

you rolled your eyes. “i put some clothes out for you, and a clean towel.”

luke caught your wrist before you could leave. 

“wait. my shoulder is killing me. do you mind…would you maybe help me….” 

his question trailed off, and you furrowed your brow when he pointed the shampoo bottle in your direction.

“you practically carried me down 3 blocks and up 4 flights of stairs, but you’re too hurt to wash your own hair?”

“i guess the pain just caught up with me.” his cheeks flushed and he cleared his throat. “sorry, i shouldn’t have —”

something pinched in your chest, hearing him stumble for forgiveness, even if it was so mundane. you caught yourself saying:

“i’ll do it.” 

before you could decide if it was a bad idea or not. you got rid of your shorts and tied your shirt up around your waist to prevent the clothes from getting too wet. luke blushed even more at your panties and exposed stomach, as if he wasn’t fully naked — which you were, of course, trying to ignore.

neither of you said anything as you focused on the task at hand, massaging shampoo and then conditioner into luke’s curls until they were rid of the grime trapped within. all you heard were luke’s soft sighs as your fingers scraped across his scalp and steady stream of water hitting the bathroom tiles. luke seemed so relaxed that his eyelids fluttered closed, and he almost toppled over. with your own sudsy hands, you brought his hands to sit at your waist, steadying him. 

the space was a little foggy, slightly too warm. you and luke had been intimate before, but never like this. it was almost enough to make you forget.

once all the soap was washed away, you brushed your fingers over the scar on his face, down to the sword tattooed along his collarbone, before you realized what you were doing.

“sorry,” you whispered, pulling your hand away.

“it’s okay,” he hummed, and he moved his hand up to brush against the very same tattoo you had on your sternum, touch burning through a layer of cotton.

you wanted his hands elsewhere — around your neck, between your legs.

the water was running cold by then, and it jolted you back to reality.

you had to keep your desires in check. luke was manipulative and cruel and ruthless — you were enemies, not friends or lovers. you weren’t supposed to want him carnally.

you reached behind him to turn the shower off without another word, and left the bathroom so he could get dressed. 

neither of you were armed, but the situation was dangerous. you were barely healing from the claw marks luke left on your life and yet…. 

part of you wanted him to dig his fingers back into those wounds — to feel him again, even if it bled you dry in the end. 

luke’s sword, backbiter, leaned against your windowsill, a menacing reminder of who he had aligned himself with. luke was essentially kronos’ right hand man. he was your enemy.

what were you doing, bringing him into your home, taking care of him and letting him do the same to you?

leaving yourself vulnerable to him, letting your guard down?

now that you thought of it, if his guard was down, you could probably grab your own knife and just —

you heard luke clear his throat and you turned to see him standing in your doorway, shirtless and sweatpants hanging low. it was embarrassing how much you wanted to lap up the drop of water traveling down his chest.

luke must have noticed, so cleared his throat again. your body felt warm all over when you met his gaze, and he gave you an annoyingly confident smirk.

“so, here’s the thing. i’m pretty sure you’re either thinking about wanting to kill me, or wanting to fuck me.” 

you rolled your eyes at his arrogance, but couldn’t help but play along. 

“sounds like you’ve accepted your fate either way.”

“well, i do have a preference,” he quipped. “i just don’t particularly care as long as it's in your hands.”

it didn’t get past you that luke was checking you out, too, eye trailing over the exposed skin of your legs and lingering on where the t-shirt hugged your chest. 

how bad would it be to, for one night, indulge? no concern about what was right or wrong, about titans or gods; no worries about what a prophecy foretold or which side of a war you’re on. 

just you and luke: giving into your own twisted desires, and dealing with the consequences later.

another droplet trickled down luke’s torso. it disappeared underneath the band of his sweatpants, and you just couldn’t take it anymore.

you strode over to him, about to crash your lips into his when —

luke stopped you with a hand wrapped around your neck.

“no kissing,” he warned. 

“what’s the matter?” you smirked. “i thought you liked it when i bite. worried that you’ll turn away from the dark side if i do?”

luke swallowed thickly.

you were taunting him, relishing in how his breath caught in his throat and gaze seemed fixed on your lips.

it was cute, how luke tried to hold onto some semblance of control, but couldn’t hide the slight tremble in his voice. 

“no kissing. that’s my only condition.”

“okay.” you took off your shirt, positioned yourself on the bed to punctuate your point. “as long as you’re fine sleeping with the enemy, castellan.”

luke stared for a few seconds before accepting his fate. 

he caged you in with his arms, settling his hips between your legs. his lips traveled down your tattooed sternum, nipping and sucking and re-bruising your skin until he reached the waistband of your panties. luke pulled it up with his teeth, the elastic snapping back when he let go. you whined his name and he looked up at you with dark eyes. 

“can i?” his breath fanned over your navel, his nails digging into your hips as he waited for your answer.  

“yes. please.”

you hadn’t meant to sound so desperate, but you could feel luke smirk against your inner thigh before sinking his teeth into it. you whimpered, and luke salved his tongue over the area to ease the sting before removing your underwear. he positioned your legs over his shoulder for better access to where you needed him most.

luke manipulated his tongue and fingers in all the ways he knew ruined you. in return, you gripped his black curls, tightly, and uttered praise in all the ways you knew ruined him. 

“just like that, pretty boy,” you encouraged, practically melting into the mattress. it felt so good — dangerously good — to be devoured by luke. “keep doing a good job and i’ll return the favor later.”

luke’s moan vibrated throughout your body and he became harsher, bringing you over the edge. he left a few more bites on your body on his way up to meet you and when he did, luke’s lips and chin were still shining with your release.

you leaned forward slightly to lick it up. you ghosted your mouth over his, and luke groaned when you pulled away.

“no kissing,” you mocked and ran your thumb over his tattooed collarbone. 

luke tightened his grip on your hips, surely leaving bruises for later. his eyes feral, his curls a terrible mess, when he grumbled:

“you’re such a —”

you twisted your calf around luke’s leg and you flipped your positions before he could finish his sentence. he grunted as his back hit the mattress. 

“don’t worry, sweetheart. i’ll still take care of you,” you drawled, starting to trail your tongue down luke’s body, occasionally incorporating your teeth or sucking brutally, imprinting a constellation of bites and bruises. his skin smelled like your pomegranate mango body wash, and it was more than a little intoxicating.

you weren’t soft or gentle, because you knew how luke liked you — rough, raw, a little ruthless. luke once told you that the wounds you left on his body weren’t the type that left him bitter; they were the type of wounds he wished would never heal.   

in a moment of weakness, you left a kiss — just one — on the semi-healed wound on his hip. luke sighed at the gesture and reached a hand down to gently brush his fingers against your cheek. 

“i missed you so much, karma,” luke almost sobbed. 

slightly shaken out of your lust, you weren’t sure whether to smirk at the hold you had on him, or sob at the reality that you missed him too. 

sensing your hesitation, luke removed his hand and told you to continue.  

you made quick work of luke’s sweatpants. luke, already hard and throbbing, didn’t last long with your lips wrapped around him. you swallowed him whole, and then some. 

“always such a good girl for me,” luke praised when you were face to face with him once more. his thumb swiped over your wet lips to gather what you missed. you granted him access to push into your mouth, and luke groaned when you hollowed out your cheeks and sucked his thumb clean. your teeth scraped the skin on his way out. 

what followed was a brief squabble over who should be on top. you won out. 

there you were, luke sitting up against the headboard, you on his lap with his length nestled in your cunt. you scraped your nails down luke’s chest, and then curled your hands around the base of his neck. he gripped either side of your waist, thumbs pressing circles into your skin encouragingly. luke looked up at you in awe, desperate sighs leaving his mouth as you rutted your hips against his. it felt sinful and wonderful, feeling luke buried deep inside you again, stretching you deliciously. the two of you exchanging animalistic grunts as you used the other's body, chased your high.

when you rolled your hips into his at just the right angle, luke’s moans turned into whines. 

“fuck it. please — kiss me.”

you stilled your hips, and luke whined some more. “are you sure?” you asked, breathing heavily.

luke nodded and gently moved you to lay on your back with him hovering over you. he leaned close, nudging the tip of his nose against yours. 

“please,” luke pleaded once more.

his brown eyes looked down at you with such hunger and passion, something deep within you ached. 

you kissed each other harshly, then. you still tasted him on your tongue and yourself on his. his sharp nose cut into your cheek, mouth attacking yours and vice versa. your nails pierced the skin of his shoulder as he resumed thrusting into you at a vicious pace. luke kept gnawing on your bottom lip until he made you bleed. you groaned, and he slipped his tongue back into your mouth to savor your coppery taste.

yes, luke could also be rough and raw and a little ruthless — which you always loved. but you knew, regardless, you were safe with him in that moment. all he wanted was for you to feel good.

you yanked his curls to force luke to look at you. he whimpered at having to detach himself from your lips.

“i missed you too, tiger,” you finally admitted, calling him that old affectionate nickname you promised yourself you would never use again.  “i missed you so fucking much.” 

luke gave you that troublesome smile of his. you connected your lips once more. you wrapped your legs around his waist to bring him impossibly closer, and luke wrapped an arm around your back to do the same. 

it wasn’t long until you both reached your peak, collapsing back onto the soft mattress, chests heaving. you each lied down on your side, facing each other. you admired luke’s mess of curls, his swollen-kiss-bitten lips, the rose-petal bruises you had left.

you wished the post-sex haze lasted longer, but then luke had to disturb it by saying:

“what you said earlier — i never think of you as my enemy, you know.”

you sighed and covered your face with your hand. “luke —”

“never,” luke insisted. he inched closer, took your hand in his and held it to his chest. 

you were overwhelmed by his heartbeat, strong and fast, so you pulled yourself away.

“we’re fighting on different sides,” you pointed out.

you could’ve said more, but all the things that have been said and done already hung heavy in the air, reoccupying the space between you and bursting your brief moment of peace.

“but we’ve always been fighting for the same thing.”

maybe that was true.

in theory, you weren’t against overthrowing the gods. but you couldn't reconcile with everything luke had done, what he was willing to do. you couldn't let your friends and thousands of innocent people die in the name of divine beings who valued power and control over all else. you couldn't hurt or betray people you loved for the sake of revenge, regardless of who your mother is. you couldn't turn that love against them, the way luke had, in search of justice. 

deep down, you knew it wasn’t right to have him there in bed with you. if it was so wicked, sinful, treacherous — then why did you want him to stay?

