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captainmalewriter · 2 years ago

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Sibling Rivalry

Sierra's mother had recently remarried. While she was happy her mother had found love again after divorcing her deadbeat father, it unfortunately came with an extra cost Sierra wasn't prepared for. The man her mother had married had a son her age, and although Sierra just ignored Carlos during the dating phase, now he was her step brother. Carlos was loud, obnoxious, and overall just a disagreeable person. The two would often bicker and fight as if they were little kids again. And now that they moved in with Sierra and her mother, avoiding Carlos became much more difficult.

"I just don't see why you can't get along with him," Sierra's Mom said while she was busy washing dirty dishes. "He is your brother now, you know."

"Step-brother," Sierra corrected. She was slouched over on the kitchen counter. Now that college students were out for summer break, Carlos would be at home more often. She dreaded the thought.

"Sweetheart, the details don't matter. You're both adults, you should act like it and treat each other with respect."

Sierra raised her head and stared her mother down, though her mother didn't give her a response. Sierra couldn't believe what she was hearing. She was always the respectful one, only becoming disrespectful when Carlos started it (which was often). It became clear to her that her mother was simply too oblivious to really help her out.

Sierra took a deep breath and excused herself to go take a shower. She stepped into the porcelain bathtub and turned on the hot water. She felt the tension melt from her body as the steam filled the room. Sierra was ready to for a long shower, until a gust of cold air entered the room. She gasped and peeked her head out the curtain. Her jaw dropped when she saw Carlos had entered the bathroom, and with only a pair of briefs covering him.

"Why are you in here!? Get out!" Sierra yelled.

"Bro seriously?" Carlos rolled his eyes. He started tapping on his phone. "Quit screaming! Now I gotta record this thirst trap again..."

"Dude I'm fucking showering!"

"So?"

"So get the fuck out!! I don't want you in here, get out!!"

Sierra was scowling. Carlos lowered his phone to return Sierra's gaze, though he looked completely uninterested. The two stared at each other for a brief moment with only the running water breaking the silence.

"GET OUT!!" Sierra yelled even louder than before.

"Psh, fine."

Carlos smirked as he turned around and grabbed the doorknob. He began to leave, but just before he left, he raised his leg and let out a loud fart. The sound reverberated throughout the small bathroom for the four seconds it lasted. Once he was done, Carlos left and slammed the door shut.

Sierra groaned as she resumed showering. But within seconds, the rancid smell of a protein junkie's flatulence violated her nostrils. She gagged while covering her nose. It was horrible. While the smell did eventually dissipate, Sierra finished her shower with a scowl on her face. She was sick and tired of her step brother, and that fart bomb was the last straw.

Sierra spent the rest of that day searching through the internet for the perfect revenge plot. She needed something big enough to get him back after everything he’s done as well as cruel enough to make him stop. After hours of searching, Sierra found her solution. She would possess her brother, then force him to embarrass himself all over the internet. She was sure that something like that would get him to leave her alone for good.

Once nightfall came, while everyone else was asleep, Sierra proceeded to perform a magical spell on her own body. She recited the ancient incantation, and her spirit began to untether itself from her body. Soon she was floating through the air in spirit form. Sierra flew straight to Carlos' room. She fazed through the wall and was met with the sight of her step brother lying in bed naked with a mango on his dick.

"Mmm... fuck yeah..." Carlos moaned as he pumped his cock with the fruit.

Sierra averted her eyes. It was the first time she had ever entered his room, and now she had reason to never enter again. She was grateful she couldn't smell in her spirit form, as she had a feeling that the room reeked of body odor and dried cum. Carlos tossed the mango to the side after it became mush. He then proceeded to pick up his stroking pace as he closed his eyes and threw his head back.

Not wanting to prolong the plan any longer, Sierra floated over to Carlos. He was too busy jerking off to notice a ghost had entered his room and was noticing hovering directly above him. Sierra got in position and proceeded to lower herself down to him.

Just a little closer...

She had no idea how body possession worked, but she figured she needed to line up the body parts. She started with her legs. As she lowered herself onto him, she could feel herself sitting on top of his lap. Then, with a little push, her spirit began to sink inside of Carlos' body. Though because of her positioning and because Carlos was in the middle of jerking off, she inadvertently got penetrated while possessing him.