“i’m not sure they have a word for what we are,” you concede, returning to the conversation moments ago. 

"i guess not."

you let luke bring you into his arms that time. you rested your head against his chest. his heartbeat still steady, but a little slower. you idly traced your fingers across the marks you left on him, and you avoided the ones you didn't.

"how's your shoulder?" 

"it's okay," luke sighed. he lifted your chin between his thumb and forefinger. "whatever we are: i love you." 

those weren’t the words that were meant to make you sick, but your stomach churned — with nausea or desire, you weren’t sure.

you moved to straddle his hips. your eyes glanced over a scar you didn't register until now. the cut you had sliced across his cheek that afternoon he tried to kill percy, and then ran away from camp. you had a similar one that he had given you during that same struggle. 

matching tattoos, matching scars. there really was no word for what you and luke were to each other. 

"i love you too.”

at some point throughout the night, with luke’s strong arms wrapped around you and your legs intertwined beneath tangled sheets, it occurred to you that luke must have tracked you down for a particular reason.

maybe he was here to convince you to join kronos' army, to help him overthrow the gods and burn the world as you knew it; maybe he was here to break your heart all over again, just for the sick thrill of it; maybe he did just want to have one more night together, enemies or otherwise. maybe, maybe, maybe.

luke’s soft snores lulled you to sleep, and you couldn’t bring yourself to care about the scales of justice.

you'd figure it out in the morning. then you'd decide whether or not he deserved a blade to the heart.

[breathinlove]

airport crush ellie williams drabble

read this

cw: none?? js cuteness and v poor writting.

u are both coming back for school after spring break? she had missed her friends and dad. for u, u js wanted to take ur summer clothes to uni.

this cute girl stares at u in line for the boarding... are u actually gonna be sitting in the same plane as her? she might faint!!! mmm she's staring and u can feel her green eyes burning the back of your neck so u turn around and she TRIES to be subtle and look somewhere else. u fucking grin, she's lowkey scared of u... u are sooo pretty!!! someone help her!!!

u are both getting on the plane and she doesn't know if she wants u to sit next her or if that's the last thing she wants... but naturally, since u are soooo lucky u got sat in the front line next to an arrogant lil man and his teenage son. how lovely!!! ellie on the other hand, got sat next to A MOTHER W A BABY??? god it was boutta be a flight.

when u looked around, she looked at u as if ud known each other for ages and mouthed "save me" so u mouthed "save me" god u hadn't even said hi to each other, she was embarrassed but... u went along w it so.

u were thinking, and sure the mother was comfortable back there but u remembered when ur aunt had ur cousin she asked to sit at the front lines. when ellie saw u getting up her eyes shined, like actually, she looked like an anime character right there. u fought ur awkwardness and started talking to the mother sat next to ellie.

"excuse me, would u wanna sit in first line? there's much more space for u and ur baby's stuff. u'd probably be way more comfortable." oh, u were such a sweetheart, ellie is inlove w u already.

the lady actually took the offer. she thanked u and gave u a lil shoulder caress. u both exchanged seats and well everyone's happy i guess!

not everyone, ellie's scared.

she's sat next to this sweet caring selfless girl, who happens to be soooo sooo soooooo pretty. she's terrified and she thinks she might be feeling more than js butterflies in her stomach.

"hi..." she mutters. "saved us both right there."

"sure did." u smiled, putting ur seat belt on, she forgot those... she started putting it on immediately. u chuckled and told her ur name.

"that's pretty, i'm williams, i mean, i'm ellie williams. mmm erm, just ellie." she, is, adorable.

"that's real long and pretty." she dropped her head in embarrassment. "where are u going, ellie?"

she coughed and started talking about going back to college and u kinda yelled "same!", bro why was this convo the most embarrassing ever?(,#&@&@ turns outtttttt u went to the same college!!! wowza...

"no way." she deadpaned.

"yes way, ellie..." u giggled and so did she.

u 2 talked ab ur majors and shit, nothing crazy but ellie was js so cutesy likeeee omg she's so awkward she's kind of a nerd :((( she tried acting cool tho but u were js so pretty and nice she got shy.

she couldn't believe u actually fell asleep while u 2 watched the exact same movie on ur tiny screens... 30m in. she had js met u and she got the honor of seeing u peacefully sleeping. u were outrageously embarrassed when u woke up at the end of the flight tho.

ellie asked for ur number before u even left the plane, thinking you'd would say goodbye then. but... u still had to go all the way out of the airport and grab a taxi. it was awkwardly silent, saying bye and walking side by side for like 6 minutes before she got closer and said "i guess not goodbye." what kind of sentence is that???

u talked ab music and u found out ellie played guitar, u were so happy ab it?? she didn't get why but she felt cool and mentioned she had her own songs and u beggedddddd to listen to them. bro she js thought u were so attractive SOMEONE SHOOT HERRRRR RN. u thought the exact same... like... u play guitar AND write ur own songs??

talked and talked until u both found a taxi, because when she found one, she decided to leave it for u but u wanted her to have it, so u both idiots let someone else have it and waited till 2 taxis were available??^÷×&*!*@

after getting home u waited for a text from her, dying to hear from her. you got it!!!

[descendantsramblings]

Hi! I literally LOVED your morgie fic! I was just wondering if I could maybe request something like the siren scene from sinbad where reader is sailing with hook and his crew and they all become like entranced by the sirens and reader saves the day and at the end hook is like super proud of her? Sorry if that made like no sense😭

Ahh! I won’t lie I’ve never seen Sinbad so I had to go watch the scene but now I’m gonna have to watch the whole movie. I’m taking some creative liberties obviously to avoid making this toooo much like the movie but I literally LOVE the concept of this. Also, I made the reader Harry’s mom in the future, I hope that’s okay but I wanted to make a fic of them reminiscing when Hook sells the Jolly Roger to Uma anyway so I kinda used this as a “two birds one stone” situation. You made perfect sense, Baby, don’t you worry!

Also!! I saw that crowpickingss also got a very similar request and i didn't read his yet because I was scared of accidently getting inspiration from it, just to be clear.

Call of the Sirens

Captain James Hook x Pirate!Reader

Pronouns Used: she/her/hers

Summary: Hook and his wife retell the tale of when she saved a whole pirate crew from the song of sirens.

Warnings: a touch of swearing, the pirate crew is a little sexist to the reader, sirens are their own warning around these parts, death mentions but mainly in passing, concubine mention, pet names but with my writing that's basically a given, underage alcohol mention

Word Count: 2.2K

     “I just can’t believe you’re selling the old girl,” she shakes her head as she speaks, looking over the ship she’d loved so much in her youth. The body of mighty oak and rope that held the hand of her wanderlust way of life until it landed her behind the barrier of the Isle, deeming her one of the lost simply by being in the Captain’s crew. (Y/n) loved being a pirate, the salty spray that seemed to constantly coat her skin and hair, the rum and laughter on warm nights, the adrenaline rush when something would begin to go wrong. Everything about being a member of the Jolly Roger’s crew set her heart on fire. Even if it did get her deemed a villain, it gave her more than life outside the barrier ever could. 

    “Darling, she’s run her course with us,” he sighs, strutting across the deck to lovingly cradle his wife’s face, “Time for her to host a new set of teenager’s wanderlust egos has come so we can grow old together.” She looks over his shoulder as her son and his two best friends inspect the ship, the niece of their old dear friend seeming to glow as she studied the old body of the boat. “I’m surely going to miss this boat, she was too good to us.” He hums, shaking his head as he can’t fight the smile that threatens his features, “She got us into a world of trouble.” The comment leads the teenagers closer to them, Harry leading as he gets closer to his parents. “That’s not fair and you know it,” (Y/n) shakes her head as she raises a finger to tap against his nose, “You got us into all that trouble, not the Jolly Roger.” “If I remember right,”  he dips her down, smirking down at the glare of the sun on her face, “You seemed to be the one getting us out of it. A right hero you were, aye?” 

      Harry cringes as his father leans down to place a teasing kiss on his mother’s lips, letting out a forced gag that anyone who knew the Hooks would know was playful. “Sounds like Mom was the Captain then.” It causes Hook’s head to snap up, glaring daggers at his son. “I’m the captain, I will always be the Captain. Your mother was just the best under pressure.” She laughs, standing back up and walking to her son, brushing off his shoulders and fixing his collar as she speaks, “I wasn’t even first mate, your father would’ve never let me in on the action by choice. But someone had to keep an even mind on the old girl, you wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t. The two of us would’ve been well past dead before we even turned eighteen.” She shoots a look back at her husband, taking in the adoring look on his face as he watches the two of them, “Especially that one.” 

     “Had I not been so scared to lose her, she would’ve made a fine first mate,” his hook slinks around her waist, looping into a belt loop as he kisses her cheek. “You threatened it once.” “Aye,” he turns his attention to his son and his friends, truly making a show of the exchange, “I’ve never been so proud of her. Saved me and our whole crew.” Harry nods, looking between them, “So the day that I was born would be second?” Hook waves his good hand, “Third.” It catches him a swat to the chest, leading him to chuckle. “Darling, tell them about the sirens.” 

   “Sirens? You faced sirens?” Uma stares at the woman as if she’s the coolest thing on the seven seas, wide eyes aglow with excitement, “No one faces sirens and lives to tell the tale.” The woman smiles, shaking her head, “We wouldn’t have, if the siren song worked on women, or dogs.” “Dogs?” Harry looks at her with confusion, “We used to have a dog?” “I used to have a dog, Cocktail. He was the best dog a girl could’ve had, bless him. They took him from me when we got put on the Isle.” The kids watch her intently, each taking a seat on the deck like dominos falling in a line “Well, get on with it Momma.” 

                                  🪼⋆.ೃ࿔*:･🪼⋆.ೃ࿔*:･🪼⋆.ೃ࿔*:･🪼

     Caves were never her thing. Open waters, lagoons, abandoned islands, she’d take anything over sailing through caves. “James,” her voice is soft as she approaches him, hand slipping onto the steering Captain’s shoulder, “You know how I feel about caves.” She hated to sound whiny, weak. She gave the crew enough reason to think she didn’t belong there. Certain members of the crew even spoke to her as if she was nothing more than James’ concubine. But caves had an evil air to them that the girl couldn’t stand. Nothing good ever came from one, and she was positive that one of these days one would crash in on them. The unstable caverns tended to do so to overzealous explorers.

      “Yeah, Captain, you know she’s too much of a scaredy cat to go through a cave. She’s gotta whine the whole time, in case it gets her,” Starkey teases, rolling his eyes before turning back to his conversation with Turk. She glares daggers at him; next time Tick tock came by she wouldn’t think twice about tossing his brutish ass overboard. Let the creature have him instead of the captain. “It’s just the fastest route, Darling. We’ll be out of here in no time,” he pays no mind to his crew as he addresses her worries, sending her a cocky grin over his shoulder. She sighs, giving him a nod as she goes back to her previous seat on the deck of the ship, Cocktail resting his head back on her thigh as she did. Her hand finds its way to the top of his head, nails scratching gently against his skin as she tries to think of anything but how uncanny the cave was. With its muggy atmosphere and dark edges. Rigid calcium buildups hanging from the ceiling with sharp rocks jutting out the water. The air around her smelt dank and the dripping of water from the ceiling's build ups coupled with the odd harmony that hung in the air was enough to drive her insane. 

      The harmony? Since when did caves have their own harmonies? What is that sound?

She gets up to head back over to her lover, Cocktail hot on her heels as she does. “Aye, Captain?” He hums, seemingly not paying attention to her. “Do you hear that? There’s something off about this cave.” She waited for another snarky comment to come from the rest of the crew but nothing does. Carefully, as her hand finds its foundation on James’ shoulder, her eyes scan the deck. Every man on the ship seemed to stare off, a strange haze taking over their faces. Cocktail begins to bark at her side, nose pointed at the edge of the ship in alert.  She looks back to James, the same haze over his face, hand losing the grip he had on the steering wheel. Something about this place was entirely wrong; cursed. That’s what it was, there was some sort of black magic that hung in the air around the place. She just couldn't quite put her finger on what it was.

    (Y/n) grabs hold of the steering wheel, holding it steady as she looks around in the water. Faint ripples and flashes of large black and deep violet tails. The melody began to make sense, and she took a moment to wonder how the group had been lucky enough to avoid the creatures until now. Never the wisest in their adventures. Seems it was catching up to them now. 

   “Captain,” she bumps his hip with hers as she speaks, earning no response from his statuesque form. “James,” her fingers snap in his face, not stirring so much as a blink from the boy. “Mr. Smee?” He’s looking over the edge of the ship, blowing a kiss to one of the creatures in the water. “Starkey? Tusk?” Nothing, they were all entranced. Everything had to fall on her now, the realization of it all making her stomach feel as if it was in her throat. Heart beating so loud that it sounds like cannon fire between her ears as she pushes James off of his post. Lip between her teeth as she catches the wheel again, attempting to pull it steady from the way his body weight had swung it right. 

    Water splashes over the sides of the deck from where the sirens beckon to her crew,  the men heading further to the edge as they do. She was losing them, and Hades as her witness (Y/n) was not ready to lose the crew that she’d learned to see as her own twisted form of a family. She leans down as far as she’ll allow herself to, “Cocktail, baby, you're going to have to help me here.” Her fingers grasp around a rope, tossing it to her beloved pet, “Go 'round the deck.” The mastiff takes off, dashing forward with the rope clenched between his teeth, wrapping the crew up in the harsh lead. It was rough, surely something that would catch her hell later, but it was tight enough to stop them. “Good boy, my god, you’re such a good boy.” She calls, focusing her energy back onto steering the ship. She could see the exit of the dreadful dugout now and if she could just avoid the rock to her left they’d be out free. Sirens hated the daylight, thank Merlin she’d remembered to attend class that day. 

     As she focuses on steering she notices the rise of something maroon in the corner of her eye. James making his way to the edge of the ship, the song getting louder as the siren realized she’d soon have control of the ship’s Captain. And (Y/n), unsure whether it be from love or jealousy, could not let that happen. “Cocktail,” her voice is stressed and jagged, catching the dog’s attention as his head tilts. “Go get Hook!” The large ball of fur barrels forward, entrapping the man’s good arm between his jaws. It solicits a sharp gasp from the pirate, Hook attempting to rip his arm from the dog’s mouth with little success as he tries to reach forwards for the dreadful creature calling out to him. Instead, Cocktail throws his head back, sending the boy stumbling into (Y/n). His lips crash against hers but it’s not right. Sloppy and hazy, like a kiss after a few too many drinks. If only true love’s kiss could work on a siren’s song, she’d have help instead of his dead weight pressed against her. It makes her feel uneasy, shoving her boyfriend off of her as she attempts to regain control of the wheel he’d knocked astray yet again. Just a few hundred more feet and one ugly jagged rock until she’d be far enough into the light that the creatures would lose their control on her ship’s crew. She was almost there. 

     What (Y/n) had no way of knowing  was that there would be a waterfall at the end of the cave. The girl making it all the way to the edge just to plummet to the lower seas. Body being thrown to the ground and on top of the captain's, holding her breath as she waits for the worst. The way their bodies all slam back into the deck as the ship’s hull hits the water again seems to stir something in the crew. Hook sitting back up with a firm grip settling on her, hand ghosting over her cheek. “What the hell happened?” She only laughs, grabbing his face and kissing him as if she was never coming up for air. (Y/n) could feel the stress melt from her shoulders as she leaned further into the boy’s lips, near whining against them. He’s the first to pull back, brows furrowed as he stares into her eyes. “My love, what happened.” She shakes her head, “You drove us into a siren’s lair is what happened,” a soft slap falls to his chest, “No more caves.” Each word is said as if it's punctuated, an accusatory finger hitting his chest as she says them.

     “I hate to agree with the girl,” Starkey sighs, attempting to undo the rope around him and the rest of the crew, “But no more caves, Captain.” The statement is followed by the rest of the crew, each member seeming to suddenly share the girl’s hatred of caves. “Alright alright,” he pushes her off his lap to stand as Cocktail makes his way over to his owner. “No more caves. Though,” he looks around his ship, nodding in approval, “It seems you may have a rival for first mate, Smee. My girl did a darling job of taking care of my ship and my crew, look at this.” He looks to her with a genuine smile before leaning down to untie his crew, “A marvelous job, Darling.” Starkey glares at the Captain, a breath of jealousy in his eyes, “Says the man who doesn’t currently have rope burn.” The comment earns him a hook under his chin, Hook’s eyes squinting as they look into his own, “I’d watch your mouth matey. Seems to me that she just saved your life.” 

[anonymous-existences]

Chapter 1 : Red Tainted Walls

Summary for the Stories and chapters going forward :33:

They Found Out... His Parents found out.. And Worst Case Scenario Happened.. Heh— I guess I spooked them too much with my new identity. They opened him up as if he was already dead and Jazz ran to Get Help from Dan. But it hurt so much.. Please Arrive Quickly.. Please save me... Just like before. Or This is a story about how Danny gets De-aged because of Jack and Maddie's doing, Dan and Danny are basically twins but Danny just got De-aged and now Dan needs to be the adult after They killed jazz. Vlad then sends them to Gotham to apparently find their Biological Father. Dan also experiences Teenage Social Anxiety and totally losing his shit about it!

TW : Graphic Depictions of Vivisection, Violence, Child Abuse, Child Murder, possible Descriptions of Gore and Medical Malpractices.

Happy Reading!

[𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐲-𝐅𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫]

[𝙾𝚌𝚝𝚘𝚋𝚎𝚛 21𝚜𝚝, 8:35 𝙰𝙼, 𝙵𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚘𝚗𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚔𝚜 𝙻𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢]

"Dad Please— Listen! It's still me! I'm still Danny! Mom!" Danny cried out as tears roll down his cheeks overflowing from his eyes as he Watches in horror.

"Shut it Ecto-Scum! How dare you use our Precious Son's Body to Deceive us!" Maddie Yelled and continues to point her gun at Danny, Danny was Horrified, He was scared of how they'd reacted, He only wanted to be honest with his parents thinking that maybe... Maybe they'll accept him..

"Mom! Dad! Please! That's still Danny!! Listen to me!!" Jazz cried out in the other side of the room as Jack restrained her, rendering her unable to get close to protect Danny from their Mother.

"Please.. I'm Danny... I'm still your Son..." He sniffled, tears flowing out even more as Maddie looked at him as if he was nothing more than... A monster...

"Shut it! You will pay the price of messing with the Fentons and Deceiving Us!" Maddie grit her teeth and furrowed her brows as she aggresively yanked and dragged Danny who was still sitting on the floor, she was dragging him down to the Laboratory.

Danny cried out to Jazz and Jack, Jazz called back.. "Jazz... Look.. that's not Danny anymore.. Danny is Dead." Jack tries to convince Jazz but Jazz Wasn't budging. "I KNOW MY BROTHER JACK! GIVE HIM BACK!" She cried out sobbing uncontrollably.

Maddie shut the door to the laboratory and Jazz could no longer hear Danny. Neither could Danny Hear her. He kept crying out but then Maddie put a tight collar on his throat and it send waves of electric shocks throughout his body making him scream out in pain.

It reminded him of his death and it made his body spasm the way when he became a Halfa. It terrified him even more, Maddie then forcibly put a Muzzle on him to "keep him quiet" she says. Danny tried to reason with Maddie but everytime he tries to she sends another wave of electrical Shocks through his body and so he just fell silent.

Maddie threw him in a cage like some sort of Injured Monster that needed containment at once.

His tears wouldn't stop flowing, they kept falling and thus he sobbed uncontrollably in the Containment Cell, Danny saw the Ghost Blobs staring at him with worry, they're buzzing with sadness and grief over what's happening to him, his heart aches as he tries to reach for them but couldn't...

His core ached and wrenched at the thought of what Jack and Maddie are about to do to him and it's like he can already see that Maddie was preparing surgical equipment... He felt like an innocent frog Infront of high school students ready to study his Innards..

Jack and Maddie are the Highschoolers. The only difference is he's already dead in the first place... And they can do anything they want with him because of the Laws.

May God be his only hope now.

Ancients Save the Ghost Prince.

[9:00 𝙰𝙼, 𝙰𝚖𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚔]

The Guys In White/Ghost Investigation Ward has arrived. They have higher advanced technology now, it seems as though when they were gone they were advancing their technology to find ghosts more accurately.

They put the Whole Town in Lockdown claiming that there's people that's Ecto-Contaminated and needed to be terminated before they become a threat...

But..

Those are children.

They've killed nearly everyone, some has already tried to call the Justice League again in desperation but they ignored their pleas thinking that this was a Prank Call.