A moan accidentally escaped Sierra's lips as Carlos' thick dick slipped inside her pussy. Her pussy lips flared as the cock head entered her. Sierra hated to admit it, but her brother was the biggest she had ever been fucked by. Pushing aside the sensations, she pushed on with the body possession. Carlos' 8 inch cock got swallowed up by Sierra's coochie as she inserted more and more of her spirit into him. She taken over his legs and waist, then moved onto the torso.

"Aw... fuck...! " Carlos cried out. His pleasure had increased; it felt like he was fucking some tight pussy, yet all he could see around his dick was his own hand.

That didn't stop him from continuing his jerk off session. Sierra began to lay down so that her spirit would go into the rest of Carlos. Their torsos lined up perfectly. Carlos' pecs grew in size as Sierra's tits filled them in. The more Sierra possessed Carlos, the more she could feel herself change from having a female body to a male body. Suddenly she had a dick and balls where she had a pussy. Her chest was still heavy, but she wouldn't need to wear a bra anymore. Sierra aligned her head to Carlos', completing the possession.

Sierra opened her eyes and found her new hairy hands vigorously stroking off her new cock. She was panting and moaning with Carlos' deep voice. She was close. With just seconds to spare, she managed to get Carlos' phone with her free hand and record herself shooting loads of cum all over her brother's possessed body. She was covered in warm, sticky cum- cum that she got to experience the pleasure of shooting out.

She laid there, catching her breath after finishing what Carlos had started. Then, she hopped out of bed and walked over to her brother's mirror. A sinister smirk ran across her face as she confirmed the results of the magic spell. She flexed and groped all over her new male body, the body she stole from her brother.

Sierra admired herself in the mirror, bouncing her pecs as she checked out the goods. She wasn't a fat girl by any means, but Carlos had always been the more fit of the two step siblings. She couldn't help but run her fingers over the bulging veins in her arms and legs. The feel of a V line felt foreign yet pleasurable to her. Her hands eventually went to her new groin, and she groaned as she cupped and rubbed her newly possessed dick.

After thoroughly inspecting her brother's body, Sierra went back to the bed. She picked up her brother's phone and went to the gallery to see the video of her shooting cum all over herself. It blew her mind to know that although it was Carlos in the video, it was actually her spirit controlling his actions. Nobody would know it just by watching the video, they'd just see some guy jerking off.

She paused as thoughts ran through her mind. Sierra had recorded the video to use as revenge, but she began to have second thoughts. Sierra was recalling the feeling of stroking a hairy cock and the pleasure of busting a massive nut. It was obviously different than fingering her pussy, but jerking off in a man's body... That was more pleasurable to her. Sierra grinned as she remembered the warmth of a good jerk off.

Nobody would know. Nobody would ever know unless I told them. And even if I did, who would believe me?

That last thought stayed with her. Then, after a minute, she deleted the video off her brother's phone. She decided the revenge plot could wait. Sierra decided to have a little fun with her brother's body instead. After all, nobody would know it's her.

#female to male tf #female to male #gender change #male possession #male takeover #revenge #siblings #pec bounce

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mermaidsirennikita · 7 months ago

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Can you rec more books with the hero and the revenge plot but of course falling in love in the process?

For sure!

Historical:

The Return of the Duke by Lorraine Heath. The hero in this book lost his title/family when his father was convicted of treason. So it's a matter of both revenge and proving his father innocent (both because dad and because title) and getting some revenge, and the heroine HAPPENS to have been his father's mistress. HOT.

Glory and the Master of Shadows by Grace Callaway. Wei isn't out to get revenge against GLORY, but an extremely traumatic backstory and a desire for vengeance is very much a part of this story. Fun fact: Grace was in part inspired by wuxia with this book, and that is SO COOL and you can see it as you read the book. Vengeance is something you see featuring in a lot of wuxia films.

The Marquess Makes His Move by Diana Quincy. The hero in this book is both getting revenge and getting validation against the heroine's husband, as he fucked him out of his land, I believe? So he's disguised as a footman while doing so. But oops, now sexual tension is developing between the hero and that horrible dude's wife...

Never Seduce a Duke by Vivienne Lorret. As far as the hero knows, the heroine stole a priceless book from him (an Arthurian cookbook, it's crazy) and he comes upon her years later and wants the book/revenge. However.... they did fuck before she seemingly ran... and he did leave behind a bit of a SURPRISE with her...

The Prince of Broadway by Joanna Shupe. Clay agrees to teach Florence how to operate a casino (she wants to open one for ladies) while secretly plotting revenge against her father. Yet, oops: he played himself.