It was just like before, they kept thinking they were prank calls after A child tried to ask for help because the whole town was sucked into the afterlife.

Jazz ran through the streets evading the Ghost Investigation Ward and heading to Vlad Masters. She needed to tell Dan, Knowing Vlad he won't be able to help because this is probably all Clockwork's Scheme for "Danny's Future Betterment", Jazz couldn't stop the tears forming from her eyes as she kept running.

The GIW has already terminated the children in cold blood.

Some younger than 10. Some teens. And 2 of those teens were Sam Manson, one of Danny's best friends as they have concluded that because of how long they've been around Danny that Danny had contaminated them and that they're no longer safe for everyone around them and themselves as well.

The Mansons tried to stop The GIW from shooting their beloved daughter but the GIW unfairly concluded that they were being overshadowed by their daughter thus they killed the Mansons in Cold Blood.

How unfair must this world be that even the so called Justice League wouldn't even hear their calls of help. They needed help from the heroes but it seems they're always too focused on other Matters... And that the safety of some Somewhere Middle of Nowhere Illinois Amity Park was not deemed "important" enough to be saved. It made Jazz's Heart Clench at the thought of how Danny was right.

The heroes didn't care. She kept running nontheless through the crowd of horrified people trying to stop the GIW from killing more of the Amity Parkers.

Eventually she reached Vlad's Mansion, she busted in through the door taking Dan Aback. "Jazz? Why are you crying? What's happening?" Dan asks immediately and getting closer to Jazz as soon as he saw her.

"Jasmine? Is everything alright dear?" Vlad asks as well in worry. Upon seeing them Jazz just Broke Down in overwhelming tears, "Oh G-god.... Hic.. they have Danny Vlad!" She utters as Vlad tries to put his hands on her shoulders trying to console her... "who has Danny? The GIW?" Vlad asks and hugs Jasmine who couldn't stop crying.

"Jack and Maddie! Jack and Maddie has Jack has Danny Vlad! They have my baby brother! My precious baby brother! They said they're going to o-pen him up! And that they'll torture him if he doesn't bring back Danny they say but that's already Danny and they won't listen, they said I must have been under control— and—AND THEY HAVE MY BABY BROTHER!" She yelled out sputtering words of panic as her breathing quickens and Vlad shushing her calming her down first before she has a panic attack.

"The Guys In White... They've killed people Vlad. Innocent People. They've claimed they're Ecto-Contaminated! And— and— Danny's friends are dead... Only a few aren't... Well I guess they're more of bullies than friends except Wes I guess but—" Jazz still sputtering words in a panic. "Jasmine! Dear.... Calm down alright?" Vlad calms her down and she slowly breathes slower in a normal pace before wiping away her unstoppable tears.

"What..." Vlad was flabbergasted and horrified to say the least and Dan looked Livid. "Please... Please Vlad... Help me... Help Danny.. P-Please..." She sobs in Vlad's Arms. "Okay... Okay okay— i— I will help." Vlad says stuttering and looked at Dan. "Dante... Will help...." Vlad says again and Dan just nods.

Jazz nods and embraced Vlad tightly, Vlad was distraught. Maddie? His Maddie? What... His Maddie had— she had... She wanted... She wanted to kill her son? Her precious son? Daniel? Danny? What...

His core ached in pain and suppressing these emotions of horror and Fear inside him that's slowly stirring up anger. Slowly his.. Obsession towards Maddie weakened because of this realization that she is more of a monster than him.

[3 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝]

"I'm sorry I can't... Come with you two..." Vlad says his core aching in regret. "It's alright Vlad... Please... We both know that... That their work.. their weapons will immediately turn on you even if you are their friend... Dan can atleast hide his.... Ecto-stuff somehow... But not you.. thank you nontheless..." Jazz says, her eyes with a soft gentle gaze as Vlad nodded, Ellie was by Vlad's Feet and smiling happily at Jazz and Dan.

"I'll be going with Jazz Now Vlad. I'll see you later once we get Danny." Dante reassures Vlad which made Vlad sigh and nodded in silence again. Jazz and Dante walked off into back into the main city of Amity Park. What they saw was heartbreaking..

Those who were killed were left on the park itself and the people of the town is burying them In tears... Why must they suffer like this? Why the children? Why? Dan asks himself, He knows.. he's killed... But... That's something else because he was under control sort but these..

These humans, they killed their kind in cold blood just because they were slightly different. "Danny?" The two hears a saddened female voice behind them. "It's Dante. Not Danny." Dante looked Back behind him. "Dash Baxter... You survived huh.." Dante says bluntly with a cold tone.

"Yeah I guess... Where's... Where's Danny?" Dash asks nervously and averted his gaze.. "They Killed... Uhm... Kwan... Star barely survived... Paulina is not fine tho..." Dash says following the two." Dante pulls him closer and hugs him to comfort the poor teenager. Dash just broke down, "They... They killed my friends... I—..." He sobbed, his jacket was still tainted with blood from his friend Kwan.

"I know... I'm sorry... Look... Danny is in danger.... Do you think you can help us?" Dante asks and Dash nodded.. "yk what... I'm tired of... Being me... So... I will help... That's the only thing I can do." Dash nods and the three ran towards Fenton works but as they do so they encounter Valerie Gray, Red Huntress.

"Where's Phantom." She asks bluntly without greetings, her voice hoarse and Rough presumably from crying. "Fenton Laboratory... They Have Danny." Jazz says and walks past her.

"Let me come with you .. I want to Save him too." Val says from behind Jazz. "Do what you want to do Valerie... The longer we pause the longer he suffers. Valerie nods and ran with them with her board.

[𝙵𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚘𝚗 𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚔𝚜 , 6:35 𝙿𝙼]

Dash tackled open the door, "God that's one tough door you have—" he says as he pats his numbing shoulder. And they all went inside, "I'll get the metal Door." Dante says and slams it open with force.

They saw Danny in ghost form strapped on the table bleeding out unconscious. "oh my god.." dash looked away unable to look at what the Fenton's did to Danny.

They weren't home which was good but also bad at the same time as that meant they're probably somewhere with the GIW. Valerie and Jazz rushed to Danny's Side. Dante found a stitch. "Let me." Dante says as Valerie kept Danny pumped to a new bag of Pure Ectoplasm as Dante quickly stitched his Wounds with Ecto Fishing Lines. Although a bit rough to the sides he didn't care right now. What we cares about is Danny's Livelihood.

Dante was holding back his tears and Valeria Checked the Collar on Danny's neck. "I can take off the muzzle but I don't know about the collar..." She says "take off the Muzzle.. Quickly Val..." Jazz says as she held onto the IV bag of Pure Ectoplasm that's keeping Danny Alive.

Dash was guarding by the door of the basement making sure the Fenton's aren't home yet. He was scared, nervous even, regretful as well.. Amity Park is no longer a safe place to live. It's no longer a home.

Val quickly removed the Collar with Utmost Care and Tossed it away, She Frantically looked at Dan who was finishing up the last stitches.

"... Done. Let's scram!" Dante carried Danny gently and Ran up the stairs and Dash followed the 3, running out the door and into the street far from FentonWorks they hope. "Oh my Danny... Finally... We're finally getting Danny out.... Finally he's Saf—" they heard a gunshot and Jazz Fell to the ground. The other 3 froze. "JAS—" Valerie pushed Dash away and he barely dodged another Bullet.

They saw the Fenton's and GIW Behind them. Dash was terrified but Urged Dante to keep running. "JASMINE!" Valerie yelled out as she shielded herself from the gunshots.

"Go.... Just....G-go... Please... Keep Danny sa—" she was shot another time and this time it hit her head. She bled out on the side walk and Valerie was in utter shock, the Fenton's just killed their daughter... Oh my god... Her heart was racing and she flew away with her board and shield still covering her.

Dante had made themselves Invisible and Running into the Forest. Valerie had a tracker on them to make sure he can keep up on them. Why must them, children be the only logical people in this town. Why must the adults be the one to be the monsters... Valerie did not know... But at the moment she couldn't care. What cared for more is what's gonna happen in the future.

What will be the future for them?

"𝕋𝕚𝕞𝕖 𝕎𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕋𝕖𝕝𝕝"

[eclecticqueennerd]

Soldier Boy as a Girl Dad

Ben was elated when he learned he was going to be a dad. He saw it as a chance to have something he never got when he was a kid. He was disappointed to learn that you were having a girl, but once you gave birth man oh man did his worldview change drastically.

Ben’s view was the woman to stays in the home and pumps out babies while the man goes to work and brings home the bacon. Ben was always a misogynistic ass, less so with you, but now he was just an ass. He did not want his daughter to grow up in a world where she was only treated as a Broodmare. No, he wanted her to rule the world.

Early on he taught his daughter how to fight and protect herself from bullies, which would occur due to her dad being a supe. You’d often tell Ben to stop, “Ben, we have to talk to the teachers and let them handle it.” “Oh, come on y/n, you know how they handle bullying there. No daughter of mine is going to be a damsel in distress.” It wasn’t until you got a call from the elementary school principal saying that your 6-year-old daughter punched her bully at school. You went to get your daughter from the principals’ office and as you left with your daughter and Ben in tow, you heard him say, “Show me where you punched him.” Out of the corner of your eye you’d see your daughter make a fist and place it on Ben’s chin. Ben let out a loud chuckle, “Atta girl.”

Pre-Teen years were awful. Your daughter became less of a daddy’s girl and more of a bratty teenager. Whenever Ben would try to connect with her, he was always met with attitude, eye rolls with constant saying of ‘that’s so lame’. You’d back Ben up by telling your daughter to snap out of it, but was met with hostility, “What are you going to do about it mom? You’re just a normie.” By this time her powers were developing, and strength was one of the first skills. It wasn’t until Ben had to save her from a supe terrorist, who fucked with the wrong dad, that her attitude towards the two of you changed.

Teen years your daughter became more mellow and hung out with the two of you more. Ben even taught her how to spar and use her powers appropriately. He’d teach her how to drive and how to do her math homework. “What do you mean they want you to do it that way, my way is easier.” “It’s called Common Core math dad. Everyone has to learn it.” Every time Ben helped her with math, he’d become frustrated and soft glowing would emit from his chest. You quickly found a tutor for your daughter, as we don’t need another explosion like Moscow happening again.

When it came to your daughter’s first date, Ben almost blew a gasket. “We should talk to her about safe sex.” “SAFE SEX?!” “Yes Ben. Teenagers have sex and we need to prepare her and make sure she understands that protection is important.” Suffice to say you handled that conversation. When the boy came over to pick your daughter up, he made the poor mistake of cracking a joke, “We’ll sir I’m surprised you’re not sitting there cleaning a gun with how your daughter talks about you.” “Son, I don’t need a gun to kill you.” Ben scared that poor boy off after the first date.

When your daughter left for college, Ben was trying his best to keep his shit together. Watching her car drive down the road you ask, “Was it everything you were hoping it would be?” Ben chuckles, pulls you close, and wipes a tear trailing down his cheek. He said, “Better than what I could have hoped for.”

[rayshippouuchiha]

I remembered your idea about Grimmjow mentoring Izuku and I have world building/background.

Grimm got to the bnha universe because some idiots were trying to summon a demon to kill some heroes and since there aren't any in universe the magic spell outsourced. The idiots did not survive their stupidity. Grimm is really annoying because he's pretty sure it's going to take at least a year to get home.

Finding and starting to teach Izuku delayed his plans, but not by too much. Grim figures he'll just wait for the kid to die and bring Izuku's soul back with him. Classic Arrancar adoption tactics.

Inko is a little uncomfortable with a demon adopting her son with a plan of making him another demon, but honestly Izuku's just so happy these days that she's cool with it. She does the paperwork to make Grim a distant relative.

People in the bnha universe don't really have reiatsu but they still have souls. Grim just has to teach izuku to reform his soul so it's bleach style instead. He's pretty sure that any of the many mad scientists he knows would tell him it's impossible, but izuka did it anyways so there.

For paperwork they claim that it's a family inherited work that is super finicky and requires a lot of control and often doesn't activate without life or death danger or knowing how to activate it beforehand. Which it is true, using reiatsu for stuff more complicated than "be stronger and hardier," let alone kidou, takes decades of learning. Even if hollow style kidou is easier to learn, it's not by that much. Grim mostly focuses Izuku on learning the basics of combat and maybe sonido.

Izuku ends up good at kicking people in the face like canon, but he also has throwing knives and a tanto to complete the danger gremlin evolution.

He kicks Bakugou in the face and breaks his nose. Their relationship isn't great but it's not as awful as in cannon.

Grimmjow is setting up connections with the villain community one day when he hears about some mysterious, powerful fucker called All For One. He hasn't eaten in a while, and that seems like someone no one will miss so he eats out for the day. The villain underground immediately falls into chaos but that isn't his problem.

Coincidentally, Inko's deadbeat husband finally stopped sending money. (Whether he's AfO or just some asshole who died in the chaos is up to you.) She shrugs and moves on. She saved and invested most money he gave them anyways.

Grim ends up running a dojo. First he just needs space to teach Izuku but I firmly believe that despite his general misanthropic tendencies he actually likes kids, so the whole thing balloons pretty fast. He ends up with this weird teenager who calls himself Dabi as an assistant, since the kid already knew how to fight pretty well.

With an actual support system Dabi ends up significantly less burned and significantly more sane. He works as a vigilante, killing marital and child abusers. He's really uncertain about what to do about Endeavor, because he wants to kill him but the man also scares the shit out of him, and he doesn't want to free his siblings just to put them in the spotlight. Grimmjow is less than zero help, but Inko gives him a big hug and helps him start to set up a legal case if that's what he decides to do. He's like Izuku's weird, obnoxious older cousin.

Speaking of the lov, Kurogiri got out and took Shigaraki with him when AfO died. They end up picking up the rest of the league overtime. All the kids try to convince Kurogiri to reach back out to his friends from when he was Oboro. They might or might not be vigilantes.

What are you talking about, this isn't a fix it fic.

The UA staff are deeply baffled when they meet Izuku's guardians: the sweetest little lady you ever did meet and what Aizawa is pretty sure is an actual, literal demon from hell. In hindsight, though, it makes sense.

Thank you for the idea! Sorry for shoving this thing in your inbox.

Never apologize because this is fantastic.

[cal-daisies-and-briars]

I’m not 100% sure you’re still taking these, but if you aren’t I hope you’ll maybe save this one for a rainy day?

I’m loving the trans!Eddie stuff so 🧜🏻‍♂️🧜🏼‍♂️🧜🏼‍♂️🧜🏼‍♂️🧜🏼‍♂️🧜🏼‍♂️🧜🏼‍♂️🧜🏼‍♂️🧜🏼‍♂️🧜🏼‍♂️🧜🏼‍♂️🧜🏼‍♂️🧜🏼‍♂️🧜🏼‍♂️🧜🏼‍♂️🧜🏼‍♂️🧜🏼‍♂️🧜🏼‍♂️🧜🏼‍♂️🧜🏼‍♂️🧜🏼‍♂️🧜🏼‍♂️🧜🏼‍♂️🧜🏼‍♂️🧜🏼‍♂️🧜🏼‍♂️🧜🏼‍♂️🧜🏼‍♂️🧜🏼‍♂️🧜🏼‍♂️🧜🏼‍♂️🧜🏼‍♂️🧜🏼‍♂️. And then I am *always* jonesing for some throuple stuff so take some 🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼 too!

I always am! I just update my key when things change.

And thank you so much! Glad you're excited for these.

99 for 🧜🏼‍♂️:

---

“Sorry!” Buck blurts. “Sorry, that’s… That’s not the right way to ask that. I mean, like, are you secretly wanting to be she/her or-”

“No,” Eddie cuts him off, smirking a little. “The opposite direction. I started transitioning as a pretty young teenager.”

“Oh! Okay, cool,” Buck says. 

“Cool?” Eddie asks warily.

“Yeah, totally, man,” Buck shrugs. “Does not change a thing for me. Just, uh… I just don’t want to say the wrong thing. But I’ll do research!”

“Research?” Eddie asks.

“Yeah! So you don’t have to answer any questions I have. Like, I don’t want to put that on you. I’ll figure it out, a-and you just… I mean if there’s anything you want me to know, then-”

“Buck,” Eddie raises a hand to cut him off. 

Buck shuts his mouth.

“That’s super kind,” Eddie says. “You can ask me questions, though. I think… I mean I have a lot for you.”

“That’s fair,” Buck replies. “Uh, I’ll try to answer them. I’m… I’m new to this mermaid business. I don’t know how it works always.”

“Mermaid?” Eddie asks. “Don’t you mean merman? Or was I right, but in the wrong direction?”

“Oh my god, merman,” Buck gasps. “I forgot that was an option. You’re right. Merman.”

Eddie shivers a little. “Okay, um… Maybe we can exchange questions out of the water?”

“Yeah!” Buck agrees. “Yeah totally. Just, uh… You’ll have to give me a minute. It’s harder to shift back than to shift to.” 

Eddie nods. “No worries. I’ve got time.”

🌊

They sit on the stony beach, a few feet of space between them. Eddie is sort of curled tight into himself, sopping wet. Buck is stretched out, leaning back on his hands, tail still fully out. As much as Eddie tries to not - and it’s clear he’s trying not to - he keeps staring at it. At the gills on Buck’s chest and neck. The webbing on his fingers. Buck can’t blame him. He’s an anomaly. Unfortunately - he thought he might not be. 

“Who goes first?” Buck asks. “Questions wise?”

“Uh, me?” Eddie asks. “Then we go… Back and forth?”

“Yeah,” Buck nods. “Okay.”

Fair to let Eddie start. There are way more pressing questions. Eddie is just a normal person, after all. Buck is a creature. 

“Okay, uh… You said you’re new at this?” Eddie asks. “How did it happen?”

Yeah, Buck sort of figured he’d ask this. Of course he’d be curious. Want to know. Only problem is, Buck hates thinking about that night. The cold. The dark. The sea on fire. Dead people bobbing in the waves. And Bobby… Almost losing Bobby. It makes him sick to think about, even before what happened. 

“There was a… A really bad call,” Buck says. “In January. I was only five months on the job. A plane went down in the water. Right off El Segundo Beach.”

“Is this where you almost drowned?” Eddie asks. 

Buck raises an eyebrow, confused how he would know that.

“Sorry,” Eddie says. “Hen mentioned that you did.”

---

102 for 🔼:

---

It’s a long, terrifying call. Eddie isn’t often scared on calls. Very few things are as frightening as what he saw in the army. The earthquake was nerve-wracking, mostly because he was worried about his son. The tsunami was horrific for similar reasons. The day of the ladder truck bombing, Eddie had been scared for Buck. Today? Today he’s scared for everyone. Mostly for Bobby, but for everyone. 

Radioactive waste is on fire. The air is sort of poison, right? The turnouts and other PPE they have doesn’t feel like enough. Eddie’s skin crawls, even though nothing has happened to him. This would be the worst time ever to get radiation sickness. 

Bobby has to stay in the tunnel longer than the rest of them. They’re all sort of freaked out. He has to be officially decontaminated and everything. Eddie and Chim are scared, but it’s nothing compared to the look of horror in Buck’s eyes. Eddie wants to take his hand. Squeeze it reassuringly. Hold and tell him it’ll be okay. But he can’t. Not here. So instead, he makes like he’s clapping Buck on the shoulder, and lets his hand linger for a second. 

Buck looks at him. Wide-eyed and tight-jawed. 

“He’s going to be okay,” Eddie says. 

He’s not sure where the confidence comes from. He doesn’t really feel it. All he knows is, despite everything Bobby and Buck just went through with each other, Buck is the person who will worry for him most. There’s a dynamic there that’s different than with anyone else on the team.

“I hope so,” Buck says weakly. “He has to be.”

They take him to the hospital after. The victims are being transferred by another station’s RA unit. It’s not until Bobby has called Athena and been admitted that any of them bother looking at their phones. 

“Whoa,” Chim says. “Lots of missed calls from Maddie.”

“Same,” Buck says. “And from Shannon.”

“Shannon?” Eddie asks, looking at his phone. “Oh, shit. Me too.”

“Aren’t they together today?” Chim asks. 

“Yeah,” Eddie says. “Fuck.”

He calls Shannon back as quickly as possible. A billion things are spinning in his head. Is Shannon okay? Is Chris okay? Is the baby okay? Maddie was a nurse. If there is some kind of emergency, Eddie is glad she’s with them. Terrified, but glad. 

The call picks up after a few rings.

“Eddie? Oh thank god.” 

It’s not Shannon. It’s Maddie. On Shannon’s phone. 

“What’s going on?” Eddie asks, panicked. “Is she okay?”