Beyond Scandal and Desire by Lorraine Heath. The classic book in which Mick Trewlove sets out to seduce his legitimate brother's fiancee as a part of his long-term revenge against his father.

A Rogue by Any Other Name by Sarah MacLean. My favorite MacLean--Bourne knew Penelope when they were kids, and then lost everything in a gambling situation. Years later, he returns and forces her to marry him as a part of his revenge plot wherein he's collecting all his land again (part of which is now connected to her dowry).

She Tempts the Duke by Lorraine Heath. This isn't a revenge against the heroine situation, but the hero is consumed by a desire for revenge after his uncle tried to kill him and his brothers when they were young--the heroine was his childhood sweetheart. It's like one of those things where he needs to decide if he can let himself love her or if he's going to be obsessed with vengeance, and it's honestly really lovely.

A Rose at Midnight by Anne Stuart. The HEROINE wants revenge against the hero because he essentially abandoned her and her family to the Reign of Terror. She actually tries to kill him at the beginning of the book. Check your triggers, but it's deliciously good.

No Good Duke Goes Unpunished by Sarah MacLean. The hero wants revenge against the heroine... after he finds out she's still alive... because she accidentally framed him for her murder....

Again the Magic by Lisa Kleypas. McKenna and Aline fall in love as teens, but her father forces her to send him away. McKenna seethes in raaaage for years, then comes back as a successful businessman to seek revenge against Aline.

What I Did for a Duke by Julie Anne Long. The hero in this one was cucked by the heroine's brother... so he decides to seduce and ruin the heroine as revenge. Unfortunately for him, she gets wise FAST.

Shadowheart by Laura Kinsale. Allegreto is motivated by a desire for vengeance and, you know, dominating part of Italy. He forces Elena to marry him to further his plans, only to find that she's his weakness. Check your triggers!

The Last Crimes of Peregrine Hind by Sierra Simone. M/m edition. Peregrine kidnaps the dandy hero for revenge, and essentially, bargaining and BDSM ensue.

The Madness of Viscount Atherbourne by Elisa Braden. The hero compromises (ruins, really) and marries the heroine as vengeance against her brother, who killed HIS brother in a duel.

The Ranger by Monica McCarty. The hero in this one is a spy behind enemy lines--and those enemy lines are run by the guy who murdered his father. And the heroine... is that guy's daughter. Fab.

Paranormal:

Dragon Bound by Thea Harrison. The hero, a godlike dragon shifter, kidnaps the heroine to get revenge on her for stealing from his horde. The theft is one penny. Fortunately for her, he is quickly like "SHE IS THE PRETTIEST GIRL IN THE WOOOORLD".

Lothaire by Kresley Cole. Lothaire's entire motivation is a 67-step plot to reclaim TWO different vampire thrones, as revenge for being disinherited and also losing his mother, because of course he has mommy issues. Acquiring his Bride and getting his full power is a part of that, which is why he kidnaps Ellie and plans on destroying her soul to install the goddess he thinks is his REAL Bride, because his Bride can't be a hillbilly, right???? (he's an idiot and I love him)

Dark/Mafia:

Mafia Madman by Mila Finelli. Enzo kidnaps Gia in order to get revenge against her brother-in-law, Fausto, for blowing up his life. Unfortunately, Gia is an amazing nightmare woman and therefore his perfect match. This stands alone, but I do think it's better if you read Mafia Mistress and Mafia Darling first. They're both so fun.

King's Captive by Amber Bardan. The hero kills the heroine's father and then sweeps her away to his private island... ostensibly for revenge. The twist ends up being what he's seeking revenge FOR. Notable for the "sensually masturbate to the mixtape I gave you while I stand on the other side of the door".

Fantasy:

The Winter King by C.L. Wilson. Wynter began a literally war to start a war against the heroine's family, as they killed his family. The war ends, he marries the heroine as a part of the treaty, but he isn't done with the whole vengeance thing yet...

A Heart of Blood and Ashes by Milla Vane. The hero wants revenge against the heroine's father for a similar reason--killed his family. The heroine, however, offers to marry him and help him seek revenge because she wants her own revenge. Famously, this is the one where she jacks the hero off using her brother's blood as lube. It's INCREDIBLE.