“Yeah, she’s good. You need to get to the hospital, though,” Maddie says. “Shannon-”

“Which hospital? I’m at the hospital.” Eddie blurts. 

“Southern California,” Maddie says. “She’s in labor, and it’s progressing quickly, okay? You don’t have a lot of time.”

Labor? She’s in labor? His daughter is… About to be born? Today?

“Eddie?” Maddie asks when he’s silent for a beat.

“I’m coming,” Eddie says. “I’m coming. I’ll be there. Can you tell her I’m on my way?”

He’s at Cedars. Fifteen minutes away if traffic isn’t bad. Traffic is bad, because of the shutdowns the tunnel fires caused. Shit. 

“I’ll tell her. And I’ll keep you updated on progress. It’s moving really fast.”

The complete opposite of last time. Shannon must either be elated or completely freaking out. Maybe both? 

“Thanks, Maddie.”

They end the call and Eddie explains the situation to Buck and Chim. 

“Take the engine,” Chim says. “I’ll stay with Bobby.”

[fleur-de-violette]

Dear Mom,

AO3

Summary:

Dear Mom, I finally got a job at the Justice League Cafeteria! Or: Robin over the years, seen by a stranger.

Note:

Word count: 543 Characters: OC, Robin Genre: crack, humor

Dear Mom,

It is real! I still can’t believe I got my dream job: cook at the Justice League watchtower cafeteria! My coworkers have been very nice, and I have so much to learn from them! The justice league members are also very nice: Superman complimented my cake! But Batman scares me a little. I think he might be a vampire.

With love,

Your son.

-

Dear Mom,

Today, Batman came with a child. It made him much less scary! The kid name is Robin, and he’s a ray of sunshine. He likes strawberry cake the best. I’m a little worried for him, thought. Batman seemed to be treating him well but should a kid so small be with someone that scary? Is he a vampire as well? Do vampire like strawberry?

With love,

Your son.

-

Dear Mom,

I am doing well. I actually have two trainee that will start working under me starting tomorrow. By the way, remember Robin, the kid who was with Batman. Turn out he’s not a vampire, because he grew up! And oh, boy, was I that way in my teenage years too? (don’t answer that). Because the kid has some issues. I still give him some extra strawberry cake. Teenagerhood is tough.

With love,

Your son.

-

Dear Mom,

Ok, Robin might be a vampire. And apparently when teenagerhood is too hard, vampire go back in time. Because he had become a kid again, and the process might change some things, as he is now in love with my chocolate cake. I like my life at the watchtower: you never get bored!

With love,

Your son.

-

Dear Mom,

Robin is not coming anymore. I don’t know what happened to him. I still save him some chocolate cake.

With love,

Your son.

-

Dear Mom,

Good news! Robin wasn’t coming because he was doing his transformation process thing. Kinda like in Dr Who, remember Dr Who? We used to watch it. Well, that would track. So maybe Batman is a vampire and Robin is a Timelord? Should I ask him? But is it indelicate to ask if someone is a Timelord with just Dr Who as your reference? Maybe Dr Who is an inaccurate representation, and they all hate it? Anyway, this Robin likes caramel and is allergic to nuts. (Can Timelords be allergic to nuts?)

With love,

Your son.

-

Dear Mom,

You will never guess what! I got the head of the bakery position! This was really what I wanted, now I’ll be able to go full creative with my cakes! This is so, so cool. I ever did an interview for the Planet, be sure to read it.

PS: Robin is now a girl, good for her. She eats my blueberry waffle like they are made of air.

With love,

Your son.

-

Dear Mom,

Robin is not a girl anymore, and he did his age regression thing. Also his niceness was lost during the process, because he told me that he could teach me how to bake. Me. The head of the bakery.

I want to challenge him to a cooking show off, but also, what do I know? He’s probably like a thousand-year-old, he might destroy me.

With love,

Your son.

[iamyouknow-yours]

Marcel is a Mikaelson. He does not have to call himself a Mikaelson as he is fully within his rights to denounce the very toxic family but he is one.

I hate the way the show treated him, I hate the way the characters treated him, and I hate that he is involved with Rebekah. I hate the way he and Hope are only kinda sorta siblings.

1. The show:

So we know Julie Plec is very much a white liberal. We know this. We know she has sexism issues, we know she has racism issues (black women will save us all, really Julie????). I don't know which of her multitude of biases made her (and the rest of the writers) think that the way they wrote Marcel and the Mikaelson's relationships with him, was normal (or like normal in the context of the show). But boy howdy.

The plantation house. We're just going to have the Mikaelsons move into the house where Marcel was owned as a slave????? That's what we're gonna do?????? And where his abusive biological father lived and y'know, abused him. Fucking what the fuck?? I feel like this just epitomises the way the show treats Marcel.

2. The characters:

The family never treats him as part of the family unless they want something from him.

They did not raise him as a son and it is weird and terrible and he was a child!!!!! Why did you adopt him if you didn't want a child???

Why is Klaus so scared of having Hope if he's already had a child?

Why does Klaus treat Marcel the exact same way Mikael treated him just because they're not blood related?? (if they actually explored this it could have been interesting but no they just only half treat Marcel as a Mikaelson).

YOU'RE TELLING ME THEY DIDN'T CHECK?? THEY DIDN'T CHECK HE WAS DEAD????? Not once in the 80+ years did Klaus or Elijah go back to New Orleans or even send someone to fucking check that his SON was really dead??? Didn't think to do that???? No???

3. Rebekah:

Oh my god what do I even say about Rebekah?

They could have at least made her be daggered for the time when he was a child and only meet him when he was already an adult and a vampire because that way she's only technically his aunt and not a full fucking adult who saw him grow up!!!!!!!!

Hope:

Idk man, they were siblings. Let them be siblings. The whole thing in Legacies where the Mikaelsons just kind of left Hope alone? Weird. Bonkers. Batshit. I know it's because they couldn't get the actors but maybe think about that before writing your fucking show my guy.

Or in TO where Hope was just left alone and Klaus was not there as a dad for like 5(?) years.

Hayley was the only good parent on The Originals or Legacies canon, fight me.

(side note, you're telling me Caroline would leave Alaric, Alaric, an alcoholic, vampire-hating, weirdo (Caroline and Alaric being romantically involved briefly WAS WEIRD GUYS, WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK HE USED TO BE HER FUCKING TEACHER) in charge of the school for supernatural children??

You're telling me she left him in charge of parenting Lizzie and Josie?? Yeah okay sure.

And look how well that turned out. Locking teenagers in goddamn prison worlds, excellent headmastering there Alaric well done. And just swell parenting of the twins. Favouring Hope over them at all times and letting them bully each other weirdly for years and allowing your mentally ill children to just get more mentally ill from your parenting. Great moves. Very good.

Okay Legacies rant over)

Yeah okay my whole rant is over I think.

TL;DR: Marcel deserved better.

(and so did the kids on Legacies.)

Also PSA, the only reason I have so many feelings about this is because I like the freaking shows okay? I like the characters (except Alaric and Damon and the ones we're supposed to dislike like Mikael and Esther).

[rdr2stories]

"The Curious Couple And Their Unruly Son" a rdr2 fanfiction.

A short rdr2 fanfiction about how the phrase "the curi couple and their unruly couple" came from.

Sean MacGuire was an annoying little shit of a teenager, his orange hair stuck out to every side no matter how much Grimshaw fought to keep it kempt, heck it was even worse than when Marston joined, however that was possible. Those two were actually scarily similar, not only in their weird hair and their rough exterior, but also in their loud mouths. John was just a bit more foul than Sean was.

Arthur disliked them both, not specifically for their loud mouth but for their attitudes. John was fifteen and had just started going on jobs with them, simple ones, the ones where Dutch and Hosea knew they would be able to save the situation even with John messing something up. Sean was thirteen and wanted nothing more than to go out on jobs with them, jobs that he no doubt would mess up and get himself killed in, or worse one of the others trying to save him.

That was the problem with many of the children that they took in, they thought just because they used to steal they were professionals at it, they weren’t and the fact they didn’t realize it themselves from the amount of bruises they had gotten proved their low intelligence. Especially Sean had gotten many beatings and Hosea was fiercely trying to teach him how to properly steal, it was not going great, which was the reason why he was being left behind in camp when Arthur, Hosea and Dutch were preparing their trip into town for some petty theft and to get an overview over the people in the area.

“Why won’t you let me go?” Sean complained as Arthur tightened his horse’s girth and gave it a scratch. “Come on! I can steal plenty fine!”

“Not without getting caught!” Arthur replied in annoyance as he snatched back the watch that Sean had fished out of his pocket quite poorly while he had saddled. “And we do not  want to draw attention to ourselves.”

“I have gotten out alright so far,” Sean huffed as he crossed his arms over his chest. “I ain’t dead.”

“Yet,” Arthur groaned. “You ain’t dead yet, you have been damn lucky. What if it hadn’t been Hosea or Dutch in that alley? What if it had been someone else you had followed out to rob? You would have been dead then! I sure would have put a bullet in your skull.”

“You are scared I will take your place as the son, aren’t you?” Sean asked, half teasingly, half mockingly, as he leaned against the hitching pole.

Arthur raised a confused brow. “What are you even talking about?”

“Oh nothin’, just you the whole thing you, Hosea and Dutch got goin’ on.”

“What thing?” Arthur asked as he leaned against his horse.

“The curious couple and their unruly son.”

Arthur gave an unimpressed look. “We ain’t acting like that, we are just working.”

Sean shrugged. “Oh well, you know my da used to-”

“Not the da!” Arthur exclaimed at the same time as John who passed by at that moment, placing the saddle he had been holding on the hitching post next to Arthur’s.

“You don’t even know what we are talking about!” Sean said to John who whistled at his horse to come over from where it stood grazing not far out of camp.

“I don’t need to, you and your da is getting annoying real quick,” Marston replied as he put the rope halter on his horse.

“Well Marston now you are here,” Sean glanced teasingly at Arthur. “If I was to say the curious couple and their unruly son, who would I be talking about?”

“Arthur and the old men,” John replied without even looking at them. “Pretty much acts like a married couple and their adopted kid.”

Arthur sighed. “We don’t, they are my mentors just as they are yours, I have just known them longer.”

John snorted.

“How are you getting along?” Dutch asked as he came over and placed a hand on Arthur’s shoulder. “Are you ready to go? Me and Hosea have saddled the old boys up over by the tent, oh yeah, Annabelle is mad at me again so she and Bessie are sharing Hosea and hers tent so he is with me.” He patted Arthur’s shoulder again and looked over to John. “John, go with Susan into town today, will you?”