#romance novel blogging #book recs #romance novels

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winterpinetrees · 2 months ago

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Finale (The Gap Years part 32)

July 24th 2019

Las Vegas, NV

The end of the season, or book, or whatever this is. 4.5 k words. Marin's new allies go rescue Sierra. They still have a lot to resolve afterward.

thank you @lokiwaffles and @reggie246 for tagging along for the ride.

...............................

They answer his call. For eighty-six years now, Marin has been given every reason to think otherwise. Before he was their last chance, his allies weren’t even kind enough to whisper. If his green eyes (not true Sondaica emerald, just hazel) were any indication, then he had his mother’s bleeding heart and love for the human realm. Perhaps his father’s complexion and frame were more telling, and the prince was a push-over intended only to tie Zerada Adust into the family tree. Sure, he’s quick on his feet and good with a staff, but not like Rhiannon. He’s well-trained with his magic, but Elyan could give weight to the void itself. So every time he makes a phone call summoning a cousin or aunt or ally to Las Vegas, he does it expecting to hear that they’ve all actually run off behind his older cousin Lir and wouldn’t come back so close to the capital if Lazarus himself demanded it. Instead, he gathers an army.

Rhiannon kicks her feet up on his coffee table and twirls a pen between her fingers. She’s always been prone to nervous habits. Her father is in the next room over, scowling at the sound of a human party stories below them. The rest of Rhiannon’s close family, a mother and two brothers, are missing. Her little sister is confirmed dead. So is Elyan, a grandson of the apex who reigned before his mother. Lir shares the same grandfather, but different parents, and she holds the toy tiger that Marin earned at a carnival a month before up to the light as if it’s something more than cheap fabric. Her husband is dead as well, and they have no information about her young son.

The pattern continues through the elves of gens Adust, Celeron, Marolak, and the rest of the Lazarin faction. No one looks younger than fifteen or so in human years, as they were held at a different prison, and equally few are older than middle-age. Anyone who fought in the last coup would have been executed as a matter of revenge. Between those extremes, the family tree has been haphazardly pruned. There’s no pattern to who adds their magic to the illusions keeping them all hidden and who’s been given back to the ecosystem according to each family’s traditions. Nature never picks favorites. Luckily, their mysterious contact has cut through the fog of war. They know Sierra is being held in observation room three, down the hallway where the smaller offices used to be. The guards rotate their shifts every two hours, the human test subjects are fed at six and fourteen each day, and bodies are brought in or out every three days at sunset. For two dozen of the most powerful elves in the worlds, it doesn’t even feel right to call it a heist. The only real plans they need to make are about who dies once they’re inside.

Marin insists that they follow the new Apex’s lead and keep casualties low. The statement feels hollow with so many missing faces around him.

………………………

It’s not getting easier, Clay thinks, as he points his rifle down a hallway at a surrendering guard. Clay and Brian insisted on being part of the team to free Sierra, but they’re hardly more than mascots beside the nobility. He’s used to feeling like an outsider, but there’s something in the reflective eyes of the elves that catches him off guard every time. Zerada’s brother is one hundred and six, not twenty. Marin’s cousins all clearly remember the civil rights movement and the moon landing. Even Marin has gained new life now that he walks beside his real friends. Clay knows how to walk quietly, but these elves stalk through the halls.

He’s in a squad of four. Kova Marolak, niece of the traitorous Devana Marolak who their emissary confirmed was on the new High Council, is reckless but tough. She walks directly to his left and taps an axe across the floor. Marin walks ahead with his cousin, Lir, beside him. According to Marin, she’s his most likely challenger to the throne. According to the family tree, they’re second cousins. The guards here are commoners who were trained to handle defiant humans, not the best of the nobility. They surrender quickly, and Marin has to tell Kova off to keep her from slitting any unjustified throats.

Clay doesn’t have much to do, but Marin yields the floor to him after they corner a certain doctor at the end of a long hallway. The fluorescent lights flicker overhead and he stomps towards a thin figure kneeling against a heavy sealed door. It looks like a proper Tolkien elf in the wrong genre, slender and pale with straight black hair in a properly hygienic bun. It doesn’t wear a noble vambrace with its pale green scrubs, but raises its head to look at him without any particular fear. (Eburos? Lir mutters beside him). He raises the rifle. It should be easier now that he’s put a child into its sights.

“The vaccines are stored behind you?” he snaps. The elf thinks of Sierra as a test subject, so Clay will call him an it. So what if Brian freed his cell block with the power of friendship and hugs?

“Yes, but they’re all still in development”.