“What? No! I don’t want to! It is boring!” John groaning slightly in annoyance as Dutch merely returned his attention to Arthur, knowing to ignore the tantrums.

“Come over when you are done son, we are waiting,” Dutch gave Arthur a small chuckled before leaving the boys alone again.

“Married couple and their adopted son,” John repeated again.

“You are seeing things,” Arthur spat.

“Or maybe you are just stupid,” John stuck out his tongue at Arthur.

---

Based on a little convo I had with @wobblesthecowgirl

[glitter-gummy-bears]

Danny Phantom & Naruto crossover idea

As Minato collapsed into the dirt alongside his wife, gaping holes in both their middles, all he could feel was a strange relief. They saved their home. They saved Naruto. Their son was safe.

His relief soon turned to confusion though. He wasn't entirely sure how long it took for someone's soul to be eaten but he's pretty sure it should have happened by now. Was the Reaper just taking it's time? Perhaps it wanted to draw out the pain for as long as possible before tearing his soul out.

Glancing back at the hulking figure Minato felt what was left of his stomach drop. The beast, once a huge menacing shadow with glowing green eyes, (eyes that were brighter then even the purest healing chakra) was shrinking. Soon it was no bigger then a genin, the shadows fell away to reveal a disturbingly human form.

It hovered in the air in an almost groggy way before snapping to attention! It looked at Minato 'This is it...' the young Hokage thought as the creature flew straight at him.

Much to Minato's surprise the creature didn't immediately snatch his soul, instead opting to frantically fly around him and Kushina making destressed noises in what had to be an unknown language.

The creature, much to Minato's horror, reached for Kushina.

"NO!" He yelled with all his remaining strength, "Don't touch her! I'm the one you want!"

The creature jolted at Minato's yelling then turned to him. Finally it spoke for the first time.

"D-don't... be scared," It said slowly almost like it was trying to remember what the words meant. "I'm going to help you."

The last of the shadows fell away and Minato was met with the face of a child. A child who's tears were falling freely from his face.

He reached out to both fallen shinobi engulfing them in a green energy Minato recognized as healing chakra. Although he'd never felt it this cold before.

"I don't understand," he gasped out feeling his lungs and heart stitch themselves back together. "Aren't you here to eat my soul?"

The boy's tearful face twisted into disgust, "Why would I want to do that? Look, just stop talking this is harder then it looks."

When Kushina felt her eyes fluttered open she wasn't expecting to see her husbands relived smiling face next to her own, she definitely wasn't expecting to see a flying teenager with glowing eyes healing her wounds.

"W...what's happening?" She slurred, "Wh... Naruto!" Her arms thrashed around trying to force the rest of her body up.

"Hey! Calm down! Your wounds will reopen!" The glowing boy yelped.

"I don't care! I need my baby!"

The boy quickly flew out of sight only to return with a familiar bundle. "Look he's fine! You can relax he's safe."

Kushina felt a new wave of tears, her baby was okay. And so was she apparently?

"You saved us." She concluded, looking at the strange boy.

"Yes, you'll both be fine now. But you might not wanna move around too much for a few weeks." The boy said with a tired chuckle. He leaned down and placed Naruto between the two of them.

Instinctively, Kushina reached over to place a hand on her baby and felt the tips of Minato's fingers against the blanket. He smiled at her. It was a messy, watery, bloody smile and she never wanted it to end. They were alive. Their son wasn't alone.

"Thank you."

The boy blushed green and shifted awkwardly. "Uh, you're welcome."

"I still don't understand why you helped us," Minato said looking at the boy, "You didn't have too."

The boy looked confused now, "If you can help someone then of course you have to, that's what I think anyway."

Before either of the two could respond a wall of green cut through the air. The boy made his way towards it, "Hopefully the next time we meet will be under better circumstances. Oh, and congrats on your baby!"

And with that the teen disappeared.

What did he mean by next time?

[avionvadion]

Kalim: You need to go save the rest of Chort's victims!

Everyone else (including El when she hears): He wants Fellow to die doesn't he?

Kalim: genuinely doesn't see the problem

Fellow: Seems I underestimated your ruthlessness.

(Chort is someone who can kidnap a prince, an hier to a fortune, and a retainer to a prince and get away with it. Fellow just got done burning a valuable base of operations down. AFTER failing to deliver.)

?????

This would be AFTER they took down the Chort. Also Eleanora is unconscious for days after the mask is removed. She isn't finding out anything until Crowley drops the bomb on her that Gidel is under her watch because he's just simply "too busy" to do so (CROWLEY YOU SON OF A BIRD!!!!!) and that Gidel will be staying with her in Ramshackle until Fellow "completes his sentence". Little do either of them know, by the time all the students and children are found and rescued (as well as the Chort's little henchmen) Fellow will have made the decision to enroll at NRC so he can learn what he wants to teach.

But yeah. The boys catch Fellow and Gidel when they try to sneak away, unwilling to let them escape, but then Kalim brings up his offer from before about how they'll "figure things out" and asks for Fellow's help in bringing the Chort to justice.

Fellow is terrified, especially because since he was involved in human trafficking he's pretty sure he'll get a death sentence and he does not trust social services to take good care of Gidel (I'm thinking Fellow probably grew up in an abusive orphanage and ran away as a teenager? And that's when he found toddler Gidel on the streets and took him in under his wing) so it takes a hell'a lot of convincing, and a lot of promises from Kalim as an "Asim".

But also, Fellow wouldn't be doing it alone.

Like, the Draconia family has gotten involved. The Chort threatened Lilia and Eleanora, literally killed Eleanora- however momentarily. Malleus is getting Grandmama Maleficia involved, as he needs her to go behind the Senate's backs (do spirits have backs?) to file a formal complaint to the Isle of Paradise where the Chort is from while ensuring the Senate does not find out about Eleanora's existence. Baul and several other fae soldiers are the ones who collect the Chort and hold him in the Valley of Thorns' custody while Fellow is helping the Authorities on Magical Crimes (Magic Police? Magic FBI? I have no idea) search for the missing/cursed students and children, and all of the Chort's accomplices as Fellow would know where the Chort kept the records and would have a decent idea of who his accomplices are as he's been in this business for a while.

So it's not that Kalim is sending him to his death or anything. If anything, Kalim is preventing his death. Although Fellow does get one hell of a scare when they reach the NRC school gate entrance and it's pouring and Malleus is standing all menacingly staring them down, chartreuse eyes glowing in the darkness of night, as he sensed the immediate disconnect and reconnect to Eleanora's name when her heart stopped and began beating again.

Lilia might have to try and stop Malleus while still carrying Eleanora, because they need Fellow alive. He's the only one who can help completely put an end to Playful Land's existence. Malleus can't kill him, no matter how much he may want to.

Ironically, because Malleus gets involved, Fellow has more freedom to speak since (not only does he have the promise of the Asim's family backing) Malleus is keeping the one person Fellow would be too scared of to speak up pinned. No matter how powerful the Chort is, he will never be a match for a Draconia.

Furthermore, the Chort is already beaten. He's exhausted and black-and-blue.

Malleus also most likely keeps a watch on the Chort until his grandmother has Baul and his soldiers, and the proper magical authorities, arrive to collect him and Fellow to escort them to the trial, and after the trial takes the Chort to the Valley to be held in custody. The Senate probably tries to have him executed, but Maleficia vetoes that bull right quick as they need the Chort alive to undo the transformation magic as she does not want to exert what magic she has left in her ancient age freeing who knows how many mortals.

[artzzyb00-27]

Car Safety; Worried Parents

You already know, let's just hop in.

Harry getting his license was nerve-wracking. Not for him, for Athena. She'd seen many reckless teenagers lose control while driving. So when Harry got his permit, she had the excuse of still being the one driving, or at least being able to make sure he was safe. With the license, he would be alone.

Bobby was nervous too. Mainly because he didn't want to go on a call and see his kid(yes he saw Harry as his own) in the wrecked car. He and Michael were both trying to look for a car that wasn't over the top for Harry's first. May wasn't worried, she trusted Harry. She just made him promise she wouldn't receive a call while she was working about him.

"I know that will be me when Chris gets his license," Eddie said in the loft of the firehouse. Bobby had shared the news that Harry had gotten his license and decided to wait to get a car. Smart choice with how the market was right now.

"I'm worried that Denny will use it as an excuse to leave whenever we're in arguments. Driving while you are angry is the most dangerous." Hen said. Chimney was contemplating how old he would even let Jee-Yun get close to the driver's seat.

"Harry's a smart kid. He's Athena's. He'll be fine on the road when he gets his car."

"You better not give him your Jeep Buck," Bobby warned his surrogate son.

"Don't worry, saving that for Jee-Yun."

"Don't you dare Buckley. Besides why not give it to Chris?" Eddie raised an eyebrow and gave Buck an, 'Oh yeah?', look despite the comment being Chimney's.

"Cause then I'd end up sleeping in the car. Besides Chris already called dibs on the truck."

"Which he'll get when we get another one. So don't even think about it." Raising his hands in defense, he walked behind the counter to help Bobby with lunch. After eating peacefully, the alarm went off and they ran to the truck.

"Alright, we gotta car crash. A Jeep Wrangler and a Lambo." Ravi winced at imaging the ways it could've happened. No matter what, both people in the cars were probably okay. It was a rainy day so either of the cars could have lost control from the wet cement.

When they arrived at the scene, they saw Athena who looked scared. She walked up to the team and debriefed them.

"Teenager in the jeep. Seventeen, turning eighteen tomorrow. The father was in the copilot seat. Lambo was an older man. Had to handcuff him." She explained pointing at the 40-year-old-looking man. Who was cursing the kid across from him. The poor kid looked terrified.

"Already questioned him, I need you guys to get the parent out, he's knocked unconscious." Looking behind her, they were able to see the jeep tipped on its right side. Through the windshield, they could see the father's face. With blood dripping down slightly. Rushing into action they were able to pull him out and make sure he was alive.

When he felt that someone was holding him, he stirred a bit.

"Sir, we're gonna help you out. Can you tell me your name?"

"Mm, Patrick Mendieta. My son, where is he?" He slurred out trying to break free weakly while looking for his kid.

"He's safe sir don't worry."

"You don't understand, he had top surgery a few months ago. Stitches are closed completely but-,"

"In that case, we'll double-check. Right now we need to get you to the hospital to fix up that head of yours." Hen told him while Buck went to go check on the kid.