“You’re plotting global conquest for like, next year. Get up and open the door”. It does. Kova holds her axe under his neck while he and Marin file into the room. Clay barks orders back at the technician. Which of these have undergone the most testing? Which have side effects? Which strain will be used for the final attack? Clay makes it gravely clear that no matter who winds up on the throne in a few years, Marin can and will avenge him if he dies of smallpox from a sabotaged drug. He grabs vials by the handful and places them into Marin’s messenger bag. Clay’s read that there’s no real danger to getting several flu shots, so their immune systems can probably handle a few of these? Once again, side effects are better than actual smallpox. Basically everything is, except for rabies.

“What did you infect Sierra with? Where’s that antidote?”

The elf looks down. “She was given a strain derived from variola minor. It has a low fatality rate. We haven’t developed an antidote".

“You have got to be kidding me”. Kova grabs the elf’s soldier with her claw-like nails and lifts the blade higher. “Is it airborne?”.

The lab tech shakes his head. “Only through close contact”.

Marin sighs. “Kova, please don’t make the casualty list any longer. And Clay, calm. We have healers now”.

Right. Humans may have eradicated smallpox, but that achievement is probably nothing beside what elves have done.

Kova lowers the axe an inch and gives Marin a disappointed look. She has a strong elvish accent and layered brown hair down to her waist. “Just say the word”.

Clay lowers his rifle in turn. “Don’t. Let’s get out of here”.

She shoves the technician to the ground a little too harshly and hefts the axe back over her shoulders. Then they stalk back out. There are dozens of prisoners in this laboratory. A few lift themselves up to the windows of their cells and look out at him as they pass, but Clay keeps his head forward, even when the shadows seem familiar. Everyone here is already contagious. They’re also presumed dead, if anyone even noticed that they went missing. His father always said the same things about the people on the streets. Clay hesitates by a second hallway. The whole world is at stake and Sierra is locked in a cell. He can’t waste time. His family’s money won’t fix this.

Clay catches someone’s eyes anyway, a woman about his age. They had said they wanted a way out, any way out. They were cursed and Betrayed and couldn’t control it, and the Mercurali’s new rulings only brought them more pain. The jailbreak had to happen. It was a simple decision. Clay knows that the fate of a human who survives a place like this can’t be anything good. He grabs the handle of a door to a cell that used to be an office and pulls. It’s locked, of course. He looks away and laughs to himself. Marin asks what he’s doing, and Clay shrugs. He was lost in his thoughts. The rifle shakes in his hands.

………………

“Sierra!”

This… this is some sort of trick. Elves are illusionists. She knows this. Brian can’t actually-

Someone bangs on the other side of the two-way mirror. She can see a faint outline of his hands. “Sierra! We’re here to break you out!”

She sits up on the cot and listens carefully. The voice is quiet, but she guesses her cell wasn’t as soundproof as she thought. The door slides open, and she sees Brian standing in the hallway wearing an elven chestplate and sneakers. The vein-like lines that usually glow are dark, and he’s holding a baseball bat. The choice of weaponry is confusing until she sees Zerada and two unfamiliar elves behind him, all armed to the teeth. Brian’s just here for show.

“Say something that the elves wouldn’t know,” she replies.

“Eighth grade, when we had that freaky English teacher who made us read the book about seagulls? Like, quantum physics, hippie philosophy, seagulls? And the seagulls all had the last name ‘Seagull’?”

He’s actually here. She’s being rescued. She jumps to her feet and cheers (the world spins a bit. She tries not to think about Kebero’s threat of symptoms). “She wasn’t that bad”

“She was awful”. Brian looks back at her fearfully and stays in the hallway. “Wait, tell me something the elves wouldn’t know”.

She sighs. “In seventh grade, I tried to convince you to skip field day so we could all go hide in the supply closet and play Minecraft, but you didn’t want to let your team down and ratted us out to the teachers”.

Brian winces. “It’s been five years. I thought we were over that”.

“They made me play dodgeball, Brian. Me. Age thirteen. Dodgeball”.

She runs to hug Brian, but Zerada grabs her by the arm. “Cute story, but we need to leave. Clay’s team is working on grabbing your things, but no promises”.

She breaks free from her grip and mutters that he had better get her stuff. “How did you even find me? I mean, thank you, obviously”. Brian still keeps his distance. Is something wrong?

“We got a phone call from an informant in the elven palace. She’s human, and told us to call her an emissary. Essie for short, I guess. All of her information has been accurate so far”.

“Seriously? I’ve wanted to talk to a human for a while. Kebero let me speak to her seneschal, a personal secretary I think, during my interrogation but I barely got to say anything”.

One of the new elves, a twenty-year-old looking man with ombré red hair and Zerada’s pale freckles gives her a lopsided smile. “You speak to humans all the time”.

“You know what I mean!”

They start jogging. The new elves introduce themselves. The red-haired boy is Jezero, Zerada’s sibling. The other looks more alien, and is Sothea Celeron. The elf explains that Genus Celeron was more liberal with genetic engineering than most as a way to explain her webbed fingers.

The prison continues to look familiar. The lights seem cleaner and bluer than human ones, just like the ceiling lights at Project Excalibur did.

“Where even am I?” she asks, not expecting her guess to be right.

“The ruins of Project Excalibur,” Brian replies too quickly. “Have you been experiencing any symptoms? Clay says that smallpox takes over a week to show symptoms, but…”

Sierra looks sheepishly at Zerada. She had the right idea to hold her back. “I’ve felt a bit off lately, but I assumed it was just from being in a cell. Kebero did threaten me a few days ago… They said, uh, ‘it might be hard to take you away from Eburos once the symptoms start’”.

The elves mutter to each other. This Eburos seems to be a hated figure. Sothea pauses the group and pulls Sierra into a side hallway. She places a hand on her forehead and her eyes begin to glow the blue-green of an anglerfish’s light.

“She has a mild fever. I can’t tell anything else yet”.

Sierra focuses on the cracks in the ceiling. She’s out. They have allies. No matter how many lies Marin has told, he isn’t going to let her die.

…………….......

She holds a dagger up in front of her eyes. Perfectly straight with no chips or cracks, but it’s always a good idea to check after any sort of engagement. Engagement. She means a battle, but it’s probably a good idea to check one’s weaponry after setting a betrothal as well. Her betrothed is not as reliable as the metal of her daggers. He whispers with his cousin in old Lazarin, and Zerada makes sure to keep her ears back and give no sign that she’s listening.

“Lir, you led your army at the Conservatory. I know you want power, but we’re going to have to be united to take back the crown”. He waits for her to reply, but Lir just leans back in her chair. She looks more like a proper Sondaica than him, with looser curls and true emerald eyes.

“Certainly. Lazarus himself was known for his allies. Did your mother ever tell you about him?”

Now this is a rumor she’s heard, but never quite believed. Zerada makes herself busy with another task.

“Did she tell me about…Lazarus? He was the first apex and the founder of our line? He has the massive statue overlooking the harbor? I could probably list every battle he led, you know how much time we’ve spent studying. Unless…”.

Lir nods. “My father ruled in your mother’s stead for a decade or so, just before you were born. It wasn’t official, but he wore the helm and wielded the scepter”.

He did, and it was scandalous. For Emer to take a vacation from the throne… she’s always been impressed that the apex retained power once she came back. However, it did have a precedent.

“Once she returned, my father all but threw the regalia back into your mother’s hands. Everything about the old apexes drifting off into the void rather than abdicating… that’s not a euphemism”. Lir pauses. The nobility do not believe in life after death.

“When Lazarus emerged from the void with the power of a god, he left a piece of himself there. It’s an entire afterlife, and the scepter and helm are anchors to it. For those ten years my father was consulting with His Ascendance himself, and our ancestors did not approve of him”.

The void is pure magic and thought outside of time and space. With enough willpower, anything is possible. It’s still a shock. Life and death are the only sacred things the nobility have. If anyone was going to break those rules, yes, it would have been Lazarus Sondaica . He was a troublemaker, a psychopath, and completely unbound by any rules. The only person he ever truly cared for was a human soldier, and when he died of a bioweapon, Lazarus was never the same. Human stories tell of him abandoning his kingdom to search for eternal life. Elven history explains that he threw himself into the void after that, then not only survived but emerged to conquer the world. The idea that he succeeded in finding immortality… is nowhere near as unbelievable as it sounds. Jealousy hits her like Marin’s quarterstaff, which she knows has precisely the same weight as the scepter. He’ll see his mother again.

Marin is asking why he’s hearing this information. They’ve managed to manipulate the humans, but that seems to be the limit of his charisma.

“My father said it was awful if they didn’t want you there. It’s the highest council there’s ever been”.

They both pause.