"Hey there, what's your name?"

"Oliver. I swear it wasn't my fault. We were just driving like normal and he came out of nowhere."

"Yeah right! You were going too fucking slow! Idiot children, don't have no respect-"

"Sir, calm down before I make you," Buck said, effectively making him shut up. Looking back at the kid, he saw the tears streaming down his face. Anger in his eyes.

"He wasn't watching the speed limit. And somehow it's my fault to be careful in the rain."

"I know kid, trust me he'll get reprimanded. Right now I need to make sure you're okay. Your door took the hit it seems." Oliver looked back to his car to realize that Buck was right.

The driver's side was dented, which made the fault immediately go to the other driver. With that he let Buck examine him. Few bruised ribs and a sprained wrist. Nothing serious but would have to go to the doctor to check his back.

After sending the kid away, they dealt with any more issues the rain had caused before heading back to the firehouse. Athena had gotten there early and was sitting at the dinner table eating the food she made for dinner.

"Athena?"

"Couldn't go back immediately. Not after that. Can't stop thinking about Harry." Massaging her shoulders, Bobby made sure she was relaxed before driving back out on patrol.

When the shift ended Eddie and Buck gave Chris an extra long hug. Hen gave Denny another pop quiz on how to handle driving in the rain, and Athena did not let Harry drive any car for a month after that. Not without initial protest. However, it turned to guilt after hearing about the accident from his classmate Oliver.

[naavispider]

I BEG OF YOU, PLEASE SHARE WITH THE CLASS QUARTICH'S POV FOR THE LAST FEW SCENES (When Quartich had a knife to kiri, when Spider saved his life, and when Spider contacted him with the communicator) PLEASE I AM ON MY KNEES, CRYING, BEGGING, SOBBING, PLEADING, GIVE IT TO MEEEEEE

I find Quaritch's pov more difficult for some reason! Anyway here is the section where Quaritch has Kiri under knifepoint, just for you 🥰🥰

His grip was firm, strong, unyielding. The girl stood stock still under his touch, any movement and she'd scrape her neck against his hunting knife. Finally, some fucking leverage.

His heart pounded as he rounded the corner, slowly bringing them into view of the one whom all this was about. The one who was costing him so damn much. Sully. Quaritch thought he would have more of a visceral reaction to finally seeing him in the flesh, stood only feet away. But instead he mostly just felt sorry for the man.

Jake Sully had an arm thrown out protectively behind him to shield his littlest - Quaritch would have hated himself even more if he had to hold that one to knifepoint instead. The ex-marine was the picture of desperate anger, glaring daggers at Quaritch, yet clearly afraid to become too violent in front of his girls. This was the perfect set of circumstances for Quaritch. He had the upper hand, after all these months.

"Don't move! Not a step!" He growled, weeks' worth of quiet anger bubbling to the surface of his voice.

Sully stilled, looking desperately between Quaritch and Kiri.

"Throw your weapons down! Now!" The girl under his grip struggled, begging Sully not to do as he said. Quaritch had to give it to her - she had some spunk.

Sully snarled furiously, before tossing his axe and knife to the floor. Not good enough.

"Kick em away!" Quaritch shouted, words cutting through the air like a knife through butter. "Do it!" He roared. The sooner he could let this damn kid go the better. Sully kicked the weapons across the deck.

"You son of a-" he started, only to be interrupted by Quaritch's next move.

The recom reached into his belt - thank fuck he still had one last pair of orange cuffs - and threw them across the deck to Sully. "Cuff yourself," he snarled.

This was it. He finally gonna get the bastard.

"No!" came a small voice from behind him.

Quaritch's heart had sunk before he'd even turned around to confirm with his eyes what his heart already knew. He could not believe Spider. The kid picked his timings impeccably. Half of him wanted to throw the kid overboard - the other half wanted to scoop him up, shield his eyes and whisper to him that he was just pretending.

He reacted with the half that he was most familiar with: anger.

“Stand there!” he had to restrain himself from screaming at his boy. Spider didn't need to be scared by him even further. But at the same time, he had to believe that Quaritch was serious.

Spider's breath caught, obviously scared, but he didn't seem deterred. "Please, don't hurt her..." he begged. The kid's eyes were searching out Quaritch's soul, God damn him. Quaritch knew if he allowed Spider to find his way beneath the shield, everything would be lost. He turned his attention back to Sully, using his voice to command the room.

"Cuffs on, now!"

Sully was shaking his head in utter desperation as he slapped one of the orange bands over his left wrist. Thank Jesus. As soon as he was bound, Quaritch could release the teenager under his knife and go and shoot Sully somewhere away from the three twerps.

"Ahh!"

Quaritch's head whipped around to follow the motion out of the corner of his eye - coming from where Spider was standing.

There was the she-devil. Damn. Sully's wife.

His eyes widened while his blood turned sour. She had her knife to Spider's throat.

What the fuck?

He thought these people were supposed to care about Spider? This didn't make any sense. The woman was more stupid than he'd realised if she thought he was going to fall for the bluff.

"Release," she hissed, "Or I cut."

Quaritch eyed her, speechless. Her face was a canvass of pain. He couldn't remember his old death, but even in the visuals Lyle had pulled from his AMP suit, Sully's wife had never looked this demonic. Her eyes were wide - larger than Sully's, larger than any of the recom squad - and her snarl looked like it could wring necks. Her face was covered in bloody splashback.

This was the face of a woman who had lost everything. A woman who would kill, mercilessly and without hesitation. This was his murderer.

His eyes fell to the blade pressed into Spider's throat. It was big - too big to be held against a small human. She gripped it in a vice. Spider's head was pulled back to better expose the skin there. Every breath he took was obvious.

"You think I care about some kid?" He tried. He had to bluff this. Even as he said it, he thought it came out weak. Godammit. "He's not mine," he continued, throwing a shrug in for added effect. "We're not even the same species..."

"Please, don't hurt her..."

"Mom, don't kill him..."

Jesus, these kids were worst hostages he'd ever seen. Made the for the best tactical bait though.

Sully's wife was still staring at him, waiting for a decision. He stood her down, silently calling her bluff. There was no way.

Before he could react, she'd slid her hand down to Spider's bare chest and sliced the knife across, letting out a horrific growl as she did so.

"Ahh!" Spider groaned, taking breaths through small hisses to steady himself. Just a flesh wound. Not serious. But then he raised his eyes to assess Sully's wife. Behind those terrifying eyes was true horror. Fury, rage, and insanity. The woman was batshit crazy, and it sent a chill all over Quaritch. His knife loosened minutely against his own hostage's throat.

"A son, for a son," she whispered, not needed to raise her voice. The whole area was silent, or so it seemed to Quaritch. He understood now. She was going to do it. And she'd have no remorse. She raised her hand high, screeching a terrible pitch, bringing the knife ready to plunge into Spider's chest...

"No!" he yelled, bringing his knife away from the girl's throat, holding it up in defeat.

Sully's wife paused just in time. He threw the girl away from him. His cover was completely blown, but he still hated the way his face had morphed into a plea towards the woman still holding his son. Fuck.

He took a breath he didn't know he was holding when she hurled Spider away from her - but not towards Quaritch. Damn her. Spider landed roughly, but got to his feet quickly, backing away from the situation - away from Quaritch. Kid was going to leave with them.

Spider was leaving... with them.

Fury raged and pulled and twisted at his insides. His squad was massacred, the operation had failed, Sully was getting away, and now he'd lost his son.

The family had started to back away into the water.

"You're not going are you Corporal?" he snarled, deadly. "Knowing that I'm out there? Knowing that... I'll never stop?" He had to get this guy. He wanted to rip his throat out with his bare hands. It was now more personal than ever. Quaritch was surprised his voice was still working when he uttered his next threat, knowing it would get the reaction he needed. "I'm coming for you and when I do I'll kill your whole family!"

The last thing he saw before Sully lunged was Spider's small, anxious face, watching on in disbelief, and he hoped that one day, Spider could forgive him.

[cycat4077]

Benson vs Velasco

This thought has been bugging me since the last episode aired where Velasco was forced to reveal his past...

We know that Joe's father was abusive and beat him and his mother. We knew previously that he was involved in a gang when he was young and took part in some criminal activity. The last episode revealed that he was just a young teenager when he and his friend, Chilly, were approached and recruited by gang members. As an initiation, they were supposed to murder rival drug dealers (?). Joe confessed that he could not go through with it, but Chilly did, covering for him when it came to the gang leaders. Ever since, Joe has felt a certain loyalty towards Chilly for that. Without Chilly, Joe could have presumably suffered severe consequences at the hand of the gang leaders.

Now, let's step back a few epsiodes to that BX9 arc, where Olivia was nearly murdered in front of her son by a young teenage member of BX9. Olivia being Olivia, found the compassion within her heart to see this teen as a victim. The gang used the threat of harm to loved ones to recruit and keep their members loyal. Still, because he was a teenager, Olivia was compelled to believe he could still be saved.

What bugs me about last episode, is how Olivia acted so differently in a "similar" situation. Velasco was a teenager when he was recruited into the gang. I'm not sure if the circumstances surrounding his reasons to join were fully revealed, but nonetheless, teenage Velasco and his friend would have been groomed by the gang in some way to get them to join. Yet, I don't think Olivia is recognizing this aspect when she confronts Joe. Instead, she thinks it is outrageous that he could protect Chilly and she gives him an ultimatum to choose where his loyalties lie.

Personally, I can see some parallels between Velasco and the BX9 teen. Both grew up poor and in difficult home situations. Both were (likely) groomed (and threatened) by the gang in order to coerce their loyalty. Teenagers are vulnerable and gullible, and when first recruited by gangs are likely not bad people. Just as Olivia taught us with the BX9 teen, they are victims of powerful, evil people. So, for her to lash out so harshly to Velasco felt off. A simple "I know you were just a kid but..." could have sufficed so that at least we knew that she holds some compassion for his situation. 

I actually like Velasco, making my opinion a bit biased, but I think he has some decent backstory and inner conflicts to be explored. Olivia knew that he had a criminal past and, up to this point, seemed more or less accepting and supportive that he had redeemed himself. So why the sudden 180? Failing to see the Chilly situation through the lens of a scared teenage boy who wants nothing more than to leave that life behind now, seems off from the Olivia Benson who carries so much compassion for those she crosses paths with. 

Just my 2 cents!