“So who’s the heir then? I mean, some previous Lords have kept the regalia in exile, but I sure don’t have it on me”.

“Like you said, we’re going to have to be united to take back the throne. Your mother proved herself during the last coup. We’ll do the same. Survival of the fittest”.

Zerada’s bet is on Lir. Her betrothed is capable, but the truly impressive acts and plans have come from the humans. Before the void-blank judgment of Lazarus, there’s no way he’ll come out on top. The thing is, she’s never found gambling to be much fun on its own. It’s really about the players and what they lose. Too bad she’ll only get a seat beside Marin.

…………...........

“Crazy to think that I’m the champion wrestler, but you’re the one who’s good at hurting people”. Brian says it as a joke, but Clay freezes for a second while putting bandaids on his arm. They’re red, white, and blue, which he might deserve after all the politics he’s talked about these past few weeks.

“You cracked someone’s ribcage like a pumpkin. These are not equal acts".

Sierra has a mask (from their stash of makeshift radiation gear) on and her arms crossed. They never did get her favorite sweatshirt back from the elves. She has three dinosaur bandaids on her left shoulder, which has apparently gotten all of its movement back. “Seriously, where did you learn this?”

Clay only shrugs. He’s wearing a leather jacket and those reinforced jeans despite the heat. It’s been a pattern since the jailbreak. “How’d you learn to build a car?”

So he learned through some combination of sneaking into classes, his parents, bribing grad students, and the internet. Fair enough.

Somehow, they are all back in Las Vegas in one piece. No one has any injuries more severe than bruises and they’ve added dozens of nobles to their growing army. Their emissary seems confident that the Mercurali, and the rest of the Eight Points faction, still won’t make any overt moves against them in such a populated area. If they move a bit and stay sharp, they can stay here until the elven world reveals itself. Of course, that reveal will be an apocalyptic one. Brian has always loved that bit of etymology, but it’s less fun with actual doom on the horizon.

Sierra relayed her full interrogation to the two of them, including the brainwashed gaps. They’re staring down the barrel of a fifty percent casualty rate. Brian had taken a moment to clarify that it seemed like those deaths weren’t just from plague. The wording included anyone alive now who would die due to the elves, which meant deaths from plague, but also war, starvation, normal disease, or elven abuse. He’d felt a bit detached while he said it, like he wasn’t sitting on the tile floor of a Vegas suite, but actually drifting a few feet behind. He then clarified that this was not better. Either way, the plague is clearly meant to bring humanity to its knees. That means a high death toll, and as soon as it starts they lose their safe zone.

So, in reality, they can’t stay here at all. The three of them may be immune to the plague (or will be soon) but no one else is. They have a year, maybe even less, before humanity screws up a pandemic response so badly that they’ll never be able to convince anyone that human independence is a decent plan.

And he’s still drifting. Brian can catch a baseball moving at nearly a hundred miles per hour but his hands move like claws as he picks up a full vial.

“What if I drink this?” Every year, they announce the team roster with a sheet of paper by the lunch room. Last name, weight class, class year. Team members hear directly from the coach, but it’s always his time learning his new brothers in arms. Brian sees the gym empty and the mats rolled up against the walls. He sees smallpox scars and draft notices and crushed bones from concussion rifles. He looks out at San Fransisco from a stage before Ishtar Mercuralis puts him down like an old dog. He hopes Zerada would bail him out before it got that far.

“It would taste like salt water and do nothing,” Clay replies. Sierra mutters that he should totally try it.

“We should probably go home for a bit. Do something productive as an alibi,” she continues.

“That would put us within a literal stone’s throw of the elven palace. We can’t risk it,” Clay replies, then he blinks as if realizing something. “And there’s no way we can convince your family to get injected with a mysterious elf drug. This thing could genuinely kill us”. He doesn’t seem convinced by his own argument.

Brian is more offended by the idea. “Remember the ambush? Without elves, we’re completely vulnerable. They can find us anywhere”.

Six weeks ago they’d walked with Marin. The fog grew thicker and suddenly they had blood on their hands and a quest to complete. They need to stay together.

“We could hide Marin in that spare room Clay always used?“ she suggests. Brian laughs it off, but Clay seems to consider it.

“I’ll ask. I’m sure some noble would be willing to watch us for a week or two,”

“So what, we’re calling a timeout on our mission to save the world?” Brian replies.

Sierra leans back. “I thought I was going to die in elf prison until like twelve hours ago. We deserve a break”.

“And we all might be smallpox carriers now. We should quarantine here for a week at least. Might as well go home after. I want to give my friends some sort of warning, too. They can keep secrets”.

That gets a laugh out of the two of them. Brian rests his chin on one hand “Dirtboy, you are not getting back in touch with your ex to give him a suspicious elf drug”.

He blushes under his glasses. “...that wasn’t what I meant. I was talking more about social stuff. I swear I recognized one of the test subjects back at Excalibur. But now that you mention it, maybe we could convince Paige?”.

Brian’s thought about doing the same and warning his friends, but what can he say? This is all so unimaginable, and there’s not much they can do. Clay’s friends are more likely to die of this than his private-school teammates though. Brian also feels no instinct to protect his older brothers, but good on Clay for caring about his sister.

Sierra nods. “I wanted to run some more advanced tests on some of these elf gadgets too. Seems like there’s stuff elves don’t do with tech because magic can do it better. I’ve been thinking of a personal shield, like how Kebero deflected that shot during the car chase”. She turns to Clay. “Can you get someone to analyze the vaccine?”

He shakes his head. “I don’t think so. Smallpox would set off global alarms, and that would probably move the timeline of this invasion to, uh, right now”.

Which would end their grace period and get all of them captured. Going back home feels stifling. He’s spent the past month on the run, spending time with the most amazing people and living by his own merits. He doesn’t want the world to burn, but a smaller transformation instead? He could get behind a rebirth from the ashes if it’s just for him.

………………..

Even the meekest seneschals are spectacular liars, but Esther has more to hide than most. She is careful to act shocked, even horrified, when the Apex breaks the news that Marin’s new army broke the human girl out of captivity with ease, then adjusts that horror to a more personal type of fear when elves begin pointing fingers. Councilor Mercuralis, the Voyager turned backstabbing nobleman, declares that she was only rescued because Councillor Eburos was stupid enough to imprison the girl in a place the heirs had already infiltrated. Eburos snarls that there was no feasible way for the heirs to know she was hidden there, and questions if Councilor Marolak is having second thoughts about her change of allegiances. She accurately retorts that she had suggested holding Sierra on the other side of the planet, in one of the heavily guarded facilities where new human shock troops are raised. The details of that proposal never made it to the shining steel council table. The paper was misplaced in the shuffle, and when Daphne finds it a few days from now, she’ll surely hide the thing to save herself the blame.

She doesn’t have anything against the other woman. They’re cousins through biological fathers they barely know, and Marolak is a crueler master than Amedi, but if she doesn’t act, they’ll write the last lines of human history in this very room. Daphne will be fine. The only thing Marolak hates more than having a human handling her most secure documents is the time every few decades when she has to choose a new one.

She blinks up into the skylight. The room is cluttered and monitors cover the walls, but the glass ceiling lets in the sun. When she was younger, it felt almost holy. Now that she’s used to the nobility, it feels like a memorial. In the same way that water becomes a six-pointed snowflake, this is the shape that history takes when it crystalizes. No one has gotten enough sleep lately, least of all her. She doesn’t speak with the humans every night, but it’s enough that she’s not functioning as well as she should. Esther shouldn’t refer to them like that. They aren’t just any humans. They might even be friends, some day. Maybe that’s how this will end. Amedi will realize just how much she’s “taken a liking” to Marin's allies and charm her into revealing every secret she has.

The councilors take a vote. Ever since Lazarus Sondaica declared to the first Ishtar Mercuralis that he would not rest until her throne was his, the nobility have liked to call their mortal enemies, “adversaries”. The apex rules, and whoever has the strength to talk back receives the other title. Ishtar was the adversary once, and now she makes the proposal. Does Marin Sondaica deserve it? Have his actions, surviving their attacks, freeing his kin, rescuing that girl, warranted elevating him to this new height? Ryn almost laughs. Marolak recites a line from The Artificer, then says that maybe the humans can share it. The vote is unanimous. Marin is nothing more than a runaway.

.....................

this thing is now on indefinite hiatus. it's been very fun! I’ll probably be back someday but who knows. In total, this “season” or “book” or section of the story is about 75 thousand words. That is the length of a novel. I wrote the awful first draft of an actual novel chapter by chapter and I am quite proud!

The book Brian mentions is Jonathan Livingston Seagull. I also had to read it in middle school. It truly is that weird.

#by me #the gap years #my ocs #writing that *is*

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